Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast is Ready for the Playoffs.
Speaker 2: From the Chris Westling podcast studio. It's Around the NFL.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan hansis Heroes here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and
Speaker 2: it is the two Thy twenty three I guess hyphen
Speaker 2: twenty four Super wild Card weekend preview.
Speaker 3: And you know, usually that would be all we talk about.
Speaker 2: We have a great slate of games on Saturday, Sunday
Speaker 2: and Monday night as the teams with of course the
Speaker 2: Ravens and Niners on buy one of these teams will
Speaker 2: win the Super Bowl. Love that where That's where we're
Speaker 2: at now. We have said goodbye thirty two minais sixteen
Speaker 2: would be sixteen, but.
Speaker 3: Fourteen make it too many US eighteen teams out? All right?
Speaker 3: That's right, Yeah, we're correct.
Speaker 4: There are some extra math going on there, but I
Speaker 4: think thirty two minus fourteen would.
Speaker 3: Have Could you see the flash of panic?
Speaker 5: There was some panic, but I mean you tend to
Speaker 5: find your way out.
Speaker 4: Of those eighteen teams are.
Speaker 2: Dunzo and also Dunzo Ding Dong, the coaches dead, oh
Speaker 2: ding Dong, Bill and Bill is dead, Bill Belichick is
Speaker 2: out and Gregy. That is what we have to start
Speaker 2: with Bill Belichick and the Patriots mutually agree with much
Speaker 2: respect on both sides, to part ways after twenty four years.
Speaker 3: I am absolutely thrilled by this news, clearly.
Speaker 2: Because in the back of my mind I always worried
Speaker 2: about him getting another quarterback and the Pat's getting hot again.
Speaker 3: Now they're starting over completely.
Speaker 2: And obviously my feelings as a Jets fans are very
Speaker 2: different from Greg's feelings as a Patriots fan. So we're
Speaker 2: gonna kind of dig into all of it. But first
Speaker 2: we start with Bill Belichick, who, after the greatest run
Speaker 2: in the history of the NFL over twenty four years,
Speaker 2: nine super Bowls, six wins, the greatest QB coach combo
Speaker 2: ever with Tom Brady, unbelievable ride, he steps up to
Speaker 2: the podium in Foxborough and talks about the end of
Speaker 2: the road.
Speaker 6: Seen as many cameras since we signed t Bow.
Speaker 3: I forgot about that.
Speaker 6: Robert and I, after you know, a series of discussions,
Speaker 6: have mutually agreed to part ways, and for me, this
Speaker 6: is a day of you know, gratitude and celebration. Start
Speaker 6: with Robert and his family. It's great, so much, thanks
Speaker 6: for the opportunity to be a coach, here for twenty
Speaker 6: four years. It's an amazing opportunity received from out of support.
Speaker 6: We had a vision of you know, Billy and winner
Speaker 6: Billy championship football team here and that's exceeded, exceeded my
Speaker 6: my wildest dreams.
Speaker 2: And Robert Craft, the owner of the Patriots, who obviously
Speaker 2: made this decision ultimately to start over with New England,
Speaker 2: also spoke on this momentous day in franchise history.
Speaker 7: Yesterday we met and mutually agreed mutuk ways, amicably and
Speaker 7: like a good marriage, a successful head coach owner a
Speaker 7: relationship requires a lot of hard work, and I'm very
Speaker 7: proud that our partnership lasted for twenty four years. I
Speaker 7: don't think in the NFL there's been any other partnership
Speaker 7: that lasted longer and has been as productive as ours.
Speaker 2: Bill was hired in two thousand by Robert Craft, Is
Speaker 2: that correct?
Speaker 4: Yeah, replacing Pete Carroll.
Speaker 3: By two thousand.
Speaker 2: The end of the two thousand and one season, he
Speaker 2: was a Super Bowl champion when Brady took over, and
Speaker 2: so many great moments followed.
Speaker 3: Greg as a Pats fan kind of where I mean
Speaker 3: kind I don't know?
Speaker 2: You know now you're a Pats fan, maybe tomorrow or not,
Speaker 2: But where is your head and heart at? I know
Speaker 2: this was kind of expected in a lot of ways,
Speaker 2: but now that you actually see it happening and the
Speaker 2: Patriots are moving forward, Bill's moving somewhere else where you're at.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was emotional, even though they didn't show a
Speaker 4: lot of emotions really up there. I think the one
Speaker 4: time Belichick showed just a little bit of a crack
Speaker 4: was actually talking about the fans, talking about the parades
Speaker 4: and the send offs before all those Super Bowls. But
Speaker 4: this was expected, and I was just happy that they
Speaker 4: stuck the landing that you're totally within your right stand
Speaker 4: to be a little cynical about ended and be happy
Speaker 4: that it's ended. I think your fear that things were
Speaker 4: going to change with another quarterback was maybe misplaced, because
Speaker 4: this is to me a different Belichick, a different era.
Speaker 4: But I'm glad it just didn't end.
Speaker 3: I didn't even to see I didn't need to find
Speaker 3: out right that way.
Speaker 4: It didn't need to end in rancor and sources kind
Speaker 4: of talking about each other, although you're getting a little
Speaker 4: bit of that. There was an article in The Athletic
Speaker 4: and these two men both have egos as you would expect,
Speaker 4: and they both have had gripes about the others over
Speaker 4: the years, but I appreciate, as I guess in this case,
Speaker 4: the child of this you know, of the many millions
Speaker 4: of children of this marriage, that they put a nice
Speaker 4: face on it publicly. So normally I would be cynical
Speaker 4: about the pr of it all, but I was happy
Speaker 4: that it did end that way. But I didn't know Mark,
Speaker 4: and I thought I was really telling, in my mind,
Speaker 4: not the best move that Craft had to go up
Speaker 4: there and talk at all. That Belichick talked for five
Speaker 4: minutes and then so did Kraft and it ended on Craft,
Speaker 4: and it's just like I think that was just a
Speaker 4: little bit telling there that in this moment of all moments,
Speaker 4: you couldn't just let Belichick have the five minutes and
Speaker 4: say goodbye. They didn't take any questions that then it
Speaker 4: turned into kind of what it all meant for Robert Crafts.
Speaker 4: I understand it, he's the owner. He's got to also
Speaker 4: speak with the media later today. But I did think
Speaker 4: that was just like a little bit of a window
Speaker 4: into this moment, because I think we know from what
Speaker 4: Belichick said that it really wasn't all his choice.
Speaker 8: I would rather that Belichick had the last word exactly,
Speaker 8: and I'm with you on that. That said, I really
Speaker 8: agree with something that you mentioned is that like the
Speaker 8: tone of it.
Speaker 5: It was short and sweet and very Belichick fashion.
Speaker 8: But no matter what the whispers are, and that there
Speaker 8: were clashing egos, It's like that seems natural to me
Speaker 8: after a couple of really tough years and twenty four
Speaker 8: years together incredible success.
Speaker 5: But I thought the tone of it was genuine enough.
Speaker 8: They both pointed to each other as having helped each
Speaker 8: other completely exceed the expectations they set when they first
Speaker 8: partnered together back in two thousand. I mean, like it's
Speaker 8: funny that I feel, like Mike Garrifolo noted that, like
Speaker 8: Sean McVay was fourteen years old when Belichick joined the
Speaker 8: Patriots back then, I mean, it's spanned lifetimes of football following,
Speaker 8: football watching. I was very into Belichick when he was
Speaker 8: Cleveland's coach. I think, you guys know, it's like I
Speaker 8: wrote him letters. He was a fascinating figure to me.
Speaker 8: I don't know if I'd be covering football if it
Speaker 8: weren't for that early period of Belichick.
Speaker 5: And Cleveland and kind of what he's been since.
Speaker 8: And it's like, as much as this was expected over
Speaker 8: the last couple weeks and months that this was gonna happen,
Speaker 8: it's still stunning.
Speaker 5: It's still like I almost I'm.
Speaker 8: Like, in the twenty four hours, we've lost Pete Carroll
Speaker 8: and Bill Belichick and they both could be somewhere else
Speaker 8: next year, and Nick Saban and Nick Saban. It's just
Speaker 8: kind of like an incredible changing of the guard.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's interesting how they've gone about the announcement.
Speaker 2: You said, how it's craft that kind of finishes the
Speaker 2: presser five minutes each.
Speaker 3: Couldn't this have also been and.
Speaker 2: I know some of this pomp and circumstance, you know
Speaker 2: his need, but come on, like, well, why you could
Speaker 2: have also done the thing where all the famous patriots
Speaker 2: are there and you play the video and you talk
Speaker 2: about the good times. But I think part of the
Speaker 2: reason maybe it was more cut and dry was because
Speaker 2: there is some bad blood and it's reported that, you know,
Speaker 2: and that's not the end that it's ten. There was
Speaker 2: no tension, it was amicable. At the end of the day,
Speaker 2: Kraft decided that he didn't want Bill around anymore, and
Speaker 2: he wanted to start over, and Bill is now getting
Speaker 2: that chance, and we're going to see what happened, so
Speaker 2: as we expect it.
Speaker 3: Also, he's just free.
Speaker 2: There's no trade here, there's none of that that could
Speaker 2: have gunked up some of the relation as well. So
Speaker 2: they made that decision to end this nice and clean,
Speaker 2: and now we see what's next for Bill Belichick, Because
Speaker 2: there is a what's next.
Speaker 3: This guy will continue to coach.
Speaker 2: It's being reported that way, and you kind of always
Speaker 2: knew that.
Speaker 4: That was what struck me. Craft saying he doesn't look
Speaker 4: forward to watching Belichick in a cutoff hootie of another team,
Speaker 4: or that it's just gonna feel funny and that'll root
Speaker 4: for Belichick except for when he plays there. And Belichick
Speaker 4: was careful and I think it probably hit him in
Speaker 4: a special way too up there that Wow, this really
Speaker 4: is the end. And he is reflective. He knows his
Speaker 4: place in history, and I think he appreciates it. He
Speaker 4: said he was looking forward to coming back, and I
Speaker 4: think inherent in that Dan is having that moment with
Speaker 4: all the ex players and being celebrated. But it's a
Speaker 4: little hard to do that when he thinks he's at
Speaker 4: his Tom Brady leaving for Tampa phase that he wants
Speaker 4: to go get that all time coaching wins record. It's
Speaker 4: either fifteen or twenty something, depending on if you count
Speaker 4: the postseason or not. I don't know how we're going
Speaker 4: to do that, but he wants to keep getting it.
Speaker 4: He wants to get back at Don Shula for once
Speaker 4: taking shots at Belichick back in the day. And he'll
Speaker 4: probably get that opportunity. I don't know if it's a
Speaker 4: lock that he's getting that opportunity, but I think he'll
Speaker 4: get that.
Speaker 8: I think from that angle, like it feels like it
Speaker 8: could invigorate Belichick. Something started to feel really stale about
Speaker 8: the New Engle thing, and they did Etan did mention
Speaker 8: that Craft and Belichick really did spend time trying to
Speaker 8: decide if they could go on together. I mean, like
Speaker 8: even if it was a foregone conclusion and they just couldn't,
Speaker 8: and that a Kraft is looking at New England's journey
Speaker 8: as a genuine rebuild, and like so Belichick wasn't really
Speaker 8: the right guy for that. And if it's Jared Mayo
Speaker 8: or if it's Mike Rabel or fill in the plank,
Speaker 8: like there's an understanding that yes, you're gonna get that quarterback,
Speaker 8: but it's not gonna all happen. You're not just picking
Speaker 8: up where you left off from Belichick. Like there's some
Speaker 8: organizational changes coming and the way that Belichick's been doing
Speaker 8: it for twenty four years might look very different. They're
Speaker 8: going to allow the new coach to do it in
Speaker 8: his own way.
Speaker 4: I do think it's worth and we'll do it. You know,
Speaker 4: when he retires retires, we who knows, he might just
Speaker 4: try doing it forever. Like looking back, people talked about
Speaker 4: we would talk about this show, Chris would talk about it,
Speaker 4: and I would love for Chris to be here on
Speaker 4: days like this. He had such a great sense of history.
Speaker 4: But how how Brady had those multiple different kind of
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame runs within his Patriots run. But that's
Speaker 4: it's kind of true of Belichick too, because to me,
Speaker 4: I look back at some of those old books. I
Speaker 4: read the two defining ones where the Education of a
Speaker 4: Coach and then Patriot reigned and if you're interested in
Speaker 4: one of them by Michael Holly, what a great read,
Speaker 4: and the other by David Hobberson, like Belichick's first run
Speaker 4: one to four, I mean to me, that was still
Speaker 4: his peak. Like that is the run where they won
Speaker 4: twenty one straight after they were two and two in
Speaker 4: three and we would talk about the Vikings last year, Oh,
Speaker 4: they're they're luck in one score games, and I remember
Speaker 4: as that those teams were very unique because they weren't
Speaker 4: blowing anyone out and they would the little margins that
Speaker 4: Belichick would have would get them to win those games.
Speaker 4: They won thirteen straight one score games within that run.
Speaker 4: And that was before Brady was really Brady. And that's
Speaker 4: the thing is football. It's not just about one guy
Speaker 4: or the other. He would have never been Bill Belichick
Speaker 4: without Tom Brady, but Brady wouldn't have been the same
Speaker 4: without Belichick either. Pro Football Reference sent out a stat
Speaker 4: today that you know, from the day Belichick took that
Speaker 4: job till today, the Patriots lead the NFL and it
Speaker 4: wasn't that close in points per drive allowed that they've
Speaker 4: been the best defense. Tom Brady has nothing to do
Speaker 4: with since the day he got there to the day
Speaker 4: he left. And that was so crucial to him going
Speaker 4: thirty and twelve in the postseason. And then there was
Speaker 4: that first run, which was the best I think coaching
Speaker 4: he did. But then there was also the twenty ten
Speaker 4: to eighteen run where they had eight straight years where
Speaker 4: they had twelve wins, and they had eight or nine
Speaker 4: straight AFC Championship games, and there was that long period
Speaker 4: where you wondered would they ever dot the eye? Would
Speaker 4: he ever get another title despite all this success, that
Speaker 4: actually felt like they were underachieving, and then they ended
Speaker 4: up getting three more out of those fights.
Speaker 2: This is how I look at it as someone that
Speaker 2: lived through it, like a war that won an end
Speaker 2: where one side was just kicking ass the entire time,
Speaker 2: but you had you didn't even have the choice of surrender.
Speaker 2: You're not getting repeatedly shelled, and you bludge and stop it.
Speaker 2: So you have the starting with the mo Lewis hit
Speaker 2: in September of one, going really the way I look
Speaker 2: at it, Greg as you go straight through to eighteen
Speaker 2: and zero, and then you lose the Super Bowl of
Speaker 2: the Giants. But that two thousand and one to two
Speaker 2: thousand and eight was outrageous records all over the place,
Speaker 2: an undefeated regular season, and then Brady blows out his
Speaker 2: ACL week one after the eighteen and one season, and
Speaker 2: then they're kind of finding their way for a while
Speaker 2: you have the Brady year when he comes back and
Speaker 2: he's not quite himself yet, and you go through that
Speaker 2: little wilderness where you're very competitive but you're not winning
Speaker 2: super Bowls.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the then they're a number one offense in the
Speaker 4: league with Gronk, but they can't feel the defense for years.
