January 17, 2025 • 53 mins
On this epsiode, John and Randall discuss the Patriots hire of Mike Vrabel, and the Cowboys sudden opening at Head Coach and who might be interested in the job. Plus, they recap the Wildcard weekend and some of the lopsided scores, take a look ahead at the Divisional Round. Oh, and a season first during Guess that Spread!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
What is going on? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to
a very special playoff edition of the John of Randall
Football Experience. My name is Johnavino, and with me is
my guy Randall Denogue Randall. We made it through Super
wild Card weekend. There's four games in the divisional playoffs
this weekend. We are excited, or at least I am,
(00:42):
are you?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
John? You have a lot to be excited for. For once,
your rams are looking like they could wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Did you say something like take the Vikings alternate spread
like minus eight or something like that. Weren't you trying
to tell.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Everybody that the other day? Did I say that? You know?
All I'm gonna say about that, John, is the Vikings
have not been the same since they signed Daniel Jones.
That man is a curse.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, he's been with them for longer than the last
two games.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I don't know. He's been with them for at least
I think it was a month. Okay, but he has.
But you know what, in the Vikings defense, okay, which
they didn't have the other night, but in their defense year,
they've lost four games on the year to two teams,
(01:35):
both teams fantastic teams that are still obviously in the playoffs,
So if you're gonna go down, at least you're gonna
go down that way. However, I will say this though,
job the Rams record at ten and seven this year
is the exact same at what they had last year
and didn't make the playoffs, which tells me when you
(01:56):
win the division at ten and seven, it was just
a down year for the division And should they really
even be in this spot?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right? I don't I don't need to hear you
peddling any of that crap, but what I will say
is that you're right. The Vikings won five straight games
to start the year, then they lost to the Lions
and Rams in that order, and then they won nine
straight games and then lost to the Lions and Rams
in that order. So it's a very weird season for
them because both the Ram both the Lion Ram losses
(02:24):
happened in consecutive weeks both times, so just a strange stranger.
Sam Donald probably lost himself a lot of money. But
we'll we'll talk a little bit more about that game
a little bit. I want to start with quick hits,
as we always do, Randall Witch. What with quick hits
chips uh, And I want to get your thought because
it officially happened about two days after we recorded last week,
(02:47):
Mike Rabel was hired as the head coach for the Patriots.
I believe we were on the air or we did
this last Thursday, and then he was hired on Saturday.
So it happened very relatively soon after we recorded and
during playoff week. But what are your thoughts, because I
know this is kind of the way it looked like
it was trending. I know last week you spoke about
this a little bit. But now that it's official, and
(03:08):
you know, we've seen the press conference and he's officially
been higher and all the stuff is coming out now
and you're gonna start talking about his coordinators and whatnot.
How are you feeling as a Patriots fan with Mike
Rabel as the head coach.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm extremely happy. I think it's exactly what we need. Okay. Now,
there wasn't much shock when and I was happy when
I saw it. I'm like, oh, okay, nice boom. I
like it early. We're getting things done. This is gonna
be great. But at the same time, there was so
much rumors about him coming to New England, John, and
I feel like everybody and their mothers knew, okay, that
(03:44):
vrabel was gonna be going to New England. So it
wasn't that much of a shocker. Everybody knew it was happening.
The real shocker, John, is what went on in Dallas.
That was a real shock.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, I mean it's a really interesting situation just because
Mike McCarthy the we didn't really hear you know, you
heard some things about him like will they fire and
will he be here, But it was more of a
situation where his contract ran out and Jerry Jones and
him could not come to a new agreement. Now, Jerry
Jones has spoken very highly of Mike McCarthy the last
couple of years, even throughout some of the losing, and
(04:16):
quite frankly, Mike Carthy's a pretty good coach. I mean,
he had three years in a row where they won
twelve games I think, or even in thirteen games when
he was in Green Bay. You know, he won the
Super Bowl, only the one. But he's a very interesting
coach in the sense that he's had a lot of success.
Even this year they won I think they went four
and four with Cooper Rush, which is not terrible at all,
(04:37):
but it's gonna be weird because now there's this massive
opening that wasn't there when the rest of them are open.
Because the Cowboys are, you know, the franchise or one
of the franchises that had a lot of success back
in the day and are looked at as one of
the premier jobs. So you know, now the question becomes
who's going to fill that vacancy. And you know, the
hot rumor right out of the gate was that Dion
(04:57):
Sanders could be interested in the Jerry Owens was interested
in him, and obviously there's a history there with with
Dion playing for the Cowboys back in the day. But
I don't know how I would feel about Dion Sanders
as the head coach in the NFL because we see
him coaching at Colorado and he's certainly become I'd say
a college coaching icon might be a tough word, but
(05:21):
he certainly has legitimacy to him. He's he's been good,
they've been able to recruit, and recruiting is probably easy
for him. But it changes a lot when you go
to the NFL. I mean, you're now dealing with people
who are gonna be paid, you know, the nil stuff aside,
because that's you know, fake money that boosters throw around,
But you're now dealing with free agency and contracts and
bidding against other teams. I don't know if Deon Sanders
(05:42):
jumping in to be the head coach of the Cowboys
is such a hot idea.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I mean, I'd love to see how it would fold
down up, love to see if Shador went to Dallas,
right even though highly unlikely that that's gonna be the case.
But I do think it is possible now more than
ever that Dion does go to Dallas, just because of
the fact John. The other day Dion went to the
(06:09):
athletic director asking for more NIL money to pay coaches
to pay recruits and he got denied. So if he's
feeling some beefs, some tension right now with the athletic
director of Colorado, it really could be possibility that he's
gonna come try to go to the NFL. Really, the
only spot for him I'd see is in Dallas. But
(06:32):
he wouldn't have to worry about the free agent stuff, John,
because we all know the best GM and all the
land is in Dallas, and we'll be handling all that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, the best being an interesting word to use there.
But you know, I don't necessarily think that Dallas could
be his only entry point here. I think the Raiders
are an interesting team, uh, you know, because they're, you know,
one of those franchises that's a legacy franchise and it's
been around for a really long time, even though they're
now in Vegas, and I think that that could be
an naturally attractive spot, although I don't think I've heard
(07:02):
anything about Vegas. Interviewing him, it's gonna be interesting because Dion,
I think one way or the other, his eventual aspiration
is probably to coach in the NFL. I don't see why.
You know, he coached his kids in college, which is cool,
but I don't see what the draw for him to
stay at that level much longer would be now that
both of his sons have moved on. So I don't know.
(07:25):
We'll see what happens. If there's one team that's crazy
enough to do it, it would be Dallas. Jerry Jones
would be crazy enough. But we have seen you know.
But I'll say this, the last ten or fifteen years,
you could point at several things that, you know, maybe
in the past Jerry Jones would have done, but he
didn't do because they've they've tried to, you know, move
(07:49):
his son into more of a GM role, and I'm
looking at things like not drafting Johnny Manzel and drafting
offensive linemen like they they've made smarter decisions, though it
hasn't necessarily on them anything. So maybe they should go
back to a to a weird decision or a flashy
decision and bring in Dion Sanders. I don't know that's
(08:12):
a I guess you have nothing else to that, which
is fine.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh, I thought you were just ending right there.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I don't think there's been There has not been any
other coaching vacancies filled yet. Right. We've had a ton
of interviews. You know, you keep hearing Ben Johnson's name.
You keep hearing Eric Glenn's name, Aaron Glenn's name, excuse me,
both of them from the Lions. I know that Brian
Flores is now interviewing with the Jets, and I think
the Jaguars too. Uh. You know, the Bears still have
(08:41):
the opening. So there's still plenty of openings here that
have not been filled, and we still don't have an
idea of who's gonna be taking them to Saints and
the Raiders or saying yeah, Saints and Raiders are the
other ones as well. But the Patriots they got their guy,
they got Vabel, and now the Cowboys have an opening
as well, So there's still six teams that have openings
at head coach. The Titans did hire a new GM today.
(09:03):
That hired Mike Borganzi, who I think comes from one
of those successful franchises though don't exactly know which one,
but he's a guy who they're hoping can stabilize their
front office. He was with the Chiefs for the last
fifteen years actually, so he's a guy who they're bringing in.
But that's all we've got on the hiring front so far.
So Randall, let's move into Super wild Card weekend and
(09:26):
talk about some of these games. Unfortunately, we had quite
a few games that were not of the close variety.
In fact, you had the Commander's Bucks game on Sunday
night that was a three point game and the next
closest game after that was twelve points between the Eagles
and Packers. So we're gonna talk about all these games,
(09:46):
but unfortunately it wasn't you know, the most exciting Super
Wildcard weekend we've ever had. But let's start with the
Chargers Texans game. Randall. You know, the Chargers to me,
maybe the most disappointing of any team this weekend because
I expect them to kind of go in and fight,
and quite frankly, I thought they were gonna win, uh,
and they just went in to Houston and got smacked
(10:08):
around by a Texans team that, you know, really in
the second half just didn't let up at all. They
were only up by four points when they got into
the second half, ended up winning this game by twenty.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
John, you're up six minutes, You're up six points the
Chargers with basically two minutes to go in the second quarter.
I have a chance to go into the half with
the lead, and you end up giving that up. And so,
I mean, it was it was honestly crazy. You go
into Houston, like you said, but this is a depleted
Houston team. How do you let them do that too? Kerbert? Yeah,
(10:42):
the guy had five interceptions all season.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Now, yeah, he had three all season and he threw
four in this game.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, so it's like, what are we doing? What is
he doing? Why can't he figure it out? He had
a twenty something point lead against the Jacks a couple
of years and then I mean oh and two on
his playoff record against two teams that he should have
been able to beat. He should have been able to
(11:10):
beat with the type of talent that he had around him.
It's it's a tough loss for Harball, but they gotta
they need to get more out of Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah. I think he's a fine player, and I think
we've seen this the last few years, and I've you know,
at times, called him a fraud over the last several
seasons because I think he is still kind of a
fraudulent quarterback. And I don't mean to say he's not good,
because he is. He can play with, you know, the
best of him. If you want to call him top
ten or whatever you want to call him, I'll put
(11:40):
him in there. But the problem is that he has
not won the big games yet. And when he goes
head to ahead with some of these other guys, which
c J. Stroud, I wouldn't even look at c J.
Stroud as one of the elite quarterbacks in the league.
CJ had a great game. He completed two thirds of
his passes. He did throw a pick in this game,
but he was pretty efficient otherwise. I mean, Herbert had
had a pretty so season. He didn't throw for over
(12:02):
four thousand yards, but he still threw for thirty eight hundred,
He had twenty three touchdowns, only three picks, his completion
percentage around sixty six percent. And then he gets into
this game. He goes fourteen for thirty two, does have
two hundred and forty yards, but he throws a touchdown
and four picks. I just don't understand how a guy
who threw you know, it happened to GoF this year
and didn't happen to goff In Houston too. That's just
(12:23):
kind of weird. It did when he threw the five picks.
