Speaker 1: From the thirty nine of LA Third Down and eight
Speaker 1: Rams on defense protecting a touchdown, leave Donald against the rush.
Speaker 1: What's coming?
Speaker 2: Please hit scoop, scoop up, Jennifers, tell the right sideline
Speaker 2: with lockers turn.
Speaker 3: Five tunning time.
Speaker 2: The defensive rookie of the year with a scoop stretch
Speaker 2: store on wild Card weekend and it's a Callum winnerspoon
Speaker 2: to Jarrett Loose.
Speaker 3: Are our friends JB Log and MJB with the great
Speaker 3: call of the great Jared Verse. No one was catching him.
Speaker 3: I mean, what was his forty time? My god gets
Speaker 3: into the end zone for a scoop and score on
Speaker 3: a night when the Rams defense had Sam Donald seeing ghosts.
Speaker 3: The Rams win twenty seven to nine to cap wild
Speaker 3: Card Weekend in a crazy game in Glendale, Arizona. I'm
Speaker 3: here back in Los Angeles. It's not as smoky as
Speaker 3: it was a couple of nights ago, Nick shook, And
Speaker 3: for that we have a lot of thanks to give
Speaker 3: and a lot of Rams fans around the Southland, around
Speaker 3: Los Angeles, and the ones who got up early this
Speaker 3: morning to take all those buses that were going from
Speaker 3: Sofi to bring them to Glendale are happy tonight because
Speaker 3: it was over after that touchdown. It was a party
Speaker 3: for this Rams defense.
Speaker 4: What a night, Yeah, one to night, indeed one night
Speaker 4: for less sneed it drafted Jared Verse, Braden Fisk making
Speaker 4: a play, that defensive front that he rebuilt after the
Speaker 4: departure of Aaron Donald coming through in a defense that
Speaker 4: just played phenomenally and absolutely shut down the explosive Vikings
Speaker 4: and really made quite a statement with this win. That
Speaker 4: Verse fumble recovery in return for a touchdown, It made
Speaker 4: it what seventeen to three. It felt like the final
Speaker 4: blow right then and there, like they were never going
Speaker 4: to recover from that. That was how good of a
Speaker 4: game they played defensively, and what a resounding win for
Speaker 4: these Rams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was another rough one for Sam Donald and
Speaker 3: we'll get into that, but the defensive performance was amazing
Speaker 3: and the way the Rams offense came out to start
Speaker 3: this game and set the tone with a touchdown drive
Speaker 3: just like they did against the Vikings the first time
Speaker 3: route in so far, and then get another score to
Speaker 3: go up two scores, ten to nothing in the blink
Speaker 3: of an eye. And Sam Donald wasn't really ready for it,
Speaker 3: wasn't ready for that moment, and before we get into
Speaker 3: the whys of it all, I do think about everything
Speaker 3: that's happened this week here and we've chronicled it on
Speaker 3: NFL Daily some and I think about this Rams team, who,
Speaker 3: one year after the pandemic, when people are just getting
Speaker 3: back to normal and you're just getting used to sofis
Speaker 3: even being a thing that fans can go to, they
Speaker 3: win a Super Bowl title and kind of stamp themselves,
Speaker 3: you know, this city's football team in a way that
Speaker 3: I don't think they had been since they had returned
Speaker 3: from Saint Louis. And fast forward to now, but both
Speaker 3: them and the Chargers are in the playoffs this year,
Speaker 3: but they get affected, their practice gets affected. Last week
Speaker 3: they go to Glendale and it's this season where they
Speaker 3: were one and four and they make it to the playoffs,
Speaker 3: and you don't know how many more years Stafford and
Speaker 3: McVay are going to have together. And this is actually
Speaker 3: their first win since that Super Bowl title. And I
Speaker 3: do think about NFL seasons. Not everyone can win the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl, and it's going to be disappointing whenever this
Speaker 3: Rams season ends for them unless they win it. And
Speaker 3: yet sometimes I do think one win can make it
Speaker 3: all worth it. And maybe that can be a regular
Speaker 3: season win, but usually it's a playoff win. And even
Speaker 3: if the road ends in Philadelphia, I really do think
Speaker 3: this is a win in that Rams fans will treasure
Speaker 3: and remember forever, and Stafford will as well when they're
Speaker 3: thinking about it in twenty years, even if they don't
Speaker 3: go on that, Hey, we got another one a few
Speaker 3: years after that Super Bowl and it was that week
Speaker 3: and when we faced a lot of challenges, and we
Speaker 3: faced challenges that season, and it kind of showed what
Speaker 3: they were all about as this next generation of like
Speaker 3: Rams young players.
Speaker 4: You know, go on, Yeah, they're gonna be sitting around
Speaker 4: the Thanksgiving table or just the dinner table, or maybe
Speaker 4: a reunion of old teammates years from now, and think
Speaker 4: back to you remember that time we had to go
Speaker 4: out to Glendale because you know, there were wildfires around
Speaker 4: and we couldn't practice and we couldn't play in our
Speaker 4: home stadium when we had earned the right to host
Speaker 4: a playoff game. Remember how the Cardinals organization bent over
Speaker 4: backward to make sure that it felt as close to
Speaker 4: home as it could be. They got the same color
Speaker 4: paint to paint the field that we would use and
Speaker 4: everything else. Remember all those fans who came out to
Speaker 4: Arizona to support us, and then we went out and
Speaker 4: played inspired football. That was the thing that really stood
Speaker 4: out to me from the opening drive. The Rams played
Speaker 4: with the purpose that exceeded the playoffs. This was about
Speaker 4: more than just when a playoff game that was a
Speaker 4: home game away from home. This is about playing for
Speaker 4: the entire city, in the entire Los Angeles area, and
Speaker 4: they represented them so well. And there's no way, considering
Speaker 4: all that has happened that people won't look back on
Speaker 4: this five, ten, fifteen, twenty years from now. I mean
Speaker 4: I still hear about the games from the eighties in
Speaker 4: Cleveland with the Browns, right, nothing like this. It was
Speaker 4: nothing like this.
Speaker 3: This is gonna be we Well, those are pretty great.
Speaker 3: Those are pretty great times.
Speaker 4: Too, and a mid tragedy.
Speaker 3: No, Yes, Rams fans are hopeful that they don't go
Speaker 3: in such a dry spell that those kind of games
Speaker 3: stand out as much. But yeah, this one won't be forgotten.
