January 6, 2025 • 34 mins
Richard Sherman reacts to the climactic Week 18 matchup between Jared Goff's Detroit Lions and Sam Darnold's Minnesota Vikings. Sherm breaks down Jahmyr Gibbs' huge peformance, how Aaron Glenn's defense shut down Justin Jefferson, and why the Lions are becoming America's team. Also, Sherm reacts to the news that the New England Patriots fired Jerod Mayo after one season and Tyreek Hill announcing that he wants to be traded from the Miami Dolphins.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. You know you don't football championship. That should
always be the expectation. I ain't man at you go ahead,
Welcome back to the Richard Sherman Podcast. And it's been
a great season, Mitchell. A season of excitement, turnaround, ups
(00:23):
and downs for all these teams. And it finishes with
a great game in the Detroit Lions versus the Minnesota Vikings.
Your HONOLU Blue Boys really showed up. That guy friend
of the program, Jamier Gibbs has an incredible game, Aaron
Glenn's defense shows up in a big way. And of
course they're the game of the week, the game of
(00:44):
the night, one of the games of the year, probably
with two of the best records in the National Football League.
And of course there are Uber Eats Sunday Night Foodball
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the National Football League. Mitchell, what are you feeling right now?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't think the NFL could have dreamed up a
better scenario to close out the season. Two teams fourteen
to two, entering the season with the number one seed
and a bye on the line. I mean This is wild.
I mean a lot could be argued that this is
bigger than a playoff game. Right winner gets home field
advantage throughout the playoffs. In a first round by loser
(01:25):
goes on the road to play the La Rams and
Matthew Stafford I was in Ford Field. It was humming,
and it was buzzing, and God bless it, they dominated.
I'm so proud of this team. I mean, you look
at all the resilience, you know, you look at everything
they've overcome throughout this season. You look at all the doubt,
all the injuries, everything. Alexandeloni came back this game and
(01:49):
the defense just looked a lot different. This defense stood
on their head all game and gave the Detroit Lions
offense an opportunity. The Detroit Lions offense came out slow, sluggish.
I did not understand the play calling in the first half. Remarkably,
the Minnesota Vikings did not score a touchdown and we
(02:10):
still had life. Richard, I'm so proud of this franchise.
They earned the first round by They need to get
healthy now that bollteer teams are eliminated. That Halla Lulu
blue hat that you have in your hand, that Hata
Lulu blue hat. Will you be on the bandwagon in
this post.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Mitchell Mitchell, there's a small chance that I can jump
on this bandwagon because I think America has jumped on
this bandwagon. I think you know that Dallas Cowboys they
play on Thanksgiving, YadA YadA, America's team, YadA, YadA, YadA.
But right now, I think America's darling sweetheart is the
Detroit Lions. I think everybody feels good about this team.
(02:48):
What they stand for with their head coach, stands for
the culture that they built. And really there were so
many plays and so many things in this game that
really encapsulated, really captured the essence of what they built
in this culture. And you talk about Jamier Gibs, the
guy they picked twelfth overall in that draft and people said,
(03:08):
oh man, they overdrafted him, that's too high. Absolutely took
over this game, made huge plays. Jared Golf who was
thrown away, thrown away Mitchell, embraced by this fan base,
embraced by this rugged blue collar he threw away to
white collar Mitchell. He was the first round draft get
top overall pick. He threw away that and said, you
(03:29):
know what, I'm a blue collar guy, grinding it, getting
it from the dirt, from the mud, and they have
done that. This offensive line that they built through both
the draft and and free agency just really just freaking
started to grind on the Minnesota Vikings and that by
the end you just seen him just when they pushed
Jamier gives in for his fourth touchdown. It looked like
(03:50):
he was stopped four yards short and he was gonna
go down, but he just kept pushing his legs and
then you got Sam Laporta pushing him. You got the
offensive line coming in and pushing him, and he gets
to the end zone. Because they just never stopped believing.
They never stopped stop grinding. They never started Did I
just quote journey? They got just quote a journey down't
stop believe. Man. You know I can't see y'all. I
(04:16):
already know about that. But let's talk about the injuries,
because I want to talk about the because I know
everybody knows about it, but you really don't really sit
there and list them. I want to list him Aiden
Hutchinson broken leg out, Alem McNeil torn a cl out,
Kyle Pecko torn peck out, Marcus Davenport, tricep out, John Kaminsky,
(04:40):
Torn mc l out, Mackay Wingo me out. Those are
just a D lineman. These are just the D linemen
that they're missing. Linebacker Anzeloney just came back with a
broken four arms, stitches still in his skin out there
with a with a carbon fiber plate said, everybody wants
(05:00):
to be a doll until you gotta do some dog shit.
Respect gots the respect it. But again, that's a perfect
example of what Dan Campbell has built in this culture
in his community. These guys are playing for one another.
Who was back there in a defensive backfield. They've got
a Meet Robertson to play the slot. They brought Carlton
(05:22):
Davis in to be the lockdown defender to follow the
number ones to really help shore up this secondary, but
a Meek Robertson said, Hey, we're gonna play man coverage,
which they played sixty seven percent of the time. Aaron
Glynn played man coverage sixty seven percent of the time
against one of the most dynamic receiving corps in the
National Football League. With one of the top receivers playing
(05:44):
in the National Football League right now, Mitchell with three
corners out, Meek Robertson said, that's a bet. Mitchell took
the assignment, shut him down. Three catches for fifty four yards,
played incredible football. Could have had a couple interceptions. And
I can't express how difficult it is to play man
coverage sixty seven percent of the time. No team plays
(06:06):
it sixty seven percent of the time over a whole season. Nobody, No,
you can't. It's just impossible. And so Zadarius Smith got
a sack, Mohammed got a sacked, and then you saw
Azeloni just all over the place, whether he's covering TJ.
Hockinson or he's putting pressure on running stunts, running games
with the D line. They just says they are going
(06:28):
to do it with whoever shows up, whoever we have
will be good enough. And I'm not saying I'm speaking
for the Detroit Lions or that's their slogan, but that's
what it seems like. It is not the next man up.
Whoever's up, whoever's up, is gonna get the job done
at a high level. And they have shown that repeatedly,
play after play, day after day. And it's cool to
(06:48):
see the maturity and evolution of Jameson Williams you know,
running the route tree. You see Aman Ross Saint Brown
getting his Pro Bowl recognition, continuing to shine like he had,
and they're going against a really good defense. They got
two Pro bowlers on the DNS, they got a Pro
Bowl corner, they got so many guys winning awards over
there in Minnesota. It well deserved. But this Detroit Lions
(07:12):
team just showed them there's levels to this.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's wild because you're going down to Ford Field and
there's so much anxiety rolling through your head. You saw
it with the media, you saw it on ESPN. Everyone's
taking the vikings in this game. Everyone's recognizing what Detroit
has to go through and they thought, hey, you know,
if this is it, they're gonna have to slip to
the five seat and go on the road. This might
be the end of the Detroit Lions. They stood tall today, Richard,
(07:39):
I'm so proud of this franchise right now. But how
in the world, like Aaron Glenn, right, Aaron Glenn in
this defense. Eron Glenn deserves so much credit for this
win today because again, the offense was slow, they were sluggish,
and ultimately, I mean Jared Goff turned the ball over
within their own ten yard line given the Minnesota Vikings
(08:02):
hope before the end of the first half. This defense
stood tall early and often and throughout. How do you
scheme this up when when you're Aaron Glenn playing with
a shell defense with a bunch of guys that, like
frankly didn't anticipate playing on this game with this amount
at stake, Richard, I mean, this is huge.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It was a masterclass. And then you on the flip side,
I don't want to keep the Minnesota Vikings out of
it because their defense played a really good game. Obviously
after a while the Detroit Lions war on them, but
they they caused multiple interceptions, gave their offense the ball
in the red zone. Pressure Jared Golf throughout the game.
