January 15, 2018 • 44 mins
Doug reacts to the wild ending to Saints vs Vikings and why every once in a while it's okay to blame one person for losing a game. He also explains why the issues the Steelers had all season long finally showed themselves in the playoffs. 3 time All Pro and NFL on FOX analyst Chris Spielman stops by to give his thoughts on the "Minneapolis Miracle" and how the Jaguars were able to beat the Steelers for the 2nd time this season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the dun Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America. Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you today from the sunny
city of Miami, actually Coral Gables, Florida, where I'm watching
Miami and they're shoot around getting loose. They take on
the Duke Blue Devils tonight. I'll be broadcasting the game
(00:22):
for Compass. Uh Compass Radio Media Networks or whatever something
or other Compass Anyway, anyway, I get to be at
a game and uh, watch a cool game and do
a cool radio show. And look, there's a lot of
things that I could start with in some strong takes
about the robbery of the Drew Brees greatness. I thought
Calhard had a really good take earlier today, because it
(00:43):
is true that so often times in sports were so
consumed by whose team wins and whose team loses. Here's
Drew Brees has won a Super Bowl, had a shot
at another Super Bowl, and uh, though he didn't play
well in the first half, he played well enough down
the stretch to win a game with I think maybe
a little bit of an inferior team, especially defensively to
(01:04):
the Minnesota Vikings and one missed tackle is all it
takes to change history. But that's the way it goes,
so here it goes so and I want to talk
about the Steelers, as we have seen the cracks in
the armor of the Steelers all season long. And it's
one thing to lose to the Jaguars, it's another thing
(01:26):
to give up forty five to the Jaguars on your
own home field. So there's a little bit of I
told you so, and a little bit of I may
have told you so, but I didn't think it would
go down like that. A lot to get to. Let
me give out the phone numbers eight seven seven Fox Plus.
We got some head coaching news, some movement after yesterday's games,
um or and Saturday's games. Dan Buyer will give us
(01:50):
updates as those things come down and become official. We
get some college football job movements. And we have a
litany of outstanding guests for you. Outstanding guests for you.
So I hope you're having a great holiday and if
you're gonna spend time with us here in the Doug
Gotlip Show, whether it's on our hundreds and growing of
terrestrial radio affiliates or Serious Channel, Serious Channel eighty three.
(02:13):
Our first two hours the show are on Serious or
on the I Heart Radio appor do you want to
download the podcast you misseday of the show. Chris Spielman,
whose brother Rick, of course runs the Minnesota Vikings. He's
an NFL analyst for Fox UM who made famous the
football statement see ball hit ball, which of course there
(02:34):
was no seeing of ball last night. On the last play,
Chris Pielman will join us upcoming in fifteen minutes. D'Angelo Williams,
from a Pro Bowl running back, gonna join us in
the second hour of the show. Seth Joiner, a Super
Bowl champion a former Eagle great, will join us in
the third hour of the show as well. Michael Lombardi,
former NFL GM former president of NFL Teams, who has
a great podcast with The Ringer, will get his thoughts
(02:56):
on the coaching movement and his thoughts on what we
saw this past weekend. A ton to get to UM.
I love that in sports we so often want to
make it a part of it by the team. Right,
It's about the team. It's not about a guy. One
guy does not cost you a game. The team, the team,
(03:18):
the team, right. Yeah, but that's not really what happened
last night? I mean, come on, man, we can't in
fact blame it on one guy, can't we Marcus Williams,
who did play well, who has had a really good season. Ah,
he did with he didn't see the ball. I still,
even after the moment, don't think Marcus Williams understood what
(03:41):
he did wrong. Right. It was like um, private loud
and Downey in uh A Few Good Men, Ramas you
remember that movie A Few Good Men? Right, very good right.
You know, let's let's let's work our way backwards. Here's
Marcus Williams explaining what he thought went wrong at that point.
(04:02):
You know, I just gotta make the tackle when he
comes down. You know, it's just the little things that
you that you see and you gotta make sure you
you do all that you can to get him down.
Regardless it was only ten seconds left. I knew the situation. Uh,
you gotta make sure you you gotta make sure you
make the play. Yeah, yeah, all you had to you
had to look up. It didn't even come down to
(04:23):
necessarily making the tackle. This is one of the things
when you when you're in terms of sports now and
sports nowadays, is it's hard to teach kids situational time, score,
momentum possession. Knowing all these things, Williams knew he was
supposed to be on the outside, and he knew he
was supposed to make the tackle. But he still doesn't
(04:45):
know why he missed the tackle. Like he think it's
he thinks it's because he went for the legs instead
of you're going to wrap up. It's because he didn't
even see he didn't see the rule Number one. I look,
I didn't play college football. I didn't play profess action football.
I played college basketball and professional basketball. But I was
I was taught at a very young age to play
(05:07):
tackle football. And we told it to you you after Ryan
Shazier got hurt. One of the first things you're taught
when you learned to tackle is is see what you hit.
You have to see what you hit. And he didn't
see what he had hit. It's not a question of
just making the play. It's a question of the basic
(05:28):
fundamentals of the sport. But here's my question. You um
of the things you've seen go down in big situations
in your life, that one's got to be up there.
And and what I think is memorable about it is
the drip, drip, drip, kind of the blood dripping from
(05:50):
the body of the Vikings to where you're like, all right,
they're about to expire, right, you know how the movie,
the guy's laying there and he's saying his last words,
and you know, like, okay, death is death is very near.
Death is coming, and then all of a sudden he
sits up and he says his last words and he expires. Right.
(06:10):
That was the Minnesota Vikings. They get the ball with
twenty five seconds left, and they had used a time
out on the previous defensive possession, not to get a
time out, but instead to get a replay, which did
overturn a play. But you can't actually challenge at that
point in time in the game, so now they only
have one time out. The first play is a false start.
You're like, oh boy. Second play, they catch it in
(06:32):
bounds and they do make up some yards, but there's
seventeen seconds left and they burn that time out. Right.
Then they run the exact same play and Keenum throws
it to a different wide receiver who falls down. Then
on second down, Keenum's pressured and the ball and now
we're we're dealing with ten seconds laft. You can't throw
it over the middle. The The only hope is to
(06:54):
catch it and to get out of bounds. And you
feel like, all right, he's dying. This thing is done.
God do you feel bad for the Minnesota Viking stands.
But you start to think, Okay, we could have Brady
versus Peyton in the Super Bowl. We never got We've
never gotten Brady versus Rogers. That didn't happen. You know,
we never got Tony Romo in a Super Bowl. We
(07:16):
did once get Manning versus Peyton, but it was here
in Miami and it was pouring rain. It was a terrible,
terrible game, right, Well, no, no, that was Manning versus
the Bears. Manning versus the Bears. So you were just hoping.
You're like, at some point you went from being a
Viking stand and being like, you know what, Saints aren't
(07:37):
that bad. It's more fun to watch than the Eagles
going to the Super Bowl. Okay, I'm kind of in
on the Saints. And then that happened. And whether you said,
oh my god, which is what case Keenum said and
what I said and my kids are running around the house,
or you said holy bleep, whatever you said roblmost did
you were you watching the game live yesterday? That is correct? You,
(07:58):
I mean, and I assume you thought it was over.
I did think it was over. I pretty much figured
that's exactly what you just said about that. It's watching
them expire, Like watching the game finished, I was like, oh,
that's that. But I guess like they weren't even in range.
They weren't in range for a hail Mary. You're like,
no way this happens. And then you look they do pan.
They show the entire figure like, well, you know, that's
(08:18):
not far they could complete a pass and maybe kick
a field goal, and they're like, well, maybe they could
throw it over the middle. Then you realize you're just
not the time to throw it over the middle, to
line up to spike it, to run your field goal
team out there, and to kick a field goal. You're like,
this does not There is no way. Nothing voted well right,
nothing voted well for them. No, Um, Ryan, what were
(08:40):
you Where were you watching? I was watching at my
girlfriend's parents house. Now your isn't your isn't your future
father in law? Sorry, that's the only way I could
describe it, right. I can't go your your girlfriend's dad, right,
I don't know. It just doesn't sound as good as
your future father in law, your future father in law,
whatever you wanna call it, daddy. Um uh. Now he's
(09:03):
a Vikings fan, isn't he. They root for the Vikings. Yeah,
it's sort of like their family ties or from that
area of the country. So yeah, they were. They were
rooting for the Vikings. That's correct. The cold area of
the country. Yes, in California, prefer to call it. See
why does anybody actually live there? It is beautiful in
the summer, but it is not summer very often. Um okay,
So what was your thoughts? I thought? I was. I
(09:26):
thought that there was certainly a chance that they would
maybe get a field goal, but by no means that
I think that there was going to be a game
winning touchdown. I was, so I was going back. I
watched some of the game, and then I went to
the park with my son. We were plea he was
playing pick up basketball as some other kids. My wife
was texting me, and so I texted her because one
of my best friends of Vikings fan and and I said,
(09:50):
you know, this is just so you know, it's going
to come down to a Vikings field goal. They always
missed a big field goal, right, And so of course
Kai for Bath made the fifty three field goal, which
means she's like, oh, you're eating your When I got
back home she made the fifty three yard field goal,
She's like, you're eating your words, and like, no, this
game is not over. So I assumed it would come
down to another field goal, and then boy, it really
(10:11):
felt like I just felt like they couldn't get the
ball close enough to even attemp one. And so then
we started talking with my kid my kids, like can
they kick a seventy yard field goals? Like when you can,
but you're not gonna make it, like it's legal. It's like, yeah,
it's legal to kick a field goal from that far.
Like why don't they try? Because nobody can kick it
that far? U. Dan Buyer is uh, he's originally from Wisconsin.
(10:32):
He's a Seahawks fan. It's very important to point that out.
Brewer fan, but a Seahawks fan. By or where were
you watching the game? We're in studio yesterday. No, I
was actually at home. My wife and I were going
to meet some friends for dinner before they moved out
of town. But we wanted to wait until the end
of the game, and I was in shock. I was
in shock an hour after it happened, just because of
(10:54):
everything you talked about. They're not in hell Mary range.
All you have to do is make the tackle. It
doesn't matter or if Diggs catches it, just as long
as he doesn't go out of bounds. Every thing that
you said in the first ten minutes is what I
was thinking of. Why didn't that happen? How did this happen?
