Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. He is no longer with
Speaker 1: the box. Welcome to another edition of the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and joined today
Speaker 1: Studio Build with some heroes, Greg rosehal Mark Sessler. Listen
Speaker 1: to freak out. I don't wanna, you know, sound smug
Speaker 1: or sanctimonious or overly self satisfied. But when uh, people say, uh,
Speaker 1: the NFL is king, look, it kind of is. When
Speaker 1: weekends like this go down where it's just takes over
Speaker 1: the culture and divisional round playoff football played at the
Speaker 1: peak level of drama. It doesn't get any better. And
Speaker 1: we talked about it. The wild card round was a
Speaker 1: little bit of you know, dud. This one, Greg was
Speaker 1: as good as any I can remember. I think it
Speaker 1: was the best ever pound for pound. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: feel personally responsible for making happen. That's one thing, like
Speaker 1: what with us working for the We we did it.
Speaker 1: We put this together. We put the Bills Chiefs last. Right.
Speaker 1: You almost thought, I thought at the beginning of that game,
Speaker 1: it's like this weekend has been so good that almost inevitably,
Speaker 1: maybe this game will be one sided or won't be
Speaker 1: as like insane of an ending, as the two NFC
Speaker 1: games were, but then you were so happy that it
Speaker 1: was last. I watched the end of the game almost
Speaker 1: with my kids, and watching them go nuts, Uh, just
Speaker 1: got me thinking about what you're saying about NFL being
Speaker 1: king because they they're not Bills or Chiefs fans, and
Speaker 1: they they were kind of tuned, starting to tune out
Speaker 1: towards the end because you know, it's been a long
Speaker 1: week at of football watching. And when those two teams
Speaker 1: started going back and forth in the end, they are
Speaker 1: screaming and yelling and running around and jumping and hugging,
Speaker 1: even though they're not rooting for either team. And I
Speaker 1: was I'm just thinking, like, that's that's how you get them,
Speaker 1: Like they're gonna be paying that cash to the NFL
Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives. Got them in that
Speaker 1: particular game we'll talk about for fifty years. The contrast
Speaker 1: for me was my family left for a little bit.
Speaker 1: I went I normally watched these games in the garage
Speaker 1: and that's where I stationed box rams, but I went
Speaker 1: into the house, uh, to go watch the rest of it,
Speaker 1: and then came here in the middle of Chiefs in
Speaker 1: the Chiefs Bills colossal event. I went back into the
Speaker 1: garage right before leaving to go turn it off, and
Speaker 1: there was this that that station had switched to a
Speaker 1: like low level college basketball game. In the contrast between
Speaker 1: what we have experienced and that sporting event, it was
Speaker 1: so incredibly low level and depressing. The NFL is has
Speaker 1: no competition and oranges like and just saying that. Anybody
Speaker 1: imagine the human being that switched to watch that instead.
Speaker 1: And I was say that, you know, I love sports.
Speaker 1: I love you know, basketball, baseball, football, There's always been
Speaker 1: the big three for me, even college football for instance,
Speaker 1: like in the playoffs. I can get into that, but
Speaker 1: there's something different about the NFL. If you're watching their postseason,
Speaker 1: where I just I'm fully invested as if I'm like
Speaker 1: the Jets were playing in the game. It's always it's
Speaker 1: heightened if your team is actually involved, but the games
Speaker 1: are just there's so much at stake, and you could
Speaker 1: feel it and you see it the way these teams play.
Speaker 1: Some of the teams that you see meltdown, and there
Speaker 1: were a couple including both top seeds. Um you see
Speaker 1: what pressure does to some teams and some players, and
Speaker 1: you see how it makes some players greater, and that's
Speaker 1: where Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen come in. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into all the games, but we have to start.
Speaker 1: I think I was thinking about this driving in that
Speaker 1: this might be my pick for the best game in
Speaker 1: the history of the Around the NFL podcast. Now I
Speaker 1: don't have again, like maybe a Patriot fan feels differently
Speaker 1: about some of those Super Bowls, and there have been
Speaker 1: some great ones, but in terms of just the field
Speaker 1: of the game, the vibe of the game, the greatness
Speaker 1: on display from both sides, this to me is the
Speaker 1: best of the A T N era. So let's get
Speaker 1: to it. Ricky, Let's fly thirty six thirty six time overtime,
Speaker 1: Chief's first down and goal to go. Mahomes looks to
Speaker 1: throw it pump thaking right side. He wants a come
Speaker 1: back and is trued by Kelsey touchdown cansa city one
Speaker 1: of the greatest tools in the history of the National
Speaker 1: Football League. Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelsey, all the push fade,
Speaker 1: comeback and the Chiefs have one that's incredible. Divisional playoff
Speaker 1: game and overtime. There you go. See the great ones
Speaker 1: rise to the challenge. Mitch holt is is another one.
Speaker 1: W D A F don't give up. Patrick Mahomes finds
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey in the corner of the end zone eight
Speaker 1: yards early in ot Chiefs ali to beat the Bills
Speaker 1: in one of the most wild games you'll ever see
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, a game where the lead changed hands
Speaker 1: three times in the final two minutes of regulation. Harrison Buttger,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe he was feeling a little pressure when
Speaker 1: he was found out he was the number one kicker
Speaker 1: on the A T N kicker power ranks. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he felt that pressure early in the game. But when
Speaker 1: he needed to make the kick, he hits the forty
Speaker 1: nine yard or as time expired to four, so t
Speaker 1: and then the Chiefs win the coin toss. And that's
Speaker 1: annoying because you wanted to see Josh Allen, who was
Speaker 1: a beautiful football man in this game, to do his thing.
Speaker 1: But the Chiefs take care of business. They take them
Speaker 1: go right down the field. Let's start, Greg, There's so
Speaker 1: much to get to it for this game, but why
Speaker 1: don't we start with where we're at. When the Bills
Speaker 1: once again with Gabriel Davis finding the end zone um
Speaker 1: for another touchdown, it's a nineteen yard touchdown pass. The
Speaker 1: cornerback falls down. It is now thirteen seconds in regulation.
Speaker 1: It's thirty six to thirty three after the p a
Speaker 1: T from Tyler Bass And that's the game. That's when
Speaker 1: everything it should have been over, and yet it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I left, so I I told you, I watched the
Speaker 1: end of that game with my kids. Thirteen seconds left.
Speaker 1: We had to drive. We're driving into the studio. We're
Speaker 1: in a different studio so we can be safely socially distanced.
Speaker 1: We're not in our podcast studio where where where we
Speaker 1: taped a t on the other day and games that's room.
Speaker 1: This room is completely safe. We are, you know, like
Speaker 1: one or two ft extra apart. And I just thought,
Speaker 1: I and and the kids said, oh, it's not over.
Speaker 1: And I said, well, there's thirteen seconds left. All you
Speaker 1: gotta do is pop it up before the end zone
Speaker 1: or uh, you do a squid kick, because you've got
Speaker 1: to teach the kids situational football early in their life,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna take off at least five or six seconds. Uh. Then, Pat,
Speaker 1: you know you have seven seconds, seven eight seconds. You
Speaker 1: got one play. I'll listen on the radio. It should
Speaker 1: be fine, and that's terrible strategy overall. Greg, I texted
Speaker 1: you as well, Greggy, this game is not over a
Speaker 1: game like this, do you really want to be in
Speaker 1: the car? You're tasting fate? How much time are you
Speaker 1: really saving? Ultimately, when one of the greatest games of
Speaker 1: all time has thirteen seconds ago and the greatest quarterback
Speaker 1: in football is heading on the field, and Gregg, we
Speaker 1: had already told you you can take you have a
Speaker 1: window of time to get here. We're fair. I was
Speaker 1: still the last one to get here. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to hold you guys up. I was trying to be considered.
Speaker 1: And you know, you put the game pass on in
Speaker 1: the car. You you could watch it. You listen there
Speaker 1: and maybe it's not me. It's not It's not the
Speaker 1: safest thing in the world, but that that's just what
Speaker 1: I assumed. But it was stupid because thirteen seconds is
Speaker 1: officially too much time to leave mahomes. But it was
Speaker 1: a mistake that the Bills made that. I'm sure they'll
Speaker 1: answer and and we'll look for that, but it how
Speaker 1: do you not do that? They get They must have
Speaker 1: talked about it. I hope it wasn't just like go
Speaker 1: out there and kick it through the end zone. Tony
Speaker 1: Ramo mentions it right before the play. They they don't
Speaker 1: they don't harm harp on it because the game gets
Speaker 1: crazy from there. And yes, you should make the stops
Speaker 1: defensively at this point, but you know, the Chiefs have
Speaker 1: all those time outs, and when you think like, well
Speaker 1: that's that's not much time, Tyreek Hill just took it
Speaker 1: sixty four yards on you on the last play that
Speaker 1: the Chiefs had. I wasn't trusting any defense and that spot,
Speaker 1: and so that was just one mental mistake from a
Speaker 1: coaching staff that otherwise, you know, I think had a
Speaker 1: good day and it's a good coaching staff. I love
Speaker 1: the point because if you're the Bills at that stage
Speaker 1: or the Chiefs, you realize that both defenses have been
Speaker 1: like abducted, abduct abducted by the Hilbop comment, they don't exist.
Speaker 1: I don't care about Buffalo's number one ranked unit. That
Speaker 1: means literally nothing at this point. Uh, the game is
Speaker 1: clearly not over. And if you give them that chance,
Speaker 1: Mahomes and what was happening at that point, they're gonna
Speaker 1: get that, They're gonna get into field goal range. It's
Speaker 1: far too risk you could have ended the game. And
Speaker 1: it is ultimately, yes, Bass kicks it through the back
Speaker 1: of the end zone. They shouldn't have done that. That
Speaker 1: was a strategic error. But they're still set up obviously
Speaker 1: they even then. If I if you had told me
Speaker 1: they were doing a touch back, I still would have
Speaker 1: thought had been because if it's still it's either two
Speaker 1: plays in a in a long ass field goal attempt,
Speaker 1: or two plays and one of them is a hail
Speaker 1: mary or a hook and ladder, uh trick play of
Speaker 1: some kind, and it's probably over unless you give up
Speaker 1: the nineteen yard reception to Hill. And that's okay. You
Speaker 1: kept you kept it in front of you, he stayed
Speaker 1: in bounds. All that, that's okay. But the one that's
Speaker 1: gonna stick with them and stick to their ribs even
Speaker 1: more than the kickoff, I think, is they let Kelsey
Speaker 1: come off, unchecked, unmolested, straight down the seam, turns and
Speaker 1: he's wide open and he rumbles twenty five yards and
Speaker 1: it was as easy as possible. There was, there was
Speaker 1: no resistance. There's two people who can't beat you there,
Speaker 1: Kelly Entyreek Hill, and you let one of them beat you,
Speaker 1: and and you know Bucker makes the kick and then
Speaker 1: the coin tosses lost in the rest of history. And
Speaker 1: I thought the defense, you know, for much of the
Speaker 1: game before this thing got completely out of hand, and
Speaker 1: what twenty five points were scored in the final two
Speaker 1: minutes of regulation. I thought the Bills defense came into
Speaker 1: this game focusing on trying to stop Kelsey. And I
Speaker 1: know it got out of hand, but that's what they
Speaker 1: tried to do early. And by the end, I mean,
Speaker 1: the bow had totally broken. Well, it was twenty six
Speaker 1: to one at the two minute warning and and Josh
Speaker 1: Allen was facing a fourth and thirteen. Is that the play?
Speaker 1: I mean that it is ridiculous to think that that
Speaker 1: was the score at the two minute warning and the
Speaker 1: final score was forty two to thirty six. Just to
Speaker 1: close close the book on the the lack of a
Speaker 1: squid kick or he could have popped it up, I
Speaker 1: think that would have been the move. I mean, they
Speaker 1: practiced this stuff and every single day. He said, and
Speaker 1: he was asked about it three times, that it was
Speaker 1: a failure, that was an execute it was an execution problem.
Speaker 1: And he takes responsibility, which which is kind of a
Speaker 1: non answer. But but to move it back to that
Speaker 1: two point conversion. That's where it really goes great. I
Speaker 1: mean a two minute warning. It was fourth and thirteen.
Speaker 1: And that's part of what I think has to hurt
Speaker 1: for Bills fans right now is that Josh Allen was
Speaker 1: on another planet. So is Patrick Mahomes. Those two guys,
Speaker 1: I think we're taking plane quarterback to about as high
Speaker 1: a level as you possibly could. But Josh Allen in
Speaker 1: these two games was as good as they've ever seen
Speaker 1: any quarterback period, and they lost the game. Like the
Speaker 1: place he was making down the stretch and gave Davis too,
Speaker 1: you know, make a move to put his cornerback in
Speaker 1: the dirt to shake up on that fourth and thirteen
Speaker 1: for the touchdown. It's just it's crazy to play that
Speaker 1: well and lose well. And so before the fourth and thirteen,
Speaker 1: the touchdown to Gabe Davis, he also converts the fourth
Speaker 1: and four Josh Allen, he he also completes the two
Speaker 1: point conversion. Is Stefon Diggs. And if you came into
Speaker 1: this game, and if you had one factory when we're
Speaker 1: doing these preview shows and someone said Stefan Digs would
Speaker 1: have seven yards receiving in this game, you would think
Speaker 1: the Bills are likely in serious hot water, potentially doomed. Instead,
Speaker 1: you got game Dave Gabe Davis becoming the first player
Speaker 1: in NFL history to catch four touchdown passes in a
Speaker 1: playoff game two hundred plus yards. He was out of
Speaker 1: his mind in this affair. Let's hear him, Mahomes, because yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this will be when this is replayed forever
Speaker 1: on NFL network and anywhere else, it will be remembered
Speaker 1: as the Mahomes Josh Allen duel. At the end, Let's
Speaker 1: hear Mahomes talking about this great shootout between two future
Speaker 1: Hall of famers. I'm going there. Yeah it was. I
Speaker 1: mean it was a heck of the game. I mean
Speaker 1: seventeen Josh played it, played his asshole as pardon my language,
Speaker 1: I mean it was. It was a great game to
Speaker 1: two great football teams, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: gods like Tom Reagan Travis made the plays that that
Speaker 1: wanted won us the game. And I thought that the
Speaker 1: shot of Josh Allen, and I feel everybody, I don't
Speaker 1: even know if you're listening, this might this is one
Speaker 1: of those games where Bills fans, you need a couple
Speaker 1: of days. Maybe you listen to the show, maybe you don't.
