Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast hopes the forecast is raid.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansas. I got heroes in this
Speaker 1: fake room. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, I do hope for
Speaker 1: rain Um. Greg has been very successful with his picks.
Speaker 1: But it's gonna be a lot trickier now because it
Speaker 1: is Championship week. We started out with thirty two, now
Speaker 1: there's four. We got two great ball games coming up
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Hopefully we get two more classics to add
Speaker 1: to the four bangers. We got divisional round weekend. Um,
Speaker 1: how you feeling, Greggy has the rainmaker feeling? How you
Speaker 1: feeling as a football fan? Do you think we have
Speaker 1: more greatness in store this weekend? I do? And you
Speaker 1: you hope that there's not a letdown after last week?
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's early in terms of forecast. But there
Speaker 1: is that or easter here, you know, on the East coast,
Speaker 1: and there are some Doppler reports about potential rain this week.
Speaker 1: And is it an is it a year, I don't know,
Speaker 1: some precipitation. It's a climate change year. You know it's
Speaker 1: all coming nailed it? Mark? How are you, buddy? I
Speaker 1: am doing quite well. I um, I have been kind
Speaker 1: of thinking about these two matchups, and you know, I've
Speaker 1: we got a lot of chiefs in our life, but
Speaker 1: the idea that the Bengals exists this weekend is extremely
Speaker 1: new to me. And I've been a Niners guy from
Speaker 1: wire to wire, so I've got a lot going on
Speaker 1: in both of these games. I'm plugged in and by
Speaker 1: wire to wire, you you're leaving out the part where
Speaker 1: you took them out of your prediction for winning the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl halfway through the season. I was leaving that
Speaker 1: out until you mentioned I think had you you know,
Speaker 1: maybe if you not mentioned that, it would have skated
Speaker 1: by some of the listeners, new listeners especially. But but
Speaker 1: the truth out, we did a great job. I was
Speaker 1: with you, Mark Me, you Adam Rank. I remember we
Speaker 1: were on the vanguard of picking the forty Niners to
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, only too unlikely games to go.
Speaker 1: I think the only thing that that must be super
Speaker 1: annoying about it is that you you jumped to the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: It's almost like if you had it in reverse, it
Speaker 1: would have been glorious, but it want the other way.
Speaker 1: I think in general, and you know who am I
Speaker 1: to tell the people running NFL dot Com what to do.
Speaker 1: But the mid season, UM, the option to go in
Speaker 1: and rejigger your picks. I've fallen for it, eurue to
Speaker 1: your as it lacks courage. I'm now never gonna do
Speaker 1: it again. I'm not changing anything. Um And but you
Speaker 1: fall into traps, and I fell into a horrendous um
Speaker 1: Mark sized Mark shaped trap called the Arizona Cardinals. Well
Speaker 1: it all ended up where you wanted to be because
Speaker 1: you get Kyle Shanahan with the chance to go back
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl against his old buddy McVeigh in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, and we're gonna get to that game second
Speaker 1: before we get And we're also gonna, by the way,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get some updates on what's going on on
Speaker 1: the personnel carousel as the coaches are starting to find
Speaker 1: new homes nine you know, nine jobs, nine new coaches.
Speaker 1: Like that old hard hard knocks thing where you have
Speaker 1: to check the box for three different things to be
Speaker 1: hard knocks eligible. There's only three teams that are hard
Speaker 1: knocks eligible now because there's just so much churn right
Speaker 1: now in our league. So we're gonna get into that.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get too obviously both games this weekend, but
Speaker 1: I just want to before we get into the championship
Speaker 1: game previews. Starting with the a f C, let's first
Speaker 1: formally say goodbye to one of the more important figures
Speaker 1: of the American Football Conference of the last fifteen to
Speaker 1: twenty years. Ben Roethlisberger has retired after a long time
Speaker 1: run with the Steelers. He almost certainly is a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame player. He has the pelts on the wall,
Speaker 1: a great talent, and now we say goodbye, Ricky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to paris respects as we say goodbye.
Speaker 1: Are you going to speak any words or it's just music? No,
Speaker 1: We're just saying goodbye, a moment of silence to some degree. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's called a solemn respect. What if I'd like to
Speaker 1: say words? You know, I feel like we ended on
Speaker 1: a bad note with all this big Ben talk. What
Speaker 1: you for only assassinated last? You kin? You kind of
Speaker 1: think about Roethlisberger first winning those super bowls, right, and
Speaker 1: by the way, he was not There's this idea that
Speaker 1: he was carried along for the first one, yes in
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, but he played fantastic in the playoffs
Speaker 1: before that, which I think gets forgotten. Well that Super
Speaker 1: Bowl was an and you think about one of the
Speaker 1: greatest throws in NFL history to Santonio's, and then you
Speaker 1: think about this end bit, which was ugly. But in between,
Speaker 1: he was weirdly underrated for for a guy who was
Speaker 1: as famous and um talked about as anyone. I actually
Speaker 1: think like the average fan often like had him a
Speaker 1: tick lower than he actually was. Like there's been debates.
Speaker 1: Today's like who's had a better career? Him a real
Speaker 1: I man, He's like, it's like, let's let's be real,
Speaker 1: like like Tom Brady. Roethlisberger played his best football the
Speaker 1: best stretch of his career in his mid his young thirties,
Speaker 1: when he wasn't winning super Bowls. I went, I went.
Speaker 1: I can look at the QB Index, for instance, from
Speaker 1: eighteen he was ranked top five every year but one
Speaker 1: he was ranked top three like three times. That that
Speaker 1: is like a level and that was like when his
Speaker 1: physicality and kind of his mind were all messed together.
Speaker 1: That I feel like people kind of sleep on like
Speaker 1: he was the man hold on, Like how I do
Speaker 1: feel like hordes hordes of football fans of the past,
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen plus years. Saul big Ben as a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer in his career. I mean, I just
Speaker 1: mean that he was at that level. There was still
Speaker 1: this idea that he was just he brought total terror
Speaker 1: adult life. As a fan. Let me share um one
Speaker 1: more time. The Simpsons corollary here, that he was a
Speaker 1: very good quarterback, a Pro Bowl quarterback, a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: winning quarterback, and then he started to get old, and
Speaker 1: then he blew out his elbow, and he came back
Speaker 1: last year and he was okay at best and sometimes bad.
Speaker 1: And then there was this year which he was pretty
Speaker 1: consistent le terrible. So he was out of the limelight
Speaker 1: as a honest to goodness, very good to great quarterback
Speaker 1: for like four years. And I think that sometimes shades
Speaker 1: memories immediately after the fact. They think when people that
Speaker 1: are old enough, you see the bigger picture. But for
Speaker 1: people that have a shorter memory, or maybe our younger fans,
Speaker 1: he's not a very this guy that deserves any type
Speaker 1: of look back or retrospective on his career. But certainly
Speaker 1: he does right and he was to me, he was
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer without winning a Super Bowl. That
Speaker 1: I guess that's where the difference is. Like there's no
Speaker 1: comparison with him and Eli Man and he if you're
Speaker 1: if you're a top five quarterback that many times in
Speaker 1: your career, like Roethlisberg, you're a Hall of Famer. He
Speaker 1: didn't even he didn't even need those Super Bowls. And
Speaker 1: it is crazy to think. There was this report this
Speaker 1: week about how the forty thought they had a deal
Speaker 1: for him. You know, he was trying, you know, the
Speaker 1: Rooney's tried to trade him after the sexual assault stuff
Speaker 1: and they couldn't find the right deal, and that the
Speaker 1: forty Niners ownership wanted to do it, and supposedly say
Speaker 1: Ingle Terry thought he owed Alex Smith the chance and
Speaker 1: that he didn't want to go down that road because
Speaker 1: he had been talking about characters so much. That is
Speaker 1: a crazy moment uh in NFL history, when Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: was available for a trade. That like, just what would
Speaker 1: have changed if that had happened. I do like that, Dan,
Speaker 1: This started as a moment of silence, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're gonna take the last time, if
Speaker 1: you you know, if you're gonna take Greg to a
Speaker 1: public function and is to pay respects to a dead
Speaker 1: character or a dead figure, has gone on, and you know,
Speaker 1: the entire stadium is hushed, and Greg is suddenly unfurling
Speaker 1: like a twenty five minute diet tribe on the individual
Speaker 1: that somehow didn't turn as negative as I thought it would. Here.
Speaker 1: Everything was very on brand for the Around the NFL podcast,
Speaker 1: just exactly, and I hope people enjoyed it. All. Right,
Speaker 1: So big Ben gone, But we get a lot watch
Speaker 1: a lot of quarterbacks right now in their prime. And
Speaker 1: let's start with two superstars. One a superstar who established
Speaker 1: himself most immediately from the chance he got a starting
Speaker 1: job in Patrick Mahomes. And on the other side of
Speaker 1: the field, another guy who ascended in his second year.
Speaker 1: His first year ruined by knee injury halfway through, but
Speaker 1: now Joe Burrow is fully formed playing at an elite level.
Speaker 1: And now we have the Cincinnati Bengals, the upstart Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals twelve and seven, the fourth seed in the a
Speaker 1: f C, traveling to Arrowhead to face the Chiefs fourteen
Speaker 1: and five, the second seed, both teams obviously coming off victories.
Speaker 1: Um the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the top seeded Titans nineteen
Speaker 1: sixteen on a last second Evan McPherson field goal the
Speaker 1: Chiefs got by the Bills six and one of the
Speaker 1: great games of all time. So let's start here, Mark
Speaker 1: Chiefs hosting the AFC Championship Game for the fourth year
Speaker 1: in a row. That's a record. And it seems to
Speaker 1: me that all of a sudden, with all of this,
Speaker 1: the ups and downs and potholes on the road for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs this year, to me, I enter this weekend
Speaker 1: looking at the three weeks remaining to the season and say,
Speaker 1: this is the chief Super Bowl to lose. Am I alone?
Speaker 1: Are you with me? How do you feel about that?
