Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we said goodbye to eighteen
Speaker 1: NFL teams Today, good ball feel a little lighter.
Speaker 2: That's what happens this time of year.
Speaker 1: In the Chris Westling podcast studio, I'm Greg Rosenthal alongside
Speaker 1: my friend Patrick claybond Nick shook back in Cleveland, and
Speaker 1: we are back in the studio after watching a beatdown
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night football. Yes, for the second time in
Speaker 1: three seasons, the Lions put a stamp on the very
Speaker 1: last regular season game of the year. Except this time
Speaker 1: they're not just going home and saying we took you
Speaker 1: out with us Packers. They're the number one seed in
Speaker 1: the NFC. We have our playoff schedule set. Let's just
Speaker 1: go over it first before we get into the games.
Speaker 1: We've got three days of games now on Wildcard weekend.
Speaker 1: It is not Super Wildcard Weekend anymore. Very important, don't
Speaker 1: call it that. We've got the Texans and the Chargers
Speaker 1: in the West of his spot. And I have been
Speaker 1: told reliably the Houston Texans have literally never played outside
Speaker 1: of the West of His spot. And when I searched
Speaker 1: west of US and Texans, I found a tweet from
Speaker 1: our old friend Chris Wesseline, who, yes, we would celebrate
Speaker 1: every year. The first game on the NFL Wildcard calendar
Speaker 1: was always that early Wildcard game on Saturday afternoon, and
Speaker 1: it was always Andy Dalton in the Bengals, and sometimes
Speaker 1: the Texans were involved. And the tweet I found was
Speaker 1: from twenty nineteen where he said, officially, the Texans have
Speaker 1: taken over that spot.
Speaker 2: They've they've played the most times in that spot. And
Speaker 2: you want to know a.
Speaker 1: Fact, Nick Shook, They've literally never not played in that
Speaker 1: spot seven per seven before this year.
Speaker 2: This makes it eight. They are five and two.
Speaker 1: By the way, in those games they are hosting the
Speaker 1: Chargers as the five seed. Saturday night, we stay in
Speaker 1: the AFC, we have the Ravens and the Steelers for
Speaker 1: the third time. I know that makes Patrick a little
Speaker 1: bit nervous. It makes me nervous too. Sunday morning on
Speaker 1: the West coast, one o'clock on the East Coast, Bills
Speaker 1: and Broncos, followed by Packers and Eagles. In what the
Speaker 1: NFL really kind of feels like, Oh, that's that's the
Speaker 1: best game of the weekend.
Speaker 2: We give it to that four thirty spot.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, Packers Eagles that is fun, Buccaneers commanders on
Speaker 1: Sunday Night football, and then Monday night we've got the
Speaker 1: Rams hosting the Vikings and we'll get into all the
Speaker 1: schedule of it all, but just some like big picture
Speaker 1: thoughts Nick about what has transpired over these last forty
Speaker 1: eight hours this season before we get into the Lions
Speaker 1: in the Vikings game.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I feel at peace. I feel like I got
Speaker 3: a new sense of clarity because the playoff picture is
Speaker 3: now set. I don't know, I talk about it. This
Speaker 3: team and that team gets in. We know who's getting in,
Speaker 3: and now comes the best time of the year when
Speaker 3: we get to break down all these games, give our
Speaker 3: predictions and see how it all unfolds.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the same way for me just looking at
Speaker 4: these matchups and again, like the way, especially in the AFC,
Speaker 4: where everything was going to come down to the Chiefs
Speaker 4: and the Broncos. We'll get to that, but to have
Speaker 4: some clarity over in the NFC. Finally, it's a sense
Speaker 4: of like the plane lands, and not that I'm not
Speaker 4: going to be that guy that stands up in the aisle,
Speaker 4: but you can unbuckle your seat belt, you can take
Speaker 4: out your phone and you could start to do the
Speaker 4: things to prepare for the trip that is the NFL.
Speaker 1: And there is something about that, just eighteen teams that
Speaker 1: we're not going to watch those teams again, but we
Speaker 1: don't have to, right and a lot of them it
Speaker 1: is a relief, and a lot of them we're going
Speaker 1: to be talking about, in CLUDI on the show, with
Speaker 1: some coaching changes, and you know, the off season is
Speaker 1: just starting for those teams. I think the slate is
Speaker 1: just about perfect because what I don't like to happen
Speaker 1: is to have two teams that I don't think have
Speaker 1: a realistic chance to make it to the super Bowl
Speaker 1: playing each other in wild card weekend. I think maybe
Speaker 1: we have one of those games Commanders Bucks, although you
Speaker 1: could convince me that the Bucks could make a magical run,
Speaker 1: and then I don't want like two of the great
Speaker 1: teams to be stuck against each other, like picking each
Speaker 1: other off.
Speaker 2: But if you're gonna do that, maybe just have one
Speaker 2: of those games.
Speaker 1: And I kind of think the Packers Eagles has settled
Speaker 1: into that game. And the AFC, the quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: AFC are just crazy. We're gonna get into all that.
Speaker 1: So I think the way to structure this show. Guys,
Speaker 1: I hope you're okay with this because it's already laid out.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be your call regardless.
Speaker 1: Eric behind the glass has to say here, we do
Speaker 1: a lot of conversation.
Speaker 2: Chris is in the mix.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say he has this sort of decision
Speaker 1: making capability yet, but he is in the mix. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go NFC first, because I think that's where the
Speaker 1: big action was on Sunday. We'll go all through the NFC,
Speaker 1: and then we'll do the AFC and everything that happened,
Speaker 1: and then we'll wrap it in a nice neat bow. Yes,
Speaker 1: let's start at the end. Let's go to fort Field
Speaker 1: five and a half to.
Speaker 5: Go, Lions by fifteen first in gold from the Minnesota four.
Speaker 5: Golf is gonna work out of the gun, gets to
Speaker 5: his right, Jared leans in, there's the snap, gets it
Speaker 5: to Jamir.
Speaker 2: Open the left side up the hash still fighting at
Speaker 2: the one. Did he get in the way?
Speaker 4: It did?
Speaker 6: Touchs down Detroit Lions. Shamir with a boat from his
Speaker 6: defensive line. He's dead and the Lions are three scores off.
Speaker 6: Can you smell it, Detroit? Yes, we think can you smell?
Speaker 7: It smells cool it It smells at the NFC North.
Speaker 1: Who oh what Dan Miller's voice is cracking.
Speaker 2: You know that's what football is back.
Speaker 1: Welomas Brown TJ lang On WXYT.
Speaker 2: It's been a season.
Speaker 1: It's been three years worth of Dan Miller calls and
Speaker 1: he always delivers. And the Lions, they delivered to fifteen
Speaker 1: and two on a regular seat in that put up
Speaker 1: a ton of obstacles in their way. Injuries, expectations, a
Speaker 1: difficult schedule, a brutal division, and they overcame it all
Speaker 1: to get that number one seed. They won this game
Speaker 1: thirty one to nine. It didn't feel that decisive, Patrick,
Speaker 1: but I chose I wanted that highlight versus the other
Speaker 1: three Jamiir Gibbs touchdowns that also happened in this game.
Speaker 2: He ended up with four.
Speaker 1: He had some longer ones, but I wanted that one
Speaker 1: because it fell emblematic of the way the second half
Speaker 1: went literally and figuratively. Figuratively, this is a team all
Speaker 1: working together and pushing each other. And then literally there
Speaker 1: were multiple first downs where the offensive lineman pushed Jamir
Speaker 1: Gibbs to get that first down. That was for the touchdown,
Speaker 1: and that embodies just everything this Linone's team has been
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 4: You could make the case that Pine Seul had more
Speaker 4: first downs in this game by pushing Jamiir Gibbs than
Speaker 4: Jordan Adison and Justin Jefferson did. Over on the other side,
Speaker 4: where Aaron Glenn's defense played spectacularly well, the Vikings play
Speaker 4: well in a spot where it felt like both of
Speaker 4: these teams were competing to the same extent on the
Speaker 4: defensive side of the ball. But then it was Jamiir
Speaker 4: Gibbs on an angle route on fourth and goal where
Speaker 4: he dices up Andrew Van Ginkel and goes in the
Speaker 4: end zone. The Lions never really looked back after that point,
Speaker 4: and it's well, you know, we'll have time to get
Speaker 4: into this Donald discussion. But truly, even if Sam Darnold
Speaker 4: played an A minus game, yep, it wouldn't touch. Jared
Speaker 4: had the shot where you know, Ben Johnson kind of
Speaker 4: puts him in a tough spot throwing out of his
Speaker 4: own end zone. Three receivers in the pattern, it's a
Speaker 4: deep ball. He's got to throw the ball otherwise it's
Speaker 4: going to be two points for the Minnesota Vikings. He
Speaker 4: has the mistake there. Other than that, a pristine game
Speaker 4: played about Jared Goff where even if Donald played better,
Speaker 4: he wasn't touching sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one where you look at the box score,
Speaker 1: you see the two picks from golf and there was
Speaker 1: the one that got tipped at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: earlier in the game, and you look at Darnold obviously struggling,
Speaker 1: but there was there was such a big difference there.
Speaker 1: And yet the fourth downs, you don't want to boil
Speaker 1: it just down to Minnesota struggled in the red zone,
Speaker 1: and they definitely did.
Speaker 2: They finish, oh for four in the red zone.
Speaker 1: Donald's numbers inside the ten yard line, we're gro tests.
Speaker 1: At one point they were. He was one for nine
Speaker 1: for three yards inside the ten yard line. But I
Speaker 1: do think Nick, on some level, it does come back
Speaker 1: to those fourth downs that the Vikings go for the
Speaker 1: fourth downe as they should early in the in the
Speaker 1: second half. It's another one of those Donald incompletions where
Speaker 1: he's just running around and the Donald on the.
Speaker 2: Move, just freestyling.
Speaker 1: Those players were not working at all tonight, whereas the
Speaker 1: Lions stayed aggressive after a failed for fourth down early
Speaker 1: in the game that got tipped, they go for it again,
Speaker 1: as Patrick mentioned, hit the angle route, and then after
Speaker 1: that they are the better running team ultimately, And these
Speaker 1: are two teams that water run the ball, but the
Speaker 1: Lions they're built to do it, and they were better
Speaker 1: doing it, and it made it kind of a walk
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter where at one point Aaron Glenn
Speaker 1: is just sitting on the on the bench chilling.
Speaker 2: I don't know what he was doing over there.
Speaker 3: He'd earned that, He'd earned that by the way that
Speaker 3: he'd gotten in the head of Sam Darnold, which we
Speaker 3: haven't really seen this year. But honestly, this game comes
Speaker 3: down to like three key takeaways. One of them is
Speaker 3: the Lion's success on fourth down. The other one is
Speaker 3: Jamiir Gibbs going back to the Lion's identity of putting
Speaker 3: the game away on the ground, which you thought maybe
Speaker 3: they wouldn't be able to do that without David Montgomery.
Speaker 3: Oh no, they can still do that because he can
Speaker 3: actually handle the ball at every down, which he proved.
Speaker 3: They're ripping off long runs, getting first down sometimes with
Speaker 3: the assistance of his offensive linemen. And then the third
Speaker 3: thing was the Vikings missing their opportunities not capitalizing. You
Speaker 3: had the Ivan paced interception and then they settle for
Speaker 3: a field goal. They're inside the ten, they settle for
Speaker 3: a field goal. There you have the fourth and two
Speaker 3: that they didn't convert that you just mentioned. There's also
Speaker 3: the play where Andrew van Geekle reads the bubble perfectly.
Speaker 3: He gets out there, tips up in the air and
Speaker 3: he doesn't catch it. So the Vikings are to come
Speaker 3: away from this game, you know, pretty upset with the
Speaker 3: fact that you know, in the margins they could have
Speaker 3: made it a much tighter game, knowing that they didn't execute,
Speaker 3: But at the same time, should feel good that if
Speaker 3: we clean that up, we're still gonna really good shots.
Speaker 3: They play that again. Who knows. Maybe there's a difference
Speaker 3: with the Lions definitely the better team tonight.
Speaker 1: It was very similar game plans from the two defenses.
Speaker 1: Both teams blitzed more than fifty percent of the time.
Speaker 1: Both teams had a very high pressure rate, although the
Speaker 1: Lions were even higher. The difference was Goff, who had
Speaker 1: his struggles early in the game. Certainly they were bothering
Speaker 1: you hit someone that much, like, how can you not
Speaker 1: be bothered? But he got rid of the ball faster.
Speaker 1: He only took six QB hits. Darnald took ten. And
Speaker 1: then he had a couple C and N types of
Speaker 1: third down throws that Darnald just didn't hit. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: early in the game too, he started eight for eighteen
Speaker 1: for eighty nine yards, and there was a third and
Speaker 1: nine to Hockinson where actually the pressure didn't get there.
Speaker 1: There was a third and eight up the seam, or
Speaker 1: third and eighteen rather to Hockinson. Also in the first
Speaker 1: half where actually he had a chance, there was pressure
Speaker 1: and it's a third and eighteen, but he's hit these
Speaker 1: crazy plays and he just misses him by a yard.
Speaker 1: There's another Hockinson drop in the second half. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: was receivers one that's a little behind Jefferson. It's not
Speaker 1: like a perfect throw, but it was a tough situation
Speaker 1: and Jefferson doesn't make the catch. So on a night
Speaker 1: where like Aaron Jones is in and out in the
Speaker 1: second half, it just.
Speaker 2: It wasn't close.
Speaker 1: But it's hard also, you know, to ignore that Donald's
Speaker 1: eighteen for forty one with four yards per attempt in
Speaker 1: the biggest game.
Speaker 4: Of the year. It was two of twelve in passes
Speaker 4: ten to nineteen yards or twenty plus. This is Sam Donald,
Speaker 4: who's over forty five percent of all of his throws
Speaker 4: were past the sticks in this regular season. He most
Speaker 4: of the attempts were short, and he was eight of
Speaker 4: eighteen between zero and nine yards today, where clearly the
Speaker 4: strength of the Lions defense at this point. You know,
Speaker 4: during the stretch where everybody got hurt. I know, they
Speaker 4: got alex Anzeloni back, some of their pass rushers back,
Speaker 4: Obie Millifond who returned, but Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph
Speaker 4: kind of formed the backbone of this d right around
Speaker 4: that nine yards away from the lone of scrimmage. So
Speaker 4: they're always good in that spot. They were even better today.
Speaker 4: Where Sam Donald has been great all season actually bad today.
Speaker 2: It was such a good game.
Speaker 1: I know it was like a blowout in the end,
Speaker 1: but I guess it got me going shook because like
Speaker 1: this was the first playoff game, and the great thing
Speaker 1: is we get to see the Vikings again.
Speaker 2: They'll be on Monday Night football. It wasn't, but it
Speaker 2: just felt like, okay, there's there's now.
Speaker 1: You know, before this game started, fourteen games left in
Speaker 1: the season and they're all gonna be really high stakes,
Speaker 1: and you just felt you felt that, and the final
Speaker 1: score lies just a little bit. But I thought one
Speaker 1: of the key moments, and it's why I really believe
Speaker 1: in Goff and I believe in this offense to get
Speaker 1: it done, was the drive before Gibbs hits the long
Speaker 1: touchdown in the second half, which which is only their
Speaker 1: their second touchdown is ten to six at the time.
Speaker 1: Goff hits a third and really long while backpedaling against
Speaker 1: the blitz to set up a four more than four
Speaker 1: that they go for, and then he's back pedaling again
Speaker 1: against the blitz and those are just little plays, and
Speaker 1: then the next play Gibbs pops it, and to me,
Speaker 1: that was the difference. He's been in these situations so
Speaker 1: many times. And it's huge because they are now at
Speaker 1: home for the NFC playoffs and they get a week
Speaker 1: off and there's actually not that many players I don't
Speaker 1: think can return. We saw Kevin Zeitler, their guard, walk
Speaker 1: off at the end injured, so that's a little concerning.
Speaker 1: Patrick mentioned it. Melafonou being back. I think the last
Speaker 1: couple weeks is a big deal for them. It's just
Speaker 1: another steady body there in the secondary, and Angeloni made
Speaker 1: a big difference Terry and Arnold looked like he had
Speaker 1: a serious injury unfortunately at cornerback tonight. So they get
Speaker 1: the rest, but more importantly, you're gonna have to beat
Speaker 1: Detroit in Detroit, which is a tall order, and I
Speaker 1: think is the reward and the advantage they kind of
Speaker 1: needed after all these injuries.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was what was at stake tonight was home
Speaker 3: field advantage. And I think that the Vikings, despite everything
Speaker 3: that they've unwell this season, proved just how difficult it
Speaker 3: is to go win there because in that first half,
Speaker 3: they played tight, they coached tight. That red zone situation
Speaker 3: after that interception, justin Jefferson has an opportunity to catch
Speaker 3: a ball in the back of the end zone and
Speaker 3: he bobbles it and then by the time he comes
Speaker 3: down with it, he's out of bounds. Those are mistakes,
Speaker 3: small things that they don't typically make. But I think
Speaker 3: the environment had a lot to do with that. And
Speaker 3: the other thing is if the Lions have the home
Speaker 3: peel advantage, that's great, but they're also proved tonight that
Speaker 3: they are master masters of preparation, Like they were prepared
Speaker 3: for anything that the Viking's brought after them, especially on
Speaker 3: those fourth down conversions. Double a gap blitz, We're gonna
Speaker 3: throw the angle oute right behind you for a touchdown,
Speaker 3: like they had an answer for everything. And I think
Speaker 3: you combine those two factors, it makes it extremely difficult
Speaker 3: to go in there and beat them, no matter how
Speaker 3: banged uf they are, because they've taken a number of injuries,
Speaker 3: but they play that defense played tonight like they weren't
Speaker 3: hurt at all. So it's a tall task.