Speaker 3: And I'm glad you mentioned the energy. That's really a
Speaker 3: smart way to think about it. Because the Vikings are
Speaker 3: coming off a disappointing loss. They had to play last
Speaker 3: week Sunday Night football. Rams got to rest their starters,
Speaker 3: and the Rams came out and just yanked this thing
Speaker 3: from them right away. First drive of the game, Vikings blitzed.
Speaker 3: Guess guess what their blitz percentage was on the first
Speaker 3: drive of the game.
Speaker 4: It was one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: It was one hundred percent every single play. Hey, And
Speaker 3: you know how many times they pressured Matthew Stafford one
Speaker 3: one time and I just thought Stafford and McVeigh the combination.
Speaker 3: It's like they knew what was coming, and he got
Speaker 3: rid of the ball so quickly. Puko with a huge
Speaker 3: gainer on the first play. Basically every play was successful.
Speaker 3: Tyler Higbee had a bunch of them and it was easy.
Speaker 3: And then you think about the first defensive drive, first
Speaker 3: play on defense Byron Young, tackle for loss, next play
Speaker 3: Byron Young sack I believe him and Kobe Turner. And
Speaker 3: then the third down play actually stands out to me
Speaker 3: where Donald just dumps it off to pick up like
Speaker 3: seven or eight yards on a third and fifteen and
Speaker 3: literally five guys tackled the ball carrier at the same time,
Speaker 3: and you're like, oh man, this team is swarming and
Speaker 3: the second half. The offense didn't need to do much,
Speaker 3: and they didn't do much, but it didn't matter because
Speaker 3: the defense kept it going the whole time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a phenomenal defensive game plan from the beginning.
Speaker 4: You know, there was a comparison between Manon's own coverage
Speaker 4: and Darnaldon struggled significantly against man coverage. He didn't know
Speaker 4: where to go. The picture was complicated to him. He
Speaker 4: was hesitant, and they feasted on it. And what really
Speaker 4: stood out to me in the way that they got
Speaker 4: after him was the number of different guys that got involved.
Speaker 4: Eight different rams contributed to either at least a half sack,
Speaker 4: if not more. Over the course of this game, a
Speaker 4: number of different guys getting pressures, and two of those
Speaker 4: sacks came from defensive backs. The one on the strip
Speaker 4: sack that led to the Jared Verse fumble recovery in
Speaker 4: return for a touchdown, that was a Kello Witherspoon coming
Speaker 4: off the edge and he just realized, oh wait, Darnold's
Speaker 4: holding onto the ball. I'm here, forget my assignment. Maybe
Speaker 4: this tight end leaking out. I'm going after him, and
Speaker 4: he capitalized. They were playing with their hair on Fire.
Speaker 4: They were playing with intent that again exceeded the limitations
Speaker 4: or the expectations of a playoff football game. That's just
Speaker 4: what was so impressive about this game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's listen to that first touchdown to Kyron Williams
Speaker 3: from Stafford from a.
Speaker 1: Loaded set with the coup of the only receiver they'll
Speaker 1: play fait boot out to the left side, Matthew flicked
Speaker 1: his hip. Fire's middle play.
Speaker 5: Tail back Carmen.
Speaker 2: Williams, touchdown Laane seven plays, seventy yards. The Rams strike
Speaker 2: first on this wild card Monday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was such a great play call because the
Speaker 3: initial read as he's rolling out is taken away. But
Speaker 3: they have Kyra and Williams, who's become a great player
Speaker 3: in the passing game open and Stafford still looking yanky.
Speaker 3: He can still flip those hips and he was sharp
Speaker 3: as hell in the first half. He was fine in
Speaker 3: the second. They just they played pretty conservative. But he
Speaker 3: ends up nineteen for twenty seven two hundred and what
Speaker 3: did he end up with nine yards and a couple
Speaker 3: of touchdowns? You know, passer rating over one eleven. What
Speaker 3: did you think in general? I guess of Stafford and
Speaker 3: the offensive performance one section and you could talk about this.
Speaker 3: To me, that stood out was the last two minute
Speaker 3: drive after they got the ball late in the first step.
Speaker 3: We can say that it ended at seventeen three, and
Speaker 3: yet it really felt over after that drive.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Stafford came into this game with only one passing
Speaker 4: touchdown since week fifteen. That was after a run where
Speaker 4: he posted a ten to zero touchdown interception ratio over
Speaker 4: the previously Believe it was the last three or four
Speaker 4: games people were worried about him. He was averaging one
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty three passing yards per game over those
Speaker 4: last three games. Coming into Monday night, he looked like
Speaker 4: the guy we expected to see two years ago, not
Speaker 4: the guy that we expect to see after the last
Speaker 4: three weeks. He was sharp, he was dialed. He was
Speaker 4: completely in sync with Sean mcvay's game plan. They executed
Speaker 4: that nearly flawlessly, that opening drive. But you're right, that
Speaker 4: last two minute drive was the one that really stood
Speaker 4: out to me too, because of how he played with
Speaker 4: so much conviction. Even the touchdown pass that he throws,
Speaker 4: he drops back, plants his foot boom bullet to his
Speaker 4: tight end, tight end runs it in for a touchdown.
Speaker 4: Made it look easy because this is a guy who's
Speaker 4: been there before and he still trusts his physical tools
Speaker 4: and when the play design is working for him and
Speaker 4: he understands where to go, Like even on that Kiraen
Speaker 4: Williams throw the flow is to the left, and yet
Speaker 4: he finds a way to throw it back toward the
Speaker 4: inside where Hiren finds the soft spot in the zone
Speaker 4: to score the touchdown. They were just completely in sync
Speaker 4: throughout that entire first half, and I thought that reminded
Speaker 4: me that, Hey, a lot of people are ready to
Speaker 4: close the curtain on the Matt stafford era in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Not so fast. Okay, it's still ball, and he played
Speaker 4: really well in this first half.
Speaker 3: I know it would be really hard to replace him,
Speaker 3: and we'll see because he has these highs and sometimes
Speaker 3: the game does come down to the quarterbacks. And the
Speaker 3: difference tonight was so stark, and I think the end
Speaker 3: of the first half sequence really spells that out. Koc
Speaker 3: decides to go for it on fourth and two at
Speaker 3: the fifty with a couple minutes left to go. Actually
Speaker 3: it was one thirty two left to go in the
Speaker 3: first half. Now earlier in the first half, he decided
Speaker 3: to take a field goal on a fourth and two
Speaker 3: inside the red zone. I didn't hate that decision at
Speaker 3: the time, because it just didn't feel like that Vikings
Speaker 3: were executing well enough to have confidence that they're going
Speaker 3: to make the fourth and two, that Donald would take
Speaker 3: a sack or something. But he decides to roll the
Speaker 3: dice a little bit at the fifty, kind of call
Speaker 3: his shot right there where if we don't pick this up,
Speaker 3: we're gonna go down three scores. But let's show some
Speaker 3: confidence in Donald. And what does he do. He holds
Speaker 3: onto the ball for like six seconds and he takes
Speaker 3: an eleven yard sack and then Stafford gets the ball.