Speaker 1: It's it's hard, you know, with the visual evidence that
Speaker 1: we received over the past two weeks, to feel differently
Speaker 1: than what you just said. Because what they did to
Speaker 1: Buffalo's defense, which we had spent months talking about, UM,
Speaker 1: they devastated them. They to me seem like they flipped
Speaker 1: the switch. Patrick Mahomes At this point, UM is operating
Speaker 1: in a different dimension of human development. All the doubts
Speaker 1: that we've had about Kansas City are gone. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess you could look at the defense and say, yes,
Speaker 1: the defense remains an issue to some degree, But I
Speaker 1: look at this game and I'm trying to find the
Speaker 1: advantage for Cincinnati. What's the thing you can point to
Speaker 1: and say, if you if, if this is not the end,
Speaker 1: this is not where the rainbow ends. Because I'm struggling
Speaker 1: with this matchup for the Bengals as much as I
Speaker 1: my heart is with them to make this a great game. Um,
Speaker 1: you could point to Week seventeen. Uh you know, they
Speaker 1: they held Patrick Mahomes who I think fifty yards passing
Speaker 1: in that second half. It was one of his uh
Speaker 1: less impressive halfs of the entire season. No team outside
Speaker 1: of uh. They they put up more yardage on Kansas
Speaker 1: City in that Week seventeen win in Cincinnati than than
Speaker 1: than all but one other team this year. And Jamaar
Speaker 1: Chase had his way. He broke the rookie single game
Speaker 1: rookie record for receiving. So if you're the Bengals, can
Speaker 1: you recreate um the big play magic. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of yards after the catch in that game, which
Speaker 1: is what they specialized. That happened against the Tennessee last week.
Speaker 1: I I remain concerned because my one thing is, yes,
Speaker 1: this is not Jeffrey Simmons. This is not the Titans
Speaker 1: who were such a bad matchup protection wise for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: But there is this like figure in the midst Hakim
Speaker 1: aDNA Je who there's the right guard who's been getting
Speaker 1: mentioned by everyone because he was flamed by Tennessee. And
Speaker 1: now you've got Chris Jones coming in, and I just wonder,
Speaker 1: if you're the Bengals, you almost are gonna probably have
Speaker 1: to go. If you get last week's version of the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: maybe you have no chance. But if you can coax
Speaker 1: them into mistakes, that's great too, because they did They
Speaker 1: did that with Ryan Tannehill. That's this isn't Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 1: But secondly, they're gonna have to score drive after drive
Speaker 1: after drive and that's not been their DNA over the
Speaker 1: last two weeks. It just hasn't been. But this is
Speaker 1: an easier matchup, isn't it. Defense? That's what I mean.
Speaker 1: I guess you're saying you're looking for something to believe in.
Speaker 1: How about the fact that every time the Chiefs play
Speaker 1: a good quarterback, they gave up about thirty and it
Speaker 1: comes down to the last drive. The biggest games of
Speaker 1: the week, that's what I mean. In the biggest games
Speaker 1: of the season, Chargers, they were very lucky to get
Speaker 1: out of that alive total duel offensive fire show comes
Speaker 1: down to last possession, same exact game against the Bengals. Uh,
Speaker 1: they got some pressure against the Bengals, but Burrow made
Speaker 1: plays against pressure, and they're not nearly the past rush
Speaker 1: that the Raiders have or the Titans have. And then
Speaker 1: last week against the Bills, when when this defense, which
Speaker 1: is awful in the first month and month plus and
Speaker 1: pretty bad here down the stretch, plays a big time quarterback,
Speaker 1: They're pretty bad. I mean it. It goes to my
Speaker 1: point that defense, you know, matters, but only so much.
Speaker 1: And to me, the Chiefs are a mediocre defense. Frank
Speaker 1: Clark hasn't made a play in two months. He's killing them. Uh.
Speaker 1: Ingram has been a godsend and Chris Jones actually has
Speaker 1: been a little quiet. For Chris Jones since that Bengals game.
Speaker 1: It's only been a few weeks, but he hasn't made
Speaker 1: a bunch of big plays. So if I'm Burrow, I
Speaker 1: look at this matchup and think, Okay, this is a
Speaker 1: defense that might take some chances against me, might send pressure,
Speaker 1: and even if they don't, I like my matchups on
Speaker 1: the outside, and it's A. It's a it's the defense
Speaker 1: that I last played my best against, and I think
Speaker 1: that would give him some confidence. I see all that,
Speaker 1: and it's that is the way of defenses in one
Speaker 1: at least, where even if statistically you you rank pretty well,
Speaker 1: when you face a big time offense, it's very easy
Speaker 1: to get lit up because some of these quarterbacks are
Speaker 1: just so good and they have weapons around them are
Speaker 1: so good that they're just gonna eat. And that's what
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow did, of course with Jamaar Chase and that
Speaker 1: amazing UH win over the Chiefs late in the season.
Speaker 1: I do I put something in personally because I've seen
Speaker 1: obviously it makes sense a lot of connecting the dots
Speaker 1: with this matchup to the last time we saw them.
Speaker 1: I just think it's different. Once you get to this
Speaker 1: stage of the season. It is you're playing for the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, You're playing at Arrowhead. That place is gonna
Speaker 1: be going bonkers now to UH. For Cincinnati, it's good
Speaker 1: that they had that Tennessee game because that crowd was
Speaker 1: loud there in Nashville as well, so it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be like you're not gonna be able to adjust on
Speaker 1: the road against the frenzied crowd. But I still think
Speaker 1: these things matter. I think the the amount of UM
Speaker 1: repetition Kansas City has had in the spot I I
Speaker 1: believe in that. I think that will matter now. The
Speaker 1: other the other way to look that, of course, is
Speaker 1: Cincinnati now is that young, upstar team that just believes,
Speaker 1: and it's just building and building and building. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: this is where I have the concerns greg and everyone's
Speaker 1: been pinpointing it um for a week now, and I
Speaker 1: watched the game again this morning, and I just it's
Speaker 1: hard to believe how bad the past protection was uh
Speaker 1: for Burrow against the Titans now, he was sacked nine times,
Speaker 1: and he had one sack that got wiped off by
Speaker 1: a delay of game and another sack that got wiped away.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember what happened. There was a oh
Speaker 1: I wish I remember, But basically you could easily gotten
Speaker 1: up to eleven sacks on him. And I just think,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna have to score five touchdowns to win
Speaker 1: this game, you have to be very clean and very
Speaker 1: effective upfront. And the last time we saw them, they
Speaker 1: simply were not. It's fair, but they haven't really been
Speaker 1: any different all year. It's not like it's new players
Speaker 1: or new injuries. They gave up I think the most
Speaker 1: amount of sacks in the NFL in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I just thought I saw a different aggressiveness out of
Speaker 1: Cincinnati in that Chiefs game, and I don't think they
Speaker 1: needed it the last couple of weeks. I guess I'm
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this team more as a whole, and
Speaker 1: just when they have the ball, they have a big
Speaker 1: time advantage, I think, and and I think the opposite
Speaker 1: is obviously true and maybe even more so. But if
Speaker 1: I had to choose which defense I trust like a
Speaker 1: little bit more right now, it's actually the Bengals. Now,
Speaker 1: if I choose the offense I trust more, it's absolutely
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. But I don't think it's some sort of
Speaker 1: crazy mismatch just because it's because it's two, because the
Speaker 1: Bengals have this office, and because Jamaar Chase changes everything.
Speaker 1: I almost think his greatness because it's a little hard
Speaker 1: to figure out, like why is he so great again?
Speaker 1: You know, like he he doesn't jump off the screen
Speaker 1: in terms of just raw speed. It's sort of like
Speaker 1: the subtle movements he makes, you know, kind of like
Speaker 1: an Antonio Brown almost where guys just take the wrong angle.
Speaker 1: Like in the first game, you know who he crushed
Speaker 1: a couple of times was Tyron Matthew. So even if
Speaker 1: Matthews back in this game, and we don't know if
Speaker 1: he is very well, might not be because of that concussion.
Speaker 1: Like they flamed, he flamed Matthew who took terrible angles
Speaker 1: chases shown he can run the entire rout tree. And
Speaker 1: when you have a guy that good and he is
Speaker 1: historically good, uh he he is right there with Randy
Speaker 1: Moss as the as the best rookie receiver of all time,
Speaker 1: and he shows he can do everything. That's a great
Speaker 1: place to start with a mismatch. And I just feel
Speaker 1: like when they have the ball, it's a mismatch. So
Speaker 1: I kind of like them to put up a lot
Speaker 1: of points in this I'm with you that it's I
Speaker 1: could see it being high scoring. Like I'm not looking
Speaker 1: at a blowout. But the Chiefs team that I saw
Speaker 1: last week has moved into a different world than the
Speaker 1: team we were dealing with for a long time. I mean,
Speaker 1: they effortlessly had put up forty plus two weeks in
Speaker 1: a row. That's the first team to do that in
Speaker 1: the in the playoffs. Since the Buffalo Bills, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's there's been a lot of good teams since then.
Speaker 1: They're on fire. And I don't know if I trust
Speaker 1: this Bengals defense. Yes, they they generated turnovers last week,
Speaker 1: and I think they confused Ryan Tannehill and played a
Speaker 1: great game and helped that gave they gave their offense
Speaker 1: a chance. But I don't know if you stop Kansas
Speaker 1: City more than twice in this game, I just don't
Speaker 1: with the way that they're operating right now, Like how
Speaker 1: like what it? To me? This Bengals defense is fine.
Speaker 1: They're middle of the pack type squad to some degree.
Speaker 1: They had one sack and five pressures last week. And
Speaker 1: to Dan's point about the protection, when the Chiefs played
Speaker 1: the Bengals the first time, they had four sacks and
Speaker 1: twenty two pressures. So I don't I hear that Frank
Speaker 1: Clark and Chris jones Um have not been at their
Speaker 1: prime selves. But this is the kind of game where
Speaker 1: one of those guys probably will blow up and have
Speaker 1: a chance to be a total game changer, and they did.
Speaker 1: They did get pressure on the Bengals last week. Now,
Speaker 1: Burrows awesome against pressure. And I think the one thing
Speaker 1: that the Bengals have, to Dan's point, and just sort
Speaker 1: of they are daring do their fancy free right now.
Speaker 1: It maybe they don't belong here, but it certainly seems
Speaker 1: like they do some weeks. And it's something about Burrow,
Speaker 1: like their offensive coordinator basically said, look at if Burrow's
Speaker 1: got to get hit at this stage, Joe Burrow is
Speaker 1: fine with that. We're gonna do whatever it takes ron
Speaker 1: the razors edge. We're gonna get out of these games.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna look perfect, it's just who we are,
Speaker 1: and Burrow does seems completely unshaken. That's what I love
Speaker 1: about the most hit the way he's responded to those
Speaker 1: nine sacks a week ago. Other quarterbacks would have been
Speaker 1: in a completely different world. They didn't. I mean, they
Speaker 1: didn't uh break twenty points last week, so they were
Speaker 1: slowed down absolutely uh. And if the Chiefs are able
Speaker 1: to do anything close, it's gonna be lopsided now by
Speaker 1: the way. I do think even though he got put
Speaker 1: in a blender the last time they met, I think
Speaker 1: um Tyrone Matthew is a very important part of that defense.
