Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Love's a fifty burger and
Speaker 1: we got a couple today. Welcome to the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast, not from the Chris Westling podcast studio, but
Speaker 1: remotely across the south Land. This is Dan Hansis joined
Speaker 1: with heroes Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. Mark, you promised that
Speaker 1: you'd be back despite the COVID and you were a
Speaker 1: man of your word. Oh what a warrior. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: a warrior? Um. Yeah, I got rid of that cough,
Speaker 1: which I thought would be unpleasant slash unrewarding to anyone listening.
Speaker 1: So that's mostly gone. So the rest of it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like a piece of junk floating through space,
Speaker 1: but I can do so. M hm, space junk. We
Speaker 1: just have you on for your look though. Mark. That's
Speaker 1: like you can on mute and just be our our man, Candy.
Speaker 1: I see what you want. So all right, Well, I
Speaker 1: mean listen, we are powering through like the NFL. I'm
Speaker 1: not feeling great right now. Greg. Completely indestructible. I mean
Speaker 1: that guy is even human. We've been asking that for
Speaker 1: years and now we might have some proof. Um. But
Speaker 1: Mark and I are both here, the whole gang together,
Speaker 1: and yes, Week seventeen is nearly in the books now, um,
Speaker 1: and yet the regular season has one more week to go.
Speaker 1: But where we stand now things we have some clarity
Speaker 1: after Sunday. We're gonna go through all the games as
Speaker 1: we always do, of course, but we have let's see,
Speaker 1: we have six of the eight divisions decided, so congratulations
Speaker 1: to the Bengals, Titans, Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers, Bucks, um A,
Speaker 1: f C East and the NFC West still to be determined.
Speaker 1: And we have some playoff heat uh right now in
Speaker 1: terms of the wild cards as well, which is a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. We're gonna get into all of it
Speaker 1: and um and usually Greg I like to have like
Speaker 1: a throw it to rosent All to give us he
Speaker 1: was like the prototype for the Karnecki Steve Karnaki, uh
Speaker 1: and give us all the computations. But it's does that
Speaker 1: guy even know football? I mean, I have questions you
Speaker 1: those numbers, um, But it's fairly straightforward. The Colts beat
Speaker 1: the Jaguars next week, they get a wild card spot.
Speaker 1: Then you have the Raiders and Chargers playing next week
Speaker 1: and they better be in prime time. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a winning in most likely Arizona is gonna make it
Speaker 1: in the wild card, and then you have Philly, New
Speaker 1: Orleans and San Francisco to those three teams are in
Speaker 1: Am I missing anything? Greg? No, it's I believe one
Speaker 1: of the quieter Week eight teams. Well it's the only
Speaker 1: week team, but it's one of the quietest. It's also
Speaker 1: the loudest weekend team as well. Right, it's I think
Speaker 1: so much was decided on Sunday in such a manner
Speaker 1: that there's not as much drama going into the final
Speaker 1: week as there could be. But that's fine. We'll still
Speaker 1: have a couple of We'll have a couple of little things.
Speaker 1: It's nature. Wouldn't an extra week of football. Let's say
Speaker 1: it went twenty five weeks, we'd get closer and closer
Speaker 1: to having no spicy final week scenarios. So and I
Speaker 1: think random, it's just random because of the results today,
Speaker 1: how it fell. But there's still some pretty good stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm there. You go, Greg, Ever, the company men and
Speaker 1: Mark I imagine although disappointment the Cleveland Browns eliminated from
Speaker 1: contention today, Um, it doesn't sound like you were looking
Speaker 1: forward to a primetime game against the Steelers so much,
Speaker 1: especially in your weekends. State physically now all that it's
Speaker 1: all just watching it for fun. I guess ah yeah.
Speaker 1: Fun would be the keyword of tomorrow Night's Brown Steelers game,
Speaker 1: but I I would. I would just say that, Like
Speaker 1: one thing I've been saying all long is I want
Speaker 1: the teams that deserve to get in there to be there. Now,
Speaker 1: there's a couple of arguments for against some of the
Speaker 1: people still in contention, but watching like Cincinnati, watching some
Speaker 1: of these teams rise up, I don't need Cleveland and
Speaker 1: know they didn't deserve it, they didn't earn it. Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: you can knock out the Steelers officially on Monday night.
Speaker 1: That is fine. Fun fun, I mean it's I feel
Speaker 1: like you're going to have more fun with that than
Speaker 1: I am, because it's it's a dark note compared to
Speaker 1: we worry where we were a year ago. Alright, I
Speaker 1: was cheered up nicely to get into the Bengals. But
Speaker 1: that's fine. I'm gonna move forward. I'm gonna process it
Speaker 1: and see it didn't you by saying that you didn't
Speaker 1: move forward, it was already ruined. It was already taken
Speaker 1: away from me. But it's okay. We're just tied. It through.
Speaker 1: I know you stick. You set it up beautifully. Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm the point. I'm like Robert Salo in the postgame
Speaker 1: press conference. I'm not saying who did it, but everybody
Speaker 1: knows who did it. It was Mike Lafloor. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's get to Cincinnati, where the Bengals made a statement
Speaker 1: that they are a team to be reckoned with in January.
Speaker 1: Two seconds left, this will be a twenty yard attempt
Speaker 1: from the middle of the field to send the Bengals
Speaker 1: into the postseason. Kevin huber Is ready catches the snap,
Speaker 1: puts it down. The kick is yeah, gog. The Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengal clinch the a f C North and prove they
Speaker 1: can beats anybody as they rallied from fourteen down on
Speaker 1: three separate occasions and beats the Kansas City Chiefs. No bongos.
Speaker 1: Right out the gate, Dan Horde and Dave laplam with
Speaker 1: a call for w c k Y and just unsolicited
Speaker 1: advice production advice to the people over at w c
Speaker 1: k W. Let's get some paramology Mikes on the field.
Speaker 1: I want to hear Cincinnati going off in that spot.
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson kicked the twenty yard field goal as time
Speaker 1: ran out. The Bengals earned their first a f C
Speaker 1: North title and playoff appearance in six years with a
Speaker 1: truly wild win over the Chiefs. This was a game
Speaker 1: where Jamaar Chase and an NFL rookie record and Bengals
Speaker 1: franchise record with two hundred and sixty six yards receiving
Speaker 1: and three touchdowns and eleven k just Burrow through for
Speaker 1: four sixties six and four scores. This, of course a
Speaker 1: week after Burrow through for five what was it fifty
Speaker 1: or five forties something like that. So I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: this is where we are. The Bengals rallied from three
Speaker 1: fourteen point deficits against the a f C West champion Chiefs,
Speaker 1: who Greg by the way, had won eight straight before
Speaker 1: this game. And now you look at the Bengals as
Speaker 1: a team. Man, if they could beat the Chiefs in
Speaker 1: a shootout like this, they could beat anybody. They really can.
Speaker 1: They did the game plan in the second half that
Speaker 1: so many teams have tried, which is like, keep the
Speaker 1: ball away from the Chiefs. It's like, that's good, but
Speaker 1: you have to score touchdowns every time you have the ball.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs only got the ball three times in the
Speaker 1: second half the Bengals not like they were playing slow,
Speaker 1: but they go five minutes, um, they go four and
Speaker 1: a half minutes, they go six minutes on their last
Speaker 1: three drive. Score on them all. And the play of
Speaker 1: the game is that third and seven to Jamar Chase.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you leave. I think it was
Speaker 1: to our various ward in single coverage against Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: on third and seven from midfield at a point when
Speaker 1: you can get off the field. It was a crazy
Speaker 1: set up. It was a great play though by Jamaar Chase,
Speaker 1: great recognition by Joe Burrow, and I hate always making
Speaker 1: it about the coaches. Ultimately, you need a quarterback and
Speaker 1: a receiver who can convert that play, and they did it.
Speaker 1: Tony Dungee was going nuts on as much as Tony
Speaker 1: Dungee can go nuts in any capacity, but he was.
Speaker 1: He was fairly animated on NBC Football Night in America
Speaker 1: pregame show. He couldn't believe the defense DA City and
Speaker 1: stayed in not just on that play but throughout the
Speaker 1: game and man coverage not giving the cornerbacks help, especially
Speaker 1: on a day where Jamaar Chase went completely nuclear and
Speaker 1: you knew anytime was throwing his way, it was going
Speaker 1: to be a big play. I believe there were six
Speaker 1: plays of thirty plus yards by Cincinnati's offense in this game.
Speaker 1: Mark Yeah. And it's you know, it's consistency now because
Speaker 1: we saw it a week ago, we saw it against
Speaker 1: the Steelers twice, we saw it against the Ravens in
Speaker 1: the first game, and it's kind of what got me
Speaker 1: excited about him way back when. Not me alone, but
Speaker 1: it was like, there is no way to kind of
Speaker 1: predict what the ultimate playing power of this Bengals team
Speaker 1: is and what you see from Burrow over the last
Speaker 1: two weeks. I get that we all agree that he's
Speaker 1: a top five quarterback right now in an m VP candidate,
Speaker 1: but it's like, there's no reason to think he couldn't
Speaker 1: even double or triple in what he's doing. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's unbelievable and their big playability. This has to be
Speaker 1: a Chiefs team thinking, wow, this is what we used
Speaker 1: to do to other people. We used to put them
Speaker 1: into a fix that they could not get out of mentally.
Speaker 1: And I like Zach Taylor at the end of the
Speaker 1: game in the in the interviews, he was emotional Uh.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, we've been through a lot, and
Speaker 1: I mean he he's hung on to a job status
Speaker 1: last couple of years before this year, where I'm sure
Speaker 1: that was not easy. But secondly said, we knew that
Speaker 1: we had to go go in there and go for
Speaker 1: it in tough situations. I think they've become much more
Speaker 1: aggressive than they were at other times in the season
Speaker 1: when they kind of took their foot off the gas
Speaker 1: a little bit. And I'm with them that you come
Speaker 1: out of this with this result. It should confirms something
Speaker 1: to everyone because whether the Chiefs were still that high
Speaker 1: water mark to beat them, it's not last year's Chiefs,
Speaker 1: but they were as hot as anyone on defense, their
Speaker 1: offense was heating up, and the Bengals went and outclass them.
Speaker 1: I couldn't be more impressed. And I'm actually quite happy
Speaker 1: for the Westlan clan, even though I joined the Wesleyans
Speaker 1: and locking up the wrong team in this Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: get to We'll get to that in a minute. I
Speaker 1: want to say one thing about Zach Taylor. They didn't
Speaker 1: they didn't lock up the Chiefs to be kid, that
Speaker 1: was me, that was me. We got a double I
Speaker 1: cannot express to you how much I hated what Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor did at the end of the game, fourth and
Speaker 1: inches with under a minute left in a tie game,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati decided to go for a touchdown, and instead of
Speaker 1: kicking the McPherson field goal, and Joe Burrow throws incomplete
Speaker 1: in the end zone, the Chiefs get flagged for legal
Speaker 1: use of hands limp now Burrows limping limping on the sideline.
Speaker 1: They called on Brandon Allan to uh neil twice and
Speaker 1: then McPherson kicks the field goal, and I just I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, I just couldn't. I couldn't believe that
Speaker 1: they put themselves in that position. Imagine what happens there
Speaker 1: if there's no flag that goes down and the Chiefs
Speaker 1: takeover and win that game. But I guess there is
Speaker 1: the other way to look at it. Again, like you
Speaker 1: have so much faith in your guys. But I thought
Speaker 1: that was crazy talk what they did there, and they
Speaker 1: got away with it well, And there was a penalty
Speaker 1: to play before they went for it twice. You know,
Speaker 1: there was offsetting penalties on the Chiefs and the Bengals.
Speaker 1: It was. It was a crazy sequence. You know, they
Speaker 1: were Romo was wondering if that they were intentionally not
Speaker 1: trying to score on the first two plays. I didn't
Speaker 1: buy that, which I didn't. I think they were trying
Speaker 1: to score, But I understood what he was saying because
Speaker 1: if ever there was a let the other teams score
Speaker 1: a touchdown, that that was a possibility for read there.
Speaker 1: I actually think he made the right call because of
Speaker 1: what happened, Like you could see what happened that still
Speaker 1: keep playing defense, But I agree that was a crazy situation,
Speaker 1: but it was a sign of how much more they
Speaker 1: trust their offense than their defense. Um when you look
Speaker 1: at the like the just the box score this game,
Speaker 1: Chiefs have ten QB hits and four sacks. The Bengals
Speaker 1: barely touched Patrick Mahomes and yet which is the quarterback
Speaker 1: with four forty four yards. It really shows you, like
Speaker 1: how good Joe Burrow is under pressure. It's not like
Speaker 1: his offensive line was playing well and he is willing
Speaker 1: to stand in there and take the hits and Mahomes
Speaker 1: even with a good running game today, I guess you
Speaker 1: can't put anything on the offense. It's asking a lot
Speaker 1: to be absolutely perfect. They had like eight drives and
Speaker 1: scored thirty one points. But they weren't the explosive team.
Speaker 1: I think you said it well there, Mark that they
Speaker 1: they're not as an explosive as a team as the
Speaker 1: Bengals have been this year. That was one of the
Speaker 1: best games I've ever seen from a wide receiver Jamaar Chase.
Speaker 1: His ability to um just use his speed to pull
Speaker 1: away from cornerbacks and safeties that have an angle on him,
Speaker 1: His ability to make plays when a receiver has draped
Speaker 1: down him in coverage, his ability to to find a
Speaker 1: seam and then just disappear behind a secondary and take off.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was absolute dominance. And it does remind
Speaker 1: you again that Joe Burrow, who I love this guy.
Speaker 1: This guy Joe Burrow, He's so Funny's such a great
Speaker 1: leader of a franchise. He pushed for his old college
Speaker 1: teammate Jamaar Chase to be the pick, the first pick
Speaker 1: five overall in April, and now he has, he has
Speaker 1: his guy, and he's showing the whole world that as
Speaker 1: good as pine silk can be, this was absolutely the
Speaker 1: right move. After the game, um, Joe Burrow, who again
Speaker 1: he plays a little bit of swagger and a chip
Speaker 1: on his shoulder, was soaking in the glory. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I said it in the preseason, you know, I was
Speaker 1: we were talking about playoffs, and I said, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go with the playoffs, and the easiest way
Speaker 1: to do that as to win the division. And I
Speaker 1: got a little Everyone kind of laughed at us a
Speaker 1: little bit, but you know, we knew the kind of
Speaker 1: team we have, the kind of guys in the locker
Speaker 1: room that we had, and we knew we could go
Speaker 1: and do it. M he's also in the locker room
Speaker 1: afterwards doing like his lsu get the gat dances, He's
Speaker 1: got a cigar. It's all amazing. It's easily the high
Speaker 1: water mark of this Bengals team since they had so
Speaker 1: much hope when Carson Palmer was young going into that
Speaker 1: two thousand and five season playoff game. And I think
Speaker 1: right back to that season two, Carson Palmer was the
Speaker 1: third best quarterback in league kind of by consensus that
Speaker 1: that year, it was Brady Manning Palmer, and now here
Speaker 1: we are. I think Joe Burrow is gonna get some
Speaker 1: m v P votes now he would be third. In
Speaker 1: my mind, I still would have Rogers one, assuming he
Speaker 1: finishes this out strong. I think Brady has just had
Speaker 1: a better season overall in the in the breadth of
Speaker 1: the season has to count. But I'm sure Burrow's gonna
Speaker 1: get some love. But he's at least the number three
Speaker 1: quarterback there right back there, and Chase he mentioned he's
Speaker 1: gonna win the offensive rookie there because of today. If
Speaker 1: there was any doubt about it, and I think there
Speaker 1: was going into this week, he's gonna win it. Sorry,
Speaker 1: it also excuse me, that's it also shows you are that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, get rid of that. That's what nobody needs it, um.
Speaker 1: But I mean back in the preseason, like the Burrow
Speaker 1: Chase thing was getting killed for the idea that like
Speaker 1: it's too cute to team up with your with your
Speaker 1: college wide receiver, you know, roommate, and trying to get
Speaker 1: the team to do that when you could have had
Speaker 1: this like stalwart left tackle. Burrow's knee was an issue,
Speaker 1: Chase wasn't playing well back in the summer, and months
Speaker 1: later it's totally transformed. I do want to see if
Speaker 1: anything comes out of this Burrow injury that we saw
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. Look fine walking around,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. It wasn't and it also wasn't
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't the surgically your parre need. That's good.
Speaker 1: The fact that he wasn't getting treated after the game
Speaker 1: and he was dancing, that was a good sign. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know some speaking of signs, Greg, I think
Speaker 1: you should have taken a sign. Mark. You're off the
Speaker 1: hook on this because you were involved in the conversation.
