Super Bowl LVIII Recap

Conor Orr and Albert Breer break down Super Bowl LVIII including what the team warmups told us about the game, the confusion over the overtime rules, the great play calling by Steve Spagnuolo, and what the Niners should do with their roster going forward

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello and welcome MNQ the NFL podcast super Bowl le View.
Albert Briers here, I'm finally home. That took a while.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
You like John Candy and playing strains and automobile.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh my gosh. I left Vegas at eleven am the
day the morning after the Super Bowl. I flew to Indianapolis.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
He left before I did. By the way, right you left,
you were gone. You were gone before I left.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I've been doing this for fourteen years, and this is
the first time I used like a shady third party
travel site named after a fruit. So I'm just saying,
and so this place is like, oh, yeah, we'll take
care of everything.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Was that fruit? Could that fruit be found in like
New Zealand or something could be extra Yeah, it could.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Could be like a fruit there like brown on the outside,
you cut it open, it's green, or or there's a
golden variety of it. But anyway, so this this website's like, yeah,
we're gonna take care of everything for you. We hacked
the system, great, okay, cool, so kept the fares down,
which was good. Companies happy and uh so they're like, okay,

(01:16):
we're just gonna put you on. It's just a connecting
flight Okay. So then I bored. I go to board
for Vegas and I get on a flight to Indianapolis
and Indianapolis to New Jersey, and they say, oh, by
the way, you're checking bags. Okay, So when you get
to Indianapolis, they're not gonna just forward the bag to Newark. Okay,

(01:37):
You're gonna have to get off that flight. You're gonna
have to go all the way down to the baggage claim,
get that bag, check back in to the airport, go
through security a second time, and then board the flight.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
So you got like, let's stop here though, So you
got to pay to check the bag again, right, yeah, okay,
so like you're already into your savings.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Correct, it costs way more. It costs way more. It
costs so much more because do you know what a
bag is on Spirit Airlines?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
No? How much? If you had to guess, I would
say they charged. Well, don't they charge for overhead space
on Spirit too? I don't know, but because I mean
I thought it was, I'm gonna guess, all right, let
me guess seventy five more? What ninety dollars for one bag?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
One bag not even over the weight limit?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, I was gonna say, like over the weight limit,
because the weight limit is usually fifty, right.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Weight limits fifty and now theirs was like forty and
mine was thirty seven. I was under the weight limit,
even at a decrease.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
So my bag, I'll give a shout out to Southwest here.
Southwest took my bag for free, right, and my bag
was definitely over fifty pounds and yeah, and I like
Delta did too on the way there. But Delta, I
have status with Right like so Delta, when you have status,

(03:09):
generally you can get those things for free. I don't
have status with Southwest, and Southwest took me up. So
you know, I think sometimes too Connor the key is
going to the skycab and give him a.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Grease in their palm a little bit.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh yeah, you know, like you give him give him
the tip before, Like I slipped the guy a five
dollars bill, big tipper over here, slip the guy slipped
the guy. You tipping the skycab. You tip the skycab
when you when you go, when you check your bag
in with the skycab and the curb side, you're supposed
to tip them.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Oh I never, I never checked in there. I take
them into the into the kiosk and then I hand
it to.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Oh no, no, no, no, no, you want to go to
the sky. The skycab is like the hack on the sky.
The skycab is like the frequent traveler hack. Yes, there's
there's never as long a line you get out of
your car. Are You're right fricking there? You don't have
to deal with the line at the counter. They can
actually they can do almost anything they can do at

(04:09):
the at the calendar. Now, if you have to, like
like sometimes it's annoying and you're like, I mean this
is like I don't know, I know, this is the
first world problem. But sometimes like if you're a pre
check number didn't get put in or whatever, you know,
like that might be a little more problematic. But you
can do pretty much anything. You can change your seat
with the skycab. Yeah, you one hundred to the skycab.

(04:30):
You never do that? No, shoot, Connor, you're I mean, yeah,
fly you fly out of Newark. That's a big airport, dude.
Those lines, those lines are usually I mean, those lines
at the counter are usually pretty long. If you don't
have status, and really I only have status anymore on
one airline I only have stats with Delta anymore. But yeah,

(04:52):
I mean use skycab. If you're gonna check a bag,
I would say, use skycab as much as you can.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Damn all right, Well, lesson learned.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
I Also, there's never a line. I mean there is
sometimes at the airport's like if it's like you know,
Orlando or whatever, where there's like I mean going through
baggage and security and all that in Orlando is like,
I mean, that's like the seven Circles of Hell. Like
I can't imagine there's a worse place on Earth than

(05:22):
like non pre check security at Orlando. But and it's like,
and I'll be that guy. It is because of the kids,
And it's because of the kids with parents who don't
travel that often. I mean this is like, this is
like a big thing for me. And I know I've
I've vented on my travel situations in the past. I

(05:44):
used to be really well known for it before I
got US air shut down. But like, is there anything
more annoying as a frequent traveler than being behind the
non frequent traveler and security who doesn't know what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
No, you know it's bad.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I mean, like who takes like waits till the very
last minute to do absolutely everything.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
That's frustrating. Although I can't, there are times when like
it's like anything else, right, you're having a bad game,
You're having a bad day. I was so frazzled by
the point in time that I got to the flight
where I actually got home that I still had my
all all my stuff in my pocket. I still have
my belt on, like all that stuff. And so I

(06:30):
was that guy this week, and so I try to
like I try to remember that, Like I'm not like
George Clooney and up in the air, you know what
I mean. I'm not like I don't I don't have
the slip off shoes and the you know, I don't
have that as smoothly as everybody else does, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
I mean, but there are certain things that like, you know,
I have a pair of a pair of Birkenstocks that
I know set off security every time, right because the.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Buckles on them.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
So when I'm traveling the summer with those, I will
always send those through the like even like in pre check,
you know, you don't have to take them off.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
I'll take them off just being considered.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Other people, I think, you know what I mean, because
there are other people like me that get annoyed by
these things. I keep the process moving Connor exactly, So
I mean, you don't need to be George Clonian up
in the air, but like you have to be making
I feel like common courtesy to other travelers is to
keep the process moving. Like I have my kids with me,
I keep the process moving. Oh yeah, I'm like General

(07:29):
Patton getting them through security.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
So it ended up being I got I flew to
Indianapolis because of this asinine travel site, my flight, my
connecting flight to Newark got canceled, and so because I
had to run down the stairs to get my bag
off of baggage and then check back into security. On
my way back into security, I learned that the only

(07:56):
other available flight to Newark I had just missed. I
had missed it because I have to do that. So
here we are back at the Courtyard Indianapolis Marriott. I
rewatched the Super Bowl because there's nothing else you can
do at that point besides rewatch the halftime show and
eat sweet green And so then we try it again

