2023 Conference Championship Recap

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler react to the Chiefs and 49ers advancing to Super Bowl 58. The heroes start by discussing the Chiefs beating the Ravens to win the AFC Championship (03:16). After the break, the guys break down the 49ers beating the Lions to win the NFC Championship (34:05). 

Note: time codes approximate. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
They around the NFL podcast, It's ready to serve you
a Championship Sunday Chasty from the Chris Westling podcast studio.
It's around the NFL, the flagship program, the Championship Sunday.

(00:21):
That's a little play on words cestog Sunday in the.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Day of the week and the little ice cream treat.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
My imagination only immediately goes to Jason Zumwalt out in
the Connecticut wilderness eating a massive banana split nude Sunday.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Oh that's just me.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Well nude, I just assume we assume nude.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Jason. I miss you, buddy. Come back.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Dan Hans is here with Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler,
and yes, the Super Bowl is set. It's gonna sound familiar,
but it's gonna be a good game. The San Francisco
forty nine Ers against the Kansas City Chiefs from Allegiant Stadium.
M HM in Lost Vegas and Greggy, you're addicted. What

(01:05):
do you think the opening spread is.

Speaker 5 (01:07):
I'm not addicted to anything because the NFL prevents me
from being so.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I'm not addicted. Pigskin, Oh, no idea, I met his gambling.
Go ahead, we'll do the DraftKings since we're connected to them.

Speaker 6 (01:19):
Tententially forty nine ers minus one and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Niners mark two and a half, bing bang boom, sess
Dog's on fire with a spread two weeks in a row,
two and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
It is opening at two and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
A dug in a dug in Addicted Gambler, I.

Speaker 5 (01:35):
Just Sempler is not coming Vegas. He will be working
at Mandalay Sports Book.

Speaker 6 (01:42):
By Lord, are we worried about sastag in Vegas for
the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I am?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I mean no more than most any super Bowl. But yes,
this one, my behavior will be pristine. This one is
just start right there. This one's a little touch and go.
Other books have it between two and three, but DraftKings
says it right in the middle.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
That's the one that I we're loyal to them. I
don't know, are we? I can't even keep I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I just want Toyota Grand Islander, and you just want
damn dejoorno pizza.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Three dollar frozen pizza that like you know, a child
could be.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Is that is that asking too much to get mark
a four dollars ninety nine cent pizza?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
It is?

Speaker 6 (02:22):
That's what I've been told.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
So here we are too closely contested games, two games
that featured big swings and emotion, two games in which
only one team could be victorious, and now the Super
Bowl sets. So we're going to go through both of them,

(02:44):
and we'll start with the AFC Championship Game, the showdown
between the Mighty Kansas City Chiefs. This this proud team,
this dynasty. Could you call them a dynasty? Almost had
you felt like you got to get back to another one,
maybe winning one before. It's like a you know, set
in Stone dynasty. But they had to take care business

(03:06):
here against the number one seed Ravens at home.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
With the MVP.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
If they didn't beat Mahomes this time, they never would.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Let's see to the game. Those were the narrative.

Speaker 7 (03:17):
Forty six Ravens, four man front, playing Cress.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
On the outside.

Speaker 4 (03:24):
Mahomes will throw it in the pocket.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
He's launching one long.

Speaker 8 (03:27):
Mar Quest Valders Scantley trenches the call at the Raven
thirty on his backside, Shades of the catch he had
against Cincinnati in the end zone last year in the
AFC Championship Game. Mark Kles Valdez Scantley shaving the best
or last.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Whoa Mitch Holt this with a call mvs.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Who couldn't catch the sniffles in April of twenty twenty,
now is unstoppable on deep balls. He makes the catch
the clincher from thirty two yards from Mahomes on third
and nine with about two minutes to play. You know,
the incompletion there would have given the Ravens the ball

(04:12):
with time to either tie or win, but instead the
Chiefs and the great Mahomes gore touchdowns on each of
their first two possessions, then again turned to that defense,
which was as good as advertised, to beat the Ravens
seventeen to ten. And it is the Kansas City Chiefs
back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in
five years as they continue to chisel away in stone

(04:37):
a dynasty case and Greg, of course, the Chiefs beat
the Eagles last year in the Super Bowl, and now
they look to be the first team to repeat as
Super Bowl champions since your New England Patriots way back
in twenty four to twenty years ago. And man, at
this point, how could you doubt the Chiefs? I dare

(04:58):
you to do it. I did it, and many others did,
and once again they made everybody gobble on, Banana splits,
Humble Pie, Jason's nude, everybody was all fired.

Speaker 5 (05:08):
The odds makers are doing it again apparently as well.
And what I think that number and all the numbers
can't really quantify is how Patrick mahomes with a big
time assist from his guy Travis Kelcey. And it is
crazy how this team who's made all these AFC Championship
games in a row and all these Super Bowls into
just a short time, is really led by their quarterback

(05:30):
and tight end, just like the Patriots, that they're led
by the best game manager I've ever seen. Like he's
the best player I've ever seen. And there's a lot
of game manager discourse going around, I feel like lately,
and to me, this game was a sign of how
Patrick Malmes has always been a game manager, but it's
even better at it now because you think of those

(05:50):
first couple of drives. He hits a beautiful throw to
Kelsey on third and down to stay on the field,
or rather the fourth down to stay on the field.
Incredible play where Kelsey's not open and he's the backside
receiver on that plays the third option and you get
to it in a big spot you get Kelsey again,
not really that open for the touchdown, but just a

(06:12):
beautiful play. You get a couple of touchdowns early, and
then nothing happens. Essentially for eighth Street Driving. You can say, oh,
he didn't even have a very good game. They scored
seventeen points, and that's all true. But he knew what
he was doing, he didn't make any mistakes. And then
when you absolutely needed to get a first down at
the end, he goes for a big play and he

(06:33):
hits it to MVS. Who is our modern day Sammy Watkins.
He only shows up in the biggest games ever, and
he delivers.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Even when MVS was obviously, you know, and overtly struggling,
and a couple times like An Island games on like
Sunday Night Football, he still was getting behind defense. He
still had his speech right, he was getting behind defenders,
and it was just like, can you just convert? Can
you catch them ball? And in the last couple of weeks,
the questions that we've had about Kansas City's weapons and offense,

(07:03):
that story's changed.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
And it's not that there's suddenly some sort of powerhouse.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
They're not.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
They're still struggling there.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
I mean you know, I watched this game today and
the way it ended it was just like a team
that finds the way. Each of these teams have a
character and a kind of a definition of who they are.
And the Chiefs like can win ugly, they can win
in ways that they didn't win in previous years, and
they can do it with the same players, And you know,
it's like there's this there's this whole other story of.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
This, because it's very painful.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
I think to lose the Super Bowl is.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Stark, but to lose these AFC and NFC championship games,
like you come this far if you're the Ravens, and
the things that got you here did not show up
today the way they should have. But I would say this,
you cannot blame their defense. They shut down Kansas City
for the almost entirety of the second half and gave
their offense a chance to succeed.

Speaker 6 (07:52):
And that's what I mean.

Speaker 5 (07:53):
It's sort of isn't it always It's always something And
that's why this dis performance in this game offensively, and
we'll get to the defense for the Chiefs just remind
him so much of Brady because like you look at
the box squard at the end, It's like, oh, they
they averaged four point four yards per play and they
were stopped for like seven or eight straight drives and
then but like he knows how to make the plays
that you need to.

