Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we finally completely believe in
the Washington Commanders. Yes, I'm here in the Chris Wesley
podcast studio. My name is Greg Rosenthal and I am
joined by my friend Patrick Claybond for a Conference Championship
preview spectacular.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It is a spectacular. We got great guests. We're missing
man formation because Complace Championships means that Steve Weish is
out doing his lead national reporter thing. But that's why
we have consolidated what remains here to look forward to
a great game we have. We'll talk about one respectful
separation later on in the show. Wow, we respectfully separates
(00:45):
as Steve goes to do his other part.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
But do you know what he's actually doing? And yes,
you're talking about some news that happened, and we will
welcome in some guests to the show more than that
a second, and we will talk news at the very
end of the show if you just want, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Oh I need my John Spytek opinion.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
That's going to be towards the end with Aaron Glenn
and a lot's been going on in that realm.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
But you know what Steve is doing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
He really has the best like setup at the NFL.
Last week he was doing the Polynesian Bowl, Great great broadcast,
love it the high School All Star Game in Hawaii.
This week he is knocking on doors and making the
dreams come true of the Hall of Fame class of
twenty twenty five. And he gets to be the guy
(01:30):
that does this. It's pretty cool and I want that job.
I gotta admit, exactly why would I have it?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We continue to float it, we will get Steve will
use his huge Canton influence to get Greg.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Well, he's doing it. Yeah. I wouldn't want h him
to be.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
All he has to do is keep like, hey, you know,
Greg Rosenthal would really like to be part.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I could bring like gatorades or just drinks or something
to be a part of it if they need that. Okay,
So here's the setup. We're going to preview the Chiefs
and Bills. We're going to preview the Eagles and the Commanders,
the two of us, and then we're gonna welcome in
some guests. I'll say goodbye to you. I did these
interviews without you and sorry about that. They were strange times.
(02:09):
One was seven thirty in the morning, but that's what
you do. When you have a big time guest like
Nick Wright, who's gonna we're gonna talk some Chiefs and
some Bills there, sorry, Eric, that we brought in like
the anti Bills guy for to talk Chiefs Bills. And
then we also have on Bram Weinstein, who's been a
huge part of this show, the play by play voice
of the Commanders, and that was a great conversation. So
(02:33):
I implore everyone stick around for the whole thing and
then we'll be back and do the news.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
At the end. Yeah, it's gonna be great. Hopefully we
can get Bram to do a touchdown Washington go audio
on that. It's so much to look forward to. But
we start Greg with the games. Yes, let's do it,
and yeah, we'll get Eric's team on the road where
they are one and a half point underdogs because nobody
(02:57):
believes in them going up against the City Chiefs. Is
the Buffalo Bills the over under forty seven and a half.
It's Jim, Tony and Tracy on the call. Greg. We
get to see a rematch of the game that the
Kansas City Chiefs lost this year. That game was in Buffalo.
Since then, the Chiefs have won every game other than
the game that they didn't need to win, where they
(03:18):
ran out Carson Wentz for an extended period of time
and got the Broncos a spot in the playoffs. How
will this game, if it is different, be different, rag.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I think they'll be less possessions. That's such a weird
way to start, but I was thinking about this watching
the game last week. Both of them really and both
teams only had seven possessions. And they're both running offense
in a way that will take what you give us,
and what that leads to is a lot of efficiency
because they're run by Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and
(03:49):
the other team kind of giving that up a little.
And you saw that the last two times, the last
time these teams played, where the Bills went nine to
fifteen on third down. It's actually been a problem for
the Chiefs defense all season. They're one of the worst
six or seven teams in the league actually on third down.
Was kind of shocked by that one when I noticed that.
And they're bottom eight in terms of plays and yards
allowed per drive. They have been a bend but don't
(04:11):
break defense. They've forced a lot of big plays, but
that's tough to do because these two teams are historic
in terms of their lack of turnovers. The Chiefs, who
have not given up the ball in eight straight games.
That stuck up on me. That's kind of an underrated
record to break. That's a real record. They make records
now that aren't really records, like, oh, he's the first
(04:31):
guy to have three hundred yards and two touchdowns and
this in three straight games.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Like that's not a record, it's a stat.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
They're all kind of arbitrary if you want to make.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
The football has been played a long time, true, and
turnovers have always been like a very baseline stat. And
so to be the team that has the most straight
games without one, that is something. And the last time
they had one was that I don't know if it
was that turnover because it started the game, but remember
Patrick Mahomes was falling as he was getting tackled right
at the beginning of that Bills game, and he threw
(05:03):
that interception. It was very similar to the touchdown that
he threw against the Texans, except that this was an interception.
And then the thing that also snug on me that
to rant too much here on turnovers, but the Bills
had the fewest turnovers per play of any team in
the NFL in the last twenty five years. I did
not know that. Shout out to Shio Kapadia through that
(05:24):
stat out. That's amazing. So these are two teams that
aren't going to make mistakes. I think they're going to
have long drives. And it makes every play, every possession
even more important than it already would be. And it
also could make for like a quick game. This could
be like a two hour, fifty five minute type of game.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Oh yeah, which is huge for the people who prioritize
game pom over the officials getting the calls right. But
I'm looking at because it's not a weird place to
start because you talk about the possessions, you turn the
pall over, ultimately lose possession, and when the margins are
so small as they are in this game, again, it matters.
And look back to when the Kansas City Chiefs lost
(06:02):
to the Buffalo Bills. They were in that stretch where
they hadn't given up thirty points in almost two years,
and the scores during that run for Kansas City. So
they give up thirty to the Bills, twenty seven to
the Panthers, twenty four to the Bucks, a couple weeks
before that. Since then, they haven't given up more than
twenty points other than that game against the Broncos that
(06:23):
I do not think counts at all. And we've seen
this Bills offense that was in safety mode last week
at home. It felt like very strange. They didn't attempt
to pass over ten yards only four times. I completed
one of those. They didn't really need to open things up.
They were wide open against the Kansas City Chiefs last time.
(06:44):
Can they duplicate that performance with the Chiefs defense playing
measurably better with more of its pieces in TAC this time.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
One of those pieces is Jalen Watson. So he came
in and played over half the snaps last week, although
he split up I believe with Nase Johnson, who really
struggled in that first matchup. Amari Cooper had a couple
big plays. Remember a Mari Cooper.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, it's a football player that existed. It one.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I thought that was gonna be a thing, and maybe
it will be a thing. So you wonder if maybe
Jalen Watson gets all the snaps this time because he
held up well and that's been a weakness. I think
that's really important because I think the Chiefs secondary isn't
as good as it was in previous years because there's
been two weak spots. They've had some injuries too, but
it's Nase Johnson and it's Jamari Connor, and I think
(07:32):
the Bills will be looking to attack those two spots
potentially with their tight ends and Khalil Shakir Nick just
to you know, little Tea like he wonders if Trent
McDuffie gets that Shakir matchup this time now that they
feel better about the rest of the group. But either way,
then you have those tight ends going over the middle
of the field, and that's where the Chiefs have been
(07:53):
bad all year. Their numbers against tight ends are just terrible.
Basically the worst team in the league in terms of
success straight EPA per play like it's bad against tight ends.
And you have two good ones in Dawson Knox who
had a big play against the Chiefs last time, and
then of course Dalton can kaid.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, it's it's going to be difficult for Buffalo to
win the game this week the way that they did
last week, right, and it's not just the game being
on the road. You do have another very good run
defense in the Kansas City Chiefs, who are going to
be more aggressive towards the line of scrimmage you mentioned
Trent McDuffie. It's not like a Wiggins cover situation, where
(08:31):
like Wiggins did get better as the year went on,
but you're not necessarily trying to hide pieces in this
Kansas City secondary. Now you do want to watch the
injuries of course, the cook and read that they just
don't necessarily have the bodies where they can lose a
bunch of guys over there, but that the Kansas City
defense is going to make it tough to have these
(08:51):
long extended drives. You're gonna have to take shots. Who
do they take those shots too? If not a Mark
Cooper greg right.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It's a test of this team build.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And so I think you've been wise to point out,
like they can't play like they played last week.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
That was kind of a crazy game.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
The more like I went back and watched it and
thought about and I actually think it speaks to how
the Bills have almost become like the Chiefs, that they
can win any type of way, which is maybe your
your final form as a potential Super Bowl contender, Like
they could win just going super run heavy. They wouldn't
have been able to do that before and not having
(09:28):
Josh Allen test all parts of the field because they
didn't need to because they won the turnover battle and
they ran efficiently enough, and they just didn't have to
because of the way the game script played out. I
don't think that's going to be the case this time,
but they have shown us with their playtime. They trust
Kean Coleman more than Amari Cooper pretty crazy, like he
(09:50):
played more than double the steps. It might maybe blocking
as part of it. There's such a run heavy team.
I don't know that. I think that's why Mac Collins
is playing like double the amount of snaps that Amari.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Cooper's played in.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
It's Kurtis Samuel who's losing out to him and Cooper
are now wide receiver four or five, but they both
play a decent amount. I would expect them to play
twenty snaps in more clear passing situations. It's a lot
of different guys to cover, and I think it's a
good team build that you have lots of good players.
You have lots of good offensive linemen, you can play
(10:20):
six of them. You have good tight ends, and you
don't know where it's going to come. So if you
told me that Cooper ends up coming through and having
a big game, because I disagree slightly with what you
said of that they're.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Not trying to hide weaknesses.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
I do think they're trying to hide like that Nase
Johnson spot or maybe their linebackers in coverage. I actually
think there's more clear weaknesses to their defense. They're good
stopping the run than the Bills if the Bills are healthy,
but we.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Don't even know if the Bills are gonna be healthy.
Let's hold on that.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Let's finish talking kind of Bills offense and Chiefs defense,
and then we'll move on.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, the Bills again. Another thing that they the Cooper
play time because you mentioned the amount of offensive linemen
on the field. They had twenty two percent of their
snaps against Baltimore. They had six or more offensive linemen
right this it was we talked about the possessions. They
limited the possessions in that game, which worked to their favor.
And I could see a similar situation where you're trying
(11:18):
to keep Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense off the field,
but can they do it in the same I just
think Trent McDuffie is such a huge factor in this
game in the favor of the Kansas City Chiefs, where
that option will get limited whoever it is. I suspect
it's keyon Coleman, right Where if that's the matchup that
(11:41):
you're looking for down the field and it's taken away,
where do you go to next?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, you possibly go to the running game. You know,
James Cook's been so good, He's so patient.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
He's got to be though.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Okay, maybe it's Amri That would be great. I would
love to see that to play out.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
And the Chiefs actually did a pretty good job stopping
the run last time these two teams played.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
But you know, the Bills start with their running game.
Cook is so good.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I think the one thing they have to do better
the Chiefs, and I think they have done it better
late in the season, is they just got to rush
the pass or better. These are two teams that have
kind of been up and down. If you look at
the stats rushing the passer. It'd be great to have
a classic Chris Jones game. And if you're going to
beat the Bills, I think it is in the interior.
(12:29):
It's not at the tackle position necessarily.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
What if it's Chris Jones playing at the spot.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, I just think like the players aren't as good
for the Bills. I think inside and so there were
a couple of plays last week where Autry won quick
Who is the other guy on on that Texans team
that I mean on the Bills. The Ravens team was
winning quick and I do think they could possibly win
quickly on the interior. They need to rush the passer
better because the Chiefs blitzed a ton all season basically,
(12:58):
and it works sometimes, it didn't work others. But like
that Bills game in particular, when I did go back
to Rewatch, I thought that was the number one difference
is the Bills actually got a lot of pass rush
with four and the Chiefs are sending the blitzes and
they couldn't touch They couldn't touch al and they had
four QB hits like they didn't They literally didn't pressure
them when they when they sent four. And if that happens,
(13:20):
then I think it's a big time Josh game.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
You need it. I want the big Josh game.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, let's get this. Let's get the big everything game.