Speaker 1: Well, I you know, I'm just wearing my biases on
Speaker 1: my sleeve. I think covering a Lion Super Bowl would
Speaker 1: be amazing. How can you not love this team? There
Speaker 1: were other great stories out of the NFC if it happened,
Speaker 1: including the Vikings if they if they found a way
Speaker 1: to win three straight road games, but it's it's a
Speaker 1: tougher road for them now. I'm also biased because I
Speaker 1: want to see my son and my daughter, I mean
Speaker 1: my son, my daughter, my son, and my wife dress
Speaker 1: up as Sonic and Knuckles for the Super Bowl, which
Speaker 1: she has promised Walker, who really loves Gibbson Montgomery, that
Speaker 1: she would do if they make it. So I just wow,
Speaker 1: I just really want to see that. I'm man this Vikings.
Speaker 1: The day started weird. They started weird with a Jay
Speaker 1: Glazer report on Fox that multiple teams are interested in
Speaker 1: trading for Kevin O'Connell. I don't like this. I don't
Speaker 1: like Kevin O'Connell and his story being front and center
Speaker 1: at this point in the season when it should be
Speaker 1: all about the team. I've got thoughts on this. I
Speaker 1: feel like I need to just let them simmer for now.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about all the coaches stuff on our
Speaker 1: Black Monday Show. But I just feel like it's an
Speaker 1: awkward situation and you wouldn't want anything kind of taking
Speaker 1: away from the team right now. A coach, a coaching
Speaker 1: contract situation like that's not what the Vikings need right now.
Speaker 1: They need to start preparing for their wild Guard game.
Speaker 1: They will have an extra day to do so. Now
Speaker 1: let's go to the early slate of games, which were
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, especially figuring out who would win
Speaker 1: the NFC South to Raymond James Stadium.
Speaker 8: Empty backfield, Look for Baker Mayfield out three receivers two
Speaker 8: is right good snap belt high looking up field, look
Speaker 8: at Funched.
Speaker 4: Out of the pocket. Daniel's outside prows.
Speaker 8: Them all up here here open Con touchdown, Tava Bay touchdown,
Speaker 8: Tama Bay child mcbellan.
Speaker 4: Fifth game of a row, he's come up with a.
Speaker 9: Touchdown fire the Cannons box all up, tied to twenty
Speaker 9: nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 1: O Jean Decker half on wf us What a throw.
Speaker 1: Put that on the throw of the throws of the
Speaker 1: Year list. I mean, seriously, just a peat on the
Speaker 1: run in the biggest of spots. At that point in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, if the standings held, the Falcons were going
Speaker 1: to the playoffs. Yes, the Bucks were trailing in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter against the Saints. They find a way to
Speaker 1: score two touchdowns fourteen points unanswered in the fourth to
Speaker 1: win twenty seven to nineteen. And yes, at that moment
Speaker 1: took the Falcons were tied in their game. The Bucks
Speaker 1: went into halftime down ten points, knowing that the Falcons
Speaker 1: were ahead in their game, staring their season and maybe
Speaker 1: the Todd Bowles era in the eye in the and
Speaker 1: they come back and they win the game. How did
Speaker 1: they get it done?
Speaker 3: Down ten points with only one hundred and sixteen yards
Speaker 3: in total offense work for four on third down when
Speaker 3: they got to the break. It sure looked bad. It
Speaker 3: sure looked like they were like that egg at the
Speaker 3: worst possible time. But who rescues them, none other than
Speaker 3: the man were in number six, Baker Mayfield with an
Speaker 3: impressive fourth quarter that I'm sure will upset you Gregor.
Speaker 2: No, No, he was the.
Speaker 3: Man scrambled, he converted. He threw that pass to Jalen McMillan.
Speaker 3: And the reason that pass was it was so important
Speaker 3: beyond the fact that they just scored a touchdown, because
Speaker 3: he had already thrown a dime to McMillan on fourth
Speaker 3: down to convert a key fourth down. McMillan celebrates, he
Speaker 3: signals first down doing a little finger guns thing, gets
Speaker 3: taunt flagged for tawning. They get backed way up, and
Speaker 3: then you think, well, there goes their opportunity to score
Speaker 3: the touchdown. Nope, Baker Mayfield's out there, he's gonna let
Speaker 3: it rip and he's gonna throw an absolute dot to
Speaker 3: his receiver in the corner of the end zone to
Speaker 3: give them the lead. It was so impressive. Gene Deckerhoff,
Speaker 3: you heard on the call, wasn't even sure what the
Speaker 3: score was at the moment. That's the type of day.
Speaker 3: It wasn't the type of fourth quarter it was for
Speaker 3: the Buccaneers, who woke up with just enough time and
Speaker 3: then their defense finished it off. They got to Spencer
Speaker 3: Rattler and then they went on a long drive late
Speaker 3: in the game that ended the twelfth play. Ninety four
Speaker 3: yard march took off almost six minutes off the clock.
Speaker 3: Bucky Irving gets in the end zone and that was
Speaker 3: basically it. And they're going to the playoffs triumphantly. And
Speaker 3: they even got Mike Evans his incentive and his eleventh
Speaker 3: straight thousand yard receiving season.
Speaker 2: This was not a clean comeback.
Speaker 10: No.
Speaker 1: In the third quarter, Baker threw an interception the in
Speaker 1: in Bucks territory, the Saints just kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: They go four and out, they kick a field goal.
Speaker 1: After that the Bucks go three and out. Saints are
Speaker 1: winning at this point, late third, they shank the punt
Speaker 1: right and at that point it really felt like this
Speaker 1: is this thing is gonna happen. But the Saints took
Speaker 1: a penalty, I think they took a sack on that drive,
Speaker 1: and suddenly it was like third and twenty six and
Speaker 1: they end up just having to punt back. And that
Speaker 1: to me was where it changed. And I give Baker
Speaker 1: a ton of credit because most of this comeback was
Speaker 1: just him having to wait until the last second. Liam
Speaker 1: Cohen's screens and all his voodoo nothing was working today.
Speaker 1: The Saints were all over it. They didn't have much
Speaker 1: of a pass rush, but no one was open. The
Speaker 1: little gimmick plays weren't working. The run game took a
Speaker 1: while to get going, and it was honestly just Baker's
Speaker 1: playmaking that did it in the end.
Speaker 4: Especially with his feet. Baker Mayfield, Yeah, ran for sixty
Speaker 4: eight yards in this one, and I at some point
Speaker 4: in this game wondered if the Bucks were somehow tipping plays.
Speaker 4: For those who watched the Sunday Night football game where
Speaker 4: Alexandeloni blast Jamiir Gibbs on a swing pass, the exact
Speaker 4: same thing happened to Bucky Irving where to Mario Davis
Speaker 4: was instantly there and that was the game. Like for
Speaker 4: you get to eleven thirty four to go in the
Speaker 4: fourth quarter, Ugo Amadi gets a sack of Baker Mayfield
Speaker 4: and the Saints were winning the game at this point,
Speaker 4: Like they have to come back and make the plays
Speaker 4: like the ones that choke was talking about where Mayfield
Speaker 4: is hitting McMillan, and they ultimately do it just in
Speaker 4: a ready fashion. There was nothing pretty about this. The
Speaker 4: only thing pretty was when they had absolutely won the game.
Speaker 4: There's no reason other than to get Mike Evans three
Speaker 4: million dollars and to have the best moment of the week,
Speaker 4: a top five moment of the season for me. When
Speaker 4: Mike Evans gets one thousand.
Speaker 8: Evans, how the ploys to the right in the slot.
Speaker 8: Now in motion, Mike Evans drifts over to the left,
Speaker 8: slide Baker Mayfield shotgun. They know what we're gonna do.
Speaker 8: The Baker mayfieldsos of all to coughtball Evans.
Speaker 2: He's got it to the forty yard line.
Speaker 8: What a thousand plus Mike Evans loveleven seasons in the row.
Speaker 8: How about the Buccaneers at number thirteen.
Speaker 11: What a tremendous job. And we were talking off the air.
Speaker 11: He needed five yards, so they sent him in motion.
Speaker 4: They push him up, They hit the quick out.
Speaker 11: I want to make the catch, get up the field
Speaker 11: and he's fired up. He's not an emotional guy, but
Speaker 11: he was fired up as seon.
Speaker 4: As he got down, you could see the tears welling
Speaker 4: up in the locker video where he gets the game
Speaker 4: ball from Todd Bowles, just the moment from the team
Speaker 4: executing Baker Mayfield making the throw, Mike Evans getting the yards,
Speaker 4: Todd Bowles allowing that situation to happen, just just a
Speaker 4: great moment for all of Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: Kind of incredible in so many different ways, one of
Speaker 1: them being technically the only way they could not go
Speaker 1: to the playoffs would be if they threw a ball
Speaker 1: to Mike Evans and it got tipped, or if he
Speaker 1: tipped it up and the Saints caught it.
Speaker 2: Yep, pick sixed it, got the two.
Speaker 1: The game actually wasn't over, and yet I completely agree
Speaker 1: with everything you said.
Speaker 2: That gave me goosebumps. That was one of the moments
Speaker 2: of the year.
Speaker 1: There's a shot taken from the sidelines and if you're
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, you can watch it and credit to
Speaker 1: NFL Twitter here if you're watching from the low angle
Speaker 1: and the sound that you hear from the crowd. They
Speaker 1: had it on the scoreboard within seconds that he got
Speaker 1: his one thousand yards, and congratulations on all the scoreboard
Speaker 1: and that's given those fans and Mike Evans and everyone
Speaker 1: else like a moment they literally will never forget.
Speaker 2: And that's that sports.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool and I'm excited, Chuck to see your
Speaker 1: boy Baker in the playoffs. They were the worthy NFC
Speaker 1: South champions. I think they were the best team all season,
Speaker 1: even if today was a little bumpy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean both South divisions are pretty gross, but
Speaker 3: they'd proved to be the best of this bunch even
Speaker 3: if it was ugly. In the end, it's the right
Speaker 3: way to win it.
Speaker 1: They You know what though, they did win ten games,
Speaker 1: and they did have a top ten offense, and they
Speaker 1: are a game plan team where if they hit everything
Speaker 1: right and that's going to include, you know, needing a
Speaker 1: better defensive performance than they usually have, they are to
Speaker 1: me that team you don't want to face because I
Speaker 1: think their best game, if they hit you at the
Speaker 1: right on the right day, they could beat anyone.
Speaker 2: I mean anyone.
Speaker 1: There is no one in the NFL that I don't
Speaker 1: think the Bucks could be. We know that they'll have
Speaker 1: the commanders and so they are a fun team. You
Speaker 1: know what's crazy. They could make the division round for
Speaker 1: the fourth time in five years. I mean you think
Speaker 1: of that and you think, well, that must be a dynasty, right,
Speaker 1: I mean they kind of are just a little bit
Speaker 1: an NFC South dynasty.
Speaker 4: With some different personnel. Jason Light getting it done fourth straight.
Speaker 2: The only time in that run they didn't win the division,
Speaker 2: they won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So they'll take that trade off, and they'll take the
Speaker 1: trade off of having to sweat out. Yes, a fourth
Speaker 1: quarter where they're trailing and the Falcons were tied at
Speaker 1: the time, but ultimately Falcons couldn't even get it done.
Speaker 4: Youngest under center. Here's the snaps Sanders up the middle.
Speaker 12: Charging through the end zone, touchdown, Carolato.
Speaker 13: The Panthers walk it off to end the season.
Speaker 1: That is right a Niche Shroff on wr f X.
Speaker 1: The Bryce Young story somehow got better in week eighteen,
Speaker 1: the most improved player of the year. He's past Sam
Speaker 1: Darnold for me. I'm sorry, recency bias. I just like
Speaker 1: watching this guy. He puts up a forty burger in
Speaker 1: a must win game for the Falcons forty four to
Speaker 1: thirty eight. Three touchdowns on the day for Bryce Young,
Speaker 1: who gets a lot of help from Adam Thielen as
Speaker 1: he does each and every week, just making great catches
Speaker 1: in Jalen Coker who is a real deal NFL player.
Speaker 1: They found something in this undrafted rookie, another great rookie
Speaker 1: wide receiver. Even Bryce Young's misses, I think this season
Speaker 1: have been good, like they all are with the right intention,
Speaker 1: they're all the right decision and he did it all today.
Speaker 1: A couple big plays with his legs twenty four yards
Speaker 1: on the ground, and he was just on point. Every
Speaker 1: time the Falcons took a lead in this game, he
Speaker 1: had a response.
Speaker 4: And we had this discussion about Bryce Young and the
Speaker 4: way he moves in the pocket. Win Shook was here
Speaker 4: with us in studio earlier this week, and it showed
Speaker 4: today the Falcons they even though when they did get
Speaker 4: pressure to Bryce, he was stepping away. When they didn't
Speaker 4: get pressure on Bryce, he was doing things like Steph
Speaker 4: Curry pre celebrating before the shot goes in on a
Speaker 4: touchdown to Tommy Trumble today, just everything that you would
Speaker 4: want to see from the quarterback. And then on the
Speaker 4: other side, the Falcons defense kind of reverting to there
Speaker 4: can't get pressure on the quarterback from earlier.
Speaker 1: This yek, yeah, well, why you bring it up. Let's
Speaker 1: watch the Bryce Young. It's not quite a no look
Speaker 1: because he looked when he threw it, but he didn't
Speaker 1: look when Coker caught it.
Speaker 4: So now a fourth down, Atlanta loses a time out,
Speaker 4: fake the handoff young step and.
Speaker 3: Throw and soon touchdown.
Speaker 5: Tommy trimbles and Carol couldnverts Panthers have come to play.
Speaker 14: You've got a rookie quarterback playing well in Atlanta, second
Speaker 14: year quarterback continuing to grow.
Speaker 2: And elevate his play in Carolina.
Speaker 4: And he knew it before they got there.
Speaker 13: So good steph Curry throwing up the three and retreating
Speaker 13: without even seeing it.
Speaker 1: That was one of the easier throws Bryce had to make.
Speaker 1: They are a good job by Dave canal Zeros cresit
Speaker 1: to here. Look, he wouldn't have even gone to Bryce
Speaker 1: sung this season if Andy Dalton didn't get injured in
Speaker 1: a car accident, which is a weird sliding doors, and
Speaker 1: I mean he probably eventually would have gone back to him,
Speaker 1: but that that week he was not planning to uh,
Speaker 1: but they they got some open receivers City, but he
Speaker 1: also had some C and I throws that were were
Speaker 1: just incredible, and so did Michael Pennix. And as disappointing
Speaker 1: as the Falcons defense was Ultimately, Raheem Morris made some
Speaker 1: game management decisions with the clock again, so that's something
Speaker 1: he's got to work on in his defense and probably
Speaker 1: got worse this year than then last year's Falcons defense,
Speaker 1: and they got older too by the numbers all around.
Speaker 1: Michael Penix was awesome in this game. They die up
Speaker 1: five hundred and thirty seven yards and thirty one first down,
Speaker 1: shook it and he had a million great catches. Drake
Speaker 1: London to Pennis is gonna be a combination I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to watching for a long time. London ends up
Speaker 1: with ten for one to eighty seven and two and
Speaker 1: Bajohn Robinson goes for one hundred and seventy yards on
Speaker 1: the ground in just a fantastic performance. So there was
Speaker 1: nothing Drake London, uh and Michael Penicks really could have
Speaker 1: done here.
Speaker 2: They were matching him shot for shot and it was
Speaker 2: just that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the uh the Panthers were the ones that got
Speaker 1: the ball and scored the touchdown in overtime.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and don't complain about overtime rules either. This was
Speaker 3: how this game was supposed to go. Sure team to
Speaker 3: get a stop wins and then the Falcons did not
Speaker 3: get his top because the Panthers were down the field.
Speaker 3: We are going to see this matchup of quarterbacks for
Speaker 3: years to come. They are division rivals. Michael Pennix has
Speaker 3: shown me enough in the limited amount of time that
Speaker 3: he's played this year for me to think he's going
Speaker 3: to be the guy for the long term. Bryce Young.
Speaker 3: I just think about where we were after Week two
Speaker 3: when he got benched and there was a shot of
Speaker 3: a fan trying to get an autograph of his outside
Speaker 3: of the facility, and he looks so down. And to
Speaker 3: see him go from there to where he's so confident
Speaker 3: that he can turn around and a signal touchdown before
Speaker 3: the ball even lands in his receiver's hands. What a
Speaker 3: journey he has traveled over this season. And a little
Speaker 3: bit of vindication for myself because.
Speaker 2: Here you go.
