Speaker 1: They Around the NFL podcast eight s Breeze Inch Football
Speaker 1: from the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the NFL,
Speaker 1: the flagship show, Divisional Round weekend edition, Pound for Pound,
Speaker 1: the last weekend up football of the year, and the
Speaker 1: Drama for Drama. It was excellent this weekend, living up
Speaker 1: to the hype. We're down to four here. Dan hansis
Speaker 1: with Greg Rosenthal Mark Sessler. Sunday, January twenty eighth, Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens three pm kickoff, CBS, six
Speaker 1: thirty pm Eastern Time on Fox. Lions at Niners from
Speaker 1: the Big Bell Bottom. The winners of those games play
Speaker 1: in Super Bowl fifty eight, two weeks from that day.
Speaker 1: Mark three games left.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think like that announcement alone by you
Speaker 2: is a very crystallized irritant to four fan bases who
Speaker 2: did not survive this weekend. But I really don't know
Speaker 2: if any of them can be put above what Buffalo's
Speaker 2: fan base has been through. We sat down and watched
Speaker 2: this game together for hours, and I don't know sometimes
Speaker 2: if there are football gods or whatever is sitting up
Speaker 2: there controlling all of this. The puppet masters, man, they
Speaker 2: have a sixth sense of humor.
Speaker 3: It's the it's the beautiful part of doing this show
Speaker 3: that we will get to all four games, that every
Speaker 3: winner loser, like you all get your due. And yet
Speaker 3: it's hard not to just feel overwhelmed by the enormity
Speaker 3: of this Bill's Chiefs game. It's right before we tape
Speaker 3: and it's Josh Allen, it's Patrick Mahomes. It's a game
Speaker 3: we've been building up to for four years, and in
Speaker 3: some ways it was so different and then the ending
Speaker 3: being so similar. The only difference is we got a
Speaker 3: Bills fan with tears, you know, covering himself up. Eric
Speaker 3: didn't want to now that I wasn't talking Eric instead
Speaker 3: of like Chiefs fans with happy tears.
Speaker 4: Guy and the telecasts. Yes, but Eric's probably crying as well,
Speaker 4: although he's a very strong man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought the Sunday games are you know, the
Speaker 1: everyone is and rightfully so has been focused on Detroit,
Speaker 1: the city of Detroit, the rise of the program under
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell and how it's galvanized that whole area, and
Speaker 1: how they're so easy to root for. I think from
Speaker 1: a personal standpoint, it did have like, as we're starting
Speaker 1: the show a little bit of a hangover because I've
Speaker 1: always felt a bit of a kinship with the Bills
Speaker 1: and their fans in the AFC East, and this feeling
Speaker 1: that when is it going to be your turn to
Speaker 1: get over the hump? And there are so many moments
Speaker 1: in the game you're about to talk to talk about
Speaker 1: where it felt like this was different than other Bills teams,
Speaker 1: and yet it was.
Speaker 2: It's distinctly different than the other games too, because I
Speaker 2: think if you're a Texans fan or a Packers fan,
Speaker 2: there's a little bit of house money going on there
Speaker 2: and there's hope for the future. It's like you're surprised
Speaker 2: almost to be here on some level. Tampa Bay. Similar
Speaker 2: one back to Tampa Bay to go deep into the playoffs.
Speaker 2: The Bills came in with immense expectations, immense pressure, and
Speaker 2: the carpet was rolled out for them to finally do
Speaker 2: it this time around, to host the Chiefs in Buffalo,
Speaker 2: and the fate could not be more cruel, and I think,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, I feel like there's a weight
Speaker 2: to all of it. I feel exhausted and.
Speaker 1: Look at the crowd, people literally emotional to the state
Speaker 1: of tiers and that is the power of sport, the
Speaker 1: power of the NFL, and the hole it has on
Speaker 1: Western New York and really everywhere.
Speaker 4: So let's get into it.
Speaker 1: The problem for the Bills is that to get over
Speaker 1: the hump, they had to beat the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: And that's the team that they have.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes, that's a problem all right too.
Speaker 4: Orchard Park Chiefs twenty seven Bills twenty four.
Speaker 5: In the game, on fourth down and nine for the Buffalo,
Speaker 5: place went down.
Speaker 4: Bessest kick and the kick is.
Speaker 5: Good, God, a little prophecy. Tyler Bass has struggled and
Speaker 5: he just misses the kick, and the Chiefs will take
Speaker 5: over at the point of the miskick their own thirty
Speaker 5: four yard line is Tyler Bass misses this wide to
Speaker 5: the right.
Speaker 4: He missed. He skanked one wide to the left against
Speaker 4: pet It and you just wonder on the over correction.
Speaker 5: The Chiefs catch a break on a missfield goal by Buffalo.
Speaker 4: Mitch Holt is rolling. Oh wow, little worse.
Speaker 1: Worse, you guess you know what wdaf with the call.
Speaker 1: I guess the cheeses are supposed to neatly move to
Speaker 1: the side. This year bad year by their standards. Couldn't
Speaker 1: get anything right. But then they flip a switch, as
Speaker 1: the true great teams do, and they will drive you
Speaker 1: crazy if you're sick of watching the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: but they don't care, just like the dynasty before him,
Speaker 1: the Patriots, they didn't care either, as the Chiefs get
Speaker 1: that the benefit obviously of a missed field goal there
Speaker 1: by Tyler Bass the one that will live in infamy,
Speaker 1: of course, not quite at the level of wide right
Speaker 1: in January ninety one, but wide right in January of
Speaker 1: twenty four is something that will stick with us and
Speaker 1: She and Bill's Mafia Forever.
Speaker 4: Final score twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs advance to the AFC Championship Game for the sixth.
Speaker 4: Sixth consecutive year.
Speaker 1: Does anybody understand how difficult it is to get to
Speaker 1: the AFC title game, To get to a conference championship
Speaker 1: game six years in a row. I don't even care
Speaker 1: if you don't win them all, just getting there. It's
Speaker 1: so difficult. So the Chiefs use a big play offense
Speaker 1: that has gone all season GREGI. They average nine yards
Speaker 1: per play in this game, and the defense tightens up
Speaker 1: in the back end of this game to take one
Speaker 1: and rip the Hearts out of Buffalo.
Speaker 3: I felt like these teams switched bodies all season, were
Speaker 3: wasted our time apparently talking about how this Chiefs offense
Speaker 3: they're never gonna get it together. And today they have
Speaker 3: eight plays over twenty yards. They're moving the ball up
Speaker 3: and down the field. I know they got fortunate with
Speaker 3: that missfield goal, but let's be real, they were probably
Speaker 3: the more consistent team. They had some breaks really go
Speaker 3: against them later in this game. I know we'll get
Speaker 3: to and I keep thinking about how all day Steve
Speaker 3: Spagnolo was just daring Josh Allen to just stay patient,
Speaker 3: stay patient, keep moving the ball up the field, keep
Speaker 3: calling those runs, keep taking the checkdowns. No big plays
Speaker 3: for the Bills. They literally did not have a throw
Speaker 3: over fifteen yards in the game. He only had two
Speaker 3: that went over ten yards in the air that were
Speaker 3: completed in nutcutting time, and Alan tried some deep shots that,
Speaker 3: through no fault of his own, weren't completed. You had
Speaker 3: the sixty plus yarder through the air to dig Diggs
Speaker 3: didn't make it. You had the Sherfield catches it, he
Speaker 3: couldn't get. But in the final drive for the Bills
Speaker 3: before they kicked that field goal first down that they
Speaker 3: try to stick with the run burn a little more
Speaker 3: clock cook is stopped. They ran the ball great in
Speaker 3: the first half, Chiefs defense stepped up stopped the run
Speaker 3: in the second half for the most part.
Speaker 4: Next two plays. An Tony Roma pointed it out.
Speaker 3: On second down, Allen has crossers short routes open, and
Speaker 3: instead of going for Diggs over the middle, he holds it.
Speaker 3: I can't kill the decision because he's got Shakir for
Speaker 3: the game winning touchdown. But Chris Jones pushes Dowkins into
Speaker 3: Allen's plant leg, he can't extend it, doesn't get there.
Speaker 4: Third down, he holds the ball.
Speaker 3: That was just a bad decision, trying to make a
Speaker 3: bigger play, doesn't get it. And in the end, Josh
Speaker 3: Allen is who Josh Allen is, and he went big
Speaker 3: game hunting. I think he played great today, But Patrick
Speaker 3: Mahomes played better, and the Chiefs defense and the end
Speaker 3: play better. And they're just a great organization who is
Speaker 3: playing their best when it absolutely matters. And that's what
Speaker 3: dynasties do. And they are a dynasty.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean both teams combine for scores on nine of
Speaker 2: the first eleven drives. Then it turns into an a
Speaker 2: Blazon dogfight where that drives up a little bit and
Speaker 2: it comes down to moments because if you knew in
Speaker 2: this game that the Bills would have a Chiefs fumble
Speaker 2: go through the end zone and you'd have a chance
Speaker 2: to take a possession away from Kansas City, It's that
Speaker 2: kind of game, and they do nothing with it. They
Speaker 2: fizzle out and punt right away on the previous possession,
Speaker 2: they go for a fake punt tomorrow Hamlon of all people,
Speaker 2: unable to convert done on downs, missfield goal comes two
Speaker 2: possessions later. Their final three possessions in a key, close,
Speaker 2: tight affair result in zero points. They couldn't take advantage
Speaker 2: of the little opportunities and a big play offense that
Speaker 2: we've been used to to your point, Greg, zero plays
Speaker 2: over twenty yards, not even like.
Speaker 4: A Josh Allen big run or anything.
Speaker 3: And I feel guys twenty seven for sevend they were
Speaker 3: still like a good offense for most of the day
Speaker 3: until the fourth quarter anyway, were not.
Speaker 2: But I think it's like you have to look at
Speaker 2: you know, we don't know what will happen with Stephan Diggs,
Speaker 2: but like Stephan Diggs is not a primary number one
Speaker 2: guy in this offense today the way that you would
Speaker 2: have hoped.
Speaker 4: They needed him. They absolutely did. And you can't be
Speaker 4: what you're not.
Speaker 1: And maybe Stephan Diggs got old fast, I don't know,
Speaker 1: or maybe he's just not in a good headspace, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's just the way sports work sometimes and it's
Speaker 1: not your day and it's not your season. But there's
Speaker 1: something wrong with Diggs and we had documented it on
Speaker 1: Thursday Show when you looked at his numbers that he
Speaker 1: just hadn't been an explosive player.
Speaker 4: And yeah, that deep.
Speaker 3: Shot I say on Digs just while we're there, like,
Speaker 3: I think what is wrong with him in part is
Speaker 3: Ljarious Snead in these two matchups nineteen targets forty five yards.
Speaker 4: Which is Man and pala Jariosneaed.
Speaker 1: That's all cool, but this goes back to two and
Speaker 1: a half months and he was perfect. That bro was there,
Speaker 1: He had him beat. He dropped it into his hands.
Speaker 1: Alan and Digs not make the catch. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying they win the game if they because they end
Speaker 1: up getting into Kansas City territory anyway on that drive.
Speaker 4: But you know, coming back to this idea.
Speaker 1: I feel like in the second half I felt it
Speaker 1: watching the game, and I feel like you could feel
Speaker 1: it in the in the building, and you could feel
Speaker 1: just watching the way the players are the enormity of
Speaker 1: the moment. It felt like it felt like in Eric again,
Speaker 1: I Love You Body. I felt like we're watching a
Speaker 1: game where it was a sliding doors moment in Bill's history,
Speaker 1: like this was gonna be the half or the couple
Speaker 1: of possessions that will be remembered forever when they get
Speaker 1: past Mahomes and then beat the Ravens and go finally
Speaker 1: win a Super Bowl. And they had it in front
Speaker 1: of them after the horrendous Mikole Hardman turnover. Upon review,
Speaker 1: they survived the botched fake punt, and then they get
Speaker 1: the ball back again and they can't they can't move
Speaker 1: the ball, and then for that drive to stall and
Speaker 1: then you leave it up to the kicker on a
Speaker 1: in January in Buffalo on a cold and windy day.
Speaker 4: Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And that's what Patrick Mahomes was saying after the game
Speaker 1: about his defense and a little pep talk that he
Speaker 1: thought he should have given a little earlier.
Speaker 6: I went over to the defense and I told him,
Speaker 6: I'll say, y'all shut it down and we'll win this
Speaker 6: football game. We'll go to the Nancy Championship game. And
Speaker 6: they did going to that fourth quarter, and I told
Speaker 6: him next time, I'll try to tell him earlier.
Speaker 1: And to the credit to the credit of the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: because the Bills kind of Greek tragedy side of it
Speaker 1: is easy to kind of get wrapped up into. But
Speaker 1: to the credit to the Chiefs, like the Patriots before him,
Speaker 1: they they're that team that finds a way, especially this
Speaker 1: time of year.
Speaker 4: And they did it again.
Speaker 3: Well they did it the same way they've done it
Speaker 3: for five years, but they weren't supposed to this year.