Speaker 1: I get it where you know your quarterback did something
Speaker 1: insanely special, and when he's sitting on the bench staring
Speaker 1: straight ahead, I think there's just shock because they went ahead.
Speaker 1: Of course, Uh, they go ahead on a on a
Speaker 1: drive that ends at let's see where we're at. Pardon me.
Speaker 1: They go with one to go, they get the two
Speaker 1: point conversion. At that point, you think maybe that's the
Speaker 1: hero moment. And that was the Alan drive. That was
Speaker 1: where he is running. Basically every card on that drive
Speaker 1: was from him, whether it was scrambles, whether it was
Speaker 1: fourth down, and then try and run the clock out there.
Speaker 1: They used seven minutes. Obviously it didn't work out, but
Speaker 1: they quickly give up the touchdown and then to go
Speaker 1: back down the field again six seventy five yards and seconds.
Speaker 1: Everyone in the building, Uh, since that, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: they actually have slayed the dragon. And I talked, we
Speaker 1: talked about it on the network show and a day. Uh,
Speaker 1: a bunch of wrong predictions. I had this u for
Speaker 1: these games. I went oh and four with my picks,
Speaker 1: and that's fine. I have no problem with that. Actually,
Speaker 1: Um that there's gonna be a team that has like
Speaker 1: a heartbreaking loss this weekend that they'll they'll grow from it.
Speaker 1: It will be something to look back on. It is
Speaker 1: like the pivotal moment and their growth. And I thought
Speaker 1: it would be the Bengals, but I hope it's the Bills.
Speaker 1: I hope the Bills eventually get over the hunt because
Speaker 1: I felt so badly for not just the team and
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, but the fans that have to be
Speaker 1: just dying right now. Well, you hope, you hope. It's
Speaker 1: a like a Michael Jordan's Bulls first Detroit Pistons scenario
Speaker 1: where there's been a couple tough playoff losses and this,
Speaker 1: you know, also sparks them to come back because they
Speaker 1: were the chiefs against the Page, the chiefs of Patriots.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are the growing pains and then the
Speaker 1: thresholds you have to go through. But um, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. The Josh Allen look was a thousand
Speaker 1: yards stare because you're asking someone who's thrown nine touchdown
Speaker 1: passes in two playoff games to get on a plane
Speaker 1: and go home now, right. And also, if you're a
Speaker 1: Bills fan, you kind of think like, well, last year
Speaker 1: was that lost for us, Like this was our win.
Speaker 1: We were ahead with thirteen seconds to go in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I've kind of I thought going into this game, the
Speaker 1: winner of this game is gonna win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: I still feel that way, and I definitely was feeling
Speaker 1: that way with the Bills ahead with thirteen seconds left,
Speaker 1: and and there's just no guarantee. We say this every
Speaker 1: year around this time. That's like, it sounds good that
Speaker 1: you're building something and we'll be back. But I don't
Speaker 1: have to tell the Browns fan in the in the
Speaker 1: room like it doesn't necessarily work out the way. The
Speaker 1: reason I think it hurts because I think Josh Allen
Speaker 1: was just playing the position at such an outrageous level
Speaker 1: that he was not going to allow his team to
Speaker 1: lose in these next few weeks no matter what. And
Speaker 1: maybe maybe he'll be like that again, and maybe the
Speaker 1: defense will be at even better coach than the future,
Speaker 1: and and they'll get their time. But but there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1: The problem is he went against the quarterback that's basically
Speaker 1: at that level two and I thought it was interesting
Speaker 1: in the first half. I know it was only seven
Speaker 1: seven with two minutes to go in the first half.
Speaker 1: But I thought that first half showed how much these
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks have evolved and gotten better, because I felt
Speaker 1: like the way defenses went at them all season, the
Speaker 1: whole story we talked about with the two high safety
Speaker 1: looks and like the ups and the downs of the Bills,
Speaker 1: like that all led to this moment where the Chiefs
Speaker 1: offense and the Bill's offense really solved those problems. The
Speaker 1: quarterbacks solved those problems on a Aaron Rodgers or Tom
Speaker 1: Brady type of level, where it was like, you can
Speaker 1: play us any type of way. Maybe you'll slow the
Speaker 1: game down, but you're not gonna stop us. Because they
Speaker 1: weren't really getting stopped in the first half. For the
Speaker 1: second half, the only time they got stopped is when
Speaker 1: they like ran the ball a couple of times in
Speaker 1: short yardage. It's just like they they showed the evolution
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks and and like how you can do it
Speaker 1: within a season even and and you still lose. Was
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm just ranting. Goddamn, I mean it was.
Speaker 1: Mahome said after the game. I will will remember this
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life. That's why I just
Speaker 1: to bring in full circle one again to me, the
Speaker 1: best game in a t N history. We'll look back
Speaker 1: and it'll be these two quarterbacks, young at the height
Speaker 1: of their power, is just going back and forth. I'm
Speaker 1: a little annoyed about the coin toss situation. I know,
Speaker 1: we don't need to talk about that because it's whatever. Whatever,
Speaker 1: It's a bit basic, just like basic. Like Bill Kaer
Speaker 1: on CBS before the game kicked off said, the last
Speaker 1: team that has the ball is gonna win this game.
Speaker 1: It's like, goddamn right. So I watched the first CBS
Speaker 1: halftime of the year for my meet today, and at
Speaker 1: one point out of nowhere, he just went on a
Speaker 1: and I think, thank you Tom Brady for what Tom
Speaker 1: Brady has done in the league and ended it by saying,
Speaker 1: I love you Tom. Well, what is that, Ricky? If
Speaker 1: you can find that, can you play? You love? Don't you?
Speaker 1: I love the four Niners, But I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: I love the opportunity and watch Tom Brady what he's done.
Speaker 1: If he does has stepped down. We've been blessed to
Speaker 1: watch from the greatest of all time, the ambassador of
Speaker 1: the football game, National Football League. This guy represents everything
Speaker 1: that's right about it. I love you, Tom. You think
Speaker 1: he's watching when it's going so, I don't know the
Speaker 1: coin toss. That's the only thing Josh Allen did wrong.
Speaker 1: He called the wrong side of the coin, which is
Speaker 1: not meant to be a skill set. It's not white.
Speaker 1: The only thing that Yes, they got to bring in
Speaker 1: Gino next year. They gotta get I think he's going
Speaker 1: to be available after that. D u I, Greg, I'll
Speaker 1: notice how the d U I for Gino? Just Greg
Speaker 1: was like, I'll make sure not to mention. That will
Speaker 1: just slip on. We've been, we've been in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and it was just a side um anyway, unbelievable game too,
Speaker 1: tremendous talents the Bills, and if you're a Bills fan listening,
Speaker 1: uh the game, no, I I tipped my cap. That
Speaker 1: is that's some real fandom stuff. And hopefully, uh, the
Speaker 1: people of Western New York are covered from this one,
Speaker 1: because that is that's a stomach punch loss. That's it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty high up there. Like again, we've been doing
Speaker 1: this long enough where I'm thinking a t N are
Speaker 1: right still to me? The worst point, well, let's say
Speaker 1: so the Falcons lost obviously, um, Malcolm Butler Seahawks obviously,
Speaker 1: But to me, one that's right there is the Packers lost.
Speaker 1: I think the Packers are the worst because they truly
Speaker 1: blew it in in impossible with Butler would have been
Speaker 1: my pick as the best game of the of the
Speaker 1: era because those are the two best teams in the NFL.
Speaker 1: A team going for a read. This was true, but
Speaker 1: it was a divisional round I I agree, but it
Speaker 1: was a divisional round game. So that's the super Bowl
Speaker 1: to the best teams, one going for a repeat, one
Speaker 1: trying to win, you know, a dynasty at first and
Speaker 1: ten years. I'm just saying I'm going again. But this
Speaker 1: it will be interesting to look back if the Chiefs
Speaker 1: can win the Super Bowl here. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: historic stuff from Mahomes to try to get back to
Speaker 1: his third straight Super Bowl, to get to his second trophy,
Speaker 1: and it's sort of for Chiefs fans just desserts after
Speaker 1: losing that coin flip against Brady when it was it
Speaker 1: was three weeks ago, we were still asking do we
Speaker 1: trust this Kansas City offense? At this point? Can they
Speaker 1: get out of this season long funk? That feels like
Speaker 1: fools conversation at this point, I like the minakime solutions.
Speaker 1: She basically said, blow up the rest of the postseason.
Speaker 1: Have these two teams just play best out of three.
Speaker 1: Just give us what we really need. How do you
Speaker 1: follow this? Wait? Would you? I mean, I get I
Speaker 1: get it. I don't think that's I don't think she's
Speaker 1: actually asking for I mean, what what would you do it? Overtime? Though?
Speaker 1: I I don't have an improvement about How about playoffs though?
Speaker 1: Like if it's touchdown for touchdown until someone stopped, but
Speaker 1: then this second team has such an advantage, there's like
Speaker 1: no perfect wait if you if you know that you
Speaker 1: don't need the touch that's giving an advantage to losing
Speaker 1: the coin toss. Weirdly, it feels less unjust than what
Speaker 1: we witnessed here though the football, the modified overtime rules,
Speaker 1: Like younger listeners might not realize that, like eight years ago,
Speaker 1: it was just first score wins and that felt brutally
Speaker 1: unfair on the coin toss. But what what really stinks
Speaker 1: about with these games? These classic games? And I was
Speaker 1: at one obviously it's not even the same ballpark, but
Speaker 1: the last time the Chiefs had a great overtime game
Speaker 1: where a lot of people were watching. I was in
Speaker 1: the stadium, but so far against the Chargers, and it
Speaker 1: was the same thing where these two teams are going
Speaker 1: back and forth, these two great quarterbacks. The Chiefs win
Speaker 1: that coin flip and they go down the field because
Speaker 1: the other defense in addition to that, they can't figure
Speaker 1: out this all time quarterback on a heater or they're gassed.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened again here, just like in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl three with the Falcons and the Page and
Speaker 1: the Chiefs Patriots a f C championship. I wasn't quitest
Speaker 1: confident there because the Patriots offense wasn't going as well.
Speaker 1: The difference of like this game in that Chiefs Rams
Speaker 1: game was like, there was no turnovers in this game.
Speaker 1: There's no defense, there were no there were there were
Speaker 1: Chiefs to have a penalty. There are almost no penalties.
Speaker 1: There were almost no set There was like four sacks,
Speaker 1: there was no turnovers the few stops that they had.
Speaker 1: And I guess, and I know we should move on,
Speaker 1: but you know McDermott did pass up that fourth down,
Speaker 1: that fourth and one, like there were a couple of
Speaker 1: moments where like that I know, but that that drive,
Speaker 1: that drive where basically Alan, you know, handed it off
Speaker 1: two straight times and then they punted and the drives
Speaker 1: were just so few in this game, you know, they
Speaker 1: just were holding the ball that that maybe, like I
Speaker 1: think they just had to be aggressive the whole time.
Speaker 1: If you're the bum they got a little bit, they
Speaker 1: got a little safe for a stretch in the second
Speaker 1: half there, and I mean it was like Romo was
Speaker 1: harping on that. I think it was legit. I if
Speaker 1: I'm a Bills fan though that there the landscape is
Speaker 1: changing potentially because Brian day Ball, who has been in
Speaker 1: a mind meld with Josh Allen for years and and
Speaker 1: called an incredible game. Obviously today could be gone. Leslie
Speaker 1: Fraser could be gone. I'm not sure who's looking to
Speaker 1: hire him after today's defensive performance. But I mean that
Speaker 1: that that is uh, this it's been so consistent there,
Speaker 1: you're losing two of your there's a wind, there's there's
Speaker 1: a window, and you have to when that windows open,
Speaker 1: you gotta find a way. But you can't really blame him,
Speaker 1: Like I was saying that the four Big Game, the
Speaker 1: mount rushmore of crushing losses. Since we're doing this podcast,
Speaker 1: Packers meltdown, Falcons meltdown, Seahawks play call apocalypse this Bills,
Speaker 1: There was no meltdown. It was just a horrendously difficult
Speaker 1: loss where you greatness defeated greatness. But Dan, there was
Speaker 1: also Brown's Jets week three. I thought that that was
Speaker 1: on the mountain. If you want to add a fifth face,
Speaker 1: which that was the one where Sam Donald was outdueled
Speaker 1: by Baker Mayfield. That doesn't that feel small? Gre Gregg
Speaker 1: doesn't seem moved by that suggestion. Um, how about this
Speaker 1: one last statement game before we move on? Tony roma
Speaker 1: Statement game a rama. He's heard the criticism. He's not
Speaker 1: immune to checking Twitter and the mentions. He knows people
Speaker 1: are saying he's not as good as he was a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. He was. That was a masterclass.