Speaker 6 (08:10):
He knows what that game require.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
But I also just think that this Chiefs defense, which
is overshadowed because of Mahomes always, is like the stamp
of this team is what their defense was able to
do today. You took the MVP and a Ravens offense
thatd it dominated teams and dominated the forty nine ers
and blew the doors off the Houston Texans, and they
were non existent when it mattered the most.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, and I listen, they the Chiefs did not score
in the second half. And there are echoes of the
Patriots dynasty now that are just rippling and bouncing off this,
this chief Chiefs team and this this era of Chiefs football,
and it is it is the fact that it isn't
just Mahomes, you know, just like it wasn't just Brady

(08:53):
and the fact that they and I went into them
a little bit, went into this game a little bit dubious.
I've seen multiple like quote unquote big time defenses not
step up down the stretch of the season, and the
Chiefs once again showed and Steve Spagnola, who you haven't
heard anything about, getting another chance at a head coaching job.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean, this guy is the secret weapon.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
He is the Belichick to what Bill Parcells had during
his era in time in the late eighties and early nineties.
What the game plan he cooked up to confuse and
befuddle Lamar Jackson, who looked like he didn't know what
he was seeing in this game. And there were so
many moments when the Ravens pass protection is holding up

(09:36):
and I know they got to him a couple times
as well, but and he's just holding the ball, Lamar,
because he's, to quote the Darnald.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Line, he was seeing ghosts.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
And there are multiple times that I'm thinking, Lamar, you
are the most fantastic athlete to play the quarterback position,
perhaps ever, and you're just sitting in this pocket waiting
for something to happen, waiting to see something that's not there.
So you have to give it to the Chiefs that
every level of their defense played a big time game.
But it is a team effort, Greg and it's Mahomes

(10:06):
and Kelsey and that offensive line stepping up. Even on
a day where they're running game, they couldn't do anything.
But the fact that they were able to make enough
plays on offense early and then lean on their defense
just a total team effort and a reminder and a
lesson to me, and I think it should be to
a lot of people. Is these teams that don't come
around too often. When the playoffs come, you see them

(10:28):
make the plays and stay under control and close out games.
And teams like the Ravens, no matter how great they
have been during the year, things go sideways and they
start short circuiting. And you saw that a lot with
Baltimore in this game, they did not play a good game.
Greg they didn't play a discipline game, and they're going home.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
I think their defense played well overall, the offense didn't.

Speaker 6 (10:47):
We'll get to that.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
I want to just give the credit to the Chiefs first,
Like you mentioned, Pacheco couldn't get anything done, and yet
like when again, when they get the ball back two
thirty four to go, Tucker d just hit the field
go at seventy to ten. They had their best run
in about three quarters and that seven yards on first down.
It's just like, even without Joe Toney, they had some

(11:08):
runs on those first touchdown drives and that seven yard
run set up you know, Baltimore intentionally taking a penalty
and it set up everything else. But you're right, the
story should be the defense and Lamar Jackson struggled in
this game. The run game other than Lamar he did
lead them, and rushing for fifty four yards was non existent.

(11:28):
Gus Edwards and Justice Hill had to combine six attempts
to Lamar Jackson's thirty seven passing attempts, which I think
they're you know, Todd Monkin is going to regret how
that played out. But the guys on the other side
of the field. I think of that Chris Jones deflection
in the first half on third down when they were
throwing a screen, people are like, oh, if that I

(11:48):
saw people Like, if that wasn't Lamar Jackson, people would
be killing him for that place. Like, No, that was
incredible recognition and play by Chris Jones that he made
multiple times that was going to be a first down.
Lamar even tried to like get it away from him
by throwing it sideways, and Chris Jones still makes it.
Lagarious Steed knocks out the ball. It's a play that
Zay Flowers is going to live with for the rest

(12:08):
of his life and he should not be reaching it
out at the goal line. But it's still lagarious Steed,
one of the best defensive backs in the league making
a hustle play and knocking it out at the goal line.
They were just so active defensively. Amena who had that
force fumble on Lamar when he did hold it on
too long, they get the interception. They didn't drop their
interceptions like we saw so many other teams have today.

(12:30):
The intercepted Lamar in the end zone, so like it's
a team effort. We have a little shot of the
T shirt that all the players wore of Steve Spagnolo.
So if you're watching how he's on YouTube and I
see those YouTube numbers ridesing, we appreciate you like and subscribe.
It was great that I see them to happen the
in Spags we trust with the demon eyes.

Speaker 6 (12:53):
Every defensive player was wearing.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
Spag said he was almost embarrassed and he was saying,
I sure hope we won because they were wearing it
before the game and they came through with an effort
that shows how much they trust in Spags.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
I got out to Nate Taylor on the tweet.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
It's I think Spagnola one of the things that he's
done in multiple games where it's like, you know, I
think because he was an unsuccessful head coach, he had
to recreate his you know, reputation on some level. But
like the blitzes that he cooked up, like I thought,
the Ravens offensive line was operating from behind the entire
game today, and that's how you get you know, if

(13:28):
you're gonna beat this Chiefs team, you need to beat
at home, pure pristine, and you get a terrible Lamar
Jackson interception in the end zone. There was another play
on a third down pass where he's very lucky it
wasn't picked off, you had the fumble. It's like Lamar
Jackson needs to go as the so called MVP, go
and play his best game, and it's it's it just

(13:50):
seems to be asking too much. But it's this Chiefs
defense that creates complete and total confusion. I think the
Ravens line was cooked from the start, Like the way
that they were rushing and getting to them with speed rushers,
like from wire to wire. It's like it just seemed
like Baltimore had no answers and they got away from
who've they've been all year. I thought they went away

(14:10):
from their ground game.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
I thought, and this is not meant to like I'm
just gonna want to cook up Lamar here, but I
thought we were past this, and I thought what we
saw on the second half of the divisional playoffs that
put some things to bed around him, and what the
story is, or the quote unquote narrative around Lamar Jackson is,
I didn't expect. That's why I picked up Ravens. That's
why I locked up the Ravens. I thought this really

(14:34):
was his moment. So I can't say, you have to
say it's a disappointing performance obviously by Lamar, but I
don't want to take away from what Kansas City's defense
did in this game and what Spags and company have
done all year.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
It's a combination of both.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Well, it's also like everything went against them too, Like
if the Flowers touchdown, especially, don't you think change the game.
I mean, it's seventeen fourteen there with a ton of
time left in that game, and that was off of
two three straight good throws by.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Lebar and here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
You're right, and you have a you have a terrible
turnover by Zay Flowers. That's the old Bill Belichick would
bench you if you ever try to reach near the
goal line. It was a dreaded mistake and it might
have cost them their season. And they got the ball
down deep again. Was at the next possession, and that's
when Lamar throws a ball up for grabs. A couple

(15:25):
of different plays go differently, and the Ravens are either
you know, we're going overtime or they went out right.
But that almost like is too kind to their performance
as a whole. I thought this was a team that
was undisciplined, that let the moment overwhelm overwhelm them. I
thought they had multiple, you know, bad penalties, whether it

(15:46):
was personal fouls, was there are too many men on
a field, there are five fifteen yard penalties.

Speaker 5 (15:52):
So that's that's sort of what I mean where it's like,
you're right, Lamar did not have a good game. He
had his moments, but like a lot of this year
for this team, like especially if it was a full team,
like everyone had a huge part of that. They had
four personal foul penalties and that those first ones. Two
of them led to the three points that the Chiefs

(16:13):
had before halftime, which were massive, so they ended up
minus three. Right, there was no there was there was
some missed maybe I thought you could have called the
pass interference on Lamar's interception, but it doesn't take away
that it was the worst possible throw and like it.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Was, I think we were getting that throw this January, right,
and that's gonna now that sticks with him again, whether
people want to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
It does.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
So it's not it's like it's not just a target
Lamar thing. But I like when you think of the
Baltimore Ravens under Harbaugh, who they've been, like the ro
Kwan Smith unnecessary roughness penalty where it was like, you know,
a sham. You're going in there on intentionally to blow
things up, but you do it in a way where
you're not even a good thespian, you're not a good actor,
and it gets called for what it is. And Zay

(16:59):
Flowers young player, He's gonna learn from this. But like
the taunting call, that was.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
An insane It was about a five place sequence where
he makes a big play, gets a taunting, then he
gets another big play to get those yards back from
the taunting penalty, then gets the ball knocked away on
a penalty, then goes back to the sideline and slams
his helmet down and cuts his finger open. That's an insane,
like five minutes of a human's life that was documented

(17:23):
seven human in front of sixty million people. Speaking of Lamar,
let's let's hear from the and he will be a
week from Thursday named the NFL MVP. And you can't
take away anything from him in terms of the performance
going into this game, but all of it seems a
little bittersweet now for Raven's nation.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
No hay in the barn, I.