Speaker 3: It takes a few plays to get going, but he
Speaker 3: hits Pooka on a play that probably ended with what
Speaker 3: about thirty five seconds to go, And I'm thinking they're
Speaker 3: going to take a time out there, and they don't,
Speaker 3: and they decide not to. And it was really a
Speaker 3: veteran move. First of all, they had enough time to
Speaker 3: run a handful of plays left. But more than anything,
Speaker 3: with the way Flores runs defense, they're a good hurry
Speaker 3: up offense and they can mix in tempo really well,
Speaker 3: and they did that tonight. Especially earlier in the game,
Speaker 3: and they hurry up up on the ball and they
Speaker 3: snap it quick like before ESPN gets out of their replay, basically,
Speaker 3: and he's got a wide open Davis Allen that their
Speaker 3: rookie tight or second year tight end over the middle.
Speaker 3: Shout out to Jordan Rodrieg cashing inner Davis Allen stock
Speaker 3: at the last moment. Good job by her, he gets
Speaker 3: the touchdo it. And that's veteran game management versus Sam Darnold,
Speaker 3: who who had no game management tonight.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I actually thought that signs of this being
Speaker 4: a potential outcome showed up in that Lions game. I
Speaker 4: don't think that Lions game was an anomaly, and just
Speaker 4: like a one off, you could kind of find clues
Speaker 4: that this could be an issue for them. My biggest
Speaker 4: issue with them in that game was the fact that
Speaker 4: when they had a down and distant situation where you
Speaker 4: needed to get five to eight yards, you treat a
Speaker 4: third and relatively long with two plays because you know
Speaker 4: you're going to go for it on fourth down. They're
Speaker 4: not running anything short for him, and that has been
Speaker 4: my big issue with their offense for a lot of
Speaker 4: this season. Is now Sam has stepped up in a
Speaker 4: lot of these moments and ripped a pass down the scene,
Speaker 4: you know, through three defenders for a big first down
Speaker 4: in some of these games they've won. Last week, I
Speaker 4: saw him not able to do that because they're playing
Speaker 4: better defenses, because the pressure is on. And the same
Speaker 4: thing was true again in that scenario which leads to them.
Speaker 4: It's fourth and June. You take such a long sack,
Speaker 4: you give the Rams great field position and they capitalize.
Speaker 4: And that was a big concerning sign for me with
Speaker 4: them in this going into this game, and unfortunately for
Speaker 4: the Vikings, it proved to carry over and be true again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. I think
Speaker 3: it's more that Darnold doesn't take the options or make
Speaker 3: the quick deal. Yeah, that could be very true too
Speaker 3: to get to the check down. But I think you're
Speaker 3: absolutely right that they don't build in enough for him.
Speaker 3: Jordan Rodrigu, who I just mentioned, is that the game
Speaker 3: and said the exact same thing that they need to
Speaker 3: build in more short stuff for Sam and it's not there.
Speaker 3: But the sacks that he took, and he took nine
Speaker 3: of them, took me a long time to get to
Speaker 3: this added up to the most sackyards in a game
Speaker 3: eighty two in the history of the NFL playoffs. Oh,
Speaker 3: it's the most sack yardage in any game in the
Speaker 3: NFL for a decade. Cam Newton took more sack yardage
Speaker 3: in a game in a November game a decade ago.
Speaker 3: But the most sackyards ever here are the sack yards
Speaker 3: because like a lot of times, you take like a
Speaker 3: three four yard sack, you get up ten seven, twelve, eight, seven, eleven, thirteen,
Speaker 3: eight nine to close out the game there, and those
Speaker 3: are massive sacks. One of those double digit sack numbers
Speaker 3: came in the second half when they had a third
Speaker 3: and eight in field goal range in theory, but really
Speaker 3: they needed to just get touchdowns. They were down I
Speaker 3: think three scores at the time went nineteen points or something,
Speaker 3: and he took I think that thirteen yard sack, and
Speaker 3: they decided to punt on fourth and twenty one, which
Speaker 3: to me was a surrender punt. I know, you don't
Speaker 3: want to punt there, but the game is over if
Speaker 3: you punt it. So the fourth quarter was very strange
Speaker 3: to me. But I think koc was so exasperated by
Speaker 3: Donald taking the sack there after he held it for
Speaker 3: like six seconds. The Rams only had five quick pressures
Speaker 3: all night. None of their defenders had more than one
Speaker 3: quick pressure. So more of these sacks than not were
Speaker 3: on the delayed blitzes, which they did a great job doing.
Speaker 3: That confused them and Donald just holding onto the ball
Speaker 3: and freezing a little bit. Let's listen to Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 3: talking about Donald after the game.
Speaker 6: The other phase of it for Sam is acknowledging the
Speaker 6: things that made him a winning quarterback this year and
Speaker 6: the consistency at the times he had it throughout the
Speaker 6: year and what that meant for our team. Because I
Speaker 6: think that can stay with him moving forward, is as
Speaker 6: he goes back to work, proud of him, proud of
Speaker 6: you know, really everybody in that locker room, but Sam
Speaker 6: and the journey him and I went on this year
Speaker 6: will always, you know, be a you know something that's
Speaker 6: a special place in my heart. For sure.
Speaker 4: That's a good way to say spin it, but that's
Speaker 4: a wistful tone at the end of what's a disappointing
Speaker 4: finish in a season that had so much promise, and
Speaker 4: you talk about that third and eight. I just went
Speaker 4: and looked at the tape real quick because I thought
Speaker 4: about this in real time when it happened. He's so
Speaker 4: locked on a Jalen Naylor to going across the field
Speaker 4: looking for the deep play. Again, he's got CJ. Ham
Speaker 4: open about six yards away from the line to gain
Speaker 4: with a little bit of room to run when he
Speaker 4: breaks the pocket, like, just dump it off once it's
Speaker 4: right there for you take the gain, you can get
Speaker 4: a fourth and short. But again, that typified the entire
Speaker 4: night for him hunting the big play. Hesitant pays the price.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they had three point three I think adjusted yards
Speaker 3: for dropback, which is one of the lowest totals in
Speaker 3: any playoff game for years. I actually did a stat
Speaker 3: This is going to be a next Greg's stats. I
Speaker 3: don't know if this is official.
