Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. Just that's true. Welcome to
Speaker 1: another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. Um Dan
Speaker 1: Hansas comes to you from a virtual room filled with
Speaker 1: some heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. This is the big
Speaker 1: Super wild Card weekend preview show, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to all the games. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Great weekend of football coming up Saturday, Sunday and a
Speaker 1: Monday night game for the first time ever by by Fall.
Speaker 1: We do that. Boys. Let's hit a little breaking news alright.
Speaker 1: The Houston Texas, this just went down just as we
Speaker 1: were getting going today, have fired David Culley. They waited
Speaker 1: four days after the season ended to decide to cut
Speaker 1: ties with the sixty six year old who went one
Speaker 1: and done with Houston and Greg Cully. As we talked
Speaker 1: about ad nausea both before the season started and then
Speaker 1: in our most recent show and even Sunday, that it
Speaker 1: felt like he was being set up to take the
Speaker 1: fall and handle a very rough season in the organization's history,
Speaker 1: and that seems exactly how it played out. Cully did
Speaker 1: a very good job with a team with almost zero
Speaker 1: talent comparative to other teams in the league, and yet
Speaker 1: he gets booted. Anyway, the Texans are looking for a
Speaker 1: total refresh and Cully got caught up in that wash. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, dysfunctional teams do do dysfunctional things. I I
Speaker 1: can't believe it because Adam Schefter reported that Cully was
Speaker 1: only guaranteed two years on his five year contracts. So
Speaker 1: all these tweets are coming out, you know, we do
Speaker 1: this thing. You know, he gets fired and everyone is
Speaker 1: kind of disgusted because the Texans knew what they were doing.
Speaker 1: They knew her. They were hiring a guy to fire
Speaker 1: him probably in one year, like they knew that. But
Speaker 1: I was like, well, you know, he's he gets the
Speaker 1: five year guaranteed money and all that. I mean that
Speaker 1: it's kind of gross behavior, but there's that. But no,
Speaker 1: they actually knew when they signed him, and they basically
Speaker 1: let him know when they signed him, we're probably gonna
Speaker 1: fire you after one year. And it's like, what are
Speaker 1: we doing here? Because this is a team that espouses
Speaker 1: these values of brotherhood often Christianity like other things. When
Speaker 1: they're they're talking about what the teamwork and organization means,
Speaker 1: and this is how they like go about things. And
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if by the next time we
Speaker 1: we tape that it's widely reported floors as the next coach.
Speaker 1: It just feels like people that know things are saying
Speaker 1: that that is going to happen. Right Like you, you
Speaker 1: don't go through all this unless you've got a target
Speaker 1: in a target that you believe you can acquire as
Speaker 1: the next head coach. Because I find it UM with
Speaker 1: eight vacancies now a pretty tough job to sell on
Speaker 1: its face value, based on the wackiness of the organization UM,
Speaker 1: the way operates, the way they've operated over the last
Speaker 1: year plus, the Deshaun Watson situation, the roster in general,
Speaker 1: and what they just did to the last head coach.
Speaker 1: I don't think that David Culley took the job of
Speaker 1: thinking I'm a fall guy. I'll be out of here
Speaker 1: in a year. Look at me. I mean, everything about
Speaker 1: him and who he was sort of said that he
Speaker 1: thought that he could weather the storm. I mean, otherwise,
Speaker 1: it's a strange move by David Culley. I just think
Speaker 1: the Texans are a bizarre organization that comes out of
Speaker 1: this with Jared Mayo, Flora's or Josh McDaniels and good
Speaker 1: luck to them. It's it's all about leverage and whatever
Speaker 1: the businesses. But usually you don't really drop the hammer
Speaker 1: when you can unless you're an organization that doesn't care
Speaker 1: about what optics mean. Because when you when you give
Speaker 1: him two years guaranteed, you give a sixty six year
Speaker 1: old NFL lifer, say hey, we'll give you a chance
Speaker 1: to run this team, but we're not going to treat
Speaker 1: you like every other head coach who gets a job
Speaker 1: where you have that financial security built into your contract.
Speaker 1: We're just gonna give you half of that, and we
Speaker 1: know you're gonna take it anyway because this is probably
Speaker 1: the only chance to be a head coach. All of
Speaker 1: that feels very icky to me, and I just hate
Speaker 1: the way the whole process run out. And that's what
Speaker 1: we're talking about it Tuesday. Like if the Texans fired
Speaker 1: Callie one and done, but he got four years of
Speaker 1: guaranteed money like a lot of other guys do, or
Speaker 1: whatever the amount is, then it's like, Okay, I still
Speaker 1: don't love it, still seems a little bit tacky, a
Speaker 1: little shysty, but you know he's getting paid. You don't
Speaker 1: even do that. You don't take care of the guy
Speaker 1: that way either, so it's great. It was advertised as
Speaker 1: a five year contract to like when they announced the deal.
Speaker 1: So so I just don't know, like if and again
Speaker 1: these there there's a finite amount of these jobs, these
Speaker 1: big chairs as the coaching carousel spins here. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, like, what is it about the Texans
Speaker 1: job that is compelling to you? If you're Brian Flores,
Speaker 1: remember these guys that got fired. You usually get two
Speaker 1: chances at this, So you get fired once. Okay, if
Speaker 1: you have a good reputation and have some six says,
Speaker 1: you'll get a second job. But if you fail on
Speaker 1: that second job, you're you're a coordinator for life most likely.
Speaker 1: So if I'm taking my second job and this is
Speaker 1: my last chance, probably at this level, to be the
Speaker 1: head coach, do I want to go to Houston with
Speaker 1: all that dysfunction and all the weirdness in the organization. No? No,
Speaker 1: But I don't think you wanted to go a year
Speaker 1: ago either, And David Culley accepted it, which tells me
Speaker 1: someone somewhere will say yes to the job. But I
Speaker 1: bet it's it sounds like who knows if if the
Speaker 1: reporters who are texting each other right now, and you know,
Speaker 1: adding little like I'd be shot, you know, little notes
Speaker 1: on Twitter without reporting it to our Sure, sin sure
Speaker 1: think it's Flora's who worked closely with Nick Cassario, and
Speaker 1: h if it was Flora's, just to get a little
Speaker 1: ahead of ourselves. You do wonder about Deshaun Watson's future,
Speaker 1: whether there would be any scenario where he would end
Speaker 1: up staying with a coach he reportedly wanted to play
Speaker 1: for in Miami and that Flora's report did you want
Speaker 1: to playing? Did you want to play? Or play? It
Speaker 1: was not already Stephen Ross or anything. I wonder what
Speaker 1: the connection is there between those two guys that it's
Speaker 1: just a guy he likes the cut of his jib
Speaker 1: and plus Miami. Who know? I mean, that's getting ahead
Speaker 1: of ourselves. He was pretty adamant about um his issues
Speaker 1: with ownership. But you mentioned leverage. Someone that does not
Speaker 1: have any leverage right now is Deshaun Watson. And yeah,
Speaker 1: whoever is walking in there, it's a mess. And so
Speaker 1: maybe it's someone that has a personal relationship with Casario
Speaker 1: and then can look past that. Alright, So yes, as
Speaker 1: the coaching carousel spins, we will track what happens next
Speaker 1: with the Houston Texans. Very strange job to take because obviously,
Speaker 1: unless Deshaun Watson admires Brian Floores so much from a
Speaker 1: distance that he wants to now stay in Houston after
Speaker 1: basically begging off the team before his he also might
Speaker 1: be suspended for all of next season that that never
Speaker 1: even he might be in jail. I mean that those
Speaker 1: things are in a say, a dearth of talent on
Speaker 1: the roster they do now finally in the post uh
Speaker 1: in the pellost Bill O'Brien era have draft picks again,
Speaker 1: so you can start building up a roster. But we'll
Speaker 1: see what happen. Don't really have any players though they
Speaker 1: have Davis Mills. I was trying to think of like
Speaker 1: what young players they got this year or that they
Speaker 1: like that there's not many on this roster that that
Speaker 1: they is gonna get traded again. By the way, all
Speaker 1: right here we go, let's now move What is that eight?
Speaker 1: Is that eight guys? Now? Eight got got that is
Speaker 1: that's the high end. And listen, you know what happened
Speaker 1: back in on my state mandated math test. But I
Speaker 1: know that eight of thirty two four of the league
Speaker 1: got canned. That's the turnover at that position is outrageous.
Speaker 1: Find this narrative that you are struggle at math. That
Speaker 1: was that was well, that was pretty that is pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know what I struggle with more. It's
Speaker 1: like once we got into here's a quotient x times,
Speaker 1: why you know, involves like can we calm down? Because
Speaker 1: guess what? And I'm not breaking news here. You get
Speaker 1: out into the real world all that. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it really is something that helped anybody that was
Speaker 1: good at it, I don't want to get I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it helps some people, but yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: pretty small subsection of people using that it helps. But
Speaker 1: there are many I mean there are many engineers and
Speaker 1: and certainly people in math fields and programming all this,
Speaker 1: you know, stuff like that. But it's like the professor
Speaker 1: Goodwill hunting like that was huge for him high by
Speaker 1: tenth grade, you knew that you were not the target audience.
Speaker 1: A fair point, you know, it's it's a fair point, um,
Speaker 1: all right, and I pulled the way. One of those
Speaker 1: jobs might be filled by the way already, maybe Pasaca
Speaker 1: is the guy in the future. Doesn't change the eight
Speaker 1: coaches got fired, but we might not have a hiring
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. All right, we'll see what happens. Good call,
Speaker 1: good call. All right, let's get into it. Super wild
Speaker 1: Card weekend is upon us, and since you mentioned Rich Besaccia,
Speaker 1: let's start with the early game West of This with
Speaker 1: a twist. Now, people some people who want to know
Speaker 1: like what or maybe just to be refamiliarized with it
Speaker 1: West of This? What got West so excited about it?
Speaker 1: It wasn't necessarily just the Bengals going down. It was
Speaker 1: more that it was something he could depend on, like
Speaker 1: it would show up. It would be as the hometown team.
Speaker 1: They would always be that he would know what what
Speaker 1: was coming. So as I remember it, and guys correct
Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong. West would build that Saturday morning
Speaker 1: around you know, some bloody Mary's get you know, get
Speaker 1: up nice and early, nice good mood because you got
Speaker 1: to kind of enjoy football in a way that's a
Speaker 1: little bit different when you were certain of the outcome. Well,
Speaker 1: and we don't tape on Saturdays, so that was always nice.
Speaker 1: It's like kind of a rare spot where we're watching
Speaker 1: a big time game, but you don't right any writing necessarily,
Speaker 1: maybe early days we had some writing, but usually you
Speaker 1: had that day off. Yeah, you could watch it. It
Speaker 1: does seem a little diabolical in hindsight because he was,
Speaker 1: you know, rooting against the Bengals very clearly. He wanted
Speaker 1: them to lose. He never bought in in any way
Speaker 1: of like half halfway to enjoy the Andy Dalton Bengals experience,
Speaker 1: and he was always right. They did always lose. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Deelers game will be the one I think we
Speaker 1: remember the best. But but losing the T. J. Yates
Speaker 1: was also pretty pretty low moment there. For the thing,
Speaker 1: I think it backed up the dense, uh and meticulous
Speaker 1: folder that he had created to watch them go down
Speaker 1: in flames over and over. But there was absolutely a
Speaker 1: West Angled sort of party vibe to some of those
Speaker 1: as well, because I remember him sending out, you know,
Speaker 1: he he actually went out and watched one of the
Speaker 1: West Of visits at a very swanky um place that
Speaker 1: served expensive drinks, I do recall, and he was just
Speaker 1: enjoying himself. He also got tagged one time having to
Speaker 1: work during what was not West of his because it
Speaker 1: was the late night game against the Steelers that turned
Speaker 1: into total chaos and he wrote an incredible right up
Speaker 1: from that game. You know, that was the one year
Speaker 1: where they had a chance and then Dalton got injured,
Speaker 1: so they didn't even have their starter in the game.