Speaker 3: Take it with the QB index. I moved him all
Speaker 3: the way up to eleven. Got a lot of hate
Speaker 3: online for it Panthers fans, and you know what backed
Speaker 3: me up. He backed me up. But I love how
Speaker 3: bright his future is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this division is looking a lot more fun if
Speaker 1: the Saints can figure some things out. It's crazy how
Speaker 1: good John Robinson is, whether he's the third or fourth
Speaker 1: best running back in the league this year. You know,
Speaker 1: you have Saquon, you have what Derek Henry did, you
Speaker 1: have what Jamir Gibbs did, and then like he might
Speaker 1: be the best, fourth best running back of all time.
Speaker 1: I mean he he's just so pretty, Like just watching
Speaker 1: him set up these blocks getting inside outside, like he
Speaker 1: just an awesome season out of him. So if there
Speaker 1: ever could be like a moral victory way to lose
Speaker 1: to the Panthers in Week eighteen with the playoffs on line,
Speaker 1: I feel like this is close to it.
Speaker 2: At least at least they.
Speaker 1: Feel at least they got to feel a little better
Speaker 1: about their future. Imagine if they hadn't gone to Pennanty.
Speaker 1: It just they do feel they should have good things
Speaker 1: to feel about. Although Raheem Morris even you mentioned the
Speaker 1: end of the game, like they got the ball back.
Speaker 1: I know they were on the twelve yard line, but
Speaker 1: they had fourteen seconds and they had time.
Speaker 2: Outs, like just try to score try.
Speaker 4: I don't know, Yeah, I would have liked to see
Speaker 4: some effort there. I know Riley Patterson missed the long
Speaker 4: field goal earlier. There's no Young waikup, but may give
Speaker 4: Riley Patterson another opportunity. But the you know we saw
Speaker 4: you know you're not watching if you're listening to the
Speaker 4: audio version, the dejected look on the Falcon sideline. After that,
Speaker 4: Tommy Tremble touched down, but there was motion. There was
Speaker 4: somebody clapping on the sideline. It was Kirk Cousins trying
Speaker 4: to pick his team, and it's just kind of a
Speaker 4: symbol for the way the season has gone in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they finished eight and nine, so ultimately two games
Speaker 1: back of the Bucks. The Panthers at five and twelve. Man,
Speaker 1: if I smoke cigarettes, I feel like I would need
Speaker 1: a cigarette right now.
Speaker 2: Let's take a quick break. We're gonna go roll through
Speaker 2: the rest.
Speaker 1: Of the NFC and all the seating implications of how
Speaker 1: it broke down on.
Speaker 4: Somebody Marioda and the gun neck. Look, who has left
Speaker 4: three wide receivers to the right. Here's the snap. He's
Speaker 4: looking left, one on one, throws up, chuck down, duck down.
Speaker 2: Fucking God again.
Speaker 4: Do you believe a miracle?
Speaker 15: Yes?
Speaker 2: Not do?
Speaker 4: Jerry Vataur, August Barry yodis perfect, Baul ball Day, Washington.
Speaker 1: Man all season, Ram Weinstein and London Fletcher just getting
Speaker 1: it done. They're kind of like Jayden Daniels and Marcus
Speaker 1: Mariota on Wbig. It doesn't matter who's in the game,
Speaker 1: they're both got to deliver. Mariota comes in there and
Speaker 1: just keeps delivering touchdowns. He's running scary Terry's in the game.
Speaker 1: At the end, twenty three to nineteen, Washington wins.
Speaker 2: A fun one.
Speaker 1: This was earlier in the season, this would have been like, oh,
Speaker 1: this game of the year type of stuff, but instead
Speaker 1: it was like backups on backups, and yet.
Speaker 2: It's a fun professional football game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you just go ahead and make it one
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty minutes of the Washington Commanders and Dallas
Speaker 4: Cowboys this season, it's still regardless. Comes down to the
Speaker 4: wire in the final moments, this time with backups in.
Speaker 4: As dan Quinn saw Jaden Daniels on the opening series
Speaker 4: get sacked by Michael Parsons twice, a slow offense that
Speaker 4: couldn't really run the vault. Jayden took a few hits
Speaker 4: and dan Quinn decided, Okay, that's enough, let's get Marcus
Speaker 4: Mariota in for the remainder of this and they're able
Speaker 4: to still win with that. The Cowboys play Trey Lance
Speaker 4: in this game exclusively, you know, despite the fact that
Speaker 4: Cooper Rush could have hit some contract incentives by getting
Speaker 4: some more snaps, much to his chagrin, that did not
Speaker 4: ultimately happen. But it's the protection for Jayden and Daniels
Speaker 4: that didn't work out. But then Marcus Maroota making plays
Speaker 4: with his feet. He almost had a long touchdown run
Speaker 4: that came on fourth down.
Speaker 2: Thirty three yards.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just gets his ankles nipped, but then comes back
Speaker 4: with that touchdown pass to Scary Terry. Where this has
Speaker 4: been the Commanders, this is their season. The last ten
Speaker 4: seconds of the game, what insane play is the Commander's
Speaker 4: offense going to make and it comes. They're the reverse
Speaker 4: Bengals this year and also one of those wins.
Speaker 2: That's a good call.
Speaker 1: Five lead changes in the final twenty minutes of this game,
Speaker 1: just back and forth between Aubrey and Ertz and Mariota
Speaker 1: And yeah, I don't know whether it be just like
Speaker 1: a smidge concern that you know, Jane Daniels goes six
Speaker 1: for twelve or thirty eight yards in this game, any concern, No, No,
Speaker 1: he did play a lot.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's whatever.
Speaker 4: There's familiarity, you know, they're they're they're going up against
Speaker 4: a team that they really just played, a team that's
Speaker 4: gotten better on defense, where you know Michael Parsons being back,
Speaker 4: and again, like, I don't know if you could make
Speaker 4: a case for Michael Parson's playing thirteen games and have
Speaker 4: a defensive Player of the Year. But it's up there
Speaker 4: in terms of pressures and the number of pass rush snaps.
Speaker 4: He's got three hundred and ninety two. He's got seventy
Speaker 4: five quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: He's the best defensive player in the league. He was
Speaker 1: my choice before the season. He has been for three
Speaker 1: straight years, I think, and he wasn't healthy enough, but
Speaker 1: ultimately I think he was the best player.
Speaker 2: I think you're absolutely right. All right, So the Cowboys lose.
Speaker 1: And the Commanders, you know, one of the teams who
Speaker 1: were they were just playing for seeding, just trying to
Speaker 1: get the six instead of the seven, and they didn't
Speaker 1: even know if they would get the six until later
Speaker 1: in the day. It turns out they did, so they
Speaker 1: move up one spot. Instead of going to Philadelphia, they
Speaker 1: go to Tampa Bay. I think, you know, just because
Speaker 1: they know the Eagles. I don't know which one they
Speaker 1: would prefer, but as a fan, I'd rather just not
Speaker 1: see that matchup for a thirtie, So I'm glad that
Speaker 1: they played to win in Dallas. The conversation turns into
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and what's going to happen. Let's listen
Speaker 1: to Jerry Jones after the game.
Speaker 15: Mike is one of the best coaches that I think
Speaker 15: there is. He was made the coach here because I
Speaker 15: thought that, and he's done excluding nothing to diminish my
Speaker 15: opinion of him as a coach. And I am really
Speaker 15: impressed with the way the players identified look or or
Speaker 15: with him. They're inside with it, and uh, that's important.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to bring McCarthy back. Let's listen
Speaker 1: to McCarthy after the game too.
Speaker 16: I understand why I asked the questions. I don't like
Speaker 16: to talk about myself that way, but I'll just be clear.
Speaker 16: I'm a winner. I know how to win. I've won
Speaker 16: a championship. I want a championship in this building, and uh,
Speaker 16: and that's.
Speaker 4: Who I am.
Speaker 16: So and we'll see where. We'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1: Also coached up and Aaron Rodgers led team when he
Speaker 1: hit Jared Cook down the sideline and DA's rook a
Speaker 1: year in that building. I saw that game. That was
Speaker 1: a good one. Do you think he's back shook? What
Speaker 1: do you think?
Speaker 4: I think?
Speaker 2: Do you think he should be back? How about that?
Speaker 2: I'm curious what you thought.
Speaker 3: Aw, that's debatable because what are you doing? Are you
Speaker 3: spinning your wheels? Are you actually going to attack the
Speaker 3: offseason with intent? Because they didn't last year and they
Speaker 3: paid for it this year. I think that's what's most important.
Speaker 3: It's not even necessarily the coaching staff, because his offense
Speaker 3: when at full strength was pretty good. I mean, it
Speaker 3: was good with Mike McCarthy, you know, overseeing it. It's
Speaker 3: just that they lost guys. They lacked guys, They lacked
Speaker 3: running backs. They had just CD Lamb at receiver for
Speaker 3: most of the year. So you get Dak back, you
Speaker 3: figure out your backfield because Rico Daddle has emerged. You
Speaker 3: maybe add another weapon at receiver because I love Jalen Tolbert,
Speaker 3: but you know I need something better alongside ceed Lamb.
Speaker 3: Then then yeah, maybe it works out. You know what
Speaker 3: you have in your defensive coordinator? Do you know what
Speaker 3: you have in your defensive Personnalit you need to get,
Speaker 3: but you need to be more active in the off
Speaker 3: season to justify bringing this group back.
Speaker 1: I don't have a hot take here. My guess is
Speaker 1: McCarthy will be back. I think, considering the ecosystem they're in,
Speaker 1: which is a very strange one and is maybe a
Speaker 1: bit of a problem, that McCarthy is probably better than
Speaker 1: they would do. Like, like, I don't have confidence in
Speaker 1: them finding a better fit for Dallas Cowboys head coach.
Speaker 1: I'm not in love with it, but I'm fine if
Speaker 1: they bring McCarthy back.
Speaker 2: Of course, I'm fine. Why wouldn't that be fine?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it kind of fits the whole theme of this
Speaker 4: offseason for Dallas in season and then being all in
Speaker 4: and then ultimately seeing like what all in means. It's
Speaker 4: bringing back kind of what you got.
Speaker 1: And you know what that matchup, by the way, as
Speaker 1: we spin the the you know, mind forward into wild
Speaker 1: card weekend, you know what that matchup means. Washington versus
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay. Marshaun Lattimore, we get it, Mike Evan, we
Speaker 1: get another one.
Speaker 4: Will fight.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Green Bay where, Yeah, the Packers had
Speaker 1: their hands full.
Speaker 9: Taylor extends his hands, snap placement, made Cairo Santos kick
Speaker 9: us up and the kick.
Speaker 17: They's done.
Speaker 4: The Bears of Black Duff and one in Green Bay, putting.
Speaker 9: To bed to nasty losing streaks, the in season streak
Speaker 9: and the Packer streak.
Speaker 4: One ends at.
Speaker 9: Eleven, the other ends as well, and the Bears win
Speaker 9: it twenty four to twenty two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was their first win since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: That was also an eleven game streak.
Speaker 1: I believe Jeff Joniac their great job kind of picking
Speaker 1: up what I didn't set up, which is, yes, the
Speaker 1: Bears trying to end a streak and the Packers trying
Speaker 1: to get that sixth seed.
Speaker 2: They did not.
Speaker 1: They end up at eleven and six with a couple
Speaker 1: losses to end the season. The Commanders were at twelve
Speaker 1: and five. And yes, the Bears win their first game
Speaker 1: since I was watching them in London against the Jaguars.
Speaker 4: Ows forever ago.
Speaker 1: Seems so long ago. Twenty four to twenty two. Another
Speaker 1: Claybne banger. All your assigned games were fun.
Speaker 4: This one. Yeah, it comes down to the wire in
Speaker 4: a game that unfortunately was a banger for the Packers'
Speaker 4: injury wise, as Christian Watson goes down clutching his knee
Speaker 4: carted off Matt Matt Lafleur says, it does not look good.
Speaker 4: He's not overly optimistic for the playoff aspirations of Christian Watson.
Speaker 4: And then on top of that, Jordan Love leaves this game,
Speaker 4: which is a slugfest with the Chicago Bears, who get
Speaker 4: a special team's touchdown. Malik Willis has to leave the game.
Speaker 4: But the play of the game, which shout out to
Speaker 4: Johnny Knox and Devin Hester who ten years ago executed
Speaker 4: the fake punt fielding that the fake punt return for
Speaker 4: the touchdown that the Bears got today where Dj Moore
Speaker 4: is back there, not necessarily really selling it that well
Speaker 4: because he's not even looking in the sky where the
Speaker 4: balls should be, but he fake fields the punt. Meanwhile,
Speaker 4: the cornerback Josh Blackwell runs back there, actually fields the punt.
Speaker 4: None of the Bears are looking at him, but he
Speaker 4: just turns it, runs it down the sideline. That was
Speaker 4: the Bears first touchdown and the Packers could never really
Speaker 4: get going on offense. Malik Willis I had to deal
Speaker 4: with a shot to his hand as well. Just injuries
Speaker 4: brutal here. But the Bears execute down the stretch. They
Speaker 4: get a big completion they get the time out called
Speaker 4: when the timeouts should be called, and Cayro Santos kicks
Speaker 4: that game winning field goal and the Bears in the street.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm happy for Kayleb Williams and this whole all
Speaker 1: these Bears players and coaches, Thomas Brown, the interim who
Speaker 1: hadn't won a game yet, just to not finish the
Speaker 1: season on that note, that's great. Although they only had
Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty four yards of offense, so a
Speaker 1: lot of the problems there.
Speaker 2: We're still there, I think moving forward.
Speaker 1: Just my takeaways are that the Packers offense isn't quite
Speaker 1: right right now. Both Jordan Love and Matt Lafleur expressed
Speaker 1: frustration with how the passing game operated today, so I
Speaker 1: think that is something to be a little concerned about.
Speaker 1: Jordan Love said he just wasn't as consistent and accurate
Speaker 1: enough as he wanted to be personally, and he also
Speaker 1: said as he was at the podium that his elbow
Speaker 1: was still numb, which doesn't seem great, but that he
Speaker 1: thinks he'll be fine. They said he's going to play
Speaker 1: next week, and Matt Lafleur went as far to say
Speaker 1: as their offensive struggles were extremely frustrating. Romeo Dobbs also
Speaker 1: did not play this game. It should be noted he
Speaker 1: had an illness. They think he'll be fine for next week,
Speaker 1: So that was just a late scratch there. But kind
Speaker 1: of going into the playoffs took the way you don't
Speaker 1: want to, you know, backwards, really this Packers team, and
Speaker 1: because of this loss, they got a much tougher draw
Speaker 1: now having to go to Philadelphia. You know, they went
Speaker 1: into the week thinking we're gonna go to the Rams,
Speaker 1: maybe we'll go to the Bucks, and now going to Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: that is not ideal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if this was the Packers team that we
Speaker 3: saw a blow out the Saints a few weeks ago,
Speaker 3: we'd feel pretty good about that. This is now a
Speaker 3: Packers team that basically got out classed by the Vikings
Speaker 3: before mounting a late comeback attempt that fell short. And
Speaker 3: then what happened today. I kind of don't put too
Speaker 3: much stock in the fact that their passing game wasn't
Speaker 3: working today. When you lacked, you know, a lot of
Speaker 3: your top talent, I mean Malik Heath and Dantavin Wicks
Speaker 3: and Jane Reeden Tucker Craft, those your four top guys,
Speaker 3: which some of those guys are are household names, and
Speaker 3: those guys don't get as many opportunities. So you hope
Speaker 3: that they figure it out. But the Watson injury, I
Speaker 3: think does bum me out. That's been something that's been
Speaker 3: kind of nagging him in recent weeks and it is concerning.
Speaker 3: But again, you know, we spent god, we spent time
Speaker 3: two three weeks ago talking about how multiple they were.
Speaker 3: They can attack in so many different ways. You hope
Speaker 3: that they find that again before they go on the
Speaker 3: road against a very quality opponent in the Eagles with
Speaker 3: the good defense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because we've seen, right, this team deal with injuries
Speaker 4: and manage them. But when it all happens at once,
Speaker 4: when there's this collapse of you know, ability here in
Speaker 4: week eighteen, you kind of feel like something got taken
Speaker 4: from you in a team that had only lost right
Speaker 4: to these contenders in the NFC and now this really
Speaker 4: woeful Bears team. And I mean they played, they played
Speaker 4: hard today, but think back to that the Thanksgiving matchup
Speaker 4: against the Miami Dolphins where that was a team in
Speaker 4: contention that at the time had their quarterback and they
Speaker 4: go into Green Bay and the Packers were just a
Speaker 4: buzzsaw that team wasn't out there today because some of
Speaker 4: those guys, a lot of them literally weren't out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no JayR Alexander returning. They're still dangerous. I think
Speaker 1: if I'm an Eagles fan or player, a little more
Speaker 1: nervous with Green Bay coming into the building than I
Speaker 1: would have been with the Commanders, for instance, a familiar
Speaker 1: opponent that that they're just better than green Bay on
Speaker 1: its best days. Still very dangerous. Yes, the seating was
Speaker 1: decided between those two teams, green Bay and Washington early,
Speaker 1: but as we went into the late window, we did
Speaker 1: not know who was playing who. We knew the Rams
Speaker 1: weren't gonna play their starters and go all out to win,
Speaker 1: even though that could have helped their seating. They could
Speaker 1: have controlled their fate. They could have tried to play Washington. Instead,
Speaker 1: they played Jimmy g and a whole lot of backups,
Speaker 1: and they almost won.