(08:16):
next morning. Wake up. Now there's a storm in the Northeast,
and my six am flight gets canceled. Then they're like, okay,
fly to Chicago and then try to fly to Newark.
So this is my fourth airport, third time zone in
a week. And then eventually from Chicago, I get back
to Newark. We land in Newark, we fly through the
we fly through the entire blizzard, like the whole time,

(08:39):
I'm looking out the window and it's just white, and
we land in Newark and the pilot goes, welcome to Newark.
I have no idea how we were cleared to fly
that plane.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
All right, thanks, let me ask you this. Then let
me ask you this.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Then that flight was full.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Right it was. It was full, except guess what, there
was one empty eat and it was right next to me.
I had been oh, I had been sitting in the middle,
and then I got the window. Was amazing.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
It was that's like one that's like five. That's like
finding a winning lottery ticket when it's seat next to
you is open, it is yeah, yeah, I uh. I
said this to you over text yesterday. I'll say it
for everybody else too. I would bet that that canceled
flight from Newark on was Monday, right, like the one
that got canceled. At what you were talking about right, Yeah,

(09:27):
that canceled flight from.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Newark on Monday.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I guarantee you was probably like thirty percent full, right probably.
I mean they will a light drizzle will cancel a
flight that is not full. For these airlines, if the
flight is full, they would fly through Hurricane Bob to
get to their destination. And if if you wanted to

(09:52):
like launching a discussion about analytics, I think this is
something else that the nerds have screwed up, like where
like I think analytics have to old the airlines will
when to fly and when not to fly, and what
to cancel and what not to cancel, and what to
charge people on how to gouge them and all of
that different stuff. But I do think that they have
all of that down to a science. So there are

(10:12):
times when they will use any excuse possible to cancel
a flight, and then when it's not financially convenient for
them to do that, they will fly through I mean,
they would fly through a tornado to get to their destination.
Maybe if they're courtious, try to fly around the tornado,
you know. Yeah, yeah, just so long as it didn't

(10:33):
delay a flight on the other end that was full.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Well, we're back. That's all that matters.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Vegas sports writer travel complaints.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah, yeah, it's a very niche audience complaining about getting
to go to the most fun event of the year.
But Vegas is great, So I'll start there. I think
that I was I was saying this to someone on
the way to the airport. I think that Vegas should
be in the every five years rotation. I think they
earned it. I think everything was great, even on the days.

(11:07):
So for those of you who've never been to a
Super Bowl, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is great. That week Thursday,
nobody's there yet, No, Yeah, because nobody's there, and you know,
the hotels are like fifty bucks a night Thursday, whoa baby, Yeah,
you know, and then like everything gets mobbed, just this

(11:28):
massive humanity descends upon the Super Bowl. But what's nice
about Vegas is Vegas, Right, it's just all casinos. And
these casinos are yes, they are casinos, but they're also
just giant malls, right, Yeah, they're big malls. And so
you walk from mall to mall, and you go from
bar to bar and restaurant to restaurant, and there's enough

(11:52):
there to house whatever. The two hundred thousand people that
the super Bowl kind of brings in for the event.
And although traffic got bad, you and I only waited
in traffic the one time our bus got stuck once.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
So and then I tweeted out something that I'm gonna
apologize for in a second, but keep going.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
So I thought, logistically, this was a great super Bowl.
And then Allegiance Stadium is right downtown and so you
just walk from the bridge from Mandalay Bay, like right
into the super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
It was great.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
I thought, totally convenient Vegas. The food scene is really good.
I'm I'm not a gambler, but like like when I
had a couple hours off at the super Bowl, like
the hiking was great, Like it's good, it's a it's
a good place.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
I like it.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
I would say, so, like, first of all, my apologies.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
On Wednesday, I was pissed off by this traffic situation
that ton of referenced, and I said, like I said,
everybody thought the city was gonna be great for the
super Bowl. Traffic's sorry, terrible, and it's only Wednesday. And
I was a little upset and a little for a
variety of reasons. And Wednesday's sort of hump day of
the week anyway, you know what I mean, Like, you know,

(13:02):
you know, like that's the way people will work Monday
to Friday. Look at it. Well for super Bowl week,
it's the same thing. And I uh, but yeah, this
one traffic situation we were in, it legitimately took us forty
five minutes to make two left turns. So basically we
spend forty five minutes in a bus circumventing a city block.

(13:24):
And I don't think the bus driver would have been
able to let us off because I mean, I'm sure
for like insurance reasons or whatever, right, yeah, because lawyers
ruin everything. But I you know, I honestly like top
to bottom, like they did a really good job. And
you know, the one thing that's interesting, the one thing
that's tough about Vegas, I would say, and the one

(13:46):
thing I've learned about Vegas, And I think Vegas has
really grown, like it's I don't know, connor, like I've
been there a handful of times in the past, and
like I I think it's less about gambling than it
used to be, you know, kind of because they have
to be, because it's the novelty's gone because you can
gamble everywhere now, but the restaurants and the arenas and
the concerts and all that different stuff were great. One

(14:06):
thing that's kind of funny about it was like you
could open your Apple Maps on your phone and it
could look like something's a ten minute walk away, and
it actually takes like forty minutes. And the reason why
is cause and I I always sort of knew this
in the back of my head, but it crystallized for me.

(14:27):
All these casinos are are basically built to trap you,
and so it is freaking impossible to find the exit
in a lot of these places, you know. So you
could be looking on your map on your phone and
be like, oh, like that looks like it's like I'm
going to go out to dinner here, and this is
only ten a ten minute walk, and it winds up
taking you forty five minutes because you're walking out of
one casino that's impossible to get out of, and then

(14:49):
you're walking into another casino where it's impossible to find something.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
You know, So I generally speaking, you know, I mean we've.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Been New Orleans. By the way, New Orleans is still
number one. I like, I I in New Orleans is
next year and I think New Orleans puts everyone to shame.
And everybody knows how I feel about that, that the
super Bowl and every big event, every big, every big
event in America should be held in New Orleans every year.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
But so it's not New Orleans.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
But yeah, I mean I think it's I think solid
B plus and for your first super Bowl, that's really
really good.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
They belong in the rotation.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
I mean compared to like Atlanta, where.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
I thought Atlanta was pretty good.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
But Atlanta, were you staying downtown though, or were you things?

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Okay, so you were downtown by Thursday Atlanta. You Atlanta
is like a big square right and then the downtown right,
and it's very like the traffic and everything is really
neatly organized and everything. But by Thursday that square was
completely you couldn't get into town. It was completely gridlocked,

(15:55):
you know. And so and the same with Miami. Miami
was totally gridlocked.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
I said, Houston was bad.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
I've never been to Houston.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
You weren't at the Houston.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Super Bowl that was Patriots Falcons. Weren't you with us
by then? Or was that I was?

