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January 13, 2025 49 mins

Today on 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, the guys recap a wildcard Weekend including the Commanders doinking past the Bucs. The Patriots bring in Mike Vrabel to bail them out. The Vikings and Rams will put a bow on Wildcard Weekend after relocating the game to Arizona. Tom Brady tries to lure Ben Johnson to the Raiders.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the best of two pros and a couple
Joe with Lamar as rating Winn and Jonas knots on radio.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
LeVar congrats on your commanders as well too, you know,
getting it about it, getting it done.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Man.

Speaker 4 (00:19):
How does that fight song go? How does that one work?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Uh? Hell to the commanders, which it doesn't work it
the same way? You know, hell victory because the next time,
the next thing it hits you. You know, it's like, so,
do you change it from braves or do you say
commanders now commanders on the war path? I see that

(00:45):
doesn't sound the same. How can a commander be on
I guess a commander could?

Speaker 4 (00:50):
I guess I could. Yeah, But well a commando can,
but a commander can. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I guess a baby comes out now months later after
a commando? Does you know?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
UH got to give credit where credit's due. Baker Mayfield
the best Washington commander yesterday. Congratulations to uh to to Washington.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Take didn't you take Tampa?

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
They did, And it really pissed me off because that
turnover really changed the entire complexion of the game. It
felt like Tampa had an opportunity there up in that
game with the ball and they turned it over and
I was like, Okay, here we go and dan Quinn's
just wheeling and dealing going forward on fourth down. So, uh,

(01:41):
Washington's fun.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
It took a doink at the end to you know,
to get him in, but hey, let's ay, yeah, that's
a fun team to watch and they are on their
way to the next round. And you got to be
disappointed if you're Tampa Bay. So it was an outright
road winner there for the Washington Commanders, unfortunate three point
underd and then they go in there and get it
done for those that had Tampa Bay on the other side.

(02:04):
So was the by the way, LaVar was the last
Commander's playoff win, was that when you guys beat.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Tampa Bay, Tampa, I believe so, yeah, I believe so.
I believe so she Tampa and Tampa Bay.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
So if somebody would have told you at that time, like, hey,
by the way, it's going.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
To be that's long.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
The baby that I had the next day, my oldest
daughter that I had the next day, would be well
into her freshman year of college by the time Washington
played and won another playoff game. I mean, we'd say
that eighteen years you know, well, nineteen years. It's been
nineteen years. Uh, that's a long time. That's a long time.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah, long ass time.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
That's a long time.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
So there was time. Yeah, so there was that one yesterday.
So what was that?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I told you that Penn State almost beaten Notre Dame
without any receivers catching the ball. I'd say that was
wild too. Yeah, just wild weekend and sports man, wow
week in sports that's all.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
That's all right though, represented yourself, Well, okay, yeah, it's
a good year.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Good year.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
One one out of two, you know, one out of two,
you know it's good.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah. Now overall, what was the big takeaway for you
guys from the NFL wild Card weekend?

Speaker 4 (03:25):
Like, oh, I don't know. I mean, my first thought was,
it's kind of ironic that, you know, what was it?
Of all the games, the only exception being the Commandos
Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, which got off to a really
slow start, it was every single game what was a
blowout with the exception of that one. And I never

(03:46):
hear this out crying for Oh, that team doesn't belong
in the playoffs. They should change the playoffs seating. Why
is that? Oh my gosh, this whole thing sticks. It
happened last year in the wildcard run of the NFL,
and yet we have people like Pete Prisco, I'll just

(04:07):
go and throw it a name, who have like they
don't even pay attention to their own sport, and then
they can plain about college football. The whole thing's bizarre. Look,
this happens every single year. In most playoff formats. You
get competitive games and games that lack competitiveness, and mostly
in the wildcard round in the NFL, very similar to that.

(04:29):
In college football, you get some teams that, yeah, it's
not gonna be as good of a matchup, they don't
match up as well, it's not gonna be competitive. It
happens every level, every league. It happens. Can we move
on from this tired narrative and then can we stop?
I'm not sure why it's as bad as it is
with college football. I'm not sure if it's because there's

(04:49):
like NFL purists who are afraid of the ground that
like college football is making up, which the Penn State
Notre Dame rating was not great. It was down big
time from the year before. We can explain some of that.
But I look at him just like can we stop.
Can we just like appreciate football and have fun with
these games? It's just bizarre.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
The acceptance to the wipeouts in the first round of
the NFL playoffs is almost grandfathered in, And because we
got to see the first year of the college football playoff,
people think now's their opportunity to bitch about it. It's like, dude,
look around sports. That usually happens when you have teams
that barely made it and teams that clinched weeks in

(05:31):
advance because they're significantly better, You're gonna get some mismatches.
I mean, it doesn't mean like the next round, Look,
Bill's Ravens is gonna be a fantastic game, or at
least on paper it is. But yeah, so it's not right. Well,
and I just I looked at it, and I and
I don't and I love the NFL, but I don't
know how you can take the college football Playoff and