Speaker 3: But I'm just saying, like it was so crazy to
Speaker 3: think going into the third quarter they were trailing in
Speaker 3: this game and their offense at that point was averaging
Speaker 3: nine yards per play and they hadn't been stopped. I'm
Speaker 3: not counting it as a stop when they ran one
Speaker 3: play before halftime. The Chiefs had literally scored every time
Speaker 3: they had the ball. They were averaging nine point three
Speaker 3: yards per play, and they entered the fourth quarter trailiing.
Speaker 3: That's what happened in the Dick for meal days. That
Speaker 3: was the stuff that happened early in this Mahomes run,
Speaker 3: when you had Brady and Gronk going up and down
Speaker 3: the field in the first half. Their defense actually didn't
Speaker 3: show up very well today and it didn't matter because
Speaker 3: Mahomes and this offense were cooking. Kelsey making big plays
Speaker 3: the first play of the second half, Mahomes with a
Speaker 3: dot to MVS. Then later in the second half where
Speaker 3: Mahomes evades the pass rush there was no Bills pass
Speaker 3: rush today, steps up another one down the field to MVS.
Speaker 3: They ran the ball really well, like this was a
Speaker 3: peak Chiefs offensive performance that certainly makes you think, like, hmm,
Speaker 3: wonder if they have one or two more of these
Speaker 3: in them?
Speaker 4: That's all they need.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was two weeks in.
Speaker 4: A row now where they've answered questions on that side
Speaker 4: of the.
Speaker 2: Ball, and I, you know, I think Kelsey this whole
Speaker 2: season has not felt to me obviously like peak Kelsey,
Speaker 2: but he showed up today in a big way and
Speaker 2: crossed the barrier.
Speaker 4: They've got the most.
Speaker 2: You know, Mahomes and Kelsey now the most quarterback target
Speaker 2: touchdowns and playoff history that passed Brady and Gronk. It
Speaker 2: looks like it, that feels like it. That's who the
Speaker 2: Chiefs are, and there is just something inevitable about Mahomes.
Speaker 2: There wasn't a moment in this game where you felt
Speaker 2: any doubt coming from him. And this whole thing that
Speaker 2: he's on the road, I think he enjoyed being on them.
Speaker 2: I think he enjoyed being in this environment, and they
Speaker 2: took that challenge on. Chris Jones was going at the
Speaker 2: Bills fans before the game, and that's a lot. You
Speaker 2: know that you're watching Bills fans shedding tears at the
Speaker 2: end of this affair, and I think it's like it is.
Speaker 2: It is the inevitability of the Kansas City Chiefs that
Speaker 2: they're going to find a way in any environment, any situation,
Speaker 2: to show up when it matters most, and the doubts
Speaker 2: about their offense flutter away at this point.
Speaker 1: Here's an annoying thing again about like this job, what
Speaker 1: we do for a living. We're supposed to be paid
Speaker 1: off this time of year now, because we watched all
Speaker 1: the Chiefs tape all year and we how many times
Speaker 1: did we say, Man, if they haven't figured it out
Speaker 1: by now, it's just not gonna happen.
Speaker 4: And the way they were able to just they started it.
Speaker 1: Last week and they had some red zone issues, but
Speaker 1: really did I think they were over four hundred yards
Speaker 1: Greg as you pointed out earlier last week in their
Speaker 1: win this week, was it looked vintage and then it's
Speaker 1: just like weird stuff goes on again. I struggle to
Speaker 1: hate the Chiefs, even though they're a team at this
Speaker 1: point everyone should get sick of. And I think there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of that pushback that kind of began
Speaker 1: this year with some Chiefs fatigue. I think Taylor Swift's
Speaker 1: involvement with the team indirectly has has led to that.
Speaker 1: But I can't because they are just not an unlikable squad.
Speaker 1: But the things that do get me mad because it
Speaker 1: shouldn't be that way, because it isn't like this for
Speaker 1: any other team MVS. Shouldn't all of a sudden be
Speaker 1: like making incredibly play incredible plays downfield like he's making
Speaker 1: in this game. The guy could not catch a cold
Speaker 1: for basically his whole career and now is making big
Speaker 1: time plays. You're seeing play it now. Isaiah. I like
Speaker 1: Isaiah Bacheko. He runs like Peak, like Roger Craig, now
Speaker 1: like that. I mean, this team, their ability to find
Speaker 1: ways to get it done with obviously Mahomes at the
Speaker 1: center of it.
Speaker 4: It's commendable and yes, annoying.
Speaker 3: It's their O line two Today Ed Oliver didn't have
Speaker 3: a pressure I think for the first time in two years. Wow,
Speaker 3: he was He had a one on one matchup with
Speaker 3: Joe Toney most of the day. Daikwon Jones didn't get
Speaker 3: after Von Miller is a total no show, you know,
Speaker 3: one of the most regrettable contracts, unfortunately for them because
Speaker 3: of the injury, and he couldn't come back and he
Speaker 3: just couldn't get after him. And then you look at
Speaker 3: the box score and it's Mahomes seventeen for twenty three, two,
Speaker 3: fifteen and two. And yet I think of this as
Speaker 3: like one of his best games ever. I know he
Speaker 3: missed those two throws it in the red zone where
Speaker 3: back to back play is essentially where they were trying
Speaker 3: to go in. But other than that, just the decision making,
Speaker 3: everything's on point. It's fun to watch greatness, but you're right,
Speaker 3: there is something about this team when it when it
Speaker 3: really comes to it, like the defense did make those plays.
Speaker 3: Suddenly they have five tackles for losses. Suddenly they're in
Speaker 3: the Bill's backfield for all these negative gains. Ceh Clyde
Speaker 3: Edwards Hilaire like a draft bust, couldn't literally couldn't get
Speaker 3: on the field all season a first round pick, and
Speaker 3: suddenly he's popping up for like a big twenty eight yarder.
Speaker 3: And there is just something about this team that now
Speaker 3: that we're here, even though I wanted this Bill's team
Speaker 3: to win, you do look at all the injuries that
Speaker 3: they were taking advantage. The linebacker position for Buffalo certainly
Speaker 3: thin at the playmaker Shakira was going in and out,
Speaker 3: the tight ends were getting hurt, and you do think,
Speaker 3: like this Chiefs team is a little healthier. They're peeking
Speaker 3: and it does set up we'll get into it during
Speaker 3: the week, but it does set up a beautiful matchup
Speaker 3: next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because this was a game where it's like you
Speaker 2: start to look back at the bodies that are lost
Speaker 2: for Buffalo, Like Matt Malana was missed in this game.
Speaker 4: AJ Klein was picked on a lot in this one.
Speaker 2: And if I knew going in that the Chiefs would
Speaker 2: have the ball for twenty two plus minutes in the
Speaker 2: Bills thirty seven plus. I would have thought that's what
Speaker 2: Buffalo wants. Yeah, keeping the ball out of mahomes hands,
Speaker 2: and they must be going on long scoring drivers, they
Speaker 2: must be converting. And instead it's like the Chiefs did
Speaker 2: so much with so little time, and it's like nine
Speaker 2: point three yards per pass for the Chiefs four point
Speaker 2: six or sorry, four point eight for the Bills. Big
Speaker 2: plays versus no big plays. Now we're about to throw
Speaker 2: to some Josh Allen sound.
Speaker 1: I just want to to Bills fans if you're listening,
Speaker 1: and by the way, great people just tough, tough as
Speaker 1: nails if you're listening to the show, so they know
Speaker 1: it can't be easy. But even if Bess pipes that one,
Speaker 1: he'll tie the game. But the Buffalo's inability to really
Speaker 1: finish off that drive, they were a lot of trouble anyway,
Speaker 1: because that would have been with one forty seven to play.
Speaker 1: You're sending Mahomes back on the field with two timeouts.
Speaker 1: So the offense's inability to execute in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and this is a game, by the way, that had
Speaker 1: five lead changes by the first minute of the four
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. But their inability to score and execute they
Speaker 1: were shut out in the fourth quarter. Really is what
Speaker 1: haunt will haunt them throughout this offseason. Here's here's Josh
Speaker 1: Allen on another year of what if sucks.
Speaker 7: Losing sucks, losing them, losing anybody at home sucks.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that about accurately sums it up. It's such a bummer.
Speaker 3: They had Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer take the podium
Speaker 3: together and they talked about how they came in at
Speaker 3: twenty seventeen and it just hurts for the guys like
Speaker 3: them that came in together and are still there, the
Speaker 3: ones that kind of change this entire culture, where like
Speaker 3: even making the playoffs, they're sending Andy Dalton, you know,
Speaker 3: thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in charity money
Speaker 3: just because they got Tyrod Taylor into the playoffs to
Speaker 3: lose a wild gargament. That's how much it meant. That's
Speaker 3: how much they needed that culture to be changed. And
Speaker 3: here at so many of those guys, including Milano and
Speaker 3: those two have been there throughout and it did feel
Speaker 3: a little bit. And Poyer and Hyde every year you're
Speaker 3: not sure if they're gonna come back. Poyer, by the way,
Speaker 3: had that heroic punch out on Hardman on the goal
Speaker 3: line like that would have been a defining play for him.
Speaker 3: I think he's thirty five years old, and you just
Speaker 3: don't know how many of those guys will be back
Speaker 3: next year. I don't know if Stefan Diggs will be back,
Speaker 3: and I think they knew the enormity. You feel that
Speaker 3: every year, and I'm sure it hurts McDermott because he
Speaker 3: did such a good job I think coaching up this
Speaker 3: defense throughout the back half of the year, really scheming
Speaker 3: things up, and he just lost today, like scheme players everything,
Speaker 3: Andy Reid and Mahomes put it on McDermott and his
Speaker 3: defense in a big spot can and he's gonna say,
Speaker 3: you can't. You can't change the defensive play caller. He
Speaker 3: already changed the offensive play caller. Unless they give Bills
Speaker 3: fans on Twitter their wish at least something that I saw,
Speaker 3: and they're like bringing Bill Belichick.
Speaker 4: That is not happening.
Speaker 1: Back in August, we did the urgency meter had the
Speaker 1: Bills on top, and you push back pretty hard on it, Greg.
Speaker 1: But I saw this season as they were at the
Speaker 1: top of the urgency meter, and I thought this the
Speaker 1: window of this particular Bills team, this Josh Allen led team,
Speaker 1: but with some of the players on the defense you mentioned,
Speaker 1: with Stefan Diggs as the alpha dog of the offense,
Speaker 1: like it was gonna be telling what happens after this year.
Speaker 1: And I really do think we're gonna probably see a
Speaker 1: different Bills team. I think McDermott's obviously gonna be back,
Speaker 1: Allen's not going anywhere, Malone will be healthy again. But
Speaker 1: at a certain point, I mean, how many times you're
Speaker 1: gonna keep running into this wall in the AFC playoffs
Speaker 1: before you have to make substantial chances changes around the
Speaker 1: quarterback and coach. We'll see, well, Alix, they have a
Speaker 1: fascinating offseason because how do you approach from where they're
Speaker 1: at right now?
Speaker 2: They absolutely do, and I think it starts with you know,
Speaker 2: like last offseason there was drama laced around Steph on Diggs.
Speaker 2: I think it's start. We're right back there again to
Speaker 2: find out his future. But the desperation to win to
Speaker 2: get past this step showed when they fired offensive coordinator
Speaker 2: mid season, like this team would do anything to get
Speaker 2: it right, and your back where you started from. A
Speaker 2: bunch of guys are probably not going to be back,
Speaker 2: and then you're hoping next year that your quarterback stays healthy,
Speaker 2: that the division doesn't change too much, that you can
Speaker 2: be this Bills team and add weapons. But it's like
Speaker 2: the journey back to get to this place is only
Speaker 2: more pressure laid and more impossible to get to. And
Speaker 2: I think you see the difference between a Chiefs team
Speaker 2: that's like, who cares what we've been for the past
Speaker 2: four months, We're going to be something different now.
Speaker 4: And they knew it.
Speaker 2: It's like Mahomes that in that comment saying I'm going
Speaker 2: to go tell the defense you do it.
Speaker 4: I'll get us to the AFC Championship. Do your part.
Speaker 2: The Bills are wondering how do we get past this
Speaker 2: and it's another season ending with a massive question.
Speaker 3: Well, they know more than anyone, the Bills, how tough
Speaker 3: it is to get here. They had to win what
Speaker 3: six straight games to get to this point, and you
Speaker 3: were feeling like they were that team, and they did
Speaker 3: make a lot of changes. They turned into kind of
Speaker 3: a heavy personnel run the ball. Well they ran it
Speaker 3: for one to eighty two today, like don't get it
Speaker 3: like lost. I think in the few plays like Josh
Speaker 3: Allen played out standing in this game.
Speaker 4: The reason this game is a classic.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be, you know, a game of the week tomorrow,
Speaker 3: but to me, it's the game of the year. So
Speaker 3: far as Mahomes and Allen were brought their a games,
Speaker 3: Allan was not letting them lose there for three quarters.