Speaker 1: He um returned to practice on Thursday, and you read
Speaker 1: on Wednesday spoke optimistically, So I think Honey Badger is
Speaker 1: going to be back, and like Mark saying, like guys
Speaker 1: like Honey Badger, guys like Chris Jones. These are guys
Speaker 1: that you know, the big time players tend to step
Speaker 1: up when it counts most, so invisible efforts from them,
Speaker 1: I would be surprised. Uh. We we should hear from
Speaker 1: the Westling Brothers, by the way, because they've been handling
Speaker 1: their Lock of the Week picks and that lock of
Speaker 1: the lock belt is wide open after mark big lock
Speaker 1: off victory in the divisional playoffs. Uh. The spoiler to
Speaker 1: this is the Westling Brothers. Let's see what they have
Speaker 1: to say about this game. Hey guys, it's Nick here.
Speaker 1: After another quality lock last week, we're down too with
Speaker 1: two to play in the competition. It's amazing. All I've
Speaker 1: heard this week is how the two best young quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the league had to play each other in the
Speaker 1: divisional round and it's such a shame one of them
Speaker 1: had to lose. All you media types drolling over Alan
Speaker 1: and the homes, Oh, we feel so blessed to be
Speaker 1: able to watch these two of Hall of Famers, answering
Speaker 1: their pride. Enough of it. I told all three of
Speaker 1: you before the playoffs, this was the beginning of Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow being the best quarterback in the league. And he's
Speaker 1: gonna show it again this week. Grady and Rodgers on
Speaker 1: their way out, Burrow on his way up. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lock it up. Oh yeah, I'll be in
Speaker 1: l A next week. Hopefully we'll see you there. Oh
Speaker 1: look at that get together with Nick Westling next week.
Speaker 1: I don't know. He just told you to suck on it,
Speaker 1: so I'm not sure where you're relation. That's all right,
Speaker 1: that's all in. That's in good sport. When I when
Speaker 1: I assassinate him on the cornhole boards when he's out here,
Speaker 1: and then we'll, uh, I'll settle that battle as well.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love the confidence. It's it's confidence.
Speaker 1: It's just like Cincinnati. It's just like the Bengals themselves.
Speaker 1: At this point. It's like, Hey, we're playing with house money.
Speaker 1: We're feeling good, we're feeling confident. I think his point.
Speaker 1: I see his point. I think Alan and Mahomes personally
Speaker 1: are at a higher plane than Burrow, but that can
Speaker 1: change as soon as Sunday. If Burrow does light up
Speaker 1: the Chiefs and take this Cincinnati team from the seller
Speaker 1: last season and complete knee reconstruction recovery in the off
Speaker 1: season to the super Bowl, oh yes, he has reached
Speaker 1: the upper reaches of the superstar club. That's fun. That said,
Speaker 1: uh I, as I hinted to Mark or told him
Speaker 1: out right, I am locking up the Chiefs. I do
Speaker 1: it with a little bit. It's a little bit of
Speaker 1: trepidation because I would absolutely be down with Cincinnati going
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. I love it. I love the
Speaker 1: West High into it. I know Lakisha is rooting hard
Speaker 1: for it, so um that part of it makes it
Speaker 1: a little bitter sweet for me. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I'm trying to win a title. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to put that trophy right here, and I'm riding
Speaker 1: my home. So I'm locking up the Chiefs and I'll
Speaker 1: put it at thirty eight. I think that's you know,
Speaker 1: you've gotten this far with completely respectable and admirable um
Speaker 1: played in so it's it's it's in your natural right
Speaker 1: to lock up the Chiefs. And you know there's only
Speaker 1: one thing, like you didn't think it was admirable a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, and Greg went after him struggled. Maybe
Speaker 1: that turned the tide? Is that how? I hope that
Speaker 1: translated that correctly. Um, there's only one thing I can do.
Speaker 1: But you know what, I kind of feel wonderful about
Speaker 1: this because A we're all we've all been thinking about
Speaker 1: um Wes in in joined fashion. Whenever we think about
Speaker 1: the Bengals, we think about his brothers, we think about
Speaker 1: it all. If this is where I go down, UM,
Speaker 1: I couldn't be more excited to lock up the Bengals
Speaker 1: and just test faith and tell the football gods maybe
Speaker 1: for once you do something that pleases me, not just you.
Speaker 1: Let's see what happens. You know what. This is the
Speaker 1: threshold for Joe Burrow. This is like watching the rise
Speaker 1: of Jim Kelly. This is like watching Mahomes bloom, Like
Speaker 1: what young Aaron Rodgers. This is the next version of that.
Speaker 1: Will it happen this weekend? We'll find out its last.
Speaker 1: The last couple lock championships were clinched there by Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: I believe the round before, but generally I was just
Speaker 1: riding the Chiefs throughout the last three playoffs. I remember
Speaker 1: West was annoyed with it initially, um and uh and
Speaker 1: they they deliver that that's what they do. And it
Speaker 1: is crazy too to root against them, which I will
Speaker 1: be on Sunday because mahomes right now is it's like
Speaker 1: the rest of the game is in slow motion for him.
Speaker 1: He didn't have he didn't throw a pass over twenty
Speaker 1: yards last week, which is crazy for the first time
Speaker 1: in his career. It's like they did the too deep
Speaker 1: safety thing and he he solved and he ran and
Speaker 1: he's so hard to get down. I thought that was
Speaker 1: like the kind of the sneaky key to that game
Speaker 1: was they actually got pressure on him and he's just
Speaker 1: like he's like in the matrix or something where everything
Speaker 1: is in slow motion. It's like, how do you beat
Speaker 1: that guy? Uh? And maybe you beat him with Jeremy
Speaker 1: Bates and a Whoosia and Hilton They made other things
Speaker 1: in his life are like that. It's like he drive
Speaker 1: in slow motion? Does he play like a video game?
Speaker 1: Is everything slow when he sees it that way too?
Speaker 1: I'm curious when people say that these great quarterbacks the
Speaker 1: game slows down like him almost more than any other
Speaker 1: player was like guys were just like flying around at
Speaker 1: his feet and he was about to do some crazy
Speaker 1: arm angle and it was just like he was in
Speaker 1: total control. He was. He got almost overshadowed in that game,
Speaker 1: and he was perfect like he was. I would say
Speaker 1: not more than any other player, because when I think
Speaker 1: of like everything operating in slow motion around a quarterback,
Speaker 1: I think Aaron Rodgers at the top of the list.
Speaker 1: He was right there unless since January, right, and Rodgers
Speaker 1: is patting that ball, patting that ball, he's staring at
Speaker 1: Devote Adams, right, Aaron Rodgers can slowly work on his
Speaker 1: mullet for the next five months. Sam Howard's got to
Speaker 1: step up. Hendrickson's got to step up. They got to
Speaker 1: create some pressure. They're on the field every down. Bates
Speaker 1: has been great, he's got to step up. And Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: it's just gotta make us. They just gotta make like
Speaker 1: one or two times. And Joe Burrow has got to
Speaker 1: do something that Nick spoke to it where when everyone's
Speaker 1: talking about the others, it's like, even coming into this game,
Speaker 1: no one really believes in Joe Row at this level.
Speaker 1: I just mean to like win this game, to cover,
Speaker 1: to be at Mahomes level, to outduel Mahomes even though
Speaker 1: he just did it three weeks ago, and one of
Speaker 1: us people Greg and it's like you kind of got
Speaker 1: to see it. So it's like you could say, oh,
Speaker 1: he's already as good as Mahomes and Johns, Well, why
Speaker 1: don't we wait until Sunday? And if he is, then
Speaker 1: he is. I'm not there yet, but I'm there that
Speaker 1: he can do it for one week. And uh, I'm
Speaker 1: there that this Chief's defense is gonna be disappointing again.
Speaker 1: And I'm there that we're gonna get another classic game
Speaker 1: coming down to the wire. And that's why it's gonna
Speaker 1: be raining in on Sunday in Cincinnati. Seven points is
Speaker 1: a slap in the face to the West Lan. That's
Speaker 1: a slap in the face that Joe Burrow. He's covering
Speaker 1: that spread. They're gonna win this game too, but they'll
Speaker 1: definitely cover seven. Wow. I love it. Um Hey, Ricky
Speaker 1: jump in a second. Do you watch um Euphoria on HBO?
Speaker 1: I don't, actually, I quite like I know you watch it. Mark.
Speaker 1: It's upsetting. I like don't want to believe that high
Speaker 1: school could be like that nowadays. Hey, Okay, well then
Speaker 1: Ricky I'm done with you. Then I'm surprised and a
Speaker 1: little disappointed that I can't speak on this. Are you
Speaker 1: caught up Mark on euphor you I have? I have
Speaker 1: only missed the most recent episode, which I played even
Speaker 1: this afternoon. Episode three, season two is the best of
Speaker 1: the series so far. And at one point, one of
Speaker 1: the high school girls is laying by the pool wearing
Speaker 1: like these pink Designer sunglasses, and they're the exact Designer
Speaker 1: sunglasses that Joe Burrow wore during his postgame press conference
Speaker 1: on Sunday. I love that. That is unbelievable, a symbol
Speaker 1: of something. I want to read a quote just quickly
Speaker 1: from from Burrow this week. I'm tired. I'm tired of
Speaker 1: the underdog narrative. We're here to make noise. Teams are
Speaker 1: gonna have to pay attention to himself. Like I said,
Speaker 1: we're really good team with really good players were coming
Speaker 1: forward off. I like that he throws that underdog stuff away.
Speaker 1: You can do this, you can. Did you lock up
Speaker 1: the Bengal? Sorry? I know the rain Now, I just
Speaker 1: want I did pick them um on my game, picks
Speaker 1: on on the website. But let's be real, it's partly
Speaker 1: just because I want to be rooting for us and
Speaker 1: linkside why not? And I do believe that they'll cover.
Speaker 1: So if you're gonna, if you're gonna believe in that,
Speaker 1: then why not just go on. I do feel like
Speaker 1: the Mussolini of this podcast now these I believes the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't really on the Raiders. I was trying to.