Speaker 3: They can't get they can't get over the hump.
Speaker 2: They get beat by the Giants again, and you're just say,
Speaker 2: you're asking that question. But then starting with that twenty
Speaker 2: fourteen season, when everyone else thought the Brady well I
Speaker 2: for instance, thought Brady was starting to get old. They
Speaker 2: go twelve and four, twelve and four, twelve and four,
Speaker 2: fourteen and two thirteen and three eleven and five, twelve
Speaker 2: and four, and that ends the Brady era with what
Speaker 2: three more super Bowls?
Speaker 3: And what ends up the reason why he's not going.
Speaker 2: To break the record as a Patriot is he, as
Speaker 2: Greg you've talked about and you've seen reported out there,
Speaker 2: he was the one that was ready to move on
Speaker 2: from Tom. And so Brady leaves and immediately wins a
Speaker 2: super Bowl, which I think Craft probably still kills Craft
Speaker 2: that that happened. And after that point they have not
Speaker 2: won a playoff game. They made the playoffs once and
Speaker 2: got absolutely destroyed by the Bills, and the mac Jones
Speaker 2: draft pick, a first round pick bottomed out this year,
Speaker 2: and Craft made the decision that this was the sign
Speaker 2: of decline for the coach and his ability to build
Speaker 2: a roster.
Speaker 3: And I get it.
Speaker 2: I mean, Bill is just like we were talking about
Speaker 2: Carol seventy two, what's Bill seventy if not he's turning
Speaker 2: seventy this year, And I get why Craft, who's again
Speaker 2: another owner that's not getting any younger, wants to take
Speaker 2: one more big swing and build it his way.
Speaker 8: I think that's also like, what makes this incredibly complex
Speaker 8: and intriguing is Bill's next step because part of the
Speaker 8: decline was post Brady. You're looking at an entire offense
Speaker 8: that lacked weapons, that lacked ingenuity. You know, he had
Speaker 8: the smallest coaching staff in the league. Half of them
Speaker 8: are like related to him. It's like he had a
Speaker 8: bunch of yes men surrounding him and as a general
Speaker 8: manager fell off a cliff like it can still coach defense,
Speaker 8: but it's like, what do you do if you're the
Speaker 8: next team, what do you offer him to do?
Speaker 4: Right? Organizationally, he modeled himself after Paul Brown, and Paul
Speaker 4: Brown was and this is how football used to be.
Speaker 4: Coach as everything, you know, the only people he hasn't
Speaker 4: passed in terms of like wins depending on how you
Speaker 4: like look at it, and certain things as like George Hallis.
Speaker 4: And that's when the guy would literally own the team
Speaker 4: and coach the team. The guy who could do everything
Speaker 4: and the amount of ability he had to do it
Speaker 4: all at once to raise these I think there's fifteen
Speaker 4: different guys from their personnel staff that are you know,
Speaker 4: all over the league running teams. Like people get on
Speaker 4: him for his coaching tree. His personnel tree is running
Speaker 4: half the league right now. Nick Saban's part of his
Speaker 4: coach by the way and the energy and the ability
Speaker 4: to do all that at once, that's a lot in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty three, it's a different game. It's really a
Speaker 4: lot for a seventy one year old at twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: And it hit me with carol In Belichick leaving two
Speaker 4: days apart, they were the two most powerful coaches in
Speaker 4: the league. They had the most juice where they ran
Speaker 4: the entire organization. It was a certain way that you
Speaker 4: could run a team. Andy Reid is the closest to
Speaker 4: the now, but he even he I think, has a
Speaker 4: stronger personnel side helping him in a way that I
Speaker 4: think that would be very hard for Belichick to replicate.
Speaker 4: Is he willing to take a step back and just coach,
Speaker 4: because I think he could do that well enough. But
Speaker 4: to do everything you saw, he didn't have any people
Speaker 4: to call upon in the personnel department. They're all gone,
Speaker 4: they weren't working there. His coaching staff is out of ideas.
Speaker 4: He's just running through Bill O'Brien and Bill and Matt Patricich.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, there's a good bit of an issue.
Speaker 2: I think he definitely gets hired. But that's going to
Speaker 2: be the challenge. He's got a he needs to evolve
Speaker 2: and maybe changed some things and Ken a man that's
Speaker 2: turning seventy two in April, do that.
Speaker 3: That's the risk of bringing Belichick.
Speaker 2: But he will bring instant If any head coach can
Speaker 2: bring box office, it's Bill Belichick. That fan base that
Speaker 2: he goes to will be completely revitalized and thinking dreams
Speaker 2: that we got this guy and he's gonna pull a
Speaker 2: Brady with Tampa Bay. And I just want to share
Speaker 2: one personal memory about it because when I was going
Speaker 2: to college. I was a senior at Northeastern University in
Speaker 2: Boston when that two thousand and one run happened, and
Speaker 2: it was a great time to be a New York
Speaker 2: sports fan in Boston.
Speaker 3: Because it was a dark, dark, dark era era.
Speaker 2: For sports in Boston, and when the Patriots went on
Speaker 2: that run, the whole city was kind of like, wait,
Speaker 2: is this actually happening to us? Like is this because
Speaker 2: they've been down? They'd been down for years all the
Speaker 2: sports teams in Boston, and the run kept on. The
Speaker 2: special things keep happening, and then even Brady goes out
Speaker 2: and Bledsoe comes into the playoffs and leads them to
Speaker 2: a big win, and then the Super Bowls magical as
Speaker 2: that was, and I remember going out from the dorms
Speaker 2: and everyone was celebrating in the streets and it was
Speaker 2: the beginning greg of an incredible run for Boston sports.
Speaker 2: The Red Sox won. A couple years later, the Bruins won,
Speaker 2: the Celtics won, the Patriots kept winning. So Belichick, I
Speaker 2: always think he started that kind of Boston sports boom
Speaker 2: of the two thousands, and I hate him for it,
Speaker 2: but also I do respect him for it, and good luck, sir,
Speaker 2: wherever you end up.
Speaker 8: The one thing I think is interesting is when he
Speaker 8: was hired by the Patriots, his Q rating was very low.
Speaker 8: He had essentially split with the Browns, like he like.
Speaker 8: Their first season in New England was a disaster, and
Speaker 8: there were a lot of people questioning if Bill Belichick
Speaker 8: was a good hire.
Speaker 5: And I kind of love that.
Speaker 8: Now there are doubters around Bill Belichick again, is he
Speaker 8: too old?
Speaker 5: Can he do it? Is the game passed him by?
Speaker 8: And it's like that is the kind of thing where
Speaker 8: it's like the next chapter of Bill Belichick. And I
Speaker 8: can already see if, for reason, he goes to a
Speaker 8: team where New England is on the schedule next year, Hello,
Speaker 8: opening Monday Night game Week one, it's gonna be Bill
Speaker 8: Belichick going back to New England and it's going to
Speaker 8: be incredible.
Speaker 2: Like we said, the NFL is starting to take over
Speaker 2: days of the week and things like that. I don't
Speaker 2: care where he ends up or the way, because the
Speaker 2: schedule is kind of predetermined the season, the day the
Speaker 2: season ends and all that. The NFL will maneuver this,
Speaker 2: whether it has to send him to a certain team
Speaker 2: or they have to change the schedule.
Speaker 3: Oh there's a little glitch, everybody.
Speaker 2: Bill bell seventeenth game will be coaching against the Patriots
Speaker 2: in New England next I hope.
Speaker 4: I just looked Bucket, Dan. You just motivated me to
Speaker 4: look at their schedule. They do not have the Falcons
Speaker 4: on their schedule, so that yet, that's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 4: And Chargers. Chargers are there and it's in Foxborough, so
Speaker 4: that that could be.
Speaker 2: That could be Aloss Belichick coming out southern California now team.
Speaker 4: He loves New England too. I think he would like
Speaker 4: to just he's an East Coast bro, stay stay there forever.
Speaker 5: He'll hate us see him in the Deep South. And
Speaker 5: the I mean, that's not the most novel.
Speaker 4: I'll never forget when he played Barcel's the first time here.
Speaker 4: This will be like that. When he played Parcels the
Speaker 4: first time. It was the biggest deal. You can imagine.
Speaker 4: It was them versus the Cowboys, and like it was
Speaker 4: Pupil versus Mentor, and it was just built up the
Speaker 4: whole time. And there was a story of him telling
Speaker 4: everyone you know around the team and he was just like,
Speaker 4: you know, it's like, what more are they going to
Speaker 4: say about us, we're just two a holes that haven't
Speaker 4: worked together in five years. We don't matter and like that,
Speaker 4: that'll be his approach if you ever place against the
Speaker 4: Patriots again.
Speaker 3: All right, Okay, good stuff, Bill out.
Speaker 2: We'll see what's next, and you know we'll be tracking
Speaker 2: everything New Horizons week.
Speaker 4: What does that call?
Speaker 3: By the way, Uh?
Speaker 9: What is it?
Speaker 4: Grandio? Mon? I don't remember.
Speaker 3: Come on, and if you hit it again, Eric, if you.
Speaker 8: Hit it twice, I'm not sure that's accurate.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break and when we get back,
Speaker 2: we dig into Super wild Card weekend. All right, welcome back. Yeah,
Speaker 2: super Wildcard. I called it Super wild Card Weekend, but
Speaker 2: we're playing the soccer across three different days into Monday,
Speaker 2: so it's not technically accurate. But here's what we got though.
Speaker 2: It is a holiday weekend, so kind of is accurate.
Speaker 3: Holiday weekend. Nice Martin Luther King on Monday, Monday beautiful.
Speaker 2: All right, let's go six games to get to Let's
Speaker 2: start with Browns at Texans.
Speaker 3: My goodness, Hello, Dolly, Mark Sessler. You know what now?
Speaker 2: Now we're talking Mark, because I've been doing this podcast
Speaker 2: with you for eleven seasons I've known you Mark for
Speaker 2: thirteen fourteen years now, and the Browns have made the
Speaker 2: playoffs once since we've known each other.
Speaker 3: Right, it just so happened.
Speaker 2: It was in the COVID year and that was a
Speaker 2: wonderful win in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: But the building's empty, you know what I mean? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Like what you That whole year was weird. But now
Speaker 3: we got the Cleveland Browns back in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: With Joe Flacco on the magic carpet ride and Stefanski
Speaker 2: dialing up plays and the whole team playing at an
Speaker 2: elite level going into Week eighteen. And now they're going
Speaker 2: on the road and guess what, it's not an empty
Speaker 2: Heinz Field. It's gonna be seventy thousand screaming fans. Probably
Speaker 2: a lot of Browns fans too. I'm gonna I'm gonna predict.
Speaker 5: They're gonna take advantage of this opportunity.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna predict a good fifteen percent will be Browns
Speaker 2: fans who have gobbled up tickets to get down there,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna face.
Speaker 3: Your boy C J.
Speaker 2: Stroud and the Houston Texans. The would could have should
Speaker 2: a team of around the NFL.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: So we start right here two and a half the
Speaker 2: Browns giving two and a half points on the road,
Speaker 2: which tells you so much about the excitement around your
Speaker 2: beloved Brownies.
Speaker 8: I really think it starts with Joe Flacco. Obviously, it's
Speaker 8: one of the more stunning sports stories around because he
Speaker 8: was their arch enemy for eons and has been completely
Speaker 8: embraced by the city.
Speaker 5: And it's not just the nature of who he is,
Speaker 5: Like four.
Speaker 8: Straight three hundred yard passing performances in the long history
Speaker 8: of the Cleveland Browns, no Browns quarterback has ever done that.
Speaker 8: PFF noted that when they played the Texans a number
Speaker 8: of weeks ago, when Amari Cooper exploded for two hundred
Speaker 8: and sixty five yards, that PFF has never charted a
Speaker 8: single game in their history of a quarterback recording more
Speaker 8: air yards than in that game.
Speaker 4: So receiver recording more area blacko, Yeah, okay, the quarterback.
Speaker 4: I think also Cooper maybe in the history of their
Speaker 4: their site as well.
Speaker 8: It would make sense because in that game you got
Speaker 8: what you've got from Flacco and a number of these performances,
Speaker 8: which is like electric downfield passing, I mean, and it's
Speaker 8: like he's he's he's helped Dave and Nadjoku level up.
Speaker 8: Amari Cooper, who's kind of worked with all their quarterbacks,
Speaker 8: surprisingly has leveled up.
Speaker 5: I guess the thing about that game.
Speaker 8: Though, because it's like it was recent enough where you
Speaker 8: could go back and track it, it's really hard to
Speaker 8: put a read on it. You don't expect like Amari
Speaker 8: Cooper to do that again that that just feels like
Speaker 8: an aberration.
Speaker 4: But there was no CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud.
Speaker 8: The Texans were banged up.
Speaker 5: In that game, had no Will Anderson.
Speaker 8: Although Will Anderson and half their defensive line aer on
Speaker 8: the injury report right now, Tank Dell Or wide receiver
Speaker 8: is still banged up. Nowhere Brown has banged up, Robert
Speaker 8: Woods has banged up. Cleveland had no kicker in that
Speaker 8: game and had to go for two over and over
Speaker 8: because Dustin Hopkins had a hamstring injury and still does.
Speaker 4: And so they helped them.
Speaker 8: I mean it did help them because I think it worked.
Speaker 8: You don't want to have to deal with that situation again.
Speaker 8: But it does speak to how aggressive they were in
Speaker 8: that performance. I think that was Joe Flaco's best game.
Speaker 8: Can you duplicate it again? I guess that's the question.
Speaker 8: Can you do it again because you're not gonna get
Speaker 8: case Keenuman.
Speaker 4: I think c J.
Speaker 2: Stroud makes everything possible for the totally different, totally different scenario.
Speaker 2: But to your point, the Flacco magic that was legit,
Speaker 2: and Will Anderson, even if he plays as clearly, wasn't
Speaker 2: the same guy who's going in and out on pass
Speaker 2: rushing downs their last matchup. And I should since we're
Speaker 2: mentioning injuries, I got a little developing news here.
Speaker 3: WHOA and this is significant an onhuh.
Speaker 2: Browns Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward suffered a knee injury
Speaker 2: in Thursday's practice, putting his status in question for Saturday's
Speaker 2: playoff game against the Texans. Kevin Stefanski said that war
Speaker 2: Is according to ESPN, said that Ward limited in the
Speaker 2: practice but offered no other details. The team officially lists
Speaker 2: Ward as questionable. This is a man who's just named
Speaker 2: to Pro Bowl. He is a key contributor mark on
Speaker 2: the number one ranked defense of the Browns and c J.
Speaker 2: Stroud is balling out at a historic level, so that
Speaker 2: would be bad.
Speaker 4: That is huge.
