First Things First - Bills hire Joe Brady as HC, Shedeur Sanders makes Pro Bowl, Belichick not in HOF, Mahomes Mountain

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

(0:00) Bills hire Joe Brady as HC, ‘Embarrassing’ Shedeur Sanders made the Pro Bowl? (27:41) Eagles still looking for OC, Does Maye & Darnold making the Super Bowl impact Josh Allen? (40:49) Will Mike McCarthy bring back Aaron Rodgers? (47:44) Mahomes Mountain (01:09:15) Patriots credit pie Did the Bills get better by promoting Joe Brady? (01:24:05) ‘Not a given’ Lamar Jackson returns to Ravens (01:30:27) Danny’s Top Ten Most Successful Teams (01:54:17) What is the Steelers’ ceiling under Mike McCarthy? (02:03:55) What does reaching the Super Bowl mean for Sam Darnold? (02:12:18) Should Bill Belichick be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Infrared saunas. That was enthusiastic. I'm excited. 12 days to the Super Bowl. 12 days to we find out if we have a new social media producer. That one's done. It's not done. She should survive.

We're like 6 million short. No way to tell. I mean, I would be devastated. I think Gianna's an ace. It's over though. Unless there's a Bears, Caleb Williams-esque comeback for non-views. Negative comeback. Yeah, we're safe.

Live from New York, it's the first hour. That's good. I like it. First things first. Today, Josh Allen gets a brand new coach. Pretty much the same coach. It's his OC. Did the bills get better, worse, or did they just stay the same?

Meanwhile, guess who's going to the Pro Bowl? Shador Sanders. What does this mean for him, the Pro Bowl and oddly the Hall of Fame? The Hall. I mean, I see where you're going. Thank you. Honestly do. I can't wait to talk about it.

What rookie QBs who made the Pro Bowl? No, when you're making a Hall of Fame case for someone. Oh, yeah. You're saying that's real. Did Max O's make it as a rookie? Yes, he did. He was 10 and 7. I have his stats in case he can't.

Anyone can't trust to draw that parallel. I am armed and ready. And finally, a special edition of Mahomes Mountain. It's not just Drake May Darnold. It's got everybody in it. It has the whole league. You have to introduce this time for this. Chris Brousard, Kevin Wilde.

And Nick Wright here on First Things First, the first hour. Bro. Wilde calls me into a shared office today. And he's like, all right, I know this is the whole league, but I'm just curious. If it were just the Super Bowl quarterbacks, Drake would be up top, right? And I'm like, yes, KW. I don't worry. He would.

He would have. To be fair, if you made a darn old argument, I wouldn't like. Well, he hasn't played a better. The totality of the season. Right. And so in the playoffs, sure. But no, May would have been. I wrote it in my intro.

Oh, okay. Oh, wow. We start with the Bill's new coach, old coach. Bills promote O.C. Joe Brady to take over for Sean McDermott. He had interviewed with the Ravens, Raiders, Dolphins, Cardinals, and Falcons before he said, oh, Buffalo's got a head coach opening. Why don't I take that? He's been the QB coach, the OC, and now the head coach. Do you like this for Josh and the Bills?

I don't like or dislike it, but I don't understand it. There you go. as we have said repeatedly on this show, I think it's ridiculous to have a super strong take on any rookie head coach, positive or negative. You can be, you just don't. Right, you can be very super optimistic like folks were about Ben Johnson

because of what we thought we had saw. And then pessimistic, I don't even know who we're pessimistic about. Usually it's just like, I was pessimistic about Brian Schottenheimer because he had been an assistant for so long, but it's all kind of within 40 degrees and 60 degrees. Nothing too cold, nothing too hot. But I don't understand this one because the owner at that press conference,

Terry Pagula, to me, made two, there are two totally unrelated, but memorable moments from that press conference for me, and both of them, Even though they're unrelated, say you wouldn't hire Joe Brady. So the first one is somewhat inconsequential but noteworthy. Kiann Coleman was the coaching staff's pick. Yeah.

I would argue that if that's true, the loudest voice on the coaching staff about which wide receiver to take is not the defensive-minded head coach you fired, but most likely the offensive coordinator who is going to be working more closely with Keon than the head coach. So that to me is just odd that the owner made it very clear that pick was terrible. We don't like Keon even though Keon's on the team

and it's not the GM's fault. It's the coaching staff's fault and to me I read that as now the head coach. It is now the head coach's fault if it wasn't before. And the other piece of it that I will remember from that press conference is, I wasn't going to fire show on McDermott going into that game. But when I saw how devastated that locker room was,

I felt like we essentially needed, and now I'm paraphrasing here, a sports exorcism that we just had to rid ourselves of the bad vibes of these defeats. Joe Brady's been there. Now, he wasn't there for the 13 seconds. And maybe it's just that's the but. He was there for the devastating playoff loss the year after, the year after, and the year after that, and the year after that.

So he's been there for the following four. So I don't, I don't get it, is my short version of it. I don't understand why if that's what you needed to do that you would hire from within, it's not to say he won't do a good job, but it doesn't follow the logic of why McDermott needed to go. I get it. I don't know that I would have done it, but I get it. And what I think this does, to the degree that we can be certain, because you're right, you don't know. Even Brandon Bean said, look, we want to get a leader.