Speaker 3: And I know there's a couple of plays at the end,
Speaker 3: but if his receivers made place for him, kind of
Speaker 3: like we've been wanting the Chiefs receivers to make plays
Speaker 3: for Mahomes for a lot of the game, like.
Speaker 4: He'd be the hero.
Speaker 3: So it was two of the very best and unfortunately
Speaker 3: for Bills Field, like a familiar finish, except for the
Speaker 3: snowballs being thrown at Mahomes as he like gleefully ran
Speaker 3: off the field.
Speaker 1: That was a great image, Jason Kelcey with his shirt off,
Speaker 1: bellowing from the luxury suite, upstaging even Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2: Exiting this sweet moment down into the stands amongst right.
Speaker 4: He was slightly for some reason, I wouldn't do that
Speaker 4: in Baltimore. I don't know. I guess Jason Kelsey can
Speaker 4: do whatever he wants anywhere else. Was hammered.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's not get that twisted. And I'm not judging
Speaker 1: the man. I think he's early into retirement now. They
Speaker 1: said a great time, but he was, he was, he
Speaker 1: was sauce.
Speaker 2: But like when he gave his speech apparently when they
Speaker 2: won the Super Bowl at the parade. Yeah, he was
Speaker 2: asked I think Sheilkipedia like tweeted this out, Like he
Speaker 2: was asked how many beers he had in his system
Speaker 2: at that point, and he said twenty and then like
Speaker 2: on a scale of one to ten, how drunk crew was,
Speaker 2: Like it was like a five out of ten.
Speaker 4: So who knows what was going on today.
Speaker 1: He's one of those heroic like wade bogs, like beer drinkers,
Speaker 1: like you could do forty beers from Seattle to Boston
Speaker 1: on a flight. Yeah, the the me Cole fumble, the
Speaker 1: guy is drunk when Alan fumbles near midfield and somehow
Speaker 1: it doesn't get scooped up and they recover.
Speaker 4: Oh, the Allen roll out.
Speaker 1: I think it was a twenty six percent completion probability
Speaker 1: to Shakir to put them ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, like ridiculous, there's so many I hears Eric,
Speaker 4: I'm stunned.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this was right the day, right, Eric,
Speaker 1: I can't believe this wasn't the game, the Buffalo game
Speaker 1: that you remember forever that.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, buddy, No, I.
Speaker 8: Mean you become Kallis as it callous to it as
Speaker 8: a Bills fan. I mean, I actually was telling people
Speaker 8: today I felt like a little confident and I've told
Speaker 8: them like, that's probably not good because Buffalo's going to
Speaker 8: Buffalo and yeah, yeah, I mean the I don't know,
Speaker 8: it all comes crashing down so quickly and in a
Speaker 8: moment like that, I mean all game. I'm talking around.
Speaker 8: You were watching this game, and Bass watched one last week.
Speaker 8: He had one blocked. And even his little extra points,
Speaker 8: they're kind of a little dicey, they're a little and like, dude,
Speaker 8: he's tucking them in and they they go for it
Speaker 8: and they get there was a nice drive and it's like,
Speaker 8: well you kick it. I'm like, yeah, you gotta kick it.
Speaker 8: Tie the game, and like, do you trust your kicker?
Speaker 8: I'm like, hell no.
Speaker 4: But I had a bad feeling about that kick. Yeah
Speaker 4: you said it.
Speaker 2: You actually said it seconds before he missed, and I thought,
Speaker 2: that's it's too evil.
Speaker 4: It was just and it was as soon it was
Speaker 4: off the foot, Yeah, it was. It was.
Speaker 3: They have their season online earlier that drive with a
Speaker 3: fourth down call, they convert that. Alan had a nice
Speaker 3: another down on that and then like it all comes
Speaker 3: crashing down, and then the second it's over, you get
Speaker 3: a slack from like me, like, hey, can we get
Speaker 3: some postgame sound? Yeah, Alan really pouring his Howard out.
Speaker 8: That's a nature of the business, you guys, I'm a professional.
Speaker 4: You're pro due.
Speaker 1: But they also could have gotten by the way, even
Speaker 1: after the miss. If you get a stop, maybe a
Speaker 1: miracle a reverse thirteen seconds can happen.
Speaker 4: But I mean give the Chiefs credit.
Speaker 1: They really were the better team ultimately, and they proved
Speaker 1: it by ice in the game there with two runs
Speaker 1: I mean ensuing drive and.
Speaker 4: That was it.
Speaker 8: The first drive, guys, is like a third and seventeen,
Speaker 8: a fourth and one conversion, overturned fumble, overturned fumble. It's
Speaker 8: like it's a minute and a half in and I'm like,
Speaker 8: my nerves already through the roof, and I'm like, this
Speaker 8: is gonna be well those days and something's gonna go
Speaker 8: horrible the worst.
Speaker 2: It's it's also tough, like when your team keeps losing
Speaker 2: to the same team of the playoffs, and like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, Big Funk knows that with the Packers and
Speaker 2: the Niners, and it's like, you've got this situation. It's
Speaker 2: like it's it's it's this resounding, repeating note over and over.
Speaker 4: That's an evil note.
Speaker 1: I know, I know that basketball is completely different than
Speaker 1: football tirely, but it does make me think of when
Speaker 1: we're talking about what do the.
Speaker 4: Bills need to do? Ball is completely different than as.
Speaker 1: A Knicks fan in the early nineties could not get
Speaker 1: past Jordan, couldn't do it, and then it was like,
Speaker 1: is there something wrong with the Knicks? Well, Jordan basketball,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's the problem. They had incredible teams in ninety one,
Speaker 1: ninety two, ninety three, and they just couldn't get him.
Speaker 1: And you know that's maybe that's the maybe that's the pain.
Speaker 1: You don't want Josh Allen to be remembered as the
Speaker 1: guy that just happened to play at the same time
Speaker 1: as Brady straight into Mahomes and you'll just end up
Speaker 1: always being the bridesmaid. But it's hard not to think
Speaker 1: that way. He's still got a lot of years, but
Speaker 1: it's it's been.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we end up Mahomes Jordan debate, like in twenty
Speaker 3: eighteen or twenty nineteen. When Mahomes is making that run,
Speaker 3: it's like he is the best football player I've ever
Speaker 3: seen and at no point has that even dipped like
Speaker 3: a little bit. And he just proves it again and again.
Speaker 4: It's crazy. All right, Uh, let's uh, let's move.
Speaker 1: Let's move to the other AFC game it was played
Speaker 1: on Saturday was the number one seed Ravens against the
Speaker 1: upstart Texans, a game that was a dead heat at halftime,
Speaker 1: and then the Ravens showed who was who.
Speaker 2: It's Lamar, kill him holding itself, runs to the left,
Speaker 2: hat to.
Speaker 4: The parn Glamar in touchdown.
Speaker 5: Ravens were get out a championship game in Botidar because
Speaker 5: that hate the barn.
Speaker 4: Lamar just ran through the tunnel. Here in the locker room.
Speaker 2: He went, bo Jackson, He's still up the tunnel.
Speaker 4: And I was getting ready to say there's no way
Speaker 4: they can run this boot again. And they did it.
Speaker 1: Oh, you can do it when you're the Ravens who
Speaker 1: just punished and do what they want. And good job
Speaker 1: Jerry Sandusky and Rod Woodson w b A L. Because
Speaker 1: of course old fogies, No, that's Jackson running up the
Speaker 1: tunnel against the Seahawks in eighty seven. On Monday Night Football,
Speaker 1: Lamar with a nice tribute in a thirty four to
Speaker 1: ten win over the Texans. Like I said, this game
Speaker 1: was ten ten at the half mark Sessler, but then
Speaker 1: the Ravens came out flawlessly execute a go ahead touchdown
Speaker 1: drive and they just never look back. In fact, they
Speaker 1: never gave up a touchdown on defense. The only score
Speaker 1: for the Houston was a punt return for the first half.
Speaker 2: I thought this game was a perfect portrait of how
Speaker 2: complete the Ravens have become. If it was a situation
Speaker 2: where early in the year they were warming up on
Speaker 2: offense and learning the system, this was an absolute exclamation
Speaker 2: point of how dominant they can be. And like I
Speaker 2: honestly think they played a team that's going to be
Speaker 2: around for many years to come in the Texans with CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud. CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud faced more pressure in this game than he has
Speaker 2: in any other game of his career, and it looked
Speaker 2: like it. And I just mentioned that the Bills, in
Speaker 2: a losing effort, had the ball for thirty seven plus minutes.
Speaker 2: The Ravens had it for seven plus minutes in this
Speaker 2: because they were able to run the ball for two
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty nine yards, because Lamar Jackson was magical
Speaker 2: on the ground, because he was nearly flawless through the air,
Speaker 2: because their defense absolutely choked the life out of the
Speaker 2: Houston Texans and made what looked like a special passing
Speaker 2: game under Bobby Slowick and CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud a week ago.
Speaker 2: Looked completely lost at sea for the entirety of the
Speaker 2: second half, because yes, it was ten ten big special
Speaker 2: teams played for the Texans, and Lamar Jackson talked about
Speaker 2: going into the locker room at halftime and refusing to
Speaker 2: tell the public what he said because it was filled
Speaker 2: with too much language that a.
Speaker 4: Sailor would speak.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I think that says a lot about
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson versus him a couple of years ago. And Greg,
Speaker 2: it was way back in like week four or five
Speaker 2: that you talked about the Ravens as a Super Bowl team,
Speaker 2: and I thought this was maybe Greg being a little
Speaker 2: hyper about his lam army and all that business. But
Speaker 2: they look completely impressive from every angle and they absolutely
Speaker 2: proved I thought against the Texans that it really doesn't
Speaker 2: matter who they play, They're gonna be who they are.
Speaker 3: I would love to hear that halftime speech. And it's funny.
Speaker 3: This game actually did remind me of that. The game
Speaker 3: in London we saw a little bit in the sense
Speaker 3: that there's a lot of Ravens games like this where
Speaker 3: it's like, not that impressive for a while, and just
Speaker 3: steadily they just smother you. Just every little aspect of
Speaker 3: the team smothers you, and then sudden you look up
Speaker 3: at the end of the game and you're like, actually,
Speaker 3: that was never really a game they took over. And
Speaker 3: part of it is they just have answers. They have
Speaker 3: answers with personnel like Flowers running some big boy routes there,
Speaker 3: likely turning into a great red zone threat. Obviously, Lamar
Speaker 3: has almost a perfect game sixteen for twenty two for
Speaker 3: one fifty two and then one hundred yards on the ground,
Speaker 3: just like no mistakes.
Speaker 1: But it was one of the best all around games
Speaker 1: from a quarterback you've ever seen.
Speaker 4: The play right.
Speaker 3: It kind of reminded him Mahomes game today because if
Speaker 3: you just look at the box scords, like it wouldn't
Speaker 3: seem that crazy other than the one hundred yards rushing.
Speaker 3: But I also think they have answered defensively. Like Monkin
Speaker 3: knew that the Blitz was giving them trouble in the
Speaker 3: first half, they just knew exactly what to do to
Speaker 3: it in the second half. Those adjustments Lamar made him,
Speaker 3: Monkin made him, and I don't think that was gonna
Speaker 3: happen with Greg Roman there and McDonald being their defensive coordinator.
Speaker 3: I don't think it would have been as complete with
Speaker 3: Don Martindale there. So they did a really good job.
Speaker 3: Just personnel coaches. Everything right now is humming.
Speaker 1: Yes, So when you have Lamar playing at this level
Speaker 1: and playing this confident and the running game humming the
Speaker 1: way it.
Speaker 4: Is, they're going to be very difficult to beat.
Speaker 1: It's my big takeaway from the games was the defense,
Speaker 1: and you know how I think it was. I got
Speaker 1: to give credit to Mark. You're a cinophile who who
Speaker 1: directed twenty eight days later. Well, Danny Boyle, Oh, Jenny,
Speaker 1: but I wish you would have known that off the
Speaker 1: top of your head.
Speaker 4: I do too.
Speaker 2: I love open questions on a show that thousands of
Speaker 2: people are listening to.
Speaker 1: Danny Boyle directed a movie in two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: call twenty eight days later, a classic zombie apocalypse film
Speaker 1: with a twist. All of a sudden, the zombies, who
Speaker 1: you remember throughout pop culture history being kind of slow, lumbering,
Speaker 1: kind of unstoppable, but easily you could run past them
Speaker 1: and run around them. You could bunk them on the
Speaker 1: head of the two by four. These zombies were fast,
Speaker 1: and they come at you in waves and gangs, and
Speaker 1: they're horrifying the zombies, and it starts started a whole
Speaker 1: new way of looking at them in that genre. That's
Speaker 1: how I look at this Ravens defense, the way they
Speaker 1: swarm with speed and power, and even if the first
Speaker 1: guy misses the tackle, the second guy's coming right behind him,
Speaker 1: If he dodges out of that guy, the third guy
Speaker 1: wallops him.
Speaker 4: And you saw that over and over and over.