(05:53):
the results of the first round and think that's an
outlier in comparison to other sports. It's not. That's usually
how it goes.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
I think that's a super solid takeaway. You know. One
of my takeaways from watching the games yesterday was the
balance every team that won, for the exception, the exception
being Washington, every team that won had a serious ass

(06:20):
running game and their back broke a hundred yards like
think about it. And in the Texans game, mixing like
was dealing, right, And then in the Ravens game, Henry dealing,
the Bills game, Cook dealing the Eagles game, sakwon, Barkley

(06:43):
dealing the only game where there wasn't a one hundred
yard rusher and a real established run with your running
back with the balance of your quarterback. Because an interesting
stat to add to it is that, to me, the
reason why these running backs are doing so well, I mean,

(07:03):
outside of them being studs and all those names being
really really talented running backs, is that you have a
quarterback that's leading or coming in second in rushing yards, right,
So that RPO that as option from the quarterback I
think is really really having the evolution of it. Like

(07:27):
did you guys see the blocking scheme that they were using.
The Ravens were on that kind of like that on
the read of it, and then it gives you know,
Lamar Jackson holding them with like the handoff point, the
read point, giving the blockers the opportunity to get into

(07:47):
position in a way it's like was in a way
I haven't seen. It was new, and it was innovative,
and it was scary. And it was scary because it
was getting people in the right positions and all the
back had to do was make the right decision and
they literally were going to be on the second level
before they saw a defender. And if you're Derrick Henry,

(08:09):
if you're Sakwon Barkley, if you're Joe Mixon, if you know,
if you're cook, that is that is music to your ears.
I only got to make one guy miss and then
I'm out. And sometimes they got tackled. But you're talking
about a six yard seven yard game. So to me,

(08:31):
watching these defense play defense, watching them balance it out
with the run and the pass on offense, they were
limiting their opportunities in the passing game because what I'll say,
in the Steelers game, they forced they forced the Steelers
to prove that they could truly run the ball, which
has always been a tremendous piece and staple of what

(08:55):
the Steelers offense represents. Right, they were not able to
run the ball, and it made them a very one
dimensional team. And Russ was forced to win it in
the air, and he wasn't able to do it. They
weren't able to do it. So it's like every team
that's going to play this, I don't know what we're
going to see out of the Vikings and Rams game,
but it would be interesting to see. The trend that

(09:16):
I took away from in the first round is these
teams that are willing to run the ball, and run
the ball not only with their back, but their their
quarterback is a running back as well, their second leading rusher.
In all those games, if the quarterback is having a
good game with balancing out the run with their running back,

(09:39):
it's going to be some really tremendous games because you're
talking about the running game, which is crazy because we
minimize the running backs anymore and say that they come
a dime a dozen. But I'll tell you this, in
this playoff, every single team that's going to have a
chance to win this Super Bowl is a team that

(10:00):
has a running game and for that and to that point,
they also have a quarterback that can run as well.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
The running back is back. It is back in a
big way. And all those teams that waved by bye
to their running back that they didn't need any more.
Now we're all sitting on the outside looking in at
those guys making for plays. Yeah, and that was I mean,
I look at it and I go The results kind

(10:29):
of played out exactly how we expected them to play out.
Bo Nix and Denver made it a little interesting with
that early touchdown, but even after that, it was just,
you know, Josh Allen and them overwhelmed Denver in that game.
But it's really this next round where I think we're
going to get to see the best the NFL has
to offer. And if you wanted to be honest about it,

(10:51):
we probably could have skipped bass the wildcard round and
just gone straight to the divisional round and just done that.
But I just kind of felt like there were a
lot of Yeah, we knew that was going to happen
Houston and LA. I did not expect it to go
that way. It felt like the Chargers had an opportunity
in that game, and then that was the one disappointing.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
I don't know about you guys, but that was the
one disappointed to me. I thought that would be a different,
different type of game.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
It felt like there was a chance early on for
LA to kind of not run away with it, but
it you know, get it in a doublegated lead. Yeah,
just like Houston didn't play all that well and then
you just saw turnover after turnover after turnover, and they
just couldn't get back in it.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Herbert looked awful. And I know that harball offense at times.
Can you know that the way he kind of runs
things is it's not more of a spread it out
thrown around offense. But once Houston got going, they got physically,
you know, they imposed their will in La and I

(11:52):
did not see that coming. They looked like the more
physical team. Mixon went off. Herbert played terrible. I mean
it lends the questions of really, is justin Herbert gonna
be able to take this team to where they need
to go. I mean, there's a lot of people who
feel like or call them a social media quarterback. I'm

(12:13):
not exactly sure what that is. I don't I don't.
I don't tend to agree with it just because you
put up a lot of stats and gets a lot
of people who are fans of him. Yet when it
comes down to getting into the playoffs, winning the matter
of games that matter most hasn't necessarily been there. So
you know, you look at the three interceptions. I don't

