February 5, 2018 • 44 mins
Doug reacts to the Eagles winning Super Bowl 52 and why the Patriots lost this game in the offseason. He also tells you why teams will be interested in trading for Nick Foles before next season. Former General Manager in the NFL and Analyst for The Ringer Michael Lombardi joins the show to explain why Doug Pederson had success this season and if Rob Gronkowski is serious about retiring.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the dog Got Leap show
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you from the City of Angels,
which I will say this. I will say this. Uh,
look City of Angels. When when you touch down from
(00:21):
the Twin Cities, you're like, man, it's so good, so warm,
but as bad or as cold as the weather was
in Minneapolis. Uh. And you know some media people went
for first night into St. Paul. People were super super nice.
Not the best but far from the worst super Bowl site.
And uh I did tweet this out yesterday, Burck. When
I was back when Romos and Buyer and I were kids, Um,
(00:45):
all the Super Bowls were blowouts. They were the halftime
shows weren't great. The Super Bowls were blowouts. And now,
of course it's the opposite. Every game seems to every
game seems to look the same Tom Brady with the
football driving down the field with a chance to win
the game. Right, Like, where have I seen this before?
It seems like every Super Bowl ever. But nonetheless, we
(01:06):
have champions of the Philadelphia Eagles. I predicted it last week.
I told you that Eagles defense would be dominant, and
they made exactly one play last night, right, like we
so misremember the day afterwards. I'm not trying to diminish
with Doug Peterson did what he did was great, or
how well Nick Foles played. He said he had he
(01:27):
threw two bay balls all night, right, I mean he
overthrew al Shan Jeffrey, which is hard to do twice
last night. Um, Peterson's play calling they got a little
cute at times in the third and fourth quarter, as
uh as as New England made a furious comeback and
actually took the lead. But there was some play calling
on fourth down, not just the trick play, but also
(01:50):
on their final touchdown drive, which of course end up
sealing the deal. Um. But the there's a there's an
expression in basketball recruiting that I think is the real
story here. You ready for it? Basketball a creering. They
say the sins of the of the summer are paid
(02:11):
off in the winter, right, or maybe paid off in
the spring. And and that's really the case with the Patriots,
all right. The Patriots didn't lose the game because Malcolm
Butler didn't play, right, Like, you can sit here and
tell me that Bill Belichick made a grievous decision to
not play Malcolm Butler. But but but it's pretty obvious
(02:35):
to me that here's a guy like how Bill Belichick
would have to cash in all of his football equity.
He's widely seen as not just an incredible head coach,
but as good a defensive game planner as there is
or as have ever been in football. And I mean
they're doing a thirty for thirty on the damn guy,
(02:57):
right he is? That that was his eighth Super Bowl
as head coach. And so you mean to tell me
that in the biggest game and what some people thought
might have been the game of his career, it might
be I don't know. I mean, who knows, Like Josh
McDaniel suddenly getting cold Pete about Indie, maybe Bill Belichick
does one. I don't know, But you mean to tell
(03:17):
me in the Super Bowl, that's when he chooses to, like,
you know what, f Malcolm Butler. I'm just gonna do
this out of spite or maybe he thought Malcolm Butler
wasn't playing that well. Malcolm Butler had been sick, they'd
had issues in Malcolm Butler all year. Let's go a
different way. But like, look the story of the Patriots
is pretty obvious, and he didn't have a great personnel.
(03:38):
The sins of the summer are paid off in the winter.
They didn't have anybody who could make a play. They
didn't have anybody who could get home to Nick Foles.
No one couldn't get there. Like, oh, that Eagles offensive line,
it was incredible, it is really good, but it ain't
that good. I tell me the guy, tell me the
(04:00):
guy who you're like. And we had known it all
season long. They even knew it. That's why they went
and got James Harrison. Didn't have a pass rush all year,
couldn't get home, and like, look, the Eagles have a
really good defense and Brady had to get rid of
it really really quickly. They only got home one time.
They didn't have any defense. At least they went and
(04:22):
tried to get defensive playmakers. The Patriots didn't. And and
this is it happens. And again I hate to draw
the college basketball analogies, as we kind of switched to
college basketball, and boy, the Cavs sucks season, but that's
what we're in. But like you looking, when in college
basketball you get the n S a German, usually you
(04:43):
need a pro or two to get you home for
six games. There's a reason that most Super Bowl winning teams,
or at least Super Bowl teams have Hall of Fame
or Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks, right because at the
end of the day, you need a dude who because
you can win regular season games scheming, health, uh, cohesion,
(05:06):
little luck playing at home? Right, play here, play there
goes your way. But like, outside of Rob Gronkowski and
Tom Brady, tell me who the guys are with the Patriots,
You're like, man, they got and I don't whether it's arrogance,
Like that's just not that talented a football team. They
(05:28):
won because they were super well coached. They won because
they had a great quarterback. But on defense, they couldn't
make a play, couldn't make a play, and it is
hard to be playing from behind. It is hard. And
all of that said, even with very average personnel defensively,
Stephen Gostkowski misses an extra point, there's another botch snap
(05:50):
which caused a missfield goal. That's four points left on
the football field. And the Eagles get home one time.
They get there one time, but it just happens to
be at the very right moment, on the very right
place on the field, and that ends up kind of
sealing the deal. Although in in all honesty, right, like
Brady still got the ball back down eight, he still
(06:11):
had to go like here we go. I mean, think
about the things that had to go the way of
the Eagles, right, And I know they were chasing points.
They missed an extra point, I understand, and the fall
start on was that on Kelsey. I think it was
Kelsey those arts on the first drive that might have
cost him four points. I understand all that. But Brandon
(06:32):
Cooks had to get hurt, which and that that hit,
that that is the that is the hit you did
not want to see over a hundred million people to see. Right,
that's the every youth football program in the country just
lost five to ten of the permission slips they thought
they were gonna get next fall. Correct. I mean, I'm
(06:57):
I'm sitting you know, you're you're if you're sitting with
your wife and you're watching that hit, She's like, no,
thank you, not my baby. Brandon Cooks has to get hurt.
Gostkowski misses an extra point. I mean, things that never happened.
They botch a snap and and it costs them, and
that thing still nearly went in. Right, was that the
craziest kick in the world. It's still nearly that. That's
(07:18):
four points to leave on the field. There there there,
their best speed wide receiver guy takes the top off
the defense, would become a very viable best downfield threat
they had goes out and the the Eagles still need
trick plays Tom Brady to drop as easy a catch
as you're ever gonna get, and fourth down conversions and
(07:39):
only then the Eagles win a championship. Like, I don't
know about you, guys. I some people I think watched
a different game, and I'm not. I'm not again diminishing
Doug Peterson and the go Ford attitude. Here here, by
the way, here's Doug Peterson after the game on why
they were why they went for it so many times.
(08:01):
You know, I trust my instincts, I trust everything that
that I'm doing, and you know, I want to maintain
that aggressiveness with the guys. By the way, the Eagles
screwed up. I don't know if you guys saw this
to two minutes and three seconds to go in the
in the in the game, and the Patriots called time
out on that side of the two minute warning, which
(08:22):
meant no matter what happened on the next play, there
was going to be a stoppage. So what the Eagles
should have done was run play action there to try
and ice the game. Right, you can throw the football
there and complete and you complete it. You complete the pass,
and now the game is over. Tom Brady never gets
the football back. They actually screwed that thing up. Instead,
(08:42):
they run the football into the line, which there's automatic stoppage,
and you know, yeah, they got enough, but they were
going to run it in the line of the third
down anyway, not get the first down. The look that
the Nick Fole story is incredible, going to retire comes back.
You know, his his his quarterback. Coach Frank Reich's a backup.
His head coach, Doug Peterson's a backup. He had become
(09:04):
a backup, and he plays remarkable football. Oh, that is concredible.
The Howie Roseman story, who lost the power struggle uh
two years previous, gets it back, signs his guys a
very cohesive lineup. They become the number one seed. Of course,
they lose their quarterback, and they win a Super Bowl,
even though Carson Wentz was in Cities. Oh, that's incredible.
(09:28):
But I mean, let's not go crazy to those of
us who actually watched the game and remember it. Remember
Cooks gets hurt, gus four points left on the field
the first half by the Patriots. The Patriots still retake
the lead in the fourth quarter, had the ball twice
with the length of the field to go, and and
(09:49):
had to stave off you know, fourth down conversions, two
point conversions, everything. They threw the kitchen sink at him.
We're questioning Bill Belichick and his handling of Malcolm Butler.
Here's Belichick, by the way, on the Malcolm Butler situation.
We put the best players out there in the game
plan out there that we thought would be the best tonight,
(10:11):
like we always do. Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, but he's
earned the equity too. If he tells me, he tells
me that he thinks that's you know, my my my
eleven are on the field, you know, like my four
on my teams on the court. I just I'm I'm
good with it. That's how close that game was, all right.
(10:36):
There's a ton of things to get to a ton
I believe, I believe that there's there there is something
to this. Gronk retirement talk. I believe there is something
to this. Josh mcdanis might got not go to indie talk. Um,
I want to get to with Drew Bledsoe, who's gonna
join us upcoming in moments of course, Drew Bledsoe, the uh,
(10:57):
the former New England Patriot quarterback. I just kind of
remarkable to me, Um, how how we changed kind of
the narrative because we wanted to support the winner instead
of just being honest about it. Folds was great, Fowls
was great, Um, and they did have what appeared to
be a little bit better talent at some and they did.
(11:19):
They did a great job of sprinkling that town around.
But that was an incredibly close game, a remarkable comeback
by the Patriots. The Patriots did not punt the entire night.
So yeah, I thought the Eagles would win, and I
thought their defense was it would be a difference maker.
