Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast, Super wild Card Weekend was
Speaker 1: super from the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Flagship show. Yes, Jason Zamalt said, it is Super
Speaker 1: wild Card Weekend. It's almost through, boys, we got one
Speaker 1: more game. But today's show tonight shows recapping all the
Speaker 1: crazy action of Saturday and Sunday. Dan Hands is here,
Speaker 1: Gregg Rosnthal, Mark Sessler, Hey, boys, it's a little wild.
Speaker 1: Always feels a little different when we're taping the whole show.
Speaker 1: After what was Sunday Night Football Bengals Ravens that Paul
Speaker 1: just slipping right outside of James Prochet's hands. But I
Speaker 1: guess it's fitting crazy, crazy weekend. Yes, Mark, it was crazy, wasn't.
Speaker 1: I mean? So after this, after the Seattle San Francisco game,
Speaker 1: I thought maybe the league, to some degree, now that
Speaker 1: it's playoff time, is returned to the form that I
Speaker 1: recall from when we started this show, where you get
Speaker 1: a dotting of playoff games that are close but a
Speaker 1: couple of blowouts in there. We've gone totally acid trip
Speaker 1: with the league. Like everyone outside of that contest, which
Speaker 1: even was close at halftime, every game seems to veer
Speaker 1: into the totally absurd and bizarre and wild and wonderful
Speaker 1: plays in perfectly too, and listeners of the show, longtime listeners, No,
Speaker 1: I I've done this before, pro bono. By the way,
Speaker 1: um I offer up league slogans. I have one, just
Speaker 1: one to share the NFL. We're not perfect, and by
Speaker 1: the way, neither are you. But our product it's good.
Speaker 1: It works. How it just take out the whole first
Speaker 1: sentence and go right to the product that's get Sometimes
Speaker 1: I don't let you know. Of course, the NFL our league,
Speaker 1: it's a big target. But how about we look in
Speaker 1: the mirror before we start throwing stones. That's part of
Speaker 1: that's a part of a broader message. I wanted to
Speaker 1: get out there to people's Yeah, they're protecting themselves in
Speaker 1: a way that no one can critque. You was shooting
Speaker 1: from approved glass. Why don't you step aside so we
Speaker 1: could actually critique of our sports? Oh yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the through line here was like, oh, you don't like
Speaker 1: some of our calls or something like that. Were you
Speaker 1: not entertained? Have you seen our ratings? What if we
Speaker 1: just pivot to being like a totally carrying the water
Speaker 1: podcast for the next twenty years. I think it would
Speaker 1: be certainly. So anyway, we're gonna get into all the games.
Speaker 1: Let's roll through it Saturday through Sunday. And there was
Speaker 1: and here's the thing. To Mark's point, there was only
Speaker 1: one blowout uh this weekend. But even that game, the
Speaker 1: team that eventually got blown out was freaking winning at halftime.
Speaker 1: That's that's how wild Super wild Card weekend was. So
Speaker 1: let's head to that big bell bottom where the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners looked to make their Lombardi Trophy march. Well,
Speaker 1: get it going, let's just just play it. They roll
Speaker 1: pretty pretty gonna all back man, a wide open Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel down to psych forty taboo debot touch down Said Francisco,
Speaker 1: where the forty Niners wanted to start their march to
Speaker 1: the Lombardi Trophy in style. That would have been a
Speaker 1: better way to get into that highlight. Well you did
Speaker 1: it anyway, Greg, Papa k n b R with the
Speaker 1: call depot. Man, it's good that he's back. All this
Speaker 1: like excitement about brock Purty happened with Deebo Samuel resting
Speaker 1: up getting ready after he was injured. And now he's
Speaker 1: backing He's just another weapon for this incredible Niners attack
Speaker 1: and a great defense to boot and you saw both
Speaker 1: sides of that in a win over the Seahawks. And Greg,
Speaker 1: I gotta start with Purdy here because I know he
Speaker 1: wasn't perfect, especially in the first half, but as he
Speaker 1: heated up with the rest of the Niners and they
Speaker 1: went on at run uh and took control of this game. Um,
Speaker 1: it just showed once again that this team at its
Speaker 1: top gear looks like they can beat anybody, even with
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick start making a sixth start. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you just start wondering who can stop this offense, especially
Speaker 1: in the NFC, although I look around the league and
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I think Purty Struggles pointed out
Speaker 1: how incredible this offense is. I agree with that. He
Speaker 1: was cheeks in the first half, as the kids would say,
Speaker 1: like he played poorly and it half time. I kept
Speaker 1: seeing this like analysis like, well, the Seahawks played a
Speaker 1: perfect half, can they like back it up? And I'm thinking, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they had the lead. Offensively, they were doing great. They
Speaker 1: gave up two hundred and fifty yards in the first
Speaker 1: half and only stopped the forty Niners one time, and
Speaker 1: it felt like they were just like trying to hold
Speaker 1: the damn water back and they're giving up explosive places.
Speaker 1: And again that's with Purdy being erratic, trying to throw
Speaker 1: intercept interceptions, like being late in terms of his trains.
Speaker 1: But but just the first few drives, like throwing towards
Speaker 1: the little he seemed to have some nerves. He is
Speaker 1: a rookie. But it didn't matter. Like they found they
Speaker 1: got the open receivers, they moved forward and then he
Speaker 1: started doing his purty thing and it was just a nightcap.
Speaker 1: It was over. I mean, we we constantly credit other
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks for working themselves out of corners and you know,
Speaker 1: not not losing them. Sure, I mean, but he but
Speaker 1: he but he's had a couple of games here where
Speaker 1: like he was perfect early on. This obviously was a
Speaker 1: different case. And it didn't It just doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: really matter with the Niners because over the course of
Speaker 1: sixty minutes they just simply overpower you. I think it's
Speaker 1: a scheme thing to to some degree, because all three
Speaker 1: of his touchdown throws were to wide open receivers who
Speaker 1: had five plus yards of separation. He had a hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy nine yards of wide open receive of her
Speaker 1: yards after the catch. I mean, it's like this offense
Speaker 1: is set up to fly if you can play competently
Speaker 1: at quarterback. But he's more than that, and it's much
Speaker 1: more than that. I think what's really interesting when you
Speaker 1: hear from whether it's Kyle Shanahan or his teammates. Everyone
Speaker 1: is complimentary of him, but also you don't hear them
Speaker 1: saying things like the way you hear certain guys talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, the top level quarterbacks in the league, like
Speaker 1: I can't believe what this guy does because this offense
Speaker 1: is so beautifully schemed up and so loaded with talent
Speaker 1: that you're right, even with all the throws he missed
Speaker 1: early on in this game, they still piled up. They
Speaker 1: were on pace for five hundred yards at the halfway point,
Speaker 1: and then when party settled in, it was like shooting
Speaker 1: fish in a barrel. Really it was. It was complete.
Speaker 1: It was so easy, and it makes me just appreciate
Speaker 1: Greg Kyle Shanahan and what he's been able to build
Speaker 1: here even more. Uh and John Lynch of course, working
Speaker 1: in Tandon to build this roster. It's a fully functional
Speaker 1: death machine right now. Totally agree. And the way that
Speaker 1: they've put these pieces together where a little bit like
Speaker 1: that twenty six Falcons team, but better where it's like
Speaker 1: a basketball team where every different, you know, but like
Speaker 1: at least in terms of the skill position talent, where
Speaker 1: every player, including Elijah Mitchell, who was a factor in
Speaker 1: this game, of course, including Kittle, has a different skill set.
Speaker 1: They all do different things. And at the end of
Speaker 1: the game, parties completion percentage over expected was basically even.
Speaker 1: It was like point three because you would be expected
Speaker 1: to make those throws. You would be expected to make
Speaker 1: a five yard throw to Deebo Samuel, You don't expect
Speaker 1: Diebo Samuel to take it seventy four yards. Those crossing
Speaker 1: routes were just wide open all day, and this was
Speaker 1: a great matchup for them. They had dominated the Seahawks
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball physically, uh in two
Speaker 1: regular season meetings. They did it again. Seattle had no
Speaker 1: answer Tariquill and kind of got exposed a little bit
Speaker 1: on those in breaking routes. But you started with Diebo.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great place too, because man,
Speaker 1: that was the most debo debos looked all season. And
Speaker 1: I think that puts them at another level. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I mean with with the Seahawks, because they did hang
Speaker 1: around and it's credit to them. And overall you can
Speaker 1: look at Seattle and say, I'm I'm glad they didn't
Speaker 1: pull an up set there because the Niners to me
Speaker 1: are the team that you know mentioned. I can think
Speaker 1: they can challenge Philadelphia, they can challenge Kansas City, they
Speaker 1: can challenge anyone. The ad The addition of Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: is like debo times too, because he gets it from
Speaker 1: as any point in the field and he's explosive and
Speaker 1: suddenly his thirty five yards down field are running for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. But with Gino, I thought they had the
Speaker 1: Niners had the back to back to back touchdowns and
Speaker 1: then coaxed Gino into that interception. They had the Charles
Speaker 1: and many Hugh like fumble recovery, but that but that
Speaker 1: fumble was the like everything pivoted right there, and it's
Speaker 1: like that there seems to be if you go back
Speaker 1: and look, they've scored under thirty three points once the
Speaker 1: Niners since Week twelve, and it's like they're just so explosive,
Speaker 1: but it's like you almost forget that their defense creates
Speaker 1: those plays too. And like Gino Smith, it was better
Speaker 1: than that Thursday night game, but it got ugly for
Speaker 1: them and you just got hit to a point where
Speaker 1: it's like Seattle is not getting the way out of this.
Speaker 1: He played well, I thought Gino in this game, and
Speaker 1: at that point where he fumbled it, you're right, they
Speaker 1: were just trying to keep up. Uh. The forty Niners
Speaker 1: had scored to start the second half to take the
Speaker 1: lead back at that point, three to seventeen. At that point,
Speaker 1: the fort had scored five times in six drives. They
Speaker 1: would go on to score nine times and ten drives.
Speaker 1: Like they scored every drive except for that one point.
Speaker 1: And that sequence I thought was very telling. They had
Speaker 1: a short yard situation, there's an offensive line penalty. They
Speaker 1: had a ton of offensive line penalties. It backed him
Speaker 1: up to second and fourteen. Then it was third and
Speaker 1: fourteen and they got quick pressure, got the fumble on
Speaker 1: Gino and it felt like the game's over because there's
Speaker 1: no margin for error against the forty Niners. And I
Speaker 1: think if you replayed this game ten times, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if the Seahawks when any of them, and I
Speaker 1: I don't say that in the NFL too often, but
Speaker 1: I just don't think it would happen. We had a
Speaker 1: very good UM to seven game on the other side
Speaker 1: and the other conference, which will get too later, but
Speaker 1: this was more in line with what we've seen so
Speaker 1: far since they have added these playoff teams. You get
Speaker 1: a team that's in the old days how to buy.
Speaker 1: They were so good they had to buy. They were
Speaker 1: the second seed in the league, they had thirteen or
Speaker 1: fourteen wins. Now they're playing in the wild card weekend.
Speaker 1: One of the teams, one of the great titans of
Speaker 1: the league, and you get this team that's very marginal
Speaker 1: in terms of making the playoffs. And this is the
Speaker 1: type of games we're gonna continue to see, I think
Speaker 1: more than more often than not. Even though the NFL,
Speaker 1: even in its new slogan, the product it's good, uh,
Speaker 1: and it has been, it wasn't so good in the
Speaker 1: second half of this game. I don't hear from Pete
Speaker 1: Carroll um I was talking about how it's kind of
Speaker 1: interesting hearing the way um Rock Party's teammates and coaches
Speaker 1: talk about him. Uh. Here's what Carol had to say
Speaker 1: about Party. Party did a really good jobstand life. I
Speaker 1: don't know why we couldn't again, and we we chased
Speaker 1: him all over the place, and um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: not known if it being the greatest gram, but it
Speaker 1: looks like fran tarkted out there to day. I want
Speaker 1: to point that out. I wanted to play that because
Speaker 1: his best play of the game, um ironically was an
Speaker 1: incomplete pass. It was after the game was kind of decided,
Speaker 1: they were in the red zone. He did this really
Speaker 1: like savvy athletic scramble, moving across the field, keeping his
Speaker 1: eyes upfield, spotting Brandon, are you in the back corner
Speaker 1: of the end zone, and then throwing an absolute dart
Speaker 1: right in his hands and you couldn't handle the ball.
Speaker 1: But it just shows how much confidence Party is playing
Speaker 1: with and and you put it all together, even on
Speaker 1: a not a truly dominant day by the San Francisco defense. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know that's in them as well. It's all there
Speaker 1: for them to go all the way. I think they
Speaker 1: have that potential. It absolutely is. And I like Ice
Speaker 1: called uh, Party like a superhuman being, like a superhuman
Speaker 1: like on the Thursday Show, which is an overstatement obviously,
Speaker 1: but I just think it's hilarious that how many quarterbacks
Speaker 1: around the league that like we're in year two of
Speaker 1: these people year two and a half. It's like, we've
Speaker 1: got to have patience with these young like what brock
Speaker 1: Party is doing right now, and I don't need to
Speaker 1: be perfect. It's just like the fact, like from the
Speaker 1: neck up everything like he's just fits right in and
Speaker 1: like the idea that with this offense Depot hadn't really
Speaker 1: done much with brock Party, he fits right in. Like
Speaker 1: the way that they're operating right now. They seem totally
Speaker 1: unstoppable because the Seahawks in the first half of this
Speaker 1: game did what you asked. They were mistake free. Gino
Speaker 1: played well, they did all they could do, but it's
Speaker 1: like they can you cannot. You have to play more
Speaker 1: than a complete game. You have to coax the Niners
Speaker 1: into that into like a disaster zone, and you can't
Speaker 1: do it. I mean, they played fantastic back to back
Speaker 1: long touchdown drives and then got the sneaky field goal
Speaker 1: right before the half when forty Niners left them a
Speaker 1: little time to do it. I I was worried as
Speaker 1: a Geno fan, as a Seahawks although we did lock
Speaker 1: up the forty niners. So I was, you know that
Speaker 1: feeling to me and march At that we were never
Speaker 1: to work. I was, I was ever crazy, three of us.