No offense to case Keenum. But then you're like, well,
case Keenum's throwing the ball. Remember when they even said
(11:14):
like if they're down, maybe they'll go to Sam Bradford
because they'll need somebody to throw it. So now you
still have case Keenum on the field. All of that
completely shocked. Um. I actually think the one that the
one that I the the game that it's uh, I'm
trying to think which one's the Auburn one in the
(11:34):
Iron Bowl? Um the kicks that one. That one was
one to which I was like, well this one that
but that was going to overtime is the difference, right?
But it was that was that was probably the most stunning.
We go from either they make it, and we go
to overtime and they miss it. I mean they miss it.
We go to overtime, they make it, they win it
to actually losing the game, which like I cannot believe
(11:57):
that happened. The one who remembered most Oh sorry, go ahead, no,
no going, I was gonna say the Patriots Seahawks, shut up, Ryan, No.
That that's the one that reminds me the most of like,
the Seahawks are about to win this game, to all
of a sudden it is over in the Patriots. Just one.
(12:19):
It happened, really fair. The one thing about that Seahawks
game is I was screaming, why doesn't Belichick let them score?
If you remember they let him score earlier in that possession,
they would have had time back for Tom Brady to
get the football, and they totally miss man. The Patriots
totally mismanaged the clock. Yeah, they didn't use their They
had time outs that they could have used and didn't.
(12:40):
Here's the thing with the Seahawks. You expected the Seahawks
to score, but they didn't. Like the Saints had the game,
so like the Seahawks didn't necessarily have the game, yet
they still needed to get in the Saints had the game,
it was theirs and they let it slip away. Um. Yeah,
I don't even think, like, oh, for Derek Fisher making
(13:02):
the shot with point four seconds, I don't think that
equates to it, because there wasn't really a nobody really
blew the nobody blew the play right. It wasn't like
the like they threw it in and he just caught
it and threw it up and there was good defense
and it's just a miracle shot, right that one. I
don't I don't think you can fault. You can't fault
the Spurs for that one. Um. I guess you could
(13:23):
maybe fault the Texas Rangers for having having the Cardinals
down to the last strike in Game six twice. But
we have seen that before in baseball. This never happened before.
We never had a walk off touchdown of that length
with no time on the clock in the playoff in
the history of the playoffs. So you did, in fact
(13:46):
watch history. The other part that's amazing about it is
I don't know any I. I have one friend who's
a Viking fan. I have one kind of family who
kind of likes the Saints because the husband's from from Louisiana.
Outside of that, I don't like nobody really cares those
there are two teams that nobody really cares about. I
also know everyone I know watched that game, and everyone
(14:09):
I know is just blown away by how it ends.
I cannot believe how it ended. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at
three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Chris Bielman joins the
centfl on Fox Course. Former pro bowler in his own right, Chris, um,
see ball, hit ball right? Don't you have to see
the ball to hit the ball? That That's that's the
(14:30):
big thing that Marcus Williams did wrong, isn't it? Yeah?
I think, uh, you know, first of all, I twitted
out last night. I've done four since games, Doug, and
Marcus Williams is a really good player and a really
good fine and I think, as you know, stay of
course and will have a fine career, and his teammates
and coaches will help them get over this. And it's
(14:51):
gonna be confidence going to be with him for a while.
But you've got to persevere. But I think the thing
I always talk about is you know, see what you did? Hit?
What you see is up? Head up, wrap up. For
two reasons. First and foremost is the safety as a player.
You know, askar Ryan Shazier who lowered his head in
(15:11):
a vulnerable position. And secondly, it helps you execute in
making plays because you're seeing your actual target as opposed
to ducking. And then obviously I don't know what was
going through Marcus's mind. I don't know if anybody does.
But the situation, uh was terrible for the Saints and
glorious for the Vikings. So it dependents on what side
(15:32):
of the the river you're on in uh. You know,
I was excited obviously for Rick and for the Viking
fans and all that stuff, but I certainly feel for
for Marcus Williams and you just gotta bounce back. Yeah,
And you feel for Drew Breese to a guy who's
had an historically great career might have had another shout
at the Super Bowl and one went away from from
from from another super Bowl. But that that is that
(15:54):
is of course the sport. Can you remember a game
like that, like, you know, look, you have an incredible
football member. A game like that where the game was
felt over right, it really you know this, I mean
that that thing felt one because you had case and
you don't feel like he had the arm strength to
get it where you wanted to get it. You had
no time outs, and like I just thought all along,
(16:16):
like it's written in stone, a Vikings game of that
magnitude at home is going to come down to a
field goal, so I thought, well, maybe they'll get field
goal range. Then it starts on a false start. I mean,
there's a bunch of other stuff I want to get
to with you, but can you remember a playoff game
that felt that over only too only to turn on,
you know, on the last play, Not like that? No,
(16:38):
I mean, obviously you have some of the craziest games,
and you know the immaculate reception of course to the
Hill America and sev me five Pearson from stall back
the old metropulsis stating in the Vikings. But I think
when you looked at this one, just because of the situation,
and you know, I still I'm a little confused on
(17:00):
that route that the Saints actually had somebody jumped Kyle
Rudolph six yards off the ball, which I have no
idea why. I mean, that's almost the situation where you
put you know, five guys at the at the forty
yard line, you're rush thing, you put two over the top,
and you to send a forty from back because you
knew that's where there where. I thought four baths was
good from fifty set you defend that the territory and
(17:24):
make him in each you I just you know, there's
a lot of things that had to go to Vikings way.
Even the ball was thrown. If you noticed the ball
was thrown where Dix had to come inside to make
the catch. So I do think if Marcus would have
kept his head up and made contact, he would have
tackled him and bounce. No time outs left. That would
have been ball games. So something to go like that.
Everything had to be perfect in line up right for
(17:46):
the Vikings, and it did. If you take that out
of the equation. What went wrong with the Vikings. They
were so dominant in the first half, and they did
have a chance that four bath field goal, but that
was after the sts mr field goal of their of
their own, so we'll call we'll call that a wash.
They're up seventeen and nothing did they get did they
get tight? Did did they back off a little bit defensively, Um,
(18:08):
what do you think took place to allow the Saints
to get back in it? Well, I mean, I think
the Saints couldn't have played any worse in the first
half offensively, right, I mean, then Drew Brees started to
get rolling. I mean he had two bad picks in
the first half, especially the post that was underthrown again
or Sendeo made a nice play, but Sindejo was beat.
(18:29):
I mean that ball should have been laid out in
front and Drew underthrew it. Then Everyson Griffin does the
first block shot. I don't know if you've ever seen
one of those basketball before. But then Anthony bark But
I just think you know that when you're playing a
good team, to get down seventeen, uh, it's really tough
to come back from. The Saints almost did, but Drew
(18:50):
Brees is certainly capable. When Michael Thomas started and winning
his individual battle outside against jav Rhodes, they got Camara
rolling a little bit. And uh, you know, to me,
the NFL doug even in the regular season. I mean,
seventy of my games that I did share, they're all
coming in the fourth quarter. They're usually fourth quarter games,
(19:10):
and three out of four this week we're certainly fourth
quarter games. Yeah, the other one obviously being the Patriots.
When I want to get to that, get to that. Um,
all right, let's let's go to who they're gonna play,
The Philadelphia Eagles. They did have an extra week off,
they did fix some things offensively. That said, the Falcon
still had first and goal from the nine, chance to
win the game. Get back to the NFC Championship game.
(19:30):
What did you think of that play calling sequence from
the Falcons? Well, I mean, let's go to I mean,
people are saying, why are you half rolling Matt Ryan.
I think you're trying to get him a better angle,
and you're putting the ball in the hands of Julio
Jones who's six three, and you know, condunc anyway you want.
And uh, I just thought that you go with your
(19:51):
best players to make the plays in crunch time, and
they didn't execute. I thought the coverage was outstanding on
on Julio Jones. To me, it looks like I don't
because you think he missed time to jumped a little bit.
I thought he missed time to jumping till he fell down.
He yea he fell down and then he jumped and missy.
He did miss time and he went through his hands.
I'm not sure if you would have gotten in bounds
had he caught it. Well, that's another thing, but I
(20:14):
actually kind I actually kind of like, I kind of
liked the half role because like, look, the thing that
Matt Ryan does have is he's really really accurate, and
you're like, you're throwing to your best player. You know
he'll get his feet down in bounds and catch the
foot I mean, like, look, the greatest play I've seen
the Super Bowl ever was the Julio catch when they
were up twenty three last year. I want something similar
to that. Well, I was thinking, I don't know when
(20:37):
basketball with you, but I do because because I just
think I never get to talk basketball. But I know
what little I know about basketball. I know that you
want to create angles for a proper post injury pass,
and to me, that's what they were trying to do.
And the only thing I would fall Julio is on
is that you know, you have to put yourself in
position that if you are going up for the jump ball,
(20:58):
that you have to be aware of where you are
on the field so that if you do catch it,
you don't come out out of bounds or come down
out of bounds. Yeah, I mean it was I didn't
like to shovel pass play. I don't know if it
was supposed to be if he missed the slant, but
I didn't like the second down call more than anything.
That was the one that that was the only one
I would have taken issue with. I think that that
(21:18):
Stark is an easy target. Is an easy target because
the play calling has been a little bit wonky most
of the year. Well, you still have it. I mean,
the bottom line is like and like I said, the
four four quarter games and three out of four, you
know you still have a chance to win it. You have,
But what first and first and nine at the city?
What was it? First and nine of the first and
(21:39):
goal with to nine? The first and goal the physical
ever was Yeah, first and goal to nine. You still
have your your chances and you've got a chance to
win it. You're on the road a chance to go
to the NFC Championship game and you couldn't get it
done and they fall show it again and that's you know,
you can we can say play calling, we can't say anything.
We want the bottom line is you gotta chance to
(22:00):
win it on the road against a pretty good team,
and you don't do it, that's on you, and it's
and I'm sure the Falcons would said at themselves and
nobody else, just like yesterday was on the Saints. It's
nobody else now. The only person you can blame or
look at if you win or lose, as you can
say we did it or guess what we fell short?
