Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell preview NFL Divisional Sunday!

On a new episode of FOX Football Sunday with Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell, Mike and Greg breakdown all the games from NFL Divisional Saturday. They go in depth previewing the rest of the Divisional Matchups on Sunday.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Greetings and welcome in hour two of the program, as we.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Get you set for Divisional Round NFL Playoffs Part two,
the sequel. We'll see if we get the It was
like a Hollywood movie yesterday, right, because we got a
thirty three thirty overtime thriller in the first game, and
then they couldn't stick the landing because it was over
before you blinked between the Seahawks and forty nine Ers. No,

(00:25):
I'm not doing that to a torment our executive producer
Brandon Deutsch, but unfortunately, sometimes you know you gotta wear it.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Chris Purfett tags in from Mark Ramsey.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
We got Isaac Lohenkron on the updates, and of course
I'm Mike Harmon alongside my guy Greg Cosel forty six
years NFL films, the Matchup show, The Ross Tucker Podcast
appointment listening every Thursday, as well with Colin Cowherd as
he joins him for what Colin dubs the best fifteen

(00:55):
to twenty minutes that you'll hear on his show all
week long.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
See I put that on a T shirt for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, there you go. I love it. I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, with some extra rhinestones.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
There you go. I appreciate that. By the way, during
the break, I was taking a peek in my system here.
I was just looking at a couple of Jared Stidham
throws from twenty twenty three, because Sean Payton was the
coach and he started the final two games. And again
I couldn't do it in great detail. Obviously I'll do
it in a little more detail this week. But the

(01:27):
thing I really noticed was some really staple Peyton concepts
that you know, to help Stidham, you know, really have
the throws be defined, because that's what you really try
to do without any quarterback, but certainly with a quarterback
who wasn't played. You hope that the system and the
schematics of your past game really define the reads and

(01:47):
the throws. Now, obviously you can do that much better
MIC in normal down and distant situations. Once you start
getting into the third and eighths and third and nine,
it's a little more difficult, and it would be extremely
difficult against either Houston or New England. Houston in particular,
but New England did a lot of really good things
last week defensively against the Chargers, so you know those

(02:10):
are the situations that would make it difficult for any quarterback,
but certainly a quarterback that hasn't set foot on the
field since twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
He's got a week to coach him up again. He's
been there all three years of the Sean Payton run
in Denver, so that speaks something to it. Look, I
may not love how Sean Payton handles reporters or some
of those responsibilities, but the man can coach. So we
know that, and we watched it come through as they
get ready for an AFC title opponent. We'll get into

(02:39):
Houston and New England as we go forward, Greg, But
we'd be remiss we didn't turn the clock back again.
Seattle and San Francisco coming out of the season finale,
the regular season finale, I don't know that there was
a lot of hope that San Francisco would be able
to pull off the monumental victory, particularly with George Kittle

(03:00):
not well on the chess board, not only as a receiver,
and we had all those metrics all week long. But
you and I have talked about it in the run game.
But we couldn't have expected this. As Rashid Shaheed decided, Hey,
let me announce my presence with authority.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
We're off and running and over end.

Speaker 5 (03:16):
Sure, Heat had his own five across the ten fifteen
twenty cut straight up field.

Speaker 6 (03:20):
Have the cap about the forty midfield fishing turn a tripper,
go get him, tag it down. Say to the Ets,
holy catfish. Open the game. You win a ninety five
road touchdown, Stay.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Off, Seahawk, Say holy catfish.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
He said, Holy Catfish.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's worth it. It's worth the whole morning show right
now to hear holy Catfish.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
How do you like that?

Speaker 3 (03:47):
I mean we've had holy Cow. I'm a Chicago get
Holy Cow. I mean we've heard it in the lexicon
all these years. Holy catfish coming to you from Seattle.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
That is fantastic stuff. That's why they tray for Shaheed.
Big play as a receiver, and we've watched that in
New Orleans for years, but certainly in the return game,
offering big dividends all season long. He's going to the
Pro Bowl, all of those things. But comes right off
the jump. He had a tripping penalty. Viniero wanted no

(04:18):
part of it, so he tried to do a half
soccer slide tackle to no avail as the touchdown holds
and that's all they needed for the rest of the game.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Greg, who would have known?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, you know, I came in at five this morning,
five eastern. Obviously, at eight eastern is when we start
the show. So what I did watch on tape was
I watched the Seahawks defense versus the forty nine Ers
offense all the plays this morning, because you know, to
go through one side of a ball for me does take,
depending on the number of plays, two and a half
to three hours, because I watched it in great detail,

(04:49):
and I take really copious notes, and I'll be the
first to admit I was surprised in one area. We
know that when they played Week eighteen, which was just
two weeks ago, was Seattle's last game. I thought that
Seattle just physically dominated the forty nine ers, and I
did not think that would happen again, I really didn't,
and it turned out to be wrong. Certainly on the

(05:10):
defensive side of the ball. I thought the Seahawks three
man D line, a D tackle rotation of Williams, Murphy
and Reid just dominated the interior offensive line of the
forty nine Ers. They consistently controlled and displaced one on
one blocks Read in particular a veteran. He had a

(05:31):
strong game both as a run defender and inside pass rusher.
I mean, they just physically were stronger than the forty
nine Ers offensive line, particularly inside, as I said, and
the Niners. It was another one of those games where
the way the game started, the Niners could never get
into a flow and there was never really any rhythm.

(05:52):
The forty nine Ers pass game with Perty never developed
any rhythm whatsoever. And it's a rhythm pass game. It's
not an individual play pass game. Hey, where they're going
to hit the fifty yarder and you go, okay, now
they're back in it. They're not that kind of pass game.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, fantastic job for Shanahan overall for the season and
cobbling it together and all the platitudes and excitement, but
it ends in a crushing defeat, showing how far away
you are. And we could talk about injuries, we can
go back to the fact that Brandon Ayuk was never
on the board.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Right.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
I mentioned his name Friday, and I had to go
back in my notes. I think it had been ten
weeks since we even broached his name, because he's just
been a you know, so far gone in what they've
had to try to do, but the loss of Kittle
becomes too much and brock Perty ends up your leading
rusher at that of the day with thirty seven yards.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, and they could never get into an offensive flow.
So so McCaffrey, they need to be able to run plays.
I think we talked about this probably after the game
they played two weeks ago. You know, they need to
be able to run plays, and even though they ended
up with sixty plays, it was that was just a
lot of that stuff happened later. But you know, I
think we have to talk about Seattle's defense. Mike McDonald

(07:03):
has done an unbelievable job. There are some really clearly
defined things that they do under McDonald. They're much more
of a two high safety shell defense than a single
high safety defense. That quarters shell is kind of their foundation.
But they play zone and man match principles within different coverages.
They predominantly rush with four and they stunt a lot

(07:25):
with a lot of multiple stunt concepts, and they're really
good at it. I'll tell you what. You know, a
player that has been talked about, as you know, but
it seems like he's found the fountain of youth in
Seattle is to Marcus Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
How about that right finishes the game? What three tackles,
a sack, A couple of tackles for loss and like
you shot out of a cannon. I love watching this
defense Hound. We talked about it a lot last week, Gregan,
throughout the season, just the and I made my mutual
of omaha kind of reference earlier. We'll go back to

(07:57):
it again where you're watching nature videos like that's not
and well for that guy that's just a little bit
behind the pack.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, it's you know, it's funny. I talked about it
over the summer, you know, prior to the season, where
I remember talking to us Seattle Radio and telling them
that they're going to have a really good defense. And
again I'm not going to sit here and say wow,
I'm smart, but I just looked at their players. I
looked at you know, I really loved Nick mn Warie

(08:25):
coming out of college, and I had a sense. I mean,
obviously Mike McDonald's a little smarter than I am about defense,
but I just had a sense how we might envision
him because essentially they play big Nickel emn wory is
is really a sam linebacker, a strong side linebacker in
the context of their defense, and he's a really, really
good player, but he can be a tight end to

(08:47):
racer and man coverage. They don't play a ton of man,
but he can be a tight ended racer. He's a
very good blitzer. So he's really given them a lot
with the way that Mike McDonald has chosen to deploy him.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Now, let's go to the other side of the ball
for Seattle.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Not that they needed to do a lot of heavylifting,
but they did with Kenneth Walker the third with his
one hundred and sixteen and three. But we had a
lot of questions here Greg coming up to kickoff as
to what was gonna go on.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Sam Donald answered.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Sam's gonna roll left. Sam throws back of the end zone.