Speaker 9 (17:44):
Mean no turnovers, you know, they they played the game
basically perfect. They put points on the board. I felt like,
if we wouldn't turn the ball over, we definitely would
have had a shot. We definitely would have came out
with a win. But they did a great job and
I turned the ball over and pulling points on the board.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
And let's hear from the other quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who
and Lamar made a good point there. I mean, the
Chiefs weren't perfect in this game, but again they've been
so clean and they've been. They're playing it the way
the Patriots used to play it. Even wasn't a pristine,
perfect effort. They play the game the quote unquote right way,
and then the other team wilts in the big moment,

(18:20):
and then you take advantage of it.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
All of a sudden, you're walking away. It's like, did
we just lose that game? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
You always seem to get beat by that team that
always keeps their heads together this time of year.

Speaker 10 (18:29):
You don't take it for granted. Either. You never know
how many you're gonna get to you or if you're
gonna get to any And so it truly is special
just to do it with these guys after what we've
been through all season long, the guys coming together, it
really is special. But I told him, I mean, job's
not done. I mean our job now is to prepare
ourselves to play a good football team in the Super

(18:51):
Bowl and try to get that ring.

Speaker 5 (18:54):
I think it will remember that. You know, you'll see
at the end of the game they only seventeen points,
and you look at the box score and all that,
and it doesn't seem like a crazy impressive performance. I
believe there was an eight drive sequence here where they
had three points. I mean really the last eight and
not many first downs either. I think they had eight

(19:16):
first downs in those eight drives, so they weren't really
moving the ball. But that obscure is like how impressive
those first two drives were. Like the play where to
me that would defined this game was the one where
Mahomes is scrambling around, breaks a bunch of tackles and
throws an insane pass that Kelsey catches beautiful, like he's

(19:39):
I'm trying to think of a great center fielder here,
maybe Mooki and his prime like diving for the ball.
Kelsey gets that and that leads directly to a touchdown.
Those were magical plays by Mahomes on those.

Speaker 6 (19:51):
First couple of times. They were perfect.

Speaker 5 (19:52):
He started eleven for eleven in this game, and those
two touchdowns.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
Yeah, you needed your defense to be great, but they
set the tone.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
For the game. I'm gonna give you a center fielder
Jim Edmonds.

Speaker 6 (20:03):
Okay, that would have been like that.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
I mean, I think Kelsey's like degree of difficulty with
some of the catches, especially like right out of the gate.
I think he had four catches in the first quarter alone,
and you know, Broke the Jerry Rice postseason record. But
it was like we had come to this sort of
common understanding that this version of Kelsey that we were
getting largely was not They.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Got rope adopes.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
Everybody, you know how he throws went to Kelsey and
that he and.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Bills did zero the Bills. The Bills got rope adoped.
The Ravens got rope adope, Ropodope America got rope adoped.
Nobody saw this, this Chiefs rise coming, except for the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
I think they always believed they did do this.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
I know this maybe is arcane or stupid or means nothing,
but I when the when the replays, when James Palmer
sent out you know, end zone evidence of you Justin
Tucker sitting there with this little kicking tea and his
helmet China, get in the way of Patrick Mahomes warming up,
and Kelsey just come over and takes Justin Tucker's a
Hall of future Halday, our greatest takes and whips it

(21:05):
through the end zone.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
It's like, get out of our space.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
We were in Baltimore, and it's like something about the Chiefs,
that's who they are.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
It's like it was an out ones.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Get it was it was.

Speaker 6 (21:14):
It was and Justin Tuck, like.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
To his credit, didn't explode or throw a hissy fit
or anything, but it was like he was left as
the lesser individual in that kind.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
It was your home stadium. It was I know this
is your stadium. I know you're the number one seed. Uh,
but this is Championship Sunday, and this is this is
our time, this is the.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Chiefs, this is what we do.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, you're just a guest and you'll find out in
about four hours how this goes. And they absolutely, uh,
they a absolutely followed up with a great performance. Let's
listen to Kelsey on the riser after the game.

Speaker 11 (21:47):
Shout out to Jerry rise baby the Chiefs to steal
the Chiefs and believe it.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
You gotta fight for your ride.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Believe it, baby, we're going to La Vegas that to
get us another one. I love that the white boy
flow from Kelsey, especially when he's excited.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, it's.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
You know that doesn't happen often to.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Compete on that.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
And and let's just I want to mention this so
before we get sidetracked again, the fact that Taylor Swift
is at the game again.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
She comes down on the field after the game.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
There's all sorts of shots of them together and point
at each other and kissing. It's you can't make it up,
like you can't make up the fact that and maybe
and there's been a lot of talk. I don't know,
we haven't really addressed it on the show, not because
we're avoiding it, but just you know, you know, it's stupid,
But a lot of talk about the fixes in and
all this was planned, and the colors of the super

(22:46):
Bowl logo we're supposed to be telling us that the
NFL had already decided who was the US.

Speaker 6 (22:53):
You know, late at night about that.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
But so the Travis Kelcey thing that he ends up
dating the most famous woman in the world, and now
she's been continually in the news and on the cameras,
and now she's on the field at the ABC Championship game,
and now she's going to be at the super Bowl.
This is the the biggest Taylor Swift is on the biggest.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Pop culture heater since Michael Jackson.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
You put out thriller in November eighty two, and we're
going to take it to We Are the World, which
he co wrote with Lionel Ritchie and performed in eighty five.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I put Taylor's run.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
The fact that she's in the middle of even this
pop culture moment, from all her music and all her success,
it is outrageous. How in the middle of everything this
woman is.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
That's my point.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
I mean that well, in like the kiss they had
was like perfectly framed. They actually ran it as they
were rolling. The credits reminded me so much of like
maybe the most famous photograph in like American history there
in the timescar picture after defeating you know, after you know,
World War two and everything.

Speaker 6 (23:58):
And that, except now it's trying is Kelcey.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
That's our generation, that's our picture, Travis Kelcey and Taylor Stiff.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
People need to calm down. If that, if they get
their d day, everybody's gonna oh d And it was
after victory.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
And yes, I do think Dan, you forgot like when
Steve Winwoods back in the High Life again came out
like that was also a heater, that really was.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
I know.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
Those second to that, But I mean, this is tough'
it's a big take you.

Speaker 5 (24:23):
I always pushed so hard back against the Kelsey might
be in the conversation of the greatest tight ends of
all time because I just I think it was ignoring.
First of all, how we talked about a lot of
those Titans, not just Gronk at the time, and some
of their all pros and all that, and when you
stack them up, actually they were just as dominant in
their day as as Kelsey was now. Like stuff like this,

(24:45):
this playoff run, in particular, to put it over the top,
does remind me of like Gronk, especially in the one
where they beat the Chiefs and they got their last
Super Bowl and Gronku and kind of spiking it and
having that run with the Bucks. This is special because
you look at the offense, it's not really that much
different Dan than the offense we were complaining about. I

(25:05):
know we're saying it's so much different. It's not that
much different. It's just Kelsey and Rice. And now they're
getting a little sprinklet of sc scantling, which does make
a big difference, a little sprinklet of scalaling. And it
took away the terrible players that were ruining them, sky
Moore and Tony who's never going to play for the
Chiefs again, and and it eliminated and they eliminated the

(25:27):
mistakes like that's all like the offense actually isn't doing
much more.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
James Palmer told, right, they got.

Speaker 6 (25:32):
Rid of all the dumb plays.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
But a huge part of that formula is eleven targets
to Kelsey for eleven catches in one hundred and sixty.

Speaker 6 (25:41):
That's it and what he did, that's just it is.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
We weren't this is what they're from last year when
they were still an unstoppable offense more or less and
won the Super Bowl. What made that work despite losing
Tyreek Hill was that they had some They didn't have
a lot of big playability that that wasn't part of
their offense last year either. They got you know, stuff
in moments, but mvs adding that to their their the

(26:05):
recipe down the stretch here.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
But Kelsey was the key to everything.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Shows up every week. I know, right, he's consistent. He's
the only guy that was consistent all year. But that's
what we kept on saying, like, what's wrong with this offense?
Travis Kelson having a kind of like one of those
all time tight end seasons last year lifted all the boats.
And now that he's back doing that again all of
a sudden, and I know they didn't have a huge
offensive game, but it just you can't understate how incredibly

(26:34):
important he is to what they do.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
I mean, Mahomes opened eleven for eleven. Kelsey's targeted eleven
times has eleven catches, and I thought this was the
defense that could find a way to nullify someone like Travis.

