Will The NFL Playoffs End In A Historic 3x Consecutive Super Bowl Win For The Kansas City Chiefs?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pisa, Texas legend, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, the voice
of the Texas Longhorns, and your host of The Craigway Show.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hereing us now, Craigway, all right, welcome back to The
Craigway Show.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
All right, freak flag, feel good, fake it t you
make it Football Friday edition of The Craigway Show. And
I'm glad Craigway allowed me the opportunity to sit in
with you guys talk a little football today.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
We won't talk to some Texas football, of course, we'll.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Talk NFL football, break down the divisional games in great detail,
all of them, including the Houston Texans is the one
here closest to home.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
We'll dive into all of those subjects here.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
We'll also talk a little bit about the twenty twenty
five roster for Texas because now we do have another
reported transfer a portal entry for the Longhorns.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I believe that makes it ten total.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Entries for the long Horns and the transfer a portal,
which is still these days. That's pretty damn good. Actually,
that's really good these days. So overall, I believe I'm
Ny Black is the latest the tight end that the
Longhorns had just for one season who transferred in from Alabama.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
He is the latest Longhorn.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
And I believe the last of the Longhorns that reportedly
will enter the transfer portal. That would make ten total
in this transfer a portal window of transfer port departures uh.
The names are John Tay Cook a wide receiver, Jerry
bled So on the D line, Darien Gallett and linebacker
along with I don't want to disrespect the men's name

(01:37):
Conna the linebacker, Aaron Bryant on the D line along
with Tia Savellah on the D line, Jpan Cole at cornerback,
Justice Finkley at the edge position, Sider Mitchell on the
D line.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
And the tight end. Of course, I'm right now Black
who is the latest?

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Here's the most important stat because these days you're gonna
have attrition.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
It's natural, you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Have a matter of fact, you can almost you can
argue it's healthy. Now, a healthy amount of attrition. The
guys who are just gonna be leaving your roster so
you can churn out, continuously churn out the bottom of
your roster and upgrade with more talent so you can
make your argument it's healthy attrition. You shouldn't get sad
about guys leaving, and it's healthy attrition when you look
at the contributions of the players who left.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
All right, shout out to my man, c J.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Voge will do a good job with this over all
in Texas football at CJ. Vogel underscore OTF career starts
for the the ten players who left. Zero zero combined
career starts for the guys who left, doesn't mean they're
terrible players. Doesn't mean you know that guy's a bomb,
doesn't mean that they're a bus doesn't mean any of that.

(02:43):
Just running the right fit, running the right situation. We've
seen plenty of stories across the country. Now God's transfer
have great careers, okay, just doesn't mean they weren't the
right fit at the right time at Texas. But zero
career starts just means none of them actually were able
to penetrate your rotation or your your starting lineup and

(03:03):
your depth chart.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
None of them.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
They just it wasn't the right time for them, or
you had so much talent stacked in front of them,
they did not see a path to play. That's healthy attrition.
Those guys need to go and it's what the transfer
portal is for. They need to go somewhere else so
they can find a path to play. So I don't
mind that kind of attrition. You're going to have attrition
these days when you have an attrition of a lot

(03:26):
of guys who were, you know, contributors and guys who
were starters for you. Not that that hasn't happened in Texas.
Texas had guys who were starter get starts or debuilt
lead before. That happens as well, but it's not a
disruptive type of attrition when you're leaving guys, well, guys
are leaving. It's just for Texas, and we'll talk about
the guys they had coming in, but you know they're

(03:47):
dressing needs in the portal. And there's still another spring
portal that'll be coming up as well. But zero career
starts for the ten players that are leaving, and based
on the current numbers, because these numbers are fluid sometimes guys,
as we just learning more now Black that just happened today,
and you may have some other ones happening around the

(04:08):
country and especially in sec country. Right now, Texas has
the fewest amount of transfer portal departures of any team
in the SEC.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's a win. That's a win.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
These days, that's these days, you know, it's you know,
people celebrate the recruiting class. Of course, great Texas has
the number one recruiting class in the country.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
That is great. But these days that's not in my opinion,
and it's good.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
You should celebrate. You celebrate the big victories and the
small So I'm not telling you not to celebrate it.
But it's not the same as it was when Rod
b was being recruited nineteen ninety nine by Mac Brown
in his second year, and we had the number one
recruiting class in the country because you could count on
a fair amount and a large amount usually of that
recruiting class being intact for a couple of years to

(04:58):
help you build the program. These days, not so much.
Get that number on recruiting class. Man, the dude can
be going next year. So in addition to recruiting, now, retention,
all right, is the big thing. So I was talking
to Bobby Burton about this over do on Texas football,
and by we said, people don't realize the expansive amount

(05:22):
of due diligence and thorough work and analysis that must
be done during the retention period that when he's transfer
portal windows open up. All your guys are being recruited. Now,
it is against the NCAA rules. They're not supposed to
be to recruit your guys, all right, they're not supposed
to be do that, but they do. That's just they

(05:44):
called it tampering. Tampering is like speeding. Everybody, you probably
spared today. You're listening right now. You probably spared today.
You went over the speed limit, maybe five miles, maybe
ten miles. You spared today. You broke the law, all right,
the law, but it's one of those laws where it's
probably the most violated broken law on the books. Right,

(06:06):
everybody speeds. Everybody violates that law at one point or another,
as long as you're not agregious with it, and uh,
you're not endangering the public safety. And yes, you still
can get pulled over for it. But they even we
even say that if you're only going five miles old
the speed limit, a cop will let you go.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Right, that's considered one.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Of the may just be that may just be folklore,
it may be something that's not true at all, but
that's what they tell you. That's what they say, right,
because it's such a violated law on the books.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's what tampering is.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Tampering says you cannot talk to a player on somebody
else's roster. Everybody tampers. It's like peeing in the shower.
Nobody talks about it though.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
It's so everybody's tampering, right, So everybody's going after your guys,
every transfer pot into it.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
That guy, even their starter, even if it was a
guy like Jay Barren or an Xavier Worth and every
of those womb those rumors about.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
His every worthy in his transfer board. Oh may i
transfer portal?

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, this is their way of guy's way of renegotiating
these days, I want to renegotiate my contract. I need
to see what my market value is. How do you
determine your market value? I got to hit the market.
That's the transfer portal that will determine my value. If
somebody's willing to pay me half a million dollars, that's
my value. Doesn't really mean what you think my value is.

(07:27):
If somebody's gonna pay me half a million dollars to
do this job, that's my value. If somebody's gonna pay
queen you was eight million dollars to be to transfer
for one year in that nil resources, nil revenue for
him to be their quarterback for one season, that's his worth.
You don't get what you deserve. Will get what you
can negotiate, and they're trying to negotiate. So the retention

(07:50):
with Texas having to talk to every player on the
roster and having to negotiate with every player on the
roster to make sure everybody's good, that is a that's the.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
New era of college football.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
So I'll give Sark and his coaches a ton of
credit because they didn't have much. It was a healthy
amount of attrition. It was not toxic or unhealthy, disruptive attrition.
The ten guys they are losing, and that is a
challenge these days because everybody wants your guys, and I
think it's healthy when you know they you know they

(08:23):
they have these studies about people on social media and
they say that a lot of folks on social media,
Laura a good a good percentage of folks social media
they cyber. I don't even say cyrus stark, that's the
wrong term. They often check up on their exes. Here,
go tell me this's okay. It's not a big deal, right,
they're just look at it, not doing anything malicious. You're

(08:44):
not you know, you're not doing anything harmful. You just
typing in your excess name and just saying what they're
doing on social media, whether they be on the ground, baseballok, toya.
I just want to see what they're doing, see you know,
if they're posting stuff about their life and and I
think it's just healthy.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Some people want to check on it.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
And hopefully you are happy when they're doing well. Hopefully
it's like, oh man, my ex is doing well, they're
married with kids, they look really happy, and I'm happy
for them because it reflects well on you. Says that
you had good taste, said that you have high standards
that you actually do have, you know, a good criteria,
a checklist when it comes to choosing a mate.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
So it's not nothing wrong with it. It's kind of
maybe a little bit healthy.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
I feel the same way about the transfer portal when
your players are coveted by other schools. When you look
up your guys who went to the transfer portal out
of your program and they end up transferring immediately to
other powerfied programs, said they were coveted.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
It says that to me.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
When you were building your roster, you built it in
such a way, stacked it with so much talent that
even guys who can't necessarily see the field in your program,
they can go start and they can go be significant
contributors for other programs. So so out of your ten
guys that left, John Tate Cook went to Washington, but
already he's out.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
But he went to Washington.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Sidey Mitchell went to LSU Joy Bloodsoe, Mississippi State, Darien
to Let, Mississippi State, Aconna BYU, Aaron Bryant, Vanderbilt, Tia
Surveyor back to Arizona. Justice Finkley went to Kansas. So
eight out of the ten coveted by our other powerfore programs.
That's healthy attrition. That means you steal. You had good taste.

(10:26):
That means I'm happy what my exes are doing well.
I need them to be doing well. They're doing well.
It says, you know what, I had good taste from
the story. I saw their potential. I knew they were
capable of greatness. Maybe not with me, but they found
it at one point. And that's a win. That's a win.
We count the wins today. We count the wins. All Right,
we come back. We'll talk some Texas football, but I

(10:48):
want to get into some NFL discussion. Roger Goodell made
a statement today that honestly shocked no one. I've been
saying this was coming for a while. I think we
all knew. We'll get into that. We'll also break down
on the playoffs, the divisional round right here on the
Craigway Show here on AM thirteen hundred zone. All Right,
welcome back to the Craigway Show Lifetime. About one Rod

(11:10):
Babers sitting in for Craig Way. I appreciate Craig Way
give me the opportunity to sit in for him this week.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
He's on the road.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Of course, Craigway is a busy man, but I appreciate
him giving me the time. All Right, I want to
get to some NFL discussion.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
But I did. I forgot one of the players.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I originally said it was eight of the ten players
in the transfer portal that had already committed to other
power programs.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
And it was nine.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Actually I forgot about Jay Young Cole parent Jay Young
Cole committed to Arizona, So it was Jave Young Cole
committed to Arizona, Justice Finkley, Kansas Tsava Arizona, Aaron Bryant
Van Vanderbilt, Akana BYU Gallet, Missippi State, Dre Bledsoe Mississippi State,
sit in Mitchell LSU. And you did have John T.
Cook that was committed to Washington, so it was not Marty.

(12:03):
Now Black's the only guy that hadn't at least committed
to another power program and he probably will. So Yeah,
I mean, you'll be ten out of ten. That's a
that's a good sign in terms of the healthy attrition
for the program.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Man. The Obama guys don't work out for Sark.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Not really right, I mean a Mardy Nay Black's one
of those Bama guys. You had your little Billingsley initially,
remember the Aja Hall thing, Mary Ny Black. Isaiah Bond
was on that too, Remember Kendrick Black share the linebacker.
I don't know, it's something about the Obama guys he
brings in. I think is Bond, of course, has been

(12:41):
the best. Isaiah Bond will be drafted pretty high. I
don't know if he's going to be drafted in the
first round like the initial projections had before the season started,
and maybe still can't work his way to being there.
But I think that was a lot of Lowland fans
had higher expectations for Isaiah Bond, and I don't know
if they met those expectations either. So it's all about

(13:01):
the UH the Alabama guys they're bringing in here too, Bill,
But I'll give this half a ton of credit.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Though a lot of the guys that.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Were rumored only rumored to be entertaining hitting the transfer
a portal. UH Texas kept, you know, all the guys
who were either significant contributors or guys who were starters
for them. The only guys who left with the guys
who were the guys who only guys who left were

(13:28):
either significant contributors to starters were the guys who declared
for the NFL Draft.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
The ore the rest of the attrition. And that's Hey,
that that's what you want. You want. You want guys
to claire for the draft.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
They claire in the draft, or they think they're going
to the draft or the draft, of go. That means
you've done a good job developing and it means you
had a lot of talent. And that's just other recruits
and other players around the country are going to see
that Texas is a football factory, in NFL factory, and
they're gonna want to go to Texas too. So that's
a good thing. That's that's the best attrition you can have. Uh,

(13:58):
guys going to get drafted into the NFL. But other
than that, you know, they didn't lose significant contributors or starters,
and that's a credit to the staff and their ability
to retain the talent they have.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Like it's it, it ain't. It's never easy to go
pull a down piece.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
You can.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean I pulled a dying piece of two in
my life. It ain't easy to pull a down piece,
but it's way harder to keep a don piece you pull.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
You can pull a down piece.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
You can just be You can be on your game
out there downtown on Sixth Street one night, right, amount
of liquor and confidence whatever, you get out there and
start spending game bom who knows once in lifetime pull
yourself a don piece, all right?