(12:35):
know how much is on him or on the wide receiver.
It feels like it felt like, you know, a couple
of them. You could have said, all right, it was
like something a little different there. But I still come
back to there's any questions now surrounding around Justin Herbert.
You know, this is a great step for Jim Harbaugh
in his first year with the Chargers, but moving forward,
if they can't get past the wild card round, they

(12:57):
can't win more in the playoffs, they're gonna start asking
questions about Herbert. You know, whether it's right, wrong, or indifferent,
that's just how it works. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
You know what's interesting is just like much like what
they did the Rust in Pittsburgh, they did to Justin
Herbert in that game. They forced him to win the
game with his arm I give a ton of credit.
I give a ton which to your point, Q, that's
what he should have been able to do. They put
the game in his hands. They were not going to
let him run the ball. They were they geared up.

(13:31):
The Texans geared up to stop stop the running game.
That's what it was, stop them from running. Forced them
to win the game in the air, and you know what,
like you said, I don't know if it falls on
Herbert or the receiver, or if it falls on both
of them, or if it's the play call. I don't
really know. But four interceptions in one game and you

(13:55):
only have one TD to show for it. In a
playoff game where you don't have a running game that's present,
Dobbins was not able to get off, Edwards was not
able to get off. It was. It was a poor
night for them, and so when you look at the
dynamic of what played out, not only did they force

(14:16):
force Herbert to win the ballgame in the air with
his arm through the air and see if he could
do it, but they grinded it out on them on
the ground and mixing which he had. He had one.
You know, he had a mishap. I didn't he fumble
if I recall it correctly. I'm trying to recall everything

(14:36):
that took place. But I think he did have like
a like a messed up play. I think he turned
the ball over or something like that, or maybe didn't
get a first down or anyway. Bottom line is is
that they were able to play solid defense against them,
keep them off balance with the run and C J. Stroud,
I mean he didn't have I mean he had a

(14:58):
decent day throwing the ball. But I just think that
that is going to be the trend that you got
to watch for, is these teams that are establishing their
running game the way that these these teams had Because
I didn't think that Houston had that great of a year,
even though they were eleven win team. I just didn't

(15:19):
think that it felt like the team that they had
last year. There was more to me, there was more
excitement about how dangerous they were last year. But maybe
they're getting they're getting hot on time. Maybe they pulled
it together on time. Because I thought that was a
really I thought that was a good showing bye by
Houston in the.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
First round, and that result did give Kansas City a
second bye week in the playoffs, which is nice that
they're going to be able to just advance past and
face the winner of Baltimore in Buffalo. So that's nice
for the NFL.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Though you ain't lying. It is sound offensive, but you
ain't lying.

Speaker 4 (15:55):
Dang.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn LeVar Arrington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six a m. Eastern three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
You know what I really wished in the ideal world, honestly,
and this is like no shot at any of you
know what the setup is. But if we really all
were together, like in terms of like in the same
space doing the show, I think it would be like amazing.
I enjoyed, I really enjoyed. I really enjoyed doing the show.

(16:31):
When we would last when we're together, you might not last.
Lead to lap might not last. If we were all together.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
There's a there's a theme that I've noticed. There's a
theme I've noticed about whatever we do shows together, whether
it's super Bowl or.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Well, because we're always out somewhere though no, but.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
But people that don't that are on the outside, like
the you know, construction crew or conference. It was happening
at the hotel in Fort Lauderdale when we were doing
the show on Thursday and Friday, like they kind of
all look at us and go, is that real? Like
is that like that dynamic? The conversations, what's happening? Lee

(17:13):
passing gas? Like, is that is that real? Is that
is that how this works? Is that how this operates?

Speaker 4 (17:18):
Radio Row?

Speaker 2 (17:19):
We were getting a bunch of dirty looks from the
four or five people that were in there.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
It just feels like we do get dirty looks. Yeah,
and it is real. It is one hundred percent authentic,
Like there's not even like how would you even script
us acting that way towards one another. Generally speaking, when
you're you're dealing with people that are like fake and
not organic and how their relationships are, they kind of
don't speak at all. It's like you go on air,

(17:46):
you do your bits, and then when it's a break,
you don't do you don't do it. And I've been
in those environments before. I've worked with people like that.
You just don't you don't talk, you don't communicate off air,
there's no there's no communication. Nothing is you go your way,
you go my way. I look down, you look up,
you look left, I look right. You know what I mean?

(18:06):
Like that isn't nuts, though I think we had. I mean,
you guys saw me so banged up like this pad
last week. She'ess banged up.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Bros. Pulled up, bro, I.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Don't know that my pants were up when I passed
out in the lobby either. I was thinking back on it,
I was like, were my pants like down? That has
happened before I passed out because I got a belly.
And what happened is my belt buckle starts hurting my belly.
My belt buckle like digs into my belly. So then

(18:40):
I unbuckled my belt buckle, and but my legs aren't
big enough to hold my pants up, and so if
I move around, my pants come down like by themselves.
You know, don't get any ideas out there. I'm just
saying it just happened, has happened.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
What was the what was the super where Lee went
and stole coffee from like a mattress?

