Speaker 1: What's good.
Speaker 2: This is Justin Jefferson with the Minnesota Vikings, and this
Speaker 2: is the NFL Reporter.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, welcome to the NFL Report.
Speaker 4: I'm Steve Whitson, the guy James Palmer, and Justin Jefferson's
Speaker 4: gonna be catching passes.
Speaker 3: From another quarterback this week.
Speaker 4: As rookie Jaron Hall is gonna be starting for the Vikings. JP, Well,
Speaker 4: if we have a huge show. We've got Dame Davis,
Speaker 4: the wide receiver for the red hot Buffalo Bills. This
Speaker 4: is gonna be awesome. We've got our own Brian Baldinger.
Speaker 4: We're gonna talk a lot about the Chiefs offensive woes,
Speaker 4: but of course bald He's got plenty in store. Jane
Speaker 4: Slater talking about the Cowboys big game with the Lions
Speaker 4: and Leslie Frasier boydes he has some insight on how
Speaker 4: to finish out a season as a head coach, JP.
Speaker 5: I love it.
Speaker 6: I love it, and as a couple of teams are
Speaker 6: trying to finish out this season. Steve with a Super
Speaker 6: Bowl victory. They were the two number one seeds, the
Speaker 6: forty nine ers in the NFC and the Ravens in
Speaker 6: the AFC.
Speaker 7: I said going in that game last week that.
Speaker 6: Lamar Jackson was the X factor, Lamar Jackson was going
Speaker 6: to be the best player on the field.
Speaker 7: Well, Rokwan Smith.
Speaker 6: After Lamar Jackson and the Ravens just dismantled the forty
Speaker 6: nine Ers made sure everybody knew who in his mind
Speaker 6: who the MVP of the NFL is right now?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, and our quarterback.
Speaker 8: I think if anybody watched the game, if anybody watched
Speaker 8: football this season and watched the Baltimore Ravens, they know
Speaker 8: for a fact Lamar Jackson is the MVP hands down,
Speaker 8: anyone that watches football and no football, and to see
Speaker 8: the type of impact he has on the game, not
Speaker 8: even like stat wise, but just individually, like the plays
Speaker 8: that he may quarter in and quarter out, play in
Speaker 8: and play out. Compare his film to anyone else in
Speaker 8: the league, and then I would love to hear what
Speaker 8: anyone else has to say after.
Speaker 7: That strong statement.
Speaker 6: And I love it, Steve, you just out of that game,
Speaker 6: right of them, just absolutely going and owning. The forty
Speaker 6: nine Ers. Now face Miami in Week seventeen. They win
Speaker 6: this game, they get the number one seed, they get
Speaker 6: to buy get the home field. What do we see
Speaker 6: heading into this game against the Dolphins team that went
Speaker 6: out and made a statement of their own against the Cowboys.
Speaker 6: But where do things stand in your eyes with the
Speaker 6: Baltimore Ravens JAP.
Speaker 4: I mean, I know Lamar is that dude, right, he
Speaker 4: is the MVP of the NFL right now. But this
Speaker 4: is a game with the Ravens defense. That's what won
Speaker 4: the game for them against the forty nine.
Speaker 3: Ers, right, they won up front. They want the second level.
Speaker 4: Some linebackers you talked about, I mean Patrick Queen and
Speaker 4: Roquand Smith were amazing in that game. And then their
Speaker 4: secondary right that is going to be so hugely important
Speaker 4: against the Dolphins because we know they like to throw
Speaker 4: the ball, try to hit the explosive play. But safety
Speaker 4: Kyle Hamilton, and this is what I'm watching, he did
Speaker 4: not practice Wednesday.
Speaker 3: He is very iffy with a knee.
Speaker 4: Now that we've seen the Ravens do some things when
Speaker 4: they had the you know, replay safeties and dbs and
Speaker 4: the way they can switch things up. But if Hamilton
Speaker 4: is not on that field, that is going to open
Speaker 4: some things up for the Dolphins in this passing game.
Speaker 4: Because you know Hamilton, we saw him there with some
Speaker 4: pressures on that video. He can come down in the run,
Speaker 4: help out into them that explosive run game the Dolphins have.
Speaker 4: He can play deep and manned as he have range
Speaker 4: on the underneath stuff. So to me, James, that is
Speaker 4: a huge, huge peg for the Ravens going into this game,
Speaker 4: even though the Dolphins might not have Jalen Wada wide
Speaker 4: receiver because he's nicked up two with that ankle.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I love that we started this off talking about Lamar,
Speaker 6: but we both want to talk about this defense. Yeah,
Speaker 6: because right now they are on pace, and they are
Speaker 6: leading the NFL in takeaways, sacks, and they're the number
Speaker 6: one scoring defense. No defense has ever led in the
Speaker 6: Super Bowl era all three of those categories when the
Speaker 6: season came to a close, two more weeks to go
Speaker 6: and they are leading in all of those.
Speaker 7: I just love the physical nature in which they play. Steve.
Speaker 6: We know how physical the forty nine ers are. We
Speaker 6: know they've been beating teams up for several weeks. But
Speaker 6: the what in my eyes, the Ravens went out and
Speaker 6: just show the Niners that yes, we will tackle you
Speaker 6: for four quarters. We will play as physical as you
Speaker 6: want to play. Specifically on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 6: Their front seven has been absolutely phenomenal. That has allowed
Speaker 6: players like Kyle Hamilton to go out there and make
Speaker 6: plays in the secondary. Both their units have been able
Speaker 6: to play really freely because of the way that front
Speaker 6: has played. And with Lamar, I will say this, he
Speaker 6: plays his best against the best competition this season. I
Speaker 6: think that's why he's in the MVP discussion as the
Speaker 6: front runner right now, because if you go look at
Speaker 6: the biggest stages they've been on this year, that's when
Speaker 6: Lamar has played his best. Now, what I'm interested to
Speaker 6: see is go against this Dolphins defense. Where we've talked
Speaker 6: about Vic Fangio, we will a little bit more in
Speaker 6: this show and way this Dolphins defense has played Steve
Speaker 6: since the return of Jalen Ramsey in Week eight when
Speaker 6: he started being a part of this defense, they are
Speaker 6: almost number one or top five in every category. He's
Speaker 6: transformed this group. It's going to be fun to see
Speaker 6: these two go at it. Considering what both teams were
Speaker 6: coming off of and how similar kind of that Dolphins
Speaker 6: offenses to that forty nine Ers offense with where Mike
Speaker 6: Daniel comes from.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are different things there but they're a little
Speaker 3: bit differently to him.
Speaker 7: Man.
Speaker 4: One thing watching that Niners game, Lamar on the move
Speaker 4: isn't necessarily looking to take off, but he's creating this
Speaker 4: conflict with those defensive players so he can throw the
Speaker 4: ball over their heads.
Speaker 3: You know who is not dealing offensively?
Speaker 9: JP?
Speaker 4: Those Kansas City Chiefs, man, those Kansaity Chiefs, they are not.
Speaker 4: They just don't look right, Okay. And so when you
Speaker 4: see we've been talking about this all season, which is
Speaker 4: a bigger issue.
Speaker 3: We've been talking about it all season. But JP, when
Speaker 3: you look at.
Speaker 4: At what they've got going on, especially heading into this
Speaker 4: weekend against a Bengals team that has given them fits.
Speaker 4: Mind you with Joe Burrow, what are you kind of
Speaker 4: expecting to do? Because it doesn't seem like they're gonna
Speaker 4: come out of this fun.
Speaker 6: What I'd like to do is give the man some
Speaker 6: flowers that everybody said, what does he do?
Speaker 7: In Kansas City? Andy Reid calls the plays? What does
Speaker 7: offensive coordinator Eric b Enemy actually do with the Chiefs.
Speaker 7: I'll tell you what Eric Jennemy does.