Speaker 4: Can you count as ngs? That's still okay.
Speaker 3: So he officially went nine for seventeen I believe, for
Speaker 3: eighty four yards when under pressure when he did throw
Speaker 3: the ball. So that's an average about a little under
Speaker 3: five yards per throw, which is which is not good.
Speaker 3: We had an interception in there, a couple close ones,
Speaker 3: but then he took those nine sacks for all the
Speaker 3: passing yard you know, all the negative yards. So eighty
Speaker 3: four minus eighty two. That's that's a total of two yards.
Speaker 3: Divide that by the total plays there, his passes in
Speaker 3: his sacks, that's twenty six plays. They averaged point oh
Speaker 3: seven yards per play when Sam Donald was pressured. That's
Speaker 3: pretty good. That's a pretty good debut of next Greg's stats.
Speaker 3: Point oh seven yards per play when Sam Donald was pressure.
Speaker 3: They're not bringing him back. He's talking wistfully because Sam
Speaker 3: Donald's done in that town.
Speaker 4: He goes, he's definitely gone. Hey, my middle name, by
Speaker 4: the way, is Gregory. So we're gonna stick with the
Speaker 4: next Greg starts.
Speaker 3: Really, you never knew that? How did I not know that?
Speaker 3: Now you learn something new.
Speaker 4: Ngs are my initials, so we'll just stick with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Now I'm not Gregory. That's what the the third
Speaker 3: G sixty percent G that closes that.
Speaker 4: That's just stops at greg just like my name stops it.
Speaker 3: It just stops it right there. And I'm I'm joking around,
Speaker 3: and you know, I've been a darnold doubter until I
Speaker 3: you know, I had to be convinced that just by
Speaker 3: his excellent play, and he did play excellent for most
Speaker 3: of this season, But I do think the way these
Speaker 3: two games played out in the biggest of spots for
Speaker 3: him to completely revert back and have two of the
Speaker 3: worst games by any quarterback all season, you know it,
Speaker 3: at least by like a competent quarterback. These were two
Speaker 3: of the worst games and certainly in the biggest of
Speaker 3: spots for them to be this bad in this spot,
Speaker 3: They're not going to give him the franchise tag. I guess.
Speaker 3: I just assume they would if he maintains his level
Speaker 3: of play, and I think if he had even normal
Speaker 3: bad games, they still would thought about it. But I
Speaker 3: don't think they're gonna do it now. I actually do
Speaker 3: think there's a chance he returns to Minnesota, if only
Speaker 3: because a two year, let's say, thirty million dollar contract
Speaker 3: from Minnesota to be a one B basically a backup
Speaker 3: plus until JJ is healthy, might be the best offer
Speaker 3: he gets. I just don't know. Maybe he will get
Speaker 3: a better offer elsewhere, and maybe he's comfortable with that.
Speaker 3: He's going to have a really difficult decision. But he
Speaker 3: cost himself a lot of money.
Speaker 4: Obviously. These last two games were damning evidence in the
Speaker 4: case against paying him, you know, paying him relatively significantly.
Speaker 4: He's not getting a Daniel Jones contract, and even that contract,
Speaker 4: as we know now, was bad. All right, So this
Speaker 4: is a guy in Sam Darnold who notoriously held over
Speaker 4: the ball a long time to significant success this season. Right, So,
Speaker 4: he averaged three point zero eight seconds per drop back
Speaker 4: this season. It was the third longest time to throw
Speaker 4: on average in the NFL, behind Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 4: two very different quarterbacks from him. Right. Yeah, you guess
Speaker 4: off the top of your head what his average time
Speaker 4: to throw was tonight.
Speaker 3: It had to be. Well does that count sacks? I
Speaker 3: don't even know, or is it before you fifty draw gus,
Speaker 3: I'll just guess four, just to give a big fan three.
Speaker 4: Point two to one, which is still significantly higher than
Speaker 4: three point oh eight. That would have been the longest
Speaker 4: I believe in the league.
Speaker 3: Yeah. But here's the thing. If you counted the sack numbers,
Speaker 3: which you don't, because it's average time to throw, I mean,
Speaker 3: wake up, Greg, It's literally in the title of.
Speaker 4: That stat so new of course that doesn't count.
Speaker 3: But I don't know how I ended up. But our
Speaker 3: friend Bill Smith at our research department pointed out with
Speaker 3: the six first half sacks, which broke a record in
Speaker 3: terms of first half playoff sacks, no surprise, none were
Speaker 3: under three point two seconds none, and four of the
Speaker 3: six were over four seconds. And I can think in
Speaker 3: my head at least of two of the sacks in
Speaker 3: the second half that were over four seconds too, so
Speaker 3: that that's just holding it forever. And you could hear
Speaker 3: the frustration dripping in Troy Aikman's voice that these really
Speaker 3: were more on the quarterback. Yes, they lost Brian O'Neil
Speaker 3: about halfway through this game, but there was one play
Speaker 3: where he took the sack and Troy Aikman was like,
Speaker 3: he's got a clean pocket in front of him, just
Speaker 3: step up, and that's it. It's it's the not being
Speaker 3: aware of pressure, and it's maybe the reason why I
Speaker 3: have always been so down on Donald, maybe even more
Speaker 3: than the numbers would say, because that's my number one
Speaker 3: trait is your feel versus pressure. And it's probably why
Speaker 3: I've overrated a couple of quarterbacks over the years because
Speaker 3: to me, I think that just that's what I want
Speaker 3: in a quarterback and he doesn't have that, and we
Speaker 3: don't need to spend the whole podcast on Sam Donald.
Speaker 3: We'll talk about him in the offseason, but you do
Speaker 3: feel for him. He made it to QB Island, but
Speaker 3: I don't know, Man, we might have to call an
Speaker 3: emergency meeting or something here.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he's getting voted off if that's the
Speaker 4: complicated process allows for that to happen. I actually caught
Speaker 4: a brief glimpse of the Manning cast during this game,
Speaker 4: because I'm like, what did Eli and Peyton think about
Speaker 4: Dartnold's performance so far? They were just groaning. He threw
Speaker 4: a ball too. I think it was Addison who came
Speaker 4: back to the ball and made a catch between two defenders,
Speaker 4: and Eli was just like, wait till they show the receiver.