Speaker 5 (26:46):
And to be fair, once they got out of their
fifteen place script they did. I actually think this was
a good performance by Mike McDonald and we end up
talking about the winners only, but like Kyle Hamilton played
incredible too.

Speaker 6 (26:58):
It was awesome.

Speaker 5 (26:59):
Rokwan Smith was incredible today. I thought Patrick Queen was
really good today. They got beat and I just think
great offense beats great defense. And when you go when
they look at those plays that beat them on those
first two drives, most of them are just like great
plays that beat guys in good position, including that Kelsey touchdown,
Like what could have Kyle Hamilton done anymore on that play?

(27:22):
He was all over him. Mahomes fits it into a
tiny window, he had good coverage like that. It happens
better and they were just better and they adjusted. I
do think on the other side, though, when you look
at that box score and it's Flowers for five, for one, fifteen,
and then after that it's it's nothing. Algallar had a
nice big play on a nice throw from Lamar, and

(27:43):
Beckham is kind of playing their fourth receiver role Bateman
who they trusted to play more like he doesn't do anything,
and the drop off that there was no one other
than Lamar and Zay who had his own issues, that
really did anything. So it was I think they're gonna
want to fill out this roster. As good as this
team was, Beckham's not going to be back with this team,

(28:04):
I don't think unless he just can't get a contract
elsewhere and he's willing to take like a lot less
money and they actually do need more weapons.

Speaker 6 (28:10):
Still, they were.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Again right, I was exactly right, Like you're you're about
and you're not wrong. You're about to lose Mike McDonald's
as likely like to you know, head coaching duties, and
you have to remove some of these weapons, and all
the same questions crop up, like this is the team
that should be pounding people in Baltimore in their home
stadium in late January. Take away Lamar on the ground,

(28:34):
they ran for twenty seven yards. I guess to kill
Monkin because the lack of carries in this game, and
I know the game script and the time of possession
was a big deal, but I mean that's.

Speaker 6 (28:42):
How they were.

Speaker 5 (28:43):
They're never far off, so I I yea. They were
the team with critical mistakes right. Exactly what I mean
is they never ran the ball. Part of it was
they could never get any drives going after that touchdown drive.
They have the Lamar fumble drive that last five plays,
they have a one first down, five play drive, a
three and out, a three and out to start the
second half. They had a little something going and then

(29:05):
they have take negative plays a punt before that, so
it was like these short drives.

Speaker 6 (29:08):
But you're absolutely right. I thought the.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
Chiefs defensive line really stood up. I thought on the
other side of the ball, it was like a pretty
even battle and the and the Ravens won their share.
But for the Chiefs defensive line, Carl Loftis and the
middle of that line Dana Omena, who certainly Chris Jones
like they kind of beat. I think the Ravens offensive
line for the most part, especially against the run.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
I thought decisively, like surprisingly, and like they have a
drive that ends at the nine fumble interception the one
in the end zone and then you know.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
A too late field goal.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
It's like they they disappeared, and like you, I felt
like the Ravens kept having these drives where it's like,
here's your chance to get back into this, but then
it would melt in some way and it's like timeless takes.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
They outgained that, they outgained the Chiefs two hundred and
one to seventy eight until that last second.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
It's balls off on the second half. It did they
ask and you don't listen. There are very few quarterbacks
that are as fortunate to say who we're going to
talk about later Brock party to have all stars or
Kurt Warner not to sing laud party back in the day,
to have all stars all around you, like you shouldn't
if if Lamar is as good as we say he is,

(30:21):
you shouldn't have to build the perfect supporting cast around
him for this ultimately to end with a Lombardi Trophy
being hoisted. Like the true great ones make the most
of it, and I think they're still less.

Speaker 5 (30:31):
They're and Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady's conference, then no
one ever makes it.

Speaker 6 (30:34):
Well, I'm just saying, like no one else is great.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
I know, I don't disagree with what you're saying that
this is a roster on offense that needs tweaks, and
it would have maybe been a different game of Mark
Andrews was one hundred percent in this game, obviously, but
it just was a bad look all the way around
for the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Flowers bitterly disappointed.

Speaker 5 (30:50):
A great pick, and he was a little immature and
made some mistakes in this game. He's also a rookie
and it was their clear number one receiver, so that
was a nice fine.

Speaker 6 (30:57):
They're just going to be looking for more is.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
And and one last thing about the kel Gronk comparison,
and it's impossible not to do that with like two
greats that basically overlapped and play the same position just
like Gronk back in the day. So many of the
Kelsey catchers are absolute daggers, either third down conversions, fourth
down conversions, red zone scoring plays. So even when he

(31:21):
like in this game, he had eleven, it felt like
twenty one, Even when like last week, he only had five,
but it felt like ten because the plays he makes
are so consequential because and it makes sense in the
money moments in the crucible moments. That's where number ten looks,
and they're going to the Hall of Fame together one day.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
That's why we believe in tight end wins. That's a
stat I'll tell you this. I don't yeah, I don't
care who else what anybody picks.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
I'm done.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
I'm out of the picking against Patrick Mahons and Travis
Kelcey and Spags and Andy Reid in January and February,
because look, they've been laying waste to the doubters and
they've loved doing it and they're gonna be and there
again a dog, Greg. So any thoughts, any other thoughts
on this game before we move.

Speaker 5 (32:07):
On that that is almost perfect for them because it's
like it's kind of inconsequential two and a half points,
whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
But they can ride that.

Speaker 6 (32:13):
I think they will.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
That will, that will fuel them. We will hear about
that two weeks.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
We will, we will.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
All right, we're gonna take a break and then we're
gonna go to the NFC side of things, which was,
oh man, what a wild one.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
All right, let's take a break, right, welcome back.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
So the AFC Championship, I want to say it went
to script because the favorite went down in flames, but
the game played out in ways that made sense, you know,
and with the Mighty Mahomes and Company priumphant this NFC
title game, we're about to get into him. By the way,
it's time for the Sunday Drive present by the first

(33:00):
ever Toyota Grand Highlander. And I'm only asking for one islander,
like Mark. Yeah, I think we're asking for like ease,
you know, let's give Mark five pizzas.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Yeah, at least that compared to a like a human
vehicle that costs thousands of dollars.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
It feels like hell is a human vehicle.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
I mean, just the fact that like they're gonna send
you like a twenty five thousand dollars truck or something
or whatever it is, like and I'm getting five frozen pizzas.

Speaker 6 (33:22):
Must fit in with the human amobile.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Just feels like someone who's getting a better deal potentially there.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
I'm just saying, but like you're right, monetarily, it's not
going to even out, but right, just like give Mark
like a French red pizza market, We'll just like know
the product better to give them the classic pie, you know,
just mix it up.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
It's a fair request on your part for me, are
you ready for a big w at your next watch party?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Anyway?

Speaker 6 (33:46):
We don't know.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
I don't know either.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Oh what I was saying, was it just this game
we're about to talk about now had so many It
was really two games, two different games. But the thing
is when there's two different games, you want to be
typically the team that has like their game last ye
and h for fans of the team from.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Michion, by being their game, you mean like scoring lots
of points.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Yeah yeah, and just like you know, because let's be honest,
GREGI this might be said an all time or the
all time momentum game.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
This is the momentum Bowl.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
This is the one that causes Claybah and Greg to
drop to their knees and profusely apologize. I mean, I
think that sets the table accurately. I don't think you
at this point, Greg could debate it. This game we're
about to talk talk about has proven Mark and I
and millions of others correctly while sending you scrambling for shelter.

Speaker 6 (34:42):
Not true. Never, it is completely true, not true.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
All right to the big bell bottom.

Speaker 12 (34:49):
Three yards away nine feet is required, prety under center
used check.

Speaker 6 (34:55):
How Elijah Mitchell is in. They give it a Mitchell
off the right side. Go on listen in.

