Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, No, who has the Jews?
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansis. I come to you from
Speaker 1: a virtual room that is filled, yes, thankfully filled with
Speaker 1: heroes Greg ros Adal, Mark Sessler, and the great, the iconic,
Speaker 1: the unstoppable Chris Westling. What's up boys? Hey Dan? Yeah,
Speaker 1: listen to that. I like that? Hey Dan West? Well,
Speaker 1: hey after that, Introy, I gotta bring a little bit
Speaker 1: yes West joining us as he did last week for
Speaker 1: the lead off game, and we're incredibly thankful to have
Speaker 1: the whole gang of heroes together on the Visual Round weekend,
Speaker 1: pound for pound, the best weekend of football in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Maybe the games weren't classic this weekend, but every game
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun to talk about leading up
Speaker 1: to it and dissect after it. It's through and that's
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do on today's show. And of course,
Speaker 1: uh Mark Sessler. Um, really he has become one of
Speaker 1: the more famous Browns fans. I would say in the country.
Speaker 1: I think you could actually say that at this point
Speaker 1: when you really break it down, it's you, Well, it's
Speaker 1: Drew carry first, right, um, And then like I feel
Speaker 1: like it's kind of out of the mix right now.
Speaker 1: Now carry's doing prices right, Let's be fair. Um, that's
Speaker 1: a huge game show still but number two is a
Speaker 1: bit of a dog fight. And and then Mark is
Speaker 1: obviously well known for his Brown Brown's fandom. Their season
Speaker 1: came to a conclusion today, but the dogs went down, Uh,
Speaker 1: growling and fighting. Uh and Mark, how you feeling right now?
Speaker 1: I know the audience wants to know I'm doing fine. Um,
Speaker 1: it's you know. I I think part of it is
Speaker 1: I'm forty seven years old, so uh, win or lose,
Speaker 1: I've got a lot of other things happening in life.
Speaker 1: I thought they the better team one, and um, I
Speaker 1: think that helps when you lose a playoff game when
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of questions about who the better
Speaker 1: team is. Um, but I'm proud of them. And Uh,
Speaker 1: there's it's the start of something. I hope. If it's
Speaker 1: a flash in the pan and the window got shut,
Speaker 1: then I'm annoyed. But I don't know that that's the
Speaker 1: case right now. It's true, you never know. You never know.
Speaker 1: The big assumption and the mistake fans make all the
Speaker 1: time is out. We'll be back there next year. You
Speaker 1: never know. However, you know, Mark and we talked about
Speaker 1: this privately after you know, it feels like things are
Speaker 1: on the right path in Cleveland. This seems like a
Speaker 1: nucleus that's in place. We have time to get into
Speaker 1: all that. When we talk that game, we're gonna go
Speaker 1: like last week and super wild card weekend and not
Speaker 1: super divisional around though. See how that's when the bill
Speaker 1: comes to. If you build up wild card round is super,
Speaker 1: you make the divisional round look like Hell, they've kind
Speaker 1: of they've kind of got the whole best like weekend
Speaker 1: and football thing. They should trademark that since everyone just
Speaker 1: says it. Anyways, and Sunday came through for us. It
Speaker 1: was looking a little shaky. The Saturday games didn't quite
Speaker 1: live up to Sunday came through. But you're right, I
Speaker 1: mean they got to think about that, Marcus. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is what they've started. They've opened up Pandora's box,
Speaker 1: all right. So we'll go in reverse chronological order, uh,
Speaker 1: starting with the game that just concluded at the Superdome.
Speaker 1: It was the end of an arrow Buccaneers defense. Four
Speaker 1: band drunk dropping breeze, breeze dropping of the Pastel. It's intercepted,
Speaker 1: picked off by tab and White to the forty shops.
Speaker 1: A guy and I was waiting inside the thirty tib
Speaker 1: and White down the sideline. The Bucks have the ball.
Speaker 1: We're in business, deep in States territory. Drger Off w
Speaker 1: f us Yes, the Bucks collected three picks from Drew
Speaker 1: Brees and what was likely the veteran qbi's final game,
Speaker 1: and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers advanced to the NFC Title
Speaker 1: Game with a thirty the twenty win over the Saints
Speaker 1: at the Superdome. The Bucks are back in the NFL's
Speaker 1: version of the fine A four for the first time
Speaker 1: since their Super Bowl season of two thousand two and
Speaker 1: Chris Westling. This was a wonderful showcase for their defense
Speaker 1: and the man that intercepted that past the second interception
Speaker 1: which really put the clamps on the Saints, their young
Speaker 1: star linebacker Devin White. Devin White was everywhere and that's
Speaker 1: no you know, that's no coincidence. He he is often everywhere.
Speaker 1: He's not often in the right place at the right time,
Speaker 1: but he's one of those young linebackers who has sideline
Speaker 1: to sideline range. He can get to anywhere he's a playmaker.
Speaker 1: He sometimes makes mistakes, but in this game he was everywhere.
Speaker 1: I saw you tweeted it, Dan, and it was a
Speaker 1: case of Drew Brees is generosity. Really, the Bucks were
Speaker 1: able to just sit at the sticks, dare ni to
Speaker 1: throw beyond ten yards. Hey strike the field like they're
Speaker 1: playing against Matt Castle. Castle haven't heard his name. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's tough that that was a dirty word from Westbeck
Speaker 1: in the days. But I mean we're talking about the
Speaker 1: end of one of the great careers ever and we
Speaker 1: talked about it in this West is one of your
Speaker 1: famous lines that probably one of from one of the
Speaker 1: trillion football books that you've devoured over the years. Um,
Speaker 1: But actually I think it was a quote from someone's father.
Speaker 1: I'm getting there. Um, careers don't end well, they rarely do.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Tom Brady's dead, um. And that's what happened
Speaker 1: with Drew Brees here. He turned forty two on Friday.
Speaker 1: And and if this is the end, Greg, it ended
Speaker 1: in a sad way because you had the interceptions, yes,
Speaker 1: but just you saw the physical inability for him to
Speaker 1: really lead this offense with any level of aggression. It
Speaker 1: was sad because it ends not just the Drew Brees era,
Speaker 1: but this last four years of the Saints, which is
Speaker 1: a really unique eek one where they were one of
Speaker 1: the five best teams I think in the regular season
Speaker 1: all four years. Um, you know they were record wise
Speaker 1: and they weren't able to really capitalize on it. And
Speaker 1: I think the Bucks defense, which has some flaws, this
Speaker 1: is this was the perfect matchup for them, even though
Speaker 1: I know they lost the last one thirty eight to three.
Speaker 1: It was just they're a team that you can beat
Speaker 1: over the top. They play this aggressive style. They don't
Speaker 1: have a great pass rush. It was a little better today.
Speaker 1: Guys like Devin White, who had a terrible game. I
Speaker 1: think he was like the l v P the first
Speaker 1: time around, have grown up a little bit throughout the season,
Speaker 1: and Breeze was the last quarterback that could take advantage
Speaker 1: of these aggressive corners. I mean, even after Carlton Davis
Speaker 1: left the game and you got, um, you know you've
Speaker 1: got journey men in there, he just he couldn't push
Speaker 1: the ball. And I I don't think you can be
Speaker 1: too shocked if you've watched Breeze since the moment he
Speaker 1: came back and they had some better results offensively, but
Speaker 1: they were coaching around him. I think losing Tastom Hill hurt,
Speaker 1: you know, even losing Latavius Murray maybe hert a little bit.
Speaker 1: Like on a day like this where you need the
Speaker 1: running game, they could have won this game. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was a weird game with turnovers, Like if they
Speaker 1: played it ten times they would have wanted sometimes, but
Speaker 1: you play with such a margin for error when you've
Speaker 1: got that big of a disadvantage at quarterback. And I
Speaker 1: know it wasn't Brady's best game, but it was a
Speaker 1: big time disadvantage when you were matching up what Breeze
Speaker 1: can do and what Brady could do. I mean, just
Speaker 1: a quick shout out to West here, because it's kind
Speaker 1: of like the day before you come down with a
Speaker 1: like a cold, and you kind of can feel it
Speaker 1: um at like two o'clock the day before and like
Speaker 1: something's not totally right with me and I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: You can feel it by that night that you're not
Speaker 1: feeling well and the cold's coming. And that's how I
Speaker 1: feel like West diagnosed the fading arm strength of Drew
Speaker 1: Brees and someone tweeted and said, you better talk about
Speaker 1: this tonight because he said this is past offseason. West,
Speaker 1: You've been saying this for a long time. I feel
Speaker 1: like you've seen little hints of it for a while.
Speaker 1: And tonight, looking at Drew Brees his face staring at
Speaker 1: the Microsoft tablet or whatever it's called at the end
Speaker 1: of the game, I really felt for him. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could just see this amazing career coming to an end. Well,
Speaker 1: it reminded me so much of last year's playoffs playoff
Speaker 1: loss to the Vikings, were the only way they could
Speaker 1: move the ball was for the backup quarterback in that
Speaker 1: case Taysom Hill to come in and hit a couple
Speaker 1: of shot plays down the field, and in this case
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston to hit the touchdown. And I guess you
Speaker 1: don't do it to a legend, but I wondered if
Speaker 1: Sean Payton would pull Drew Brees at some point in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter with your season on the line. I mean,
Speaker 1: you owe it to the other fifty two players as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good call, West, because this was such an
Speaker 1: important season for the Saints. It was an all in
Speaker 1: year for them. There's so many changes potentially on the
Speaker 1: horizon beyond just quarterback. This roster was built to win
Speaker 1: in and that put Peyton in a very difficult position.