We want to get a CEO, you know, it's a CEO position. That's what we're looking for. We don't necessarily know if that's Joe Brady. We know he was a very good offensive coordinator. But I do feel confident that the bills aren't going to go backwards. Like I feel like at the very least they stay where they are. And if they have brought in Clint Kubiak or any other, and I get it, Joe Brady's a first year head coach too. But let's say they bring in some young hot shot or just anybody from the outside.

You don't really know if he's going to vibe with Josh Allen. He's going to vibe with the team, with the organization. So you're kind of rolling the dice, right? I think with Joe Brady having been there, their offense has been fine. Under Brady, they're generally a top three scoring offense. And the playoff games he was the coordinator for. They score 30 points against Denver and loss.

That's not an offensive problem. They scored 29 against the Chiefs last year and lost. Not a scoring problem. The year before, they scored 24 when they lost. And I'm not, this is not an excuse, but he took over halfway through. the season for Ken Dorsey. The 10 point when they scored 10 points and lost to the Bengals,

he wasn't the O.C. So I can't put that on him. So I feel like the offense is just going to keep moving. It's an offense that produced an MVP season for Josh Allen, a rushing, you know, rushing leader season for James Cook. Hopefully he'll add a top-notch receiver. And I think the offense will be fine. The key is for him to get the right defensive coordinator.

Now, there's some talk they're going to look inside for that, too. Or did they, I think, I think, like, five minutes ago, gosh, I hope I don't get this wrong. I thought it was reported they hired Jim Leonard as offensive coordinator. Guys, please tell me if I'm screwing that up. That hurts my feelings. He was Denver Broncos, assistant head coach and Pat, and expected to hire Jim Leonard as defensive coordinator. He was the defensive backs coach and past game coordinator for the Broncos last year.

your assistant head coach and past game coordinator. But he's never been a coordinator or a head coach. He's a Wisconsin guy. He's like Wisconsin legend, like undersized guy, went to the league, kind of like fan favorite. His first team was the bills. Yes. He came and took over. Who did they fire?

Shoot, I forgot who the badgers fired. But then he was. Bielama? No, after Bielma. I think it was that. Yeah, after Bielma, he came in. And everybody wanted to be the Wisconsin head coach. So he is, I think.

think a great coach in that shoot as a Patriots fan that hurts my feelings but as a Jim Leonard fan I'm happy for him. Dusty can you throw up the bill scoring defense that was my number one question when you talked about yeah you're like all right suppose Josh Allen is even I don't think we expect Josh to like get better maybe he matures or gets to another level or somehow at the level he's been let's say he's like MVP MVP adjacent level top five MVP the bill scoring defense. This has been a great defense. Fell off the last two years. I don't know how much of that

is just kind of schedule walk or bad. No. It's nearly top to. But that's, they've been great in regular season. They haven't been able to get it done in the playoffs. So defensively. So I am not as confident as you guys that this

team won't backslide. And I'm not as confident as you guys. It's not that because you promote the offensive coordinator to head coach, it has no impact on your offense. Because is he still going to call plays? That's a lot, man. Head coaches that call plays very often, the game management stuff can start to fall by the wayside,

particularly first-time head coaches. When they said we wanted a CEO-type head coach, this wouldn't be the type of CEO that I would be looking for. But I thought they meant kind of a guy who has Siriani's job. I'm not calling offense or defense. I'm over John Harbaugh. I'm overseeing the operation. If that's what they're asking him to do, then they still need a play caller.

They still need a new offensive coordinator. What coaches some of the ones that call plays? Well, Sean McVeigh, Andy Reed, it's always in the shadows. Is he calling plays? I mean, it's Andy's offense. Yes. Yeah, he's Andy Reed, LaFleur. LaFleur.

No, a lot of the best. I mean, those are good, yeah. But a lot of the ones that flame out too. A lot, you know what I mean? A lot of the ones that can't get it together. I'm not saying it can't be done. I just also, I have a hard time. I don't know what we attribute the bill's offensive success to

as far as, is it just like once Josh Allen became Josh Allen, that team was going to have an awesome offense? Because when you look at Josh's numbers over across three coordinators, so since 2020. So he really didn't be calm. a good player until the end of his second year. Right. And we can give Davele credit for helping him become that player,

but once we get a good player. So the passing yards have gone down. Because Brady took the ball out of his hand. Correct. The passer rating has been essentially the same. The rushing touchdowns have skyrocketed as they've started to do push and more of that. Just so everyone knows the number of games,

Davel was the coordinator in this stretch for 33. Ken Dorsey for 26, Joe Brady for 41. So I guess my question is like, if you just had, if someone else was named to replace Ken Dorsey, and they're just

league average replacement offensive coordinator, are they going to get that production out of Josh Allen? Because like how much worse production would you have gotten? Well, the thing is they got rid of Dorsey for a reason. You know, and they were five and five. playing well. Right. And then as soon as Brady took over, they became elite again as far as the team.

And it was odd because he took the ball out of Josh's hands. They threw less. They ran more. But it's worked. Domino effect here quickly before we move on. If dayball is now out of this job, obviously, is that going to be a Titans job for him? No, so the reporting is that he's taking the Titans' offensive coordinator job unless he gets the Raiders head coach. coaching job, which means out on Philly. That the Diana, Diana, out on Philly is really confusing to me. I agree. Really confusing.

I would think he'd be interested in. Yeah, if he's not, you mean if it's, it's one thing if he's taking a head coaching job instead of going there. Yeah, but to say I'd rather be the Titans O.C. He must love Cam Ward. Or and he must,

and I would imagine that he feels like Titans, I'm still scattered right now, Titans, Hyder Arbor Salon. Yes. Correct? He probably also imagines, all right, I'm going to have at least three years to prove myself here. And we're talking more of the Philly thing later. I think people are worried the Philly thing is I'm going to go there and the head coach could be removed in a year.

