Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast are in charge of hiring
Speaker 1: a new Jets head coach. Welcome to hire solo already.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Van Hanzas, and I come to you
Speaker 1: from a virtual room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenhal. What is boys, like? We just see each
Speaker 1: other too much. I have nothing nothing less to say
Speaker 1: to you too. There's not a day that goes by
Speaker 1: that we don't see each other. And and and it
Speaker 1: is good actually to have this, you know, regular time.
Speaker 1: But even on the day's off, it's like what we'll
Speaker 1: be on a little zoom meeting, so I get to
Speaker 1: see your outfits every day. It's exciting. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: we're like going study together really since March, but for
Speaker 1: many many months longer than that. But I mean it's
Speaker 1: been heavy since March. This is the Divisional Round playoff
Speaker 1: preview episode and I am excited as we all are.
Speaker 1: This is is always so much fun. Uh. This week
Speaker 1: of football, it's the best teams in the league. Uh,
Speaker 1: the NFC East is not involved, and boys, you know
Speaker 1: that I am the power rankings guy on NFL dot Com. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's how my bread gets budded. Dan Hans shout
Speaker 1: out in the digital space if you will. Um So
Speaker 1: I decided, Uh, since I'm involved with making lists and
Speaker 1: writing blurbs and being called an asshole by extremists and
Speaker 1: other chocolodytes of the Internet, I'm going to offer up
Speaker 1: a list power ranking list of the remaining quarterbacks. Shoutout,
Speaker 1: and I want you guys to tell me if you
Speaker 1: agree or disagree. There we go. Number one Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: Number two Aaron Rodgers, a little concert. What is this
Speaker 1: based on? Like this year or just right now, right
Speaker 1: now heading into the week year? And now number three
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. Number four Lamar And that was tough because
Speaker 1: umber five is Tom Brady, and I love how Tom
Speaker 1: Brady looks right now, but I think Lamar is just
Speaker 1: a little more special at this stage. Number six close call,
Speaker 1: but Baker Mark. How about that? Number seven Drew Brees
Speaker 1: And number eight Jared Goff or John Wolford, any anybody
Speaker 1: you have an issue with that order now? Unfortunately, you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of want to argue. This will be an
Speaker 1: article I think next week on QB Index. They usually
Speaker 1: at least do this in the playoffs at some point.
Speaker 1: It's usually this week. Um, I would probably put Brady
Speaker 1: higher right now. So um, yeah, it's tough though, like
Speaker 1: like if you're just facing it on the last month,
Speaker 1: you know he's higher than Mahomes. I mean, so is
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. You know, I would maybe put Josh Allen one.
Speaker 1: Um WHOA well, just right now, the future Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: See now you're getting saucy. I don't even get a
Speaker 1: little BAYLISSI to be honest. Uh, And I think Brady
Speaker 1: is right there. I might go Alan. It's ridiculous how
Speaker 1: good those five are that Lamar is either fourth or
Speaker 1: fifth with the way he do. You have Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: ahead of Jared Goffer behind Rogers like third or something.
Speaker 1: They're all about the same. Those top five are all
Speaker 1: playing lights out? How much better can you play? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. Um, we're gonna get into all of the games.
Speaker 1: But listen, you know where we're at on this podcast
Speaker 1: right now, the sessler and all the years of misery
Speaker 1: and now the glory. It would be silly if we
Speaker 1: started the show with anything else other than the defending
Speaker 1: world champion Chiefs against Mark's Cleveland Browns. Ricky, I knew
Speaker 1: that I never wanted to walk away from them. Would
Speaker 1: it be the same as the seven or eight, seventh
Speaker 1: or eighth grade version of me that lived and died
Speaker 1: so hard by this team so hard, so hard it
Speaker 1: cracked through a little bit. It did, it did, it
Speaker 1: did so hard. I'm just one person that roots for
Speaker 1: this team. I knew that I never wanted to walk
Speaker 1: away from them. All right, Mark, we get it. I
Speaker 1: mean loyalist paying off Mark you, I think I'm sure
Speaker 1: better respond to that. But Erica up to her old tricks.
Speaker 1: I wanted to make it kind of like a warm thing.
Speaker 1: And then when Ricky was done with her handiwork. It
Speaker 1: was a bunch of jokes, so you know, but still
Speaker 1: it's loving. Ultimately, You're not the only Brown's backer at
Speaker 1: NFL Media. In fact, one of our favorite um man
Speaker 1: the six Men of the Year. I call him the
Speaker 1: Pipe Greg doesn't. Nick Shook is also gonna jump on
Speaker 1: now what's up? Look at Chucky suited and booted? Hello,
Speaker 1: Nick Chock? How you doing, buddy? I'm great, guys, Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. Wow, how are you feeling right now?
Speaker 1: Like I don't have a theme song with Jerry McGuire type,
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise drops for you. But, um, how you feeling
Speaker 1: at this time with the Cleveland Browns. I don't know
Speaker 1: if the Browns are gonna show me the money. But
Speaker 1: after picking the Chiefs and and getting my now weekly
Speaker 1: hate from Brown's fans who just tell me they're disappointed
Speaker 1: in me more than anything. Somebody last week wish that
Speaker 1: I would step on a lego when I picked the
Speaker 1: Steelers over the Browns. So I respect that, but it's
Speaker 1: a bad job. That's a bad job picking against your
Speaker 1: team in the game that they well, yeah, is it?
Speaker 1: Is it a case of because I went on Cleveland
Speaker 1: Radio and one of the first things they asked was
Speaker 1: why is Nick Shook who you know, you're you're a
Speaker 1: favorite son in that area. Why is Nick Shook continually
Speaker 1: um punking the Browns in these predictions? And the answer
Speaker 1: that we came up with was a masterful touch of
Speaker 1: reverse psychology. Is is it that or something else? Nick? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a Nathan's a Girl special. I'm sure. Um No,
Speaker 1: it's it's a fact that I pick with my brain
Speaker 1: and not my heart, and my brain has told me
Speaker 1: last week that the Browns had every excuse in the
Speaker 1: world to lose that game, every reason in the world
Speaker 1: to lose that game, and then it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: tough battle for them to win this one. But I
Speaker 1: did dive into some numbers and gave me some encouragement.
Speaker 1: So I'm feeling better I think about this game that
Speaker 1: I did last week. But still I still am an
Speaker 1: a stake with my prediction of the Chiefs being the Browns. Shook.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that's a bad job. I think
Speaker 1: you got to pick the Browns. But you're serious analyst men,
Speaker 1: hence the suit You're going on network later. I get that.
Speaker 1: I also want to like connect the dots again. Long
Speaker 1: has it been a mystery of this podcast? Shook goes
Speaker 1: to work for the Cleveland Browns, you know, quits that
Speaker 1: gig out of nowhere, comes back to us, and we're
Speaker 1: all happy about that. You always wondering if there's some
Speaker 1: type of bad blood between Choking the Browns. Well, now
Speaker 1: let's see what's going on with these playoff picks. No, No,
Speaker 1: there's no bad blood. It's just uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think twenty years of the Browns being bad has robbed
Speaker 1: me of the ability to pick with my heart. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's fair enough, and let's get into this game, boys,
Speaker 1: uh and Greggy. And because you know the Browns and
Speaker 1: I said this um earlier in the week, it feels
Speaker 1: like a house money game for them because the season
Speaker 1: is a success. But at the same time, I don't
Speaker 1: want to dismiss them as having a chance here. And
Speaker 1: it does go back to the version of the Chiefs
Speaker 1: greg that we've seen in the back half of the season.
Speaker 1: And I know that the kind of popular line here
Speaker 1: is to dismiss all those close wins as a team
Speaker 1: that was kind of going through the motions waiting for
Speaker 1: this moment, and that makes sense. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: that was what was happening when this team played competitive games.
Speaker 1: And now you take twenty days off for most of
Speaker 1: the most important players, you know, maybe the Browns are
Speaker 1: in a decent spot here with where this Chiefs team is, right,
Speaker 1: I guess that's all possible. That they were playing, you know,
Speaker 1: just hard enough to barely win. It doesn't really make
Speaker 1: sense to me, Um, But it's been since Week eight
Speaker 1: that they won by double digits and they've had problems
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. But in this game,
Speaker 1: that what really matters. To me is their defense. Remember
Speaker 1: everyone started the year and being like, hey, the Chief's
Speaker 1: got a defense. Now it's like the Patrick Mahomes doesn't
Speaker 1: even need to put up that many points. Yeah they were.
Speaker 1: They were thirty first and expected points allowed since week nine.
Speaker 1: They're bad defense. They give up plays on the ground
Speaker 1: that that's a problem. They can't get off the field
Speaker 1: on third down, that's a problem. Against the Browns. Um
Speaker 1: they've got two really good players and Chris Jones and
Speaker 1: Honey Badger and otherwise they've kind of struggled. And Stefanski's
Speaker 1: just out coach Mike Tomlin with the plan that he
Speaker 1: put up. He knows how to find mismatches. These are
Speaker 1: two top five or six offenses against the two worst
Speaker 1: defenses left still in the playoffs. So I see it
Speaker 1: being like the Raiders Chiefs too, you know. I see
Speaker 1: it being back and forth, some long possessions, very few
Speaker 1: defensive stops, and that's gonna make it a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really surprised that the Chiefs are ten point favorites.
Speaker 1: I don't like that at all. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: like the Browns a lot better there, I think. Know
Speaker 1: you look at you look at how we analyzed the
Speaker 1: game last week, and it was simple. But one of
Speaker 1: the aspects was you've got to try to be fuddle
Speaker 1: Big Ben and and do something on defense. And uh,
Speaker 1: they got a lot of gifts and that changed the game,
Speaker 1: I mean immediately and instantly, and by the end of
Speaker 1: the first quarter, everything you would have thought would have
Speaker 1: happened with Cleveland and Pittsburgh went out the gate. I
Speaker 1: when I think about gifts against the Chiefs, it's punts.