Speaker 2 (14:39):
For me, it was easier at times, just.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
Saying as a Texas football player and as a guy
who played in the league, easier to pull down pieces.
I had a better story then we'll just say it
can have it to anybody, all right, but I've had
a few dying pieces in Texas. That's what these blue
chips are, the recruited on the ross, right, they're don pieces,
recruiting the four and a five star recruit that everybody
around the country recruited. And they won't steal even the
guys that when they're on your roster and they're tampering

(15:03):
with those guys.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Hey, except it's it ain't easy. But you can pull
a down piece, but keeping a down piece and keeping
them happy, that's that's a tall task. That's a herculean task.
That's where retention is.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Now.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
That's my comparison to the retention trying to retain the
roster that you have in college football in the new
landscape of the nil era and transfer portal and teams
poaching and tampering with your players.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, you pulled the din piece.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
The can you keep her candy keeper without a getting bored?
What are what are being dissatisfied? Without her getting annoyed
by it?

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Can you keep her? That's what Texas and all these
little power programs are trying to do. Keep the dyning piece.
All right, let's talk a little NFL.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
We'll get into promise the last two hours and the show,
we're breaking down the division rounds all right, games and
in too much detail, actually without the research I did.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
So we'll get into it.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
But I saw this little nugget from Roger Goodell and
knew it was coming. We we live in and supersize me.
You know, a supersized me world. Everything gets bigger. You know,
everything is on a more a grander scale.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
If you will.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
To increase profits, right, to increase increase the revenue. That's
the old point of it. And when the NFL went
to seventeen games, I remember saying, okay, well, so they're
gonna have eighteen games in two preseason games, like just
it's inevitable. I had enough still contacts in the league.
And that's what the NFL was trying to push. They

(16:36):
want more games.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
More games means more money, period, More games, more regular
season games, more money.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's what the NFL wants. More playoff games, more money.
They expand their playoffs too, didn't they More games, more money.
Let's say the same thing about college football. Everybody was like,
oh man, the gog football playoff twelve teams. That's like, oh,
it's going to sixteen. They just are fourteen. They're gonna
expand it. Whenever they get the chance to expand it,
they will expand it. Because expanding needs more money, more revenue,

(17:05):
bigger the pie, more straight cash homie, all right, cream
cash news everything around me. And I remember saying, I said, man,
that was years ago, and they renegotiate the CBA, and
they started opening the door for seventeen games, and they
got their seventeen games. So we all knew that was
gonna happen because NFL has the weakest players union of
all the major American team sports. The listen Lord Roger

(17:25):
Goodell had to say today to Bloomberg News, he said,
the logical step is for the NFL to expand.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
To an eighteen game regular season schedule.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
We went to sixteen and four, now seventeen and three,
so eighteen and two is a logical step. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
a logical step. Yeah, well, yeah, it's common. I knew
it was gonna happen. I don't know if it's a
logical step. I think it's a step that everybody knew
was inevitable. Inevitable step was probably a better term, but
that probably would have gotta be in trouble but it's yeah, logical.

(17:56):
I guess it's another way to the turn of phrase
there and flip it. But yeah, they were gonna get
the eighteen games. The owners want more games because more
games mean more money, and they're gonna get eighteen. And
whether he started at eighteen, at one point, you just
have twenty regular season games.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
I mean, they just they gonna keep adding to it.
Guess they're gonna keep you know, they keep expanding things.
We love that.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
Roger Cadell, Roger Gille, his his goal or his goal
has always been to make the NFL a twenty billion
dollar a year league.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
That just go. I don't know where they are now.
I think they're creeping closer.

Speaker 3 (18:32):
They're probably between fifteen maybe between like fifteen billion or
something like that.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
I think he's trying to get it to twenty billion
a year. Like that's yeah, uh that, I mean literally,
that's what he told the owners.

Speaker 4 (18:48):
Like that.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
He told the owners like when he and I think
he just renegotiated to get an extension. I believe that's
what Roger Goodell told him, like that, Hey, that's what
I want to get the league too, by any means necessary,
whatever we got to do.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
I want to get it to be a twenty billion dollarly.
He has a mass he had a master plan for it,
is what he told the owners. And you know, I
think he's you know, expanding the regular season more games.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
We'll get him close to that, I said, I think
right now they're probably probably at fifteen billion. I mean,
it's it's a lot of rough estimates because you know,
the NFL's you know, private, you know, they're private companies.
The Green Bay Package is kind of where they get
a lot of their public information from because they're owned.
They're publicly owned and the rest of them are pretty

(19:37):
much owned by billionaires majority and minority ownership. But that's said,
that's that's why you're going to expand the regular season.
They'll say it's for other stuff, but that's ultimately what
they want to do. And it's the number one TV
show and the number one it's the number one TV
show in America and even close there's not even any
actually real competition here.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
So that's gonna happen. Just keep an eye for it.
It won't happen soon, but that's just him planning to
seed just so people don't get shocked by it. Because
I believe within the CBA they can do it.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
They open the door.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
They need to vote on it, and that I think
they need three forced owners approval on it, and they
need the players Union to agree to it as well.
But the players Union, it is run by guys who
want more money, and all they have to do is
promise to if they promise to raise the minimum salary

(20:30):
in the league, which is for the Jags, the guys
like Rod b you know, guys who play the average
which is three and a half year, three to four years,
they promised to raise the average minimum salary.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
That's what I need. I need to make.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
I need to make a million plus dollars for the
three and a half years I'm in the NFL so
that I can be set. And so I don't really
care about as much about the guaranteed salaries and the
lifetime healthcare. Probably should, but you got to make your
money while you're in the league, and that's what they do.
They do a lot of class warfare separate the have

(21:02):
and the have nots in the league, and they're way
more have nots in the NFL than there are halves.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
It's not the case in the NBA. Are major LYE
Baseball because it's guaranteed contracts, guaranteed salaries.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
You sign it, you get it. That's not the case
in the NFL. There's no guaranteed contracts. Only what you
get in the signing bonus, and only what they guarantee
in the contracts, the guaranteed straight cash.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Homie the k Ish, All right, we come back.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Well, uh oh, Craig Way actually has a little titbit
for us. It's got a nice interview with Rodney Terry.
They're going to play again. You guys are ready for
some Texas basketball. So before we start previewing the Division
round games coming up in the NFL, we'll talk a
little Texas basketball on either side. And here from Craig Way,
the voice of the Long Launch and the head coach
of the Jexas basketball team, Rdneyierry, right here on the
Greigway Show on AM thirteen hundred Zone. All right, coming

(21:45):
up next segment, we'll dive into the Cowboys coaching search.
I've already been on the record saying, hey, just hired
d On, All right, just hired at this one. You're
gonna think about hiring Jason Whitten. You know, I like
Kellen Moore. I was actually a Kellen Moore fan and
a Kellen Moore polo. Just I get the killing more
thing because it works world with deck. I don't think
Kellen Moore is ready to be a head coach in

(22:05):
the NFL, but I get it if it's killing more.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
But I at this point, I don't look.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't look to the Cowboys for functional organizational leadership.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
And I don't look to the Cowboys right now for
to be for them to have consistent championship caliber, uh competition,
like I don't look for them for stability.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
I don't look for the Cowboys for you.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Know, for their great organizational leadership like That's not why
I look for the Cowboys.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
I look to the Cowboys for entertainment.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
And damn it, if they hired Dionne to be the
head coach, I'll be thoroughly entertained. I won't be able
to take my eyes off the Cowboys. I won't be
to stop watching. How bad they are doesn't matter. I
don't think they don't know they will be bad either.
I don't know if the experiment will work or not.
A lot of the you know, unless you maybe they're
gonna hire be Billbili Chick. Bill Belichick says he's good. Though,
by the way, Dell bill Chick says he's good. Mike Lombardi,

(23:01):
who's on his staff, says that they are locked in
and they are committed to North Carolina. Even though we've
seen Bill Belichick, we've seen him reverse course before. And
his girlfriend, the one who's like twenty something whatever she is,
however she is, she's decades younger than he is. She
is also put out on social media that they're committed,

(23:23):
like she's committed with him.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
That is such a strange story.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
I'm happy for Bill belichicking that maybe that's why he's
going back to college.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Maybe she wants to get back on campus.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
All right, let's hear from Craiga or at Craig Way,
the voice of the Logano Woarings. Of course, he is
on the road calling a lot of Texas basketball game.
As a matter of fact, he is going to call
the game Saturday. The Long one men's basketball team will
be taken on Florida on Saturday. And actually you can
hear that game right here on AM thirteen hundreds Zone Saturday.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
It'll be at two thirty. That'll be live from Gainesville.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
But Rodney Terry, he was on with Craig yesterday during
the Coaches Show and they were a lot of at
Pluckers and he spoke to Rodney Terry about their upcoming opponent,
the Florida Gators. And here's what coach Rodney Terry had
to say about the upcoming matchup.

Speaker 6 (24:11):
We welcome you back to Longgordon Weekly with head coach
Rodney Terry from here at Pluckers the West Campus location
here in Austin. Only because we can say, hey, we
are on Liveingkday right now. Texas women are up twenty
at the half at Auburn forty three twenty three, and
I know you and Vic commiserate about trying to keep
your programs on a roll.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
And it's a good start for VIX team.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
No, Vic's got a really good team.

Speaker 1 (24:35):
He's got a lot of continuity from last year and
one of the top teams in the country.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
And anytime you go in the road is never easy,
and they're doing a great job. The night sounds like, all.

Speaker 6 (24:44):
Right, let's get into a couple of other things as well,
and that's to talk about life in the sec Like
we said, whether you're at home or on the road,
it can be difficult. Florida found that out at home
against Missouri. Well, by the way, guess who's the next two? Sorry,
Florida and Missouri on the road at Florida and then
missoo at home. Let's let's first of all talk about

(25:07):
Florida and what you see from the Gators.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
We the Gators.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
You know, it's got some connuity from last year. They've
got Clayton back the starting point guard. He's a guy
that can really score the basketball. You talk about Richard
being back, another guy that was a starter a year
ago that could score the basketball.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
Connons.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
They got some inside guys that really rebound the basketball
at a high Cliff Condon.

Speaker 4 (25:29):
It's really good. Big Ruben in their strong you know.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
And and uh, you know, you had a guy like
Elijah Morten who played at FAU and played in the
Final four. You know, and you got a good nucleus
of guys that they're the top you know, Uh, offensive
rebounding team in our league and physical team, good shooting team. Uh.
They want to play fast and get the ball up
and down the floor as well, and they can really score.

(25:54):
You know.

Speaker 6 (25:54):
It's interesting I hear you talk about all those the
superlatives about Florida, and they're all very accurate and true.
And I sit there and think, you just got through
playing the number two team in the country Auburn that
can rebound with the best of them and can be
beastly the number one team in the country at the time,
Tennessee who can score with the best in the country.

(26:14):
Go on the road to Oklahoma, which start at thirteen, Oh,
can get up and down the floor? You played A
and M who can get up in that No, how
you got Florida. It's kind of like what we've been
saying on the beat, goes on night in night out right,
it does.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And this team can play really fast in transition and
shoot the ball really quick, and they've got great shooters
at every spot, and you know their top five for
a reason, and you know they're well coached. They do
a great job of.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Really putting a lot of pressure on your defense.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
All right.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
And then from the frying pan to the fire, the
team that just beat them in Gainesville, the Missouri Tigers,
the next opponent for you back at home at Moody
next Tuesday, and we'll talk about some special incentives and
want fans to come out for that. But how about
your impressions of the Tigers.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Dennis has got his team playing out a very high
level right now. You know, he he has a very
physical team as well. You know, he's got some guards
that are playing really well, guys they picked up in
the portal or playing really good for him as well.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
And uh, they're a team that.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Could throw a lot of different looks at you offensively, defensively,
and they're playing.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
Really well together.

