Speaker 1: Play action fires picked off at the thirty yard line.
Speaker 1: Ronnie Hickman.
Speaker 2: All the way touchdown.
Speaker 1: The Ohio State rookie Black on third.
Speaker 2: And goal, throwing tart Elijah.
Speaker 3: More for the store.
Speaker 1: Glory is now out. Marcus Goodwin comes in as the
Speaker 1: white out to look for and flackaw almost good sack.
Speaker 1: There he goes, grows on the run, caught inside the
Speaker 1: thirty inside the twenty, goes their own coward still going
Speaker 1: to speak board.
Speaker 2: Looking for the ends up kicks there the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 2: our playoff bound.
Speaker 4: That last touchdown was Joe Flacco's third score of the
Speaker 4: first half. Would be the last touchdown of the game
Speaker 4: as the Browns win thirty seven to twenty. I am
Speaker 4: Greg Rosenthal for the last time on Thursday Night this season,
Speaker 4: and I could not be more excited to be joined
Speaker 4: for this TNF finale and this Brown celebration by this
Speaker 4: Bengals fan, Nick Westling.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 3: Let's ease up on the Bengals fan. I'm a casual
Speaker 3: Bengals fan. We'll say no to disrespect the real Bengals
Speaker 3: fans out there.
Speaker 4: Of course, you know the brother of Chris Twstling, but
Speaker 4: a sharp football mind in his own right, and what
Speaker 4: better way to end the season on TNF than one
Speaker 4: of the stories of the season. Joe flaccoh this is
Speaker 4: really happening. Each week I watch it and I kind
Speaker 4: of just can't believe it's happening. In Some of the
Speaker 4: stats we can throw out in a second are just insane.
Speaker 4: But Flacco is out there slanging it against one of
Speaker 4: the top defenses in the league. By halftime, he had
Speaker 4: almost three hundred yards. The Browns had thirty four points.
Speaker 4: This is real. This is a real thing that's happening.
Speaker 4: It's a beautiful story. It's one of my favorite things
Speaker 4: that's happened in the NFL this year.
Speaker 3: Who would have thought the Joe Flacco would be the
Speaker 3: thirty nine year old quarterback we'd be talking about at
Speaker 3: the end of December.
Speaker 2: Good one in this game, especially.
Speaker 3: At the yes in this game. We know what Joe
Speaker 3: Flacco has always been. If you give him time to throw,
Speaker 3: he can deliver a great ball. He's always had the
Speaker 3: arm strength, always had the ability to read. It's when
Speaker 3: he's under pressure that he tends to falter. And there
Speaker 3: wasn't a lot of pressure tonight, so he was able
Speaker 3: to pick him apart that entire first half.
Speaker 2: It was crazy.
Speaker 4: But the thing I think that's get you know, surprises
Speaker 4: me the most is how well he's moving, Like I
Speaker 4: want to know what training he was doing.
Speaker 2: I swear he's moving better.
Speaker 4: I think they broke out a sneaky athletic term during
Speaker 4: the thing, and usually, you know, it's like they only
Speaker 4: give that to the white qbs who are actually athletic,
Speaker 4: But like Joe Flacco is sneaky athletic at this point
Speaker 4: because he's doing the play action fakes about as well
Speaker 4: as anyone. He's rolling out, he's making throws on the move.
Speaker 4: That last touchdown that we heard, Quinn Williams hits him
Speaker 4: so hard in the helmet that when Flacco goes to
Speaker 4: the sideline and takes his helmet off, he's got a
Speaker 4: huge red mark on his helmet and Joe Flaka don't care.
Speaker 4: He continues to run to the left, improvises. And that's
Speaker 4: one of the things that's gotten me about these last
Speaker 4: four weeks of Flacco is that a lot of these
Speaker 4: plays are on the move, like design rollouts and even
Speaker 4: occasionally kind of improvising like he did on that play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I don't know if you heard that he
Speaker 3: was talking about running routes with his dad and throwing
Speaker 3: the ball sixty yards out of the field. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you heard that or not on the on
Speaker 3: the on the telecast, but I was something more than
Speaker 3: that had to have happened, because he's a much better
Speaker 3: shape than he was in last year. He's moving a
Speaker 3: lot better, he's throwing the ball better now. Some of that, obviously,
Speaker 3: is he's not playing for the Jets. Sorry, Dan, I
Speaker 3: had to get that dig in on that one.
Speaker 2: But we'll have time for that, well left time.
