In this episode of the All 32 NFL Podcast, hosts Mike Giardi and Will Parkinson discuss the New York Jets pursuit of a new head coach. Including the potential hiring of Aaron Glenn and the challenges faced by the Jets in securing top candidates amidst quarterback uncertainties. Additionally, Mike and Will analyze the recent playoff performances in the divisional round.
0:00 - Intro
2:14 - Aaron Glenn Interview
7:56 - Patriots
19:20 - AFC Title Game Preview
22:11 - Ravens Self-Destruction
24:00 - Lamar's Performance Review
28:34 - Eagles Win Game
39:50 - Ben Johnson's Hiring
45:00 - Commanders' Upset Victory
49:14 - Washington's Potential
59:00 - Referee Controversies
1:04:30 - AFC & NFC Championship
All 32 NFL Podcast is presented by:
Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 when you play $5! PrizePicks, run your game! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS
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Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
0:00 - Intro
2:14 - Aaron Glenn Interview
7:56 - Patriots
19:20 - AFC Title Game Preview
22:11 - Ravens Self-Destruction
24:00 - Lamar's Performance Review
28:34 - Eagles Win Game
39:50 - Ben Johnson's Hiring
45:00 - Commanders' Upset Victory
49:14 - Washington's Potential
59:00 - Referee Controversies
1:04:30 - AFC & NFC Championship
All 32 NFL Podcast is presented by:
Prize Picks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS to get $50 when you play $5! PrizePicks, run your game! Go to https://PrizePicks.com/CLNS
Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime! Terms apply. Go to https://gametime.co !
Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00:00It is caught! Touchdown!
00:00:04The New England Patriots select Drake May.
00:00:08He's got the ball! And that's the ballgame!
00:00:12The divisional round, I think, I believe,
00:00:16lived up to its hype. Mike Giardi, Will Parkinson here at the All32 Podcast
00:00:20as we get ready for the AFC Championship and the NFC Championship
00:00:24next week, and also the Senior Bowl. Hello, I know a few people
00:00:28including these two who will be there in Mobile, Alabama.
00:00:32A reminder that this program brought to you by PrizePix, the exclusive Daily Fantasy partner
00:00:36of the CLNS Media Network. And game time, best tickets, best prices to get you in to see
00:00:40any event you want to see. Before we get into the games from this
00:00:44weekend, Will, let's get a quick coaching update
00:00:48and a New England Patriot Minute, if you will. I'll start with you and the Jets.
00:00:52Aaron Glenn coming in for an in-person interview. We're taping this on
00:00:56Monday afternoon, 5 o'clock. He is due in to the
00:01:00Jets' facility on Tuesday. Feels like, Will,
00:01:04this is one of those situations, considering how hot New Orleans is for Aaron
00:01:08Glenn as well, that if you get Aaron Glenn in the building, if you're the Jets,
00:01:12you better make sure he doesn't leave until he's got that five-year contract.
00:01:16Yeah, it's funny. Normally I hate the,
00:01:20don't let him leave the building. You lock him down in there
00:01:24and don't let him leave until he signs on a dotted line and you force him into it.
00:01:28Normally I think that's overstated. I think a lot of times
00:01:32if you're confident, if you have a really good job, people are going to want
00:01:36your job. But as we've seen throughout this process, it seems like the Jets are
00:01:40not a job people don't. It isn't a bad job, but it's not the most attractive
00:01:44job because everyone's talked a lot about owner
00:01:48and, hey, it's the Jets. Whatever. That stuff
00:01:52I don't really think actually plays. They don't have a quarterback.
00:01:56They don't have a solidified guy for even the next two to three years who's going to be your guy.
00:02:00I think that's played a large role in the Liam Cohen,
00:02:04Cliff Kingsbury types, Ben Johnson,
00:02:08not wanting to interview for the Jets job or not being requested because back channel
00:02:12told you. Aaron Glenn has said before this is his dream job.
00:02:16Again, long story short, was the first round pick of the Jets in 1994.
00:02:20Was a Parcells guy through and through. Was a pro bowler when they
00:02:24went to the championship game in 98 and got a
00:02:28scouting start with the Jets and this whole thing.
00:02:32The Jets really felt like Mike Rabel was option one and
00:02:361A, 1B, whatever it was. I think at the time they felt like the Patriots
00:02:40were not going to fire Gerard Mayo. I think we all believed up until maybe
00:02:44the Chargers game that Mayo was going to get another year. The Jets felt like
00:02:48if we can give him, we're going to pay him and give him this opportunity.
00:02:52Our job is better than Chicago because he can have ultimate power with his guy.
00:02:56And so on and so forth. Very much we got New England, the Jets felt like they could have given him.
00:03:00Obviously goes to New England. I think everyone knew as soon as
00:03:04Mayo got fired it was over. And Glenn has been kind of the
00:03:08prohibitive favorite amongst media and fans.
00:03:12But again, reading the tea leaves of dream job. He's a Parcells
00:03:16guy, the whole thing. Right now because of the way the
00:03:20market shaped, the Jets feel like they're going to hire head coach before GM
00:03:24and it's going to be a pairing. Just because, yes, there's more
00:03:28coaching vacancies at the moment. The Raiders are the only
00:03:32GM opening left. The Raiders feels like John Spitek's probably
00:03:36the guy there. I'm sure it felt like the Raiders probably thought Ben Johnson
00:03:40and Lance Newmark were going to be that pairing. Now he was Ben Johnson's pick.
00:03:44It seems like prohibitive pick to be the GM. So Glenn will interview tomorrow. So will Newmark.
00:03:48If Glenn leaves the building tomorrow
00:03:52without a deal, he's probably the Saints coach Wednesday.
00:03:56It feels like it's Schefter had the report out this morning on McAfee
00:04:00and then we can move on off the Jets. But he had the report.
00:04:04The Jets had basically been in this holding pattern for almost a week now where
00:04:08they interviewed a million candidates. I mean they're still interviewing candidates over the weekend
00:04:12but the tier one guys that they were
00:04:16favorites, there's kind of just this holding pattern. No secondary interviews were being pressed.
00:04:20Everyone's kind of confused. They finished up Friday McCown, Flores. That was the last
00:04:24of the guys and I don't think anyone expected the Lions to lose as we'll get into.
00:04:28So Glenn became readily available as did Ben Johnson and
00:04:32Schefter had the report before obviously we'll get to Ben Johnson and the Bears but
00:04:36they'll be both getting a head coach job by the middle of the week.
00:04:40Likely Glenn is either the Jets or the Saints coach in the next 48 hours.
00:04:44I still have a little bit of reservations that the Jets would
00:04:48I really like Aaron Glenn. I think he's a really good hire. He would be a really good
00:04:52hire for the Jets. Do I think that Aaron Glenn getting to pick his GM
00:04:56prohibitive like in you know in layman's terms is
00:05:00what I envisioned maybe going in the offseason? No, but they're
00:05:04desperate. They've not made the playoffs in 14 years and if you want Aaron Glenn
00:05:08they're going to have to get someone that sees eye to eye with him. Mike, I don't know how you feel.
00:05:12I always worry a little bit and this is in New England too. I worry about this now. I worry about this.
00:05:16You want these guys to challenge each other a little bit not just see
00:05:20every single thing the same and it's like an echo chamber. Do you worry at all with that?
00:05:24If the Jets bring in a guy like Glenn that's going to get in Newark and Detroit
00:05:28you know he was there forever and they were horrible and then the last three years
00:05:32you know and you know and obviously the year in Washington it's like oh like
00:05:36now he's like a hot candidate and a couple years ago like probably
00:05:40ceiling was a number two. Yeah, it happens a lot.
00:05:44I think one of the things that when Vrabel had his introductory press conference
00:05:48and he was talking about just his coaching staff in general and then sort of the vision
00:05:52with the front office and he's like I don't want everyone to be like me.
