January 16, 2024 • 50 mins
In a virtual room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler recap the final two games of Super Wild Card Weekend. The heroes start off by talking about the Bills beating the Steelers (04:00) followed by the Buccaneers beating the Eagles (18:55). The heroes finish the show by discussing Bill Belichick getting interviewed by the Falcons (39:50) and Jerod Mayo being named the new Patriots head coach (44:50).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Around the NFL podcast, getting Younger by the episode.
Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL, Part two
of our Super wild Card Weekend recap series one of two,
(00:23):
and yes it is set. The best weekend in football
Divisional round playoffs is set.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Let's go through it.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Saturday one thirty pm Texans at Ravens, Saturday five point
fifteen pm Packers at Niners, Sunday noon Bucks Lions, and
Sunday three point thirty Chiefs Bills. Give me it, Give
(00:54):
me everything you got. That is a great slate of
divisional round football. And to get to those matchups we
had to get through and we thought we had gotten
all the floating trash bags out. Well, we had to
use this long weekend, this holiday weekend and Happy Martin
Luther King Junior Day to everyone to sort out the
(01:17):
teams that don't matter and the teams that do. And
we're going to get into all that with the last
two games that were played on Monday. Dan hanss here
with Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler, and yes, boys, we
did not get any classics on Monday. In fact, it
was two pretty much one sided affairs, one more than
the other. But we did do the business that we
(01:39):
needed to do to set up what I think is
going to be a brilliant week of football next week.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, I appreciate you going Pacific time with all the
times for next week. That was an cost best coast, Like,
let's normalize that. And yeah, the average margin of victory
this week for these six games was seventeen and a
half points. The two games on Monday, as you mentioned,
weren't like overly competitive, although they were both within one
(02:03):
score at different points in the second half and never
felt close. But I guess that's why the NFL still wins,
or maybe I'm just an addict, is that even though
these games, like they really weren't great, just the stories
that kind of come with them, especially tonight watching the
Eagles go down like that, to me, are just so
fascinating in terms of the drama and everything that's gonna
come next and everything that came before it to get
(02:24):
to this point that it's still like you can't you
can't stop watching it, even as it's a car crash.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Yeah, because I think if you're gonna it can go
two ways. And we're so used to so many of
these playoff games going down to the final possession into overtime.
This was a different weekend. If we're still in the weekend,
I'm not sure it's still the weekend. It's Monday. It's
a holiday Monday, but we didn't have school, so at least. Yeah,
you're right, so I guess it is. It's a long weekend.
But I mean, like when the Cowboys get dismantled utterly,
(02:53):
and when the Eagles get their doors blown off, and
when even Mike Tomlin is walking off the podium as
he's being asked about his future, It's like we are
getting storylines that are pretty impactful with some of the
most deeply embedded franchises in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So I'll take it. I mean, I'll take that.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Geez, those shots of Jeffrey Laurie in the Eagles owner suite,
I mean, you can't tell me. You're looking at the
way that those shots of Laurie's stonefaced and almost catatonic,
and you're wondering what does it mean for Nick Sirianni,
(03:30):
and of course, what does it mean for Mike McCarthy,
and what does it mean for Mike Tomman. You're right, Mark,
there's so many storylines on wrap ahead, But let's get
to the games that were played today, including that Eagles game.
But let's start. Let's go in order in which they
were played. The Bills and Steelers were originally scheduled for Sunday,
but a blizzard socked western New York. By today, they
(03:52):
had the field looking pristine. The seats were still covered
in snow, which must have been like probably like crazy
annoying if you there, But we were watching it on television,
so it was all cool for us and for Bills fans.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Man, you're alive, You're alive, and well. The Orchard Park.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Five on the play clock here on second and nine,
takes his snap back to pass, fires over the middle,
complete on a crossing route to Shakir, who gets away
from the tackler down to the ten looking for the
end zone, and he's in. Khalil Shakir did a disappearing
act on the tackler who first his field and found
the end zone. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
If you want your child to go up to be
a star linebacker, do not let him see tape from
either game play today. So the worst tackling you will
ever see, and Khalil Shakir stayed on his feet evaded
would be Steelers tacklers and found his way to the
end zone, the clinching score for the Buffalo Bills in
a thirty one to seventeen win over the Steelers, who
(04:57):
were nice enough I thought to take my strong hint
that they weren't invited to next week's action, and they
acted accordingly, well, you know, keeping it respectful. It started
fourteen to nothing this game, with the Bills hitting the
tight ends twice in the first quarter and Josh Allen
looking locked in, and then Buffalo, as they've been known
(05:18):
to do this year, start to get a little sloppy,
start to kind of rest on their laurels. They actually
let the Steelers back into this game, Greg Rosenthal, to
the point where we're talking about a one score game.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
But it was one of those things.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It was the Swingers game that we talked about earlier
this year, Mark, and one of the Thursday night games
where it was almost like the Bills were just toying
with the bunny.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
They were a bear.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
They were just toying with the bunny, and when it
was time to kill the bunny, that's what they did.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The Steelers are that bunny.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, they were down what twenty one to nothing in
the first half, and there's a blocked field goal that
that Steelers end up taking advantage of scoring a touchdown
later on that driver. Else that they could have been
down twenty four, but all the defensive injuries for the Bills,
which will get who did lead to a point. It
was twenty four seventeen in the fourth quarter, Bills get
the ball and I was like, you, Dan, I never
(06:06):
thought this was really a game because I just thought, well,
the Steelers defense isn't going to stop them, and they didn't.
And I think that drive at twenty four to seventeen,
which finished with that Shakir catch we heard, was really
all about what this Bill's team can do this year,
which is they only threw the ball twice on that drive.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
They let Josh Allen run it a couple times.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
He had that big run on a Reid option where
he plows into the defender, and I just have this
image of the left tackle Dion Dawkins going up behind
josh Allen after that play and making the flex that
Josh Allen does and all the offensive linemen being so
jacked up, and Josh Allen ends up running for seventy
(06:46):
four including that long touchdown. It's like this is a
tougher Bills team that they can match a team like
the Steelers that also runs the ball well. And ultimately
they made enough plays on defense this offense and Josh Allen,
who played a very clean game, we get out of
mark for you know, the the Josh Allen roller coaster.
This is not a roller coaster game. This was just
a very good game throwing in running the ball by Josh.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Allen, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
It was, you know, methodical, and I thought that the
you know, even though there was a one score situation late,
I don't know, to me, it felt like it's at
some point the Bills will do something to clean this
up and execute the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And I thought, jos Josh Allen, like, you know, the
running ability over the last month plus, really since the
coordinator switch has been a huge factor for them. The
second longest touchdown run fifty two yards in NFL playoff history.
He's the perfect guy to do that. He dominated it
in cold weather. Three touchdowns, no turnovers, Like they clean
(07:43):
stuff up in the red zone for the most part,
and they continue to get help from unlikely characters because,
like you mentioned greg like Terrell Bernard goes down, Christian Benford,
Toron Johnson, like that's a factor next week. But they
survived today, and they survived pretty easily, Like the Steelers
are going to put up a fight.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
But I don't know. I watched that thing.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It felt like a low drama element to me, like
it was just a matter of time until Buffalo did
what they needed to do.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I mean, the idea of the seventh seed being added.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You have to take the good with the bet because
you're gonna take a bad Steelers team within the prism
of looking at postseason football, but you're also gonna get
on the other side a team like the Packers, which
I think a lot of people think is a team
that has a chance to make a deep run in
the playoffs. So the Steelers felt like they were really
a placeholder for a Bills team that has now gone
(08:35):
from six and six to twelve and six, and they
had their postseason odds were under ten percent at one point.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I think they were what was.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It, were they tenth or twelfth in the playoff race
at one point, and now here they are not only
winning this game and getting once again to the second
round of the playoffs, which they do every year. Now
they're gonna be hosting the Chiefs in their building, and
Josh Allen after the game talked about this topsy turvy
year for the Bills and how the struggles of earlier
(09:05):
in the season have kind of made them stronger now.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Well, I mean, I think we're playing at a comfortable
level because of the uncomfortable situations that we've been in
this last six seven weeks. You know, it's almost a
sense of our breath or fresh air and knowing that
everybody's in the same position that we have been, you know,
win or go home, and to be in that situation,
like I said, the dividends that it's going to pay off,
(09:30):
you know. I think you kind of saw that tonight
of you know, we were cool, calm and collected and
nobody nobody blinked, and we just kind of went out
there and did our job. And we're going to need
to continue.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I think I know what he's saying there too, Greg
that those games and you remember late in December around
Christmas time, you know, while the rest of the league
was either playing out the string or everyone had different
levels of urgency, the Bills are playing for their lives
week after week after week, and there's that must have
taken a mental toll, and it's almost freeing now that
they're just like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You win or you go home. And I love I
love the.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Bills chances against a vulnerable Chiefs team because of the
confidence they're playing with now and the fact that they
have a kind of stare death right in the eye
and live to tell the tale.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, and that they have Josh Allen and obviously the
Chiefs have Mahomes, but Alan to me is unique the
way he can run the ball, and that they're getting
contributions from the rest of the offense.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
That was a big concern, Like you wouldn't have known.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Gab Davis didn't play in this game, and hopefully he's
back for next week, but that's a big loss for them.
Shakir makes a great player two every week, like he
has finally replaced Cole Beasley. James Cook is a legit
running back. We've learned that he's a real RB one.
He's a pro bowler. They're run blocking well. That catch
(10:46):
Kincaid made on the first drive, like that's a wide
receiver catch and that was a big play I thought
in this game, I'm pretty sure that was third down,
and you know they'd be punting away and zero zero. Instead,
he makes the big catch in a tough situation and
they end up going to score the opening drive touchdown.
So they're getting contributions from everyone, but I'm a little worried.
I'm with you, I'd be leaning bills and we'll have
(11:08):
all week to talk about that.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
But you know, Mark mentioned it. Going into this game.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They were already down Razula Douglas and Threll Bernard there
who has been their best linebacker and their best cornerback.
Then they lose Specter, who is one of the fill
in linebackers. They lose Dotson, who has been starting all
year at linebacker and playing pretty well like their second linebacker.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That one looks serious. He was carted off.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
They lost Christian Benford, who's there CB one now that
Tredevious White has been long gone. Toron Johnson left this game.
He's their all pro slot cornerback. I could be wrong,
but I tried to do the math here, and you
know math is tough for me sometimes. I believe they
were without their top four cornerbacks and their top four
(11:52):
linebackers by the end of this game, and so just
how many of those guys are coming back next week
like that, that's gonna matter a lot. But they're an
offense first team, and their offense is very healthy.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, they're gonna have to put up a lot of points.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It's a good thing they're catching the twenty twenty three
Chiefs and not the twenty twenty twenty eighteen to twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Two on a version of that team absolutely well.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
And you know this, their regular season five game win
streak to close out the campaign started with them going
into Kansas City and winning twenty seventeen. Then they went
and took out the Cowboys, and they've done this in
different ways. And it's like, I kind of feel like
they're a team that while we've seen like the Eagles,
(12:33):
for instance, and we'll talk about them in a minute,
completely melt down under the weight of controversy and in
house problems. Ever since that Tyler Dunn think piece came out,
like the Bills have suddenly become this like completely resilient
group that injuries have been badgering them for weeks and weeks,
but you kind of just feel like there is team
where like these secondary and third story characters rise up
(12:57):
week after week and with Josh Allen, anything as possible.