But let's be honest, the Eagle defense made exactly one
play last night. It was enough, but one play. Be
(11:42):
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I'm interested
in what Drew bled saw, so of course, um he
started one of these Super Bowls in for the New
England Patriots. He joins us on the Doug Got Show,
fall on Graham at Drew Bledsoe, and of course on
Twitter as well. Uh you can go to double back
(12:03):
dot com and check out his two thousand fifteen cabernet
which is uh dropping tomorrow. Um, Drew, If if I
asked you for a short synopsis Super Bowl fifty two,
how would it? How would it? How would it sound
coming from you? Well? I don't think the Patriots have
anything to hang their heads about. I thought they played
extremely well. Um, I just I just really thought that
(12:25):
the Eagles came up and won the game. You know,
which you know the Patriots, and you know all these
years of success, you know, they're they're one of the
things that they hang their hat on is that they
never they never lose the game. They wait for the
other team to make the big mistake and lose the
game to them. And the Eagles just didn't do that.
You know, they were bold going for it on fourth
down all those times, and and um, you know I
thought though that you know, there's there's there's plays during
(12:48):
games in all of the all football games, whether they're
blowouts or whether they're close games, they're they're plays kind
of hidden in the middle of a game that can
change the entire complexion of a game. And to me,
that play in the game yesterday was the third down
conversion that the Eagles made right after the Patriots scored
coming out of halftime. The Patriots came out and they
(13:09):
just said, Hey, we're gonna throw it to Grounk. We're
gonna throw it to him again. We're gonna throw it
to him again, marched right down the field, scored in
a hurry, and it was one of those that if
you watched the Patriots for a long time and like, Okay,
here it goes, here comes the snowball. And the Eagles
came out and the first the first two players they
had like A, I don't think they had a third
and fourth, third and five, third and six, something like that.
(13:29):
Uh through it through it short um to uh. I
can remember what it was. But he broke a tackle
and got that first down and they ended up putting
together a long drive right after the Patriots had scored,
and that to me changed and set the tone for
the entire second half. I agree with you. Um, it
has been And again this is to people who have
watched the Patriots all year. They've struggled to get out
(13:50):
the field and third down, right, I mean, that's been
a that's been a huge issue with this with this defense.
I know that they have, Um, they haven't allowed a
ton of points, but one of the reasons they've allowed
so much yardage throughout this season and they struggled in
terms of defensive rankings is their inability to get off
the field on third down. Now, yeah, well, you know
it's it's you remember early in the season the Patriots
(14:12):
were kind of getting rung up on defensively. You know,
teams were scoring points and tony yards. And then uh,
you know that Matt Patricia and that staff did a
really great job throughout the rest of the season of
really improving what they were doing. Um. But I think
with the with the Eagles, what they ran into, what
they ran into was a team that was just phenomenally
well coached. You know, when you've got to an x
(14:32):
NFL quarterback as the head coach and and you got
another x NFL coaches, your offensive coordinators, a lot of
creative ideas there. And it's not just in the passing game.
You watch what they do with their blocking schemes. They
change angles, they motion guys, they trap and pull, and
they do all kinds of things in the running game
that builds into their to their play action game. And
I just I just thought it was a phenomenally played
and coached game by the Eagles. Drew Bledsoe joining us
(14:56):
in the Doug Outlup Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
Malcolm Butler plays one snap special teams and afterwards Belichick says,
you know, like, look, this is we try to put
the best field team on the field. Um. And so
of course, you know, people, well this is about the contract,
this is about um something outside of football. You know
that locker room. Do you think Belichick did it for
(15:17):
any other reason that he thought one of the backups
was better than Butler. There must have been something that
happened football wise that led them to that, uh, to
that conclusion. You know, you know, the Patriots, they're all
about winning. I mean, that's it. So if if a
guy did something conduct wise, you know, he may have
been punished, and you know, they may have set him
(15:38):
for the first series of the first quarter or something
like that. But but they're trying to win the game.
So to me, it says that there must have been
something in his preparation that led them to believe he
wasn't going to be ready to play in the game.
That's the only logical conclusion that I can come to. Um.
And why you would sit a guy that played, you know,
nineties something per cent of the snaps all year and
(15:58):
then you don't play him at all in the game,
not even as a substitute. There must have been something
football wise that led them to believe he wasn't ready
to go. Rob Gronkowski was kind of noncommittal in regards
to returning next year in football. He just came off
a concussion. He's had I think four surgeries on his arm,
he said, back surgery, he's at knee surgery. I mean,
he's he's running the game. On the other hand, as
you pointed out, if you thought Gronk was losing his step,
(16:21):
they went to Brady misfired on on one on the
thing the first past him outside of that, five targets,
four catches, march right down the feet, march right down
the field and score out of the break. I mean
he's still, if not the best in football right there
with Travis Kelsey, and he's just such a mismatch. What
do you think is the likelihood that Gronk returns? You know,
I don't know Gronk very well. Um, I hope he
(16:44):
keeps playing, mostly just because I'm a fan of football.
You know, I was out there. I got to go
out as the donorary captain for the sc championship game,
and I walked out on the field next to Gronk
and I'm six five. You know, I'm not the small guy. Man.
Gronk just made me feel like a little kid. Man.
He is such a monster, uh, you know, size wise
and athletically. I'd love to see him keep playing. But
I also recognize that that he's a little bit unique
(17:05):
in the way that teams approach him. You know, they
try to beat him up with the line of scrimmage,
they try to beat him up in the secondary um
and it's you know, there's some wear and tear that happens, uh,
and then you get you know, you get a concussion,
and you know, uh, you get some of those things.
You know, at some point, um, you know, it does
enter a guy's mind if you're taking that kind of punishment. Hey,
(17:26):
how long do I want to do this? How long
do I want to subject myself to this kind of
punishment and potentially, you know, uh, you know, put the
rest of my life and livelihood at risk. So, you know,
I hope he plays, and I anticipate that he will,
but I do think that that he may be a
guy that's you know, he's not gonna try to play
fifteen years. I just don't think that. Uh. Um, you
know that this body can hold up and if he
(17:46):
wants to live along productive life after he's done with football,
you don't want that, you know. The it's the full
thing is interesting. Obviously you experienced this a little bit
in your career where um, where you know, you end up,
you get hurt, backup ends up, Tom Brady ends up
playing great and then you have to go elsewhere. And
I think anybody can lose their confidence. Is that what
happened to him? Did he just lose his confidence and
(18:07):
then he regained it? Is this how good he always was?
Is this one game? What's your read on how Nick
Foles went from a guy who was thinking about retirement
to the Super Bowl m v P. Well, you know,
this was one of those instances where I'm going to
jump up and down and say, hey, I told you so.
You know, I did a bunch of interviews this last week,
and I said, you know, Nick Foles is a good
football player. He's a damn good quarterback. Um. And he
(18:28):
had received some criticism, you know, late in the regular season,
he received some criticism, uh you know, and it was
with the Rams. Um, but he was you know, the
the Rams thing. It was just a bad situation, you know.
And and uh, um, you know, you watch what happened
with Jared Goff, you know, his rookie year, and they
were ready to send him pack into and then all
of a sudden they get a different staff and a
(18:48):
different system and put some players in place, and he
can be effective, you know. And the same thing as
is true with with Um, you know, with Foles. I mean,
he you know, he's been a good player all along,
and I think at one point when he was considering,
you know, not playing football anymore, I think he just
kind of had enough of you know, trying his butt
off and just being in a bad situation. So I'm
really really happy for the guy. I'll be interested to
(19:10):
see what what what happens with him going forward. Um,
you know, I think they've got a uniquely great quarterback
room and there's no discounting the importance of that, the
relationship that the quarterbacks have their UM and uh, you know,
so I think they would they would in a perfect world,
they'd love to keep him. But at the same time,
you know, shoot, somebody may call and offer him the world. Um,
(19:30):
you know, if he's you've got a Super Bowl m
v P that's available potentially. Uh, there obviously are some
teams out there in the NFL. They're looking for that
caliber of a quarterback team they make him may come
calling for him. Um. Lastly, Drew I said that, Um, yeah, look,
you said the Eagles wanted the Patriots didn't really lose it.
On the other hand, the Patriots they just don't have
(19:51):
defensive playmakers. And um, you know, the basketball expression is
the sins of the summer recruiting ends that you end
up paying off in the winner. That I felt like
the case a little bit with the Patriots all year.
But seeing as Patricia is gone, Josh McDaniels may well follow.
You know, there's there's some discussion we don't know about
the Longetti of Gronk. Look, I don't know, like, what's
(20:16):
the likelihood that this thing is as good as it's
been in the near future. I mean, there's they got
some work to do and fill in some of these holes,
don't they. You know, they do, they have some holes
to fill. But they're still you know, they were the
odds on favorite to be in the Super Bowl at
the start of the year. Uh, and they got there. Um,
and what they've shown time and time again, and it
(20:36):
seems like we've been saying this is the end for
the Patriots for about a decade. Uh and they still
rise to the challenge every year. Um. I think they'll
find a way to fill those holes. If they have
to replace coordinators. They've been extremely adept at doing that
and bringing guys up from within. Um. You know, I
just I you know, when they when they fall, when
they finally fall, I think it'll it'll be a surprise.
(20:58):
But I don't see that anytime in the near you chere.
I think they've got the best ownership in the league. Um,
They've got you know, Hall of famers at the head
coach and quarterback position, and um, you know, I just
I think that it's going to be a situation where
they've got they've got the ability in the off season
to go, um, you know, to go make some changes
and make it, make some additions, UM, and they'll solve
(21:19):
the coaching problem. UM and they'll just they'll be right
back where they they've always been. There'll be a contender.
UM and uh, you know, I wouldn't bet against him
being in the Super again a year from now. All right, listen,
you've got Valentine's coming up. Nothing like a good cab.
There's a two thousand fifteen cab that's You're available tomorrow.
A double back dot com that's Drew bred So's a
signature wine. Of course, followm on Instagram or on Twitter. Drew,
(21:43):
thanks so much for your incredible insight in your time.
We appreciate it. Right on, Doug, always gonna talk to
you man. We'll talk to again soon. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app. Everybody's talking about Cousins.
Where will he go? Obviously we now know where Alex
Smith is. There's some talk about Um, there's some talk
(22:08):
about case Keenum you know, there's the three other two
quarterbacks in Minnesota. Where will they go? Like, look, nick
Foles was not it's not doesn't feel like that flukey
what he was able to do. Like somebody is going
to move Try and make a move for Nick Foles.