Let's open these these games up and have some variants
and not have it come down to.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
You know, let's have a big Mahomes game. All right,
let's let's flip. Let's flip to that side. Are you
do you think an offense we talked about Cooper on
one side, there's d hop on this side. But to me,
unlike Cooper, I think either there's a clearer pecking order
even among the wide receivers. I think Xavier Worthy is
the most important pass catcher in this game because we
(13:54):
know who Travis Kelce is and I really think Mahomes
showed a lot of confidence and trust Worthy and he's
earned that trust late in the season, and he earned
it in the playoff game.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
He had a couple of really good contested catches.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Was the best catch he's made all year to me.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, And he and Mahomes had another one where he
showed really good anticipation where you had to trust where
Worthy was going to be.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
He's the dynamic player there.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And like, do you trust in a Chiefs passing game
where I think Xavier Worthy is really really really important
for them.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Well, what this late season Xavier Worthy reminds me of
is the mid to late Rashie Rice on these crossing
routes where especially like if it's a flood concept and
Travis Kelcey is working in the back end of the zone,
it's a question of how you prioritize that. It's always
going to be difficult to deal with Travis kelce working
(14:47):
on the backside of these flood concepts regardless. But when
Xavier Worthy is sprinting to the sideline, if Mahomes is
able to get to that, it's just its yards that
they have to account for, especially when you take take
play action into account right and you're you're chasing to
the ball to Pacheco or hunt, where it's this added
(15:08):
layer within this offense that you didn't really necessarily get
when Xavier Worthy was running these takeoff routes is oh,
he's fast. He's fast horizontally too, And oddly enough, no
Rashi Rice opened. It opened up that ability for Xavier
to develop in these spots where I think it's a
it's a tough question. It's like, oh, well, we have
to prior toory, prioritize Travis Kelcey's the best receiver in
(15:31):
playoff history and all these things. But when Xavier Worthy
is running twenty two miles an hour across the field.
It creates real issues for defense that has had some
difficulty chasing fast gas this year.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yeah, and we just don't know as we're taping. We're
taping this Wednesday afternoon on the West Coast. We don't
even have the official Wednesday injury report. That's what I
was frantically looking. But I did hear what Sean McDermott said.
You know, Christian Benford is going through the concussion protocol.
That's something we probably won't know until later in the week.
But he is their cornerback one. Tron Johnson was hurt
(16:03):
last week, but it looks like he's gonna be fine.
He finished out that game. But Taylor rap and his
status is a huge question mark because that that is
a spot you can attack. And Damar Hamlin been a
good player for them, but.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Might have made the play of the postseason for Buffalo.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Bub Right, But their team speed and their their deep
coverage is something that I think that you know, a
Xavier Worthy could potentially victimize. And you saw it last week.
Bateman really really did it to them. And the Chiefs
don't have a ton of that. They barely played justin
Watson last week. I don't know if they break him
out at all, but that that's one where if RAP
(16:45):
between those three, Rap, Benford and Toron Johnson has to
be healthy, like you got to have two of those
three certainly on the field. It really will make a
big difference to them because I do think we're gonna
get a better version of Patrick Mahomes than we've had
much of the season. He had some big time throws
(17:07):
in that game last week, and I thought it was
him sort of showing up for I know that the
final stats didn't look like it, but according to PFF,
he had three big time throws in that game, and
I think I know which ones they were. With the
Marquise Brown drop, it was the really nice touch pass
to Kelsey, and then the one the touchdown falling over.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Those are highlight real plays.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
That's more than he had for the five previous weeks combined,
where he just wasn't having to do that much. And
so that's playoff Mahomes and you better get ready for Eric.
I don't know if your defense is ready for it.
I don't think either of these defenses are really ready
for it. I think it's gonna be more of an
offensive game than maybe some of these games have been
lately between the Bills and the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's tough to imagine like an offensive game that measures
up to the historical offensive games, specifically the Game Davis game.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Good Quiet. I'm thinking more about like the last month
of what we've seen.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
But yeah, yes, well, I mean it's yeah, you would
like Allian's commander's type situation where both teams are flying
up and down the field. I just with the ability
of both of these offenses to be explosive and the
realistic thought right from the Buffalo Bills side, we beat
this team before we win this game, we avoid mistakes.
(18:21):
We go to the Super Bowl versus Kansas City. We've
won two consecutive Super Bowls. We can win this game.
I think the Kansas City Chiefs may be more likely
to take risks, we take these shots than the Buffalo
Bills do. And so at a certain point, you saw
in the AC Championship game last year, MVS not doing
(18:42):
anything and a MVS makes a great catch and the
Kansas City Chiefs go to the super Bowl. They go
and go on and win. Now we're in a situation
where is that Hollywood Brown who didn't make the catch
last time. But now, of course when I need them
not to, Hollywood Brown's gonna go and make an incredible
play late in the game.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
I think about this matchup and I think the Bills
are a matchup problem for the Chiefs in so much.
I mean that they've played them even, and Chiefs fans
will say, well, we're winning the important ones, and that's true,
you would rather win the playoff games. But the fact
that any team, that any team could beat this version
of the Chiefs, what is it three straight times in
(19:22):
the regular season or four now four in the regular season,
just shows that it's an even matchup. And being even
with the Kansas City Chiefs is a matchup problem because
they're not even with essentially anyone else in the entire NFL.
And I was thinking, like, just matchup wise, the Bills
have to get out of what they do. I thought,
(19:43):
to beat the Ravens, whereas they're built better, I think
to compete with the Chiefs in that the Chiefs aren't
probably gonna run the ball down the Bills throats, which
I think is probably the best way to beat them
and that lighter group, and I do think the Chiefs
will be able to get some guys open, which wasn't
the case a week ago. Like Mahomes has thrown into
(20:05):
tight windows, He's thrown over the middle of the field,
and you would think that against this secondary as long
as Mahomes has time, and that's maybe the last big matchup.
I just do want to mention is Greg Russo on
Joe Toney. This pass rush in general, which I played
pretty well against the Ravens, would you say, I mean
(20:26):
good enough?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, I'm the first half out of this world.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Yeah, And if you look at the numbers, it've been
pretty bad this year. Actually, the eye test to me
says in a lot of big games they've played pretty well,
but including that Chiefs Geme, but overall they haven't. They're
talented enough for Russo to overpower Tuning in a similar
way to what Will Anderson did Ed Oliver Go have
(20:50):
a big game and that matchup to me is just
massive because Mahomes has been under pressure too much all year.
It really has impacted him. And it's such a boring
way to look at it, but I do think like
whichever pass rush can get after the other, and I
trust the Bills just like a little bit more to
do it without pressure because they don't love to blitz.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, and I don't think it's necessarily boring to think
that Sean McDermott knows that he needs to have an
aggressive pass rush plan and not play the safe ball.
To play safeball against this Kansas City Chiefs team. You
got a crosser, you got a five yard game to Kelsey,
You get third and two, third and three, third and four.
Mahomes converts those over and over again, and you lose
(21:31):
the game. They're going to have to be aggressive with
their pass rush stunts games. Perhaps a few blitz has
worked in there to not play safety ball against this
Kansas City Chiefs team. Go out there and beat them
like you did in the regular season, because contrary to
belief in conversations, those games do give us data. They
do matter. Yeah, seems they're good in the regular season,
(21:51):
tend to be good in the postseason. It doesn't always
work out, but when you play and you play well,
it gives us information to believe that you do it again.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yes, and that's it's why I believe in McDermott and
this Bills team more than I used to, is that
he is more flexible. I think he was way too safe,
for instance, in that divisional round loss to the Chiefs
back in the day. In it, and he found religion
a little bit. He became the second most aggressive coach
on fourth downs this year according to FTN Fantasy. And
(22:22):
he changes up his defensive game plans really well. And
I do wonder And this will be the last thing
I say, and we're going to I'm gonna save my
pick for the Cynthia Frieland it is Man Versus Machine
show that comes out on Friday. But the last thing
I will say is I noticed that Texans had a
very interesting game plan last week where I thought they
(22:43):
actually played Mahomes a little bit like other teams play
Allen to not scramble, a little bit of that mush
rush type of thing where they were making sure not
to let Mahomes get passed them. There was a couple
times where guys just stood there and waited, and if
you looked, it was one of the least effective games.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Mahomes had scrambling.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Ever, like most of his scrambles were ineffective, and you
almost never see that his success rate all this stuff.
They actually they did a really good disciplined job. They
got good pass rush too, but they were really disciplined.
So I wonder if the Bills they see that and
they really try to prevent it, because man, that is
tough to do. But they did a really good job.
And I've almost never seen a team do that to him.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But they had the talent to be able to do
that where you can make those split because these decisions
happened in a split second, and Will Anderson did get
got on a decision that happened in a split second
where I don't necessarily think it was a penalty, but
you make those those fractional second.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Jobs, like the defensive tackles were almost mirroring him instead
of coming after him. And I was like, oh, that's good,
and then waiting and then help came.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
It was good. It was good. That's all I mean.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, no, it's great. It was great for the Texans.
Do the Bills have the talent up front to be
able to play it safe? It just feels like a
I don't know, I don't want to say cowardly, but
you gotta go. You gotta take your shot and tell
those guys to go. Okay O, get them go win
the game.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Okay, we are gonna take a quick break here and
we're gonna be back right after this talk a little
NFC Championship back On NFL Daily, Tom Brady says he's
(24:28):
staying with Fox all nine years. It's a funny thing
where every week you have to make a statement about
that you're gonna stay at your job.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But that's how you know things are going great. You know.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
I thought I saw him talking to his coworker, Colin Coward,
and yes, he said. Essentially, he's having a lot of
fun and he's gonna be there through the end of
the contract, and who knows, maybe even longer than that.
If Fox will have him, we'll see decade plus. I would,
I would what about Yes, that does not happened?
Speaker 2 (25:00):
What about twelve years? Greg? What about TB twelve twelve
years at Fox?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
He is getting better though.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I think he had a good game last week, made
a couple salient points and key moments, and I was
a little more comfortable.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I was good. I was good with Tom last week.
It's okay because he was good. There's no bias there.
I enjoyed Tom oh last week. Oh because again, like
during the season, I don't necessarily get.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
To hear every every bitness you're on air.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You know, Fox's Game of the week. But here in
Tom I felt great about it. There are options that
don't live up to that's speaking of Tom Brady. He
and his friend KB are on the call between the
Washington Commanders again for the third time this season, playing
the Philadelphia Eagles, who are a six point favorite. Greg
the over under is forty seven and a half. Let's
(25:50):
start before we get to Brams team. Yeah, with the
Philadelphia Eagles, who last time they had this particular matchup,
they had a twenty one six lead. Their quarterback leaves
the game with concussion. Can he Pickett comes in, he
leads a touchdown, driving, he throws a pick. The Commanders
have five turnovers. They still win the game. It's absolute chaos.
(26:11):
How do we feel about the hurtz led Eagles offense
this time around?
Speaker 1 (26:15):
They did a walk through on Wednesday. Nick Sirianne didn't
say why. I just thought it was best for his team.
Just kind of called an audible at the last second
and practiced indoors with no media there for a walk through.
I got out of my Raidar's like, I don't know
what I don't know what it means. Are they are
they hiding Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
I know what it means.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
What does it mean? Because it's it's afraid.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
To call you the attention people asking questions about Jalen Hurts,
people asking questions about aj Brown. Whenever that happens, Nick
Gianni says, I need to do something weird so people
start thinking about me. And it has worked every time.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Greg, Yeah, I think he's he's enjoying not being like
at least a negative center of attention right now, which
he could have been.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Like, we didn't even talk about how that the end
of that first half ended for the Rams when when
in the Eagles last week, in that game in Nick
Sirianni seemed to.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Just freeze up.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
But I it's one reason why when I when I
look at the Eagles offense and think about them in
a late game situation and think about their coaching operation
even though dan Quinn and the Commander's defense are obviously
out talented, yeah, overmatched, I think the coaching matchup favors
(27:37):
the Commanders in this game overall. Cliff versus Vic that
that's a great matchup. But on the other side, like
game management and confidence that they're going to make the
right decisions in the big moments. I trust the Commanders
more because they've done it time after time after time,
and the Eagles give me pause. And then in terms
(27:58):
of game planning, like dan Quinn had a good game
plan last week to cook up golf enough to get
him to do golf things, and even though he's a
little outmatched, it's a one game situation. They've seen each
other a couple times. I trust dan Quinn overall, in
this entire staff, overall, more than the Commanders. It's one
reason why you spoiler. I'm struggling to pick this game
(28:19):
because I'm almost between like Commanders win or Eagles cover six.