Speaker 6: He is the guy who held everybody accountable each and
Speaker 6: every moment they were in that building, He is the
Speaker 6: guy that coaches with a fire that actually was rubbing
Speaker 6: some players the wrong way when he arrived in Washington
Speaker 6: earlier this season.
Speaker 7: He is also the guy that I.
Speaker 6: Know for a fact Patrick Mahomes at times has genuinely
Speaker 6: missed Steve because of how Eric Bienemy's attention to detail
Speaker 6: has pushed this offense. Remember last season and this is
Speaker 6: almost the exact same group, different tackles, but almost the
Speaker 6: exact same group. They were dead last in committed penalties
Speaker 6: a season ago, fewest penalties in the NFL. Now they're
Speaker 6: amongst the league leaders as an offense in committing penalties.
Speaker 6: It's that attention to detail that Eric Biennemy brought that
Speaker 6: I think at this point in the season we finally
Speaker 6: have to admit no slight to Matt Naggi or anybody
Speaker 6: else on that staff. It's what the enemy brought, specifically himself,
Speaker 6: that I think is now showing its head that they're
Speaker 6: lacking it in some capacity and it's affecting this offensive
Speaker 6: unit in some shape or form.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and let's not forget I mean, this is such
Speaker 4: great conversation, right or JP the Ennemy is so dedicated
Speaker 4: to the run game, we know, Andy Reid necessarily isn't
Speaker 4: He might have been kneeling in and you're saying, run
Speaker 4: the ball here, and that might be something that they are.
Speaker 4: Point to me, they're missing that they're not going enough
Speaker 4: to put Checko, you know, when he's healthy out there,
Speaker 4: because they've got to give their offensive lineman some help
Speaker 4: and run the ball sometimes to keep them from trying
Speaker 4: to get in past that and committing some of these
Speaker 4: dumb penalties, you know. And watching the Chiefs last week though,
Speaker 4: and this is what struck me. They remind me of
Speaker 4: the Golden State Warriors in terms of they won so
Speaker 4: consistently and just looking at one another because you.
Speaker 3: Got this, Okay, I got this, I got this.
Speaker 4: Game where it's almost like it's almost stale. Like against
Speaker 4: the Raiders, they almost look spent. They almost look tired
Speaker 4: overall as a club, not physically because they competed, but
Speaker 4: they just look like, man, these little details, why aren't
Speaker 4: we working these out?
Speaker 3: By then I'm gonna flip my wig.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 4: They're losing their minds when things don't go right or
Speaker 4: they can't step out of their own way. And that's
Speaker 4: you know, when you see teams that win consistent Like
Speaker 4: I said, the Warriors did it so easily for years now.
Speaker 4: The Warriors are able to keep their superstars intact, something
Speaker 4: that the Chiefs have not been able to do.
Speaker 3: And that's showing itself too.
Speaker 4: But they have got to find some way jp coming
Speaker 4: down the stretch, and again, this game against the Bengals
Speaker 4: Sunday is.
Speaker 3: Not going to be easy.
Speaker 4: To figure something out, whether it's run the ball more,
Speaker 4: do something to alleviate some of their potential flaws. But
Speaker 4: they've got to wake up out of their slumber. You know,
Speaker 4: I don't know, Maybe Taylor Swift comes in and sing's
Speaker 4: a big song.
Speaker 3: I don't know. They've got to figure something out to
Speaker 3: get it going.
Speaker 4: And did it you went there State I did. But
Speaker 4: these guys on the field, this had another do with
Speaker 4: Taylor Swift. These guys on the field, they've got to
Speaker 4: step up and start playing football like they know they're
Speaker 4: capable of doing.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're gonna have Brian Balding or break this down
Speaker 6: a little bit further. I'm gonna be at that game
Speaker 6: on Sunday against since Saddi bald you'll be there to
Speaker 6: a little bit later in the show. He's going to
Speaker 6: break down what he sees as some of the issues
Speaker 6: with this Kansas City Chiefs offense and sticking in the
Speaker 6: AFC West Olbo Holmes isn't going anywhere, but Russell Wilson
Speaker 6: has been benched for the final two games of the
Speaker 6: season by head coach Sean Payton. And this right here
Speaker 6: is Peyton's explanation.
Speaker 7: Role, Elsie, we're desperately trying to win and.
Speaker 10: Sure in our in our game today, they're economics and
Speaker 10: all those other things. But the number one pushed behind this,
Speaker 10: and it's a decision I'm making is to you know,
Speaker 10: get a spark offensively. Obviously it's difficult, and you know,
Speaker 10: all of us feel like, man, we didn't do well enough.
Speaker 7: Steve that last part right there, Man, we all didn't
Speaker 7: do well enough.
Speaker 6: I know this because talking to people in the building
Speaker 6: and talking to multiple sources. Sean Payton was energized about
Speaker 6: trying to work with a quarterback that is very different
Speaker 6: than the previous one he had and Drew Brees. He
Speaker 6: was excited for the challenge because you can say it's
Speaker 6: a challenge working with any new player and working side
Speaker 6: by side like a quarterback and a play caller and
Speaker 6: a head coach like Sean Payton is, and how you
Speaker 6: want to make things successful for everyone involved. Sean Payton
Speaker 6: and Russell Wilson two extremely competitive guys. They both have
Speaker 6: worked their butts off trying to make this work. And now,
Speaker 6: in Sean Payton's eyes talking to people in the building, Steve,
Speaker 6: it's just the offense is below average. There's communication issues
Speaker 6: which at this point in the season are driving Sean
Speaker 6: Payton nuts. The other issue that I'm told that is
Speaker 6: really just irking him more than anything. They feel like
Speaker 6: at times there is too much in this playbook, too
Speaker 6: much in this offense, too much in this game plan
Speaker 6: each week for those operating it to handle. And you know,
Speaker 6: somebody like Sean Payton, that's going to bother if you
Speaker 6: can't handle all of that. And so those were the
Speaker 6: main issues. Looking for a spark, we'll see if Jared's
Speaker 6: Didham's that guy, this might be more Ken Jarress send
Speaker 6: him be our guy next year, because we're gonna need
Speaker 6: to find Steve a serviceable quarterback for twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7: Yea, at, I.
Speaker 6: Don't know if I should say like discount bargain prices,
Speaker 6: you know what I mean, Like one of those type
Speaker 6: of stores because that might need need to be the
Speaker 6: guy who.
Speaker 7: Plays quarterback for the Broncos because of the financial situation
Speaker 7: they'll be in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Russell Wilson's not going to be there. I mean
Speaker 4: he's gone. I want to go back to the economic
Speaker 4: part of it first, because this is if the Broncos
Speaker 4: cut him with a post June one designation, the number
Speaker 4: is insane. It's right around thirty five million. I want
Speaker 4: to say, accounting on the twenty twenty four cap getting
Speaker 4: closure of fifty million, right around forty nine million.
Speaker 3: In year or two.
Speaker 4: This is devastating to your salary cap. But as bad
Speaker 4: as that sounds, I want to let people know. Remember
Speaker 4: Atlanta did this in twenty twenty two when they had
Speaker 4: Matt Ryan after they traded him to the Colts in
Speaker 4: about forty one million in dead money on their cap
Speaker 4: and Julio Jones at about fifteen million in dead.
Speaker 3: Money on their cap.
Speaker 4: But then again in twenty twenty two, the Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 4: weren't very good because they had cap issues. And that
Speaker 4: is what Sean Payton and the Broncos could be doing.
Speaker 4: And this means that ownership is basically saying, let's cut
Speaker 4: our losses and we are giving you the carte blanche
Speaker 4: to rebuild and do something with this because this message
Speaker 4: one of the bays to take our time and JPL,
Speaker 4: I want you to come back on this. But this
Speaker 4: also leads me to believe that Sean Payton's probably going
Speaker 4: to make a move in the front office or someone's
Speaker 4: going to make a move on the front office. Because
Speaker 4: where did Sean Payton come from?
