Speaker 1: A guy who knows a little something about defense in
Speaker 1: the NFL. He's also got a great podcast with my heart,
Speaker 1: the Lights Out Podcast. He is Shawn Merriman. He joins
Speaker 1: us a lot of times on Monday morning as we
Speaker 1: break down what we saw happen on Sunday. And we
Speaker 1: got a lot to get to. But I want to
Speaker 1: start with your boy, Philip Rivers, who is aging, but
Speaker 1: he's still playing at a pretty high level. Colts get
Speaker 1: a big win over the Packers and what was an
Speaker 1: incredible overtime game. First of all, how good are the Colts?
Speaker 1: Are they a threat in your mind in the a
Speaker 1: f C? And uh and and how good has Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers been? Wolf one? I think Colts are definitely a threat.
Speaker 1: Um you know, playing in Division one like they're playing
Speaker 1: and you all always have a shot to come out
Speaker 1: on top. So when you look at things like that,
Speaker 1: those are those are the type of teams you don't
Speaker 1: timpically want to see in the playoffs first time around.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are well balanced, they have one of
Speaker 1: the best offensive lines in football. And look, I mean,
Speaker 1: as far as Philip that was the biggest problem his
Speaker 1: last year with the charges. I mean, they had a
Speaker 1: bank up offensive line. He was getting hit and he's
Speaker 1: already a guy who can't run. He's not mobile, definitely,
Speaker 1: He's never been that, but he's definitely not at this
Speaker 1: stage of his career. But they're blocking for him, they're
Speaker 1: giving him time, and these guys are going out making plays.
Speaker 1: As long as they go out and team making plays. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're going to be very scary to play down here
Speaker 1: in the stretch. I mean, is it just me or
Speaker 1: is the a f C in particular? I mean, I
Speaker 1: know how good, Uh, you know Patrick Mahomes is on
Speaker 1: any given week, and uh, and certainly we can we
Speaker 1: can talk about the fact that the Steelers are unbeaten,
Speaker 1: But when I look at the a f C, it
Speaker 1: just looks wide open to me, right, I mean, they're
Speaker 1: just like in terms of even trying to figure out
Speaker 1: who's gonna make the playoffs, who's gonna win divisions, it
Speaker 1: just seems like there's not a lot that separates, you know,
Speaker 1: the first team from the ninth or tenth best team. No,
Speaker 1: it's not. And you look at the Steelers and obviously
Speaker 1: they're they're the best team in football right now. Uh,
Speaker 1: been a most balanced team in football right now, playing
Speaker 1: the game great in all three phases. And Ben Robbinsberger, Man,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you know I'm coming back off of
Speaker 1: the injury, and him at his age, nobody thought. I
Speaker 1: mean I definitely didn't think he'll be playing at this
Speaker 1: level coming back so soon. Um and then well, then
Speaker 1: are probably the most well coached team in football. You know,
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin got these guys rolling this year. When you
Speaker 1: go look at Patrick Mahomes, you know, Patrick Mahomes is
Speaker 1: the best quarterback in football and in any given time,
Speaker 1: in any given day, he can blow blow you up
Speaker 1: and blow right by you. But you look at some
Speaker 1: of the other teams going around, man, and it's like I,
Speaker 1: like you said before, just there's no one team that
Speaker 1: you're gonna say, you know what, no one can beat
Speaker 1: them because you know, you look at the coach. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna talking about the coach because they go out
Speaker 1: and sneaking and win the game begins to cancer. The
Speaker 1: Chiefs absolutely uh couldn't uh you know, still us end
Speaker 1: up in the playoffs, still underfeather or go you know,
Speaker 1: sixteen and old fifteen and one and losing the first
Speaker 1: round against one of these teams. We just mentioned. Absolutely
Speaker 1: So if you look at look at the FC, you're
Speaker 1: absolutely right. Um, you know, any any one of these
Speaker 1: teams can't win any any day of the week. We're
Speaker 1: talking to Sean Maryman. How nervous do you think that
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens should be about what's going on with
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. They are now in their last eleven games,
Speaker 1: six and five. They lost a tough overtime game against
Speaker 1: the Titans, and we've talked about that game a decent
Speaker 1: amount on the show so far. But to me, big
Speaker 1: picture here, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens six and five
Speaker 1: and their last eleven six and four this season, our
Speaker 1: defense is catching up. You've you've seen guys go out
Speaker 1: and take the NFL by storm, and then you know
Speaker 1: how it works the NFL. The guys go back into
Speaker 1: their in, into their laboratory, they look at all the
Speaker 1: different defensive setups. As a guy who was at all
Speaker 1: pro in the NFL, are you seeing things that are
Speaker 1: being done that the Ravens are clearly having trouble with
Speaker 1: And is it more what they're doing or what the
Speaker 1: defense is doing to them? Well, first and foremost, you
Speaker 1: know what kind of quarterback Lamar Jackson is right, and
Speaker 1: he's gonna give you a hundred fiorne. He's gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: rush anyway between fifty and seventy five yards a game
Speaker 1: and have one of two Russian touchdowns, one or two throwns.