Speaker 1: Houston could not get a clean look, could not get
Speaker 1: into the open field, could not make a play, and yeah,
Speaker 1: they just suffocated their offense, an offense that was kicking ass.
Speaker 2: Going into this, I would note that Danny Boyle did
Speaker 2: train spotting as well, and that film those zombies run
Speaker 2: hair when the Ravens do not appear to be have
Speaker 2: heroin in their bloodstream, Thank you.
Speaker 4: That's my comment. I love that one too.
Speaker 3: There is there is something about like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what's in the water there in Baltimore, what Mike Donald's doing,
Speaker 3: because yeah, they have guys like Arthur Mallett.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry one second, were there zombies and trainspoting now?
Speaker 4: But no, I'm saying they were.
Speaker 2: They were all on at Arrow, you know, like right
Speaker 2: right lost zombies, Yeah, a different type of zone.
Speaker 4: I felt you go ahead, thank you, great movie.
Speaker 2: Great literal zombies, yes, and twenty eight days later, literal zombies.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 1: They they the drug right, that metaphoric but the slow
Speaker 1: lumbering zombies.
Speaker 4: But in Baltimore, it's.
Speaker 3: Like, oh ahead, you give a little bit of that
Speaker 3: zombie juice to Mallet, you give a little bit to Clowney,
Speaker 3: and instead of like getting you know, trashed and quitting
Speaker 3: on your team at the end of the season, it's
Speaker 3: like zombies.
Speaker 4: Is there a quick twitch monster?
Speaker 3: Cloudy's at your lap all game. Matdam Bka had a
Speaker 3: great game. He just kept winning that matchup over and
Speaker 3: over and over. That was against Shackson for the most part,
Speaker 3: and I'm with you. They just kept throwing so many
Speaker 3: different looks. Actually, a halftime that the Texans had a
Speaker 3: more yards on offense than the Ravens because they had
Speaker 3: that one decent drive that they ended up settling for
Speaker 3: a field goal. But for the most part, it was
Speaker 3: just good night. And then eventually, like the play calling,
Speaker 3: I really was impressed that that that call we heard
Speaker 3: with Lamar where they kind of do the end around
Speaker 3: but they have Ronnie Stanley pulling and it's like a misdirection.
Speaker 3: They ran that twice just to perfection the likely touchdown
Speaker 3: on an RPO. I mean, that was It's been such
Speaker 3: a huge contributor. That was a beautiful play call too,
Speaker 3: that like what can you do there? Everyone is out
Speaker 3: there blocking on the edge. Lamar probably could have run
Speaker 3: it in, but instead he throws it to Likely, who
Speaker 3: makes these great catches. They might get Andrews back and
Speaker 3: and Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Chiefs will be a very because because Likely is a
Speaker 1: legitimate yes player.
Speaker 4: No, you can use use both.
Speaker 1: You know, let's listen to John Harbaugh, who has the
Speaker 1: a man that's going to be named MVP in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks and maybe be playing in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl a couple days after that.
Speaker 9: I thought Lamar was gonna play great, but he's played
Speaker 9: great all year, you know, and just now it's it's
Speaker 9: more important than ever. He's been locked in from day one.
Speaker 9: That's his term, and we've all kind of ran with that,
Speaker 9: and I think he's he's he's directed this whole thing.
Speaker 9: But like he said, we got we got more work
Speaker 9: to do.
Speaker 2: It is a lesson, I think, to the entire league
Speaker 2: because it looks more mystifying than ever that we spent
Speaker 2: the majority of the offseason wondering if the Ravens wanted
Speaker 2: to keep Lamar Jackson, if they if they were planning to,
Speaker 2: or if they thought maybe they would free themselves, and
Speaker 2: no other team in the league, including the Atlanta Falcons,
Speaker 2: most noticeably, like really pursued Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: He was sort of a man that like, we've covering
Speaker 1: some bonkers offseasons, crazy that one will forever stand out,
Speaker 1: and I feel like, you know, even in the moment
Speaker 1: and on this show, if you go back, we were
Speaker 1: all a little puzzled, especially some of the teams that
Speaker 1: were choosing to make statements and let it you know
Speaker 1: that they weren't interested. Teams that had quarterbacks like Desmond Ritter.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, no, we're not interested in that business.
Speaker 1: But this is now turned into the kind of worst
Speaker 1: case scenario for all those teams because it's almost now
Speaker 1: gonna be if this team ends up going all the
Speaker 1: way that's legendary, like the where that was in summer.
Speaker 1: But also the Ravens kind of catch a break too
Speaker 1: unless they were playing you know, chess when everyone else
Speaker 1: was playing checkers. Like if another team had the good
Speaker 1: sense to go hard after Lamar, you would have lost
Speaker 1: this guy that's about to get you to the super
Speaker 1: Bowl potentially, right.
Speaker 3: I keep I've seen tweets from like Adam Schefter where
Speaker 3: it was like where they make it out like, oh,
Speaker 3: the Ravens were never gonna let them let him go.
Speaker 3: It's like, well, what if they just front loaded it upright,
Speaker 3: poison pilled the massive armor and they were willing to
Speaker 3: give up two first round picks?
Speaker 4: Are you sure about that?
Speaker 3: And more to the point, whether they fully guaranteed it
Speaker 3: And it's a conversation for another day, But to me,
Speaker 3: there is a level of quarterback and I would put
Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson at this level where it's like, just guarantee
Speaker 3: the contract if it's like four years. Josh, Josh Allen
Speaker 3: and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow and Lamar and c. J.
Speaker 4: Strout.
Speaker 3: Of these guys, they're going to get to those four
Speaker 3: or five years. They will be on the team for
Speaker 3: those four years to just guarantee them the money.
Speaker 1: Anyways, it's not that big of a It's a brutal sports,
Speaker 1: that's what I get it.
Speaker 4: Higher level of danger that.
Speaker 1: There's the sports they're sort of like there are that
Speaker 1: sort of a catastrophic injury near one of the contracts.
Speaker 3: I just mean, there are catastrophic injuries in basketball and
Speaker 3: baseball all the time too, and they survive giving out
Speaker 3: massive Like I'm just saying a four year contract for
Speaker 3: a quarterback.
Speaker 4: If someone had done that, they could have had them.
Speaker 2: There is one thing about the Ravens that I thought
Speaker 2: stands with me going into next week's game, that there
Speaker 2: was a lot of talk about a the fact that
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have crumbled in the playoffs
Speaker 2: no matter what the regular season looked like, and they
Speaker 2: had this extra rest and would they come out flat
Speaker 2: And they did come out flat, Like their final three
Speaker 2: drives in the first half, three punts were for negative
Speaker 2: seven net yards. And it's like psychologically is that when
Speaker 2: the Ravens can be broken by a young team with
Speaker 2: nothing to lose and to come out three straight touchdowns
Speaker 2: in a field goal, It's like cool.
Speaker 4: I think this Ravens team is different.
Speaker 1: And you probably had a great Troy had it pegged.
Speaker 1: He said before the kickoff the start the third quarter.
Speaker 1: This is a very important drive, right, you gotta go
Speaker 1: and get a touchdown and kind of shut down that
Speaker 1: energy as it were, and I think they absolutely did.
Speaker 1: Here's Demiko O Ryans, who obviously did a tremendous job
Speaker 1: as a rookie head coach, and he does have a
Speaker 1: right future with this team.
Speaker 4: Only the future has to wait until September for them.
Speaker 4: Think our team learns that we know we're right there
Speaker 4: at halftime, answer right.
Speaker 10: So they know they were toe to toe was a
Speaker 10: really good team. And I hope our team just understands
Speaker 10: that moving forward right at all calls, you gotta finish right,
Speaker 10: and you want to continue to move forward, continue to
Speaker 10: play in big games, It'll always be about executing and finishing.
Speaker 1: I see why you want to stand with that man
Speaker 1: and lock up a game and a team coach by
Speaker 1: that man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well he's only a few years removed from being
Speaker 4: on a team. So but it was a mistake.
Speaker 2: It I don't think so ultimately, because I was doing
Speaker 2: it a for the show and B to you know
Speaker 2: that that was.
Speaker 4: A mistake in the sense that, yeah, locked up a team.
Speaker 2: Though well, I you know, if I lose, that clearly
Speaker 2: is a mistake.
Speaker 4: So they were also like ten point underdogs.
Speaker 2: It was it was, perhaps from a logical standpoint, misguided.
Speaker 2: I understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: And I conversely locked the other team. I understand that,
Speaker 1: but that's why I did what I did. And the
Speaker 1: second half standings are just tightening up. Greg he's getting
Speaker 1: a little noivous. We'll see how he did in his
Speaker 1: lock a little bit later.
Speaker 2: Erase nobody outside of yourself, Ryan's they're gonna be great
Speaker 2: for a while.
Speaker 3: Like they have their premium positions really well covered. If
Speaker 3: you think about like lermy tons of left tackle all
Speaker 3: pro TJ stroud Enough said, maybe the most valuable contract
Speaker 3: in the league, if you think about it, because he's
Speaker 3: got three more years on this rookie deal and he's
Speaker 3: already this good and I thought he played pretty well.
Speaker 3: I know, it sounds crazy. They only scored three points
Speaker 3: He did not have a bad game Sunday. He actually
Speaker 3: made your Saturday. He made a lot of throws against pressure.
Speaker 3: He had virtually no chance. But I was curious.
Speaker 4: I went to check the PFF scar but I was like,
Speaker 4: I bet it's not that bad. And it's not. It
Speaker 4: wasn't it's not good, but it's just like a solid
Speaker 4: Well he doesn't turn the ball over, right.
Speaker 1: Get banked l back right, Get Derek Henry maybe in
Speaker 1: the backfield next year.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Okay, So you got the receivers, you got Stingley who
Speaker 3: came on like a house on fire. You have a
Speaker 3: lot of the premium positions. Grenard is a free agent,
Speaker 3: but we'll see maybe the franchise tagment and will Anderson
Speaker 3: at the edge, like a lot of the big time positions.
Speaker 4: They're set for a while.
Speaker 3: And then he showed he took all these guys that
Speaker 3: were after thoughts elsewhere, Desmond King, Cashman Barnett, Christian Harris,
Speaker 3: who was the second year player who stunk as a rookie.
Speaker 4: It's like he made all those guys better.
Speaker 3: I mean they usually I pushed back on the like, well,
Speaker 3: there's gonna be set up for the future. I pushed
Speaker 3: back on the Jags last year, I wasn't just sure
Speaker 3: like this team is the team in the AFC.
Speaker 4: The only problem though, I think you've got a great
Speaker 4: head coach.
Speaker 2: But when you're defensive minded and like Bobby Slowick's taking
Speaker 2: interviews left and right, it's like you don't want to
Speaker 2: have CJ. Stroud's offensive coordinator switching every year or two
Speaker 2: over the course of this rookie contract.
Speaker 1: And let's see, just checking the Deshaun Watson trade, they
Speaker 1: do have the twenty third overall pick from the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 1: so they get a first round pick. They sent a
Speaker 1: first round pick to Arizona to get Will Anderson. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Will Anderson, there you go, Thank you, Greg and Yes.
Speaker 1: Chiefs at Ravens Mahomes b Lamar next.
Speaker 4: Sunday, a new one.
Speaker 1: That's a new one for the playoffs, and a playoff
Speaker 1: set is that has been very difficult to pick because
Speaker 1: the matchups have all felt pretty even up.
Speaker 2: And that's as loud as Baltimore has been crowd wise
Speaker 2: in a long time, and they quietly have not like
Speaker 2: you have to go back to like twenty twelve when
Speaker 2: they got to a AFC title game.
Speaker 3: Well, this is literally the Ravens first ever home AFC
Speaker 3: Championship game, which I was surprised you.
Speaker 1: Right, first since nineteen seventy when they were the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Cults at Live without the r ave Ns Ravens chap.
Speaker 1: That's a little that's ip that came from Flushing Queens
Speaker 1: in the early seventies.
Speaker 4: Just fyi, it's fair comment.
Speaker 3: Remember they were doing play like a raven when Rex
Speaker 3: Ryan was there or something like that.
Speaker 1: That was bar Well, all right, let's take a break
Speaker 1: and then we'll hit the other two games. Right, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to around the NFL, the divisional recap, the flagship program.
Speaker 4: So yeah, that is the AFC.
Speaker 1: Now let's turn to the other side of things, the NFC,
Speaker 1: and it's time now for the Sunday Drive presented by
Speaker 1: the first ever Toyota Grand Highlander. Yes, the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers. It feels like it's been a month
Speaker 1: since we've seen them on the field. It's been about
Speaker 1: three weeks since they had their full squad out there competing,
Speaker 1: and they got another upstart even the Packers, who were
Speaker 1: upset minded, but unlike the Houston Texans, they were up
Speaker 1: for the challenge.
Speaker 4: The Niners who it was tight first and ten Green Bay.
Speaker 5: They have two timeouts left on the shotgun deep trop
Speaker 5: Prussia gets chased out to us like we'll throw on
Speaker 5: the run back us in our set before drake ring
Speaker 5: ball running back the other way, secure the ball the
Speaker 5: run back the other way.