Speaker 8: He's one of five players in the NFL to not
Speaker 8: allow a touchdown and coverage Martin Emerson on the Browns also,
Speaker 8: but in games when Denzel Ward has not been on
Speaker 8: the field, dating back, you know, before this season two,
Speaker 8: it's been a critical difference.
Speaker 4: They are special on defense because they can play man
Speaker 4: coverage and there's almost no team in the NFL that does.
Speaker 3: It like that.
Speaker 4: I would say they are the best man coverag team.
Speaker 4: They're the best at everything. You can slice up the stats,
Speaker 4: and they've been excellent. Now they haven't been as excellent
Speaker 4: in the back half of the year. They've been a
Speaker 4: little more reliant on turnovers and they've been able to
Speaker 4: do that, but they haven't been as stingy giving up
Speaker 4: yardage week after week. That first game matters to me
Speaker 4: because a it was only three weeks ago. I mean,
Speaker 4: it was very recent, and it be I do think
Speaker 4: it's kind of hard to beat the same team twice
Speaker 4: in four weeks. I think that I don't know if
Speaker 4: it's a disadvantage for the Browns, but it's just I
Speaker 4: think it's a difficult thing to do to dominate them
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Tamiko Ryan's a gifted defensive coach that gets
Speaker 2: right Budy all that, Yeah.
Speaker 4: Exactly, and you know it goes both ways, but that
Speaker 4: was a woodshed operation. And like you mentioned, Mark, some
Speaker 4: of those throws in that game were just so outrageous.
Speaker 4: I mean, there was the one where they were holding
Speaker 4: Flacco on fourth and nine or something and he just
Speaker 4: whips it to the sideline and it to totem that
Speaker 4: I don't know what next Gen stats percentage was for
Speaker 4: completing that play, but I'd give it like two percent,
Speaker 4: and Flacco and Cooper made it happen. That said, since then,
Speaker 4: things have actually worked out better. I think for the
Speaker 4: Browns we got a little rest situation. The Browns got
Speaker 4: to sit last week, that's a bonus, and the Texans
Speaker 4: are more banged up. I know Anderson didn't play in
Speaker 4: that game, but he was ineffective last week when he played.
Speaker 4: What makes them you on defense was they were able
Speaker 4: to get pressure rushing for Grenard and Anderson were one
Speaker 4: of the best tandems in the entire NFL. Grenard hasn't
Speaker 4: practiced this week. I don't know if he has an
Speaker 4: injury designation, but he hasn't played in multiple weeks and
Speaker 4: it seems like he is less likely to play. And
Speaker 4: so the one thing he did do individual drills, I'm
Speaker 4: seeing on Thursday, so that is a positive that he's
Speaker 4: going to give it a go. But also they were
Speaker 4: bad up front and their right tackles injured, and that
Speaker 4: game really stands out.
Speaker 5: To me that the Browns whipped them up front.
Speaker 4: There's a guy Charlie Heck is their right tackle, Juice
Speaker 4: Strugs is their left guard, and they've just got some
Speaker 4: big time weaknesses which really stuck out to me last week.
Speaker 4: I mean, watching that Colts game, Danny like, their offensive
Speaker 4: line stunk. The only reason they won that game is
Speaker 4: because of Steve J. Stroud, But on a snap to snap,
Speaker 4: like series to series basis, the Colts were tougher. And
Speaker 4: so if I look at a situation where I think
Speaker 4: the Browns might be better up front, certainly on their
Speaker 4: defensive line, and even though they're banged up on their
Speaker 4: offensive line, does the Texans really have the players that
Speaker 4: take advantage, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's certainly fair. I mean we like the Texans
Speaker 2: a lot. That AFC South Game Championship game, as it
Speaker 2: turned out to be, was a dropped swing pass away
Speaker 2: from maybe turning out totally differently, and the Texans aren't
Speaker 2: even in the playoffs. Flaco is the guy I think
Speaker 2: everyone is most excited to see because you want to
Speaker 2: the chance to rest guys is great. I don't love
Speaker 2: just putting them on ice for a couple of weeks
Speaker 2: because he was so red hot. Is he gonna come
Speaker 2: out and still be that way? The one thing is
Speaker 2: the only thing you could say in terms of criticism
Speaker 2: is he hasn't He's been airing and out at such
Speaker 2: a lethal level. He's also turned the ball over. He
Speaker 2: had more interceptions eight and five starts and Stroud did
Speaker 2: in his fifteen starts five. So I think it's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 2: If you could put heat on Flacco and he's going
Speaker 2: to force the ball, it could turn into is there
Speaker 2: a turn over that changes this game? But if they
Speaker 2: don't get if they do not generate a pass rush Houston,
Speaker 2: I totally see this going your way, Mark and the
Speaker 2: Browns continue to be a huge story in the NFL.
Speaker 8: Yeah, the Browns could not run the ball in that
Speaker 8: game against the Texans. I think they had a fifty
Speaker 8: six yards off of twenty seven carries by running backs
Speaker 8: and that you know that's not the team they want
Speaker 8: to be, but they I think that's when I made
Speaker 8: an argument for Kevin Stefanski being the Coach of the
Speaker 8: Year because the offense like an EPA and.
Speaker 5: Stuff through the era up before Flacco was.
Speaker 8: Just not good and he's found a way to win
Speaker 8: with this team without what his strength is like they
Speaker 8: haven't been able to run the ball like their passing
Speaker 8: game pre Flacco was a huge mess.
Speaker 5: It's changed a lot with Flacco.
Speaker 8: But I do think that like at some point does
Speaker 8: the bow break when you've got so many injuries along
Speaker 8: the offensive line, But they have been using six offensive
Speaker 8: linemen at a higher percentage than any team in the
Speaker 8: league over the past couple of months. And Bill Callahan
Speaker 8: is one of those offensive line coaches who obviously is
Speaker 8: a difference maker, and I think in a different situation
Speaker 8: a different coach, some of these injuries start to create
Speaker 8: too much chaos. But you gotta keep Placo safe, like
Speaker 8: I don't. Vlaco has had a lot of turnovers as well.
Speaker 8: He's thrown picks, and it's like it's the nature of
Speaker 8: being aggressive, But the Texans don't turn the ball over.
Speaker 8: There the fewest giveaways in the league, and so you're
Speaker 8: gonna have to find a way to even that out.
Speaker 4: If you're Cleveland right in. I think focusing on the
Speaker 4: running game is a big thing because these both these
Speaker 4: teams would be desperate. They would love to run the ball.
Speaker 4: They haven't been able to do it all season. The
Speaker 4: Texans on paper are a great run defense, but again,
Speaker 4: part of the reason those edges are good is they're
Speaker 4: both good run defenders as well. They have injuries on
Speaker 4: the front. Jerry Hughes is injured too, who also, you know,
Speaker 4: made that big play a couple of weeks ago to
Speaker 4: help them get to this point. Like, on paper, they're
Speaker 4: a good run defense, but both of these teams would
Speaker 4: be desperate they would love to run the ball because
Speaker 4: most of the Texans offense this year has kind of
Speaker 4: been like c J. Stroud just makes some magic on
Speaker 4: third down and it's tough to do. But it does
Speaker 4: worry me Mark, and I'm leaning Browns. They're minus one
Speaker 4: forty two in terms of the honey line. I'm leaning Browns.
Speaker 4: And yet this one, to me is the biggest coin
Speaker 4: flip of the week. And the thing that worries me
Speaker 4: is like everyone's picking the Browns. Everyone is picking the
Speaker 4: Browns as like eight. If you want one surprise team
Speaker 4: that could make it all the way to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4: It's the Browns. I haven't seen almost no one's picking
Speaker 4: the Texans. Which whenever it's a close to a coin
Speaker 4: flip game and no one's picking the Texans, I always
Speaker 4: that worries me.
Speaker 2: Of you and Claybon with your momentum madness, Why would
Speaker 2: that affect the game?
Speaker 4: It doesn't, obviously, but it just.
Speaker 3: Why Why does that matter?
Speaker 4: But momentum is not real like totally, of course it
Speaker 4: doesn't affect the game, but I think it's it's good
Speaker 4: to point out, like the way I've heard this game
Speaker 4: talked about, in the way people are picking it is
Speaker 4: as if these two teams are totally uneven. Really they're
Speaker 4: kind of well, they're kind of like at two and
Speaker 4: a half point road favorite, like that seems fair, but
Speaker 4: like a one point a pickup seems fair too. And
Speaker 4: I think the Texans have have a chance here because
Speaker 4: they have the better core. I think they absolutely have
Speaker 4: a chance.
Speaker 8: Like this is this is the team as a Brown supporter,
Speaker 8: like this season, Like I don't want them to play
Speaker 8: the Texans.
Speaker 5: I don't want them to play cjson.
Speaker 2: Do you want me to pick the Texans to the
Speaker 2: bounce of scales for Greg, I showed it up for you,
Speaker 2: all right, I mean if that us Whens twenty seven,
Speaker 2: twenty for a great game, picket.
Speaker 4: I've gone back and forth all week. I think I've
Speaker 4: settled on the Browns just it makes too much sense.
Speaker 4: But uh, I don't know. I don't I don't know
Speaker 4: if I'm settling on it. Still don't have to pick
Speaker 4: for game?
Speaker 3: De you yet?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 3: Wait this this podcast superseds game.
Speaker 4: Well, that's true, but that's like kind of be a
Speaker 4: final answer. We're not keeping track of any scores here,
Speaker 4: but I'm going Browns. I'm going Brown score. I think
Speaker 4: it's a little lower scoring than people expect. Nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 8: I will go Cleveland twenty eight, Texans twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Very nice, always one point game with Mark, I don't
Speaker 2: feel confident. Most importantly, where are you watching the game?
Speaker 2: What will you be wearing?
Speaker 3: TBD?
Speaker 8: I haven't decided. I mean, I'd love that it's on Saturday.
Speaker 8: If it were out is this? Are you going to
Speaker 8: be in your domicile? Are you going to go out?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 10: Like?
Speaker 3: Where? Well?
Speaker 8: I still have to decide, but I think I'm I
Speaker 8: maybe mix it up and do like first half somewhere
Speaker 8: out and then second half of.
Speaker 3: Home interesting, wow, very interesting.
Speaker 4: And I do like that we've sort of we've gotten
Speaker 4: past the drama of Brown's fandom and what we're.
Speaker 3: I don't want to hear. It's only because Joe fla.
Speaker 8: Well, this experience is completely unexpected and it's a little
Speaker 8: bit different, and you could I'm getting killed all the
Speaker 8: time for saying that you can flip flopped on this
Speaker 8: or that, and it's like what I did not like
Speaker 8: about this team, I still very much do not like.
Speaker 2: And let it be stated that Zzar always had a peg.
Speaker 2: You were never gone, you were just a little bit
Speaker 2: and hiding for a little bit.
Speaker 3: Can't flush that.
Speaker 8: It's a complex, can't flush that un a rewarding situation
Speaker 8: to be put into.
Speaker 4: Throw me back to that twenty twenty run, that appearance
Speaker 4: because Chris jumped on the podcast. Yeah, when the Browns won,
Speaker 4: and it was maybe the most one of the most
Speaker 4: special moments we've had on this podcast. A lot has changed,
Speaker 4: We've changed since then. Everything has changed, these teams have
Speaker 4: changed the situation, but we do have Mark's heart back.
Speaker 2: Nice uh And by the way, you could watch us
Speaker 2: on fast channels across the world. Mark, you're wearing Brad
Speaker 2: Paisley today, and I want to remind everyone that on
Speaker 2: Wednesday's show, Patrick Claybond, we put out a formal request
Speaker 2: for a clay Bond theme song and the winner of
Speaker 2: the Claybon Theme Song competition, or if we might have
Speaker 2: multiple winners depending on how the songs are, you get
Speaker 2: a signed Mark Sessler eight by ten glossy wearing Brad
Speaker 2: Paisley with Levi over it, leaning against an oak tree,
Speaker 2: looking rooting intense. Think Luke Perry at Camp Happiness.
Speaker 8: I mean, if that, I'm not sure that's going to
Speaker 8: motivate the the musicians out there to get going.
Speaker 3: But you sure about that?
Speaker 5: I just don't know, all right?
Speaker 2: Also come back to me, And no disrespect to Noah Eagle,
Speaker 2: Todd Blackledge and Catherine Tappan with the call. An absolute
Speaker 2: disgrace that Al's not on this call. This should have
Speaker 2: been Al's game. They benched him, gave it to Eagle
Speaker 2: and black Ledge. Fine, weird, look weird, look yeah you
Speaker 2: got you got even with Al.
Speaker 3: Good job.
Speaker 2: Everybody a joke, But I like no Eagle and Todd
Speaker 2: Blake Al deserved this game.
Speaker 3: We deserve.
Speaker 4: I have no opinion on Todd Blackledge.
Speaker 5: No Eagle is very good. I did I will say
Speaker 5: that about Yes. No.
Speaker 4: They did a game on Saturday a few weeks ago
Speaker 4: and I was just like, whose voice is this? And
Speaker 4: how many times are you going to retell the same
Speaker 4: uh story about t J. Watt?
Speaker 3: And now let's let's go.
Speaker 8: Todd Blacklitch who squared off against the Jets back in
Speaker 8: the playoffs in the eighties.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know that. But you are significantly older
Speaker 2: than me, so I didn't. I'd say it's a historical note.
Speaker 2: No Eagle, I believe is the son of Iron eg. Yes,
Speaker 2: they sound exactly. They look alike, they sound alike. It's
Speaker 2: it's weird how that works. An iron Eagle is an
Speaker 2: absolute stud. All right, let's move on next game. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: oh this is impossible.
Speaker 3: I'm telling you it's impossible.
Speaker 2: First, Eric behind the Glass, give me a weather report
Speaker 2: in Kansas City for the game between the Dolphins and
Speaker 2: the Chiefs.
Speaker 3: This game is played Saturday, eight pm Eastern. Get back
Speaker 3: to me with that.
Speaker 2: But you have a Dolphins team obviously crushed by their
Speaker 2: inability to close out the AFC East. They get picked
Speaker 2: off by the Bills on Sunday Night Football, and now
Speaker 2: they travel on the road instead of hosting the Bills
Speaker 2: at home there on the road in Kansas City, which
Speaker 2: Greg would tell me, oh, lock it up, you got
Speaker 2: to lock up the Chiefs here.
Speaker 3: I know what is the weather?
Speaker 11: Eric, So the weather is on track to be one
Speaker 11: of the coldest games in NFL history, is what I'm
Speaker 11: reading for both franchises.
Speaker 4: A winchell of minus thirteen guys. Oh man, I saw
Speaker 4: something that they said it might be up to minus thirty.
Speaker 2: So all right, so I want to say, you're going
Speaker 2: to send the Miami team there?
Speaker 3: Give me a break? What a joke? Speaking of jokes,
Speaker 3: lock up the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: But the Chiefs just don't deserve any trust at any level.
Speaker 2: So is it to the point where the weather is
Speaker 2: so bad that it goes from favoring the team that
Speaker 2: plays in those conditions in their building to a complete
Speaker 2: leveling of the field, because that is those are some raw,
Speaker 2: bone cold this weather conditions.