Speaker 3: But yeah, he's always been a solid quarterback if he
Speaker 3: has time to throw, and he showed it again tonight.
Speaker 3: He shown it the last five weeks. Is he up
Speaker 3: to now? Sixteen seventeen hundred yards? Sixteen hundred yards? Is
Speaker 3: that what it is?
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 4: There was a point at halftime, Like I said, he
Speaker 4: had two ninety six at half time, and then they
Speaker 4: couldn't do anything in the second half. It totally went away.
Speaker 4: He actually only ended up with three h nine. So
Speaker 4: there was a stat that the Jets hadn't given up
Speaker 4: a three hundred yard receiver in thirty three games over
Speaker 4: two years. And he got three hundred yards on his
Speaker 4: first throw of the second half. That's how quickly he
Speaker 4: got another crazy one with That is since ninety nine
Speaker 4: when the Browns returned, that was when they returned, right
Speaker 4: that the organization has only had three games where a
Speaker 4: quarterback had three hundred had I think it was like
Speaker 4: two hundred fifty yards and two touchdowns at halftime. Flacco
Speaker 4: has done that three times already. Like Deshaun Watson does
Speaker 4: not have a three hundred yard game yet with the Browns,
Speaker 4: Joe Flacco has four. He was close, if he had
Speaker 4: had a big second half to having the most yards
Speaker 4: any quarterback in the history of the NFL has ever
Speaker 4: had in one month. He did not pass Peyton Manning
Speaker 4: from like some ninety nine or some crazy year. But
Speaker 4: the stats are crazy, and then just the scenes are awesome.
Speaker 4: What were you thinking, I don't know, watching that big
Speaker 4: man with his shirt off, enjoying himself and Jocos shaking
Speaker 4: the camera and just like a really great celebration in
Speaker 4: a way that really they haven't been able to celebrate
Speaker 4: since two thousand and two, because even in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: that it was the COVID year and they couldn't have
Speaker 4: this kind of fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Browns have played great and they deserve it,
Speaker 3: and the fans deserve it. One of the greatest fan
Speaker 3: bases ever. They showed up even when they stunk for
Speaker 3: the last twenty five years. Well, the better part of
Speaker 3: the last twenty five years has been three good years
Speaker 3: in there. Averaged the good years in there. You know,
Speaker 3: after the Deshaun Watson, I don't want to make it
Speaker 3: a Deshaun Watson thing, Like a lot of fans left
Speaker 3: and gave him a good reason to come back. This year.
Speaker 3: They played great and it kind of shows who thought
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty three, with a good defense and a
Speaker 3: great offensive line, that you could win eleven or twelve games,
Speaker 3: which is what it looks like they're gonna do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But like, here's the thing. They don't even have
Speaker 4: a great offensive line anymore. They have a great offensive
Speaker 4: line coach. They have a pretty good interior because Buttonio
Speaker 4: is back in the lineup in Wyatt Teller, so they
Speaker 4: have a great guard tandem. But they played this game
Speaker 4: without They're on their four fourth quarterback. No running back
Speaker 4: Amari Cooper was out for this game, which was a surprise.
Speaker 4: Makes you kind of rethink why did they put him
Speaker 4: back in at the end of the last week's game.
Speaker 2: He didn't play.
Speaker 4: Elijah Moore, who was having a big first half, got
Speaker 4: what appeared to be a concussion late in the first half.
Speaker 4: And yeah, like I said, they're without their top left tackle,
Speaker 4: their top two right tackles. And we're going to get
Speaker 4: to some coach of the year talk later, but it's
Speaker 4: I think one of the reasons why Flacco is just
Speaker 4: he's on my screen right now with this huge smile
Speaker 4: on his face, is like, there are open receivers. This
Speaker 4: is a great offense even when you don't have any
Speaker 4: players left on it.
Speaker 3: You saw Salt in Minnesota with Stefanski too. He can
Speaker 3: scheme it up and get guys open, no matter who
Speaker 3: is receivers or quarterback. Is that you said no running
Speaker 3: back there, I think you're underestimating what you're roomed Ford
Speaker 3: sure has met and I mean Kareem Hunts a nice
Speaker 3: little addition there too. But jerom Ford was outstanding tonight.