Speaker 1: But speaking of signs, I did give you a sign
Speaker 1: Greg that maybe it was time to get behind the
Speaker 1: Bengals on Thursday's podcast, let's listen to I don't feel
Speaker 1: like this is the five Bears. This is not the
Speaker 1: two thousand Ravens. And I could see Borrow moving. I
Speaker 1: like a shootout here, Greg, and I like I like
Speaker 1: the bangles and like win. That changes the temperature in
Speaker 1: the a f C s right right, You don't You
Speaker 1: don't get them playback Thursday prediction unless you get the
Speaker 1: score right. That's that feels like a fair rule to
Speaker 1: follow on the show. We're incredible work. This is really
Speaker 1: more for Mark because you also buried him in the
Speaker 1: lock standings with this one. Well, you know, I did
Speaker 1: a bad job. I honestly, I wouldn't have I would
Speaker 1: have taken an l because I completely forgot about it,
Speaker 1: um outside of going for like a Monday, and I
Speaker 1: think Dan asked like, did you do a lock? And
Speaker 1: so eight minutes before well you also, I think psychologically
Speaker 1: pushed me into a scenario. I was panicking looking at
Speaker 1: like eighteen spreads that had moved into un unlockable territory
Speaker 1: by Sunday and picked his chief's team, and I was thinking, like,
Speaker 1: why did I do that? Shaking your head. She doesn't
Speaker 1: even get why you're throw that at me. I mean
Speaker 1: it was a logical thing. They were up, they were
Speaker 1: up two touchdowns, you know, multiple type of game. I
Speaker 1: have stopped seeking any form of enjoyment. I told you
Speaker 1: that I did go. I went from two games down
Speaker 1: to two games up in four weeks, so believe me.
Speaker 1: Like you've been tweeting about it all day long, I
Speaker 1: think everyone is extremely aware, like, oh, do I have
Speaker 1: a chance of getting the most locks in a season?
Speaker 1: Like is this guy actually tweeting this right now in
Speaker 1: live time? It is an unbelievable The answer is no,
Speaker 1: because I just thought that the Hubris was on like
Speaker 1: next it was like next level, we get it. You're
Speaker 1: doing well in an in house pick them tournament. We're
Speaker 1: very excited for you. I just asked the question at
Speaker 1: thirteen and four. You didn't just ask a question. That's
Speaker 1: that's that's I mean, it's like Mr Control guy, like
Speaker 1: it was an absurd poor sportsmanship tweet. Anyway, Greg, while
Speaker 1: Mark melts down, I want to tell you that the
Speaker 1: record is seventeen wins in a season, set by you, sir,
Speaker 1: last year. So I would have to do I guess
Speaker 1: win out, but you know what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: But I have buried Mark and that's good. Let us
Speaker 1: now take a break and then continue on. Tayler takes
Speaker 1: the snap short set, lobs it deep near side of
Speaker 1: the one yard line. Oh want to catch Antoine Wesley
Speaker 1: into the ends off for a touchdown? How did he
Speaker 1: pull that down? And how about the toss? Like Kyler Murray?
Speaker 1: A huge score for the Cardinals early in the third,
Speaker 1: A huge score by the Cardinals, A huge win for
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals who beat the Cowboys. Great stack. Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray now eight and oh lifetime, going back to his
Speaker 1: high school days at Jarro World. And this was a game,
Speaker 1: Greg where you just got the feeling that the Cardinals
Speaker 1: needed the game and the Cowboys get back into the
Speaker 1: touchdown two point conversion. Yes, there's a fumble at the
Speaker 1: end that some good luck comes the Cardinals way because
Speaker 1: of a time out situation with Dallas, But really Arizona
Speaker 1: was in control of the game throughout and it felt
Speaker 1: like a game they deserved and they got it. They did.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you know, we like get so in the weeds,
Speaker 1: like trying to analyze everything, and there was a lot
Speaker 1: in this game. The fourth down aggression from Arizona was important,
Speaker 1: the aggression to try to score at the end of
Speaker 1: the first half was important. But it was also like
Speaker 1: their playmakers made plays like in the biggest spots. Wesley
Speaker 1: making that catch was amazing. Kyler Murray more than anyone,
Speaker 1: making some of his third down conversions were not as scripted,
Speaker 1: they were just him making a play. Chase Edmonds, who
Speaker 1: got hurt late in this game and so they didn't
Speaker 1: have James Conner in the end. They didn't have Chase
Speaker 1: Edmonds at the end of this game, but he made
Speaker 1: some massive plays. They never did get Rondale Moore back
Speaker 1: for this game. They're down two corners and two of
Speaker 1: their best pass rushers to injuries and COVID and these
Speaker 1: these are new injuries. This was one of the more
Speaker 1: impressive performances in a big spot I think by a
Speaker 1: team all year because of what they didn't have, and
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury set the tone. I think by going for
Speaker 1: it on fourth and goal, you would have been killed
Speaker 1: if they didn't get it, and Kyler Murray made a
Speaker 1: nice play on the goal line. They score there, and
Speaker 1: like I mentioned at the end of that first half,
Speaker 1: uh and Kyler in a big spot that drive you
Speaker 1: mentioned Dan, it was just when it felt like maybe
Speaker 1: this thing is gonna go away, because it felt like
Speaker 1: they were playing uphill. He leads them down the field
Speaker 1: kills the clock. It was an awesome performance and keeps
Speaker 1: them alive in the NFC West. I'm with you, I'm
Speaker 1: totally impressed. It didn't need to look entirely pretty. UM.
Speaker 1: I do come out of it though, UM all credit
Speaker 1: to the Cardinals with just lingering concerns about the nature
Speaker 1: of their offensive times, they still seem sloppy and out
Speaker 1: of it. It points and I'd even point to that
Speaker 1: final clock killing drive where it started with Murray totally
Speaker 1: missing a wide open Christian Kirk there was what I
Speaker 1: thought at one point a delay of game call that
Speaker 1: should have gone against Arizona, which would have been huge,
Speaker 1: which wasn't. But then he sprinkles in an incredible run
Speaker 1: for a first down. A great throat is zaccurate. So
Speaker 1: it just seems to me a bit the journey with
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray and this offense is a bit of an
Speaker 1: up and down ship at times. But they got out
Speaker 1: of there today. So I had mentioned the play, uh,
Speaker 1: the fumble that wasn't and I'll just give it a
Speaker 1: little more context. So last a little outside the two
Speaker 1: minute warning, and that's important here because that means it
Speaker 1: doesn't get stopped by the booth. It has to come
Speaker 1: from a challenge. And Dallas was out of time outs,
Speaker 1: and they were out of timeouts because earlier in the
Speaker 1: game and an obvious field goal situation, it seemed for
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, Cliff Kingsbury ran out Kyler Murray at the
Speaker 1: same time as Matt Praydor and the Cowboys were confused
Speaker 1: and they had to burn a time out, um because
Speaker 1: they were a little out of sorts. So now they
Speaker 1: had zero timeouts. Uh, and then Chase Edmonds. I think
Speaker 1: it's a player got injured down near the sideline when
Speaker 1: the ball pops out, his knee was up, his elbows
Speaker 1: were up recovered by the Cowboys right before the two
Speaker 1: minute warning. The call probably would have been overturned, would
Speaker 1: have been Dallas's ball down three with two minutes to play,
Speaker 1: but because they couldn't stop and challenge, that was a
Speaker 1: huge setback. And just those are like those little things.
Speaker 1: But also because Mike McCarthy blew it, and not because
Speaker 1: he took the time out earlier, because he took the
Speaker 1: time out with about two forty to go. And that's
Speaker 1: not a second guest multiple game management. You know, people
Speaker 1: are like you never you don't take the time out there, ay,
Speaker 1: you lose your your ability to challenge. But he also
Speaker 1: didn't save as much time as he could have. So
Speaker 1: it's just these things that you know, how they used
Speaker 1: to have the go when to go for two note
Speaker 1: card that everyone like looked at. We need a note
Speaker 1: card for these coaches for like when to time take
Speaker 1: time outs around two minute warning because he had to
Speaker 1: wait until after it like and that and that was
Speaker 1: that was That's one of the reasons why it's very
Speaker 1: It's just like when if if the Cowboys. Now they're
Speaker 1: a full game out, their chances of getting the one seed,
Speaker 1: um are not good at all. Obviously they're done. They're
Speaker 1: they're done, Okay, so their methods, So think about that
Speaker 1: when they're on the road in the playoffs. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: these things can can change seasons potentially. Uh. That really
Speaker 1: stood out to me as well. Right, they could be
Speaker 1: playing in l A. If the Rams win next week,
Speaker 1: the Rams get the two seed, and now you know,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys could be playing on the road in the
Speaker 1: divisional round two. I am a little worried about Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott again. There was a couple of decent drives late
Speaker 1: in the game, but he did not have a good game.
Speaker 1: You know, he missed a lot of throws, just like
Speaker 1: it just was. It was more on dec it felt
Speaker 1: like for a good chunk of this game than anyone
Speaker 1: else on the offense. And I'm just I'm just surprised
Speaker 1: to see it just doesn't look sharp. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's an injury or what, but it's just
Speaker 1: not going where he intends it to go. And Michael
Speaker 1: Gallup suffered a torn a c L. According to Jerry Jones,
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to confirm it on a second test.
Speaker 1: But that that's about on a touchdown catch too, which
Speaker 1: is uh, you don't see that too often. So that's
Speaker 1: did not trust Greg's or line. I think Greg's or
Speaker 1: line is gonna kill him in a big spot at
Speaker 1: some point here. Yeah, it's fair. Um, all right, let's
Speaker 1: now move on. Let's head back to the a f C,
Speaker 1: a game with huge playoff ratifications. The Raiders had a
Speaker 1: chance to shock the a f C, and they did it.
Speaker 1: This will be a thirty three ardor this is for
Speaker 1: the win. Cold check his kicker, good hole, Yes, perny
Speaker 1: check pot perny Man. You know we lost John Madden
Speaker 1: last week and uh, obviously a legend. Brent Musburger also
Speaker 1: another guy that kind of when I hear his voice,
Speaker 1: I think about what it meant to be a sports
Speaker 1: fan and the eighties, nineties, and then here's Brent Musburger
Speaker 1: in two thousand twenty two calling big wins for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: Treasure are icons and broadcasting anyway. The Raiders are up
Speaker 1: to five walk off wins this season, five walk off
Speaker 1: wins in one season. Latest was their biggest and most
Speaker 1: impressive win over the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, sealed
Speaker 1: by that Daniel Carlson field goal at the gun. Three
Speaker 1: straight wins for the Raiders, all of them now narrow wins,
Speaker 1: all of them against a f C hopeful's and the Raiders,
Speaker 1: as we said at the top of the show, can
Speaker 1: complete their probable journey to the playoffs with a home
Speaker 1: win over the Chargers in Week eighteen. Pasacchi a bump.
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but I have to say, like,
Speaker 1: I don't care what happens next week. They can lay
Speaker 1: an egg, lose twenty seven to three. I I come
Speaker 1: out of the would feel good. That'll make this feel
Speaker 1: like like I listen, get it, I'm saying. I guess yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe that would be a bad taste in your mouth
Speaker 1: to end the season. But to win all three of
Speaker 1: these games against teams clawing for the playoffs at a
Speaker 1: time where they look completely dead, I said it myself.
Speaker 1: I was talking about them after they lost in the
Speaker 1: Chiefs like they're a joke at this point. They win
Speaker 1: three in a row, and this one I thought was
Speaker 1: truly impressive because the Colts had been rolling as we
Speaker 1: all know. I'm amazed. I'm amazed by this result, I
Speaker 1: guess I shouldn't be like the Colts putting up two
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two yards of offense. It's not like
Speaker 1: Whence his numbers were like incredibly bad. But he threw
Speaker 1: for under five yards per attempt and his big play
Speaker 1: was that long touchdown that should have been intercepted to
Speaker 1: t Y Hilton. So that's a bad game. So we
Speaker 1: we we've heard from many players and there's no way
Speaker 1: we'll know, but we've heard from many players. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: great to get off the COVID list quickly, but some
Speaker 1: of them aren't feeling too great, and that first game back,
Speaker 1: um they have and been at great shape. Wentz would
Speaker 1: not even admit that he felt poor earlier in the week,
Speaker 1: even though his own coach said that Wentz was struggling
Speaker 1: earlier in the week with COVID. So it's like, just
Speaker 1: be honest. I don't know why you can't be like
Speaker 1: honest with your with your condition, you know, and asked,
Speaker 1: like it's become this weird thing where like I think politically,
Speaker 1: like you're trying to just not even be honest. But
Speaker 1: it's a it's a big loss, uh for them, if
Speaker 1: only because they're gonna have a worse seed in the
Speaker 1: playoffs assuming they win next week. Well, it's a terrible loss,
Speaker 1: and I mean, you have to play next week. They
Speaker 1: probably would have sat their players, right, I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's possible. I mean, the Raiders come out of this
Speaker 1: last two weeks before this game having scored sixteen and
Speaker 1: seventeen points. Gotta win in both I look at Wentz
Speaker 1: and I don't care what he answers, like he did
Speaker 1: not look the same to me at all, And I
Speaker 1: do think there's a lingering effect, and I understand why
Speaker 1: it's difficult for him to answer the question. But what
Speaker 1: a momentum killer. I mean, this team felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: and it just speaks to the new nature of the
Speaker 1: a f C, the up and down, topsy turvy ride
Speaker 1: that it is that you know, five days ago the
Speaker 1: felt Cults felt like the most surest thing around, and
Speaker 1: now they're gripping, they're hanging on for their life. It's
Speaker 1: funny too, because if they take care of business next week,
Speaker 1: beat the Jaguars. They finished ten and seven, the Titans
Speaker 1: obviously clinched the division, So it's gonna end up in
Speaker 1: a way that this game doesn't really matter to the
Speaker 1: cults that they were gonna be locked. Kind of take
Speaker 1: it back. It's not that big of a game other
Speaker 1: than they don't get the rest. But still you kind
Speaker 1: of lose a little of that juice. And I think
Speaker 1: the Wentz thing beyond any lingering issues symptoms connected to
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen UM. Also, he didn't practice all week. And
Speaker 1: I thought the turning point of this game UM occurred
Speaker 1: late in the third quarter. UM. It was a third
Speaker 1: and seven at Indias twenty three. UM. It was actually
Speaker 1: the first play of the fourth quarter, and Winz has
Speaker 1: t Y Hilton on a busted coverage wide open down
Speaker 1: the left, stride, left side. If he hits Hilton and
Speaker 1: stride he he is, there's a good chance he goes
Speaker 1: in UM for its touchdown. Instead, he over he overshoots Hilton,
Speaker 1: who again was all by himself, and they kicked the
Speaker 1: ball away. Turns into a three and out. They kicked
Speaker 1: the ball away and the Raiders go but right down
Speaker 1: the field six place sixty two yards score the go
Speaker 1: ahead touchdown. Now Indie marched down the field on the
Speaker 1: next drive and tied it with the field goal. But
Speaker 1: that to me felt like the turning point. And again
Speaker 1: when you think about the Colts, and like the Colts
Speaker 1: when they're locked in and Wentz is playing well or
Speaker 1: as good as any team in the league, but there's
Speaker 1: too much of this inconsistency with Wentz where you do
Speaker 1: feel like unless he gets on like an Eli Folsy
Speaker 1: and type heater in January, one of these type of
Speaker 1: games is gonna undo them in January. You just kind
Speaker 1: of can feel it coming. I mean we we reacted
Speaker 1: as a as a collective group very positively and very
Speaker 1: with a lot of force to his performance before the
Speaker 1: previous game, where he was throwing the ball as well
Speaker 1: as anyone. I think it matters. If you track these
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that are out with COVID, that don't practice at
Speaker 1: all all week long and then they go play, you're
Speaker 1: getting get their debt. There's some of the most down performances.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that, I you know, I want to
Speaker 1: go look at that scientifically, but to say that it
Speaker 1: just doesn't matter not I think we're agreeing that it does.
Speaker 1: Like I mean, at the most critical juncture of the year.
Speaker 1: I mean, no matter what happens playoffs, seating wise and
Speaker 1: stuff like this was a momentum killer for the Colts,
Speaker 1: and I mean it's like you do question their quarterback
Speaker 1: play if they don't get a better performance. Meanwhile, Cark
Speaker 1: is in a bad turnover stretch here. He had a
Speaker 1: couple of interceptions here today, but they really have had
Speaker 1: something going in the fourth quarter, they go touchdown field
Speaker 1: go there to win the game. Car you know, has
Speaker 1: held up this franchise like this, this was this has
Speaker 1: been a nice season for the Derek Carr in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas in Oakland Raiders legacy. He's like, I don't know, Ricky,
Speaker 1: you saw him in the postgame press conference that there's
Speaker 1: something about him, like, I know he's not a perfect quarterback.
Speaker 1: I think he's on the right side of the Dalton
Speaker 1: scale h Dalton line, but not not to me too far.
Speaker 1: I think he's in that like twelve to fifteen range um.
Speaker 1: But I do like the confidence, Like you, there's a
Speaker 1: certain genus quah. Yeah, that's what I texted you, guys.
Speaker 1: I was like, cars kind of hot, like his like
Speaker 1: swag and and everything, and he's like he's feeling himself
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm kind of into it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that dude, he carries himself as a remember, he's never
Speaker 1: he's never got to do this. He's never got to
Speaker 1: do this. They have one winning record right since two
Speaker 1: thousand three, and the one good season he had, he
Speaker 1: broke his leg, you know, with a couple of weeks left,
Speaker 1: and so he didn't get the like, this is the
Speaker 1: best late season experience he's had, and he's earned it,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna be in in primetime next week. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure they haven't announced as we say, but that's
Speaker 1: got to be the Sunday night game. Chargers Raiders, come on.