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah something number, sleep number yeah yeah, and swept coffee. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
So everybody saw Lee do it and they started doing it.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Yeah. First off, I don't know that he stole it necessarily.
I mean, it was kind of out there for anyone
to take and Lee just took advantage of it. That's all.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
That's what it was.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
I don't know about that.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Dang.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah. No one's going to confuse you with a trendsetter. Man.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I think he's given a lot of people ideas about
mini bottles on planes. Now, Like, I bet there's a
lot of people that never even thought of the idea
of bringing many.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Bottles, or they were just scared to do it. They
try to really scare you, like, do not use your
own alcohol on board. It is illegal and you will
get prosecuted to the full letter of the law. And
people be like scared.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
And then Lee walks in and goes, hey, buddy.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Hey, buddy, what law are you talking it about?

Speaker 2 (20:02):
By the way, Okay, this so I'm so glad. All right, Brady,
you're gonna love this.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
All right.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
So when we went out to dinner at the Italian Place,
which was fantastic, by the way, and we Lee took
the bag to go. So there was some food that
wasn't finished, because it was a lot of food that
you brought out, yet it was a lot, and so
Lee Lee took the bag to go, and there was
a decent amount of food left over, and so he

(20:34):
brought the bag with him and he went back and
the next morning we were saying, you know, it's probably
gonna be great when you heat it up and eat
it and have it again. And he was telling me
later on, he goes, damn He's all, the uh, the
cleaning lady came and took the food. Oh really, I'm all, well,
you probably wouldn't have won it anyways, because you didn't

(20:54):
put it in the fridge. It was probably left out.
He goes, yeah, but you know, she took the food.
But it was weird because there was like some of
the marinara was like had spilled on the bed. And
I'm like, Lee, did you eat eat food?

Speaker 3 (21:08):
No? Food, didn't remember ate ate the mood?

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Oh my food?

Speaker 1 (21:15):
He couldn't fight.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
They took the bag of food up, like wait a second,
and they started putting the math. He was like, Lee,
why well why would they Why would there be ma
on the bed?

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Oh my gosh, I was really looking forward to and
you forgot that you would finished it off when you
got forgot that you ate it.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
We did have some wine, which apparently at least crypte.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Then he asked the one list.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
No, No, I controlled that. Oh I was, I wasn't.
I've seen that mistake happened. I did make sure he
was the taster, though, you know, so he did his
whole you know.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah it around okay, yes, yes.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
Made sure to check out the bottle. See what reagion
and all that. That was great fun to watch, Lee.
I do appreciate the fact you turn into your own
like detective mystery the next morning. Here it's like dudes
where dude wears my car? But I think a little
more advance.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's like, man, I was really looking forward to eating
that you did, but the bag.

Speaker 5 (22:31):
Was gone, and I was like, where did I throw
it away?

Speaker 3 (22:37):
That is the most ridiculous story I've ever heard. Do
you not know you ate your own leftover of food?

Speaker 4 (22:44):
There's a lot of food there too, Oh and so crazy.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
She got to it first.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
The marinerisauce on the bit I was giving you greates.
I thought it was I thought it was the lady
cleaning the room that sat down on the bed decided
to have something.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
You know, he's really wanted that when I got back,
you know yy, he knows left over. Hey, you're breathing
it all over.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Man. Good, That one will never get hold I promise
you that one will never get old because I can
see it. I can see it. So oh, it's so good.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
He just slumped over dead weight on This lady with
an N ninety five on she weighs like forty seven pounds.
She just holds. She's hanging on by a thread, and
Lee's all over on a plate. She's like risking, risking
getting whatever disease. He's got to pull her mask down
and go, Hey, I.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Just figure.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
How badly smelled around us. I can only imagine it
smells like on a plane.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
Oh, after we got off the plane from Ireland, him
and I smelled so bad smell. Remember we got in
my lead, we had to drive.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
You wore the same clothes for three days straight in
South Florida.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
That's not exactly accurate, just because I put a shirt
on twice and jeans, well, the jeans, Yeah, I did
wear the jeans the whole time.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
That reflex.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Oh god, Dan, you know what I started doing. I'm
gonna start life soonging you when I see you.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
Wouldn't be the first time, exactly.

Speaker 4 (24:42):
It's necessarily like Lorraine and everyone else.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
I mean, we do have New Orleans coming up for
the super Bowl, so just wait.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
Everything down.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
You gotta get some new clothes.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Be doing the bear crawl down Bourbon Street.

Speaker 4 (25:01):
That's actually probably about point we might not get Lee back.
This might be the one where we lose him forever.
I've never been to New Orleans. I'm a little worried.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Is it Is it like a Vegas? Is it going on?

