Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast is jealous of the way
Speaker 1: Mark looks at Dan. Oh. Well, one person is in
Speaker 1: between us from the Chris Westling podcast studio. It's Around
Speaker 1: the NFL. I'm Dan Hansas with Greg Rosenthal, that man
Speaker 1: who looks at the way Mark and I look at
Speaker 1: each other, Mark Sessler, and he goes, how that is
Speaker 1: not true. I'm loving how we're all looking at each other.
Speaker 1: You know, we're coming off the team of at L
Speaker 1: delivering you doubt the NFL for one second after a
Speaker 1: snoozy afternoon slate, and here it comes with a season
Speaker 1: finale for the ages two hundred seventy two games now
Speaker 1: in the books, and the playoffs are set Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: You know Greg, when I do look at Dan that
Speaker 1: way and you're here on the table in between us,
Speaker 1: it's just a nice Gregg sandwich. And the way we're
Speaker 1: just both giving you are at warmth. You're not excluded
Speaker 1: from it. Well, the bread is always my favorite party.
Speaker 1: Back to the game, you are the meat um to
Speaker 1: seventy two in the books, the playoffs are set ten
Speaker 1: regular seasons in the books, ten regular season for us
Speaker 1: in the books. Here's the playoff schedule let's start there. Okay,
Speaker 1: the west of this game the traditional early Saturday ball
Speaker 1: game four thirty pm Eastern. That's later, yeah, west of
Speaker 1: US used to be earlier. Seattle Seahawks seventh seed at
Speaker 1: San Francisco two seed on Fox. Saturday Night, Chargers five
Speaker 1: seed at Jags four seed a f c uh window.
Speaker 1: That's NBC Peacock. Sunday, we have number seven Miami at
Speaker 1: number two Buffalo at one pm Eastern, CBS at four
Speaker 1: thirty pm Eastern, the NFC matchup between the Giants and Vikings,
Speaker 1: a six three matchup on Fox. Then a final Sunday
Speaker 1: game Baltimore six seed at Cincinnati three seed rematch of
Speaker 1: week eighteen, and then yes new as of last season,
Speaker 1: a Monday night playoff game eight fifteen Eastern. Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: the five seed at Tampa Bay Buccaneers the four seed.
Speaker 1: There you go, that's the first round of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to all the games, but that is
Speaker 1: what we got coming up next week. Here we go.
Speaker 1: I mean, the least surprising development on our entire planet
Speaker 1: is that they put the Dallas Cowboys against Tom Brady
Speaker 1: as the Monday night affair, right, I think I don't know.
Speaker 1: Actually last year that wasn't like the primetime slot, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's ESPN and everything. I think they UM had
Speaker 1: some bad games there. They of course, UM had a
Speaker 1: game cut short last Monday night. So that's like almost
Speaker 1: a make good and it's a fun it's a fun
Speaker 1: little slate. Marks. Sometimes you gotta with your corporate partners,
Speaker 1: you've got to make sure the relationships stay strong, so
Speaker 1: you give them an ARCAS team before they eliminate. That's
Speaker 1: I think they're all sweating because they're like, how can
Speaker 1: we tap what the old Lions and Packers did on
Speaker 1: on NBC. We need the Lions in this wild card. Greg,
Speaker 1: you spent all day long telling Dan and I in
Speaker 1: all week and it didn't matter that I didn't say that.
Speaker 1: I said it could be great theater. Whether they are
Speaker 1: there or not, well that's what, whether they can make
Speaker 1: the playoffs or not. Let's set the table. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get through all the games from Sunday. We're gonna start
Speaker 1: with the NFC uh and that Sunday night game, but
Speaker 1: also UH, keep in mind we're gonna hit the a
Speaker 1: f C later, including obviously the first game for the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills um since Damar Hamlin's um issue on Monday night,
Speaker 1: and what a dramatic scene that was. So a lot
Speaker 1: of good football to talk about, uh, including keeping our
Speaker 1: eye on what's going on with the league as Black Monday,
Speaker 1: New horizons Monday fast approaches. But let us start yes
Speaker 1: Sunday night football, the final game of the regular season.
Speaker 1: There it is new horizons. That's called massaging. It's a softer,
Speaker 1: gentler approach to facing new horizons. The seasons are over.
Speaker 1: We start at lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: where one went away from an improbable playoff appearance when
Speaker 1: they look down and out the Detroit Lions, the team
Speaker 1: of around the NFL found out earlier their season was
Speaker 1: ending no matter what. After the Seattle Seahawks were victorious
Speaker 1: over the Rams, and yet we still got a great
Speaker 1: ball game. So here we go. The Lions could end
Speaker 1: this ball game right here. Fourth and one from the
Speaker 1: Green Bay fifteen golf takes. The snap back looks gross
Speaker 1: part first down, Detroit Lions d J chalked down inside
Speaker 1: the ten yard line. This jame is over. It is over.
Speaker 1: I'll secute a couple of steps and these Lions are
Speaker 1: calling hold of a victory. How big is this football team?
Speaker 1: Pin tonight? Do you want to change the conversation? Win
Speaker 1: some games? And that's exactly what they've done in it Graverer,
Speaker 1: One last time, baby, who will be the team? Team?
Speaker 1: Team with the e te holy won't team? They're in
Speaker 1: the right? They we got mark team. Oh yes, this
Speaker 1: is a very special honor. Oh it's the last time
Speaker 1: we'll hear that theme. But man, the Lions go out
Speaker 1: in a beautiful way a six win over the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. The Detroit Lions, who were once one in
Speaker 1: six and road kill in the NFC, finished nine and
Speaker 1: eight and eliminate the hated Green Bay Packers in their bill.
Speaker 1: How many big games have the Packers lost in their building?
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers era, It's usually happened in the postseason. This
Speaker 1: year they sucked in that fan base and then laid
Speaker 1: an egg on Sunday night. But I still greg want
Speaker 1: to give plenty of credit, as we should to the Lions,
Speaker 1: who could easily lost that juice when once they knew
Speaker 1: they weren't going to go to the dance, and yet
Speaker 1: they finished off what was a truly promising season for
Speaker 1: the organization. You say, laying egg, I hear you. I say,
Speaker 1: lost a great game to a better team. They scored
Speaker 1: sixteen points in a do or die game in their building.
Speaker 1: All I'm saying is like these two teams were better
Speaker 1: than plenty of it teams that made the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: believe that that the the Lions UH had to go
Speaker 1: out and take that game. I love that the Lions
Speaker 1: get the ball in the fourth quarter down three, march
Speaker 1: down to take the lead. Then on third and ten,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers sees a full house blitz No f's given
Speaker 1: by Aaron Glenn. He sends the house and Dare's the
Speaker 1: fourth time m v P to beat them. Instead, he
Speaker 1: makes a mistake. Kirby Joseph picks it off. It was
Speaker 1: the third near interception and that Joseph had that this one.
Speaker 1: He finishes off. Then on third or second and seventeen
Speaker 1: to call that lateral play. The stones of Down Campbell
Speaker 1: and Ben Johnson in that moment and then for the
Speaker 1: Lions season to essentially end like so many other moments
Speaker 1: of this Lions season, a fourth down decision, you can
Speaker 1: go for the field goal to get up a touchdown
Speaker 1: where he can do what Dan Campbell does, and you
Speaker 1: can go for it and not so much about bad
Speaker 1: outcomes and trust in your players and end this Packers season.
Speaker 1: I wish they were in the playoffs, but man, you
Speaker 1: can't tell me that this is not a sweet, sweet
Speaker 1: victory and moment for this franchise, the team of a
Speaker 1: t A. It kind of threw me on the broadcast
Speaker 1: because they mentioned more than once, well because they've been eliminated,
Speaker 1: Probably they wouldn't have done that one play the pitch
Speaker 1: back to downer stuff. Maybe they wouldn't go for it
Speaker 1: on fourth ones, like, but this is who who Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: The Lions have been all year long. It looked to
Speaker 1: me like a lot of a Lions games, where isn't
Speaker 1: it isn't like we're trying to be completely out of
Speaker 1: bounds in terms of our risk taking. But they do
Speaker 1: go for it, and it's a very twenty three approach um.
Speaker 1: It is a massive organizational lift for Dan Campbell for
Speaker 1: everyone because when they were truly floating in the Abyss
Speaker 1: with their record as it was, it was like nice story,
Speaker 1: but a lot like a lot of these hard knocks.
Speaker 1: Nice story, there's nothing to it when it comes down
Speaker 1: to it, and it completely turned around. I mean they
Speaker 1: overcame a couple of things tonight too, because you had
Speaker 1: a Kurby Joseph pick that was taken away by that
Speaker 1: hands to the face. They had a missfield goal in
Speaker 1: a tight game that Jamison Williams sixty one yard catch
Speaker 1: and run bomb that was pulled back by flag. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of penalties win against Lions to the
Speaker 1: Lines tonight. But they kept overcoming. And I think that
Speaker 1: is who they are, and like, yes, I think that
Speaker 1: they're in the they were in the playoffs. They are
Speaker 1: not a team you'd want to face. It's it's lucky.
Speaker 1: It's a fortunate situation for a couple of these mezzanine
Speaker 1: level NFC teams. Yeah, you feel a little bit cheat,
Speaker 1: with all due respect to the Seattle Seahawks, to the
Speaker 1: New York Giants, those teams in the back end of
Speaker 1: the playoff picture Detroit to me and and for instance,
Speaker 1: I have a bit of a conundrum with the power rankings,
Speaker 1: which will come out in a couple of days, and
Speaker 1: it's like I'm gonna have the Lines as the top
Speaker 1: ten team in the NFL, because that's exactly what they are.
Speaker 1: It just didn't work out for them in terms of
Speaker 1: uh tiebreakers, and they just ran out of games to
Speaker 1: really to get into the dance. So it but it
Speaker 1: does give them a huge, huge, like kind of trampoline
Speaker 1: jump as they looked to next year and there will
Speaker 1: be expectations in a way that you haven't seen around
Speaker 1: this team in many years. And that's for down the road.
Speaker 1: Do we have Jamal Williams after the game, Uh, speaking
Speaker 1: with NBC Sports, I'm just grateful, are grateful to be
Speaker 1: able to play this game from our great great grandfather.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad that he's looking down at me. I
Speaker 1: know I'm making him proud for him. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: for him and other days. Stop playing us. Man, we
Speaker 1: may we had the Detroit Lions. We did, Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: Stop playing with us. I don't even watch TV, but
Speaker 1: I heard everybody already picked the Packers over us. That's
Speaker 1: the lines of the nutshell. He pivoted mid mid tear,
Speaker 1: like the tears were halfway down his face talking about
Speaker 1: his grandfather to pointing at the camera and saying nobody
Speaker 1: believed in US, and he's right except for Mark. I
Speaker 1: was just gonna jemp, Well, this is a smart strategy.
Speaker 1: That we talked about before. I was like, I had
Speaker 1: a feeling that everyone was gonna jump on the Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers thing. It's like they are the team of at
Speaker 1: L so as I'm just obviously gonna pick the Lions
Speaker 1: thinking less people would and no one on this little
Speaker 1: like graphic they did, no one else didn't. Just looks
Speaker 1: it makes you look. As I said in the text,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a cloud hack. And now what you
Speaker 1: need to do the next step or your representation and
Speaker 1: I know who your representation is. You need to get
Speaker 1: this to Lion social media so they can amplify it,
Speaker 1: and then your cloud is yeah, and I know on
Speaker 1: on Greg's game, Dame you also, I've been picking them
Speaker 1: every week. They're to me getting into first place. You're
Speaker 1: doing this TV show, just doing this dot com picks
Speaker 1: thing that gets tweeted. That's how you do. I used
Speaker 1: to be in that picks thing, and then the guy
Speaker 1: that sent the email like hey, get your picks in
Speaker 1: just gave up on me. I couldn't do it anymore.
Speaker 1: I just like I can't one other thing. I give
Speaker 1: you respect for staying with it. Thank you. I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a company person, like I think that something that
Speaker 1: almost overtook what happened to Detroit in this game was
Speaker 1: the imagery, the camera work, and the somewhat miss serious
Speaker 1: uh language by the NBC broadcasting group about Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: arm in arm with with Randall Cobb walking off the field.
Speaker 1: And it was Jamison william Williams who walked up to
Speaker 1: Roger and said could I could we switch jerseys? Which
Speaker 1: is a common thing, maybe not always with Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: but he sort of said, now I want to keep
Speaker 1: this one. Jameson Williams got like, I have four career catches,
Speaker 1: can can? I have? Happens all the time, but like,
Speaker 1: but it's just like the way they showed Rogers pensively
Speaker 1: looking around Lambeau. It changed the tone. We get that feeling,
Speaker 1: um when you're watching something or you're listening to the
Speaker 1: the announcers or like they know something that you don't yet.
Speaker 1: There was that vibe the way Tariko was setting it up,
Speaker 1: and then the way the camera was just I mean,
Speaker 1: this truly was like kind of the story of the game. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Packer season was over and another season was over
Speaker 1: for Rogers, this all time great player, but for a
Speaker 1: lot of football fans. The story was really like the
Speaker 1: Lions and the journey of their season and over so
Speaker 1: many obstacles and then winning in Lambeau to end the season.
Speaker 1: But that is not the way NBC covered it. And
Speaker 1: we'll find out. We're gonna learn more about it. But
Speaker 1: they have the cameras right in Rogers face. He obviously
Speaker 1: is taking things in, looking around the field with his
Speaker 1: best buddy Randall cop walking back into the tunnel, into
Speaker 1: the unknown. So we'll see. We'll see if that was
Speaker 1: a red herring or something that tells us what's coming
Speaker 1: next for the Packers. I absolutely got the feeling that
Speaker 1: Tariko and Collinsworth had a feeling about this game based
Speaker 1: on no based on the conversation that they had they
Speaker 1: spent days when with Rogers and with Green Bay. It's
Speaker 1: just like they with Aaron. Yeah, and and La Fleur
Speaker 1: after the game said, you know, in my mind, you know,
Speaker 1: he expects Rogers back, but he's going to decide that
Speaker 1: and we'll see, because that does paint a different picture.
Speaker 1: It does, because this was such, you know, a disappointing
Speaker 1: and to this season for the package. You're right, I
Speaker 1: hadn't even I didn't so wrapped up in the Lions
Speaker 1: that I hadn't even thought about, Like kind of what
Speaker 1: a crushing end because the Packers would have gone into
Speaker 1: the playoffs believing that they could do something. Now, either
Speaker 1: the Packers or the Lions would have been playing the
Speaker 1: forty Niners tough, tough spot. I think the forty Niners
Speaker 1: have to be thrilled they're playing the Seahawks, considering that
Speaker 1: their history against them in their recent history this year. Uh,
Speaker 1: but man, that that that's a crushing way to lose.
Speaker 1: After they got everyone all worked up and had a
Speaker 1: lead in the fourth quarter over the Detroit Lions, give
Speaker 1: up that touchdown, drive, thrown interception, can't get a stop. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: they fell short big time in a fourth quarter, just
Speaker 1: like they did throughout the beginning part of the season.
Speaker 1: I would have loved to see Lions Niners. I think
Speaker 1: that would have been fascination. You know how you can
Speaker 1: blame for that a little bit. Who Baker Mayfield. We'll
Speaker 1: get to it. I mean, among other people. We're gonna
Speaker 1: look at the season. I'm just saying before before we
Speaker 1: move on from this game, I do want to say,
Speaker 1: like there's a chance Jared Goff like We don't know
Speaker 1: what his future is going to be. Certainly expect him
Speaker 1: to be the Week one starter there next year, but
Speaker 1: you never know the way this game started with him
Speaker 1: throwing a lot of dirt balls and and struggling in
Speaker 1: the cold. Everyone's kind of joking about his small hands. Man.
Speaker 1: There was the drive before halftime where it's like third
Speaker 1: and five, uh, and they're down nine three and they
Speaker 1: just got the fumble back and he leaves the drive,
Speaker 1: and then Campbell goes forward on fourth and two when
Speaker 1: they're down. Remember they're going forward on fourth down when
Speaker 1: they were behind on that touch center and Golf had
Speaker 1: that nice throw down the field like he delivered. Man,
Speaker 1: He delivered his play after play after playing, just like
Speaker 1: delivered Jammal Williams. We heard breaking Barry Sanders touchdown record
Speaker 1: and Jared Goff you may not be like the John
Speaker 1: Wayne of the NFL quarterbacks, not the picture of like
Speaker 1: what what the great ones look like or how they performed,
Speaker 1: but he was fearless in this game as well. Goodbye
Speaker 1: to the I was gonna say, like how many it's
Speaker 1: been a season where a number of quarterbacks have changed
Speaker 1: what we think about him entirely, But the easy, comfortable
Speaker 1: jokes about Jared Goff and his personality and his sort
Speaker 1: of you know, bowl of milk or glass of milk
Speaker 1: type persona like throw it all away. I mean what
Speaker 1: he did this season was a pretty amazing, great year
Speaker 1: for that offense, great year for the lines, even fall
Speaker 1: short of the playoffs. Song, So long, team of a
Speaker 1: t N. I don't know how we picked another one
Speaker 1: next year. That is the goat team of a t
Speaker 1: N in my impression, in my humble opinion, Let's move
Speaker 1: on now. All right, we mentioned the Seattle Seahawks. They
Speaker 1: are going to the playoffs because they got it done.
Speaker 1: Give him credit last week against the Jets, and yes
Speaker 1: against Baker Mayfield and the Rams. Jed Myers win this
Speaker 1: wing over time for the Seahol Sars, the staff, the spot,
Speaker 1: the kickers are wain, the Tickers God. The final regular
Speaker 1: season game over the year there wined at home against
Speaker 1: the Rams, and now the playoff chance is still and
Speaker 1: as we know, they got the result they needed on
Speaker 1: Sunday night with the Packers falling. That allows the Seattle
Speaker 1: Seahawks to move into the postseason with Gino Smith as
Speaker 1: their quarterback. That is a real success story for this
Speaker 1: organization in nineteen sixteen win over the l A. Rams, who,
Speaker 1: as we have said last week, had already set a
Speaker 1: record for the most losses ever for defending champion. They
Speaker 1: finished five and twelve. Uh. This is a game that
Speaker 1: was close throughout. Seattle had gotten set up after a
Speaker 1: very questionable, in my opinion, personal foul on Jalen Ramsey
Speaker 1: on a hit on the sideline on Gino Smith set
Speaker 1: them up for what looked like it was going to
Speaker 1: be a game winning football. At the end of regulation,
Speaker 1: Jason Meyer hits the uprights, but after a terrible Mayfield
Speaker 1: interception and overtime, they get another chance kicked the field goal,
Speaker 1: game over Seattle advances. The look on Sean mcveigh's face
Speaker 1: as he was walking to ghost shake Pete Carroll's hand
Speaker 1: was very memorable to me. The day started with reports
Speaker 1: really pumping up that McVeigh may not be back with
Speaker 1: the rams Ian rapport J Glazer everyone, but he had
Speaker 1: always owned Pete Carroll and that was the difference this season.
Speaker 1: I guess between the Seahawks of old and this Seahawks team.
Speaker 1: I know they got to play this Ramsey mean, Yet
Speaker 1: when you watch these two Rams games against the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: They had both of them in control in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and Gino Smith and the Seahawks eventually get it done.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna try to pretend like they played a
Speaker 1: great game. Gino threw a pick right off the bat
Speaker 1: to Jalen Ramsey, seemed a little shook, didn't throw with
Speaker 1: a lot of confidence for much of the game. Could
Speaker 1: have had more picks, had two in this game. Um,
Speaker 1: But when they needed a drive late, got a little
Speaker 1: help by that Ramsey called. But were also moving the
Speaker 1: ball by the end of the game much better. By
Speaker 1: that point in the game, Baker Mayfield, that sort of
Speaker 1: run out of answers was just throwing up hope balls.
Speaker 1: And the Seahawks did just enough against a bad Rams
Speaker 1: team to get there and to give the fighting Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell's a chance. And I think Seahawks fans who are
Speaker 1: winding on Monday about how unfair it was that the
Speaker 1: Lions were playing later I should send an apology, maybe
Speaker 1: a fruit basket to Detroit for all that they've done.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of fruit baskets. Yeah, sure, yeah. The
Speaker 1: the after the game, after the missed field goal, you
Speaker 1: go to ot and Seattle goes three and out and
Speaker 1: there's the chance for the Rams and uh, you know Baker,
Speaker 1: who was very up and down with the Rams, just
Speaker 1: like he's been for most of his career. They have
Speaker 1: a chance to win the game. Uh. Van Jefferson kind
Speaker 1: of streaks open on a second and fifteen and if
Speaker 1: Baker just zips it in there, uh, that's a big game,
Speaker 1: and who knows what happens at that point. Instead, he
Speaker 1: puts a lot of air under it. It throws a
Speaker 1: balloon that's intercepted by Quandre Diggs, who waves at Bobby
Speaker 1: Wagner on the sideline as he goes out of bounds,
Speaker 1: and um, it was very close to over at that point.
