Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast, would never tank for a
Speaker 1: better draft pick? From the Chris Westling podcast studio, It's
Speaker 1: Around the NFL the podcast The Flagship Show, Week seventeen.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Kansas. Heroes here, Greg Rosetal and Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: They have boys. Penultimate one of my favorite words, penultimate
Speaker 1: week in the regular season. I did wake up at
Speaker 1: about three fourteen am. Um, nice joke that you slept
Speaker 1: at all. No, I did that. I did fall asleep,
Speaker 1: deep into a deep sleep and woke up in that
Speaker 1: mind haze where I was convince myself that not that
Speaker 1: this was the final week of the season, because it
Speaker 1: was weeks seventeen. I just thought it was week eighteen.
Speaker 1: And then about twenty seven seconds later, as consciousness started
Speaker 1: to take over, Um, I was slapped in the face
Speaker 1: psychologically hard. It's been it's been a tough one. It's
Speaker 1: been a year like we are remarkably fortunate to have
Speaker 1: the jobs that we do. We love jobs. But when
Speaker 1: the calendar falls every five or six or seven years,
Speaker 1: when things lined up, Happy New Year, everybody, uh, and
Speaker 1: we have a full slate of games. For instance, Um,
Speaker 1: I'll be having some ibuprofrind rolled in here shortly because
Speaker 1: the bullet whiskey that I had last night for New
Speaker 1: Year's even still in the system, hasn't left yet. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sober, but in my head pain. Um.
Speaker 1: I also thought this was the end of the regular
Speaker 1: season right before and then I think that was just
Speaker 1: like a miccrackt Week seventeen. I feel like it's like
Speaker 1: that because it feels like the end. Often we we
Speaker 1: get rid of a lot of teams, a lot of
Speaker 1: tickets are punched, and the eight teen, the last week,
Speaker 1: often feels like a little bit of anti climactic. So
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we can push the NFL to just end
Speaker 1: the regular season a week early. I don't know how
Speaker 1: that would work. Yeah, I'm sure that would lose through
Speaker 1: that single dollar loss would negate that as an option.
Speaker 1: And since you mentioned it, let's uh, let's say goodbye
Speaker 1: to some teams before we get into spoiler rundown. A
Speaker 1: little spoiler for people out there, the officially the following
Speaker 1: teams have been officially eliminated. Mark, This will lift your spirits,
Speaker 1: take them out of your brain. Not all of them,
Speaker 1: but okay, So the Washington Commanders, the Las Vegas Rioters,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints, the Carolina Pounds, and yes, how
Speaker 1: New York Jets. That the Jets doesn't make me happy
Speaker 1: and the Panthers doesn't make me happy either. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: was a season of sneaky collapses, uh for a lot
Speaker 1: of teams out of nowhere. We'll get to it. We'll
Speaker 1: get to it. Let's start, though, um with a game
Speaker 1: that was not um closely contested, but very interesting in
Speaker 1: the scheme of the NFC and the race for the
Speaker 1: Lombardi Trophy increasingly looking as if maybe both these teams
Speaker 1: will be playing uh in the postseason. Certainly one and
Speaker 1: the one that's definitely in was licking their wounds. At
Speaker 1: the end of Sunday's action set up, out of the shotgun,
Speaker 1: he fires it over the middle. Hey, it's cooked it up,
Speaker 1: in complete, recepted on little flection picked off by Darnell Savage.
Speaker 1: Come the up side of the forty please got an
Speaker 1: ness court to the twenty fifty ten five touchdown freen
Speaker 1: Bay Packers. My goodness, that is what you call a
Speaker 1: tone center for the Green Bay Packers, who, with their
Speaker 1: playoff lives on the line, absolutely housed the fraudulent Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings forty one to seventeen at Lambeau Field. That was
Speaker 1: Darniell Savage, yes, with the pick six, and it only
Speaker 1: got uglier from there for the Vikings, who entered the
Speaker 1: game at twelve and three final score. Uh, Greg Rosen thought,
Speaker 1: but this was a game that wast three with ten
Speaker 1: minutes to go. And this is now, you know, not
Speaker 1: the first time the supposedly mighty Vikings have been absolutely
Speaker 1: trounced by a half decent team. They trailed by more
Speaker 1: than twenty at halftime for the third time this year.
Speaker 1: That's the most of any team in the NFL, along
Speaker 1: them tied with the Texans. I'm glad we started with
Speaker 1: the Savage return because this defense, and I'll throw the
Speaker 1: special teams in there too, with Keshaw Nixon who's been
Speaker 1: dynamite lately and had the first touchdown of the game,
Speaker 1: a hundred and five yard kickoff return. But it's really
Speaker 1: been the defense and the special teams that's helped turn
Speaker 1: this season around. And the defense in this game was
Speaker 1: put on the field at the one yard line after
Speaker 1: the Packers had an early punt block, and they had
Speaker 1: a terrific goal line stand three straight stuffs of the
Speaker 1: of the Vikings force a field goal, then they get
Speaker 1: the return touchdown, they get the interception return touchdown, and
Speaker 1: Jaire Alexander had one of the s games any cornerback
Speaker 1: has had all season long. He traveled with Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: for most of the day. More than half of the
Speaker 1: past routes that Jefferson ran, Alexander was on him. On
Speaker 1: those twenty routes, targeted five times, only one catch by Jefferson,
Speaker 1: and passes defense. It didn't matter what the Packers offense
Speaker 1: did in this game. The defense and the special teams
Speaker 1: won it for him. It makes you think about the
Speaker 1: Packers in a different way because they had all their
Speaker 1: issues all season long, and a lot of it was
Speaker 1: just focused on where's the m v P version of Rogers.
Speaker 1: Why is this offense lacking? You know, pre Christian Watson
Speaker 1: a viable wide receiver, the defense in the defense, you know,
Speaker 1: in certain metrical ways like looked promising. But today, to
Speaker 1: your point, Greg, like the Nixon kick return, the Darnell
Speaker 1: Savage pick six. These things happened at a point in
Speaker 1: the first quarter where they're up fourteen nothing, fourteen points
Speaker 1: and they had four They had fifteen yards on offense.
Speaker 1: So it's like the offense, this isn't just green this
Speaker 1: isn't just rise and fall with Aaron Rodgers every week,
Speaker 1: and I mean gyro. Alexander did not track with Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson in that Week one game nearly as much. And
Speaker 1: that's when he had eighty four yards. He had zero
Speaker 1: in the first half. This is one of those games
Speaker 1: the Vikings have done this that Dallas game, they gave
Speaker 1: up forty points thirty six in that collapse to the Cults,
Speaker 1: thirty four to the Lions, thirty to the Bills. That
Speaker 1: your defense is who you're stuck with in Minnesota right now.
Speaker 1: And I thought that Alexander defeated Justin Jefferson, who entered
Speaker 1: the game as a sneaky m VP contender if you
Speaker 1: wanted to look at at a wide receiver as even
Speaker 1: having an opportunity in that realm, and he beat him
Speaker 1: mentally and physically, and leading into the week, he had
Speaker 1: the comments at his locker calling that huge Week one
Speaker 1: by Jefferson against Green Bay a fluke, and you could
Speaker 1: see once Jefferson was getting frustrated on the field and
Speaker 1: Alexander is playing great and the Vikings offense was just
Speaker 1: completely asleep, Jefferson kind of losing his cool and unable
Speaker 1: to kind of process the moment and stay in the game.
Speaker 1: At one point, he almost bashed up an officials over
Speaker 1: the back, like Randy Savage hitting whole Cogan with a
Speaker 1: steel chair in WrestleMania five. Like this, it was like
Speaker 1: a complete meltdown from Minnesota. He didn't say official that
Speaker 1: was there, and he like lifted his helmet as if
Speaker 1: to slam it down, ran into the official and then
Speaker 1: sort of could have been horrible. I'm glad that it
Speaker 1: didn't happen that way. I know. I know Vikings fans
Speaker 1: have gotten on us for not giving them the credit
Speaker 1: due left and right and talking about the offense leaving
Speaker 1: everyone else by the side of the road. But there's
Speaker 1: a stretch here when they the game was manageable and
Speaker 1: they unfurrow an interception, they miss a field goal, another interception,
Speaker 1: than a mess field goal, then a fumble, then a pick,
Speaker 1: and then a bunch of garbage time nonsense. It's like
Speaker 1: this is the Viking, the version of the Vikings that
Speaker 1: are very hard to try to be fair. The one
Speaker 1: thing they've done better than almost any team this year
Speaker 1: is play clean football. They have not been a turnover team,
Speaker 1: they have not been a penalized team. They had not
Speaker 1: been a pre snap penalty team, and they were all
Speaker 1: of today. Kenny Clark force Fumbo was another big defensive play.
Speaker 1: Cousins melted down a little bit on that forced fumble play.
Speaker 1: Cousins didn't see that. Immediately before the snap, Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: was covered by Preston Smith, a defensive lineman, and Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins held the ball and then it got taken away
Speaker 1: and he was fritzen out. And it's partly because he
Speaker 1: lost his center immediately in this game, who was already
Speaker 1: their backup center, and and Romo pointed out smartly, I
Speaker 1: think like they couldn't change the call, so they're on
Speaker 1: their third string center. They might get him back, but
Speaker 1: there are other um offensive lineman that left this game
Speaker 1: was Brian O'Neill, their right tackle, who was carded off.
Speaker 1: So it's really a nightmare scenario for the Vikings, possibly
Speaker 1: letting the Packers into the playoffs, probably losing the number
Speaker 1: two seed, definitely losing home field advantage chances, and you're
Speaker 1: starting to look at you know, you start to peek
Speaker 1: ahead and with the playoffs. Uh could look like the
Speaker 1: Giants will get to there in the dance, and there's
Speaker 1: a very good chance. Now you could be a Giants
Speaker 1: Vikings rematch. Those teams played very closely on Christmas Eve,
Speaker 1: and and the Vikings might even if that ends up happening,
Speaker 1: or whoever they get in Round one, they might sneak
Speaker 1: out another close win. But do not tell me that
Speaker 1: this team is a serious Super Bowl contender. I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear it. I've seen it too many times
Speaker 1: this year. You may win a close game in round one,
Speaker 1: but you are fodder, cannon fodder at some point in January.
Speaker 1: I've just seen too much. It's almost in a lock
Speaker 1: that they will win a playoff game in the fashion
Speaker 1: they've won all these other insane games. Probably a big
Speaker 1: comeback and we'll think, you know what, they can do
Speaker 1: that against whoever they're playing the next week, and then
Speaker 1: the floor will fall out because you cannot run away
Speaker 1: from this team. They'll probably have to play two road
Speaker 1: games against two really good teams now, so this this
Speaker 1: will have an impact. They're now negative nineteen on the
Speaker 1: season in terms of their point differential, twelve and four.
Speaker 1: The Packers and the Lions are both plus point differential
Speaker 1: uh at eight and A. And the Packers, even though
Speaker 1: Rogers didn't play an amazing game and like every part
Speaker 1: of their team hasn't always been perfect week to week,
Speaker 1: they're playing their best football without a doubt right now.
Speaker 1: And I had much rather be playing the Giants or
Speaker 1: the Vikings for that matter, in Round one of the
Speaker 1: playoffs than the Packers if the screen. But we will see,
Speaker 1: we will see. We got a lot to get to
Speaker 1: talk about. These other NFC teams. Have to be slightly
Speaker 1: agitated at the Vikings for just allowing the Green batle
Speaker 1: waltz into the scenario here. How are you by the
Speaker 1: way mark? Because I know you didn't want Green Bay
Speaker 1: anyway to near the post. I think differently about them,
Speaker 1: because you know what I don't like is the thirteen
Speaker 1: and three team that you They fold the tent and
Speaker 1: they've done that over and over. This team is weird.
Speaker 1: I don't think you like any version of the Packers.
Speaker 1: I'm honestly like this. This they're not They're not on
Speaker 1: my radar is an annoying concept right now. They're kind
Speaker 1: of the opposite. I do like though, because it's the packers.
Speaker 1: How Mark agreed that he'd be the one to pay
Speaker 1: the charity, the green Bay based charity, if they end
Speaker 1: up making I would love to help the people in
Speaker 1: green Bay. So they need to win one more game
Speaker 1: they're winning in. Now I get to pick what the
Speaker 1: charity is, though, Yes, I mean I would. I would
Speaker 1: see us something like an orphanage or a local suggests.
Speaker 1: We'll see. I'll come up with something. Can't be something
Speaker 1: that goes back to you through some type of but
Speaker 1: I it's like, who do I want to help? What
Speaker 1: kind of who I do? Who do I feel? Can
Speaker 1: you benefit you? Though? Mark, in terms of the four Committee,
Speaker 1: we need to have some launt her money back into
Speaker 1: my bank account. I'm saying I might just pick an
Speaker 1: eight typical okay target. All right, So we mentioned that
Speaker 1: the Vikings finally left an opening now uh for San
Speaker 1: Francisco to move up in the NFC seating. Did they
Speaker 1: take advantage of it? To the desert it's pretty good.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw up Landford Vante Adams. It's intersected, yes,
Speaker 1: thank you. The other one thirty tony five just rote
Speaker 1: pills Flagg down like Judy Garland. Now it's on the
Speaker 1: three yard line. Do you're bringing Robbie right now and
Speaker 1: you can't get how do you handle this? Yes? There
Speaker 1: it is. Bongo deserves it. Wild games as I pop
Speaker 1: my pills, I mean, if we're requesting substances from behind
Speaker 1: the glass, I mean, like, I know, stop, that's what
Speaker 1: I Greg Papa with the call k n b R
Speaker 1: big interception and overtime by the Niners, who finally have
Speaker 1: a really down day on defense. Jared's Stidham, of all people,
Speaker 1: lights him up, including a late drive to tie the
Speaker 1: game and pushing into overtime. But when it came down
Speaker 1: to it, they got the big stop and overtime, kicked
Speaker 1: the field goal subsequently and escaped thirty seven thirty four,
Speaker 1: So yet another win for the Niners and the Raiders. Yes,
Speaker 1: eliminated with the loss. Mark Sessler, your thoughts totally bizarre
Speaker 1: occurrence because we spent all week thinking, well, you've essentially
Speaker 1: given up on your season because in a solid quarterback
Speaker 1: and Derek Carr, you're just You're he's been flushed out
Speaker 1: of the organization at this point, he's un followed them
Speaker 1: on social media. The last time we saw Jared Stidham
Speaker 1: play it was like, you're you're just asking to get
Speaker 1: romped two games in a row to end the season,
Speaker 1: and Josh McDaniels somehow protected all of this mess. Stidham
Speaker 1: looked incredible. I mean, he's never thrown from more than
Speaker 1: I believe seventy five yards in a game, three hundred
Speaker 1: sixty five yards, three touchdowns, a hundred and twenty three rating,
Speaker 1: Especially in the first half. I thought what the Raiders
Speaker 1: did was very interesting and it reminded me kind of
Speaker 1: of what happened with Brock Purty when he had his
Speaker 1: first start. Was we're not going to dial back the
Speaker 1: offense or try to just hand the ball off to
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs four hundred times. We're going to attack down field.