Speaker 1: Like you know where you're gonna get from him. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's the problem. You know what's gonna
Speaker 1: get means defense are figuring him out a little bit more,
Speaker 1: and and and whatever. But the biggest problem is that defense.
Speaker 1: They're just not playing Ravens football in the defense they
Speaker 1: know me is played in the past. One thing that's
Speaker 1: made the Ravens a great team was they're able to
Speaker 1: run the ball, manage the ball and throwing the thrown
Speaker 1: and then also playing great defense. And right now they
Speaker 1: can't hold up against anybody. I mean that the Titans
Speaker 1: just ran all over the place on him, and they'll
Speaker 1: get me wrong. It's you know, King Henry back there,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna he's gonna get his yards. But they're
Speaker 1: getting bullied up front up front the defense line of
Speaker 1: getting tossed around, and that's not something that they're comfortable to.
Speaker 1: So if you're not running the ball. Well, you're not
Speaker 1: playing great defense. You can't go out and expect Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson to be anything other than Lamar Jackson. You're drafting him.
Speaker 1: You know what type of quarterback he is. He's not
Speaker 1: gonna go out there and sling it. He needs a
Speaker 1: defense that's gonna hold up. And as long as that
Speaker 1: keep happening. Uh, I don't. I don't see a bright
Speaker 1: future from them until they figure it out on the
Speaker 1: defenside of the ball. To a got benched, How do
Speaker 1: you think that plays in the locker room? Fitzpatrick comes in,
Speaker 1: they're not able to come back and win. Uh. The
Speaker 1: Dolphins had won five in a row. They lose on
Speaker 1: the road against the Broncos. What do you think the
Speaker 1: response is in the locker room to that decision? You know,
Speaker 1: I know that Tour was excited. He was scaring fitz
Speaker 1: past for getting on back into the game. But there
Speaker 1: has to be some kind of consistency. You can't whatever
Speaker 1: one quarterback started to have a problem, you can't throw
Speaker 1: the other one in. I mean, you made a decision
Speaker 1: to move on the tour from from Ryan Fitzpatrick, which
Speaker 1: is fine, but when it was a draw, you need
Speaker 1: to stay with a guy at this point, you can't,
Speaker 1: you know, drove Ryan Fitzpatrick uh In back in the
Speaker 1: mix after a two of not going out there getting
Speaker 1: it done. Now you're gonna have some games and some
Speaker 1: teams are gonna play that Ryan Fitzpatrick is a better
Speaker 1: fit to go out and win football games for you.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter at that at that quarterback position.
Speaker 1: You've gotta have some consistency here and not throw Ryansit
Speaker 1: Pattrick back in the mix. What things are not going well?
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert? You're a Charger guy. We're talking to Seawan Marriman.
Speaker 1: Herbert went thirty seven for forty nine three hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty six yards, three touchdowns, and with the Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: injury and two of getting benched, I also think basically
Speaker 1: the rookie of the year is over. It's it's gonna
Speaker 1: be Herbert's to win. But I got a couple of
Speaker 1: questions about Herbert for you. First of all, as a
Speaker 1: Charger UH guy, how exciting is this to watch him?