Speaker 1: So a tough way for the Baker season to end
Speaker 1: as we look at a very unknown time around the
Speaker 1: Rams as Sean mcveigh's status unknown, Baker status, who knows.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if you look at that Baker
Speaker 1: performance against the Broncos on Christmas Day, which was pretty flawless,
Speaker 1: although it wasn't asking him to save the world, but
Speaker 1: it was a very clean game. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: because of that, Raiders comeback was they were abysmal from
Speaker 1: most of that game until the very end, and it's
Speaker 1: been spurts where Baker I think it's been impressive to
Speaker 1: come in and do it without a full off season
Speaker 1: or a lot of time to get up to snuff
Speaker 1: in their offense. But a lot of times it's looked
Speaker 1: like Baker Mayfield and especially last week and this week,
Speaker 1: missing certain throws that would have saved the Rams. Your
Speaker 1: playing with no Cooper Cup. I mean, there's people missing
Speaker 1: all over the place. The offensive lines look better despite
Speaker 1: you know, Akers done fine for the situation. He's he's
Speaker 1: him though, he's just him. That was the pocket was
Speaker 1: clean and Jefferson was open, and like I said, he
Speaker 1: threw a blimp right in a couple plays before that.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm thinking of the drive to end regulation
Speaker 1: where they could have gone down and tried to kick
Speaker 1: a game win field goal. He also missed Jefferson. He's
Speaker 1: just he's just slow making decisions um where he's always
Speaker 1: like a beat late, and that that's been his problem
Speaker 1: in The Seahawks benefited from that. They got the Jets
Speaker 1: at the right time, they had the right Week eighteen opponent,
Speaker 1: and they beat the Lions, and that's it sucks, but
Speaker 1: they played that game. I remember that game well, it
Speaker 1: was like five. It was one of Juneau's best games.
Speaker 1: It was at the point of the season where the
Speaker 1: Lions defense just couldn't do anything and they tried to
Speaker 1: keep up and a shootout, and unfortunately for lines like
Speaker 1: that game loomed super large because I don't think the
Speaker 1: Seahawks team that's entering the playoffs is at their best
Speaker 1: right now. You never know if things could change, but
Speaker 1: I think this is the worst matchup possible. They got
Speaker 1: blown out twice by the forty nine to twenty was
Speaker 1: the combined score of those two games, and it didn't
Speaker 1: look that close either one of those times. Uh, you
Speaker 1: never know. It's still an incredible success story for them
Speaker 1: to be able to celebrate tonight. Ken Walker had a
Speaker 1: nice dayteen yards. They really wrote. Here's a quote from Digs,
Speaker 1: who had the interception that's set up to win of Jefferson.
Speaker 1: That dude was wide open. In my mind, I was
Speaker 1: thinking the worst. I felt like I was twenty five again,
Speaker 1: running and jumping in the air. It was one of
Speaker 1: those plays they drew it up perfect god us in
Speaker 1: the coverage they wanted, and I was going to go
Speaker 1: out and make a play. So credit to Seattle. They're
Speaker 1: moving on and it might not be the game that
Speaker 1: people want to see, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. Seahawks fans, congratulations, it's been an awesome ride.
Speaker 1: Got the division too. I think the way that the
Speaker 1: way that ended, in the look on his face, I
Speaker 1: was like, man, if they had won this game, would
Speaker 1: it have changed range? I hope not. But feeling and
Speaker 1: the reports that he's just like so down and stuff
Speaker 1: and then too he man, he just like crestfallen. I
Speaker 1: wanted to mention that it is new Horizons Monday coming up,
Speaker 1: and this was from schefter. McVeigh has gone back and
Speaker 1: forth on the decision and needs time to get away
Speaker 1: to process all that has transpired over the past year,
Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl, being courted to work in television,
Speaker 1: getting married, watching his wife's home country of Ukraine, invaded,
Speaker 1: losing his grandfather, and then a coaching a team that
Speaker 1: has fallen short of expectations. Which one of those doesn't
Speaker 1: fit in with the others. Well, all right, I I
Speaker 1: know what you're saying, but like, who, I'm sorry? Everything serious? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: not at all, But just like I like that that's
Speaker 1: coming from him, I would see, and maybe the war
Speaker 1: in Rain really stands out when you bullet pointed like that.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the most absurd thing I've heard. None
Speaker 1: of the rest of it. I think like it mattered
Speaker 1: except for that this season has been miserable and he
Speaker 1: works works himself in a way that he was considering
Speaker 1: retiring last year. I don't think that was the feature
Speaker 1: that came out about him before the season, And like
Speaker 1: the one picture of Payne was the fact that he
Speaker 1: can't just let any of the stuff go. So we'll see.
Speaker 1: But they also talked about someone who wants to go
Speaker 1: out and have the best coach, the most coaching wins. Ever,
Speaker 1: so it's like, which are you? I read? Uh? I
Speaker 1: read uh. The our friend Jordan Rodrigan the Athletic about it,
Speaker 1: and I just thought it was notable. She noted that
Speaker 1: the Rams don't think he'd be retiring from football. They
Speaker 1: think he'd be taking a break, kind of like Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: and by taking a break, they could either be waiting
Speaker 1: for him to come back, which is almost impossible, or
Speaker 1: they just know that they will be able to get
Speaker 1: some draft picks for him, and they could use some
Speaker 1: draft picks whenever he does come. It could be mutually beneficial.
Speaker 1: At this point in Rams history, they are it doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like they're close to getting back to a super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and I just wonder what that roster and everyone's saying,
Speaker 1: all Matthew, Matthew, Stafford will be back. I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's an interesting Jordan would be a great person to
Speaker 1: have on the show for our next episode of Flashpoint
Speaker 1: because McVeigh knew that something about Stafford that we don't know,
Speaker 1: and then the Rams know something about McVeigh that we
Speaker 1: don't know. It's like a you know, all right, let
Speaker 1: us take a break and we will continue on. All right,
Speaker 1: let's welcome back if you're just joining us, which would
Speaker 1: be weird. It's a podcast Week eighteens in the books
Speaker 1: to seventy two in the books. We got the playoffs set.
Speaker 1: We continue now roll through the NFC. We finally we've
Speaker 1: been waiting and waiting for the Eagles to lock down
Speaker 1: the NFC, and everyone seed they finally did it. Hurts
Speaker 1: gives it off to Scott up the middle Touchtoff does Okay,
Speaker 1: that was the best highlight I could think to give
Speaker 1: the great thing This was not um I was tasked
Speaker 1: with watching both NFCUS games today. Not great is sometimes
Speaker 1: you feel like you're earning your money a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know. NFC East was not dynamic in Week eight
Speaker 1: team which isn't to say teams involved in the NFC
Speaker 1: East will not be dynamic in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: We've got three of them in the playoffs. It is
Speaker 1: to say that maybe some of them will be. The
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles are the number one seed after a two
Speaker 1: to sixteen win over the New York Giants, who remain
Speaker 1: the number six seed. The Giants next week will travel,
Speaker 1: as I said, to Minneapolis to face the Vikings, who
Speaker 1: they played very tough on Christmas Eve. The Eagles the
Speaker 1: the what do they say the fruit of their spoils?
Speaker 1: Is that right? The spoils of their fruit to the
Speaker 1: victor goes to spoils fruit something about fruit. They get fruit.
Speaker 1: It's their labor, fruit of their labor. Wait, did anybody
Speaker 1: hear anything? No, I didn't hear anything I think was
Speaker 1: fruit of their labor? Yes, justin um, yeah, just back
Speaker 1: to your earlier point. That was Philly's only touchdown. What
Speaker 1: other highlight works that Kenny Golladay's touchdown that was finally
Speaker 1: in his last game was a Giant most likely did
Speaker 1: score touchdown, but anyway, um, they take care of business.
Speaker 1: I said on the Thursday previous show, Boys that I
Speaker 1: thought it was kind of an important game for the Eagles,
Speaker 1: not just to win against the Giants backups, and trust me,
Speaker 1: it was all Giants backups for the most part. Um
Speaker 1: play well and they didn't really. I think they had
Speaker 1: the touchdown and five field goals. The offense was a
Speaker 1: little funky, but Jalen Hurts came out of it seemingly healthy. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, between the injury costing him two weeks and
Speaker 1: then not doing much today. He's out of the m
Speaker 1: v P conversation, but more importantly, he should be ready
Speaker 1: to go in two weeks and the Eagles will be
Speaker 1: as well. Fourteen and three, big season for them. And
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about a coach later in this show
Speaker 1: that took pains to explain why he played starters deep
Speaker 1: into a contest when there was no desire for that.
Speaker 1: The Giants hung around the Eagles with zero snaps for
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones, se Kwan Barkley, Dexter Lawrence Cavon Thibodeaux, Leonard Williams,
Speaker 1: Andrew Thomas, John Fluiciano. I mean they really legit rolled
Speaker 1: out all your backups. They played a two tight end
Speaker 1: set basically the whole game preseason so that they wouldn't
Speaker 1: play their top three receivers, so that their top three
Speaker 1: receivers didn't risk getting hurt, which a good move. It's
Speaker 1: amazing they were competitive, but it's also crazy because it's
Speaker 1: like the Giants made the playoffs to the point where
Speaker 1: they had to really make sure they protected Isaiah Hodgens
Speaker 1: and Richie James, Like, like the Chargers are out there,
Speaker 1: you know that they can't They say they can't start,
Speaker 1: but like the guys they're protecting are Isaiah Hodgens and
Speaker 1: Richie James, who were lucky to make the team back in.
Speaker 1: That's good coaching. That's good coaching. And the fact that
Speaker 1: they were competitive in this game. I think they'll I
Speaker 1: think they'll be loving that. I think they're feeling good.
Speaker 1: I actually think the Giants kind of entered the playoffs, uh,
Speaker 1: playing better than they played all season. There was one
Speaker 1: absurd moment in this standard. Do you agree the idea?
Speaker 1: Because this you know whether you want to keep it
Speaker 1: close or not. Why show anything that you might use
Speaker 1: down the road. But they attempted that fake field goal
Speaker 1: where Jamie Gillen just the Scottish hammer just got destroyed.
Speaker 1: And it's like, this game came down to six points.
Speaker 1: You could have been you could have a chance to
Speaker 1: be within It's not a big deal. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: actually a close game. It was sixteen nothing at halftime
Speaker 1: and the Giants got a very late score to sep
Speaker 1: An on side kick. But the Eagles kind of controlled
Speaker 1: it the whole time. And Iron Eagle gets credit because
Speaker 1: as soon as that that special team's gaff occurred, he said, oh,
Speaker 1: the Scottish hammer gets nailed, Like that's that's a pro. Um.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the Tennessee Titans later, uh, justin
Speaker 1: so you might want to earmuffs this one. Um. A. J.
Speaker 1: Brown set the Eagles record for receiving passing the great
Speaker 1: uh Mike Quick around yards. He ended up with so
Speaker 1: unbelievable season for him the Eagles. I'm a little noivous
Speaker 1: about the Eagles. I think there it's team that they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to show that they can get back to
Speaker 1: that top gear because it's been a wild nowt since
Speaker 1: we've seen it. But they took care of business, got
Speaker 1: that one seed that I mean, it would have been
Speaker 1: an outright disaster if they lost out the last three
Speaker 1: weeks and didn't get that one seed. They got it.
Speaker 1: Now they get to rest up and there you go.
Speaker 1: This This is kind of the perfect outcome for me personally,
Speaker 1: because I like the I roote, I'm rooting for them.
Speaker 1: I picked them to win the Super Bowl. But I
Speaker 1: do like the consternation in Philly and this result them
Speaker 1: getting the one seed. But everyone's gonna be like so
Speaker 1: anxious for the next couple of weeks, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I never know what to make Yeah, I do like
Speaker 1: the Philly angst. I enjoy Like I'd never know what
Speaker 1: to make of it. Like when a team kind of
Speaker 1: comes to the finish line taken on water after a
Speaker 1: really dominant season just because we've we've done this long enough.
Speaker 1: Sometimes like then they lose the first game and everyone's like,
Speaker 1: oh see, like and then sometimes they're nothing late in
Speaker 1: the first quarter in the playoff game and it's like it.
Speaker 1: But sometimes it doesn't, it doesn't matter at all, Like
Speaker 1: the Eagles, for instance, kind of slowed down at the
Speaker 1: end of that full season. I mean, I know it
Speaker 1: was falls coming in there, but they didn't exactly. And
Speaker 1: and I can think of Patriots seasons where they ended
Speaker 1: really poorly in the regular season and then hot in
Speaker 1: the plants and vice versa. Someone's gonna prove you right,
Speaker 1: someone's gonna prove you wrong. Because Philly, Dallas, Minnesota, Tampa,
Speaker 1: San France, outside of San Francisco and Seattle have all
Speaker 1: been full of warts in the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: are fading and sort of just tripping their way into
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Like, please, we're inviting you into the postseason.
Speaker 1: Come through the dorm. It's the new season. You don't
Speaker 1: have to play San Francisco until the championship game at worst.
Speaker 1: So that's the best get avoid the Niners as long
Speaker 1: as you can. Yet, let's stay in the NFC East
Speaker 1: and hit the other game. Because yes, the Cowboys seem
Speaker 1: to be taken on some water too at the wrong time.
Speaker 1: Third and six, stop the Prescott quick throw to the park.
Speaker 1: He's gonna look in pick Sex, touchdown, touchdown once again,
Speaker 1: and once again, Dad Prescott will give you you all
Speaker 1: for too. Really on defense, to take that ball away
Speaker 1: couple fall or visit the first time he had his
Speaker 1: hands all over that. The second time, all right, that's
Speaker 1: uh Brandinstein and Donaldson with the call com down. What's
Speaker 1: going on with you? Greg? I don't don't my note,
Speaker 1: said London Fletcher, And I was like, how we've been
Speaker 1: through this before where it's definitely not London Fletchers. I
Speaker 1: don't know, are you trying to like Ron? It's a
Speaker 1: three person booth. So sometimes I had I got it.
Speaker 1: I had it though before Greg screamed it. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say, Julie Donaldson with the pick six and what
Speaker 1: she's referring to is um dak and the rest of
Speaker 1: the Cowboys were so like shamelessly sloppy in this game
Speaker 1: and unplugged in terms of playing sharp competitive football. That
Speaker 1: literally the play before that he throws kind of a
Speaker 1: lazy path us that Fuller has an easy path to
Speaker 1: for a pick six. Only Fuller slipped and was unable
Speaker 1: to catch the ball, and before the announcers could even
Speaker 1: finish making the point of oh he really blew that.
Speaker 1: Dad does the exact same thing, targeting the exact same
Speaker 1: receiver and the exact same cornerback on the next play.
Speaker 1: This time it's an easy pick six. And it was
Speaker 1: kind of like at that point all she wrote, Washington
Speaker 1: cruises to a twenty six to six win, and uh,
Speaker 1: yeah again, Uh, we got Dallas going to Tampa, the
Speaker 1: eight and nine NFC South champion on Monday night next week.
Speaker 1: And there'll be a favorite in that game. Maybe not
Speaker 1: a big favorite, maybe around three points, I would guess.
Speaker 1: But I don't know how any Cowboy fan, or Mike
Speaker 1: McCarthy for that matter, who's gonna be feeling the heat.
Speaker 1: By the way, if they don't, if they go one
Speaker 1: and done, uh can be feeling good about this team?
Speaker 1: How they ended the season. They just something seems off
Speaker 1: mark with the Cowboys. And I'm looking at their recent
Speaker 1: schedule here, Well that tells you the story. Look at
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks they play in the last month plus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you had the terrible loss to the Jaguars. You beat
Speaker 1: Gardner Minshew, Uh, you beat the Titans Josh Dobbs, Josh Dobbs,
Speaker 1: and then you lose to Sam Howell in the Commanders, right,
Speaker 1: they barely beat Davis Mills. I mean, they're just not
Speaker 1: all these teams are gonna be able to search this
Speaker 1: entire way, and I it's not all about the Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott interceptions. I think like if you take away not
Speaker 1: that you can, but if you take away the turnovers,
Speaker 1: not this game stands out as a true mess. But
Speaker 1: he's been pretty great. I think otherwise, it's just that
Speaker 1: this they're not all these pick sixes are not the same.
Speaker 1: The one the stuffy through today was just bad. Right,
Speaker 1: he has been incredibly unlucky. Like, for what it's worth,
Speaker 1: his turnover worthy played percentage of PFF, it's been very
Speaker 1: average throughout this season, not good, not bad, but it's
Speaker 1: it's really resulted in a huge amount of interceptions, some
Speaker 1: of which were not his fault. But this time he's
Speaker 1: not playing well. I'm more concerned about the defense. That
Speaker 1: was this team's calling card for a while, but now
Speaker 1: they're thinnic cornerback defensive tackles clearly a problem. Like they
Speaker 1: haven't been good at the second level in terms of
Speaker 1: their linebackers. They're getting smoked by by Sam how who like,
Speaker 1: hey kind of look Sam, how how about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That was a nice pat. I mean, if you take
Speaker 1: the goball out, his stats are not good, but you
Speaker 1: can't take it out as part of it. Uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was an encouraging I wouldn't if I'm
Speaker 1: no Commanders, It wouldn't stopped me from being very aggressive
Speaker 1: to find a quarterback. But maybe he could be your
Speaker 1: backup next year. Yeah. I think Dak finished with fifteen
Speaker 1: interceptions and and what twelve starts or whatever, and was
Speaker 1: so bad and it made me think I was wondering
Speaker 1: as I'm watching the game because Dallas, um, you know,
Speaker 1: couldn't make any real move once it became clear the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia wasn't wasn't gonna lose that game to New York.
Speaker 1: That get him out of the game. Get at these
Speaker 1: starters of the game. But I think it was one
Speaker 1: of those things where the coaches like, I need to
Speaker 1: see I need to have them go out on something positive.
Speaker 1: And they did scool Are a touchdown right before the half,
Speaker 1: and in retrospect, maybe that should have been the time
Speaker 1: where you pull the trigger. There was just not much
Speaker 1: to build off, so you kind of flush this game,
Speaker 1: um and hope that the better version of Dallas shows up.
Speaker 1: Michael Parsons also was kind of limping on and off
Speaker 1: the field throughout this game. He seemed to be banged up.
Speaker 1: Not a good day for the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: the whole scoreboard watching and being distracted and knowing that
Speaker 1: the game you probably didn't matter. Maybe that's a factor.
Speaker 1: He's heard about players talk about that. But they average
Speaker 1: two point eight yards per play. They have ten first downs.
Speaker 1: This is one of the worst offensive performances all season.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Feel. Yeah, you're playing a You're gonna play
Speaker 1: a team that's not very good next week in Tampa,
Speaker 1: but they're not terrible, and they're gonna be home and
Speaker 1: they have Tom Brady. It's like this all feels like
Speaker 1: it's building towards something with the Cowboys. I agree, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I wonder if the favorite. You've told us though, that
Speaker 1: the Bucks are winning the game. I have. I have
Speaker 1: mentioned that I said whoever won the on the record
Speaker 1: multiple times, multiple times. I do want to mention that
Speaker 1: Dan Snyder was reportedly not at this game, uh, which
Speaker 1: is strange for the owner's habits. According to The Athletic,
Speaker 1: it could be his final game as owner. With that
Speaker 1: popping up. A spokesperson for Washington didn't want to comment
Speaker 1: on it, but it was reported by the Athletic, which
Speaker 1: is coming in a in a way. Maybe maybe this
Speaker 1: win by Rivera and the ownership situation, maybe that helps
Speaker 1: him stay the exact same thing. You know what I'm saying, like, Oh,
Speaker 1: we can't clarify what where, where he was or what's
Speaker 1: going on there. It's just like, are you the only
Speaker 1: thing out there? I just want to know where telling
Speaker 1: the pig was. I don't give it. I don't care
Speaker 1: about anything else. I think he that pig probably knows
Speaker 1: he has probably a two game run if there's an
Speaker 1: ownership change here and a lot of other changes. And
Speaker 1: he's like, most Greg, you were cut off there. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you're about to make a t ancient point. No,
Speaker 1: it was just what Rivera must be thinking, which is like,
Speaker 1: is this this is happening again. I guess I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep my job because they're not gonna fire me right
Speaker 1: before they leave. But this happened with Jerry Richardson in Carolina.
Speaker 1: He had, he had that job, and then the new
Speaker 1: owner came the game one year and I was run.
Speaker 1: I'd get my wife and maybe some kids and a
Speaker 1: couple of grandkids, get out of dodge and just lay
Speaker 1: low and hope they just kind of forget about me
Speaker 1: while they're trying to figure out if it's good move.