Speaker 1 (16:12):
I was at NFL Network. And if there's any around
the NFL podcast listeners that follow our show, which I
know there are. That was the Super Bowl where they
told me that not only was I not on the
Super Bowl trip, but that I had to cover the
living hell out of the Pro Bowl in Orlando, which would.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Have been great like ten years earlier when the Pro
Bowl was in Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
Well, and I did do a Hawaii Pro Bowl and
it was awesome. It was one of the great experiences
of my life. But then I got really mad. I
was really upset. And then they had me on the
podcast and Dan Handsis wrote a song about how mad
I was that I had to be in Orlando and
I it was like telling.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
That, can you dig that up and send it to me?

Speaker 1 (16:57):
That's all I will, Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, he
had like so Sydney was the producer at the time,
and he had Sydney sing like backing vocals, like it
was a legitimate song. It was like a two minute song,
like ballad about I would say it was like a Diddy.
It was like, yeah, super Bowl snubs. So he's Connor

(17:17):
Orlando today and I was like, I was so mad.
I was so mad. I was so mad that I
don't followed everybody at the company.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Connor Orlando.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
They called me Connor Orlando. Yeah, like I unfollowed everyone
at the company.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Are you mad at Hans in the moment?

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Furious, furious, furious, so mad.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
That wasn't think about that wasn't think about working in
the NFL network? Then is they held the super They
held the Super Bowl over everyone and then didn't tell
them if they were going.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Until the last minute every trip that I had been on.
I mean, I love working.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
They did that, by the way. By the way, like
I worked in like a different department than Connor, but
they did that to all of us. It's like it's
like the middle of January and you still don't know
if you're going to the Super Bowl or not.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
I gotta call like two weeks like like.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Which is hilarious because the flights go up, so like
they didn't save any money by doing this at all.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
No, Right, like second week of September, once I got
a call, it was like, hey, in a week, you
gotta you gotta go to London for like a week
and a half, which was great. I no complaints and
then but I was just like okay, all right, yeah,
but it was good. All good. I'm very happy. Let's
review the Super Bowl a little bit. So I think
here's my takeaway. And Mitch Golditch, our former editor, the

(18:37):
one of the great humans of all time, he kind
of called me out on the groundwork of this take,
and so I appreciate that. But so before the game,
you watch, during pregame, you watch to see what's going on. Right,
all the Chiefs showed up dressed like they were going
to burning man, Like Travis Kelce was dressed like like
a disco ball. Isaiah Pacheco was wearing a jacket and

(19:00):
just no shirt. Just wasn't wearing a shirt.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
That's a look now, I think was it Chris Jones
was doing that too. One of the other guys was
doing that too.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, it's not it's I can't pull that off.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
But it's like a suit with a suit with no shirt.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Ryan on ESPN one day, I thought it was like no.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
He no, he didn't actually like because I remember this,
like I remember thinking, you have a neck on. Yeah,
he had like a flesh colors like turtleneck or something,
and everybody thought he was shirtless and he and he
actually had to go on to Twitter and clarify.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
That okay, So it wasn't just me, okay, right, right right. Anyway,
So the Chiefs show up for pregame warm ups and
they're going, I mean, okay, I'm trying, I'm trying to
I don't love to swear on this show, but they're
going bat you know, crazy, like Sky Moore caught like

(19:57):
a two yard pass in pregame warm ups, screamed, jumped
in the air, did a double windmill and slam dunked
the ball, and like after catching a two yard pass,
Isaiah Pacheco again had his helmet off. He was like
merengue dancing in the end zone. And then you look
over at the forty nine ers. It's like the warm
up's robotic, right, It's just like pup up, up, up, up, up,
up up up up, and I'm looking and I'm like, okay,

(20:18):
you know, and I tweeted that and then Mitch, our editor, said,
you know, this is the way that everyone can set,
you know, win or lose. Right, if the forty nine
ers win, you can say the forty nine ers were
taking it more seriously, or if the Chiefs win, you
could say what the Chiefs were loser, you know, but
combine what the forty nine ers were that juxtaposition, combining
that with the week and then the aftermath. And what

(20:41):
I mean by that is the week leading up to
the Super Bowl, we had the complaints about the field,
which were justified, a lot of complaints about the field,
complaints about the fire alarms being pulled, again justified. But
these forty nine ers were pissed off all week. They
were angry, they're upset. Then after the game, you have
already the there was an injured offensive lineman who then

(21:06):
said it was enough like there was a miss block
that one of his teammates was getting blamed for. And
then he created Lisiano and he said, no, it wasn't
this guy, it was the other guy. And then the
other guy gets on and he's like, well, well, you know,
he said he was feelings were hurt.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
It was some combination of Feliciano and Banks. It was
something like that, right, Like, I can't remember exactly who
was who on that whole thing, but.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Right so, I and then and then you have Kyle Shanahan,
who I have all the sympathy for in the world.
I really do think this is not an enviable position.
But basically everyone asking him like hey, this keeps happening.
And his response is it's Mahomes and Brady, what are
you gonna do? So I could could you take all
of that and put that under the umbrella of reed,

(21:53):
had his guys a little bit looser and a little
bit more prepared.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, I mean I think so.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
I think the psychology of this one's really interesting, just
because and we talked about this last week, I think,
didn't we like where it's the effect that Mahomes has
on people and it's and I think I actually said
this last week, like if you go into the fourth
quarter up like where's your head at right? Like and
are you waiting for the other shoe to drop? And

(22:21):
I just think that there's so much of that that
goes into playing one of these quarterbacks. And you know,
my buddy Mike Silver came up with the right term
for it. He said that, like, it's hard to blame
Kyle for this. You got Mahomes, you know what I mean?
And it's I do think like the psychology of having
a quarterback like that and the psychology of going against

(22:43):
a quarterback like that can play into these things. And
Kyle actually like conceded it, like there was that fourth
down that they went for. I think at that point
they were down thirteen to ten, right, like, it was
fourth and whatever, and they could have easily kicked the
field goal there, fourth and three, I think, And then
they threw that little like that little flat route out
to Kittle and he reaches over to pick it up.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Right, that was a fourth and four?