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Well, first off, it's it's not like Vegas. Nothing's like Vegas.
But it's got its own unique culture and partying scene.
And I just I'm telling you right now, it's a
terrible combination with Lee in New Orleans and Bourbon Street
and everything he's gonna want to see, and all the drinks,
like the hand grenades, the hurricanes, like everything else he

(25:38):
wants to drink that, Like if he goes to patio'brien's
and he gets there a few hurricanes there. I'm telling
you we might not see Lee again, Like this might
be the last time we get to work with Lee.
All right?

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Or right? Just decided to stay. It seems like my
kind of town.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
I don't know what that means, but you're probably not wrong.

Speaker 2 (25:57):
I'm looking forward to the food. Oh man, Well, listen,
we do know this somebody, you know, the New Orleans Saints,
speaking of which do have a head coaching opening. Hopefully
Darren Rizzy gets it, to be honest with you, but
the Patriots do not, because apparently Mike Rabel's the guy.
So the worst kept secret in the NFL. Mike Rabels,

(26:17):
your new head coach of the New England Patriots. Deal
got done over the weekend. They were discussing contracts.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
How do we feel about this deal? I mean, I
guess no.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
No.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
Let me rephrase this. Let me put it this way.
Las Vegas, Chicago, Jets, Patriots. What are some of the
openings I'm forgetting Jaggs, the jack Jacksonville Jaguars. Where would
you rank the Patriots job amongst all those?

Speaker 3 (26:50):
I would say no, no, no, no.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Other coaches I'm saying just generally speaking, generally speaking.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
I would say third behind and Jacksonville in Chicago.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
No way. I think it's a hard that's a hard
one to that's a hard one to to rank because
I think they all stink.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Well, yeah, there's a reason.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
There's a reason why.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
It's not always the reason why they're hiring.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
But here's what I say to you, is you're giving
a speech today and you talked about ownership, take a
personal accountability. There's a reason why these organizations always are
continuing to hire new coaches, you know, moving on from
players and all that too. I think I think they
could use your speech.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah, they could you got to listen though. That's the
thing about it. You can hear something, it's the execution,
it's the internalizing and digesting of what it is and
the comprehension, because you know what I found, some people
just don't They don't know what that looks like or
what that feels like. And it makes you under where
did they come from? You know, like how were they

(28:03):
raised or what did they experience growing up because they
just don't comprehend what that is that they need to
do in order to have that accountability for themselves and
understanding that. That's the frequency in the vibe that you're
putting out now. The question that that leads me to
is do you believe that Bobby Orchids is feeling no

(28:28):
self accountability and not feeling as though he needs to
create that culture or be a part of a culture
that was once a celebrated wants a revered and even
in some regards a feared culture that was created in

(28:48):
New England.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
I mean, I whatever he says, I take with a
grain of salt. Okay, Like yeah, all right, listen, you
know y'all all his like that song and Dan about
Jirawd Mayo and you know, I listened. He was in
a bad spot, and dude, you couldn't wait to get
rid of Bill Belichick. You threw Belichick under the bus.
To all these other organizations when they were considering hiring him,

(29:11):
you lied and said you had no involvement in the
smear campaign against him. In your own documentary where your
your production companies and the credits afterwards, then he does
the whole song and dance with jiwd Mayo. They interview
a couple of minority candidates, just the dot the i's
and cross the t's, you know, in Byron Leftwich and
Pep Hamilton, like just like that whole, like Robert Kraft.

(29:34):
The more I would say, over the last couple of years,
the more you find out about the guy, the more
you go, all right, good luck with that. Like it
does feel like I think Brady made the point last
week that it was Brady and Belichick who were holding
that organization together. And now he probably feels a little
pressure because he's getting exposed as somebody who maybe you know,

(29:56):
maybe doesn't have all the answers without that coach and
that quarter. And that's why I think he was desperate
to hire.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
Rabel so What I don't understand about it is you're
bringing back someone who is a disciple of Belichick in
a way. I'm not saying that Mike Rabel does everything
the way Bill Belichick did, but there's a lot of
similarities because that's what he knows. That's how he won.
If he's you know, really preaching you on anything, it's

(30:22):
it's that his playing experience as a Patriot, all those things.
So it's it's odd to me that you ran out
Bill Belichick, you tried to bring in another one of
his former players for only a year which didn't work,
or you moved on from rather quickly and you knew
that that he wasn't the right fit, which I take

(30:44):
issue with. So if I'm Mike Rabel and I know
he's agreed to the deal, but I mean you're looking
at it saying like he's not gonna have the same
issues that dron Mayo did. Given that he was a
first year head coach. He needed more, you know, time
to grow and develop as a as a head coach.
It's tough to do that when your first time being