Speaker 1: Can you stop drives? Um? It is. There's no reason
Speaker 1: to think this can't be a high scoring game. We're
Speaker 1: in January and the Cleveland Browns their strength is an
Speaker 1: offensive line that um, even when a guy goes out
Speaker 1: of the lineup, it just seems to be that Bill
Speaker 1: Callahan has put together a pretty seamless uh system here
Speaker 1: where they thrive. I mean, they absolutely dominated the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. Everyone thought he's gonna be detonated by their
Speaker 1: pass rush. He wasn't. Um. I think they can score
Speaker 1: points in this game. I think you're gonna need Jarvis
Speaker 1: Landry to play like a king because Baker Mayfield is
Speaker 1: gonna have to make some throws along with the run
Speaker 1: game and I don't hate the idea Miles Garrett and
Speaker 1: even Adrian Claiborne going up against the likes of like
Speaker 1: Mike Remer's and Eric Fisher at tackle. I think that's
Speaker 1: an issue of Mitchell Schwartz is not able to go
Speaker 1: um that that scenario of concern for the Chiefs to
Speaker 1: some degree, Yeah, I think it's Um. It might sound
Speaker 1: a little bit cliche based on you know, how do
Speaker 1: you want a football game on the road in the playoffs?
Speaker 1: Will you do it by keeping the ball out of
Speaker 1: the opponent's hand? But that might be the Browns best
Speaker 1: option here, which is of course you would do that
Speaker 1: with the run game. You know, the Chiefs have struggled
Speaker 1: against the run. Um. The difference though, is that the Browns,
Speaker 1: no matter who they're playing, if they face stack boxes, um,
Speaker 1: they're actually finding success. Now. They didn't against the Jets
Speaker 1: when they were in that tough spot a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: But on average over the season, nobody has faced uh
Speaker 1: stack box more often or more defenders on average in
Speaker 1: the box than the Browns. Because every defense knows they're
Speaker 1: gonna run the football. So if you can effectively run
Speaker 1: the ball, that's great. But what you really did need
Speaker 1: to do more than all uh and then anything is
Speaker 1: to establish a balance, whether it's those quick passes that
Speaker 1: that Baker Mayfield had against the Steelers, or whether it's
Speaker 1: handing it off to Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb and
Speaker 1: and really just keeping the ball out of the Chief's hands.
Speaker 1: Because this Brown's defense, I saw somebody treat last week
Speaker 1: and that was pretty accurate, held together by duct tape.
Speaker 1: I know they're getting some guys back. Denzel Ward being
Speaker 1: back is a huge one, but it's still not a
Speaker 1: good defense. And you don't want to want to get
Speaker 1: into this track meter a shootout with this team because
Speaker 1: you're bound to lose that game. There are layers of
Speaker 1: to the onion when you talk about the win over
Speaker 1: the Steelers for Cleveland, and one of them that I
Speaker 1: don't think is getting enough um play and discussion is
Speaker 1: the way Baker played in the game, because that was
Speaker 1: all set up to be, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: most memorable comeback wins in history, like Frank Reich against
Speaker 1: the Oiler's type comeback with the Pittsburgh offense going up
Speaker 1: and down the field in the second half and it
Speaker 1: seemed like things are gonna unravel. All you needed was
Speaker 1: the opposing quarterback to make a big mistake or two.
Speaker 1: And I thought Baker again in a big spot. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned this in the preview last week because the
Speaker 1: he did it again when the spotlight was on against
Speaker 1: the Ravens, he made a bunch of big throw was.
Speaker 1: He wasn't the star of the game, he wasn't the
Speaker 1: reason they won, but again he showed that he he
Speaker 1: likes the moment. He's not someone that's gonna cower from it. He's,
Speaker 1: you know, a little hot and cold as a quarterback
Speaker 1: um for my liking. But when he enters this stage,
Speaker 1: I like Baker Mayfield in this game for all the
Speaker 1: reasons I've stated. I think he's gonna come in and
Speaker 1: make plays. He's not gonna be the reason they lose.
Speaker 1: I really don't think that's gonna be. He's like a
Speaker 1: lot of starters, or if you protect him, he's gonna
Speaker 1: he's throwing it great, and he's got a little extra
Speaker 1: than most starters because he's just more talented as a thrower.
Speaker 1: Like when I when I compared him to Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: I think there's there's some similarities. Um, but he's just
Speaker 1: more talented throwing the ball into tighter windows when he
Speaker 1: needs to. And the difference the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: is he's made a couple second reaction place. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be Mahomes or Alan, but he's made
Speaker 1: a couple runs and a couple of plays where he
Speaker 1: got pressured and then made a play. And that's it.
Speaker 1: Just keep a couple if he can keep a couple
Speaker 1: extra drives alive by doing that, and there's there's every
Speaker 1: reason again to believe he can against the Chiefs because
Speaker 1: there if you talk to the Chiefs fans, they're they're
Speaker 1: they're sick of their defensive line. They're sick of Frank
Speaker 1: Clark not being a factor there, and they're they're a
Speaker 1: little sick of their offensive line. To like that's where
Speaker 1: their weaknesses were this year was upfront and both sides,
Speaker 1: and and especially for the Cleveland offense, like that feels
Speaker 1: like a mismatch. I mean, Baker last week he had
Speaker 1: two point three four seconds in terms of time to
Speaker 1: throw quickest all season. They found a way to counter
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh's rush, and so it's the same can apply to
Speaker 1: Kansas City Field. By the way, our old favorite didn't
Speaker 1: have a didn't touch Baker Mayfield one single time, right,
Speaker 1: and think about this and I and I get that,
Speaker 1: like this gets kind of just washed out of the
Speaker 1: system because we're kind of tired of the storyline. They
Speaker 1: practiced for like three hours in the week before that,
Speaker 1: they practiced like three hours. This year, practice doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a good seriously to be It's not really joking.
Speaker 1: It's like maybe once during the season the idea of
Speaker 1: like grinding it out and going through drills and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's being shown. You would have never seen this until
Speaker 1: a global pandemic came along. But you know that that
Speaker 1: has been that's This isn't the first team that we've
Speaker 1: seen this season that missed practice all week and then
Speaker 1: showed up and played a great game. I would say, though,
Speaker 1: it says something about the Cleveland Browns that someone like
Speaker 1: Blake Hants, who met Baker Mayfield the morning of the game,
Speaker 1: had had been signed off the Jets practice squad, came
Speaker 1: in and played the way he did that. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of examples of that where with with no preparation
Speaker 1: they did well. I'm with you, Dan, They're not They
Speaker 1: don't need to be doing tackling drills on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: But um yeah, I think that the idea that practice
Speaker 1: simply doesn't matter is probably more of a media thing
Speaker 1: than actual UH and Patrick Mahomes because you know, there's
Speaker 1: not you can't speak too much about Patrick Mahomes and
Speaker 1: he's been out of the NFL world for weeks now.
Speaker 1: Literally by the time he plays, UH takes his next
Speaker 1: snap meaningful snap, it will be twenty days and there
Speaker 1: is That's one thing I do not think is gonna
Speaker 1: happen the stock Oh will Chiefs be rusty? I actually
Speaker 1: went back, when's the last time Mahomes missed, you know,
Speaker 1: extended weeks and then came back. He was when he
Speaker 1: heard his knee last season. He missed two weeks of
Speaker 1: that injury, came back sixty five or seventy percent as
Speaker 1: everyone remembers, and through for four d and forty six
Speaker 1: yards and three touchdowns UH in the last second loss
Speaker 1: to the Titans. So like he's gonna be okay. It's
Speaker 1: the issues that we're bringing up with the Chiefs defense
Speaker 1: that I have more concerns about. Clyde Edwards Hilaire. That's
Speaker 1: another UH focus point on offense. He's been practicing in
Speaker 1: a limited fashion their rookie running back after sustaining the
Speaker 1: hip and ankle injuries, and week fourteen, we'll see where
Speaker 1: he is by the time this weekend comes along, because
Speaker 1: he's an important part of what they do. Not vital
Speaker 1: compared to obviously the passing game, but he did make
Speaker 1: them better. Yeah, and t Greg's point about the the
Speaker 1: offensive defensive line worries in Kansas City the reason that
Speaker 1: the first moment I realized the Browns had a legitimate
Speaker 1: shot of pulling off the upside last week, it was
Speaker 1: and I realized that they were winning at the point
Speaker 1: of attack on both sides of the ball. There was
Speaker 1: an early sequence where Larry and Joe sent Markis pouncing
Speaker 1: into the backfield and stuffed a third and short attempt
Speaker 1: that Ronnie Harrison cleaned up. That really, to me kind
Speaker 1: of opened my eyes and said, wow, like, you know,
Speaker 1: they want this more now. Obviously it's more about it's
Speaker 1: more than just wanting it. But the one thing that
Speaker 1: worries me is if Baker Mayfield, you know, with that
Speaker 1: quick time to throw that Mark mentioned, if he drops
Speaker 1: back and throws one of those interceptions that he's been
Speaker 1: known to do a few times just off of a
Speaker 1: pre snap read read doesn't even take the time to
Speaker 1: see if somebody's sliding down into coverage. That could be
Speaker 1: a momentum shift during this game that I kind of
Speaker 1: worry about from the Browns perspective. But they've shown that
Speaker 1: they've been able to avoid those mistakes for the most
Speaker 1: part recently, so we'll see. Like I think we're a
Speaker 1: little too down on the Chiefs, probably we should get
Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's what I feel right now. That's the
Speaker 1: vible I'm getting. But I understand. Listen, we got shook
Speaker 1: in Cesla on the show. We're talking about the Browns
Speaker 1: two wins from the Super Bowl. It's gonna seem like
Speaker 1: the Chiefs sub note shot. But you know Nick Shook
Speaker 1: did pick the Chiefs. Shook, You're gonna lock up the
Speaker 1: Chiefs in this game. I'm gonna stay want to know
Speaker 1: all time. Alright, good Chuck Um. You will be appearing
Speaker 1: on NFL network as you do regularly. What do you
Speaker 1: talk when you do your network appearances. I know Greg
Speaker 1: watches because it's on TV at all times. Well, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be taping during his appearance. But I'll DVR at
Speaker 1: Chuck and watch it later. I appreciate that's commitment, Greg,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. It's it's next gen stats. Usually it's rankings.
Speaker 1: At this point, we're previewing one stat that gives an
Speaker 1: underdog a shot or a reason for hope, and that's
Speaker 1: what'll be going to the Browns. Is one of them
Speaker 1: in a little bit. Do you do that with Siciliana? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Typically pace is lousy with Browns fans. This is getting
Speaker 1: a little bit it is. It is a little wild,
Speaker 1: which is, by the way, why I feel bad about
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do next, which which is lock up
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I have to uh, I have to upset
Speaker 1: or annoy either Mark or um my daughter Alice, who
Speaker 1: I know, I this house is too much football focus.