Speaker 1: That's right, good job, I knew. I knew they were
Speaker 1: even within seven games. I think you're officially eliminate. You
Speaker 1: have to be by this, So we keep voting record?
Speaker 1: Do we keep the people that are eliminated? Do they keep? Yeah?
Speaker 1: How sports works. I feel like you've been eliminated. We'll
Speaker 1: see you next sea Like the NFL regular season, you keep,
Speaker 1: you could still get up to fifth or what do
Speaker 1: I need to be think you've eliminated yourself perspect if
Speaker 1: you if you don't want to do it anymore, if
Speaker 1: it's important to you to get back to or whatever. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe in fairness adjusted, I think everyone's kept picking to
Speaker 1: the end. Oh that I knew we were in trouble
Speaker 1: when pretty when he broke out of the pocket and
Speaker 1: he did some of those Zack Wilson plays where he's
Speaker 1: doing the you know, turns his back and just starts
Speaker 1: running around and you get worried, but he usually gets
Speaker 1: out of it. But at one point he broke to
Speaker 1: his left and he did sort of like a high
Speaker 1: step to the sideline. I think it was Cody Barton coming.
Speaker 1: I was like, did he just put like a hesitation
Speaker 1: high step move parton Barton like they're in trouble. He
Speaker 1: I mean, he didn't miss like Deebo Samuel who was
Speaker 1: wide open in the middle of the field. I mean
Speaker 1: a couple of unpretty like decisions the first two or
Speaker 1: three pretty like at this point, because he's not done
Speaker 1: that in these other years. After after the first two
Speaker 1: or three drives, though, I thought he played a great
Speaker 1: game that it just was kind of early nerves, I think.
Speaker 1: And I could say that with some very experienced in
Speaker 1: this world called legacy scarring um with young quarterbacks, coaching
Speaker 1: matters and general set up matters, the scheme that you're
Speaker 1: putting him into. UM. I'm not saying if Zach Wilson
Speaker 1: was in San Francisco he'd be thriving right now, but
Speaker 1: I bet he'd be a hell of a lot better
Speaker 1: than he has been with the Jets. Mac Jones is
Speaker 1: a perfect example in New England. He was in a
Speaker 1: functional offense last year. Uh, it was set up much
Speaker 1: better for him to be successful, and he was successful.
Speaker 1: You took some of those elements out of play and
Speaker 1: Max Jones all of a sudden looked like a guy
Speaker 1: that was a borderline starter or worse. Um, this is
Speaker 1: not a knock on party. But he hit the lotto.
Speaker 1: He really did he. But I think it's I it takes.
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to take something away from Purty by
Speaker 1: saying I know you're not advocating for Zach Wilson, but
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson is Zach Wilson. Pretty is something totally unexpected,
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of it has to do
Speaker 1: with his preparation. The person the locker room absolutely adores him.
Speaker 1: I mean they just don't even see seems surprised by
Speaker 1: his progress. There's this is the human being a perny
Speaker 1: versus just filling the blank quarterback. I just I do
Speaker 1: push not pushed back. But it's just to me, this
Speaker 1: is the story of this jugger, not in a rare
Speaker 1: case in the NFL where a coaching at GM are
Speaker 1: allowed to have a vision over a long period of time.
Speaker 1: And we've seen it reached the Super Bowl, We've seen
Speaker 1: it reached the NFC Championship Game. But it feels like
Speaker 1: this is like the full culmination of everything they've been doing. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're nasty. They're they're gonna be set up next year.
Speaker 1: I think Geno Smith is gonna be set up next
Speaker 1: year too quickly. We do have sounds since we're saying
Speaker 1: goodbye to him, I don't think we're saying goodbye to
Speaker 1: him as a member of the Seahawks, though. I want
Speaker 1: to finish my career in Seattle. I want to. I
Speaker 1: want to be here. Uh, the town, the city, of
Speaker 1: the team, Coach Carroll, the organization. They all embraced me.
Speaker 1: You know, I was a guy who probably could have
Speaker 1: been out of the elite. They embraced me, and uh,
Speaker 1: I want to repair him for that. Between between that
Speaker 1: comment and Pete Carroll really going hard on like after
Speaker 1: the game saying Geno Smith has shown us what level
Speaker 1: of quarterback he is and there's the only reason to
Speaker 1: think he can get better. And they asked him a
Speaker 1: question and he's like, I want him. I just think
Speaker 1: they'll be able to find some sort of contractual compromising.
Speaker 1: Our guy, Ian Rapports said that they would be willing
Speaker 1: to use the franchise tag to keep them if they
Speaker 1: needed to. So even just hearing that, it seems like
Speaker 1: I think there's enough common ground there between the two
Speaker 1: sides to get it. He LOVESO more outside of you,
Speaker 1: Greg than Pete Carroll, and who's shown more faith from
Speaker 1: the start outside of you, Greg than Pete Carroll. And
Speaker 1: it's like, I think you can find a way. You're
Speaker 1: you're looking always for that rookie quarterback on a contract,
Speaker 1: you build a team around him, but you can what
Speaker 1: wait a second here, I thought it was really I
Speaker 1: want to repay them for that. That makes you think
Speaker 1: is he looking to take would he take a hometown
Speaker 1: discount because this is his one chance to get paid
Speaker 1: on the open market Gino? And I think that is
Speaker 1: sort of what it said, that maybe he's not gonna
Speaker 1: push You cannot you can't tell me that the Seahawks
Speaker 1: are seriously thinking about paying him million dollars on a
Speaker 1: one year deal next year. Is not bad at all
Speaker 1: for but but the thing, even just having that out
Speaker 1: there that they might be willing to use it just
Speaker 1: is a starting point where I don't even think, well,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about it in the Austins that they'll need
Speaker 1: to get to that point. You don't there to a
Speaker 1: franchise on a quarterback unless there's some discord or you
Speaker 1: can't agree on stuff. I think Gino in the Seahawks
Speaker 1: Canada would be in a good contract that would not
Speaker 1: blow the ceiling off the train. It's like a two
Speaker 1: year thing with forty five guaranteeders. I know there are
Speaker 1: there's different like levels of franchise tag. I'm just going
Speaker 1: off CBS here. The two thousand, twenty three exclusive quarterback
Speaker 1: franchise tag currently projects to point to four eight million.
Speaker 1: That's exclusive, which means like no team can give up
Speaker 1: two first round picks, so they wouldn't give exclusive. I mean,
Speaker 1: no one's doing that down. I believe that's around. That
Speaker 1: was another at check on big season of that a
Speaker 1: lot of vin Roughly there you go. Let's take a
Speaker 1: break and we will hit the Saturday night burn burner
Speaker 1: in Duval. All right, welcome back. This stuff is interesting
Speaker 1: to me. So just to circle back here with the
Speaker 1: franchise tag, the exclusive tag, teams must offer the selected
Speaker 1: player a one year contract no less than either the
Speaker 1: average of the top five salaries at that player's position
Speaker 1: based on April of the current year, or of the
Speaker 1: players previous year's salary, whichever is greater. The non exclusive
Speaker 1: is teams must offer the selected player a one year
Speaker 1: contract no less than the average of the top five
Speaker 1: cap hits of that player's position or one twenty of
Speaker 1: the players previous salary, whichever is greater. I don't think
Speaker 1: we're getting there. Obviously, that's significantly different. CAP's going to
Speaker 1: be a salary. It's gonna be a conversation, uh with
Speaker 1: the quarterback. We're gonna talk about big time. But first
Speaker 1: let's uh finish up the Saturday night schedule and at
Speaker 1: his game that started out as a blowout and then
Speaker 1: turned into a majestic comeback from a Florida to put
Speaker 1: it down, Patterson's kicks up the field goal is good, good, good,
Speaker 1: But thatd Woife have wanted, but lad Woife have wanted.
Speaker 1: But you have come back from twenty seven nothing to win,
Speaker 1: just made it in there. How good is that? Hey,
Speaker 1: break Frangie, that's real good. It's great. Then you get
Speaker 1: the fungos as a result two weeks in a row.
Speaker 1: I think, oh man, if Graver did not give the
Speaker 1: checks the bongos a spite, now he's gonna Titans fans.
Speaker 1: It's god integrity. Even worse, we'll get to the grain
Speaker 1: figger and some type of stuff a little later, this
Speaker 1: even worse. I thought we fanned the Titans when our
Speaker 1: right back in it freak frame you with a call
Speaker 1: w O k V and that's how you call that game.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to another favorite of ours a little
Speaker 1: bit later too. So there it is. The field goal
Speaker 1: is good. Riley Patterson just sneaks it inside the upright
Speaker 1: and it allows that Jacksonville's Jaguars to escape with a
Speaker 1: thirty one thirty win over the Chargers, one of the
Speaker 1: great comebacks in the history of the sport. This was
Speaker 1: a Jaguar team that um lost the turnover battle five
Speaker 1: zi zi zilch and Trevor Lawrence th dow four picks
Speaker 1: in the first half and they were down twenty seven
Speaker 1: zip and yet they find a way and Mark Um
Speaker 1: when I, uh you and I have been doing this
Speaker 1: a long time. And you may remember the January two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen Andrew Luck game against the Chiefs where they
Speaker 1: were down twenty eight points and after a really bad
Speaker 1: first half, Andrew Luck went nuts and threw for four
Speaker 1: or forty three and four touch downs in that game.
Speaker 1: And who is the player that Trevor Lawrence has been
Speaker 1: compared to Uh. Entering the league, it was Andrew Luck.
Speaker 1: This was a generational quarterback with a monster performance that
Speaker 1: will never be forgotten. Absolutely, and I think that you
Speaker 1: know a lesser team. I mean, this is a team
Speaker 1: with zero playoff experience across the board, players that weren't
Speaker 1: even in the league a couple of years ago. And
Speaker 1: you could just look around the NFL and see teams
Speaker 1: that would have crumbled after that first half. And this
Speaker 1: is this Jaguars team, whether it's Doug Peterson or Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 1: is made of something different to night. I think the
Speaker 1: feelings are opposite. You come out of this game with
Speaker 1: it being about the loser. For a lot of reasons
Speaker 1: which we'll get to. Um this reminded me of, obviously
Speaker 1: for other reasons, that Cults Vikings game and something that
Speaker 1: we were texting about in that Coults Vikings game where
Speaker 1: youth said, Dan, if these if if the Vikings can
Speaker 1: just get a touchdown before halftime, all the mistakes they've
Speaker 1: made have happened in such an abbreviated amount of time.
Speaker 1: Because as I was watching Trevor and s throw pick
Speaker 1: after pick, it was like, this is a disaster, except
Speaker 1: this isn't in the third or fourth quarter. This is
Speaker 1: happening so early that there's so much time to work
Speaker 1: your way out of this if you can pull it together.
Speaker 1: And I want to just point to one thing that
Speaker 1: I thought that was very um indicative of the last
Speaker 1: week plus with the Chargers, and it was when they
Speaker 1: were up seven nothing and it was a third and
Speaker 1: one for the Charges that their own twenty seven and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert planned down audible to a plan down jet sweep.
Speaker 1: And I mentioned this because it was the play where
Speaker 1: Michael Bandy came around. There was a box job on
Speaker 1: third down, they were forced to punt, and the Jaguars
Speaker 1: took the ensuing drive into the touchdown and into the
Speaker 1: end zone seven and suddenly, after all this nightmarishness, you're
Speaker 1: only down by twenty with a half to go. And
Speaker 1: on that play, it was initially, you know, weeks ago,
Speaker 1: it would be Mike Williams who would have done the
Speaker 1: jet sweep for Christmas Marty, And you kept the play
Speaker 1: in the playbook. Bad idea because it was DeAndre Carter,
Speaker 1: who was Mike Williams's back up, who would have done this.
Speaker 1: But DeAndre Carter was injured by the time that play happened,
Speaker 1: and so you got Michael Bandy, who Herbert mentioned after
Speaker 1: the game was Michael Bandy didn't even know what he
Speaker 1: was supposed to be doing on the play. So that
Speaker 1: is a coaching disaster mixed with a situational disaster mixed
Speaker 1: with the mistake by a team that couldn't hold onto
Speaker 1: a lead, and it opened up the doorway for a
Speaker 1: Jaguars squad that walked right back in goods that I
Speaker 1: had to go back to like rewatch how this all happened.