Speaker 4: They're trying to strip it right, a big play Dray
Speaker 4: comes down. Green Bay has two time outs left, but
Speaker 4: the forty nine Ers have the football.
Speaker 1: Oh my good gun, goodness, good call there by Greg
Speaker 1: Pope can br if Dre fumbles that ball and it
Speaker 1: gets recovered by the Packers and then the Packers going
Speaker 1: to win. I mean that would have been one of
Speaker 1: the more devastating stay down kid.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anyway, it all worked out, uh for the line backer
Speaker 1: and also for his team, the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
Speaker 1: who benefited from another missed field goal attempt, this time
Speaker 1: by Andrews Carlson of the Packers, who's miss kept it
Speaker 1: a four point game late instead of a seven point
Speaker 1: game in terms of a lead for the visiting Packers,
Speaker 1: and then San Francisco and Brock Purty, who struggled for
Speaker 1: most of the night in rainy conditions at the Big
Speaker 1: Bell Bottom leads the team on a big drive down
Speaker 1: the field, a big boy drive ending with a Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey touchdown. That is the difference after that, Jordan leve
Speaker 1: In t we heard final score twenty four to twenty one,
Speaker 1: and the Niners are back in the NFC title game
Speaker 1: for the.
Speaker 4: Third straight year. Can they get over the hump with
Speaker 4: Kyle Shannan, We will see, Mark Geez.
Speaker 1: That is a game that the Niners were very fortunate
Speaker 1: to escape and survive. But they did and now they
Speaker 1: will be playing for the super Bowl at home next week.
Speaker 2: I just want to hit it from like one angle,
Speaker 2: and it's like the brock Party side of things, because
Speaker 2: it kind of felt like anyone, whether you're for or
Speaker 2: against Brock Party in terms of the scope of who
Speaker 2: he is, the MVP race and everything else. It kind
Speaker 2: of had something for everyone because it was the game
Speaker 2: that kind of could tell you, this isn't an MVP
Speaker 2: level quarterback and like, look at it's raining again like
Speaker 2: it was when he played the Browns, and you're getting
Speaker 2: this other version of Brock Party who's imperfect with the
Speaker 2: game on the line in this critical moment. But then
Speaker 2: you also got that final touchdown drive where I thought
Speaker 2: brock Purty like in a rough and tumble outing show
Speaker 2: that in the end he really is capable. And like,
Speaker 2: I think, this Niners team, you know, I wondered what
Speaker 2: would happen to them after the rest that they've had
Speaker 2: and they've been so dominant and so unstoppable. This was
Speaker 2: just like a B minus version of their offense for
Speaker 2: eighty five percent of it, and they still found a
Speaker 2: way to.
Speaker 4: Get it done.
Speaker 1: Here's party on the Niners winning a game that under
Speaker 1: Shanahan they have struggled to win, coming back from behind
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 11: I mean, I think it is important. We were all like,
Speaker 11: all right, this is it, you know, this is our season,
Speaker 11: and so for us to capitalize like that was huge
Speaker 11: for all of us and then obviously for myself as
Speaker 11: a quarterback, Like it's good for confidence and all that.
Speaker 11: But we have too many good players man on this team,
Speaker 11: so many players that are difference makers, and we got
Speaker 11: a great defense, and so for us to not find
Speaker 11: a way just wasn't It's not right. So for us
Speaker 11: to finally have a game like this and pull through
Speaker 11: at the end was huge for all of us.
Speaker 3: So well, it's so huge obviously to just keep this
Speaker 3: season going. I think to win a Super Bowl sometimes
Speaker 3: you got to survive a bad game, and this was it.
Speaker 3: I mean, they should have lost this game. They were
Speaker 3: fortunate to win. They made the plays to win, but
Speaker 3: there were many times it could have gone against them.
Speaker 3: And if you wanted to be a skeptic of this
Speaker 3: team and look through a certain lens, anytime they were
Speaker 3: kind of pushed this year, they crumbled a little bit.
Speaker 3: And even like the three game losing streak, like they start,
Speaker 3: they crumbled and they couldn't stop the bleeding. During that
Speaker 3: three game Loons well every oh well, Deebo Samuel and
Speaker 3: Trent Williams were out. It's like, look at every other
Speaker 3: team in the league. Look at the Bills, look at
Speaker 3: look at so many look at the Dolphins with all
Speaker 3: these injury issues, and they found ways to win. And
Speaker 3: then in that Ravens game too, they let it snowball
Speaker 3: on them. So I think to stand up in a
Speaker 3: spot where they really looked like they were about to
Speaker 3: lose and have both sides of the ball step up
Speaker 3: after a pretty shaky game from both sides of the
Speaker 3: ball in the last eight minutes and them to play
Speaker 3: their best ball in the last eight minutes was huge
Speaker 3: because the Packers Dan had the ball first and ten
Speaker 3: seven point fifty one to go up four at the
Speaker 3: forty nine ers twenty four yard line at that point
Speaker 3: in the game. Did you think the forty nine Ers
Speaker 3: had much of a chance to win that game?
Speaker 4: No, And I'm mad.
Speaker 1: This is what we do for a living, and I
Speaker 1: felt like I kind of nailed the game. I thought
Speaker 1: the Packers would come in and take that momentum from Dallas.
Speaker 1: I thought the defense had a chance to uh because
Speaker 1: they were stiffer against Dallas.
Speaker 4: They did.
Speaker 1: They played well against San Francisco on defense for the
Speaker 1: most part in this game, and then they put They
Speaker 1: were able to put points on the board and then
Speaker 1: put pressure on Purdy and Purdy was making mistakes. But
Speaker 1: here's the problem. They did all that, but they got
Speaker 1: turned away in the red zone a couple of times.
Speaker 1: They had to turnover and downs on fourth in less
Speaker 1: than a yard. They dropped the spot on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, questionable, but an unreal play by Drake green Law
Speaker 3: to stip absolutely chops.
Speaker 1: Purdy did throw the ball for grabs a couple of times.
Speaker 1: They didn't catch it, so that they had and this
Speaker 1: is why. This is why, also because I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: believe in the uh the future is bright, you know,
Speaker 1: plenty more years, because you just you never know. And
Speaker 1: the Packers on balance, it was a successful season and
Speaker 1: it was quote unquote house money game here against the Niners.
Speaker 1: But when you have that team on the ropes like
Speaker 1: they did, when you kind of outplayed the mighty to
Speaker 1: get brought down by failure to execute in the red zone,
Speaker 1: turnover and near the red zone missed field goal, that
Speaker 1: makes the loss hurt because it's not like a better
Speaker 1: team got you on that particular night. You were in
Speaker 1: position and you just failed in the stuff that you
Speaker 1: should be able to handle and execute and you didn't.
Speaker 1: And Matt Lafleur after the game, you know, you know
Speaker 1: he was hurting because it was right there in front
Speaker 1: of him.
Speaker 12: I felt like we had plenty of opportunities to kind
Speaker 12: of put the game out of reach and unfortunately just
Speaker 12: didn't do enough. And it's never one play, and it's
Speaker 12: because I know, I'm sure a lot of it's going
Speaker 12: to come down to the miss field goal, but there
Speaker 12: were plenty of opportunities. You go back in the first
Speaker 12: half and have three red zone opportunities and have six points.
Speaker 12: You know, there was just there's a lot of plays
Speaker 12: out there that it just if one play goes different,
Speaker 12: probably have a different result right now, and.
Speaker 1: Then to kind of put a punctuation on the mark,
Speaker 1: they're still in good shape. They have a chance push
Speaker 1: this game to overtime or even win it. And for Love,
Speaker 1: who had been impeccable for two months, and everybody was
Speaker 1: saying it, not just me, but the Brett to go
Speaker 1: Brett far, to roll right, kind of throw a desperation
Speaker 1: pass late and over the middle that's picked off. He
Speaker 1: didn't have to do that his first down. He did it,
Speaker 1: and at the worst time he looked like a kid again.
Speaker 1: So these uncharacteristic mistakes that they had not been making
Speaker 1: during this rise is kind of what got them, not
Speaker 1: so much the Niners.
Speaker 2: No, it was a tough It was a tough throw
Speaker 2: across the body. You're right, he didn't have to do
Speaker 2: that at all.
Speaker 4: Ridiculous And if you look at the game, because he was.
Speaker 2: Throwing outside the numbers, he was twelve for seventeen for
Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty one yards and two touchdowns. Pretty
Speaker 2: flawless and the kind of Jordan Love you've expected, but
Speaker 2: throwing between the numbers, he was nine for sixteen for
Speaker 2: thirty three yards with two picks, including that game ender.
Speaker 2: And so it's an unceremonious way for a really incredible
Speaker 2: season to end for Jordan Love. And you're right because
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, we've got big funk back there,
Speaker 2: like a Packers fans like suddenly gotta be feeling incredibly
Speaker 2: a hope about the future compared to where you were
Speaker 2: a couple months ago. But you also are thinking, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, we had we pulled this out. We're a
Speaker 2: team that knows we could beat the Lions. So it's
Speaker 2: like it is a lost opportunity in the idea that
Speaker 2: you're just gonna march back here to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 4: Example, you don't know that the floor will never ever
Speaker 4: get over this loss.
Speaker 1: I don't know the man personally, but this is this
Speaker 1: is head coach nightmare fuel these type of the same teams.
Speaker 3: That was one of the tougher press conferences I've watched.
Speaker 3: He was so devastated and he has that cap pulled
Speaker 3: down low over his eyes, and the way the light
Speaker 3: was hitting was just shadow and it was just like
Speaker 3: he was not trying to put on a poker face.
Speaker 3: He was so sad about it because he he knows
Speaker 3: it was right there. Love played a pretty flawless game
Speaker 3: until the end, and then there was just a couple throws.
Speaker 3: The interception on tip pass, he just he just missed
Speaker 3: the throw. Who is that to the to the tight
Speaker 3: end over the middle on the first interception, so that
Speaker 3: was some bad luck on it too. It was like
Speaker 3: a tipped up and he got punished for it on
Speaker 3: a day where your guys Darnel Savage drops a pick
Speaker 3: six right into his bread basket. Another pretty drop later
Speaker 3: and they took advantage. And then there was another play
Speaker 3: on the third down when they they could have run
Speaker 3: more clock out where he just him and Aaron Jones
Speaker 3: weren't on the same page on like a check down.
Speaker 3: He was hitting all the hard throws, but he didn't
Speaker 3: hit the easy ones. But even then, there was that
Speaker 3: first down with the Packers I mentioned like seven point
Speaker 3: fifty one left and and that's where the forty nine
Speaker 3: ers stepped up. Warner makes a nice tackle in the
Speaker 3: open field for a no gain. Bosa gets a quick
Speaker 3: pressure on Love and then Carlson, who's been missing a
Speaker 3: ton of kicks, misses that kick and he's a rookie
Speaker 3: like all these other rookies, misses it in a big spot,
Speaker 3: and then you give the forty nine ers the ball back,
Speaker 3: and at that point I'm like, oh, man, are they
Speaker 3: gonna win this game? I don't know.
Speaker 4: Their offense really hasn't done anything for a while. And
Speaker 4: it wasn't like.
Speaker 3: Dot after dot by Purdy. But the third and five
Speaker 3: play to Ayuk was a very low percentage play where
Speaker 3: it had it took a perfect throw and maybe an
Speaker 3: even better catch.
Speaker 4: Both were perfect.
Speaker 3: Ayuk and Purdy were so good on that play, and
Speaker 3: then after that, Perdy just made all the right decisions.
Speaker 3: He made the right reads on like a I think
Speaker 3: it was one check down to the left side where
Speaker 3: they made a big play, and then he made the
Speaker 3: nice scramble and they ran the ball well, and it's
Speaker 3: like they just finally calmed down in the biggest spot
Speaker 3: and you got to give it to him. But you
Speaker 3: do wonder like Diebo Samuel first head injury and comes
Speaker 3: back in the game, then shoulder injury leaves, and it's
Speaker 3: the kind of thing that you know they're talking about
Speaker 3: us could could be a multiple week thing.
Speaker 2: We don't know exactly where it sits. But it is
Speaker 2: weird because they have so many weapons. But when Deebo's
Speaker 2: not been on the field for them, it has been
Speaker 2: a it's smarked a big change.
Speaker 3: Well it hurts when you lose him, like right off
Speaker 3: the bat, and who is doing this game now? They
Speaker 3: you know, Olsen said, how they they had basically had
Speaker 3: information DVA was going to be a huge part of
Speaker 3: the game the whole game. Were like trying to give
Speaker 3: Juwan Jennings these ender rounds and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: By the way, while Carlson misses this kick and ass
Speaker 1: is missing his kick, come on, guys, Robbie Gould just
Speaker 1: out there the whole time. Then just like finally shrugged
Speaker 1: his shoulders and was like, I guess must not be interesting.
Speaker 1: Literally never missed the kick in the postseason extra pointer
Speaker 1: field goal.