But again, he's shown the ability to overcome the past
(08:44):
stereotypes that surrounded his game and surrounded him as a
player and Aaron Glenn. I don't know how they hire
people to speak at these coaching clinics or how they
decide who's going to be the lead speaker, but I
guarantee you there's going to be a number of coaches
trying to figure out what room Aaron Glenn is speaking
in and how he comes up, so they can bring
(09:05):
their notebooks out and take notes of how to coach
a defense through adversity the way he has, how to
continue to motivate your team, how to continue to keep
guys prepared, how to how to continue to scheme it
up in the scream, scheme it up so aggressively, and
trust your secondary the way he did. Even though you
have young guys or or guys who you there are
very few guys you would trust to say, Hey, you're
(09:28):
gonna you're gonna be locked up with with Justin Jefferson
the entire game, and we're gonna we're gonna trust you
to get that job done. You're gonna hold him up
to under sixty yards in this game, and we're gonna
play man and man cover sixty percent of the time.
Amik Robertson said, Hey, I grew up with this dude.
I know him. I got you. That's a bet and
he did it, and I don't think we really can
(09:49):
give him enough credit. And this buy was so important
for Detroit because they have to get healthier, and more
time that you get off, the more chance you get
to get a couple guys back. Mitchell and I don't
know who they'll get back, like maybe you get David
Montgomery back, which would be huge, Maybe you get maybe
(10:11):
you get a Carlton Davis back, which would be huge.
But it also goes to show, hey, all the experience
that these guys and all the belief and all the
rewarded faith that you showed, and the guys that had
to play in their absence. That's depth. That's depth, and
that shows how great this program is in Detroit is starting.
(10:31):
It's really something. They built something special, Mitchell. This isn't
a fluke, This isn't a flash in the pants. They
were in the NFC Championship last season and everybody was like,
oh man, it's a feel good story. It's not a
feel good story anymore. They're the big dogs. They've been
big dogs he first, and I've heard Green Bay Packers
played them multiple times and said they should have won
both times and they had the better team both times.
(10:52):
I don't think. I just, honestly, how you justified that
they are one game away from another NFC Championship game. Metell,
You just got to think of about that as a
Detroit Lions fan. And they gotta come, They gotta come
through Ford Field. They gotta come and in front of
the one prize and find a way to get a win,
and that's gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No doubt about it. Richard, I am, I'm absolutely thrilled.
I mean, there's no way to undersell this. This was
huge for Detroit. You go on the road, I mean, listen,
you're facing the daunting task of going on the road
and facing Matthew Stafford round one if you lose this game.
I don't know how much motivation that was for this team,
(11:33):
but I mean certainly it was rearing itself in the
back of every Detroit Lions fans head because the last
thing you want to do is face Matthew Stafford on
the road in LA in the wildcard round of this playoffs. Richard,
I am, I'm beyond thrilled. Then you know what, Hey,
maybe my friend, you can see it here in Detroit
(11:54):
live when you're in town the next couple of weeks.
I mean, we might have to just take you to
a game.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Mitchell. I'm not one against being kidnapped and taken to
Ford Field and being forced against my will to watch
your honlu Honolulu Blue Boys go out there and potentially
send themselves to another NFC Championship game, it would be
my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
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Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right after the season closed and week eighteen, shocking news
came out of New England Gerondden Mayo is already fired.
I mean, Richard, how did this happen so quickly? I
think it was already decided and that's the frustrating part.
And I know people are like, he made poor decisions,
(15:28):
you know what I mean? He had some media gafs,
like where it said some things he shouldn't have said.
He lost games.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
This wasn't a very talented team and it wasn't like
they gave him a playoff team and then said, hey,
take this playoff team and take them further. No, you
gave him an empty cupboard with stale milk, stale crackers,
some flour and told him to make a meal. And
that's not fair and that's not fair. And I understand
(15:54):
that they're saying, oh man, he needed to show more
than he did. People can learn, people can learn on
the job, get better improved. That's what an off season's for. Hey,
these are the mistakes you made. Check them off. Hey,
don't do this in the media. Don't do that. Hey
when you when you're in game, make a better decision here.
But if you can't learn from mistakes, if every great
(16:15):
coach was fired after their first year, I don't know
if we'd ever know the names of some of the
greatest coaches in the National Football League's history. Like what
was Bill Belichick doing in Cleveland? Like what if he
got fired there and never got another opportunity, Like would
that be fair? If that makes sense, we would have
missed out on one of the greatest trajectories ever. There's
(16:37):
so many coaches that that have have struggled in their
first couple of years. I mean, I think Bill Walls
struggled in his first Jimmy Johnson was one in fifteen
in his first season, and just the timing of it all,
like if Jimmy Johnson was coaching now and when one
in fifteen, they'd say fire him, never give him another job,
(16:58):
and then you would have missed out on a super
Bowl winning coach who ended up being one of the
best coaches in Dallas Cowboys history. And they just put
him in their ring a honor and all of fame
and all that good stuff. But it's it's like this
microwave mentality that we're in right now where it's like, hey,
I don't get instant noodles, then then I need to
(17:18):
get somewhere else. And it's like you're gonna handicap not
only the guy, but you're gonna you're gonna handicap the
quarterback who seems like you found one. You seem like
you found a franchise quarterback for your organization. But now
he's gonna have a new offensive coordinator, and then what
if he doesn't succeed because he doesn't have a ton
of talent again, and now you're gonna be sitting there like,
(17:39):
oh my god, we'll do we fire him again? Bill
Belichick was five and eleven in his first year in
New England. Should you have fired him? No, you trust
the process, you let it, let it, let him grow,
let him learn, Like, give him a couple of years
to figure it out. Now, if you don't figure it
out in a couple of years, you let him go.
But at least you said, hey, we gave you a
chance to develop to figure it out. He knew the
(18:00):
guy had no coaching experience, no head coaching experience when
you hired him, and you hired him from in house.
So that's why I don't understand this decision, because this
is your own guy. Now, if you're saying you're doing
it to hire Rabel, that has me scratching my head
as well, because you could have hired Vrabel in the
first place. You maybe should have hired Rabel in the
first place, but what could he have done with an
(18:23):
empty cupboard? It wouldn't have been much better than this.
Maybe he got five wins, maybe he goes five and twelve.