(22:28):
His contract is reasonable, and I'm sure Philadelphia is gonna
try and parlay him into draft picks. You already you
got Carson Wentz. Now we don't know when Wentz is
going to be available. But if you're the Eagles and
you're gonna keep trying to get better after winning a
super Bowl, and you have an asset that um you
know in your in your best possible scenario is gonna
(22:50):
be coming off of the bench, you look to move him.
And Folds has been a starter before and been successful
for and I think everybody understands if you put him
in the right offense, he can be success. Well again,
he's not old. He's got a big arm, you know,
Like all right, Denver gets Cousins. That means Arizona, that
means Jacksonville, that means Cleveland. And think of how many
(23:11):
quarterback starved teams there are, and Nick Foles suddenly now
is as viable on on the market, on the trade
market as anybody in the league. He's only twenty nine
years old, He's six ft six two pounds. He's the
type of he's the type of arm that like, look,
if you're Baltimore and you're gonna move on, Like, don't
you at least like what would it take? What would
(23:36):
it take? And as as bad as it was in St. Louis,
it was bad for everybody with with that system. For
his career, sixty one touchdowns, twenty nine interceptions. He had
one terrible statistical year in which he was a starter
(23:56):
for eleven games for the for the St. Louis Rams
and gets what and so did Jared goff Case Kingdom
struggle with the Rams, you name it. Jeff Fisher's offense
was rudim entry and got exposed. Put in the right
offense around the right pieces. He ain't bad. I'm not
saying he's a top ten quarterback or top fifteen quarterback.
But you could do a lot worse. We told you
(24:17):
last week Fools would be a big name that would
be banded about on the open market. I didn't know
he would play that well. But he's going to generate
a bunch of interest, and I would be stunned if
he's still an Eagle to start next year stunned. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
(24:37):
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I love
learning about the NFL. I mean it's one of the
things if you're gonna do this job I've been doing
for fifteen years, you better know about the National Football
Like you better be able to listen to really smart people.
Michael Lombardi has a has a one called the GM Street.
It's It's great. Um. He also has a new book
called Football Done Right, which will be released on next September.
(24:59):
We want to get get a little plug for falling
on Twitter at m Lombardi NFL. Michael Lombardi, former gentle
manager of the Nation Football League, has been life in
this league, he joins us on the Doug Gotlip Show.
I say all this knowing that, like, look, anybody who
covers the sport works in a sport. We all have
things we miss on, right, Like people love to point
out that, Uh, like I thought Ricky Rubio had more
(25:19):
upside than Steph Curry and all Steph Curry's done is
one in two m v ps. You've owned the fact
that you didn't think Doug Peterson was going to be
a competent head coach. What what is it about Peterson
that has impressed you that that is obviously changed in
in his team's production. You know when you look over
you know it never called plays before, really didn't have
an extensive background as as as a guy who was
(25:41):
leading players, and you know, kind of got the job
because Ben McAdoo didn't show up on the visit. You know,
the Giants kept Ben McAdoo in town, and so, you know,
I'm a little skeptical. And then I thought last year
they all they did was copy of the Kansas City's plays.
I mean, that's really what they did. They ran Kansas
City's offense on us directly. And this year it's really
(26:02):
been a remarkable resurgence. A Carson Wentz played really well.
Last year Carson Wentz and he throw overs over ten yards.
Carson Wentz dropped around completion percentage, and this year he
got much better. And what makes this team so fascinating,
and I think what makes Peterson so fascinating is Peterson
is almost like the city of Vienna. The Vienna was
(26:23):
founded by the Ottoman Empire, and so they have all
these different cultures in it, right, so that you can
get brandy and Vienna, you can get pastry. I mean,
it's all these different cultures. Well, the Eagles offense is
nothing but a bunch of different plays from all over
the NFL, but they run them really effectively. I mean,
last night, we saw Chip Kelly's offense, we saw the
Rams offense, we saw the we saw Oklahoma the University's
(26:47):
trick play. We see every different thing that they do,
and they became the unconventional team, and I think that's
really the secret to their success. Belichick loves to make
teams play left handed. The problem with that game last night,
and why I picked the Eagles to win the game,
was because the Eagles are a left handed team, meaning
what they don't do anything conventionally. They go for it
(27:09):
on fourth down twenty seven times. Once they crossed midfield,
they run everybody else's offense but their but their own.
They run the inside zone play, and then they make
you defend the width of the field. You're a basketball guy, Doug.
So what they do is they got great spacing on
the field, So they make you defend the inside portion
of the field with big guys because they have big backs.
They don't have little backs, you know, other than Clement
(27:30):
when he comes in. They have two fifty pound rocks
that run the ball inside. And then they make you
defend the width of the field. So now you're in
space and you've got a couple of the bubble passes,
and then they throw the ball down the field very effectively,
and they win those jump balls. I mean, this was
really the kryptonite that that that New England couldn't handle.
From the opening game of the year, New England gave
(27:51):
a forty two points to Kansas City, they gave up
another forty one. This is a mirror image of them
not being able to control the game. And when you
gain six hundred yards in twenty seven minutes of football
and you don't win the game, it tells you there's
a bigger style. And I think that's been the problem.
Everybody's played the Eagles and gain yards. Look, the Chargers
played them twenty minutes and gave four hundred yards. The
(28:12):
Giants played them twice. One time, they only had the
ball twenty two minutes. They gained over four hundred yards.
Another time they gained five hundred yards. The problem is
nobody was making the Eagles defense play a doubleheaded They
wouldn't couldn't play thirty minutes when they did against the
the Seahawks, and when they did against the Kansas City Chiefs.
They lost again last night, New England could only make
them play twenty seven minutes. Yeah, and and uh and
(28:34):
I'm newing and still put up, you know, Brady still
for there are five hundred yards they didn't bunt and
they lost. It's really remarkable. But I think the lesson
here and this is what the books about. I I
think people miss it completely. Okay, a missed field goal
is a turnover. Nobody wants to accept it. You know.
Everybody says, well, the Eagles, you know, turned the ball
over once in the first half, and the and the
(28:56):
and the Patriots didn't. The Patriots had two turnovers in
the first half. They missed the field goal and they
lost the ball on downs. Those are turnovers. They should
go in the turnover takeaway column and count them. Because
when you're looking at the game and you don't punt
the whole game, and you're saying, how did we lose, Well,
you lost because you committed three turnovers. They would have
been better off hunting than they would have been turning
(29:17):
them all over. It's it's uh that you know like that.
And of course I missed the extra point to I
mean that's four points. Well they missed four points. I
mean they missed the chip shot. Look, the Eagles really
won the game. Nobody's going to talk about this. The
Eagles special teams matched the special teams for the Patriots,
and that's one of the ways you have to beat
the Patriots. I wrote a column for The Wringer back
(29:37):
in the summer about how to beat the Patriots. You
had to be institutionally really good in the kicking game.
And the Eagles weren't great this year in the kicking game.
It's a little bit of the residue. Their special teams
coach was left behind from Chip Kelly, an excellent coach,
and they did a really good job of controlling field position.
They put pressure on them and they won the game
in that area. And when you can beat the Patriots
(29:58):
with your offense and you can beat them with your
spec teams, that's two of the three phases. There's that
you mentioned Basketball there's a basketball expression I've been using
to describe the Patriots defense, and that's the sins of
the summer are paid in the winter, right, Like, when
you don't recruit well, it gets exposed. I know they
traded their draft picks because they knew they had some
holes to fill. But that defense was devoid of playmakers
(30:19):
all year. And isn't that one of the things that
that really got exposed, no doubt. I mean, look, they're
they're just not talented on defense. I've been saying it
all along. I mean they've been able to look when
the Eagles beat the Vikings, I went on my podcast
and I said, this is a horrendous matchup for the
Patriots because this was exactly the kind of team The
Patriots can't make play left handed. And that's what happens. Belichick.
(30:40):
You're trying to defend the inside zone, you're trying to
defend al Shan Jefferis, You're trying to match everything up.
It became too problematic, and then Folds needed to have
an off day and he didn't. He played great. He
made every throw. He threw the ball with precision and timing,
and he caused a problem. I think look, when you
did exactly what Alex Smith did in the opener, when
you give up, I mean, Belichick will tell you when
(31:01):
you go forty one point, you don't deserve to win.
And that was the one Super Bowl I think easily
you could say the Patriots, even if they would have won,
didn't deserve to win. That's Um explained to me, the
Malcolm Butler thing. He I started the show saying, I
understand that we wanted so much to be about a
contract and about you know, him doing the Belichick thing
(31:22):
and and f you with with him on the way
out the door. But I don't know. I mean, the
guy has kind of earned the right to look at
the film and understand his team and legitimately say, like
I think other guys give us a better chance. What's
the reality of it? Um, I think something had happened,
and I think something had to happened. I think something
happened between Butler and the relationship he had or the
(31:42):
respect for the team, whether it was out for curfew. Again,
I don't know this, but to me, something had to happen.
Roe has quoted and I'm only based on this on
what Rose said. Roe was quoted as saying he found
out he was playing before the game, which he took
rep store in the week, no doubt. But I mean
he didn't know he was going to be the starter
until before the game. So that tells me something triggered this.
(32:03):
And look it trust me on this. I know Belichick
too well. If it's no contract dispute, whatever, get in
the way of what was in the best interests of
the team. So there's more to that to meet the eye.
And knowing Bill, he doesn't want to share with anybody
because for him it's between Butler and himself. Um, I
don't think it's crazy for Gronk to think about walking away, Um,
(32:24):
because he has done things. He has gotten out from
behind the shield. Right, he's got he's got a reality show,
he's got he's had all these surgeries on all different
parts of his body, and like, look, it's it's reasonably
be scared about your brain. Look what happened to Brandon Cooks.
Like again we talked about things that are underrated. Cook's
getting obliterated and getting a concussion limited him. You have
(32:45):
your Rob Gronkowski, You've seen your football life cross uh
passed for your eyes. Like I think he returns, but
I don't think it's crazy for him to think about
walking away. I think, you know, look at any time
you put a microphone in front of a player after
a game like that, and after all the things that
have had to happen, remember this, The Patriots have basically
(33:05):
played more games than any team in the league because
they're always playing in late in January, they're always playing
in February, so the wear and tear on your body.