It's like, if it's close at the very end and
the Eagles have the ball, I kind of don't trust
the Eagles to finish it out because of their quarterback
and their passing game and their coaching staff.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Right. I just think we haven't seen them need the
passing game. They've been able to win games in the
playoffs being conservative, where we just talked about a team
that won a playoff game being conservative, and the idea
isn't that, Well, Buffalo can't pass the ball. I know
Jalen's been hurt but we've seen them be successful. We've
seen a J. Brown be very very successful against this team,
(28:57):
and I know Marshan Lattimore makes it different. And there's
the Commanders fans out there that see Latimore get beat
by Mike Evans, their Reggets beat by Mike Evans, or
these pass interferences against a J. Brown that came in
that matchup where Kenny Picketts throw on the ball. Marshall
Latimore gives dang Quinn the confidence to go out there
and have somebody one on one consistently on AJ Brown
(29:18):
and it's a flexibility that allows the rest of the
defense to do to do a whole lot more where
you're running Sam are still out there or that's.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
A good cornerback too.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
If Latimore is in good form, which he looked to
be last week.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
And so I just I think just because the Eagles
haven't shown that they that they can do this and
go hopline and have a very tilted towards the pass game,
it doesn't mean that the club's not in the bag anymore.
I still think that they can do that. And I'm
with you on dan Quinn. Like we know that the
(29:54):
Commanders have a structure, they have a plan, it's gonna
they're gonna stick to it. Not to say it's predictable,
but we know that the way they evaluate and approach
those decisions is going to be consistent. Whereas with the
Philadelphia Eagles, Hey, you know, maybe it's effectively wild, right,
it's pre glasses, Rick Vaughan, and the parts are flying
off the dummy as he's trying to hit the plate.
(30:16):
But you're standing up there, you don't know what's gonna happen.
And so like, it creates a lot of variants in
those situations. And I see where you're coming from. But
I got a side with Vic Fangio.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Well sure on the other side, yes Fangio, Okay.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
And so if I'm looking at a defense that has
really just been the reason the commanders and I know,
like dan Quinn's aggressive and he's got belief in faith.
If they had a better defense, they would not have
had all these fourth down conversions. They are going for
fourth downs out of necessity because they are not getting
the stops.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
That's fair. No, I think you're right, and he's coached
to that all year. It is interesting. I was thinking
about how it's almost like all these teams out there.
They're all like the sons of Howie and Doug Peterson.
You know, they brought in the fourth down rail revolution.
Not that they were the first, but I feel like
(31:08):
they were the most out there and won a title
with it.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
In the beginning. How He created for no.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
And I'm I'm saying Peterson too, because he he was
the face of it.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Really.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
But now all these teams out here, it's like now
the Bills, you know, now the Commanders. Everyone's gotten the
religion and it's made them better.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
And could that clarity end up costing the Eagles?
Speaker 1 (31:35):
The trend that they started is a problem because they
got to defend the Commanders for four downs and it's
a lot to defend. Because the Eagles defense created a
lot of big plays late in the season, but they
actually had a couple of games where they gave up
some big yardage and that Daniel's Commander's game was really surprising.
Now they kept giving him possession, a ton of possessions,
(31:57):
which never helps your defense. But for that fourth quarter,
for what it's worth, it was about as bad the
Eagles defense looked in a little stretch in a game
all season that the Commanders kind of put it to him,
and that wasn't about Kenny Pickett being out there on
the field. That was Jaden Daniels especially playing hurry up,
which worked when the Rams did it last week too.
(32:20):
And they have they have a lot of different clubs
in the bag. The Commanders.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
They make you get ready for a lot.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
But the one absence that did have an impact in
that game that the Commanders won while turning the ball
five times, turning the ball over five times was no CJGJ.
For an extended period of the time. CJ. Gardner Johnson
got ran for the consecutive personal foul calls and after that,
the Eagles secondary, which has been so solid and consistent,
(32:46):
felt kind of lost. And I think that those two
things were slightly related.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Isaiah Rodgers could be a big factor in this game.
We don't know about Quinnon Mitchell. Early in the week,
he sounded someone optimistic in the locker, but that doesn't
really mean anything. The fact that he didn't come back
to the game means more. So we'll we'll find out.
And that's a big matchup. And Rogers held up pretty
well last week, but it's because the Commanders suddenly have
(33:13):
a number two receiver I mean, what if I told you,
What if I told you that the leading receiver and
yardage in this postseason for the Commanders is not Terry McLaurin.
It's Deammy Brown, who has put up eleven for one
eighty seven and one over two weeks, almost identical to
Terry's numbers, by the way, very very similar. Terry I
think has two touchdowns but a few a little less
(33:35):
yards and watching it, I don't know. I know he
only had three hundred yards in the regular season, but
it looks pretty legit to me like he has what
you want suddenness, really good speed, and more than anything,
great timing on those throws that Daniels has made to him.
I went back and watched his targets and they weren't
they weren't easy throws both games. Diamy Brown's making really
(33:59):
good catches and it maybe he's just coming into his
own And if they have a real number two along
with zach Ertz being the guy in the red zone
and Eckeler is back as the third down guy, suddenly
that's a much more diverse passing game than they had
at points of the season.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yeah, I think we lose track of because you can.
I'll this is the best I've never seen a rookie quarterback.
That's good. I would make the case this is the
best rookie quarterback season of all time, pending I mean
pending results if it happens. I don't think you can
deny it, right, I.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Think you're right.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
I think Marino statistically in that era was probably always
the best choice, but he only played ten games because
he didn't start it, and he's not getting to have
this playoff you know, excitement, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
The magic there. But Jayden has gotten even better as
the season goes on, and there's more understanding between all
the pieces on offense on how they're going to work together,
and so he gets to those spots in the progression
where Doni Brown is more of an option, right, And
it's also the realization and having Terry move around to
(35:05):
be more versatile on this offense. As the season went
on on, more spots of the field where it makes
it more difficult to kind of prioritize because you can't
go into a game plan without thinking, like, how are
we going to deal with seventeen? A legitimate threat every
single time the ball is snapped where you're okay with
Donnie Brown having a little success if it means taking
(35:26):
the opportunities away from Terry and so it's But if
there's a team that can do that, it's the twenty
twenty four Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I don't know if I don't know if there's no
fly zone level, but when I saw the windows that
Stafford had to get the passes into. If they're healthy,
you need quinnyon out there. But they're one of the
better secondaries that I can remember last five years or so.
I mean, how many at each spot are pluses? How
(35:57):
many secondaries have five guys who are plus.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
No, we saw what happened to the Lions. You lose
that depth. We're worrying about the Bills and the Chiefs.
This Philadelphia, the Eagles team is deep in the secondary.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
They've got veterans in Liancanship out there making plays, Gardner
Johnson making plays. Darius Slay is like legit, that's.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Going to be a fascinating matchup, assuming they don't always
travel him, but assuming he's on Terry some of the time.
The thing that fascinates me though, and Fandio, this is
where his style of defense I think pays off. I
think they do kind of what they do, and sometimes
I feel like they're a little more prepared than like
(36:38):
more game plan specific teams for these teams like the
Commanders that do everything. And here's what you got to
prep for when you play the Commanders. You got the RPOs.
You have the fastest paced team in the league, and
I think that's going to be a big issue in
this game.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
A lot of no huddle.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
You have a really good vertical passing team, but then
you have a very horizontal teams, screens, you have a
team that goes in empty quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Like it's it's just a lot that you have to
prepare for.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I'm thinking of that that John Bates catch with on
third and four to clinch the win last week. If
you rewatch that play, I don't know what the hell
is going on on that play. You got blockers going
this way, you got blockers going that way. You got
things like I've watched a lot of football and like
it's it's it's got to be so confusing. They put
(37:33):
so much eye candy, but it's not even eye candy
before the snap. It's after the snap that like you
can almost see the defenders sometimes looking at these Commanders plays.
There was another RPO early in the game that was
like that too, where like the lines were just like huh,
and they just like sit there and watch it because
I don't know what what's going on, and then suddenly
John Bates is out there wide open.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Well you could do that when your quarterback scares people to.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Death, right, that's the that's the biggest part that you
build it from. But yeah, it's true. It's it's pretty good.
They're offensive line as well. Coach though I think too,
I don't think they're that talented and that could be
a problem, but I think they're well coached.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Well, and losing Sam Cosmy is going to hurt in
that especially having to deal with Jalen Carter. You know,
should pointed out, you know, all the games that they
were running on the inside and then they stop running
those games. It leads to the most important pressure in
the game on Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
And that was the matchup last two times they played.
It was like Cosmy was traveling with Jalen Carter. Basics,
that's not too totally true, but it was.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Basically Gods and Jamn Carter.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
It's like you see a defensive linements stand up. We're
going to change the rules so we can get that going.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
I just mean that, like sometimes he's going solo on
him versus you always double teaming Carter, like they're confident
in that sort of matchup. Sometimes they just get over
my skis and just say things and no, hope they're right.
That actually happened with the Marino playoff thing, because I
said Marino didn't have that playoff run, and I'm like,
I think that's right, right, And then I went and
(38:56):
checked and that was right. They lost their their first
playoff game in the AFC. Can you name the opponent?
I will give you so much props. He threw for
two touchdown, two interceptions, seven yards per ten, seven point seven.
Speaker 3 (39:11):
It's sort of a trick question, Houston. It's a trick question.
It's in the AFC. It's the Seattle Sea.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Huh ah.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
There we go back when they were in the conference
money downs. They're always looking for Ertz. There was that
fourth down last week, there's the third down. I do
like the zach Ertz revenge game. They tried to get
Nick Sirianni to say some things, but he wouldn't. Can
you explain that to us?
Speaker 3 (39:34):
A little bit.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Well, yeah, zach Ertz, of course, the second all time
leading receiver in Philadelphia Eagles history, had the game winning
touchdown in the Super Bowl was back. He had had
a touchdown in a couple of games before that they
played the Eagles. He had you know, one catch. They
lose the Eagles, dude. Nick Sirianni comes out. Everybody's dapping
(39:55):
up and he looks to zach Ertz's like, yeah, yeah,
you played a big part in that game. And zach
Ertz didn't like that. A beef ensued and since then,
zach Ertz has been terrorizing defenses on this playoff run
out of sheer spite because Nick Sirianni has made him
try extra hard.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
I believe it. What a what a Nick Sirianni. He
is no word on what Big.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Dom was doing during this exchange, but I did hear
that he was trying to broke her piece between a
Philadelphia legend and the head coach of the Eagle. So
thanks to Big Dom making life possible.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
He really is the beginning. When is where's the statue?
Speaker 4 (40:37):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Nick Sirianni is that friend? I feel like everyone has
that that if things are getting ratcheted up or something.
They just go too far and they say things like
he's an habitual line stepper. Yes, he is an habitual
line stepper.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Man, that's a nick.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Where do I go from that?
Speaker 1 (40:59):
The the offensive line for the Eagles, I do want
to mention they're coming off one of their worst games
I've seen them have and they struggled a little bit
with communication. I thought upfront too, they got a little
confused a couple of times with what the rams were doing.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
And man, maybe it's just let's be real.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
I pre taped with a brand Weinstein, so I've already
done that interview, and man, he got me believe it
in this commander's team too.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
And I'm trying to make the case for it.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Them doing to the Eagles and just causing some communication
problems with the guys up front who are playing better.
Jonathan Allen is playing better and armstrong like it could
be a thing. The Eagles have quietly not been as consistent,
if you want to pick nits, and I know some
of their fans have been noticing this over the last
month on a down to down basis. With Saquon They've
(41:49):
popped the big runs, obviously, but just the last couple
of regular season games and then now into the playoffs,
like not as consistent. I think they will be consistent,
and if they win, it's by proving whatever this point
is wrong, because that is, on paper, the biggest mismatch.
This should be a matchup by the numbers where they
(42:10):
just freaking dominate and that's the reason that they go
to the super Bowl. In the matchup overall, squad has
good numbers against Commanders, but actually for most of those
after the first couple quarters of that game, the first game,
they did a pretty good job actually against the Egos.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Well, I mean that's it's kind of the nature of
offensive a defensive football. Is why we say, you know,
playing cornerback is the most difficult job because you could
play sixty great plays, but you have two bad ones
and it end up being a touchdown. That's what Sequon
forces you to do because he's so explosive. And I
don't necessarily think because the Rams team, you know, is
a collection of great pass rushers that you know can
(42:52):
can kind of lose track of things in the run game,
and we saw that happen again, I don't think all
credit to a great act was and Duran's Armstrong, he
necessarily moves a needle, is doing what what young did
you know last week? And of course defensive rookie of
the Year did, and also you know how often because
(43:14):
again like playoff in the situation is magnified and people
try to extrapolate meaning from it a crucial fourth and
goal situation. Lane Johnson's not jumping again, right Like, sometimes
things just go wrong, Lane Johnson is walking to Canton.