Speaker 1: If I'm if I recall correctly that season, that was
Speaker 1: their big Dalton's big year in Cincinnati. So they were
Speaker 1: snake bit and let's let's face it, that one that
Speaker 1: game though, that should have won that game, they blew
Speaker 1: in fifteen times over. They were. The last big Cincinnati
Speaker 1: season was that Dalton fifteen year. I believe it was
Speaker 1: he gets hurt at the end of the year. The
Speaker 1: previous big season for Cincinnati was, of course, the two
Speaker 1: thousand five I believe playoff game where Carson Palmer blew
Speaker 1: out his knee early in that game where they were
Speaker 1: heavy favorites. So there's some you know, if you want
Speaker 1: to get into like scary juju involved with this game.
Speaker 1: Here here are the Bengals again on the rise, viewed
Speaker 1: as the favorite against the Raiders team that had a
Speaker 1: win out in close fashion for a month just to
Speaker 1: get to this spot. Will something bad happen to the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals in this game? You hope not. You hope not.
Speaker 1: You hope there's no there's no type of curse around
Speaker 1: this franchise, and Joe Barrow hits the ground running. I'm curious, Mark,
Speaker 1: what you think one thing, because I think I said Tuesday,
Speaker 1: and I'll repeat this here that I think this is
Speaker 1: a game. I think that the Raiders are going to
Speaker 1: come into this game loose. And I just wonder if
Speaker 1: a two week layoff for Joe Burrow and the offense
Speaker 1: essentially will be seen early on this game, because that
Speaker 1: team was as hot as any team has been all
Speaker 1: year in Week sixteen and seventeen. Will we get that?
Speaker 1: Will they pick up right where they left off on Saturday?
Speaker 1: I'm curious or these Bengals, the ones that I trumpeted
Speaker 1: prematurely that went up and down after that, including that
Speaker 1: Raiders game, which was not Uh, the score, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's totally indicative of what happened in that game.
Speaker 1: It was think sixteen to thirteen. Late late in the
Speaker 1: fourth the Bengals capped to touchdown drive and then got
Speaker 1: a Derek Carr fumble that's set up a short a
Speaker 1: short following touchdown drive, But the Bengals had a hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty nine net passing yards in that game, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow was sacked three times, and I realized, now, look
Speaker 1: at they look. They look saucy and unbeatable. But I
Speaker 1: do think that the one way in for the Raiders
Speaker 1: in this is if someone like Max Crosby pulls a T. J.
Speaker 1: Watt type performance and I mean he's been doing that
Speaker 1: all year against the Bengals line that is better than
Speaker 1: we thought, but not perfect and causes mistakes for Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Flip side I look at in that game, also, not
Speaker 1: a single Bengals receiver had more than fifty yards, So
Speaker 1: that you know, the Raiders statistically have done a good
Speaker 1: job against wide receivers all year in spots, and so
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's a good matchup for the Raiders,
Speaker 1: who also just seems sort of spiritually feisty right now.
Speaker 1: But from a flip side, if you get the Bengals
Speaker 1: that we saw over the last fourteen days, they look
Speaker 1: fairly unbeatable. If you get if you get that peaked
Speaker 1: version of Incinnati. Wait did you just go double flip side?
Speaker 1: Because I think you did a flip side. And then
Speaker 1: going back we're back to the Sessler uh take that
Speaker 1: this was a fiery Bengals team. At least I am.
Speaker 1: When it was gonna be Patriots Bengals, I would have
Speaker 1: convinced myself that this team, this Bengals team, did have
Speaker 1: the feeling after that Chiefs win of like we just
Speaker 1: we just won our playoff game on some level, like
Speaker 1: it was the biggest win in Cincinnati in a decade,
Speaker 1: you know, at least and and I would have convinced myself.
Speaker 1: But now that it's a I don't want that result.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not gonna get too worried, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: switch to something else, which is that the Raiders just
Speaker 1: played ninety three defensive snaps Sunday night. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's incidental. That is an incredible amount of Max Crosby
Speaker 1: had eighty two. I'm not saying he's gonna that They're
Speaker 1: not gonna be fired up for this game, but it's
Speaker 1: a short week. That is an advantage I think for Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I do worry about the past protection it. Yes, the
Speaker 1: offensive line was better, it wasn't that that that much better.
Speaker 1: He they led the league in sacks aloud. I think
Speaker 1: that's one reason why they didn't even consider playing Burrow
Speaker 1: uh in week eighteen, and this is a really good
Speaker 1: pass rush with Crosby and gock Way. I think they'll
Speaker 1: missfile on but that that's key for me. And I
Speaker 1: think that's why Zach Taylor maybe was conservative in that
Speaker 1: first game. I just hope he's not now. I think
Speaker 1: he's found religion since that game. The two games before
Speaker 1: they they rested everyone was their past heaviest games of
Speaker 1: the entire season. They finally kind of let Joe Burrow cook.
Speaker 1: That's where the mismatches are on the outside, whether it's
Speaker 1: true font or face on. One of those guys is
Speaker 1: gonna be on the outside on the other side of
Speaker 1: Casey Hayward, who's has been really good this year. And
Speaker 1: one of those guys gonna be matching up with Tee
Speaker 1: Higgins or Jamar Chason. That's a mismatch. You've got mismatches,
Speaker 1: hopefully for the Bengals all over the field on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So and you know, I think you guys have both
Speaker 1: hit on it that and Ricky hit it. We're gonna
Speaker 1: bring these up occasionally throughout the show. Press your point.
Speaker 1: That's a pressure point of this game. It's the Raiders
Speaker 1: pass rush um that led the NFL according to Next
Speaker 1: Gen Stats, with thirty three point six QB pressure rate
Speaker 1: despite blitzing at the lowest level of any team in
Speaker 1: the league. So they can get to the quarterback generate
Speaker 1: pressure without blitzing. And the Joe Burrows lit up teams
Speaker 1: um when he's under pressure. But a lot of that,
Speaker 1: I would imagine came from teams that were blitzing, leaving
Speaker 1: matchups down field. The Raiders. They don't have to do
Speaker 1: that the Raiders because they can just generate a pass
Speaker 1: runch up front. And if you watch that game against
Speaker 1: the Chargers, uh, it was, you know, a testament to
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert and the line hanging in there. But every
Speaker 1: snap they were caving in that line and and I
Speaker 1: just think that is how the Raiders are gonna win
Speaker 1: this game, if they could change things up front. I pickings,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not picking the Raiders. I I thought about it.
Speaker 1: I'm not picking him. But I think this is going
Speaker 1: to be whatever they cover that spread, I think I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna put the heavy you know what, screw it,
Speaker 1: I will pick the Raiders. How about that? Why not?
Speaker 1: You gotta pick this is if there's any year that
Speaker 1: there's going to be one of those playoffs where things
Speaker 1: just don't go chalk and things get weird. I feel
Speaker 1: like one has that in him. So I think this
Speaker 1: is a field goal game. And if we get to
Speaker 1: the point where it's a field field goal game, anybody
Speaker 1: could win. And the Raider. Raiders got a hell of
Speaker 1: a kicker. I like the rookie McPherson and Cincinnati also,
Speaker 1: but Carlson is absolute nails. Let's say, m hm, three Raiders.
Speaker 1: What I have the Bengals to twenty. I think a
Speaker 1: factor in this game. It's gonna be like twenty degrees
Speaker 1: with lows even lower than that. And I you know,
Speaker 1: it's Las Vegas. It's Derek Carr. He's not been great
Speaker 1: in cold weather. I think it's not going to maybe
Speaker 1: be the shootout, that's something. But um, I have I
Speaker 1: have the Bengals. In fact, I'm considering locking them up.
Speaker 1: But I need to I need to think a little
Speaker 1: more deeply about that. All right, you only got about
Speaker 1: an hour, but the during the show, I had the
Speaker 1: same score on my game picks, by the way, the
Speaker 1: exact same score. Uh. Car has not played his best
Speaker 1: football the last month. It's been really strange. I've been
Speaker 1: banging the drum all season. How I think he's been underrated.
Speaker 1: I had him, you know, around six or seventh in
Speaker 1: the QB Index for a lot of the year. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't even think there's a question. I think Sunday
Speaker 1: Night was one of his worst games. Had an unbelievable
Speaker 1: third and eight throw to go win the game, and
Speaker 1: that can't be forgotten, But was one of his worst
Speaker 1: games of the year. Before that, he had a three
Speaker 1: straight game streak where he had at least two turnovers
Speaker 1: and you know, a couple of interceptions fumbles, like I
Speaker 1: think seven or eight turnovers last four games. Hasn't been
Speaker 1: as accurate Darren Waller. They need to to get going.
Speaker 1: But that is a big difference to me, is that
Speaker 1: Burrows coming in playing his absolute best and car could
Speaker 1: turn it around. But I think he's taken on a
Speaker 1: little bit of water late in the season. His offensive line,
Speaker 1: UH isn't very good either, and don't necessarily, you know,
Speaker 1: trust them to protect him. He kind of killed them
Speaker 1: Car in that Sunday Night game. He missed so many throws,
Speaker 1: including game ending throws. Za Jones, Darren Waller and Waller,
Speaker 1: I think it wasn't quite himself obviously in his first
Speaker 1: game back, but I think it helped to have him
Speaker 1: back on the field, so maybe you get a better
Speaker 1: version of Waller. I could definitely see him making an
Speaker 1: impact in this game. Josh Jacobs, who had a huge
Speaker 1: game hundred and thirty two yards. He has been limited
Speaker 1: in practice with the ribs, but I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's more just maintenance after a long week, obviously after
Speaker 1: a big Sunday night game with all those snaps. So
Speaker 1: uh yeah, it's it comes. Because this could also go
Speaker 1: the other way, where it's Cincinnati comes out on fire.
Speaker 1: It's fourteen nothing in a blink, and the game's thirty
Speaker 1: eight ten. I think that's in play. Also, keep an
Speaker 1: eye on the first quarter because if it starts out
Speaker 1: in a certain way, I think that's when Cincinnati gets
Speaker 1: into trouble, similar to what happened to Indianapolis. Um. All right,
Speaker 1: before we move on to the next game, we're gonna
Speaker 1: take a break. But before we do that, the Westlings
Speaker 1: are back. Apparently they have not. Boy, they cotted the
Speaker 1: pics um competition. So let's check in. Hey you around
Speaker 1: the NFL. This is Tim again. Wanted to take the
Speaker 1: Patriots over the Bills. But it is west of this
Speaker 1: and as much as Chris loved West of vis I
Speaker 1: think he would have known it would have come to
Speaker 1: end this week. I'm taking the Bengals over the Raiders.
Speaker 1: And this is the reason why Chris always compared Burrow
Speaker 1: to Montana. And I'm gonna take it a step further.
Speaker 1: A friend of mine compare Chase to Randy Moss. I'm
Speaker 1: taking it even further and suggesting that it could be
Speaker 1: the next Montana Rice duo. And I'm going to lock
Speaker 1: it up. Yeah, Tim Timmy Westling in a big spot.