Speaker 5 (09:18):
Is a caught in bound his Toutson sayhawks far.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
Back corner of the end zone.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
Guess who it is, Number eleven, Jackson Smith and jackbaw
A perfect pass by Donald.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
And just like that catfish, Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
That's light straight out of the nineteen sixties Batman, which
just celebrated its sixtieth anniversary last.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Wham pow oh. That was one of my favorite shows
with Adam West.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
You know, oh, that's one of the best going. I mean,
you got Egghead and Vincent Price.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mean, let's go, oh yeah, and all the others.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Never rank the Riddler, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Gorshon always the best. Yeah, I'm gonna go watch some
of that before the games today. Now there you go.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Yeah, got time. The games don't start to later. You
got time.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, we got a couple hours.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
But for Sam Donald, the oblique injury that went from
odd it's no big deal to hey, he hasn't thrown
a football in forty eight hours, leading a lot of
people to get a bit angsty. And look, we have
the official issue on the other game, and then the
Sam Donald and how injury information is parsed out because
even pregame, all you saw out on the field, Yeah

(10:24):
he'll row and.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Lock And you couldn't have scripted it any better if
you were a McDonald and that Seahawks offensive coaching staff,
because he didn't have to throw it a lot, although
he made some very good throws.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
By the way, well, I mean even that one, right,
a little play action, little role. It's like, all right,
he's got a little bit of footwork to him. Whatever,
they shot him up with he was feeling good.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
He had Cup on an outcut. It was probably first
or second quarter, I can't remember. That was just a
great throw, but it was scripted perfectly. He didn't have
to drop back a lot. You know. The thing to
me that is probably most heartening for them. In their
last two games they've run. Now again, it's been both
against the forty nine ers, so we'll see what happens
as they go forward, but they've been able to run

(11:04):
the ball extremely well in their last two games, and
that is absolutely critical because what they want to be
in the past game with Kubiak is Donald under center
and the play action pass game that's foundationally what they
want to be. Now, you can do that without having
a great run game, because one of the big myths
in football, Mike, is that you need a great run

(11:25):
game to run play action. That myth has been destroyed
many times over the years and disproven. But the point
is they do want to be able to run the
football with Donald under center.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
Now you go back in the regular seat. We know
the Bears are susceptible to getting hit by the run.
Kenneth Walker, the third in these two games against the Rams,
you're looking at one hundred and fifteen or thereabout total
yards in the first one and then one hundred and
sixty four total yards in that overtime, chaotic game. So yeah,

(11:56):
certainly has had his success. But for Donald, I mean
mentioned the Cooper Cup throw like the three that he
hit him with early to make him a factor.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
All good throws, and he took a big hit early on.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
I was like, all right, I think we all inched
up in our chairs to see how he was going
to get up from the ground.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Now, you know, again, obviously he played and it didn't
seem to have an impact. But he's going to get
an extra day because they were a Saturday game. So
my guess is they'll probably put him in bubble wrap,
you know, for another three days and then see how
he is, you know. But he's obviously going to play
next week because he played last night. So but you know,
he's the kind of guy. Look, as I said earlier,
I don't have a horse in these in the race,

(12:35):
but you know, you know, in my career, I probably interviewed,
you know, well over a thousand players and coaches, and
that's what I've done for years, and he's just a
guy to pull for. I actually met him at the
combine when he came out. He was in the same
draft with Josh Allen. Both were working at the time
and I assume they still do with Jordan Palmer. Palmer
and that's how I met him. And he's just a

(12:55):
super nice guy, Like he's the kind of guy you
pulled for.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Talk about the career to the post career career for
Jordan Palmer, the quarterback guru that come in his post
playing days.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
He's great at it. Amazing, it's absolutely great at it. Now.
I've been around him numerous times. He's really really good
at it.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
Fantastic stuff. So the Seahawks roll on forty one six
your final. They'll await the winner of Bears Rams later on,
but first we'll go to the AFC. As we continue
on the show, it's Fox Football Sunday. He's great co
sell on Mike Harmon for the best pregame show each
and every weekend outside of ours, be sure to tune
into Fox Sports Radios. Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet

(13:34):
MGM every Saturday Sunday morning. We catch you down to
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For all the best players, the up the second injury
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Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM every Saturday Sunday morning.
Right here, Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart App. Greg's
gonna tell me how New England reinvented football last week

(13:56):
against the Chargers. Everybody gets your notepads next to fix.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio, Gradies.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
And Welcome back in Fox Football Sunday. Fox Sports Radio.
We got action on the pitch overseas. We're watching some
replays of the Australian Open. It We're getting ready for
what is a divisional Sunday. We've got snow in the
Greater Boston area. It's cold as hell in Chicago, and
I'm nice and balmy here in a southern California studio.

(14:32):
Welcome back in on Mike Darman alongside Greg Cosu forty
six years NFL film. He might be cold in his
studio right now, wearing a parka just to you knowlate
the conditions.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
I think it might. We might be getting a little
snow here in Southjersey today, so nothing major, but yeah,
it's a little cool, but you know what, it's It's
January in the Northeast, so you know, you kind of expect.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
That little little expectations there.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
Like I said, I traveled and got my kid off
to college at Boise last week, and the worst experience
that I've had weatherwise in a long time was the
first time we stopped for gas. Like, I won't be
too bad. I'm a south side Chicago and by birth. Yeah,
I've been out of the city for a minute. I
lived in upstate New York for a while.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Like all of these.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Things, I was shaking uncontrollably for twenty minutes now after
pumping gas, like my muscles were spasming. I'm like, what's
going on here? It's like something out of a movie.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Greg, it was a little cold. Huh.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, it was a nice shock to the system.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Means either a I have to reacclimate myself over a
longer period of time or just continue to eat beef sandwiches,
deep dish pizza and other things to pull a sassage
to get myself back up to playing weight.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I probably or see, couldn't mean. You're just getting a
little older, you know.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
And how dare you?

Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm young?

Speaker 3 (15:50):
In spry be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports
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Flat Sports Ready on YouTube and subscribe today. Okay, so

(16:13):
you've got to explain to me because in the post
game between the Chargers and the Patriots, evidently the Charger
said there's all sorts of stuff we've never seen before,
like they were in a multi dimensional Stranger Things kind
of thing.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
I was. I was going back and forth this week
on that with Kurt Warner, who obviously, as you know,
watches all the tape as well, and we just didn't
quite understand that. I mean, I think they did a
really good job of changing looks pre snap to post snap.
I thought they did a really nice job with their pressures.
They were very aggressive with their pressure concepts, which made

(16:50):
sense because of the O line they were playing against.
I thought that they did a really good job slanting
with their D line because the Chargers O line is
not very athletic. Or mobile, and when you slant, you
get them to have to move right away the old line.
That is so I thought tactically they did a really
good job. They didn't get to any coverages that Justin

(17:12):
Herbert or the chargers had never seen before. Now it's
possible that they were not expecting certain coverages in a
given situation, you know, there's always that element to it.
But they didn't do anything that reinvented defensive coverage. And
I thought that Herbert did not play well mentally. I
thought that he didn't see things. They were throws to

(17:34):
be made, and for whatever reason, he did not pull
the trigger. You know, as I said, I take really
detailed notes. So I said, without specifically knowing Herbert's reading
progressions on given route concepts, my sense was he left
some intermediate and vertical throws on the field. Pressure was
not a factor. That was particularly true in the first half.
In the second half, the pressure clearly became a factor

(17:57):
and there started to be way too many free hitters
at Herbert. But in the first half that wasn't really
a big deal.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
Yeah, it seemed like he had a couple of shots
the mcconki that could have been made He expressed his
frustrations because remember he lost a lot of targets with
Keenan Allen coming back. Devlin, the O line coach, walked
the plank, as did Greg Roman, Chargers amongst they're on
that handful of teams though. Every year that I come
out of the regular season, Greg raising my hand, going,

(18:25):
we need a proper and thorough reeval evaluation of our.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Training policies and procedures.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
And how we keep guys on a field Baltimore, San
Francisco and the Chargers chiefly among them.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, it's a great point. Again, you know who knows
what goes on in the buildings, but yeah, you know
that Patriot defense is really interesting. I did the Woodson
kid coming out of I believe was it cal and
I really liked him a lot and he became a
starter pretty much from day one. And I think that
there are two safeties who are probably not well known
to a lot of people outside of the Boston Foxborough area,

(19:01):
and maybe they will be now. You know, they're playing
in a big game obviously today. But Woodson and Hawkins,
they're kind of interchangeable in alignment and deployment. I think
the slot corner Marcus Jones has had a really good season.
He's also alignment and deployment, versatile, really good man coverage, corner,
excellent blitzer at times he lines up at safety, and

(19:22):
now that Milton Williams is back, he is a powerful
bull rusher inside. We saw that last week. Barmores had
a really good season as the other tackle. This is
a very good defense. I've always been a spelane guy,
going back to when he was in Pittsburgh. Just one
of those really savvy linebackers. Mike knows how to play.
You don't have to take him off the field.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Leaving no pop culture reference, you know, unturned here. I mean,
you can get a little Mickey Splaine in their eyes.
And it's only appropriate that you highlight Hawkins after I
make a Stranger Things reference.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
So there you go together.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
All it all works together.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
You got that right, But that's the question here for CJ. Stroud,
He's down Nico Collins this week. More of a chance
on those Iowa State guys and Dalton Schultz. But key
to all of this becomes Woody Marks and how you're
able to, if at all, get that run. Game started
to make things a little easier for CJ. Stroud, because
I got to say that was a pretty painful watch