They've played actually two extra seasons more than most teams
in the league, and so that wears on you. That
creates a problem. And because it creates a problem, there's
always that I don't feel like climbing the mountain again.
Because for New England, they started ground zero. When they
go back in April, when they start their off season program,
(33:28):
they are not the a f C champions. They're not
going to view themselves as anything other than their zero
zero and they got to compete, and that's a long climb.
And when somebody puts the microphone in front of you
after the game and says do you want to make
the climb again, it's always reluctant to say yes. And
I think there's some time to reflect you gotta get
your body to feel better. I'm sure grounds body doesn't
(33:48):
feel very good right now, and like none of the
player's bodies feel good. And so because of the hardness
and the and the really the hurt that you go
through because you lost the game, you know, it's hard
to answer that question honestly. Um, okay, what about Folds
and his viability on the market, right? They got him
in a backup contract, and like, look, he's obviously not
(34:12):
going to be a guy who consistently performs the level
he performed the last two games. But other plenty of
other players that played in Jeff Fisher's offense and and
have have looked better after leaving Jeff Fisher's offense. What's
his viability as a starter around the league? In the
league in which he got six or seven teams that
would kill for anybody who could push the ball downfield
like him? Yeah, no, I think Look he's you know,
I think he was the Nick Foles seven and two.
(34:33):
He wasn't the Nick Foles with Jeff Fisher's offense. So
we know that the missing link here is that Fisher's
offense wasn't very effective in order to utilize the things
that that Folds does well. And I think that's where
you have to take your hat off to Doug Peterson.
He did the things that Folds does extremely well. He
put the offense in that makes him work, and they
ran it effectively, and they're set up to run that,
(34:55):
so it was an extension of what they were already doing.
I think he's got a lot of viability as a
starter the NFL. The thing that I think has got
to happen first is WinCE's health. What do you do?
I think Howie Roseman will benefit from saying no quickly
and often and saying he's not available for trade. He's
our starter until Wins is healthy, until you can determine
where you are with Wins and then make the decision,
(35:16):
and if you have to carry him in the next year,
enfranchise him because you think he has trade value. You
do that as well. I think they're sitting in the
driver's seat in Philadelphia. They keep saying no, people will
keep raising the antie and somebody will make him an
offer that they can't refuse. What do you think of
the Alex Smith trade? You know, I think Philadelphia had
I think the Redskins have been poorly administrated. In terms
(35:37):
of the whole Kirk Cousins thing. I mean, they got
themselves into this mess because they cut they were gonna
Outsmart kirk Cousins agents, and they never did, and now
they had to do this trade, which to me, I
don't I'm not sure kirk Cousins. I'm not sure Alex
Smith is better than Kirk Cousins. In fact, I know
he's not. Now he'll protect the ball better? Will he
throw it up the field? Will he run the offense
(35:58):
that's effective? For what Alex Smith does? We know this,
Alex Smith is really good in the Utah version of
the West Coast offense. Now will they do that in Washington?
That remains to be seen. I think sometimes we look
at players like their interchangeable parts. They're not. Nick Foles
is the perfect example. Nick Foles in the right scheme effective,
Nick Foles in the wrong scheme. Journeyman Josh McDaniels. There's
(36:19):
some talk that he's not going to go to Indie.
That's the unbelievable, Like who's talking about that? That that like,
that's ridiculous. That's been done and that's been done. He
met with the owner, the owner came back to spend
time at his home in Westwood's, Massachusetts. A general manager
Chris Ballard, there's never been any hesitation on Josh McDaniel's
part in terms of wanting to take that job. I
(36:39):
don't know where that story came from, but I can
tell you that I expect him to be the head
coach of the Indianapolis Colts. On Wednesday at a press conference,
who's going to be better in their new job, Patricia
or Josh McDaniels. Well, I think obviously it's gonna come
down to the quarterback play and who coaches the quarterback.
I mean, Matt Patricia is gonna take over, Jim Bob
Couter is gonna run his offense. Paul Pascalone, i'm hearing,
(37:00):
is going to be the defensive coordinator there. So we've
got to rebuild a staff, and I think that's gonna
be a team in transition. I think Indianapolis is prime
for a culture change. I think Indianapolis with their quarterback
coming back and being healthy, I think what we saw
on Sunday was Josh McDaniel's brilliance as a great offensive mine,
and I think you'll see that in Indianapolis with Alex
with Andrew Luck who can absorb all that offense and
(37:21):
really make it just like Tom Brady. Uh. The podcast
is GM Street. The book is Football Done Right, which
of course is coming out this September. Maybe the best
thing to do is just follow Michael Lombardi on Twitter
at m Lombardi NFL. He covers the league for The Ringer.
That's where that podcast is available. Michael, great stuff. Unfortunately,
no football games to talk about for the next six months,
(37:43):
but we've got plenty of football to talk about. We'd
love to have you back on very very soon. Absolutely,
and I'll talk about the seventies sixers and all that
anytime you want, Doug, so feel free, Thanks so much,
Michael Lombardi joining us. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio Dot common within the I
Heart Radio app. Most NFL guys, that's who they are.
(38:05):
They're complete unknown guys, gronks. Not that guy. Do you
have four surgeries on his arm and knee surgeries, got
two back surgeries, one in college, one in the pros.
He just got a concussion, a major concussion that he
was only cleared for a couple of days before the
Super Bowl, and like, at some point, like you know,
I can make I don't know. He makes eight million dollars,
(38:26):
maybe makes ten million all in plane next year, great,
but at some point that becomes a diminishing amount of
return from playing. And Gronk is a big enough personality. Look,
you're not gonna put him on a game broadcast. He
can do other stuff. He can just be Gronk. It's
worked for him. Like, I'm guessing he comes back, but
(38:49):
I don't think it's a it's a we're assured, you know.
I mean Robert Grindcoss. He doesn't come from nothing, but
he doesn't come from ridiculous wealth, and so I'm sure
he probably comes back. He's like, look, you know, if
I make all in ten millions and otherwise I might
make five, like I should do it. But the fact
that Rob Gronkowski and everybody's like, well, he just came
(39:10):
off a football field. If you just came off a
football field and you lost, most people go like, man,
I can't wait to do it again. I lost. It's
one of the things we talked about this before the
game amongst my friends. People like I said, you know,
look if Brady leads him on a game winning drive
in the Super Bowl with this team, don't you just
walk off like, well, what if he loses? Why does
(39:30):
it change me? Look, because when you lose, you want
to go do it again. That's that's part of the
that's part of the deals. Like, you lose, you can't
get wait to get back after it. I think Grant
comes back. But if you don't realize the concussion, Brandon
Cook's concussion, the surgeries, and the fact that when you
lose the Super Bowl and you're asking about come back
(39:53):
next year, and the first reaction is hell, yeah, I
want to come back. I wn'na play the Eagles again.
I want to beat him next year, you should be
alerted to the possibility that Grant calls it a career
a lot sooner than you thought. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at
three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(40:14):
the I Heart Radio app. The takeaway from the Super
Bowl is really really simple. Fit is just about everything.
Nick Foles was out of the league, wanted to quit.
I thought I can't do this, I can't do it.
I can't do it, I'm sure, but part of it
(40:35):
was not just his frustration, but his frustration and knowing
he had talent inside of him and he could not
find the fit that could bring him out. He he
had it for a year with with Chip Kelly, Right,
he had a three touchdown touchdown to interception year, and
(40:56):
he couldn't find that fit. He kept searching, searching for
that fit. And then he threw up his hands in
the air. And now, all of a sudden, he has
a couple of the greatest games in the history of
the organization and plays an incredible super He's Super Bowl MV.
Think about Super Bowl MVP. Over his last two games,
(41:20):
he throws for what over seven hundred yards, six touchdowns,
one interception. Come on, I mean even the game over
Atlanta where Falcons did have a chance, fourth down, fourth
and goal, chance to win the game. Look, he was
twenty three thirty two forty six no touchdown is known receptions.
He ends the playoffs with a quarterback rating about hundred
(41:41):
and fifteen point seven. Wow. Right, And you know, we
talked about the r p O s and some of
it's to play action on an RPO whatever. He found
a fit, they found. Now we know what he fits.
He can throw the ball down the field, he can
throw the ball ladders, he can move a little bit like, look,
(42:01):
he had a couple of he fired up a couple
of misses there to al Sean Jeffrey, I don't know, Like, look,
there's a bunch of things. I think the Brandon Cooks one,
that's a that's a hit. That a lot of that.
The NFL is like, all right, let's move on from that.
Let's not show that that was nasty. Um obviously the
was it a catch? Was it or not a catch?
Just not just on the game winning touchdown, but one
(42:21):
of the other touchdowns for the Eagles, Like, I think
that comes to a head. But to me, the theme
of the Super Bowl, the theme of the Super Bowl
is fit. Fit is fit is Look, there are some
people that are so incredibly talented, so incredibly gifted, it
might not matter, right. Rob Gronkowski is so good whoever
(42:42):
you put on him. He's just bigg There's times in
which he was covered. He's just bigger. But let's also
remember that fit is so incredibly important and when you
find the right fit, cling to that, not to the
the when I was really on this business. A guy
named Chuck Wilson kind of took me under his way.
(43:02):
And Chuck Wilson lives in outside of Providence, Rhode Island, Island,
a long time radio host and he's as good at
competent radio guys you're gonna find. And and he told
me long ago, like, don't ever take a job for
the money. Now he didn't say take a job for
the fit, but he just said, hey, don't ever take
a job for the money. And so true, so true.
Now money is And to people who say like money
(43:24):
is not important, like that's not true, right, money can't
money can't buy happiness? Not not true. We can buy
you a lot of the things that can create a
happy world around you. There is a there is a
level to which you need to make but there's also
the idea of fit. Can you go someplace that that?
And this is no different in relationships. Plenty of plenty
(43:46):
of beautiful people who are like, yeah, they doesn't really
fit my personality. Find someone who fits you emotionally, it'll
bring out the best in you, just like it physically.
It brings out the best in you as an athlete.
