Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast spends a lot of time
Speaker 1: on corner. Welcome to another edition of the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast, presented by the United States Marine Corps. My
Speaker 1: name is Dan hansis coming to you from a room
Speaker 1: filled with heroes. Chris Westling to my left, Greg Rosenthal
Speaker 1: to my right. What is up? Boys? Hey? Dan? What
Speaker 1: a day? What today? No Mark Sessler because as we
Speaker 1: told you last week, he was in Oakland covering the
Speaker 1: last Raiders game didn't end how the people wanted. At
Speaker 1: the end up there were ruined and thrown on the field.
Speaker 1: The question will be is Mark ruined? Is he still
Speaker 1: with the teaser? We'll see if he actually makes it
Speaker 1: to this segment at the end of the show. A
Speaker 1: little later in the show, we will check in with
Speaker 1: great Mark Sessler and hopefully his cell phone is activated
Speaker 1: and everything is good. He was going to encounter ruination.
Speaker 1: I think it would have happened a while ago. That's fair,
Speaker 1: all right, We got a great sunday of NFL football
Speaker 1: in our league Week fifteen, the playoff. What well, It's
Speaker 1: like like a lot of things, once you start using
Speaker 1: something ironically, at a certain point, no one's got to
Speaker 1: even understand that it's ironic that you don't really like that.
Speaker 1: Maybe you like the whole. I'm willing to run that risk. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: Now I think I think I speak for all of us. Um, Greg,
Speaker 1: you know, you like to try to dip your toe
Speaker 1: in the uh greater part of NFL media culture. But
Speaker 1: always kind of viewed myself as a bit of an outsider.
Speaker 1: West I think you feel the same way. Um. So
Speaker 1: to say our league, you know, feels good. It's like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, maybe some progress is being made. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm maybe they'll accept me, maybe they'll accept us. Doubtful.
Speaker 1: That's aspirational. Um, all right, No, I don't care. I
Speaker 1: like to be on the outside up high West. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Read a book called Colin Wilson The Outsider. Now that'll
Speaker 1: get you going about outside. Okay, another book recommendation from
Speaker 1: the great Chris Westling. We're gonna go through all of
Speaker 1: the Sunday games, uh, capping it with a little Bills
Speaker 1: Steelers talk from hines Field, and after that, will you know,
Speaker 1: give you a full picture of what's going on as
Speaker 1: we hit the home stretches. When it's really great to
Speaker 1: have Greg Rosenthall man that his awareness when it comes
Speaker 1: to the playoff picture. The man is a human calculator.
Speaker 1: He'll tell you where everything stands at the end of
Speaker 1: Sunday's games, So make sure you stick around for that.
Speaker 1: But we have a lot to us. Was tabulations on
Speaker 1: tabulations for Macca nations. That's Greg's mind. When the yeah,
Speaker 1: when do you figure playoffs? Think about Greg, I mean
Speaker 1: the flexing between the I always know when to call
Speaker 1: time out. It doesn't matter, like if I'm sitting at
Speaker 1: home on a couch or in a newsroom and the
Speaker 1: other guys on a field with eighty thou screaming fans
Speaker 1: with like seven hundred different decisions to make, he can't
Speaker 1: do it. I can do it. Greg can say, Andy,
Speaker 1: eat on his knee and tell him how to run
Speaker 1: the end of game situations. So you can do that.
Speaker 1: You're great and uh the down and distance and time
Speaker 1: out situations, and and you're great with figuring out playoff calculations.
Speaker 1: So that's that when I talk about strengths right there, Greg,
Speaker 1: that's near the top for you. You You know what else,
Speaker 1: a game analysis? How about we get to that also,
Speaker 1: your ability to navigate into like the internal workings the
Speaker 1: NFL media machine to be like a respected guy like
Speaker 1: you like to live inside and outside the box. You're
Speaker 1: a little bit of a bad boy, but you're also
Speaker 1: right there and there, one ft in, one foot out.
Speaker 1: If you can pull it off, why not? Well, I
Speaker 1: even talk about week fifteen. Let's talk about week fifteen,
Speaker 1: and we'll start with a game with big playoff ramifications
Speaker 1: of the Texans and tightens with a lot on the
Speaker 1: line in the a f C South, Watson of the gun,
Speaker 1: Watson hands off to Hide, wading to the left. Carlos
Speaker 1: has the five Carlos to the Pilon. He's in touchdown,
Speaker 1: Stay ten yard, get run, Guapo lead, Mark Vandermere el Guappo.
Speaker 1: That's Carlos Hide Handsome. I guess he is. Texans Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Carlos Hyde ran for a hundred and four yards, scored
Speaker 1: a t d with less than eleven minutes to play,
Speaker 1: Texans score tentstrate points in the fourth quarter, pulled out
Speaker 1: to beat the Titans one in Nashville, a huge win
Speaker 1: for the Texans, who put themselves in the driver's seat
Speaker 1: in the a f C North a C South with
Speaker 1: two games to play, and that includes, of course a
Speaker 1: game against the Titans. Now West. This is why Houston
Speaker 1: is so tough to figure out. On a good day,
Speaker 1: they could beat anybody. Today was a good day. They
Speaker 1: are tough to figure out, and I'm not sure anyone's
Speaker 1: gonna have them figured out after this game. What we
Speaker 1: do know is that DeAndre Hopkins and Deshaun Watson are
Speaker 1: absolute stars. And they took control of the game in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, a game which I think the Titans
Speaker 1: offense generally looked more impressive than the Texans offense, a
Speaker 1: game when the Titan had about sixty five more total
Speaker 1: yards than the Texans, but a game, and I put
Speaker 1: stars next to this play when it happened, because it's
Speaker 1: a four team points swing in the game. Anthony Firkser
Speaker 1: loses the ball at the goal line, it's rolled an interception,
Speaker 1: was closer to a fumble. Whitney Merciless brings it all
Speaker 1: the way back down to the red zone and they
Speaker 1: score on it Kenny Still's touchdown. So that was a
Speaker 1: four team points swing in the game, and that the
Speaker 1: Titans did recover to tie it up and then could
Speaker 1: not stop DeAndre Hopkins. Because the Titans have two really
Speaker 1: big weak spots right now. Their cornerbacks which are not healthy.
Speaker 1: A Dory Jackson and Malcolm Butler are out and have
Speaker 1: been out for a couple of weeks. And their kicking game,
Speaker 1: which really surfaced early when Ryan sucked up, Ryan suck
Speaker 1: up missed, had a block field goal, and then before
Speaker 1: halftime Vrabel opted against a long field goal and tried
Speaker 1: for a fake punt instead that was batted down and
Speaker 1: that really came back to Hunt and they lost for
Speaker 1: they lost by three points the margin of that field goal.
Speaker 1: That this was such a big loss for the Titans
Speaker 1: because the Texans all they have to do is win
Speaker 1: a game next week on NFL Network on the Saturday
Speaker 1: triple header. That would that would clinch spot for the text, right,
Speaker 1: I'm going back in, Hey, hey, Peter Schegar on the
Speaker 1: grab drinks. I'll do that. I do remember Peter Scheger
Speaker 1: as a young guy coming up one and I wanted
Speaker 1: to get drinks while I was at Rotor back in
Speaker 1: New York a little Fox Sports. No, they they could
Speaker 1: just clinch a playoffs spot, not necessarily the division next Saturday. Uh,
Speaker 1: they would need a Titans loss, you know, to to
Speaker 1: clinch the division in Week sixteen. But the fact is
Speaker 1: the Titans can get in, uh if the Titans aren't
Speaker 1: gonna get in even if they win these last two
Speaker 1: games necessarily and the fact that Tennessee had that spot.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the division comes down to this, like you
Speaker 1: don't like to think of it, but that play where
Speaker 1: they're on the goal line and Ryan Tannehill throws a
Speaker 1: good pass that ends up getting you know, dropped and
Speaker 1: brought back that sometimes it can swing an entire division,
Speaker 1: and you can swing an entire season one play. And
Speaker 1: I think Vrabel he knew that after the game. He
Speaker 1: was he was bitter, he was really cheesed off heading
Speaker 1: to hit it, heading to the tunnel, and it was
Speaker 1: almost like he could he he could read his mind.
Speaker 1: We're never getting that one back, and we needed Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry Um. He had been on an incredible role statistically
Speaker 1: not bad at all for eighties six. Did the hamstring
Speaker 1: injury or the quad injury, the leg injuries dealing with uh,
Speaker 1: did that seem to hold him back at all? I
Speaker 1: didn't think so. It just seemed more like gameflow and
Speaker 1: the Texans did a pretty good job of not allowing
Speaker 1: those big carries. Now there was an impressive goal line
Speaker 1: stand by the Texans that the Titans ultimately scored on,
Speaker 1: but they stuffed Henry twice within the final two yards
Speaker 1: before the goal line, and then they stuffed the fullback
Speaker 1: blasting game on a really nice play by Zach Cunningham
Speaker 1: and then Tannell tanne Hill bootlegged. But that's why Henry
Speaker 1: didn't get in the end zone. And I think I
Speaker 1: would credit the Texans defense for not allowing the big
Speaker 1: plays that you've been seeing from him, where he's just
Speaker 1: going for seventy yards. The Texans are just a different
Speaker 1: team when Fuller's on the field. I know he didn't
Speaker 1: blow up, he's five for sixty one, but the whole
Speaker 1: offense just makes a little more sense. Before we leave
Speaker 1: this game, I do think we have to mention A. J.
Speaker 1: Brown is just a superstar, and I wish I had
Speaker 1: made this point before he went eight for one fourteen
Speaker 1: and one and that's three yard games for him in
Speaker 1: the last month. He is just like he's the receiver
Speaker 1: I want from the two thousand nineteen class, no matter
Speaker 1: what I want, Terry McLaurin by far and then A J.
Speaker 1: Brown number. A J. Brown is just such a physical
Speaker 1: beast that he's just he's I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: a future number one, he's a number one right now.
Speaker 1: Like he can dominate games right now, and it makes
Speaker 1: them more dynamic, and it does make me think at
Speaker 1: least they have a chance. I know they got to
Speaker 1: play the Saints and then go to Houston, but I
Speaker 1: do think they have a chance to win both those games,
Speaker 1: which is what they'll need. He's awesome after the catch.
Speaker 1: He's also being helped out quite a bit by the
Speaker 1: Titans essentially being the best play action team in football
Speaker 1: over the last what five six weeks. They're custom made
Speaker 1: for play action with Derrick Henry playing well in Tannehill.
Speaker 1: Let's face it, having a big arm West. You could
Speaker 1: start a team right now with any wide receiver in
Speaker 1: the league. Is a twenty seven year old DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: uh pro. I don't know him or Michael Thomas alright,
Speaker 1: one of those two. I think Hopkins is probably the
Speaker 1: better player in a vacuum. All right. He was a
Speaker 1: great player on Sunday. Younger though, So you got a
Speaker 1: factor that Let's move to a game with some big
Speaker 1: playoff ramifications in the NFC. Prescott in the gun fake
Speaker 1: Now he's gonna be rushed by Fowler steps back from
Speaker 1: that for as deep down the filth right upen at
Speaker 1: the thirty five. It's Tavon Austin. He's gonna dance U.
Speaker 1: That's the easiest fifty nine yard touchdown Prescott's ever throwed
Speaker 1: or Austin's ever caught. And he's doing a little hole
Speaker 1: down day into the end zone. Fifty nine yards Prescott
Speaker 1: to Austin for the touchdown. Brad Sham the sham God.
Speaker 1: Haven't heard from him in a while. K r l
Speaker 1: D Yep, the good Cowboys are back. I didn't think
Speaker 1: you see him again, did you, Dak Prescott throw two
Speaker 1: touchdown passes. Zeke Elliott went over a hundred yards with
Speaker 1: a couple of scores. Cowboys just pound on the ramps.
Speaker 1: Twenty one was the final at Gerald World. Greg The
Speaker 1: Cowboys seemed more likely to roll over and die after
Speaker 1: the last few weeks of disappointment. Instead, they looked galvanized,
Speaker 1: crippling the defending NFC Champs playoff hopes in the process. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is one of the most surprising results for me
Speaker 1: of the season. It shouldn't be. I should think that
Speaker 1: that what you've seen over the course and of an
Speaker 1: entire season should weigh more than what you've seen the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. But I just didn't think the
Speaker 1: Cowboys had it in them, especially their defense. But it
Speaker 1: was like old timer's night. It was like everyone had
Speaker 1: it all a great time. Here's Jason Witten catching a long,
Speaker 1: great touch down with this you know one hand. It's
Speaker 1: Sean Lee getting sacks and a game turn an interception.
Speaker 1: It was just like everyone's happy, especially Dream so what
Speaker 1: he's always wanted, his old guys that he's been too
Speaker 1: loyal to, just continuing to do damage. What a schizophrenic
Speaker 1: team they this team, they have a plus ninety point
Speaker 1: differential for the season. Almost all of their losses have
Speaker 1: been close, and almost all their wins have been blowouts,
Speaker 1: right until last Thursday night, when to me, they just
Speaker 1: got you know, steamrolled by the Bears, and really the
Speaker 1: last two weeks against the Bills. In both those games
Speaker 1: they had some opportunities. But last week was so dispiriting.
Speaker 1: I took that, uh too seriously clearly. But the way
Speaker 1: that they won not so much on offense, where it
Speaker 1: was all the running game. I mean, Dak had what
Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty yards other than that one. Uh
Speaker 1: you broken play the defense to Marcus Lawrence and Shawn
Speaker 1: Lee and Carrie Hyder had a big game and the
Speaker 1: secondary they just dominated Los Angeles up front, Todd Gurley's
Speaker 1: first six runs went for one yard. He ends up
Speaker 1: with twenty yards on the game. Jared Goff gets hurt
Speaker 1: hitting his thumb on a helmet, but at that point
Speaker 1: the game was basically over and it affected golf the
Speaker 1: rest of the way for sure, But that I think
Speaker 1: it was twenty three by the time he suffered that injury,
Speaker 1: So that game was a shot too. Like you see
Speaker 1: that it happens every week. It feels like with a
Speaker 1: quarterback hitting a face mask. But this that was a
Speaker 1: whap on the helm. I've seen Andy Dalton season get
Speaker 1: wrecked easier. Oh, he wasn't shooting straight the rest of
Speaker 1: the way, and they kept him in, you know, deep
Speaker 1: into garbage time and they got some numbers then. But
Speaker 1: it does make you wonder if he'll be playing because
Speaker 1: the Rams at eight and six are still mathematically alive,
Speaker 1: but it's basically over that they need to win out
Speaker 1: and the Vikings need to lose out. Yep, does either
Speaker 1: seem likely? I don't know. I mean there's only no
Speaker 1: games left, but it's probably the end of the road
Speaker 1: for the Rams, and and in a disappointing way for
Speaker 1: it to go out, because West, this was a team
Speaker 1: that we're talking about it all last week. They seemed
Speaker 1: to be peeking and figuring it out. So that's what
Speaker 1: made it so disappointed, because they never felt like they
Speaker 1: were in this game. It was just the Cowboys punched
Speaker 1: them in the in the mouth to start the game,
Speaker 1: and before you knew it, it was a blowout. By
Speaker 1: the halftime, the other Rams were surging into this game,
Speaker 1: and I really talked about how well their defense is playing,
Speaker 1: and here they allow forty four points. I think Greg
Speaker 1: let yourself off the hook for not getting the Cowboys
Speaker 1: analysis correct. This team is resistant to analysis all year,
Speaker 1: and especially after laying down last week. How could you
Speaker 1: predict this game? The Rams are the team that's not
Speaker 1: your fault, Greg, the Rams of the team where you
Speaker 1: think they're turning. How can you predict either of these teams? Really?