Speaker 3: He made people miss, ran people over, you know, whether
Speaker 3: it was running the ball or receiving it out of
Speaker 3: the backfield. He was great. Like you said in Joku
Speaker 3: in the first half, he had reason to be yelling
Speaker 3: into that camera. At the end, he was. He was
Speaker 3: outstanding in that first half. We were texting about it
Speaker 3: and they were trying to trying to play man against
Speaker 3: him with linebackers and I don't know what looked like
Speaker 3: I was trying to cover him out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was that one play on the on the
Speaker 4: crosser where they caught CJ. Moseley and he's leaning inside
Speaker 4: and Joku just blows by him, and yeah, that was
Speaker 4: like A that was like a I've been in this
Speaker 4: league a long time. I mean, you know Moseley's been
Speaker 4: in the league long time because after the game it's
Speaker 4: him and Flacco hugging at the sideline. I was like, man,
Speaker 4: they were teammates like a decade ago in Baltimore, and
Speaker 4: I think what I could be wrong, but I think
Speaker 4: what Moseley said to him when they're hugging was like
Speaker 4: they were chanting your name. I mean, it is. It
Speaker 4: is really a beautiful moment. And sometimes you know, these
Speaker 4: seasons aren't about winning the Super Bowl. I of course
Speaker 4: think of one of the last pot cast sadly you
Speaker 4: know your brother did with us was when the Browns
Speaker 4: won that playoff game, and that was a really special
Speaker 4: moment on the podcast from Mark. We had been with
Speaker 4: him all this time being a Browns fan, and he
Speaker 4: got that and Chris, Chris was fighting his fight and
Speaker 4: it was great to have Chris with us. And I
Speaker 4: couldn't help but think of that tonight, another another special
Speaker 4: night here in Cleveland, except this time it's just so weird,
Speaker 4: it's so improvable. Those are sometimes the best sports season.
Speaker 4: I don't know if the Bengals have had some of
Speaker 4: these where it's just like they're probably not gonna win
Speaker 4: the Super Bowl though at this point, like people are starting,
Speaker 4: you know, it's like maybe they'll dream.
Speaker 2: To do it.
Speaker 4: But just a total unexpected delight that was capped off tonight.
Speaker 3: Why can't they win the Super Bowl? They they're the
Speaker 3: only team that really beat the beat the Ravens the
Speaker 3: other two games. Cravens kind of shot themselves in the foot,
Speaker 3: and I know, I know the Browns were down in
Speaker 3: that game light too, but they they beat the Ravens.
Speaker 3: It wasn't that the Ravens beat themselves in that game.
Speaker 3: And outside of that, the Ravens have outplayed every team
Speaker 3: they've They've gone against the Browns have made some pretty
Speaker 3: decent teams look bad and bad teams look worse. And
Speaker 3: then again to night it happened again. The Jets never
Speaker 3: stood a chance in this game. But I want to
Speaker 3: talk a little bit about the Jets. How many times
Speaker 3: can you shoot yourself in the foot? I mean, you
Speaker 3: got fourth down where you get to play in with
Speaker 3: five seconds on the on the play clock.
Speaker 2: You get.
Speaker 3: It's not just that, I mean, I think it was
Speaker 3: twelve penalties. Most of the crucial situations lays a game
Speaker 3: on fourth down, you had they went for it early
Speaker 3: in the game on fourth, fourth, and sixth in instead
Speaker 3: of kicking an easy field goal. Then they miss a
Speaker 3: field goal. It could have been a different game in
Speaker 3: that second half if they if they make a couple
Speaker 3: of plays. I don't think they would have won anyway,
Speaker 3: but at least it could have been entertaining going down there.
Speaker 3: I would to take a nap the whole second.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm not going to get on them for
Speaker 4: being too aggressive in the first half because they were
Speaker 4: driving me crazy with the lack of a great and
Speaker 4: in the second half they're down. They attempted a field
Speaker 4: goal to cut it to fourteen, like inside line on
Speaker 4: the thirteen, and then they get that block. Then they
Speaker 4: punt from midfield on fourth down and the fourth quarter down.
Speaker 2: I think it was seventeen at the time.
Speaker 4: Then another possession you mentioned where, yeah, they don't get
Speaker 4: to play in so it gets moved back to a
Speaker 4: fourth and eleven and they kick it there. They just
Speaker 4: kept deciding not to go for it on fourth down,
Speaker 4: but I guess you're probably not gonna get it on
Speaker 4: fourth down. If you go for it, you're you're sneaking it.
Speaker 4: But it's just like just try to you're actively trying
Speaker 4: to not win the game at that point. And I've
Speaker 4: never been afraid of Bob Sala's game management in general,
Speaker 4: and Dan's.
Speaker 3: Been on him for several weeks now with good reason.