Speaker 3: The Saints?
Speaker 4: What are they best known for over the past couple
Speaker 4: of years finding ways to clean up their salary cap.
Speaker 4: Ki Harley is the ultimate salary cap mathemagician. I would
Speaker 4: not be surprised if Sean Payton gives Kay a call
Speaker 4: to see if he can lure him up to Denver
Speaker 4: to figure.
Speaker 3: Some things out.
Speaker 6: And the other note on make Steve is what happens
Speaker 6: to the Russell Wilson next. I think this issue here
Speaker 6: was as much a fit problem as anything. It's just
Speaker 6: two different kind of offensive flaps and styles that just
Speaker 6: didn't mesh. I do think there is a potential landing
Speaker 6: spot for Russell Wilson in twenty twenty four. There are
Speaker 6: going to be teams that need somebody, and I do
Speaker 6: go back to what I've always been told about Russell Wilson,
Speaker 6: and this has been him for almost his entire career.
Speaker 6: He does have that trait where he finds a way
Speaker 6: to win. He is a winner in a sense. You
Speaker 6: can't deny that, and you've seen that late in games
Speaker 6: with what he's been able to do. I just think
Speaker 6: the fit between these two wasn't working. It's just the
Speaker 6: idea if his style of play at thirty five and
Speaker 6: beyond is something that other teams value because it is
Speaker 6: a little bit different than some of these other guys
Speaker 6: that have played after the age of thirty five points.
Speaker 6: Russell Wilson plays a position very differently. Now we'll talk
Speaker 6: to a guy who catches passes from quarterbacks, Gabe Davis
Speaker 6: of the Buffalo Bills, fresh off of one hundred and
Speaker 6: thirty yard performance last week. Now he just has to
Speaker 6: do it against Bill Belichick in company. The wide receiver
Speaker 6: joins the NFL report.
Speaker 11: Next takes the snap, pocket collapsing, has to roll out
Speaker 11: to his right to buy time looking downfield.
Speaker 7: He's got Dave Davis on the shoulder.
Speaker 11: Come to fifteen, and he drives his way into the
Speaker 11: end zone for the touchdown.
Speaker 12: Wow.
Speaker 11: Josh Allen Bye's time rolls out and drops it over
Speaker 11: Davis's shoulder and he drags a defender the last eight
Speaker 11: yards for the score.
Speaker 4: Hi went back to the NFL Report, James, we are
Speaker 4: now joined by that man who made that spectacular catch
Speaker 4: in week sixteen at a victory over the Chargers game, Davis,
Speaker 4: thanks for joining the NFL Report. And quick question just
Speaker 4: to kind of get things going here. We know we're
Speaker 4: in the holiday spirit. What did Josh Allen get the
Speaker 4: wide receivers for Christmas?
Speaker 7: Man? Oh?
Speaker 12: Uh, I know he got mean for Christians. He got
Speaker 12: me for Christmas. You got me that at tag watch,
Speaker 12: that golf tag watch. Oh yeah, why, I said, you
Speaker 12: can use like to report your shots and everything.
Speaker 1: That was pretty dope.
Speaker 12: I know he got the old line, a bunch of
Speaker 12: road Lexes, which is sick, and I know and then
Speaker 12: Steph guy, you know, he's a fashion guy, so he
Speaker 12: got a bunch.
Speaker 1: Of guys like some clothes or some bags or something.
Speaker 1: I know, you did that for the whole room.
Speaker 7: Love it, love it.
Speaker 6: I'm like I was concerned maybe with all these watches, Gabe,
Speaker 6: Like Josh is trying to tell you all something that
Speaker 6: you got a better cut on time.
Speaker 7: People are late to practice or you guys to watch,
Speaker 7: make sure you show up on time.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 3: Let's go through.
Speaker 7: Get you get that touchdown. You have one hundred and
Speaker 7: thirty yards against the Chargers. And obviously I'm not saying anything.
Speaker 6: You don't know, you don't have anything the two games before.
Speaker 6: What did that game do for you, especially this late
Speaker 6: in the season, specifically for what you've gone through the
Speaker 6: last couple of weeks before. You just exploded because we
Speaker 6: all know it's there.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's tough to you know,
Speaker 12: sometimes you know, you go I went a couple of
Speaker 12: weeks without even you know, really touching.
Speaker 1: The rock and that's a hard that's a hard thing
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 12: But at the end of the day, you gotta you
Speaker 12: gotta be the be the best team that you can
Speaker 12: for your team. And that's what I try to do
Speaker 12: for my guys, and when my numbers called, to be
Speaker 12: able to go out there and perform at a high level,
Speaker 12: which I have, you know, all the confidence in doing
Speaker 12: and I feel like I've showed that with my years
Speaker 12: in the NFL. People, can you know when it's getting
Speaker 12: thrown the game, you can trust them to make the play.
Speaker 12: You know, you ask some people, you know, some people
Speaker 12: think I can't, you know, but I feel like mostly I.
Speaker 1: Can't and you can.
Speaker 12: And I appreciate yeah, yeah, and I appreciate you know,
Speaker 12: the people who understand how this game works. And you know,
Speaker 12: sometimes you know, I can't, I can't throw the ball
Speaker 12: to myself. But again, we're being successful at a prety
Speaker 12: high level. And I'm just happy for all the guys
Speaker 12: that are are doing.
Speaker 1: The same thing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, and Gabe, I think it says a
Speaker 4: lot about you, you know, to stay locked in and
Speaker 4: have a game like that after what you went through before.
Speaker 4: And I'm and I and I saw a quote that
Speaker 4: Joe Brady or new Oc said after the Jets game
Speaker 4: where you didn't have a catch. He said, you were
Speaker 4: the offensive player of the game for what you did
Speaker 4: in the run blocking, for what you did to set
Speaker 4: up your teammates to get open for this offense to
Speaker 4: function so well. In using yourself maybe as an example,
Speaker 4: what about the selflessness that that people are putting themselves
Speaker 4: through for you guys to go on this run that
Speaker 4: you're having right now.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's that's what you need. To win games.
Speaker 12: And I feel like, you know, my grandpa taught me
Speaker 12: at a young Gays that you know you're gonna you're
Speaker 12: you're gonna have to block, and uh, that's that's what
Speaker 12: I'm just as happy, you know, scoring tests outs as
Speaker 12: I am springing somebody for a big run or getting
Speaker 12: someone else.
Speaker 1: Open on the catch. Uh, it feels good to me.
Speaker 12: I want all my guys to eat and I want
Speaker 12: all my guys, you know, play the level that they
Speaker 12: can play at. So but being able to you know,
Speaker 12: to be as a receiver, to be known that I
Speaker 12: can block and set up things for the guys, you know,
Speaker 12: it's definitely special.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And that's why you don't really leave the field game.
Speaker 6: They don't want you to leave the field, whether the
Speaker 6: balls come in your way or not. Man, you're out
Speaker 6: there because of everything you do for this offense. And
Speaker 6: you mentioned springing guys, you know, for a big run
Speaker 6: and things like that. You look at all these pieces
Speaker 6: you guys have now and when James Cook has been
Speaker 6: used in the passing game and the emergence of your
Speaker 6: rookie tight end and Dalton Kincaid, then Dawson Knox comes
Speaker 6: back and Steph and you what is it like in
Speaker 6: practice with all of these mouths to feed, now that
Speaker 6: Joe Brady has to go about trying to get some
Speaker 6: touches for these people, How can you set things up offensively?
Speaker 6: Now that you have so many different ways you can
Speaker 6: align yourselves offensively, formational wise, and so many different talented
Speaker 6: guys that can do a variety of things.
