Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast as it missed the playoffs
Speaker 1: in over ten years. Iron Men from the Chris Westling
Speaker 1: podcast studio. It's around the NFL. If you if I
Speaker 1: sound intense, if I sound especially focused, it's because it's
Speaker 1: the divisional playoffs. Recap app Dan hanss Gregg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: Let's go. So we talk about that this is the
Speaker 1: show about football, but with just a little bit of mirth.
Speaker 1: That's the touch. No mirth today, It's all football. This
Speaker 1: is serious. That's the way Gregor, like said, could take
Speaker 1: the mirth part out, take anything having to not do
Speaker 1: with football out of the show, cornels into data analytics.
Speaker 1: Should he have gone for it? Should he have punted?
Speaker 1: That's what I want to talk about for the next
Speaker 1: forty four minutes. We we actually need a little like
Speaker 1: extra mirth because there weren't quite as many crazy game
Speaker 1: situations as a normal division around. Speaking as a spoiled
Speaker 1: little football baby here as we um not a NEPO
Speaker 1: baby though, as we hyped up heading into the weekend,
Speaker 1: this is traditionally the best weekend of football, and we
Speaker 1: saw they were exciting kind of outcomes that came out
Speaker 1: of this let's say, for instance, we're gonna get to
Speaker 1: it in just a minute, Joe Burrow looking like a
Speaker 1: man possessed with one goal in mind that he will
Speaker 1: not be stopped, the Niners defense flexing on a you know,
Speaker 1: after all the offensive flexing in recent weeks, Like we
Speaker 1: have four big time Super Bowl worthy teams playing next weekend.
Speaker 1: But to Greg's point, Mark, maybe the games at not
Speaker 1: at the level we expected suspense wise. I I don't
Speaker 1: always mean to come against like the you're the two
Speaker 1: of you's opinion on things, but it's like, I don't
Speaker 1: need these games to be the I don't need it
Speaker 1: to the best we can because what I like about
Speaker 1: it is the four best teams won absolutely. And there's
Speaker 1: been a couple a f C NFC title game scenarios
Speaker 1: that have been a little flaky over the years because
Speaker 1: someone surged into the place where they didn't totally belong.
Speaker 1: I think these four teams completely belong. I thought Niners
Speaker 1: Cowboys was an incredible my kind of game, and I
Speaker 1: kind of like seeing a team like the Bengals just
Speaker 1: drop the hammer they did and basically announced who they are.
Speaker 1: I mean, So there's different ways to evaluate it as
Speaker 1: a quality or non quality product. We didn't We didn't
Speaker 1: know that you really like that last game because you
Speaker 1: didn't watch it with us. We were in the theater,
Speaker 1: just me and Greggy. I'm sorry to missing it, Absolutely
Speaker 1: excited about we kept. I find that the way to
Speaker 1: keep the show the freshest to come in out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: Now and speaking. It's true because if when he's in
Speaker 1: the film room so many Mark takes, it's just spoke.
Speaker 1: It's more that I'm hearing everyone else's takes the entire time,
Speaker 1: so I've not had to I'm coming in completely fresh.
Speaker 1: All right. Well that's another way to look at it.
Speaker 1: And now we're going to dig into all the games,
Speaker 1: and why don't we start with what I think was
Speaker 1: even though it didn't end as like a barn burner,
Speaker 1: what felt like the most important game of the week,
Speaker 1: the one that everyone had circle Bengals bills from Orchard Park.
Speaker 1: Let's go shotgun staff short dropped by Burrow, the pressure
Speaker 1: comes from the left. He throw come on, Chase straight
Speaker 1: ahead into the end zone. I touchdown on the opening
Speaker 1: drive for Cincinnati. Twenty eight yard throw. Chase reached up
Speaker 1: at the eight, caught it, and Ray straight ahead into
Speaker 1: the end zone. So why would we pick the first
Speaker 1: real highlight of the game, the first touchdown, because that
Speaker 1: kind of was the game. The Cincinnati Bengals went to
Speaker 1: Buffalo and made the Bills look like a middling outfit
Speaker 1: to ten win. Joe Burrow connected three touchdown passes and
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati defense give it up for Captain lou who
Speaker 1: should be getting head coach in or but he's not.
Speaker 1: Absolutely made life hell for Josh Allen and company and
Speaker 1: Greggy at Cincinnati. Back to the a f C title game,
Speaker 1: marks your point at the top of the show. Last
Speaker 1: year it was Cincinnati. They were the team that stormed
Speaker 1: the gates and showed up Championship weekend and then won
Speaker 1: a game in Championship Weekend. Uh. This time it's a
Speaker 1: different field, Sincinni. They feel like a powerhouse, Greggy that
Speaker 1: is now cresting and becoming a league superpower. As that
Speaker 1: game we're on and it became obvious the Bills were
Speaker 1: not going to make that comeback, I just thought, like,
Speaker 1: what a long way we are from west of this
Speaker 1: the early morning slot where our friend Chris Wesleyan would
Speaker 1: route on his old team to lose because he just
Speaker 1: knew what was gonna happen in a painful way. To
Speaker 1: this team, which is now put together five playoff wins
Speaker 1: in the last two years, that you have ultra confidence
Speaker 1: that they're not only going to rise to the level
Speaker 1: of the moment, but that they're coaching staff will too.
Speaker 1: I mean, put me in a polo show for my
Speaker 1: analysis on Zach Taylor over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: because I think this team won the game in the
Speaker 1: first quarter to your point, a hundred sixty five yards
Speaker 1: to eight. That touchdown to Chase was Burrow stepping up
Speaker 1: in the pocket. The next touchdown, all the attention goes
Speaker 1: to Chase in the red zone where they fake it
Speaker 1: to him. It's an easy past to hers. They're just
Speaker 1: throwing every formation, it's motion, it's running out of pass
Speaker 1: sets and the reverse. It's just a clinic and they're
Speaker 1: clearly uh the class of these two teams. I think
Speaker 1: they would have beat him a few weeks ago. We
Speaker 1: never got to find out, and they were set to
Speaker 1: prove it today. I thought that too. I thought this
Speaker 1: was the game we didn't get to see because that
Speaker 1: started out very simply because the Bengals are one of
Speaker 1: the best opening drive teams in the entire league. And
Speaker 1: I think that the coaching staff has grown because a
Speaker 1: year ago they had their online issues, uh and they
Speaker 1: couldn't adjust, and it was like Burrow saved them. Situation
Speaker 1: up to situation, they have them all over again. You've
Speaker 1: got Jackson Carmen to turn twenty three today, first start
Speaker 1: ever left tackle. You've got Max Slurp sharpening in there
Speaker 1: and a chemodentity and then Ted Harris is playing banged
Speaker 1: up the entire time. We went into this game thinking
Speaker 1: all week long, that's the Achilles heel, this might undo
Speaker 1: the Bengals entirely. Instead, coming out of this game, the
Speaker 1: Bills were pushed around entirely on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: The Bengals, I thought, finally on the ground. I mean,
Speaker 1: they've been a fishing on the ground, but they were
Speaker 1: powerful on the ground as this thing went along. Their secondary,
Speaker 1: the Bill secondary, because of all this, I thought, played
Speaker 1: one of the injuries. But they played one of the
Speaker 1: worst games in a long time. Because you set up,
Speaker 1: you set up Burl for the shots down field. Jamaar
Speaker 1: Chase was brilliant and in the end, like I know,
Speaker 1: the Bills they're at home they were presumed all year
Speaker 1: long to truly be the best team in the a
Speaker 1: f C, if not once or twice maybe taken over
Speaker 1: by Kansas City. They didn't show up. This is not
Speaker 1: a Bill's story, it's a Bengals one. Uh. And Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: I think is at the center of everything, including the
Speaker 1: line holding up so well. He plays a major role there.
Speaker 1: And and Cincinnati, you know, I think, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to the Bills and and what this loss means
Speaker 1: for them and where they are as an organization. But
Speaker 1: for Cincinnati after coming some close, so close to winning
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl last year, now to get back now
Speaker 1: to the a f C title game, and the level
Speaker 1: of confidence that this team plays with wherever they are,
Speaker 1: whoever they're against, is a direct reflection of the guy
Speaker 1: behind center, who is one of one and I think
Speaker 1: a generational talent and a guy that I just don't
Speaker 1: picture losing a game this year. After the game, you
Speaker 1: want to talk about different motivations, what teams use. They
Speaker 1: weren't happy after the Damar Hamlin episode about how things
Speaker 1: worked out with the Ravens and the coin toss hoacum
Speaker 1: and then not even being in the in the mix
Speaker 1: and the discussion about where, you know, how things shake out.
Speaker 1: If there's an a f C title game like they're
Speaker 1: gonna be in Kansas City, it would have been a
Speaker 1: neutral site game if it was Casey Buffalo, like everyone presumed,
Speaker 1: and I think they've used that as motivation. Here is
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow after the game talking to CBS about that
Speaker 1: very topic. For everyone talking about a neutral AFC championship game,
Speaker 1: not even thinking about you, guys, how much did that
Speaker 1: motivate you coming into this? You better send those refunds.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's just I mean, the whole team feeds
Speaker 1: off that guy. Uh. He's pretty special. The accuracy was
Speaker 1: so good, and you're right that he makes that line
Speaker 1: look better. I think the snow helped. I think the
Speaker 1: snow not that the Bengals wouldn't have won this game,
Speaker 1: probably going away either way, but I just think it
Speaker 1: it's harder to rush the passer. But then you look
Speaker 1: at the other side, and the Bengals had a better
Speaker 1: pass rush, uh than Buffalo did. Their offensive line in
Speaker 1: Buffalo was certainly worse in terms of their run blocking
Speaker 1: and their pass blocking, and it's Burrows decision making and
Speaker 1: figuring it all out. That's different between him and Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: and people want to go right into like, well, you
Speaker 1: gotta put Joe Burrow at number two. Now Allen's at
Speaker 1: number three, Like who cares in this game? Like Burrow
Speaker 1: was clearly superior. And part of it is when the
Speaker 1: bills are in that too, safety look employers back there.
Speaker 1: He's had a couple of bad games. He was very
Speaker 1: willing and able to find the open receivers quickly and
Speaker 1: when he saw one safety back there, or he checked
Speaker 1: to the run play like all the decisions were just
Speaker 1: spot on, Like you're you're right there, not that, not
Speaker 1: that you're the only one to think that Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: is is this special. That's sort of sort of what
Speaker 1: I get to when I think about the difference between
Speaker 1: now and West of It. It's like they're the opposite
Speaker 1: of West of this their clutch, Like they're like team
Speaker 1: that you just expect is going to show up in
Speaker 1: the big moments. I mean, he opened nine for nine,
Speaker 1: He didn't really throw an off ball until I think
Speaker 1: it's a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter. Just
Speaker 1: to show up in this moment in a hostile environment
Speaker 1: with weather that can even everything and to be what
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow was today, It's like he is that guy.
Speaker 1: He's already arrived thirty thirty first downs in this game,
Speaker 1: and they would have had four more points if they
Speaker 1: had given Jamar Chase that touchdown. Is also that that
Speaker 1: was because how what are we? How are we actually
Speaker 1: overturning that? That was late in the first half, so
Speaker 1: it should have been really with Burrow having three touchdown
Speaker 1: pass for the first step, they didn't need the points anyway.