Speaker 6 (27:18):
Is it important uh for you as a coach and
for your staff to continue to emphasize the fact that
to the guys about you have to keep grinding because
in this league, more so than what we saw on
the Big twelve, that they're going to see a really
good team almost every time they go out on the floor,

(27:38):
and even the ones whose record might not reflect it
still are good enough to pull a surprise if you're
not on your game.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
Well, we've got a number of teams in our lead
that will have a chance compete to be a Final
four participant this year, and Flood is one of those
teams that has a chance to be a Final four
type team. And uh, that that good, and uh, you know,
but the opportunities, you know, ones again that you should
be excited about. You know, we're getting better and uh

(28:06):
in our journey, uh as well. And I thought we
got better even in losses, you know, over the over
the course of last week. Uh, so you know you
welcome those opportunities and you're excited about those, you know.

Speaker 6 (28:18):
Uh, coaches have no control, believe it or not, over
conference scheduling, non conference I know it's gonna be a
challenge trying to get to your teams at you have
no control over conference schedule. But I am curious to
get your thoughts on what's the first thing you went
through your mind when you saw how this conference schedule
was going to open with going to College Station, then

(28:39):
playing auburnon Tennessee back to back, and then after that
going up to Norman and then going to Florida.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
Well, we knew was gonna be a gunlet you know
what I mean. And I think for us, we try
to take it one game at a time and deal
with the game that you have in front of you.
But but uh, you know again that's what this leads
built on.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
I mean that we we had an historic run in
conference play of any conference in.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
All the basketball and college basketball.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
History, you know, with the winning percentage, so you knew
going in every team was gonna it's gonna be really
a tough challenge for you, whether you're at home or
whether you're on the road.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
And but that's what makes ILL lead the best league
in the country. Yeah, you know, and you should be
excited about competing in the.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Best league and getting a chance to play against.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
The best teams every night. And that's what we're getting
a chance to do, I would imagine.

Speaker 6 (29:27):
Also, it gives you the opportunity, even if you take
some hits, like early on in conference play, because of
the strength and the quality of this league number one
in all the net and computer rankings, that sort of thing,
that if you stay the course and you know, collect
some wins, you'll have a chance to be an NC
tournament regardless of how you ultimately finish up.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:49):
Again, I think you have to work the season, you know,
and just stay the course.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
I mean, just put everything you have into the game
that you're preparing for, and then you'll you'll worry about
the next challenge after that.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
But everything has to go into that game, whether it's
a quick turnaround or not.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
I mean, we get in last night and you know,
two in the morning, right, and uh, you know, we
got a quick turn.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
We gotta we got a top five team that we
got to get.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Prepared for, and you got a one day prep, you know,
and we'll have to spend a lot of our time
tomorrow trying to get ready for these guys and travel
across over the Gainsville and play.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
A uh you know again a top level t all right.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
And that was Craig Way sitting down with Rodney Terry
on the Coaching Show yesterday live from Pluckers And yet
no doubt, I mean, we thought that Rodney Terry would
get somewhat of some relief going from the Big Twelve
to the SEC. The Big Twelve at the time was
considered the most competitive college basketball.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Conference in America, and now it seems like that's the SEC.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (30:54):
So I thought that would be the competitive level would
drop off a little bit. Not the case.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
But Rodney Terry and the Texas basketball team hopeful up
to the challenge versus Florida tomorrow as you will hear
that game right here on AM thirteen hundred Zone and
Craig Way, of course will be on the call.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
All right, we come back.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
We'll get into some other NFL discussions, NFL news notes,
and that we'll talk about the Dallas Cowboys and their
head coaching vacancy.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
We'll talk about give you the latest.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
With the Cowboys coaching vacancy, all of that and more
right here on the Craigway Show.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
They am thirteen hundred Zone. I went back to the
Craigway Show.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
I'm live to talk about Horn Rode Baby sitting in
for Craig Way, the voice of the Lonehorns, who is
of course on the road doing I was doing great
work calling Texas football, Texas basketball games, and Craig Way
will be back next week, but I've been sitting in
for him for a couple of days this week. So
I'm really grateful Craig for giving me the opportunity. All right,

(31:45):
let's get to Dallas Cowboys head coaching vacancy. Let's get
to the news related to it and the latest report.
So there's a couple of reports here that I want
to discuss. The first one is from Diana Russini from
The Athletic.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
And her episode of Scoop City on her podcast.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
She said basically, or at least hinted that the Cowboys
were a little surprised that Mike McCarthy didn't jump at
the offer that they threw out there, whatever offer it was,
the basically, they were surprised that Mike McCarthy had options.
Here's the quote. There's definitely a camp that I'm talking
to that's like, this is not real. This is not real,
they talk. This is all flirting, this is all Jerry

(32:30):
was not expecting Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys to go
separate ways.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
The plan was to bring them back. They did not
have a plan in place here, so a lot of
this was scrambling from what I can gather of just
I need to figure out how to fix this quickly.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
And so now we're seeing the coaches get called in.
That's surprising because I think a lot of people saw
this coming. He was a lame duck coach. He wasn't
on a contract like he.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I don't know what Jerry was saying to Mike McCarthy,
but you know, like my wife always tells me, it's
not about it's not it's not about what you say,
it's about what you do right, actions speak loud and words.
This kind of thing man, your actions were telling me
you didn't really you didn't want Mike McCarthy. If you
wanted make MacArthur, you just offered him a contract extension,
and you'd have been fine. But you didn't offer him

(33:16):
a contract extension. So everybody assumed, oh, lame duck coach,
he's probably gonna be available at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I would say more than half Cowboys fans assume, Oh,
Mike McCarthy's gone at the end of this year. So
he's surprised by it. Man, that's on.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
That's that's kind of delusional, and that's that's on Jerry
Jones there, or maybe Jerry Jones just assumed that he
wouldn't have options. But now it looks like, you know,
the Bears were interested, the Saints are interested. It's like
he's gonna get a head coaching job somewhere. And so
the Cowboys may have miscalculated on that one. And there

(33:55):
was also Adam Schefter. He touched on the same overall
idea when he was on the depart might take a show,
and he said when they said no, when the Cowboys
basically said no to Mike McCarthy, or initially.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
To an interview Remember they said no to him interviewing.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
I believe it was with the Bears, but they said
no to an interview request, and everybody assumed, Okay, maybe
they're said no because Mike McCarthy's gonna be their guy.
They just want to negotiate it with him without him
going to interview with their teams. He said, quote when
they said it's Adam Schefter. When they said no, they
didn't You didn't know whether they meant they were going
to try to get something done or whether they were

(34:32):
just kind of dot dot being Dallas, just being Dallas,
just being overly dramatic. You were gonna sign CD anyway
to a certain number, but you want to drag it out,
say anything with Dak, you know what I mean? Like
you just liked the drama. You like T and T,
you love the drama. And for I think the Cowboys

(34:54):
maybe they miscalculated in this one that they thought, oh,
we'll get some headlines out of it, but ultimately we'll
get Mike mc he's got nowhere else to go. Well
broke about that, and so now we're at either Kellen Moore,
who just interviewed Dion, is a realistic option. No, people
think it's not.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
It is.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
We know he really really likes Jason Witten. They interviewed
Robert Salah because they're scrambling.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
I'm not.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
And there's such a very unique situation because of the
very unconventional chain of command with the Cowboys. I don't
know if you're just gonna I mean, you could try
to get Ben Johnson. I mean, I would love for
you to get the top coaching candidate, maybe Aaron Glenn,
who's also another one of those top coaching candidates. But

(35:44):
when these guys have their pick of multiple jobs, they
don't always.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Go to the Cowboys. Because the Cowboys you're not gonna get.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
You don't get all the credit, and you don't necessarily
get to make all you don't get enough of the
decision making. You don't get enough of the decision making
ability with those particular situations like the Cowboys, because Jerry
Jones is running the show.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Also, I was saying about d On though. I was
talking to Coach Brewster. Coach Tim Brewster who recruited me,
and he worked with.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Coach Prime when he was at Jackson State and when
he went to Colorado, and he says that the mistake
that people make about Dion, and I'm a huge d
young fan, have been since I was in high school.
I wanted to be Dion. I wore number two in
high school because of Dion. Want to wear number two
in high in college because of Dion. He weren't between
college for those who know, and but I ended up

(36:39):
wen't number twenty one still because of Dion. So love
me some, don love me some prime time, he said.
The mistake that people make about Dan is they assume
that his success.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Is you know, some type of it's.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Something of It's not a mistake, but they assume that
it's some type of coincidence because he's just great at football,
that he's also you know, a success now coaching.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
But it's not.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
He's like very detailed oriented, meticulous about a lot of things,
and he values relationships.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
And his old coach at.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Coach Mickey Andrews at Florida State, he once said Dian
was not only just the best player of a coach
because the arguing with the greatest athletes ever played defensive back,
but he said he was also the hardest worker.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
God just worked like his tail off, like he was
obsessed with, you know, being the not only the best
at hes position, but also being the guy that put
in the most work and the was the most committed
to his craft, into cultivating his craft. And that's the
side of DEEA. And you don't see because all you

(37:50):
see is Prime who.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
Loves a big stage and knows how to promote as
well as anybody shame self promoter.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
But he also shines the light on this kids a lot.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
The students that are student athletes are in his program too,
and you got to have a certain kind.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Of DNA to deal with that big spotlight. All right,
we come back, We'll get into the division round games,
will break them all down and get into the x's
and o's and preview all of the matchups coming up
this weekend, all of that more right here on The
Greigway Show on AM thirteen hundred of All Right, welcome
back to The Craigway Show.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
A freak flag, feel good, fake it to your make
it ric flair Whoo Football Friday edition of The Craigway Show.
US Right, it's not a little good Rick flair woo
every now and I'm telling you it makes you feel good, trusted,
it'll rejuvenation, energize. I guarantee you that, all right, we'll
get to some NFL discussion, and we'll talk about the

(38:46):
divisional game, start to break those down a little bit.
There's also, of course Texas football discussion to get to
the transfer portal of actually transfer portal news.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
There was another player for the Longhorns that hit the
transfer portal. I'm not black. That makes ten in this
transfer a portal window. We talked about it.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
We'll get into it a little bit later on and
tell you why that's a healthy attrition for Texas losing
just ten guys via the transfer a portal, And then
we'll talk about the retention, which is a success story
for the lone Ones of keeping so many of their
key guys and key contributors and starters for this twenty
twenty five roster. All right, So we'll get to that
coming up a little bit later on. Also, Craig Way

(39:26):
spoke with Rodney Terry during the Coaches Show. We played
some audio of him previewing their upcoming opponent, the Florida Gators.
Will do that coming up a little bit later on
in the show too. So we'll go behind the burnt
Orange current and talk some Texas sports. But let's get
to the NFL Divisional round games to start to break
those down. Of course, right here close to home, the

(39:47):
Texans will have the herculean task ahead of them of
trying to take down the Kansas City Chiefs on a
dynastic run, trying to do something that nobody's ever done before.
That's something that's ever been done in the history of
the NFL, which is three peatd The NFL is not
built that way for teams to win three in a row.
It's just not really, not in the modern age, not

(40:09):
in the Super Bowl era. The NFL isn't built that way.
Not the way they do their draft, not their CBA,
not with the salary cap.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Everything is promoting parody. They won't parody.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
They want everybody's fan base to feel like they have
hope every year. And the more fan bases have hope
all throughout the season, that's why they expand This part
of the reason they expanded the playoffs. The more you
invest in your team emotionally but also financially right your
team being your team's not in it, you lose interest.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
You're like a losing some most most people do. I don't.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
I'm a football team, So all pay attention ill damn't
watch anybody playing football but the Kansas City Chiefs, Right,
they're trying to do something that has never been done,
because it does really, I mean, it really kind of
flies in the face of everything that the NFL is
built on of it for a team to go in
this kind of dynastic run and the Chiefs and this

(41:05):
is how rare it is for a team to three
peat in the NFL and win three in a row.
Not only has it never happened, but no team has
really even been close. No team that's repeated has even
made it back to the super Bowl. Like they ain't
even made it back to the super Bowl. They don't
even make it back there. Because naturally, there's a natural,

(41:30):
you know process of you know, attrition that happens. Guys
leave your team, the salary cap, you know, older players
that are in players are more expensive, so you're gonna
pay players, so your roster sources degrade. You lose coaches.
That's a big part of it too. You lose your
best coaches. Right when once teams around the league it's
a copycat league. See you have success, they start trying

(41:52):
to steal your coaches. So it's hard to keep the
nucleus of your team in place long enough for you
to go on that kind of a run. And that's
what the Cancachefs are trying to do. And they've kept
the nucleus right. They got the best coach in the
NFL and Andy Reid I always talk about the holy trinity,
the coach, who's your coach, who's your GM, who's your quarterback?