Speaker 1: When she asked me earlier, who I'm locking up um,
Speaker 1: you know, and I was like, She's like, don't don't
Speaker 1: lock up there. So if I'm going to annoy either
Speaker 1: her or Mark, it's going to be Mark. Sorry, you
Speaker 1: can't take them up. It's got to be one of
Speaker 1: those two. I think we're I think we're up to
Speaker 1: an aggregate of twenty point in terms of lane Wood
Speaker 1: favorite for Greg locking up in the playoffs so far.
Speaker 1: So you know, he he knows what he's doing. Everybody,
Speaker 1: everybody knows what you're doing, Greg, but taking taking the
Speaker 1: team that I think has the best chance to win.
Speaker 1: Imagine that. Get those heavy favorites. All right, Chuck, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on. We'd love you. You have the six
Speaker 1: minute of the year for a reason, and enjoy this game. Thanks, guys,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, alright, good stuff. All right, So I
Speaker 1: got the Chiefs too, but I'm I've locked up against
Speaker 1: the Browns already in the postseason. There's I'm just not
Speaker 1: going to do that. But you were taught your lesson, Yeah,
Speaker 1: didn't work. They were going to be taught your lesson
Speaker 1: in three days. I know, I don't feel good about it.
Speaker 1: I I hope you don't. I don't feel good about
Speaker 1: I like all four underdogs this weekend to uh to
Speaker 1: cover at least, you know how. I know both of
Speaker 1: you guys are playing. You guys are tight right now,
Speaker 1: trying to win this title. Because I'm just than observer. Now,
Speaker 1: I think of three or four games out, you're locking
Speaker 1: up the Chief's double digit favorite cessler not locking up
Speaker 1: the Browns, which just makes sense that he would just
Speaker 1: go all in on Cleveland, but he wants that title
Speaker 1: so bad that he can't truly get behind the Browns
Speaker 1: in this game. So I'm, you know, just watching the
Speaker 1: world burn here. Um, I think I think that's a
Speaker 1: it's not exactly analyzed correctly. I have thought very hard
Speaker 1: about locking up the Browns, but my one thing is
Speaker 1: that it puts too much into one effort. I'd like
Speaker 1: to spread my lock around from where my emotional side is. Um,
Speaker 1: that's when it doesn't go well. So it's more about that.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be worrying about locks during that game. Okay,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine you would be either way. But you
Speaker 1: know this is you know, I predicted them to win
Speaker 1: and it's not. And I understand when you say that
Speaker 1: Nick Shook is doing what would be respected by picking
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I picked them to beat the Steelers last week,
Speaker 1: and I believed it, and I believe that they're gonna win.
Speaker 1: I really really do. I can see it. It's you
Speaker 1: can see it. I mean, everyone is about three weeks
Speaker 1: behind where the Browns actually. You are, now, maybe I'm
Speaker 1: completely beyond where they are and I'm wrong. We'll see
Speaker 1: but I think people are not tracking them correctly. But
Speaker 1: I think there's a chance. That's why I like and
Speaker 1: where we're Where were we in week seventeen on that mark?
Speaker 1: I mean, with all I know, you're excited, and you
Speaker 1: have every right to be, but that team played poorly
Speaker 1: in Week seventeen and barely beat the backups of the Steelers.
Speaker 1: How could people be behind the lost the Jets before that? Well,
Speaker 1: it's like what I would look closely at what happened
Speaker 1: in that Jets game that wouldn't happen ten times in
Speaker 1: a row. And I think that they I think there's
Speaker 1: something else beyond the XS and os here with with
Speaker 1: some of these teams in the playoffs. And I think
Speaker 1: Cleveland is feeling themselves a little bit in a way
Speaker 1: that you know, I can't really put words to and
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and the Chiefs are not as good an offense,
Speaker 1: right I know we were spending a lot of time
Speaker 1: in this game, but the Chiefs every number says that
Speaker 1: their offense peaked in eighteen. It was a little worse
Speaker 1: last year, but then got going and right now their
Speaker 1: offenses fit their you know, third or fourth in the league.
Speaker 1: You know in d V O A and everything, like
Speaker 1: they're not quite where they were last year or the
Speaker 1: year before. I really believe that now. I mean that,
Speaker 1: of course, I'm just saying like they're not quite the
Speaker 1: same team right now. Maybe they'll turn flip the switch
Speaker 1: and will all be around. All right, let's move on
Speaker 1: the Ravens. They moved on within over the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: Great performance by their defense, Lamar made that special play
Speaker 1: with his legs. UH. Their reward for advancing out a
Speaker 1: wild card round is a trip to Orchard Park to
Speaker 1: face the Bills, who just barely got by the Colts.
Speaker 1: Um and UH back and forth game that really was
Speaker 1: a coin flip game, and it seemed like, I don't
Speaker 1: know just if we're talking about the good fortunes and
Speaker 1: positive vibes around the Browns Bills to the all the
Speaker 1: things that went right for the Bills, with those sideline
Speaker 1: boundary catches by Gabe Davis, the off sides drawing the
Speaker 1: Tennessee the Indianapolis defender off sides, the fumble late in
Speaker 1: the game that ended up in the arms of UH,
Speaker 1: the Bills offensive lineman. They it just worked out for
Speaker 1: the Bills, and I think they're gonna have to be
Speaker 1: better to beat the Ravens, who, obviously um are surging
Speaker 1: right now six straight wins and this is a Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson versus Josh Allen special two studs out of the
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen UM NFL draft. What are you thinking
Speaker 1: on this one, Greg, I'm so excited, Like I just
Speaker 1: checked while you're talking there your power rankings, just because
Speaker 1: it's curious, because to me these are I would go
Speaker 1: Chiefs Bills, Ravens one to three and Um. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's like a super dominant team in the NFL,
Speaker 1: but I could see either one of these teams winning
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I got Chiefs Bill's Packers. I saw
Speaker 1: you had so you had you had three of the
Speaker 1: top four. But that's that's how I go right now.
Speaker 1: The Ravens defensive performance last week really the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, but they convinced me last week was so impressive.
Speaker 1: I think Josh Allen, like I just set his playing
Speaker 1: quarterback at a level that there's almost nothing you can do.
Speaker 1: I'm everyone is always looking for the person to compare
Speaker 1: Alan too and the obvious one. You know, if you
Speaker 1: just take away the physicality, I guess in the running,
Speaker 1: which is a big deal, but is Mahomes because if
Speaker 1: you don't keep him in the pocket, and this is
Speaker 1: true both of these quarterbacks, you're dead. But with Alan,
Speaker 1: the difference is like the throws he's making outside the
Speaker 1: pocket just crazy. I mean they're just crazy. The arm
Speaker 1: strength and almost the creativity of what he tries to
Speaker 1: go for it, it's just crazy. And the flick of
Speaker 1: his wrist on that deep pass as an example what
Speaker 1: you're saying, uh last weekend, it's just like there are
Speaker 1: very few guys and Mahomes maybe is the only other
Speaker 1: one that can make that throw so effortlessly right, and
Speaker 1: you can kind of put up the perfect defense defense
Speaker 1: for him, and he's still gonna get you. And and
Speaker 1: I And one thing I was looking for heady into
Speaker 1: last week and they did it was are they gonna
Speaker 1: start let your calling plays for Alan running more? And
Speaker 1: they did And that was a big part of last
Speaker 1: week's game. And I think that's something regular season, maybe
Speaker 1: not as much postseason. We're gonna do it. And so
Speaker 1: I love mobile quarterbacks. These are two, you know, might
Speaker 1: be the best mobile quarterback matchup we've ever seen in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. It's just it's awesome. I adore this matchup.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a quarterback matchup we never would have
Speaker 1: seen ten years ago. Um, it wouldn't have even been
Speaker 1: something you could have imagined twenty years ago. And it's
Speaker 1: two teams that have embraced what their quarterbacks have to offer,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot of it is like I think
Speaker 1: the coaching matchup here is fascinating. Um Dan, I like
Speaker 1: what you said, though I'm a little I'd be a
Speaker 1: little concerned about Buffalo's defense. They've been better over the
Speaker 1: past you know, month plus, but they gave up four
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two yards last week. Uh they Now,
Speaker 1: I think the Colts, I think we were a little cold,
Speaker 1: not just us, but in general people were a little
Speaker 1: icy towards the Colts last week and their chances because
Speaker 1: I think some of the energy around Buffalo and the
Speaker 1: way Buffalo was playing. Colts put up a real good
Speaker 1: fight in that game, but to me, it was like
Speaker 1: Buffalo overcoming in the first half starts, you know, three
Speaker 1: starts inside their eleven yard line, a fourth and at
Speaker 1: the fifteen, like terrible field position early on, and they
Speaker 1: just made play after play and I think got over
Speaker 1: the hump almost psychologically in a game where it was
Speaker 1: like Buffalo just like these other teams needed to get
Speaker 1: that playoff win, and there was all you know, Buffalo
Speaker 1: is more like everyone's picking Buffalo. That's a tough place
Speaker 1: to be and there might have been some nerves here
Speaker 1: and there, but they worked their way out of it.
Speaker 1: But then you look at the Ravens, same thing for them.
Speaker 1: Downtown Nothing. The way that they battled out of that
Speaker 1: was one of the most I thought resilient showings by
Speaker 1: any team all year. And the Ravens after that moment
Speaker 1: when they when Lamar Jackson had that forty eight yard run,
Speaker 1: two things were happening. I thought, one rip off, any
Speaker 1: rip off the band aid. The Ravens are here, They're
Speaker 1: gonna do what they need to do. But Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: once he gets going like that, you have to almost
Speaker 1: view him as unstoppable. And the Titans had no answer.
Speaker 1: And so I don't love their passing game, but I
Speaker 1: love that they get enough passes through the air for
Speaker 1: Lamar to make them versatile enough where they're not a
Speaker 1: one trick pony. They're extremely dangerous. I thought that Greg
Speaker 1: Roman had one of his better games you know, second
Speaker 1: quarter through the end, one of the better coaching games
Speaker 1: he's had all year. He's been totally ignored as a
Speaker 1: head coaching candidate this time around. Um. Same with Don
Speaker 1: Wing Martindale. I think that's a complete oversight. These are
Speaker 1: two of the best coordinators in the game, and the Ravens,
Speaker 1: to me, will take this thing right to the final minutes.