Speaker 2: Anyways. First down and ten from the Rams.
Speaker 12: Sixteen Smith from the shotgun takes the sat blitz is
Speaker 12: coming from the mill ball is caught up ended fan
Speaker 12: is see into the Enzonio touchdown.
Speaker 2: Seahawks fan lie flat on his back.
Speaker 12: Hangs onto the football, helped up by his teammates.
Speaker 2: He said, what happened?
Speaker 12: They said, you scored from sixteen out and the Seahawks
Speaker 12: go back on top thirty to forty five.
Speaker 2: They did it.
Speaker 1: Gino Smith making a last bid for QB Island. That's
Speaker 1: gonna be an interesting one way Sam played and I'm
Speaker 1: just you know, maybe poking.
Speaker 2: The bear hair.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying Gino gets four touchdowns, mostly against
Speaker 1: Rams backups.
Speaker 2: But hey, he did what he had to do.
Speaker 1: He also had the craziest incentive day I've ever heard of.
Speaker 1: He made six million dollars an incentives toe.
Speaker 4: Yep, it's huge. This is the story of the game.
Speaker 2: How nervous you knew? Would you be?
Speaker 3: You got six millions.
Speaker 1: Because he needed to keep his percentage I think above
Speaker 1: sixty nine point two, which was crazy. He went into
Speaker 1: the day above it, but if he had like a
Speaker 1: fifty percent day, he would have gone below that.
Speaker 2: Needed to get over one hundred and eighty five yards.
Speaker 1: Actually it took him till pretty late in the game
Speaker 1: to get over that, but got that ended up at
Speaker 1: two twenty three, and they needed to get a tenth
Speaker 1: win two million dollars a piece.
Speaker 2: That's tough.
Speaker 1: That almost like I always say, like mentally, tennis is
Speaker 1: a tough sport when you when you're in a Grand
Speaker 1: Slam final, you might have like, you know, millions of
Speaker 1: dollars on the line and you're the only one out there.
Speaker 1: This is the closest thing to that in football, where
Speaker 1: so it's literally on your arm. He got it all done,
Speaker 1: although it was a lot harder than I would have
Speaker 1: expected Jimmy G and the Rams offense. Nick actually moved
Speaker 1: the ball pretty well and made the Seahawk sweat it out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, other than one really really ugly interception thrown by
Speaker 3: Jimmy G. Better than I thought he'd be, Like, he
Speaker 3: looked like the Jimmy G of old. The offense moved
Speaker 3: the ball. They finished with four and three yards of offense.
Speaker 3: It was a back and forth affair. Was a fun
Speaker 3: game to watch. At one point, I was like, I
Speaker 3: know I'm not writing this game, but if I had
Speaker 3: to write this game, I don't even know what i'd say.
Speaker 3: It's other than that, it's just fun and it's one
Speaker 3: team with backups and one team with nothing to play
Speaker 3: for other than you know, one more win. It also
Speaker 3: kind of bums me out. A note's not a perfect comparison,
Speaker 3: but go man, he looked good today, and he'd been
Speaker 3: looking a little up and down over the last six weeks.
Speaker 3: And I know it's against backups, but I was like, dah,
Speaker 3: these Seahawks are going to finish with ten wins and
Speaker 3: not make the playoffs. And if they just look like
Speaker 3: this a few more times recently, they'd be in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't think this is some disastrous season for
Speaker 2: the CX. You won ten.
Speaker 1: You lost on the fifth tiebreaker, which is a bizarre tiebreaker.
Speaker 1: By the way, it used to be a different tiebreaker.
Speaker 1: It used to be point differential, which I think is
Speaker 1: better than strength of victory, which is just random. But
Speaker 1: maybe you don't want teams like trying to score late
Speaker 1: and endangering their players all season.
Speaker 2: I think that was the reasoning behind it.
Speaker 4: I don't know if we'd be playing eighteen games.
Speaker 1: If that was well, that's a fair fair point. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: they get it done. The Rams did not care, and
Speaker 1: we'll never know what the Rams thought process was behind it. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think that the number one factor is they just
Speaker 1: thought rest was more important than anyone they could possibly play.
Speaker 1: They probably saw the writing on the wall that either way,
Speaker 1: they were going to play a team that they had
Speaker 1: played before, that they had prepared for before, and that
Speaker 1: it was going to be difficult. Let's listen to Sean
Speaker 1: McVay talk about the thought process after the game to.
Speaker 18: Get into this, saying, and you can't worry about ducking
Speaker 18: people if you want to try to be able to advance,
Speaker 18: and you're really expect to try to be able to
Speaker 18: make some noise when you get in it, you're gonna
Speaker 18: have to play people eventually. And so felt like it
Speaker 18: was the smart move for our football team, and really
Speaker 18: we had an opportunity to be able to come away
Speaker 18: with the win. And so we know it's going to
Speaker 18: be a great football team coming in here, and you know,
Speaker 18: we're excited about the challenge.
Speaker 2: That's what you love, Gary, Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1: And Sean's breaking out the first names as he did
Speaker 1: throughout that he was kind of fiery with everyone was
Speaker 1: asking about it, almost like, hey, we're the we were
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl champs.
Speaker 2: We're not worried about anyone coming in here. Don't blame him.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, they did have an injury today. Blake Korum broke
Speaker 1: his forearm. McVeigh revealed after the game, so they won't
Speaker 1: have their backup running back for the players, but otherwise
Speaker 1: they got out of this game healthy. They sat four
Speaker 1: of their five offensive line starters, and they finished the
Speaker 1: season at ten and seven, just like the Seahawks. That
Speaker 1: brings us to Philadelphia, where there really wasn't anything tangible
Speaker 1: on the line except for the Giants.
Speaker 2: I guess draft position.
Speaker 1: But Tanner McKee out there trying to make a career.
Speaker 13: Under center.
Speaker 3: Back looking fires complete touchdown.
Speaker 2: Me chicks, we'll tight down, yes, Merril Reese.
Speaker 1: Keeping it quick like this recap's gonna be a wip.
Speaker 2: To EJ. Jenkins for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was a game on the Eagle side
Speaker 1: full of just like oh yeah him, here's that guy.
Speaker 2: They get the job done.
Speaker 1: Tanner McKee forty one attempts, I mean they were slinging it.
Speaker 1: Kenneth Gainwell only had fourteen yards on eleven rushes and
Speaker 1: they couldn't get anything going on the ground, and he
Speaker 1: hand up with two hundred and sixty nine yards McKee
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns. Johan Dotson, oh caase game seven for
Speaker 1: ninety four, and I guess we have proof Patrick the
Speaker 1: Eagles backups are better than the Giants starters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and which was something I.
Speaker 2: Twenty to thirteen I should say.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was gonna take how he's backups versus you know,
Speaker 4: all credit to Joe Shane and what he's been able
Speaker 4: to accomplish things that haven't gone that great personnel wise.
Speaker 4: This is with Keie Ringo and Avonte Maddox playing a
Speaker 4: whole bunch of snaps in the secondary. No Darius Slay today,
Speaker 4: no Quinnon Mitchell, those guys played very sparingly today.
Speaker 1: Well to your point, like that might be the best
Speaker 1: CB four CB five in the entire NFL.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so that holds Malik Neighbors under eighty yards
Speaker 4: receiving as the Giants really couldn't do a whole lot
Speaker 4: on offense. And you know, Drew Locke kind of descends
Speaker 4: back to Earth away from Gus Bradley's defense. But the
Speaker 4: Eagles and Tanner McKeith threw the ball a whole lot
Speaker 4: forty one attempts for Tanner McKee against the Giants defense.
Speaker 4: If you're gonna throw forty one, us did to do
Speaker 4: it again.
Speaker 2: I like it because I talk about the records.
Speaker 1: I wanted to finish at the level they should and
Speaker 1: it's funny with the Packers losing that game because they
Speaker 1: kind of do feel like an eleven and sixteen more
Speaker 1: than a twelve and five team to me personally, Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong.
Speaker 2: The Eagles feel like a fourteen and three team.
Speaker 1: I'm glad their backups didn't didn't waste it for them.
Speaker 1: And the Giants, Yes, they are at three and fourteen.
Speaker 1: That feels about right as well. They actually move up
Speaker 1: a slot. We will talk about you know who lost it,
Speaker 1: but they are now going to be picking third in
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft. We don't need to spend too much
Speaker 1: time on the Drew lock era. We will see if
Speaker 1: Joe Shane and Brian Dable are back planning to do
Speaker 1: a show on the artist formerly known as Black Money.
Speaker 1: But I can't wait to get to the AFC action
Speaker 1: because it was it was fascinating seeing at how it
Speaker 1: all played out over the weekend. We're actually going to
Speaker 1: go in chronological order, come back from the break, and
Speaker 1: it'll suddenly be Saturday.
Speaker 2: Where the Ravens and the Steelers had some things to
Speaker 2: figure out.
Speaker 17: Pistol formation on third down, they give us to Henry
Speaker 17: sweeping to the left.
Speaker 2: Frank's attack page of the thirty twenty.
Speaker 4: Henry to the town he.
Speaker 6: Is gone touch down Derrick.
Speaker 17: Henry a forty three yard run and Derrick Henry continues
Speaker 17: to rewrite the NFL.
Speaker 1: Record book, sat out to Rod Woodson with the he
Speaker 1: gone Jerry Sandusky on w B A L Yes. Derreck Henry,
Speaker 1: after having eight yards at halftime, tax on another one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty in the second half, and by the
Speaker 1: time he hit that forty three yarder, the Ravens knew
Speaker 1: they were AFC North champions thirty five to ten against
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns team that started Bailey Zappi in the
Speaker 1: year twenty twenty five. How about that your Ravens. Patrick
Speaker 1: Claybon started off the weekend taking all the pressure off
Speaker 1: and just clinched that three seed nice and early.
Speaker 4: Yeah, nice and early. The trouble is it comes at
Speaker 4: the cost of Zay Flowers. Are gonna have to await
Speaker 4: the results and see if he could be available if
Speaker 4: they win this first game or if you know, mirrors
Speaker 4: happened in Zay Flowers is available for this playoff matchup.
Speaker 4: But other than that, everything you could hope for defense
Speaker 4: making plays again, albeit in a Bailey Zappi start. Also
Speaker 4: saw some dtr in this game, but it pretty much
Speaker 4: didn't matter. Baltimore looked very good. There were some drop passes,
Speaker 4: but Lamar and Mark Andrews connected. Rashot Bateman left the
Speaker 4: game as well after Lamark sent him on a sneaky mission.
Speaker 4: He quickly apologized after he got Bateman blasted by Thornhill
Speaker 4: on the middle of the field. A scary moment there,
Speaker 4: but Baltimore able to come through and push forward and
Speaker 4: make this kind of a laugher at the end. But
Speaker 4: it was. It did feel like it was slightly not
Speaker 4: in question, but closer than people might have thought earlier.
Speaker 1: On No, there was a possession where the Browns had
Speaker 1: the ball down fourteen to three, like late third quarter.
Speaker 1: Here we go and you're just thinking, like, okay, it
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like they could ever get to the number
Speaker 1: fourteen in this game, and they didn't. But let's get
Speaker 1: it going here, Ravens. But that's what's special about this
Speaker 1: team is that if the passing game isn't quite clicking,
Speaker 1: then Derrick Henry can finish him off. At the end,
Speaker 1: they still almost doubled up the Browns in total yardage.
Speaker 1: This is just what week eighteen games look like shook,
Speaker 1: So I don't take any negatives out of it for
Speaker 1: the Ravens. And I thought it was interesting to me
Speaker 1: that I thought Lamar Jackson was looking to run in
Speaker 1: this game very you know, a lot of times if
Speaker 1: his first read was gone, he just took off. He
Speaker 1: went nine for sixty three. I don't know if that
Speaker 1: was just like a warm up for the playoffs where
Speaker 1: he he's just gonna run when he absolutely needs to.
Speaker 1: And then those throws he had back to back to Andrews,
Speaker 1: one for the touchdown and one that got broken up,
Speaker 1: where he just had the accuracy and the touch and
Speaker 1: the anticipation. Not that that's surprising out of Lamar at
Speaker 1: this point, but it just shows what a next level
Speaker 1: passer he has been this season from the pocket.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt for one Thornhill because Lamar made two
Speaker 3: spectacular throws to Mark Andrews, one for the touchdown, Like
Speaker 3: you said, there was another one in the second half
Speaker 3: down the sideline where Thornhill is essentially playing all but
Speaker 3: perfect coverage, and yet Lamar throws him open because that's
Speaker 3: what Lamar does. And another knock on the people who
Speaker 3: say Lamar is not a good passer. Watch that tape
Speaker 3: that I'll tell you everything you need to know about
Speaker 3: him is.
Speaker 2: A Okay, that's a little bit of that.
Speaker 3: They're still out there. They're still out there. They promise
Speaker 3: you they're still out there.
Speaker 4: They've got them all your drafts, and they're waiting for
Speaker 4: things to go wrong here in the next Cike. Okay,
Speaker 4: they will absolutely show up.
Speaker 2: Well, that's fair.
Speaker 1: They transitioned into he can't win in the playoffs, guys,
Speaker 1: which you know, Lamar has got to play his best
Speaker 1: down the stretch. But I think he's gonna win MVP. Personally.
Speaker 1: I don't think we need to get into that today.
Speaker 1: We'll be responding when we find out the votes and everything,
Speaker 1: although we'll find out earlier than usual because the all
Speaker 1: pro votes come out way before the MVP votes, and
Speaker 1: people sort of realized like, oh, that those are the
Speaker 1: exact same voters. So when you find out all pro,
Speaker 1: you basically find out MVP. Unless Saquon somehow split the
Speaker 1: vote was.
Speaker 4: Not the AFC Pro Bowl starter, So there's perhaps.
Speaker 2: Those there are different voters, though different voter that's players.
Speaker 4: The three coaches.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know what else stuck out to me
Speaker 1: in this game. We don't need to spend like a
Speaker 1: crazy amount of time, like the pocket movement. He he
Speaker 1: kept waiting until the very last second. It was like
Speaker 1: a little dump off to Henry at one point was
Speaker 1: another throw over the middle. And on a weekend where
Speaker 1: we saw Joe Burrow just electric from the pocket like that.
Speaker 1: The combination of those two things, like the accuracy, the anticipation,
Speaker 1: but also the pocket movement before making a last second
Speaker 1: throw and then at the end and you're just handing
Speaker 1: it off to Derrick Henry and it's just absolutely awesome
Speaker 1: to watch that in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: And since Justice Hill went down, we have seen more
Speaker 4: Henry on third down in passing situations and nice to
Speaker 4: get him involved in the passing game. And without Zay
Speaker 4: Flowers in the playoffs, however things go pending his return,
Speaker 4: Lamar will have to hold onto the ball to get
Speaker 4: separation as the play calling gets kind of limited without
Speaker 4: their guy that you get it out to quickly on
Speaker 4: the screen passage.
Speaker 1: Okay, now, let's not get out of this game. Though,
Speaker 1: before throwing to one of the most important plays that
Speaker 1: happened in the NFL this season.
Speaker 17: Bailey Zappi will get the Browns of the line quickly,
Speaker 17: he snaps it in the shotgun, patiently waits his passes kicked.
Speaker 14: Off, Michael Pierce the interception and he slides down to
Speaker 14: end of the play. Michael Pierce with an interception words
Speaker 14: I never thought I would string together in the same sentence.
Speaker 14: And you should see the celebration on the Ravens sideline.
Speaker 13: We have given birth to a child.
Speaker 4: Would not be more surprised at the moment.
Speaker 1: What a great call there by, Jerry said, dust getting
Speaker 1: that was one of those you remember where you were moments.
Speaker 1: At least it was for me. I brought the family around,
Speaker 1: like my daughter, my wife. They came and they're just
Speaker 1: laughing that. That just made everyone happy, including Michael Pierce.
Speaker 2: Let's listen to him after the game. There was a
Speaker 2: thick fit. Great job, Kevin Harlan there, let's listen to
Speaker 2: Michael Pierce.
Speaker 4: Did I want to try six?
Speaker 10: So there's a long history of turning big guy interceptions
Speaker 10: of fumbles and all that stuff and the memes.
Speaker 4: So at the risk of ruining a career play like
Speaker 4: that for myself, it's time to go home.
Speaker 9: So it's not a gas.
Speaker 4: We're good.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I don't want to curse
Speaker 10: a lot on TV, but uh, oh s word, you
Speaker 10: know what I'm saying, say, oh my god, he really
Speaker 10: threw his football. So no, I got fairly decent hands.
Speaker 10: I'm glad I called it. And uh, like I said,
Speaker 10: coach spreach the smart football. And like I said, I
Speaker 10: don't want to end up on a meme on Instagram,
Speaker 10: my wife and everybody laughing at me.
Speaker 4: Something. We did the right thing. We got down to Kevin.