00:05:56I don't want everyone to think like me and this goes for coaches and this goes for front
00:06:00office so you definitely need that. Wait,
00:06:04are we sure we should be doing that or why would you do that? No, you know what, don't do that and then
00:06:08you have the argument like this is what we want to do. Why do you want to do it? No, this is why we shouldn't do it
00:06:12and have that conversation and then if you need a tiebreaker you bring in whoever the tiebreaker
00:06:16person is whether it's ownership or someone else in the front office or what have you
00:06:20and when you go head coach first and then have him
00:06:24bring in his GM it's like you're doing my bidding and that look
00:06:28for the Patriots that could be very much the case with Vrabel as Ryan Cowden has already
00:06:32signed his contract and has been in the office for the last week working with Elliot
00:06:36Wolfe and Matt Groh who are the two holdovers and Patrick Stewart the holdovers
00:06:40from the front office so yeah that definitely would concern me but
00:06:44flip side is who
00:06:48if not Glenn and I've told you I have reservations about Ryan Flores in
00:06:52that market and look again people keep saying
00:06:56he's learned a lot. Fine, he needs to show me it. That's a difficult
00:07:00one to sort of show me that you figured out all the things that went wrong in Miami
00:07:04with the way your relationships were with ownership, front office
00:07:08coaching staff and players. I mean it was literally you hit all four of those
00:07:12things. You're going to fix all those four things the next time around? New York probably not the
00:07:16best place to do that. The one name that keeps popping up which is
00:07:20driving me insane.
00:07:24Arthur Smith is like seemingly... Because he was the second choice right?
00:07:28He was the runner up in 21.
00:07:32Graziano had an article that he was the runner up
00:07:36the Dolphins job in 16. Arthur Smith was the assistant tight ends coach.
00:07:40That had to be a mistake. No one knew who Arthur Smith was in
00:07:442016 other than his dad was a billionaire.
00:07:48If the Jets go the Arthur Smith route
00:07:52they will likely be picking in the top five next year
00:07:56and they will be looking for a new coach
00:08:00in 24 months. That is
00:08:04as disastrous. Aaron Glenn might not be a perfect candidate.
00:08:08I don't think there is a perfect candidate. That's why most of these guys are on the market looking for a job.
00:08:12Even Mike Vrabel wasn't perfect. None of these guys are.
00:08:16I don't know how you sell the fan base on Arthur Smith.
00:08:20I don't even know that he's that great of a coordinator.
00:08:24Did anyone watch the Steelers play this year?
00:08:28They were extremely boring on offense.
00:08:32The Falcons were a proverbial 7-10 team for three straight years under him.
00:08:36The Titans the last year before he got the job were not good on offense.
00:08:40Am I missing something here?
00:08:44Why is his name and Ryan Grigson and some of these guys names?
00:08:48Is it just agents? I don't get it.
00:08:52It definitely feels like an agent thing.
00:08:56Do owners look at this and say,
00:09:00previous head coaching experience, it wasn't terrible.
00:09:04There's room for growth here. If he goes in and has a great interview
00:09:08then maybe you start to think, we found the next guy who's on his second job
00:09:12is going to be way better than he was in his first job.
00:09:16To me, I think that's about as unimaginative a hire as possible.
00:09:20I think it does nothing to move the needle
00:09:24for the Jets. Not that you need to needle move, but you need to
00:09:28get someone in there who's going to take some charge. I don't know that Arthur's that guy.
00:09:32He's never struck me as that guy. I think he's best served
00:09:36right where he is, which is to be an offensive coordinator.
00:09:40Quickly on the Patriots, not really a whole lot
00:09:44to share in terms of what's going on. Offensive coordinator process moving
00:09:48slowly. As Rable said, there's no timetable for this. We're going to go through the process.
00:09:52I think he's still the odds-on favorite, but I
00:09:56don't think it's as much of a slam dunk as maybe I previously thought a week ago.
00:10:00He has brought in, we know, two interviews that have happened already.
00:10:04Thomas Brown, of course the interim head coach for the Bears who's
00:10:08looking for a job. He comes from the McVeigh tree. He was over
00:10:12with McVeigh in 2020, moved on to Carolina in 2023 to be the
00:10:16O.C. under Frank Reich. Reich was calling the plays. It didn't go
00:10:20well. He gave it to Brown. Brown, first game he called the plays, they won the game.
00:10:24Sent him a game ball. I think two games later, Brown had the things
00:10:28revoked from him again and Reich was calling plays. Then, of course, he later got fired that year.
00:10:32Brown moved on to be the passing game coordinator for the Bears and then became the interim
00:10:36head coach after they fired Iberflues. They also interviewed Marcus Brady,
00:10:40the passing game coordinator with the Chargers.
00:10:44Don't get that.
00:10:48I don't get it. I just don't get it. He has not struck me as
00:10:52someone who I would want to hand it over to. Obviously,
00:10:56in part fulfills the Rooney rule as does Brown, so
00:11:00whatever. McDaniels, as of right now, has not, at least
00:11:04as far as I know, on Monday at 5.13 has not yet officially met
00:11:08with the Patriots, but that's moving slowly. Same thing with the defensive coordinator
00:11:12situation. Terrell Williams, who's the
00:11:16run game coordinator for the Lions. He
00:11:20was the D-line coach for Vrabel for six years, became the assistant head coach in
00:11:242023. The Titans, after they fired Vrabel, let him
00:11:28get out of his contract to go join Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes.
00:11:32He and Brad Holmes cross paths at North Carolina AT&T in
00:11:36I don't even know what, 1993 or something like that. He's
00:11:40an interesting one, but again, only been a defensive line
00:11:44position coach, had the assistant head coach, now has had the run game coordinator
00:11:48thing. Never been a coordinator, so very slow process there with
00:11:52the Patriots. One other bit of news, Jeremy Springer, their special teams coordinator
00:11:56will remain with the football team. That came down
00:12:00earlier today, well, officially earlier today. Did a great job
00:12:04for them. They were 32nd and 28th in DVOA the last two years of
00:12:08Coach Valachek on special teams. He improved them to 13th. Brendan
00:12:12Schooler became an all pro. Marcus Jones, a very good
00:12:16returner, so they were a much better team. Had a couple rookies that
00:12:20were day one starters, if you will, on special teams.
00:12:24So that's where we are with the Patriots. Slow, slow
00:12:28process as we had, as I mentioned.
00:12:32There's no bigger hire than the
00:12:36Patriots.
00:12:40I think for what you're doing and for Mike being a defensive guy first,
00:12:44make sure you get that right because you want to be paired up with
00:12:48Drake and have Drake take that next step.
00:12:52Even a guy like Dan Pitcher they requested last year, he obviously
00:12:56told them, thanks, I'm good.
00:13:00To me, he's a guy like, aren't you saying
00:13:04obviously he's really, I mean from my understanding, he's more involved in
00:13:08third. They see like getting Joe ready every week and then
00:13:12third down in red zone stuff, he's very heavily involved in the play calling.
00:13:16He's like, this offense, the Bengals are really fun to watch
00:13:20obviously and I know they have a lot of talent, but I feel like
00:13:24he'd be more inclined to be like, hey man, listen, northeast guy,
00:13:28obviously a Cortland guy, so I'm biased and whatever, but
00:13:32he's a name that probably
00:13:36it stunk they missed out on last year, but if you're him
00:13:40it's like, Zach Taylor's probably a bad start away from getting fired, but
00:13:44are you sure you'd be getting promoted? I don't know.
00:13:48If I was the Patriots, Pitcher might get
00:13:52pulled in two years to a head coaching job, but this guy that
00:13:56Joe Burrow swears by, you can say, oh, we're talking about Joe Brady
00:14:00head coaching stuff. Oh, he's a quarterback merchant.
00:14:04That's a lot of what you see on guys like a Joe Brady
00:14:08in Buffalo. I don't know. If I was
00:14:12Mike Vrabel, I'd call up Dan Pitcher and be like, listen, you're going to get
00:14:16freedom to call the plays. You have a chance to develop Drake May. If you do it
00:14:20right, you'll be a head coach in two years and the Patriots will have a superstar quarterback.
00:14:24That to me is one that would really interest me. Bring it over. Burrow's very
00:14:28mobile, but he's not a runner. May can run, but you'd like to see
00:14:32him be a guy that plays a lot like Joe Brady. I don't know.
00:14:36That'd be one that I would keep my eye on. If I was the Patriots,
00:14:40I would at least try again after last year. You'd have to nail down what Pitcher
00:14:44wants to run because what they run in Cincinnati, even though
00:14:48Zach comes from the McVeigh tree, it's
00:14:52the LSU offense. Burrow wants to be in gun.
00:14:56He wants to have multiple wideouts out there on every single play.