(20:18):
against the Steelers front, Like.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
The opportunity was there, The defense.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
Gave them everything early and they overcame Stroud's early struggles
with the big plays late.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Two points to make about all this, Number One, I
think that Stroud. You know, he's a timing and rhythm passer.
He's at his best when he can hit his back
foot and deliver the ball and be decisive. That's when
he's really plus throwing trade show up. The longer he's
in the pocket less comfortable, he becomes Mike and he
speeds up his mental and physical process. And I'm sure

(20:50):
you can and people listening can picture. You can see
him when he speeds up. He just doesn't look comfortable.
The other thing that they do more than any team
in the league is they play more snaps out of
six offensive line personnel. Almost twenty percent of their snaps
this year have come out of six ole line personnel.
But they're very predictable. They run the ball pretty much

(21:12):
a very high percentage of the time. To me, if
they're gonna keep doing this, I again, they know more
than I do about their personnel. Clearly, but I think
they've got to mix in a little more passing out
of that six ole line personnel, which you can do obviously,
you still have wide receivers on the field.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
It's funny.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
In the first hour we talked a lot about the
not a ton I mean, more handwringing to com as
we get into the new week. But the Brandon Cooks play,
the Mims play. I still want to know why I
was the only guy shouting, hey, Aaron Rodgers got nearly
concussed on the rankings touchdown hitting the helmet, and nobody's
seemed to care.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, that's a question I can't answer.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
So it gets returned for a touchdowns like yeah, we
not see his head go flying before anything else happened.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
But I'm glad you mentioned that, not the specific play,
but the fact that you brought up rankings, because I
think one of the most overlooked elements and units of
that defense for the Texans, which of course most people
know about their very good is their detackle rotation. It's
very very good. You have autry, you've got Rankins, You've

(22:21):
got Tommy T. We're gonna call them Tommy T. So
I don't pronounce his last name incorrectly. I think people
know who I mean. Number seventy two, one of the
better inside de tackled run defenders in the NFL had
a phenomenal year playing their run. They are really good
inside and you know, obviously Anderson and Hunter a tremendous outside.

(22:42):
They kind of dictate how you have to pass protect.
Sometimes it limits your eligibles because you have to keep
them in to protect. They're just really good at all
three levels, really good at all three levels. And by
NFL standards, I had this conversation with someone this week.
By NFL standards, they're not overly I hate to use
the word complicated because that's just not a good word,

(23:04):
but they're not overly detailed. In some ways, they're very reminiscent,
even though they're different in how they play. They're kind
of reminiscent of the Legion of Boom and that they
kind of line up and play and they're just really
really good.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, excited to watch that.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
The Houston defense look daaka Ryans last week channeled is
Inner Aaron Glenn, except he actually won the game after
he danced on the sideline with that interception return for
a touchdown. As we go through it, but a big
defensive battle. I mean, this one could be a bit
of a rock fight today, Greg.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
If it's yes to form.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
It could well be. I mean that's Texans have a
really hard defense to play against. There a four to
two to five scheme because Petree is you know, they're
a big nickel essentially because of Petrie, who's turned out
to be a better player than I thought he would
be when he came into college. So you know, they're good.
And Bullock we've probably talked about this, I think this
season again he's in his second year. I thought Bullock

(24:00):
was the best post safety in the NFL. So they're
really strong. It's you know, like I said, they're relatively
basic on first and second down. They'll do some blitzing
on third down pressures. They're not a great blitzing team,
but their personnel allows them to be, as I said,
relatively simple from a schematic standpoint.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, as I've said, eventually, I've got the visions of
a wall of mean for the house to be determined later,
where I will be piling up defensive tackles, jerseys and
maybe something from my old guy Vince Wilfork, but you
know him and not it.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Well, that would be that would be a big jersey.
That would be a very big jersey.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, I mean I got a big wall that I'm
gonna have to fill eventually.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
All Right, it's Tongy I Tongy I, Tommy TUNGI I
really really good player. I mean probably not a household name,
but a really really good player.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
We're going to work to make that one here, Patriots
three point favorites, forty and a half the total again
and showing you that we're anticipating a rock fight. All right,
we got plenty more to come. We've got the Rams
and the Bears. That's the nightcap, and we'll spend our
time for the rest of this hour breaking that all
down with you. All the coaching stuff and everything else

(25:14):
will kick to next week as the dance cards start
to get filled. Stefanski and Harbaugh the first chess pieces
off the board. Still seven remaining, but first let's go
over to Isaac Loewenkron, still reeling from that Chargers loss.
I thought he was gonna be the last voice I
was ever gonna hear last week, Greg Cosel, because I was.

Speaker 7 (25:33):
In the mountains rough way to go out, im back
from Boise A rough way to go out man.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
As he tried to console Chargers fans after that one
at Isaac Lowancron, Hey, I love.

Speaker 7 (25:43):
I'm actually for the record, still reeling from the Jacksonville
debacle after the twenty one song, So I'm still scheduled
to continue reeling on multiple platforms, fellas. Good morning, Mike
and Greg and coming up in just a few moments,
We've got fresh details on the Broncos Bills officiating controversy

(26:04):
from yesterday. First things first, Broncos quarterback Bone Nicks will
miss the rest of the playoffs after breaking a bone
in his ankle in overtime of Denver's thirty three to
thirty win over Buffalo. So Jared Stidham we'll take over
as the Broncos starting quarterback now. The Broncos, of course,
won thanks in part to a controversial overtime interception when
j Kwan McMillan tore the ball away from Buffalo's Brandon Cooks.

(26:28):
Referee Carl Sheffers told a pool reporter Cook's quote was
going to the ground as part of the process of
the catch and lost possession of the ball. The defender
gained possession and is the one that completed the process
of the catch unquote. Now, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott

(26:49):
did his postgame press conference, got on the team plane
and saw the pool report that we just read to you,
and from the team plane last night, Sean McDermott took
the extraordinary step of calling Jay Skirsky of the Buffalo
News again from the Bills team plane and saying the

(27:12):
following quote, that's a catch all the way, I sat
in my locker and I looked at it probably twenty times,
and nobody can convince me that that ball is not
caught and in possession of Buffalo. I just have no
idea how the NFL handled it, in particular the way
that they did. There is no time spent with the

(27:33):
head official going underneath the hood or to the replay booth,
right to the monitor. I don't understand how that works.
I don't understand how that could be the case when
it's such a close play, so basically there is one
person ruling on that play, or only New York ruling
on that play. I don't agree with that. I don't
understand why the head official who is at the game

(27:55):
does not get a chance to look at the same
thing people.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
In New York are ruling off unquote.

Speaker 7 (28:01):
Last night, Seahawks over the forty nine Ers forty one
to six. Also Saturday night, the Atlanta Falcons hired former
Cleveland Browns head coach at Kevin Stefanski as their new
head coach. But Fellas, that's the first time I can
remember a head coach calling a reporter from the team
plane about a controversial call. Again, we credit Jay Skersky

(28:22):
of The Buffalo News for those comments. From Sean McDermott.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
Back to you, guys, crazy crazy stuff at Isaac Lohencron.
As we continue here, it's Fox Football Sunday. If you
missed any of today's show, catch the podcast. Search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Right afterwards, Brandon'll
get that up and it'll be posted. Look for Fox
Sports Weekends, Coseell and harmon Fox Football Sunday. Be sure
to follow it rated five stars, provide a review, send

(28:48):
it to your friends and family. As we continue our
quest for global domination. Again, search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcast. You'll find today's full show posted
right after we get off the air. Naturally, I'm watching
a replay of that game as we were talking and
Greg and so many other questions. I'd love to sit
with film review. I might have to just bring a

(29:09):
tray of celebration cupcakes at something like this offseason for
an extended review of all the chaos that we've seen
to this point.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
And we've still got a couple of games left.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
We just did the Texans and the Patriots, and then,
obviously for me, the Cardiac Bears continue their improbable run
with a big date against the Rams. Rams a touchdown
plus favorite here. Weather gonna feel like zero ish at
kickoff and get colder from there, potentially a little bit

(29:42):
of snow early in the day before the temperatures start
to dip all together again. I'll be in a nice, warm,
reclusive space here in California.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
I always wonder about that, you know. I work with
Darius Butler on the NFL Matchup Show, and I say,
I said to Darius, and I said, you know, when
it gets to be a certain temperature, like you got
to feel They goes, oh, yeah, everybody feels it. I
mean people act like they don't, but I mean, he says,
you feel it. It's freaking cold. He said, I mean
you know, so you know, it's if it's going to
be fifteen below with windshill, no matter, even if you