Speaker 1: And I don't want us to lose the big picture
Speaker 1: as well, because while the offense deserves credit uh and
Speaker 1: Burrow deserves credit, the defense held one of the top
Speaker 1: offenses in the league two season low ten points in
Speaker 1: their building, and Tony Romo, um uh you know calling
Speaker 1: this game, Uh he was. He was pointing out that
Speaker 1: this was really gonna at the conditions, The slick field
Speaker 1: was really gonna hurt Buffalo's defense and their ability to
Speaker 1: react and play the defense that they wanted to play,
Speaker 1: play a scheme they wanted. But that goes both ways.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like that disappeared when Buffalo had the ball,
Speaker 1: so Cincinnati had no problem shutting down Josh Allen and
Speaker 1: making the stops, and and I thought that was notable too,
Speaker 1: Like this is the second year in a row. UM.
Speaker 1: Even last year, if we want to say that now,
Speaker 1: the coaching staff deserves credit. Even last year they found
Speaker 1: a way to make the most of what they had
Speaker 1: and they nearly won the Super Bowl. This is this
Speaker 1: is a total team effort coaching staff. And I don't
Speaker 1: just I don't see how this team going forward against
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that they've really outplayed.
Speaker 1: They're underdogs barely to hear that starts to not matter
Speaker 1: to me at all, because it's just simply the Kansas
Speaker 1: City reputation and we're going to get to field. That's
Speaker 1: one of the three past meetings against Kansas City, including
Speaker 1: a game last month. This team is on fire and
Speaker 1: and now it's certain to the Bills. UM, because I
Speaker 1: want to share something I saw and reported after the game.
Speaker 1: You saw Stefan Diggs on the fourth quarter kind of
Speaker 1: shouting and he's an emotional guy, who've seen this before, UM,
Speaker 1: shouting at Josh Allen who kind of was just keeping
Speaker 1: his eyes on his iPad, UM, excuse me, his Microsoft
Speaker 1: Service tablet. Good joby on the bed and not even
Speaker 1: make a gin contact. Like I've been here before, I'm
Speaker 1: just not gonna I'm gonna shut him out right, shot
Speaker 1: him out right now. Um. It was reported after the
Speaker 1: game that Diggs was so upset he was spotted leaving
Speaker 1: the locker room with much of his uniform on shortly
Speaker 1: after the game ended, but had to be coaxed back
Speaker 1: into the locker room by a teammate. And that is
Speaker 1: pure frustration. After that, that's that is pure frustration for
Speaker 1: when you reach where the Bills reached last year, they
Speaker 1: were perfectly set up as the team that's a team
Speaker 1: on the rise, a juggernaut on the rise, that suffers
Speaker 1: a terrible loss where they play their hearts up and
Speaker 1: just barely get beat and then the next step has
Speaker 1: to be the super Bowl. And I think that weighed
Speaker 1: on this team throughout the season. And then you factor
Speaker 1: in the weird stuff with two games being affected by
Speaker 1: weather of course, of course Hamlin and everything that went
Speaker 1: on there, and there's no other way to look at it.
Speaker 1: This season is a big disappointment for Buffalo, and you
Speaker 1: get why the you know Diggs was and I'm sure
Speaker 1: many other players the way they were after it was over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and Josh Allen basically said, I don't care
Speaker 1: how anyone views that. It's a complete failure, because that
Speaker 1: you when you become one of these teams, like there's
Speaker 1: nothing to take away. You aren't the Jacksonville Jaguars dancing
Speaker 1: into the off season with a bunch of ribbons around
Speaker 1: your neck because of what, no what, no one thought
Speaker 1: you'd get here. That Bills have done less than we thought.
Speaker 1: And I find it kind of stunning the way they
Speaker 1: collapse today because it is uncharacteristic in many of the categories.
Speaker 1: I mean, if anyone said the score, I would have thought, well, finally,
Speaker 1: the Josh Allen turnovers probably caught them, caught up to them,
Speaker 1: cost them points and help Cincinnati with some short fields.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the issue at all. He wasn't great. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're big playoffense, downfield, completely dried up. It's always easy
Speaker 1: to focus on Burrow, Jamaar Chase, the offense, even the
Speaker 1: offensive line showing up when people thought that when it's
Speaker 1: this Bengals defense week after week they completely turned Buffalo
Speaker 1: into a nothing, nothing operation, nothing operation like that. Let's
Speaker 1: hear from Josh our goals to a super Bowl World
Speaker 1: Championship and we didn't accomplish that. So everything that happened
Speaker 1: the season is kind of no one void in our minds,
Speaker 1: and um, it sucks. It's the old Steinbrenner doctrine. Anything
Speaker 1: short of a championship is failure, and that's pretty crazy
Speaker 1: when it's the Bills we're talking about that have never
Speaker 1: won a Super Bowl. But that's kind of the position
Speaker 1: they're in. It's kind of a tough airspace to live in.
Speaker 1: I think that's a hard place to be it and
Speaker 1: it's why even at the time that moment a year ago,
Speaker 1: where all they have to do is have a seveteran
Speaker 1: defense led by Sean McDermott that he's built up for
Speaker 1: years get off the field in thirteen seconds. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think they would have won the Super Bowl. Will
Speaker 1: that will never know because that team was peaking. And
Speaker 1: to me, this doesn't change anything about how I feel
Speaker 1: about the Bills long term. I think they have certain
Speaker 1: decisions to make. I never thought that there were some
Speaker 1: overwhelming favorite this year. I thought they were one of
Speaker 1: about five teams that could win and I felt like
Speaker 1: their time though, because time runs out on this stuff.
Speaker 1: That's why but not now. It's not just automatically we
Speaker 1: ticket you as the best team in football all over again. Sure,
Speaker 1: but they as long as they have josh On in
Speaker 1: this coaching staff and in a good solid base, I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about them being one of the contenders. Losing
Speaker 1: Von Miller was massive for them, Losing Micah Hyde was massive.
Speaker 1: Their defense was more disappointing I think today, even than
Speaker 1: their offense. They could not get off the field. Like
Speaker 1: we talked about the offensive line thing. Three quarterback hits
Speaker 1: for them, whereas the Bengals had eight and um scoring
Speaker 1: ten with Alan. It is something McDermott complains about even
Speaker 1: when they win, is that they just don't have a
Speaker 1: running game. And they definitely did not have a running game,
Speaker 1: and I just think they were out coach. That's when
Speaker 1: I say when they have such a great coaching staff,
Speaker 1: both offense and defense. For Cincinnati, like changed up what
Speaker 1: they were doing like every drive, whether it was the
Speaker 1: disguise looks, whether it's blitzing and then not blitzing. It's
Speaker 1: just like kept mixing it up and the Bills never
Speaker 1: felt comfortable. Yeah, the bond Miller absence talked about it
Speaker 1: on Thursday, how that could really hurt them potentially, and
Speaker 1: the numbers they dropped a data point during the telecast
Speaker 1: that they were I think top five. I've and pass
Speaker 1: rush when he went out on Thanksgiving against the Lions
Speaker 1: and they dipped after he had left. In this game,
Speaker 1: they were dying for someone make a play, someone get
Speaker 1: to Burrow and and they just couldn't do it. And
Speaker 1: again that's a credit all sort of that offensive line
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati, which put together an effort that nobody expected,
Speaker 1: absolutely and they were dominant, you know, in in blasting
Speaker 1: open holes in the run game. But Buffalo, I thought
Speaker 1: early on looked kind of desperate to get that rush
Speaker 1: on Burrow and that open, wide open Jamaar Chase touchdown
Speaker 1: to go up seven. Nothing was against the blitz and
Speaker 1: Burrows deadly against the blitz. And it's like, I keep
Speaker 1: going back to what the Bills could have been in
Speaker 1: that opening game that we went to against the Rams,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's because we were there in person, but
Speaker 1: all of that happened without blitzing. It was natural, organic
Speaker 1: pass rush and in this case, when you have to
Speaker 1: go do that against Burrow, he made them pay right away.
Speaker 1: I thought he set the tone, and you've got a
Speaker 1: Bill's team that has played in these elements. I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear about this defense not knowing how to
Speaker 1: react and snow. It's like you practice in this, you
Speaker 1: live in this, you walked down, you have done your
Speaker 1: driveway in this every day. I'm so do the Bengals
Speaker 1: though too. They live in this weather too, And there's
Speaker 1: it's not like a team who before that came up
Speaker 1: and did it. But to me, it was almost the
Speaker 1: run game defense that was that was even worse. And
Speaker 1: I do think that's where McDermott will have to I
Speaker 1: don't know, he's not gonna change who he is. But
Speaker 1: their defense has been a problem in the playoffs three
Speaker 1: straight years. I mean, that is the reason that they
Speaker 1: got the doors blown off them in the a f
Speaker 1: C Championship game two years ago. It's what totally collapsed
Speaker 1: last year. And if they paid von Miller address and
Speaker 1: and they've been great in regular seasons, and if Allen
Speaker 1: had played a great game today and their offense had
Speaker 1: showed up, I think it would have been a good game.
Speaker 1: I still wouldn't have much faith that they would have won.
Speaker 1: Like even if Alan, I think the thing is like
Speaker 1: last year we came out in the defense, they were
Speaker 1: culpable for what happened, and yet it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we've got to change the overtime. Everyone's freaking out understanding
Speaker 1: about the overtime ruling. We didn't get to see Josh
Speaker 1: Allen go do it again this time. It's like I
Speaker 1: can point to eight things that are just simply on
Speaker 1: the Bills not showing up in this game. Yep. And uh,
Speaker 1: behind the glass, our friend Parker is a big Bills fan.
Speaker 1: And you know Mark how Greg always knows the right
Speaker 1: thing to say to people. Um. Undoubtedly he made the
Speaker 1: comment that you know you you never know, you might
Speaker 1: not be back for ten years in the playoffs and
Speaker 1: although Greg, as usual, Greg could have used a softer touch. Um,
Speaker 1: the truth is the thirteen seconds last year. Um. Is
Speaker 1: it a perfect example because then you see what happened
Speaker 1: this year. There are no promises how long your windows
Speaker 1: stays open. And you hope, if you're a Bills fan,
Speaker 1: that this will continue, but man, it doesn't. There's only
Speaker 1: a few years you get here. Look at history, look
Speaker 1: at football history. I can't think again, like you you
Speaker 1: like whether or not you think you can separate it.
Speaker 1: Your experience is the Patriots experience. Now, I get it.
Speaker 1: I'm the one who always says this, and I agree
Speaker 1: with you. I did just say it that you might
Speaker 1: not be back. But I do look at Josh Allen
Speaker 1: in a similar way to Burrow and uh Mahomes. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's at that level consistency wise, but maybe
Speaker 1: a little closer to a John Elway in that the
Speaker 1: window is open while Josh Allen is there. And I
Speaker 1: believe in the way they've built this team up and
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and everything. So they might have their
Speaker 1: ups and downs. But if you tell me, like they
Speaker 1: finally get there in six years, like that's all a winner.
Speaker 1: It's evergreen because of Alan. But then what were we
Speaker 1: saying ten years ago about Aaron Rodgers doesn't mean it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you get there. They need to pick better,
Speaker 1: They have think the things that well, their innocence is lost.