Speaker 4: It's like a legit legitimately dangerous, like how cold it
Speaker 4: would be. It's like negative.
Speaker 5: Twenty thirty degree, like stationary in a seat.
Speaker 4: I don't love that, you don't. It's hard to know,
Speaker 4: like how that affects the passing game. You would think
Speaker 4: it impacts the passing game, especially.
Speaker 2: You might not even get on the plane. I'd be like,
Speaker 2: I'll see you back in Miami in July.
Speaker 5: You know, Al Michaels is glad he's not going to
Speaker 5: this game, at least.
Speaker 4: Like during the during the game, I think the temperature
Speaker 4: is probably like non win chill, supposed to be somewhere
Speaker 4: under ten degrees, which it's going to be like that
Speaker 4: Packers Giants game when Tom Coughlin's face almost a classic peeled.
Speaker 3: Off seven NFC championship.
Speaker 4: Yes, but when I think about, like the how these
Speaker 4: two teams match up, and I think back to that
Speaker 4: Germany game, which was really a defensive struggle for both.
Speaker 4: You know, both defenses dominated in that game. Chiefs offense
Speaker 4: had their best drive of the season to start the game,
Speaker 4: I thought, and then did absolutely nothing in the rest
Speaker 4: of the game. They had one nice long drive where
Speaker 4: they really earned the Dollins only had fourteen points of foves,
Speaker 4: so it was fourteen fourteen on offense, and then the
Speaker 4: Chiefs got a defensive touchdown and neither team really looked
Speaker 4: like the high flying team that we would expect. But
Speaker 4: I think, like, well, what works in this cold you
Speaker 4: would think would be the running game, which would be
Speaker 4: the way to attack the Chiefs defense. And if I
Speaker 4: have to trust in one of these two teams running games,
Speaker 4: it's the Dolphins. Hopefully Raheem Moster's back, it sounds like
Speaker 4: he will be. But the Chiefs have a huge split
Speaker 4: in terms of their effectiveness versus the past one of
Speaker 4: the best in the league, a heavy blitz team, versus
Speaker 4: their effectiveness against the run sub mediocre like bottom five
Speaker 4: to six and a lot of different run metrics. And
Speaker 4: I think about, like, they've got all these injuries on
Speaker 4: the offensive line two Miami, but they've looked good running
Speaker 4: the ball all year, even last week the first half
Speaker 4: of that game. Those outside runs with a chan and
Speaker 4: then you can get some of the more inside power
Speaker 4: with most are like as good as Cheko is. And
Speaker 4: they can run the ball too, And I think that's
Speaker 4: probably a good way to attack Miami. I don't mind
Speaker 4: that for Miami, maybe taking a little bit of the
Speaker 4: air out of the ball. The Chiefs offense is so
Speaker 4: bad throwing the ball in good conditions, like, I don't
Speaker 4: know if they're going to be able to do anything
Speaker 4: in bad conditions. I almost trust the Dolphins a little
Speaker 4: bit more offensively.
Speaker 8: I really like that game plan eh Chan and Moster
Speaker 8: if you get a healthy version of mostart and and
Speaker 8: Mike McDaniel said that most are jail and Waddle and
Speaker 8: a flock of other guys would likely be questionable for
Speaker 8: this game.
Speaker 3: So but it sounds like they're playing.
Speaker 8: They'll play, and I guess, like for me, I feel like,
Speaker 8: if if Rahemo starts in there, he's in there and
Speaker 8: we're good, why not at least try that?
Speaker 5: Why not run the ball thirty five forty times?
Speaker 3: Might not have a choice. If weather it's that bad
Speaker 3: as a p I mean, that's what I'm saying. It
Speaker 3: could be. If it's wind and cold at that level
Speaker 3: that changes.
Speaker 5: Every It is also that weather for the Chiefs too.
Speaker 8: I know there's this assumption that like because it's the
Speaker 8: Miami Dolphins, like that they've all grown up since childhood
Speaker 8: and like South Beach, like they're all all these people
Speaker 8: are from all over the county and have played in
Speaker 8: different college systems and stuff. So it's like I think
Speaker 8: it's just an equalizer and like, I don't know, Tyreek
Speaker 8: Hill played in Kansas City for years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's like a big plays in cold weather.
Speaker 8: And I think it's a fascinating matchup because like no
Speaker 8: team knows Tyreek Hill better too, and so it's like
Speaker 8: what like what like Tyreek Hill has been the absolute
Speaker 8: separator and he's you know, his since he's been hurt,
Speaker 8: his production's been down, and the defense is so banged up.
Speaker 5: They've given up like seventy seven points or something in.
Speaker 4: The last two weeks.
Speaker 8: It's like, I'm fairly concerned about Miami's defense in general,
Speaker 8: but I don't know if I am against this Chiefs
Speaker 8: offense because they've been as plotting and like anti watchable
Speaker 8: as can be for weeks on end all season long.
Speaker 2: I think this is the game where you know who
Speaker 2: I do trust that will be able to make some throws.
Speaker 2: Not at the level of you know, peak because of
Speaker 2: the conditions and the fact that the offense is down,
Speaker 2: but I know Mahomes is going to make some plays
Speaker 2: in this game. And I think even despite a down
Speaker 2: year where he didn't even clear a thousand yards, Travis
Speaker 2: Kelcey has made big type plays in January and cold conditions.
Speaker 2: We just need a couple I think big plays from
Speaker 2: those two guys. It's time with pacego giving them a
Speaker 2: nice day on the ground and Kelsey and the red
Speaker 2: zone making a play or two, and I think that's
Speaker 2: what's gonna take for the bill. I'm gonna lock up
Speaker 2: the Chiefs here. I don't feel overly confident about it.
Speaker 2: But I don't feel overly confident about any team this week,
Speaker 2: which is why it's such a fun for wild Card weekend.
Speaker 2: I just don't imagine from what I've seen from Tua
Speaker 2: that this season ends with him delivering a big performance
Speaker 2: on the road against a very good Chiefs defense in
Speaker 2: terrible conditions, with his offensive skill players banged up. I
Speaker 2: think it's going to be potentially a reckoning for Tua
Speaker 2: after this game where people are asking big questions. And
Speaker 2: that's why I like the Chiefs in like a you know,
Speaker 2: sixteen to seven type game.
Speaker 8: I am one game behind you in the locks competition.
Speaker 8: I'm in last place, so it's like, why not just
Speaker 8: start throwing Hell, you're.
Speaker 4: Only one back with Ford No, no, no, no, the one
Speaker 4: you want.
Speaker 8: So like, what's the most exciting way to approach the
Speaker 8: Locks this weekend.
Speaker 4: If you're in last place.
Speaker 2: If I blow this, not only will Dolphins fans be
Speaker 2: giving me crow right, you and I will be tied.
Speaker 3: We will be tied weeks to play. And that sounds fun.
Speaker 8: And I also think it's like I'm I'm down on
Speaker 8: the Dolphins, you know.
Speaker 4: But that said, the weather aspect to this, Hey, it's just.
Speaker 2: Every level tua meltdown mode on the road in sub
Speaker 2: seventy degree whether minus seventy weather, you gotta do it.
Speaker 8: But this is like, so we're saying everyone thinks the
Speaker 8: Browns are gonna win, Like, I think it's just across
Speaker 8: the board people have written off Miami. Yeah, and and
Speaker 8: because of the conditions, because it's in Kansas City, Like
Speaker 8: it's just this assumption that Miami is going to go
Speaker 8: in and lay a giant egg and then I'm gonna
Speaker 8: lock up the Dolphins right now, that's a lot.
Speaker 5: I'm not switching out of it.
Speaker 3: Give me those fish, put them on ice.
Speaker 4: How about a little Jalen Ramsey on Travis Kelcey. You
Speaker 4: shut down the one Ramsey on Kelsey. Interesting. I think
Speaker 4: that's what the matchup that you'll see, So you can
Speaker 4: shut down the one decent player they had. I wouldn't
Speaker 4: watch that first game. They had a little bit too
Speaker 4: just and I was thinking it sounds crazy, but I
Speaker 4: actually think they need to break Cadarius Tony out of
Speaker 4: ice here. They have just no explosive ability at all.
Speaker 4: You just got to take your chances. You have no
Speaker 4: chance going the way you're going in the playoffs. Right,
Speaker 4: he's a little injured, and Donovan Smith might be back
Speaker 4: to their left tackle for the Chiefs. You know, Dolphins
Speaker 4: fans will point out, what are you gonna mention, We're
Speaker 4: the most injured defense in the world, like that is
Speaker 4: absolutely fair to point out Van Gingkle's that coming back, Chubb, Jals, Phillips,
Speaker 4: They're all we have talked, right, They're all not coming back.
Speaker 4: So that like the Chiefs in a real in a
Speaker 4: normal world, would be able to take advantage. Uh, Javon Holland,
Speaker 4: who's their great safety, has been out of practice. Zavian
Speaker 4: Howard is expected to miss this game. Jerome Baker, I
Speaker 4: believe they're they're starting linebackers expected to miss this game.
Speaker 4: I mean, they have backups everywhere on defense, so they
Speaker 4: are really asking a lot out of Vic fanjo in
Speaker 4: that scheme.
Speaker 5: It's a tough spot for you, Mark Old, I don't care.
Speaker 4: It just reminded me though that if you go back
Speaker 4: that seems so long ago that Germany game, the Chiefs
Speaker 4: offense has stunk since then they have been bad since
Speaker 4: The Dolphins are the pick and before I'm taking the
Speaker 4: Chiefs to win this game. By the way, their minus
Speaker 4: one or two twenty five the sixteen and.
Speaker 2: Two guys behind me too, Mark, if I'm not locking
Speaker 2: them up this I was thinking about it, but now
Speaker 2: that you guys are doing.
Speaker 3: This, forget. If this goes my way, yeah, you're in
Speaker 3: a lot of trouble.
Speaker 5: It will be the worst I've ever performed this.
Speaker 2: I believe that you guaranteed you would not finish in
Speaker 2: last this year. A few weeks back and you would
Speaker 2: be you'd be two down.
Speaker 4: It means you shouldn't do this pick, you know. But
Speaker 4: that's yeah, But.
Speaker 8: It's gonna look all the more rageous and heroic Dolphins
Speaker 8: surprise Kansas City. I have an immense amount of respect
Speaker 8: for you. Okay, well that matters to me too.
Speaker 4: I want to see too. Uh Now I'm now I'm
Speaker 4: rooting for the dogs. He's not get on the plane
Speaker 4: does to prove you wrong. He's very you know, he's
Speaker 4: great against the blitz and they blitz a lot.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe remember when like C. J.
Speaker 2: Mosley and others, they're like, it's Covid like I'm out,
Speaker 2: I'm opting out.
Speaker 3: I'll see you next year.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be getting on the plane and Tua is
Speaker 2: gonna be sitting in the locker room. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: just like in his chair and guy, come on, man,
Speaker 2: nah man, I'll see you in July. They'd be like,
Speaker 2: that's your choice. Who's the backup of the Dolphins? Mike
Speaker 2: White actually makes me nervous.
Speaker 4: One little footnote.
Speaker 8: I can't wait to see, like what Mike McDaniel is
Speaker 8: wearing in this weather, because.
Speaker 3: He's gonna want to wear something swaggy red.
Speaker 2: I know Reid's gonna be in a big puff. What's
Speaker 2: he gonna wear and he read's gonna be like a monster,
Speaker 2: like a literal red monster. And then you're gonna go
Speaker 2: over to McDaniels, who's gonna be like, you nailed it
Speaker 2: in a very tough spot because he wants to be swaggy.
Speaker 3: He wants his calf out.
Speaker 11: Remember, remember last year, he was walking around the practice
Speaker 11: facility in Miami's turning on the A C saying he
Speaker 11: wants to be colder.
Speaker 10: I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't think he's gonna be all right, I walk
Speaker 4: up the Dolphins. I don't think he's gonna be doing
Speaker 4: like he did. There's some stat they've lost ten straight
Speaker 4: under four forty degrees game, so this is well well
Speaker 4: under forty and.
Speaker 3: Dolphins vans will say it again.
Speaker 2: If I am wrong here, I will offer a detailed
Speaker 2: mia culpa on Sunday. That's my promise to you. But
Speaker 2: you better hope I'm wrong. All right, let's move on.
Speaker 2: This is the other game that I was thinking about.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are gonna be on this.
Speaker 2: When trying to figure out what is the quote unquote
Speaker 2: lock of the week the Pittsburgh Steelers, winners of three
Speaker 2: straight down the stretch to clinch a playoff, Berth travel
Speaker 2: to Buffalo to meet the Bills.
Speaker 3: Oh those bills? Can you put? Can you figure out
Speaker 3: what is going on with the Bills?
Speaker 2: Well, you know the desert, and the people that drive
Speaker 2: the numbers with the desert say, oh, this is gonna
Speaker 2: be a route.
Speaker 3: They got the.
Speaker 2: Bills by double digits, favored by ten in this game,
Speaker 2: it's the Nance Romo Woolson joint.
Speaker 3: Greggy and.
Speaker 2: The Bill obviously, with that win on Sunday night, went
Speaker 2: from waking up Sunday, are we even gonna make the playoffs?
Speaker 2: To the number two seeds? So they're set up well
Speaker 2: right here in their building. I don't like the weather
Speaker 2: I'm hearing at a western New York as well. Eric
Speaker 2: gets to me on that the heat lamps are gonna
Speaker 2: be on in the lows, which I do not like.
Speaker 2: It does not suit the people of that region, and
Speaker 2: I feel like it has a residual effect upon.
Speaker 11: Twenty five degrees guys, with the seventy percent chance of precipitation.
Speaker 5: And also in wet and high and like very wind.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, if it's twenty five, it's gonna snow, right,
Speaker 3: Is that.
Speaker 4: How it works? Well, they're saying, they're saying nine plus
Speaker 4: inches or maybe a lot of snow, but it would
Speaker 4: have come before the game. Who knows we have.
Speaker 3: I think I'm looking at a lot of overseas listeners.
Speaker 2: I don't think they use the fahrenheit, but no, they
Speaker 2: don't under thirty two.
Speaker 3: If the precipitations coming down. It ain't gonna be wet.
Speaker 4: Twenty five degrees in a tropical rate, noo is literally wet.
Speaker 3: Just saying, but win too, it's not gonna be wet.
Speaker 3: Why snow. I'm just saying it's probably gonna snow, right.
Speaker 4: Yes, uh, that would be great. All right.
Speaker 3: Imagine, let's talk to me, let's talk Raggie.
Speaker 2: What do we got on this one? Do you give
Speaker 2: the Steelers a fighting chance here?
Speaker 4: Well, that weather makes me think ten points is too much.
Speaker 4: That the wins could be twenty thirty forty miles an hour.
Speaker 4: That makes it too much because who's the better running
Speaker 4: team here? That The Bills have done a good job
Speaker 4: of late getting their running game going, But the Steelers
Speaker 4: have bunch have had a nice identity on offense ever
Speaker 4: since they they brought their first round pick into the lineup.