Speaker 1: That's just the pro tip for Ron Rivera. Let's move
Speaker 1: on other playoff NFC seating implications to the Bay Area.
Speaker 1: We go bottom, I'm gonna play action and pretty gonna
Speaker 1: throw and it is caught by George Kittle again. Kive
Speaker 1: him a living on the year too, Dida. George Kittle,
Speaker 1: the rubber Bandman is catching the rock for touchdowns this year,
Speaker 1: and this one he rips away from Camboo Grouse a
Speaker 1: Hill the rubber Bandman on the old Hate Ashbury before
Speaker 1: the game. Here. Yeah, it's going on with some of
Speaker 1: these radio broadcasts. Hey, Danny, it sounds like he's blowing
Speaker 1: a bone. The rubber Bandman, a guy who we talked
Speaker 1: about him on the podcast like midway through the season. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, Kiddle is not really Kittle anymore, and maybe
Speaker 1: he's not the same guy who was anymore. But if
Speaker 1: hecame a touchdown machine in the second half, and that's
Speaker 1: yet another reason to feel very good about San Francisco,
Speaker 1: who go into the playoffs on a long winning streak,
Speaker 1: lockdown the number two seed with a thirty eight to
Speaker 1: thirteen win over a team that is technically the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: um so San Francisco, Yes thirteen and four long winning
Speaker 1: streak that they don't get to buy anymore with the
Speaker 1: new rules in effect. But they will play at least
Speaker 1: one home game and if if something goes crazy with
Speaker 1: the number one seed Eagles, maybe the whole way through
Speaker 1: the NFC we shall see. I think it's huge they
Speaker 1: get Elijah Mitchell bat today, he's barely played off season,
Speaker 1: and then you got Deepo Samuel back and you didn't
Speaker 1: have to use Christian McCaffrey too much. It was the
Speaker 1: ideal way for a team that did have to win,
Speaker 1: but they didn't want to expend all the energy in
Speaker 1: the world. They also didn't want to sweat it out
Speaker 1: like this was the opposite of what the Eagles did,
Speaker 1: certainly what the Cowboys did or the Chargers. Uh. This
Speaker 1: was perfect. And they've they've given every confidence uh to
Speaker 1: believe they're one of the best teams I know Danny's
Speaker 1: power rankings believe so they will be the number one
Speaker 1: team going into the playoffs for whatever I mean. I
Speaker 1: like the Bills, I love the Bengals, I love the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: but I think San Francisco just feels like a runaway train.
Speaker 1: At least they have the clearest path to the super
Speaker 1: Bowl of any team. Now because we are we all
Speaker 1: agreeving on that absolutely to the super Bowl. Now, what's
Speaker 1: the doubt? What's the doubt here? With the time you
Speaker 1: think what team is a clearer path in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: That's the Eagle. I guess the two of them are equal.
Speaker 1: To me, if the forty Niners are in Philly, I
Speaker 1: consider the Eagles like a slight favorite, not much, but slight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but at best, it's a it's a coin flip. I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about the Niners playing an extra game when
Speaker 1: it starts with Seattle. They matched up really well with
Speaker 1: them both times. And this this game, you look at
Speaker 1: the score and you think just another like absolute drubbing,
Speaker 1: and ultimately it was down the stretch. But this game
Speaker 1: was fourteen a thirteen with just a couple of seconds
Speaker 1: to go in the first half, and there was a
Speaker 1: stretch where for the first time in a while, the
Speaker 1: Niners just went to sleep on offense three straight punts
Speaker 1: and pretty couldn't generate anything, and yet they climbed their
Speaker 1: way out of it. This was like not one of
Speaker 1: their final performances, and by the end they absolutely destroyed Arizona.
Speaker 1: It's like, I don't see another team doing this right
Speaker 1: now in the NFC. So I tend to agree with Dan.
Speaker 1: It like with where the Eagles all right now? The
Speaker 1: Niners to me are just if you're gonna get Deebo back,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get Mitchell back. Purty has not proven to
Speaker 1: be anything but completely legitimate. He's out played Jimmy g
Speaker 1: and can he fits right in and like he's he's
Speaker 1: worked so well with guys like Kiddle and Brandon a
Speaker 1: youth that I just don't I don't understand who really
Speaker 1: would be favored over from this point. I know, maybe
Speaker 1: Philly in Philly, but other than that, UM, I think
Speaker 1: they're the best team in the NFC. And the one
Speaker 1: thing we should notice this was J. J. Watts Um
Speaker 1: final game. I tend to believe that, like we're gonna
Speaker 1: come September, there's gonna be J. J. Watt On retiring UM.
Speaker 1: But I'm not trying to undo his decision or anything,
Speaker 1: but just he is there a part of you that
Speaker 1: thinks you could attempt to not in the least, but
Speaker 1: just respecting his little stronger with your point. He might
Speaker 1: listen to Sessler and be like, well, he's got a point. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to make him come back. I just
Speaker 1: I think that you're looking at someone that's playing about
Speaker 1: as well as he has in ages. He had twelve
Speaker 1: and a half sacks and lead the team in pressure
Speaker 1: rate and everything. J J. Watt is not a shelf.
Speaker 1: Three time Defensive Player of the Year. He had a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty and a half sacks in the regular
Speaker 1: season and playoffs in his twelve year career. Here's here's
Speaker 1: something from J. J. Watt after the game. I said,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go out playing good ball, and I'm
Speaker 1: playing good ball. I know I still can. I just
Speaker 1: choose not to. That's all a great career is he?
Speaker 1: If we were you know, the we just finished our
Speaker 1: tenth regular season around the NFL here at NFL dot Com,
Speaker 1: NFL media, you get it. Um, is he the peak
Speaker 1: J J. Watt the best defensive player? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: i'd say yes, tick over. Some people say Donald, but
Speaker 1: Watted his peak was just so we're talking about like
Speaker 1: the impact on our show. I think like J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt just was something that many people seen. Yeah, Supernova,
Speaker 1: Bro good call Um. Yeah, and the party thing. It's
Speaker 1: almost I feel like Greggy it's a little under the
Speaker 1: radar now or doesn't get enough like the fact that
Speaker 1: this guy that was the last pick in the draft
Speaker 1: is coming and is having a kind of a big
Speaker 1: year of them. If you look at his his numbers,
Speaker 1: I know he's not at the level of those great
Speaker 1: A f C quarterbacks or Jalen Hurts when he's healthy,
Speaker 1: but he ended up with thirteen touchdowns against I think
Speaker 1: three picks. His passer ratings about one ten or so,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that a lot of credits to the
Speaker 1: personnel and the coaching staff. But that is this season
Speaker 1: we talked about when Garoppolo went out, it was like,
Speaker 1: is it kind of over for San Francisco, And it
Speaker 1: kind of seemed like it was. It is not over,
Speaker 1: and parties rise has been a big part of Now
Speaker 1: they got better. I mean, today was a perfect example
Speaker 1: of a pretty game. Five in completions, three touchdowns, in
Speaker 1: almost nine yards per attempt. It's crazy. My my pushback
Speaker 1: with like calling the Eagles certainly I think a coin flip,
Speaker 1: if not better if their home is just looking at
Speaker 1: the two rosters, they're both loaded. Looking at the two quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: I'll take Philly and I do. Look at the teams
Speaker 1: that San Francisco has played, it's not their fault. Uh.
Speaker 1: They played one really good I guess defense that was
Speaker 1: playing well at the time down the stretch. That was
Speaker 1: when they beat the Saints thirteen nothing. That was a
Speaker 1: weird game. They were coming off the Mexico game and
Speaker 1: that was supposedly a thing. But they were just playing
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that didn't really get in their
Speaker 1: way too much. And maybe Minnesota won't either. If that's
Speaker 1: the first UH matchup after Seattle, like that sets up
Speaker 1: as well as possible for them to roll into that
Speaker 1: NFC championship without playing an overly good defense. This haven't
Speaker 1: lost since October, and I don't see a weakness ten
Speaker 1: game winning streak as the Niners hit the postseason. Uh.
Speaker 1: With Seattle Seahawks coming into their building, did outduel David
Speaker 1: blow By the way? Bloud did all he could looking
Speaker 1: for that newsletter. That's tough for you to have to
Speaker 1: write the newsletter. Leave here. It's a long day. I
Speaker 1: don't even you know. You sleep for maybe three or
Speaker 1: four hours during this time of year, and you just
Speaker 1: keep going. Sure, that's the sacrifices we make. All right, boys,
Speaker 1: let's take a break and then we'll hit the rest
Speaker 1: of the NFC and then move on to the a
Speaker 1: f C. All right, let's finish out these NFC games
Speaker 1: or a trip the Soldier field or the Vikings and
Speaker 1: Bears did battle with nothing on the line. Well something
Speaker 1: Cousins under centered play action, straight drop pass to the
Speaker 1: end zone, caught, touchdown Adam Feeling. Kirk Cousins throws a
Speaker 1: touchdown to Adam Feeling and per Kirk, it's his twenty
Speaker 1: nine touchdown this seasons. For Adam Feeling, it's his sixth
Speaker 1: receiving touchdown. And that's where those men would end in
Speaker 1: terms of their statistical outputting the regular season. Because Kevin
Speaker 1: O'Connell pulled many of his starters at the half. UH
Speaker 1: game in hand, a game that didn't mean anything to
Speaker 1: the Vikings who were locked in in their playoff spot.
Speaker 1: They went over the Bears. Let's not say that there
Speaker 1: was things on the line of the Minnesota Vikings if
Speaker 1: things broke a certain way. They didn't. So they are
Speaker 1: where they are and they'll get the Giants next week
Speaker 1: now Adam Feland had the touchdown. Otherwise kind of a
Speaker 1: ho home game, and the Chicago Bears with the loss.
Speaker 1: In addition to the win of the Texans have the
Speaker 1: number one overall pick in the NFL draft UH ten
Speaker 1: game Losing streaks have never felt so good in Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you, I mean you, you're so right. It's a
Speaker 1: season where wins and losses. You kind of can put
Speaker 1: it aside as a Bears fan because you got the
Speaker 1: number one pick, you already have a quarterback you don't
Speaker 1: want to waste too many more years on his rookie contract.
Speaker 1: But you also go into the off season with a
Speaker 1: monstrously large amount of calf space over any other team.
Speaker 1: The Falcons are second. And it doesn't mean you go
Speaker 1: spend it all, but it's like you have a lot
Speaker 1: of flexibility. I think you can sell a lot of
Speaker 1: free agents on Justin Fields and what you're building, which
Speaker 1: is a far away We were not here in the summer.
Speaker 1: We were killing this entire organization for essentially about to
Speaker 1: be putting Justin Fields out there with nothing around him,
Speaker 1: and instead, look at it turned out pretty well, and
Speaker 1: you have a guy that is someone different than we
Speaker 1: thought of a number of months ago. I still don't
Speaker 1: know if they have a coach. Like the defense was bad.
Speaker 1: They did trade the number thirty two picking the draft
Speaker 1: for Chase clay Pool, which was looks like a fiasco.
Speaker 1: That was a weird one that that not looking great.
Speaker 1: They started Nathan Nathan Peterman in a football game and
Speaker 1: the year three, so I just I can't give him
Speaker 1: too many flowers. But they did get some breaks. And
Speaker 1: George McCaskey, uh, the executive uh, the owner rather uh
Speaker 1: was seen toting around a YETI cooler today after the
Speaker 1: game full of ice cream bars and giving them out
Speaker 1: to people. So that's kind of a shout out to
Speaker 1: the old times in the like old Papa Bear. That's
Speaker 1: what he did at the end of the season. Nice season.
Speaker 1: You know, here's an ice cream bar. I was hoping
Speaker 1: you were telling the truth, like, not joking, because otherwise
Speaker 1: that's kind of an eccentric move that that that is
Speaker 1: the truth. All right, Well there you go. Well there
Speaker 1: was reason to celebrate for the Bears, and um, yeah,
Speaker 1: you you figure that that will be a draft pick
Speaker 1: for sale unless they absolutely fall in love with someone
Speaker 1: who was not a quarterback. But this is a type
Speaker 1: of they handled this right, and they have their management
Speaker 1: set up right and their draft scouts set up right,
Speaker 1: they could turn this haul into something that changes their
Speaker 1: organization and makes them a contender in the NFC next year.
Speaker 1: That's they're in a unique situation. One little thing with
Speaker 1: the Vikings because you came out of last week's disaster
Speaker 1: and no one believes in them. I get it. But
Speaker 1: Cousins going seventeen for I saw him throwing some heaters
Speaker 1: to like kJ Osborne and stuff. It seems like it
Speaker 1: looked pretty good. This is is how you do it, Staley.
Speaker 1: You rack up fo two yards of offense, twenty eight
Speaker 1: first downs, and you sit everyone by half time. That
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna try to revive your exciting about the
Speaker 1: vis It was just like this is like like several
Speaker 1: of the Week eighteen games, these teams that were just
Speaker 1: like they were watching the Eagles score and the forty score,
Speaker 1: I believe, and then once they saw that or that
Speaker 1: the forty nine score rather and then once they saw
Speaker 1: and and we're gonna get obviously to the playoff implications
Speaker 1: or the games in the upcoming week, but put it
Speaker 1: this way, Vikings fans especially Vikings fans a annoyed um
Speaker 1: at me on Twitter. Um, you did go thirteen and four,
Speaker 1: you got at least one home game, and you could
Speaker 1: you could say, in a serious manner inside that locker room,
Speaker 1: no one believes in us. So maybe you could take
Speaker 1: that and do something with you. We'll see, all right,
Speaker 1: let's uh, let's move to Atlanta, where the Bucks and
Speaker 1: Falcons did battle in a low stakes affair. Zetias and
Speaker 1: motion from right to left. Here's Ritter looking shoots it
Speaker 1: in soon. I mean what there is for the Atlanta touchdown?
Speaker 1: That's it. I think that that's the first Desmond Ritter
Speaker 1: touchdown pass. Oh, it's hope season in Atlanta. Uh for
Speaker 1: the Falcons, who end their season in a positive manner
Speaker 1: with a thirty to seventeen win over the Bucks. The
Speaker 1: Bucks clinched the NFC South last week by virtue. It
Speaker 1: was like man by virtue of their victory over the Panthers. Uh.
Speaker 1: So they'll host a playoff game against the Cowboys next week.
Speaker 1: Mark um. But they also finished eight nine on the season,
Speaker 1: by the way, the first ever losing season in Tom
Speaker 1: Brady's career. Yeah, and you know it's so he started
Speaker 1: this game, and they yanked him before halftime and Blaine
Speaker 1: Gabbert came in and was eventually replaced by Kyle Trast.
Speaker 1: There was no Mike Evans in this game. Tristan Worths
Speaker 1: was was essentially not on the field. Tom Brady, though,
Speaker 1: looked like for a bit furious when they yanked him.
Speaker 1: I thinking, just because of what you just mentioned, it's
Speaker 1: like Tom Brady is not built to sit on the
Speaker 1: sideline and watch the formation in the birth of his
Speaker 1: first losing season whatever. He had plenty of time to
Speaker 1: have a winning season, no doubt, but I mean, just
Speaker 1: in this situation, he was annoyed. But that what happened
Speaker 1: was then the game started to tilt in Atlanta's favor,
Speaker 1: and I think that, you know, I don't want to
Speaker 1: overhype the Falcons. They've got a lot to figure out,
Speaker 1: but again they're the second most capitom in the league.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you have a quarterback in Desmond Ritter,
Speaker 1: but I thought he played his best game by far today,
Speaker 1: And you do have a wide receiver in Drake London.
Speaker 1: You do have a really interesting running back and Tyler
Speaker 1: Alger who crossed a thousand yards. I mean it's like
Speaker 1: your guy, You're they have some crazy offensive Kie of
Speaker 1: the Year Canada and himself Tyler out here and there's
Speaker 1: a thin pool there. But like he's also been want to,
Speaker 1: you know, get him back on the horn, and I I
Speaker 1: hope he's feeling better. But Tyler Algae yere algae here
Speaker 1: is officially your guy. Well but three times like a
Speaker 1: seasonal thing for him. He's you need the sun to
Speaker 1: come back out. But no, I think there's like there's
Speaker 1: a there's some things to build around in Atlanta. Ridder.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I don't know. At least they
Speaker 1: didn't wait and not have him play, Like the whole
Speaker 1: thing that happened with Mariota is weird, but like they
Speaker 1: needed to see Ridder. I don't think it prevents you
Speaker 1: from making other moves of that position. Necessarily. We're tied
Speaker 1: when Brady left this game. That's probably partly why Brady
Speaker 1: was out there, like points on five possessions. It's I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not like they were dominating that Gabbert came in
Speaker 1: and they got like a turnover to take the lead
Speaker 1: for a minute and then they didn't speak. Guys are
Speaker 1: still hanging around Blaine Gabert. What's up, Bud? Yeah, looking handsome.
Speaker 1: I mean that was never the problem with Blaine Gabert. No,
Speaker 1: but he had like that, like he's got is kind
Speaker 1: of a beautiful man. He's also perfect haircut for him
Speaker 1: at this stage in his life right now. He's also
Speaker 1: a hero. We've talked about that on the show, didn't
Speaker 1: we Him and his three brothers saved us some people
Speaker 1: from drowning. I saw that. It's nice. And you know
Speaker 1: who else did the same thing. Her old friend Peyton
Speaker 1: hillis former Brown's Russia who unfortunately you know, he put
Speaker 1: him in the hospital, but he he saved some children
Speaker 1: in the sea, his own, his own children. And we hope,
Speaker 1: I hope the best for Peyton hillis um and his
Speaker 1: recovery on that end. Um, all right, let's move to
Speaker 1: uh Nolans. See Greg went. They had a bunch of
Speaker 1: people from the University of Georgia right before we alumni
Speaker 1: before we started the show today, Um, and it was
Speaker 1: a party. We got Georgia playing TCU for the national
Speaker 1: championship on Monday in the across the sidewalk. This is
Speaker 1: part of the probably the package that they paid for
Speaker 1: to come, you know, and part of the job is
Speaker 1: and this is not not a critique of the company.
Speaker 1: It's very nice to do these tours. But where we
Speaker 1: each sit, which is along against a very long glass
Speaker 1: wall with the big hallway where anyone being kind of
Speaker 1: taken through dog and pony through the building is standing
Speaker 1: there always they just gather and stare at us and
Speaker 1: my I faced them directly where it's like I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there eating like a piece of it's happen. I have
Speaker 1: the worst seat in the entire Look at all the
Speaker 1: easy Yankees and like working on a Sunday that's not
Speaker 1: against the guys, sir, they're looking at what I'm looking
Speaker 1: at online. I don't need that, Like I mean, it's fine,
Speaker 1: it's just work stuff. But it's like I'm not a
Speaker 1: I'm not you know, here for your observation, but yes
Speaker 1: i am. Mark bring this up. I would say to
Speaker 1: three times a week, and I never get tired hearing
Speaker 1: because they diver time taking it like it exasperates him
Speaker 1: anew every time, or it's like a middle school football
Speaker 1: team coming through. I'm glad that they're here, but it's
Speaker 1: like they're staring at me like I didn't It's eight
Speaker 1: in the morning. I don't want to be looked at,
Speaker 1: you know, to nation. I got the vapors looking at
Speaker 1: this big facility. Go ja, Well they came right at
Speaker 1: the past the studio here. You know. Greg's shaking his head.
Speaker 1: He's like, I, actually, you know what to school in
Speaker 1: the South. Southern culture is. But I've watched a lot
Speaker 1: of TV, Greg, I know what true Southern culture is.
Speaker 1: I got the vapors. All right, let's go. That's how
Speaker 1: they all spent. Well we got anything else? The Saints?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, did we play the highlight? Swings, the legs,
Speaker 1: the kickings up? It is good. What's it for Carolina
Speaker 1: to end this season in New Orleans? There you go, Greg,
Speaker 1: Eddie Paniero at the kick at the gun? Sam Donald
Speaker 1: leads the Panthers, right Greg, to ten to seven win
Speaker 1: over the Saints at the Superdome Bowl. Teams finished seven
Speaker 1: and ten. That's perfect. It's not how you start, Danny,
Speaker 1: it's how you finished. That's the story of Sam Donald's career. Yes,
Speaker 1: he only finished five or fifteen for forty three yards
Speaker 1: and two interceptions, a quarterback rating of two point eight.
Speaker 1: But it was Sam Donald who ran for a first
Speaker 1: down and then connected with Terrace Marshall for twenty one
Speaker 1: yards on that final drive, and you know what that did.
Speaker 1: That saved me from watching overtime of this dreadful game.
Speaker 1: A huge favor to all of America and beyond. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: the big storylines here that winning streak for the Saints
Speaker 1: ends at three games. We'll see you with Dennis Allen's
Speaker 1: future is Steve Wilkes the same as well? A lot
Speaker 1: of coach questions after the season ends for both teams.