Speaker 1: Now they went from plucky Buffalo team to powerful Buffalo
Speaker 1: team and we're still thinking, Wow, this is young and
Speaker 1: new and they can maybe win two or three of these.
Speaker 1: Now it's like that's what Cincinnati is now. Suddenly you
Speaker 1: got usurped by Cincinnati, not young man anymore marks even
Speaker 1: older than us. Well, I don't feel older than you.
Speaker 1: You you blink and he'll be thirty five years old.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, you know, the career, you think it's forever.
Speaker 1: But if if this, if this phase of Bills doesn't work,
Speaker 1: they have to retool that starts to build the pressure.
Speaker 1: It just you. You hope they get there because the
Speaker 1: fan base deserves it. But this series, this season is
Speaker 1: a disappointment, no doubt about it. Joe Burrow said of
Speaker 1: the game, domination from start to finish. That's what we expected.
Speaker 1: Jobs not finished. But let's give who locked this up?
Speaker 1: West Bros. Ah, that's a nice lock and it's a
Speaker 1: locker from the heart. Um by Nick making the executive
Speaker 1: decision because he sent us the text doing it all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Zoo and yeah, they were all over the place. Amazingly.
Speaker 1: Even one of the Wesleyan brothers picked the Bills as
Speaker 1: a lock zo. Yeah, this is surprising. It's an animal asylum. Um.
Speaker 1: Let's give the last word to Zach Taylor, the head
Speaker 1: coach who might be going to back to back Super Bowls. Uh.
Speaker 1: He turned up the snark here and apologized for being
Speaker 1: a logistical pain in the ass to the NFL for
Speaker 1: the neutral Yeah. We we just we had our mind
Speaker 1: set to go point Kansas City and and uh, it is.
Speaker 1: It is tough because they're they're have to formulate the
Speaker 1: plans for corny tosses and they got to formulate the
Speaker 1: plans for neutral site games. And we just keep screwing
Speaker 1: it up for everybody. And I hate that people that
Speaker 1: have to endure all those logistical issues and then we
Speaker 1: just keep screwing it up. So I'm sorry. Oh, Wisenheimer. Eisenheimer,
Speaker 1: Let's take a break and we'll we'll talk about the
Speaker 1: team that they'll be playing in the a f C
Speaker 1: title game. Welcome back. I do not like high ankle sprains.
Speaker 1: Never had one myself, but I find them to be
Speaker 1: deeply annoying from a football fan experience. And and it did.
Speaker 1: It popped up in two games this weekend with two
Speaker 1: key players. Greggy maybe the most important figure in the NFL,
Speaker 1: the presumptive m v P, had to play through a
Speaker 1: high ankle sprain. But he would not be denied or
Speaker 1: a little bit of a Chris Berman set up there
Speaker 1: to the highlight homes again, that right ankle is the
Speaker 1: one that's bothering him, that's in front of the laft
Speaker 1: feat stagger. Mahomes now steps up in the pocket, throws
Speaker 1: lightning wide open back of the end zone, touchdown Terence
Speaker 1: City Mark Quez he scantling on a six yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: but Mahomes paid the price. State in the pocket and
Speaker 1: a jump throw on that bad right ankle. Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: on one good leg got it done. Mitch Holtis with
Speaker 1: the call w d A F Mahomes after suffering that
Speaker 1: high ankle, spraying through for a hundred ninety five yards
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns. He finished with the second, capping of
Speaker 1: seventy five yard drive late in the fourth quarter. It
Speaker 1: allowed the Chiefs to get past the Jaguars an twenty win.
Speaker 1: My goodness, the Chiefs during the ABC title game for
Speaker 1: the fifth straight year and Mark Sessler obviously Mahomes his
Speaker 1: health is a major question mark going forward. We expect
Speaker 1: him to play, but what level Patrick Mahomes will we
Speaker 1: get next week? That remains to be seen. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you want to take him at his word, he
Speaker 1: basically vowed that he'd play, and I mean, I thought.
Speaker 1: One thing that I do love about Mahomes is that
Speaker 1: his passion is not false. I think we feel that
Speaker 1: way with some athletes where it's like you're doing a
Speaker 1: lot for the camera and stuff. With Mahomes like literally
Speaker 1: jawing with Andy Reid on the sideline like I want
Speaker 1: to go back in that thing, and Andy Reid's like,
Speaker 1: you gotta go back and get If it's negative, you're
Speaker 1: back in. And so that was where that Chad Henny
Speaker 1: period came in. And Chad Henny, this is what he
Speaker 1: does every couple of years, rolls into the divisional round,
Speaker 1: does enough good stuff to keep it, keep employed. And
Speaker 1: he does to Browns, he did it to the Jaguars,
Speaker 1: and Mahomes came back in. I just think it's like
Speaker 1: one of these things where, uh, you know, there aren't
Speaker 1: that many guys like Mahomes on any level. We keep
Speaker 1: trying to find new ways to describe him. Here's a
Speaker 1: new one. He did it completely differently in this game.
Speaker 1: And I just look at this Chief's offense, which is
Speaker 1: so different in many ways than the past versions we've seen.
Speaker 1: And you guys got guys like Isaiah Pacheco and Darius
Speaker 1: Tony making a bigger impact. They haven't even peaked yet,
Speaker 1: Like their their offense and who they are is still
Speaker 1: like on a weekly basis adding new people to the
Speaker 1: mix like they it was Travis Kelsey and I think
Speaker 1: was you could be a little concerned that, like you
Speaker 1: don't have a wide receiver really step up for big
Speaker 1: yardage in this but they just got it done. It's
Speaker 1: like I think this these two teams were fairly slotted
Speaker 1: for where they wound up nice effered by the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: But the Chiefs just they've been doing this all year.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna blow your doors off psychologically if you're
Speaker 1: a viewer, They're gonna get it done right. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are the number one offense in the league
Speaker 1: for the season by a decent amount based on basically
Speaker 1: any metric for a reason, and they started that game
Speaker 1: this way. They went to halftime and yet Chad hen
Speaker 1: he played an entire uh series there touchdown, field, go touchdown.
Speaker 1: And you have a quarterback in Mahomes who I think
Speaker 1: in this game showed how much he's matured since when,
Speaker 1: by the way, he was the best quarterback in the
Speaker 1: league then too, because I don't know if he wins
Speaker 1: this game the same sort of way, because that first
Speaker 1: drive and a half. He made more plays just completely
Speaker 1: on his own then I think any quarterback in the
Speaker 1: league could. I was listening to it initially on the radio.
Speaker 1: It was a little late coming home from the Zoo.
Speaker 1: Zoo always takes a little longer than you think. The
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's not the Cincinnati Zoo, the l A Zoo. Very underrated. Nice,
Speaker 1: nice family morning on the on the day of the
Speaker 1: divisional playoffs. I know you can catch up on on
Speaker 1: game Pass, and so I was listening on the first quarter,
Speaker 1: listening to Trent Green, and it's like, you know, ming
Speaker 1: didn't really make it sound like it was that crazy.
Speaker 1: And when I went back to watch the first quarter,
Speaker 1: I'm like, every one of these Mahomes plays is insane.
Speaker 1: It was only because it was Patrick Mahomes. They scored
Speaker 1: those ten points. And then after that, it's the decision
Speaker 1: making and it's the maturity and getting rid of the
Speaker 1: ball out quickly. The fact to me that he could
Speaker 1: win the game in both kind of ways to speaks
Speaker 1: to his greatness and why I definitely am not counting
Speaker 1: them out this weekend, Like like it sounds like you're
Speaker 1: doing is a strong thing to do with any team
Speaker 1: in the idle game and if Mahomes is involved, even
Speaker 1: at or whatever, I still give him a chance. Um
Speaker 1: do I like Sincinnati, Yes, I do like them to
Speaker 1: get to the super Bowl, But yeah, I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: the Mahomes side of it, Um I did. We mentioned
Speaker 1: Henny he was the quarterback against the Browns a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. He shows up every divisional round, every
Speaker 1: couple and so it's great to have a guy that
Speaker 1: you can count on, especially this time of year, if
Speaker 1: if you need it. But yeah, I thought that for me,
Speaker 1: this game was like a reminder that they're not just
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. You know that this defense, which you know,
Speaker 1: was facing a Jaguars team that was playing with house money,
Speaker 1: that went in there knowing nobody was going to pick
Speaker 1: him to win, and they had scored on five straight
Speaker 1: possessions in their previous game, uh to have over a
Speaker 1: historic comeback, and they just shut They shut down Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence and that offense for the most part. And I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of credit that needs to be
Speaker 1: handed out to Chris Jones and that whole team as
Speaker 1: well on that side of the ball. I mean, if
Speaker 1: I the Jaguars side of it, like if you there
Speaker 1: was a moment when Henny was there and he threw
Speaker 1: that near interception to fo A lout Khan. Had he
Speaker 1: had that been picked off, that would have changed this game.
Speaker 1: But that interception has dropped later in the game, jamalag Knew,
Speaker 1: who was sensational as a kick returner and has been
Speaker 1: for a while, and put them in position to make
Speaker 1: a difference. Had that killer fumble that at the at
Speaker 1: the d at the Chiefs five or whatever, which basically
Speaker 1: changes that possession, made three with about eight minutes to
Speaker 1: gret and then you get the Lawrence the next possession,
Speaker 1: you get the Trevor Lawrence interception, which just shows you like,
Speaker 1: this is sometimes the Chiefs this year, because it's like,
Speaker 1: had those things gone differently, just a couple inches here
Speaker 1: and there, Jacksonville is in this thing at the very end,
Speaker 1: and then there're a freaky operation. This was a winnable game.
Speaker 1: I think if Jaguars are getting that um bump from
Speaker 1: losing a playoff game like this, they went further than
Speaker 1: you could ever expect. They were three and seven. I
Speaker 1: get it. But this is game in particular is frustrating
Speaker 1: because it was winnable. That chat Hanny drive. It showed
Speaker 1: great confidence in Andy Reid to throw the ball out
Speaker 1: in first down out of his own end zone. You
Speaker 1: know that the past was for a touchdown. He ultimately
Speaker 1: through for three yards per attempt. The key person in
Speaker 1: that drive was Checo picking up eight yard gains on
Speaker 1: first down. He had the thirty nine yard run. And
Speaker 1: these are like power runs too. So to your point, Dan,
Speaker 1: the pass rush was better than the Jaguars pass rush
Speaker 1: where they've spent a lot of money. The Chiefs was
Speaker 1: the running game. Both teams ran the ball well, but
Speaker 1: certainly the Chief's ability to run the ball kept them
Speaker 1: alive in that game. In that drive, like it was
Speaker 1: an entire team. And I think that that says to
Speaker 1: me that this this can be a championship team. And
Speaker 1: it's gotta just be bitter sweet right now for the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: that that at best, homes is gonna my homes is
Speaker 1: gonna be like next week. Because I thought it was
Speaker 1: impressive that you have my homes who can't move and
Speaker 1: he's just gotta get the ball out quick. For a
Speaker 1: big chunk of that game, that that if you're even
Speaker 1: if you're Jacksonville good defense, they've evolved over the course
Speaker 1: of the year, but you're catching up to that in
Speaker 1: real time. And what Kansas City is gonna do. I
Speaker 1: like Cincinnati's chances if you're gonna get amobile eyes Mahomes,
Speaker 1: I just assume he's going to magically be like better,
Speaker 1: because that seems to be what happens with Mahomes. I thought, again, Romo,
Speaker 1: when they're just at this point, kill him time at
Speaker 1: the end of the Bengals game talking about what's going
Speaker 1: on with Mahomes, and you know, he said that he
Speaker 1: had suffered high ankle sprains before and it's something that
Speaker 1: you could play through the day it happens. But then
Speaker 1: he was like the next day, like today, Mahomes probably
Speaker 1: can't even walk. He's probably on crutches, and you know,
Speaker 1: I missed my next game after high ankle sprain. Mahomes
Speaker 1: obviously is a different person. We then heard like later
Speaker 1: reporting that like Mahomes feels better, and the chief set
Speaker 1: he feels better than they expect. What happened with you
Speaker 1: in your high ankle sprain? This will be notable. I
Speaker 1: think to the who, what, like, what happened with your
Speaker 1: body when you had a high ankle spring? I would
Speaker 1: like to set at the top of this seg I
Speaker 1: never suffered one. I did thought you said you thought
Speaker 1: you had suffering, had not, and that you skipped a
Speaker 1: week or something. No, I said Tony Romo, CBS announcer, Well,
Speaker 1: I I was starting to think you were talking about yourself.
