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00:00We have ourselves a fascinating situation on Sunday night.
00:09I'll tell you quite frankly, if it was not for the Anthony Richardson, Joe Flacco swap,
00:14I would have buried this game in the party over segment as someone going to Eagles Jaguars
00:18today.
00:19I was none too pleased to see my game flex that a Sunday night football for cults Vikings,
00:25but Minnesota has levels of intrigue.
00:27No doubt what we get from Joe Flacco today is going to be a major talking point.
00:34Good bad solid.
00:36No matter what it's going to for many people be this referendum.
00:41But I think again, it's important to pull back on what is still to me, one of the more
00:45stunning decisions in recent memory, because we saw an opposite move made a few years back
00:53by the Miami Dolphins when they were playing well with Ryan Fitzpatrick.
00:56And they said, it doesn't matter to as the franchise get them in.
00:59Nope, nothing else matters.
01:01The cults again have kind of flipped this on their head.
01:04They see the playoffs in their mind within reach.
01:07And clearly in that someone within that organization believes Flacco gives them the best chance
01:13to win today.
01:15And perhaps they have then put the what's supposed to be future of their franchise on
01:21the back burner.
01:22Anthony Richardson was the fifth overall draft choice just a year ago.
01:27He has started 10 NFL games.
01:30He's left a handful injured.
01:32So this is a guy who I think has played seven full games within the NFL.
01:37Call it six if you want to count the game where he popped his head and left for a snap.
01:40Quite frankly, it is incredible to me still for a team to make this type of decision with
01:46the Indianapolis Colts.
01:48And I think now we'll spend a lot of the year wondering, when does Anthony Richardson
01:53get back out there?
01:55But we'll take it from the top, Donnie, your thoughts as we sit here and have had even
01:59more time to digest the decision that was made to put Joe Flacco in for Anthony Richardson.
02:05It's the right move.
02:06If you feel the time is now where you think you can make a playoff run, you have to put
02:09this guy in.
02:10And that's Joe Flacco.
02:11He's shown over the past year and a half that he can resuscitate a team that's struggling
02:14a quarterback, step in and basically be an old man at sea and still be able to complete
02:19the deep ball to keep everybody involved.
02:21When you're running Shane Steichen's offense, it's apparent the guy's very creative.
02:24He's running a simple system that says, just play point guard at quarterback.
02:28You want to throw deep?
02:29We got guys running deep.
02:30You want to throw intermediate?
02:31I got a great running back in the back.
02:32Let's utilize everything.
02:33Everything wasn't being utilized here.
02:35And I think last week, the tap out, I think would make a little bit too big on that because
02:38it is going to get the national highlights.
02:39How could a quarterback ever do that at this point?
02:41And maybe if he thought twice, but you know what?
02:43Pressure went back to the huddle and said, call run play here at this point, or let's
02:46just call something simple so I can just throw it out here and let a wide receiver screen
02:49go off.
02:50But so many things are happening behind the scenes that we aren't privy to at this point
02:54because you're right, Kevin, you're not going to take the top three pick a year ago that
02:57you're trying to evaluate in a playoff race and say he just can't play.
03:00I just think there's bigger pictures like Zeke Elliott gets suspended today.
03:03I wonder why he was.
03:04Well, news comes out.
03:05That's not showing up the meetings.
03:06He's being, you know, a little bit, a little bit extra, say the least here during the week.
03:10Stop the man this year.
03:11We don't know if that's happening with Anthony Richardson.
03:13But I'll tell you one thing.
03:14You'll continue to hear these stories if Joe Flacco goes on the road today in Beach, Minnesota,
03:18and they'll say, you know what?
03:19Hey, maybe a couple more weeks on the bench.
03:20But if Joe Flacco gets pounded six times this game and they lose, you'll be calling for
03:24Anthony Richardson to be back in there.
03:25And rightfully so.
03:26No, I agree with that.
03:27I think the biggest reason for the change was the completion percentage.
03:32Again, we talked about it and something that he struggled with, Kev, coming out of Florida,
03:36right?
03:37He was a, you know, a physical phenom.
03:39We knew we could throw the ball a ton.
03:41He can run like the wind.
03:43He's big.
03:44He's physical.
03:45Has all of those attributes.
03:46But they wanted to cultivate that talent to the next level and he's shown glimpses.
03:50I will say this.
03:51I am not putting Anthony Richardson on the same level as Bryce Young right now.
03:56I don't think it's a similar situation.
03:58I think Bryce Young, from what I've seen in regards to his play up until this point, not
04:03the same player that we saw at Alabama.
04:06Something's missing there.
04:07Again, the pocket presence, the ability to just understand the offense up until this
04:11point, completely different than Anthony Richardson.
04:14I think Anthony Richardson needs a little bit of honing.
04:17However, that being said, to Donnie's point, they are trying to challenge, you know, as
04:22a wild card and potentially make the playoffs.
04:25We're on the cusp of that with Gardner Minshew last year in a backup role and the ability
04:30for Anthony Richardson to maybe take two or three weeks off to see what he's doing wrong
04:35and maybe get a better understanding of the offense or maybe work on completions and his
04:40accuracy, I don't think is a bad look for the franchise.