(42:15):
And where are they ranked among their peers. Well, the
GM for the Kansaity Chiefs is bread Veitch top three
to best GM in the league. He's in that conversation,
Andy Reid, He's in the conversation to be one of
the greatest coaches of all time. So he got the
best coach in the NFL right now. And Patrick Mahomes
is the best quarterback in the league, so they have

(42:36):
the best They have the best holy trinity in the league.
To me, that's why the Canta Chiefs are tough to
be period because that nucleus is hard to be and
then you branch out from that and you go, well,
Chris Jones might be the best interior d lineman in
the league, and then Travis Kelcey is the best tight
end in the league, and he and you know, Patrick

(42:57):
Mahomes have the best connection of any quarterback active receiver
in the league, so they have other things to build it.
I like, I like Trent McDuffie. Actually, I'm a big
fan of Fam the cornerback for Kansas City as well.
But they that's why Kansas City can have this longevity
and it's sustained excellence for as long as they have
is because man, they got the best of the best

(43:19):
when it comes to that. You know that though those
key elements to building a franchise, now here's the tech,
and the Texans are trying to build that too, right,
Just what.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
You know, Debiko runs and you got c J. Stroud.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
I'm a big fami Nick Cassario, you got your Holy
Treney is pretty good and you know who you gotta be.
You gotta take down Kansas City, right if you want
to in the AFC, if you want to ascend in advance,
Kansas City is a team that's gonna be in your
way and this is the time to do it. And
I think that the Texans they do have, they do

(43:56):
have the necessary elements to neutralize Kansas City's offense, and
I think they'll do a pretty good job of because
Demiico Ryans. Listen, guys, when he comes over with a
game plan for a high level quarterback, Now, Patrick Mahomes
a different beach star together, and they did just play
Patrick Mahomes, and you know the game plan wasn't that effective.

(44:18):
I mean, I believe the Kansas City Chiefs had twenty
five first downs in that game. That was a season
high allowed for the Texans defense. That's what when you're
going up against the best play caller, play designer and
the best quarterback in the league, you know thems to breaks.
But against Justin Herbert, he had his worst game of
the season and that was just last week. Jared Goff,

(44:41):
when you played the Texans, he had his worst game
of the season, arguably of his career. Same thing with
Justin Herbert, worst game of the season, arguably of his
career career when he played the Texas defense. Same thing
with Jared Goff. Five interceptions for him, four interceptions for
Justin Herbert. Josh Allen, he had arguably the worst game
of his career and his worst.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Of the season when he played the Texans.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
I mean, these are elite quarterbacks, these guys are I
mean Josh Allen's in the MVP discussion. Jared Goff is
leading what looks like a juggernaut there with the Detroit Lions,
and they have the most explosive offense in the league
right now. And you know, Justin Herbert is one of
the better young quarterbacks in all of the NFL.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
And yet when they faced this Texans defense, with.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
The game planning and the strategy of Demiko Ryans, they
had their worst games of the season, arguably the worst
games of their careers versus the Texans d The Josh
Allen staff that I love is that his thirty percent
completion rate was a career low, and it was the

(45:52):
lowest percentage in a game with at least thirty attempts
in the past thirty seasons.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
It's easy to remember because of the thirties. So and
Tua had a bad game.

Speaker 3 (46:01):
I think Tua had three picks and two is not
in the upper echelon of quarterbacks like those other guys,
but Jordan Love had two interceptions. They turn you over
and their sound in coverage, and I think that'll give
them a shot. They actually can win in coverage versus
Kansas City's receivers. Not every down, but they can win

(46:24):
their fair share, and that's good enough to start, because
you need dbs that can win on the outside because
you're gonna have to, I think, devote and allocate resources
to stop Travis kelce and limit that connection between him
and Patrick Mahomes. And you're probably gonna do it by
bracketing him. You can't just put a linebacker on them.

(46:45):
You got safeties that I think can cover Travis Kelcey,
but Travis Kelcey doesn't. I've told you this all the
time when mexic caann't see achieved so tough. Now said,
he doesn't run the routes, Gus. There's no hard angles,
there's no real right angles in this.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
He's just getting open.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Go look at his Go look at the Travis Kelcey
route tree. Every now and then, like throughout the game,
they do it. On next year they track it. He's
just running around getting open. It looks like dude playing
on the playground. He's just running around getting open because
he knows that the offense at times his gear just
to create space for him. All right, They're just the
wide receivers just running routes just to create space for

(47:21):
Kelsey and Patrich Mahans is buying time for Kelsey and
that's that makes that connection tough to stop.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
And then the what makes.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Patrick Mahomes tough to stop is I told you guys
last year he was second in the NFL in scrambling
yards behind Lamar Jackson. He scrambles a lot in the
playoffs and a lot more than you like him too.
And the Texans, unfortunately they allow the most rushing yard
seven point eight on quarterback runs and scrambles.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
That's not necessarily a good thing, but I do think.

Speaker 3 (47:52):
They need to be a lock up on the outside
with the wide receivers potentially into one on one situations
because they're gonna need to allocate resources extra resources for
Kelsey to limit him and potentially to spy Patrick Mahomes
at times because he can scramble and he scrambles really well.
And you got to defend three plays in one. You
got to defend the initial play, whatever that is. And

(48:12):
if it's a run play, great, you just make the tackle.
If it's a pass play, you got to defend the
initial pass play. Then when he extends to play and
get outside the pocket, if you can't contain him, and
it's hard to contain him. You do have the edges
to do it, though. You got the best edge duo
in the playoffs in the NFL, Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter,
the only edge duo that is both guys in the
top ten in sacks. So you can keep him in

(48:35):
the pockets holding the football because you got hiss his
weapons covered up. And that's when you get inefficient, very chaotic,
almost a risky style of football from Patrick Mahomes because
when he when he lost the Buffalo and that only
lost the season, he held the ball for three point

(48:56):
three seconds and it wasn't him scrambling, it was him
in the pocket. He played Houston the first time. Two
point five seconds was his average time to throw.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
That's way too quick. That that means he's going to
his first read.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
You gotta take away his first rd, force him to
hold on to the ball a little bit so you
can collapse the pocket on top of him. And you
don't want him outside the pocket cause then he's extending
to play. And then you got to defend number two,
the scrambled drill. And then if you defend the scrambled
drill successfully between him and Kelsey and Kelsey Rich run
around making up routes to get open. Then you got
to defend the scramble of the quarterback who actually tucks

(49:28):
it and is a really good athlete out in space.
It's a it's hell on wheels. So that is gonna
be the conundrum for the Texans and we come back,
I'll tell you how I think they The Texans have
a shot. It's a narrow path to victory. But I'll
tell you what the shot the Texans may have in
this matchup versus Kansas City. But man taking to beat

(49:49):
the man, you gotta beat the man. Taking down the man,
it's gonna be It's gonna be tough for the Texans.
We'll get into it. We'll talk about that on the
other side right here on The craigway Show, right here
on AM thirteen hundred some. All right, welcome back to
the The Craigways Show. I'm not Craig Wabe, but I'm
sitting in for Craig Waye. So I appreciate Craig giving
me the opportunity to sit in for him today. I
was in just a couple of days this week, and

(50:11):
Craig will be back next week for you. But I
want to get into the NFL playoffs, will we got
some time to continue talking about the Texans and the
tall task ahead of the Texans trying to take down
the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Chiefs would be you know,
they would be making history if they can get back
to the super Bowl. Even to make it back to
the super Bowl to try to win a third one,

(50:32):
as I brought up earlier, that has never happened. I mean,
no team is, like I said, trying to get to
their get to three in a row has having gotten
close to nineteen ninety forty nine Ers came closest, but
I believe they lost to Bill Parcels and the Giants
in the NFC title game. So talking about the KANSASA Chiefs,
and one thing that's gonna be interesting here is they

(50:54):
have twenty four days of rest. At least they will
have twenty four days of rest when they play the Texans.
And the rust versus rest thing has come up a lot,
and it very well. Maybe this team knows how to
flip a switch, right. They got championship pedigree, They've won
super Bowls, they know, I mean, they had seven walk

(51:14):
off wins this year.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
Seven of their wins will walk off wins. That is
that's unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
I mean, you're talking about you know them, the half
of your wins were just a walk off style because
they they know how to be clutch, and they have
the clutch team.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
They're not always good.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
They haven't actually played that well this year, but they've
been really clutched this year. And actually they've been really
clutch for the last sixteen games because they've had sixteen straight.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Games decided about one score.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
That's an NFL record eleven and zer in close games
seven and zerine game when you drive opportunities. They haven't
blown the fourth quarter lead, so if they get a
fourth quarter lead, that might be all.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
She wrote, So you want to make sure you gotta
lead going into the fourth quarter.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
But the rest, the actually rust and the rest arguments
may help the Texans here, even the mighty Kansas City
Chiefs may have to deal with Russ because that twenty
four days of rest, three weeks, almost a month of
rest before your you know, playoff game before the playoff
game is a long time.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
So I went back and.

Speaker 3 (52:16):
Looked at it, and this is from two thousand and
two to twenty twenty three, all right, So in that
time span, there were eighty teams who had a first
round by keep in mind twenty twenty when the NFL
switched to only one by per conference at that time.
So out of these eighty teams, if you break them

(52:38):
down into the ones that had no rest that played
immediately just played the next week, and then the one
who had semi rest meaning they just had the bye week,
the one bye, and then there's the embracing what they
call the double bye. And the reason the Kansae Chiefs
have had twenty four days rest is because they didn't
play their starters in the last game of the season.

(52:58):
So they get that week of rest because they didn't
play the starters and they didn't they didn't play because
they had to buy week. And then of course they
get this week getting ready for their opponent. That's three
weeks basically that they're gonna get a rest because they
embrace what they call the double bye.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
Get the double by, all right, that's for rest. And
they're men teams throughout, you know, the last couple of decades,
they they embraced the double buy they'll use, they'll use
if they got their place already solidified in the playoffs,
and they don't have to worry about their seeding.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
They'll just rest everybody in the last game. But some
coaches were about the rust and rest situation, so they decide,
now I'm gonna play my guys for a quarter, plan
for a half. That's not what Kansas City did. They
rested their guys for that entire final week of the season.
So going back and looking at those eighty teams, here's
how they performed in the playoffs with the with no

(53:54):
rest semi just that one week of rest, and then
the double by rest that we're talking about. If you
go to look at their playoff record, the double by
rest fifty percentage.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
And their playoff record overall but Super Bowl wins, only
one team as won of the Super Bowl on that
in that timespan, on that double by for rest, which
is not good. There have been more teams on no
rest at all. They have just gotten hot that have
won it in that timespan with not a lot of rest.

(54:33):
If you go look at the.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
Amount of teams who their division record in terms of
winning in the UH their division record, the teams who
embrace the double by seven and four sixty percentage, but
they don't cover very very often in terms of the
spread against the spread. The teams with the double rest

(54:57):
are three, are three and eight covering the spread of
the time they cover the spread, so don't cover the spread,
which that to me makes sense that there so there
is some letdown basically what these numbers tent, there is
some let down.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
They may not necessarily lose, but.