Speaker 3: And I mean Olsen said, they asked Lafleur about Carlson
Speaker 3: and what his thing with Carlson was, and he's like, well,
Speaker 3: every time he takes a kick, you know, I pray
Speaker 3: before it. It was like, maybe they don't tell them
Speaker 3: that or tell them that, And off the record, and then,
Speaker 3: b you can't be going to the NFC Divisional round
Speaker 3: game with that attitude.
Speaker 4: That was that was tough, and look, they would have
Speaker 4: tied it up. It's not like they would have won
Speaker 4: the game.
Speaker 3: And the way that game was going at the end,
Speaker 3: I feel like the Packers had their chances to put
Speaker 3: it away and then they started looking like the really
Speaker 3: young team.
Speaker 4: They probably would have lost it anyways, But man.
Speaker 1: This might betray who I'll be pulling for in the
Speaker 1: NFC title game. But I don't need to see brock
Speaker 1: Purty against the Ravens defense again.
Speaker 4: If that's how this thing breaks down. I don't trust
Speaker 4: your guy.
Speaker 1: Mark, Well, then you have to trust Jared Goff. I know,
Speaker 1: and that's and that's and that's fair. And we'll see
Speaker 1: how that game goes. We're gonna get to the lines
Speaker 1: in a minute. But yeah, I thought he was very
Speaker 1: shaky in this game. And we'll see if it was
Speaker 1: the weather or or just a rough night. And and
Speaker 1: I do you gotta give him credit. They let him
Speaker 1: on the drive at the end, and he let him
Speaker 1: on the drive. But man, I thought the Niners were
Speaker 1: so fortunate and I don't And one thing we disagree
Speaker 1: with on Greg you were saying earlier today, like this
Speaker 1: is the game, Like sometimes teams need to survive a
Speaker 1: game like that and then they can get back to
Speaker 1: being dominant. I'm not quite there with the Niners. I'm
Speaker 1: curious what version we get next Sunday, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: find out.
Speaker 3: I just think the body of work their offense has
Speaker 3: shown in defense, and Steve Wilks I think ended up
Speaker 3: coaching a pretty good game by by the end of
Speaker 3: this game. I wouldn't surprise me. I'm pulling for the Lions,
Speaker 3: but it would not surprise me if if the forty
Speaker 3: nine ers recapture their form, because I do think the
Speaker 3: weather was a big part of it.
Speaker 4: He has small hands.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if it's not always a small
Speaker 3: hands thing, but I mean he was he was really
Speaker 3: bad in this game. He was worse in this game
Speaker 3: than he was in the Ravens game which lost him
Speaker 3: the MVP, and he threw the four picks. I don't
Speaker 3: even think it's a question like he was legit bad.
Speaker 3: I was curious.
Speaker 4: I checked the p would say it's a question.
Speaker 3: He was pretty bad in that game too, but that
Speaker 3: game won this game with a drive at the end
Speaker 3: of regular game. He was his normal self except for
Speaker 3: like two or three bad decisions game this game, like
Speaker 3: his normal throws were bad. Everything was bad. Decisions were bad.
Speaker 3: He wasn't seeing the field like I checked the PFF score.
Speaker 3: I was curious, like and it was you know, it
Speaker 3: was like a fifty eight. The only score that was
Speaker 3: worse this year was that Browns game. Also in the Ring, well, I.
Speaker 2: Think he's I think that to me, the takeaway is
Speaker 2: Inclint Weather effects Brock, Party were or may not have
Speaker 2: any of.
Speaker 4: Us to be nice next week in San Francisco.
Speaker 2: By the way, but Dan, when you say the overall
Speaker 2: body of work of Party, but also just the Niners
Speaker 2: offense in general, I feel like you're a little down
Speaker 2: on them when there's a lot of evidence to suggest.
Speaker 4: They weren't explosive in this game. It was kind of
Speaker 4: shocking how they could.
Speaker 2: I just don't think that that predicts who they're gonna be,
Speaker 2: you know, against Detroit next week. But no, Deebo, Samuel
Speaker 2: matters a lot for this offense.
Speaker 1: If he went, If if Brock went out there next
Speaker 1: Sunday and went twenty seven for thirty two, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be stunned, right, But does he have a stink a
Speaker 1: stink bomb in him?
Speaker 4: Still, I can't rule that out of either.
Speaker 1: That's I'd be concerned as a nine ers sense because
Speaker 1: I've gotten to the point now and I've seen my
Speaker 1: share of bad quarterbacks where and he's certainly not one
Speaker 1: of them. But when he drops back in that ball
Speaker 1: is heading towards the second level of defense, you kinda
Speaker 1: hold your breath and be like, oh.
Speaker 4: Where is this one going?
Speaker 2: Like is he not to the level of Jimmy g though,
Speaker 2: But okay, but this I don't I you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm like, I could continue to defend brock perty
Speaker 2: I heat a bad game. I'm in the middle on it,
Speaker 2: like I have. I don't like his story is great.
Speaker 1: I keep I'm taking the story out of it right
Speaker 1: talking about as I.
Speaker 3: Just look at him as like a second year quarterback
Speaker 3: even if he wasn't like a late round pick and
Speaker 3: where he's at and stuff, And maybe I'm biased. He's
Speaker 3: no Tom Brady, but it's like people think back to
Speaker 3: this Tom Brady that like never existed, Like Tom Brady
Speaker 3: had games worse than like like he like the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl He literally didn't do anything until until the final court.
Speaker 3: But he didn't make he didn't make the big mistats
Speaker 3: like Brady. No, I'm not even saying he is. My
Speaker 3: point is like, you can have a second year quarterback
Speaker 3: that you're carrying along in some certain games, but you
Speaker 3: can do that when you're supposed to be this monstar team.
Speaker 4: And I do give their defense.
Speaker 3: I know the Packers struggled in the red zone, but
Speaker 3: there's because there's an opposing defense there in the red zone.
Speaker 3: And I thought their defense kept them in this game
Speaker 3: with those red zone stops and Greenlaw to me, in
Speaker 3: some ways, is defining forty nine er and he gets overlooked.
Speaker 3: He kind of reminds me of Navara Bowman with the
Speaker 3: old forty nine Ers. He hit Tucker Craft so hard
Speaker 3: in the eye that like you know, Craft had to
Speaker 3: come out of it. He just blasted Tucker Craft. One
Speaker 3: play later he blast Jordan Love to get a fourth
Speaker 3: down stop. Then he gets two interceptions in the second half.
Speaker 3: He's just like a beast like Bosa showed up at
Speaker 3: the very end of the game. Warner was great in
Speaker 3: this game. I just they've guys got so many guys
Speaker 3: that I just feel like usually they'll developed, they'll find
Speaker 3: a way to overwhelm you.
Speaker 1: Absolute studs in the middle of the defense. It's just
Speaker 1: a it's it's the cottage industry. I'll probably be in
Speaker 1: I'm probably being too hard on brock I Mark, I apologize,
Speaker 1: I am being too hard on don't have to apologize.
Speaker 2: If you look at yesterday's.
Speaker 1: Game, yeah maybe maybe uh maybe Sam Donald's coming running
Speaker 1: out of the tunnel in the third quarter.
Speaker 4: I mean that is that is Oh my.
Speaker 3: God, is that Sam's If if that's your angle, then
Speaker 3: this is I think you understand what this is. All
Speaker 3: I knew it wasn't gonna happen my angle, well, the
Speaker 3: idea that Sam Donald is gonna come out and oh
Speaker 3: my god.
Speaker 4: That Sam Donald's music.
Speaker 3: Okay, so he had so it was like eighth team
Speaker 3: when when they couldn't score, uh when I think it
Speaker 3: was another three and out in the third quarter, and
Speaker 3: then they they were set up with a short field
Speaker 3: and then they had to settle for the field goal
Speaker 3: and then they punted again the next drive. I actually,
Speaker 3: for a second thought, isn't that crazy to go to
Speaker 3: Sam Tarno right now? I actually didn't think they'd do it,
Speaker 3: but he was struggling so bad at that point in
Speaker 3: the game that I was just like, man, maybe.
Speaker 4: It's so destabilizing.
Speaker 2: Though it doesn't have abilizing like coaching.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't have been a It would be a bit
Speaker 1: of a flip of the panic switch right to go
Speaker 1: to Donald at this point, but they like him and
Speaker 1: party's gotta play.
Speaker 4: Had throw to Kittle, you know, it was just yeah,
Speaker 4: he did have to throw to Kittle. The you know,
Speaker 4: all comes out of his hand right now. We sure
Speaker 4: where it's going. Is it going to the right team?
Speaker 4: I think we're I think we're if it's over, if
Speaker 4: it's dry.
Speaker 3: But yes, he he he got a he got a
Speaker 3: Hall pass because he That would that would have been
Speaker 3: the conversation all off season if the Packers had just
Speaker 3: caught those interceptions and he got a break.
Speaker 2: And it's gonna be sun swept and fifty eight degrees
Speaker 2: next week with little wind, and you're gonna be right
Speaker 2: back where you want them to be. And you know,
Speaker 2: you two are unbelievably unannoying to hang out with most
Speaker 2: of the time.
Speaker 4: That's good.
Speaker 3: That is from the past, uh Randy, I know your
Speaker 3: most successors I know, Randy, that was heartbreaking. It is
Speaker 3: crazy how many and I know, like Jets and Browns
Speaker 3: fans don't want to hear about it. But I think
Speaker 3: it's it's true that being a fan like of a
Speaker 3: team like the Packers, but the Packers specifically the Bills
Speaker 3: now are joining this territory and losing this many heartbreaking plan.
Speaker 4: Get the violins out.
Speaker 1: Why can't this both be true? All right, mister Patriots man,
Speaker 1: please educate me on No, no, no, I'm not.
Speaker 3: I'm not talking about the Patriots because the Patriots got
Speaker 3: six titles that the Packers from. If you're doing a
Speaker 3: ranking of the most painful losses in pack fans who
Speaker 3: are masochistic, we're doing this last night since twenty seven,
Speaker 3: two thousand and seven, this maybe isn't even in the
Speaker 3: top ten, which is which is crazy, and it's a it's.
Speaker 4: You got the you got the.
Speaker 3: NFC Championship that nothing will top that twenty fourteen, you
Speaker 3: had the one again San Francisco in twenty twenty one
Speaker 3: where they couldn't score it. They had losing to ELI
Speaker 3: immediately after going having a one lost.
Speaker 4: Team that was rough. They had far of loving losing
Speaker 4: to ELI.
Speaker 13: Uh.
Speaker 3: In overtime. Uh, they lost to the Cardinals twice. In overtime.
Speaker 3: They lost to the Kaepernick two different times.
Speaker 11: Uh.
Speaker 3: There's a couple more NFC Championship games under Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 3: I haven't even mentioned before we even get to this one.
Speaker 4: It is it is crazy.
Speaker 1: I have a great idea. Yes, you could actually follow
Speaker 1: the model of my favorite team. Just don't make the playoffs.
Speaker 4: It's just saying on that like utter void, like a
Speaker 4: black holes, we don't have to compare. I'm just saying
Speaker 4: it is paid got to be painful.
Speaker 1: If I have, if one more person tweets me, uh,
Speaker 1: it's time to put the Packers on the pain ranking.
Speaker 4: No, shut up, all right. I do want to hear
Speaker 4: from Randy though, big funk.
Speaker 13: I just want to jump in and chime in about
Speaker 13: how Eric and I bonded through our sorrow before the
Speaker 13: game started. Because it seemed like every network was running
Speaker 13: compilations of first losses for the Packers and the Bills.
Speaker 13: You know, it's like we can't escape it, and the
Speaker 13: Boogeyman won this round again. I feel it's tough.
Speaker 4: It's tough. It's it's tough.
Speaker 13: I get where you're coming from though, because the Packers
Speaker 13: have it nice sort of. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 4: That sort of.
Speaker 1: You definitely have a nice you have another young superstar quarterback.
Speaker 4: But what does it matter. I think through all this
Speaker 4: then you will come back and say, you know what,
Speaker 4: you had a point. Yeah, all those years I think
Speaker 4: you look at it.
Speaker 13: Sure, but at the end of the year, it's like
Speaker 13: the Jets and the Packers, they're both in Kane kun right.
Speaker 1: Now, right, but there is I think Greg, you're kind
Speaker 1: of double talking here with your points here because you
Speaker 1: were just saying a couple of shows ago, you got
Speaker 1: to enjoy the experience, had a really fun ride this year.
Speaker 4: Look from Thanksgiving until five minutes to play, and it
Speaker 4: opens the door for the future.
Speaker 2: Like they like, there were questions whether they even had
Speaker 2: a quarterback and you do have right now.
Speaker 4: That's very wrong. That's what other teams do. Set up great.
Speaker 3: I just mean in that day, in the moment, it
Speaker 3: doesn't ease that pain. And that's a particular type of
Speaker 3: pain that unfortunately I have.
Speaker 1: I have other fan base, Like I said, I mean,
Speaker 1: Yankee man, I understand that side of it too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm almost uniquely qualified to tell you that both are suck.
Speaker 1: But there's nothing worse than just being a laughing stock
Speaker 1: and never even no doubt getting a chance it gets.