Speaker 2: Movie, shout out to Michael Pierce like one of the.
Speaker 3: Radars of the internet.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 4: But now he's getting memed. People are taking him going
Speaker 4: down on a knee and it's being memed.
Speaker 2: How so like in a bad way.
Speaker 4: Why that's no just to say like, hey, I'm not
Speaker 4: doing that. I'm done, Like, hey, it's just gonna be
Speaker 4: me and sir Lene. Michael Pierce.
Speaker 1: They should be. They should be meaning that jacket. I mean,
Speaker 1: his jacket game is strong. I remember going there and
Speaker 1: covering them in training camp one year, and Michael Pierce
Speaker 1: was just one of those guys that's kind of a
Speaker 1: glue guy that everyone in that organization absolutely loves. Has
Speaker 1: had a sneaky great year so yes, they get out
Speaker 1: of there, they get the division title. They don't get
Speaker 1: out of their healthy because of the save Flower injuries.
Speaker 1: That's disappointing. But they did get a great defensive performance.
Speaker 1: I know it's against the Browns, but it's still nice
Speaker 1: to see Nate Wiggins and a da fe Aowa and
Speaker 1: this defense playing so well towards the end of the scene.
Speaker 1: So they went early Saturday. They lock up the division title.
Speaker 1: That leaves the Steelers in a situation where they're just
Speaker 1: playing for seating and trying to get that losing taste
Speaker 1: out of their mouse.
Speaker 2: Could they do it against the Bengals?
Speaker 4: All right, fasten your seat belts. Here we go. Fourth
Speaker 4: down to twelve, fifteen seconds to go.
Speaker 5: Wilson sends two receivers out to each side of the formation.
Speaker 4: Russell has the ball, short drop fires a pass in complete.
Speaker 4: Yer Ruth couldn't hold on eleven seconds to go. That
Speaker 4: is coffin.
Speaker 12: Nailam baam baam.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna miss Dan Hord and Dave Lapham On w Cky.
Speaker 1: Bengals did their part. They got their fifth straight win.
Speaker 1: The defense stepped up. I thought it was fitting, even
Speaker 1: though they got a little lucky, kind of like they
Speaker 1: did at the end of the Broncos game where bo Nick's.
Speaker 2: Just missed a couple throws.
Speaker 1: I thought it was fitting, at least on this night,
Speaker 1: that it was the defense that finished it off, because
Speaker 1: they showed up in this game.
Speaker 2: They held the.
Speaker 1: Steelers under two hundred yards and it wasn't one of
Speaker 1: those games where oh, there's only like six possessions. No,
Speaker 1: they got the ball like eleven or twelve times in
Speaker 1: this game shook and the Bengals defense stuffed the run
Speaker 1: pretty well, and they confused Russell Wilson where he wasn't
Speaker 1: seeing open receivers, wasn't connecting down the field. The weather
Speaker 1: certainly played a factor, but on a night where Burrow
Speaker 1: had you know, an interception, a fumble, and under five
Speaker 1: yards per pass play for the Bengals, the Bengals showed
Speaker 1: they could win ugly, even if, as we learned later Sunday.
Speaker 2: I guess it's what they call a pyrreck victory.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, you asked where were you when you
Speaker 3: saw the Michael Pierce interceptions. I was on a plane.
Speaker 3: I was in an airport watching this game. And the
Speaker 3: one takeaway I had was this is gross. This is
Speaker 3: gross for Week eighteen per game with stakes, But that's
Speaker 3: the AFC North in a meaningful game late in the season.
Speaker 3: You know, I think that this probably signifies the low
Speaker 3: point in the Steelers season with Arthur Smith and Oseas
Speaker 3: so much that I have Steeler fan friends texting me
Speaker 3: they got a fire Arthur Smith, and I was like,
Speaker 3: it was Matt Canada. You wanted fired before. It's it's
Speaker 3: all his fault that that Russ is struggling to complete passes.
Speaker 3: His offense was a mess. It's been a mess for
Speaker 3: a while to get pickings back and it's still a mess.
Speaker 3: And the Bengals, because of that and because of their
Speaker 3: defensive performance, come away with, like you said, a peric victory,
Speaker 3: but a victory that ultimately.
Speaker 1: You know what, a little bittersweet shook. I think I
Speaker 1: led you into a fumble there. I don't think that's
Speaker 1: really the definition. In fact, they know.
Speaker 4: It great cost.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say the Ravens, yes, one know,
Speaker 1: if it was if they made the playoffs, but Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase had a serious injury, that would be like a
Speaker 1: pyrrhic victory.
Speaker 3: So what is this.
Speaker 4: This is a hollow victory.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a little hollow, and it's a reminder.
Speaker 1: Let's let's stay on the Bengals first, because I'm with
Speaker 1: you on everything you said. Shook on the Steelers and
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about them over the next week. But first,
Speaker 1: like Jamar Chase's season just nut.
Speaker 2: It's freaking crazy.
Speaker 1: End up with one hundred and twenty seven catches seventeen
Speaker 1: hundred yards, like, let you know, he gets the triple crown.
Speaker 1: It's just outrageous. Burrow's pocket movement to the end of
Speaker 1: the season just crazy. I think he's the closest thing
Speaker 1: to Brady. He reminds me so much of Brady, just
Speaker 1: how methodical he is the decision making. It is all great,
Speaker 1: but I don't want to let Zach Taylor and the
Speaker 1: Bengals off the hook because of the way that they
Speaker 1: finished seasons, because they lose early and win late. By
Speaker 1: the end of the year, it's like everyone just lets
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor and the Bengals off the hug. They've got
Speaker 1: fourteen and thirteen in Joe Burrow starts over the last
Speaker 1: two seasons and QB. You know, QB wins might not
Speaker 1: be a stat wins is a coaching stat and so
Speaker 1: that's on the organization and that's a failure. And it's
Speaker 1: still disappointing to me no matter how the wins, you know, happened.
Speaker 1: That they finished nine and eight wasn't a tiebreaker either.
Speaker 1: They just weren't good enough to make the playoffs.
Speaker 4: And that's funny. Immediately after the game, of the postgame interview,
Speaker 4: he's talking to Lisa Salters, Joe Burrow said, you know,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be weird to sit there and pull for
Speaker 4: the Chiefs, but we put ourselves in this situation, like
Speaker 4: collectively and not just on lu An Arumo's defense. There
Speaker 4: were some games, especially late, where Joe Burrow and the
Speaker 4: offense were making mistakes. Now those game in like thirty
Speaker 4: eight and forty four point games, but still they were
Speaker 4: on the field with a chance to win. And whether
Speaker 4: there were some bad coaching decisions from Zach Taylor down
Speaker 4: the stretch, just fumbles, miscommunications, missfield goals, it all added up.
Speaker 4: They did everything they could during that stretch to lose
Speaker 4: those games, and they did it in so many.
Speaker 2: Different ways, even this game. It's the weird thing.
Speaker 1: It's why I think it's okay to recognize that Burrow
Speaker 1: deserves to be on the MVP ballot that if you
Speaker 1: made your All Pro team whatever, But there's no way
Speaker 1: to me he deserves MVP when they had the ball
Speaker 1: at the end of so many of these games and
Speaker 1: they didn't win it.
Speaker 2: You can separate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, if you had a good event, Yeah that's
Speaker 1: all true, but you have to separate the quarterbacks somehow.
Speaker 1: And even in this game, their last two sessions were
Speaker 1: punts where they had a chance to put away. They
Speaker 1: needed one first down to salt this game away, and
Speaker 1: instead they go three and out. He takes a sack
Speaker 1: and they give the Steelers another chance. Okay, let's get
Speaker 1: to the Steelers part of it, because, yeah, that last
Speaker 1: drive reminded me of the Bears, except you have a
Speaker 1: thirty five year old quarterback who is cutting inside instead
Speaker 1: of going out of bounds to waste twenty seconds, who's
Speaker 1: throwing a negative three run on the very first play
Speaker 1: of that drive. That really clocked to me because I
Speaker 1: know Tony Romo, if he was doing that, game would
Speaker 1: have been going crazy. Romo is at his best doing
Speaker 1: game management stuff, and he would say, you can't make
Speaker 1: that throw. He threw it short to a running back
Speaker 1: who had outside you know, defenders on the outside with
Speaker 1: a minute fifty left, knowing they wasted thirty seconds there,
Speaker 1: they wasted more time on the next play. They spent
Speaker 1: ninety seconds on five plays, and then just so the
Speaker 1: blame could be spread around, shook like the play calling, yes,
Speaker 1: was a little weird. I didn't think they, you know,
Speaker 1: handled their time outs well before that drive. And then
Speaker 1: it ends where you can't blame it all on Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson because you know, George Pickens is out but you
Speaker 1: know is open deep, but I don't know where he's running,
Speaker 1: and he's kind of going running around and like in
Speaker 1: a circle. And then Friarmouth, who's had a lot of
Speaker 1: little mistakes this year it's kind of been on my radar,
Speaker 1: drops one at the end of the game too, So
Speaker 1: it's like it's not just Russell Wilson, but they didn't
Speaker 1: look like a well coached team. And they're one of
Speaker 1: the first teams in NFL history, one of three to
Speaker 1: enter the playoffs having lost four straight, so I think
Speaker 1: it's safe to say they're one of the worst playoff teams.
Speaker 1: It reminds me so much of that season four years
Speaker 1: ago where they started out well eleven and zero, and
Speaker 1: then they finished losing I believe, four out of five
Speaker 1: games there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they ended the playoffs twelve and four, and we
Speaker 3: all basically knew they were gonna be one and done.
Speaker 3: And it kind of feels like that again, their offense
Speaker 3: is essentially bottomed out. The approach game plan wise in
Speaker 3: this game didn't make They weren't able to run the
Speaker 3: ball effectively, but like in down on distant situations in
Speaker 3: which it's a one score game and it's first and ten,
Speaker 3: they're still trying to dump the ball off instead of
Speaker 3: just getting a few yards on the ground. And that
Speaker 3: was pervasive throughout this entire game, which maybe just scratch
Speaker 3: my head and think, are they that lost offensively that
Speaker 3: they can't even get into a rhythm with the script?
Speaker 3: And if that's the case, oh my god, playoffs are
Speaker 3: not gonna be good for you if if that's what
Speaker 3: continues to.
Speaker 1: Go on, right, because who are they as a team.
Speaker 1: They want to be a team that runs the ball
Speaker 1: and you mentioned it. They had fourteen runs and four
Speaker 1: passes at one point. It just wasn't working at all.
Speaker 1: The Bengals actually outran them like they were more efficient
Speaker 1: success rate wise by a lot with Khalil Herbert and
Speaker 1: then they want to be a team that gets after
Speaker 1: the quarterback and the Bengals Neither team pressured much in
Speaker 1: this game at all. Both both team's pressure rates were horrible.
Speaker 1: But Trey Hendrickson is the guy with three and a
Speaker 1: half sacks in this game in five QB hits and
Speaker 1: and might just sneak his way into a defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year. I don't know who's gonna win Defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year. It might be Trey Henderson. You
Speaker 1: do that on a Saturday night and there's no great candidate,
Speaker 1: and he won the sack total.
Speaker 2: I kind of think he's got a.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be tough because I mean, voters are looking
Speaker 4: over at at guys that had better defenses, right, they
Speaker 4: were a part of better defense.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be certain if I have to guess,
Speaker 1: because someone will just give the Broncos, which is fine.
Speaker 2: I'm fine with that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the solid season didn't get tried a lot. Gardner
Speaker 4: Minshew tried him on one of the worst throwers of
Speaker 4: the year, and he got a highlight a ninety nine
Speaker 4: yard pick six return. But Hendrickson gets one of those
Speaker 4: sacks in the closing moments where the Steelers have to
Speaker 4: try to move the ball and save time as well.
Speaker 4: Russ seventeen to thirty one in this game. But Pickens
Speaker 4: didn't just kind of meander on that one route. He
Speaker 4: had three drops in the game as well. Like moment
Speaker 4: by moment collectively, something was failing for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 4: on offense, and you all kind of got micro chasms
Speaker 4: of that on the final drive where they all took turns. Yeah,
Speaker 4: messing up.
Speaker 1: You know, TJ. Watt ends up with two pressure in
Speaker 1: this game. You cannot give TJ. Watt a Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year award this year after the last month
Speaker 1: he had nothing against him. I think he's playing through something.
Speaker 1: He played a lot of stuff. He just had a
Speaker 1: totally zero month, and so that's how these things work.
Speaker 2: So you just can't.
Speaker 1: I feel stronger about that than like any awards take
Speaker 1: I have, because I actually think there's still a chance
Speaker 1: that he gets it. Now, we'll talk about the the
Speaker 1: Steelers throughout the week. That was the fewest yards they
Speaker 1: had since twenty and seventeen. Russ was five for twelve
Speaker 1: for fifty one yards, with about ten minutes left in
Speaker 1: this game, and they almost cranked it up enough at
Speaker 1: the end, but they didn't. You do wonder if the
Speaker 1: way this season ended could possibly chase save Lou and
Speaker 1: Rumo's job. Guys like Cam Taylor Britt who played well
Speaker 1: in this game, like I think they helped themselves, you know,
Speaker 1: get a starting job back for next year. So things
Speaker 1: did matter, But ultimately the Bengals season is over, and yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't need to play koy with you. You know
Speaker 1: what happened on Sunday afternoon. We were waiting and we thought, oh,
Speaker 1: this could be fun. Maybe the Bengals could sneak in
Speaker 1: if the Chiefs backup and Carson Wentz could just surprise
Speaker 1: those Broncos. But Bo Nicks and Sean pay and they
Speaker 1: weren't having any of the great I formation.
Speaker 5: Knicks with a playfake now rolls to he's right bow,
Speaker 5: looks at the z frozen ball behind the Intend receiver,
Speaker 5: bounced up into the air, bounced again, and.
Speaker 7: Then caught by Devon le touchdown Denver.
Speaker 2: That ball was bounced not once.
Speaker 12: But twice, once by a Bronco, the second time, I
Speaker 12: believe by a.
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chief defender, and then.
Speaker 12: Devon Veley makes the catch his third receiving touchdown.
Speaker 4: Of the year.
Speaker 1: That was Dave Logan of ko A. Yes, the Broncos
Speaker 1: are headed to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: At ten and seven.
Speaker 1: They won thirty eight to nothing against the Chiefs backups. Chiefs,
Speaker 1: you're making all the other teams who played their backups
Speaker 1: and competed. You're making the teams that played against them
Speaker 1: look bad because this team looked like they just laid down.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I know there was like a motivation
Speaker 1: gap here, but man, it's just not good.
Speaker 2: They weren't good.
Speaker 4: Weren't good now they I'll think it was that they
Speaker 4: were trying. Like Carson Wentz goes out and starts to
Speaker 4: Andy Reid gets shut out for the first time as
Speaker 4: the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. You gotta
Speaker 4: go back to twenty twelve. Wow, last time the Chiefs
Speaker 4: got shut out. That's how bad they were on offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were trying, but when you're leading receivers or
Speaker 1: Nick Remigio and Peyton hendershot and you're playing a perfectly
Speaker 1: legit Broncos team, Ultimately, I believe this was the just result,
Speaker 1: even though I wanted to see the Bengals make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I really do think the Broncos were a better team
Speaker 1: overall all season. And yes, they kind of do look
Speaker 1: like the twelfth to fourteenth team that gets into the
Speaker 1: playoffs every year, but I think they are that good.
Speaker 1: And Bonnicks played awesome today. We played the luckiest moment
Speaker 1: of his day. But Sean Payton was on one and
Speaker 1: maybe the Chiefs defense was a little more vanilla than
Speaker 1: they would have been normally. But every single play call
Speaker 1: he had, guys were open. When Courtland Sutton was trying
Speaker 1: to make a catch that was tightly contested, he made it.
Speaker 1: When Marvin Mims needed to get his feet down, or
Speaker 1: veil A had to make that crazy catch like they
Speaker 1: made it, and Nicks was really on point. A lot
Speaker 1: of them were open receivers, but a couple of really
Speaker 1: nice seamballs. He led the team in rushing too, certainly
Speaker 1: his best game in a month. And I don't care
Speaker 1: who was out there, there were NFL players. The final
Speaker 1: first down total Nick twenty nine to five, the final
Speaker 1: yardage total four hundred and seventy nine to ninety eight.
Speaker 2: It left a weird taste, you.
Speaker 1: Know, in terms of not enjoying the afternoon slate, but
Speaker 1: I think they are deserved playoff.
Speaker 2: Contributors here and they will be headed to Buffalo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's not a typo. That yardage difference, that's legit.
Speaker 3: That's the Chiefs finishing under one hundred yards. So everybody
Speaker 3: who complained about their offense not looking spectacular. With Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 3: it could be much worse than Carson Wentz. It's aad quarterback.