Speaker 1: I was trying to search for an upset in that
Speaker 1: week one, the wild card round, and it just never
Speaker 1: really appeared. Well, I'm not saying you're coming from like
Speaker 1: a sinister angle again start feel good mission on any level,
Speaker 1: but I um, you'll be proud of me this time
Speaker 1: around on multiple platforms. I'm keeping the same pick across
Speaker 1: the board. I'm not doing the old whatever it's I have,
Speaker 1: and I'm very much like Greg maybe wish casting. I
Speaker 1: have thirty five thirty two Cincinnati, align with my lock
Speaker 1: in overtime, check your later smell your latter cases. I
Speaker 1: love the over here too. I love the over even
Speaker 1: even more you you have thirty five what was it,
Speaker 1: thirty thirty two? In ot So, the Chiefs get the ball,
Speaker 1: kick a field goal, and then the Beaver stop the
Speaker 1: Bengals would get Yeah, the Bengals would win with one
Speaker 1: field goal in overtime unless they change the rules between
Speaker 1: now kickoff. I have thirty three thirty one, I believe
Speaker 1: on the old website over time, over time with the seven,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna go one last. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna go for four. Remember how that game ended in
Speaker 1: week seventeen, how they didn't let my homes if if
Speaker 1: nothing I was. I kind of think they're gonna lose
Speaker 1: big or win because I think they're gonna go for
Speaker 1: fourth downs. They're gonna try, They're gonna have all the
Speaker 1: daring do as Mark would say on Andy, Reid's been
Speaker 1: punting a little bit on these fourth downs. An opponentary,
Speaker 1: I think Cincinnati knows they're gonna give up thirty and
Speaker 1: they're gonna play like it on offense. And whether that works.
Speaker 1: Because if I have thirty eight thirty two, Marcus thirty two,
Speaker 1: you have thirty three thirty one. My last thing was
Speaker 1: gonna be this could be forty two. It could. It
Speaker 1: absolutely could. The way the Chiefs play, they can run
Speaker 1: teams out of a building in the playoffs. Will see
Speaker 1: if it happens again, all Right, that's the a f C.
Speaker 1: Before we get to the NFC title game, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do some news personal carousel. But before that, let's take
Speaker 1: a break. All right, we are back and it is time, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: to hop aboard the NFL personnel carousel. Nine vacancies entering
Speaker 1: business hours traditional banking hours on Wednesday, but now they're
Speaker 1: starting to fill. The first one's up, Biggie, the Denver Broncos.
Speaker 1: They hire Nathaniel Hackett as head coach. How about that,
Speaker 1: Hackett who just a couple of weeks ago couldn't even
Speaker 1: get a head shot on NFL dot Com, leading to
Speaker 1: a lot of internal consternation for one particular on camera
Speaker 1: reporter uh. Three emails uh, you know, and around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast speculation and conversation with David Eally at the
Speaker 1: news desk. That got taken care of. And now Hackett,
Speaker 1: the Packers offensive coordinator previously, is the head coach. Hackett
Speaker 1: has worked with the quarterbacks at all phases on the
Speaker 1: development curve in his career. Uh. He was scheduled to
Speaker 1: interview with the Jags on Thursday, but the Broncos stepping
Speaker 1: Wednesday night get that deal done. And this is Greg
Speaker 1: Hackett's first stint as a head coach replaces Vick Faggio.
Speaker 1: Do you buy into any of the hype here that
Speaker 1: the green Bay quarterback coach might be able to lead
Speaker 1: Lore the green Bay quarterback? Yeah? I do. I do
Speaker 1: think that has to be the extra you know, drizzle
Speaker 1: of syrup on top of this Sunday, you know, like
Speaker 1: they know that might not be the difference or not,
Speaker 1: but absolutely they they want to go after Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and this is a huge plus. And they were deciding
Speaker 1: apparently between Hackett and Dan Quinn. Kevin O'Connell from the
Speaker 1: Rams was also another finalist, but it seemed like it
Speaker 1: was Hackett or Quinn and choosing the offensive guy just
Speaker 1: makes more sense. And oh, because you're gonna need a
Speaker 1: quarterback anyways this offseason if you don't get Rodgers, you
Speaker 1: need someone that can develop a quarterback. And Hacketts, you know,
Speaker 1: done it with Bleak Bordles. You know, they had a
Speaker 1: pretty good offense at some points and and Rogers loves them.
Speaker 1: So I just how could it not be a factor, right,
Speaker 1: I don't know, how could that not be? Did Denver
Speaker 1: make this higher, like making on the chance that this happens,
Speaker 1: because that would seem maybe he was a finalist. Jacksonville
Speaker 1: too that the reason they hired him today was Jacksonville
Speaker 1: was bringing him back for a second interview, and Ian
Speaker 1: reported at that point Denver was like, we gotta, we
Speaker 1: gotta make our decision now, and they wanted to get
Speaker 1: it done. You know, he he's actually I know it's
Speaker 1: you know, Blake Bortles and the Jaguars is just a constantly,
Speaker 1: you know, point and laugh scenario. But um, he did
Speaker 1: a really nice job that year they went to that
Speaker 1: AFC title game. Nathaniel Hackett showed creativity. Um he's really
Speaker 1: the one thing you hear over and over he is
Speaker 1: in incredibly smart, organized, and I thought, if you even
Speaker 1: go back to his earlier days with the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: he kind of helped create Tyrod Taylor into something as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's shown I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that whoever he's had to work with,
Speaker 1: he's done a nice job maximizing them. But I don't
Speaker 1: I'm so with Greg and I assume you as well,
Speaker 1: then like, how do you take this job? If you're
Speaker 1: Nathaniel Hackett? I love to know what he knows about
Speaker 1: I take the job. Ares there's a lot of great play.
Speaker 1: No no no, no, no, no, but but Greg, Greg, Greg,
Speaker 1: you all last season we're all about the Broncos with
Speaker 1: a what what I saw as a ceiling zero scenario quarterback.
Speaker 1: You lose jobs if you don't get that quarterback, you
Speaker 1: lose them in two or three to what you're saying, Mark,
Speaker 1: like when I talked about on Tuesday show the dan
Speaker 1: Quinn scenario. Who, by the way, it looks like dan
Speaker 1: Quinn now is going to stay in Dallas. I'm more men,
Speaker 1: if you are like you've already been fired once, you
Speaker 1: usually don't get more than two chances at it. Choose
Speaker 1: very carefully, ya. Daniel Hackett to me is maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit of a different category where you don't know
Speaker 1: how many chances you are going to get, how many
Speaker 1: bites you get out the apple. Now, you could say,
Speaker 1: maybe he should have given more thought or taken that
Speaker 1: extra interview with Jacksonville where you have a young, potentially
Speaker 1: dynamic quarterback and Trevor Lawrence. But perhaps there's more to
Speaker 1: this story than we know. I guess on the service
Speaker 1: that doesn't really move the needle. To me, as a
Speaker 1: higher if if you're we're throwing out names like developing
Speaker 1: of Blake Bordles and Tyrod Taylor, unless the Broncos and
Speaker 1: Hackett have a more grand plan that involves a certain
Speaker 1: number twelve. Otherwise I'm like, I guess good high well.
Speaker 1: And he comes from the coaching tree that's kind of
Speaker 1: dominating right now in the NFL. I mean, now he's
Speaker 1: part He not only was his dad, you know, Bill
Speaker 1: Walsh's right hand man, but he's now coming from the
Speaker 1: La Fleur Shannon. You know, he's had a mix of
Speaker 1: different influences and he's coming from that La Fleur experience,
Speaker 1: which is a plus. Connor Or wrote a great article
Speaker 1: about him. Uh, he seems he seems to be well
Speaker 1: liked by the media, which always makes me a little
Speaker 1: a little skeptical. You can tell, you can tell he
Speaker 1: does some work with the you know, pressing the flesh
Speaker 1: media wise, behind the scenes. But I do think it
Speaker 1: matters that they brought in the Packers quarterback coach for
Speaker 1: a head coach interview as well. I just think that
Speaker 1: there's something else happening here in that Nick Nathaniel Hackett
Speaker 1: not not seeing inside information. But you don't take this
Speaker 1: because Vick Fonjo just got fired for the no quarterback problem.
Speaker 1: Sorry he did, he wasn't because of his defense. And
Speaker 1: if you're Nathaniel Hackett, who is a lower level higher
Speaker 1: he's been in the league for just doing other stuff forever,
Speaker 1: you've got to know that there's a possibility that you're
Speaker 1: bringing the best quarterback and football to your team. I
Speaker 1: got Yeah. My my feeling on this is if that's
Speaker 1: if that's just you made this higher because it gives
Speaker 1: you the possibility of getting Rogers. Be careful there, but
Speaker 1: it's not like he's done enough and he has enough
Speaker 1: for resume where you're not like shipwrecked if you don't
Speaker 1: get Rogers. But at the same time, I wonder how
Speaker 1: much this really led to him getting this chair in Denver,
Speaker 1: and how desperate the Broncos are to finally solve their
Speaker 1: quarterback problem, even if that means going all out for
Speaker 1: a guy that's turning thirty nine or however Rodgers. Is
Speaker 1: this weird situation because there there should be new ownership
Speaker 1: this year, which is just difficult for everyone. I um.
Speaker 1: The Chicago Bears also have found their man. It is
Speaker 1: Matt eberf Loose, the Colts defensive coordinator Ira Fus is
Speaker 1: fifty one year old. He was also in the running
Speaker 1: for the Jaguars head coaching vacancy. He joins new manager
Speaker 1: Ryan Poles in taking over a Bears team that went
Speaker 1: six and eleven last year under Matt Naggy, Chicago team
Speaker 1: that is dreadfully boring, that's missed the playoffs nine in
Speaker 1: the past eleven years, but does have justin fields there.
Speaker 1: So when we talk about this again, all right, you
Speaker 1: have a dynamic young quarterback, very raw, but a lot
Speaker 1: of potential, So Ebra Fluce gets to come in and
Speaker 1: maybe keep that defense where it is or take it
Speaker 1: up a notch um. He could use some more players
Speaker 1: on that side of the ball too, But you also
Speaker 1: have this young quarterback. So this this is a Greg
Speaker 1: to me, a better job opening than Denver on some level.
Speaker 1: But also there's a lot of dysfunction in Chicago and
Speaker 1: it's been that way for a while, so buyer beware
Speaker 1: here as well. Yeah, one question that they're not going
Speaker 1: to answer is how much influence did Ryan Poles the
Speaker 1: GM have in this higher They were already they already
Speaker 1: interviewed finalists before they had a GM. We've talked a
Speaker 1: lot about I think the way to do it is
Speaker 1: have your coaching GM aligned in the same hiring cycle.
Speaker 1: But I also think that the GM should be, you know,
Speaker 1: part of the head coaching higher and you just don't
Speaker 1: know if how much influence Polls had, because for instance,
Speaker 1: he's had experience with other people that interviewed for that job.