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, Kyle, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
The game fourth, third and four, right, like.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Right, I thought it was a fourth and four.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
No, no, that was a That was a third down.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, oh no, no, no, no, that was a fourth We're talking
about two different plays. You're right, there was a fourth
and three, yes.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Right, so I you know, I think that like and
Kyle conceded there, like I went for it because Mahomes
is on the other side, you know. So it's just
it can seep into every bit of your psychology, you know.
And I mean, look like I think most of us
would look at this and say, well, the pregame warm
ups would maybe dictate how you play at the beginning

(23:43):
of the game. And the Niners kicked the Chiefs ass
at the beginning of the game, like I think at
one point was in the yardage, like one to sixteen
or something. Yeah, So as far as like who was
more ready to go, it would be hard to say
the Niners weren't the team that was more ready to
go based on how the team, how the game started.
But if you want to like kind of like dig
deeper into that, right you really really dig into it

(24:07):
and look at it and examine it. That looseness and
the kind of dialed in this of the Niners, right, Like,
maybe that does play into the fourth quarter in overtime
and how you approach everything, and you know that belief
on the chief side that you know Mahomes is going
to lead us out of the fire, and maybe that

(24:29):
worry if you're going up against Mahomes that at some
point the other shoe's going to drop. And I kind
of think about being up in that press box, Connor,
and like when the Niners kicked the field goal in overtime,
I couldn't help but think the game's over.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
It sort of felt to me.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
It sort of felt to me like when the Patriots
won the toss and the Falcons Patriots Super Bowl. Right,
Like when the Patriots won that toss, you're like, oh, yeah,
it's over, right, you know what I mean like it
kind of felt the same way.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Do you want to know when I thought the game
was over? So I'm looking I'm looking it up right now,
and this is when. So for those of you don't
know when you're when you're writing, when you're a sports
writer and you're covering an event, right, you have to
have something online the second the game is over. One
of the people in your group have to have something

(25:22):
online the seconds.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
I was sitting next to him, and I felt bad
for him because he didn't. It sucks because you really,
and we've all been in that spot. It sucks because
you can't really watch the end of the game.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Fully, right, I mean I I That's what was kind
of nice about being stuck in the hotel on Mondays.
I actually got to see the third and the fourth
most of the third and the fourth quarter. So when
I started writing was it was, let's see here.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
I'm actually gonna go back. I watched the condensed and
the plane home, and I'm going to go back today
after I get my mail bag done, and I'm going
to actually watch the broadcast of the fourth quarter over time,
because I think actually watching the condensed you don't get
the full thing.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
You know what I mean, right right, So I had
two docs up, forty nine Ers win, forty nine Ers lose,
and so forty nine Ers win. I had been making
notes throughout the game about especially some of the you know,
all game you could see what Kyle Shanahan was doing, right,
He's setting up these little things, and you're like, God,
it's gonna be he's gonna have a deep shot dialed

(26:24):
up here off of one of these things. It's gonna happen. Okay,
here's when I thought it wasn't gonna happen, And here's
when I started working on the Chiefs win doc. Okay,
right after the second quarter started the third quarter, Patrick
Mahomes gets intercepted and then the forty nine Ers get
the ball. They're up ten to three. This is the
chance to completely step on their next and put the

(26:45):
second third quarter.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
Sorry.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, So first drive after the interception three plays negative
one yard, fifty nine seconds off the clock. The defense
holds the forty nine Ers right on the next star,
or the defense holds the Chiefs on the next drive. Okay,
So the forty nine Ers get another shot to put
the game out out of reach, step on their necks
three plays again negative one yard, less than two minutes

(27:10):
off the clock. Then following drive, the Chiefs come back
and they kick a field goal. It's ten to six.
I'm like, it's over, it's done.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
I mean, it's already, so kind of let's let's dive
into that a little further. Okay, through that stretch, right,
everything that could go wrong for the Chiefs did go wrong. Right.
They fumble the first play, which puts them in a
situation where they wind up getting intercepted the nine. They
forced the Niners to punt the Niners down that punt
at the two. Yep. Right, So there were all these

(27:39):
little things beyond just what you're talking about the created opportunity.
And I had an executive from another team reach out
to me and point this out to me. Right, So
the Niners started the third their first three possessions of
the second half, right, three and out, three and out,
three and out. I'll take you through the calls there,

(28:02):
pass pass, scramble, right, so another pass call, pass past pass,
run past pass.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
I think that that's where the real criticism. I think
that that's where criticism is fair. Right, Like in that
situation giving up when you gave up to get Christian McCaffrey.
Why aren't you going to him there? You can run
the ball on this team, Why aren't you going to
him there? And I think part of it is the

(28:36):
genius of Steve Spagnolo to be honest with you. But
go ahead and tell me why you think the game
was over there.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I at that point, I don't know, and it could
it's personal to a man, right, But I'm always I'm
convinced that you can feel that. I think that you
can feel a game shift and in that moment, it
just this was their chance, Like that was it? You

(29:02):
know you and you can go back to previous Super Bowls.
And I hate to do this because I do think
Kyle is agonizing over this, certainly, and I don't want to.
You know, a narrative is too simple, right, that he
can't win big games is false. He's won a lot
of big games for his career. He just hasn't won
the Super Bowl. But in those Super Bowls, there has
always been that moment where it's like, Okay, this is

(29:26):
the drive. And it's not in the fourth quarter. It's
always like in the middle of the third quarter where
this is it. You can cut the head off the chicken.
This is it, and it doesn't happen. And when it
doesn't happen, you know, the other team just kind of
seizes on that. And I hate like analytics people will
roast me for this. There's no such thing as momentum.
There's no such thing as this.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
I guess there is, but there is, like.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Its passed everybody. I hate that because everybody who's played
a sport in their life, right from the time you're
five years old, you know that nerves that go into it.
You know, no matter how good or bad you were
in a sport, you know what it feels like when
you're really rolling. You know what it feels like when

(30:09):
it feels like the sky is falling, right, Like that
doesn't change, Like that's I mean, momentum exists.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
The only reason they say there's no momentum.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
And again, like I think analytics are very useful, but
the only reason they say that is because they can't
put a number on it, right.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
And I could feel it, like I could just feel
it in my gut, and I mean, it's it's my
job to have this thing ready, right, And so I'm like,
I was, like, we're abandoning the forty nine ers whin
the Super Bowl copy because it's not happening. And even
you know, they had a couple impressive drives down the stretch,
but it was always like the Chiefs got this. I mean,

(30:48):
I just I knew it. I felt it. I knew
it was over at that point.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I just think, Yeah, I just think like, and you
look at it like, I think choke is a bad
word here.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Yeah, that's a tough for it.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, choke, like, because I don't think, like, I think
this is just I mean, people are gonna kind of
conflate it with what happened with the Falcons in twenty sixteen.
I don't think that's fair at all. I think you
certainly question the play calling, the decision making during that
stretch that you're talking about. But the fact is the
Niners dug themselves out after that, and like they played

(31:23):
pretty well in the fourth quarter, and they scored in overtime,
and there are some other things later in the game
that we can get to, but if this was a choke,
they would have collapsed after that third quarter. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
They Yeah, they scored, They scored a lot of they
I think they scored more points after that than before that,
or just as many.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, right, I mean, like they they like dug themselves out,
and then the last three their last three possessions touchdown,
field goal, do they have.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
Yeah, touchdown?