Speaker 1: And he didn't even say we're gonna lock it up.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm gonna lock it up. Once they are united?
Speaker 1: What are they? What is it? The whole is saying divided? United,
Speaker 1: we stand, divided, we fall. Yeah, there's no there's nothing
Speaker 1: united about the Wesley. Now they're divided, will finish in
Speaker 1: the middle of the pack. That's where they are. All right,
Speaker 1: They're ahead of me, They're well ahead of me, so
Speaker 1: good job. All right, let's take a break, all right,
Speaker 1: welcome back. Before we get to the second Saturday game.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, uh the A T N standings, all right, Mark,
Speaker 1: you picked up a game on Sunday night. What was
Speaker 1: going on in that garage? And one can only imagine,
Speaker 1: but you pull it out in overtime. So we enter
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I'm thirteen and five, Marks, eleven and seven,
Speaker 1: two out the listeners on the subreddit or ten and eight.
Speaker 1: So are the Westling brothers, Greg seven and ten and
Speaker 1: Ricky listen. I don't know what to say, Ricky, I
Speaker 1: don't have one last game, right, all right, well we'll
Speaker 1: give it to you eight and ten. I got the
Speaker 1: Saints last week. I'm saying I wouldn't have one less
Speaker 1: game than ever one house. I got the Saints. Tough
Speaker 1: sits here over on lock it up at a t
Speaker 1: N lock ups on Twitter. You've been removed from the
Speaker 1: standings entirely. You can't be stunned by that development, though, No,
Speaker 1: not at all. Yeah, I got what I deserved. We
Speaker 1: need we need you back this week. We need you
Speaker 1: back on the Bills, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, Well
Speaker 1: That's where I'm going. So all right, let's we'll get
Speaker 1: to that right now. The New England Patriots, the sixth
Speaker 1: seed in the a f C, travel to Buffalo to
Speaker 1: take on the Bills. And Orchard Park. Weather is a thing.
Speaker 1: Weather is a thing. In fact, is it a pressure point? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Why not? It's a pressure point. Pressure point because it
Speaker 1: is supposed to be cold as a mother up in
Speaker 1: western western New York. And there are, of course, as
Speaker 1: you would imagine, a lot of stats flying around about
Speaker 1: how the Bill's offense is going to perform in cold weather.
Speaker 1: And that led to Bart Scott over on ESPN on
Speaker 1: their morning show sharing an interesting take. Ricky play that
Speaker 1: back the cold he doesn't play well and he says
Speaker 1: the reason is because he's got bad circulations, so his
Speaker 1: toes get cold. And guys, you know what's gonna Can
Speaker 1: I get your suggestion for him listening? Can people get
Speaker 1: this mentionable by agra take some biography the game? Baby,
Speaker 1: you gotta put that circulation going right? Yeah? Stop there
Speaker 1: a second. You know what I love? First of all,
Speaker 1: Bart Scott played in the league for over a decade.
Speaker 1: He's not making this up like he's not working blue here.
Speaker 1: He's sharing something crazy. But I love uptight people on TV.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh god, Bart, and then and then uh,
Speaker 1: what's his name? For Monday Night Football? Is like I
Speaker 1: don't know how to move off of this. It's like
Speaker 1: he's sharing something from inside the game that it's about
Speaker 1: getting circulation in the body. I don't know how it
Speaker 1: works in the zone, Mark and the old you can
Speaker 1: tell me the old derogenis zone. I do not. I
Speaker 1: do not take that particular substance, So I cannot tell
Speaker 1: you how that works. But so I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's an issue for the guys playing once they pop it,
Speaker 1: or if it has to be you know, particular one Mark.
Speaker 1: Are you more like a sealist guy or I do not.
Speaker 1: I do not partake in any of that stuff. But
Speaker 1: I think in general you're talking about anyway. I just
Speaker 1: I liked. I liked how everybody's clutching their pearls play
Speaker 1: the rest of the drinkie have any medical backgrounds that
Speaker 1: I can't. I don't really have a response to that,
Speaker 1: but you you played A lot of us take right
Speaker 1: because opens up the blood. A lot of us take
Speaker 1: what do you mean at a lot of NFL players,
Speaker 1: at least in my day, took biography, open up the blood.
Speaker 1: Bess's been doing athlete because for heart medicine there's no lines,
Speaker 1: makes sense. I mean, I also don't know. For all
Speaker 1: I know It's just like one of those things that
Speaker 1: got to asked there out among players um and has
Speaker 1: no benefit whatsoever. But I love this world. I love
Speaker 1: that Dawson Knox, like the Bills tight end, was brought
Speaker 1: it up or was asked about it and was like
Speaker 1: kind of like Mark just now, like immediately was like high,
Speaker 1: I've never taken it though I never would take it.
Speaker 1: I never would take it and I and I would
Speaker 1: have to get a prescription and I don't have a prescription,
Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna take it. That was That was
Speaker 1: Dawson Knox's stance. I don't know how to move off this.
Speaker 1: Lewis Reddick having a meltdown. Oh my god. He mentioned
Speaker 1: the Boner pill, which I mean, by the way, the
Speaker 1: ads are nonstopped during football games for that product, So
Speaker 1: I mean we just relax. Everybody's so uptight. He's sharing
Speaker 1: a really interesting nugget there No, definitely play the first
Speaker 1: part again. I just want to get Riddicks response again.
Speaker 1: That's what drives me crazy, is that's who it was.
Speaker 1: I can't I don't really have a response to that.
Speaker 1: But you you played a lot of us take right,
Speaker 1: because I ever opens up the blood a lot of
Speaker 1: us take what do you mean? A lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of NFL players, at least in my day, took
Speaker 1: bioggrastive the blood Belts because first heart medicine. I don't
Speaker 1: know how to move off with that. Relax. That's good insight.
Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy that what these players do to try
Speaker 1: to get the best out of their I think it's
Speaker 1: it's the It's probably the only thing you'll learn from
Speaker 1: the shows, right. It's definitely the first time get up
Speaker 1: has been clipped off on this show. So it's been
Speaker 1: great for promotion. It's Bart Scott's biggest moment since uh
Speaker 1: January of two thousand and twelve, an all new meaning
Speaker 1: of get up. Yeah, well, that nailed it right. Vicky's
Speaker 1: locked in right now, all right anyway, so it's gonna
Speaker 1: be cold as hell and we'll see how that plays out. Now.
Speaker 1: These two teams, obviously they've played twice the Vision Rivals,
Speaker 1: each winning in their own home. But as Mark, it
Speaker 1: pains Mark that the Pats didn't get enough credit for
Speaker 1: the Monday night game when the conditions were fierce. Well,
Speaker 1: this maybe sets up again here Mark, for the Patriots.
Speaker 1: Perhaps I don't want to say it, but I'll say
Speaker 1: it the tougher team, the team that can handle something
Speaker 1: a little bit out of the norm better than the Bills.
Speaker 1: Based on that outcome, maybe this helps the Pats this
Speaker 1: weather situation. We'll start there. I mean, I think I
Speaker 1: think Bill Belichick having a third chance that the Bills helps. Also,
Speaker 1: you know the Bills have a great coaching step two.
Speaker 1: But that weather game, the first one was was chaotic.
Speaker 1: But also you know, New England can't duplicate what they
Speaker 1: attempted to do in that game. Having Mac Jones throw
Speaker 1: the ball was at three times. They're gonna need to
Speaker 1: get some big players from mac Jones. That's where I
Speaker 1: get a little concerned with this entire third rematch is
Speaker 1: just the mac Jones of the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: has I think been exposed a little bit, And are
Speaker 1: they gonna be able to run the ball that you know,
Speaker 1: I think Isaiah Winn being out that's not good for them.
Speaker 1: You have initially questionable question. They have a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys who are definitely banged up but limited in practice.
Speaker 1: So we'll see how they are. But I do think
Speaker 1: that there's a slight edge whenever you get Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: three times coaching against the same opponent. Well, it's not
Speaker 1: just three times, but three times in seven weeks. It's weird.
Speaker 1: And uh, I do think that's like, that's the that's
Speaker 1: a source of optimism. I think if you're a Patriots fan,
Speaker 1: just that it's a division game and three times in
Speaker 1: seven weeks, and then if you win it, it'll be
Speaker 1: a Belichick type of coaching game because every other logical
Speaker 1: trend is working against the Patriots. Josh Allen's playing his
Speaker 1: best football of the year. I would say, I know
Speaker 1: he had that game against Carolina, but even in that game,
Speaker 1: they're running game has been on fire since the second
Speaker 1: half of the Bucks game. Said playing his best football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought he played incredible last week. Interceptions on three
Speaker 1: straight drives against the Falcons of all teams and weeks,
Speaker 1: I get it. I said in that game that he
Speaker 1: did run the ball well, they did score four touchdowns
Speaker 1: in seven drives. Cup one of those interceptions was a fluke.
Speaker 1: The other two were bad throws, obviously, but the throws
Speaker 1: he made against the Jets were just that rageous. The
Speaker 1: play the play in Tampa was as good a half
Speaker 1: as any quarterbacks that all year, and I think the
Speaker 1: game against New England was as good a game as
Speaker 1: any quarterbacks had all year. He's he's trending up in general.
Speaker 1: And more importantly, their running game is like they finished
Speaker 1: sixth in the year in the league and yards per
Speaker 1: carry uh in e p a um in yards in
Speaker 1: yards overall, and he's a huge part of that. Singletary
Speaker 1: is running well and so I think that makes them
Speaker 1: a little more complete. More importantly, the Patriots have been
Speaker 1: terrible over the last month and and especially their defensive line,
Speaker 1: where to me that was the difference this year was
Speaker 1: Barmore in Judean. Barmore is now coming off an injury,
Speaker 1: although he was limited practice. Judean's coming off a month
Speaker 1: where he hasn't done anything and he's probably been a liability.
Speaker 1: And right it's what's changed to me. It doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that it can't flip in a wild card game, but
Speaker 1: I think lately, you know, other than the Jackson game,
Speaker 1: like they have not played well defensively, and and that
Speaker 1: it's a concern going up against Josh Allen. You also
Speaker 1: might be down there starting corner Jalen Mills as COVID
Speaker 1: by the way, you know, it's your point. The Titans
Speaker 1: ran for two seventy on New England, the Colts two
Speaker 1: twenty six. Last week the Dolphins put up on them.
Speaker 1: So if you're Buffalo, whether it's you know, engined obviously
Speaker 1: through Josh Allen, you have to have that balance, you
Speaker 1: have to be able to run against New England if
Speaker 1: you go back. I think the Bills are gonna take
Speaker 1: care of business here. I think they're the better team.
Speaker 1: And I think this sets up very well for the
Speaker 1: Buffalo defense. Everybody's like focusing on the weather and everything
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen, Buffalo's defense, with Mac Jones in a
Speaker 1: big spot, having to make plays, playing at not a
Speaker 1: high level right now, I think is the recipe for
Speaker 1: a very ugly offensive performance for New England. And if
Speaker 1: you look back, dating back now to the infamous weather
Speaker 1: game on Monday night in Buffalo, all right, Jones through
Speaker 1: for nineteen yards on three attempts. They hit their bye week,
Speaker 1: the Patriots, he comes and he's bad for three quarters.
Speaker 1: Against the Colts, has a really nice fourth quarter. They
Speaker 1: come back but lose that game. Then the Buffalo game,
Speaker 1: he plays poorly all game. Uh really gets exposed I
Speaker 1: thought by the Bills Jacksonville game, all right, good job,
Speaker 1: fifty to ten, classic late Patriots season blowout against the
Speaker 1: bad team. And then in Miami he again looks very rough.