Speaker 1: I think it was overlooked to your point, Mark how
Speaker 1: dangerous the spot the Bills were in last week, just
Speaker 1: because there was so much like assumption that the Bills
Speaker 1: forgot about winning wild card weekend. We'll see you an
Speaker 1: arrowhead at the championship game, like that was where everyone's
Speaker 1: heads were at and maybe still is um. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't the Chicago Bears that was waiting for them in
Speaker 1: that wild card bound it was a very good Cults team. UM,
Speaker 1: So good on them for being able to hold off
Speaker 1: what what really felt like if there was ever if
Speaker 1: there's ever such thing, and I know this, Clayboon might
Speaker 1: faint when he hears this, there's ever such thing as
Speaker 1: a trap game in the playoffs. That's what the Bills
Speaker 1: had to get pass last weekend, and they didn't. So
Speaker 1: good good on. Then to your other point about the defense,
Speaker 1: they gave up yes, close to five yards. They didn't
Speaker 1: have a turnover, and what's what spooked me, And if
Speaker 1: I'm a Buffalo fan, especially with someone the specials Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson now coming into the building. Was at after a
Speaker 1: touchdown with fourteen eleven to play, it's against the Colts,
Speaker 1: and you you think, oh, we got away. You know
Speaker 1: there was We nearly got picked off there, but we
Speaker 1: got the game under control. We're gonna take it home.
Speaker 1: Colts get the ball seven place, seventy five yards, touched
Speaker 1: down in two and a half minutes. Bills come back,
Speaker 1: kick a field goal to make it sixteen. Calm things
Speaker 1: down a little bit again. Colts get the ball back
Speaker 1: five place, seventy six yards and under two minutes to
Speaker 1: make it four. That was not a good look for
Speaker 1: the Buffalo defense, which showed no ability to close out
Speaker 1: the game. And oh, by the way, Philip Rivers had
Speaker 1: first than ten inside Buffalo territory with a minute to play,
Speaker 1: didn't get so you give the Bill's credit for that,
Speaker 1: but that defense needs to be better in this spot. Well,
Speaker 1: they also have shown that this isn't a one time thing.
Speaker 1: So they gave up more than two hundred yards twice
Speaker 1: this year. Um, they've given up more than two hundred
Speaker 1: yards seven times since McDermott's been there, which is among
Speaker 1: the worst in the league. It's a defense built to
Speaker 1: stop the pass first. Um, it's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a lighter, faster defense. They give up runs to the
Speaker 1: outside that the Patriots ran all over them twice. Uh,
Speaker 1: they gave up more than one sixty I think another
Speaker 1: three or four times, including last week. And so okay,
Speaker 1: a team that runs for the outside well can can
Speaker 1: present problems. Oh hello Ravens, I mean they they I
Speaker 1: know they shut down the Ravens pretty well last year,
Speaker 1: which you know, it's it's something to think about, you know,
Speaker 1: in that matchup in the regular season where both quarterbacks
Speaker 1: really struggled. I mean Josh Allen to a much bigger degree,
Speaker 1: but Lamar struggled to considering it was his MVP season.
Speaker 1: But they need their their guys up front to step up,
Speaker 1: like all their star is. Jerry Hughes had a bad game,
Speaker 1: Tradevious White had a bad game last week. He's got
Speaker 1: to be matched up on Hollywood Brown. We give Hollywood
Speaker 1: Brown so much grief I mean, if there's such a
Speaker 1: thing as clutch, I don't quite believe it in this way.
Speaker 1: But like his best two games of his career are
Speaker 1: his two playoff games. He showed up and was a
Speaker 1: was great last week. He won that matchup over and
Speaker 1: over a lot of key first downs and they went
Speaker 1: to him. Man if so is he not progressed from
Speaker 1: Hawthorne to Hollywood? He's all the waywood? Well, here was
Speaker 1: the thing, wasn't it always like Hollywood, Florida? So in
Speaker 1: a way like never you know, it was always kind
Speaker 1: of a reed any man named themselves after Hollywood, Florida,
Speaker 1: that fields somewhere. I could be wrong, but I don't
Speaker 1: think it was Hollywood, California. It was a different Hollywood. Well,
Speaker 1: that was his first hundred yard games since Week one,
Speaker 1: and so you're right they needed it Um, And you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's no small thing that after that first quarter
Speaker 1: where the Titans totally exposed the Ravens, I thought that
Speaker 1: their linebackers, Um their secondary grew stronger as the game
Speaker 1: went along. They wind up allowing to under nine total
Speaker 1: yards in thirteen points. Um shutting down Derrick Henry, shutting
Speaker 1: down Tennessee in general after the first quarter, And to me,
Speaker 1: that's just I like, when Marcus Peters is gonna make
Speaker 1: some play in this game, is you're gonna get one
Speaker 1: of these raven Esque turnovers um that puts the Bills
Speaker 1: in a tight spot. So I to me, this thing
Speaker 1: is one of the tougher games to predict. Uh well,
Speaker 1: basically since Baltimore Tennessee a week ago. That's how these
Speaker 1: games go. I'm taking the Ravens, and I feel okay
Speaker 1: about it because I think Alan is gonna just I
Speaker 1: actually think he has more burden on him than Lamar,
Speaker 1: even because I think the Ravens defense is gonna be
Speaker 1: better and I think he's got more of a running game,
Speaker 1: and so I think Alan is just gonna have to
Speaker 1: be incredible. Any any obviously could be. But I do like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, when you watch this Ravens team, they have
Speaker 1: this sort of the field it's such a stupid thing
Speaker 1: to go off, but they have the feel of a
Speaker 1: team that I can just imagine Super Bowl features being
Speaker 1: written about what this veteran defense full of badasses Judean
Speaker 1: and Campbell and Peters and Humphrey and they've all McPhee
Speaker 1: suddenly shows up, he goes over to Chicago, he comes back.
Speaker 1: It's like all these guys, these are grown men, like
Speaker 1: they came out involved last week on defense, they have
Speaker 1: that Ravens feel and I don't know, I can just
Speaker 1: see them continuing to win. I have the Chiefs over
Speaker 1: the Browns by field goal in a close game. I
Speaker 1: also this one. I think, I like, I had to
Speaker 1: submit my picks to uh NFL dot com. I have
Speaker 1: Ravens eight, Bills seven. That type of game we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think it's hard. It's really hard to pick this
Speaker 1: game as a blowout in either direction. Um, it becomes
Speaker 1: to me basically a coin flip game. I'd like to
Speaker 1: see the Bills advance because I love the story and
Speaker 1: the fans uh and all that. Um, But it feels
Speaker 1: like just something special going on in Baltimore now with
Speaker 1: that defense rising in Lamar. Now it should be said,
Speaker 1: I say that, and I picked the Ravens, And I
Speaker 1: think some of my misgivings of out the defense and
Speaker 1: Buffalo got me nervous, and that's how it it led
Speaker 1: to the picking the Ravens. You know, the Ravens only
Speaker 1: at twenty points last week. You get all caught up
Speaker 1: in the big play um by Lamar, But overall that
Speaker 1: wasn't a huge offensive performance. Is he gonna be able
Speaker 1: to pass the ball? If Josh Allen has another big day?
Speaker 1: And this is this is a great game I I picked. Um,
Speaker 1: I sent picks to the same place, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: at what I suggested here and I'm not totally thrilled
Speaker 1: with it. But I picked Bills twenty seven, Ravens eighteen
Speaker 1: in that in that world, Um, it's just the collapse
Speaker 1: of the Ravens probably late in the game or something. UM.
Speaker 1: If I as we get closer, I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a field goal type game. One thing I noticed last
Speaker 1: week is like on the read option plays, like Lamar
Speaker 1: is not handing it off anymore. They actually they actually
Speaker 1: stopped Lamar many times in put them in long yard situations.
Speaker 1: But he's he knows like I'm the I'm the best
Speaker 1: player on the field. I'm gonna pop a couple here,
Speaker 1: and he did. He popped like three or four, including
Speaker 1: that touchdown. It's like he's no longer handed off. He's
Speaker 1: just like I'm gonna take over. I was gonna say
Speaker 1: there's a lot of horizontal Lamar running in the first
Speaker 1: half of that game, and this is stupid do do this,
Speaker 1: but you know it also sometimes makes a point. Take
Speaker 1: out the forty eight yards score and the run around
Speaker 1: the right end that clinched the game. And I would
Speaker 1: bet he was at about three yards to carry the
Speaker 1: rest of the way. Maybe made some great throws though
Speaker 1: that the third down throw to Andrews while he's running
Speaker 1: to the sideline at the end of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: like one of the deep outs to Brown hit. The
Speaker 1: thing about Lamaro, he'll have a couple of ugly ones,
Speaker 1: but if he has three or four pretty next level ones,
Speaker 1: then you're in trouble. Well, and Buffalo has given up
Speaker 1: more catches to tight ends than any team in the league,
Speaker 1: so you know they're they're Mark Andrews when he's part
Speaker 1: of that passing game and central to it, the pretty
Speaker 1: good um. Lamar also threw the ugliest interception of the plays.
Speaker 1: And it will not be tough. And I don't need
Speaker 1: I don't need these backward passes to Marque's Hollywood floor
Speaker 1: for dangerous Hollywood, Florida brown um stepping up that was
Speaker 1: grabbing that ball behind his helmet in a one score game.
Speaker 1: That thing was getting through the back of the end
Speaker 1: zone for either a safety or recovery for a touchdown.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about how Josh Allen got lucky
Speaker 1: on that on that fumble, we're told we're talking about
Speaker 1: a totally different narrative and art to Lamar Jackson's career.
Speaker 1: It was wide receiver doesn't bell out on that throw.
Speaker 1: He's a He's a walking example of quarterbacks getting too
Speaker 1: much credit for wins and too much blame for losses.
Speaker 1: I thought he actually played fine last year in the division. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you can't turn the ball over like like they did.