Speaker 4: When he gets rid of the ball, he's not open
Speaker 4: at all, and somehow he makes the play. Like they
Speaker 4: were just absolutely dismade at the performance, understandably so rough
Speaker 4: rough ending to what was a nice year for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing too. The last couple of weeks
Speaker 3: he let his mental issues get in the way of
Speaker 3: the throws that he made, even when there wasn't any pressure,
Speaker 3: Like he dirted a couple screen passes. ESPN actually tracks
Speaker 3: a stat espan stats and info of off target passes
Speaker 3: and his Lions game, he set his season high and
Speaker 3: it was one of the highest by like any quarterback
Speaker 3: all season, and this game was the second highest. So
Speaker 3: it wasn't just that he was, you know, taking these sacks.
Speaker 3: He was missing some throws that were there. Man, Okay,
Speaker 3: enough about Donald that's a downer. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: fun in this game. One of the fun things was
Speaker 3: actually Paul Allen's call of one of the biggest plays
Speaker 3: in this game. It was early, it was ten to
Speaker 3: three Rams, and for a second it looked like it
Speaker 3: was ten to ten because there was a sack fumble
Speaker 3: touchdown for the Vikings. We're actually going to take a
Speaker 3: quick break. But on the other side of the break,
Speaker 3: we'll start with that call by Paul Allen, who who
Speaker 3: did obviously did not love how it all finished up.
Speaker 1: First and ten from Matthews Stafford, the former Georgia pulldolf
Speaker 1: to pass.
Speaker 2: He dropped, picked up.
Speaker 3: Cash cash, buddy, that's the playoffs. That's a twenty three
Speaker 3: yard tupid before how the.
Speaker 2: Brams offense is staying on the field.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they're gonna rule this.
Speaker 2: An incomplete or ain't no, incomplete.
Speaker 3: No, No, that's a bumble. They're rolling on the field.
Speaker 4: Is a humble recovered by the defense cuts down?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there we go. That was a complete breakdown on
Speaker 3: their offense. So number seventeen was in the area.
Speaker 4: Therefore it is a complete pass. How's not to pass?
Speaker 3: He didn't even hit.
Speaker 4: His least off the game off the fourteen fourteen players.
Speaker 3: Wow, wow, oh man. For the last time this season,
Speaker 3: Paul Allen and Pete burstas on k FA and that
Speaker 3: was a huge play. I guess a heads up play
Speaker 3: by Matthew Stafford, even though his head was down. I
Speaker 3: mean from the from the original angle, you thought, no
Speaker 3: way was that a pass. But then when you saw
Speaker 3: the replay, I actually think it was the right call,
Speaker 3: but just not a smart move by Stafford. It shouldn't
Speaker 3: have been an intentional grounding, so it wasn't the right call.
Speaker 3: They should have called intentional grounding, but it was not
Speaker 3: a fumble.
Speaker 4: Yeah. When I saw the replay from the front side,
Speaker 4: I was like, yeah, that's you shouldn't look go the
Speaker 4: ball there. It wasn't until his arm extended from behind
Speaker 4: that you saw that he was trying to get rid
Speaker 4: of the football. But now it saves them the sack yardage, right,
Speaker 4: but ultimately take the sack, no reason to do that.
Speaker 4: But luckily for the Rams they lucked out and got
Speaker 4: the call in their favor. Yes, uh oh, clip by
Speaker 4: the way, can we clip the.
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 4: Because that was just great?
Speaker 3: That that was amazing. That's the funny thing is if
Speaker 3: you look at the like the box score of this game,
Speaker 3: because the Rams didn't do much in the second half,
Speaker 3: like they only hit two third downs all game. For instance,
Speaker 3: the Vikings were much better on third down success rate.
Speaker 3: For the two teams running, we're both mediocre. They were
Speaker 3: like slightly below average. It wasn't like a great running
Speaker 3: game for the Rams. Kukuanakua gets forty four yards on
Speaker 3: nine targets five catches. Cooper Cup has one catch. Tyler
Speaker 3: Higbye unfortunately left this game with a chest injury and
Speaker 3: had to go to the hospital and they say he's
Speaker 3: in stable condition, which is worrisome. So I don't know
Speaker 3: if that was a breathing problem for him, but Sean
Speaker 3: McVay did say that they it looks like he's going
Speaker 3: to be okay, which is really good news. So it
Speaker 3: is one of those games you kind of have to
Speaker 3: watch because even Darnold's stat line, if you don't see
Speaker 3: the stacks to really understand the story, and maybe that
Speaker 3: does speak to the point that there was something a
Speaker 3: little more going on. It's one of the reasons why
Speaker 3: we love football right shook, not just because you can
Speaker 3: get inspired, It just that if you watch that game,
Speaker 3: you understood it in a way that you can't from
Speaker 3: looking at the numbers. And a lot of it was
Speaker 3: from the energy of the game and shout out to
Speaker 3: those fans that showed up there for both teams. Everyone
Speaker 3: there from ESPN said it was an incredible atmosphere. It
Speaker 3: was like a college atmosphere. You have the fans behind
Speaker 3: the team they support, like a college game, and they
Speaker 3: were really loud, and I'm sure they weren't showing a nationally,
Speaker 3: but the local news was all over this story and
Speaker 3: they had like, I don't know how many buses it was,
Speaker 3: but it was a ton of buses. They showed the
Speaker 3: lines of people that were there at sofar taking the buses,
Speaker 3: all in rams gear that the staffords and the rams
Speaker 3: paid for. And they left before dawn, like it was
Speaker 3: dark out at that point, and so they showed up
Speaker 3: in big ways. And the Vikings, who travel so well
Speaker 3: and had such a great season, you feel for them.
Speaker 3: They showed up big time two for what was ultimately
Speaker 3: a funeral, but a cool like a memorable atmosphere, making
Speaker 3: the best of a bad situation.
Speaker 5: There.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of details that will not show up
Speaker 4: in the Pro Football Reference box score that we googled
Speaker 4: into fifteen years from now, like people like me like
Speaker 4: to do, but those who watched it will remember who
Speaker 4: access the replay, which you can find on NFL Plus look.
Speaker 3: At too and.
Speaker 4: Revel in the uniqueness of this game, which win in
Speaker 4: the technically the home team's favor as they advanced to Philadelphia.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and good job by look the Rams back seven.
Speaker 3: Anytime you hold an opponent in single digits, which I
Speaker 3: believe they've now done, is that for a month straight?
Speaker 3: Like when was last time the Rams defense gave up
Speaker 3: a big point total? They're starters. The forty nine ers
Speaker 3: they beat twelve to six, the Bills game, the Jets
Speaker 3: they beat nineteen to nine, the Cardinals they beat thirteen
Speaker 3: to nine, and then this game they win twenty seven
Speaker 3: to nine. That's incredible. I know the backups you know,
Speaker 3: gave up thirty to the Seahawks, but I'm not counting
Speaker 3: that game. So it was the Bills game, and that's
Speaker 3: amazing Chris Shula getting it done with those delayed pressures.