And that's on us, on nobody else. All right, let's
(22:23):
look at let's look at the a f C. It's
one thing to lose. It's another thing to give up
forty five at home. It's a whole other thing to
give up forty five at home to Blake, to Blake
bortles Um. Look when when shas Here went down, I
felt like that was that was the He was that
important to how they played, to who they are, and
to the matchups they would face. In addition to you know,
(22:44):
a bad matchup if they faced the Patriots, but I
didn't know it would be, it would be. And turnovers
also led to some of those points. But give me
your give me your assessment of what went so wrong
from the Steelers perspective, Well, I just think, Uh, to me,
they gave their decent gave up thirty eight points to
Blake Bortles, right and and tell them Smith had to
(23:06):
the fumble return. But or and I don't understand this.
I could not believe the onside kick, and the question was, well,
we haven't stopped him all day. And I get it.
I think you have like a five or six percent
chance of getting the onst a kick. But if I'm
you know, it's easy for me. I'm Monday doing a
(23:26):
classic Monday Morning quarterback thing. But it's easy for me
to say, Look, I want Blake Bortles to beat me
for sixty minutes. And this is not discrediting Blake. It's just,
you know, this is what history is telling me, this
is what Blake bortles play has told me. At times
he's very good, at times he's not. And I can
think that Blake Bortles, it's easier for him to get
(23:48):
one first down and put his team in field goal
positioner as opposed to Okay, I have the two minute warning,
I have two time outs left, I get the ball back.
I get it in the hands of the strength of
my team, which Ben Roethlisberger and all the Killer Bees
and why would I'm not kick it away. I still
have no idea why coach Tomlin decided on side kick.
(24:11):
I just think, to me, that just was baffling. What
did you find that baffling? I certainly did. I did.
I did too, But I've you know, look, there have
been murmurs about There have been plenty of people who
have questioned, uh his coaching style for a long time.
Part is the Steelers. You know, the Steelers are a
team that doesn't make coaching changes. I feel like the
(24:31):
Haley thing, Like the Haley thing is never really worked,
and then he broke his pelvis whatever and New Years, Like,
I feel like that's the change that's probably most likely
be made. But but somehow Tomlin is a guy who
gets a lot of rightful criticism I think in the media,
but seems to survive in Pittsburgh. And I don't like
calling for anybody's job, but man, there there have been
(24:52):
some curious instances there. And like, look, they have some
of the best talent in the NFL. Right, you have
a tremendous Hall of Fame quarterback, you gotta arguably the
best running back, you got the best wide receiver, and
you have a really talented defense. Granted without Chays here,
that's a big loss. Maybe I'm overrating some of the
defense because of some of the name talent on there,
(25:12):
but I would have thought it'd be a little bit better.
Something has been amiss with the Steelers all season. You
mentioned fourth quarter games. Look at every one of their games.
They played some of the worst teams in the league
down to the wire. It felt like this this team
never really achieved, even if their record would tell you otherwise. Yeah,
you would think that. And the other thing that was
really I think a distraction all year and wasn't at
(25:32):
the Castro that basically called his team out today about
being cocky and stupid when we have guys and Levan's
tweeting about his contract next year the night before the game,
and we had what Mitchell is safety talking about, we're
gonna win the rematch against New England. You know, I
just don't know. I think Mike. If I were Mike,
(25:53):
I would kind of and I don't know coach. I
know I met coach Tomin, know him a little bit,
but if I were him, I'd kind of re evaluate. Okay,
what kind of demands are my placing on my team,
Do I have their complete focus when I need their
complete focus? And I think it's fair to say right
now that he doesn't. And that's probably the first place
I would start in the offseason. Why with the Pittsburgh
(26:14):
Stealers and now as coach Tomlins, we need to get
this stuff and where we need to be focused on
the game and our team and stop worrying about each
individual on this team. And I think right now, if
I would have to evaluate it, and this is kind
of an easy out, but you know, it's a team
of individuals as oppose of a team of individuals working
as one. It's a team of individuals working as individuals.
(26:38):
Patriots tournament to lose? Is that a Is it a
fair assessment? Boy? You boy, you hate not to say
that with Tom Brady, don't say in Belichick and you
know they're going to have their both coordinators. It looks
like Jocks McDaniels is heading to the colt and not
Patricia is probably heading to the Lions. But for whatever reason,
you've got Tom Brady. I wouldn't absolutely say it's the
(27:00):
Patriots to lose, but you know, it's just kind of
a crazy year. This year, and and you know you're
facing two NFC teams that have really, really good defenses
that I think athletically can match up well against the
h the Patriots. And again I think the Patriots defense
is solid. Does it scare me? No? Is it good? Yes?
(27:22):
And um, anytime you have Tom Brady though, Boy, it's
a hard guy to bet against, isn't it? Man? It
really is? Uh? Listen, man, that was an incredible That
was an incredible I don't know what it was. Eight
hours of football. I can't imagine as a guy who
knows as much about the game and lives and loves
the game. That's just a great celebration of your sport.
(27:42):
We can talk hoops. Uh the next time Chrisman NFL
on Fox Analysts, they're they're doing really well. Holtman's in
a great job. Chris, Thanks so much for joining us anytime.
Thanks for having me. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows and Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. The Pittsburgh Steelers that there was
(28:06):
something off about them all season. It was that you
can't put your finger on it. I don't know exactly
what it is. But there's something about this team that
ain't that ain't right, you know that ain't right. And
I couldn't figure it out, but I saw it all year.
All right, let's start with Let's start with Mike Tomlan
(28:27):
talking about why he attempted the onside kick. You know,
we want to get the ball back, you know. Um,
we hadn't stopped them convincingly enough to to take any
other approach, in my opinion, and it was my decision, alright,
So my decision. He did the buck stops here, which
I did, which I liked. Um, are we being too music?
(28:49):
Are we being two results oriented in crushing the onside
kick like you? Had they gotten it, he would have
acted like you had been a genius. Remember Sean Payton
did the same thing in a Super Bowl got the
ball back in an on side kick that was a huge,
huge play. Um, are we being too results oriented? Probably
that's just sort of the nature of how things work.
(29:10):
But I think in that particular situation, you would hope
that coming off of a bye week, the defense wouldn't
have struggled that much. With the Jaguars team that isn't
necessarily known for their offense, So at some point, and like, like,
I understand that they hadn't stopped them, but you're expecting
at some point you're going to make an adjustment so
that you begin to stop them. Yeah. I I just think,
(29:35):
you know, I think you play the percentage game in
that you figure, all right, we're gonna keep working. And look,
some of it was that game. Brian Baldinger, who joins
us UM on radio it works for the NFL Network,
It does his Baldis breakdowns. He showed some video as
to how loosely officiated that game was, and that part
of the Jaguars are really physical and they were holding,
(29:57):
and so was the so were the Steelers. But it
was officiated a lot more loosely than a lot of
NFL games. UM all that said, like you can, it's
still Blake Bortles. You still want to play the percentage
game and make Blake Bortles beat us on third and long.
And if he he's beating us on third and long,
you tip your cap to him. I think that's really
(30:18):
the all of this comes down to Blake Bortles, doesn't it.
But Blake Bortles. But we were black Blake Bortles. But
Blake Bortles, right, So I think did I like the
onside kick? I didn't, because generally the identity of the
Steelers is their defense. I told you their defense is
(30:38):
gonna be really different without Ryan schas Here. I do
think Blake Bortles played well and that offensive line blocked
well for for the Jaguars. But if it's me, I
still play the percentage game and say, hey, the more
third and longs I can force Bortles into to making
big throws, eventually, it's gonna come back my way. Here's
Tomlin being asked about the possible of the team was
(31:00):
looking ahead to the Patriots? You feel like your team
was guilty of looking ahead to the basement? No, man,
you know this this team whacked us good. Um in October? Man,
were you kidding me? We realized it's a good football team. Uh,
they played better than we did today. Yeah, I'm I'm
kind of. I mean, like, I don't think Mike Mitchell
(31:20):
should have stood outside the locker room and and yelled
at the Jaguars. I do think the Jaguars were really,
really ready to play. So that's one of the things.
One of the things about the Steelers though, is like, look,
if you're gonna talk trash, whether it's about Mike Mitchell
talking trash or anybody else talking, you better be ready
to go. And they didn't seem ready to go. They
just didn't. Here's Jalen Ramsey of the Jaguars and the
(31:44):
Steelers looking over there, looking past them. I was kind
of wondering what they were so confident because we stomped.
They asked last time, we knew we was gonna do
the same this time. I mean we were confident coming
in the game. Um So I mean, I can't tell
you why they were so confident. Um, but that went
out the door real quick. I do, like Jalen Ramsey
(32:05):
talking trash, I will point out that in in in
like the same sentence of I don't know why they
were confident, he says, we knew we were going to
stop their ass Like like, look, that's that's football, that's
any sport. Any of these guys you think, we think,
you think you're gonna beat the opponent. If not, why
are you actually playing? Why are you actually competing? This
(32:26):
is lebyan Bell when asked if the Steelers came in
the weekend too confident. Was this team a little over confident. Um,
I want to think that. You know, I think you know,
you have to come into a game being confident, you know,
and UM, I wouldn't nessarily say, you know, over confident.
We didn't look over the Jaguars at all. We know
those guys are a great, great opponent, maybe this earlier,
(32:48):
earlier in the year, so we wanted to, you know,
beat those guys. So we definitely didn't you know, if
we come in kind of overlooking those guys, I just
think even know they I'll play us again today. You know,
you gotta get those guys try it. They may plays
when they needed to um, and we didn't sell they
end up being a win. They're getting win. Um. You know,
I think it ends up feeling like confirmation bias. Right,
(33:12):
the Patriots were the game everybody wanted them to play.
Everybody said assumed they were gonna be overlooking the Patriots.
They weren't ready to play their down, you know, down
three touchdowns before you can even bat an eye, and
you assume that it's because they overlooked the opponent. It
is possible the Jaguars are just really good, right, Like,
look the Jaguars. Jaguars has been drafting the top ten
(33:33):
of the draft in the last ten years, and they
went out and spent They were one of the five
biggest spenders in free agency over the past two years. Right,
So they drafted and drafted well, and they spent money.
They spent money. The only thing they haven't had is
a quarterback. And the quarterback played pretty well yesterday. So
(33:55):
I actually I don't go with the they overlooked him.