Speaker 1: With how the Rams have been playing the last few
Speaker 1: weeks and how their defense has been playing for half
Speaker 1: the season, now you can't. But I think they're an
Speaker 1: example of sometimes their defense looked better against bad competition,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, the encouraging thing for the Cowboys
Speaker 1: is that their offense is still capable of a game
Speaker 1: like this, because it really was they mine. It wasn't
Speaker 1: the passing game, it was the line opening up holes
Speaker 1: for Zeke who had one seventeen and two their first
Speaker 1: two of their first three touchdown drives is fifteen plays
Speaker 1: for ninety yards, uh, and then fourteen plays for nine seven.
Speaker 1: So that's I think it's a tough way to run
Speaker 1: an offense, but it's the way they always look the best.
Speaker 1: Which of these short third and two is that Zeke's
Speaker 1: picking up Tony Pollard who got a lot of it
Speaker 1: in garbage time but still goes twelve for one thirty one.
Speaker 1: I mean that they would love it if Dak Prescott
Speaker 1: doesn't have to throw that much. I would love Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, Tavon Austin came into the league I believe
Speaker 1: as an eighth overall pick and it never happened for him.
Speaker 1: Great stat line today. You heard the touchdown called the
Speaker 1: beginning of this conversation. He finishes one for fifty nine
Speaker 1: for one touchdown on one target. Well, you know what
Speaker 1: he made it count and that was a big touch
Speaker 1: on because that's when it felt like the game was,
Speaker 1: you know, slipping away at that point. Up from the Rams.
Speaker 1: There was controversy at the beginning of the game, which
Speaker 1: we should just hit real quick, that Dak Prescott the
Speaker 1: was win the toss and the referee Walt Coleman, I
Speaker 1: believe Walt Anderson, it was a Walt Walter White. I
Speaker 1: think it was Walt Uh Walt Disney. Uh. He ruled
Speaker 1: that that that Doc had made a selection he had
Speaker 1: chosen to kick rather than shows to defer. But then
Speaker 1: good job by Fox. They find more audio that clearly
Speaker 1: shows that Walt uh missed it and uh they conferred
Speaker 1: and common sense carried the day in New York allowed
Speaker 1: the Cowboys to you know, get the ball to start
Speaker 1: the second half, which thank god, because initially Mike Preyer
Speaker 1: came on the air and said that this was not
Speaker 1: something that was reviewable, but apparently it was. Kudos to
Speaker 1: the NFL, and I don't know why, but I'm always
Speaker 1: pleasantly surprised when common sense carries the day. And finally,
Speaker 1: on this game, Kai for Bath makes his Cowboys debut
Speaker 1: and this sound started almost immediately you know. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: immediately right after the coin flip drama where the Cowboys
Speaker 1: look terrible, Gregg and West are going off on Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett in the newsroom, which is just like the most
Speaker 1: NFL Twitter things. It's just like with this happened on
Speaker 1: another team. This this not so it's it's never the
Speaker 1: player's fault, it's always Garrett. But seven and seven that's Garrett's,
Speaker 1: you know, that's the Garrett cut type of records. This
Speaker 1: is what happened next for the Cowboys. Ricky opening kick off,
Speaker 1: four bad takes over his first week. Is a Dallas Cowboy,
Speaker 1: at least on the active roster, and right out of
Speaker 1: the game he can't move the ball to the forty
Speaker 1: that's where the rams will set up. And he could
Speaker 1: not have started any worse. It can only get better
Speaker 1: from hair. Wait, what did he do the rest of
Speaker 1: the game. I'll tell you what he did the rest
Speaker 1: of the game three for three field goals, including a
Speaker 1: fifty yard bomb that would have been good for eighty
Speaker 1: and he hit all five extra points, so he was
Speaker 1: perfect after that inauspicious start. Oh yeah, Kai has it
Speaker 1: figured out? Guys? The guy? Hey what what high boys
Speaker 1: are flying? With a monument overcoming adversity. Let us move
Speaker 1: on slender center, Wentz firing and it is It isn't
Speaker 1: a touchdown. It is quod on the four quarter of
Speaker 1: the zone. It is a clutch down on my ar
Speaker 1: surrounding if the past goes deep into the en zone
Speaker 1: to Craig Ward. Great pass point once and a great
Speaker 1: clutch pot Ward, Great Ward, where have you been all online?
Speaker 1: Merrill Reese squad. That's been great, great call by Reese,
Speaker 1: Eagles Radio Network. Carson Wentz led the Eagles on a
Speaker 1: seventy five yard touchdown drive in the final minutes, capped
Speaker 1: by his third touchdown pass to Yes Greg Ward Jr.
Speaker 1: The Eagles keep their NFC East title hopes alive thirty
Speaker 1: seven win over the Redskins of FedEx Field Gregg. This
Speaker 1: turned out to be one of the best games of
Speaker 1: the day, go figure six scoring plays in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: nine lead changes, and one of the all time bad
Speaker 1: beats as time expired. Oh that's right. If you were
Speaker 1: if you were on the Washington team, that would have
Speaker 1: been bad beat, painful. But you if you weren't, you
Speaker 1: just enjoyed a classic Carson Wentz performance in the second half.
Speaker 1: It was one of those games from Wentz where it's
Speaker 1: like kind of like, whatever your biases are coming into
Speaker 1: the game with Wentz, you'll see what you want, because
Speaker 1: he missed a lot of throws that were there, I
Speaker 1: would say, in the second and third quarters of this game,
Speaker 1: especially really the first half. In the second half, he
Speaker 1: goes eighteen for twenty one for a hundred and forty
Speaker 1: one yards in three touchdowns, including one of the best
Speaker 1: touchdown passes I've seen all season. You guys, you guys
Speaker 1: have probably seen that in the fourth quarter to take
Speaker 1: one of his leads. I mean they had to bring
Speaker 1: him back three separate times. In the second half. He
Speaker 1: had the game winner to Greg Ward, which was a
Speaker 1: fantastic play, and then he had a couple of other
Speaker 1: third and fives. There was one to Ward and one
Speaker 1: to Boston Scott where Carson Wentz just did his Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz magic. And I think this is what Eagles fans
Speaker 1: and what's been mostly a lost season, have wanted to
Speaker 1: see out of their starting quarterback. Just I don't care
Speaker 1: if their whole offense is just Ward, Urn Scotter and
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders in terms of that's who he's gonna throw
Speaker 1: to like. He made it work, and he did it
Speaker 1: on a day where his defense stunk. Maybe he's a
Speaker 1: little scatter shot, maybe there's inconsistency. But the reason why
Speaker 1: Wentz is such a fun quarterback to me is like
Speaker 1: he is one of those guys you could feel it.
Speaker 1: He's a guy like put up, you know, get on
Speaker 1: my back. I will take you there. I'll get it done.
Speaker 1: And he's done it back to back weeks. Is not
Speaker 1: a good Eagles team, it's you know, the middle of
Speaker 1: the road team. But the fact that he's kept him
Speaker 1: relevant here, I think it's it's all on Wentz and
Speaker 1: that the throw one of the ones you're referring to. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Miles Sanders dart in the back corner of the
Speaker 1: growing it through arms of Redskins defenders a clothes line through.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many other guys in the league
Speaker 1: can make that pass. I it was impressed by the
Speaker 1: running back combo of Miles Sanders in Boston, Scott, this
Speaker 1: is not a game where you can say Wenz didn't
Speaker 1: have any help. Dallas Goddard made a great one handed
Speaker 1: catch on a pass thrown behind him, did his normal thing.
Speaker 1: Greg Ward had four for forty in that last drive.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, Miles Sanders had the best game of
Speaker 1: his career, a hundred and seventy two yards from scrimmage,
Speaker 1: including nineteen carries for one two and Boston Scott kind
Speaker 1: of backed up his performance from the other night. I
Speaker 1: know that doesn't look too fancy, was fifty five yards
Speaker 1: from scrimmage, but it was a number of key third
Speaker 1: down conversions and it was all because the Eagles defense
Speaker 1: couldn't get a stop, which was the most surprising thing
Speaker 1: of the entire game. The Eagles defense had a Gholston,
Speaker 1: no QB hits, no sacks. Haskins had the best game
Speaker 1: of his career, and he's been a sack machine, and
Speaker 1: it was largely because he had time to throw and uh,
Speaker 1: for the most party made good throws. If if if
Speaker 1: sim Steven Simms caught, Yeah, slightly underthrown ball, but very
Speaker 1: catchable in the fourth quarter, the Eagles would have been
Speaker 1: down to touchdown there when they when they were going
Speaker 1: for the game winning drive. So let's check in on
Speaker 1: the state of the Eagles for the last month. You
Speaker 1: and everyone else has said everything is so hard for
Speaker 1: this offense. It's just so hard and even was in
Speaker 1: the first half of this game. Even in the first
Speaker 1: half you were saying the same thing. It was the
Speaker 1: second half impressive enough to where you think of them
Speaker 1: differently going into next week because it's the Cowboys, like
Speaker 1: they have something to hang their hat on now a
Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, they really have five guys. It's Ward
Speaker 1: or Scott, Art Sanders and Scott and that was it.
Speaker 1: I mean Arthega Whiteside. Uh, he's on the field, but
Speaker 1: he might as well not be there to targets no catch.
Speaker 1: This was my point last week. Ward and Boston Scott
Speaker 1: have been in this team's possession all year. As they
Speaker 1: played guys who can't catch and can't make big plays.
Speaker 1: They just went to waste all year. I I don't
Speaker 1: feel overly confident because they've done this against two pretty
Speaker 1: poor defenses, but I think they have to feel like
Speaker 1: you have something on offense. But it's what we've been
Speaker 1: talking about with them all year. Once they fix one problem,
Speaker 1: another one pops up. The defense hasn't been good really,
Speaker 1: certainly not today, and they're they're much healthier. Anybody that
Speaker 1: with great confidence makes a prediction about the Week sixteen
Speaker 1: game Cowboys actually, I don't believe anything that's coming out
Speaker 1: of their mouths. They are overconfident. Just use that as
Speaker 1: an indicator whether they know what they're talking about, because
Speaker 1: we've seen enough from both of these teams that it's
Speaker 1: unpredictable what you're gonna get Sunday to say it is.
Speaker 1: And yet I think it's it's okay to say that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys should be the favorite. I don't care that
Speaker 1: they're on the road that they if they're playing the
Speaker 1: better team. Here's the thing, I'm not necessarily picking. I
Speaker 1: probably will pick them and I and it wouldn't surprise
Speaker 1: me if the Eagles win. I'm not saying that I
Speaker 1: don't wouldn't feel confident. But their best game is just
Speaker 1: clearly better. Because the Eagles have no best game. These
Speaker 1: are their best games. Is winning these dog fights against
Speaker 1: dog teams? All right? Let us move on. Dog team
Speaker 1: fought to the fifties, less sideline forty to the thirties,
Speaker 1: Stephon Gilmore to the chad and root to a second
Speaker 1: pick six of the season, touch down Patriots gill locked
Speaker 1: out one off what on an angle by Gilmore off
Speaker 1: this Patriots shoplix late Gilmore closes it's a throat of
Speaker 1: the front. Julie Luck jumps it for sixty four yard touchdown.
Speaker 1: Was a second half start by him. Here. You know
Speaker 1: it's nice. We had a nice little run there, made
Speaker 1: a second turn it up Zolac. Zola gets the bongo drums.
Speaker 1: Gillie Lock spet Von Gilmore, Gillie Lock, Yeah, Bargo about Bargo, Yeah,
Speaker 1: loose baby bom Sochi Scott Zolac with the calf of
Speaker 1: the page her Patriots Radio Network. Yes, Goldilocks return one
Speaker 1: of New England's or interception sixty four yards of the house.
Speaker 1: Patriots clinch a playoffer at Sunday over the Bengals, a
Speaker 1: game that will be remembered less for its outcome and
Speaker 1: more for the latest Patriots scandal that prefaced it. But
Speaker 1: I forgot about that. At eleven and two, the path's
Speaker 1: remain in position for the all important first round by
Speaker 1: and now we welcome formally the great Jeremy Bergman, fellow
Speaker 1: native New Yorker. Okay, same thing, tortured Jets Van Burgo
Speaker 1: tell us how the Patriots did it on Sunday? Uh, Well,
Speaker 1: you know all week West was talking up how the Bengals.
Speaker 1: You know this was a trap game for the Patriots.
Speaker 1: Nobody wants to play. Did a three game losing streak
Speaker 1: by the you know, almost it would have been one
Speaker 1: of the great predictions. He looked great for about two
Speaker 1: quarters while nearly two quarters ten ten with about two
Speaker 1: minutes left in the in the second quarter and Alex
Speaker 1: Erickson muffs au punt and from there the Patriots rolled.
Speaker 1: The Patriots kicked a field goal to go into the
Speaker 1: half to take a lead, and then coming out of
Speaker 1: the half. UH. Dalton throws two picks on the first
Speaker 1: two drives, both to Gilmore who was in coverage on
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd second Gilmore. This is a big game for him.
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking you know about t J. Watt
Speaker 1: or Daniel Hunter in some spaces. Stephan Gilmore has been
Speaker 1: the the deploy for pretty much the entire season, starting
Speaker 1: with the Boogeyman defense. UH in the start of the
Speaker 1: season so um and then J. C. Jackson got two
Speaker 1: picks at the end, Dalton through four picks season high
Speaker 1: and UH. You know, I think this is a reminder
Speaker 1: that the Patriots secondary, even against inferior opponents, UH is
Speaker 1: possibly the best, probably the best in the league. And
Speaker 1: UH a reminder that the Patriots can beat up on
Speaker 1: these teams. But the offense, uh look terrible again. I
Speaker 1: mean Brady had a season leve and passing yards. Edelman
Speaker 1: didn't look right. Nick kill Harry had a couple of catches.