But he won that game, And I mean that's just
a good Lions team overcoming a really bad performance from
a guy who has never done that otherwise. This for
Justin Herbert, unfortunately, while he has never probably done something
that bad in his career up to this point, it
just feels like you saw something like this coming, you
(12:46):
know what I mean, Like the guy only had three
picks all year, and then of course he's gonna go
with the playoff and throw four in the first game. Plays.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know what to attribute it to,
but I do know is you just can't do it, John.
I mean, if you're trying to be a rising star
in this league going on into in the playoffs and games,
like I said, you need to those were winnable games
for him. Had CJ. Stroud lost this game, I wouldn't
have it's all good like he was supposed to lose
(13:14):
obviously because he was an underdog in it. But keep
all out, keep balled out though.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, yeah, he was also at home, so you know,
I know they were underdogs, but I always look at
this a little bit differently. But yeah, I mean still
at the end of the day, you want to you
want to make sure that you're you're doing everything you
can to put the best performance out there. And unfortunately
for Justin Herbert again he comes up small on a
big spot here. So we'll have to see. And I
know there's a lot of talk about Kyliel Herbert and
(13:42):
whether he'll retire or not. Now, you know, it seems
like just yesterday he was drafted somewhere near the top
of the draft. But he could be a guy that
if he does retire, will certainly you know, it'll change
that defense. But if he ends up going somewhere else
because he's also a free agent, it could be interesting
to keep an eye on if he tries to join
on with a winner here during the end of his career.
(14:04):
The other game on Saturday we got was the Steelers
Ravens AFC North battle. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it just
from the get go here, it just was not good.
They were down twenty one to nothing at halftime. You know,
they came out in a little bit more fire in
that third quarter. I don't know if the Ravens adjusted
things defensively based on the lead they had, so Rust
(14:27):
did end up throwing a couple of touchdowns and you know,
picking Tad won Van Jefferson that one, But ultimately it
still ends up being a pretty Honestly, I think fourteen
points probably doesn't tell the whole story as far as
the deficit in this game or the final score twenty
eight to fourteen. I think that's the differential probably could
have been greater. But you know, the Ravens, they're a
really good team. They're now going to play the Bills
(14:49):
in Buffalo, which will be a tough task for them.
But the Steelers. This is more about them, Randall, because
I mean we talked about the last several weeks, but
they were in a really good position for a while there,
you know, atop the division, and then you lose to
the Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals the last four weeks of
the regular season, and you lose to the Ravens in
(15:09):
the first round of the playoffs. They lost five straight
games to end the year. Here, I mean, Mike Tomlin,
there's a lot of talk about him. He's not going anywhere,
But do you feel like this team is currently constructed, Like,
do you feel like Mike Tomlin is the right guy?
It feels weird asking that, but do you feel like
this team needs to move on to maybe take a
(15:30):
different approach to things?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
No, no, no, no, no. I mean he's a He's
a regular season hero, right, I mean, the dude's never
had a losing season.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Or Tony Romo, You're the Tony Romo of coaches.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, but then again, it's like, look who you have
at quarterback? Are you guys being they were also they
were also pretty much hurt towards the end of the
season as well. You know, their defense was banked up,
offensive guys banged up? Were they the seventh John.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
The Steelers, Yes they were not. The seventh seed? Was
the Broncos? No, that's not correct, Yeah, the Broncos. The
Broncos were seven because they went to Buffalo and then
Pittsburgh was six. They were the six to three matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Perfect. Okay, Well a little story with that since the
seventh seed. I will save that for the Bills game.
But what I will say though, is, John, I do
think the Steelers getting hurt towards the end and being
depleted like it, you need to be going into playoffs healthy. Again.
That's maybe why some of these teams were arresting guys,
(16:46):
uh for the previous week. Maybe that's what the Steelers
should have done instead of playing guys for Cincinnati, they
should arrested some guys against Cincinnati, and maybe that would
have changed their their outcome because there would have been
a lock. No matter what I do think, Joe, they
haven't committed to a quarterback, whether they want to go
with Russ, whether they want to go with Justin bi else,
(17:09):
somebody else, or somebody else, which I think that's gonna
be the best. Maybe Sam Donald. Maybe Sam Donald would
find a home there.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It seems interesting though, because I feel like Donald I
would have said yes to that if I were the
Steelers for the longest time. But now I almost feel
like it's the same kind of thing that you were
in this year, Like he had a great year, but
it fell apart so drastically the last couple of weeks.
I mean, he got sacked eight times by the Rams.
It was just like he wasn't throwing the ball. So
(17:42):
I feel like he lost himself some money, But I
feel like he also might have lost himself like a
sure thing, like I'm gonna go in as the number
one guy, like and I think the Steelers need I mean,
they need direction, they bring back runs.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean he's gonna get paid.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, sure, he's still gonna get Honestly, I think Sam
Donald's more in a boat of getting a Daniel Jones
kind of contract now, a two year deal worth somewhere
around eighty million dollars, rather than getting the forty year
deal worth two hundred million, because I think that's what
happened to him over the last couple of weeks, is
that he went from a guy who was gonna get
you know, the long term commitment somewhere over one hundred
(18:18):
and fifty million dollars. I think now he's probably looking
at a shorter term deal, having to prove himself again.
And he'll still make a lot of money because Daniel
Jones got forty million a year, but he's not going
to get you know, the sixty million or close to
that that he would have maybe come a little bit closer.
I don't think he was ever gonna get top dollar,
but he would have come a lot closer had he
(18:38):
not come.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
He's gonna be forty plus mil.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, somewhere around there. But where who's going to commit that?
I don't know if I see the Steelers being on
the list of teams that would. But then again, you
made a good point. I mean, if they're not gonna
bring back to these other guys, like who are they
going to bring in? And he could be a good
fit for them, So.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I think I think he's gonna be. He could be
a great fifth for that. I mean, they just want
to go back to russ and get another cheap deal.
I don't know, but I do think there is a
market for him, all right, There is there one hundred
is a market for Sam Darnold out that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, I agree that Steelers.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Have to be and the Stillers have to be one
of those options.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I mean, that's the thing that right now, Like if
they had, you know, consistency at that position this year,
they could have been a lot better. Their defense also
didn't play great down the stretch, which that needs to
get figured out because their defense is always pretty good.
But yeah, quarterback is is something that Steelers need to
figure out drastically before coming in next year. If it
is Russell Wilson, then great, but you have to be
more consistent than you were this year because he was
good at times and just bad at other times. I
(19:39):
thought we were gonna get a good game. The first
game on Sunday, the Broncos scored first. It was seven
to nothing. Uh pretty quickly too, like two and a
half minutes in forty three yard pass You're like, all right,
bo Nicks came to play. And then what happened for
the remaining fifty seven and a half minutes of the
game was that the Bills out scored the Broncos thirty
one to nothing, and they just never looked bad. It
(20:00):
was only ten to seven and a half time, But
I mean they just stepped on the gas in the
second half, and this team showed what they can do.
Are you more disappointed that the Broncos didn't put up
any of a fight or are you more surprised that
the Bills just kind of stepped on their throats like
they did.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I mean, we both I believe we both had the
Bills right minus nine? Correct?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah? I thought it was a yeah big spread, but
I like them to win by ten. I don't know
if I don't know if they win by twenty four.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, alternate line thereh. I do think though, John, I'm
about to give you a stat since the NFL expanded playoffs,
adding the extra team from six to seven, right, there's
only been one I believe it's been five years, six years, right,
something like that. Yeah, five to seven years around there,
(20:51):
there's only been one team, John, that has won a
game as the seventh scene, and that was Green Bay.
I believe it was last year or two years ago.
Go with the last year versus Dallas. Okay, So with
that being said, maybe that's the problem to some of
these blowout games that we're seeing right now, right, is
(21:14):
you have the extra team. Maybe maybe we need we
need to get rid of that seven seed. If the
two seed to buy, give this two seed to buy
it again, and then you, uh, we can get get
some better competitive games.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Even if your logic is sound, which it is, you're
just never going to get in a world where they
move backwards on some of these things, like you're never
going to get six teams in the playoffs again. You know,
it's funny because it's pretty similar to what we see,
you know, at the at the collegiate level now with
the college football playoffs. Everybody was clamoring for this college
(21:50):
football playoff and we now have an expanded version of it.
But the problem that we've seen with it is what
this year that we had some games that were kind
of blowouts, and then you get into the second round
and it was all the teams that played games that
were winning for the most part, not the teams that
were on by. So there's inherently gonna be flaws in
any type of playoffsystem that you put together, because whether
(22:12):
you're giving a team a week off, or you're not
giving a team a week off and then you're giving
two teams a week off. If you go back to
the way you wanted it, you know, they're always gonna
want to get as many teams in the dance as
they can because it makes everything more dramatic, and having
fourteen teams in does. But your point is valid. I mean,
if a seventh seed has only won once in five years,
because I looked it up, it's been since twenty twenty
(22:33):
that this playoff has been expanded, So for five years
now it's the fifth season of it, you've only had
one one instance where that's happened. And you know, you
could say, Okay, there's not a ton of instances yet,
it's only been ten times. I think if they're one
and nine is the overall record, but it's it's a
trend certainly, and the seventh seed is going to be
a team most likely that usually gets in that you
(22:56):
know maybe would not have had well obviously they wouldn't
have been in if it was a sixteen playoff, But
my point being that you're gonna get a team that's
it's maybe gonna sneak in there, rather than be playing
as well as they could be to try to get
in the playoffs. That's the one thing about the six
playoff teams that you always saw was that it felt
like all six of them had to earn it like
the last week or two. Now it's like, oh, you've
(23:18):
got you know, the one seed locked up by week
fourteen or fifteen in some cases, and divisions are over earlier.
But you still have a larger field that's playing for
these spots. So I see your point, But I just
don't know that we're ever going to see it change
back to six.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It's just I mean, it could make exciting for a
good upset, right, I mean, who why have the sixteen
seed in the March Madness Tournament? Right? Hey turns out
one year there was an upset for it, right, So
I mean it can happen. Games can be close. Maybe
it's just one of those years where it's it was
a blowout.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Right when you look at the Eagles Packers game that
started on or was the late afternoon game on Sunday
the Packers, it was a weird game, you know. I
think Jordan Love obviously didn't have his best game. He
was coming off the injury in Week eighteen with the
(24:13):
elbow injury where he lost feeling in his in his hand.
Jalen Hurts played pretty efficiently. He had Sakwon Barkley had
the whole aj Brown reading the book on the sidelines.