Speaker 1: We don't know if ownership was making the decision. I
Speaker 1: think that's a safe assumption, or if it was his
Speaker 1: polls and he was helping to pick the tiebreaker. The
Speaker 1: most important part of any head coaching job, I think
Speaker 1: is something that's impossible for us to evaluate before they're
Speaker 1: hired or even after. Frankly, it's like, how do you
Speaker 1: lead a team? How do you organize, how do you plan?
Speaker 1: How do you hire? Eberflus's scheme in Indianapolis didn't blow
Speaker 1: you away. I mean, they were aggressive and had forced
Speaker 1: a lot of turnovers, but they weren't a great defense.
Speaker 1: They were fine, you know what I mean. So it
Speaker 1: doesn't get you too excited. But people seem to love
Speaker 1: Maddie for Flus, he was maybe gonna you know, he
Speaker 1: was a finalist in Jacksonville. Two people around the league
Speaker 1: love this dude, So maybe he's great at all that
Speaker 1: stuff and they and they see that. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. It's not like we understand the eber
Speaker 1: Flu scheme is something that's taking revolution that you know
Speaker 1: over the league. But I think the thing is, I
Speaker 1: mean a it's very Bears like to replace Matt and
Speaker 1: Ryan with another Matt and Ryan. It's it's a very
Speaker 1: um on Brandon for the Bears. And some Bears fan
Speaker 1: was anticipating this moment. Did you see that tweet? We
Speaker 1: got it right before we started. I believe he was
Speaker 1: very he was very upset. I can't wait to hear
Speaker 1: the hard hitting, in depth analysis of this Bears pick.
Speaker 1: His name is Matt. I don't like it, Dure Well,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I didn't mean I. First of all, it
Speaker 1: might be a guy. I like the analysis. I don't
Speaker 1: like this guy. I I would say this, like you.
Speaker 1: The only thing about hiring a defensive coach in in
Speaker 1: two um, I mean, it's worked for the it's worked
Speaker 1: for the Bills, and they found the right see the groom,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. So it's like the whole point here was
Speaker 1: we finally have a quarterback. Who are you going to
Speaker 1: marry with Justin Fields for the next five seven years
Speaker 1: in theory, and it's Matt Eberflus is not the first
Speaker 1: person I would have picked for that journey. So it's
Speaker 1: really important what they do. And to your point, where
Speaker 1: like these guys, they have to in these interviews explain
Speaker 1: here's who I can hire as as my staff. You
Speaker 1: don't find out after you hire, so they must be impressed.
Speaker 1: Although I don't know who they is because Bears upper
Speaker 1: management seems totally lost in the forest to me. But
Speaker 1: there must be some answers to what the plan is
Speaker 1: for Justin Fields reports that the Eagles passing game coordinator
Speaker 1: Kevin Patulo is okay. I mean they ran the ball
Speaker 1: more than any team in the league and we're lost
Speaker 1: as a passing team. But will I have a nice favorite.
Speaker 1: I know who they can hire, get Ben Macadoo to
Speaker 1: lead their offense. Well, he was hired from the trade Forum,
Speaker 1: from the piece of rock Star. It really is funny
Speaker 1: to think of that. Jay Glazer report that they need
Speaker 1: to hire a rock Star coordinator. Also, Um was close
Speaker 1: with I'm forgetting his name. There is there are some
Speaker 1: weird rumors about who we might hire Okay, Well, stick
Speaker 1: a pin in that. Mark and Jason Garrett, that's on
Speaker 1: my mind that he was take out the axe again.
Speaker 1: Give me a tasty lick, Ricky, Jason Garrett. I there's
Speaker 1: people concerned that he'd do that. I'd um. And since
Speaker 1: we've mentioned the Jacksonville Jaguars twice now and both these
Speaker 1: um head coach coaching carousel, personnel carousel scenarios, where are
Speaker 1: they at? You know, they hired they fired Urban Meyer
Speaker 1: like what feels like about three years ago. Long time
Speaker 1: Cardinals beat man Mike directly reports that the Cardinals executive
Speaker 1: Adrian Wilson will become the next general manager of the team.
Speaker 1: And that's important because reports have it that Byron Leftwich
Speaker 1: was all set to become the head coach of the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: The Jags wanted him, but he said, I want to
Speaker 1: be the coach of the Jaguars, but I won't do
Speaker 1: it if Trent Balkys the GM, which obviously was quite
Speaker 1: a wrench for a shot Khan and Jacksonville, who for
Speaker 1: some reason remain committed to Balki for the time being.
Speaker 1: So let's see how this all shakes out. I just
Speaker 1: thought we could wait and talk about this when it
Speaker 1: becomes a final next week. But it seems like something
Speaker 1: that could be eminent, and it all is connected, So Greg,
Speaker 1: where do you take all this? There's been some premature
Speaker 1: reporting and and I would put the directly report in
Speaker 1: that it might prove to be correct, but at least
Speaker 1: our network. Other networks are saying that's not finalized in
Speaker 1: terms of Wilson, but yeah, it's us and he like
Speaker 1: what everyone said that Balki was a a wrench here
Speaker 1: in what the Jaguars are trying to do has proven true.
Speaker 1: Supposedly multiple coaches turned down the interview at all, and
Speaker 1: uh I appreciate Left, which kind of standing up for
Speaker 1: what he believes in and it doesn't want to get
Speaker 1: caught in a bad situation. Balki has been a little
Speaker 1: bit of a coach killer, and he worked with Adrian
Speaker 1: Wilson who was a badass player with the Cardinals and
Speaker 1: now is apparently a badass GM That would be a
Speaker 1: very likable combo. And supposedly they're interviewing Vic Fongio to
Speaker 1: maybe be the defensive coordinator give me Left, which Adrian
Speaker 1: Wilson two guys I enjoyed watching play, you know, now
Speaker 1: we're old enough. Like that was while we were actually
Speaker 1: working in this in this business and Fonio and I'll
Speaker 1: be a Jaguars fan. I like that likability. It doesn't
Speaker 1: put Lombardi trophies in the lobby, I mean, but it's
Speaker 1: what else do I know about this thing? You know?
Speaker 1: Left Which could do it? Why not? He? It seems
Speaker 1: great so strongly about Adrian Wilson, but he really I
Speaker 1: covered that. I was the NBC like guy covering the
Speaker 1: Cardinals that week, and so I sort of fell in
Speaker 1: love with that team. And he was the captain of
Speaker 1: that team in the leader in left Wich? Who doesn't
Speaker 1: like Byron Leftwich? Come on, in Vic Fongio, you get
Speaker 1: left Which on offense? Why do I have to love
Speaker 1: Byron Leftwich? I don't know. He was a likable player.
Speaker 1: He was a fun player. He was a likable guy.
Speaker 1: He's he was a likable one of the more enjoyable,
Speaker 1: you know, tremendous personality. He's funny, just garius as hell.
Speaker 1: Remember when they carried him down the field that Marshall
Speaker 1: That was unbelievable on a bum leg. He was a
Speaker 1: warrior on that Marshall team, the Thundering Herd. Alright, I'm
Speaker 1: just being um alright, that's what's going on in the news.
Speaker 1: Let's now move on to the a f C Championship game.
Speaker 1: Unless anybody else had any other nug from around the league. Well,
Speaker 1: we've actually got a developing situation here, Ricky hit It Hall.
Speaker 1: There's been a surprise press conference called oh where for
Speaker 1: Dan Hansas. Oh, Dan Hansas is closing in on the
Speaker 1: Locks championship and uh, he's just gonna take some questions
Speaker 1: from the crowd. Wow, what's going on here? Um? Dan,
Speaker 1: You've you had a five game or a three game
Speaker 1: lead with five to play at that point, looked like
Speaker 1: it was all but your trophy to win the leads
Speaker 1: down to one two weeks ago. Um, what is your
Speaker 1: confidence level after giving up this big of a lead?
Speaker 1: A little Rams like? Yeah, it is little Rams like Greg,
Speaker 1: But also see, I'm like one of those guys that
Speaker 1: I know the name names of the media guys and
Speaker 1: that makes me more likable and it actually gives me
Speaker 1: a little bit of gravity toss. Uh yeah, Greg, I
Speaker 1: understand that. And um, but you have to remember the
Speaker 1: Rams won that ballgame and nobody remembers the collapse anymore.
Speaker 1: Because here they are playing for the right to go
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl. So while things have gotten more interesting,
Speaker 1: I certainly feel confident. Who's that, Erica? Hey Dan, I
Speaker 1: just wanna great season. By the way, it's been really
Speaker 1: a joy to watch you play. However, I do kind
Speaker 1: of want to dig in a little bit. Do you
Speaker 1: have any remorse looking back on some of your picks
Speaker 1: where maybe the mainstream media was sort of saying that
Speaker 1: you you walked a fine line of you know, let's
Speaker 1: say ernest look in the mirror picks. Hey, Erica, that's
Speaker 1: a fair question. Uh. You know, I played by the
Speaker 1: rules and the rules of the lock challenges, keep it
Speaker 1: under seven points, but most importantly, pick the team you
Speaker 1: feel most confident about and whatever that uh fell under
Speaker 1: those two categories. That's typically where I went, and that's
Speaker 1: why I have a winning percentage north of seven hundred. So, Uh,
Speaker 1: I have no regrets. I feel like I played the
Speaker 1: game the right way and hopefully things go my way.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna do my best. Thanks anything else, um, Uh,
Speaker 1: Dan Gregg and the other guy, the other guy. All right,
Speaker 1: So I think that sets up my question, Well, do
Speaker 1: you think that you know as essentially pr focused host
Speaker 1: of the show, that the contest essentially never had any
Speaker 1: chance to go to anyone but you, because we would
Speaker 1: have cooked up various other scenarios had I gotten into
Speaker 1: a tie situation. I sense a lot of overconfidence. I
Speaker 1: do think there have been some weeks where your picks
Speaker 1: have been Had I made the pick that you picked,
Speaker 1: would there have been maybe, Haymark, where is your mirror?
Speaker 1: But when Dan picks it, the mirror is put into
Speaker 1: the closet and we are going arount this. I just
Speaker 1: do things to win. I just am a results or
Speaker 1: in an individual. I don't even know what the question
Speaker 1: is answer, although answer those charges please, Thanks for the question. Mark. Again,
Speaker 1: I played by the rules of the game. I make
Speaker 1: sure it's within the spread. I picked the team that
Speaker 1: I feel good about, and I understand your journey and
Speaker 1: this competition maybe is the one that people get behind. UM.
Speaker 1: It's more up and down. There's certainly more peaks and valleys.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to bother you that I'm sort of
Speaker 1: the what you know, the people's they're backing this sort
Speaker 1: of mission. They see this this UM, this joy for sport.