But I guarantee you you weren't firing Vrabel because he
goes five and twelve, because you just say, hey, the team,
this is what the team is. You didn't give him
a good enough team to go more than five and
eleven to do anything meaningful, and so I just think
it's a bad decision. But it's a decision they're making,
(18:44):
and they weren't paying him much money, so it won't
hurt him very much. And I'm sure they'll hire Rabel
now because he's a New England guy. He'd be easy.
He coaches that way. He runs his program really strict,
really really to the earth. But the players love him,
they play for him, and I'm sure he do well
in this. But it's just weird that, I mean, Brian
(19:05):
Callahan in Tennessee, he's probably he's probably gone. He's probably
he's probably gone. He's probably getting fired. And it's just
like there's probably gonna be four or five head coaches
that are in their first year coaching being a head coach,
and they're getting fired. And it's like, I just don't
understand the point of hiring new coaches if you're just
gonna fire him after a year.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Dan Campbell was three thirteen and one his first year,
leading off his second year, he's one and six. I mean,
you look at these teams. I think they're all trying
to catch lightning in a bottle, are you right? I mean,
they want Mike Vrabel and they've made that very obvious.
And it's a shame because they finally have Drake may
they finally have their franchise quarterback in their position highly
(19:49):
in the draft where they're probably gonna end up taking
the top tier wide receiver if not Travis Hunter, who
can play both sides of the ball. So you gotta
believe this is a good situation for any head coach
coach to enter into. And it's a shame draw Mayo
does not have that opportunity to continue his tenure with
the New England Patriots. I mean, for a former player
to be cast away after one year with giving him
(20:11):
the job, it's a shame. It's all almost like they
treated him as an interim head coach, and I think
that's what they probably did. And maybe I'm wrong, but
I think they treated him as an interim head coach.
And now he's gone, so enter Mike Vrabel. I'm sure
predicting the future, I would assume Mike Vrabel gets that job. Richard,
we got to talk a little bit about Tyreek Hill.
(20:33):
I mean this stuff, I don't know what's going on
in Miami. And not to talk about MBA too much
because we're an NFL podcast, But you see the news
about Jimmy Butler wanting out of the Miami Heat. I
don't know if he's been talking with Tyreek Hill their
exit Their exit interviews work very similar. Tyreek says, I'm out,
(20:56):
bro it was great playing here, but at the end
of the day, I have to do what's best for
my career. And listen, I don't blame him, you know.
I mean, he's a guy that's in the peak of
his you know, of his athletic career, right and he
probably wants to go out and win. But he had
that opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs. It's a shame
(21:17):
he just realized that now with Miami. What do you
think about this whole situation going on with Tyreek in Miami.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love Tarreek. I think he's a great player. He's
gonna he's a special player, special talent. But it's one
of those situations where you think the grass is greener
on the other side, and then you look up and
it's just grass and you're like, hey, I chase the money,
and now I'm unhappy because the money doesn't fill the
void that I Maybe winning is more important than money,
and now he realizes that way. But it takes losing
(21:43):
to realize that. It literally took him to go against
the team that he played for and to them to
beat him in the playoffs and go on to win
a super without him, you know, and sometimes that is
a shot to the ego. And I'm sure that was
a shot to his ego in that playoff game, to
lose to your form team and then to watch them
go win a super Bowl without you, go continue to
thrive without you. There. They're fifteen and two this season,
(22:07):
haven't really looked back since you left, won back to
back super Bowl since you left. So it's one of
those situations where it almost feels like, Hey, I'm gonna
show these guys. I'm gonna go get my money, and
then you guys gonna see how much you miss me.
And then you realize, Damn, they don't miss me that much.
They don't. They're not even thinking about me. Not Damn.
They just going on like the train kept rolling. Maybe
(22:29):
I wasn't that important, Maybe I was just a cog
in a wheel. And he is a special player. He
went to Miami and had a lot of success, had
an incredible season. But this wasn't anybody else's doing. You know,
they didn't force you out of Kansas City. You had
to go get the money. You had a price that
you wanted. Now, if you're saying you'd rather take less
money to win that, maybe that's growth, Maybe that's maturity,
(22:50):
Maybe that's a different stance than you're used to. But
I think this is just him being emotional. I don't
know if Miami would be open to trade him. They
had to trade so much to get him in the
first place. I think they trade what two first rounders
for him and paid him max money. I don't know
if another team is going to match that, especially you know,
after the year he had. He's getting older. Everybody gets older,
(23:12):
you know. But maybe there's a team out there that
that is willing to pay the price Miami paid for
him to get him to come to them. But I
highly doubt that's going to be a winning team. And
that's the thing, you know, you saying I want to
go to a winning team. There aren't any winning teams
that are minus a number one receiver, Like of the
teams that are one than two and three Seeds. Maybe Buffalo,
(23:35):
you know, maybe Buffalo would be can be convinced. You
talk about Philadelphia, they have a j Brown. You talk
about Detroit, they have Ama and ro You know they
have Jamison Williams to do that job. You talk about Baltimore.
Could Baltimore use him perhaps, But are they trading two
first rounders? I highly doubt it. And so those are
the situations you run into where you're like, I don't
know if you'll be able to get back to where
(23:57):
you were unless Kansas City is like, hey, we'll take
him back. But I guarantee you Kansas City is going
to do that for a reduced price. You know, maybe
they give you a third rounder, a third rounder, and
you know, a fifth rounder, and now they get Treek
killed back. I mean that sounds like the kind of
stuff that happens Againsas City Mitchell. So I don't put
it past That's exactly what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I mean, hey, the grass is not greener on the
other side, I'm going to go back to the lawn
I was mowing before direek kill. The situation of Miami's
wild But yeah, can you blame him, I don't know.
I mean, Richard you had that winning mentality in your
veins always as a player. Could you imagine playing for
a losing organization when you're entering twenty nine, thirty years old,
(24:39):
when you're still in that prime of your career.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
No, I'd be really frustrated. But I don't think i'd
be looking externally to change that. I'd be looking internally.
I was, you know, selfishly or I guess ignorantly. I
always felt like like, no matter what situation I was in,
like we can improve it to win a championship. Like
we always had the pieces. I always felt like, hey,
if I'm there and our team is, like if we
(25:04):
all play together and we trust each other, like it's
almost like ignorance is blessed kind of deal, Like it's youth.
It was my youthful ignorance and energy and it worked
at every level. You know, in high school, we came
in our high school hadn't been passed the second round
of the playoffs in like a decade, and we were
freshmen with a bunch of kids who had never played
(25:25):
football before. They were all flag football players. And then
our sophomore year we all played JV. And then my
junior year we all moved up to varsity, and all
our varsity guys left, and so we had a really
young team, but we went to the championship. My junior
year we lost. Then my senior year we pulled it
together and we won the championship by over thirty points,
I believe. And fast forward to Stanford. We go one
(25:46):
and eleven my freshman year. By my senior year, we're
twelve and one and win the Orange Bowl and number
three in the nation. And then you fast forward to Seattle,
who had never won a Super Bowl, who had never
won anything. By my third year there, my second year,
we should have probably won a Super Bowl. But by
my third year, we're winning the Super Bowl, beating one
of the greatest quarterbacks in the National Football League's history
(26:06):
by thirty five in the Super Bowl with the best defense,
one of the best defenses to ever play. And so
I think you sometimes have to look within it and
really just say, if you're that kind of guy and
you feel like, hey, I'm a special player, I feel
like the guys around you are special, then you got
to start investing in your team and investing in your
teammates in it, invest in the things that help with
(26:26):
winning and the things that take no talent, the thing,
the camaraderie, the friendships, the bonds, And I think that's
what I've always worked on investing in. And he's an
incredible talent. I understand his frustration, but I don't know
if the Miami Dolphins will be up. He doesn't have
the control he thinks he has, so I don't think
they will just let him out of there.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
This is not the NBA, and I will see what
happens this offseason with him. Week eighteen. There's not a
whole much a whole lot on the line in terms
of a lot of these games just don't flat out matter, right.