And then it doesn't matter what I'm going to. Or the O.C. period. Right. Even if the head coach isn't. All right. Moving on to the Patriots, the lucky Patriots. Mark Schofield writing for SB Nation, how the Patriots pulled off the Super Bowl's biggest. one-year turnaround ever.

In it, he cites Drake May's Ascension, Free Agency, the draft, coaching, and some luck. The Patriots faced the charges in the wildcard game without their starting tackles. Divisional round game against the Texans, C.J. Strau was more than happy to keep turning the ball over. The AFC championship game saw Bo Nix fracture his ankle at the end of the visual round, forcing the Broncos to turn to Jared Stidham.

Shofield largely balanced. I was going to say, I don't think this article infuriated. you. Not at all. Okay. I actually thought it was pretty fair of a jumping off point to talk about, is it fair to criticize the Patriots path to the Super Bowl? It's fair to bring it up and that they had the easiest,

you know, what the 10th easiest schedule of all time and one of the easiest, you know, the easiest schedule this year. The easiest this century. So it's fair to bring it up. But honestly, right now,

I don't think it's fair to criticize them for it. because they've proven, okay, the schedule was weak. So what? We have beaten the best that AFC had to offer to get to the Super Bowl. To me, that's like criticizing Jordan Love and saying he played Division I, AA, FBS. He didn't even play. Like to use that and say he's not a good quarterback.

No, he's already proven he's a good quarterback. Okay, no matter what he did in college and where he played at, he's proven he's a good NFL quarterback. I think that's the thing for the Patriots because the path is, I've said it, at nauseam, you've gone through three of the top 10 defenses in the league. The Chargers, Justin Herbert, legitimately made the Pro Bowl,

one of the three quarterbacks to legitimately make the Pro Bowl in the AFC. And they've played without their true offensive line all year, and still won 11 games. So that's the, Houston, Houston was probably the best defense. in the league. CJ Strout had two interceptions in his first five playoff games. He had four. Now look,

CJ was terrible. But I got to give the Patriots some credit for that. Yeah. I mean, the defense, you know, had him shook. And then Denver, look,

obviously they were playing with a backup quarterback, but it was in snowy conditions. And that one, okay, if you want to say Jared stood them fine. But not to mention Nick, three great coaches. they went through Harbaugh, Sean Payton, and D'Amico Rines.

Like, objectively great head coaches. So, I mean, I can't hate on it at all. So I don't actually think the regular season schedule matters at all anymore. I don't think people will remember that. I don't care about that. Like, I just don't think it. Like, the only reason, and I think I like to think, you guys watch trivia online when we do it on every 30.

Wednesday or Thursday, I have a pretty encyclopedic memory of football. I had no idea. The 99 Rams had the easiest schedule. No, I'm always shocked. I had no memory of that whatsoever. I do remember playoff games and teams you fixed. And I don't

think the Chargers in round one is an easy matchup. I think that's about a league average, you know, two versus six playoff matchup. You're not going to face a perfect team like they had some strengths, they had some weaknesses. You guys made them look all. And some of that might be Herbert's own failings, whatever it is.

Houston, none of us thought that was going to be a walkover game. CJ, I give some of the credit to your defense and some of the credit seem like C.J. short-circuited. But again, you guys forced it. Being the first team ever to face a quarterback who hasn't taken a snap all year in a conference championship game is unique. Like that's Very fair And like it's why You guys were the first road favorite of that much

In a Conference Championship game All those things Like that is a unique historical Outlier piece of it But that's just one of your games So here is how I would phrase it I think If the Niners had made the Super Bowl

And the path was in Philly Then in Seattle they win it Then in Los Angeles It's like man That is a gauntlet If the other two seed, the Bears had won the Super Bowl, or gotten to the Super Bowl, it's like, oh, okay, you played Green Bay, then you played Stafford and the Rams, and then you went to Seattle. That would, I think, fairly be considered a tougher path than this one. But I actually, KW, think the path and the regular season schedule will only matter in one very specific circumstances.

Can I guess it? Yeah. if we get smashed in the Super Bowl. If you win the Super Bowl, literally no one will care. No one will remember. Oh, I don't know about that. If you,

if we win the Super Bowl, be like, Sam Darnel? No, I listen, KW. I think the talk will be four incredible, but if Sam Darnel melts down,

it'll be like, KW, when you say the talk, that's what it'll be. And this is advice for Kevin Wilde, advice for viewers, and advice just for every human being alive. My goodness, let's buckle up.

stop treating what are likely bot accounts as real human beings? There are a lot of political bots out there. There are not a lot of Denver Broncos bots. Listen, KW, there will not be anyone with a credible voice if you guys win the Super Bowl saying, like, you will have to. I can mute that. Right. If you win the Super Bowl, it will matter.

It would just be haters. I would argue if the Super Bowl is a great game and you guys lose, like how the Rams lost a couple days ago, I don't think people will say, yeah, buts. No. If you guys get clocked. We're not getting clocked. I know you're, but I think you've guessed it. If you guys get, and I think you'd agree with me, if they get clocked in the Super Bowl, then people will be like, good team, pretty lucky schedule plus bono. Knicks, probably not quite a Super Bowl caliber team.