00:15:00He wants that option. That's not what we would consider West Coast.
00:15:04Although, again, young quarterback tends to simplify things
00:15:08when you're in gun and teams have to declare.
00:15:12I'll give you two more names to keep an eye on here as we go forward. That's now
00:15:16with the Rams being eliminated from the playoffs, which
00:15:20we're going to get to in a couple minutes here. Nick Caley, who's their
00:15:24starting game coordinator. Dave Ragone, who is their quarterback's coach.
00:15:28The big rag who, as I like to call him, was the OC for
00:15:32Atlanta under Arthur Smith for a couple years. Obviously, Arthur was calling the plays.
00:15:36But now dealing with quarterbacks, as I've mentioned before,
00:15:40I think I want someone that has experience coaching
00:15:44quarterbacks because of how important Drake is and how much
00:15:48time the offensive coordinator and the quarterback spend together. Obviously,
00:15:52Caley was the guy they wanted last year under Gerard Mayo. He decided to stay
00:15:56in LA. He's got a young family. They like it out there. He got more responsibility
00:16:00and a better title from the Rams. He's done a good job.
00:16:04Again, not spending a ton of time with quarterbacks, but spending more time with quarterbacks
00:16:08now than he ever has. Those are two names to keep in mind for the Patriots.
00:16:12Like we talked about, Frabel has to get this right because
00:16:16the last couple years in Tennessee in particular, offense was a
00:16:20disaster. The Todd Downing hire, you just lived it.
00:16:24Todd Downing is not the guy, but he's very loyal to Todd Downing.
00:16:28I wonder if he gets an OC. Rogers played better under Downing.
00:16:32Then Tim Kelly, after Downing moved on,
00:16:36was the next OC. They weren't very good under Tim Kelly as well.
00:16:40That was very polite to say Todd Downing moved on.
00:16:44Look, I'm nothing if not smarter.
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00:17:48Got to do whatever picks at the end of the week as we head into the
00:17:52Championship Weekend Prize Picks. Run your game.
00:17:56Let's go to... I'm knocking over stuff.
00:18:00Let's go to the games from Sunday and let's go to the game that
00:18:04I was hyped about. Didn't quite live up to the billing.
00:18:08It still was a good heavyweight fight between two really good football teams.
00:18:12Buffalo Outlasts, Baltimore 27-25.
00:18:16We'll get into the whole Lamar Jackson stuff,
00:18:20but I don't want to start there. I want to give credit to Buffalo for what they did.
00:18:24Ground game, very efficient. They've actually had their two
00:18:28best running games in terms of efficiency in the first two weeks
00:18:32of the playoffs. In the last two weeks, excuse me. So they're playing
00:18:36very good football. They're finding a good balance.
00:18:40We talk about what Allen is able to do, right? You put the cape
00:18:44on him. He's capable of elevating that team. But man, it was...
00:18:48In fact, I was actually begging, I think, in the second half as they were up by 11 points.
00:18:52They got a little too conservative. Don't take the ball out of Josh's hands that often.
00:18:56But he played a smart game. Effective as a
00:19:00runner. Not big numbers, but when they needed it, he got it. A couple big
00:19:04completions. Only got sacked once in the game. Did not turn the ball over.
00:19:08And just a sound football game from the
00:19:12Buffalo Bills until the end when they got a little dicey, which
00:19:16tends to happen with that team. They had the entire fan base with their heart
00:19:20and their mouth there for that last drive. But a big win, and now
00:19:24for the fourth time in five years, them and Kansas City again in the AFC title game.
00:19:28Josh almost had a...
00:19:32I don't know if you've ever seen a Spider-Man meme where it's like the mask is...
00:19:36He tried to flip that ball, and I'm like, dude, you...
00:19:40I know, right? Tony Romo lost his mind. Lamar, Josh, any of you,
00:19:44don't do that. Don't ever do that.
00:19:48Next week's going to be interesting. It might be a watch on mute
00:19:52situation and play some tool in the background.
00:19:56Look, I think yesterday was, to me,
00:20:00and no disrespect to the Bills at all. The Bills have had an awesome season.
00:20:04They've been one of the two best players in football for 20 straight weeks now.
00:20:08They've been really well coached. I thought McDermott, generally
00:20:12speaking, was really good yesterday. We'll get to the one decision where the fourth down.
00:20:16I'm curious your thoughts on that. I thought this was all about Baltimore. I thought Baltimore
00:20:20self-destructed. I think they lose every single time the same way in the playoffs,
00:20:24the same way in the regular season. Every year there's two to three games where you go,
00:20:28what? Look, also the Raiders, right? The Raiders in week two or whatever
00:20:32this year, it was like, what just happened?
00:20:36The turnovers, both Lamar's turnovers were really bad.
00:20:40I think he was really good for a majority of the game. I thought there was moments
00:20:44in the first half he looked really tight. There were some throws
00:20:48where it was like, the one to Henry, I know Derek Henry should call it that.
00:20:52That's a tough thing to ask a 240-pound running back.
00:20:56In the end, he guided it. It was like a not a confident
00:21:00throw at all. I know Andrews has to catch that, and I get it.
00:21:04You should have pelted it through his chest and made it so he literally
00:21:08had no choice. He literally hesitated, too. He was like, I have him.
00:21:12It was a little clutch before he threw it. The first drive was so sharp and clean.
00:21:16I tweeted, I was like, this is going to be... I thought we were in for Bill's Rams
00:21:20part two, 48-41, whatever it was.
00:21:24Both defenses, frankly, I thought Buffalo's plan
00:21:28was, and I know that one drive they bullyballed him, but other than that, it felt like the
00:21:32Bills said, Derek Henry's not beating us. Justice Hill's not beating us.
00:21:36Prove to us you can score 30-plus
00:21:40on the road, and they couldn't.
00:21:44I just felt like there was the drops. It was bad penalties,
00:21:48sack at the wrong time, a missed tackle. The penalty, again,
00:21:52it's a self-inflicted wound on Trey White.
00:21:56It was a horrible call, but you shouldn't have even been in that spot.
00:22:00You've got to know time, place, situation. Trey White
00:22:04played in Buffalo for a long time. You've got to know that crowd's going to be in it.
00:22:08It's big-time games. This is what happens.
00:22:12The Ravens were the hottest team in football.
00:22:16I think you could argue, and you have argued, they probably were the best team in football
00:22:20for the last six weeks, eight weeks, whatever it's been, I think since week 12 or whatever it's been.
00:22:24They were the number one defense in football. Lamar is playing out unbelievable.
00:22:28They blew the Steelers off the field. First drive, they go down, and they just
00:22:32started self-destructing. This is what Buffalo, I feel like, in the past
00:22:36has done in the playoffs, where they make the mistake. They make the two or three
00:22:40you can't fumble there. It's the bad penalty here. Andrews, obviously,
00:22:44is going to get all the criticism. I think Lamar, thankfully,
00:22:48and I think most people, I thought Bill Simmons made a good point on this this morning,
00:22:52I was really happy that Lamar didn't. We can talk
00:22:56about the turnovers. I don't want to blame it all on Marc Andrews, but
00:23:00I just didn't want the discourse this morning to be another Lamar. At some point,
00:23:04though, one stat that I... 0-10 since
00:23:08Lamar became the starter if they're down by 10 at halftime. That, to me, is
00:23:12a bigger indictment than the playoff stuff because each playoff game is very different.
00:23:16You know this. You've been doing this a long time. Every game is
00:23:20taken in different things. Lamar's had some really bad playoff performance. I didn't think
00:23:24this was a bad performance by any means. I don't think he's the reason they lost.
00:23:28I also think it's fair to be like, hey man, those two turnovers really killed them
00:23:32and then combine that with the bad penalty
00:23:36on special teams and on Trey White. That's probably 10 points worth.
00:23:40I just feel like, if you're a Ravens fan this morning, you're like,
00:23:44this was our shot. We were going to beat KC. We were going to beat Buffalo.
00:23:48We were going to go in with Detroit losing. I don't know. I feel like you would have picked
00:23:52Baltimore regardless in the Super Bowl. Congrats to Buffalo.
00:23:56They earned it. They avoided the critical mistake. They played
00:24:00clean, sound football. Josh Allen with the Jalen Hurts stat line.