Speaker 3: The secondary with guys you haven't heard about. Kobe Durant
Speaker 3: had a sack, kill a Weatherspoon has played well. There's
Speaker 3: been injuries, and yes that that four man front versus
Speaker 3: special once O'Neil went out, especially versus just he had
Speaker 3: a good time with their backup and so it was
Speaker 3: a real team victory for the Rams. Let's actually listen
Speaker 3: after the game to Kobe Turner. Uh, this is two
Speaker 3: people and you won't hear Bridget here, but two people
Speaker 3: that have been a big part of NFL Daily. Bridget Condon,
Speaker 3: a regular guest interviewing Kobe Turner, who got the NFL
Speaker 3: Daily bump as a guest back in training camp.
Speaker 5: We had the city on our back this week and
Speaker 5: I'm glad we were able to go out and pick
Speaker 5: up a dub. You know, McBath has been talking to
Speaker 5: us all week about the fact that we're built for this.
Speaker 5: Everything that we've gone through from the season up till
Speaker 5: now has prepared us for this exact moment prepared us
Speaker 5: to go take victory like we just stand. And so
Speaker 5: the next journey is on the way. You know, we
Speaker 5: head up to Pillion. We're excited for that too as well.
Speaker 5: But we're built for this man. All the trials, all
Speaker 5: the tribulations, all the ups and downs. We've weathered the storm.
Speaker 5: You figure out the true testament of team how they
Speaker 5: react in a storm. And we started in a storm
Speaker 5: and now we're up here. So I'm just excited to
Speaker 5: keep going with these.
Speaker 3: Guys right spitting bars. We started in the storm. Eric
Speaker 3: Roberts behind the glass, doing a great job all week
Speaker 3: all season, tells me there was thirty buses. I was
Speaker 3: gonna say it seemed like they were lined up so
Speaker 3: that that was a big crew that that took took
Speaker 3: the ride, and that's a six hour bus ride, and
Speaker 3: I think they got They must have got there very
Speaker 3: early because they were I don't know why they were
Speaker 3: get there that early, but I guess you got to
Speaker 3: make sure.
Speaker 4: Somebody who has moved to LA, back to Ohio, to
Speaker 4: LA and back to Ohio and done the drive across
Speaker 4: the country four times. Usually when you get to Arizona,
Speaker 4: you're like, all right, now, here's the home stretch, but
Speaker 4: it's still pretty long. You stuck out near Barstow at night,
Speaker 4: You're like, where am I? They rode those buses as
Speaker 4: the sun was rising to come watch this team play
Speaker 4: for them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's badass. And Sean McVay gonna be proud after
Speaker 3: the game. This is, like I mentioned, first win since
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl, which I think he's gonna feel really good.
Speaker 3: They obviously made the playoffs last year and lost a
Speaker 3: really close game to a good team. The Lion's nothing
Speaker 3: to be ashamed of there, but big to get a
Speaker 3: playoff win in four of his eight seasons Shook. He
Speaker 3: has won a playoff game. In six of his eight
Speaker 3: seasons they've made the playoffs. He very evenly distributes everything.
Speaker 3: In two of those seasons he went to the super Bowl.
Speaker 3: In one of those seasons he won the super Bowl.
Speaker 3: It's like he's almost mathematically doing what you would expect
Speaker 3: every time he makes the playoffs. Like he's done every
Speaker 3: little bit of it. And a lot of love for
Speaker 3: KOC and Dan Campbell and all these coaches and McVeagh
Speaker 3: didn't get a lot of love for Coach of the
Speaker 3: Year this year. But there aren't many guys you would
Speaker 3: rather want, I think running your organization.
Speaker 4: Which of us had him on the top five of
Speaker 4: the latter was good?
Speaker 5: Ye?
Speaker 4: Me?
Speaker 3: Good job? Was it me? I'm glad neither of us.
Speaker 3: Did you have Kevin O'Connell first after week We did
Speaker 3: after week seventeen, so you were stuck in maybe, Yeah,
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 4: It was a weird spot at the time. Look, this
Speaker 4: RAMS team started one to four. They're now ten and
Speaker 4: three in the last third. All those games have come
Speaker 4: after their buye. That's a hell of the job by showing.
Speaker 3: And one of them they didn't try to win, so yeah,
Speaker 3: and they almost did win with Jimmy Garoppolo, So.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there is.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I had this theory that they
Speaker 3: wanted this matchup, they wanted the Vikings. It was just
Speaker 3: the theory I had because they were trying to lose
Speaker 3: that game when they could have tried to play against
Speaker 3: the Commanders and it's a familiar opponent. They got it done.
Speaker 3: A lot, you know, to worry about for the to
Speaker 3: think about for the Vikings. I'm going to talk about
Speaker 3: the Vikings a little more on our next show. Ali
Speaker 3: Connelly's going to join me, and we're going to kind
Speaker 3: of spin around a lot of the coaching situations, the
Speaker 3: GM situations, just the other teams that aren't in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And I do want to talk about the Vikings because
Speaker 3: I think there's some interesting things going on with their
Speaker 3: front office and Darnold and kind of what's going to
Speaker 3: happen next for them. Obviously, koc has nothing to worry about,
Speaker 3: one of the best coaches in the league, even if
Speaker 3: at disappointing ending. They are the first team, by the way,
Speaker 3: since the champion Patriots, I think, in fourteen to only
Speaker 3: lose to two teams in a season. They only lost
Speaker 3: to the Rams in the Lions this season. They went
Speaker 3: oh to four against the Lions in the Rams this season.
Speaker 3: They're also the first team that won fourteen games in
Speaker 3: a season to end with back to back losses, and
Speaker 3: those back to back losses were by a combined forty points.
Speaker 3: They weren't close. It's just a weird, a weird way
Speaker 3: to end. But I don't think it eliminates everything, but
Speaker 3: it maybe simplifies how they view their team that maybe
Speaker 3: they still are a little further away than the record showed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like they overachieved this year considering where
Speaker 4: we thought they were when we analyzed their roster going
Speaker 4: into the season. We also didn't think Tam Donald was
Speaker 4: going to have this type of season. Nobody did. We
Speaker 4: thought J. J. McCarthy was going to be the quarterback
Speaker 4: of this team, and he wasn't. But I am curious.
