Speaker 1: And the Rams gonna take away.
Speaker 2: He playclock, getting short Darnold back to his end zone,
Speaker 2: sets the laces, pitches, pitch.
Speaker 3: Shot, game over.
Speaker 4: Game over Byron Young with a safety agent zero calls
Speaker 4: game FoST Thursday Night Football.
Speaker 3: Welcome to NFL Daily. That was the great JB.
Speaker 5: Long of k SPN in Los Angeles, not only on
Speaker 5: the call, but on the show.
Speaker 3: Still at the stadium. I made it my way through.
Speaker 5: Traffic, got to the car very quickly, drove home, and
Speaker 5: he's still on a high after one of the most
Speaker 5: fun Thursday night football games of the year.
Speaker 3: JB.
Speaker 5: Long, the radio play by play man of the Rams.
Speaker 5: Welcome to NFL Daily. Wow, I can feel like I
Speaker 5: got to take a breath here on a night of offense. Yes,
Speaker 5: we finished there on the defense. Thanks buddy for joining me.
Speaker 5: I know it's a long day.
Speaker 1: Good to see you. A couple of things.
Speaker 6: One, I have commandeered someone's office just off the press
Speaker 6: box here at SOFI Stadium. Thankfully, there is not a
Speaker 6: lick of any kind of decoration on the wall. This
Speaker 6: is clearly not occupied, so I feel like it was
Speaker 6: designated for this purpose. Good on you for beating me
Speaker 6: home and Secondly to all the Vikings listeners, Yes, I
Speaker 6: did clean up that call by saying blatant face mask.
Speaker 6: They missed it, the game should be continuing. I get it.
Speaker 6: I feel your pain. We talked with Byron Young after
Speaker 6: the game. He actually you could see like he was
Speaker 6: in dismay, his hands covering his face, not celebrating that
Speaker 6: game winning sack, but fearing the penalty marker that he
Speaker 6: figured must have been down in the end zone. He
Speaker 6: actually thought it was a horse collar, not a face mask.
Speaker 6: But same difference. Tough break, tough break for the now
Speaker 6: five and two Vikings.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I was up there in the three
Speaker 5: hundred section. No clue there was a face mask. In fact,
Speaker 5: I had no idea until our great producer Eric Roberts
Speaker 5: is putting together the show. Told me as I'm coming
Speaker 5: into the house, hey, I have sound on them talking
Speaker 5: about the face mask after the game, I was like,
Speaker 5: what face mask was that?
Speaker 3: We did not see that.
Speaker 5: From from up in the not so cheap seats, but
Speaker 5: the medium the medium seats. Actually, let's let's listen to
Speaker 5: Kevin O'Connell. You know, if we're if we're talking about already,
Speaker 5: let's listen to him after the game talking about the
Speaker 5: face mask.
Speaker 7: You know, it looked like you got a pretty good
Speaker 7: amount of face mask there. Not going to get into
Speaker 7: you know, the call or no call and all that stuff.
Speaker 7: It's just I told our team officiating and all that stuff.
Speaker 7: For us to talk about that, for us to seek
Speaker 7: comfort in that is not how we're going to respond
Speaker 7: to this. It's just not going to happen. And I'm
Speaker 7: gonna do the same thing right now. I really don't
Speaker 7: have a comment on whether it was it looked like
Speaker 7: you got a piece of the face mask, but they
Speaker 7: didn't think so, so they didn't throw the flag.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So it feels unfortunate almost start on this because
Speaker 5: let's be real, they had the entire length of the
Speaker 5: field to go at that point, no timeouts under it
Speaker 5: would have been a minute forty on the clock, and
Speaker 5: they had not scored a touchdown since the first quarter,
Speaker 5: two punts that disastrous end of half, a couple plays
Speaker 5: where they lost their left tackle Christian Darisaw, a couple
Speaker 5: field goal drives to start the second half, and then
Speaker 5: a punt in a really crucial situation in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 5: So the way the Rams pass rush was getting after
Speaker 5: the Vikings. I was not particularly confident JB at that
Speaker 5: point in the game that they were necessarily gonna drive
Speaker 5: down the field and hit the two point conversion. But
Speaker 5: I guess I can understand why Vikings fans would be
Speaker 5: a little salty.
Speaker 6: I think you rightly highlighted one of the major pivot
Speaker 6: points in that game, which was Derisaw going down at
Speaker 6: left tackle. Because the Rams have done all sorts of,
Speaker 6: you know, bad things this season in all three phases.
Speaker 6: The kicking game in particular has been shaky lately, the
Speaker 6: defense has been porous at times, the offense has been
Speaker 6: spinning its wheels, but the absolute one constant has been
Speaker 6: the pressure that the Rants have been able to generate upfront,
Speaker 6: primarily with rookies and second year pass rushers, Byron Young
Speaker 6: being one of them. Jared Verse, I mean, he's leading
Speaker 6: all rookies in pressure rate, and I think that was
Speaker 6: apparent again today and especially down the left tackle.
Speaker 1: Sam Darnold really felt that.
Speaker 6: Let me ask, were you surprised at the field goal
Speaker 6: on fourth down and plus territory at minus four to
Speaker 6: get to minus one? I saw a couple of algorithms
Speaker 6: had that as a good decision like a slight lean
Speaker 6: to kicking it, which I was surprised.
Speaker 1: That felt like a go for it for me and
Speaker 1: o Common took the points.
Speaker 5: So you know, I was sitting in the crowd. Of course,
Speaker 5: my family is decked out in Rams gear. I'm not
Speaker 5: going to pretend I'm totally unbiased in this situation. You're
Speaker 5: wearing literally Rams logo as we're doing this interview. Check
Speaker 5: us out on YouTube. You can see JB's you and
Speaker 5: some mug there. I think fans and I think there's
Speaker 5: something to this, are always relieved when there's a field
Speaker 5: goal attempt there. So in that situation, the way their
Speaker 5: defense was playing, I thought they should go for the
Speaker 5: touchdown because I just assumed they're gonna need a touchdown
Speaker 5: to win this game. One field goal is not going
Speaker 5: to be enough because the odds in my mind are,
Speaker 5: and I know this is a good Vikings defense, but
Speaker 5: the odds in my mind are that they're gonna need
Speaker 5: a touchdown at some point because the Rams are going
Speaker 5: to get at least a field goal back. We know
Speaker 5: that they ended up going on a touchdown drive, which was,
Speaker 5: you know, maybe the rams best touchdown drive of the season,
Speaker 5: and Let's get off the end of that game, because
Speaker 5: I feel it was a little beside the point.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Cooper Cup.