Speaker 1: SNeW was was dropped out right. Pass is all over
Speaker 1: the place, thirty one drop backs for the Patriots, passing
Speaker 1: a hundred sixteen yards rough did it didn't look as
Speaker 1: bad as that sounds. Uh it did. I mean it's
Speaker 1: aside from uh the pick six. The Patriots had two
Speaker 1: scores in two touchdowns in the second half, and both
Speaker 1: of them came on short fields. So they're not moving
Speaker 1: the ball and they're averaging They average four point six
Speaker 1: yards per play. Brady got hit six. They ran the
Speaker 1: ball a little bit though, which they they have not
Speaker 1: been able to do, and they get nikkil Harry involved
Speaker 1: playing him about I think it was thirty six snaps
Speaker 1: where he hasn't been too involved. He had a couple
Speaker 1: of runs, he did get a touchdown, uh catch. They're
Speaker 1: just looking for incremental improvement with with the line, I
Speaker 1: would think, especially because they're gonna need a running game
Speaker 1: and they're gonna need a turnover margin like this. It's
Speaker 1: it's not an easy method to try to go win
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl with turnover margin. But there plus twenty
Speaker 1: four on the year, and a lot of that's been
Speaker 1: against the bad teams in the league. But that that's
Speaker 1: the only way they're gonna win games in the playoffs
Speaker 1: against good teams is with this secondary picking off passes.
Speaker 1: So by by that statement, you're saying you have no
Speaker 1: hope that they're going to turn their offense around. I
Speaker 1: have hope that they can be situationally a lot better.
Speaker 1: Yes that they can, that they can be good enough
Speaker 1: that but you're gonna there's no way they're winning three
Speaker 1: playoff games without the defense and special teams bawling out.
Speaker 1: That's the rest of Greg. This is and this is
Speaker 1: not news to you. You've been tracking this team very closely,
Speaker 1: as you track all teams, but especially with your boys,
Speaker 1: the Patriots. But Tom Brady lives in the sub Gabbard zone.
Speaker 1: Now like this is not this is happening every week.
Speaker 1: You go all the way back last let's see five
Speaker 1: weeks now, starting with the Eagles win seventeen ten, four
Speaker 1: point six yards pert tempt and the Gabber zone is
Speaker 1: anything sub five yards per ten, uh, five point one
Speaker 1: yards sub six, five point one against the Cowboys, six
Speaker 1: point nine against the Texans with some garbage time at
Speaker 1: the end, and then four point seven last week against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and then four point four this week. I
Speaker 1: mean this is Burgo. This is nothing new, and we
Speaker 1: keep on saying, well, he'll turn it on, he'll turn
Speaker 1: it's worth point. They won. Yeah, that's fair to point out,
Speaker 1: but you know the score. But you're playing the Bengals,
Speaker 1: who are a loss away from you know the first
Speaker 1: uh picking the draft. There were fans more Patriots fans
Speaker 1: than Bengals fans at this game. But the Bengals fans
Speaker 1: who were there, uh, they were saying, uh, I have
Speaker 1: the I have the Tiger. Go Bengals go as in
Speaker 1: the Bayou go. But they're rooting for Joe Burrow. They
Speaker 1: were paying more attention to the Heisman Trophy. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: magic number is one because they're they're up to the Giants. Uh,
Speaker 1: foreshadowing win over the Dolphins. Up two games. Sorry, well
Speaker 1: you know two games ahead of the of the of
Speaker 1: the Bengals. It is crazy. I mean they throw the
Speaker 1: ball eight times, this a new thirteen yards five times
Speaker 1: to Edelman, this is becoming a bigger concern. He looked
Speaker 1: banged up or I heard that he was in this
Speaker 1: game five targets for nine yards. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what to take from the running game either, because the Bengals,
Speaker 1: like I mean, against every team except the Jets can't
Speaker 1: stop the run. And Michelle had a great game Birkehead
Speaker 1: revenge game with a touchdown h late in the second half. Um,
Speaker 1: but I'm not sure how much to read into that
Speaker 1: because of the opponent. It's it is crazy, though. This
Speaker 1: is their tenth straight eleven win season, so they did
Speaker 1: it all decade eleven plus no no other team in
Speaker 1: NFL history has ever gone above seven straight of though,
Speaker 1: So the way I kind of look at it like
Speaker 1: as if this is the the end of the Patriots,
Speaker 1: like the end the end is like they're winning eleven,
Speaker 1: Like that's that's like a worthy end to what's been
Speaker 1: the greatest dynasty and what's happening here. But it's true though,
Speaker 1: like if disintegration of the Patriots, which just so happens
Speaker 1: again is like you're the seven happens against the backdrop
Speaker 1: of the latest scandal that is gripping this Team Spy Harder,
Speaker 1: which featured of course Jay Glazer of Fox going on
Speaker 1: the pregame show and having video evidence of what went down,
Speaker 1: right down to a Bengal Stafford West is a proud
Speaker 1: former since the Cincinnati resident that that guy for the
Speaker 1: Bengals was very strong and his takedown of that Patriots videographer.
Speaker 1: We have a spot for him on West Security, the
Speaker 1: jackets of which you see on the sidelines of most NFL.
Speaker 1: So the way he handled that and the way the
Speaker 1: Patriots staffer immediately just do it. I'll do it. Hey,
Speaker 1: what if I deleted? Nobody has to be the wiser
Speaker 1: and that's right. Now, give me a break with how
Speaker 1: then the Bengals got It's like a cop like pulling
Speaker 1: somebody over. He's like, the Bengals guy, what do he said?
Speaker 1: He made a comment like, well, you should have thought
Speaker 1: about this before you did. It was like one of
Speaker 1: those like Dad lines that we needed a naked light
Speaker 1: bulb in there, maybe just one loan chair. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a great grilling session by Bengal security. So
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just pointing out, Greg, your quarterback looks done.
Speaker 1: And he got another scandal hanging over your head. This
Speaker 1: is is eleven and three is grade? Actually that thought
Speaker 1: the video thing. I don't care about the scandal. No,
Speaker 1: it's helped them though the video. As you guys said
Speaker 1: in the previous show, you didn't think there's too much
Speaker 1: of it. The video, which you can watch, thankfully, kind
Speaker 1: of supports everything that they said that there would be
Speaker 1: nothing that you can be gaining from this what they
Speaker 1: were watching the sideline. I actually feel less confident about
Speaker 1: the Patriots after seeing that video. I don't think that
Speaker 1: Belichick orchestrated at all, but certainly this should be investigated.
Speaker 1: What it is it's happening. I just love that Wes
Speaker 1: is just you know, Antonio Brownie's the gift that keeps giving.
Speaker 1: They should sign Antonio brown Maybe I'm coming back around.
Speaker 1: I mean they needed they need someone who can get
Speaker 1: open give um burgo. You stick around for another game? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got nothing to do. All right, let's roll. You're
Speaker 1: actually writing up the Senate snap from that looks left
Speaker 1: Matt throws taught Jones chopped down short of the end zone.
Speaker 1: Is he ruled in or out? He's ruled? I got
Speaker 1: the play. My goodness, Ryan to Jones has given it
Speaker 1: laud of the lead twenty three, twenty two ten play
Speaker 1: seventy yards in unbelievable West Durham and Dave Archer with
Speaker 1: the call for the Falcons Radio network. All Right, we
Speaker 1: had to do some Frankenstein work on that highlights because
Speaker 1: it doesn't deliver the the drama of what happened. Because
Speaker 1: one play after an incredible Austin Hooper TD catch was
Speaker 1: overturned on a suspect review, Julio Jones is awarded a
Speaker 1: touchdown upon review after a suspect spot by game officials.
Speaker 1: You got that right. Yeah, A lot going on in
Speaker 1: the final seconds of the Falcons win over the Niners. Uh.
Speaker 1: Those final six points came via a fubble recovery. Uh,
Speaker 1: lateral shenanigans that only al Michaels could love. Wink wink,
Speaker 1: Another one of those Burgo classic letdown game for the Niners.
Speaker 1: How do you make sense of this one? I mean
Speaker 1: this is a classic trap. Can you look at the
Speaker 1: schedule and between the Saints, the Rams and the Seahawks
Speaker 1: in the back four of their schedule, they're playing the Falcons,
Speaker 1: who had put up forward against the Panthers last week.
Speaker 1: They've been playing pretty well in the back half of
Speaker 1: the of the season, and so the Niners should have
Speaker 1: handled this team pretty easily. They've had a couple they
Speaker 1: had a couple of injuries today. Richard Sherman, d Ford
Speaker 1: Western Richburg were all out and that certainly had an effect.
Speaker 1: But you would have thought maybe you were going to
Speaker 1: get a shootout between these two sides, given how uh
Speaker 1: the Niners had been playing against a team like the Saints,
Speaker 1: and then how the Falcons has been playing on offense
Speaker 1: all year. And really it was a defensive struggle up
Speaker 1: until the fourth quarter when they started trading scores. Uh
Speaker 1: Garoppolo Uh. Uh scored on a past to Kyle us Check. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Falcons come back and score, and then uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the Niners kick a field goal and the nine and
Speaker 1: the Falcons get back down the field. Uh. The Falcons
Speaker 1: get back down the field, and you have that wild
Speaker 1: sequence of events. In eight seconds, there's a past to
Speaker 1: Austin Hooper that he's catching in between his legs. He's
Speaker 1: holding it, who's holding onto the ball with only one hand,
Speaker 1: but it touches the ground, slips, it slips out of
Speaker 1: his hand. It slips out of his hand, but the
Speaker 1: call and I'm just glad because ball don't lie that
Speaker 1: they got the touchdown the next play, because that's not
Speaker 1: how they deserve to lose the Falcons. Where was we're
Speaker 1: talking about replay again here? Where was the evidence that
Speaker 1: overturns that call? Where did we see an angle that
Speaker 1: showed the pigskin touching the field turf? I think you
Speaker 1: definitely saw in his left hand or whatever it was,
Speaker 1: you see him hold the ball, it touches some sort
Speaker 1: some sort of surface, and then he his grip loosens,
Speaker 1: meaning you know, it looked like his cleat though was
Speaker 1: up against I don't think so. I think I think
Speaker 1: it hit the terif I'm not gonna I that one.
Speaker 1: Did it saw him at least fumble the ball in
Speaker 1: the end zone. It's too costly, though, it's not too
Speaker 1: costly for the forty diers. I know they people get
Speaker 1: really into like, oh, they filed down to the fifth seed.
Speaker 1: You know, Okay, that's fine. If they win their next
Speaker 1: two games, they should They should be the one seed
Speaker 1: if they beat the Seahawks. Not even if they beat
Speaker 1: the right well that ends well. The Rams game could
Speaker 1: affect whether it'd be the one seed or or just
Speaker 1: winning the division in getting the two seed. But it's
Speaker 1: not a killer. I've never seen a game where it's
Speaker 1: two pass catchers going against each other quite like this.
Speaker 1: George Kittle seventeen targets, thirteen catches, hundred and thirty four yards.
Speaker 1: No one else on the team had more than four targets.
Speaker 1: Julio Jones twenty targets, thirteen for one thirty four. No
Speaker 1: one else on the team had more than twenty seven yards.
Speaker 1: So it's just Julio versus Kiddle back and forth, and
Speaker 1: I love that sounds great. A game where they're so
Speaker 1: shorthanded at receiver in Atlanta compared to what they started
Speaker 1: the year with and you just throw it to Julio
Speaker 1: twenty times and he goes and wins it. Tough, He's
Speaker 1: still got it. I think there's there's this idea in
Speaker 1: fantasy circles that like Julio because he goes long stretches
Speaker 1: without touchdowns is over the hill. Now he's amazing still
Speaker 1: in all Pro you probably just said this exactly these numbers,
Speaker 1: but they had exactly the same. Yes, is odd, very
Speaker 1: odd point. It was. It was more um Stark with
Speaker 1: the Niners, though, because you know they have been, you know,
Speaker 1: succeeding on offense because they had been throwing to Deebo,
Speaker 1: Samuel and Emmanuel Sanders getting that receiver game. Uh in
Speaker 1: the last half of the season, uh beefed up. But
Speaker 1: here there was Garoppolo was holding the ball too long.
Speaker 1: He ended up dumping the ball off to most dirt
Speaker 1: and Kittle a bunch. And it was actually the fact
Speaker 1: that Kittle had such a big line and no scores.
Speaker 1: It was indicative of how kind of broken and slow
Speaker 1: the Niners offense looked all season or uh in this game, Uh,
Speaker 1: their first scoring drive, um, and this you know, they
Speaker 1: had a bunch. They made a bunch of big plays
Speaker 1: against the Saints, right, they had the big touchdown to
Speaker 1: Manuel Sanders and all that. Their first scoring drive was
Speaker 1: twenty one plays for ten minutes and four three seconds,
Speaker 1: the longest drive in football this season. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it looked like they were going to control the clock
Speaker 1: against the Falcons, and they were holding the Falcons um
Speaker 1: scoreless for most of the game, but it didn't work
Speaker 1: out at the end. I'm kind of amazed at their
Speaker 1: defensive line, which I started the season thinking they could
Speaker 1: be historic and now they're just great, you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're not a stork. I'm just amazed that that's that
Speaker 1: they couldn't just dominate the game enough to just win.
Speaker 1: But that's what happened. Sometimes when you have an m
Speaker 1: v P type of quarterback on the other side, you
Speaker 1: don't know. They're also depleted. They don't have the depth
Speaker 1: to do the rotation they were doing earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: Does anyone think dan Quinn can possibly save his job?
Speaker 1: I don't. I think a win like this is a
Speaker 1: potential game changer if they have to win out a
Speaker 1: thing too. And I know it seems meaningless because what's
Speaker 1: the difference between five and eleven and seven and nine
Speaker 1: whether you should keep your coach, But these are the
Speaker 1: type of wins I think gets ownership's attention that the
Speaker 1: team hasn't quit, that they have there's a ceiling there.
Speaker 1: I I think it's more likely Greg that he does go.
Speaker 1: I think he's the first one like that. They've decided
Speaker 1: this by around the bye week. I think they already decided, Hey,
Speaker 1: where's here's what we're gonna do because to them, seven
Speaker 1: and nine is a huge disappointment. So I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna look at the whole season, even if they win
Speaker 1: the next two and yeah, this it didn't feel good
Speaker 1: for the Niners. When Matt Ryan goes takes the field
Speaker 1: with about two minutes to play and three time outs,
Speaker 1: it felt like a dangerous spot for the Niners. And
Speaker 1: sure enough Ryan goes right down the field called it
Speaker 1: I did I'll take that burgo kind of make one more.
