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Speaker 1: lowest prices guaranteed all right, wild weekend and want to
Speaker 1: finish to it. Kansas City holds on to beat Buffalo
Speaker 1: Trailed at half seventeen to thirteen, come back to win
Speaker 1: twenty seven to twenty four, a game in which both
Speaker 1: teams made a lot of mistakes. John Middlecoff, former NFL scout,
Speaker 1: hosts a podcast on the volume three and Out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean this is when you get into these classic
Speaker 1: you know, all E. Fraser matchups. You know, you see
Speaker 1: them multiple times. People get so nervous and so anxious.
Speaker 1: They want to blame the refs, and there was some
Speaker 1: stuff today with the officiating, But I also think both
Speaker 1: teams made a ton of mistakes. I mean, McCole Hardman,
Speaker 1: why are you giving him the ball down there? The
Speaker 1: fake punt, Buffalo fumbles it, Kansas City's on it, and
Speaker 1: then Buffalo regains it. So I mean in the end,
Speaker 1: I looked at Buffalo in the first half only up four,
Speaker 1: despite the fact they'd have double the time of possession,
Speaker 1: double the first downs, two hundred and thirty five yards,
Speaker 1: and they lead seventeen to thirteen this game. Maybe I'm
Speaker 1: wrong on this. It felt like Buffalo had their chances,
Speaker 1: but they just didn't take advantage of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Buffalo goes up into halftime seventeen thirteen,
Speaker 2: and then the Chiefs come right out and score right,
Speaker 2: they go right down, and then it's twenty to seventeen,
Speaker 2: and you felt like, you know, the Bills are gonna
Speaker 2: have to make just a stupid amount of plays to
Speaker 2: win this game because they're gonna have to make extra
Speaker 2: plays because the Chiefs have their number. And they did.
Speaker 2: I mean, Josh Allen on that final drive before the
Speaker 2: kicker missed multiple big third downs, multiple plays with his legs.
Speaker 2: I mean this another time when he played really well.
Speaker 2: I don't exactly know what his final box score was,
Speaker 2: but I thought he was awesome legs, Yeah, hitting balls.
Speaker 2: How many times did he make big throws down the field?
Speaker 2: They drop some Obviously they got a little lucky on
Speaker 2: the fumble that Cankine Doc doubt and they ended up
Speaker 2: landing on. But to lose on a kick and who knows,
Speaker 2: I mean maybe they would have lost in overtime, maybe
Speaker 2: the Chiefs drive. That's tough. I mean, it feels like
Speaker 2: the same shit, different day for three straight years with
Speaker 2: a team with a quarterback in the peak of his
Speaker 2: powers and Andy Mahomes. You just can't get over the hump.
Speaker 1: Well, and also I thought if Buffalo won, they were
Speaker 1: in big trouble against Baltimore. I got two healthy linebackers
Speaker 1: go into I think Kansas City. So the line is
Speaker 1: Baltimore minus three. I thought Kansas City has a real
Speaker 1: shot to win that game. I felt like Buffalo they
Speaker 1: were just falling apart physically. And I think that thing
Speaker 1: that's frustrating if you're a Bills fan is that it
Speaker 1: just becomes so Josh Allen dependent. You can't count on
Speaker 1: the defense, you can't count on health. Now, you can't
Speaker 1: count on the kicker McDermott's fake punt. I can't count
Speaker 1: on the coach. It just always feels like Josh Is
Speaker 1: puts the cape on and when they lose, are like
Speaker 1: he's not the issue. And it just feels like, you know,
Speaker 1: in previous years there was no run game. Now they
Speaker 1: have a run game. In previous years there was weakness
Speaker 1: in the conference. It's it's this is this was the
Speaker 1: year for Buffalo. John Kansas City doesn't have a number
Speaker 1: two receiver. They have some undependable hardman Tony some some players.
Speaker 1: Now Tony didn't play today, right, so, but they have
Speaker 1: these players all year long. And you taught today with
Speaker 1: a fumble at the goal line, Kansas City opens the
Speaker 1: door to beat them multiple times a game now they
Speaker 1: never did in the previous five years, and Buffalo at
Speaker 1: home still can't put him away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, this is the worst loss. I just
Speaker 2: don't see how you shake this if you're that franchise, because,
Speaker 2: like you said, you're playing this team that kind of
Speaker 2: comes limping in relative to what they've been. Who made
Speaker 2: big play after big play today was Valdaz Scanting. He
Speaker 2: hasn't kind of cold all season long. He had both
Speaker 2: huge catches. Yeah, I think when you're a player or
Speaker 2: two away like Buffalo has banned, like the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers have been, like the Chiefs, and you buy a
Speaker 2: big free agent, you need that guy to hit. So
Speaker 2: look at the forty nine ers, right, they get Tarvarius
Speaker 2: Warden Hardgrave immediately. Those guys are Pro bowlers, right. The
Speaker 2: Chiefs they signed Justin Reid a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: You feel them all over the field. They went all
Speaker 2: in on von Miller. Now he tore his ACL, but
Speaker 2: it was an older player and that was a disaster.
Speaker 2: And when you are paying a lot of guys money
Speaker 2: and you go all in on one player, then he
Speaker 2: gets injured and he's clearly a shell of himself. Now.
Speaker 2: You feel that, like, where are their impact players beside?
Speaker 2: Like you said, they're built like a basketball team right now,
Speaker 2: and they have a superstar player and when he's you know, incredible,
Speaker 2: like he was today making plays left and right, but
Speaker 2: your margin, frer is still so tiny. And like you said,
Speaker 2: they had guys dropping like flies. The injuries were starting
Speaker 2: to mount up, and they some of those guys that
Speaker 2: got hurt came back in the game. You're like, thank god,
Speaker 2: I don't know who he would have thrown to, but man,
Speaker 2: to miss that kick, I mean, this is a franchise
Speaker 2: that does feel snake bitten and who knows. I mean,
Speaker 2: I listen Sean McDermott going forward on that punt. They
Speaker 2: got bailed out obviously by the fumble a couple of
Speaker 2: plays later, but that was that was a questionable move.
Speaker 2: It really well, you're playing a team that's offenses the
Speaker 2: entire season has struggled, like you just punt and I
Speaker 2: get your punters hurt. That was a huge part of
Speaker 2: this game right there. He could barely punt. So to
Speaker 2: lose that game at home as the favorite, that's something
Speaker 2: it's hard to shake.
Speaker 1: Well, and the other thing is, and I know I've
Speaker 1: been on this ad nauseum. Hardbaugh's not your classic defensive
Speaker 1: coach because he started as a running back coach, then
Speaker 1: it was a tight end coach, then was a special
Speaker 1: teams coordinating. He's not your classic defensive coach. He's he's
Speaker 1: done secondary, special teams. So here, this part of this
Speaker 1: dynamic is Andy Reid offensive coach, Sean McDermott defensive coach.
Speaker 1: Andy's been able to fix problems faster offensively, the O line,
Speaker 1: the receiving corps, bring Juju Smith Schuster in for a year.
Speaker 1: All these teams. Once you pay the quarterback John, You've
Speaker 1: got liabilities. Yea, Andy's a better job to fix those spags.
Speaker 1: Brett veach Andy. I mean they've had to rebuild the
Speaker 1: old line twice, rebuild the defense, rebuild the receiving corps,
Speaker 1: and I almost feel like the offensive coach can do
Speaker 1: that a little bit more quickly, at least on the
Speaker 1: offensive side. I think this is a flawed Kansas City team,
Speaker 1: But again, today you got guys that didn't make plays
Speaker 1: all year making huge plays.
Speaker 2: I think there's something to be said about the championship culture.
Speaker 2: I mean, about the thing that you truly can't quantify.
Speaker 2: It was on full display today. Right. Travis Kelcey to me,
Speaker 2: has been a shell of his greatness this season. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what did he do today? Made some big plays, multiple
Speaker 2: huge touchdowns. The other thing, when you have an offensive
Speaker 2: coach that your head coach usually get the best out
Speaker 2: of guys. So what happened? Their young wide receiver Rice
Speaker 2: got better and better? Valdaz Scantling. They don't just throw
Speaker 2: him in the doghouse. They keep positivity, they keep his
Speaker 2: head up and then he's making big plays for him today.
Speaker 2: The defensive culture, right, he goes back to Spags a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago. How well does that team tackle?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: I mean they got a lot of ram them guys
Speaker 2: in the secondary, mid to late round draft picks, great
Speaker 2: open field tacklers. Even when they give up a big play,
Speaker 2: they don't hang their head. That was a team. We've
Speaker 2: seen them forever win these games at home now back
Speaker 2: to back weeks, but specifically this week they're down multiple times,
Speaker 2: unfazed that they didn't wilt, that they didn't go into
Speaker 2: the tank, that they're really unphased by adversity. I really
Speaker 2: think this is a mirror image. They're different. But of
Speaker 2: those Patriot teams, you just could never count out. You're like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is the time, you know, to bet against them,
Speaker 2: and then they end up winning that game as an
Speaker 2: underdog on the road in a tough condition when the
Speaker 2: other quarterbacks going nuts, just because the margin for their
Speaker 2: er on the other team is small. They have the
Speaker 2: superior coach, even if the quarterbacks are a coin flip.
Speaker 2: Their other guys are just gonna make the Bills truly believe,
Speaker 2: like deep down in their soul they're gonna win this game.
Speaker 2: At different points, how could they? They've never won this
Speaker 2: game where all those guys on the Chiefs, even the
Speaker 2: young guys are super Bowl champions, like they all have
Speaker 2: a ring at home at their house like that they
Speaker 2: know they can win this game. They've literally done it before.
Speaker 2: And that that to me, like was the difference in
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 1: No, it's true too, because if you go back to
Speaker 1: those Patriot teams, Julian Edelman's told me this couple of times.