(31:05):
one is the head coach of an NFL franchise. Right,
You're gonna make mistakes. So for all the things that
Albert Brier talked about him doing making mistakes, for all
the things that I think we saw, maybe you can
look at their team, they made mistakes. Well, no crap,
he's a first year head coach, Like what did you
expect you hired him. You had to have known you're
gonna go through some growing pains. You had to have

(31:26):
looked at the roster and said, we're not gonna win
many football games. So now you bring in a head
coach that's got experience, so you're not gonna go through
that same growing pains. But like, how different are things
gonna be from what Robert Kraft move on from the
first place with Bill Belichick. So from Mike Vrabel's standpoint,

(31:48):
I just hope he's I hope he has reassurances that
he's not gonna get clipped after one year because this
roster is not where it needs to be. Yes, he's
got a quarterback in Drake May who's the guy I
think in my opinion. But outside of that, they need
a lot of help, and they need an owner who's
gonna spend in free agency and it's gonna be willing
to do that, Like Brady and Belichick cover that up.

(32:10):
For a long time, we kind of keep saying talking
about how you know, Brady and Belichick propped them up.
Tom Brady not necessarily maximizing his market value like he
could have during the vast majority of his career in
the NFL was one of the things that flew into
the radar that made it work because Kraft wasn't going

(32:30):
to spend on a bunch of free agents, and so
we could say all that was Bill Belichick, No, I
was Robert Kraft. He just wasn't gonna do it. And
so now what are you gonna do? Like, I just
I think this is if you rank them for me again,
I'm more like you, Jonas, I'm not sure I'm putting
the Bears like we're probably a number one where you
have them, but that's where he wants them to be, exactly.

(32:52):
But when I look at this franchise, like if you
strip away Brady and Belichick and you say, okay, well,
what really is it? I'm not sure what's left. I'm
not sure how high you ranking amongst the five you know,
opening jobs, or at least the jobs that were open.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
I think it's a It's a curious position to be
in if you're Mike Rabel because of all the elements
that you guys are speaking of. But I just feel
as though, if there's one guy that will get that time,
that we'll have that runway, especially after doing Dry Mayo
the way that he did. I think it's got to

(33:32):
be Mike Rabel, because if it's not him, then who
else is it. It's almost like you hit a final
front tier hiring after after what only being removed from
Bill Belichick for one season? One season? Think about that,
you got a final front tier. If Mike Vrabel can't

(33:53):
come in and start to get them on the right track,
what direction do you go in from there? And how
do you justify that to your fan base? How do
you justify that to your sponsors? How do you do it?
How do you sell tickets? Mike Rabel fails, who do
you go to? How does that work? What action do

(34:16):
you take? I don't get it. He might have to
go meditate in the Orchids spot again and have somebody
rub his temples to get his mind motivated and stimulated
to possibly figure out what the right answer would be.
Because I don't know that there is one. If it
doesn't work with Mike Rabel.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
He could move the team. Just move him to Jupiter.
The Jupiter Patriots, you know Tang May as well.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
I don't know man Jupiter Florida.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Huh Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
See some people out there thought you meant Jupiter to planet.
But if you know Bobby Orchids, you know that Jupiter
holds a very very sentimental value to Bobby. There you
go are planets. That's a T shirt.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
That that's an I've gotten, No, I've done one. Revolves
around the commandos and revolves around Bobby Orchids.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, we gotta get our clothing line in order.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
Don't worry.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Let me.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
Let me get on this and I'll cure T shirts
for you.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Yeah, put it together.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Be sure to catch live editions of Two Pros and
a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn, LeVar Arrington and
Jonas Knox weekdays at six a m. Eastern three am Pacific.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
I have no idea what the hell's going to happen
in this game tonight, no clue. I don't know how
the move impacts the Rams. I don't know if this
does anything to the Vikings, who are already going to
travel Anyways, the Rams are apparently loading up fans in
a bus that's leaving Inglewood. Here the buses are live
outside the in Inglewood that they're going to take to

(36:02):
the game in Arizona. I have no idea what to expect,
like literally no idea what to expect. So at least
there is the element of surprise in this game. I
just find it hard to believe that Sam Darnold is
going to roll out that bag of crap two weeks
in a row that he rolled out last week. I
just I can't see that happening with the season they've had.
But could all be.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
For not have you ever seen a snowball stop growing
when it's rolling downhill and picking up more snow No,
So it could either be that or it could just
be there was just two bad weeks. I mean, when
that trend started going bad for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season,

(36:42):
it was like there was cause for concern. I gotta
tell you, when you're supposed to be trending up, which
is the end of the year, unless you're doing so
well that you're pulling guys out and you're not doing
as well because you're not playing your guys, that was
not the case with Minnesota, that was not the case

(37:02):
with Pittsburgh. Both of these teams were trending down heading
into this postseason, and I just don't know if that
trend is breakable at this point. I don't know. And
for what it's worth, if Matthew Stafford continues to play

(37:23):
the way he's been playing and Whoka Nakua keeps cooking
them up and vaping them and smoking these boys out here,
and you toss in a little bit of Cooper Cup
with that, Minnesota could find themselves heading home after having
a magical season, right that really could possibly happen.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
I think if there's anything we learned from the Wildcard round,
it feels like it's more of a byproduct. And this
is usually the playoffs every single year. The quarterbacks that
have experience that have been there, you feel most confident,
and you see the fact that they're able to adapt
to a different speed, a different level and fight through it.