And they'll also be like the AFC was horrible this year. That's what they'll be like. Would we rather Jared Stenham and the Broncos in? Right. So can I just say one thing about the Denver Broncos? And maybe I am talking to Denver Broncos bots. Yeah. You know that meme, speaking of being online.

I know that's not who I think it is talking. Denver Broncos fans, slow your role when you see. start talking about backup quarterbacks. Talk about why that game was in Denver, why the Broncos were the number one seed. The final week of the season, the Chargers rested everybody. The charges rested everyone. So you got to play Trey Lance and got a free win so we couldn't have the number one seat. Who did you guys play the final week of the year? We played whoever was on our schedule. I think the Jets or the Dolphers. It was the Jets and their backup quarterback. But go ahead. But they fielded somebody.

The charges were purposely losing that game to rest. Hold on. Let me go. The week before that, they go into Arrowhead and play. Not Patrick Mahomes because he was injured. And they barely beat Chris Aladukean. The week before that, Trevor Lawrence lights them up. The week before that, they are losing by two when Micah Parsons, the best player, defensive player in the league, gets her.

and then they score two more touchdowns to win that game. So just hold on in the you guys got injury luck against your opponents with the Patriots. The bots has really gotten under you. The bots got to me. The bots got to. KW, nobody. It's a fair to criticize the path. KW.

KW, that KW, your monologue there against Broncos fans tweeting at you. Impressive. I mean, I appreciate the memory. But I just. Settle down, Broncos fans. It brew or I. tried to give that type of history lesson on things that actually were relevant. And we're like, in the week before that, you would do your little.

I just don't want to hear it. I'm just done hearing it. Nobody's done reading it, but you. I'm done talking about it. That's it. I'm done. All right. You guys should have,

you guys would have lost to the Packers if Michael Parsons didn't get into this. Okay, good, buddy. For now and I'm just talking about the Seahawks. Called the Shador step of destiny. Shador step of destiny. Drake is in the Super Bowl. So Shador steps into his Pro Bowl spot. Curious?

Kind of. Drake, Herbert, and Josh Allen were the original starters for the Pro Bowl games. Mahomes, Daniel Jones, Bo Nix all hurt. Trevor reportedly opted out, and we haven't heard from Borough Lamar, CJ, or Aaron Roger. They had to opt out. I don't know about CJ. Well, they only named four official alternates. And then after that, it's fuzzy.

So we don't, yeah. We don't know even know if Barrow's like. Yeah, once you get past the name starters in the four alternates, then nobody really knows how they decide. So here's Shador's numbers on the season, bro. 35th is, there's not that many teams. 36th is. I don't even know what last is.

37. You just keep going. Oh, 37th. 37th is that what last? Yeah, last is 37. So it'll be Shador in the Pro Bowl games. Your reaction? Well, look, you guys know.

I like Shadur. I pull for him. I hope he does well. I think he's got talent. I think he's earned a chance to be the starter next year. That said, this is embarrassing. Not for him, for the league, for football. Like, this is terrible.

This has literally become a participation trophy. I mean, that's what it is. And it's not, he's not the first. Remember a few years ago, Tyler Huntley, through two touchdowns, had three interceptions and a 77 passer rating and was a pro bowler. And my point is it belittles and cheapens the honor of being a pro bowler. Yeah, it's kind of gone. It's terrible.

And so, look, I feel bad for the old guys that made it, that earned a pro bowl spot. Because now we look back, did he really? I mean, everybody's a pro bowler now. This is crazy. And here's the thing. And it's this position specifically. It's quarterback more than anybody else. Mac Jones, Trebisky, I think, is made two.

They'll know the Mac Jones stuff. Here we go. Well, but the thing is that what they should do is just name the pro bowl team, the official pro bowl team, and that's it. And if they need to fill out the spots when they play, you know, hopscotch and hide and go seek in Orlando or whatever. Do they play hopscats? I mean, whatever they do, all right? That was right. Wind sprints, whatever.

Hide and Oskine and hopscotch actually was pretty sick. Get guys, get guys, right? Bring them there, give them a free trip to Hawaii, Orlando, whatever they do. But you are not a pro bowler. This is, and here's the final thing, and you alluded to it earlier, Nick, you and I look at this stuff. This does affect Hall of Fame. I said yesterday, Matthew Stafford's only been to three Pro Bowls. Yes.

So does that weigh into his Hall of Fame case? Yes. And so you mean after he's played 17 years, Shadour after one season is two, yeah, two pro bowls behind Matthew Stafford. Is this ridiculous? So everything, everything you said is correct. And it's such an easy fix.

Because, by the way, for the majority of NFL contracts and for fifth year option incentives, it's named to the original roster. They have what you're talking about. It only clicks in if you're on the original roval roster. For most contracts, it depends on the other than the rhythm, but most. And all fifth year option stuff, you don't get the bonus if you're an alternate. So this is an easy fix and an easy win.

And I call on someone in the NFL league office and the Archives office and someone at Pro Football reference to say, hey, we're going to fix this bookkeeping error. We're going to go back as far as we have access to, to the archives, and you are only being designated a pro bowler if you were named on the original ballot. And moving forward, you are only called a pro bowler. You only get the little star on your pro football reference page, hopefully the wiki editors, which do a really good job of this,

keep it with that, if you are named to the original roster. because it is really just bookkeeping is what we're talking about. None of us care if Shador is at the event. None of us cared when Tyler Huntley was at the event. What we do care about is because so much of sports, as silly as it is, is hypothetical historical arguments. It's who was better this guy or that guy, who's the best players of an era.