When you're in the right system, in the right place
at the right time, when all those kind of things align,
(44:07):
you get nick Foles in the sim Bowl.
This is the best of the dog Got Leap show
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming to you from the City of Angels,
which I will say this. I will say this. Uh,
look City of Angels. When when you touch down from
(00:21):
the Twin Cities, you're like, man, it's so good, so warm,
but as bad or as cold as the weather was
in Minneapolis. Uh. And you know some media people went
for first night into St. Paul. People were super super nice.
Not the best but far from the worst super Bowl site.
And uh I did tweet this out yesterday, Burck. When
I was back when Romos and Buyer and I were kids, Um,
(00:45):
all the Super Bowls were blowouts. They were the halftime
shows weren't great. The Super Bowls were blowouts. And now,
of course it's the opposite. Every game seems to every
game seems to look the same Tom Brady with the
football driving down the field with a chance to win
the game. Right, Like, where have I seen this before?
It seems like every Super Bowl ever. But nonetheless, we
(01:06):
have champions of the Philadelphia Eagles. I predicted it last week.
I told you that Eagles defense would be dominant, and
they made exactly one play last night, right, like we
so misremember the day afterwards. I'm not trying to diminish
with Doug Peterson did what he did was great, or
how well Nick Foles played. He said he had he
(01:27):
threw two bay balls all night, right, I mean he
overthrew al Shan Jeffrey, which is hard to do twice
last night. Um, Peterson's play calling they got a little
cute at times in the third and fourth quarter, as
uh as as New England made a furious comeback and
actually took the lead. But there was some play calling
on fourth down, not just the trick play, but also
(01:50):
on their final touchdown drive, which of course end up
sealing the deal. Um. But the there's a there's an
expression in basketball recruiting that I think is the real
story here. You ready for it? Basketball a creering. They
say the sins of the of the summer are paid
(02:11):
off in the winter, right, or maybe paid off in
the spring. And and that's really the case with the Patriots,
all right. The Patriots didn't lose the game because Malcolm
Butler didn't play, right, Like, you can sit here and
tell me that Bill Belichick made a grievous decision to
not play Malcolm Butler. But but but it's pretty obvious
(02:35):
to me that here's a guy like how Bill Belichick
would have to cash in all of his football equity.
He's widely seen as not just an incredible head coach,
but as good a defensive game planner as there is
or as have ever been in football. And I mean
they're doing a thirty for thirty on the damn guy,
(02:57):
right he is? That that was his eighth Super Bowl
as head coach. And so you mean to tell me
that in the biggest game and what some people thought
might have been the game of his career, it might
be I don't know. I mean, who knows, Like Josh
McDaniel suddenly getting cold Pete about Indie, maybe Bill Belichick
does one. I don't know, But you mean to tell
(03:17):
me in the Super Bowl, that's when he chooses to, like,
you know what, f Malcolm Butler. I'm just gonna do
this out of spite or maybe he thought Malcolm Butler
wasn't playing that well. Malcolm Butler had been sick, they'd
had issues in Malcolm Butler all year. Let's go a
different way. But like, look the story of the Patriots
is pretty obvious, and he didn't have a great personnel.
(03:38):
The sins of the summer are paid off in the winter.
They didn't have anybody who could make a play. They
didn't have anybody who could get home to Nick Foles.
No one couldn't get there. Like, oh, that Eagles offensive line,
it was incredible, it is really good, but it ain't
that good. I tell me the guy, tell me the
(04:00):
guy who you're like. And we had known it all
season long. They even knew it. That's why they went
and got James Harrison. Didn't have a pass rush all year,
couldn't get home, and like, look, the Eagles have a
really good defense and Brady had to get rid of
it really really quickly. They only got home one time.
They didn't have any defense. At least they went and
(04:22):
tried to get defensive playmakers. The Patriots didn't. And and
this is it happens. And again I hate to draw
the college basketball analogies, as we kind of switched to
college basketball, and boy, the Cavs sucks season, but that's
what we're in. But like you looking, when in college
basketball you get the n S a German, usually you
(04:43):
need a pro or two to get you home for
six games. There's a reason that most Super Bowl winning teams,
or at least Super Bowl teams have Hall of Fame
or Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks, right because at the
end of the day, you need a dude who because
you can win regular season games scheming, health, uh, cohesion,
(05:06):
little luck playing at home? Right, play here, play there
goes your way. But like, outside of Rob Gronkowski and
Tom Brady, tell me who the guys are with the Patriots,
You're like, man, they got and I don't whether it's arrogance,
Like that's just not that talented a football team. They
(05:28):
won because they were super well coached. They won because
they had a great quarterback. But on defense, they couldn't
make a play, couldn't make a play, and it is
hard to be playing from behind. It is hard. And
all of that said, even with very average personnel defensively,
Stephen Gostkowski misses an extra point, there's another botch snap
(05:50):
which caused a missfield goal. That's four points left on
the football field. And the Eagles get home one time.
They get there one time, but it just happens to
be at the very right moment, on the very right
place on the field, and that ends up kind of
sealing the deal. Although in in all honesty, right, like
Brady still got the ball back down eight, he still
(06:11):
had to go like here we go. I mean, think
about the things that had to go the way of
the Eagles, right, And I know they were chasing points.
They missed an extra point, I understand, and the fall
start on was that on Kelsey. I think it was
Kelsey those arts on the first drive that might have
cost him four points. I understand all that. But Brandon
(06:32):
Cooks had to get hurt, which and that that hit,
that that is the that is the hit you did
not want to see over a hundred million people to see. Right,
that's the every youth football program in the country just
lost five to ten of the permission slips they thought
they were gonna get next fall. Correct. I mean, I'm
(06:57):
I'm sitting you know, you're you're if you're sitting with
your wife and you're watching that hit, She's like, no,
thank you, not my baby. Brandon Cooks has to get hurt.
Gostkowski misses an extra point. I mean, things that never happened.
They botch a snap and and it costs them, and
that thing still nearly went in. Right, was that the
craziest kick in the world. It's still nearly that. That's
(07:18):
four points to leave on the field. There there there,
their best speed wide receiver guy takes the top off
the defense, would become a very viable best downfield threat
they had goes out and the the Eagles still need
trick plays Tom Brady to drop as easy a catch
as you're ever gonna get, and fourth down conversions and
(07:39):
only then the Eagles win a championship. Like, I don't
know about you, guys. I some people I think watched
a different game, and I'm not. I'm not again diminishing
Doug Peterson and the go Ford attitude. Here here, by
the way, here's Doug Peterson after the game on why
they were why they went for it so many times.
(08:01):
You know, I trust my instincts, I trust everything that
that I'm doing, and you know, I want to maintain
that aggressiveness with the guys. By the way, the Eagles
screwed up. I don't know if you guys saw this
to two minutes and three seconds to go in the
in the in the game, and the Patriots called time
out on that side of the two minute warning, which
(08:22):
meant no matter what happened on the next play, there
was going to be a stoppage. So what the Eagles
should have done was run play action there to try
and ice the game. Right, you can throw the football
there and complete and you complete it. You complete the pass,
and now the game is over. Tom Brady never gets
the football back. They actually screwed that thing up. Instead,
(08:42):
they run the football into the line, which there's automatic stoppage,
and you know, yeah, they got enough, but they were
going to run it in the line of the third
down anyway, not get the first down. The look that
the Nick Fole story is incredible, going to retire comes back.
You know, his his his quarterback. Coach Frank Reich's a backup.
His head coach, Doug Peterson's a backup. He had become
(09:04):
a backup, and he plays remarkable football. Oh, that is concredible.
The Howie Roseman story, who lost the power struggle uh
two years previous, gets it back, signs his guys a
very cohesive lineup. They become the number one seed. Of course,
they lose their quarterback, and they win a Super Bowl,
even though Carson Wentz was in Cities. Oh, that's incredible.
(09:28):
But I mean, let's not go crazy to those of
us who actually watched the game and remember it. Remember
Cooks gets hurt, gus four points left on the field
the first half by the Patriots. The Patriots still retake
the lead in the fourth quarter, had the ball twice
with the length of the field to go, and and
(09:49):
had to stave off you know, fourth down conversions, two
point conversions, everything. They threw the kitchen sink at him.
We're questioning Bill Belichick and his handling of Malcolm Butler.
Here's Belichick, by the way, on the Malcolm Butler situation.
We put the best players out there in the game
plan out there that we thought would be the best tonight,
(10:11):
like we always do. Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, but he's
earned the equity too. If he tells me, he tells
me that he thinks that's you know, my my my
eleven are on the field, you know, like my four
on my teams on the court. I just I'm I'm
good with it. That's how close that game was, all right.
(10:36):
There's a ton of things to get to a ton
I believe, I believe that there's there there is something
to this. Gronk retirement talk. I believe there is something
to this. Josh mcdanis might got not go to indie talk. Um,
I want to get to with Drew Bledsoe, who's gonna
join us upcoming in moments of course, Drew Bledsoe, the uh,
(10:57):
the former New England Patriot quarterback. I just kind of
remarkable to me, Um, how how we changed kind of
the narrative because we wanted to support the winner instead
of just being honest about it. Folds was great, Fowls
was great, Um, and they did have what appeared to
be a little bit better talent at some and they did.
(11:19):
They did a great job of sprinkling that town around.
But that was an incredibly close game, a remarkable comeback
by the Patriots. The Patriots did not punt the entire night.
So yeah, I thought the Eagles would win, and I
thought their defense was it would be a difference maker.
But let's be honest, the Eagle defense made exactly one
play last night. It was enough, but one play. Be
(11:42):
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I'm interested
in what Drew bled saw, so of course, um he
started one of these Super Bowls in for the New
England Patriots. He joins us on the Doug Got Show,
fall on Graham at Drew Bledsoe, and of course on
Twitter as well. Uh you can go to double back
(12:03):
dot com and check out his two thousand fifteen cabernet
which is uh dropping tomorrow. Um, Drew, If if I
asked you for a short synopsis Super Bowl fifty two,
how would it? How would it? How would it sound
coming from you? Well? I don't think the Patriots have
anything to hang their heads about. I thought they played
extremely well. Um, I just I just really thought that
(12:25):
the Eagles came up and won the game. You know,
which you know the Patriots, and you know all these
years of success, you know, they're they're one of the
things that they hang their hat on is that they
never they never lose the game. They wait for the
other team to make the big mistake and lose the
game to them. And the Eagles just didn't do that.