Speaker 1: And that was one of the players where you thought,
Speaker 1: if they just got a yard on this play, they're
Speaker 1: gonna win that game, which is crazy to say, but
Speaker 1: I really think they would have. They would have ended
Speaker 1: the first half, uh if Herbert had hit a wide
Speaker 1: open Alan when they were up twenty four nothing. Herbert
Speaker 1: played pretty well in this game for the most part,
Speaker 1: made a lot of players that weren't there. Certainly his
Speaker 1: life was order. I think the Trevor Lawrence was in
Speaker 1: terms of he was really having a work for tough place,
Speaker 1: but misses that throw. Then you think about the Joey
Speaker 1: Bosa mistakes, like I can't remember a single player having
Speaker 1: a bigger meltdown lining up in the neutral zone on
Speaker 1: a play where they got a sack and would have
Speaker 1: forced Jacksonville to kick a field goal when they were
Speaker 1: trying to make that comeback. Was another four point play,
Speaker 1: then he had the penalty obviously left to the two
Speaker 1: point conversions. Like, we can go through all the plays
Speaker 1: that they messed up, but it's like the other team
Speaker 1: also has to take advantage of it, and Jacksonville did
Speaker 1: the whole freaking time. And I'm just so impressed by
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson and Lawrence and Trent Balki, especially like every
Speaker 1: single one of their free agent pickups from last season
Speaker 1: and everyone's wearing the Balky clown knows to the stadium
Speaker 1: like all their leading receivers, and then fully fought to
Speaker 1: Kassi with the biggest play on defense to the game,
Speaker 1: all free agents that were not on the team. You're
Speaker 1: let the Jaguars serve as the ultimate example. Uh, no
Speaker 1: matter how downtrodden you are, um, things can change quickly
Speaker 1: in the league. It helps when you have a generational
Speaker 1: talent a quarterback at the scene, and after making the
Speaker 1: worst higher of the decade in Urban Meyer, you make
Speaker 1: perhaps one of the best when it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: and Doug Peterson, who I thought was amazing in this game, Um,
Speaker 1: everything he did was the right call and the joe
Speaker 1: and the Joey Bosa play. Um after the touchdown, what
Speaker 1: is the pull that it would have pulled them the
Speaker 1: extra point after the score would have pulled him within
Speaker 1: three an obvious extra point situation. And he gets a
Speaker 1: second penalty for arguing with the reps. So cool gets
Speaker 1: the second penalty having the distance of the two points
Speaker 1: for the point after and he goes for two, which
Speaker 1: he's got. He would, let's be fair, because we'd probably
Speaker 1: be given him something right now if he if they
Speaker 1: didn't get it done. But that was faith in his offense,
Speaker 1: faith and his players and his scheme, and they convert
Speaker 1: that and it's kind of unheard of have onions at
Speaker 1: that level to then set it up where when you
Speaker 1: do get the ball back, you're winning the game with
Speaker 1: a field goal, which they did. So Peterson, it's a
Speaker 1: big analytics thing and you say it's unheard of, but
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson was doing a lot back in in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's just I just have a lot of respect for it.
Speaker 1: Let's hear from Peterson talking about Trevor Lawrence and who
Speaker 1: he reminds him of. I played with one of the
Speaker 1: greatest quarterbacks ever and Brett far Of, and there were
Speaker 1: times when you know, he didn't have a great first
Speaker 1: half and came back in the second half and and uh,
Speaker 1: we could light it up. And that's what that's what
Speaker 1: I love about Trevor and his demeanor and his aggressiveness
Speaker 1: and the ability to just forget and move on. Um.
Speaker 1: But he'll be the first one to tell you that
Speaker 1: it's not it's not about him. The guys around him
Speaker 1: to made made plays. Protection was good, receivers were doing
Speaker 1: a nice job being where they needed to be. UM.
Speaker 1: But you know, from an individual standpoint, it was, uh,
Speaker 1: this is really a a great performance by our quarterback.
Speaker 1: I think that we saw Trevor Lawrence because we mentioned
Speaker 1: it on the show a bunch go through sort of
Speaker 1: a psychological shift in that London game where it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be the same Trevor Lawrence. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be someone new, And that's been the case. But
Speaker 1: it's also coaching because if you're Doug Peterson and he
Speaker 1: was like best friends with Brett Farve, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: back up forever. Like you have so many anecdotes and
Speaker 1: stories of one of the great's melting and being like Trevor,
Speaker 1: You're gonna be fine, and like I just you felt
Speaker 1: that with Trevor Lawrence. But there was also schematic because
Speaker 1: the Chargers and Brandon Staley were adequately, you know, praised
Speaker 1: for using all sorts of disguise coverages against Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: early on in the game. And if you look at
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence's numbers against the Sky's coverage, it falls off
Speaker 1: a shelf. He's not the same guy. But count Peterson
Speaker 1: encountered in the second half with a rash of hurry
Speaker 1: up snaps, and of their fifteen hurry up snaps, twelve
Speaker 1: came in the second half. They average ten point five
Speaker 1: yards per play. Uh, Lawrence had three passes of twenty
Speaker 1: more or more yards. They all came like so a
Speaker 1: year ago you had a co Urban Meyer And it's
Speaker 1: not just a rip on Urban Meyer, this Tweese, but
Speaker 1: who has none of those anecdotes of a quarterback dating
Speaker 1: back to his own playing days and had no concept
Speaker 1: schematically how to hell Trevor Lawrence. Everything is new for
Speaker 1: tangible reasons with Doug Peterson and like all the good Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great point mark, that's a good point mark.
Speaker 1: All that sets up one seven left, fourth and one,
Speaker 1: And despite it all feeling inevitable, they did get to
Speaker 1: a spot at one seven fourth and one where if
Speaker 1: you don't get a yard, the Chargers are gonna win
Speaker 1: a game, win the game anyways, and the Jaguars are
Speaker 1: getting ready to snap the ball and Doug Peterson runs
Speaker 1: in with to me is one of the most memorable
Speaker 1: time out and that that I can remember because it's
Speaker 1: it totally turned the game. He didn't enthal hyper believe
Speaker 1: thet all time. I mean, sure, throw it up to it.
Speaker 1: How many timelines could be better than that? You basically
Speaker 1: won a playoff game with that, But he didn't like
Speaker 1: he saw in that moment uses the time out comes
Speaker 1: out of it with that beautiful play where it ends
Speaker 1: up being e t N where they like basically have
Speaker 1: him one on one on a something Samuel Jr. Good
Speaker 1: luck with that, and they stuck with the run during
Speaker 1: that comeback. I just I just was so impressed. But
Speaker 1: we wouldn't be talking about Lawrence and or Peterson if
Speaker 1: the defense hadn't like started that comeback for them. It
Speaker 1: was such a great example of like that it's a
Speaker 1: team sport because the Jaguars quietly stop the Chargers in
Speaker 1: the second quarter on three straight three and outs while
Speaker 1: while Lawrence is still throwing interceptions four for sixteen for
Speaker 1: thirty yards and four interceptions at one point and in
Speaker 1: the middle of the second quarter that's really where the
Speaker 1: comeback started. They stopped him three straight three and outs,
Speaker 1: including after that muffed punt that they got over at
Speaker 1: the six. So it's like it's a team game. And
Speaker 1: the defense really stepped up two down the stretch. They
Speaker 1: rushed the passer they did, and um, let's here for
Speaker 1: the Chargers now, because this is um for a star
Speaker 1: crossed organization. Charger is gonna Charger and all that. I
Speaker 1: mean the fact that that was a major part of
Speaker 1: the discourse on Twitter. Even when they were way ahead,
Speaker 1: there was almost a, I don't know, a general confidence
Speaker 1: that this game was going to be close. I think
Speaker 1: anybody watching it just because this is what this organization
Speaker 1: has always done. I guess it doesn't matter. They always
Speaker 1: say it's just a laundry. It's just laundry, But why
Speaker 1: do certain teams seem to have this type of stink
Speaker 1: that follows them through the decade a crushing loss. Here's
Speaker 1: Derwin James, their star safety. UM asked about his feeling
Speaker 1: after the game. This is tough because you guys are
Speaker 1: you guys are unit, You guys have been connected. Um,
Speaker 1: can you put it into words? I don't even have
Speaker 1: any words for right now. Like I said, I've been
Speaker 1: playing football allective and now here is the other star
Speaker 1: of the defense, UM, superstar of the defense, Joey Bosa, who,
Speaker 1: as we said, at a very tough game. UM, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have this in two parts because they're very distinct.
Speaker 1: Here as part one, I need to be more accountable
Speaker 1: for my actions, obviously, but it's uh, it's a heated
Speaker 1: game and I'm hurting out there. I'm playing on half
Speaker 1: a leg. Um, I'm getting dragged to the ground whatever
Speaker 1: could hurt me along with screwing our team. And yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe some of them weren't as blatant as I thought,
Speaker 1: but UM, I don't know. And then Joey Boz says,
Speaker 1: effic I don't care if there's a FedEx package on
Speaker 1: my stool one Monday. I think there just needs to
Speaker 1: be more accountability on. I mean, if I say something
Speaker 1: to them, I get fine. But if they blow a
Speaker 1: call that ruins an entire team's season, they get to
Speaker 1: they're probably back in the locker room after getting my
Speaker 1: god got that. Yeah, I got him fifth ten yards
Speaker 1: a loser. I guarantee it. That's what they're talking' Um,
Speaker 1: how do you know? I'm sick of those people so far. Sorry,
Speaker 1: but man, I kind of love it. Yeah. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: some of the calls are bad and I have to say, like, um,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna see it. You're gonna see the think
Speaker 1: pieces in the days ahead. The officiating, which has been
Speaker 1: under the microscope because it has not been good uh
Speaker 1: this year. It wasn't good this weekend either, and these
Speaker 1: are supposed to be the best cruise in in the game.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying all the officiating was bad, but
Speaker 1: there were I feel like every game there were major calls,
Speaker 1: uh that were missed. Saturday was a disaster and Sunday
Speaker 1: was good. Well, I don't know, I don't know. There
Speaker 1: was particularly egregious call in Minnesota that give the Vikings
Speaker 1: life on their last year. The one thing that when
Speaker 1: they are they are jumping in using some of their
Speaker 1: ability to quickly replay stuff and get it right there
Speaker 1: at least is that because I mean, I know it
Speaker 1: seems worse than ever, but I can remember get like
Speaker 1: a playoff game back in like the nineties, where it's
Speaker 1: like a missed call just led to a team losing,
Speaker 1: and it's like there was I agree with both, so
Speaker 1: that like the refs do it, and then we complain
Speaker 1: about it for two days and then they're essentially anonymous
Speaker 1: individuals and they go on to do their job the
Speaker 1: next week. But we all remember Joey, Bosa, Melton and
Speaker 1: I understand frustration, but then it was like non holding
Speaker 1: calls and I didn't think they were crazy. Bosa and
Speaker 1: Mac definitely did not show up in the second half
Speaker 1: of the game, and that it's part of what's frustrating
Speaker 1: for him is that it really was more on the
Speaker 1: defense in the second half. The offense weirdly had its
Speaker 1: problems in the first half while they were getting a
Speaker 1: huge lead. But the offense, which everyone shares in a
Speaker 1: blame like this, Brandon Staley does, Herbert does, the offense does,
Speaker 1: but to go touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, the
Speaker 1: one thing the offense did in the second half was
Speaker 1: actually go on longer drives and limit possessions to the
Speaker 1: point where the Jaguars had to pitch a perfect game
Speaker 1: in the second half because they like this. You're a
Speaker 1: very vocal member of the Herbert Hive and the and
Speaker 1: that's a very loud group in the in the Twitter verse.
Speaker 1: But they scored three points in the second half, and
Speaker 1: you even said it on So they go seven for
Speaker 1: thirty seven, seven three. You gotta do better than score
Speaker 1: three points and then go three and out. That's they collapse.
Speaker 1: But in a comeback like this, kind of like that
Speaker 1: Minnesota game we were talking about, like how many things
Speaker 1: had to go wrong, they limited to where they had
Speaker 1: to score a touchdown and then the game winning field
Speaker 1: goal exactly on every single one of those drives, and
Speaker 1: they got a touch onw just count. There are moments
Speaker 1: and like we're talking about Trevor Lawrence the way we're
Speaker 1: talking about we're forgiving four interceptions because of how we
Speaker 1: bounced back. And I don't think it's a Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: thing as much as like the Joe Lombardi experience. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where the argument is to continue with
Speaker 1: on on with that for another year. I think they
Speaker 1: had the ball with five plus and they had a
Speaker 1: chance to seal this thing. They went three and out.
Speaker 1: There were just these drives that matter, and like the
Speaker 1: whole second half, You're right, there were some elongated drives,
Speaker 1: but it Lenton edited a punt, a field goal, and
Speaker 1: Cameron Dicker's second miss field goal. Like in a million years,
Speaker 1: that was a huge miss special teams issue, and I
Speaker 1: think Staley got absolutely spooked from the chuckle heads like
Speaker 1: us banging on him for not going for fourth downs
Speaker 1: last year, and you saw multiple games this week one
Speaker 1: because you went for it on fourth down and then
Speaker 1: that weirdly doesn't get mentioned as much as when it
Speaker 1: goes wrong. But Staleley did the opposite. He kicked field
Speaker 1: goals from the four yard line, the five yard line,
Speaker 1: and then when Dicker missed that kick, he had a
Speaker 1: fourth and three with under eight minutes to go, where
Speaker 1: I first down there would have been just absolutely huge.