It's not an issue, but sometimes just random things happen
that go bad. I just don't see crucial mistakes like
(43:37):
that happening again. If if they do, they coming from
their their Hall of Fame tackle.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
They they're the logical pick. They've been my pick so
often on this podcast over the years, But.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
The game's not logical.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
I'm struggling with this one because I think about the
quarterbacks and I think like Jayden's misses even are good,
and he goes through his reads so quickly, almost too quickly.
Sometimes he goes off like a read that that's gonna open.
But it's like the game is slow for him in
a way that I think sometimes it's fast for Hurts,
and that Hurts is not going through his reads quickly.
Speaker 3 (44:13):
He's just a little.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Stuck in the mud sometimes. And if he's he's not healthy.
I just made the argument. I think I take like
the Commander's coaching staff, and I'm taking definitely taking the
Commander's quarterback, and I got a lot of magic.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
It's it's tough. I don't, I don't.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
I don't need you to lean in a particular direction
right now. I'm gonna save my pick for the show
with Cynthia.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
No, I'm I'm boring all of all of my hope
and belief in in in things is gone that died
on Sunday. If I'm being completely honest, what is that
I'm going. I'm going very chalky in this one, uh
and the other game. I'm just I the magic is dead.
You know, football is cruel and mean, and the Washington
(44:56):
Commanders have had a great and magical season, but that
they're not are not as good on defense as they
need to be. Just stop this offense. And I don't
think that that Saquan and aj and DeVante Smith have
forgotten how to produce points in the passing game. I
just don't believe.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
Okay, it all makes sense to me.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
I'm in my head, my playoff picks have not been great,
and that's because I've doubted against I've doubted the commanders,
I really have. We're going to take another break and
we're gonna come back on the other side. Yes, these
are two guys who are not afraid to pick this game.
They're biased, maybe just a little, but they've got a
lot of great insight. Give us the mind of the
(45:34):
fan and heck the announcer in the case of Bram Weinstein,
he'll be back after the break. We will also hear
from Nick Wright from FS one and Fox talking about
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (45:55):
In places ready to explode.
Speaker 5 (45:58):
In over time goal at the two, Jaden to the gun,
Rodriguess to his right to Tyda in stillle up here
at the staff.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Gig's gonna throw forward?
Speaker 3 (46:07):
He does. He is second the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Walk again.
Speaker 3 (46:15):
They went over time.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
You'll see you freaking Kidney. This is a missle. But
Tayda tell yous an absolute mistle.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
To Zack hurts.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Oh, they didn't just go to the playoffs. They've won
a couple of games there. That was Braon Weinstein having
the time of his life, as we've had all season
listening to Bram On these calls on wb I G
so you know his voice from the season because Bram
Weinstein is joining the show and you you may not
(46:49):
know this brand, but we play these calls at the
end of or as part of our Sunday recap show
all year, and I feel like you're one of the
hosts of the show.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
At this point. We we we do it each.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
And every week and it's been awesome you and London Fletcher,
So so thank you for your contributions, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
For the invitation, Thanks for playing our soundtrack. We are
having the season of our lives. As you can probably
tell by the pitch and tone. Sometimes I hear these
played back and I'm like, I can't even believe I
yelm like that. So it's it's been a wild ride,
and I don't think it's over, honestly.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Oh, I like it starting out spicy, and yes, I
do want to mention, you know, the local calls. You
can catch those, you know in the DC area on
WBIG and ESPN Radio. Bramazon, but he's got a whole
business here Empire Media. I've been checking out your podcast
throughout the year to stay on top of the Commanders
because they're such a big story. So Bram's got his
(47:44):
own show. He's got a couple writers there, John Kime
and Ben Standick, who do a great job there too,
So he just wanted to mention that. But you started
with it sounds like you're you're feeling confident. That call,
by the way, was from the clincher to get to
the playoffs. We might have time to go through a
few more. But what is it about this week that
has you feeling good?
Speaker 5 (48:05):
Well, they beat them a month ago, so let's start there,
and then let me just you know, remind everybody about
some of the details of that game. They turn the
ball over five times, they had a turnover on down,
so it's really six. Philadelphia had the ball for ten
minutes of the third quarter. Washington also punted twice, and
somehow they ended up with thirty six points in one anyway,
(48:26):
So you know, like, I have a lot of confidence
that this team will get something done because they do
it every single week. I have not been around a
team wearing this uniform that has this level of poise, preparation, execution,
confidence and our quarterback is a one of one. So
(48:47):
I've got a lot of confidence that they're going to
be at bare minim in a close game this weekend,
and we'll just see how it plays out. And so
far this year, when they're in close games, it's gone
their way over and over and over. So underestimate them
at your own risks the way I feel.
Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yeah, I don't disagree with you there. I think maybe
there were some Lions fans out there that probably took
them a little too lightly. I took them a little
too lightly. I thought the story was going to end.
I'll admit it going into last week kind of when
did you have a feeling? I do want to get
back to that Eagles matchup, but when did you have
a feeling during this season?
Speaker 3 (49:24):
And how did you like learn this?
Speaker 1 (49:27):
How did you know that maybe this team wasn't just
a good story, it was like a really good team
that there was something a little more.
Speaker 5 (49:36):
Yeah, I mean, I want to be like fair like,
I really didn't expect this until the season started to
play out, and then it became, you know, because we're
around it all the time, evident that this is a
really special team. And I would say it was early
that I thought that they would be a playoff teamer.
More it was really Week three, Week four, they played
(49:57):
Cincinnati on a Monday Night Week three. The Bengal were
owned to at the time, they were getting t Higgins back.
This was the first showcase game of this group. Washington
was just one and one at that point, and they'd
come off a game where they won a game with
seven field goals no touchdowns because they couldn't score in
the red zone, and they get there and nobody thinks
they're going to win.
Speaker 4 (50:15):
You know.
Speaker 5 (50:15):
It was just very dismissive of them, since that Ni
needed to win their rower and two at that point.
Jame Daniels completed ninety percent of his throws and threw
all the highlights we've had this year, what was my
favorite one, which maybe because it's the first. This dime
on a zero blitz to Terry McLaurin in crunch time.
It was like foreshadowing the entire season. And I remember
(50:36):
being in the locker room and asking, like Dan Quinn
about you know, no one's paying any attention to this team.
What they just did, though, is gonna, you know, open
some eyes and you're gonna get a lot of attention.
It happened on Monday Night football. Everyone saw it, and
he said the first thing out of his mouth was
don't get on the roller coaster, and he and he
just he stabilized the whole group immediately. So they turn
(50:57):
around and they got a short week. They're playing Arizona
the week after. They never went home, they flew directly there.
They stayed there the entire week. So the ownership allowed
them to do this and they turned around. This is
a chalked up loss for this team for years. You know,
like short week, turnaround, west coast trip, you're going to lose.
I don't care who they're playing. And the Cardinals at
that point were playing really really competitively at that point,
(51:20):
and they blew them out. And after that happened, I went, Okay,
this is going to be an interesting secret for a
little while. Let's see what happens. And as the season progressed,
I was one of the ones come around it, yelling
at the trade deadline be buyers, and they were. They're
a special team, they got a special quality, they believe,
(51:41):
and as time went on, every time they're in some
kind of clutch situation, no team, not just Jaden, no
team is handling these late game situations better than they
are organizationally consistently, week after week after week, and this
quarterback has the lowest blood I'm sure I've ever seen
in my life on somebody of his experience level. I
(52:05):
just believe in what they're doing. They believe in what
they're doing, and frankly, like whenever anyone brings up and
it happened again today. You probably played Dan Quinn's press
conference where he was asked about being dismissed earlier. This
is just a good story. They don't want to hear it,
like they won twelve games when they won four a
year ago. They don't want to hear it that this
was a great season. They want a playoff game. They
(52:26):
don't want to hear it. They're not ready for award season.
They've put their head down and I just there is
some kind of belief system that's going on in there,
and it's hard to deny what they're capable of, because
a they already beat the team that they're about to
play this Sunday. So to sit there and go after
what you've seen so far that they can't pull it
(52:48):
off again, I think is being naive to what their
capabilities are.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
I think that's absolutely great. Points.
Speaker 1 (52:53):
There's so much to get into there that you just
said I'm so glad to have you on, and yeah,
that Cardinals one was an eye opener and admitted I've
been doubting because you have seen it. And the Cardinals
had trashed the Rams a couple weeks before, they were
competitive with the Lions, and that was the first sign
that this Commander's team is very mature and they've shown
it throughout these playoffs. Now, you mentioned that Eagles game,
(53:16):
and these two games are interesting where Philadelphia did look
a little more physical than them. Certainly when the Eagles
offense is on the field, that's typical. The Eagles bully
a lot of people and Eagles fans listing will be like, yeah,
but we lost we lost their quarterback during that game.
We had a big lead in that game, and the
only thing I would say about that is that Jaden
(53:38):
Daniels did things to that Eagles defense late in that
game that we just haven't seen throughout the rest of
the season.
Speaker 3 (53:48):
And another thing that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (53:50):
If you really watch those two games, the Eagles couldn't
run the ball for about six six and a half
of those quarters. They ran the ball really well in
the first matchup early and then after that on a
down and down basis it was tough sledding. So looking
back at that last time they played, like, what do
(54:12):
you think could be different this time? You told a
great story on your podcast how when you talked to
Dan Quinn leading up to the Lions game on the Friday.
You get a chance to talk to him, and he
had a certain confidence and just the way he talked
to you about it, you thought he was going to
take away some things, goff I would do. I know
you haven't talked to him this week and you wouldn't
(54:33):
be able to tell me what he would say. But
what do you think maybe would give him confidence about
their defense?
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Maybe in this matchup?
Speaker 2 (54:41):
You know there's a.
Speaker 5 (54:42):
Couple of things here, and this is Quinn will not
talk about this part because he just won't and I
wouldn't either. But do we know how injured Jalen Hurts
really is right now? Like, I don't think we know
the answer to that, And I think it's a big,
big part of this so early in the game on
Sunday because Nick Syerian he's not gonnay anything about it. Neither
is Jalen Hurts and I do expect him to play.
(55:03):
Do they not call zone reads because he's not going
to keep the ball. Do they not roll the pocket
out because he doesn't have as much lateral movement as usual, They,
as they did in that Rams game, not do a
tush push, which is really unusual for them. Right, So,
how injured he is is a really big part of
what I think the defensive game plan would be. And
(55:25):
then secondarily, like the Washington defense is getting better and
better and better. They just got John Allen back, they
needed help up the middle. Marshaun Lattimore played by far
and not close, his best game since being acquired since
the trade deadline, and he hadn't played very much because
of the hamstring injury. But go watch the Lions game.
How physical he was, how fast he was moving. This
(55:47):
has been a problem for this team in this matchup,
but is a problem with every t I mean, they're
extremely difficult offense to defend with Saquan and DeVante Smith
and ij Brown, but aj Brown specifically against This team
has had matchups with the Manual Forbes or Benjamin Saint
Jus and don't get into it with Commanders fans about
what that's looked like the last couple of years. That's
not this matchup this time Mike Sanders. Still, again, if
(56:09):
this was a more above the radar team at this point,
would be getting defensive Rookie of the Year consideration because
of the way that he's matured and played throughout the season.
Marshaw Lattimore now hopefully back up to speed Sea legs
under him, they have a very different secondary. So if
all of a sudden, Jalen Hurts is not as much
of a running threat as he's been, or not much
(56:31):
of a running threat at all, well, I think defensively
that's a very different matchup for the way Dan Quinn
and Joe Wit can think about Saquon Barkley, who, to
your point, they've handled well for periods of time, but
still if you go look at the bottom line numbers,
he's gutted them a few times enough to get at
least one win and get them close to another one.
So he's a problem for them. And then we talk
(56:51):
about the other side of the ball too, which I
think is more challenging honestly for Washington this time around.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
Interesting Before we do that, though, I do want to
listen to another one of your cause, So let's go
back actually to that Eagles game. If people don't remember,
the Commanders are driving. They have under ten seconds to
go to try to get the ball into the end zone.