Speaker 1: But it's like he had a basically right now, he
Speaker 1: had an average Lamar Jackson game, which is really good,
Speaker 1: and and everyone else around and right now I think
Speaker 1: is playing at a higher problem is that's not how
Speaker 1: coverage of football I know. But he's like a good example, like,
Speaker 1: is there really that much difference between Lamar for like
Speaker 1: right now and the way he played in that game
Speaker 1: a year ago? I don't think so. All right, let's
Speaker 1: uh pause halftime, uh and spend through the news. What's
Speaker 1: going on on the coaching carousel and in other places
Speaker 1: some changes on coaching staffs of by eliminated teams from
Speaker 1: the postseason. We'll start with Ryan schotten Schottenheimer, who was
Speaker 1: out in Seattle. They part ways citing quote philosophical differences. Uh,
Speaker 1: this offense in his three seasons, you know, it was
Speaker 1: pretty hot and cold. But it was as hot as
Speaker 1: any offense in the league in the first half of
Speaker 1: this year. Um the hashtag let Russ cook era. But
Speaker 1: the collapsed in the second hit the second half, and
Speaker 1: then what happened in the playoffs dooms Schottenheimer. And I
Speaker 1: just want to say, like I love Troy Aikman, Um,
Speaker 1: but it did It felt so simplified. I left me
Speaker 1: almost angry when he said during the telecast UM last
Speaker 1: weekend that the decision was made when the Seattle defense
Speaker 1: was so bad in the first half that Pete Carle said, oh,
Speaker 1: we have to stop this. We're changing the offense to
Speaker 1: fix the defense. It felt so simplistic. I would really
Speaker 1: love to know how this actually happened, uh and led
Speaker 1: to the collapse, because it had to be more than
Speaker 1: just a scheme change. It just seemed like so many
Speaker 1: things went wrong. They were still, you know, passing pretty
Speaker 1: heavily on early downs, and they it's not like they
Speaker 1: totally went away from it. They just were worse. I
Speaker 1: think I think there's a pretty strong argument that the
Speaker 1: early season success was based on a number of unsustainable,
Speaker 1: amazing deep shot plays that you can't really scheme. And
Speaker 1: he played a bunch of division opponents who know how
Speaker 1: to how to stop him, and uh, it's just there
Speaker 1: aren't that many open receivers. And but Russell Wilson was playing,
Speaker 1: you know, really poorly that game that they lost to
Speaker 1: the Giants twelve to seventeen. I mean, there were whispers
Speaker 1: and there were a couple of comments from people in
Speaker 1: Seattle that said that others kind of mimic that, and
Speaker 1: we're able to use that. I mean, they went out
Speaker 1: and scored forty points the next week, but that was
Speaker 1: against the Jets. But they didn't. They were not the
Speaker 1: same offense other than that down the stretch. And I mean,
Speaker 1: if you were a Rams fan, though, you've got to
Speaker 1: be loving this because there's nothing sweeter than beating a
Speaker 1: divisional opponent like the Rams did in the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: what comes out of it is total k us for
Speaker 1: Seattle and the Seahawks. Everyone asking if Pete Carroll's like
Speaker 1: falling off a tree branch at this point, and like
Speaker 1: the scheme's changing, we're firing coordinators. I mean, it's just it's, um,
Speaker 1: it's pretty ugly. A few things jumble my brain more
Speaker 1: than when someone says the score of a sports game
Speaker 1: and it's the lower score first, as you just did.
Speaker 1: You said twelve to seventeen, and my brain is still recovery.
Speaker 1: You want to know why I did that? Because I
Speaker 1: went to I because I wanted to be accurate, which
Speaker 1: at least I was accurate in terms of these score
Speaker 1: But I went to Pro Football Reference and I went
Speaker 1: to Seattle's page, so they list Seattle's score first, um
Speaker 1: to suggest that they were the losers. But then I
Speaker 1: read it to you, and so I'm the loser because
Speaker 1: I said it that where I'm the loser because I
Speaker 1: I blocked up the Chiefs And I've been feeling Mark's
Speaker 1: uh you know, Mark and I were on good footing
Speaker 1: until now. Now. No, I couldn't be less annoyed at you.
Speaker 1: I think it's great that you did so, Mark, how
Speaker 1: about this in terms of correcting um yourself? Who? How
Speaker 1: do you pronounce the last name of the departed Steelers
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator Randy I say, Randy Fichner, all right, the
Speaker 1: Steelers and other news will not bring back offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Randy Pietner. By the way, if I ever become the
Speaker 1: host of the show, will never happen. I'm going to
Speaker 1: set you up for so many little trick questions that
Speaker 1: guarantee you had no idea how to say that, but
Speaker 1: you let you will allow me to tumble over that
Speaker 1: on a show that someone right now in like uh,
Speaker 1: Scotland is listening to thinking that guy is an idiot. Um,
Speaker 1: I will find a way to get back at you.
Speaker 1: I promised you. I really do think I've always said this.
Speaker 1: I think in the off season we should do a show.
Speaker 1: Put Cessler in the host chair. I'll be in the
Speaker 1: Sessler chair. I don't know what we'll do. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: Greg will produce. Ricky will be in the Greg chair
Speaker 1: and we'll just mix it up, and then that would
Speaker 1: be a great spot for revenge. Mark start to plot it. Uhickener,
Speaker 1: Uh is not coming back. This isn't a firing because
Speaker 1: his contract was up. But Pittsburgh's another offense that everything
Speaker 1: was coming They were eleven or oh and big Ben
Speaker 1: was um having a really nice season and then the
Speaker 1: Wheels came off, they lost four their final uh five
Speaker 1: regular season games and then lost obviously Cleveland Browns. And
Speaker 1: so he's out and the Steelers under Mike Tomlin. You know,
Speaker 1: Tomin's not going anywhere. They've had three head coaches since
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine. But changes were coming, Greg, and they're
Speaker 1: starting on the offensive side. I feel like that the
Speaker 1: pink slips started to be written the minute that Mike
Speaker 1: Silver went on NFL Network and and said that Ben
Speaker 1: Roethlisberger was telling people that he started drawing up plays
Speaker 1: because the plays they were calling wasn't working. And I mean,
Speaker 1: that's not too suckle, not too subtle from your your
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback, and by the way, also not
Speaker 1: too subtle from you Gregg throwing the Big Ben under
Speaker 1: the bus as you always do in every other in
Speaker 1: that in that sort of case, Yeah, I loved I
Speaker 1: loved watching Big then play for all these years. But
Speaker 1: I don't like how you try to shift blame. That's
Speaker 1: not that's not what you want out of your leaders.
Speaker 1: But this has kind of distracted from Mike Tomlins defense
Speaker 1: absolutely collapsing down the stretch too. It's not it wasn't
Speaker 1: just the offense was not just the urban Meyer and
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars. Looks like this thing might happen. ESPN
Speaker 1: reported that the former Ohio State and Florida Florida coach
Speaker 1: will be the jaguars next head coach. This thing is
Speaker 1: not official, but the negotiations have been reported reportedly been
Speaker 1: in the works for over a month, and uh, we'll
Speaker 1: see now, Mark if they if they get past the
Speaker 1: finish line, it's a flashy higher. It makes a lot
Speaker 1: of sense. Obviously they're gonna bring in Trevor Lawrence as well, uh,
Speaker 1: to reboot the machine. Whether it works, we'll see. Urban
Speaker 1: Meyer has been out of the game a long time
Speaker 1: and he's never been a coach on any level in
Speaker 1: the NFL. I think it's one of those hires where
Speaker 1: kind of like when Nick Saban went to the NFL
Speaker 1: or Steve spur Your, um, uh, Chip Kelly to some
Speaker 1: degree where it is going to be so under the
Speaker 1: microscope because urban Meyer and you know, we aren't huge
Speaker 1: college guys, but I feel like I've been hearing about
Speaker 1: urban Meyer for decades and have never equated him with
Speaker 1: the NFL. I mean, for obvious reasons. He's reigned in college,
Speaker 1: and he's been through a lot of UM ups and
Speaker 1: downs and controversies, you know, off the field, with some
Speaker 1: stuff that happened in Ohio State. Um, this is a
Speaker 1: polarizing higher. But he apparently, like is UH, was very
Speaker 1: interested in coaching Trevor Lawrence. So if you're a Jaguars fan, UM,
Speaker 1: getting Trevor Lawrence is one and and the coach matters
Speaker 1: a ton UM. I wonder where we'll be three hour,
Speaker 1: three years from now with with this kind of a higher.
Speaker 1: But um, Jacksonville fans, from where you were a month
Speaker 1: ago to where you are now, I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: completely different headspace, and it's one filled with um new
Speaker 1: waves of hope. I mean for a team that just
Speaker 1: had no future a few months ago, all right, and
Speaker 1: real quickly, Brad Holmes is hired as UH the new
Speaker 1: general manager of the Detroit Lions. He's the former director
Speaker 1: of College Scouting UM in Los Angeles for the Rams,
Speaker 1: and the Broncos reach a deal with George Patton to
Speaker 1: be their new general manager. He spent the last thirteen
Speaker 1: years with the Vikings. He signs a six year deal
Speaker 1: to replace John Elway as GM. John goes I guess
Speaker 1: further upstairs and as the football's are, if you will.
Speaker 1: That's what's happening in the week Factor. Greg. Do you
Speaker 1: have anything about Patton you want to? Oh? Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: a huge patent night. I mean, this changes everything. And
Speaker 1: he's been doing interviews for years. He I mean, that
Speaker 1: is a tough job GM. With Elway not just still
Speaker 1: in the building and not in some ceremonial role, he
Speaker 1: is going to be all over General Patton. It's funny.
Speaker 1: I've been reading some of these insidery reports. I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: it sounded like Elway was more like I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get out of here and just chill. And the Broncos
Speaker 1: were like, can you stay around another year? And he
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, sure, but um you're you're all good?
Speaker 1: You know how higher the GM, it sounds like he's
Speaker 1: just kind of over. I don't think he'll be there
Speaker 1: two years now. He's a competitive man. We'll see, We'll
Speaker 1: see if he's able to stay out of the kitchen.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's now move into the NFC and start
Speaker 1: with a great old showdown between old quarterbacks the NFC
Speaker 1: South the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off that win over
Speaker 1: the Washington football team last Saturday night. They now head
Speaker 1: to the super Dome to face the number two seed Saints,
Speaker 1: who didn't get a bye, but they got something close
Speaker 1: to it. With the Bears. It turned into essentially like
Speaker 1: a full squad scrimmage and then they won nine And
Speaker 1: we're just happy that game is over and we don't
Speaker 1: have to talk about it ever again. And now what
Speaker 1: we get is two of the most prolific passers ever
Speaker 1: to play football. Two men. Brady forty three years old.
Speaker 1: Breeze I believe is forty one. It could be the
Speaker 1: last time and likely is the last time they'll ever
Speaker 1: be on the same field together, with Breeze heading towards retirement.
Speaker 1: But Mark will start this way. You never know what
Speaker 1: Tom Brady either. Now, Brady has been incredible UM this season,
Speaker 1: and he was good again last week. UM. But the
Speaker 1: assumption here, obviously is that Brady is going to continue
Speaker 1: to thrive and be in this situation, UH for years
Speaker 1: to come. You just never know. There's so many outside factors,
Speaker 1: so they're they're absolutely needs to be urgency for forty
Speaker 1: three or forty three year old quarterbacks. You may not
Speaker 1: never get to the divisional round again, great matchup between
Speaker 1: two old kings. Well, it's I think it's for the
Speaker 1: reason that we watched the NFL for for the chance
Speaker 1: to see UM at this late stage in their careers.