Speaker 3 (55:14):
Maybe there is a slow start, maybe there is some
working out the kinks, maybe there's some rusts, there some
inconsistency with the With the Chiefs, I'm not sure we'll see.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
I mean, they have some new pieces.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Remember they brought in DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown came back
off the injury DJ Humphries their left tackle. I mean
he's only played a few snaps as they're starting left tackle,
so he could use more work to get cohesion and
continuity with the offensive line. They're getting back their starting
corner with that extra rest. So I don't know if

(55:49):
the rust or the rest thing will affect the canc Chiefs,
but historically, at least recent history will suggest it will.
That will be more advantageous to the Texans. The fact
that the Kansa Chios haven't played in so long, but
the Texans did a good job, A great job, actually
a pressuring justin Herbert last week in the playoffs, he

(56:09):
was under pressure on more than half his dropbacks and
fifty eight percent of the pressures were under two and
a half seconds. That is that's important because Patrick Mahomes
the last time he played the Texans, his average time
to throw was two and a half seconds.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
It was his fastest off the season at the time.
They got to get to him quickly.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
They got to get to him quickly and collapse the
pocket quickly, and they need to take away the quick read,
the first read for Patrick Mahomes, which means the corners
need to be aggressive, and they got the corners in
the dvs to be aggressive.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Derek Stingley Junior was playing at a really high level.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
I mean right now, and I said last year, before
this season, I said Derek Stingley should be playing at
all pro level. Since eight he has allowed a twenty
seven passer rating when targeted on sixty attempts. Yeah, no,

(57:09):
he's bothering, he really is. He's playing like an all pro.
I don't know if he's gonna get oh Pro, but
he's playing like it right now. They need him to
be kind of a shut down corner in this situation.
On his side of the field, Kamara Lasser is playing
really well, Kaylyn Bullock, Eric Murray, Miles Brynt, even the
youngster play world. Their secondary is playing like the best
secondary right now in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
I love the chief secondary too.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
They'll get back Jalen Watson, but their secondary is playing
well enough where you're gonna.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Need them to win against the receivers.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
So you can devote resources to stop the Travis Kelcey
connection and to stop Mahomes to scramble because you allow
more rushing yards per quarterback or per rush on quarterback
run scrambles included than any team in the league. And
I'm telling you he's gonna be He's gonna scramble, and
then when all that is said and done, you still

(57:58):
gotta go win the fourth quarter.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
INSTIs dude, He's clutch. He's The last time the Texans
played the can't see the Chiefs, and I'll exist I'll
get the exact stats.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
And the numbers because they were kind of mind blowing.
But the last time they played them in the playoffs
in the playoffs, sorry, last time they played the Kansaity
Chiefs in the playoffs, the Texans were up by twenty
four points. I remember predicting before the game the Texans
were going to beat the Chiefs. This is before they

(58:30):
have become the Chiefs on this dynastic run, all right,
But I do remember celebrating that they were twenty four points,
This game is gonna be over. And then I watched
Patrick Mahomes put the cape on and bring his team
all the way back got they were. The Texans were
up by twenty four points in the first half, and
the Kansas City Chiefs had come back and.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
Releading by halftime. That leaves some scars on you.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
I know it ain't the same guys there, but that
leaves the s car and I went back and looked
at it, and that's when I started tracking it. And
there's nobody in the history we have the NFL guys
in the history of the league that is better win
down double digits in a game than Patrick Mahomes.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
I wouldn't looked at all.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
The greatest quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady, he has
a losing record, went down double digits in the playoffs
five and eight, Aaron Rodgers two and six. Drew Brees
was one in eight, Joe Montana was two and six,
Brett fav was one and seven, Peyton Manny was two
and seven. You're not supposed to have a winning record
against good teams. When you're down double digits in the playoffs,

(59:30):
they know how to finish you off. Patrick Mahomes down
double digits in the playoffs because he's five and two.
Lamar Jackson is one and four, down double just in
the playoffs. He's got a winning record, and three of
those have been in the Super Bowl. The man's been
down double digit. I wouldn't watch it.

Speaker 2 (59:48):
Actually.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
Last year I went to the Super Bowl in Las
Vegas and watching the forty nine Ers get up on
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, it still couldn't finish him off.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
He's got there.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Nobody's got a more more of a clutch gene than
Patrick Maholmes. I think it's better than tom Brady's too.
I think he's got more of the clutch gin and
Tom Brady. Tom Brady the most clutch we've ever seen.
All Right, we come back, We'll get into more of
the NFL playoffs, We'll dive into the other AFC matchup
between the Bills, and we'll get into that that Bill's
Ravens matchup, and will also jump to the NFC side things.

(01:00:20):
All that and more right here on the Preigway Show,
right here on AM thirteen hundred some. All right, welcome
back to the Craigway Show. Craig Way is out because
Craigway is on the road calling games with Cam Parker,
so we appreciate I appreciate them letting me sit in
for them this week. They'll be back next week though,
so don't worry about that. Speaking of craig Way, we'll
actually hear from Craigway coming up next next hour. He

(01:00:43):
spoke with Rodney Terry during the Coaching Show yesterday at
Pluckers and got a little snippet from Rodney Terry and
Craig Way talking about the upcoming opponent for the Texas
men's basketball team, the Florida Gators. We'll get to that
sound coming up in just a few a few segments,
actually in a couple of segments, will get to that
coming up next hour. But let's get back to previewing

(01:01:05):
the divisional round games. On the AFC side of things,
we talked a lot about the Texans and the Chiefs.
I'm picking the Chiefs. I'm a Texans fan. I love
the Texans. I think they're great. It's really really tough
to obviously for the Texans this season.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
I think to match up with the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
I do think there may be a season away from
being able to take down the Chiefs. But maybe I'm
just I'm not a true believer, but I do think
the Textans are like a season away.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Next year, I think they meet the Chiefs in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
I think they may have a better shot at it.
They've had some injuries in key spots. Who hasn't at
this point of the year. But I do think CJ.
Stroud They're gonna need him to go out there and
make some extraordinary, miraculous plays, which he is capable of doing.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
By the way. He's got that dog get them and
he's got the cape ability, if you will, to put
the cape on.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
I just hadn't seen it enough this year. It's really
the old line too, It's a big part of it.
Watch Chris Jones. Chris Jones is Chris Jones season man.
Chris Jones always plays like the best defensive player in football.
During the playoffs. That's when he makes his best plays.
Most impactful plays.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
I mean, you can make the argument right behind Batch Mahomes,
the reason that they have made these Super Bowl runs
is Chris Jones in the place that he's made in
the clutch.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
All right, let's get to the Ravens and the Bills.
This is a this is a juggernaut matchup. I mean,
both of these teams are I think capable of, you know,
potentially upsetting the Kansas City Chiefs. And that's what we're
talking about here, which one of these teams has a
chance of knocking off the Chiefs. Earlier this season, though,

(01:02:48):
the Ravens proved they might just be a bad matchup
for the Bills. Ravens won by what the twenty five
points versus the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Josh Allen basically that was one of his worst losses
of his career. And in that loss, I mean, Derrick
Henry just went off and the win for Baltimore I
should say, one hundred and ninety nine rushing yards. Yet
that eighty seven yeard touchdown run on like the first
play from scrimmage, and they didn't even need Lamara Jackson

(01:03:20):
to showcase his skill set. He had a modest game.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
I think two hundred total yards passing and rushing, you know,
three touchdowns. I say modest game. But they he was
only thirteen of eighteen, so they didn't really need the
passing attack because they were so dominant on the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
That is the question.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
Can the Bills stop the you know that really dominated
the rushing attack with Lamara Jackson and Derrick Henry. I'm
leaning Ravens in this one. I'm not sure they can't.
They won't have Zay the the Ravens won't have Zay Flowers.
It's gonna hurt their offense a little bit. But they
went a lot of heavy sets versus the Steelers just

(01:04:00):
be hey, that's an AFC North matchup and they wanted
to kind of play bully ball with them. So maybe
that was just a matchup specific thing, but it may
be the route they're going in the playoffs to wear
teams down with Derrick Henry.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
We know Derrick Henry. That's when he really imposes his
wiel's late in.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
The season, when teams are worn down and players are hurt,
battling injuries, the weather it gets cold, and then you
got this two hundred and whatever, forty thirty forty pounds
beast running downhill on you. So I think that's what
they're trying to do. And in that game versus Pittsburgh,
they had eighty nine percent of their offensive snaps they

(01:04:39):
used either two running backs on the field or two
tight ends.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
That's heavy personnel.

Speaker 3 (01:04:46):
One back, eleven personnel, one back, one tight end. The
first number indicates how many running backs on the field.
Second number indicate how many tight ends on the field.
So they win a lot of twelve personnel won back
two tight ends, and we're a lot of twenty one
personnel two backs, one tight end, or twenty personnel two
backs on the field at one time.

Speaker 2 (01:05:05):
And you know that is interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
I said, to go heavy like that and the Bills,
the Bills didn't get. The Bills don't get in a
lot of base base personnel being only four defensive backs
on the field, uh, and mostly either three or four linebackers,
you know, terms of front seven, front seven defenders seven
guys on the field for your front seven. So I

(01:05:31):
wonder how they'll match up if the Ravens go that
route again and try to play bully ball with them,
and the Bills are in base. Like I said, just
four dv's on the field, the lowest rate in the NFL.
They don't match up like that. They're actually in dying
a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
They're even dying like sixteen percent of the time, which
is six dv's on the field that is. So that's
a matchup that I'm watching. The Bills are one of
the best teams in the league, though, when they go
with an extra offensive lineman, they put a sixth offensive
line on the field and they just they just go
with a where's the beef personnel grouping and they just
run downhill on teams.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
And that old line was great in the Wild Cord
Round versus Denver. Denver led the NFL in pressures per
game and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Sacks per game.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
Actually, they were at three point seven sacks per game
and over almost seventeen pressures per game, and they allowed
the Bills office wide allowed just nine pressures and one sack.
That's pretty good numbers versus that Denver defense in the playoffs.
So that old line now is starting to come into
their own and they in that first matchup is a

(01:06:37):
great way to break tendency. Always say the win big games,
you gotta find a way to break tendency. The Bills,
I think are the one of the best teams, if
not the best team running the football out of a.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
Six tozer line package.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
They didn't use it a lot in the first matchup
because the game got blown wide open too early. Derrick
Henry from the jump first play from Scrimminch he runs
for an eighty seven yard touchdown. Game got blown wide
open and they were just playing catch up. They were
chasing the rest of the game. They never had a
chance to dictate the turn tempo or dictate the terms
of the matchup, so they may have a chance this time.

(01:07:08):
They only had two rush attempts with that six to
zero line package and that first matchup versus the Ravens,
So in this matchup, I think you'll see that six
ole line package early on where they know they can
still try to dictate the tempo and dictate the game.
But I've said scrambling is gonna be a big part.
Both of these quarterbacks operating off schedule, improvising extending plays.

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
Ultimately that could be the determining factor.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
I mean, that's just because you have two of the
best scrambling quarterbacks and most i will say the most
highest scrambled rate for quarterbacks in the NFL, and two
of those guys facing off in this matchup, they will
be accounted for, but still in the open field, Lamark
Jackson and Joshaw on the open field, I don't give it, damn.
If you do have a spy on, it's still really

(01:07:55):
really tough. A that's a tough task in the open
field to take those guys down.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
So we'll come back.

Speaker 3 (01:08:01):
We'll get into some more tidbits about this particular matchup
on the AFC side of things with the Bills in
the Ravens. But I'm gonna pick Ravens. I'm gonna tell
your I think I'm picking Ravens. But I think this
is This is as close as you're gonna get in
terms of matchup in the playoffs. But it may be
a bad matchup for the Bills, but we shall see.
We come back, we'll talk more about that, and we'll
also get to some other divisional round games on the

(01:08:24):
NFC side when we come back as well. All of
that and more right here on The craig Way Show
thirteen hundred Zone. All right, welcome back to the Craigway
Show here on AM thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
I want to continue breaking down the AFC side of
the playoff bracket.

Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
On the divisional round, we're talking Bills and Ravens. I've
already said picking the Ravens. I'm also picking the Chiefs,
even though over my textans it hurts my heart to
do so. But I did make the client that I
wouldn't pick against Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs anymore. I
think I did it a couple of times, and it
just it's just not a smart thing to do. Just
take the young to take the young goat and the

(01:09:02):
young prodigy every time, and you'll be on the winning time,
winning side more often times than not. But I'm hoping
that Texans put off the upset.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
That would be great. We'll talk about that. I was
just talking about that, you know, the first or the
first time.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
But the last time the Texans played the Chiefs in
the playoffs, and they were up by twenty four points.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
At what point in that game? And if you look
at all of the and they lost the game.