Speaker 1: Jim Trotter, our NFL Network reporter, was very curious why
Speaker 1: David Tepper, the owner of the Panthers, wasn't at this
Speaker 1: game kind of talking about what Steve Wilkes as chances
Speaker 1: are to keep that job or not. There's been, you know,
Speaker 1: confirmation that Temper and Jim Harbaugh spoke about the job,
Speaker 1: about the head coaching job. Wilkes did finish six and six,
Speaker 1: and this was kind of a kind of a game.
Speaker 1: Why I like Steve Wilkes as a head coach more
Speaker 1: than Dennis Allen. There was no business for the scenes
Speaker 1: to win this game. They could not have lose this game, rather,
Speaker 1: could not have dominated anymore for the first two or
Speaker 1: and a half quarters, but just saying, just kept making
Speaker 1: dumb mistakes, and the Panthers came out a halftime at
Speaker 1: least trying their best in to the point you were
Speaker 1: saying about Harbaugh and kind of awkward. Uh news reporting
Speaker 1: from Jonathan Jones of CBFL on CBS. UH. He tweeted
Speaker 1: this morning, the Panthers spoke with Jim Harbaugh recently, but
Speaker 1: only after a good deal of persistence on Harbaugh's side.
Speaker 1: Carolina plans to focus its efforts elsewhere. So whatever whatever
Speaker 1: Jim is telling Michigan and their alumni about, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not looking to leave. According to the
Speaker 1: CBS reporting here, he was very thirsty for the Panthers
Speaker 1: to take him seriously as a candidate, and yet they had.
Speaker 1: You did this a year ago and got a raise,
Speaker 1: So I think it's um, you know, with those college
Speaker 1: coaching contracts, maybe just turn that into more money. M
Speaker 1: well done. Who are the Did Georgia defeat Michigan in
Speaker 1: the semifinal? They did? They ended. I literally watched four
Speaker 1: minutes of college football season, so Idigan. I kind of
Speaker 1: like Carbo, but I liked seeing him in pain to
Speaker 1: the fun game. Oh those Yankees watching football on Sunday,
Speaker 1: I like it on Screw Drew was a big Michigan
Speaker 1: fan back here. He was pretty devastated at the TC
Speaker 1: beat them nine foot seven, Drew Drew any comments, Yeah
Speaker 1: good look with all right, there you go. So that's
Speaker 1: the NFC. Now let's move to the a f C
Speaker 1: and that playoff picture. Um starting where we have to,
Speaker 1: of course, in Western New York after the you know,
Speaker 1: really horrifying incident that happens Monday night in Cincinnati that
Speaker 1: leads all sorts of different changes and throws everything up
Speaker 1: in the air in terms of the playoffs and how
Speaker 1: the seatings will be handled. Well, the Bills still how
Speaker 1: to take care of business, go back on the field
Speaker 1: and try to get back to being a super Bowl team.
Speaker 1: And the good news, of course, by the way, Damarrow
Speaker 1: hamlin Um continues to make progress in contact with his team,
Speaker 1: now speaking tweeting it's it couldn't be better all, all
Speaker 1: of his mental functions are totally their tremendous news compared
Speaker 1: to what it was like even seventy two hours ago.
Speaker 1: So great news. And now the Buffalo Bills, filled with
Speaker 1: hope and spirit, look to finish off their regular season
Speaker 1: schedule and get the Patriots out of the playoffs. Tortured,
Speaker 1: Park puts his foot into the call. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: short fielding at the four by highs, coming straight up
Speaker 1: the middle to the twenty, cuts it back in. He's
Speaker 1: got an alley down the right side, loot of the
Speaker 1: forty fifty down to the forty thirty five thirty fifty
Speaker 1: trade five touch nine. He hides ninety six yards. Run,
Speaker 1: run as fast as you can. You're not catching Hines.
Speaker 1: He's your rents owe Man buffalo on the board with
Speaker 1: the first play from scrimmage. You can't make it up.
Speaker 1: You cannot make it up. But well, you know what
Speaker 1: sequel that's not even it hit it Nick Folk kicking
Speaker 1: it off now, Hines takes it a yard deep in
Speaker 1: the end Zone'm gonna bring it out out to the
Speaker 1: ten to the fifteen, up over the twenty thirty, gets
Speaker 1: away with the tackle of thirty forty forty five fifty.
Speaker 1: Then not gonna get him. He's going for another one
Speaker 1: one hundred and two yards. And there was a third one. No,
Speaker 1: just kidding, it was just just quote unquote to kickoff
Speaker 1: returns for touchdown from the hem Heinz including obviously the
Speaker 1: first play since everything that went down Monday night in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: The mar Hamlin himself tweeted out in the moment after
Speaker 1: the opening kickoff, O m f G. If you don't
Speaker 1: know what that means, look it up. It was those
Speaker 1: two kickoff returns by Hims that were really the difference
Speaker 1: for the Bills, who did not have their a game defensively,
Speaker 1: but the special teams excellence compared with combined with some
Speaker 1: Josh Allen magic, was enough for a thirty three win
Speaker 1: over UH. The Patriots. Patriots go home eliminated with the loss,
Speaker 1: and the Bills Mark Sessler UH finished thirteen and three,
Speaker 1: which isn't good enough UH to win the a f
Speaker 1: C number one seed, but what a hell of a
Speaker 1: way to kind of get back on the field after
Speaker 1: everything that transpired in the last week. And no team
Speaker 1: in the league has been room war and UH, you
Speaker 1: know it happened obviously instantaneously at the start of all
Speaker 1: these games. And I was sitting with Greg and I
Speaker 1: just thought to myself and said out loud, like, what
Speaker 1: on how on earth can a games start this way?
Speaker 1: And I just think the one thing that is, I mean,
Speaker 1: this whole journey that we've been on over the past
Speaker 1: week that the Bills have been on, that every one
Speaker 1: of those players and players around the league to I
Speaker 1: just got the sense that someone was kind of chosen,
Speaker 1: um amongst all of this to send a message right
Speaker 1: away that things were gonna be all right for this
Speaker 1: Bills team. And I mean Nike Hims, who they traded for,
Speaker 1: has been a bit player his whole career, always here
Speaker 1: about like, well, we want to get Hines more involved
Speaker 1: in the Colts offense back in the day, and the
Speaker 1: Bills got him for a certain reason, and now it's
Speaker 1: like the reason and the role he's played is utterly
Speaker 1: irreplaceable in Bill's history forever. I mean, it's just very
Speaker 1: special thing where sometimes the way sports work, it's like
Speaker 1: the least obvious character is just pulled out of the
Speaker 1: fray and chosen to do something that isn't leaves an
Speaker 1: indelible mark, And that's what happened here. From Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: who like you mark, you put it very well there.
Speaker 1: It almost felt like there was more at play the
Speaker 1: way this game started, and really the entire tone in
Speaker 1: Western New York today, I can't remember a play that
Speaker 1: touched me like that, and I don't think in my life,
Speaker 1: so it's it's probably number one. It was. It was
Speaker 1: just spiritual and I just I was going around and
Speaker 1: I just something. I was going around. My twom is saying,
Speaker 1: God's real, like, you can't you can't draw that one
Speaker 1: up right? That one up any better? Um? And I
Speaker 1: was just told by Kevin Curran it's been three years
Speaker 1: and three months since the last kickoff return. So pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Greg Tomorrow Hamlin of course number three, uh. Whereas for
Speaker 1: the Bills, and three was everywhere across the NFL, including
Speaker 1: on the hats of all the Bills players. I thought
Speaker 1: of Steve Gleason's punt return black for the Saints immediately,
Speaker 1: and totally different situations, of course, in in many different ways,
Speaker 1: but a play that when I saw it, you knew
Speaker 1: how special it was. Now we're almost twenty years we're
Speaker 1: twenty years later, and we still talk about that play.
Speaker 1: And when this kickoff return happened, I just thought, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about this play in twenty years too.
Speaker 1: And I new York and them, and the thing is,
Speaker 1: I think it's really important for the Bills football team
Speaker 1: in their quest to go win a super Bowl, which
Speaker 1: is part of this whole um conversation that we're going
Speaker 1: to have about them moving forward to have that moment
Speaker 1: here today too, then play the rest of this game out,
Speaker 1: a game in which they were in trouble in trailing
Speaker 1: at one point in the second half, and kind of
Speaker 1: get through today and get that win and set up
Speaker 1: that we don't have to have a Bill's Chiefs a
Speaker 1: f C championship um or if we have a Bill's
Speaker 1: Chiefs a f C championship, that's gonna be at a
Speaker 1: neutral site. And I think not that they're gonna put
Speaker 1: anything past what happened with Damar Hamlin, Like they were
Speaker 1: face timing with him, and he's now going to be
Speaker 1: a presence, I think, in their lives and talking. But
Speaker 1: he's getting better and better every week. And I think
Speaker 1: to be able to handle the emotions as a football
Speaker 1: team of like, okay, this all happened, and and then
Speaker 1: you gotta go play a game and it didn't really
Speaker 1: go that well for a lot of the game, but
Speaker 1: then to come out on top in the end and
Speaker 1: then start now to look forward to what their playoff
Speaker 1: matchup is going to be. I also think that's big
Speaker 1: you know, just for for everyone to start to move
Speaker 1: forward of what they they're going to do and and
Speaker 1: and attack the rest of the season. It was an
Speaker 1: example of it was another game where Josh Allen, um,
Speaker 1: you know, up until he started to make some big
Speaker 1: throws down the stretch. They just their offense has looked
Speaker 1: somewhat suspect um in recent weeks. Uh, Stefon Diggs had
Speaker 1: a big catch that maybe uncoortdom I thought, where is
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs? I think that was one of those Josh
Speaker 1: Allen throws that maybe, But I also feel like the
Speaker 1: particulars of this game, just what you were just saying,
Speaker 1: it's a this is a bit of a week of
Speaker 1: fugazzy week a team for a lot of different teams
Speaker 1: for a lot of different reasons. The Bills just needed
Speaker 1: to survive and have this happened in front of their
Speaker 1: fans at home, and for that reason, I think it's
Speaker 1: a very special kind of checkpoint for them, um and
Speaker 1: had to happen way it did today. Yeah, and Tony
Speaker 1: Romo calling the game with nance, and they also had
Speaker 1: great calls of those two plays. Uh we heard from
Speaker 1: Bill's radio there. But obviously that was some special stuff.
Speaker 1: Um he said, Romo said, And Romo's you know, he
Speaker 1: knows quarterbacks like nobody else. I keep thinking aback about too. Uh,
Speaker 1: he knew before anyone else. He's like, oh, Mike White
Speaker 1: doesn't He's not just injured. He has multiple broken ribs,
Speaker 1: and then we find out weeks later he's got five
Speaker 1: broken whips. He's watching Josh Josh Allen the last few
Speaker 1: weeks and saying he's he's not the same. He's not
Speaker 1: the same. He's not thrown it the same way. And
Speaker 1: he said today, like in the last ten days is
Speaker 1: the number he put on it. He sees Alan throwing
Speaker 1: the ball now the way he did before the elbow
Speaker 1: injury back in October. And that throw today, EIGs was
Speaker 1: the type of throws like, oh okay, all right. That's
Speaker 1: so that's important for the Bills obviously that you get
Speaker 1: peek out. He did have another red zone uh turnover,
Speaker 1: which has been an issue all season. But man, you
Speaker 1: just you just you try not to put too much
Speaker 1: into it and the mystical stuff and all everything like that.
Speaker 1: Although I respect, you know, Josh Allen bringing the spirit
Speaker 1: spirituality into it. Um Man, the bill is gonna get
Speaker 1: stopped this year. You just feel like there's something really
Speaker 1: magical brewing with this season, in this organization that's waited
Speaker 1: so long to get to the mountaintop. And on on
Speaker 1: the New England side of things, because we should cover
Speaker 1: the Pats because their season is over. Um, really, I
Speaker 1: gotta give him credit, to be honest with you, it
Speaker 1: was sloppy and that's what and that's gonna be something
Speaker 1: we remember about this season. Uncharacteristic, uh misques they had
Speaker 1: obviously the two massive special teams Gaffs mac Jones threw
Speaker 1: a bunch of picks late in the game and one
Speaker 1: when the game was very much in the balance in
Speaker 1: the red zone himself. Uh. But after giving up that
Speaker 1: kickoff return to start the game, their ability to calm
Speaker 1: things down in that building, gets to halftime at fourteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: take the lead before their special teams blew it for
Speaker 1: him again. Greg. A very uncharacteristic New England season. Uh.
Speaker 1: Frustrating way for it to end, but kind of on
Speaker 1: brand in a lot of ways the way it all
Speaker 1: played out. Right, They to me are a different team
Speaker 1: obviously since Brady has been gone and and they've been
Speaker 1: very This was a very characteristic season to me of
Speaker 1: the last three they've been a consistent at this level.
Speaker 1: Though the slopping this like it this left this felt
Speaker 1: like a little beyonds like quarterback melting down the sideline edge.
Speaker 1: They were slopping in a different way. Absolutely offensively, I
Speaker 1: think they were one of the most poorly coached, you know,
Speaker 1: sides of the football I've ever seen out of the Patriots,
Speaker 1: but just in terms of being like kind of the
Speaker 1: middle of the road team that that does find ways
Speaker 1: to lose games, that often does have mental mistakes, this
Speaker 1: time it was special team. So you just kind of
Speaker 1: don't know which side is going to pop up here.
Speaker 1: Their defense was playing much better at the end of
Speaker 1: this season, uh than they had the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: certainly compared to last year. I think the defense would
Speaker 1: have been ready to go on a long playoff run
Speaker 1: if they had a good offense overall, and they showed
Speaker 1: something there today. But it was a bit of a
Speaker 1: end of an era here, I think too. That was
Speaker 1: I think the last we're gonna see a Devin mccordy.
Speaker 1: It really looks like he and and Matthew Slater as well,
Speaker 1: so uh as a as a Patriots fan Slater. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's hard to see him go out on this special
Speaker 1: teams guy. Maybe I'll like, if there ever was a
Speaker 1: Special Team's Hall of Famer, he would be. I don't
Speaker 1: think we'll get in with that. But he says he
Speaker 1: was shell shocked after the games. It sounds like that'll
Speaker 1: be it for him. It has got to agitate Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick to no end. That they came into this game
Speaker 1: with the twenty nine ranked waited d v O A
Speaker 1: special teams units, So I'm sure it dipped. Uh is
Speaker 1: it couldn't go much lower, but it obviously did. And
Speaker 1: that I mean Bill Belichick is the coach we think
Speaker 1: of who on these Friday press conferences will go on
Speaker 1: a fourteen minute long soliloquy about special teams play when
Speaker 1: everyone else mostly ignores it. So this was an there here.
Speaker 1: There are elements of this that feel UNBELI check in.
Speaker 1: I think there's obviously gonna be a change on the
Speaker 1: offensive coaching staff. Um, if you want to keep Mac
Speaker 1: Jones around, which at this point, you know I said
Speaker 1: last week that I'm not sure I would assume that
Speaker 1: would happen, But what other options do you have? It's
Speaker 1: like get a better off o c in there, and
Speaker 1: I think you can get Mac Jones back. I think
Speaker 1: it would be a mistake to make a rash decision
Speaker 1: at the quarterback. We're gonna get into that, but I thought,
Speaker 1: at one point in this game, just give you an
Speaker 1: example Mac Jones. And the evaluation is tough because things
Speaker 1: were so messy in New England. One point in this
Speaker 1: game he was in their three touchdown drives, their first
Speaker 1: three touchdown draws. He was seventeen for seventeen for a
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy yards and three touchdowns. Like, there's there's
Speaker 1: a potentially a decent, too good quarterback there. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if you kick him out the door after
Speaker 1: this season. Uh, And we'll see, Greg. I know you've been,
Speaker 1: you know, talking a little bit about what happens with Belichick,
Speaker 1: if he's getting pressure from upstairs about how the changes
Speaker 1: need to be made. We know changes need to be
Speaker 1: made in New England. I think it'll be a radio
Speaker 1: a silence for a while, but I still wouldn't I'm
Speaker 1: very curious to see what the outcome is of what
Speaker 1: Bill Bill. I mean that all time wins record is
Speaker 1: in you know, target team. If he wants. Guess I
Speaker 1: feel it be strange to throw him somewhere else. But
Speaker 1: and as we said at the top of the show,
Speaker 1: it will be the Miami Dolphins traveling to Buffalo in
Speaker 1: the wild Card playoffs next week. Let's move to another
Speaker 1: team that's dancing, the Miami Dolphins. Hey, sometimes the dance
Speaker 1: isn't pretty. Sometimes sometimes it's an ugly dance. But it's
Speaker 1: all right. You're dancing nonetheless, dance like no one's watching.
Speaker 1: Is that the thing? I mean? It's always an ugly
Speaker 1: dance that I'm involved personally, right, I can think of
Speaker 1: some nights at the Lost and Found where we'd probably
Speaker 1: dance not looking too pretty. Okay, let's get to the game.
Speaker 1: A win here, it up, Bill's win the playoffs. It's
Speaker 1: up and it is good. Wow, bigkets kicking a year
Speaker 1: for Jason Sanders when he comes with eighteen seconds left.
Speaker 1: The Dolphins lead at Mine to six. But a big
Speaker 1: kick for Jason Sanders. It was a big kick for
Speaker 1: Jason Sanders in a game that was all kicking. It
Speaker 1: was a game that had five field goals. And that's it.
Speaker 1: I tweeted, you know that old that community, uh, Donald
Speaker 1: Glover scene that's become kind of an iconic gift where
Speaker 1: he swings the apartment door open with the pizzas with
Speaker 1: a big smile on his face, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: since he's been gone to pick up the pizza, the
Speaker 1: entire apartment is destroyed. Someone's been shot on the floor,
Speaker 1: there's a fire. That's how I imagine Jets and Dolphins
Speaker 1: fans if you were like locked away around let's say Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: and then you saw what was going on today in
Speaker 1: week eighteen. Really gnarly stuff, but the Dolphins credit them
Speaker 1: for getting it done. With their third string quarterback, they
Speaker 1: find a way nine six, their defense becomes the latest
Speaker 1: defense to shut down a moribund New York attack, and um,
Speaker 1: the five game losing streak for the Dolphins is gone.
Speaker 1: They finished over five hundred. They calmed things down, and yes,
Speaker 1: like I said, they'll be playing the Bills next week,
Speaker 1: so listen. Sometimes the dance is ugly, but you get
Speaker 1: into the dance anyway. I was texted during this game
Speaker 1: with our friend Henry Hodgson, and we're talking about it
Speaker 1: feels like a preseason game, and he seemed ambivalent over
Speaker 1: whether his beloved Dolphins would make the playoffs or not.
Speaker 1: The crowd felt a little ambivalent, like they tried to
Speaker 1: get going at points today. And it was crazy because
Speaker 1: this game meant so much. I I was thinking the
Speaker 1: Patriots will probably lose, so this is essentially a playoff game.
Speaker 1: The whole season has been leading to this. But meanwhile,
Speaker 1: in one TV it's like you see the Bills game
Speaker 1: and it's like, wow, sports can be so crazy, almost
Speaker 1: impossibly powerful and strange moments in a game like that,
Speaker 1: And then you can be watching Skyler Thompson and Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco and trading field goals and like everyone trying to
Speaker 1: convince themselves this matter. In Week eighteen, like as is
Speaker 1: the way, or Week seventeen in past years, you'll have
Speaker 1: a bunch of games that kind of feel like games
Speaker 1: because guys are already like thinking about their trip to
Speaker 1: Cancoon next week. That wasn't the case here. You could
Speaker 1: tell on both sides of the ball the teams were
Speaker 1: putting in effort. There was just a real struggle to
Speaker 1: move the football in any type of efficient way. And
Speaker 1: of course these teams are both so beat up. Both
Speaker 1: sides were including at the quarterback position, that this isn't
Speaker 1: totally stunning battle lines, bad quarterback play. Those two things
Speaker 1: the to the Dolphins credit. One of the differences in
Speaker 1: the game, other than a huge Quincy william Quincy Williams
Speaker 1: horse collar tackle that kind of pushed Miami into field
Speaker 1: goal range before the kick was made, was their ability
Speaker 1: to run the ball. They were the only team that
Speaker 1: could actually do something, uh, which is rushed the ball.
Speaker 1: Neither team could throw and mark. Like I talked about
Speaker 1: it back in shoot, it was probably Week five when
Speaker 1: the Jets lost Breeze Hall and Elijah vera talker on
Speaker 1: the same day, and I was devastated that day. And
Speaker 1: it turns out that Breese Hall, who played five games
Speaker 1: this year, was the Jets leading rusher. So while there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of focus at quarterback in the dysfunction there,
Speaker 1: that tells the story of an offense that completely melted down.