Speaker 2 (32:00):
All right? So they had a touchdown and a field
goal in the fourth quarter, and then they had a
fourth and then and then again they had a field
goal and overtime, so they.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Scored on their last three possessions.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I do think.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
The game management part of this is worth examining, you know.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
And and I always thought like this is what some
of the defensive head coaches do really well, you know,
I think knowing that your defense is as worn out
as it is, and I think Kyle did, like that's
part of the reason Kyle said he took the ball
at the beginning of overtime. But there was certainly some
like game management questions here. But I don't think you

(32:41):
can call it a choke, you know, I like I
I look at it, like again, if if it's if
it's choking in the purest sense, right, like that momentum thing.
If it's if it's coming undone because you're chicken and
littling the situation, then you would have fallen apart after
the third quarter, and they did, right.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah, which is why I was trying to think about
who would you put this on? And it's unfair to
do it's unfair to like, like Christian McCaffrey after the
game was like, it's my fault I fumbled in the
first quarter. No, I mean it's it's that's like that.
That was like Jalen Hurts blamed himself for the Super

(33:24):
Bowl loss last year, that one mistake is not changing
the course of the game, and he scored a touchdown
made up for it. I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
I think both teams played really well in the front yeah, right,
Like I think the fourth quarter in overtime, like I
look at it, like the Chiefs got scored on every time, right,
but Chris Jones made that play at the end of
the game to hurry brock party right and forced the
field goal. So can you say the Chiefs got No,

(33:54):
the Chiefs defense played really well considering the circumstances, even
though they got scored on every time they went out
there in the fourth quarter in overtime, Did the Niners
defense play poorly or did they just get my homest
I think got the Niners defense. The Niners defense like
got to stop at the end to force overtime, right,

(34:14):
they got I'm looking at it now, two red zone stops,
at least two red zone stops in the fourth quarter,
and really like the only touchdown that the Chiefs scored
during regulation was in a what came after the muff punt? Right,
So can you put this in the Niners defense? I

(34:35):
don't know, I just like look at it, Like the
end of that game was really well played, and it
was I think, in a lot of ways a sport
at the highest level. You know, Yes, there's a really
really well played game.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Do you I mean I was thinking, could you theoretically
put it on a combination Here's where I would land
on it. I think I could theoretically put it on
a combination of Kyle and the offense in the forty
nine Ers offensive line. But again, there were injuries, but

(35:08):
there were guys coming and block. There were there were
guys like George Carlaftis who were having the best games
maybe of the season against this offensive line outside of
you know, you know, could you put it on Here's.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Where Here's where I think Spagnola deserves credit. Right, So
the Niners finished the game with thirty one rushing attempts.
Did it feel like they ran in the ball thirty
one times? No? Right? And then I take you through
that that that sequence there where nine plays, there's one

(35:41):
run call right in that critical situation. And then go
back two weeks. How many times did the Ravens run
it against the Chiefs? Eighteen times? Right? Yeah, yeah, which
is like half of like their normal their their their
their average of rush rush attempts for the year. So

(36:02):
Steve Spagnolo has a way of influencing you to do
things you don't want to do. And I think a
part of it, like he took me through this after
the game, what they'd done, and so I think you
and I had talked about this right like where we
were talking about during the game in the press box
where and you were smart to bring this up. How
the Chiefs kept matching personnel right like, so like the

(36:22):
Niners base offense came out, the Chiefs based defense would
come out, and you know, Niners go with you know,
eleven personnel, the Chiefs bring out their nickel. So Spags
told me that he stopped doing that in the end
of the second quarter, and so he brought his nickel
out right. And the way he explained it to me

(36:42):
was he was like, I brought the nickel out, and
he's like, and then I put a lot on my corners.
So he put a lot on you know, Snead and
McDuffie in particular, and then and then Watson and and
he said that the reason why was because like, what
I'm trying to do is like like I he's like

(37:03):
he brock Party was tearing apart their zones, and Brock
Party and Kyle Shanahan were too good at attacking their zones,
and so it's like, okay, like, so we're gonna play
way more Man and and when and we're gonna put
it on the corners to cover, and we're gonna play
nickel fronts and we're gonna run blitz.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
And so they are influencing.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
They are they are influencing the Niners to throw the ball,
because if you aren't giving them gaps to run into,
then the Niners are going to look at that and
say we have to throw, which is exactly what happened
with the Ravens, right. And I just think it's it's
something that won't show up in any stat sheet, but
it's like, how can you influence the defense? How can

(37:45):
you influence the offense to do something it doesn't want
to do. And I think it's a credit to the
Niners that they played as well as they did down
the stretch, because I do think like Spags' scheme forced
them to play left handed, and I think it wound
up hurting them in the red zone right like, because
now it's harder to go back to the run game
and everything else. But I thought it was a masterful

(38:06):
game from Steve Spagnolo. And I mean, I think if
you look back at the last you know four games,
that the four playoff games, I mean, one of the
great stretches by a defensive coach I can remember in
the playoff setting.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Do you want to hear two wild Spag stats? Yeah,
all right, here these are, even though we all know,
I think these are going to blow your mind. So
the forty nine Ers faced four of the top six
offenses in the NFL in the playoffs combined going into
that game, those four offenses average twenty eight and a

(38:40):
half points a game against the Chiefs twelve point six. Okay,
And here's the other one. This one is amazing, And
say what you will. So Football Outsiders has a stat
called DVOA. It's called defensive value over average. I believe
it's I believe, oh, defense suggested value over average. Right,

(39:01):
So how good are these teams? Based on a lot
of conditional factors? Right? The defenses they're playing, the how
they succeed, not in garbage time. A lot of stuff
is taken into account. Right, So the three best teams

(39:23):
to make the Super Bowl? Over Like, this list goes
back to nineteen eighty three, at least, at least the
three best teams offensive teams to make the Super Bowl
in terms of DVA the two thousand and seven New
England Patriots, the twenty twenty three San Francisco forty nine Ers,
the twenty nineteen San Francisco forty nine ers. All three

(39:44):
of those teams were beaten by Steve Spagnolo in.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
The Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
That's amazing, that's incredible.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
We beat like the three best offenses. Now again, this
is one way of quantifying it, but maybe the three
best offenses it's just ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
I mean, I think, like, honestly, it's I know he's
sixty four, I know he's a defensive coach, but it's
just like can a guy get an interview? You know
what I mean? Even talk about can the guy get
an interview? Yeah? I mean if you were another team,

(40:24):
wouldn't you want to just talk to him? Like how
the hell did you pull this off? And here's the
thing about it too, like this year's Chief Defense, how
young are they? Right? I mean it's all guys' spags
developed too. Like that's the other part. I mean, I'm
sorry Chris Jones, like who obviously is an all time

(40:44):
great and you can't take him out of the equation.
But I mean, go right on down the list, George,
Carl Loftis, Nick Bolton, Willie Gay, Trent McDuffie, Jerrus Snead,
you know, justin Reid's obviously from the outside, but almost
all of the guys that were out up there are
guys that were developed by spags, right, Yeah, so like

(41:08):
just drafting, developing, scheming like it. Like, I I don't
know why you wouldn't want to talk to the guy,
even if he didn't intend on hiring him.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
I would just want to get him in the room.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
And be like like tell me what you did?