Speaker 1: He goes, everyone had a different personality, everyone had a
Speaker 1: different weakness. We try to figure out what it was
Speaker 1: and find our identity. Like by the end of September,
Speaker 1: early October, and this team doesn't have the firepower. This
Speaker 1: team's better defensively, this team's a little younger in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: But I do think that Andy Reid has come to
Speaker 1: terms with Listen, we're a flawed offense, but at some
Speaker 1: point scantling he can run Nicole Hardman. I'm going to
Speaker 1: give him opportunities because I think they're sort of limited.
Speaker 1: But you know, and if you go back to a
Speaker 1: lot of those New England teams, they had flaws. Some
Speaker 1: teams didn't run as well. There were a couple of
Speaker 1: teams that had no deep threat, and then you just
Speaker 1: went heavy gronk, you know, heavy gronk, heavy special teams
Speaker 1: in defense. I think this was the Kansas City team
Speaker 1: for Buffalo to beat, though this one felt like it's
Speaker 1: still a work in progress with one of the best
Speaker 1: coaches of all time. I think Andy knows there's real
Speaker 1: limit to He doesn't want to give that baal to Hardman.
Speaker 1: That's done. I mean, you can see his reaction on
Speaker 1: the sideline. He's like, I trust you one more time.
Speaker 1: But I think you know, it's just like you said,
Speaker 1: I think there are opportunities to beat certain dynasties, and
Speaker 1: this was one of them.
Speaker 2: I but isn't that why they are the dynasty Colin? Like?
Speaker 2: Isn't that why like that happened to the Patriots. They
Speaker 2: had moments, some of those Flacco Ravens teams, some of
Speaker 2: those Peyton teams, and you just can't get it done.
Speaker 2: Today's a good example. And I think this last couple
Speaker 2: of years, you know, I would say Belichick's greatest strength
Speaker 2: as a coach is willing to do anything. You can't
Speaker 2: stop the run, We'll run it all day on. You
Speaker 2: can't stop the pass, will pass it. You have struggled
Speaker 2: with something offensively, we'll exploit that area.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: Andy's always been known, past, past, past, Today Mahomes only
Speaker 2: had twenty three attempts and they rode Potago for almost
Speaker 2: one hundred yards. And these last two years, minus Tyreek Hill,
Speaker 2: they've really ridden Pajago. Why he's clearly you could argue
Speaker 2: he's their best weapon right now with Travis no longer
Speaker 2: being an a player, probably a B plus player at
Speaker 2: least their equals, and Andy, who at his core wants
Speaker 2: to pass rain snow sleet in a dome, is pounding
Speaker 2: him today. And that's added an element that this team.
Speaker 2: The NFL is lucky they didn't have this guy a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago with all the other weapons in
Speaker 2: their prime, because they never would have been beaten. Now
Speaker 2: he's had to shift a little bit. They feel like
Speaker 2: a defensive team right, which they definitely weren't early on
Speaker 2: in the Mahomes era. A very physical team and that
Speaker 2: also shows when you run the ball, it adds a
Speaker 2: physical element to your team. That's why to me, I
Speaker 2: mean they're kind of built to go into Buffalo and win.
Speaker 2: They're built to go into Baltimore and win. Yeah, they
Speaker 2: can keep your offense, you know below twenty five. They
Speaker 2: have a very good chance because as long as they're
Speaker 2: hanging around, like I said, they're gonna believe they can win.
Speaker 2: I truly believe, Like is Baltimore. If this game is
Speaker 2: nineteen to seventeen going to the fourth quarter, the question
Speaker 2: the Chiefs will not flinch. They will. They might lose,
Speaker 2: but they will not will I thought you could argue
Speaker 2: today is one of their more impressive wins given who
Speaker 2: they're playing, the injuries they've had. They lose their star
Speaker 2: linebacker Willie Gay in the middle of the game, whose
Speaker 2: job was to basically spy Josh Allen. What an incredible
Speaker 2: just day for Mahomes and Andy Reid. What a championship
Speaker 2: le win?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wrote, I wrote multiple times, like what a beautiful.
Speaker 2: Mess with.
Speaker 1: There are chaos back and forth. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: don't know how you know you talked about recovering. I
Speaker 1: think Kansas City their issues are solvable issues. But I
Speaker 1: also think when you look at a game like this,
Speaker 1: I really do think there are certain seasons where you
Speaker 1: get a feeling about something. Some stuff's obvious. San Francisco's
Speaker 1: roster is the best in the NFC, But I think
Speaker 1: very early in this season, you kind of felt like
Speaker 1: it was Detroit. This was a really solid team. The
Speaker 1: O line, you know, they weren't. They weren't the team
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago that had to win by
Speaker 1: track meet their pass rush. Now was no longer. It
Speaker 1: was elite which could hide their secondary. And I do
Speaker 1: feel like watching Baltimore, I think Buffalo would have been
Speaker 1: in big trouble. I think it's gonna be I don't
Speaker 1: know if Kansas City can win. I when I watched
Speaker 1: Kansas City as I was watching Baltimore this weekend, I
Speaker 1: thought to myself. God, it's hard to find a team
Speaker 1: without a flaw, and now that they've added Zay Flowers
Speaker 1: and I mean, just think of how dynamic. Look how
Speaker 1: many rushing yards Baltimore had against Demiko Ryans, a great coach,
Speaker 1: and they really controlled the game in the second half.
Speaker 1: They're on their third running back. Like you get to
Speaker 1: a point when I watched San Francisco and we've always
Speaker 1: acknowledged them, but when I watched Baltimore this weekend, I
Speaker 1: don't know if Kansas City matches up. They have this
Speaker 1: mix of depth and elite talent and veterans, and I
Speaker 1: do feel that Kansas City is young and talented. I mean,
Speaker 1: how do you think they match up with the Ravens.
Speaker 2: Well, if Gay is out, that's a big deal because
Speaker 2: Lamar who really got comfortable in the second half, they
Speaker 2: started running him on the edges. I mean, you can't
Speaker 2: afford to lose fast, explosive linebackers against that team because
Speaker 2: he is such a weapon, and he clearly is much calmer.
Speaker 2: He was a little tight early in that game. They
Speaker 2: were blitzing him. A ton came out and they were
Speaker 2: very relaxed, and he just went nuts right So to me,
Speaker 2: if you can't slow him down in the run game,
Speaker 2: once he gets rolling, you have no shot. The other
Speaker 2: problem is their physicality on defense, Like it's gonna be
Speaker 2: hard for Pachaco, Like today he got ninety seven yards, Like,
Speaker 2: it's hard to get ninety seven yards against that defensive
Speaker 2: line and those linebackers because they tackle so well.
Speaker 1: They their linebackers are great.
Speaker 2: To me. The only thing you know, ultimately at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, you have Patrick Mahomes, He's just
Speaker 2: so unfazed by weather. That's you know. I was a
Speaker 2: big Peyton Manning guy growing up, and one huge disadvantage
Speaker 2: for him when he had to go to New England,
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to be as well in the cold.
Speaker 2: He had to get that game at home, and he
Speaker 2: finally did whatever six and he finally won it. The
Speaker 2: problem if you look at the Bills, like everyone's playing
Speaker 2: in the cold, So it's not a disadvantage you're getting
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes. He's going to be the same, right So Patrick,
Speaker 2: obviously in Baltimore, colder place. You could see that the
Speaker 2: Texans who listened their roster at this point in time,
Speaker 2: with the injuries, the discrepancy in those two rosters was wide. Yes,
Speaker 2: no question, Demico had an incredible first half and they
Speaker 2: just ran out of juice. But I do think they're
Speaker 2: very comfortable going into a place that's I'm sure going
Speaker 2: to be really cold. Who knows what the weather's going
Speaker 2: to be. But the Baltimore Ravens roster is better, oh yes,
Speaker 2: and they have I mean, Mike McDonald, the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: is a star. He might become a head coach. He's
Speaker 2: thirty seven years old. And Todd Munkin is an excellent
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator and he's you know those weapons they how
Speaker 2: good is a Flowers that young plight and they have
Speaker 2: that's like six foot five. And obviously Lamar is just
Speaker 2: he's now on these guys level, which I would say
Speaker 2: previously in these big spots, you didn't view him.
Speaker 1: I feel the same way.
Speaker 2: So if he's on their level, this you would say
Speaker 2: the rosters and now the coaching like this is not
Speaker 2: Andy ver Sean McDermott, right, this is Andy Verus John Harbor.
Speaker 2: He's got twelve playoff victories, has a Super Bowl and
Speaker 2: is comfortable in this environment and it's at home. I
Speaker 2: mean that's that's but I mean we just saw Kansas City,
Speaker 2: who had never gone into the on the road and
Speaker 2: won a game and on the mahomes there because they
Speaker 2: hadn't have to didn't have to did it today. Honestly,
Speaker 2: they felt pretty comfortable most of the game and they
Speaker 2: were down unfazed. So I would not just write them off.
Speaker 2: I do think it's gonna be hard. It would be
Speaker 2: harder than today. They can't afford fumbling a ball into
Speaker 2: the end zone or having some drops. But you saw
Speaker 2: Travis Kelce, you know, upped it up a notch and
Speaker 2: and Andy today I thought was pretty dialed in. So
Speaker 2: you're getting this big guy who's I mean, this is
Speaker 2: what he coaches for. So I I would lean Baltimore
Speaker 2: just if you go their two even teams, you know,
Speaker 2: in terms of the coaching staffs, but their talent's a
Speaker 2: little bit better. It's look back on betting against Brady
Speaker 2: and Belichick, that usually was not a smart, you know,
Speaker 2: thing to do. So if you look at it that way,
Speaker 2: I don't think putting money or getting behind Kansas City,
Speaker 2: or picking Kansas City in this game makes you a
Speaker 2: crazy man, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Let's talk earlier game. You know, I was thinking watching
Speaker 1: Detroit Win. Jared Goff went to like Marin Catholic. The
Speaker 1: team was terrible in high school. He comes in, they're excellent.