(30:14):
live in Chicago, you know, and you practice there, you're
gonna feel it. That's cold.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
No, but that's the thing right as you go through,
and you can dismiss it.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
And look, you can't lean into it because otherwise you're
called soft or you're making excuses before you get there,
or whatever folks want to say. But you know, we're
talking about wind gus twenty five to thirty miles an hour.
And let's face it, like take that Seattle San Francisco
game when it's seven nothing seven seconds into the game.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Guess what that next hit hurts a little bit.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
More, Yeah, and a little bit more. Yeah, they'll feel it.
But you know, it's interesting and you have two quarterbacks
obviously with power arms that can their balls can cut
through the wind. So it'll it'll. I'll be curious to
see how it impacts, you know, play calling. You know.
One of the things about this game, obviously we're talking

(31:05):
about it now, and I'm not suggesting that the Rams
are a phenomenal running football team. I don't think anybody
thinks of Kyron Williams or Blake Korum, but they've never
played together, Mike, so it's either one or the other.
And you know they've combined combined to rush her over
two thousand yards. And because they are not big playbacks,

(31:25):
you know, they don't have those breakaway runs where you
go wow. You know, they're both kind of grinders sustainers,
but you know, two thousand yards is a lot of yards.
And as I said, they do not play together.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, it'll be.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Curious to watch out the mix and match there. For
the Bears, a couple of key injuries. We'll get to
that side of the ball as we continue. We've got
one more segment to go on the game. Matthew Stafford
the finger injury. But for Caleb Williams and the Bears,
these slow starts, you keep waiting for those to catch up,
and we watched it. Look, they take down the Packers.

(32:00):
Matt Lafleur is getting an extension and staying on and
certainly Packers fans aren't terribly thrilled about it. Late game
decision making going all the way back to giving the
ball back to Tom Brady all those years ago, or
things that's stick in my crawl as a well non part.
I mean, like I call what it is. I'm a
Bears guy, but like sometimes there's just football decisions where

(32:23):
I'm just raising my hand, going, all right, explain this
to me, you know, like I said with Sean Payton,
even after the Josh Allen turnover early in the second half, going,
you have the opportunity to potentially put the dagger in here.
Your defense was playing pretty well at that point. Why
are you not going for it? But all of those
kinds of things, that's why they get paid more money
than I do, and why Matt Lafleur still has a job.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
But yeah, go ah, Greg, Well, I was gonna say,
it's funny. I don't even think about that stuff when
I watch games. I mean, I know fans, do you know,
maybe I'm totally crazy, but I always think those guys
no more than I do.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Well, sure, but in the moment, did just you're trying
to play along. It's like you're playing a board game,
right right, It's happening in live action, like okay, trying.
It's like Tony Romo used to try to predict predict
the plays, and for a year or two he was
pretty good at it.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Well, he says, Wow, it's funny you say that. I
went to the Sixers Cavs game Friday night. I've been
fortunate to get to know the Sixers head coach, Nick Nurse.
So I went down to the game, and you know,
he got us really good seats, and the guy sitting
behind me was just like basically coaching the whole game,
just yelling. And I said to my I was there
with my son in law, and I said, you know,

(33:34):
I think he's in the wrong profession. He obviously should
be an NBA head coach, you know.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
But he just needs a chance, Greg exactly.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
He needs That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
But that's it.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
We're all trying to figure out the chess game and
try to predict it.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
And when something happens like does that?

Speaker 3 (33:53):
You know, Look, in the end, we all want to
be right, whether we're opinionists here on the radio or
a fans sitting at home. It's all about watching and
second guessing, whether it's an officials call or non call,
the coach, and whether he runs the ball or not.
You know, John Harball, why didn't Derek hen receive the ball?

Speaker 2 (34:12):
More? All of those things.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Hey, that's what that's what being a fan is that's
the you know, that's what that's the fun of it.
But you know, getting back to Caleb Williams, I mean,
you know, obviously that fourth and seventh play, fourth and eight,
I think it was Yeah, it was just ridiculous. Uh
but uh, it was an interesting sort of second half

(34:35):
because I thought one of the most overlooked things in
that game which really helped the Bears was Edgeran Cooper
going down because Edgeran Cooper's lost to me, that was
the determining factor in their in their past rush Ski
Manux because he's an excellent blitzer and obviously that took
him out of the equation for Jeff Haffley and the
Packers had they did not really have a consistent pass

(34:57):
rush from their four men D line as the second
half progressed. So you know, I thought Cooper being out
was really a big overlooked factor in that game.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
All Right, we will go through the rest of the
chess match and what the coordinators are looking at defensively
as we move forward, some of the injury notes as
we go through two huge losses for the Bears last
week as well that they'll have to navigate on either
side of the ball, all of that and more. As
we wrap things up here, it's Fox Football Sunday, Fox
Sports Radio. He's great, co Sell and I'm Mike Carmon.

(35:27):
Thanks for being with us and being part of the
extended family here.

Speaker 8 (35:29):
At Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup
in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR
to listen live.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio, Fox Football Sunday, Mike Carmon,
Greg Cosell having a blast with you here. Come up
in ten minutes. You got countdown to Kickoff presented by
bet MGM. You got Bill Bryant and Jeff ready to
break it all down. Get you ready for the National
Title game as well. We'll review that one in ernest
a week from from now as we get ready for

(36:08):
Championship weekend in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
But we're talking.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
Bears and Rams, Greg and Ozzie Trapillo's absence a big deal.
He's out Bears now Tooney's gonna move to left tackle
and a shuffle up of a line that has been
pretty set.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
They say that for sure he's gonna play left tackle.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
I saw that I saw that yesterday. I got to
go back and make sure. I'm I'm nuts.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
Sure because the other kid's been playing Benedet or Benedett.
I mean he's not hurt too, is he. I'm surprised
because we saw what happened the last time Tony played
left tackle, and that was in the Super Bowl and
that did not go well. And he's going to be
up against Shared Verse.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
Yeah, so I guess it's it's reduced to the consideration
and possibility. But I had seen it and I'm trying
to find the source talking. Don't want to get myself
truly killed by the local Bears folks, but it's it's
one of those things that's on the table either way.
They need to shuffle up for a guy that has
been pretty fantastic all year long. And that's the one thing.

(37:11):
The Rams front is a difficult proposition, but they can
be had in the in the back end, which is
where Caleb Williams and company look to do some damage
at Dounza in Company Ready for Bear.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, and I think that's the the whether you want
to call it a weakness or just not a strength
of the Rams defense is their corners and we saw
that in the wild card game against the Panthers, and
assuming that there's no issues throwing the football or they're
they're minimal, I think that the Bears are probably looking
at that as a way to attack. Now again, they

(37:45):
have to protect. Although we know Caleb Williams can make
plays with his legs and that's we've seen a lot
of that, certainly in the second half of games. But
you have to protect. And and they're a good defense
in their in their front group and in their their
linebacker group has been very good. But we'll see. You know,
Quintin Lake played last week for the first time. He

(38:06):
struggled a bit, but I think he's a very good player.
But you know, that's an area we'll see how that
plays out.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Had to make sure I wasn't totally insane. It was
Brad Diggs of the Tribune and the score, so it
wasn't just Harmon in a fever dream.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
No, no, and and Brad Bigg's been doing this a
long time.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
That's the beauty of it. You know, that's going to
be part of my pregaming later on Hampton and Obradovich
to get myself right, because if I think everything's right
with the world, I need them to knock me back
a peg because even if I'm winning, hey, you could
have done it better.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I'm seeing the same thing now that they're considering shifting
Joe Toney to left tackle. That's hey, look they know
more than we do. But I mean, I just think
back to what happened last year in the super Bowl
when he was so overmatched in the super Bowl. And
you know, like I said, it's Jared Verch. He's a

(39:01):
very strong rusher and you know if he gets inside
of you, and obviously Toney is a guard, and this
is where arm length becomes a factor. I think his
arm length is thirty one inches, which is never you know,
you don't play left tackle in the NFL with thirty
one inch arms.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Yeah, this is where it gets into the interesting chess match.
How much are Ma Nung guy and Swift ready?