I do think something has been a miss with the Steelers,
and everybody knew it. And there's been far too many
opponents that have done to the Steelers what the Jaguars
have done. Cleveland had him down. Indie had him down
every down seventeen nothing to Indie, Indie stinks. Stinks, But
(34:18):
you let the wrong team get a lead on you
that has like and even better talent at some positions
and all of those flaws of the regular season that
you're able to get away with because hey, we got
Antonio Brown and we got Levian Bell, and we got
Ben Roethlisberger and we got you know, t J. Watt,
we got all these different dudes. They just make up
(34:39):
for it. It doesn't work that way in the playoffs.
The playoffs expose those weaknesses, expose those wed them. You
know the same thing that the Patriots game. Patriots game
was played like a playoff game, right, And who was ready,
who was efficient? Who knew exactly what they want to do?
At the end of the game the Patriots did, who
didn't the Steelers? It was like a playoff game, and
(35:02):
like a playoff game, they came up short. Be sure
to catch live editions of the Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app Dot Got Leave
Show Fox Sports Radio. He's got a new book out
called Football Done Right. How the best NFL coaches breed Success.
He's Michael Lombardi, former general manager in the National Football
(35:23):
You worked for The Ringer. You gotta check out his podcast.
It is so good GM Street is so good. Uh,
and he joins us, um, let's let's let's start with
with the last play of the Vikings game against the
against the Saints. Michael, you spent your entire professional life
inside the National Football League. Have you ever seen a
(35:44):
game in like that? You know, You've got to go
back to the Baltimore Denver game where Denver throws that
pass up in the air and Flackle on a cold,
cold day in Denver, you know, ties the game and
sends the game at overtime. And you know, I mean,
it's just one of those unfortunate things that happened. And
you know, it's it's really not you know, people said, well,
he should have rushed three, should have rushed four. You know, look,
(36:06):
I thought the kid was just trying to make sure
he didn't get a pass interference call or illegal contact
on the player, and uh, you know, he ended up
ducking his head and unfortunately missed the tackle. And you know, Minnesota,
which fought hard in that game, you know, had opportunities
to really put the game away, never could ended up winning.
People could say maybe they deserve to win. I mean,
(36:26):
I think it was a hard fought win for for
the for the Vikings. Um, where are either gonna have
case Keenum or Nick Foles as a starting quarterback in
the National Football League? Now, look this there's a little bit,
there's there's a lot of timing and luck that's gone
with it, right. I mean, Aaron Rodgers hurt. Uh, Tony
Romo retires, Uh maybe maybe a bit before his his
(36:49):
run was actually over of course the Giants just besieged
by injuries and mired in dysfunction like that. There's some
other things kind of at play here. Uh but does it?
You know, in the NFL is all about trends, right,
is there gonna be a trend working away from any
of these franchise quarterbacks if you if you can build
an entire team around somebody, you know, I don't see it. Look, look,
(37:10):
I think really the common thread here is the fact that,
you know, the Vikings defense is really good, the Eagles
defense is really good, and Jacksonville's defense has been really good.
So I think defensively, this is where we are. I
think the league on a whole has been affected by
those injuries, and I think it's helped some teams that
especially at Jacksonville, which doesn't have to face Andrew Luck
(37:33):
this year, you know, and they can win the South
and get a home field playoff game. I think Minnesota
without Brett, without Aaron Rodgers in that division certainly has helped,
you know. And then when you look at it in Philadelphia,
I mean, the whole East was really kind of bad,
and Philly benefited from Carson Wentz having an incredible season
(37:54):
and they're here because of wins, and they're here because
of their defense, and they won one game because of
their defense. Really, not because that Nick Foles was great.
Nick Foles just did a good job. I think their
defense was great. Michael Lombardi joining us in the Doug
Gottlip Show here on Fox Sport Trail. Let's get to
the Steelers. The Steelers are interesting because obviously there's there's uh,
(38:17):
there's some stuff going on with their offense, with all
their weaponry, and yet some of the slow starts that
they got off of all year. Really and Big Ben
has been an outspoken critic at times of Todd Haley.
Uh but but their defense also was kind of getting destroyed.
How much of it is not having Chase ear and
a bad matchup, How much of it is the offense?
(38:38):
How much of it is it just the general dysfunction
within a very talented stealer team. Well, look, I don't
know if they're talented on defense. When you give up
forty five points to Blake Bortles and the Jacksonal Jaguars,
you can't call yourself a talented defense. I mean, they
never had a three and out in the game, they
never got control of the game. Now, Ryan Shazier wasn't
on the field, but that game wasn't a Ryan Shazier game.
(38:58):
That wasn't a space game. That was a downhill power
run game. And Blake Bortles through the ball and made
enough plays. I think that the Steelers have been looking
over and wondering about when they were going to play
the Patriots and instead of worrying about handling their business
at home. Offensively, you score four or two points in
a playoff game, you should win. However, you know they
mismanaged the game. The fourth down calls. All these games
(39:19):
playoff time, Doug really come down to a certain amount
of third and shorts or fourth and shorts that you
prepared for. Atlanta is going home because they weren't prepared
to run the right fourth and to play. Pittsburgh's going
home because they didn't have the right fourth in one
play twice and it costs them. And I think when
you break down these games, you can give credit to
one area in one area another, but Pittsburgh's red zone defense,
(39:43):
they allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to be five for five
in the red zone. Five for five, you don't win
games in the playoffs. When you can't play red zone defense.
And the Steelers have struggled to play red zone defense.
So we talk talent, but they don't back it up,
and I think that's the problem. Offensively, are they fund
to watch? Sure, they're like the Golden State Warriors. They
can run up and down the field. They look great. However,
(40:05):
that being said, you gotta stop somebody and you gotta
get control of the game. That's something they never did
against Jackson Bulle. Great stuffer. Michael Lombardi GM Street is
the podcast. Of course, got a new book out, will
pump it again when we get a chance. He joins
the Doug Otlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio. All right,
so what do you think changes with the Steelers. Well,
(40:27):
I think the Steelers have to look They have to
figure out a way to where they can play some
kind of defense. And I think Mike Tomlin has to
take some some of this too, because this game management
was atrocious down the stretch, you know, whinning on side kick,
when to call time out, that whole thing. I think
it was bad. Their play calling, place selection, how they
managed the game, the style of way they played. I
think the Steelers have to take a long look at
(40:49):
who they are and what they need to become. And look,
Ben's gonna sit there and says he's coming back for
two thousand and eighteen. Can Ben be still an effective player?
Will Ben run the place? I mean, there's always the
conversation that goes on in Pittsburgh, Well, we wanted to
run the ball, Ben checked out of it. Somebody needs
to get control of Ben and understand that this is
what we need to do and this is how we
need to run the team. So, you know, I think
(41:09):
the Steelers have a lot of work to do. I
don't think there as talented as people think they are.
I think they need to figure that out. And I
also think they need to understand that the ball needs
to go through Levyan belt. They need to run the ball.
They need to control the pace of the game and
limit their exposure all defense. Stug Gotli show Fox Sports
Radio and um of course, uh, Michael Lombardi is our guest.
(41:31):
Let me get to some of the coaching news. Mike
mclarkey was rumored to be out going into last week's
playoff game. Great comeback win over the Kanci Chiefs, then
they get thumped in New England. Now he's out again.
Why why. I think it's well, I mean horrible. I
think the whole offense has been bad. But I think
(41:52):
Mike didn't feel that way. I think when Mike sat
down with John Robertson, the general manager, and Steve Underwood,
the president, and they were insisting on trying have changed
to keep him as the head coach, but changed the
offensive staff, I think they found resistance in Mike Malarkey.
I think Mike Malarkey thinks what they're doing offensively is good.
I think what they're Mike Malarkey feels like the way
the direction of the team is good. And I think
(42:13):
there lies the problem, and that's why he didn't get
his contract extended. That's why the extension broke down. Look,
everybody knows this for a fact. In the National Football League.
When that GM job opened up, everyone knew the owner
loved Mike Malarkey. Everyone knew that. Everyone accepted a job.
John Robinson accepted that job knowing he had to keep
Mike mclarkey, just like Bob Quinn accepted a job in Detroit,
(42:35):
knowing he had to keep Jim Caldwell, just like John
Dorsey accepted a job in Cleveland, knowing he had to
keep Hugh Jackson. That being said, once you know that,
now Robertson had a chance. They thought they were gonna
lose to Kancity. They were reports Malarkey was gonna get
fired after the kana City game. Oh, by the way,
they won the game. And then the owner comes out
and supports Malarkey, which she had to do. She had
(42:57):
to discuell those rumors. But then when they had the
conversation about really truly evaluating your team and truly understanding
what you need to do to move forward, Mike wasn't
gonna budge. And I think this divorce how to happen
because both parties don't see the direction going in the
same way. And if that's the case, it's better to
end it now than later. Okay, let's let's get do
(43:17):
a couple of the other coaching hires um which which
of the others which some aren't still rumored, right like
Shermer to the Giants is still rumored because he's still
coaching him. It has become official yet, um Matt Patricia
to the Lions, and of course now Josh McDaniels apparently
to the Indianapolis Colts, which have the fits? Do you
like the best? I like Josh McDaniels going Indianapolis. Look,
(43:40):
I think Josh is a really good offensive mind. I
think he's learned how to become a better head coach
from the Denver experience. And I think when he gets
to Indianapolis with Chris Bower, who's a really good gentle manager,
I think those two guys could work hand in hand
if that's the way they decide to go. And I
think he'll make Andrew Luck when he's healthy, a better player.
And when you make the quarterback your best player on
the team and playing at the highest level, you're gonna
(44:02):
win a lot of games in the NFL. Um Okay,
but you gotta help me out with this. Am I
wrong to assume that McDaniels has to have confidence that
Luck is gonna be healthy. Otherwise you can't take that job, right?
I mean, obviously that's the case. I mean, and that's
the number one thing. I'm sure the Colt front office
and their owner Jim Mercy has told all the other
candidates that look, here's the medical here's where we're gonna be.