Speaker 1: I guess if I had to critique one thing about
Speaker 1: how Peyton called the game, was, you know, bravo on
Speaker 1: the trick play that led to the wide open uh
Speaker 1: tray Kuan Smith touchdown from Jamis Winston. I could have
Speaker 1: used a couple more of those bad boys anty out
Speaker 1: the play. But it's something like you saw Josh McDaniels
Speaker 1: do with the Patriots in recent years when they were
Speaker 1: cupboard was bare and they needed to cook up some
Speaker 1: ways to score points. This might have been the game
Speaker 1: to just say, all right, I could either bench my quarterback,
Speaker 1: my legendary quarterback uh in his last game, or I
Speaker 1: could get weird. And he didn't do either, and and
Speaker 1: you saw how it turned out. Well. I think losing
Speaker 1: Deonta Harris could have um hamstrung them. There went man,
Speaker 1: he was like he had he played the whole game,
Speaker 1: who knows how this would have turned out? Right? He
Speaker 1: was the exploding you know, it wasn't just Breeze that
Speaker 1: was coming off an injury. Michael Thomas, you know he's not,
Speaker 1: you know, known as an explosive receiver. Um and I
Speaker 1: think that was the minute. Harris is a guy you
Speaker 1: could have imagined maybe they had some plays for It's
Speaker 1: like if that that that Um block in the back
Speaker 1: that that was early in the game on the Deante
Speaker 1: Harris touchdown, I mean that that was huge when it
Speaker 1: was only six nothing. We we did our sky hit
Speaker 1: Dan and I remember talking like I think the Bucks
Speaker 1: had to be thrilled it was only six nothing at
Speaker 1: that point because it felt like the history of this
Speaker 1: matchup and the matchup advantage that the Saints had in
Speaker 1: certain ways. Look, they did shut down Evans again, Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown gets hurt, he doesn't do anything for a while.
Speaker 1: You know that. You know, they did a lot of
Speaker 1: the things that the Saints do. They got pressure on
Speaker 1: Brady Um, but the Saints offense couldn't take advantage. That's
Speaker 1: the crazy thing. If you give Drew Brees this defense
Speaker 1: and running game like almost any other time in his career,
Speaker 1: they're they're winning some games that he only won two
Speaker 1: games in his career in a row in the playoffs
Speaker 1: one time. Shows you how hard it is to win
Speaker 1: games even when you do everything right. They put together
Speaker 1: this roster a couple of years too late. Michael Thomas
Speaker 1: shut out in this game, zero catches on four tar gets.
Speaker 1: I mean, who would have thought that this whole thing,
Speaker 1: you know, you get these things get drilled into your
Speaker 1: head down the stretch of the season. And when they
Speaker 1: put Thomas and I are um for the final three
Speaker 1: games of this regular season, was okay, we want to
Speaker 1: get this guy right to make our super Bowl run
Speaker 1: and get to the playoffs. Done with the season. Online
Speaker 1: market doesn't even have a catch well, and we did
Speaker 1: our end of third quarter hit on Sky and mentioned
Speaker 1: that Antonio Brown, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and Mike Thomas
Speaker 1: Um combined had thirty four yards. So it was not
Speaker 1: what you got. You spend all week predicting, And I
Speaker 1: thought that Jared cook catch and fumble was um immense.
Speaker 1: I thought that that really got the Bucks rolling because
Speaker 1: they had a short field and punched it in. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like one of those games where these two teams
Speaker 1: they just dislike each other. I know that the Saints
Speaker 1: in the Bucks haven't been you know, the the falcons
Speaker 1: in the Saints especially you know in some in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but the nastiness, you know, Ryan Jensen and these guys
Speaker 1: just all. C. J. Gardner Johnson, who is who I'm
Speaker 1: not sure he's ever been in a good dude for
Speaker 1: a day in his life. Seemed annoyed the entire game too.
Speaker 1: And let's talk West. I want to see you up
Speaker 1: on this. Let's talk Tom Brady. Now, I know this
Speaker 1: wasn't obviously his greatest game ever, but something by something
Speaker 1: said by Joe Buck at the end of the telecast
Speaker 1: was just stunning to me when you think about how
Speaker 1: hard it is to get to Championship Sunday, which is
Speaker 1: where the Bucks are heading for the first time since
Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl was twenty years ago. Tom
Speaker 1: Brady is going to his conference championship game the first thirteen,
Speaker 1: obviously in New England. And what a unbelievable uh. In
Speaker 1: addition to being an all time great quarterback and no
Speaker 1: one has more rings than him, the deft move to
Speaker 1: move to the NFC, moved to this particular team and
Speaker 1: now be in a position to get back to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl with a date against Aaron Rodgers of all people,
Speaker 1: in the NFC title Game. I mean, there's just never
Speaker 1: been a career like this, dude. No, We've We've sat
Speaker 1: a number of times the most amazing thing about his
Speaker 1: career is you could split it in half, you know,
Speaker 1: at two thousand and ten, and he'd have two Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame careers. And that's just an unbelievable statement about
Speaker 1: a player. He could have two Hall of Fame careers,
Speaker 1: fourteen conference championship games. Amazing. UM. And I'll let Greg
Speaker 1: speak a little bit more about it, because that's been
Speaker 1: his guy, up close and personal. Well, I think what
Speaker 1: you saw tonight was you know, it wasn't his best night,
Speaker 1: but there were a couple of throws. That throw Godwin
Speaker 1: couldn't pull in for the touchdown before half, um, the
Speaker 1: Tyler Johnson throw that Johnson made an unbelievable play on
Speaker 1: on third down, a back shoulder throw. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: got the arm strength, and I think his ability to
Speaker 1: adjust in games, and you know, you have to give
Speaker 1: his coaches some credit with that too, but you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's more Brady than the coaches is unparalleled.
Speaker 1: If you keep it. When they were stopping him over
Speaker 1: and over, eventually, I just was like, they can't stop
Speaker 1: them all game. And I think it was the running
Speaker 1: game that was a huge, huge part of that. And
Speaker 1: that's Brady. You know, at least get some of the credit.
Speaker 1: They're changing the plays and continuing to run. And Aikman
Speaker 1: was all over with Rojo and Leonard Fournette to me,
Speaker 1: starting with the second last, the last drive in the
Speaker 1: second quarter, like he started just taking profits instead of
Speaker 1: going bombs away on third and short, which they did
Speaker 1: like four times, and it was not working. They started
Speaker 1: getting those five and six yard games. It was his
Speaker 1: old sort of game manager stuff. I mean. But the
Speaker 1: thing with Brady, I think that gets over looking people
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, you know he didn't really have that
Speaker 1: good game. Brady's lucky, but he got them to this
Speaker 1: game to let the defense in running game gets I mean,
Speaker 1: that's the thing is you like survive each week. You
Speaker 1: you get them, you're gonna carry him some weeks. Look
Speaker 1: at the Bills, it's like their defense carried carried the show.
Speaker 1: Like that's what great quarterbacks do. They figure out how
Speaker 1: to get you to the next week and and and
Speaker 1: they'll probably not getting to the super Bowl unless he
Speaker 1: puts up thirty or forty, and so next week is
Speaker 1: the week he's gonna have to lighted up. It was
Speaker 1: vintage though. It really if you've been following this guy's career. UM.
Speaker 1: And I say this both in a positive way and
Speaker 1: and and you could view it as a negative way.
Speaker 1: There were some balls that if he wasn't a more
Speaker 1: fortunate person, Uh, this game could be very different. Didn't
Speaker 1: work out with some interceptions that were dropped or plays
Speaker 1: that were called back and review things of that nature. UM.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, and I texted Keith Hansas,
Speaker 1: uh this um in the fourth quarter once it got
Speaker 1: just like Tom Brady has been winning this exact type
Speaker 1: of game in January for literally two decades, and you
Speaker 1: just kind of had a feeling, well, well, yes, that's
Speaker 1: that's fair too, but Brady has done this for so long.
Speaker 1: It didn't It didn't feel like it was a forty
Speaker 1: three year old quarterback hanging on. It was just like, no,
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna take this team where it needs
Speaker 1: to go. It wasn't he wasn't the driving force behind
Speaker 1: this win. But he played his role as he always does.
Speaker 1: M I mean, like the like when he was us
Speaker 1: and throw us the gronk like for a second and
Speaker 1: started feeling like, Okay, maybe he's a little older and
Speaker 1: they they're both like, well into the Gabbard zone, Breeze
Speaker 1: and Brady, um, you know, four to five yards per tempt,
Speaker 1: you know, two and a half quarters in the game.
Speaker 1: But then Brady makes makes the plays late. And when
Speaker 1: I sat when people got in my mentions about about
Speaker 1: like it's like Brady is looking at his a like
Speaker 1: he's throwing the ball like a fifty year old. It's
Speaker 1: like watch the games like that is the difference between
Speaker 1: him and Rivers and Breeze and and Ben Roethlisberger. His
Speaker 1: arm is awesome. I mean he's throwing dimes out there
Speaker 1: a weekend week out. I'm not saying he's exactly the
Speaker 1: same player, but he if you protect him, he his
Speaker 1: arm strength and even his foot feet look okay right now,
Speaker 1: like rage, you know how Twitter works, Greg, It's just
Speaker 1: people wanted to get off their Geezer Bowl jokes and
Speaker 1: all that at the expense of actually analyzing what was happening. Well,
Speaker 1: that will be their last comment to Greg because he
Speaker 1: is a muter and he's probably muted four or people.
Speaker 1: I mean at the end of the game, that wasted
Speaker 1: Brady is like high fiving thet or attempting to by
Speaker 1: the end of the game. So I mean, it couldn't
Speaker 1: have been a different final image of these two quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: West before you do go, I'm curious who you'd rather
Speaker 1: see in another Super Bowl. I'm guessing Rodgers now that
Speaker 1: I asked the question. But oh yeah, without question, it's
Speaker 1: been Rogers all year, from week one. Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: He's been playing quarterback, honestly, at a level to where
Speaker 1: you can almost count the number of mistakes he's made.
Speaker 1: This year's one hand, and we're gonna and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to that. It's it's the first time really cheesy
Speaker 1: you think about it with Aaron Rodgers. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: to it. But he's gonna be a favorite. They're a
Speaker 1: prohibitive favorite, I think going into this game against the Bucks,
Speaker 1: even though you saw, you know, great performance Tampa Bay defense,
Speaker 1: it feels like it's Green Bay's conference to win now.
Speaker 1: But you don't discount the Tom Brady team in January.