But the Eagles end up winning by twelve. You know,
they win this game by double digits and really no
trouble from the Packers at all. So were you surprised
to see Philadelphia who Randall is, fifteen and three now
(24:37):
this year in their eighteen games, fourteenth three in the
regular season and they won this game? Are you surprised
to see the Eagles just kind of roll the way
they did in this game? Or should we be expecting
it now given the year they've had?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean, did they really roll? I mean, Jalen Hurts
had like two completions in the second half, right.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
They didn't need they didn't need the offensive onslaught.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I mean it was it was honestly, it had a
chance to be a lot closer than it was. I mean,
when Green Bay fumbled the opening kickoff, I mean that's
when it's just like come on now, yeah that that
kills you. But they're hot. You got Kellam Moore. He's
doing a great job over there as the OC. I
(25:20):
mean he's winning games clearly, but Jalen Hurts this week,
John is gonna have to up his game. He can't
he can't be the same as what he was this
previous week. He needs to be completely better.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
What do you read into the AJ Brown reading on
the sidelines thing?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Hocus pocus? You know who gazz.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Forgot makes Sirianni saying he does every game. But then
you have Jalen Hurts who said he's never seen him
do it before. So I'm just like, wait a minute,
which one of these is true? Which is not true?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What? What is gonna be true? Though? And I heard
this and I started laughing, is that if AJ Brown
scores a touchdown, everybody and Phil is gonna start whipping
out a book and start reading it on the team,
just start trolling the book.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Sales for that particular book went through the roof too.
I don't even remember the name of it, but it
was I've heard that the sales went right through the roof.
I'm gonna look it up right now, so in case
anybody wants to pick it AJ Brown book.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Maybe that's the key John you got. If you're an
author out there, get a get a famous athlete your
book to read on the sidelines. It's gonna loose sales.
If he's on a popular team.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It's called Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy. I feel like
you could probably take some take some pages out of
that book and apply them to your life.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I love that, John. That sounds like a It sounds
like a book that's up my alley.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
You are Inner excellence is how I define you usually,
so this can only help you some more.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The Commander's Bucks game was the closest game of the
weekend night, as I mentioned, and it was really actually
pretty dramatic. You had the Zan Gonzalez donk field goal
that went through to win it. Pretty back and forth game.
Definitely the best of the the six games, like I said,
as far as score and competitive feeling. So you know
what did you take away from this game? Because jayde
(27:17):
and Daniels played really well, Baker Mayfield played alright, but
in the end it was the rookie who got the
better of the vet.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah, the doink for the win, I couldn't believe. And
I'm like, ah, you know they were chucking this up
like it so win already. The broadcasters. I'm like, I
don't know. I feel like something might happen here and
then you see it hit the right up right, and
then it just speeks on it, it's that was that
was an insane finish John.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, exactly. He's not exactly Adam vin Terry, So I
was I was like, wait a minute, let's see this
go through first.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Then yeah, I mean he had a good date though
he is three for three on his field goals a
fifty forty yarder. I believe it was. But on do
you think the right team won that game?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Well, it's hard for me to kind of judge that
because I was pulling for the Bucks for a few reasons,
maybe one financial reason, but at the end of the day,
like I just want solid games to watch. So like,
if I pick a game wrong, the worst thing that
I hate to see happen is have a game be bad.
(28:24):
So if i'm you know, for example, say picking the
Chargers to win, or picking the Chargers just cover and
then they just completely lay an egg, that game's not
fun at all for me because it's it's doubly upsetting
to watch bad football and I'm losing money. But with
the Commander's Bucks, at least I could take away. Okay,
it was a good game, the Commanders earned the win,
(28:46):
But I will say there, you know, there was plenty
of opportunity throughout this game for Baker Mayfield and the
Bucks to put up more points than they did. You know,
I don't know. I think when you start saying right
team or wrong team, I think that's tough. But I
will say that, you know, Baker Mayfield losing a fumble
doesn't help. You know, he didn't throw any picks in
(29:07):
this game. He didn't get sacked much either. But I
just felt like the Commanders did enough the little things
to get them to win. And I'm not upset they won.
But of course I did have the Bucks, and I
thought the Bucks would winning home. So I guess I guess, yeah,
I guess the right team won.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, I thought I thought the Commanders played great. You know,
that fumbled by Baker was obviously crucial and that led
to uh, I keep pivotal moment right. But Jayden Daniels,
I really don't think we can say enough about this
young guy right now. He is doing fantastic and it's
(29:43):
showing Dan and I keep saying Dan Quinn, kept wanted
to say, Dan Campbell, So Dan Quinn.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
They'll be battling one another tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeap, reviving his head coaching career in just one year
with Washington, which is incredible of what he's done. And
their offensive coordinator, not Kyle Shann but Kingsbury. Right, he's
reviving himself too, showing hey, you know this guy can
be a great OC. Maybe that he'll get a head
(30:16):
coaching gig again one day in a couple of years.
But Washington, they are being built right now for success success. YEA, yeah, sorry,
I'm just saying they're they're They're just going straight forward.
New ownership group, new head coach, new LC, new QB,
the four, the new new GM. I believe too, those
(30:40):
key pieces this year has made a big change.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, I think you have to be ecstatic if you're
a Washington fan, just given the fact where they were,
you know, a year or two ago in previous ownership group.
I I just love the fact that Jayden Daniels has
had the year he had because I think it gives
them instant hope and instant reason to believe. I don't
know if they're gonna be able to go into Detroit
and win that game, which we'll talk about here in
(31:06):
a little bit, uh, but you know, good on them
for going on the road to win a playoff game
here in Jane Daniels first year all right, Randal. That
brings us to Monday night and the final game of
the weekend. I had to wait all weekend long and
then all Monday, and finally I got to watch the
Rams play a playoff game. And you know, if they
(31:27):
put the all beat down on Minnesota here, they put
twenty seven points on the border of Granted, they only
scored three points in the second half, but I look
at this as one of those situations where you know,
if your defense is playing well and you're just using
clock up, then you don't have to be assaulting down
the field every time. And Sam Donald could not do anything.
I mean, the guy was getting sacked every two seconds.
(31:48):
So this was a dominant win from my perspective. Despite
what I just said about only scoring three points in
the second half. You know, they went down the field
five minutes first drive of the game to get the
touchdown from Kyron. You had the fumble recovery touchdown from
Jared Verse, and then another one from Matthew Stafford to
Davis Allen. So I was ecstatic to see how this
(32:08):
game went. I was surprisingly confident going into it, I
think because they had beaten the Vikings earlier this year,
but also because whatever it is about Sam Darnold, I
just felt like I like Matthew Stafford in this spot
better than Donald. And I know the game was moved
out of LA to Arizona, which didn't help, you know,
kind of my feeling on it, because I thought that
we'd have a better home field in LA than we
(32:29):
would in Arizona, but ended up in Arizona. And yeah,
there was a lot of Vikings support there for sure,
but I was actually surprised at how many fans the
Rams had there, just based on the fact that it's
not you know, it's not right down the street from
LA by any means, you're probably not just driving to Arizona,
so anybody who made the trip had to get there.
(32:50):
I heard one of my friends actually said they should
have put the game in Saint Louis. That would have
been pretty cool, and I was like, that's interesting. However,
I think the fans in Saint Louis have moved on
and don't like the Rams from me, so I don't
know if it would have been a good or bad thing.
But anyway, I'm ecstatic with the win. Stafford play well,
the defense played well, and you know now they got
to play a tougher opponent obviously in Philadelphia, who they
got smacked around a little bit by earlier this year.
(33:14):
But I thought, as far as this game went, Randle,
I could not have been happier.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
No, John, I mean, I know you weren't happy with
only the three points in the second half, but you
were so dominant that only scoring three points in the
second half was still enough to get the dub, right,
like an easy dub, mind you. And going into this week, John,
I am praying the Rams smac Philly around. I ain't
(33:42):
billion oh Man, I mean golf, Stafford. I need the Matt,
not golf. I need McVeigh and Stafford on their A game, John,
on their A game, Philly. They're all high and mighty
right now, thinking they're good. Well they're not. John. Everybody
(34:03):
likes an underdog. People want to see the Rams.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Well, I think you're right. I think people naturally get
on the underdog's back and try to say, let's do
this thing. And I think Philly is one of those
teams where people don't like Nick Sirianni. They don't like
you know, Jalen Hurts. In some cases even though he
doesn't really do anything to show you that you shouldn't
like him. But I am a big, big proponent of
what you're saying right now. I hope they go down
there or down to Philly and smack them too. It's
(34:26):
gonna be cold comeing cross country, but I think they
can get it done. They've changed their offense a lot
since the first time they played them, so all right,
well that kind of puts a cap on the wild
card weekend. Randall, anything else that we didn't mention about
those six games that you feel like you should probably
mention before we move on to to this week. Nope,
(34:48):
right right, great, so let's jump in to guess that spread.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
It's time to play.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Guess Yeah, how did I did I beat you last week?
I don't have it written in front of me. I
think I went one out of three, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Pretty sure we both won one and three and.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Hour all right, so then we might have tied. I
don't have it written right in front of me for
whatever reason. I have it somewhere, so we'll have to
go back and look. But yeah, so we're into the
playoffs now. There's only four games this weekend. But Randall
and I are gonna do what we always do. We're
going to give each other some of the lines from
some of these games and give a chance to guess them.
So Randall, I can begin first if you'd like, and
(35:34):
give you one, or you can give me one. Whatever
you want, give me one. John, all right, let's do that.
I'm gonna go ahead and give you a quarterback here
to start. I'd love for you to tell me the
passing yard number for your guy, Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
M geez, let's see here, Jaden Daniels, Jaden Dan.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
You know the matchup. He's at Detroit tomorrow night, Saturday,
eight pm.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
They're big, they're big, They're big underdogs in that game, John,
Jaden and Dan Daniel's passing yards is going to be
two fifty nine and a half.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You overshot two thirty seven and a half. You can
get the alternate line at two fifty plus for plus
one twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Bosky unbelievable. Alrighty, John, let's do this. Give me the
second goat. Patrick Mahomes over under passing yards.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
The second goat, uh, well, Mahomes is playing the Houston Texans.
H I feel like this number is going to be
lower than a lot of the other guys, just based
on the year he had. But you have to still
give him playoff credit. I'm gonna say two fifty two
and a.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Half, John, Can I ask you a question. Yes, I'm
gonna give you one more chance.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Why are you doing that?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
You'll you'll know why it a little bit. I'm being
very generous.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
I'm gonna say two seventy five and a half.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
The correct answer is who fifty two and a half?
You should have stayed with your first answer.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait, I said to
fifty two and a half, that's an exactly, that's exact.
That's the first one of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
That is the first one of the year.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
You go, you can't do that to me. You can't.
It's like when you didn't say anything. At first, I
was like, Oh, he's gonna tell me it was exactly,
and then you were like, oh, you have to rethink it.
I'm like, oh, wow, really I thought I was gonna
be spot on.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Well, John, you were a spot on. Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Wow, that's I think my first ever exactly. And it
happens here in the divisional round of the playoffs and
the second year of us doing this game. How about that?