00:24:04It was not the typical Bills like, we're going to put up
00:24:0840 on you. Just a clean, sound football game.
00:24:12They avoided the mistakes and Baltimore self-destructed.
00:24:16Mike, I'm curious. I brought this up to you last episode when we were previewing
00:24:20the blame pie because this is what you obviously have to do.
00:24:24I give Lamar 30-ish percent because
00:24:28I don't think the turnovers mattered a lot. At what point is
00:24:32John Harbaugh going to get criticized for being just like Mike Tomlin?
00:24:36They're the same coach. They're awesome. They handle these big personalities.
00:24:40They're in the same rivalry. They've been around forever. They won early in their career.
00:24:44It's playoff loss after playoff loss after playoff loss
00:24:48is a favorite. At some point, it can't just be Lamar's fault.
00:24:52It can't just be Mark Andrews. Isn't it him too?
00:24:56I had a lot there, I know.
00:25:00I had more of a problem with Munkin yesterday.
00:25:04The first scripted drive was beautiful. Then after that, what are you doing?
00:25:08It felt like he was just pulling different levers. Let's see if this works.
00:25:12Let's see if this works, going down the play sheet and just being like,
00:25:16let's pick one from column A, column B, and column C and see if we can put something together.
00:25:20Then in the second half, really finding their footing,
00:25:24running the ball very well, finally finding some success there, wearing down
00:25:28the Bills a little bit in that regard, although the Bills are pounding their chest today
00:25:32as if they did this awesome job against the run. Derek Henry
00:25:36still rushed for 84 yards. At one point, Hill was averaging 10 yards a carry.
00:25:40He had 51 yards on five rushes.
00:25:44I thought he was a little helter-skelter.
00:25:48In a game like this, when you're playing a really good opponent and you're playing them on the road,
00:25:52you can't have three possessions where you're trying to spin the dial,
00:25:56figuring out what's going to work. I had a bit of an issue with him.
00:26:00To your point on Lamar,
00:26:04that last drive was beautiful. 88 yards, 27 yards to
00:26:08Wallace, off-platform on the run. Wallace did a great job.
00:26:12He's on the far left side on the opposite hash, came back
00:26:16across when he saw Lamar scramble, kept himself alive. The 27-yarder,
00:26:2024-yarder, the 19-yarder to Andrews. Then, of course,
00:26:24all day to throw the touchdown pass, but literally did not panic, just sat back there, sat back there,
00:26:28sat back there until likely came open.
00:26:32Then there was the hesitation on the two-point conversion.
00:26:36Andrews has got to catch it. That was interesting.
00:26:40He did. He did. I think because it took a split second longer
00:26:44to get out of his hand, because he clutched,
00:26:48I would say my feeling is that Andrews probably
00:26:52thought he was close to the out-of-bounds, and that maybe helped contribute to the drop.
00:26:56I can't say that definitively, because Mark Andrews did not talk after the game,
00:27:00and then they had their breakup today.
00:27:04Before the game, the snow doesn't affect Mark Andrews.
00:27:08Mark didn't talk after today as well.
00:27:12Three times they had the short-yardage stuff. What about the play calls there?
00:27:16When we got to the Rams game, I'm going to crush McVay on his short-yardage stuff.
00:27:20Both two-point conversions, and they had one other one
00:27:24I'm missing. There's a third one in there.
00:27:28Look, I don't like the half roll.
00:27:32It should have been two points.
00:27:36The first one, they run the ball down the field,
00:27:40and they've done it relatively easily. I feel like no one ever
00:27:44just hands it off on a two-point conversion.
00:27:48While we get down here,
00:27:52even though we just shoved the ball down their throat for whatever it was, eight plays
00:27:56and 70 yards, now we've got to get cute, and we've got to throw the ball, and we've got to do
00:28:00something difficult. I think that's just how offensive coordinators' brains
00:28:04work sometimes. In that case, I think you should have just turned around
00:28:08and handed it off to Derek Henry and said, go ahead, stop the guy, because you didn't do it on that
00:28:12drive. They've got a long offseason ahead of them.
00:28:16Your point. Now it's the regular season, and we've talked about this
00:28:20last year coming into the year. It didn't matter. You've got to do it in the postseason,
00:28:24and guess what? They're in the same exact place where they're going to have to do it
00:28:28in the postseason. Let's go to Eagles and Rams.
00:28:32Eagles hang on. Looked like the game was over. Not so much.
00:28:36Rams had a chance inside the 20
00:28:40in the closing minutes of the game, unable to convert, so Eagles hang on for a
00:28:4428-22 win. To me, first of all,
00:28:48Saquon Barkley, unbelievable. Just the
00:28:5268-yard touchdown run was, what, nine guys in the box?
00:28:56The guy's ridiculous. Just as he did the first time he played the Rams,
00:29:00completely wore them down. This is going to be weird to say, because
00:29:04you've got to give them credit. They're in the NFC Championship game.
00:29:08Their passing offense is completely broken, and it's the quarterback.
00:29:12It is the quarterback. It is the quarterback. There were a couple
00:29:16drops early that I think maybe got into his head a little bit, but dude, that's
00:29:20not your job. Your job is to throw the ball. If they don't catch it, then they can deal
00:29:24with the repercussions. That's how you hear about Jalen Hurts. He's so mentally strong and tough and accountable.
00:29:28I think he goes into his shell. He's not... The OC
00:29:32and the quarterback are huge. Yes. I don't get the Kellen Moore thing. I'll say it
00:29:36a million times. Like we just said, he could be the head coach of the Dallas
00:29:40Cowboys. I don't care. Dak is probably so angry. He's just sitting
00:29:44there. Dak's probably sitting, working out, hip thrusting the air in his
00:29:48home gym like, are you kidding me? Yeah, I mean, so he's not an elite
00:29:52player like Jalen Hurts. Somehow their
00:29:56offense, not only is he not willing to throw it into tighter windows,
00:30:00they're not taking nearly as many shots down the field as they should with
00:30:04A.J. Brown. Again, he had one that he could've and then couldn't control when he hit the ground.
00:30:08But like, okay, Kellen Moore, A.J. Brown's a beast.
00:30:12He may be a moody beast, but he's a beast.
00:30:16Where are the wide receiver screens? Where's a jet sweep? Where's something?
00:30:20I mean, if the team touches and let him feel like he's a part of the game, so maybe some of the
00:30:24concentration lapses or maybe even a lack of effort on a couple
00:30:28balls, maybe that doesn't happen. And again, speaks to A.J.
00:30:32Gotta like button it up a little bit. But like, same token, he's been
00:30:36watching this movie all year long. He's like, my quarterback can't get me the ball. My offense
00:30:40coordinator can't seem to figure out a way to get me the ball. That's a problem. Teams are playing
00:30:44cover to shell on them and just saying, okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Try to
00:30:48keep picking us apart. And he doesn't want to do that either. So
00:30:52on top of it, he hurts the knee late, right? And he didn't give a great update.
00:30:56He's like, well, I finished the game. That was the best thing he could say about his knee.
00:31:00So even though he's not the athlete that he was two years ago for whatever
00:31:04reason, the legs are still the best part of his game. 44-yard touchdown to start
00:31:08the game, right? You're going to tell me he doesn't have his legs
00:31:12or that he's impaired going into the NFC Championship game and he's not
00:31:16willing to take these tight window shots and push the ball down the field?
00:31:20I mean, how do you not if you're just Washington and say
00:31:24we're sticking eight in the box and go ahead.
00:31:28We're going to do everything we can to shut down Saquon and if you decide to keep it,
00:31:32you as well, but we're going to try to make you beat us on the outside. And if you can,
00:31:36well, God bless. You've got the guys to do it, but you're not doing it.
00:31:40Yeah. I kind of take the Spags game plan against Houston and just run it against
00:31:44Houston. Early in the game, we're going to try to throw some different
00:31:48things at you from different angles. We're not letting Joe Mixon and
00:31:52Nico Collins beat us. Anybody else in the field. The Rams, the one
00:31:56Chris Shula criticism I'd have is for the most part,
00:32:00I know this is going to sound weird, but I actually think they did a good job on Saquon
00:32:0490% of the time. They got caught twice with safety
00:32:08from 20 yards deep having to come up and make Saquon
00:32:12the open field. And it was just one-on-one. You just can't
00:32:16put yourself in that situation. You got to just try to avoid it. I want to give Jared
00:32:20Verse. Losing Braden Fisk killed, I thought killed the Rams
00:32:24early in the game once he went down. It was like, that's one of their
00:32:28I'm going to beat you up for 60 minutes, guys. And when you lose him,
00:32:32they were able to get a little bit more. Right when he went out of the game,
00:32:36they obviously get the 68 yarder.