Speaker 1: But some of those some of those Aaron Rodgers mistakes
Speaker 1: came against these Bucks, right, and that feels like five
Speaker 1: years ago. But yeah, I don't. I don't put two
Speaker 1: met into that game, but it does. It added so
Speaker 1: much value for Brady going to the Bucks too. I'm
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I mean, I don't think it would
Speaker 1: have gone well in New England, and I'm enjoying watching
Speaker 1: him play like this more more even than I expected.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't add so much value that you're getting
Speaker 1: this Brady Breeze matchup in the playoffs, that you're getting
Speaker 1: this Brady Rogers thing. It's like it's like Lebron going
Speaker 1: to the Western Conference, and it just makes the whole
Speaker 1: setup I think fresher and more exciting. Talked about it
Speaker 1: on the Network Show on Friday. This is kind of
Speaker 1: the end of the old guard for a lot of guys.
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers on the way out, Big Ben on the
Speaker 1: way out, one and done, Drew Brees obviously his career
Speaker 1: is now looking to be over. But then you have
Speaker 1: Tom Brady holding it down for the old guys and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers on his way uh to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: potentially last thing before um you go West. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask Greg a question and then you tell me, uh
Speaker 1: your thoughts as well. Greg. Now Bill Bill Belichick in
Speaker 1: this game. No, no, you don't know what I'm gonna ask.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick is watching this game because guy loves football.
Speaker 1: One love well, Linda. He loves Linda, but his his
Speaker 1: truest love, his deepest love, is the game of football.
Speaker 1: So he's watching the divisional round playoffs? Is he rooting
Speaker 1: for or against Tom Brady? That's a tough one, and
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say, like, is Belichick exposed? Um,
Speaker 1: that's not what I was doing. Although I don't know
Speaker 1: what kind of question. I don't know, it's a hard one.
Speaker 1: He keeps you, well, here's why, because I think he
Speaker 1: keeps the public, including me on so so far on
Speaker 1: the outside that I have no idea what this man
Speaker 1: is actually made you uncomfortable this question. That's how I know.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say he's rooting for Brady. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: not a breeze guy. I think he's like, he is
Speaker 1: absolutely rooting for Brady. They have too much invested together
Speaker 1: and they're both successful enough, big enough man, if they
Speaker 1: can look beyond any differences they caused the break up
Speaker 1: and appreciate what they had together for two decades. I
Speaker 1: have been doing this podcast. I've done episodes of Greg.
Speaker 1: I've never seen him so happy. Is uh? Well, I
Speaker 1: played it. I played it perfectly because here West gave
Speaker 1: West giving the answer makes it like way more legitimate
Speaker 1: than if I had said that and then it ended
Speaker 1: up being perfect. I don't Dan, I don't think you
Speaker 1: were expecting that as the outcome maybe or were you
Speaker 1: or we know, making Greg squirms Great. I'm not surprised
Speaker 1: exactly with Wes's answer. I don't agree with Wes's answer,
Speaker 1: but really how Greg reacted to Wes's answer, the whole
Speaker 1: thing was just a big w Ultimately, Ums, you've said
Speaker 1: it all. You're the king and we love you. Well,
Speaker 1: have you guys too? Alright, got some rest out there.
Speaker 1: Another m v P performance by the Mailman. We're just
Speaker 1: getting started. Let's now dig into the first Sunday game
Speaker 1: and the last game sadly uh for Mark's favorite team.
Speaker 1: They snap it, they're going for it. They clipt it
Speaker 1: right caught Tyreek Hill Station Browns the same play that
Speaker 1: they closed the game out against New Orleans. They do
Speaker 1: it to Cleveland and Chad Henny out of the pulpen.
Speaker 1: Incredible job on a third and fourteen scramble for fifteen
Speaker 1: they called thirteen and a half comes back on a
Speaker 1: roll to the right side, taking Cleveland into thinking they
Speaker 1: were gonna run the clock. And they find Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: in the right flat. The Cans of City Chiefs are
Speaker 1: going to advance in the a f C playoffs. Mitch Holt.
Speaker 1: This pumped up as you'd expect for w D A F.
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, big red, bigger onions, the Patrick Mahomes in
Speaker 1: the locker room with a concussion. Andy Reid risked it
Speaker 1: all with a fourth and short pass attempt a journeyman
Speaker 1: Chad Henny, who rewarded his coach is faith. Will they
Speaker 1: strike at Tyreek Hill to send the Chiefs back to
Speaker 1: the a f C Championship game for the third straight year.
Speaker 1: The final score Chiefs twenty two, Brown seventeen at Arrowhead
Speaker 1: and mark your boys from Cleveland. They nearly pulled it off.
Speaker 1: They fought, they battled back from nineteen three, but it
Speaker 1: just wasn't meant to be. Yeah, I thought it was
Speaker 1: a case of almost student meets master. In terms of
Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski, Um, I think all year long regarded as
Speaker 1: an aggressive um play caller, a talented play caller who
Speaker 1: put the Browns in good situations. Uh, and Andy Reid
Speaker 1: the master. I don't think Stefanski won this matchup. Uh.
Speaker 1: There were too many just little mistakes for the Browns,
Speaker 1: and you know it watching this thing. When they lost
Speaker 1: Jed Wills their left tackle on like the first play
Speaker 1: out of the out of the gate, that was concerning
Speaker 1: to me. Um that I don't know if that caused
Speaker 1: total problems, but there was a lot more pressure on
Speaker 1: big er Mayfield this week then there was last week
Speaker 1: against Pittsburgh when there was essentially none and it was
Speaker 1: just a little things. You know that when watching this
Speaker 1: team all year, when they're when they're flowing well and
Speaker 1: when they're in sync, Um, their best players are doing
Speaker 1: things that Browns fans haven't watched players on that team
Speaker 1: do a long time. That wasn't the case today. I mean,
Speaker 1: they made a couple of plays, but it was these
Speaker 1: uncharacteristic sort of back to back drops by Nick Chubb
Speaker 1: that I thought just killed them. Um, a couple of
Speaker 1: moments where they're wanting defense just couldn't get to the
Speaker 1: edge to shut down the Tyreek Hills of the world
Speaker 1: of the world. And uh, you know to Stefanski, Um,
Speaker 1: there was I thought a catch he should have challenged
Speaker 1: where they didn't get the flag out on time, and
Speaker 1: a catch they shouldn't have challenged where I think they
Speaker 1: just did have a good look at it, and they
Speaker 1: did and they lost that challenge. Uh there were time
Speaker 1: out in the time out situation in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: where Baker Took was forced to take a time out
Speaker 1: because they were disorganized. Um. I thought that it just
Speaker 1: all those little moments um served to really uh reek
Speaker 1: havoc on them in their chance us to win. And
Speaker 1: I'm not even talking about the biggest play of the game,
Speaker 1: which was the Donovan Peoples Jones or sorry, the Rochard
Speaker 1: Higgins Um catch and fumble that went out of the
Speaker 1: end zone where to me it looks like a helmet
Speaker 1: to helmet hit there. There were a couple of things
Speaker 1: happening there. I'll let you guys win on that. That
Speaker 1: rule bugs me, but I think it bugs everyone. Um.
Speaker 1: But that's the way it is. I think the better
Speaker 1: team one and the way that how aggressive they were
Speaker 1: with Henny Um. It says a lot about the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and it gives a lot the Browns a lot to
Speaker 1: think about during a long offseason. I mean, it says
Speaker 1: so much because everything you say is is right, Mark,
Speaker 1: and yet it's their third and fourteen there with you
Speaker 1: know a little over two and a half to go
Speaker 1: and Chad Henny's at quarterback and you're thinking, well, Baker
Speaker 1: is going to get the ball back with enough time,
Speaker 1: um to go, try to win the game with a touchdown.
Speaker 1: And for any ready to call a pass on that play,
Speaker 1: is is ball's ear? To me? Then? Calling? Uh the
Speaker 1: fourth and one call where Henny throws it. How about
Speaker 1: a call that he trust Chad Henny to throw it
Speaker 1: on second and eight to play before that where they're
Speaker 1: running it well, where Henny does take the second That
Speaker 1: that that to me was almost like you're getting crazy here.
Speaker 1: You're showing a lack of faith in a run game
Speaker 1: that struggled all year but actually was shot on first
Speaker 1: at the fort with a chance to get an all
Speaker 1: important field goal and drown the clock. Now now that
Speaker 1: that too like it was all crazy. I mean like
Speaker 1: there was all I don't think it was crazy. I
Speaker 1: think it was Andy Reid doing what the Chiefs do best,
Speaker 1: which is throw the football. And Henny earned some of
Speaker 1: that faith because other than that interception, he played about
Speaker 1: as well as you could have wanted. There was a
Speaker 1: third and five where he made a great decision to
Speaker 1: keep that winning drive going, or that final drive going
Speaker 1: to Damian Williams. There was another baby to Travis Kelsey
Speaker 1: over the middle that that set up their field goal.
Speaker 1: I mean, Henny made some nice made some nice throws,
Speaker 1: but man, Andy Reid, to me, he's just like the
Speaker 1: ultimate past. First, I'm gonna I'm gonna go down passing
Speaker 1: because the numbers say it it's a passing league, and
Speaker 1: I don't care what you say. I'm gonna keep Brian
Speaker 1: Westbrook on the field all the time and key situation.
Speaker 1: People have been killing Andy Read about this for twenty years,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the NFL is kind of like
Speaker 1: starting to catch up with Andy Read. The rest of
Speaker 1: the NFL now looks more like the Chiefs. You say
Speaker 1: that what the Chiefs do best is throw the football. Yes,
Speaker 1: with Patrick Mahomes. After Mahomes goes out of the game
Speaker 1: with that very strange, by the way, concussion, because we've
Speaker 1: sadly seen it, seen hundreds and hundreds of concussions over
Speaker 1: the years enough to know the telltale signs whether it's
Speaker 1: a helmet helmet hit or a helmet smacking the turf. Uh,
Speaker 1: Mahomes hit was strange. But he came up and he
Speaker 1: looked like Uh, he was, you know, in another universe.
Speaker 1: And he was out of the game the third quarter.