Speaker 12 (35:02):
Touchdown seven fran Cisco line.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
There it is the call from Greg Papa with Tim
Ryan k n b R. The San Francisco forty nine ers,
down twenty four to seven at the break, absolutely barnstorm
the Lions in the second half, going up thirty four
to twenty four after that Mitchell touchdown that was set

(35:38):
up by a big CMC play and then a late
Lion score made it close and hurt some people involved
with deserts. However, all that mattered in the end was
San Francisco with that big run in the second half
take out the Lions thirty four to thirty one. The
Niners scored seventeen points in an eight minute span of

(35:58):
the third quarter to tie this NFC title game, pull
away in the fourth and they get a rematch with
the Chiefs who defeated them in crushing fashion four years ago.
Mark the Lions did everything right, did everything right in
the first half, but San Francisco's offense has the explosiveness

(36:23):
that if you open the door for him, they will
storm right in. And to the credit of Purdy and
Ayuk and Deebo and CMC and Kittle, they ran right
in and set the place on fire.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
Well, they remind me, you know, of what we talked
about with the Chiefs, to the degree that like you're
talking about a team that's been through these crucible moments
against a team that is learning what that means to
even be as an NFL team. And they came out,
the Lions so hot and so fiery, and it was
like they seemed inevitable, inevitable to me almost. But then
there was this like these games happened, how are they unfold?

(36:58):
Like there was a sequence of items and I'll just
say quickly when get into it, but it was like
you have a key moment where it's twenty four to ten,
it's fourth and two for the Lions, they have a
chance to really I think, stick a knife into the Niners.
A fourth and two pass to Josh Reynolds that goes incomplete.
You could have ran the ball there. On the next
sequence for the Niners, you have that Brandon Ayuk incredible

(37:20):
throw downfield, a fifty one yard completion that ricochets off
the helmet of Kindle Wilders.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Sounds like a space age.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
Underboss the name that infamine, right right, I mean the
thing these are like, that's not the lie, Like that
isn't like something you just blame on the Lions.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
Just this fateful moment that happened.

Speaker 6 (37:35):
Momentum.

Speaker 5 (37:36):
Yeah, the momentum bounced off, the hounds off, depending on
who caught it, they had the momentum.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Whatever happened there sound terrible, Greg, You're you're saying that
doesn't what you're saying makes no sense.

Speaker 6 (37:47):
No, it's not right. Is that what it is? It
is two very different things.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
It's like, you know, Bill Buckner, it's whatever you say.
It's like suddenly you know it is.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
It's a failure to execute though build or it doesn't
make to catch.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
It opens the door for the Niners to make a play.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
It's true, but it also would have been an incredible
play if he had.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
But then Ayuk scores.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
Plays later, it's twenty four to seventeen, and you can
start to feel stuff shifting, and then you get Jamier Gibbs,
who is such a wonderful player for up until this moment,
the key fumble, and then you have a big un
by brock Purty.

Speaker 6 (38:20):
They score.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
It's twenty four to twenty four and everything starts to shift.

Speaker 5 (38:23):
A seventeen point lead, a race like that eight minutes,
it was nothing eight minutes, and we can get to
all the Campbell decisions and the way I have those
set up by this thing falls apart. But now that
we've even had like the game ended probably what an
hour or something like that, Now that you've even had
like a little time to think about it, we don't.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
Four days later we do it.

Speaker 5 (38:48):
I don't mean like, so that's that's what you're gonna
remember from this game, or I'm going to remember first
is the ball bouncing off the helmet, the fact that
they had a seventeen point lead, the fact that they
couldn't execute on the fourth downs, the fact that they
kept drop being passes.

Speaker 6 (39:00):
They kept dropping the ball.

Speaker 5 (39:01):
Jamir Gibbs Josh Reynolds had two drive killing drops. But
what is lost a little bit in that is that
this forty nine Ers offense, which was statistically the best
offense in the league all season long, they're down seventeen
points at halftime. They get some good fortunes, certainly in
the second half, but they got the ball five times
after halftime. They scored every freaking time they scored three

(39:22):
touchdowns and had two field goals, and one of those
field goal drives was the best field goal drive of
Kyle Shanahan and Brock Perty's life. They squeezed seven minutes
off the clock to take a lead that completed the
comeback and gave them their first lead. So there are
five drives on offense with yes, that won very lucky
play but offensively and they're an offensive team going up

(39:45):
a very shaky Lions defense. In general all year they
were perfect. They had to be perfect after halftime and offensively,
they ran it when they needed to. They got big
plays when they needed to. Perty ran it when he
needed to, and yes, he got very fortunate in this game.
Threw out at different points, but ultimately when in not
cutting time, second half, they were the best offense in

(40:08):
the league. Looked like the best offense.

Speaker 6 (40:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Late, absolutely, and you want to you know, people are
gonna maybe just dwell on the Niner side of things
in the collapse, but you have to give it to
the Niners and Kyle Shanhan, Kyle Shanahan who before last week,
you know, the whole story is run this guy as
great as he is. If his team gets down late,
they're done back to back big comebacks. They survived the

(40:30):
Packers game, and then they kind of the way. I
was so impressed by what the Ravens did against the
Texans in the divisional round, where they took some punches
in the first half and then just took control of
the game. The Niners did that, but on a hugely
bigger stage, So you got to give him credit. Now,
so much of the talk around the game is going
to go back to how do the Lions blow a

(40:51):
twenty four to seven lead? Okay, and the IU catch
is a huge part of it. I think it's it
will live in infamy in Detroit because I don't think
it would have been what your word was, outstanding or whatever.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
It was catch.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
I thought it was a playable ball by dB that
gets turned not only into and it's not even just
an incomplete pass, gets turned into a huge game that
sets up the touchdown that sends that building. And credit
to Niners fans because that's not typically a stadium where
you say, oh, that place rocks when it gets loud.
That place was rocking. So that was a massive play.
The fumble happening immedia after huge play, and then.

Speaker 6 (41:27):
You think snowball.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Guess yeah, I thinks snowballed after that. But with Campbell,
there were four big decisions in this game that people
are going to talk about. The first one I'm not
going to go crazy about because I agreed with it.
First of all, Greg, I don't think you did. But
seven seconds to go in the second quarter, they're up
twenty one to seven. It's fourth and goal to San
Francisco three. Campbell thinks it over, decides it's a little

(41:49):
too far. He kicks the field goal, and I think
Greg Olsen was on him a little bit and said, listen,
this is your chance to give a knockout punch.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
Hindsight twenty twenty, maybe you do take that chance.

Speaker 1 (41:59):
But instead of own for twenty eight to seven, they
take the field goal, I guess, And I think part
of that Greg was the Niners or Campbell knowing the
Niners got the ball to start the third quarter too,
it being like, let me take these points, get ahead
three scores.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
And you wanted to go in feeling like it was
as dominant as possible. It's hard to have it both
ways and say like, okay, take the field goal here,
but don't take it there. The numbers, and I think
Campbell's instincts coming into play here. A lot of it
has to do with like, a big part of the
reason you go for the fourth and goals is because
you're pinning the other team back and you lose that
advantage at the end of the second quarter. You get

(42:33):
no advantage from that. So I'm with you, and that's
what I like about Campbell. He hasn't been a play
it by the book guy. He has a feel I
think for the game and he takes the three there,
and I think part of it he said it they
wanted to get to thirty. They did in the end,
but they knew they needed to score a lot.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
All right, Mark, I'll set you up now on the
next big play with Campbell. It's fourth and two at
the San Francisco twenty eight yard line. There's seven minutes
left in the third quarter. It is twenty four to ten.
Instead of bringing out the kicker, it was not a
big time kicker, and that you have to keep these
things in Michael.

Speaker 6 (43:04):
Badgley Michael bad joined the team.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
But instead of a kicking the field goal to try
to go up twenty seven to ten. This was after
San Francisco marched down the field to kick the field
goal to start the second half. He opts to go
for it, He passes underneath to Josh Reynolds. He drops
the ball turnover, and you start to hear people getting
on Campbell a little bit, which I thought was unfair, Mark,
because this is what Dan Campbell and the lines are

(43:27):
about all year.