Speaker 1: All three of San Francisco's losses have come on the
Speaker 1: very last player, the very last play, and last week
Speaker 1: they gave up the game winning we're supposed to be
Speaker 1: game winning drive to the Saints. So going forward, the
Speaker 1: Niners at the death are they reliable? Late in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter asked for one more point? He made it
Speaker 1: count and one And where can you find if you
Speaker 1: can find him on Twitter at at j A Bergmann,
Speaker 1: great follow. You could also see him in the two
Speaker 1: thousand five Will Ferrell coming he got the gear right
Speaker 1: and screaming. You can find him in our news room too,
Speaker 1: if you can get past security get into our building.
Speaker 1: He's always in like the first desk in the right corner.
Speaker 1: If you knock on the door into the news room,
Speaker 1: he'll probably be the guy that that answers the dog
Speaker 1: and and and tell us Jeremy's will for all funny
Speaker 1: off cameras he is on because he's a real hoot.
Speaker 1: I'll never tell all right, fare I go, thank you, buddy.
Speaker 1: And if Eally complains that you were up here too long,
Speaker 1: send him up here. We'll have a conversation with him.
Speaker 1: I'll let him know I love that. And it's like
Speaker 1: a good Fellas some potential airtime. He's like, fine, I'll go,
Speaker 1: go go. It's like a good Fellas when you know
Speaker 1: the young ray Leota has some issues with the with
Speaker 1: the progress reports from the school, and then they throw
Speaker 1: the mail man in the pizza oven and say, no
Speaker 1: more mail gets to their house. That's what you're gonna
Speaker 1: do with you really comes up here, we'll have to
Speaker 1: get the pizza. Very lombardion of you to bring it
Speaker 1: back to Like a good Fellas reference, I have no
Speaker 1: issues with. Really, he's a fine man. I love Dave alright,
Speaker 1: that's uh. I will not throw Dave Eally in a
Speaker 1: pizza oven. That is my solemn promise. Cut that drop,
Speaker 1: thank you, Jeremy single back offense, Harry Jones, let on setbacks,
Speaker 1: Rogers under Center, takes hand off, Jones bouncing luck fix
Speaker 1: the turn, flicks the tackle. The trend of the five
Speaker 1: pre pilot hands up. It is a tech stop beat
Speaker 1: Prince Someone and the Packers one yard touchdown run, fire
Speaker 1: and Jones fixed in the margin of thirteen three. Wayne
Speaker 1: Lara Vie with the call for the Packers radio network.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones ran for two scores. Davante Adams had another
Speaker 1: touchdown catch. The Packers beat the Bears. That moves Green
Speaker 1: Bay to eleven and three. They locked remain locked into
Speaker 1: that number two seed, the huge matchup against the Vikings
Speaker 1: looming in week sixteen. The Bears, well, there're seasons effectively
Speaker 1: over um they are eliminated from playoff contention in the NFC,
Speaker 1: And you know not, it's not the same thing as
Speaker 1: the Rams, because I didn't. I kind of bought in
Speaker 1: a little bit on the Rams recent hot streak and
Speaker 1: then they lay an egg in this game with the Bears.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I ever really truly bought in
Speaker 1: that they were gonna make this great miracle run in
Speaker 1: the end. And but I also thought maybe they could
Speaker 1: make it a game on Sunday because the Packers aren't
Speaker 1: playing so hot right now, but it kind of more
Speaker 1: or less played to script where Green Bay gave you
Speaker 1: enough offense. It's just kind of what they are right now.
Speaker 1: A team that's not gonna be blowing the doors off anybody,
Speaker 1: but they score the two or three touchdowns necessary, kick
Speaker 1: a couple of field goals sometimes and they'll get the W.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's gonna work when the competition
Speaker 1: jumps up a notch, but it was enough to be
Speaker 1: a Bears team Uh that just you know, didn't have
Speaker 1: it this year. And that's and that's uh, that's all
Speaker 1: you gotta say about them, really, but we'll say more
Speaker 1: so were you are you impressed with this Packers offense
Speaker 1: or were you today? Because we've been in lockstep that
Speaker 1: even though they're winning, we're just not impressed with the
Speaker 1: fact that they lack a chain moving element to this offense.
Speaker 1: It's all sizzle, no steak, all style, no substance, all flash,
Speaker 1: no sustainability. You know what they need? They need like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they need like a two thousand, fourteen Randall Cobb. They
Speaker 1: need somebody beyond just uh Aaron Jones at Davante uh
Speaker 1: uh Davante Adams. There was a moment in this come
Speaker 1: about two thousand eleven, Aaron Rodgers taking a checkdown every
Speaker 1: once in a while. Well, I'll say this. I'll say
Speaker 1: this because I I'm I'm with you that Rogers is
Speaker 1: been his own worst enemy in some cases. But I
Speaker 1: just keep on getting reminded of you know this, in
Speaker 1: this game, in the first quarter, Rogers hangs in the pocket,
Speaker 1: gets drilled, unfurls a gorgeous deep ball that should have
Speaker 1: been a seventy yard touchdown. Marquez Valda's scantling has two
Speaker 1: steps on the defender and he doesn't even drop it.
Speaker 1: It just shoots through his open hands, and it's like,
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? And he was basically removed
Speaker 1: from the game plan after that. They do that every week,
Speaker 1: that he does something they don't like, and then they removed.
Speaker 1: That's what they did in this case. And then I
Speaker 1: looked at I looked at the numbers for the Packers
Speaker 1: on offense, because it does feel one dimensional, especially their
Speaker 1: passing game. And sure enough, you've got Davante Adams, who
Speaker 1: missed like a quarter of the season with that toe injury.
Speaker 1: He is by far their most productive receiver in terms
Speaker 1: of catches, yards, touchdowns. Then their next to most productive
Speaker 1: receivers are running backs and Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams,
Speaker 1: and then you get to Jimmy Graham in two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: So two thousand nineteen, Jimmy Graham is snaps today, Yeah,
Speaker 1: before the next wide receiver shows up, which is Jeronimo Allison,
Speaker 1: who hasn't done much this year. Then you get to
Speaker 1: MBS and then finally Alan Lozard, who has made some plays.
Speaker 1: He is though he's their guy the last three weeks,
Speaker 1: he's their number two receiver. They've kind of settled in
Speaker 1: on a rotation which is like Rogers maybe is holding
Speaker 1: the ball too long, but it's a product of the
Speaker 1: fact that he has receivers that aren't getting open and
Speaker 1: he's trying to make it happen, but there's nothing happening.
Speaker 1: Lazard is an undrafted guy, and if he's going to
Speaker 1: be the guy that steps up, it shows you that
Speaker 1: they just haven't done a good job helping Rogers with weapons.
Speaker 1: But there's been there's been a lot of consternation and
Speaker 1: we've we've added to it. You know, what is with
Speaker 1: this team's identity. You know, our our friend Aaron Nagler said,
Speaker 1: maybe this team is you know, identity is just winning ugly,
Speaker 1: which for this team, but the way they came into
Speaker 1: this season, they are finding ways. The fact that they
Speaker 1: have eleven wins says something. The defense has come along
Speaker 1: a little bit lately after a pretty long slump. But
Speaker 1: close out a game Aaron Rodgers, it was on him
Speaker 1: a little bit late. He nearly fumbled it, he nearly
Speaker 1: had an interception. He had some mental strange decisions in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. And I've noticed their offense, especially late
Speaker 1: in game struggles. Their last five drives here where all
Speaker 1: they needed at any point was was about a five
Speaker 1: minute drive or a field goal drive. And you win
Speaker 1: the game and you knock your rivals out for the season.
Speaker 1: One first down punt, then three and out, three and out,
Speaker 1: three and out, three and out. That's all in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. So they were begging Mitch to come back
Speaker 1: in this game, and the Bears almost did, and Mitch
Speaker 1: couldn't do it. And I'll say this, the Bears rolled
Speaker 1: up eight d and one yards and fifty five points
Speaker 1: in the previous two weeks. Uh and Trabiski, after a
Speaker 1: nothing first quarter, finished with three eight yards on fifty
Speaker 1: three passes, but you know what his I'll remember this
Speaker 1: game for a fourth quarter interception that he fired right
Speaker 1: into the arms of Dean Lowry. And it's the type
Speaker 1: of failure that you'll remember this season by just Trabinsky
Speaker 1: taking the book. They got the ball after a punt
Speaker 1: after another three and out by the Packers at their
Speaker 1: own forty down eight with a chance to save their season,
Speaker 1: and um, Trabinsky just wasn't up for it. And I
Speaker 1: just wonder, this will be interesting. He is two games
Speaker 1: left here, what what the Bears do and we'll have
Speaker 1: time to talk about that. But this this was a
Speaker 1: chance in a big spot on the road to make
Speaker 1: something happen. And again the Bears in their offense just
Speaker 1: they weren't up for it. They made it as painful
Speaker 1: as possible for Bears fans. I mean, I know they get, yes,
Speaker 1: you want to be in a meaningful game in mid December.
Speaker 1: At least they gave them that. But having it basically
Speaker 1: end on the Packers after getting their hopes up a little,
Speaker 1: that's as tough as it gets. And by the way,
Speaker 1: you know Khalil Mack and that defense they hit Rogers
Speaker 1: four times and had one sack. So you know they
Speaker 1: they needed everybody to step up in this game and
Speaker 1: keep the season alive. And you know what nobody did.
Speaker 1: And as a result, in July, baby, let's move up
Speaker 1: and pip helmet that capacity. They dropped the ball a
Speaker 1: cup by a Viking couching around good foibles, the tifty
Speaker 1: to the forty goes tifty six shirt defensive touchdown by
Speaker 1: a funny ohable Paul Allen, Vikings Radio Network, a funny
Speaker 1: oh Dunnabo scooped up a loose ball gallop to Gloria.
Speaker 1: Game changing play in the game that quickly turned into
Speaker 1: a vicious blowout thirty nine ten in favor of the
Speaker 1: Vikings over the host Chargers West. This game was ten
Speaker 1: nine in the second quarter. Your locke was looking pretty good.
Speaker 1: But then the Charges. You know, they had seven turnovers,
Speaker 1: and you know, bad things happen when you turn it
Speaker 1: over seven times in a football game. Listen to this
Speaker 1: string of possessions, which I assure you have not heard
Speaker 1: anything so offensive today. Interception fumble returned for touchdown, end
Speaker 1: of half, fumble, punt turnover on downs, fumble, interception, interception
Speaker 1: end game. That was their last nine possessions of the game.
Speaker 1: The phill play the whole game. Phil played the whole game.
Speaker 1: And here's what's going on with Phil. His arm is shot. Phil,
Speaker 1: his arm is shot. And you know how we talk
Speaker 1: about see it throw a quarter quarterbacks who have to
Speaker 1: see the receiver come open before they actually released the ball.
Speaker 1: Rivers has always been the opposite of that. He is
Speaker 1: the most timing based quarterback in the NFL. He throws
Speaker 1: two spots and he wants the receiver to be there.
Speaker 1: That has turned this year into throwing the ball up
Speaker 1: and praying that when the ball finally descends out of
Speaker 1: the air, the receiver just happens to be there. And
Speaker 1: sometimes the defensive back is there instead. And that's what
Speaker 1: happened today. Melvin Gordon fumbled twice. Watched the final twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes from the bench, costly fumbles. The This was
Speaker 1: a bad job locking by me and an even worse
Speaker 1: job by the charge. It showed boldness, but it was
Speaker 1: always a dangerous lock because the Vikings have shown all year,
Speaker 1: you know, they're a better team. But the Chargers had
Speaker 1: some juice going into the game. I mean, Phil doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense. For Phil, just like call him Phil
Speaker 1: uh to join Eli walking into the sunset this year?
Speaker 1: Or do you think this is a guy that's gonna
Speaker 1: try to, you know, make right after what's been pretty
Speaker 1: much a down season for him. I wonder where this ends.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's opened up so far stadium with
Speaker 1: the Chargers, but I think he might try to play
Speaker 1: somewhere else. Does Anthony Lynn open up so far with
Speaker 1: the Chargers? I think so. I think he has a
Speaker 1: better chance than Phil. I wouldn't rule out I think
Speaker 1: Rivers could get a job somewhere. I do. I think
Speaker 1: he's shown enough this year, although it's getting tough and uh.
Speaker 1: One thing the last couple of years have taught us,
Speaker 1: especially with offensive line play falling so far behind the
Speaker 1: athleticism of pass rushers, your old quarterback has to either
Speaker 1: have a great offensive line or be so good at
Speaker 1: getting rid of the ball quickly that it's not a
Speaker 1: factor because these old quarterbacks just you put him with
Speaker 1: a good line. I think he'd be a pretty solid
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, but they don't have that, and that's you
Speaker 1: don't want to go into a season with that if
Speaker 1: I guess if you're the Chargers. For the Vikings, though,
Speaker 1: This is an impressive win, you know. I know it's
Speaker 1: all on turnovers, but they've needed it. I don't think
Speaker 1: they've played quite their best lately. The big concern for
Speaker 1: them is they lose Dalvin Cook to a shoulder injury
Speaker 1: and that you know it's been happening where he doesn't
Speaker 1: make it through the game and now you have a
Speaker 1: much bigger game next week. And Madison wasn't playing his
Speaker 1: backup Alexander Madison with an ankle injury. Mike Boone saw
Speaker 1: a lot of playing time. Um Kirk Cousins did hit
Speaker 1: six out of six on the opening drive on the road,
Speaker 1: so that's worth noting. And Daniel Hunter, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: we can say defensive player of the year, and in
Speaker 1: a year with t J. Watt playing so well with
Speaker 1: Chandler Jones, de Bosa brothers, I'm not sure he's better
Speaker 1: than all those guys, but he's making a strong case.
Speaker 1: He had two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, a sack.
Speaker 1: He was all over. This is all when the game
Speaker 1: was still close. So they play the Packers next week, right,
Speaker 1: what they do? They host the Packers and they are
Speaker 1: bankable in that don't and they take you know, they
Speaker 1: get into first place, this is their chance to have
Speaker 1: their first win the season against the winning team and
Speaker 1: they will do it though, West and this will be
Speaker 1: fun to track, especially for you and I. You mentioned
Speaker 1: that's a banged up backfield. Who knows what they have
Speaker 1: it is. You're gonna put a lot. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot on Kirk to move the ball in a
Speaker 1: big spot again for the NFC North on the line.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to ignore the other fifty two players
Speaker 1: on his team after the game when it's on Monday
Speaker 1: night football on and we're telling we're taping that night,
Speaker 1: especially timed podcasts guaranteed that it does not matter one
Speaker 1: bit what anyone else on that roster does except for Kirk. Cousins.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear about. Oh I gotta right
Speaker 1: power rankings, Lady, Dad, Dan, We should all be watching
Speaker 1: this game together Christmas Live, Live, live podcast, Well live, Cousins,
Speaker 1: uh and you know, come to the garage, guys, All right,
Speaker 1: let's go, Spencer were Sprinton action to the right side
Speaker 1: in the right flat, Mahomes holding it under pressure, Pump
Speaker 1: faking moving to his right, trying to keep the play alive.