Speaker 12: You know, it's a good problem to have to be
Speaker 12: a two dimensional offense. You can both run in, you
Speaker 12: can pass it, you have a bunch of guys who
Speaker 12: can make plays. Again, it's a good problem to have.
Speaker 12: I don't feel like it's difficult for Brady to figure
Speaker 12: out anything at this time, especially at this point of
Speaker 12: the season. It doesn't matter how you do as long
Speaker 12: as you do it. And that's our mindset. That's what
Speaker 12: we're going each.
Speaker 4: Every week doing so gave those of us in the
Speaker 4: media and folks outside of your building are saying the
Speaker 4: Buffalo Bills are the team that nobody wants to face
Speaker 4: right now. It's always a good thing at this point
Speaker 4: of the season.
Speaker 3: Do you guys feel that way?
Speaker 12: Yeah, I mean I feel like we've always been a
Speaker 12: team that no one you know, like not saying they
Speaker 12: don't want to go against us, like you.
Speaker 1: Know all of us, you know, we love the competition.
Speaker 1: But I definitely is the Bills are somebody not to
Speaker 1: sleep on at all.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 1: It's definitely a team that you know you're gonna get us,
Speaker 1: get our all.
Speaker 12: You know, high energy, high effort, and extremely detailed team
Speaker 12: that is going to play football to win.
Speaker 3: Gave.
Speaker 6: We know what you guys have in Week eighteen, play
Speaker 6: in Miami. Everybody probably who loves the NFL is looking
Speaker 6: forward to that game, but you have to play Bill
Speaker 6: Belichick's defense before you get there.
Speaker 7: What is set in the locker room this week?
Speaker 6: To make sure you guys don't overlook a team like
Speaker 6: the Patriots by any stretch. You saw what they did
Speaker 6: Christmas Eve with Denver. How much has that talked about?
Speaker 6: To make sure you just block out that Miami game
Speaker 6: as much as you can this week?
Speaker 12: I mean I don't. I don't think it's hard to
Speaker 12: block out. The most important game is the next game.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 12: The Pages are Division division team, a team that has
Speaker 12: beat us this year and very tough, very sound defense,
Speaker 12: you know, looking at it offensively, So definitely something that.
Speaker 1: We're not on and we're not looking over to you know,
Speaker 1: to Miami.
Speaker 12: We're definitely worried about the Pagers because we know they're
Speaker 12: they're still a good team, Okabe.
Speaker 4: The one thing we like to do here on the
Speaker 4: NFL Report is to ask players, you know who they study, right,
Speaker 4: you know what, what other offensive players or things like that.
Speaker 4: So what other receivers as you continue to evolve and
Speaker 4: grow in this game, do you study that you think could.
Speaker 3: Enhance your game?
Speaker 12: A big one I feel like is Devonte Adams. He's
Speaker 12: such a great uh at the line of scrimmage. When
Speaker 12: it comes to releases, It's like he's playing basketball out there.
Speaker 12: He's just so fluid and it looks effortless. So definitely
Speaker 12: a guy that you know, I watched when it comes
Speaker 12: to his feet and the way he moves his shoulders
Speaker 12: as well at the at the line of screens that
Speaker 12: really gets him separation.
Speaker 7: All right, love it, love it.
Speaker 6: Let I want to finish this up with We did
Speaker 6: this whole interview. We holtenly talked about Josh Allen in
Speaker 6: terms of the presidency. Gives what has he been like
Speaker 6: this second half of the season as his It seems
Speaker 6: like I don't know Gabe like his play is maybe
Speaker 6: picked apart, maybe more than any other quarterback in football.
Speaker 6: The immedia just loves to talk about any pick that happens.
Speaker 6: It's the end of the world. Josh can't not throw picks.
Speaker 6: Things like that, Like, what have you seen from your
Speaker 6: quarterback this second half the year? You make a change
Speaker 6: in the way he's running this offense as a whole
Speaker 6: right now compared to the beginning of the season.
Speaker 12: When it comes to Josh, I mean, you know, what
Speaker 12: you see is what you get. He's a great player,
Speaker 12: one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. You know,
Speaker 12: to see him playing the way he is right now
Speaker 12: that everyone sees is like like he's kind of turned
Speaker 12: it on.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's always had it, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But things aren't perfect. Yeah, this game, some
Speaker 1: games gonna be better than others. Some years are gonna
Speaker 1: be better than others.
Speaker 12: But at the end of the day, you know, we're
Speaker 12: the team that everyone talks about for a reason. Seventeen
Speaker 12: has a lot of respect from everybody in the NFL
Speaker 12: and the people who watch, And I feel like if
Speaker 12: anyone's questioning what's seventeen you do, there's there's some lack
Speaker 12: of football knowledge for that.
Speaker 3: Hey, if anyone's questions Josh Shallon or.
Speaker 4: The Buffalo Bills right now, they might have a lack
Speaker 4: of football knowledge. Hey, Gabe Davis, good luck this weekend, man,
Speaker 4: good luck to rest of the way. We appreciate you
Speaker 4: taking some time to join us here on the NFL.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you guys, Thanks Steve, Thanks Jameson.
Speaker 6: I always love going inside the Bills practice facility to
Speaker 6: see these interviews, see what they're practicing on. But coming up,
Speaker 6: how about Lions Cowboys massive matchup? Why does Mike McCarthy
Speaker 6: think this is a bigger challenge for his Cowboys than
Speaker 6: the Niners of the Eagles.
Speaker 7: Jane Slater will tell us next on the NFL Report.
Speaker 4: You're listening to the NFL Report podcast, but you can
Speaker 4: watch me, Steve Weich and my co host James Palmer
Speaker 4: on the NFL Report at seven fifteen Eastern time on
Speaker 4: Mondays and Thursdays on the NFL app and free streaming
Speaker 4: platforms on the NFL Channel on Roku, twov Peacock, Pluto
Speaker 4: TV and other free streaming apps.
Speaker 9: Whatever you do something like what we just did, it's special.
Speaker 9: It don't matter, man, and it don't matter how many
Speaker 9: you win in.
Speaker 7: A road they're special.
Speaker 9: But I can tell you this, when you're part of
Speaker 9: the organization and it's been thirty years, it's special, man.
Speaker 5: And these guys been fucking dying fort and wait, Fort Man,
Speaker 5: it's for you.
Speaker 9: Maybe that's first one for you.
Speaker 4: Enjoy.
Speaker 6: Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch
Speaker 6: with you. That's Dan Campbell Jane Slater. As the Lions
Speaker 6: are now into the postseason looking for their first postseason
Speaker 6: win since January fifth, nineteen ninety two. Who did they
Speaker 6: beat Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys in that postseason win
Speaker 6: in ninety two, and that's who.
Speaker 7: They face the Sunday.
Speaker 6: And I'm fascinated, Jane, because Mike McCarthy believes that this
Speaker 6: game is bigger for the Cowboys than their game against
Speaker 6: the Niners than their game against the Eagles.
Speaker 7: Why.
Speaker 13: It's a great question, James, because I think when you
Speaker 13: look at this division and some of the struggles that
Speaker 13: you've had with the Eagles and the forty nine ers
Speaker 13: in recent years, those seem obvious. But I went to
Speaker 13: Tony Pollard to ask that question, James, and I said,
Speaker 13: what is it that you're seeing on tape that makes
Speaker 13: them a bigger challenge? And Pollard he kind of sighed
Speaker 13: and he said, it's all the coverages and I said, like,
Speaker 13: and he.
Speaker 14: Rattled them off, James and Steve.
Speaker 13: I mean, he said, it's the cover one, the Cover two,
Speaker 13: the cover of three, the cover four, man and shells
Speaker 13: and he says, because of that, you've got to be
Speaker 13: really careful.
Speaker 14: You've got to be on your p's and q's. And
Speaker 14: so that is the challenge.
Speaker 13: I think that standing out for them when they look
Speaker 13: at this defense, and not only that, you saw the
Speaker 13: energy from Dan Campbell in.