Speaker 1: All right, let's um. But Romo basically said that, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is going to be a major issue, that he's
Speaker 1: gonna be immobile if he plays, he will play, But
Speaker 1: I think that's obviously such a major subplot now moving forward.
Speaker 1: He let's hear from Mahomes what he had to say. Um,
Speaker 1: after the game about his physical status. It feels better,
Speaker 1: and I mean it was and better than I thought
Speaker 1: it was gonna be. Now. Um, obviously a lot of
Speaker 1: adrenaline on right now, so we'll see how it fills.
Speaker 1: But I'll hop right in the treatment tonight tonight and
Speaker 1: try to do whatever I can to be Uh, it's
Speaker 1: close by next week. But luckily for us, we played
Speaker 1: the early game on Saturday, so we get an extra
Speaker 1: almost half a day that I can let that ankle rest.
Speaker 1: He's he's just like an excited kid. Yeah, he's funny,
Speaker 1: like Trevor Lawrence on the other side, UM basically looks
Speaker 1: at a central casting like either like a villain in
Speaker 1: an eighties movie or like what you imagine like a
Speaker 1: quarterback a star quarterback, or should look like homes looks different.
Speaker 1: Speaking of UM, that sounds different. Speaking of Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: here's what he had to say after the first playoff
Speaker 1: loss of his NFL career. They worked so hard to
Speaker 1: get here, and nobody thought we were going to be here,
Speaker 1: and you know, we had our shot, and that's what hurts,
Speaker 1: you know, So we'll be back. I'm confident in that.
Speaker 1: And this isn't this is this is more the beginning
Speaker 1: than it is the end of something. Um, this is
Speaker 1: just getting started for us. So we got a taste
Speaker 1: of it. And I mean the guys already hungry to
Speaker 1: get this opportunity again if they did a Varsity Blues reboot.
Speaker 1: He's mocks like he is, but I think this is
Speaker 1: so like dying. I mean, first of all, like the
Speaker 1: Jaguars are one of the better stories of the year.
Speaker 1: I've got eight we have like eight or nine Coach
Speaker 1: of the Year candidates, but Peterson's got a suddenly became
Speaker 1: I mean, is here's the thing. Are they piste off
Speaker 1: at this last Like, I think it's such a polar
Speaker 1: spectrum opposite and it's rightfully so. Can I say we
Speaker 1: mentioned a couple of years ago at the Browns and
Speaker 1: that feeling like a missed opportunity because you had any
Speaker 1: in the game and my homes out and they couldn't
Speaker 1: find a way that that day, and I had the
Speaker 1: Jags are thinking the same thing, like, we had this
Speaker 1: guy out of the game for the second quarter basically,
Speaker 1: and then he was half of his usual self for
Speaker 1: the rest of the game and we couldn't steal these
Speaker 1: again again the Jags another team like, uh, it feels
Speaker 1: like just the beginning for them. Said, but at the
Speaker 1: same time, you never know when your opportunity to make
Speaker 1: that deep run to be the Bengals of last year
Speaker 1: is and they didn't get it done in this spot
Speaker 1: now and the but the Brown's head Baker Mayfield, and
Speaker 1: the Jaguars have Trevor Lawrence, and even Trevor Lawrence has
Speaker 1: to be more excited about the Jaguars because they have
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence right they they couldn't get any shot plays
Speaker 1: throughout the game, you know, until late in the game.
Speaker 1: Lawrence was averaging like under four yards per tempt. I
Speaker 1: thought they got away from the run like way too quickly,
Speaker 1: which is not something you would have expected out of
Speaker 1: Peterson the average seven point six yards per carrying that game,
Speaker 1: Like both teams from most of this game, we're averaging
Speaker 1: more yards on the ground per play than they were
Speaker 1: throwing the ball. Even the Chiefs were through like three
Speaker 1: quarters of this game and Lawrence was like making two
Speaker 1: quick decisions and that the pass rush was winning for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. And it did feel not like a teacher
Speaker 1: pupil thing, but it felt like the Chiefs were very
Speaker 1: zeroed in on where the Jaguars were bad, which was
Speaker 1: on the second level of their defense. Like they drafted
Speaker 1: Devin Lloyd and they benched them halfway through the season
Speaker 1: for for Chad Muma and those two guys heads were
Speaker 1: spinning and they just were getting destroyed by Travis Kelsey
Speaker 1: fourteen catches yards to touchdowns, I mean, just the outrageous
Speaker 1: caught every single pass to him that was like within
Speaker 1: ten yards of the line of scrimmage thirteen thirty. It's
Speaker 1: one of the weird things that actually, like meet out
Speaker 1: from the Thursday Show where the Jaguars are the worst
Speaker 1: team in the league ins tight ends, and then Trevis
Speaker 1: Skelsey goes completely nuclear on them. Um, what about that
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey versus Grant conversation? Stacking up these games in
Speaker 1: the playoffs too? I find it. I find it very annoying.
Speaker 1: So I brought it up. Yeah, I think I don't
Speaker 1: think it is. I don't think it is, just because
Speaker 1: they were in the league. They were at the same time,
Speaker 1: and it's like one was, you know, clearly the best
Speaker 1: tight end in the league while the other one was
Speaker 1: pretty much at the peak of his powers. That you
Speaker 1: used the same argument to say that Brady is the
Speaker 1: best quarterback ever. I actually that's where I wouldn't. It
Speaker 1: depends how you define it. He's accomplished the most. But
Speaker 1: to me, my Homes is already the best quarterback ever.
Speaker 1: Well that's your opinion just in terms of like playing
Speaker 1: the position at the at the highest. Guess then I'm
Speaker 1: probably picking the Bengals. I don't know. I mean, just
Speaker 1: because we're all over the map here, thought like this game, no,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, I think I think this went. Oh yeah, Bucker,
Speaker 1: your boy game wasn't even the top ten of the
Speaker 1: right had a rough year, but I think he was
Speaker 1: one of the key reasons they won this game. Didn't
Speaker 1: miss a kick to field, goes to uh tackles, I
Speaker 1: mean to extra points. But then the tackle on Agnew
Speaker 1: was a massive got it the tackle and then ag
Speaker 1: Knew accidentally as He'll kicked under his face mask and
Speaker 1: he got tripped by a face mask at all. He
Speaker 1: doesn't it help at all? It all counts in the box.
Speaker 1: Scar if you're if you're Harrison Butker and you've been
Speaker 1: having some struggles to have another kicker come into the
Speaker 1: world and have incredible struggles will get to him later
Speaker 1: than like Bucker's, Like no one even remembers that I
Speaker 1: was having issues. You know what I liked if if
Speaker 1: we're still in this game is the is the Lawrence
Speaker 1: moment in the in the alley on the way into
Speaker 1: the locker room where he gets he like camps there
Speaker 1: and his high five and everyone as they come by,
Speaker 1: and it's just like that's a dude. You want that
Speaker 1: they're gonna be okay. That it wasn't for the cameras,
Speaker 1: Like he didn't know anyone was watching them there, and
Speaker 1: like everyone you could see what it meant to them
Speaker 1: as they were going by, like take two, let's get
Speaker 1: that well from another angle place. Take two, bigger smile,
Speaker 1: bigger smile. Make sure this gig get this kid over here,
Speaker 1: all right. I don't even know what you guys are
Speaker 1: talking about. Done exactly. You guys don't know what because
Speaker 1: that's how I know it was in stage. It was
Speaker 1: one local reporter because he didn't see it, caught it
Speaker 1: on her phone and that was the only thing it was.
Speaker 1: He kind of camped out. Um, I'm thinking, I can't
Speaker 1: together word as they're coming off the field to greet
Speaker 1: every single player. Next stage, I was at the zoo.
Speaker 1: There is Bengals cheeps at Arrowhead. It's great. That's one
Speaker 1: side on the NFC side of things. We're gonna start
Speaker 1: with the number one seeded Eagles, who, obviously, by virtue
Speaker 1: of the dominant regular season record, had the top seed. However,
Speaker 1: there were a lot of questions about what Eagles team
Speaker 1: would show up out of the by against the upstart Giants. Oh,
Speaker 1: this one got ugly fast perch of the gone perch.
Speaker 1: Scrange it out on the far side to Davonte Smith,
Speaker 1: a frost the five to the Smith such a great
Speaker 1: job job blocking by A. J. Brown, This dynamic duo,
Speaker 1: they're as good as it gets. It was so easy
Speaker 1: for the Eagles on Saturday night. That was Meryl Reese
Speaker 1: and like quick w I p Jalen Hurts through two
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, ran for another, looking very healthy in the
Speaker 1: shoulder region as he did it, and the Eagles just
Speaker 1: stroll past the Giants seven at the length. They built
Speaker 1: up a twenty eight nothing halftime lead in the game.
Speaker 1: There only been four more lopsided first half playoff shoutouts
Speaker 1: in NFL history. So that's where we're at on this game,
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. The Eagles answered a lot of questions here.
Speaker 1: They absolutely did. Like it was a total purifying experience
Speaker 1: where it's like, let's just reset the board and remember
Speaker 1: that the Philadelphia Eagles have been doing this two teams
Speaker 1: all year long in so many different ways and the
Speaker 1: dominant fashion that they did it in. To me, I
Speaker 1: can point to the offense that right away, the forty
Speaker 1: yard bomb from Hurts to DeVonta Smith showed you the
Speaker 1: arms fine he was to making those throws even when
Speaker 1: he had the shoulder it injury to begin with, but
Speaker 1: he also ran with power he ran into people when
Speaker 1: he needed to. Their ground game, it's the post yardage
Speaker 1: they piled up in a playoff games since the nineteen
Speaker 1: NFL Championship game featured the Eagles, and it looked that way,
Speaker 1: and I thought the difference was also this Eagles defense.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're just like, again, where is the weakness here?