Speaker 1: And I know from some behind the scenes infield that, Um,
Speaker 1: his son was in the booth for part for the
Speaker 1: booth for part of the game with him, so maybe
Speaker 1: that inspired him. But uh, he is like I we
Speaker 1: have we have feed that you can hear what's happening
Speaker 1: during the commercial breaks, and it changed what I thought
Speaker 1: about Tony Romo. The person I really and I really
Speaker 1: admire me so nice Greg, Greg. That doesn't register with
Speaker 1: Greg being nice. He was genuinely was being incredible, like
Speaker 1: the way he got along with Nance. It was genuine
Speaker 1: he real. Don't you remember when Tony Romo, when my
Speaker 1: wife was living in Dallas, came to her condo where
Speaker 1: my wife was living with other single women in Dallas,
Speaker 1: rang the doorbell and asked for band aids. I've never
Speaker 1: questioned whether he's nice. I mean no, I think that
Speaker 1: I think the quality of being nice doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: point was if you're gonna go as far as well
Speaker 1: I've gotten certain information about what's happening, because I don't say,
Speaker 1: I don't say. I don't think I'm supposed to give.
Speaker 1: But if you're giving positive information, no one's gonna mind
Speaker 1: you're saying Mark, Greg doesn't being nice and stuff is
Speaker 1: not something that's important. Gad, it's in the media landscape.
Speaker 1: Greg would be more like, I'm going to cut off
Speaker 1: your head and then maybe bury your head in the dirt. Please,
Speaker 1: maybe i'd bury your head and leave your body on
Speaker 1: top of the ground and freezing weather. I think you're
Speaker 1: a nice guy, Greg, but not in the way that
Speaker 1: some other people deemed like a person being nice. You
Speaker 1: are you have nice qualities though. I've Greg, in fact,
Speaker 1: gave me a book to read on Friday, which that's
Speaker 1: an example. It's he does very nice things for people
Speaker 1: who you want in your corner. You know that. Let's
Speaker 1: see listen, it's there's different levels of it. Um, all right,
Speaker 1: let's move on. I feel like we could have done
Speaker 1: the whole podcast. I know, I I kind of want to,
Speaker 1: but we can't. We need to move on. Let's go
Speaker 1: through the Devin Singletary contribution. At least we've saved the
Speaker 1: best for last. To keep people around Honey Badger being
Speaker 1: out by the way, that was a big part of
Speaker 1: that game. In the middle of that defense for Casey
Speaker 1: was hurting there. All right, let's move on that. We
Speaker 1: gotta move on. A f C. Let's uh, let's let's
Speaker 1: finish out the a f C. We have the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs hosting the a f C championship game. This
Speaker 1: is the first franchise in NFL history to host four
Speaker 1: consecutive conference championship games. Who are they playing? Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about it after this break. McPherson ready from fifty
Speaker 1: two yards away, car Carouse will snap it back to
Speaker 1: Kevin Hubert for the win, to snap the puck down
Speaker 1: the swing the White Lady, it's on its way. Its
Speaker 1: good knows bam. That is unbelievable. Fifty four gun Nick fearless.
Speaker 1: Then again Dan Horde and Dave Lap him Lap him
Speaker 1: being the fan in the booth love at w c K.
Speaker 1: Why with the call Rookie Evan McPherson kicked a fifty
Speaker 1: two yard field goals time expired, It lifted the four
Speaker 1: seed bangles pass the number one seed Titans, Titans fans.
Speaker 1: That comes so quiet, and the mentions after this game
Speaker 1: this night, No, you know what are they listening to this?
Speaker 1: Not a single not a single mention in the mentions
Speaker 1: about hey, maybe we were wrong. Well you've won, you've won.
Speaker 1: That that tool with that group of people on Saturday. Uh.
Speaker 1: Just the Bengals snapped a thirty one year, of course,
Speaker 1: winless streak in the playoffs. Now they snapped the NFL's
Speaker 1: longest active road playoffs skid. And they do it with
Speaker 1: the performance that wasn't let's say this, Greg, it wasn't
Speaker 1: like as electrifying as we've seen Joe Burrow in the
Speaker 1: Bengals in recent weeks. But this was a tough, hard
Speaker 1: nosed win where they basically were able to beat the
Speaker 1: Titans at their own game. They won despite nine sacks
Speaker 1: and losing both lines of scrimmage. Really, I mean they
Speaker 1: I think they did a good enough job against the
Speaker 1: Titans running game. But when they picked off those three
Speaker 1: Tannehill passes, which which really felt like the difference, it
Speaker 1: wasn't because of pressure. It was because of their coverage. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was because of Jesse Bates, like just fooling Tannehill's
Speaker 1: Tannehill forcing to pass at the end, and more importantly
Speaker 1: on offense, it was Joe Burrow overcoming the pressure. Like
Speaker 1: they just like thinking about two plays in that game,
Speaker 1: but but starting with one is that Joe Burrow passed
Speaker 1: the chase to set up the game winning field goal.
Speaker 1: That was, you know against like this cover two look
Speaker 1: that the Titans had been throwing in. They're they're more
Speaker 1: of like a man team, but they've thrown it in
Speaker 1: pretty effectively throughout the course of the game. And they said,
Speaker 1: you know, they've seen that, and they they knew it
Speaker 1: was possibly coming, and Burrow knew in his head what
Speaker 1: he was gonna do. They adjusted their game plan. Chase
Speaker 1: to me is as so mature as as a route runner.
Speaker 1: They're both seeing the field with the same eyes. They
Speaker 1: have the perfect calling and they like executed and that
Speaker 1: was the opposite of of what Tannehill and the Titans
Speaker 1: offense did in the crucial moments. And sometimes it does
Speaker 1: to come down the quarterbacks, like the Bengals quarterback is
Speaker 1: way better. Yeah, and Burrow, you know, credited Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: for calling that play and said that they had seen
Speaker 1: the coverage on the tablet on the sidewalk line, Land
Speaker 1: knew what they knew what the Titans would do there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Burrow executed, And like we're in a season
Speaker 1: where a lot of high octane rookie quarterbacks came into
Speaker 1: the league and look completely beguiled from what from wire
Speaker 1: to wire, I mean, maybe a couple of good moments
Speaker 1: second year quarterbacks too. And Burrow to take nine takedowns
Speaker 1: in this game and to show the composure he did
Speaker 1: and to simply be completely unflappable. The a f C
Speaker 1: North has changed for the next fifteen years. The a
Speaker 1: f C has changed. I throw him right into the
Speaker 1: pile with Mahomes and Josh Allen, the Bengals who have
Speaker 1: been well, I'm just I'm just saying he's getting into
Speaker 1: that mix for me, and I don't need to go whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: I honestly we're looking at that kind of player. I mean,
Speaker 1: we got knocked out the door first. No, I think
Speaker 1: you're probably right. Just to me, they're just a couple
Speaker 1: of years ahead. That's fine in their development, that's fine.
Speaker 1: But I mean to me, it was like they took
Speaker 1: their defense to your door before you walk in there.
Speaker 1: I kicked the door open. I told you eight weeks
Speaker 1: ago that the Bengals were going to kick someone's but
Speaker 1: that I can do whatever I want to do. Mean,
Speaker 1: you you got on the Bengals bandwagon, then you jumped off.
Speaker 1: I didn't jump on, and you jump back on. You
Speaker 1: can't then jump I didn't jump off. I was my
Speaker 1: take looked bad because they lost a couple. They kind
Speaker 1: of know that's your take. They they they kind of
Speaker 1: got they kind of fell into the up and down.
Speaker 1: Did you take them to beat the Chiefs when they
Speaker 1: were playing the Chiefs? I don't think so. You know,
Speaker 1: you two are unbelievably un annoying to hang out with.
Speaker 1: Most of the time Burrow in this game, though, two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty two yards after the catch. A lot
Speaker 1: of it was not downfield throws like you've seen in
Speaker 1: other games where it was deep shots. It was his
Speaker 1: receivers making a lot of action happen after they caught
Speaker 1: short passes. I mean, he had three passes of fifteen
Speaker 1: plus eight yards and none over twenty the entire game.
Speaker 1: If you're a Titans fan, you're you're so disappointed, obviously
Speaker 1: because this is now the third time they've been the
Speaker 1: number one seed and got knocked out. And also, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I was having some fun a few minutes ago.
Speaker 1: But you know, they were very They had their chests
Speaker 1: out the fan base. They thought, we're gonna show you
Speaker 1: what you don't. You don't think we're a true number one,
Speaker 1: We're gonna show you something. And part of the reason
Speaker 1: they had confidence to the party. I wish Grave Digger
Speaker 1: was here because I'd love to hear his thoughts on this.
Speaker 1: But we'll get it eventually. Um, Ryan Tannehill was a
Speaker 1: guy to trust. He was a guy to trust in
Speaker 1: these situations. We talked about it on our TV show
Speaker 1: on Friday. On Saturday, it was like Listen, we all
Speaker 1: know Joe Burrow is a rising superstar in the league.
Speaker 1: Tannehill might not have that ceiling, but he is a
Speaker 1: damn good quarterback. And then he goes out and throws
Speaker 1: an interception on the first pass of the game. He
Speaker 1: throws an interception, uh a couple of quarters later after that,
Speaker 1: and then throws the interception that sets up the game
Speaker 1: winning field goal. He came up small. There are a
Speaker 1: few small performances from veteran players. Uh, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to the Packers in a little bit, um, but Tannehill,
Speaker 1: it can't There's no other way to go around it.
Speaker 1: He he kind of let him down here. He also
Speaker 1: had a E. J. Brown open on a deep shot
Speaker 1: that would have been a game changer in this and
Speaker 1: he missed him on that. He was just off. And
Speaker 1: I think that the Bengals did a good job. You know,
Speaker 1: Loui and Aramo who we uh, you know, we've you know,
Speaker 1: we we used to kick his butt around on the
Speaker 1: show a year ago. He's now interviewed for the Giants
Speaker 1: job because I think he put the Titans. How quickly
Speaker 1: things changed? Do change, because the whole Bengals changed. But
Speaker 1: on top of it. We were wondering what version of
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry do you get? And we just didn't get.
Speaker 1: He ran well, I thought early on, but he just
Speaker 1: wasn't able to take over the game. There was one
Speaker 1: moment in this game that I thought was awful. It
Speaker 1: was a third and inches play where they had Tannehill
Speaker 1: and shotgun and he takes the snap and he winds
Speaker 1: up running the ball. Just why not just QB sneak
Speaker 1: it there? Tannehill is good at that. I mean, like
Speaker 1: they you're you're asking him and that then and then
Speaker 1: on fourth down to give it to Henry and he
Speaker 1: stuffed drive over right. They they weren't helped by Henry returning.
Speaker 1: Now I don't I don't know if donte Foreman helps
Speaker 1: them win the game, but like I don't know that
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have I mean, his his his forty five
Speaker 1: year run that he had and he had another. Um,
Speaker 1: we're two of the best runs of the game. I
Speaker 1: mean the forty five years and was the best round
Speaker 1: of the game. And then he had another. I'm failing
Speaker 1: to remember how how long it went for, but he
Speaker 1: ended up four for sixty six. But they were loyal
Speaker 1: to Henry Henry gets stuffed on the two point conversion,
Speaker 1: which which looking back, was such a crucial play. It
Speaker 1: was a great play by Clay Johnston. But this was
Speaker 1: an offensive line that was used to leaning on teams
Speaker 1: and leaning on them throughout the course of a game,
Speaker 1: and it just didn't happen for them this game. Tannehill
Speaker 1: actually hit like a lot of big plays. I mean,
Speaker 1: Brown goes five for one forty two. You know, he
Speaker 1: hit him downfield a couple of times. They had the
Speaker 1: big plays, but that that interception he had and just
Speaker 1: to put you know, the time on it, you have
Speaker 1: to get to overtime. There it is in saying that
Speaker 1: the Titans had the ball left with twenty eight seconds
Speaker 1: left on a third and five on their own forty
Speaker 1: and they lost in regulation. On that play, he forces
Speaker 1: it into Westbrook Kina. You know, you can do the
Speaker 1: thing where you kind of pose it and you see
Speaker 1: that there's actually a tight end coming open in the flat,
Speaker 1: and you lose the game throwing it to Westbrook Kna.
Speaker 1: Julio is not on the field. Julio had a nice game.
Speaker 1: That's weird. They don't throw to a j. Brown. But
Speaker 1: the thing that gets me with that play where you
Speaker 1: talk about veterans and where like Joe Burrow was not
Speaker 1: making that mistake. There's no pressure. So like he made
Speaker 1: a bad decision with no pressure, throwing it into a
Speaker 1: crowded area to a bad receiver with no pressure. Like
Speaker 1: that's that's like a mental thing. That's a short circuiting.
Speaker 1: We gotta talk Kevan McPherson. He converted his eleventh field
Speaker 1: goal from fifty yards or longer, the most in a
Speaker 1: season for one player. He also became the first kicker
Speaker 1: in NFL history with at least four or more field
Speaker 1: goals in multiple games in a single post season, He's
Speaker 1: played two both games, he's four for four. Here's what
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow had to say about the last kick. So
Speaker 1: he was talking to Brandon as he was going out
Speaker 1: to kick. He'd give a little warm up swing and
Speaker 1: he said, it looks like we're going to then FC
Speaker 1: championship right before he went out there to kick it.