Speaker 1: Didn't have the guts to go for it, was going
Speaker 1: to at first change his mind. They missed the field goal,
Speaker 1: and justin Herbert, I'm not throwing Herbert off under the rest,
Speaker 1: but I don't think he didn't play well, but he
Speaker 1: also didn't play poorly. He just had like a block point.
Speaker 1: I love Herbert, maybe not at the Genu Flec level,
Speaker 1: but I really I see him as at one of
Speaker 1: the great young talents in the league. But I think
Speaker 1: sometimes there's because the discourse around him is it's almost
Speaker 1: like the political landscape where it's just people just mad
Speaker 1: yelling about Herbert, where it's like, man, like we talked
Speaker 1: the thursday, you because you're a big Herbert guy, and
Speaker 1: you said, well, the reason the Charges win is because
Speaker 1: they have the best quarterback, and you're gonna see that here.
Speaker 1: I only saw one special quarterback of the future in
Speaker 1: this game, and I'm not I'm not taking away from
Speaker 1: her but I still think he's excellent. I wish he
Speaker 1: was on my team. But I thought, I'm watching Lawrence
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, we're gonna see this guy in the
Speaker 1: playoffs for fifteen years. That's a Hall of Fame player
Speaker 1: just starting his career. And I just thought, like on
Speaker 1: that stage, Lawrence was special and Herbert Wasn't look at
Speaker 1: their stats because like it's crazy how similar they were.
Speaker 1: They both inefficient each through it about you know, Herbert
Speaker 1: through at forty three times for two seventy three. Lawrence
Speaker 1: through at forty seven times for two eight eight. Herbert
Speaker 1: has the one touchdown no interceptions Lawrence, and I love
Speaker 1: that callback you had to Andrew luck had the four touchdowns,
Speaker 1: four interceptions. That was just like lux game. He threw
Speaker 1: three in that game and then wind up through and fourth,
Speaker 1: so they were ups and there downs. I do think
Speaker 1: it's fair, though, to point out that the Chargers run
Speaker 1: it twenty five times for fifty yards and the Jaguars
Speaker 1: have a great running game, that Lawrence has a great
Speaker 1: play caller who has a sense of the moment and
Speaker 1: schemes guys wide open. Herbert has Lombardi who puts three
Speaker 1: tight ends on the field for a play action plass
Speaker 1: to start that last drive in Zion Johnson loses a
Speaker 1: block one on one their first round pick and gives
Speaker 1: up a quick pressure like I don't think that it's
Speaker 1: remotely even his coaching is not good. I would also
Speaker 1: say that Herbert has a head coach who played Mike
Speaker 1: Williams and his starters deep into the season finale when
Speaker 1: it was an utterly meaningless task to do so explain
Speaker 1: it oft in a weird way. And then if you
Speaker 1: look at all if you look at Keenan Allen's numbers,
Speaker 1: when Mike Williams has not been in the lineup this year,
Speaker 1: they fall off a cliff and you're leading received or
Speaker 1: is your tight end in in the biggest playoff game
Speaker 1: of your life? If you you if you take these
Speaker 1: two things, um, these three things, the fact that Staley
Speaker 1: in general has been an underwhelming head coach UM since
Speaker 1: being hired, to the devastating decision to play his starters
Speaker 1: a week a team, then lose his biggest playmaker for
Speaker 1: the playoff game, and then three for his team to
Speaker 1: blow twenty seven nothing lead. You would think, Oh, Stalley
Speaker 1: is gonna get fired. Jim Trotter, who's really plugged in,
Speaker 1: veteran reporter for NFL Network, who knows that team very well,
Speaker 1: has been around them and covering them for years. UM
Speaker 1: did a Twitter thread so today where he he outlined
Speaker 1: his thoughts and how this thing could play out, and
Speaker 1: and and that to him, it seemed like Staley there's
Speaker 1: a good chance he would survive. Maybe not the offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: but Staley would be safe. And I know that's not
Speaker 1: what Chargers fans who are in their feelings right now
Speaker 1: want to hear. But that's what Trotter thinks when one
Speaker 1: of the reasons was because the linking Sean Payton to
Speaker 1: l A. It's like the way that charges operate. It's
Speaker 1: not because they're miserly, according to Trotter. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people think that. But there is
Speaker 1: a salary issue with someone like Peyton. They want to play.
Speaker 1: They want to pay first time coaches and coordinators to
Speaker 1: become head coaches, but they don't want to give up
Speaker 1: the draft picks. They wanted to use those to develop players.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a choice. It's a choice. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I agree with it. But this this brings
Speaker 1: me no um joy because this this man has seriously
Speaker 1: been one of my um favorite broadcasters in in my life.
Speaker 1: But um, al, I think we're gonna look back at
Speaker 1: this game is maybe at the beginning of the end
Speaker 1: for Al Michael's who terrible job by the way, um
Speaker 1: by NBC. UM I kind of pointed this out on
Speaker 1: Thursday that it wasn't with herb Street and I know
Speaker 1: that's different because that's Amazon, but you don't throw two
Speaker 1: guys together don't have a lot of experience. You certainly
Speaker 1: don't throw two older guys together when you don't have
Speaker 1: somebody that's an excitable presence. And that's why I know
Speaker 1: Collinsworth is not a favorite of yours, Mark, but Collinsworth
Speaker 1: does bring that kind of joyfulness to the to the sport.
Speaker 1: And you hear his excitement and that plays off well
Speaker 1: with Al Michael's Alan Tony Dungee, who Tony Dungee is
Speaker 1: like paint drying listening to his voice. Here is the
Speaker 1: final call of the game, in one of the greatest
Speaker 1: comebacks in the history of the sport. Here we go
Speaker 1: for the wind, got it, but there's a flagdown. There's
Speaker 1: a flagdown as everybody's running out onto the field, but
Speaker 1: there's a penalty marker and they call it on the
Speaker 1: defense Tonable. That is unbelievable. Patterson poots them into the
Speaker 1: divisional round. I love and you're really twisted the knife.
Speaker 1: I mean, I agree with Oh, I'm sorry to offend
Speaker 1: you sensibility, of course, I agree with you. Were like
Speaker 1: listening to the call, Can I just can I say
Speaker 1: one thing? Because it's it was a lot of people
Speaker 1: were talking about it. Believe me, I I am with
Speaker 1: you before the game even started, and I'm with you now.
Speaker 1: I totally agree that you need to pair him with
Speaker 1: one that's gonna bring more energy. I like that that
Speaker 1: it was I was asking myself all game why did
Speaker 1: they put these two together? But when it comes to
Speaker 1: Chris Collinsworth, it's his it is the voice. It's not
Speaker 1: his analysis. Thing. Is a great analyst, but it's like
Speaker 1: he's a little folksy and his voice gets on my nerves.
Speaker 1: That's more of a aesthetic. I just wish that Al
Speaker 1: was given someone that would make him why. I don't
Speaker 1: need to hear I don't need to hear from Tony
Speaker 1: Dungee on anything. They'll check out his record on opinions
Speaker 1: on other things in the world. Now you have me
Speaker 1: in the in a booth in the best game of
Speaker 1: the year als seventy eight years old. I hope Al
Speaker 1: has a long career ahead of him. Still, UM, I
Speaker 1: just wonder if we'll look back is like, oh, it
Speaker 1: wasn't Dungee though, batching like the confusion of like the
Speaker 1: balls at the one yard line, but it's still the
Speaker 1: two nights. Um. Finally, before we moved off this game,
Speaker 1: another tough night. Al had a tough night. So did
Speaker 1: our producer, who tweeted this when things were going all
Speaker 1: Chargers Justin Graver at Titans Film Room, hashtag Titans for
Speaker 1: maximum cloud engagement. We're incredibly boring all year. No one
Speaker 1: wanted to see them in the playoffs over Jacksonville. But
Speaker 1: I promise you Titans Chargers would have been a better
Speaker 1: game than this. Hissing venom, hissing venom, Grave digger. I
Speaker 1: should have said a better half than this. Huh, how
Speaker 1: about that that would have worked? How about just keep
Speaker 1: the Titans out of the discourse. No, this was full
Speaker 1: of Titans fans were complaining that the Titans shouldn't have
Speaker 1: even tried to make the play. Now you have a
Speaker 1: national international platforms the producer of this program. People are
Speaker 1: going to see that and amplify that and come back
Speaker 1: at you. It's amazing. My tweet got over a thousand likes,
Speaker 1: and I owned the tweet. I got the cloud. I
Speaker 1: quote tweeted myself and I said I played myself or
Speaker 1: whatever that was. Have you kept it up and then
Speaker 1: you made a joke about yourself. That's tweet. It's up there.
Speaker 1: Whenever it was when I tweeted that haven't you gotten
Speaker 1: to aren't we at the point? Now? Where have you
Speaker 1: have you out about tweeting something in the first half
Speaker 1: of a game like this where it's a declarative and
Speaker 1: then you're like, wait a minute, with the way the
Speaker 1: NFL's like, I'm not tweeting this because it's gonna go
Speaker 1: south in like an hour. I was literally thinking, like
Speaker 1: Staley's defense is built to like forced teams into passing
Speaker 1: all the time. Like that's what he's been trying to build.
Speaker 1: It's like when you're dealing with that for the next
Speaker 1: you know, seventy lesson learned. But you know what, I
Speaker 1: regret nothing. There you go, that's how that's how you
Speaker 1: look at it. Let's take a break and we'll move on.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back. So we moved to Sunday now,
Speaker 1: and uh, Mark, you had you had a sandwich prop
Speaker 1: earlier this season that the fastest game ever would be played.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this was the longest playoff game
Speaker 1: ever today that was a regulation game, but it had
Speaker 1: to be close. Dolphins Bills. It felt like it was
Speaker 1: going to be a blowout, but it turned into anything
Speaker 1: but Alan letting go down to two. Now one takes
Speaker 1: the snap, hands it off the single tarry over the
Speaker 1: block of his left tackle tackle. He moves the pile
Speaker 1: toward the thirty five out toward the first marker. He
Speaker 1: they have gotten it. How about that? That'll be the
Speaker 1: ball game? They sick all first, you know, and then
Speaker 1: Bills can go to victory formation. Wow, that's hard to believe.
Speaker 1: How about the effort by Devin single turn and the
Speaker 1: old lineman pushing him. I don't know if we need
Speaker 1: that when we have our end of season meeting justin
Speaker 1: or like, how do we make the show better? Because
Speaker 1: it's the right call? Could it be? Is it possible
Speaker 1: it could? I think we made the right pick, Like
Speaker 1: what is the highlight for the game, Like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: the clinching first down. But I'm finding all season whenever
Speaker 1: we get the clinching first down, Yeah, it just doesn't
Speaker 1: have the che I think the fourth down stop, I
Speaker 1: don't know how that calls the driveway check and it
Speaker 1: was about the same, if not a little worse. Maybe
Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's a lesson. Maybe just go with
Speaker 1: the great gave Davis Josh Allen touch that who cares
Speaker 1: that it was in the third grad. It was a touchdown.
Speaker 1: It was when we break bread after the season. These
Speaker 1: are the things we'll discuss respectfully. We'll get it right
Speaker 1: heading into year eleven or twelve or whatever it. Devin
Speaker 1: Singletary seven yard run for first down was the play
Speaker 1: that the Bills desperately needed to survive against Skyler Thompson
Speaker 1: and the Miami Dolphins. The final score Bills thirty four,
Speaker 1: Dolphins thirty one. UM, so they advance Josh Allen despite
Speaker 1: three more turnovers. Um. He said it after the game
Speaker 1: one week seasons, man, that's it. All that matters is
Speaker 1: surviving and advancing. Doesn't matter how we win, it's if
Speaker 1: we win. And Greg they did win, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: supposed to go like that, go like this, even though
Speaker 1: they were up seventeen sip. No. They will be happy
Speaker 1: to move on from the Miami portion of the season.
Speaker 1: All three of these games were funky. I know to
Speaker 1: have played the other two games and and the Dolphins
Speaker 1: often certainly looked better in those games, but this was
Speaker 1: a game where I think Josh Allen and the Bills
Speaker 1: offense were really the problem. Even though they got four
Speaker 1: twenty three yards in this game, Allen was a roller coaster.
Speaker 1: They were daring him to throw the ball down the
Speaker 1: field all game, and he obliged and sometimes it worked.
Speaker 1: That touchdown throw the Digs early was just an incredible throw.