All right? Well, now I'm clearly ahead because I haven't
exactly Randall doesn't have anything. So Randall, I'm gonna go
ahead and ask you for the rushing yard number for
Sequan Barkley. Who mind you ran for like two hundred
(38:35):
and fifty yards the first time they played the Rams
this year.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Hmmm, this number is gonna be high eighty happen? Is
eighty seven too? Low? Eighty seven and a half.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I'm sure you don't want to rethink it.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I'm sure I was gonna go ninety six.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
But the rushing yard number for Saquon Barkley for this
game against the Rams is one twelve and a half?
Are you getting me? No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
When the fuck has a line been that high before?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
John Christian McCaffrey last year, But that's about it.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Geez alrighty, let's wow.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yeah, I know, I don't think you can even tie
me now, but let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
I mean, John, I really thought eighty seven was gonna
be high too. I thought, if anything, it was gonna
be in the nineties, not one twelve. Yeah, no, he
you know, but you know what, let's do this, John,
give me derreck Henry rushing yards. You give me a stud,
I'm gonna give you a stud.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Oh okay, he's playing at Buffalo, so I feel like
you have to take that into account because his number
could be a little bit lower than it normally is.
Just given the opponent. This is gonna be high too,
but it's not gonna be quite Saquon Barkley territory. But
I do have to go eighty plus here somewhere, I think,
so I'm gonna go with eighty four and a half.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Ninety five and a half. These dudes are putting up
video game projections.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
All right. I guess somebody's got the Madden sticks out
for this weekend. That's crazy, Okay, all right, I can
live with that. I guess. All right, Well, you need
exacty to tie me here, so let's see if you
can do that. I'm going to ask you for the
receiving yard number four. I feel like I always give
(40:48):
you a hard receiver. I'm gonna try to give you
a little easier one.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Here.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Give me a'mon ross Saint Brown's receiving yard.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Number eighty six and a half yards.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Seventy six and a half. Oh, you had the right,
right back end of it. But yeah, sorry, alright, well
that means I win. But you're gonna give me one anyway.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Alrighty John, give me receiving yards full Isaiah Pachecko for
Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Running back Ugh receiving yards for Isaiah Pacheco. This is
not gonna be very high. I'm gonna say, let's go
with eleven and a half, ding ding six and a
(41:59):
half half, just on the perfect. I don't want an
eight and a half, but I was gonna go a
little higher. That was a dirty trick by you trying
to get me there.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah. I was trying to be a little sneaky.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah you were. But that does it for.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Guess Oh oh yeah, whoop see whoopsie.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Come on, man, we're doing this. How long now you're
by yourself? Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
That does it for Yes, there spread.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
First exactly of the year. And the guy forgets what
game we're playing. You can't.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah, you know where that works, right?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
But Randall, now it's time for as all right, So
Randal and I last week each went three and three
among the six games. We're gonna do the same thing
this week. We're gonna pick all four of the games
remaining and we could have the same picks if we
choose to. But we'll see how it all turns out
here with the four spreads on the board and both
(43:06):
of us sitting at a three and three record. So randall.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
You want to go?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Or do you want me to go with the first
game here? Uh?
Speaker 2 (43:14):
You can go, John, all.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Right, I'll go with the Kansas City Chiefs Texans game first.
The Chiefs are eight and a half point favoritesier and
I am inclined to go ahead and take the Chiefs
with the eight and a half points. It's a big spread,
I know, but based on the way the Texans played
last weekend against the Chargers, I just don't trust them
having to go on the road road now, excuse me
to a place where usually bad things happen to teams
(43:41):
in the playoffs. So I will take the Chiefs minus
eight and a half. It's a hefty spread, but I'll
take it.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
You know, John, the Chiefs and four and four to
thirty start times in the playoffs. But Patrick Mahomes, where
do you get these staff all and five? No, the
time they're kicking off four point thirty. Give me Houston
plus eight. But the depleted team potentially, No, Joe Mixon,
(44:11):
I am taking. Give me Houston Texans plus eight and
a half. All right, Eight and.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
A half is the number that I see. If you
see eight, we can both take eight. But I see
and a half and a half.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
If you got eight and a half, I got eight
and a half.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
All right, Randall, who do you like in the Commander's
Lions game. It's Detroit minus nine and a half. Currently,
it's the biggest spread of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I'm staying with the team. Give me the Commanders plus nine, man.
I mean, I'm just I'm just feeling them. Jayden Daniels
is killing it out there.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Wonder how many dogs you're gonna end up taking here
because you're trending in a certain way. I like Detroit here.
I think that ten points is a lot to win
by in the playoffs. But I just look at Detroit.
You know, they're coming off a week in which they
had off, so they're only gonna be a little healthier.
They're getting David Montgomery back. This offense has been great,
the defense has gotten a little healthier. Washington proved something
(45:05):
to me. They had already go on the road last
week and win in Tampa, so maybe I'm being a
little bit foolish for thinking this game won't be just
as close as that one was. But I think I'm
going to you know what, I'm gonna switch my pick.
I'm pulling a Randall. I'm going Commanders plus nine and
a half.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Keep it.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
They're gonna keep it close. I'm sticking with you. I
don't care that we have the same pick. Commanders are
gonna keep this within nine and a half points. I
like the Lions to win, but I think nine and
a half just too much. I was trying to convice
myself and just couldn't get there.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
I like it, John, I like it all right.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Well, you know where I'm going with this next one?
Rams Eagles. The Eagles are six point favorites in Philadelphia,
supposed to be a chilly day, maybe some snow on
the ground on Sunday afternoon. I'm gonna pick my Rams
to make the trip across the country and cover the
six points. Uh. You know, the Rams played the Eagles
are this year, and it was really the last legitimate
lost the Rams had this season. They did lose Week
(46:05):
eighteen to the Seahawks with their backups playing, but that
was their only other loss since the Eagles game, and
the Eagles game did not go great. I mean it
was about two months ago or a month and a
half ago. It was in late late November. Excuse me,
but you know, Saquon ran all over them. It just
wasn't a great game from the Rams standpoint. But they
(46:26):
did change a lot about their offense after that. And
I do trust Sean McVay in the playoffs. So I
know the Eagles have had a great year and maybe
they still win this game. But give me the Rams
to cover the six points here on the road.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Interesting take, John, Interesting take? Well, you know, John, you
only scored three points in the second half of the
last game. I think that wasn't a problem. I know
it wasn't a problem for that game, but this is
that you're.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Really hoping that the Rams win, so I'm expecting to
take the Rams plus six here.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
I know, John, However, I will say this, it's not
a problem game, but it's a problem because you know
you're going on the road. You gotta make sure you
gotta show that you can continue to do what you're doing. Now.
With that being said, Jalen Hurts only two completions in
the second half. What's worse, two completions are only three points?
Only two completions? Give me the Rams plus six?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Jo Okay, Okay, the kid is here. He's got all
the underdogs so far, folks. All right, Well that sets
us up for this last game. And I'm really interested
to see how you go with this one because the
Ravens are visiting the Bills, and as it currently sits,
I don't know if you see the same thing, but
(47:38):
Baltimore is a one and a half point favorite in Buffalo.
What do you like here? Are you seeing the same spread?
And who do you like?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
John? John? Know who I like the team that's gonna
win and that team doesn't need no plus one and
a half? Give me the Bills outright winners all the way.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Well, I you know, I hate to agree with you
on three out of four of these, so I won't.
I'm gonna go with the MVP Lamar Jackson to go
into Buffalo and upset the Buffalo Bills. This is finally
Lamar time, Lamar's time to shine. It's a two point
spread right now, one and a half, so they have
to win by two for me to win my bet.
(48:26):
And I feel confident that the Vikings are sorry. The
Ravens will find a way to win this game late
here by a field goal, So give me the Ravens
minus one and a half. I was tempted to take
the Bills, but I will go with Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
John, I went with the dog pound alert today. Man,
you sure did.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
All dogs, all dogs? All right? Well that does it
for hard locks locks?
Speaker 2 (49:00):
Good?
Speaker 1 (49:01):
All right, Randall, there's only one thing left to do,
and I think you know what that is, so I'll
let you take over from here.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Alright, John, it's our favorite part. It's mostly the part
my favorite because I've had the most success with it
this year. So let's start with it. You have to
guess it, John, what is the word?
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Well? I don't really have a good guess at all.
I I think what happened this year is pretty clear.
I went on a pretty good run early, and you
have since figured out a lot better ways to incorporate words.
I've still snuffed out a few of them, but you've
just done a much better job. I think it's that
Becker College education that's finally paying off for you. So
(49:51):
I don't have a guess. Why don't you just tell
me what it is?
Speaker 2 (49:55):
Let's find out John. You know, John, it's for gazy
for guys.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Man.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
That makes sense, now, Okay, in the moment, I literally
think that, I literally, I literally thought you were gonna
have it.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I'm like, that's the only thing that could.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Pross I know, I know, but you say stuff like that,
and I don't know it's I should know because you
don't usually say the word for gazy, but I don't know.
It just wasn't. I guess I wasn't alert enough, but
you pulled another one on me there. I don't think
I'm trying to look at our sheet here, but of
(50:35):
course I closed it before. You have beaten me now
in word of the day for the last four weeks
at least, and I only won one of the last
like seven weeks to begin with. So you you really
did turn it around after I had a pretty good
(50:55):
mid season run there, So I'll give you a lot
of credit. We love that, all right, Well that kind
of brings us to the end here. Is there any
other parts of these games, Randall that maybe we didn't
talk about anything that you're excited to see this weekend,
or that you hope happens, or which of these games
do you expect to be the best. You know, what
(51:17):
are what are some things you're hoping to see.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
I'm hoping to see the Kansas City Chiefs go down
like the dogs they are. Yeah, well you did take
there is a sick dog kind of put Ale Yeller down.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Well, they've had a really weird year and I don't know,
it just feels like they're trending towards another three pete.
I hope they lose too, because it would make the
Rams life a little bit easier. I hope this Bill's
Ravens game lives up to the billing. No pun intended there,
but it seems like we'll have a good one on
Sunday Night. But yeah, I'm hoping we're talking next week
this time Randall and the Rams have made it to
(51:51):
the NFC title game again, because that would be pretty
exciting for me. However, I don't know if if it'll
happen or not based on based on the matchup, but
we'll see. You never really know, but that brings us
to the end, So Randall, I will let you take
us till next week. Everybody, thanks for listening, and you'll
see you next week. After you did more round.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
Goodbye, Goodbye, good friends, goodbye. This was the John and
Randall Football Experienced Play Up edition. We hope the Rams
can't continue with their luck and if not, they're gonna
be headed down to me. Handed down to me.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
Can coon anybody oo oo and everything need
What is going on? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to
a very special playoff edition of the John of Randall
Football Experience. My name is Johnavino, and with me is
my guy Randall Denogue Randall. We made it through Super
wild Card weekend. There's four games in the divisional playoffs
this weekend. We are excited, or at least I am,
(00:42):
are you?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
John? You have a lot to be excited for. For once,
your rams are looking like they could wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Did you say something like take the Vikings alternate spread
like minus eight or something like that. Weren't you trying
to tell.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Everybody that the other day? Did I say that? You know?
