T.J. Lang joins Costa and Jansen to recap Conference Championship Sunday.
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00:00We got TJ Lang in studio, and we're talking football.
00:05Just not Lions football.
00:06TJ, what was this weekend like for you?
00:10The first game kind of went how I thought it was.
00:12I mean, I had a feeling Philly was going to come out on fire.
00:15You know, any time that, you know, you're probably thinking last week, oh man, we got
00:19to go on the road for the NFC Championship game, and then Detroit loses, that gives you
00:22some momentum, and obviously, you know, a pretty good rush that you get to play at home
00:27for the NFC Championship game.
00:29That game kind of went the way I thought it was going to, and yeah, I heard you guys talking
00:33a little bit.
00:34Like, that was the blueprint.
00:35You know what I mean?
00:36Like, I still come out of that game against Washington in Detroit, I just, I can't believe
00:40Jameer Gibbs only got 17 carries.
00:42You know what I mean?
00:43Like, I know Montgomery was back.
00:44I know you wanted to get him involved and, like, get the crowd going, but Jameer Gibbs
00:48had 17 carries against that defense.
00:50You know, it was just like, oh my gosh, like, that was the blueprint.
00:53Like, you didn't have to overthink it.
00:55You know what I mean?
00:5614 carries.
00:5714 carries.
00:58Even worse.
00:59Okay.
01:00Yeah.
01:01Make myself feel even worse.
01:02Yeah.
01:03I think it was seven for Montgomery, right?
01:04But 14 carries.
01:05Yeah.
01:06That's what it was.
01:07Not enough is the answer.
01:08It was just, yeah, getting cute and, you know, the trick plays, I mean, there's a time and
01:11place for, you know, some of them.
01:14That type of game, like, just line up and just prove that you're the better team, right?
01:17But Washington played better.
01:19I mean, you can't play a C-minus game in the playoffs and expect to just go beat anybody,
01:24right?
01:25And that's what the Lions did.
01:26I mean, I'm so fortunate it sucked watching yesterday.
01:29But also watching yesterday, the way Philly played, like ...
01:32Got to feel like that would have been in the end of the line anyway.
01:35Maybe.
01:36I mean, if you're out there, you're down your top two defensive linemen, you're down your
01:39top two corners.
01:40Yeah.
01:41Meek Robertson, Carlton Davis, against that offense, I mean, if Philly obviously came
01:44in and played that way, like, I think we're having a pretty bad show today.
01:48Could they have stopped the run against Segway?
01:49Yeah.
01:50But would I like to see it, you know, actually witness it and watch the game?
01:53Yeah.
01:54I mean, I think the Lions' offense, you know, if they were coming off a slumpy game, could
01:58have turned it around.
01:59And then the Buffalo game.
02:00I mean, look, I mean, there were obviously a couple calls in there that last couple weeks
02:04have been, you know, homes and getting all the calls and a couple questionable ones.
02:08But you still look at that.
02:09I mean, Josh Allen had the ball down three with three minutes left.
02:12You know what I mean?
02:13And just couldn't get it done.
02:14So I thought that fourth and one was odd because you never got a ... You didn't get a signal.
02:21They didn't make a call.
02:22They just, both referees did not make a call.
02:25And then they said, we're going to go review it.
02:27Like you can't, you got to either say, hey, he's short and then we're going to go review
02:31it or it's a first down and then we're going to go review it.
02:35You can't just not make a call and just say, oh, we don't know.
02:39Like we got to go take a look.
02:40I think you have to make a call because here's what it does.
02:42It forces one of the teams to now challenge.
02:45And it also, if you, let's say the first line judge that came in from the far side clearly
02:52had it marked as a first down.
02:53For whatever reason, he didn't mark first down.
02:55If you say first down, now you're making Kansas City challenge it and whatever way you call
03:00it is probably going to be, you're probably not going to be able to overturn it.
03:05But that was just odd to me that it looked like they initially gave him the first down
03:09and then just said, oh, we don't know.
03:11Like we're not even going to make a call.
03:12We're just going to go review.
03:13I don't think I've ever seen that before in football.
03:15I think I've usually, you see it where, hey, he's short, but we're going to take a look
03:19or hey, it's a first down, but hey, Kansas City now can challenge.
03:22That was, that was just odd to me.
03:23Well, and it fuels conspiracy theories, which we've been dealing with today.