Speaker 1: I like the Chargers. I like Justin Herbert. He'd be
Speaker 1: fun in the playoffs, but like, I'd be cool with
Speaker 1: the Raiders in this crazy season doing it as well.
Speaker 1: And they have a chance. They're at home against the
Speaker 1: Charger of the team that's not really known for stepping
Speaker 1: up in a big stop, big spot themselves. So that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a really fun game to watch, and I
Speaker 1: really hope it does play out with all the the
Speaker 1: way things kind of sort themselves out in we K
Speaker 1: teen with a winning in true winning in scenario, making
Speaker 1: it the first playoff game of the season. All right,
Speaker 1: let us take a break here, uh and then check
Speaker 1: in with the Tennessee Titans. Which side hands to hill
Speaker 1: Yourn He's got wrong, Son Trull touchdown. Okay, exclamation points
Speaker 1: on the day on the day is right? How good
Speaker 1: is this feeling? It has to feel good for Titans fans.
Speaker 1: Dontrelle Hilliard goes thirty nine to the house, Deonta Foreman
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty two in a touch Ryan Tannehill through
Speaker 1: throws two touchdown passes. That was Mike Keith, of course,
Speaker 1: and Dave McGinnis of w g f X. The Titans
Speaker 1: clinched their second straight division title with the thirty four
Speaker 1: three win over the Dolphins, whose seven game winning streak
Speaker 1: disappeared in the face of actual opposition. And here we are.
Speaker 1: The Titans go from red hot start two mark a
Speaker 1: team that could not get out of its own way
Speaker 1: offensively too. With one week to play, they aren't in
Speaker 1: position with the number one seed in aves. Yeah, they've
Speaker 1: They to me have been a team that have stuck
Speaker 1: together through some of the most trying circumstances in the conference. Today,
Speaker 1: I thought it was an exclamation point again for their
Speaker 1: defense that never really went away the way that their
Speaker 1: offense did. And they just wanted, I think to show this.
Speaker 1: The weather in this game was a huge factor and
Speaker 1: one quarterback was could come out faring better in freezing rain,
Speaker 1: um total downpour, and they put it to two. I
Speaker 1: think that their plan with Miami was to get the
Speaker 1: Dolphins into unmanageable third and long situations which happened over
Speaker 1: and over and Toua maybe down in South Beach gets
Speaker 1: you out of some of those in this situation. Today
Speaker 1: against this defense, he could not do the worst third
Speaker 1: down offense in the league. They looked it this way,
Speaker 1: and to your not believing in them, Dan, this is why.
Speaker 1: Because the offense when you don't have something perfectly happening
Speaker 1: for them, they crumbled. And I thought that you could
Speaker 1: look at some of the guys on this Titans team,
Speaker 1: Deontay form, and I'd start with him the way that
Speaker 1: he has run the ball over the last month and
Speaker 1: a half, but especially today, I thought he put it
Speaker 1: to Miami in a way that like basically demoralized them.
Speaker 1: They their defense, which looked strong out of the gate,
Speaker 1: started to crumble because and it wasn't a huge A J.
Speaker 1: Brown game. I think he had forty yards in this
Speaker 1: but Tannehill ran for a big first down. The running
Speaker 1: backs did it. You know, they had some up and
Speaker 1: down issues with their line. But Miami, to to me,
Speaker 1: was completely outclassed and shown to be what they are,
Speaker 1: which is sort of one dimensional. When their offense does
Speaker 1: just enough and their defense does everything else, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But they couldn't get it done today. And the Tennessee's
Speaker 1: Titans are so clearly the better operation and they knock
Speaker 1: Miami right out of the playoffs. M Well, you have
Speaker 1: a small margin for air when you start. When you
Speaker 1: start oneing the you're one and seven whatever they were. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's a tough spot to get in. But to to
Speaker 1: lose thirty four to three when you're you're two similar teams,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like the classic Titans game. They
Speaker 1: have three hundred yards, they have a hundred and ten
Speaker 1: yards passing, and they put up thirty four. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying Derrick Henry isn't extraordinarily valuable, but to your point, Mark, like,
Speaker 1: they've run the ball really well. That's what they do well.
Speaker 1: It's a good run blocking offensive line. It works with
Speaker 1: their play action offense, it works with Tannehill, and they've
Speaker 1: survived without Henry, like the running game was never a disaster. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and even with A. J. Brown not having a big game,
Speaker 1: he's just such a He changes the way defenses have
Speaker 1: to approach the Titans, and and and opens things up
Speaker 1: for Ryan Tannehill. Julio Jones didn't play in this game,
Speaker 1: but we know that that's not a big deal at
Speaker 1: this stage. Let's bring in a grave digger, Um, grave digger.
Speaker 1: First of all, congratulations, I know that you ride or
Speaker 1: die for your Titans. Uh. And this had to feel
Speaker 1: good because I did. I locked up the Titans in
Speaker 1: this game, but I certainly didn't see them rendering the
Speaker 1: Dolphins non competitive, which really just speaks to Tennessee really
Speaker 1: turning it on here. I predicted a win for the Titans,
Speaker 1: so I also did not see this kind of I mean,
Speaker 1: to Gregg's point, like they only had three hundred yards
Speaker 1: of offense. It wasn't like they were marching up and
Speaker 1: down the field the whole game, but they just looked
Speaker 1: like the playoff team with it was like one of
Speaker 1: these two teams could make the playoffs. The Titans are
Speaker 1: the ones that looked like the playoff team. I think
Speaker 1: they have been better coached there. The Texans, and they
Speaker 1: were they just want a playoff game. This was you know,
Speaker 1: this was like like this and they gotta beat the
Speaker 1: was it the Texans? Next week they got at Houston. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Houston could be tricky there, but you should take care
Speaker 1: of business. And I just think it's such a interesting season,
Speaker 1: great grave digger for Tennessee too. If they can now
Speaker 1: come all the way back around and get that number
Speaker 1: one seed, get the buy have home field advantage, and
Speaker 1: this always felt like and by the way, Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: then gets more time off to get right without the
Speaker 1: Titans playing a game like if they could just survive
Speaker 1: the storm, they are set up well for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And I know you're feeling yourself. You know how. I
Speaker 1: know because first of all, two things. Number one, Titans fans, what,
Speaker 1: I love you great dude, you know that. But why
Speaker 1: can't Titans fans understand that that people, whether it's me
Speaker 1: or anybody else, that doubted your team earlier, when they were,
Speaker 1: you know, averaging a hundred and seventy yards a week
Speaker 1: for about a month and a half, doubting them then
Speaker 1: isn't the same as what we see in them now.
Speaker 1: I don't know why It's like everyone's like pulling up
Speaker 1: receipts and showing that you were wrong. You doubted art No,
Speaker 1: because the Titans I was a different Titans team without
Speaker 1: a J. Brown, and that we're gone. This version of
Speaker 1: the Titans I feel good about and and I like so.
Speaker 1: I don't like that element of the Titans fandom and
Speaker 1: a lot of them have been coming out of the
Speaker 1: woodwork again, but I do like you. Grave Digger getting
Speaker 1: after friend of the show Aaron Shots of Football Outsiders,
Speaker 1: who he replied to some Titans fans attacking him about
Speaker 1: his analysis this season, and Graver responds, listen to this, Greg,
Speaker 1: because I know you and Shots are tight. Are you tight?
Speaker 1: You know each other? Yeah? Okay, we know each other
Speaker 1: going way back, all right. I mean, give me a break, dude,
Speaker 1: Graver says, just admit your system didn't predict anything accurately
Speaker 1: and we'd have a lot more respect for you. Bunsen
Speaker 1: Burner bloetwards. Baby, Here's the thing. All season long, since
Speaker 1: the begetting of the season, he's been tweeting about the Titans,
Speaker 1: and he never has any good things to say about
Speaker 1: the Titans. They like, don't measure up well and d
Speaker 1: v o A and all these other things. So it's
Speaker 1: constantly like the Titans are defying d v o A,
Speaker 1: not like maybe we should really look at how d
Speaker 1: v o A is used to assess teams, or maybe
Speaker 1: like when injuries happen, like there should be a caveat
Speaker 1: to like the d v o rings like this isn't
Speaker 1: there starting eleven on either side of the ball for
Speaker 1: the majority of the middle part of the season, right,
Speaker 1: But it's never like, oh, Wow, the Titans are impressing us,
Speaker 1: They're playing better than we expected. It's like, this is
Speaker 1: the worst d v o A rated team to ever
Speaker 1: be in the one seed and they suck. It's like
Speaker 1: a quote tweet something. I was like, oh, you got him,
Speaker 1: and then I looked and the tweet was from September eight.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, well, yeah, well he was doing
Speaker 1: little like the Titans defense is not going to improve
Speaker 1: this year, and he's never said like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: this is surprising. The Titans defense has improved way beyond
Speaker 1: what we predicted. It's like we never said that. We
Speaker 1: said the Patriots would improve more than the title. The Titans.
Speaker 1: Discourse and in general is fairly annoying. Okay, um. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, like Titans fans who are looking
Speaker 1: like getting even with people that now their team, screw it,
Speaker 1: Why do you have better things to do? You have
Speaker 1: a locked in loading team that is ready for the
Speaker 1: playoffs right now, and you're gonna have more because everyone,
Speaker 1: you know, when the Titans get that one seed, the
Speaker 1: conversation for two weeks is gonna be like, oh, which
Speaker 1: lucky team can angle to get that divisional round matchup
Speaker 1: against the Titans because no one's gonna want to go
Speaker 1: to Kansas City or Buffalo. You know, people are gonna
Speaker 1: be talking about the playoff tournament as if like that's
Speaker 1: that's the nice place you see, So it's coming more
Speaker 1: because he will be back by then and people, I
Speaker 1: think for a lot of people who are down in Tennessee,
Speaker 1: that that will be like the reinforcement that really puts
Speaker 1: them in the in a higher class. That's just the
Speaker 1: way I see. But maybe we have something numbers can't measure,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what's great about football, Like they
Speaker 1: really are more than the some of their parts. The
Speaker 1: fact that they've played more players than in any team
Speaker 1: in the history of the NFL is remarkable. They are
Speaker 1: so obviously more than the some of their parts. When
Speaker 1: you watch them, we can week out. I would say
Speaker 1: Mike Rabel doesn't get the credit he's deserved if if
Speaker 1: Titans fans are annoyed about that, because I think he
Speaker 1: doesn't fit the pristine sort of shiny boy mathematical um
Speaker 1: you know, Wong head image that everyone's after these days,
Speaker 1: like he's just sort of a bro. But sometimes that works,
Speaker 1: and he clearly knows how to go week to week
Speaker 1: with different matchups. And as for fans coming at any
Speaker 1: of us, I mean, the Titans have been disrespected for
Speaker 1: a really long time. They could be more level headed
Speaker 1: about it, I guess, but I think half of them
Speaker 1: are probably you know, it's East Coast, it's they came
Speaker 1: out of a terrible rain. They're probably tweeting with like
Speaker 1: seven beers in them, and they may not have their
Speaker 1: wits about them in terms of where they're setting their arrows.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've got our own, uh you know, producer
Speaker 1: head shooting arrows at at a friend of the show.
Speaker 1: So everyone that's losing their cool baby, all right, Well
Speaker 1: that's fair enough, all right, congratulations, great there, all right,
Speaker 1: let's take uh, let's know, let's not take a break.
Speaker 1: Let's keep moving. Let's bring Nick Schuck into the show. Chookie,
Speaker 1: we go from grave digger to the pipe. How you doing, Buddy,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I mean, despite the general despondence where I'm located,
Speaker 1: I'm great. Yeah, okay, Well, well how are you by
Speaker 1: the Browns eliminated from contention? But I know, like Mark,
Speaker 1: you were frustrated by this season? Uh an outcome you
Speaker 1: probably saw coming, a negative outcome for the season that
Speaker 1: is yeah, I mean, Mark said it best last week.
Speaker 1: It's not deserved. You know, if they were to try
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs and you know, the Bengals were
Speaker 1: to lose, and you know, because the Ravens lost, and
Speaker 1: if they were to beat the Bengals somehow next week,
Speaker 1: it's still not deserve. So this is the outcome that
Speaker 1: they deserve. That they screwed around for a lot of
Speaker 1: the season, never really found any consistency, and that's how
Speaker 1: you get eliminated from the playoffs. And and you know,
Speaker 1: I allow me to be a beacon of hope for
Speaker 1: the city of Cleveland real quick. I'm wearing this on
Speaker 1: purpose because everybody here is going to turn their attention
Speaker 1: to the other team. It's it's it's an all Star game.
Speaker 1: But they're going to turn their attention to the promising team,
Speaker 1: the team that's overachieving, not the team that is disappointing.
Speaker 1: You're wearing Cavaliers shirt, you know for our audio listeners,
Speaker 1: which is all of ours. Yeah, yeah, exactly. There's something
Speaker 1: else can be happy about. You know, how about those Guardians? Right?
Speaker 1: I was texting with Chuck about Darius Garland from Tuesday
Speaker 1: Night a few weeks ago. This guy can really play.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna do these games. Then we're gonna
Speaker 1: get Shook's take on the Cleveland Indians name change. But
Speaker 1: let's get to a little Chargers football. They needed to
Speaker 1: take care of business against the beat up Broncos team.
Speaker 1: Did they throws down field? There's your shot play Mike
Speaker 1: Williams cood into the end zone touchdown shargers a record
Speaker 1: breaking throw from just Justin Herbert. Thirty fifth touchdown toss
Speaker 1: of the season is now a franchise record. And why
Speaker 1: not go to Mike Williams who has got more forty
Speaker 1: plus yard touchdown catches this season than any other receiver.
Speaker 1: About that, Matt money Smith, the Voice of God for
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL podcast and the Power Rankings TV
Speaker 1: show co host with a nailed it call Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1: He set the rookie touchdown record in year one, he
Speaker 1: sets the franchise record in year to what happens in
Speaker 1: the year three, we'll see, But for now, the Chargers
Speaker 1: are still in the playoff mix after a win over
Speaker 1: the Broncos at so far a great take care of
Speaker 1: business game right here, Nick Shook for a Chargers team
Speaker 1: that stubbed their toe and exactly this type of game
Speaker 1: so many times in the past. Yeah, and stop there
Speaker 1: telling the last couple of weeks with a stunning, disappointing
Speaker 1: loss to the Texans that kind of threw everything into question.
Speaker 1: But they responded like a team that you would, you know,
Speaker 1: a playoff team, you'd expect them to respond by coming out,
Speaker 1: like you said, taking care of business. So the Broncos
Speaker 1: were shorthanded, you know, they had a dozen guys out
Speaker 1: because of Covid and Drew Locks playing quarterback and even
Speaker 1: he had to exit for a little bit because of
Speaker 1: a shoulder issue, and you give him credit for coming back,
Speaker 1: but um, you know that aside, the Chargers largely dominated
Speaker 1: this game. They did it offensively. It was really a
Speaker 1: complete team win because they did a good or of
Speaker 1: job defensively to allow their offense to build a lead.
Speaker 1: They took a seventeen and nothing lead right before the
Speaker 1: half and ended up going to halftime seventeen to three,
Speaker 1: and it was never really in question. They got a
Speaker 1: couple of goal line stops or or holds that limited
Speaker 1: the Broncos chances of turning those possessions into touchdowns, and
Speaker 1: they cruised to a victory and set themselves up with
Speaker 1: a date with the Raiders and if they play like
Speaker 1: they did today, then they got a good shot. But
Speaker 1: the Raiders are better than the Broncos. But for this
Speaker 1: week at least, you know they're they're back to the
Speaker 1: Chargers that I think we expected that. The question now
Speaker 1: is can they be can they maintain that consistency into
Speaker 1: a must win game next week? I mean, I feel
Speaker 1: like the Broncos season was defined by those fourth, fourth
Speaker 1: in goal plays here in this game, Like when you
Speaker 1: have Kendall Hinton completing the past that drew lock on
Speaker 1: fourth and goal from the one or the two that
Speaker 1: doesn't go for a touchdown, you know it's probably not
Speaker 1: your when Kendall Hinton came in. What was that like
Speaker 1: a Philly special type of thing, and yeah, and then
Speaker 1: he throws it to Lock who catches it, but he
Speaker 1: wasn't in the end. Does anybody want it? Now that
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the box score, that was his only
Speaker 1: attempt at the game, Kendall Hinton. If you go for
Speaker 1: one for one for one yard, uh and no touchdown?
Speaker 1: What is your passer rating? This will be something good
Speaker 1: to know. According to the box courts point too. You're right,
Speaker 1: and it absolutely defined the Broncos season this year, which
Speaker 1: is frustration. Um. You can see the potential, it's just
Speaker 1: that they don't execute. There's questionable decisions in terms of
Speaker 1: play calling or or scoring. A touchdown that gets wiped
Speaker 1: out by a penalty and you have to settle for
Speaker 1: a field goal and what's already a multi score game.
Speaker 1: It made it twenty to six with an office that
Speaker 1: couldn't convert already. Get Aaron Rodgers, Ticabo, do the old
Speaker 1: secret meeting figure out. I don't know if it's Rogers
Speaker 1: or maybe there's another veteran quarterback, because I think I
Speaker 1: think we all kind of want to see at this point,
Speaker 1: Greg I think a term that you like to use.
Speaker 1: It will confirm your priors that the Broncos are good.