Speaker 1 (41:21):
You know? Yeah, how does that work?

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, and you know, Spags was a head coach at
one point. But you can go back and you can
look at all that stuff, right, whether it had something
to do with you know, the quarterback at the time
or the the team.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Did you see Kevin? Did you see Kevin Demoff's tweet? No? Okay,
so this was hold on. I'm going to look it up.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Really, Kevin Demoff is the CEO of the Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Los Angeles Rams and was the CEO of the Saint
Louis Rams when when Spags was the head coach there.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
And here's what he said.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
He actually tweeted a lot about it yesterday. It is
well past time to see Spags get another head coaching opportunity.
The team and organization he inherited in Saint Louis was
a mess. Nobody could have had success. Yet he changed
the culture, staff and players believed an amazing human deserving
of the real shot. We couldn't give him. Wow, I mean,

(42:24):
that's the guy who hired him and fired him in
Saint Louis.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
I really missed this thing up.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
And yeah, it was not like he's basically saying. And
credit to Kevin for doing it, you know, but this
is the guy who hired Sean McVay. Also, you know, yeah,
so I just I don't know why, Like I again,
I don't know why you wouldn't want to at least
talk to him.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yeah, yeah, there's Yeah, it happens a lot, right, there's
a little bit of agism there. Maybe he could have
a late kind of Bruce Arians.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Well, he checks every box of Like that's the problem
is that he checks every box of like what teams? What?
What won't let you win the Cup? Press conference? You
know what I mean, like defense, older, all of it.
Like so, like you know, a lot of these owners
are really worried about superficial things like like you know,

(43:21):
what's the what's the local sports radio station going to
say the next day? Stuff that doesn't matter, right, you know?
Or like are we going to be the team that
gets a d on the on Connor Orr's post hiring
cycle grades.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
So funny if that it's ever taken into consideration. What's
that guy think literally in his basement? So what do
you think that the forty nine ers do from here?
Because we know what the Chiefs are going to do
from here. They're just gonna go win another Super Bowl? Yeah,
San Francisco. I mean, you got a lot of impending

(43:57):
free agents. I thought Mike Florio brought up a good
point that I and I made it. I feel like
I was the first one to make this comparison, and
I've since seen it made other places. I rarely do this,
but I think this was this was a Connor original.
I think the Kyle Shanahan and Andy Reid comparisons are
so apt. They were both offensive gurus. They both had

(44:18):
a lot of high profile failures until they got into
the right situation. Does Kyle need to get himself into
a different situation or is it do you need to
get a different quarterback? Even though Brock Party played really well,
really really well in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
No, because you can't snap your fingers and make Patrick
Holmes appear I mean, remember.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
What cousins appear, right, But I mean, is that.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Going to really does that make your situation markeably better?

Speaker 1 (44:45):
That's what I mean.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Like, I mean, like it took it took Alex Smith
in Kansas City for Andy Reid to get to Patrick
Mahomes And at the very least Brock Party can be
that guy for you, right, Like they can get you
to the next guy, and I do think like I
think he's Like I think the problem is he's This
becomes such a black and white like yes or no

(45:06):
question for people like either he is or he isn't.
You know, we'll dive into it next on first take,
Like I don't think like I like this. These aren't
yes or no questions, like there are shades of gray.
So would you like to have you know, Patrick Mahomes,
Joe Burrow, Josh Allen. Of course you would. You'd love
to have that, But like you can't snap your if

(45:29):
there aren't there aren't thirty of those guys, you know,
and it like history tells us that it's like you
can you can have a quarterback who's a little bit
less than that that gets you to the quarterback, like
what the Chiefs did with Alex Smith being competitive and
buying them time to find the Patrick Mahomes. So I

(45:49):
think that, like the Brock Party questions are a little absurd,
they have them super cheap again next year, then they'll
have to make a decision on them contractually. I think
the bigger questions for the nine are right now are
the rest of the roster, And I think this is
why they don't make a run at kirk Cousins because
brock Purty at whatever he's going to make next year,
like two or three million bucks, is completely different than

(46:13):
kirk Cousins at forty or fifty million bucks. Right, So
I'll llah I have this from my story on Monday.
The Niners have eight players right now. So this is
the amazing thing. I think we talked about this last week.
The highest cap would you like to venture a guest,
Connor on what the highest cap number for the Niners

(46:35):
was this year? Was it?

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Was it Bosa?

Speaker 2 (46:42):
No?

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Was it Debo?

Speaker 2 (46:44):
No? It was Trent Williams. You want to guess what
that You want to guess what that number was?

Speaker 1 (46:51):
The cap number?

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Not the cap number? Not no, the cap number? It
was less? Was it less than twenty yep?

Speaker 1 (46:59):
Like eighteen nine team something like that?

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Twelve and a half? Who got I mean think about that.
Like now, for the people out there, you know what
that Connor? What does that mean?

Speaker 1 (47:13):
That means that the bills is come and do that
That means you're That.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Means you mortgaged, right, which they should have done. They
have eight players in their roster making fifteen million per
year or more, and that's not including like what Ayuk
is going to make next year, right, So those numbers
change this coming year. So next year they have eight
guys right on their roster, eight guys that are the

(47:41):
eight guys who are making fifteen million dollars per year more.
Their cap charge for those eight players alone is one
hundred ninety eight million dollars, so almost two hundred million
dollars for those eight So that's an average cap number
twenty five million per so it's double what the highest
cap number was this year. And then you add in
Brandon Nyuk's fifth year off option, and that's nine players,

(48:02):
gets you to two hundred and twelve million. So now
you're probably around thirty million dollars. You're around thirty million
dollars under the salary cap for next year, right with
forty four spots to fill on your roster. Woof yeah,
So like there are real questions here, like how do
you creatively manage this? And the Niners once managed this

(48:25):
right by trading to Forrest Buckner. They once had this
sort of situation where they looked at it and they said,
we're paying Eric Arms said, we have Nick Bosa and
we're gonna have to pay him. We have to. It
has to give somewhere. So they traded to Forrest Buckner.