I mean, but a lot of players are playing for
a lot of moolah, right, and we saw that. I mean,
let's talk about your Seattle Seahawks. Gino Smith made himself
(27:06):
six million dollars today. Geno six million, Geno. I mean,
that's a payday and a half if I've ever seen one.
You saw Mike Evans make another three million dollars today.
You saw Baker Mayfield make two point five million today.
I mean, Richard, these incentives are wild. I mean, how
much motivation goes into Week eighteen? Is this something obviously
(27:30):
teams think about but is it more player focus, Like
does management say, hey, we want to take Mike Well
Mike Evans out of this game. We don't want him
to hit that incentive. We don't want Geno Smith to
hit this smith six million dollar bonus. Is that something
that you think from the top down is coming in?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
No, I don't with some teams. Maybe, you know, I
think I think Cooper Rush had a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars incentive he could have hit if he
would have played for the Dallas Cowboys today and they
played Trey Lance. So I'm sure some teams do it,
but I think a lot of teams want their guys
to hit it. That's why they put them into contracts.
You can't put them in there and then take guys
out of the game. Really cool for Geno, you know,
(28:10):
to have seventy percent completion percentage, like the incentives he
had to hit, we're really high. And that's why I
get frustrated when when Seattle fans are like, get rid
of him, he sucks, Like, you know how tough it
is to complete seventy percent of your passes over a
season in the National Football League when your offensive line
has not played well the entire year and you've been
getting beat up week after week after week, it's very tough.
(28:31):
So shout out to Gino for having a heck of
a year under all the circumstances. Not the best year
he's had, but set a number of Seahawks records this
season for yards, completions. I think he broke his own
completion percentage record, And it really grinds my gears when
I hear fans complain and like, man, we gotta replace him.
We gotta like replace seventy percent completion percentage. I understand
(28:55):
he struggled in the red zone this year. That can
be fixed, That can be adjusted. That can be chanting.
You can do a lot worse than that under the
circumstances he was under. And if you improved the offensive line,
you you get healthier running backs. You know, maybe knine'es
healthier next year. That all affects it. The defense plays
like they like they're k full, playing like they did
in the second half of the season after the bye week.
(29:16):
They played like that all season long. This is a
different team, and this team won ten games. Like you,
you're frustrated about all this and the guy won ten games,
seventy percent completion percentage, broken a number of records, and
won ten games, and they're saying replace him. That's where
I'm like, it's tough. It's tough in this league because
you're not getting much better than that. Like, there are
(29:38):
only five guys that can literally will their team to
a playoff, to a super Bowl or to you know
what I mean, to really drag their team. And even Burrow,
who was arguably the best quarterback in football right now
and if you depending on who you act, he's the best,
couldn't will his team in after starting four and eight
because they're the rest of it. His supporting cast was
(30:01):
so terrible that he couldn't get it done. And he
won the last five straight, still couldn't get in. And
so thinking you can just replace a guy like Geno Smith,
who was really good player and played some really good
football and is playing the best football of his life
is just silly to say. And I understand that he's
had struggles this season. The team has, and there are
(30:21):
things that can be corrected. A first year OC who
will get better, the first year of DC who will
get better, an offensive line that will likely get shuffled
around and some pieces replaced. You had to center retire
pretty much mid season. Things like that usually don't happen.
It's an unusual season, and they still manage to win
ten games. So great. I'm happy for Gino. I think
(30:42):
this was great. He earned his money, and I hope
he gets a contract extension and stays in Seattle for
a long time to come. Another guy who made some
money today and made some history. Mike Evans, one of
the best receivers in the National Football League and one
of the best receivers in the history of the National
Football League, hitting one K for the eleventh consecutive year,
tying Jerry Rice. I have not seen Mike Evans show
(31:05):
that level of emotion very often. You could tell how
much it meant to him, how much he meant to
his teammates, how much it meant to his family. It
was a great accomplishment and a huge win for the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who jumped up to the three seed,
got a own playoff game against the Washington Commanders and
a chance to continue their season after you up and
(31:26):
down season. But that's a heck of an award. Three
million dollars. Well deserved. Mike, I hope this discontinues. Even
with all the miss games, you found a way to
get it done. Shout out to Baker Mayfield, who picked
up another two and a half million dollars by being
top ten in the league or top five in the
NFC at each of the five categories pass a rating,
(31:47):
touchdown passes, passing yards, completion percentage in yards per attempt,
balling Mitchell. That is bawling. Baker out there cooking, found
himself a home, making himself some money. Love to see it.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
And you know what we dog on this NFC South
a lot. You know, you look at the landscape of
the NFC South, the Atlanta Falcons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Neither team really rose above the occasion until the final week.
But you got to give a lot of credit to
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baker Mayfield specifically. We
(32:23):
talked about the Detroit Lions and their injury adversity throughout
this entire year. The next closest comp is the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. For them to weather that storm and still
be in this position and get the three seed in
the playoffs, not a whole lot of people talk about them.
I would hate to go on the road to Tampa
Bay and have to contest with them. You know, good
(32:44):
luck to the Washington Commanders. I know that they've been
a Cinderella story of such this year. No one expected
much of the Washington Commanders. But I'd hate to go
on the road and play against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'd
expect a lot out of them. Shout out to Mike Evans,
Shout out to Bayker Mayfield, Richard.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Shout out to Todd Bowles. You know, he's done a
hell of a job too, And that's what I'm concerned
about for Jayden Daniels in these playoffs. But we'll get
to that tomorrow when we're talking about the playoffs. But
he brings a lot of exotic pressures for a rookie
to see.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well, then, no doubt about it, Richard. This concludes Week eight.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Team.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We're gonna talk about the playoffs more on our next podcast.
I'm still enthusiastic as hell about the outcome of tonight's game.
I lost my voice multiple times tonight, Richard. Please sign
us off and we will meet you guys again on
the next podcast to discuss the NFL playoff landscape.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Well, thank you guys again for joining us with all
the Richard Churaman Podcast. You guys have been incredible. It's
been another successful season, but the fun does not stop.
We're going all the way through the Super Bowl. I've
had a lot of fun doing this, rooting for the
teams that I played for, rooting for the Detroit Lions,
talking about every team, your favorite teams, the Minnesota Vikings
(33:59):
in their crazy run through this season. It's been an
incredible run, and I thank you guys for joining us,
for staying with us, whether it's second, a minute, an hour,
we sure do appreciate you. I hope you had a
happy holidays, and I hope you're doing everything you said
you would in your New Year's resolutions, keep fighting through
love and respect. Hit that sub button if you're new.