Speaker 1: They just need that next level of quarterback play another
Speaker 1: season where that's kind of defined the conversation a little
Speaker 1: bit around this, right, but also like who knows what
Speaker 1: I know? On paper? This defense and secondary looks good
Speaker 1: and it is good, but it's like Vic Fangio is
Speaker 1: not gonna be running the defense anymore next year, So
Speaker 1: then to me, that's a start over. I would assume
Speaker 1: after three straight losing seasons, which this clinches that he's out,
Speaker 1: And yeah, you've got some good skill position players for
Speaker 1: sure for the next coach and the next quarterback, assuming
Speaker 1: they're not on the team. I mean, you cannot have
Speaker 1: Vick Fonio and Pat Shermer going to Cabo to court
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. It's going to have to be a completely
Speaker 1: new cast of people that someone like in Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: who's moving his entire brand to another team, is going
Speaker 1: to believe in. And I'm not sure that coaches right
Speaker 1: now they're also saw the team by the way, Well
Speaker 1: that's that's part of you. I've seen I was gonna say,
Speaker 1: I've seen Elway in Indianapolis who knows what goes down
Speaker 1: and always down in Cabo. It must get it must
Speaker 1: be a wild scene down. I'm sure it gets Chargers
Speaker 1: locked down of here, Chargers locked out with all the
Speaker 1: injuries and the Broncos this week, and they deserve it.
Speaker 1: They needed a little luck. They deserve the charges of
Speaker 1: one of those organizations that you should never you know,
Speaker 1: hold it against them. They got a w uh and
Speaker 1: a little luck. All right, let's move on, shook ee
Speaker 1: uh to Orchard Park where another team was looking to
Speaker 1: looking to take care of business. We will need a
Speaker 1: touchdown here and the gun the stamp to Allen hands
Speaker 1: it off. Singletary, driving forward, gets down to the one
Speaker 1: yard line and he is stopped. Just shure. Now it's
Speaker 1: a touchdown, a late call by the officials, but it's
Speaker 1: a touchdown for the Bill, a six yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: by Devin Singletary. Let's see, that's classic play by play.
Speaker 1: Guy moved there, I didn't mess up that guy messed
Speaker 1: up late call. John Murphy w g R. With that call,
Speaker 1: an accurate call, wasn't on him. The Bills clinch a
Speaker 1: playoff spot. Devin Singletary scores two touchdowns in the second
Speaker 1: and half making up for a sloppy performance from Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: who had multiple turnovers but didn't matter win over the Falcons. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: thank god, Shookie, the Falcons are eliminated from playoff contention.
Speaker 1: But I suppose a little frustrating as a Bills fantasy
Speaker 1: Allan throw three picks a week after that magical performance
Speaker 1: against the Patriots. Yeah, you know, we we spend time
Speaker 1: in digital space talking about m v P race, as
Speaker 1: we have for this year and last year and many
Speaker 1: years before that. And I often get crushed because Josh
Speaker 1: Allen never makes it into like my top three. But
Speaker 1: this is the type of game that explains why he
Speaker 1: doesn't make it into my top three. He's a great
Speaker 1: player and they rely on him a lot, but occasionally,
Speaker 1: and I know there was snowy, but you're the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: You should expect to play in snow Occasionally relying on
Speaker 1: Josh Allen goes poorly. It's just that, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: glad we played that clip because that's really what to find.
Speaker 1: The win for the Bills is being able to rely
Speaker 1: on the ground game, something that they really refused to
Speaker 1: do for a lot of the season unless it was
Speaker 1: Josh Allen running the football until the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks they've gotten back to giving it to Devon Singletary
Speaker 1: and establishing more of a traditional ground game, and I
Speaker 1: think it's bounced out their offense and it's helped them
Speaker 1: in cases like today where their quarterback is erratic, throws
Speaker 1: a few really ugly interceptions and one that just was
Speaker 1: a product of of a risky throw that he's known
Speaker 1: to take from time to time, and but they were
Speaker 1: still able to win. And you could say, you know,
Speaker 1: you can give them a ton of credit for doing
Speaker 1: it offensively and going to the ground game, but it's
Speaker 1: also a reflection of how much talent that the Falcons
Speaker 1: still need when they don't have Kyle Pitts in the field,
Speaker 1: because he wasn't available in the second half and they
Speaker 1: couldn't move the ball. They had seventy seven total yards
Speaker 1: in the second half um after losing Kyle Pitts, essentially,
Speaker 1: so they need more weapons. And they've been a scrappy
Speaker 1: bunch and and they've been fun to watch, I guess
Speaker 1: at times, just because they play hard. But in games
Speaker 1: like this, that talent difference ends up being the difference,
Speaker 1: and it was today. You know, I think Arthur Smith
Speaker 1: is dealt with that all year long, and he's dealt
Speaker 1: with it creatively, um when there isn't a lot of
Speaker 1: options for your creativity. So I'd give his first year
Speaker 1: coaching there um a positive grade. But I would ask
Speaker 1: you this because we just said, oh, if you if
Speaker 1: you could project enough, you could say Carson Wentz in
Speaker 1: Indianapolis has like a Joe Flacco Super Bowl run type
Speaker 1: run with Josh Allen, he's an m VP candidate going
Speaker 1: into any any season. Do you think, though, that we
Speaker 1: can get three straight performances from Josh Allen that are
Speaker 1: pristine enough to avoid something like this because in a
Speaker 1: playoff game, they're out if this happens. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: that's kind of the wild card. Last year, you would say, Yes,
Speaker 1: this year, it's been up and down. I mean it
Speaker 1: really has as a team, and this is probably the
Speaker 1: lowest point he's had, I think, all year. But that's
Speaker 1: who they've been. You know, in terms of final score.
Speaker 1: They blow out a team like the Dolphins one week
Speaker 1: and then you know a few weeks later they lose
Speaker 1: a close ener, they lose to the Jaguars. They've been
Speaker 1: very up and down, So it's kind of difficult to predict.
Speaker 1: I think over time with his progression, you would expect
Speaker 1: if he's still with Brian Dable and they have a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a balanced offense because you're lying
Speaker 1: on him to throw it, you know, forty times and
Speaker 1: run fifteen times. It's gonna work sometimes against some teams,
Speaker 1: but I don't think it's really the reliable formula. Then yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe that does happen, but it's just right now, not
Speaker 1: with this season, I couldn't say that. I mean, this
Speaker 1: was the classic Josh Allen caam. Every possession was an
Speaker 1: interception or a touchdown. That's that's just insane. Is there
Speaker 1: a chance here your Jets can help out the Patriots
Speaker 1: next week? Because for a minute there the Falcons were
Speaker 1: ahead in this game. I was thinking, wow, because the
Speaker 1: Bills lose, because the Bill is still you know, are
Speaker 1: winning the a f C East, but it's not up
Speaker 1: It's still up for grabs going into weeks seventeen, and
Speaker 1: I anticipate both the Bills and the Patriots will be
Speaker 1: playing obviously to win, and so the Patriots would need
Speaker 1: the Jets to pull off like a huge upset. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Jets game very close to pulling off the biggest
Speaker 1: home upset and team history today, so it's certainly within
Speaker 1: the realm of reason. The Falcons also are like, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's seven and nine, but there are a whisper away
Speaker 1: from being four and twelve or three and thirteen. They
Speaker 1: are not a good team at Also, I guess there's
Speaker 1: that's a pretty disappointing win, but who cares. It's a win,
Speaker 1: and the Bills are still in position uh to win
Speaker 1: the a f C East uh if they take care
Speaker 1: of business on week t All right, Chuck, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna ask you about the Cleveland baseball team uh name change.
Speaker 1: I just don't think it's the right platform for you,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to put you in a tough
Speaker 1: spot one way or the other. So I'm just gonna say, uh,
Speaker 1: you're a great Cleveland sports fan and the people are happy,
Speaker 1: lucky to have you over there. You know you're It's
Speaker 1: a great business decision out of you, because the last
Speaker 1: thing you want to do is alienate some listeners who
Speaker 1: feel very strongly about that or don't really care at
Speaker 1: all about baseball. So this is a football podcast, and
Speaker 1: we'll keep side stepped at side, stepped in a big spot.
Speaker 1: All right, Chuckie, thank you buddy for joining U S S.
Speaker 1: Stay warm and uh it was always next year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true and there is thanks. All right, let's take
Speaker 1: a break and we sold. John Stevenson to the left
Speaker 1: of Jones takes the snaff of playfi I through oh
Speaker 1: puts down Patriots and he goes to Wilcrops a fourth
Speaker 1: second touchdown catch up to day. Keep this kid active.
Speaker 1: Oh man, you see a little somebody outside. Uh, Bob
Speaker 1: Sochi and a man named Scott with the call for
Speaker 1: w b Z. Patriots are back in the playoffs. Rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback Mac Jones through three touchdown passes actually set the
Speaker 1: franchise record for a touchdown passes in a season. Uh.
Speaker 1: He only needed to throw twenty to do it, and
Speaker 1: he did. Damian Harris's Damian Harris and Ron Dre Stevenson
Speaker 1: both scored twice on the ground. Final score fifty to
Speaker 1: ten over the Jaguars and m Mark. We talked about
Speaker 1: this on Thursday's podcast. If ever there was like the
Speaker 1: classic Patriots destroy a bad team that's ready to go
Speaker 1: home scenario, it was the Jaguars at home. Uh, so
Speaker 1: fiften is not surprising to many of us. But I
Speaker 1: guess let's give them credit. They're not doing it with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady anymore. So there's just something the way this
Speaker 1: team UM practices, prepares h that separates them from others. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think all that's true. You got um a very
Speaker 1: clean game from Mac Jones, who threw a couple of
Speaker 1: great touchdown passes in this. You got a guy like
Speaker 1: Christian Wilkerson who's barely played for them, getting involved with
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. The running game was on fire. I think
Speaker 1: their defensive backfield could essentially look at Trevor Lawrence in
Speaker 1: this offense and assess what they were trying to do
Speaker 1: on almost every play. You are playing the worst attack
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It looked like it. Trevor Lawrence was
Speaker 1: underwater from the very beginning. Um, you don't have James
Speaker 1: Robinson in the backfield, and you know, about twelve minutes
Speaker 1: into this, I was thinking, Oh, this is going according
Speaker 1: to script in every possible way, it's going to project
Speaker 1: out as a blowout. It did exactly that. New England
Speaker 1: scored on I think eight of nine drives. They were
Speaker 1: forced to punt once. It was just utter and total dominance.
Speaker 1: They controlled both lines of scrimmage and I you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to bring up Trevor Lawrence over and over,
Speaker 1: but it has been such a bad season that you
Speaker 1: just wonder where he is a mentally. I mean, we
Speaker 1: know New England's very good against rookie quarterbacks, but the
Speaker 1: level of dominance today was like these two teams were
Speaker 1: not playing in the same field or in the same sport.
Speaker 1: I mean, his receiver group is um among the worst
Speaker 1: position groups in the entire NFL, not just receiver position groups,
Speaker 1: just any position. The drops, the like mental mistakes every
Speaker 1: week is is brutal to watch. Uh and they they're
Speaker 1: probably a lay down for the Colts in a similar
Speaker 1: big spot next week, like they did the first time
Speaker 1: they play the Colts. It's quite an accomplishment, I think
Speaker 1: for the for this Belichick rookie quarterback team to get
Speaker 1: to ten and six. Here you've got a chance to
Speaker 1: go to eleven and six. It is disappointing. Obviously they
Speaker 1: didn't show up in some of their biggest games of
Speaker 1: the year, but it is quite a rebound from what
Speaker 1: where they were a year ago. Uh And they'll they'll
Speaker 1: be dangerous like I'm with Scott Zolak on this one point.
Speaker 1: If only this Keith Wokers in active in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I've seen enough of Nikil Harry. Oh, I know we
Speaker 1: we cracked crackdown blocks on the Running Game. Okay, that's great.
Speaker 1: I saw Wilkerson in the preseason. He made some place
Speaker 1: here today. It's like they need they need any good
Speaker 1: playmaking pair of hands and get And you look at
Speaker 1: the a f C East. The Bills have a one
Speaker 1: game lead, right are they tied? They're tied, Bills have
Speaker 1: the tiebreaker. We talked about the Bills. They have the
Speaker 1: Jets the Patriots at Miami, and that's an interesting game,
Speaker 1: um for New England. Um. But the good news is
Speaker 1: for Patriots fans, which I guess Greg is one of
Speaker 1: them still. But you know we've talked about that on
Speaker 1: the show. It's unclear it eliminates a nightmare scenario where
Speaker 1: the help they got today there in the dance, they
Speaker 1: get some help from the Bills, So be it. If
Speaker 1: they don't. These teams could very well. I think it's
Speaker 1: set up right now Bills Patriots Round one of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it matters. As we've seen where
Speaker 1: that game is played, considering the teams split winning in
Speaker 1: each other's stadium. So I think we all want to
Speaker 1: see a third matchup between those two teams. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's kind of a uh, I don't
Speaker 1: it's happening here, It's gonna go down. It would go
Speaker 1: a long way to PUTT into bed. I think an
Speaker 1: argument that we've had about these two teams as a
Speaker 1: trio all season long, I mean it's it's we need
Speaker 1: to see a third one. I'd love to see Patriots
Speaker 1: Bengals or or Patriots Chiefs even more than that, just
Speaker 1: because I think that would be fun. By the way,
Speaker 1: the Bengals had a Gholston today. It's been a while.
Speaker 1: I check every game Gholston of course, no sacks, no
Speaker 1: quarterback hits. Congratulations. Wait can you clarify for me, because
Speaker 1: I again I don't even know sometimes with the Patriots
Speaker 1: stock what you mean, like, what do you want to
Speaker 1: avoid the Bills because you don't think it's a good
Speaker 1: matchup or because you would watch it would be a
Speaker 1: more fun matchup if they're playing. I've seen that twice.
Speaker 1: I think the Bill's best game um is really high
Speaker 1: level and like, I've seen that game, and to me,
Speaker 1: Patriots Chiefs would be a lot of fun and Patriots
Speaker 1: Bengals would also be fun. I I don't need another division,
Speaker 1: you know, third time around on You're scared of the Bills.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I'm reading. I would I would agree.
Speaker 1: I think Guess'd be scared of the Bills. But I
Speaker 1: think the Chiefs like are a tougher matchup. But there
Speaker 1: would be something about that that would just be intriguing
Speaker 1: if they could ever have a chance there with mack Alright,
Speaker 1: so let us now move to some intro league football
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. Throws caught front pylon, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Ala
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham Jr. Gives the Rams their first lead with
Speaker 1: fifties seven seconds remaining in Week seventeen. Thinking about that
Speaker 1: springtime social J B. Long post draft, you're having a
Speaker 1: couple of maybe he's drinking a white Claw, I'm drinking
Speaker 1: a Tito's with our beautiful families, just living it up
Speaker 1: in southern California. One of the strangest recurring bits going
Speaker 1: right now. J B. Long, k Y s R. With
Speaker 1: the call I think I might have heard m J
Speaker 1: D in the background there and Matthew Stafford through a
Speaker 1: seven yard touchdown pass to Odell Beckham Jr. With fifty
Speaker 1: seven seconds to play. That came after Stafford and Beckham
Speaker 1: connected on a fourth and five to keep the game
Speaker 1: alive four of the Rams and the Ravens could not
Speaker 1: respond in their ensuing drive. They lose their uh fifth
Speaker 1: straight game and the final score was nineteen. Thank you, Greg.
Speaker 1: Another sloppy performance Gregg by Stafford, but he delivered when
Speaker 1: it mattered. He did that drive to take the lead
Speaker 1: was the moment like you bring Stafford there for and
Speaker 1: I know you can say like he's the reason they
Speaker 1: were trailing and he was a big reason. He had
Speaker 1: three turnovers, they were all his fault. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: he had bad luck. He played well in the second half.
Speaker 1: Like they had to play very clean and nearly perfect
Speaker 1: on offense because they were not getting the ball very often.
Speaker 1: The Baltimore Ravens offense just kept grinding up these long
Speaker 1: plays like a fourteen play drive, a twelve play drive,
Speaker 1: a fifteen play drive, a nine play drive. So Stafford
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of chances and they had to
Speaker 1: finish touchdown touchdown to win the game, and he did it,
Speaker 1: including a fourth down play to Odell Beckham before the touchdown,
Speaker 1: you know, with the game essentially on the line, and
Speaker 1: Beckham makes a fantastic hands catch and Stafford, you know,
Speaker 1: moves out of the way of pressure. Is like an
Speaker 1: incredibly clutch play. And this Rams team has shown an
Speaker 1: ability now this last month to win a variety of
Speaker 1: types of games and come through in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: And they're trying to kind of build their their culture.
Speaker 1: I guess their identity of this Rams team, and I
Speaker 1: think they got a feel now when they get into
Speaker 1: these tough situations that they're gonna come out with victories. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest X factor for them was overcoming
Speaker 1: Stafford mistakes, and they weren't able to do that in
Speaker 1: the loss to Tennessee. They weren't able to do that
Speaker 1: when they were stumped by the Niners way back when.