03:26Speaking of things you've never seen before, had you heard of palpably unfair, the Eagles
03:32trying to punch it in, in the red zone and the commander's jumping off sides four straight
03:36times and the ref coming in going, hey, enough's enough.
03:39We're going to award a touchdown.
03:41Had you ever seen that?
03:42No, I haven't.
03:43Stop those shenanigans or we're going to give them a touchdown.
03:46He did.
03:47The ref did.
03:48I'm turning this car around.
03:49Greg, can we play the audio for people?
03:51This was, I've never heard this before in an NFL game.
04:06Wait till your dad gets home.
04:08I'm turning this car around.
04:10Yes.
04:11You've been, yeah, you knock it off or we're going to give them a touchdown.
04:16Yes.
04:17You knock it off.
04:19No pizza tonight.
04:20Somehow missed that during the game.
04:21I'm going to have to go back and watch that.
04:22They were jumping over the, the pile and it was half the distance, half the distance,
04:29half the distance.
04:30And then TJ, they just ran out of inches.
04:33There's no more inches to give there.
04:34What's the thought process there?
04:35You're just hoping they're not going to call it.
04:37Oh no.
04:38You're trying to, so they're trying to stop the tush push, right?
04:41So they're trying to jump the count.
04:43Okay.
04:44That's what I'm saying.
04:45They're not, they weren't intentionally just like, Hey, we're going to line up and, okay,
04:49I'm going to touch you so that it's a penalty.
04:51I missed a couple of the plays cause I was, you know, cooking some ribs yesterday.
04:54I was in and out of the house, but I got to go back and watch how they turn out.
04:56They were good.
04:57Yeah.
04:58It was good.
04:59I made a brisket.
05:00No.
05:01Yeah.
05:02So they're trying to stop the tush push and they were just going early.
05:03Right.
05:04Yeah.
05:05It's that theory of four times, four times in a row.
05:06Yeah.
05:07So there, well, I mean, what did it start with too?
05:08It started with a yard away.
05:09Yeah.
05:10And so then it's a half yard and then it's, you know, a less than a foot and then it's
05:15literally, they could not move the ball up any closer because it kept going half the
05:18distance.
05:19And if you're sitting there going, I'm going to risk it and try and time the snap and Philly
05:23knew it.
05:24I don't even think they were going to run a play.
05:26They literally may have just called timeout with the second left on the play clock thinking
05:31that, you know, this is just going to keep happening.
05:33Just let them keep.
05:34Yeah.
05:35From the rest of the distance, half the distance, there's no more half the distance.
05:38We got to play football at some point here, boys, either you're going to let them snap
05:41the ball or we're just going to give them the touchdown.
05:43I got to go back and watch.
05:45And they were all on LuVu.
05:47They're all LuVu.
05:48They had like four or five yesterday.
05:49Yeah.
05:50Well, yeah, because he timed it up once and actually hit it at the snap, made a big play
05:53in the backfield.
05:54Yeah.
05:55And that's what Philly said.
05:56Okay.
05:57Yeah.
05:58We know what you're doing.
05:59Oh, man.
06:00Yeah.
06:01That line's long.
06:02Yeah.
06:03Gosh.
06:04Like, and I, Rico argued, John, I want to get your perspective, which one was more devastating
06:08do you think?
06:09This year's loss or last year's loss?
06:13I'll probably go to last year's loss.
06:15Yeah, me too.
06:16Because you were 30 minutes away from going to the Super Bowl with a 17 point lead.
06:19Okay.
06:21I think we can all agree that, well, me and you can at least.
06:23Rico tried to argue with me, but that was, that was more devastating.
06:26That's strange.
06:27I mean, what side did Mike take?
06:28Because that would tell me which side Rico was going to take.
06:32I think Mike just was listening to what I was saying, but I think Mike agreed with me.
06:36Yeah.
06:37But that was my argument.
06:38Like you're, he's like, yeah, but nobody expected, I'm like, it doesn't matter.
06:41You have a three score lead in the NFC champs, 30 minutes away.
06:43You're like, oh my God, it's real guys.
06:45Yeah.
06:46You start pitching yourself.
06:47Is this really happening?
06:48I mean, like this year was, obviously it's devastating because the season that you had
06:51in the one seat and having the opportunity to have everything go through, you know, Detroit.