00:32:40Jared Verse was unbelievable. He's a guy who talked a lot of trash before the game.
00:32:44And I thought was the best player on the field, so to Saquon Barkley on either team.
00:32:48Uh-oh. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What about Jalen Carter?
00:32:52He was unbelievable as well.
00:32:56Here's my issue with Philly. I felt this way for a while.
00:33:00I don't think Hurts is very good. I think he's the 15th best quarterback
00:33:04in the league, which is good. Sorry. I should say he's fine.
00:33:08He's not what people thought he was going to be after taking him to the Super Bowl a couple years ago.
00:33:12This is going to be classic. This is an old man on the couch take.
00:33:16I understand Jalen Hurts had the concussion, and I understand he has gotten beat up
00:33:20this year and last year. Every time he leaves the pocket, he slides
00:33:24right away. And I know it's probably the right thing long term to keep
00:33:28yourself healthy for 15, 16 years in the NFL to slide more than that.
00:33:32But that's not his game. And I feel like there's a lot of chances for
00:33:36it's one-on-one with Hurts. He goes down. He's really easy to tackle now.
00:33:40In the backfield, he doesn't. I know he had the long run to start the game, but after that
00:33:44it was like he kind of starts to shell a little bit. The safety was
00:33:48all on Kellen Moore. I don't want to call him an idiot because I think that's
00:33:52extremely harsh. This is right after your quarterback just got banged up. You know he's
00:33:56not moving right yet. He hasn't started to feel it.
00:34:00I'm not sure what Hurts is doing. He had A.J. Brown or Devontae Smith. I can't remember off the top of my head
00:34:04which one it was. Wide open. He's just staring at him. Doesn't throw it.
00:34:08That can flip the game easily if Stafford doesn't fumble.
00:34:12I just think we said going into this game the reason I liked the Rams
00:34:16was because a lot of what they did
00:34:20it worked. They were there. They had a couple drops. The weather
00:34:24was obviously more of a factor than I think either of us. I don't think either of us thought they were going to get
00:34:28a half a foot of snow. The one thing I will say with the Rams and this is
00:34:32I don't know if Stafford's going to play next year.
00:34:36That contract was done two years ago
00:34:40so he basically could retire whenever he wanted and they wouldn't get screwed. He'd get a bump for
00:34:44this year and last year. I don't know if they're going to redo another
00:34:48deal with him. That's the Donald team to me. That's the classic
00:34:52maybe Stafford said I'll give you one more year. Maybe he
00:34:56doesn't. I don't know. The fact that we're even having the questions about it to me. I feel like he was going to retire
00:35:00for the Super Bowl and they were like dude we can't lose you after one year
00:35:04and all those picks. Kyron Williams this offseason
00:35:08he's a great back. He's really good. He's an extremely
00:35:12tough incredible dude. The fumbles are a huge problem.
00:35:16I know it's only four but three against the Eagles. I'm not mistaken
00:35:20it killed them both games. It's a momentum. It's possessions you can't give back.
00:35:24The one other thing with the Eagles that I'm very concerned
00:35:28about because of what Washington has been with Jaden Daniels
00:35:32when it gets to the time where a team's doing a two minute
00:35:36drive before the half where they don't play as aggressive
00:35:40they can't just light you up with pressure. Teams pick them apart.
00:35:44It's like a joke. The Rams went down twice. I know Stafford had
00:35:48the air mail the one at the end there after a puka drop.
00:35:52I thought the Rams were going to win that game because the Eagles couldn't. All of a sudden
00:35:56they had no pass rush, no nothing.
00:36:00Fangio's going to have to somehow adjust to that end of the half
00:36:04stuff because Jaden Daniels right now is playing prime Tom Brady
00:36:08when it comes to fourth downs and gotta have it drive.
00:36:12Look, Philly will be favored. They should be.
00:36:16They'll be at home. They steamrolled Washington the first time.
00:36:20I felt like the score was closer than the game was felt. Daniels was hurt that week
00:36:24if I'm not mistaken. The Rams' future
00:36:28is really bright. Les Snead I think is probably the best GM in football.
00:36:32I don't think we ever talk about him. We talk about Veech and all these other guys
00:36:36and he hit eight of the last ten picks they've hit on.
00:36:40It's insane. Stafford?
00:36:44We'll address it once the playoffs are over. That is a huge
00:36:48domino in the NFC. I don't know. I'd pick them to win the NFC West again
00:36:52next year. Those guys are only going to get better. Maybe they add a receiver or whatever.
00:36:56If you're Philly, Hurts? The injury.
00:37:00I wonder if Washington
00:37:04watches that and says, like you said,
00:37:08we are going to make sure...
00:37:12I believe it was last year. I'm not mistaken. I think you brought this up two months ago
00:37:16whenever the AJ Brown Hurts stuff first came up. I believe Washington
00:37:20last year. They were a disaster. That was the game last year right after this happened
00:37:24last year with AJ Brown Hurts. AJ Brown was a superhuman.
00:37:28He had a 20-minute touchdown. They might need that on Sunday because Washington
00:37:32has house money rolling. Philly feels like
00:37:36you're left sitting there going... The roster is better. You should
00:37:40be better. You're just not. You're the best roster in the league and I don't think it's particularly close.
00:37:44I think it's a quarterback-coordinator problem.
00:37:48I think it's more on the quarterback just in terms of he's just not playing well. He's not playing confidently.
00:37:52I don't think they're very confident in him.
00:37:56Let's hit game time before we move on here.
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00:38:44Don't want to spend too much time on this, but Ben Johnson
00:38:48is official. He is going to be the next head coach of the Chicago
00:38:52Bears. We talked about this, I don't know, six weeks ago. We thought this was
00:38:56going to be the likely spot. Then there was some serious push, I think, over the
00:39:00last couple weeks from Las Vegas, in particular because of Tom Brady
00:39:04to get Ben Johnson in the building.
00:39:08Told he had a terrific interview with them. Virtual interview, obviously,
00:39:12because he was still unable to do the in-person stuff. But this comes down to
00:39:16one simple thing, doesn't it, in Chicago? Vegas can't offer you
00:39:20the quarterback. Maybe they can figure out a way to get one, but they don't have one.
00:39:24The Chicago Bears have Caleb Williams, and for all we can say about
00:39:28the kind of year he had, and it was definitely a rollercoaster.
00:39:32Jayden's better this year. Drake probably, at points,
00:39:36played better. Nick certainly had a really good year. But Caleb's ceiling
00:39:40is Ben Johnson.
00:39:44I think Ben will make it
00:39:48... I think that's what he's got to do, right? You've got to figure that part of it out.
00:39:52Obviously, one of the big issues for Caleb this year was
00:39:56just holding on to the ball too long. That's going to be
00:40:00a challenge, because he got into some habits this year. He carried them over
00:40:04from USC, because that's what he had to do at USC, especially
00:40:08last year, to try to make that offense productive. But I think this really
00:40:12does come down to Ben Johnson looks at it and says, they can offer me
00:40:16something that nobody else who had an opening has, and that's a number one pick of quarterback
00:40:20who's coming off a rookie year, and I can still feel like I can mold him into what I want.
00:40:24Yeah, we talked about this when they fired our boy
00:40:28Eberflus. We said Ben Johnson's the name, right? You go all in,
00:40:32say he's the hottest name. I have serious reservations about Ben Johnson as a head coach.
00:40:36We will talk about this game right after this. I thought
00:40:40Ben Johnson was terrible on Saturday night, and I think Aaron Glenn
00:40:44got all the heat, and I'm not saying, oh, he's going to be the Judd's head coach.
00:40:48No, there's nobody left in that Lions defense that was like
00:40:52me and you.
00:40:56Let's just get into it, because the Ben Johnson thing, it is what it is.