Speaker 1: So when you enter Chad Henny, who before the week
Speaker 1: seventeen meaningless start hadn't played since two thousand four, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: And then you're putting the game in his hands in
Speaker 1: that situation. Um, I tweeted right before the third and
Speaker 1: long at the end of the game, there I said,
Speaker 1: Chiefs fans, everybody wants Andy not to throw it, hand
Speaker 1: the ball off and if you just play conservative, you
Speaker 1: can get the ball back to your defense. UM up
Speaker 1: five with the Browns hopefully inside there on twenty with
Speaker 1: no timeouts and eighty seconds to play, and and yet
Speaker 1: he said, no, I'm gonna go for it. It was
Speaker 1: onions at a level that arrivals really did anything. A
Speaker 1: little bit of all gone huge onions that I can remember.
Speaker 1: And after the game, Honey Badger, who by the way,
Speaker 1: played awesome when where he gets to the Chiefs performance
Speaker 1: from their stars on defense and a second, here's what
Speaker 1: Honey Badger had to say about Andy Reid's play calling
Speaker 1: at the end. Hey man, that that's why we love
Speaker 1: Big grand you know, he's always on time, you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: he's like, oh, spirit warrior out here, you know, beyond
Speaker 1: the scenes. You know, he's always firing U stuff. But
Speaker 1: we always though he got one play at the table,
Speaker 1: you know, one play in the chamber. M M. I
Speaker 1: love the point. Romo made great job all day by
Speaker 1: Romo too. I mean, build it. God, I love, I
Speaker 1: love listening to me. Just learned so much. But the
Speaker 1: way that they, you know, approached that play on fourth
Speaker 1: and one and intentionally tried to look lack of days ago.
Speaker 1: I mean that's practiced that that was part of it.
Speaker 1: They tried to look lack of daysicle coming into it.
Speaker 1: And I and I do believe what Romo said where
Speaker 1: it was if they got a certain look, which is
Speaker 1: basically you know, Tyreek having leverage on the outside to
Speaker 1: basically anyone like if if that was the lineup, go
Speaker 1: do it. You know, chat at. He's a professional. He's
Speaker 1: actually looked. I know it's such a small sample size,
Speaker 1: but when he came in late in some of these blowouts,
Speaker 1: he looked. He looked good this year, and maybe that
Speaker 1: helped give a little confidence. You know, Matt Moore coming
Speaker 1: in last year playing well, it's like it's not just
Speaker 1: Matt Patrick Mahomes that makes this team go. And uh,
Speaker 1: I think that should be a lesson for coaches because
Speaker 1: you do what what what got you there? And there
Speaker 1: were some offensive teams like like the Titans and to
Speaker 1: a lesser extent, the Steelers. Who I mean, the Steelers
Speaker 1: didn't punt in that situation down two scores with fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes left to the gate. But it's like, I mean,
Speaker 1: the Steelers did put in that situation. It's crazy. Did
Speaker 1: you have a problem with Cleveland punting when they did
Speaker 1: with about five minutes ago. I didn't hate it. It
Speaker 1: wouldve or so it was it was fourth and nine, No,
Speaker 1: But I hated how slow that they spent almost four
Speaker 1: minutes to go eleven yards. And that was from from
Speaker 1: the first second. That seems so obvious, like you're you're
Speaker 1: playing like your head I know, Chad Henny's on the
Speaker 1: other side. And I did think when they punted, I
Speaker 1: wonder if they would have punted if Mahomes was still playing,
Speaker 1: I would think, No, well, I don't think you could.
Speaker 1: And also the it had Mahomes been playing the whole time,
Speaker 1: it would be a different game, right, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: the thing is like from a Cleveland side. You gotta
Speaker 1: come out of this scene. There's no question the better
Speaker 1: team one. Um, you know, it would have been a
Speaker 1: little suspicious. I think, uh, you know, going forward for
Speaker 1: the narrative of Cleveland one, because Chad Henny was in there. Um,
Speaker 1: I think this is a Browns team that fought this
Speaker 1: Chief's team. I mean it is. It was kind of
Speaker 1: my first experience watching the team I'm rooting for. Deal
Speaker 1: with the Chiefs, and like, I mean, Travis Kelsey was
Speaker 1: driving me nuts. Tyreek Hill was driving me absolutely crazy.
Speaker 1: And I know you guys, I love Romo too, all right,
Speaker 1: but when you're on the wrong end of a game
Speaker 1: and Romo is like a giddy schoolgirl at the end
Speaker 1: of the thing, I was like, get this guy off.
Speaker 1: I mean, someone's like I thought, you love Tony Roon
Speaker 1: like I do love Tony. Romo's driving nuts right now,
Speaker 1: get him out of here. Like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: hear about this guy because but yeah, chi and he's
Speaker 1: a quarterback and he said it twice I think in
Speaker 1: the first quarter alone, Um, he's in love with Mahomes
Speaker 1: as a quarterback. And he mentioned his instincts, specifically his ability,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was Oh man, it was sad
Speaker 1: to see him first get hobbled with a toe injury
Speaker 1: and you don't know what that is if that's turf toe,
Speaker 1: which is can be a debility to injury for anyone.
Speaker 1: And now he's got the head injury. So that's, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously a big subplot now as we head towards the
Speaker 1: a f C title game, Mahomes's availability. I I would think,
Speaker 1: I don't want to read too much into this and
Speaker 1: be the Twitter neurologist, but the fact that he was tweeting,
Speaker 1: like repeatedly after the game and doing bits about Chad
Speaker 1: Henny on Twitter that anything is possible. I thought that
Speaker 1: if you're if you're anything Twitter, maybe you are. Somebody
Speaker 1: said he's a little young for dad jokes, but the
Speaker 1: point is that he wasn't you know, Uh, curtain's closed
Speaker 1: in a dark room, not knowing where he was. We'll see,
Speaker 1: hopefully we as much as we respect with Chad Henny
Speaker 1: did today, we don't need to see anymore Chad Henny
Speaker 1: in our lives. Um Mark, did you have any other
Speaker 1: issues with because I didn't. Yeah, I would think this
Speaker 1: is a game I'd like to kind of go back
Speaker 1: and watch. I feel like Stefanski, if he could do
Speaker 1: some things differently, he would. Nick Chubb did not have
Speaker 1: a good first half. He had those drops, Canna get
Speaker 1: things going on the ground, and Cream Hunt wasn't in
Speaker 1: the game plan at all. That that was on my
Speaker 1: radar a little bit. Did you have any issues with
Speaker 1: how he deployed some of his plans? I totally agree
Speaker 1: with you. I I my thought, you know, because this
Speaker 1: wasn't a game where I took extensive notes just because
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna this could be over real soon.
Speaker 1: I want to just experience this. But my one thought,
Speaker 1: you know, throughout the game was that the Chiefs defense,
Speaker 1: which was just nasty. I thought today when it needed
Speaker 1: to be, had a better plan for Nick Chubb and
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt than the Browns did. I mean, at least
Speaker 1: the way it played out in the Wash. I mean
Speaker 1: there was a couple there was a pocket of about
Speaker 1: ten twelve minutes um where Chubb really got going and
Speaker 1: Hunt had a couple of plays too. But you'd have
Speaker 1: to say overall, um that you know, I think they
Speaker 1: like combined twelve eighteen yards at halftime. There's games like
Speaker 1: that where they have not. They just not followed the
Speaker 1: script you'd expect. And it's not because they were smarter
Speaker 1: than the competition and so, um, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: stepping stone, but they met the best team in the
Speaker 1: a f C. And I think maybe the Chiefs felt
Speaker 1: a little bit. I don't know, maybe we just put
Speaker 1: this on these teams, but it's like, oh, maybe the
Speaker 1: ray can challenge the Packers and like, look at the
Speaker 1: Browns are frisky. Maybe they gets like and the Chiefs are.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs are kind of like, um, yeah, we haven't
Speaker 1: played in a while with our starters, but don't forget
Speaker 1: about us, because we still controp the hardest tammer in
Speaker 1: the league if we want to. Well, I think that
Speaker 1: I think the Chiefs taking the early lead was significant
Speaker 1: because you know, the Browns do shorten games. That's a cliche,
Speaker 1: that's true, but you short when you shorten them and
Speaker 1: you're behind, and they shorten him on both sides because
Speaker 1: they play a slope paced defense that sort of asked
Speaker 1: the other team to go on these long drives and
Speaker 1: they couldn't. You couldn't hold up in the red zone,
Speaker 1: so that the Browns had three drives in the first half.
Speaker 1: They only had seven in the whole game, and and
Speaker 1: you're right, you kind of look at the run pass
Speaker 1: balance and Baker ends up throwing thirty seven times and
Speaker 1: under average. You know, I thought Baker threw the ball great,
Speaker 1: but the average under six yards per attempt, so ultimately
Speaker 1: wasn't a great, you know day throwing the ball Landry.
Speaker 1: I mean, he had seven catches for for twenty yards.
Speaker 1: You know, Hooper makes that one play finally, but they
Speaker 1: got a little out of balance, but it's partly because
Speaker 1: you're you're behind. I do think it was a missed
Speaker 1: opportunity that I'm with you Mark that the better team
Speaker 1: one um. And what I just don't think the Browns
Speaker 1: were gonna win the Super Bowl with this defense. And
Speaker 1: I think that that that showed today. That said, when
Speaker 1: Matthew got the interception and it's nineteen three and the
Speaker 1: Browns force of three and out, uh and they missed
Speaker 1: the field goal, Like, the defense showed you something that
Speaker 1: the Chief didn't score a touchdown the whole second half,
Speaker 1: and so the defense kind of did give them a
Speaker 1: their offensive chance. They're entering the fourth quarter, you're only
Speaker 1: down five, and Mahomes is out. I mean, they had
Speaker 1: they had a chance here to to win this game.
Speaker 1: At least it would have been I don't want to
Speaker 1: twist the knife, but on the other end of it
Speaker 1: when itv and hen he throws that punt and Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson pumped his fist because it's no longer the worst
Speaker 1: interception of the playoffs. Uh, it felt like it was.
Speaker 1: The everything was aligned at that point and I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought for sure Baker Mayfield was going to lead
Speaker 1: them down the field there, and they don't. They they
Speaker 1: moved the ball methodically and then punched away and never
Speaker 1: get of the ball back. And I just before we
Speaker 1: we move on, we should touch on the Richard Higgins play,
Speaker 1: because it was sixteen three late in the second quarter.