(44:25):
You can't hide it. Everybody's gonna find it out and
if you basically try to sell the job without him,
not a lot of people are gonna want them. So
I think that that had to be the leading point
of the interview when it started. Michael Lombardi, do yourself
a favor. Pick up his new book. It's called Football
Done Right. How the Best NFL Coaches Breed Success. He's
worked with many of them. You wouldn't believe all the
(44:47):
litany of names that he's worked with during his his
Tellar career at m Lombardi. NFL is the Twitter handle,
and of course GM Street is the podcast. Michael, thanks
so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
This is the best of the dun Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America. Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you today from the sunny
city of Miami, actually Coral Gables, Florida, where I'm watching
Miami and they're shoot around getting loose. They take on
the Duke Blue Devils tonight. I'll be broadcasting the game
(00:22):
for Compass. Uh Compass Radio Media Networks or whatever something
or other Compass Anyway, anyway, I get to be at
a game and uh, watch a cool game and do
a cool radio show. And look, there's a lot of
things that I could start with in some strong takes
about the robbery of the Drew Brees greatness. I thought
Calhard had a really good take earlier today, because it
(00:43):
is true that so often times in sports were so
consumed by whose team wins and whose team loses. Here's
Drew Brees has won a Super Bowl, had a shot
at another Super Bowl, and uh, though he didn't play
well in the first half, he played well enough down
the stretch to win a game with I think maybe
a little bit of an inferior team, especially defensively to
(01:04):
the Minnesota Vikings and one missed tackle is all it
takes to change history. But that's the way it goes,
so here it goes so and I want to talk
about the Steelers, as we have seen the cracks in
the armor of the Steelers all season long. And it's
one thing to lose to the Jaguars, it's another thing
(01:26):
to give up forty five to the Jaguars on your
own home field. So there's a little bit of I
told you so, and a little bit of I may
have told you so, but I didn't think it would
go down like that. A lot to get to. Let
me give out the phone numbers eight seven seven Fox Plus.
We got some head coaching news, some movement after yesterday's games,
um or and Saturday's games. Dan Buyer will give us
(01:50):
updates as those things come down and become official. We
get some college football job movements. And we have a
litany of outstanding guests for you. Outstanding guests for you.
So I hope you're having a great holiday and if
you're gonna spend time with us here in the Doug
Gotlip Show, whether it's on our hundreds and growing of
terrestrial radio affiliates or Serious Channel, Serious Channel eighty three.
(02:13):
Our first two hours the show are on Serious or
on the I Heart Radio appor do you want to
download the podcast you misseday of the show. Chris Spielman,
whose brother Rick, of course runs the Minnesota Vikings. He's
an NFL analyst for Fox UM who made famous the
football statement see ball hit ball, which of course there
(02:34):
was no seeing of ball last night. On the last play,
Chris Pielman will join us upcoming in fifteen minutes. D'Angelo Williams,
from a Pro Bowl running back, gonna join us in
the second hour of the show. Seth Joiner, a Super
Bowl champion a former Eagle great, will join us in
the third hour of the show as well. Michael Lombardi,
former NFL GM former president of NFL Teams, who has
a great podcast with The Ringer, will get his thoughts
(02:56):
on the coaching movement and his thoughts on what we
saw this past weekend. A ton to get to UM.
I love that in sports we so often want to
make it a part of it by the team. Right,
It's about the team. It's not about a guy. One
guy does not cost you a game. The team, the team,
(03:18):
the team, right. Yeah, but that's not really what happened
last night? I mean, come on, man, we can't in
fact blame it on one guy, can't we Marcus Williams,
who did play well, who has had a really good season. Ah,
he did with he didn't see the ball. I still,
even after the moment, don't think Marcus Williams understood what
(03:41):
he did wrong. Right. It was like um, private loud
and Downey in uh A Few Good Men, Ramas you
remember that movie A Few Good Men? Right, very good right.
You know, let's let's let's work our way backwards. Here's
Marcus Williams explaining what he thought went wrong at that point.
(04:02):
You know, I just gotta make the tackle when he
comes down. You know, it's just the little things that
you that you see and you gotta make sure you
you do all that you can to get him down.
Regardless it was only ten seconds left. I knew the situation. Uh,
you gotta make sure you you gotta make sure you
make the play. Yeah, yeah, all you had to you
had to look up. It didn't even come down to
(04:23):
necessarily making the tackle. This is one of the things
when you when you're in terms of sports now and
sports nowadays, is it's hard to teach kids situational time, score,
momentum possession. Knowing all these things, Williams knew he was
supposed to be on the outside, and he knew he
was supposed to make the tackle. But he still doesn't
(04:45):
know why he missed the tackle. Like he think it's
he thinks it's because he went for the legs instead
of you're going to wrap up. It's because he didn't
even see he didn't see the rule Number one. I look,
I didn't play college football. I didn't play profess action football.
I played college basketball and professional basketball. But I was
I was taught at a very young age to play
(05:07):
tackle football. And we told it to you you after Ryan
Shazier got hurt. One of the first things you're taught
when you learned to tackle is is see what you hit.
You have to see what you hit. And he didn't
see what he had hit. It's not a question of
just making the play. It's a question of the basic
(05:28):
fundamentals of the sport. But here's my question. You um
of the things you've seen go down in big situations
in your life, that one's got to be up there.
And and what I think is memorable about it is
the drip, drip, drip, kind of the blood dripping from
(05:50):
the body of the Vikings to where you're like, all right,
they're about to expire, right, you know how the movie,
the guy's laying there and he's saying his last words,
and you know, like, okay, death is death is very near.
Death is coming, and then all of a sudden he
sits up and he says his last words and he expires. Right.
(06:10):
That was the Minnesota Vikings. They get the ball with
twenty five seconds left, and they had used a time
out on the previous defensive possession, not to get a
time out, but instead to get a replay, which did
overturn a play. But you can't actually challenge at that
point in time in the game, so now they only
have one time out. The first play is a false start.
You're like, oh boy. Second play, they catch it in
(06:32):
bounds and they do make up some yards, but there's
seventeen seconds left and they burn that time out. Right.
Then they run the exact same play and Keenum throws
it to a different wide receiver who falls down. Then
on second down, Keenum's pressured and the ball and now
we're we're dealing with ten seconds laft. You can't throw
it over the middle. The The only hope is to
(06:54):
catch it and to get out of bounds. And you
feel like, all right, he's dying. This thing is done.
God do you feel bad for the Minnesota Viking stands.
But you start to think, Okay, we could have Brady
versus Peyton in the Super Bowl. We never got We've
never gotten Brady versus Rogers. That didn't happen. You know,
we never got Tony Romo in a Super Bowl. We
(07:16):
did once get Manning versus Peyton, but it was here
in Miami and it was pouring rain. It was a terrible,
terrible game, right, Well, no, no, that was Manning versus
the Bears. Manning versus the Bears. So you were just hoping.
You're like, at some point you went from being a
Viking stand and being like, you know what, Saints aren't
(07:37):
that bad. It's more fun to watch than the Eagles
going to the Super Bowl. Okay, I'm kind of in
on the Saints. And then that happened. And whether you said,
oh my god, which is what case Keenum said and
what I said and my kids are running around the house,
or you said holy bleep, whatever you said roblmost did
you were you watching the game live yesterday? That is correct? You,
(07:58):
I mean, and I assume you thought it was over.
I did think it was over. I pretty much figured
that's exactly what you just said about that. It's watching
them expire, Like watching the game finished, I was like, oh,
that's that. But I guess like they weren't even in range.
They weren't in range for a hail Mary. You're like,
no way this happens. And then you look they do pan.
They show the entire figure like, well, you know, that's
(08:18):
not far they could complete a pass and maybe kick
a field goal, and they're like, well, maybe they could
throw it over the middle. Then you realize you're just
not the time to throw it over the middle, to
line up to spike it, to run your field goal
team out there, and to kick a field goal. You're like,
this does not There is no way. Nothing voted well right,
nothing voted well for them. No, Um, Ryan, what were
(08:40):
you Where were you watching? I was watching at my
girlfriend's parents house. Now your isn't your isn't your future
father in law? Sorry, that's the only way I could
describe it, right. I can't go your your girlfriend's dad, right,
I don't know. It just doesn't sound as good as
your future father in law, your future father in law,
whatever you wanna call it, daddy. Um uh. Now he's
(09:03):
a Vikings fan, isn't he. They root for the Vikings. Yeah,
it's sort of like their family ties or from that
area of the country. So yeah, they were. They were
rooting for the Vikings. That's correct. The cold area of
the country. Yes, in California, prefer to call it. See
why does anybody actually live there? It is beautiful in
the summer, but it is not summer very often. Um okay,
So what was your thoughts? I thought? I was. I
(09:26):
thought that there was certainly a chance that they would
maybe get a field goal, but by no means that
I think that there was going to be a game
winning touchdown. I was, so I was going back. I
watched some of the game, and then I went to
the park with my son. We were plea he was
playing pick up basketball as some other kids. My wife
was texting me, and so I texted her because one
of my best friends of Vikings fan and and I said,
(09:50):
you know, this is just so you know, it's going
to come down to a Vikings field goal. They always
missed a big field goal, right, And so of course
Kai for Bath made the fifty three field goal, which
means she's like, oh, you're eating your When I got
back home she made the fifty three yard field goal,
She's like, you're eating your words, and like, no, this
game is not over. So I assumed it would come
down to another field goal, and then boy, it really
(10:11):
felt like I just felt like they couldn't get the
ball close enough to even attemp one. And so then
we started talking with my kid my kids, like can
they kick a seventy yard field goals? Like when you can,
but you're not gonna make it, like it's legal. It's like, yeah,
it's legal to kick a field goal from that far.
Like why don't they try? Because nobody can kick it
that far? U. Dan Buyer is uh, he's originally from Wisconsin.
(10:32):
He's a Seahawks fan. It's very important to point that out.
Brewer fan, but a Seahawks fan. By or where were
you watching the game? We're in studio yesterday. No, I
was actually at home. My wife and I were going
to meet some friends for dinner before they moved out
of town. But we wanted to wait until the end
of the game, and I was in shock. I was
in shock an hour after it happened, just because of
(10:54):
everything you talked about. They're not in hell Mary range.
All you have to do is make the tackle. It
doesn't matter or if Diggs catches it, just as long
as he doesn't go out of bounds. Every thing that
you said in the first ten minutes is what I
was thinking of. Why didn't that happen? How did this happen?
