January 31, 2024 • 32 mins
Cecil and Joe recap the conference championships and preview the Super Bowl!
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Hello, and welcome to the thirdand the Don Football Show. I am
Joe with mea Cecil. As always, we are winding down the NFL season.
We only have the Super Bowl left. It's been a fun ride,
Cecil, how are you doing?I'm doing great. It has really been
an interesting ride. We got aninteresting matchup to preview and got some stuff
to talk about Championship weekend. Stillabsolutely so. As remindered everyone when we
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get started, we will not beback next week to recap the Pro Bowl
or talk about the Pro Bowl atall, unless we come up with another
reality TV show idea like Pro BowlHouse. We'll be back after the Super
Bowl to recap after this week,but let's get started, Cease. We
have some more coaching changes to getto. There's three more spots that have
been filled. The only open jobright now as the Washington Commanders, who
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seemed intent on getting Ben Johnson fromthe Detroit Lions. Johnson decided to stay
Detroit to win a Super Bowl.But maybe he's thinking he can get a
better job next year too. Butthat's obviously a risk he's taking there.
But let's go with the first headcoaching position that was filled this past week.
That we missed was Raheem Morris gothired by the Falcons. He was
then interim coach for the Falcons.Before before that, he was the Tampa
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Bay Buccaneers head coach for a littlebit. Currently, he was the the
Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator. Gota lot of praise for a lot of
the stars there. I think GalenRamsey even tweeted out that he's like the
best coach in the business. Sowhat are your thoughts on Raheem Morris to
the Falcons. I'm gonna give ita be I mean, I think it's
fine. I don't think, youknow, it's anything that's gonna rewrite the
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record books or anything. You know. I don't think his time as head
coach in Tampa Bay was really thatgreat to begin with. I just think
it's kind of a very like it's, you know, it's not bad signing.
I think he's done a lot witha little on the Rams defense.
But I just I'm out wowed bythe hiring, and it's kind of a
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weird hiring for Atlanta, who reallyprobably needs an offensive coach to get a
good quarterback to really try to usesome of the weapons they have on offense.
So it's kind of the thing withme, is they need offensive head
coaches or what kind of people want. It's kind of what's moving the game
forward as of recently, and it'sjust an interesting move for me. So
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I'll give it a bee. Yeah, I think like a C C plus
for me. I think he's avery good defensive coach. I think he
can teach it. But the fit'sweird because they need to figure out the
quarterback situation in the offense and gettinga guy who's a defensive genius, I
may not be able to get thatdone. Now. If he can step
into that role where he's not callingplays, maybe maybe that helps. But
I just don't understand where the howthis fit come in is kind of like
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you were saying, Ceas next,what up? We have the Carolina Panthers.
They obviously fired Frank Reich what ninegames into his tenure or something like
that. David Tepper has no chill, but he got fired. They hired
Dave Canalis, who is the wasthe Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator, helped
them get to the playoffs. Actuallydid a really good job. I think
with Baker Mayfield and that offense.This year. So what are your thoughts
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on the Carolina Panthers going in divisionto get offensive coordinator Dave Canalis as their
head coach. I'll give this oneprobably honestly, probably a bee for me
too. I think Dave Canalis didreally well this year with the Damn Bay
Buccaneers. But you know, it'sthere's some risk that we've seen a lot,
especially with guys who've done it fora year and then become head coach.
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It's kind of a weird, likeit just doesn't feel like that much
time and there's been a lot ofcoordinators. You know, if everyone wants
to remember good old Freddy Kitchens backin the day for the Cleveland Browns,
I don't think it's gonna be anythinglike that. But reality is this kind
of stuff that's happened before, whereI mean, the guy kind of was
a no name before this year.You know, obviously Baker does really well,
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and again like I think he didwell, but I think he's getting
a lot of credit for putting piecestogether that that probably should have worked.
It's just a lot of being theNFL will have been kind of overlooking guys.
So I think it's bad. It'sthe problem is we might not even
even get a chance to tell ifit's good or bad signing, because the
reality is, who knows how muchtime the Panthers are really going to give
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them. But the reality is hemade it work with not ideal situation last
year. So let's see if hecan rope together everything with the dfunction that
the dysfunction that is the Carolina Panthers. We got a Freddy Kitchens reference here.
Oh boy, that's a Pro BowlHouse Mount Rushmore character right there with
Ben McAdoo and Rex Ryan. Sothe Ryan brothers. Really, But I
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think this is a be higher becauseI like what he did. I think
he's a good coach, But Iwould have liked to see them go for
like one of the more established coachesbecause this is gonna take some time with
this rebuild. Bryce showing didn't lookthe best this year. They don't have
that first round pick this year.Go with someone like a Belichick, you
know, who's going to take sometime to coach well and maybe take away
the personnel decisions from him. Gowith someone like a Pete Carroll who actually
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did interview for some of the otherjobs, even though you got moved to
the Seahawks run office. Go withMike Rabel even you know, just anyone
who has been there and gotten themost out of rosters that maybe aren't the
best. But Dave Canals he's goingto have a first time head coach thing
where he's going into trying to coachthe offense probably and manage all the xpect
and get players like Bruys showing toplay at their best while not having the
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most ammo in the chamber, whichcould be tough. He also be a
part of My Take podcast that foundout he wrote a book with his wife
two years ago about marriage and admittedto having a pornography and alcohol addiction in
the past, which just seems areally weird to write a book about that.
But more power to them, morepower to him, and it's all
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in the open. There's no dirtto find on this guy. Get sorry
out there. That's what we shoulddo. We should write the book.
Hey, we like to gamble,you know, something like that, and
it'll be out there for us,all right. The last one season we
got Pete Carroll was moved to thefront office for Seattle. Now obviously,
like I said, he already interviewedfor other jobs he seems like he still
wants to coach, and he mightbe the oldest coach in the league,
but he is the most energetic stillto this day. So it was a
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little bit of a surprising move thatthe Seahawks office asked me to move out
of the head coaching role. Theyhired Mike McDonald of the Multimore Ravens.
He was the DC there, didreally well, also had a very talented
defensive roster over there too, Soit's it's it's a little bit of what
are we getting out of this guy? So what do you think I'm gonna
give it. I'll give it aC plus. Here's why I don't think
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Mike McDonald is gonna change this teamlike to something better than when Pete Carroll
was getting out of it, becauseI think a lot of it was,
you know, Pete Carroll wanted tohave a really good, strong defensive team.
That's what Mike McDonald's is gonna wantto do. I think Mike McDonald
has proven to be a really gooddefensive coordinator. But again, it's another
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one where offense can kind of bevery important to a team, and it's
something that's a premium in this leagueand honestly, and we'll get to it
in the recap. You know,after what I saw last week, not
as sold on Mike McDonald's system asI was before, because I think they
kind of got they got kind oftaken apart last week, and that that's
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kind of a weird thing to seeright before you get hired as a head
coach, is just to watch yourdefense kind of get kind of torn apart
a little bit. So we'll see. I just I think it's one they
went for a guy who basically isgoing to bring you the kind of the
same thing Pete Carroll did, Soit doesn't really make sense to me that
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they moved on from Pete Carroll inthat way to bring a guy who really
isn't going to bring that different ofa philosophy than than Pete Carroll already did.
That's why I think the great islike they got a guy who's proven
to be a pretty good coach,like maybe a be higher, but like,
why why did you force Pete out? Like Petez and a Pete's like
not just like did he do sowell at USC with this time there winning
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national championships, He's done well inthe pro since he came back, he's
won super Bowls, he got alot of I remember, like a couple
of years ago Sees. I thinkwe both thought they were one of the
worst rosters in the NFL and theyended up making the playoffs or whatever.
Gino Smith last year or too.So I think the thing that hurts is
Mike MacDonald is that he used tolive up to being Pete Carroll when Pete
Carroll was clearly pushed out and notlike leaving on his own volition either.