Speaker 4: And he, you know, the right tackle and he's just
Speaker 4: a big mauler and that's kind of who they've become.
Speaker 4: Last week was a naj Harris game, and I think
Speaker 4: you'll see some of that. But I also think you
Speaker 4: know you saw it last week against Dolphins, Jalen Warren
Speaker 4: getting to the outside of this Bills defense, and in
Speaker 4: bad weather, that's what they're gonna try to do. They
Speaker 4: don't have TJ. Watt. They're gonna try to you know,
Speaker 4: shorten the game and avoid you know, turnovers. And Sean
Speaker 4: McDermott is as wild the defensive coordinator right now as
Speaker 4: any in the league. Is creative every week. It's he's
Speaker 4: got these designer blitzes and you know, mixing their coverages
Speaker 4: and changing things after this that maybe more than any
Speaker 4: team in the NFL and very different than they used
Speaker 4: to be. The Bills, Like McDermott's done a great job.
Speaker 4: But the one way you kind of avoid all that
Speaker 4: is like if we can just hand the ball off
Speaker 4: and we can run And not to just sound like
Speaker 4: the simplistic, basic football guy, but that's what I think
Speaker 4: Mike Tomlin has got to think about it, that actually
Speaker 4: weaving our defense can can maybe force a couple of
Speaker 4: mistakes here and keep this thing close into the fourth court.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's like Pittsburgh's mission, hang around.
Speaker 4: Hang around.
Speaker 5: Buffalo has blown four fourth quarter leads this season. If
Speaker 5: you can if.
Speaker 8: The weather is chaotic and it reduces like explosive plays.
Speaker 5: For Buffalo, get them a little tight at the end.
Speaker 4: I think so too. You get into Buffalo's head. I
Speaker 4: like that. I think the TJ.
Speaker 8: Watt though absence, Uh, you know, there are certain players
Speaker 8: like this, like TJ.
Speaker 5: Watt's absence is immense.
Speaker 8: We're talking about stripping a defense of nineteen sacks, thirty
Speaker 8: six quarterback hits, and someone that could make life very
Speaker 8: dangerous for Josh Allen and someone who seems to always
Speaker 8: have a magic spell near the end of close games.
Speaker 8: So you're leaning a lot on Alex Highsmith, who's having
Speaker 8: a career year. Marcus Golden's gonna have to step up.
Speaker 8: Guys like Nick Herbig, Like You're gonna need to get
Speaker 8: pass rush. You're gonna need to be able to like
Speaker 8: contain that James Cook in the ground game too. I mean,
Speaker 8: I think like Buffalo when they get hot on the ground,
Speaker 8: Like James Cook has been a big difference maker outside
Speaker 8: of the drops, which have been a problem. But I
Speaker 8: see a game right now like then in this weather
Speaker 8: that is low scoring. I think, like, I don't know
Speaker 8: if the spread changes because of what the weather situation is,
Speaker 8: but ten feels a little rich.
Speaker 4: The over under is down to thirty five, which means
Speaker 4: like they're projecting a twenty five to fifteen score, like
Speaker 4: it's hard to win. I don't know that.
Speaker 5: I don't know if someone's scoring twenty five points in
Speaker 5: this but you never.
Speaker 2: Know so And this is important to keep in mind too,
Speaker 2: because it was a nice finished by the Steelers, but
Speaker 2: they beat the Ravens backups in the rain in Week eighteen,
Speaker 2: and when you look at their greater season, verst on
Speaker 2: Mason Rudolph as the quarterback of this team been good.
Speaker 2: With all due respect, it's you know, they had a
Speaker 2: minus twenty point differential in twenty twenty three that is
Speaker 2: obviously the worst among all playoffs. All playoff teams, there
Speaker 2: are four teams This is from the research team to
Speaker 2: make the playoffs of the minus twenty point differential or
Speaker 2: worse since twenty eighteen, which seems a little high. By
Speaker 2: the way, all three of those teams lost in the
Speaker 2: wild card round, including the Steelers in twenty one. And
Speaker 2: that doesn't necessarily mean this team will go down to
Speaker 2: but I do think this team has a defined ceiling
Speaker 2: and I think the only thing that saves them, honestly
Speaker 2: is the Bills doing what the Bills have done this year.
Speaker 2: Shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly. But if they play
Speaker 2: a smart kind of discipline brand of Bills football, I
Speaker 2: don't think this game is close. I think they do
Speaker 2: cover the spread, and I think they find a way
Speaker 2: to put points on the board.
Speaker 3: So I feel pretty good about the Bills.
Speaker 8: The only thing though, like I get the minus twenties
Speaker 8: scoring differential and a lot of that. You know, the
Speaker 8: tracks through a lot of bad offense for Pittsburgh, Like
Speaker 8: they've been a different offense passing wise with Rudolph.
Speaker 5: I don't know how that.
Speaker 4: Transits is Matt Canada, even if you're throwing the Trubisky numbers.
Speaker 4: I think their offense is top ten success rate since
Speaker 4: getting rid of Canada because they've had a good running
Speaker 4: game there. We always say, well, yeah, Mike Tomlin, great coach,
Speaker 4: Like he's a defensive coach. Cany gummy it up. You've
Speaker 4: got Joey Porter, Like they've changed their team since they
Speaker 4: started playing Joey Porter junior at as a starter. It's
Speaker 4: kind of crazy they weren't for so long because now
Speaker 4: now he's not only a starter, he travels and there's
Speaker 4: very few quarterbacks that do this with the opposing team's
Speaker 4: best receiver the whole game, So him versus Diggs, how
Speaker 4: physical that will be? Like, that's fun. They have another rookie,
Speaker 4: Kanu Betten who's been really good inside. Can he he
Speaker 4: gets some pressure up the middle? You got herbig you
Speaker 4: mentioned will probably replace TJ. Whitte, So they have some
Speaker 4: young players. They're also possibly getting their two starting safeties back.
Speaker 4: I mean that seems like it's a big deal. Minka
Speaker 4: fitz Patrick is practicing. Demonta key Z remember was suspended
Speaker 4: for that hit against Michael Pittman. He is back for
Speaker 4: this game. And they're important because the Bills love throwing
Speaker 4: to their tight ends and their running backs and that
Speaker 4: those are the types of players that you have on them.
Speaker 4: So to me, I think it's just like it's all
Speaker 4: Josh Allen. If Josh Allen is ready to just go
Speaker 4: on a magical tour like it's twenty one, then he's
Speaker 4: gotta be fine. But if he's doing some crazy stuff
Speaker 4: like last week, he won't be. And I just like
Speaker 4: that he runs so much more at the end of
Speaker 4: the season.
Speaker 9: He did.
Speaker 4: Remember he did this as a rookie. It changed their
Speaker 4: mind about who he was. He did this in twenty
Speaker 4: one and then the last two weeks are the highest
Speaker 4: he's run in terms of rushing attempts all season. That's
Speaker 4: not by mistake. It's like end of the year, it's
Speaker 4: go time, and that's what I want to see out of.
Speaker 8: I think Fitzpatrick makes a big difference for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh
Speaker 8: leads the league in red zone takeaways. The Bills get
Speaker 8: a little funky in the red zone sometimes. But I
Speaker 8: would ask you this, when is the last playoff game
Speaker 8: we've ever seen between two teams that both fire their
Speaker 8: offensive coordinators mid season.
Speaker 4: That is a rarity.
Speaker 3: Let us the.
Speaker 2: Nineteen eighty seven Redskins against the Bronco There you go, unbelievable.
Speaker 3: To see both those teams thrive that way?
Speaker 4: All right? Lines minus four eighty five by the way,
Speaker 4: getting that in there, and yes, this would be the
Speaker 4: obvious lock. It seems unsporting, but this would be right gutless.
Speaker 3: All right, let's uh keep moving. Uh.
Speaker 2: This is my favorite game of the week, the one
Speaker 2: that I'm most excited for.
Speaker 3: And to circle back because I even though I.
Speaker 2: Do like Stroud a lot, the Texans never really grabbed
Speaker 2: me this year. Don't really love the AFC South In
Speaker 2: Houston's backstory. I wish the Packers in retrospect he spoke
Speaker 2: about more as a team of atn.
Speaker 4: But we almost sked them at one.
Speaker 2: Yes, because that this is a team that fascinates me
Speaker 2: with a young on the rise quarterback in the post
Speaker 2: Rogers era, going to Dallas, where man, it is all
Speaker 2: all the pressure is on the Cowboys in this game.
Speaker 2: This is a game that's going to be played at
Speaker 2: four point thirty PM Sunday. And I think about the
Speaker 2: two thousand World Series was Mets versus Yankees, and there
Speaker 2: was so much pressure on the Yankees.
Speaker 3: They had to win. They could not lose.
Speaker 2: George Steinberger was gonna fire everybody if they lost to
Speaker 2: the Mets. So when they finally won, all those players
Speaker 2: are like, it was just that. We weren't even excited,
Speaker 2: were just relieved that it was over. That's how you
Speaker 2: That's how I see the Cowboys this week, like we
Speaker 2: have to win this game. Like if we don't win
Speaker 2: this game, we could we could get fired, we could
Speaker 2: lose our jobs. Like let's listen to Jerry Jones, the
Speaker 2: owner of the Cowboys, after a huge Cowboys season as
Speaker 2: Division champion, talking about his head coach Mike McCarthy and
Speaker 2: where he stands about his future.
Speaker 9: Coach McCarthy's under contract for next year and so that's
Speaker 9: not an issue. Secondly, I couldn't be more with what
Speaker 9: he's done and how he's coached now. Apart from sitting
Speaker 9: down and going over the daily receipts and going over
Speaker 9: the detail of everything we do out there, I don't
Speaker 9: know how you can answer a question any different to that.
Speaker 9: I certainly haven't sat down to here right in the
Speaker 9: middle of the playoffs and started talking to him about
Speaker 9: something like a contract or something like that. Why would
Speaker 9: you do that?
Speaker 2: So here's what I think. That's that's Shannon r. J
Speaker 2: on one O five to three fan. This is what
Speaker 2: I think, Greg. I think Zaddy, Oh, Zaddy is out
Speaker 2: if they lose this game. I think Zaddy's out. If
Speaker 2: they win this game and get blown out next week,
Speaker 2: I think they either have to make the NFC title
Speaker 2: game or at least have a good fight in the
Speaker 2: division round loss. But if they lose this game, after
Speaker 2: everything they've been through, after all the hype around this team,
Speaker 2: after stealing the division from Philly, I just I'm just
Speaker 2: I guess I'm making the point in a very long
Speaker 2: winding way, that there has to be some tightness around
Speaker 2: this team potentially going into this game, and the fact
Speaker 2: that they're playing a very good, on the rise Green
Speaker 2: Bay team doesn't take it any easier.
Speaker 4: Not at all. Like that quote we just heard from
Speaker 4: Jerry Jones was him trying to walk back these comments
Speaker 4: he had made. I think it was over the weekend
Speaker 4: before their week E team game where he's like, well,
Speaker 4: we'll see how each game goes with someone and he's
Speaker 4: like and then afterwards he's like, Oh, I'm surprised that
Speaker 4: became such a big deal. It's like, I thought everyone knew.
Speaker 4: I like firing guys based on one game sample size it.
Speaker 4: I think it doesn't make sense because they've proven that
Speaker 4: they can win consistently under Mike McCarthy and they never
Speaker 4: were able to do that before in the entire Jerry
Speaker 4: Jones era, since Jerry Johnson, Jimmy Johnson, and like that
Speaker 4: deserves some credit. That said seven and a half point
Speaker 4: favorites here, you know, minus three sixty. If they lost,
Speaker 4: it would feel terrible, and it would feel especially terrible
Speaker 4: against a Green Bay Packers team that's sort of everything
Speaker 4: that the Cowboys aren't right now, which is a surprise
Speaker 4: and incredibly young and no expectations. And I think the
Speaker 4: Cowboys defense and Dan Quinn is out there as a
Speaker 4: possible head coach in a lot of places, including Seattle.
Speaker 4: Like they've been giving up a lot of yards in
Speaker 4: the second half of this season, and Jordan Love, to me,
Speaker 4: has shown in the second half of this season he
Speaker 4: can beat you no matter how you attack him. Like,
Speaker 4: if you want to play it safe, he'll take what
Speaker 4: you give him. If you're too aggressive, he'll hurt you deep.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I mean we talked about it last week that since
Speaker 8: Week eight, you're looking at a quarterback with an eighteen
Speaker 8: to one touchdown to interception ratio. I mean, he's been pristine,
Speaker 8: Jordan Love, and he's growing weekly. What I also really
Speaker 8: love about this offense right now is that the return
Speaker 8: of Aaron Jones and who Aaron Jones is right now
Speaker 8: for them.
Speaker 4: Has been huge.
Speaker 8: He has led the league in rushing since Week sixteen
Speaker 8: and the Cowboys, and we saw this against the Bills,
Speaker 8: We've seen in other spots. Week fifteen, they're allowing one
Speaker 8: hundred and sixty point seven yards rushing per game, So
Speaker 8: you can run on them, and as dangerous as Micah
Speaker 8: Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence are and the potential of wreaking
Speaker 8: havoc on Jordan Love. There are ways to attack this defense,
Speaker 8: and we've seen it tangibly over a number of weeks.
Speaker 8: I mean, I think the question comes down to beyond
Speaker 8: like Rashaun Gary, like the Joe Berry defense for green
Speaker 8: Bay has been better the last couple of weeks, but
Speaker 8: that's against the Vikings.
Speaker 4: They played the Bears.
Speaker 8: How do you there's another world where the Cowboys just
Speaker 8: simply explode and terrorise this defense.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm curious, because I think this game can
Speaker 2: go one of two ways. The Cowboys score in their
Speaker 2: first three possessions and they're off and running, and green
Speaker 2: Bay is left after the season frustrated that Barry once
Speaker 2: again has let them down and they have big changes
Speaker 2: to make on side of that ball. But the other
Speaker 2: side is what I said that there's maybe a little
Speaker 2: tightness with the Cowboys and you're playing a Packers team.
Speaker 2: This is a bad combination. A young, fast rising green
Speaker 2: Bay quarterback on a team playing with house money. I
Speaker 2: don't like the matchup for the Cowboys, and I think
Speaker 2: I'll pick the Cowboys just because the talent difference is substantial.
Speaker 2: They are a more balanced team, and I have a
Speaker 2: lot of respect for the bounce back year that Dak
Speaker 2: has had and how amazing Cede Lamba has been and
Speaker 2: Ferguson's a playmaker, and Hollard maybe finding his way here
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. We'll see Brandon Cook stepping up in
Speaker 2: recent weeks and becoming a real guy again. So I'm
Speaker 2: picking the Cowboys, but I would not be shocked at
Speaker 2: all if this is what we're talking at leading our
Speaker 2: precap on Sunday, the Cowboys getting picked up right.