All I'm gonna say about that, John, is the Vikings
have not been the same since they signed Daniel Jones.
That man is a curse.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay, he's been with them for longer than the last
two games.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I don't know. He's been with them for at least
I think it was a month. Okay, but he has.
But you know what, in the Vikings defense, okay, which
they didn't have the other night, but in their defense year,
they've lost four games on the year to two teams,
(01:35):
both teams fantastic teams that are still obviously in the playoffs,
So if you're gonna go down, at least you're gonna
go down that way. However, I will say this though,
job the Rams record at ten and seven this year
is the exact same at what they had last year
and didn't make the playoffs, which tells me when you
(01:56):
win the division at ten and seven, it was just
a down year for the division And should they really
even be in this spot?
Speaker 1 (02:02):
All right? I don't I don't need to hear you
peddling any of that crap, but what I will say
is that you're right. The Vikings won five straight games
to start the year, then they lost to the Lions
and Rams in that order, and then they won nine
straight games and then lost to the Lions and Rams
in that order. So it's a very weird season for
them because both the Ram both the Lion Ram losses
(02:24):
happened in consecutive weeks both times, so just a strange stranger.
Sam Donald probably lost himself a lot of money. But
we'll we'll talk a little bit more about that game
a little bit. I want to start with quick hits,
as we always do, Randall Witch. What with quick hits
chips uh, And I want to get your thought because
it officially happened about two days after we recorded last week,
(02:47):
Mike Rabel was hired as the head coach for the Patriots.
I believe we were on the air or we did
this last Thursday, and then he was hired on Saturday.
So it happened very relatively soon after we recorded and
during playoff week. But what are your thoughts, because I
know this is kind of the way it looked like
it was trending. I know last week you spoke about
this a little bit. But now that it's official, and
(03:08):
you know, we've seen the press conference and he's officially
been higher and all the stuff is coming out now
and you're gonna start talking about his coordinators and whatnot.
How are you feeling as a Patriots fan with Mike
Rabel as the head coach.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I'm extremely happy. I think it's exactly what we need. Okay. Now,
there wasn't much shock when and I was happy when
I saw it. I'm like, oh, okay, nice boom. I
like it early. We're getting things done. This is gonna
be great. But at the same time, there was so
much rumors about him coming to New England, John, and
I feel like everybody and their mothers knew, okay, that
(03:44):
vrabel was gonna be going to New England. So it
wasn't that much of a shocker. Everybody knew it was happening.
The real shocker, John, is what went on in Dallas.
That was a real shock.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well, I mean it's a really interesting situation just because
Mike McCarthy the we didn't really hear you know, you
heard some things about him like will they fire and
will he be here, But it was more of a
situation where his contract ran out and Jerry Jones and
him could not come to a new agreement. Now, Jerry
Jones has spoken very highly of Mike McCarthy the last
couple of years, even throughout some of the losing, and
(04:16):
quite frankly, Mike Carthy's a pretty good coach. I mean,
he had three years in a row where they won
twelve games I think, or even in thirteen games when
he was in Green Bay. You know, he won the
Super Bowl, only the one. But he's a very interesting
coach in the sense that he's had a lot of success.
Even this year they won I think they went four
and four with Cooper Rush, which is not terrible at all,
(04:37):
but it's gonna be weird because now there's this massive
opening that wasn't there when the rest of them are open.
Because the Cowboys are, you know, the franchise or one
of the franchises that had a lot of success back
in the day and are looked at as one of
the premier jobs. So you know, now the question becomes
who's going to fill that vacancy. And you know, the
hot rumor right out of the gate was that Dion
(04:57):
Sanders could be interested in the Jerry Owens was interested
in him, and obviously there's a history there with with
Dion playing for the Cowboys back in the day. But
I don't know how I would feel about Dion Sanders
as the head coach in the NFL because we see
him coaching at Colorado and he's certainly become I'd say
a college coaching icon might be a tough word, but
(05:21):
he certainly has legitimacy to him. He's he's been good,
they've been able to recruit, and recruiting is probably easy
for him. But it changes a lot when you go
to the NFL. I mean, you're now dealing with people
who are gonna be paid, you know, the nil stuff aside,
because that's you know, fake money that boosters throw around,
But you're now dealing with free agency and contracts and
bidding against other teams. I don't know if Deon Sanders
(05:42):
jumping in to be the head coach of the Cowboys
is such a hot idea.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I mean, I'd love to see how it would fold
down up, love to see if Shador went to Dallas,
right even though highly unlikely that that's gonna be the case.
But I do think it is possible now more than
ever that Dion does go to Dallas, just because of
the fact John. The other day Dion went to the
(06:09):
athletic director asking for more NIL money to pay coaches
to pay recruits and he got denied. So if he's
feeling some beefs, some tension right now with the athletic
director of Colorado, it really could be possibility that he's
gonna come try to go to the NFL. Really, the
only spot for him I'd see is in Dallas. But
(06:32):
he wouldn't have to worry about the free agent stuff, John,
because we all know the best GM and all the
land is in Dallas, and we'll be handling all that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, the best being an interesting word to use there.
But you know, I don't necessarily think that Dallas could
be his only entry point here. I think the Raiders
are an interesting team, uh, you know, because they're, you know,
one of those franchises that's a legacy franchise and it's
been around for a really long time, even though they're
now in Vegas, and I think that that could be
an naturally attractive spot, although I don't think I've heard
(07:02):
anything about Vegas. Interviewing him, it's gonna be interesting because Dion,
I think one way or the other, his eventual aspiration
is probably to coach in the NFL. I don't see why.
You know, he coached his kids in college, which is cool,
but I don't see what the draw for him to
stay at that level much longer would be now that
both of his sons have moved on. So I don't know.
(07:25):
We'll see what happens. If there's one team that's crazy
enough to do it, it would be Dallas. Jerry Jones
would be crazy enough. But we have seen you know.
But I'll say this, the last ten or fifteen years,
you could point at several things that, you know, maybe
in the past Jerry Jones would have done, but he
didn't do because they've they've tried to, you know, move
(07:49):
his son into more of a GM role, and I'm
looking at things like not drafting Johnny Manzel and drafting
offensive linemen like they they've made smarter decisions, though it
hasn't necessarily on them anything. So maybe they should go
back to a to a weird decision or a flashy
decision and bring in Dion Sanders. I don't know that's
(08:12):
a I guess you have nothing else to that, which
is fine.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh, I thought you were just ending right there.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I don't think there's been There has not been any
other coaching vacancies filled yet. Right. We've had a ton
of interviews. You know, you keep hearing Ben Johnson's name.
You keep hearing Eric Glenn's name, Aaron Glenn's name, excuse me,
both of them from the Lions. I know that Brian
Flores is now interviewing with the Jets, and I think
the Jaguars too. Uh. You know, the Bears still have
(08:41):
the opening. So there's still plenty of openings here that
have not been filled, and we still don't have an
idea of who's gonna be taking them to Saints and
the Raiders or saying yeah, Saints and Raiders are the
other ones as well. But the Patriots they got their guy,
they got Vabel, and now the Cowboys have an opening
as well, So there's still six teams that have openings
at head coach. The Titans did hire a new GM today.
(09:03):
That hired Mike Borganzi, who I think comes from one
of those successful franchises though don't exactly know which one,
but he's a guy who they're hoping can stabilize their
front office. He was with the Chiefs for the last
fifteen years actually, so he's a guy who they're bringing in.
But that's all we've got on the hiring front so far.
So Randall, let's move into Super wild Card weekend and
(09:26):
talk about some of these games. Unfortunately, we had quite
a few games that were not of the close variety.
In fact, you had the Commander's Bucks game on Sunday
night that was a three point game and the next
closest game after that was twelve points between the Eagles
and Packers. So we're gonna talk about all these games,
(09:46):
but unfortunately it wasn't you know, the most exciting Super
Wildcard weekend we've ever had. But let's start with the
Chargers Texans game. Randall. You know, the Chargers to me,
maybe the most disappointing of any team this weekend because
I expect them to kind of go in and fight,
and quite frankly, I thought they were gonna win, uh,
and they just went in to Houston and got smacked
(10:08):
around by a Texans team that, you know, really in
the second half just didn't let up at all. They
were only up by four points when they got into
the second half, ended up winning this game by twenty.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
John, you're up six minutes, You're up six points the
Chargers with basically two minutes to go in the second quarter.
I have a chance to go into the half with
the lead, and you end up giving that up. And so,
I mean, it was it was honestly crazy. You go
into Houston, like you said, but this is a depleted
Houston team. How do you let them do that too? Kerbert? Yeah,
(10:42):
the guy had five interceptions all season.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Now, yeah, he had three all season and he threw
four in this game.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, so it's like, what are we doing? What is
he doing? Why can't he figure it out? He had
a twenty something point lead against the Jacks a couple
of years and then I mean oh and two on
his playoff record against two teams that he should have
been able to beat. He should have been able to
(11:10):
beat with the type of talent that he had around him.
It's it's a tough loss for Harball, but they gotta
they need to get more out of Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah. I think he's a fine player, and I think
we've seen this the last few years, and I've you know,
at times, called him a fraud over the last several
seasons because I think he is still kind of a
fraudulent quarterback. And I don't mean to say he's not good,
because he is. He can play with, you know, the
best of him. If you want to call him top
ten or whatever you want to call him, I'll put
(11:40):
him in there. But the problem is that he has
not won the big games yet. And when he goes
head to ahead with some of these other guys, which
c J. Stroud, I wouldn't even look at c J.
Stroud as one of the elite quarterbacks in the league.
CJ had a great game. He completed two thirds of
his passes. He did throw a pick in this game,
but he was pretty efficient otherwise. I mean, Herbert had
had a pretty so season. He didn't throw for over
(12:02):
four thousand yards, but he still threw for thirty eight hundred,
He had twenty three touchdowns, only three picks, his completion
percentage around sixty six percent. And then he gets into
this game. He goes fourteen for thirty two, does have
two hundred and forty yards, but he throws a touchdown
and four picks. I just don't understand how a guy
who threw you know, it happened to GoF this year
and didn't happen to goff In Houston too. That's just
(12:23):
kind of weird. It did when he threw the five picks.