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So I'll go be but it's nota great situation. I wish Pete Carroll
was coaching. I wish Bill Belichickwas coaching. I wish Mike Grabil was
coaching, because I think they're allthree really good head football coaches, and
I think this is the league isbetter with them. So we're gonna see
maybe a lot of guys fired nextyear. It's gonna be like, Okay,
these three guys are good candidates.Ben Johnson's a good candidate. Bobby
Slowick of the Houston Texans offense coordinatorgood candidate. They got to fill all
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these spots. It's just a lot. There's thirty two spots. It's all
you get. So it just makesme a little bit upset. All right,
let's go to our recap of theconference championship games. We'll started off
with the AFC Conference Championship. Thisone was first on Sunday. We had
the Chiefs winning seventeen to ten.Now, Travis Kelsey had a pretty big
game in this one, eleven catches, one hundred and sixteen yards and one
touchdown. Big players show up inbig games. Taylor Swift was there having
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a good time. You know,Ceclid, I really don't mind that.
The show Taylor Swift for I thinkit was like zero point four to six
percent of the of the screen timein an NFL game. That's not really
not that bad. In this gamethough, seas the Ravens, it's not
the best weather in Baltimore. They'retrying to throw the ball around, trying
to prove the more Jackson could throwthe ball. We've seen it all year.
He's gonna win the MVP. Theydidn't run the ball. The running
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backs had five carries. Lamar hadthree designed runs. This is what killed
them in my opinion. The gamewas never without you know, out of
reach the whole game until the endof the fourth quarter, and they decided
to just keep on passing the ball, keep on passing the ball, and
then they made some stupid mistakes withZay Flowers with the Tampton penalty, which
shouldn't I don't really like tomting penalties, but you know, you can't do
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that. So it was. Itwas a weird game because I think the
Ravens had the better team and Ijust think the game plan really didn't come
through. Yeah. I think itwas really kind of a meltdown by the
Ravens in this game, which issad because they should have won this game.
You and I both picked him.We thought, you know, they
had a talented roster and they couldcover spread up you know, four points
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up to you know five. Sothat being said, I agree with everything
you said. They didn't run theball, you know, yeah, the
Texans they ran the ball. Theyused the running backs, and more importantly
too, they let Lamar run theball. Lamar was like unchained two weeks
ago against the Texas, Like theyjust let Lamar bow out and just do
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whatever he wanted to do. Inaway, he used his legs scoring touchdowns.
We haven't seen that since pretty muchlike a year ago. Like in
this new offense, he's passed first, and I like that, and I
like that they're using that and theyhave more weapons on the outside, but
they let Lamar just do what hedoes best, and that's it, be
the dual threat he is. AndI thought we were gonna see some more
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of that in this game, andI especially thought we'd see that in the
second half when they were down thewhole time, and it was just this
weird like I don't know what ToddMunkin like got in his head. But
the reality is we were watching thisgame. There's times where you know,
let's fine, you want to continueto tryal like pass, keep it multi
dimensional. But they were like,you look and you're just like three seconds
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and Lamar is still sitting there,and you're just like, Lamar's run,
man, just just run the ball. You can see that. You can
literally see the opportunity to just getout of there and get six seven yards
where somebody touches him. And thereality is this is a playoff game.
Like if it's a playoff, Iget, it's a regular season and trying
to make things work, trying toconserve yourself, but this is do or
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die, man, This is atrip to the Super Bowl on the line,
take the pla. If the offenseisn't getting it done, the plays
being called aren't getting it done,get it done yourself. Like that's people
that are you know, all timegreats, Hall of Famers a lot of
time. That's what we remember forhim is these playoff appearances and these playoff
stats they put up. I know, ragular season is great. You can
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beat in the Hall of Fame asa regular season, you know, Sat
king on. But when people talkabout their all time greats, who their
favorites are, they remember these playoffruns or somebody you know, just took
it into their own hands, becausethat's sometimes what it takes. Because every
team is good. The Chiefs arereally good. The Chiefs are one of
the best passing offenses, one ofthe worst rushing defense in the NFL.
But you don't want to run theball. It was mind boggling. Zave
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Flowers just never seen like the thisjust I don't want to call it stupidity.
I'd say just lack of awareness andmaturity. I get it. I
get you make that big play.I get you, guys, you're getting
frustrated. Why get the taunting penalty? Like, why'd be that stupid like
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this is. And the thing aboutthis too is this is supposed to be
a John Harball team. John harboradis supposed to be a good, you
know, disciplined coach. Why areguys getting taunting penalties for fifteen yards in
a playoff game? And then whywhy are they having the lack of situational
awareness to try to stick a ballout when they're two yards from the end
zone with with reckless abandone just hopingthey get to the end zone. Like
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Zay Flowers has got a lot todo with his loss. I know it's
not any one player, and Ifeel like a lot of what happened was
born out of frustration for what wasgoing on in the game for them.
But man, like you can talkabout a guy who we'll talk about an
epic collapse of just awareness from tommingpenalty where they would have had it the
one they could have probably done anything. You Lamar Jackson, your quarterback,
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you run it past it. Hecould just run it in himself. Instead
you're at the fifteen. You thenmake it pretty good play and you just
again the two yard line, man, just take it. Can sert control
the football bell because it's about turnoversin these playoff games. And then he
cuts his hand on the sideline andI'm just like, I it's like throwing
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a temper tantrum. Like I getit. I get why he's upset,
and you know, emotions are highin these kind of situations, but you
can't but just it just looked likea point debacle. And there was an
ugly Lamar interception as well down thestretch. I mean that was literal triple
coverage and I just that's bad,man. Like it's I like Lamar,
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I think he's a really good quarterback, but this game doesn't help his legacy
at all. His reality is hedidn't use his leg the way he could
have and really, you know,changed this game. He didn't use it
the way he needed to. Hethrew a he didn't take care of the
ball. You know, he obviouslyhad that fumble, which that's that sucks.
And you know, maybe you don'tsee the guy coming around the edge,
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that's fine, but that interception isjust it's gross. It's a bad
one and I feel bad that.You know, again, we're gonna be
back to the Ravens are good,and that's great. I think they're gonna
be around. I think they're gonnabe a playoff team next year, But
do I pick him? Like,I don't know if I could ever believe
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in the Baltimore Ravens because reality isthey were the better team. They have
a really good quarterback. I knowMahomes is the best quarterback, but the
reality is their offense choked to thebiggest moment, their biggest star who you
know, some people argue, tryto argue is the best quarterback in the
league, sometimes in Lamar, whoI think is really good, top five
guy. But I mean, youcan't have a game like this and say
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you're like in that upper echelon likethat where you're like needing to be the
best quarterback in the league. Youjust can't. And that defense too,
I mean, offense was a lotof blame, but the reality is you
didn't stop Travis kelce for a second. You didn't do anything, but Travis
Kelcey was just over the middle overand over. You were getting embarrassed.
So yeah, there's a lot ofblame to go around this game. If
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you're the Baltimore Ravens, it's gonnabe a tough offseason and the question is
gonna be I mean, you gota lot of guys who are vets on
small deals and that's been working outwell. But what are you gonna do
to get over the hump? Andhow do you get over the hump?
Because this is a pretty devastating wayto lose in such fashion when this is
really was kind of your window,your big opportunity to show everyone that you're
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your team to be working with andyou know you can kind of slay the
dynasty and they didn't. Yeah,so maybe the Bengals focus on tight end
this offseason. Maybe that's a wayto exploit the Ravens defense. It's something
to think about. Also, you'reright, like Lamar like not to the
design runs, but he didn't scrambleas much as you would like in this
game. He was always like twoor three seconds too slow to run with
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the ball after it, Like afterthe pocket broke down, the Chiefs had
Lilly Gay out. Willy Gay wasthe guy who's supposed to be hit the
spy this game. He wasn't playinglike Lamar theoretically could have run for a
lot more yards just by scrambling too. And you can't, like you can
say, like a regular season,let's let's make now, let's not run
Lamar too much. Let's kind ofsave him for the playoffs. So let's
save him for later. We'll thenuse him in the playoffs because that's what
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makes him the great is the abilityto run. We always talk about this
in quarterbacks who don't work out,like justin fields. If you're gonna try
to make them into something they're not, which is just a statue in the
pocket, they're not gonna be good. That's not what makes them good.