Speaker 1: And when you have a kicker, I mean, we knew
Speaker 1: exactly what we had as soon as he walked into
Speaker 1: the building in camp, and we just saw how he
Speaker 1: carried himself. Oh, let's let's go behind the velvet. Ropes
Speaker 1: for a second here, Evan McPherson. He's moved all the
Speaker 1: way up now to number one the kicker power right
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Justin Tucker still in his own world,
Speaker 1: and I wonder if he changes the way teams start
Speaker 1: looking at the kicker in the draft. Taking in the
Speaker 1: fifth round, it's you're not Roberto Aguayo. I think scared
Speaker 1: off a lot of teams that second round pick of
Speaker 1: the Bucks. That was a horrific misfire. And you've seen
Speaker 1: it every couple years. Somebody really reaches, but teams that
Speaker 1: have avoided it completely take a look at the draft classes,
Speaker 1: because look how much a great kicker can change a
Speaker 1: Teamskowski was a fourth round pick and you had it,
Speaker 1: got a lot of grief at the time. There he's
Speaker 1: in the back right now, pop and getting rid of
Speaker 1: minitary And I always thought like people like you can't
Speaker 1: believe you a wasted draft pick out a kicker, Like
Speaker 1: what your fourth and fifth round picks are changing your franchise?
Speaker 1: Ever ms They always think the safety they take in
Speaker 1: the sixth round is actually a big time if you
Speaker 1: believe in them. And you're right obviously with McPherson, but
Speaker 1: if you believe in them, even in you're only halfway right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's a perfectly acceptable There's twenty five scenarios a season
Speaker 1: where a better kicker is gonna give you a chance
Speaker 1: to win. We look at Justin Tucker Tucker for the
Speaker 1: Ravens obviously, but you've added Burrow and McPherson over the
Speaker 1: course of two seasons. It completely changes the Bengals. How
Speaker 1: many there Burrow and McPherson. No, but you know what,
Speaker 1: but honest like, how how many teams with good quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are riding shaky streets because the kicker you can't trust
Speaker 1: me your third and fourth Kickerycember, big Bone, Randy on
Speaker 1: their roster, which I think they did at some point. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're not playing for the a f C Championship on Sunday.
Speaker 1: It's simple as that. I mean, he's that important. Did
Speaker 1: you guys see the clip that was circulating today that
Speaker 1: was on TikTok, but it made it to Twitter too.
Speaker 1: There's a video of McPherson kicking it and there's a
Speaker 1: gatorade bottle to the pylon and he kicks the ball
Speaker 1: like a field goal range and the ball hits the
Speaker 1: cap and unscrews the Gatorade cap and it's like crazy,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's got swag coming out of their ears between Nick fearless,
Speaker 1: Chase Stewing, the gritty and Burrow like, who's just like
Speaker 1: on another level with the way dresses and the way
Speaker 1: he plays and people weren't driving last night in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: was like my senses that sound like stew and Bible alcohol.
Speaker 1: It's crazy though, because like you watch this game, did
Speaker 1: you guys get the feeling that like the Bengals were better?
Speaker 1: You know? I mean it was just even it was
Speaker 1: a field goal game, they eight were dominated. Their offensive
Speaker 1: line was dominated in such a manner in a winning
Speaker 1: performance unlike anything I've ever seen. I mean, Burrow has
Speaker 1: to take some of those sacks as his own responsibility.
Speaker 1: A couple of times he was protected and he held
Speaker 1: the ball too long and he's trying to make a play.
Speaker 1: I would say at least three of those times once
Speaker 1: knocked him out of field goal range. It wasn't it
Speaker 1: wasn't a perfect game from Burrow. In fact, before that
Speaker 1: field goal, uh, they had gone three and out interception
Speaker 1: punt punt uh in the drives before that field goal.
Speaker 1: But the reason is because all day he was in third,
Speaker 1: third and eighteen. They they had they faced at one point,
Speaker 1: third and fourteen, third and sixteen, third and eighteen. Like
Speaker 1: their offensive line was absolutely manhandled. Jeffrey Simmons had as
Speaker 1: good a performance as anyone not named Aaron Donald has
Speaker 1: had a defensive tackle. Like they still won the game.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's part of me that feels very
Speaker 1: like like that was problem, that was a problem them
Speaker 1: that I'm worried about that, but that is and the
Speaker 1: Packers were the same way the Titans. They I thought
Speaker 1: they were a little bit tight in this game. I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, you saw the defense defense borrow to nineteen
Speaker 1: points exactly. But just that idea of like being at home,
Speaker 1: having the opportunity to take care of business and just
Speaker 1: not quite being there, not executing the way you were
Speaker 1: when there was less pressure on you at the end
Speaker 1: of the season, when you had that winning streak. I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just it's very frustrating, I imagine for
Speaker 1: t for the Bengals, like you know, we'll look forward
Speaker 1: all week, but it's two weeks in a row where
Speaker 1: you can look at a series of drives and it's
Speaker 1: the protections. First of all, like coaching staff, maybe can
Speaker 1: we figure out how to stop some of the bleeding
Speaker 1: with the Joe Burrow punishment midway through this game? There
Speaker 1: was no answer for that. But Raiders game this game,
Speaker 1: they're not finishing certain drives. That's not gonna work against
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Well. I also think their weaknesses have matched
Speaker 1: up really poorly. Their interior line is where they're just terrible.
Speaker 1: Chris Jones, you have owns and Jaren Reid coming. But
Speaker 1: but the thing Burrow did that like Tannehill didn't at all,
Speaker 1: and no one on the Titans offense did, was like
Speaker 1: he made plays that weren't there. There's a play I
Speaker 1: can think of where they knew he was gonna roll out,
Speaker 1: like they didn't bite on the play fake. He has
Speaker 1: a defender right in his face and they have two
Speaker 1: defenders on Jamar Chase. I think it was a third down,
Speaker 1: Maybe it wasn't. That play is defended perfectly, like the
Speaker 1: coach had the exact play in everyone's in place. It's
Speaker 1: three on two. Burrow makes the miss and then he
Speaker 1: gets into Chase, who makes two guys miss and they
Speaker 1: pick up a first down. And that's kind of just
Speaker 1: like our players are better than your players. I don't
Speaker 1: care about he is. He is mentally tough and makes
Speaker 1: me think of Ricky Hollywood. There's a parallel with the
Speaker 1: way that two of them operate in their in professions.
Speaker 1: Here's the good news, by the way, how he kind
Speaker 1: of got into this game? You said, Joe Burrows there
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are right there. We
Speaker 1: get to find out that's gonna be a made because
Speaker 1: Josh Allen did literally everything he a do and it
Speaker 1: still wasn't enough to knock off the Chiefs. Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: is gonna have to deliver on a similar scale, and
Speaker 1: he did. He did. He did it in Arrowhead, which
Speaker 1: I don't know if that helps it hurts either team
Speaker 1: in in particular, but they know they can come from behind.
Speaker 1: But the Deserts not buying it. I mean the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs went into this game barely favored over the Bills. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are favored by a touchdown next week. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, the Desert has adored Kansas City all season,
Speaker 1: so I I'm not overly concerned with that. All right, Uh,
Speaker 1: let us before we move on to the NFC side
Speaker 1: of action. We do have the Bill Cower comments on
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. Would you like to hear them? Please? Why not? Okay,
Speaker 1: go ahead, Ricky, you love don't you love the four Niners?
Speaker 1: But I'll tell you what. I love the opportunity and
Speaker 1: watched Tom Brady and what he's done, if he does,
Speaker 1: has stepped down. We've been blessed to watch from the
Speaker 1: greatest of all time, the ambassador of the football game
Speaker 1: on National Football League. This guy represents everything that's right
Speaker 1: about it. I knew I didn't. I love you, bro,
Speaker 1: That's not gonna work with day and I can tell
Speaker 1: you that much. Well. The funny thing, too, is James
Speaker 1: Crowd asked him about the forty diners. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: you know he answered the question you wanted to answer
Speaker 1: his own way. Before we move on, you guys were
Speaker 1: all with lakisha Um. I didn't make it over, But
Speaker 1: how cool was that when they hit that kick? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think someone of you vid like she was on
Speaker 1: top of the world and that must have been so nice.
Speaker 1: It was really nice. I'll be together at all these days,
Speaker 1: but watching a football game like we did it outdoors?
Speaker 1: Link is there. He slept through the first half came
Speaker 1: out for the second half. Walker was there, you know,
Speaker 1: Connie and Gonza were all there. It was beautiful, and
Speaker 1: I don't know, like we're along for this, right She's
Speaker 1: already thinking like what if there's a Bengals ram Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: who do I root for? We'll be confusing. And it's
Speaker 1: so funny because like I was driving home after the
Speaker 1: game from Lakisha's and it was like, imagine, like having
Speaker 1: this conversation, where would West be at right now? Bengal
Speaker 1: situation Now, it's kind of it's taken on a life
Speaker 1: of its own on on Twitter and amongst like the listeners,
Speaker 1: and there's a general vibe like Bengals of the team
Speaker 1: of a t L, this is for West and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. We don't know like where West would actually
Speaker 1: come down in Cincinnati at this point in time, but
Speaker 1: there is still like this like kind of spiritual bond
Speaker 1: and it just connects. It's just it's been very nice
Speaker 1: and his brothers, I mean, we like we've been texting
Speaker 1: with now. I mean, West is was the most stubborn
Speaker 1: friend I've ever had, So I am not just assuming
Speaker 1: that he would have flowered open and become this giant
Speaker 1: Bengals fan this season, Yet there are elements of the
Speaker 1: Bengals that West would have loved about. What does he
Speaker 1: do when that when that field goal goes through the
Speaker 1: uprights fifty two yards? I think I think it would
Speaker 1: have melted his heart by then, would have melted to
Speaker 1: some degree on the Bengals front. But would Link be
Speaker 1: in a Bengals shirt? No way, no way. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. We were talking about this in in
Speaker 1: the moments after two. Yeah, I I kind of don't
Speaker 1: think he would fully embrace it all. But you know, Wes,
Speaker 1: like there were times where he'd say one thing and
Speaker 1: I think he would still like be appreciate. First of all,
Speaker 1: he'd appreciate the borough of of it all. He'd appreciate
Speaker 1: that his brothers are having some fun. And even if
Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to like admit it, I think he
Speaker 1: would just enjoy that it's like interesting, like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is a fun new life experience I'm having um and
Speaker 1: and it makes it bitter sweet to say the least.
Speaker 1: Definitely bitter, but it was it was beautiful to be
Speaker 1: out there like friends like I. That was one thing
Speaker 1: I was thinking, was like he'd he'd appreciate that we
Speaker 1: are all getting together and that we're all together as
Speaker 1: a family with his family, right, and he'd appreciate how
Speaker 1: much it means to Lukisha because it does for her,
Speaker 1: it ties to him, and that is Lukisha's mom sitting
Speaker 1: you know, in the back with a notebook full of notes.
Speaker 1: She walked up to me, like what happened on that
Speaker 1: last trial? She's charting every day and I showed her
Speaker 1: like NFL Jesus, like, if you'd like this can help
Speaker 1: you too. But I love that you're by hand. From
Speaker 1: the first snap she was she had her notebook out,
Speaker 1: she's taking notes. Uh. She she is the best. I'd
Speaker 1: love to We've kind of had her on the podcast.
Speaker 1: But at one point I kinda I kind of rolled
Speaker 1: up next to and I saw her notebook and I said,
Speaker 1: what you got in there? She's like nothing, Yes, she's
Speaker 1: not afraid to kind of just go quiet. But then
Speaker 1: as we were leaving, she gathered us all together and
Speaker 1: said some really nice words about how important it was
Speaker 1: to be together and how much it means with West
Speaker 1: and everything is just like all right, that's a special woman.
Speaker 1: All right. I'm so pissed at duty. We were supposed
Speaker 1: to be there for a little bit. We did have
Speaker 1: a prior engagement, but we go there first. The Bengals
Speaker 1: were't supposed to get this far. I mean, what do
Speaker 1: you mean that I've had a I've had a brunch
Speaker 1: plan for a long time for someone's birthday during a
Speaker 1: playoff game. He's still technically in her twenties, so brunches
Speaker 1: matter on level. That weekend, it was someone's birthday and
Speaker 1: I had said yes, but Jet was supposed to be
Speaker 1: done school and we were going to go to Keisha's first,
Speaker 1: and then you know, she just took way too long
Speaker 1: and we're doing the pod right now, right, but I'm
Speaker 1: mad that I'm not there, and she she was like,
Speaker 1: I know how much this meant to you, And I
Speaker 1: was like, clearly, you really hustled zero. We have all right,
Speaker 1: let's welcome in Jet to share her thoughts on how
Speaker 1: this played out. Erica was handling at six in the morning.
Speaker 1: I do like that bar quite like during a playoff game.
Speaker 1: He's well, no, but it's like, I'm sorry, but this
Speaker 1: is our core. I mean, I know you were probably
Speaker 1: tracking it heavily on your phone. Yeah, we do. We're
Speaker 1: hearing from the Wesleyan brothers, Nick saying that Tim sounded
Speaker 1: like he was having a fake orgasm at one point,
Speaker 1: which I thought was, uh an interesting response. And I
Speaker 1: just want to give Dan credit. U sixteen to six Titans,
Speaker 1: not to go back to the game, but one sixteen
Speaker 1: to six Titans, they just I think, for a minute,
Speaker 1: just hit that play. They're in shotgun, and as they're
Speaker 1: getting ready for this, that did goes don't throw it,
Speaker 1: don't throw it, do not throw this ball. In three
Speaker 1: seconds later, Tannehill threw that interception where on the stage.
Speaker 1: So there was another moment where Dan was a great job.