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
Of course, if we look at all the comeback wins
by teams who were down by at least twenty four
points or more, a deficit of at least twenty four points,
out of all the comebacks in the history of the
NFL of teams who were playing from a deficit of
at least twenty four points or more, the Chiefs versus

(01:09:54):
the Texans, that was the only team to come back
from down at least twenty four and lead at halftime.
The rest of the teams were done. They were down
by twenty four. If you're down by twenty four yearsually,
you already down at halftime. I mean, I don't think
there's ever been an example of that. They're not down,

(01:10:16):
you know, they're not down in the first half at
one point, They're all of the rest of them had
a halftime deficit of some kind. The only team that
didn't have a halftime deficit. But we're down by at
least twenty four points. Talking about NFL history here and
come back to win. Can City the Chiefs versus the Texans, Yeah,

(01:10:37):
that would hurt anyway. Getting back to the Ravens and
the Ravens actually whipped up on the Texans last year
the playoffs. But getting back to the Ravens and the Bills,
one thing to watch is twenty eight, twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
It's like the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):
You know, to me, that's the number you want to
watch for the Ravens, that's one of their I think
it's to me for the Ravens, it's that point where
they're playing like their style of football or they're being
forced to play somebody else's style of football.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
That's the breaking point.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
They're thirteen to her when they score at least twenty
eight points that they're zer and five when they don't.
So if they're not, because this is an offense that's prolific,
it's meant to score a lot of points. They're meant
to be an explosive offense because you got to devote
so many resources to stopp being the running attack of
Derrick Henry and his sheer size and mass, and then
Lamar Jackson and his running ability and the fact that

(01:11:29):
he's an elite passer.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
They they stress you in so many ways. They're gonna
pop a few big explosive plays, and those big exposive
plays are gonna lead to them getting into the red zone.
And these, by the way, this is a matchup of
the two best red zone offenses in the NFL, and
it's easy to see why. Right this is Honestly, I'm
not gonna start talking Texas football here Texas has had

(01:11:52):
red zone issues since. You know, I call it the
post Bijon Rojo era. It's really I call it the
bech On Rojo hangover effect.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
And SARK has not figured out red zone offense since
Bjon and Rojo left the forty Acres because it was
easy when Bjon and Rojo were here. Put some Bjon
on it with the side of Rojo solves all your problems.
Don't matter what you call in the red zone. Just
give it to Bjon, give it to Rojo.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
You're good, all right, those go through.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Those guys were very skilled that being able to score
in the red zone. Just had a nose for the
end zone. And they could be physical, they could be twitchy,
they could get to the edge, you know, if they
needed to, you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
Know, beat guys one on one, they could. They just
they had it all.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
You had two of those guys, and you were top
five in Sark's first year in the red zone offense
and touchdown percent in the red zone. And you were
nineteenth in red zone offense in twenty twenty two and
sixty fifth in touchdown percent in the red zone.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
And since then, both of those numbers have.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
Cratered one hundred and twentieth and ninetieth in red zone
offense and touch down percent in the zone in twenty
twenty three, fifty fourth and first in touch down percent
in the red zone in twenty twenty four. My theory
is that you won't have red zone issues with arch
Manning because he can run. It changes up the math.

(01:13:08):
It gives you the plus one of the running game.
They'll have to account for that. They'll keep the backside
edges conservative, all right, they won't be able to crash
down as much. That plus one the running game will
also help the traditional running game. So your goal line
issues which you had versus Ohio State, which you've had
versus Oklahoma, I think those will improve too because having

(01:13:30):
we've seen arch Manning in short yardage, he always gets
way more than he needs, usually every time, but usually
he gets way more than he needs. These two yards,
Dud's picking up eight yards right Think about the agis.
I think they needed two yards there. He goes in
and scores a touchdown. He's big, he think he can run,
and they'll use that no situations. Because running quarterbacks that
dual threat ability. It solves a lot of the problems

(01:13:53):
that the red zone creates by the with the restricted space,
you create more space, you add another man, had another
man for them to have to defend. And so getting
back to it, that's why these are the two best
red zone offense in the league. They got quarterbacks that
can run, they can move, So it might come down
to who has the best red zone defense. And I

(01:14:15):
believe Baltimore is a better red zone defense. They've allowed
a fewer red zone points and have a better touchdown
touchdown percentage defense in the red zone as well. That's
why I'll take Baltimore there. I think they have both
teams really good in the red zone. Take the better
red zone defense, that's Baltimore. And also I think the
Bills might have trouble stopping the Baltimore running attack the best.

(01:14:37):
It's the best running attack in the league, and i've.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Seen the Bills.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
Now. The Bills did stomp Detroit, and Detroit is a
really good rushing attack. I think they held Detroit to
less than fifty yards rushing, so that was good, But
I seen the Jets run for a lot of yards
on them. The Jets ran for like one thirty nine
and one they allowed sorry, they allowed one to twenty

(01:15:01):
one and one twelve. Excuse me to the j E
T S Jets. Jets Jets that are a m e
ss mess mess mess. They allowed one to thirty nine
and one forty nine to the Dolphins. Dolphins have a
pretty good rushing attack, so I think Baltimore will be
able to run the ball on So think Baltimore can
run the ball on them. I think Baltimore's red zone
defense can you know, win them a down or a

(01:15:23):
series or two there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
And I think that balt that Baltimore is gonna go
heavy at times like they did last week eighty nine
percent of their snap two backs, two tight ends, and
Buffalo is uncomfortable going with bass personnel. I won't say
they are getting their linebackers back. Terrell Bernard, he wasn't
available in the first matchup. He's gonna play. Matt Mulano
wasn't available in the first matchup. He's gonna play. So

(01:15:47):
maybe they'll go base with their linebackers. So they like
the linebacker.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
They're also getting to run Johnson back to Nickel who
wasn't available in their Week four matchup, and it got
a Maury Cooper. But I haven't heard much from Marik Cooper,
he's been relatively quiet. Maybe this is a game where
you know, Marty Cooper makes a big plays because he's
got a playoff experience as well. So I'm gonna I'm
gonna lean Ravens in this matchup, but I could see

(01:16:12):
Josh Allen taking over the game because both of these
quarterbacks have that ability to be the great equalizer take
over the game. And it doesn't matter what your projections are, predictions,
or matchups were.

Speaker 2 (01:16:22):
Josh Allen just went off and he did it when
he beat the Chiefs that time.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
Right, But I'm gonna say, Lamar Jackson is the one
putting the cape on and he's got better personnel and
better weapons around him to do so.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
All right, we come back.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
We'll talk about the transfer A portal window on the
forty acres is efficiently closed. There is one name that
entered the transfer a portal, Amari ny Black. I'll tell
you why there's healthy attrition happening on the forty acres,
and I'll tell you why the retention is something to
celebrate for long run fans. All of that, and we'll
get back to some conversations about the NFL playoffs. All
that more, right, Hill the craig Ways Show on a

(01:16:54):
AM thirteen.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Hundreds his own. I welcome back to The craig Ways Show.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Like call it the Free Flag, feel good, fake it
till you make it, Rick Flair whooa Football Friday edition
of The Craigway Show. I'm not talking about when the
rod Berber sitting in for craig Way. One more hour
in the show. Got a few things that I want
to get into. We'll talk about Texas and the transfer portal.
We'll also hear from Craigway spoke with Rodney Terry earlier

(01:17:20):
this week about his upcoming matchup this weekend with Florida,
and we'll dive into that audio coming up later on
in this hour. We'll also get to the NFC side
of the divisional round playoff games. So we got a
lot to cover in a short amount of time to
do it, So let's get right to it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
So, I was looking at the transfer portal departures, the
final list, if you will, for the Longe wrns in
the transfer portal entries, and it looks like now because
of the latest Mari Nay Black news, looks like we
have officially the number at ten. So You've got ten

(01:17:59):
players from Texas who entered the transfer portal. And the
reason that I view this as healthy attrition long one
fans like, this is a this is a this.

Speaker 2 (01:18:11):
Is a win, and hopefully it's a win win.

Speaker 3 (01:18:14):
Hopefully it's a win for these young men too to
go on somewhere else and then they can have a
path to play because ultimately, what you celebrate here and
you got John Tay Cook and we all remember John
Tay Cook. You got dre Bledsoe D lineman John Tay
Cook to wide receiver Darien Gallett, the linebacker a Kanna,
the linebacker Aaron Bryant, the D lineman, Tia Savea, the

(01:18:37):
D lineman, cornerback jvng Cole, the edge rusher Justice Finkley,
and another D lineman, Sir De Mitchell. And you got
them right now. But now there is concern about the
D lineman you're using because you're losing a lot of
D lineman, losing Aaron Bryant, Tia Savella, and Mitchell.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
You know that's that's a lot of depth you're losing
on the defensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:19:00):
And in addition to departures for guys who are exalted
to eligibility, and guys who are going to the NFL
as well, like Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton. And that's
attrition too. That's the best kind of attrition. Guys who
are leaving because they're not only because they've exhausted eligibility,
but they are draftable prospects who exhausted elgibility, or guys

(01:19:21):
who have declared early for the NFL Draft, and we'll
talk about that too, the actually underclassmen who have declared
for the NFL Draft for Texas, those are all that's
the best kind of attrition that you can have. This
is still, in my opinion, positive attrition because you're gonna
have attrition with the transfer portal being what it is,
and you want to churn out the bottom of your

(01:19:41):
roster to continue to upgrade the talent.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
You want to have a way to do that. It
means to do that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:47):
The transfer porter does give you a way to do that. Now,
the reason this is positive attrition for Texas is because
it's the career starts for the ten players who are
leaving are combined Z zero combined courier starts for the
players they are leaving, So none of these guys that
are leaving were able to penetrate your starting rotations of

(01:20:09):
players or were able to be a significant enough contributor
for you.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
So to me, that's the that's a.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
Quality like you know, transfer poor experience for Texas that
they didn't lose any significant contributors or starters because the
attrition is something you cannot help at Texas. At any
power program, you're gonna have guys that are just gonna
leave the program. And that's natural, that's organic, which you
don't want to have are significant contributors and key cogs

(01:20:42):
and starters that are leaving your program to go elsewhere
because the grass is greener. Are literally there is more green, right,
that's straight cash, homie. And yes, I know that teams
are not supposed to tamper and coach I've talked to
enough coaches, guys and recruiters bond the scenes tampering, even
though there's a rule on the books against tampering. For

(01:21:04):
the NTAA, it is treated like speeding. It is treated
just as speeding is. Did you speed today when you drove?
Do you observe speeding every day? Do you speed every
day you go over the speed limit? Most people speed
every day. They may not get called, they may not
get a ticket. They speed every day. That's tampering. Everybody's

(01:21:26):
doing it. That's basically looking at somebody else's roster and
communicating with them.

Speaker 2 (01:21:30):
Now, it may not be directly. It may be indirectly.

Speaker 3 (01:21:32):
It may be through a coach, through a high school coach,
it may be through a family member. It may be
just slide into a DM via some representative of whatever,
close friend, shady uncle.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
It may not be direct. Most of the time it
is indirect. But tampering is.

Speaker 3 (01:21:49):
Happening, and it's rampant. So that's how the guys know, Hey,
I want to go see who my market value is.
Or you got to hit the open market to see
what your market value is. You got to hit the
transfer portal. And if somebody's willing to pay you half
a million dollars in nil money for you to transfer there,
well you're worth half a million dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:22:07):
It's just that simple.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
And so if Texas can't avoid that, because that's what
everybody's dealing with it, not just Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:22:17):
And if you can avoid that, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:22:18):
Leaving who have been significant contributors, or if that doesn't
hurt you, And I think The whole point is you
want to avoid that and keep those guys because it
also says that, hey, we're willing to pay our players.

Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
And I'm not saying Texas has never lost players like that.

Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
They've lost players like that, but a lot of times
when Texas has lost players of that, it's almost they haven't.

Speaker 2 (01:22:38):
They don't mind losing those guys that.