Speaker 6 (43:29):
I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
I think that you could say, do you run the
ball there? Maybe because they you know, earlier in the
game they were running with a lot of force and power.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
They picked up a third and thirteen running it right,
and so there would be evidence that that might have
been another option at that point in the game. Goff
was also starting to feel pressure from Bosa. Nick Bosa
was starting.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
He had two sacks in this game, and Golf was
under a lot of heat on that actual in particular,
like in completion of Josh Reynolds and then it leads
to the Ayug play. But I would say this, like
if we just talked about a that looked different today
than the way that they were hammering teams in the past,
Like I had at no point thought that Dan Campbell
went away from his character who he is, how he

(44:09):
runs this team, and so this is part of what
the Lions do was true, Like the.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Reynolds dropped the ball and they.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Were connected, it would be they were connecting on a
lot of stuff tonight. It's like, I think it's just
you go for it. I have no problem with that
at all. All right, don't get the whole issue.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
With this one. This one gets a little dicier. Now
it's fourth and three at the Niners thirty. Now you've
lost the lead. The Niners just went on that long
lead drive. To kick the field goal, you have a
chance to tie the game. He bring out badgely to
attempt a forty seven yarder, which is a very high
percentage make in the league. Right now, now in the
NFC title game in the fourth quarter, midway through. It's

(44:44):
a little harder kick, but no doubt. He decides to
again keep the offense on the field, and this time
Greg Goff does not take care of his own business
because he misses someone crossing underneath and throws incomplete. So
a chance to tie the game midway through the fourth
I had to go for it, and he gets killed.
He's getting killed on social media for this. My point

(45:05):
about the previous play still stands. This is what the
Lions were. You can't change now.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Yeah, that would have been a forty seven yarder. Again,
that's hardly locked in for Michael badgely in a big spot.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
But your boy, uh this is it. Yeah, this one
coin flip. But that's who they were.

Speaker 5 (45:20):
And I wish I could rewatch that play right now
because if if I'm remembering right, I think Bosa had
a quick pressure on that play to Bosa really made
his money in the second half of this game.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
He was really good, and so that impacted the play.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
Goff I think was a little off down the stretch
going for the field goal there. I just think the
thing to remember is the Lions defense did not have
a stop in the second half, and they look at
it and people kind of use the fact that, hey,
you'd be within seven if you had just hit that
field goal. Okay, true, but you just gave up a touchdown.
The point was they needed to keep scoring to possibly

(45:56):
keep up. So, yeah, maybe you kick a field goal,
your defense still need to get stops.

Speaker 6 (46:00):
It wasn't showing that it could do it.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
All right, let's hear it.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
By the way, I'm gonna hear from Campbell on his
decision to stay aggressive.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
I don't regret those decisions. And that's hard. You know,
it's hard because you know they didn't we didn't come through.
It wasn't able to work out. But I just I don't.
I don't, And I understand the scrutiny. I'll get that's
part of the gig man, but you know, we just
just didn't work out.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
And now the final move that he makes, and this
is the only one I thought was indefensible. They are
down thirty four twenty four. At this point, it's third
and goal the San Francisco one. I understand the odds
are stacked against them, but with sixty five seconds to play,
they run the ball to Montgomery. It gets stuffed and
not only does that backfire, you have to burn a
time out. So at that point you're playing, you have

(46:50):
to go for it on fourth down obviously, which they convert,
but now it's on side kick or bust because you
no longer have three timeouts. Mark, that was a very
shaky decision, probably not in either way, but that was
the only one where I was like, well, Campbell, f
that one up.

Speaker 4 (47:04):
Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 3 (47:05):
I I like, I, you know, I think you said
it perfectly, like you're going through the script and you know,
with the bullets flying in real time, and you've got
to do the best you can with it. And I
didn't love that play call necessarily, but this is who
the Lions are. And like I think that one of
the reasons that more coaches are being hired who.

Speaker 4 (47:23):
See decision making the same way that Dan.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Campbell does is because this is like I think Greg
Olsen we talked about to Greg Olsen is one of
the better describers of why these things are happening why
coaches because he's sitting there and the best coach of
my best right, he's describing like what today's NFL is,
And like I understand also if you're coming from a
different point of view, from a different time, where like
some of this stuff drives you mad or you don't
quite have the full read on why it's happening, that

(47:49):
can be if you're a Lions fan, you've got a
lot of frustration, But this is who they are.

Speaker 6 (47:53):
This is your head coach.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
You got this far because he's been doing this all year,
He's been doing it last year. It's like aggression is
the way to go, and today's league well, and especially
with this team, which is an offense heavy team that
didn't play great on offense done.

Speaker 5 (48:06):
You know, I think golf his ball placement was a
little off in the second half, but that even that run, Dan,
I hear you.

Speaker 6 (48:13):
It didn't work.

Speaker 5 (48:14):
But I think that's sort of what we get back
to with all these It's just like, I think the
process all made sense. It's just like they the players decide,
and they didn't. They didn't win, they didn't execute. They
were the inferior team ultimately, I think when you stack
it all up, but you you kind of look back
at that sequence and they were taking a little while
to get down there. Ferkser barely steps out of bounds

(48:35):
at the one. Looked like Ferkser was gonna.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Score, moving like Frankenson after you'd want to like it's
like he caught was like, why is Sam Laporte? Did
he hurt his knee again? It's like, oh no, it's
the guy that doesn't have a catchy.

Speaker 6 (48:47):
Yeah, I wouldn't again, I'd have to rewatch it.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
I doubt he's the first read on that play, but
a lot right, he probably should have. Then they do
throw on second down, so then you're at a point.
You're at a point you have to score, and like you,
they know that. You know that, they know that you
can't like that. You don't want to blow the time

(49:10):
out there, and so you're trying to catch them a
little by suprise perhaps, but you're also thinking, what are
we better at? What can we do best? We can
run the ball. It's a low it's a higher percentage play.
And yes they did get the touchdown. That touchdown was
like one of the best plays a Lion's receiver made
all day. Was a great catch by Jamison Williams on
a great throw by Golf. It was a very difficult

(49:31):
It's just hard for those to work. And like I
just come back to like the players have to make
the plays, and the Lions just didn't make it. Like
they had four drives that went poor before that touchdown drive. Right,
here's how three of them ended, two with Reynolds drops.
We didn't mention the first Reynolds the second Reynolds drop,
which to me was the bigger one. It was on

(49:52):
a third down. He's wide open on a crossing route.
It's a perfect throw and he literally kicks it like
he drops it in and then he kicks it. So
there's four drives in a row that go poorly. Two
are On Reynolds drops and one is Gibs his fumball.
So it's just like yeah, and they dropped the ball literally.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
And like you know, Aman Rossaint Brown, who had just
I thought in the first half, I was like, just
gonna take over this entire game. In the second half,
you know, ta mirror what you're talking about about, just
drives crumbling away. He wasn't targeted till eight minutes left
to go in the game. It's like, so the guys
in the first half that were dominating San Francisco, uh,
a lot of a lot of it just sort of vanished.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
I want to I.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
Want to throw some flowers to your boy, Mark Rock Party,
who will be obviously the subject of exhaust of examination.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
For the next two weeks.

Speaker 1 (50:41):
And I thought the beginning of this game, and you know,
even into and including that throw of the big completion
to Ayuk, was everything that has concerned me about Party
in big spots this season. But back to the matter
is sometimes you just got things are with you, things
are clicking, and you're having a good season. And he

(51:02):
did throw he got away with a couple bad throws,
a couple of floaters, he survived them. The other team
didn't take advantage of it. But then when it was
time to win the game in the second half, just
like he did it in the end of the game
against the Packers, he made big plays. He was he
was precise with his throwing and most of most of all,
the thing I think people will remember about this Party
performance is how many big plays he made with his legs.

(51:23):
Right for a guy that is obviously mister irrelevant, not
the most athletic, how many times did he escape pressure
and turn a sack or no gain into ten, fifteen,
eighteen yards And that was a big difference in this.