(38:07):
And that's pretty much what we saw, you know, in
the wildcard round so far. It's one of the reasons
why if I'm looking at this game tonight, I sit
there and say, like, I trust Matt Stafford, I trust
Sean McVay. I trust all those pieces. And it's another
thing that's Kevin O'Connell. It's just Sam Darnold. If he
plays the way he kind of has of late, that

(38:28):
doesn't make me overly optimistic. And I'm not sure what's
going to change that switch when you know, the last
time we saw him out it was a huge moment.
You could basically call it a playoff game because you
were playing for a buy for the number one overall
seed for the division, and it was one of his
worst games to date. And I think you go back
and you look at Philly and you look at that

(38:48):
game by Jordan Love. He was pressing. You know, he's
someone who's a young player in this league, extremely talent
that has been fantastic in the regular season, but on
that stage in the playoffs, it's not quite there yet.
You know, he's got to pick up and learn from
the experiences. Very similar to justin Herbert talked about him
to begin the show. So I just kind of keep
going back to the quarterback position and saying it just

(39:11):
it feels like, you know, outside of looking at the
Washington Commandos and them finding a way to win last
night and moving on to the next round, which Baker's
got a little bit more playoff experience than Jaden Daniels,
but not much. Like you rely heavily and lean heavily
on the quarterbacks, you trust the teams that have been there,
that have gone through all this before. It feels like

(39:35):
it's that easy to handicap these things.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
If Sam Darnold struggles.

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Does this talk about the biggest, most epic crash and burn? Ever?

Speaker 2 (39:46):
I was gonna say, does this because.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
He's hit, He's hitting for a nice pay day and
will whether it be from Minnesota or someone else.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
But does that change whether or not you give him
that payday if you're Minnesota, like I wonder if that
would if they would look at this and go two
biggest games of the year and he fell flat on
his face, maybe we stayed there.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
No way you can say it doesn't have implications. These
last few games have had implications. This game has major
implications on what Sam Bradford's future is because if look
at it this way, you have a skit. Darnold, excuse me,
You have a skit at the end of the season.
You have a skid at the end of the season,

(40:24):
and then you lose and go out in the first
round of the playoffs. Why wouldn't you just be like, yeah,
we had a good run with him, but we got
McCarthy's he's rehabbing, he's healthy. Let's just move on. Like,
why would you not take that stance if you don't
have a serious run in the playoffs. I think this
game has serious implications.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yeah, which is wild to think about because a month
ago it was I mean, is he your long term answer?
And now now it feels like this could all be
riding on this game tonight and it goes.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
It's one of the reasons too, why it's like you
let it play out. You know, everyone's always trying to
like agree to a long from extension with Donald during
the season, and for Sam donald standpoint, I'm sure hips
representation was knocked on the door of Quoysia dolfha Men's
son saying come on, man, like, let's do this deal. Right,
But now you look at it and go, okay, we
got we got time. You know, we've got a quarterback

(41:16):
we drafted in the top ten to be able to
be the guy. Let's just let this thing play out.
So you know, and another thing about tonight's game is
I think LA could be one of the more wildcard
teams that could make a run because of some of
that experience, because the playmakers have are just talked about
that's a dangerous team, and it's one of those that

(41:36):
it's kind of like it was kind of like Cincinnati
and Joe Burrow. Like, let's be honest, if Joe Burrow
and Cincinnati got in the playoffs, that would have been
a dangerous team. People have been like, ooof, I don't
have to worry about playing against Joe and that offense
Jamar Chase t Higgins that grow. I don't have to
deal with that. Even as bad as their defense has
been that that was kind of a scary team. I
think LA is that other team that played with house money. Man,

(42:00):
how many people expect them to be there this year?
You know, what were the expectations for the Rams, Like
here we are, go ahead and play with that house
money and see where it takes you.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot on the line from
the Minnesota Vikings and the Rams tonight and they're doing
it all in Arizona, So have fun with that. There's
also you know, the the reported wins are going to
pick up here so we might be dealing with it
a little bit more here in southern California based on
the what we've seen the past few days. So yeah,
it's gonna be gonna be an interesting night for Rams fans,

(42:32):
both locally and watching that game and or if they're
busting out there being in Arizona for that game as
well too. So it is two pros and a cup
of Joe here on Fox Sports Radio. By the way,
can I also want to throw this at you because
we didn't have a chance to get into it with
the Mike Rabele agreeing to becoming the next head coach
of the Patriots. One of the stories that came out

(42:53):
and you guys, tell me where this lands with you.
The apparently Tom Brady is really intrigued by Ben Johnson,
enamored by Ben Johnson, and he's been giving him the
full court press to want to go to Vegas and
coach the Raiders, and that he's spoken with his agent

(43:14):
that you know, Ben Johnson has become more and more
interested in potentially talking to the Raiders and interviewing for
that job and potentially liking what he's got there. What
am I missing about the Raiders job? That Tom Brady
or Ben Johnson.