But he won that game, And I mean that's just
a good Lions team overcoming a really bad performance from
a guy who has never done that otherwise. This for
Justin Herbert, unfortunately, while he has never probably done something
that bad in his career up to this point, it
just feels like you saw something like this coming, you
(12:46):
know what I mean, Like the guy only had three
picks all year, and then of course he's gonna go
with the playoff and throw four in the first game. Plays.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know what to attribute it to,
but I do know is you just can't do it, John.
I mean, if you're trying to be a rising star
in this league going on into in the playoffs and games,
like I said, you need to those were winnable games
for him. Had CJ. Stroud lost this game, I wouldn't
have it's all good like he was supposed to lose
(13:14):
obviously because he was an underdog in it. But keep
all out, keep balled out though.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah, yeah, he was also at home, so you know,
I know they were underdogs, but I always look at
this a little bit differently. But yeah, I mean still
at the end of the day, you want to you
want to make sure that you're you're doing everything you
can to put the best performance out there. And unfortunately
for Justin Herbert again he comes up small on a
big spot here. So we'll have to see. And I
know there's a lot of talk about Kyliel Herbert and
(13:42):
whether he'll retire or not. Now, you know, it seems
like just yesterday he was drafted somewhere near the top
of the draft. But he could be a guy that
if he does retire, will certainly you know, it'll change
that defense. But if he ends up going somewhere else
because he's also a free agent, it could be interesting
to keep an eye on if he tries to join
on with a winner here during the end of his career.
(14:04):
The other game on Saturday we got was the Steelers
Ravens AFC North battle. Unfortunately for the Steelers, it just
from the get go here, it just was not good.
They were down twenty one to nothing at halftime. You know,
they came out in a little bit more fire in
that third quarter. I don't know if the Ravens adjusted
things defensively based on the lead they had, so Rust
(14:27):
did end up throwing a couple of touchdowns and you know,
picking Tad won Van Jefferson that one, But ultimately it
still ends up being a pretty Honestly, I think fourteen
points probably doesn't tell the whole story as far as
the deficit in this game or the final score twenty
eight to fourteen. I think that's the differential probably could
have been greater. But you know, the Ravens, they're a
really good team. They're now going to play the Bills
(14:49):
in Buffalo, which will be a tough task for them.
But the Steelers. This is more about them, Randall, because
I mean we talked about the last several weeks, but
they were in a really good position for a while there,
you know, atop the division, and then you lose to
the Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals the last four weeks of
the regular season, and you lose to the Ravens in
(15:09):
the first round of the playoffs. They lost five straight
games to end the year. Here, I mean, Mike Tomlin,
there's a lot of talk about him. He's not going anywhere,
But do you feel like this team is currently constructed, Like,
do you feel like Mike Tomlin is the right guy?
It feels weird asking that, but do you feel like
this team needs to move on to maybe take a
(15:30):
different approach to things?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
No, no, no, no, no. I mean he's a He's
a regular season hero, right, I mean, the dude's never
had a losing season.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Or Tony Romo, You're the Tony Romo of coaches.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, but then again, it's like, look who you have
at quarterback? Are you guys being they were also they
were also pretty much hurt towards the end of the
season as well. You know, their defense was banked up,
offensive guys banged up? Were they the seventh John.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
The Steelers, Yes they were not. The seventh seed? Was
the Broncos? No, that's not correct, Yeah, the Broncos. The
Broncos were seven because they went to Buffalo and then
Pittsburgh was six. They were the six to three matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Perfect. Okay, Well a little story with that since the
seventh seed. I will save that for the Bills game.
But what I will say though, is, John, I do
think the Steelers getting hurt towards the end and being
depleted like it, you need to be going into playoffs healthy. Again.
That's maybe why some of these teams were arresting guys,
(16:46):
uh for the previous week. Maybe that's what the Steelers
should have done instead of playing guys for Cincinnati, they
should arrested some guys against Cincinnati, and maybe that would
have changed their their outcome because there would have been
a lock. No matter what I do think, Joe, they
haven't committed to a quarterback, whether they want to go
with Russ, whether they want to go with Justin bi else,
(17:09):
somebody else, or somebody else, which I think that's gonna
be the best. Maybe Sam Donald. Maybe Sam Donald would
find a home there.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It seems interesting though, because I feel like Donald I
would have said yes to that if I were the
Steelers for the longest time. But now I almost feel
like it's the same kind of thing that you were
in this year, Like he had a great year, but
it fell apart so drastically the last couple of weeks.
I mean, he got sacked eight times by the Rams.
It was just like he wasn't throwing the ball. So
(17:42):
I feel like he lost himself some money, But I
feel like he also might have lost himself like a
sure thing, like I'm gonna go in as the number
one guy, like and I think the Steelers need I mean,
they need direction, they bring back runs.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
I mean he's gonna get paid.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yeah, sure, he's still gonna get Honestly, I think Sam
Donald's more in a boat of getting a Daniel Jones
kind of contract now, a two year deal worth somewhere
around eighty million dollars, rather than getting the forty year
deal worth two hundred million, because I think that's what
happened to him over the last couple of weeks, is
that he went from a guy who was gonna get
you know, the long term commitment somewhere over one hundred
(18:18):
and fifty million dollars. I think now he's probably looking
at a shorter term deal, having to prove himself again.
And he'll still make a lot of money because Daniel
Jones got forty million a year, but he's not going
to get you know, the sixty million or close to
that that he would have maybe come a little bit closer.
I don't think he was ever gonna get top dollar,
but he would have come a lot closer had he
(18:38):
not come.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
He's gonna be forty plus mil.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, somewhere around there. But where who's going to commit that?
I don't know if I see the Steelers being on
the list of teams that would. But then again, you
made a good point. I mean, if they're not gonna
bring back to these other guys, like who are they
going to bring in? And he could be a good
fit for them, So.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I think I think he's gonna be. He could be
a great fifth for that. I mean, they just want
to go back to russ and get another cheap deal.
I don't know, but I do think there is a
market for him, all right, There is there one hundred
is a market for Sam Darnold out that.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, I agree that Steelers.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Have to be and the Stillers have to be one
of those options.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I mean, that's the thing that right now, Like if
they had, you know, consistency at that position this year,
they could have been a lot better. Their defense also
didn't play great down the stretch, which that needs to
get figured out because their defense is always pretty good.
But yeah, quarterback is is something that Steelers need to
figure out drastically before coming in next year. If it
is Russell Wilson, then great, but you have to be
more consistent than you were this year because he was
good at times and just bad at other times. I
(19:39):
thought we were gonna get a good game. The first
game on Sunday, the Broncos scored first. It was seven
to nothing. Uh pretty quickly too, like two and a
half minutes in forty three yard pass You're like, all right,
bo Nicks came to play. And then what happened for
the remaining fifty seven and a half minutes of the
game was that the Bills out scored the Broncos thirty
one to nothing, and they just never looked bad. It
(20:00):
was only ten to seven and a half time, But
I mean they just stepped on the gas in the
second half, and this team showed what they can do.
Are you more disappointed that the Broncos didn't put up
any of a fight or are you more surprised that
the Bills just kind of stepped on their throats like
they did.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I mean, we both I believe we both had the
Bills right minus nine? Correct?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah? I thought it was a yeah big spread, but
I like them to win by ten. I don't know
if I don't know if they win by twenty four.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, alternate line thereh. I do think though, John, I'm
about to give you a stat since the NFL expanded playoffs,
adding the extra team from six to seven, right, there's
only been one I believe it's been five years, six years, right,
something like that. Yeah, five to seven years around there,
(20:51):
there's only been one team, John, that has won a
game as the seventh scene, and that was Green Bay.
I believe it was last year or two years ago.
Go with the last year versus Dallas. Okay, So with
that being said, maybe that's the problem to some of
these blowout games that we're seeing right now, right, is
(21:14):
you have the extra team. Maybe maybe we need we
need to get rid of that seven seed. If the
two seed to buy, give this two seed to buy
it again, and then you, uh, we can get get
some better competitive games.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Even if your logic is sound, which it is, you're
just never going to get in a world where they
move backwards on some of these things, like you're never
going to get six teams in the playoffs again. You know,
it's funny because it's pretty similar to what we see,
you know, at the at the collegiate level now with
the college football playoffs. Everybody was clamoring for this college
(21:50):
football playoff and we now have an expanded version of it.
But the problem that we've seen with it is what
this year that we had some games that were kind
of blowouts, and then you get into the second round
and it was all the teams that played games that
were winning for the most part, not the teams that
were on by. So there's inherently gonna be flaws in
any type of playoffsystem that you put together, because whether
(22:12):
you're giving a team a week off, or you're not
giving a team a week off and then you're giving
two teams a week off. If you go back to
the way you wanted it, you know, they're always gonna
want to get as many teams in the dance as
they can because it makes everything more dramatic, and having
fourteen teams in does. But your point is valid. I mean,
if a seventh seed has only won once in five years,
because I looked it up, it's been since twenty twenty
(22:33):
that this playoff has been expanded, So for five years
now it's the fifth season of it, you've only had
one one instance where that's happened. And you know, you
could say, Okay, there's not a ton of instances yet,
it's only been ten times. I think if they're one
and nine is the overall record, but it's it's a
trend certainly, and the seventh seed is going to be
a team most likely that usually gets in that you
(22:56):
know maybe would not have had well obviously they wouldn't
have been in if it was a sixteen playoff, But
my point being that you're gonna get a team that's
it's maybe gonna sneak in there, rather than be playing
as well as they could be to try to get
in the playoffs. That's the one thing about the six
playoff teams that you always saw was that it felt
like all six of them had to earn it like
the last week or two. Now it's like, oh, you've
(23:18):
got you know, the one seed locked up by week
fourteen or fifteen in some cases, and divisions are over earlier.
But you still have a larger field that's playing for
these spots. So I see your point, But I just
don't know that we're ever going to see it change
back to six.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
It's just I mean, it could make exciting for a
good upset, right, I mean, who why have the sixteen
seed in the March Madness Tournament? Right? Hey turns out
one year there was an upset for it, right, So
I mean it can happen. Games can be close. Maybe
it's just one of those years where it's it was
a blowout.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Right when you look at the Eagles Packers game that
started on or was the late afternoon game on Sunday
the Packers, it was a weird game, you know. I
think Jordan Love obviously didn't have his best game. He
was coming off the injury in Week eighteen with the
(24:13):
elbow injury where he lost feeling in his in his hand.
Jalen Hurts played pretty efficiently. He had Sakwon Barkley had
the whole aj Brown reading the book on the sidelines.
But the Eagles end up winning by twelve. You know,
they win this game by double digits and really no
trouble from the Packers at all. So were you surprised
to see Philadelphia who Randall is, fifteen and three now
(24:37):
this year in their eighteen games, fourteenth three in the
regular season and they won this game? Are you surprised
to see the Eagles just kind of roll the way
they did in this game? Or should we be expecting
it now given the year they've had?