Speaker 2: They're two different, they're quite different, but it is very.
Speaker 1: I totally empathize. And that's how we open the show
Speaker 1: with Bill's fans who deserve a chip. They still waiting
Speaker 1: And this felt like a special year and it wasn't.
Speaker 1: And for Packers fans, even though this was this was
Speaker 1: a prototypical house money game for a Green Bay to
Speaker 1: have a kind of a win almost in your back
Speaker 1: pocket and let it get away.
Speaker 4: You just you don't want to do that in the
Speaker 4: laos because you just never ever know. All right.
Speaker 1: That was the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota. Let's go
Speaker 1: places learn more at toyota dot com. Slash Grand Highlander.
Speaker 1: All right, let's finish it up the other NFC game.
Speaker 1: Back to Detroit. Yes, the place was hopping once again.
Speaker 4: Mayfield takes him straight to the line. With a minute forty,
Speaker 4: Baker leans in.
Speaker 5: There's the Snaplets comes Mayfield back loadscross.
Speaker 4: Pick on the Lions. The Lions by the Lions.
Speaker 5: Derek Bark, Bark, Dirk Barks, Betty one thirty three to go.
Speaker 4: The Laurians are going to San France.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 4: Derek Barnes with the interception. Oh baby, stand up fort Field.
Speaker 4: Look at this? Whoo look at this? Wait? Am I?
Speaker 1: Do I have the timing wrong? Or are we in
Speaker 1: a simulation? Was the Detroit game before the Packer game?
Speaker 4: No? It was today? Oh my god, it was. It
Speaker 4: was the earlier game today. That was today.
Speaker 2: That feels like forty seven years right on Sky Sports
Speaker 2: at halftime.
Speaker 4: Don't I don't remember that? I am. I am with
Speaker 4: you on that. It does feel like it happened weeks ago.
Speaker 4: I've been infected with the rage zombie virus. You're right,
Speaker 4: that was that. I thought, like Dan's already booking the
Speaker 4: San Francisco trip. No, he was right.
Speaker 1: Dan Miller with the call with Lomas Brown. Lomas one
Speaker 1: of my favorite tropes. He's just the color guy screaming
Speaker 1: yes because a great moment happened w x YT for
Speaker 1: the team, and that was the interception of Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 1: the decisive play in a thirty one to twenty three
Speaker 1: win for the Lions over the Bucks. Greg you locked
Speaker 1: the former team of around the NFL and in another game,
Speaker 1: where the underdog came to play.
Speaker 4: This is a game. I believe he's seventeen seventeen in
Speaker 4: the second half.
Speaker 1: Detroit, like Baltimore now at the same level, but took
Speaker 1: control in crunch time when other teams might wilt.
Speaker 4: They said, no, no, no, no, no, one's beating us
Speaker 4: in our building, not in this spot. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I've been taking these last two weeks that the Lions
Speaker 3: defense has been opportunistic and really contributed to those wins.
Speaker 4: And you heard it there.
Speaker 3: They got just enough stops and got the interception at
Speaker 3: the end. But I also think how when it was
Speaker 3: ten ten going into the second half and the Lions
Speaker 3: don't get anything done on their first drive. After that,
Speaker 3: the lines that we know take over and get touchdowns
Speaker 3: on back to back to back drives. And there was
Speaker 3: a third and fifteen in there to a mon Ra
Speaker 3: Saint Brown that just says so much about the Lions.
Speaker 4: They protected up perfectly.
Speaker 3: Tampa could not get home today with their four man
Speaker 3: pass rush, and the blitz really wasn't that effective either.
Speaker 3: And they just have a laser on Zion McCollum, who
Speaker 3: just came into the game, and the Lions are so
Speaker 3: good at that Ben Johnson is always attacking weaknesses. Like
Speaker 3: a new guy comes in, it's fresh meet. Third and fifteen.
Speaker 3: There's no way we're running the ball here to like
Speaker 3: set up a closer field goal or make a shorter
Speaker 3: fourth down.
Speaker 4: No, we're going for it.
Speaker 3: Ragnow, who was in and out of this game, was
Speaker 3: an animal, protects it up. They hit it a mon
Speaker 3: rob breaks a tackle to get the first down on
Speaker 3: that play, and it was just really bold play calling
Speaker 3: like that. Throughout their running game wasn't working, so they
Speaker 3: called the third and one kind of fake where they
Speaker 3: get it to right. What is that guy's ny Brock
Speaker 3: right down the sideline the same plane against the Jets,
Speaker 3: Like everything they touched. They went for a fourth and
Speaker 3: goal as part of that touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.
Speaker 4: It started it off.
Speaker 3: They go for it like being bold, and then their
Speaker 3: players executing it and just playing smart. They they looked
Speaker 3: like the Lions we've seen all year today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they keep being they keep emphasizing who they've been
Speaker 2: and how they got here, and they're not changing from that.
Speaker 2: They Dan Campbell refuses to shift identities, dialing up Craig
Speaker 2: Reynolds on that fourth and goal a surprise character in
Speaker 2: that situation. You're right that incredible sixteen yard to aman
Speaker 2: Ron Saint Brown on third and fifteen, Goff, you know
Speaker 2: if we're gonna praise rock Perty on that final drive,
Speaker 2: go from the fourth quarter hit his first eleven passes
Speaker 2: for one hundred and thirty one yards and a touchdown
Speaker 2: on those two long touchdown drives.
Speaker 4: So it's like GoF was money when it mattered most.
Speaker 2: And you know, this defense gave up four hundred and
Speaker 2: eight yards to a Buccaneers team that did not quit.
Speaker 2: But it really was going to come down to a
Speaker 2: big mistake. For as good as Baker Mayfield has been
Speaker 2: in these two games in this stretch, and the best
Speaker 2: version of himself, like that is the other side of
Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield, that mistake occurs and it's snuffed out what
Speaker 2: could have been a pretty spicy final couple of minutes
Speaker 2: because the Bucks, I give him credit, like they're not
Speaker 2: a great team, but they fought really hard in this game,
Speaker 2: and it's like some they believe in Baker Mayfield. But
Speaker 2: the Lions, same with Goff, and Goff talked about just
Speaker 2: feeling a calm throughout the fourth quarter, and I think
Speaker 2: this version who Jared goff is right now, and the
Speaker 2: way he operated in the final minutes says so much
Speaker 2: about this line's offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they it went from seventeen to seventeen to thirty
Speaker 1: one sevent team in a blink. And to Mayfield and
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay's credit, they go right down the field, they
Speaker 1: get the touchdown, they fail on the two point conversion
Speaker 1: and then get the stop and you're thinking, hmmm, this
Speaker 1: could be interesting.
Speaker 4: But Baker, yeah, makes that big mistake.
Speaker 1: Here's Baker after the game, obviously you saw it in
Speaker 1: the highlight or immediately after the play happened, hanging his head.
Speaker 1: He knew he had a chance to do something special
Speaker 1: and they could not get it done.
Speaker 4: It sucks.
Speaker 14: I feel like my heart just got ripped out. But
Speaker 14: it's Football is a complex game, but it's also simple.
Speaker 14: It comes down to taking care of the ball and
Speaker 14: in two minute drives like that, when you know you're
Speaker 14: gonna have four downs to use. Just a bad mistake
Speaker 14: by me. And it sucks because I know what type
Speaker 14: of group we've had all year that we fought to
Speaker 14: get to this point. We fought to be in that game.
Speaker 14: We weren't supposed to be here. By any measures, but
Speaker 14: we believed in each other and we fought for it,
Speaker 14: and so, yeah, this one's gonna weigh on.
Speaker 4: Me for a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I thought it was interesting and I think
Speaker 1: they said it during the telecast that these are both players,
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff number one overall picks, and
Speaker 1: they had apparently spoken. This is a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: back before this lot of this matchup was set in
Speaker 1: the stone, they had a conversation Mayfield and GoF and
Speaker 1: they talked about how when you're a number one overall pick,
Speaker 1: you're kind of at the top of the mountain and
Speaker 1: you have to find a new chip on your shoulder.
Speaker 1: And for these guys, both their original teams, the Browns
Speaker 1: and Rams, essentially quit on them and now here they
Speaker 1: are resurrecting their careers. And here's GoF one win from
Speaker 1: getting back to the Super Bowls. Listening to Jared Goff,
Speaker 1: it's a credit to all the guys in there. We've
Speaker 1: said this a million times about how it's the same group.
Speaker 1: It's not like we've you know, added a ton, It's
Speaker 1: a lot of the same guys. And Brad and Dan
Speaker 1: have been very intentional about bringing in those type of
Speaker 1: guys who can handle moments like today and moments like
Speaker 1: last week and ups and downs of a season. And
Speaker 1: I think it's all been intentionally done by them, and
Speaker 1: we're not here by accident.
Speaker 3: Now, GoF avoided the negative plays today, and when he
Speaker 3: mentions that with Brad Holmes, it really is insane to
Speaker 3: think about how many of the draft picks. All the
Speaker 3: focus has been on this year's rookie class, but when
Speaker 3: Derek Brown made that play, I mean Derek Barnes made
Speaker 3: that play, it reminded me of all three of these classes,
Speaker 3: because they've done a really good job developing players. Derek
Speaker 3: Barnes is not like a household name, but if you
Speaker 3: think back to Week one, who is making all those
Speaker 3: huge run stops and just stuffing the Chiefs and big
Speaker 3: plays play after play, it's Derek Barnes and guys like
Speaker 3: Melafanu who they've developed slowly and has eventually turned into
Speaker 3: this great part of this three safety tandem with Cardner
Speaker 3: Johnson and Panee Sewell and Saint Brown our draft picks,
Speaker 3: and Hutchinson had another nice game, and just throughout it's
Speaker 3: all these homegrown players, and I think you get a
Speaker 3: sort of cohesion between the coaching staff and the players
Speaker 3: that is pretty rare and maybe can kind of carry
Speaker 3: them through a great game like this, which was weird
Speaker 3: mid third order mark, the Bucks were averaging seven point
Speaker 3: three yards per play and the Lions were averaging three
Speaker 3: point seven. It was it was kind of a strange
Speaker 3: game where the Lions were being opportunistic. But I wasn't
Speaker 3: watching it and thinking, Ooh, the Lions are a much
Speaker 3: better team here. I thought they were in trouble and
Speaker 3: they and they kind of stabilized and played their best
Speaker 3: at the end.
Speaker 2: Well, they're learning, I think, you know, it's like the
Speaker 2: Detroit Journeys. They're learning how to win games like this
Speaker 2: and to kind of work your way out of not
Speaker 2: your best performance. You know, the Niners did it, but
Speaker 2: the Niners have playoff experience. They kind of know they
Speaker 2: they know how to do it. I think it's really impressive,
Speaker 2: and I you know, it's like they remind me of
Speaker 2: the Rams Rad Holmes coming from Rams World, like Jamiir
Speaker 2: Gibbs someone that they were kind of like why on
Speaker 2: Earth of the Lions picking this running back this high
Speaker 2: in the draft? Watching Jamier Gibbs like he has commit
Speaker 2: a complete difference maker, just the speed alone and what
Speaker 2: he did today in key moments. It's like every one
Speaker 2: of the players you mentioned, all these rookies, second year,
Speaker 2: third year guys, they've hit on them over and over,
Speaker 2: and it the emphasis is that Jared Goff, who they
Speaker 2: were pretty playingly honest about from the beginning.
Speaker 4: We believe in him, We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: They didn't just chase quickly another rookie quarterback to supplant
Speaker 2: him with, and they've made the best version of Jared
Speaker 2: Goff come alive because of that belief. I think Jared
Speaker 2: Goff had his confidence cracked like an egg coming out
Speaker 2: of that Rams experience. And it's like there is something
Speaker 2: to the mentality of an athlete to say, we believe
Speaker 2: in you, go do it, and now here you are
Speaker 2: is Detroit Lions fans.
Speaker 4: Yeah, everyone thought they had Jared Goff nail.
Speaker 1: Like this was a guy from you know, northern California,
Speaker 1: a number one draft pick who really wasn't deserving of it.
Speaker 1: He was a bust and then oh he was Actually
Speaker 1: he had some good years, but he was propped up
Speaker 1: by Sean mcvay's brilliant offense at the time, and then
Speaker 1: he was shipped off to Detroit to be a starter
Speaker 1: for maybe a year before he became a back with
Speaker 1: the rest of his career. No, because, like Dan Campbell said, like,
Speaker 1: you're good enough for Detroit, and the fact that Brad
Speaker 1: Holmes and Dan Campbell and that organization saw in GoF
Speaker 1: not a bridge guy, but a guy that could be
Speaker 1: a major part of this operation moving forward. Nobody else
Speaker 1: saw that. And the building the roster the way they have,
Speaker 1: people didn't see that. You think back to the opening
Speaker 1: press conference, and in fact, I think we have some
Speaker 1: sound from Campbell on that the opening press conference where
Speaker 1: it's infamous. I'll tell you how infamous it is, the
Speaker 1: the biting the kneecaps press conference, which remember the lines
Speaker 1: were a laughing stock of the time before that season started.