You know, they were bold going for it on fourth
down all those times, and and um, you know I
thought though that you know, there's there's there's plays during
(12:48):
games in all of the all football games, whether they're
blowouts or whether they're close games, they're they're plays kind
of hidden in the middle of a game that can
change the entire complexion of a game. And to me,
that play in the game yesterday was the third down
conversion that the Eagles made right after the Patriots scored
coming out of halftime. The Patriots came out and they
(13:09):
just said, Hey, we're gonna throw it to Grounk. We're
gonna throw it to him again. We're gonna throw it
to him again, marched right down the field, scored in
a hurry, and it was one of those that if
you watched the Patriots for a long time and like, Okay,
here it goes, here comes the snowball. And the Eagles
came out and the first the first two players they
had like A, I don't think they had a third
and fourth, third and five, third and six, something like that.
(13:29):
Uh through it through it short um to uh. I
can remember what it was. But he broke a tackle
and got that first down and they ended up putting
together a long drive right after the Patriots had scored,
and that to me changed and set the tone for
the entire second half. I agree with you. Um, it
has been And again this is to people who have
watched the Patriots all year. They've struggled to get out
(13:50):
the field and third down, right, I mean, that's been
a that's been a huge issue with this with this defense.
I know that they have, Um, they haven't allowed a
ton of points, but one of the reasons they've allowed
so much yardage throughout this season and they struggled in
terms of defensive rankings is their inability to get off
the field on third down. Now, yeah, well, you know
it's it's you remember early in the season the Patriots
(14:12):
were kind of getting rung up on defensively. You know,
teams were scoring points and tony yards. And then uh,
you know that Matt Patricia and that staff did a
really great job throughout the rest of the season of
really improving what they were doing. Um. But I think
with the with the Eagles, what they ran into, what
they ran into was a team that was just phenomenally
well coached. You know, when you've got to an x
(14:32):
NFL quarterback as the head coach and and you got
another x NFL coaches, your offensive coordinators, a lot of
creative ideas there. And it's not just in the passing game.
You watch what they do with their blocking schemes. They
change angles, they motion guys, they trap and pull, and
they do all kinds of things in the running game
that builds into their to their play action game. And
I just I just thought it was a phenomenally played
and coached game by the Eagles. Drew Bledsoe joining us
(14:56):
in the Doug Outlup Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
Malcolm Butler plays one snap special teams and afterwards Belichick says,
you know, like, look, this is we try to put
the best field team on the field. Um. And so
of course, you know, people, well this is about the contract,
this is about um something outside of football. You know
that locker room. Do you think Belichick did it for
(15:17):
any other reason that he thought one of the backups
was better than Butler. There must have been something that
happened football wise that led them to that, uh, to
that conclusion. You know, you know, the Patriots, they're all
about winning. I mean, that's it. So if if a
guy did something conduct wise, you know, he may have
been punished, and you know, they may have set him
(15:38):
for the first series of the first quarter or something
like that. But but they're trying to win the game.
So to me, it says that there must have been
something in his preparation that led them to believe he
wasn't going to be ready to play in the game.
That's the only logical conclusion that I can come to. Um.
And why you would sit a guy that played, you know,
nineties something per cent of the snaps all year and
(15:58):
then you don't play him at all in the game,
not even as a substitute. There must have been something
football wise that led them to believe he wasn't ready
to go. Rob Gronkowski was kind of noncommittal in regards
to returning next year in football. He just came off
a concussion. He's had I think four surgeries on his arm,
he said, back surgery, he's at knee surgery. I mean,
he's he's running the game. On the other hand, as
you pointed out, if you thought Gronk was losing his step,
(16:21):
they went to Brady misfired on on one on the
thing the first past him outside of that, five targets,
four catches, march right down the feet, march right down
the field and score out of the break. I mean
he's still, if not the best in football right there
with Travis Kelsey, and he's just such a mismatch. What
do you think is the likelihood that Gronk returns? You know,
I don't know Gronk very well. Um, I hope he
(16:44):
keeps playing, mostly just because I'm a fan of football.
You know, I was out there. I got to go
out as the donorary captain for the sc championship game,
and I walked out on the field next to Gronk
and I'm six five. You know, I'm not the small guy. Man.
Gronk just made me feel like a little kid. Man.
He is such a monster, uh, you know, size wise
and athletically. I'd love to see him keep playing. But
I also recognize that that he's a little bit unique
(17:05):
in the way that teams approach him. You know, they
try to beat him up with the line of scrimmage,
they try to beat him up in the secondary um
and it's you know, there's some wear and tear that happens, uh,
and then you get you know, you get a concussion,
and you know, uh, you get some of those things.
You know, at some point, um, you know, it does
enter a guy's mind if you're taking that kind of punishment. Hey,
(17:26):
how long do I want to do this? How long
do I want to subject myself to this kind of
punishment and potentially, you know, uh, you know, put the
rest of my life and livelihood at risk. So, you know,
I hope he plays, and I anticipate that he will,
but I do think that that he may be a
guy that's you know, he's not gonna try to play
fifteen years. I just don't think that. Uh. Um, you
know that this body can hold up and if he
(17:46):
wants to live along productive life after he's done with football,
you don't want that, you know. The it's the full
thing is interesting. Obviously you experienced this a little bit
in your career where um, where you know, you end up,
you get hurt, backup ends up, Tom Brady ends up
playing great and then you have to go elsewhere. And
I think anybody can lose their confidence. Is that what
happened to him? Did he just lose his confidence and
(18:07):
then he regained it? Is this how good he always was?
Is this one game? What's your read on how Nick
Foles went from a guy who was thinking about retirement
to the Super Bowl m v P. Well, you know,
this was one of those instances where I'm going to
jump up and down and say, hey, I told you so.
You know, I did a bunch of interviews this last week,
and I said, you know, Nick Foles is a good
football player. He's a damn good quarterback. Um. And he
(18:28):
had received some criticism, you know, late in the regular season,
he received some criticism, uh you know, and it was
with the Rams. Um, but he was you know, the
the Rams thing. It was just a bad situation, you know.
And and uh, um, you know, you watch what happened
with Jared Goff, you know, his rookie year, and they
were ready to send him pack into and then all
of a sudden they get a different staff and a
(18:48):
different system and put some players in place, and he
can be effective, you know. And the same thing as
is true with with Um, you know, with Foles. I mean,
he you know, he's been a good player all along,
and I think at one point when he was considering,
you know, not playing football anymore, I think he just
kind of had enough of you know, trying his butt
off and just being in a bad situation. So I'm
really really happy for the guy. I'll be interested to
(19:10):
see what what what happens with him going forward. Um,
you know, I think they've got a uniquely great quarterback
room and there's no discounting the importance of that, the
relationship that the quarterbacks have their UM and uh, you know,
so I think they would they would in a perfect world,
they'd love to keep him. But at the same time,
you know, shoot, somebody may call and offer him the world. Um,
(19:30):
you know, if he's you've got a Super Bowl m
v P that's available potentially. Uh, there obviously are some
teams out there in the NFL. They're looking for that
caliber of a quarterback team they make him may come
calling for him. Um. Lastly, Drew I said that, Um, yeah, look,
you said the Eagles wanted the Patriots didn't really lose it.
On the other hand, the Patriots they just don't have
(19:51):
defensive playmakers. And um, you know, the basketball expression is
the sins of the summer recruiting ends that you end
up paying off in the winner. That I felt like
the case a little bit with the Patriots all year.
But seeing as Patricia is gone, Josh McDaniels may well follow.
You know, there's there's some discussion we don't know about
the Longetti of Gronk. Look, I don't know, like, what's
(20:16):
the likelihood that this thing is as good as it's
been in the near future. I mean, there's they got
some work to do and fill in some of these holes,
don't they. You know, they do, they have some holes
to fill. But they're still you know, they were the
odds on favorite to be in the Super Bowl at
the start of the year. Uh, and they got there. Um,
and what they've shown time and time again, and it
(20:36):
seems like we've been saying this is the end for
the Patriots for about a decade. Uh and they still
rise to the challenge every year. Um. I think they'll
find a way to fill those holes. If they have
to replace coordinators. They've been extremely adept at doing that
and bringing guys up from within. Um. You know, I
just I you know, when they when they fall, when
they finally fall, I think it'll it'll be a surprise.
(20:58):
But I don't see that anytime in the near you chere.
I think they've got the best ownership in the league. Um,
They've got you know, Hall of famers at the head
coach and quarterback position, and um, you know, I just
I think that it's going to be a situation where
they've got they've got the ability in the off season
to go, um, you know, to go make some changes
and make it, make some additions, UM, and they'll solve
(21:19):
the coaching problem. UM and they'll just they'll be right
back where they they've always been. There'll be a contender.
UM and uh, you know, I wouldn't bet against him
being in the Super again a year from now. All right, listen,
you've got Valentine's coming up. Nothing like a good cab.
There's a two thousand fifteen cab that's You're available tomorrow.
A double back dot com that's Drew bred So's a
signature wine. Of course, followm on Instagram or on Twitter. Drew,
(21:43):
thanks so much for your incredible insight in your time.
We appreciate it. Right on, Doug, always gonna talk to
you man. We'll talk to again soon. Fox Sports Radio
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at Fox sports radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app. Everybody's talking about Cousins.
Where will he go? Obviously we now know where Alex
Smith is. There's some talk about Um, there's some talk
(22:08):
about case Keenum you know, there's the three other two
quarterbacks in Minnesota. Where will they go? Like, look, nick
Foles was not it's not doesn't feel like that flukey
what he was able to do. Like somebody is going
to move Try and make a move for Nick Foles.