Speaker 1: And I think it's probably gonna cost their offensive coordinator's job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's It's interesting because this, of course is a Shanahan
Speaker 1: esk offense, where we're so used to over the years
Speaker 1: pre Christian McCaffrey watching Shanahan dial up seven different running
Speaker 1: backs over the course of a year, floods of injuries
Speaker 1: and it really wouldn't matter. They still get to a
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty yards a game. And it was the scheme,
Speaker 1: it was the system and the Jets on a daylight
Speaker 1: today and I'm really since Breefe Hall went down, they
Speaker 1: had thirty eight yards at one point nine yards per
Speaker 1: carried today, It's like, you can't It's not just the quarterback.
Speaker 1: You gotta find a way to surround good and bad quarterbacks, uh,
Speaker 1: wanting underhand quarterbacks that are not really skilled to get
Speaker 1: you to the playoffs with something. And they couldn't do that.
Speaker 1: And I mean, the Jets offense really fell asleep. And
Speaker 1: I think the Dolphins look so different to us because
Speaker 1: I don't really view two as a he. I think
Speaker 1: his numbers are better than who he is. That's just
Speaker 1: how he feels about. We don't know he's still he's
Speaker 1: still Post con press conference, it didn't sound like McDaniel
Speaker 1: had a ton of optims. Now Teddy Bridgewater, who was
Speaker 1: active for this game, I think would make a big
Speaker 1: difference because Skyler Thompson was skittish and a problem. Not
Speaker 1: a big difference like they'll go win in Buffalo, but
Speaker 1: but a big difference where you won't be the offense
Speaker 1: that you saw today because Thompson was a problem. The
Speaker 1: offensive lines were problems, but Thompson had much better protection
Speaker 1: in general than Joe Flacco, who got hit I think
Speaker 1: ten times and was was kind of fighting for his
Speaker 1: life out there. That maybe a veteran quarterback could give
Speaker 1: them some chance here because Thompson threw the ball thirty
Speaker 1: one times here for a hundred Bridgewater off and on
Speaker 1: the field, stay and stay in the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I'm not gonna blame him for injuries,
Speaker 1: but his two starts he didn't even get through. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the one thing i'd say about Mike McDaniel. Yes,
Speaker 1: they faded hard and like it's not been impressive. Their
Speaker 1: offense today just looked completely like a different offense. But
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel, without a lot of drama, has found a
Speaker 1: way to get here in year one with the Dolphins
Speaker 1: with about as much uh you know, revolving door quarterback
Speaker 1: madness as you could ask for the Jets. He also
Speaker 1: went for two fourth and five's in this game from
Speaker 1: close to midfield, which I was surprised, including on the
Speaker 1: opening drive with surprise he did with Skylie Thompson. One
Speaker 1: didn't work. I wasn't worried about Flacco taking advantage. One
Speaker 1: did and then ended up leading to three points, So
Speaker 1: he was he was aggressive to the end. The Jets
Speaker 1: finished the season with thirty three straight drives without a touchdown.
Speaker 1: But at least he got Garrett Wilson, who I think
Speaker 1: would be my pick for a Rookie of the year,
Speaker 1: just I test wise and a year where there wasn't
Speaker 1: any huge obvious numbers guys. I think he just looks
Speaker 1: to me like the best player and he was nine
Speaker 1: nine today. Flacco smartly just tried to throw it to
Speaker 1: him every single time, even obvious to do in the
Speaker 1: off season. You just gotta figure out this quarterback thing.
Speaker 1: You've got a good You finally got a really strong roster.
Speaker 1: I think that uh. I think he's a true number
Speaker 1: one wide receiver. Gett Wilson will only get um better.
Speaker 1: And it was notable Greggy Um. We'll see Black Monday's
Speaker 1: coming up. Sorry, New Horizons Monday is coming up, and
Speaker 1: we'll see how everything plays out in the league. But
Speaker 1: Salo is probably safe. But just his comments, he would
Speaker 1: not kind of endorse La Fleora after the game, makes
Speaker 1: you think he's willing or knows he might have to
Speaker 1: sacrifice a guy that he probably doesn't want to get
Speaker 1: rid of for his own safety at this point. That's
Speaker 1: what six game losing streaks do. And that's a sad
Speaker 1: way for the Jet season and it was otherwise filled
Speaker 1: with hope a couple of weeks back to end. You
Speaker 1: know what, I hate this stuff though, because I don't
Speaker 1: I'm not convinced that la Flora can't do it. He's
Speaker 1: been around with his brother and everyone else. It's like,
Speaker 1: you went through so much like you were you were.
Speaker 1: You were tagged to play a non functional high draft
Speaker 1: pick who doesn't have it. We all know that now.
Speaker 1: They didn't know that three months ago, and it's like,
Speaker 1: are we gonna part of his to develop? And I
Speaker 1: think they failed on some level as well too. I
Speaker 1: kind of agree with you, but just saying develop Breese
Speaker 1: Hall or Garrett Wilson or other young players on both
Speaker 1: but already fifty years just picked the wrong guy, like
Speaker 1: they picked the wrong dude, you know. But somebody's got
Speaker 1: to go. And that's what happens when you lose six
Speaker 1: straight games then the season and you could say no,
Speaker 1: but it's like that's kind of the way the owner
Speaker 1: probably wants somebody out. And so I was gonna be like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to said owners should be involved in this,
Speaker 1: but that's not how this works. All right, just getting
Speaker 1: started here on the a f C. We'll be right
Speaker 1: back after this, all right, welcome back. By the way,
Speaker 1: did I mention that I don't think I ever mentioned
Speaker 1: the final score Dolphins eleven Jet six. And for those
Speaker 1: like score, I know that you you detest the safety
Speaker 1: on the final play after a fifty yard or from
Speaker 1: that your boys didn't trigger a score. Kid did not
Speaker 1: that it happened one other time, and it was I
Speaker 1: believe in the NFC title game, Bucks real. There were
Speaker 1: reporting mistakes out there then, because I was a report
Speaker 1: of the regular season the Bird of Manuel game, the
Speaker 1: Shaun King almost went to the super ball game. That
Speaker 1: was a bizarre conference champion. All right. So it's a
Speaker 1: regular season score gummy which has no meaning. It either
Speaker 1: is or it never has any meaning. I guess it's
Speaker 1: my overall viewpoint on score. Well, I would say nothing
Speaker 1: has any meaning. Nothing, nothing at all has meaning. If
Speaker 1: you want to be that nihilistic about any No, but
Speaker 1: but but like you're deciding to score, Gammy has no
Speaker 1: mean it meant something some people. You know, it meant
Speaker 1: a lot Saturday night in Duval, duv All. Let's go
Speaker 1: biggest playing the game right here, shotgun for doms. He
Speaker 1: drops at the blitz when all outlets hit him. He
Speaker 1: likes to go down, running it down the jacker, running
Speaker 1: it back the jack. You're gonna run it into the end, Zoe.
Speaker 1: John Jallen scores a touchdap. John Jallen has running back
Speaker 1: for Hey, touch tap for Catson. No do look, well,
Speaker 1: what a man. That's integrity. But that's the measure of
Speaker 1: the man. Yes it is. Or it's masochistic and I'm
Speaker 1: into that too, you know both. Great. They deserved it.
Speaker 1: After a week fourteen, I didn't give it to him.
Speaker 1: Crawls of the Year put that on the Calls of
Speaker 1: the Year. He said, this is the biggest play of
Speaker 1: the game. He didn't hesitate whether it was a fumble
Speaker 1: or not. That was great. The God of Bongo endorses
Speaker 1: your decision making. Here here here it carries Frank Frangie
Speaker 1: w O k V with the call Yes, Josh Ellen
Speaker 1: scoops up the bumble on the big hit on Joshua
Speaker 1: Dobbs takes it to the house uh. In a game
Speaker 1: that the Tennessee Titans, despite being beat up and missing
Speaker 1: their quarterback and bench their second stringer and brought in
Speaker 1: Dobbs who hadn't been on the team but for a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. They had to lead the whole game, um,
Speaker 1: but let it slip away with two fifty one to
Speaker 1: play the fourth quarter. Twenty to sixteen, the Jaguars are
Speaker 1: the a f C South champions. Calmdown, Serrie, uh, Apple
Speaker 1: watch apologies, modern day nightmare. En Jaguars win the South
Speaker 1: and the Titans go homemark. I was thinking about Grave
Speaker 1: Digger h while watching this out on the town because
Speaker 1: it was like man, Tennessee has been a tough watch
Speaker 1: for weeks on end. I don't see them as a
Speaker 1: playoff team. I think we got the better operation here, well,
Speaker 1: but the better operation to go face the Chargers team.
Speaker 1: I like that matchup, but I felt for Grave Digger
Speaker 1: because this was like Mike Rabel and crew doing everything
Speaker 1: they possibly could with a guy that's not been who
Speaker 1: wasn't even on the roster a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: At quarterback. I think Dobbs. It was smart what they
Speaker 1: did because Dobbs was the better option in this game.
Speaker 1: He's not perfect, we get that, but that turnover really
Speaker 1: was the turning point. I mean the Jacksonville defense because
Speaker 1: they didn't get a great look from Trevor Lawrence in
Speaker 1: the offense. It was not them at their high point,
Speaker 1: but they the defense allowed a hundred and sixteen yards
Speaker 1: and three points in the second half. Jacksonville ran under
Speaker 1: fifty offensive players from scrimmage the whole games, So to me,
Speaker 1: that showed that you can win different ways. You got
Speaker 1: just enough from Lawrence. But I think the better team
Speaker 1: one and I feel bad for Titans fans, but I
Speaker 1: think this Jacksonville journey has really shown as much as
Speaker 1: any team in the league, a team that started completely
Speaker 1: unsure of who they were at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: and under Doug Peterson. I don't want to overdo the
Speaker 1: culture thing because he took over the worst situation and
Speaker 1: they were There was no way that a culture coaching
Speaker 1: coming to do a better job than what happened last year.
Speaker 1: But I think Doug Peterson there's a lot of credit
Speaker 1: for allsoalk about development of a quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew
Speaker 1: by leaps and bounds under his watch. I hear you,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad that Jaguars are in much more excited
Speaker 1: to watch them. Their ceilings way higher. Trevor Lawrence is
Speaker 1: fun to watch. But I felt like the Titans deserved
Speaker 1: that game. Well, I mean that's I mean, I'd just
Speaker 1: been saying they don't deserves a tricky word. I think
Speaker 1: they outplayed him. They gained him by ninety They're playing
Speaker 1: with the backup quarterback here. Uh. Their defense in Jacksonville
Speaker 1: got it done like that bare front where they're putting
Speaker 1: five guys up on the defensive line and it's Trayvon
Speaker 1: Walker and Josh Allen, who might have had their two
Speaker 1: best games of the year, and Corey Peters kind of
Speaker 1: a random uh free agent pickup uh ends up dominating
Speaker 1: a Titans offensive line that was the titans biggest problem
Speaker 1: all season. It popped up here, but Dobbs was bawling out.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dobbs was going back and forth with Lawrence
Speaker 1: the whole game and was put in a tough spot
Speaker 1: and was doing great. They were kind of out playing them,
Speaker 1: and the Titan the Jack's offense got tight didn't play well.
Speaker 1: The Titans were a defensive team and was holding them down.
Speaker 1: If Dobbs had you know, seen that Blitzer and just
Speaker 1: throwing that ball away, like I'm not too confident that
Speaker 1: Jaguars offense was gonna do anything there and win that game.
Speaker 1: Graver or the everything went wrong for the Titans over
Speaker 1: the final two months of the year. The only thing
Speaker 1: that really did go right, although it ended up you know,
Speaker 1: painfully falling, shure, it was this hail Mary that was
Speaker 1: Joshua Dobbs. Because not only the lose Tanital to the angle,
Speaker 1: then the draft pick Malik Wills is kind of a
Speaker 1: mess and not ready for the moment. He did make
Speaker 1: the season, you were able to at least go out
Speaker 1: with your dignity and your held your head held high
Speaker 1: because he really did play well. Yeah, I mean, he
Speaker 1: played a lot better than I think anyone could have
Speaker 1: hoped or expected. And on that last play, you wonder,
Speaker 1: why are you even running a straight drop back with
Speaker 1: no chip or running back help in the in the
Speaker 1: past blocking scheme against the defensive front that has been
Speaker 1: dominating your backup offensive linemen all game with like four
Speaker 1: minutes to go and you've been running it, okay. I mean,
Speaker 1: Henry's been popping five to seven yard runs. You get
Speaker 1: a first down there with the run, and you potentially
Speaker 1: ice the game. You don't get the first down, you
Speaker 1: punt it, you pin Jacksonville deep. It was aggressive, but
Speaker 1: they were aggressive with him throughout the night, like he
Speaker 1: hit those third and longs. They weren't running on third
Speaker 1: and longs like he was hitting those throws against pressure.
Speaker 1: It can I agree with you. It's I was almost
Speaker 1: surprised how aggressive they were. Uh, but man if he
Speaker 1: had just seen that. Yeah, they and the game plan
Speaker 1: obviously was we need Derrick Henry to take us there,
Speaker 1: and they gave him the ball thirty times. On the ground,
Speaker 1: he went over hundred yards but averaged about three and
Speaker 1: a half yards of carry mark. So you didn't get
Speaker 1: that big time Derrick Henry game where he he had
Speaker 1: some nice powerful runs, but he couldn't make the big
Speaker 1: play to kind of win then the game like he's
Speaker 1: done so many times in the past. That's stiff arm.
Speaker 1: That just shows you that he's an impossible human being
Speaker 1: to deal with. But yeah, they had the ball for
Speaker 1: almost thirty seven minutes, and I think it was like
Speaker 1: let's keep the ball out of Jacksonville's hands so they
Speaker 1: don't get hot. And it can it can work only
Speaker 1: so long without a quarterback. And like, but but Dobbs,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I don't know what. I think
Speaker 1: Dobbs is probably secured a clear cut um high end back. Second,
Speaker 1: you know, number two quarterback roll a year from year
Speaker 1: from now or a look to that degree. I think
Speaker 1: it's a good quarterback with with you know, he's smart um.
Speaker 1: But this was this was Tennessee, another team where like
Speaker 1: down the stretch, you have total quarterback chaos and it's
Speaker 1: just hard to take them that seriously, Jacks fans, don't
Speaker 1: be annoyed if I'm you know, dismissing this because the
Speaker 1: offense scored thirty points here. Laurence still played absolutely perfect
Speaker 1: until missing Kirk on that open touchdown to start the
Speaker 1: third quarter, like he was pitching a perfect game. Didn't
Speaker 1: have anything to do with him. Their lights out. It's
Speaker 1: good that their defense is playing better. I almost felt
Speaker 1: like they got this out of the way. They almost
Speaker 1: knew they were supposed to win this. They were heavy favorites.
Speaker 1: They've played a little tight, they got through it. I
Speaker 1: think they'll play better in the playoffs and they'll be
Speaker 1: fun to watch. That place was rocking. I love this
Speaker 1: game because they were hitting. It felt like a playoff game.
Speaker 1: It was, so that's a good home field advantage they
Speaker 1: have there. It's kind of slept on a little bit
Speaker 1: like that. That fan base endured a lot of losing
Speaker 1: after that. You know, you know that really special running seventeen,
Speaker 1: but it's been terrible since it was the biggest crowd
Speaker 1: in that stadium since they've pulled the tarps off. They
Speaker 1: were like hitting like crazy. It really felt like a
Speaker 1: playoff game almost every play, just like it was popping.
Speaker 1: They were that way back in when when this happened.
Speaker 1: But with it with Blake Portles at quarterback, now you
Speaker 1: something where it's like, wait a minute, this could last
Speaker 1: for a while. This is different. This is a different
Speaker 1: field they and yes they go out on a five
Speaker 1: game winning streak the Titans, I believe was what seven
Speaker 1: seven straight. They scored more than twenty points on that
Speaker 1: losing streak one time. Man, these like all these a
Speaker 1: FC teams are like, please pull us from the playoff
Speaker 1: rames exactly. So the Titans have a lot of work
Speaker 1: to do and We'll see what happens with them next Uh.
Speaker 1: And the Jaguars get the Chargers in their building as
Speaker 1: a division champion. How about that? Let's move on next stop.
Speaker 1: It's all left shod Mames looks that holds the ball,
Speaker 1: holds it. He's got McKennon touchdown Chence City on a
Speaker 1: basketball shotle pass straight ahead to the amazing Jerick McKinnon.
Speaker 1: Why I gotta think of Patrick Mahomes is the amazing one.
Speaker 1: And Jack McKinnon has been done a nice job finding
Speaker 1: a niche in that offense and catch little miracle shovel passes.
Speaker 1: Uh like that. The other Saturday Saturday game was a
Speaker 1: easy thirty one to thirteen Kansas City win over the Raiders.
Speaker 1: With the win because of the unusual, unprecedented circumstances in
Speaker 1: our league over the last ten days, by winning percentage
Speaker 1: by playing one more extra game, the Chiefs are the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the a f C and get
Speaker 1: the by that comes with it. Of course, with the
Speaker 1: caveat Greggy that if the Chiefs and the Bengals were
Speaker 1: to meet in the a f C, Chiefs and the Bills,
Speaker 1: I should say, were to meet an af C title game,
Speaker 1: it would be on a neutral field. But the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: once again the top seed in the f C, thinking like,
Speaker 1: I'm a Vegas for that game? Is that a possibility?
Speaker 1: They'll just go to Indianapolis. Get them out of there now,
Speaker 1: they've already told them they've rejected the NFL. I guess
Speaker 1: that was the NFL. If the championship game, what would
Speaker 1: have happened when was this booked? Well, they would have
Speaker 1: found a different I wouldn't have gone in with that
Speaker 1: as a possible scenario. They've they've known for a while.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I do know that I believe
Speaker 1: Phil Phil's daughter has been, you know, participating at that event.
Speaker 1: So the city of Indianapolis and UM Jim Rasay and
Speaker 1: the people of Lucas oil Field UM said no, we
Speaker 1: don't want the a f C championship game. We're gonna
Speaker 1: be loyal to the volleyball sand people. Okay, I respect it.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I don't think there's extremely loyal I
Speaker 1: do think it's safe to say there's no sand involved here.
Speaker 1: I think they're they're just inside. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: think about what this is. I don't know. Maybe do
Speaker 1: you guys know I mean, I think that volleys all over.
Speaker 1: If you're in the Midwest, where can you Where do
Speaker 1: you get a chance to play beach volleyball? You don't
Speaker 1: live in the Midwest. If you want to do that,
Speaker 1: maybe there's a concert within the Midwest of people that
Speaker 1: have always dream maybe by by a lakeside in the summer,
Speaker 1: but not in in January. I'm just saying, if you
Speaker 1: if you take a bacco and truck in some sand,
Speaker 1: you could probably make a lot of dreams come true.
Speaker 1: Asking them too much for Midwestern civilian. We've paid no
Speaker 1: attention to nil uh and this game, Like I was
Speaker 1: hoping this wouldn't be that kind of a game because
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't want to give my whole weekend
Speaker 1: to the NFL. I thought I'll catch up to this
Speaker 1: at the end. You want to stand fast and yeah,
Speaker 1: this thing was what we thought it might be, which
Speaker 1: is the Chiefs to VIC That's what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: think the Chiefs have to feel good that they've been
Speaker 1: getting pass rush over the last month. Now, some of
Speaker 1: that could be opponent related, but man Chris Jones had
Speaker 1: one of the best games any defensive lineman had all season.
Speaker 1: Six QB hats, QB hits in one game, but car
Speaker 1: Loftis and Dunlop since Week fourteen their fifth in pressure rate.
Speaker 1: Before that they were twenty six. So their defensive line
Speaker 1: has been getting after my homes kind of put the cherry,
Speaker 1: I think on his m v P case. To me,
Speaker 1: there's not much reason uh to go again them, And
Speaker 1: I think this game was kind of a reminder how
Speaker 1: they've done it differently. They're doing it with two tight
Speaker 1: ends and a lot of plays under center, and you know,
Speaker 1: throwing the balls shorter. His average depth of target is shorter.
Speaker 1: Like at the different homes. You get the spectacular plays,
Speaker 1: but it's a different type of Chiefs offense. That's who
Speaker 1: they've been. It's a different offense. You're right, because it's
Speaker 1: been very running back tight end centric, a huge chunk,
Speaker 1: a higher percentage than any of his careers seasons. Of
Speaker 1: his touchdown passes have been short touchdown passes to running
Speaker 1: backs and tight ends, and you see it. The great
Speaker 1: red zone team they are, they've been good. Like their
Speaker 1: defense to your point, like pressured Stidham at on forty
Speaker 1: five point two of his dropbacks, their highest rate for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and three seasons. I wanted to see if
Speaker 1: Stidham could come back and do it did last week
Speaker 1: against a great Niners defense, and it didn't even come
Speaker 1: close to happening. I mean, that's fine. It was He's fine,
Speaker 1: But I mean last week was like a magical performance,
Speaker 1: like is he Brock? Pretty? Like? Did they clone Brock?