Speaker 3: It's more of the same now. In his defense, it
Speaker 3: was probably the best chance they were going to win
Speaker 3: is try to pin them back and get a turnover
Speaker 3: and maybe you can get a quick score. But even
Speaker 3: when they did that, they couldn't score the Jets. I really,
Speaker 3: you know, ate some humble pie. A couple of weeks
Speaker 3: ago when I was talking about the organization and the
Speaker 3: coaching staff, and I locked up who was the Texans.
Speaker 3: They end up losing by thirty. But you know, and
Speaker 3: the Jets showed me that week. But I wasn't wrong
Speaker 3: about my analysis. It's an outrage that this team is
Speaker 3: even playing football at this point. It's an embarrassment every week.
Speaker 4: I team, they're six and ten, and you know, I'm
Speaker 4: hoping that with a little extra rest they can beat
Speaker 4: the Patriots next week, so and that streak, so that
Speaker 4: Patriots don't keep messing up this this draft pick. You're right,
Speaker 4: they actually didn't take advantage of three turnovers by the Browns.
Speaker 4: Flacco had the one interception that was returned for a touchdown,
Speaker 4: a great play by Jermaine Johnson.
Speaker 2: But Flacco could have had one or two more. You're
Speaker 2: gonna get those.
Speaker 4: There was one throw this is when I knew they
Speaker 4: were living right where he basically threw it right into
Speaker 4: a Jets defender's chest. It bounced off and more caught
Speaker 4: it for for a first down. There was a fumbled kickoff.
Speaker 4: I believe Flacco had another fumble that he fell on.
Speaker 4: There actually were opportunities here for the Jets to do more.
Speaker 4: But to me, the biggest takeaway for the Jets, we
Speaker 4: don't need to spend a ton of time on them.
Speaker 4: But to me, the biggest takeaway was, you know, they
Speaker 4: start the game and the Browns go right down the
Speaker 4: field seventy five yards, touchdown. It's all in Djoku for
Speaker 4: the most part. Jets respond with one of their best
Speaker 4: drives of the season. Six plays, seventy five yards against
Speaker 4: this Brown's defense. It's seven to seven after eight minutes.
Speaker 4: I'm like, wow, this is a great looking game so far.
Speaker 4: Browns get the ball back, go right down the field again.
Speaker 4: Nice mix of running pass. You're right, Jerome Ford. It
Speaker 4: was big for them. They were able to run for
Speaker 4: one to twenty seven tonight, most of that in the
Speaker 4: first half. Ford was twelve for sixty four. They haven't
Speaker 4: been able to run at all last three weeks. That
Speaker 4: was big for them.
Speaker 2: But that's a Jets defense which gave up, you know.
Speaker 4: Two long touchdown drives on their first two drives and
Speaker 4: then another one a couple drives later early third quarters.
Speaker 4: So this Brown's offense was kind of shoving it down
Speaker 4: their throats. And if you got that as your defense,
Speaker 4: like every four or five weeks, which seems to happen
Speaker 4: to this Jets defense, it's like, what do you really have?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't have anything to have to that excellent
Speaker 3: Jets talking.
Speaker 2: I'm just honking right.
Speaker 3: It was good honking because you were accurate on everything
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 2: It was a bizarre game.
Speaker 4: It was the highest scoring first half of any game
Speaker 4: in four years. Jets Browns thirty four to seventeen at halftime,
Speaker 4: which is just bananas. And then it was the first
Speaker 4: game ever to go over fifty points in NFL history
Speaker 4: in the first half and have no touchdowns in the
Speaker 4: second half. The second half, everyone was just kind of
Speaker 4: wasting time. And there was that clip of Flacco very
Speaker 4: relatably starting to nod on off at one point, and
Speaker 4: I thought, well, maybe that's why he's not playing too well,
Speaker 4: Like he literally was falling asleep on the sideline, like
Speaker 4: get this man to bed. It is very tiring to
Speaker 4: play professional football.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
Speaker 4: Can you imagine nodding off while being a quarterback in
Speaker 4: an NFL game.
Speaker 3: If you're involved in that game. Maybe because that second
Speaker 3: half was brutal, I just it was how many possessions
Speaker 3: were there. There had been eight or nine three announce
Speaker 3: in that in that second It.
Speaker 2: Felt like it, but it actually wasn't. Uh that it
Speaker 2: was like at.