(22:28):
His contract is reasonable, and I'm sure Philadelphia is gonna
try and parlay him into draft picks. You already you
got Carson Wentz. Now we don't know when Wentz is
going to be available. But if you're the Eagles and
you're gonna keep trying to get better after winning a
super Bowl, and you have an asset that um you
know in your in your best possible scenario is gonna
(22:50):
be coming off of the bench, you look to move him.
And Folds has been a starter before and been successful
for and I think everybody understands if you put him
in the right offense, he can be success. Well again,
he's not old. He's got a big arm, you know,
Like all right, Denver gets Cousins. That means Arizona, that
means Jacksonville, that means Cleveland. And think of how many
(23:11):
quarterback starved teams there are, and Nick Foles suddenly now
is as viable on on the market, on the trade
market as anybody in the league. He's only twenty nine
years old, He's six ft six two pounds. He's the
type of he's the type of arm that like, look,
if you're Baltimore and you're gonna move on, Like, don't
you at least like what would it take? What would
(23:36):
it take? And as as bad as it was in St. Louis,
it was bad for everybody with with that system. For
his career, sixty one touchdowns, twenty nine interceptions. He had
one terrible statistical year in which he was a starter
(23:56):
for eleven games for the for the St. Louis Rams
and gets what and so did Jared goff Case Kingdom
struggle with the Rams, you name it. Jeff Fisher's offense
was rudim entry and got exposed. Put in the right
offense around the right pieces. He ain't bad. I'm not
saying he's a top ten quarterback or top fifteen quarterback.
But you could do a lot worse. We told you
(24:17):
last week Fools would be a big name that would
be banded about on the open market. I didn't know
he would play that well. But he's going to generate
a bunch of interest, and I would be stunned if
he's still an Eagle to start next year stunned. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox
(24:37):
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. I love
learning about the NFL. I mean it's one of the
things if you're gonna do this job I've been doing
for fifteen years, you better know about the National Football
Like you better be able to listen to really smart people.
Michael Lombardi has a has a one called the GM Street.
It's It's great. Um. He also has a new book
called Football Done Right, which will be released on next September.
(24:59):
We want to get get a little plug for falling
on Twitter at m Lombardi NFL. Michael Lombardi, former gentle
manager of the Nation Football League, has been life in
this league, he joins us on the Doug Gotlip Show.
I say all this knowing that, like, look, anybody who
covers the sport works in a sport. We all have
things we miss on, right, Like people love to point
out that, Uh, like I thought Ricky Rubio had more
(25:19):
upside than Steph Curry and all Steph Curry's done is
one in two m v ps. You've owned the fact
that you didn't think Doug Peterson was going to be
a competent head coach. What what is it about Peterson
that has impressed you that that is obviously changed in
in his team's production. You know when you look over
you know it never called plays before, really didn't have
an extensive background as as as a guy who was
(25:41):
leading players, and you know, kind of got the job
because Ben McAdoo didn't show up on the visit. You know,
the Giants kept Ben McAdoo in town, and so, you know,
I'm a little skeptical. And then I thought last year
they all they did was copy of the Kansas City's plays.
I mean, that's really what they did. They ran Kansas
City's offense on us directly. And this year it's really
(26:02):
been a remarkable resurgence. A Carson Wentz played really well.
Last year Carson Wentz and he throw overs over ten yards.
Carson Wentz dropped around completion percentage, and this year he
got much better. And what makes this team so fascinating,
and I think what makes Peterson so fascinating is Peterson
is almost like the city of Vienna. The Vienna was
(26:23):
founded by the Ottoman Empire, and so they have all
these different cultures in it, right, so that you can
get brandy and Vienna, you can get pastry. I mean,
it's all these different cultures. Well, the Eagles offense is
nothing but a bunch of different plays from all over
the NFL, but they run them really effectively. I mean,
last night, we saw Chip Kelly's offense, we saw the
Rams offense, we saw the we saw Oklahoma the University's
(26:47):
trick play. We see every different thing that they do,
and they became the unconventional team, and I think that's
really the secret to their success. Belichick loves to make
teams play left handed. The problem with that game last night,
and why I picked the Eagles to win the game,
was because the Eagles are a left handed team, meaning
what they don't do anything conventionally. They go for it
(27:09):
on fourth down twenty seven times. Once they crossed midfield,
they run everybody else's offense but their but their own.
They run the inside zone play, and then they make
you defend the width of the field. You're a basketball guy, Doug.
So what they do is they got great spacing on
the field, So they make you defend the inside portion
of the field with big guys because they have big backs.
They don't have little backs, you know, other than Clement
(27:30):
when he comes in. They have two fifty pound rocks
that run the ball inside. And then they make you
defend the width of the field. So now you're in
space and you've got a couple of the bubble passes,
and then they throw the ball down the field very effectively,
and they win those jump balls. I mean, this was
really the kryptonite that that that New England couldn't handle.
From the opening game of the year, New England gave
(27:51):
a forty two points to Kansas City, they gave up
another forty one. This is a mirror image of them
not being able to control the game. And when you
gain six hundred yards in twenty seven minutes of football
and you don't win the game, it tells you there's
a bigger style. And I think that's been the problem.
Everybody's played the Eagles and gain yards. Look, the Chargers
played them twenty minutes and gave four hundred yards. The
(28:12):
Giants played them twice. One time, they only had the
ball twenty two minutes. They gained over four hundred yards.
Another time they gained five hundred yards. The problem is
nobody was making the Eagles defense play a doubleheaded They
wouldn't couldn't play thirty minutes when they did against the
the Seahawks, and when they did against the Kansas City Chiefs.
They lost again last night, New England could only make
them play twenty seven minutes. Yeah, and and uh and
(28:34):
I'm newing and still put up, you know, Brady still
for there are five hundred yards they didn't bunt and
they lost. It's really remarkable. But I think the lesson
here and this is what the books about. I I
think people miss it completely. Okay, a missed field goal
is a turnover. Nobody wants to accept it. You know.
Everybody says, well, the Eagles, you know, turned the ball
over once in the first half, and the and the
(28:56):
and the Patriots didn't. The Patriots had two turnovers in
the first half. They missed the field goal and they
lost the ball on downs. Those are turnovers. They should
go in the turnover takeaway column and count them. Because
when you're looking at the game and you don't punt
the whole game, and you're saying, how did we lose, Well,
you lost because you committed three turnovers. They would have
been better off hunting than they would have been turning
(29:17):
them all over. It's it's uh that you know like that.
And of course I missed the extra point to I
mean that's four points. Well they missed four points. I
mean they missed the chip shot. Look, the Eagles really
won the game. Nobody's going to talk about this. The
Eagles special teams matched the special teams for the Patriots,
and that's one of the ways you have to beat
the Patriots. I wrote a column for The Wringer back
(29:37):
in the summer about how to beat the Patriots. You
had to be institutionally really good in the kicking game.
And the Eagles weren't great this year in the kicking game.
It's a little bit of the residue. Their special teams
coach was left behind from Chip Kelly, an excellent coach,
and they did a really good job of controlling field position.
They put pressure on them and they won the game
in that area. And when you can beat the Patriots
(29:58):
with your offense and you can beat them with your
spec teams, that's two of the three phases. There's that
you mentioned Basketball there's a basketball expression I've been using
to describe the Patriots defense, and that's the sins of
the summer are paid in the winter, right, Like, when
you don't recruit well, it gets exposed. I know they
traded their draft picks because they knew they had some
holes to fill. But that defense was devoid of playmakers
(30:19):
all year. And isn't that one of the things that
that really got exposed, no doubt. I mean, look, they're
they're just not talented on defense. I've been saying it
all along. I mean they've been able to look when
the Eagles beat the Vikings, I went on my podcast
and I said, this is a horrendous matchup for the
Patriots because this was exactly the kind of team The
Patriots can't make play left handed. And that's what happens. Belichick.
(30:40):
You're trying to defend the inside zone, you're trying to
defend al Shan Jefferis, You're trying to match everything up.
It became too problematic, and then Folds needed to have
an off day and he didn't. He played great. He
made every throw. He threw the ball with precision and timing,
and he caused a problem. I think look, when you
did exactly what Alex Smith did in the opener, when
you give up, I mean, Belichick will tell you when
(31:01):
you go forty one point, you don't deserve to win.
And that was the one Super Bowl I think easily
you could say the Patriots, even if they would have won,
didn't deserve to win. That's Um explained to me, the
Malcolm Butler thing. He I started the show saying, I
understand that we wanted so much to be about a
contract and about you know, him doing the Belichick thing
(31:22):
and and f you with with him on the way
out the door. But I don't know. I mean, the
guy has kind of earned the right to look at
the film and understand his team and legitimately say, like
I think other guys give us a better chance. What's
the reality of it? Um, I think something had happened,
and I think something had to happened. I think something
happened between Butler and the relationship he had or the
(31:42):
respect for the team, whether it was out for curfew. Again,
I don't know this, but to me, something had to happen.
Roe has quoted and I'm only based on this on
what Rose said. Roe was quoted as saying he found
out he was playing before the game, which he took
rep store in the week, no doubt. But I mean
he didn't know he was going to be the starter
until before the game. So that tells me something triggered this.
(32:03):
And look it trust me on this. I know Belichick
too well. If it's no contract dispute, whatever, get in
the way of what was in the best interests of
the team. So there's more to that to meet the eye.
And knowing Bill, he doesn't want to share with anybody
because for him it's between Butler and himself. Um, I
don't think it's crazy for Gronk to think about walking away, Um,
(32:24):
because he has done things. He has gotten out from
behind the shield. Right, he's got he's got a reality show,
he's got he's had all these surgeries on all different
parts of his body, and like, look, it's it's reasonably
be scared about your brain. Look what happened to Brandon Cooks.
Like again we talked about things that are underrated. Cook's
getting obliterated and getting a concussion limited him. You have
(32:45):
your Rob Gronkowski, You've seen your football life cross uh
passed for your eyes. Like I think he returns, but
I don't think it's crazy for him to think about
walking away. I think, you know, look at any time
you put a microphone in front of a player after
a game like that, and after all the things that
have had to happen, remember this, The Patriots have basically
(33:05):
played more games than any team in the league because
they're always playing in late in January, they're always playing
in February, so the wear and tear on your body.