Speaker 1: You know, they're not that different than our age. They're
Speaker 1: older than you guys, uh and you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, most guys that are forty two and forty
Speaker 1: three are lumps of clay at this point. And these
Speaker 1: guys are still doing what they're doing. It's impressive. Um.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, I think you know, since maybe mid December
Speaker 1: is in the best one of the best quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the league, if not the best, I mean, and his
Speaker 1: deep the deep ball is back. And so when I
Speaker 1: look at what happened in Week nine when they were
Speaker 1: shredded thirty eight to three. UM, even week one, Week
Speaker 1: one I throw out. But the Week nine UM shredding
Speaker 1: of Tampa Bay, it concerns me because I think the
Speaker 1: Saints on both sides, like their offensive line and defensive line,
Speaker 1: you'd have to say, are big advantages that they can
Speaker 1: they can force their will will on teams and win
Speaker 1: in different ways. Um. But but the Bucks have changed,
Speaker 1: They've evolved, and it's guys like Antonio brown Um really
Speaker 1: flowering in this offense, and we've seen it with Rob
Speaker 1: Gronkowski and I don't love their ground game. But this
Speaker 1: is a matchup where it's like, it's like a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl of wide receivers if you look at both sides.
Speaker 1: And so I don't think Tampa Bay is gonna put
Speaker 1: up three points in this one. I think this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a completely different looking game. But the Saints
Speaker 1: to me, match up well and have the advantage. Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's one of those where it's like, is it about matchups?
Speaker 1: There is about who's playing better right now? Because the
Speaker 1: matchups say Saints just because Peyton's four against Arians, you
Speaker 1: know the way that game played out. A lot of
Speaker 1: these matchups go back before Arians was even there, Like
Speaker 1: Marshall Lattimore's kind of dominated Mike Evans his entire career,
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson, you know, dominated Donovan Smith in the in
Speaker 1: those matchups and really kind of destroy things. Cam Jordan's
Speaker 1: probably gave Tristan Worths, who has been great at tackle
Speaker 1: all year, his worst game. So like those matchups seem
Speaker 1: to favor New Orleans, so does the coaching matchup. But
Speaker 1: then you just like look at it, and it's like
Speaker 1: Tom Brady is way better than Drew Brees, like way
Speaker 1: better right now, Like it's almost underrated how well Brady's playing,
Speaker 1: because yeah, I tweeted something out about it, and it's like,
Speaker 1: we'll look at who they pay, who who they played.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, show me the other team. Okay, the
Speaker 1: Lions are terrible. Did anyone else put up six straight
Speaker 1: touchdowns against them? No, so relative to what everyone else did.
Speaker 1: Know the throws Brady's making they played at they played
Speaker 1: the number three d v O A defense last year.
Speaker 1: I mean last week they put up thirty one points
Speaker 1: and they went one for five in the red zone.
Speaker 1: They could have put up forty. The throws he's making
Speaker 1: are outrageous. He's playing so well. Um Brown is more incorporated.
Speaker 1: He had just joined the team. Godwin's playing better. So,
Speaker 1: if anything, I think Brady's it's almost over. So they
Speaker 1: played the Falcons face. Okay, Falcons shut down the Falcons
Speaker 1: shut down Patrick Mahomes the week after Brady killed him.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs aren't even try right now, exactly exactly, that's
Speaker 1: what they say that, that's what they say. Okay, they
Speaker 1: shut down Herbert too. I just I don't know. I
Speaker 1: trust the offense, and that's how always I always picked
Speaker 1: these games. And well I'm not picking against Brady right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I love um, I love the way Brady's playing
Speaker 1: right now. And to some statistical backing from our great
Speaker 1: NFL research team, uh, that really paint the picture of
Speaker 1: how much the Bucks have changed since that three um
Speaker 1: lowest moment against the Saints. The Bucks have average thirty
Speaker 1: four point one points per game, uh nearly four totally
Speaker 1: yards per games since their Week nine lost to New Orleans,
Speaker 1: including the playoffs. When they lost to the Saints, they
Speaker 1: had the three points, of course, and a hundred ninety
Speaker 1: four total yards. They I mean, Brady was angry. They
Speaker 1: had no chance to get anything going. And now though
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay is the most total yards and second most
Speaker 1: points per game in the NFL since Week ten, but
Speaker 1: it's also marking unstoppable force versus an removable object game
Speaker 1: because the Saints have allowed sixteen point two points per
Speaker 1: game since Week ten, including the playoffs, so they're playing
Speaker 1: great football. You could say nothing's changed for them since
Speaker 1: that that most recent matchup on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball, So why not why shouldn't we think now
Speaker 1: that Tom Brady and this offense will come down to
Speaker 1: earth a little bit when they face a familiar foe.
Speaker 1: I mean, I come down to earth from where they've been. Sure,
Speaker 1: I think they'll they'll be more competitive than than that
Speaker 1: last one. Um, it's tough to be a team three times.
Speaker 1: Although I don't know what the science behind that is.
Speaker 1: I think to do anything, it kind of says it's
Speaker 1: it's relatively easy for what it's worth. Let's blow that
Speaker 1: narrative up. That's an absurd I can hear that from everyone,
Speaker 1: and it's the numbers say that that, Yeah, they have
Speaker 1: the overwhelming the third the third time you play them,
Speaker 1: they have the overwhelming advantage, usually because they're a better
Speaker 1: team usually right, well, right, that's got to be. But
Speaker 1: you would assume that you're meeting in the playoffs if
Speaker 1: you're doing it a third time, so both to be good.
Speaker 1: I think it's big that Devon White is back for
Speaker 1: the Bucks. He's been really disruptive. I love his speed. Um,
Speaker 1: he can cause some chaos. I mean that the Bucks
Speaker 1: pass rush could give some problems to Breeze. You've got
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to do that. But the
Speaker 1: You know, this Saints offensive line is one of I
Speaker 1: I kind of like a defense that's been as good
Speaker 1: as the Saints have um over the back half of
Speaker 1: the season. The way their offensive line is playing, I
Speaker 1: kind of just cling to those things. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be I could see like six kind of
Speaker 1: type game. NFC South teams are always wacky. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, please, I'm worried about you know, if the
Speaker 1: Bucks defense way more than the offense. The defense is
Speaker 1: quietly kind of falling apart um. They don't have much
Speaker 1: of a pass rush. To me, that's the big that's
Speaker 1: the biggest difference right now between right now and early
Speaker 1: in the year and last year, Shack Barrett has about
Speaker 1: a third as many QB hits and sacks. You picked
Speaker 1: the wrong year to get on the old Shack Barrett. Right,
Speaker 1: it's not happening. And this is a tough matchup. So
Speaker 1: last week, because they can't generate pressure, they're like sending
Speaker 1: crazy blitz is and Taylor Heineke is lighting him up.
Speaker 1: That worries me. Um, But can the Saints take advantage there?
Speaker 1: They just haven't had many big plays. Even last week.
Speaker 1: It's like five point one yards per play moving the ball.
Speaker 1: Breeze has one game out of his last seven where
Speaker 1: he's thrown for more than seven yards per tempt. So
Speaker 1: it's dink and dunk and dink, and maybe that works
Speaker 1: and he's starting By the time you listen to this.
Speaker 1: He turns forty two on Friday, and when he got
Speaker 1: interviewed after the win um uh Sunday, it sounds like
Speaker 1: he's already a broadcaster. Like he actually sounded like a
Speaker 1: dude doing like a hit uh for NBC during halftime
Speaker 1: of a Sunday night football game in week nine. He's like,
Speaker 1: already there. You know, I don't want to play the
Speaker 1: So I know we talked about on this pod where
Speaker 1: Bruce arians he's still plugged in. I think Drew Brees
Speaker 1: is one foot already in retirement. I mean, isn't more
Speaker 1: fired up than ever. I mean, he does not want
Speaker 1: his career to end, by the way, of course, losing
Speaker 1: losing the great things to come to losing that. Tom Brady, Hey,
Speaker 1: I've been in the shadow of you my whole career.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with like numbers, but you know, everyone thinks
Speaker 1: of Brady as the ultimate winner, and my career is
Speaker 1: gonna end at home with a loss to you in Tampa.
Speaker 1: I just put in uniform that would be rough, but
Speaker 1: it would be I don't know, the opposite, right, maybe
Speaker 1: Sean Payton. I think Sean Payton could win this game,
Speaker 1: you know, on his own. You're right and the yeah,
Speaker 1: you got everything. It's all about kind of recalibrating. Um.
Speaker 1: When you talk about the Saints, the what Drew brees
Speaker 1: in the offense is where they factor in in terms
Speaker 1: of the whole Saints. The Saints do here, It's just
Speaker 1: a part of it. It's not the main driving force.
Speaker 1: I like the Saints. I'm sticking with him as my
Speaker 1: NFC Super Bowl pick uh in a fuel goal game
Speaker 1: to get past the Bucks. But I don't feel good
Speaker 1: about this one, to be honest with you. I really
Speaker 1: think it's a game that can go the other way
Speaker 1: very easily. But I am picking the Saints by a
Speaker 1: field goal four. We just reminded me I took the
Speaker 1: Saints in that like super Bowl challenge to make the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but I'm picking the Bucks this week. So
Speaker 1: you know that's the problem with these things, Like you're covering,
Speaker 1: You're covered either way, you know, Like I picked I
Speaker 1: have Saints twenty four, bucks twenty one and overtime. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you one like, I need Will Lutts
Speaker 1: to be a little bit more. He's it seems like
Speaker 1: happening the Kicker Club at to to twelve in the
Speaker 1: morning before these games. But Will Lots has not been
Speaker 1: um force of old. Who did they just sign? They
Speaker 1: just signed? Yeah, they signed a kicker this week just
Speaker 1: to have in reserve, just because uh, Let's has been
Speaker 1: a little Let's has been. He's been revoked. His open
Speaker 1: bar privileges has been have been revoked. He's not allowed
Speaker 1: in the champagne room. So right now he's just like
Speaker 1: the nerd at the end of the bar, hoping that
Speaker 1: a girl will talk to him. It's Blair. It's Blair
Speaker 1: wh they have Blair Ross not now. You don't tell me.