Speaker 3: Wentz didn't look good. At one point. Chris Oladokin was
Speaker 3: in there taking snaps. Very ugly performance from the Chiefs,
Speaker 3: who obviously didn't have much to play for it, but
Speaker 3: still you thought they put up a better fight. But
Speaker 3: back on Nicks for a second. When you're throwing a
Speaker 3: swing pass to Marvin Mims and Audric Estime is out
Speaker 3: there lead blocking you all the way to the end zone,
Speaker 3: you know it's your day. When Devon Valley is catching
Speaker 3: a double tipped touchdown pass, you yes, exactly, We'll do
Speaker 3: it that way. We'll stick to the brand. The Broncos
Speaker 3: dominated and came through in a way on a day
Speaker 3: that they absolutely had to in convincing fashion. Doesn't change
Speaker 3: my opinion of them, but it's nice to see them
Speaker 3: finish the job.
Speaker 4: BONNICKX hit his first eighteen passes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one of them.
Speaker 4: The vale was absolutely going to be his first incompletion.
Speaker 4: But the universe decided, Hey, this is the Chiefs will
Speaker 4: not be lucky here. We'll get rid of the Chief's
Speaker 4: luck for this meaningless Week eighteen game. Save Hollywood Brown
Speaker 4: catching a ball off his toe in the Super Bowl
Speaker 4: here coming up in a few weeks. But it's there
Speaker 4: was never a point like the Broncos scored on all
Speaker 4: of their possessions in the first half. That last one
Speaker 4: they had a chance, they wound up kicking a field goal,
Speaker 4: and then they didn't have their first punt until the
Speaker 4: second half, and then after that the only Bonnicks didn't
Speaker 4: really have to do anything. It was handoffs late they
Speaker 4: scored a touchdown, and then it was Jared Stidham and
Speaker 4: Zach Wilson. Tom Sean Payton, who loves to run it up,
Speaker 4: didn't even really get a chance to do it with
Speaker 4: his rookie quarterback.
Speaker 1: It was that nasty no he I mean he was
Speaker 1: coming out a halftime doing the interview with Tracy Wolfson
Speaker 1: kind of already knowing the game was over. Just saying
Speaker 1: like they just got to, you know, keep focus. We
Speaker 1: know their starters aren't out there, but just don't pay
Speaker 1: attention to that. At the risk of taking anything out
Speaker 1: of this game, maybe it does point out that the
Speaker 1: Chiefs are even more than most teams, extremely reliant on
Speaker 1: their very best players, just because like the backups, it's
Speaker 1: a steep fall from Chris Jones to what's going on there.
Speaker 1: It's a steep fall from Trent McDuffie and some of
Speaker 1: their cornerbacks that were out there, like Shamari Connor, like
Speaker 1: will be starting in the play. It wasn't you can't
Speaker 1: bench everyone, but the wide receiver is like, it's not
Speaker 1: a great wide receiver room in terms of the backup,
Speaker 1: it's not a great room of backups. And that's why
Speaker 1: it feels like they're more vulnerable. I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: the fact they'll have twenty four days off. I would
Speaker 1: be worried if any team out there, you know, signs
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz next year to be their start. I can't
Speaker 1: believe people were saying that that that kind outside happening.
Speaker 1: It's like, have you watched Wentz?
Speaker 4: This is not you just wanted to hide an obscurity,
Speaker 4: But no, the Chiefs had to be fifteen and one
Speaker 4: and Carson Wentz got exposed.
Speaker 1: So yes, a perfect day. If you were a Broncos fan,
Speaker 1: you got to get excited. This is a team with
Speaker 1: an over underwin total of five and a half coming
Speaker 1: into this season. It is an incredible achievement to get
Speaker 1: to ten wins and to get to the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: we'll be talking about them throughout the course of the week. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go to the metal lands. When when the game started,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins had a chance to make the playoffs. They
Speaker 1: were second in line. Remember that the Bengals had won,
Speaker 1: so that prevented a scenario where everyone could lose and
Speaker 1: the Broncos would make it. But when the Dolphins started,
Speaker 1: they thought they had a chance. It is time for
Speaker 1: the Sunday Drive, presented by the all new hybrid Toyota camera.
Speaker 19: Rogers takes the snap, drops back, looks right, looks over
Speaker 19: the middle, steps up with the pocket.
Speaker 2: Dodgers a sock runs to the.
Speaker 7: Five throws back of the ends, cut to don Ty
Speaker 7: Adams touchdown. I have a touchdown pass for Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 7: his stern of the day.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say, Aaron Rodgers is a troll,
Speaker 1: but he has some like trollish tendencies.
Speaker 2: Contrarian tendencies.
Speaker 4: Yeah, contrarian does a disservice to contrariy. You could say
Speaker 4: his control.
Speaker 1: Okay, if you were if you somehow could come up
Speaker 1: with like a scenario two troll the Jets and their fans,
Speaker 1: it would be throwing for four touchdowns in your final
Speaker 1: we think game as a Jet to knock the Dolphins
Speaker 1: out of the playoffs and win thirty two to twenty. Yes,
Speaker 1: the offense was going up and down the field. That
Speaker 1: was Bob was Shusan for the last time this season.
Speaker 1: The Jets finish at five and twelve, and the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: with Tyler Huntley at quarterback, have one final disappointing performance
Speaker 1: and they finished with a losing record. Nick for the
Speaker 1: first time with Mike McDaniel, Where do you want to start?
Speaker 1: Just I did not watch this game, So tell me
Speaker 1: about how the Jets offense at least got it done.
Speaker 3: I think you can hear in Bob A. Shusan's voice there.
Speaker 3: It was so satisfying. It's like he'd wanted to make
Speaker 3: that call all season long, and yet it came in
Speaker 3: a meaningless game that might be his last. They looked
Speaker 3: like we thought they should look when he joined the Jets,
Speaker 3: and it didn't start pretty. He threw a pick on
Speaker 3: a deflected pass very early in this game. The Dolphins
Speaker 3: end up getting just three points out of that, and
Speaker 3: then from there they hit the ground running. They roll
Speaker 3: was four touchdown passes. He's navigating the pocket like Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgers has long been known to do. He's throwing, he's
Speaker 3: moving to his right in the pocket, then whipping a
Speaker 3: pass to his left to his old buddy Allen Lazard
Speaker 3: for a touchdown. That was the highlight that made me think,
Speaker 3: oh wow, that's classic Rogers right there. Where has that
Speaker 3: been this whole season? The touchdown pass to Adams was
Speaker 3: another one. It's a shame. It's a shame that had
Speaker 3: happened in Week eighteen because it was fun to watch
Speaker 3: for the first time all year. I was like, these
Speaker 3: Jets can't be stopped except for maybe that early season
Speaker 3: game against the Patriots, but it didn't matter. Ultimately. The
Speaker 3: other story of this game was the Jets defense being opportunistic,
Speaker 3: forcing four turnovers out of the Dolphins, who looked as
Speaker 3: if they figured out in about the third quarter that
Speaker 3: they were out of the playoffs once they saw that score,
Speaker 3: because everything just went downhill. A complete team win for
Speaker 3: Jeff Fahlbrick and the Jets just as they go into
Speaker 3: the most uncertain offseason in oh I don't know, three
Speaker 3: or four years for New York.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been it's been a while. That touchdown that
Speaker 4: we heard Bob was shuslen call to DeVante Adams was
Speaker 4: the eighty third time that Aaron Rodgers was throwing a
Speaker 4: touchdown pass to DeVante Adams. They passed Mark Clayton and
Speaker 4: Dan Marino for number three all time as units. In
Speaker 4: a great moment for that particular family, the family that
Speaker 4: Aaron Rodgers still has. And there's no much, there's not
Speaker 4: much to celebrate or look forward to for the Jets,
Speaker 4: but that was a nice moment for two of the greats.
Speaker 4: And John O. Smith said after the game, it was
Speaker 4: human nature to look up at the scoreboard and see
Speaker 4: that the Dolphins had been eliminated. I don't know how
Speaker 4: much of an impact that had, but John who got
Speaker 4: in the end zone late, but there was really the
Speaker 4: defense that seemed kind of listless against Rogers and the.
Speaker 1: Jets right, And they also didn't score an offensive touchdown
Speaker 1: until the fourth quarter, So even if they were affected
Speaker 1: by it, I mean they had a six to nothing
Speaker 1: lead early, it was seven to six late in the
Speaker 1: first half before they gave up another touchdown. They weren't
Speaker 1: going to be good enough with Tyler Huntley and without
Speaker 1: their top two tackles to beat a playoff team much
Speaker 1: less than New York Jets. So we looked towards the
Speaker 1: off season and Tyreek Hill out here getting that off
Speaker 1: season content machine cranked up. Appreciate you, Tyreek for that.
Speaker 1: Here he is after the game, he says, I have
Speaker 1: to do what's best for me and my family, if
Speaker 1: that's here or wherever the case may be. I'm about
Speaker 1: to open up that door for myself. And then a
Speaker 1: little later, as he was talking, he says, I'm out, bruh.
Speaker 1: It was great playing here, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I have to do what's best for my career.
Speaker 1: So it looks like we have, you know, another another
Speaker 1: thing to talk about as we lead up to the
Speaker 1: free agency and the combine.
Speaker 4: And he's out. Maybe he meant out of netlife today.
Speaker 1: Right, Maybe he meant he's out of the like continuing
Speaker 1: to talk about it here, but he said he also
Speaker 1: says it was great playing here, but he has to
Speaker 1: do what's best for him at for the best of
Speaker 1: his great and.
Speaker 2: There was some there was some whispers about this.
Speaker 1: This might be a mutual thing where if they can
Speaker 1: find the right deal, it's best for both sides. At
Speaker 1: the end of this, they did give him a new
Speaker 1: contract like right before this season, which in hindsight they
Speaker 1: might not feel great about. But that's something to think about.
Speaker 1: I do think this build of the Dolphins is going
Speaker 1: to need some reworking because it was all about the
Speaker 1: timing between Tua and these receivers, and if Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: is not there and he's getting older, it wasn't that
Speaker 1: great a year for him to begin with. He ended
Speaker 1: up with two catches for twenty yards today. By the way,
Speaker 1: you know, they didn't get the running game going. They're
Speaker 1: actually one of, if not, depending on how you measure it,
Speaker 1: the oldest teams in the entire NFL shook. We don't
Speaker 1: know for sure whether Chris Greer, their GM, will be back,
Speaker 1: they've said Mike McDaniel, I would assume that he's going
Speaker 1: to be safe, but I think this is a team
Speaker 1: that's going to have a lot of changes, and that
Speaker 1: makes some sense. Give me a Dolphins thought before we go, Chuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, it's no knock on class Campbell because he's
Speaker 3: kind of an ageless wonder. But when he's essentially your
Speaker 3: best front seven player, that's a problem. And I know
Speaker 3: losing Jalen Phillips to an injury was you know, hurt, obviously,
Speaker 3: but I think it starts in the trenches on both
Speaker 3: sides of the ball. For them, you've got to build
Speaker 3: inward and then outward. I also think they're a little
Speaker 3: too star dependent right now, which is why the Tyreek
Speaker 3: thing makes a lot of sense. But I mean, even
Speaker 3: on a day where a team that couldn't run the
Speaker 3: ball consistently all year, they get one hundred and twenty
Speaker 3: one yards in Devin Chan that they don't do anything
Speaker 3: with it. Like there are issues that extend beyond the
Speaker 3: fact that Tyler Huntley was her quarterback that were pervasive
Speaker 3: throughout this entire season, especially on the defensive side. They
Speaker 3: had their brief highs, but they're going to need to
Speaker 3: make some changes in personnel in the offseason. We'll see
Speaker 3: who's making those changes. It's definitely a weird feeling going
Speaker 3: to the offseason. Yeah, a Dolphins team that so many
Speaker 3: people thought was going to be right there for really
Speaker 3: this year.
Speaker 1: In the last few years, not all eight and nine's
Speaker 1: are equal, and this one's worse than most because of expectations.
Speaker 1: I think, because that it's a little foundation shaking in
Speaker 1: terms of that they weren't able to run the ball,
Speaker 1: They didn't beat good teams essentially all season long. That
Speaker 1: the win over the forty nine Ers was like maybe
Speaker 1: the best win they had. It is just crazy. These
Speaker 1: are two teams we'll be talking about plenty coming up.
Speaker 1: That was the Sunday Drive presented by the all new
Speaker 1: hybrid Toyota Camray. Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe.
Speaker 1: Learn more at Toyota dot com slash Camry. So we've
Speaker 1: talked about how the early slate of games on Sunday
Speaker 1: were exciting. It ended up being a little bit of
Speaker 1: a letdown late. But in Las Vegas it was important
Speaker 1: if the Chargers won or not to help determine what
Speaker 1: their seating would be, and they were playing to win.
Speaker 20: Here we go from the two Dobbins in the backfield
Speaker 20: pervert to throw looking left, now rolling to his right,
Speaker 20: gonna use his feet, still trying to extend the play
Speaker 20: to the end zone.
Speaker 2: Pot mccaukee, it's good.
Speaker 20: He launched us into the stands at a sea of
Speaker 20: powder blue. Talk about a quarterback receiver connection. McConkey was
Speaker 20: in the middle of the end zone. It started making
Speaker 20: his way to the corner as soon as he saw
Speaker 20: quarterback on the run.
Speaker 1: I love that two point conversion. I love me some,
Speaker 1: justin Herbert, I love me some Matt money Smith on
Speaker 1: Ky Sr. Chargers went thirty four to twenty in a
Speaker 1: game that was tight, that the Raiders led late in
Speaker 1: the second quarter, but ultimately this Chargers offensive surge continues
Speaker 1: Week eighteen.
Speaker 4: If you are a win probability believer, that touchdown before
Speaker 4: the Lad McConkie two point conversion that you just had
Speaker 4: just heard Matt money Smith call, that was it. The
Speaker 4: win probability hovering around forty eight fifty and then it
Speaker 4: was all Chargers pretty much after that in it was
Speaker 4: a Lad two point conversion. Ladd had a solid game.
Speaker 4: This was the Quinton Johnston game. Guys fourteen targets. He
Speaker 4: caught thirteen of them for one hundred and eighty six yards,
Speaker 4: including a one handed down the sideline to get to
Speaker 4: one eighty six. When Harball says that's it, eventually everybody
Speaker 4: gets arrest. Here, the Chargers get exactly what they want.
Speaker 4: They've fully changed our perception of who they are offensively.
Speaker 4: When the start of the season it was pound the
Speaker 4: Rock Chargers, GrITT and grind. Here they almost went fifty
Speaker 4: to fifty run past thirty seven attempts for Justin Herbert,
Speaker 4: thirty five carries on the ground. A couple of those
Speaker 4: were huge Herbo runs. He had sixty yards on the
Speaker 4: ground pulled away.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: A few Raiders defenders where you had a decent AOC
Speaker 4: game where the wheels kind of fell off late as
Speaker 4: the Chargers were able to get pressure. He had an
Speaker 4: interception as well. But this Chargers offense is really humming,
Speaker 4: and if Justin Herbert's playing like this, they will I'm
Speaker 4: considering as good as Baltimore looked out here playing against
Speaker 4: the Chargers, I'm comfortable playing the division rival as opposed
Speaker 4: to the way Justin Herbert and this Chargers team looks right.
Speaker 2: Oh, no question.
Speaker 1: My son is a Texans fan and he was rooting
Speaker 1: for this result, and I was saying, no, bro, you
Speaker 1: don't want you don't want this, you don't want hervo
Speaker 1: and He's like, no, the Chargers aren't as good as
Speaker 1: the Steelers. I'm like, the Steelers have lost four straight
Speaker 1: and this Chargers team, I didn't know this was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: They just put up twenty six first downs four hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy three yards and again, you can look at
Speaker 1: the opposition, but good offenses put up those sort of numbers.
Speaker 1: And I'm rethinking this Chargers team in general, this is
Speaker 1: going to become a trendy take. I suspect this week.
Speaker 1: But I've seen crazier Super Bowl teams than the Chargers. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying like they're fourth in line. Obviously, you
Speaker 1: have Lamar Jackson and you have Josh Allen, and they're
Speaker 1: behind the one of the greatest teams of all time
Speaker 1: and the greatest quarterback I've ever seen. Like those are
Speaker 1: your three favorites, But I've seen more surprising and less
Speaker 1: talented Super Bowl teams than this Chargers team, who are
Speaker 1: peaking at the right time.
Speaker 2: Shook they're getting.
Speaker 1: They to me, just show what Harbaugh can do to
Speaker 1: development wise in his staff because Johnston. How about Disley
Speaker 1: comes back from his injury, has a really good game here,
Speaker 1: Dobbins is healthy again, and the way they've developed that defense,
Speaker 1: they're they're dangerous. And I haven't looked at the numbers yet.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're going to be favored in Houston. And
Speaker 1: I like that because I like spreading out all the
Speaker 1: potential contenders. If the divisional round is Burrow, I mean,
Speaker 1: so see there's a slip there, because we do love
Speaker 1: you Burrow. I mean, you are you deserve it to
Speaker 1: be watching best us. But if the divisional round is
Speaker 1: Mahomes v. Herbert and Lamar versus Josh Allen, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's pretty sweet.
Speaker 2: But that would be pretty sweet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, because they're peaking at the right time.
Speaker 3: Like you said, I mean that's often what gets teams
Speaker 3: like this that on paper don't quite have as many
Speaker 3: weapons as some of the other teams. That's we'll get
Speaker 3: some of the deep playoff runs as that they peak
Speaker 3: at the right time. Now, that went over the Patriots.