Speaker 1: And he looked like he had been practicing and working
Speaker 1: with Davante Adams for months. I mean, he just looked
Speaker 1: just It was the most comfortable looking quarterback performance by
Speaker 1: any quarterback in the in the Raiders system I've seen
Speaker 1: in a long time. And it's not really a knock
Speaker 1: on Derek Harve, but it's just kind of like, how
Speaker 1: weird can these seasons get? Because who would have thought
Speaker 1: two months ago you're getting Jared Stidham versus Brock Purty,
Speaker 1: and it's two of the better perform mints is we've
Speaker 1: seen all day long. And I mean for Purty. I
Speaker 1: thought this Niners team in general, they were tested today.
Speaker 1: Suddenly you give up five hundred yards of offense um.
Speaker 1: This is a team that hadn't been scored on in
Speaker 1: the final two minutes all year, and that happened to them.
Speaker 1: And so they went into overtime in a situation where
Speaker 1: you could collapse psychologically if you want to. After Robbie
Speaker 1: Gould mrs. Would be field goal to end this thing
Speaker 1: and let this high flying Raiders team come back and
Speaker 1: stamping on you when you thought you get out of
Speaker 1: here with an easy win. I thought they're very resilient,
Speaker 1: like the Niners, just order sort of who are they are?
Speaker 1: Who they are? But pretty made all sorts of throws
Speaker 1: in this game too, that all their weapons are so
Speaker 1: impossible to stop. Christian McCaffrey was unbelievable in this and
Speaker 1: so it's like they didn't. Had they lost, I think
Speaker 1: would it would have wiped away the sense that the
Speaker 1: Niners actually to me, it doesn't change what I think
Speaker 1: about them at all in this They had an off
Speaker 1: day defensively, they were caught off guard by Stidham. Uh,
Speaker 1: but they won and they found a way to do it.
Speaker 1: And it's like a lesser team, a team like the Vikings.
Speaker 1: Some of these middle tier teams would have found a
Speaker 1: way to collapse, not San Francisco. It doesn't change how
Speaker 1: I feel about them, but it's a reminder that in
Speaker 1: two now that we're in and in this season, Yeah,
Speaker 1: if the weather is okay, Like happy New Year, buddy,
Speaker 1: we weren't. We weren't together on New Year's but we're
Speaker 1: together now, always together. We really are always together. Do
Speaker 1: you any defense can get lit up? And I know
Speaker 1: everyone threw that game away because like they were a
Speaker 1: little injured, they were playing the Chiefs, but they had
Speaker 1: the worst performance any defense had all season against the Chiefs. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Raiders had a lot of good players. Happened to them.
Speaker 1: I just think good offense can beat good defense ultimately. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so that's why you need a quarterback to make
Speaker 1: place for you, and pretty to his credit to this point,
Speaker 1: I think has shown that he can make enough plays.
Speaker 1: It's trending towards Deebo Samuel being back for next week's games.
Speaker 1: So that's good for their offense, and they're gonna be
Speaker 1: plenty motivated to beat those Cardinals and get the two.
Speaker 1: This was the first game where I thought a team
Speaker 1: made pretty look a little uncomfortable and he worked his
Speaker 1: way out of it. So I just I get you.
Speaker 1: You can point to the Chiefs game. They were so
Speaker 1: banged up their defense back then, and yes, this happened today,
Speaker 1: but this feels more for this defense, I mean yards
Speaker 1: of offense. People need to apologize to Jared's steadhum. I
Speaker 1: hope they kept those apology notes that they sent to
Speaker 1: Josh Allen a couple of years ago. The Patriots apologized
Speaker 1: for letting the better quarterback out of the building today.
Speaker 1: Did we mentioned was Nick Bosa who had the hit
Speaker 1: on yards did now led to the interception that led
Speaker 1: to the game when a field goal. We talked about
Speaker 1: it last week that we thought he might have clinched
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year honors. Now he's just patting
Speaker 1: his resume at this point. So another huge Boasta moment.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned McCaffrey. Mark It's I don't think enough
Speaker 1: has been made. Uh, this is the John Lynch's credit
Speaker 1: to Kyle Shanahan's credit. What a huge trade, that was,
Speaker 1: and he has come as advertised and been an absolute
Speaker 1: anchor of their offense. I mean he had nearly two
Speaker 1: hundred yards of total offense in this game. And I
Speaker 1: know the fantasy owners out of there in Championship Week
Speaker 1: are selebrating, uh that as fire right now? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean so, yes, I had San Francisco had number one
Speaker 1: of the power rankings. I'll keep them there. It did
Speaker 1: bother me a little bit that when it's thirty seven,
Speaker 1: when they go ahead late, I thought the defense is
Speaker 1: gonna make the stand there and then you just move
Speaker 1: on the fact that I got to overtime. I thought
Speaker 1: the Raiders should have went for two. Um. In fact,
Speaker 1: it even looks more ridiculous now that they didn't go
Speaker 1: for two, uh, knowing that San Francisco went right down
Speaker 1: the field. But I know there's some logic to if
Speaker 1: there's too much time in the clock at the end
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, you don't go for two because
Speaker 1: it doesn't guarantee you the win and there's a chance
Speaker 1: obviously that you could lose. But I would have said
Speaker 1: screw it if I was the Raiders and went for it.
Speaker 1: They didn't, and they get beaten overtime. So their season
Speaker 1: is over in a very strange while it's not over over,
Speaker 1: but their playoff aspirations are gone. I'm glad that you're
Speaker 1: keeping the Niners in the number one spot, like I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to beat this dead horse anymore. But it
Speaker 1: just it doesn't I feel like they had a weird
Speaker 1: game on tap. That's to me. It started to say
Speaker 1: to play, But that's to me why I will take
Speaker 1: the team with Josh Allen or Joe Burrow Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: any day, because you just never know what could happen
Speaker 1: on defense. And it is sad to put this Raiders
Speaker 1: season to bed because I know what you look at
Speaker 1: it at six and ten, and we know it's humane
Speaker 1: that we're putting it to bed. To be honest, it's
Speaker 1: it's one of the most insane NFL seasons any team
Speaker 1: has had, just since we started this podcast, just in
Speaker 1: terms of the amount of insane games. The most insane
Speaker 1: the Chailer Jones ending, the Baker Mayfield ending winning on
Speaker 1: the last play and overtime back to back weeks, broncoding
Speaker 1: uh in Seahawks, you lost to Jeff Saturday. You the
Speaker 1: lead against the Jaguars. You didn't score a point against
Speaker 1: the Saints, you lost by one in primetime against the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: you lost on a two point conversion at the buzzer
Speaker 1: against the Titans, and you blew a twenty point lead
Speaker 1: against the Cardinal that's all at once. Blew another ten
Speaker 1: point lead today, by the way, did that and after
Speaker 1: everything that Josh McDaniels saw, his move was to knock
Speaker 1: go over two. Obviously they should have went for two
Speaker 1: and they would have got it. Because you just want
Speaker 1: to thrown it to Davante Adams, who, by the way,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be lost in this crazy season. He's amazing
Speaker 1: that the catch he made that's set up their game
Speaker 1: time score. There's maybe maybe Jefferson gets it. Maybe you
Speaker 1: could throw out another name makes the play that Davante
Speaker 1: add was made to set up the game time score
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. But he goes seven for one,
Speaker 1: two touchdowns. That's another guy. The Raiders went out and
Speaker 1: got Adams, just like the Niners went and got McCaffrey.
Speaker 1: Both guys were over two thousand yards from scrimmage. Josh
Speaker 1: Jacob and this team misses the play. If you knew
Speaker 1: all this was gonna happen. You would say, like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go put a lot of money on the on
Speaker 1: the Raiders to make the postseason. Not the twelve ft
Speaker 1: tall man in the back, giant spoken quiet two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight Raiders fan, who stick, who has no faith
Speaker 1: in this team, more real feelings though you can't hurt
Speaker 1: him and it doesn't strike Raiders. He's a passionate Get
Speaker 1: a camera on the big man, larious. Look, he's gonna
Speaker 1: look at the camera for the first time this season.
Speaker 1: This is why you watch it on YouTube. Everybody, let's
Speaker 1: take a break. The thumbs up maybe you know, let's
Speaker 1: take a break and continue on. All right, Welcome back.
Speaker 1: So we talked about the Vikings. They drop in the NFC,
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty Niners move up in the NFC. Yes,
Speaker 1: the Eagles the number one seed in the NFC and
Speaker 1: have been all season, but it's starting to get Harry
Speaker 1: to Philadelphia, takes the snap, throws a quick one and
Speaker 1: that's big Dog Pig six. Welcome back Marshawn, Happy New
Speaker 1: year baby on this earlier and that was just a
Speaker 1: hitch route almost got he jump it all the way.
Speaker 1: That is exactly what the Saints team needed. Good night.
Speaker 1: I love Dan, how you operate as a third or
Speaker 1: fourth man in the booth on these calls from the
Speaker 1: wounded animals screaming out up at the start of that
Speaker 1: don't so lackey in me, duce McAllister, there you heard
Speaker 1: and also my cost w W L. Yes, Marshawn Lattimore
Speaker 1: returned an interception eleven yards for a late touchdown, the
Speaker 1: clinching score for the Saints, who at the time, we're
Speaker 1: still alive in the playoff race after they beat the
Speaker 1: Eagles twenty to ten. Let's now welcome in the pipe.
Speaker 1: That's what they all call him. Nick Shook from Ohio Shookie,
Speaker 1: Happy New Year, Happy New Year, fellas. Are you worried
Speaker 1: about the Eagles at this point? What are we thinking? No?
Speaker 1: I think they can't get Jalen Hurts back fast enough
Speaker 1: because for as well as Gardner Minshew played last week,
Speaker 1: their offense lacks the explosive playmaking ability of Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1: It's really that simple. They had sixty one totally are
Speaker 1: it's in the first half. They had more yards and
Speaker 1: their opening driving the second half than they did in
Speaker 1: the entire first half. They lost the time of possession
Speaker 1: battle nearly twenty three or seven. It was some seven ten.
Speaker 1: They barely had the ball, they had no plays in
Speaker 1: opposing territory, whereas the Saints were coming up on thirty
Speaker 1: in the first half, so it was essentially going to
Speaker 1: be a tale of two halves. And then Gardner Minshoot
Speaker 1: throws the pick six that we all saw coming from
Speaker 1: basic pre snap leverage in Marshawn Latimore, who made a
Speaker 1: great read on the play, jumped in and walked into
Speaker 1: the end zone. Thenny Jalen hurts back. It's really that simple.
Speaker 1: I think they'll be in a much better spot, but
Speaker 1: now they're in a position where they're a little threatened
Speaker 1: with that number one seed, the fact that they have
Speaker 1: to now actually play for it in Week eighteen as
Speaker 1: opposed to just coasting there like we thought they would
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. So it's an interesting turn of events.
Speaker 1: But I'm not too worried about them overall, because they
Speaker 1: still have a great team defensively, one of the better
Speaker 1: pass rushers we've seen the last two decades, at least statistically.
Speaker 1: Uh they need five sacks next week to take over
Speaker 1: the all time record for the most sacks from a
Speaker 1: defense in a season, so there's still a good football
Speaker 1: It shows how complete they are. I mean, and even
Speaker 1: in recent weeks, and Jalen Hurts had the rare miss
Speaker 1: qughes a couple interceptions. What he does so well, like
Speaker 1: you don't worry about it because he'll back you out
Speaker 1: of any corner and then overtake the opponent with what
Speaker 1: he can do on the ground and through the air.
Speaker 1: If Minsho's making mistakes, you're a mess. And I if
Speaker 1: you look at the splits Lane Johnson did I missed.
Speaker 1: I think he missed three games last year, but when
Speaker 1: he was not in there, the offense was affected greatly.
Speaker 1: And uh Minshew took six sacks today without Lane Johnson,
Speaker 1: and I think, like that's another one where it's like,
Speaker 1: I know he's gonna be back for the playoffs, but
Speaker 1: this version of the Eagles offense um looked completely asleep
Speaker 1: at the wheel for the first time all season. I'd
Speaker 1: be concerned, SHOOKI like, maybe it's not as simple as
Speaker 1: just get Hurts back in there. Maybe it is, but
Speaker 1: they've kind of lost their flow here that the And
Speaker 1: I know sometimes this word is frowned upon the momentum
Speaker 1: of the season where they were just a like a
Speaker 1: swaggering juggernaut and now you've been humbled a little bit
Speaker 1: back to back losses and you need you need this
Speaker 1: win obviously to get uh to get that number one seed.
Speaker 1: Maybe you get the win next week and all this
Speaker 1: is wiped away, probably is, but still there have been
Speaker 1: some issues, the Hurts injury, the Johnson injury. Uh unfortunately,
Speaker 1: Josh sweat Um went down with a neck injury and
Speaker 1: was carted off the field. And Josh sweat by the way,
Speaker 1: is one of four Eagles players with ten plus sacks
Speaker 1: this season. They Maddox last week to who's really a
Speaker 1: player for them? So yeah, along those lines, it's just
Speaker 1: been it's been a tough last few weeks for the
Speaker 1: team that I think everyone was universally praising as a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl contender at a high level. Yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: think that they're gonna have a tougher road in the
Speaker 1: playoffs that we might have anticipated a month or two ago.
Speaker 1: But there's also you know, instances like today's game, which
Speaker 1: could have gone very differently if if a referee didn't
Speaker 1: call holding on Landon Dickerson, who pancaked the guy he
Speaker 1: was blocking. That got you mad, Jookie, because you love
Speaker 1: that and in the trenches, and I heard that Moose
Speaker 1: Johnson was pissed about it. Uh back, I want to
Speaker 1: hear you get mad now. Well, Moose said I'd give
Speaker 1: him a plus plus rating. That's not a hold, and
Speaker 1: I agree. When you drive someone to the ground, he
Speaker 1: trips over another guy's leg and he eats all that
Speaker 1: Lincoln Financial Field turf, he should know that he got pancake,
Speaker 1: lay on top of him, lay there for an extra second.
Speaker 1: What's that touchdown? What's that runner getting the end zone
Speaker 1: for a touchdowns? Celebrate by doing layout on top of
Speaker 1: the guy You just pancake. Put your arms and legs
Speaker 1: out like you're swimming, except you're just surfing on top
Speaker 1: of him because you just earned that placement. That a flag.
Speaker 1: We should able to change those calls. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just like, I don't know we went we went down
Speaker 1: that road pass interference was a reviewable play and that
Speaker 1: was a dumpster fire. Let's not open for reviewing anything. This.