Speaker 1: No one else can throw. The touchdown to game Davis
Speaker 1: was an incredible throw when he absolutely needed a first
Speaker 1: down on third and six in the red zone and
Speaker 1: they were trailing, trailing in this game. To the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: they call the quarterback around, he picks it up, it
Speaker 1: hits Beasley for a touchdown. Like there were good things,
Speaker 1: but he had two interceptions and three fumbles and it
Speaker 1: was kind of all over the place and they were
Speaker 1: stopped in a number of occasions where they could have
Speaker 1: put the game away. It was not what you expect
Speaker 1: that of the Bill's offense. I think if we go
Speaker 1: back for a second to like the Seahawks game, it's like,
Speaker 1: this is what Seattle's defense, if you were the Dolphins
Speaker 1: needed to do against the Niners to create the chance
Speaker 1: to a doorway to win. Because the first interception leads
Speaker 1: to a field goal, the second one, which really bounced
Speaker 1: off Cole Beasley, led to a touchdown, and then you
Speaker 1: have a strip sack fumble touchdown like points are coming
Speaker 1: from a Dolphins defense that I kind of think and
Speaker 1: I thought Romokes explained it well. It was like, we
Speaker 1: just want to put Josh Allen into chaos. We know
Speaker 1: he's gonna make big plays out of it, but he's
Speaker 1: gonna make what we've seen up late and earlier in
Speaker 1: his career Josh Allen esque turnovers, and they've been coming
Speaker 1: in bunches, so they're not all on him like any
Speaker 1: interception we see. But but he's lucky they didn't lose
Speaker 1: those last two fumbles he had. Basically, I mean, this
Speaker 1: thing was close, though I don't I like, you know,
Speaker 1: we were in the middle of the fourth quarter. I
Speaker 1: know that the Dolphins got a touch on at one
Speaker 1: point on office, just like the Bill's defense played a
Speaker 1: pretty crazily amazing game against I thought they should have
Speaker 1: against this team. I think it goes back to the
Speaker 1: fact that Monster Raheem Monster was not in this game
Speaker 1: the way he ran on Buffalo last time. They had
Speaker 1: no ground game, and if in the situation they were in,
Speaker 1: if they could have sustained some drives and kept Buffalo
Speaker 1: off the field a few more times and just had
Speaker 1: some way to move the ball more they had like
Speaker 1: their drives went for like less than fifteen yards. I mean,
Speaker 1: Skyler Thompson was largely a disaster until he made a
Speaker 1: couple throws late. I mean this was Buffalo's defense did
Speaker 1: its job. It's just that it was a truly funky game,
Speaker 1: and I look at it. I kind have agree with
Speaker 1: Josh Allen in this one. It doesn't make me totally
Speaker 1: think differently about Buffalo. They're operating. It seems like about
Speaker 1: seventy of their power. But this felt like a weird
Speaker 1: odyssey with no major larger purpose to me because they
Speaker 1: did escape. Um all right, So a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 1: So Skylert Thompson I thought he was. He was eighteen
Speaker 1: and forty five for two twenty a touch on two interceptions.
Speaker 1: I thought he was actually better than that. I think
Speaker 1: they had some drops a wattle early on him game.
Speaker 1: He had another bottle is in jury's banged up. Um.
Speaker 1: But uh, I thought Thompson actually considered considering what we
Speaker 1: had seen to him this to this point. It quitted
Speaker 1: himself fairly well. Now that said, they had two thirty
Speaker 1: one yards of offense, fourteen drives, They had sixteen first
Speaker 1: downs and fourteen drives. So the Bill's defense did what
Speaker 1: they were supposed to do, and I guess I disagree
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen. I'm concerned about the Bills a little
Speaker 1: bit because his mentality is going to be different than ours.
Speaker 1: Our job is sure out of it. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: concerned about the Bill is just because, like I don't
Speaker 1: think they look good against the Patriots in Week eighteen,
Speaker 1: they hem hims kind of bailed them out with those
Speaker 1: two big kicker off returns. I thought you saw breakdowns
Speaker 1: and past protection. Uh, the offensive line struggled to this game,
Speaker 1: breakdowns and special teams. You saw more bad decision making
Speaker 1: by your star quarterback. You saw big drops by Buffalo
Speaker 1: as well. And that's the only reason this game was close,
Speaker 1: not because Miami played well. To me, it was because
Speaker 1: the Bills just were sloppy and playing at s. You'll
Speaker 1: beat Skywitt Thompson's Dolphins at home, you will get your
Speaker 1: doors blown off next week. Who do they have next week?
Speaker 1: Gets Cincinnati? And I know Cincinnati wasn't perfect on on
Speaker 1: Sunday either, but you need to be much sharper. This
Speaker 1: is your year, Buffalo, Like this is it? The window
Speaker 1: is not infinite. You need to start playing better or else.
Speaker 1: I don't assume it's the year, that's all. I just
Speaker 1: will say that on night. I know we even saying
Speaker 1: that forever. And it's just like queuing them up is
Speaker 1: the best team around and like they just Josh Allen
Speaker 1: does amazing things and you can forgive us miss stakes,
Speaker 1: but its mistakes are plentiful right now when like it's
Speaker 1: a fair point, Like we think of the Bills one way,
Speaker 1: and they used to have Micah Hyde and Von Miller
Speaker 1: was really important players and not everyone's got injuries right now,
Speaker 1: but it's been a while. I guess since we've seen
Speaker 1: the Bills team that we imagine them to be. Right.
Speaker 1: That week's seventeen game that disappeared because of the Demorrow
Speaker 1: Hamlet situation would have been a really good litmus test.
Speaker 1: And we never saw how that they had that Bears
Speaker 1: game where they ended up winning easy, but even that
Speaker 1: game was messy. They were trailing, The Dolphins game was Nippentuck.
Speaker 1: They had the like the Jets game where the Jets
Speaker 1: actually like out gained them the dollars, the Lions game
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving, Like they are a team that is battling
Speaker 1: to win, and I think if they win this Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: if they keep winning these games, it's not gonna look pretty.
Speaker 1: It's gonna have to be with Alan being superhuman. I'm
Speaker 1: a little concerned about their offensive line in general. They
Speaker 1: had some pretty good blitz pickups early, but as the
Speaker 1: game went on, they lost more and more consistently up front,
Speaker 1: and then on the Dolphins side, they they they have
Speaker 1: some regrets after this game as well, because they did
Speaker 1: not play as sharp as they needed to play. This
Speaker 1: was especially apparent with a number of either delay of
Speaker 1: game UH penalties or having to burn time outs, which
Speaker 1: really burned them late three times, all three timeouts because
Speaker 1: of the inability to get calls in from the sideline.
Speaker 1: And you don't know what the issue is now. There
Speaker 1: was one specific play with the game essentially on the line.
Speaker 1: They were facing fourth and one from their own forty
Speaker 1: eight yard line with two to play again and they
Speaker 1: didn't have their time outs at this point, so this
Speaker 1: was do or die. They failed to get a playoff
Speaker 1: in time, they got flagged for delay of game UH.
Speaker 1: The penalty pushed them back to fourth and six, and
Speaker 1: then they could not complete the pass. UH. Here's what
Speaker 1: McDaniel said about that play afterwards, citing a communication gaff
Speaker 1: at the biggest stage of the season. It was communicating
Speaker 1: to me through the um upstairs, you know, from from
Speaker 1: the head said I think, Um, I was standing by
Speaker 1: an official. Uh. I had just had gotten convicted information
Speaker 1: that it was a first down. UM, so I don't
Speaker 1: really know exactly who it was from. It was probably
Speaker 1: the first time all year that that had happened. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, you you try to do your best. As
Speaker 1: it was, I thought we had a fourth and sixth
Speaker 1: opportunity that we're unable to come up with as well. So, um,
Speaker 1: fourth and one most of the time is easier than
Speaker 1: fourth and six. But at the same time, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you just have to adjust to whatever variables put out there.
Speaker 1: That wasn't a great look all the way around the
Speaker 1: entire operation and the presser. In my opinion, well, I
Speaker 1: agree with you. I mean, that's a total breakdown and
Speaker 1: you don't want to see that happen. But from a
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more of a global viewpoint on
Speaker 1: on what McDaniel went through with this team, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with Skyler Thompson, who essentially was a preseason
Speaker 1: layer and yeah, things are getting funky in these key situations.
Speaker 1: If that happened to if he got the wrong information,
Speaker 1: that's you said, it's the first time all season. That's
Speaker 1: how I explain all the other Francisco it doesn't. But
Speaker 1: I would just say that Mike McDaniel, like the fact
Speaker 1: that you know he was like, oh, well, Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: at some point being replaced if they want Sean Payton
Speaker 1: or fill in the blank coach. I agree, but I
Speaker 1: think like McDaniel on his own proved that he fought
Speaker 1: through incredible adversity. I mean, three times they played Buffalo,
Speaker 1: they beat them once. The night game a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago, was they were saucy, They hung in there
Speaker 1: and showed something the very few Dolphins teams we've ever
Speaker 1: covered showed. And then today when no one gave them
Speaker 1: a chance rightfully based on who was starting a quarterback
Speaker 1: and who was out and you got this right, I
Speaker 1: totally agree that, like in the moment, that shortcoming was
Speaker 1: very frustrating because it was throughout the second half, and
Speaker 1: Skoylie Thompson probably deserves some of the blame, but it
Speaker 1: feels like it's more on the coaching that it was
Speaker 1: just take everything was taking too long. But I was
Speaker 1: taken by his quarter or post halftime interview. You know,
Speaker 1: he was so confident, like in Moromo and Nance said
Speaker 1: that too, that he they really thought they were going
Speaker 1: to go in there and win this game, and they
Speaker 1: were really close to doing it, and they did get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs in the end. I know they fell
Speaker 1: down the stretch, but we know he can scheme up offense.
Speaker 1: And uh, I'm with you. I think you have to
Speaker 1: at least give him some credit for them believing like he.
Speaker 1: I think he's doing a better job at the sort
Speaker 1: of global coaching and I think having like his team
Speaker 1: believe in him and the coaches and everything like that,
Speaker 1: than I expect that he's not just like a scheme.
Speaker 1: Like there was one team that Romo talked about getting
Speaker 1: it was sort of like weird vibes, jitters and kind
Speaker 1: of on edge, and it was the Bills. It wasn't
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. And I get it the stakes are different
Speaker 1: for Buffalo than Miami and theory, but like, yeah, there
Speaker 1: was I mean Miami was in that enviable position of
Speaker 1: no one's given us a chance, and you you see,
Speaker 1: you sense that McDaniel is an interesting guy still to me,
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll get into all this down the road.
Speaker 1: But um, his offense was brilliant for half the year,
Speaker 1: the other half not so much. There's quarterback issues, we
Speaker 1: we It was reported today that planned the team plans
Speaker 1: to have to a back uh next season. Hopefully health
Speaker 1: will allow that to happen for Tah and the head
Speaker 1: injuries he suffered. Um, but you know, McDaniels brought in
Speaker 1: viewed as a offensive visionary. You gotta put it all
Speaker 1: together and you're gonna maybe get some better luck. Of
Speaker 1: course the quarterback health. We'll see. Miami is an interesting
Speaker 1: team next year. Right now, their season is over and
Speaker 1: I'm glad in the end of Bills. You get it
Speaker 1: done with the state the Miami Dolphins around for another way,
Speaker 1: I did lock up the Bills and it got a
Speaker 1: little I was never like the way McDaniels was confident.
Speaker 1: I remained confident throughout the game it was gonna be
Speaker 1: all right. It was at one point when they fell
Speaker 1: behind in the in the second half and then the
Speaker 1: Bills have like a three and out and they're punt like,
Speaker 1: what are you? What are you guys? Doing like it
Speaker 1: would have been a catastrophe for Buffalo to go one
Speaker 1: and done in this situation. You know, I thought the
Speaker 1: Buffalo could probably even like midway through third Corm, I think,
Speaker 1: still win this game. It was a bad weekend for
Speaker 1: the games. Over people on Twitter in general, it's always
Speaker 1: it's the same thing as Justin's tweet, Like this game
Speaker 1: actually had two of them. Everyone said the game was
Speaker 1: over at seventeen nothing we should mention it was seventeen
Speaker 1: nothing that you know, early the second ward, and then
Speaker 1: everyone said it was over again at thirty four, uh
Speaker 1: late in the third. And yet there they were at
Speaker 1: midfield down three with two minutes and they go They
Speaker 1: were about fifteen yards away from tying that game up.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. I have one favorite team, as everyone knows,
Speaker 1: but I really do like this Bill's team, especially after
Speaker 1: the adversity that they've gone through in recent weeks. I
Speaker 1: want to see them get to the super Bowl. So
Speaker 1: I'm happy that they moved on, and I I really
Speaker 1: I implore them listen up, guys. We gotta go up
Speaker 1: from seventy five to about ninety. We gotta get over
Speaker 1: the ninety threshold to to make this thing get to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. Um, and it starts with Josh Allen
Speaker 1: be in the playoff Josh Allen from a year ago, like,
Speaker 1: we're not getting and expectations are high. Anything less than
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl is failure for this Bill's team. Whether
Speaker 1: that feels fair or not. But that's the that's the
Speaker 1: bar they set after last year's playoffs. So we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens against Cincinnati. Oh boy, all right, let's move
Speaker 1: on to the next game on the schedule to US
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium. Nailed. It takes the snout, he's back to throw,
Speaker 1: he's on the pressure, got hers the Crows completely to
Speaker 1: his right, but he's short of the first datas Hackinson,
Speaker 1: he's wrapped up. I want to play by the Giants.
Speaker 1: They threw a short to Hawkinson and the Giants railing
Speaker 1: with the ball and say makes the play of the
Speaker 1: ball game. Wow, Giants are grants? That great? Oh it's
Speaker 1: a Bruges here, what marks it can be bolds people
Speaker 1: don't understand, can be bold. You don't understand it if
Speaker 1: you're not from there. Bo Papa with the call w
Speaker 1: f N. That's the great Carl Banks, great player. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Parcel's favorite. The new York Giants, legimon get a three
Speaker 1: yard passing day from Daniel Jones on the ground too,
Speaker 1: and just great big plays on both sides of the
Speaker 1: ball in a victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I god, there's so much to get to with Minnesota,
Speaker 1: including Kirk's check down past there with the season on
Speaker 1: the line. Um, but let this be known that the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings and this is only the Vikings, and this
Speaker 1: it felt like it was gonna happen. It felt like
Speaker 1: it was like setting in the stars that they would
Speaker 1: set an NFL record by going eleven and oh in
Speaker 1: one score games. And then the calendar turned to the
Speaker 1: playoffs and they lose a one score game in the
Speaker 1: wild card round, and that is very on brand for
Speaker 1: the Vikings, and the fan base knows it all too well.