Speaker 5: Returning to the field, Puka Nakua surprisingly returning to the field,
Speaker 5: and this Rams offense kind of changing the feeling of
Speaker 5: this entire season in one night. And I want to
Speaker 5: take you back actually to a specific moment in the game.
Speaker 5: And it wasn't that touchdown drive. It wasn't any of
Speaker 5: the touchdown drives. It was about three thirty six, I believe,
Speaker 5: left to go third and nine. The Rams are trying
Speaker 5: to run out the clock, and you know what play
Speaker 5: I'm talking about, right, the deep pass three twenty six
Speaker 5: to go and in the stadium being able to see
Speaker 5: the angle on that throw that Matthew Stafford made to
Speaker 5: Cooper Cup for twenty seven yards to force the Vikings
Speaker 5: to take their third time out and then they got
Speaker 5: to kill more clock. When he let go of that ball,
Speaker 5: I'm thinking, that pass that's not there like that he
Speaker 5: was fitting it between a couple different defenders in zone coverage.
Speaker 3: That was absolute total.
Speaker 5: Trust between two guys who have played in the biggest
Speaker 5: of moments, and even in that moment, because Cup had
Speaker 5: kind of an up and down game. I would say,
Speaker 5: obviously made some big plays, I'm worried, and then to
Speaker 5: see Cup make the right angle for the ball, know
Speaker 5: what his quarterback is doing, come back for it, and
Speaker 5: all that trust that Stafford had to me, that was.
Speaker 5: That was such a big moment in the season and
Speaker 5: the game for the Rams. And I know a lot
Speaker 5: happened after that, but that was absolutely telling on a
Speaker 5: night where the Rams kind of looked like the Rams
Speaker 5: that we've seen from the last couple of years.
Speaker 6: Again, I'm just shaking my head at all the incredible
Speaker 6: moments that the Rosenthal family has witnessed for the Los
Speaker 6: Angeles Rams here at SOFI Stadium, and many of them
Speaker 6: have centered around the great receivers Pukinnakua and especially Cooper Cup.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong?
Speaker 3: No, you're not, You're not wrong. My daughter got to
Speaker 3: go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: She was solo, crazily enough with our friend, and you're
Speaker 5: absolutely right. I don't want to people are going to
Speaker 5: be annoyed how how freaking biased we are or sounding
Speaker 5: on this, because I am truly not a Rams scene,
Speaker 5: but that that was. I love seeing great football and
Speaker 5: that was a great moment and a night full of
Speaker 5: them for Stafford, and Cup had his moments too, but
Speaker 5: I just thought that was that was telling on a
Speaker 5: night where yeah, Cup makes a mental mistake a couple
Speaker 5: of plays later by going out of bounds, but it
Speaker 5: really stuck with me as as just an impressive play
Speaker 5: of trust and like something to build off on a
Speaker 5: night that we went into JB. Sorry to keep honking,
Speaker 5: but we went into people wondering like, is this Cooper
Speaker 5: Cup's last game as a Ram? And he catches that
Speaker 5: touchdown in the first half and he makes that plan
Speaker 5: and I'm thinking, there's no way it's his last game
Speaker 5: as La Ram.
Speaker 6: Well, here's why I think it's significant. We're not here
Speaker 6: to throw too many flowers on the still sub five
Speaker 6: hundred Los Angeles Rams, right, But what we are here,
Speaker 6: I think to highlight is the fact that the NFC
Speaker 6: West has a bunch of teams piled together with three
Speaker 6: or in the other three cases four losses, and so
Speaker 6: that division is still wide open. And if the Rams
Speaker 6: play like this, coming off the night where they put
Speaker 6: up a season high point total, a season high yards
Speaker 6: per play, their most explosive touchdown of the season, which
Speaker 6: is still.
Speaker 1: Moder Tood only twenty five yards.
Speaker 6: That changes the dynamic of the entire NFC playoff picture,
Speaker 6: whether you're talking about the wild card bubble or who's
Speaker 6: going to get a home playoff game coming out of
Speaker 6: the West. Now we're not through the month of October yet,
Speaker 6: but that's part of why this is significant is, Yes,
Speaker 6: there were trade rumors swirling, and we heard all of them.
Speaker 6: But the Rams get their key pieces back on offense,
Speaker 6: they all produce. It looks completely different. You pair it
Speaker 6: with an emerging defense that's now scored on that side
Speaker 6: of the football and put together a pretty good effort
Speaker 6: three games in a row. It shapes not just the
Speaker 6: course of the Rams season, but the entire NFC. And
Speaker 6: guess where the Rams go next after they put their
Speaker 6: feet up and watch red Zone all day Sunday, Right
Speaker 6: while the Seahawks host the Bills, while the forty nine
Speaker 6: ers host the Cowboys coming off of bye, while Arizona
Speaker 6: goes to Miami. The Rams get ready with this mini
Speaker 6: by to go take their first swing against the Seattle Seahawks.
Speaker 6: And that's right before the trade deadline.
Speaker 5: And if the Seahawks lose that game, their home underdogs
Speaker 5: to the Bills. They would be tied in the lost
Speaker 5: column with the forty nine ers and the Rams and
Speaker 5: the Cardinals, depending on if the Cardinals can pull off
Speaker 5: that game Sunday. So we're just starting this NFC West race.
Speaker 5: But I do think it took a win tonight to
Speaker 5: feel like the Rams were in it, because they were.