Speaker 3: One point the Browns had four straight three an ounce.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a total of eleven possessions, you know between the
Speaker 4: two of them, and and no touchdown. So there wasn't
Speaker 4: there wasn't much going on. We we mentioned, you mentioned
Speaker 4: why can't they go to the super Bowl? Okay, they
Speaker 4: are still alive for the one seed. They are eleven
Speaker 4: and five.
Speaker 2: That's crazy. The Browns are eleven and five.
Speaker 4: Uh, they need the Ravens to lose out. So that
Speaker 4: would mean the Ravens losing to the doll this week
Speaker 4: and then the Steelers next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty unlikely, unlikely, it could happen.
Speaker 4: It could, and you'll you'll have an idea after this
Speaker 4: Sunday whether there's even a chance. The Browns finished in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: Not an easy game, but the Bengals have not won
Speaker 4: a division game all week. Most likely they're going to
Speaker 4: be the five seed, and I do think it might be.
Speaker 4: It's tricky. They might want to rest players next week,
Speaker 4: but they also might lose the five seed potentially if
Speaker 4: they rest next week, because the loser of Bill's Dolphins.
Speaker 4: If they're both fighting for the division, would they have
Speaker 4: a better record than yeah, if they both lost, if
Speaker 4: they it depends, there's a lot of factors.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think.
Speaker 4: Iither, wait, if you play at the AFC South winner,
Speaker 4: the Browns are probably as the five seed the favor
Speaker 4: in that game.
Speaker 3: As they should be because the AFC South, there's been
Speaker 3: a couple of teams with some value and after, but
Speaker 3: they don't have a talent that this Browns team has.
Speaker 3: And we'll talk about. We mentioned Coach of the Year,
Speaker 3: we'll talk about there might be some names that come
Speaker 3: up from that from that South division and that on
Speaker 3: my list. I don't know about yours, but we'll see,
Speaker 3: and then I don't I still think you wrest them
Speaker 3: in that week. You mentioned all the injuries on the
Speaker 3: offensive line, Amari Cooper now more, I don't think you
Speaker 3: can play them in that if you're I mean, I
Speaker 3: slid graphic ninety chance they get in. They're in.
Speaker 2: They're in now, they're in the playoffs.
Speaker 4: But in terms of the five, like the five versus
Speaker 4: the six, I was bringing up the possibility that if
Speaker 4: the Dolphins lost the next two, they would be eleven
Speaker 4: and six. Off the top of my head, I'm not
Speaker 4: sure who would get you know that that five seed.
Speaker 4: If you fall down to you know, six, then you're
Speaker 4: probably playing the Chiefs the first round. I don't think
Speaker 4: they would be too worried about that, but it's just
Speaker 4: just something I'm just putting out, Yeah, a little.
Speaker 3: I guess we'll wait and see that. The Browns, I
Speaker 3: don't know mentioned the Chiefs. The Bengals have still have
Speaker 3: a chance at the playoffs. They'd have to. They have
Speaker 3: to win both games. I think, yes, they're still mathematic
Speaker 3: they're not mathematically eliminated if they lose one.
Speaker 4: No, and I didn't help, not that it was a
Speaker 4: big deal, but they need to win both games and
Speaker 4: still get a ton of help. You we mentioned Coach
Speaker 4: of the Year. We've teased it, all rights to it.
Speaker 4: He's clearly one of the favorites for Coach of the Year.
Speaker 4: He's going to be on the list he's got. When
Speaker 4: we go to NFL Honors, they mentioned three coaches as finalists.
Speaker 4: That's not really how it works. You can only vote
Speaker 4: for one. It's not like MVP where you can vote
Speaker 4: for multiple But they say three coaches named. They know
Speaker 4: who's gonna win, but usually three coaches get votes, so they'll,
Speaker 4: you know, that those are the top three, and you
Speaker 4: don't know who it's going to be. I'm gonna mention
Speaker 4: seven names on a long list in no particular order.
Speaker 4: Then you give me your what your list would be,
Speaker 4: your top four. Let's say so, in no order, Mike McDaniel,
Speaker 4: John Harbad, Dan Campbell, Kevin Stefanski, Sean McVeigh, Shane Stiken,
Speaker 4: and Kyle Shannon. To me, those are seven reasonable names.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you would have anyone else on
Speaker 4: the reasonable list. Give me your top four in order.
Speaker 3: I have, Well, you didn't mention John Harball in there?
Speaker 2: I did? I did I miss that?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: I did?
Speaker 3: So I have and you didn't mention Todd Bowles.
Speaker 4: I think No, I don't think he's a reasonable choice.