Speaker 1: The Browns are getting the ball on the other side
Speaker 1: of the half as well, and Mayfield throws a strike
Speaker 1: to Higgins, who loses control of the ball just shy
Speaker 1: the goal line. Sputtered out of the end zone and
Speaker 1: through the back through the you know, side of the
Speaker 1: end zone with a Brown by the way, it should
Speaker 1: be noted crashing in ready to scoop the ball up,
Speaker 1: but it bounces the wrong way and it's a touch back.
Speaker 1: I know there was um heat about. They thought it
Speaker 1: was a dirty um hit by the Chiefs H Daniel Sorenson,
Speaker 1: dirty Dan, as he's known by some. Um. I didn't
Speaker 1: see it quite that way, but I can understand why
Speaker 1: someone would see that, see that as an illegal hit. UM.
Speaker 1: But mostly I again not to be labor this, but
Speaker 1: that's such a bad rule. It's just gotta be changed.
Speaker 1: It's way too it's way too aggressive a penalty on
Speaker 1: a team. Uh, and it cost the Browns in a
Speaker 1: big way. That could have been sixteen ten with the
Speaker 1: Browns having the ball to start the third quarter, and
Speaker 1: yet it wasn't. I thought Bill cower Um had a
Speaker 1: good suggestion, and maybe he's not the first person to
Speaker 1: suggest this, but that the penalty could say the offense
Speaker 1: instead of the defense getting the ball at the twenty,
Speaker 1: the offense gets pushed back to the twenty. And it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, look, it's it's it's it's a really steep penalty,
Speaker 1: and it would be like it's rare, and yet you're
Speaker 1: it shouldn't swing the game the way it does. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's a dirty hit, but just it
Speaker 1: was a helmet to helmet hit and It wasn't dirty,
Speaker 1: but it was a penalty right just by the by
Speaker 1: the I think a lot of I watch a lot
Speaker 1: of helmet to helmet stuff, and I'm like, you try
Speaker 1: to teach, like we get it. You're trying to teach
Speaker 1: a defensive player soaring in to move his head. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems ridiculous you're gonna get these penalties. But Sorenson,
Speaker 1: he's got a little bit of a it was he
Speaker 1: dove different reasons he dove. I, um, you want to
Speaker 1: give some you You mentioned Honey Badger. It occurred to
Speaker 1: me during this game because someone tweeted about it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, that's right. Like he
Speaker 1: I think someday, I think he might be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. Like he's got to keep like going through this,
Speaker 1: but doing this in Key spots, man, he was all
Speaker 1: over the place. And they pay a few guys so
Speaker 1: much money, they're so top heavy their roster. Honey Badgers
Speaker 1: one of them, and like he earned that. And Chris Jones.
Speaker 1: I don't think he dominated today, but I thought he
Speaker 1: got pretty good pressure and he made the two key
Speaker 1: plays that stopped that fourth quarter drive. And so it's like, well,
Speaker 1: that's why you pay him million dollars and uh, and
Speaker 1: I do want to apology a lot of people in
Speaker 1: my Twitter mentions, I've been asking all playoff long, Austin Hooper,
Speaker 1: make a play, make a playoff. My god, he made
Speaker 1: a play to keep their season that they could have
Speaker 1: been moving on because of that Austin Hooper play. So
Speaker 1: the Browns came close, but just the beginning, hopefully. Mark. Again,
Speaker 1: you can't make assumptions and just assume an organization is
Speaker 1: just gonna contin in you on an upward trajectory. But
Speaker 1: history and all sports, all the great teams almost always
Speaker 1: and well almost always is strong. But in many, many
Speaker 1: cases there is that crushing playoff loss when the team's
Speaker 1: on the rise, and then you grow and you build
Speaker 1: off that, and then you're back in that spot the
Speaker 1: following year and you find a way to climb the hill.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that's where the Browns are. And Mark, this is
Speaker 1: more because we all love Tony Romo and we love football,
Speaker 1: and it was an exciting end of the game. This
Speaker 1: is you can feel free to take out your earpiece
Speaker 1: for this part. Romo's call with Jim Nance was excellent
Speaker 1: on the final play with Chad Henny, so I asked
Speaker 1: Ricky to cut that as well. Let's listen right here,
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, really smart. Send everybody out there. You got
Speaker 1: cuts right, You're trying to try them draw him off sides.
Speaker 1: Kick a time out, check it down, let the talk click,
Speaker 1: try and draw him off sides. Pick Henny in the gun,
Speaker 1: rock up the time. You're gonna go ahead and quarterback
Speaker 1: sneak and motion back, trying toll the moost sides, and
Speaker 1: then take the time out. You walk up there and
Speaker 1: say no play everybody, don't there's no plenty. Just look
Speaker 1: at the body language can take that. There is any
Speaker 1: rolling out throws to the championship, gets shock. There's no way.
Speaker 1: He's everybody. He's number one, He's my number one in
Speaker 1: the power. He does that stuff like, I mean, can
Speaker 1: you see my point a little bit? Though? In my house,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, you know, he loves well. I hear
Speaker 1: is Mark sucks, Mark sucks, Mark sucks, like that's all
Speaker 1: I'm listening to you. But when I hear that, I
Speaker 1: think Andy Reid onions for days and days and days.
Speaker 1: Let's move on, Lamar Jackson. He's gonna try and get
Speaker 1: it to the end zone himself, burning goal at the
Speaker 1: nine for the snap on our Jackson back to throw.
Speaker 1: Now it's Greg's lowest zone intercepted by Taren Johnson and
Speaker 1: he brings it out and he's still on the run.
Speaker 1: He may go all the way. He's when your team
Speaker 1: does two and fourteen, you can never get hurt. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Johnson goes a hundred and two yards with an end
Speaker 1: zone interception, touchdown Buffalo John Murphy with a call w
Speaker 1: g R. Yeah, it's the biggest wing playing football. The
Speaker 1: end zone interception that then goes back all the way
Speaker 1: a hundred yards to the house. Tehron Johnson pulled it
Speaker 1: off that fourteen point play for the Bills, the deciding
Speaker 1: play in a seventeen three win over the Ravens and
Speaker 1: raucous Orchard Park. It's just like ten thousand fans there,
Speaker 1: but they really announced their presence with authority in a
Speaker 1: big spot. Lamar Jackson was the man who threw that
Speaker 1: killer pick and then when he was forced out of
Speaker 1: the game on the next series with a head injury,
Speaker 1: that a shotgun snap that went over its head. He
Speaker 1: gets slammed down in the end zone. Tough situation and
Speaker 1: hate sid Uh, that is the latest disappointment of his
Speaker 1: playoff career. Greg Josh Allen has been the face of
Speaker 1: Bill's glory this season, but it's the defense that got
Speaker 1: them to the champion. Yeah, it was that play, that
Speaker 1: play in the injury. I mean, they're the drive leading
Speaker 1: up to it, which you know, there's only two drives
Speaker 1: in the whole third quarter. The Bills get that first
Speaker 1: touchdown of the game to get to ten three and
Speaker 1: Lamar makes a you know, bad read, it's a pick six,
Speaker 1: and that was that was it. It was like, it's
Speaker 1: very I would have liked to see what Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: could have done down two touchdowns there. You know, definitely
Speaker 1: robbed us um of any chance of that. And this
Speaker 1: was a team that almost lost to the Colts because
Speaker 1: of bad snaps, did lose to the Patriots because of
Speaker 1: bad snaps. And then the guy they brought in for
Speaker 1: the bad snap guy comes in and he was having
Speaker 1: bad snaps all last night. There was you know, three
Speaker 1: or four of them. Uh, it's disappointing. I mean we
Speaker 1: had a weekend where Mahomes and Jackson get concussed. That said,
Speaker 1: like it wasn't happening for the Ravens offense they had
Speaker 1: they had three points there through through three quarters, and
Speaker 1: they didn't really have um a move to go to
Speaker 1: in terms of their outside running. I was so surprised
Speaker 1: they kept going with these condensed formations running up the
Speaker 1: middle and it it just it wasn't working. I thought
Speaker 1: they would spread them out and try to run. Didn't
Speaker 1: do that. They obviously weren't able to throw the ball.
Speaker 1: Neither were the Bills, frankly. I mean, the Bills had
Speaker 1: two twenty yards, they got out gained by a hundred plus.
Speaker 1: Again in a game like that was by far the
Speaker 1: worst game by the Bills offense all year. I think
Speaker 1: it was, you know, a great performance by the Ravens defense,
Speaker 1: but the Bills defense was better and they didn't their
Speaker 1: quarterback didn't make the killer mistake Lamar did, and that
Speaker 1: was it. I mean, if someone told Wink Martindale, Ravens
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, you're going to allow ten points to the
Speaker 1: Bill's offense, right, you'd be thinking this will be a
Speaker 1: crushing um. But the Ravens and it's you know, it
Speaker 1: was a different game than their last playoff loss, but
Speaker 1: the mistakes came from all over the place. And the
Speaker 1: win was a huge factor in Justin Tucker missing two
Speaker 1: field goals UM, but he also just missed them. They
Speaker 1: had a terrible shank to punt UM. J K. Dobbins
Speaker 1: had a terrible drop at one point. There was a
Speaker 1: really costly personal foul. There was Lamar Jackson interception. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, it's like they didn't play a
Speaker 1: complete game. And I think Leslie Frasier, the Bills defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: I mean, these two coordinators both came in with great plans.
Speaker 1: And Leslie Fraser, who I you know, I don't think
Speaker 1: he's gotten mentioned on our show once all year. And
Speaker 1: I get it because you know, he's sort of like
Speaker 1: the head coach. Well, there wasn't much of a story,
Speaker 1: but I mean, but when they needed, when they needed
Speaker 1: that defense to step up and play it's best game
Speaker 1: of the year, UM and really to scheme really well
Speaker 1: against the Ravens and understand what the Ravens do, diagnose
Speaker 1: it and execute. UM. That that's what the Bills defense did.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was not this was a below middle
Speaker 1: of the road performance by their offense. It was it
Speaker 1: was a costly performance by their offense. Until I think
Speaker 1: that the one little thing and then I'll then I'll
Speaker 1: shut up. The one little thing is that the confidence
Speaker 1: that Josh Allen has and Stefan Diggs seems just to
Speaker 1: dig them out of so many holes in time, because
Speaker 1: it was like it took so long to get going,
Speaker 1: but he found him and Diggs started to make huge plays,
Speaker 1: and so it's like it was enough. It was enough
Speaker 1: um on a night where it wouldn't have been at
Speaker 1: the Ravens been less mistake prone. Yeah, I didn't mean
Speaker 1: that in a negative way towards Leslie Fraser. It's just
Speaker 1: that when you've talked about the rise of the Bills,
Speaker 1: it's been about Josh Allen entirely and Brian Dable and
Speaker 1: what they've been able to do, and and Fraser has
Speaker 1: flown under the radar, and like Wink Martindale for instance,
Speaker 1: like you said, you know, if you ask him how
Speaker 1: he feels right now, I shut down the Tennessee Titans
Speaker 1: with their two thousand yard rusher in the forty touchdown quarterback.