Speaker 1: If everyone's healthy, they I think the Giants were the
Speaker 1: kind of team that needed to show up early or
Speaker 1: they could be broken in this and they really were
Speaker 1: broken by halftime. It was kind of one of those
Speaker 1: playoff games that, like, by about two minutes into the
Speaker 1: second quarter, I'm tracking it maybe with less strident note
Speaker 1: taking and just so let's see where we are later
Speaker 1: in this game. But the Giants on their first drive
Speaker 1: turnover on downs. When everything that's gone right for the Giants,
Speaker 1: the Brian Dable risk taking, which is kind of part
Speaker 1: of the DNA of who they've been. It goes back
Speaker 1: to that Week one win over the Titans. It's happened
Speaker 1: week after week Uh is a complete disastrous Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: is taken down on back to back at totally outclass,
Speaker 1: then the interception on the next drive. Suddenly it's twenty
Speaker 1: one nothing, and it's like, no, there's no way for
Speaker 1: this Giants team to climb back in, say Kwan, Barkley
Speaker 1: has gone invisible, Daniel Jones has regressed to like free
Speaker 1: Brian Dable levels and there's no one here to rescue them.
Speaker 1: Well no, in one game, I don't mean and he
Speaker 1: looked like the old Daniel Jones for big chunks the
Speaker 1: last night, which is that's what annoyed me, because I
Speaker 1: liked what Daniel Jones has done this season. Yeah, that sequence,
Speaker 1: there was so little tension in this game that that
Speaker 1: sequence was memorable. When they're on defense and the Giants
Speaker 1: first drive and it was second and five and Barkley
Speaker 1: gets to the outside and a Son Reddick who's like
Speaker 1: an edge player, gets him down to make it third
Speaker 1: and three, and then a sack by Sweat and Reddick
Speaker 1: and then another sack by Reddick, Like their defensive line
Speaker 1: is outrageous. Reddick had just an incredible season, one of
Speaker 1: the best free agent pickups in a long time, especially
Speaker 1: for the money, Like he didn't even get paid that much.
Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy. He uh was out there and
Speaker 1: on offense, the Eagles do something against the Giants every
Speaker 1: time that I love, which which which Greg Olsen talks
Speaker 1: about two you throw to win early and then run
Speaker 1: to end the game. That the throwing sets up the running.
Speaker 1: And they've done that every time they've played against the Giants,
Speaker 1: and none of them have been competitive. And there are
Speaker 1: concerns obviously entering this game about Jalen Hurts, would he
Speaker 1: be able to throw, would he be able to play aggressively?
Speaker 1: And he answered a lot of those questions. Here was
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni. We're gonna get to Sirianni in a second,
Speaker 1: because what a Saturday night sirian Absolutely like I've I've
Speaker 1: bumped into dudes like Sirianni at DJs and Belmar at
Speaker 1: the clubs down in the early two thousands, like he
Speaker 1: was a pumped up boy. But let's start with Sirianni
Speaker 1: on his quarterback. I know this is high parade, but
Speaker 1: to have him out there is like having h'm I
Speaker 1: shouldn't even go there, but like he's having like Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan not there, Like he's your leader. He's your leader,
Speaker 1: he's your guy, he's your Hopefully that's the biggest respect
Speaker 1: I can pay to him comparing comparing to his ability
Speaker 1: to being on the field, uh to a to a
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan type like this guy leads. He brings this
Speaker 1: calmness to the to the entire team. He plays great football.
Speaker 1: He's tough as as as as they come. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean to me, ain't nobody has played a better
Speaker 1: football than him this year. I did the channel uh
Speaker 1: West first. Completely different than basketball, apparently not according to
Speaker 1: Nick sirianni Um the moratorium on the m J comparisons. Um,
Speaker 1: because unless you're talking about like the m J who
Speaker 1: was a fierce competitor from like eighty four to ninety
Speaker 1: but wasn't getting over the hump. What made Jordan Jordan
Speaker 1: was on with six titles and six tries Beckham to
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's. So he's he did it too. I think
Speaker 1: I probably wanted you to remind the people of that.
Speaker 1: But you know that's where's it's a stand in for
Speaker 1: just saying that this is the guy that everybody pounds
Speaker 1: a table for. But I don't. I also don't think
Speaker 1: like he is like a standout amongst the rest of
Speaker 1: this team. I think this is the most loaded roster
Speaker 1: in the game. Greggy, I hear you, But I think
Speaker 1: what he was telling you, and and the teammates of
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts tell you too. And they said this after
Speaker 1: this game that Hurts had some quote to all of
Speaker 1: them just how he was starving for it. That he's
Speaker 1: just starving for this title. And I think he is,
Speaker 1: amongst other things, an incredible leader. And that was what
Speaker 1: the people uh analyzing him coming out in the draft
Speaker 1: struggled with that, just like this guy is like sort
Speaker 1: of talked about like he's this Tim Tebow like leader,
Speaker 1: except he actually has these athletic gifts and if he
Speaker 1: can learn how to do a drop back passing game
Speaker 1: and throw deep and we've we've seen it, like he
Speaker 1: could just be next level. But you're right that he's
Speaker 1: set up by a great offensive life. I mean, this
Speaker 1: this was I almost feel like this game was too
Speaker 1: easy for Philadelphia. But it's why you go. That's why
Speaker 1: the regular season matters. You get the one seed, You
Speaker 1: play a team that you're just so much better than
Speaker 1: than than you know, and that you know all their tendencies,
Speaker 1: and like they set up in these heavy run formations
Speaker 1: and then they pass it, and then they set up
Speaker 1: in these spread passing formations and then they run it
Speaker 1: and it's like they're mixing up what they do on
Speaker 1: on defense really well. There was that play on offense,
Speaker 1: remember when they all lined up like they were gonna
Speaker 1: do the double cheek push and the Giants were all
Speaker 1: ready for it, and then they just flip it to
Speaker 1: the outside. It's just like they've got these great players,
Speaker 1: and you're right, Hurts is put in position where like
Speaker 1: he he just has to do his thing. Well, I
Speaker 1: think it is like that, we're gonna get a new
Speaker 1: coach who's gonna completely flub his first press conference, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna it's gonna be, you know, February March. We're
Speaker 1: gonna rip on this guy and have our time with him.
Speaker 1: But Nick Sirianni was a disaster pr wise out of
Speaker 1: the gate. But I think there's such a well coached team.
Speaker 1: They completely neutralized New York's pass rush, which was their
Speaker 1: selling point going into this thing. Too. With that, there's
Speaker 1: any chance to stop the Eagles. Seventeen pass run snaps
Speaker 1: generated zero QB pressure in the first half led to
Speaker 1: that dominance. Hurts and his three quickest times to throw
Speaker 1: games in his entire career have come against this year's
Speaker 1: Giants in three games and the thing is that what
Speaker 1: they did to New York in Week fourteen before the
Speaker 1: Eagles were sitting people late in the Giants were It's
Speaker 1: like the they blew their doors off in similar fashion.
Speaker 1: This It looked very similar. They did a lot of
Speaker 1: the same stuff. New York knew that, and Brian Table
Speaker 1: is a good coach and Wink Martin Dial has been
Speaker 1: a good coach, and they couldn't counter it. It reminded
Speaker 1: me of like Patriots Texans Divisional round, like in some
Speaker 1: of the Texans lower years, where it was like a
Speaker 1: light warm up for the real game. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what's the most disappointing thing for Giants fans, because
Speaker 1: the idea was that, coming off that dramatic win in
Speaker 1: Minnesota and how well they were playing, that they were
Speaker 1: going to ride that wave, and then the wave just
Speaker 1: crashed on them within five minutes of the game starting.
Speaker 1: Here's a Brian Dable told uh said that he told
Speaker 1: his team after the blowout loss to him keep their
Speaker 1: heads up. They competed hard. Um, it's a crash landing
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Anytime you lose, it hurts because of
Speaker 1: the amount of effort and energy you put into it
Speaker 1: each week, and when you lose this time of year, um,
Speaker 1: it hurts even more. There's a lot of talk after
Speaker 1: the game. I saw it on Twitter, I saw it
Speaker 1: on my New York buddies with text and everything. You know,
Speaker 1: they were confident going into this, very confident but ugly loss,
Speaker 1: somewhat embarrassing loss. But you know, the future is really
Speaker 1: bright for the Giants. Maybe I'll say this absolutely a
Speaker 1: great first year for Dable, um, but you know, they
Speaker 1: got in the playoffs. They beat the Vikings, who were
Speaker 1: frauds we know, and the Colts to clinch the playoffs spot.
Speaker 1: And this kind of was a reminder how far away
Speaker 1: they still are and these are things that they all
Speaker 1: need to think about spinning forward. With Daniel Jones, who
Speaker 1: certainly did not look like a impact player in this
Speaker 1: particular setting. Sae Kwon Barkley, a running back getting closer
Speaker 1: to age thirty, what kind of contract do you give him?
Speaker 1: How else do you build up this team? This isn't
Speaker 1: like go get von Miller and we're ready to roll.
Speaker 1: The Giants still have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 1: Even if you could see this season as a success,
Speaker 1: I mean, if if anything, they went into this year
Speaker 1: with I think they're their front office with Joe Shane
Speaker 1: is like they're not like rose colored glasses, Like they
Speaker 1: didn't even they didn't even give the fifth year option
Speaker 1: to Jones. Sa Kwan Barkley was a wait and see.
Speaker 1: And I do think games like this can change your
Speaker 1: off season planning, and I don't think it changes what
Speaker 1: they think about Daniel Jones, but any contract going his
Speaker 1: way can't get in the way of continuing to look
Speaker 1: for like the Eagles did that next quarterback they did
Speaker 1: like they had Carson Wentz and they looked at Hurts
Speaker 1: and then suddenly, look where we are. You're not still
Speaker 1: struggling trying to put the wrong guy in there. So Jones,
Speaker 1: I think great career season. You bring them back at
Speaker 1: the right price that that works. But like there's no
Speaker 1: pressure that they should or might draft a quarterback high
Speaker 1: because I feel like that would be weird to give
Speaker 1: him a new deal. I'm not saying, I just like
Speaker 1: it's the problem with these quarterback deals as they all
Speaker 1: kind of look too much alike, where like even the
Speaker 1: middle tiers a ton of money, but like if you
Speaker 1: do where there's no guaranteed money, very soon actually great
Speaker 1: pull because like if you if you listen to w
Speaker 1: I P on that day, like people hated that pick,
Speaker 1: like why would we take a quarterback when we have
Speaker 1: a quarterback? I think Jones and I would throw Gino
Speaker 1: into this category are the type of like middle quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and I think Gino's above that on some level. But
Speaker 1: you're still gonna be looking for younger guys. And and
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones was very circumspect, didn't really say anything, you
Speaker 1: know when they talked about his future. Se Quon was
Speaker 1: very big on like I can't imagine playing anywhere else.
Speaker 1: But it reminds me a lot of the Tyrode Bill season.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if Daniel Jones will be like
Speaker 1: they'll change quarterbacks like it. But I thought, like McDermott
Speaker 1: and um, you know, their front office showed who they
Speaker 1: were like leading up to that Tyrode season, like we're
Speaker 1: a different Bills team, and they actually took a step
Speaker 1: back like the next year after that, but it like
Speaker 1: showed who they were and they were a little ahead
Speaker 1: of schedule. And I think to your point, that's what Joe,
Speaker 1: Shane and Davil did. It's it's a long term thing.