Speaker 4: I don't think he's a reasonable choice.
Speaker 3: He was on my long list, not my short list.
Speaker 2: But I have if I had to make a top ten,
Speaker 2: he's on it that.
Speaker 3: I have Stefanski three, stike In to Harball one.
Speaker 2: Wow. Interesting, Okay, give me your reason.
Speaker 3: Think well, First of all, I think we so often
Speaker 3: overlook the best team with the best coach. I think
Speaker 3: how many times did Belichick win it in all those years?
Speaker 3: Once or twice.
Speaker 4: I think he got two in the end, Harbad did
Speaker 4: get one. I was just checking on this and he's that.
Speaker 3: This Ravens team has played better than everyone else in
Speaker 3: the league. They don't make a ton of mistakes. I
Speaker 3: know some there's been some little management issues, but I
Speaker 3: think if you go through a whole season, you're gonna
Speaker 3: have that. But I think it's Harball and I don't
Speaker 3: think it's particularly close for me. Wow, I don't.
Speaker 4: I think now if they lose to Miami, but when
Speaker 4: the division is the choice me, yeah.
Speaker 3: We'll see. I guess we'll talk about it after Sunday
Speaker 3: if that's the case. I think Shane Steichen when he's
Speaker 3: done with that team and they're still playing well. You know,
Speaker 3: Damiko Ryan was on my long list too.
Speaker 2: Oh, I forgot that. I forgot to mention Ryan. That
Speaker 2: is my bad, that's my foot.
Speaker 3: He's on my long list too. But like I had
Speaker 3: a hard time putting him in the top four as well.
Speaker 4: I mean, they've won three games the last couple of
Speaker 4: years and in he hasn't at eight right now.
Speaker 3: And most people thought it was the most talent poor
Speaker 3: team in the league starting the year. Now, I think
Speaker 3: we're we proved that wrong over of course the year
Speaker 3: with two stud receivers and a great quarterback, but you know,
Speaker 3: the defense was extremely thin and they played okay most
Speaker 3: of the year. Now they've gotten exposed a little bit
Speaker 3: here more recently. And I don't think he'll end up
Speaker 3: getting it because I don't think they're going to make
Speaker 3: the playoffs.
Speaker 4: How well, if they win their last two games. And
Speaker 4: I would preface all this by saying, I do think
Speaker 4: the last two games matter a lot for these awards
Speaker 4: because I think there isn't a lot of separation between it.
Speaker 4: And then you have Stefanski.
Speaker 3: Three Stiking two Harball one is what I had.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just crazy what Stefanski has overcome. Chubb Watson,
Speaker 4: although they're getting great quarterback play out of Flacco, Conklin,
Speaker 4: Jedrick Wills, some more depth pieces on the offensive line,
Speaker 4: and then on the defense. They aren't stars, but they
Speaker 4: lost a handful of players for the season, a couple
Speaker 4: of safeties, Grant up It who was having a Pro
Speaker 4: Bowl type season, Roddy McCleod, it was essentially a starter
Speaker 4: in Okroonquo. So they've just overcome a lot, even Dustin Hopkins.
Speaker 4: Is he coming back this year? I don't know, but
Speaker 4: he's out like they've just overcome so much. And then
Speaker 4: when you watch them every day, you just see how
Speaker 4: he can coach offense, how he can create receivers. So
Speaker 4: going into last week, Shanahan was my guy. And it's
Speaker 4: partly because I want to reward everything about coaching, not
Speaker 4: just like who is taking the over underwins of like
Speaker 4: seven and a half like the Browns and getting to eleven,
Speaker 4: but like the entire process, because we keep giving these
Speaker 4: guys coach of the years that like it doesn't look
Speaker 4: great in the long like Dable last year, now that
Speaker 4: already doesn't look good. Matt Naggi got one, Jason Garrett
Speaker 4: got one, Ron Rivera got two.
Speaker 2: I mean he has more than Andy Reid.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: He did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, nine seven or something like that.
Speaker 4: Like Stefanski in part gets credit for beating expectations, but
Speaker 4: you have to at least acknowledge somewhat he is partly
Speaker 4: responsible for setting those low expectations. And he made a
Speaker 4: great hire in Jim Schwartz, but he also like made
Speaker 4: the bad hire that required firing the old guy.
Speaker 2: That yeah, I'm just saying, Hey, at.
Speaker 3: Least you didn't try to stay with your mistake too.
Speaker 4: Mike Smith won one with the Falcons. I mean that's fine.