Speaker 5 (57:10):
Second goal to ten snap, the Daniels Eagles break four
in the middle of the end. The coroner amazing claunch
football from the ones and.
Speaker 2 (57:24):
And all that.
Speaker 5 (57:26):
Don't again, dun't.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
This is absolutely up. Talk big about this. Shina Tiles,
the magic, the cat, the cup up a half victory.
Speaker 5 (57:38):
Wanna fal wanna cat water.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (57:45):
Uh, London your your partner, London Fletcher is so good.
There is something about being in a broadcast booth. I
have to imagine it. Just it just seems like one
of the best jobs in sports, Like the kind of
connection to have those sort of moments that maybe a
national broadcast couldn't have in the same way.
Speaker 3 (58:06):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (58:07):
I just that's more of a statement than a question.
But what what is it like? How has it been
in those you know, they've given you so many of
these moments this year.
Speaker 5 (58:18):
This season's amazing. You know, I grew up in Washington,
d C. I grew up going to RFK.
Speaker 2 (58:24):
This is my.
Speaker 5 (58:24):
Team, you know, and so getting the job five years
ago to call the games I was only the third
person to get it since nineteen seventy nine. So you know,
it's a great privilege and honor just to have that
position because it's rare that you get the opportunity to
do it, and I was very fortunate for that. This
year's a dream come true. We've had a Hail Mary.
The team has never had one, unless apologies to Sami
(58:48):
Ball or Studdy Jergen said if there's no video evidence
of it, but we don't have one in the Bridgett's history.
That happened this year and then up until this past week.
Actually the game against the Lines was weird because the
previous six games had all come down to the final
play from scrimmage in one way or the other. That
was the first one in a month and a half
that we didn't have like a bite your nails moment
(59:09):
at the end of it. And I've talked about this
a lot, like they may because I think we have
a very special quarterback, you know how this goes like,
I think we're the start of a new era. This
is the beginning in my opinion of like what's happening
for them. But any subsequent year, no matter how this
one finishes, no matter, you know, winning down the road
(59:30):
or not winning down the road. I don't think any
subsequent season is going to be like this. And then
like put everything into context of how long it's been
since they've gotten to this point, how long they've waited
for a quarterback like this. It's generational, how long they've
waited for the organizational structure to be something the whole
fan base could believe in. It's why we're so joyous,
(59:51):
like in the way that we're talking about it, because
it started Greg honestly with some disbelief because we just
haven't seen it like this in a long time, to
completely falling in love because it was real, to joy
ride to this is unbelievable. We're almost like we're almost
(01:00:12):
like at a straight like you couldn't write a script
like this, like the way that they're finishing every single game,
and now they are trying to pull off what would
be and it may already be, but it would be
the greatest turnaround in the history of the NFL. I
mean we're staring literally at history. No rookie quarterbacks ever
started the Super Bowl before, so we're talking about changing history,
(01:00:34):
certainly rewriting the franchise's history. But this will go down
as one of the all time seasons for any team
ever in the league's history if they pull this off.
Speaker 1 (01:00:42):
Yeah, that's absolutely right. There aren't many comps. Of course,
RG three was a comp. You know, Dan Marino didn't
get to play his whole rookie year, but that would
have been a comp. But possibly ending it in the
Super Bowl. The way these games have ended is like
unlike any other I can't let you get out of
here unless you do have to go.
Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
I know you're busy.
Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Without talking a little about Jane Daniels, I like what
you said about just his maturity. It seems like the
game is very slow for him and he gets through
his reads really quickly. Just being able to observe him
up close and then obviously from the booth, just what
(01:01:23):
stands out to you, maybe on a personal level or
even on the field, that maybe the average fan wouldn't know.
Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
So, I mean, just in this was evident early like
he he never had a bad day, and he never
looked like a rookie, like he never had a bad practice.
And I remember back in OTAs when one of the
coaches like pulled us aside and they were like, you
got to see this. He didn't miss a throw in
OTAs and they were like astounded. We had heard about
his work ethic. He is the guy showing up at
(01:01:50):
four or five in the morning, like doing the walkthroughs,
going to Cliff Kingsbury's office, doing all the VR work
that everybody's talked about. So he puts in the time.
It really mattered to him. Obviously he's athletically gifted. When
I watch like the highlights of You're showing now, like
it's interesting, like he doesn't look like he's running that fast,
but then he pulls away from people. I heard I
(01:02:12):
think it was Chris Collinsworth who described he's like a
slalom skier, Like all of a sudden, he's just going
downhill and he's zipping by people and it's hard to describe.
His game is so unique. But what we're really excited
about coming in, like we knew he could run and
he's really, you know, terrific athlete, is he's a he's
a past first player, like he's a he's he's a
throw first quarterback. And we've kind of described this as
(01:02:34):
this is ground zero with him. We don't know where
this is going to go from here, like he looks
like he's going to be a special, special player for
a long time, you know, with health. And then you know,
add in how how much humility has he seems like,
at least publicly ego less. We interview him, you know,
for the broadcast after every game, and he will like
(01:02:57):
shrug off and he questioned about this stuff like he
does these things that only Pat Mahomes and Lamar Jackson
and Josh Hallid are doing, and he just shrugs it
off like, hey man, I'm just playing. And whether he
thinks it's a big deal or not, he certainly doesn't
let it on. His teammates love him, and it's it's really,
I mean, he's he really is in every way, shape
(01:03:19):
and form, the whole package and that it's really it's
been a joy to get to cover him in year one.
And we'll see where it goes from you know this
from this weekend on let alone again. I don't, honestly, Greg,
I would be surprised if they lose the.
Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
Literal power of.
Speaker 5 (01:03:36):
Belief that I have in what this group is. I
don't know how they're going to do it, but it
just it will actually literally be a not a shock
because they're great. They're really Their roster is amazing, But
just from what I've seen from start to finish and
the way that they're already acting this week and the
way they're talking about it like they don't want your
parades or awards yet they're not ready for that, I
(01:04:01):
know it was going to be close. That's what I
know for sure. How it ends up, Like if we're
not talking about going to the super Bowl, I'm actually
gonna be surprised.
Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
It's understandable, and you've convinced me at this point. I mean,
there is something more going on here, and it is
amazing because Washington fans have for so long been a
sleeping giant, one of the best fan bases. You were
with the previous era. We don't need to go into that.
(01:04:30):
We're gonna say goodbye now, but for the dark times
of the Dan Snyder era to be rewarded in this way.
And now I'm sitting here as an analyst thinking the
only other quarterback that I can remember covering that's made
me think about this that oh wow, this guy is
going to be such a huge part of my life,
just as covering to nationally for the next decade plus
(01:04:52):
our mahomes in his first was his first year starting,
which was his second year in the league, and then
Andrew Luck which unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way,
although he's a huge part of our lives what while
he was around.
Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
And that's it.
Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
It's a short list, and it's really cool to be
at the beginning of that journey. So congratulations to my
buddies Josh Jones and James Pittman and Bram Weinstein, my
new buddy who has been a big part of this show.
Congrats because it's gonna be a fun ride that this
guy takes you on on Sunday in the next decade.
Speaker 5 (01:05:22):
Greg, thanks so much for having me on. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Thanks Bram, and we'll say goodbye to you by playing
that call you mentioned, So we will hear from from
Nick Wright talking a little bit of chiefs on the
other side. But first we're gonna listen to Bram take
us out with that Hail Mary call.
Speaker 5 (01:05:38):
There's an eight deep for me with the goal on
they bring free Daniel's backing up. He's just gonna have
to let one fly.
Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Goes to the right song that steps away from the defenders,
gives himself some time now steps up, fires heads towards
the end zone. It is.
Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
All right, bringing in Nick Right. Already broke down the
game a little bit. Ex's an O's style with Patrick Claybon,
and now we're going to get Nick right. From the
What's Right Show on YouTube. I see all those subscribers.
It's been growing Nick Right. And of course, first things
first on FS one since since we broke the game down,
all smart now you can just come on and oh yeah,
(01:06:43):
Ravens fans, Uncle Ravens fans.
Speaker 4 (01:06:46):
So first of all, I would like to give a
tribute to you in an apology to the audience. The
tribute to you is, I don't know, if people are
watching on YouTube, they can see I'm wearing my official
US Open jacket because fellow tennis die hard. Now, I
don't know if you got up early for Djokovic Alcarez
a couple days ago or I mean, now it was
(01:07:06):
really early for you out west, but that was a classic.
And the apology to the audience is this, even when
you have great guests on like my and I'm not
saying I am that, like my buddy Seth Payne in Houston,
or I worked for with forever. I find myself, as
a religious daily NFL daily listener a little bummed out
(01:07:29):
when it's not you and the regular crew when I
have and so I so again for people right now
that are like, darn it, I wanted more of Jordan
or Colleen or Patrick or Steve. I totally understand. I
have name checked this podcast three times on the last
five TV shows I've done. It has been a genuine
a huge part of this NFL season. So I appreciate that,
(01:07:52):
and I appreciate being now a two time guest. Is
the second time on the show, so the and the
first time on the show. I think one of my
hot takes was that the Chiefs in the Super Bowl
would be playing a rookie quarterback drafted in the top two.
So I'm basically the rightest man in America. Now, I
had said Caleb Williams, but I mean I could. I
mean I still basically nailed that, potentially because.
Speaker 3 (01:08:14):
I have to go back and watch that. I do know.
Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
I don't remember if it was the AFC or NFC preview,
but whichever preview, I must have been AFC with you.
I had the Bills in the Super Bowl, which means
that needs to happen for me on Sunday. You've been
kind of straddling the fence here saying that the Bills
would be better than people thought this year, that they'd
have a good season. Maybe they were the biggest challenge
to the Chiefs. So you're getting to win either.
Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
All year.
Speaker 4 (01:08:38):
They're the second best team in football. I straddling the fence.
Here's the thing. And listen, I'm not a popular man
in you know, sports media Twitter this week because well,
we can get to it. We'll get to the Ravens
piece of it, Lamar. I'm sure. But previous to this,
I was never you know, people were like, oh, Nick right,
(01:08:58):
well known Bills, and we talked to this in the
AFC Previews show. It's never a Bill's hater. It was
always a Bill's truth thiller. And the truth this year
demanded that to be told was They're gonna be really,
really good and people are totally undervaluing that they have
an awesome offensive line and Josh Allen, while maybe in
the past a little overrated, came into this year a
(01:09:19):
touch underrated, and yeah, this was the game that we
were always going to get. I never I was.
Speaker 5 (01:09:28):
Rooting.
Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
You always want your picks to be right, and I
bet the games. I know you obviously can't, and don't
you want your bets to be right? But more than anything,
I want the Chiefs to have the clearest possible path
to the Super Bowl. So I was rooting for the
Ravens Sunday night because the Chiefs would have dog walked
that Ravens team. But instead we got like this Ravens team.
(01:09:49):
All our smart friends that say two of the six
best teams ever are last year's Ravens and this year's Ravens.
They have my smartest friend, Bill Barnwell, who is could
it made an ardent case that Lamar Jackson forget the
regular season in the playoffs the last two years has
been as good as Patrick Mahomes. Those folks that are
just like, yeah, I know they lose a third of
(01:10:12):
their games, but I promise you their yards per player
are going to carry them to a championship. I wanted
the Ravens, but instead we get a team that can
beat the Chiefs. I don't think they will, but they
can beat the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
It's funny you are you know you hadn't answered one
of my questions. I was curious which one you would
have rather have, and apparently, yeah, it was the Ravens.
And it's not enough that the Ravens fans are all
like dead on the side of the road.
Speaker 3 (01:10:37):
You got to beat him down.
Speaker 1 (01:10:38):
I mean, these are false arguments in the way, because
no one's really saying they're two of the six best
teams of all time.
Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
I mean they just got there in DVOA.
Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
But that doesn't mean that people are saying like, oh,
this is definitely they were the third seed.
Speaker 6 (01:10:51):
Pea is the stat that Paull The smartest folks who
cover football pray at the altar of you never hear
like it's only idiots like me that are.
Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
Like, here's your record and here's your points scored and
points allowed. Everyone that's smarter is like, no, no, no,
this is where they rank in DVA. This is the
only way to do it. And so that's that has
told me that this all year long. This is what
I heard. The Chiefs are the worst or one of
(01:11:22):
the worst undefeated or one loss teams ever by DVOA,
and the Ravens are the greatest five lost team in
the history of football. And last year's Ravens was one
of the greatest teams ever. And this is Ravens was two.