Speaker 1: Dan raised incredible alarm um at this garden party because
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow got hit and it looked like for a
Speaker 1: minute he was slightly uncomfortable in the the area, and
Speaker 1: Dan sounded like he had been taken out in the
Speaker 1: stomach by a bow and arrow, but instead, uh, you know, listen,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is one of the most exciting aspects of
Speaker 1: this NFL season. He's coming off a catastrophic knee injury.
Speaker 1: And he got hit low and then grabbed his leg
Speaker 1: and I went, I'll move my micare I'm like and
Speaker 1: then Greg was legitimately upset. He was like, hey, calm
Speaker 1: down about that easy, and then Tanna's nothing wrong with this.
Speaker 1: Tannehill did actually look like he was hurt. A little
Speaker 1: bit later, I was like, Dan, please, you know fill it.
Speaker 1: I haven't say that, but I was just trying to
Speaker 1: coach you up a little bit. Cop doubt. You're around
Speaker 1: a bunch of people like Joe Burrow's mom there, we're there.
Speaker 1: Who am I not? Who? I'm just saying, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna yell out like that, be a little more sure
Speaker 1: that something bad happened. Social dynamics class. You don't need
Speaker 1: to alarm the masses that Burrow blew out of. Greg
Speaker 1: also dropped an F bomb in front of his child
Speaker 1: Walker at one point, which I noticed, So, you know,
Speaker 1: everyone paying attention. So he turned and looked at you,
Speaker 1: and I saw in his eyes he had never heard
Speaker 1: that come out of your mouth. Dan did a great
Speaker 1: job playing quarterback into it, and I appreciate it. Yes,
Speaker 1: we had a great time. Dan was the dad I
Speaker 1: I could ever be. I I was really in the
Speaker 1: doghouse with Greg about referencing Joe Burrows and the injury,
Speaker 1: but then I played with Walker it was like back
Speaker 1: in do we need to take a break. Let's take
Speaker 1: a break and then hit the NFC. Lets go fund
Speaker 1: Jet's body, you wish. Matt Gay with four seconds on
Speaker 1: the clock, well attempt a thirty yard field goal with
Speaker 1: the right foot kick on. It's one. It is through.
Speaker 1: It is good. That game brings it home. There is
Speaker 1: j B. Long. He deserves it. He's got a lot
Speaker 1: of pop on the show. With the call KSPN, Matt
Speaker 1: Gay thirty yards out the difference and at win for
Speaker 1: the Rams over the Bucks. Moves the Rams back to
Speaker 1: the NFC title game, a game that the Rams led
Speaker 1: three at the half and to three in the third
Speaker 1: quarter before a series of self inflicted errors opened the
Speaker 1: door for what could have been one of the great
Speaker 1: collapses in NFL playoff history. Cam Akers played a major
Speaker 1: role with two lost fumbles in that, but that was
Speaker 1: just two of many errors the Rams made. Matt Gay
Speaker 1: himself fell short on a forty seven yard field goal
Speaker 1: attempt in perfect conditions. There was a wayward snap, all
Speaker 1: sorts of things going on. But when it came down
Speaker 1: to it, mark when the walls are falling in and
Speaker 1: it goes from seven to three to seven to seven.
Speaker 1: Late in the fourth quarter, matt Stafford dropped back and
Speaker 1: made the past to Cooper Cup. That's set up the
Speaker 1: field goal. Cooper Cup, who I just consider to be
Speaker 1: the m v P. I don't really care who they
Speaker 1: name m v P at this point, because he saved
Speaker 1: the Rams season. He had the early touchdown that Matthew
Speaker 1: Stafford later called, uh, you know, his route essentially a
Speaker 1: love of the game route where he's a decoy trying
Speaker 1: to pull defensive backs away, but he was left open.
Speaker 1: Scored that one, scored the game winner. This is exactly
Speaker 1: why you went and got Matthew Stafford. I thought Stafford
Speaker 1: had to answer that question over and over this season.
Speaker 1: He did it today in spectacular fashion. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's the Rams overcoming past demons and current demons because
Speaker 1: you're dealing with Tom bray d who you know, with
Speaker 1: With ten fifteen minutes to go in this game, it
Speaker 1: looked like this thing was this was the stinker of
Speaker 1: the four four beautiful efforts, and instead Tom Brady nearly
Speaker 1: took them to the brink. I mean, it was incredibly watchable.
Speaker 1: I thought the Rams defense made life very tough for
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and early on in the game. It just
Speaker 1: looked to me like the Bucks had hit a wall,
Speaker 1: that there were too many people not on the field
Speaker 1: for them. Tristan Worth's absence affected tom Brady a ton
Speaker 1: You're obviously your wide receivers are out. You know, they
Speaker 1: were missing guys. Tom Brady was out of sync and
Speaker 1: he really had no one to throw to, and even
Speaker 1: with Gronk, he seemed out of place with Gronk until
Speaker 1: later in the game. It was nearly a gem for
Speaker 1: tom Brady. I wonder if it's the end of tom
Speaker 1: Brady's career that hangs in the atmosphere at this point
Speaker 1: for us to find out. But for the Rams two
Speaker 1: weeks in a row, there are parts of them that
Speaker 1: looks totally confirmed as a Super Bowl team. They put
Speaker 1: they faced next um, but an incredible effort on the road. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, if I guess, if you mean, if you've
Speaker 1: been living in a cave, that's news. This it's such
Speaker 1: a misleading final score and box score to me. And yes,
Speaker 1: the Rams losing four fumbles is part of the story
Speaker 1: and we we should talk about that. But if you
Speaker 1: wish to the defense, like the Rams defense, it's not this.
Speaker 1: This comeback, and it was it was a good comeback,
Speaker 1: but it was all like it was a lot of
Speaker 1: like I can't believe Brady did it again. They they
Speaker 1: were stopped three times in a row in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: In any other situation, that's the ball game. The Rams
Speaker 1: defense stopped two different times like forced punts, uh, and
Speaker 1: also forced to fumble there in the fourth quarter to
Speaker 1: take it under five minutes. And yet this still happened.
Speaker 1: But Cup is the story to me, Like those two
Speaker 1: plays to set up the field goal, it almost feels like, now,
Speaker 1: after what what the Chiefs did? Oh forty two seconds,
Speaker 1: that's nothing. But they didn't. They didn't have time outs there,
Speaker 1: which is like such a big difference. Mcveigh's pension for
Speaker 1: burning totally unnecessary timeouts should have come back to haunt him,
Speaker 1: but it didn't. Those two plays in a row in Cup,
Speaker 1: going nine for three and one is just like it.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's at the end of the one of the
Speaker 1: best receiving seasons of all time, but it's the most
Speaker 1: memorable thing yet. The first play he puts Murphy Bunting
Speaker 1: on the ground. He he shakes them so bad that
Speaker 1: that man went on the ground and in a in
Speaker 1: a very safe defense where they're playing to prevent him
Speaker 1: from going to the sidelines. He gets deep and it
Speaker 1: was second and eleven. I'm I'm talking about the last two.
Speaker 1: The last two plays thirty five seconds left, after Stafford
Speaker 1: almost fumbled the ball, they're they're playing safe and they
Speaker 1: didn't send anyone and they didn't get any pressure on
Speaker 1: Stafford and Cup gets out of bounds after shaking that dude,
Speaker 1: And I think Todd Bowl saw that and was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to go down like like a b basically,
Speaker 1: and he decides to send the house on the next
Speaker 1: one because going safe didn't work. They hadn't been getting
Speaker 1: pressure all day, so he decides to send everyone. But
Speaker 1: here's where McVeigh makes it up to me personally. They
Speaker 1: played at so fast the NBC actually wasn't even ready
Speaker 1: for the next snap. They were still in Cup's replay.
Speaker 1: I went back to look, they snapped the ball with
Speaker 1: twenty one seconds left, and because they played with such
Speaker 1: tempo and that was the plan coming in even though
Speaker 1: the clock was stopped, there was miscommunication by the Bucks.
Speaker 1: The blitz call did not get passed around to everyone,
Speaker 1: so it was a total mistake. In terms of coverage
Speaker 1: and what their responsibilities were, and Cup goads deep and oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, you gotta make the play and Stafford
Speaker 1: like delivers beautiful and you have to get down and
Speaker 1: clock the ball like that's that's that's beating, Like forget
Speaker 1: about coaching, it's that's just playing excellent. And the going
Speaker 1: back to that quot because I found that to be
Speaker 1: an intriguing quote and I didn't know what it meant
Speaker 1: at first when Stafford called it a for the love
Speaker 1: of the game route, because of when the defense is
Speaker 1: sending the house like that, the guy that just goes
Speaker 1: straight out to pull away some defenders, he's there's not
Speaker 1: enough time to make him a part of the play
Speaker 1: unless some of the defenders that are supposed to be
Speaker 1: blitzing don't get the play call in and they didn't
Speaker 1: have the full complement of blitzers coming at Stafford. Now
Speaker 1: I think it was Sue has still got to him,
Speaker 1: and Stafford made the play, and you gotta give it credit.
Speaker 1: And a great throw under pressure. Even then, most quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are not making that play. Now here's the question. Now,
Speaker 1: Mark with the Rams not to spin out of this game.
Speaker 1: But I'm just like, I'm still trying to process the
Speaker 1: rams with this game. As we now look ahead, they
Speaker 1: have a one more game to get to the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and you can't say if they closed this game out.
Speaker 1: They had a quarterback and a wide receiver whom made
Speaker 1: a very special play to save the day. But even
Speaker 1: Cup had a bad fumble in this game lost to
Speaker 1: change things. There's something about this team lacking a killer instinct.
Speaker 1: It's what got them beating week A team from by
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and it almost costs him in a game
Speaker 1: that would have been remembered forever, and that that spooks
Speaker 1: me a little bit as we spin forward. I'm with you,
Speaker 1: but they also have guys like von Miller, who had
Speaker 1: an absolutely incredible formans today. Oh b J completely fits.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I love watching that personally, but they
Speaker 1: like these moves they've made have worked, and I the
Speaker 1: mistakes they somehow overcame it today. I mean, you're also
Speaker 1: playing the dark magic of Tom Brady and it's like
Speaker 1: to get out of there with the way they did.
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not that concerned with that. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: probably more concerned with the matchup for San Francisco. But
Speaker 1: this team is like well built, well put together to
Speaker 1: get this far and overcome their own mistakes. To me,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm kind of sold on them though, Dan,
Speaker 1: like I do think it comes from above, that there
Speaker 1: is something that they get. They tried to sit on
Speaker 1: this lead, and that's it's so dangerous because like when
Speaker 1: you asked Stafford and come to make a couple of plays. Look,
Speaker 1: they made it, but they didn't ask them to make
Speaker 1: those plays for a couple of quarters. There was like
Speaker 1: the field goal kick that you mentioned that they were
Speaker 1: short on. They just ran the ball three straight times,
Speaker 1: including on third and long. It was like McVeigh was
Speaker 1: just he he has this He the real issues with
Speaker 1: nickveigh well just to every show, it's just this. He
Speaker 1: has this conservative streak that when you like is leading,
Speaker 1: he he wants to get so conservative. And the running
Speaker 1: game wasn't working today, Acres. So I just in a
Speaker 1: game that you're the worst games ever. Acres averages two
Speaker 1: yards of rush and twenty four carris and has two
Speaker 1: backbreaking fumbles. He fumbled more in this game than Michelle
Speaker 1: has in the last two years. I was I was
Speaker 1: thinking at the end, you gotta have a Sonny Michelle
Speaker 1: in there like a trust too much. He's gotta have
Speaker 1: like four four yards. That said, they started out very aggressive,
Speaker 1: like they weren't running at all. I liked what they did,
Speaker 1: like throwing early, but it's crazy to dominate a game
Speaker 1: like that for fifty five minutes and haven't be that
Speaker 1: close at the end. I don't buy Tom Brady retiring.
Speaker 1: I think this might be the beginning of a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys, these legendary players, um even guys that
Speaker 1: just around forever, like we just saw a big bend.
Speaker 1: There's the period where they're playing for a long time,
Speaker 1: and then there's the period where it's like every year
Speaker 1: is like is he coming back? Will or won'ty? And
Speaker 1: then he comes back like a couple of years, and
Speaker 1: then there's the last year. I think with Brady, the
Speaker 1: way he is everything tells me as a competitor, he
Speaker 1: wants to draw this thing out, so I'll believe it
Speaker 1: when I see it. I was thinking about it because
Speaker 1: I guess, but that's what I'm saying. It's all part
Speaker 1: of the process, I think. And I thought he looked
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he looked old in this game, but
Speaker 1: he was. He was so uncomfortable. This was a tough,
Speaker 1: tough game for Brady. You got to throw the ball
Speaker 1: fifty four times. He was constantly under durest he was
Speaker 1: having to move around in the pocket. I thought to
Speaker 1: get to three nine yards to get that comeback really
Speaker 1: was gargangean effort by him, because the Rams defensive line
Speaker 1: really came after him all game. Well they I mean
Speaker 1: they were a mess on third down two for a long,
Speaker 1: big chunk of this. I just I who were his
Speaker 1: options to throw to. I mean, Tyler Johnson seems to
Speaker 1: be so out of sync with Brady and everyone of
Speaker 1: these playoff game. He's not used to his line getting
Speaker 1: worked that That's why, I mean, like the box scores misleading.
Speaker 1: He he looked done with this game, by the way,
Speaker 1: when he overthrew break um to turn the ball back
Speaker 1: over with about four something left, and it was it
Speaker 1: just looked like, I was like, let's do let's get
Speaker 1: out of here now. The Rams overcome losing four fumbles
Speaker 1: in a half, or you know, they had one right
Speaker 1: before the half when they could have gone up three
Speaker 1: and acres fumbles on the goal line going into halftime.