But if you're gonna let them playthe way they play, then that's what's
gonna make them good. And yes, you can say, like, hey,
he needs to slow down with therunning because he's twenty seven years old.
Now you know, we don't reallyknow how much longer he's got.
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Well, then make the most ofthe time he has because I just don't
understand it. So a lot alot of things there too. I like
the again, the the bringing upthe the fumble Byaseai Flower is also a
huge ball securities, job security.See so I know you played high school
football. The first rule was neverreached for the goal line unless it's a
do or die situation like a fourthdown, or you have to get the
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touchdown or else you will lose thegame. So just a lot of frustrating
fundamentals in this game. All thecredit to the Chiefs going to the fourth
Super Bowl in five years, hopingto win their three and five years that
would make them a dynasty. We'regonna see how that goes and see if
we found out. The important newshere Taylor Swift is me flying from Japan
in her concert on Saturday or somethingthe night on Japan to the Super Bowl
in Las Vegas, and she'll bethere like a day before the game.
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That's what everyone really wants to hearabout. And if Usher somehow gets sick,
she will fill in as the haftimeperformer probably probably Well, thank god.
All right, let's get to theNFC Championship game. This one,
I would say had a lot moreinteresting play in that the Lions went up
early and they it looked like theywere gonna be able to ice the game
because of their ability to run thefootball so well, I mean fourth in
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the league and rushing yards. JamisWilliams had a really nice reverse touchdown to
get things started. They were movingthe ball really well. Jared Goff was
protected, he didn't turn the balloverall game. Then they started going forward
on some fourth towns, fourth downs. Let some momentum creep back in Rock
Party stayed the course. We thigrea pass downfield that bounced off Kendall Vildor's
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face mask and Brandon I you caught. And that's how the forty nine ers
win games. They kind of comeback here just but with a pure talent.
Demo looked like he was fine andhealthy in this game. George Kettle
made a couple key plays. Thirtyfour to thirty one's the final score.
And it's just not something you thoughtyou would see after the Lions were up
by so much in the first half. No, absolutely, I mean it
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was a collapse. It really was. It's sad to say because we're both
fans of Dan camb or Bo,fans of what this Lions organizations put together
this year. Yeah, I meanthere's a couple of things to underth here.
I think Dan Hamill was a littleover aggressive and yeah, uh,
I see how you know the playdesign on those some of those plays where
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they're going to convert, you know, the receiver should have caught that pass.
Josh Reynold should have. It wasa fourth down, nobody around him,
and the short pass wasn't that hardto throwing the ball. He just
dropped it is the reality. Hedropped it on a big, you know,
high stakes play and then obviously youknow the other fourth down where they
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could have gotten the three points.You know, I agree with you know,
Dan Campbell sticking to his guns.You know, do what got you
there. You can't change who youare at this time. And you know
it's easy for us to be revisionistsbecause you know they didn't convert. But
the reality is he made the rightplay called they called the right play,
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and you know, for nine timesout of ten, that's a conversion that
could change the game. I don'tagree. If it was me head coaching,
I wouldn't have done it. Iam a type that would go,
you know, the Lake says kickit. It's a playoff game points or
premium, let's get the points.Both times I would have said that that's
the smarter thing to do here.But again, I'm not Dan Campbell.
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I didn't get this team there byyou know, going back on what I've
done all year, and I respectDan Campbell for sticking to it. Again,
this is all originous because I'm gonnabe honest there. Their kicker,
Patterson hasn't been the best at timeseither. You know, we're talking about
not a very experienced kicker, notsomeone who's known as a great field goal
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kicker. In a very high pressuresituation. There's no guarantee makes the field
goal anyway, right, and that'ssomething you know, it's not always an
automatic. Field goals are not automatickicks, as we've seen through the playoffs,
especially their high pressure situations. AndI'm gonna I don't agree with this
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decisions. I do respect that hekept his guns. You know, a
lot of Dan Campbell hate has beenout there since this game. You know,
I don't want Dan Campbell stopped beinghim. The reality is the forty
nineers were a really good team.They managed to take advantage of everything.
They had a crazy Brandon Nowhu fiftyyard catch to get themselves back into this
game. So, I mean,everyone the forty nine ers deserve as much
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credit of anything. Like I know, everyone wants to say the Lions blew
it and they had that big lead, But the reality is the forty nine
ers worked that second half efficiently,They got explosive plays, and they played
extremely well. And I mean theydid just as good a job as the
Lions failed, So they deserve creditas much as the Lions deserved blame.
And I'd say the silver lining toall this is Ben Johnson is going to
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be back. If you're a DetroitLions fan, I think that's huge because
I think after this game most ofus went Ben Johnson's gonna leave, and
I don't know where that leaves thisLions team because I love Dan Campbell,
I love the rosters they built together. But I don't know what Jared Goff
looks like under another play caller.I just don't I don't know how much
of it is. Jared Golf isgood. I think he's not bad,
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but I think he put him undera new system all of a sudden,
or you know, you promote anassistant I don't know has the same ingenuity.
I think Ben Johnson does get alot of credit for what that offense
has become. I think Dan Campbellis an excellent motivator. I think he
is a great coach in a verytraditional sense, something that's been remiss in
this league for a while because everyonejust seems they want to call plays and
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pretend they're coordinator but also get tobe head coach, and I don't think
it works as well. So Ilike Dan Campbell could can delegate and trust
the guys around him, and Ijust it sucks that it didn't work out.
It really does. But ultimately BenJonson coming back, I'd like to
see the Lions getting another shot atit next year. I would too.
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You built up this team last year, you missed the playoffs barely. This
year you got NFC championship. Nextyear kick the door down. The NFC
might be wide open. We sawthe Eagles collapse, the Cowboys collapse.
The forty nine ers could have awhole different look next year. You just
don't know, especially some of theaging players like Trent Williams on that roster.
So I would say two seas,I'm I'm cool with him going for
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it in the third and fourth quartera lot, especially because you gotta think,
like if you go for it whenyou're in their territory. First of
all, like you said, theydon't like the kicker that they have.
They even cut him at one pointin the season then brought him back,
Michael Badgeley. But also you getthe field position, you know, you
get to keep them on their sideof the field. That helps your defense
out a little bit. The endof the half, I would have taken
the field goal, because you don'tget the benefit of the t like of
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the of the field position right.If you don't get it, then the
half's over. So that's the onlything I would say ended up being a
three point game. But obviously therewas like kind of a garbage time touchdown
and there, so just something tothink about it. I'm usually fine with
the two go for it. Idon't like the people who are always saying
take the points, you know.I also I think everyone dealing in absolutely
I don't want to be too muchof a Star Wars nerd here because I'm
not really that big of a StarWars guy, but people who deal in
absolutes one way or another, likealways go for it, are always always
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seek the field goal, always takethe points. I don't think that's how
it should be either. So Irespect Dan Campbell. I think he did
a fine job with this team.I think he maxed out what they could
do next year to keep that offensiveline in place. Keeping Ben Johnson in
place just kind of add to yourroster a little bit here. You should
have some money to spend, Youshould have some draft picks to use.
They could be They could be verydangerous again next year for sure. All
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right, let's get to the SuperBowl seas we have the Chiefs and forty
nine Ers, and we get fortynine Ers, who probably are the most
complete team in the NFL. Andthen we also have the Chiefs of Patrick
Mahomes. As mentioned before, fourSuper Bowl appearances in the last five years
for the Chiefs three or this willbe their third win if they get this
one. These two teams played inSuper Bowl LIV just a couple of years
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ago, which is interesting that theforty nine Ers looked like they were gonna
win this game and Patrick Mahomes cameback on him. So maybe a little
bit fuel to the fire here.Kyle Shannana, Kyle Shananah, Kyle Shanahan
has a lot of work to doin terms of cementing his Super Bowl legacy.