Speaker 1: He goes to Cal their garbage. The two years before
Speaker 1: he goes to Cal, they start winning games. The Rams
Speaker 1: when he first got there were a mess, right the
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher Rams gets McVeigh hits it. Now he goes
Speaker 1: to the Lions, bump a year and a half and
Speaker 1: he's got them in the NFC Championship. You know, I
Speaker 1: know when you watch Lamar and Mahomes and Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: they do feel like they've sort of separated from the world.
Speaker 1: Burrow just can't stay healthy and he's not that dynamic
Speaker 1: of an athlete. But we got to be honest about
Speaker 1: Jared Goff. I don't care if it's high school, college
Speaker 1: or pro. He has now taking his second team to
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship. And you know, you at first you
Speaker 1: could say it's McVeigh. Well, now it's Dan Campbell, and
Speaker 1: we don't consider Dan Campbell to be Sean.
Speaker 2: Mcvahh and the Lions.
Speaker 1: Right there's And the truth is, when I watched that
Speaker 1: game today, my take my big takeaway was, oh, he's
Speaker 1: way too comfortable. When you give Jared Goff three beats
Speaker 1: Amaran Saint Brown Laporta first, I think gives us a
Speaker 1: sensational player, that old line, you know. I just I
Speaker 1: watched it and I'm like, okay, this this feels like
Speaker 1: the Rams team. Jared's got one thousand and one, one
Speaker 1: thousand and two, one thousand and three. Jared Goff's going
Speaker 1: to pick your part. And I think people are just
Speaker 1: not quite comfortable because he's really one of the last
Speaker 1: pure pocket guys draft at number one, like Cure and.
Speaker 2: We don't don't really exist. They don't exist in college, and.
Speaker 1: We don't draft them number one. We want to see
Speaker 1: all this movement. He's one of the last pocket guys.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just watched him today and I'm like, Jesus,
Speaker 1: he Even my wife doesn't even like football, and she's like, God,
Speaker 1: that guy has got to he's I mean his over
Speaker 1: you know today he got amped up and overthrew Laporta
Speaker 1: in the end zone. But I don't know. I'm just
Speaker 1: a bigger fan of golf than I think the rest
Speaker 1: of football fans are.
Speaker 2: I wrote down today, do you think it has a
Speaker 2: chance to be one of the greatest trades in NFL history.
Speaker 2: They got two first round picks and Jared Goff. Think
Speaker 2: about that, and that the second first round pick turned
Speaker 2: into a top five or it was the sixth overall
Speaker 2: pick because the Rams were terrible, which they turned in
Speaker 2: to Gibbs who looks like Alvin Kamaro two point zero
Speaker 2: and Laporta. So they got their starting quarterback who makes
Speaker 2: and he's under contract next year twenty five million dollars
Speaker 2: a year.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: In a day and age, when every guy's making forty
Speaker 2: five to fifty, he's making twenty five. He's already proven
Speaker 2: that he can win, and now he's winning. And they
Speaker 2: added all this other talent when they already had some
Speaker 2: ascending young players. That general manager. We talk a lot
Speaker 2: about golf, and we talk a lot about Dan Campbell,
Speaker 2: but those personnel moves, because we've seen Jared Goff. If
Speaker 2: you put the talent around him, you're gonna win, right
Speaker 2: and if you can protect him and he gets comfortable
Speaker 2: some of those throws, his accuracy, his personality, you know,
Speaker 2: he's kind of got the surfer California cool. I'm not
Speaker 2: comparing him to Joe Montana, but he kind of has
Speaker 2: that easy going feel and I do think that helps
Speaker 2: him out because how many guys a coach of Sean
Speaker 2: mcvay's status, and even Sewan said, I regret saying he
Speaker 2: crushed him publicly. I mean completely, something you don't really
Speaker 2: see with a guy that you had some success with.
Speaker 2: And the Lions and Dan Campbell in this where he
Speaker 2: deserves a lot of credit, they built him back up.
Speaker 2: I don't care who you are, especially young men need
Speaker 2: people to promote you and have support from behind you,
Speaker 2: and they gave it to him, and then they surrounded him.
Speaker 2: I mean, how much talent does that team have? The
Speaker 2: Jibs Montgomery, the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Sat Hutchison. Hutchison Tampa left him un blocked several times.
Speaker 1: Today they're more active at linebacker.
Speaker 2: Brands the safety, their second round pick from Alabama, fantastic.
Speaker 2: He makes tackles left and right. This team is a
Speaker 2: corner away from being a legit Super Bowl contender next year,
Speaker 2: and honestly, like the way the Niners look, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: just count them out now. They historically have rattled Jared
Speaker 2: Goff because when you know, if you have a mobile
Speaker 2: quarterback Jordan Love, you don't even need to be Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 2: You give them a little trouble, but when you sit
Speaker 2: in the pocket, the Cousins, the daksh definitely golf. I
Speaker 2: mean historically on the Rams, they destroyed them. Now, this
Speaker 2: Niners defensive line is not playing as well as a
Speaker 2: has in years past because Chase Young is just not
Speaker 2: that good, and Bosa you know there he's getting double teamed,
Speaker 2: and the other guys are just kind of okay. Now
Speaker 2: the rest of their defense is okay, right, Their linebackers
Speaker 2: are good, they have some good dbs, but their defensive
Speaker 2: line is nowhere near what it once was. It actually
Speaker 2: is much closer to this Lions group that has Hutchinson
Speaker 2: a bunch of other random guys. Then, I think the
Speaker 2: way that it's perceived of, oh, the Niners the best
Speaker 2: defensive line we've ever seen. They got some names, but
Speaker 2: they are not playing like that for any by any means.
Speaker 2: So I think most people are going to say this Chiefs,
Speaker 2: you know, Ravens game has a chance to be a
Speaker 2: big classic. It's like, oh, the Lions, you know their
Speaker 2: run is going to come to an ni. Yeah, the
Speaker 2: Niners better pick pick it up a little bit because
Speaker 2: they did not look very good on Saturday night.
Speaker 1: No, And you know, it was really interesting when I
Speaker 1: went back, and let's talk San Francisco green Bay here,
Speaker 1: because if you go statistically, it was an incredibly close game.
Speaker 1: The time of possession was even five point three yards
Speaker 1: of play for green Bay five point six for San Francisco.
Speaker 1: You had two great running backs, two offensive coaches, two
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks. The difference is Jordan Love had a couple
Speaker 1: of picks and pretty was cleaner. But look, my first takeaway, I.
Speaker 2: Mean, balls are flying all over the place. You could
Speaker 2: have thrown about three or four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, and I think that's the reality
Speaker 1: of Jordan Love. He's erratic, but he's really good. My
Speaker 1: first takeaway on this game is, holy shit, if Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers would have just not audibled out of Matt Lafleur's offense,
Speaker 1: the air. Thing is crazy about this is that Aaron
Speaker 1: knew how good Aaron Jones was. He's a stud, he's
Speaker 1: not McCaffrey, but in an argument, is the second best
Speaker 1: back in the league. And you know how good Lafleur
Speaker 1: is and the old line is and watching in Romeo Dobbs,
Speaker 1: Now he didn't know Aaron wouldn't know they would draft
Speaker 1: two tight ends. Musgraves really talented, but Aaron left that
Speaker 1: and kind of got his way out of there. I'm
Speaker 1: watching them today and I'm like, you could make an
Speaker 1: argument by next year if Jordan Love just cleans up
Speaker 1: some of his erratic play, this is going to be
Speaker 1: a six year run, four to six year run of
Speaker 1: NFC championship level players, right.
Speaker 2: One thing I wrote down is, you know we and
Speaker 2: I'm guilty of this. We talk so much about Kyle
Speaker 2: and McVeigh, those two guys head and shoulders as the
Speaker 2: young crew. I think we gotta throw Matt Lafleur in
Speaker 2: that group. I mean what he did, he had that
Speaker 2: team show up and they were kicking the Niners. Ass.
Speaker 2: I don't care. He coached Shanahan oh all night long.
Speaker 2: I mean, all the Niners got that. It's one of
Speaker 2: the luckier wins I can remember. I mean, they've had
Speaker 2: some pressive wins. That was an all time lucky win.
Speaker 2: And that's I had. Multiple people in the NFL texted
Speaker 2: me this morning like I can't even imagine being on
Speaker 2: the packer staff waking up this morning. I mean, you
Speaker 2: had it. You didn't have him on the ropes. You
Speaker 2: had them beat and Lafloor deserves He's He's everything you want, right.
Speaker 2: He is a good head coach. Clearly the guys like him.
Speaker 2: He is the offensive play caller, and now he's proven
Speaker 2: he can get along with an absolute superstar. Aaron really
Speaker 2: liked him, and now he can also develop a young
Speaker 2: guy that we had never seen. Like what else can
Speaker 2: you ask out of a coach? So Green Bay looks
Speaker 2: like they have struck oil. I had some question marks
Speaker 2: just because you know he inherited Aaron Rodgers will see. Well,
Speaker 2: now you see what he's doing with all these young players.
Speaker 2: They go on the road to San Francisco. We saw
Speaker 2: what he did two weeks ago to the Cowboys. I mean,
Speaker 2: beat the shit out of him. What a night. I
Speaker 2: know there's no moral victories in the National Football League,
Speaker 2: but what a night for Lafloor. I mean, seriously, I
Speaker 2: mean to have that team on the brink that they
Speaker 2: were a ten point underdog against a team that every
Speaker 2: single human and their mother pick to win that game.