Speaker 1: They're giving me major Andy Reid vibes though, like this
Speaker 1: was Eagles fans know Andy Reid, Like those Eagles teams
Speaker 1: when they were at their best, would always race out
Speaker 1: like everything would be handled a little too early, and
Speaker 1: then the end of December would go poorly and it
Speaker 1: just it would feel like it would carry over. Based
Speaker 1: on my very scientific sample of Eagles fans at John
Speaker 1: Gonzas and Colleen Wolves New Year's Eve party, they were
Speaker 1: already panicking before this game. They're such negative people that
Speaker 1: they thought it was already all falling apart. So I
Speaker 1: don't think it was. It was. It was not a
Speaker 1: good scene at that apartment. Hold on, like, like, let's
Speaker 1: let's hold back on the panic button, Like you don't
Speaker 1: have your star quarterback in there, a candidate. I'm not,
Speaker 1: I'm not panicking. But we're also laying out that it's
Speaker 1: not just uh all, it's here's the good news. And
Speaker 1: this is why Connie and Gonzo and everybody's got to
Speaker 1: take a step back and breathe. You get the Giants
Speaker 1: next week. The Giants who are locked into the six seed,
Speaker 1: they have nothing to play for. Uh. They would be
Speaker 1: foolish to go all out knowing that they have a
Speaker 1: wild card matchup of the week after. So there's a
Speaker 1: very good chance Eagles get a layup against a Giants
Speaker 1: practice squad team. So the sky is not falling, but yes,
Speaker 1: some some clouds overhead for the first time the season.
Speaker 1: Let's all right, you can experience some clouds. But I'll
Speaker 1: panic when they're getting the doors blown off with Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurt in the lineup, and so will they be because
Speaker 1: that would be the end. I had a scientific fact
Speaker 1: since Gregson that was very scientific research that he provided.
Speaker 1: The P in Philadelphia actually stands for panic and pessimism,
Speaker 1: So it's it's right on board there. So the very
Speaker 1: Saint see end to this season in terms of their
Speaker 1: playoff hopes here that they finished the season playing their
Speaker 1: best football. Without a doubt. To me, their last three
Speaker 1: weeks have been the best three weeks stretch they've had
Speaker 1: that you get Lattimore back, and you've had a few
Speaker 1: different defensive players coming in and out of the lineup,
Speaker 1: but mostly they've been a little healthier lately and they've
Speaker 1: looked better. And I know there are a lot of
Speaker 1: Saints fans out there that think this is the worst
Speaker 1: case scenario, which is that Dennis Allen, who I believe
Speaker 1: is now seventeen and forty six as a head coach.
Speaker 1: We'll keep his job, but they're not going anywhere anyways.
Speaker 1: If I would run it all back, It's been a great,
Speaker 1: a great campaign for the Saints and their fan base,
Speaker 1: and no one would see the roster as the top
Speaker 1: three receivers. It's a fun little shout out. Cam Jordan's
Speaker 1: who once upon a time after he was drafted, came
Speaker 1: into old NFL Network studios and I sat in the
Speaker 1: green room and interviewed him, talked to him about his dad,
Speaker 1: Steve Jordan's, who did a Mr Perfect Hurt Henning vignette
Speaker 1: for WWF in two that I recalled, and he told
Speaker 1: me about being on the set and he was just
Speaker 1: a kid at the time. Fast fast forward. He is
Speaker 1: now the all time sack leader of New Orleans Saints
Speaker 1: m and that's a team with some Hall of famers
Speaker 1: that are passed great career. I think it's it's possible.
Speaker 1: Your Q and A you know sparked him Mr Perfect.
Speaker 1: After all, at one point they had four sacks in
Speaker 1: eight place the Saints. Do you know who Mr Perfect is? Greg? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did watch w W was come up with. It
Speaker 1: was good. Also, he his finishing maneuver was the perfect
Speaker 1: That was my favorite move, which I did all the
Speaker 1: time to my little brother Kevin with just startling accuracy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: back then you'd like supplex your younger brother here and there,
Speaker 1: and like there's no parental supervision over this. It's like
Speaker 1: this is not a safe thing for brothers to be doing.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna happen. Um, alright, let's head to the
Speaker 1: nation's capital, well landover all, right, hipop Watch, he's got
Speaker 1: his snap, third down in five, he's looking like throwing
Speaker 1: Cooper's there, Hey got it, Cooper off the sideline, still going,
Speaker 1: Cooper running down the sideline, ted side Edson touchdown, Ary Cooper.
Speaker 1: I'm Marie Cooper. Where you been? Bud wide receiver for
Speaker 1: the Browns had a big day, and so did Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: who had his first real statistical standout performance of the
Speaker 1: Browns ten win over the Commanders, who, as we said,
Speaker 1: we're eliminated with the loss tough one bad beat Chookie.
Speaker 1: The Commanders had Carson Wentz in the lineup and did
Speaker 1: not go well. No. Uh. It makes Ron Riveria's decision
Speaker 1: to go to Carson Wentz this week after benching kaylor
Speaker 1: honekey last week. It makes it look foolish if shortsighted, um,
Speaker 1: maybe even desperate. I mean, this is the Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: we've seen at the end of seasons for the last
Speaker 1: three years. I was not surprised at all by the
Speaker 1: fact that he threw the interceptions that he threw, or
Speaker 1: the fact that he struggled mightily, and to the point
Speaker 1: where Brown's defenders after the game, we're talking about, Hey,
Speaker 1: we saw on film that he's got a slow delivery,
Speaker 1: slow release. We can see it, we can react to it,
Speaker 1: and we can pick him off. They got him three times.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was it was an ugly game. It
Speaker 1: had one great drive this entire game. It was Greg
Speaker 1: you you sent me the fact that I think it
Speaker 1: was the longest drive in their history or maybe in
Speaker 1: football in like twenty some years plays eleven and a
Speaker 1: half minutes. Delicious. Yeah, And that was it for them.
Speaker 1: That was all they did the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: It was pretty bad because Carson Wentz is not a
Speaker 1: good quarterback and Washington is going to be in the
Speaker 1: market for a quarterback again this offseason. I'm just curious
Speaker 1: to see where he goes next, Carson Wentz, because at
Speaker 1: this point there's no proof that that he's really any good,
Speaker 1: but held down, go ahead, not just he will invariably
Speaker 1: be oversold to us as some some other teams filling
Speaker 1: the blank starter and I'm not doing it again. I
Speaker 1: feel like I came into this week very down on
Speaker 1: the idea of switching over to Wents no matter what
Speaker 1: you had in Heineke. The fans agreed they were going
Speaker 1: nuts channing Heineke's name during this game. Yeah, rag I
Speaker 1: think you were talking about Reggie Ragland on the Browns
Speaker 1: his comments. He said that he knows some guys on
Speaker 1: Washington's team and that they would have preferred Heineke. That's
Speaker 1: exactly what we talked about this week, Like what about
Speaker 1: the other players. I mean, the thing is like Heineke
Speaker 1: can't really play either. I think they need a quarterback
Speaker 1: and they don't have it in the building. That That's
Speaker 1: why I said, though Riverboat Ron was making a pretty
Speaker 1: bold move here, because this is what you're gonna remember
Speaker 1: out of this season. They haven't won since November and
Speaker 1: this was the most important game of the season. And
Speaker 1: he throws two interceptions in the first quarter, I believe,
Speaker 1: and the booze are coming and then he it's weeks
Speaker 1: after the game in a in a sound bite, I
Speaker 1: feel like everyone's gonna remember for a long time, or
Speaker 1: until Black Monday. To clarify, you said you would talk
Speaker 1: about quarterback next week. If you guys are eliminated today
Speaker 1: by what happens at four o'clock, is sam, how in
Speaker 1: consideration we can be eliminated. Yeah, if the Packers beat
Speaker 1: the Vikings, then you guys are eliminated. Well we'll see. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I know that's it's a I guess, a
Speaker 1: bad look on the coach. I don't know. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really change much to it doesn't mean it change anything
Speaker 1: about today's his coaching, or the way the team performed,
Speaker 1: or how they would be ready for next week. But
Speaker 1: I also understand you. You want your coach to be
Speaker 1: forward facing. This guy that knows. I also thinking Greg,
Speaker 1: Greg and I were talking about this, like these coaches
Speaker 1: are in their bunkers and they just want to come
Speaker 1: and win this game and let the rest it sort
Speaker 1: itself out. I get that. But in three here we
Speaker 1: are like head coaches can't get caught thank you into
Speaker 1: you as well until each of you into everyone behind
Speaker 1: the glass. But head coaches can't get caught flat footed
Speaker 1: on this stuff. I mean they I was listening to
Speaker 1: the Niners game and they were talking about the fact
Speaker 1: that Shanahan behind the scenes had been pounding the table
Speaker 1: to his players, saying, if we can't get the number
Speaker 1: one seed, the number two still matters so much like
Speaker 1: it sounds just sounds like per coach A plugged in
Speaker 1: and coach B dinosaur like and like maybe that's not
Speaker 1: the case. It's just bad pr and like that soundclip
Speaker 1: is gonna get played all day tomorrow, all day the
Speaker 1: next day, and it's the It's the final thing we'll
Speaker 1: remember about this Washington team as they float into a
Speaker 1: total abyss. They haven't had a winning season in seven seasons,
Speaker 1: just potentially new ownership coming. It's a tricky it's a
Speaker 1: tricky spot, especially when you're trying to throw out excuses
Speaker 1: that it's like we were just so focused on the wind.
Speaker 1: Like these are the coaches that sort of brag about
Speaker 1: working fifteen hours a day and it's like, oh, we
Speaker 1: didn't have time. It takes three seconds, are you. All
Speaker 1: you have to do is look at this scenario. It
Speaker 1: takes three seconds. Famously in the old days, like it
Speaker 1: takes a lot of time. It takes five seconds, helped
Speaker 1: the guy out to the old days. In the glory
Speaker 1: days of the Washington football team, the Hogs um helped
Speaker 1: pave the way for three Super Bowl titles. They were
Speaker 1: honored before this game. Joe gibbs Um and others from
Speaker 1: the franchises Heyday were there, and then the team unveiled
Speaker 1: their new mascot. It's a hog named Major Tutty, and
Speaker 1: the team said that Major Tutty is a muscular This
Speaker 1: is a quote six ft five thirty pound mail hog
Speaker 1: with exaggerated features that are anatomically similar to the animal,
Speaker 1: including a large belly, snout, and cloven hooves. Hooves, Um
Speaker 1: shook my question to you, first of all, do you
Speaker 1: like Major Tutty? One and two? Just like everything else
Speaker 1: is funky and weird with the commanders, like they're probably
Speaker 1: selling the team and a new ownership is changing hands
Speaker 1: is most likely, Like why are they introducing a new mascot?
Speaker 1: What are we doing around here that teams a merchandise
Speaker 1: to generate excitement? Sweet seven seen like what was this
Speaker 1: a homework assignment that they were laid on? It was
Speaker 1: probably someone's bonus attached to it. I don't know how
Speaker 1: much merchandise you're gonna sell of this. Um, we're looking
Speaker 1: at it here on the screen of this Major Tutty
Speaker 1: and it's a very strange looking pig. Um half human,
Speaker 1: half pig. It feels slightly off kilter to me in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. And the Pentagon. Can we come up with
Speaker 1: nicknames for Major Tuddy? How about I got to Private Pork, reggaear,
Speaker 1: General Bacon. This is why we have nick joke on
Speaker 1: Private Pork is maybe seeing a movie at that title,
Speaker 1: Um shook Before we say goodbye, I'll check it onto.
Speaker 1: Shaun Watson obviously played a lot better in this game. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: you know, three touchdowns his first time that he really
Speaker 1: got going with the Browns, got into a rhythm, especially
Speaker 1: in the second half. I mean, this is a Browns
Speaker 1: team that got two takeaways in the first half and
Speaker 1: put three point on the board. Their offense was completely lost.
Speaker 1: That Washington pass rush was doing a great job of
Speaker 1: I mean I texted my dad who was upset. I said,
Speaker 1: they just broke his brain in the first half and
Speaker 1: he was completely out of sorts. They come out a
Speaker 1: halftime three straight drives that ended touchdowns, that touchdown past
Speaker 1: to Mary Cooper, I think is really what unlocked their offense.
Speaker 1: He looked a lot more comfortable. From their stats wise,
Speaker 1: nine of eighteen is not super impressive. A D nine
Speaker 1: yards not super impressive. But the fact that he was
Speaker 1: able to throw three touchdowns to two guys, including one
Speaker 1: where he was pressured through it over the middle to
Speaker 1: Donovan people's jones. It's an encouraging site for Brown's fiends
Speaker 1: who have nothing else to watch this team for other
Speaker 1: than to see is this guy gonna take another step forward?
Speaker 1: As we headed the offseason prepared for there you go,
Speaker 1: Shook delivers the news. We get one more week with
Speaker 1: Nick who's killed it all year long. Thank you, buddy,
Speaker 1: Thanks guys. All right, there goes Shook. Let's spend right
Speaker 1: into the battle for the moribund NFC South. It was
Speaker 1: coming down to the Panthers and Bucks in the game. Actually,
Speaker 1: it sounds like it lived up to the hype. Takes
Speaker 1: the snaff and looks towards his way those toward the
Speaker 1: end zone. A hundred Mexico touch ups. Have a very
Speaker 1: favorite house three fire account its fire him, remarkable, fire him.
Speaker 1: Mike Evans ran up at five yards, he stuttered his
Speaker 1: feet and Tom Brady again, we've seen him not being
Speaker 1: sick on these deep throws over the course of the season,
Speaker 1: but he hit three of them today perfect. That was
Speaker 1: Dave Moore and of course Jeane Dagger half w f
Speaker 1: us Jane, who's retiring after a fifty year broadcasting career
Speaker 1: that has also covered Florida State football. What a legend.
Speaker 1: Tom Brady threw for four thirty two and three long
Speaker 1: Happy New Year, Jean. I'm sure you apply if you
Speaker 1: couldn't Brady through for four thirty two and three long
Speaker 1: touchdowns to Mike Evans just days after Greg Rosenthal through
Speaker 1: dirt on the greatest quarterback of all time, and the
Speaker 1: Bucks clinched their second straight South championship with a thirty
Speaker 1: twe for come from behind win over the Panthers, who
Speaker 1: jumped out to a big lead Mark Sessler. But in
Speaker 1: the end, Brady finally finding that chemistry again with Mike
Speaker 1: Evans was the difference. It only took literally all of
Speaker 1: two um in a day into the New Year, and
Speaker 1: I think they're clicking, and I think that's that's a
Speaker 1: great sign. Um. We've talked about this bizarre division. I've
Speaker 1: said it before. I just see it within that they're
Speaker 1: gonna win a playoff game. And this version of this
Speaker 1: offense would scare you because it's what you thought you'd
Speaker 1: get all year, because you got it last year, and
Speaker 1: you got it the year before. And they came out
Speaker 1: and you could tell right away that they were so
Speaker 1: deliberately going to do everything they could to make this
Speaker 1: finally work when it needed to matter most. And it
Speaker 1: was still a frustrating game, but as sixty three yard
Speaker 1: deep bombed Evans a fifty seven yard or a thirty
Speaker 1: yard or they just finally were completely in sync. And Brady,
Speaker 1: who you know, there's i'd think anyone all year long
Speaker 1: has said other than last couple of weeks that Brady
Speaker 1: has been the problem. I think the turnovers and some
Speaker 1: impatience and sort of hesitation in the pocket last three
Speaker 1: or four games stood out. But he looked calm and
Speaker 1: collected today four d and thirty two yards three touchdowns.