Speaker 1 (39:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Back to chip and how much does that change the
complexion of things because we've watched great rooins in the
short game more efficient second half once they feel like
their backs are to the wall. So even the local
politicos are saying, hey, could you just pretend you're down
fourteen enough and to start the game.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yet there you go so wow, that's pretty interesting. And
then just a quick point about the Rams offense. You
know you're going to see a lot of Cover two
and Cover three from the Bears. That's what they play.
The Rams are good at attacking it. The key for
them will be protection as well.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
See how much they can isolate Gordon, who struggled in
average a week ago the chess match. Later on today
he's Greg Cosell on Mike Harvey catch up all week
NFL films, Colin on Thursday, I'll see you tomorrow night
with Smith on Fox.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
On.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Greetings and welcome in hour two of the program, as
we get you set for Divisional Round NFL Playoffs Part two,
the sequel. We'll see if we get the It was
like a Hollywood movie yesterday, right, because we got a
thirty three thirty overtime thriller in the first game and
then they couldn't stick the landing because it was over

(40:32):
before you blinked between the Seahawks and forty nine Ers. No,
I'm not doing that to a torment our executive producer
Brandon Deutsch, but unfortunately, sometimes you know you gotta wear it.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Chris Purfett tags in from Mark Ramsey we got Isaac
Lohan Cron on the updates, and of course I'm Mike
Harmon alongside my guy Greg Cosell forty six years NFL films,
the Matchup Show, the Ross Tucker Podcast appointment listening every
Thursday as well with Colin Coward as he joins him

(41:03):
for what Colin dubs the best fifteen to twenty minutes
that you'll hear on his show all week long.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
See, I put that on a T shirt for you.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
There you go. I love it. I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Yeah, with some extra rhinestones.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
There you go. I appreciate that. By the way, during
the break, I was taking a peek in my system here.
I was just looking at a couple of Jared Stidham
throws from twenty twenty three, because Sean Payton was the
coach and he started the final two games. And again
I couldn't do it in great detail. Obviously I'll do
it in a little more detail this week. But the

(41:37):
thing I really noticed was some really staple Peyton concepts
that you know, to help Stidham, you know, really have
the throws be defined, because that's what you really try
to do without any quarterback, but certainly with a quarterback
who wasn't played. You hope that the system and the
schematics of your past game really define the reads and

(41:58):
the throws. Now, obviously you can do that much better
Mike in normal down in distant situations. Once you start
getting into the third and eighths and third and nine,
it's a little more difficult, and it would be extremely
difficult against either Houston or New England. Houston in particular,
but New England did a lot of really good things
last week defensively against the Chargers, So you know, those

(42:20):
are the situations that would make it difficult for any quarterback,
but certainly a quarterback that hasn't set foot on the
field since twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
He's got a week to coach him up again. He's
been there all three years of the Sean Payton run
in Den, so that speaks something to it. Look, I
may not love how Sean Payton handles reporters or some
of those responsibilities, but the man can coach. So we
know that, and we watched it come through as they
get ready for an AFC title opponent. We'll get into

(42:49):
Houston and New England as we go forward, Greg, but
we'd be remiss. We didn't turn the clock back again.
Seattle and San Francisco coming out of the season finale,
the regular season finale, I don't know that there was
a lot of hope that San Francisco would be able
to pull off the monumental victory, particularly with George Kittle

(43:10):
not on the chess board, not only as a receiver.
And we had all those metrics all week long. But
you and I have talked about it in the run game.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
But we couldn't have expected this.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
As Rashid Shaheed decided, hey, let me announce my presence
with authority.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
We're off and running and over end. Sure he'd had
his own five across the ten fifteen to twenty cut
straight up field.

Speaker 6 (43:30):
Have the cap? What brought the forting midfield fifty turn
a two per bout him? Tag it down.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Say to the.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
Holy catfish, open the game. You win a ninety five
year old touchdown.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Stay off Seahawk, say holy catfish.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
He said, Holy Catfish.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
That's worth it. It's worth the whole morning show right
now to hear holy Catfish.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
How do you like that?

Speaker 3 (43:57):
I mean, we've had holy Cow. I'm a Chicago can't
holy Cow? I mean We've heard it in the lexicon
all these years. Holy catfish coming to you from Seattle.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
That is fantastic stuff. That's why they traded for Shaheed.
Big play as a receiver, and we've watched that in
New Orleans for years, but certainly in the return game,
offering big dividends all season long. He's going to the
Pro Bowl, all of those things, but comes right off
the jump, he had a tripping penalty.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Piniero wanted no.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Part of it, so he tried to do a half
soccer slide tackle to no avail as the touchdown holds
and that's all they needed for the rest of the game.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Greg who would have known?

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yeah, you know, I came in at five this morning,
five eastern. Obviously at eight eastern is when we start
the show. So what I did watch on tape was
I watched the Seahawks defense versus the forty nine ers
offense all the plays this morning, because you know, to
go through one side of a ball for me does take,
depending on the number of plays, two and a half
to three hours, because I watched it in great detail,

(44:59):
and I take really co be notes and I'll be
the first to admit I was surprised in one area.
We know that when they played Week eighteen, which was
just two weeks ago, was Seattle's last game. I thought
that Seattle just physically dominated the forty nine Ers, and
I did not think that would happen again, I really didn't,
and it turned out to be wrong. Certainly on the

(45:20):
defensive side of the ball. I thought the Seahawks three
man D line, a D tackle rotation of Williams, Murphy
and Reid just dominated the interior offensive line of the
of the forty nine ers. They consistently controlled and displaced
one on one blocks. Read in particular, a veteran. He

(45:41):
had a strong game both as a run defender and
inside pass rusher. I mean, they just physically were stronger
than the forty nine ers offensive line, particularly inside, as
I said, and the Niners, you know, it was another
one of those games where the way the game started,
the Niners could never get into a flow and they
were never really any rhythm. The forty nine Ers pass

(46:03):
game with Perty never developed any rhythm whatsoever. And it's
a rhythm pass game, it's not an individual play pass game. Hey,
where they're going to hit the fifty yarder and you go, Okay,
now they're back in it. They're not that kind of
pass game.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Yeah, fantastic job for Shanahan overall for the season and
cobbling it together and all the platitudes and excitement, but
it ends in a crushing defeat, showing how far away
you are. And we can talk about injuries. We can
go back to the fact that Brandon Ayuk was never
on the board, right. I mentioned his name Friday, and
I had to go back in my notes. I think

(46:35):
it had been ten weeks since we even broached his name,
because he's just been a you know, so far gone
in what they've had to try to do. But the
loss of Kittle becomes too much and brock Perty ends
up your leading rusher.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
Yeah by the day with thirty seven yards.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Yeah, and they could never get into an offensive flow.
So McCaffrey, they need to be able to run plays.
I think we talked about this probably after the game
they played two weeks ago. You know, they need to
be able to run plays. And even though they ended
up with sixty plays, it was that was just a
lot of that stuff happened later. But you know, I
think we have to talk about Seattle's defense, Mike McDonald

(47:13):
has done an unbelievable job. There are some really clearly
defined things that they do under McDonald. They're much more
of a two high safety shell defense than a single
high safety defense. That quarters shell is kind of their foundation.
But they play zone and man match principles within different coverages.
They predominantly rush with four and they stunt a lot

(47:35):
with a lot of multiple stunt concepts, and they're really
good at it. I'll tell you what, you know. A
player that has been talked about as you know, but
it seems like he's found the fountain of youth in
Seattle is to Marcus Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
How about that right finishes the game?

Speaker 3 (47:49):
What three tackles, a sack, a couple of tackles for
loss and like you shot out of a cannon. I
love watching this defense hound. We talked about it a
lot last week, Gregan throughout the season, just the and
I made my mutual of Omaha kind of reference earlier.
We'll go back to it again where you're watching nature
videos like that's not gonna end well for that guy.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
It's just a little bit behind the pack.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
Yeah, it's you know, it's funny. I talked about it
over the summer, you know, prior to the season, where
I remember talking to US Seattle Radio and telling them
that they're going to have a really good defense. And
again I'm not going to sit here and say, Wow,
I'm smart, but I just looked at their players. I
looked at you know, I really loved Nick emmann Wari

(48:35):
coming out of college, and I had a sense. I mean,
obviously Mike McDonald's a little smarter than I am about defense,
but I just had a sense how we might envision
him because essentially they played big nickel. Emn Wari is
really a sam linebacker, a strong side linebacker in the
context of their defense, and he's a really really good player,

(48:56):
but he can be a tight end E racer and
man coverage. They don't play a ton of man, but
he can be a tight end E racer. He's a
very good blitzer. So he's really given them a lot
with the way that Mike McDonald has chosen to deploy him.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
Now, let's go to the other side of the ball
for Seattle. Not that they needed to do a lot
of headlifting, but they did with Kenneth Walker the third
with his one hundred and sixteen and three. But we
had a lot of questions here Greg coming up to
kickoff as to what was going to go on.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Sam Donald answered, Sam's.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
Going to roll left. Sam throws back of the end zone.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Is a caught in bound in his Toutson sayhawks far.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Back corner of the end zone.