Speaker 1: The Arians doesn't take time outs there, which felt like
Speaker 1: the biggest like give up move ever. It was just
Speaker 1: like I don't even want to try to score at
Speaker 1: the end of the half. It wasn't taking time outs
Speaker 1: when the Rams had the ball, but before that, like,
Speaker 1: I don't know who, if any quarterback could have done
Speaker 1: much there because the Rams defensive line was destroying them.
Speaker 1: ESPN ran a stat that said they had the highest
Speaker 1: pass rush win rate of any team in any half
Speaker 1: in a game this year in the first half of
Speaker 1: that game. This was the ultimate proof that like sacks
Speaker 1: and QB hits are are a quarterbacks that because Brady
Speaker 1: managed to make it only three sacks in four or
Speaker 1: five quarterback hits. But it wasn't just worse. This guy
Speaker 1: that was and beat like a drum like Donovan Smith
Speaker 1: was getting destroyed. The guys in the middle, We're getting
Speaker 1: destroyed all those Rams defensive lineman. I think it's a
Speaker 1: special group, but I think it's potentially like a special
Speaker 1: Super Bowl championship. And Miller's nine QB pressures were the
Speaker 1: third most he's had in the next gen. Right now,
Speaker 1: he's playing Floyd there and Donald. Yeah, I think Brady
Speaker 1: for the first having they showed at some point coming
Speaker 1: back from a commercial break, him and Gronks celebrating after
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl last year on the field, and it
Speaker 1: struck me that his jersey and they played on grass,
Speaker 1: it was that Tampa was completely white, gleaming white, like
Speaker 1: it didn't have it. He didn't have a mark on him.
Speaker 1: And in this game he took a beating. He was bleeding.
Speaker 1: There was a shot as he was walking off the
Speaker 1: field with a son in his face and he kind
Speaker 1: of actually looked forty four years old for the first
Speaker 1: time ever, and I was like, man, this is this
Speaker 1: was hard work. So maybe if you want to buy
Speaker 1: into the ideas Tom thinking about coming back or leaving,
Speaker 1: this was kind of probably a very tough game for
Speaker 1: him to head into the off season on. I wonder
Speaker 1: if if the comeback, because you know, he does throw
Speaker 1: that past to Evans, just a beautiful throw. When he
Speaker 1: made that through, I was like, that would be a
Speaker 1: great last throw in the NFL. Burke texted me that's
Speaker 1: so true. But then he gets the ball back, they go,
Speaker 1: you know, they score again. I almost wonder if like
Speaker 1: this the way this game ended, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: it's a good way to go out at him. Just
Speaker 1: that like it wasn't embarrassed. The super Bowl would have
Speaker 1: been a good way, but no one's going to remember
Speaker 1: this is I guess what I mean is like it
Speaker 1: was a reminder of ball things, how completely, how completely
Speaker 1: difficult it is to play and try to win the
Speaker 1: super Bowl like this. He knows how poorly the Bucks
Speaker 1: offense played and how badly they were beaten for fifty
Speaker 1: five minutes. Then you have like the way it finished
Speaker 1: and at least like you didn't go out in some embarrassing,
Speaker 1: chump like way. When I saw these reports, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I think he's kind of gone like I was, because
Speaker 1: you haven't you haven't seen now I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: feel I don't think he will. But Greg, like I
Speaker 1: I don't feel like hear what you're saying. Greg, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong about the who who? Who would disagree with
Speaker 1: you more than it's a it's a competent way or
Speaker 1: a memorable way to go out to Tom Brady, right,
Speaker 1: They just he was He was esteemed and annoyed after
Speaker 1: this game and throughout this game and last week and
Speaker 1: in previous weeks. As I've seen him, I think he's
Speaker 1: very frustrated. With how this offense finished in general. I
Speaker 1: think that's true. I take back saying would be in
Speaker 1: some way a good way. I guess in my it's
Speaker 1: my fandom that it's like, at least it wasn't embarrassing.
Speaker 1: He had a nice had come back and that was it.
Speaker 1: Because those reports and he basically said it to al
Speaker 1: and he probably said it to Jeff Darlington and Adam
Speaker 1: Schefter who reported on ESPN. They hinted at like, well,
Speaker 1: if he makes or wins the Super Bowl, then that's
Speaker 1: probably it. So he was he was already thinking that way,
Speaker 1: as if he could get to the finish line then
Speaker 1: maybe he was. Like. The part of that report also
Speaker 1: was like, actually his wife has wanted him to retire
Speaker 1: since two thousand seventeen. That must be. They were getting awkward, right,
Speaker 1: they were like half a decade ago, who was doing
Speaker 1: this game up? Yeah? Troy was like, yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Giselle have a say of that, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is Chris was saying that, and I
Speaker 1: was like, well, I think if she had to say
Speaker 1: he would have retired four years ago. I don't he
Speaker 1: ken't throw the ball and catch it too. My favorite
Speaker 1: Giselle line of all time I do like this. That
Speaker 1: was a low moment from walking out of that Giants
Speaker 1: locker room and seeing Giselle waiting for Tom from s
Speaker 1: I Mitch Goldnich that he tweeted the daytime Michael's and Collinsworth,
Speaker 1: It's like running into your teacher at the mall. It
Speaker 1: was very bizarre to me to listen to them at
Speaker 1: daytime because I'm typically what the we we we we
Speaker 1: watch football all day long together. We go watch that
Speaker 1: Sunday night performance in that in the Big View viewing
Speaker 1: room together when we're allowed in this building, and you
Speaker 1: get the throaty, kind of chalky Chris Collinsworth shouting at
Speaker 1: you for three hours as the nightcap. I don't understand
Speaker 1: in the day Owl who's probably having cocktails um the
Speaker 1: Malibu coastline at two am the night before. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a night owl. He's a guy that like you
Speaker 1: could you could he was still waking up when it
Speaker 1: was one thirty in the afternoon. They're like Al's likes
Speaker 1: to hit up the nightlife. You Bucks are a prime
Speaker 1: time team. You and West always used to be annoyed
Speaker 1: at the light in Tampa afternoon games, which which was
Speaker 1: a little annoying, Well, it was much more annoying when
Speaker 1: they were also like a wild trash bag of a team.
Speaker 1: It's a little less annoying the sunshine in Florida when
Speaker 1: it's Brady Way. That was not a That was not
Speaker 1: a criticism of the great legendary Al Michaels. I just
Speaker 1: know Al likes he likes living in l a and
Speaker 1: he likes the life. What's the place where mel Gibson
Speaker 1: went shadows? Yeah, I'll have a steak. And more than
Speaker 1: just went there, he or just go there. He was
Speaker 1: his fun until it wasn't. What one last quick thing
Speaker 1: is we've been we should I do just want to
Speaker 1: say how great Stafford was because he had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with why they fell apart in this game. He
Speaker 1: threw the ball over his head, his running backs fumbled twice,
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup fumbled twice, his coach started running and not
Speaker 1: like letting him throw. He was excellent, uh and they
Speaker 1: were aggressive from start to finish. He he was the
Speaker 1: better you know, he was protected better, but he was
Speaker 1: the better quarterback in this game. As if we needed
Speaker 1: any more validation for that being one of the best
Speaker 1: trades in recent memory today basically locked that up and
Speaker 1: they absolutely run with Andrew Whitworth out at left tackle.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen what that's done to the Bucks
Speaker 1: to lose your star tackle on the right side. Joe
Speaker 1: note Boom came in and I thought he did a
Speaker 1: good job. I mean it's like that could have unspooled,
Speaker 1: got some theos. I didn't see much of a shack
Speaker 1: Barrett or or JPP. This team will not be the
Speaker 1: same next year. That's the thing they tried to do.
Speaker 1: They brought everyone back. That's not you know that the
Speaker 1: look they got to this point they were in a
Speaker 1: good position. But everyone's not gonna be back next year. JPP.
Speaker 1: For one, it will be one of those people. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you the first person. Yeah, I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: first person out the door of Tom Brady leaves Bruce Arians.
Speaker 1: He's not on board with Like now, Arian said he's back,
Speaker 1: But there was there was talk also in the in
Speaker 1: the media that if they could make it to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl that he would be out to um. But
Speaker 1: he was very quick in definitive saying he was back
Speaker 1: because I think he knows there's he can't have any
Speaker 1: equivocation there or else. Brad. They also have about five
Speaker 1: million in effective cap space. So we'll see. All right,
Speaker 1: so the Buccaneers are dead, long lived the Buccaneers. There
Speaker 1: will be a new Super Bowl champion. Let's find out
Speaker 1: the Rams opponent. Maybe you don't know, maybe you don't,
Speaker 1: and now you'll find out. Well, maybe they missed that.
Speaker 1: How about this, how about bleep out the team that
Speaker 1: I mentioned. Erica's a great idea. What I mean there
Speaker 1: might be one person listening that is on the edge
Speaker 1: of their seats. Anything in the description. Why is the
Speaker 1: response in no way because if he really out of hand,
Speaker 1: just I won't do it for you. The description is different.
Speaker 1: Most people don't know that you can avoid the description
Speaker 1: or put how about this, if where you were going
Speaker 1: to mention that team in the description six X is
Speaker 1: five xes, leave it a surprise for everyone. Okay, So
Speaker 1: then we get into an s c O situation there, right,
Speaker 1: because we're trying to drum up the you know, the clicks. Well,
Speaker 1: for the for the individual that did not watch the game,
Speaker 1: they probably aren't reading the description. They probably floated in
Speaker 1: audio wise, you're very well practice that beeping out things.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's very true. Be you obedient, and then
Speaker 1: when people get to this part of the show, it's
Speaker 1: always got to go there. Mike. I'm just saying, well,
Speaker 1: I don't understand why the response is no way like
Speaker 1: I am allowed to suggest something and you might say
Speaker 1: that's a good idea. I'll think about it, at least
Speaker 1: I would if it was a good idea. Men uh
Speaker 1: wanting saying they love Tom Brady. First it was Zolac,
Speaker 1: I love Tom Brady, and now it's cour down gorgeous,
Speaker 1: gorgeous girls love Tom Brady. All right, let's get to
Speaker 1: another number one seed melk how as Bill I love
Speaker 1: you Tom. He got caught up in the moment. Cower
Speaker 1: Pepper Snap, it's a little high pulled on divers Shnowski.
Speaker 1: Robbie Gold has it away and it is good, good
Speaker 1: as gold. Robbie is. Robbie Gold has kicked the forty
Speaker 1: diners to victory here in Green Bay. Oh, the bongos,
Speaker 1: you gotta can you supplement the bongos with some you
Speaker 1: know who I'm looking for? Pheely good as gold, Robby
Speaker 1: Is I just hit it, hit it like five times
Speaker 1: in a row. Now, be obedient, obedius with this all right? Ready, No,
Speaker 1: Robbie Gold got his gold. He is. Gold makes a
Speaker 1: forty five yard field goal Saturday night time expires. The
Speaker 1: Niners knock off the top seeded Packers thirteen ten. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is the forty Niners listener X who will meet
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Rams and SOFI Stadium for the right
Speaker 1: to play in Super Bowl fifty six right here at
Speaker 1: Sofi Stadium. Would that be weird if two years after
Speaker 1: never happening for fifty five years or whatever, two years
Speaker 1: in a row the team in the Super Bowl is
Speaker 1: playing in their own stadium. That could happen. That's in
Speaker 1: play now. It doesn't matter right now because we're talking
Speaker 1: about the Niners. Robbie Gold has made all twenty of
Speaker 1: his career playoff field goal tempts. Maybe he should be
Speaker 1: number one in McPherson number two type battle. I'll have
Speaker 1: to think about that. I'll get back to you on
Speaker 1: Thursday with the official rankings. Uh. The Niners continue to
Speaker 1: put a postseason curse on Aaron Rodgers. Uh. They have
Speaker 1: always had their way with him. And for the Packers,
Speaker 1: Greg this is a lot more disaployment. We'll get to them.
Speaker 1: But the Niners is a gritty win by a team
Speaker 1: that just finds a way. I feel like such a
Speaker 1: company man. But how how great is the NFL that
Speaker 1: you can have these two classic games and I consider
Speaker 1: this a classic game, and one is forty six in
Speaker 1: overtime and one is thirteen to ten in the snow
Speaker 1: in the same categories. Different Certainly the execution and like
Speaker 1: the level of football is not the same. But in
Speaker 1: terms of it being a memorable football moment that was
Speaker 1: so tense throughout the game, that had an explosive uh
Speaker 1: ending and had me riveted and had great plays. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: the one player I'll remember forever is that Deebo Samuel
Speaker 1: third and seven run one oh three left such a
Speaker 1: fascinating moment. I think for a coach, the Packers had
Speaker 1: no time outs, and I just thought they kind of
Speaker 1: have to run it here. As much as I'm like
Speaker 1: the stay aggressive guy was like, you kind of have
Speaker 1: to run it here. You can't give Rogers the time
Speaker 1: and you've got to try to run it twice and
Speaker 1: see what happens that. That's who you are. You're the
Speaker 1: forty Niners, and worst case scenario, you you bring the
Speaker 1: clock down and you don't let the Packers get the ball.
Speaker 1: They they line up and shotgun to spread them out.