Speaker 1: As I picked these games week after week. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for the question. Mark. You know it doesn't bother
Speaker 1: me because I think you're a great competitor and I
Speaker 1: consider you a friend, and I just I think if
Speaker 1: people see that you're um someone that's fun to track
Speaker 1: in this way, that makes me happy because I think
Speaker 1: that you deserve that and I want people to be
Speaker 1: on that right path. Anyway, I'm just gonna do what
Speaker 1: I do. I'm just gonna do my best. One game,
Speaker 1: one more, I got time for Dan's got time for
Speaker 1: one more? All right, Dan? Greg Um, you know you've
Speaker 1: probably been the longest biggest proponent of the locks competition
Speaker 1: through the year, according to lock it Up a t
Speaker 1: M lock ups on Twitter. Um, you've actually never won
Speaker 1: the trophy by yourself. You've only shared it with others
Speaker 1: only only Greg, two time defending champion by the way,
Speaker 1: uh and Mark has won it by themselfs Uh do
Speaker 1: you need this trophy to fill a hole in your resume?
Speaker 1: In in your heart? Thanks for the question, Greg, I
Speaker 1: you know I have two titles in they're both ties,
Speaker 1: and nobody likes a tie. Uh. You know when Steve
Speaker 1: McNair and Peyton Manning shared m v P. Let's be honest,
Speaker 1: that was a disgrace. Neither won it. I would say
Speaker 1: incinerate at the award. Uh So, yeah it does. There
Speaker 1: is a hole in my resume, and that's why, in fact,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna clear it right now. I'm gonna move.
Speaker 1: I'm moving, making the space on the shelf behind me
Speaker 1: because I think I need that. I think, and I
Speaker 1: think I know that's not maybe something that the answer
Speaker 1: that I should give. But if I don't have it,
Speaker 1: if I don't have that trophy, I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: full and complete as a man. So I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: at a time, one game at a time. We want
Speaker 1: our athletes to be honest, and so I think you know,
Speaker 1: whether athlete or or front office type figure or whatever
Speaker 1: it is you are. Uh. We appreciate the frank responses
Speaker 1: to these questions. You are a great competitor. Greg, Thanks, Gregg,
Speaker 1: and Mark, thanks so much, and uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: hope to see uh down the road. Thanks everybody. All right,
Speaker 1: we'll be right back. All right, It's time to get
Speaker 1: to it. Man. That press conference, that one caught me
Speaker 1: by surprise a little bit. Not too often you're actually
Speaker 1: on the podium for a surprise press conference. Right. That
Speaker 1: was I think it was necessary and you know it's
Speaker 1: it is a process and the I got behind the
Speaker 1: Packers and I felt really good about it. But uh,
Speaker 1: I got double crossed by Aaron Rodgers. But who hasn't
Speaker 1: asked his family and literally everyone else close in his life. Sorry, Greg, No,
Speaker 1: I mean that you you finally made this is now
Speaker 1: the breakout group, you know where that you do a
Speaker 1: podium thing and it's like, uh, the PR guys like
Speaker 1: all right, just the beat guys, Just the beat guys
Speaker 1: with Dan. And it's in the little the little circle
Speaker 1: with the beat guys. And and I'm giving you a
Speaker 1: little bit more. And now I'm sharing that Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: profoundly to me, and I'm not going to ever forget it.
Speaker 1: That's where the little fodder comes from. The six yards
Speaker 1: away from the podium, didn't Mr Drayton was I forget
Speaker 1: his first name? The special teams coordinator of the Packers
Speaker 1: also didn't help you out very much. He certainly didn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's get to it. The NFC Championship game. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: you know I think it's uh, well, it looks like
Speaker 1: Mark Greg is gonna lock up one of these teams
Speaker 1: but Greg obviously has been playing out the string for
Speaker 1: roughly three months. So this is a game that's very
Speaker 1: tough to feel strongly about one way or the other here, Greg,
Speaker 1: because the Rams on the surface here we've got Rams,
Speaker 1: of course, and the Rams on the surface feel like
Speaker 1: the better roster. They have the quarterback that's playing at
Speaker 1: a higher level. They're well coached there at home. And
Speaker 1: yet it's hard to look the other way for uncertain things.
Speaker 1: It's hard to look at the less six meetings between
Speaker 1: these teams how it turned out. It's hard to look
Speaker 1: the other way on Week eight team, what happened in
Speaker 1: that game. It's hard to look the other way on
Speaker 1: what happened at so FI Stadium in Week eight team
Speaker 1: when the Niners filled that building up. All these things
Speaker 1: put together makes you think that San Francisco has it.
Speaker 1: And yet the Desert has the Rams as a favorite
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, and they they became a slightly bigger
Speaker 1: favorite during the week. It went from three to three
Speaker 1: and a half, which indicates the public has actually been
Speaker 1: or the sharps as they would say, I've been betting
Speaker 1: the Rams. Who knows. I can understand it though, because
Speaker 1: despite the matchup going the opposite way. One's got an
Speaker 1: injured quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo who's thrown u two touchdowns and
Speaker 1: six interceptions in the last four weeks. That's his aggregate totals,
Speaker 1: and it gets even worse if you you know, include
Speaker 1: some of the turnover worthy plays, including many in Green
Speaker 1: Bay last week. And then more importantly, Stafford is on
Speaker 1: a heater and I think that week a teen game
Speaker 1: after looking at it again this week, he played great
Speaker 1: against the forty. He was the reason they made it
Speaker 1: to overtime. And I know he threw two interceptions in
Speaker 1: that game, but he also made five or six throws
Speaker 1: against pressure, a couple of them to Cooper Cup on
Speaker 1: third downs that not many quarterbacks can make. And so
Speaker 1: I think he comes into this game feeling very confident.
Speaker 1: And I liked the way that Sean McVeigh early in
Speaker 1: that game and early against the Buccaneers against a good
Speaker 1: run defense, and that's what they have, just like the
Speaker 1: Bucks went very past heavy. I think Stafford's had a
Speaker 1: nice balance of knowing when to be aggressive and when
Speaker 1: to be patient. It just comes down to protecting him.
Speaker 1: I think the game comes down to the Rams offensive line,
Speaker 1: that's been the the difference in this matchup over the
Speaker 1: last three years. It was definitely the difference in Week eighteen.
Speaker 1: His offensive line got worked, they got pushed around in
Speaker 1: the running game, and they got too much pressure on Stafford,
Speaker 1: who had to make plays despite all that pressure. If
Speaker 1: the Rams offensive line plays well, they win. I think
Speaker 1: it's as simple as that. If they don't and they
Speaker 1: keep losing this matchup, then I think it comes down
Speaker 1: to the end and it's a great game. I'm with
Speaker 1: you because you know, the the Niners, who are not
Speaker 1: a big blitzing team, lead the all postseason teams in
Speaker 1: pressure rate. They've had ten plus QB pressures in seven
Speaker 1: straight games, including the playoffs, ten sacks in the postseason.
Speaker 1: They have been wrecking quarterbacks. They have been causing chaos,
Speaker 1: and yet the Rams in reverse, Aaron Donald has not
Speaker 1: really shown up this season against the Niners. It's been
Speaker 1: his two of his four worst PF grades to have
Speaker 1: come against San Francisco. We know, outside of the seventeen
Speaker 1: nothing start that the Rams had in that last game,
Speaker 1: that they've been essentially dominated by the full team of
Speaker 1: the Niners, and it's it feels a bit like we
Speaker 1: say this about sanf Cisco week after week, but it
Speaker 1: does come down to you. I think which quarterback in
Speaker 1: this game makes the more killer mistakes. Stafford has two
Speaker 1: picks in each games against the Niners. One was that
Speaker 1: terrible pick six, But but Garoppolo has been They've been
Speaker 1: winning to spite him, and I mean, I kind of
Speaker 1: love the Niners for that, because it would be a
Speaker 1: reason to like eject or seat any other team out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs entirely. I mean, he's gonna throw two
Speaker 1: or three passes a game that utterly assassinate you, and
Speaker 1: you've got to get past it. But they have shown
Speaker 1: total ability to get past it. I mean, they should
Speaker 1: not have won that game last week, but it was
Speaker 1: a total team effort, special teams, the whole thing. And
Speaker 1: I do feel with the Rams team a little bit
Speaker 1: that that last game, they got up seventeen and nothing
Speaker 1: and you had watch Sean McVeigh running down the sidelines
Speaker 1: to congratulate Stafford in the end zone. It was like
Speaker 1: this huge emotional release. Then they blew the lead and
Speaker 1: you go pack. Last week they looked like they had
Speaker 1: done the same thing to the Bucks and they blew
Speaker 1: the lead. So I just don't know psychologically in a
Speaker 1: stadium where they're saying right now certain ticket vendors that
Speaker 1: they project a sixty Niners crowd and you've got Sean
Speaker 1: McVeigh at the podium begging Rams fans not to sell
Speaker 1: the ticket. I don't love the juju around that. UM.
Speaker 1: I do think this is a case where one team
Speaker 1: has got into the head of the other team. But
Speaker 1: maybe the Rams, who have been so special in certain
Speaker 1: ways in this postseason, are past all that. None of
Speaker 1: that matters if they can take care of business here.
Speaker 1: But I don't like the fact that they built that
Speaker 1: lead in a perfect first half and then fell apart
Speaker 1: last time. I'm I'm on the side of I think
Speaker 1: the Niners are in their heads. I think that I
Speaker 1: think that you could look at the end of that
Speaker 1: game against the Bucks and say, wow, that's amazing with
Speaker 1: Stafford and Cup were able to do there and steal
Speaker 1: that game after almost giving it away. And that's true,
Speaker 1: and you have to give a lot of credit. And
Speaker 1: maybe Sean McVeigh learns from how that game played out
Speaker 1: when he got super conservative just trying to run the
Speaker 1: clock out, UM, and he probably would have He probably
Speaker 1: would have been fine if if not for the cup
Speaker 1: fumble and the second fumble by Acres, But that's not
Speaker 1: how things work that sports. And it's just like I
Speaker 1: just think, no matter what happens early in this game,
Speaker 1: the Rams know and the Niners know that this game,
Speaker 1: even if the Rams go ahead, that the Niners are
Speaker 1: gonna keep coming. And it all all comes down to
Speaker 1: because I think Garoppolo was bad last week in Green Bay,
Speaker 1: and there were reasons for that beyond just that he's
Speaker 1: not that great. Maybe the weather green based defense. They
Speaker 1: had two field goal drives on offense, and they were
Speaker 1: bailed out essentially by special Team's miracle in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Ken Garoppolo make enough plays and get it to his
Speaker 1: playmakers were saying it every week, and we saw last
Speaker 1: week even when he didn't, they still won. But I
Speaker 1: think the difference here is is that I don't think
Speaker 1: the Rams are going to gag the way the Packers
Speaker 1: did last week. So I think this is a game
Speaker 1: that they're going to have to score points. Do they
Speaker 1: score points? Greg? Do you think they could score the
Speaker 1: let's say twenty four necessary to win this game? I
Speaker 1: had I had him on twenty four. I have the under.