No offense to case Keenum. But then you're like, well,
case Keenum's throwing the ball. Remember when they even said
(11:14):
like if they're down, maybe they'll go to Sam Bradford
because they'll need somebody to throw it. So now you
still have case Keenum on the field. All of that
completely shocked. Um. I actually think the one that the
one that I the the game that it's uh, I'm
trying to think which one's the Auburn one in the
(11:34):
Iron Bowl? Um the kicks that one. That one was
one to which I was like, well this one that
but that was going to overtime is the difference, right?
But it was that was that was probably the most stunning.
We go from either they make it, and we go
to overtime and they miss it. I mean they miss it.
We go to overtime, they make it, they win it
to actually losing the game, which like I cannot believe
(11:57):
that happened. The one who remembered most Oh sorry, go ahead, no,
no going, I was gonna say the Patriots Seahawks, shut up, Ryan, No.
That that's the one that reminds me the most of like,
the Seahawks are about to win this game, to all
of a sudden it is over in the Patriots. Just one.
(12:19):
It happened, really fair. The one thing about that Seahawks
game is I was screaming, why doesn't Belichick let them score?
If you remember they let him score earlier in that possession,
they would have had time back for Tom Brady to
get the football, and they totally miss man. The Patriots
totally mismanaged the clock. Yeah, they didn't use their They
had time outs that they could have used and didn't.
(12:40):
Here's the thing with the Seahawks. You expected the Seahawks
to score, but they didn't. Like the Saints had the game,
so like the Seahawks didn't necessarily have the game, yet
they still needed to get in the Saints had the game,
it was theirs and they let it slip away. Um. Yeah,
I don't even think, like, oh, for Derek Fisher making
(13:02):
the shot with point four seconds, I don't think that
equates to it, because there wasn't really a nobody really
blew the nobody blew the play right. It wasn't like
the like they threw it in and he just caught
it and threw it up and there was good defense
and it's just a miracle shot, right that one. I
don't I don't think you can fault. You can't fault
the Spurs for that one. Um. I guess you could
(13:23):
maybe fault the Texas Rangers for having having the Cardinals
down to the last strike in Game six twice. But
we have seen that before in baseball. This never happened before.
We never had a walk off touchdown of that length
with no time on the clock in the playoff in
the history of the playoffs. So you did, in fact
(13:46):
watch history. The other part that's amazing about it is
I don't know any I. I have one friend who's
a Viking fan. I have one kind of family who
kind of likes the Saints because the husband's from from Louisiana.
Outside of that, I don't like nobody really cares those
there are two teams that nobody really cares about. I
also know everyone I know watched that game, and everyone
(14:09):
I know is just blown away by how it ends.
I cannot believe how it ended. Be sure to catch
live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at
three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
and the I Heart Radio app. Chris Bielman joins the
centfl on Fox Course. Former pro bowler in his own right, Chris, um,
see ball, hit ball right? Don't you have to see
the ball to hit the ball? That That's that's the
(14:30):
big thing that Marcus Williams did wrong, isn't it? Yeah?
I think, uh, you know, first of all, I twitted
out last night. I've done four since games, Doug, and
Marcus Williams is a really good player and a really
good fine and I think, as you know, stay of
course and will have a fine career, and his teammates
and coaches will help them get over this. And it's
(14:51):
gonna be confidence going to be with him for a while.
But you've got to persevere. But I think the thing
I always talk about is you know, see what you did? Hit?
What you see is up? Head up, wrap up. For
two reasons. First and foremost is the safety as a player.
You know, askar Ryan Shazier who lowered his head in
(15:11):
a vulnerable position. And secondly, it helps you execute in
making plays because you're seeing your actual target as opposed
to ducking. And then obviously I don't know what was
going through Marcus's mind. I don't know if anybody does.
But the situation, uh was terrible for the Saints and
glorious for the Vikings. So it dependents on what side
(15:32):
of the the river you're on in uh. You know,
I was excited obviously for Rick and for the Viking
fans and all that stuff, but I certainly feel for
for Marcus Williams and you just gotta bounce back. Yeah,
And you feel for Drew Breese to a guy who's
had an historically great career might have had another shout
at the Super Bowl and one went away from from
from from another super Bowl. But that that is that
(15:54):
is of course the sport. Can you remember a game
like that, like, you know, look, you have an incredible
football member. A game like that where the game was
felt over right, it really you know this, I mean
that that thing felt one because you had case and
you don't feel like he had the arm strength to
get it where you wanted to get it. You had
no time outs, and like I just thought all along,
(16:16):
like it's written in stone, a Vikings game of that
magnitude at home is going to come down to a
field goal, so I thought, well, maybe they'll get field
goal range. Then it starts on a false start. I mean,
there's a bunch of other stuff I want to get
to with you, but can you remember a playoff game
that felt that over only too only to turn on,
you know, on the last play, Not like that? No,
(16:38):
I mean, obviously you have some of the craziest games,
and you know the immaculate reception of course to the
Hill America and sev me five Pearson from stall back
the old metropulsis stating in the Vikings. But I think
when you looked at this one, just because of the situation,
and you know, I still I'm a little confused on
(17:00):
that route that the Saints actually had somebody jumped Kyle
Rudolph six yards off the ball, which I have no
idea why. I mean, that's almost the situation where you
put you know, five guys at the at the forty
yard line, you're rush thing, you put two over the top,
and you to send a forty from back because you
knew that's where there where. I thought four baths was
good from fifty set you defend that the territory and
(17:24):
make him in each you I just you know, there's
a lot of things that had to go to Vikings way.
Even the ball was thrown. If you noticed the ball
was thrown where Dix had to come inside to make
the catch. So I do think if Marcus would have
kept his head up and made contact, he would have
tackled him and bounce. No time outs left. That would
have been ball games. So something to go like that.
Everything had to be perfect in line up right for
(17:46):
the Vikings, and it did. If you take that out
of the equation. What went wrong with the Vikings. They
were so dominant in the first half, and they did
have a chance that four bath field goal, but that
was after the sts mr field goal of their of
their own, so we'll call we'll call that a wash.
They're up seventeen and nothing did they get did they
get tight? Did did they back off a little bit defensively, Um,
(18:08):
what do you think took place to allow the Saints
to get back in it? Well, I mean, I think
the Saints couldn't have played any worse in the first
half offensively, right, I mean, then Drew Brees started to
get rolling. I mean he had two bad picks in
the first half, especially the post that was underthrown again
or Sendeo made a nice play, but Sindejo was beat.
(18:29):
I mean that ball should have been laid out in
front and Drew underthrew it. Then Everyson Griffin does the
first block shot. I don't know if you've ever seen
one of those basketball before. But then Anthony bark But
I just think you know that when you're playing a
good team, to get down seventeen, uh, it's really tough
to come back from. The Saints almost did, but Drew
(18:50):
Brees is certainly capable. When Michael Thomas started and winning
his individual battle outside against jav Rhodes, they got Camara
rolling a little bit. And uh, you know, to me,
the NFL doug even in the regular season. I mean,
seventy of my games that I did share, they're all
coming in the fourth quarter. They're usually fourth quarter games,
(19:10):
and three out of four this week we're certainly fourth
quarter games. Yeah, the other one obviously being the Patriots.
When I want to get to that, get to that. Um,
all right, let's let's go to who they're gonna play,
The Philadelphia Eagles. They did have an extra week off,
they did fix some things offensively. That said, the Falcon
still had first and goal from the nine, chance to
win the game. Get back to the NFC Championship game.
(19:30):
What did you think of that play calling sequence from
the Falcons? Well, I mean, let's go to I mean,
people are saying, why are you half rolling Matt Ryan.
I think you're trying to get him a better angle,
and you're putting the ball in the hands of Julio
Jones who's six three, and you know, condunc anyway you want.
And uh, I just thought that you go with your
(19:51):
best players to make the plays in crunch time, and
they didn't execute. I thought the coverage was outstanding on
on Julio Jones. To me, it looks like I don't
because you think he missed time to jumped a little bit.
I thought he missed time to jumping till he fell down.
He yea he fell down and then he jumped and missy.
He did miss time and he went through his hands.
I'm not sure if you would have gotten in bounds
had he caught it. Well, that's another thing, but I
(20:14):
actually kind I actually kind of like, I kind of
liked the half role because like, look, the thing that
Matt Ryan does have is he's really really accurate, and
you're like, you're throwing to your best player. You know
he'll get his feet down in bounds and catch the
foot I mean, like, look, the greatest play I've seen
the Super Bowl ever was the Julio catch when they
were up twenty three last year. I want something similar
to that. Well, I was thinking, I don't know when
(20:37):
basketball with you, but I do because because I just
think I never get to talk basketball. But I know
what little I know about basketball. I know that you
want to create angles for a proper post injury pass,
and to me, that's what they were trying to do.
And the only thing I would fall Julio is on
is that you know, you have to put yourself in
position that if you are going up for the jump ball,
(20:58):
that you have to be aware of where you are
on the field so that if you do catch it,
you don't come out out of bounds or come down
out of bounds. Yeah, I mean it was I didn't
like to shovel pass play. I don't know if it
was supposed to be if he missed the slant, but
I didn't like the second down call more than anything.
That was the one that that was the only one
I would have taken issue with. I think that that
(21:18):
Stark is an easy target. Is an easy target because
the play calling has been a little bit wonky most
of the year. Well, you still have it. I mean,
the bottom line is like and like I said, the
four four quarter games and three out of four, you
know you still have a chance to win it. You have,
But what first and first and nine at the city?
What was it? First and nine of the first and
(21:39):
goal with to nine? The first and goal the physical
ever was Yeah, first and goal to nine. You still
have your your chances and you've got a chance to
win it. You're on the road a chance to go
to the NFC Championship game and you couldn't get it
done and they fall show it again and that's you know,
you can we can say play calling, we can't say anything.
We want the bottom line is you gotta chance to
(22:00):
win it on the road against a pretty good team,
and you don't do it, that's on you, and it's
and I'm sure the Falcons would said at themselves and
nobody else, just like yesterday was on the Saints. It's
nobody else now. The only person you can blame or
look at if you win or lose, as you can
say we did it or guess what we fell short?