Speaker 4: I don't know if Minnesota's is as tough on their
Speaker 4: coaches as some other markets. Looking at you, Pittsburgh with
Speaker 4: Kevin O'Connell, because he's now zero to two in playoff games,
Speaker 4: in which come.
Speaker 3: On, they will because there's a crazy, you know, segment
Speaker 3: of the fan base that gets mad at the coach
Speaker 3: after every playoff loss. But give me a break. I mean,
Speaker 3: I agree, I'm curious with what he got out of
Speaker 3: this team. All right, let's switch gears before we go
Speaker 3: for the night. We often do a big news rundown.
Speaker 3: We're not going to do that today. But we did
Speaker 3: get one big item that I do want to talk
Speaker 3: about that I don't want to save for our next show,
Speaker 3: and that's Mike McCarthy no longer being the coach of
Speaker 3: the Dallas Cowboys. How would you word it, Nick Shook,
Speaker 3: Because one thing you can't say about Jerry Jones is
Speaker 3: that he fires his coaches. He doesn't do that. He
Speaker 3: just lets their contract run out and then lets them
Speaker 3: twist in the wind. So, if you're writing the article,
Speaker 3: how do you even phrase this? Conscious uncoupling?
Speaker 4: Conscious uncoupling is a great way to do it.
Speaker 3: Sorry I stole your answer.
Speaker 4: It's better than mine. I would just say parted ways
Speaker 4: like the Patriots did with Bill Belichick, coming on from
Speaker 4: a coach by letting his contract expire. It's common in
Speaker 4: other industries, not so much in the coaching industry. It
Speaker 4: is gets questionable though, that they would deny the Bears
Speaker 4: a chance to interview him if they wanted to part
Speaker 4: with him. But then again, the Cowboys do things a
Speaker 4: little bit differently. And now all the intrigue builds because
Speaker 4: they are the Cowboys. Who are they going to hire.
Speaker 4: We've already heard some names floated out there, including one
Speaker 4: guy who once played for them. It's going to be
Speaker 4: very fascinating to see how they proceed after deciding, you
Speaker 4: know what, wasn't as good as we wanted it to be,
Speaker 4: and we're just gonna let that contract expire and go
Speaker 4: for greener pastors. We'll see if they find one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know you're referring to Dion Sanders. Ian Rappaport
Speaker 3: did indicate among other insiders across the country that Dion
Speaker 3: Sanders is a possibility that they probably will talk. Someone
Speaker 3: dug up an old Michael Irvin tweet from November where
Speaker 3: he said he hung out with Dion I believe on
Speaker 3: Saturday night after hanging out with Jerry Jones on Friday night,
Speaker 3: and that he's praying for something that we can guess what,
Speaker 3: and that he's praying essentially for those two men to
Speaker 3: come together, and basically said he is trying to make
Speaker 3: that happen. So if Michael Irvin is brokering like head
Speaker 3: coaching hirings in the year twenty twenty five, that would
Speaker 3: be amazing. And I don't doubt that Jerry Jones would
Speaker 3: milk this story to get as much attention as possible.
Speaker 3: And I don't doubt he would do it because it
Speaker 3: would be so box office. But I don't know if
Speaker 3: he would want to really hand over the keys to
Speaker 3: someone who has more juice than he does, and he
Speaker 3: seems a little indecisive. I watched a really good segment
Speaker 3: with Ian and Tom Pelsaro and Jane Slater, and there
Speaker 3: was a lot in there that I'd like to get to.
Speaker 3: But of one of the things that Jane said was
Speaker 3: people around Jerry Jones said he really was kind of
Speaker 3: indecisive over the last week. And that seems obvious because
Speaker 3: if you read the statement that Jerry Jones made, he
Speaker 3: said that he spoke with Mike over a number of
Speaker 3: days and spent considerable time discussing the road, for they
Speaker 3: were thorough and received an appropriate amount of time prior
Speaker 3: to reaching the point of contract negotiations. It became mutually
Speaker 3: clear it would be better to each of us and
Speaker 3: head it in a different direction. So they spoke for
Speaker 3: multiple days. It appeared there was mutual interest in potentially
Speaker 3: continuing the partnership, and then according to our insiders, maybe
Speaker 3: they never really negotiated. But before they even got to
Speaker 3: that point, the agent was involved and it was clear
Speaker 3: that Jerry Jones was not going to give him a
Speaker 3: long contract and that Mike McCarthy only wanted to do
Speaker 3: it if it was a long contract, that it was
Speaker 3: going to probably be like one or two years or
Speaker 3: you know, that would have been the negotiation, and that
Speaker 3: that was a non starter for McCarthy, and on some level,
Speaker 3: it was almost McCarthy walking away from being like, no,
Speaker 3: I'm not putting up with your bs. That's it. Just
Speaker 3: like mismanagement. This is all it's all bad. If you're
Speaker 3: a Cowboys fan, you gotta be so sick of it.
Speaker 4: It's been a rough twelve months of mismanagement for the Cowboys,
Speaker 4: started with that offseason in which they said they were
Speaker 4: all in and then did very little of anything. They
Speaker 4: placed high expectations on a team that lacked weapons offensively,
Speaker 4: and I thought it was very telling Mike McCarthy's tone
Speaker 4: after their Week eighteen loss to the Commanders in the
Speaker 4: final seconds of that game that when asked about his
Speaker 4: job status and his security and the way he felt
Speaker 4: about it, he just like stood his ground and was like,
Speaker 4: I'm a winner. I've won, I won a championship in
Speaker 4: this building. It's almost as if he took that same
Speaker 4: approach into those talks and then got the response that
Speaker 4: you just described and said, to hell with this, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go find something better for me or not coach
Speaker 4: at all, because I'm not dealing with this anymore, just like.
Speaker 3: You said, which is crazy because you know it sounds
Speaker 3: like he wants to coach, but that this has worn
Speaker 3: on him. And this is what I got out of
Speaker 3: that conversation, so I'm paraphrasing our insiders it's not my information,
Speaker 3: but that he was getting really tired of this situation
Speaker 3: with the Cowboys. It's pretty rare to be on a
Speaker 3: last year year contract as a coach and all the
Speaker 3: things that comes with it and not necessarily having all
Speaker 3: the power to really even run his offense or bring
Speaker 3: in the players that he wants. And that's just how
Speaker 3: it works if you're the Cowboys coach, and that maybe
Speaker 3: he's made enough money so if another coaching job doesn't
Speaker 3: come around this year, or even a head coaching job
Speaker 3: ever again, that it's enough for him and it's tough
Speaker 3: for the coaches under him, but they didn't want to
Speaker 3: be living in that uncertainty either. Just while we're on McCarthy, quickly,
Speaker 3: he was the Saints' offensive coordinator and people forget this
Speaker 3: for at least four years to start this century in
Speaker 3: Mickey Loomis was there with the Saints at the time,
Speaker 3: and all three of those insiders pointed out that they
Speaker 3: have a close relationship and that there really could be
Speaker 3: a connection there, and Loomis could see McCarthy kind of
Speaker 3: as a guy that helps him out if his job
Speaker 3: is at all you know, you know, hey, I can
Speaker 3: still get a winning coach like this to come on board.