Speaker 1: He's only a few years younger than I am. I
Speaker 1: don't know how he's doing this. Um here's the thing though,
Speaker 1: the Bucks defense played a big role in this. Sam Donald,
Speaker 1: who I think played the best, he alright, look at
Speaker 1: he had a fumble he had an interception and he
Speaker 1: had a strip sec so that stands out. That was
Speaker 1: a big difference in this But the other what well,
Speaker 1: what Sam Donald did for the rest of this game
Speaker 1: was the best performance I've seen him play all year,
Speaker 1: and after that huge rushing performance last year, they did
Speaker 1: not come out and do that. I think Ben McAdoo
Speaker 1: deserves some credit for how this thing got started. That
Speaker 1: they aggressively had Sam Donald ripping the ball down field
Speaker 1: to Dj Moore to like it. Just it looked like
Speaker 1: their passing game under Donald was a real problem for
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Then they tightened up, got the turnovers, handled
Speaker 1: their business. Mike Evans went off here, go to Bucks
Speaker 1: or go to the Panthers in the other direction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's surprising that this division is not coming down it.
Speaker 1: Last week it just felt like it was gonna be
Speaker 1: a messy situation where the Saints were still alive and
Speaker 1: the Panthers were still alive in the Bucks and they
Speaker 1: were down to ten in the in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Brady has more touchdowns in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: this season then the rest than the other three quarters combined.
Speaker 1: I mean, he has been like lights out at the
Speaker 1: end of these games. Evans going ten for two oh
Speaker 1: seven and three rewarded his loyal fantasy owners that kept
Speaker 1: him in the lineup, like my son Walker, So they
Speaker 1: enjoyed that. But you mentioned it like sometimes it comes
Speaker 1: down to this whole offseason planning. Anthony Nelson, who's what
Speaker 1: their fourth string pass rusher, gets a strip sack on
Speaker 1: the top ten pick Icky a conu at the end,
Speaker 1: Donald really didn't have a chance on that play. You
Speaker 1: don't play him Donald, and that was the end of
Speaker 1: the game. I kind of thought the Panthers might go
Speaker 1: down the field there, but it didn't. That. Yeah, that plays,
Speaker 1: so doesn't happen with that Vida Vea like showing now
Speaker 1: he's a massive, he's big as a front door. The
Speaker 1: speed he chased down that ball and picked it up,
Speaker 1: I mean that was the difference. J C. Horne's injury
Speaker 1: might have flipped this division. I know that sounds like
Speaker 1: a cry, like a lament, but he would have been
Speaker 1: the guy on Mike Evans. He's built for that that
Speaker 1: he's the big physics. They put different guys on Evans
Speaker 1: and nothing works. So correct and Evans for all the
Speaker 1: handwringing about this season for him and his failure to
Speaker 1: get on the same page with Tom Brady. He did
Speaker 1: go over a thousand yards again, He's done that nine
Speaker 1: consecutive years. He's called on the Hall of Fame, or
Speaker 1: at least he should. One of the most consistent guys
Speaker 1: of his era, if not the most consistent pass catcher
Speaker 1: of his era. Sixty three fifty seven and thirty yard
Speaker 1: touchdown receptions. It was almost like, if you think about it,
Speaker 1: unless you think tom Brady's washed, um, which he's not.
Speaker 1: Maybe he's in a little bit of a decline at
Speaker 1: this point, right, He's no Stidham, But it's it's a
Speaker 1: situation where eventually this was gonna there was gonna be
Speaker 1: a game like this and for the Bucks, good timing
Speaker 1: nineteen division titles for Tom Brady. That's insane. Um, your
Speaker 1: tore Grossmadows on the Panthers had an incredible game. Had
Speaker 1: they one, we'd be talking about him a lot more.
Speaker 1: And they mentioned we know Josh Norman, who we worked
Speaker 1: on that Super Bowl with on Sky Sports slightly he
Speaker 1: was actually working as a barista in a coffee shop.
Speaker 1: Um last week when he got the call that did
Speaker 1: he not save his money? Well, no, I think they
Speaker 1: were so well, that was my thing, was like people,
Speaker 1: but they tried to make it sound like starting a business.
Speaker 1: That's a little different. They didn't They didn't tell the
Speaker 1: entire story on the thing, and I was like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, like it can't be a money thing because
Speaker 1: he's got to have a ton of money. I just
Speaker 1: he was telling the truth. I think he was serving.
Speaker 1: But he he started sky sports, he started some business.
Speaker 1: He was working as a barista. That it wasn't just
Speaker 1: like back in the you know, it wasn't just like
Speaker 1: sending you know, emails out saying you go do it.
Speaker 1: He was doing it. So good for him. The people
Speaker 1: would you go work in a coffee shop right now
Speaker 1: just for the to be around? Well, I guess that's true. Sure,
Speaker 1: maybe you owned it if I he signed, technically his
Speaker 1: mom owns it. But I think they they're sort of
Speaker 1: doing it. I keep shifting here, So I mean, well,
Speaker 1: I think she was helped out by her succeeded my interest.
Speaker 1: Now we know we're get learning more and more. Move
Speaker 1: who co signed the lease? Oh? His mother? Well, Gregg
Speaker 1: seems very unwilling to give him any credit for anything.
Speaker 1: I just think it's like where you're coming from Greg
Speaker 1: on that one. Move on, and by the way, it
Speaker 1: does look like again peeking ahead. Um as Marcus said many, many,
Speaker 1: many times that he believes the Bucks will win a
Speaker 1: playoff game, most likely the host of Dallas Cowboys. That's
Speaker 1: not good for Dallas, uh as a first round matchup.
Speaker 1: I'll take it if I'm the Cowboy. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: one of these predictions gets to go right. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna go with it on this one, this
Speaker 1: one well, because it's a good one, because like there's
Speaker 1: no way for it to be wrong for twelve or
Speaker 1: thirteen weeks from when I made it way back when
Speaker 1: it just sits out there until the whole career as
Speaker 1: a broadcaster hangs in the balance of that wild Card
Speaker 1: Saturday Night or whatever it's gonna be. Probably it feels
Speaker 1: like a wild card Saturday Night game. Putting that much
Speaker 1: on it. I've got a lot of bills. He's a
Speaker 1: top ten football insider. Let's take a break, all right,
Speaker 1: Welcome back, all right, Let's now swing over to the
Speaker 1: a f C playoff picture starting at Jillette Stadium, where
Speaker 1: the Dolphins and Patriots did battle Dogger up behind the
Speaker 1: front four. It's that they rough four bridge water is
Speaker 1: back to fire it right, pass it decepted by Dougers
Speaker 1: left to the thirty hot side of the then tug
Speaker 1: in to the five dog. They tucked into the house again.
Speaker 1: Uh Bob Socci and the sentient power a bottle to
Speaker 1: call there for w b Z did you I tweeted
Speaker 1: about today and we're gonna get to the Jets. I
Speaker 1: feel like with a decent quarterback, the Jets would have
Speaker 1: won ten or eleven games this year. If the Patriots
Speaker 1: didn't have seven defensive scores this year, they might have
Speaker 1: eleven or twelve loss like it feels like, how about
Speaker 1: this though, if they had Josh McDaniels, they'd probably be
Speaker 1: eleven in five just those coordinators. All right, Well, that's
Speaker 1: that's potentially true as well. But my point being that
Speaker 1: almost all of these defensive scores and the latest there
Speaker 1: by Kyle Dougger, have been huge in the context of
Speaker 1: the games in which they occurred. Because Duggers pick six
Speaker 1: of Teddy Bridgewater went back thirty nine yards for the
Speaker 1: go ahead touchdown late in the third quarter, then it
Speaker 1: allowed the Patriots to keep their postseason hopes intact. They
Speaker 1: rally past the free falling Dolphins three to one. UM. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was huge. It was It was a game that
Speaker 1: the Dolphins seemed to have uh not in hand, but
Speaker 1: they seemed to be in control of the game, even
Speaker 1: though Teddy Who wasn't playing poorly, but you you felt
Speaker 1: that lack of explosiveness with him in instead of tah Who.
Speaker 1: By the way, there's a report that they're hoping he
Speaker 1: could be back if they make the playoffs, so that
Speaker 1: tells you that the team again is trying to take
Speaker 1: this um carefully after another concussion uh for Tua. But
Speaker 1: the game all turned on that pass because not only
Speaker 1: was it a pick six um run back the other way.
Speaker 1: On the follow through of the throw, Teddy wax his
Speaker 1: hand on a Patriot defender's hand and uh breaks we're
Speaker 1: hearing might be a broken finger and knocked him out
Speaker 1: of the game. Skyler Thompson comes, and Skyler Thompson might
Speaker 1: eventually be a player in our league. Right now he
Speaker 1: is not every time I've seen him. He can't throw
Speaker 1: the ball, he can't shoot straight. And that allowed the
Speaker 1: Patriots to take care of business. So good job by
Speaker 1: the Pats in a season that's been greg very rocky
Speaker 1: obviously in a lot of ways. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people expected them to fade uh in this game
Speaker 1: and disappear, but instead they're gonna go into week a
Speaker 1: team with a chance to make the playoffs. It's like
Speaker 1: Belichick can't help but win eight games no matter what
Speaker 1: terrible decision teammates with his coaching staff and personnel offensively,
Speaker 1: and it's because he's still a great defensive coach. That's
Speaker 1: what I mean. They would win eleven games if they
Speaker 1: had decent offensive coaching because a lot of the things
Speaker 1: that they would have hoped to happen on defense have happened.
Speaker 1: Duggers turned into a total star, a playmaker. Barmore was
Speaker 1: back in this game and was very active. We've talked
Speaker 1: about j and Jude on they were down three top
Speaker 1: cornerbacks today they put Jack Jones and I are Marcus.
Speaker 1: Jones was out, Jalen Mills was out. They had a
Speaker 1: couple of offensive players that the Dolphins were missing four
Speaker 1: or five of their best players, just like some of
Speaker 1: these teams have lost so many pieces. But the Patriots
Speaker 1: find a way because of these defensive scores, essentially to
Speaker 1: be in every single one of these games. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean the a FC East from where we were six
Speaker 1: weeks ago to now is the story of multiple collapses.
Speaker 1: And you're right about the Dolphins going into this game.
Speaker 1: It's not easy to be Mike McDaniel in the situation.
Speaker 1: You did not at Bradley Chubb. You don't have too obviously,
Speaker 1: Xavien Howard was out, Tehran Armstead was out, Eric Fisher
Speaker 1: and other tackle is out, so you're limited there. And
Speaker 1: I you know this, the same thing happened to McDaniel
Speaker 1: the first time when two went out with concussion. That
Speaker 1: incomes Bridgewater and he was lost to the same game,
Speaker 1: and in came Skyler Thompson. It's an ugly pattern. Both
Speaker 1: times Teddy played without Tron Armstead too, I think, which
Speaker 1: is and that's been for two or two a major problem.
Speaker 1: I mean, to your point about the New New England's
Speaker 1: shortcomings on offense, they're eight and oh in games where
Speaker 1: they allow fewer than twenty points and oh and eight
Speaker 1: in games where they allows right and if if they
Speaker 1: won this one allows going into this right. So you
Speaker 1: just say, but that's still but that might not even hold.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to recalibrate all the data now basically
Speaker 1: it's never their offense that scored defensive scored after touch
Speaker 1: that should be. It was a garbage time score. The
Speaker 1: doubtins that make it look like a closer game, that
Speaker 1: Patriots had the game in hand in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: really starting with that dugger play um and yes, if
Speaker 1: you're gonna watch this game, if you haven't watched it yet, like, oh,
Speaker 1: the Patriots starting to get a little frisky. No, it's
Speaker 1: still the same exact tam here. The offense is still pitiful.
Speaker 1: They had one big time drive. It was an eleven play,
Speaker 1: eighty nine yard big boy drive that allowed them to
Speaker 1: take control of the game after the pick six and
Speaker 1: kind of put the game away. So you credit Mac
Speaker 1: Jones and the offense for doing that. But otherwise it
Speaker 1: was another very quiet game for the offense. So that's
Speaker 1: going to continue to be a bugaboo. They're winning games
Speaker 1: because they're getting literally not just turnovers, defensive scores that
Speaker 1: are allowing them to steal these games. The seventh defensive score,
Speaker 1: uh this season, that just doesn't happen. I think it's
Speaker 1: tied a record. Uh if they think at two thousand
Speaker 1: seventeen Jaguars um either at seven or eight defensive scores.
Speaker 1: It's just it's bonkers how often it's happening. It's almost
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not Vikings level aberration, but it's it's
Speaker 1: an incredibly strange environment to be winning these games. They
Speaker 1: are now winning in next week, but they're playing the Bills,
Speaker 1: who have become their daddy. And there is a realistic
Speaker 1: scenario that the Patriots could end the season getting blasted
Speaker 1: by the Bills in back to back weeks, that they
Speaker 1: could get blasted by the Bills back into the playoffs
Speaker 1: eight and nine. Granted, a lot has to happen there.
Speaker 1: The Jets would have to lose, the Steelers would have
Speaker 1: to uh lose a game, but it's possible, and I
Speaker 1: don't know if this Patriots team needs to be in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. We'll see the Dolphins, I know, but one
Speaker 1: one of these teams, UH is going to make it,
Speaker 1: whether it's the Dolphins, the Patriots, and we'll find out
Speaker 1: about the Steelers later. The Dolphins, now, you know, just
Speaker 1: hope that the Patriots lose to Buffalo and beat the
Speaker 1: Jets and they're in. So they have a very realistic
Speaker 1: chance to make it. Instill, But who the hell n
Speaker 1: we're supposed to cheerlead like everything, just give the scenarios.
Speaker 1: This this seventh playoff team in each conference, Like more
Speaker 1: often than not, you're getting something that is undesirable to
Speaker 1: the eye that we don't we just like we just
Speaker 1: we don't want to see the Dolphins without two. We
Speaker 1: don't want to see the Patriots. We don't want to
Speaker 1: see the steel getting the Packers or the Lions. So
Speaker 1: but but so to speaks to it like you just
Speaker 1: don't know, like you're also getting I'm just saying it's
Speaker 1: typically unpleasant. Fair there was what was it it was
Speaker 1: Washington or no, they won the division, I can't remember.