Speaker 1: Purty and Britain may turn them into Jared Stidham. They
Speaker 1: did not look at this way. Mark. The first super
Speaker 1: Bowl we ever went to was that Lucas Oil Stadium.
Speaker 1: It was Indianapolis. They got the bid because of the
Speaker 1: new stadium. I remember that week and it was a
Speaker 1: great they got beautiful weather. Um that was so Greggy's
Speaker 1: blocked it out because of the outcome of the game itself.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if the Colts get another super Bowl,
Speaker 1: this is your chances of city to get something I
Speaker 1: could be better than the super Bowl because it's the
Speaker 1: two best teams that you say yourself, Greggy, I could
Speaker 1: get the two best teams in football in your city
Speaker 1: for a huge game, and instead you're gonna have the
Speaker 1: Central Zone Invitational, Uh in the building. It's just like
Speaker 1: it's not too late to make a couple of it.
Speaker 1: Does seem like you could send send the central zone
Speaker 1: volleyball um operation to a different indoor facility. Does we
Speaker 1: feel possible? Um? You know, Phil Wesseling, I believe his
Speaker 1: daughter has been playing at this tournament in the past,
Speaker 1: and he's thinking, there ain't gonna be a Bill's Chiefs
Speaker 1: a f C championship. I see here you go with that.
Speaker 1: But good job, Greg, just blew my left ear drum
Speaker 1: ountin alright, Stilla was so is very athletic. I think
Speaker 1: he'll get a backup job because of that. I think
Speaker 1: he played quite well in this game overall. And I
Speaker 1: already a backup, right he does have that job. Well,
Speaker 1: he's a free agent. It's wide open. I he showed
Speaker 1: way more than I would have ever expected in these
Speaker 1: two games, just like last week alone. Would get you
Speaker 1: like they had no clue that he was, that he
Speaker 1: could run as well as he could, or that he
Speaker 1: had the arm that he could And uh, I did
Speaker 1: have a clue, could areas Tony could be this good?
Speaker 1: But I think it's pretty talentane man, how powerful and
Speaker 1: shifty he is going into the playoffs, and what a
Speaker 1: big deal and also the best play in this game
Speaker 1: that didn't count was the Chiefs in their huddle doing
Speaker 1: the ring around the rosie with their arms around each other,
Speaker 1: like swirling around, then coming out of it like a
Speaker 1: hurricane into a bizarre position. They wound up as a
Speaker 1: trick play with Tony scoring. It got reversed by a flag,
Speaker 1: but then he scored the next play. I think it's
Speaker 1: almost he's like their secret weapon. They give up like
Speaker 1: a third round compensatory pick for him. Like what do
Speaker 1: you think Mark Davis and Charles would and talk about.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's not the first time we've seen
Speaker 1: them just pounding always Wood's in there. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know Raiders history. Do you think they have a real friendship,
Speaker 1: But I think it's a it's one of those friendships
Speaker 1: that's by you. I think they're talking ball. I mean
Speaker 1: you could say a lot about Mark Davis. Do you
Speaker 1: think he's asking like who should be my quarterback next year? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean maybe a little bit of that, but more
Speaker 1: just talking about the game in front of that guy
Speaker 1: is a football guy. If nothing else, he is the
Speaker 1: son of the ultimate football guy. Didn't can you know
Speaker 1: watch football every day of his life? I think they're
Speaker 1: just talking ball. Our friend Bert Brier did put out
Speaker 1: a report this morning that the Raiders are considering Jimmy
Speaker 1: garoppolo obvious ties to Josh McDaniels, as their lead man
Speaker 1: next season. We'll get thank you for bringing that up.
Speaker 1: We'll get into it um later on in the week
Speaker 1: or whatever, but like, is that enough grade over Derek Carr?
Speaker 1: I think it's almost like apples and apples. That's justin
Speaker 1: before we take a break, before the break. I forgot
Speaker 1: to do this for the last game. You know what,
Speaker 1: he's again showing he's a man of principle. He actually
Speaker 1: acknowledged that he ignored the concept of bongoes a while back,
Speaker 1: and in this same situation now he's gone bongos and
Speaker 1: he's gone, I'll remind you that I lost my lock
Speaker 1: and like it says a lot about his personal lost everything,
Speaker 1: and yours was in a more dramatic way. But I
Speaker 1: did the same thing the previous week. You get behind
Speaker 1: your team and you kind of try to put that
Speaker 1: positive energy. It just doesn't work out sometimes. Right now,
Speaker 1: got detached and I love the integrity, but I love
Speaker 1: like execution even better. So we do want to get
Speaker 1: that with the game. Yes, for the next lock. I
Speaker 1: will remember Grave Digger is the only person attached to
Speaker 1: us that gave Christmas gifts. We didn't give them anyone.
Speaker 1: He gave nice little uh Guinness flavored chocolates had refused
Speaker 1: with Guinness beer. Wonderful gift had one kind of a
Speaker 1: wild thing to pick. I was trying to I texted
Speaker 1: to do that, and then he said, hey, listen, I
Speaker 1: looked interesting, and yeah, I know Mark likes beer. And
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, that's true. I was wondering if
Speaker 1: I alone got that gift and you guys got like
Speaker 1: rose scented, you know, bathroom spray or something gross. All right,
Speaker 1: let's take a break, will be right back. All right, Um,
Speaker 1: before we welcome in our buddy Nick Shook for the
Speaker 1: last time this season, we should clarify that Greg, you
Speaker 1: and I had a locked. Glad, we're going back to
Speaker 1: settle this. You just you just pointed fingers a graver
Speaker 1: for not you know, in a clean way. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like sloppier than Patriots special teams. Right now, we have
Speaker 1: to clean it up. Four heads are gonna very ugly
Speaker 1: for your professionalism. All right, Let's now check in with
Speaker 1: the other team that played on that fateful Monday night
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. The Bengals, who were looking to finish the
Speaker 1: regular season on high even though they are peeved about
Speaker 1: the league's rule changes ahead of the playoffs. Is going
Speaker 1: to throw from here and brought down comes out, which
Speaker 1: for a touchdown, but BEng golf knocking away Trey Hendrickson
Speaker 1: stripped it away from Anthony Brown hand a tree covered
Speaker 1: in the end zone for a Cincinnati touchdown. That's what
Speaker 1: you call taking care of business. Dan Horde Dave Lapham
Speaker 1: with the call. Cincinnati Bengals jumped out ahead early on
Speaker 1: the Ravens and kind of coasted from there to sixteen.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow through for a touchdown, Joe Mixon ran for another,
Speaker 1: and uh pulled a coin out from his sock and
Speaker 1: and flipped it in the air to mock the NFL's
Speaker 1: decision to potentially decide a playoff game if it were
Speaker 1: to happen with the Ravens by a coin flip for
Speaker 1: home field, that's not happening because Cincinnati took care of business.
Speaker 1: They are twelve for Baltimore Tenant seven. Nick shook the
Speaker 1: pipe is here. I'm here. I'm here to flex in
Speaker 1: representation of the Bengals who turned away all the criticism
Speaker 1: and all the consternation regarding the coin flip and said,
Speaker 1: you know what, We're gonna go out. We're gonna take
Speaker 1: care of business as a playoff team and a title
Speaker 1: contending team should do. Wasn't the prettiest game, guys. Now,
Speaker 1: they jumped all over him early thanks to those takeaways.
Speaker 1: They really should send the Ravens a gift basket, provided
Speaker 1: they don't run into them again in the postseason, which
Speaker 1: we'll see, because they did them a huge favor by
Speaker 1: playing their third string quarterback this week and protecting Tyler
Speaker 1: Huntley in the event that he has to play in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. Anthony Brown mall probably a nice kid in
Speaker 1: Oregon product, clearly not suited for a game of this magnitude.
Speaker 1: Two very ugly interceptions early. You saw the strip sack
Speaker 1: recovered for a touchdown there. That was the Bengals route
Speaker 1: to victory. They jumped all over and put twenty one
Speaker 1: points on the board from those takeaways. They go into
Speaker 1: the half of the seven lead, and that was pretty
Speaker 1: much all she wrote. Because the second half they didn't
Speaker 1: even break a hunted yards offense. That's something that they
Speaker 1: need to figure out going forward. They gotta figure out
Speaker 1: what the Ravens did defensively that shut them down. They
Speaker 1: missed some opportunities. Joe Burrowhead Jamar Chase open for a
Speaker 1: touchdown under threw them a little bit. There was a
Speaker 1: couple of the long passes that didn't get completed. They
Speaker 1: could have gone for big games and potentially touchdowns. They
Speaker 1: don't look quite as strong as they have for the
Speaker 1: last two months, but coming off of what they dealt
Speaker 1: with last week, I can understand that. And all in all,
Speaker 1: they got the job done. They secured the home game
Speaker 1: going into next weekend. That's all that really matters to them.
Speaker 1: And we can leave the change in the coin purse,
Speaker 1: go spend it on parking because you don't have to
Speaker 1: spend it or use a quarter to flip it to
Speaker 1: figure out where you're playing next week. It will be
Speaker 1: fine for that number one. Although that's you know, when
Speaker 1: you talk about these players, salaries not a huge issue.
Speaker 1: I also use like a card now to pay for parking.
Speaker 1: I don't even use yeah because you live in l A. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well it's it's instructive of us. But I mean, they
Speaker 1: were messy down the stretch. Shook, and I think I
Speaker 1: said a lot about the Ravens. They one drive of
Speaker 1: their last ten that went over twelve yards, and it
Speaker 1: kind of looked like if there were these big misconnections.
Speaker 1: The biggest concern for me because I'm not really I
Speaker 1: just kind of this Week eighteen stuff. I'm willing to
Speaker 1: let it blow away. But Alex Kappa was carded off
Speaker 1: the field with a left ankle. You already have Lyle
Speaker 1: Collins out. That's your entire the entire right side of
Speaker 1: your line. This what happened to him last year when
Speaker 1: they were trying to, you know, say, keep Joe Burrow upright.
Speaker 1: So that's that just as a lingering concern for me,
Speaker 1: But I really thought at least it showed their defense,
Speaker 1: which were turnover ball hawks last January, that they could
Speaker 1: do it again today. And they prayed on a quarterback
Speaker 1: that was not ready for prime time. But this Ravens
Speaker 1: team in general, I mean rap Report reported this morning
Speaker 1: that it is completely essentially said that no one truly
Speaker 1: knows if Lamar Jackson will be ready for the wild
Speaker 1: card matchup, and it just seems like it's trending in
Speaker 1: the direction of like, are we gonna see him again
Speaker 1: this season, and if we don't and you get this
Speaker 1: or Tyler Huntley next week, I love Cincinnati's chances. You know,
Speaker 1: my friend Peter Schrager, he was on Bill Simmons Football podcast, uh,
Speaker 1: and I happened to catch on Twitter. They had a
Speaker 1: conversation about this, and you know, Schreeger's pluged in as anybody,
Speaker 1: and he didn't report directly that it was something he
Speaker 1: was hearing from the Ravens, but he's certainly in the
Speaker 1: conversation that he was having about the subject of Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson and his continuing absence kind of let it hang
Speaker 1: out there that there might be more to this, potentially
Speaker 1: than just an injury with his uncertain financial future. And
Speaker 1: I just thought it was notable coming from Schraeger the
Speaker 1: way he, you know, had that conversation. Interesting thought, It
Speaker 1: is fascinating. Is also is weird to look at the
Speaker 1: different reports about whether Lamar is gonna play next week,
Speaker 1: or that they're feeling confident or they're not feeling confident,
Speaker 1: and it like changes depending on which reporter you listen
Speaker 1: to and what time of the day and which day
Speaker 1: it is. But to me, action speak louder the Ravens
Speaker 1: knew the most likely outcome here was they were gonna
Speaker 1: lose this game with a backup and that they were
Speaker 1: going to go back to Cincinnati next week. That's exactly
Speaker 1: what's happening. They ended up sitting some of their starters,
Speaker 1: include Huntley, who is the key one that they really
Speaker 1: didn't want to lose if they don't have Lamar. To me,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't sit Huntley if you felt like you needed
Speaker 1: this game, or if that you're confident Lamar. It's it's
Speaker 1: an awkward Week eight team thing. I hate this. When
Speaker 1: they played each other twice in a row. I think
Speaker 1: the Bengals, if I had to pick, might be the
Speaker 1: best team in the NFL, and yet I think this
Speaker 1: is an awkward matchup next week for them. It's a
Speaker 1: division matchup. A very good defense, one of the only
Speaker 1: defenses in the league, if healthy shook that I think
Speaker 1: can hold down Cincinnati's offense and just ugly it up,
Speaker 1: especially if they can get any quarterback play. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: saw an example of that today. I mean, like I said,
Speaker 1: in the second half, that couldn't break a hundred yards.
Speaker 1: I mean their offense went from being fairly high powered
Speaker 1: the same offense we've seen for most of the second
Speaker 1: half of the season two one that was borderline and emiic.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow just didn't quite look comfortable. Joe Mixon stat
Speaker 1: line doesn't reflect a game that you'd be proud of.
Speaker 1: And they've shifted a while ago. They shifted towards this
Speaker 1: past heavy offense that incorporated the running back in the
Speaker 1: passing game a little bit. But you couldn't really rely
Speaker 1: on the run game constantly or that consistently if you
Speaker 1: are in this situation for four quarters. Next week you
Speaker 1: talk about ugly in a game up, we get an
Speaker 1: ugly playoff game where the Bengal sudden they find themselves
Speaker 1: in a situation where they gotta go down and try
Speaker 1: and kick a game winning field goal. If it's you know,
Speaker 1: that close, I could very much see that happening, because
Speaker 1: if Huntley's in the line up, he gives them a
Speaker 1: better chance to match them offensively, or at least come
Speaker 1: close enough close than Anthony Brown, because there's four yards
Speaker 1: for playing today's shookie. Yeah, they got to sit on
Speaker 1: that lead. There's no guarantee that you're gonna go sit
Speaker 1: on that lead in a playoff game next week. So Yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely a little bit concerned about them, But I agree
Speaker 1: with you might be the best team in the NFL
Speaker 1: when all things are running correctly. They just didn't this.
Speaker 1: I don't think you're getting two weeks of this from
Speaker 1: the Bengals in a row. The line issue concerns me.
Speaker 1: But if Tyler Huntley played today and did not turn
Speaker 1: the ball over and they still just did what they've
Speaker 1: done under Tyler Huntley, would just be a very unimpressive
Speaker 1: to the eye offense in terms of production. Like this
Speaker 1: game is very close and goes down to the final minutes,
Speaker 1: it was the turnovers that set them up for these
Speaker 1: quick scores. They weren't moving the ball. One more week
Speaker 1: of the Baltimore Ravens. Hey is almost and we can
Speaker 1: move on as a football world. Hey, before we go
Speaker 1: to the next game, Shookie um as I said earlier
Speaker 1: in the show, this feels like the Bills that are
Speaker 1: a great team and a great story, and it just
Speaker 1: feels like this could be their year. But Cincinnati is
Speaker 1: a great story too, and they have a great team,
Speaker 1: and they have also, like the Bills, a tremendous quarterback
Speaker 1: who believes in his team and believes in himself. He
Speaker 1: was asked after the game while wearing a giant white
Speaker 1: turtleneck and looking like a cooler Kevin McAlister from Home Alone. Um.
Speaker 1: He was asked about the idea of a Cincinnati Bengal
Speaker 1: Super Bowl window windows my whole career and and everybody
Speaker 1: that that we have in that locker room, all the
Speaker 1: coaches we have. You know, things are going to change
Speaker 1: year to year, but uh, our windows always open. M
Speaker 1: He's good with these quotes. That's not my quarterback, but
Speaker 1: I wish it was. Yeah, I know, every couple of
Speaker 1: weeks he drops a verbal dime like that. And in
Speaker 1: addition to the physical times on the in addition to those,
Speaker 1: I mean, is nineties fashion completely back? Because it's bad.
Speaker 1: I got some serious flashbacks there. You know it isn't Ohio,
Speaker 1: I'd say you just got there. No, that we've reached
Speaker 1: a tipping point in this, uh the nostalgic culture right
Speaker 1: now when New York Times is doing a profile on
Speaker 1: the kids of today are now using digital cameras that
Speaker 1: they're finding in their mom's like and dad's drawers, and
Speaker 1: because they prefer that to using their phones. There it's
Speaker 1: ridging a saturation point of that's cute of nostalgia, but
Speaker 1: I guess every generation hits that. So whatever, good luck
Speaker 1: finding new digital tapes when you run out of the
Speaker 1: one that you're using that was in the camera to
Speaker 1: begin with your mom's closet. Just a warning to yeah,
Speaker 1: let's head Hines Field, where Mike Tomlin was looking to
Speaker 1: keep up one of the most impressive streaks in professional football.
Speaker 1: Pricket throws it down the middle, touchdown. George Pricke pick
Speaker 1: it to Pickens from thirty one out here, the Steelers
Speaker 1: in position to tie it up. This is what makes
Speaker 1: a quarterback on the edge of becoming a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: Oh look at that. That's Craig Wolflee something that Kenny
Speaker 1: Pickett is on the edge of becoming a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: Now you may or may not agree with Wolflee and
Speaker 1: Bill Hillgrove of w DV, but those are the vibes
Speaker 1: around the Pittsburgh Steelers after a season ending win over
Speaker 1: the Browns, the Jets losing again costs the Steelers a
Speaker 1: playoff spot. It's the Dolphins to take that seventh seed,
Speaker 1: but shook incredible way for it to them to wrap
Speaker 1: their season. And yes, or Mike Tomlin, he keeps that
Speaker 1: incredible streak of over five hundred seasons. They finished nine
Speaker 1: and eighty. This is the rebuilding here. This is supposed
Speaker 1: to be the transitional year for the Steelers, the first
Speaker 1: year without Ben Roethlisberger, the year that everything just fell
Speaker 1: a part, except they go nine and eight. He stays
Speaker 1: above five hundred in the season. He finishes there can
Speaker 1: he Picket is clearly the best quarterback on the roster.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say he's on the edge of being
Speaker 1: a great quarterback because there's still a lot of things
Speaker 1: he's gotta work on. But you see the glimpses. You
Speaker 1: see the decisiveness, You see the fact that he's comfortable
Speaker 1: in the pocket and he knows what to do when
Speaker 1: he's under pressure. Let's think about this guy's They finished
Speaker 1: with a little bit over three hundred yards offense, three
Speaker 1: and thirty seven, nine and fifteen on third down. Yet
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett finished with under two hundred passing yards and
Speaker 1: completely just thirteen passes. Do you know why they converted
Speaker 1: those third downs? Because Kenny pick It extended the play
Speaker 1: and found his It's not the stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: It's not the in between stuff where he overthrows a guy,
Speaker 1: or he misses a guy, or somebody drops the past
Speaker 1: Deante Johnson, Connor Heyward, a couple of those today. It's
Speaker 1: the stuff in the key downs, and that's what excites
Speaker 1: me about him. I'm not like I said, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say he's on the edge of being a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: But he's exciting and also exciting. George picking just three
Speaker 1: catches today, seventy two yards in that touchdown we just
Speaker 1: played on that highlight. That is a pairing. I cannot
Speaker 1: wait to see where they go because it's clear they
Speaker 1: already have that connection. They're just starting to work on
Speaker 1: those back shoulder fades down the sideline and George Pickens,
Speaker 1: as we all know at this point, is a freak
Speaker 1: of nature. If Kenny Picketts continues to develop at the
Speaker 1: speed he's at right now, and Pickens continues to rise
Speaker 1: up and get better over the years, man, they're gonna
Speaker 1: have se North butter watch out. That's gonna be quite
Speaker 1: a duo for years to come. So it's a really
Speaker 1: triumphant way for them to end the season, a season
Speaker 1: that nobody expected anything out of them. They avoid finishing
Speaker 1: in the cellar. They finish about five, and they got
Speaker 1: a lot to be excited. They also have some things
Speaker 1: they need to address in the off season, but man
Speaker 1: an organization that really knows how to keep things stable
Speaker 1: even when it looks like everything's against them. It's a
Speaker 1: very Brown's esque end of the season. I feel like
Speaker 1: they've lost to the Steelers in weeks seventeen slash eighteen
Speaker 1: like forty seven times. But it's a very Steelers skan
Speaker 1: because it's sort of to me, reminds me of what
Speaker 1: happened in Jacksonville a little bit, where you started off
Speaker 1: with an offense that just look completely lost at See
Speaker 1: here we are today. You've found a quarterback, you've found
Speaker 1: weapons around them, and off some line that was in
Speaker 1: tatters in the summer. They're not perfect, but they were competent.