Speaker 5: They were a one in four team, and even that
Speaker 5: one felt like a little bit of a miracle, and
Speaker 5: they were competitive, but they didn't play particularly well last
Speaker 5: week against the Raiders. And you see in this game,
Speaker 5: pukin Akua comes out. They target him for the first
Speaker 5: couple plays of the game. He's absolutely explosive. He looks
Speaker 5: like the old Puka Akua. I know it was a
Speaker 5: very brief Week one appearance from him, but the little
Speaker 5: that we saw, that's right Walker Pukinica. That does rule
Speaker 5: tonight seven for one oh six in this game, and
Speaker 5: you're like, oh yeah, this team is totally different with
Speaker 5: Puka as the one and Cup as the two, which
Speaker 5: also sets up to Marcus Robinson, who I got to
Speaker 5: see from my view have single coverage on the outside
Speaker 5: all night long, and then he's suddenly the third or
Speaker 5: in fact, let's listen to a great call on Stafford's
Speaker 5: second touchdown, UH to DeMarcus Robinson by one JB.
Speaker 1: Long.
Speaker 5: You could try to do it live, JB. But we're
Speaker 5: actually going to listen to the recorded copy.
Speaker 2: Ready for a shotgun snap with three? Here it is
Speaker 2: Vikings bring three, Stafford will protect it. He drills one white.
Speaker 8: Side and soon cat DeMarcus Robinson with his second of
Speaker 8: the half. He flings it into the stands and Sean
Speaker 8: Mackhew Stafford because four.
Speaker 3: Tonight, great call there, JB.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 5: Figured that was the one we were going to lead
Speaker 5: the show with. But then then you know the safety happened.
Speaker 5: How are you doing energy wise here? Because you know
Speaker 5: I drove home through traffic. You've already done the postgame
Speaker 5: show right with with Sean McVay.
Speaker 3: Yes, and you did. He'd the call.
Speaker 5: They called you up two and so you didn't a
Speaker 5: Mark and Dan and so you've got to be tapped
Speaker 5: out right now.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm good.
Speaker 6: The adrenaline rush is still pretty sky high because I'm
Speaker 6: just so happy for these guys. Right, Like Matthew Stafford
Speaker 6: came in with three total touchdown passes through six games,
Speaker 6: like by far the lowest of his career, he was
Speaker 6: one of twelve I think on throws to the end
Speaker 6: zone coming into this game like it's just not been
Speaker 6: his year because of all the circumstances around him.
Speaker 1: But he's also that guy.
Speaker 6: That's capable and we've seen him do it of elevating
Speaker 6: the circumstances of the other ten in his huddle, and
Speaker 6: tonight for the first time, it felt right. It felt
Speaker 6: like the plan the Rams front office and coaching staff
Speaker 6: had drawn up for this season, which was to lead
Speaker 6: with the offense, because that's where all the investment is, right,
Speaker 6: that's where the all.
Speaker 1: The accomplishment is.
Speaker 6: So to see him use his mobility on and off
Speaker 6: platform tonight, to see him throw from all arm angles,
Speaker 6: had the one bad interception, but to throw for four touchdowns.
Speaker 6: And here's the other thing, to use all of his targets.
Speaker 1: Greg.
Speaker 6: You know from watching this team at times they can
Speaker 6: become too locked in on Cooper Cup almost spanning him
Speaker 6: with targets. What I loved about the Rams approach tonight
Speaker 6: is that they used all their eligibles. They platoon personnel packages,
Speaker 6: they used two and three tight end sets. Even though
Speaker 6: Cup and Nakua were back, they still used DeMarcus Robinson
Speaker 6: and Tyler Johnson in two two at well. I thought
Speaker 6: that was meaningful, and I think that's a big reason
Speaker 6: why Matthew Stafford was not sacked by the best defense
Speaker 6: in the National Football League, even though he's being peppered
Speaker 6: coming into this game at the second highest rate of
Speaker 6: his career. Like that is the most important takeaway from
Speaker 6: tonight is how well he clicked through his progressions and
Speaker 6: how well they protected him. And I can't help but
Speaker 6: think that Cup and Nakua impact that not just with
Speaker 6: their threats in the passing game, but because they're so
Speaker 6: productive in the running game, like Kiren goes for another
Speaker 6: touchdown and over one hundred from scrimmage. You watch some
Speaker 6: of the blocks that Pouka Nakua throws in that game.
Speaker 6: They've been dearly missing that for over a month now.
Speaker 5: Man, they really pulled fast one on everyone because Puka
Speaker 5: Nikoa was ready to go. No one thought he was
Speaker 5: playing this week. It just kind of came out of nowhere. Interesting,
Speaker 5: you know, they did a good job on that. I'll
Speaker 5: just put you're not saying that. I'm saying that that
Speaker 5: like usually you have a clue that that's coming the
Speaker 5: Vikings probably did not have a clue that that was coming,
Speaker 5: and he was a massive part of the game plan.
Speaker 5: And you're absolutely right you could see him being a
Speaker 5: factor in the running game. Kyrien Williams had a great
Speaker 5: day running for ninety seven yards on the ground. There
Speaker 5: was a particular play it actually set up that touchdown
Speaker 5: that we just heard. I thought it was an interesting
Speaker 5: call second in eleven. They'd run the ball a lot
Speaker 5: on that touchdown drive it wasn't working quite as well.
Speaker 5: They lose a yard on first down second and eleven.
Speaker 5: There's some groans up in the in the crowd here
Speaker 5: and I'm like, they're gonna run it again here, and
Speaker 5: they do, and Cooper Cup kind of gets, you know,
Speaker 5: does not have a great block, gets absolutely knocked over
Speaker 5: on the play, to the point where Kyron Williams has
Speaker 5: to use his incredible lateral agility to hop to the
Speaker 5: side of Cooper Cup to pick up seven yards and
Speaker 5: it puts them in a really favorable down and distance
Speaker 5: third and four. So that that was a little bit
Speaker 5: of everything. Kyron is such an underrated runner. Let's listen
Speaker 5: to McVeigh actually after the game talking about the journey
Speaker 5: ahead and just getting these guys back from this game.
Speaker 9: I'm excited about this journey ahead. And you know, we've
Speaker 9: learned a lot about people in these first seven weeks.
Speaker 9: We've had to go through a lot of different things
Speaker 9: relative to new faces playing that maybe we didn't expect.
Speaker 9: And then it's great to be able to get some
Speaker 9: of the cavalry back and I think we'll start to
Speaker 9: see that over the next couple of weeks. And we
Speaker 9: got to be able to hit the ground running and
Speaker 9: we got a great challenge, you know, next week.
Speaker 5: And while we're here, you had Sean McVay on, you know,
Speaker 5: your broadcast after the game.