Speaker 4: The Packers plus seven and a half is my I
Speaker 4: think my favorite I'm not gonna go rain makeer an it,
Speaker 4: but my favorite line of the week, just that this
Speaker 4: comes down to the end. Seven and a half feels
Speaker 4: too much. The Cowboys are the minus three sixty in
Speaker 4: terms of the money line, because maybe I'm falling for
Speaker 4: the banana and the tailpipe, but the Packers defense has
Speaker 4: shown something in the last few weeks. And then you're
Speaker 4: you're reminded, oh, yeah, these plays are good, Like they
Speaker 4: should be better. I know they're not well coached, but
Speaker 4: like they dominated the Bears because Wyatt and Rashaun Gary
Speaker 4: and Kenny Clark were all winning and not many defensive
Speaker 4: lines have won against this Cowboys offensive line, and they
Speaker 4: probably won't, but that gives them a chance. And I
Speaker 4: expect at this point Jordan Love to score points. I
Speaker 4: expect this to be a really high scoring game. He
Speaker 4: is the number one ranked PFF passer since Week eleven.
Speaker 4: He is number one in the NFL in terms of
Speaker 4: big time throws since then, and when I watch MA,
Speaker 4: I just can't believe he's this good because it's it's everything.
Speaker 4: It's the brains. I think he's got good eyes of
Speaker 4: where he looks and goes through his reads. It's the
Speaker 4: decision making in terms of sometimes he's aggressive, sometimes he's not.
Speaker 4: And it's obviously the the ability, and it's the surrounding
Speaker 4: to Dontavian Wicks. We've reached now the playoffs, and I
Speaker 4: don't think this is even a hot take. Christian Watson
Speaker 4: is to me their third best receiver moving forward. He's
Speaker 4: obviously the third or fourth.
Speaker 5: Right now and he's been unavailable.
Speaker 4: But like Dantavian Wicks is a real dude, Like he's
Speaker 4: done enough to me where he is a quality starting
Speaker 4: receiver in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Jaden Reed is a real dude.
Speaker 4: Whichever tight end is in there, Muskrave or Croft are great.
Speaker 4: And it's kind of crazy that they did this all
Speaker 4: in one year. Guta Kunz should be winning these Executive
Speaker 4: of the Year awards. I think get a little pop
Speaker 4: for it. Staying with Jordan Love all these years, even
Speaker 4: the contract they give and then this class is just
Speaker 4: it's crazy. I expect them to put up like twenty
Speaker 4: five thirty points and this just just be awesome. I
Speaker 4: like the Cowboys to win, but I love it will
Speaker 4: be thirty one. Yeah, exactly, something like that. It reminds
Speaker 4: me of that game I went to back in the day,
Speaker 4: Dak's rookie year, Aaron Rodgers versus Dak winning on the road.
Speaker 4: I think that was thirty five thirty one with Rogers
Speaker 4: with one of his classic You're finishes.
Speaker 2: No, Aaron Rodgers is the media conspiracist. He's he's not
Speaker 2: an actual player.
Speaker 4: He was great back then, Richard Rodgers. I remember the
Speaker 4: sideline he was running on the sideline that was I
Speaker 4: was remember the East that sent me the games.
Speaker 5: I don't I kind of I kind of liked it
Speaker 5: this game.
Speaker 12: And Rogers on TV is a lie.
Speaker 4: I know it's about what he says on TV.
Speaker 8: Okay, he like I guess in theory, if you're a
Speaker 8: Packers fan, you'd want to have to have a team
Speaker 8: come into green Bay and play in terrible weather and stuff.
Speaker 8: But for the way that this offense is, I kind
Speaker 8: of like green Bay going to Dallas and putting up
Speaker 8: a ton of points. Their fourth the four highest point
Speaker 8: totals this year of all come on the road. But
Speaker 8: I mean, you can't ignore like what Dallas has been
Speaker 8: at home, and I I I don't really share your suspicion, Dan,
Speaker 8: the Dallas is gonna stumble here. I think next week
Speaker 8: that's very much a possibility and probability. I I they've
Speaker 8: had three hundred and seventy seven yards at least in
Speaker 8: every home game.
Speaker 5: They've blown people's doors off at home.
Speaker 8: Uh, they have outscored their opponents by one hundred and
Speaker 8: seventy two points at home. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 8: high scoring. I think there's gonna be it's gonna go
Speaker 8: right down to the end. But I got Dallas winning
Speaker 8: it in overtime.
Speaker 4: Ah, you got it in overtime. They're literally tied at
Speaker 4: the end of regulation, So you're you're kind of agreen,
Speaker 4: you just.
Speaker 8: Yeah, But I just I think, like I don't I
Speaker 8: think that the next level is Dallas, Like Dallas falls
Speaker 8: apart and look and Mike McCarthy's fired the next one.
Speaker 8: I don't flur like, yeah, crushes and picking on those
Speaker 8: I don't see that happening.
Speaker 2: It's already again that you're hearing the whispers. Dan Quinn's
Speaker 2: going to be the head coach if he loses this game.
Speaker 2: Zaddy's out, So Zaddy.
Speaker 8: I one question, do you think that if you're Jerry Jones,
Speaker 8: because you did this with Parcels, is there a little
Speaker 8: bug in the mind of like, oh, if I get
Speaker 8: rid of Zaddy, Bill Belichick coming to coach the Cowboys
Speaker 8: a set to go roster, you don't have to worry
Speaker 8: about the GM thing because I kind of end the GM.
Speaker 8: I can work with Bill. I respect Bill, I respect
Speaker 8: Bill Parcells Tree, I.
Speaker 2: Respect that you're going down this road. Uh, the idea
Speaker 2: of Jerah and Bill working together, I guess jerro worked
Speaker 2: with Parcels.
Speaker 8: And Bill Bill, but Bill isn't. Yeah, but Bill Parcells
Speaker 8: was paying off his divorced. He did that, so he
Speaker 8: did also Bill, No, I'm saying Jerry Jones didn't like it.
Speaker 5: He clear he was not that. He also didn't want
Speaker 5: to be a Bill.
Speaker 2: Also, I could see Belichick being like, I want to
Speaker 2: go to Dallas to do what Parcels failed to do,
Speaker 2: win a win a chip, go.
Speaker 5: Back to the NFC where you can face face off
Speaker 5: against the Giants.
Speaker 4: You're gonna go.
Speaker 3: Carolina poopoo this. I'm gonna indulge on this one. I
Speaker 3: like it.
Speaker 5: It's like it's like NFL.
Speaker 8: It's like the NFL dream scenario always and Bill Belichick.
Speaker 4: It would be great, I think for for Bill Belichick.
Speaker 4: I just don't think Jerry Jones would would want I
Speaker 4: don't think Bill would want to work for Jerry Jones
Speaker 4: like I did.
Speaker 3: None of it, all right? That, Oh well, the Zoo.
Speaker 4: Yeah, guys, before we get too far away.
Speaker 3: Just the game up.
Speaker 12: Now.
Speaker 4: By the way, what do you mean the Zoo is
Speaker 4: four games back? Let's throw off those standings again. You
Speaker 4: we saw you know, concerned that I know, but that
Speaker 4: the listener would not know. Five games back. We don't
Speaker 4: need to look at we're showing this lock standing.
Speaker 3: All right, Greg, the floor is yours going.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying the listeners probably wouldn't wouldn't know he's watched.
Speaker 3: I almost completed the sentence, but not quite.
Speaker 4: Eleven and seven for the Westbros, ten and eight for Dan,
Speaker 4: and nine and nine.
Speaker 2: I have one game back of second place, which matters
Speaker 2: a lot to me. The actual standings are sixteen and
Speaker 2: two for Rosenthal, he's clinched everything West eleven and seven,
Speaker 2: Ozer ten and eight and Mark nine and nine with
Speaker 2: a huge lock off to.
Speaker 8: By the way, it's not it's it's not easy to
Speaker 8: come in last, and I don't buy that. Don't mean
Speaker 8: that it's unfortunate or it feels bad. It takes skill
Speaker 8: to lose as many of these as I'm losing. From
Speaker 8: another point of view, sure, I know Greg doesn't agree.
Speaker 4: With that, but it's I you're not. I see what
Speaker 4: you're saying, because you're not trying to lose. If you
Speaker 4: were trying to lose, I think that would be easy.
Speaker 3: I would say it's almost well true. It's equally as.
Speaker 2: Difficult, I think, to your point to go sixteen and
Speaker 2: two as it is to go like eight and ten
Speaker 2: or eight and eleven.
Speaker 4: Equal skill set.
Speaker 8: Yeah, like in terms of reg and I are have
Speaker 8: showed an equal amount of skill this season.
Speaker 2: All right, the zoo, what do we got like in
Speaker 2: terms of likelihood? It's right, that's all I'm saying that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, here you go, guys, this is the zoo.
Speaker 4: There.
Speaker 12: Good afternoon, gentlemen from Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: What is happening?
Speaker 12: This is what the common men have to do.
Speaker 13: We have to take time out from our busy schedule
Speaker 13: do a video shoot back by the dumpsters. We're not
Speaker 13: in our Armani suits that are paid for by the NFL.
Speaker 13: That's from Taylor. This is real men work.
Speaker 2: The real men this week are gonna be sitting at
Speaker 2: a dumpsters.
Speaker 13: The Packers have had a good run, but it's gonna
Speaker 13: come to an end. Love Jordan Love, but he doesn't
Speaker 13: have enough to match the firepower of the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 12: I really wanted to.
Speaker 13: Take Tampa Bay, but I didn't have the guts in
Speaker 13: the end, So we're gonna go with the easy pick,
Speaker 13: Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 12: Lock it up. By the way, why are we playing
Speaker 12: for second?
Speaker 2: I think taking the idea of common man uh to
Speaker 2: the extreme now by just sitting in a dumpster. That
Speaker 2: what a common man is I don't know a man
Speaker 2: that sits in a dumpster in an alley.
Speaker 8: Like a welder's apron on or something. I don't know
Speaker 8: if I guess that's I'm not sure what his what
Speaker 8: his day job is. He Yeah, he hit us up
Speaker 8: on he runs a restaurant. Well, so it looks like a.
Speaker 3: A I thought he was gonna pull the metal like
Speaker 3: face mask down.
Speaker 8: He attacked us on text about a week ago about
Speaker 8: the nature of our common man's standings. And I have
Speaker 8: to say I don't really disagree with some of his
Speaker 8: major points.
Speaker 3: He's got some very strong takes about common men. And
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: He put I think West right in the middle of
Speaker 2: the Westling pack, and he put himself at the top.
Speaker 3: I believe did he put himself at the top.
Speaker 8: Well, he allowed his brothers to chime in with some
Speaker 8: rankings too, but and then they just started sniping.
Speaker 4: He put you at the bottom that I remember of
Speaker 4: what his common man rankings. That was what he said
Speaker 4: in terms of who in terms of his rankings with
Speaker 4: you guys, that's what guys with the jewelsy, he said.
Speaker 4: Wes Wes Long said that too.
Speaker 8: I didn't walk around like saying I think also Wes Long.
Speaker 3: Said that what are you talking about?
Speaker 4: You even responded to that text? You said, Well, you
Speaker 4: must have been joking. Wes Long said that that's what
Speaker 4: he said. That was I'm just quoting that the text
Speaker 4: you were you responded to, that's all, but don't you
Speaker 4: And he was trying to get you going and and
Speaker 4: it worked apparently.
Speaker 8: I think he was trying to need But like everyone
Speaker 8: has a different like pov on what like, no one
Speaker 8: was agreen what a common man is. So it's just
Speaker 8: like you're gonna you were, You're atop your own rankings,
Speaker 8: each of us individually, because you fulfilled I.
Speaker 2: Only saw Wes is my only competition as a common
Speaker 2: man in this world.
Speaker 4: Well, that's finally right.
Speaker 8: That doesn't mean we have to agree to that.
Speaker 2: That was where I came down on it. And the
Speaker 2: Westling brothers they existed in their own realm in the
Speaker 2: western side of Cincinnati, which I mean the man was
Speaker 2: just sitting in a dumpster.
Speaker 4: I think there.
Speaker 8: I think they fulfill many of the boxes to be
Speaker 8: checked in the common man rankings.
Speaker 3: I agree, Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break and when we get
Speaker 2: back we'll hit the rest of the games and a
Speaker 2: couple other items and then we're out of here.
Speaker 3: All right, Welcome back.
Speaker 2: It is time for the Game of the Week presented
Speaker 2: by Draft Kings. We are going through the wild card
Speaker 2: weekend and this is a banger, indeed worthy of Game
Speaker 2: of the Week.
Speaker 3: Rams at Lions.
Speaker 2: It is the first ever home playoff game at Ford Field,
Speaker 2: uh and the Lions are given three point three points
Speaker 2: to the Rams. And I think everybody knows it by now.
Speaker 2: It's is the Tarrico Collinsworth game. By the way, everyone
Speaker 2: knows the The overall big narrative points here that it's
Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford of the Rams playing against the team that
Speaker 2: once drafted him first overall, and it is Jared Goff
Speaker 2: playing against the Rams, the team that once drafted him
Speaker 2: first overall. So you have that nice setup and it's
Speaker 2: gonna be I think a party in Detroit now is
Speaker 2: going to be a winning party. That is I think
Speaker 2: legitimately fair to wonder because the Rams should not be
Speaker 2: seen as a pushover. But that place is gonna be rocking.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's gonna be a better atmosphere on
Speaker 2: this first round of the playoffs than Detroit.
Speaker 4: I don't think there has been all season. To me,
Speaker 4: they are the best home crowd in the NFL. I
Speaker 4: love them. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 8: You know the Rams are rested they I think that helps.
Speaker 8: Like the Lions forced to play obviously in Week eighteen
Speaker 8: and you lose Sam Laporta and it sounds like arrow
Speaker 8: up on him improving, But I don't know sure he'll play.
Speaker 8: We're not sure how healthy he'll be. He had a
Speaker 8: hyper extended knee. That doesn't sound like a real joy ride.
Speaker 8: I think this is a like if we think the
Speaker 8: Cowboys Packers is going to be high scoring.
Speaker 5: I see that in this I really do.
Speaker 8: I feel like one little thing that I like doing
Speaker 8: some study was that Sean McVay is four and one.
Speaker 8: I think Detroit's defense is obviously vulnerable. Their secondary is vulnerable.
Speaker 8: We know that Sean McVay is four and one as
Speaker 8: a head coach versus Aaron Glenn coached defenses with twenty
Speaker 8: six plus points in all five of those games. And
Speaker 8: I think that kind of stuff matters because it's the
Speaker 8: same scheme. And it's like, I think that we already
Speaker 8: know that if you study up on Detroit if you're
Speaker 8: McVay that the Lions like are going to give up points.
Speaker 4: I do remember this matchup in twenty twenty one now
Speaker 4: that the Lions were in the middle of their long
Speaker 4: losing streak to start Jared Goff's run. I think how
Speaker 4: many day lose straight to start ten something like that.