After the Falcons tobacco, after thefour Niners flowing the lead, So
there's a lot of stuff going onhere. Sees, the forty nine Ers
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have evered by two. Right now, who are you going with? God?
I've been thinking about it a lotsince the game end. The game
has ended on Sunday, and I'mgonna go I'm going with the forty hours
to win. I'm gonna split itthough. I'm gonna take the Chiefs with
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the two points spread because I thinkthis is gonna be a razor thin game.
Either team could win this game.Reasons why won. Pat Mahomes is
the best player, you know,a quarterback we've seen since Tom Brady,
which doesn't sound that long ago,but the reality is those are two of
the best people to ever do it, and they're right after each other.
So Pat Mahomes can do a lotof things. I don't think Pat Mahomes'
(25:48):
receiving corps is great this year.Travis Kelsey's turned it back on the playoffs.
But I think the forty nine Ers. I think the linebackers. I
think Green Law and then for Ordercan kind of do some limiting there.
I'm not saying a ton, butenough, and then the secondary's gotta hold
on. But I think the realkey here is gonna be the forty nine
(26:10):
ers running game. If the fortynine Ers can get Christian McCaffrey going,
if they can get Deebo Samuel rollingback, there I think that can be
a winning formula. I think that'show this game is going to grade out
to. It's gonna be Can ChristianMcCaffrey get this backfield going because Chiefs are
horrible against the run, forty Ninersare gonna try to shorten this game.
(26:33):
Keep the ball out of Rock Party'shands as much as you can. You
know, obviously there's gonna be situationswhere you're gonna have to throw it,
but you know your strength, yourit's strength first weakness here. Forty nine
Ers are not a great pass Imean, Brock Parties play well, but
they're not a pass first team.Chiefs are go one of the best passing
defenses in the league. You notget down. If this game is back
(26:55):
and forth and it's within a possessionall times, I think the forty nine
Ers win by the narrow s submargins. But if the Chiefs get up
quick and it's the second half andthey're up by ten points going into you
the fourth quarter, I don't thinkthe forty nine ers are gonna be able
to pull it off. So theforty nine ers. The key to this
game is the forty nine Ers hadto get up quick and they're gonna have
(27:17):
to try to keep it within apossession at all times, because if they
don't, they're not Just don't seeRock Party being able to carry this team
and carry this offense. But theproblem is, I don't know what the
Chiefs run defense is gonna look likeeither, and it's gonna be hard to
defend all those weapons, especially whenRock Perty's just gonna throw short, little
(27:37):
routes. He's not gonna let thesecondary. I mean, that's fine if
brand ayu gets shut down. Idon't think anyone cares Deebo Samuels. They
can move around in space, GeorgeKittle will be over the middle, and
Christian McCaffrey can work do anything basically, So that's gonna be the key is
Christian McCaffrey. And for that reason, I'm gonna pick the forty nine ers
because I just think that they cankind of rally together here at the last
(28:02):
minute and the Chiefs won't be ableto get the ball as much. I
think it's gonna be kind of likethe Buffalo game when it came to just
them running the ball over and overand keeping Pat Mahomes off the field.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with theChiefs and obviously take the points there too.
Just I think last year I pickedthe Chiefs too, and it was
just like, hey, they havePatrick Mahomes and the other team doesn't,
and the disparities is about the same. I mean, Jalen Hurts had a
(28:23):
fantastic year last year, but RockParty leads the league in a lot of
things too. I don't think theway they have played the last several weeks
is sustainable for the forty nine Ers, of getting down early and then playing
catch up all the time. Ifthey do that against the Chiefs, the
Chiefs will bury them. They've donethis before. You're right, it is
total contrasting styles here. Like theforty nine Ers, if they ran the
(28:45):
ball every down and I knew theywere gonna run the ball every down for
the whole game besides like third andlungs or something, I might take them
because the Chiefs run defense is bad. I don't know if Kyle Shanahan will
be willing to do that. Helikes running the ball, he likes different
play designs. If you know,is he gonna get discouraged? I don't
know. For the Chiefs that secondarycould be taken advantage of Tallanoahfunga has out
(29:06):
for that secondary. He's been hurtfor a long time at safety. Other
corners have been defeated pretty much alot of weeks of the NFL season.
I think Mahomes can get things goingthere. You still have to Travis Kelce
in the middle, but you haveRashid Rice who's developed, and even Marquez
Valdez Glantling last week caught a bigcatch which was surprising to everyone. But
(29:26):
I just I'm not gonna take againstthe quarterback. This is a quarterback driven
league. You're gonna need a literalall star cast, and they have it.
The forty nine ers are almost perfectin this regard of having an all
star cast. If you don't havea quarterback, they are the team that
like, hey, we've never hada top ten quarterback throughout our twenty first
century run here, but they havethat all star team. And that's that's
(29:48):
what we've said, like, hey, if you save money on the quarterback
position, you have to go makethis team around them, and they do
that, and brock Party's been smart. I just don't know if it's gonna
be enough to keep up with PatrickMahomes and the Chiefs here. If again,
if I think if if it's fortynine Ers get down early, I
just don't think it's something they cansustain coming back like they have and I
don't know if they can catch upto the Chiefs. So I'm gonna think
the Chiefs. Let me take theChiefs with the points. Should be a
(30:10):
fun matchup. We have the bestquarterback in the league against maybe the best
team in the league. We'll seewho wins this time around. Cecil any
final thoughts for the week. Yeah, you know, if you're a forty
nine Ers believer this week, ChristiMcCaffrey MVP odds plus four to thirty might
be something to look into for SuperBowl and MVP because the reality here is,
I don't think it's gonna be RockPurty, and I don't think Rock
(30:33):
Purty is going to throw the balla bunch. I don't think it's gonna
go to Rock Purty. I thinkit's gonna be christ mcaffrey's going to have
to have a great game whether heyou know, he has probably over one
hundred and twenty all purpose yards,has a touchdown or two, and I
think the forty nine Ers win,He's going to be the key to it.
So if you want to take himor maybe a key forty nine Ers
defensive player, I don't think that'sa bad beat. Because the Chiefs win
this game, it's gonna be PatMahomes. So Pat Mahomes is a good
(30:56):
you want to hedge it with afavorite, and the last I check it
was plus one forty plus one thirty. That's not a bad bet either.
If you're a big fan and thatyou know you want to head you with
the Chiefs. Just get your moneyback basically plus a little bit. But
that's a little insider tip for me. If you're looking for Super Bowl MVP
odds, that's a good bet ifhonestly, either way, if you usually
(31:17):
think the Chiefs are gonna win,just bet bet the m Christian McCaffrey,
because that's really good odds. Whenyou think about winning the MVP of one
game when he's had so many touchdownsthis year. I hones say Travis Kelsey
wins it, though, because Taylorswiftson attendance and you know, it's not
like it's not voting award. ButI don't know, just I think I
think maybe some people in the pressbox will be swayed. I don't know,
so. I also think the Gatorray will be read. Both teams
(31:40):
are red. I think that's somethingthey consider here. If the sportsbooks offers
it, I would I don't know, man. I think do some research
on that and see what the pastchief Super Bowls colors were, because I
have not done that research quite yet. My turner mind. Never want to
like and subscribe on YouTube and whereveryou get your podcasts. As a reminder,
will be back not next week,but the week after to recap the
Super Bowl, talk about whether theCommanders filled their coaching role, and just
(32:00):
kind of generally get everyone ready forthe offseason for now. Thanks for watching.
We'll see you guys next time.See you guys,
Hello, and welcome to the thirdand the Don Football Show. I am
Joe with mea Cecil. As always, we are winding down the NFL season.