Speaker 1: But the Giants marks the g men. They stepped up
Speaker 1: and and really I thought played a beautiful game here
Speaker 1: and they're advancing to face the Eagles. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: the Giants were the other team in the NFC that
Speaker 1: you know, we're largely viewed as fraudulent to some degree,
Speaker 1: not up to the record all year long, but they
Speaker 1: were really well coached and I think that what we're
Speaker 1: seeing is that Brian Dabile does and has had an
Speaker 1: effect on Daniel Jones, who played the game of his life,
Speaker 1: and we were getting here in bits and pieces with
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones. I think we saw it the last time
Speaker 1: he played Minnesota, that they basically put it in his
Speaker 1: hands and said, we're gonna throw the ball. It's not
Speaker 1: gonna be one of these and twenty four passing yard
Speaker 1: days and we're gonna have you run the ball to
Speaker 1: You could do both, but he did it there, he
Speaker 1: did it again. I thought they took great advantage of
Speaker 1: a terrible defense. So I do feel for Vikings fans
Speaker 1: who got to this point watching this defense just utterly collapse.
Speaker 1: Early on, the Giants out of the gate had seven
Speaker 1: plays of ten plus yards on the first two drives.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones was all over the place in a beautiful way,
Speaker 1: hitting everyone. You've got guys that people didn't even believe
Speaker 1: in a month ago making big plays for New York's guys.
Speaker 1: Are niners open. By the way, too, that the defense
Speaker 1: was so poor and the scheme for the Giants so
Speaker 1: effective that Jones was just like it was. He was
Speaker 1: and you know they have talked about and I you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see where this goes with j Jones. They want
Speaker 1: him back to We've got that reporting has been out
Speaker 1: there for weeks that they ran a more typical pro
Speaker 1: passing game where it wasn't just rollouts for Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: and trying to kind of protect him from stuff he
Speaker 1: couldn't do that. He's grown in this system and they're
Speaker 1: having him do more and more. And I know this
Speaker 1: is the Vikings and it's a bit of an equalizer
Speaker 1: because they're a mess on on in their secondary and
Speaker 1: against the past. But Daniel Jones today like the way
Speaker 1: you get that version of Daniel Jones and the Giants
Speaker 1: are a dangerous team. I I mean, they maybe go
Speaker 1: out next week and we'll see you later, but this
Speaker 1: is a major organizational win for everyone involved. They looked
Speaker 1: really well coached. They came in totally confident. You got
Speaker 1: with you know, they had a huge amount of yardage
Speaker 1: and it wasn't all coming from se Kwon Barkley was
Speaker 1: coming from other places, which tells me that this offense
Speaker 1: has grown. I don't care if this game was against
Speaker 1: the Arkansas State red Wolves, like, yeah, that would be weird.
Speaker 1: He went over three yards with two passing touchdowns in
Speaker 1: over seven yards rushing. He's actually the first player in
Speaker 1: NFL history to combine those stats in a playoff game
Speaker 1: like that was a that was a Pete cam Newton game.
Speaker 1: That was who I was thinking of, because yes, they
Speaker 1: didn't call a crazy amount of design runs, but they
Speaker 1: did it, and he scrambled a ton. He was scrambling early.
Speaker 1: He had over sixty rushing yards midway through the second quarter.
Speaker 1: Then it calmed down and it was him with his
Speaker 1: legs of the first guy wasn't open. It was him
Speaker 1: throwing absolute darts on a couple of third and long
Speaker 1: plays where he was very decisive. The velocity was there.
Speaker 1: They had the best players and they had the best coaches.
Speaker 1: Like they won this game because day Bole had guts
Speaker 1: on fourth down back to back times in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: It was a tie game when he went for a
Speaker 1: fourth uh in one in the fourth quarter before the
Speaker 1: game winning touchdown, and I think it was an obvious
Speaker 1: call at this point in the NFL because it was
Speaker 1: like less than a yard, but it wasn't that long
Speaker 1: ago that would have seemed controversial. Then he went for
Speaker 1: again fourth in short on his own end in the
Speaker 1: Giants last drive, and that ended up helping the Vike
Speaker 1: The them burned the Vikings last couple of time outs,
Speaker 1: waste some more time, and it would have ended the
Speaker 1: game if Darius Slayton hadn't dropped a wide open catch. Uh,
Speaker 1: they would have ended the game with the ball. Instead,
Speaker 1: they had to count on the defense to finish it off.
Speaker 1: But man, that's table I think really out coaching Minnesota's
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, who Kevin O'Connell made no promises about at
Speaker 1: Dontel after the game. I thought that was telling. I mean, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: the opponent and credit Dable and the Giants, and they
Speaker 1: saw these guys in Christmas Eve and they lit him
Speaker 1: up on Christmas Eve. Also, um, of course, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: you always attack the Vikings on defense, and the Vikings
Speaker 1: are one of the strangest teams in recent NFL history,
Speaker 1: and the fact that they went thirteen and four, but
Speaker 1: we're you know, relentlessly criticized in many places, including on
Speaker 1: this podcast, as punching above their weight. And this is
Speaker 1: exactly kind of what I expected, and many of us expected.
Speaker 1: It would be a go down to the last possession.
Speaker 1: I thought the Vikings would steal it and find another
Speaker 1: way to do it. But I knew these teams are
Speaker 1: even and that's exactly what this game was. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the Giants. The Giants are gonna be in
Speaker 1: a good position next week's against the Eagles because they're
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of confidence and Greggy I know
Speaker 1: that the Giants are a team that you struggle with
Speaker 1: um based on history, but this is kind of an
Speaker 1: easy team to root for in the NFC. Person picked
Speaker 1: the Giants in this room this week and it was
Speaker 1: your boy, I'm the real Giants fan the game that
Speaker 1: said the Saints were better than the Giants on the
Speaker 1: previous show two weeks ago. Say this one person this
Speaker 1: week and it was me, And those are the facts
Speaker 1: I had Gant, I had, I had him. No, I
Speaker 1: don't believed that this team. I believe you said the
Speaker 1: Saints were a better team than the Giants. I really do.
Speaker 1: And I said this on the show the last few weeks.
Speaker 1: Think that they've been a different tea in the last
Speaker 1: four or five weeks. I thought they they were lucky
Speaker 1: to have the record that they had throughout most of
Speaker 1: the season, and if they look better on both sides
Speaker 1: of the all you said it Mark with with the
Speaker 1: way the offense is working. Those receivers are established and
Speaker 1: they are really talented. Like there's this idea that they're
Speaker 1: not a talented team. I mean they have an all
Speaker 1: Pro left tackle Daniel Jones is certainly talented. Sae Quon
Speaker 1: they used him great today fourteen for one on nine
Speaker 1: and then you look at their defensive line. Dexter Lawrence
Speaker 1: was the best player in this game. He dominated His
Speaker 1: matchup was in Kirk Cousins lap all game long. Cavon
Speaker 1: Thibodeau had a great game. You have Leonard Williams there.
Speaker 1: They had a Dory Jackson back there. They have good coaches,
Speaker 1: like they're talented with good coaches out. I'm Dexter Lawrence
Speaker 1: because this happens. It seems to happen like once week,
Speaker 1: the roughing the passer calling Dexter Lawrence, do you remember
Speaker 1: this from like late in the game where they basically
Speaker 1: like the crew was like, I'm not sure what else
Speaker 1: we can ask them to do other than slowly quietly
Speaker 1: think because I don't think because he hit the helmet.
Speaker 1: It was but it was so like some of these
Speaker 1: that was disgraceful. And you know it's bad when they
Speaker 1: have to go to, uh, who's the Fox guy officiating
Speaker 1: dude and Pereira and you know how all these guys
Speaker 1: are very They tiptoe around this stuff because that's there's
Speaker 1: part of a fraternity, even if they're no longer actively involved.
Speaker 1: And when the when you whenever, they throw it to
Speaker 1: the booth guy or the studio guy and he has
Speaker 1: no choice but to say, I don't know what they
Speaker 1: were seeing on this one. It was like the lancing
Speaker 1: blow across the faceback. I think it's with the officiating.
Speaker 1: It's another example that we talked about. The stakes are
Speaker 1: higher in the playoffs and players sometimes choke under pressure.
Speaker 1: I think officiate officials see him in the same light.
Speaker 1: And again, I'm gonna how the damn table on this?
Speaker 1: You can We have this technology now that allows you
Speaker 1: to quickly rectify drops or catches and reverse things without
Speaker 1: going to break and without slowing the pace. Why not
Speaker 1: have New York doing the same thing with these potential
Speaker 1: game changing plays. After the Slaton drop, which broke my
Speaker 1: heart for Daniel Jones because he played so great and
Speaker 1: the games should have been over there, and then that
Speaker 1: roughing the passer call, which gave the Vikings the ball
Speaker 1: near midfield. At that point, I was a pent in
Speaker 1: the bag for the Giants because like they deserve to
Speaker 1: win this game. And okay, I'll let you over with
Speaker 1: the Giants at that point with all right, and I'll
Speaker 1: understand that the Saints are better. Um the but let's
Speaker 1: let's now talk about that play. Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. Fourth down. It's fourth down and
Speaker 1: I believe eight for the Vikings near midfield and Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins drops back, Uh, checks it down to Tyler Um
Speaker 1: the t J. Hockenson, who had another big game. Um,
Speaker 1: he tries to shake free, he gets to Well, it's
Speaker 1: a great tackle that was made. I want to give
Speaker 1: the Giants mckennyh McKinney made the great tackle. Here's Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: After the game. A lot of people are wondering, how
Speaker 1: is he throwing short of the sticks in that spot?
Speaker 1: Where is Justin Jefferson. Here's what Kirk Cousins had to say,
Speaker 1: try to work Justin. Didn't feel good about putting up
Speaker 1: to Justin. And then when I went to progress, I
Speaker 1: just felt like I was about to get sacked, and
Speaker 1: I felt like, I gotta put the ball in play,
Speaker 1: and if I take, you know, I can't go down
Speaker 1: with the sacks. So I just kick it out to
Speaker 1: uh t J. And I had thrown short of the
Speaker 1: sticks on a few occasions in the game and even
Speaker 1: going back a few weeks, and just felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: just throwing a short of the sticks isn't the end
Speaker 1: of the world. It's just um, you know, it's obviously
Speaker 1: tight coverage, so I didn't have the chance to pull away,
Speaker 1: but I just feelt I was gonna go down and
Speaker 1: take a sack if I didn't put it out. It's
Speaker 1: kind of amazing this season for the Vikings, everything seemed
Speaker 1: to go their way, and even the way he said
Speaker 1: that Cousins is, you know, I throwing short of the
Speaker 1: sticks a lot, and you know, even recent weeks it
Speaker 1: would work, and in this case it did not work,
Speaker 1: And and it just happened to be the last play
Speaker 1: of the season for the Vikings on offense. I guess
Speaker 1: it's very easy for someone to say in a podcast studio,
Speaker 1: just throw to Justin Jefferson, But Jefferson is a generationally
Speaker 1: great talent, and you could either get a catch out
Speaker 1: of it, you could draw a penalty. We already know
Speaker 1: those officials were flag happy after what we saw a
Speaker 1: couple of plays earlier. It's just I understand the Vikings
Speaker 1: fans that are livid that their quarterback who's known for
Speaker 1: coming up small in a big spot, made that play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a bad look because we're accustomed
Speaker 1: to just automatically critiquing that. I kind of liked his explanation.
Speaker 1: The only thing I'd say is, like, and T. J.
Speaker 1: Hockinson was awesome today, But um, I would say that, like,
Speaker 1: why not if it's your last gasp, your last chance,
Speaker 1: give it to the guy that basically got you here,
Speaker 1: which is Justin Jefferson, the Jefferson Cousins connection. If it's
Speaker 1: if it's against all odds, no one's ever going to
Speaker 1: kill you for firing. It's Justin Jefferson that said, I mean,
Speaker 1: we're sitting here, we don't play quarterback. I don't know
Speaker 1: they saw what we didn't say, right. They bracketed Jefferson
Speaker 1: all game. He only had forty seven yards on nine targets,
Speaker 1: his longest defense. And my answer for like why he
Speaker 1: didn't do this, because like he did break out of
Speaker 1: that somewhat this year where he would just give Jefferson
Speaker 1: a chance to make a play, and so maybe you're right.
Speaker 1: I think he was the first read on the play
Speaker 1: and that they had a lot of defenders back there.
Speaker 1: But Cousins is so unlike most of the quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: this league because he can't escape, and you saw today.