Speaker 14: That locker room.
Speaker 13: I mean, he's got players wanting to run through walls
Speaker 13: for him their first Divisional title in thirty years. I'm
Speaker 13: going to ask him on the sidelines pregame if he
Speaker 13: can record a motivational speech for me, because I just
Speaker 13: you're seeing the culture change and I you know, you
Speaker 13: talk about you know, history can repeat itself sometimes. Jimmy
Speaker 13: Johnson is going in the Ring of Honor. Finally, this weekend,
Speaker 13: everyone kept saying the curse was broken for the Cowboys,
Speaker 13: and then they lost their first two straights under Mike
Speaker 13: McCarthy these last couple of weeks.
Speaker 14: So this is going to be an interesting game on Saturday, Jane.
Speaker 4: You know, ansing you follow it out and by the way,
Speaker 4: it is time for Jimmy Johnson going to the Ring
Speaker 4: of Honor. I'm glad that's finally happening. You said he
Speaker 4: spoke to Tony Pollard and the coverages. What about getting
Speaker 4: the run game going with Tony Pollard, that is something
Speaker 4: that has been so sporadic in watching this team all season.
Speaker 13: Listen, Steve, We've talked about this before a lot of
Speaker 13: people said move on, but it's a hill I'll continue
Speaker 13: to die on. It wouldn't have hurt to bring back
Speaker 13: Ezekiel Elliott on a one year deal for some of
Speaker 13: those situations at the going on because Pollard, right, Pallard
Speaker 13: just doesn't have that upper body strength to be your
Speaker 13: third down guy in some of those areas.
Speaker 14: Now, everyone asked him about Hunter.
Speaker 13: Lepk and that's you know, the fumble at the goal line,
Speaker 13: and I appreciate that Tony Pollard owned that. He said,
Speaker 13: I should have gotten it in before.
Speaker 14: You know, he took.
Speaker 13: Essentially the wrong route. There was an easier route to
Speaker 13: get in there, and he didn't. It sort of put
Speaker 13: them behind the chains as a result of that. So
Speaker 13: I appreciate that, but I you know, looking at this roster,
Speaker 13: Mike McCarthy said, heading in the season, each one of
Speaker 13: these guys do something different, Malink Davis, Rico, Daddle, Tony Pollard,
Speaker 13: they all do something different and it's different from Ezekiel Elliott.
Speaker 14: And that's the assets that you've had this year.
Speaker 6: Jenna, want to ask you about Ceedee Lamb and what
Speaker 6: Dak Prescott's saying about him of late.
Speaker 7: We know how dynamic he's been in the slot, Steve.
Speaker 6: We've talked about it on this show repeatedly about him
Speaker 6: doing damage in the middle of the field. They have
Speaker 6: a youngster the Lions playing that slot corner in Brian
Speaker 6: Branch Now. He's played a lot of safety, played a
Speaker 6: lot of corner, but they're having him play a lot
Speaker 6: more slot corner now as opposed to splitting his time
Speaker 6: between those two spots.
Speaker 7: He's one of many.
Speaker 6: Rookies that Dan Campbell has been relying on on both
Speaker 6: sides of the ball that Jared Goff believes Jane just
Speaker 6: don't play like rookies, the ones on the offensive side,
Speaker 6: the one that defense said, they don't make rookie mistakes.
Speaker 7: Well, you can't make any mistakes when you're lining up
Speaker 7: against CD. Lamb.
Speaker 6: What does Dak see right now that he has to
Speaker 6: do to make sure CD is a big part of
Speaker 6: this game on Saturday.
Speaker 14: How about get him ten receptions or more.
Speaker 13: Guys, they are four and one when they use When
Speaker 13: they get ten receptions or more, I think they've got
Speaker 13: their abject about ten extra points a game when they
Speaker 13: get that done too.
Speaker 14: It was curious.
Speaker 13: You know, we talked about this earlier in the week
Speaker 13: on various shows and some of our other platforms. He
Speaker 13: came out after that Dolphins game that first Cordy had
Speaker 13: almost one hundred yards. He was lighting it up on
Speaker 13: the field. They really didn't have an answer for him.
Speaker 13: Jayleen Ramsey wasn't traveling with them, and then he said
Speaker 13: it was weird the second and third quarters they moved
Speaker 13: away from him.
Speaker 14: He went absent.
Speaker 13: And when I was talking to CD about that, I
Speaker 13: talked to Dak Prescott. I said, Dak, it's easy to
Speaker 13: get emotional. Obviously he made some of those comments. I
Speaker 13: don't think they were disrespectful. It's just all season long.
Speaker 13: He said, if you're gonna get me involved, keep me involved.
Speaker 13: If you're going to draft me in the first round,
Speaker 13: use me as a first round draft pick. If you
Speaker 13: get me the rock, I'm going to get it in
Speaker 13: the end zone. Those are all things that Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 13: has said throughout the year, and when they've gone to him,
Speaker 13: good things typically happen. So I asked Dak, I said,
Speaker 13: when you went back and looked at some of the tape,
Speaker 13: did you see some missed opportunities? And he said, maybe
Speaker 13: one or two. But it was Vic Fangio who, while
Speaker 13: they didn't have Jalen Ramsey traveling with them, he did
Speaker 13: roll over some coverage there, double time, double teaming at time,
Speaker 13: obviously getting some safeties on him. And so I said,
Speaker 13: are you concerned about that blueprint moving forward? I mean,
Speaker 13: Vic Fangio said other teams can learn from it a
Speaker 13: couple of years back when he beat them with Detroit.
Speaker 13: Obviously he did it with the Dolphins. And Dak's basic
Speaker 13: answer was, I think that you're going to see more motion.
Speaker 13: In other words, he's going to motion Ceedee Lamb to
Speaker 13: the other side see if they can readjust and so there,
Speaker 13: I think we're going to see a little more pre
Speaker 13: snout motion as it relates to Ceedee Lamb. But I
Speaker 13: do think when especially when you look at Aiden Hutchinson
Speaker 13: on the other side of the ball and some of
Speaker 13: that quarterback pressure, what you essentially also need up front
Speaker 13: is time for Dak and he did not have that
Speaker 13: against the Dolphins last week. He was under duress a lot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's interesting because you know, the news came out
Speaker 4: earlier Thursday that Tyron Smith is practicing.
Speaker 3: They looks like he's going to be able to go.
Speaker 4: I mean, how important is it to get him back
Speaker 4: in the lineup for a game like this because the
Speaker 4: Lions they're kind of come seek them solid when it
Speaker 4: comes with the coverage in their defense.
Speaker 14: I think it's huge.
Speaker 13: And you know, you could make the debate is it
Speaker 13: important to have Tyron Smith now or do you save
Speaker 13: him with the fact that the Cowboys are already in
Speaker 13: the postseason?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 13: But I would argue after getting sacked four times and look,
Speaker 13: CHUMDOGA didn't necessarily do him a lot of favors. He
Speaker 13: hasn't started a lot of games. Maybe they make a
Speaker 13: couple of other moves. You know, they activated Matt will
Speaker 13: Let's go this week. You do have awesome Richards. There
Speaker 13: another guy you.
Speaker 14: Could move Tyler Smith back. I think there's going.
Speaker 13: To be some some movement with that line if Tyron
Speaker 13: can't go. But it sounds like Tyron was able to
Speaker 13: at least participate in some of the walkthroughs. Jerry Jones
Speaker 13: this week said they did an injection on that back
Speaker 13: that typically works, so they seemed really hopeful about him
Speaker 13: playing this weekend.
Speaker 14: And my argument is, of.
Speaker 13: Course she wanted to play because you don't want to
Speaker 13: get your quarterback hurt before the postseason. And having Tyron
Speaker 13: Smith that eighty percent is better than most guys at one.