00:41:00I just want to say this about Ben Johnson. The Raiders winning these two meaningless games at the end of the year
00:41:04and then doing what they did, I think may have cost them
00:41:08Ben Johnson. It may have also cost them their dream
00:41:12Deion-Shador thing, and again, I don't know that it even would have worked. I'm not saying it would have been,
00:41:16but it was right there. They were going to be the number one
00:41:20or number two pick. They were going to get Shador and Deion, or they were going to get Ben Johnson and Deion
00:41:24and Ben Johnson and Shador, I apologize, or Cam Ward, whatever it is.
00:41:28It was all right there for them, and I hate doing this thing, but
00:41:32it's happened with the Giants. The Giants had
00:41:36Jayden Daniels or Drake May in their sights, and Tommy DeVito wins a
00:41:40meaningless game, and now they're...
00:41:44You can even say it, and the Patriots, fine, it was a three-quarterback, well, at least we thought it was
00:41:48a three-quarterback draft. Maybe it was more because of Penix and Nixon, what's happened.
00:41:52JJ McCarthy, we haven't seen this year. We didn't get to see this year, but there are people
00:41:56that were in Foxborough. Chad Ryland kicks a game-winning
00:42:0050-yard field goal in Denver on Christmas Eve. It's not
00:42:04a game they wanted to win. I mean, the players wanted to win.
00:42:08I'm sure the coaching staff wanted to win, but I'm saying there were people in the offices
00:42:12who were like, that's not what we wanted, because there were some people in that
00:42:16building that wanted Jayden Daniels, and you lose that game, you end up with this second
00:42:20pick, and now you're picking between Jayden Daniels or Drake May versus
00:42:24you're sitting at three, Jayden's gone, and now it's like, okay, well, we like this
00:42:28kid too, obviously. Some like him more than Jayden, others like Jayden
00:42:32more, and the people that like Jayden more are walking around over
00:42:36the last, you know, whatever, actually the entire season, but particularly over the last
00:42:40few weeks going, I told you, I told you that guy was special, and
00:42:44he has been, so yeah, you're right. Let's get to that game. Commanders
00:42:48shock the Lions, the top-seeded Lions, 15-and-2 wins,
00:42:5215-win season, 45-31, got a little crazy
00:42:56there, like just 28 points in the second quarter,
00:43:00I'll give, we're going to talk about the Lions,
00:43:04but Jayden Daniels is playing superb football.
00:43:08299 yards passing, 51 rushing, they were 7-for-16
00:43:12on third and fourth downs, which you'd be just, the way Dan's
00:43:16coaching now, like Dan Campbell, Dan Quinn is saying, we're going to be aggressive
00:43:20in these situations, but they were all like fourth and manageables, they weren't fourth and eights,
00:43:24fourth and tens. And he wasn't being an idiot. Yeah, he was just very
00:43:28static. Very, very smart, and he is
00:43:32he's very Lamar-like, I keep, you know, there's two weeks
00:43:36in a row where I brought this up, where. He's Vince Young with all of the mental
00:43:40traits and the, like, polishedness. I just like the, he, I like the way
00:43:44he does still expose himself to a hit or two that I don't want
00:43:48him to, but it's the control with which he runs in some of these scrambles,
00:43:52especially in these third and got to have it, or fourth and short, sort of just like, picking
00:43:56he's not like, but then when he puts the foot in the dirt, he goes and he
00:44:00puts the foot all the way down the gas, it's like a, kind of
00:44:04he shifts, he's constantly like, alright, I need to get three,
00:44:08and he finds it, he just is playing in such great control
00:44:12he missed a couple throws in the red zone, which again, when he
00:44:16you know, sort of fully cleans up some of his mechanical
00:44:20stuff, he won't miss those, and then good luck
00:44:24I mean, the deep over to Deami Brown
00:44:28where Brown literally had a hand in his face from the ball, before the ball even
00:44:32hit his hands, but it was like, you couldn't, it was 45 yards down the field, you couldn't put the ball any
00:44:36better. He's just playing awesome football, they are feeding off him, you want
00:44:40to talk about just like this, this vibe that they have right now, they look at that dude
00:44:44and go, he's better than anybody you got, and because he's better
00:44:48than anybody you got, we think we can win any damn game, and they went into a Detroit
00:44:52you know, building where the place was nuts, they're desperate for success
00:44:56that's a really good football team, albeit very beat up, and he just
00:45:00he controlled the game, he was awesome, and then their defense was opportunistic
00:45:04right? I mean, five turnovers, a couple of those were just golf
00:45:08you know, killers, but like, they made some plays too, and that's
00:45:12that's part of it, when you get the opportunity to make the play, you better make it, and they made
00:45:16them when they had to, so, credible credit to them, I don't think anybody
00:45:20would have thought they would have been a 12 win team in the regular season, I don't think anybody thought
00:45:24they would be playing in the NFC Championship game, even in your
00:45:28you could be the biggest commander's honk, and I don't think you would have thought that this was
00:45:32possible, but here it is, it is possible, and then for the Lions man
00:45:36just like... Was this it? Well, I mean
00:45:40look, Ben Johnson's already gone, Aaron Glenn's likely
00:45:44gone as well, so you're gonna take assistance with them, right?
00:45:48So now Dan Campbell, Brad Holmes are gonna have to figure out how to rebuild this thing on the fly
00:45:52and I think, obviously their defense should be in a much better
00:45:56place next year, because they just broke down
00:46:00no Aidan Hutchinson, McNeil, so forth and so on, and it just, as we talked about
00:46:04on the pod coming into the week, weekend, they hadn't played good defense
00:46:08since the calendar turned to December, except for the week 18
00:46:12game against Sam and the Vikings, and then we saw
00:46:16Sam have a hard time the next week and the Vikings have a hard time the next week, so
00:46:20maybe part of them, but also part of what was going on with the Vikings
00:46:24so yeah, and then they're also gonna have one other problem now, they're gonna look at Jared Goff
00:46:28and say, he's good, and he is good
00:46:32is he good enough? And when you're in this
00:46:36I was trying to think of someone I would comp him to
00:46:40I'm going back a little bit
00:46:44I was gonna say Matt Schaub
00:46:48you think about Matt Schaub and the Texans, when the Texans got rolling for those couple years
00:46:52they were 12-4, 13-3, young J.J. Watt, Arian Foster
00:46:56they were a really good football team, and Matt Schaub put up
00:47:00really nice numbers, really nice numbers
00:47:04but in the big spot, Matt Schaub came up small
00:47:08Jared Goff has put up, he's obviously had a far better career than Matt Schaub
00:47:12not trying to, you know, he was an MVP candidate
00:47:16for three quarters of the year this year
00:47:20but in these moments, he just hasn't
00:47:24he hasn't been good enough, and when he gets sped up like that
00:47:28the difference to me, Will, was very stark
00:47:32when you have someone who's as mobile as Jaden is, able to buy a little bit more time
00:47:36dance around a little bit, make a play
00:47:40Jared starts to get pressure and get heated up
00:47:44he'd done a much better job this year overall, but some of the old traits came up
00:47:48at the worst possible time
00:47:52yeah, this is a weird comp, is he like Chad Pennington a little bit as well?
00:47:56really good play action, very accurate, I mean they're both 66 career completion percentage
00:48:00and it's like, the Jets for years
00:48:04with the Dolphins too, it was really good
00:48:08even the playoff stats are kind of similar
00:48:12the only thing I would say the difference there
00:48:16for me is that Schaub had the arm, and obviously Chad's arm
00:48:20was a problem because of the injuries and stuff, but you're right in terms of
00:48:24Chad was a really good quarterback. Yeah, he was really good, I mean there were years where he was awesome
00:48:28and the Jets won the division, they won some playoff games with him, but like
00:48:32eventually, you know, they lose to Rich Gannon a couple times
00:48:36and they lose to...