They've played actually two extra seasons more than most teams
in the league, and so that wears on you. That
creates a problem. And because it creates a problem, there's
always that I don't feel like climbing the mountain again.
Because for New England, they started ground zero. When they
go back in April, when they start their off season program,
(33:28):
they are not the a f C champions. They're not
going to view themselves as anything other than their zero
zero and they got to compete, and that's a long climb.
And when somebody puts the microphone in front of you
after the game and says do you want to make
the climb again, it's always reluctant to say yes. And
I think there's some time to reflect you gotta get
your body to feel better. I'm sure grounds body doesn't
(33:48):
feel very good right now, and like none of the
player's bodies feel good. And so because of the hardness
and the and the really the hurt that you go
through because you lost the game, you know, it's hard
to answer that question honestly. Um, okay, what about Folds
and his viability on the market, right? They got him
in a backup contract, and like, look, he's obviously not
(34:12):
going to be a guy who consistently performs the level
he performed the last two games. But other plenty of
other players that played in Jeff Fisher's offense and and
have have looked better after leaving Jeff Fisher's offense. What's
his viability as a starter around the league? In the
league in which he got six or seven teams that
would kill for anybody who could push the ball downfield
like him? Yeah, no, I think Look he's you know,
I think he was the Nick Foles seven and two.
(34:33):
He wasn't the Nick Foles with Jeff Fisher's offense. So
we know that the missing link here is that Fisher's
offense wasn't very effective in order to utilize the things
that that Folds does well. And I think that's where
you have to take your hat off to Doug Peterson.
He did the things that Folds does extremely well. He
put the offense in that makes him work, and they
ran it effectively, and they're set up to run that,
(34:55):
so it was an extension of what they were already doing.
I think he's got a lot of viability as a
starter the NFL. The thing that I think has got
to happen first is WinCE's health. What do you do?
I think Howie Roseman will benefit from saying no quickly
and often and saying he's not available for trade. He's
our starter until Wins is healthy, until you can determine
where you are with Wins and then make the decision,
(35:16):
and if you have to carry him in the next year,
enfranchise him because you think he has trade value. You
do that as well. I think they're sitting in the
driver's seat in Philadelphia. They keep saying no, people will
keep raising the antie and somebody will make him an
offer that they can't refuse. What do you think of
the Alex Smith trade? You know, I think Philadelphia had
I think the Redskins have been poorly administrated. In terms
(35:37):
of the whole Kirk Cousins thing. I mean, they got
themselves into this mess because they cut they were gonna
Outsmart kirk Cousins agents, and they never did, and now
they had to do this trade, which to me, I
don't I'm not sure kirk Cousins. I'm not sure Alex
Smith is better than Kirk Cousins. In fact, I know
he's not. Now he'll protect the ball better? Will he
throw it up the field? Will he run the offense
(35:58):
that's effective? For what Alex Smith does? We know this,
Alex Smith is really good in the Utah version of
the West Coast offense. Now will they do that in Washington?
That remains to be seen. I think sometimes we look
at players like their interchangeable parts. They're not. Nick Foles
is the perfect example. Nick Foles in the right scheme effective,
Nick Foles in the wrong scheme. Journeyman Josh McDaniels. There's
(36:19):
some talk that he's not going to go to Indie.
That's the unbelievable, Like who's talking about that? That that like,
that's ridiculous. That's been done and that's been done. He
met with the owner, the owner came back to spend
time at his home in Westwood's, Massachusetts. A general manager
Chris Ballard, there's never been any hesitation on Josh McDaniel's
part in terms of wanting to take that job. I
(36:39):
don't know where that story came from, but I can
tell you that I expect him to be the head
coach of the Indianapolis Colts. On Wednesday at a press conference,
who's going to be better in their new job, Patricia
or Josh McDaniels. Well, I think obviously it's gonna come
down to the quarterback play and who coaches the quarterback.
I mean, Matt Patricia is gonna take over, Jim Bob
Couter is gonna run his offense. Paul Pascalone, i'm hearing,
(37:00):
is going to be the defensive coordinator there. So we've
got to rebuild a staff, and I think that's gonna
be a team in transition. I think Indianapolis is prime
for a culture change. I think Indianapolis with their quarterback
coming back and being healthy, I think what we saw
on Sunday was Josh McDaniel's brilliance as a great offensive mine,
and I think you'll see that in Indianapolis with Alex
with Andrew Luck who can absorb all that offense and
(37:21):
really make it just like Tom Brady. Uh. The podcast
is GM Street. The book is Football Done Right, which
of course is coming out this September. Maybe the best
thing to do is just follow Michael Lombardi on Twitter
at m Lombardi NFL. He covers the league for The Ringer.
That's where that podcast is available. Michael, great stuff. Unfortunately,
no football games to talk about for the next six months,
(37:43):
but we've got plenty of football to talk about. We'd
love to have you back on very very soon. Absolutely,
and I'll talk about the seventies sixers and all that
anytime you want, Doug, so feel free, Thanks so much,
Michael Lombardi joining us. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio Dot common within the I
Heart Radio app. Most NFL guys, that's who they are.
(38:05):
They're complete unknown guys, gronks. Not that guy. Do you
have four surgeries on his arm and knee surgeries, got
two back surgeries, one in college, one in the pros.
He just got a concussion, a major concussion that he
was only cleared for a couple of days before the
Super Bowl, and like, at some point, like you know,
I can make I don't know. He makes eight million dollars,
(38:26):
maybe makes ten million all in plane next year, great,
but at some point that becomes a diminishing amount of
return from playing. And Gronk is a big enough personality. Look,
you're not gonna put him on a game broadcast. He
can do other stuff. He can just be Gronk. It's
worked for him. Like, I'm guessing he comes back, but
(38:49):
I don't think it's a it's a we're assured, you know.
I mean Robert Grindcoss. He doesn't come from nothing, but
he doesn't come from ridiculous wealth, and so I'm sure
he probably comes back. He's like, look, you know, if
I make all in ten millions and otherwise I might
make five, like I should do it. But the fact
that Rob Gronkowski and everybody's like, well, he just came
(39:10):
off a football field. If you just came off a
football field and you lost, most people go like, man,
I can't wait to do it again. I lost. It's
one of the things we talked about this before the
game amongst my friends. People like I said, you know,
look if Brady leads him on a game winning drive
in the Super Bowl with this team, don't you just
walk off like, well, what if he loses? Why does
(39:30):
it change me? Look, because when you lose, you want
to go do it again. That's that's part of the
that's part of the deals. Like, you lose, you can't
get wait to get back after it. I think Grant
comes back. But if you don't realize the concussion, Brandon
Cook's concussion, the surgeries, and the fact that when you
lose the Super Bowl and you're asking about come back
(39:53):
next year, and the first reaction is hell, yeah, I
want to come back. I wn'na play the Eagles again.
I want to beat him next year, you should be
alerted to the possibility that Grant calls it a career
a lot sooner than you thought. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at
three pm Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
(40:14):
the I Heart Radio app. The takeaway from the Super
Bowl is really really simple. Fit is just about everything.
Nick Foles was out of the league, wanted to quit.
I thought I can't do this, I can't do it.
I can't do it, I'm sure, but part of it
(40:35):
was not just his frustration, but his frustration and knowing
he had talent inside of him and he could not
find the fit that could bring him out. He he
had it for a year with with Chip Kelly, Right,
he had a three touchdown touchdown to interception year, and
(40:56):
he couldn't find that fit. He kept searching, searching for
that fit. And then he threw up his hands in
the air. And now, all of a sudden, he has
a couple of the greatest games in the history of
the organization and plays an incredible super He's Super Bowl MV.
Think about Super Bowl MVP. Over his last two games,
(41:20):
he throws for what over seven hundred yards, six touchdowns,
one interception. Come on, I mean even the game over
Atlanta where Falcons did have a chance, fourth down, fourth
and goal, chance to win the game. Look, he was
twenty three thirty two forty six no touchdown is known receptions.
He ends the playoffs with a quarterback rating about hundred
(41:41):
and fifteen point seven. Wow. Right, And you know, we
talked about the r p O s and some of
it's to play action on an RPO whatever. He found
a fit, they found. Now we know what he fits.
He can throw the ball down the field, he can
throw the ball ladders, he can move a little bit like, look,
(42:01):
he had a couple of he fired up a couple
of misses there to al Sean Jeffrey, I don't know, Like, look,
there's a bunch of things. I think the Brandon Cooks one,
that's a that's a hit. That a lot of that.
The NFL is like, all right, let's move on from that.
Let's not show that that was nasty. Um obviously the
was it a catch? Was it or not a catch?
Just not just on the game winning touchdown, but one
(42:21):
of the other touchdowns for the Eagles, Like, I think
that comes to a head. But to me, the theme
of the Super Bowl, the theme of the Super Bowl
is fit. Fit is fit is Look, there are some
people that are so incredibly talented, so incredibly gifted, it
might not matter, right. Rob Gronkowski is so good whoever
(42:42):
you put on him. He's just bigg There's times in
which he was covered. He's just bigger. But let's also
remember that fit is so incredibly important and when you
find the right fit, cling to that, not to the
the when I was really on this business. A guy
named Chuck Wilson kind of took me under his way.
(43:02):
And Chuck Wilson lives in outside of Providence, Rhode Island, Island,
a long time radio host and he's as good at
competent radio guys you're gonna find. And and he told
me long ago, like, don't ever take a job for
the money. Now he didn't say take a job for
the fit, but he just said, hey, don't ever take
a job for the money. And so true, so true.
Now money is And to people who say like money
(43:24):
is not important, like that's not true, right, money can't
money can't buy happiness? Not not true. We can buy
you a lot of the things that can create a
happy world around you. There is a there is a
level to which you need to make but there's also
the idea of fit. Can you go someplace that that?
And this is no different in relationships. Plenty of plenty
(43:46):
of beautiful people who are like, yeah, they doesn't really
fit my personality. Find someone who fits you emotionally, it'll
bring out the best in you, just like it physically.
It brings out the best in you as an athlete.
When you're in the right system, in the right place
at the right time, when all those kind of things align,
(44:07):
you get nick Foles in the sim Bowl.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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