Speaker 1: I like the under in this game. I like both
Speaker 1: defenses to make this a little more of a defensive
Speaker 1: game because I think both pass rushers should win. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Rams front is just as good as the forty
Speaker 1: Niners right now. Von Miller is playing incredible and and
Speaker 1: we we've talked about the rest of the group. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Shanahan does a good job going again away from their
Speaker 1: strengths Ramsey, he kind of avoids Ramsey. Ramsey did not
Speaker 1: have a good week a team game, particularly against UM
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and yet I think their pass rush is
Speaker 1: gonna be great. Jimmy g has to get rid of
Speaker 1: the ball so quickly. It comes down to tackling for
Speaker 1: the forty Niners, like when you play the forty Niners.
Speaker 1: And that's something I'll be curious to see because wet
Speaker 1: All came in and played sixty snaps last week. He's
Speaker 1: too good now to take off the field. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: And that other dude, Nick Scott's like making plays all
Speaker 1: over the field. And both these games their safeties, even
Speaker 1: though they lost their starters during that comeback, by the way,
Speaker 1: that was a pretty big factor. They lost their two
Speaker 1: starting safeties during that come back and now they're they're
Speaker 1: all set up. They have Taylor wrap back for this game.
Speaker 1: Can you tackle? I think this Rams defense is really good,
Speaker 1: and that's that's why, Like you know, when I look
Speaker 1: at the matchup, it's like you have two great defenses.
Speaker 1: You definitely don't have two great offenses. You have a
Speaker 1: great head coach in Shanahan, you have some great offensive players,
Speaker 1: and you have Shanahan. I think maybe has shown he's
Speaker 1: a little better at a justin and managing the game
Speaker 1: than McVeigh. I mean, fortys would not be in this
Speaker 1: game if McVeigh, you know, didn't turtle up and run
Speaker 1: the ball three straight times at the end of the
Speaker 1: Week eight team matchup, or didn't let the clock run out.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys remember, and this is
Speaker 1: a total tangent, but remember I got on him a
Speaker 1: little bit for not taking a time out to try
Speaker 1: to score at the end of last week's game. Rewatching
Speaker 1: the game, I noticed they were at the thirty four
Speaker 1: yard line with about eighteen seconds left. So now, after
Speaker 1: seeing Mahomes do it, like no coach should be allowed
Speaker 1: to do that ever again, because we've seen what you
Speaker 1: can do with thirteen seconds. The Rams were like ten
Speaker 1: yards ahead of that with more time, and he didn't
Speaker 1: do it. I think I hope he's learned from that
Speaker 1: and will be a little more aggressive in terms of
Speaker 1: his game planning. Do you worry about Matthew Stafford his
Speaker 1: butt getting a little tight if they're in a tight
Speaker 1: place here, because I mean, look at like he's been awesome.
Speaker 1: He's been absolutely magnificent, and he's looked like a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl quarterback. And Cooper Cup has been fairly unstoppable, and
Speaker 1: I mean he's he had a hundred and eighteen plus
Speaker 1: yards and both matchups against the Niners. So I think
Speaker 1: that they're stars can be their stars, and that's sort
Speaker 1: of been the journey of the Rams right now that
Speaker 1: the von miller O b j all this stuff is
Speaker 1: working out really well for them. Um, But I'm also
Speaker 1: looking at a Rams run defense that's been really good
Speaker 1: except when they play the Niners, and the Niners ran
Speaker 1: all over him the last time, and it's kind of
Speaker 1: it's to me where you get into the head of
Speaker 1: another team, it's embarrassing when the Niners tell you and
Speaker 1: tell everyone on national television in that first matchup, we
Speaker 1: want to run the ball forty times, and like, if
Speaker 1: you know someone's going to do that, you can adjust
Speaker 1: and stop it. They couldn't. They couldn't do anything. And
Speaker 1: then you had Deebo Samuel catching those crossers where Jimmy G.
Speaker 1: You know, he makes his mistakes, but he did pretty
Speaker 1: well in that game. And it's just like, if you
Speaker 1: get that version of Jimmy G, who has more turnover
Speaker 1: worthy throws than anyone in the league other than Mike
Speaker 1: Glennan percentage wise this year, I mean that it is
Speaker 1: remarkable that they're here with Jimmy G in general. Accept
Speaker 1: that every game he also makes three or four great
Speaker 1: throws along with the mistakes. And if you can think
Speaker 1: it's been a lesser version, though, don't you think he's
Speaker 1: been better. He's been better in San Francisco in previous
Speaker 1: years than this year. And I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: whether the weather might have been a little bit of
Speaker 1: a factor in Green Bay, but I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: like both quarterbacks didn't look good in that one, but
Speaker 1: Jimmy G is a liability that they've found a way
Speaker 1: to win around. I think it's a fascinating team because
Speaker 1: of that Week eighteen. I put more into this week
Speaker 1: eighteen UM for this game that I do for the
Speaker 1: week seventeen or wherever it was, the Cincinnati Kansas City game.
Speaker 1: I don't know why, I just do. It was a
Speaker 1: playoff game for the forty niners, and it it felt
Speaker 1: like one for the Rams. Or it's a continuation of
Speaker 1: the nine. It's in the same stadium and it's going
Speaker 1: to be the same dynamic with the crowd and everything.
Speaker 1: But I look at that game. Garoppolo did average ten
Speaker 1: yards per attempt in that game. He led them on
Speaker 1: that lightning quick drive to tie the game at sentence overtime, UM.
Speaker 1: And then I look at some of the big players
Speaker 1: from that game. I'm gonna highlight a couple of years.
Speaker 1: So Deebo Samuel, what else needs to be said about him,
Speaker 1: but he was unbelievable in that game. He had four
Speaker 1: catches for ninety five yards, eight carries for forty five
Speaker 1: yards and a touchdown, and he threw one pass for
Speaker 1: a touchdown for twenty four yards. That's that's him. That's
Speaker 1: peaked Deebo, and I expect to see something potentially similar
Speaker 1: to that on the other side of the ball, and
Speaker 1: it will be interesting because now it's this huge moment
Speaker 1: uh in the season and in the career of this player.
Speaker 1: I want to see which odell shows up here. I
Speaker 1: think Beckham is a fascinating guy um to track in
Speaker 1: this game because he absolutely as much love as he's
Speaker 1: getting right now. The last couple of weeks is Oh,
Speaker 1: he's back. He's been revitalized. He's bah bah bah, and
Speaker 1: he has had moments he created. In week eighteen against
Speaker 1: San Francisco, he killed them, including basically torpedoing the final
Speaker 1: drive when they were trying to uh tie the game
Speaker 1: and overtime. Which O'Dell shows up Does he have a
Speaker 1: big impact, because if he doesn't, I could see the
Speaker 1: Rams being a little bit of trouble that game was.
Speaker 1: I think this game is going to be right around there.
Speaker 1: I'll even match same team wins San Francisco finds a way, Dan,
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, And this this was a pick
Speaker 1: I filed earlier for an online thing. I have the
Speaker 1: exact same score with the Niners winning. We're locked in.
Speaker 1: We're in sync completely, just like me and your wife
Speaker 1: have the exact same birthdate, right down to the year right.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's where the of your wife, so ohesion.
Speaker 1: Uh only starts with that factoids a big Niners fan. Well,
Speaker 1: I think she's been like, you know, football has not
Speaker 1: been the number one thing, um all season, but it
Speaker 1: has been the last couple of weekends. And I got
Speaker 1: to give her a lot of credit, UM because I'll
Speaker 1: be in here, you know, doing work when we're home
Speaker 1: and stuff. I can hear her like screaming down the
Speaker 1: hallway UM on a slight tape delay compared to what
Speaker 1: we watch UM with anything that happens with So she's
Speaker 1: very enthusiastic. Do you have any did you like after
Speaker 1: the game last week, did you grab her and embrace
Speaker 1: and you pulled back and looked deep in her eyes
Speaker 1: and said, these crazy Niners they did it. They really
Speaker 1: did it. That was the exact transcript, And that's that's
Speaker 1: how I said it, and that um, that's how I
Speaker 1: delivered it. I'm torn because this Niner team is badass.
Speaker 1: Like we kind of talk about it, but you know
Speaker 1: how every defensive coordinator starts every like opening press cover
Speaker 1: and saying like we're gonna be fast, we're gonna be physical,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be aggressive. It's like that team they're talking
Speaker 1: about is this is the forty Niners like they are
Speaker 1: just a group of badasses. And it's both. It's both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. It's offense and defense. Like I
Speaker 1: just you just love the way they built their team.
Speaker 1: But I'm with you on O b J. I think
Speaker 1: that's the mismatch here deep down the field, some of
Speaker 1: these throws against these forty Niners cornerbacks, I think, oh
Speaker 1: b J can make a difference. And I think Trent
Speaker 1: Williams not being a percent, he hasn't been able to
Speaker 1: practice this week, He's probably gonna play, but you're, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe not a going against von Miller. And then on
Speaker 1: the other side you've got Tom Compton going going up
Speaker 1: against the rest of the Rams. I just trust this
Speaker 1: Rams defense to really hold down a pretty mediocre uh
Speaker 1: forty Niners offense on balance. And that's why I'm gonna
Speaker 1: lock up the Rams. Funny, Hey, listen, if this all
Speaker 1: plays out the way we see it, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: some good ass football this week and a little g
Speaker 1: a f It's gonna be two blowouts, I hope not.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the conference title game day does feel like a
Speaker 1: letdown from from division around, but not always, not always,
Speaker 1: Can you guys. See on camera here, how there's a
Speaker 1: light in my room flickering on and off. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: see I'm about to have a faint soon. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: like when they before a show with bright flashing lights, like, hey,
Speaker 1: heads up, if you've got an issue in that department,
Speaker 1: turn the channel. Bro. By the way, half the time
Speaker 1: you don't realize you have an issue in that department
Speaker 1: until you have an issue. So it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not something to make light of. That's a serious
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm saying I'm if anything, I'm too serious.
Speaker 1: Say I'm adding to the gravity of the p s A.