Speaker 1: And this is a game that kind of shows, look
Speaker 1: at he cannot, he can. He will be imperfect. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get a game in the playoffs where he's going
Speaker 1: to be imperfect. I mean, he is sort of that
Speaker 1: dude that throws pick six is he throws interceptions and
Speaker 1: little rogers has his whole career, right. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: also thrown more than all but three quarterbacks since nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty during his career, So it's a thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know a lot of that happened in Detroit. But
Speaker 1: if you're a Rams team that wanted to find a
Speaker 1: demoralizing loss late in the year, that would have put
Speaker 1: us back into a weird place with you, you go
Speaker 1: to Baltimore and you lose on the East coast. This way, instead,
Speaker 1: they found their way out of it and it included
Speaker 1: a new face like Odell Beckham. I think that matters.
Speaker 1: And I think their defense, I mean, I know that,
Speaker 1: you know, Baltimore had their way with them to a
Speaker 1: bit today. In general, the Rams defense gives me a
Speaker 1: ton of hope. They're very balanced on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, and I have no problem with winning ugly
Speaker 1: in what early January we're gonna mine into mid January
Speaker 1: here before the playoffs, I'm fine with it. Maybe this
Speaker 1: is maybe it's time to just recalibrate expectations with O'Dell
Speaker 1: Beckham that he's just never gonna be a guy who
Speaker 1: puts up Justin Jefferson type lines or or what we
Speaker 1: saw Jamaar Chase today, he's just not a consistent, elate,
Speaker 1: elite playmaker like he used to be. But again, I
Speaker 1: think he's up to what four or five touchdowns now
Speaker 1: with l A. It seems like he scores once every
Speaker 1: game and otherwise unremarkable box score. But he has become
Speaker 1: a red zone threat and a weapon for them what
Speaker 1: he never was with Cleveland. So that has been at
Speaker 1: help for them. We still have the opportunity potential cam
Speaker 1: akers around the bend. Sonny Michelle has really played well.
Speaker 1: Cooper cut in an off game for him go six
Speaker 1: and one. So I think the Rams, Yeah, it is Stafford,
Speaker 1: somebody you just lock and load and be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's ready for the playoffs. No, But like I have
Speaker 1: him the same class as Josh Allen. Well, Josh Allen's
Speaker 1: a better player, But what I mean is Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz, Matt Stafford. These guys that are talented but
Speaker 1: sometimes enigmatic pipe type players that can obviously go on
Speaker 1: a heater or in the postseason. And could I imagine
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford having a killer postseason and then riding it
Speaker 1: all the way to the Super Bowl. And I totally
Speaker 1: can see that. So again that's why you go get
Speaker 1: Matt Stafford and they're set up here for all the
Speaker 1: trials and tribulations of the season. They're twelve and four
Speaker 1: and they have a chance here they can get Can
Speaker 1: they get up to one or they Well, as we
Speaker 1: take this, we're going to assume the Packers finish out
Speaker 1: the Vikings here and then that'll clinch the one seed
Speaker 1: for the Packers. So they're they're the Rams are at
Speaker 1: two there, they haven't won the division. They can do
Speaker 1: it next week. They can't have these three turnover games
Speaker 1: from Stafford. He's done back to back weeks. I know
Speaker 1: they've won, but in the playoffs, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you have that margin for error. But I do like
Speaker 1: like like you said, Cup, this was in theory and
Speaker 1: off game, but he stepped up, getting open huge plays
Speaker 1: at the end, making plays after the catch. Ramsey had
Speaker 1: a nice game. I'd like to see. It's clearly not
Speaker 1: the past and game that that peak Rams could be
Speaker 1: because this is an underman Ravens secondary and they were
Speaker 1: not taking advantage of it. Um for chunks of this
Speaker 1: game that the Ravens kind of backed off. I think
Speaker 1: that surprised them they were playing conservative. But Donald, we
Speaker 1: keep saying it week after week, like he changed this game.
Speaker 1: His pass rush pressure on Huntley prevented a wide open
Speaker 1: touchdown in the first half. He gets a sack to
Speaker 1: end to drive in the red zone. At the end
Speaker 1: of the game, the Ravens were basically on the doorstep
Speaker 1: of scoring a touchdown and almost putting this thing out
Speaker 1: of out of bounds. And then that's the moment where
Speaker 1: Donald steps up and it was just like another just
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. You probably weren't gonna win the game if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for Aaron. He's defensive player of the Year
Speaker 1: for me. We talked about it all the time. The
Speaker 1: old frances Is Um seasons unstopped. Left at Thanksgiving novem
Speaker 1: the Ravens out last the Brown sixteen ten, a game
Speaker 1: in which uh Lamar Jackson threw four interceptions, but they
Speaker 1: still won. And at that moment they were eight and
Speaker 1: three on novembery Now you fast forward to January two
Speaker 1: or eight and eight, and now need to win in
Speaker 1: week eighteen and get help or they end up out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs entirely. It's it's pretty it's pretty wild.
Speaker 1: What's happened to the season, but not if you've been
Speaker 1: following it week by week. Not particularly surprising because they
Speaker 1: just have been absolutely assaulted by injuries and COVID and
Speaker 1: the lamar ankle injury, which was obviously more serious than
Speaker 1: they initially let on. That's how they got where they
Speaker 1: are right in the in four of those losses are
Speaker 1: by the last four losses are by a combined six points.
Speaker 1: That's outrageous and we'll probably have well, they're probably have
Speaker 1: four wins that combined by six points too early, right,
Speaker 1: that was early in the season. But I'm just saying
Speaker 1: to do this in such a short stretch where you
Speaker 1: lose by one, lose by two, lose by on, and
Speaker 1: then lose by one, it's too bad. Huntley, you can
Speaker 1: see he's a pro quarterback, like he's a starter. He
Speaker 1: made a couple of mistakes today that that hurt them. Um,
Speaker 1: it wasn't quite as good a game from him. Uh
Speaker 1: in this game, like he still looks good, um, and
Speaker 1: he looked like he belonged. But he he had a
Speaker 1: couple of plays he wanted backgrounds that could have won.
Speaker 1: It would have helped my fantasy team that went down
Speaker 1: in the finals today. But well, We'll take that second
Speaker 1: place prize money and we're off. We're off. We were
Speaker 1: happy with the way things turned out overall. Just disappointing.
Speaker 1: But I know a lot of people were. When you
Speaker 1: see this on game pass, there were a couple of
Speaker 1: players where he could have had more points. They were,
Speaker 1: don't tell us, don't tell me, I don't. It wouldn't
Speaker 1: have mattered. My poner put up one seventy five. It's fine.
Speaker 1: We move We've moved forward. We're professionals. Here on to
Speaker 1: not great timing for this, onto the meadow ends. Ready
Speaker 1: to go, Brady with twenty three seconds to go, but
Speaker 1: snap a good one, Brady, Look at Coxy up Those
Speaker 1: toward the ends all receive all but call ball touch
Speaker 1: stop top bye, touchdops hamba bye. Bucketeers tech the lead
Speaker 1: for the first time. Brace makes the catch of the
Speaker 1: end zone. Bucketeers lead, Tom Brady, you're terrific. See it's
Speaker 1: about the delivery, Like when Gene decker Off says Tom
Speaker 1: Brady or terrific. That's nice. I like that. Um when
Speaker 1: another announcer goes, I'll love Tom Brood, it doesn't carry
Speaker 1: the same warm but at that there's a lacking of
Speaker 1: a panache there with um. The second individual, a man
Speaker 1: named Scott w f Us Jane dagger Off. Antonio Brown
Speaker 1: walked away from the Bucks, but luckily they still have
Speaker 1: Tom Brady the Goat lead the Bucks on a ninety
Speaker 1: three yard drive in the final minutes, culminating with a
Speaker 1: thirty three yard touchdown strike to Cyril Gracing, stealing over
Speaker 1: my Jets. The Jets had a UM two touchdown lead
Speaker 1: in this game. UM, and it was a tough one,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get to the game. But let's start
Speaker 1: with the Antonio Brown stuff, because obviously this was the
Speaker 1: huge story of the early games. It was everywhere Brown had.
Speaker 1: It's still unclear as of this taping what set him off,
Speaker 1: but he had a meltdown late in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay was trailing at the time. Cameras caught him
Speaker 1: in an animated discussion with Mike Evans. Evans was trying
Speaker 1: to calm down Brown, but instead Brown stripped off his pads, jersey, gloves,
Speaker 1: t shirt, tossed the gloves and T shirt into the stands,
Speaker 1: and then walked completely bare chested down the sideline into
Speaker 1: the end zone, which, by the way, it should have
Speaker 1: been a penalty, but we're not gonna dwell on anything
Speaker 1: like that. He then waved to the fans, jogged through
Speaker 1: the end zone into the tunnel at MetLife Stadium, apparently
Speaker 1: left the stadium without a shirt on. And after the game, Um, first,
Speaker 1: I respect reulation that he was benched, and he melted
Speaker 1: down because of that. But then there was talk on
Speaker 1: Twitter that he wasn't even benched, but something set. Jay
Speaker 1: Glazer reported that Arians at one point he was already
Speaker 1: upset for some reason that is unclear. Arians, you know,
Speaker 1: put him in the next play. I guess he was.
Speaker 1: I guess he was like on the sideline and Arians,
Speaker 1: you know, put him in the next play, and he
Speaker 1: refused to go in, and then Arians asked again, and
Speaker 1: then the next play, and at that point when he
Speaker 1: did he refused to go in, he said like you're out,
Speaker 1: You're you know, okay, and then he melted down. So anyway,
Speaker 1: Arians after the game, obviously, the first question is not
Speaker 1: about this great comeback. It's about Antonio Brown walking out
Speaker 1: in the middle of a game. Here's what Arians had
Speaker 1: to say. He is no longer a book. All right,
Speaker 1: that's the end of the story. Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: guys who were not doing one game. See, but it's
Speaker 1: not that easy, Bruce. It is not that easy because you,
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians and you Tom Brady, and you the Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers um created this situation by looking the other
Speaker 1: way over over when Brown was clearly a loose cannon. Now,
Speaker 1: I think there's something interesting with this, and Mark, I'll start,
Speaker 1: I'll tee you up on this. I wonder, obviously Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown seems like he's not the greatest guy. But sometimes
Speaker 1: I wonder if there's like a mental health component here
Speaker 1: that makes this maybe not as straightforward as like everyone
Speaker 1: just saying clown in this guy for being a total idiot.
Speaker 1: It's sometimes it feels like, to me, with someone's behavior
Speaker 1: that there's something wrong with him. And then you hear
Speaker 1: Brady's comments after the game that we're he was expressing
Speaker 1: concern about Brown's well being. That's a part of this
Speaker 1: conversation that I feel like you're not hearing a lot of.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I do think that when we look
Speaker 1: at Antonio Brown and you look at what happened on
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks with the Raiders, and you know, there's a
Speaker 1: littany a laundry list of things that have happened with
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown that it is possible to piece together and
Speaker 1: be curious about the mental health side. I mean, because
Speaker 1: there's been indications and suggestions that that is some many
Speaker 1: deals with. And I took Brady's comments along the same
Speaker 1: avenue that you did. Um, this is a star player
Speaker 1: who on who was on a Hall of Fame, you
Speaker 1: know avenue at some point. I mean you can see it,
Speaker 1: and it's like, that's why he was in the building.
Speaker 1: I think this puts the bed probably what was a
Speaker 1: bit of a tension filled um scenario between not about
Speaker 1: tension field, but Tom Brady wanted him. Would he have
Speaker 1: been on the bucks that Tom Brady wasn't there? No,
Speaker 1: this wasn't a Bruce Arians witch casting. I think Bruce
Speaker 1: Arians did his best to put up with him. I
Speaker 1: just wonder, I mean, in terms of the Antonio Brown experience,
Speaker 1: did he wake up at some point today thinking that,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't want to play anymore, or in
Speaker 1: the scope of possibilities of actions I might take today,
Speaker 1: one of them could be stripping down from the belt
Speaker 1: up and running out of the stadium and taking an
Speaker 1: uber home. I just when he took the uber, there
Speaker 1: was some great It wasn't an uber. He got his
Speaker 1: personal you've taken you've taken first of all, you've taken
Speaker 1: your chance for Super Bowl ring away, and you've probably
Speaker 1: taken your teams chances away because losing Antonio Brown on
Speaker 1: the field is nothing short of titanic. I think for
Speaker 1: the for the Buccaneers, right with the state that they're
Speaker 1: in right now, it's huge. And this wasn't like a
Speaker 1: experiment that always had a potential, high risk, high reward
Speaker 1: point of implosion, and today it imploded and rather spectacular fashion.
Speaker 1: Well supposedly they were getting frustrated, according to some the
Speaker 1: local reports with his behavior throughout the course of his
Speaker 1: suspension and then since coming back, and you could see
Speaker 1: the way he was with reporters when he didn't even
Speaker 1: want to answer questions about it. So, you know, you're right,
Speaker 1: Dan like Arians was the I know Brady wanted him
Speaker 1: on the team, but Arians ultimately made the decision to
Speaker 1: keep him, which was even after the suspension, which was
Speaker 1: obviously a mistake. And they're gonna be counting on Cyril
Speaker 1: Grayson and um Tyler Johnson. You know, I know Evans
Speaker 1: was back today, uh and Gronk had a good game,
Speaker 1: but they're definitely shorthanded. Lavante David's hurt, Jack barretts Hrt,
Speaker 1: They've had some really significant players that are out right
Speaker 1: now to um to both. To mark your point, I
Speaker 1: wonder if Arians has a conversation with Brady before he
Speaker 1: goes up that PODi up to that podium, or if
Speaker 1: that's something in the just in the heat of the
Speaker 1: moment he says, no, he's gone. That's it. Um Well,
Speaker 1: I mean that was to be like he's not even
Speaker 1: It's like Antonio Brown quit. It was he was off
Speaker 1: the team already. He he he took himself off the box.
Speaker 1: Arians never even had a choice. I don't know, right well,
Speaker 1: and he left, He literally left, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like at that point, Antonio Brown knew his Bucks career
Speaker 1: was over. I mean not do n't know if he's
Speaker 1: thinking about it that. I don't think you can think
Speaker 1: about anything, because if you look at his escalators in
Speaker 1: his contract, he was with just like normal type. Brown
Speaker 1: performances the rest of this game and next week he
Speaker 1: would have cleared like well over a million dollars in bonuses.
Speaker 1: So I think he's a guy that is a complete
Speaker 1: loose cannon in a hothead that lost his temper. And
Speaker 1: probably even if he won't admit to it right now,
Speaker 1: he knows he made a huge mistake. Now there's talk like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's out of football now, Well we'll see. We'll see
Speaker 1: they wait until the offseason and see if another team says, oh,
Speaker 1: I would like this, like top twenty five wide receiver
Speaker 1: in the whole league at a deep discount, like don't
Speaker 1: underestimate the NFL's ability to look the other way. But
Speaker 1: I mean, I always think about Chris Westling and the
Speaker 1: most upset I've ever seen him on the podcast, other
Speaker 1: than when someone told him to take his hat off, UM,
Speaker 1: was when Tom Brady and Bill Belichick brought Antonio Brown
Speaker 1: to New England UH in the wake of the um
Speaker 1: sexual assault allegations that Brown was facing at the time,
Speaker 1: and and west was so strong about that and and
Speaker 1: said that he had lost all respect for Bellichick and Brady.
Speaker 1: I remember there was some tension in the studio that night, Greg,
Speaker 1: because you were talking, you know, you guys were in
Speaker 1: a real good conversation about everything about it. And UM,
Speaker 1: I thought about that today because I've been thinking about
Speaker 1: I know, as we all have West a lot with
Speaker 1: the new year, and you know he's been gone almost
Speaker 1: a year now. Um that Brown, this is not anything
Speaker 1: new that he's been this divisive guy that at a
Speaker 1: certain point people need to you gotta put your foot
Speaker 1: down and say this is not a guy that can
Speaker 1: help my team, even if he is fantastically talented. We've
Speaker 1: seen it again with yet another team, right and one
Speaker 1: of one of West's favorite coaches to arians you know,
Speaker 1: one of it like an organization that you know, they
Speaker 1: want a super Bowl. So I guess they'll they'll look
Speaker 1: back and think, I guess it was worth it because
Speaker 1: he helped along the way. Um. But it it's like
Speaker 1: they they asked for it and they got it. And
Speaker 1: I don't think they're they're done by any means. I mean,
Speaker 1: they find out way to win this game, and I
Speaker 1: know we can get to the game. But they've they
Speaker 1: won twelve games and they'll they'll have a home game
Speaker 1: in the first round of the playoffs and maybe more.
Speaker 1: But they're not the same team that they could have
Speaker 1: been because of injuries and now because of this. As
Speaker 1: far as the game goes, UM from the Jet side, really,
Speaker 1: I know it helps their draft standing. But it's a
Speaker 1: really tough loss because, like I said, they were I think,
Speaker 1: um double digit teen underdogs in this game. Uh and
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson played his best complete game of the year,
Speaker 1: and the defense really played well and played with a
Speaker 1: lot of passion. And I came out of the game
Speaker 1: or as the game went along, like really feeling good
Speaker 1: about Robert Salin, how hard he had this team playing.