And they're hosting the Chiefs like, I don't know, they're
a weird team and a weird AFC. It's like I
kind of feel like anything is possible with them at
this point.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
On the other side of things, So the Steelers and
credit them. The schedule softened up for a little bit
for them, and they made the necessary plays and the
backup quarterback played well to get to ten to seven
and make the playoffs. But the reality of the situation
is that this organization has now lost five consecutive playoff
games under Mike Tomlin. We were talking about how the
(13:33):
Pete Carrol Seahawks seemed to be stuck in neutral in
a way, and that organization made a move on a
forever coach. It's only natural that and it's the responsibility
I must say of the reporters at that site during
that press conference to broach what is the future of
Mike Tomlin, who just completed his seventeenth season.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
This is how that question and answer went.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Mike, you had a year left under.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
All right, So if you're watching this on YouTube, you
saw Tomlin, stoneface turn walk away, leave the press conference abruptly,
and so he didn't want to talk about it, at
least not today. A lot of frustration obviously for Tomlin,
who has been to the top of the mountain.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But it's been a while now.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, some of the coaches that have won playoff games,
I think I ever tried this out last year too,
but heck played the hits, you know since before, like
Mike Tomlin, Mike Malarkey, you're Doug Morone, Mike Zimmer that
they've all all won playoff games more recently, and the Steelers'
opponents have scored thirty one points at least in all
those games, which is which is crazy that that question,
(14:46):
just for a little context, did come after like a pause,
and it was probably got It was the end of
the press conference and so that was gonna be the
last question anyways. But it was ESPN, you know, Brooke
Pryor who asked it, so he knows who she has
all this stuff like, he did not I want to answer.
He's entering the last year of his contract. That no,
but you just say no comment, Greg, No, no, no,
I'm not. It's not a great look.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Give him a pass. He's frustrated, but it's not at all.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
For whatever reason, the announcers Romo and Nance were like, oh,
we talked about to Tomlin about his future in the
contract being up, and it's like, he's not going anywhere.
Why would anyone doubt that? And I I tend to
think that's true. I don't think the Steelers would ever
think about it. If there was anything but you know,
brewing it would be is Mike Tomlin wanting to break
(15:31):
or wanting to leave at some point. But even that,
that to me would be very surprising.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean, a week ago, he's a Coach of the
Year candidate. I guess they lost the playoff game.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
And I think Tomlin, not by me, I mean, not
by anyone, he would not be in anyone's top five.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I think in general, like Mike Tomlin liked, I mean,
what he's the fact that there's no losing record here,
what he's accomplished, like, it's the last person i'd fire.
But I would say he's one of these coaches, not
unlike you know, Bellichick in recent years, floating through the
ABYSS the NFL without a quarterback you can rely on,
and like some of these floating trash bags. We mentioned
on the Zumwalt intro in our last show, is like
(16:07):
these teams that get cleared out that don't have a
quarterback you can rely on, And that's like the Steelers
are not to be taken seriously. Come you know, mid January,
when you're dealing with Mason Rudolph, even if he's played
well in the last couple of games, it's like, come
on here, like I mean, I mean, but you need
an answer at that position.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And we'll get to some Belichick news that came out
during the late game today at the end of the show.
But I know, Greg, you kind of dismissed it when
we were talking about the end of the Belichick Patriots tenure.
But what if the guy the Pats get with a
third pick turns out to be a CJ.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Stroud type dude?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Like the idea of getting rid of proven, battle tested
coaches that have pelts on the wall when you're in
a cycle where you don't have a quarterback, that to
me is a mistake. I think the Steelers owe it
to Tomlin for what he's given that organization to find
him a true successor to Ben Roethlisberger. Belichick's a little
(17:02):
different obviously, because Belichick was the guy that was making
the personnel decisions for the most part for the Patriots,
So it's a little bit different in that in that case.
But at the same time, I think it would be
a mistake for the Steelers to take these last few
years of Mason, Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, old Big Ben, Kenny Pickett,
who's a middling prospect, and say, I mean it's time
(17:24):
for a change at coach, but probably not gonna happen,
But who knows, who knows what's gonna happen. It seems
like the league is in a weird place with coaching
and the owners having itchy trigger fingers.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
We will be spending probably more of late February, but
especially March and then maybe into April than Mark wants
to be talking about the Steelers quarterback situation.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have a feeling, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You're just gonna be like, because they're like wide open,
they're gonna it's not gonna be just bringing back Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
You can't, you absolutely can't do that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And in the Steelers defense, Steelers fans, I think we'll
probably want to point this as like they were as
injured on defense, and you see it in this game
as the Bills too. So Toman was not including missing TJ.
Watt of course, but at linebacker they were on their
fourth and fifth linebacker. Still not a big their secondary, No,
not a big time team, but just like he was
trying to fight with a defense that that was not
all there.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And I'm fine not.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Watching the Pittsburgh Steelers of the twenty twenty three season
any longer.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Really, I have the Pittsburgh Steelers of this whole decade.
It bored me.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
But I want to give a little credit, a shout
out to Mason Rudolph because he is a guy that
was completely forgotten. Played a role, a major role in
the making the playoffs, and I thought he played he
I know he had a bad interception in the end zone,
but he played a role in them getting back in
that game. He was way better than I ever would
have imagined over this last month. Not the answer, not
the future, but in my opinion, neither is Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
So a lot of better than Kenny Pickett without questions,
I mean, I don't think there was any question.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, all right, let's see, should we take a break.
Let's take a break and hit the other game played
on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
David Moore swings a motion billy left forty four yard line, makefield.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Throws a ball to the right side court ball, a
poop tackle five poor.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
To the forty Caeli forty five forty David Let's.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Pray Palmer Palmer t touched down Tampa Bay touchdown, Talconiers
fire the challenge.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Tray Palmer doesn't gee decker Hof And it was that easy.
It shouldn't have been this easy, and yet it.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Was for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who get that trait
Palmer fifty six yard catch and run TD. James Bradbury,
playing the worst football of his life, toasted as he
was missing tackles and bad and coverage really throughout the year.
That put them up twenty five nine Tampa Bay. They
end up winning thirty two to nine, eliminating the defending
(19:50):
no longer defending conference champion Eagles.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And the Eagles are.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Obviously a big, knotty story line that we're gonna get to,
but Mark, let's start with the Bucks, because man, we
all had our fun with the NFC South this year,
which was a bad division and one team had to
win the division. It was the Bucks, a Bucks team
that started out pretty hot, then was one of the
worst teams in the NFC for about two months, and
(20:17):
then kind of got their ish together to win that
division at nine to eight, and then played this game
like a team like we're seeing like we saw a
lot this weekend. There are certain teams, which makes the
next one of the many reasons why next week's gonna
be so much fun. All the teams that are underdogs,
for the most part, feel dangerous not to borrow Baker's
(20:40):
line because they're playing with house money, because they have
nothing to lose. In the Bucks, no one thought the
Bucks were gonna make any type of dent in the playoffs,
and they just stomped the Eagles, and now you get
the idea of them going up to Detroit and they're
gonna be free and easy, including the quarterback, your former quarterback,
Mark who went twenty two for thirty six for three
thirty seven, three touchdowns, no picks, average over nine yards
(21:04):
per attempt, and just led this team in a way
that Jalen Hurts and really everyone on the Eagles could
not get anything together.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Baker was the leader for the Bucks on this night.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
It's a great story for Baker Mayfield. It's not gonna
be up there in the level of what happened, you know,
in Detroit with Jared Goff. But if you've tracked Baker
Mayfield's career, and I think you know, there have been
these high moments and there have been a lot of
low moments, and he's inconsistent. But the version of him
tonight three hundred and thirty seven yards, three touchdowns, pretty
(21:37):
much mistake free. This is the team a couple times
this season that we saw and I think if you're
gonna get this version of them, they're dangerous. I think
it also helps, let's be real, they came up against
a team that was crumbling at the seams, falling apart,
and like I mean, two teams from Pennsylvania decided not
to tackle today. But I think this was the most
(21:58):
more avert of the two.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
The Steel over it.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I'm with you, and like you know, it was interesting
because like on the like on the Manning cast ray
lewis not my favorite person on the planet, but he
was going nuts about like the tackling angles. It's like
you're just watching a team from the pure fundamentals fall apart,
like when James Bradbury and Kevin Bayerd completely fell apart
on that Trey Palmer fifty six yard touchdown.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It's like, that's part of the story here.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
It's like the Bucks played a pretty flawless game and
their defense. You know, the Eagles the first time they played,
way back early in the season ran for two hundred
and one yards on this Bucks defense, which is a
pretty good run defense. Tonight two point eight yards per carry,
forty two yards. They couldn't get out of their own way,
And so a lot of it for me had to
do with the Bucks obviously hitting the Eagles at the
perfect time, but then handling their own job as well.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Right, I think to start with the Bucks.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So the Eagles, look, they're the bigger story, and that's fine,
I mean, Buck, the Bucks understand that. But but to
celebrate the Bucks because a win in the playoffs is
a big deal and any time you can get it,
I mean, even Bills fans should be thrilled. I was
counting the numbers, guse I was like, I wonder if
who's won more playoff games, Bucks or Bills since twenty
twenty When the Bills started this run and.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
It's the Bucks. The Bucks are at six, the Bills
are at five.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It's amazing that the Bucks have now beaten the Eagles
twice in the playoffs. They did it a couple of
years ago and they won four that time, they won
the Super Bowl, and they did it tonight with so
many of the players that were coached by Bruce arians
who you know, I don't think his advisor role.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Does he still have their role? Maybe he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
It is too active because he's on the manning cast
during the game.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Maybe he's not still getting the paycheck. I don't know
how that works.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
That is that's the place you want to get in life.
Let's face it. It's awesome. But they mentioned seventeen guys,
which they were pointing out, It's like, oh, that's not
that many.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
I was like, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Seventeen guys are still there from a Super Bowl title
four years ago, and I think it's six or seven
of the defensive starters. And you saw like Levante David
with a huge tackle for loss the third quarter because
this was a game, it was a one score game
in the third quarter that ends up setting up the
safety and he was all over the place, and Vitaveyo
(24:08):
was the guy who's stuffed the tush push and Jamel
Dean is out there on single coverage like all these
Bulls guys that have been there, and it was.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
A great plan. It was the perfect plan.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It was a perfect opponent for Bulls, who's just like
mister Blitz, and he got to face the team that
had no answers for Blitz. Next Gen Stats had the
number that they had ten unblocked defenders tonight, that is
the most in any game of the Next Gen Stats era.
Hurtz faced quick pressure, which is defined as less than
two and a half seconds, on thirteen plays tonight. That's
(24:38):
the most by any team all season. And it just
felt like coaching malpractice. So it was a great coaching
job on one hand, Bulls just completely flummoxing this team
and a bad a terrible one on the other hand.