Speaker 3: How was that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was elated.
Speaker 6: I mean he was happy for all the key individuals,
Speaker 6: some of which we've highlighted, and the fact that they
Speaker 6: finally put together a total team effort offense, defense and
Speaker 6: special team's mistake free. That's the result that they've been
Speaker 6: hunting up in the fashion that they've been wanting to execute.
Speaker 6: Here's a little context too. On his night, that's his
Speaker 6: eightieth career win okay, regular season, postseason combined with it,
Speaker 6: he goes past John Robinson for sole possession of the
Speaker 6: Rams wins record.
Speaker 1: Okay, Wow.
Speaker 6: He and John Madden are the only two men post
Speaker 6: merger to do that before their fortieth birthday. And speaking
Speaker 6: of birthdays, today is his son's Jordan's first birthday, all right,
Speaker 6: So for the rest of his life, he's going to
Speaker 6: be the winningest coach in Rams history. And he got
Speaker 6: the signature victory and I gotta have it moment on
Speaker 6: Thursday night football primetime against the Vikings at home.
Speaker 3: With the Madden Cruiser out front, by the way, I.
Speaker 1: Got some nice call bag, nice call for my.
Speaker 3: Son on the way back.
Speaker 5: That's crazy because you know the Rams, it's not like, oh,
Speaker 5: he's winning this coach since they moved back to LA
Speaker 5: or the version of LA if we're not counting Saint Louis.
Speaker 5: The Rams have been around for like seventy years or something.
Speaker 5: That's it's pretty amazing that that he has that mark.
Speaker 5: And uh yeah, congrats, congrats to Sean McVay there. I
Speaker 5: thought he had a really good night. You I'm glad
Speaker 5: you pointed out the pass protection because I left the
Speaker 5: game thinking, so the Rams won.
Speaker 3: You know, everyone's going to talk.
Speaker 5: About Cooper Cup and Pukunakua coming back with good reason.
Speaker 3: I just did.
Speaker 5: But They won in large part because they had great
Speaker 5: pass protection and they had really good run defense after
Speaker 5: the first quarter, like the Vikings were held I think
Speaker 5: under three yards per carry. Aaron Jones was at three
Speaker 5: point one, and you know Darnold had a couple scrambles
Speaker 5: for less, so they're under three yards per carry. That
Speaker 5: is not Those are the two things you thought were
Speaker 5: the worst about this Rams team. So I do think
Speaker 5: that's it's just one game. But I do think excelling
Speaker 5: at the things you've struggled the most at against equality, competition, equality,
Speaker 5: running games, certainly in equality. You know, pass rush is
Speaker 5: has to feel really good, and I think McVeigh has
Speaker 5: to feel like, man, I played a big role in this.
Speaker 5: You know, I don't know, he probably doesn't want to
Speaker 5: think like that. But early on in this game, I
Speaker 5: thought they had those quick hitters to Puka. They're rolling
Speaker 5: in those first two drives, running the ball and with Puka,
Speaker 5: and it really got Flores to back off all the
Speaker 5: crazy stuff that he does. And I thought they played
Speaker 5: kind of vanilla the rest of the game, like they
Speaker 5: blitzed a couple times, like they you know, they certainly
Speaker 5: showed some interesting formations, but mostly Stafford wasn't worrying about
Speaker 5: it when they did and would get rid of the.
Speaker 3: Ball quickly like that.
Speaker 5: The first Robinson touchdown was just like a quick, quick
Speaker 5: decision against pressure, and McVeigh and Stafford together kind of
Speaker 5: had all the right answers against a tough defense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm going to take it back to the defense
Speaker 6: if I can, because you highlight something there that I
Speaker 6: think is worth underscoring, which is the Rams did have
Speaker 6: one of their better nines. Like they give up two
Speaker 6: touchdowns on those first two drives, only six points the
Speaker 6: rest of the way, and they do it on a
Speaker 6: night where they put their green dot linebacker Troy Raider
Speaker 6: on injured reserve, Like that was the corresponding move to
Speaker 6: activate Pukinakua now Here in Los Angeles. The off ball
Speaker 6: linebacker play has, let's just say not, been the favorite
Speaker 6: portion of the program in the Rams season so far.
Speaker 6: Many fans have been clamoring for a change there. Omar States,
Speaker 6: an undrafted rookie linebacker steps into that fray. Jake Hummel,
Speaker 6: a backup stipe steps into that fray. But I think
Speaker 6: you really have to highlight the effort of Quinton Lake,
Speaker 6: who's a defensive captain and it's just made outrageous maybe
Speaker 6: potential game saving tackles. The last two games against the
Speaker 6: Raiders and now the Vikings here tonight, their improvement has
Speaker 6: been marked.
Speaker 1: They've scored on defense three straight games now.
Speaker 6: But I think the most important thing to highlight is
Speaker 6: in the post Aaron Donald universe, they are getting more
Speaker 6: pressure on opposing pockets than they did in the last
Speaker 6: two years of the Goats career.
Speaker 1: Like that cannot be overemphasized.
Speaker 6: That the plan they laid in place to prepare for
Speaker 6: post Aaron Donald rams, whether it drafting Kobe Turner and
Speaker 6: Byron Young more recently Jared Vers and Braden Fisk, like
Speaker 6: all those first and second year guys are delivering. And
Speaker 6: that's not a bad place to hang your hat moving
Speaker 6: forward for an inexperienced defense that's going to have some
Speaker 6: roller coaster moments, and having Darius Woman's back healthy, you know,
Speaker 6: sets that secondary right.
Speaker 1: He's their best worn in.
Speaker 5: It shows they don't need to be a shutdown defense.
Speaker 5: They haven't been for many stretches during the mcveighra They
Speaker 5: just need to be good enough and the offensive line
Speaker 5: and the offense needs to take them home, and they
Speaker 5: haven't been finishing plays, have been creating a lot of pressure,
Speaker 5: but not necessarily finishing getting enough stops. You know, tonight
Speaker 5: they finished some of those plays too. Jared Verse with
Speaker 5: the second half getting a couple of quarterback kids. Jared
Speaker 5: Versus is a really fun young player to watch. They
Speaker 5: really hit on one. He's so strong, and when Darisaw
Speaker 5: went out, I really felt for the Vikings because he's
Speaker 5: an All Pro caliber player, and they absolutely stonewalled the
Speaker 5: Rams in the first quarter. It definitely started changing the
Speaker 5: second quarter. So it wasn't all just darrisol leaving, but
Speaker 5: the second he left, they were almost, you know, fighting
Speaker 5: over who who got to go against you know, his backup.