Speaker 2: That was also john incredible effort. What I said before
Speaker 2: the Dallas and San Francisco games is I hope Rock
Speaker 2: pretty and DAK can play from behind, they take leads.
Speaker 2: I don't think they've turned the ball over in the
Speaker 2: first quarter all season. So again, this was the frustration
Speaker 2: with sometimes with Aaron that he would and Greg Cosell
Speaker 2: said this for years, like there's made plays, there's successful plays,
Speaker 2: and Nara's going to kind of blow some of those off.
Speaker 2: Is that what they're doing in their first quarter is
Speaker 2: it's scripted plays. Matt's like, here, run the first eight.
Speaker 2: They take leads. The DAK did not react well to it.
Speaker 2: But I mean for the first half, I was sitting
Speaker 2: there watching thinking.
Speaker 1: Green Bay has young talent, San Francisco old talent. Are
Speaker 1: we seeing like a tipping point moment that San Francisco's
Speaker 1: old talent never gets a ring because I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: for big chunks in that game, I'm like, no, Greenpay
Speaker 1: can't win this game. They're not They're too young. At halftime,
Speaker 1: I really thought Green Bay was a better team.
Speaker 2: One major issue that really came to light and we
Speaker 2: talked about this last week based on the Strauss article
Speaker 2: about the inclement weather, the AFC teams different than the
Speaker 2: NFC that doesn't really have a lot of weather. Well,
Speaker 2: while it was sixty degrees. It was raining. Pretty can't
Speaker 2: grip the ball in the rain. He made Cleveland, he
Speaker 2: couldn't grip the ball this game. He couldn't grip the ball.
Speaker 2: He came out with the glove. He even said I
Speaker 2: was a little uncomfortable. He immediately took it off. He could.
Speaker 2: There was a play where he has the ball dropping back,
Speaker 2: going to his towel to dry out. He is not comfortable.
Speaker 2: And you know, he doesn't have big hands, but neither
Speaker 2: does Mahomes, but clearly he's comfortable in it. Pretty is
Speaker 2: not comfortable in inclement weather. Now he's lucky he plays
Speaker 2: in Santa Clara. Ninety nine percent of the games they're
Speaker 2: going to be good weather games. But if you do
Speaker 2: get weather, yes you almost got a short the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers, because he's now proven a couple times not
Speaker 2: intrrential downpours, just a light Cleveland was raining. This game
Speaker 2: was raining. This wasn't like sleep or snow or a
Speaker 2: driving rainstorm. It was just bare wet and he could
Speaker 2: not grip the ball. And their offense, Kyle had a
Speaker 2: weird game. You know, I'd say typically he is very
Speaker 2: very He's one of those guys, right, like all these
Speaker 2: coaches that spend ninety one hundred hours during the week
Speaker 2: cat together a game plan and in his mind, his
Speaker 2: confidence and he should be my game plan is going
Speaker 2: to dominate, and most of the time it does. But
Speaker 2: he's not king of doing the Belichick. Well, this isn't
Speaker 2: working a quarter in I'm scrapping everything and I'm checking right.
Speaker 2: He doesn't want to do that, And yesterday he came
Speaker 2: into this game spreading him out. Well, Kyle, your quarterback
Speaker 2: can't grip the football. You have Christian McCaffery, who's the
Speaker 2: best running back in the NFL. They're pounding you on
Speaker 2: the in the run game, we just run the ball,
Speaker 2: slow down, settle down the game. But he kept spreading
Speaker 2: it out, which is honestly the antithesis of what he
Speaker 2: stands for and does. It was a bizarre game, and
Speaker 2: they got lucky some of the turnovers, and their defense
Speaker 2: kind of had held some red zone situations, held in
Speaker 2: the field goals, but he just wouldn't pivot off the pass.
Speaker 1: This has always been my knock on shit, and I
Speaker 1: think he's great. Whereas Lafleur McVeigh. Of all those young guys,
Speaker 1: McVay is the culture center. He's the great culture coach,
Speaker 1: gets the most out of everybody. Shanahan is the scheme master,
Speaker 1: and then Lafleur is a little of both. But Shanahan
Speaker 1: is really really tied and loyal to his game plan.
Speaker 2: That's why.
Speaker 1: It is that playshet is his, that's his baby. And
Speaker 1: when it does, you know, they don't do well when
Speaker 1: they trail, No, they don't. He is just somebody that
Speaker 1: believes in his playsheet. And so there was some record.
Speaker 1: I think it was finally broken that they couldn't win
Speaker 1: a game when they trailed late in the game. I
Speaker 1: forget what the number one.
Speaker 2: It was like seven points heading into the fourth core.
Speaker 2: He was owned thirty eight and technically they kicked the
Speaker 2: field goal the first play the fourth corner. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it technically broke the record.
Speaker 1: But I think to your point, was he My takeaway
Speaker 1: was he he? When I watched San Francisco, like, there's
Speaker 1: no rhythm to this offense because every time they should
Speaker 1: have run, they threw perty couldn't grip the I mean
Speaker 1: one time, pretty a ball out in a flat he
Speaker 1: short hopped it. It wasn't even close.
Speaker 2: Now it was crazy and to me, football like in
Speaker 2: our industry. It's so easy what we do now, like
Speaker 2: to pivot. Something works, try it the internet, everything digital.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't work, you pivot, you change, try something new.
Speaker 2: That's coaching, right. If something's working, stay with it. If
Speaker 2: it's not, you change. That's what all the best coaches do.
Speaker 2: And he was just so tied to that game plan
Speaker 2: of spreading them out, but his quarterback just could not
Speaker 2: hold on to the football. And honestly, that would have
Speaker 2: been a game. If they lost, it would have been
Speaker 2: really hard to shake, and it would have put been
Speaker 2: a ton of pressure on the party situation. And like
Speaker 2: you said, with Kyle, in a weird way, you know,
Speaker 2: when you think now with even McVeigh, forever with Goth,
Speaker 2: McVeigh was the star of the team. But now with Stafford,
Speaker 2: you know, Stafford is equal, you know, in a weird way,
Speaker 2: Kyle is kind of the star of the offense. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: and it sometimes when everything's going well, everyone else gets
Speaker 2: a share in it. But when it's not, it's like
Speaker 2: he kind of hoards these ideas. Deebo gets injured, they
Speaker 2: clearly had a bunch of plays for him, and he
Speaker 2: can't just like, okay, we're not going to do this.
Speaker 2: He's handing, He's handing balls to their third wide receiver
Speaker 2: in the backfield. It was crazy. You know, Luckily they
Speaker 2: have enough talents. Jordan Love was young and threw the
Speaker 2: ball to the other team. But holy moly.
Speaker 1: You know the and I was thinking about this is that.
Speaker 1: Think about the quarterbacks that are left mahomes Josh Allen
Speaker 1: number one pick, Jared Goff and Brock Purty. And as
Speaker 1: I was watching that game and they pull out the wind,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's funny because Brock had a nice final drive,
Speaker 1: all schemed up by Kyle, and you deserve credit for that.
Speaker 1: He didn't shrink.
Speaker 2: He's mentally tough, like that's not Brock Purty's problems. Memory toughness.
Speaker 2: Kyle loves that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, obviously you don't walk into that
Speaker 1: locker room with Hall of famers and own the locker
Speaker 1: room so exactly. And Sam Darnold acknowledging that he is
Speaker 1: cognitively the fastest thinker he's ever and that's so is Kyle.
Speaker 1: So it works. But you've got to be honest if
Speaker 1: you watch that game and don't see the limitations have
Speaker 1: brought Purty going forward, like you know the great coaches.
Speaker 1: Sean Payton has said the best weeks of coaching are
Speaker 1: when you play like crap and win. You can just
Speaker 1: coach the hell out of them. San Francis, John Lynch
Speaker 1: and Shanahan have to have a private conversation and it's
Speaker 1: like we're kind of limbed. I mean again, here Burrow's
Speaker 1: coming back. And by the way, you may have a
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams and a Drake may go to the NFC
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray for a whole season. Stafford's coming back. I
Speaker 1: don't know, Jordan loves getting better. When I watched that game,
Speaker 1: even after they won, I thought it kind of changes
Speaker 1: how I look at San Francisco. If sand Fridgisco beats Detroit,
Speaker 1: and I'm with you, I think it's a go either
Speaker 1: way game. I think it's it's it's very competitive game.
Speaker 2: And IMS run defense is not good right now, and
Speaker 2: those two running backs for Detroit look like the horses.
Speaker 1: And they're not getting the pass rush, so they can't.
Speaker 1: With ufunga and average corners, you can beat that. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, most of the secondary is left in
Speaker 1: this league. They're not very good. No, I mean, I
Speaker 1: mean Buffalo's you could gash. Detroit'sn't very good. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Niners is. But when the Niners had a
Speaker 1: great pass rush, like a prime example is the Eagles
Speaker 1: last year, they had a great pass rush, so it
Speaker 1: kind of masks their deficiencies in the back end. Well,
Speaker 1: San Francisco's pass rush isn't the same. It's a very
Speaker 1: average secondary, and I think Goff's gonna have some success
Speaker 1: with it. But I watched pretty and I'm like, you
Speaker 1: can't win with shootouts here if it's inclement weather. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's some limitations with him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, he's just a jackal and Hyde. When
Speaker 2: you put with if it's going to rain, if you
Speaker 2: tell me it's raining on Sunday, I would have major
Speaker 2: reservations picking the forty nine ers, you know. And I
Speaker 2: think it gets back to this Lion's team. I think
Speaker 2: there are some parallels to last year's Eagles team. Right.