Speaker 5 (49:35):
Guess who in his number eleven? Jackson Smith and Jackbaw.
A perfect pass by Donald and just.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Like that catfish.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Yeah, exactly, a flight straight out of the nineteen sixties Batman,
which celebrated its sixtieth anniversary last Wham pow.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Oh. That was one of my favorite shows with Adam West.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
You know, Oh, that's one of the best going. I mean,
you got Egghead and Vincent Price, i mean, let's go,
oh yeah, and all the others. Never Frank is the Riddler, Yeah,
Gorshan always the best. Yeah, I'm gonna go watch some
of that before the games today.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Now there you go.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
But yeah, you got time. The games don't start till later.
You got time.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, we got a couple hours.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
But for Sam Donald, the oblique injury that went from
odd it's no big deal to hey, he hasn't thrown
a football in forty eight hours, leading a lot of
people to get a bit angsty, and look, we have
the official issue on the other game, and then the
Sam Donald and how injury information is parsed out because
even pregame, all you saw out on the field, Yeah,

(50:34):
he'll row and lock.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
And you couldn't have scripted it any better if you
were McDonald and that Seahawks offensive coaching staff, because he
didn't have to throw it a lot, although he made
some very good throws.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
By the way, well, I mean even that one, right,
a little play action, little role. It's like, all right,
he's got a little bit of footwork to him. Whatever
they shot him up with, he was feeling good.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
He had cup on an outcut. It was probably first
or second quarter, I can't remember. That was just a
great throw. But it was scripted perfectly. He didn't have
to drop back a lot. You know. The thing to
me that is probably most heartening for them. In their
last two games they've run Now again it's been both
against the forty nine ers, so we'll see what happens
is they go forward, but they've been able to run

(51:14):
the ball extremely well in their last two games, and
that is absolutely critical because what they want to be
in the pass game with Kubiak is Donald under center
and the play action pass game that's foundationally what they
want to be. Now, you can do that without having
a great run game, because one of the big myths
in football, Mike, is that you need a great run

(51:35):
game to run play action. That myth has been destroyed
many times over the years and disproven. But the point
is they do want to be able to run the
football with Donald under center.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Now you go back in the regular see, we know
the Bears are susceptible to getting hit by the run.
Kenneth Walker the third in these two games against the Rams,
you're looking at one hundred and fifteen or thereabout total
yards in the first one and then one hundred and
sixty four total yards in that overtime chaotic game. So yeah,

(52:06):
certainly has had his success. But for Darnald, I mean
you mentioned the Cooper cup throw like the three that
he hit him with early to make him a factor.
All good throws, and he took a big hit early on.
I was like, all right, I think we all inched
up in our chairs to see how he was going
to get.

Speaker 8 (52:22):
Up from the ground.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Now you know again obviously he played and it didn't
seem to have an impact. But he's going to get
an extra day because they were a Saturday game. So
my guess is they'll probably put him in bubble wrap,
you know, for another three days and then see how
he is, you know, but he's obviously going to play
next week because he played last night. So but you know,
he's the kind of guy. Look as I said earlier,
I don't have a horse in these in the race,

(52:45):
but you know, you know, in my career, I probably interviewed,
you know, well over a thousand players and coaches, and
that's what I've done for years. And he's just a
guy to pull for. Actually met him at the Combine
when he came out. He was in the same draft
with Josh Allen. Both were working at the time and
I assume they still do with Jordan Palmel Palmer, and
that's how I met him. And he's just a super

(53:06):
nice guy, Like he's the kind of guy you pull for.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
Talk about the career to the post career career for
Jordan Palmer, the quarterback guru that come in his post
playing days.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
He's great at it. Amazing, it's absolutely great at it.
Now I've been around him numerous times. He's really really
good at it.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Fantastic stuff. So the Seahawks roll on forty one six
your final. They'll await the winner of Bears Rams later on,
but first we'll go to the AFC. As we continue
on the show, it's Fox Football Sunday. He's great co
sell on Mike Harmon for the best pregame show each
and every weekend outside of ours, be sure to tune
into Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet

(53:44):
MGM every Saturday Sunday morning. We catch you down to
all the biggest games for three hours right up until
kickoff for all the best players, the up the second
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into Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM every Saturday
Sunday morning.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Right here radio and the iHeart app.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Greg's gonna tell me how New England reinvented football last
week against the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Everybody gets their notepads. That's next on five. You're listening
to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Gradies and welcome back in Fox Football Sunday. Fox Sports Radio.
We got action on the pitch overseas. We're watching some
replays of the Australian Open it. We're getting ready for
what is a divisional Sunday. We've got snow in the
Greater Boston area. It's cold as hell in Chicago, and

(54:39):
I'm nice and balmy here in a southern California studio.
Welcome back in on Mike Darman alongside Greg Cosel forty
six years NFL film. He might be cold in his
studio right now, wearing a parka, just to you knowlate
the conditions.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
I think it might. We might be getting a little
snow here in South Jersey today, so nothing major, but yeah,
it's a little cool. But you know, but it's January
in the Northeast, so you know, you kind of expect that.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Little little expectations there.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Like I said, I traveled and got my kid off
to college at Boise last week, and the worst experience
that I've had weatherwise in a long time was the
first time we stopped for gas. Like, I won't be
too bad. I'm a southside Chicago and by birth. Yeah,
I've been out of the city for a minute. I
lived in upstate New York for a while. Like all
of these things, I was shaking uncontrollably for twenty minutes

(55:30):
after pumping gas, like my muscles were spasming. I'm like,
what's going on here? It's like something out of a movie.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Greg, it was a little cold.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Huh, Yeah, it was a nice shock to the system.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Means either a I have to reacclimate myself over a
longer period of time or just continue to eat beef sandwiches,
deep dish pizza and other things that pull a sasage
to get myself back up to playing.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
Weight probably or see couldn't mean You're just getting a
little older, you know, and I dare you fix it?

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Young in spry.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll find all the
best videos from our shows. Don't stop there, hit that
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Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe today. Okay, so

(56:23):
you've got to explain to me because in the post
game between the Chargers and the Patriots, evidently the Charger said,
there's all sorts of stuff we've never seen before, Like
they were in a multi dimensional Stranger Things kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
I was. I was going back and forth this week
on that with Kurt Warner, who obviously, as you know,
watches all the tape as well, and we just didn't
quite understand that. I mean, I think they did a
really good job of changing looks pre snap to post snap.
I thought they did a really nice job with their pressures.
They were very aggressive with their pressure concepts, which made

(57:00):
sense because of the old line they were playing against.
I thought that they did a really good job slanting
with their D line because the Chargers O line is
not very athletic or mobile, and when you slant, you
get them to have to move right away the old line.
That is so I thought tactically they did a really
good job. They didn't get to any coverages that justin

(57:22):
Herbert or the Chargers had never seen before. Now it's
possible that they were not expecting certain coverages in a
given situation, you know, there's always that element to it,
but they didn't do anything that reinvented defensive coverage. And
I thought that Herbert did not play well mentally. I
thought that he didn't see things. They were throws to

(57:44):
be made and for whatever reason, he did not pull
the trigger. You know, as I said, I take really
detailed notes. So I said, without specifically knowing Herbert's reading
progressions on given route concepts, my sense was he left
some intermediate and vertical throws on the field. Pressure was
not a factor. That was particularly true in the first half.
In the second half, the pressure clearly became a factor

(58:07):
and there started to be way too many free hitters
at Herbert. But in the first half that wasn't really
a big deal.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Yeah, it seemed like he had a couple of shots
the Macconcie that could have been made. He expressed his
frustrations because remember he lost a lot of targets with
Keenan Allen coming back. Devlin, the O line coach, walked
the plank, as did Greg Roman, Chargers amongst they're on
that handful of teams. Though, every year that I come
out of the regular season, Greg raising my hand, going,

(58:35):
we need a proper and thorough reeval evaluation of our
training policies and procedures and how we keep guys on
a field. Baltimore, San Francisco and the Chargers chiefly among them.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Yeah, it's a great point. Again, you know who knows
what goes on in the buildings, But yeah, you know
that Patriot defense is really interesting. I did the Woodson
kid coming out of I believe was it cal and
I really liked him a lot and he became a
starter pretty much from day one. And I think that
there are two safeties who are probably not well known
to a lot of people outside of the Boston Foxborough area,

(59:11):
and maybe they will be now. You know, they're playing
in a big game obviously today. But Woodson and Hawkins,
they're kind of interchangeable in alignment and deployment. I think
the slot corner Marcus Jones has had a really good season.
He's also alignment and deployment versatile, really good man coverage corner,
excellent blitzer at times he lines up a safety, and

(59:32):
now that Milton Williams is back, he is a powerful
bull rusher inside. We saw that last week. Barmores had
a really good season. Is the other tackle. This is
a very good defense. I've always been a spelane guy,
going back to when he was in Pittsburgh. Just one
of those really savvy linebackers. Mike knows how to play.
You don't have to take him off the field.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Leading no pop culture reference you know on turned here.
I mean you get a little Mickey Splaine in their eyes.
It's only appropriate that they you highlight Hawkins after I
make a Stranger Things reference.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
So there goes together, it all, it all works together.
He got that right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
But that's the question here for CJ. Stroud.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
He's down Nico Collins this week. More plants on those
Iowa State guys and Dalton Schultz. But key to all
of this becomes Woody Marks and how you're able to,
if at all, get that run. Game started to make
things a little easier for CJ. Stroud because I got
to say that was a pretty painful watch against the
Steelers front, Like the opportunity was there, the defense gave

(01:00:33):
them everything early and they overcame Stroud's early struggles with
the big plays late.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Two points to make about all this, Number One, I
think that Stroud. You know, he's a timing and rhythm passer.
He's at his best when he can hit his back
foot and deliver the ball and be decisive. That's when
he's really plus. Throwing traits show up. The longer he's
in the pocket, the less comfortable he becomes. Mike and
he speeds up his mental and physical process, and I'm

(01:01:00):
sure you can and people listening can picture. You can
see him when he speeds up. He just doesn't look comfortable.
The other thing that they do more than any team
in the league is they play more snaps out of
six offensive line personnel. Almost twenty percent of their snaps
this year have come out of six oh line personnel.
But they're very predictable. They run the ball pretty much

(01:01:22):
a very high percentage of the time. To me, if
they're going to keep doing this, I again, they know
more than I do about their personnel, clearly, but I
think they've got to mix in a little more passing
out of that six ole line personnel, which you can
do obviously, you still have wide receivers on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
It's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
In the first hour we talked a lot about the
not a ton I mean, more handwringing to come as
we get into the new week. But the Brandon Cooks play,
the Mims play. I still want to know why I
was the only guy shouting hey, Aaron Rodgers got nearly
concussed on the rankings, touchdown hitting the helmet, and nobody's
seemed to.