Speaker 3: And McCarthy might look at it as a situation where
Speaker 3: he'd have a lot of power relatively for a head coach,
Speaker 3: and it's just something to keep an eye on. He
Speaker 3: also is going to interview with the Chicago Bears, so
Speaker 3: he has two interviews. He's a wanted man, Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 4: You got to think about situation and you think about motivation,
Speaker 4: and if he wants to go to a place where
Speaker 4: he is familiar with the person in charge of personnel,
Speaker 4: then it's the Saints and a place where he feels
Speaker 4: like he can have considerable power over roster decisions and
Speaker 4: everything else. It's New Orleans Saints. But he would also
Speaker 4: be walking into a team that doesn't have a long
Speaker 4: term answer quarterback and lacks weapons outside, especially if they
Speaker 4: lose a guy like they did in Chris Olave this season.
Speaker 4: So what would you rather choose? That or a young
Speaker 4: team with a young quarterback and with some weapons at
Speaker 4: receiver of varying ages, but in need of serious direction
Speaker 4: and a GM that you would have to get to
Speaker 4: know in Ryan Poles, there are two very different situations.
Speaker 4: But if he wants to coach again, we'll see. Man,
Speaker 4: I mean, you'd rather have a quarterback. You'd rather have
Speaker 4: a quarterback to mold of course it's Kayla Williams. The
Speaker 4: difference with that job is they've interviewed everyone. If they're
Speaker 4: interviewing like iOS state head coach, like he might not
Speaker 4: really have much reason to believe that he would be
Speaker 4: a favorite or one of the favorites. In Chicago, maybe
Speaker 4: he would be, but there's not any particular reason, whereas
Speaker 4: in New Orleans he might walk in as the favorite
Speaker 4: to get that job if they could figure it out.
Speaker 3: Who knows. But this cowboy situation means they missed an
Speaker 3: opportunity to interview Mike Rabel for instance, or Ben Johnson
Speaker 3: or any you know, anyone you know that had the
Speaker 3: so I guess that would have been Spegnola wouldn't wouldn't
Speaker 3: have been that many different people. But like, there are costs,
Speaker 3: and if you end up hiring your coach really late
Speaker 3: in the cycle, you have a harder time filling out
Speaker 3: that staff I think it's one of the reasons why
Speaker 3: Vrabel wanted to get going quickly. I have some thoughts
Speaker 3: on his press conference too, but we'll save those. We'll
Speaker 3: save those for Monday. Yeah, for Tuesdays show that will
Speaker 3: come out actually Wednesday morning with Ali Connolly. We don't
Speaker 3: want this to get too ill. Get tonight of celebration. Nick.
Speaker 3: I guess that's enough about the Cowboys, but just just weird,
Speaker 3: weird times for the Dallas Cowboys. What a night, What
Speaker 3: a weird week. It's been a tough week. My kids
Speaker 3: are going back to school though tomorrow. How about that.
Speaker 4: That's awesome, a return to normalcy and a great podcast.
Speaker 4: Look forward to tomorrow for those of you who has
Speaker 4: in the NFL daily, because no thoughts on the Patriots
Speaker 4: are as valuable as Greg Rosenthal when he comes away
Speaker 4: from a Mike Rabel introductory presser, I.
Speaker 3: Promise, no, no, no, it was fine. It seemed a
Speaker 3: little tired, but it's fine.
Speaker 4: You've seen some things we have.
Speaker 3: We all have, including Sean McVay putting it to Brian
Speaker 3: Flores early in that first half, and that offensive line
Speaker 3: was beliguered and injured, getting healthy and getting it done.
Speaker 3: It was in a full team effort. Obviously that defense
Speaker 3: flying around. And yes, they made my wife and my daughter,
Speaker 3: who are rams Vans, very happy tonight. And yes, it's
Speaker 3: been a long week. We're keeping an eye out on
Speaker 3: this wind event that is starting apparently is going to
Speaker 3: pick up in the morning. That the fires are mostly
Speaker 3: out near us, the smoke cloud is basically gone, but
Speaker 3: everyone's keeping an eye on this wind event for the
Speaker 3: next thirty six hours or so. And so we're crossing
Speaker 3: our fingers and hope everything doesn't get worse here and
Speaker 3: we can keep getting better and the Red Cross has
Speaker 3: helped us to do that. And yes, we've been heartbroken
Speaker 3: by this struction from these wildfires across the entire LA region.
Speaker 3: So families affected by these fires, they do urgently need support.
Speaker 3: You can help the American Red Cross respond to and
Speaker 3: help people recover from these disasters. Donate today to support
Speaker 3: relief efforts by going to Redcross dot org. Slash NFL
Speaker 3: Nick this is our last Monday Night of the year.
Speaker 3: I'm glad we had this playoff game to go out
Speaker 3: in style. It would have been sad if the last
Speaker 3: Monday Night game of the year that we did was
Speaker 3: Packers thirty four Saint zero.
Speaker 4: Was that the one the last year we did that
Speaker 4: a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3: That was rough? Doesn't that feel like another lifetime ago?
Speaker 3: This week has aged me. I'm really excited them going
Speaker 3: back to school actually is going to feel like a
Speaker 3: real return to some to some sense of normalcy like
Speaker 3: last Tuesday when this all started. Feels like like two
Speaker 3: months ago. And so the wildcard weekend not a lot
Speaker 3: of close games. Hopefully we get better games. Divisional Round
Speaker 3: weekend the best weekend of the year, and you'll be
Speaker 3: helping us out Sunday night, right, Nick, better.
Speaker 4: You know it, you know it. I'll be there, lock
Speaker 4: stock and barrel, Baby, We've got a lot of playoff games.
Speaker 3: To get to. Okay, that's it for tonight's show. Thanks Eric,
Speaker 3: thank you to Nick. And yeah, when the Rams are
Speaker 3: back in the super Bowl mix, you know football is back.
Speaker 3: We'll see you Wednesday morning.