Speaker 1: After the game, Salo was furious about a the Jets
Speaker 1: were up by um three points or four points, excuse
Speaker 1: me late in the game, deep in Tampa Bay territory,
Speaker 1: facing fourth and two, and there's a miscommunication between Michael Floor,
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator, and Zack Wilson about a play call
Speaker 1: that should have been an end around to Braxton Burrios,
Speaker 1: but instead turned into a QB sneak, a two yard
Speaker 1: QB sneak that they were trying to get. They got
Speaker 1: maybe half a yard. Brady takes over and goes right
Speaker 1: down the field. And I thought it was interesting how
Speaker 1: pointed Salo was. I wonder what it means for the
Speaker 1: relationship with Michael Floor, who and I think has been
Speaker 1: very good this year. But that set in motion the
Speaker 1: comeback for the Bucks, who went ninety three yards the
Speaker 1: other way. The Jets passing up the field goal on
Speaker 1: fourth and two that would have put him up seven
Speaker 1: to try to win the game. Called the wrong play
Speaker 1: in the huddle, or it's executed and properly by the rookie,
Speaker 1: but it was put completely on Michael la floor. That
Speaker 1: was the big turning point and what people talk about,
Speaker 1: not Antonio Brown relating in this game. I just I
Speaker 1: would look at some of the positive quarters and moments
Speaker 1: the Jets have had in the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: and say, let's build off it. I'd hate to see
Speaker 1: them in some sort of skategoat scenario or or or
Speaker 1: fresh change, move on from the floor and bringing a
Speaker 1: new offense, because if Zach Wilson needs anything on the planet,
Speaker 1: it is ultraconsistency between now and next September. I hate
Speaker 1: the lack of responsibility there, but hopefully it's just like emotions.
Speaker 1: But that's from both coaches. I mean, Arians takes no
Speaker 1: responsibility whatsoever, doesn't even want to talk about it when
Speaker 1: he said he wouldn't talk about why Brown was returning
Speaker 1: in the first place, Like you're always asking your players
Speaker 1: to take responsibility and then the coaches don't. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if if Salo was putting it on his coach,
Speaker 1: but it's a bad job by him too, Like you
Speaker 1: don't want to do that publicly. Yeah, I mean he
Speaker 1: didn't mean, but yes, they It was just unfortunate because
Speaker 1: it was really a nice It was a nice day
Speaker 1: overall at the Meadow Ends. The fans were into. It
Speaker 1: just didn't work out. But credit to the Bucks. They
Speaker 1: come back. They keep themselves pointed in the right direction,
Speaker 1: even if Antonio Brown will not be there any longer.
Speaker 1: Let us now take a break and then continue on.
Speaker 1: Hicky firing for the end zone. Incomplete and complete, and
Speaker 1: let's he caught the ball the cloud feels like he
Speaker 1: just intercepted the game, decepted the ball to seal the game.
Speaker 1: He does it again the second week in a role
Speaker 1: that run him. A cloud comes up, the interception huge
Speaker 1: and this is going to do it, Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1: That's like such a perfect call for the Eagles as
Speaker 1: a team right now, which is like, well it worked out.
Speaker 1: That was a good thing for the Eagles. The Eagles win.
Speaker 1: Meryl Reese Mike quick with it called w I p
Speaker 1: is not art right now for the Eagles, but football
Speaker 1: is not played in a damn museum. Rodney McCleod picked
Speaker 1: off Taylor Heineke in the end zone with twenty four
Speaker 1: seconds to play to seal another one for the Eagles,
Speaker 1: this time a conquest over the Washington football team, Greg Phillies,
Speaker 1: recent games all seemed to follow a similar script, slow
Speaker 1: start followed by a winning course correction. Right, they were
Speaker 1: impressive here. I mean, I know it wasn't pretty and McLeod,
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't think that was an interception either.
Speaker 1: It's such a homer for the Eagles. I don't know
Speaker 1: over this Washington team. This is a two and five
Speaker 1: team that you were wondering if the coach might last
Speaker 1: only one year, if the GM might finally lose his
Speaker 1: job after you know, more than a decade in that building. Uh.
Speaker 1: That clinched the playoffs spot with a week left in
Speaker 1: the season by going seven and two. Yes, they got
Speaker 1: a nice break in terms of the schedule throughout that run,
Speaker 1: but they still did it. And like for this team,
Speaker 1: for their expectations, they did it. And you're right that
Speaker 1: this game was perfect for it because it was not pretty,
Speaker 1: especially defensively in the first half, but the second half
Speaker 1: when they needed it, Like there were very few drives
Speaker 1: in this game, they go touchdown, field goal, field goal.
Speaker 1: They win the second half thirteen to nothing. Their defensive
Speaker 1: line absolutely dominated after Heinek was just playing out of
Speaker 1: his mind in the first half and they played more
Speaker 1: or less a perfect second half to go clinch a
Speaker 1: playoffs spot. You know, just take it, just take it.
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you want, know you want to
Speaker 1: talk about like in the a f C, everybody wants
Speaker 1: to look at and maybe we'll get the Titans. All
Speaker 1: these NFC superpowers, like give us the Eagles in round one,
Speaker 1: will fly. I you know what, I think the Eagles
Speaker 1: are right to pick someone up in the playoffs, depending
Speaker 1: on how that opponent's most likely. At this I could
Speaker 1: see it. They've given up under twenty five in a row.
Speaker 1: Now that came against the Giants, the Jets, the Giants
Speaker 1: again in Washington twice, so that that factors in. But
Speaker 1: I think they're built really well along both lines. They
Speaker 1: can run the ball. Jalen Hurts if you get the
Speaker 1: right game out of him, I would not want to
Speaker 1: deal with them in the wild card round. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say too much more because I have
Speaker 1: to watch the game, So I'm not going to bury
Speaker 1: the Eagles for their performance today, but I think it
Speaker 1: does we need to keep an eye in Jalen Hurts healthy.
Speaker 1: I think, yes, I'm gonna walk that back a little
Speaker 1: bit because maybe if he's making plays with his legs
Speaker 1: in a playoff game, UM, things can get dicey for
Speaker 1: any favorite. But I thought, you know, there were some
Speaker 1: comments made by Nick Sirianni after the game, um that
Speaker 1: you know, he really thought so much of Hurts for
Speaker 1: kind of battling through what's been a really painful injury
Speaker 1: that's affected him in a lot of ways. So he's
Speaker 1: coming out here and winning games. So respect to uh,
Speaker 1: respect to the quarterback for that, respect to the Eagles
Speaker 1: for getting to the playoffs. I don't think a lot
Speaker 1: of people how to pick for the playoffs, and Nick's
Speaker 1: ARIANI who you know, who's overcome some initial um public facing,
Speaker 1: you know, an underwhelming start to like how he was
Speaker 1: positioned and where the organization was and how things are
Speaker 1: gonna work out. Well, they're going to the dance, so
Speaker 1: that's pretty good, right, And then this was a fourth
Speaker 1: and fourth down game, you know, it would have been
Speaker 1: the talking point. I feel like if it didn't work,
Speaker 1: it often doesn't become the talking point when it does work.
Speaker 1: But they scored two touchdowns on fourth and goal, and
Speaker 1: I think both were from the two if I was right,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't like a total since and one of
Speaker 1: them took an extraordinary play from Boston Scott Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: like essentially gets tripped up while pitching the ball backwards.
Speaker 1: The defensive line for Washington looks like they're Scott gets
Speaker 1: to the outside, gets the touchdown, and hitting those two
Speaker 1: fourth and goals was kind of the difference, uh in
Speaker 1: a game that was this close. That hind that both quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: if you look at the box score, played much better
Speaker 1: than they then The box score show it. Hurts I
Speaker 1: thought had one of his best games. His offensive line
Speaker 1: did not play well for him, which was rare. They
Speaker 1: did not have much of a running game besides the Hurts,
Speaker 1: and Heinik played really like out of his mind in
Speaker 1: the first half, Like every third down just felt like
Speaker 1: it was Heinick pulling off a miracle and it ran out.
Speaker 1: I would say one thing I know, Ron Rivera is
Speaker 1: you know, beyond critique, and we all like the person
Speaker 1: a lot, but this team is falling off a cliff.
Speaker 1: And I know that they have been shorthanded, there's been
Speaker 1: corona issues, there's been injuries. You don't have the quarterback
Speaker 1: you played with, although I don't think the quarterback play
Speaker 1: has killed him that much. Four games in a row
Speaker 1: against division opponents. They were embarrassed by the Cowboys a
Speaker 1: week ago. They've lost twice the Eagles now and in
Speaker 1: not too far away weeks. Like I'm sorry, but like
Speaker 1: the the honeymoon period on some level needs to be
Speaker 1: read me gin during the off season, you've got to
Speaker 1: go get some real players, especially at quarterback. Little honeymoon
Speaker 1: period reimagining. I mean, you know it's yea. I think
Speaker 1: it gets some more rope than most most coaches around. Can.
Speaker 1: We just mentioned quickly that the rails at the stadium,
Speaker 1: it was terrible because it was a couple of I
Speaker 1: just sober moment. It wasn't a sober moment. It was
Speaker 1: amazing that that hurts then like starts posing for pictures,
Speaker 1: but it was if the timing had been different. Gara
Speaker 1: followed by the way, nice job. I think he was
Speaker 1: the one that I don't think he was no hea um.
Speaker 1: I mean, Hurts could have been underneath that while while
Speaker 1: the gate fell on them and all the fans did.
Speaker 1: If it was like two seconds later, that would have
Speaker 1: been a freaking disaster. What's going on in Washington Earlier
Speaker 1: in the season, the pipes were bursting and soaking the
Speaker 1: fans that come on, let's build it. I mean when
Speaker 1: you watch what what like human bodies are capable of?
Speaker 1: Because also the fans that fell like face forward down
Speaker 1: like nineties straight degrees into the earth should have been hurt.
Speaker 1: And they were up two minutes later with their arms
Speaker 1: around Hurts, taking like groups selfies. So you know, the
Speaker 1: body is strange. Wait a second, I think maybe it
Speaker 1: was Mike's original video. I'm not sure. I don't want
Speaker 1: to take it away from him either way. That's how
Speaker 1: I saw it because it was going nuts um, and
Speaker 1: there was an AP photographer runner that was injured. He
Speaker 1: was underneath that thing when I fell. I don't believe
Speaker 1: it was a serious injury situation, but yeah it was.
Speaker 1: It was scary because you know, like that was what
Speaker 1: twenty people leaning into it. That's got to be fortified.
Speaker 1: What are we doing in Washington? Can we do? What?
Speaker 1: Can we do anything right there? And the Eagles are
Speaker 1: brought their heated benches too. It's now become a bit
Speaker 1: in the NFC West that everyone's bringing their bench and
Speaker 1: we cleaned things up down there for Christ's taken and
Speaker 1: give it up to h Hurts for that's that's some
Speaker 1: Joe Montana like composure to just start posing with the
Speaker 1: fans like seconds later. I don't think anybody was aware
Speaker 1: there were injuries at that point, or serious injuries. All right. Anyway,
Speaker 1: let's head from one team punching their ticket to another
Speaker 1: that could The Niners ers on the fort and a
Speaker 1: roll tray Lance to the right has time could have
Speaker 1: thrown back leftopo ober Rod. It is caught by Gabo
Speaker 1: Samuel inside of the tag picks a Tacko touchdown. Sand
Speaker 1: fran Cisco RT called Greg Papa one G Greg, not
Speaker 1: a triple G, two gs, double G. It would be
Speaker 1: even better if he was triple G Papa, wouldn't He's
Speaker 1: he's only sniper shot. K n b R rookie Tray
Speaker 1: Lance through two touchdown passes in the second half of
Speaker 1: his second career start, and the Niners now zeroed in
Speaker 1: on a playoff spot. With a seven win over the Texans, uh,
Speaker 1: the Niners can clinch their second postseason appearance in five
Speaker 1: years under Shanahan with a win next week against the
Speaker 1: Rams or a loss by the Saints. That is the
Speaker 1: set up. Mark. What did you think about the kids
Speaker 1: performance today and would it be something that potentially gives
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan some pause as they look forward in I
Speaker 1: think it would give him a little bit of pause
Speaker 1: because I mean, you know, he heated up and you
Speaker 1: saw a couple of things which I'll get to in
Speaker 1: a minute later in the game that give you hope.
Speaker 1: But I thought that they really struggled. Um Shanahan struggled
Speaker 1: to find the best play calls to kind of find
Speaker 1: rhythm and fit lance in this offense. At first, he
Speaker 1: threw a bad interception on a you know, zoned in
Speaker 1: pass to George Kittle. He also had an incredible like
Speaker 1: laser touchdown dart to Stebo Samuel later in the game
Speaker 1: that you're like, wait a minute, Jimmy g for all
Speaker 1: is good and bad moments, could never have thrown that ball.
Speaker 1: I mean, he had another incredible throw to George Kittle,
Speaker 1: that as they got heated up, and I think they
Speaker 1: still want to be a run based team. And you know,
Speaker 1: Eli Mitchell like was so good today on a couple
Speaker 1: of different runs that helped him out. But you didn't
Speaker 1: see tray Lance take over the game necessarily. Um not
Speaker 1: that I expected that today. I thought that on the
Speaker 1: flip side, what happened for Houston a little bit. They
Speaker 1: hung around. Their offensive line did a sneaky good job
Speaker 1: and they're not a good old line at all until
Speaker 1: the Niners defense really kind of got going later in
Speaker 1: the game. It just took the entire San Francisco operations sometime.
Speaker 1: I I honestly looked at it. Dylan thoughts for all
Speaker 1: of the ups and downs with Jimmy G. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I would take the risk of putting tray
Speaker 1: Lance into a playoff game over Jimmy G at this point.
Speaker 1: It just looks to me a little slow in his processing.
Speaker 1: I mean, that did improve as the game went along,
Speaker 1: so maybe he projected out two games from now it's
Speaker 1: a little bit better. But I think there's a reason
Speaker 1: that we haven't seen a ton of trade Lance up
Speaker 1: until we needed to because of the injury this week
Speaker 1: because I think gets neck up. We all know he's
Speaker 1: a smart player. They say that that this offense just
Speaker 1: has not totally clicked in his mind. Ali, we can
Speaker 1: do some things physically that are very impressive. Well maybe
Speaker 1: there's like maybe that's the case. And I know Garoppolo
Speaker 1: on balance has been good this year. Um the case
Speaker 1: for why Land should have been in the lineup so
Speaker 1: he could get their mental reps, get ramped up, and
Speaker 1: continue to gain some confidence. And then you're going into
Speaker 1: the postseason with a rookie that has some reps. I
Speaker 1: know that's that's all silly because that's not the way
Speaker 1: it played out. And Garoppolo certainly is capable of getting
Speaker 1: hot himself in January. But it did make it. As
Speaker 1: you're explaining that to me, it doesn't make me think
Speaker 1: maybe he if he had the opportunity to get sped
Speaker 1: up a little bit, this would be a different Niners
Speaker 1: team we're talking about. But that's not where we're at.
Speaker 1: But he might I think he might. I mean it might.
Speaker 1: The decision might not be one to be made. This
Speaker 1: sounds like a serious thumb injury. It's torn ligaments. He's
Speaker 1: gonna have surgery and it eventually, he never sounded like
Speaker 1: he got particularly close. He never threw a football this
Speaker 1: last week, and while I bemoaned the lack of juice
Speaker 1: going into Week eighteen, at the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: the Rams forty Niners game is pretty spicy. I mean that,
Speaker 1: you know, forty Niners have won five straight against them.
Speaker 1: The forty Niners are gonna need that win um to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs, or at least to clinch a spot.
Speaker 1: The Saints will still be alive, and I'm sure they'll
Speaker 1: put that at the same time, so it's not a
Speaker 1: dead game. They've kind of owned the Rams. They could hurt.
Speaker 1: They could knock the Rams out of the division lead.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Lands, maybe it's Garoppola. I don't know. The
Speaker 1: way they talked about the Jimmy g injury, it does
Speaker 1: make you wonder if he's just done zo um this season.
Speaker 1: Mcvavor shanahan. That's just fun because you know, like if
Speaker 1: there's any two guys on a field in two right
Speaker 1: now that I want to have like their inner monologue
Speaker 1: locked in, I would be like when those guys are
Speaker 1: going into against each other and just mother effing each other,
Speaker 1: like altered the game I'm the true boy genius. No,
Speaker 1: I am take that want to be boy genius. I'm
Speaker 1: the true boy genius. Like, well, you're both like it's
Speaker 1: the extent of the time. And mcvad mcvaigan knocked them
Speaker 1: right out of the playoffs, which would be a nice
Speaker 1: little revenge for losing five straight against them. All right,
Speaker 1: so let's uh, let's move on now. The Saints also
Speaker 1: harbor playoff hopes as we enter Week eighteen in a
Speaker 1: few days, so let's check in on them. Second, it's
Speaker 1: twenty back to pass their trumps. Pressure throw that balls
Speaker 1: picked off right side, looks like CD douce right in
Speaker 1: front of the Saints pench down inside the ferny R line.
Speaker 1: CD news, We'll take it to the end zone to celebrate.
Speaker 1: And that's the way you're finishing. I liked it. The
Speaker 1: late interception of Sam Donald sealed it for the Saints
Speaker 1: in eighteen ten win on Sunday. Uh, Saints still alive
Speaker 1: in the in the wild card race. And this is
Speaker 1: a game where Alvin Camara turned a short pass into
Speaker 1: a New Orleans touchdown, their first touchdown in eleven quarters.