Speaker 4: Hundred and Jay real quick also, you know, and I
Speaker 4: guess real quick, it also works for both teams here
Speaker 4: they can face each other.
Speaker 6: Nervist that Jane said, get your quarterback hurt, I'm just terrified.
Speaker 4: Oh come on, man, we're not gonna lay on real real,
Speaker 4: real quick day.
Speaker 3: And these teams can meet each other in the playoffs too.
Speaker 4: It's there been any discussion about the scouting report. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know the wins are where it both teams are in,
Speaker 4: but do you think you know either team or both
Speaker 4: teams are going to be showing their hand, because you know,
Speaker 4: I think the Lions are still trying to possibly get
Speaker 4: this home field.
Speaker 13: I mean, it is absolutely a good question, although I
Speaker 13: would submit that you know, Jalen Ramsey has talked about
Speaker 13: how boring some of these offenses have been, and the
Speaker 13: Cowboys have been boring the last two weeks, so I
Speaker 13: don't know what they're hiding from us. I keep waiting
Speaker 13: to see Micah Parsons in some sort of package that
Speaker 13: employs him as a running back, because he's told us
Speaker 13: that they've been they've got extra place. Remember they said
Speaker 13: they could seem as many as eleven different spots this year.
Speaker 13: We haven't seen that, so maybe that's something that they
Speaker 13: say for the postseason. But what they need to do
Speaker 13: more than anything, Steve is get some consistency with this office.
Speaker 13: And don't put that on me, James. I'm just stating
Speaker 13: the facciat.
Speaker 14: You got to care if you don't have him put
Speaker 14: that one.
Speaker 3: Don't put that on.
Speaker 7: Burn the tape, Jane. I'll burn the tape. Nobody will
Speaker 7: ever get a chance to see it.
Speaker 3: Twice.
Speaker 7: Appreciate it, Jane, love seeing your face. Your show as
Speaker 7: always one of our favorite guys.
Speaker 6: Happen here well, another one of our favorite people coming up,
Speaker 6: and he'll be with me in Kansas City at Arrowhead. Well,
Speaker 6: that's Brian Balding or Baldy's favorite films are next, and
Speaker 6: he's gonna tell us what is wrong with this Kansas
Speaker 6: City Chiefs offense. He has all the answers. Listen, Andy Reid,
Speaker 6: this segments for you on the NFL Report. Welcome back
Speaker 6: to the NFL Report. James Palmer, Steve Witch with you.
Speaker 6: It's Baldy's favorite films. It is my favorite segment. And
Speaker 6: guess what. Baldy and I Steve are gonna be in
Speaker 6: Kansas City together this weekend for Bengals at Chiefs. I'm
Speaker 6: not sure, Baldy, what you're doing the ball drops. Maybe
Speaker 6: we can go somewhere after the game celebrate the new year.
Speaker 6: Not sure what you got planned. You probably got something
Speaker 6: going on. I'm not sure. I'll probably be by my
Speaker 6: We wanted to.
Speaker 5: Do NFL postgame. Yeah, I'm doing a postgame show.
Speaker 7: Okay, okay, all right. That's a brain that we all
Speaker 7: desire on NFL Network. Baldy. That's why we use you
Speaker 7: every Thursday.
Speaker 6: And let's talk about this game right here, and what
Speaker 6: we've seen from this Kansas City Chiefs offense.
Speaker 7: What I'd like to just throw out there we have
Speaker 7: two weeks left. Is this who they are?
Speaker 5: Baldy, Yeah, I don't see it getting fixed.
Speaker 15: You know they they're amongst the bottom feeders right now.
Speaker 15: Just explosive place. They used to lead the league in
Speaker 15: that category. Just play the twenty yards of war. They
Speaker 15: can't get explosive place. So what happens when you can?
Speaker 15: You know, you're relying on gadgets, any kind of penalty,
Speaker 15: whether it's lining up all sides or a hold, they
Speaker 15: just get magnified.
Speaker 5: Because it used to be if it was second or
Speaker 5: twenty Patrick Wilhold.
Speaker 15: Would do his magic. They get an explosive play. Now,
Speaker 15: just the basics right now, Just the basics right here.
Speaker 15: Travis Kelcey dropping his past we all saw the other day.
Speaker 15: You know, it's and then the tackle position, you know,
Speaker 15: whether it's Jawan or the rookie on the other side.
Speaker 15: I mean, they have struggled all year long, and so
Speaker 15: you know, the Raiders just kicked their butt up front.
Speaker 5: And it was it was more than just Max Crosby.
Speaker 5: It was Malcolm Goes.
Speaker 15: It was a bunch of different guys that physically won
Speaker 15: that line of scrimmage on that Christmas Day game.
Speaker 3: So you know ball they're playing the Bengals.
Speaker 4: I mean, lou Anrumo has done some things, you know
Speaker 4: against this Chiefs offense. I mean, this is not a
Speaker 4: get well game, so to speak for the Chiefs. This
Speaker 4: is gonna be a very tough game. And one of
Speaker 4: the things I've been noticing besides the receivers just having issues,
Speaker 4: is DB's are.
Speaker 3: Just lining up and getting hands on them. I mean,
Speaker 3: is there.
Speaker 4: Anything I mean the lack I mean, I don't know
Speaker 4: if it's a lack of motion or whatever, but what
Speaker 4: can Mahomes do or what can they do with this
Speaker 4: offense to maybe spring some of these guys, to give
Speaker 4: them windows for Mahomes to drop the ball into.
Speaker 15: Well, it looks awfully stale, first of all. Looks it
Speaker 15: looks like we've seen just about everything. You mean, the
Speaker 15: gad just didn't work the other day. You know, they
Speaker 15: kind of fumbled that away. But you know, just the
Speaker 15: idea that there was a play in the game last
Speaker 15: week which sort of personify the issues they have. This
Speaker 15: play it usually it's with Kelsey, it could be with
Speaker 15: anybody just why stick, you know, you just sort of
Speaker 15: little stick route six yards turn around. It's a drive starter,
Speaker 15: and Mahomes threw it one way and Racy Rice one
Speaker 15: another way, and Mahomes is just looking at him like
Speaker 15: we do this every day, Like this is what we
Speaker 15: do to start drives. Just sit down on the zone
Speaker 15: and when I saw them, you know, throw that ball
Speaker 15: into the dirt and just miss that basic play. Like
Speaker 15: literally day one installation, I go, they've got some real problems.
Speaker 15: And I don't know if it's you know, concentration in practice,
Speaker 15: if it's just lack of trust. I mean, it's hard
Speaker 15: to say without being there, but you know, Andy Reid
Speaker 15: has always been a tinker when things aren't working.
Speaker 5: That guy could tink her with the best of them.
Speaker 5: And I feel like he's trying to do that.
Speaker 15: But at the same time, like they can't get plays
Speaker 15: out on timing right now, So it's just all Mahomes
Speaker 15: trying to extend plays and try to find something beyond
Speaker 15: what it was drawn up to be.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been remarkable, and we've seen the frustration on
Speaker 6: the sideline from guys like Mahomes, guys like Travis Kelce.
Speaker 7: I think you mentioned Andy Reid there.
Speaker 6: Maybe the steadiness of Andy we know he never gets
Speaker 6: too high or too low ever, is probably needed now
Speaker 6: more than they may they have ever in some time.
Speaker 6: Let's move to where Andy used to coach in the
Speaker 6: Filadelphia and Jonathan Gannon is heading back there with his Cardinals.
Speaker 6: And we've seen this defense in Philadelphia. Baldy have Sean
Speaker 6: de Si now it's Matt Patricia. They got two guys
Speaker 6: trying to run this defense since Jonathan Gannon left. What
Speaker 6: can they fix as they come down the stretch into
Speaker 6: the postseason that can maybe turn the corner for them
Speaker 6: a little bit defensively?