Speaker 1: I think Cousins played a really good game until the end. Basically,
Speaker 1: I think I think he played well. He was getting
Speaker 1: hit almost every other snap, and he was hanging in
Speaker 1: there and his superpowers. He's been good at holding to
Speaker 1: the last second and then getting it to his and
Speaker 1: in this case, yeah, I guess he was hoping Hawkinson
Speaker 1: would break a tackle. At that point. It was Dexter
Speaker 1: Lawrence again who was gonna go get that sack, and
Speaker 1: he was right. He he hit Lawrence on the follow through,
Speaker 1: and either way, I think that play was just gonna
Speaker 1: be won by the defense no matter what, Cousins. You
Speaker 1: can't come out of this game just hating on Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins because I totally agree with you. I thought that,
Speaker 1: like in a Ryan Tannehill last type of way, he
Speaker 1: threw some shots down field where he was absolutely brutalized
Speaker 1: after the throw. Uh that would be um. Long time
Speaker 1: listeners know a lot of Ravil macnetco. Anybody talking about
Speaker 1: this game, and everyone just says the lost cos Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins joked, No, the Vikings lost because their defense, which
Speaker 1: was terrible all year, once again, Um it was bad
Speaker 1: again and this time the offense wasn't able to bail
Speaker 1: them out. Let's give the last word though, to Brian Dable,
Speaker 1: who was asked by a reporter why he seemed to
Speaker 1: almost be understating how well his quarterback played in his
Speaker 1: first playoff game, isn't good and good adjective? Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1: I'm not a writer, I'm just a coach. So um, look, Daniels,
Speaker 1: I've said it all year. He's been a good for
Speaker 1: us and continues to be good for us. And he
Speaker 1: played a good game. And I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of other people that played good games too to help
Speaker 1: him play a good game. He'll be the first to
Speaker 1: admit it. But as leader of our football team, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm proud of him. I thought he played
Speaker 1: a great game. He did, but table like, who's talking
Speaker 1: to Daniel Jones more and helping Daniel Jones grow more
Speaker 1: than Brian Table. It's like it was understated though, because
Speaker 1: I think that this this the reason we're all in agreement.
Speaker 1: Greg has finally come around on the Giants. Well, welcome aboard, Greg.
Speaker 1: I mean you picked the fraudile and vikings over there,
Speaker 1: give me a break. Um, the reason why we all
Speaker 1: feel that they're frisky now, I think in large, First
Speaker 1: of all, it should be said real quick, Sae Kwon Barkley.
Speaker 1: If Dexter Lawrence is the best player in the field,
Speaker 1: San was the second best player on the field. He
Speaker 1: was explosive, powerful. He is such a badass, that dude.
Speaker 1: And now he's healthy again. But Jones lifting his play
Speaker 1: has made the Giant just a different team and they
Speaker 1: they're interesting now. That's that's something. It makes you think
Speaker 1: of his entire career differently. I mean, he wasn't this
Speaker 1: guy before. But like it was interesting to hear like
Speaker 1: Jason Garrett in the studio, Um, it was what was
Speaker 1: interesting about I guess what I found interesting. That's a
Speaker 1: fair point. But like praising and Daniel Jones, like I
Speaker 1: love you Daniel great, it's like you're a part of
Speaker 1: the reason. Like I'm not just to kill Jason Garrett.
Speaker 1: But the coach and that that Daniel Jones has gotten
Speaker 1: was very different than this year. Brian Table is a
Speaker 1: difference maker with quarterbacks. All right, let's take a break.
Speaker 1: We got one more game to get to. Oh the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Zoo coming up next. Greg just shared with me
Speaker 1: welcome back, some ratings information about the program, and the
Speaker 1: only response that came to my mind was what boom
Speaker 1: chakalaka back? Feeling good? Let's head the final game of
Speaker 1: the weekend to Cincinnati where the defending a f C
Speaker 1: champions they were. They had a fight on their hands.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, it's a tough division. That nor from
Speaker 1: the one they're running it back. He's a big touchdown,
Speaker 1: amazing goals. Tyler Huntley trying to extend the ball over
Speaker 1: the goal line, it got poked away. Sam Hubbard scooped
Speaker 1: it up and ran the length of the field for
Speaker 1: a go ahead Bengals touchdown. Dangles fans, these are the
Speaker 1: Glory Days, special moments. Dan Horde Dave Lapping with the
Speaker 1: called w c K, w are you kidding me? Sam
Speaker 1: Hubbard returned Tyler Huntley's goal line fumbled ninety eight yards
Speaker 1: for a tiebreaking touchdown in the fourth quarter, and it
Speaker 1: helped Joe Burrow and the Bengals survive a major scare
Speaker 1: from the Ravens and backup quarterback Huntley seventeen win for
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and they advanced. Yes to meet the Bills, right,
Speaker 1: the Bills Buffalo next week? About that, so they will
Speaker 1: play once again. We'll go through the whole schedule at
Speaker 1: the very end of the show. But anyway, um, CBS
Speaker 1: not just kidding. I don't want me to share anyone
Speaker 1: about that. You see, people are like I was ready
Speaker 1: to tune out, but he just said he's revealing the
Speaker 1: schedule at the end of the show. People are stuck now,
Speaker 1: they're trapped. They need it. There's no other way to
Speaker 1: get it. Facing third and goal at the one with
Speaker 1: about twelve minutes left, yes, Huntley try to go over
Speaker 1: the top of the line for that go ahead score,
Speaker 1: but Jermaine Pratt and he got stood up by Jermaine
Speaker 1: Pratt and Logan Wilson poked that ball away mark one
Speaker 1: of the biggest plays of the year. Yeah, and Logan Wilson,
Speaker 1: you know, we were watching this together at this point
Speaker 1: in the viewing room, and Logan Wilson had a big
Speaker 1: stop on Huntley earlier in the game as well. But
Speaker 1: I had my problem with this was that, like we
Speaker 1: live in a world where I have no problem with
Speaker 1: Josh Allan doing that, attempting that play. Um, I have
Speaker 1: no Allen, we have no problem with like you know,
Speaker 1: people doing like the double butt push on Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: to convert Trevor Lawrence had that six ft six and
Speaker 1: like Huntley is doing the best you can. Huntley is
Speaker 1: six ft one, And like the ball wasn't at the
Speaker 1: one yard line. It was like there was like it
Speaker 1: was like this was not the play call it would
Speaker 1: have gone with here. I think let's hear what Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow thought about the play of the game going through
Speaker 1: your mind during that Sam Hubard run faster, Sam, go
Speaker 1: get there. He actually did look pretty fast. Surprisingly this
Speaker 1: from the next gen stats. That's great. Sam Hubbard reached
Speaker 1: the top speed of what do you think it was? Well,
Speaker 1: I do know. You told me everyone runs to no no,
Speaker 1: it was three grave give me the bio heightened weight
Speaker 1: of Sam Hubbard. The third fastest speed by a defensive
Speaker 1: lineman as a ball carrier this season. Mark andrews Hot
Speaker 1: on his tail, reached the fastest speed of his career,
Speaker 1: chasing down Hubbard twenty point seven two tight end, but
Speaker 1: could not make the tackle. Uh, the athletes, they're good.
Speaker 1: He was trying to do that Leon Lett thing. He
Speaker 1: could couldn't play six five. To imagine a man of
Speaker 1: that size running almost eighteen that is ridiculous. And the
Speaker 1: fact that you like sometimes a game does come down
Speaker 1: to one play because the Ravens and I'll play the
Speaker 1: Bengals other than that one play. And for a kid
Speaker 1: from Archbishop Bohler, as our friends spice Rack points out
Speaker 1: to me, a local Cincinnati kid. When this play happened,
Speaker 1: I heard a lot about the local Cincinnati high school
Speaker 1: dominance of athletics, of which Sam Hubbard and apparently spice
Speaker 1: Rack in the Wesleyan Brothers were apart. And for like
Speaker 1: a local kid to make that play that will be
Speaker 1: remembered forever, and just get out of here and get
Speaker 1: rid of the Ravens. They don't want to see this
Speaker 1: team anymore. The Ravens in the last two weeks held
Speaker 1: Cincinnati under five d total yards. And when I say
Speaker 1: they don't want to see the Ravens, I mean the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense. The Bengals average four point one yards for
Speaker 1: play over the last two weeks. They didn't top two
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty yards in either game. They were physical,
Speaker 1: they really shut down Joe Burrow and when you lost
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams, their left tackle during this game, at that point,
Speaker 1: the Bengals offense didn't do a lot more. And that's
Speaker 1: concerning that is this is really what Wesley and Chris
Speaker 1: Wesley would have called a pyric victory, because you know,
Speaker 1: Jay Morrison of the Athletics said that not much celebrating
Speaker 1: as they walk into the locker room. The Bengals a
Speaker 1: lot of headshakes and exhales, like you one, you got
Speaker 1: out of here, but you have three of your offensive
Speaker 1: starting lineman um not available tois this week. They were
Speaker 1: doing the cigar thing last week. I thought that Burrow
Speaker 1: was certainly affected by the line issue because there was
Speaker 1: a lot of him having to run around and try
Speaker 1: to escape pressure. It's like, all right, you did that
Speaker 1: last year, but to do that two years in a row.
Speaker 1: If this is the state of their line, and it is,
Speaker 1: you gotta problem. It's also different, like Cincinnati is in
Speaker 1: a different place than they were last year when they
Speaker 1: were Destiny's Darling and nobody was expecting anything, you know,
Speaker 1: like Buffalo, they're expected to if they don't go to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl. Uh, it's a bus this season and
Speaker 1: and this game, I think they were surprised because I
Speaker 1: think they knew obviously it's a division matchup, and and
Speaker 1: Baltimore did play them tough um last week. But I
Speaker 1: think you know, at least I know you had a
Speaker 1: different viewpoint on this Gray going into this game, and
Speaker 1: you turned out to be right on this, which was
Speaker 1: they had the Baltimore Ravens were ready for them, and
Speaker 1: they really did stunt what Cincinnati was trying to do
Speaker 1: on offense. And then you factor in, yes, the offensive
Speaker 1: line issues and this is an issue. Paul Denner, who
Speaker 1: covers the Bengals, appointed this out on Twitter. They want
Speaker 1: the first fifteen weeks of the season Cincinnati without having
Speaker 1: any offensive line injury, a major injury. In the last
Speaker 1: three games. They lose their right tackle I all counts
Speaker 1: to an a c l A right guard Al Capita
Speaker 1: to an ankle, and now left called Jonah williams Uh
Speaker 1: to a knee. And we'll see how serious that is.
Speaker 1: It is the type of thing, Greg, where you you
Speaker 1: really because I really like Cincinnati to UM for a
Speaker 1: lot of different reasons. Um, you wonder if this is
Speaker 1: going to be the thing that does them in as
Speaker 1: the competition jump. So you hate it because you spend
Speaker 1: all season, you spent all offseason talking about these teams,
Speaker 1: and then you get to this point and they're just
Speaker 1: not those teams anymore. That's how you get Skyler Thompson
Speaker 1: starting a game for a promising offensive and now this
Speaker 1: Bengals team that had such great continuity, I think you
Speaker 1: said it that they had the same group. They were
Speaker 1: the only team that didn't have uh those injuries. Now, look,
Speaker 1: they only had three drives after that touchdown drive where
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow was magnificent, they did have three long scoring drives.
Speaker 1: It was a game where Baltimore kind of played the
Speaker 1: underdog UM playbook perfectly. They limited possessions they made, they
Speaker 1: took possessions away and kept the ball. They they did
Speaker 1: a good job offensively. That was a little worrisome too.
Speaker 1: I I do think the Bengals offense will have better
Speaker 1: days and that this is a particularly tough division matchup.
Speaker 1: Seeing the same team three times in the season yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, if anything, we're gonna get a Bills and
Speaker 1: Bengals showdown where both of these offenses were kind of like.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Bills are at a different situation. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were super explosive at times. But this is a
Speaker 1: Ravens issue for me today. This was a team that
Speaker 1: kind of bottled up Burrow all year long. And I
Speaker 1: don't think it's this, it's who they are. But the
Speaker 1: line issues, to me could be enduring because you're right
Speaker 1: back where you started from in terms of your offseason building.
Speaker 1: All the work you did has vanished, and in the
Speaker 1: line issues are not just protecting Burrow at all. It's
Speaker 1: the running game, which has been hot and cold all
Speaker 1: season and they basically gave up on it today. I'm
Speaker 1: thinking one play where Roquan Smith just stuffed mixing on
Speaker 1: a second in two and then they didn't even try
Speaker 1: to run again the next down and it ended up
Speaker 1: being another three and out. That part's worrisome, But you
Speaker 1: do still have Higgins and Chase and Burrow like, even
Speaker 1: though it happens in the first quarters, sometimes the games
Speaker 1: are one there. He had a couple of great drives
Speaker 1: early that ended up just being enough I will say,
Speaker 1: like J. K. Dobbins after the game had some pretty
Speaker 1: strong comments about that Huntley play that we talked about.
Speaker 1: He was steam that he wasn't out there. He basically said,
Speaker 1: in quotes, I'm a guy who feels like I'm on
Speaker 1: the field at all the time. I could help this
Speaker 1: team win and I wasn't. It's the playoffs. Why am
Speaker 1: I not out there? Twelve carries? It's the playoffs. He
Speaker 1: also added, if we would have had Lamar, we would
Speaker 1: have won two. We'll get to that and just a bit.
Speaker 1: But Dobbins, we were saying the same thing we're watching
Speaker 1: in the theater Greggy when this all went down. Um
Speaker 1: the you know when that fumble occurs, Like, why isn't Dobbins,
Speaker 1: who's been chewing up yards on the ground all day?
Speaker 1: Why wasn't he getting the ball? He was their best offensive.
Speaker 1: That's something that's a tough way to go into the
Speaker 1: off season like that. That came from a Jeff Zerbiac.
Speaker 1: By the way, the Ravens Athletic reporter other Baltimore gaps.