Speaker 1: I completely shut down the Josh Allen Bills had been unstoppable.
Speaker 1: I I'm getting introduced to somebody else's head coach next week.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm looking forward to that. I'm picking out a
Speaker 1: new suit. That's not happening. But that's just the way
Speaker 1: it goes to an interview. Yes on the on the
Speaker 1: raven side and again the dysfunctional offense um, And you're right, Greg,
Speaker 1: we were robbed as fans, and Lamar Jackson was robbed
Speaker 1: of the chance to find a way to dig out
Speaker 1: of that hole and find a way to win that game.
Speaker 1: But there's also the chance, based on evidence we've seen
Speaker 1: that they just weren't gonna get it going in that game.
Speaker 1: And part of the reason is because you saw Tyler
Speaker 1: Huntley in the running game get it going a little
Speaker 1: bit at the end, and just the Bill's defense hasn't
Speaker 1: been shut down all year. That that that you're right
Speaker 1: if if if you had just told me then I
Speaker 1: was like, well, he wasn't coming back anyways. But after
Speaker 1: watching them move the ball with Huntly, then you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: it would have been nice. Right. They nearly got this
Speaker 1: game to seventeen ten with Huntley and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you put the pressure back on the Bills,
Speaker 1: but they couldn't punch it in. Here's what Hollywood Brown
Speaker 1: said today when talking about the offense. And this I
Speaker 1: think speaks to well for Hollywood talks a lot, so
Speaker 1: you gotta keep that in mind. But also something has
Speaker 1: When players speak out to the media, it speaks to
Speaker 1: something going on in the locker room. Whenever you're the
Speaker 1: number one rushing offense and the thirty something passing team,
Speaker 1: that's not right, that's not balanced. We got to find
Speaker 1: a way to balance our game, even with our great
Speaker 1: rushing attack. We got to be able to throw the
Speaker 1: ball and be able to move the ball through the air.
Speaker 1: And and the truth is, Hallywey Brown is not part
Speaker 1: of the problem, but he's a great number two. I
Speaker 1: feel like they need a number one wide receiver. Though
Speaker 1: usually we give guys credit for playing their best in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and he had two big and not just
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and like the whole stretch run when the
Speaker 1: Ravens got hot through the playoffs, Brown was great. But
Speaker 1: they do need another receiver. And whether it's on Greg
Speaker 1: Roman or on Lamar Jackson, and really it's on both,
Speaker 1: they need to find a way, uh to to shed
Speaker 1: this image of a team that doesn't know how to
Speaker 1: pivot when things go sideways, because look it happened again now, Greg,
Speaker 1: I know he's your boy, and I know people it
Speaker 1: happens on football. Twitter excuses seem to get made for
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson three years in a row. You you're asking
Speaker 1: questions about this offense at the end of their season. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think there there might be time for John Harbaugh
Speaker 1: to make a Bowld change. And it's it's tough because
Speaker 1: Roman I think has done a good job. But sometimes
Speaker 1: like you make the change then before it goes really south.
Speaker 1: People a lot smarter than I. You know that. Actually
Speaker 1: we're on NFL teams you know, really talk about like look,
Speaker 1: they brag about how they have five thousand running plays
Speaker 1: and there's a reason why they're so good and diverse.
Speaker 1: It's like that's what they spend their time on. Like
Speaker 1: that takes away the time, especially in a year like
Speaker 1: this where you are not building up your passing game
Speaker 1: to be as diverse and have as many levels to it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's that's what they're gonna need ultimately,
Speaker 1: uh eventually, And and it wasn't there. I mean you
Speaker 1: do blanch a little bit at because you see it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: he threw for seven yards. Pert like they weren't a
Speaker 1: great passing game last night by any means, Jackson, but
Speaker 1: they made about the same amount of lays passing as
Speaker 1: the Bucks and the Saints and and the Bills and
Speaker 1: like all these other teams. But they are too one dimensional.
Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown is right. I mean, if you're that easy
Speaker 1: to self scout or to scout, that's a problem. The
Speaker 1: Bills were off the confident coming into this game, and
Speaker 1: they did a great job shutting Lamar on the ground.
Speaker 1: That was really the key for the second straight time.
Speaker 1: They did it a year ago too. It does seem
Speaker 1: like certain teams come in on defense feeling extremely confident
Speaker 1: about stopping Lamar Jackson and this team and this team
Speaker 1: at times, and you know, another offseason in another year,
Speaker 1: is this offense going to grow and going to continue
Speaker 1: to trick people? Change him? Change? Willie Sneed said it
Speaker 1: was a wake up call for Lamar Jackson, and they're
Speaker 1: very close friends, and he was just like, I think
Speaker 1: this game served that for him. So I don't think
Speaker 1: he escapes without critique. Um it's you know, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: just by the nature of their offense, he's given a
Speaker 1: little more bandwidth than others. But after after this latest disappointment,
Speaker 1: it's that I feel like what we're gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about is change the offense. Fix it, make it more explosive,
Speaker 1: get better playmakers, change up the scheme a little bit.
Speaker 1: So Lamar does have that cover. If they do do that,
Speaker 1: and then he continues to struggle on the stage in January,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be no one else to blame but Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1: Just it was like in this game though, it really
Speaker 1: was that one. It's crazy that it's that one play
Speaker 1: because they had such a similar drop. That's I know,
Speaker 1: but I'm saying some downs to that absolutely, But like
Speaker 1: the Bills get down in the red zone, they run
Speaker 1: it in there quickly, and that the Lamar gets the
Speaker 1: third down and he and he makes he makes a
Speaker 1: bad throw there, makes a bad read and suddenly and
Speaker 1: it happens to be returned and then the game, the
Speaker 1: game is over. He's also knocked out by concussion, which
Speaker 1: we mentioned, but it's like he did he what what if? Well,
Speaker 1: what if he had been in at there at the
Speaker 1: end and change this He just Tucker has got to
Speaker 1: hit those kicks, like you know, there's there's just a
Speaker 1: little there's a little bit of everything that happens in
Speaker 1: these playoff games. That's why we love the playoffs, as
Speaker 1: we end up like dice acting every little thing and
Speaker 1: what is that game like? You know, if they don't
Speaker 1: make some of the mental errors, some of which were
Speaker 1: absolutely on Lamar too. Thanks for bringing it up. Greg,
Speaker 1: Let's head into the Kicker Club. I'm always surprised. I
Speaker 1: have to say legitimately on this club is a mess
Speaker 1: right now. I mentioned people really are interested in the
Speaker 1: Kicker Club and what's happening and who has status and
Speaker 1: who's going in and out? Check it out right now,
Speaker 1: listen to this place. It's the upside down. When Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker puts two off the uprights, people are saying, kick
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker out of the Kicker Hell no, he's my
Speaker 1: co owner of the place. I mean, that is the
Speaker 1: greatest kicker ever. But that just speaks to the strange,
Speaker 1: strange vibe around the Ravens in that game. Eerie eerie
Speaker 1: stuff in the Kicker Club. Wendy was windy. Do you
Speaker 1: ever have like the backyard let's sort of courtyards, secret
Speaker 1: parties at the Kickers Club where the wind is gusting
Speaker 1: like fifty miles an hour. That's sort of the scenario
Speaker 1: that Tucker found himself in. I know, I it actually does.
Speaker 1: It didn't cross my mind after the second Miskick is like,
Speaker 1: it's Justin Tucker my favorite player in the NFL because
Speaker 1: I was legitimately hurting definitely, I mean definitely the non
Speaker 1: Jets and I don't even know, I mean, because they're
Speaker 1: just being so you know, terrible. I don't. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love San Donald. I wanted to succeed. Um, but
Speaker 1: I think Justin Tucker is like in terms of star players,
Speaker 1: like who do I root for? It's it's a kicker,
Speaker 1: I think. Anyway, so weird stuff. We should give the
Speaker 1: Bills fans a little more love and the Bills too.
Speaker 1: I do feel like we've gotten negative. It was a
Speaker 1: weird game. It was a great defensive performance. Um Like
Speaker 1: mc dermott built up this defense from seventeen on and
Speaker 1: this is what I think his he's made his money
Speaker 1: doing in Fraser and Brandon Bean and those guys they
Speaker 1: drafted all came through with huge performances. So that's that
Speaker 1: is how you win a Super Bowl. Is like when
Speaker 1: you had different ways, Like the first game, you give
Speaker 1: up four dred and seventy five yards and you're you're like,
Speaker 1: you know, all pro type quarterback wins the game by
Speaker 1: himself for you. The next game, the defense goes and wins.