We need an agreed upon record of events. And so they can fix this. So just make it to where. You only are a pro bowler if you were named the original Pro Bowl. That's it. Sorry for Mack Jones. So when he hit the gritty... He hit the gritty in the Pro Bowl, but he was not a pro bowler.

What would you call him? A participant. In what? Because when they did his contract, they're like, no, you didn't make the Pro Bowl. Correct. Literally. But he's a participant in what? He was a participant in the Pro Bowl.

But just like someone who sits in a seat filler at the Oscars doesn't mean they were nominated. for the award of the person who got up. They were at the Oscars. They were at the Oscars. He was at the Pro Bowl, hitting the Gritty, despite not being a pro bowler. He was 10 and 7 through for 230 yards.

Wilde's ready to. 22 touchdowns. Wilde wanted our job. Matt Jones and our youth Bronco Bats. We're on the way to a 1 billion views. We're at 6.5 million on YouTube. Thank you for subscribing. Also, our podcast.

Currently number two in the world. We dropped. We dropped one behind some murder. murder show. My God. Listen, I'm not sounding. I don't know why anyone listens to those.

Listen to sports. It's fun. I'm not sounding any alarms. She's, we got to. I'm just telling you. Yet, that means yesterday we did a little over 400,000. Oh, that's, we need to average 500,000 a day until the Super Bowl or Gianna. Oh my.

Hit up that LinkedIn. 2018 draft class featured several stars. Baker was at one, Darnold at three. Josh Allen at four. Shout out to Josh Rosen made the graphic. And then Lamar at 32. But Darnold is the first quarterback. to make it to the Super Bowl.

Greg Jennings is here with us. Welcome, Greg. Nick, we'll start with you. What do you think this means for Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson? They still haven't gone to the Super Bowl. So I actually want to hear what you guys think

because I think for Josh Allen and Lamar, Darnold isn't the person that making the Super Bowl that's in the Super Bowl that it impacts them the most. I said that awkwardly. What I'm saying is, I think May making the Super Bowl

has more of a representative reputational impact on Alan and Lamar than Darnold. Yes. I don't think people, I don't think fans are like the 2018 draft class. Exactly. And so I don't know where you guys. No, I think that's a great point you made. And look, I think this is a great feather in Sam Darnel's cap because he was viewed as a bust.

Now, Josh Rosen was in that draft. He's out of the league. But outside of like Baker, Lamar, Josh, Darnold was like the worst quarterback by a mile. He was the one that was a bus. The other two are winning MVP's. Baker resurrected his career. So I think this is nice for him. Like, people talk about it.

Okay, he's really arrived. But to Nick's point, it means nothing for Lamar and Josh. Nothing at all. Like, he's not in their class. Nobody's going to think. Now, maybe he will, we'll see what he does going forward. Right now, nobody in the right mind thinks Sam

Donald's better than Lamar. Jackson or Josh Allen. I mean, that gap is narrowing, however. It may have narrowed a little, but not much. Is Jim Plunkett with two Super Bowls and Eli Manning with two Super Bowls better than Dan Marino?

Listen, outside of the winning and the statistics, it's like what are... He's not even close to an MVP. They've won. Lamar's won two. Josh is won one. I'm just saying. The guy who is putting up great numbers. He's top

10 and everything. You had the graphic, and he's currently in the Super Bowl. I just don't think it's like, San Diego. I don't know if we can do that anymore. I'll open the door to going forward. Maybe he'll really catch those guys in four, three years or whatever. But no way. Like, I

can't imagine anybody's looking at Lamar. I have written down. It doesn't mean anything in terms of being a knock on Lamar and Allen. And I'm kind of with Nick, like, because of, oh, I don't know if I'm with you yet. usually are

like when I look at Sam like this is a to your point of feather in his cap because this he's the king of the second act now yeah like because none of these none of these guys like Baker it was initially the guy in his draft class who it hurts

it's Baker Gino was the first guy that made the transition and it was like oh man Gino resurrected his career and then it was Baker Mayfield and then it was Sam Darnold and now neither one of those two prior to Sam had actually done this with their team. Sam is now that guy.

So he will be that guy that we all point to. But in terms of Josh and Lamar, it's just with Drake May and this Patriots team now going, and Drake being in his second year, it only shows how difficult a road is going to be. And I don't know which one of us have said it might have been. somebody's not getting one. Period. Period. Somebody's just simply not getting one.

You can throw Joe Burrow in that group as well. I know the different draft class, but that's what Drake may getting to the Super Bowl means. And being, and so this is, so this is what I, this kind of ruined, it doesn't ruin, but it takes question in different direction, but it's the same genesis of topic, I guess.

I look at this quarterback matchup, in the Super Bowl, Darnold May. And not that, man, Darnold got there before draft mates, Alan and Lamar. I look at it as, man,

that big four that we talk about, that really, to be fair to Matt Stafford, he showed this year, should have been a big five of Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Burrow, Stafford. Drake May, and he has not played well, in my opinion, this postseason,

but he was so good in the right, regular season and he has kind of the reverse working for him that Darnold is working against him. When you're young and you have, you know, you've already been this excellent, that's a supercharge as opposed to being older and having bad years of football behind you. I think the big loser is Joe Burrow. I think that if I'm making a QB top five today, Joe Burrow is out and Drake May is in. And because Burroughs, it's also that Burroughs, the biggest calling card for Burroughs career, was,

Mahomes made five out of six Super Bowls, who's the one guy else who made one, me. And now it's like, well, two guys have made one, and yours was five years ago. And this, you know, this... Five years ago, it seems crazy. But that's what it was. And then they missed the playoffs the last I mean, I guess it was four calendar

years ago, but five seasons ago. And so the, and so like that, that to me is what it is to, to the point you were making KW, I would need Darnold would have to play at the level that he did this year again. One more, yeah.