Speaker 4: And the Rams. We had this sort of storyline back
Speaker 4: then because it was GoF Re turning to La and
Speaker 4: it's interesting now two years later to even and they
Speaker 4: didn't make GoF look great in that game. He had
Speaker 4: a couple of interceptions. It was close for a while,
Speaker 4: but then the Rams pulled away and one it was
Speaker 4: interesting to hear McVeigh talking about it now, even with
Speaker 4: a few more years removed, like how completely regretful he
Speaker 4: is about how he handled everything there, that he basically
Speaker 4: didn't feel like he handled the human side of it
Speaker 4: with Jared Goff at all, and that he's like mature
Speaker 4: and that he essentially he was too focused on his
Speaker 4: obsession with winning and getting to the Super Bowl and
Speaker 4: all this stuff, and that he's grown up from it.
Speaker 4: I don't think Jared Goff has really forgiven him for
Speaker 4: any of that, And so like this is a true
Speaker 4: revenge game. It's more for Jared Goff than anything, because
Speaker 4: what a moment it would be for him, the supposed
Speaker 4: throw in, the supposed guy that actually you have to
Speaker 4: take Jared Goff to get him off our books, to
Speaker 4: make this trade work and for him to find a
Speaker 4: way to win because because yeah, of course, no one
Speaker 4: thinks he's as good a quarterback as Stafford. But these
Speaker 4: two teams are really mirror images when you look at
Speaker 4: the numbers and what they're good at, in that they're
Speaker 4: a top five to six offense, in that they're a
Speaker 4: middle to lower the pack trying to be oper new
Speaker 4: opportunistic defense, and Goff is at the head of that.
Speaker 4: Now he has a great play color, but he had
Speaker 4: one in La too. I think he's gotten better. I
Speaker 4: think the Rams are gonna want to move him off
Speaker 4: the spot. There's no secret like interior pressure. And what
Speaker 4: team is better suited to provide some interior pressure against
Speaker 4: a good offensive line than Aaron Donald and my defensive
Speaker 4: rookie of the year, Kobe Turner. Is he your conductor?
Speaker 3: You gave him the first place.
Speaker 4: I did give him the first place.
Speaker 3: Yeah, wow, interesting.
Speaker 4: I think he has a chance to win it. Actually,
Speaker 4: I mean he led all rookies by far in sacks
Speaker 4: in the second half. His name everything was ten days.
Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford passing to Cooper Cup and Pooka Nakua against
Speaker 2: Detroit's defense.
Speaker 3: That is going to be.
Speaker 2: He does walker and he set rookie records obviously with
Speaker 2: catches and receiving yards and defense past defense for Detroit,
Speaker 2: fair to wonder like if are they gonna be able
Speaker 2: to handle that? They gave up nearly two hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty yards through the air per game last season that
Speaker 2: was near the bottom of the league. And listen, is
Speaker 2: there a reality where Stafford goes nuts with those two guys?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and then it puts the heat on GoF.
Speaker 2: I think Stafford is the more physically talented player than
Speaker 2: Jared Goff.
Speaker 3: I agree with what you were saying that they're not
Speaker 3: the same type of player.
Speaker 2: But if GoF gets into one of those grooves, he's
Speaker 2: as productive and as good as any quarterback. And the
Speaker 2: question is will he be able to do that? If
Speaker 2: Sam Laporta doesn't play, losing the tight end to that
Speaker 2: knee injury. What is his latest status?
Speaker 4: By the way, I mean, well, I think they were
Speaker 4: saying he was very unlikely to play this week.
Speaker 8: Campbell says, sounds right. Every day he said, every day,
Speaker 8: we're gonna do more with him. He's improving, but it's
Speaker 8: gonna come right down to the end. And again it's like,
Speaker 8: is he out there? Is like a real threat? Is
Speaker 8: he a d'coy if he's on the field.
Speaker 4: And that's where GoF wins though, And that's the thing
Speaker 4: with this as great as this offense is, and I
Speaker 4: think they'll be able to run the ball against the Rams.
Speaker 4: The Lion's actually their numbers and they're big and beefy
Speaker 4: up front. Like they stopped the run pretty well, which
Speaker 4: is important against this Rams team, one of the best
Speaker 4: running attacks in the NFL. But when they went in
Speaker 4: the passing game, it's over the middle of the field.
Speaker 4: And I always watch with him, it's just like, man,
Speaker 4: if you took one part out, are they gonna be okay?
Speaker 4: And this is a good test of it because they
Speaker 4: rely so much on Saint Brown and Laporta and they
Speaker 4: just want that little extra like speed juice, and it's
Speaker 4: they wanted it to be. Jamison Williams he missed the
Speaker 4: last week's game, but he should be returning this week,
Speaker 4: which is great because they lost kleef Raman to injury.
Speaker 4: He's usually that speed. Like they really could use winning
Speaker 4: something on the outside, because that's where the Rams to me,
Speaker 4: are vulnerable. They are not like a great second. They've
Speaker 4: had some miscommunications. They can give up big plays on
Speaker 4: the outside. And I think keep an eye on Jamison
Speaker 4: Williams maybe having a bit of a breakout game.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And like am On Ross Saint Brown, who is
Speaker 8: just the like eternally underrated, has had eleven hundred plus
Speaker 8: yards against zone coverage and the Rams play a very
Speaker 8: high percentage of zones, So it's like there're I just
Speaker 8: I kind of feel like the vision I have of
Speaker 8: this game is like one of the two quarterbacks is
Speaker 8: going to make a critical error in the final minutes
Speaker 8: in game over I just have I just get a
Speaker 8: sense that one of these two quarterbacks is heading towards
Speaker 8: a fateful conclusion.
Speaker 4: Wow, I uh, the over unders fifty one here, the
Speaker 4: Lions are minus one sixty six to win. And yet
Speaker 4: I just think this Rams team is playing so well
Speaker 4: at the end of the season, as as well coached
Speaker 4: as Ben Johnson and their offenses. To me, Dan Campbell
Speaker 4: talked about biting neecaps and making this team tough upfront,
Speaker 4: and they certainly are on the offensive line and they
Speaker 4: can stop the run. But this Rams team is sneaky
Speaker 4: tough too. They are physical, mauling running game. You have
Speaker 4: that plus Matthew Stafford. To me, that is tough to stop.
Speaker 4: And I'm gonna lock up the Rams on the road
Speaker 4: pretty gutsy.
Speaker 5: Well not when you've clinched them. Yeah, well no.
Speaker 8: But I mean I think, like if I think Dan
Speaker 8: knows how, but I know Greg wants to continue to
Speaker 8: compile like an incredible.
Speaker 4: Right I do. But at this point, no, I mean.
Speaker 2: And also with Rams front office officials, he's working his
Speaker 2: game with him too.
Speaker 4: No, I mean, I'm definitely rooting for the Rams in
Speaker 4: this game. These are the two teams I'd most like
Speaker 4: to win the Super Bowl though, of all the teams
Speaker 4: in the playoffs. So if the Rams.
Speaker 2: Literally you have a personal connection to the Rams, it's
Speaker 2: your sure daughter loves the team.
Speaker 4: Right yeah, Amica, my wife as well. I'm definitely getting
Speaker 4: on board the front. But if they lost, the Lions
Speaker 4: are the team I'd most want to win the Super
Speaker 4: Bowl too, So I like them, But I kind of
Speaker 4: do think they are playing their very best right now,
Speaker 4: and not that the Lions would fill another good game, sure,
Speaker 4: but I think they can get.
Speaker 2: It another good game. I think it's a coin flip game.
Speaker 2: I got the Lions. Let's go thirty to twenty seven.
Speaker 2: But yeah, these are tough games to pick this week.
Speaker 2: And you know, if the Rams win, that means our
Speaker 2: buddy J. B. Long goes deeply good playoffs as well.
Speaker 2: Ricky Hollywood, Ricky Hollywood maybe go into the game. I
Speaker 2: think she gets any gwap for that, a little little cheddar,
Speaker 2: you get a Super Bowl ring if they make it
Speaker 2: all the way I.
Speaker 8: Mean, knowing the way that you know Ricky fashions these contracts.
Speaker 8: I'm sure there's there's something going on there.
Speaker 1: Download the Draft King sports Book up now and use
Speaker 1: code at N. New customers can bet us five bucks
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Speaker 3: The crown is yours, all right.
Speaker 2: The last game of Wildcard excuse me, Super wild Card
Speaker 2: Weekend is the free falling out and done nothing Philadelphia
Speaker 2: Eagles traveling to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaners, the
Speaker 2: Buccaneers the NFC South champions, and being the NFC South champion.
Speaker 2: It don't mean much because it's not a good division,
Speaker 2: but you know what it does mean. It does mean
Speaker 2: you host a playoff game and going nine to eight.
Speaker 3: Beats going eleven and six.
Speaker 2: The way the playoffs are set up, so you have
Speaker 2: the obvious storyline here is really around the Eagles.
Speaker 3: They're the defending conference champion.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 2: They were ten and one in December at one and
Speaker 2: then just completely flatlined finishing eleven and six, blowing.
Speaker 3: The NFC East.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 2: There's idea and speculation about dysfunction behind the scenes. The
Speaker 2: Matt Patricia move to let him take over the defense
Speaker 2: has not worked out. Jalen Hurts seems miserable. Everybody seems miserable. However,
Speaker 2: this is the playoffs and they flipped the switch.
Speaker 8: Mark this is the best wild card round that I
Speaker 8: ever can and they flipped I'll tell you why, because
Speaker 8: this game seems like, oh, it's just.
Speaker 4: Going to go to Tampa Bay.
Speaker 8: Yes, I know, I'm getting to it, and I'm getting
Speaker 8: to it, like I don't think so can they win?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 5: Against this?
Speaker 8: Okay, flip the switch like, I'm kind of over the
Speaker 8: concept of like last both of last year's Super Bowl
Speaker 8: teams were waiting for that to happen, and they're just
Speaker 8: fundamentally different teams. And the Eagles have allowed more points
Speaker 8: than any team in the league since Week twelve. And
Speaker 8: when they played back in Week three, I remember praising
Speaker 8: the Eagles their offense in general, for working themselves out
Speaker 8: of a jam. They ran for two hundred and one
Speaker 8: yards on the bucks a good run defense had almost
Speaker 8: forty minutes of possession, and they showed it. It seemed
Speaker 8: to be able to win games in different ways, and
Speaker 8: now they're just losing games in different ways. It's they're
Speaker 8: also banged up right now. Aj Brown was limping off
Speaker 8: the field last week. Jalen hurts dislocated finger. I mean,
Speaker 8: they're gonna play like Brown is.
Speaker 4: Okay now, they like that. It's just that like their hurt.
Speaker 8: DeAndre Swift was banged up, DeVonta Smith was banged up.
Speaker 8: It's like, so what condition are they in? But on
Speaker 8: the flip side, I think, like, I don't know, I
Speaker 8: don't I'm pretty suspicious.
Speaker 4: Of Tampa Bay.
Speaker 8: But Bigger Mayfield is the kind of quarterback and we
Speaker 8: talked about a little about this on Sunday. He is
Speaker 8: dealing with an ankle injury, a rib injury, who knows
Speaker 8: what else. And I think that Baker Mayfield is not
Speaker 8: like the most I respect him playing through injuries, no
Speaker 8: doubt about it, but he's not the kind of guy
Speaker 8: where if he's banged up, it doesn't seem it seems
Speaker 8: to affect his play, right. And I they were horrendous
Speaker 8: to watch offensively against Carolina, and it's just like we're
Speaker 8: a week later, it's a bad defense, the Eagles in
Speaker 8: free fall. But to answer your question finally, then it's
Speaker 8: like I think the Eagles kind of nip. They nipped him,
Speaker 8: they survive, but it doesn't provide a ton of optimism
Speaker 8: about who they are.
Speaker 3: Gotcha, I can't feel that I take back.
Speaker 4: What I said about Browns Texans being the hardest one.
Speaker 4: I think this is the hardest one to pick because
Speaker 4: the logic it all says, Philly finds a way, you know,
Speaker 4: the talent, And yet this seems like it's bigger than
Speaker 4: any sort of logic. It's bigger than than football, Like
Speaker 4: this is such a football thing where like it's a
Speaker 4: ViBe's off like that as much as the Bucks have
Speaker 4: had bad games in the last two weeks, Baker Mayfield's
Speaker 4: looked awful. It probably two worst games, you know, all
Speaker 4: season in a row. That's very concerning going into the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Like they're a team that I believe is together and
Speaker 4: like it's a good locker room and all this stuff.
Speaker 4: And there's just something ineffable about the Eagles.
Speaker 3: Right now that you can't even put a finger on.
Speaker 4: And that makes me like, after all the years we've
Speaker 4: watched football for just makes me think, well, the Buccaneers
Speaker 4: will find a way to win, Like they're not. They
Speaker 4: found a way to win nine games, and it's just
Speaker 4: more that the Eagles are looking to be taken out
Speaker 4: to pasture by someone, anyone, and then it might as
Speaker 4: well just.
Speaker 3: Be the Bucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I see what you're saying, Mark, just because
Speaker 2: if it was almost any other team, I would I'd
Speaker 2: be on board with Yea.
Speaker 3: The Eagles are a team that's already dead.
Speaker 4: I think these are the two team round. If I
Speaker 4: put them on neutral field, I'd take the Steelers right
Speaker 4: now over these two.
Speaker 5: Did just get to their doors blown off by the Giants.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Eagles against the Cowboys against the Lions,
Speaker 2: against the Ram, against the Packers, I would say, oh,
Speaker 2: they're done. I think they can survive this. And I
Speaker 2: think Baker's Baker being banged up is a big part
Speaker 2: of that, because I think the Bucks will struggle to
Speaker 2: score points if Mayfield is playing the way he has
Speaker 2: been the last couple of weeks we saw him. And
Speaker 2: then the question is Greg if it goes the other
Speaker 2: way though, If it really does, the Eagles really are
Speaker 2: done and there's gonna be some very difficult conversations in
Speaker 2: those headquarters on Tuesday morning. And I just wonder flash
Speaker 2: Point Focus was ready, as was Eric Producer.
Speaker 3: That was real nice. Smid bed so happy if that
Speaker 3: is what happens. Man.
Speaker 4: Maybe the Belichick I know this coaching. It was like
Speaker 4: fairly quiet on Monday. And then each day we get Rabel,
Speaker 4: one day, get Carrol, the next get Belichick, and who knows,
Speaker 4: we still have McCarthy and maybe or Syria. And to
Speaker 4: get to that number ten, say, now there there's been eight.
Speaker 4: I think back to their first playoff game in the
Speaker 4: Jalen Hurts era, which is against the Bucks, and it's
Speaker 4: been such a crazy journey in just two years since
Speaker 4: then and the whole takeaway from that game was like,
Speaker 4: Jalen Hurts, is he basically can he handle the blitz?