Speaker 5: Quizenberry and Byron Young had some good snaps, but Jared
Speaker 5: Verse especially was getting pressure after pressure, hit after a hit,
Speaker 5: and just driving him back. And those are my kind
Speaker 5: of pass rushers, maybe not the fancy ones, but like
Speaker 5: the Jenevian Clowney types. When Clowney was at his best,
Speaker 5: who's just stronger than the guy you know across from him,
Speaker 5: and versus that guy, and he has such a motor.
Speaker 5: I was really keeping an eye on Verse all night
Speaker 5: and when he wasn't on the field. They just don't
Speaker 5: have as much juice like he is that important for them.
Speaker 5: If you're watching on YouTube, you can see how the
Speaker 5: lights go off because because JB hasn't moved. But I'm
Speaker 5: just gonna keep talking, which is pretty normal here on
Speaker 5: NFL Daily.
Speaker 3: You fixed it.
Speaker 6: Good job, dav good save. Yeah, the motion didn't do it.
Speaker 6: I had a hop up up and actually press the
Speaker 6: button again. We should be good for another fifteen minutes
Speaker 6: or so.
Speaker 5: All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be
Speaker 5: back in just a second. Let's knock a little viking.
Speaker 5: I'll circle back a little bit in a second. But
Speaker 5: you know, they start out this game getting two touchdowns
Speaker 5: in the first two drives. Donald has all the time
Speaker 5: in the world in the pocket. I kept writing down
Speaker 5: in my notes, you know, just pick. He could just
Speaker 5: pick whoever he wanted to. There was like two or
Speaker 5: three guys open on every play. And you haven't seen
Speaker 5: the coverage bus out of the rams the last couple
Speaker 5: of weeks that you saw early. But there were open
Speaker 5: receivers because they weren't getting pressure and everything is rolling,
Speaker 5: and justin Jefferson is starting out fast. He ends up
Speaker 5: with eight for one point fifteen. You know, what do
Speaker 5: you think it was that changed for them? And what
Speaker 5: they've done so well for most of this season is
Speaker 5: keeping Darnold mostly com I don't think he had a
Speaker 5: bad game tonight. It wasn't really on him. He didn't
Speaker 5: have the ball aton either in the second half. That
Speaker 5: was part of it.
Speaker 6: No, I was super impressed with Kevin O'Connell's script or
Speaker 6: dirty dozen or whatever it was to open that game,
Speaker 6: because they drove down the field twice, locked in and
Speaker 6: rightly so on justin Jefferson right, The Rams just played
Speaker 6: a Raiders team that traded away one of the best
Speaker 6: receivers in football, Devonte Adams before they came to so far,
Speaker 6: and then five days later, like literally the best receiver
Speaker 6: on the planet steps into your office and you got
Speaker 6: to contend with that, and you felt that difference, You
Speaker 6: felt that mismatch. But then when they got in those
Speaker 6: tight red areas, they went to their secondary right, they
Speaker 6: didn't throw the touchdown passes to Jefferson. They threw it
Speaker 6: to Josh Oliver and what trent sherfield right, like kind
Speaker 6: of the misdirection using the decoy of Jefferson it was
Speaker 6: a beautiful game plan, and Aaron Jones, you know, running
Speaker 6: pass continues to have a great season. There's a lot
Speaker 6: of a lot of good there. I'm sure Rams did
Speaker 6: make some adjustments in their secondary to try and take
Speaker 6: that first read away. But I think the subject that
Speaker 6: we just touched on the pressure and the discomfort in
Speaker 6: the pocket probably the biggest thing. By the way, just
Speaker 6: to circle back before that that field goal conversation we
Speaker 6: talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: They should have had a touchdown.
Speaker 6: Like Donold does well to duct the initial Russ attacks
Speaker 6: the line of scrimmage, hits I think Jalen Naylor over
Speaker 6: the middle, he just drops it. Otherwise that's a touchdown.
Speaker 6: It's a completely different game. I think that was one
Speaker 6: of the pivot points, a missed opportunity there for the
Speaker 6: Vikings to get their third touchdown.
Speaker 3: See that's what live.
Speaker 5: I should have watched the replay on the big Jumbo
Speaker 5: John because I did not realize that was a drop tho.
Speaker 5: That was like a good defensive player.
Speaker 3: It was just tight there.
Speaker 5: See this is why I want to listen to more
Speaker 5: JB Long calls. But I just feel like this is
Speaker 5: the ultimate, you know, radio play by play on radio
Speaker 5: play by play, rivalry matchup, maybe a revenge game.
Speaker 3: JB. Long I don't know. After he came in second
Speaker 3: last year on the Calls of the Year.
Speaker 5: Now it wasn't too Paul Allen, but Paul Allen has
Speaker 5: probably won it before and as an annual contender. So
Speaker 5: let's listen to Paul Allen's call of Justin Jefferson's crazy
Speaker 5: catch down the sideline in the second half.
Speaker 2: Darnold thirteen of sixteen one forty six and two. He's
Speaker 2: out of the shotgun on first down, puts Josh Oliver
Speaker 2: in motion to the right, Sam back to.
Speaker 3: Pass Pate left at about the ten. It's Paul, hold,
Speaker 3: are you kidding me? Can by just are you.
Speaker 10: Just saying hit the fuve yard line?
Speaker 7: Pease?
Speaker 4: Putting on a show right.
Speaker 3: Next to the Holy One. That was a good call.
Speaker 3: Put that on the Calls of the Year list. I
Speaker 3: like that a lot.
Speaker 5: Paul Allen and Pete Bursus, here's what you need to
Speaker 5: take you over the top, Taby. You need MJD to
Speaker 5: start yelling out in the middle of the play. Oh
Speaker 5: he's got it, you know, I can't believe that sort
Speaker 5: of stuff. We need that you know, we need the
Speaker 5: more homerism from MGD.