Speaker 1: I have a kicker problem. And the way to solve
Speaker 1: it is let's get Blair Walsh on the field in
Speaker 1: a playoff game. Well, it's not happening this week, but
Speaker 1: he he was on their practice He's on their practice
Speaker 1: squad right now. Blair Walsh. What what sort of female
Speaker 1: um inhabitants are allowed into the Kicker Club? I was.
Speaker 1: I was. I thought it was just kickers hanging out together.
Speaker 1: How would you decipher who's allowed in? Well, there is
Speaker 1: like a big undercurrent, bubbling undercurrent of groupies, kicker groupies,
Speaker 1: a big undercurrent, and uh, that is what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Just think like led Zeppelin on tour nineteen. All you
Speaker 1: can tell me more about it. Blair Walsh um, of
Speaker 1: course missed like a nine yard field goal to cost
Speaker 1: the Vikings a playoff when he gets the Seahawks about
Speaker 1: five years ago. So I don't know, man, that's how
Speaker 1: you brought in the building. I mean in like negative
Speaker 1: eighty degree weather. But fair enough, the ball probably weighed
Speaker 1: like two fifty pounds. It was a two yard kick.
Speaker 1: All he had to do is touch it and it
Speaker 1: was going over. I mean, lots would have to go like,
Speaker 1: oh for three in a win or something. I think
Speaker 1: to see Blair Walsh next week. But um, alright, which
Speaker 1: takes us to the final game we're going to discuss
Speaker 1: it is the other NFC tilt to decide who goes
Speaker 1: to the championship game? Mark, how about this when you
Speaker 1: if you want to look at it like this as
Speaker 1: a Browns fan, because it's been a long time for me.
Speaker 1: But divisional round weekend, when your team's in it, your
Speaker 1: two wins away from the super Bowl, that just get
Speaker 1: two more dubs. It's it's a lot to ask the
Speaker 1: club feel surreal territory. That's what I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: off to mystic? Why go into this right? I'm with
Speaker 1: you all right here we are, I'm with you. You picked.
Speaker 1: That's why I think it's just my guilt coming through.
Speaker 1: I'm really reconsidering because I think my my heart actually
Speaker 1: believes the Rams have less of a chance to win. Um,
Speaker 1: but I had to take one of those. No, Greg,
Speaker 1: stick with the chief. Let's hit it. Packers and three Rams,
Speaker 1: eleven and six Again. I am now essentially a commentator
Speaker 1: in the lock competition, So I'll just tell you right
Speaker 1: off the bat, I'm picking the Packers and I'm locking
Speaker 1: them up here at home, coming off the by against
Speaker 1: Jared Goff most likely, who has been practicing in full
Speaker 1: John Bulford obviously is in a tough spot coming off
Speaker 1: that stinger. Do I do I start here? Mark? Do
Speaker 1: I really feel good? And all due respect to the
Speaker 1: Rams on defense, but do I really feel like Jared
Speaker 1: Goff is gonna make enough plays in this game, playing
Speaker 1: and potentially snowy conditions in lamb field, uh, needing to
Speaker 1: throw the ball uh, and then a matchup against opposite
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. I do not feel good about that at all.
Speaker 1: You're gonna need something very special. You're gonna need some
Speaker 1: Brown type Brown's type circumstances, a snap going over a
Speaker 1: quarterback's head, uh, interceptions on tip balls for this to
Speaker 1: be a game. To me, what do you think I'm
Speaker 1: with you? Uh? I mean, we've gotten word that John
Speaker 1: Wilford is actually out, so that at least settles um
Speaker 1: the drama around the quarterback situation and everything we've seen
Speaker 1: from Jared Goff and everything that we're hearing from you
Speaker 1: know in subtext and decisions made by Sean McVeigh says
Speaker 1: that your lack of confidence in that quarterback is felt
Speaker 1: by various people inside the organization. I think right now,
Speaker 1: this is a quarterback with notoriously small hands. Um, he
Speaker 1: is a fumbler. He throws interceptions terrible times. I don't
Speaker 1: know about doll Hamman, I don't know what size the
Speaker 1: doll is, but um, i'd be concerned. The one thing
Speaker 1: is I think that's getting a little forgotten in what
Speaker 1: I'm hearing day today, is this like Rams defense and
Speaker 1: legitimately is so pumped up that like this matchup will
Speaker 1: be titanic. It could be. It could also be twenty
Speaker 1: one to three UM at halftime. If the Rams offense
Speaker 1: can produce I think that their ground game. If you
Speaker 1: get the good version of Cam Akers, you've got something
Speaker 1: going on there. If you get a mistake free version
Speaker 1: of Jared Goff, they can hang in a game. If
Speaker 1: you have your Darius Williams of the world, Aaron Donald says,
Speaker 1: he's healthy. If if you're if Jalen Ramsey can erase
Speaker 1: Davante Adams to some degree, Um, that's TRUEY, that's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the way I never thought we'd
Speaker 1: say back in September that the bigger coaching storyline for
Speaker 1: the Rams is not Sean McVeigh, but Brandon Staley, who
Speaker 1: has become um like the the patron saint of think
Speaker 1: pieces and people being obsessed with assistant coaches as they
Speaker 1: are coordinated. It's Brandon Staley right now, And I mean
Speaker 1: the bigger task is probably Sean McVeigh figuring out how
Speaker 1: to get this offense um to compete in a game
Speaker 1: where they might have to score a bunch of points, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Packers defense quietly finished the season much
Speaker 1: stronger than than they did um early in the year,
Speaker 1: including that Titans game. And I think an average defense
Speaker 1: right now is shutting down this Rams group and so
Speaker 1: that it's just a tough it's a tough margin. Fair.
Speaker 1: There was nothing we saw from golf last week, um
Speaker 1: that I found any different than what we saw before.
Speaker 1: It's part of it is his thumb. A couple of
Speaker 1: balls came out wobbly, so that's that's not on him,
Speaker 1: but it's what he's playing with. But more of it
Speaker 1: was his processing, always a little bit of a beat late.
Speaker 1: You know, the two big plays they got were a
Speaker 1: little flukey, a little hard to repeat. It was that
Speaker 1: that scrambled by golf that that led to the long
Speaker 1: acres you know, run on the short pass and then
Speaker 1: that kind of moonball that Cuff came down with. It's tough.
Speaker 1: It's tough to win a game like that, but there's
Speaker 1: I think there's at least a chance that Brandon Staley,
Speaker 1: the man that McVeigh hired because brand and Staley was
Speaker 1: best equipped to stop a Sean McVeigh offense, that's why
Speaker 1: he hired him, is equipped to stop this Packers offense.
Speaker 1: Somewhat there, Aaron Jones is gonna have a chance, I think,
Speaker 1: to have a big game because it's all gonna be
Speaker 1: about the coverage and it's all gonna be about stopping
Speaker 1: the Packers passing game, and they'll probably live with Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones going off if the Rams were to pull off
Speaker 1: the upset. I just feel like that's what everybody would
Speaker 1: be talking about Monday morning. What a masterpiece put together
Speaker 1: by the Rams coaching staff who figure out a way
Speaker 1: to defuse this Aaron Rodgers offense and uh scheme up
Speaker 1: a way to get enough points. I also like not
Speaker 1: to pile on um the Rams in terms of my
Speaker 1: feelings about how this game is gonna play out. And
Speaker 1: we have a very special guest who's just about to
Speaker 1: join us, who is gonna be very mad at me. Um.
Speaker 1: I know Aaron Donald said this week he doesn't him
Speaker 1: feel his ribide or anymore, but that's what guys say
Speaker 1: when it's the playoffs, and he's obviously no way he's
Speaker 1: gonna miss this game. Aaron Donald's the best defensive player
Speaker 1: in the league. You might be the best player in
Speaker 1: the league, depending on who you talked to. But that
Speaker 1: cartilage injury he suffered uh in his rib cage was
Speaker 1: bad enough that it took him off the field for
Speaker 1: the entire second half of a hotly contested game in
Speaker 1: the wild card round. And even if and you know
Speaker 1: he's being managed this week, and that makes sense, But
Speaker 1: once you're going full speed and you're lunging and attacking
Speaker 1: and falling on quarterbacks and engaging in hand to hand
Speaker 1: battle with offensive lineman, I don't feel great that that
Speaker 1: injury is not gonna pop up again. And if it
Speaker 1: pops up and he reaggravates it, is it gonna be
Speaker 1: bad enough where it takes him off the field entirely
Speaker 1: Like that, There is a scenario, And now let's bring
Speaker 1: her in, Lakisha, Come on in the great Lakisa. Jackson
Speaker 1: Westling beautiful as always. I like the new hairstyle. There
Speaker 1: is a scenario here, Lakisha where Aaron Donald exits in
Speaker 1: the second quarter with a reaggravation of his injury. Jared
Speaker 1: Golf can't throw the football. I guess like Borders is
Speaker 1: the backup, and this game just goes completely sideways and
Speaker 1: becomes the blowout of the visional round. He can tell
Speaker 1: me why this premonition that's coming into my mind is
Speaker 1: a bunch of baloney. Well, I will say this, I
Speaker 1: agree exactly what you said about Aaron Donald. That freaks
Speaker 1: me out because especially playing in the cold, we don't
Speaker 1: know how that's going to react. But you have to
Speaker 1: remember that it's Aaron Donald. So even if he's at
Speaker 1: what could be everybody else is a dent. So if
Speaker 1: he's going to be out there, I know he's going
Speaker 1: to give it his all. So that's the number one
Speaker 1: thing that if he's doing great, then no, we're doing
Speaker 1: great and our defense can pull us through. Offense is
Speaker 1: where it gets a bit scary for me. So right
Speaker 1: like Donald, potentially you know, Troy Hitman said he's the
Speaker 1: best player he's ever seen, better than like not on
Speaker 1: that he's at his absolute peak. So you would if
Speaker 1: I had to guess he probably has a broken rib.
Speaker 1: You know that what you know that they're not going
Speaker 1: to announce that that's a problem. But if if he
Speaker 1: was right, their defensive line has been playing good, you know,
Speaker 1: not just him, and you know the Packers are without
Speaker 1: boxed the area. They've got a great offer line, but
Speaker 1: their guard that they put in there, they got Billy
Speaker 1: Turner and and Rick Wagner. I mean, you got Leonard
Speaker 1: flot like you could you could see it. And then Ramsey,
Speaker 1: to me is the bigger X factory. Ramsey talks a
Speaker 1: lot of talk. This is the toughest matchup you can
Speaker 1: possibly have. If you can if you can actually shut
Speaker 1: down Davante Adams and the Packers are the most number
Speaker 1: one receiver dependent team in the league, then you got
Speaker 1: a shot. I guess I gotta see it before I
Speaker 1: believe I gotta see it before I believe it. That's
Speaker 1: like the one thing I'm really looking forward to watch.