We only have the Super Bowl left. It's been a fun ride,
Cecil, how are you doing?I'm doing great. It has really been
an interesting ride. We got aninteresting matchup to preview and got some stuff
to talk about Championship weekend. Stillabsolutely so. As remindered everyone when we
(00:23):
get started, we will not beback next week to recap the Pro Bowl
or talk about the Pro Bowl atall, unless we come up with another
reality TV show idea like Pro BowlHouse. We'll be back after the Super
Bowl to recap after this week,but let's get started, Cease. We
have some more coaching changes to getto. There's three more spots that have
been filled. The only open jobright now as the Washington Commanders, who
(00:43):
seemed intent on getting Ben Johnson fromthe Detroit Lions. Johnson decided to stay
Detroit to win a Super Bowl.But maybe he's thinking he can get a
better job next year too. Butthat's obviously a risk he's taking there.
But let's go with the first headcoaching position that was filled this past week.
That we missed was Raheem Morris gothired by the Falcons. He was
then interim coach for the Falcons.Before before that, he was the Tampa
(01:04):
Bay Buccaneers head coach for a littlebit. Currently, he was the the
Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator. Gota lot of praise for a lot of
the stars there. I think GalenRamsey even tweeted out that he's like the
best coach in the business. Sowhat are your thoughts on Raheem Morris to
the Falcons. I'm gonna give ita be I mean, I think it's
fine. I don't think, youknow, it's anything that's gonna rewrite the
(01:26):
record books or anything. You know. I don't think his time as head
coach in Tampa Bay was really thatgreat to begin with. I just think
it's kind of a very like it's, you know, it's not bad signing.
I think he's done a lot witha little on the Rams defense.
But I just I'm out wowed bythe hiring, and it's kind of a
(01:46):
weird hiring for Atlanta, who reallyprobably needs an offensive coach to get a
good quarterback to really try to usesome of the weapons they have on offense.
So it's kind of the thing withme, is they need offensive head
coaches or what kind of people want. It's kind of what's moving the game
forward as of recently, and it'sjust an interesting move for me. So
(02:07):
I'll give it a bee. Yeah, I think like a C C plus
for me. I think he's avery good defensive coach. I think he
can teach it. But the fit'sweird because they need to figure out the
quarterback situation in the offense and gettinga guy who's a defensive genius, I
may not be able to get thatdone. Now. If he can step
into that role where he's not callingplays, maybe maybe that helps. But
I just don't understand where the howthis fit come in is kind of like
(02:28):
you were saying, Ceas next,what up? We have the Carolina Panthers.
They obviously fired Frank Reich what ninegames into his tenure or something like
that. David Tepper has no chill, but he got fired. They hired
Dave Canalis, who is the wasthe Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator, helped
them get to the playoffs. Actuallydid a really good job. I think
with Baker Mayfield and that offense.This year. So what are your thoughts
(02:49):
on the Carolina Panthers going in divisionto get offensive coordinator Dave Canalis as their
head coach. I'll give this oneprobably honestly, probably a bee for me
too. I think Dave Canalis didreally well this year with the Damn Bay
Buccaneers. But you know, it'sthere's some risk that we've seen a lot,
especially with guys who've done it fora year and then become head coach.
(03:10):
It's kind of a weird, likeit just doesn't feel like that much
time and there's been a lot ofcoordinators. You know, if everyone wants
to remember good old Freddy Kitchens backin the day for the Cleveland Browns,
I don't think it's gonna be anythinglike that. But reality is this kind
of stuff that's happened before, whereI mean, the guy kind of was
a no name before this year.You know, obviously Baker does really well,
(03:34):
and again like I think he didwell, but I think he's getting
a lot of credit for putting piecestogether that that probably should have worked.
It's just a lot of being theNFL will have been kind of overlooking guys.
So I think it's bad. It'sthe problem is we might not even
even get a chance to tell ifit's good or bad signing, because the
reality is, who knows how muchtime the Panthers are really going to give
(03:55):
them. But the reality is hemade it work with not ideal situation last
year. So let's see if hecan rope together everything with the dfunction that
the dysfunction that is the Carolina Panthers. We got a Freddy Kitchens reference here.
Oh boy, that's a Pro BowlHouse Mount Rushmore character right there with
Ben McAdoo and Rex Ryan. Sothe Ryan brothers. Really, But I
(04:17):
think this is a be higher becauseI like what he did. I think
he's a good coach, But Iwould have liked to see them go for
like one of the more established coachesbecause this is gonna take some time with
this rebuild. Bryce showing didn't lookthe best this year. They don't have
that first round pick this year.Go with someone like a Belichick, you
know, who's going to take sometime to coach well and maybe take away
the personnel decisions from him. Gowith someone like a Pete Carroll who actually
(04:41):
did interview for some of the otherjobs, even though you got moved to
the Seahawks run office. Go withMike Rabel even you know, just anyone
who has been there and gotten themost out of rosters that maybe aren't the
best. But Dave Canals he's goingto have a first time head coach thing
where he's going into trying to coachthe offense probably and manage all the xpect
and get players like Bruys showing toplay at their best while not having the
(05:02):
most ammo in the chamber, whichcould be tough. He also be a
part of My Take podcast that foundout he wrote a book with his wife
two years ago about marriage and admittedto having a pornography and alcohol addiction in
the past, which just seems areally weird to write a book about that.
But more power to them, morepower to him, and it's all
(05:26):
in the open. There's no dirtto find on this guy. Get sorry
out there. That's what we shoulddo. We should write the book.
Hey, we like to gamble,you know, something like that, and
it'll be out there for us,all right. The last one season we
got Pete Carroll was moved to thefront office for Seattle. Now obviously,
like I said, he already interviewedfor other jobs he seems like he still
wants to coach, and he mightbe the oldest coach in the league,
but he is the most energetic stillto this day. So it was a
(05:46):
little bit of a surprising move thatthe Seahawks office asked me to move out
of the head coaching role. Theyhired Mike McDonald of the Multimore Ravens.
He was the DC there, didreally well, also had a very talented
defensive roster over there too, Soit's it's it's a little bit of what
are we getting out of this guy? So what do you think I'm gonna
give it. I'll give it aC plus. Here's why I don't think
(06:09):
Mike McDonald is gonna change this teamlike to something better than when Pete Carroll
was getting out of it, becauseI think a lot of it was,
you know, Pete Carroll wanted tohave a really good, strong defensive team.
That's what Mike McDonald's is gonna wantto do. I think Mike McDonald
has proven to be a really gooddefensive coordinator. But again, it's another
(06:30):
one where offense can kind of bevery important to a team, and it's
something that's a premium in this leagueand honestly, and we'll get to it
in the recap. You know,after what I saw last week, not
as sold on Mike McDonald's system asI was before, because I think they
kind of got they got kind oftaken apart last week, and that that's
(06:54):
kind of a weird thing to seeright before you get hired as a head
coach, is just to watch yourdefense kind of get kind of torn apart
a little bit. So we'll see. I just I think it's one they
went for a guy who basically isgoing to bring you the kind of the
same thing Pete Carroll did, Soit doesn't really make sense to me that
(07:14):
they moved on from Pete Carroll inthat way to bring a guy who really
isn't going to bring that different ofa philosophy than than Pete Carroll already did.
That's why I think the great islike they got a guy who's proven
to be a pretty good coach,like maybe a be higher, but like,
why why did you force Pete out? Like Petez and a Pete's like
not just like did he do sowell at USC with this time there winning
(07:36):
national championships, He's done well inthe pro since he came back, he's
won super Bowls, he got alot of I remember, like a couple
of years ago Sees. I thinkwe both thought they were one of the
worst rosters in the NFL and theyended up making the playoffs or whatever.
Gino Smith last year or too.So I think the thing that hurts is
Mike MacDonald is that he used tolive up to being Pete Carroll when Pete
Carroll was clearly pushed out and notlike leaving on his own volition either.