Speaker 6: Poor MJD was so jet coming back from London on Sunday.
Speaker 6: I think he was only half there. He brought it
Speaker 6: with full force tonight and it was great. I love
Speaker 6: Paul Allen. What's cool about that play is it was
Speaker 6: coming right to us.
Speaker 11: Right.
Speaker 6: We're kind of situated back left pylon, North End Zona
Speaker 6: Sofi Stadium, and I was chatting with Paul Prie game
Speaker 6: and he was showing me the big binoculars that he
Speaker 6: uses to call the game and howl the balls in
Speaker 6: the air.
Speaker 1: He'll kind of move the spot to find the target.
Speaker 6: And I would love to know how that one looked
Speaker 6: from his vantage point, because it was so close to
Speaker 6: him that he probably didn't even need the binoculars. But man,
Speaker 6: what a joy he is to listen to. And I
Speaker 6: know he's just real with every moment he gets to have.
Speaker 6: Justin Jefferson wearing purple.
Speaker 3: Well, he's not thrilled tonight.
Speaker 5: This Vikings team, some of their fans, I mean, they
Speaker 5: were way more down on Darnold locally, like some of
Speaker 5: the fans after the last couple of weeks than you
Speaker 5: would have expected. Now, I did think he played pretty
Speaker 5: poorly two straight weeks, including the Jets game in London.
Speaker 5: But I thought he played well last night, I mean tonight,
Speaker 5: and then I thought he played well last week. That
Speaker 5: loss against the Lions was not on him. Although that
Speaker 5: makes me think of what Colleen was saying on our
Speaker 5: preview show on Tuesday talking about this game the Lion.
Speaker 5: The post playing the Lions phenomenon is real. You play
Speaker 5: the Lions, you lose the following week. Every single week,
Speaker 5: and a lot of them are are games where the
Speaker 5: team was favored. I maybe do think there is something
Speaker 5: to that that it's such a physical team going up
Speaker 5: against the Lions, and it's a mental challenge too, that
Speaker 5: there maybe is a little bit of a physical and
Speaker 5: mental letdown. Of course, in this case, they're also going
Speaker 5: on the road on a Thursday night, which is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, on the road on a short week.
Speaker 6: Maybe the Lions are like the Service Academy of the
Speaker 6: National Football League. You know in college football, when you
Speaker 6: have to play a triple option team and you pour
Speaker 6: into that it's completely different than your normal game plan
Speaker 6: and you can get over the hum great, but then
Speaker 6: it's often the team you play next that beats you.
Speaker 1: Because you're all banged up and exhausted.
Speaker 5: So it's been the case with the forty nine Ers
Speaker 5: in recent years, and I thought there is something to
Speaker 5: that because they are the biggest, most physical team in
Speaker 5: the league. And so yeah, the Vikings now at five
Speaker 5: and two in the NFC North, which is the best
Speaker 5: division in football. It's crazy, and they have the win
Speaker 5: over the Packers, but the Packers will have the extra
Speaker 5: game on them, and it's like, yeah, they could be
Speaker 5: in fourth, third place by the end of the weekend,
Speaker 5: TI tied for last place. Actually, if the Bears win
Speaker 5: this game. It is something that division. It is such
Speaker 5: a different scenario than the Rams, where like, if you're
Speaker 5: the Vikings and all these teams, you're going to be
Speaker 5: playing on the road in the playoffs unless you can
Speaker 5: somehow go ahead and find a way to win. And
Speaker 5: the Rams, you know, through nothing they've done at three
Speaker 5: and four, are almost in just as good a spot
Speaker 5: to try to win their division.
Speaker 6: Obviously tough division, and they're just starting, just starting to
Speaker 6: play each other. I mean, you probably remember when all
Speaker 6: those you know, records were being said. You know, all
Speaker 6: these teams with only one loss and the point differentials
Speaker 6: like Okay, but they've only played headhead once and they
Speaker 6: very well may be the best division in the football.
Speaker 6: But now they're going to start to have to face
Speaker 6: each other. But the sensitivity about the quarterback is real.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 6: It's a tough division to play and to compete in.
Speaker 6: It's a tough division to be a quarterback game when
Speaker 6: you're looking around at your peers and it's an ascending
Speaker 6: Caleb the number one pick, Jared Goff playing at an
Speaker 6: MVP level in Jordan Love, that's tough company.
Speaker 5: Now, I'm not going to let Donald totally off the
Speaker 5: hook here because, Okay, the sack, you know, probably should
Speaker 5: have been a face master or should have been a
Speaker 5: face mask. But he did hold the ball too long
Speaker 5: on that play. That's it, a big spot. That wasn't
Speaker 5: that quick of pressure. And then the sack that he
Speaker 5: took that verse got the half sack. I forget who
Speaker 5: got the other half there? Who finished off the play
Speaker 5: where Sam Donald holds the ball a long time on
Speaker 5: the play and then runs absolutely straight backwards. Again, if
Speaker 5: you're watching on YouTube, you can see JB. Long holding
Speaker 5: up his detailed notes what is it for this?
Speaker 1: This is my call sheet?
Speaker 6: And One of the notes that I had from next
Speaker 6: Gen was that Donald has stayed in the pocket for
Speaker 6: three point zero seven seconds on average this season, longer
Speaker 6: than any other quarterback. Yeah, and also a handful of
Speaker 6: fumbles where I think some opposing defenses, especially guard to
Speaker 6: guard have been able to get pressure on him and
Speaker 6: tee off on him. And those those turnovers I guess
Speaker 6: are piling up now.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and he's always taken too many sacks. And yeah,
Speaker 5: that was Michael Hoyt who had the other half sack
Speaker 5: on that plane. Those were two negative plays. There weren't
Speaker 5: a ton. I do not think that that was his problem.
Speaker 5: And actually Stafford and Darnold, because they're showing the next
Speaker 5: Sten stats at the stadium, we're getting rid of the
Speaker 5: ball quite quickly for most of the game.
Speaker 3: It was. It was more towards the end that he
Speaker 3: held on to it.
Speaker 1: Can I before I lose the thread? Can I add
Speaker 1: one more thing?
Speaker 4: T J.