Speaker 1: But they have twelve starters out of their twenty uh
Speaker 1: two starters are set to hit fre Agent. Maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit of cold water on the the Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: um uprising the last few weeks works out well for
Speaker 1: them in decisions they're making money, they end up spending
Speaker 1: We shall see. Um, we had some blocks involved in
Speaker 1: this game, correct, I locked it up. This is of
Speaker 1: those locks you enjoy. You don't have to ease do
Speaker 1: a rocking chair game, just this. You don't have to
Speaker 1: sweat it out. Oh and to let her letter really
Speaker 1: locked it up to Yeah, that's right, and Dan did not,
Speaker 1: which most of our listeners probably don't know now because
Speaker 1: I've got The only annoying part about you switching your
Speaker 1: tweets is like Drew our our producer, thought, uh, I
Speaker 1: won the lock Championship. He didn't know you switched. People
Speaker 1: don't follow these things, well how would they unless they're
Speaker 1: following every tweet I send in the middle of like,
Speaker 1: I saw some people responding to what you've done. Certainly
Speaker 1: your your Twitter follows, but that's a relatively Yeah, I'm joking.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Drew got nine feet tall of you. I
Speaker 1: should have mentioned that I had switched my Lock, but
Speaker 1: I got a lot of tweets that were like, congratside
Speaker 1: your LOCK championship. Um, well I reverse, yeah, like I
Speaker 1: stuck with my Giants pick um, which I had no
Speaker 1: I thought it was kind of fun. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: as as the season goes along, you say goodbye to teams,
Speaker 1: you say goodbye to news developments, you say goodbye to
Speaker 1: things that seemed they'll never go away. And I'm saying
Speaker 1: goodbye to Lock. Standing scenario here we said goodbye to
Speaker 1: the West best officially too on that I'm gonna gonna
Speaker 1: talk to you something you talking about something? Go ahead,
Speaker 1: a long time friend. You know that I would never
Speaker 1: betray you, your family, or our alliance. It brings me
Speaker 1: a great sorrow to know that you may feel that
Speaker 1: I deserted you and it's time to meet. Well, you
Speaker 1: must understand my intentions were driven purely by survivor. I
Speaker 1: couldn't remain in our New York family alliance. Had to
Speaker 1: come into the realization that our enemy had set a
Speaker 1: trap in Philadelphia with the intention to laure's both to
Speaker 1: an early demise. I will forge on in your honor factor.
Speaker 1: That's a huge victory for me. I guess, um, I
Speaker 1: appreciate the sentiments. Um. I did see what love Smith
Speaker 1: said to his team when he played for a time.
Speaker 1: I think there was a lot of chatter on on
Speaker 1: Twitter about it, um my mentions just because of I
Speaker 1: think you tagged us on some of this or like.
Speaker 1: But there was one of the like. There was an
Speaker 1: image of like Mario brothers, Mario like jumping safely to
Speaker 1: a cliff and he was holding onto one like another
Speaker 1: character and just like let it go, and he just
Speaker 1: disappears into a shop. The other character's eyes well up
Speaker 1: before he dropped into a deathly hades. And that's what
Speaker 1: happened to me over the weekend. I definitely there. I
Speaker 1: had regrets about that, but I also I was thinking
Speaker 1: about it, like, first of all, you gave me warning,
Speaker 1: though I couldn't warning, it would have felt on an
Speaker 1: original the trophy still in my house to two back.
Speaker 1: I don't need to be in a total place of
Speaker 1: desperation when Greggy's trying to trick us and to pick
Speaker 1: in the g men and ending the whole thing. What
Speaker 1: you thought to myself, you're giving me way too, said, Okay,
Speaker 1: he took the eagles, that's the right play two games up,
Speaker 1: but I don't. I'm not gonna pick a team I
Speaker 1: don't believe and I didn't believe in the Giants, so
Speaker 1: I went elsewhere and as a result, I am still
Speaker 1: alive with two weeks to play. Yeah, I don't hate
Speaker 1: on that at all. I mean, I think it's good
Speaker 1: to try to get your locks right and not take
Speaker 1: bad teams. So that makes total sense. It's just bad.
Speaker 1: It's bad showmanship to confuse the listeners. But I think
Speaker 1: it's the right the right pick. Well, even if it's
Speaker 1: good to keep them off about it's uh playing for
Speaker 1: the tie. You never want to do that, but it's
Speaker 1: better than losing a lot of listeners don't understand that
Speaker 1: Lock of the Week is like the game you're most
Speaker 1: confident in. There, like, how is it a lock if
Speaker 1: you change it? It's not like that season I could
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone could care less about that day.
Speaker 1: We could revisit that down the line if it's something
Speaker 1: we want to say that they have to be binding
Speaker 1: on the day of the show. But um, I knew
Speaker 1: in my heart that I had to move, and yes,
Speaker 1: I can only tie right now. But again, the trophies
Speaker 1: in my house and I didn't want to go out
Speaker 1: on the giants. I don't want to fall on that sword.
Speaker 1: I don't blame you, can I give you one quick
Speaker 1: media uptake because you know it was my Like we
Speaker 1: talked about the fact that I went on the little
Speaker 1: NFL dot com picks. I'm and I stress little and uh,
Speaker 1: I would say, because you picked the giant, I picked
Speaker 1: the giants. And you know, if that goes right suddenly
Speaker 1: to the Tri state area is just like you know,
Speaker 1: carrying you around town. Now I'm getting like a billion
Speaker 1: of those when this happens as source the old takes exposed,
Speaker 1: It's like do I need this? It's just like I
Speaker 1: just simply log off Twitter will come back in like
Speaker 1: mid April. Here's the thing that these social accounts have
Speaker 1: no accountability either. They actually sent out an article from
Speaker 1: bills dot com showing all the expert predictions and by
Speaker 1: the way, most of them were picking the bills. But
Speaker 1: they took one of my quotes saying where the bills
Speaker 1: are poor and sent that out on their main feed
Speaker 1: and then click the link and by the way, like
Speaker 1: twelve out of sixteen people in that link picked the bills.
Speaker 1: I was not one of them. Are they gonna come
Speaker 1: back uh and apologize and point, Hey, you're right, actually
Speaker 1: our shortcomings on the offensive line, and actually I think
Speaker 1: they reiver. You expect that. I can think you can
Speaker 1: expect them to do that. I see you bills before
Speaker 1: we before we go on to the last game. Can
Speaker 1: we talk about Sirianni in that game? He was extra
Speaker 1: and I'm not I'm not going to kill him for it.
Speaker 1: Maybe when he looked in to the Cameron slow motion
Speaker 1: and shook his head like, yeah, I'm the mother of him. Man,
Speaker 1: that one was a little extra. Um. But the whole
Speaker 1: game he was super amped up and excited. I think
Speaker 1: it's because he saw his game plan being you know,
Speaker 1: unfurled and and just perfection. But let's play that that
Speaker 1: when they were I think that was when they were
Speaker 1: up by five touchdowns or something, four touchdowns and they
Speaker 1: line up for two and uh, is that the way
Speaker 1: we have here? Yeah? They line up for two? Uh,
Speaker 1: and then he calls time out and this is what
Speaker 1: we saw and heard. I know I'm allowed to be
Speaker 1: down here. And then he had he also had this
Speaker 1: to say, name checking an old friend of ours. Sometimes
Speaker 1: I have to hear like some things about Jonathan gannon
Speaker 1: like and I don't know if it's you guys, it
Speaker 1: might be more people. UM. I won't say names. Angelo
Speaker 1: all right, Uh, but this guy is an unbelievable Cordina.
Speaker 1: The fact that he doesn't get respect from our r
Speaker 1: R station blows my It blows my mind. And I
Speaker 1: know you work at the radio station too, so I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna say anything about you. But this guy is
Speaker 1: an incredible coordinator. People love to play for this guy,
Speaker 1: like and listen, you want me to keep going? He's
Speaker 1: looking over to the PR guy. That's Angelo Cataldi, by
Speaker 1: the way, who has been their morning guy there forever.
Speaker 1: I think he's retiring at the end of this year.
Speaker 1: I mean, is Angelo the most powerful sports talk radio
Speaker 1: guy in the country. Really is an old school sports
Speaker 1: town where sports talk radio is still king and what
Speaker 1: those guys say really does matter and years cares about
Speaker 1: what Zolak saying. I don't think I mean a different situations. Um.
Speaker 1: One last one, last note on the MJ thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what's calm down? The MJ was a great teammate. He
Speaker 1: was brutal on a lot of his teammates. He commanding,
Speaker 1: he was sometimes demeaning. He could be cruel. He expected
Speaker 1: everyone to be as good as him, even though that
Speaker 1: was impossible, and I guess that made some guys better.
Speaker 1: But like Jalen Hurts, as far as I understand, that
Speaker 1: is not the type of h is much more like
Speaker 1: a consistent, super motivated guy that liked but he But
Speaker 1: if you put it, but what, we've lost a lot
Speaker 1: of the nuance of Michael Jordan's like over the years.
Speaker 1: I get where he's coming from. I get that you
Speaker 1: don't like it, but this doesn't old. I want to
Speaker 1: keep like the actual like what mj was, which is
Speaker 1: one of the great not only the greatest player ever
Speaker 1: but the greatest like sometimes nastiest competitors, but not a
Speaker 1: cancer like he was too good. He fired that team up.
Speaker 1: I mean they showed up in big moments over and over,
Speaker 1: so he found some balance there. To your point, um,
Speaker 1: you know, that's like the fourth different quarterback that's been
Speaker 1: compared to Jordan on this show this year, a loon,
Speaker 1: and so they would probably completely different than basketball. Mark
Speaker 1: said it, let's move, let's move two a break, Let's
Speaker 1: take a break. We'll be right back, all right. So
Speaker 1: the Eagles move on. They will host the NFC Title
Speaker 1: game next weekend. Their opponent it had to be the Niners.
Speaker 1: You knew it was gonna be the Niners. It is
Speaker 1: the Niners. Steps it back to Dak Prescott. He goes
Speaker 1: over the middle of the church cree when the Boo
Speaker 1: partners is laughing. Forty Niners Shore going to the NFC
Speaker 1: Title game for a third time in the last four years.
Speaker 1: This stuff is not easy. The Chief's going five years
Speaker 1: in a row. God nobody wants say. Oh. Dan always
Speaker 1: brings it back to the Jets. The Jets have been
Speaker 1: to the a f C title game four times in
Speaker 1: my entire life. I was born in to go five
Speaker 1: years in a row, to go three out of four years.
Speaker 1: These are major organizational achievements. Shout out to the Niners
Speaker 1: who get past the Dallas Cowboys nineteen to twelve, largely
Speaker 1: because of their defense. Again, like the Philadelphia Eagles, loaded
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, and when one side
Speaker 1: doesn't have a big day, you could still move forward
Speaker 1: because the other side could step up. We saw that
Speaker 1: there on that final play of the game, and and
Speaker 1: Greggy um and we're gonna get to the Dallas side
Speaker 1: of it because it's always filled with juice and it's
Speaker 1: just so it's almost like a Greek tragedy when you
Speaker 1: get to the Cowboys in January now. But the Niners
Speaker 1: they've showed through uh scoring in the last month that
Speaker 1: they could just destroy a team. This show they could
Speaker 1: win this type of game too. That's valuable. I think
Speaker 1: you set it up perfectly like the Eagles and the
Speaker 1: forty Niners. For all the talk that it's like the
Speaker 1: these a f C superpowers, here they got the best
Speaker 1: teams that I've been saying that because of their quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: The Forts and the Eagles are the two teams that
Speaker 1: can win any type of game that you don't know
Speaker 1: what unit's gonna show up, whether it's the defensive line
Speaker 1: or the secondary, or their passing game, or it's the
Speaker 1: running game. And forty Niners offense really didn't show up
Speaker 1: for much of this game. Credit to the Cowboys defense
Speaker 1: for their game plan and their talent, but this game
Speaker 1: was there for the taking if Dak Prescott and the
Speaker 1: Cowboys offense could get anything done, and they just couldn't.