Speaker 1: W did you ever think you would see that? These
Speaker 1: the Saints under on Payton needing eleven quarters does the
Speaker 1: score a touchdown? But even if he didn't score that,
Speaker 1: they probably would have won anyway because Brett Mark kicked
Speaker 1: four field goals and the defense was just way too
Speaker 1: much for the Panthers completely in apt offensive attack. This
Speaker 1: is a Panther's team that had seven sacks of Sam Donald.
Speaker 1: Cam Jordan's had three and a half on his own,
Speaker 1: and that's his third straight game with at least two sacks.
Speaker 1: He's had a great career cam Jordan's and he still
Speaker 1: got it. And yes it was c J. Gardner Johnson
Speaker 1: or c J. Douce? Was it c who locked it down?
Speaker 1: So the Pathers that six straight losses, the Saints poll
Speaker 1: to eight and eight and they have a shot here.
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't watch a buch of this game,
Speaker 1: but I did watch the Panthers final drive while they
Speaker 1: were down eight, so it's technically a one score game.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I needed to watch anything more
Speaker 1: than that. This is not a great game. This is
Speaker 1: not a fun game to watch. This is a game
Speaker 1: like I'm glad I watched it because I don't have
Speaker 1: to ever think about it again. Um, Sam Donald can't play.
Speaker 1: It did remind me that I was one of the
Speaker 1: people that was like, man, they probably should have kept
Speaker 1: Donald and then traded that number two overall pick, and No,
Speaker 1: Sam Donald just not going to be the guy. He's
Speaker 1: a he's a backup somewhere. Taysom Hill is the same thing.
Speaker 1: His Mill is not even a backup. I don't think
Speaker 1: at quarterback. I think he's he's much more suited to
Speaker 1: be the gadget player that he was before that. I
Speaker 1: think this was by far not his worst game, but
Speaker 1: it kind of is the Taysom Hell experience that he
Speaker 1: doesn't really move the the offense very well, but he
Speaker 1: will come in with a nice run here and there.
Speaker 1: Um So the offense is what it is, and it
Speaker 1: was good that they got Camara unlocked a little bit
Speaker 1: in this game. They've really struggled to do that, uh
Speaker 1: in stretches this season. But it's the defense that carried
Speaker 1: them and the defensive line which is really good, and
Speaker 1: that is their ticket to the playoffs. They are a
Speaker 1: They're not a pretty team, the Saints, but they are
Speaker 1: a gritty team. I love and I know you do, Greg.
Speaker 1: I love the Week eight team matchup at Atlanta, because
Speaker 1: you know, the Falcons are a team that would love
Speaker 1: to end the Saints season and crushing fashion. And I
Speaker 1: do not put the Saints as a heavy favorite there.
Speaker 1: I think that's another one of those close Falcons games
Speaker 1: in which they've had a lot of uh success this season.
Speaker 1: But we'll talk about that on Thursday in the here
Speaker 1: and now. The Saints got it done. I mean the Saints.
Speaker 1: The one thing about them again, if you project some
Speaker 1: of these teams into the playoffs, their defense when they
Speaker 1: match up, well, I mean can it can be a
Speaker 1: lights out situation. And Carolina's offensive line being as bad
Speaker 1: as it was, I mean some of that that last
Speaker 1: drive that you watched, Greg, there were two gigantic like
Speaker 1: takedowns of Donald that essentially was at the second end
Speaker 1: of the drive. I mean they are able to they
Speaker 1: like the three D, but I think that's showed throw
Speaker 1: it more than three yards. It was just I think
Speaker 1: it shows though, like how the quarterbacks in Carolina have
Speaker 1: been under dress all year long behind that line. But
Speaker 1: this list the Saints defense did it to Tom Brady
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. I just they're a little bizarre.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to predict any of their games
Speaker 1: outside of them being low scoring. I feel like Saints
Speaker 1: fans don't even want them to make the playoffs. Just stupid.
Speaker 1: Just make the playoffs and have to I know this,
Speaker 1: What does it matter? What does it matter? What it's like, Oh,
Speaker 1: we don't, It's like who cares? Just enjoy it. Just
Speaker 1: make position and you're eight and eight. It's it's gonna
Speaker 1: make that big a difference. At this point, that wasn't like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we know they're not going to win. I guess the
Speaker 1: idea is like you don't want to lose thirty four
Speaker 1: to three against the Rams or whatever it might be,
Speaker 1: which is totally possible. I'll tell you what, what I
Speaker 1: wouldn't give to wake up on a Saturday or Sunday
Speaker 1: morning and be like, Oh, my team's playing a postseason
Speaker 1: game today. Do not take that for granted. I know,
Speaker 1: Saints fans, you've been very lucky with Drew Brees all
Speaker 1: these years, but it doesn't always happen. I don't know
Speaker 1: how many Saints fans are like that. You think it's
Speaker 1: a lot? Is that a scientific study? How do it
Speaker 1: like we're coming up with that? Greg from one okay,
Speaker 1: um Alright, anybody else have a question about this game,
Speaker 1: because it really is exactly what it It's like. Um,
Speaker 1: the Saints field goal kicker did nicely, the defense balled out.
Speaker 1: Sam Donald stinks Taysom Hills not much better, but he
Speaker 1: is better. No, But I think it's noteworthy that Ian
Speaker 1: Rapports said the plan is to keep Matt rule. But
Speaker 1: he said barring a total catastrophe the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks or like something unforeseen, which so what does that
Speaker 1: even mean? Like every week is a catastrophe for the
Speaker 1: I also think it's all it's all, it's all been foreseen.
Speaker 1: I think what we're watching is not something that trades.
Speaker 1: So to me, that's that says like, yeah, we're probably
Speaker 1: keeping him, but I don't know if there's some coach
Speaker 1: we really like that. And it is a hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy eight total yards of offense three yards per play?
Speaker 1: Is that a catastrophe? Right? The lowest are yards per
Speaker 1: attempt of Sam Donald's career, which is like a pretty
Speaker 1: high or low bar to reach, is three point He
Speaker 1: averaged three point five yards per throw, and that's like
Speaker 1: an offseason draw or off the field drama too. I
Speaker 1: think some of them good at cooking up. I honestly
Speaker 1: think rules best chance to survive ys. Don't get blown
Speaker 1: out in week eighteen. Don't say anything, don't become a
Speaker 1: meme or be someone that's mocked for a stupid press
Speaker 1: conference comment jay Z type comment um, and just get
Speaker 1: get to the offseason. Whip sealed into silence. Keep a
Speaker 1: low profile, my man. We're pulling for you. We like you,
Speaker 1: your jersey guy, but we need to keep a low profile.
Speaker 1: All right, let's uh, yeah, there there was a worst
Speaker 1: offensive performance. Uh it was from the Giants. Let's check
Speaker 1: in on that. With time. Here comes queen, what's right?
Speaker 1: Into gop of the ball comes out? Giants have recovered
Speaker 1: for Robert Quinn has just picked up sec number eighteen
Speaker 1: in a regular season that has been nothing shorter spectacular.
Speaker 1: And I set the Bear single season record for sacks
Speaker 1: that has held for thirty seven years. This game was
Speaker 1: about defense for the Bears, though Robert Quinn broke Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame Richard Dan's franchise single season mark with his
Speaker 1: eighteenth szack in nine to three win UM. The Giants
Speaker 1: were held to minus ten net passing yards in this game. Quinn, meanwhile,
Speaker 1: reached that eighteen sack mark a year after his Bears
Speaker 1: tenure began with two sacks in fifteen games in twenty
Speaker 1: weird mark weird. It was a weird game. It's, uh
Speaker 1: an eyesore of a scenario for Giants fans who have
Speaker 1: been through it. Um, you know, it's always was a
Speaker 1: Jets Giants who's dealing with worse stuff or what one
Speaker 1: one of them has like high glory and the other
Speaker 1: still has worse stuff. But right now, these Giants fans,
Speaker 1: I mean, this game in the first couple of minutes
Speaker 1: became as embarrassing as possible. Uh. You know, the Bears
Speaker 1: basically got up fourteen nothing off a strip sack of
Speaker 1: Glennon that put the ball to three yard line. Then
Speaker 1: he threw a terrible interception. It's just like Mike Glennon,
Speaker 1: who has been around the block at this point, I
Speaker 1: don't understand how you he hired him. He had twenty
Speaker 1: four yards in the entire game with two killer interceptions
Speaker 1: and that fumble. The Bears offense was not very good either.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was a rough watch, but they just
Speaker 1: I thought it was better field position for them and
Speaker 1: a defense in Chicago that looked like under Shandasia has
Speaker 1: done a really good job. I think in general, like
Speaker 1: the Bears defenses of old, it's like, we don't need
Speaker 1: the offensive to everything. We're gonna go take care of
Speaker 1: business right now. A good call about Glennon. I um
Speaker 1: read about that in the Power Rings last last week
Speaker 1: that the Tri State area has seen entirely too much
Speaker 1: Mike Lennon this season, and this is the type of
Speaker 1: performance this year where you kind of play yourself out
Speaker 1: of that backup quarterback land and it's putting his career
Speaker 1: in danger. He could be heading towards the XFL. Any
Speaker 1: other notes on this game mark that jump out to
Speaker 1: you before we move on, not a ton. I do
Speaker 1: think that the Bears have played hard on for Matt
Speaker 1: Neige despite we all know that he's gone. I mean,
Speaker 1: I I think you even go back to that Packers performance.
Speaker 1: Just in general, day have not faded the way some
Speaker 1: of these teams have. And so some of these seems
Speaker 1: like like Joe Judge's team, we do have Joe Judge,
Speaker 1: uh some sound from him his eleven minute some of
Speaker 1: his eleven minute rant defending himself when when they asked,
Speaker 1: like what what he's done to keep his job. Was
Speaker 1: ridiculous to keep a low profile. Dude, You guys ain't
Speaker 1: been the building for two years now with this code.
Speaker 1: Al Right, but i'll tell you right now, all right,
Speaker 1: if you're in the damn building, you walking through our
Speaker 1: locker room, you ain't seen that crappy saw before. All right.
Speaker 1: You ain't seen guys right now playing vacations. You ain't
Speaker 1: seen golf clubs in front of players locker. Ain't seen
Speaker 1: that stuff. I mean, when did Joe Judge become like
Speaker 1: Matthew McConaughey and in a time to kill he suddenly
Speaker 1: has like a Southern accent? You wait this, and it
Speaker 1: was just just ridiculous. He's from Pennsylvania and it's just
Speaker 1: the Aints, and and he went on this huge thing
Speaker 1: about like what a great how they've stayed together, Like
Speaker 1: I don't care. You just got blown out by another
Speaker 1: team that supposedly isn't staying together, like show it on
Speaker 1: the field, Like I think he's gone. Who cares that
Speaker 1: it hasn't been ugly like they on the field. I
Speaker 1: know the report was out there that he was safe,
Speaker 1: and but that happens every year. There's always a guy
Speaker 1: that we're told is safe, that goes and I just
Speaker 1: think the way this season is cratering into abject embarrassment
Speaker 1: for the Giants, it just makes more and more sense
Speaker 1: that they're going to do a total overhaul the operation.
Speaker 1: I mean, you could say it's unfair to Joe Judge
Speaker 1: or whatever, but he's had two years and the organization
Speaker 1: has regressed or the team has regressed, and it's just like, man,
Speaker 1: what's the case for keeping a guy when the team's
Speaker 1: I mean, the Jaguars are probably the worst team in football,
Speaker 1: but the Giants are right behind him, and that is
Speaker 1: that's really telling making things up to Like he said,
Speaker 1: people from other teams are telling them that they'd rather
Speaker 1: be on the Giants still, even though they're making more
Speaker 1: money else where. It's like it's just I mean, I
Speaker 1: think to Greg's point though too, like from last week,
Speaker 1: that's suddenly what You're not going to have the general manager,
Speaker 1: but you're going to have Joe Judge if you keep him,
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna shoehorn another general manager in there
Speaker 1: that works in that power structure. I think that the
Speaker 1: Giants have to finally get this thing right, and I
Speaker 1: don't know what candidate would be out there that would
Speaker 1: appeal to them outside of like pulling Bill Belichick away
Speaker 1: from New England, which I'm going to continue to hammer
Speaker 1: that idea. Um, but there's this is not working. It's dysfunctional.
Speaker 1: Why would Bill Belichick ever want to leave the Patriots
Speaker 1: once again an ascended franchise to try to rebuild the
Speaker 1: Giants when he's like seventy years old. Um, Because I
Speaker 1: think that it would be if he were able to
Speaker 1: do that in three or four years as his swan song,
Speaker 1: to go back where he came from, to raise it
Speaker 1: out of the ashes, it would be like, oh wait,
Speaker 1: this is the greatest coach of our entire life. He's
Speaker 1: already risen the Patriots out of their seven and nine slumber.
Speaker 1: So I was going to say, though, like he already
Speaker 1: has that narrative set up in New England. Not to
Speaker 1: get backed down here, but well, I think we all
Speaker 1: need new challenges. Maybe view it as a new challenge
Speaker 1: versus just doing it with the Patriots again, but not
Speaker 1: without Brady, is what I'm saying. He kind of already
Speaker 1: has it set up in New England to to write
Speaker 1: that final chapter. Yeah, I am not calling this a
Speaker 1: likely scenario. I'm just saying that the Giants would want
Speaker 1: to be wooed by someone like if you're gonna come
Speaker 1: on from Joe Judge, you're not gonna fill them in
Speaker 1: with some other, you know, nameless face. Please, right, all right,
Speaker 1: let's wrap up the pre Sunday night football games with
Speaker 1: a trip to luman Field. That still doesn't sound the
Speaker 1: clink touchdown? What was the original? Yeah, rocks rolls riding
Speaker 1: any white. Then number fourteen opens up under the goal
Speaker 1: posts from a yard out and Medcalf now with his
Speaker 1: third touchdown of the day. Original name of Seahawks Stadium
Speaker 1: quest Field. Now that's a name, that's a corporate name.
Speaker 1: I can get a more poetic. Yeah, that was when
Speaker 1: the twelves or the twelves and way Steve Rabel k
Speaker 1: I r O. Russell Wilson threw four touchdown passes Hey Greg,
Speaker 1: three of them to DK Metcalf, buddy take hey to
Speaker 1: Mac Jones setting records today three touchdowns and uh well
Speaker 1: that was like two takes going up and smoke at
Speaker 1: the same time. Russell Wilson shot and DK Metcalf haates
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson and can't catch touchdowns for him anymore. Well
Speaker 1: that there was never a thing that they couldn't catch touchdowns.
Speaker 1: It was like there that there was some h you know, unhappiness.
Speaker 1: You're right, okay, Rosha Penny added a hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Seahawks roll nine.
Speaker 1: Another fifty burger, ironic fifty burgers for the Seahawks and
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson and Mac Jones and the Patriots. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: fired them, got fire. Well, I mean, my that that
Speaker 1: take only lasted like a day before I saw Chris
Speaker 1: Him's getting flamed for saying the Jets would turn down
Speaker 1: a Russell Wilson for Zack Wilson trade, which is really
Speaker 1: a next another level on top of mine, which there's
Speaker 1: many levels to why I think that's wrong. Um, Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson played great though today it had a very slow start,
Speaker 1: weirdly for a team that put up fifty and then
Speaker 1: I think they scored touchdowns in six straight drives. I mean,
Speaker 1: you don't you don't see that too often? Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 1: touch on touchdown fieldal Fogle, I mean, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: getting it done, that's eating right. Good morning. We want
Speaker 1: to say, really that was your spot. You slide right
Speaker 1: in there with your own commentary. Always not always, but
Speaker 1: I will, I will. I mean that's what happened with
Speaker 1: Detroit because I think Tim Boyle, like at this point,
Speaker 1: would have would have been any different with Jared goffin there.
Speaker 1: I don't even know they banged me. I I m
Speaker 1: the rainmaker. The hot streak is so went over. I
Speaker 1: went one and one this week, you know, the Eagles
Speaker 1: came through. So I was up to six and oh
Speaker 1: I got I got a banged by God. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have GoF your right. Wasn't the difference in this, But
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have made it rain with with Tim Boyle.
Speaker 1: But that's what happens when you tape on Thursday. It's okay. Uh,
Speaker 1: they defense to come after certain coaches about accountability. You
Speaker 1: know I could have I couldn't try to change. Well,
Speaker 1: I could have tried. I thought about, like, is there
Speaker 1: any way because I did change my pick like online
Speaker 1: and stuff when that happens. But at this point our podcast,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta live with what what changes. So
Speaker 1: I took the el. So there's there's six and one.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's too much but Russell, uh Russell. Okay,
Speaker 1: Rashad Penny has like really run well the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: He now has as many runs over twenty five yards
Speaker 1: as any running back in the league. He he either
Speaker 1: has tied with Jonathan Taylor or his second I'm not
Speaker 1: sure right now, but that is outrageous. Yeah, that's um,
Speaker 1: I guess something to look forward to. The Seahawks former
Speaker 1: first round pick finally doing something staying healthy. All right,
Speaker 1: there you go. The Lins have mixed in some of
Speaker 1: those grizzly blowouts befitting of a truly terrible team with
Speaker 1: the field good stories we kind of gloss over when
Speaker 1: they get their asses blown out narrative. So well, it's
Speaker 1: true they've had a ton of close losses and they've
Speaker 1: gotten destroyed. I'm on st rossing Brown though. Uh he's
Speaker 1: a real setting some rookie records. Had a rushing touchdown.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was about as fun as a Seahawks
Speaker 1: Lions totally empty blowout could be because, uh there was
Speaker 1: a lot of points. You like, that's you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of pieces to build around. You know, go go
Speaker 1: get another wide receiver pair with him, and we're starting
Speaker 1: to cook a little bit got t J. Hockinson there,
Speaker 1: all right, enough enough lins talk, let's move to Sunday
Speaker 1: night football as time again touched down a week too
Speaker 1: easy with the Green Bay Packers where once again the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the NFC there once again thirteen
Speaker 1: and three for the third straight year, as they take
Speaker 1: out the Vikings without Kirk Cousins thirty seven to ten.