Speaker 6: Hockinson being an active pregame was almost as good a
Speaker 6: news as pookin Nakua being active for the Rams. Like
Speaker 6: I think when Hawkinson gets back in there, that has
Speaker 6: the potential to do for the Vikings offensively. What Cup
Speaker 6: and Nakua did for the Rams offensively tonight, Like he's
Speaker 6: just such a huge asset, and the Rams have had
Speaker 6: difficult times with opposing tight ends, including rock Powers most recently.
Speaker 6: I don't think you can overstate just how big of
Speaker 6: a scratch that was for Hawkinson not quite ready to
Speaker 6: rejoin the Vikings offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good call.
Speaker 5: And the expectation because they are going to have to
Speaker 5: activate him by rule I believe on Friday, is that
Speaker 5: he will play next week.
Speaker 3: That he was close to playing this week.
Speaker 5: And maybe they're wondering who Maybe we shouldn't have been safe,
Speaker 5: but I give I give them a credit for you know,
Speaker 5: it's a long season we've seen with the Rams, for instance,
Speaker 5: like making sure that Pooka is all the way back
Speaker 5: before getting him out there.
Speaker 3: It was absolutely huge.
Speaker 5: Speaking of Puka, let's as we listen to McVeigh talking
Speaker 5: Puka after the game.
Speaker 9: This guy's mindset, his mentality, he's a war daddy, he's
Speaker 9: a stud I got you know. I love his play,
Speaker 9: energy and what he brings. He was ready to go
Speaker 9: tonight and he made a big impact on the game.
Speaker 3: Ward daddy, what does that mean?
Speaker 6: Warded on the hierarchy of Sean McVay compliments, that's either
Speaker 6: one or one A right next to he's a G.
Speaker 6: When Sean McVay says he's a G or he's a
Speaker 6: ward dad, that is the utmost praise.
Speaker 3: What about sixty percent G? Is that like? That's I
Speaker 3: guess that's not all the way there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I would love to hear him call you that.
Speaker 6: I don't know that that's made his way into Sean's repertoire,
Speaker 6: but that is a great little inside nod the two
Speaker 6: of us.
Speaker 5: No, I don't believe he's aware of me, although he did.
Speaker 5: He always did the trick where he would remember Dan
Speaker 5: Mark and I's name and Chris's name when we would
Speaker 5: interview him a couple of times early on.
Speaker 3: So so I still don't think he would be aware
Speaker 3: of me.
Speaker 5: All right, before, before we let you go, I'm going
Speaker 5: to make you feel uncomfortable and make you listen to
Speaker 5: one more of your calls at least, I really maybe
Speaker 5: we'll bring in Eric here. We have the first Robinson touchdown,
Speaker 5: which was I think the throw of the night in
Speaker 5: the Play of the Night really important. I think DeMarcus
Speaker 5: Robinson comes back for the long touchdown. We also have
Speaker 5: the Cooper Cup touchdown where where Stafford ducks below the defender.
Speaker 3: They're both good, but Eric.
Speaker 6: Oh, I gotta tell you go for the cup one.
Speaker 6: If for no other reason, then I know you're a
Speaker 6: tennis guy.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 6: And Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford both enjoyed tennis, actually
Speaker 6: played tennis together in the offseason, and McVeigh told me
Speaker 6: afterwards that that Stafford looked like a Carlos al Karatz,
Speaker 6: you know, dodging the rush there.
Speaker 5: Okay, Eric, I brought you in, but I guess JP
Speaker 5: has made the choice for you.
Speaker 2: I like.
Speaker 5: I like the Dodgers jersey you have on here, of course,
Speaker 5: representing the hometown team, you know, heading into the World Series.
Speaker 5: I did think it was cool the final minute of
Speaker 5: the game they just had on the huge you know,
Speaker 5: JumboTron over everyone good luck in the World Series.
Speaker 11: Al did butcher it a little bit, but we did
Speaker 11: get the obligatory Clayton Kershaw and Matthew Stafford were nice
Speaker 11: called him Curtis Clayshaw on the broadcast, so that did
Speaker 11: get brought up on the game. But yeah, big sports
Speaker 11: weekend LA.
Speaker 3: So here close up all right here. Let's listen.
Speaker 2: Stafford has a snap four man rush. Pressure in his face,
Speaker 2: goes out the left side ducks the rush. Look to the.
Speaker 10: Cut cut cooker cup from Matthew Stafford Prime Time edition
Speaker 10: of nine and Time.
Speaker 3: Ah, that's good stuff that.
Speaker 1: Your audience has definitely quit on us, Greg, what.
Speaker 3: Everyone's listening? You know?
Speaker 5: Actually I heard I've had some of the you know,
Speaker 5: I had the the Saints block party guys on.
Speaker 3: I've heard from people it's like.
Speaker 5: You should have more of just like the local people
Speaker 5: on after these Thursday night games.
Speaker 3: It's great.
Speaker 5: You really get the inside, you get the emotion, you
Speaker 5: get the feeling. And yeah, there were some emotions when
Speaker 5: that when that touchdown happened, that was the kids started
Speaker 5: going crazy. At that point. That was where I think
Speaker 5: they started to believe Ellis is. Ellis always believes, she
Speaker 5: is a true believer. She's thought they're good, she always
Speaker 5: thinks they're gonna win the Super Bowl. But they are
Speaker 5: sometimes critical of Stafford and they were like, oh, he
Speaker 5: finally didn't just like fall over, you know, when he's
Speaker 5: getting sacked. I'm like, look, he's he's thirty six years old.
Speaker 5: They're thirty five years old. He's pretty athletic getting out
Speaker 5: out of the way. You know, they think he should evade,
Speaker 5: you know, more defenders. But that was they made Ellis
Speaker 5: proud there.
Speaker 3: He made it proud.
Speaker 1: Well good.
Speaker 6: I'm glad they can rest easy tonight and the best
Speaker 6: of Matthew Stafford is surely still to come.
Speaker 3: Okay, I like that. Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think I never bought the Stafford in season trade rumors,
Speaker 5: which weren't even really rumors. They were just like random
Speaker 5: people throwing stuff out there. There was no reporting behind that.