Speaker 1: They get used check running all the way across the
Speaker 1: plate to check it out even more. They pull their
Speaker 1: guard and then they give the ball the Deebo Samuel,
Speaker 1: a wide receiver who only had eighty three yards in
Speaker 1: this game, but was like, it's like the most impactful
Speaker 1: eighty three yards plus that kick return you will ever see,
Speaker 1: and it's what the forty niners are all about. You
Speaker 1: have Juwan Jennings, a wide receiver blocking out there, you
Speaker 1: have Kiddle blocking out there, and then you have Deebo
Speaker 1: who has two guys pretty much unblocked that he has
Speaker 1: to beat, and he like dead legs Gay Alexander who
Speaker 1: came back for this game last couple of weeks and
Speaker 1: just kind of puts a move on him, breaks the tackle,
Speaker 1: gets the first down. It was a perfect play call
Speaker 1: of like doing what your best that your best player.
Speaker 1: They convert it and Gold gets it done a few
Speaker 1: plays later. It was an awesome way to end. I
Speaker 1: love that you paired it with the Chiefs and Bills
Speaker 1: game because I think if you were to like double
Speaker 1: bill football games like you do movies, it was such
Speaker 1: a different type of game, and you know, watching this
Speaker 1: with my kids a little bit too, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: special teams for certain teams, if you can if you
Speaker 1: can make that and maximize that, That's what the Niners did.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was the that Deebo sam of the
Speaker 1: fact that he was playing injured at that point that
Speaker 1: it was snowing that it was the Niners against this
Speaker 1: this matchup. To me, I enjoyed watching this so thoroughly,
Speaker 1: and there was a moment in this that I thought
Speaker 1: showed that gave the Niners total hope before halftime because
Speaker 1: Jimmy Ward blocks the field goal. Before that, he had
Speaker 1: allowed Aaron Jones to have the seventy five yard catch
Speaker 1: and run the blown coverage that that really put them
Speaker 1: into a hole. Then the field goal is blocked by
Speaker 1: Jimmy Ward right before halftime, because if you look at
Speaker 1: the way Green Bay came out on that first drive,
Speaker 1: I thought this thing was going to be curtains for
Speaker 1: San Francisco. Instead they start to put the muzzle over
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and the green Bay offense. You go into
Speaker 1: halftime off that special teams play with a completely different mindset,
Speaker 1: feeling like we're the more resilient team. This reminds us
Speaker 1: of so many of our different wins. We trust that
Speaker 1: Shanahan's gonna get out of get us out of this.
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers butt is tightening by the minute. The Packers
Speaker 1: are not here for the moment. And this is what
Speaker 1: Green Bay does every single January. They are misfits. They
Speaker 1: are absolute meltdown artists. And I I know I have
Speaker 1: I I know that a lot of listeners come at
Speaker 1: me from being hard being hard on the Packers. They
Speaker 1: are a regular season team that doesn't know how to close,
Speaker 1: and they were taken to town by a football team
Speaker 1: that played all three phases and did not let up.
Speaker 1: So we all phases, including well they played all three
Speaker 1: they executed two of them very well into this game,
Speaker 1: thinking this Packer, this team would be different, like we
Speaker 1: talked about it on the on the Network show on
Speaker 1: Saturday at this and yet they weren't. And I think,
Speaker 1: what for me? Um? When I think about this game
Speaker 1: and why I don't see it as necessarily a classic
Speaker 1: is when when a team, let's I think this game
Speaker 1: of the Packers lost more than the Niners won, and
Speaker 1: and that affects like when I think of like all
Speaker 1: time classic playoff games, and I you know, they go
Speaker 1: right down the field, they score a touchdown, they get
Speaker 1: the ball back in a sneaky underrated play in this
Speaker 1: game is Marcedes Lewis fumbles on the second possession where
Speaker 1: they're marching again. To be absolutely but from that point
Speaker 1: on and everyone's gonna be dwelling on the special teams.
Speaker 1: And I get that because not only did the field
Speaker 1: goal get blocked thirty nine yard or at the end
Speaker 1: of the first half that would have put him up
Speaker 1: ten nothing, they then allow a forty five yard kickoff
Speaker 1: return on the first play of the second half, and
Speaker 1: then of course the block punt and touchdown return and
Speaker 1: heard around the world of four or forty one remaining.
Speaker 1: But the thing with Aaron Rodgers and the thing with
Speaker 1: the Packers this year was this was a special offense
Speaker 1: that was supposed to rise through the occasion. And I
Speaker 1: think starting with that Marcedes Lewis fumble, they got tighter
Speaker 1: and tighter and tighter and tighter. And think about the
Speaker 1: two possessions for the Packers, that sandwich, that block punt.
Speaker 1: It was a three and out and a three and out.
Speaker 1: Like Rodgers needs to wear this loss as much as
Speaker 1: anyone else because he's the guy that's going to get
Speaker 1: the m v P Trophy, and he came up very small,
Speaker 1: as did the rest of the team. I hated the scheme.
Speaker 1: Like we were talking about or I was talking about
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard, barely gets targeted in this game. All it
Speaker 1: was Aaron Jones and it was Davante Adams attempts to
Speaker 1: those two And at the end I did a sky
Speaker 1: Sports hit at the end of the third quarter and
Speaker 1: they had not yet targeted a wide receiver other than
Speaker 1: Davante Adams targeted. And so what happened? Why did that?
Speaker 1: Now you gotta give credit to San Francisco, of course,
Speaker 1: but what happened with this team? How did they get tight?
Speaker 1: That goes to the head coach as well. I think
Speaker 1: that the weather is a helpful equalizer. I think the
Speaker 1: forty Niners pass rush was awesome. Bosa with five pressures,
Speaker 1: two sacks, Armstead with four pressures two sacks. If you
Speaker 1: think about those special teams gaffs, what happened right before
Speaker 1: both of them sacks in the red zone. Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: had twenty six seconds left in the first half when
Speaker 1: he took that sack, and and those were quick sacks.
Speaker 1: Those were not sacks I really put on Rogers. Those
Speaker 1: were sacks where the old line kind of collapsed and
Speaker 1: they got to him almost right away. Uh, the one
Speaker 1: before half of him. They had a lot of time
Speaker 1: there to go try to score, but instead they sacked him.
Speaker 1: And then they just had to spike it and do
Speaker 1: the kick and the same thing with the block punt.
Speaker 1: You're you're buried deep. Uh. There he he makes a
Speaker 1: mistake on second down. Uh, and he gets sacked on
Speaker 1: third down. So it was they moved their entire offensive around.
Speaker 1: Billy Turner came back, but Bakari didn't. And Billy Turner
Speaker 1: is another starter who's been out for a while, and
Speaker 1: they decided to put him at left tackle. They got
Speaker 1: rid of our guy, Yoshi. I forget what his name is.
Speaker 1: I call him Yoshi. Uh. And then they moved they
Speaker 1: like moved the guards from anyone. What is his name? Yoshi?
Speaker 1: Our guy. He's one of my favorite names in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I should know his name. He's he's been there left
Speaker 1: tackle for the last few weeks with Turner. Anyways, they
Speaker 1: reshuffled their entire offensive line and that seemed to cause
Speaker 1: some sort of communication, and uh, it was maybe a
Speaker 1: decision that La Fleur regrets, and certainly they were bringing
Speaker 1: it up during the broadcast that maybe it might be
Speaker 1: something they regret that they moved around three or four positions.
Speaker 1: Yoshi Ni, I mean this they overcame, you know what,
Speaker 1: was pretty stagnant, obviously and mistake prone Niner's offense. I
Speaker 1: mean Jimmy G with seven minut it's left in the
Speaker 1: third quarter, had six completions that traveled twenty one yards downfield.
Speaker 1: They overcame a terrible interception by Jimmy Jr. The goal
Speaker 1: line that set up that Aaron Rohns Aaron Jones catch
Speaker 1: and run. There were a lot of risky throws by
Speaker 1: Jimmy G. There were a lot of drops. It was.
Speaker 1: It was not a good effort. I kind of thought
Speaker 1: the Niners would tell us who they were by their
Speaker 1: first driver too, with their scripted drives. They wanted to
Speaker 1: run the ball forty times. They were total duds. I thought,
Speaker 1: maybe this is the game where the journey is over
Speaker 1: for this team. They're not Texas, I recall, I mean
Speaker 1: that's what I thought. I said on our network show
Speaker 1: that I wanted to see what happened on the first drive.
Speaker 1: It couldn't have been worse. I just couldn't be more
Speaker 1: impressed with the way they worked the way out of this.
Speaker 1: I do think the weather, to your point, Greg, changed
Speaker 1: it for both teams. And I'm sure we'll get a
Speaker 1: bunch of thinks that doesn't it hurt the team that's
Speaker 1: better at passing. It absolutely was zero degrees there, but
Speaker 1: it's like it's at Lambeau and they were eight no, right,
Speaker 1: and the Kyle Sannan said like, we'll be happy to
Speaker 1: be playing somewhere warm next week. But I think it
Speaker 1: helped them. They were built more for it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I although that said, I mean they've had probably sixteen
Speaker 1: better offensive performances this season. So I'm not sure, but
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, you know, I take the trade off
Speaker 1: because I think it just made it tougher for the receiver.
Speaker 1: Just put the Packers in the dome at this point
Speaker 1: because Lambeau maybe isn't an advantage for Green Bay in
Speaker 1: the situation. Keep melting down in this, but what do
Speaker 1: they texted me that they're like seven and seven? I
Speaker 1: think that was me, Greg did it? I think I
Speaker 1: think it was me. I said that, But we're doing
Speaker 1: these games like eight hundred texts Happenny, where you're trying
Speaker 1: to watch the game. Please. I feel really bad too
Speaker 1: about yoscause because like Yoshi just reminds you of Mario Kart,
Speaker 1: and like this man though deserves He's not Yoshi, says Yoshi,
Speaker 1: so he deserves. What happened the back by the way,
Speaker 1: that was? That was That was one of the more
Speaker 1: the dumb subplots we've had to deal with for the
Speaker 1: past yea. They went in attend and then vanished. Well,
Speaker 1: he clearly didn't, you know, he tried to return it,
Speaker 1: clearly his body. Many mistakes were made by the packers,
Speaker 1: obviously in execution on Saturday night, but was bringing in
Speaker 1: back the r back in week eighteen for a tune
Speaker 1: up for a game he didn't even make two weeks later.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's something privately that they botched as well.
Speaker 1: I get why they did that though, because we were asking, oh,
Speaker 1: will the chemistry be there when they put all of
Speaker 1: them into the Rogers said, I was so happy to
Speaker 1: like play with those two guys with wells who did
Speaker 1: who did play in this game? The center I do
Speaker 1: want to talk about like the Rogers missed though, so
Speaker 1: the way it ended was crazy in terms of their
Speaker 1: last possession. I misspoke before I was mixing up the drives.
Speaker 1: His last throw of the game was that deep shot
Speaker 1: to Davante Adams where once they got the coaches tape out,
Speaker 1: today he has Lazard breaking open on a pretty clear read.
Speaker 1: It's tough for like dorks like us to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: you should have thrown it there, but this is one
Speaker 1: and and smarter people than me have broken it down
Speaker 1: where it's like, okay, if the safety goes here, then
Speaker 1: then you get the crosser here and Lazard is wide open.
Speaker 1: And instead he clearly kind of made the decision I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna give give Davante Adams a chance, and he
Speaker 1: just hucked it up and it's like totally not what
Speaker 1: he has done the entire season. And it was very
Speaker 1: far ving and it was very far against the Giants
Speaker 1: where he just started like chucking the balls. This is
Speaker 1: something that now needs to be talked about. This is
Speaker 1: this is a big that that was a big legacy
Speaker 1: game for Rogers. The resume is stacking up. Now what's
Speaker 1: happening in these January games and to see what he
Speaker 1: did yesterday, and again you're right right, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of past protection issues, but when he was as
Speaker 1: dominant as he was for most like of this season,
Speaker 1: including untouchable in the last seven weeks, and then to
Speaker 1: fail to move the team when the when the season
Speaker 1: was on the line, then you watch what happened today, Arrowhead.
Speaker 1: It's pretty cool there too, by the way, and you
Speaker 1: see Josh Allen and Patrick go Homes just going at
Speaker 1: each other back and forth, brilliant artists at the peak
Speaker 1: of their game. It makes me think differently about Rogers
Speaker 1: after this particular game. He's still a legendary player. He's
Speaker 1: still probably worthy of being the m v P this year,
Speaker 1: but that you can no longer look the other way
Speaker 1: with this January stuff. I tried to look the other
Speaker 1: way at Mark and it cost me. In the lock game.
Speaker 1: I had a chance to win the title out right
Speaker 1: and I lost it. And I now he lost it
Speaker 1: for you. He certainly did. And I will tell you what.
Speaker 1: I now have to pull like at the break glass,
Speaker 1: and I have to flip the emergency switches. Ride or
Speaker 1: die with mahomes Well. This is riding or die with
Speaker 1: momes Well. I I I won't be afraid to confront
Speaker 1: you again. I'll i'll, you know, consult my own internal strategy.
Speaker 1: But I'm not looking necessarily to tie here. Um, nor
Speaker 1: am I I feel the same. I mean, but there
Speaker 1: was there was a year that you caught me and tied,
Speaker 1: and like, I have to take that into consideration. But
Speaker 1: that was sort of a cheesy photo of both of us,
Speaker 1: like holding a trophy together. Now it's just absurd. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot to look ahead. But UM, I'm with
Speaker 1: you on one thing. I am not doing this again
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers. I will not. I am not. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think he is either. I don't think he
Speaker 1: is interested in a rebuild on any level. They are
Speaker 1: forty four million over the cap heading into the offseason.