Speaker 1: The running game grew, Nag Harris turned into something better
Speaker 1: than we thought. All these little pieces and they're all
Speaker 1: in the same contract essentially together, and you still have
Speaker 1: one of the best coaching staffs in the league that
Speaker 1: never that refused to die this season on any level.
Speaker 1: I love the Mike Tomlin like situation. I know there's
Speaker 1: some Steelers fans in the past like we need this
Speaker 1: guy out of here. He can't get us over the hunt.
Speaker 1: I'll take Mike. There have been that from Steelers fans
Speaker 1: absolutely hit me. Would take Tomlin over literally almost every
Speaker 1: conson what what what that sounds in real time? Like
Speaker 1: Greg does not agree, but I think you have to
Speaker 1: say straight non losing unbelievable. They should be the playoff
Speaker 1: team and the playoffs would be more fun with him
Speaker 1: in it. There seven and two in their last nine games.
Speaker 1: I've always thought it's a little underrated too. And your
Speaker 1: season with a win because like all the teams that
Speaker 1: make the playoffs don't get to do that except except
Speaker 1: for one, and the Steelers weren't gonna win the just
Speaker 1: say the Dealers, we're gonna win the super Bowl. They're
Speaker 1: gonna probably lose next week to the Bills, to to
Speaker 1: to to just end the season on a four game
Speaker 1: winning streak and like, oh we got robbed by what
Speaker 1: happened and stuff that feels great. I know they would
Speaker 1: rather go watch a playoff games. Huge success. The season
Speaker 1: is for what it was and what it was expected
Speaker 1: to be and what it seemed like it was going
Speaker 1: to be in October, a huge success and a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons, uh for optimism. Speaking of reasons for optimism
Speaker 1: shook you. You are a lifelong Browns fan. We talked
Speaker 1: about it on the Thursday podcast podcast a little bit.
Speaker 1: The Shawn Watson and his underwhelming start to his Brown's
Speaker 1: career and whether there was any reason for concern. What
Speaker 1: were your thoughts about his performance in this game and
Speaker 1: in general the six starts or whatever he made uh
Speaker 1: the season five starts. I mean, I'm not concerned necessarily
Speaker 1: with his play. I am concerned about the fit with
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, whether they know how to properly use
Speaker 1: his talents, because he's kind of shaken off a little
Speaker 1: bit of the rust with each week. He's not back
Speaker 1: to where he was still, but you see glimpses of
Speaker 1: it today. He had no time to throw all day.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's defense, which was supposed to be their strength all
Speaker 1: year and wasn't for a good portion of it, but
Speaker 1: his very opportunistic got after him seven sacks. Could have
Speaker 1: had ten, maybe even twelve as a team, because he
Speaker 1: escaped four or five of them on his own. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's doing everything possible. He made a couple of bad
Speaker 1: thing forever like some of these sacks I thought were
Speaker 1: on him. Sacks are a QB stating to me that's
Speaker 1: been the number one problem he's had the last six
Speaker 1: weeks is he's holding the ball kind of like a
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback. And he's always been a little bit like that,
Speaker 1: but you haven't seen this spectacular plays to kind of
Speaker 1: offset that. Well. I mean, Greg, you can even go
Speaker 1: back to his time in Houston years ago. My biggest
Speaker 1: issue was him with the fact that he'd run out
Speaker 1: of clean pockets. That was not the case today, but
Speaker 1: that was his issue for a long time. So that's
Speaker 1: where I go to with the fit. I don't know
Speaker 1: if necessarily this offense is really fit for him. If
Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski in the way that it's set up, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you they're gonna make a change of defense Qarter.
Speaker 1: I think they have to at this point based on
Speaker 1: how they played for the majority of the season. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying he's gonna get fired, but I understand that
Speaker 1: Kevin's Ifanski should be under fire for the way that
Speaker 1: this team performed this year, especially in key moments. He
Speaker 1: looked like he just didn't have a good grasp on
Speaker 1: game management, and I'm just really curious, a little bit
Speaker 1: concerned about how they proceed from here with him and
Speaker 1: Watson as a pairing. It shows you because I mean,
Speaker 1: this was a Coach of the Year a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. Everything looked like sky is the limit. They've
Speaker 1: beating the Steelers and the playoffs, and where they are now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think a lot of this can be
Speaker 1: put on Stefanski. Obviously, I think Joe Woods history, but
Speaker 1: in house, I wonder what if they wonder what you're wondering.
Speaker 1: Is Stefanski in his scheme the right fit for Unfortunately
Speaker 1: this massive investment that we've made, and it's like he's
Speaker 1: gonna that investment has power over the coaching staff. Well,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Haslem took over Brown's ownership ten years ago now,
Speaker 1: so the length of this podcast, what a ten years
Speaker 1: it's been. He's the team is fifty four one oh
Speaker 1: six and one since then. That's the second worst Mark
Speaker 1: in the lake. I wish I knew her, the worst
Speaker 1: of guess he's a Jaguars probably my team, um Mark
Speaker 1: uh one last thought, you are the number and Bernie
Speaker 1: cos our supporter. He's in somebody's You're sorry, good father?
Speaker 1: Your thoughts on him being dismissed from the team's radio
Speaker 1: broadcast team on Sunday. Earlier in the week, he plays
Speaker 1: a bet on the Browns to win the game. Did
Speaker 1: he talk about it or something? I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I just want to But I think it's unfortunate. Um it.
Speaker 1: You know, you're essentially an NFL league employee when you're
Speaker 1: operating out of that and we've seen that way and
Speaker 1: you break a clear league policy. We all we all
Speaker 1: know about that. I didn't find it interesting that it
Speaker 1: was reported he bet nineteen thousand, which is his his number.
Speaker 1: Of course, his jersey on the Browns tell me that
Speaker 1: Bernie has that much money floating around that he should
Speaker 1: be making it. Well, he doesn't now after not winning that.
Speaker 1: But you know what, Bernie kosar. I love Bernie cos right.
Speaker 1: I also locked this game up. I locked it up
Speaker 1: for Bernie kind of on the same Oh. No, he
Speaker 1: was picking the Browns, so you were not the same page.
Speaker 1: That's good. No, we don't know whether he did he
Speaker 1: wager on the Browns or do we just know we
Speaker 1: waged on the game. The Steelers. We're the worst team
Speaker 1: over the last ten years. A former researcher and now
Speaker 1: seven ft nine producer Drew Christensen has confirmed to me
Speaker 1: he can't let go. Drew, by the way, I emailed
Speaker 1: the research team privately um earlier today to get some
Speaker 1: information and then he comes in on my I am
Speaker 1: clients and like, hey, dummy, you should have known this
Speaker 1: or something like that. I'm like, bro, you gotta let go.
Speaker 1: You're not in the research department anymore. And I could
Speaker 1: keep talking about Drew right now because he never talks. No,
Speaker 1: he's not you know, you can say anything to get
Speaker 1: a camera on him, like all eight foot four of him.
Speaker 1: He's just gonna just you know, stew and maybe squash
Speaker 1: me after the show. Anyway, it's happened before there is, Drew,
Speaker 1: do you have anything to say? This is your chance.
Speaker 1: It's week eight team to finally clap back at the
Speaker 1: bozos on the side of the glass, motionless and side.
Speaker 1: You know what's good though, if it ever comes down
Speaker 1: into it and it's like on air versus behind the
Speaker 1: Glass showdown, we've got shook on our team. And and
Speaker 1: the nice transition there, Greggy the pipe all season and
Speaker 1: it's it's been a few years now. You've been awesome
Speaker 1: and a great asset for us helping to cover all
Speaker 1: these Sunday games. So as another regular season comes to
Speaker 1: a close, we sincerely thank you, sir. I think you're
Speaker 1: getting better every year you do this, and uh, you're
Speaker 1: a stud, buddy, so thank you very much. You know
Speaker 1: what my parting words will be this um. As a
Speaker 1: league employee, I do not condone betting on games. However,
Speaker 1: if my life depended on it, I would always bet
Speaker 1: on you guys. Okay, well now you're fired, but I'm
Speaker 1: glad it's pretty clearly laid out in the in the guidelines.
Speaker 1: But Chookie, thank you very much, buddy, have a great night,
Speaker 1: get a lift in and thanks. Thanks, We love you,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll be right back after this. All right,
Speaker 1: welcome back. Let's head to Denver for a a f
Speaker 1: C West matchup that had nothing on the line, and
Speaker 1: yet people were talking all throughout the contest. Will tell
Speaker 1: you why. First, this play, Fate Russ rolls trees right,
Speaker 1: throws about wide open receiver Conn seton touchdown Denver twenty
Speaker 1: yards Russell Wilson to Cartland Sutton. Sutton's second touchdown reception
Speaker 1: of the season, and he was wide open. Miserable season
Speaker 1: for the Broncos. We all know that. But and there's
Speaker 1: Dave Logan ko A, the fact that Russell Wilson showed
Speaker 1: a little bit of a pulse these last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks of the season. Um, well, I want to go
Speaker 1: that far, but it's better than the opposite where he
Speaker 1: finishes with eight touchdown passes or something. So maybe something,
Speaker 1: and you also get a win over the Chargers. And
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson had three touchdown passes in the game. Greggy,
Speaker 1: you watch this game, and what I was alluding to
Speaker 1: was the Chargers were based on the Ravens Bengals outcome earlier,
Speaker 1: were locked into the five seed. There was a thought
Speaker 1: that a lot of the starters wouldn't play, and not
Speaker 1: only did a lot of Chargers starters play, they played
Speaker 1: deep into the game and one of their key players
Speaker 1: left on a cart. So a lot of criticism for
Speaker 1: the head coach, Brendan Staley. Yeah, Mike Williams has a
Speaker 1: back injury. Ian Rapports said X rays were negative, that
Speaker 1: they'll be tests on Monday. It didn't look great, although
Speaker 1: Staley said in the post game that he could have
Speaker 1: maybe returned to the game. Mike Williams Joey Boast was
Speaker 1: also shaken up and then just didn't return, but that
Speaker 1: one didn't seem serious. The starters were pulled by Staley
Speaker 1: with the score thirty one to twenty Broncos with eleven
Speaker 1: minutes left. That I'm counting starters as Herbert, but they
Speaker 1: weren't all the starters, I mean left in the second quarter,
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, in the fourth quarter, so they
Speaker 1: kind of got they got the worst of both worlds,
Speaker 1: which is they've tried to win the game, but the
Speaker 1: bron goes and old Russ was putting it on him.
Speaker 1: Here looking at throwing the run to Judy, that's old Russ.
Speaker 1: So it was crazy. That throw you're talking about was
Speaker 1: part of a three place, seventy five yard touchdown drive
Speaker 1: with twenty five seconds left in the first half. When
Speaker 1: that drive started again twenty five seconds left in the
Speaker 1: first half, Russ had fourteen passing yards. So it was
Speaker 1: the rest of all they were running the ball a
Speaker 1: little bittan context. But but then he finished with two
Speaker 1: eighty three and three. He suddenly had bombs away. He
Speaker 1: had three of those beautiful Russell bombs, and down the
Speaker 1: stretch of this game and the Chargers defense, who were
Speaker 1: playing all their best players kind of got steamrolled by
Speaker 1: Latavius Murray and Russell Wilson. So it all was strange,
Speaker 1: and so is Stealey's explanation afterwards where he said that
Speaker 1: you only have so many players with two only two
Speaker 1: practice squad elevations. Other playoff teams had to play their
Speaker 1: best players today as well. These aren't easy decisions in hindsight,
Speaker 1: it's perfect for everyone to design. No, that's not really
Speaker 1: that doesn't ride with me because you can't say things
Speaker 1: like every other playoff team was dealing with this and
Speaker 1: doing it the same way. It's like, no, they weren't.
Speaker 1: We We we saw all across the league that teams
Speaker 1: weren't doing that. Giants played with as we mentioned, like
Speaker 1: the two tight end personnel of the whole game, because
Speaker 1: they didn't want to play their wide receivers. Right. The
Speaker 1: one thing is, because I think there's been a little
Speaker 1: bit of a pattern, we we kind of questioned the
Speaker 1: use of Herbert afterwards, hurt keenan Allen got put back
Speaker 1: in a little prematurely and got dinged up. And we've
Speaker 1: seen how difference this all, how different this whole thing
Speaker 1: is when either Keenan Allen or Mike Williams are not available,
Speaker 1: and so this is a worst case scenario of Mike
Speaker 1: Wimmen's where ever not available next week. It's trending in
Speaker 1: a good direction. But I I just I, you know,
Speaker 1: I get it. You're the coach. You can do whatever
Speaker 1: you want. Maybe the players are telling you we want
Speaker 1: to play. I get all that, but it's like the
Speaker 1: only thing that matters when they started this game, because
Speaker 1: they were locked in with with where they were going
Speaker 1: to go is next week, right I And I was,
Speaker 1: I was walking through town on Friday, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, I hear a very familiar voice, and it
Speaker 1: just so happens that Matt money Smith, on his very
Speaker 1: popular drivetime radio show here in Los Angeles, was doing
Speaker 1: a live show from this place called Rock and Bruise.
Speaker 1: And I ducked in there and I chatted with Money
Speaker 1: and we were talking Chargers, of course, the former voice
Speaker 1: of God on this show and also the voice of
Speaker 1: the Chargers now. And he was he was optimistic. You know,
Speaker 1: he gets extra guap the deeper they go in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's his money for a reason. So he he wants
Speaker 1: a d playoff run for a lot of reasons. And
Speaker 1: he was saying, we're healthy, like this team has a chance,
Speaker 1: they're fun. And then I was talking. I was at
Speaker 1: a barbershop yesterday and I was talking to George Jags
Speaker 1: barbershop in Westchester, and he is a huge Chargers fan,
Speaker 1: and we were having the conversation that they're healthy. It's like,
Speaker 1: but this is a Star Cross team. Something always seems
Speaker 1: to happen. And that's all I could think today while
Speaker 1: we're leaving these players in and Mike Williams is getting carded, like,
Speaker 1: be smart, Chargers, don't let the football gods come for you.
Speaker 1: Don't give him extra chances. So ultimately, George the salon
Speaker 1: man knew more than barber shop the barber. He knew
Speaker 1: more than Matt money Smith, the played by a salon. No,
Speaker 1: I'm in assuming a salon is typically not somewhere for me.
Speaker 1: But you also saw a broadcaster I enjoy very much
Speaker 1: in Petros and uh you did I let him know
Speaker 1: that you're a I said, just let him know him.
Speaker 1: I really love his style and what he does, and
Speaker 1: it sounded like his response was, um, incredibly underwhelmed. Well
Speaker 1: it was. Then it left me with a bad taste
Speaker 1: in my mouth on that text thread because it was
Speaker 1: just like you were kind of sticking it to me.
Speaker 1: I know. That's why I worried when I saw your
Speaker 1: replies like, oh no, Mark took it a certain way. Well,
Speaker 1: I know you're a big fan Petros and Money again
Speaker 1: the Big Drive Time team here on five seventy am
Speaker 1: Radio here. Um. For some reason, I felt compelled when
Speaker 1: I met him to almost immediately tell him that you
Speaker 1: were a huge fan. And I think I caught him
Speaker 1: off guard because why would this guy that he just
Speaker 1: met then be like, oh, my friend loves you and
Speaker 1: he was like, oh cool. So when I wrote, oh
Speaker 1: cool is what he said, Um, you took it as
Speaker 1: like him being like oh cool. But over text you
Speaker 1: cannot tell what the tone is and the tone the
Speaker 1: verbiage was, you know, clipped. You know my mom says,
Speaker 1: no good deed goes unpunished. I was just trying to
Speaker 1: do you a solid, and look who catches fire all
Speaker 1: to him? I don't, I don't. I don't talk about
Speaker 1: sinking over this one. I suppose it was a good deed,
Speaker 1: Like did they have you on the show? Uh? No,
Speaker 1: you think I'm not going on I'm not talking to
Speaker 1: a mic, not the thing, and they don't have you
Speaker 1: on you know that's with Matt money Smith for that's
Speaker 1: a sports radio. They had a King's like defenceman on there.
Speaker 1: They're chopping things up. I have no idea what's going
Speaker 1: on in l a sports Hey Grave digger you you
Speaker 1: were saying. Sorry, I didn't mean to derail that very
Speaker 1: interesting conversation. Um, I just wanted to remind everyone. It
Speaker 1: feels like forever ago that Justin Herbert suffered that ribbon dream.
Speaker 1: We're all wondering why Brandon Staley left him in the
Speaker 1: game as long as he did. It seems like he
Speaker 1: didn't learn from whatever happened earlier in this season. It's
Speaker 1: very Yeah, it's also weird because they're one of the
Speaker 1: teams that were at the forefront of like never play
Speaker 1: any players in the preseason. So I'm almost less concerned
Speaker 1: about uh that he played everyone. That was really annoying.
Speaker 1: And and if Mike Williams is, you know, compromise next week,
Speaker 1: then that would be the biggest problem. But also like
Speaker 1: he wanted to, like in theory, I think keep the
Speaker 1: winning vibes going. That was the idea, and they lost
Speaker 1: the game to the Broncos, and it wasn't the backups
Speaker 1: that lost, it was the starters that lost. Fans of
Speaker 1: somewhat recent football history will remember the ultimate and nuts
Speaker 1: bringing up again because and I'm gonna talk about forty
Speaker 1: two Greg, and I'm not doing it on purpose, but
Speaker 1: the ultimate flex in this mode was when Tom Coughlin
Speaker 1: in Week seventeen or eighteen, when the Patriots were going
Speaker 1: for the perfect season on New Year's Eve, um the
Speaker 1: Giants were already locked into a wild card spot. Coughlin said,
Speaker 1: I'm playing everybody and we're trying to knock off the
Speaker 1: undefeated Patriots in a very Tom Coughlin type move, and
Speaker 1: they played this this gorgeous back and forth shootout that
Speaker 1: the Patriots held down for the win. But it did
Speaker 1: really did, I think, and they talk about it now,
Speaker 1: and I think it was true. It It kind of
Speaker 1: really elevated the Giants, not just through the NFC playoffs,
Speaker 1: but when they saw the Pats again and the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: they felt confident we could beat them. They're not unbeatable,
Speaker 1: but usually you just gotta use common sense and be
Speaker 1: smarter about it. I guess we're talking about it maybe
Speaker 1: a little too much because something that bad happened, but
Speaker 1: it was interesting Before Kauughland, Vince Lombardi did the same
Speaker 1: thing in a very critical situation at the end of
Speaker 1: the season and staid it was one of his favorite
Speaker 1: days of coaching, one of his greatest coaching experiences to
Speaker 1: have as guys go out there when it didn't matter
Speaker 1: and to go do it anyways, they lost the game,
Speaker 1: but it's like I Belicheck did it on the regular
Speaker 1: I mean, people will lose their minds results, the results
Speaker 1: not good. West Welker blew out his knee meaningless week eighteen,
Speaker 1: that that was unfortunate. We should mention quickly to Sean
Speaker 1: Payton confirmed he spoke to Broncos ownership about the head
Speaker 1: coaching vacancy. He can't officially interview of the job for
Speaker 1: another week and a half because the league rules because
Speaker 1: he's still under contract with the Saints. You have to
Speaker 1: wait until after the wild card round. What are they
Speaker 1: going to trade? I don't even have any first round
Speaker 1: picks here, Well, they have future first round picks, and
Speaker 1: rap Sheet reported that conversations happened about the trade and
Speaker 1: that that part of the situation may already be settled
Speaker 1: the trade part, so we'll see if gets a better off.
Speaker 1: But we have Peyton, who's been biding his time with
Speaker 1: Fox this year obviously talking about the conversation with the Broncos.
Speaker 1: Any team that would want to inquire or speak with
Speaker 1: me can do so. They just need permission from the
Speaker 1: Saints UM and then down the road, if that's something
Speaker 1: that materializes into anything else, then there would be compensation required,
Speaker 1: much like a player trade. Denver's the first team and
Speaker 1: I was able to have a conversation with their owner
Speaker 1: and uh, that's kind of the protocol, So would go
Speaker 1: team to the Saints. Uh, and then the interview process
Speaker 1: can't officially begin until the seventeenth of this month. So
Speaker 1: that's really works at I mean one word leverage, right,
Speaker 1: and this is where we think Sean Payton wants to go. Well,
Speaker 1: will we have other options? We'll find out. It actually
Speaker 1: occurred to me during this game, like is Staley worried
Speaker 1: about Sean Payton? So he's still trying to win games
Speaker 1: because Sean Payton's made it awfully clear he wants that
Speaker 1: Chargers job the more. The most interesting thing Sean Payton
Speaker 1: said when he spoke to our Peter Schraeger there on
Speaker 1: Fox was quarterback would not be the most important thing
Speaker 1: to him. Ownership and the GM and the structure. That's
Speaker 1: what matters to me. When I arrived in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a quarterback. He basically saying, I can
Speaker 1: make the quarterback thing work. I'm worried about the owner
Speaker 1: and I and you know what will always have They
Speaker 1: have money and what does Walmart have? All the money?