06:56But as a player, there's still part of you though, that's like, man, like we just didn't
07:00have a good game.
07:01Right.
07:02We just played a bad game and a team came in and played good and we lost.
07:04It doesn't make it any easier, but that, that loss last year is one that I think is going
07:09to haunt them more than way more.
07:12Yeah.
07:13Cause you were literally on the doorstep.
07:14So I think the NFC title game will haunt you longer, but I understand in the moment feeling
07:21worse about what happened this year.
07:24In the moment, there's a lot of losses where you'd be like, oh, this one hurts so much.
07:27And then, you know, two or three days later, you're like, all right, it hurts that we lost,
07:31but not nearly as much as last year.
07:32I just need the buildup, the buildup thinking you're going to the super bowl lasted for
07:35about an hour.
07:37The year before thinking you were going to the super bowl lasted months this season,
07:41right?
07:42I mean, financial investment, emotional investment, going to the game, believing you're going
07:46to the super bowl, losing to an inferior team, not even getting a chance to host the NFC
07:50title game, wasting a 15 win season.
07:53The best in franchise history.
07:54Who are you saying though, for months thinking going to the super bowl, are you talking from
07:58like a fans first fans?
07:59Yeah.
08:00Fans had conditioned themselves to believe super bowl for a much longer amount of time
08:03than a halftime at the super bowl.
08:05Also got to, I mean, there's no, there's no problem.
08:09There's no problem having an expectation that your team should do that.
08:12But if we're going into every season and we're going to the super bowl, no matter what, like
08:17that is we got to take a step back.
08:20Why was it take a step back there in the NFC title?
08:22No, because sometimes Jim and you do it too.
08:25Sometimes you act like it's just so easy.
08:27Like, Hey, we got the best team.
08:28Let's just go win the super bowl.
08:29Yay.
08:30Like it doesn't work like that.
08:31We saw clearly this year.
08:32I mean, I think that's from the player's perspective too, that sure.
08:34Last year it felt like it got ripped out of your hands.
08:37You know what I mean?
08:38It felt like you're 17 points.
08:39It felt like it got ripped out of your right there and some of the plays, right?
08:42Some of the weird drops, a weird, a weird ball bouncing off a dude's face.
08:47Like it just felt like it got ripped away from you.
08:49Part of you this year is like, we didn't earn it, right?
08:52Like that's still part of this game.
08:53We can't go out there and just expect to put the helmet on and Hey man, we want to roll
08:58the ball out.
08:59And let's go.
09:00Right.
09:01And start the game sloppy or, you know, try to get cute or get out of who you are.
09:04Like there there's part of you that you just, you didn't earn it.
09:06You didn't do anything to win.
09:07I don't disagree with that.
09:08I just think when it gets ripped away from you, those are the ones that are devastating
09:12and I'm with you.
09:13Like the expectations are fine.
09:15Okay.
09:16I just think it's part of like, Oh, super bowl or everything's a failure.
09:19We wasted all our time.
09:21Like I just, I don't like that.
09:23Oh, I just don't like that mentality.
09:25That's the upper echelon, that's rarefied error.
09:27And this is the argument that we had last year, but had the lions earned it that I think
09:32they did.
09:33The, the, the, the argument we had last week is that I'm willing to say that this season
09:37was a failure because I felt like they should have been in the super bowl.
09:42And when you get there, right, you're going to have to play the chiefs, the bills, the,
09:46the Ravens.
09:47That was, that was going to be the competition.
09:49We know how they matched up with the bills at home, but to say the season was a waste,
09:55like I can't go there.
09:56No.
09:58I can't say it was a waste because if we look five years down the road and they haven't
10:02learned from the NFC championship that they lost in San Francisco, the opportunity to
10:06go to the super bowl, like what did they learn from that game?
10:09What did they learn from that season?
10:10What did you learn from this season?
10:12Even though you were 15 and two, you got the one seed, you still lost in the divisional
10:17round.
10:18What did you learn from this season?
10:21And if you're, if you tell me five years down the road that you didn't use this for anything,
10:27then I can say it's a waste.
10:28Right now I can't say that.
10:29There's going to be a time and place when we look back, obviously the body still feels
10:32cold especially after watching yesterday, but there'll be a time and place that you
10:35look back and John, yeah, hopefully they do learn some of those lessons, right?