Speaker 1: I thought in that game he was very upset with himself.
Speaker 1: He he gave it a very strong term and he
Speaker 1: was I don't know if it was embarrassing or whatever.
Speaker 1: He lost the fumble near midfield, he threw a pick six,
Speaker 1: and I just think I like Mac Jones, and I
Speaker 1: still think he has a very bright future. A rookie
Speaker 1: year on balance has been very good. But I think
Speaker 1: this is a bad draw for him, and I think
Speaker 1: the Bills are going to take advantage of it. He
Speaker 1: looks I mean, I don't know about exhausted, but he's
Speaker 1: not like a physically imposing guy, and I think the
Speaker 1: ware of the NFL season at times mentally physically has
Speaker 1: maybe gotten to me. He also sounds like a perfectionist,
Speaker 1: like he beats himself up in those postgame press conver
Speaker 1: and says like can't you know He's very hard on himself,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a tough matchup, like the Bills are
Speaker 1: number one in defense, you know, I know, yards and
Speaker 1: depending on how you want to look at it. They've
Speaker 1: had a very easy schedule, but there's still a very
Speaker 1: good defense. A rookie quarterback hasn't won a playoff game
Speaker 1: since Russell Wilson, and the one before that was the
Speaker 1: guy I mentioned before, t J Yates. It's like it
Speaker 1: is hard to do. I still think it's possible, though,
Speaker 1: Like I don't count out you know, Ramandre Stevenson, Kendrick Borne,
Speaker 1: some of the guys who have been really good with
Speaker 1: the ball in their hands making plays, and this thing
Speaker 1: turning into a little bit of a defensive game, and
Speaker 1: and it's close at the end. And in Belichick is
Speaker 1: the difference. I don't think it's impossible. I do not
Speaker 1: think it's impossible at all. In fact, I'm locking up
Speaker 1: the Patriots. Wow. I am tired of the disrespect. Although
Speaker 1: I will say that they have not been the team
Speaker 1: that I was so favored, so, you know, excited about
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks. So this is dangerous. Um.
Speaker 1: That is, while they dangerous, they're like four, you know,
Speaker 1: they're underdogs here in this one. It was that is
Speaker 1: that's gutsy. It's this to me, looks this is I
Speaker 1: see it as the Patriots struggling to get into double digits,
Speaker 1: and the Buffalo Bills because I don't totally trust their
Speaker 1: offense right now. I don't think they were impressive at
Speaker 1: all uh down the stretch in the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: That could all get wiped out, obviously, but with the
Speaker 1: conditions and Belichick and New England's defense, I don't think
Speaker 1: they have a big scoring weeks. So they're gonna score
Speaker 1: twenty to twenty four, but I think that's gonna be enough. UH.
Speaker 1: The and the Bills move on. It wouldn't be a disaster,
Speaker 1: by the way. It would be a disaster if the
Speaker 1: Bills go one and done this year and lose to
Speaker 1: the Pats like they need to win this game. That's
Speaker 1: the one other you want to talk about pressure points.
Speaker 1: Buffalo is in this like the Steinbrenner doctrine. UH. In
Speaker 1: the old days of the Yankees, anything short of a
Speaker 1: championship is failure. Anything short of an a f C
Speaker 1: title for the Bills is going to be considered failures.
Speaker 1: You gotta take care of business. Well, they feel that
Speaker 1: pressure on Saturday night, or they like a team that's
Speaker 1: been there. And I guess this is how I've seen
Speaker 1: the Bills all year that like, if they can just
Speaker 1: get to the point where they're into the playoffs have
Speaker 1: have a home game, would be nice that I was
Speaker 1: kind of expecting them to rise up a team that's
Speaker 1: been there, like really good, better, they're in that sweet
Speaker 1: spot of continuity, talent, all that stuff. That said, I
Speaker 1: picked the Patriots online just because I didn't want to
Speaker 1: like root against my picked. One last very quick point
Speaker 1: is Ed Oliver has been playing out of his mind.
Speaker 1: We just did. We just did an entire break that
Speaker 1: I don't even believe it. I this is one I
Speaker 1: admittedly don't believe it. But I'm just gonna pick the
Speaker 1: Patriots because I don't want I don't want to, like,
Speaker 1: I just want to be a line to what I'm
Speaker 1: rooting for. Something good here, right, That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's like, here's the reality. No one has any clue.
Speaker 1: So in a case where it's you're rooting for your
Speaker 1: team in a playoff, I'm not. I probably will never
Speaker 1: pick against them in the playoffs in my entire life.
Speaker 1: I mean that's the Certainly the Patriots could win this game,
Speaker 1: it would not be some crazy upset. But when I
Speaker 1: hear you off your analysis for ten minutes and it's
Speaker 1: basically all pro Buffalo. I'm worried. It actually warms my
Speaker 1: heart a little bit to see you. Then I'm worried
Speaker 1: they could get blown out. But maybe that's my fandom.
Speaker 1: I've been totally off on this team all year and
Speaker 1: never know when they're going to be good or bad.
Speaker 1: Mark's making me feel good. Formally, Yeah, I just really
Speaker 1: feel like the Bills are the better team. I think
Speaker 1: the cold will be an issue, and I just don't
Speaker 1: see Mac Jones and Bill Belichick, you know, winning the
Speaker 1: third the third time. You know, we it's split right now,
Speaker 1: and I just think that the Bills are gonna definitely
Speaker 1: get this one done. See now, I'm there was thank you,
Speaker 1: I'm very that was. It was like she was like
Speaker 1: building up for special powers over the last four or
Speaker 1: five weeks sitting out the pics. It was all stratgi
Speaker 1: so that this one could be even better. I had
Speaker 1: a little like doctor Strange vibes to it. You put
Speaker 1: like a witch his hat on. I would be certain
Speaker 1: that also hasked me backing off my lock, because like
Speaker 1: Ricky's powers on this front have been tangible. Side last
Speaker 1: time we talked about it at do not know how
Speaker 1: it works at A well, Plus, the bills are all
Speaker 1: gonna be running around with these huge boners. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be super distracting. I don't know how to move off
Speaker 1: of that. They're actually guess what, TV guy, you actually
Speaker 1: your program, your morning show actually has something interesting that
Speaker 1: just popped up, something that the audience didn't know about.
Speaker 1: Why don't you actually listen to the former player? The
Speaker 1: former pro bowler is a former player, so he should
Speaker 1: he should double down on listening to the former player
Speaker 1: Viagg back in the nineties, Uh, the nineties Browns, who
Speaker 1: knows what you know? Maybe they wouldn't have moved to
Speaker 1: Baltimore if if they did back then, All right, let's
Speaker 1: move on Sunday. Let's move to Sunday. Philadelphia Eagles, the
Speaker 1: seventh seed travel of Tampa to take on the Bucks. Now,
Speaker 1: this sets up obviously very well for Tom Brady and company.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady does not lose Tom Brady Greg. How many
Speaker 1: times did Tom Brady go one and done? I think
Speaker 1: the year after his knee reconstruction, the Ravens got him.
Speaker 1: Has it ever happened well, that Jets game that was
Speaker 1: a one and done wasn't it when you get a buy.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's typically I don't look at it
Speaker 1: that way, but yeah, I guess you're right. Well, the
Speaker 1: Titans got him in the last year of New England
Speaker 1: as well, so it's not unprecedented. So that kind of
Speaker 1: blows up my theory there. So it's not like Tom
Speaker 1: can't be defeated in the first round, but I can't
Speaker 1: see the Eagles doing it in the wild card round.
Speaker 1: I think you might be right. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: ever lost in the wild card round other than that
Speaker 1: Tennessee game. Yeah, Tennessee in the Baltimore game in two
Speaker 1: thousand nine, right idea? Uh No, no, you're not. It's
Speaker 1: just that was a long time ago. We're very mute.
Speaker 1: The Eagles here, they need to me Mark, they need
Speaker 1: to be in this game for Jalen Hurts to be
Speaker 1: dynamic with his arms and his legs. That's the pressure
Speaker 1: point to this game for me. Pressure point. If he
Speaker 1: is not making those plays, and he hasn't been doing
Speaker 1: it really at a consistent level since he came back,
Speaker 1: I don't think they have any chance. But if he does,
Speaker 1: then it could get interesting. The way Tyler Heinek made
Speaker 1: things interesting last year this time, um, but it really
Speaker 1: is going to take something special from Hurts. That's my
Speaker 1: belief with this game. I'm with you. I think you
Speaker 1: know when they played the first time, that was before
Speaker 1: Philly really went through its metamorphosis on offense and became
Speaker 1: what they are and why they're in the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: you know, I know that we like to just look
Speaker 1: at the Bucks and say no one can run against them,
Speaker 1: but it's it's it's not true if you look at
Speaker 1: the splits between trying to run between the tackles and
Speaker 1: run outside the town les, and Jalen Hurts is one
Speaker 1: of the best around doing that. I think that he
Speaker 1: can make plays against this defensive front. You know, the
Speaker 1: Bucks have a lot of guys right now that are
Speaker 1: practicing who how do we know what they're gonna look like.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't have Antonio Brown or Chris Godwin,
Speaker 1: but you look at like Lavant to David Shack, Barrett
Speaker 1: is coming off the COVID list, Jason Pierre Paul. They're
Speaker 1: on the practice field. But COVID has told us we
Speaker 1: don't know what that guy is gonna look like. Necessarily,
Speaker 1: days later in a game and in general what this
Speaker 1: Buck's defense will look like. I trust the offense even
Speaker 1: with out you know, your star guys in there, because
Speaker 1: it's brady to put up to basically get a lead
Speaker 1: early and put the Eagles into a situation where they're
Speaker 1: playing from behind. It's gonna be very rainy too. I
Speaker 1: think that kind of favors the Eagles a little bit
Speaker 1: if it becomes sort of a sloppy run oriented game,
Speaker 1: because you look at who the Bucks have, that's going
Speaker 1: to diminish their passing attack. But maybe that means a
Speaker 1: lot for Rob Gronkowski or something they're gonna I think
Speaker 1: whether it will be again, whether it will be a
Speaker 1: factor in this one. Right they the forecast right now
Speaker 1: and things change in Florida pretty quickly. Is there could
Speaker 1: be a big thunder and rainstorm. It could all be
Speaker 1: done by the time the game happens, and it's just
Speaker 1: like a little bit of a wet field in a
Speaker 1: colder game. I think that would absolutely help Philadelphia. They
Speaker 1: they they slow down the pace of play as much
Speaker 1: as any team in the league offensively and defensively, like
Speaker 1: they they gave up the shortest yards per completion of
Speaker 1: any team in the league. But they give up one
Speaker 1: of the highest percentage of completion, so it's like their
Speaker 1: defense is built to just like give up a bunch
Speaker 1: of seven yard throws. I worry that they're not a
Speaker 1: team that changes what they do like post snap, and
Speaker 1: I feel like you kind of have to do that
Speaker 1: against Brady. That's what Belichick did in Week four, I
Speaker 1: think was very telling to try to slow Tom Brady down.
Speaker 1: And they don't have that sort of defense. So I'm
Speaker 1: not worried about the Bucks offense at all. You give
Speaker 1: the Bucks offensive line, uh healthy, Tom Brady fine, and
Speaker 1: uh he'll roll. But I think Hurts will play well.