Speaker 1: Keeps it alive and finds in the end zone for
Speaker 1: two points. Sammy Watkins and the Chiefs to snow Angels
Speaker 1: in the end zone with a two point play. Didn't
Speaker 1: look like figure skating at Rockefeller's Center as he was
Speaker 1: going back and forth and back and forth and then
Speaker 1: finally spinning and finding in the back of the end zone.
Speaker 1: Sammy Watkins for two in the Chiefly twenty three to three.
Speaker 1: Mitch Halters in the Chiefs Radio network, Patrick Mahomes through
Speaker 1: for three forty two scores, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey.
Speaker 1: They were making plays in Kansas City rolls to a
Speaker 1: three win over the Broncos. The wind keeps Kansas City
Speaker 1: a step behind New England for the second playoff. By
Speaker 1: Greg Uh. Maybe we're still waiting for the Chiefs to
Speaker 1: achieve full lift off on offense, but today that's more
Speaker 1: encouraging progress for their defense. Three points against the Denver
Speaker 1: team that was kind of looking on the up and up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: continuation of what they've shown us on defense, which with
Speaker 1: a really good past defense and a good pass rush
Speaker 1: with Chris Jones, Uh and Frank Clark playing well today.
Speaker 1: But the story was the offense. I don't care that
Speaker 1: it says twenty three points. This did look like the
Speaker 1: Phillis offense that I've been waiting to see for a month.
Speaker 1: I thought it was one of, if not the best,
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes game of the year. It could have easily
Speaker 1: been a forty burger. You know, the weather was tricky,
Speaker 1: so they settled for some field goals. Mahomes is one,
Speaker 1: you know, bad decision of the day. He did get
Speaker 1: picked off late, uh, kind of in garbage timer. They
Speaker 1: could have had more, but man, in such bad weather,
Speaker 1: I was amazed how he showed everything. I mean touch
Speaker 1: on some throws, he had some heaters, he had great accuracy,
Speaker 1: he moved well somehow in the snow. I sort of
Speaker 1: didn't understand it because it looked like the snow was
Speaker 1: killing the Broncos and his his throws were just fantastic
Speaker 1: all day. I feel like it's been said before. I
Speaker 1: remember I believe a fifty to nothing Patriots with sixty something.
Speaker 1: Yeah that And I remember I believe it was Tom
Speaker 1: Brady who said that snow is not really a huge
Speaker 1: detriment to an offense. It's more like rain and muddy
Speaker 1: fields that could cause drama. But it was it was
Speaker 1: like driving snow. And yes, the footing you can get
Speaker 1: receivers more open, but it was more just the quality
Speaker 1: of his actual passes. Uh and Travis Kelsey helped him
Speaker 1: out by making some great catches and Tyreek Hill and
Speaker 1: it's just I think this was if you're a Chiefs fan,
Speaker 1: this is exactly what you wanted to see everything kind
Speaker 1: of about. Yeah, the Casey offense is on track right now.
Speaker 1: They don't have a much of a running game that's
Speaker 1: been there all year and that was no better today,
Speaker 1: So that's kind of their one weakness. But the passing
Speaker 1: game to me, Uh looked in full flight. Well, I
Speaker 1: think we both said around there by time a month
Speaker 1: of go, we expect him to not lose another game
Speaker 1: until that Ravens game in the a f C title
Speaker 1: showed him. To me, these are by far the two
Speaker 1: best teams in the n f C, the Chiefs and
Speaker 1: the Ravens, right, and I do think they're ceiling is
Speaker 1: right there with the r Ravens. The problem, of course
Speaker 1: now is they're either gonna have to win the Chiefs
Speaker 1: that is two road games or at least one road game,
Speaker 1: you would think to get to the Super Bowl. But
Speaker 1: like I said, with the defense playing well and Tyrone,
Speaker 1: Matthew and Wan Thornhill had another great game. I mean,
Speaker 1: honey Badger was all over the place. It was a
Speaker 1: very telling sequence where he picked off a pass that
Speaker 1: was uh overturned by a very questionable penalty and the
Speaker 1: next play Thornhill picked out a pass of Drew Lock
Speaker 1: and I think Matthew had a sack and a couple
Speaker 1: more passes defense that they look good. They looked like
Speaker 1: the Chiefs that are producer Ryan Bartlett's hoping to see.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's PTSD UM. I don't know, but one of
Speaker 1: those teams that you just mentioned, the Ravens are Chiefs.
Speaker 1: There's a good chance one of them's got to go
Speaker 1: to Gillette Stadium and win in Foxboro to get to
Speaker 1: that age the title game the Chiefs. Yes, Um, so
Speaker 1: that's still gotta happen, and that will be a big
Speaker 1: test when it happens. But yes, what we have seen
Speaker 1: to this point from these three teams, it does seem
Speaker 1: like New England's the clear cut number three in the conference,
Speaker 1: even if they end up with I agree, and the
Speaker 1: Chiefs have to feel good. I know is early, but
Speaker 1: they beat the other two, and so at least I
Speaker 1: think that they should feel good about that, and they
Speaker 1: should feel good that they they run this division like
Speaker 1: no other team other than the Patriots, of course, run
Speaker 1: a division. They are twenty six and three against the
Speaker 1: a f C West since two thousand and fifteen, including
Speaker 1: nine and one against the Broncos, and they beat them,
Speaker 1: beat the like the Broncos have been competitive all year
Speaker 1: except for when they play the Chiefs and then they
Speaker 1: get just you know, slapped around. Um. All right, let
Speaker 1: us move on to another team that got slapped around
Speaker 1: today seven and a half ago, they lead by eleven
Speaker 1: second and one of the seven team they run Drake
Speaker 1: Whiteside ten five four touch shown for ten and Drake
Speaker 1: and maybe puts this game away thirty four to seven
Speaker 1: team midway through the fourth quarter. The Bronze could not
Speaker 1: take even one more flat trouble. First, I might have
Speaker 1: that one cut just so our gear is it Dave
Speaker 1: passion ron Wolfy. That was Wolfy with the call our
Speaker 1: old friend with like the dabbled in frost and the
Speaker 1: Breeze quote from Oh Yeah Yeah, with the moon with
Speaker 1: the moon and the the Jesse the body Ventura voice
Speaker 1: Cardinals Radio Network with the call yes, Kenyan Drake four touchdowns?
Speaker 1: Whoa David Johnson is? Like what Kyler Murray through for
Speaker 1: two nineteen yards in a score Cardinals in a six
Speaker 1: game losing streak by beating up on the Browns. All right,
Speaker 1: let's bring in the great muscular both in body frame
Speaker 1: and in the mind. Most importantly, Nick Shook, who tracked
Speaker 1: this game for us from his Cleveland mansion, Shook another
Speaker 1: disappointing effort by the Browns in a season full of them.
Speaker 1: I like how my character is added the mansion, like it,
Speaker 1: like myself out I just assumed, you know, it's much
Speaker 1: I would imagine cost of living is. It's just a
Speaker 1: lot more affordable in Ohio compared to southern California. And
Speaker 1: that paycheck that only went so far out here is
Speaker 1: sending you straight to the nice neighborhood on the right
Speaker 1: side of the tracks, right from from the second floor
Speaker 1: apartment in the west side of l A to the penthouse, right.
Speaker 1: Shaker something like, don't don't worry about the facts, Nick,
Speaker 1: You're just you know, another character and Dan's play the truth.
Speaker 1: The truth is you know, your create your own story.
Speaker 1: Um anyway, Yeah, so the Browns. Of course it shook you.
Speaker 1: You worked with the Browns earlier this season, and uh,
Speaker 1: as crazy as it sounds, with some of the way
Speaker 1: things had been shaking out in the a f C,
Speaker 1: if they would have won today, maybe there would be
Speaker 1: a little bit of buzz um, you know, as we're
Speaker 1: taping this Sunday night football is going on. But like
Speaker 1: some buzz about the Browns having a Paulson, as it
Speaker 1: turns out that was all or not, because again, did
Speaker 1: they just not show up here pretty much? I mean
Speaker 1: from the jump the Cardinals, they look like a much
Speaker 1: different team than it looks like two weeks ago when
Speaker 1: they got destroyed by the Rams. You kind of saw
Speaker 1: signs of it last week when they lost to the
Speaker 1: Steelers in a close one, but they carried their momentum
Speaker 1: over this weekend and they were definitely the more prepared
Speaker 1: team I think. I mean, they came out and punched
Speaker 1: the Browns right in the mouth. The wolf the uh
Speaker 1: explanation of the flat shovel to the face. That that
Speaker 1: was pretty much how they started the game and also
Speaker 1: how they ended the game, and the Browns were just
Speaker 1: kind of left too stagger and try to regain their balance,
Speaker 1: and for a moment there they did, but ultimately the
Speaker 1: Cardinals were too much, which is hilarious to think about
Speaker 1: because they were three nine and one entering this game,
Speaker 1: and just we made a big deal about the brown
Speaker 1: schedule and how it's supposed to be so easy down
Speaker 1: the back half, and honestly, except for that win over
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, they haven't really looked that convincing against the
Speaker 1: teams that they're supposed to beat, and they didn't look
Speaker 1: like anything like it today. So yeah, tough day for
Speaker 1: the Browns. No doubt Dorsey has such a interesting job
Speaker 1: ahead of him because I think we all looked at
Speaker 1: this roster entering the season and it looked like it
Speaker 1: was filled with top tier talent and it's still kind
Speaker 1: of is. But I'm sure there are improvements that can
Speaker 1: be made, the offensive line a chief among them, perhaps,
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like, do you make big
Speaker 1: changes in the off season with this roster or do
Speaker 1: you make a change on the sideline, like what would
Speaker 1: be the move for the Browns in the off season,
Speaker 1: because this has been obviously quite disappointing right Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: you have some guys who are in their contract years
Speaker 1: who you might see leaves. Uh, some guys that you
Speaker 1: considered stars are very valuable players who have not played
Speaker 1: up at that level to Marius Randal being one of
Speaker 1: those guys who fit both of those descriptions. And you
Speaker 1: also have to look at the team and wonder if
Speaker 1: a coaching change is going to help them or not,
Speaker 1: or you know, you kind of have to. I think
Speaker 1: you have the almost pulled their players and you kind
Speaker 1: of figure out what their opinion of their own coaches,
Speaker 1: which might seem divisive or backhand or whatever it would be.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you have to understand dan
Speaker 1: fully the situation and the perspective of your players, because
Speaker 1: you do have some guys who are proven, a guy
Speaker 1: like Jervis Landry has proven. But a guy like Jervis
Speaker 1: Landry also got into a little bit of a sidelines
Speaker 1: bat with Freddy Kitchens today down in the boat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: right exactly, And so you know it's it's a matter
Speaker 1: of is does he have this team still or not?
Speaker 1: And I think that should influence your decision at some
Speaker 1: of that decision at the end of the season. But
Speaker 1: they didn't play like he had them today, I mean
Speaker 1: their defense, Uh, couldn't stop in those bleed. Their offense
Speaker 1: tried its best, but even in key situations like that
Speaker 1: fourth or that third down failure to convert. You know,
Speaker 1: early in the fourth quarter, they settled for a field
Speaker 1: goal and then they missed the field goal and everything
Speaker 1: just kind of unravels from there. As soon as they
Speaker 1: missed that kick, it was like, man, this is where
Speaker 1: everything's just gonna snowball, And sure enough it didn't. And
Speaker 1: you only really wonder, and I think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be very influential on the status of Kitchen's job moving forward.
Speaker 1: Is is it gonna snowball into the final two weeks
Speaker 1: of the season or are they going to rebound and
Speaker 1: then you know, maybe when one of those last two
Speaker 1: or get another upset over the Ravens or something like that,
Speaker 1: which I don't think he's going to have been, but
Speaker 1: you know, hypothetically, if that does happen, then that would
Speaker 1: reinforce his status as the head coach. But if he
Speaker 1: goes in the opposite direction, then I think it makes
Speaker 1: your decision almost inevitable. Right rap Sheet reported Sunday morning
Speaker 1: that the Browns are standing behind Freddie Kitchens right now,
Speaker 1: and I think the next two weeks. You you said
Speaker 1: the phrase, they looked the Cardinals looked like they were
Speaker 1: more prepared. And this year the team with Kenyan Drake's
Speaker 1: the one that had the running back with four rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns a hundred thirty seven yards on the ground. Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray had another fifties twenties eight yard run by you
Speaker 1: know Kirk it it's I I don't I wouldn't ask
Speaker 1: the players. I mean that sounds like, you know, asking
Speaker 1: the homeless guy on the street or whatever. It does
Speaker 1: not sound Brown's way to do it work for the Browns.
Speaker 1: So you have that kind of group. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: Otto Beckham getting thirteen targets for sixty six yards against
Speaker 1: one of the worst past defenses in the league. It's
Speaker 1: a mess. I don't need to see the next two weeks.
Speaker 1: What are the next two weeks gonna tell me? The
Speaker 1: Browns are one of, if not the most consistent team
Speaker 1: in the entire NFL. They look the exact same every week,
Speaker 1: which is a little sloppy and a little mediocre. There's
Speaker 1: never a good game. They always every Browns game is
Speaker 1: kind of the same. There are seven and nine team
Speaker 1: like they could be worse but that's that's what they've
Speaker 1: been pretty much every single game. Tell him Greg, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've been. They've been consistently disappointing the entire season. I
Speaker 1: think that's ultimately what has to influence your decision. I
Speaker 1: mean I mentioned the players that pulling the players at
Speaker 1: the end of the season just to like kind of
Speaker 1: get a feel for how they viewed the coach, because
Speaker 1: this is the first time coach. You know, it's like,
Speaker 1: does he connect with them? Maybe it's a conversation with
Speaker 1: the team captains. I don't know who's a team captain.
Speaker 1: I don't know. We got a lot to get to
Speaker 1: with the Browns of the off season, but uh, and
Speaker 1: a lot to get to for the rest of the show.
Speaker 1: But uh, Nick uh as always you kill it. You
Speaker 1: speak with confidence and knowledge, and that's what we look
Speaker 1: for in our gunners that we bring in. Well, you look,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to cover the punt correctly, and I'm trying
Speaker 1: to fill off this mansion directly to once at by
Speaker 1: the time, all right, buddy, get to that gym alright
Speaker 1: later a minute. Let's move on second down. In sixteen,
Speaker 1: Russ takes the shot gun snap has time looks fire's
Speaker 1: got a man opens its touchstoffs Shawks from twenty yards down.