Speaker 1: I thought that they did not handle the clockwell on
Speaker 1: their final possession. And I'll point out specifically some time
Speaker 1: elements here first and ten at the sad Tyler Huntley
Speaker 1: passes to Dobbins for eleven yards in a first down
Speaker 1: that's at one seventeen remaining. Baltimore I believe had two
Speaker 1: time outs at this point. They don't call a time
Speaker 1: out and they don't run another play until thirty four
Speaker 1: seconds on first and ten um and it's an incomplete
Speaker 1: pass and they then take a holding penalty that kind
Speaker 1: of knocks them back, and all of a sudden, now
Speaker 1: they're at the twenty seven with twenty two seconds left,
Speaker 1: and they have these time outs, but now everything's out
Speaker 1: of swords. They never used them, and they eventually I
Speaker 1: know they used at least one, but still they kind
Speaker 1: of I think they cost themselves there. Here's how hardball
Speaker 1: explained to the time usage or the time out usage
Speaker 1: or lack there up after the game. I think we
Speaker 1: played it right. Didn't work out in the sense that
Speaker 1: after that we did. We had incomplete passes, so you're
Speaker 1: not gonna have a chance to call them. If you
Speaker 1: complete the passes, you get the ball back in the
Speaker 1: red zone, you call the time out. So I think
Speaker 1: it's you know, from an elementary level, you could say, ah,
Speaker 1: they should have called the time outs, but we had
Speaker 1: the timeouts worked out, right. He's telling us that we're
Speaker 1: operating on an elementary level. He's talking. I think he
Speaker 1: knows a little more. See what he's saying. But the
Speaker 1: difference is eph Lamar Jackson's in that game, they get
Speaker 1: the next snap off. I think, no matter what, even
Speaker 1: if you didn't want to use the time out there,
Speaker 1: you want to get the next snap off in less
Speaker 1: than thirty seconds. I mean not. I mean you can't
Speaker 1: compare everything. You can't compare anything, Tom Brady. He's getting
Speaker 1: that thing snapped with thirty seconds left on the clock.
Speaker 1: That thing is like watching these playoff games with second
Speaker 1: and third string quarterbacks in there and oh wait, oh
Speaker 1: well it's not operating like a piece of machinery from
Speaker 1: outer space. Well, I don't know. In fairness, they did
Speaker 1: like a lot of good things. They had three sixty
Speaker 1: four yards Remember that third and one call where they
Speaker 1: just chuck it up deep to Andrews and like, right,
Speaker 1: they kind of let them be better per play than
Speaker 1: than the Bengals were, and huntingly other than that play
Speaker 1: really did a good job. And let's just I want
Speaker 1: to touch on a couple of Melissa Stark related things
Speaker 1: here real quick, um, Melissa Stark reports right before kickoff
Speaker 1: that Lamar Jackson um uh did not travel with the
Speaker 1: team to the game, which is interesting because he was
Speaker 1: in Cincinnat did the week before and now he's not
Speaker 1: at the playoff game and he had also ruled himself
Speaker 1: out rather than any type of conversation with the team
Speaker 1: about it. Um. So there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: question marks about that. And this is more now, this
Speaker 1: also I think ties into Lamar. Um. Melissa Stark also,
Speaker 1: and you know, I kinda got on my soapbox about
Speaker 1: this couple of weeks ago. I am not about the
Speaker 1: end of first quarter interview with the coach who's in
Speaker 1: the middle of a war, um, you know in football terms. Uh.
Speaker 1: Here is in full Melissa Stark's conversation with John Harbaugh, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, is under a lot of stress in
Speaker 1: the game and with his franchise quarterback potentially just in
Speaker 1: outer space and back in Cincinnati with Raven's head coach
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh. And John, you told us your guys were
Speaker 1: gonna be disciplined. What did you think about that last
Speaker 1: pedal to Well? I didn't like the last pedal, And
Speaker 1: so what will you tell your guys? That will be fine.
Speaker 1: Our guys will be fine. It's gonna be a hard
Speaker 1: fought game out here. We're gonna play a good games.
Speaker 1: And Tyler Huntley with that interception, you said we might
Speaker 1: see Anthony Brown, what will that take. We'll just see
Speaker 1: how the game goes. Okay, thanks John, big smile, Melissa,
Speaker 1: don't ask me another question. I think I think he's
Speaker 1: young six years old, but I think this Lamar situation
Speaker 1: and will learn more probably in the off season, is
Speaker 1: probably aging him in dog years, and uh this is
Speaker 1: a tough way end the season. He has an intensity
Speaker 1: to him just beneath the service. I guess not that
Speaker 1: far beneath the service. That's like a lot to take it.
Speaker 1: I've seen that after losses too, sometimes when they're asking
Speaker 1: him questions and he he would be high on the
Speaker 1: list along with Belichick of guys you just don't want
Speaker 1: to ask tough questions. Maybe a mean dad sit under
Speaker 1: wraps compared to uhither like a good father. But you know,
Speaker 1: like if you get his temper going, Actually, do you
Speaker 1: remember remember this this expose on on John Harbor that
Speaker 1: came out a couple of years where he allowed us
Speaker 1: to look at his schedule and he did have like,
Speaker 1: in the course of like each day, like an eight
Speaker 1: to ten minute period penciled in to speak to his daughters.
Speaker 1: I think it was like but it was like so old.
Speaker 1: That was like a who article. The headline of that
Speaker 1: story was a good father Comma me and Dad. I
Speaker 1: think that's what. By the way, and just uh, I
Speaker 1: don't want to belabor this, but Greggy, I brought it
Speaker 1: up to you. Um, you know the thing with Lamar,
Speaker 1: and we're going to learn more about it, obviously, or
Speaker 1: maybe we won't, who knows, but we'll see where his
Speaker 1: future is. And Greggy, I didn't know that you have
Speaker 1: some reporting to share in a moment um. At one
Speaker 1: point during the telecast, and this is where I get
Speaker 1: a little signals crossed. They remarked that Tyler Huntley's best
Speaker 1: friend is Lamar Jackson, and Tyler Huntly happens to be
Speaker 1: playing the biggest game of his life. And then that's
Speaker 1: when I get I get a little confused. Is it's
Speaker 1: like if there is an issue with the player and
Speaker 1: the team over money. I understand, and there's a business
Speaker 1: side of this but not being on the field that
Speaker 1: this guy's your best friend and you want your team
Speaker 1: to be successful, don't you want to be down the
Speaker 1: sideline with most of your teammates, like talking, talking to him,
Speaker 1: taking them through different things. You know. That kind of
Speaker 1: surprised me that he wasn't in the building. And I
Speaker 1: know there's gonna be There's always gonna be a sentiment, oh,
Speaker 1: you're being pro ownership. That's it's not the case. But
Speaker 1: sometimes what I struggle with is the being the teammates
Speaker 1: side of this that also kind of crosses paths with
Speaker 1: the business side and how bad blood can develop with
Speaker 1: a with an organization, not necessarily with teammates. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's complicated. There's a lot we don't know, but
Speaker 1: as a friendship and a teammate part of it. Look,
Speaker 1: I think those two men like know exactly what's going
Speaker 1: on in each other's life. And the status that Lamar
Speaker 1: has with the team right now, it might be a
Speaker 1: distraction for him to be there and be around John Harbor.
Speaker 1: Now you can a sign blamed to whose fault that
Speaker 1: is to get to this point, it's not a good point.
Speaker 1: If you had asked that, you know, if we had
Speaker 1: this information before you asked that question on the Thursday Show.
Speaker 1: What's the percentage that Lamar is back for the team?
Speaker 1: I want to answer to a lot more than ten
Speaker 1: per I feel like we're in a different place and
Speaker 1: I can't help. But notice Rokuan Smith getting that contract
Speaker 1: extension last week doesn't have an agent. There's just been buzz.
Speaker 1: I guess that like they were working on a contract
Speaker 1: for Lamar last week. Potentially like that. This isn't necessarily
Speaker 1: like I think in a perfect world, like they all
Speaker 1: would have happened. And I think the money and and
Speaker 1: everything got mixed up here along with his injuries. I'm
Speaker 1: not doubting that, like he has the looseness in his knee,
Speaker 1: but I think if he's not with the team, that
Speaker 1: feels like it's taking this whole thing earlier. But we
Speaker 1: are going to talk about Lamar Jackson, about Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: eight hundred and seventy five times. Where did where did
Speaker 1: you get the reporting on the contract situation? I didn't
Speaker 1: have any reporting to share. I thought it was was
Speaker 1: it your paper? Oh well it wasn't. For uh the
Speaker 1: Washington Post, it wasn't, but it was that reporter. It
Speaker 1: was yeah, Jason lock On for uh for I believe
Speaker 1: a radio station reported to like he he thought this
Speaker 1: was coming essentially and that he wasn't going to be
Speaker 1: showing up, and he thinks it's not going to be
Speaker 1: happy that he's not. He's reporting the relationship between that
Speaker 1: the Ravens and the Lamar is in a bad place.
Speaker 1: I do not care what the watching posts. I mean,
Speaker 1: him not going to the game to me tells I
Speaker 1: think I don't know exactly, but it's a lot. I
Speaker 1: think you're also when you do that. Lamar is savvy
Speaker 1: enough to know that when he doesn't show up and
Speaker 1: we're all we're all talking about it now, we're all
Speaker 1: talking about this whole thing, and it's like that's an
Speaker 1: extra thing where credit or not. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: that is his focus he because he doesn't and it
Speaker 1: like he doesn't have an eight Like he's not managing
Speaker 1: the pr angle of it. As as a primer, if
Speaker 1: you don't show up to your team's playoff game and
Speaker 1: like and you're able to go, what what what are
Speaker 1: we doing here? Well? I I think the able to
Speaker 1: go is a separate issue. I'm not saying that you
Speaker 1: couldn't get it. I think like he was able to go,
Speaker 1: like to play in the game, but this indicates a
Speaker 1: bad state of their relationship. All right, And now what
Speaker 1: everyone's been waiting for, And remember, there's one more game.
Speaker 1: It is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting of the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys Monday night, and we'll have the full recap and
Speaker 1: all the other reaction to everything that's going on in
Speaker 1: our league as we start spinning towards divisional round play
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. But you've been waiting for the divisional playoffs
Speaker 1: schedule and here it is. So sorry, but before we
Speaker 1: get too far, Nick Westling locked the Bengals. Okay, go
Speaker 1: ahead with this, girl. I just wanna, you know, keep
Speaker 1: the audience on their toes. No, that's that's bookkeeping. That's
Speaker 1: an important part of being a producer. Thank you, Grave
Speaker 1: Digger Um Saturday. This upcoming Saturday, the first game four
Speaker 1: thirty pm Eastern on NBC the Jacksonville jack you Rs
Speaker 1: at Kansas City Chiefs. Frisky. I love it. I think
Speaker 1: it's frisky. I'm glad we got this because that had
Speaker 1: been the Ravens winning would have been a whole different situation.
Speaker 1: This is nice. I like that. Uh the night game, Oh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna get wild and salty in the Northeast because
Speaker 1: then a Gimon travel to the Link to face the
Speaker 1: Eagles at eight fifteen ESPN excuse me Eastern, that's on Fox.
Speaker 1: The Sunday games will be Cincinnati at Bills on CBS
Speaker 1: at three o'clock and Cowboys or Bucks at Niners at
Speaker 1: six thirty pm Eastern on Fox. Good Slate, very good.
Speaker 1: It is the best weekend of the year at Division
Speaker 1: round playoffs. Came within a hair of having the Bengals
Speaker 1: and Bills knocked out. We would that would have been
Speaker 1: utter Kay, this is kind of perfect. You got good games,
Speaker 1: but you got the top two seeds in each conference through.
Speaker 1: You got the Bengals through, which I wanted. And the
Speaker 1: way this Giants team is playing that game is in
Speaker 1: the way the Eagles ended the season. That game is
Speaker 1: very way more interested. Endless updates about a shoulder that's
Speaker 1: not failing up to snuff going on. I mean, Nick
Speaker 1: Serial did a lot of talk about what a right
Speaker 1: healer Jalen Hurts is. Let's see how healed up he
Speaker 1: is come Saturday night in Philadelphia. Alright, any other thoughts.
Speaker 1: Boys thought that was good. I thought that was a
Speaker 1: solid professional, comprehensive breakdown of Super wild Card weekend. We
Speaker 1: are professionals, and I would just like to let you know,
Speaker 1: you know and others that we've had a microphone issue
Speaker 1: and here a headset issue and so the entire night. UM.
Speaker 1: I like to use the cough button on these machines
Speaker 1: a lot, just in times, just to button. It's located
Speaker 1: um above Greg's lap, because it had to be plugged
Speaker 1: into the one that Greg's normally and he's one further down.
Speaker 1: This is what we're opening the common y here to somebody.
Speaker 1: But like, we can edit this out so it's sar.
Speaker 1: But I I did not use the cough button once
Speaker 1: because it seemed too too awkward. So I did use
Speaker 1: it once, didn't you. I didn't use it twice justin
Speaker 1: this is when you hit the music. Um, was there
Speaker 1: any type of glancing? I warned Greg ahead of time
Speaker 1: that this was this might be a thing, but I
Speaker 1: try to keep it to a minute of them. Once,
Speaker 1: give me a wink if there was a crotch graze, No,
Speaker 1: not on my butt, not on my call. Whatever