I just I again, that's what the numbers say. And
in the playoff games happen. And in the playoff game,
the same thing happens every year that a lot of
(01:11:45):
the folks who are swearing that Lamar Jackson is the
best player in the NFL, or certainly had the best season,
the Ravens lose, and in the autopsy, they're like, damn,
maybe we shouldn't have given him the ball as much,
Maybe we should have given it to the running and
it's just And then you hear from the opposing team
and they say, here was our game plan, top the
(01:12:06):
ball in Lamar Jackson's hands. It's just interesting. I just
find it interesting.
Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
It is, And I think the Chiefs actually got bad luck.
They are accused of getting a lot of good luck.
I think the officiating stuff has been way overblown, but
I do think they got bad luck in getting the
Bills matchup wise, I agree with you, and I think
the Bills got lucky to get through that game because
the Ravens moved the ball the entire game. The only
(01:12:30):
time they stopped was they essentially stopped themselves, and I
just think it's a matchup problem where the Bills can't
play their brand of football exactly. They kind of have
to change what they do to play against the Ravens
because they're just not big enough. And yet against the Chiefs,
I think they've shown they can be more versatile. They
match up fine, it's a very even matchup. I want
you to answer for one of the most shocking developments
(01:12:53):
that I feel like has been under talked about with
the Chiefs in this entire run, which is that you
took your team and just everything that's happened around him.
The best quarterback I've ever seen enter of the league,
the best quarterback I've personally ever seen Patrick Mahomes on
a game to game basis, and by the time he
(01:13:15):
is twenty nine years old, they've turned him into a
relatively boring player. If you had told me a couple
of years ago that Patrick Mahomes would be pretty like low,
I mean, I'm just saying, not top five on my
entertainment scale on a week to week basis, I would
have been shocked, because this guy was electric.
Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
But the numbers do back it up.
Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
Not just that they're down in yards, but how they
play football, their air yards are way down on a
per throw basis. He went from a guy who goes
deep all the time, top five in league to bottom five,
like just dinking and dunking his big time throws, which
is pff, you know, And I actually do think there
is something too that in terms of just it matches
up with what you think is an entertaining way to watch.
(01:14:00):
Top five in the league. Now he's in like the
bottom seven or eight. He's down with like the Drew
Locks and the Teddy Bridgewaters and stuff like that, and
he's getting hit a lot more.
Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
I think he knows about this. He wants to make
big plays.
Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
He wants to move the ball down the field, so
he's just holding on to the ball for a while,
and he's taken more hits in more sacks than ever. Like,
how did our Patrick Mahomes turn into like twenty eighteen
Tom Brady by the time he was twenty nine.
Speaker 4 (01:14:26):
I mean, listen, I mean I think, and I'm not
saying you're saying this, The idea that this is who
he's going to be moving forward, I think is silly.
And again that's what you're saying. I think that Patrick
Mahomes earlier than any quarterback ever, earlier than Brady even did,
(01:14:47):
because Brady actually knew this how to do this in
the conservative direction, but wasn't able to do it in
the but you know, game changing explosive play direction until
later in his career, really seven, when he had the weapons.
Patrick Mahomes, earlier in his career than any quarterback ever,
learned how to win any way necessary. So they have
(01:15:11):
Tyreek Kill, the most explosive downfield threat arguably in NFL history,
and that is how they will play. The year they
traded Tyreek Kill, when the Chiefs led the league in
points yards and he won MVP, it was all dinks
and dunks, go check the air. Yards. From the twenty
twenty two season, he had I think twenty seven touchdowns
(01:15:35):
to Tea.
Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
It's even significantly now, of course.
Speaker 4 (01:15:38):
So let's so so twenty twenty three he had basically
an outright coup against him by his wide receivers like that.
That was a weird situation that happened. And all year
long they developed Rashi Rice and took the lumps of
developing a rookie, so come the playoffs, he was one
(01:15:59):
of the most potent web in the league. And then
this year, in a league where you see teams totally
absolutely submarined by a single offensive injury, you had a
player who going into week five of the season did
not have wide receiver, one wide receiver, two running back,
(01:16:22):
one wide receiver, four or five and the left tackle.
They're on their fourth of the year, and so that
the only way they were going to lose games was
if he turned the ball over, which he was doing
early in the year. So they changed. And while everyone's
whining about the refs, the Chiefs just set the record
(01:16:45):
all time NFL history for consecutive games without a turnover
because with this coaching staff, this defense, and Patrick's ability
to play better than anyone on the high leverage downs
like a great tennis player on the six points that
decide a match, he knows, as long as I don't
(01:17:05):
turn the ball over, we won't lose. Fun stat the
last two years, the Chiefs are thirty four and one
when they don't lose the turnover battle, and the one
is the Week one against Detroit when it was they
(01:17:26):
tied the turnover battle and one of the turnovers was
a pick six, so that it might be two years.
It might be three years. Again, I saw you looking
in your head, like does the math work out? We
put it on the show, but I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
I was trying to think of the game and yeah, no,
it was.
Speaker 4 (01:17:39):
That it was Week one against Detroit last year. So
I don't the You know, I'm not a Taylor Swift biographer.
I don't know her full catalog, but I do know
enough that eras is a big thing for her and
her fans. The Chiefs are in a win the goddamn
(01:18:02):
game era and listen, Joe Burrow is in the look
at how fancy my stats are at era and we'll
like that. That's I get it, and I think he's awesome.
Josh Allen, by the way, is in the exact same
era as Mahomes. I don't care about what the numbers are.
I don't care how if it's not a light show.
(01:18:24):
We I am going to try to with treat every
game as an individual animal and go win it. And
I also think that the left tackle spot for the
Chiefs has impacted Mahomes more than people would acknowledge, as
far as his hesitation to really take a full drop
(01:18:47):
and throw it downfield, and because of all those issues.
That's why they've lost once in the last twenty two
game season.
Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
I agree on the left tackle, and I do think
that was a big difference the first game was that
the Bills four men rush was better than the Chiefs
pass rush in that game. And my Almos did turn
it over right to start the game, and that was
a huge play in that game.
Speaker 4 (01:19:09):
And last time he turned over, the last time the
Chiefs had a turnover was the Bills game.
Speaker 3 (01:19:13):
That's crazy. That's just that. That's amazing. It's a little
bit of it, a little luck.
Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
Yes, I mean it's a lot of excellence. But here's
the other thing I love about playoff football. Like so
I and this is really really kind of inside baseball,
so to speak. So Nico Remihio, who was a practice
squad kid forever who got bumped up when Sky Moore
(01:19:40):
went on went on ir and it has been their
kick returner. So I've watched every play of this kid's career.
He's electric, and every time he touches the ball, I'm like,
please just kneel it, please just fair catch it. Because
he was guaranteed to fumble in big spot, guaranteed because
(01:20:01):
of how he carries the ball, and he's always trying
to do too much. And this is where football can
be a cruel, unfair sport. I think the Chiefs got
so lucky, not just that they recovered the fumble, but
that he fumbled because here's my rationale that was going
to happen. I felt it all year the way. I
(01:20:24):
was like, man that he is. He's too loose with
the ball. He now made the mistake and is either
going to correct it or just do what I've been
wanting to do, which is to just kneel the ball.
And they got away with it. Like sometimes your huge
mistake that you have been kind of building up towards
you get you know what I mean, you are able
(01:20:45):
to overcome or there's nothing to overcome because samajip Ryan
falls on it, and so all those little things have
to happen. So I'm not acting like there hasn't been
any luck involved here, but I just I think that
I am frustrated Greg that the Chiefs are now unjust objectively,
(01:21:08):
no matter what happens on Sunday. This is tied for
the greatest three year stretch in the history of professional football.
Two Super Bowls in a conference Championship game. I guess
you could argue the only thing better is the Dolphins,
uh in in the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (01:21:24):
Patriots got two Super Bowls and made one too in
the middle.
Speaker 4 (01:21:27):
Yes, but so I guess I'm looking at it from
the perspective of with the three peat possible. There's been
two teams that we're chasing a three peat and got
this far. But okay, if we want to say the
Pats in the sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and the Dolphins in
the seventies, that's fine, but it is they're a win
away from it being the greatest three year stretch ever,
(01:21:49):
and they are two wins away from it being the
greatest six year stretch ever. And the discussion all year
has been what's wrong with them? And now the discussion
is why is the league rigging it for him? And
it's on the media.
Speaker 1 (01:22:06):
But you got to talk about the ball. That's what
you love. You're right that it is history. I love
football history and them going for a three beat and
how well set up they are to do so. Obviously
the best team in the regular season, and now with
a home game in the ex Cham you you would
think that would be dominating everything and yet everywhere it
is funny everyone gets sick of winners.
Speaker 3 (01:22:27):
I don't feel like people were as sick.
Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
I was a Celtics fan, but as sick of even
the Shaq Kobe Lakers at the time. But people complain
about the refs for every great team. People thought the
Spurs got called. That's just it's just something that happens.
But I am shocked that. I'm you know, scrolling around Twitter,
Blue Sky, I forget which on Wednesday night, and I'm thinking,
and there's like these polls of like who's more unlikable?
(01:22:51):
The chiefs are the Patriots era, and people are going Chiefs.
If you had told me that there's there's really not
that much that's unlikable. They're trying to make Patrick Homes
and Andy Reid unlikable. At least the Patriots. I wouldn't
say they leaned into it, but they didn't. They didn't
care about it, and they well they also got you know,
they worried for cheating a couple of times. Like yes,
(01:23:12):
Patriots fans, we try to be unlikable. It's like we like,
we like that coming back at us. It is funny
to me that they are at this point.
Speaker 4 (01:23:20):
That's the other thing. In the last thirty years, three
teams have gone back to back, the ninety seven ninety
eight Broncos. And I saw Mark Schlaer in the office
yesterday and I reminded him of this. Who cheated They
circummitted the salary cap. They got banged for it. It's
not it's not a it's not an allegation. It was investigated,
(01:23:42):
found guilty, banged the O three oh four Patriots, who
then shortly thereafter got banged for Spikey Again. You can
say that's unfair, whatever it is. The league did an.
Speaker 3 (01:23:53):
Investigation, the people knew about it. That was later though,
that was.
Speaker 4 (01:23:57):
Okay, Oh sure, so maybe the scandal's coming city I
don't know. And then the chiefs who like the and
you're right, people fans always complain about the winners. You
don't normally hear so many credible media members lending credence
to the idea that there's one set of rules. And
(01:24:20):
this is I guess the power of the media and
you it's one of the reasons this is a great show.
You were one of the only people I heard this
weekend make what I thought was objectively a correct point,
which was there was one call this weekend that was
horrendous and you could argue truly game changing, and it
(01:24:41):
was the DPI in Bill's Ravens and that was the one.
Like the Jared Goff one was brutal, but I to
me that wasn't game changing because it would have been
Washington ball in the twenty they're moving the ball anyway.
That DPI right before halftime might have changed that entire game.
The broadcast glossed over it, probably too much, but they
didn't do a one hour autopsy on it, like my
(01:25:03):
friends Bucket Aikman did on the penalties on the Chiefs,
and then you just moved on and nobody cared, and
that's just that stuff is frustrated.
Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
Well, Lamar I finally rewatched that Lamar got out. The
out of bounds on the All twenty two is even
more egregious. I mean it's a fifteen yeard penalty. I
think they scored on that drive anyways, Am I wrong?
But either way, that was like an egregious, egregious miss call.
You do follow this team closely, you're known for you
(01:25:32):
know your takes, but you're you're a ball not noer.
That's why I respect you on top on top of
everything else.
Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
I mean that hair.
Speaker 1 (01:25:40):
Oh yeah, how about this talk about you know, comeback player.
Speaker 4 (01:25:44):
Of the Year and Nick Oh my god, every we
talked on this on the last thing I just used
to my head America.
Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Sorry, all right, but wait, what is better that the
average fan doesn't know about this twenty four team? Because
I always did agree with Belichick when he would be
talking about this team. Is there last team? Every team
really does have its own character, and this team is
quite different than twenty three? What is do you think
better about this twenty four team than previous versions in
(01:26:10):
last year?
Speaker 3 (01:26:11):
Especially?
Speaker 4 (01:26:12):
Okay, so that that's a great it's a great question.