Speaker 15: Well, I mean, you know last week they give it
Speaker 15: to sixty nine yard touchdown to Darius Slayton with under
Speaker 15: six minutes ago to get them back in the game.
Speaker 15: Like I don't know how they turned them loose exactly.
Speaker 15: I mean it's it's kind of matchup zone and you
Speaker 15: know the safety should be running with them and Slayton
Speaker 15: gets right behind him, just like you know the week
Speaker 15: before against Seattle. Why you're a man coverage in that
Speaker 15: situation on third and ten they need a touchdown to
Speaker 15: win the game and you let it go. I've given
Speaker 15: up thirty one touchdown passes and so some of that
Speaker 15: is okay.
Speaker 5: The rush isn't nearly as good as it was a
Speaker 5: year ago. We understand that.
Speaker 15: You just look at the numbers and say the rush
Speaker 15: isn't good enough, and then when they have blitz, they
Speaker 15: haven't really been very good at just being stout on
Speaker 15: the back end and kind of marrying good, good coverage
Speaker 15: with it.
Speaker 5: So Matt Patricia's kind of left going.
Speaker 15: Well, you could just see like there's no rush there
Speaker 15: and there's you know, Slayton right there getting behind a
Speaker 15: wake and ship. I mean, you see it week in
Speaker 15: week out right now, guys have too much time to throw.
Speaker 5: The guys are wide open, and it's been a problem.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Bald, you know, we don't even talk about what's
Speaker 4: going on in the inside linebacker spot. I mean, when
Speaker 4: they play some of these teams, they'd like to drop
Speaker 4: the ball off underneather can pop a run right there.
Speaker 4: That has absolutely been an issue with just the depth
Speaker 4: concerns that they have right now. But I want to
Speaker 4: go to a team that plays good defense even the
Speaker 4: way even though they're struggling. That's New England Patriots, and
Speaker 4: this week the Buffalo Bills. You know, they play the
Speaker 4: Bills in this office, and the way Buffalo is really
Speaker 4: combining the run game and the pass game. We had
Speaker 4: Gabe Davis on the show earlier. He talked about not
Speaker 4: having not having games with catches because he's springing guys
Speaker 4: in the run game when the when the Bills are
Speaker 4: facing what the Patriots are doing the I mean, this
Speaker 4: is not going to be a walkover for Buffalo as
Speaker 4: well as I'm playing right now.
Speaker 15: No, because it's it's just basic fundamentals. It's low pad
Speaker 15: level at this time of the year. Guys start playing
Speaker 15: too high. They don't. It's about using your hands, engaging,
Speaker 15: shedding blocks, getting off blocks, protecting Juwan Bentley and the
Speaker 15: linebackers at that level.
Speaker 5: And so it starts with just the basics of defeating
Speaker 5: the run.
Speaker 15: You know, Denver couldn't run the ball against them last week,
Speaker 15: hardly at all. That's what they wanted to do, but
Speaker 15: you know it's hard to run it when it's third
Speaker 15: and seven, and so yeah, they're really making teams one
Speaker 15: dimensional right now with just the fundamentals of the game.
Speaker 5: And it's across the board.
Speaker 15: It's detrich wise, it's all the guys that have been
Speaker 15: there bar more like, all these guys up front are
Speaker 15: playing great two gap in defense, and the linebackers are
Speaker 15: kind of nd safeties are free to kind of go
Speaker 15: and roam and make these tackles and attack the line
Speaker 15: of scrimmage. And you know, James Cook is having a
Speaker 15: phenomenal season. They're running the ball a lot better, but
Speaker 15: I don't see them just getting increases against this defense
Speaker 15: the way they have and some of these other teams
Speaker 15: they quickly ball.
Speaker 4: Do you started this off with something I haven't heard
Speaker 4: people talk about enough, and I'm glad you brought it
Speaker 4: up at this point of the season. It's the fundamentals,
Speaker 4: pad level and things like that when you look across
Speaker 4: the league. Is this something that you're seeing with the
Speaker 4: teams that aren't winning or the teams that are getting
Speaker 4: leaky versus that? And why is that? Is it just
Speaker 4: a fatigue of the season.
Speaker 5: It's I think it's some fatigue.
Speaker 15: It's some you know, it's week seventeen, and you know,
Speaker 15: guys aren't putting pads on during the week, and it's
Speaker 15: walked throughs, glorified walkthroughs, and just you know, they're just
Speaker 15: playing too high.
Speaker 5: They're blocking with their chests.
Speaker 15: You know, I would say that when I watched Detroit
Speaker 15: Lions right now, they don't follow that category. They come
Speaker 15: off the ball and they're lower than the opponents and
Speaker 15: they're moving bodies.
Speaker 5: But generally, you know, like if you.
Speaker 15: Watched the Indianapolis Colts last week try to run against Atlanta,
Speaker 15: like they look like they were just way too high
Speaker 15: against Atlanta, and they got their tackles back, defensive tackles back,
Speaker 15: and what was of really good part of their offense
Speaker 15: last week was not existed. And if I went back
Speaker 15: and watch it and I just said, these guys, you know,
Speaker 15: we're Lake Freeland whoever, they're playing too high right now
Speaker 15: and it was too easy to underneath.
Speaker 5: The pass ball.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna say and just take a guess here real
Speaker 7: quick that.
Speaker 6: Mike McDonald's group are not one of those groups that
Speaker 6: are off playing with their pads too high lately.
Speaker 15: Well, you know that's one. I mean, they just have
Speaker 15: guys that it's almost impossible. And when you look at
Speaker 15: you know, Pierce, and you look at Washington and some
Speaker 15: of these guys up front, they're fire hydrants, like you
Speaker 15: can't get underneath them. But you know, they play a
Speaker 15: matchup zone. Teams will play parts of that, but they'll
Speaker 15: play a matchup zone. And this is really what got
Speaker 15: Rock Perdy in that first interception last week. They want
Speaker 15: to play their safeties back. It's a zone concept, so
Speaker 15: everybody has their eyes on the quarterback. Everybody sees the
Speaker 15: ball delivered, and then they blitz out of that that
Speaker 15: shell look of theirs with the two safeties high. And
Speaker 15: really you have to keep running the against them. You
Speaker 15: have to make them pay or saying okay, we're not
Speaker 15: giving up the deep shots. We're gonna match up with
Speaker 15: you as you expanded to your route combinations and hopefully
Speaker 15: they break down, or.
Speaker 5: You have to say, okay, you've got to throw the ball.
Speaker 15: Like Matt Stafford's thought it right now, and like how
Speaker 15: they ran the ball against the cole the Ravens a
Speaker 15: couple of weeks ago, were Kyrin Williams really took advantage
Speaker 15: of those safeties, you know, fifteen yards steep and they
Speaker 15: ran the ball really good and then they got some
Speaker 15: play action passes behind it. Stafford was deadly accurate. But
Speaker 15: if you don't play like that, you're playing right into
Speaker 15: their hands.
Speaker 4: Baldi, this is such good stuff, man, like this is
Speaker 4: stuff you just don't get. We appreciate you breaking down.
Speaker 4: I mean some of these exquisite nuances. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: I really.
Speaker 3: Really appreciate you and JP.
Speaker 4: Don't too much barbecue or do any other things that
Speaker 4: we're not going to mention on the show.
Speaker 3: When you're in Kansas City.
Speaker 7: Right to my face and enjoy day on TV.
Speaker 3: Hey, but appreciate you, baldy, and have a happy new year.
Speaker 3: Come up next, James, come up next. Leslie Fraser. He
Speaker 3: was on the eighty five championship Bears.
Speaker 4: He's coached in Super Bowls, and he's gonna tell us,
Speaker 4: like we're sitting here with the Kansas City Chiefs, why
Speaker 4: it is so hard to repeat as champion.
Speaker 3: Next, that's the NFL Report.
Speaker 7: Real cold.