Speaker 1: And part of that is is Damiko Ryan's is coaching.
Speaker 1: Part of it is this linebacker group, which is just
Speaker 1: so good Fred Warner making plays down the field and
Speaker 1: coverage alsha here was everywhere. He's so good that they
Speaker 1: have to keep three linebackers on the field, which not
Speaker 1: many teams do. We know, Dre greenlaws a beast like
Speaker 1: he made great plays. They just confused the hell out
Speaker 1: of Dac when he was backing up to pass and
Speaker 1: they were all over their receivers. They let Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 1: get some catches and that's about it. And I just
Speaker 1: think if you kept playing this game. As much as
Speaker 1: I want to pick on Mike McCarthy for not being aggressive,
Speaker 1: I don't think Dak in the Dallas offense would have
Speaker 1: delivered if he was aggressive. So I think they would
Speaker 1: have lost this game either way. Because of this, forty
Speaker 1: ers don't come out of it with a with a
Speaker 1: ton of blame for Mike McCarthy or even the approach,
Speaker 1: because Dak Prescott did not look comfortable from the very
Speaker 1: word go uh. You know, the two interceptions, they only
Speaker 1: lead to two field goals. That's not fatal, But in
Speaker 1: a game like this where it was nine nine deep
Speaker 1: into the game, that's the difference. I mean, little moments
Speaker 1: like that because the big question was what we got
Speaker 1: pristine Doc and we could go we got pristine Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Is that who they are? They've grown into that? No,
Speaker 1: they haven't. And the the Niners find a way to
Speaker 1: make those versions, the better versions of their opponent disappear
Speaker 1: in a hurry. It's the defense. And then what I
Speaker 1: think happens with this Niners offense because it's a different
Speaker 1: game than a week ago when they were trailing Seattle
Speaker 1: at halftime, but just over the course of the game,
Speaker 1: they find a way for enough to happen on offense.
Speaker 1: And a game like this where it's so tight. Brock Purty,
Speaker 1: who is just absolutely like ice cold, like never seems
Speaker 1: to be razzled, frazzled on any level, like found George
Speaker 1: k with that incredible catch. I thought that was the
Speaker 1: turning point drive of the game. And then you got
Speaker 1: started to see Christian McCaffrey get through, Elijah Mitchell get through,
Speaker 1: and I just noticed the Dallas defense starting to tire
Speaker 1: because this wasn't a game like the Eagles against the Giants,
Speaker 1: where the Niners on the ground produced a lot early
Speaker 1: but they kept mentioning it and you know that like
Speaker 1: Shanahan clearly stated it to the broadcast team. We want
Speaker 1: to be physical, we want to run the ball. We're
Speaker 1: not looking to take a ton of shots down field.
Speaker 1: We want to be able to do this against Dallas.
Speaker 1: It took a really long time, but in the last
Speaker 1: couple of drives, I'm not saying they were prolific, but
Speaker 1: you saw it and had Elijah Mitchell not run out
Speaker 1: of bounds like they would have iced it even minutes before,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't even got into that last absurd play with
Speaker 1: Zeke Elliott snapping the ball and then the whole thing
Speaker 1: ends and Dalton Schultz made some terrible bone headed plays
Speaker 1: back to back on that last drive. It wasn't a
Speaker 1: great look um for the Cowboys. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: Dallas just like last year. You you came out of
Speaker 1: that game against again the fort but it was in
Speaker 1: Arlington that game, Um, they didn't execute the way they could,
Speaker 1: They didn't take advantage of opportunities, and it happened again here.
Speaker 1: And it must be so frustrating for a Cowboys fan
Speaker 1: because that big Kittle circus catch, you know, that sets
Speaker 1: up um San Francisco on the Cowboys side of the field.
Speaker 1: But that becomes a touchdown drive because Trayvon Digs has
Speaker 1: a ball just skip right into his bread basket, uh,
Speaker 1: for what would have been a massive, potentially game shifting interception.
Speaker 1: He can't hold onto the ball. Um, there's a penalty
Speaker 1: in there as well that kept the drive alive, right,
Speaker 1: was it gonna be third or fourth and nineteen or something?
Speaker 1: And and the San Francisco then, to their credit, takes
Speaker 1: advantage and gets in and it's just like it's just
Speaker 1: the same things happen over and over again. I think
Speaker 1: McCarthy probably survives here. Um. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: would it shocked you with Sean Payton out there, uh
Speaker 1: running from mayor if it ends very differently. Here is
Speaker 1: Jared Jones, who you know, Jerry Jones, God bless him.
Speaker 1: You know. My feelings and Jerr are clear that we
Speaker 1: will miss him when he's gone as a character in
Speaker 1: terms of what he uh, the entertainment value he brings.
Speaker 1: He went onto the field before the game to consult
Speaker 1: with Brett Maher after he missed a couple of field
Speaker 1: goals in warmups. That's the GM slash owner of the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and of course he has thoughts on the Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: decision to punt late in the game. I think what
Speaker 1: greg about three minutes left or so, fourth and ten
Speaker 1: deep in their own end. Um, they do get the
Speaker 1: ball back, but the game for all intents and purposes
Speaker 1: is over by that point. A lot of criticism on
Speaker 1: McCarthy and the Cowboys. Here's what Jared had to say
Speaker 1: about that decision. They had a lot to say about it.
Speaker 1: But um, but they uh it appears today we go
Speaker 1: more scheme pretty good out there by their defensive coaches.
Speaker 1: We scheme them pretty good. So uh, that was a
Speaker 1: that was a big difference. Uh, we had it tar
Speaker 1: force probably right up until the last three or four minutes.
Speaker 1: We had it tar force to get a step farther
Speaker 1: to the championship. But still, I'm I'm sick. Uh don't
Speaker 1: have Uh it's really anything materials important. Listen to him
Speaker 1: say so was he saying that like the coaches essentially
Speaker 1: told him, well, the defense had it all over us
Speaker 1: at that point. I mean, that is what he's saying,
Speaker 1: and that's to me, we were schemed pretty good out
Speaker 1: there by their defensive coaches. I think what he's saying
Speaker 1: is we had no confidence we could pick up a
Speaker 1: fourth down, which is self evident because there were three
Speaker 1: decisions late in that game. It was actually two minutes
Speaker 1: and five seconds left by the time they got that
Speaker 1: punt off, so it was before the two minute warning.
Speaker 1: Was fourth and ten from from your own a team, right.
Speaker 1: But when when they punted that, you know, we were
Speaker 1: we were in the in the film room and I said, like,
Speaker 1: there's a really good chance they don't get the ball
Speaker 1: back here, and they wouldn't have if Elijah Mitchell stayed
Speaker 1: in bounds And by the time they did get the
Speaker 1: ball back it was a prayer. But earlier in the half,
Speaker 1: Dan fourth and five at the forty the forty niners forty,
Speaker 1: they decided to take a delay of game uh and
Speaker 1: punt it and then the drive even before that. Granted
Speaker 1: there on the forty niners um and it's only a
Speaker 1: forty three yard field goal for Maher and it's a
Speaker 1: fourth and eight, But I did think considering Maher, considering
Speaker 1: they needed a touchdown, Uh, they could have gone for
Speaker 1: it there if you were seeing anything out of the
Speaker 1: Cowboys offense. But I think based on that Jones quote,
Speaker 1: they had no confidence and I don't think it would
Speaker 1: have mattered because they shouldn't have had any content and
Speaker 1: this is and Greg, you are the president of the
Speaker 1: Dak fan Club, so I want to hear this. He
Speaker 1: played terribly. I mean this was he was brilliant on
Speaker 1: Monday night against the Bucks, and you give him all
Speaker 1: the credit in the world for that, but that was
Speaker 1: the Bucks, an eight and nine team. If Dak wants
Speaker 1: to be seen as one of the best quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the league, you need to deliver better than he did.
Speaker 1: He had two interceptions. He had a Drake greenlock it
Speaker 1: at US pick six late this game that would have
Speaker 1: sealed it and that would have been on his tombstone Doc.
Speaker 1: So he even got away with another killer throw. And
Speaker 1: just after that New Year pick six, he had a
Speaker 1: receiver deep that he misfired on, got the guy turned around.
Speaker 1: That could have been a big play and he just
Speaker 1: didn't show up. And I think that informed some of
Speaker 1: the decision making by Mike McCarthy, who said, my Devents
Speaker 1: is playing well and I can't move the ball at
Speaker 1: my quarterback today, so I'm gonna hope that that wins
Speaker 1: that way. It was just it's disappointing, to say the least.
Speaker 1: The game we got from the quarterback. I totally agree
Speaker 1: it was a disaster. I actually thought the second half
Speaker 1: after the first two interceptions was worse. I don't know
Speaker 1: if they were in his head, but I thought it
Speaker 1: got worse. Even though he didn't throw a pick in
Speaker 1: the second half. He could have that ball to Ceedee
Speaker 1: Lamb down the seam that Fred Warner made the great
Speaker 1: play on. I mean, if he puts that out there
Speaker 1: a little more. M J D in the film room
Speaker 1: with us spotted it right away. Put some air under that,
Speaker 1: let's seed, keep the afterburners on. That's that's a touchdown.
Speaker 1: The plays down the sideline, and then I actually I'm
Speaker 1: almost haunted by the there's a third and five, I
Speaker 1: think on their first drive of the second half, and
Speaker 1: and Olsen was all over this one too. Was he
Speaker 1: went through his read so fast, had no pressure on him,
Speaker 1: and threw a weird outlet pass to Zeke that was
Speaker 1: not on target, that had no chance for a first down,
Speaker 1: And that was a panicked, poorly executed decision and throw.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think, I think that's what San Francisco
Speaker 1: does to you. I look at a Cowboys team that
Speaker 1: had a chance, a major chance when Rayby McLeod fumbled
Speaker 1: the punt. You're at San Francisco twenty one. You get
Speaker 1: out of there with a field goal. You can't do
Speaker 1: that against this Niners team. And like Dak, Prescott completely disappointed.