Speaker 1: Luke Kickley looks to the nearest syline and says, coach,
Speaker 1: I can't cover everybody and lock it. Jeff ran to
Speaker 1: the quarter of the end zone and nobody was underneath him.
Speaker 1: Rest finds him and the Seahawks score their third touchdown
Speaker 1: in the game. Steve Rabele Seahawks Radio Network with the call.
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson went twenty of twenty six or two eight
Speaker 1: six two touchdowns, including that connection to Tyler Lockett. Game note,
Speaker 1: looking healthy, looking like he's closer to Tyler Lockett and
Speaker 1: they need that. And Chris Carson now they defined a
Speaker 1: number one guy with Shot Penny out of the picture
Speaker 1: with the a c L injury. He goes for one
Speaker 1: thirty three two touchdowns. The under man Seahawks got it
Speaker 1: done over the Panthers and Charlotte and they were manned Seahawks.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you how they're undermanned. You know, I'll
Speaker 1: give you this because you're a guy with two and
Speaker 1: f sacks couldn't make the game. Is that what happened?
Speaker 1: You know? Because I locked up the Seahawks and I
Speaker 1: got hit with some me or eat and that extended
Speaker 1: throughout the weekend on Twitter and I almost unlocked them.
Speaker 1: But that, to me, that's even worse. It's like, stand
Speaker 1: by it. They passed my test, they passed the Vegas test.
Speaker 1: I stuck with them, and they played on Sunday without
Speaker 1: Jadavian Clowney. That's the two and a half sack guy.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's got like three or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Ezekiel and Sashakil Griffin, Michael Kendrick. By the time this
Speaker 1: game was over, they lost Bobby Wagner and Quadre Digs
Speaker 1: to ankle injuries. Wagner it looks like he escaped serious injury,
Speaker 1: but it was a scary looking injury. Digs Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: said after the game, Uh, looks like he's gonna miss time. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, this team, especially on defense, is beat up
Speaker 1: right now, and that that's not great timing wise, when
Speaker 1: you look at where the schedule is heading and as
Speaker 1: we inch closer to January. But you know, luckily they
Speaker 1: still have the indestructible Russell Wilson behind center. He leads
Speaker 1: to Seahawks on touchdown drives on each of their first
Speaker 1: three drives, and they kind of coasted to the finish line.
Speaker 1: I will say this thirty to ten with you know,
Speaker 1: six minutes it was thirty to ten, and uh, I'll
Speaker 1: say this for the Panthers and another huge game for
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey. They scored two quick touchdowns and it's a
Speaker 1: six point game with less than four minutes to play,
Speaker 1: and they're facing the Seahawks a third and long with
Speaker 1: a chance for the Panthers to take the field, and
Speaker 1: Wilson does what he does, which is step up, get
Speaker 1: a big completion to seal the game and keep Kyle
Speaker 1: Allen off the field. Chris Westling, you don't want Kyle
Speaker 1: Allen on the field with a game hanging in the bounce.
Speaker 1: I get up well, Christian Christian McCaffrey. For anybody who's
Speaker 1: wondering if if this string where the Panthers are just
Speaker 1: bending over and just letting team other teams do whatever
Speaker 1: they want to them. He's still playing at an all
Speaker 1: pro level. Still looks phenomenal. And I heard you exclaim
Speaker 1: if you times today, Dan, how good Christian McCaffrey looks.
Speaker 1: Just a fantastic season he is. Here's here's some numbers. Uh,
Speaker 1: a hundred seventy five yards on a touchdown. Today, He's
Speaker 1: now over two thousand yards for scrimmage, and if he
Speaker 1: can manage a hundred and eighty six receiving yards over
Speaker 1: the next two weeks, he'll join Roger Craig and Marshall
Speaker 1: Falk one of the best stats uh in the NFL
Speaker 1: one thousand, one thousand club. He could be the third guy.
Speaker 1: So any and I need to talk about shutting him down. Listen,
Speaker 1: these are football players. They play a football season. He's
Speaker 1: as you say, West, there's only sixteen of these and
Speaker 1: this guy, you can never take away the history from him. Uh,
Speaker 1: if he's able to go one thousand, one thousand. So yes,
Speaker 1: while there's common sense, and Greg, I know you're gonna
Speaker 1: come in with a contrarian angle on this one. I
Speaker 1: agree with you, but okay, um, but if he has
Speaker 1: a chance to do that, that's some special stuff. So
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope he gets that chance, and I
Speaker 1: hope he doesn't. No, I agree they should keep you
Speaker 1: just keep your players on the field. There's people paying money.
Speaker 1: It's sixteen games. Please, it's a great sign for Lockett.
Speaker 1: I think more than anything, if you're a Seahawks fan
Speaker 1: that they guessing went into this game saying, let's get
Speaker 1: Tyler Lockett going, this is too important, and they throw
Speaker 1: to him nine times. He has eight for one twenty.
Speaker 1: That's huge. Josh Gordon finally makes a big play as
Speaker 1: a receiver. It's good to see. I mean, he has
Speaker 1: really not produced much for the Seahawks, not not as
Speaker 1: productive as a quarterback where he was intercepted on his
Speaker 1: only throw and Greg as the playoff calculator. The Seahawks
Speaker 1: now eleven and three, the Niners eleven and three. But
Speaker 1: the Seahawks have the head to head win. The Seahawks
Speaker 1: currently the number one thing they are and in the
Speaker 1: key is they went out and they do get the
Speaker 1: one scene. So that is that is the upshot of
Speaker 1: everything today. For that they do have to win out.
Speaker 1: They have to the No they're not. I mean, you've
Speaker 1: got the Packers in the mix now too, you got
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Technically the Seahawks finish home Cardinals and then
Speaker 1: home Niners intrusting. All right, let's move on. What a
Speaker 1: what a what a heroic to the ends all the
Speaker 1: touched up shot, Primus got the hat trick, is gonna
Speaker 1: touch down three today Bibra Shard Paramouny and well that
Speaker 1: catch he goes over a hundred yards for the first
Speaker 1: time in his career. How about that for a bram
Speaker 1: spranking new Buck. Here this year Jane dagger House Box
Speaker 1: Radio Network, Jameis Winston is doing the damn thing. In December,
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Listen to this. That West your aerial history.
Speaker 1: Buff became the first player in NFL history to throw
Speaker 1: for four hundred fifty yards and consecutive games. Yes, leaving
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Bucks to seventeen win over the Lions.
Speaker 1: The moribundant Detroit Lions, uh four touchdowns one pick for
Speaker 1: Winston West. Are the Bucks really gonna walk away from
Speaker 1: this marriage? Should they? Where are we at? Where are
Speaker 1: you at? Well? If you don't walk away, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get the same results next year with this quarterback. But
Speaker 1: you know that's what are these results? I can't I
Speaker 1: can't make sense on any of this. Now. They'll tell
Speaker 1: you into and out of games and you end up
Speaker 1: with a five record or thereabouts, and this game is
Speaker 1: exactly what you would expect. I missed the first quarter
Speaker 1: because I had to drive home and get my laptop,
Speaker 1: which I forgot that that was a bummer. That came
Speaker 1: back to a report that Jamis Winston threw another interception
Speaker 1: on the opening drive, which now makes five games this
Speaker 1: year which he's done that and he is amazingly four
Speaker 1: and one in those games. Well that, yeah, it gets
Speaker 1: him in the right mindset of like, all right, let's go.
Speaker 1: He also had two yards by the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter in this game. I saw Mike Sando of
Speaker 1: The Athletic tweeted that he could not find another quarterback
Speaker 1: in the database that had more passing yards through twenty
Speaker 1: three minutes of a game than Jamis Winston did today.
Speaker 1: At one at that point in the game, it was
Speaker 1: mid second quarter, the Bucks had three fifteen yards and
Speaker 1: the lines had two. Here's my thing. Anyone capable of
Speaker 1: making the throws that he makes is good at quarterbacking,
Speaker 1: And I know then yeah, okay, yeah. Turning the ball
Speaker 1: over is massive and it's hurting his team when you know,
Speaker 1: lose again, and maybe that's maybe that's forever, but a
Speaker 1: lot of it is luck and happen, like maybe you
Speaker 1: can improve this. He's twenty five years old and he's
Speaker 1: gonna be maybe leading the leading scoring team in the NFL.
Speaker 1: By the time and let me piggyback off that, West,
Speaker 1: and then you can respond, Is it's so crazy that
Speaker 1: one of these years, and we always talk about a
Speaker 1: difference between eight and eight, ten and six, Uh, is
Speaker 1: it's very slim, razors razor thin that one of these
Speaker 1: years they end up ten and six and Winston gets
Speaker 1: hot in January? Is it so crazy to imagine a
Speaker 1: scenario where Jameis Winston gets his way into the playoffs
Speaker 1: and then starts doing crazy things. Well, let me answer
Speaker 1: these and if if the answer is yes, West, that's
Speaker 1: why you gotta keep him in the building, if you
Speaker 1: believe he has that potential, because the whole thing is
Speaker 1: about winning the Super Bowl. Is that in his bone
Speaker 1: somewhere tucked than his d n A Are we seeing
Speaker 1: that peeking out? Or is this all just lipstick on
Speaker 1: a pig what we've been seeing this month. I'll answer
Speaker 1: those questions separately because they are too sotally, totally separate things.
Speaker 1: It's not crazy at all. We've seen all kinds of
Speaker 1: quarterbacks get hot, from Joe Flacco to Eli Manning, so
Speaker 1: of course Jamis Winston could do that. We've seen Jameis
Speaker 1: Winston get hot for stretches. But for Greg to say
Speaker 1: this is good quarterbacking, no, it's not. It's it just
Speaker 1: does a lot of high level quarterbacks that's good passing.
Speaker 1: It's not good quarterback. He's a good passer who makes
Speaker 1: bad decisions and has a has a career record of
Speaker 1: seven and forty. If he was if it was good quarterbacking,
Speaker 1: his record is an important part of quarterbacking, though of
Speaker 1: course it is saying I hear you, it's just tricky
Speaker 1: because these throws it. It also shows what I think
Speaker 1: people liked out of him coming out of school, which
Speaker 1: a lot of times it shows kind of a next
Speaker 1: level mental processing, which is why the whole turnover thing
Speaker 1: is confusing because a lot of things he does he
Speaker 1: reads defense and he and he kind of thinks through
Speaker 1: on his good plays really well for a relatively young quarterback.
Speaker 1: I know he's been in the league five years, but
Speaker 1: five years old. It's it's not like he's just kind
Speaker 1: of a big arm that's getting out there and throwing
Speaker 1: it like he does things that gets quarterback gurus like
Speaker 1: arians excited. It's also totally ignoring the fact that he's
Speaker 1: frenetic most of the time. He's not under control a
Speaker 1: lot of the time and that's why he makes mistakes. Also,
Speaker 1: it should be noted in his defense, No Mike Evans
Speaker 1: today when he goes back to back four and fifty
Speaker 1: yards and for the second half, right, No Chris Godwin,
Speaker 1: who introduces no Way Arians is gonna let him go.
Speaker 1: That's how I feel, because I think he's gonna look
Speaker 1: at the stats at the end of the year and
Speaker 1: the Bucks are going to be second or first in
Speaker 1: points and yards, and he's gonna be just like I
Speaker 1: don't want to go to the unknown the siren call,
Speaker 1: he won't be able to ignore it. Two more things
Speaker 1: about this game. Shack Barrett what a year, Ties Warren
Speaker 1: Sap sack record for the franchise, and Bruce Arians after
Speaker 1: the game, this impending free agent is going nowhere, so
Speaker 1: they they will either franchise tag him or sign him.
Speaker 1: But he's not going anywhere. And David Blow made a
Speaker 1: couple of throws to the point where they got within
Speaker 1: a touchdown and they were kind of some at least
Speaker 1: the the m and Doula. One was a great catch
Speaker 1: and then the other one was kind of busting coverage,
Speaker 1: but he threw the game away. Nicks bag for Mark Sessler, who,
Speaker 1: of course, no, no, no, this was just an all
Speaker 1: around big game. Those are those are the only two
Speaker 1: plays for the Lions all game. David Blow then threw
Speaker 1: the game away with a pick six and then another interception,
Speaker 1: and then that play got called back, so he threw
Speaker 1: another interception after that. Best case scenario, Matt Patricia's someone's
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator next year. Is that fair? Well, this was
Speaker 1: not a fair fight. The Lions are playing with second
Speaker 1: and third stringers at how many positions? I don't Does
Speaker 1: he get a third year? I don't know. Why do
Speaker 1: you bring him back? I mean they were three three
Speaker 1: in one. All right, let's move on Barkley with the
Speaker 1: right of Banning and a shotgun shot Manning on a
Speaker 1: play fake looks right, throws, right, passes, Oh, he's still
Speaker 1: the five Blacks into the end for a touchdown fifty
Speaker 1: one yards Banning The team haven't heard much from Bob
Speaker 1: Poppa this year. On the podcast w F A N
Speaker 1: in New York, it looks it looked like the end
Speaker 1: of the Eli era at the meadow Lands. Let's hope
Speaker 1: it is, because thirty twenty the win over the Dolphins
Speaker 1: on Sunday was a nice way to go out to
Speaker 1: the old quarterback. Giants. Fans loyal enough to attend to
Speaker 1: match up between the Giants and Dolphins gave their two
Speaker 1: time m v P Super Bowl MVP standing ovation as
Speaker 1: he walked off the field. He went over three yards
Speaker 1: with two touchdowns and yes, three interceptions and the New
Speaker 1: York Giants snappy franchise record tying nine game losing streak.
Speaker 1: And I don't know what else you really need to
Speaker 1: know about this game. I don't even know if you
Speaker 1: need to know that, but I'll tell you that. Uh, yes,
Speaker 1: Eli did some Eli things and it was really Um,
Speaker 1: it was nice little moment at the end of the
Speaker 1: game in the tunnel as he left the field. Um,
Speaker 1: his family was there and he was taking pictures with
Speaker 1: his daughter and his chill aldren and um, this certainly
Speaker 1: felt like a good way for it to end. I
Speaker 1: don't even know why you would at this point. Maybe
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones comes back next year, next week. I don't
Speaker 1: know what his injury situation is, but why even running
Speaker 1: lie out there again? Just go out with the win
Speaker 1: at home? And well, it's the secure that they're gonna play.
Speaker 1: You know who is their third. Yes, that's why. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You you just kind of ended here.