Speaker 3 (01:22:41):
In this new era where you have a front office
at the college level, you have a GM, you have
to make decisions about whether a player is worth the cost,
the nil cost because you're INIL is basically your salary camp.

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
That's how much you got to work with, and you
don't want to be you won't players.

Speaker 3 (01:22:57):
Ultimately, the NFL, they always any you won't play to
outperform their contracts. That's how you know you're getting value.
You're getting value when a guy outperforms this contract. That's
why you like rookie talent, their cheap deals, and you
guys to outperform their contracts. If you're paying somebody one
hundred million dollars years hard for one hundred million dollar contract,
excuse me, and you're paying them twenty thirty million a year,

(01:23:18):
it's hard to outperform that guys, say Patrick Mahomes can
do it right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:23):
But ultimately that's where your value is.

Speaker 3 (01:23:26):
When guys are more of a that you're getting more
of a bang for your buck, more of a return
on that investment. And the same thing is true now
at the college level, at the nil Now, what hurts
about college is you don't get to you don't get
stability when you recruit players right, you go out of
your you know you are bringing this up often. You

(01:23:48):
talk about we're talking about retention now, and some of
these guys you don't necessarily want to retain because you're
thinking about upgrading and churning out the talent on your roster.
And that's why having guys lead, which is with zero stars,
and I'm hoping I think you take it even further.
I would take it even further and say it's healthy
attrition to me when I see them coveted by other

(01:24:11):
power schools, power programs, because then it tells me that I,
as you know, the personnel department at Texas, that I
have good taste, that I actually did have good projections
on this player.

Speaker 2 (01:24:25):
They do have a really high ceiling.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
Now, I'm nothing wrong with a player you know, dropping
down a a level in play in a classification in
terms of their you know, them being play at the
FCS level or them playing at the group of level
instead of the power level.

Speaker 2 (01:24:43):
But to me, when you have you have ten guys leaving,
and nine of the ten have been committed to already
another power program. John T.

Speaker 3 (01:24:55):
Cook Washington, Mississippi State, dre Bledsoe, me State.

Speaker 2 (01:25:00):
And Darian Gled.

Speaker 3 (01:25:02):
Both of those guys went to Mississippi State, Akana BYU,
Aaron Bryan Vanderbilt, Tisavan and jav And Cole Arizona, Justin Finkley,
Kansas and Saedir Mitchell Lsu Mary Now Black will get
picked up somewhere, so you'll probably go ten for ten. Now,
I know Jhonay Cook is already out of the Washington program,
but you get my point. He was coveted has nothing
to do with his skill set or his upside or

(01:25:24):
his ceiling as a player. And what you want to
know is, hey, man, did I mis evaluate this player?

Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
Did I over recruit this player? Did I you know
what I mean? Did I miss something in the evaluation?
And having another school come right behind you and not
only have that player commit, but a lot of times
them go there and become significant contributors and become starters.

Speaker 3 (01:25:44):
It just said you had a lot of talent stacked
to head that player. It's not really an indictment on
the player, but just saying that you got a lot
of talent stacked ahead of them. And that's how you've
been building this roster, stacking talent, talented class on top
of talented class.

Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
And that's just no pack to play for these guys.

Speaker 3 (01:25:59):
And then when you see them with other schools doing well,
to me, it's more of a confirmation that your evaluations
are on point as a program.

Speaker 2 (01:26:10):
And that's that's not always that's how That's how I
look at it, so I would there.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
You know, there's these surveys to talk about, you know,
social media and how many people actually look at their
excess profiles on social media, and I think most people
are doing it. It's harmless and they're just doing it
to check on their excess to make sure they're doing okay,
and hopefully they get some type of gratification from their
exes doing well that they were a part of that
and that hey I have I had a good taste.

Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
In the end, I knew they were going to be
a success, whether in business or with a family, or
as a mother or a wife.

Speaker 3 (01:26:42):
Because I got good taste. I know how to pick them,
I know how to evaluate them. That's how I will
look at it anyway. And so I look at the
same thing when these guys are in the portal going elsewhere,
and I think the retention listen. I said this earlier
in my lifetime. I've been looking at it. I've I've
pulled a couple of dying pieces in my time. It
ain't hard necessarily to pull.

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
A down piece. You can do it. It can be
done right.

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
I had NFL to help me and play in that
Texas to help me as my as my my pickup.

Speaker 2 (01:27:08):
Story if you will. But you can do it. If
you're on now.

Speaker 3 (01:27:11):
You got right mix of liquor, everything going right that night,
you know, boom, the jokes are are working all that.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
You can pull a dime. It's it's it's easier to
pull it down than this. To keep a don piece.

Speaker 3 (01:27:22):
Gotta keep them satisfied. I gotta keep them happy, gotta
keep them interested. And that's the thing about retention. You
got these four of these five star recruits that Texas
has all these blue chips, Hey, getting the down piece
and recruiting them to campus and getting them to commit. Yeah,
that's not that's not that's not easy, but it ain't
as hard as keeping them. Now, you got to do
that every year because everybody's trying to poach your talent.

(01:27:46):
That's how that's how it goes. So in the new
era of n I L and transfer a portal, that's
what Texas deal with. And I think they did a
really good job this transfer a portal window of a lot,
having a lot of positive of attrition and retaining all
of your top talent. The only guys that left with
guys who have NFL aspirations that were significant contributors, the

(01:28:08):
starters for you.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
That's healthy attrition for Texas in my opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:28:11):
All Right, we come back, we'll get into the NFL
Divisional round of the games. On the NFC side, we'll
talk about that, and we'll also hear from Craig Wait
coming up a little bit, leter On and Rodney Terry
talking about their upcoming Texas upcoming matchup, Texas men's basketball
upcoming matchup with the Florida Gators. All that and more
right here on the Craigway Show on AM thirteen hundred Zone.

(01:28:32):
All right, welcome back to the Craig Way Show here
on AM thirteen hundred Zone. I want to get to
the NFC side of things, start to preview the divisional
round games. On the NFC side, the Detroit Lions and
the Washington Commanders. The reason, I mean, there are a
lot of great numbers about this matchup, and I'll just
take you straight up. I'm taking Detroit because they're the

(01:28:54):
you know, obviously they're the favorite in his matchup, and
Detroit does look like a juggernaut. But man, Washington is
a fun team to follow right now because of Jayde
Dams and how really just how transcendent he's been as
a rookie quarterback. I mean, it's the greatest rookie season
ever for a quarterback in the NFL. That's I mean,

(01:29:16):
you can, sure you can debate it from a statistical
standboyn if you want to, But he's passing the eye
test and he's definitely got a lot of achievements under
his belt already. One of my favorite stats that's coming
out about this matchup is the zero punt, zero turnover
stat I'm sure by now maybe you've heard it so
since night. So if you go look at overall, it's

(01:29:37):
got to give you perspective of context on this stat
there since nineteen fifty actually, there have been forty two
zero punt, zero turnover games in the NFL. This comes
from Pro Football Talk. But this season it's happened. It's

(01:29:59):
been more prep then there's been in other seasons. The
Commanders did it three times, including they just did it
in the playoffs against the Bucks, which is freaky to
have a game with a rookie quarterback on the road
with zero punts and zero turnovers, I believe, Yeah, that's
just mind blowing. And also the Detroit Lions did it

(01:30:22):
three times, so the Commanders and the Lions have did
it three times. I saw Joe Burrow and the Bengals
did it once and Tua did it ones. So basically,
out of all the games in the history of the
NFL where a team has had zero punts and zero turnovers,
Judd Goff and Jane Daniels are basically responsible for seventeen
percent of the no turnover, no punt games in NFL history.

(01:30:45):
And they're gonna face off, by the way, that has
not happened to have a because it's never happened before
to have a team with three zero punt, zero turnovers
three games, I should say, with zero punts, zero turnovers,
and have those two teams meet in the playoffs like

(01:31:07):
we've just never seen it before. Matter of fact, the
two quarterbacks who have engineered an.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
Offense on the road in the playoffs with zero punts
and zero turnovers the only quarterbacks who have done it.

Speaker 3 (01:31:20):
Jade Daiels and Peyton Manning are the only two quarterbacks
who have engineered a zero punt, zero turnover offensive performance
on the road in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:31:31):
It's really rare. Point is, both of these teams are
very capable of that.

Speaker 3 (01:31:34):
Anyway, getting to getting back to the actual matchup, I
think a lot of this game is gonna be determined
on third down. Lions are the best third down defense
in the NFL in terms of third down conversion rate
allowed at thirty two. They actually are the number two
fourth down defense in the NFL, so they're elite.

Speaker 2 (01:31:57):
On third and fourth down money downs, if you will.

Speaker 3 (01:32:01):
Washington is top five, number six actually third down conversion
rate offensively forty damn near forty six percent.

Speaker 2 (01:32:08):
But how about this. Their fourth down conversion rate is
the highest in forty years.

Speaker 3 (01:32:14):
The Commanders they were three or five versus the Bucks
on fourth down, and if you go look at it,
they're eighty two percent conversion rate on fourth down and
they scored fourteen points excuse me, after fourth down conversions
versus Tampa Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:32:32):
They've scored I believe now one hundred and twenty nine
points on the season following a fourth down conversion. So
they played four down football.

Speaker 3 (01:32:44):
But the Lions, their defense is the best money down
defense arguably in the league. That is something to watch,
no doubt. The magic number here is twenty six Washington
eleven to zero. When allowing fewer than twenty six points.
Detroit some of the best offense in the league. So
they they swore more than twenty eight points.

Speaker 2 (01:33:05):
That's usually out of the realm of you know, that's
the what the offense is capable of, or what the Washington.

Speaker 3 (01:33:13):
Commander's offense is capable. It's usually out of their range.
But Jane Daniels, I would not doubt the young man.

Speaker 4 (01:33:18):
He is.

Speaker 2 (01:33:19):
He like I said, he is extraordinary in a lot
of ways.

Speaker 3 (01:33:23):
Detroit also plays a ton of man coverage. They play
more man coverage than anybody in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:33:29):
So do the Washington Commanders have somebody that can beat
Manda man coverage? They do. They got Terry McLaurin. Now
this is the key.

Speaker 3 (01:33:35):
They're gonna play a lot of manned man on Terry.
They're probably gonna double Terry road coverage to and bracket them.
Scary Terry, uh will force you to do that. But
if they don't, he could cause trouble. He has the
most yards on go routes in the NFL, and he
has the He has the second most yards gained on

(01:33:55):
go routes and corner routes in the NFL. So go
rout and corner routes, nobody's better at running and producing
on those routes, and he's been like that his entire
career through even twenty twenty one and twenty twenty really
high success rates running go routes. The Lions have allowed
the second most receiving yards per target on go routes
this season.

Speaker 2 (01:34:15):
Only the Cleveland Browns are worse. So if they gonna
go a man the man, which they.

Speaker 3 (01:34:21):
Do more than anybody in the league, they better have
a plan for Scary Terry because they don't scary Terry Gone,
he's gonna torch him a couple of times, and that
those big plays that can end up, you know, really
changing the momentum in the game. Also, how does his
young rookie quarterback handle the blitz? Now he's handled everything
all right, just stupendously so far this year. But this

(01:34:46):
is a The Detroit Lions are an elite team, and
they blitz in terms of sitting five or more pass
rushers at an opposing quarterback. They blitted the fifth hast
rate in the league, So they blitz a lot. And
Dang's versus the blitz below sixty percent completion rate, eight
point four yards per attempt, five touchdowns, zero interceptions, and
a one to ten passer rating. It's actually pretty good. Yeah,

(01:35:08):
he's okay versus the blitz. Nationally versus man coverage, he's
pretty good too, nine touchdowns, one reception, ninety eight point
seven passer rating versus the blitz. And what you really
gotta watch out is him scrambling quarterback scrambles. Detroit has
allowed four hundred and forty nine rushing yards on QB
runs and scrambles, almost seven yards per rush allowed to

(01:35:33):
quarterbacks on scrambles that is second worst, only behind the Texans.

Speaker 2 (01:35:38):
I know, trust me. So the Texans are the worst
team arguably at defending quarterback runs and scrambles.