00:48:40look, I'll start with Washington, because we're going to talk a lot about them obviously
00:48:44we're going to do, you know, obviously, other than the coaching hires, that'll be all we'll talk about
00:48:48on Thursday or Friday. I think Washington was peak Dan Quinn
00:48:52in terms of his defense. They'll give up yards
00:48:56but we will turn you over and we will punch you in the mouth a lot
00:49:00People forget Dan Quinn was out in Seattle
00:49:04and made Peyton Manning look the worst he's ever looked his entire career
00:49:08excuse me
00:49:12I will say this about Washington, I think they have a real shot
00:49:16on Sunday afternoon, and they're two years early
00:49:20but they've got the right GM it seems
00:49:24they've got the right head coach, we'll see if they can retain their offensive coordinator and defensive
00:49:28coordinators, who are both interviewing for coaching jobs, but it feels like they probably will
00:49:32and they'll have Jayden have the same infrastructure
00:49:36this is a weird comp, they're a little Detroit-ish
00:49:40hey, we might return this whole staff to a team that was in the title game a year ago
00:49:44and they have all this cap space
00:49:48are they in play for T. Higgins or Deebo
00:49:52do they add those guys, are they able to add 2-3 pieces here
00:49:56do they godfather off of the Bengals for Jamar Chase
00:50:00we've talked about that and those different things
00:50:04Jayden's special, I would take Jayden Daniels over CJ Stroud and Jordan Love
00:50:08at this exact moment, which is probably extreme hyperbole
00:50:12but he's a better athlete than both of them
00:50:16and frankly the arm talent's pretty similar
00:50:20he's making really good decisions with the football
00:50:24Terry McLaurin's amazing
00:50:28he's not a top 5 guy in the league, but he's certainly a 1
00:50:32and he's a freaking winner
00:50:36he's tier 1
00:50:40that's what you want all your number 1 receivers to look like
00:50:44take Terry McLaurin's attitude and drive and ego
00:50:48and throw it into AJ Brown
00:50:52forget about it, that guy doesn't stop
00:50:56I thought Quinn was amazing, we talked so much about the 4th down stuff
00:51:00I thought he was perfect with that
00:51:04there was only one that I was like, I don't know
00:51:08had a really nice drive, I feel like they're under control a little bit
00:51:12I'll change to Detroit because I think this is more about Detroit
00:51:16they were almost double digit favorites at home
00:51:20one seed, the AFC are all really good teams
00:51:24it's a much harder conference, but it felt like Detroit
00:51:28I feel like I was going to pick Detroit no matter who they were going to play, just based on the way they were playing
00:51:32even with the injuries. Defensively, I thought Aaron Glenn
00:51:36threw a lot at him, I don't know that he was great on Saturday night
00:51:40but Jayden just handled everything, he was getting pressure after pressure
00:51:44and he was just amazing
00:51:48they're down 17 guys that have started games for them and then they lose 3 guys in the first half
00:51:52at some point, you run out of bodies
00:51:56you can only scheme so much
00:52:00Aaron is not going to put that game on his resume
00:52:04but in no way shape or form is that preventing him from getting a job
00:52:08people are like, I wonder if that's going to cost him, no, the body of work is too damn good
00:52:12plus we know about the kind of leader he is
00:52:16as you mentioned in the beginning
00:52:20Ben Johnson skated here
00:52:24there were a couple calls, you're just like
00:52:28what in the wide world of sports are you doing?
00:52:32It felt like Ben Johnson was like, I'm going to be a head coach in the next week
00:52:36and Tom Brady's announcing, I know this isn't crazy, this is probably overthinking
00:52:40Tom Brady's announcing, I'm going to show off
00:52:44my bag of tricks. Jameson Williams is extremely talented
00:52:48and I don't think there's some being
00:52:52I wouldn't say his football or off the field IQ is the sharpest
00:52:56he's holding his hands in a must have it drive
00:53:00you've got to get at least 3 there, you've got to cut it to one possession
00:53:04he must have been told, and maybe I'm wrong and he just went totally rogue
00:53:08he obviously was told, if you see it, throw it
00:53:12it's not like he's reading defenses like he's prying Tom Brady
00:53:16why is that the play? Really cool, they had the double
00:53:20Amon Ra and...
00:53:24Why has Gibbs not touched the ball 30 times? You had to win this game
00:53:28Two great points, Gibbs was awesome in that game
00:53:32the game was awesome, but Gibbs was better
00:53:36every time it's just like, he could go 70
00:53:40he made some cuts that were just...
00:53:44and the other point, the Jameson Williams one, I'm glad you brought this up
00:53:48I wrote about this today in Boston Sports Journal, and I was like
00:53:52that call is fine
00:53:56it's fine, they've done a lot of stuff that's worked
00:54:00for them, trick plays that work for them, he's not the guy, I don't care if he has the best
00:54:04second best arm of the team, he's not the guy to do it because
00:54:08the decision making, and I wrote, I'm like, this guy
00:54:12struggles with decisions, we have a gambling suspension last year
00:54:16a PED suspension, we have him pulled over this year with an unregistered gun
00:54:20in his car, and then acting very entitled, because the whole thing was on tape
00:54:24with the cops, he's not...
00:54:28he's not the brightest bulb when it comes to this stuff
00:54:32I will guarantee you that Ben Johnson probably told him 57 times
00:54:36if he's open, fling it, if he's not, put the ball under your arm, run
00:54:40or throw it out of bounds, but no tight window throws here
00:54:44you're not jamming the ball in there, but bottom line is, you give him the
00:54:48opportunity to have the ball in his hands in that spot, and his brain would poo
00:54:52just like it did after he scored the touchdown, he's doing a sex act on the field
00:54:56like, dude, what are we doing? Yeah, but when you give a finger point, it's
00:55:00a 15 yard penalty. By the way, speaking of that, did you notice
00:55:04how quickly two, I think it was two offensive linemen, literally grabbed him
00:55:08yeah, they're like, what are you doing, you idiot? 15 yard penalty
00:55:12you're just begging for it, we just had a touchdown, don't be an idiot. Just felt like
00:55:16this was the typical, I talked about this, we've talked about this a bunch
00:55:20it just felt like the typical offensive coordinator that falls
00:55:24in love with, why is Goff throwing the ball 40 times? It's the classic
00:55:28like, everyone crushed Ray Bull the other day
00:55:32he's talking about being in the lead and you can control the game
00:55:36and that's why you run the football, you don't want your quarterback throwing 40 times
00:55:40Goff, when he's 22 of 28 for 255
00:55:44and two touchdowns and maybe a fumble or a pick in there, that's when they're at their best
00:55:48because it means they're punching them in the mouth, they're running the rock, it felt like they got up
00:55:52and then Washington stormed back, and then it was like, oh, we can't run the football
00:55:56anymore, and it's like, no dude, Washington's light up front
00:56:00you need to run the football, and you can't get a stop on defense
00:56:04and you're just putting your defense in these horrible situations, to go shotgun there
00:56:08early in the game and Goff has the strips
00:56:12maybe he was, I don't know, he got absolutely eviscerated, in fact, Teddy Bridgewater
00:56:16I'm not saying the Lions won't be back, because I think Campbell's a really good coach
00:56:20his team's awesome, all that stuff's true, and next year maybe they get all the injury luck
00:56:24on their side, and it's a different conversation, and Minnesota probably regresses
00:56:28and Green Bay's probably going to be kind of where they are, and Chicago maybe is
00:56:32better, but they're not quite there yet, who knows, but like
00:56:36I don't know, you kind of expect a lot of these other teams in the NFC to start getting better
00:56:40Washington's only going to get better, and Philly's not going anywhere
00:56:44amidst some of the quarterback and coach stuff, and Dallas probably rebounds
00:56:48and what if Pennix is awesome, and Atlanta's like, oh,
00:56:52Atlanta actually is legit good now, not just kind of fun on paper
00:56:56the Niners, this was a year, it was open, it was there
00:57:00Green Bay pooped the bed against Philly, and all these teams
00:57:04Yeah, they were the team that should have come out of the NFC
00:57:08they were 15-2 for a reason, there was a toughness there, and it just, between
00:57:12some of the play calling, and then the personnel erosion, and then Goff just sort of melting
00:57:16down. Yeah, and then lastly, the only last thing I'll say is
00:57:20they're very 2023 Eagles next year, it feels like, lose both coordinators
00:57:24you felt like you had it, you had the best roster, you were going to win it all, and then like you don't
00:57:28you lose everybody, and now it's like, oh boy
00:57:32it might take 8 weeks to get going, but we're not getting home field now
00:57:36and now we're a dome team outside, and I just
00:57:40I didn't mention this in the Rams-Eagles, but I'll say the same thing for McVay
00:57:44he's a genius, and so is Ben Johnson, these other guys. I just don't get
00:57:48like, McVay ran the ball up the middle against the biggest front in the NFL
00:57:528 times in the short yardage, and it cost them the game, the turnover is odd stuff
00:57:56but it's just over and over again, bad calls on third down
00:58:00and then the Lions, listen, again
00:58:04they're the opposite, they could have just been boring, and they would have won
00:58:08it felt like, let me show off for Tom Brady, and then he doesn't even take the Raiders job
00:58:12Offensive coordinators like to show off
00:58:16Let's just run through this one quickly, Chiefs advance with a
00:58:203-14 win over the Texans
00:58:24The Texans muddied it up, they definitely did in the first half, the way
00:58:28Will Anderson in particular was rushing, it was a handful for Joe Tooney and everybody
00:58:32else, but eventually
00:58:368 sacks, 8 penalties
00:58:403 missed kicks
00:58:44against the Chiefs at home, and I know there's a lot of people bitching and moaning
00:58:48about the penalties, and the second one
00:58:52when he was kind of okie doking and then slid late, that was a horrible
00:58:56the one in the pocket, the first one
00:59:00real time it looked like it absolutely was the right call
00:59:04It's just annoying
00:59:08I don't understand, what's the rule with the buzzing in from New York?