Speaker 5: Never really bought that. I think the Cup situation was
Speaker 5: different because, look, we've reported at NFL Network that they
Speaker 5: were listening, that they were open to it, Jordan Rodrigue
Speaker 5: at The Athletic, who obviously does a great job on
Speaker 5: our show to report it as well, so it wasn't
Speaker 5: just coming out of nowhere. I think a night like
Speaker 5: tonight really confuses that. And not like he was out
Speaker 5: there looking insanely athletic, but just that he has more
Speaker 5: value ultimately to the Rams, I think, than he's going
Speaker 5: to have to any other team. And if you're trying
Speaker 5: to make the playoff and go making a run, you're
Speaker 5: gonna want to do it. You're gonna do it. Want
Speaker 5: to do it with nine and ten? Like you're gonna
Speaker 5: do it with both of them. It kind of be
Speaker 5: crazy not to am I wrong.
Speaker 1: It's an elite partnership.
Speaker 6: And I'm not a big counting stats guy in this
Speaker 6: era of quarterbacking, but the fact that he goes past
Speaker 6: Marino for ninth on the all time list for completions
Speaker 6: tonight is significant. That was called out by McVeigh, who
Speaker 6: actually gave Matthew the game ball in the postgame locker room,
Speaker 6: and Matthew turned around and gave it right back to
Speaker 6: the all time winning its head coach of the Lost Angeles.
Speaker 3: Oh good, good nugget love that before we go.
Speaker 5: And by the way, it's it is kind of crazy
Speaker 5: because Cup Cup has a hold on this audience. Todd
Speaker 5: Gurley was there tonight. It kind of reminds me of
Speaker 5: Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley was just such a fan favorite.
Speaker 5: And you know when they had him on the jumbo tron,
Speaker 5: they show all the number thirties for Todd Gurley all
Speaker 5: around the stadium and there's a ton of ton of
Speaker 5: them and you just see so many cups like you
Speaker 5: see more cups than Staffords now in you he's been
Speaker 5: here longer so and I get it, but it's just
Speaker 5: he has that connection, so I think that that is
Speaker 5: part of it too. I'm gonna make like the dumbest, smallest,
Speaker 5: totally not relevant to what we've been talking about point
Speaker 5: to end here just because it annoys me. And I
Speaker 5: just am so sick of Sean McVay and Kevin O'Connell's
Speaker 5: attitude towards the kickoff and the touchback rule is not working.
Speaker 5: I get it, like with some coaches it's not working.
Speaker 5: It's worth it with coaches that actually want to compete
Speaker 5: and like want to try to improve their field position,
Speaker 5: because when you do kick it off and it doesn't
Speaker 5: go into the end zone, they're actually averaging like four
Speaker 5: yards better field position. So basically these coaches are deciding, like,
Speaker 5: we can't compete, we can't coach that up well enough,
Speaker 5: so we're gonna give up those extra four yards. But
Speaker 5: I'm especially annoyed about it having been at the stadium
Speaker 5: because other stadiums do this too. But you know, the
Speaker 5: Rams have their own version where it's it's the Rampede.
Speaker 5: It's like, get everyone super juiced up before the the
Speaker 5: you know, the game's arts, and there's you know, crazy
Speaker 5: rams with like you know, glowing eyes, and then there's
Speaker 5: you know, the lady on the guitar who's going crazy
Speaker 5: rita whatever it is, like ripping her guitar, and the
Speaker 5: whole stadium is screaming like crazy, and then there's like
Speaker 5: a touchback.
Speaker 3: And then we just like wait a minute, and it's
Speaker 3: just like a.
Speaker 5: Bad product, Like this is an entertainment product, and so
Speaker 5: it's just stupid. The whole thing's stupid. We should do
Speaker 5: it after the touchback. Actually we should do. Tell Kevin
Speaker 5: Demoff or whoever is making these decisions, JB, if you
Speaker 5: can talk to do Rampede after the touchback, because Sean
Speaker 5: McVay has decided I'm giving up on that particular portion
Speaker 5: of football, like I'm not going to compete at that.
Speaker 6: That's by ramp You can step off the soapbox. That
Speaker 6: was well done and listen for anyone who's still with us.
Speaker 6: If you survived three of my in game calls tonight
Speaker 6: and you were blessed to hear the brilliant future Hall
Speaker 6: of Famer Paul Allen, and you made it all the
Speaker 6: way to that pearl of wisdom from Ray Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: Hit us up tomorrow morning. Let it snow. I'll retweet you.
Speaker 5: I I think you're gonna You're gonna get a lot
Speaker 5: of people, and I think people agree with me. It's stupid,
Speaker 5: like this should be a great and there is something
Speaker 5: I would love to ask, like a poorly worded question
Speaker 5: to one of these coaches, like like that, because to me,
Speaker 5: actually there is a level of what they talk about,
Speaker 5: like competing and getting better and this and that, and
Speaker 5: they're just like there is some something that strikes me.
Speaker 5: It's like they've decided not to compete, because tonight these
Speaker 5: are two coaches that just decided like we're not even
Speaker 5: gonna mess with that. We were just gonna give up
Speaker 5: the field position.
Speaker 3: So okay, i'll stop.
Speaker 6: Mcveigh's on the competition committee. Maybe you'll have a say
Speaker 6: about it in the future, perhaps as soon as this offseason.
Speaker 3: That's a good call.
Speaker 5: I mean, they'll probably move it to the to the
Speaker 5: thirty five coming out to just make the coaches do it.
Speaker 3: JB.
Speaker 5: Long, We've kept you long enough a long night at
Speaker 5: Sofi Stadium, but the traffic is gone now you can
Speaker 5: get out nice and smooth at this point.
Speaker 6: I mean, the automated lights haven't even gone off for
Speaker 6: the second time, so I feel like you were well
Speaker 6: within your allotted time.
Speaker 1: Greg.
Speaker 5: It was It was an absolute pleasure. It was a
Speaker 5: fun day at the stadium. It was a fun day.
Speaker 5: I actually pre taped our pick show, so you will
Speaker 5: hear that on Friday with Cynthia Friedelan. I'll give all
Speaker 5: my Week eight picks. And there was some drama. Someone
Speaker 5: from my family, maybe multiple members, were escorted out of
Speaker 5: the building. You're gonna have to listen on Friday to
Speaker 5: find out who, how and why. And Yeah, when the
Speaker 5: Rosenthals are getting kicked out of NFL media, you know
Speaker 5: football is back.