Speaker 1: And second, can you remember a guy who has looked
Speaker 1: this much better at the quarterback position his rookie year
Speaker 1: in the NFL compared to his senior year in college,
Speaker 1: because I can't. I was. I was talking about this
Speaker 1: earlier on the show. It's not just that Justin Herbert's great.
Speaker 1: I watched a lot of those Oregon Duck games with him,
Speaker 1: and he didn't look anywhere near the quality of player
Speaker 1: that he has been in the NFL. So I'm curious
Speaker 1: if you can remember seeing a guy who came in
Speaker 1: this fast and looked this good relative maybe two expectations. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and and just to say this that during the
Speaker 1: combine I posted that posted a tweet during a combine
Speaker 1: and said, look, Justin Herbert is the only quarterback for
Speaker 1: this team, and he is the future of this team.
Speaker 1: And I've seen that because it fits their style offense.
Speaker 1: He is a uh NFL style quarterback. And what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is you have some guys that stuck
Speaker 1: in the system in college. You have some coaches that say,
Speaker 1: you know what, this is my playbook. I want you
Speaker 1: to play this way because this is how we have
Speaker 1: this plays drawn up. Now the NFL, his talent and
Speaker 1: his elite level gets to shine. He gets to use
Speaker 1: his arm and get creative, use his legs. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's people are not remembering that he's a he's six
Speaker 1: six six seven or six two and thirty five plus pounds.
Speaker 1: This is not a small quarterback. And he's mobile. He
Speaker 1: can do so many different things. And some of these
Speaker 1: darts that he's throwing out there right now came out
Speaker 1: of the one he had when they just drilled the
Speaker 1: ball in the back of the end zone. You know
Speaker 1: those type of things where you anticipate where wide receiver
Speaker 1: is gonna be. That those are things you pick up
Speaker 1: your third and fourth and fifth you in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He's doing that right now. The closest quarterback I can
Speaker 1: see the last decade to come out and just ready
Speaker 1: to go right now. I would say if Andrew Luck.
Speaker 1: When I've seen Andrew Luck, it was my last my
Speaker 1: last years with the Bills, and I got a chance
Speaker 1: of play him, and I was like, my gosh, man,
Speaker 1: this guy, this this young, this coming and is ready
Speaker 1: to go. Who was also a very mobile quarterback, and
Speaker 1: which is really people didn't understand how how mobile he was,
Speaker 1: But Andrew Luck playing against he was very fast, is
Speaker 1: very mobile for his side. So that's the only quarterback
Speaker 1: I saw really seeing the last tame year in the
Speaker 1: last decade to come in a NFL ready, and let
Speaker 1: me tell you this just her. But we're just seeing
Speaker 1: that when he just scratching the surface. I don't think
Speaker 1: people even seeing what he's going to be capable of doing.
Speaker 1: This big guy who can throw for fifty three tv
Speaker 1: rds the game and if the defense keep holding up
Speaker 1: and getting him get the ball back in his hands,
Speaker 1: he can average three fifth game, no problem. We're talking
Speaker 1: to Sean Merriman, NFC East. Uh, this is just a joke.
Speaker 1: I mean, as a player, when you look around and think,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on with Carson Wentz, I
Speaker 1: mean he's just been atrocious. Uh. The Cowboys went on
Speaker 1: the road and beat the Vikings. You've got the Giants
Speaker 1: who seemed to be a cycling up a little bit. Uh,
Speaker 1: the the Washington football team. Does it seem fair that
Speaker 1: a winner of the NFC East is gonna get to
Speaker 1: host a home playoff game and that, frankly, it's probably
Speaker 1: gonna be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going on the road
Speaker 1: to play in that game. Uh. And maybe the Bucks
Speaker 1: think that's not a bad deal because they're gonna get
Speaker 1: the best matchup of all. But it seems kind of
Speaker 1: ridiculous to me that one they even get a bid
Speaker 1: and two they get to host a home playoff game. No,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's fair at all. And I think
Speaker 1: that at some point in time it needs to change
Speaker 1: because it's been like that for a while. And you
Speaker 1: look at, uh, the NFC West and look at how
Speaker 1: many teams are locked in what six and three or
Speaker 1: seven and three and they're neck and neck, and some
Speaker 1: of those teams are not gonna get in. And look
Speaker 1: at this division and it's been like that with some time.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's almost an asensive who can lose the best? Right?