Speaker 9 (01:01:57):
Care that's a question I can't answer, so it gets
rejourned for a touchdowns like, yeah, we not see his
head go flying before anything else happened.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
But that's I'm glad you mentioned that, not the specific play,
but the fact that you brought up rankins, because I
think one of the most overlooked elements and units of
that defense for the Texans, which of course most people
know about their very good is their detackle rotation. It's
very very good. You have autry, you've got Rankins, You've

(01:02:31):
got Tommy T. We're gonna call them Tommy T. So
I don't pronounce his last name incorrectly. I think people
know who I mean. Number seventy two, one of the
better inside detackled run defenders in the NFL, had a
phenomenal year playing their run. They are really good inside
and you know, obviously Anderson and Hunter a tremendous outside.

(01:02:52):
They kind of dictate how you have to pass protect.
Sometimes it limits your eligibles because you have to keep
them in to protect. They're just really good at all
three levels, really good at all three levels, and by
NFL standards. I had this conversation with someone this week
by NFL standards. They're not overly I hate to use
the word complicated because that's just not a good word,

(01:03:14):
but they're not overly detailed. In some ways, they're very reminiscent,
even though they're different in how they play. They're kind
of reminiscent of the Legion of Boom and that they
kind of line up and play and they're just really
really good.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
Yeah, excited to watch that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
The Houston defense look jamik O Ryans last week channeled
is Inner Aaron Glenn, except he actually won the game
after he danced on the sideline with that interception return
for a touchdown. As we go through it, but a
big defensive battle. I mean, this one could be a
bit of a rock fight today, Greg. If it's yes

(01:03:49):
to form.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
It could well be. I mean, that's all Texans have
a really hard defense to play against. There a four
to two to five scheme because Petree is you know,
they're a big nickel essentially because of Petrie, who's turned
out to be a better player than I thought he
would be when he came into college. So you know,
they're they're good. And and and Bullock. We've probably talked
about this, I think this season again he's in his
second year. I thought Bullock was the best post safety

(01:04:11):
in the NFL. So they're really strong. It's it's, you know,
like I said, they're relatively basic on first and second down.
They'll do some blitzing on third down pressures. They're not
a great blitzing team, but their personnel allows them to be,
as I said, relatively simple from a schematic standpoint.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
Yeah, as I've said, eventually, I've got the visions of
a wall of mean for the house to be determined later,
where I will be piling up defensive tackles, jerseys and
maybe something from my old guy Vince Wilfork, but you
know him and not it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
Well, that would be that would be a big jersey.
That would be a very big jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Well, I mean, I got a big wall that I'm
gonna have to fill eventually. All Right, it's tongy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
I tongy I, Tommy Tungi I really really good play.
I mean, probably not a household name, but a really
really good player.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
We're gonna work to make that one here. Patriots three
point favorites, forty and a half the total, again showing
you that we're anticipating a rock fight all right, we
got plenty more to come. We've got the Rams and
the Bears. That's the nightcap, and we'll spend our time
for the rest of this hour breaking that all down
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
All the coaching stuff and.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
Everything else will kick to next week as the dance
cards start to get filled. Stefanski and Harbaugh the first
chess pieces off the board. Still seven remaining. But first
let's go over to Isaac Loehenkron, still reeling from that
Chargers loss. He was I thought he was gonna be
the last voice I was ever gonna hear last week,
Greg Cosel, because I was in the mountains. Rough way

(01:05:44):
to go out, coming back from Boise, A rough way
to go out, man, as he tried to sool Chargers
fans after that one at Isaac Lowancron, Hey.

Speaker 7 (01:05:52):
I love I'm actually, for the record, still reeling from
the Jacksonville debacle after the twenty one seas Okay, I'm
still scheduled to continue reeling on multiple platforms, fellas. Good morning,
Mike and Greg, and coming up in just a few moments,
we've got fresh details on the Broncos bills officiating controversy

(01:06:14):
from yesterday. First things first, Broncos quarterback Bone Nicks will
miss the rest of the playoffs after breaking a bone
in his ankle in overtime of Denver's thirty three to
thirty win over Buffalo, So Jared Stidham we'll take over
as the Broncos starting quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:06:29):
Now.

Speaker 7 (01:06:29):
The Broncos, of course, won, thanks in part to a
controversial overtime interception when j Kwan McMillan tore the ball
away from Buffalo's Brandon Cook's referee Carl Sheffers told a
Pool reporter Cook's quote was going to the ground as
part of the process of the catch and lost possession
of the ball. The defender gained possession and is the

(01:06:52):
one that completed the process of the catch unquote. Now,
Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott did postgame press conference, got
on the team plane and saw the pool report that
we just read to you, and from the team plane
last night, Sean McDermott took the extraordinary step of calling

(01:07:15):
Jay Skursky of the Buffalo News again from the Bills
team plane and saying the following quote, that's a catch
all the way, I sat in my locker and I
looked at it. Probably twenty times, and nobody can convince
me that that ball is not caught and in possession
of Buffalo. I just have no idea how the NFL

(01:07:38):
handled it, in particular the way that they did. There
is no time spent with the head official going underneath
the hood or to the replay booth, right to the monitor.
I don't understand how that works. I don't understand how
that could be the case when it's such a close play.
So basically there is one person ruling on that play,
or only New York ruling on that play. I don't

(01:08:01):
agree with that. I don't understand why the head official
who is at the game does not get a chance
to look at the same thing people in New York
are ruling on. Unquote. Last night, Seahawks over the forty
nine Ers forty one to six. Also Saturday night, the
Atlanta Falcons hired former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski
as their new head coach.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
But Fellas, that's the first.

Speaker 7 (01:08:22):
Time I can remember a head coach calling a reporter
from the team plane about a controversial call. Again, we
credit Jay Skersky of the Buffalo News for those comments
from Sean McDermott.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
Back to you guys, crazy crazy stuff at Isaac Lohencron
as we continue here, It's Fox Football Sunday. If you
missed any of today's show, catch the podcast search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Right afterwards, Brandon'll
get that up and it'll be posted. Look for Fox
Sports Weekends Coach Sell and harmon Fox Football Sunday. Be
sure to follow it rated five stars, provide a review,

(01:08:58):
send it to your friends and family, as we can
continue our quest for global domination again zerch Fox Sports Radio.
Wherever you get your podcast, you'll find today's full show
posted right after we get off the air. Naturally, I'm
watching a replay of that game as we were talking,
and Greg and so many other questions I'd love to
sit with film review.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
I might have to just bring a tray.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Of celebration cupcakes at something like this offseason for an
extended review of all the chaos that we've seen to
this point.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
And we've still got a couple of games left.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
We just did the Texans and the Patriots, and then,
obviously for me, the Cardiac Bears continue their improbable run
with a big date against the Rams. Rams a touchdown
plus favorite here. Weather gonna feel like zero ish at
kickoff and get colder from there, potentially a little bit

(01:09:52):
of snow early in the day before the temperatures start
to dip all together again. I'll be in a nice, warm,
reclusive space here in southern California.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
I always wonder about that, you know. I work with
Darius Butler on the NFL Matchup Show and I say
to I said to Darius, I said, you know, when
it gets to be a certain temperature, like, you got
to feel that. He goes, oh, yeah, everybody feels it.
I mean people act like they don't, but I mean,
he says, you feel it. It's freaking cold, he said,
I mean, you know, so you know it's if it's
going to be fifteen below with windshill, no matter even

(01:10:24):
if you live in Chicago, you know and you practice there,
you're going to feel it. That's cold.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
No, but that's the thing right as you go through,
and you can dismiss it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
And look, you can't lean into it because otherwise you're
called soft or you're making excuses before you get there,
or whatever folks want to say. But you know, we're
talking about wind. Gus twenty five to thirty miles an hour.
And let's face it, like take that Seattle San Francisco
game when it's seven nothing, seven seconds into the game.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Guess what that next hit hurts a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
Yeah, and a little bit more. Yeah, they'll feel it.
H But you know, it's interest and you have two
quarterbacks obviously with power arms that can their balls can
cut through the wind. So it'll it'll be curious to
see how it impacts, you know, play calling. You know,
one of the things about this game. Obviously we're talking
about it now. And I'm not suggesting that the Rams

(01:11:18):
are a phenomenal running football team. I don't think anybody
thinks of Kyron Williams or Blake Korum. But they never
played together, Mike, so it's either one or the other.
And you know they've combined combined to rush for over
two thousand yards. And because they're not big playbacks, you know,
they don't have those breakaway runs where you go wow.