And that's on us, on nobody else. All right, let's
(22:23):
look at let's look at the a f C. It's
one thing to lose. It's another thing to give up
forty five at home. It's a whole other thing to
give up forty five at home to Blake, to Blake
bortles Um. Look when when shas Here went down, I
felt like that was that was the He was that
important to how they played, to who they are, and
to the matchups they would face. In addition to you know,
(22:44):
a bad matchup if they faced the Patriots, but I
didn't know it would be, it would be. And turnovers
also led to some of those points. But give me
your give me your assessment of what went so wrong
from the Steelers perspective, Well, I just think, Uh, to me,
they gave their decent gave up thirty eight points to
Blake Bortles, right and and tell them Smith had to
(23:06):
the fumble return. But or and I don't understand this.
I could not believe the onside kick, and the question was, well,
we haven't stopped him all day. And I get it.
I think you have like a five or six percent
chance of getting the onst a kick. But if I'm
you know, it's easy for me. I'm Monday doing a
(23:26):
classic Monday Morning quarterback thing. But it's easy for me
to say, Look, I want Blake Bortles to beat me
for sixty minutes. And this is not discrediting Blake. It's just,
you know, this is what history is telling me, this
is what Blake bortles play has told me. At times
he's very good, at times he's not. And I can
think that Blake Bortles, it's easier for him to get
(23:48):
one first down and put his team in field goal
positioner as opposed to Okay, I have the two minute warning,
I have two time outs left, I get the ball back.
I get it in the hands of the strength of
my team, which Ben Roethlisberger and all the Killer Bees
and why would I'm not kick it away. I still
have no idea why coach Tomlin decided on side kick.
(24:11):
I just think, to me, that just was baffling. What
did you find that baffling? I certainly did. I did.
I did too, But I've you know, look, there have
been murmurs about There have been plenty of people who
have questioned, uh his coaching style for a long time.
Part is the Steelers. You know, the Steelers are a
team that doesn't make coaching changes. I feel like the
(24:31):
Haley thing, Like the Haley thing is never really worked,
and then he broke his pelvis whatever and New Years, Like,
I feel like that's the change that's probably most likely
be made. But but somehow Tomlin is a guy who
gets a lot of rightful criticism I think in the media,
but seems to survive in Pittsburgh. And I don't like
calling for anybody's job, but man, there there have been
(24:52):
some curious instances there. And like, look, they have some
of the best talent in the NFL. Right, you have
a tremendous Hall of Fame quarterback, you gotta arguably the
best running back, you got the best wide receiver, and
you have a really talented defense. Granted without Chays here,
that's a big loss. Maybe I'm overrating some of the
defense because of some of the name talent on there,
(25:12):
but I would have thought it'd be a little bit better.
Something has been amiss with the Steelers all season. You
mentioned fourth quarter games. Look at every one of their games.
They played some of the worst teams in the league
down to the wire. It felt like this this team
never really achieved, even if their record would tell you otherwise. Yeah,
you would think that. And the other thing that was
really I think a distraction all year and wasn't at
(25:32):
the Castro that basically called his team out today about
being cocky and stupid when we have guys and Levan's
tweeting about his contract next year the night before the game,
and we had what Mitchell is safety talking about, we're
gonna win the rematch against New England. You know, I
just don't know. I think Mike. If I were Mike,
(25:53):
I would kind of and I don't know coach. I
know I met coach Tomin, know him a little bit,
but if I were him, I'd kind of re evaluate. Okay,
what kind of demands are my placing on my team,
Do I have their complete focus when I need their
complete focus? And I think it's fair to say right
now that he doesn't. And that's probably the first place
I would start in the offseason. Why with the Pittsburgh
(26:14):
Stealers and now as coach Tomlins, we need to get
this stuff and where we need to be focused on
the game and our team and stop worrying about each
individual on this team. And I think right now, if
I would have to evaluate it, and this is kind
of an easy out, but you know, it's a team
of individuals as oppose of a team of individuals working
as one. It's a team of individuals working as individuals.
(26:38):
Patriots tournament to lose? Is that a Is it a
fair assessment? Boy? You boy, you hate not to say
that with Tom Brady, don't say in Belichick and you
know they're going to have their both coordinators. It looks
like Jocks McDaniels is heading to the colt and not
Patricia is probably heading to the Lions. But for whatever reason,
you've got Tom Brady. I wouldn't absolutely say it's the
(27:00):
Patriots to lose, but you know, it's just kind of
a crazy year. This year, and and you know you're
facing two NFC teams that have really, really good defenses
that I think athletically can match up well against the
h the Patriots. And again I think the Patriots defense
is solid. Does it scare me? No? Is it good? Yes?
(27:22):
And um, anytime you have Tom Brady though, Boy, it's
a hard guy to bet against, isn't it? Man? It
really is? Uh? Listen, man, that was an incredible That
was an incredible I don't know what it was. Eight
hours of football. I can't imagine as a guy who
knows as much about the game and lives and loves
the game. That's just a great celebration of your sport.
(27:42):
We can talk hoops. Uh the next time Chrisman NFL
on Fox Analysts, they're they're doing really well. Holtman's in
a great job. Chris, Thanks so much for joining us anytime.
Thanks for having me. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows and Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app. The Pittsburgh Steelers that there was
(28:06):
something off about them all season. It was that you
can't put your finger on it. I don't know exactly
what it is. But there's something about this team that
ain't that ain't right, you know that ain't right. And
I couldn't figure it out, but I saw it all year.
All right, let's start with Let's start with Mike Tomlan
(28:27):
talking about why he attempted the onside kick. You know,
we want to get the ball back, you know. Um,
we hadn't stopped them convincingly enough to to take any
other approach, in my opinion, and it was my decision, alright,
So my decision. He did the buck stops here, which
I did, which I liked. Um, are we being too music?
(28:49):
Are we being two results oriented in crushing the onside
kick like you? Had they gotten it, he would have
acted like you had been a genius. Remember Sean Payton
did the same thing in a Super Bowl got the
ball back in an on side kick that was a huge,
huge play. Um, are we being too results oriented? Probably
that's just sort of the nature of how things work.
(29:10):
But I think in that particular situation, you would hope
that coming off of a bye week, the defense wouldn't
have struggled that much. With the Jaguars team that isn't
necessarily known for their offense, So at some point, and like, like,
I understand that they hadn't stopped them, but you're expecting
at some point you're going to make an adjustment so
that you begin to stop them. Yeah. I I just think,
(29:35):
you know, I think you play the percentage game in
that you figure, all right, we're gonna keep working. And look,
some of it was that game. Brian Baldinger, who joins
us UM on radio it works for the NFL Network,
It does his Baldis breakdowns. He showed some video as
to how loosely officiated that game was, and that part
of the Jaguars are really physical and they were holding,
(29:57):
and so was the so were the Steelers. But it
was officiated a lot more loosely than a lot of
NFL games. UM all that said, like you can, it's
still Blake Bortles. You still want to play the percentage
game and make Blake Bortles beat us on third and long.
And if he he's beating us on third and long,
you tip your cap to him. I think that's really
(30:18):
the all of this comes down to Blake Bortles, doesn't it.
But Blake Bortles. But we were black Blake Bortles. But
Blake Bortles, right, So I think did I like the
onside kick? I didn't, because generally the identity of the
Steelers is their defense. I told you their defense is
(30:38):
gonna be really different without Ryan schas Here. I do
think Blake Bortles played well and that offensive line blocked
well for for the Jaguars. But if it's me, I
still play the percentage game and say, hey, the more
third and longs I can force Bortles into to making
big throws, eventually, it's gonna come back my way. Here's
Tomlin being asked about the possible of the team was
(31:00):
looking ahead to the Patriots? You feel like your team
was guilty of looking ahead to the basement? No, man,
you know this this team whacked us good. Um in October? Man,
were you kidding me? We realized it's a good football team. Uh,
they played better than we did today. Yeah, I'm I'm
kind of. I mean, like, I don't think Mike Mitchell
(31:20):
should have stood outside the locker room and and yelled
at the Jaguars. I do think the Jaguars were really,
really ready to play. So that's one of the things.
One of the things about the Steelers though, is like, look,
if you're gonna talk trash, whether it's about Mike Mitchell
talking trash or anybody else talking, you better be ready
to go. And they didn't seem ready to go. They
just didn't. Here's Jalen Ramsey of the Jaguars and the
(31:44):
Steelers looking over there, looking past them. I was kind
of wondering what they were so confident because we stomped.
They asked last time, we knew we was gonna do
the same this time. I mean we were confident coming
in the game. Um So I mean, I can't tell
you why they were so confident. Um, but that went
out the door real quick. I do, like Jalen Ramsey
(32:05):
talking trash, I will point out that in in in
like the same sentence of I don't know why they
were confident, he says, we knew we were going to
stop their ass Like like, look, that's that's football, that's
any sport. Any of these guys you think, we think,
you think you're gonna beat the opponent. If not, why
are you actually playing? Why are you actually competing? This
(32:26):
is lebyan Bell when asked if the Steelers came in
the weekend too confident. Was this team a little over confident. Um,
I want to think that. You know, I think you know,
you have to come into a game being confident, you know,
and UM, I wouldn't nessarily say, you know, over confident.
We didn't look over the Jaguars at all. We know
those guys are a great, great opponent, maybe this earlier,
(32:48):
earlier in the year, so we wanted to, you know,
beat those guys. So we definitely didn't you know, if
we come in kind of overlooking those guys, I just
think even know they I'll play us again today. You know,
you gotta get those guys try it. They may plays
when they needed to um, and we didn't sell they
end up being a win. They're getting win. Um. You know,
I think it ends up feeling like confirmation bias. Right,
(33:12):
the Patriots were the game everybody wanted them to play.
Everybody said assumed they were gonna be overlooking the Patriots.
They weren't ready to play their down, you know, down
three touchdowns before you can even bat an eye, and
you assume that it's because they overlooked the opponent. It
is possible the Jaguars are just really good, right, Like,
look the Jaguars. Jaguars has been drafting the top ten
(33:33):
of the draft in the last ten years, and they
went out and spent They were one of the five
biggest spenders in free agency over the past two years. Right,
So they drafted and drafted well, and they spent money.
They spent money. The only thing they haven't had is
a quarterback. And the quarterback played pretty well yesterday. So
(33:55):
I actually I don't go with the they overlooked him.