Speaker 4: Dick gern one with the Bears. Then when four games, okay?
Speaker 4: And so with all that in mind, thinking about like
Speaker 4: what what's impressive to me? Stefanski is my number two.
Speaker 4: Harbaugh is my number three for all the reasons you say.
Speaker 4: But my number one right now I think is Dan Campbell.
Speaker 4: And it's partly for the whole list thing that he
Speaker 4: did bringing this Lions team from the Ashes, the whole
Speaker 4: three year process to get to this point. How easy
Speaker 4: it would have been, after how last season finished, to
Speaker 4: take a step back, but instead they did take that
Speaker 4: step forward to kind of answer these challenges. They're not
Speaker 4: like a perfect team, but he's very good game management wise,
Speaker 4: he's very good at the at like bringing the team together,
Speaker 4: and so for the total job, I'm going to give
Speaker 4: it to him.
Speaker 2: And Browns fans might not like this, but.
Speaker 4: I am admittedly taking into account Stefanski won one year
Speaker 4: three years ago too. It's like, we really got to
Speaker 4: give Stefanski two and four years to come on. I
Speaker 4: don't know, there's part of me that actually thinks that
Speaker 4: Browns fans were so upset when I mentioned that online,
Speaker 4: but I was just like, I don't know, is Stefanski
Speaker 4: really the best coach in the NFL twice in four years?
Speaker 2: That seems a little crazy.
Speaker 3: Dan Campbell is a is a thought, you build a
Speaker 3: good case for.
Speaker 2: You, Okay, thank you?
Speaker 3: He it is. It would be a two or three
Speaker 3: year award. What was he o for his first to
Speaker 3: aid point? Yeah, was in you know, he's out there crying.
Speaker 3: It would have been very easy for the organization to
Speaker 3: move on from him.
Speaker 2: And it started last year. Whatever.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 3: No good organizations if they feel like they have the
Speaker 3: right person in place, stick with them. I mean not
Speaker 3: to say bad about any other organizations that have gone
Speaker 3: through three coaches in the last three years, but there's
Speaker 3: one out there that's bad again and they'll be looking
Speaker 3: for another one. I don't know. I wanted to get
Speaker 3: to one more thing before we got out here. I
Speaker 3: wanted to talk a little bit about the FC North
Speaker 3: because you look at the Bengals, they they're zero and five.
Speaker 3: In the North, they'd be eight and two. They're eight
Speaker 3: and two against everyone else. The Ravens have only lost
Speaker 3: one game outside the North. The Steelers actually have the
Speaker 3: best Steelers actually have the best record in the North.
Speaker 3: They go up to, uh, what are they playing?
Speaker 2: Seattle?
Speaker 3: I guess it's a good time for me to go
Speaker 3: ahead and say that I don't like the Steelers. They're
Speaker 3: gonna be eliminated from the playoffs this week, and that's
Speaker 3: why I'm walking up the Seahawk.
Speaker 4: Oh wow, a surprise live block on a TNF recap.
Speaker 2: We were ready, Randy behind the glass. Do you have
Speaker 2: it there? It is so thanks. We didn't warn you
Speaker 2: on that. I didn't know that was exciting.
Speaker 3: I feel like the just to read the Steelers. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's nice that they've gotten, you know, back into it,
Speaker 3: but they're not good enough. You know, defense can't carry
Speaker 3: them forever. So Seattle's gonna win that game. Well, you
Speaker 3: have to talk about one of the AFC North teams
Speaker 3: after this week, maybe too, we'll see.
Speaker 2: I hope, I hope you're right.
Speaker 4: As a as a geno enthusiast, it does worry me.
Speaker 4: Those two pass rushers versus these tackles who can't protect
Speaker 4: anyone Right now in Seattle, they've been they've been living
Speaker 4: a charm life these last two weeks with these last
Speaker 4: second touchdown drives is a tough way to live.
Speaker 2: But I feel like they could do it again.
Speaker 4: And yeah, oologies to all the coaches we didn't go
Speaker 4: for you know McVay, Ryan's I think a.
Speaker 2: Lot of guys will get votes.
Speaker 4: So uh that was that was very classy view a
Speaker 4: live lock to finish up En screw the Steelers by
Speaker 4: the way, and can you can you wake up and
Speaker 4: get a win there?
Speaker 2: Bengals.
Speaker 4: We were getting all excited about the Bengals. I mean
Speaker 4: seven point dogs in Kansas City. I do like that
Speaker 4: number for for you.