(34:39):
The volume
The volume. You know you don't football championship. That should
always be the expectation. I ain't man at you go ahead,
Welcome back to the Richard Sherman Podcast. And it's been
a great season, Mitchell. A season of excitement, turnaround, ups
(00:23):
and downs for all these teams. And it finishes with
a great game in the Detroit Lions versus the Minnesota Vikings.
Your HONOLU Blue Boys really showed up. That guy friend
of the program, Jamier Gibbs has an incredible game, Aaron
Glenn's defense shows up in a big way. And of
course they're the game of the week, the game of
(00:44):
the night, one of the games of the year, probably
with two of the best records in the National Football League.
And of course there are Uber Eats Sunday Night Foodball
Matchup of the Week. It's the matchup brought to you
by Uber Eats that showcases the two best team in
the National Football League. Mitchell, what are you feeling right now?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't think the NFL could have dreamed up a
better scenario to close out the season. Two teams fourteen
to two, entering the season with the number one seed
and a bye on the line. I mean This is wild.
I mean a lot could be argued that this is
bigger than a playoff game. Right winner gets home field
advantage throughout the playoffs. In a first round by loser
(01:25):
goes on the road to play the La Rams and
Matthew Stafford I was in Ford Field. It was humming,
and it was buzzing, and God bless it, they dominated.
I'm so proud of this team. I mean, you look
at all the resilience, you know, you look at everything
they've overcome throughout this season. You look at all the doubt,
all the injuries, everything. Alexandeloni came back this game and
(01:49):
the defense just looked a lot different. This defense stood
on their head all game and gave the Detroit Lions
offense an opportunity. The Detroit Lions offense came out slow, sluggish.
I did not understand the play calling in the first half. Remarkably,
the Minnesota Vikings did not score a touchdown and we
(02:10):
still had life. Richard, I'm so proud of this franchise.
They earned the first round by They need to get
healthy now that bollteer teams are eliminated. That Halla Lulu
blue hat that you have in your hand, that Hata
Lulu blue hat. Will you be on the bandwagon in
this post.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Mitchell Mitchell, there's a small chance that I can jump
on this bandwagon because I think America has jumped on
this bandwagon. I think you know that Dallas Cowboys they
play on Thanksgiving, YadA YadA, America's team, YadA, YadA, YadA.
But right now, I think America's darling sweetheart is the
Detroit Lions. I think everybody feels good about this team.
(02:48):
What they stand for with their head coach, stands for
the culture that they built. And really there were so
many plays and so many things in this game that
really encapsulated, really captured the essence of what they built
in this culture. And you talk about Jamier Gibs, the
guy they picked twelfth overall in that draft and people said,
(03:08):
oh man, they overdrafted him, that's too high. Absolutely took
over this game, made huge plays. Jared Golf who was
thrown away, thrown away Mitchell, embraced by this fan base,
embraced by this rugged blue collar he threw away to
white collar Mitchell. He was the first round draft get
top overall pick. He threw away that and said, you
(03:29):
know what, I'm a blue collar guy, grinding it, getting
it from the dirt, from the mud, and they have
done that. This offensive line that they built through both
the draft and and free agency just really just freaking
started to grind on the Minnesota Vikings and that by
the end you just seen him just when they pushed
Jamier gives in for his fourth touchdown. It looked like
(03:50):
he was stopped four yards short and he was gonna
go down, but he just kept pushing his legs and
then you got Sam Laporta pushing him. You got the
offensive line coming in and pushing him, and he gets
to the end zone. Because they just never stopped believing.
They never stopped stop grinding. They never started Did I
just quote journey? They got just quote a journey down't
stop believe. Man. You know I can't see y'all. I
(04:16):
already know about that. But let's talk about the injuries,
because I want to talk about the because I know
everybody knows about it, but you really don't really sit
there and list them. I want to list him Aiden
Hutchinson broken leg out, Alem McNeil torn a cl out,
Kyle Pecko torn peck out, Marcus Davenport, tricep out, John Kaminsky,
(04:40):
Torn mc l out, Mackay Wingo me out. Those are
just a D lineman. These are just the D linemen
that they're missing. Linebacker Anzeloney just came back with a
broken four arms, stitches still in his skin out there
with a with a carbon fiber plate said, everybody wants
(05:00):
to be a doll until you gotta do some dog shit.
Respect gots the respect it. But again, that's a perfect
example of what Dan Campbell has built in this culture
in his community. These guys are playing for one another.
Who was back there in a defensive backfield. They've got
a Meet Robertson to play the slot. They brought Carlton
(05:22):
Davis in to be the lockdown defender to follow the
number ones to really help shore up this secondary, but
a Meek Robertson said, Hey, we're gonna play man coverage,
which they played sixty seven percent of the time. Aaron
Glynn played man coverage sixty seven percent of the time
against one of the most dynamic receiving corps in the
National Football League. With one of the top receivers playing
(05:44):
in the National Football League right now, Mitchell with three
corners out, Meek Robertson said, that's a bet. Mitchell took
the assignment, shut him down. Three catches for fifty four yards,
played incredible football. Could have had a couple interceptions. And
I can't express how difficult it is to play man
coverage sixty seven percent of the time. No team plays
(06:06):
it sixty seven percent of the time over a whole season. Nobody, No,
you can't. It's just impossible. And so Zadarius Smith got
a sack, Mohammed got a sacked, and then you saw
Azeloni just all over the place, whether he's covering TJ.
Hockinson or he's putting pressure on running stunts, running games
with the D line. They just says they are going
(06:28):
to do it with whoever shows up, whoever we have
will be good enough. And I'm not saying I'm speaking
for the Detroit Lions or that's their slogan, but that's
what it seems like. It is not the next man up.
Whoever's up, whoever's up, is gonna get the job done
at a high level. And they have shown that repeatedly,
play after play, day after day. And it's cool to
(06:48):
see the maturity and evolution of Jameson Williams you know,
running the route tree. You see Aman Ross Saint Brown
getting his Pro Bowl recognition, continuing to shine like he had,
and they're going against a really good defense. They got
two Pro bowlers on the DNS, they got a Pro
Bowl corner, they got so many guys winning awards over
there in Minnesota. It well deserved. But this Detroit Lions
(07:12):
team just showed them there's levels to this.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
It's wild because you're going down to Ford Field and
there's so much anxiety rolling through your head. You saw
it with the media, you saw it on ESPN. Everyone's
taking the vikings in this game. Everyone's recognizing what Detroit
has to go through and they thought, hey, you know,
if this is it, they're gonna have to slip to
the five seat and go on the road. This might
be the end of the Detroit Lions. They stood tall today, Richard,
(07:39):
I'm so proud of this franchise right now. But how
in the world, like Aaron Glenn, right, Aaron Glenn in
this defense. Eron Glenn deserves so much credit for this
win today because again, the offense was slow, they were sluggish,
and ultimately, I mean Jared Goff turned the ball over
within their own ten yard line given the Minnesota Vikings
(08:02):
hope before the end of the first half. This defense
stood tall early and often and throughout. How do you
scheme this up when when you're Aaron Glenn playing with
a shell defense with a bunch of guys that, like
frankly didn't anticipate playing on this game with this amount
at stake, Richard, I mean, this is huge.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It was a masterclass. And then you on the flip side,
I don't want to keep the Minnesota Vikings out of
it because their defense played a really good game. Obviously
after a while the Detroit Lions war on them, but
they they caused multiple interceptions, gave their offense the ball
in the red zone. Pressure Jared Golf throughout the game.