Speaker 1: How how are you gonna win the next one? Like
Speaker 1: that is how you get through four rounds? And Milano
Speaker 1: and Jerry Hughes who has been there forever, and Edmonds
Speaker 1: and Trey White had a good game in the safeties,
Speaker 1: like they they stepped up and won the game. And
Speaker 1: so that's a credit. I know Bills fans, they don't
Speaker 1: that's how they I don't care how they're gonna win
Speaker 1: the game. They are loving this game. I will say
Speaker 1: that is glass half full. The glass half empty look
Speaker 1: is that they've won two playoff games. Uh, and you
Speaker 1: you know, either game could have gone the other way
Speaker 1: because they combined in the two games. So are they
Speaker 1: vulnerable to be picked off on Sunday this upcoming Sunday
Speaker 1: by the Chiefs because they're not playing at that same
Speaker 1: level anymore they were at the end of the regular
Speaker 1: season or is it just a matter of And I'm
Speaker 1: probably more on this side of things. The competition shoots
Speaker 1: through the roof in January and you're the big dog
Speaker 1: that everybody's gunning for is the home playoff team, and
Speaker 1: those are hard games to win, and they've found a
Speaker 1: way to beat two very good teams in the Colts
Speaker 1: and Ravens. There is a little part of me and
Speaker 1: the Chiefs fans are some of the best in the
Speaker 1: in the world, but I would have loved to see
Speaker 1: an a f C title game in Buffalo. Um. The
Speaker 1: the the amount of noise they made when those kicks
Speaker 1: went sideways by Justin Tucker. I don't know, it's because
Speaker 1: you know, you're used to know fans and suddenly you
Speaker 1: have ten thousand. But everyone there was like it sounds
Speaker 1: like seven earthquakes are occurring here. And that's the Bills
Speaker 1: fandom and they'll get talked about a lot this week
Speaker 1: as they should. All Right, there you go, So the
Speaker 1: Bill's Brown's a f C title game would have been nice, Mark,
Speaker 1: I know I am ultimately saying that more as like
Speaker 1: the Bills crowd, I'm not understand in the back door
Speaker 1: with that. It really would have been nice, though. It
Speaker 1: would have been if there was a scenario where the
Speaker 1: either the Browns fans or the Bills fans were getting
Speaker 1: ready for a Super Bowl, but also looking at this way, Mark,
Speaker 1: how about this tough loss, but such a sad, strange year,
Speaker 1: uh in in in this country, in this world, when
Speaker 1: the Browns get over the hump, you want to have
Speaker 1: that true vibe or the stadiums packed all season and
Speaker 1: maybe you have a home game in the n f
Speaker 1: C title game and you and you see like Baker
Speaker 1: and you know Jarvis and maybe even O'Dell and Miles
Speaker 1: going around the concourse slap in five and it's a
Speaker 1: it's it's not this strange, speaking upside down world we
Speaker 1: live in. But it has been nice, I'd say, to
Speaker 1: get some fans in these stadiums. Hopefully it's in a
Speaker 1: safe way, and these aren't people getting sick from going
Speaker 1: in these games. But to get the ten fifteen thousand
Speaker 1: people in there has made a difference in the postseason.
Speaker 1: I am with you, and I would imagine that's actually
Speaker 1: what Cleveland's plan was. Let's slow play this and get
Speaker 1: back there next year when the fans are in the stadium. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right. Our final game was the first game played
Speaker 1: early Saturday. Rogers take Spakes, the hand off looks a
Speaker 1: lot of that stuff, Parkers. Why man, that's Wayne Larvey
Speaker 1: w T MJ. The Packers offense is just you know impossible.
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams combined to go over a
Speaker 1: hundred sixty yards with a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers was his masket,
Speaker 1: will self you have three touchdowns and the Packers kind
Speaker 1: of cruise to a eighteen win over the Rams at Lambeau.
Speaker 1: Green Bay punches at stake into the NFC Title Game
Speaker 1: for the second straight year, where they will host the
Speaker 1: Bucks next Sunday. Yes, Aaron Rodgers against Tom Brady. How
Speaker 1: do you like that? For the right to go to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl? Mark the Green Bay offense, which rolled
Speaker 1: up nearly five hundred yards against the stout Rams defense.
Speaker 1: It can be a beautiful thing to watch. I I
Speaker 1: enjoyed this game a lot more than I thought it
Speaker 1: would because of that exact um factor that there's something
Speaker 1: about the Packers when they are clicking the way that
Speaker 1: they are an athlete that West just spoke perfectly about
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers in his season that you could count his
Speaker 1: you know, gaffs on on on one or two hands. Um.
Speaker 1: You knew early on that this was gonna take something
Speaker 1: dynamic from the Rams on offense to keep up and
Speaker 1: nothing about the Rams offense suggested that was the case.
Speaker 1: And you throw in the fact that Aaron Donald just
Speaker 1: um you know, limited snaps, uh, you know, in a
Speaker 1: lot of pain, was not himself ended the game shedding
Speaker 1: some tears. There's the play where Davante Adams, um just
Speaker 1: got the best of Jail and Ramsey. The Rams this year,
Speaker 1: at this time are built around that. They're built around that,
Speaker 1: and they're built around Brandon Staley cooking up defenses, um
Speaker 1: defensive schemes. And Brandon Staley is now going to this
Speaker 1: to the Los Angeles Chargers. So a lot's changing as
Speaker 1: we speak with that team. But um, you know, I
Speaker 1: I like, can't you know, cam Akers amazing effort lost
Speaker 1: in that is just that there are too many you know,
Speaker 1: too much pressure on golf and got thrown to the
Speaker 1: turf so many times and it just uh, at no point,
Speaker 1: after about a quarter ended, I thought this, this thought
Speaker 1: this game was had a question. It was just so
Speaker 1: Green Bay is too powerful, right that the Rams kind
Speaker 1: of like the Browns at least before Mahomes you know left,
Speaker 1: you know, felt like they were the inferior team and
Speaker 1: actually showed, you know, some of the reason they're in
Speaker 1: this spot and they're fighting spirit to to even be competitive,
Speaker 1: because I think if you play that game ten times
Speaker 1: with Aaron Donald not at a percent and no Cooper Cup,
Speaker 1: I don't know how many of the Rams are that competitive.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just just wasn't gonna happen. I was
Speaker 1: still surprised to see how easily they went through the
Speaker 1: Rams defense, how consistently they did. This is the defense
Speaker 1: that didn't give up more than four hundred yards one
Speaker 1: time all season. They gave up fo eighty five and
Speaker 1: it was only in like eight or nine drives. This
Speaker 1: was another game that that was kind of shortened the game,
Speaker 1: like golf did everything it could and it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: I think why West, you know one of the reasons
Speaker 1: he loves riders so much this year. It's such a
Speaker 1: combination of you know, his athleticism and everything we've always
Speaker 1: loved about him, and his and his you know, mental
Speaker 1: side of things. It's it's kind of even the easy
Speaker 1: guys are guys are either open or he's just making
Speaker 1: decisions Like I just you've never seen guys this open
Speaker 1: for Aaron Rodgers and he said it in the post game,
Speaker 1: like they missed a couple. Even though they only had
Speaker 1: eight or nine drives, they really could have had two
Speaker 1: more touchdowns in this game, one of which turned into
Speaker 1: a field like they could have put up forty on
Speaker 1: the number one defense in the league. And I know
Speaker 1: it didn't play out this way all all weekend, but
Speaker 1: I'll take great offense over great defense any day. I
Speaker 1: thought about that you're saying that, you know, throughout the months,
Speaker 1: and it just came to mind, and golf played pretty
Speaker 1: well in this game. I mean, statistically, it's kind of
Speaker 1: a bummer when you look at this weekend what came
Speaker 1: out of it. When you had Patrick Mahomes going out
Speaker 1: of the a game we were all pumped to watch
Speaker 1: with the concussion. Lamar Jackson essentially takes the air, the
Speaker 1: air is taken out of the balloon with his cushion
Speaker 1: when that game was seventeen three, and you know, Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup's one thing that's a big loster their offense. But
Speaker 1: you take Aaron donald Um and put him in such
Speaker 1: a compromised state. Uh in that game, He's coming in
Speaker 1: and out of the game, obviously struggling with the rib injury,
Speaker 1: crying after the game as the clock ticks down to
Speaker 1: zero is because I think, you know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to play psychologists here, but you get the vibe that,
Speaker 1: like he knew to get this team past the Packers
Speaker 1: into the super Bowl, they needed him to deliver the
Speaker 1: type of performance that's that he's been doing his whole career.
Speaker 1: It's gonna put him in the Hall of Fame. And
Speaker 1: he physically could not do it. And that had to
Speaker 1: be so deeply frustrating on top of just the feelings
Speaker 1: of knowing that your season is now over. And the
Speaker 1: other thing to take away from the game, and and
Speaker 1: some comments that have come out of Los Angeles since
Speaker 1: the loss um make me think about it even more,
Speaker 1: is so, yeah, los Angeles defense, which was great all year,
Speaker 1: didn't have what it took to hang with Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: in this game. Without Aaron Donald Um. Okay, now in
Speaker 1: the past, with a Sean McVeigh offense, all is not
Speaker 1: lost because it's okay, okay, so the defense isn't gonna
Speaker 1: carry us. We're gonna score points and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: in a shoot out. But at no point did you
Speaker 1: feel like the Rams had that ability in them? And
Speaker 1: I would guess, and you get the vibe. Sean mcveay
Speaker 1: sick of that. Like he's like, I'm Sean McVeigh. I
Speaker 1: should be able to get into a shoot out if
Speaker 1: need be. And here are some comments McVeigh made right
Speaker 1: after the game. When I asked about Jared goff and
Speaker 1: the future, he said, yes, Jared Goffler quarterback right now.
Speaker 1: And then uh, he was had a Zoom conference the
Speaker 1: day after the game and talked about the future again
Speaker 1: at quarterback. Everything's being evaluated. I'm not ready to make
Speaker 1: any sort of statements with regards to anybody, you know,
Speaker 1: starting position or not. We're gonna have a level of
Speaker 1: competition at everything that we do. And then he was asked,
Speaker 1: would God be on the roster. We're we're in a
Speaker 1: situation that we're in evaluation mode. Um, you know, all
Speaker 1: the those things are things that you know, we're we're
Speaker 1: moving forward, we're looking forward, and and I can't you know,
Speaker 1: answer any of those questions until, like I said, I
Speaker 1: take a step back and and you evaluate everything that
Speaker 1: is in the best interest of the Ramps. Here's the
Speaker 1: translation to me, Greg, and tell me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: because I know you're very good at translating. Coach speaking,
Speaker 1: I'm sick of this. I am sick of this, and
Speaker 1: I want to be able to run an offense that
Speaker 1: can keep pace with the way the league is going
Speaker 1: right now, and having Jared Goff behind center isn't going
Speaker 1: to do that. Yeah, translation is like, we're gonna try,
Speaker 1: We're gonna try to replace Goff. I don't know that
Speaker 1: we can. I don't know how it's gonna look exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean, Sean McVeigh is very intentional and everything he
Speaker 1: does and everything he says, he's probably sick of scene.