(07:59):
So I'll go be but it's nota great situation. I wish Pete Carroll
was coaching. I wish Bill Belichickwas coaching. I wish Mike Grabil was
coaching, because I think they're allthree really good head football coaches, and
I think this is the league isbetter with them. So we're gonna see
maybe a lot of guys fired nextyear. It's gonna be like, Okay,
these three guys are good candidates.Ben Johnson's a good candidate. Bobby
Slowick of the Houston Texans offense coordinatorgood candidate. They got to fill all
(08:20):
these spots. It's just a lot. There's thirty two spots. It's all
you get. So it just makesme a little bit upset. All right,
let's go to our recap of theconference championship games. We'll started off
with the AFC Conference Championship. Thisone was first on Sunday. We had
the Chiefs winning seventeen to ten.Now, Travis Kelsey had a pretty big
game in this one, eleven catches, one hundred and sixteen yards and one
touchdown. Big players show up inbig games. Taylor Swift was there having
(08:43):
a good time. You know,Ceclid, I really don't mind that.
The show Taylor Swift for I thinkit was like zero point four to six
percent of the of the screen timein an NFL game. That's not really
not that bad. In this gamethough, seas the Ravens, it's not
the best weather in Baltimore. They'retrying to throw the ball around, trying
to prove the more Jackson could throwthe ball. We've seen it all year.
He's gonna win the MVP. Theydidn't run the ball. The running
(09:03):
backs had five carries. Lamar hadthree designed runs. This is what killed
them in my opinion. The gamewas never without you know, out of
reach the whole game until the endof the fourth quarter, and they decided
to just keep on passing the ball, keep on passing the ball, and
then they made some stupid mistakes withZay Flowers with the Tampton penalty, which
shouldn't I don't really like tomting penalties, but you know, you can't do
(09:24):
that. So it was. Itwas a weird game because I think the
Ravens had the better team and Ijust think the game plan really didn't come
through. Yeah. I think itwas really kind of a meltdown by the
Ravens in this game, which issad because they should have won this game.
You and I both picked him.We thought, you know, they
had a talented roster and they couldcover spread up you know, four points
(09:46):
up to you know five. Sothat being said, I agree with everything
you said. They didn't run theball, you know, yeah, the
Texans they ran the ball. Theyused the running backs, and more importantly
too, they let Lamar run theball. Lamar was like unchained two weeks
ago against the Texas, Like theyjust let Lamar bow out and just do
(10:07):
whatever he wanted to do. Inaway, he used his legs scoring touchdowns.
We haven't seen that since pretty muchlike a year ago. Like in
this new offense, he's passed first, and I like that, and I
like that they're using that and theyhave more weapons on the outside, but
they let Lamar just do what hedoes best, and that's it, be
the dual threat he is. AndI thought we were gonna see some more
(10:30):
of that in this game, andI especially thought we'd see that in the
second half when they were down thewhole time, and it was just this
weird like I don't know what ToddMunkin like got in his head. But
the reality is we were watching thisgame. There's times where you know,
let's fine, you want to continueto tryal like pass, keep it multi
dimensional. But they were like,you look and you're just like three seconds
(10:54):
and Lamar is still sitting there,and you're just like, Lamar's run,
man, just just run the ball. You can see that. You can
literally see the opportunity to just getout of there and get six seven yards
where somebody touches him. And thereality is this is a playoff game.
Like if it's a playoff, Iget, it's a regular season and trying
to make things work, trying toconserve yourself, but this is do or
(11:15):
die, man, This is atrip to the Super Bowl on the line,
take the pla. If the offenseisn't getting it done, the plays
being called aren't getting it done,get it done yourself. Like that's people
that are you know, all timegreats, Hall of Famers a lot of
time. That's what we remember forhim is these playoff appearances and these playoff
stats they put up. I know, ragular season is great. You can
(11:35):
beat in the Hall of Fame asa regular season, you know, Sat
king on. But when people talkabout their all time greats, who their
favorites are, they remember these playoffruns or somebody you know, just took
it into their own hands, becausethat's sometimes what it takes. Because every
team is good. The Chiefs arereally good. The Chiefs are one of
the best passing offenses, one ofthe worst rushing defense in the NFL.
But you don't want to run theball. It was mind boggling. Zave
(11:58):
Flowers just never seen like the thisjust I don't want to call it stupidity.
I'd say just lack of awareness andmaturity. I get it. I
get you make that big play.I get you, guys, you're getting
frustrated. Why get the taunting penalty? Like, why'd be that stupid like
(12:20):
this is. And the thing aboutthis too is this is supposed to be
a John Harball team. John harboradis supposed to be a good, you
know, disciplined coach. Why areguys getting taunting penalties for fifteen yards in
a playoff game? And then whywhy are they having the lack of situational
awareness to try to stick a ballout when they're two yards from the end
zone with with reckless abandone just hopingthey get to the end zone. Like
(12:46):
Zay Flowers has got a lot todo with his loss. I know it's
not any one player, and Ifeel like a lot of what happened was
born out of frustration for what wasgoing on in the game for them.
But man, like you can talkabout a guy who we'll talk about an
epic collapse of just awareness from tommingpenalty where they would have had it the
one they could have probably done anything. You Lamar Jackson, your quarterback,
(13:07):
you run it past it. Hecould just run it in himself. Instead
you're at the fifteen. You thenmake it pretty good play and you just
again the two yard line, man, just take it. Can sert control
the football bell because it's about turnoversin these playoff games. And then he
cuts his hand on the sideline andI'm just like, I it's like throwing
(13:28):
a temper tantrum. Like I getit. I get why he's upset,
and you know, emotions are highin these kind of situations, but you
can't but just it just looked likea point debacle. And there was an
ugly Lamar interception as well down thestretch. I mean that was literal triple
coverage and I just that's bad,man. Like it's I like Lamar,
(13:52):
I think he's a really good quarterback, but this game doesn't help his legacy
at all. His reality is hedidn't use his leg the way he could
have and really, you know,changed this game. He didn't use it
the way he needed to. Hethrew a he didn't take care of the
ball. You know, he obviouslyhad that fumble, which that's that sucks.
And you know, maybe you don'tsee the guy coming around the edge,
(14:13):
that's fine, but that interception isjust it's gross. It's a bad
one and I feel bad that.You know, again, we're gonna be
back to the Ravens are good,and that's great. I think they're gonna
be around. I think they're gonnabe a playoff team next year, But
do I pick him? Like,I don't know if I could ever believe
(14:35):
in the Baltimore Ravens because reality isthey were the better team. They have
a really good quarterback. I knowMahomes is the best quarterback, but the
reality is their offense choked to thebiggest moment, their biggest star who you
know, some people argue, tryto argue is the best quarterback in the
league, sometimes in Lamar, whoI think is really good, top five
guy. But I mean, youcan't have a game like this and say
(14:56):
you're like in that upper echelon likethat where you're like needing to be the
best quarterback in the league. Youjust can't. And that defense too,
I mean, offense was a lotof blame, but the reality is you
didn't stop Travis kelce for a second. You didn't do anything, but Travis
Kelcey was just over the middle overand over. You were getting embarrassed.
So yeah, there's a lot ofblame to go around this game. If
(15:20):
you're the Baltimore Ravens, it's gonnabe a tough offseason and the question is
gonna be I mean, you gota lot of guys who are vets on
small deals and that's been working outwell. But what are you gonna do
to get over the hump? Andhow do you get over the hump?
Because this is a pretty devastating wayto lose in such fashion when this is
really was kind of your window,your big opportunity to show everyone that you're
(15:43):
your team to be working with andyou know you can kind of slay the
dynasty and they didn't. Yeah,so maybe the Bengals focus on tight end
this offseason. Maybe that's a wayto exploit the Ravens defense. It's something
to think about. Also, you'reright, like Lamar like not to the
design runs, but he didn't scrambleas much as you would like in this
game. He was always like twoor three seconds too slow to run with
(16:07):
the ball after it, Like afterthe pocket broke down, the Chiefs had
Lilly Gay out. Willy Gay wasthe guy who's supposed to be hit the
spy this game. He wasn't playinglike Lamar theoretically could have run for a
lot more yards just by scrambling too. And you can't, like you can
say, like a regular season,let's let's make now, let's not run
Lamar too much. Let's kind ofsave him for the playoffs. So let's
save him for later. We'll thenuse him in the playoffs because that's what
(16:29):
makes him the great is the abilityto run. We always talk about this
in quarterbacks who don't work out,like justin fields. If you're gonna try
to make them into something they're not, which is just a statue in the
pocket, they're not gonna be good. That's not what makes them good.