Speaker 3: I don't know if make an appearance on that. I
Speaker 3: think every time they've played for the last six times now,
Speaker 3: it's been a one score game, So I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think the sevens a little you know, a little
Speaker 3: rich for that.
Speaker 4: And your boy Ana Rumo always has a good plan
Speaker 4: for them, and well I know he's not I know
Speaker 4: their defense doesn't play well, but he's always has a
Speaker 4: good plan for Patrick mahomes here.
Speaker 3: You had bought him three defenses in the league this
Speaker 3: year and I did not see that coming. So anyway,
Speaker 3: enough Bengals talk, what happens. We'll see what happens on
Speaker 3: the Year's Eve.
Speaker 4: It's always good to uh get some Bengals suck. And
Speaker 4: what are you doing New Year's Eve? You working at
Speaker 4: the bar?
Speaker 3: You know, I am working at the restaurant. At the restaurant, sorry,
Speaker 3: most like something like that ten to ten somewhere around there.
Speaker 4: So do you ever listen to us, you know, la
Speaker 4: slash Hollywood media folk talking about common man rankings and think, Hey,
Speaker 4: how about me over here? I'm running this restaurant nine
Speaker 4: to nine on New Year's Eve every night. I'm not
Speaker 4: complaining about getting an extra game because there's ten and
Speaker 4: one am game, one pm games this week. I'm the
Speaker 4: top of the common man rankings. Nick Westling, There's.
Speaker 3: There's worse things to be than an NFL analyst, I think.
Speaker 3: But you know, that's a conversation for another day. I
Speaker 3: love my job, so I'm not going to complain. So
Speaker 3: uh no, yeah, you guys.
Speaker 4: Are we That's That's where what I was trying to say.
Speaker 2: Chris.
Speaker 4: Chris would always laugh when that conversation would come up,
Speaker 4: because he would he would just think, like, y'all are
Speaker 4: all soft.
Speaker 2: You'll give you a drink.
Speaker 3: You guys don't know nothing about the west side.
Speaker 4: Uh, what is going on the west side? By the way,
Speaker 4: how are the west How was the westling Christmas? In general?
Speaker 3: Christmas good? You know we went over to my uncle
Speaker 3: Ritchie've been there for Christmas Eve place on? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: probably mine too. Phil came down from Columbus with the
Speaker 3: kids and Heather and obviously Tim, Mike and Me and
Speaker 3: Steph and Matthew were there, so my mom. So we
Speaker 3: we get We had a good time, got to see
Speaker 3: some relatives and you know, always a good time to
Speaker 3: see family and Christmas time, you know, it's the half
Speaker 3: happiest time of year.
Speaker 2: The Wesseling Uh clan rolls deep. I mean it is.
Speaker 4: It is a clan who does it. The one time
Speaker 4: I was there, you know there there were family members.
Speaker 2: That's Taffy. You didn't even know there was his family
Speaker 2: members all over the place. I don't even know there was.
Speaker 3: I think that was ninety five of them there that day.
Speaker 3: By my account, we were landing on one hundred with
Speaker 3: you and Colleen showing up, and I think someone someone
Speaker 3: got ill and couldn't come into town, so they left
Speaker 3: four behind. But I think I think it was or
Speaker 3: ninety six that day. And that wasn't all of them,
Speaker 3: by the way, there was more.
Speaker 4: Well as a festive night in the a f C North.
Speaker 4: Congrats to to Mark too Uh, to all the Browns
Speaker 4: fans out there, to Joe Flacco. I'm excited that they're
Speaker 4: going to be part of our little playoff adventure. It
Speaker 4: was a treat, Nick Avenue on. Maybe maybe we'll make
Speaker 4: this a tradition. You could. You're you're the You're the closer.
Speaker 4: You're our Mariano Rivera insert great Reds closer.
Speaker 2: Of the past. Come on, who's the best red An?
Speaker 3: How about that?
Speaker 2: You strike me more as a Rob Dibble Uh.
Speaker 3: Every that was a fun year, but I don't think
Speaker 3: Rob Dibble's my guy.
Speaker 4: For Nick and Uh and Randy behind the glass, we've
Speaker 4: enjoyed doing these tnfs every week. We'll be back on
Speaker 4: Sunday to bring you how our week seventeen recap. It's
Speaker 4: going to be a loaded one. A lot of Sunday
Speaker 4: games this week. Until then, do as Chris Westling would say,
Speaker 4: he'd beh