Speaker 3 (01:35:45):
Detroit Lions are pretty bad too. So the two things
that come back that could come back to Detroit Lions
in this matchup. They play a lot of man coverage,
ton of man coverage. Scary Terry could break off a
couple of bombs on them, and they got to defend
Jane Daniels in the scrambled drill because he's great at scrambling,
and they got to stop the quarterback run game. Those

(01:36:06):
are kind of the narrow pass to victory for Washington.
I think Detroit o brise to the occasion. But like
I said, the when a quarterback starts scrambling, when the
play breaks down and they started improvising, they're really they're
they're the great equalized guys. It really could change the
whole entire complexion of a matchup. And that's why Washington's

(01:36:27):
been so successful this year. It's because of James Daniels,
but Detroit scoring differential on the season for Detroit plus
two twenty two. That is eleventh highest scoring differential in
the super Bowl era since the nineteen seventy merger, seven
of seven of the previous ten teams who were obviously

(01:36:49):
better or had they higher scored scoring differential than Detroit
went to the Super Bowl and five of them won it.
So they basically That'stad would say, they got a chance
to win the Super Bowl, and they got a seventy
percent chance to make it to the super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
I think they will.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
I was a former Detroit line myself. I kind of
celebrate with them. I played for Lions long, and I
played for any team. I didn't play for any I
didn't play long in the league anyway. But the little
time I was there, I spent most of it with
the Detroit Lions. Happy to see Detroit Lions actually turning
some things around. And that right now is like the
hottest ticket I believe of all the tickets in the
playoffs right now, I believe it is the most expensive.

Speaker 2 (01:37:29):
Ticket, just because I mean Detroit. It's not used to this.

Speaker 3 (01:37:33):
Ye, how about this? This comes from tick pick. The
average ticket price is nine hundred and ninety one dollars. Apparently,
the cheapest you can get for an actual seat is
five hundred and ninety seven dollars for that Lion's Commander's game.
The most expensive NFL game outside of the super Bowl.
They're saying outside of Super Bowls. They're saying, this is

(01:37:55):
the most expensive average ticket price. Yeah, it's a hot ticket.
We will see that the Detroit Lions will rise to
the occasion. I think the Lions win. I don't know
the number is on the note if they cover, but
I do think the Detroit Lions end up winning and advancing.
We'll talk about the other side of the the NFC bracket.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
When we come back.

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
We'll get into that, and also we'll hear from Craigway.
We'll talk Phillies and the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:38:20):
Speaking of Craigway, the Rams, that's his team, so who'll
link it to. We'll talk.

Speaker 3 (01:38:25):
We'll hear from Craigway talking to Rodney Terry about the
upcoming matchup for the Texas men's basketball team versus the
Florida Gators. And we'll also break down his Rams versus
the Philadelphia Eagles and then playoffs all that more right
here on the Craigways Show here on a thirteen hundred zone.
All right, Speaking of Craigway, we sat down with Rodney Terry,
head coach of the men's basketball team before their matchup

(01:38:46):
with the Florida Gators coming up on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:38:48):
You'll hear it right here on a thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 3 (01:38:50):
By the way, just a quick update and also last segment,
we'll get to previewing the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles
and then we'll wrap things up. But he's throwing it
out there. Adam Schefter is saying this. Most recently, he
went on to Pat McAfee's show and said, I don't
expect Ben Johnson to be in playing Dallas.

Speaker 2 (01:39:09):
He said, I think Jerry has other ideas.

Speaker 3 (01:39:11):
I think Ben Johnson has other ideas, And then don't
think he's a logical leading candidate there right now, told
you Ben.

Speaker 2 (01:39:18):
Johnson can have it. He has options.

Speaker 3 (01:39:19):
So he's not gonna take the unorthodox, very unconventional hierarchy
and chain of command of the Cowboys. No, go to
WORL where they will give him more power and they
have more stability and it's not as much dysfunction. So
if I'm the Cowboys, just go and make go all in.
You you want to be more of a TV show

(01:39:39):
than a football team, just make d under head coach
and I hus it might work. There's a coin toss.
He's basically a coin flip. It may end up working
on kaik Wait on the Coaches Show therek Plucker spoke
to Rodney Terry about their upcoming matchup for the men's
basketball team versus the Florida Gators. That game will take
place on Saturday, and Craig Way, of course we'll be

(01:40:01):
on the call and you can hear it right here
on AM thirteenth Zone. That coverage will start at two
point thirty live from Gainesville tomorrow afternoon. So thanks to
Craig Way once again hooking us up with that audio.

Speaker 2 (01:40:13):
Appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (01:40:14):
We'll come back and we'll get into the NFL's division
round games a little bit more. Of course, we haven't
gotten into the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles matchup, so
we'll start to preview that one, then our review, give
you all of my picks for the divisional round games,
and then we'll wrap things up and put them in
the oven right here on the Craig Way Show, right

(01:40:34):
here on AM thirteen hundred Zone. All right, welcome back
to the Craig Way Show here on the Zone. Craig,
we will be back next week. But I appreciate Craig,
let me sit in for a couple of days here
this week talk some football with.

Speaker 2 (01:40:47):
You, considering actually we're talking football. Let's get back to
talking football and we'll give you I'll give you my
predictions on who I think is gonna win the division
round games as well. But let's get to the Rams
talking about football, and we're on the Craigway Show.

Speaker 3 (01:41:02):
He'd probably be talking about his rounds right now. So
it's appropriate Philly versus the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:41:07):
Rams.

Speaker 3 (01:41:08):
Man, Listen, I like this Rams team. I don't necessarily
think that Philly is a good matchup for him. We
started in week twelve, all right, Saint Khon Barcoley ran
wild on the Rams two hundred and fifty five yards
and if you take away the too long tds, he
had his game in that game, his too longest tds.

(01:41:28):
He still went for twenty four for one thirteen. He
would have went for twenty four for one thirteen. So it's, man,
I wonder can they contain sat Quan Brough to someone?
Because I do think you know, they have a good
shot and being able to get to Jalen Hurts because
that pass rush is pretty ferocious. How they got nine

(01:41:48):
sacks last week on Sam Darnold. I like their pass rush,
but can they earn the right to rush the passer?
I mean, can you stop the run and forced Phil
into predictable passing situations where they got to throw the football? Now,
that ain't easy either because then you got to stop
aj Brown and Devonte's mienco Either way, I mean, it's

(01:42:08):
a pick your poorson scenario. But I just think for
that Rams defense, if they can you know, neutralize the
run a little bit, they got a shot. I don't
see them being able to do that. He's not gonna
run for twenty a fifty five yards on them, But
I do think he'll get over one hundred. I think
he's been Saeque's been held under a hundred and with
five times this year. I do think he'll get over

(01:42:29):
one hundred yards. I mean, you go look at he's
got two thousand, one hundred and twenty four rush yards,
thirteen hundred of those of coming in second half, so
over sixty one percent of them coming in second half
of games. That's when he starts wearing now, because he's man,
he's a load, and he's a punishing runner.

Speaker 2 (01:42:47):
He really is.

Speaker 3 (01:42:47):
I mean, yeah, he can make you missing the phone booth,
but he's also a punishing loads you have to deal with.
And he's got in the fourth quarter alone, basically thirty
percent of his yards coming the fourth quarter. I had
twenty really starts to impose his will. And that's when
I think that running attack of Philadelphia's is gonna separate
too from the Rams. I think they'll have a good

(01:43:08):
game plan because Shamanva is one of the best coaches
out there. That they out coached Minnesota, I mean that
was a coach masterclass. They they broke tendency. Always say
you got to break tendency to win big games. The Rams, notoriously,
at least this season, have been a heavy zone team.
They have made Their man coverage rate is twenty seventh
in the league. They doubled their man coverag rate versus Minnesota,

(01:43:29):
So they broke tendency at the right time. What I
worry about with the Rams is can they win on
money downs? On third down? The Rams are twenty fourth
in third down conversion rate, and there if you go
look at Matt Stafford on third downs, I don't like it.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
I don't like his on third downs.

Speaker 3 (01:43:48):
He's completing fifty five per cient Hiss passes for five
point seven yards per attempt on third down, and Philly
has the best third down pass defense in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:43:57):
You can make that argument.

Speaker 3 (01:44:00):
Rams struggle on money downs third down and he struggling
in the red zone. Their twenty fifth in red zone offense,
Philly's top five in red zone offense and third down defense.

Speaker 2 (01:44:09):
It's a bad matchup. That's a bad matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:44:13):
Stafford tied this season high in sacks when he played
Philly last time too, he had five. He was sacked
five times. I don't like that trend. And Sean McVay
in road since twenty nine, since twenty eighteen, in road
games versus teams that one of least thirteen games, we're
talking about elite teams in road games versus teams that

(01:44:37):
are one of least thirteen games, thirteen to one wins.

Speaker 2 (01:44:39):
He's two and nine since twenty eighteen. This Eagles team
is a good team, and at home they're great. They're
thirteen and one at home in the playoffs since twenty Yeah,
thirteen to one at home. If you gonna look at
thirteen to zero this season when Hirts and aj Brown
start and finish the game.

Speaker 3 (01:45:00):
Since twenty twenty two. So that's man, that's that's a
that's amazing form to be that good there so that
good at home and when they're fully healthy, they're also
really really tough to be. Another thing that I think
is worth tracking in this matchup too. If you're just
looking at.

Speaker 2 (01:45:22):
Jalen Hurts, he didn't play great last week. He wasn't great.
They still, you know, rolled, because Philly's just that good.
They weren't great.

Speaker 3 (01:45:31):
If Jalen Hurst struggles a little bit, that's something to
watch because that'll make things a little close. They will
make things closer just because they'll be one dimensional. And
if he's struggling, Jalleen Hurst usually turns the football over
when he's struggling, so that'll be something to watch as well.
But I'll take Philly. I think Philis is a better
team and I think it might be a bad matchup for.

Speaker 2 (01:45:50):
The Rams too. Overall.

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
U so to recap, even though it's gonna hurt me,
I'm gonna takes the city over my Texans because I'm
a Texans fan.

Speaker 2 (01:46:03):
I'm from age town, so it hurts me. I think
the Texas are a year away from being able to
challenge Kansas City. Kansas City is just so damn clutch.
Gota gave me one more clutch stat about Kansas City.
Patrick Mahomes. He's the most clutch player in the NFL history.

Speaker 3 (01:46:18):
Went down double digits, especially double digits in the playoffs.
Nobody's got a better winning percentage, went down double digits.
But how about this that I just found about Mahomes
in the fourth quarter. The last time the Chiefs trailed
in the fourth quarter was back in the week fourteen
versus the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (01:46:35):
They won that game out right, nineteen seventeen.

Speaker 3 (01:46:38):
Mahomes right now twenty six and twenty six straight up
in his career when trailing at any point in the
fourth quarter. That is the best mark for any quarterback
in NFL history. He's basically he's got a coin flip
of a chance fifty to fifty shot to win when
he's down at any point in the fourth quarter, because
he won't be down by more than one score. That's

(01:46:59):
the thing, very rare, and he's gonna be down by
more than one score, which gives him a shot. So
with Patrick Mahomes and you always got a chance. And
they also thrive when trailing at half. So if you're
the Texans and you manage to get a fourth quarter
lead on them, and you manage to get up double digits,
or you managed to get up by halftime, the chief
Since twenty twenty twenty one to twelve, when trailing at half,

(01:47:20):
no other team in the NFL has a win percentage
over forty percent. They're at sixty three percent when trilling
at half. The rest of the NFL wins about twenty
three percent of their games outright when they're trailing at half.

Speaker 2 (01:47:32):
The Chiefs is just a different beast star together. So
I'll take the Chiefs. I'll also take the Ravens over
the Bills. So I'll take Chiefs Ravens in the AFC
title game. And I'll take the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 3 (01:47:44):
Over the Rams, and give me Detroit to keep the
thing going, to keep their this miracle story alive and
this Senderella story alive. So I'll take Detroit in Philly
in the NFC title game. All right, thanks to Ronald
behind the scenes doing a great job. Thank you to
Craig Way Andfa camp Parkner for letting me sit in.

(01:48:05):
Thank you to all you guys out there, for listening
and for watching. I really appreciate it. Everybody, have a
great weekend. Everybody, enjoy all the football and until next time.
Hopefully there is a next time.

Speaker 2 (01:48:15):
Hook them horns and peace.

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