But again, he's shown the ability to overcome the past
(08:44):
stereotypes that surrounded his game and surrounded him as a
player and Aaron Glenn. I don't know how they hire
people to speak at these coaching clinics or how they
decide who's going to be the lead speaker, but I
guarantee you there's going to be a number of coaches
trying to figure out what room Aaron Glenn is speaking
in and how he comes up, so they can bring
(09:05):
their notebooks out and take notes of how to coach
a defense through adversity the way he has, how to
continue to motivate your team, how to continue to keep
guys prepared, how to how to continue to scheme it
up in the scream, scheme it up so aggressively, and
trust your secondary the way he did. Even though you
have young guys or or guys who you there are
very few guys you would trust to say, Hey, you're
(09:28):
gonna you're gonna be locked up with with Justin Jefferson
the entire game, and we're gonna we're gonna trust you
to get that job done. You're gonna hold him up
to under sixty yards in this game, and we're gonna
play man and man cover sixty percent of the time.
Amik Robertson said, Hey, I grew up with this dude.
I know him. I got you. That's a bet and
he did it, and I don't think we really can
(09:49):
give him enough credit. And this buy was so important
for Detroit because they have to get healthier, and more
time that you get off, the more chance you get
to get a couple guys back. Mitchell and I don't
know who they'll get back, like maybe you get David
Montgomery back, which would be huge, Maybe you get maybe
(10:11):
you get a Carlton Davis back, which would be huge.
But it also goes to show, hey, all the experience
that these guys and all the belief and all the
rewarded faith that you showed, and the guys that had
to play in their absence. That's depth. That's depth, and
that shows how great this program is in Detroit is starting.
(10:31):
It's really something. They built something special, Mitchell. This isn't
a fluke, This isn't a flash in the pants. They
were in the NFC Championship last season and everybody was like,
oh man, it's a feel good story. It's not a
feel good story anymore. They're the big dogs. They've been
big dogs he first, and I've heard Green Bay Packers
played them multiple times and said they should have won
both times and they had the better team both times.
(10:52):
I don't think. I just, honestly, how you justified that
they are one game away from another NFC Championship game. Metell,
You just got to think of about that as a
Detroit Lions fan. And they gotta come, They gotta come
through Ford Field. They gotta come and in front of
the one prize and find a way to get a win,
and that's gonna be tough.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No doubt about it. Richard, I am, I'm absolutely thrilled.
I mean, there's no way to undersell this. This was
huge for Detroit. You go on the road, I mean, listen,
you're facing the daunting task of going on the road
and facing Matthew Stafford round one if you lose this game.
I don't know how much motivation that was for this team,
(11:33):
but I mean certainly it was rearing itself in the
back of every Detroit Lions fans head because the last
thing you want to do is face Matthew Stafford on
the road in LA in the wildcard round of this playoffs. Richard,
I am, I'm beyond thrilled. Then you know what, Hey,
maybe my friend, you can see it here in Detroit
(11:54):
live when you're in town the next couple of weeks.
I mean, we might have to just take you to
a game.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Mitchell. I'm not one against being kidnapped and taken to
Ford Field and being forced against my will to watch
your honlu Honolulu Blue Boys go out there and potentially
send themselves to another NFC Championship game, it would be
my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
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Speaker 2 (15:08):
Right after the season closed and week eighteen, shocking news
came out of New England Gerondden Mayo is already fired.
I mean, Richard, how did this happen so quickly? I
think it was already decided and that's the frustrating part.
And I know people are like, he made poor decisions,
(15:28):
you know what I mean? He had some media gafs,
like where it said some things he shouldn't have said.
He lost games.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
This wasn't a very talented team and it wasn't like
they gave him a playoff team and then said, hey,
take this playoff team and take them further. No, you
gave him an empty cupboard with stale milk, stale crackers,
some flour and told him to make a meal. And
that's not fair and that's not fair. And I understand
(15:54):
that they're saying, oh man, he needed to show more
than he did. People can learn, people can learn on
the job, get better improved. That's what an off season's for. Hey,
these are the mistakes you made. Check them off. Hey,
don't do this in the media. Don't do that. Hey
when you when you're in game, make a better decision here.
But if you can't learn from mistakes, if every great
(16:15):
coach was fired after their first year, I don't know
if we'd ever know the names of some of the
greatest coaches in the National Football League's history. Like what
was Bill Belichick doing in Cleveland? Like what if he
got fired there and never got another opportunity, Like would
that be fair? If that makes sense, we would have
missed out on one of the greatest trajectories ever. There's
(16:37):
so many coaches that that have have struggled in their
first couple of years. I mean, I think Bill Walls
struggled in his first Jimmy Johnson was one in fifteen
in his first season, and just the timing of it all,
like if Jimmy Johnson was coaching now and when one
in fifteen, they'd say fire him, never give him another job,
(16:58):
and then you would have missed out on a super
Bowl winning coach who ended up being one of the
best coaches in Dallas Cowboys history. And they just put
him in their ring a honor and all of fame
and all that good stuff. But it's it's like this
microwave mentality that we're in right now where it's like, hey,
I don't get instant noodles, then then I need to
(17:18):
get somewhere else. And it's like you're gonna handicap not
only the guy, but you're gonna you're gonna handicap the
quarterback who seems like you found one. You seem like
you found a franchise quarterback for your organization. But now
he's gonna have a new offensive coordinator, and then what
if he doesn't succeed because he doesn't have a ton
of talent again, and now you're gonna be sitting there like,
(17:39):
oh my god, we'll do we fire him again? Bill
Belichick was five and eleven in his first year in
New England. Should you have fired him? No, you trust
the process, you let it, let it, let him grow,
let him learn, Like, give him a couple of years
to figure it out. Now, if you don't figure it
out in a couple of years, you let him go.
But at least you said, hey, we gave you a
chance to develop to figure it out. He knew the
(18:00):
guy had no coaching experience, no head coaching experience when
you hired him, and you hired him from in house.
So that's why I don't understand this decision, because this
is your own guy. Now, if you're saying you're doing
it to hire Rabel, that has me scratching my head
as well, because you could have hired Vrabel in the
first place. You maybe should have hired Rabel in the
first place, but what could he have done with an
(18:23):
empty cupboard? It wouldn't have been much better than this.
Maybe he got five wins, maybe he goes five and twelve.
But I guarantee you you weren't firing Vrabel because he
goes five and twelve, because you just say, hey, the team,
this is what the team is. You didn't give him
a good enough team to go more than five and
eleven to do anything meaningful, and so I just think
it's a bad decision. But it's a decision they're making,
(18:44):
and they weren't paying him much money, so it won't
hurt him very much. And I'm sure they'll hire Rabel
now because he's a New England guy. He'd be easy.