Speaker 1: And it's like I'm hoping it's not a blowout game,
Speaker 1: but like my eyes are gonna stay on um Davante
Speaker 1: and Ramsey. I think you have reason to think that
Speaker 1: Ramsey can do this. I mean, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: been like matchup free. He's just been that dominant. I
Speaker 1: thought there was a moment in the last week's game
Speaker 1: where you know, and they and we talked about this
Speaker 1: before La Keysha that there there's no better feeling if
Speaker 1: you're a Rams fan than sending the Seahawks into utter
Speaker 1: turmoil that you know results in firings and may Ham
Speaker 1: and twitter post from you know, Russell Wilson. But there
Speaker 1: was a moment where Ramsey is just wagging his finger
Speaker 1: all over the place, and it's like there are times
Speaker 1: when he can be annoying um when he was on
Speaker 1: the Jaguars, for instance, but he is at the height
Speaker 1: of his powers and gives you hope in this game,
Speaker 1: I would wonder, and I I hate to have to
Speaker 1: do this because like the show is about to end,
Speaker 1: but I haven't done my lock yet and maybe if
Speaker 1: you could, Lakisha, just cover your ears real quick. Just
Speaker 1: for the record, I have to lock up the Packers.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Uh, Chris is doing the same, so I
Speaker 1: don't know about locking. Don't say that though, but against
Speaker 1: the world, Lakisha is legit RAMS fan and she's one
Speaker 1: of the She's an unusual RAMS fan and in fact,
Speaker 1: let me read a pin to tweet atop her fine profile,
Speaker 1: which you can get at Lasia Jackson and Lakeisha. By
Speaker 1: the way, in the decition to doing great work for
Speaker 1: NFL and being the rock of all rocks for Chris
Speaker 1: wessling Um has her NFL Uncorked video series, which you
Speaker 1: need to check out. Here's the tweet. Going from a St.
Speaker 1: Louis RAMS fan to an l A Rams fan is brutal.
Speaker 1: It's like getting back together with an X that all
Speaker 1: of your friends hate. Sigh. Lakisha is a St. Louis
Speaker 1: native who moved to l A and then the team
Speaker 1: followed her here, which is very unusual and unique. Now
Speaker 1: that enough time has passed, you still have some of
Speaker 1: that residual guilt or issues with, you know, friends that
Speaker 1: hate your ex. Not not anymore. But I will say
Speaker 1: for the first like year or so, it was really hard.
Speaker 1: People thought that I knew something when I moved out here,
Speaker 1: and it's just like no, like that's you know, I
Speaker 1: was not an insider. That did not happen on purpose.
Speaker 1: But even like with the first you know, one or
Speaker 1: two years we were even getting good. I was very
Speaker 1: very hesitant to like post pictures and say too much
Speaker 1: because it just it was hard and I and I
Speaker 1: felt bad. I wasn't you know, I was sad for
Speaker 1: my city. But you know, after a while I had
Speaker 1: to post something saying like hey, I gotta live my
Speaker 1: life and these are my boys. So ridding hard for them.
Speaker 1: L A. Rams you know, you don't know, you don't
Speaker 1: need that support your happiness. Let you know you have
Speaker 1: to go through Jeff Fisher. You came out. I suffered
Speaker 1: through all that and now I'm in the glory years.
Speaker 1: You got yourself a husband, you know, a great job.
Speaker 1: You know these people they need, they need to support you. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're happy for me now though I was, I was,
Speaker 1: I was with you on the metaphor. Now I'm not
Speaker 1: tracking it. It's the husband, the rams or is at
Speaker 1: West now the husband in this case was the rest
Speaker 1: of West, thinking of West Lakisha. How is how is
Speaker 1: our man right now? He's doing a little bit better
Speaker 1: this week. It's not huge, but we'll take any little,
Speaker 1: you know, significant like little little progresses, just you know,
Speaker 1: slowly just taking a day by day. It's hard to
Speaker 1: kind of get too excited because, as you guys have noticed,
Speaker 1: whenever you know something good will happen, it's like we'll
Speaker 1: take two steps forward. So it's just living it each
Speaker 1: day by day. And I'd have to ask along with that,
Speaker 1: like link, uh, not sure how many days he's been
Speaker 1: on the earth day? Is he mowing the lawn? Is
Speaker 1: he helping out around the point in his part, I
Speaker 1: was worried because he had just woke up when I
Speaker 1: got on him, Like, oh goodness, I hope they can't
Speaker 1: hear him screaming. But he's growing so fast, Like that's
Speaker 1: the know I said this last time, But every day,
Speaker 1: like he just makes us so happy. And now that
Speaker 1: he's able to crawl and go wherever he wants to,
Speaker 1: the cutest thing that he does is we ended up
Speaker 1: getting a recliner to help Chris sleep. Um, so if
Speaker 1: Chris is like up in the recliner his blanket, sometimes
Speaker 1: we'll like hangover on the floor and Link will always
Speaker 1: like crawl over and like put his head on it
Speaker 1: and like look up and talk to him. And it
Speaker 1: just get that just kids just know, like babies are smart.
Speaker 1: They know like when you need that extra like loving
Speaker 1: like you know, dead, you know I'm still here. You
Speaker 1: can do this. Yeah, it's obviously been such a challenge
Speaker 1: for you guys, But having Link in there, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1: That's that's the light of life in the home. Getting
Speaker 1: so much personality. Yeah, I can't. You get to know
Speaker 1: him better. Unfortunately, the pandemic is keeping us from really
Speaker 1: getting to no link. But in time we will pick
Speaker 1: a game. We need your pick, Lukisha, No, I'm going
Speaker 1: Rams there you go see, you gotta talk to shooks.
Speaker 1: Shooks picking against the Browns for the second great week.
Speaker 1: What's the final score of this game? Final score? Let's
Speaker 1: goree's that's the score that Peter King's leading with his
Speaker 1: Monday morning quarterback Brandon Staley and Sean McVeigh cooked up
Speaker 1: the game plan of their lives. Alright, my fingers crossed.
Speaker 1: Got to give at least a chance of the old
Speaker 1: like Sean McVeigh la fleur matchup. You know, we used
Speaker 1: to call him the what who was he? The boy
Speaker 1: boy basically got hired because he was associated with with
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh. And so I'm you know, you're not Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: I'm Sean McVeigh. That's what That's what he says, hopefully.
Speaker 1: But although I did pick the Packers, does he say
Speaker 1: that to? I don't know what he says. I love Casa,
Speaker 1: by the way, because when I told her about when
Speaker 1: we talked about coming on the pot, she's not like
Speaker 1: excited to talk Rams necessarily. Her first response to just
Speaker 1: like I'm so excited to see you guys. COVID. This
Speaker 1: is so annoying, but this is like I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're at Rocko's just chatting it up, talking
Speaker 1: to football like we normally do. Aren't they like two
Speaker 1: better times? We'll all be together again sooner rather than later, hopefully.
Speaker 1: All Right, that's it. Good show, Lakisha. You are. You're
Speaker 1: the perfect woman in a lot of ways. Beauty, brains, loyal,
Speaker 1: no sports. I don't know if she can cook, and
Speaker 1: you cook not as good as West. So you found
Speaker 1: that you're good at finding the perfect compliments here you're
Speaker 1: not about the food. West makes love for her, um
Speaker 1: and away. You're the best, and we'll be back on Well.
Speaker 1: Two things. We have our television show which is not
Speaker 1: this show. It's a totally different show that's previewing Division
Speaker 1: Round Weekend that will air on NFL Network tomorrow at
Speaker 1: three pm either Eastern or Pacific, and there will be
Speaker 1: six Eastern pasad thing and there will be re eras.
Speaker 1: So just check it out and and DVR it if
Speaker 1: you're overseas. I think you could track it down on
Speaker 1: International Game Pass. But that's that's just a g that's
Speaker 1: just a guess at some point I'm gonna nail down.
Speaker 1: We're tied up by like rope and um, you know
Speaker 1: whatever else beyond at six pm on NFL Network. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's a violent coup. I'm given Erica the
Speaker 1: credit for that. I'm sure she was stumping behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: And then we'll be back, um hopefully with Chris Westling
Speaker 1: the other Westling on Sunday night for the Divisional Round
Speaker 1: playoff recap. It is the greatest football weekend of the year,
Speaker 1: pound for pound, So let's all enjoy it. Everyone, stay safe,
Speaker 1: stay well. And I have a new rule on this podcast,
Speaker 1: Mark We're playing out every a t N podcast, including
Speaker 1: through the off season with that brown song, until Cleveland's
Speaker 1: been eliminated from the playoffs. So that's our new outgrow
Speaker 1: music until Cleveland's gone. That's what it is. All right,
Speaker 1: Well we'll see I hope it's you know, another eight
Speaker 1: or nine or ten shows. Please all right, hit it, Ricky,
Speaker 1: all right, Just Dan handsOn signing off for Tis the
Speaker 1: Old Boss. I love this long the Quiet Storm and
Speaker 1: Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual glass until Sundays you goin
Speaker 1: back leave the round this first detemp, so get on
Speaker 1: the feet and let the games begin to see who
Speaker 1: we go again? Well we are gotten never something things
Speaker 1: we did like the old dog down, then the cord
Speaker 1: he got kids. Now we're gonna make notes in a
Speaker 1: brand crease. Here we go, get you get, don't plus
Speaker 1: and web back on the back, pop rock this shot,
Speaker 1: let them all and shot it out loud we go,
Speaker 1: and it's the breathing grounds. First detemp, So get on
Speaker 1: the field. Let the games they gain. See who we go?
Speaker 1: We go to play the round? The play its first
Speaker 1: to ten, So get on the wind. At the game begin,
Speaker 1: See we're going, and we didn't we get we get,
Speaker 1: Well we didn't we don't get. Don't get Maybe you
Speaker 1: gonna chang so bound back and then it's gonna be good.
Speaker 1: Here we go, cheer we go in. It's the favorite
Speaker 1: round and first to tap, so get go to even
Speaker 1: at the game begin, sham we all gain. Call we
Speaker 1: call again to cleave the whispers toge