00:59:12They buzz in sometimes, they don't buzz in other times
00:59:16How does that make sense?
00:59:20I'm telling you, when I first saw it, I was like, oh, he hit him in the head
00:59:24And then you see the replay, and you're like, no, he didn't, what are you doing?
00:59:28We can review everything, but we don't review everything
00:59:32This week one, this is my perfect example
00:59:36The Jets are getting smoked by the Niners, but Gary Wilson has a catch out of bounds
00:59:40They're trying to stage a comeback, and New York buzzes in
00:59:44randomly and overturns it, but then Brees Hall, the play before,
00:59:48clearly gets the first down, they don't buzz in
00:59:52Every play is reviewed, or they're not
00:59:56It's like one or the other, pick and choose
01:00:00Look, I think Kansas City has been very uninspiring, I think Spagnuolo is the best coordinator in the sport
01:00:04He's been that way for a long time, I think he'll have a plan for Josh Allen
01:00:08I think if they win again, and we talked about it at the beginning of the year
01:00:12They have the best O.C. and the best D.C. in the sport, and the best quarterback
01:00:16It's kind of easy to figure out why they're able to win all these close games
01:00:20They don't beat themselves, they make kicks, they're good on special teams
01:00:24They're sound with the football, and oh, by the way, the refs
01:00:28are a joke, it's a perfect combination, it's very similar
01:00:32In a lot of ways, those Patriots teams, they have the best quarterback, they have the best coach
01:00:36They don't beat themselves, they're great at clock management
01:00:40They have a great home atmosphere, it's all a perfect combination
01:00:44Yeah, and Brady's going to whine a little bit, and probably will get a rough in the past certain legal contact
01:00:48The only difference is that Brady, I feel like got a lot of those calls in Tampa
01:00:52At the end, when the rules changed
01:00:56I don't remember, I think it was a lot of other Fugazi stuff
01:01:00It wasn't necessarily just Brady
01:01:04It's become a thing, and I'm glad people are starting to at least notice
01:01:08Flopping's a lot, it's very frustrating to watch
01:01:12At some point, and I said this to you
01:01:16As soon as the Al Shayer thing happened in Jacksonville
01:01:20And still no one's done it, and I'm glad no one's, I don't want my homes getting injured by any means
01:01:24But at some point, some team is going to say, I'm just going to take the flag
01:01:28And I'm going to light you up, because we're not going to keep doing this where we get penalized
01:01:32And you get off scot-free
01:01:36You brought this up, you were on it, and this is something that I think
01:01:40When the competition committee meets this off-season
01:01:44It's not going to be the first thing on their list, but it needs to be on their list
01:01:48And the message needs to be sent to the quarterbacks, loud and clear
01:01:52You can't do the slow down, okey-doke, then speed up again
01:01:56You're a runner, and if you're going to do that
01:02:00And someone lights you up, or hits you a half a yard out of bounds
01:02:04We're not throwing the flag, because you can't play it that way
01:02:08You can't jerk those guys around and think we're going to protect you
01:02:12Just be smarter about it, man, just get out of bounds, just get down
01:02:16Don't get the extra three yards, don't try to do that
01:02:20Because you're asking to get hit
01:02:24And if I was a defender, I'd be incredibly frustrated with that
01:02:28And I would be looking to hit somebody, again, not trying to be dirty
01:02:32I'm not going to let up on you, I'm going to run right through you
01:02:36I can't believe, Lamar didn't get a call yesterday
01:02:40Going out of bounds, and obviously we'll wrap up
01:02:44But Lamar didn't get that call, because I felt like
01:02:48In some ways, if you just play football and you don't make it so obvious
01:02:52The refs, I actually think sometimes are happy to let them play a little bit
01:02:56It's obviously, hit or miss, the crew, the game
01:03:00Credit to Troy and Joe
01:03:04It's really hard, I think, in the spot they're in
01:03:08What the league employs you, and these networks
01:03:12It's how the league makes their money, it's the TV money, we all know that
01:03:16Troy and Bucker, they'll get on guys on the field
01:03:20But they were crushing the officials
01:03:24I'm sure Aikman's like, dude, I have 75 concussions from getting hit late
01:03:28You earn the calls when you're a superstar, the league's going to protect the quarterbacks
01:03:32I just will finish with this, but very similar to the run
01:03:36Earlier in the year against San Francisco
01:03:40Where he fakes to go out of bounds, and people don't hit him because they don't want a flag
01:03:44And then he keeps running, and it's this whole celebration of look how smart he is
01:03:48Yeah, sure, he's smart, good for him, and LeBron does it, and James Harden, these guys
01:03:52But it's on the league at some point to be like, dude, like you said
01:03:56Or at some point, and I keep saying this, someone is going to say
01:04:00I don't care
01:04:04I don't know, it's Chiefs commanders in the Super Bowl, and Bobby Wagner's like, dude, I'm like a 77-time All-Pro
01:04:08I can probably get away with this
01:04:12I'm going to probably, a little extra
01:04:16Not dirty, but if you're going to do this crap, we're going to go back to old school
01:04:20Until both feet are out of bounds, you're getting lit up
01:04:24And so, I just hope, I guess we can finish with this
01:04:28I really hope on Sunday afternoon, the refs are not a factor
01:04:32In those Chiefs, I just, I do not want to come on here, Mike, in a week's time
01:04:36And talk about, oh my God, the Chiefs got another call, or oh my God
01:04:40Josh Allen flopped on a rough in the passer, and Chris Jones didn't touch him
01:04:44And look at, this is a fraudulent way, like, really, I'm truly begging
01:04:48That does not happen, because if the calls are like that
01:04:52They were in that Chiefs-Texans game, either the Bills or the Chiefs
01:04:56Whoever they go for, are going to be, it's going to be
01:05:00I don't want to talk about the refs, it's so frustrating, and it ruins
01:05:04Such a fun, it was a good game, actually, it was an entertaining game
01:05:08We just finished, and we talked about, hey, the Chiefs did it again
01:05:12But like, other than Will Anderson, the talking points, the refs and the Texans have no kicker
01:05:16Like, it's annoying
01:05:20A few minutes ago, multiple reports, Jaguars bringing in several candidates
01:05:24For a second head coaching interview, including Liam Cohen
01:05:28Raiders DC Patrick Graham, and former Jets coach Robert Sala
01:05:32Also, the
01:05:36Patriots had like a strength and conditioning guy from the Titans
01:05:40Yeah, which is not shocking, oh, and Lou Anarumo, the new DC
01:05:44For the Indianapolis Colts, taking over for the
01:05:48Gus Bradley, so
01:05:52You want to talk about making a sharp turn in how you play defense, going from Gus
01:05:56To Lou, that's pretty sharp
01:06:00Alright, he is Will Parkinson, he's always sharp, I'm Mike Ciardi, mostly dull
01:06:04Remember to like, listen, subscribe, tell your friends, great review
01:06:08Get this podcast wherever you get your podcasts, plus, of course, here on YouTube
01:06:12We will see you at the end of the week, as we preview the AFC and NFC Championship games
01:06:16We'll see you then.