Speaker 1: I mean that's when you started looking at that division
Speaker 1: to see what's going on, and you looking around the
Speaker 1: NFL and everybody is at least competitive in some type
Speaker 1: of wit. Well there if they clear best team in
Speaker 1: that division. And now you kind of you look in
Speaker 1: this division you're like, wow, I mean this team is
Speaker 1: really gonna get a chance to get in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and take the spot what from a team that is
Speaker 1: much better record than they have. So yeah, at some
Speaker 1: point in time, the NFL I started to look at
Speaker 1: that and and and and make a decision on on
Speaker 1: how they are going to move forward in the playoffs
Speaker 1: birth because it is it's embarrassing. We're talking to Sean
Speaker 1: Merriman running through all the activities going on in the
Speaker 1: in the NFL over the weekend. You can listen to
Speaker 1: Sean Merriman's podcast, The Lights Out Podcast as part of
Speaker 1: the I Heart Podcast Network. Sean the the NFC in general.
Speaker 1: We talked about how many teams there are in the
Speaker 1: in the a f C to have a chance to
Speaker 1: potentially win this win this Super Bowl trip. But when
Speaker 1: you look at the decision that the Saints made to
Speaker 1: go with Taysom Hill over Jamis Winston as a defensive player,
Speaker 1: what would you have thought about that choice and how
Speaker 1: would you assess Taysom Hill's performance on Sunday? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't want to take anything from from Tayson Hill,
Speaker 1: because he can do it all. I mean, he's he's
Speaker 1: earned his stripes, uh in multiple positions. He's done everything
Speaker 1: to the organization and asking to do. So. You know,
Speaker 1: the problem that the lives in me and I'm and
Speaker 1: I really tugged with it myself, is how we need
Speaker 1: to stop praising one guy to kind of kicking another
Speaker 1: guy to the curve. We're not saying that Taysom Hill
Speaker 1: and uh and Jamie there's a problem there. But if
Speaker 1: you look at it from the outside, looking into Jamis Winton,
Speaker 1: Winston probably should have had the upper handed playing quarterback.
Speaker 1: He probably should have had the upper handed a starter. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then that Drew Breeves went down. But that's not to
Speaker 1: take anything away from Tayson Hill, and I think we
Speaker 1: do too much of that nowadays, if you can't give
Speaker 1: someone else problems without kicking another one to the curve.
Speaker 1: But from the I am looking at a defensive player,
Speaker 1: you think that you would think that Jameis Winston had
Speaker 1: a better shadow, should have been the starting quarterback. What
Speaker 1: do you think about the city? I don't know if
Speaker 1: you saw this or not, but but you had. Immediately
Speaker 1: after the game, Sean Payton, who has coached a lot
Speaker 1: of games in the NFL, he went on Twitter. Did
Speaker 1: you see what he did? What he did on Twitter? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. So for people out there who may not
Speaker 1: have seen this, I'm gonna read it for you. I'm
Speaker 1: scrolling through my Twitter account. I want to make sure
Speaker 1: I get it right. Uh, Sean Payton. Right after the game,
Speaker 1: Roddy White said Saints about to get whipped trying us
Speaker 1: with Taysom Hill at QB. We're about to snack them.
Speaker 1: And Sean Payton retweeted that after the game, you like
Speaker 1: that from a head coach or you don't like that?
Speaker 1: I do, Man, I don't, especially for um you know
Speaker 1: former players, which just just anybody coming from another UH
Speaker 1: team in that division, right, and you want the team
Speaker 1: to resemble the coach's attitude. So big, big, big props
Speaker 1: to Sean Payton becoming acts at him that way, and
Speaker 1: it gist shows the confidence that he had in table
Speaker 1: Hill and really the confidence going forward. And you know,
Speaker 1: being a player in the locker room, you love it, right,
Speaker 1: you love it because you're looking at you. I'm surprised
Speaker 1: that we didn't see a bunch of the other guys
Speaker 1: retweeted as well, because it just shows man the confident
Speaker 1: level that he has and planned on that division. Man,
Speaker 1: you you have to have that attitude. Are you're just
Speaker 1: not going to be successful? Did UH last question for me?