Speaker 4 (43:32):
See that.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
I don't see because I don't know how Ben Johnson
is any different than Antonio Pierce when they don't have
a quarterback in that division, right.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Yeah, I mean you can have it. QE go. I
mean it's a very You already answered your own question though,
but go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Cue.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
Well. I think my perspective on it is this is
more about Tom Brady and his influence as what is
a limited parter right minority owner than it is anything else.
If Ben Johnson is the bell of the ball in
this hiring cycle and your first year being a part

(44:11):
of the ownership organization, you can find a way of
convincing Ben Johnson to come be the head coach for
the Las Vegas Raiders. That's a win. Now again, I
don't know his relationship with Mike Grabel. We talked about
that in the past. Would that have made some sense?
Maybe Tom doesn't see the Raiders as a team that

(44:32):
needs a more defensive mind a head coach, or maybe
he didn't want to go down that road of someone
like Mike Grabel who's his friend, and deal with that.
But I think this has everything to do with Tom
Brady and him being able to get the guy that
he wants him, being able to have the influence that
he has or thinks he has on the league, and

(44:54):
being able to get these types of people to set
up the Raiders for success, and ultimately, in opinion, one
day become the majority owner. Like that is the play
if you look at really, like what is attractive about
the Raiders outside of it's an incredible band brand, They've
got an unbelievable history and fan base, like outside of

(45:14):
those things, and a great like new stadium in a
place like Las Vegas, Like you're looking at it from
a competitive standpoint, going, this is not a good situation.
And so even for Tom Brady to invest into this
particular team, you know, I'm sure people were like, wait,
why Las Vegas? Why not the Patriots? Why not the Bucks?

(45:38):
He just want a Super Bowl them? You don't think
the Glazer family would let him become a part of
the ownership structure there in Tampa. And so the answer
can only be, what's because he wants to one day
majority owner and the Craft family has sons they'll pass
the team down to the keep it within the family.
Maybe the Glazers do as well, there's all those things
you take into account. It's like, well, if you want
to own a franchise, it helps to be a minority owner,

(46:01):
get your foot in the door, and then you make
a play at one point in time for the majority ownership.
And so if that's the case, and you look at
the long term plan, like how do you convince the NFL,
how do you convince Mark Davis, Roger Cande, all the
powers that be that you one day should be the
guy who can be a majority owner. There has to

(46:22):
be a level of building and success. And so by
getting Ben Johnson, by trying to build this team up
to have success, by doing that, like, that's one example
of showing it and proving it. That's what I think
this has to do with.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
You know what's interesting. And to add to that point,
he does already have he had ownership and the basketball
team as well in Vegas as well, so he's kind
of diversifying within that that market.

Speaker 4 (46:49):
A lot of times that comes along with that comes
along with some of the other ownerships, right like that
member the ISHBA who just bought the majority ownership of
the Suns, like he took on the WNBA team as well,
like that kind of came along with the deal.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
Well, I'll just say this, because I know we're up
against it. We all at least, I'll say for me,
I believe Tom Brady is a winner. I believe he's
proven he can win as a player. But to be
able to win as a coach is very different. To
be able to win as a GM like John Lynch
has done but has not been able to get that

(47:25):
elusive super Bowl just yet, that's that's a different It's
a different game. As an owner, I'm certain it's all
together a different game. So while I'll sit there and
I'll say, Okay, Tom Brady, you know has the chops,
he has the background, the understanding, the support system to

(47:46):
be able to build a winner in Vegas. I think
it's safe to say you don't know until you know
with something like this, and one thing's for certain, I
would assume being a winner as an owner is probably
going to be a much more humbling experience than being
a winner as a player. And I would say, and

(48:06):
I would offer the reasoning to be You've played this
game your entire life. You had opportunities to learn, grow, develop, fail, win, succeed,
you know, come up short. All kinds of different training
things that took place through the years. And you have
only been an owner for less than a year, so

(48:29):
I understand there will be a lot of lessons you
take into being an owner from what you learned throughout
your life's your life's journey. But still, nonetheless, being an
owner still is something that's new for him and he's
going to have to go through those learning phases of
being an owner. And I think that there could be success,

(48:49):
but there could also be major, major failure and what
takes place and to see how that plays out, I
think is going to be super intriguing.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Yeah, well, Nielsen, good luck, godspeed to the Las Vegas
Raiders in that division with no quarterback. Have fun with that.
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