Speaker 1: If I wull score, as I said, with the Packers
Speaker 1: with the wind clinched the NFC number one seed, that
Speaker 1: means they get the bye week, they get hope field
Speaker 1: advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, and Mark this one never
Speaker 1: felt like was even the slightest bit of doubt. No,
Speaker 1: I mean the game itself, um for the Vikings was
Speaker 1: just sort of doubst in purposelessness because you know you've
Speaker 1: been reduced to a team with at your quarterback. But
Speaker 1: I don't think it would have mattered if Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: were there or not. The Packers right now are locked in,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, of the first team in league history
Speaker 1: to win third team plus games and three straight seasons.
Speaker 1: Of those three teams, this is the one I I
Speaker 1: struggled to kind of buy into hot regular season. I
Speaker 1: expect you to get knocked out in the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: don't feel that way at this at all. I think
Speaker 1: you look around the NFC right now and I love
Speaker 1: teams like this that that drop a bomb right before
Speaker 1: they start to rest players and get ready for their
Speaker 1: by Who wants to go into Green Bay is the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: who are a hot and cold operation. I mean we
Speaker 1: like parts of them. The Rams, who you're playing like
Speaker 1: their quarterback doesn't have a bad turnover game. We don't
Speaker 1: know what we're getting from the Cardinals and the Bucks team,
Speaker 1: the one that I thought might have been kryptonite for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. Just watch their best skilled position player march
Speaker 1: off the field with no shirts. So I think Green
Speaker 1: Bay is rounding into form at the most perfect possible time.
Speaker 1: Your quarterback is the m v P of the league.
Speaker 1: You have skilled position players all over the play. The
Speaker 1: defense is solid enough. This team right now has no excuses.
Speaker 1: And I don't mean that in a negative way. I
Speaker 1: just see their path is clear to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: as it's ever been in the last five or six years.
Speaker 1: It was nice for them, though, to do this. I
Speaker 1: know Kirk wouldn't have made the difference, but to go
Speaker 1: into halftime with the yardage total before that vikings Field
Speaker 1: go drive I believe was two nine to thirty. It
Speaker 1: was like, okay, thank you Packers because the last three
Speaker 1: or four weeks without these complete games, with letting the
Speaker 1: Ravens back in, with getting a little lucky, I believe
Speaker 1: against the Browns, I'm sure they wanted to play a
Speaker 1: cleaner game. Rodgers was fantastic. If Degura didn't drop that
Speaker 1: you know, potential touchdown in the first quarter, he would,
Speaker 1: you know, Rogers would have had three touchdowns. Davante Adams
Speaker 1: sets the Packers record. Everything's great, and they're not gonna
Speaker 1: play a meaningful game for three weeks, which is always
Speaker 1: a little weird. But the next time they play, they'll
Speaker 1: either be like eight teams left, or they'll be six
Speaker 1: teams left or who knows. Like that, the next time
Speaker 1: the Packers will will play a meaningful game and they
Speaker 1: might have a lot of players back, especially on the
Speaker 1: offensive line. That that's the spot where I think they
Speaker 1: could get better where they've been short, you know, without Turner,
Speaker 1: without Myers, and now without box tr of course, yeah,
Speaker 1: the box Tr thing looms over everything. He was, you know,
Speaker 1: their best tackle and the best offensive lineman and he
Speaker 1: tore the a c L last January. If he came back,
Speaker 1: that would be a huge lift. And yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: that this feels of the three years, the year that
Speaker 1: they're the most set up here, um to get back
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. They haven't been to the super
Speaker 1: Bowl since the two thousand and ten seasons, so they're
Speaker 1: obviously overdue. Rogers, even though it feels like he's gonna
Speaker 1: be good forever. Um, you don't know what his future
Speaker 1: is with the Packers. You don't Davante Adams. His contract
Speaker 1: is up there over the cap significantly. UM. So this
Speaker 1: particular team, the way it's constituted like this is the
Speaker 1: team that needs to win to home games and get
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. And I think they'll be a
Speaker 1: favor it in every game they play. Now we'll get
Speaker 1: to all that in time, but I think it was
Speaker 1: just it should be celebrated what they've been able to
Speaker 1: do this season, which is they started the season as
Speaker 1: ugly as they can get, losing that game in Jacksonville
Speaker 1: to the Saints. Rogers threw two interceptions in that game.
Speaker 1: He threw two more over the next sixteen weeks. That's
Speaker 1: just how crazy fifteen weeks. That's how crazy the season
Speaker 1: has been. Um in terms of the offense being mistake free.
Speaker 1: They're so well coached. They didn't have a penalty in
Speaker 1: this game until the very end of the game. Jones
Speaker 1: and Dylan are a great one to punch Adams is unbelievable.
Speaker 1: So yeah, this team is set up well. Uh, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about the Vikings as well marked down the road.
Speaker 1: But you have to wonder, I thought it jumped out
Speaker 1: to me. I didn't know that's that the Vikings haven't
Speaker 1: been above five at any point uh in a season
Speaker 1: for two years now. When Vikings Press needs to decide
Speaker 1: whether to bring Mike zimmer Um, that inconsistency has to
Speaker 1: be um, you know, put into the equation. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you were the team that kind of floated below Green
Speaker 1: Bay for so long. And I think that the acid
Speaker 1: test for any team, any coach in the NFC North
Speaker 1: is beating Green Bay, beating Aaron Rodgers. And you know,
Speaker 1: Zimmer's had a couple of moments here and there, but
Speaker 1: you're right, like we've drawn entertainment from how close they
Speaker 1: hovered a five hundred, how most of them their games
Speaker 1: come down to the very end, but they've never really
Speaker 1: morphed into dominance. They've never really become that team, and
Speaker 1: I it just feels like the end of the road
Speaker 1: for Zimmer because of the amount of frustrating games. I
Speaker 1: I kind of drew interest from that Bill Parcels book
Speaker 1: that he shared with with the with the announcing crew
Speaker 1: at the end, where like Parcels game a couple of
Speaker 1: different tips about what it's like to be a coach
Speaker 1: and if you aren't cut out for this, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be real rough. The first two ord note party, but
Speaker 1: the third one on it's just lonely. And sometimes when
Speaker 1: I look at Zimmer, it's just it does seem like
Speaker 1: you're trapped in a strange place as this Vikings coach.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how you really are you bringing
Speaker 1: him back for another year because I can't think of
Speaker 1: a team that has so many interesting parts but feels
Speaker 1: in need of a refresh in certain areas. But don't
Speaker 1: bring back, don't get rid of Zimmer and then keep
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins around because I don't care who you bring in.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe I'm more a pro Zimmer guy
Speaker 1: than other people, but like, don't tell me that Mike
Speaker 1: Zimmer is the problem because I think ultimately Cousins bears
Speaker 1: a huge responsibility that they've been middling ever since the
Speaker 1: Minneapolis miracle. They're an up and down operation. Cousins is
Speaker 1: an up and down quarterback. And it feels like to me,
Speaker 1: if you want to do a little quick postmortem here,
Speaker 1: that that's as big an issue as any head coach
Speaker 1: malaise that they have. He's not on the field in
Speaker 1: this game because he didn't get vaccinated. He must have
Speaker 1: slipped out of the cube. That's the problem. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a tough one. It's like it's just like such
Speaker 1: a boring way for this to end, but almost so predicted.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you have said this before the season,
Speaker 1: that Cousins gets COVID before they get hammered, and we
Speaker 1: seventeen on Sunday Night football for the Packers to get
Speaker 1: the one seed, it's just like two predictable. And it's
Speaker 1: a it's a really tough one, Dan, because you know,
Speaker 1: I want to argue with you in terms of like
Speaker 1: Cousins versus Zimmer, but I think the answer is they're
Speaker 1: just they're similar, you know, they're they're both a little
Speaker 1: better than average actually, and that's why it's tough. I
Speaker 1: think Cousins is a little is ahead of the Dalton line,
Speaker 1: adding Zimmer is ahead of the Dalton line for coaches,
Speaker 1: and yet it's so obvious that the two of them
Speaker 1: together in three out of the last four years have
Speaker 1: have been underwhelming, haven't gotten their over underwind total, which
Speaker 1: is just a kind of a good way to look
Speaker 1: at like expectations, and and it needs to change. And Spielman,
Speaker 1: who runs the show, really precede Zimmer by I thinks
Speaker 1: five or six years, so he's been there for fifteen years.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a it's a tough one because there's
Speaker 1: no easy answers. My guests would be you you do
Speaker 1: blow it up and that in that yeah, Cousins as
Speaker 1: is a tradeable piece, and that if you if you
Speaker 1: get stuck with Cousins with then you coach. You can
Speaker 1: live with that, but you kind of go into the
Speaker 1: off season seeing what a new coach or new GM
Speaker 1: wants to do with him. And I feel like Cousins
Speaker 1: actually is pretty pretty darn movable. Zimmer and his three
Speaker 1: years before Cousins was there, you know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to talk about anymore. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: I think, I think, I think above average coach, maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit more than that. Then Cousins comes in,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, that Cousins mediocrity is draped
Speaker 1: over everything. And also, and I don't want to hear it,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to hear it on Twitter people, Oh,
Speaker 1: don't say that Cousins. You know he got COVID because
Speaker 1: he's unvaccinated. I know everyone's getting COVID now I understand that,
Speaker 1: but that hung over this team the whole season, the
Speaker 1: fact that he was the starting quarterback unvaccinated, and it
Speaker 1: did come and get them in a big spot here
Speaker 1: with the season on the line. So it is what
Speaker 1: it is. I think La Fleur and Rogers might have
Speaker 1: um cemented their trophies. Now Rabel might get Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year. I think has a good chance. But La
Speaker 1: Fleur man, I think he might get a lifetime achievement
Speaker 1: for that thirteen, you know, the thirteen wins three straight years,
Speaker 1: and I think he deserves it. And and I know
Speaker 1: Burrow is the fun pick and he might put up
Speaker 1: some numbers next week, but I still would give it
Speaker 1: to Rodgers. Or even Rocks. I would actually give it
Speaker 1: the cup maybe um over over if I had to vote,
Speaker 1: But you like a three pack, but you can't, so
Speaker 1: I'd give it to Dan's point, that's the third time
Speaker 1: in his career that he's thrown five d plus attempts
Speaker 1: with four fewer interceptions. He is the m v P.
Speaker 1: And to top what happened last year, I you know,
Speaker 1: I would want to dock him a few points for um,
Speaker 1: you know, six months of absurd offseason drama, but that
Speaker 1: that's gone at this point. He is the best player
Speaker 1: on the best team in football right now. I wonder if,
Speaker 1: because it's such a it seems like a closer race
Speaker 1: this year, I wonder if him not playing and he's
Speaker 1: not going to play next week against the Lions for
Speaker 1: several reasons, um, but that inability to pat pat his
Speaker 1: stats and get up to thirty touchdowns. You know whether
Speaker 1: voters will hold that against them, even subconsciously, because thirty
Speaker 1: five touchdowns one doesn't jump at out you like it
Speaker 1: did maybe ten ago. I think he wanted for me
Speaker 1: at least he won my theoretical vote in the first
Speaker 1: eight to ten games when he was managing those games
Speaker 1: almost like he was the coach, Like even when the
Speaker 1: numbers weren't popping off, he did the necessary place to
Speaker 1: win in each one of those weeks, and like he
Speaker 1: calculates risks and avoids mistakes. So and was like making
Speaker 1: up for the guys that weren't gone. It was a
Speaker 1: it was a great season, all right, let's spend forward. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the Eagles did. They clinch a playoffs butt in
Speaker 1: the NFC with the Vikings loss and the Packers win.
Speaker 1: So the Eagles are officially in uh the schedule for
Speaker 1: week eighteen. Uh, they dropped it Chiefs, Broncos, UH and Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Eagles will play on Saturday, the Sunday night game as
Speaker 1: it should be as Chargers versus Raiders, which is most
Speaker 1: likely going to be a win and in game, so
Speaker 1: the playoffs start early. Any other final thoughts, gentlemen before
Speaker 1: we say goodbye. Mm hm. The Eagles will probably rest
Speaker 1: their starters in that game. But they were in a
Speaker 1: tough spot the NFL because they wanted to keep all
Speaker 1: the I was thinking that there's a lot to consider there.
Speaker 1: They're playing the a f C East games all at
Speaker 1: the same time. In the afternoon, they're playing the in
Speaker 1: the Sunday afternoon. That is, the NFC West games at
Speaker 1: the same time Sunday afternoon and the n in the
Speaker 1: Saints are being moved to the afternoon to the NFC
Speaker 1: wild Card spot. So basically the Sunday morning is all
Speaker 1: but dead. Uh, And so they had it was tricky.
Speaker 1: There wasn't any perfect choice, but I would guess the
Speaker 1: Eagles are probably gonna arrest their starters. They're almost certainly
Speaker 1: going to play the Bucks or there's a very high
Speaker 1: percentage chance that it's Eagles at Bucks almost no matter
Speaker 1: what happens, I think Chiefs forty Broncos seven will be
Speaker 1: a real juicy piece of fruit to dig your teeth
Speaker 1: into on Saturday to at least that game has meaning.
Speaker 1: But you're right at a it's not much of a game.
Speaker 1: And one last note, we watched the Vikings tonight. The
Speaker 1: most famous Vikings loss of the last thirty years came
Speaker 1: at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons INNC Championship game.
Speaker 1: The head coach of that Falcons team was Dan Reeves,
Speaker 1: who appeared in nine Super Bowls, nine as a player,
Speaker 1: assistant coach, head coach. He died at his home in
Speaker 1: Atlanta on Saturday. He was seventy seven years old. Um, Reeves,
Speaker 1: you know this comes right on the heels of John Madden,
Speaker 1: and this is another guy like he's the face of
Speaker 1: an entire generation of football. He came into the league
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys and had a great playing career, went
Speaker 1: into coaching, had that great run with the Broncos, obviously
Speaker 1: that produced multiple Super Bowl appearances. UM went to Atlanta. Well,
Speaker 1: went to the Giants, had some success there in the
Speaker 1: post parcels era of that franchise. Then of course went
Speaker 1: to Atlanta and got them to one of the more
Speaker 1: unlikely Super Bowl, UM making them one of the more
Speaker 1: unlikely Super Bowl teams ever. Two wins in his NFL
Speaker 1: coaching career, including the postseason, one of only nine coaches
Speaker 1: in NFL history with twos. Rest in peace, Dan Reeves,
Speaker 1: I mean Dan Reeves. I'll say one quick thing, like,
Speaker 1: when I became a football fan, he was paired at
Speaker 1: the hip with John Elway as I watched the drive,
Speaker 1: the fumble, and then two years later a third a
Speaker 1: f C title game against Cleveland and a blowout, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I really want to dislike this guy more,
Speaker 1: but he's not. He's likable, and here's something about him
Speaker 1: that kind of seemed to come from a different world
Speaker 1: of coach classy coach behavior. So I think he was
Speaker 1: just as about as well liked around the league as
Speaker 1: possible by players and the people that coached with him.
Speaker 1: Dan Reeves, Okay, thank you for listening. We're grinding through it.
Speaker 1: The whole world's grinding right now. We'll be back on
Speaker 1: Tuesday with another edition of Around the NFL to make
Speaker 1: sure you're there for that. As we begin to look
Speaker 1: ahead towards an unprecedented event in the history of our league.
Speaker 1: We buckle up, baby, all right? Are you excited? Mark? You? You?
Speaker 1: You know you you forgot that that big Week eight
Speaker 1: team back in when they had a couple of bye weeks,
Speaker 1: remember that that was a fun time. Damn yeah. But
Speaker 1: that that also, that's different. That was two weeks off
Speaker 1: for every team and probably week off, you know, weeks
Speaker 1: off for various good little nugget there in a big
Speaker 1: spot there, Greg, I deserved to be corrected there, and
Speaker 1: you did it. I was gonna hold off if you
Speaker 1: just powered through. But then no, no, that's good. And
Speaker 1: I think it's important that we gave the listeners the
Speaker 1: correct information. This is not unprecedented. Week eighteen's back Baby
Speaker 1: with a vengeance, all right, this is Dan Hansis signing
Speaker 1: up for the old Boss, the Quiet Storm, the grave digger,
Speaker 1: taking shots behind that bulletroof glass. That's what the Titans
Speaker 1: are all about. That fan base coming after everybody now,
Speaker 1: and Ricky Hollywood until Tuesday even called s