So last year they had a better back end of
the defense. This sneed was there, but this Chief's back
end was on par with that until Jalen Watson broke
his ankle and that was the they fell off a
(01:26:34):
cliff in the secondary. After that, because Jalen Watson broke
his ankle, their third corner was also injured. And then
you have McDuffie, who's unreal and maybe the only underrated
player on the team, and I don't even know if
he's underrated. And then guys that you just get you
watch the highlights of the first matchup between the Bills,
(01:26:55):
and what you're gonna see is the back of Nazi
Johnson's jersey in a lot of them just getting cooked.
And so but Jalen Watson being back now has you know,
buttressed that his first game back was the Houston game.
But the Chiefs pass rush is better this year right
now than it was now. The numbers won't back that
(01:27:16):
up at all over the course of the season, but
that's because Charles Lamena, who blew his ACL in the
AFC Championship game and wasn't back for the first dozen
weeks of the season and just now really got back
to himself. But you have you obviously have Carloftis, who
feasted on a tight end. He's a good player. He's
not a three sack in a playoff game level good,
(01:27:37):
but he got it. A Mina who Mike Dana, who's
a good player. And the kid, you know, first round
pick from a couple of years ago that hasn't really
hit Phoenix Felix. I'm gonna mispronounce his last name, so
I don't want to do it. But Fau or his initials,
who had six plays against the Texans, but one sack,
one TfL. They can rotate those guys in and they
(01:28:01):
have really versatile linebackers in Tranquil Chanal, who is the
best kick blocker in the league. I guess blocked the
extra point in the Super Bowl, blocked the field goal
against the Texans, and then obviously Nick Bolton. And so
you just can't run on this team. I know that
sounds dumb, because Joe Mixon just did. It's one of
the reasons that I think the It's why I wanted
(01:28:25):
the Ravens, and it's also why I think the Bills.
And it is a tough matchup for the Bills because
if you look at how many of Chiefs were out
with injury for that game. Now I know they didn't Milano.
You have a lot of guys who are back this
game that weren't there. And you have bet that the
Chiefs did not play their real Bills game plan in
that game. Trent mcduffy did not cover Khalil Shakir one snap.
(01:28:48):
I bet he's on him every snap. I don't think
James Cook is gonna get going. And it's listen, the
reason I can feel that way and feel like and
I haven't seen the injury report from Wednesday yet. The
rap and Toron Johnson injuries are massive, right, Like if
those two guys, if both of those guys are out,
the bills have are cooked. If one of them's out,
(01:29:10):
they'll they'll they should you know, be okay ish. I
think the Chiefs are gonna be able to move the football.
And I say all that and still think, listen, the
Chiefs could lose because Josh Allen is a great player.
And this is Listen, the Chiefs season starts and in
(01:29:31):
Sunday they were always getting to the AFC Championship game
and if they win it, they win the Super Bowl,
like and so the that's it. And if Josh Josh
Allen at one point will beat Kansas City in the playoffs,
I don't. I really hope it's not this year because
the three beat is so special. And I think Kelsey
(01:29:51):
might retire. He has said he won't.
Speaker 1 (01:29:54):
I think he can some I'm feeling some caution here.
It's not the usual total total cos.
Speaker 3 (01:30:00):
This is good.
Speaker 1 (01:30:01):
And does that mean you're putting less money on it?
Before I do?
Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
Let you go, I know you got to you got
your shows today.
Speaker 1 (01:30:07):
How do you how do you possibly have so much
invested emotionally in these games? And then and then know
that you're gonna be, you know, on air the next
the next day. At least you don't have to do
it that night, but you're on air the next day.
You're gonna have to live with it on your show
basically every day for six months. And then on top
(01:30:31):
of that, it sounds like you put an unhealthy or
just not unhealthy, just a lot, a copious amount of
money on top of that.
Speaker 3 (01:30:41):
Don't you feel enough already before that?
Speaker 4 (01:30:44):
Isn't that just yet?
Speaker 3 (01:30:46):
I want to put myself in your shoe.
Speaker 4 (01:30:48):
Realize how how foolish I would feel if during a
stretch of football where my team wins every Super Bowl,
if I wasn't betting on them.
Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
Like that, I mean probably been very very profitab it's
been incredibly profitable.
Speaker 4 (01:31:04):
And people are like, Nick, how are you going to
you know, feel if they lose? And the answer is,
I don't remember, Like I don't know, we'll find out together.
Like the the the people can be annoyed and they
be like, guys, whatever it.
Speaker 3 (01:31:20):
Is, they've they've lost plenty. They lost to the Patriots,
they lost to the Bengals. They lost.
Speaker 4 (01:31:25):
Yeah, but that I mean, I don't know, yes, and
thank you, you know what. I love that you just
did that because in Patrick Mahomes's entire career, you just
summed up the three losses. That's it. You did it
in eight seconds. They lost to the Patriots, they lost
to the Bucks, they lost to the Bengals. That's the list.
Speaker 3 (01:31:46):
And so.
Speaker 4 (01:31:49):
I I do have an affection for Bills fans, even
though so many of them don't like me. You know,
Kansas City is not a tiny town, but it's not
a big market and it's and so there is some
real you know, what's the word brotherhood's too strong, But
(01:32:11):
I you know, I appreciate them and I like them,
and I'm gonna sound like someone that's trying to prove
they're not a racist. Some of my best friends are
Bills fans, and so uh I so the if anyone's
going to beat the Chiefs, it probably should be them.
(01:32:32):
I just don't think it's gonna be this year. And
I think that we are going to at some point
this offseason, we as a collective media are going to
look back and say, hey, the two time defending champion
that had literally the best record in football all year
(01:32:54):
that the smart People's stats and the Vegas odds said
was a good not great team. Did they just get
hot again? Or do we need to maybe tweak some
of our smart people algorithms because we can't quite quantify
football like we do baseball, but.
Speaker 1 (01:33:15):
We know that we know that. I, like everyone, everyone
admits that that that the al No one is claiming
that the numbers can tell you tell you everything.
Speaker 4 (01:33:26):
Greg, You're not claiming that, Greg. This is again I
I to going on too long, but I the the
next person that I have to listen to talk about
playoff career being a small sample size, small sample sized
sport folks, and if one team and one player keeps
coming through in those small sample sizes, maybe maybe it's
(01:33:50):
not quite as predictive as we would like. I'll give
you a score prediction. I haven't done this yet. I'm
uh the so, and I probably won't do it on
TV until Friday, but I love this pod so much.
You guys have it first. I actually don't think it's
I think nothing would be better than this fugazy no
(01:34:11):
one's ever heard of this stat before. It could be
used against the Chiefs. You know they the Patriots and
the Raiders are the only teams not to score thirty
one points all year. I saw that full screen one
hundred times on TV. They scored thirty a couple, but
never thirty one. Thirty one twenty four Kansas City they
scored thirty one for the first time all year.
Speaker 3 (01:34:32):
By seven by seven.
Speaker 1 (01:34:34):
Okay, I love it, Nick, right, of course, yes, check
out the YouTube show. It's great. It's a podcast as well.
Nick does it with his son. It's at What's Right Show.
And then of course first things first on FS one,
he's headed there three pm Eastern every day.
Speaker 3 (01:34:53):
Thank you, Greg, Nick right.
Speaker 4 (01:34:54):
I know you think that I'm arguing against Strawman. I
know you feel that I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:34:58):
I would tell you if I think that, like that
one little bit at the beginning occasionally where that like
people say it's the sixth best team about the people
blay Aaron shats not really they were like one point
favorites last week.
Speaker 3 (01:35:12):
But I get it.
Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
You want to you want to break our producer Eric's
heart and all the bills fan and his young beautiful
baby boy who brought a Dodger.
Speaker 4 (01:35:20):
I tell you already said good bye. I have to
tell you this and then I'll leave because you said break.
So one of my good close friends, Brent Hanks, who
does a commentary for poker and helps run Poker Go
his His Twitter handle is at Buffalo Hanks. He's a
he's from Buffalo, Diron Buffalo fan. So I called. I
facetimed him right after they won, and he has a
(01:35:43):
house full of people. He's a lunatic. He's wearing one
of those giant fake chains with like a Bill's logo.
He's a big jersey, all of it. And there's eight kids,
none older than eight years old, all decked out in
Bill's gear. And I say to him, like, hey, turn
the camera ound so I can talk to him. He's
like okay, So I turn around. I'm like, hey, kiss
(01:36:04):
I really I was like, I hope. I know you
guys are young, but I really hope this is like
a core memory, Like this is one of the coolest
things you with your dad and your uncles and everyone
watching your team. And I really hope you cherish it
because next week you're all gonna be primed. I taught
in children, I taught in small children about this Bill's
(01:36:25):
Chiefs game. Let's go Championship week. Thank you Greg, Nick.
Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
Right, everybody, thanks Nick.
Speaker 1 (01:36:38):
Back on NFL Daily and yeah, thanks to Graham and Nick.
Those are great. I loved what Nick said to me.
I don't think he would he would mind me sharing
something he said on texts that he feels like he
knows Patrick Claybahan and Jordan Rodrigue and Nick Shook just
from listening to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:36:58):
And he likes it when it's it's the color group.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:37:01):
Yeah, and I like that and all of that. None
of that will be possible without Greg Rosenthal making everybody
so comfortable to come on and be on this show
and be themselves. So all credit goes to Nancidama, right.
Speaker 1 (01:37:12):
No credit, But I do like for these big games
kind of bringing in these voices, especially one that you know,
we've been listening to all year, so I want their
teams and really looking forward, by the way, to our
our super Bowl coverage in a couple weeks. Jordan Rodrigue
will be down in New Orleans with me, so really
looking forward to that. Shook will be there as well,
(01:37:34):
covering the game for dot Com. Yes, we'll definitely get
him on the podcast. All right, before we go I
know this is a monster show, but hey, there's no
Saturday show this week, so you know you can luxuriate
in this.
Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
Yeah, turn this, turn this thing down to one X.
Speaker 1 (01:37:49):
Take take a break from your David Lynch appreciation Inland
Empire and Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet. If I don't
know if you know people out there just doing David
Lynch movie A thons, this is a nice little break.
Speaker 3 (01:38:05):
A little later. I love me some Maholland Drive.
Speaker 1 (01:38:08):
Let's talk about the news, and there's been a lot
we'll go through this. I would just want to start
with Aaron Glenn because we talked about Aaron Glenn on
the previous show as if he was going to get
the head coaching job, and he did Patrick, but I
kind of sweated it out because they let him out
of the building. They said they didn't want to let
him out of the building. He got out of the building,
people were concerned, oh you know, they're blowing it again.
(01:38:29):
And it took like an extra twenty four hours, but
that's how contract negotiations work sometime, and it ultimately got
it done. So I'm happy for him because it, by
all accounts, is really the job he really wanted.
Speaker 3 (01:38:44):
And they really wanted him, and so I.
Speaker 1 (01:38:47):
Just hope for them that it works out better than
Robert Salad, which I thought was a great hire. Even
in retrospect, I don't think it's a bad higher. And
yet you know it didn't work out.
Speaker 2 (01:38:54):
And the thing that makes me less concerned is I
don't think Aaron Glynn would have taken the job without
seeing that there was that there was a structure and
a plan and a process for how this was going
to work, because that's that's how this entire operation has
worked in Detroit on the defensive side, with him making
the calls, and so that's it. I am concerned, right,
I would. I would prefer he gets into a situation
(01:39:17):
that that looks a little bit better starting. But I
felt the same way about Coach Ryan's taking that job
in Houston. And we've saw we've seen all the success
that they've had coming through that turmoil. The turnarounds as evidence,
so by the past couple of years do not take
that long. And so here's an opportunity. There's only so
many of these jobs.
Speaker 3 (01:39:36):
On the planet. Just got to find CJ. Stroud. You
got to find your.
Speaker 2 (01:39:39):
CJ Stroud good Jaydon daniels. You know, it's very easy,
very simple.
Speaker 1 (01:39:43):
But he has a lot of talent on defense and
in enough on offense for a team that's rebuilding to
win quickly.
Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
I think that's absolutely fair.
Speaker 2 (01:39:52):
Here's one big question.
Speaker 1 (01:39:53):
Yeah, I think that this from the sound of it,
I don't know. I think the staff is going to
be good. We'll see about the Aaron Rodgers of it all.
A couple other items. Josh McDaniels in the mix, he's back.