Speaker 1: I think Hurts through the ball well. Late in the year,
Speaker 1: he's still he still had key running plays. And you
Speaker 1: mentioned to Mark this Tampa run the defense has been
Speaker 1: averaged for half the season. It's sixteenth in e p
Speaker 1: A in terms of the run defense for half the season,
Speaker 1: going against one of the best offensive lines, one of
Speaker 1: the best running games, and I think that's kind of
Speaker 1: a recipe. You even saw it last week against Carolina,
Speaker 1: just for not many possessions, Like Tampa was down in
Speaker 1: that game, partly because they didn't have the ball at
Speaker 1: all in the first half, and I could see this
Speaker 1: being like a seven possession game for each team, where
Speaker 1: it's actually pretty close at the end, and in Philly
Speaker 1: covers that eight and a half point spread. And I
Speaker 1: know you like the Eagles, Greg, but I just can't.
Speaker 1: As I watched them week after week, I just couldn't
Speaker 1: get invested in the team. They made the playoffs in
Speaker 1: the back of a four game winning streak that beat Jets, Washington,
Speaker 1: Giants Washington, they got blown out fifty Burger and week
Speaker 1: eighteen they were starting some of some of their guys.
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna get crazy about that. But if
Speaker 1: there's ever a team to me that feels like, hey,
Speaker 1: we went nine and eight, we went to the playoffs
Speaker 1: in year one with a new head coach in the
Speaker 1: first full season, a starter with Jalen Hurts. Uh, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got killed in the playoffs in the first round,
Speaker 1: but it was Tom Brady Like that feels like, how
Speaker 1: this is gonna play out now? Again, this is weird.
Speaker 1: This is a weird season mark and you don't know
Speaker 1: there's gonna be maybe an outcome here that doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense. But to me, if this, if I had
Speaker 1: to pick what the final score and this one is
Speaker 1: this one feels thirty four seven something like that. I
Speaker 1: I think it's and I'm gonna lock up the bucks.
Speaker 1: I'm all about the defending champs here and taking care
Speaker 1: of business. So there you go. Can you even do
Speaker 1: that based on what the desert is saying? Do we
Speaker 1: still oh, we still ad here to the desert in
Speaker 1: the playoffs? I thought we waived that. I could certainly
Speaker 1: move off it. I want to not gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: be a schoolmarm about it. I think in the in
Speaker 1: the past we started just forgot about the mirror in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. If it's playoffs, if you want to kill
Speaker 1: the mirror, kill the mirror, throw it out the window.
Speaker 1: But I think it's gonna be closer than that. In fact,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna have a weird um element where
Speaker 1: it's the same exact score is the first time they
Speaker 1: met two. That was a weird game. Yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was going to base my locks off of, like
Speaker 1: where you guys are going. It's like, well, if we
Speaker 1: were allowed to take the Chiefs, you just take the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's seem but Mark taking his minions on
Speaker 1: me now on Twitter like, well, now Marco eating Dan
Speaker 1: is not looking in the mirror. I was like, I
Speaker 1: have to pick a real game. I would come up
Speaker 1: because the spread is enormous, But what is the spread
Speaker 1: a half or something? No, no, it's this one is
Speaker 1: a eight and a half. Vegas is kind of like
Speaker 1: Philly all year um, and I think it makes sense.
Speaker 1: I think your point mark about the injured players is
Speaker 1: really important. Those aren't just like guys coming off of injury,
Speaker 1: and even the COVID list Shack Barrett was hurt too.
Speaker 1: They're they're coming off of serious injuries. David is as
Speaker 1: important to their defense as any player. Are they gonna
Speaker 1: be themselves this week? First of all, they're gonna play
Speaker 1: this week, we don't even know. But are they going
Speaker 1: to be all the way back? I think this might
Speaker 1: be the right week to catch them. Leonard Fournett is
Speaker 1: another name you didn't mention, and he's coming off of
Speaker 1: an injury that kept him off three or four weeks.
Speaker 1: So these are their best These are the best players,
Speaker 1: you know. These are some of their best players, Shack Barrett,
Speaker 1: Leonard Fournette, Lavante David and so I think that that's
Speaker 1: a huge factor in this one. You you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to get something out of Breshad Perriman. You know your
Speaker 1: guy Dan who you like to You know, he just
Speaker 1: to talk about his hairline a lot. You know. Now
Speaker 1: he's turning into a playoff hero here for the bucks.
Speaker 1: He looked good. I tend to I like to do
Speaker 1: it just arbitrarily, and I do a cut and paste
Speaker 1: of Rashad Perriman's head shot and send it to the
Speaker 1: gang on text with no other explanation other than I
Speaker 1: just like to look at it, because, uh, it's like
Speaker 1: he's stuck with the Dreads, even when the forehead was
Speaker 1: racing up north. Uh. And I don't think that's what
Speaker 1: he looks like anymore. But now, yeah, but they never
Speaker 1: they've never updated it. So it's more almost in a
Speaker 1: remembrance of when he was twenty two and was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to give up the Dread battle yet
Speaker 1: now it's over. He made some real plays. He made
Speaker 1: a catch last week that was incredible. Mike Evans looked
Speaker 1: really good last week. He was someone someone I think
Speaker 1: that gets to the point I was making about the injuries,
Speaker 1: like he didn't look like himself for a week or
Speaker 1: two coming off that injury. But last week it looked
Speaker 1: like the old Mike Evans again, which is big. So
Speaker 1: you put Darius Slay on Mike Evans for you know,
Speaker 1: the game, and I do think that puts Tom Brady
Speaker 1: in a tough situation. If if, if the weather and
Speaker 1: wind and rain are a factor here, I I think
Speaker 1: it changes what they have to do a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be closer than what
Speaker 1: you mentioned seven in um we'll see Tampa by the
Speaker 1: way seven and one at home this year. And Tom
Speaker 1: Brady has been an absolute stud and Bruce arians in
Speaker 1: a playoff week, started his availability on Monday by basically
Speaker 1: calling out anyone who says it makes any sense not
Speaker 1: to give the fourth m v P Award to Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: Let's listen to Bruce. I think it's if he didn't
Speaker 1: get it, it's a travesty. I mean, most completions ever,
Speaker 1: five thousand yards, touchdowns, the whole, the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean to me, it's not even it's
Speaker 1: not even a close race. I like it any he's
Speaker 1: got a great case. I think Rogers would probably be
Speaker 1: my pick. But if Brady wanted, there's nobody that can say, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a travesty, because he absolutely has delivered this year
Speaker 1: in a big way. I think he was a little
Speaker 1: more consistent. I think he was definitely better in the
Speaker 1: first half of the season, and so it's a little
Speaker 1: bit of recency bias. Rodgers clothes stronger. Although Brady played
Speaker 1: great the last three weeks against bad teams, and I
Speaker 1: think volume should matter a little bit. Like he dropped
Speaker 1: back to pass a hundred and seventy more times than Rogers,
Speaker 1: and to me, they were pretty close in terms of
Speaker 1: their effectiveness when they dropped back to pass. He also
Speaker 1: didn't miss a game, like a game is a significant
Speaker 1: portion of the season, a seventy extra times. I'm giving
Speaker 1: it to Tom Brady. I'll get to Tom's who. But
Speaker 1: think if you're the Saints, thinking what you did to
Speaker 1: both of these m VP candidates over three games, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fair, Saints. The Saints. Saints with Jamis Winston would
Speaker 1: have been a fun seven seed in this game, for instance,
Speaker 1: or in in a in a different wild card game,
Speaker 1: they would have been fun. They would have made the playoffs,
Speaker 1: that would have won a game, they would have won
Speaker 1: an extra game with I guess I agree with you,
Speaker 1: Like Winston would have given a little bit of sizzle.
Speaker 1: But I was okay with the Saints not being in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. What about Jamis back on the Bucks. We
Speaker 1: just insert him into that situation. I don't like that
Speaker 1: at all. So it's a classic middle of the road guy.
Speaker 1: Is Jamis a free agent? By the way, Yeah, that
Speaker 1: would be amazing if the Bucks won another Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and then they traded Brady and signed Jamis Winston. That
Speaker 1: would be surprising. This amazing, amazing. All right, let's move
Speaker 1: to the uh, the middle game on Sunday right after
Speaker 1: this break. All right, we're back. This is to me
Speaker 1: the best game of the weekend. The San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: Niners pipe and hot after that really impressive ze comeback
Speaker 1: win uh here in l A to beat the Rams
Speaker 1: there the six seed. They travel now to Dallas to
Speaker 1: take on the Cowboys. The Cowboys are the three seed.
Speaker 1: Um and Mark, Uh, this game to me profiles as
Speaker 1: a Dallas team that's gonna be favoriteed to win this game. UM,
Speaker 1: I would imagine they're getting probably about three and a
Speaker 1: half or so, greg Um three and Uh they have
Speaker 1: all the firepower and this this team really when you
Speaker 1: consider all that they have, which is a five thousand
Speaker 1: yard passer, a one thousand yard receiver, a one thousand
Speaker 1: yard rusher, a linebacker with ten plus sacks or twelve
Speaker 1: plus sax and Michael Parsons cornerback with ten interceptions, Pro
Speaker 1: bowlers all over the place. They're supposed to win this game.
Speaker 1: And yet doesn't it feel like the Niners are a
Speaker 1: really tough matchup and to me feel like the team
Speaker 1: that's gonna come out of this game. I think you've
Speaker 1: got to be annoyed if you're the Cowboys that this
Speaker 1: is who you drew in this first round, because I
Speaker 1: think the Niners are a tough matchup for Dallas. It's
Speaker 1: it's guys like Deebo, Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon. I you
Speaker 1: the way he's playing their run game. They're just one
Speaker 1: of the more original teams in all of football, the
Speaker 1: way that they operate on offense. And I know that,
Speaker 1: you know, I it's not just my Shanahan, you know, fascination.
Speaker 1: I think that we're starting to see what it was
Speaker 1: that did fascinate about about them to me, and it
Speaker 1: probably comes down to the splits between the Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 1: Games where he's clean, he doesn't turn the ball over
Speaker 1: and cause massive headaches, they're pretty much unstoppable. If you
Speaker 1: get the game where he fumbles around, causes problems, you know,
Speaker 1: misfires a ball into the lap of a Dallas Cowboy
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons, then you've got issues. But I am flat
Speaker 1: out picking the Niners to win this game. And I'm going,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm switching my lock to a team
Speaker 1: that I really really support, the Niners, unlocking this team up.
Speaker 1: Forget the page pots. This game should be Monday Night football.
Speaker 1: I was impressed, you know, with your faith. But you
Speaker 1: are taking another underdog now, and this is one where
Speaker 1: I feel like they're actually getting picked by the majority
Speaker 1: of people this week because everyone you want to pick
Speaker 1: like one underdog, and like, logically they've played better than
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, So I like the Cowboys here. I don't
Speaker 1: feel strong about it. I do think they're their matchup
Speaker 1: on the outside in terms of when the Cowboys have
Speaker 1: the ball is so great for them, Like that can't
Speaker 1: be discounted. The forty Niners defense, and I think with
Speaker 1: d v o A a second against the run, first
Speaker 1: against or in the top five, I think in passes
Speaker 1: under fifteen yards and dead last uh in passes over
Speaker 1: fifteen yards, which is like something when you watch them,
Speaker 1: just seems almost obvious that they just don't have guys
Speaker 1: that can cover deep down the field. And I just think,
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore, we'll know that, we'll see the mismatches and
Speaker 1: that it's just a day for Doc to be great,
Speaker 1: be great, Ceedee Lamb, be great, Amari Cooper, be great.