Speaker 1: But it feels like whatever, this this new reality with
Speaker 1: the extra playoff team, you're usually going to get a
Speaker 1: real dog, and it feels like that's what this final
Speaker 1: a f C team will be. But again we don't
Speaker 1: write last year you got the Steelers, who are not
Speaker 1: a good team, Steelers Chiefs game, when actually the Eagles
Speaker 1: who were were intriguing on some level but not really
Speaker 1: against the bus. So you're absolutely right, this seventh seed
Speaker 1: is underwhelmed. It's making it's like doing parties. You have
Speaker 1: you have an invite list to your own party, and
Speaker 1: someone brings someone who drags the entire affair into darkness.
Speaker 1: It's diluting wild card weekend a little bit, but it's
Speaker 1: also adding intrigue to the back end of the regular season.
Speaker 1: So maybe it's a watch here. By the way, before
Speaker 1: we move on, here is uh the Dolphins season win win, win, lost,
Speaker 1: lost loss win win win win and win loss loss
Speaker 1: loss loss loss. I worry about some consistency in that.
Speaker 1: Almost it's it's symmetrical. It's also embarrassing the way this is. Uh.
Speaker 1: They have nose dived here, and they're not the only
Speaker 1: team in their division to do. So let's move on.
Speaker 1: He's gonna throw in the back corner touchdown Hawks, What
Speaker 1: a start. Kobe Parkinson from twelve yards out, runs a
Speaker 1: little bender into the back corner and Gina weighs it
Speaker 1: up perfectly, so only the big tight end at six
Speaker 1: seven can reach up and grab it. Steve Able with
Speaker 1: the K I are City, New York City? Thank you?
Speaker 1: Um yes, Gino Smith connects there with Colby Parkinson. Colby
Speaker 1: Parkinson on the twelve yard catch that was within about
Speaker 1: two minutes into the game. After Ken Walker ripped off
Speaker 1: a huge run on the um for maybe the second
Speaker 1: play from scrimmage in the game, and it was kind
Speaker 1: of just like a rap. It was the first play
Speaker 1: from scrimmage Walker's run at that point, because before you
Speaker 1: knew it, it was seven nothing, then ten nothing and
Speaker 1: uh at that point, Uh, the Jets offense went to
Speaker 1: sleep and Seattle's defense credit them for stepping up and
Speaker 1: keeping their season alive with a twenty three to six victory.
Speaker 1: So Seattle moves to eight and eight and Greg will
Speaker 1: tell you in a minute how they get to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The Jets are now seven and nine, eliminated five game
Speaker 1: losing streak. I locked this game up. I knew it
Speaker 1: was a bad idea, but what the hell do? You
Speaker 1: went with your heart with my heart and U. It
Speaker 1: did surprise me though, and I'll tell you what ais me.
Speaker 1: And if you boys haven't watched the game, UH, you
Speaker 1: will be surprised too. Because everything we saw from Mike
Speaker 1: White this season, UH told us that he was going
Speaker 1: to give the Jets a professional effort. He would hit
Speaker 1: the guys that were open. He would do hit the layup,
Speaker 1: said Zack Wilson couldn't. But instead they got a Zack
Speaker 1: Wilson game from Mike White, which we've also seen before
Speaker 1: dating back to last year. And I was always in
Speaker 1: the back of my mind, uh that that guy was
Speaker 1: there too, and he showed up today. It was a
Speaker 1: dreadful performance from Mike White, who I feel bad for
Speaker 1: him because he cost himself a lot of money today. Uh,
Speaker 1: he cost himself any chance of being in the Jets
Speaker 1: conversation as their quarterback next year. All that is kind
Speaker 1: of wipe by the board, and that's part of sports.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you have a big chance to change your life
Speaker 1: in the trajectory of your career, and White just couldn't
Speaker 1: get it done, and neither could the Jets, who started
Speaker 1: slowly also defensively in this game. Uh. Their defense went
Speaker 1: into a little bit of a slump here late in
Speaker 1: the season. Uh, in addition to the quarterback player that
Speaker 1: just butchered their year. And that's how it ends for
Speaker 1: the Jets. I mean the job by the Seattle they
Speaker 1: will getting the job done. When you're defense, which has
Speaker 1: been you know, you're selling point and playoff level for
Speaker 1: all season is giving up that sixty yard run. It
Speaker 1: was the DJ Dallas forty one yard catch and run.
Speaker 1: It was like these big plays and again they're not
Speaker 1: generating takeaways. That's been a problem for this Jets defense
Speaker 1: to some degree. And you get this version of Mike White.
Speaker 1: I mean, glass half full. Let's say Mike White won
Speaker 1: these last two games and played above his head and
Speaker 1: they do turn him into the starter, and then the
Speaker 1: real Mike White appears, because last year, the overall body
Speaker 1: of work for Mike White is up and down. It's
Speaker 1: just that he's had some real highs. Here's the thing, though, Mark,
Speaker 1: if he did play well and they won these games,
Speaker 1: the Jets would have went to the playoffs this year,
Speaker 1: and that would have been a huge lift for the
Speaker 1: organization and the fan base. And then yes, they might
Speaker 1: have blown there Mike White evaluation down the line. But god,
Speaker 1: I would have loved to even be in that position.
Speaker 1: It's been. That's why I'm calling a class half a
Speaker 1: half empty. But because you do now know there's no
Speaker 1: doubt that he could be the backup. But he lost
Speaker 1: himself some money exactly do you know? I have a
Speaker 1: chance to make some money here down the stretch. Not
Speaker 1: that I think it's like all based on these last
Speaker 1: couple of games, but I think playing well at the end.
Speaker 1: Here is going to help him. Mike White is gonna
Speaker 1: hurt himself. He could be back there as a backup.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I saw something which surprised me with the
Speaker 1: Jets will have the longest playoff less streak in American sports.
Speaker 1: If the Kings make it this year, and they look
Speaker 1: like a pretty good bet to make it, uh in
Speaker 1: the NBA, it would be disappointed just for the defense
Speaker 1: at the end of the season. You give up almost
Speaker 1: two hundred yards in the first quarter of this game,
Speaker 1: and then they they settled in. But it is hard
Speaker 1: to depend on defense totally and it's hard to have
Speaker 1: like a truly special defense week after week, just the
Speaker 1: way the rules are set up. And I think down
Speaker 1: the stretch they weren't enough. They weren't playing complimentary. There's
Speaker 1: something I keep hearing about the Jets, and it to
Speaker 1: me is a bit of a be careful um. Not
Speaker 1: that you have every option in the world, but it's like,
Speaker 1: if they can just get a quarterback who's vaguely competent,
Speaker 1: they'll be fine. It's like, no, you'll just be a team,
Speaker 1: all right, team with a vaguely competent quarterback, that's your ceiling.
Speaker 1: It's like the search must go on. I just think
Speaker 1: you cannot settle and that's all to be dissolved later.
Speaker 1: But a B minus quarterback away from going to the
Speaker 1: a f C title game. But again, when you have
Speaker 1: not been to the playoffs in twelve years, now get
Speaker 1: count that you just want to get to the playoffs again.
Speaker 1: And like this year especially is frustrating because you know Um,
Speaker 1: the whiff on the Zach Wilson evaluation and the decision
Speaker 1: to take him with a second overall pick Um has
Speaker 1: it's a huge setback for the organization that will continue
Speaker 1: uh to mushroom until they figure out how to properly
Speaker 1: move on. And I think they will entirely from him,
Speaker 1: which is almost unprecedented to see the reporting now that
Speaker 1: Joe Douglas, so that stuff all sounds like mythology until
Speaker 1: they have no other option. They want to have some
Speaker 1: leverage here, so they're gonna say that he might be
Speaker 1: in their plans next year. Obviously he's not their future anymore,
Speaker 1: and and we know that. But just the disappointment is
Speaker 1: you knew that this team, if they had a couple
Speaker 1: of things went their way, if they had got a
Speaker 1: little better health on their line and with Breee Hall
Speaker 1: and if the quarterback just played Okay, this is a
Speaker 1: playoff team this year. They should be the seventh seed,
Speaker 1: and yet they're on a five game losing streak and
Speaker 1: it's another big Jets collapse. This did not feel like
Speaker 1: the year this was gonna happen. That's why I locked
Speaker 1: the Jets up today because I thought everything we knew
Speaker 1: about and this is on Soliditu and the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and the defense. I thought they were gonna kind of
Speaker 1: rally around White and play really well in the spot
Speaker 1: against a fading Seattle team. The fact that they uh
Speaker 1: flatlined is very disappointing and a bad look for everyone
Speaker 1: involved and Greg. I I still think Solid is very
Speaker 1: safe job wise, even if next week goes poorly. But
Speaker 1: I think a head could roll, and maybe it's Michael Floor,
Speaker 1: their offensive coordinator. I don't know if I would agree
Speaker 1: with it, but they have four touchdowns in four weeks now.
Speaker 1: I hope, I really hope nothing happens in the a
Speaker 1: f C East. But I've learned doing this job it's
Speaker 1: all about ownership sometimes, and I don't trust the leadership
Speaker 1: in Miami or the Jets to handle a six game
Speaker 1: losing streak the way that the season will end for
Speaker 1: whichever team loses that game. So I think that's a
Speaker 1: big game and it's sort of the reverse, not that
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll would ever be in any trouble, but man,
Speaker 1: this is a monster win for the Seahawks to to
Speaker 1: to comfortably end there like losing streak, for their defense
Speaker 1: to play really well for a second straight week, to
Speaker 1: to shut to be able to run the ball on
Speaker 1: offense a yards on the ground like this. They've been
Speaker 1: collapsing too in the exact same way the Jets did.
Speaker 1: Now they get the Rams next week. If they can
Speaker 1: win that game, uh, give it to us. I mean, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: they need the Packers to lose to the Lions uh
Speaker 1: in Week eighteen, and otherwise they're eliminated. So they just
Speaker 1: need to win and they need the Packers to lose.
Speaker 1: It's pretty simple for them. They have the tiebreak over
Speaker 1: the Lions, so a Seahawks win over the Rams would
Speaker 1: also eliminate the Lions next week. There you go. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know if it's happened so many
Speaker 1: years in our own including literally every year we've done
Speaker 1: this podcast, but it's almost getting to the point where
Speaker 1: it doesn't hurt as much because I'm just so used
Speaker 1: to them crapping the bed when it matters. I can
Speaker 1: relate to that, you know, when I was doing the
Speaker 1: Browns thing like that one little playoff win that they
Speaker 1: had over the Steelers. I mean, it's been a train
Speaker 1: wreck since mattered a lot. It changed everything, and and
Speaker 1: it changed your complexion and your your what kind of
Speaker 1: hope you'd have going into the next season. If Greg
Speaker 1: this happens where Jets management decides to blame Robert Solo, frankly,
Speaker 1: even Mike Lafloor or any of these guys for what's
Speaker 1: happened at the quarterback position, that utter and total chaos
Speaker 1: they've dealt with, then I think you start building a
Speaker 1: binder of your own, Dan, because that would be massive mismanagement. No,
Speaker 1: and I I don't think will happen. But Douglas, Joe
Speaker 1: Douglas is somebody that's very interesting now with the Jets
Speaker 1: because he's now the equivalent of a baseball slugger who
Speaker 1: it's forty homers but strikes out two hundred times. The
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson miss is reverberating and it ruined their season.
Speaker 1: I don't want to put too much on one player,
Speaker 1: but it's quarterback and that's the way it is. I'm
Speaker 1: not having a backup. Well, that didn't help him either.
Speaker 1: I kind of did until Mike White turned into that.
Speaker 1: White was a great story until Bryan Costell the New
Speaker 1: York Post had a great lead today. It was like
Speaker 1: he went from Mike F and White to F and
Speaker 1: Mike White. All right, let's uh, I do not care
Speaker 1: what the watching post says. I still don't where are
Speaker 1: we at? Where are we at? Where are we at? Oh?
Speaker 1: Let's head to the team of a t L Onward
Speaker 1: and Upward takes the snap, looks left, now it comes
Speaker 1: back right. So that's up a screen got at the
Speaker 1: swift picks up a block at this one. Great for
Speaker 1: boarding on Watergate though. We just need to have that
Speaker 1: out there. You're right about that, you got this one.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can enjoy this at lace just team.
Speaker 1: I like to just listen to it. Dick Banks, one
Speaker 1: man house man. I wrote the song. See yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not the performer, no, but I get the royalties. How
Speaker 1: much money I've paid off the song? You like that?
Speaker 1: Jack anton Off of Around the NFL I just needs
Speaker 1: stupid hipster glasses. I've made seventeen million dollars on that
Speaker 1: song and royalties from this podcast. How long did how
Speaker 1: many drafts did that song go through? I mean, there's
Speaker 1: the great ones. They come to you in five minutes.
Speaker 1: I woke up from a dream and I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, it's poetry. The Lions are alive. What
Speaker 1: we're talking about the The Lions are alive. It's about me.
Speaker 1: The lines are alive because they just destroyed the Bears,
Speaker 1: which is not a huge achievement, but it's about me.
Speaker 1: Credit the Lions for doing something like, for instance, the
Speaker 1: Jets in it taking care of business with at one
Speaker 1: win at Ford Field the Lions, in case you forgot,
Speaker 1: we're left for data at one and six was it?
Speaker 1: And now they've won seven of nine there, eight and eight,
Speaker 1: and yes they can get back to the playoffs for
Speaker 1: the first time since two thousand sixteen. Heading into week eighteen,
Speaker 1: and Greggy, you're gonna tell us in a bit how
Speaker 1: that exactly happens. But let's start by talking about this game.
Speaker 1: How did they destroy the more a bunch of Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: They had a championship response and yes, it's championship response.
Speaker 1: I love it. I mean it's against the Bears, yes,
Speaker 1: but it's also the biggest game they've had in many years.
Speaker 1: The crowd was going but nanas before the game even started,
Speaker 1: and there immediately down seven nothing, and that first drive
Speaker 1: to me like the moment where I'm sweating the most
Speaker 1: because I locked up the Lions. I think was telling
Speaker 1: because two players in that drive, number one, third and ten,
Speaker 1: third player from offense, they blitz Goff. They do a
Speaker 1: good job moving him off the spot and he moves
Speaker 1: in the pocket, which I think he's done better this year,
Speaker 1: making a couple of plays where he has to move
Speaker 1: a little bit, calmly finds the open receiver after buying
Speaker 1: a little extra time on third and ten under pressure,
Speaker 1: keeps the drive going. Later in that drive fourth and four,
Speaker 1: I mentioned on this show last week I thought Dan
Speaker 1: Cambo blinked a little bit with his fourth down decisions
Speaker 1: in Carolina, didn't show that same hutzpah that he had
Speaker 1: been showing all season. First drive of this game, down
Speaker 1: seven nothing, goes for on fourth and four, they get
Speaker 1: a penalty, they get the touchdown, and off they went.