I do think something has been a miss with the Steelers,
and everybody knew it. And there's been far too many
opponents that have done to the Steelers what the Jaguars
have done. Cleveland had him down. Indie had him down
every down seventeen nothing to Indie, Indie stinks. Stinks, But
(34:18):
you let the wrong team get a lead on you
that has like and even better talent at some positions
and all of those flaws of the regular season that
you're able to get away with because hey, we got
Antonio Brown and we got Levian Bell, and we got
Ben Roethlisberger and we got you know, t J. Watt,
we got all these different dudes. They just make up
(34:39):
for it. It doesn't work that way in the playoffs.
The playoffs expose those weaknesses, expose those wed them. You
know the same thing that the Patriots game. Patriots game
was played like a playoff game, right, And who was ready,
who was efficient? Who knew exactly what they want to do?
At the end of the game the Patriots did, who
didn't the Steelers? It was like a playoff game, and
(35:02):
like a playoff game, they came up short. Be sure
to catch live editions of the Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app Dot Got Leave
Show Fox Sports Radio. He's got a new book out
called Football Done Right. How the best NFL coaches breed Success.
He's Michael Lombardi, former general manager in the National Football
(35:23):
You worked for The Ringer. You gotta check out his podcast.
It is so good GM Street is so good. Uh,
and he joins us, um, let's let's let's start with
with the last play of the Vikings game against the
against the Saints. Michael, you spent your entire professional life
inside the National Football League. Have you ever seen a
(35:44):
game in like that? You know, You've got to go
back to the Baltimore Denver game where Denver throws that
pass up in the air and Flackle on a cold,
cold day in Denver, you know, ties the game and
sends the game at overtime. And you know, I mean,
it's just one of those unfortunate things that happened. And
you know, it's it's really not you know, people said, well,
he should have rushed three, should have rushed four. You know, look,
(36:06):
I thought the kid was just trying to make sure
he didn't get a pass interference call or illegal contact
on the player, and uh, you know, he ended up
ducking his head and unfortunately missed the tackle. And you know, Minnesota,
which fought hard in that game, you know, had opportunities
to really put the game away, never could ended up winning.
People could say maybe they deserve to win. I mean,
(36:26):
I think it was a hard fought win for for
the for the Vikings. Um, where are either gonna have
case Keenum or Nick Foles as a starting quarterback in
the National Football League? Now, look this there's a little bit,
there's there's a lot of timing and luck that's gone
with it, right. I mean, Aaron Rodgers hurt. Uh, Tony
Romo retires, Uh maybe maybe a bit before his his
(36:49):
run was actually over of course the Giants just besieged
by injuries and mired in dysfunction like that. There's some
other things kind of at play here. Uh but does it?
You know, in the NFL is all about trends, right,
is there gonna be a trend working away from any
of these franchise quarterbacks if you if you can build
an entire team around somebody, you know, I don't see it. Look, look,
(37:10):
I think really the common thread here is the fact that,
you know, the Vikings defense is really good, the Eagles
defense is really good, and Jacksonville's defense has been really good.
So I think defensively, this is where we are. I
think the league on a whole has been affected by
those injuries, and I think it's helped some teams that
especially at Jacksonville, which doesn't have to face Andrew Luck
(37:33):
this year, you know, and they can win the South
and get a home field playoff game. I think Minnesota
without Brett, without Aaron Rodgers in that division certainly has helped,
you know. And then when you look at it in Philadelphia,
I mean, the whole East was really kind of bad,
and Philly benefited from Carson Wentz having an incredible season
(37:54):
and they're here because of wins, and they're here because
of their defense, and they won one game because of
their defense. Really, not because that Nick Foles was great.
Nick Foles just did a good job. I think their
defense was great. Michael Lombardi joining us in the Doug
Gottlip Show here on Fox Sport Trail. Let's get to
the Steelers. The Steelers are interesting because obviously there's there's uh,
(38:17):
there's some stuff going on with their offense, with all
their weaponry, and yet some of the slow starts that
they got off of all year. Really and Big Ben
has been an outspoken critic at times of Todd Haley.
Uh but but their defense also was kind of getting destroyed.
How much of it is not having Chase ear and
a bad matchup, How much of it is the offense?
(38:38):
How much of it is it just the general dysfunction
within a very talented stealer team. Well, look, I don't
know if they're talented on defense. When you give up
forty five points to Blake Bortles and the Jacksonal Jaguars,
you can't call yourself a talented defense. I mean, they
never had a three and out in the game, they
never got control of the game. Now, Ryan Shazier wasn't
on the field, but that game wasn't a Ryan Shazier game.
(38:58):
That wasn't a space game. That was a downhill power
run game. And Blake Bortles through the ball and made
enough plays. I think that the Steelers have been looking
over and wondering about when they were going to play
the Patriots and instead of worrying about handling their business
at home. Offensively, you score four or two points in
a playoff game, you should win. However, you know they
mismanaged the game. The fourth down calls. All these games
(39:19):
playoff time, Doug really come down to a certain amount
of third and shorts or fourth and shorts that you
prepared for. Atlanta is going home because they weren't prepared
to run the right fourth and to play. Pittsburgh's going
home because they didn't have the right fourth in one
play twice and it costs them. And I think when
you break down these games, you can give credit to
one area in one area another, but Pittsburgh's red zone defense,
(39:43):
they allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to be five for five
in the red zone. Five for five, you don't win
games in the playoffs. When you can't play red zone defense.
And the Steelers have struggled to play red zone defense.
So we talk talent, but they don't back it up,
and I think that's the problem. Offensively, are they fund
to watch? Sure, they're like the Golden State Warriors. They
can run up and down the field. They look great. However,
(40:05):
that being said, you gotta stop somebody and you gotta
get control of the game. That's something they never did
against Jackson Bulle. Great stuffer. Michael Lombardi GM Street is
the podcast. Of course, got a new book out, will
pump it again when we get a chance. He joins
the Doug Otlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio. All right,
so what do you think changes with the Steelers. Well,
(40:27):
I think the Steelers have to look They have to
figure out a way to where they can play some
kind of defense. And I think Mike Tomlin has to
take some some of this too, because this game management
was atrocious down the stretch, you know, whinning on side kick,
when to call time out, that whole thing. I think
it was bad. Their play calling, place selection, how they
managed the game, the style of way they played. I
think the Steelers have to take a long look at
(40:49):
who they are and what they need to become. And look,
Ben's gonna sit there and says he's coming back for
two thousand and eighteen. Can Ben be still an effective player?
Will Ben run the place? I mean, there's always the
conversation that goes on in Pittsburgh, Well, we wanted to
run the ball, Ben checked out of it. Somebody needs
to get control of Ben and understand that this is
what we need to do and this is how we
need to run the team. So, you know, I think
(41:09):
the Steelers have a lot of work to do. I
don't think there as talented as people think they are.
I think they need to figure that out. And I
also think they need to understand that the ball needs
to go through Levyan belt. They need to run the ball.
They need to control the pace of the game and
limit their exposure all defense. Stug Gotli show Fox Sports
Radio and um of course, uh, Michael Lombardi is our guest.
(41:31):
Let me get to some of the coaching news. Mike
mclarkey was rumored to be out going into last week's
playoff game. Great comeback win over the Kanci Chiefs, then
they get thumped in New England. Now he's out again.
Why why. I think it's well, I mean horrible. I
think the whole offense has been bad. But I think
(41:52):
Mike didn't feel that way. I think when Mike sat
down with John Robertson, the general manager, and Steve Underwood,
the president, and they were insisting on trying have changed
to keep him as the head coach, but changed the
offensive staff, I think they found resistance in Mike Malarkey.
I think Mike Malarkey thinks what they're doing offensively is good.
I think what they're Mike Malarkey feels like the way
the direction of the team is good. And I think
(42:13):
there lies the problem, and that's why he didn't get
his contract extended. That's why the extension broke down. Look,
everybody knows this for a fact. In the National Football League.
When that GM job opened up, everyone knew the owner
loved Mike Malarkey. Everyone knew that. Everyone accepted a job.
John Robinson accepted that job knowing he had to keep
Mike mclarkey, just like Bob Quinn accepted a job in Detroit,
(42:35):
knowing he had to keep Jim Caldwell, just like John
Dorsey accepted a job in Cleveland, knowing he had to
keep Hugh Jackson. That being said, once you know that,
now Robertson had a chance. They thought they were gonna
lose to Kancity. They were reports Malarkey was gonna get
fired after the kana City game. Oh, by the way,
they won the game. And then the owner comes out
and supports Malarkey, which she had to do. She had
(42:57):
to discuell those rumors. But then when they had the
conversation about really truly evaluating your team and truly understanding
what you need to do to move forward, Mike wasn't
gonna budge. And I think this divorce how to happen
because both parties don't see the direction going in the
same way. And if that's the case, it's better to
end it now than later. Okay, let's let's get do
(43:17):
a couple of the other coaching hires um which which
of the others which some aren't still rumored, right like
Shermer to the Giants is still rumored because he's still
coaching him. It has become official yet, um Matt Patricia
to the Lions, and of course now Josh McDaniels apparently
to the Indianapolis Colts, which have the fits? Do you
like the best? I like Josh McDaniels going Indianapolis. Look,
(43:40):
I think Josh is a really good offensive mind. I
think he's learned how to become a better head coach
from the Denver experience. And I think when he gets
to Indianapolis with Chris Bower, who's a really good gentle manager,
I think those two guys could work hand in hand
if that's the way they decide to go. And I
think he'll make Andrew Luck when he's healthy, a better player.
And when you make the quarterback your best player on
the team and playing at the highest level, you're gonna
(44:02):
win a lot of games in the NFL. Um Okay,
but you gotta help me out with this. Am I
wrong to assume that McDaniels has to have confidence that
Luck is gonna be healthy. Otherwise you can't take that job, right?
I mean, obviously that's the case. I mean, and that's
the number one thing. I'm sure the Colt front office
and their owner Jim Mercy has told all the other
candidates that look, here's the medical here's where we're gonna be.
(44:25):
You can't hide it. Everybody's gonna find it out and
if you basically try to sell the job without him,
not a lot of people are gonna want them. So
I think that that had to be the leading point
of the interview when it started. Michael Lombardi, do yourself
a favor. Pick up his new book. It's called Football
Done Right. How the Best NFL Coaches Breed Success. He's
worked with many of them. You wouldn't believe all the
(44:47):
litany of names that he's worked with during his his
Tellar career at m Lombardi. NFL is the Twitter handle,
and of course GM Street is the podcast. Michael, thanks
so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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