Speaker 2: They're head coach, great motivator, the guys who were like him,
Speaker 2: and he's got two great coordinators. I mean those two
Speaker 2: guys interviewing everywhere for head coaching jobs. Yes, I mean
Speaker 2: the offensive coordinator looks like the next Shane Steichen. So
Speaker 2: you're playing a team that has all in all, the
Speaker 2: head man who's just clearly a great leader, and two
Speaker 2: scheme guys, especially their offensive coordinator, that are just in
Speaker 2: the peak of their powers right now. And you get
Speaker 2: a team coming with a ton of momentum. And the
Speaker 2: other thing is a little bit like the Packers. Now
Speaker 2: two weeks in a row. The Lions were favor today,
Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, they're the Lions.
Speaker 2: You get to play with little house money. You know,
Speaker 2: there's a pressure on the Eagles, the Cowboys and the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers. Then let's face it just isn't there
Speaker 2: with the Lions or the Bucks or even the Packers,
Speaker 2: because once they get rid of Rogers, they kind of,
Speaker 2: you know, release that elephant in the room. There's a tightness.
Speaker 2: You feel it with the Niners, and you kind of
Speaker 2: felt today with the Bills too. Now the Niners won,
Speaker 2: the Bills didn't. But it was like anything less than
Speaker 2: making a run here is devastating. We all know it.
Speaker 2: Like no one's running away from the expectations here. Now
Speaker 2: the difference, and this is it's a black and white league.
Speaker 2: Either winner. You don't that the Niners moved on. The
Speaker 2: Bills didn't, so you know, you gotta be careful going
Speaker 2: game to game. Maybe the Niners get a much better effort,
Speaker 2: they get an extra day of rest, but holy moly,
Speaker 2: I mean, if it sprinkles a little bit, I mean,
Speaker 2: that shouldn't be that big of a problem. Should have
Speaker 2: called this the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's just for the first time ever, you
Speaker 1: know how, There's these moments during the season. John, there
Speaker 1: was a moment I haven't boughten into the Cowboys forever,
Speaker 1: and then they went on this run and I bought
Speaker 1: into them. And then I watched them play Miami and
Speaker 1: I thought they are Miami. It's just more obvious that
Speaker 1: Miami is a little bit of a fake Gucci bag.
Speaker 1: So's Dallas. So's Dallas. And it changed the way I
Speaker 1: thought of them. That Niner game. When I watched them
Speaker 1: play Baltimore, I'm like, Okay, this is you have some
Speaker 1: real I mean, there are just certain moments in a season.
Speaker 1: It's not always a blowout loss. I thought the Rams
Speaker 1: lost to Baltimore, I'm like, oh, Rams are for real,
Speaker 1: this is a real team. But when I watched the
Speaker 1: Niners lose to that Baltimore team that the Rams had played,
Speaker 1: you know close, it took something off the veneer of it.
Speaker 1: And then I watched them yesterday again and I'm like,
Speaker 1: am I over valuing their talent? Like you look at
Speaker 1: the defensive lineman names, and I just look at this
Speaker 1: and I think to myself, with Detroit so o line
Speaker 1: and run game and with the lack of pass rush,
Speaker 1: I think I'm getting into the situation with the Niners
Speaker 1: is I'm thinking of the last four years and they're
Speaker 1: just not as good. Everybody's getting the old guys are
Speaker 1: getting older and the young guys aren't quite as good.
Speaker 1: When Christian McCaffrey goes to the bench and they're rubbing out,
Speaker 1: he a Charlie Horse, I'm like, if he's out, they're
Speaker 1: in huge trouble.
Speaker 2: Well, Deebo went out and threw them all off, and
Speaker 2: who knows his status, right, Yeah. I think the Niners
Speaker 2: got to the point and they were doing this because
Speaker 2: they are a really physical team. They started bullying people.
Speaker 2: They did to the Eagles, they did to the US
Speaker 2: and then for the first time they got into the
Speaker 2: ring and Mike Tyson Chuck Lydeale hit him right into
Speaker 2: the in the square and the jaw, and it was
Speaker 2: the Ravens, and it rattled him a little bit, and
Speaker 2: they kind of haven't had the same swag since, just
Speaker 2: from a I'm tougher than you when I step in now,
Speaker 2: I don't think yesterday was about like a toughness because
Speaker 2: that was kind of the difference in the game. Their
Speaker 2: toughness kind of kept them in the game. But this
Speaker 2: Detroit team, I'm pretty sure they were the best rush
Speaker 2: defense in the league. They're very hard to run on.
Speaker 2: So think about Kyle. I mean that throws them off
Speaker 2: a little bit if you can't run the ball, so
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, as he's spreading it out. Is
Speaker 2: the weather kind of bad now? I think I looked
Speaker 2: at earlier day, it wasn't supposed to rain. But if
Speaker 2: perty is average, you're in major trouble. Now when he's
Speaker 2: major trouble, they still got a used, They got kid
Speaker 2: Old McCaffrey, can make plays, Juwan Jennings, they can still
Speaker 2: score with Detroit. I think it's more likely that we're
Speaker 2: looking at a game maybe both teams are kind of
Speaker 2: approaching thirty kind of a shootout, and that's what I
Speaker 2: would kind of expect because I don't think the forty
Speaker 2: nine ers defense right now is stopping much. And clearly
Speaker 2: the Lions, God, they look they just look like they
Speaker 2: got it going on. They really do.
Speaker 1: So I want to talk a little Baltimore Texans. Listen,
Speaker 1: the Texans had eleven penalties, only ten first downs.
Speaker 2: C J.
Speaker 1: Stroud only had twenty two minutes time of possession, So
Speaker 1: I think it's one of those. They had a great
Speaker 1: game plan and after about halftime, the game plan only
Speaker 1: works so far against Lamar Jackson. He disengages from the
Speaker 1: game plan, they make alterations at half, and you're it's
Speaker 1: just he's too hard to stop. I think the Texans,
Speaker 1: like green Bay. The green Bay just needs a year
Speaker 1: of seasoning. The Texans need another draft class and another
Speaker 1: free agency class. They need about six more guys, which
Speaker 1: by the way, Baltimore hit on in the last draft.
Speaker 1: Seattle's hit on and he's a quarterback. But you can
Speaker 1: really go.
Speaker 2: Get the Texans. I think the Texans have the most
Speaker 2: cap space this offseason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they need to go by a couple of players,
Speaker 1: and they need depth in the draft and a couple
Speaker 1: of frontline starts stars. I think their future is great,
Speaker 1: but I got to tell you when I look and
Speaker 1: I watched Baltimore, because c J. Stroud's a real quarterback.
Speaker 1: Baltimore made GoF Lick horrible. Baltimore beat Matt Stafford, Baltimore
Speaker 1: made c J. Stroud look really small. You start Baltimore
Speaker 1: humiliated Miami two and Mike McDaniel and Kyle Shanahan. If
Speaker 1: you start looking at this schedule, I mean, Baltimore has
Speaker 1: gone into the teeth of brilliant coaches, great run games,
Speaker 1: highly effective, potent offenses, star quarterbacks and made them look
Speaker 1: awful like regularly. If Baltimore Baltimore, it maybe isn't the
Speaker 1: Seahawks team that went to the Super Bowl back to back,
Speaker 1: Remember that team that was so talented.
Speaker 2: Their secondary is not as good as that team, but
Speaker 2: it's not.
Speaker 1: But I got to tell you when I watched them
Speaker 1: that Rokwan Smith move, I had real doubts about you
Speaker 1: put him next to Patrick Queen home run. I am
Speaker 1: watching after this draft and Za Flowers, I'm like, they're
Speaker 1: doing this without Mark Andrews, the tight end who probably
Speaker 1: comes back. This is one of the better rosters.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 1: And also, it's not just that you have a quarterback
Speaker 1: you have a superstar quarterback with this roster, and I
Speaker 1: mean we could have a John Harbaugh Jim harbaughd National champion,
Speaker 1: super Bowl champ. When I look at this Baltimore team,
Speaker 1: even compared to San Francisco's roster, I think I think
Speaker 1: they're a little twitchier. I think I think they're significantly
Speaker 1: better at quarterback. I think we've undervalued Baltimore because we
Speaker 1: paid so much attention to San Francisco's roster and Mahomes
Speaker 1: and Allen. I think I think Baltimore could beat Kansas
Speaker 1: City badly. I'm just blown away by their physicality, their explosiveness,
Speaker 1: their twitchiness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, you gotta be careful betting against
Speaker 2: Andy Mahomes. The Raven should win this game, right. They
Speaker 2: think about the Chiefs who depend on Kelsey a lot, Well,
Speaker 2: they got two star linebackers and Kyle Hamilton who are
Speaker 2: made to you know, Negate that player, yep. And then
Speaker 2: they have a defensive line full of massive humans that
Speaker 2: can slow down but Jaco and clearly, I think the
Speaker 2: one reason I was hesitant because Okay, let's see Lamar
Speaker 2: do it in that first half. You go, well, Demko
Speaker 2: is one of the best defensive coordinators was thrown them off.
Speaker 2: And then even Lamar said, we went in at halftime,
Speaker 2: we started cussing each other out, and then he settled down.
Speaker 2: He looked exactly like the MVP of the regular season. Okay,
Speaker 2: if he's gonna play like that, to me, they would
Speaker 2: be the favorite to win this whole thing right now, because,
Speaker 2: like you said, top to bottom, they can run the ball.
Speaker 2: Their quarterback is I mean, I think the best runner
Speaker 2: of the football we've ever seen. Zay Flowers has added
Speaker 2: an element there that is taken area we changed.
Speaker 1: And then they have this other kid eighty they got
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the tight end, who's fantastic.
Speaker 1: And it's just like, oh my god, it's.