Speaker 1: You put in Alex hand Daniel Jones, do not win,
Speaker 1: go get Chase Young and fly. Well, they maybe shouldn't
Speaker 1: try to win games because it's gonna change with the
Speaker 1: strength of schedule. And who knows what happened, but the
Speaker 1: Dolphins did pass them. Whereas the Dolphins moved up a
Speaker 1: spot in the draft there they would now be at three.
Speaker 1: And I believe the Redskins are right too. Uh and yeah,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins have by the way they do think by
Speaker 1: the way the kids being in the just the way
Speaker 1: the last two weeks have played out and the kids
Speaker 1: in the tunnel, he's retiring, it seems it just feels, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it just feel he also feels like a guy that
Speaker 1: doesn't want to go to another place or be anyone's backup.
Speaker 1: So in the fact that the kids were there, laugh,
Speaker 1: you know that you got the wife's there lasting, the
Speaker 1: kids in the tunnel there as they should. I'm happy.
Speaker 1: I don't know a little final moment. I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is accurate. It's tankathon dot com, but it
Speaker 1: has the Giants at number two with the strength of
Speaker 1: schedule advantage over the Dolphins and Redskins fellow three and
Speaker 1: eleven teams. Sounds like a reputable website. Serious they have
Speaker 1: a great layout of their web. Uh and one one
Speaker 1: note on the Dolphins that there's just so much work
Speaker 1: that needs to be done for this team. And everyone's
Speaker 1: you know, everyone's talking about the quarterback and going and
Speaker 1: getting that guy and finding the guy. But they have
Speaker 1: the worst running game in the league. They have an
Speaker 1: offensive line that is completely needs a makeover. And when
Speaker 1: you're leading rusher in two thousand nineteen, is Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 1: That Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Harvard guy, the Beard guy, like
Speaker 1: seven years old, the guy with all the kids. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, you have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 1: And it's not just finding a quarterback. Got to start somewhere.
Speaker 1: They said. It fascinating to me. NFL record to date,
Speaker 1: more players have suited up for the Dolphins and any
Speaker 1: team in NFL history, and we got two weeks left
Speaker 1: to go. I wonder if they've also made the most
Speaker 1: waiver claims in NFL history. It's kind of the way
Speaker 1: to do it. Just try all that all these guys
Speaker 1: out in your tanking season. They still got the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Who knows. Yeah, if you're not gonna try before the
Speaker 1: season starts, that's the way to do it. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on. You got two seconds left to play.
Speaker 1: Did it right? But you already know what it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a hill mirror car steps up, fires
Speaker 1: the hail Mary high up into the air, right side
Speaker 1: of the end zone. Jump ball up in the air. Incomplete,
Speaker 1: and in the final act, the Raiders have lost to
Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Oakland Alameter Colosseum, and the
Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders are no more know how deflating Rerent Musburger
Speaker 1: and Lincoln Kennedy what they called k CBS Gardner Minshew
Speaker 1: through two touchdown passes to Chris Conley in the final
Speaker 1: five fifteen and the jack spoiled that final scheduled game
Speaker 1: at Oakland Coliseum a sixteen win. This is not how
Speaker 1: NFL football in Oakland was supposed to end. Damn, I
Speaker 1: wish we had some boots on the ground for this game.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, joining us now via the telephone line is
Speaker 1: the great Mark Sessler, who was there to take it
Speaker 1: all in. First of all, Mark, are you safe. I
Speaker 1: am safe at the moment. But I'm gonna be honest
Speaker 1: with you because you know, we've we've exited Super Bowls
Speaker 1: before where this is a little bit of a different
Speaker 1: situation here outside of the Colosseum, I'm on some sort
Speaker 1: of a concourse where people are flowing towards a tunnel
Speaker 1: that leads to a bart station, and I've literally been
Speaker 1: told by two security people get out of here sooner
Speaker 1: you may suffer the consequence. So point we will TVD
Speaker 1: on where I will be an hour from now. Wait,
Speaker 1: what I mean, what is the vibe there? Obviously we
Speaker 1: we heard some things about some fighting on the field.
Speaker 1: It wasn't not a chaotic scene, right like what's happening
Speaker 1: once the CBS cameras go away at the coliseum. It's fine,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just you know, I grew up in the suburb,
Speaker 1: so there's an element I'm not. It's honestly, it's totally good.
Speaker 1: I would say this because I think that you know,
Speaker 1: and I tweeted out some of the stuff that happened
Speaker 1: after the game, uh, and it was a five per
Speaker 1: cent of the fans acting up in a huge chunk
Speaker 1: of them being fine. I think that. I think the
Speaker 1: fact that it's evolved into the loss that it did,
Speaker 1: where at halftime I did a phoner with Sky Sports
Speaker 1: and I'm owing a hundred and eighty six on predictions
Speaker 1: on sky Sports this year. But I told him that
Speaker 1: if the Sessler family owned a house versus renting, that
Speaker 1: I would bet, without any questions or any doubt that
Speaker 1: the Raiders were going to take that game, because they
Speaker 1: just rode that feverish emotion in the first half, and
Speaker 1: then you know, I was wandering around, so I didn't.
Speaker 1: I'm not a month and for TFF on this particular
Speaker 1: about but I cannot believe the way that it ended.
Speaker 1: I think the fans are extremely deflated and disappointed, and
Speaker 1: it let some of the mess the end, which was minor,
Speaker 1: I mean, and yeah, it's like bad job by the Raiders,
Speaker 1: who have had a season that had some nice highs.
Speaker 1: But you're up sixteen to three, You're against the Jaguars
Speaker 1: team that has been historically awful over the last five weeks.
Speaker 1: That's a game that you gotta you just gotta close out.
Speaker 1: You gotta close it out for your fans, who have
Speaker 1: been as loyal as any fans in football. Right to
Speaker 1: the very end. So it is just it stinks the
Speaker 1: way it went out. And one big play Mark, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what your vantage point was on the field,
Speaker 1: but a big play in this game. Uh. Derek Carr
Speaker 1: slides for the first down with the two oh five
Speaker 1: to play, even signals with a like hand gesture to
Speaker 1: the crowd in Oakland. He begins celebrating a victory. They
Speaker 1: ruled that he slid out of bounds. After the game,
Speaker 1: he says, that was one of the most shocking moments
Speaker 1: of my life. Don't want to say much more. I'll
Speaker 1: keep my money in my pocket because what happens after that?
Speaker 1: They go three and out, miss a field goal, drop
Speaker 1: a third down throw which they could have run it there,
Speaker 1: dropped the third down throw, miss a field goal penalty,
Speaker 1: they get moved in five yards, misses again, and then
Speaker 1: they allow Gardner Minshew And this is a cruel twist
Speaker 1: of irony for you, Mr Sessler, to march the Jags
Speaker 1: down the field to win the game. Shouldn't end it
Speaker 1: this way, no, you know, it was the wrong day
Speaker 1: for magics from Mr Minshew. And at that point, because
Speaker 1: my my goal was to get on the field a
Speaker 1: sap so I was actually watching that series of plays,
Speaker 1: which were the absolute key moments in the game, with
Speaker 1: two very gruff, elderly security men that would not allow
Speaker 1: me to essentially move beyond from point A to B,
Speaker 1: and I had to wait until the time to take
Speaker 1: down and and we kind of were joking by the
Speaker 1: end of the final two minutes that game because of
Speaker 1: the way it unfolded. It took like another thirty five
Speaker 1: minutes plus. I thought I'd signed it well, and it's like,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was an absolute picture of collapse
Speaker 1: ups and I just think that the stadium was completely
Speaker 1: caught off guard. There were people today and for good
Speaker 1: reason that we're they were watching the game, but they
Speaker 1: were also I just waltzed around the place out celebrating, hugging,
Speaker 1: drinking beers with each other out of the concourses, and
Speaker 1: I think they just thought this thing was in the
Speaker 1: bag and I and for good reason, and the way
Speaker 1: it ended it is could not have been a more
Speaker 1: sour note to what other otherwise felt like a huge celebration.
Speaker 1: What was the celebration and kind of your pregame experience
Speaker 1: and and everything like the rest of the day, I well,
Speaker 1: no because I am a raging professional and I really
Speaker 1: wanted to, uh, but I also I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: what what am I doing not eating meat products? Because
Speaker 1: it was like seeing some of the most insanely grilled
Speaker 1: food stuff that you'll ever imagine. And just the people that,
Speaker 1: you know, even if this place gets a rap for
Speaker 1: if you show up in a Chief Jersey, you will
Speaker 1: not leave alive. And Jaguars fans, which were about you know,
Speaker 1: two percent of the crowd, we're floating around and they
Speaker 1: were treated fine. And I just think today really was
Speaker 1: uh an example for me of how great this fan
Speaker 1: base is. And you know, talking to a bunch of
Speaker 1: them for this piece I'm working on, most of them
Speaker 1: are like, yes, of course, we would never abandon them.
Speaker 1: This isn't the you know, the cults leaving in the
Speaker 1: middle of the night, or the Browns uh turning into
Speaker 1: the Ravens out of nowhere ridiculously, And it's not. It's
Speaker 1: like they're they're gonna move and and and and travel
Speaker 1: and go to Vegas and they kind of fit that city.
Speaker 1: But this crew here, the people that live in Oakland,
Speaker 1: I think there is no doubt, um an aura of
Speaker 1: heartbreak to it. And especially at the end of the
Speaker 1: game watching people here today kind of like give like
Speaker 1: low kisses to the stadium as they were leaving, and
Speaker 1: you know, just not wanting to go. They just didn't
Speaker 1: want to go there out here drinking canned beers and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the cops at this point are have had enough,
Speaker 1: but it's like they don't want to leave, and I
Speaker 1: don't blame them. It's so I'm honestly very I feel
Speaker 1: lucky to have been here and seen it, because it's
Speaker 1: a huge concept to even imagine the Raiders beat in California.
Speaker 1: I don't care if flipping between North count Southern California,
Speaker 1: but to leave entirely is it's kind of shocking on
Speaker 1: an NFL level. You touched on the Browns leaving for Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and you endured that as a fan. I think we've
Speaker 1: all been kind of struck by the contrast between, well
Speaker 1: those of us old enough to remember the contrast between
Speaker 1: that season in Cleveland and what the love fest that's
Speaker 1: going on in Oakland this year. Do you have any
Speaker 1: thoughts on that or did you personally encounter any Raiders
Speaker 1: fans who had vitriol for their team before the game.
Speaker 1: Or during the game. I think the vitriol that I
Speaker 1: that I caught wind of was towards uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's not surprising, I guess towards Mark Davis because
Speaker 1: I think they felt like the Al Davis living in
Speaker 1: Well would never have done this, would never have made
Speaker 1: this move that he you know, he's a guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: he already moved to l A. Well. I mean, so
Speaker 1: he moved to l A and back. But when they
Speaker 1: when they decided that they could make more money. I
Speaker 1: was told by a few raiders people that you know
Speaker 1: Al Davis based Lee was told he could have stayed
Speaker 1: in l A and made much more profit, and he
Speaker 1: decided not to. And so obviously that was a bumpy ride.
Speaker 1: But I think that the victual is pretty low. I
Speaker 1: think it's disappointment, sadness, and but I think this is
Speaker 1: a fan base that's gonna it's the right fan base
Speaker 1: to do this, even though it doesn't feel right like
Speaker 1: they're gonna travel. Like I there's no doubt the people
Speaker 1: that I spent time with today, they feel like they'd
Speaker 1: fit in a weekend and in Vegas without too much trouble, right.
Speaker 1: But the way today played out, it just as a
Speaker 1: reminder you can't script sports and and that fans, the
Speaker 1: reality is you can give as much as you want
Speaker 1: to the experience, and that's what you're gonna get out
Speaker 1: of it, because you might not get anything back. You
Speaker 1: might just get you might get misery on a day
Speaker 1: like this back if you're putting all your hopes on
Speaker 1: the result, like I thought, like leaving a city is
Speaker 1: pretty much the worst thing UH sports franchise can do.
Speaker 1: But I was wrong. Losing a sixteen to three lead
Speaker 1: to the Jaguars on the day or leaving the city
Speaker 1: when John Gooden didn't go for it on fourth and
Speaker 1: one at the forty nine just gutless play calling decides
Speaker 1: to punt when they have twelve men on the field
Speaker 1: on another fourth and one for the Jaguars is terribly
Speaker 1: poorly coached and they botched the end of the situation
Speaker 1: like this has been the worst franchise in terms of
Speaker 1: wins losses in the last eighteen years. They have one
Speaker 1: winning season and the fact that these fans are showing
Speaker 1: up in mass like this after that eighteen season run,
Speaker 1: can you there aren't many cities that would do that,
Speaker 1: and all they get is is a kick in the
Speaker 1: in the you know one on the way out the
Speaker 1: Raiders at a one oh two and five record at
Speaker 1: the Oakland Coliseum when leading by ten plus points after
Speaker 1: three quarters before losing on Sunday. Mark any final thoughts, Well,
Speaker 1: I'll say this, Greg, uh, that was well said by Greg,
Speaker 1: and I did encounter a number of Raiders fans here.
Speaker 1: They just wanted to say that Greg's situational football awareness
Speaker 1: is something that they are that they unbrace, they enjoy,
Speaker 1: and when they make that move to Vegas, that will
Speaker 1: still be something that they care about. Um, but I
Speaker 1: would say that says that's the final thing that it's sad.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of walking out and I'm about to get
Speaker 1: into this tunnel. I don't know where it goes. It
Speaker 1: goes into total darkness. I see a hillside. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't have never really felt this way
Speaker 1: at a live game where there's just this sort of
Speaker 1: weird sadness mixed with kind of like losing a family
Speaker 1: member situation. And I don't know, it's obviously not putting
Speaker 1: it into words very well, but it's it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of that day. I don't think anyone here because of
Speaker 1: As Greg mentioned, the final result, you can't just kind
Speaker 1: of kiss goodbye as this beautiful thing. It's kind of
Speaker 1: tinged with a little bit of darkness, and I think
Speaker 1: that's what the move feels like too, stepping any ross sage.
Speaker 1: Not yet, but I mean the night is young. Mark.
Speaker 1: It's good to hear you are in fine spirits, uh
Speaker 1: and alive. Please head back down the coast now and
Speaker 1: rejoin us for the next edition of Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 1: I will see you Tuesday. All right, buddy, Let's now
Speaker 1: move to Sunday Night Football. Sixteen seconds left. Here's the snap.
Speaker 1: Hodges looks, looks, runs, Sue left, direct track, fires it
Speaker 1: into the end zone. It is picked up, it is intercepted.
Speaker 1: It is picked up by the Bills. That should do it.
Speaker 1: Levi Wallace comes up with the pick. His teammates surround
Speaker 1: him down in the end zone. Interception for the Bills.