Speaker 6: Hey, it's James Palmer, and you're listening to the NFL
Speaker 6: Report podcast along with myself and Steve Weisch. But remember,
Speaker 6: if you want to see our beautiful faces, this is
Speaker 6: a show at seven point fifteen Monday and Thursday at
Speaker 6: seven fifteen pm Eastern, and we are on the NFL
Speaker 6: app as well as fast streaming platforms. That's two B
Speaker 6: that's Roku, that's Pluto. That's Peacock all of those platforms,
Speaker 6: as well as the NFL dot Com slash NFL channel.
Speaker 7: Find us all of those spots.
Speaker 4: All right, back to the NFL Report, and James are
Speaker 4: about to be joined by head coach Leslie Fraser, who
Speaker 4: was with me Wednesday for the reveal of the Class
Speaker 4: of twenty two twenty four fifteen finalist of the Pro
Speaker 4: Football Hall of Fame. As you're seeing, there's Antonio Gates,
Speaker 4: Devin Hester, Julius Pepper's, Reggie Wayne, friend of the show,
Speaker 4: Andre Johnson. We've got Eric Allen, Yea, Jarry Evans, Patrick Willis,
Speaker 4: Dwight Freeny, Fred Taylor, Willie Anderson, Jared Allen, who coach,
Speaker 4: also coached Rodney Harrison, Tory Holt, just so many deserving people.
Speaker 3: Coach, you did a great job on the show.
Speaker 4: We really appreciate you joining us on our last show
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 3: But on that note, let's go back to yesterdyear.
Speaker 4: Right, you played on the world champion eighty five Chicago Bears.
Speaker 4: You've coached a Super Bowl championship team, and now we're
Speaker 4: seeing the Kansas City Chiefs kind.
Speaker 3: Of roll into the cliche.
Speaker 4: It is difficult to repeat, why is it so hard
Speaker 4: to get back, let alone win if you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as you can imagine, there's so many factors involved,
Speaker 2: But one of those factors is you tend to lose
Speaker 2: good players when you are a team that has that
Speaker 2: type of success, you know, go to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 2: win the Super Bowl. You have a lot of guys
Speaker 2: that are really playing at a high level, and the
Speaker 2: teams that are a lesser are looking at your roster
Speaker 2: and because of salary cap constraints, it makes it difficult
Speaker 2: to keep players in place. A good example of this James.
Speaker 2: You remember in twenty sixteen when the Denver Broncos won
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl and they would really carried by their defense,
Speaker 2: and they came back to next season to see there
Speaker 2: were only like five starters from that defense that was
Speaker 2: so dominant and doing that twenty sixteen season when they
Speaker 2: won the Super Bowl. So so partner problem is being
Speaker 2: able to retain your guys, and in the chief case,
Speaker 2: a good example of that is a player like a
Speaker 2: Juju Schuster who was their top target at wide receiver.
Speaker 2: He had more receiving yards than anybody else, more receptions
Speaker 2: than anyone else. He was the leader in that receiver
Speaker 2: room and now you look at their receiver position and
Speaker 2: it's a disaster and it's really really tough for your offense.
Speaker 2: So that's an example of you know, being trying trying
Speaker 2: to keep your players, but because of the salary cap constraints,
Speaker 2: it makes it.
Speaker 5: Difficult to do.
Speaker 2: And that's all a part of the parity of the
Speaker 2: National Football League, which is what the league wants. I mean,
Speaker 2: they want parody, and you get that because of the cap.
Speaker 2: The other part of it is you have guys that
Speaker 2: are having career years when you when you win the
Speaker 2: Super Bowl, that's usually the case. You have some guys
Speaker 2: that really perform at a high level. They want to
Speaker 2: get paid. I mean, it's my turn, you know, I
Speaker 2: want to get paid now. And because of uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the salary cap constraints. You know a lot of times
Speaker 2: you can't pay those guys. And so the teams that
Speaker 2: usually have the most cap, or the team that aren't
Speaker 2: doing so well, they're able to poach some of your
Speaker 2: players that really help you to get to that Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: And generally, because of financial constraints, eternal.
Speaker 5: Win the league. Today.
Speaker 2: Man, every off season, you know, you're losing about twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five players off your roster, So to try to
Speaker 2: come back and get that chemistry to get the team
Speaker 2: to work together like you did doing that Super Bowl season,
Speaker 2: it's a challenge. It's a major challenge. So it's a
Speaker 2: lot more difficult in today's NFL because of the salary
Speaker 2: cap and because of your inability to keep your players
Speaker 2: to come back and repeat again.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I coach. I find that to be the biggest reason.
Speaker 6: I also find the reason of and I've heard this
Speaker 6: with Kansas City last year, their driving force was everyone
Speaker 6: telling them they can't win a Super Bowl without Tyreek Hill.
Speaker 6: It's almost that motivational carrit in front of them the
Speaker 6: entire season, driving them behind the scenes. And I've been
Speaker 6: told this year they don't really have one of those.
Speaker 6: They don't really have something that's pushing them and pushing
Speaker 6: them this season.
Speaker 7: It's kind of been something they're curious of if they find.
Speaker 6: Here at the end, let's talk about teams maybe that
Speaker 6: are not in contentional right on the edge. When you're
Speaker 6: looking at teams like say the Vikings, the Jags, the
Speaker 6: Texans teams also they're in but Bengals are right on
Speaker 6: the edge. What do you do when you're one of
Speaker 6: those teams on the fringe or one of those teams
Speaker 6: maybe right on the outside, to keep coaching and keeping
Speaker 6: your team motivated when you're on the outside of the
Speaker 6: playoff picture kind of just almost looking.
Speaker 2: At well, that's motivation in this self. The fact that
Speaker 2: you are playing meaningful games in December. That's the mattrum
Speaker 2: with every team. You know, you're you're hoping that when
Speaker 2: we get to December, Man, we're playing meaningful games. By that,
Speaker 2: what I mean is we're playing games that have playoff implications,
Speaker 2: and those teams are now they've got some hurdles that
Speaker 2: they've got overcome, you know, more so because injured than anything.
Speaker 2: But that's a motivating factor for your team that we
Speaker 2: may not control our destiny. We're kind of in the hunt,
Speaker 2: but if we can win out, who knows what might happen.
Speaker 2: So as a as a coach, I mean, that's what
Speaker 2: you're preaching to the players to try to keep that
Speaker 2: carrot in front of them that we have a chance.
Speaker 2: But we got to come to work every single day
Speaker 2: and we got to bleed as a unit. Now, you
Speaker 2: need great leadership in the locker room because it can't
Speaker 2: just be the coach is talking about this. It's got
Speaker 2: to be your locker room has to be echoing the coach.
Speaker 2: So you need strong leadership. But that's that's it. I
Speaker 2: mean you, I mean that's your carrot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Coach, that's a great point. Player.
Speaker 4: Accountability often accompany success. That's a huge part of it.
Speaker 3: Coach. We promised when we bring you back in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, we're gonna give you more bandwidth.
Speaker 7: Here.
Speaker 4: We gotta wrap it up because we got to get
Speaker 4: out of here, but thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Have a happy new year, and JP.
Speaker 4: As we wrap up our shoe at twenty twenty three,
Speaker 4: we want to remind everybody if you're watching, we'll be
Speaker 4: Mondays and Thursdays, seven fifteen Easter your time on the
Speaker 4: NFL app and on the fast channels. But we will
Speaker 4: be back on Tuesday of next week because you want,
Speaker 4: you want to have a new year to recover, and
Speaker 4: next Thursday and then JP, when I wish you a
Speaker 4: happy new year and that you and Baldi don't get
Speaker 4: down to be tough in Kansas City.
Speaker 6: We'll be five. We'll tear care and see apart. Steve,
Speaker 6: see you on Tuesday, buddy
Speaker 3: All right, everybody