And Peyton Manning, he's he does not like criticizing, but
he was just sitting there watching like, I can't believe
they're just staying empty with no extra pass protector in there.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
He's like, that is just being stubborn. They're just being stubborn.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
They're just doing the same thing, and it's.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Something we watched for like two months.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's kind of it's kind of crazy that, more than anything,
is why I think Sirianni's gonna get fired. And I
think Bowls in this Bucks teams was weirdly like the
worst matchup for him this or like the Vikings team
would have been time. I mean, let's face it, like anyone,
well that's anyone that matchup for your right Eagles everyone team.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I think it's it's pretty unprecedented. Our buddy Kevin Clark,
who works with the Peyton Manning brand over there now
Omaha Productions, he he made a comment on Twitter that
I was thinking, like the same time as I read,
I was like, can you remember a team melting down
like this without without a major quarterback injury or some
(25:45):
type of injury that completely destroyed the structure of what
the team was. And you know they weren't perfectly healthy,
and not having AJ Brown was certainly an issue for them,
but I just could have imagined I imagine AJ Brown
moping his ass around the field in this game as
well making a few plays. I think they were losing
with or without AJ Brown in this game because there's
something fundamentally broken with this Eagles team, and it is
(26:09):
It is crazy to think that if the Chiefs don't
get the benefit of a ticky Tack holding call at
the end of the Super Bowl, we could be talking
about the Eagles being a champion last year. And I
don't think anybody's going to be surprised to Sirianni goes,
because what I saw, and what I think a lot
of people saw, was a team that had more or
less packed it in and do not believe in the
(26:32):
head coach and the coaching staff, and everyone's doing these
three sixty windmill dunks on Matt Patricia. Listen, Matt Patricia
was just a guy in the deep background on the staff.
Sean Decide was the defensive coordinator that got promoted when
Gannon left and then.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
The hired from outside the building.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yea, yeah, Sirianni makes the decision weird timing to dump
decidh humiliate the guy in a lot of ways, kick
him upstairs, and put Patricia in the spot. But it's
not Patricia that's Maybe the scheme's not great, I'm not
saying it is, but it's not Patricia that's embarrassing themselves.
On the field with those mistackles and poor angles and
(27:10):
just low effort performance. I mean, the Eagles got to
wear this, and you can't just blame it on a coach.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I would say, like to Kevin Clark's tweak because I
saw that too that I was thinking kind of jogging
my memory. There are certainly teams that kind of went
like eight to one and then were revealed to be frauds,
But there aren't teams like this that looked like they
had turned the corner into the world of maybe being
like an NFC East dynasty with a quarterback you could
(27:37):
believe in for the next ten years that went through
a personality switch like this over the course of a
month and a half, because it was like an Eagles
team that, you know, two months ago we were saying
the front office is forward thinking, the roster is stacked,
like the way they're built is the way you win
in the NFC. And then like six weeks later, they
seem to lack all confidence. The coaches are flum mixed.
(28:00):
They clearly have missed both their coordinators. The players feel
like there's on the edge of a total insurrection, and
the coach could be gone in two days.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Here is Nick Sirianni at the podium. We were kind
of waiting on this and they just had the camera
on the empty podium. When Syriani gonna show up, What's
gonna happen is Jeff Lorii taking him outside, putting him
in a basement somewhere and locking it up. You don't
know what's going on with the once proud Sirianni. Here
are his comments after the game.
Speaker 8 (28:26):
Oh, obviously we were in a in a big slide.
And you know, anytime, anytime that's the case, I always
look at myself first, and I didn't do a good
enough job. And obviously we lost five of the last
six and lost today, And it's almost like you couldn't
get out of the rut. We we couldn't get out
the rut we're in. And that's and that's all of us.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, I mean it is it is all of us,
But it is the head coach.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
The buck stops there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And I thought Jalen Hurts his body language and the
way he comported himself these last few weeks of really
hold a story too, of a team that didn't have
the proper leadership to help get.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Out of the run either. Right.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think when Manning was talking about like the lack
of protection there, and Jay Gruden gotten some heat for
popping off about it on Twitter too, just because like
if I ever let my quarterback like get brutalized like this,
I hope people would come at me. And then RG
three actually did come at him. He was one of
his It was delicious, which is hilarious. But that's maybe
(29:27):
a quarterback losing confidence in his coaching or what's around him.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
And a J.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Brown this week, you know, deleted all the Eagles this.
I did not know this during the week. I found
this out tonight, but he did the whole like delete
all the Eagle stuff, and he also did triple entire
Twitter account. And it's tough. And I think it really
was crystallized for me tonight because I've been on the
(29:54):
side of like, yeah, well, but the offense hasn't really
been the problem. It's been the league's worst defense been
this and that. You know, the offense by the numbers,
and like they've been good, they haven't been great, and
Hurts has been good. He hasn't been terrible until these
last three weeks, although it really turned into a snowball downhill.
But then the start of the third quarter because this
game will be remembered as totally one sided, and it
(30:16):
really was. But the Bucks offense had been settling for
field goals. They didn't get any points right before the half.
And then in the third quarter, actually the Eagles defense
for a minute settled down. They forced Baker into some
bad sacks. They actually punted I think three straight times
if I'm correct, and the Eagles offense had a chance
to get back in this game. They're only down one score,
(30:37):
and in those three drives after halftime against a Bucks
defense it was highly mediocre all year.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
They had a total of zero yards.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
They punted twice, and then they had that sequence where
they ended up going backwards like fifteen yards or whatever
it was and hurts his holding onto the ball forever,
and again they don't have answers for the blitz and
he takes a safety that.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Ends the game.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
And that that to me was like, oh yeah, I
guess it really did turn into a full scale meltdown
where nothing is right about this team. Absolutely nothing is
good about this team. Not even the offensive line is
like good about this team. And you're right, I can't
think of anything like this in our run the Patriots
in nineteen were fairly similar. They were ten and one
(31:21):
and they but they just got old. It wasn't it
was just like they weren't as good as the record.
They just got old. It wasn't like this.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And I'm not gonna kill Sirianni for this. Although the
Flashpoint Focus series is I mean, I had the Emmy
Awards tonight.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
My wife's at them right now.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Actually they're proud of them.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
How do we not get an award for the series?
At this point?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
We get the Eagles just never won again after they
were the Flashpoint Focus and we broached the idea, could
Sirianni potentially lose his job? And now here we are,
it's it's kind of stunning and we're gonna see what
happens there.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
But to pivot back to the.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Meca, by the way, was watching this game with me
because you know, we're hoping to move up in the
world and whatnot. And she knows I'm just an associate
producer to the assistant to the to the producer, yes,
and she was seeing what was happening with this Eagles
team and she was just like, ooo, baby, maybe we
can get that new washer and dryer. Maybe we're gonna
get a bonus at the end of the season. I
(32:24):
told calm down, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I credit wife is one of the great one of
the great weapons for any man.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
She's literally never listened to an episode of our show though,
so it's it's kind of hard for us to feel
that she has an incredible sway over your position inside
the you know the vehicle.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Tough, by the way, tough weekend for the NFC East,
my own So Tom Brady, just to underline what an
amazing year this has been for the Bucks, given where
the expectations were. They had Tom Brady for one last ride.
Last year, they go eight and nine and get white
by Dak and the Cowboys in the first round. Now
they're ten and eight and they are going to the
(33:05):
second round of the playoffs to face the Lions, who
are a very good team, a very fun team, a
team that is very easy to root for, but they
Mark Sessler are not quite a juggernaut either.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
And again, like Baker in this spot is going to
be dangerous. When I woke up this morning, I think.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
He is going to absolutely play well in that spot
and will will the Bulls Asance take hold and be
able to minimize what Detroit does. We have a week
to get into that game. But I really think that
is a competitive game. I don't think this is the
Bucks had their moment tonight and get the doors blown off.
I think they're going to surprise people again with another
good performance.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
They're not done yet. Yeah, I think we I mean
we laid it out.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
There's a lot of players here with playoff experience, and
I think they're going to be doubted a lot during
the week, and there's going to be a lot of
people jumping on the Detroit story. And whenever you get
Baker Mayfield getting doubted over the course of a week,
you're gonna get the better version of Baker Mayfeld. And
just like think about the smile on Todd Bowles's face
at the end of that game, Like this team is
(34:11):
playing with house money, and that's a dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
In January, Baker're gonna get the Gino Smith contract rereg
something like that.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I don't.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
I don't think he's gonna get that much.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
But it's funny how these playoff games mean so much,
because like let's say Antoine Winfield doesn't make that play
where he knocks the ball out at the half yard
line last week, and the Panthers end up beating the Bucks.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You know, because the Bucks I think had.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Basically no touchdowns over eight quarters other than garbage time
for two weeks against the Saints and the Panthers like
the Baker's not getting anything. But then you come out
and you play great tonight, and you play great, great
next week. Yeah, no, I know it, and it's been
a good season. And yeah, I don't think you would
get that contract.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
But but that because that's not I point that one now,
because it wasn't overly lavish.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
It rewarded him and positioned Jim clearly as the he's
talking guaranteed that would be surprising to me. But they
they might feel some real loyalty, especially if he plays
well in Detroit and it's a good matchup.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Before we move on, let's hear from a Baker Mayfield
after the game.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
We fought so.
Speaker 7 (35:19):
Hard to get to this point, to get a chance
to be in the playoffs, and I'm so proud of
this team tonight, the way we came out.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And started fast.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
I'll just I'm so proud and so we want to
give ourselves a chance, and now we.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Did just that. We can play better than we did tonight.
But it's on to the next one. So we're on
a Detroit mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Bakers won a playoff game for the first time since
that Browns win over the Steelers. Mark so he is
no stranger to the big stage and we will see
what happens next. Weird, weird to see the Eagles, just
bizarre to see them crumble the way they did.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
The same thing happened five years ago.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
They the people in it, like in their organization that
have been there the whole time, have to be feeling
such whiplash. I know, the team that defended the title
was better than this. They were competitive in the playoffs.
It wasn't a collapse quite like that, but they were
nine and seven that that season after they won the
Super Bowl, and then the next year the floor totally
(36:19):
fell out and the guy they had given you know,
all that money to, Carson Wentz, was like, is this
guy even gonna stay on our team? And here we
are again. I don't think Hurts is going to have
that trajectory, But like I mean, but shoot, you think
if it's along the same line right now.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Forget about ten and one, Mark, Let's go back to
last year's draft and when they you know, everything, everything
they were doing was being hailed as genius and they
were seen as this team that was just yes, they
got beaten the Super Bowl, but this, this is the
organization in which you strive to be in the modern
(36:54):
NFL to where they are right now, it's it's going
to be a fascinating seventy two hours I think around
that organization. And Jason Kelcey, by the way, which I
thought was maybe a little Listen. I like Kelsey, We
all like Kelsey, good guy, great with the media, outstanding
football center, but treating it like Michael Jordan retirement watch
(37:15):
at the end of the ESPN telecasts felt a little strong.
He left the locker room without speaking to reporters, and
there's a lot of speculation that his career will be
coming to an end even though he's still playing at
a high level. So there's gonna be change around the Eagles,
you know it. I thought Troy Aikman made some you know,
good points and some kind of heavy comments that the
(37:38):
idea of, like you could tell immediately that this team
was checked out before the game started, and the only
way to fix this situation is substantial changes to re
energize the fan base and get the organization back on track.