He coaches that way. He runs his program really strict,
really really to the earth. But the players love him,
they play for him, and I'm sure he do well
in this. But it's just weird that, I mean, Brian
(19:05):
Callahan in Tennessee, he's probably he's probably gone. He's probably
he's probably gone. He's probably getting fired. And it's just
like there's probably gonna be four or five head coaches
that are in their first year coaching being a head coach,
and they're getting fired. And it's like, I just don't
understand the point of hiring new coaches if you're just
gonna fire him after a year.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Dan Campbell was three thirteen and one his first year,
leading off his second year, he's one and six. I mean,
you look at these teams. I think they're all trying
to catch lightning in a bottle, are you right? I mean,
they want Mike Vrabel and they've made that very obvious.
And it's a shame because they finally have Drake may
they finally have their franchise quarterback in their position highly
(19:49):
in the draft where they're probably gonna end up taking
the top tier wide receiver if not Travis Hunter, who
can play both sides of the ball. So you gotta
believe this is a good situation for any head coach
coach to enter into. And it's a shame draw Mayo
does not have that opportunity to continue his tenure with
the New England Patriots. I mean, for a former player
to be cast away after one year with giving him
(20:11):
the job, it's a shame. It's all almost like they
treated him as an interim head coach, and I think
that's what they probably did. And maybe I'm wrong, but
I think they treated him as an interim head coach.
And now he's gone, so enter Mike Vrabel. I'm sure
predicting the future, I would assume Mike Vrabel gets that job. Richard,
we got to talk a little bit about Tyreek Hill.
(20:33):
I mean this stuff, I don't know what's going on
in Miami. And not to talk about MBA too much
because we're an NFL podcast, But you see the news
about Jimmy Butler wanting out of the Miami Heat. I
don't know if he's been talking with Tyreek Hill their
exit Their exit interviews work very similar. Tyreek says, I'm out,
(20:56):
bro it was great playing here, but at the end
of the day, I have to do what's best for
my career. And listen, I don't blame him, you know.
I mean, he's a guy that's in the peak of
his you know, of his athletic career, right and he
probably wants to go out and win. But he had
that opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs. It's a shame
(21:17):
he just realized that now with Miami. What do you
think about this whole situation going on with Tyreek in Miami.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I love Tarreek. I think he's a great player. He's
gonna he's a special player, special talent. But it's one
of those situations where you think the grass is greener
on the other side, and then you look up and
it's just grass and you're like, hey, I chase the money,
and now I'm unhappy because the money doesn't fill the
void that I Maybe winning is more important than money,
and now he realizes that way. But it takes losing
(21:43):
to realize that. It literally took him to go against
the team that he played for and to them to
beat him in the playoffs and go on to win
a super without him, you know, and sometimes that is
a shot to the ego. And I'm sure that was
a shot to his ego in that playoff game, to
lose to your form team and then to watch them
go win a super Bowl without you, go continue to
thrive without you. There. They're fifteen and two this season,
(22:07):
haven't really looked back since you left, won back to
back super Bowl since you left. So it's one of
those situations where it almost feels like, Hey, I'm gonna
show these guys. I'm gonna go get my money, and
then you guys gonna see how much you miss me.
And then you realize, Damn, they don't miss me that much.
They don't. They're not even thinking about me. Not Damn.
They just going on like the train kept rolling. Maybe
(22:29):
I wasn't that important, Maybe I was just a cog
in a wheel. And he is a special player. He
went to Miami and had a lot of success, had
an incredible season. But this wasn't anybody else's doing. You know,
they didn't force you out of Kansas City. You had
to go get the money. You had a price that
you wanted. Now, if you're saying you'd rather take less
money to win that, maybe that's growth, Maybe that's maturity,
(22:50):
Maybe that's a different stance than you're used to. But
I think this is just him being emotional. I don't
know if Miami would be open to trade him. They
had to trade so much to get him in the
first place. I think they trade what two first rounders
for him and paid him max money. I don't know
if another team is going to match that, especially you know,
after the year he had. He's getting older. Everybody gets older,
(23:12):
you know. But maybe there's a team out there that
that is willing to pay the price Miami paid for
him to get him to come to them. But I
highly doubt that's going to be a winning team. And
that's the thing, you know, you saying I want to
go to a winning team. There aren't any winning teams
that are minus a number one receiver, Like of the
teams that are one than two and three Seeds. Maybe Buffalo,
(23:35):
you know, maybe Buffalo would be can be convinced. You
talk about Philadelphia, they have a j Brown. You talk
about Detroit, they have Ama and ro You know they
have Jamison Williams to do that job. You talk about Baltimore.
Could Baltimore use him perhaps, But are they trading two
first rounders? I highly doubt it. And so those are
the situations you run into where you're like, I don't
know if you'll be able to get back to where
(23:57):
you were unless Kansas City is like, hey, we'll take
him back. But I guarantee you Kansas City is going
to do that for a reduced price. You know, maybe
they give you a third rounder, a third rounder, and
you know, a fifth rounder, and now they get Treek
killed back. I mean that sounds like the kind of
stuff that happens Againsas City Mitchell. So I don't put
it past That's exactly what I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
I mean, hey, the grass is not greener on the
other side, I'm going to go back to the lawn
I was mowing before direek kill. The situation of Miami's
wild But yeah, can you blame him, I don't know.
I mean, Richard you had that winning mentality in your
veins always as a player. Could you imagine playing for
a losing organization when you're entering twenty nine, thirty years old,
(24:39):
when you're still in that prime of your career.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
No, I'd be really frustrated. But I don't think i'd
be looking externally to change that. I'd be looking internally.
I was, you know, selfishly or I guess ignorantly. I
always felt like like, no matter what situation I was in,
like we can improve it to win a championship. Like
we always had the pieces. I always felt like, hey,
if I'm there and our team is, like if we
(25:04):
all play together and we trust each other, like it's
almost like ignorance is blessed kind of deal, Like it's youth.
It was my youthful ignorance and energy and it worked
at every level. You know, in high school, we came
in our high school hadn't been passed the second round
of the playoffs in like a decade, and we were
freshmen with a bunch of kids who had never played
(25:25):
football before. They were all flag football players. And then
our sophomore year we all played JV. And then my
junior year we all moved up to varsity, and all
our varsity guys left, and so we had a really
young team, but we went to the championship. My junior
year we lost. Then my senior year we pulled it
together and we won the championship by over thirty points,
I believe. And fast forward to Stanford. We go one
(25:46):
and eleven my freshman year. By my senior year, we're
twelve and one and win the Orange Bowl and number
three in the nation. And then you fast forward to Seattle,
who had never won a Super Bowl, who had never
won anything. By my third year there, my second year,
we should have probably won a Super Bowl. But by
my third year, we're winning the Super Bowl, beating one
of the greatest quarterbacks in the National Football League's history
(26:06):
by thirty five in the Super Bowl with the best defense,
one of the best defenses to ever play. And so
I think you sometimes have to look within it and
really just say, if you're that kind of guy and
you feel like, hey, I'm a special player, I feel
like the guys around you are special, then you got
to start investing in your team and investing in your
teammates in it, invest in the things that help with
(26:26):
winning and the things that take no talent, the thing,
the camaraderie, the friendships, the bonds, And I think that's
what I've always worked on investing in. And he's an
incredible talent. I understand his frustration, but I don't know
if the Miami Dolphins will be up. He doesn't have
the control he thinks he has, so I don't think
they will just let him out of there.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
This is not the NBA, and I will see what
happens this offseason with him. Week eighteen. There's not a
whole much a whole lot on the line in terms
of a lot of these games just don't flat out matter, right.