Speaker 2 (01:40:08):
How do you feel? Don't don't ask me? How do
you not good?
Speaker 3 (01:40:12):
I just feel like it's old, Like this is all
we can do is go back to this.
Speaker 1 (01:40:18):
I think he was an unreal coordinator to be paired
with Tom Brady. Now, how many people could have done that? Like, yeah,
tom Brady right, tom Brady was obviously the key part
of that equation. But he made it happen with Tom Brady,
and it even made it happen with the backups that
(01:40:40):
were in there during that era.
Speaker 3 (01:40:41):
And so I think he did an excellent job. But
is he is he like next?
Speaker 4 (01:40:46):
You know?
Speaker 1 (01:40:46):
I like the idea of like what's next, Liam Cohen,
What's what's cutting edge? Is Josh McDaniels that for Drake May,
we'll see. It just feels like they didn't have any ideas,
And I want to be wrong because I want this
to work. I don't want I want Patriots, you thought
Rabel and mcdeanna. It's like, I think they'll be fine.
They'll definitely raise the floor quite a bit, and it's
(01:41:09):
going to be a better situation than it was last
year on offense. So fine with it, But I don't
know what the other options would have been.
Speaker 2 (01:41:16):
During his run as the head coach, an offensive cordator,
he had top ten offenses twelve times. All those were
in New England. They did have a pretty good offense
in twenty twenty two. Josh Jacobs ran for sixteen hundred yards.
They were playing from behind a lot. Derek Carr had
thirty five hundred yards passing, So you know something.
Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
Like that, didn't He get fired pretty early in that season.
Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
Yeah, Now he got fired the next year, the next
but they'll always have twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4 (01:41:42):
No.
Speaker 1 (01:41:42):
I think he's a really good game planner and that's
all yes to do. He doesn't have to be the
head coach. They also are hiring Terrell Williams, the Detroit
Lions defensive line coach as their defensive coordinator. So that's
a good hire, someone who's familiar with Rabel. He had
worked with Rabel in Tennessee. And so the Lions just
(01:42:02):
keep losing guys. They could lose their offensive line coach
Hank Freeley too, who has interviewed for some coordinator jobs.
We'll see the Bucks are not losing Liam Cohen. I'm
really happy that this is working out. He is pulling
out of the Jaguars head coaching search after some buzz
that he was perhaps the favorite, and he decided he
wanted to stay with the Bucks on a new contract,
(01:42:25):
which must pay him more money and he gets to
work under Todd Bowles and staying with Baker Mayfield and
not keep moving around. He had like new jobs almost
every year lately. And here's for sticking with the job
that you like. It's not always green arou on the
other side, just because it's like more power necessarily.
Speaker 2 (01:42:44):
Yeah, and there may have been some particular spots on
that grass that made Liam Cohen make the decision to
stay on the opposite side on the Gulf.
Speaker 1 (01:42:52):
By tread balkis Okay, so that's part of it. I
guess we should do these combined. Yeah, they fired Baki today.
It's pretty crazy because he pulled out of the job,
and the reporting round it was that Trent Balki's presence
with the Jaguars was one of the reasons that Liam
Cohen might have pulled out of that job, and within
hours the Jaguars in announced that they parted ways with
(01:43:16):
Trent Balki.
Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
Do you think Liam Cohen got Trent Balkie fired. I
think it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (01:43:20):
Because it's very difficult to read in the statements. I
remember right on the post Doug Peterson firing news conference
where it was shot con on one side of the
screen with Trent balky on the other side, and there
was a question of so, mister Khan, now that the
football side of this operation has gone, who do you
communicate with about football? And it's like, well, it's Trent,
(01:43:44):
And then he talked about a bunch of other people
that were no longer there. It seemed like Trent was
the one voice right, and in the statement it was
we both arrived at the conclusion that it is our
mutual best effort, it's interest to respectfully separate, effective immediately.
So if it. If it wasn't a mutual decision, would
it be disrespectfully separating. At a certain point.
Speaker 1 (01:44:06):
I read this statement and shod Con goes out to say,
leaves with my deepest appreciation for his efforts over the
last five seasons. I just read it as this was
a move shod Con didn't want to make, and he
just was compelled eventually to make it because enough people,
maybe inside but maybe outside the building, we're making it
(01:44:28):
clear to him that this was not a good way
to continue running his team. And this is all speculation
for me, but we just saw him do a press
conference with Trent Balki, supporting Trent Balki, and the way
this it almost sounds a little bit to me like
the famous Mickey Loomis statement after they fired Dennis out.
Speaker 3 (01:44:50):
It's almost like I didn't really.
Speaker 1 (01:44:51):
Want to hire fire Trent Balkis, but finally I was
sort of compelled to by the the audience, maybe the
maybe people outside the Jaguars even that it's making it
clear that this organization is not looked upon as attractively
because of the structure that we have.
Speaker 2 (01:45:09):
Well, when you do have people outside of the organization
coming in and it's not just us having these discussions,
you're trying to hire a hit coming and so repeatedly,
if Sha Khan gets in spaces where Trent Malky is
not there and he says, hey, what are we missing,
Like what makes this job? It's like, well, well that guy,
you know, we could do this. And eventually you have
these conversations and shots. Mister Cohn's probably thinking, well, if
(01:45:32):
we're diminishing Trent's role so much to make this thing,
then why is he Why would he be here anyway?
And good call, and it was one of the reasons
he said for retaining him at that news conference after
they fired Doug Peterson was you know, we have all
of this process in evaluation, not just in terms of
the draft, but free agency, all of that preparation. We
(01:45:55):
don't want to just throw that away. So now they've
waited two and a half weeks and now that's all through.
Speaker 1 (01:46:00):
They've got Ethan uh Wah as the interim general manager, and.
Speaker 2 (01:46:05):
Ethan was probably doing all the work anyway.
Speaker 3 (01:46:07):
Hey, now let's be we know.
Speaker 2 (01:46:09):
I'm just saying if he's there. You know, sometimes sometimes
the guy calling the shots isn't isn't necessarily plowing the
fields of water and things.
Speaker 1 (01:46:18):
Wow, let's ethan wah like a relation to Evelyn Wah.
Speaker 3 (01:46:23):
Maybe back in the day.
Speaker 1 (01:46:25):
Shout out to Brideshead revisited one of the underrated novels
of all time.
Speaker 3 (01:46:30):
It's not even underrated, it's highly highly rated. Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:46:33):
Let's wrap up the GM news with the Bucks assistant
GM John spy Tech getting the job with the Raiders.
Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
Make your spy tech joke.
Speaker 2 (01:46:44):
Let's let's know. I just I think it's cool that
Tom Brady had a teammate in college, uh and has
maintained a relationship his entire career, and now he's he's
the new GM of the team. That Brady just purchased
his think in and his name is spy Tech. I
think that is great. Shout out to the writers of
Regality for making all of this possible for me particularly.
Speaker 3 (01:47:06):
Yeah, it is. It is too it's too easy. It's
too easy. It is.
Speaker 1 (01:47:13):
It is really amazing that it's Brady's teammate that supposedly
the day after Brady met with Mark Davis, then they
fired Tom Telesco and now they hire his teammate, and
that all would you know, be worth giggling about or whatever.
But man, I gotta say in quote unquote league circles,
people love them some Giant John Spytech Uh. He was
(01:47:36):
on Jordan rud Rieg's podcast, first Graduate of the Playmakers
GM interviews that that you know, not her interviews. Uh,
to assist with assistant gms. Primarily that gets a head job.
He really has an excellent reputation around the NFL as
as a as a guy that was probably going to
be a future GM, and so more power to him.
(01:47:59):
Good for the Raiders, we'll see who they hire as
head coach. And wrapping up the news with the big
head coaching higher of the week. I know we already
talked about Ben Johnson, but I was so taken by
his press conference. I was sold. All that doubt I
had just the day ago, it's gone. He won the
press conference. That's the most important thing. Part of the
(01:48:22):
reason he won is just the love that he had
and the belief in his new team, the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 7 (01:48:28):
Going into this season, I felt like this place was
a sleeping giant. I personally was more concerned about the
Chicago Bears than was anybody else in this division.
Speaker 3 (01:48:38):
Like, what was it about the Bears?
Speaker 7 (01:48:39):
I Well, personally, we struggled with that defense here for
both games that we played them in twenty twenty three. Okay,
so that was a huge deal was knowing that as
much as I struggle staying up at night trying to
attack this defense, I knew what that was capable of.
(01:48:59):
And seeing all the weapons that they have on offense
here was really really encouraging.
Speaker 1 (01:49:05):
At first, I thought thought that was kind of shots
fired to the to the other teams in the division,
Packers and Vikings. But then when he spoke about it,
he's just talking specifically defense, that that Iberflus defense.
Speaker 3 (01:49:17):
I can give you problems. You seem doubtful of my
best my knw Benjom, Well, it's just vacation.
Speaker 2 (01:49:23):
The working the Iberfoos play praise into there kind of
threw me off. You don't know what I was about
to say. Forever it always shots him at Aberflus. But
it's twofold, right, because this whole this this rendition of
the Lions, which I hope gets more credit despite not
having the success that I think they deserve to have
in the postseason these past couple of years. Uh, getting
(01:49:45):
two head coaches hired off of this staff, probably a
year late for both of them, and Ben Johnson being
able to do both things there to take shots at
the Vikings as well as the Packers, which is always
going to play well in Chicago, but also to be
completely honest in his evaluation of things and not like
(01:50:05):
tie it up in raw raw whatever not to say
like Dan kempll everything he said in his opening press conference,
He meant, that's the mentality of the team and the
way they've approached things. And you get to see some
of that honesty in Ben Johnson to the way it's
not gonna be the same. It's going to be different
because it should be. But it all starts from a
standpoint of how do we approach the circumstances that we're
(01:50:28):
in because they always change depending on the opponent. And
I think that's a perfect way to summarize.
Speaker 3 (01:50:33):
I just want to see good football.
Speaker 1 (01:50:34):
I want to see quarterbacks maximize their talents. And listening
to Ben Johnson, he said he doesn't think he was
ready a year ago. He thinks he's a lot more
ready now, especially in terms of having a plan of
how he was gonna coach the defense or higher coaches
for defense. It's reportedly Dennis Allen, although he said he's
(01:50:55):
gonna have a lot of interviews and nothing's been decided,
although you've got to kind of say that, uh, we'll see.
But he thinks he has a better idea, partly by
watching Dan Campbell, of how he can run the team.
But he will be calling the plays and he will be, yeah,
jabbin the Packers a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:51:13):
Dan Campbell, Kevin O'Connell.
Speaker 7 (01:51:16):
You're talking about two guys that are up for Coach
the Year awards as the season ends here. And to
be quite frank with you, I kind of enjoyed beating
Matt Laford twice a year.
Speaker 3 (01:51:30):
He was kind of ready for that one. There's too much.
Speaker 1 (01:51:34):
I just thought he was like comfortable and the things
you've heard about him and sometimes when I've seen him talk,
I was just like, how is this gonna be? Is
he gonna be gripping the lantern to what is it
called lectern?
Speaker 3 (01:51:44):
Too tight? Uh?
Speaker 1 (01:51:46):
Just every he seemed very comfortable in his own skin.
He knows what he's not, he knows he's not Dan Campbell.
He really has an offensive plan that he wants to execute.
But seemed like maybe he's ready, Like Aaron Glenn has
probably been ready for a few years. A coaching veteran,
Ben Johnson probably needed some more seasoning. And they're both
getting these jobs I think at the right time. It's
(01:52:07):
just one. One is in the AFCs, which has the bills,
but otherwise like there's some there's some room to grow there.
The other is in the NFC North and that is
going to be challenging.
Speaker 2 (01:52:15):
It works out for Ben Johnson to not take either
of the jobs last year for Chicago. God bless the
broken road. You know, you keep Matt Eberflus for a year.
It's frustrating. You have all those moments, But now you're
in the spot you wanted to be in. And what
better place to be in there?
Speaker 1 (01:52:31):
What better place to be than in the Chris Westling
podcast studio recapping the longest show of the entire year.
Speaker 3 (01:52:41):
Let's get out of here, at least the longest non
recap show. Play the music.
Speaker 1 (01:52:47):
Yes for Bram Weinstein and Nick Wright, Patrick Clayba, Eric Roberts,
good luck to you. Look, Josh Annuals is back. Colin plays.
I guess football is all the way back.