And then I can start entertaining him in the Alan Lamar era. No, I'm not really putting him there. I just don't think it's to be. You mean the season? Next season? I'm saying next season, Sam Darnold's team wins another 14 games. He has another 4,000 yards. He has 100 passer rating, and it's three straight.

I think you won't even have to wait. It'll be halfway through the season. I doubt it. I doubt if we do that. Because when we look at Josh, we look at Lamar, we look at the guy in kind of in a vacuum of his skill set. And so we automatically, because of their ability, separate them because of how great they are throwing the ball and how dynamic they are running the football. So naturally, it's like how you would categorize quarterbacks. Superhero civilian.

Exactly. Exactly. We would still keep Sam Darnold in kind of a civilian because we don't feel like he has the athletic ability and the skill set that these two. Now, he's done a number of evolving as a quarterback, growing, going through adversity. The second act, that's all Sam Darnold. I think he should get a tremendous amount of credit for not giving up on himself, for being able to sit behind guys, learn, go to other systems, absorb, learn, carry that to Minnesota. And when he gets with KOR gets a great opportunity, strikes gold there. And then they are like, you know, we're not going to pay you. Go to obviously Seattle and then does it again when we all were still doubting him.

Because we said, let's see if Sam Donald could do it again this year. Guess what he did? He did it again this year. And now he's still saying now, let's see if he could do it again another year, we'll keep doing that because his skill set doesn't meet. I agree with the skill set thing. But at some point, the accomplishments start like this. And again, it's not.

like he would just be winning games. His numbers have been great. Have been really good. And that's when I'll start be like, you know, the guy was a great recruit out of high school. There you go. He was a top. You know what I like? Penegris is not nothing. Right. You know what I mean? We're just going to be like the fold the jets.

Bears O.C. Declan Joy. I agree. Withrew his name from consideration for the Eagles OC job. He's returning back to Chicago to work with Caleb. Philly's still waiting to find an O.C. What's anyone's theory on why the Eagles haven't filled this spot? They think Siriani is a lame duck.

And they don't want to move to Philly for a year to then have lose the job. That's what I think. I mean, here we go. They have talked to or been connected to. McDaniel, Mike McDaniel, Brian Dabell, Zach Robinson, Bobby Sloick, Declan Doyle, Mike Kafka, Arthur Smith, Charlie Weiss, Jr. And those are people we know are not taking the job. They have been connected to and or talk to Jim Bob. Bob Cuder, Josh Grisard, Matt Nagy, Frank Smith, and my old pal Jarad Johnson.

Those people might take the job. We don't know. That's 13 people. This is an A-list franchise. They spend a ton of money. You are in a cosmopolitan, cool city, tough city, I understand. But, like, I think Philly is, you know, if you were a better-than-average NFL city as far as like, oh, I'm going to move there and have a good life, all those things.

But I just think people are like, man, I'd rather, as Brian Dable just showed, go to Tennessee where Robert Sala just got hired, where I think he has a long leash where we can grow together rather than go to Philly, where I think the head coach is on the hot seat. And if he gets fired, almost always the whole staff. I understand the bill's just promoted the offense coordinator from the fired coach, but that's pretty rare. That's my read on it. Well, I think it has to be either that with Siriani and maybe not respecting him, you know, they're not liking the way he acts, all his histrionics and stuff, or Jalen. Like, to me, those are the only two possibilities. I get it that the city's tough, but it's a great sports town.

If you're a head coach or a coach and you're afraid of the Philly fan, come on, you're not worth the job anyway. So I think it's got to be the Siriani or Hertz. And look, obviously, I like Jalen Hertz. He's proven he can win a Super Bowl. There was some reporting out of Philly that, you know, he does his own thing and changes, plays or whatever. So we're guys worried about that, not throwing as many intermediate passes. Like, do they feel he has certain limitations that they can't over?

I don't know. But it's got to be either Siriani or Jalen. Siriani. And for reasons different than Nick. I got, and I say Siriani because if you're offensive coordinator to touch on your point really quick and you know the natural progression is offensive coordinator, have success,

possibly get looked at to become a head coach. That's the natural progression. Same with defensive side of the ball. In this situation, you have all the skill guys. You have the personnel. Every coach believes, man, if I had that, I would be able to make something out of that. And so naturally,

I don't go to the ideology of, man, a coordinator is going to be like, man, Jalen Hurts? No, because the coaches that aren't in the room with Jalen Hertz believe, I can get more out of that guy. Everybody, every coach feels like they can get more out of somebody else's talent. The reason why I say Siriani is because he seemingly has his, naturally, he's the head coach, has his hand in things to where if I'm coming in as a coordinator, it's either going to be, This is what I'm bringing and we adapt and I bring on some of the old terminology and some of the old things that I feel like would marry well. Or you're telling me this is what you're going to get. And this is how you're going to run.

This is how you're going to. At least some of the guys would have full control of the office. So, but the OC. And you can say that. However, coaches talk just like players talk. Hey, man, how was your experience? Was it just you? Were you running the offense?