Speaker 1: They got a lot of big questions. His comments after
Speaker 1: the game I thought were I mean tilted towards uh uh,
Speaker 1: not into it anymore. Really, So I we all agree
Speaker 1: that we think he's coming back at this point. I
Speaker 1: think he'll come back and retire in week six. Things
Speaker 1: are bad, but that's he's He's had some annoying, to
Speaker 1: put it mildly moments this year, and my least favorite
Speaker 1: was reading that entire ESPN article, like if you were
Speaker 1: trying to give Aaron Rodgers any benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 1: He drove me crazy in that article. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you read it. And so I like, like a
Speaker 1: lot of people apparently on Twitter, was was, you know,
Speaker 1: happy to see them lose on some level and and
Speaker 1: happy to yeah, say bye bye. But I watched the
Speaker 1: press conference. I thought he handled it pretty well. I
Speaker 1: don't think it it showed much either way he was
Speaker 1: he was trying to be fair. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: went into this game kind of assuming he would be
Speaker 1: back with with the Packers. He did say the good
Speaker 1: at Cunts relationships going well. I I think he wants
Speaker 1: to keep playing football. I think he would like when
Speaker 1: he went. I would have voted Brady, but when he
Speaker 1: wins the MVP, it's a regular season award. Uh. But
Speaker 1: he just played poorly this game. It wasn't just that
Speaker 1: unless he doesn't love the game. And the Packers aren't
Speaker 1: getting rid of him, like they have all the leverage,
Speaker 1: they have him under contract, They're not handing it over
Speaker 1: to Jordan's love like they're gonna give him some more money.
Speaker 1: I just don't see how it wouldn't work out that way.
Speaker 1: But to your point that he has to wear like
Speaker 1: he his location was off throughout the game. It was
Speaker 1: in the play before that Lazard miss he almost threw
Speaker 1: an intercept been trying to force it to Randall cop
Speaker 1: It was not It was not a good game. He
Speaker 1: didn't out play Jimmy G. Jimmy G who was not
Speaker 1: good in this game either, but he made as many
Speaker 1: plays as right, he made a couple of plays. I
Speaker 1: think statistically you look at the box score and it says, oh,
Speaker 1: Rogers outplayed him, but really, well, let's let's face it
Speaker 1: that Rogers was a massive disappointment. Rogers bombed out in
Speaker 1: this game. And he's the m v P. So like there,
Speaker 1: there's a higher bar that needs to be uh Met
Speaker 1: Garoppolo could easily throw a pick six or two in
Speaker 1: this game, but he didn't. And the Niners are moving on,
Speaker 1: and that is as annoying as to me the performances
Speaker 1: of the Packers. You just gotta give it to the Niners.
Speaker 1: And and think about now that they go to l
Speaker 1: A to face the Rams for a chance to go
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl, and they know they could beat
Speaker 1: the Rams, and that's gonna be an interesting game to
Speaker 1: watch how it all unfold. How about Shanny just kind
Speaker 1: of owning Matt Lafleur and owning Sean McVeigh. I thought
Speaker 1: they were they had split their mass ups before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it's that I was thinking, Um, well, next week
Speaker 1: could change everything about all that business. Well, they he's
Speaker 1: owned Sean McVeigh. You know, they've won what sixth straight? Uh,
Speaker 1: and they they've certainly maybe it's the forty Niners that
Speaker 1: have owned Aaron Rodgers after passing on him in the draft.
Speaker 1: You know, he's never beating him in the playoffs in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But I've noticed that Shanny is coming for
Speaker 1: la Fleur's beard. You know, fre is known for this,
Speaker 1: and it's almost thin to the point of silly. Now
Speaker 1: Lafleur and Shanahan's beard has never looked better, never more groomed.
Speaker 1: He outbearded the bearded boy, and he went to, well,
Speaker 1: one is it. One is a boy. So that's the
Speaker 1: that's that's the beginning. Hard when you're a boy, it's hard,
Speaker 1: all Right's spinning forward Sunday, January two two And by
Speaker 1: the way, you don't have to worry about anything. COVID
Speaker 1: related COVID has been cured in the NFL. We're done
Speaker 1: with that now all. Now we just need Fauci to
Speaker 1: connect with certain figures in the NFL and the rest
Speaker 1: of the world will be fine as well. So just
Speaker 1: given everybody heads up on that, isn't it crazy? That?
Speaker 1: And I'm happy obviously, and we all should be happy
Speaker 1: that we just went through this entire weekend of playoff
Speaker 1: football and it wasn't even on the radar, like whether
Speaker 1: you think that's good or bad or right or wrong.
Speaker 1: From where we were in December where it looked like
Speaker 1: the season was about to go under. Do you get
Speaker 1: to this place? And it didn't even come up. Really,
Speaker 1: it has to do with something green with the face
Speaker 1: of presidents on it, and uh, there the machine will
Speaker 1: not be Usually I would say that, but I think
Speaker 1: there's some other No, you're I'm wrong. The league is
Speaker 1: very pure and uh that's you know, that's there, that's
Speaker 1: how they'll perceive. No, I think there might be some
Speaker 1: things going on here where we might see society start
Speaker 1: to follow a path that the NFL is on. Not
Speaker 1: that the NFL started this, but it's also died down.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like my kids school. There were six
Speaker 1: people in it two weeks ago, and there's eight ten,
Speaker 1: you know, in Ellis's class. So there's six in it
Speaker 1: two weeks ago and there's eighteen in it now. Right now,
Speaker 1: there's just the general idea that there's we might be
Speaker 1: reaching a stage where society is just like, we gotta
Speaker 1: live with this. We lost, We're taking the l you
Speaker 1: can't do this, you can't do this business all next season.
Speaker 1: And they don't intend to dying down. It's well, you
Speaker 1: said I was going to die down after the I'm
Speaker 1: just saying this wave. It's clearly on the recess was
Speaker 1: what was It's going to be fine by June? That
Speaker 1: was you know, into whatever. It wasn't as bad as
Speaker 1: the like the first weekend of it. Erica on our
Speaker 1: Network show's final thought was everyone should go out and
Speaker 1: oh my god, I forgot live your life. Ordering the
Speaker 1: people together to to breathe into each other together. I said,
Speaker 1: safely outside in blocks are good for your mental hall
Speaker 1: like they Even the NFL just announced that they are
Speaker 1: not testing unvaccinated players anymore if they're you know, unless
Speaker 1: they're showing real symptoms, symptoms like it is. So many
Speaker 1: players self reported for those couple of weeks too, but
Speaker 1: I think, well, unless they're on your favorite team, But
Speaker 1: like that kind of went out the window. I feel
Speaker 1: like once the player, once the playoffs started, in terms
Speaker 1: of like you were leaving it up to the players
Speaker 1: to self report. They did that in the regular season,
Speaker 1: and they're not like Deepo Samuels, like I have a
Speaker 1: small cough you next season, like, no, shut up, you
Speaker 1: will say nothing if you will play for sixty minutes.
Speaker 1: They missed a j Dillon in that game. That was
Speaker 1: a big well, that is a nuclear level loss for
Speaker 1: the Packers. I really thought, I'm gonna tell you something
Speaker 1: right now. If Rogers comes back and of sports writers
Speaker 1: picked in to win in the NFC, I'm out of here.
Speaker 1: This was coming to work for Home and Guarden magazine.
Speaker 1: You know, I think you like Rogers. You locked them up.
Speaker 1: I think you got to recognize this was a classic
Speaker 1: different not at the same level, but also very memorable. No,
Speaker 1: I will remember the Packers gagging and collapsing into puddle
Speaker 1: their own peace. Was it exciting? Like the block punt
Speaker 1: was an exciting play. I'm not saying it wasn't Like
Speaker 1: I like fun low scoring games. Too. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: the Packers utterly collapsing and pooping themselves on Saturday night
Speaker 1: was a highly disappointing outcome for a team that here,
Speaker 1: this is what it's about for me, especially like, for instance,
Speaker 1: I item number one of the power rankings. Well, listen,
Speaker 1: let me explain. When you watched all the games and
Speaker 1: you get invested in the themes of a season and
Speaker 1: how how teams respond to certain things and how a
Speaker 1: quarterback plays, and they everything's pointing to this is a
Speaker 1: big time, real deal team. And then people say, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but sometimes in January and sometimes and then I'm like
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, well, I've watched every snap of
Speaker 1: this team, and I've watched the way this quarterback is playing,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to lean on everything that's happened this
Speaker 1: year to inform how this weekend goes. And then a
Speaker 1: totally different team shows up. That's annoying. That's a lot
Speaker 1: magical way to approach exercise as such as power rankings.
Speaker 1: I'm totally with you, but the clock has struck midnight
Speaker 1: on Green Bay, not just sometimes every single year since
Speaker 1: two Aaron Rodgers, but one Super Bowl. You said in
Speaker 1: clear terms that you think this team is different also
Speaker 1: than right, But I the Niners to win. I picked
Speaker 1: the Niners to win the game. I didn't think this
Speaker 1: was what do you mean? I was different than the
Speaker 1: past times for weeks and weeks. I do think that
Speaker 1: they they're not the same Packers team where the defense
Speaker 1: under Dom Capers with his fake hair flying in the wind,
Speaker 1: is going to totally collapse. That. I do think they
Speaker 1: were built differently. But I did not think they were
Speaker 1: going to win this game. I picked the Niners. There's
Speaker 1: not I didn't say to things. I picked the Niners too,
Speaker 1: partly because I just thought it was fun and I
Speaker 1: thought they'd cover, and because it started raining along with
Speaker 1: that snow that's right, freezing rain. Oh yeah, Baker for
Speaker 1: the year, you're going are more annoying than Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: are talking about quitting. Just don't do it or do it?
Speaker 1: That's fair. Uh. I didn't think it was like a
Speaker 1: mismatch though. To me, these teams were pretty close to
Speaker 1: even over the course of the season. I know that
Speaker 1: seems crazy, but over the course of like the last
Speaker 1: nine or ten games. And that's the thing about the NFL.
Speaker 1: We we invest so much time, especially us because we're
Speaker 1: working in it into it all being like this build
Speaker 1: up and it's like your resume and here's what you did.
Speaker 1: But it's just like one game. And these two teams personally,
Speaker 1: I don't think we're too even. I think the forty
Speaker 1: Niners have a lot going for them other than the quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, other than the two quarterbacks. I think the
Speaker 1: forty Niners are legitimately a better team. They get into
Speaker 1: teams heads. When we picked the game, I said, well,
Speaker 1: ultimately Aaron Rodgers Jimmy Garoppolo. That's unless unless Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: p's down his leg in a huge spy in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and an m v P shouldn't do that. He's not
Speaker 1: special and special teams. Was a seven point difference and
Speaker 1: they won by three because they blocked the field goal,
Speaker 1: they get the touchdown, they also get the return. You
Speaker 1: know who's piste off it? And right you think like
Speaker 1: we are whatever you are, like, you know who's pissed
Speaker 1: is Rashaan Gary and Kenny Clark and that defense who
Speaker 1: gave up six points. They get up six points in
Speaker 1: a playoff game and they lost. And that's why I
Speaker 1: wouldn't I wouldn't like I wouldn't like the Niners next week,
Speaker 1: but then again, they find a way and the Rams
Speaker 1: are showing they are not really good at stepping on throats,
Speaker 1: so that's But if you take out the Rams three
Speaker 1: times in one season, this feels like a different Rams
Speaker 1: team to me than the one that got thumped by
Speaker 1: the Niners on primetime. It just does. It's yeah, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: well all right, so the Bengals are still in the
Speaker 1: west of his time slot. Even though they're in the
Speaker 1: a f C Championship game. They're the noon window. They
Speaker 1: do not before the season starts, so that doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like a slight Well, it happened three weeks in a row.
Speaker 1: That's all I can tell you. A CBS that's that's
Speaker 1: Romo and Nance Bengals Chiefs. Three o'clock from gee Field
Speaker 1: at Arrowhead Stadium. I don't recognize that it's Arrowhead and
Speaker 1: then three thirty uh Pacific, six thirty eastern next door?
Speaker 1: Should we go Niners? Rams? Should we try to go?
Speaker 1: Should we ask for press? Press passes? Here? Danny, I
Speaker 1: would like to go to a Okay, I've never We've
Speaker 1: been lucky enough to go to many Super Bowls. I've
Speaker 1: never been to a conference championship. Do you guys include
Speaker 1: me on the credentials email or we will? I don't
Speaker 1: know you Usually that's actually the producer's job. So well,
Speaker 1: you did it without me even knowing last time. Maybe
Speaker 1: if you if you follow my suggestion on a couple
Speaker 1: you know, Okay, Mark, I'll go back and bleep a
Speaker 1: score that you gave that happened from a game from yesterday.
Speaker 1: Someone listen to it on Monday. I've been to two.
Speaker 1: I saw the Patriots drop a bomb on Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: Steelers and I saw Case Keenum get waxed by the Eagles.
Speaker 1: Neither one was competitive. I hope this game is a
Speaker 1: little more competitive. All right, m hmm, get a better game?
Speaker 1: What was that? What is it? You didn't get the
Speaker 1: good as Gold Robbie is? Of course, why would you?
Speaker 1: Why the incomplete drop there just to his gold. That's that,
Speaker 1: That's what made it really sing Good as Gold Robbie is. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the podcasting. We'll be back on Tuesday. Uh. Connie
Speaker 1: Fox will be joining us. We'll get her back uh
Speaker 1: in the virtual studio, so I'll be nice and then
Speaker 1: um Thursday, the Big preview of the Championship Sunday, Saturday morning,
Speaker 1: the NFL Network program, and we go on and on
Speaker 1: and on anything else, poise not a word. All right,
Speaker 1: let's go. Everybody, enjoy your week. I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 1: the football legendary weekend of action until Tuesday. I know
Speaker 1: you gotta do. He's a coll