Speaker 2: They're so powerful. I think he was, you know, he's
Speaker 2: kind of coming back. But they're kind of hesitant that
Speaker 2: they might not even need them. I mean, you could
Speaker 2: argue that they don't even need them right now. So
Speaker 2: their defense is just so oh physical that they're what
Speaker 2: I think we thought the Niners were early in the season,
Speaker 2: who clearly are not. They hit so violently there, They're
Speaker 2: two linebackers are absolutely everywhere and every The confidence and
Speaker 2: the edginess That's one thing that those teams, like early
Speaker 2: what like fifteen years ago, when Harbaugh and Tomlin got there,
Speaker 2: those two teams, it was like the Ravens and the
Speaker 2: Steelers just looked differently and they carried themselves differently. It's
Speaker 2: why both teams could give this the Patriots some trouble, right,
Speaker 2: and they did that. Some of those Ravens teams beat
Speaker 2: the Patriot team with that Moss era team. And this team,
Speaker 2: you know, is not as famous. There's no Ed Reid
Speaker 2: or Ray Lewis on the team, but they feel like
Speaker 2: they got a similar swag and this quarterback they know
Speaker 2: no one has that. So yeah, I mean, I I
Speaker 2: don't know how if they are in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: they are not. They definitely be favored against the Lions.
Speaker 2: And I know someone, my guy at the Action Network
Speaker 2: told me they would technically be an underdog based before
Speaker 2: these games against the Niners. I don't see how they
Speaker 2: wouldn't favorite agains the Niners they beat.
Speaker 1: I'm this yeah badly. You know, It's funny when they
Speaker 1: went and got Roquan Smith because I remember saying on
Speaker 1: the air on FS one, I'm like, you can't pay
Speaker 1: linebackers this in Chicago. But Chicago didn't have their offense right.
Speaker 1: And you know Baltimore because they know what they are,
Speaker 1: Like all great organizations, they know what they are. They
Speaker 1: went to spend a ton on a linebacker. He's totally
Speaker 1: changed their defense. If you look at the numbers before
Speaker 1: Wilkland Smith got there and now totally changed. We all
Speaker 1: knew he was a great play was a great player
Speaker 1: in Chicago, but they had to fix offense for Justin Field.
Speaker 1: So they couldn't pay a linebacker. They had to see
Speaker 1: if they could get if Justin Fields could play, so
Speaker 1: they had to change their spending. Well, if you looked
Speaker 1: at Baltimore, Baltimore's like, we know who're going to score.
Speaker 1: We scored twenty seven points with Lamar. We've got to
Speaker 1: stop people and nobody can get good corners anymore. So
Speaker 1: I think Baltimore has a little bit of an old
Speaker 1: school feel with dominating, bruising linebackers, kind of a run
Speaker 1: first offense, and kind of a nineteen eighties culture with hardballs.
Speaker 1: It's just a tough physical element.
Speaker 2: Well one thing, you know, I know, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: Daniel Jeremiah, who I worked with with the Philly's been
Speaker 2: on the NFL Network forever worked for Ozzie Newsom for
Speaker 2: a long time, and they used to have this thing
Speaker 2: like play like a raven and clearly that meant be
Speaker 2: like tough sob and they have these guys the history
Speaker 2: of their franchise, right went from Ozzie Newsom now to DaCosta,
Speaker 2: who is an Ozzie Newsome guy. So the culture had
Speaker 2: never changed. They've always liked think about the wide receivers
Speaker 2: they used to go after, like and Kwon Bold and
Speaker 2: Steve Smith think about when they drafted people like what
Speaker 2: you're taking Kyle Hamilton, Well, yeah, that guy is a
Speaker 2: raven right, big, can hit, can cover, And they know exactly,
Speaker 2: Like part of being a good organization is more than
Speaker 2: just coaching, it's also personnel. Identifying the right guys they're
Speaker 2: going to work in your culture, and they're as good
Speaker 2: as anyone in the league. And you watch them. Even
Speaker 2: Lamar think about his the way he cares himself as
Speaker 2: a player, his toughness, his willingness to do whatever it takes. Like,
Speaker 2: to me, that's an underrated characteristic of his ability. Because
Speaker 2: he throws touchdowns, he's so fast, he can do all
Speaker 2: these crazy moves, but When I think Lamar, I think
Speaker 2: a tough dude, you know, and a guy goes right
Speaker 2: now with Mahomes and Josh Allen can play in this weather.
Speaker 2: But it's not like Lamar's from New York City, right,
Speaker 2: He's completely unfazed by the weather. So yeah, they have
Speaker 2: a toughness and a physicality to him that always works
Speaker 2: in the playoffs, Right, That's one thing in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Why did the Bucks just kind of survive for a
Speaker 2: couple weeks because defensively their coordinators throwing guys or hitting people,
Speaker 2: They're tackling, Like this isn't college football, right, You can't
Speaker 2: just score a bunch of points you get in these
Speaker 2: weather games. You getting these games. Some of those tackles
Speaker 2: today with the Chiefs and the Bills, like how do
Speaker 2: these guys get up? Look like guys broke their necks
Speaker 2: and then the two plays later they'd be back in
Speaker 2: the game. So that there's a level of physicality in
Speaker 2: the NFL that, I it's clear gets amped up once
Speaker 2: the middle of January comes and the Ravens have that
Speaker 2: in spades.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Lamar Jackson is almost the antithesis of Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: where Russell is sort of polished. Some think it's inauthentic
Speaker 1: and never truly close. You know, you always feel like
Speaker 1: he's almost a politician in a locker room.
Speaker 2: It was shocking to see that picture with Pete Carroll's
Speaker 2: party that Russell was there right right.
Speaker 1: Lamar is the opposite. He just is so honest at
Speaker 1: the podium. He's so honest with his emotions, and everybody
Speaker 1: loves him, like not every quarterback is beloved. I mean
Speaker 1: Brady oh As, I always thought that a great job.
Speaker 1: He could chug beer with Gronk, or he could really
Speaker 1: go academic with Josh McDaniels. He could be tough. You know,
Speaker 1: there were so many elements to Tom that he always understood.
Speaker 1: As he aged to connect with young.
Speaker 2: Peyton Sneaky had that quality too, he was good at it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a player, I mean, these
Speaker 1: quarterbacks all make money. I don't think there's a player
Speaker 1: in the league that plays quarterback that his teammates love
Speaker 1: more than Lamar. Like he just feels like Baltimore, a
Speaker 1: little rough, totally authentic, unapologetic. It's he's just such a
Speaker 1: you know, it's I always laugh when people, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll get dinged and people, Oh, you didn't think so
Speaker 1: and so was gonna be any good. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: nobody knows christ the GMS don't know. Everybody passed on
Speaker 1: you know, Brady six times and brought pretty seven times.
Speaker 2: Everyone passed on Lamar, The Ravens passed on them. They
Speaker 2: took another guy in the first round.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But the thing is about Lamar that I always
Speaker 1: appreciate about Baltimore is that Baltimore said, listen, we're gonna
Speaker 1: just build a totally different offense. We're just gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna hire a coordinator. We're not gonna be great at receiver.
Speaker 1: And it's just like it, It really is. Most organizations
Speaker 1: don't have the courage to do that. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: Harball was in big trouble. He puts me. I mean,
Speaker 1: Harball's Lamar saved his job. And so I think there's
Speaker 1: this loyalty with John Harbaugh. It's like, we're just gonna
Speaker 1: make it work. We're just gonna figure out they well
Speaker 1: he can't throw, Okay, we're gonna run it more. And
Speaker 1: then we're gonna get more receivers. I mean, they missed
Speaker 1: on some receivers. Now they have some draft picks they
Speaker 1: missed on, and I think it's a great Lamar is
Speaker 1: a great example when an organization just said, Okay, this
Speaker 1: guy's dere but he's are different. Like I had a
Speaker 1: friend that used to live in New York. He said, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's a pain in the ass, but it's my pain
Speaker 1: in the ass. I'm from New York. They just said, Lamar,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be here for you, and we're gonna figure
Speaker 1: a way to use your superhuman skills. And I think
Speaker 1: it's just emboldened the whole culture that it is so
Speaker 1: pro Lamar.
Speaker 2: I also think one thing's clearly changed in the sport
Speaker 2: of football. Steve Young used to always say this that
Speaker 2: the you know, for running quarterbacks, the way that they
Speaker 2: were eventually going to take the next step was to
Speaker 2: become a great pocket passer, because that's always what won
Speaker 2: in the playoffs in the eighties and nineties. Well, you
Speaker 2: watching Josh Allen even mahomes Day busted off like a
Speaker 2: forty yard run, right Lamar yesterday, Like that translates what
Speaker 2: he was doing if he's gonna pass, because he's also
Speaker 2: much more under control, I feel now when he wins
Speaker 2: than he was three or four years ago, the game
Speaker 2: slowed down for him. The game's definitely slowed down. But
Speaker 2: these quarterbacks are so athletic, and the hitting on the quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Right in Steve's day, if he ran like some of
Speaker 2: these guys, they would have tried to kill him. Legitimately,
Speaker 2: they would have not sent him to the blue tent.
Speaker 2: They would have sent him the hospital. And that's not
Speaker 2: allowed in the game, and these defensive players know it.
Speaker 2: So that's a huge advantage for these quarterbacks like Lamar,
Speaker 2: like Josh Allen. That the physicality of the hits, and
Speaker 2: definitely the cheap shots, like when you're sliding, they have
Speaker 2: to not touch you so you can run. And Lamar's
Speaker 2: pretty good at just getting down. He's not taking these
Speaker 2: enormous Steve Atwater John Lynch shots where he's laying there
Speaker 2: and you think he's gonna die. He's getting up. He
Speaker 2: doesn't even look like he's sweating sometimes. So well.