Speaker 1: Five hundred and four yards of offense, the only a
Speaker 1: loud at nine first downs. Defensively, this was a beating.
Speaker 1: I loved what one thing I love about what how
Speaker 1: Detroit adjusted in this game and got out of a fix.
Speaker 1: Was that early on and we were watching this, you know, together, Greg,
Speaker 1: I was more listening to you watching was happening. I mean,
Speaker 1: I I am, I'm a big I'm loving this line.
Speaker 1: I was watching justin fields though, and he looked like,
Speaker 1: because he tore them up on the ground the first
Speaker 1: time they met, it's not a good run defense. We
Speaker 1: know what happened a week ago, and twenty minutes into
Speaker 1: this in real time, it looked like one of those
Speaker 1: games from him, and Detroit might not have any way
Speaker 1: to stop this. After what happened we go, they tightened
Speaker 1: it up. I mean, it seemed like it got banged
Speaker 1: up at one point and they kind of de emphasized
Speaker 1: him on the ground. And then then then what happens
Speaker 1: to the Bears. Their leading receiver had twenty seven yards,
Speaker 1: so it's like they're so limited and they just can't
Speaker 1: if it's not him in the ground, they're done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he finished a hundred thirty two yards rushing. He's up
Speaker 1: over eleven hundred yards on the ground, but seven a
Speaker 1: he won Greggy for seventy yards through the year. So
Speaker 1: the Lions defense, yeah, is like but they're a run funnel,
Speaker 1: as the fantasy kids would say, which they're just begging
Speaker 1: teams to run against them. There. They were really bad
Speaker 1: run defense and that could hurt them against the Packers.
Speaker 1: But their pass rush was incredible today. The Bears lost
Speaker 1: to offensive lineman early. You're right, I think they got
Speaker 1: some breaks. Uh Fields got a little banged up at
Speaker 1: the end of the first quarter, and then he seemed
Speaker 1: a little more hesitant and then suddenly they were facing
Speaker 1: a big deficit in the end move but he they
Speaker 1: could not protect him. Seven sacks. Josh Pascal, who's a
Speaker 1: second round pick for them and didn't play most of
Speaker 1: this season, has entered the line up late in the
Speaker 1: season got a couple of sacks. James Houston, who still
Speaker 1: doesn't have a hundred snaps on the season and was
Speaker 1: playing for Dion Sanders last year, is up to seven
Speaker 1: and a half sacks and had a forced fumble in
Speaker 1: a key spot on fields. Aidan Hutchinson had a terrific
Speaker 1: game creating Havoc had a Sack had an intercept, an interception.
Speaker 1: The interception was amazing. It's like here these last week
Speaker 1: I know, well, I think that's to my point. I
Speaker 1: think when they can rush the passer, they're a good team.
Speaker 1: I think they're a good past even is a good
Speaker 1: pass rush right now. But they just can't stop the
Speaker 1: run and eventually the Bears and how do they before
Speaker 1: we move on, how do you how do you get
Speaker 1: to the playoffs? Detroit Lions. They are in the worst
Speaker 1: spot of the three NFC teams that are still alive.
Speaker 1: So it's down to Seattle green Bay in Detroit, green
Speaker 1: Bay winning in the Lions, as I mentioned, win and
Speaker 1: they need a Seattle loss, Seattle the Packers so that
Speaker 1: we'll we'll see that they're They're counting on the Rams
Speaker 1: to step up against Seattle. It's not impossible. But I
Speaker 1: do think no matter what, getting to Week eighteen with
Speaker 1: a chance to either make the playoffs or end the
Speaker 1: Packers season and end your season potentially on a win
Speaker 1: in a winning record, you can't tell me that that
Speaker 1: actually wouldn't be a better end of the season than
Speaker 1: getting blasted by the forty niners or something in the
Speaker 1: wild card round. And I think they have a lot
Speaker 1: to play for. No matter what I can, I push
Speaker 1: back because we we were aways, Like I'll push back
Speaker 1: on that that winning in Week eighteen would be better
Speaker 1: than a Lions team. If we're gonna talk about the
Speaker 1: Jets is being but it's gonna it's gonna mean a
Speaker 1: lot and give you a good feeling. And I mean
Speaker 1: I would much prefer the coaching staff and the players
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs and you deal with growing pains
Speaker 1: there and you learn front for the next year, because
Speaker 1: like this fan base has been through hell and back twice,
Speaker 1: making the playoffs is a massive organizational boost. Absolutely, that's
Speaker 1: the Bills. Remember when they had that long drought and
Speaker 1: they got there. Remember West was all fired up because
Speaker 1: he hated that Bill's team with Tyrod because Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: had that huge touchdown against the Ravens. Like, yes, the
Speaker 1: Bills weren't a great team that year, but that was
Speaker 1: an organizational stepping stone and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: they were a big time team. I hope the lines
Speaker 1: do make it. That would be fun. Did you get
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh is going to be amped up to knockout
Speaker 1: Seattle to Yeah? Seven, maybe get one one more big
Speaker 1: Baker game and it opens the door for Detroit seven
Speaker 1: and two in the last nine. Nice job. Let's hear
Speaker 1: from Dan Campbell before we take a break. It's just
Speaker 1: so special. Um, it's as good as it can get.
Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, you get to go to Lambeau, historic Lambeau,
Speaker 1: where the tops in this division has been Green Bay
Speaker 1: every year years and and to go earn your right,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, to potentially get in. Even if you
Speaker 1: do get that win doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get in,
Speaker 1: I know. And uh, and so I just think this
Speaker 1: is as special as it gets. I mean, I just
Speaker 1: don't think you'd want it any other way. Very cool,
Speaker 1: all right, let's take a break. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: All right, we're back, uh, we said earlier. The Lines
Speaker 1: haven't been to the playoffs since two thousand sixteen. There's
Speaker 1: another team that has not punched their ticket since. Let's
Speaker 1: head to the swampster Jersey the middle ends. He takes
Speaker 1: the snap, plays Jones rolled to his luck, gets a
Speaker 1: block from Tamisey for the five Jones races in touchdown
Speaker 1: giants sucking Ruster cuts down for Daniel Jones and let
Speaker 1: the party begin at MetLife Stadium. Indeed, Papa oh w
Speaker 1: f a n with the call. Daniel Jones threw two
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, ran for two touchdowns. That's four touchdowns for
Speaker 1: Mr Jones, and the Giants rolled over the completely like
Speaker 1: corpse like Indianapolis Colts thirty eight time. Remember Zach Keefer
Speaker 1: said a couple of months ago, Oh, yeah, they'll win
Speaker 1: one more game with Jeff Saturday as that coach. They're
Speaker 1: gonna do exactly that, and I think they've won. They
Speaker 1: gotta win next week. Then yeah, they beat the the
Speaker 1: bag Raiders the first game and it's lost out since anyway,
Speaker 1: Giants over Colts and the Giants do qualify for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Greg Uh, Listen, I'm not gonna take anything away from
Speaker 1: the Giants. They've they've had a nice schedule this year.
Speaker 1: They've had some things go their way. But it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter the fact that they in Brian Dables first year
Speaker 1: with that roster, with those injuries, to win nine games
Speaker 1: and get to the playoffs, big, big, big development for
Speaker 1: the Frenchise and they're playing their best ball right now.
Speaker 1: I think their last three weeks is their best three
Speaker 1: weeks stretch of the entire season. I think their offense
Speaker 1: is certainly playing their best of the entire season. And
Speaker 1: I love that Danny Dimes had a moment. I mean,
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have thought the way his career was going
Speaker 1: that he was gonna have a moment where Brian Dable
Speaker 1: very cool I thought, took him out in the middle
Speaker 1: of a drive in the fourth quarter, so he got
Speaker 1: the standing opation during the game NBA style, like when
Speaker 1: they're taking Tatum out after he started fifty. I loved it.
Speaker 1: Deable has done everything right this year, even that it
Speaker 1: was awesome and this was one of his best games ever.
Speaker 1: Daniels owns uh like his first touchdown I think showed
Speaker 1: his progression as a player, where he gets to his
Speaker 1: third read, he moves outside the pocket. He was very common.
Speaker 1: He finds the guy he's like making plays, and he's
Speaker 1: being very smart when he's doing it. And they're healthier,
Speaker 1: Hodgens and Bellinger's making some places. I think they've stabilized
Speaker 1: se Juan's running well. I actually do think they're a
Speaker 1: little better right now then I thought most of the
Speaker 1: rest of the season. Yeah, they did stabilize. Remember this
Speaker 1: seemed like a team that was free falling out of contention. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially especially when you when you were wondering if if
Speaker 1: Sae Kwon Barkley was going to finish the season. Um,
Speaker 1: even the shadow of himself, And and that has gotten better.
Speaker 1: And when you get this version of Daniel Jones and
Speaker 1: you have Brian Dable who works with Josh Allen. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that Daniel Jones is Josh Allen, but you
Speaker 1: get that power on the ground. That's when you get
Speaker 1: those games. And then you get se Kwon doing what
Speaker 1: he's doing, Like the Giants are a tough out, I
Speaker 1: realize you're playing the Cults. I will mention this about
Speaker 1: Zach Kieffer, by the way. He had a pretty um
Speaker 1: telling tweet today. He said, I've covered some bad teams
Speaker 1: in my years on this beat, teams that unexpectedly lost
Speaker 1: its starting quarterback before the season two. This is the
Speaker 1: worst Colts team of them all. And I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: he's been there for a long time. But like the
Speaker 1: plan also feels completely off the map. They're talking about
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday is a legit candidate. Um, I would spread
Speaker 1: a wide net. Sounds like there, by the way, because
Speaker 1: by even think the owner chef Saturday the owner likes.
Speaker 1: But that's the problem. My point is by floating that
Speaker 1: out there to the media, it makes it seem like
Speaker 1: the owner didn't really mess up because he's liked them
Speaker 1: enough that he'll be considered. But they'd be nuts. But
Speaker 1: I don't know what's going on about the cults. The
Speaker 1: better at this point, let's hear from se Kwon Barkley
Speaker 1: talking about Danny Dimes playing the biggest game in the
Speaker 1: biggest spot here his name, get chan it. Um. You
Speaker 1: know it's a beautiful thing and you can finally see
Speaker 1: he's saw a good of respect that he earns. Um.
Speaker 1: I know everyone want to be a big credit of
Speaker 1: him or say this, say that, but uh, he gave
Speaker 1: this opportunity to play playoff football and he lost it
Speaker 1: in today. Um, when we need a most, when we
Speaker 1: need him mostly came up and made big place. There
Speaker 1: you go. We need some money. One of the reasons
Speaker 1: I believe in the Giants more than I did. And
Speaker 1: it's all relative, but it's the defense. They got Zavian
Speaker 1: McKinney back, one of their best players in their secondary today.
Speaker 1: They got Dorri Jackson back their best cornerback today. Uh,
Speaker 1: their pass rush is healthier than it's been as he's
Speaker 1: a Gelari's back. Thibodeau had a great game. We can
Speaker 1: we can talk about his his celebration if you want.
Speaker 1: Dexter Lawrence Somewhere Dave Gettelman is watching this game and saying,
Speaker 1: how you like me now, Danny Dimes, Dexter Lawrence and say,
Speaker 1: Quon Barkley. I'm not all bad Giants fans, but all right,
Speaker 1: he's right. He found some players for them. There you go. No,
Speaker 1: the the Cavan thing, cave on our buddy, not our friend,
Speaker 1: and he'll be on the show one day. Um. He
Speaker 1: absolutely creamed Nick Foles. Who Nick Foles? Uh? Upset that
Speaker 1: he's injured. He as a rib injury, was knocked out
Speaker 1: of the game. Probably should have never been playing in
Speaker 1: the first place. I really struggled the way this season.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we'll see Nick Foles again. Period. Uh.
Speaker 1: He was doing a big time snow angel for ten
Speaker 1: twelve seconds as Falls was writhing in pay next to
Speaker 1: him about two feet away. I thought I even saw
Speaker 1: Cavan uh. And a lot of people pointed this on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Take a peek and see Falls there continued to do
Speaker 1: the snow angel. Uh some he got a lot of
Speaker 1: people got on him. Ryan Kelly Um of the Colts
Speaker 1: called it horse s Cavan claimed that he didn't see
Speaker 1: Folds there anyway. It's you know. He also jester, I
Speaker 1: didn't mind the celebration because he could either see him
Speaker 1: or not and you're down there doing it. But he
Speaker 1: did put it like put him to sleep sign over
Speaker 1: on the sideline while also played great, which is also
Speaker 1: he's one of the reasons that the Giants are where
Speaker 1: they are right now because he's been a successful pick,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. I mean I saw him waving
Speaker 1: his arms and he's tapping Foles at the side. I
Speaker 1: just I don't know if he saw him or not,
Speaker 1: Like we have to try rust him on that, but
Speaker 1: it was and it was a weird look because I
Speaker 1: think for me, when you have these hits where you
Speaker 1: have someone like Fuld, someone that we've seen go to
Speaker 1: the greatest possible heights and then he's on the ground
Speaker 1: writhing in pain and ended up being a rib injury.
Speaker 1: So but I don't know, that kind of stuff is
Speaker 1: like it makes you think differently about the sport in
Speaker 1: the general. And I agree about the Giants looking better
Speaker 1: than they have even when they were winning a lot
Speaker 1: of games earlier in the season. That's gonna be I know,
Speaker 1: you could say the Giants, it's not an exciting team
Speaker 1: that they're going to play a very close game again
Speaker 1: against the Vikings if they meet in the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: that probably rest their starters as we as we mentioned. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh nice lock. Yeah, this was probably my most successful
Speaker 1: lock of the whole year. The first time I've been
Speaker 1: able to sit back and be like, all right, they
Speaker 1: took care of business. Hear something, hear something, and I
Speaker 1: didn't hear anything. I mean, I mean, hey, it's I
Speaker 1: was in last place in the PIS competition. Hey, happy
Speaker 1: New Year, New You're justin a great job on the lock. Um.
Speaker 1: I wish I would have locked that New York team. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's keep moving. Let's head across the sidewalk
Speaker 1: to Sofi Stadium, Battle of Los Angeles. The whole he's through.
Speaker 1: It's a foot race. Ted Austin necklock touchstofs sharters seventy
Speaker 1: two yards, a new career law. Leonard Floyd giving it
Speaker 1: everything he's got. You're not gonna catch Austin Ekeler Matt
Speaker 1: money Smith going into the Hall of Fame. The around
Speaker 1: the NFL Hall of Fame, do you ever get like
Speaker 1: an exhibit somewhere? Yeah, he would be front and center.