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean, did they really roll? I mean, Jalen Hurts
had like two completions in the second half, right.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
They didn't need they didn't need the offensive onslaught.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I mean it was it was honestly, it had a
chance to be a lot closer than it was. I mean,
when Green Bay fumbled the opening kickoff, I mean that's
when it's just like come on now, yeah that that
kills you. But they're hot. You got Kellam Moore. He's
doing a great job over there as the OC. I
(25:20):
mean he's winning games clearly, but Jalen Hurts this week,
John is gonna have to up his game. He can't
he can't be the same as what he was this
previous week. He needs to be completely better.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
What do you read into the AJ Brown reading on
the sidelines thing?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Hocus pocus? You know who gazz.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Forgot makes Sirianni saying he does every game. But then
you have Jalen Hurts who said he's never seen him
do it before. So I'm just like, wait a minute,
which one of these is true? Which is not true?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What? What is gonna be true? Though? And I heard
this and I started laughing, is that if AJ Brown
scores a touchdown, everybody and Phil is gonna start whipping
out a book and start reading it on the team,
just start trolling the book.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Sales for that particular book went through the roof too.
I don't even remember the name of it, but it
was I've heard that the sales went right through the roof.
I'm gonna look it up right now, so in case
anybody wants to pick it AJ Brown book.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Maybe that's the key John you got. If you're an
author out there, get a get a famous athlete your
book to read on the sidelines. It's gonna loose sales.
If he's on a popular team.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
It's called Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy. I feel like
you could probably take some take some pages out of
that book and apply them to your life.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I love that, John. That sounds like a It sounds
like a book that's up my alley.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
You are Inner excellence is how I define you usually,
so this can only help you some more.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The Commander's Bucks game was the closest game of the
weekend night, as I mentioned, and it was really actually
pretty dramatic. You had the Zan Gonzalez donk field goal
that went through to win it. Pretty back and forth game.
Definitely the best of the the six games, like I said,
as far as score and competitive feeling. So you know
what did you take away from this game? Because jayde
(27:17):
and Daniels played really well, Baker Mayfield played alright, but
in the end it was the rookie who got the
better of the vet.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah, the doink for the win, I couldn't believe. And
I'm like, ah, you know they were chucking this up
like it so win already. The broadcasters. I'm like, I
don't know. I feel like something might happen here and
then you see it hit the right up right, and
then it just speeks on it, it's that was that
was an insane finish John.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, exactly. He's not exactly Adam vin Terry, So I
was I was like, wait a minute, let's see this
go through first.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Then yeah, I mean he had a good date though
he is three for three on his field goals a
fifty forty yarder. I believe it was. But on do
you think the right team won that game?
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Well, it's hard for me to kind of judge that
because I was pulling for the Bucks for a few reasons,
maybe one financial reason, but at the end of the day,
like I just want solid games to watch. So like,
if I pick a game wrong, the worst thing that
I hate to see happen is have a game be bad.
(28:24):
So if i'm you know, for example, say picking the
Chargers to win, or picking the Chargers just cover and
then they just completely lay an egg, that game's not
fun at all for me because it's it's doubly upsetting
to watch bad football and I'm losing money. But with
the Commander's Bucks, at least I could take away. Okay,
it was a good game, the Commanders earned the win,
(28:46):
But I will say there, you know, there was plenty
of opportunity throughout this game for Baker Mayfield and the
Bucks to put up more points than they did. You know,
I don't know. I think when you start saying right
team or wrong team, I think that's tough. But I
will say that, you know, Baker Mayfield losing a fumble
doesn't help. You know, he didn't throw any picks in
(29:07):
this game. He didn't get sacked much either. But I
just felt like the Commanders did enough the little things
to get them to win. And I'm not upset they won.
But of course I did have the Bucks, and I
thought the Bucks would winning home. So I guess I guess, yeah,
I guess the right team won.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah, I thought I thought the Commanders played great. You know,
that fumbled by Baker was obviously crucial and that led
to uh, I keep pivotal moment right. But Jayden Daniels,
I really don't think we can say enough about this
young guy right now. He is doing fantastic and it's
(29:43):
showing Dan and I keep saying Dan Quinn, kept wanted
to say, Dan Campbell, So Dan Quinn.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
They'll be battling one another tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeap, reviving his head coaching career in just one year
with Washington, which is incredible of what he's done. And
their offensive coordinator, not Kyle Shann but Kingsbury. Right, he's
reviving himself too, showing hey, you know this guy can
be a great OC. Maybe that he'll get a head
(30:16):
coaching gig again one day in a couple of years.
But Washington, they are being built right now for success success. YEA, yeah, sorry,
I'm just saying they're they're They're just going straight forward.
New ownership group, new head coach, new LC, new QB,
the four, the new new GM. I believe too, those
(30:40):
key pieces this year has made a big change.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, I think you have to be ecstatic if you're
a Washington fan, just given the fact where they were,
you know, a year or two ago in previous ownership group.
I I just love the fact that Jayden Daniels has
had the year he had because I think it gives
them instant hope and instant reason to believe. I don't
know if they're gonna be able to go into Detroit
and win that game, which we'll talk about here in
(31:06):
a little bit, uh, but you know, good on them
for going on the road to win a playoff game
here in Jane Daniels first year all right, Randal. That
brings us to Monday night and the final game of
the weekend. I had to wait all weekend long and
then all Monday, and finally I got to watch the
Rams play a playoff game. And you know, if they
(31:27):
put the all beat down on Minnesota here, they put
twenty seven points on the border of Granted, they only
scored three points in the second half, but I look
at this as one of those situations where you know,
if your defense is playing well and you're just using
clock up, then you don't have to be assaulting down
the field every time. And Sam Donald could not do anything.
I mean, the guy was getting sacked every two seconds.
(31:48):
So this was a dominant win from my perspective. Despite
what I just said about only scoring three points in
the second half. You know, they went down the field
five minutes first drive of the game to get the
touchdown from Kyron. You had the fumble recovery touchdown from
Jared Verse, and then another one from Matthew Stafford to
Davis Allen. So I was ecstatic to see how this
(32:08):
game went. I was surprisingly confident going into it, I
think because they had beaten the Vikings earlier this year,
but also because whatever it is about Sam Darnold, I
just felt like I like Matthew Stafford in this spot
better than Donald. And I know the game was moved
out of LA to Arizona, which didn't help, you know,
kind of my feeling on it, because I thought that
we'd have a better home field in LA than we
(32:29):
would in Arizona, but ended up in Arizona. And yeah,
there was a lot of Vikings support there for sure,
but I was actually surprised at how many fans the
Rams had there, just based on the fact that it's
not you know, it's not right down the street from
LA by any means, you're probably not just driving to Arizona,
so anybody who made the trip had to get there.
(32:50):
I heard one of my friends actually said they should
have put the game in Saint Louis. That would have
been pretty cool, and I was like, that's interesting. However,
I think the fans in Saint Louis have moved on
and don't like the Rams from me, so I don't
know if it would have been a good or bad thing.
But anyway, I'm ecstatic with the win. Stafford play well,
the defense played well, and you know now they got
to play a tougher opponent obviously in Philadelphia, who they
got smacked around a little bit by earlier this year.
(33:14):
But I thought, as far as this game went, Randle,
I could not have been happier.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
No, John, I mean, I know you weren't happy with
only the three points in the second half, but you
were so dominant that only scoring three points in the
second half was still enough to get the dub, right,
like an easy dub, mind you. And going into this week, John,
I am praying the Rams smac Philly around. I ain't
(33:42):
billion oh Man, I mean golf, Stafford. I need the Matt,
not golf. I need McVeigh and Stafford on their A game, John,
on their A game, Philly. They're all high and mighty
right now, thinking they're good. Well they're not. John. Everybody
(34:03):
likes an underdog. People want to see the Rams.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Well, I think you're right. I think people naturally get
on the underdog's back and try to say, let's do
this thing. And I think Philly is one of those
teams where people don't like Nick Sirianni. They don't like
you know, Jalen Hurts. In some cases even though he
doesn't really do anything to show you that you shouldn't
like him. But I am a big, big proponent of
what you're saying right now. I hope they go down
there or down to Philly and smack them too. It's
(34:26):
gonna be cold comeing cross country, but I think they
can get it done. They've changed their offense a lot
since the first time they played them, so all right,
well that kind of puts a cap on the wild
card weekend. Randall, anything else that we didn't mention about
those six games that you feel like you should probably
mention before we move on to to this week. Nope,
(34:48):
right right, great, so let's jump in to guess that spread.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
It's time to play.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Guess Yeah, how did I did I beat you last week?
I don't have it written in front of me. I
think I went one out of three, right, I'm.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Pretty sure we both won one and three and.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Hour all right, so then we might have tied. I
don't have it written right in front of me for
whatever reason. I have it somewhere, so we'll have to
go back and look. But yeah, so we're into the
playoffs now. There's only four games this weekend. But Randall
and I are gonna do what we always do. We're
going to give each other some of the lines from
some of these games and give a chance to guess them.
So Randall, I can begin first if you'd like, and
(35:34):
give you one, or you can give me one. Whatever
you want, give me one. John, all right, let's do that.
I'm gonna go ahead and give you a quarterback here
to start. I'd love for you to tell me the
passing yard number for your guy, Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
M geez, let's see here, Jaden Daniels, Jaden Dan.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
You know the matchup. He's at Detroit tomorrow night, Saturday,
eight pm.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
They're big, they're big, They're big underdogs in that game, John,
Jaden and Dan Daniel's passing yards is going to be
two fifty nine and a half.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
You overshot two thirty seven and a half. You can
get the alternate line at two fifty plus for plus
one twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Bosky unbelievable. Alrighty, John, let's do this. Give me the
second goat. Patrick Mahomes over under passing yards.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
The second goat, uh, well, Mahomes is playing the Houston Texans.
H I feel like this number is going to be
lower than a lot of the other guys, just based
on the year he had. But you have to still
give him playoff credit. I'm gonna say two fifty two
and a.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Half, John, Can I ask you a question. Yes, I'm
gonna give you one more chance.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Why are you doing that?
Speaker 2 (37:28):
You'll you'll know why it a little bit. I'm being
very generous.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
I'm gonna say two seventy five and a half.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
The correct answer is who fifty two and a half?
You should have stayed with your first answer.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait, I said to
fifty two and a half, that's an exactly, that's exact.
That's the first one of the year.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
That is the first one of the year.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
You go, you can't do that to me. You can't.
It's like when you didn't say anything. At first, I
was like, Oh, he's gonna tell me it was exactly,
and then you were like, oh, you have to rethink it.
I'm like, oh, wow, really I thought I was gonna
be spot on.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Well, John, you were a spot on. Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Wow, that's I think my first ever exactly. And it
happens here in the divisional round of the playoffs and
the second year of us doing this game. How about that?