Does Siriani have any say that it's just different when you're actually in a system? I just find it hard to believe that an offensive coordinator seeing that type of talent, obviously there's some unknowns about is AJ going to be there, how it looks moving forward, but it's still a very talented roster offensively saying, nah, I don't want to chance my career on that. That's just I'm with you. Very interesting. We're just the most wonderful plays of the night. Next.

That's interesting, Greg. I would jump at it. I don't think they want to hire you, there's not limitless jobs. How many OC jobs are? Steelers head coach introduction, pretty rare. Last one was in 2007. Mike McCarthy introduced today as Mike Tomlin's successor.

He was asked about his old quarterback, Greg. Take a listen. I mean, definitely. I mean, obviously, while you wouldn't. And I have spoken to Aaron. And so that's really where, you know, that's really where we are there. But I was able to sit back and watch the games. I watched most of the Pittsburgh games on TV.

And I thought he was a great asset for the team. All right, Greg, I know yesterday in the OT you talked about the fit. So it's sort of Greg's choice here. Do you want to talk about the fit or do you want to kick around Rogers and McCarthy? I mean, I guess we can do both. All right. We can do both. Look, in terms of the hire, I don't mind it.

And I also can understand it from the Pittsburgh perspective where when listening to that interview, that presser, like, obviously there's a relationship tie there with Omar Khan where if you're a general manager and you're bringing in a new coach, the likelihood of you having a lockstep guy is very unlikely. He's able to have that with Mike McCarthy because of their relationships stemming back to New Orleans. when they were there as young, young guys there. So that gives him a level of comfort as a general manager to where, you know, you're going to subscribe to kind of what I'm doing. I'm going to subscribe to what you doing. We have this rapport. As it pertains to the organization in Art Rooney, he said it, and I believe this to be true,

he understands this is the league about winning. And Mike McCarthy has done that. He's missed the postseason six times. Three of those times were due to him not having his quarterback for the. entire season twice, his first year and last year in Dallas, and then in 17, I believe, in Green Bay. His last year there. His second to last year.

In Dallas, his first year in Dallas and his last year in Dallas, he, Dak Prescott got her injured. And then 2017, Aaron Rogers got injured. He was gone in 18. And so when you look at that, it's not necessarily about, okay, how does he perform in the postseason? First, you got to get there, and he talked about how you perform and sustaining the success in the postseason. He spoke to that. You got to have the guys on the roster.

If the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently as they are constructed, able to do what they did this year or be a little bit better, he talked about Mike Tomlin leaving him a full cupboard pretty much. That was due to a lot of what Aaron Rogers was able to do. So I can understand why you would hire Mike McCarthy because he, He has the track record. He's proven he can win, especially when he's had that guy, obviously, in his prime. But if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers and you really want this opportunity to leverage what you have in Aaron Rogers to allow Will Howard, which seemingly seems to be like the direction they're leaning in terms of growing and developing a quarterback.

Like you want him to be under the toolage of a guy like Aaron Rogers. And you want to see if you can pair that with Mike McCarthy. he has familiarity there. It makes sense. It gives you another year to allow that quarterback school to take place that Mike McCarthy always. Look, I like that part. Will Howard, I mean, I liked him in Ohio State. You know, I think he's got potential maybe.

We'll see. But I like the tutelage aspect. And the thing is, we think of McCarthy as this old guy. He's younger than John Harbaugh. Like McCarthy is 62, Harbaugh, 63. So that's, I guess, because he coached. So, well, they both coached young. But anyway, I think if they win next year, like bringing back, having McCarthy and Aaron Rogers is, what are they going to do next year?

If they win 10 games and make the play, they have no chance of reaching the Super Bowl. None. So to me, it's spinning your wheels. It's just running in place at best. And I'm not even sure they're going to win that. many games. They won the division this year because Lamar was hurt and it was a weird year for the Ravens. Obviously the Bengals were hurt too or Joe Burroughs hurt. But the reason the Steelers have been so tough, Greg, is because of their defense. And McCarthy, a lot of the blame went on

the defense as to why Aaron Rogers couldn't get to another Super Bowl with McCarthy. You know, so is he going to bring that same defensive focus that Tomlin had? And if they're not tough defensively, that offense is not going to be good enough to get them 10 wins, I don't believe, if the defense isn't there. So it's just it's kind of the inverted situation of what they currently had because offensively, his teams have always performed. Yeah, but well, the last year he was in Green Bay with Rogers, they were six and nine, six, nine and one.

That was the one bad year with healthy quarter. Right. But again, Roger, I just thinking old Rogers and McCarthy together, I haven't seen that that's going to work. I think McCarthy is a good coach. Don't get me wrong, but I just, for this, I like this. If I'm hiring Mike McCarthy because I feel like, man, I want a guy who I believe can get the most out of quarterbacks,

the last thing I want is a 42-year-old Rogers. To me, the whole idea behind it would be maybe he can get whatever there is out of Will Howard or who we draft or who we're going to draft the following year or see if he can turn Malik Willis. to the next Sam Darnold. Something like that. I am not, I'm not going to kill the hire based on, I have been very critical of Mike McCarthy's game management.

But other than that, the resume is very similar to Tomlin, Sean Payton, and John Harbaugh, who everybody likes. So I will try to, I will be fair there because I do think he kind of has worse PR than the other three one-time Super Bowl winning coaches of his era. But when you sign up for Aaron Rogers, whether you acknowledge it or not, what you're also signing up for is Adam Thielen taking snaps away from your rookie fourth round pick. And MVS, you are going to be an old win now team. And I don't think they have enough talent to be win-win now.