Speaker 3: I was like, you're playing the Patriots.
Speaker 4: Just whatever.
Speaker 3: But Quentin Johnson has been a guy who has not
Speaker 3: lived up to his status as a first round pick.
Speaker 3: Let's just face it, he's come together more this year
Speaker 3: than he did in his dreadful rookie year. But to
Speaker 3: have a game like this, and I don't care if
Speaker 3: it's against the Raiders, who sometimes gives some offenses more
Speaker 3: trouble than you think, especially with Max Crossley's out there,
Speaker 3: which he wasn't. But when you have him going off,
Speaker 3: then suddenly it's not just relying on Lad mccackey Stone
Speaker 3: Smart doesn't even show up in the box score, and
Speaker 3: that's been one of their go to targets the last
Speaker 3: few weeks. So they are starting to peak at the
Speaker 3: right time. And you never want to count out a
Speaker 3: Jim Harbaugh coach team in the playoffs. So I agree,
Speaker 3: it'll be really interesting. We'll see.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Shout out to AOC, the subject of my most medium
Speaker 1: warm take of all time, that he's going to have
Speaker 1: an eight to ten year career for throwing Rock Bowers
Speaker 1: a garbage time touchdown to get Bowers his fifth touchdown
Speaker 1: of the season. Browers now has more receptions than any
Speaker 1: Rock Bowers.
Speaker 2: I love you man.
Speaker 4: He also got Jacobe Myers's first one thousand yard season
Speaker 4: his career, So yeah, AOC, that's what pros do keep
Speaker 4: him hope floating.
Speaker 1: One injury note on this game is that Rashawn Slater
Speaker 1: didn't play a little confusing. He's getting an MRI. He
Speaker 1: wasn't on the injury report. Not sure what happened there,
Speaker 1: but he's the talented Pro Bowl left tackle for the Chargers,
Speaker 1: so obviously that is a big injury. With a matchup
Speaker 1: against the good pass rushers in Houston coming up, let's
Speaker 1: take a quick break. I'm going to come back finish
Speaker 1: out the games and also talk about one coaching change,
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more Antonio pears to someone we're
Speaker 1: going to be keeping an eye on back after this.
Speaker 9: Hollard in the backfield, Levis under center and a bumble
Speaker 9: here as it's chased down by at the twenty five,
Speaker 9: twenty fifteen ten, Barnett still going at the five, taking
Speaker 9: people with them.
Speaker 2: All the way to the uds.
Speaker 12: Barnett does it again, his second.
Speaker 2: Touchdown of the year. Big guy running and scoring.
Speaker 1: Wonder if you could have gotten the odds for Derek
Speaker 1: Barnett scoring two touchdowns in one year.
Speaker 2: That is about one million to one.
Speaker 1: The former Eagle lineman scoops and scores. Yes, that's Mark
Speaker 1: Vandermere excited. The Texans, mostly playing their backups after the
Speaker 1: first couple of drives, beat the Titans in Tennessee twenty
Speaker 1: three to fourteen. The Titans remain winless when they wear
Speaker 1: those Oilers uniforms, just bad vibes, bad karma. You're just
Speaker 1: sticking it in their eye. I think it's untoured and
Speaker 1: they were punished. I mean, you're you're good enough to
Speaker 1: like put on the Oilers' uniforms and send these tweets
Speaker 1: just trying to trying to needle your the team in
Speaker 1: the city that you stole the team from, and you
Speaker 1: can't even get anyone to go to your games.
Speaker 2: I can't remember.
Speaker 1: A game that had less fans at it than this one,
Speaker 1: and I don't blame them, to be clear, it is
Speaker 1: not the fans fault.
Speaker 2: It is raining there and it is pointless.
Speaker 1: But that place was absolutely empty and the Texans just
Speaker 1: took care of business.
Speaker 4: The second saddest fan shot that I have seen this week.
Speaker 4: The saddest was the one Browns fan in Baltimore after
Speaker 4: Michael Pierce interception, just standing there while everybody went nuts.
Speaker 4: The second one was the person sitting in the absolute
Speaker 4: top section eight oh one in Nissan Stadium in Nashville,
Speaker 4: in the rain, with an ocean of available seats in
Speaker 4: front of him, watching the Titans turn the ball over
Speaker 4: time after time against the Houston Texans. It was a
Speaker 4: miserable looking performance. And I don't know if it was
Speaker 4: the uniforms or maybe Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, Oh
Speaker 4: my god, combining to do absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2: All right, at the end of the let's let Rudolph
Speaker 2: off the hook.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 1: I went hard on the Titans here, you know, for
Speaker 1: game debut, I picked him. I didn't know Levis was
Speaker 1: gonna start that that actually would have changed my mind.
Speaker 1: Lewis started, played most of the game. Rudolph actually went
Speaker 1: seven for nine for seventy yards and was moving the ball.
Speaker 1: They had like a fourth down stop. They couldn't run
Speaker 1: the ball on the goal line. And they're like, oh uh,
Speaker 1: we're trying to tank here. He's doing too well. Let's
Speaker 1: put Levis back in. So Lewis started was terrible, and
Speaker 1: then they put him back in, and he actually ended
Speaker 1: up with the lowest QBR of.
Speaker 2: Any player in any game all season.
Speaker 4: Oh, the title goes to Will Levis the game for that,
Speaker 4: You mean not in the game where he threw his
Speaker 4: picked six against Chicago.
Speaker 1: Crazy shout out to QBR because he like had a
Speaker 1: passing touchdown in deep garbage time and ended up with
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy five yards and seventeen attempts. So
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have thought that would have happened. But my
Speaker 1: eyes say QBR ball because it was that bad. The
Speaker 1: two play sequence of him going absolutely crazy, celebrating with
Speaker 1: like the money at the Strip club, you know, celebration
Speaker 1: after he throws a dime to Calvin Ridley down the
Speaker 1: field to get a thirty nine yard catch to Ridley,
Speaker 1: and everyone there on the Titans knew that got.
Speaker 2: Ridley over a thousand yards. That got Ridley in.
Speaker 3: That's why he was making it rain Okay.
Speaker 2: Cool, I love it.
Speaker 1: But he was celebrating that thing because I think he
Speaker 1: loves ball, he loves his teammates.
Speaker 2: He's going absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1: And then the whiplast for the very next play to
Speaker 1: be that fumble recovery return. It was just like Will
Speaker 1: Levis and that wasn't really his fault. I don't think
Speaker 1: he put it in this. Yeah, you know, the ball
Speaker 1: carrier's belly and it just was a fumble. It was
Speaker 1: just a bad but that was kind of Titans in
Speaker 1: a nutshell this season, and so you did it. You
Speaker 1: got the number one overall pick. I don't have much
Speaker 1: more to say.
Speaker 4: No shout out to Damian Peercey had a ninety two
Speaker 4: yard gatch run in this game. That was part of
Speaker 4: the big part of the difference.
Speaker 1: I also watched this game thinking Davis Mills is definitely
Speaker 1: better than any Titans quarterback. I was kind I'm always
Speaker 1: moderately impressed by Davis Mills.
Speaker 4: Congratulations to a very tall man for clearing a very
Speaker 4: low bar.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The one thing actually you should take from this
Speaker 1: game is that they played this perfectly. This is the
Speaker 1: dream of what you want to do when you're resting
Speaker 1: some of your starters.
Speaker 2: CJ.
Speaker 1: Stroud played one drive. He hit Nico Collins on a
Speaker 1: touchdown pass. He goes six for six, made a couple
Speaker 1: of nice throws. They were good on third down on
Speaker 1: that drive. Then you got him out of there. You
Speaker 1: kept the defensive starters in for a couple drives, you
Speaker 1: got some stops, and then the backups won the game
Speaker 1: for you and ended along losing streak. And so that
Speaker 1: was absolutely perfect for the Texans that at least get
Speaker 1: off the schneid, not join the Steelers as a team
Speaker 1: with a four game losing streak heading into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And not for nothing, keep my undefeated streak in the
Speaker 1: over under draft that we do every season, oh alive,
Speaker 1: three straight seasons undefeated. I needed this Texans win to
Speaker 1: get over the top. Maybe we'll review some of these
Speaker 1: picks at some point. It's really not that important, but.
Speaker 4: That's very important.
Speaker 1: It was on my mind that I think it's it's
Speaker 1: now up to a combined eleven and zero.
Speaker 4: Look at that.
Speaker 1: It's bankable, and maybe the Texans, maybe maybe they'll play
Speaker 1: their best next week. We'll be able to talk about
Speaker 1: that throughout the course of the week. I think they'll
Speaker 1: feel better about themselves after this. Let's stay in the
Speaker 1: AFC South. Let's go to Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: Second down in one for the Colts. Flacco goes out
Speaker 2: of the pistol formation.
Speaker 4: Who's Michael Pitman Junior in motion?
Speaker 8: Back in the throw is Flacco hashtime since the.
Speaker 4: Rainbow down the right sideline. Underneath it is Alec Pears.
Speaker 12: He's got it touchdown forty yards deep.
Speaker 2: Bob Alan Pierce the Midwestern missile.
Speaker 5: Flac put it right on the and the coldstraw first
Speaker 5: blood with a huge play in the passing game.
Speaker 4: It's six to nothing. We're just over a minute gone
Speaker 4: in the first quarter.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Alec Pierce, sneaky candidate for most Improved
Speaker 1: player of the season. That was an award sneaky candidate
Speaker 1: for surprise value add of the season. He entered Sunday
Speaker 1: averaging twenty one point nine yards per catch and because.
Speaker 2: Of that catch there, he just raised it even more.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the last time you'll hear Matt Taylor on
Speaker 1: WF and I Colts win twenty six to twenty three.
Speaker 1: Maybe the last time this stich in Chris Ballard combo
Speaker 1: is around. But the Colts did get a win in overtime.
Speaker 1: Sixty minutes was not enough to decide this one shook.
Speaker 3: When your first highlight and your highlight that's chosen for
Speaker 3: the show, arrives in the first minute and ten seconds
Speaker 3: of the game, you know the rest of the game
Speaker 3: is going to be kind of gross. And that's what
Speaker 3: this game was. It was Joe Flacco dropping back in
Speaker 3: tossing prayers that may or may not have been caught
Speaker 3: his receiving corps did a great job of bailing him
Speaker 3: out a couple of times today. Michael Pittman, Josh Downs,
Speaker 3: and Alec Pierce all did a great job. It's Mac
Speaker 3: Jones dropping back in trying to find guys downfield and
Speaker 3: missing them by five yards over their head, but then
Speaker 3: he finds Brian Thomas Junior down the field for a
Speaker 3: big completion. It's Jonathan Taylor running thirty four times for
Speaker 3: one hundred and seventy seven yards in a touchdown, and
Speaker 3: yet somehow that game makes it to overtime. It was
Speaker 3: a good way for Gus Bradley's defense. Surprisingly, I know
Speaker 3: it doesn't sound like it to go out because he's
Speaker 3: basically guaranteed to be gone from there because they got
Speaker 3: stops in overtime to be able to get them this victory.
Speaker 3: But then again, it is against the Jaguars who do
Speaker 3: a nice job of fighting to the end for Doug Peterson,
Speaker 3: who we should also probably expect to be gone and
Speaker 3: still come up short because that is the way this
Speaker 3: entire season has gone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian Thomas with another big game, gets to eighty
Speaker 1: seven catches and over twelve hundred and fifty yards incredible
Speaker 1: rookie season. As we're taping, we got some breaking news.
Speaker 1: Jim Ursay has announced there will be no changes for
Speaker 1: the Colts.
Speaker 15: Oh.
Speaker 1: I believe in Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen and our
Speaker 1: collective ability to make the improvements needed to take us
Speaker 1: to the next level. In twenty twenty five. We're going
Speaker 1: to talk about the Patriots shortly. The length of this
Speaker 1: statement indicates to me he had made up his mind
Speaker 1: before Sunday and he just wanted to nip this in
Speaker 1: the bud and just let the fans kind of know
Speaker 1: this is going to be the plan.
Speaker 2: Do you think it's the right move?
Speaker 4: Patrick? I did notice a absence between Chris Ballard and
Speaker 4: Shane Steikeen, no mention of Gus Bradley in that and
Speaker 4: down the stretch, at least for the Colts playoff hopes,
Speaker 4: the defense led by Gus Bradley probably the most glaring error,
Speaker 4: whether it was Anthony Richardson or Joe Flacco down the
Speaker 4: stretch to give up three percent again of the Giants
Speaker 4: points that they scored at MetLife this season in one
Speaker 4: game to the Colts to essentially doom their season a
Speaker 4: week after they were somehow given another chance as the
Speaker 4: AFC playoff race, teams kind of started the limp across
Speaker 4: the finish line. It's I think consistency and having that
Speaker 4: same staff be around as good for Anthony Richardson's development, yep,
Speaker 4: which is kind of the most important part. They just
Speaker 4: got to figure out how they are gonna build this
Speaker 4: roster and come with a different mindset to the to
Speaker 4: the value savings picks that they've tried to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there could be some major changes on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. We don't know if Ryan Kelly's gonna be back.
Speaker 1: There's some defensive decisions to make. Jimmercy says, I know
Speaker 1: fans who wanted a media change in leadership will be disappointed.
Speaker 1: That means we have a lot to prove and I
Speaker 1: like this decision. Yeah, I actually think continuity is underrated.
Speaker 1: I just didn't like the idea of taking Ballard out
Speaker 1: and then adding a new GM. I think you do
Speaker 1: it all together, and it's not like you're setting them
Speaker 1: up to fail next year. You're just giving them a
Speaker 1: third year of this stike in era and then evaluating. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if they don't make the playoffs next year, we know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen, but with Richardson in mine, with continuity
Speaker 1: in terms of the coach and the GM being on
Speaker 1: the same page in mind, I also get the Colts'
Speaker 1: frustrations and their fans and if they're back in this
Speaker 1: same spot next year, they're gonna be even angrier and
Speaker 1: say I told you so. But I think in this moment,
Speaker 1: this makes sense to me. All right, let's go to
Speaker 1: one NFC game, which is kind of like a straggler,
Speaker 1: but it's the one that didn't matter, so we didn't
Speaker 1: want to put it up at the top. Actually, it
Speaker 1: was kind of fun to watch today. Cardinals forty nine
Speaker 1: ers to Arizona.
Speaker 19: Harrison Why to the ride on first and ten at
Speaker 19: the San Francisco twelve three tight end set, shotgun snap
Speaker 19: Murray throw a fade right side.
Speaker 20: Of the end zone, im the money to Marvin Harrison Junior.
Speaker 2: Touchdown. What a throw by Murray.
Speaker 19: That's a sport touchdown pass tying a career high.
Speaker 13: You can see that coming a mile away. Marvin Harrison
Speaker 13: Junior lined up to the rights of Kyler Murray one
Speaker 13: on one, and sure enough, Kyler Murray put it out
Speaker 13: there and Marvin Harrison Junior went.
Speaker 1: And got it Kyler Murray with four touchdowns in two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty two yards as the Cardinals put up
Speaker 1: forty seven forty nine ers a forty burger to finish
Speaker 1: the season at eight and nine, forty nine ers fall
Speaker 1: to six and eleven. Trey McBride got another touchdown catch
Speaker 1: in this game.
Speaker 2: What is he?
Speaker 1: Derek Barnett two touchdowns now, although to be fair to McBride,
Speaker 1: he did have a rushed one and a fumble recovery one,
Speaker 1: so he actually has four touchdowns yeah total this season.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the Cardinals, who I think slightly beat
Speaker 1: expectations this season and were more fun to watch than
Speaker 1: most teams.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And the disappointment in how the season ended was
Speaker 4: because they exceeded those expectations point where you started to believe,
Speaker 4: and then they had the late closing seconds loss to Seattle,
Speaker 4: the one to the Minnesota Vikings, who again or fourteen
Speaker 4: got fourteen wins on the season. It was a spectacular
Speaker 4: run for the Cardinals for a stretch and then we
Speaker 4: kind of got glimpses into what could have been. That
Speaker 4: Marvin Harrison junior touchdown came after Keith Jarld Clark had
Speaker 4: what we thought was a pick six before, but they
Speaker 4: said he did not catch it, and so it comes
Speaker 4: back out. Kyler throws the touchdown pass to Marvin. As
Speaker 4: you mentioned, Trey McBride gets in the end zone. This
Speaker 4: is a game they're playing without James Connor and they're
Speaker 4: going up against a pastronaut led forty nine ers offense
Speaker 4: where Sean Murphy Bunting and Juwan Jennings got into it
Speaker 4: to the point where they got two offsetting personal fouls.
Speaker 4: Wow on the same skirmish, and Jawan Jennings got ran
Speaker 4: from this game with nine hundred and seventy five receiving
Speaker 4: It was fifteen yards away, but he gets run from
Speaker 4: the game for fighting with Sean Murphy Bunting. It was
Speaker 4: Josh topstorm for three hundred twenty six yards. Up and
Speaker 4: down the field they went, but the forty nine Ers
Speaker 4: could make the plays down the stretches of the Cardinals
Speaker 4: because a fun week eighteen finish the football.
Speaker 1: Which have some small takeaways that I think are meaningful.