Speaker 1: And I think there's similar images to the terrible loss
Speaker 1: they suffered against the Niners a year ago. And I
Speaker 1: don't care about that final play, for instance, And we
Speaker 1: were saying during our break, like, all right, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to dial up something. It's gonna probably be wacky.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be wacky. But that said, I would rather
Speaker 1: just say, let's just go for the hail. Mary then
Speaker 1: had the seat that last year was Dak's scrambling, not
Speaker 1: getting the first, trying to down the ball, the time
Speaker 1: runs out, like the whole things of fiasco. It's your
Speaker 1: final image of that Cowboys team. This was a good
Speaker 1: Cowboys team that a year later, it's Zeke Elliott who's
Speaker 1: ruled ineligible, snapping the ball to Dac who whips it
Speaker 1: to turpin and he's nailed to the ground and the
Speaker 1: thing is over. It's like that's a circus. Sean Payton's
Speaker 1: loving that the way that game plays out and the
Speaker 1: reason Zeke is all over the game plan is because
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard, who was such a special player for him
Speaker 1: this year. Um, he goes out in the first half
Speaker 1: with a what's initially called a high ankle sprain, and
Speaker 1: then it's reported after the game that he suffered a
Speaker 1: fractured left fibula that will require surgery. Um normally, according
Speaker 1: to Todd Archer, Uh, those require a three month recovery. Greg,
Speaker 1: as you said during the break, he's a free agent
Speaker 1: to be just bad bad, uh misfortune for Pollard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that's depressing. He's still, to me, would be a
Speaker 1: great free agent pick up for anyone. But yeah, there's
Speaker 1: just these they're not great in the details. And I
Speaker 1: saw this interview acted with Aaron Andrews before the game,
Speaker 1: and he was talking about how he didn't leave the
Speaker 1: house for two weeks after the last one and that
Speaker 1: he actually rewatched the press conference from the post game
Speaker 1: lost to the forty isers this week because like he
Speaker 1: didn't want to feel that again. And it just feels
Speaker 1: like you don't want to get inside his head. But
Speaker 1: he put him a lot on himself for this game,
Speaker 1: like that it's gonna be different, and then for it
Speaker 1: to happen again as Devins Ceedee Lamb defending his quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean he was gonna get criticized regardless no matter
Speaker 1: how he played, unless he didn't throw or zero interceptions
Speaker 1: if you did. If you did throw zero interceptions, everybody
Speaker 1: would have been on the school. Just because he threw pace.
Speaker 1: Everybody's gonna be on him. That everybody that was great.
Speaker 1: But he plays for Dallas Cowboys. He's number four, he's
Speaker 1: off starting quarterbet So that's what coming with it with
Speaker 1: my boy and know that. So it is what it is.
Speaker 1: We're gonna work. We're gonna work. Ceedee lamb Um, just
Speaker 1: like he defended Brett or put through his support behind
Speaker 1: Brett Maher on the bench last week, supporting dad because
Speaker 1: he knows how good dad can be. I think that's
Speaker 1: part of what made this so frustrating for Lamb and
Speaker 1: and guys like Greg Rosenthal that he didn't show up
Speaker 1: in this game. I mean, it will be a tough offseason.
Speaker 1: It kind of it mirrors to me, like, wait, what
Speaker 1: happened to Daniel Jones and the Giants? Oh, you've faced
Speaker 1: the Eagles defense that basically has dismantled people left and right.
Speaker 1: The Niners have been doing this. It's again, it's the
Speaker 1: focus on Brock Party, this rookie Cord. Well, the defense
Speaker 1: has been destroying people week after week and turning good
Speaker 1: quarterbacks into lesser. I'm glad you brought up Party because
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a whole week to talk about it. Um,
Speaker 1: But a little bit sobering for Purdy, who gets large.
Speaker 1: Although he did get better in the second half as
Speaker 1: there he was improved some throws, didn't have a big
Speaker 1: game by any means, and now he has to go
Speaker 1: against the Philly defense that I think is even better
Speaker 1: than the Dallas defense. So we'll see how that go.
Speaker 1: But ultimately San Francisco moves on there. They have not
Speaker 1: lost in a very long time. And uh, I don't
Speaker 1: think who shoot, I don't know, I haven't thought it.
Speaker 1: This is a tough one to pick, by the way,
Speaker 1: that's a tough one. N title game is gonna be
Speaker 1: a bonkers affair. Well, as of this taping, I think
Speaker 1: both lines next week are two points are under, which
Speaker 1: is crazy. I saw some analytics site which like put
Speaker 1: the percentage of which teams will win the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and like everyone's between twenty three and It's pretty rare
Speaker 1: to have four teams. They have their strengths and weaknesses,
Speaker 1: and the Mahomes injury looms certainly, but that like, I
Speaker 1: feel like they're about all equal to win the Super
Speaker 1: that we've got the four best teams. Is there anyone?
Speaker 1: Is there any debate? I think I'm confident we do.
Speaker 1: There is one other big injury that looms coming out
Speaker 1: of this game. Christian McCaffrey had a rap on his
Speaker 1: calf in the second half of this game when they
Speaker 1: were trying to ice the game. On their last possession,
Speaker 1: he gets the ball once on a weird wide receiver
Speaker 1: like screen type thing, but otherwise it was Elijah Mitchell. Uh.
Speaker 1: He only had ten carries in this game. McCaffrey, So
Speaker 1: what is his physical health going into the biggest game
Speaker 1: of his I don't want Christian McCaffrey suffering another injury
Speaker 1: until they've won the Super Bowl and he like stubs
Speaker 1: his toe mowing the lawn and deal with that for
Speaker 1: two weeks. I don't think he's ever going to mow
Speaker 1: his lawn well again if he ever has. You know what,
Speaker 1: he's kind of a bay. He drops a bag, drops
Speaker 1: a bag of drops a bag of fives and tens
Speaker 1: and coins on his life. Well, I mean it works
Speaker 1: too because his dad was an NFL player, That's what
Speaker 1: I mean. But that's like a d n that's a
Speaker 1: better NFL player than McCaffrey every ever mowed the lawn.
Speaker 1: Just answer no. But I would say, like, the reason
Speaker 1: he's an NFL players not because his dad's wealthiest. Because
Speaker 1: he's like his DNA and his genetics are superior to
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the population. And and one thing
Speaker 1: I've noticed here, you know, working at NFL Network where
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys have their sons who are
Speaker 1: becoming great players. He has excellent instruction and like playing
Speaker 1: football all the time since you were four because your dad,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like, that's an amazing advantage. And Dalton
Speaker 1: Schultz's dad didn't play football. Is that what you're trying
Speaker 1: to say? Now, He shouldn't know. He didn't know the
Speaker 1: rules about not going back and then to not get
Speaker 1: that foot done. We could have seen the hail mary.
Speaker 1: If West was here. I knew he would, he would
Speaker 1: mention this. It would have been like the Cowboys in
Speaker 1: the Divisional round throwing a hail mary. That is where
Speaker 1: the Hail Mary was Born Cowboys Vikings game. But this
Speaker 1: Cowboys team does not afford us that they didn't even
Speaker 1: get to don't. So the Cowboys go home again. It's
Speaker 1: been thirty years since they've been to the MNASY title game.
Speaker 1: I think even more now, is it? That's a bad streak? Um?
Speaker 1: All right, So what do we learn? Football is still great? Um?
Speaker 1: The football? Uh? We could have, we could have had.
Speaker 1: We didn't get a classic, but we got a classic
Speaker 1: week of matchups coming up Conference championship weekend. Let's look
Speaker 1: at it real quick. Here San Francisco at Philadelphia noon
Speaker 1: five at the link. As I said, so that will
Speaker 1: be Greg Olsen, who had an excellent game. By the way,
Speaker 1: that Olsen so good. I do not want. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's no way Tom Brady is retiring. But if
Speaker 1: Tom Brady retires and starts his three fifty million dollar
Speaker 1: Fox contract and takes Greg Olsen's number one spot, it's
Speaker 1: a travesty. You can't do that. But they also here's
Speaker 1: the thing that we can. You can't make it a
Speaker 1: three man booth and throw Brady into that either put
Speaker 1: him on the Booger mobile. I can't do that either.
Speaker 1: I want to put a sandwich on Brady never ends
Speaker 1: up taking that job completely. I wouldn't even take you
Speaker 1: on that because I don't see that happening, because like, well,
Speaker 1: he'll either pass on that or it'll just be like
Speaker 1: the Murdocks get to bring him to corporate events and
Speaker 1: he shows up five times a year. You've had that theory,
Speaker 1: but I don't think that's why. That's what's the direction.
Speaker 1: There was like people Tom has made a lot of money.
Speaker 1: He's you know, but uh, one of the reasons, yeah,
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why he is rich as he's
Speaker 1: made good decisions finance actually, so turning down thrender fifty
Speaker 1: million dollars because he's bored of the idea. Now, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't see it. I just think, like, when
Speaker 1: it comes down to it, does he want to be
Speaker 1: at the nacho bar with Ross Tucker and the Tucker spreads? Uh,
Speaker 1: you know before the game? You really think he's gonna
Speaker 1: be showing up to there are different levels Kansas City
Speaker 1: and doing all this everywhere. I just don't think he's
Speaker 1: gonna I think he's gonna be like I have. I
Speaker 1: know that's a lot of money, but I've got a
Speaker 1: lot of money in the end. I don't want to
Speaker 1: remember here when it's been years now and now Dion
Speaker 1: is a major head coach of a D one program
Speaker 1: UM in college. Um, but Dion was different than all
Speaker 1: the other guys. Dion, amongst the analysts, had his own
Speaker 1: green room that no one else could access. Didn't get
Speaker 1: that Brady money though. The money's He's not going to
Speaker 1: be hanging out of there like I don't think that.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying he has to be up there. Uh,
Speaker 1: she's not gonna be game. Doesn't see those guys have
Speaker 1: no concern Tom Brady, the Nacho line and all this
Speaker 1: stuff that the normal plebeians are participating in the other games.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have to get in that elevator. You can't
Speaker 1: get out. Like he's gonna be in the elevator. You're
Speaker 1: gonna be next to Zach Berman and bow Wolf, like
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson and Land Ranch. I mean, he's just flashing blood.
Speaker 1: He's a man. I just think he'll be too bored
Speaker 1: by it all too. He's just not even gonna want
Speaker 1: to bother. He thinks that's boring. Wait till he retires
Speaker 1: and see what else around there? He did retire. How
Speaker 1: long did that take? Three weeks? This keeps you in
Speaker 1: the public eye, you know, involved with something that you love.
Speaker 1: Everybody's saying you're the greatest. Who's talking about Troy Aikman.
Speaker 1: Had he decided he was too bored to do this,
Speaker 1: like thirty years from now, Tom Brady will be like
Speaker 1: a historical very large historical memory. Or he can be
Speaker 1: on television the rest of his life an elevator on
Speaker 1: the nacho line, don't project. I'm not I am turning
Speaker 1: down your three million contract that already signed because I
Speaker 1: don't want nachos. I don't think he uh, it just
Speaker 1: wouldn't be in a just not in You know, we
Speaker 1: wonder why we always have a ninety minutes show that
Speaker 1: we do a solid line the Bengals at the Chiefs
Speaker 1: three thirty pm Eastern Arrowhead three Pacific, And I like
Speaker 1: that you noon earlier because I think Pacific should start
Speaker 1: to be the standard time. Three pm Eastern Game one,
Speaker 1: six pm Eastern Game two. And then right after that
Speaker 1: you tune into The Round the NFL podcast streaming live,
Speaker 1: and then you check out the audio show because you
Speaker 1: gotta get it twice. Good stuff, Um, thank you, everybody
Speaker 1: for listening. You have any other thoughts, Mark, I mean
Speaker 1: the music is playing. I think it's time to reassess it,
Speaker 1: where we're at in life and start over. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on Tuesday with our first look at Championship weekend.
Speaker 1: Until then, you know what you gotta do, The call