Speaker 2 (51:36):
Game as well.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Yeah, like the twenty one yard run that came after
the Gibbs fumble that set up a Christian McCaffrey touchdown
to tie the game at twenty four twenty four, It's like,
you don't just expect that from Rock Party. And I
thought tonight, you know, he had something like fifty something
yards on the ground, where it's say forty eight nine
point six.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Yards per carry.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
He added it to his game, and it's like, this
is a really young quarterback who's adding some of those
game and it's like, even when Mahomes did that last season,
I thought, to some agree, it's like, what more can
he Mahomes do? It's like in the playoffs, Mahomes on
the ground with like a high angle sprain was a
differentiator game after game and in this game, brock Purty
added that to his palette.

Speaker 5 (52:18):
And he had the huge run last week. It was
only one against the Packers, but by far a career
high in rushing. And it's funny because compared to the
average NFL quarterback now he's You're right, he's not that athletic,
but he does have good short area quickness. I mean
you could see it in something like he can move
if you put him in the NFL twenty years ago.

(52:40):
He's a better than average runner. He is above sort
of the line that you almost need to be. Now
he is Jeff Garcia maybe right, he is, No Jeff
Garcia is a great runner, but like he's athletic. Help
you make yeah, yeh, yeah, he's athletic enough, is what
I'm saying. And like he made those now he was fortunate.
I thought, like the opening driving the game was very

(53:00):
typical of how his game was two absolute big boy throws.
It's almost hard to remember by that, like one where
he was getting hit, another just beautiful ball placement, and
then he almost threw an interception that they dropped to
start the second half. On that field goal drive, that
drive ended almost he was melting down at the end
of that drive. He had like three crazy decisions in
a row before they kicked that field goal, and he

(53:22):
got away with like.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
That's what I thought I might be getting.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Donald's sideline shot had double fingers crossed.

Speaker 5 (53:28):
He's not a very safe player, but those mistakes that
he makes doesn't linger, and he didn't really make any
the rest.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Of the game.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
One of the passes that you're talking about on the
first drive, because there was a perfect throw to Brandon Aiyuk,
but there was a play on third down where he
completed a pass to Deebo Samuel where he was destroyed
on it.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
And I just do think he's a tough quarterback.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Oh year, it was like, there's no questioning the fact
that he will do anything he is making.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
He's easy to root for.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
He's got the guts of a burglar. As they say
he doesn't he does not. If he throws interceptions he's
going to keep throwing, which could lead to games like
Christmas and Balter. But also it shows that he's not afraid.
He believes in himself by the way going back and
I will yes, maybe the fumble, the immediate fumble after
that touchdown.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Is kind of the play that really swung the game.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
But I think it's forgotten a little bit because everything
was going like it just happened so quick.

Speaker 6 (54:21):
I think the first play of the drive.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
The Ayuk catch off the miss by Bill Dore, is
the play that I'll remember as when everything turned and
when this truly became momentum.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Greg Let's let's listen to the Dan, because I want
to hear from Dan Miller. It's a bummer that there
you're not getting to.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
The super Bowl, and I think it's sixty sixty years
now without the Lions winning a championship. Here's the call
of that play from the Detroit side of things. And
then right after that, if we could Eric play Ayuk's
postgame comments about the play.

Speaker 7 (54:57):
Pretty out of the gun, takes to snap back and
looking looking, looking, loading, throwing.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Deep down field.

Speaker 8 (55:04):
It is up in the air and talk by hire,
you get the heads.

Speaker 6 (55:10):
Of Kindle Bill Door, are you played the grab? There
is a flag down as well?

Speaker 7 (55:16):
Why it looks like he's gonna go against the Lions
the hit there is.

Speaker 10 (55:21):
No phone in the play cats was made was down
the contract with.

Speaker 7 (55:26):
The thing and half first went right through Bill Door's
hands and right off his face.

Speaker 5 (55:32):
Map ely right before the game, A lady bug landing
on my shoe.

Speaker 6 (55:37):
Hey, y'all know what that means. So that's all I
can say. No, I don't know, I don't know. Just great.
Let dolls with it today, great win by game, It's
crazy super star.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
That probably was the moment, although the Gibbs fumble really
cemented it that Lions fans must have started feeling like,
oh my god.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
Great guy said it was twenty four to twenty four.
After the fumbling score, it already felt like thirty four
to twenty four, right, but yeah, and that was in
the blink of another eye.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
The score at that point is twenty four to ten,
and you just feel like, if you're a Lions fan,
you've been seeing lady bugs landing on other teams' shoes
for fifty something years, and you felt like this was
maybe the year that was going to be different. We
have Dan Campbell talking after the game about how there's

(56:27):
no guarantee that you ever do get back to this point.

Speaker 11 (56:31):
Look, I told those guys this may have been always shot.
Do I think that?

Speaker 1 (56:37):
No?

Speaker 11 (56:37):
Do I believe that. However, I know how hard it
is to get here. I'm well aware, and it'll be
it's going to be twice as hard to get back
to this point next year than it was this year.
That's that's the reality.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
Well, I would say this, though, you can look across
to real point to the Niners and say that a
team that's really well built, like the Lions with a
that I didn't. I don't think they overachieved this year.
I think they adequally achieved for like the roster they have, like,
but they're not going away, Like I got what he's saying,
but like, yeah, but the hope for the.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Life for every for every forty nine Ers team, and
every Chiefs team and back in the day, every Patriots team.
There are so many other teams that look like they
have a bright tomorrow and you think, oh, they'll be
back next year. We talked about this last week too.
You just never know. And he's right because this.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
Telling them that he like him telling them that because
that's also and I'm.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
Glad that he's being honest, because this was a good
time to strike for the Detroit Lions in that division,
with the Packers trying to figure things out, the Bear
still trying to figure things out, the Vikings being the
Vikings like this was this felt like their chance and
they and they let it slip away. When we have
Dan Campbell. I don't know what's going with Dan's nose
the last couple of weeks, very red. It's been distracting

(57:53):
to me. I don't bother anyone else. I I hadn't
notice that, but now all not. I'm Erican.

Speaker 5 (57:59):
I'm the most color blind man that's right in America.
His nose look great to me.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
I mean it's a very masculine nose, the shape and
structure of it, but there's a discoloration or a high coloration.

Speaker 2 (58:11):
Sorry to rub it in. Greg. Here is more Campbell
on the game that almost was.

Speaker 11 (58:15):
You know, Coach Shannan's hell of a coach. That's a
team that you know, they've they've done it, they lived it,
and they made the place. So credit to them. I'm really,
I'm really proud of all these guys. I am. I mean,
and it's hard when you lose that way. It's hard,

(58:36):
you know, you feel like you get your heart ripped out.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
So and on the other side with Shanahan, because I
thought something he said after the game really illuminated how
special they are and how different they are. He said,
we played as bad of a first half as we could,
but we were still within seventeen. How many teams can
say that and be like, we're all right, it's only seventeen.
That's a three score game in the second half of

(59:01):
the NFC Championship game. But that's not just coach speak,
Like he knows he has the dogs to dig out
and they made him look great in this game. Because
they lose this game, Greg Mark, there's a lot of
chatter around Shanahan the guy that just can't get over
the hump, and instead, in two weeks it gets another
chance to kind of really stamp himself as if not

(59:22):
the top of the chain of coaches right there.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
I think it's easy to feel like almost a sadness
if you're a generalist and you're not rooting specifically for
one of these teams, that you lose the experience of
the Lions going on to do something that we would
have been fun.

Speaker 6 (59:37):
It would have been fun.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
But that said, if we shift focus in a couple
of days, like what the Niners have been through and
how close they've come, and how close Shanahan has come,
Like he knows you can come back from seventeen because
he lived through twenty eight to three and he's lived
through a thousand moments coaching in all different situations, and
he's got the right people on the field to do it.
I mean, this guy's been doing this for a entire life,

(01:00:00):
and it's like there is a part of me that's
like I cannot help it root for Kyle Shanahan to
finally do it because he has come so close over well.

Speaker 5 (01:00:08):
Yeah, because they know how the further you get, the
more brute of the losses. And this will be the
fourth time in five years. I mean they're not a
dynasty in the way that we use the word, but
to make four conference finals in five years, to make
two Super Bowls now in five seasons, you just feel

(01:00:31):
like you got it in those By the way, we're
brutal losses. Uh, you gotta win, you you gotta get
it done. And I do think they learned They can't
fall down like that against the Chiefs, obviously, but I
do think they learned something about themselves because I I
think one of the reasons I thought this team was
not built to make that come up wasn't the offense.