Speaker 1: You're You're much better than your counterpart Stack. You're much
Speaker 1: better than Jimmy G. I mean, everyone's you know, you
Speaker 1: guys are going crazy to give Jimmy J a lot
Speaker 1: of credit. Yeah, he made a couple of nice plays
Speaker 1: in that game. He also had two interceptions, including one
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter in a fumble in that game. Like,
Speaker 1: you make that those sort of mistakes this week, I
Speaker 1: don't think you you get away. That's what it's about.
Speaker 1: To me. That's the pressure point of this game. Damn
Speaker 1: pressure pressure. Because if Jimmy G does that stuff, I
Speaker 1: think that's gonna do in the Niners. But if he
Speaker 1: plays a clean, efficient game, that's all he has to be.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a cliche, but with the Niners. Be
Speaker 1: a game manager. Get the ball into the hands of
Speaker 1: your playmakers. You don't need to make dynamic throws to
Speaker 1: do that. Good because Jimmy j doesn't really make dynamic throws.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have a big arm. But get the ball
Speaker 1: in Deebo's hands. Uh, They're running game has been very good. Um.
Speaker 1: I think Elijah Mitchell actually finished seventh in the league
Speaker 1: and rushing despite missing a lot of times like this
Speaker 1: is this is a loaded offense. They just need a
Speaker 1: field general guy that can just get the ball in
Speaker 1: the hands. So I think that's certainly possible. To your point, Greg, Yes,
Speaker 1: when you go back and you watch um that Rams game,
Speaker 1: you get caught up in the moxie that that team
Speaker 1: showed and how incredible that last drive was to tie
Speaker 1: the game late in regulation. But yeah, but Jimmy g
Speaker 1: almost buried him in that game. It was the defense
Speaker 1: that kind of bailed out, uh the Niners and allowed
Speaker 1: them to get back into the game. So he needs
Speaker 1: he needs absolutely to be cleaner. And I just think, like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing with the Cowboys, and you mentioned it, Greg,
Speaker 1: like step up, Doc Bedac, all right, but don't don't
Speaker 1: just be Dac when you're playing Phillies backups, or when
Speaker 1: you're playing the Washington football team that has three quarters
Speaker 1: of their guys on the COVID list, Like, be doc
Speaker 1: when it matters, when the competition is there, step up
Speaker 1: and be better than the best. And I'm a little
Speaker 1: concerned when you look at the way their season played
Speaker 1: out in the back half, that this team was a
Speaker 1: bully and when they get when they get a team
Speaker 1: that punches them in the mouth, they start to press,
Speaker 1: They miss als, And is that going to happen in
Speaker 1: a playoff spot? And you're gonna get to all those
Speaker 1: cuts to Jared Jones looking forlorn and nervous in the booth.
Speaker 1: I can just see it now that the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: gonna come up small at home here. So I hate
Speaker 1: to be like the guy that's on board with everyone
Speaker 1: else being on board with the underdogs. But I'm with
Speaker 1: you too, Mark. I just think that the Niners gonna
Speaker 1: come in here free and easy and steal a win here.
Speaker 1: To your point, in nine wins, Jimmy g had four
Speaker 1: giveaways over those nine wins. In the losses, he had eleven.
Speaker 1: So it's not just that we always want to talk
Speaker 1: about the quarterbacks, but his mistakes matter a ton. I
Speaker 1: do think though that this Niners team right now, even
Speaker 1: if they get into if they get down a little
Speaker 1: bit to Dallas. I I look at that Rams games
Speaker 1: as something that tells me so much about who the
Speaker 1: Shanahan led Niners are. And I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: an impossible tough out for three plus quarters here. And
Speaker 1: I'm telling you this game comes down to two words.
Speaker 1: Greg's rline we're gonna be talking about when we come
Speaker 1: out of this thing. Oh my gosh, I was hoping, Um,
Speaker 1: there wasn't those two words. If it comes down to
Speaker 1: they're they're probably in trouble. Although like that they're kicking
Speaker 1: situation isn't isn't too good either, You're right like the
Speaker 1: Cowboys think. Look they have in one playoff games with
Speaker 1: with Dac, like they this is something that they need
Speaker 1: to Like, it's a massive game. You have Blake Jarwin back,
Speaker 1: and I do think when forty Niners have the ball,
Speaker 1: like that's kind of football porn. This is a great
Speaker 1: matchup first of all, Like I would like to get
Speaker 1: rid of the you know, let one of these teams
Speaker 1: play the Raiders and one of them play the Steelers
Speaker 1: and like let them both advance because I like them both.
Speaker 1: But when when the forty Niners have the ball, it's
Speaker 1: a rare time where the Cowboys athletes on defense Lawrence
Speaker 1: and Gregory and Micah Parsons of course, are going up
Speaker 1: against like equal athletes like in and I don't know
Speaker 1: who has the advantage. And I don't think either side
Speaker 1: is used to playing another team that is just physically
Speaker 1: gifted as the forty Niners offenses. We didn't mention Jowan Jennings,
Speaker 1: who has been like incredible for them as a third
Speaker 1: receiver too. It's just like to like physically imposing sides
Speaker 1: that are just have like specimens on it. It's about
Speaker 1: as good as it gets. It's it's a ridiculous wild
Speaker 1: card games. There's only some some players or athletes on
Speaker 1: the Dallas defense. I think they're all fine athletes. My
Speaker 1: point is they are another let another level of athlete.
Speaker 1: Lawrence and Gregory and Parsons, and I think the Kiddle,
Speaker 1: Iuk Debo, Jwan Jennings Mitchell in terms of what they
Speaker 1: do after the catch is another level of athleticism. Like
Speaker 1: these two teams are just like big, bad bad men.
Speaker 1: But are they bad people? Like bad men? Like I
Speaker 1: don't feel like. I just mean they're they're probably really
Speaker 1: they're good people. Just played they're like there are the
Speaker 1: two teams that look good coming off of you know,
Speaker 1: they're just two teams. Those they are two teams. Mark,
Speaker 1: welcome back. You had stepped away? What happened? Well? Have this?
Speaker 1: Um my voices have gone? You sound good? No, it's
Speaker 1: probably you might have lost some weight, Is that true? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I have. I mean it's been along, it's
Speaker 1: been a long couple of months, but you know, gonna
Speaker 1: be all right, getting back on the peloton soon. So
Speaker 1: but my voice is so shot in, like I feel
Speaker 1: like it must be highly annoying to And I thought
Speaker 1: of that, like COVID couldn't be. You already don't like
Speaker 1: food famously, so COVID plus not liking food is not
Speaker 1: a recipe for a lot of food. COVID took about
Speaker 1: eight pounds off me, which I was not expecting. And
Speaker 1: I mean I got that, I got that cough that
Speaker 1: turned into like a lost voice. So uh yeah, remember
Speaker 1: this ideal situation for someone trying to attempt to broadcast
Speaker 1: a message. We do appreciate you remember the San Francisco
Speaker 1: Dallas games in the early nineties. That was my favorite
Speaker 1: rivalry of the nineties, when Dion was bouncing around with
Speaker 1: both teams and it was so this is gonna seem
Speaker 1: crazy to younger fans, but there was this crazy run
Speaker 1: where the a f C was just a lamb being
Speaker 1: left to slaughter for the Super Bowl. NFC was winning
Speaker 1: every year for like a twenty year period, so when
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game came around, that four PM game
Speaker 1: between the Cowboys and forty Niners would just decide who
Speaker 1: was the champion. And uh, I remember those games well
Speaker 1: at Old Candlestick and of course, uh what was it
Speaker 1: the Dallas Stadium? What do they call it? Texas Stadium?
Speaker 1: Got a Bernie Kozar neel down in the NFC title
Speaker 1: game that put him into the Super Bowl after Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick cut him saying that he had diminished skills. So
Speaker 1: a little bit of a win for him. But the
Speaker 1: other issue that obviously just Greg why do you Greg?
Speaker 1: I I don't disagree, but why do you need to
Speaker 1: just well, you just made it. Belichick was way off base,
Speaker 1: I think, right, but did just run out the clock.
Speaker 1: It's not like general leading them to the NFC title.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think anyone watching it felt a
Speaker 1: moment of justice for Bernie. But I thought maybe you
Speaker 1: left some you left it a little open ended to
Speaker 1: make it seem like Bernie was responsible and got revenged
Speaker 1: by playing well. He played a huge chunk of one
Speaker 1: of those Cowboys playoff games and did well. Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: backing off. I'm not aware of that. That was sort
Speaker 1: of the whole thing was that Bernie came into an
Speaker 1: excellent job for them. So, Ricky, I need you to
Speaker 1: go on Pro Football Reference and look up Bernie Kozar's
Speaker 1: playoff outing in around what so would that be it? Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, let's move on. Do you have Dallas? Mark
Speaker 1: greg I did take Dallas, but it was more like
Speaker 1: that's what I wanted to happen. So, and it's a
Speaker 1: coin flips. I took him. It would be fun. I
Speaker 1: think it'd be fun to see the Cowboys win this game. Alright,
Speaker 1: Late games Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers Zombie Steelers. You know, I
Speaker 1: saw I saw something today that Juju Smith Schuster was
Speaker 1: you know, designated to return from i R. And I
Speaker 1: was like, well, that doesn't matter. They don't play until September.
Speaker 1: I was like, wait a second, the Steelers are in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, roaming the countryside looking for a new host
Speaker 1: to feed on. They want brains. Why was this put
Speaker 1: into prime time? I'm I'm so baffled with how they
Speaker 1: buried Dallas San Francisco in the middle of the day
Speaker 1: versus a putting it on Monday night football or at
Speaker 1: least in this spot. Well that gets that gets the
Speaker 1: biggest ratings. Technically for some reason, they don't like no
Speaker 1: one cares about daytime ratings. But that's the game Fox,
Speaker 1: you know, wanted or no? Who has that game? Is it? Romo?
Speaker 1: I think it's CBS. Everyone was fighting I'm sure over
Speaker 1: that game, and maybe CBS was first in mind those
Speaker 1: those afternoon games. Dude, just as well there, I mean,
Speaker 1: I as all do very well. I just I don't
Speaker 1: want to watch the Steelers, you know, when the sun
Speaker 1: goes down. But also you have to understand, like, zombies
Speaker 1: at night better visual than zombies during the day, so
Speaker 1: you gotta factor that in. And also the idea of
Speaker 1: the dead versus the living versus the undead in a
Speaker 1: in a football match like that feels like that's something
Speaker 1: people are gonna want to tune into. You want to
Speaker 1: hear what Bernie Cozar did in this game? Yes, alright,
Speaker 1: so he came in for an injured Troy Aikman went
Speaker 1: five for nine for eighty three yards in a touchdown,
Speaker 1: no mistakes. Take that belt check you bum you know
Speaker 1: who was again? So yeah, the forty nine Ers, wow
Speaker 1: at all? All sets up beautifully, all right. So the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers, by the way, the Pittsburgh Steelers a little
Speaker 1: quick aside here they're playing because the cults blew it.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys um had a chance
Speaker 1: to check it out, but I did make a point
Speaker 1: to watch the Hard Knox finale last night just to
Speaker 1: see the post mortem of how that slow motion car
Speaker 1: crash took took shape around the Colts, and uh man,
Speaker 1: it was not pretty. It was it was you know,
Speaker 1: everyone miked up on the Colts sideline and they're cutting
Speaker 1: two Frank Reich and he's like talking to himself, like
Speaker 1: everything's fine, stick to the plan, stick to the plan.