Speaker 1: He's getting like a whole glassed in portion and and
Speaker 1: his partner is broadcasting. People put the exhibit on Mark's desk.
Speaker 1: He has nothing else on the desk, so there's if
Speaker 1: something would happen chaotically. I don't want any possessions here
Speaker 1: that matter money and Daniel Jeremiah with the all K
Speaker 1: Y s R. Yes, Austin Ekeler again, if you have
Speaker 1: passed on him in your fantasy draft? Has I I? No?
Speaker 1: I did to take Jonathan Taylor. Oh you're eating dirt,
Speaker 1: because he's had another huge season and he led the
Speaker 1: way in a thirty one ten whipping by the Chargers
Speaker 1: of the Rams, the defending champions. Fault of five and eleven.
Speaker 1: Not a lot on the line in this game, the
Speaker 1: Rams obviously just playing for pride and the Chargers pretty
Speaker 1: much locked in. I believe Greg in the a f
Speaker 1: C am I correct about that at ten and six.
Speaker 1: Now do you have a chance as we're taping this?
Speaker 1: Uh wish i'd inside it too late. Now could tease
Speaker 1: though for later. Yeah, anyway, thirty one ten, Eckler goes
Speaker 1: for a hundred and twenty two UM on the ground
Speaker 1: thirty nine through uh the air game, Herbert Herbert has
Speaker 1: a very steady performance. Who watched this game? Who was
Speaker 1: on this game? Grave Digger? I watched this game. I
Speaker 1: will say this was a sensational game for Mike Williams
Speaker 1: and Austin Ekeler. Austin Ekeler was at one point in
Speaker 1: the third quarter was averaging fourteen yards per carry. I
Speaker 1: think he finished with like um, I mean, you could
Speaker 1: have touched the ball more. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: the starters for the Chargers were out of this game
Speaker 1: with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter because it
Speaker 1: was wrapped up and they got to preserve these guys
Speaker 1: fair playoff game. There you go. I think this matters.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the first time they scored thirty plus
Speaker 1: since Week five, and we're waiting to see the Chargers
Speaker 1: kind of flex their muscles and not be It's the
Speaker 1: same talking point every week, like why isn't Joe Lombardi
Speaker 1: doing X, Y and Z with Justin Herbert? Why are
Speaker 1: they so sort of hemmed in and truncated. It's like,
Speaker 1: go blow someone's doors off. They've won four straight games.
Speaker 1: All the things that we expect out of the Chargers
Speaker 1: to slip up not happening. Joe, their injury luck getting better.
Speaker 1: Joe Mosa played in this game, returned even a week
Speaker 1: earlier than expected, might have Ragons later back for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They are the team I wouldn't feel comfortable with if
Speaker 1: you're one of those top team is in the in
Speaker 1: the first round. And we'll get into the Chargers more
Speaker 1: later in the week. Good job by l A. Anything
Speaker 1: else to add I don't think. So Let's move elsewhere
Speaker 1: in the a f C West where the Broncos and
Speaker 1: Chiefs are supposed to play a huge Week seventeen game. Uh. Instead,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a huge game, but the Chiefs still had
Speaker 1: to take care of business, did they. Now for the
Speaker 1: right four arm of Russell Wilson, and he's gonna be here.
Speaker 1: Chris Jones got Now he gets rid of the ball
Speaker 1: and knocked down but picked up by the Chiefs in
Speaker 1: a minute thirteen to go in the game. Chris Jones
Speaker 1: just took the game in his own hands. Big play
Speaker 1: there sneaky big play for UH. The Chiefs who got
Speaker 1: into him straight up battle with the Broncos and went
Speaker 1: down to the last drive and Chris Jones makes the
Speaker 1: play sacking Russell Wilson to ensure a win. UH for
Speaker 1: Kansas City. UM. That keeps the Chiefs in the mix
Speaker 1: for the number one seed in the a f C.
Speaker 1: At thirteen and three. The Broncos have now lost fifteen
Speaker 1: straight games to the Chiefs. How about that? How about that? UM?
Speaker 1: This was a game from the chief side of it.
Speaker 1: That was a big play for a young defense. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a good test there at the at
Speaker 1: the end, they needed to make the stop and they
Speaker 1: got it done. So I know Andy Reid obviously, UH
Speaker 1: is looking at that as another positive sign as January
Speaker 1: comes around. UM, Russell Uh. Patrick Mahomes went over five
Speaker 1: thousand yards passing once again, which is just amazing. He
Speaker 1: does it almost effortlessly. UM. He also threw an end
Speaker 1: zone pick, missed a gimme deep ball touchdown pass. UM.
Speaker 1: I think Greg He's gonna probably win m v P.
Speaker 1: But I think maybe it's just me. But sometimes when
Speaker 1: I'm watching him, I don't see him locked in as
Speaker 1: in some other Pat Mahomes years, or it's just like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, Uh, this guy's out of his mind.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there are those slip ups, but in general, Uh,
Speaker 1: he had another very good game and they took care
Speaker 1: of business. Althose quite a battle here. I think it's
Speaker 1: worst stretch of the season since December started. Not that
Speaker 1: it's been bad, but you lose to the Bengals, you struggle.
Speaker 1: You know, he played well in that first Broncos game,
Speaker 1: but that ended up being a shootout where where you
Speaker 1: don't score any in the second half. You struggle with
Speaker 1: the Texans. Uh, last week was a struggle offensively, and
Speaker 1: then this game is close. It just feels like the
Speaker 1: same Chief stuff. I don't know what to think about it.
Speaker 1: But you end up with forty six yards rushing and
Speaker 1: then your special teams is bad week after week. And
Speaker 1: I and I know Chiefs fans have been saying it
Speaker 1: a lot, like special teams is going to get this
Speaker 1: team killed. And they keep winning these close games and
Speaker 1: a lot of the reason why they're close is because
Speaker 1: their special teams let them down. Yeah, they had a
Speaker 1: botched a fumbled punt baked Arias Tony. They had a
Speaker 1: botched snap um on an extra point attempt, so they
Speaker 1: just you know, it's another misfield goal. I hate the
Speaker 1: consistently though. It's it's it's annoying. Yeah, it's something that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wonder if they're going to try to address in
Speaker 1: the off season. But that's you know, that is not
Speaker 1: the time. Jack McKinnon, by the way, has made history
Speaker 1: here is fifth receiving touch on five consecutive games as
Speaker 1: a running back. So that's that's interesting. So it's they
Speaker 1: are getting production out of their backfield, even if it's
Speaker 1: not in a traditional way. Um on the Denver side,
Speaker 1: I thought Russell Wilson was better his two of his
Speaker 1: best games of the season or against the Chiefs. But
Speaker 1: in very uh two thousand twenty two now two thousand
Speaker 1: twenty three russ form, he kind of killed them with
Speaker 1: a really bad interception that led to a Kansas City
Speaker 1: score in the second half. That kind of set the
Speaker 1: tone for this game shifting in addition to taking the
Speaker 1: sack with the game on the line, so kind of
Speaker 1: more the same and that. But you did get for
Speaker 1: the Broncos, what's the in term, coach Jerry Rossberg, Um,
Speaker 1: you did get that post firing bump from the team
Speaker 1: that played very hard to the end. Ultimately that came
Speaker 1: up short. I mean, Russell Wilson. If you want to
Speaker 1: try to sell it to the next potential coach, good
Speaker 1: luck with that duty. First of all. But against the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: your most important divisional opponent. He's got four d and
Speaker 1: sixty nine yards, four touchdowns, two picks. Also four eight
Speaker 1: four yards on the ground with two touchdowns against Kansas
Speaker 1: City and seven quarters because Brett Rippian played a quarter,
Speaker 1: but rippy and ripping. It's every well, I say Rippyan,
Speaker 1: but that's but that's disrespectful to the man that's a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl m v P. I'll think about I'll think
Speaker 1: about altering that. But that's how Dan has different pronunciations
Speaker 1: for your first name sometimes that you don't an appreciate that.
Speaker 1: One of Chris Wesley's favorite players on defense for years
Speaker 1: was Justin Simmons. He loved this safety combo. Justin Simmons
Speaker 1: has been a beast this year. Six interception and this
Speaker 1: doesn't quite qualify as developing news, um, but the Broncos
Speaker 1: have already reached out to Jim Harbaugh. Uh the fields
Speaker 1: for a team that's gonna do the old thing where
Speaker 1: they go from the guy that was way too nice
Speaker 1: and soft too. That the hardass hardball. They're gonna spend
Speaker 1: a lot of money. It's Walmart money. That makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. I'm not saying it's gonna be the
Speaker 1: right move hardballs. He wears out flirtations with the Jets
Speaker 1: too over the years, something to keep in mind. The
Speaker 1: Washington Post about that, and also mentioned Sean Payton and
Speaker 1: Dan Quinn. I just I don't know. I just I
Speaker 1: think this is a weird job. It's obsessively weird. It's
Speaker 1: a weird job. Oh you know what else is weird?
Speaker 1: I love this interaction between Adam ar Chiletta, whose voice
Speaker 1: I believe you'll hear first here, and Greg Gumbel, his
Speaker 1: partner in the booth for CBS. You never want to
Speaker 1: take a helmet to the Crotchell region, but crotche yes,
Speaker 1: that's uh, it's medical term. Being helped off the field
Speaker 1: is number twenty seven to Maori Mathis. I first heard
Speaker 1: that from my good friend Ron Burgundy. Wait wait wait, wait,
Speaker 1: so Mathis helped off the you what what really sold
Speaker 1: it for me was that long, uncomfortable, pregnant pause. Because
Speaker 1: Greg gumble does not know who the hell Ron Burgundy
Speaker 1: is what that is. And so he just just quiet
Speaker 1: and Archi Letta just hangs. He just leaves Archelletta hanging
Speaker 1: to die there. I've had a lot of games where
Speaker 1: the two of them are doing their thing, and sometimes
Speaker 1: Chetta may have some complaints off the air about the
Speaker 1: lack of chemistry potentially. Let's take a break. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back, all right, welcome back. Let's uh wrap up
Speaker 1: the afternoon games ahead of the Sunday night football, starting
Speaker 1: with Jags Texans AFC South. For all the marbles, not
Speaker 1: even a single marble. He didn't open field forty. Anybody
Speaker 1: have marbles anymore? What is the state of marbles? And
Speaker 1: what a great job the offensive line of opening up
Speaker 1: a huge cavalry Travis roll them all the way to
Speaker 1: the end zone. It's kind of okay, It's like your
Speaker 1: internal monologue like interrupts every one of these calls. Frank Frangie,
Speaker 1: Uh with the call w O k V. That was Travis.
Speaker 1: Travis a t N with a sixty two yard touchdown.
Speaker 1: He had a buck oh eight and a score before halftime,
Speaker 1: and then he was done. They pulled him. Same thing
Speaker 1: with Trevor Lawrence got him out of the game, didn't
Speaker 1: matter the game for the Jaguars who were playing for
Speaker 1: the a f C South, Or did we establish that
Speaker 1: it actually did kind of matter. They can still get
Speaker 1: the wild card whatever. They took care of business thirty
Speaker 1: one through him, like Ron Rivera. Now, who am I
Speaker 1: to judge Jacksonville's eight and eight first place in the
Speaker 1: a f C South. They'll win the division for the
Speaker 1: first time since Mark with a win over the Tennessee
Speaker 1: Titans next Sunday. The Titans have lost six straight. Of course,
Speaker 1: there were whispers out there like could the Jaguars decide
Speaker 1: to yank everyone because of the nature of next week's games?
Speaker 1: And I just loved Doug Peterson basically sat, no one
Speaker 1: went in and then they on reverse got to pull
Speaker 1: a bunch of people playing in the game and they
Speaker 1: got the rest. I don't think he is anymore, not
Speaker 1: after this. No. He famously was upset that the front
Speaker 1: office made him sit his quarterback when he was the
Speaker 1: coach of the Eagles, and he was saying, I think, pointedly,
Speaker 1: this week, every game matters, and I believe in that
Speaker 1: that in this scenario, at least where it's a young team,
Speaker 1: who's seven and eight. It's not like they've earned like
Speaker 1: let's like take off to keep it going. They have
Speaker 1: to feel like they have a lot of confidence right now,
Speaker 1: and it's because every part of the team is really contributing,
Speaker 1: like their running game, their defense, like everything's been really
Speaker 1: clean lately. I think they're feeling great. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: They're explosive. After that e t n sixty two yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: they flipped around and you know, the Texans have been
Speaker 1: playing well in recent weeks and putting up a fight,
Speaker 1: but Davis Mills had a sort of a wayward backward
Speaker 1: passed that fluttered, was picked up by Tyson Campbell. Was
Speaker 1: suddenly twenty one nothing and it's like this thing's over.
Speaker 1: Like when the Texans are bad, the really bad. But
Speaker 1: it has to do with the fact that, like to
Speaker 1: your point, Greg, when the when the Jacksonville Jaguars operate
Speaker 1: in complete fashion like this, they're scary. I would rather
Speaker 1: play other teams that maybe would have a higher seed
Speaker 1: in the playoffs the Jacksonville right now. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's in the log zone, but the Jaguars,
Speaker 1: make no mistake, they're gonna boat race the tight. It's
Speaker 1: not in at least the today though I checked the
Speaker 1: early Oh there we go, Jack, Hello Grever, it's a
Speaker 1: six and a half point spread right now. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: today it was lock where the yeah yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, I got you yea week huh, well that
Speaker 1: was that was three smart? Mark? Are you nervous? But
Speaker 1: great job? Are you nervous about our game next week? Mark?
Speaker 1: Which game? Our Titans? Fans of myself? You you literally
Speaker 1: had me removed as a fan on Twitter. So let's
Speaker 1: let's move to I do want to up the scenario
Speaker 1: you brought about. So if the Jaguars lose next week,
Speaker 1: they could still potentially be the wild card. If Miami loses,
Speaker 1: possible Buffalo beats the Patriots happening, and as long as
Speaker 1: the Steelers don't finish this season on a long winning streak,
Speaker 1: they just have to lose one of very possible Steelers play.
Speaker 1: So this game did matter for Jacksonville on some level.
Speaker 1: Uh and uh. They took care of business in a
Speaker 1: way that the Chiefs and the Cowboys couldn't against the
Speaker 1: Texans and the Texans, good job for the Texans. Stay
Speaker 1: right where you are, take some mils and and get
Speaker 1: that number one overall pick and the Jags I would say, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'd want them as the seventh seed over um, any
Speaker 1: other team that's in the mix right now. But then
Speaker 1: you would have a Jags team coming off a loss
Speaker 1: to the Titans in Week eighteen and the Titans host.