Speaker 4: But in kind of not said in that is like,
Speaker 4: is he like a real quarterback? Can he do the
Speaker 4: quarterback he things? Can he go through his progressions? Can
Speaker 4: he do this and that? And then he proved every
Speaker 4: sort of doubter wrong last year with the season he had,
Speaker 4: and I think for the most part, has played well
Speaker 4: this year, but last week was a mess. He They
Speaker 4: were a total disaster against the Blitz. Their numbers this
Speaker 4: year against the Blitz are crazy bad. They've been blitz
Speaker 4: more than any team in the league. AJ Brown is
Speaker 4: not practicing Thursday, so that is a concern. They were
Speaker 4: kind of saying it shouldn't be a big deal, but
Speaker 4: he's not practicing. Devontae Smith is back at practice. He
Speaker 4: missed last week with injury, so that's a good sign.
Speaker 4: But here he is against Todd Bowles. When they played
Speaker 4: in Week three, they blitzed them seventy five percent of
Speaker 4: the time, and you think, oh, that was a pretty
Speaker 4: easy win for the Eagles, but you go back and look,
Speaker 4: it was actually one of his lowest PFF grades of
Speaker 4: the year, Jalen Hurts kind of struggled in that game.
Speaker 4: It was one of those where we were like, Oh,
Speaker 4: we're starting to wonder is Jalen Hurt's playing well even
Speaker 4: though they're winning. So will the Eagles just do the
Speaker 4: thing like Brian Baldinger and everyone's been asking for a
Speaker 4: week after week. It's just like, just lean on those
Speaker 4: guys up front and run it down the Bucks throats.
Speaker 4: I know teams don't do that. They love to throw
Speaker 4: against the Bucks. Is on paper, the Bucks are historically
Speaker 4: good stopping the run. They're better stopping they run there.
Speaker 4: They give up a lot of big plays in the past.
Speaker 4: But I don't know, just focus on your strengths and
Speaker 4: just like let Jalen run, you run with DeAndre Swift
Speaker 4: and avoid all those crazy Todd bowls.
Speaker 2: Blake, you got the better players, they got the better roster,
Speaker 2: and but are they going to be the better team?
Speaker 8: Does it matter that your quarterback, who is a running
Speaker 8: quarterback has a dislocated finger like I mean.
Speaker 4: It like and hasn't been moving as well, just generally.
Speaker 5: Doesn't heal in four hours.
Speaker 2: You know, we have a of a friend, Greg that
Speaker 2: we were texting with and then you know that Jalen
Speaker 2: Hurt's great leader narrative has been walking quite.
Speaker 4: I think that's act fair. I think that's unfair.
Speaker 8: I mean they've been it's been He's looked very frustrated
Speaker 8: week after week on the sideline. But I don't look,
Speaker 8: I don't think it's changed to as a person that
Speaker 8: all that stuff was real last year.
Speaker 4: What I take from that is like, we make too
Speaker 4: big of a deal of all that stuff. Probably it
Speaker 4: is a fair point to say, but I don't think
Speaker 4: it like changes who he is as a character that
Speaker 4: like their defense is historically bad.
Speaker 3: There were the worst defends of the lake.
Speaker 4: This was a report or a no, is this our friend?
Speaker 3: What I'm saying is.
Speaker 2: That might be dimmed a little bit because all the
Speaker 2: all those dramatic postgame interviews when they were having all
Speaker 2: those comebacks before this slide began, and and he was
Speaker 2: the confident face of the team talking about you know,
Speaker 2: you know, we never had any fear. I was born
Speaker 2: for these moments. They need it. It seems to me
Speaker 2: they need somebody in that locker room to get this
Speaker 2: thing on track well, to maybe deliver some type of message, uh,
Speaker 2: to say, hey, we are we are badass.
Speaker 3: We are, we can be what we were last year.
Speaker 2: Is there someone in that organization, whether it's the head coach,
Speaker 2: and it's not the head coach, it's the quarterback that
Speaker 2: is getting a message across that something the wires have
Speaker 2: been cut.
Speaker 8: Now, I'm with you on this, Like I also say,
Speaker 8: like I'm not saying he's not no, no, no, but you
Speaker 8: could being Is there someone that can stop the bleeding?
Speaker 8: Because I think this is mental as it is physical.
Speaker 8: The what's broken that's the most like sort of stunning
Speaker 8: aspect to all this for me, because you could be
Speaker 8: hours away from Jason Kelcey not being on this team anymore.
Speaker 5: A lot of veterans made what I mean a million
Speaker 5: of those guys.
Speaker 4: That's why I just feel like it's not gonna They
Speaker 4: can't flip the switch right. You would have done it
Speaker 4: by now.
Speaker 8: I thought when they were coming back in those games
Speaker 8: during that stretch of time, they were resilient and they
Speaker 8: had confidence in just who they were. I don't see
Speaker 8: a team right now that has that same confidence. So
Speaker 8: that does speak to what's happening in the locker room,
Speaker 8: the coaching leadership, et cetera. But it's like do they
Speaker 8: trust they can get out of a jam if they
Speaker 8: get down in Tampa Bay. I don't know right now who's.
Speaker 3: More precious, Sirianni or McCarthy.
Speaker 4: Sirianni, I feel well, I don't know. Eagles areus depends
Speaker 4: how those games go. I mean, if they were to lose,
Speaker 4: what kind of losses they are and stuff. But they're
Speaker 4: minus three minus one fifty five. And oh, by the way,
Speaker 4: the Buccaneers a lot of veteran leaders. They have a
Speaker 4: lot of Super Bowl champions on this team, trying to
Speaker 4: make one last big game. You know. I don't think
Speaker 4: they're gonna go far, but one home playoff win would
Speaker 4: be nice step up in a big spot.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't hate having a little Jean degger off on
Speaker 3: Monday night my life, not at all. It'd be bad.
Speaker 2: Let's pick the game and then we got to a
Speaker 2: close up shop, hit a couple more things. I am
Speaker 2: going to say, Eagles survive barely twenty four to twenty one.
Speaker 8: I've got Eagles surviving also as mentioned twenty three seventeen.
Speaker 4: I'm leaning I'm leaning bucks here. I hope Baker is healthy.
Speaker 4: I actually don't hope it. I kind of want the
Speaker 4: Eagles to win. But I just think they've shown us
Speaker 4: who they are and who they are right now is
Speaker 4: a mess.
Speaker 3: What do you got for score?
Speaker 4: Let's go twenty four to twenty all right?
Speaker 3: A couple things first.
Speaker 2: I have an announcement involving our overseas listeners.
Speaker 3: They love it.
Speaker 2: They should love it because the National Football League coming
Speaker 2: to their house. The National Football League today announced the
Speaker 2: designated teams set to play in London and Munich is
Speaker 2: part of the twenty twenty four International Games. The Bears, Vikings,
Speaker 2: Jaguars will each play international games in London during the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four regular season, while the Panthers will head
Speaker 2: to Munich, Germany. Each team's opponent and along with the
Speaker 2: dates and kickoff teams, will be announced when the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four schedules revealed this spring. And guess what our
Speaker 2: guy Henry Hodgson, who runs the show for the UK
Speaker 2: side of things for the NFL, you know, I said,
Speaker 2: I asked him a couple of days ago, you can
Speaker 2: do some media.
Speaker 3: Around this announcement. He said, maybe I will, and he did.
Speaker 2: He sat down with Will Gavin, our buddy from Talk
Speaker 2: Sport over there, and here's a snippet of that about
Speaker 2: these announcements.
Speaker 14: I think the near term focus will be on finding
Speaker 14: new markets and really kind of how do we you know,
Speaker 14: the footprint that we've established in the UK, which is
Speaker 14: really seen as a blueprint for how you enter a market,
Speaker 14: how could you do that in some other markets around
Speaker 14: the world.
Speaker 10: We've obviously announced that we'll be playing in Brazil in
Speaker 10: twenty twenty four, and so that that's kind of the
Speaker 10: next market up. I think that's the most likely near
Speaker 10: term outcome. But I could certainly see the UK having
Speaker 10: the opportunity to host more games as that program expands
Speaker 10: over the next ten years.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, Henry kind of made for television
Speaker 2: taking over. Yeah, that's the commissioner one day.
Speaker 4: I see what he's doing too, sending the Panthers to Germany.
Speaker 4: He's very loyal to the UK. Just see it.
Speaker 2: And finally, so make sure you get your tickets for
Speaker 2: that and hopefully we'll be back overseas.
Speaker 3: You know what.
Speaker 8: We have to joke that he was going to become
Speaker 8: the commissioner, but now it just starts to feel making
Speaker 8: material gains toward that. Now I know it's possibility. The
Speaker 8: Commissioner gets paid pretty well from like that would change
Speaker 8: Henry's well.
Speaker 2: I'm absolutely living in his castle if it happens. All right,
Speaker 2: Finally this happened after we signed off. Wanted to give
Speaker 2: the a little more floor to Pete Carroll, who, of course,
Speaker 2: the Seahawks and Carol parted ways at least as a
Speaker 2: head coach. He's going to remain in the organization, and
Speaker 2: he spoke to the media and as you might expect,
Speaker 2: was emotional about the end of an incredible run. I
Speaker 2: think it was what fourteen years with the Seahawks as
Speaker 2: their head coach.
Speaker 3: Here's a little bit of that.
Speaker 15: This is worth crying for. And nobody would ever understand
Speaker 15: how significant she've been through all of the stuff that
Speaker 15: we've been through, and how important she's just been the
Speaker 15: angel in my life. And you everything, boys, Brennan, Nate,
Speaker 15: you guys would have no idea how valuable they've been
Speaker 15: to me because they were the ones that would give
Speaker 15: me all the crap about what I was doing wrong,
Speaker 15: on what I was screwing up. They were harsh and
Speaker 15: their critiques were rash, and the whole thing. It was
Speaker 15: perfect because I needed that loyalty and they were the
Speaker 15: epitome of it for.
Speaker 2: Me, and I just want to play one more portion
Speaker 2: of the press conference, which struck a chord with me
Speaker 2: and other people I saw on Twitter Carol talking about
Speaker 2: advice for whether it's who's following him or in general
Speaker 2: and finding success in life.
Speaker 15: Yeah, well, it wouldn't matter whether it's football or whatever.
Speaker 3: To me. The essence of being as good as you
Speaker 3: can be.
Speaker 16: You have to figure who you are, and you got
Speaker 16: to figure out that in a relentless effort to try
Speaker 16: and get clear about what's important to you, What compromising
Speaker 16: principles do you stand by, what makes you who you are?
Speaker 16: To maximize your authenticity and being connected to that true
Speaker 16: essence of who.
Speaker 3: You are, that's what's crucial.
Speaker 16: Without that, you're going to be sometimes and you're gonna
Speaker 16: be sometimes.
Speaker 3: Good dude, great coach, and he will be missed at Yeah.
Speaker 8: I there are football coaches through the years who kind
Speaker 8: of go a cut against the grain in terms of
Speaker 8: really wearing their heart on their sleeve. And like Carol's
Speaker 8: always been that guy, and it's not surprising to see
Speaker 8: him fall into tears talking about like I think you
Speaker 8: know coaches, NFL coaches especially, but it puts such a
Speaker 8: it puts a huge weight on marriage, on family, like
Speaker 8: on parenting, you're not around, You're just not around that much.
Speaker 8: And like he found some sort of balance in life
Speaker 8: and he seems to just keep evolving and changing and growing,
Speaker 8: and it's like, I can't wait to see what he
Speaker 8: does next. And when he's giving that advice about being authentic,
Speaker 8: being yourself, I mean, coming from someone else, it would
Speaker 8: sound like hot air, but from him, it sounds like
Speaker 8: sage wisdom because that's exactly like who he's been as
Speaker 8: long as we've known it.
Speaker 4: Right, he did it differently. There's you know, it's hard
Speaker 4: not to compare the how his tenure ends and then Belichicks,
Speaker 4: and they're totally different in both Hall of Fame coaches.
Speaker 4: But I think of his introductory press conference and what
Speaker 4: he said he was setting out to do and what
Speaker 4: he said here, and he was so consistent and how
Speaker 4: loyal his players are to him. He went out and
Speaker 4: partied with a bunch of the great Seahawks of all time.
Speaker 4: Russell Wilson, not surprisingly is the one that sent out
Speaker 4: the picture. And Russell was there last night in Seattle
Speaker 4: and they all went out and you could see the
Speaker 4: emotion you see Geno and Locket and and all these
Speaker 4: people in the crowd that like looking like they want
Speaker 4: to cry. And one thing he Carol does stressed like
Speaker 4: we wanted to come here and make it as fun
Speaker 4: as possible and then focus more than anything on like
Speaker 4: what makes each player great and just focus on that
Speaker 4: and like accentuate that. And I think that's why he
Speaker 4: said such success like bringing out the best in people.
Speaker 4: The tweets and stuff like he is winning in terms
Speaker 4: of the game of life, just like connecting. I think
Speaker 4: in terms of relationships, it's not just hot air at all.
Speaker 3: Like all those people. He means so much too, in
Speaker 3: a way.
Speaker 4: I don't think maybe any NFL coach that I can
Speaker 4: think of has been quite the same. Andy Reid is
Speaker 4: another one. One last thing I wanted to listen to
Speaker 4: from Pera before we go.
Speaker 15: It's been an honor and a thrill to be part
Speaker 15: of this program and I've loved every minute of it, and.
Speaker 16: You've watched me love it in particular.
Speaker 15: And it's exciting that that there's such a future uh
Speaker 15: here and you can see it and we know what's happening,
Speaker 15: and it's bright and the club's got great places to
Speaker 15: go when there's great chances you know what, ever happened automatically,
Speaker 15: there's a lot of work to be done in all
Speaker 15: of that, but the future is bright.
Speaker 4: It's amazing. He said that, and he said how excited
Speaker 4: he was for John Schneider and was really saying how
Speaker 4: they had this marriage while knowing in the back of
Speaker 4: his head that John Schneider very likely helped to push
Speaker 4: him out, and that Pete Carroll made it clear it
Speaker 4: was not his choice that he wanted to continue coaching,
Speaker 4: that even may continue coaching, he didn't really want to
Speaker 4: entertain that, but he made it clear it wasn't his choice.
Speaker 4: And yet to have the humility to be like, this
Speaker 4: is how it works sometimes, this is life. We've had
Speaker 4: this great relationship and to be like, do it with
Speaker 4: so much place is amazing.
Speaker 2: And the difference between that press conference and the New
Speaker 2: England one, it's notable. And you have Carol, Belichick and
Speaker 2: Saban all going out the door in twenty four hours.
Speaker 2: And like I've said before, you never want to be
Speaker 2: the guy who replaces the guy. You want to be
Speaker 2: the guy who replaces the guy who replaced the Yes,
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be good luck. Good luck in Alabama,
Speaker 2: goode luck up in New England, and good luck in
Speaker 2: Seattle because they have big shoes to fill. All right,
Speaker 2: thank you everybody. There's a big, action packed show, huge
Speaker 2: games to talk, huge NFL news, and if you made
Speaker 2: it to the end, well we.
Speaker 4: Love you, bully to you.
Speaker 3: We'll be back. You know when We're going to be back.
Speaker 2: Sunday night the Flagship program and then Monday to cap
Speaker 2: wild Card weekend till then he the call.