What will Laurie do, It's almost probably what he's thinking
about when they're showing him in that suite.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, And I mean it goes beyond Kelsey too, because
guys like Fletcher Cock, Brandon Grahams Watkins, DeAndre Swift, Zach Cunningham,
Nicholas Moreau, and there's like fifteen other guys that are
like pending free agents. So I think, no matter what,
the Eagles are going to look functionally very different and
with it while the team took a dip, and I'm
(38:15):
not I'm not down on jail and hurts entirely, but
I would say that like a year ago, he was
like an overt MVP candidate and and just kind of
to see what's happened to him over the last five
or six weeks leaves you questioning like the entire future.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And there were no questions going into this year around hers.
Who knows his number one wide receiver might be asking
out of town, Like there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Things up to make big trades to be bold. And
that's when I say they it's essentially Howie Roseman, but
it's also Jeffrey Loriie, and.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
That it makes me wonder, like whose decision what?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Like I don't necessarily assume it was Nick Sierry Andy's
decision to even make the change with John decide like
that might have been Jeffrey Lourie and or Howie Roseman.
So the reporting that's been around the Eagles over the
years reminds me of how baseball managers are very upset
with the moneybollification in baseball, of like how the front
(39:11):
office is basically telling coaches what to do. The Eagles
feel as close to that as any NFL team, where
they view the coaches as a little fungible and that
Roseman and even Lurry is kind of kind of calling
the shots in this org.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So that's where we're at, one round complete in the
NFL playoffs. Let's hit some news, starting with this broke
in the second half of the Eagles Bucks tilt, the
Atlanta Falcons interviewed Bill Belichick for the head coaching job.
The team announced Monday that they interviewed Belichick. It is
(39:47):
the first known interviewing done by the famous coach since
Belichick and the Patriots mutually parted ways. Belichick has been
a head coach of twenty nine seasons, twenty four in
New England, five in Cleveland, and of course, maybe his
most famous victory is Brady and company overcoming a twenty
eight to three deficit in Super Bowl fifty one against
(40:08):
the wait for it, Atlanta Falcons. So it's just everything
about it is as a football fan strange mark because
you just you can't imagine Belichick being on another sideline.
You can't imagine him being part of an interview process,
and it's kind of hard to imagine him on the
Falcons after twenty eight to three. A great tweet tweeted
the night by Nora Princiati quote tweeted the Falcons announcing
(40:33):
that the interview is done above it. Can you tell
us about a time you face significant odds and how
you overcame them?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Did you watch the game on Monday?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I love it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
It was kind of like like it's kind of like
Meryl Streep having to like audition for like a local
town performance of like Oklahoma. It's like we think we
pretty sure she can do this, but I I like,
I get it. I mean, you want to meet with
the owner, and I think that that's an important thing
to to Belichi. And I think Arthur Blank would be
a good owner for Belichick.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I really do.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I think that's like kind of like the key thing
for the final.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Stage of his career.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
But then he'd walk into a situation not unlike Arthur
Smith where it's like, what are you doing with quarterback?
Speaker 2 (41:13):
That's what we just did with Belichick.
Speaker 4 (41:14):
So I always the Falcons feel like a bit of
a weird fit to me for for Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
But uh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I don't There aren't a lot of Greg There aren't
a bunch of teams lining up to talk to him
right now.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
From what we know, I thought it was interesting.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Tom Pellisero, the pell Raiser, I think I had this first,
and if he didn't, I apologize. But he definitely had
the info that it was in person, which to me
was was meaningful. Whether a it shows a seriousness to it,
like you know, they're not messing around.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
We know how to do a remote camera setup. I mean,
let's be fair.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Now, I don't know if it was in Atlanta, so
I was like, if Belichick's getting on a plane, it's like, shoo,
he's probably taking the jobs happening. And if he's getting
on a plane, if if Arthur Blank got on the
plane and came to Foxborough, either the fact that the
news is out there, that it's in person almost signals
to me that like, hey, if there's anyone else that's
gonna get in this, you better do it now, because
(42:11):
you know, we just met in person and we might
we might go ahead and do this thing. Yeah, I mean,
I just couldn't believe it reading the tweet that they
tweeted it out and there was like a little picture
with it.
Speaker 6 (42:21):
It's just like, what is just.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
It's almost as if that using the word interview just
doesn't even seem right when it's Bill Belichick. Say, we
met with Bill Belichick about our open position, Like right,
if anything, he should be interviewing you.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
And maybe that's part of the uh if.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
There are teams and there are many teams looking for
a coach right now that are apprehensive about entertaining the idea,
it's just the enormity of the belichickness of it all.
But like I'm like with you, mark On, I think
the Cowboys. It's worth a very serious conversation at the Star.
I think the Eagles should be talking about it if
they're looking to make a big change potentially. I think
(43:00):
Belichick is someone that any team looking to hire a
coach right now should take advantage of the blessing that
he's at least an option potentially and.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Meet with him if you can.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
But you know, a lot of people have the option
to engage in a potential business arrangement with Lamar Jackson
and they galaxy brain their way out of that one.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
So this one had surprised me either. Same think with
Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
By the way, no one, not any teams, particularly one
him like the Chargers kind of did. And that was
about it. Man, don't let Belichick go to the Eagles.
I might have to just, you know, become an Eagles
fan here for.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Oh, that will make you become an Eagles fan, Greg.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I love that for you know, it's all relative. I
picked the Bucks tonight. I was I wanted this team
to go away. This team was done though.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
I went five and one this week. I had a
nice week overall. Job.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
They Cowboys obviously ding me and the rest of the world.
But things you know the home team's played well obviously
this weekend, except for Dallas, which is ironic because they
were the best home team in the league this year.
But next week will be another challenge in terms of picks.
In other news, hey, hey, speaking of the Patriots. This
(44:14):
went down in a funky timing in terms of our
podcast taping schedule, but Gerrod Mayo was indeed hired to
replace Bill Belichick as the Patriots coach. Thirty seven years old.
He's a Patriot lifer. He's a linebacker for the team
in the glory days, and it's been on the staff
in different roles for years. He becomes the first black
head coach in Patriots history, which is great obviously. And
(44:39):
I guess the one question I have, Greg.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Because I think you did share you harbored some.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You were a little concerned about the idea of moving
on from Belichick and then moving right to kind of
a Belichick disciple and another defensive minded guy. I had
a chance to start fresh. And you're obviously bringing in
a quarterback, so it's not a slam dunk bringing in
a hot shot play caller and then drafting a quarterback move.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
But it doesn't mean it can't.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Work no, And Gerard Mayo is known as like an incredible.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Leader inside that locker room.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
He was as a player in a great football mind,
And I think that was just my first reaction was like, well,
do we really think Belichick's the problem, like the total
problem here, because all you're doing is like you're given
one of his assistants a promotion.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
We don't know who the GM is.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
There's some reporting that they don't mind not having a
GM till the draft, So I think it's this guy
that's in house, which is Elliott wolf Ron Wolfe's old son.
Is my guess is because obviously someone has to be
the GM through the next regns, but they might not
like officially make it happen or something.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I mean, let's you could also connect the dots and
Robert Crafts wanted this to be his show for a
long time, and all of a sudden, Robert and his
son might be able to be on all the shots.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I mean, that would do the Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, that.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Would be concerning It would be Jonathan I mean Robert Kraft,
who was pretty good on that press conference, I thought,
all things considered, but he's eighty I think he's eighty two,
he's eighty three. I mean those Jerry Jones. Yeah, it's
a little it's a little worrisome. That said, he is
the first one to get hired, and there are like
people really do believe in him. James Palmer had a
good thing on our on our show, the NFL Report,
(46:24):
of how it would be different, how he has all
these ideas. He's already interviewing like special teams coordinators. The
guy from the Falcons, who's like respected as you know,
one of the top ones in the league. Is like
he's getting to do this before anyone else does it.
So I guess they have a little bit of a
head start and he's got some ideas. But I'm I'm
a little skeptical. He is apparently trying to keep Steve Belichick,
which is that to.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Me his bizarre you know what?
Speaker 6 (46:46):
Those like that that they're close. They've worked together for
like eight years now, so they're.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Like best friends, like they consider each other.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
Steve Belichick called him like his like a he felt
like his a brother to him.
Speaker 6 (46:56):
So it's like maybe he don't go with his dad.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Yeah, well right, I think also, what's wrong with branching
out on your own. I mean, and Dan you mentioned
on the other show, it's like you don't want to
be the guy that follows, you know, Belichick the guy.
The only thing about this situation in particular versus coming
off like a Belichick you know, super Bowl or something,
is like the past couple of years with Belichick have
been distasteful to Patriots fans and messy, and so it's
(47:21):
not I don't think it's the quite as bad of
a situation as like taking over for what we think
taking over for Bill Belichick would be. It's like it's
been a bad Patriots experience. His fresh blood. He's liked
inside the building, if players like him, like, I don't know,
I don't hate it. I kind of It's who Craft
wanted for a year. He's been talked about for two
plus years.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
So his guy tract.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
They didn't have to, right, They literally didn't have to
interview anyone else, which you would have to with the
Rooney rule, even though Mayo's black, that is a rule
you still have to interview, you know, multiple candidates unless
you have it written into your contract that it's a
succession plan. And he did just like making up the
rules as we go no like Eric Tacosta had it.
(48:03):
The Ravens GM there was like they had like three
exact examples of like times this has happened with GM
or coaches that if you put it in, you can
do it and that's it all right.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, absence also makes the harco fonder and Patriots fans
even though they grew listen. Part of great incredible success,
like the Pats had is the fan base gets spoiled
and expects it always to be that way. But there's
gonna be pressure on Mayo to show that this thing
is on track or it's just gonna be more then
the fan base and the ownership like longing for the
(48:36):
good old days, that those those nine super Bowl appearances
and six titles are going to cast a long shadow
that will last, you know, decades.
Speaker 6 (48:43):
That's maybe the rest of my life, you know.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
That's the Prosially, if Belichick is winning super Bowls with
Jalen Hurts next year doing his Toush push and getting
gaateaid back.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Take it from a Yankee fan, like, it's not good
enough to just make the playoffs. You need to continue
to acquire chips, and if you don't, it's considered failure.
So Mayo's got a big job ahead of him. But
first thing they got to do is find a quarterback
for him, or he doesn't have a chance in hell.
Anything else in the news that you guys wanted to
throw out there.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Not really. You mentioned Harbaugh yesterday.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
The fact that he's already interviewing with the Chargers and
he might take another one or two tells me he
got on from Michigan and that's a fun one. And
otherwise all these teams are doing a million interviews.
Speaker 6 (49:27):
But we'll wait till.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
All's quiet and Dallas still twenty four hours after the
Cowboys meltdown.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
We also have I believe.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
The Dolphins giving some form of supportive words for Tua
with his contract status uncertain. But we will be tracking
all this stuff as it continues to roll out. We'll
be back on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll get Connie unless he
gets pulled into another nefarious three forty five Park Avenue event,
(50:00):
or she's in hiding as an Eagles fan and doesn't
want to do the show. I don't know what we're
gonna find out, but the hope is that Colleen rejoins
us because it's been too long without the tiny box.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
So make sure you're there for that.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And until then, thank you to everyone for listening and
we are one round, done.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Three to go to Wednesday. Heed the call.
The Around the NFL podcast, getting Younger by the episode.
Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL, Part two
of our Super wild Card Weekend recap series one of two,
(00:23):
and yes it is set. The best weekend in football
Divisional round playoffs is set.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Let's go through it.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Saturday one thirty pm Texans at Ravens, Saturday five point
fifteen pm Packers at Niners, Sunday noon Bucks Lions, and
Sunday three point thirty Chiefs Bills. Give me it, Give
(00:54):
me everything you got. That is a great slate of
divisional round football. And to get to those matchups we
had to get through and we thought we had gotten
all the floating trash bags out. Well, we had to
use this long weekend, this holiday weekend and Happy Martin
Luther King Junior Day to everyone to sort out the
(01:17):
teams that don't matter and the teams that do. And
we're going to get into all that with the last
two games that were played on Monday. Dan hanss here
with Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler, and yes, boys, we
did not get any classics on Monday. In fact, it
was two pretty much one sided affairs, one more than
the other. But we did do the business that we
(01:39):
needed to do to set up what I think is
going to be a brilliant week of football next week.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, I appreciate you going Pacific time with all the
times for next week. That was an cost best coast, Like,
let's normalize that. And yeah, the average margin of victory
this week for these six games was seventeen and a
half points. The two games on Monday, as you mentioned,
weren't like overly competitive, although they were both within one
(02:03):
score at different points in the second half and never
felt close. But I guess that's why the NFL still wins,
or maybe I'm just an addict, is that even though
these games, like they really weren't great, just the stories
that kind of come with them, especially tonight watching the
Eagles go down like that, to me, are just so
fascinating in terms of the drama and everything that's gonna
come next and everything that came before it to get
(02:24):
to this point that it's still like you can't you
can't stop watching it, even as it's a car crash.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Yeah, because I think if you're gonna it can go
two ways. And we're so used to so many of
these playoff games going down to the final possession into overtime.
This was a different weekend. If we're still in the weekend,
I'm not sure it's still the weekend. It's Monday. It's
a holiday Monday, but we didn't have school, so at least. Yeah,
you're right, so I guess it is. It's a long weekend.
But I mean, like when the Cowboys get dismantled utterly,
(02:53):
and when the Eagles get their doors blown off, and
when even Mike Tomlin is walking off the podium as
he's being asked about his future, It's like we are
getting storylines that are pretty impactful with some of the
most deeply embedded franchises in NFL history.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
So I'll take it. I mean, I'll take that.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Geez, those shots of Jeffrey Laurie in the Eagles owner suite,
I mean, you can't tell me. You're looking at the
way that those shots of Laurie's stonefaced and almost catatonic,
and you're wondering what does it mean for Nick Sirianni,
(03:30):
and of course, what does it mean for Mike McCarthy,
and what does it mean for Mike Tomman. You're right, Mark,
there's so many storylines on wrap ahead, But let's get
to the games that were played today, including that Eagles game.
But let's start. Let's go in order in which they
were played. The Bills and Steelers were originally scheduled for Sunday,
but a blizzard socked western New York. By today, they
(03:52):
had the field looking pristine. The seats were still covered
in snow, which must have been like probably like crazy
annoying if you there, But we were watching it on television,
so it was all cool for us and for Bills fans.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Man, you're alive, You're alive, and well. The Orchard Park.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Five on the play clock here on second and nine,
takes his snap back to pass, fires over the middle,
complete on a crossing route to Shakir, who gets away
from the tackler down to the ten looking for the
end zone, and he's in. Khalil Shakir did a disappearing
act on the tackler who first his field and found
the end zone. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
If you want your child to go up to be
a star linebacker, do not let him see tape from
either game play today. So the worst tackling you will
ever see, and Khalil Shakir stayed on his feet evaded
would be Steelers tacklers and found his way to the
end zone, the clinching score for the Buffalo Bills in
a thirty one to seventeen win over the Steelers, who
(04:57):
were nice enough I thought to take my strong hint
that they weren't invited to next week's action, and they
acted accordingly, well, you know, keeping it respectful. It started
fourteen to nothing this game, with the Bills hitting the
tight ends twice in the first quarter and Josh Allen
looking locked in, and then Buffalo, as they've been known
(05:18):
to do this year, start to get a little sloppy,
start to kind of rest on their laurels. They actually
let the Steelers back into this game, Greg Rosenthal, to
the point where we're talking about a one score game.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
But it was one of those things.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
It was the Swingers game that we talked about earlier
this year, Mark, and one of the Thursday night games
where it was almost like the Bills were just toying
with the bunny.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
They were a bear.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
They were just toying with the bunny, and when it
was time to kill the bunny, that's what they did.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The Steelers are that bunny.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, they were down what twenty one to nothing in
the first half, and there's a blocked field goal that
that Steelers end up taking advantage of scoring a touchdown
later on that driver. Else that they could have been
down twenty four, but all the defensive injuries for the Bills,
which will get who did lead to a point. It
was twenty four seventeen in the fourth quarter, Bills get
the ball and I was like, you, Dan, I never
(06:06):
thought this was really a game because I just thought, well,
the Steelers defense isn't going to stop them, and they didn't.
And I think that drive at twenty four to seventeen,
which finished with that Shakir catch we heard, was really
all about what this Bill's team can do this year,
which is they only threw the ball twice on that drive.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
They let Josh Allen run it a couple times.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
He had that big run on a Reid option where
he plows into the defender, and I just have this
image of the left tackle Dion Dawkins going up behind
josh Allen after that play and making the flex that
Josh Allen does and all the offensive linemen being so
jacked up, and Josh Allen ends up running for seventy
(06:46):
four including that long touchdown. It's like this is a
tougher Bills team that they can match a team like
the Steelers that also runs the ball well. And ultimately
they made enough plays on defense this offense and Josh Allen,
who played a very clean game, we get out of
mark for you know, the the Josh Allen roller coaster.
This is not a roller coaster game. This was just
a very good game throwing in running the ball by Josh.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Allen, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
It was, you know, methodical, and I thought that the
you know, even though there was a one score situation late,
I don't know, to me, it felt like it's at
some point the Bills will do something to clean this
up and execute the Steelers.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
And I thought, jos Josh Allen, like, you know, the
running ability over the last month plus, really since the
coordinator switch has been a huge factor for them. The
second longest touchdown run fifty two yards in NFL playoff history.
He's the perfect guy to do that. He dominated it
in cold weather. Three touchdowns, no turnovers, Like they clean
(07:43):
stuff up in the red zone for the most part,
and they continue to get help from unlikely characters because,
like you mentioned greg like Terrell Bernard goes down, Christian Benford,
Toron Johnson, like that's a factor next week. But they
survived today, and they survived pretty easily, Like the Steelers
are going to put up a fight.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
But I don't know. I watched that thing.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
It felt like a low drama element to me, like
it was just a matter of time until Buffalo did
what they needed to do.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I mean, the idea of the seventh seed being added.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
You have to take the good with the bet because
you're gonna take a bad Steelers team within the prism
of looking at postseason football, but you're also gonna get
on the other side a team like the Packers, which
I think a lot of people think is a team
that has a chance to make a deep run in
the playoffs. So the Steelers felt like they were really
a placeholder for a Bills team that has now gone
(08:35):
from six and six to twelve and six, and they
had their postseason odds were under ten percent at one point.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I think they were what was.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It, were they tenth or twelfth in the playoff race
at one point, and now here they are not only
winning this game and getting once again to the second
round of the playoffs, which they do every year. Now
they're gonna be hosting the Chiefs in their building, and
Josh Allen after the game talked about this topsy turvy
year for the Bills and how the struggles of earlier
(09:05):
in the season have kind of made them stronger now.
Speaker 7 (09:08):
Well, I mean, I think we're playing at a comfortable
level because of the uncomfortable situations that we've been in
this last six seven weeks. You know, it's almost a
sense of our breath or fresh air and knowing that
everybody's in the same position that we have been, you know,
win or go home, and to be in that situation,
like I said, the dividends that it's going to pay off,
(09:30):
you know. I think you kind of saw that tonight
of you know, we were cool, calm and collected and
nobody nobody blinked, and we just kind of went out
there and did our job. And we're going to need
to continue.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I think I know what he's saying there too, Greg
that those games and you remember late in December around
Christmas time, you know, while the rest of the league
was either playing out the string or everyone had different
levels of urgency, the Bills are playing for their lives
week after week after week, and there's that must have
taken a mental toll, and it's almost freeing now that
they're just like everybody else.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
You win or you go home. And I love I
love the.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Bills chances against a vulnerable Chiefs team because of the
confidence they're playing with now and the fact that they
have a kind of stare death right in the eye
and live to tell the tale.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, and that they have Josh Allen and obviously the
Chiefs have Mahomes, but Alan to me is unique the
way he can run the ball, and that they're getting
contributions from the rest of the offense.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
That was a big concern, Like you wouldn't have known.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Gab Davis didn't play in this game, and hopefully he's
back for next week, but that's a big loss for them.
Shakir makes a great player two every week, like he
has finally replaced Cole Beasley. James Cook is a legit
running back. We've learned that he's a real RB one.
He's a pro bowler. They're run blocking well. That catch
(10:46):
Kincaid made on the first drive, like that's a wide
receiver catch and that was a big play I thought
in this game, I'm pretty sure that was third down,
and you know they'd be punting away and zero zero. Instead,
he makes the big catch in a tough situation and
they end up going to score the opening drive touchdown.
So they're getting contributions from everyone, but I'm a little worried.
I'm with you, I'd be leaning bills and we'll have
(11:08):
all week to talk about that.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
But you know, Mark mentioned it. Going into this game.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
They were already down Razula Douglas and Threll Bernard there
who has been their best linebacker and their best cornerback.
Then they lose Specter, who is one of the fill
in linebackers. They lose Dotson, who has been starting all
year at linebacker and playing pretty well like their second linebacker.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That one looks serious. He was carted off.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
They lost Christian Benford, who's there CB one now that
Tredevious White has been long gone. Toron Johnson left this game.
He's their all pro slot cornerback. I could be wrong,
but I tried to do the math here, and you
know math is tough for me sometimes. I believe they
were without their top four cornerbacks and their top four
(11:52):
linebackers by the end of this game, and so just
how many of those guys are coming back next week
like that, that's gonna matter a lot. But they're an
offense first team, and their offense is very healthy.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well, they're gonna have to put up a lot of points.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It's a good thing they're catching the twenty twenty three
Chiefs and not the twenty twenty twenty eighteen to twenty twenty.
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Two on a version of that team absolutely well.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
And you know this, their regular season five game win
streak to close out the campaign started with them going
into Kansas City and winning twenty seventeen. Then they went
and took out the Cowboys, and they've done this in
different ways. And it's like, I kind of feel like
they're a team that while we've seen like the Eagles,
(12:33):
for instance, and we'll talk about them in a minute,
completely melt down under the weight of controversy and in
house problems. Ever since that Tyler Dunn think piece came out,
like the Bills have suddenly become this like completely resilient
group that injuries have been badgering them for weeks and weeks,
but you kind of just feel like there is team
where like these secondary and third story characters rise up
(12:57):
week after week and with Josh Allen, anything as possible.