(48:47):
I think they're gonna trade somebody. I don't know who
it is. Maybe it's Ayuk, but I think they're gonna
trade somebody, and maybe they trade more than one person.
But you know, I look at where they're at, and yes,
you kick the can down the road for another year,
but I mean, I don't know where. So put it

(49:08):
this way, right, So I gave you the eight guys, right,
the top nine figures, Their top nine cap figures for
twenty twenty five. Right, Their top nine cap figures for
two years from now add up to one hundred and
ninety four million, and two of those nine are dead
money charges and dummy years on contracts. So two guys
who aren't even scheduled to be on their roster in

(49:30):
twenty five. So at some point this has to give. Now,
do you want to kind of keep rolling with this
team and then two years from now you're doing a
complete teardown where you're hitting a hard reset and we've
seen teams do this before and just starting all over again.
Or do you want to gradually start to work guys
off the roster. So if you're another team and you're

(49:52):
calling on Deebo Samuel, I think that the Niners maybe listen.
If you're another team and you're calling on I Hit.
I hesitate to say Fred Warner because he's been like
kind of like a heartbeat player for that team. Yeah,
but I don't know. I mean, like, I think at
some point, like I think there's gonna come a point
in the next couple of weeks where you're gonna start

(50:13):
hearing about them trading one, maybe two of their star
players to try and make what they've built sustainable.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Here's my thought. And granted this hasn't proven out to
win a Super Bowl for them, but I think that
Kyle is a really smart, schematic head coach. I think
the team was at its absolute best when Kyle was
complimented by a true like culture guy.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
So he had Robert.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Sala there and when Sala was there, and you could
say whatever you want about Salo's time as the head
coach of the Jets, I mean, he needs to win
and there's no doubt, but Sala was the one coming
up with all the stuff right, all gas, no breaks,
this is how we play. He was the guy that
was chest thumping everybody and beating him, you know, and

(51:08):
going bonkers right, you know, every game. You know, he
would be on the camera more than Shanahan would be
on the camera. And I do think that Kyle needs
that guy. I mean, he had Anthony lynk like Demiko exactly,
and he had Anthony Lynn. This year he had Steve Wilkes,
which again you know, but you know, Anthony Lynn has
now gone. Anthony Lynn's with the Commanders. Steve Spagnola, by

(51:31):
the way, while we were taping this podcast, just signed
a contract extension. So that was a smart, smart for
the smart for the Chiefs to do that. But I
think as he's retooling his staff, I think Kyle needs
to bring in a few clubhouse guys and he needs
to bring in a clubhouse coach because the way that

(51:52):
he runs his organization, it produces so much in terms
of innovation and like a valuable product for the offense.
But I think what it lacks is that whatever you
want to call it, that overarching personality, that attitude, that looseness,

(52:13):
that intensity. And so you what you need is you
need you need your Sola, you need your Demiico, you
need somebody to come in and be the be the
oil to the water, you know.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Yeah, And I think like Anthony lenn being there helps,
I think.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
You know, was there, he's gone.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
There.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Yeah yeah. I mean I just sort of like look
at it, like I how do you find that guy
and how do you fill it out on your staff?
And you know, I do think the other part of
this too is if you bring in that guy, can
that guy help you with game management? And I think
that this is something that this is something again that
people don't talk about as much.

Speaker 3 (52:59):
With you know, like head coach Hirings.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Because game management is boring and again it's another one
of those things it's probably.

Speaker 3 (53:06):
Hard to put a number on.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
So, you know, an owner's analytics and I don't want
to this in the anti analytics podcast, but it's like
that's something like that an owner's analytics guy is probably
going to look less at, you know. But I do
think like you see that sometimes with the offensive play caller.
Head coaches Andy Reid had a lot of game management
problems when he was in Philadelphia, right, And I just think,

(53:29):
you know, having that guy who can really help in
that area would be big. So who is that guy?
Is there? Somebody out there with all these ex players
getting jobs, is there somebody like that maybe that can
help you in that area. Could you convince Mike ver
Able to go there as your assistant head coach? Ooh,

(53:52):
he's excellent at game management. And you say to Mike Verbel,
come here for a year, right, you'll get to know
all of my young assistants, my young offensive assistance.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
I want you to help be our culture guy. I
want to help I want you to help continue to
instill toughness into our program, which we've already got. And
I want you to help me with game management. And
I want you to help our players with the rules.
That's one thing Mike is very good at, is the rules, right,
And it would be I think a chance for Mike

(54:26):
to go and see from the inside what one of
the best organizations in sports. And I believe that one
of the best organizations in sports. Does I don't know, man,
I kind of like the idea of it, don't you.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
I do? Man? Who that's fun?

Speaker 2 (54:46):
I mean, like I and a chance to go for
Mike Raible, a chance to go try to win a ring,
you know, yeah, I mean it's like it's just like
that would make all the sense in the world because
I think, like wherever, I think Kyle's one of the
five best head coaches in the league. And if I was,

(55:09):
if I had every coach available to me in the
NFL right now and you said to me give me,
you said to me, pick one guy for the next
ten years, it might be Kyle, right, Like Kyle or McVay.
I think those guys are both in the same category.
But like if there are like little areas like where
he can get better, I think Mike Vrabel's like the
guy who would help there. So I don't know, maybe

(55:34):
you couldn't convince him to do it, But if I'm Kyle,
I would make that phone call. One.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Let's close with just one thing that you're looking forward
to here over the next few weeks. I know, we
got the combine coming up, we got a lot of
stuff happening. What are you what's on your radar coming
up here?

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (55:55):
I think, Well, I think like the thing that we
just talked, which is like where are the big trades
gonna happen? There are teams that are that that that
that are leveraged here, and so I think like some
of the best teams in the league have some big
decisions to make. In fact, like, I think if you
look at like the four conference finalists, the team that

(56:16):
has the best chance to come back intact, I think
by far as Detroit.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
Right, I have a Detroit Bengals Super Bowl next year.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
Yeah, I mean I think Detroit comes back.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
I think Detroit has the best chance to come back
intact right, like and still be a sending coming out
of all of this. So what do the Ravens do
about about Matta Bouque and Queen right, Like, those are
two huge pieces for them on defense. How do they, like,
do they find a way to keep both of those guys?
I think that's a massive question, especially like you look

(56:47):
at you know, their linebacker position. They already paid Rokuan,
So what do the Ravens do? What do the Chiefs
do with Chris Jones and Lagerius Snead. Snead was one
of the best players in that team this year. He
could probably command a twenty million dollar contract out there
on the market. I have a hard time seeing where
they hold on to both those guys. Maybe they can
find a way San Francisco, do they trade one of

(57:09):
their stars away? I think that those like for the
this is like I think as far as like where
we're at, like and just kind of the way teams
are built and that idea of leveraging it, and it's
like sort of the Rams effect, right, Like the Rams
over leverage, over leverage, over leverage win a championship and
then they just had their reset year and they've shown
it can work, right because their reset year they made

(57:32):
the playoffs. Like I just I think because teams are
building that way more commonly now, you're seeing it more
often where the great teams go into the offseason with
massive questions. And so for three of the four teams
in the conference championship games, I think we can very

(57:52):
fairly say there's going to be a star too. It's
not going to be there next year. So I think
that that would be the biggest thing. Is like what
happens to those guys?