I mean, but a lot of players are playing for
a lot of moolah, right, and we saw that. I mean,
let's talk about your Seattle Seahawks. Gino Smith made himself
(27:06):
six million dollars today. Geno six million, Geno. I mean,
that's a payday and a half if I've ever seen one.
You saw Mike Evans make another three million dollars today.
You saw Baker Mayfield make two point five million today.
I mean, Richard, these incentives are wild. I mean, how
much motivation goes into Week eighteen? Is this something obviously
(27:30):
teams think about but is it more player focus, Like
does management say, hey, we want to take Mike Well
Mike Evans out of this game. We don't want him
to hit that incentive. We don't want Geno Smith to
hit this smith six million dollar bonus. Is that something
that you think from the top down is coming in?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
No, I don't with some teams. Maybe, you know, I
think I think Cooper Rush had a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars incentive he could have hit if he
would have played for the Dallas Cowboys today and they
played Trey Lance. So I'm sure some teams do it,
but I think a lot of teams want their guys
to hit it. That's why they put them into contracts.
You can't put them in there and then take guys
out of the game. Really cool for Geno, you know,
(28:10):
to have seventy percent completion percentage, like the incentives he
had to hit, we're really high. And that's why I
get frustrated when when Seattle fans are like, get rid
of him, he sucks, Like, you know how tough it
is to complete seventy percent of your passes over a
season in the National Football League when your offensive line
has not played well the entire year and you've been
getting beat up week after week after week, it's very tough.
(28:31):
So shout out to Gino for having a heck of
a year under all the circumstances. Not the best year
he's had, but set a number of Seahawks records this
season for yards, completions. I think he broke his own
completion percentage record, And it really grinds my gears when
I hear fans complain and like, man, we gotta replace him.
We gotta like replace seventy percent completion percentage. I understand
(28:55):
he struggled in the red zone this year. That can
be fixed, That can be adjusted. That can be chanting.
You can do a lot worse than that under the
circumstances he was under. And if you improved the offensive line,
you you get healthier running backs. You know, maybe knine'es
healthier next year. That all affects it. The defense plays
like they like they're k full, playing like they did
in the second half of the season after the bye week.
(29:16):
They played like that all season long. This is a
different team, and this team won ten games. Like you,
you're frustrated about all this and the guy won ten games,
seventy percent completion percentage, broken a number of records, and
won ten games, and they're saying replace him. That's where
I'm like, it's tough. It's tough in this league because
you're not getting much better than that. Like, there are
(29:38):
only five guys that can literally will their team to
a playoff, to a super Bowl or to you know
what I mean, to really drag their team. And even Burrow,
who was arguably the best quarterback in football right now
and if you depending on who you act, he's the best,
couldn't will his team in after starting four and eight
because they're the rest of it. His supporting cast was
(30:01):
so terrible that he couldn't get it done. And he
won the last five straight, still couldn't get in. And
so thinking you can just replace a guy like Geno Smith,
who was really good player and played some really good
football and is playing the best football of his life
is just silly to say. And I understand that he's
had struggles this season. The team has, and there are
(30:21):
things that can be corrected. A first year OC who
will get better, the first year of DC who will
get better, an offensive line that will likely get shuffled
around and some pieces replaced. You had to center retire
pretty much mid season. Things like that usually don't happen.
It's an unusual season, and they still manage to win
ten games. So great. I'm happy for Gino. I think
(30:42):
this was great. He earned his money, and I hope
he gets a contract extension and stays in Seattle for
a long time to come. Another guy who made some
money today and made some history. Mike Evans, one of
the best receivers in the National Football League and one
of the best receivers in the history of the National
Football League, hitting one K for the eleventh consecutive year,
tying Jerry Rice. I have not seen Mike Evans show
(31:05):
that level of emotion very often. You could tell how
much it meant to him, how much he meant to
his teammates, how much it meant to his family. It
was a great accomplishment and a huge win for the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who jumped up to the three seed,
got a own playoff game against the Washington Commanders and
a chance to continue their season after you up and
(31:26):
down season. But that's a heck of an award. Three
million dollars. Well deserved. Mike, I hope this discontinues. Even
with all the miss games, you found a way to
get it done. Shout out to Baker Mayfield, who picked
up another two and a half million dollars by being
top ten in the league or top five in the
NFC at each of the five categories pass a rating,
(31:47):
touchdown passes, passing yards, completion percentage in yards per attempt,
balling Mitchell. That is bawling. Baker out there cooking, found
himself a home, making himself some money. Love to see it.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
And you know what we dog on this NFC South
a lot. You know, you look at the landscape of
the NFC South, the Atlanta Falcons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Neither team really rose above the occasion until the final week.
But you got to give a lot of credit to
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baker Mayfield specifically. We
(32:23):
talked about the Detroit Lions and their injury adversity throughout
this entire year. The next closest comp is the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. For them to weather that storm and still
be in this position and get the three seed in
the playoffs, not a whole lot of people talk about them.
I would hate to go on the road to Tampa
Bay and have to contest with them. You know, good
(32:44):
luck to the Washington Commanders. I know that they've been
a Cinderella story of such this year. No one expected
much of the Washington Commanders. But I'd hate to go
on the road and play against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'd
expect a lot out of them. Shout out to Mike Evans,
Shout out to Bayker Mayfield, Richard.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Shout out to Todd Bowles. You know, he's done a
hell of a job too, And that's what I'm concerned
about for Jayden Daniels in these playoffs. But we'll get
to that tomorrow when we're talking about the playoffs. But
he brings a lot of exotic pressures for a rookie
to see.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well, then, no doubt about it, Richard. This concludes Week eight.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Team.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
We're gonna talk about the playoffs more on our next podcast.
I'm still enthusiastic as hell about the outcome of tonight's game.
I lost my voice multiple times tonight, Richard. Please sign
us off and we will meet you guys again on
the next podcast to discuss the NFL playoff landscape.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Well, thank you guys again for joining us with all
the Richard Churaman Podcast. You guys have been incredible. It's
been another successful season, but the fun does not stop.
We're going all the way through the Super Bowl. I've
had a lot of fun doing this, rooting for the
teams that I played for, rooting for the Detroit Lions,
talking about every team, your favorite teams, the Minnesota Vikings
(33:59):
in their crazy run through this season. It's been an
incredible run, and I thank you guys for joining us,
for staying with us, whether it's second, a minute, an hour,
we sure do appreciate you. I hope you had a
happy holidays, and I hope you're doing everything you said
you would in your New Year's resolutions, keep fighting through
love and respect. Hit that sub button if you're new.
(34:39):
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