And they're hosting the Chiefs like, I don't know, they're
a weird team and a weird AFC. It's like I
kind of feel like anything is possible with them at
this point.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
On the other side of things, So the Steelers and
credit them. The schedule softened up for a little bit
for them, and they made the necessary plays and the
backup quarterback played well to get to ten to seven
and make the playoffs. But the reality of the situation
is that this organization has now lost five consecutive playoff
games under Mike Tomlin. We were talking about how the
(13:33):
Pete Carrol Seahawks seemed to be stuck in neutral in
a way, and that organization made a move on a
forever coach. It's only natural that and it's the responsibility
I must say of the reporters at that site during
that press conference to broach what is the future of
Mike Tomlin, who just completed his seventeenth season.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
This is how that question and answer went.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Mike, you had a year left under.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
All right, So if you're watching this on YouTube, you
saw Tomlin, stoneface turn walk away, leave the press conference abruptly,
and so he didn't want to talk about it, at
least not today. A lot of frustration obviously for Tomlin,
who has been to the top of the mountain.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But it's been a while now.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, some of the coaches that have won playoff games,
I think I ever tried this out last year too,
but heck played the hits, you know since before, like
Mike Tomlin, Mike Malarkey, you're Doug Morone, Mike Zimmer that
they've all all won playoff games more recently, and the Steelers'
opponents have scored thirty one points at least in all
those games, which is which is crazy that that question,
(14:46):
just for a little context, did come after like a pause,
and it was probably got It was the end of
the press conference and so that was gonna be the
last question anyways. But it was ESPN, you know, Brooke
Pryor who asked it, so he knows who she has
all this stuff like, he did not I want to answer.
He's entering the last year of his contract. That no,
but you just say no comment, Greg, No, no, no,
I'm not. It's not a great look.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Give him a pass. He's frustrated, but it's not at all.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
For whatever reason, the announcers Romo and Nance were like, oh,
we talked about to Tomlin about his future in the
contract being up, and it's like, he's not going anywhere.
Why would anyone doubt that? And I I tend to
think that's true. I don't think the Steelers would ever
think about it. If there was anything but you know,
brewing it would be is Mike Tomlin wanting to break
(15:31):
or wanting to leave at some point. But even that,
that to me would be very surprising.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I mean, a week ago, he's a Coach of the
Year candidate. I guess they lost the playoff game.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
And I think Tomlin, not by me, I mean, not
by anyone, he would not be in anyone's top five.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
I think in general, like Mike Tomlin liked, I mean,
what he's the fact that there's no losing record here,
what he's accomplished, like, it's the last person i'd fire.
But I would say he's one of these coaches, not
unlike you know, Bellichick in recent years, floating through the
ABYSS the NFL without a quarterback you can rely on,
and like some of these floating trash bags. We mentioned
on the Zumwalt intro in our last show, is like
(16:07):
these teams that get cleared out that don't have a
quarterback you can rely on, And that's like the Steelers
are not to be taken seriously. Come you know, mid January,
when you're dealing with Mason Rudolph, even if he's played
well in the last couple of games, it's like, come
on here, like I mean, I mean, but you need
an answer at that position.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And we'll get to some Belichick news that came out
during the late game today at the end of the show.
But I know, Greg, you kind of dismissed it when
we were talking about the end of the Belichick Patriots tenure.
But what if the guy the Pats get with a
third pick turns out to be a CJ.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Stroud type dude?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Like the idea of getting rid of proven, battle tested
coaches that have pelts on the wall when you're in
a cycle where you don't have a quarterback, that to
me is a mistake. I think the Steelers owe it
to Tomlin for what he's given that organization to find
him a true successor to Ben Roethlisberger. Belichick's a little
(17:02):
different obviously, because Belichick was the guy that was making
the personnel decisions for the most part for the Patriots,
So it's a little bit different in that in that case.
But at the same time, I think it would be
a mistake for the Steelers to take these last few
years of Mason, Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, old Big Ben, Kenny Pickett,
who's a middling prospect, and say, I mean it's time
(17:24):
for a change at coach, but probably not gonna happen,
But who knows, who knows what's gonna happen. It seems
like the league is in a weird place with coaching
and the owners having itchy trigger fingers.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
We will be spending probably more of late February, but
especially March and then maybe into April than Mark wants
to be talking about the Steelers quarterback situation.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have a feeling, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
You're just gonna be like, because they're like wide open,
they're gonna it's not gonna be just bringing back Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
You can't, you absolutely can't do that.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And in the Steelers defense, Steelers fans, I think we'll
probably want to point this as like they were as
injured on defense, and you see it in this game
as the Bills too. So Toman was not including missing TJ.
Watt of course, but at linebacker they were on their
fourth and fifth linebacker. Still not a big their secondary, No,
not a big time team, but just like he was
trying to fight with a defense that that was not
all there.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And I'm fine not.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Watching the Pittsburgh Steelers of the twenty twenty three season
any longer.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Really, I have the Pittsburgh Steelers of this whole decade.
It bored me.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
But I want to give a little credit, a shout
out to Mason Rudolph because he is a guy that
was completely forgotten. Played a role, a major role in
the making the playoffs, and I thought he played he
I know he had a bad interception in the end zone,
but he played a role in them getting back in
that game. He was way better than I ever would
have imagined over this last month. Not the answer, not
the future, but in my opinion, neither is Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
So a lot of better than Kenny Pickett without questions,
I mean, I don't think there was any question.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, all right, let's see, should we take a break.
Let's take a break and hit the other game played
on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
David Moore swings a motion billy left forty four yard line, makefield.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Throws a ball to the right side court ball, a
poop tackle five poor.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
To the forty Caeli forty five forty David Let's.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Pray Palmer Palmer t touched down Tampa Bay touchdown, Talconiers
fire the challenge.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Tray Palmer doesn't gee decker Hof And it was that easy.
It shouldn't have been this easy, and yet it.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Was for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who get that trait
Palmer fifty six yard catch and run TD. James Bradbury,
playing the worst football of his life, toasted as he
was missing tackles and bad and coverage really throughout the year.
That put them up twenty five nine Tampa Bay. They
end up winning thirty two to nine, eliminating the defending
(19:50):
no longer defending conference champion Eagles.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And the Eagles are.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Obviously a big, knotty story line that we're gonna get to,
but Mark, let's start with the Bucks, because man, we
all had our fun with the NFC South this year,
which was a bad division and one team had to
win the division. It was the Bucks, a Bucks team
that started out pretty hot, then was one of the
worst teams in the NFC for about two months, and
(20:17):
then kind of got their ish together to win that
division at nine to eight, and then played this game
like a team like we're seeing like we saw a
lot this weekend. There are certain teams, which makes the
next one of the many reasons why next week's gonna
be so much fun. All the teams that are underdogs,
for the most part, feel dangerous not to borrow Baker's
(20:40):
line because they're playing with house money, because they have
nothing to lose. In the Bucks, no one thought the
Bucks were gonna make any type of dent in the playoffs,
and they just stomped the Eagles, and now you get
the idea of them going up to Detroit and they're
gonna be free and easy, including the quarterback, your former quarterback,
Mark who went twenty two for thirty six for three
thirty seven, three touchdowns, no picks, average over nine yards
(21:04):
per attempt, and just led this team in a way
that Jalen Hurts and really everyone on the Eagles could
not get anything together.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Baker was the leader for the Bucks on this night.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
It's a great story for Baker Mayfield. It's not gonna
be up there in the level of what happened, you know,
in Detroit with Jared Goff. But if you've tracked Baker
Mayfield's career, and I think you know, there have been
these high moments and there have been a lot of
low moments, and he's inconsistent. But the version of him
tonight three hundred and thirty seven yards, three touchdowns, pretty
(21:37):
much mistake free. This is the team a couple times
this season that we saw and I think if you're
gonna get this version of them, they're dangerous. I think
it also helps, let's be real, they came up against
a team that was crumbling at the seams, falling apart,
and like I mean, two teams from Pennsylvania decided not
to tackle today. But I think this was the most
(21:58):
more avert of the two.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
The Steel over it.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
I'm with you, and like you know, it was interesting
because like on the like on the Manning cast ray
lewis not my favorite person on the planet, but he
was going nuts about like the tackling angles. It's like
you're just watching a team from the pure fundamentals fall apart,
like when James Bradbury and Kevin Bayerd completely fell apart
on that Trey Palmer fifty six yard touchdown.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It's like, that's part of the story here.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
It's like the Bucks played a pretty flawless game and
their defense. You know, the Eagles the first time they played,
way back early in the season ran for two hundred
and one yards on this Bucks defense, which is a
pretty good run defense. Tonight two point eight yards per carry,
forty two yards. They couldn't get out of their own way,
And so a lot of it for me had to
do with the Bucks obviously hitting the Eagles at the
perfect time, but then handling their own job as well.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Right, I think to start with the Bucks.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So the Eagles, look, they're the bigger story, and that's fine,
I mean, Buck, the Bucks understand that. But but to
celebrate the Bucks because a win in the playoffs is
a big deal and any time you can get it,
I mean, even Bills fans should be thrilled. I was
counting the numbers, guse I was like, I wonder if
who's won more playoff games, Bucks or Bills since twenty
twenty When the Bills started this run and.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
It's the Bucks. The Bucks are at six, the Bills
are at five.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
It's amazing that the Bucks have now beaten the Eagles
twice in the playoffs. They did it a couple of
years ago and they won four that time, they won
the Super Bowl, and they did it tonight with so
many of the players that were coached by Bruce arians
who you know, I don't think his advisor role.
Speaker 6 (23:29):
Does he still have their role? Maybe he doesn't.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
It is too active because he's on the manning cast
during the game.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Maybe he's not still getting the paycheck. I don't know
how that works.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
That is that's the place you want to get in life.
Let's face it. It's awesome. But they mentioned seventeen guys,
which they were pointing out, It's like, oh, that's not
that many.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
I was like, that's a lot.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Seventeen guys are still there from a Super Bowl title
four years ago, and I think it's six or seven
of the defensive starters. And you saw like Levante David
with a huge tackle for loss the third quarter because
this was a game, it was a one score game
in the third quarter that ends up setting up the
safety and he was all over the place, and Vitaveyo
(24:08):
was the guy who's stuffed the tush push and Jamel
Dean is out there on single coverage like all these
Bulls guys that have been there, and it was.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
A great plan. It was the perfect plan.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
It was a perfect opponent for Bulls, who's just like
mister Blitz, and he got to face the team that
had no answers for Blitz. Next Gen Stats had the
number that they had ten unblocked defenders tonight, that is
the most in any game of the Next Gen Stats era.
Hurtz faced quick pressure, which is defined as less than
two and a half seconds, on thirteen plays tonight. That's
(24:38):
the most by any team all season. And it just
felt like coaching malpractice. So it was a great coaching
job on one hand, Bulls just completely flummoxing this team
and a bad a terrible one on the other hand.