Speaker 1: And then they cut to Carson Wentz, who is a
Speaker 1: He is a nothing burger Chrisma wise, there's nothing about
Speaker 1: him that tells you, I'm going to get the sideline motivated.
Speaker 1: As they're falling behind, He's like going down the sideline
Speaker 1: being like, it's okay, guys, it's okay, it's okay. And
Speaker 1: there's just like this creeping dread on the side. I
Speaker 1: highly if you're interested in the house something like it is.
Speaker 1: And by the end of the game, Darius Leonard's like
Speaker 1: kneeled down during a TV time out and he's like,
Speaker 1: I can't believe this happened. I can't. Like everyone was
Speaker 1: just shocked. And then m Chris Ballard, uh general manager
Speaker 1: of the Colts, what's your favorite type of fraud? He was, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was I was connected to Chris Ballard. You might
Speaker 1: have to dig through the archives, and I don't even
Speaker 1: remember what it was anymore. But they were asked about
Speaker 1: what's the future for Carson Wentz, who obviously was very
Speaker 1: bad in that game, and here's what he had to say, Well, mate,
Speaker 1: when we made a decision after Philip retired and we
Speaker 1: made the decision to to make a move on Carson,
Speaker 1: at the time of the decision, we felt good about
Speaker 1: it and I still don't regret the decision. At the time.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna just sitting here today, just so y'all know,
Speaker 1: I won't I won't make a comment on who's gonna
Speaker 1: be here, going to be here next year. That's not fair.
Speaker 1: I think that is very notable. That is the translation
Speaker 1: of that, having seen this enough, is that if they
Speaker 1: really were all the way in on a we're running
Speaker 1: this back will be okay with a quarterback. You say
Speaker 1: it right there and you end it when you leave
Speaker 1: it open ended. To me, that tells me they are
Speaker 1: going to kick some tires and they might be in
Speaker 1: a similar situation to your Brown's mark, where it's like,
Speaker 1: if we end up with Carson Wentz behind center, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be because nothing really came a better thing didn't
Speaker 1: come along, and we felt it was still it was
Speaker 1: a workable situation. But it also feels like if something
Speaker 1: comes up, they are going to make that move and
Speaker 1: I can finally get you can finally get him on
Speaker 1: the Browns mark like you wanted back, and I'm not
Speaker 1: longing for that on any level. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: there's a supply problem, so you've got to like sort
Speaker 1: of back the guy you have now. Although that didn't
Speaker 1: feel like the same way that the Brown's back Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield that common on wins, but then kind of walk
Speaker 1: it back if you find someone better. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just don't know where you're finding someone better in the
Speaker 1: veteran heap Right the soundclip didn't sound as bad I
Speaker 1: thought as it looked on Twitter, where it sounded like, oh,
Speaker 1: this guy sound great, though now it didn't sound great,
Speaker 1: and Right didn't really back him any stronger either, and
Speaker 1: that's his guy. But I think the odds are more
Speaker 1: likely that Wentz is back just because it's tricky. Now.
Speaker 1: Maybe they'll they'll draft someone. Maybe not. The thing that
Speaker 1: I found most interests from all this post mortem was
Speaker 1: that Jim Ursay never, according to The Athletic, essentially never
Speaker 1: stopped being pissed that Carson Wentz was unvaccinated. And he's
Speaker 1: the owner of the team, and he he he made
Speaker 1: um Ballard and Reich show up to work Sunday night
Speaker 1: after flying home to basically do the season postmortem, where
Speaker 1: he was still like, you know, furious essentially of what happened,
Speaker 1: and like, if the owner of the team was pissed
Speaker 1: about that the whole time, you can you can probably
Speaker 1: guess he's not thrilled with Carson Wentz in general, because
Speaker 1: why would he be I wonder if if all this
Speaker 1: is because in that postmortem just speculation, or is like
Speaker 1: get this guy off my team, like he doesn't want
Speaker 1: anything to do with him. I wonder if that that
Speaker 1: that's where we're headed. So it's already kind of decided
Speaker 1: at this point. And that was just the opening salvo. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's take a break. All right, let's get now.
Speaker 1: So the Pittsburgh Steelers, the zombie Steelers go to they
Speaker 1: go to Kansas City now and they get the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: So we have a set can see Chiefs team. Um,
Speaker 1: that feels like a really good draw. Does this have, Greg? Do?
Speaker 1: Do you have any vibes that this could turn into
Speaker 1: this big Ben's last game? Most likely a Dan Marino's
Speaker 1: last game situation back in nine with the Dolphins where
Speaker 1: it's seven, Like, is that a possibility here? Yes? Yes,
Speaker 1: And I've tried to like wonder if like could this
Speaker 1: game because of course it could be. It's the NFL
Speaker 1: that like even the worst and best teams aren't quite
Speaker 1: as far apart as you as you think. On a
Speaker 1: given day, it's possible, like the you know, the Lions
Speaker 1: beat the Cardinals that maybe that's not a good example,
Speaker 1: but there, you know there the Jaguars beat the Bills.
Speaker 1: But the Chiefs just played the Steelers three weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and it's hilarious that Mahomes said they were still looking
Speaker 1: for a complete game and then he left that game
Speaker 1: in the score was thirty three to three with eleven
Speaker 1: minutes to go. They totally dominated Pittsburgh upfront on both sides,
Speaker 1: offensive line and defensive line. And that's where it's just
Speaker 1: hard to imagine Pittsburgh scoring here because the Chiefs pass rush, Jones, Clark,
Speaker 1: Jaren Reid. I've just been playing great lately, and I
Speaker 1: know they're their their secondary isn't very good, but I
Speaker 1: just don't see the Steelers as the team to make
Speaker 1: them pay for that and Big Ben under pressure like
Speaker 1: in that game. That was the game where Romo and
Speaker 1: and you know, fans of the Steelers are just like, well,
Speaker 1: why is he just throwing the ball right now? Like
Speaker 1: he was just throwing two yard passes on third and
Speaker 1: eight because he was didn't want to get hit and
Speaker 1: didn't want to hold the ball. And I just can't
Speaker 1: I can't see on any other outcome this week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Andy Reid noting that every Chief practiced. I
Speaker 1: want to see what version we get of Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 1: But this could even be a game where you get
Speaker 1: an opportunity to rest Tyreek Hill if it gets out
Speaker 1: of hand early and and and maybe anyone else. It's
Speaker 1: kind of banged up. I know what we said before
Speaker 1: they played the Steelers the first time that we love
Speaker 1: to see them run the ball against one of the
Speaker 1: worst run defenses in the league. If your Kansas City
Speaker 1: didn't really do a ton of that. They tried. They
Speaker 1: ran the ball thirty five times for about a hundred
Speaker 1: and forty yards that first game against the Steelers, but
Speaker 1: it just didn't really matter. And I think this is
Speaker 1: one where you know, from the outside, you'd say, look
Speaker 1: like unless t. J. Watt goes absolutely ballistic and causes
Speaker 1: hellscape for Patrick Mahomes, you mix in a defensive touchdown,
Speaker 1: and you get a couple of early mistakes by Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes that put the Steelers into a good position. How
Speaker 1: is this not twenty to three? You know, in the
Speaker 1: third quarter at some point or ten, and the Steelers
Speaker 1: as zombies do sort of hanging around, but they never
Speaker 1: deserved I'm not deserved because they got in, but they
Speaker 1: don't feel or look like a playoff team. They look
Speaker 1: like something far uglier. That's yeah. That to me, that's
Speaker 1: the pressure point for this game, which itssure that's t J.
Speaker 1: Watt needs to be a monster and that pressure has
Speaker 1: to lead to pressure that has to lead to turnovers.
Speaker 1: I know it has to be a flukey weird game,
Speaker 1: but you know what, the thing about Kansas City, we
Speaker 1: want to act like that version of the Chiefs is
Speaker 1: dead and buried, but I can see it popping up
Speaker 1: again here. It happened enough during the year where we're
Speaker 1: trailing in Denver last week. Yeah, ball is getting deflected
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage, ending up in the arms
Speaker 1: of linebackers uh mahomes trying to do too much or
Speaker 1: receiver clanks offer Nicole Hardman's hands. Uh, and it's taken
Speaker 1: back the other way like all that stuff. But that's
Speaker 1: what it has to be. I think that the talent disparity,
Speaker 1: and really the quarterback disparity, it's the biggest disparity of
Speaker 1: any matchup. Because Ben Roethlisberger has been to the playoff
Speaker 1: fourteen times and he's going to the Hall of fame
Speaker 1: and he's got multiple rings, but he can't play anymore.
Speaker 1: He stinks and Mahomes should just be the difference here
Speaker 1: in this matchup, even if they'll never share the field, right.
Speaker 1: I think there were a couple of games this year
Speaker 1: where Pittsburgh just tried to just chuck it deep all
Speaker 1: game just because they have Deante Johnson and maybe Juju
Speaker 1: Juju does play in this game. Not that he's a
Speaker 1: deep threat, but it sounded like he has a chance.
Speaker 1: But you you have him in Claypool, you have a
Speaker 1: defense in Kansas City that likes to leave their cornerbacks
Speaker 1: on island, and you just give it a shot, and
Speaker 1: maybe that's a high variance thing where you have some
Speaker 1: early turnovers and you do lose thirty eight to three,
Speaker 1: or you actually hit on a couple. It could work that.
Speaker 1: The Ben Roethlisberger press conference this week really cracked me up, though, Um, Ricky,
Speaker 1: why don't why don't we take a listen to that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, we're probably underdogs and we're going to the
Speaker 1: number one, the number one team that I know nothing see,
Speaker 1: But there's the number one two is one d AFC.
Speaker 1: The last two years, um, arguably the best team in football. Um,
Speaker 1: we don't have a chance, so let's just go in
Speaker 1: and play enough fun. He had a big build up
Speaker 1: to that too, like he didn't hit the sarcasm like
Speaker 1: hard enough. I know what he was trying to do.
Speaker 1: He wasn't being serious, but it sounded too much like
Speaker 1: he actually believed that, and it really cracked me up
Speaker 1: on Instagram. Uh, those words were written out in a
Speaker 1: post and Naj Harris sent it out um with some
Speaker 1: words casting doubt on what Ben said, saying like what
Speaker 1: are you talking about? I won't say what what he
Speaker 1: said exactly. He deleted it right away, but it was hilarious.
Speaker 1: I don't know what warfare, you know. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know what else to say to this game. I think
Speaker 1: we kinda we're all on the same page. It would
Speaker 1: be stunning if if it turned out any other way
Speaker 1: than the Chief's winning by multiple scores. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: think also part of Roethlisberger is kind of like if
Speaker 1: it vibe there is like I think everyone's on the
Speaker 1: same page, including the stew was like, we're not supposed
Speaker 1: to be here, like we did our business and one
Speaker 1: game's down the stretch and then some team totally gagged
Speaker 1: on a historic level down in Jacksonville. Now we're in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and it's like, Okay, I believed him, because
Speaker 1: I think part of him actually would have been pretty
Speaker 1: happy ending his career beating the Ravens and Browns ending
Speaker 1: their seasons and back to back weeks. Would you rather
Speaker 1: do that? You rather go go play another week in
Speaker 1: the cold against some team that you're probably gonna look like.
Speaker 1: It's not like Ben has played well the last week.
Speaker 1: He's played poorly. He's he's already done the thing where
Speaker 1: you know, go circular around the stadium giving everyone a
Speaker 1: high five. I mean that happened two plus weeks ago.