Speaker 1: With six seconds left, Wallace comes up with the pick.
Speaker 1: The Bills are going to the postseason. John Murphy with
Speaker 1: the call for the Bills. Radio network, Oh that Buffalo defense.
Speaker 1: Four interceptions of Devlin Duck, Hodges two for the Great Trade,
Speaker 1: Avious White and Levi Wallace following a Jordan Jordan Ployer
Speaker 1: pick in the fourth quarter and successive tries that close
Speaker 1: it out to ten. The Bills are tenanted for and
Speaker 1: they're going to the dance for the second time in
Speaker 1: twenty years. It'll be the second time in three years,
Speaker 1: depending on how you want to look any ways to
Speaker 1: look at it. Sean McDermott, nice job, man, six and one.
Speaker 1: The Bills are on the road this year and they
Speaker 1: quiet a Steelers team that really, you know, entered this
Speaker 1: Action West looking like, uh, one of the hottest teams
Speaker 1: in football. But there was always that question, was Duck
Speaker 1: Hodges in a big spot against this type of defense
Speaker 1: couldn't go badly? It went very badly. Well, I think
Speaker 1: when we looked at this game, it's no surprise how
Speaker 1: it played out. We didn't trust either quarterback against either
Speaker 1: of these defenses, and we saw the Steelers limitations in
Speaker 1: the passing game. I know their fans don't want to
Speaker 1: hear this, but it's already been a successful season for
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh being in control the number six seed with a
Speaker 1: four string undrafted rookie at quarterback and a slew of
Speaker 1: injuries at the skill positions on offense. They've gone about
Speaker 1: as far as a quarterback like Duck Hodges can take them. Well,
Speaker 1: they have two big games coming up, and if they
Speaker 1: win those two games, uh, and we'll see if the
Speaker 1: Ravens play their starters in week seventeen, they're going to
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So I I don't think they'll look at
Speaker 1: this as some lost cause. But credit needs to go
Speaker 1: to the Bills for what I think was the best
Speaker 1: moment since two thousand. I mean since I don't know,
Speaker 1: is this their biggest way than twenty years? Because making
Speaker 1: the playoffs because Andy Dalton beat two beats an opponent
Speaker 1: for you, and you sneak in and that's fun and
Speaker 1: you got the monkey off your back. But this is
Speaker 1: Sunday night football. This is earning your way. This is
Speaker 1: ten and four, and it's doing it the kind of
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott way with a real team that I don't
Speaker 1: think UM has lucked its way into ten and four.
Speaker 1: The schedules obviously helped, But tonight they had the better
Speaker 1: running game and they had the better defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: their defense made bigger plays. They had nine tackles for
Speaker 1: loss whereas I think the Steelers had five. They had
Speaker 1: more quarterback hits, they had the interceptions, they were the
Speaker 1: big play defense. I think I think I predicted on
Speaker 1: Thursday Show this game would end seventeen and like we
Speaker 1: were saying, this is this was how it was gonna
Speaker 1: be and it was gonna come down to I thought,
Speaker 1: who was the quarterback that kind of killed their team?
Speaker 1: And Uh, while no one is going to be throwing
Speaker 1: bouquets at the feet of Josh Allen, you will give
Speaker 1: him credit for making the big throw. Tyler Croft was
Speaker 1: targeted once in this game, and it came in a
Speaker 1: huge spot on third down. There was a uh ten
Speaker 1: to tend game and the Bills their previous possession of
Speaker 1: scoring chance. They had first and goal and didn't even
Speaker 1: let Alan throw the ball. They ran the ball once.
Speaker 1: They intended a trick play with Frank Gore that didn't work,
Speaker 1: leading to another loss on a run that ran it
Speaker 1: on third end goal for nothing, a loss of yards,
Speaker 1: settled for the field goal, and it made you think, God,
Speaker 1: they're never gonna let Josh Allen try to win a
Speaker 1: game in this big stage. But they did let him
Speaker 1: run that play, and credit to the Bills because it
Speaker 1: paid off. Alan hits Croft. Uh on the right side
Speaker 1: of the end zone and that was the winning score.
Speaker 1: That was an all passing drive, essentially on a day
Speaker 1: where they leaned on the run. That touchdown drive was
Speaker 1: on Alan's arm and he hit a deep play down
Speaker 1: the field to John Brown. And they've barely hit those
Speaker 1: plays this year, but they've had a couple over the
Speaker 1: last two weeks. Josh Allen also had a rushing touchdown
Speaker 1: in this game, set up by an incredible Devin Singletary run,
Speaker 1: and to me that that's the story here. They did
Speaker 1: have more juice. I mean Singletary, although he had fumbles
Speaker 1: in this game, he had more juice than any Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: running back. And Josh Allen, even if it wasn't perfect,
Speaker 1: certainly had a lot more juice than Duck Hodges to
Speaker 1: dave Is White is the All Pro cornerback opposite Stefine
Speaker 1: Gilmore on my list. Smokey Brown already as a career
Speaker 1: high and receiving yards this year. He's been a great signing.
Speaker 1: And Jordan Phillips, who the Bills I believe picked up
Speaker 1: all the waivers from the Dolphins last year after a
Speaker 1: disciplinary measure. Uh is up the nine and a half
Speaker 1: sacks on the year for a defensive tackle. We should
Speaker 1: give Brian Dable some love. I mean, they he's their
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator for the Bills, and they throw a lot
Speaker 1: of looks at you, and they on both their touchdown drives,
Speaker 1: they did a lot of creative things formationally. They went
Speaker 1: for a fourth and six early in the game and
Speaker 1: converted it with set up some points, so they were
Speaker 1: aggressive in spot. He's done a good job just kind
Speaker 1: of keeping defenses off balance with with with just what
Speaker 1: a a weird offense. But it affect enough the Bills.
Speaker 1: Don't blink. They haven't always won these games against the
Speaker 1: upper teams in the n FC. In fact, we're going
Speaker 1: into this game we talked about it was like, go
Speaker 1: get that big win, and I count this one is
Speaker 1: a big win, beating the eight and five Steelers in
Speaker 1: their building in prime time, in front of Al, Chris
Speaker 1: and Michelle. But I also I'll say this one other
Speaker 1: takeaway from the game. It's a lot of Avio mcnifico
Speaker 1: um and you know, right off, Duck Hodges off this game.
Speaker 1: But I feel like this gave us the ceiling of
Speaker 1: the Steelers that their defense and you know there's certain players,
Speaker 1: and maybe the game goes a different way t J.
Speaker 1: Watt with that punch out attempt if he hits Josh
Speaker 1: Allen's ball instead of like his thigh or whatever. He
Speaker 1: ended up. Yea, they fumbled on the ten. They fumbled
Speaker 1: inside the ten yard line to close the first I
Speaker 1: mean they maybe in and if the Steelers go on
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs, they can win some games just
Speaker 1: because of the defense and and Hodge Hodges and company
Speaker 1: making a couple of plays. But to me, I feel
Speaker 1: like this is kind of how their season will eventually
Speaker 1: end as well, where they'll be in a close game
Speaker 1: and they'll need their team to make a big playing offense,
Speaker 1: and it's just not gonna be there for him. It
Speaker 1: felt hopeless in those last two possessions because Hodges just
Speaker 1: quite frankly, seemed a little in overhead. Well. I think
Speaker 1: that even the Steelers would acknowledge that Duck Hodges ceiling
Speaker 1: in the future, is probably a backup quarterback. I mean,
Speaker 1: he just doesn't have the physical talent he saw in
Speaker 1: that last store that was intercepted. He can't throw against
Speaker 1: the grain moving to his left and still have enough
Speaker 1: arm strength to get the ball in a position whereas
Speaker 1: receiver can make a play on it and it sets
Speaker 1: up on Saturday night Saturday afternoon rather Bills Patriots quite
Speaker 1: a triple header on NFL Network, not just being a
Speaker 1: company man. I can't they lucked out. They really did.
Speaker 1: Bucks Texans early is a meaningful game versus a hot,
Speaker 1: hot team versus Texans. Then you've got the Bills Patriots
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, you have the Rams forty, which matters
Speaker 1: at night, but the Bills, they've really lucked out. Those
Speaker 1: are three of the best games of the week. And
Speaker 1: the Pats game is so interesting because this Patriots offense
Speaker 1: against the Bills. We will get into it during the week.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to point out one tiebreaker um oddity though,
Speaker 1: which takes not not a lot of juice, but it
Speaker 1: does change it is that calculated time the Patriots are
Speaker 1: gonna win the a f C East if they beat
Speaker 1: the Dolphins in week seventeen, no matter what happens next
Speaker 1: week against the Bills, because why does it always work
Speaker 1: out this common opponents tiebreak? So the Bills could win
Speaker 1: that game and still not get it, but it's a
Speaker 1: still a huge game. Saying the Bills could beat the
Speaker 1: Steelers in Pittsburgh. They could go to Foxborough and beat
Speaker 1: the Bills next week, Patriots the Patriots next week. They
Speaker 1: can Week seventeen, close out with another win against Go
Speaker 1: twelve and four and not be the A c S champion.
Speaker 1: That is possible. And then I told Greg that's so frustrating.
Speaker 1: I feel like this always works out with the tiebreakers
Speaker 1: and the Patriots, and then Greg goes not in two
Speaker 1: thousand and two, it didn't like years ago. Yeah I
Speaker 1: was in college, Greg, Yeah, forty in April. Greg, I'll
Speaker 1: give you a lot. That's your example. I'll give you
Speaker 1: a lollipop if you can name the head coach in
Speaker 1: the quarterback the last time the Bills hit a ten
Speaker 1: win season. Uh Wade Phillips now and uh Frank Greig.
Speaker 1: Doug Flutty who is now fifty seven years old, was
Speaker 1: the quarterback the last time the Bills hit a ten
Speaker 1: win season. So congratulations to our buddy Zack behind the
Speaker 1: glass Zack Zach Sailey of course, and big say the
Speaker 1: biggest Bills fan we know, Patrick, member of the Shield
Speaker 1: Champions softball squad. Are good buddy, Colations. Congratulations to you guys,
Speaker 1: you're you're playing in the dance You're you're going dancing,
Speaker 1: and and Greg any other playoff tabulations before we sign
Speaker 1: off that people might want to know. As we take
Speaker 1: a look at the playoff picture, you can check it out,
Speaker 1: by the way, the NFL dot com slash playoff picture,
Speaker 1: which gives a nice snapshot of where we're at. Well,
Speaker 1: the Steelers can still get in with two more wins,
Speaker 1: but that loss certainly should give a little bounce to
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, helps their chances and uh, the Chiefs
Speaker 1: trying to get that by. Even if if the Bills
Speaker 1: did beat the Patriots, that would open up to buy
Speaker 1: which to me is absolutely vital for both of those teams,
Speaker 1: Chiefs and put at the bottom of the A f C.
Speaker 1: Now the Steelers are eight and six, They're at Jets
Speaker 1: and then at Ravens. You gotta win that game against
Speaker 1: the Jets, take take any drama out of the proceedings.
Speaker 1: If they somehow lost next week and fall to eight
Speaker 1: and seven, that opens the door up, it does, uh
Speaker 1: for damn. Even the Browns are not eliminated, right if
Speaker 1: if they somehow crumble, But we're not gonna talk about that.
Speaker 1: We're getting too crazy with the calculator. The Bills Browns
Speaker 1: aren't eliminated. I think the Browns were eliminated tonight. Are
Speaker 1: they done? I think they were out with the Steelers loss. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: well that's good. So you have the So it's the
Speaker 1: Steelers and the second place team in the a f
Speaker 1: C South in the wild card, the Bills claiming that
Speaker 1: it would be either the Bills or the Patriots most
Speaker 1: likely the Bills on the five seed, and then either
Speaker 1: Steelers or tighten Slash Texans in the six and then
Speaker 1: the Browns are out barring a tie. So I knew
Speaker 1: there was a confusion, but their sential. And then in
Speaker 1: the NFC we've got the Seahawks now as the number
Speaker 1: one seed. The Packers still locked in at number two.
Speaker 1: But the Vikings are the interesting team here. They are
Speaker 1: tenant four and they have the Packers up next on
Speaker 1: the schedule. They need to lose both games and the
Speaker 1: Rams need to win both their games otherwise the Vikings
Speaker 1: will make the playoffs, as will be the second place
Speaker 1: team in the NFC West, either forty or the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: I think the NFCS it's almost simple to explain, which
Speaker 1: is that the Cowboys Eagles for that one spot, and
Speaker 1: the other five seeds are all up for grabs. You
Speaker 1: know one through five is open, so yes, you can
Speaker 1: figure out the different routes to it. But Seahawks, Packers,
Speaker 1: Vikings forty nine or Saints. I know the Vikings haven't
Speaker 1: clinched yet, but they're almost definitely in those five seeds.
Speaker 1: Could you shake them up and do it a lot
Speaker 1: of different ways? If I'm a Saints fan, I'm feeling
Speaker 1: a little better that maybe they can sneak into that
Speaker 1: by I'm gonna test your calculator right now, Greg, Can
Speaker 1: the Vikings are can things be true? Can the Vikings
Speaker 1: miss the playoffs entirely? Can they win the one seed? Well,
Speaker 1: they certainly can miss this. Can they get the one seed? Still?
Speaker 1: Can they finish twelve and four and get that one seed?
Speaker 1: The calculators cramming, it's cranking. I don't have that. I
Speaker 1: don't have that right now? Has the tiebreak in the
Speaker 1: scenarios between them? And like the seat tough questions? One
Speaker 1: was a tough one. I wanted to see how much
Speaker 1: of a handle you had? Not all softballs here. Gregg's
Speaker 1: had just exploded. So now it's now it's a two
Speaker 1: hander in West. All right, there you go. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be fun. And we have two Sundays left in the
Speaker 1: regular season, and you know we'll be here and I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to that triple header. I can sniff the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We're almost here. Keith and dev are coming into the
Speaker 1: town on Wednesday, and you know Tito's is coming out
Speaker 1: to watch them football. And said, oh yeah, you know
Speaker 1: Tito doesn't get to come out anymore and play. Tito
Speaker 1: and his friend Soda. Well the squeeze, Mr Lemon Tard
Speaker 1: being a daddy. Yeah, we're here cranking getting the paycheck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not on Saturday. Saturday is gonna be a fun day.
Speaker 1: That'd be fun with the old man. All right, I'm
Speaker 1: happy to watch a Patriots game without you. Chuck ahead,
Speaker 1: all right, let's go. This is Dan hands Is signing
Speaker 1: off for Quiet Storm, and I've sent you the mailman,
Speaker 1: the old Boss, Ricky Hollywood, Ryan Tara Zack on the
Speaker 1: top of the world until Tuesday. S