Speaker 1: He also he put on about fifteen pounds. Remember the
Speaker 1: first year he came in his MVP year, You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: his traps. He's bigger, and he keeps doing He's gotten
Speaker 1: a little bigger and stronger every year, so you know,
Speaker 1: Michael Vicks talked about this, like he got to hit
Speaker 1: his second year and he's like, yeah, this stuff's punitive
Speaker 1: Lamar pretty quick. I mean, Lamar is really and this
Speaker 1: is what the great ones do. He was great when
Speaker 1: he came into the league, but he's just added elements,
Speaker 1: like he's better in the pocket. To your point, he's
Speaker 1: less frenetic, he's gotten thicker now, he's full fledged pocket quarterback.
Speaker 1: Whenever he wants to be well, he's very accurate now,
Speaker 1: very accurate. So it's like he was always good. But
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we forget John. This is also a
Speaker 1: developmental league. They don't these guys don't come in as
Speaker 1: is a fully formed, refined sandpaper players like Lamar's taking
Speaker 1: real leaps here in like three his body, his anxiety,
Speaker 1: his pace, and you remember his first year and a half,
Speaker 1: he didn't really know how to slide. He was taking
Speaker 1: shit and.
Speaker 2: I mean he still doesn't. He just kind of plops down.
Speaker 2: But he's good at it. He's good at like Michael Vick.
Speaker 2: Michael Vick's one of the most spectacular players in NFL
Speaker 2: history to watch, but he had this quality that he
Speaker 2: would almost turn into a defensive player when he ran
Speaker 2: and try to prove his toughness and take on and
Speaker 2: he couldn't slide either, but he couldn't even hit the ground.
Speaker 2: And he would take on shots and he broke ribs.
Speaker 2: He got injured a lot. Lamar for a very very
Speaker 2: tough guy, we don't need you to prove your toughness
Speaker 2: avoid everything. And that's I'd argue. One of his great
Speaker 2: skills is being at and this is i mean, probably
Speaker 2: one of the top five athletes in the NFL. When
Speaker 2: two guys are coming at full speed, he can just
Speaker 2: hit the ground. They both miss him, because if you
Speaker 2: do take a shot and you break a rib, the
Speaker 2: Ravens would be in major trouble. He knows that. I'm
Speaker 2: sure he's told that all the time. And now he's
Speaker 2: just you know, he's just completely confident of his speed
Speaker 2: relative to defensive speeds.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The one thing with the Chiefs and he saw it tonight.
Speaker 2: Their DB's hit, right, I mean justin Reid Eircreed's brother
Speaker 2: is throwing his shoulders around on their corners hit. So
Speaker 2: you gotta be and we'll see Willie gay situation Bolton.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're back seven, we'll throw their body around
Speaker 2: so I would imagine that's a point this whole week
Speaker 2: in Baltimore. Let's be very very careful and pick our spots,
Speaker 2: get out of bounds, extra couple of yards, live to
Speaker 2: fight another down because we cannot, because they're gonna come
Speaker 2: after him, right anytime he's running spag Nola old school coach. Right, Well,
Speaker 2: he's made history for killing Brady. They're gonna come after
Speaker 2: him when he's running around. So I would imagine part
Speaker 2: of the game plan is going to beating them through
Speaker 2: the air, which he's proven he can do now, which
Speaker 2: makes him I'm an unsempable player.
Speaker 1: So finally we got about ten minutes left here an
Speaker 1: overarching thing. So we have San Francisco Detroit. I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be very competitive of Baltimore Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I think Baltimore wins, but again Kansas City's the wildcard
Speaker 1: because they've been in this game so many times. Go
Speaker 1: back to the Green Bay San Francisco game. One of
Speaker 1: the things and I touched on it earlier that I
Speaker 1: really watched, and I touched on this last week. I said,
Speaker 1: forget about Aaron Rodgers' political comments and vaccines shit, and
Speaker 1: people can have their opinions. I don't really care. I
Speaker 1: really don't care. I mean, COVID, I've got strong feelings,
Speaker 1: you know here there. It doesn't really matter. I don't care.
Speaker 1: But it is interesting that if you look at Brady
Speaker 1: and Stafford how strategic they were, and Russell Wilson to
Speaker 1: a degree, I'm going to go to an offensive coach.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure we have a good left tackle.
Speaker 1: I want to have weapons. Aaron signed off on the
Speaker 1: Jets and as I'm you know, worst left tackle situation
Speaker 1: in the league, defensive coach, one weapon, tougher conference, tougher
Speaker 1: division is I was watching Green Bay. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like usually when a star quarterback leaves, there's a dip,
Speaker 1: you know, Peyton Manning leaves or a Brady there's a
Speaker 1: clear dip. Stafford left the Lions. We forget they were
Speaker 1: like four and nineteen, you know, with Dan Campbell and Goff.
Speaker 1: I watched Green Bay and I'm like, is this the
Speaker 1: worst Green Bay team we're gonna see for the next
Speaker 1: five years? I honestly, honestly think if this Green Bay
Speaker 1: team faced last year's with Aaron, they would kick the
Speaker 1: shit out of it. Like I watched that team and
Speaker 1: I'm like John, they're a matchup problem. Nobody has three
Speaker 1: corners in this league, and all these young receivers are
Speaker 1: getting better. Not only did Green Bay not hick up?
Speaker 1: I look at it and is Aaron watching this thinking
Speaker 1: what did I leave?
Speaker 2: I think if we were having beers right now with
Speaker 2: Gudhakins in the floor, do you know what they would say?
Speaker 2: Our bigg regret was not trading h when he wanted
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two and when we gave him one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty million dollars and we ended up trading
Speaker 2: him the next year because we were already listen, we
Speaker 2: already drafted the kid. This guy was already kind of
Speaker 2: playing with our emotions, going back and forth. We should
Speaker 2: have pulled the trigger right then. And I think if
Speaker 2: they had a do over, they would have shipped him
Speaker 2: to Denver or what it just got just taking the
Speaker 2: band aid off then, and they didn't. They got pressured
Speaker 2: right he had won a couple MVPs. It would have
Speaker 2: been difficult. But can you imagine if they had this
Speaker 2: guy two years into it now? Their organization has always been,
Speaker 2: at least in my life, once ron Wolf got there
Speaker 2: in the early nineties, a lot like the Steelers, a
Speaker 2: lot like this Ravens. I mean, how well does that
Speaker 2: team just draft? They always get a lot of shit
Speaker 2: for not paying money. Their organization is not like these
Speaker 2: other organizations. Now it's not you don't have an owner.
Speaker 2: You can attack, you got a board, you got this president,
Speaker 2: but he's not the owner. What the hell is going on.
Speaker 2: It's a complicated situation. But they run a high level
Speaker 2: football team, right, yes, and so you go, well, they
Speaker 2: know how to put guys around. I mean Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 2: went to the Jets. Think about that. He went to
Speaker 2: the Jets. Of all places, it's been one thing like hey,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go to the Patriots and try to reclaim
Speaker 2: some glory with Bill Belichick. He went to the Jets.
Speaker 2: So now he's old. Also, the other thing is, in
Speaker 2: the history of sports, most guys like him do fall
Speaker 2: off a cliff like I'm betting against him ever being
Speaker 2: good again. Honestly, those three or four plays before he
Speaker 2: tore his achilles, he didn't look a step slow, like
Speaker 2: he's not. He's forty years old, thirty nine years old.
Speaker 2: So I think the Packers listen, it's it's never the
Speaker 2: wrong time to do the right thing, and they got
Speaker 2: out and they have to feel pretty good about their
Speaker 2: situation right now. I bet they would have wish they
Speaker 2: would have done in twenty two and not paid them
Speaker 2: all the money and ruined their cap this year.
Speaker 1: Think about this Detroit. Ben Johnson's gonna leave, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to pay Golf in a year, So
Speaker 1: it's very possible we're seeing I mean, we think this
Speaker 1: Detroit thing is gonna last forever, but gof's gonna start
Speaker 1: getting expensive. Ben Johnson's gonna look.
Speaker 2: At the Eagles. They couldn't replace an offensive coordinator. It's hard.
Speaker 1: I think Dak, you're gonna have to pay Dak Dak, Ceedee,
Speaker 1: Lamb and Mica are gonna be one hundred million plus,
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be limitation to that roster. And we
Speaker 1: don't trust the Cowboys.
Speaker 2: And Boys and can you imagine the pressure on that order.
Speaker 2: I mean, Mike's gonna coach on his last year of
Speaker 2: his contract. That's got disaster written all over in.
Speaker 1: San Francisco, Kittle, Trent Williams, McCaffrey, they're getting old. In
Speaker 1: key spots, They're getting really old.
Speaker 2: They gotta pay ayyuk, I mean it gets complicated.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I just looked at Green Ban. I was like,
Speaker 1: let me tell you something. Stafford probably has two years left.