But if you're gonna let them playthe way they play, then that's what's
gonna make them good. And yes, you can say, like, hey,
he needs to slow down with therunning because he's twenty seven years old.
Now you know, we don't reallyknow how much longer he's got.
(16:49):
Well, then make the most ofthe time he has because I just don't
understand it. So a lot alot of things there too. I like
the again, the the bringing upthe the fumble Byaseai Flower is also a
huge ball securities, job security.See so I know you played high school
football. The first rule was neverreached for the goal line unless it's a
do or die situation like a fourthdown, or you have to get the
(17:10):
touchdown or else you will lose thegame. So just a lot of frustrating
fundamentals in this game. All thecredit to the Chiefs going to the fourth
Super Bowl in five years, hopingto win their three and five years that
would make them a dynasty. We'regonna see how that goes and see if
we found out. The important newshere Taylor Swift is me flying from Japan
in her concert on Saturday or somethingthe night on Japan to the Super Bowl
in Las Vegas, and she'll bethere like a day before the game.
(17:33):
That's what everyone really wants to hearabout. And if Usher somehow gets sick,
she will fill in as the haftimeperformer probably probably Well, thank god.
All right, let's get to theNFC Championship game. This one,
I would say had a lot moreinteresting play in that the Lions went up
early and they it looked like theywere gonna be able to ice the game
because of their ability to run thefootball so well, I mean fourth in
(17:56):
the league and rushing yards. JamisWilliams had a really nice reverse touchdown to
get things started. They were movingthe ball really well. Jared Goff was
protected, he didn't turn the balloverall game. Then they started going forward
on some fourth towns, fourth downs. Let some momentum creep back in Rock
Party stayed the course. We thigrea pass downfield that bounced off Kendall Vildor's
(18:17):
face mask and Brandon I you caught. And that's how the forty nine ers
win games. They kind of comeback here just but with a pure talent.
Demo looked like he was fine andhealthy in this game. George Kettle
made a couple key plays. Thirtyfour to thirty one's the final score.
And it's just not something you thoughtyou would see after the Lions were up
by so much in the first half. No, absolutely, I mean it
(18:41):
was a collapse. It really was. It's sad to say because we're both
fans of Dan camb or Bo,fans of what this Lions organizations put together
this year. Yeah, I meanthere's a couple of things to underth here.
I think Dan Hamill was a littleover aggressive and yeah, uh,
I see how you know the playdesign on those some of those plays where
(19:03):
they're going to convert, you know, the receiver should have caught that pass.
Josh Reynold should have. It wasa fourth down, nobody around him,
and the short pass wasn't that hardto throwing the ball. He just
dropped it is the reality. Hedropped it on a big, you know,
high stakes play and then obviously youknow the other fourth down where they
(19:23):
could have gotten the three points.You know, I agree with you know,
Dan Campbell sticking to his guns.You know, do what got you
there. You can't change who youare at this time. And you know
it's easy for us to be revisionistsbecause you know they didn't convert. But
the reality is he made the rightplay called they called the right play,
(19:47):
and you know, for nine timesout of ten, that's a conversion that
could change the game. I don'tagree. If it was me head coaching,
I wouldn't have done it. Iam a type that would go,
you know, the Lake says kickit. It's a playoff game points or
premium, let's get the points.Both times I would have said that that's
the smarter thing to do here.But again, I'm not Dan Campbell.
(20:11):
I didn't get this team there byyou know, going back on what I've
done all year, and I respectDan Campbell for sticking to it. Again,
this is all originous because I'm gonnabe honest there. Their kicker,
Patterson hasn't been the best at timeseither. You know, we're talking about
not a very experienced kicker, notsomeone who's known as a great field goal
(20:32):
kicker. In a very high pressuresituation. There's no guarantee makes the field
goal anyway, right, and that'ssomething you know, it's not always an
automatic. Field goals are not automatickicks, as we've seen through the playoffs,
especially their high pressure situations. AndI'm gonna I don't agree with this
(20:52):
decisions. I do respect that hekept his guns. You know, a
lot of Dan Campbell hate has beenout there since this game. You know,
I don't want Dan Campbell stopped beinghim. The reality is the forty
nineers were a really good team.They managed to take advantage of everything.
They had a crazy Brandon Nowhu fiftyyard catch to get themselves back into this
game. So, I mean,everyone the forty nine ers deserve as much
(21:17):
credit of anything. Like I know, everyone wants to say the Lions blew
it and they had that big lead, But the reality is the forty nine
ers worked that second half efficiently,They got explosive plays, and they played
extremely well. And I mean theydid just as good a job as the
Lions failed, So they deserve creditas much as the Lions deserved blame.
And I'd say the silver lining toall this is Ben Johnson is going to
(21:41):
be back. If you're a DetroitLions fan, I think that's huge because
I think after this game most ofus went Ben Johnson's gonna leave, and
I don't know where that leaves thisLions team because I love Dan Campbell,
I love the rosters they built together. But I don't know what Jared Goff
looks like under another play caller.I just don't I don't know how much
of it is. Jared Golf isgood. I think he's not bad,
(22:02):
but I think he put him undera new system all of a sudden,
or you know, you promote anassistant I don't know has the same ingenuity.
I think Ben Johnson does get alot of credit for what that offense
has become. I think Dan Campbellis an excellent motivator. I think he
is a great coach in a verytraditional sense, something that's been remiss in
this league for a while because everyonejust seems they want to call plays and
(22:25):
pretend they're coordinator but also get tobe head coach, and I don't think
it works as well. So Ilike Dan Campbell could can delegate and trust
the guys around him, and Ijust it sucks that it didn't work out.
It really does. But ultimately BenJonson coming back, I'd like to
see the Lions getting another shot atit next year. I would too.
(22:48):
You built up this team last year, you missed the playoffs barely. This
year you got NFC championship. Nextyear kick the door down. The NFC
might be wide open. We sawthe Eagles collapse, the Cowboys collapse.
The forty nine ers could have awhole different look next year. You just
don't know, especially some of theaging players like Trent Williams on that roster.
So I would say two seas,I'm I'm cool with him going for
(23:08):
it in the third and fourth quartera lot, especially because you gotta think,
like if you go for it whenyou're in their territory. First of
all, like you said, theydon't like the kicker that they have.
They even cut him at one pointin the season then brought him back,
Michael Badgeley. But also you getthe field position, you know, you
get to keep them on their sideof the field. That helps your defense
out a little bit. The endof the half, I would have taken
the field goal, because you don'tget the benefit of the t like of
(23:33):
the of the field position right.If you don't get it, then the
half's over. So that's the onlything I would say ended up being a
three point game. But obviously therewas like kind of a garbage time touchdown
and there, so just something tothink about it. I'm usually fine with
the two go for it. Idon't like the people who are always saying
take the points, you know.I also I think everyone dealing in absolutely
I don't want to be too muchof a Star Wars nerd here because I'm
not really that big of a StarWars guy, but people who deal in
absolutes one way or another, likealways go for it, are always always
(23:56):
seek the field goal, always takethe points. I don't think that's how
it should be either. So Irespect Dan Campbell. I think he did
a fine job with this team.I think he maxed out what they could
do next year to keep that offensiveline in place. Keeping Ben Johnson in
place just kind of add to yourroster a little bit here. You should
have some money to spend, Youshould have some draft picks to use.