And Peyton Manning, he's he does not like criticizing, but
he was just sitting there watching like, I can't believe
they're just staying empty with no extra pass protector in there.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
He's like, that is just being stubborn. They're just being stubborn.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
They're just doing the same thing, and it's.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Something we watched for like two months.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's kind of it's kind of crazy that, more than anything,
is why I think Sirianni's gonna get fired. And I
think Bowls in this Bucks teams was weirdly like the
worst matchup for him this or like the Vikings team
would have been time. I mean, let's face it, like anyone,
well that's anyone that matchup for your right Eagles everyone team.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I think it's it's pretty unprecedented. Our buddy Kevin Clark,
who works with the Peyton Manning brand over there now
Omaha Productions, he he made a comment on Twitter that
I was thinking, like the same time as I read,
I was like, can you remember a team melting down
like this without without a major quarterback injury or some
(25:45):
type of injury that completely destroyed the structure of what
the team was. And you know they weren't perfectly healthy,
and not having AJ Brown was certainly an issue for them,
but I just could have imagined I imagine AJ Brown
moping his ass around the field in this game as
well making a few plays. I think they were losing
with or without AJ Brown in this game because there's
something fundamentally broken with this Eagles team, and it is
(26:09):
It is crazy to think that if the Chiefs don't
get the benefit of a ticky Tack holding call at
the end of the Super Bowl, we could be talking
about the Eagles being a champion last year. And I
don't think anybody's going to be surprised to Sirianni goes,
because what I saw, and what I think a lot
of people saw, was a team that had more or
less packed it in and do not believe in the
(26:32):
head coach and the coaching staff, and everyone's doing these
three sixty windmill dunks on Matt Patricia. Listen, Matt Patricia
was just a guy in the deep background on the staff.
Sean Decide was the defensive coordinator that got promoted when
Gannon left and then.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
The hired from outside the building.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yea, yeah, Sirianni makes the decision weird timing to dump
decidh humiliate the guy in a lot of ways, kick
him upstairs, and put Patricia in the spot. But it's
not Patricia that's Maybe the scheme's not great, I'm not
saying it is, but it's not Patricia that's embarrassing themselves.
On the field with those mistackles and poor angles and
(27:10):
just low effort performance. I mean, the Eagles got to
wear this, and you can't just blame it on a coach.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I would say, like to Kevin Clark's tweak because I
saw that too that I was thinking kind of jogging
my memory. There are certainly teams that kind of went
like eight to one and then were revealed to be frauds,
But there aren't teams like this that looked like they
had turned the corner into the world of maybe being
like an NFC East dynasty with a quarterback you could
(27:37):
believe in for the next ten years that went through
a personality switch like this over the course of a
month and a half, because it was like an Eagles
team that, you know, two months ago we were saying
the front office is forward thinking, the roster is stacked,
like the way they're built is the way you win
in the NFC. And then like six weeks later, they
seem to lack all confidence. The coaches are flum mixed.
(28:00):
They clearly have missed both their coordinators. The players feel
like there's on the edge of a total insurrection, and
the coach could be gone in two days.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Here is Nick Sirianni at the podium. We were kind
of waiting on this and they just had the camera
on the empty podium. When Syriani gonna show up, What's
gonna happen is Jeff Lorii taking him outside, putting him
in a basement somewhere and locking it up. You don't
know what's going on with the once proud Sirianni. Here
are his comments after the game.
Speaker 8 (28:26):
Oh, obviously we were in a in a big slide.
And you know, anytime, anytime that's the case, I always
look at myself first, and I didn't do a good
enough job. And obviously we lost five of the last
six and lost today, And it's almost like you couldn't
get out of the rut. We we couldn't get out
the rut we're in. And that's and that's all of us.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, I mean it is it is all of us,
But it is the head coach.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
The buck stops there.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And I thought Jalen Hurts his body language and the
way he comported himself these last few weeks of really
hold a story too, of a team that didn't have
the proper leadership to help get.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Out of the run either. Right.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think when Manning was talking about like the lack
of protection there, and Jay Gruden gotten some heat for
popping off about it on Twitter too, just because like
if I ever let my quarterback like get brutalized like this,
I hope people would come at me. And then RG
three actually did come at him. He was one of
his It was delicious, which is hilarious. But that's maybe
(29:27):
a quarterback losing confidence in his coaching or what's around him.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
And a J.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Brown this week, you know, deleted all the Eagles this.
I did not know this during the week. I found
this out tonight, but he did the whole like delete
all the Eagle stuff, and he also did triple entire
Twitter account. And it's tough. And I think it really
was crystallized for me tonight because I've been on the
(29:54):
side of like, yeah, well, but the offense hasn't really
been the problem. It's been the league's worst defense been
this and that. You know, the offense by the numbers,
and like they've been good, they haven't been great, and
Hurts has been good. He hasn't been terrible until these
last three weeks, although it really turned into a snowball downhill.
But then the start of the third quarter because this
game will be remembered as totally one sided, and it
(30:16):
really was. But the Bucks offense had been settling for
field goals. They didn't get any points right before the half.
And then in the third quarter, actually the Eagles defense
for a minute settled down. They forced Baker into some
bad sacks. They actually punted I think three straight times
if I'm correct, and the Eagles offense had a chance
to get back in this game. They're only down one score,
(30:37):
and in those three drives after halftime against a Bucks
defense it was highly mediocre all year.
Speaker 6 (30:42):
They had a total of zero yards.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
They punted twice, and then they had that sequence where
they ended up going backwards like fifteen yards or whatever
it was and hurts his holding onto the ball forever,
and again they don't have answers for the blitz and
he takes a safety that.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
Ends the game.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
And that that to me was like, oh yeah, I
guess it really did turn into a full scale meltdown
where nothing is right about this team. Absolutely nothing is
good about this team. Not even the offensive line is
like good about this team. And you're right, I can't
think of anything like this in our run the Patriots
in nineteen were fairly similar. They were ten and one
(31:21):
and they but they just got old. It wasn't it
was just like they weren't as good as the record.
They just got old. It wasn't like this.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
And I'm not gonna kill Sirianni for this. Although the
Flashpoint Focus series is I mean, I had the Emmy
Awards tonight.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
My wife's at them right now.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Actually they're proud of them.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
How do we not get an award for the series?
At this point?
Speaker 1 (31:45):
We get the Eagles just never won again after they
were the Flashpoint Focus and we broached the idea, could
Sirianni potentially lose his job? And now here we are,
it's it's kind of stunning and we're gonna see what
happens there.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
But to pivot back to the.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
Meca, by the way, was watching this game with me
because you know, we're hoping to move up in the
world and whatnot. And she knows I'm just an associate
producer to the assistant to the to the producer, yes,
and she was seeing what was happening with this Eagles
team and she was just like, ooo, baby, maybe we
can get that new washer and dryer. Maybe we're gonna
get a bonus at the end of the season. I
(32:24):
told calm down, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I credit wife is one of the great one of
the great weapons for any man.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Greg.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
She's literally never listened to an episode of our show though,
so it's it's kind of hard for us to feel
that she has an incredible sway over your position inside
the you know the vehicle.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Tough, by the way, tough weekend for the NFC East,
my own So Tom Brady, just to underline what an
amazing year this has been for the Bucks, given where
the expectations were. They had Tom Brady for one last ride.
Last year, they go eight and nine and get white
by Dak and the Cowboys in the first round. Now
they're ten and eight and they are going to the
(33:05):
second round of the playoffs to face the Lions, who
are a very good team, a very fun team, a
team that is very easy to root for, but they
Mark Sessler are not quite a juggernaut either.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
And again, like Baker in this spot is going to
be dangerous. When I woke up this morning, I think.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
He is going to absolutely play well in that spot
and will will the Bulls Asance take hold and be
able to minimize what Detroit does. We have a week
to get into that game. But I really think that
is a competitive game. I don't think this is the
Bucks had their moment tonight and get the doors blown off.
I think they're going to surprise people again with another
good performance.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
They're not done yet. Yeah, I think we I mean
we laid it out.
Speaker 4 (33:49):
There's a lot of players here with playoff experience, and
I think they're going to be doubted a lot during
the week, and there's going to be a lot of
people jumping on the Detroit story. And whenever you get
Baker Mayfield getting doubted over the course of a week,
you're gonna get the better version of Baker Mayfeld. And
just like think about the smile on Todd Bowles's face
at the end of that game, Like this team is
(34:11):
playing with house money, and that's a dangerous thing.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
In January, Baker're gonna get the Gino Smith contract rereg
something like that.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I don't.
Speaker 6 (34:22):
I don't think he's gonna get that much.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
But it's funny how these playoff games mean so much,
because like let's say Antoine Winfield doesn't make that play
where he knocks the ball out at the half yard
line last week, and the Panthers end up beating the Bucks.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
You know, because the Bucks I think had.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Basically no touchdowns over eight quarters other than garbage time
for two weeks against the Saints and the Panthers like
the Baker's not getting anything. But then you come out
and you play great tonight, and you play great, great
next week. Yeah, no, I know it, and it's been
a good season. And yeah, I don't think you would
get that contract.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
But but that because that's not I point that one now,
because it wasn't overly lavish.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
It rewarded him and positioned Jim clearly as the he's
talking guaranteed that would be surprising to me. But they
they might feel some real loyalty, especially if he plays
well in Detroit and it's a good matchup.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Before we move on, let's hear from a Baker Mayfield
after the game.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
We fought so.
Speaker 7 (35:19):
Hard to get to this point, to get a chance
to be in the playoffs, and I'm so proud of
this team tonight, the way we came out.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And started fast.
Speaker 7 (35:27):
I'll just I'm so proud and so we want to
give ourselves a chance, and now we.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Did just that. We can play better than we did tonight.
But it's on to the next one. So we're on
a Detroit mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Bakers won a playoff game for the first time since
that Browns win over the Steelers. Mark so he is
no stranger to the big stage and we will see
what happens next. Weird, weird to see the Eagles, just
bizarre to see them crumble the way they did.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
The same thing happened five years ago.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
They the people in it, like in their organization that
have been there the whole time, have to be feeling
such whiplash. I know, the team that defended the title
was better than this. They were competitive in the playoffs.
It wasn't a collapse quite like that, but they were
nine and seven that that season after they won the
Super Bowl, and then the next year the floor totally
(36:19):
fell out and the guy they had given you know,
all that money to, Carson Wentz, was like, is this
guy even gonna stay on our team? And here we
are again. I don't think Hurts is going to have
that trajectory, But like I mean, but shoot, you think
if it's along the same line right now.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Forget about ten and one, Mark, Let's go back to
last year's draft and when they you know, everything, everything
they were doing was being hailed as genius and they
were seen as this team that was just yes, they
got beaten the Super Bowl, but this, this is the
organization in which you strive to be in the modern
(36:54):
NFL to where they are right now, it's it's going
to be a fascinating seventy two hours I think around
that organization. And Jason Kelcey, by the way, which I
thought was maybe a little Listen. I like Kelsey, We
all like Kelsey, good guy, great with the media, outstanding
football center, but treating it like Michael Jordan retirement watch
(37:15):
at the end of the ESPN telecasts felt a little strong.
He left the locker room without speaking to reporters, and
there's a lot of speculation that his career will be
coming to an end even though he's still playing at
a high level. So there's gonna be change around the Eagles,
you know it. I thought Troy Aikman made some you know,
good points and some kind of heavy comments that the
(37:38):
idea of, like you could tell immediately that this team
was checked out before the game started, and the only
way to fix this situation is substantial changes to re
energize the fan base and get the organization back on track.