Speaker 1: And we're talking to Sean Merriman. Did the Bengals set
Speaker 1: up Joe Burrow to fail? I mean one of the
Speaker 1: one of the big challenges and we may see this
Speaker 1: with Trevor Lawrence. In fact, I think you said on
Speaker 1: our show a couple of weeks ago, you know, the
Speaker 1: Jets continue to lose, and you said, Hey, if I'm
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, I don't know that I want to go
Speaker 1: to the Jets organization because of the incompetence there. And
Speaker 1: you went through this a little bit yourself with Eli
Speaker 1: Manning not wanting to play with the Chargers. I know
Speaker 1: it's an awful injury. Joe Burrows out for the year.
Speaker 1: He showed a lot of flashes, but they gave up
Speaker 1: a lot of hits for him. Uh. The Bengals not
Speaker 1: do what they should have done with their young quarterback.
Speaker 1: Or is it unfair to blame the Bengals organization? Well,
Speaker 1: first off, I hope Joe Barrow is UH he has
Speaker 1: a healthy, good surgery and a healthy recovery. Um. You
Speaker 1: never want to see that somebody that talent level, UM
Speaker 1: that he's gonna have one of the brightest futures, and
Speaker 1: you can see it early on. And he was just
Speaker 1: put in a position to have to do too much
Speaker 1: his first year. And it's unfortunate sometimes that UH an
Speaker 1: organization don't build enough around you and I'm I'm talking
Speaker 1: about from the offensive line standpoint a lot. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: he was getting hit and he was being forced to
Speaker 1: do way too much. I mean, look, he's still a rookie.
Speaker 1: First of all. I'm against anyway rookie being thrown on
Speaker 1: the field right away. Anyway, I'm telling your old school
Speaker 1: in that respect. Or you think young quarterbacks should have
Speaker 1: a little bit more seasoning, yeah, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: like it. I don't like it. I think that especially
Speaker 1: especially because they didn't have a full offseason. He didn't
Speaker 1: have a preseason with this with this team, mini camps
Speaker 1: and all the things that they normally would have had.
Speaker 1: That for sure, you bring somebody else in and even
Speaker 1: if you gotta take some lumps early on, you get
Speaker 1: that other guy and let him come in four or five,
Speaker 1: six games into the season, because this is gonna be
Speaker 1: your guy for the next five or teen years. Never
Speaker 1: throw a guy Joe Barrow statue right there in the mix.
Speaker 1: And I'm not I don't want to say that it's
Speaker 1: their fault, because freak injuries happened all the time to anybody.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you can't put a guy
Speaker 1: of his skill level, someone who you expect to be
Speaker 1: around five and ten years in your organization and put
Speaker 1: him in a bad situation. And I think that's what happened,
Speaker 1: not just because of the injury. I mean the back
Speaker 1: to back hits that he was taking an entire year.
Speaker 1: All this added up to him to to just end
Speaker 1: up being that one uh knee injury that he has.
Speaker 1: Talking to Sean Merriman, Sean, appreciate the time, my man.
Speaker 1: We will talk to you hopefully next week. Have a
Speaker 1: good Thanksgiving week. You got any big plans? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be back home. He's coast, my family in Maryland
Speaker 1: and my son and spent a time near and hopefully
Speaker 1: come back not ten pounds have you? What's your first
Speaker 1: round draft pick for Thanksgiving? If you're going into the
Speaker 1: going into the buffet line and you can only grab
Speaker 1: one thing, what would be your first first round pick?
Speaker 1: Oh to Candy as Oh yeah, yeah, Candy Yanns my grandmother,
Speaker 1: you know, from my family from South Carolina originally, And
Speaker 1: they get down in the kitchen and I will I'll
Speaker 1: actually throw blows with somebody who touching touch candy cans first,
Speaker 1: because I like going in first for them. Out standing
Speaker 1: stuff as always he Sean Merriman, Lights Out Podcast, I
Speaker 1: heart podcast and Network appreciate you, my man. Thanks, thanks
Speaker 1: that