Speaker 1: At this point, I don't buy that. Though. Great, I
Speaker 1: know you're not a Ben fan, but he's a great competitor,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure he's happy to be in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But when it's thirty one three in the third quarter, yeah,
Speaker 1: he might have been. He might be thinking to himself, Man,
Speaker 1: how about about that game ends in a tie on
Speaker 1: Sunday night? That would have been fine. Steelers fans are
Speaker 1: gonna be all over us and everyone if they actually
Speaker 1: alright this game. Deante Johnson said this week, don't jump
Speaker 1: back on the bandwagon when we win this thing. Who
Speaker 1: was on the bandwagon in the first place. No one's
Speaker 1: thought this was a big time team. All right, Monday
Speaker 1: night football, first time ever, we're gonna have a primetime
Speaker 1: game like ever ever, right because Super Bowl is not
Speaker 1: even primetime. That that's a game that kicks off between
Speaker 1: three o'clock and six o'clock. There have been there have
Speaker 1: been four previous Monday games, Monday playoff games. I don't
Speaker 1: know if they were Monday night games, but there were
Speaker 1: four previous playoff games. I was surprised by this, and
Speaker 1: they were all in Los Angeles except for one. This
Speaker 1: was um, you know, said by our our our friend
Speaker 1: Andrew Siciliana on NFL. Now, I don't have any more
Speaker 1: information on the Monday during the day. Feels like an
Speaker 1: odd time to have a Yeah, it's probably it probably
Speaker 1: was Monday night game. They said there was one in
Speaker 1: the seventies and stuff. I don't know. Alright. The Cardinals,
Speaker 1: the fifth seed, travel here to Sophie to take on
Speaker 1: the Rams. Um Rams coming off really a bad beat
Speaker 1: to the Niners. But because the Cardinals blew their game
Speaker 1: against the Seahawks, the Rams now are the division champs,
Speaker 1: which means they are hosting the Cardinals. But guess what,
Speaker 1: it's probably all for the best for the Cardinals, who
Speaker 1: went three and five at home this year and eight
Speaker 1: and one, I believe on the road. So the last
Speaker 1: time the Cardinals were on the road in the game
Speaker 1: we were all doubting them. They won and beat the
Speaker 1: Cowboys in Dallas. So is it gonna be that version,
Speaker 1: that scrappy version of the Cardinals that shows up or
Speaker 1: they just gonna get blown away here, Greg, because as
Speaker 1: they have been trending downward for about a month and
Speaker 1: a half now, and this is how these things end
Speaker 1: for these teams that typically play like this down the stretch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they had that that win against the Cowboys, but other
Speaker 1: than that, they've lost four or five three to non
Speaker 1: playoff teams now, although the Colts you know, felt like
Speaker 1: they should have been one there. Since Week eleven, which
Speaker 1: is when Kyler Murray came back, they are fifteenth in
Speaker 1: offense and e p A and twenty three in defense.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty long stretch, and that's with Kyler Murray.
Speaker 1: That's a mediocre looking team. And the biggest problem I
Speaker 1: think is up front in terms of their offense. I
Speaker 1: just can't see them protecting or being able to run
Speaker 1: consistently on the Rams. Now. The Rams have run defense issues,
Speaker 1: but I really am impressed with this defensive line in general,
Speaker 1: especially rushing the pastor lately. Dj Humphries, the left tackle
Speaker 1: for the Cardinals, has really struggled. Just their offensive line
Speaker 1: in general is requiring Kyler Murray to be so special
Speaker 1: play after play. It's a hard way to to live.
Speaker 1: And I think Von Miller played his best game last week.
Speaker 1: Greg Gaines has been good, a Sean Robinson has been
Speaker 1: on fire. I just think that mismatch alone is gonna
Speaker 1: make it very hard for a Cardinals offense that just
Speaker 1: hasn't been explosive to score and too and to keep
Speaker 1: up with the Rams. Yeah, the Cardinals defense that was
Speaker 1: very special early in the year got absolutely obliterated by
Speaker 1: Rashad Penny a week ago. You're now dealing with Aaron Donald,
Speaker 1: who had three sacks on Kyler Murray when they last
Speaker 1: played in Week fourteen and blew up that game plan.
Speaker 1: And you still see Kyler Murray every game doing incredibly
Speaker 1: special things that only Kyler Murray could do. But the
Speaker 1: offense in general We've talked about it a ton of times,
Speaker 1: seem confused, cannot get out of their own way. He
Speaker 1: has seven passing touchdowns in his last seven games. Without
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins in there, his QB rating has dropped by
Speaker 1: almost nineteen points. And so there are legit real problems.
Speaker 1: I'm with you that the offensive line have a lot
Speaker 1: to do with it. The Rams secondary is a little
Speaker 1: banged up to the point where they had to go
Speaker 1: sign Eric Weddle who hasn't played in like seven hundred days.
Speaker 1: So maybe there are opportunities here for this to be
Speaker 1: not a blowout, but we have to get a Cardinals
Speaker 1: team that looks completely a typical to what they've looked
Speaker 1: like the last three or four weeks. Well, quickly, on
Speaker 1: the defensive backs, I do want to mention, like, it's
Speaker 1: not just that they lost Kendall Fuller, who's a captain
Speaker 1: for the rest of the season. They have a shoulder
Speaker 1: injury for their cornerback Darius Williams, and Taylor wrapped their
Speaker 1: other starting safeties in the concussion protocol. That's suddenly a
Speaker 1: lot of defensive backs. Uh. And that's back to back
Speaker 1: weeks almost that they've lost the guy who has the
Speaker 1: green dot on his helmet, like that was Ernest Jones
Speaker 1: their linebacker. Then it's Kendall Fuller and they lost that
Speaker 1: back to back weeks. Like guys who are their defensive
Speaker 1: plaque college, So that that is pretty significant in the
Speaker 1: back end there there could be some opportunities. There are opportunities,
Speaker 1: and yet who who's the dynamic playmaker left now on
Speaker 1: the Cardinals? And I think this has been exposed a
Speaker 1: little bit that it didn't go as deep as maybe
Speaker 1: we thought initially assuming a bad decision. He's banged up,
Speaker 1: so you have a guy that he could be limited
Speaker 1: by injury. A J. Green, Rondelmore, Christian kirk Zacher. It's
Speaker 1: these guys aren't making big plays, and it's it's putting
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray in a situation where he, to me, he
Speaker 1: looks mortal. I know he has moments every week or
Speaker 1: he's like, oh man, this guy is special. And I
Speaker 1: agree with that. But I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: point of emphasis for this team, uh in the off season,
Speaker 1: because I think their season does end on Monday Night. UH,
Speaker 1: to say we can't just bank on DeAndre Hopkins being
Speaker 1: healthy this year and we're we're fine. I think they
Speaker 1: need to kind of retool this thing a little bit.
Speaker 1: And there they've been. They've learned the hard way over
Speaker 1: these last few weeks that the offense isn't good enough.
Speaker 1: They just don't not have enough playmakers. The Rams go
Speaker 1: through issues when they lost Robert Woods, and had they
Speaker 1: lost Cooper Cup instead, I mean they'd have they would
Speaker 1: be a completely different offense. And you know, the Rams
Speaker 1: are the better team in this I think from head
Speaker 1: to toe, and you've got these guys, they're very star heavy.
Speaker 1: I mean, someone like Aaron Donald would have shock you
Speaker 1: if he's like two plus sacks in this game and
Speaker 1: is absolutely turning Arizona into a mess. That said, I
Speaker 1: mean Matthew Stafford. I know it's like we're almost allergic
Speaker 1: to talking about the Matthew Stafford turnovers, but there are
Speaker 1: games where Matthew Stafford's mistakes have put the Rams into
Speaker 1: a terrible position, and I just I don't trust them
Speaker 1: to every game in the last four weeks. Well, I
Speaker 1: don't think we're allergic to it. But he also threw
Speaker 1: forty one touchdowns this year, so it's I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't mean us escapes critique to some degree for the
Speaker 1: fact that there have been two or three games I
Speaker 1: can think of were like he buried them in a hole.
Speaker 1: You know what's funny, I thought like, um, because I
Speaker 1: think that Robert Woods injury is continuing to rear its
Speaker 1: ugly head here. O'Dell gave him nothing in that game
Speaker 1: last week. That was a big spot, and I just
Speaker 1: think that's the Odell experience at this point. He's not
Speaker 1: a big time player. I think that the fact that
Speaker 1: they still don't really have that compliment to Cooper cup
Speaker 1: Um in the wide receiving game is something that's eventually
Speaker 1: going to get them. But thes and I like the Rams.
Speaker 1: I just think this is a really good pull for
Speaker 1: them matchup wise. Uh, their confidence is a little bit
Speaker 1: shaken coming out off Sunday maybe, and now you get
Speaker 1: this team Arizona that clearly you would think is doubting itself,
Speaker 1: even if they've been better around the road. I like
Speaker 1: the Rams in like a to you know, twenty type game,
Speaker 1: maybe seventeen. That's where I'm at on this. I'm similar,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lock him up. Marc inspired me not to
Speaker 1: take the Chiefs. You know, when he went he went
Speaker 1: for an underdog. He went bold. I was like that
Speaker 1: that would be shameful. And I do think the Rams, well,
Speaker 1: when this is a game, you need O. B J
Speaker 1: and and Van Jefferson to step up. Van Jefferson did
Speaker 1: get eight hundred yards, but he's kind of in that
Speaker 1: you know, deep trick, deep guy. You know, that's the
Speaker 1: one thing he does. Oh b J has been a disappointment.
Speaker 1: He hasn't uh total a hundred yards combined in the
Speaker 1: last four weeks. There's been a lot of miscommunications. And
Speaker 1: this is a spot that the Cardinals cornerbacks right now
Speaker 1: have been injured. And I think that was a huge
Speaker 1: part of that Seattle all game was they have guys
Speaker 1: off their practice squad trying to cover Tyler Lockett and
Speaker 1: DK Metcalf. What could be the same this week with
Speaker 1: O b J. That that should be a matchup that
Speaker 1: you could take advantage of. Al Right, there you go.
Speaker 1: That is Super wild Card weekend preview. Um, we'll be
Speaker 1: back on Sunday night where we're gonna recap let's see
Speaker 1: until the five of the six games, and then we'll
Speaker 1: be back Monday night and we'll do immediately following Cardinals
Speaker 1: Rams will do a recap of that as long, along
Speaker 1: with any other updates with the coaching carousel, So keep
Speaker 1: an eye out for that and keep an eye out
Speaker 1: on NFL Network. The return of the Around the NFL
Speaker 1: broadcast on Saturday morning at airs on NFL Network, and
Speaker 1: uh it actually airs back to back at re air,
Speaker 1: so if you miss it the first time, if you're
Speaker 1: not up bright and bright eyed and bushytail that four
Speaker 1: am here in California, you could still catch the five am.
Speaker 1: Or anyone who really he is a true fan of
Speaker 1: the show would just watch it two times in a row.
Speaker 1: That's another option. Or set the DVR. Yeah, DVR and
Speaker 1: sleep in. I think it's fine, but what you know,
Speaker 1: you's preferable. Straeger families all gathering around around the hearth
Speaker 1: and they're watching. Oh they're they're all around that hearth.
Speaker 1: Little Schrieger, little Man Schrieger, is a big fan of
Speaker 1: the broadcast. So check that out. And um, thank you
Speaker 1: everybody for listening as always, All right until Saturday on
Speaker 1: the TV side, Sunday night on the pod side, enjoy
Speaker 1: the football, Enjoy West of this he the fault s