(01:11:39):
You know, they're both kind of grinders sustainers. But you know,
two thousand yards is a lot of yards. And as
I said, they do not play together.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
Yeah, it'll be curious to watch out the mix and
match there. For the Bears, a couple of key injuries.
We'll get to that side of the ball as we continue.
We've got one more segment to go on the game.
Matthew Stafford the finger injury. But for Caleb Williams and
the Bears, the slow starts, you keep waiting for those
to catch up, and we watched it that look they

(01:12:08):
take down the Packers, Matt Lafleur is getting an extension
and staying on, and certainly Packers fans aren't terribly thrilled
about it. Late game decision making going all the way
back to giving the ball back to Tom Brady all
those years ago, or things that's stick in my crawl
as a well non part.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
I mean, like I call what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
I'm a Bears guy, but like sometimes there's just football
decisions where I'm just raising my hand, going, all right,
explain this to me, you know, like I said with
Sean Payton, even after the Josh Allen turn over early
in the second half, going, you have the opportunity to
potentially put the dagger in here. Your defense was playing
pretty well at that point. Why are you not going

(01:12:49):
for it? But all of those kind of things that's
why they get paid more money than I do, and
why Matt Lafleur still has a job.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
But go, ah, Greg, well, I was gonna say, it's funny.
I don't even think about that stuff when I watch games.
I mean, I know fans, do you know. Uh, maybe
I'm totally crazy, but I always think those guys no
more than I do.

Speaker 3 (01:13:07):
Well, sure, but in the moment you're trying to play along,
it's like you're playing a board game, right right, it's
happening in live action, like okay, trying. It's like Tony
Romo used to try to predict predict the plays, and
for a year or two he was pretty good at it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:22):
Well, he say, wow, it's funny you say that. I
went to the Sixers Cavs game Friday night. I've been
fortunate to get to know the Sixers head coach, Nick Nurse.
So I went down to the game, and uh, you know,
he got us really good seats, and the guy sitting
behind me was just like basically coaching the whole game,
just yelling. And I said to my I was there
with my son in law, and I said, you know,

(01:13:44):
I think he's in the wrong profession. He obviously should
be an NBA head coach, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
But he just needs a chance, Greg exactly, he needs.

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
But that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
We're we're all trying to figure out the chess game
and try to addicted and when something happens like does
that you know, look, in the end, we all want
to be right. Whether we're opinionists here on the radio
or a fan sitting at home. It's all about watching
and second guessing whether it's an officials call or non call,

(01:14:17):
the coach and whether he runs the ball or not.
You know, John Harball, why didn't Derek hen receive the
ball more? All of those things.

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
Hey, that's what that's what being a fan is. That's
the you know, that's what that's the fun of it.
But you know, getting back to Caleb Williams, I mean,
you know, obviously that fourth and seventh play, fourth and eight,
I think it was Yeah, it was just ridiculous. Uh
but uh, it was an interesting sort of second half

(01:14:45):
because I thought one of the most overlooked things in
that game which really helped the Bears was Edgrian Cooper
going down because Edger and Cooper's lost. To me, that
was the determining factor in their in their past Russki
Mannex because he's an excellent blitzer and I've obviously that
took him out of the equation for Jeff Haffley Man
the Packers, they did not really have a consistent pass

(01:15:07):
rush from their four men d line as the second
half progressed. So you know, I thought Cooper being out
was really a big overlooked factor in that game.

Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
All Right, we will go through the rest of the
chess match and what the coordinators are looking at defensively
as we move forward, some of the injury notes, as
we go through two huge losses for the Bears last
week as well that they'll have to navigate on either
side of the ball. All of that and more as
we wrap things up here, It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox
Sports Radio. He's great, co Sell and I'm Mike Carmon.

(01:15:37):
Thanks for being with us and being part of the
extended family here at.

Speaker 8 (01:15:40):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
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listen live.

Speaker 3 (01:15:55):
Welcome back in Fox Sports Radio, Fox Football Sunday. Mike
Carmonjsell having a blast with you here. Come up in
ten minutes. You got count Down to kick Off presented
by bet MGM. You got Bill Bryant and Jeff ready
to break it all down. Get you ready for the
National Title game as well. We'll review that one in
Ernest a week from from now as we get ready

(01:16:18):
for championship weekend in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:16:20):
But we're talking.

Speaker 3 (01:16:21):
Bears and Rams, Greg and Ozzie Trapillo's absence a big no.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
He's out Bears.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
Now Tooney's gonna move to left tackle and a shuffle
up of a line that has been pretty set.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
They say that for sure, Tony's gonna play left tackle.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
I saw that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:38):
I saw that yesterday. I gotta go back and make sure.
I'm I'm nuts.

Speaker 1 (01:16:43):
Sure because the other kid's been playing Benedet or Benedett.
I mean he's not hurt too, is he. I'm surprised
because we saw what happened the last time Toony played
left tackle, and that was in the Super Bowl and
that did not go well. And he's going to be
up against shared verse.

Speaker 3 (01:16:58):
Yeah, so I guess it's reduced to the consideration and possibility.
But I had seen it and I'm trying to find
the source talking. I don't want to get myself truly
killed by the local Bears folks, but it's one of
those things that's on the table either way. They need
to shuffle up for a guy that has been pretty

(01:17:19):
fantastic all year long.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
And that's the one thing. The Rams front.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
Is a difficult proposition, but they can be had in
the back end, which is where Caleb Williams and company
look to do some damage at Dounza in Company Ready
for Bear.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
Yeah, And I think that's the the whether you want
to call it a weakness or just not a strength
of the Rams defense is their corners and we saw
that in the wild card game against the Panthers. And
assuming that there's no issues throwing the football or they're
they're minimal, I think that the Bears are probably looking
at that as a way to attack. Now. Again, they

(01:17:56):
have to protect. Although we know Caleb Williams can make
plays with his legs and that's we've seen a lot
of that, certainly in the second half of games. But
you have to protect and and they're a good defense
in their in their front group and in their their
linebacker group has been very good, but we'll see. You know,
Quinton Lake played last week for the first time. He

(01:18:16):
struggled a bit, but I think he's a very good player.
But you know, that's an area. We'll see how that
plays out.

Speaker 3 (01:18:22):
Had to make sure I wasn't totally insane. It was
Brad Diggs of the Tribune and the score, so it
wasn't just Harmon in a fever dream.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
No, no, and and Brad BIG's been doing this a
long time.

Speaker 3 (01:18:34):
That's the beauty of it. You know, that's going to
be part of my pregaming later on Hampton and o'bradovich
to get myself right because if I think everything's right
with the world, I need them to knock me back
a peg because even if I'm winning, hey, you could
have done it better.

Speaker 1 (01:18:49):
I'm seeing the same thing now that they're considering shifting
Joe Toney to left tackle. That's hey, look they know
more than we do. But I mean, I just think
back to what happened last year in the Super Bowl
when he was so overmatched in the Super Bowl. And
you know, like I said that, it's Jared Verse. He's

(01:19:10):
he's a very strong rusher, and you know, if he
gets inside of you. And obviously Toney is a guard
and this is where arm length becomes a factor. I
think his arm length is thirty one inches, which is
never You know, you don't play left tackle in the
NFL with thirty one inch arms.

Speaker 3 (01:19:24):
Yeah, this is where it gets into the interesting chess match.
How much arm nung guy and Swift ready? Yeah he
back to chip and how much does that change the
complexion of things because we've.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
Watched great points in the short game, more.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Efficient second half once they feel like their backs are
to the wall. So even the local politicos are saying, hey,
could you just pretend you're down fourteen enough and to
start the game.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
Yet there you go, So wow, that's pretty interesting. And
then then just a quick point about the Rams offense.
You know you're gonna see a lot of Cover two
when Cover three from the Bears, that's what they play.
The Rams are good at attacking. The key for them
will be protection as well.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
See how much they can isolate Gordon who struggled in
caverage a week ago the chess match. Later on today
he's great.

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
Cosell on Mike Harming catch them all week NFL films
calling on Thursday, I'll see You Tomorrow Night with Smith
on Fox.