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Right?

Speaker 2 (58:00):
What happens to Chris Jones? What happens to Lagarious Need?
Is there a star of the Niners? Trade? Do they
trade Brandon Ayuk or Deebo Samuel? I could see them
trading one or the other. Right, Juwan Jennings is a
restricted free agent? What do they do with him? Does
somebody sign him to an offer sheet? You know? And
then you know, and then and then with the who
I missed there said they go through the Ravens, went

(58:23):
through the Ravens. I went through the Niners. I went
through I'm brand dead right now, Connor, I didn't see.
I think the season has worn.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
On me too much, too chief, too much time at
the black checks. Oh no, no, no.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I mentioned Snead and I mentioned Jones. So yeah, And
so the Ravens like Matta Bouque, I think Matta Bouket
has got a chance to make to score big in
free agency. And Patrick Queen two, so you know, like
those are two like heart and soul players for that
Baltimore defense that's already losing Mike McDonald. What does Baltimore
do there? I think with these great teams, with these

(58:56):
final four teams, there are big questions, the exception being
the de Troit or. I think Detroit can probably bring
back everybody or almost everyone and make another run it
in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
I'm looking forward to. I can't wait for the quarterback.
You know, we call it stock rising and stock falling,
even though it's.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
A Caleb Drake.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Yeah, gosh, like and then you know what I'm really
looking forward to when the Bears keep justin fields and
draft a quarterback like I've been saying they should do
for six months, and everyone turns around and says, that's crazy.
Who's been talking about this guy? Right here?

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I think, you know, like I do, think like we
can already forecast some of the things too. I remember
saying last year, like, get ready because we're going to
be talking about Bryce Young's way in at the combine
at nauseum, right, So I'll put one on your radar now.
I think we're gonna be talking a lot about about

(01:00:00):
Kleb Williams fingernails over the next two months.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Caleb william about that fingernails.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
No do you guys do?

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Like? So he paints his fingernails right, like he's painted
his fingernails before games. I think I can't remember his
mom or is whatever. Someone does it for him and
it I guess he's always done it. But it became
really well known before the bit Pac twelve Championship game
the year he won the Heisman. So last year twenty
two right because he had and I won't swear f

(01:00:30):
u c K on one and then Utah on the
other WHOA. So I just say the fingernail thing, because
we're all gonna be talking about how different a personality
he is. We're all gonna be breaking down his makeup
and all that different stuff and jumping in the crowd
and you know, like crying with his mom when he

(01:00:51):
lost that game, and get ready for a lot of
amateur shrinks breaking down Caleb williams make up over the
next two and a half months. The thing that kind
of like for me, that gets me through all of
that and helps me cut through all of that, because
I think this is the most important thing is that

(01:01:12):
the people who've come through that program, the players, the
coaches have gone through USC all seem to love him,
which I think is the most important thing. But there's
a lot to dig through there for teams, and I
think the team start digging through it. Obviously a lot
of that will seep out into the public discussion on
Caleb Williams as well. Oh so, buckle up, Connor, buckle

(01:01:36):
up fingernail talk.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
I've been making a lot of Chris collins Worth noises
during this podcast, by the way, Ah, but.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Yeah, that's true. And Jayden Daniels Jayden Daniels way in
will be important. And then I think we'll talk about
Drake May what exactly went wrong last year because maybe
it felt like to some people like he was great
as a red shirt freshman, and he was really good
hood as a red shirt sophomore, But why did he

(01:02:03):
take a little bit of a step back. It's like
the Sam Howell, another North Carolina quarterback, the Sam Howel discussion, right,
Remember Sam Howell his first year as a you know
when he was when he was a sophomore. I don't
know if his first year is a full time start.
I think it was played great, and then they lost
like Javonte Williams and Michael Carter and Diami Brown and

(01:02:24):
all these other guys, and they basically turned him into
Tim Tebow his junior year, and his draft stock fell.
And so I think we're gonna have a similar conversation
on Drake May. Not that he's gonna fall to the
fifth round. I don't think he'll fall people.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
I don't think he I.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Think his range is two to three in this year's draft,
like second or third pick. But I think a lot
there will be a lot of discussion on Drake May
and why twenty twenty three wasn't quite what twenty twenty
two was for him, which I guess you could have
a similar conversation with with Caleb Williams as well Jayden
Daniels obviously being the opposite of that.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
So there you go. There's my half minute.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Buckle up everybody. Albert and I just got home. We're
going back to the combine. Our our families are still
trying to piece together.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Yeah, kind of got a nice little preview of the
scene an indie there over the last.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
For the airport is a basketball court right now, like
a full on NBA sized basketball court, you know when
you get through security and you go to like that
area with like the Chick fil A. Yeah, that that
that is legitimately a full sized basketball court right now
because of the NBA Star Game. Yeah, the All Star
games there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
So there's a full size, actual.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Size Yeah, I'm not even can you can you play?

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
I think so, like there are balls already everything.

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
I didn't see any balls, but like, why would you
put it there if you couldn't, But then again, it
would probably be like a security issue if you're like
if you like tried to fire a shot and then
it goes down the if.

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
You're walking into security, then you'd be going to the
left side. Was where that food court is right the
opposite side from Harry?

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
And is he because Harry is past security? This is before,
this is before you know what I'm saying in the
big circle area. Yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
I wonder if it'll still be there. So the all
start weekend is this coming weekend for the NBA, right,
I think? So I wonder if it'll still be there
for the common it should be no, because I hope
it is. I hope it is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
I took a picture. I'll send it to you, okay,
and if there is, we'll time our flights. I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna use the uh little one on one. Yeah,
I was gonna say, we'll see if we'll see if
Albert can body me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
I'm how do you think? How do you think people
would react to two of us like and like and
like Jim gear like just like having a super intense
game where we're yelling at each.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Other, dressed like Woody Harrelson from White Man Can't Jump
and just yeah, really really getting into it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Yeah no, I'm headband like.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yeah, Oh I'm looking forward to it. I'm not going
to use that travel site. I'm just going to book
through United like I should have and uh we will.

Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
So beware be aware of those Australian fruits.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
If anyone, if anyone has any other questions for me
on that happy to answer offline. That's Albert Breer, Thank
you so much for listening. As always, met and Gilberto
Thursday to recap the Super Bowl, and you guys can
ask Gilberto if he ended up jumping in the pool
at our airbnb in Vegas. I'll leave that as a cliffhanger,

(01:05:20):
and Albert and I will be back on the normal
schedule next week and we'll get you guys ready for
the Draft.