Speaker 1: This is two years ago. Colleen and I did the
Speaker 1: first Hard Knocks podcast series and we noticed that it
Speaker 1: wasn't in the first episode. You're like, oh, of course
Speaker 1: that's gonna be in the episode. They're going to play
Speaker 1: off that. Then we were told, no, don't talk about
Speaker 1: it either. The Lions and the and and Campbell were
Speaker 1: sensitive that that was being taken and put in a
Speaker 1: different way to get how he was known. He was
Speaker 1: like a cartoon character, the way he looked, the way
Speaker 1: he talked, the way he was saying, and everyone like
Speaker 1: Jared Goff and so many of these other guys, we
Speaker 1: underestimated the Lions. Here's a here's Campbell talking about the
Speaker 1: beginning of his tenure and how that has changed.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 10: Man that first presco and press has got to kill legends.
Speaker 4: He caps all that. Initially though, there was kind of like,
Speaker 4: what what did the Lions higher with this guy?
Speaker 10: Do you hear that then?
Speaker 12: And what do you bet?
Speaker 7: You're probably one of them?
Speaker 1: To each his own talk about that last little great line.
Speaker 1: You know, it's been sticking in his car for a
Speaker 1: long time, but they're getting the last laugh.
Speaker 4: Now, that's awesome.
Speaker 3: I that it's also Campbell sticking it to the whole
Speaker 3: like people were saying back that you, it's probably you.
Speaker 4: He is definitely someone. I bet that everybody was kept.
Speaker 1: We had our fun with the Lions at that time,
Speaker 1: and Campbell, who you know, didn't have a big resume.
Speaker 1: But we're saying Mark, like damn if they and this
Speaker 1: is't do not tell the Lions, you do tell Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell that they're playing with house money in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: This team, this team believes that they can win a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl and if if they ever did it sas dog,
Speaker 1: if they ever even just made the Super but if
Speaker 1: they won it, He's Mike Ditka. He is a national
Speaker 1: celebrity of the highest order when you talk about sports
Speaker 1: figures in America like this, he's become a star and
Speaker 1: seize the moment because I'll name another one.
Speaker 4: Remember Rex Ryan. Yep, he became a star overnight.
Speaker 1: And again you think because they went to the Jets
Speaker 1: in nine and ten, they went to the AFC Championship
Speaker 1: Game two years in a row, you think it's just
Speaker 1: gonna go on forever. Maybe this is the moment for
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions right now. And even but I will
Speaker 1: say this, even if things do not go well next
Speaker 1: week in San Francisco, you can't take away what happened
Speaker 1: these two weeks, these two home games, and the wins,
Speaker 1: and the crowd and the feel around it that is
Speaker 1: this is for Lions fans. This will be a season
Speaker 1: that will be viewed warmly no matter what happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because before you had Ditka's nineteen eighty five Bears.
Speaker 2: You had the eighty four Bears that learned how to
Speaker 2: do what the eighty five Bears did, and I think
Speaker 2: you're talking so you mentioned that in the screening room,
Speaker 2: and I love the DNA the comparison between Ditka Campbell
Speaker 2: and Rex Ryan because Rex Ryan came in and said,
Speaker 2: I don't care what we've been, We're gonna be something
Speaker 2: different now, and it resonated we're.
Speaker 1: Not gonna kiss Belichick's exactly. I don't care what, I
Speaker 1: don't care what the order was here before.
Speaker 4: It's a new order.
Speaker 2: And Ditka took it to Bears team that was lost
Speaker 2: at sea for a long time did the same thing.
Speaker 2: And who's been more lost at sea than the Lions.
Speaker 2: And it's a lot to do with Dan Campbell's just
Speaker 2: willing this team to do it his own way, and
Speaker 2: he was doubted because of his personality out of the gate,
Speaker 2: but they believe in him with every fiber of.
Speaker 3: Their being and his ability to hit on on big
Speaker 3: decisions like Aaron Glenn, I thought had a really good
Speaker 3: day today. And I know they were giving up a
Speaker 3: lot of yards, but if you think of why the
Speaker 3: bucks drives kept stopping, it's because they kept finding the
Speaker 3: free rusher to get to Baker Mayfield, who ended up
Speaker 3: taking a few sacks. I thought Baker actually played quite
Speaker 3: well in this game the until that interception. The first
Speaker 3: interception came off and drop Evans finishes with one. Baker
Speaker 3: throws for three forty nine. He had the fourth and
Speaker 3: fifteen play to keep their season live. He had the
Speaker 3: play where he almost was sacked and then he's rolling
Speaker 3: out and make you know, one of the best plays
Speaker 3: any quarterback made all weekend. And yet I think the
Speaker 3: coaching for the Lions is just better, and I compare
Speaker 3: it to the Bucks, where Bowles has been bolder this season.
Speaker 3: He's kind of gotten some pop in Tampa of like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's a new Todd Bowles, but today there.
Speaker 4: Is electric Todd Bowls. It's just a couple spots.
Speaker 3: There was a there was a fourth and one at
Speaker 3: his own thirty five in the first half, and I
Speaker 3: know it's your own thirty five. But the way that
Speaker 3: game was going, they were running the ball really well.
Speaker 3: Rashade White ran for six point one yards per Carrie
Speaker 3: Edmunds went four point eight and he punts there. Uh,
Speaker 3: there was the they kicked the fifty yard field goal,
Speaker 3: which I'm not going to kill him, but it was
Speaker 3: a fourth and five. Who's their kicker. He's been great
Speaker 3: all year. I literally think that was his first miskick
Speaker 3: all year. That wasn't a block. Chase McLoughlin's been kind
Speaker 3: of under the radar, A is like having a great season.
Speaker 4: He's been the top five my kicker.
Speaker 3: And then at the very end, they're down a touchdown
Speaker 3: and I know it's transgressive, but it was fourth and
Speaker 3: four I think at their own thirty or so, and
Speaker 3: that's just a no thought punt there. But the way
Speaker 3: that game was going, I was like, man, the Lions
Speaker 3: are just going to go down the field and score
Speaker 3: a touchdown here?
Speaker 4: Isn't that crazy to go for that fourth and before?
Speaker 3: He didn't even think about it, and they did go
Speaker 3: down and score the touch Inside thought he was not
Speaker 3: that bold in some big spots.
Speaker 4: That's kind of bulls. I mean, that's part of it.
Speaker 1: But they and they have a big decision to make
Speaker 1: with Baker, who really outperformed this contract and had a
Speaker 1: nice year overall for that.
Speaker 4: Team, and we're going to see what happens next.
Speaker 1: I think we got to give the last word to
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell, who gave us some thoughts on this Lions
Speaker 1: team and this moment in the city in which they play.
Speaker 7: Well, I think it's important, right, I mean, you can't.
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's you know, it's not the
Speaker 7: first thing you think of if you go to LA
Speaker 7: or just in general. Right, you got to sign, you
Speaker 7: got the beach, you got plenty of other things is
Speaker 7: going on, and here, man, that's fire man. It's harsh winners, right,
Speaker 7: Auto industry, blue collar things aren't always easy. And I
Speaker 7: just think that's you know, that's what we were about,
Speaker 7: and that that was you know, you want something in
Speaker 7: the city can be proud of.
Speaker 12: Though.
Speaker 7: You can look at those guys and say, man, I
Speaker 7: can back that guy. I can back that team. You know,
Speaker 7: I can resonate with those group of guys.
Speaker 4: I feel attacked.
Speaker 1: Stopped on Southern California with the sun every week for
Speaker 1: me is just a war right in my home. It's
Speaker 1: just a battle to my wife and I just to
Speaker 1: survive and grind through with the two maniac boys and
Speaker 1: the pressures, the traffic being on an internationally known podcast.
Speaker 1: Don't give me that look, Rosen, I'm with you. Give
Speaker 1: me that face I'm.
Speaker 3: Giving you Dave Campbell that look oh like oh La
Speaker 3: with their beaches.
Speaker 4: Hey, when we drove to uh Walker's.
Speaker 3: Basketball game, we had to park uneath indoors because it
Speaker 3: was rainy outside. Usually we park on the street, but
Speaker 3: we wanted to get it, you know, under under the roof.
Speaker 3: We parked inside.
Speaker 1: And when I took when I took my dog Captain
Speaker 1: to the beach on Friday, right around sunset, and that
Speaker 1: my boys brought a frisbee, there was a sign outside
Speaker 1: that beach that said no dog's allowed even in the
Speaker 1: off season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'd say like if you uh, you know,
Speaker 2: if there are times if you were to buy an
Speaker 2: ice cream cone, you've got to get into an inside
Speaker 2: area so that the sun and the warmth don't melt
Speaker 2: it prematurely while you're trying to eat it.
Speaker 4: Thank you so waiting for your apology.
Speaker 3: Go to the beach this morning, because on the West Coast,
Speaker 3: another nice thing. It's like, oh, a nice noon start
Speaker 3: for the NFL.
Speaker 1: We'll get out I think den kimbro Point without having
Speaker 1: to retort. But that is very nice and we will
Speaker 1: see what the Lions do. I would love I mean,
Speaker 1: I did have about third quarter of Bill's chiefs. I
Speaker 1: started to openly daydream about the idea of us being
Speaker 1: in Vegas and fans from Detroit and Buffalo pouring into
Speaker 1: the city on Friday afternoon and what that scene would be.
Speaker 1: We lost the Bills unfortunately today. But and I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily rooting for uh no, I am. I am rooting
Speaker 1: for the Lines. How can you not root for the Lions?
Speaker 1: I mean so, I think a lot of people across
Speaker 1: the country are gonna be pulling for the Lions. But
Speaker 1: look their opponent, the forty nine Ers. They're they're they're shinier,
Speaker 1: they're sexier, they're they're Californian too, And uh, they've been
Speaker 1: trying to get over this hump for years as well.
Speaker 1: They haven't not won the Super Bowl since what nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2: I guess five patty cake around the Packers and the
Speaker 2: impossible nature of what their fans have been through, like
Speaker 2: Niners fans have been through a lot too.
Speaker 4: I'm not yet Super Bowl. Uh that would that would be?
Speaker 3: That would have been a brood a lot for the
Speaker 3: forty nine if you want to guess the uh spread, Yeah,
Speaker 3: those teams hang on.
Speaker 4: Let me think about pack Gotta get this right, all right?
Speaker 4: So we got Niners Lions.
Speaker 1: I like, I'm gonna say they're gonna put the Niners.
Speaker 1: They're gonna install them at four and a half.
Speaker 4: I'd say five and a half. Seven.
Speaker 3: Wow, okay, interesting, I mean they were nine and a
Speaker 3: half against the Packers.
Speaker 1: I just thought it would be some more respect. And
Speaker 1: then the other game Baltimore Kansasity. That's a tough one.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say right now, Baltimore minus three Baltimore three
Speaker 1: and a half. Three and a half is right on
Speaker 1: the number. There you go, Mark, you've got a future
Speaker 1: in this? About that, Mark, I do not have your
Speaker 1: future rainment, not in this.
Speaker 2: Uh not when we're not not being employed by this company.
Speaker 4: All right. So there you go.
Speaker 1: That is the breakdown of Divisional Round weekend. There are
Speaker 1: only three games left in this season. Oh one more thing,
Speaker 1: Big Funk pointed out. Shot me a little note that
Speaker 1: there is a photo and this is for people watching
Speaker 1: on YouTube of Eric the our producer, who really a
Speaker 1: great effort watching this game upstairs.
Speaker 4: In basically hiding under a desk at this point. What
Speaker 4: is going on?
Speaker 1: You're behind a preschool basketball hoop that plastic you know,
Speaker 1: the taike one, and you're sitting against the window sill
Speaker 1: but kind of tucked away like yeah, like almost like
Speaker 1: a raccoon that's been hit by a car and is
Speaker 1: like under a bush.
Speaker 8: The basketball that comes with that child playpin basketball hoop
Speaker 8: went across the office when we missed the field goal.
Speaker 1: Okay, heaved, And I just again to circle back on that.
Speaker 1: I totally get the frustration of the teams and fan
Speaker 1: base that can't get over the hump that is.
Speaker 4: Because it is with the Bills. It's super Bowl or
Speaker 4: bust and everything else feels like but if you think
Speaker 4: about it at the bottom of the hill, it does.
Speaker 4: It does suck to lose like that. Yeah, there, you're
Speaker 4: gonna go with this screct but there you go.
Speaker 3: But like most people have to wait for the podcast
Speaker 3: to be recorded and then edit and all this stuff.
Speaker 4: You get to listen to it live for free right off,
Speaker 4: it's right, and then he has to kind of listen
Speaker 4: back to it edit. Yeah, this is the perk. This
Speaker 4: is the job. Guy. Hint yourself, all.
Speaker 1: Right, that's it. We're gonna be back on Tuesday. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tease it again. Colleen Wolf will rejoin US on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: UH finny Box hour and.
Speaker 4: Yep, three games left, Three games left. Heed the call.