Speaker 1: The money and as bad as like. We've talked about
Speaker 1: the Russell Wilson's side of this and why it would
Speaker 1: make it messy for someone going there. But I think
Speaker 1: you could maybe even get out of that contract in
Speaker 1: another year if it ends up being terrible. He's if
Speaker 1: you're going to Denver as a head coach, you need
Speaker 1: you've got to be a high, high quality guy with
Speaker 1: a resume to have some rope uh to survive a
Speaker 1: potential bad Russell Wilson here too, it makes a little
Speaker 1: more sense. That's a great city, great fan base, great history,
Speaker 1: and new ownership. We don't know about them, but they've
Speaker 1: got a ton of money they'll spend to make the Broncos.
Speaker 1: Outside of the Russell Wilson contract which you're right. I
Speaker 1: think at some point you make a decision. If it's
Speaker 1: not working, you move on. Everything else about the Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos I think would appeal to Sean Payton, right, and
Speaker 1: he wants to coach, and I'm not sure other than
Speaker 1: possibly the Rams where he could have an opportunity. So
Speaker 1: you know, let's see what happens there. All right, let's
Speaker 1: head to uh, the most amazing game that's ever been
Speaker 1: played to Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Central
Speaker 1: Zone Invitational later this month. Plug, I'm just gonna be
Speaker 1: gott to get rid of it. Throws it to the
Speaker 1: end zone end, caught it. Jordan nakids, My goodness with
Speaker 1: the catch, my guy, Jordan nakeds that they're gonna go
Speaker 1: for two. Here we go, Texans going for the lead.
Speaker 1: Davis looking calling to the ends O. Jordan nakeds, it's
Speaker 1: not pig again, wide open as the Texans Grandma one
Speaker 1: point lead. But fifty seconds ago, what that was one
Speaker 1: of the dumbest things. It was so good or every
Speaker 1: Cults game up the last month. No, not even that,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's why did the Texans win this game?
Speaker 1: Davis Mills doing that at the Mark Vanderby with the
Speaker 1: call k I l T. Yeah they got. They convert
Speaker 1: a fourth and twenty for a touchdown, go for two
Speaker 1: naked to beat the Colts, and Zach Kieber was right.
Speaker 1: They had one win in them under Jeff Saturday, by
Speaker 1: the way, that is thirty one and because the Texans
Speaker 1: have this incredible comeback win, and I guess you know,
Speaker 1: the Colts made it happen by playing miserable, bone headed
Speaker 1: defense in the final plays of the game. But like
Speaker 1: they don't pick number one anymore. They dropped to the
Speaker 1: number two pick in the Chicago Bears get the number
Speaker 1: one pick, and it could be one of the more
Speaker 1: crushing developments for the Texans in many years. When you
Speaker 1: look back at it, it was delicious. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I don't think they deserve any good luck the way
Speaker 1: they've handled everything, especially if they don't keep loving Smith.
Speaker 1: We'll hear from love you in a second. But I
Speaker 1: just love these sort of insane Week eighteen moments. And
Speaker 1: Davis Mills he had a fourth and twelve on the
Speaker 1: move to Brandon Cooks. Earlier in that drive he was
Speaker 1: fourth and twenty under extreme pressure. This is Davis Mills.
Speaker 1: This is not Patrick Mahomes. He's rolling to his left
Speaker 1: and he has two defensive linemen right on top of him,
Speaker 1: and then he throws across his body and the Colts
Speaker 1: defender has the game. All he has to do is
Speaker 1: knock it down. Instead, he runs forward just then jumps up.
Speaker 1: It goes right through his arms into the winning hands.
Speaker 1: It was one of the moments of the season. It
Speaker 1: was the only moment of the season that I yelled
Speaker 1: out in the news room and screamed, probably annoying Mark,
Speaker 1: annoy me. But it's it's it's amazing moments of athleticism.
Speaker 1: But like there are a lot of Texans fans that
Speaker 1: have their head on the Texans to win. I wanted
Speaker 1: that like, that's great. Those are trifleing items. If there's
Speaker 1: like Andrew Luck and no other quarterback in the traft,
Speaker 1: that it's meant to be a better draft. Like the
Speaker 1: Texans because of Davis Mills late game heroics, don't have
Speaker 1: the chance to pick the quarterback they want. This means
Speaker 1: meaning it could reverberate for years for this organization. And
Speaker 1: I don't know enough I got you know, we gotta
Speaker 1: talk to her. But now that this whole absurd Texans
Speaker 1: journey for two years should have con and to to
Speaker 1: Greg's point, and especially if you follow a team that
Speaker 1: can't get a quarterback for fifty years, they had Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: a generational talent that ended the way it ended to
Speaker 1: then fall into a potential another number one overall pick
Speaker 1: star that would have kind of sneaky annoyed me and
Speaker 1: other teams that are in my position. So maybe I
Speaker 1: don't feel too terribly and you also like, I'm like,
Speaker 1: just as a football fan, I'm thinking as a Texans fan,
Speaker 1: That's why I'm so i'mmed thinking about it. But the
Speaker 1: Texans and their players and their coaching staff, they know
Speaker 1: whatever is the next era of Texans football probably doesn't
Speaker 1: involve them. Like, so that's why the game played out
Speaker 1: the way it did. I mean, it makes me think
Speaker 1: about like the old movie Major League with Tom Barrenger
Speaker 1: and Corbyn Burnson and Charlie Sheen. It's like, was there
Speaker 1: some type of front office figure that was like, no,
Speaker 1: like racing down to the field to try to stop this,
Speaker 1: But of course nobody did. And I don't believe there's
Speaker 1: no there's no like I don't think anyone's saying like,
Speaker 1: oh love you Smith in the or should have tried
Speaker 1: to lose this. But I think that is where you create,
Speaker 1: just situationally, a chasm between your front office who had
Speaker 1: plans to do. The one thing that could happen is
Speaker 1: if Chicago holds on to that, if they want to
Speaker 1: just they fall in love with someone, then they're not
Speaker 1: taking a quarterback and maybe you're right back where you started.
Speaker 1: But they can also trade that. The Texans also have
Speaker 1: Cleveland's first round pick, so they have the ammunition. But
Speaker 1: it's just like, come on, Smith has to say about
Speaker 1: the draft. I I would because I don't know how
Speaker 1: often we'll get to hear from it again depending on
Speaker 1: what they do. Okay, this is the option that I had.
Speaker 1: So you're saying, hey, guys, playing this last game, you
Speaker 1: know all that you've been working for all your live
Speaker 1: you play to win, forget that lose the game on purpose.
Speaker 1: I think that would be a hard one to get by.
Speaker 1: They won't expect me to say that I didn't what
Speaker 1: we were each week. Our game plan has been to
Speaker 1: win the game. It's kind of simple as that, and
Speaker 1: that's what we followed through on the day. Um, Ultimately,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of I'm happy for Smith if this is
Speaker 1: how he goes out. He doesn't let ownership. We have
Speaker 1: one other thing from Levy, can't hear it? Do I
Speaker 1: expect to be back? Yeah? I expect to be back.
Speaker 1: You know, absolutely, It's like a dare. Greg Well, he
Speaker 1: said he's been talking to ownership. Maybe that was a dare.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's based on that. The way
Speaker 1: that Ian rapport our National Insider. Remember when they changed
Speaker 1: that to his title? Have they change it again? And
Speaker 1: I think that's it? National Network Inside. Couldn't you make
Speaker 1: him internet international disppoint? It's an international sports there's not
Speaker 1: He's not dueling against that insider from Spain. His titles
Speaker 1: NFL Network Insider, he reported. You know they they that
Speaker 1: loveest future was very much in doubt. Over on Fox,
Speaker 1: Jake Lazer thought Nick Cassario the GM's future might be
Speaker 1: in doubt. So we'll just see where we'll We'll see
Speaker 1: what's going to developing news, developing news according to them
Speaker 1: being told rap sheets, Twitter, Bio, National Insider for NFL
Speaker 1: Network and NFL dot Com. I think that's new. I
Speaker 1: think that was tweaked someone recently I'm going to do
Speaker 1: my digging as Uh, isn't that what I said? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You were right? Yeah, okay, I'm I want to do
Speaker 1: some digging and find out when that changed. I would
Speaker 1: just say you could go. If you wanted to pull
Speaker 1: full power move, you go Earth insider. You're not dueling
Speaker 1: against um NFL insiders in Africa. I'll be Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: be digging at the story. Just leave it at that.
Speaker 1: Was there something else? Yeah? I just like that. You know,
Speaker 1: if they if they're sending them out, they don't deserve
Speaker 1: to win this game. They don't deserve it. This this franchise.
Speaker 1: I I don't remember they were losing Deshaun Watson before
Speaker 1: anything happened either, he wanted out of this franchise. And also,
Speaker 1: keeping mind very excited about this, the Colts don't want
Speaker 1: their division rival to get the number one pick either. No.
Speaker 1: I think it was a savvy move by It was
Speaker 1: a good job by the call. It's graver though you
Speaker 1: still your prediction that uh, the Colts would finish in
Speaker 1: last place. That the true. But there's an argument to
Speaker 1: be made that Houston was a better team than Indie
Speaker 1: this year. They went one oh and one against them.
Speaker 1: I think finished team in this division. I mean, what
Speaker 1: a disastrous end to this. I think the I believe
Speaker 1: the Texans went undefeated in their Division one three two
Speaker 1: and one, though in the division ridiculous. Smith started the
Speaker 1: seasoning for a high and annoying everyone, and he ended
Speaker 1: the season going for the win with the two point conversion.
Speaker 1: Who says there can't be personal grand annoying everyone, No, Joe,
Speaker 1: just talking about it. Now it's official. The Texans once
Speaker 1: again on the in the market for a new head coach.
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport and Mike Gara Folo together reporting of the
Speaker 1: Texans have fired head coach Lovey Smith. Another one and
Speaker 1: done in Houston. So David Culley, given no chance in
Speaker 1: to build that program, fired, even though he kind of
Speaker 1: out for formed of the team out perform what they expected.
Speaker 1: Lovey Smith comes in, given no chance to build the operation,
Speaker 1: sticks it to the team out on the way out
Speaker 1: the door in week eighteen and then has let go.
Speaker 1: So once again, um mark, the Texans will be on
Speaker 1: the lookout for a coach. They do have some positives now,
Speaker 1: of course in terms of what the job they have
Speaker 1: they already have. I think uh uh an extra number one.
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Cleveland's for years and even though they
Speaker 1: you know, blew the number one overall pick, they picked
Speaker 1: number two in this draft with a lot of cap space,
Speaker 1: but also a lot of dysfunction around that organization in
Speaker 1: recent years. Yeah, I think it's like you go. It
Speaker 1: reminds me of reading like the various biographies on Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick where he talks about when he left the whole
Speaker 1: Brown situation and was going to go to New England's like,
Speaker 1: just always think about ownership when you take a job.
Speaker 1: It's so important because if that shifts, you're probably gonna
Speaker 1: lose it. But ownership creates culture and everything else. And like,
Speaker 1: you do have something to offer that as the Texans,
Speaker 1: they're they they're loaded with draft picks. There's a couple
Speaker 1: of play as on that roster that I think because
Speaker 1: of the Texans have been overlooked young guys and there's
Speaker 1: something to build off. If I think Lovey Smith showed
Speaker 1: down the stretch here coaching them that they were playing
Speaker 1: teams tighter. They weren't just the joke. They were all
Speaker 1: of last season and for the beginning of this and
Speaker 1: in the end it didn't matter. You just get canned,
Speaker 1: and it's like, what is the direction? Why did you
Speaker 1: hire Lovey Smith? I get that it wasn't the most
Speaker 1: inspiring higher, but like, did you and your in the
Speaker 1: back of your mind, if you're the g M, nikos sario,
Speaker 1: if you're the owner Kalla McNair, think you know what,
Speaker 1: We're probably just gonna get through this season with Davis
Speaker 1: Mills or whoever set ourselves up post to Shaun Watson
Speaker 1: to get these draft picks after we trade them and
Speaker 1: then get the coach we really want. It just a
Speaker 1: sort of dirty business to me, right. I can't remember
Speaker 1: NFL head coach ever being hired where it felt like
Speaker 1: it was a short term higher the minute they made it,
Speaker 1: and that was that. The coaching search itself was a mess.
Speaker 1: Easterb was involved, Josh McCown was involved. The whole Ryan
Speaker 1: flores Um suing the NFL felt like it was kind
Speaker 1: of involved and maybe pushed the mc near's. I I
Speaker 1: just think it's embarrassing for Nick Cassario, whether he wants
Speaker 1: to put it on ownership or not, that he hired
Speaker 1: Cully as the first thing he did as GM. He
Speaker 1: made it one year, then he got to hire Levee Smith.
Speaker 1: He made it one year. Most gms never get to
Speaker 1: their third head coach if you hire two head coaches
Speaker 1: and that's over. I'm thinking of like Thomas Dimitroff when
Speaker 1: he hired Mike Smith and Dan Quinn that lasted, you know,
Speaker 1: ten fifteen years, but he's not getting to his third
Speaker 1: head coach. Cassario would be the first GM in history
Speaker 1: to ever get to hire three head coaches in one year.
Speaker 1: And yes, you can say, well, the Watson thing happened.
Speaker 1: They didn't cover themselves in glory there either. Uh, And
Speaker 1: I don't know where to put the blame. I put
Speaker 1: it on the organization. But it's just like embarrassing. And
Speaker 1: I already see the fans being like, well, they shouldn't
Speaker 1: have hired Lovy and he's not the guy anyways. It's
Speaker 1: like this was always the plan. It's like that's what
Speaker 1: team like fans of bad teams say, justified just like yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and the reason was one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why his eyebrow raising is. Yes, Levy Smith, who they
Speaker 1: elevated to take the job, um sixty four years old,
Speaker 1: he came up. He did you know, he had a
Speaker 1: bad run with Illinois's previous head coaching experience in college,
Speaker 1: and it didn't seem like for a team that's young
Speaker 1: and trying to figure things out that you would hire
Speaker 1: an older, veteran coach, and in in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: it's yeah, that didn't make sense because none of this
Speaker 1: really makes sense. There is no real roadmap right now
Speaker 1: for the Texans, and I would be very wary if
Speaker 1: I am h And they're only thirty two chairs, so
Speaker 1: there's always gonna be a lot of interesting taking one
Speaker 1: of them. But I'd be very wary if I was
Speaker 1: a head coach going into that situation right now. I
Speaker 1: don't care about the cap space and the draft picks.
Speaker 1: It's like, is that a functional operation? And do I
Speaker 1: want to be a part of well. They interviewed Gannon
Speaker 1: Jonathan Gainn. He goes defensive cordnre twice last year and
Speaker 1: supposedly he was a strong candidate and there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of regulation that he might be the guy. Ian's
Speaker 1: already reporting that Gannon and defensive coordinator Demigo Ryan's who
Speaker 1: used to play for the Texans, and Josh McCown, yeah,
Speaker 1: the same account. I think now that Easterby Yeah, because
Speaker 1: he was. That was the whole easterby sources, and and
Speaker 1: he had McNair's ear. I think that was an easter
Speaker 1: be I mean, we can't look, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: remember a time when they didn't want us to talk
Speaker 1: Easter be a little bit here and there. But let's
Speaker 1: let's be real that like, by removing that whole situation
Speaker 1: from what we know, like, you can attract a different
Speaker 1: type of candidate potentially perhaps. And I do love that
Speaker 1: Lovey got that win on the way out. I love that.
Speaker 1: I also love that he has three years remaining on
Speaker 1: his deal guaranteed the money and dollar. So there you go.
Speaker 1: You don't have to you don't have to go pound
Speaker 1: the pavement tomorrow for work. You're gonna get paid well
Speaker 1: for the next you know, thousand days. He'll be fine.
Speaker 1: But he rightfully, he's a prideful person though, so this
Speaker 1: is you know, but he it's not who's gonna walk
Speaker 1: around viewing it as his fault organised bad team behavior.
Speaker 1: And that's just the start. That was a little teaser
Speaker 1: um of new horizons Monday. We'll be back on Tuesday
Speaker 1: where we will recap all the madness that is coming
Speaker 1: up the fallout from UH Week eight teen, obviously a
Speaker 1: look ahead, the beginning of a look ahead to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and of course seeing what's going on across the head
Speaker 1: coaching ranks. There's always a ton of turnover. Greggy, we've
Speaker 1: been doing it, like we said, for a decade now,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. You're gonna handle this. We'll be on top
Speaker 1: of it. You follow around the NFL, you will understand
Speaker 1: what's happening around the NFL. That's a promise. Ten years
Speaker 1: we're here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. I was
Speaker 1: thinking of Chris when nihiim Hines made those plays. He
Speaker 1: was always a big Naheim Heinz guy. It's like, why
Speaker 1: can't they get the ball more to Naheim Hines. We
Speaker 1: we missed Chris so much. That's the end of the
Speaker 1: tenth season. It's crazy. I had Graver listen to our
Speaker 1: first Week seventeen regular finale show to see if he
Speaker 1: could find any good little nuggets, and he said, I
Speaker 1: was not even involved in that show because I was down.
Speaker 1: And we still did find some, but I was not
Speaker 1: in the show because I was down in the newsroom
Speaker 1: doing something else. I can only imagine it was like
Speaker 1: coaching firings or something like that. I don't know. Literally
Speaker 1: wasn't even on the show. So we still find a clip. Yes,
Speaker 1: I list an hour long podcast from ten years ago
Speaker 1: today and found a clip are putting our producer on
Speaker 1: that on on the Football Sunday itself. I should have
Speaker 1: told them earlier, but you know, we had the earbuds
Speaker 1: in while I was watching the games this afternoon. It's
Speaker 1: good stuff, it's good content. It was fun. I like
Speaker 1: staying in touch with Yeah, Like, do you think that
Speaker 1: the three of us as broadcasters have improved in the
Speaker 1: ten years based on what you listened to we defined?
Speaker 1: You could be honest? No, you, I mean you've obviously improved,
Speaker 1: but you were still like even back then, you could
Speaker 1: tell what superstars you are all going to be. See
Speaker 1: that's why he's on the show itself. Who who do
Speaker 1: you think did the best job? You would just listen
Speaker 1: to the whole episodes like who who was? Who shined
Speaker 1: the brightest? WESA? That cannot argue with that. It's still
Speaker 1: actually gonna bother markets. It's one time it will not
Speaker 1: because I think it's also deadly accurate. When Head goes
Speaker 1: to Pillow though Head's going to pill on about five
Speaker 1: minutes so I could hear West laughing. It is. This
Speaker 1: is hard to believe. Time flies, and and this is
Speaker 1: our second full regular season without Chris now but he's
Speaker 1: still very much part of the show and always will be.
Speaker 1: I love you, buddy, wherever you are. All right. Season
Speaker 1: is not over, the regular seasons over to seventy two down?
Speaker 1: How many to go? Greggy on the spot in a
Speaker 1: big spot? Thirteen the call, let's see you got five?
Speaker 1: You have five games a wild guard weekend four division.
Speaker 1: That's nine to championship eleven, super Bowl twelve. Right wait
Speaker 1: now six this weekend six four six six two six
Speaker 1: four two one six Post four ten, post two post one.
Speaker 1: Nailed it? Oh the Pro Bowl Skills compensation. Sorry fourteen.
Speaker 1: Right in front of me, Mark Sessler is wearing an
Speaker 1: extra large number fifteen official Tim Tebow jersey, tucked into
Speaker 1: his jeans. As per the terms of the bet. This
Speaker 1: is tied into the week sixteen Brown's Jets game. Mark
Speaker 1: your men at your word. Congratuations. You you put a
Speaker 1: clown suit on Mark here. I didn't mean to. It
Speaker 1: was just to the bet. You know, I would have
Speaker 1: been wearing a weed in jersey. But Mark, thank you well.
Speaker 1: Listen and I you know, I sit next to Westling
Speaker 1: in the newsroom and I see the look of jealousy
Speaker 1: in his eye. Did I get to wear this for
Speaker 1: the first time ever? It was yours as a wedding
Speaker 1: gets had to pull the tag off of it. So
Speaker 1: it's not getting a lot of use by you. It's
Speaker 1: not jealousy, it's pity for Mark. He's fine with wearing
Speaker 1: the jersey. He looks good. He's got a nice dress
Speaker 1: shirt on underneath. He's really pulling off the look contrary
Speaker 1: to expectations. But every sad sack in the building has
Speaker 1: to come up and ask him about it. Why are
Speaker 1: you wearing a jersey? It has been slightly distracting. See
Speaker 1: that was worth the hour. I stand by