(01:00:52):
It was that their defense looked like trash for large
portions of this Packers and Lions game, and that that's
something to be concerned about. The Lions had almost like
two hundred yards. I just thought the game script was
such that the Lions would be able to run the
ball in the second half. The Lions still ended up
with one eight two GiB Montgomery fifteen for ninety three,

(01:01:12):
Gibbs twelve for forty five, and Jamison Williams had that
electric forty two yard touchdown to start the game. And
yet give the defense credit to when they needed to
in the second half. They do have a lot of
star players, and they came together enough. Their run defense,
which is a problem and we'll talk about it leading
up to the Super Bowl, it did get good enough

(01:01:32):
when it really mattered to get them over the line.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Unbelievable, Yeah, I can't.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
And that was by the way, the Sunday Drive presented
by Toyota, where a drive. Of course, it was let's
go places like Las Vegas. Learn moy learn more at
toyota dot com. Slash ran Islander. Yeah, I'm not gonna
lie like this is not listen if it's not the
Jets playing, I'm not gonna get overly invested in terms
of heartbreak. Although I feel for Cynthia Frielan, who's a

(01:01:58):
front of ours, I absolutely feel for Patra, who we
know forever and he was lined up to be on
the show tonight. It was texting with him earlier late
last week, like, you know, we try to get him
out on Thursday. We couldn't make it happen. It was like,
how about Sunday if they win? And just knowing and
listen with Patra, you don't. We're not texting Patrick, you say,
give him a wide berth as you would any die

(01:02:19):
hard fan.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Right now. I don't even like that. The email is
sitting in his inbox right now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
No, he's probably the Eric job. We're not coming after
you because you're doing your job. There's to make a
show like we do. There has to be things like
setting up link ups for a essentially a feed into
the studio. But listen, you don't you've never met Kevin
Patra all right, He's an intense, powerful man who works out.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
I just I don't want you to be hurt.

Speaker 13 (01:02:49):
The timing of it all was just very, very unlucky
because I see that as I'm trying to set this
up the book, Hey, if they win, we're gonna do this.
I'm okay, i gotta get this and now moving parts.
And as I'm sending this link like it's it's flipping,
and then I get separate messages from both Dan and Greg. Hey, like,

(01:03:11):
don't Mark wasn't even worried about patches directly, especially at
this moment, Like at this moment, like never even cross
marks month.

Speaker 6 (01:03:19):
So it was But yeah, I mean, hopefully it just
went to spam.

Speaker 2 (01:03:22):
And here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
And I'm not saying you should do this, because this
could lead to other problems. If you could somehow hack
into the NFL network mainframe to unsend that email before
Patrick wakes up for like his five am shift tomorrow
to write news items about this great comeback by the Niners,
I think it would be in your best interest, and
I'll leave it there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
I didn't say to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
I'm just saying that's one thing you might want to think,
what if I just spam him, so it just gets
pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
That's another potential incredible hole.

Speaker 6 (01:03:50):
It's like a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Yeah, he's got to be very careful. I would say,
I think he will survive. He'll be Mexico's and options,
He'll be okay.

Speaker 5 (01:03:58):
And if he comes at us, we'll just blame it
on the shadowy League figure who actually lost the game
for the Lions by sending like a text that they
can't do that. Yeah, that jinks them when they were
up seventeen that you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Can't do that, you can't do it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
And so what I was saying was, if it's not
the Jets, I'm not really gonna be heartbroken about anything,
but I will. I will say I did, just like
probably a lot of people, I had thoughts of, you know,
one hundred thousand Lions fans coming into Vegas and what
as we've been so lucky to cover so many Super
Bowls and we're going to be doing it again and
I can't wait.

Speaker 11 (01:04:34):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:04:34):
That would have been a completely unique, obviously new experience,
and hopefully hopefully the Lions get over the hump down
the line. But there's no doubting what Campbell said is
absolutely true.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
You don't know. You just never know if you're going
to get another crack at it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
And when you get to this level, at this stage,
to let it slip away is just crushing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Yeah, Like they showed the you know, this is unusual,
but like they cut to Ford Field, which was a
capacity crowd. I remember as a child watching like WrestleMania three,
not at WrestleMania three, but at like at a stadium
with a bunch of other people, which my dad was
forced to take me to a highly in nerdy we
has to do like close circuit. Yeah, it was close circuit.

Speaker 4 (01:05:12):
This was the opposite of that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
This was like a city like literally celebrating for many
of them, the biggest event that they've ever come together for.
And so they stopped showing that stadium as the two
things I'm wondering about it happened.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
Yeah, the procession back to the parking lot at Portfield. Also,
I saw one shot of eminem who is at the
game in San Francisco, doing a double bird do, like
a bunch of fans in the suite and the level
below him, Like, what is what is Eminem's like exit
route out of Levi's stadium?

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Does he state it?

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Does he pull a Mark Wahlberg and leave in the
third quarter of twenty eight three to get it to
beat the crowd? Is Marshall Mather is currently brawling with
multiple with the opposition, I don't know, No.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
I'd say that you get like a couple of your
friends to like wrap you in blankets and take you
out like a dead body and no face.

Speaker 6 (01:06:05):
That's got to have some security, that's true.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
We saw that they're actually footage of Taylor Swift being
snuck from backstage to the stage before one of our
concerts in like a cleaning person's cart. Yeah, and that
was the way to maybe do that with Marshall Mantis.
This is definitely the playoffs and the season in general
where we've got like minor and major celebrities crawling out

(01:06:28):
of the suites into the crowd itself or in the crowd, yeah,
recognizing them.

Speaker 6 (01:06:33):
You know, he was sitting in the crowd.

Speaker 5 (01:06:34):
And I don't think forty nine ers fans would even
look a scans at you or us having that view.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
They're different, The lions are different.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
There's been I don't know about that, Greg, I think
I didn't know we're even talking about this right now.

Speaker 6 (01:06:49):
Well, they can eat it. There were twenty four teams.
That's why it's the bad boy of NFL media. There
are twenty four teams.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Give them a guitar, squeals.

Speaker 6 (01:06:57):
It's like wine and cheese.

Speaker 5 (01:06:58):
I'm just saying there were twenty four teams that were
in the NFL when the NFL truly started the merger.
There's one of those twenty four teams they have not
been to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:07:08):
That is the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 5 (01:07:09):
And you're comparing and there's another team on the other side,
and I know it's been a minute, Who've won five
Super Bowls. So yes, the average fan is going to
root for that fan base who has been through more
heartache than anyone who's never even really had a chance,
and that this was their chance.

Speaker 6 (01:07:24):
Of course, the average fan is going.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
To be r it was new.

Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
That's we talked yet a little.

Speaker 6 (01:07:28):
Less soonus in terms of uniqueness.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
But at the end of the day, we are not
complaining because Chiefs v. Niners is going to be a
hell of a game. Andy Reid versus Kyle Shanahan. That
is gorgeous. It's happened before, and it was a great
game last time. And I have a feeling, just like
the desert is feeling right now, that is going to
go down to the wire again.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
So that is the game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Next time you hear us doing a recap, well, Mark's
going to be We're sending Mark to Orlando correct to
cover all Oh yeah, bowl game?

Speaker 6 (01:08:00):
What am I doing?

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Just dodgeball the triple jump tag.

Speaker 6 (01:08:06):
Defend his Pro Bowl Flag Football MVP. He had that
big drive to finish.

Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
I think there's I had officially do not have time
for that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
No, Mark Marcus coming to Vegas with us, and we're
going to cover all the games. We still, of course,
have two weeks of shows before that, so make sure
you're there, uh and tuning in anything else?

Speaker 6 (01:08:26):
Yeah, we'll be back to Tuesday. Who's they music's playing?

Speaker 8 (01:08:28):
That?

Speaker 6 (01:08:28):
Guess nothing else.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
Thank you everybody who've been listening to every Sunday all season.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
One game left, Heed the call.