Speaker 1: Pierce All finishes the season really strong, six for sixty
Speaker 1: nine and a touchdown, So two really good games from him. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was the ultimate Past're not games four hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty six yards of forty nine Ers offense. But he
Speaker 1: did have three turnovers and that was kind of the
Speaker 1: difference to the Cardinals take advantage, and you know, I like
Speaker 1: the continuity here. The forty nine Ers aren't making any
Speaker 1: changes in terms of I don't think any part of
Speaker 1: their coaching staff, at least at the coordinator or above level,
Speaker 1: and certainly not at the GM level. I think the
Speaker 1: Cardinals are going to come back. That is a loaded division,
Speaker 1: But I think these are four organizations that are run
Speaker 1: pretty well there in the NFC West. You cannot say
Speaker 1: the same about what's happening in New England. Let's go
Speaker 1: to five gifts it off his left year to receiver
Speaker 1: stack on a high stap.
Speaker 2: Wanted it waltzing look from Joe Milton.
Speaker 4: What the exclamation mark? Good energy here to start this
Speaker 4: football game for the offense.
Speaker 13: After Drake Bay comes out and boughtsoci what the call
Speaker 13: getting Milton outside off the play fake.
Speaker 12: That's a good first drive for Joe Milton, who has
Speaker 12: a play to snap all year.
Speaker 2: Gets the week eighteen goss is it with a perfect flip? Oh,
Speaker 2: Scott Zolac, didn't hear from you?
Speaker 1: Much this year, but we got you on the Joe
Speaker 1: Milton rushing touchdown with a flip celebration. Yeah, the Patriots
Speaker 1: won twenty three to sixteen in a game with a
Speaker 1: lot of Joe Milton highlights.
Speaker 2: His best play was probably the one that was called back.
Speaker 4: It was so good we ran that highlight. The play
Speaker 4: didn't count, we ran the highlight on the show because it.
Speaker 2: Was so Who caught that one? Was that Douglas?
Speaker 4: I think it was Pop Douglas.
Speaker 1: That's one of the throws of the year by Joe Milton,
Speaker 1: but he had plenty of other good throws. He got
Speaker 1: a touchdown in this game to Keyshaun Body. He had
Speaker 1: two hundred and forty one yards. And yeah, the Patriots won.
Speaker 1: They will not pick first overall. They beat the Bills
Speaker 1: backups and the Bills. I don't know if they really
Speaker 1: cared about the Patriots getting the first overall pick, but
Speaker 1: if they did care removing Mitch Trubisky, who started the game,
Speaker 1: well technically actually he came in for Josh Allen, who
Speaker 1: had played one snap, handed the ball off, and then
Speaker 1: Trubisky came in removing him for Mike White. When you
Speaker 1: actually have a lead in the second half, it was
Speaker 1: sixteen to fourteen Bills. That would be the way to
Speaker 1: prevent your division rival from getting the one pick. I
Speaker 1: don't really think they cared that much, but that's what happened.
Speaker 1: Joe Milton led them to three more field goals after that,
Speaker 1: and the Patriots won. I thought that would be the
Speaker 1: biggest item to come from this game. The Bills were
Speaker 1: locked in at the two seed all along. As we
Speaker 1: said before, they're going to be playing the Broncos. But
Speaker 1: Bob Kraft did not waste any time and he made
Speaker 1: an announcement that Grod Mayo is out after one season
Speaker 1: as Patriots head coach. I can get into the statement,
Speaker 1: but your thoughts, Patrick, We talked about this possibility coming.
Speaker 1: I heard from people who are closer to the situation
Speaker 1: from me that it wasn't going to happen, and yet
Speaker 1: I thought, based on the evidence of what happened this season,
Speaker 1: there was a strong chance, and it happened. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: because they want to go get Mike Rabel.
Speaker 2: Maybe not. We'll find out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the maybe aspect, I think you make this change,
Speaker 4: it perhaps signals that you know what you want, you
Speaker 4: think you have an inside shot at that. But the mystery,
Speaker 4: the consternation, the substrifuge coming out of Foxborough is not
Speaker 4: new to me. This has been happening the whole time.
Speaker 4: The problem is the Patriots had the one of the
Speaker 4: best quarterbacks, the best quarterback to ever play the game,
Speaker 4: and they were winning Super Bowls, and that winning is
Speaker 4: the ultimate deodorant to all of this chaos that is
Speaker 4: constantly happening. And we look back and we've got stops
Speaker 4: of coaches interviews, We've got GMS leaving and then not leaving,
Speaker 4: then Nick Cassario goes, we have multiple investigations and lawsuits,
Speaker 4: all of this stuff. None of it is new. This
Speaker 4: stuff has always happened in New England. The problem is
Speaker 4: they were losing. They lose the exact same number of
Speaker 4: games that they lost last year with the best coach ever.
Speaker 4: And so now you go one and done with a coach.
Speaker 4: I just hope for the Patriots and for the coach
Speaker 4: that they hire that they want him to be there
Speaker 4: d and he wants to D. No, I want them
Speaker 4: to lose every game. But you know that's just my
Speaker 4: relationship with the franchise. But you know, just for the
Speaker 4: sake of the people on the staff and the players
Speaker 4: and the fans who yes, you know a lot of
Speaker 4: them are great people. I'm sitting next to one. I
Speaker 4: would just like everybody to want everybody to be there.
Speaker 4: Clearly wasn't the case this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the same franchise that employed Jack Easterby
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Let's look at craft statements. Now,
Speaker 1: he obviously wanted this to work out. It's not like
Speaker 1: he didn't want Drod Mayo to work out. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: when it became a situation, am I going to stand
Speaker 1: by this guy that I told everyone that I wanted
Speaker 1: as my coach for five years? He told that story
Speaker 1: to a lot of people. They did this trip to
Speaker 1: Israel at one point that Mayo was on and he
Speaker 1: saw this leadership in Mayo, and when Mayo was getting
Speaker 1: head coaching interviews a couple off seasons ago, then he
Speaker 1: signed him to the contract that guaranteed he'd be the
Speaker 1: head coach in waiting. Let's look at the statement that
Speaker 1: Kraft made. He said he informed Mayo that he will
Speaker 1: not be returning For me personally, this is one of
Speaker 1: the hardest decisions I've ever made. I've known Jirod for
Speaker 1: seventeen years. It goes on from there, but he said
Speaker 1: when other teams started requesting an interview and my feared
Speaker 1: I would lose him and committed to making him our
Speaker 1: next head coach, winning our season opener on the road
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati only strengthened my convictions. He goes on and
Speaker 1: essentially says, I'm a steward of the team. I apologize
Speaker 1: for what's happened the last couple of years. And I
Speaker 1: do think he knows Robert Kraft that this is a
Speaker 1: dent on how he's viewed publicly. I think he was
Speaker 1: telling he was at the Celtics game the other night.
Speaker 1: They didn't show him on the jumbo dron because they
Speaker 1: know at this point Patriots fans will boo him, like
Speaker 1: how much the fan.
Speaker 2: Like reaction to him matters. Only he could say that.
Speaker 1: But I think people look at the Brady Belichick era
Speaker 1: differently already because of what's happened, and he saw the
Speaker 1: way this is going, and he maybe sees a life
Speaker 1: preserver in Mike Rabil, whether that's a good idea or not,
Speaker 1: and thinks I need to get out of this now
Speaker 1: to possibly save it, because clearly he made a bad
Speaker 1: choice with Durrowd Mayo, like if he's making if he's
Speaker 1: pulling the ripcord after one year, it speaks to organizational
Speaker 1: problems that go far beyond Drod Mayo, who was put
Speaker 1: in a even though I think he did a horrible
Speaker 1: job this year and ultimately this was the right decision
Speaker 1: in a vacuum, that just gets to it. He was
Speaker 1: put in a terrible spot, shook and isn't at the
Speaker 1: most fault of what's going on with the Patriots.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was pretty convinced that they were gonna hang
Speaker 3: on to him because of the one and done, because
Speaker 3: he was so convinced that this was the guy to
Speaker 3: succeed Belichick and everything that you just discussed about the
Speaker 3: lead up and making him the head coach in waiting.
Speaker 3: So the fact that he got fired was a shock
Speaker 3: to me. But the results also do speak to themselves.
Speaker 3: They were dysfunctional, they were disorganized. He mishandled a lot
Speaker 3: of different situations, even go back to the Matthew Judon
Speaker 3: thing during camp and making it kind of a bit
Speaker 3: of a disagreement that happened in public, and you know,
Speaker 3: obviously there's two parties involved in that, but also what
Speaker 3: did he have to worry with, you know, what type
Speaker 3: of talent did he really have? On either side of
Speaker 3: the ball. Their offensive line was a mess. They lacked
Speaker 3: weapons for most of this season. Kaisehon Boody's had a
Speaker 3: nice little spot, but you know, jalb Polk's been a
Speaker 3: no show and that's a guy that they lifted over
Speaker 3: Lad McCaughey, as Matt Mouney Smith like to highlight in
Speaker 3: the recent performance. And defensively, your best front seven guy,
Speaker 3: Christian Barmore, you know, it has to deal with blood
Speaker 3: clots and can't play for most of the season, So
Speaker 3: you lack talent back there too. You have minimal pieces
Speaker 3: right now, What were you really going to do? And yet,
Speaker 3: if Mike Rabel wasn't out there, I don't know if
Speaker 3: they necessarily would have made this change, even as ugly
Speaker 3: as it has been this year.
Speaker 2: Okay, so a couple of points there.
Speaker 1: I don't think this four and thirteen was the same
Speaker 1: as last year's four and thirteen because Number one, you
Speaker 1: got really good quarterback play out of Drake May. Number two,
Speaker 1: their schedule was much harder last year. They faced one
Speaker 1: of the easiest schedules in the league this year, and
Speaker 1: then number three. Mayo was a defensive coach, and the
Speaker 1: defense which was excellent last year, top ten with basically
Speaker 1: the same players who you gave a lot of money to.
Speaker 1: I know there were injuries, but there were a lot
Speaker 1: of injuries last year too. The defense, which was his
Speaker 1: side of the ball, fell off a cliff, So that's
Speaker 1: on the field off the field. I think it's what
Speaker 1: got him fired though, was that the way he handled
Speaker 1: the media and his players was a mess. That he
Speaker 1: wasn't consistent in terms of I think the leadership he
Speaker 1: had publicly and it was just just a little sloppy
Speaker 1: in front of the microphone. It really reminded me of
Speaker 1: Freddie Kitchens and Nate Hackett more than anyone in that.
Speaker 1: I just think he was a little not ready for
Speaker 1: that part of the job. That's my opinion, And like
Speaker 1: it's a bad situation because of what I said before that, Yes,
Speaker 1: I think the antipathy towards Mayo and Boston was absolutely
Speaker 1: more because he was a black head coach and so
Speaker 1: combining all that together is messy and I don't think
Speaker 1: necessarily going back to the well if that's what happens
Speaker 1: with like Mike Rabel and Josh McDaniels is a good idea.
Speaker 1: Maybe it gets you back up to a certain level,
Speaker 1: maybe not even But I actually think everything that happened
Speaker 1: in the past that's the past. You really think Rabel
Speaker 1: and McDaniels are the ones thinking in the future of
Speaker 1: where the NFL is going. It's a little poisonous to
Speaker 1: me to go back to everything like trying to recreate
Speaker 1: the old times.
Speaker 2: It shows to me that maybe they're out of ideas.
Speaker 1: And I think that was also part of what got
Speaker 1: Mayo fired is I think Rabel will be able to
Speaker 1: hire a better staff. Mayo could not hire this staff
Speaker 1: because I don't think he had contacts. He had never
Speaker 1: worked outside of that building. He didn't have an idea
Speaker 1: of how to do offense. He didn't know how to hire.
Speaker 1: Everyone on the inside was just like more Belichick kids
Speaker 1: and other guys who had been there, and it was tough.
Speaker 1: And he was on like the twelfth pick of his coordinator.
Speaker 1: So it was just a lot that went into it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just it's bad. This is a
Speaker 1: bad franchise and yet they have two franchise quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: We have just made the ENVA of the league.
Speaker 1: Two young franchise quarterbacks under cheap contract control for three
Speaker 1: straight years. We got Drake May and Joe Milton. Forget
Speaker 1: losing the one pick. We can trade Joe Miller for
Speaker 1: a first.
Speaker 4: Yeah, flip Joe Milton for a couple of first rounders
Speaker 4: based on his Yeah, why not get him in there?
Speaker 4: I just the chaos is is going to be there? Uh,
Speaker 4: the roster issues are there. Mike Rabel, who famously likes
Speaker 4: to actually get in there and work with Lineman during
Speaker 4: during draft season, like he's integral to that draft process.
Speaker 4: How does he feel about the current front office staff?
Speaker 4: If he's the choice, he might have it, He might
Speaker 4: have an option. Chicago may be able to make a
Speaker 4: very interesting.
Speaker 2: With the Jets.
Speaker 1: He's already interviewed with the Jets, who are also interviewing
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan on Tuesday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one of those three places has a GM in place,
Speaker 3: though they have the two don't. Yeah, well two of
Speaker 3: them do.
Speaker 4: And so it's like, how does how does the process work?
Speaker 4: What's the long term plan? You just got rid of
Speaker 4: somebody who was tied to the previous regime. Rabel, while
Speaker 4: he had a great run in Nashville with opportunities like
Speaker 4: they were close. It's not like the Titans just kind
Speaker 4: of flamed out all the time. The Titans to lead
Speaker 4: over that Bengals team that was an Aaron Donald sack
Speaker 4: away from winning the Super Bowl. The Titans conceivably could
Speaker 4: have been there during this label era. And it's you know,
Speaker 4: he'll have his choice, But I just think everybody needs
Speaker 4: to go in and make sure that this is what
Speaker 4: they want because.
Speaker 1: A lot of those times I don't want any of
Speaker 1: it are not changing. I want an offensive minded head coach.
Speaker 1: I think you look at what if I said all year,
Speaker 1: what matters about the Patriots Drake May, it's all that matters.
Speaker 1: So if you're and maybe Rabel has an idea of like,
Speaker 1: here's the offensive staff I'm going to hire, and hear
Speaker 1: the names and it's a great idea, I don't know.
Speaker 1: All I know is he's he's recently gotten a chance
Speaker 1: to hire two different offensive coordinators and his choices were
Speaker 1: Tim Kelly and Todd Downing. And so that doesn't give
Speaker 1: me a ton of confidence that he's the right guy
Speaker 1: to bring this great young quarterback into the future. We
Speaker 1: will see and yes, Bill's fans, we'll be talking about
Speaker 1: your team plenty. I think it's going to be a
Speaker 1: long playoff run. Eric, I'm looking forward to it. Okay,
Speaker 1: now it's time, yes to talk about the best teams.
Speaker 2: Fourteen teams remain. It's a tournament.
Speaker 1: It's single elimination, Nick, it's the greatest tournament known to man.
Speaker 1: Forget the NCAA tournament. They got sixty eight teams they're
Speaker 1: playing and all this nonsense. It's a tournament and I,
Speaker 1: for one, I'm looking forward to it, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to previewing it. We've got our normal slatest shows.
Speaker 1: We're going to do a live show actually on Saturday
Speaker 1: night recapping those games, but we'll be back here on
Speaker 1: Sunday night with you. Appreciate you all season long, shook
Speaker 1: on these regular season games, you know, less games on
Speaker 1: upcoming Sundays, but we'll be doing that wild card game
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: How was a trip back by the way to Cleveland.
Speaker 3: Well, it was like a typical flight across the country
Speaker 3: when you connect through one airport. But it was great.
Speaker 3: It's been a privilege to be here, and I'm glad
Speaker 3: that we're not done, that the playoffs are just getting started.
Speaker 3: Where it's you know, you said you call it a tournament.
Speaker 3: If you're western Pennsylvania or somewhere along the East coast,
Speaker 3: you might even call it a tournament, which has always
Speaker 3: bothered me.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we're gonna have to try to get permission
Speaker 1: from the Claybonn family to stay to stay late these
Speaker 1: Sunday nights.
Speaker 4: Let's let's do it moving forward. Let's run it back.
Speaker 4: The tournament. It is all that. It is the randomness,
Speaker 4: the way the things go. You can have a really,
Speaker 4: really good team done. That's that's the blessing and the
Speaker 4: curse of a single elimination tournament. And then after the fact,
Speaker 4: everybody will pretend like the results were dictated and we
Speaker 4: knew it all along. But that's all along.
Speaker 1: I don't know anything all along, but we want we
Speaker 1: will be making our predictions and uh spoiler, I'm sticking
Speaker 1: with my preseason one who was Bill's Live. You know,
Speaker 1: as we go along, you know the path, we'll have
Speaker 1: different ways, uh to pick it. But yeah, we have
Speaker 1: a lot to get to before then. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I will be back on Monday, hopefully, got a little
Speaker 1: special guest.
Speaker 2: It's going to be kind of like a tight little
Speaker 2: news show on Monday.
Speaker 1: But yeah, for patri Clavon, for Chris behind the Glass,
Speaker 1: Eric Roberts, Nick Schuck, congratulations to Kevin patra on the Lions.
Speaker 2: Yes, when there's only thirteen games left of the season,
Speaker 2: you know football is back