They could be They could be verydangerous again next year for sure. All
(24:19):
right, let's get to the SuperBowl seas we have the Chiefs and forty
nine Ers, and we get fortynine Ers, who probably are the most
complete team in the NFL. Andthen we also have the Chiefs of Patrick
Mahomes. As mentioned before, fourSuper Bowl appearances in the last five years
for the Chiefs three or this willbe their third win if they get this
one. These two teams played inSuper Bowl LIV just a couple of years
(24:41):
ago, which is interesting that theforty nine Ers looked like they were gonna
win this game and Patrick Mahomes cameback on him. So maybe a little
bit fuel to the fire here.Kyle Shannana, Kyle Shananah, Kyle Shanahan
has a lot of work to doin terms of cementing his Super Bowl legacy.
After the Falcons tobacco, after thefour Niners flowing the lead, So
there's a lot of stuff going onhere. Sees, the forty nine Ers
(25:03):
have evered by two. Right now, who are you going with? God?
I've been thinking about it a lotsince the game end. The game
has ended on Sunday, and I'mgonna go I'm going with the forty hours
to win. I'm gonna split itthough. I'm gonna take the Chiefs with
(25:26):
the two points spread because I thinkthis is gonna be a razor thin game.
Either team could win this game.Reasons why won. Pat Mahomes is
the best player, you know,a quarterback we've seen since Tom Brady,
which doesn't sound that long ago,but the reality is those are two of
the best people to ever do it, and they're right after each other.
So Pat Mahomes can do a lotof things. I don't think Pat Mahomes'
(25:48):
receiving corps is great this year.Travis Kelsey's turned it back on the playoffs.
But I think the forty nine Ers. I think the linebackers. I
think Green Law and then for Ordercan kind of do some limiting there.
I'm not saying a ton, butenough, and then the secondary's gotta hold
on. But I think the realkey here is gonna be the forty nine
(26:10):
ers running game. If the fortynine Ers can get Christian McCaffrey going,
if they can get Deebo Samuel rollingback, there I think that can be
a winning formula. I think that'show this game is going to grade out
to. It's gonna be Can ChristianMcCaffrey get this backfield going because Chiefs are
horrible against the run, forty Ninersare gonna try to shorten this game.
(26:33):
Keep the ball out of Rock Party'shands as much as you can. You
know, obviously there's gonna be situationswhere you're gonna have to throw it,
but you know your strength, yourit's strength first weakness here. Forty nine
Ers are not a great pass Imean, Brock Parties play well, but
they're not a pass first team.Chiefs are go one of the best passing
defenses in the league. You notget down. If this game is back
(26:55):
and forth and it's within a possessionall times, I think the forty nine
Ers win by the narrow s submargins. But if the Chiefs get up
quick and it's the second half andthey're up by ten points going into you
the fourth quarter, I don't thinkthe forty nine ers are gonna be able
to pull it off. So theforty nine ers. The key to this
game is the forty nine Ers hadto get up quick and they're gonna have
(27:17):
to try to keep it within apossession at all times, because if they
don't, they're not Just don't seeRock Party being able to carry this team
and carry this offense. But theproblem is, I don't know what the
Chiefs run defense is gonna look likeeither, and it's gonna be hard to
defend all those weapons, especially whenRock Perty's just gonna throw short, little
(27:37):
routes. He's not gonna let thesecondary. I mean, that's fine if
brand ayu gets shut down. Idon't think anyone cares Deebo Samuels. They
can move around in space, GeorgeKittle will be over the middle, and
Christian McCaffrey can work do anything basically, So that's gonna be the key is
Christian McCaffrey. And for that reason, I'm gonna pick the forty nine ers
because I just think that they cankind of rally together here at the last
(28:02):
minute and the Chiefs won't be ableto get the ball as much. I
think it's gonna be kind of likethe Buffalo game when it came to just
them running the ball over and overand keeping Pat Mahomes off the field.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with theChiefs and obviously take the points there too.
Just I think last year I pickedthe Chiefs too, and it was
just like, hey, they havePatrick Mahomes and the other team doesn't,
and the disparities is about the same. I mean, Jalen Hurts had a
(28:23):
fantastic year last year, but RockParty leads the league in a lot of
things too. I don't think theway they have played the last several weeks
is sustainable for the forty nine Ers, of getting down early and then playing
catch up all the time. Ifthey do that against the Chiefs, the
Chiefs will bury them. They've donethis before. You're right, it is
total contrasting styles here. Like theforty nine Ers, if they ran the
(28:45):
ball every down and I knew theywere gonna run the ball every down for
the whole game besides like third andlungs or something, I might take them
because the Chiefs run defense is bad. I don't know if Kyle Shanahan will
be willing to do that. Helikes running the ball, he likes different
play designs. If you know,is he gonna get discouraged? I don't
know. For the Chiefs that secondarycould be taken advantage of Tallanoahfunga has out
(29:06):
for that secondary. He's been hurtfor a long time at safety. Other
corners have been defeated pretty much alot of weeks of the NFL season.
I think Mahomes can get things goingthere. You still have to Travis Kelce
in the middle, but you haveRashid Rice who's developed, and even Marquez
Valdez Glantling last week caught a bigcatch which was surprising to everyone. But
(29:26):
I just I'm not gonna take againstthe quarterback. This is a quarterback driven
league. You're gonna need a literalall star cast, and they have it.
The forty nine ers are almost perfectin this regard of having an all
star cast. If you don't havea quarterback, they are the team that
like, hey, we've never hada top ten quarterback throughout our twenty first
century run here, but they havethat all star team. And that's that's
(29:48):
what we've said, like, hey, if you save money on the quarterback
position, you have to go makethis team around them, and they do
that, and brock Party's been smart. I just don't know if it's gonna
be enough to keep up with PatrickMahomes and the Chiefs here. If again,
if I think if if it's fortynine Ers get down early, I
just don't think it's something they cansustain coming back like they have and I
don't know if they can catch upto the Chiefs. So I'm gonna think
the Chiefs. Let me take theChiefs with the points. Should be a
(30:10):
fun matchup. We have the bestquarterback in the league against maybe the best
team in the league. We'll seewho wins this time around. Cecil any
final thoughts for the week. Yeah, you know, if you're a forty
nine Ers believer this week, ChristiMcCaffrey MVP odds plus four to thirty might
be something to look into for SuperBowl and MVP because the reality here is,
I don't think it's gonna be RockPurty, and I don't think Rock
(30:33):
Purty is going to throw the balla bunch. I don't think it's gonna
go to Rock Purty. I thinkit's gonna be christ mcaffrey's going to have
to have a great game whether heyou know, he has probably over one
hundred and twenty all purpose yards,has a touchdown or two, and I
think the forty nine Ers win,He's going to be the key to it.
So if you want to take himor maybe a key forty nine Ers
defensive player, I don't think that'sa bad beat. Because the Chiefs win
this game, it's gonna be PatMahomes. So Pat Mahomes is a good
(30:56):
you want to hedge it with afavorite, and the last I check it
was plus one forty plus one thirty. That's not a bad bet either.
If you're a big fan and thatyou know you want to head you with
the Chiefs. Just get your moneyback basically plus a little bit. But
that's a little insider tip for me. If you're looking for Super Bowl MVP
odds, that's a good bet ifhonestly, either way, if you usually
(31:17):
think the Chiefs are gonna win,just bet bet the m Christian McCaffrey,
because that's really good odds. Whenyou think about winning the MVP of one
game when he's had so many touchdownsthis year. I hones say Travis Kelsey
wins it, though, because Taylorswiftson attendance and you know, it's not
like it's not voting award. ButI don't know, just I think I
think maybe some people in the pressbox will be swayed. I don't know,
so. I also think the Gatorray will be read. Both teams
(31:40):
are red. I think that's somethingthey consider here. If the sportsbooks offers
it, I would I don't know, man. I think do some research
on that and see what the pastchief Super Bowls colors were, because I
have not done that research quite yet. My turner mind. Never want to
like and subscribe on YouTube and whereveryou get your podcasts. As a reminder,
will be back not next week,but the week after to recap the
Super Bowl, talk about whether theCommanders filled their coaching role, and just
(32:00):
kind of generally get everyone ready forthe offseason for now. Thanks for watching.
We'll see you guys next time.See you guys,
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