All right? Well, now I'm clearly ahead because I haven't
exactly Randall doesn't have anything. So Randall, I'm gonna go
ahead and ask you for the rushing yard number for
Sequan Barkley. Who mind you ran for like two hundred
(38:35):
and fifty yards the first time they played the Rams
this year.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Hmmm, this number is gonna be high eighty happen? Is
eighty seven too? Low? Eighty seven and a half.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I'm sure you don't want to rethink it.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
I'm sure I was gonna go ninety six.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
But the rushing yard number for Saquon Barkley for this
game against the Rams is one twelve and a half?
Are you getting me? No, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
When the fuck has a line been that high before?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
John Christian McCaffrey last year, But that's about it.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Geez alrighty, let's wow.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yeah, I know, I don't think you can even tie
me now, but let's keep going.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
I mean, John, I really thought eighty seven was gonna
be high too. I thought, if anything, it was gonna
be in the nineties, not one twelve. Yeah, no, he
you know, but you know what, let's do this, John,
give me derreck Henry rushing yards. You give me a stud,
I'm gonna give you a stud.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Oh okay, he's playing at Buffalo, so I feel like
you have to take that into account because his number
could be a little bit lower than it normally is.
Just given the opponent. This is gonna be high too,
but it's not gonna be quite Saquon Barkley territory. But
I do have to go eighty plus here somewhere, I think,
so I'm gonna go with eighty four and a half.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Ninety five and a half. These dudes are putting up
video game projections.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
All right. I guess somebody's got the Madden sticks out
for this weekend. That's crazy, Okay, all right, I can
live with that. I guess. All right, Well, you need
exacty to tie me here, so let's see if you
can do that. I'm going to ask you for the
receiving yard number four. I feel like I always give
(40:48):
you a hard receiver. I'm gonna try to give you
a little easier one.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Here.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Give me a'mon ross Saint Brown's receiving yard.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Number eighty six and a half yards.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Seventy six and a half. Oh, you had the right,
right back end of it. But yeah, sorry, alright, well
that means I win. But you're gonna give me one anyway.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Alrighty John, give me receiving yards full Isaiah Pachecko for
Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Running back Ugh receiving yards for Isaiah Pacheco. This is
not gonna be very high. I'm gonna say, let's go
with eleven and a half, ding ding six and a
(41:59):
half half, just on the perfect. I don't want an
eight and a half, but I was gonna go a
little higher. That was a dirty trick by you trying
to get me there.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Yeah. I was trying to be a little sneaky.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah you were. But that does it for.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
Guess Oh oh yeah, whoop see whoopsie.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Come on, man, we're doing this. How long now you're
by yourself? Go ahead?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
That does it for Yes, there spread.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
First exactly of the year. And the guy forgets what
game we're playing. You can't.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah, you know where that works, right?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
But Randall, now it's time for as all right, So
Randal and I last week each went three and three
among the six games. We're gonna do the same thing
this week. We're gonna pick all four of the games
remaining and we could have the same picks if we
choose to. But we'll see how it all turns out
here with the four spreads on the board and both
(43:06):
of us sitting at a three and three record. So randall.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
You want to go?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Or do you want me to go with the first
game here? Uh?
Speaker 2 (43:14):
You can go, John, all.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Right, I'll go with the Kansas City Chiefs Texans game first.
The Chiefs are eight and a half point favoritesier and
I am inclined to go ahead and take the Chiefs
with the eight and a half points. It's a big spread,
I know, but based on the way the Texans played
last weekend against the Chargers, I just don't trust them
having to go on the road road now, excuse me
to a place where usually bad things happen to teams
(43:41):
in the playoffs. So I will take the Chiefs minus
eight and a half. It's a hefty spread, but I'll
take it.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
You know, John, the Chiefs and four and four to
thirty start times in the playoffs. But Patrick Mahomes, where
do you get these staff all and five? No, the
time they're kicking off four point thirty. Give me Houston
plus eight. But the depleted team potentially, No, Joe Mixon,
(44:11):
I am taking. Give me Houston Texans plus eight and
a half. All right, Eight and.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
A half is the number that I see. If you
see eight, we can both take eight. But I see
and a half and a half.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
If you got eight and a half, I got eight
and a half.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
All right, Randall, who do you like in the Commander's
Lions game. It's Detroit minus nine and a half. Currently,
it's the biggest spread of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I'm staying with the team. Give me the Commanders plus nine, man.
I mean, I'm just I'm just feeling them. Jayden Daniels
is killing it out there.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Wonder how many dogs you're gonna end up taking here
because you're trending in a certain way. I like Detroit here.
I think that ten points is a lot to win
by in the playoffs. But I just look at Detroit.
You know, they're coming off a week in which they
had off, so they're only gonna be a little healthier.
They're getting David Montgomery back. This offense has been great,
the defense has gotten a little healthier. Washington proved something
(45:05):
to me. They had already go on the road last
week and win in Tampa, so maybe I'm being a
little bit foolish for thinking this game won't be just
as close as that one was. But I think I'm
going to you know what, I'm gonna switch my pick.
I'm pulling a Randall. I'm going Commanders plus nine and
a half.
Speaker 3 (45:26):
Keep it.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
They're gonna keep it close. I'm sticking with you. I
don't care that we have the same pick. Commanders are
gonna keep this within nine and a half points. I
like the Lions to win, but I think nine and
a half just too much. I was trying to convice
myself and just couldn't get there.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
I like it, John, I like it all right.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Well, you know where I'm going with this next one?
Rams Eagles. The Eagles are six point favorites in Philadelphia,
supposed to be a chilly day, maybe some snow on
the ground on Sunday afternoon. I'm gonna pick my Rams
to make the trip across the country and cover the
six points. Uh. You know, the Rams played the Eagles
are this year, and it was really the last legitimate
lost the Rams had this season. They did lose Week
(46:05):
eighteen to the Seahawks with their backups playing, but that
was their only other loss since the Eagles game, and
the Eagles game did not go great. I mean it
was about two months ago or a month and a
half ago. It was in late late November. Excuse me,
but you know, Saquon ran all over them. It just
wasn't a great game from the Rams standpoint. But they
(46:26):
did change a lot about their offense after that. And
I do trust Sean McVay in the playoffs. So I
know the Eagles have had a great year and maybe
they still win this game. But give me the Rams
to cover the six points here on the road.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Interesting take, John, Interesting take? Well, you know, John, you
only scored three points in the second half of the
last game. I think that wasn't a problem. I know
it wasn't a problem for that game, but this is
that you're.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Really hoping that the Rams win, so I'm expecting to
take the Rams plus six here.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
I know, John, However, I will say this, it's not
a problem game, but it's a problem because you know
you're going on the road. You gotta make sure you
gotta show that you can continue to do what you're doing. Now.
With that being said, Jalen Hurts only two completions in
the second half. What's worse, two completions are only three points?
Only two completions? Give me the Rams plus six?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
Jo Okay, Okay, the kid is here. He's got all
the underdogs so far, folks. All right, Well that sets
us up for this last game. And I'm really interested
to see how you go with this one because the
Ravens are visiting the Bills, and as it currently sits,
I don't know if you see the same thing, but
(47:38):
Baltimore is a one and a half point favorite in Buffalo.
What do you like here? Are you seeing the same spread?
And who do you like?
Speaker 2 (47:49):
John? John? Know who I like the team that's gonna
win and that team doesn't need no plus one and
a half? Give me the Bills outright winners all the way.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Well, I you know, I hate to agree with you
on three out of four of these, so I won't.
I'm gonna go with the MVP Lamar Jackson to go
into Buffalo and upset the Buffalo Bills. This is finally
Lamar time, Lamar's time to shine. It's a two point
spread right now, one and a half, so they have
to win by two for me to win my bet.
(48:26):
And I feel confident that the Vikings are sorry. The
Ravens will find a way to win this game late
here by a field goal, So give me the Ravens
minus one and a half. I was tempted to take
the Bills, but I will go with Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
John, I went with the dog pound alert today. Man,
you sure did.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
All dogs, all dogs? All right? Well that does it
for hard locks locks?
Speaker 2 (49:00):
Good?
Speaker 1 (49:01):
All right, Randall, there's only one thing left to do,
and I think you know what that is, so I'll
let you take over from here.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Alright, John, it's our favorite part. It's mostly the part
my favorite because I've had the most success with it
this year. So let's start with it. You have to
guess it, John, what is the word?
Speaker 1 (49:26):
Well? I don't really have a good guess at all.
I I think what happened this year is pretty clear.
I went on a pretty good run early, and you
have since figured out a lot better ways to incorporate words.
I've still snuffed out a few of them, but you've
just done a much better job. I think it's that
Becker College education that's finally paying off for you. So
(49:51):
I don't have a guess. Why don't you just tell
me what it is?
Speaker 2 (49:55):
Let's find out John. You know, John, it's for gazy
for guys.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Man.
Speaker 1 (50:04):
That makes sense, now, Okay, in the moment, I literally
think that, I literally, I literally thought you were gonna
have it.
Speaker 2 (50:13):
I'm like, that's the only thing that could.
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Pross I know, I know, but you say stuff like that,
and I don't know it's I should know because you
don't usually say the word for gazy, but I don't know.
It just wasn't. I guess I wasn't alert enough, but
you pulled another one on me there. I don't think
I'm trying to look at our sheet here, but of
(50:35):
course I closed it before. You have beaten me now
in word of the day for the last four weeks
at least, and I only won one of the last
like seven weeks to begin with. So you you really
did turn it around after I had a pretty good
(50:55):
mid season run there, So I'll give you a lot
of credit. We love that, all right, Well that kind
of brings us to the end here. Is there any
other parts of these games, Randall that maybe we didn't
talk about anything that you're excited to see this weekend,
or that you hope happens, or which of these games
do you expect to be the best. You know, what
(51:17):
are what are some things you're hoping to see.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
I'm hoping to see the Kansas City Chiefs go down
like the dogs they are. Yeah, well you did take
there is a sick dog kind of put Ale Yeller down.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Well, they've had a really weird year and I don't know,
it just feels like they're trending towards another three pete.
I hope they lose too, because it would make the
Rams life a little bit easier. I hope this Bill's
Ravens game lives up to the billing. No pun intended there,
but it seems like we'll have a good one on
Sunday Night. But yeah, I'm hoping we're talking next week
this time Randall and the Rams have made it to
(51:51):
the NFC title game again, because that would be pretty
exciting for me. However, I don't know if if it'll
happen or not based on based on the matchup, but
we'll see. You never really know, but that brings us
to the end, So Randall, I will let you take
us till next week. Everybody, thanks for listening, and you'll
see you next week. After you did more round.
Speaker 2 (52:15):
Goodbye, Goodbye, good friends, goodbye. This was the John and
Randall Football Experienced Play Up edition. We hope the Rams
can't continue with their luck and if not, they're gonna
be headed down to me. Handed down to me.
Speaker 3 (52:37):
Can coon anybody oo oo and everything need
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