What will Laurie do, It's almost probably what he's thinking
about when they're showing him in that suite.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Yeah, And I mean it goes beyond Kelsey too, because
guys like Fletcher Cock, Brandon Grahams Watkins, DeAndre Swift, Zach Cunningham,
Nicholas Moreau, and there's like fifteen other guys that are
like pending free agents. So I think, no matter what,
the Eagles are going to look functionally very different and
with it while the team took a dip, and I'm
(38:15):
not I'm not down on jail and hurts entirely, but
I would say that like a year ago, he was
like an overt MVP candidate and and just kind of
to see what's happened to him over the last five
or six weeks leaves you questioning like the entire future.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
And there were no questions going into this year around hers.
Who knows his number one wide receiver might be asking
out of town, Like there's a lot of.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Things up to make big trades to be bold. And
that's when I say they it's essentially Howie Roseman, but
it's also Jeffrey Loriie, and.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
That it makes me wonder, like whose decision what?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Like I don't necessarily assume it was Nick Sierry Andy's
decision to even make the change with John decide like
that might have been Jeffrey Lourie and or Howie Roseman.
So the reporting that's been around the Eagles over the
years reminds me of how baseball managers are very upset
with the moneybollification in baseball, of like how the front
(39:11):
office is basically telling coaches what to do. The Eagles
feel as close to that as any NFL team, where
they view the coaches as a little fungible and that
Roseman and even Lurry is kind of kind of calling
the shots in this org.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
All right.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So that's where we're at, one round complete in the
NFL playoffs. Let's hit some news, starting with this broke
in the second half of the Eagles Bucks tilt, the
Atlanta Falcons interviewed Bill Belichick for the head coaching job.
The team announced Monday that they interviewed Belichick. It is
(39:47):
the first known interviewing done by the famous coach since
Belichick and the Patriots mutually parted ways. Belichick has been
a head coach of twenty nine seasons, twenty four in
New England, five in Cleveland, and of course, maybe his
most famous victory is Brady and company overcoming a twenty
eight to three deficit in Super Bowl fifty one against
(40:08):
the wait for it, Atlanta Falcons. So it's just everything
about it is as a football fan strange mark because
you just you can't imagine Belichick being on another sideline.
You can't imagine him being part of an interview process,
and it's kind of hard to imagine him on the
Falcons after twenty eight to three. A great tweet tweeted
the night by Nora Princiati quote tweeted the Falcons announcing
(40:33):
that the interview is done above it. Can you tell
us about a time you face significant odds and how
you overcame them?
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Did you watch the game on Monday?
Speaker 4 (40:42):
Well?
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I love it. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
It was kind of like like it's kind of like
Meryl Streep having to like audition for like a local
town performance of like Oklahoma. It's like we think we
pretty sure she can do this, but I I like,
I get it. I mean, you want to meet with
the owner, and I think that that's an important thing
to to Belichi. And I think Arthur Blank would be
a good owner for Belichick.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
I really do.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
I think that's like kind of like the key thing
for the final.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Stage of his career.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
But then he'd walk into a situation not unlike Arthur
Smith where it's like, what are you doing with quarterback?
Speaker 2 (41:13):
That's what we just did with Belichick.
Speaker 4 (41:14):
So I always the Falcons feel like a bit of
a weird fit to me for for Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
But uh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
I don't There aren't a lot of Greg There aren't
a bunch of teams lining up to talk to him
right now.
Speaker 6 (41:25):
From what we know, I thought it was interesting.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Tom Pellisero, the pell Raiser, I think I had this first,
and if he didn't, I apologize. But he definitely had
the info that it was in person, which to me
was was meaningful. Whether a it shows a seriousness to it,
like you know, they're not messing around.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
We know how to do a remote camera setup. I mean,
let's be fair.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Now, I don't know if it was in Atlanta, so
I was like, if Belichick's getting on a plane, it's like, shoo,
he's probably taking the jobs happening. And if he's getting
on a plane, if if Arthur Blank got on the
plane and came to Foxborough, either the fact that the
news is out there, that it's in person almost signals
to me that like, hey, if there's anyone else that's
gonna get in this, you better do it now, because
(42:11):
you know, we just met in person and we might
we might go ahead and do this thing. Yeah, I mean,
I just couldn't believe it reading the tweet that they
tweeted it out and there was like a little picture
with it.
Speaker 6 (42:21):
It's just like, what is just.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
It's almost as if that using the word interview just
doesn't even seem right when it's Bill Belichick. Say, we
met with Bill Belichick about our open position, Like right,
if anything, he should be interviewing you.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
And maybe that's part of the uh if.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
There are teams and there are many teams looking for
a coach right now that are apprehensive about entertaining the idea,
it's just the enormity of the belichickness of it all.
But like I'm like with you, mark On, I think
the Cowboys. It's worth a very serious conversation at the Star.
I think the Eagles should be talking about it if
they're looking to make a big change potentially. I think
(43:00):
Belichick is someone that any team looking to hire a
coach right now should take advantage of the blessing that
he's at least an option potentially and.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Meet with him if you can.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
But you know, a lot of people have the option
to engage in a potential business arrangement with Lamar Jackson
and they galaxy brain their way out of that one.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
So this one had surprised me either. Same think with
Tom Brady.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
By the way, no one, not any teams, particularly one
him like the Chargers kind of did. And that was
about it. Man, don't let Belichick go to the Eagles.
I might have to just, you know, become an Eagles
fan here for.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Oh, that will make you become an Eagles fan, Greg.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I love that for you know, it's all relative. I
picked the Bucks tonight. I was I wanted this team
to go away. This team was done though.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
I went five and one this week. I had a
nice week overall. Job.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
They Cowboys obviously ding me and the rest of the world.
But things you know the home team's played well obviously
this weekend, except for Dallas, which is ironic because they
were the best home team in the league this year.
But next week will be another challenge in terms of picks.
In other news, hey, hey, speaking of the Patriots. This
(44:14):
went down in a funky timing in terms of our
podcast taping schedule, but Gerrod Mayo was indeed hired to
replace Bill Belichick as the Patriots coach. Thirty seven years old.
He's a Patriot lifer. He's a linebacker for the team
in the glory days, and it's been on the staff
in different roles for years. He becomes the first black
head coach in Patriots history, which is great obviously. And
(44:39):
I guess the one question I have, Greg.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Because I think you did share you harbored some.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You were a little concerned about the idea of moving
on from Belichick and then moving right to kind of
a Belichick disciple and another defensive minded guy. I had
a chance to start fresh. And you're obviously bringing in
a quarterback, so it's not a slam dunk bringing in
a hot shot play caller and then drafting a quarterback move.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
But it doesn't mean it can't.
Speaker 3 (45:10):
Work no, And Gerard Mayo is known as like an incredible.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Leader inside that locker room.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
He was as a player in a great football mind,
And I think that was just my first reaction was like, well,
do we really think Belichick's the problem, like the total
problem here, because all you're doing is like you're given
one of his assistants a promotion.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
We don't know who the GM is.
Speaker 3 (45:36):
There's some reporting that they don't mind not having a
GM till the draft, So I think it's this guy
that's in house, which is Elliott wolf Ron Wolfe's old son.
Is my guess is because obviously someone has to be
the GM through the next regns, but they might not
like officially make it happen or something.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
I mean, let's you could also connect the dots and
Robert Crafts wanted this to be his show for a
long time, and all of a sudden, Robert and his
son might be able to be on all the shots.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
I mean, that would do the Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, that.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Would be concerning It would be Jonathan I mean Robert Kraft,
who was pretty good on that press conference, I thought,
all things considered, but he's eighty I think he's eighty two,
he's eighty three. I mean those Jerry Jones. Yeah, it's
a little it's a little worrisome. That said, he is
the first one to get hired, and there are like
people really do believe in him. James Palmer had a
good thing on our on our show, the NFL Report,
(46:24):
of how it would be different, how he has all
these ideas. He's already interviewing like special teams coordinators. The
guy from the Falcons, who's like respected as you know,
one of the top ones in the league. Is like
he's getting to do this before anyone else does it.
So I guess they have a little bit of a
head start and he's got some ideas. But I'm I'm
a little skeptical. He is apparently trying to keep Steve Belichick,
which is that to.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Me his bizarre you know what?
Speaker 6 (46:46):
Those like that that they're close. They've worked together for
like eight years now, so they're.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Like best friends, like they consider each other.
Speaker 4 (46:53):
Steve Belichick called him like his like a he felt
like his a brother to him.
Speaker 6 (46:56):
So it's like maybe he don't go with his dad.
Speaker 4 (47:00):
Yeah, well right, I think also, what's wrong with branching
out on your own. I mean, and Dan you mentioned
on the other show, it's like you don't want to
be the guy that follows, you know, Belichick the guy.
The only thing about this situation in particular versus coming
off like a Belichick you know, super Bowl or something,
is like the past couple of years with Belichick have
been distasteful to Patriots fans and messy, and so it's
(47:21):
not I don't think it's the quite as bad of
a situation as like taking over for what we think
taking over for Bill Belichick would be. It's like it's
been a bad Patriots experience. His fresh blood. He's liked
inside the building, if players like him, like, I don't know,
I don't hate it. I kind of It's who Craft
wanted for a year. He's been talked about for two
plus years.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
So his guy tract.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
They didn't have to, right, They literally didn't have to
interview anyone else, which you would have to with the
Rooney rule, even though Mayo's black, that is a rule
you still have to interview, you know, multiple candidates unless
you have it written into your contract that it's a
succession plan. And he did just like making up the
rules as we go no like Eric Tacosta had it.
(48:03):
The Ravens GM there was like they had like three
exact examples of like times this has happened with GM
or coaches that if you put it in, you can
do it and that's it all right.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, absence also makes the harco fonder and Patriots fans
even though they grew listen. Part of great incredible success,
like the Pats had is the fan base gets spoiled
and expects it always to be that way. But there's
gonna be pressure on Mayo to show that this thing
is on track or it's just gonna be more then
the fan base and the ownership like longing for the
(48:36):
good old days, that those those nine super Bowl appearances
and six titles are going to cast a long shadow
that will last, you know, decades.
Speaker 6 (48:43):
That's maybe the rest of my life, you know.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
That's the Prosially, if Belichick is winning super Bowls with
Jalen Hurts next year doing his Toush push and getting
gaateaid back.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Take it from a Yankee fan, like, it's not good
enough to just make the playoffs. You need to continue
to acquire chips, and if you don't, it's considered failure.
So Mayo's got a big job ahead of him. But
first thing they got to do is find a quarterback
for him, or he doesn't have a chance in hell.
Anything else in the news that you guys wanted to
throw out there.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Not really. You mentioned Harbaugh yesterday.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
The fact that he's already interviewing with the Chargers and
he might take another one or two tells me he
got on from Michigan and that's a fun one. And
otherwise all these teams are doing a million interviews.
Speaker 6 (49:27):
But we'll wait till.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
All's quiet and Dallas still twenty four hours after the
Cowboys meltdown.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
We also have I believe.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
The Dolphins giving some form of supportive words for Tua
with his contract status uncertain. But we will be tracking
all this stuff as it continues to roll out. We'll
be back on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll get Connie unless he
gets pulled into another nefarious three forty five Park Avenue event,
(50:00):
or she's in hiding as an Eagles fan and doesn't
want to do the show. I don't know what we're
gonna find out, but the hope is that Colleen rejoins
us because it's been too long without the tiny box.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
So make sure you're there for that.
Speaker 1 (50:14):
And until then, thank you to everyone for listening and
we are one round, done.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Three to go to Wednesday. Heed the call.
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