Speaker 1: I'm going to add the p s A here that
Speaker 1: kickers matter. A lot of people are jumping on this
Speaker 1: bandwagon that I've been driving for really years on this podcast, um,
Speaker 1: getting all excited about the Kickers. But I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you right now, the real analysis starts right here
Speaker 1: on the Around the NFL podcast because I got the
Speaker 1: final edition of the Kicker Power Rankings. Hypheno hit it, Ricky.
Speaker 1: Let's get behind the velvet ropes. This is what people
Speaker 1: have been waiting for. Boys coming in at number four,
Speaker 1: and I mean no disrespect, and I know you've got
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl, but player, hey, playboy, when you missed
Speaker 1: short from I'm noivous Matt Gay. He was hurt, he
Speaker 1: heard himself in pregame warm ups. I thought he said
Speaker 1: he wasn't though, and it hit a game, game winner.
Speaker 1: I don't know that's what they said, alright, Polite plause
Speaker 1: there for Matt Gay a number three. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of kickers are at the top of their game
Speaker 1: last week, and this guy kicked made one of the
Speaker 1: biggest kicks of his life in sending an all time
Speaker 1: game to overtime. And yet you miss a pH t,
Speaker 1: you miss a field goal, you're gonna drop from number
Speaker 1: one of my power rankings. Harrison Butker number three, Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs loving this so far. He did the military thing,
Speaker 1: you know, in the in the Super Bowl, in the Snowball,
Speaker 1: miss early, make it late, then you're the hero. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. Did salvage the day for him, but didn't
Speaker 1: keep him at number one, number two. And this was
Speaker 1: tough because both these uh kickers deserve credit. But good
Speaker 1: as Gold he is. Robbie Gold never missed in the
Speaker 1: postseason twenty still only good enough for the silver pause
Speaker 1: for applause. Finally number one, Yes, there's only one left.
Speaker 1: He's the rookie, he's the fifth round pick. Mick Fearless,
Speaker 1: Evan McPherson, come on down, your number one in the
Speaker 1: kicker power rankings. That kid unbelievable for eight in the
Speaker 1: first two weeks of the postseason. Fifty yards coming out
Speaker 1: of his buttocks. The guy you know the comment that
Speaker 1: he made to Burrow when he said or he said
Speaker 1: it to Uh, I believe the backup quarterback said, I
Speaker 1: guess we're going to the Super Bowl, then kicks are
Speaker 1: going to then FC Championship. Then kicks that field goal.
Speaker 1: He's stroking it and he believes. Ah. Yeah, when you
Speaker 1: you mentioned a fifty yard or coming out of someone's buttocks,
Speaker 1: I mean visually, I'm struggling to figure out what hell
Speaker 1: that works, but I should. He was, you know, very
Speaker 1: very unpredictable Divisional round weekend. But it's very predictable that
Speaker 1: Dan took offense um that someone else likes kickers. Rach
Speaker 1: Rachel Banetta you're referring to had that she had a
Speaker 1: great kicker song on podcast. Yeah, I don't take offense
Speaker 1: to it. And and by the way, I love that
Speaker 1: Rachel song. She's very talented and check out her new podcast,
Speaker 1: Bench with Banetta on the NFL Media Podcast. I'm a
Speaker 1: big Benetta fan. I like that song. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: from it just feels like everyone is now coming around
Speaker 1: and understanding the importance of these players. But it's no,
Speaker 1: it's always been that way. It's not just that way now.
Speaker 1: I think you're taking back the real estate that was yours.
Speaker 1: It's not just hey, everyone, come live on you know,
Speaker 1: inside the Kickers Club, which you built from you know,
Speaker 1: brick by brick, Greg built the Grooda World. You built
Speaker 1: the Kickers Club that needed bricks. What have you built? Mark? Well?
Speaker 1: You know what I like to do is sort of
Speaker 1: in these situations, take a step back so that we
Speaker 1: can magnify your guys accomplishments. That's very important to me.
Speaker 1: Oh that's really nice. I'm gonna remind you of this
Speaker 1: when mc pherson is lining up for a fifty seven
Speaker 1: yard or to send them to the super Bowl. Now,
Speaker 1: and now I can feel it. That's how now it's
Speaker 1: gotten end that that works with my score that went
Speaker 1: in by two, right through the uprights breaking what could
Speaker 1: go wrong? Indeed, all right, everybody enjoy all this amazing football.
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Sunday night. We'll be back at
Speaker 1: Stage five at NFL Network recapping both of these games,
Speaker 1: any other NFL flotsam that might come across our world
Speaker 1: before between now and then, And so we hope you're there.
Speaker 1: Thank you everybody that's listened to all season long. You know,
Speaker 1: I just got to look at the numbers, own the
Speaker 1: listener numbers. Oh yeah, extraordinary. They are very very strong
Speaker 1: that we we are gaining an audience, Like when you're
Speaker 1: in your ninth season, Like, look at a show like Friends,
Speaker 1: I think went that long. You're maintaining a core audience,
Speaker 1: but you're not growing, which we grown. Yeah, I I
Speaker 1: would say that the like by season nine, they had
Speaker 1: looked at the people that had taken Friends, um from
Speaker 1: you know nothingness into the biggest show around, and they
Speaker 1: adequately rewarded them with with um dead presidents and greenbacks.
Speaker 1: And that's the part that the company and us don't
Speaker 1: seem to be totally jelling on on some level. I'd
Speaker 1: just throw that out there, you know, I was, I
Speaker 1: was gonna hold my tongue on this. But since you
Speaker 1: kind of you're adjacent to it and out. So Greg,
Speaker 1: you're a guy that you know famously, nothing really matters.
Speaker 1: You're my that's a miscurrent characterization and my issue with that,
Speaker 1: you don't even know me. The NFL Net, the NFL
Speaker 1: Network posted their Game Day Live Super Or Conference Championship
Speaker 1: Sunday coverage and it's it is there obviously their biggest
Speaker 1: telecast of the year the way they're building it up.
Speaker 1: And they have a graphic that has literally twenty seven people,
Speaker 1: um right across the front, like we have every angle covered.
Speaker 1: And then when you start to check off the boxes
Speaker 1: of quote unquote talent, the eight t N boys the
Speaker 1: only ones feeling left out. Um. I tend to see
Speaker 1: that is, oh, what do we need to do to
Speaker 1: get on the radar with the SLFs in a bigger spot?
Speaker 1: But tell me to step away from the ledge and
Speaker 1: that would be helpful. Well, first, yeah, I think of
Speaker 1: the thirty plus talent, you know, some odd talent that
Speaker 1: wasn't on that photo to you know, we're not the
Speaker 1: only ones. Um, But is that what you want? I
Speaker 1: like doing our show frankly, Um, I mean, if if
Speaker 1: we if they needed us to help out, that's great,
Speaker 1: But um, I think we have more fun. Let's say
Speaker 1: we should replace like mooch rich and urban we maybe Hey,
Speaker 1: now we're gonna throw it to our most successful venture,
Speaker 1: the podcast on the podcast group take it Away, guys,
Speaker 1: that would be just would be fine. But I was
Speaker 1: at the beach the last two weeks before the game
Speaker 1: starts with my kids and that that seems pretty good too,
Speaker 1: to be on national television. So you know, your mental
Speaker 1: health is just off the charts that day, and I'm just, no,
Speaker 1: you're healthy. It's a healthy mindset. I'm very happy here
Speaker 1: at the NFL. I just I'm just saying, you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be in the image. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that makes me a bad guy, but yeah, that
Speaker 1: means that means you have to be on the show. Though.
Speaker 1: That's the trick, that's the thing, right, everybody on the show. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the show. So you know, if you look like
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people that aren't on that show.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot most of the reporters, right, and
Speaker 1: a lot of the as Connie was in the image,
Speaker 1: is Connie on the show. Yeah. So I think they
Speaker 1: have like a game, you know, they go to the
Speaker 1: Saturday crew. I don't even know, like the Saturday Good
Speaker 1: Morning Football worked for us. He's in the image. I
Speaker 1: mean I think Jack Ruby was in the image, and
Speaker 1: I think he's coming in. He's coming in for yeah,
Speaker 1: for special. I'm a current player analysis, I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know special. It does seem like they they didn't
Speaker 1: want us to be a part of it. It's like,
Speaker 1: here's a hundred and six people, um and there it's
Speaker 1: you know what had it been? We were talking like
Speaker 1: a two minute round table. Throw it to us. We
Speaker 1: argue for two we get to an ad break forget
Speaker 1: about me or Mark being in the image. But Greg,
Speaker 1: what if they like put you on Calias's shoulders like
Speaker 1: in the image. I have seen him in person. He's
Speaker 1: a he's in a normal know you have to He's
Speaker 1: the largest man I've ever seen. Enormous human. He was,
Speaker 1: wasn't he on that Cardinals? He was largest human he
Speaker 1: was on the he was on the Carson Palmer teams
Speaker 1: and he was I think I don't think he went
Speaker 1: back beyond that. Um. But he was not only one
Speaker 1: of the largest people I've ever met, he is super
Speaker 1: nice dude. So I'm sure he'll do great. Anyway, We
Speaker 1: wish him well and he seems to already be into
Speaker 1: a he wasn't his career. He was a rookie starter
Speaker 1: playing against Big Ben and the Steelers, and that's how
Speaker 1: nailed it. Um. So how about this, we will close
Speaker 1: it this way because we are all on the same team.
Speaker 1: Watch Game day morning on Sunday. Check out that content.
Speaker 1: It's going to be stellar with Eisen and the whole crew,
Speaker 1: literally the whole crew. Then enjoy all the football and
Speaker 1: then you can watch the more NFL network. But then
Speaker 1: close it out with you Around the NFL Podcast Championship
Speaker 1: Sunday recap. There you go, Greg, that that just cleans
Speaker 1: up all the loose ends there. Watch the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL broadcast too. Did you say that on Saturday? Job
Speaker 1: on Saturday? And if you're in the UK and Ireland territories,
Speaker 1: check us out on Sky Sports this weekend. We're part
Speaker 1: of the nel UH coverage with their gang over there. Well,
Speaker 1: they do want us, I mean they seem willing to
Speaker 1: UH to put us on air here and there, so
Speaker 1: there's a different relationship there. Vice President of International Henry
Speaker 1: Hodgson did reach out and say we are on the
Speaker 1: image for Sky Sports. I love it all right, that's enough.
Speaker 1: Thank you to everybody for listening, enjoy the football, let's
Speaker 1: have a nice, safe weekend and we'll see a Sunday night.
Speaker 1: Until then, feed the car, s S S S S