Speaker 1: I looked at them, and I'm like, San franciscoes getting
Speaker 1: old and it is rock pretty. The Lions are gonna
Speaker 1: lose Ben Johnson and have to Dallas is going to
Speaker 1: have to pay their three stars. Seattle's got a great roster,
Speaker 1: but I didn't have a quarterback. I just kept watching
Speaker 1: Green Ban. I'm like, this is the worst version. I mean,
Speaker 1: all these receivers, all these tight ends, they're old lines,
Speaker 1: like top four in the league. I was just taken
Speaker 1: back by there. There's no hiccup this team in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: And also I went back to this, I'm like, the
Speaker 1: first Lafleur's a great coach. Yeah, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: just you can if you look around corner and you
Speaker 1: see over the next two years, even if they redo
Speaker 1: the Jordan Love contract after next year, I mean they
Speaker 1: I don't know where he'll go with that, But my
Speaker 1: guess is Jordan Love's not gonna end up being a
Speaker 1: fifty five million dollar quarterback. I just don't think it's
Speaker 1: that's not who he is.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't think. But if he has another thirty five
Speaker 2: touchdown season and they are, you know, top four seed,
Speaker 2: it's just kind of the going rate it would you'd
Speaker 2: have to pay him a lot of money. Maybe you're
Speaker 2: better off franchising. To me that I have no questions
Speaker 2: with their offense. Right if you just view Laflora as
Speaker 2: a star offensive coach, which I don't know how you
Speaker 2: couldn't the talent they have around him, I would say
Speaker 2: on the McCarthy and now the laflor Era, defensively, they've
Speaker 2: been a question mark. And when you look at the
Speaker 2: other teams. McVeigh his defenses are good. Kyle Shanahan, his
Speaker 2: defenses are good. Even right now, the Detroit Lions, their
Speaker 2: defense is flying around like that is an area like
Speaker 2: when I was young and you know, Home Bran and Andy,
Speaker 2: their defenses were awesome for far. Can they build a
Speaker 2: defensive culture there that they really have not had with
Speaker 2: their last two offensive coaches, And they've tried, They've gone
Speaker 2: through a bunch of defensive coordinators. They invest a lot
Speaker 2: of draft capitol and defensive players, but it does not
Speaker 2: look over the course of the last fifteen years with
Speaker 2: star offensive players like the other top teams, even the
Speaker 2: Chiefs now they rebuilt that defense crushing people, the Ravens,
Speaker 2: the Steelers forever, and obviously the team's in their division.
Speaker 2: So to me, if they can get their defense just
Speaker 2: to be competing, to be like a top ten unit,
Speaker 2: then they're a double digit win team for the next
Speaker 2: five years. But if that's always a question mark, if
Speaker 2: you get some injuries, you never know that. That's been
Speaker 2: an area of question though for that franchise. In my opinion,
Speaker 2: that's going to be Are they going to fire Joe Berry?
Speaker 2: There's a lot of pressure now that he saved his job.
Speaker 2: Can they get more out of these players? Do they
Speaker 2: maybe invest a little bit more on that side of
Speaker 2: the ball with some with some money if they have
Speaker 2: a cheap quarterback for this upcoming year. To me, if
Speaker 2: you tell me they have a top ten defense next year,
Speaker 2: but I got this team could compete to be like
Speaker 2: the number one seed.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The So, as we wrap it up, John Middlecoff,
Speaker 1: former NFL scout three and outs his podcast. We do
Speaker 1: this hour long on Sunday nights, so Atlanta and the
Speaker 1: Chargers are announcing everybody they interview. They want it out
Speaker 1: there and I think some of that is if they
Speaker 1: don't land Harbaugh, they want or Belichick, they want their
Speaker 1: fans to know we swung big. I was told by
Speaker 1: somebody who I trust, he really thinks the Chargers are
Speaker 1: going to pay for Harbaugh. He really believes it. Do
Speaker 1: you think there's I mean, between the fact that he
Speaker 1: owns Ohio State, he's losing all those players. The Big
Speaker 1: Ten's not getting easier. This is maybe the This year
Speaker 1: is the final year where you can say we have
Speaker 1: one big game of year where we have a physical equal.
Speaker 2: Ohio stages landed half of Alabama's roster. You see that.
Speaker 1: I saw that a quarterback, that high school quarterback who
Speaker 1: knows what to be as a collegiate.
Speaker 2: But I can't think the safety is like Ed Reed junior.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Ohio State's back in terms of like high
Speaker 1: end players at the right positions. Would you be surprised
Speaker 1: if Harba stayed in college.
Speaker 2: No, I fully expect him to leave. And I mean
Speaker 2: I've everyone thought that I've been talking to that thinks
Speaker 2: this Harbaugh just the Chargers deal as long as he's
Speaker 2: cool with it, like it has been a done deal for
Speaker 2: a while. I mean, there are rumors about they talked
Speaker 2: during that Rose Bowl week whatever, a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: I think clearly the Chargers, I mean, they fell faced
Speaker 2: so much negativity. How long can you be called cheap
Speaker 2: and irrelevant before eventually you kind of draw a line
Speaker 2: in the sand. And we've talked so much about the money.
Speaker 2: I mean, these are just line items to him. I
Speaker 2: think he had kind of decided on that more than
Speaker 2: likely a long time ago, that he was coming back
Speaker 2: to the NFL, and once he kind of saw the landscape,
Speaker 2: that was the choice. I actually find it more fascinating
Speaker 2: on Belichick and the Falcons. Do you remember around the
Speaker 2: draft there were some rumors about Belichick, like in Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 2: Remember he was kind of interested and they were sniffing around, Well,
Speaker 2: Baker's a free agent, he needs a quarterback. Are we
Speaker 2: sure that Belichick wouldn't try to get Baker Mayfield? Baker
Speaker 2: looks pretty solid, right, just kind of play within that offense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Harbaugh to the Chargers and Baker Mayfield and Belichick to
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Falcons' If I was a betting man right now,
Speaker 2: not the Baker thing, I think that would be cool.
Speaker 2: But I think it's pretty clear that Harbaugh Chargers and
Speaker 2: really where else is Belichick going. I mean, that's really
Speaker 2: his only option. It feels like right now is Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's people. And I've said this with Baker,
Speaker 1: I'd have no problem signing him up for three to
Speaker 1: four years. I even thought today they just don't have
Speaker 1: the players. But I thought I thought he looked good.
Speaker 1: He you know, I mean, he gets into trouble when
Speaker 1: he thinks he's more athletic than he is and he
Speaker 1: moves out of the pocket and it's like, Baker, throw
Speaker 1: it away. He'll extend play sometimes and you're like, come on, Baker,
Speaker 1: this is not what you're not. That's not your game.
Speaker 1: But if you give him time, let him sit back
Speaker 1: and step into it.
Speaker 2: I think he's tailor made for a dome too, with
Speaker 2: some of those weapons in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you know what's interesting in this league with
Speaker 1: Baker is that, I mean Gino Smith's a great example
Speaker 1: is it's become such a quarterback centric league, is that
Speaker 1: there's reclamation projects. If I can pay you somewhere between
Speaker 1: eighteen and twenty four, what do I care? The going
Speaker 1: right now is in the fifties, So I look at
Speaker 1: Baker and I'm like, if I could get him for
Speaker 1: twenty six, I'm paying half of what Dak makes, and
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure he doesn't to a better ball
Speaker 1: than Dak. So to me, Baker's got a real market.
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody loves justin Field, but I'm still not
Speaker 1: sure he can sit in the pocket and throw darts.
Speaker 1: I know Baker can't.
Speaker 2: I take Baker all day long over Justin Fields right now.
Speaker 1: I think Baker's markets better than people think it is.
Speaker 2: I totally agree. I Also, I haven't talked to you
Speaker 2: since the Raiders named Antonio Pierce. I think anytime in
Speaker 2: the NFL, and I get Max Crosby's excellent player, and
Speaker 2: obviously so it's DeVante. But when you start letting the
Speaker 2: players like this isn't Lebron or Steph Curry. When you
Speaker 2: let them dictate and listen to Antonio Piers, team can
Speaker 2: apt in Super Bowl team. No one questions his leadership ability.
Speaker 2: But they have no offense. They have no quarterback or
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator in a in a division that has Andy Reid,
Speaker 2: who's back in his conference championship for one hundred times.
Speaker 2: Jim Harbaugh is gonna go with Justin Herbert and Sean
Speaker 2: Payton that their team's never gonna be worse, and he
Speaker 2: found a way to win eight games, right, So that's
Speaker 2: that's and I understand Mark. I don't know who else
Speaker 2: he's gonna hire, but that seems a little risky when
Speaker 2: you just start listening to your players in this sport.
Speaker 2: It's because so much of a team game. If this
Speaker 2: was the NBA and Max Crosby was honest, okay, but
Speaker 2: it's like, well, you could have fifteen sacks and I
Speaker 2: can still win seven games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, John, This is why the interim situation's really tough,
Speaker 1: because what happens is everybody gets a natural energy bounce
Speaker 1: from an intro have as coach every time, and the
Speaker 1: Raiders have enough. I mean, if you go back, the
Speaker 1: Raiders have enough playmakers, you can be this is a
Speaker 1: very competent team. And especially when you play those divisional
Speaker 1: rivals Kansas City the Chargers in Denver, those games are close.
Speaker 1: They were close three years ago and the Chiefs were stacked.
Speaker 1: So my takeaway is once you do that, and once
Speaker 1: you blew out Josh, you knew this team was because
Speaker 1: Josh is so despised as a guy he was just
Speaker 1: the just that Antonio former player is going to be loved,
Speaker 1: and so it was just like it's like the Raiders
Speaker 1: couldn't quite see around the corner. It's like, guys, you're
Speaker 1: just setting yourself up. And I hope Antonio Pierce works,
Speaker 1: but we have to admit it. We watched today a
Speaker 1: defensive coach, Sean McDermott get beat by an offensive coach
Speaker 1: on the most at home. Finally with a run game
Speaker 1: with the most vulnerable Patrick Mahomes is going to be
Speaker 1: And so now we have two offensive coaches in the NFC.
Speaker 1: In the championship, we have an offensive coach against kind
Speaker 1: of a special team. I don't consider Harbaugh defensive coach.
Speaker 1: I think he's done everything. He's very unique and so
Speaker 1: like to me, it's like it's a risk Harbaugh Sean
Speaker 1: Peyton read six games a year.
Speaker 2: It's not easy. Sorry means good luck.
Speaker 1: I wish him the very best. All right, this is
Speaker 1: good stuff. Got a great weekend coming up. We'll talk again.
Speaker 1: John's great, great CNU and appreciate it.
Speaker 2: You no prom call and talk to you soon. The
Speaker 2: volume