Speaker 1: Now want any of that? I want Jaguars over half
Speaker 1: the teams you just mentioned. I want. I wanted just
Speaker 1: to see the Dobbs family reaction to him making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Will they react? Will they not? Guys, the doors on
Speaker 1: the commissary upstairs closed with our free dinner. We don't
Speaker 1: wrap this up, so let's head to Atlanta. People need
Speaker 1: to know the real world steaks. But I'm doing my
Speaker 1: kicker rankings during Monday Night Football and during the during
Speaker 1: the call at this game. People wait for that tweet
Speaker 1: all year. The old zusers kicker ratings will be done
Speaker 1: during the Monday night football telecast. Keep your eyes on Twitter,
Speaker 1: all right, People go nuts and talking during every radio.
Speaker 1: Now I'm just doing it for West Durham with the call.
Speaker 1: Apologies to Wes w z g C. Good call. Young
Speaker 1: Wake Coup hit the field goal at the gun. He's
Speaker 1: been doing that the last couple of years, and the
Speaker 1: Alkins take care of I lost my train of thought
Speaker 1: on this one. They take care of the Arizona Cardinals
Speaker 1: twenty to nineteen. So the Falcons moved to six and ten.
Speaker 1: Obviously they're eliminated. The Cardinals now four and twelve. This
Speaker 1: was the only game of the week that had no
Speaker 1: playoff ramifications. Anybody have a thought it did have David Blow,
Speaker 1: who you know is a friend of the show. To
Speaker 1: sound degree, I'm not sure he knows that um two
Speaker 1: two yards a touchdown, no picks, just read in a
Speaker 1: box score over there. Yeah, because I have not yet
Speaker 1: had a chance to observe this as closely as I would,
Speaker 1: but I cannot wait to play. I think he played
Speaker 1: pretty well and I think it's another chance. Ritter looks
Speaker 1: like he makes takes a little steps every week. Also,
Speaker 1: David but also had two carries for seven yards. He
Speaker 1: is a player three and a half yards and carry
Speaker 1: not a not a great average, but also not embarrassing.
Speaker 1: Arizona is still in the four seat. You know, if
Speaker 1: the number four pick right now, Atlanta went back a
Speaker 1: couple of spots with this win at six. I did
Speaker 1: want one more win. If this is going to be
Speaker 1: the end of the Cliff Kingsbury era, just for hard
Speaker 1: knocks sake. They're trying hard every week and they just
Speaker 1: can't get it done. Another nice performance by your guy,
Speaker 1: Tyler Algiers. So something positive for the Falcons that they
Speaker 1: have a really nice backfield tandem there with Cordil Patterson.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I think, like two months ago it
Speaker 1: would not wasn't really getting much notice. But I think
Speaker 1: he's the leading rookie rusher right now. There you go.
Speaker 1: Doesn't help that he saw he saw it way ahead
Speaker 1: of that. He has more than ken You actually, um
Speaker 1: when I first mentioned him, you looked at his yards
Speaker 1: per carry on the season and told me that the
Speaker 1: whole thing was a joke. And it's like, look where
Speaker 1: we are now. That's called scouting, Greg. Can we also
Speaker 1: say that Breese All would have won the rushing title
Speaker 1: if you blow no doubt about it, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And I still I'm upset about that. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: an anti Breefe Hall take. I know, I know, but
Speaker 1: it did stir up more negative emotions about my personal
Speaker 1: fan experience. Anyway, Congratulations to the Atlanta Falcons on the victory.
Speaker 1: Let's now move to the final game of the day,
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football from Baltimore Steelers Ravens. Let's go pick
Speaker 1: it wants the staff, He's got it. Back to pass,
Speaker 1: looking left under pressure, gets away, throws left side tad
Speaker 1: touchdown Pittsburgh. It's nausea Harris. Kenny pick An escape pick
Speaker 1: pressure and finds Harris with a touchdown. Pittsburgh has taken
Speaker 1: the lead. Second touchdown catch of the year for Harris,
Speaker 1: and now Boswell's extra point is up and good and
Speaker 1: with fifties six seconds to go, the Steelers lead sixteen thirteen.
Speaker 1: What a drive put together by Kenny Picking of the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers. How about that Bill hill Grove with the
Speaker 1: called w d V For the second week in a row,
Speaker 1: their young rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett leads the Steelers to
Speaker 1: a dramatic fourth quarter comeback win. This time. Yes, his
Speaker 1: connection to Naja Harris, who had a huge game in
Speaker 1: his own right the difference in a sixteen thirteen win
Speaker 1: for the Steelers over the Ravens that keeps the Steelers
Speaker 1: in playoff consideration and and really sticks it to the
Speaker 1: ribs of the Ravens. Who still going to the dance
Speaker 1: at ten and six, but they had this one greggy,
Speaker 1: but pick It once again shows he's got a little
Speaker 1: something to him. And then the defense getting the pick
Speaker 1: of Ty Huntley to close it out. He's got some
Speaker 1: hood spot. This whole Steelers team does. They're they're fun
Speaker 1: at least, they're playing their best at the end and
Speaker 1: like all these other teams trying to get the seven seats,
Speaker 1: and when we're in the film room watching this game
Speaker 1: and they get the ball, we all sort of thought
Speaker 1: they're gonna go down the field and go win the
Speaker 1: game right now. And that's exactly what he did. And
Speaker 1: it didn't do it on these simple players. That's the
Speaker 1: thing with pick It. He can be quiet for a
Speaker 1: lot of the game. But the nice place he makes
Speaker 1: a really nice rolling to the left on that play
Speaker 1: to start the drive out of structure. Then the ball
Speaker 1: up the seam was a beautiful throw, and then the touchdown.
Speaker 1: Those are three awesome throws on one drive. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was the he has a legit connection with at Firemouth.
Speaker 1: That was a twenty yard game. Steven sims out of
Speaker 1: nowhere that yard er at fourth and one picket converts
Speaker 1: with the push the butt thing that everyone's doing with
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks, You push the buttocks. And then that incredible
Speaker 1: throw to Naji Harris where it was Roquan Smith nearly
Speaker 1: had him, and it's like it took so much for
Speaker 1: any quarterback to do what he did on that play,
Speaker 1: to escape it, to see the field, to make the
Speaker 1: perfect throw and an incredible catch by Nazi Harris, and
Speaker 1: it's again, it's these Steelers that are all on their
Speaker 1: first rookie contracts, growing together as a group, and this
Speaker 1: team that was such a mess at one point in
Speaker 1: this season, they were two and six after getting flattened
Speaker 1: by the Dolphins and Eagles, went into the by came out,
Speaker 1: smashed the Saints and really have not been the same
Speaker 1: team since because you've seen their offense, which in the
Speaker 1: earlier part of the year, the offensive line couldn't keep
Speaker 1: anyone healthy. The running game was a mess. They were
Speaker 1: just you know, it was like I was going off
Speaker 1: on Matt Cannon on our Thursday show, and here we
Speaker 1: are their running game looks Steve ers Esk and it's
Speaker 1: just like it's it is an incredible coaching job. They
Speaker 1: ran for nearly two yards on the ground again, and
Speaker 1: Chris collins Worth was pumping up Harris saying it's the
Speaker 1: best game he's seen from him in the NFL. Jalen
Speaker 1: Warren's a really another really nice second banana in terms
Speaker 1: of their backfield. And I know this gets thrown around
Speaker 1: in an annoying way sometimes, especially when talking about quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: but Kenny Pickett, he's poised, like in these moments, you
Speaker 1: could tell he's completely under control and uh, hitting those
Speaker 1: type of throws when there's that much on the line.
Speaker 1: The season is literally on the line there for the
Speaker 1: Steelers really tells you a lot about him and it
Speaker 1: makes you feel h much the way I think the
Speaker 1: way And this also shows how things can change so
Speaker 1: quickly in the NFL. Not that the story is written
Speaker 1: about mac Jones, but how Patriots fans and the Patriots
Speaker 1: might have felt about mac Jones last year when he
Speaker 1: was making big plays and leading his team as a rookie.
Speaker 1: Pickets the kind of that guy this year where it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's not jumping off the page like Justin Herbert or
Speaker 1: something as a rookie, but there seems like they have
Speaker 1: something here in a well run organization might have identified
Speaker 1: a quarterback who can really develop over the years here,
Speaker 1: and that they're all getting better together, not just the
Speaker 1: running game you mentioned. And I really like Jalen Warren.
Speaker 1: He's good in the offensive line. Like that's a group
Speaker 1: that stayed together even though they don't look good on paper.
Speaker 1: And all these games are so low scoring that it
Speaker 1: seems like the offenses stink and they're they're not great,
Speaker 1: but part of it is just they hold the ball
Speaker 1: forever and they they're these slow offenses. There were three
Speaker 1: drives each for each team in the first half, so
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of stops. There's just a lot
Speaker 1: of like seven minute long field goal drives by. But
Speaker 1: the way that Chris Consworth said t J. Watt kind
Speaker 1: of felt himself more this week, I think that showed up.
Speaker 1: He hasn't really done a lot, even though the defense
Speaker 1: has been playing better. So going into next week now
Speaker 1: the Browns, we won't know the schedule until Monday, the
Speaker 1: NFL tells us, but we were talking about it with
Speaker 1: some people that are smarter than us producer types. They
Speaker 1: really think Steelers game will be a set. I just
Speaker 1: mean in terms of TV schedules. They kind of had
Speaker 1: a feel of it. Craig throws you and I also
Speaker 1: under the bus from a sit down. I'm host a
Speaker 1: podcast and see how smart thing I wasn't speaking with them,
Speaker 1: so they go, I'm not sure we were really thinking
Speaker 1: about the Saturday schedule audience show. Yeah, Steelers probably a
Speaker 1: Saturday game. It's that most likely because that is a
Speaker 1: game that they can a good game. Because we have
Speaker 1: Saturday games. That is another question. But we do have
Speaker 1: two Saturday games. What are we doing with the schedule
Speaker 1: this year? They want to keep you taking that ibuprofen
Speaker 1: the headache medicine that you're dealing with headache medicine. Disappointing
Speaker 1: loss for the Ravens to the very conservative. They're fading hard.
Speaker 1: They're fading hard, and like we said, uh Lamar Jackson's
Speaker 1: miss four games now with a knee injury. They need
Speaker 1: him back, obviously, Ty Huntley, he can't really play the guitar.
Speaker 1: He's a nice backup, but when they needed him, they
Speaker 1: had some time to get down the field with the
Speaker 1: best kicker that's ever lived waiting on the sideline, and
Speaker 1: he made a couple like suspect throws, including the interception
Speaker 1: that where he forced it into cover Ridge. Uh, and
Speaker 1: we like, we're Cam Hayward fans. We love Kemyward. Cam
Speaker 1: Heyward we met over the summer. He came to this
Speaker 1: UH offices here and we got to talk to him.
Speaker 1: It seemed like a really like gentle giant type UH
Speaker 1: and one of the great defensive lineman in the sport. UH.
Speaker 1: He almost got a goat horn down this one on
Speaker 1: what I thought was a fugazz he call at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half that gave the Ravens set
Speaker 1: the Ravens up for their only touchdown in this game.
Speaker 1: So I was happy and and NBC had the uh
Speaker 1: good thought to keep the camera trained on him during
Speaker 1: that last drive because that would have been the story
Speaker 1: around Hayward and the personal foul and that pile up
Speaker 1: late in the first half. So I'm glad that didn't
Speaker 1: become the story. This is a way better story the
Speaker 1: way it ended it. It is, And I love how
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin told the NBC crew about their troubles and
Speaker 1: how they got out and we don't die, We multiply,
Speaker 1: that's Mike. So Mike Tomlin estimate Nameless Gray Faces, that
Speaker 1: old hit from yesteryear. This Steelers team, I told you
Speaker 1: a couple weeks ago they were gonna win out and
Speaker 1: they're gonna do it. What nameless gray phrase. That's when
Speaker 1: they with called the Cleveland Browns nameless gray faces, then
Speaker 1: got their butts kicked. Doesn't always work. It's great when
Speaker 1: they're a different type of teams. When we talked about
Speaker 1: Tomlin might save this over five hundred streak, I don'tn't
Speaker 1: think anyone really believe two at six. It was just
Speaker 1: something to talk about. Recember and U and they are
Speaker 1: not moving to Saturday. We've got developing news. We've got
Speaker 1: a Saturday announcement at least perfect and I like what
Speaker 1: the NFL has done here developing news here justin we
Speaker 1: got Jared Stidman. An Island game Chiefs Raiders is going
Speaker 1: to be the early game Saturday, Chiefs will be playing
Speaker 1: for some sort of seating and uh Saturday night game.
Speaker 1: I like the compromise they made here. They're putting Titans
Speaker 1: Jags on Saturday night because they don't wanna put it
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, but they don't want to totally Sunday football.
Speaker 1: That is the ideal solution. There's no other scenario right
Speaker 1: there is, But because I think they're waiting to see
Speaker 1: what happens with these Bills. This Bills game, and I
Speaker 1: think that'll be the game. But I'm our ay annoyed
Speaker 1: Seahawks fans. Don't don't die on this hill that this
Speaker 1: is so unfair to you to put Lions Packers Sunday night.
Speaker 1: This is an entertainment product. It's the most entertaining game,
Speaker 1: and the Lions are gonna try their hardest to win
Speaker 1: no matter what the situation is. I like, I just
Speaker 1: don't think scolding. I don't like in favor of his
Speaker 1: new base and fans. He's now scolding the Seahawks fans,
Speaker 1: which four hours ago he was like, I could see.
Speaker 1: I love the Seahawks. I think the Seahawks might make
Speaker 1: the playoffs and that the Lions will help them out.
Speaker 1: Have some faith in the Lions that they can still
Speaker 1: beat the Packers. I don't think the results of earlier
Speaker 1: games are gonna sway the Campbell Lions. All right, good stuff,
Speaker 1: good stuff. Um, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers, finally out
Speaker 1: of the QB Wilderness after zero years. So there, Um,
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Monday Night. The Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: Final with Chris Westling's brother, Nick, who sounds just like
Speaker 1: Chris if you want to get a little like nostalgic. Plus,
Speaker 1: Nick's a very entertaining man in his own right. Great analyst.
Speaker 1: Great see Cincinnati Bengals against the Buffalo Bills Monday Night Football.
Speaker 1: That's how you close a slate. You gotta stick the
Speaker 1: landing on that one. Greggy blow that recap Troy me Nick,
Speaker 1: All the big names do not blow that. Nick likes
Speaker 1: to point out, Um, you know, this show has really
Speaker 1: taken off since he's joined the Monday night show, the
Speaker 1: preview show with his locks. He's not wrong. And then
Speaker 1: we'll be back Tuesday with another episode with the gang altogether.
Speaker 1: So thank you everybody for listening. Happy New Year, Happy
Speaker 1: new Year, another year around the NFL podcast. It's happening.
Speaker 1: It's all happening, Tillman and Night Football. He'd the call
Speaker 1: s