Speaker 1: You know. On the other side, like you know his
Speaker 1: guy that he probably thinks he's a better coach than
Speaker 1: scheming up open receivers for a Hall of Fame Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers quarterback. The contract is is tricky. But anyone in
Speaker 1: Goff's corner, and there are a few in the media,
Speaker 1: Um there's thinking if there are pleased on me who
Speaker 1: they are because I have not seen any of them
Speaker 1: this season. Um you know there there are the reporter
Speaker 1: Melanie Goff. I'm not even gonna go there. My point
Speaker 1: is that they made it out like the people were
Speaker 1: making a bigger deal out of this whole, like golf
Speaker 1: and Wolford and everything else. Thing than then was warranted
Speaker 1: because of Goff's injury, and I think mcveigh's comments show
Speaker 1: that it was totally warranted and that will be a
Speaker 1: huge part of their offseason. Yeah, tough, tough way to
Speaker 1: go into it. Losing Staley to the Chargers. Is Mark
Speaker 1: mentioned he is the new head coach, kind of kind
Speaker 1: of interesting to steal the guy in the building. There's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a sneaky big brother little brother
Speaker 1: rivalry there, I I think behind the scenes, and I
Speaker 1: mean he doesn't have to like move homes, his kids
Speaker 1: can stay in the same schools. I do wonder a
Speaker 1: little about these playoff games because you know, we are
Speaker 1: all the whole world is watching one game and the
Speaker 1: result is so paramount. Like if a game like this
Speaker 1: happens in week eleven, does everyone come out of it
Speaker 1: thinking like, we're gonna reboot our offense. We're gonna we're Baltimore,
Speaker 1: We're changing our offense, We're Seattle, We're gonna run a
Speaker 1: ton more, We're gonna dump this quarterback in that quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it's also just the end of
Speaker 1: the season, but like, I feel like that's so under
Speaker 1: the microscope that it creates um larger, a larger than
Speaker 1: life sort of decision making process for some of these coaches. Well,
Speaker 1: with Gothic Kate was coming for about six weeks that
Speaker 1: was the thing, or six or eight weeks. So that's
Speaker 1: that's with him in McVeigh. At least, we're gonna dig
Speaker 1: in deep on the Brandon Staley higher by the Chargers
Speaker 1: and of course Roberts Sala Sala going to the Jets
Speaker 1: and Arthur Smith going to the Falcons. We'll dig into
Speaker 1: that our next show on Tuesday and anything else that
Speaker 1: happens um around the NFL as we do. Just the
Speaker 1: heads up, but yeah, that that's the Rams are an
Speaker 1: interesting place. Next they gotta replace that. It's funny with
Speaker 1: I just said I'm gonna we're gonna talk about it Tuesday,
Speaker 1: but I have to say it because it Brandon Staley.
Speaker 1: It almost now is an advantage to not have experience.
Speaker 1: It's like just put one good year on tape and
Speaker 1: then they're going to get behind you. It's the Sean
Speaker 1: McVeigh model, like we're willing to gamble that you are
Speaker 1: the future of the league rather than you have to
Speaker 1: show it multiple years It's kind of funny the way thinks,
Speaker 1: Like if you're Wink Martindale and Leslie Fraser, you're thinking,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, they just hired that guy. He's been
Speaker 1: doing this for five months. He just they just hired
Speaker 1: the guy whose defense gave up. And this is kind
Speaker 1: of one of these silly stats, but for the first
Speaker 1: time in playoff history, a team had four hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy five yards um total, hundred seventy five yards rushing,
Speaker 1: zero sacks, zero turnovers. So like about as efficient an
Speaker 1: offense that has ever existed in the postseason is what
Speaker 1: the Packers just did to the Rams. That's like when
Speaker 1: Matt Patricia got the Lion's job after the Eagles Super
Speaker 1: Bowl win. That's what I kind of felt about Arthur Smith.
Speaker 1: And it feels a little unfair, But when I rewatched
Speaker 1: that game, and man, the Ravens had their number. We
Speaker 1: should give Packers fans a little little cheese to Nivlon.
Speaker 1: By the way, they had a lot of nice things
Speaker 1: they could have won this and by like forty they
Speaker 1: like Rashaan Gary and Kenny Clark stepping up big, Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones had a nice game and then just like Rogers
Speaker 1: how like calm he was when he's just like yells
Speaker 1: to Alan Lazard on that touchdown, just like hey, Alan,
Speaker 1: and then throws him like a sixth yards that he's
Speaker 1: just like chilling in the end zone before he throws
Speaker 1: like a thirty yard you know thing. And while most
Speaker 1: quarterbacks would be freaking out taking his safety is pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: He's so Yeah, he's so unique. I don't think we'll
Speaker 1: ever have another quarterback or player in the NFL like
Speaker 1: Rogers to have his abilities. But also he's such an
Speaker 1: interesting personality. And you're watching him in these interviews and
Speaker 1: are you're watching on the field. They had did a
Speaker 1: nice job catching him just grinning under center. He's just
Speaker 1: completely It actually gets me a little bit mad that
Speaker 1: someone could be that physically talented and that's smart. The
Speaker 1: guy's gonna be hosting Jeopardy uh down the road and
Speaker 1: in the near future. Uh. He's just such a unique character. Um.
Speaker 1: And for him to be playing at this level and
Speaker 1: this Packers team, which is actually now going to go
Speaker 1: into this game as a favorite, Like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: I assume, um they should get back to the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and if they do, it's rogers first trip back in
Speaker 1: ten years, so he's overdoing it. Might be his best
Speaker 1: chance to get back to the super Bowl. It is
Speaker 1: this first one, first one at home, right, certainly the
Speaker 1: first one home since then. I'm trying to think, all right,
Speaker 1: any other thoughts about this game. I'm looking to update
Speaker 1: you on the situation for next week in terms of
Speaker 1: they are four point favorites. By the way, nothing nothing crazy,
Speaker 1: but that's about right. Yeah, yeah, that's about right. Maybe
Speaker 1: four and a half a little more. I love their
Speaker 1: chances against Tampa Bay. I'd lay a little more Oak there. Personally,
Speaker 1: I think I'm the touch, you know, as I realized
Speaker 1: watching the Browns, and I just want to pick the
Speaker 1: games of what I want to happen. I don't like
Speaker 1: Rudy against what I want because I did want the
Speaker 1: Browns to win, and but you had the whole lock situation.
Speaker 1: I don't like these conflicting things. So I think I
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna be wanting Tom Brady to win another game,
Speaker 1: and so I'll probably just pick them to win. There's
Speaker 1: a there's a tea for you and uh Mark, just
Speaker 1: like you did. We we did um a lot of
Speaker 1: work with sky Sports overseas. UM this weekend and last
Speaker 1: weekend as well. It's been a lot of fun with
Speaker 1: Neil Reynolds and Jeff Rhin Bold, Sean Gail and Brian Waldinger.
Speaker 1: That's it's been a lot of fun. Leslie Fraser's teammate
Speaker 1: on The Five Bears, Sean Gayle, how about that? That's true? Uh,
Speaker 1: Patrick Crowley, the producer over there, Alex Mason, It's it's
Speaker 1: been a great relationship we've had with that whole gang there.
Speaker 1: And and the fact that you mark right after the
Speaker 1: Browns game, seconds after you went on Sky Sports Live
Speaker 1: comported yourself professionally and did the same thing here today.
Speaker 1: I just I tipped my cap to you, sir, well,
Speaker 1: thank you. I mean part of me is like we
Speaker 1: I would do show is when they captain know in
Speaker 1: sixteen seasons. So um, I'm not saying this is it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's different levels of annoyance. But uh I,
Speaker 1: I've actually really enjoyed these past two weeks doing the
Speaker 1: guy with you guys and having having the chance to
Speaker 1: have wess on. Um, the Browns are just part of it.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of other parts and um, it's like
Speaker 1: another thing and I think we all hear from our
Speaker 1: listeners in so many different ways. I have never experienced
Speaker 1: anything like all the people reaching out with UM, you
Speaker 1: know what, wishing you well over a game or now
Speaker 1: there's a couple of a holes in there. But I
Speaker 1: think they're actually not from our They're not from our podcast.
Speaker 1: You're pushing Drew Carey pushing them. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I would really want that as an identity, because I
Speaker 1: think like the same thing that's also happening is like
Speaker 1: all the big wigs and they coming like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's that Browns fan guy. I don't put it. He's
Speaker 1: he doesn't know how to talk about anything else. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I might kind of, you know. It's just like Nick Shooks,
Speaker 1: like I'm super logical guy, like that might be the
Speaker 1: way to go here, and boy, it's a hideous I entity.
Speaker 1: So it's you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna use the
Speaker 1: next couple of months to get away from that. The
Speaker 1: fans love you, Mark UM, we love you, and the
Speaker 1: UM listeners, including one named Jimmy from Toronto. He he
Speaker 1: got ahead of it a little bit, just in the
Speaker 1: in the off chance that things didn't go well for UM.
Speaker 1: The Browns. We've been playing the Cleveland Browns um Fight
Speaker 1: song from when they re entered the league, so figured
Speaker 1: a good way to close out today's show is to
Speaker 1: listen to Jimmy from Toronto's version cover version of that
Speaker 1: very song. What's the song called again? Well, here we
Speaker 1: go again, Here we go again. This is actually true
Speaker 1: as of tomorrow, but yeah, this is a stripped down
Speaker 1: version to reflect the events of today. And before we
Speaker 1: play that. Yes, thank you to Chris Westling for joining us.
Speaker 1: Uh ricky Hollywood behind the virtual glass. We'll be back
Speaker 1: Tuesday with another show in a full, big show, a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about everything in the news, including slas
Speaker 1: La Salah, so make sure you come back for that
Speaker 1: and Cleveland Browns Rising rising, taking that next step this
Speaker 1: time next year we see it. But for now, the
Speaker 1: season comes to an end. We'll see you on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: So here wait again, It's brown It's first, So get
Speaker 1: on your feet, let the games again. Here go again,
Speaker 1: m kill Tuesday, all right,