And I would rather try to play young players and develop and build something. So I'm not anti-the-hire. I would be very anti-Aren Rogers coming back. Mahomes, that one next. They're not going to do that. They want to win. Look, to have Rogers. If you're right, if he can develop Will Howard,

then I think it's worth bringing in this. Roger's wife might be ready for him to retire. All right from New York. That's a player move right there. That's great. That's an all-time move. Yes, it is. It's a show that has expensive tastes.

Yeah. But maybe not the budget. Yeah, exactly right. Second hour of first things first. Today, Josh Allen's got a brand new coach. It's his old OC. Did the bills get better, worse, or did they just stay the same? Meanwhile, what is the number one reason the Patriots got to the Super Bowl?

It's like title pie, but it's credit pie. Credit pie. And guess what Hubs came into my office? Gets is what he told me, bro. He got a pie. A real pie? I forgot that we do a real pie. Yeah, of course.

Did you know what kind? It better be Mississippi Mudd. Mississippi Mudd. It's just a brownie. No. It's just like brew lights. Actually, I'm off pies now. What are you on?

I mean, I'm cutting down on the sweets. Brew. Yeah. You say that. You don't believe it. Good answer. Good end. Every six weeks, you say it.

I love it, bro. I'm supposed to get like Greg. Okay. Two weeks until the Super Bowl, quick review of the Mountain as we stand. I checked with you earlier in my shared office. Drake is number one. He's on top of the mountain.

Darnold is number two, but we didn't make a graphic for that. Since there'd be a short segment, we're looking at the entire league in a special Super Bowl preview, but also the entire league version of Mahomes Mountain. Indeed. And obviously this can change and probably should change for at least two of the guys pending the result of the Super Bowl. And also other things in the off season, further inspection, how guys do or don't recover from injury, things like that can change it. But this is where I think we sit as a whole

at the tail end of the 25 season, heading into 26. Also, green means you moved up, red means you moved down. This is the upper down is based off of where you were week one of this year. So not of the, going into this season versus what we think

will be your standing going into next season. Oh, this is going into next season or right now. It's a little bit of both. What I'm saying is, or red is based on where you were going into this past season. But as always, there's only 28 spots on the mountain. So the following people is not climbing at the moment. It is.

Tua, who I don't know if he's going to be a starter. The two Falcons quarterbacks, because I don't know who the starter is going to be. J.J. McCarthy. Pro bowlers. Yeah, he's not on there. And I just put the Jets quarterback on there, not only because I don't know who their quarterback is going to be. But I now believe if you're the Jets quarterback, you're just destined to not be good.

I think they look at their O.C. today. Yeah, today. A little late. Guys, what are you waiting there? Look at that. Like, you know what? I look at the tape. We're back.

You got to go. But I'm just. Somebody's going to go outside of Zach Wilson. 100%. Jack Wilson is a huge winner from the Sam. He should be on the most of the game. Absolutely. All right.

Bottom of the mountain. Fernando Mendoza. Love it. Makes, he's going to be number one pick of the draft. Wow. Do I think he is likely going to be, you know, a top 28 quarterback as a rookie? Let's see who the Raiders hire the head coach. I think it's on the board.

And remember, the mountain's not left to right. A couple of guys going into year two that I had solid rookie years. Tyler Shuck Jackson Dart. Yeah. I liked what I saw from Shuck. I liked what I saw from Dart when he wasn't in concussion protocol. And, you know, we'll see how he, I think John Harbaal would be good for him, calming force.

Bryce stays where he is. where he was. Again, there was a moment where it looked like he might climb, a few moments where he might fall. He stays where he is. Rogers is where he is. Kyler was borderline because again, but I'm pretty convinced he'll be a starter somewhere next year. I just don't know where. And Gino, it's not left to right, but he's hanging on for dear life. Could I ask you a quick question?

I would love it. I'm going to bring back this segment. Gino. What's going on? Hey, what's going on? He was excellent. in Seattle. They wanted to bring him back.

Correct. Is it just the offensive line? No. I think, no, he played poorly. The offensive line, Carol seemed to not totally have it together. And it might be the Raiders or Jets West. You know what I mean? Like right now where you can't overcome the dysfunctional.

That'd be bad for Mendoza. And so, that's bottom of the round. Row six. Tough one. Listen. Wow. So we'll talk about all these guys. I don't know what to do about Justin Herbert.

I do know he is now in the tier of, yet don't actually care what you do next regular season. And he knows it. Oh, Lamar tier. Right. But Lamar at least had some good postseason game saying his hat on and higher regular season highs. So it's even, and it felt to me in the playoff game this year, you could tell he was like, don't throw a pick, don't throw a pick, and it affected him. Jaden, it was, you can't have that many different injuries when you were already, to me, an injury

risk and move up from where you were. CJ had a rough year and then one of the worst halves of playoff football we've ever seen. Purdy, I thought, played well when he was out there. But the injuries are mounting and I think dropping him is fair, given that the injuries are a piece of it. Cam Ward is getting a little bit of number one overall pick bias to be totally fair where you're just trying to find some things to hang your hat on. But you also hope he can be like a different number one overall pick from his division. Trevor from a few years ago. Disasterous rookie year but with few moments and then year two new coach, things are together and you jump up.

And Daniel Jones, even though he's coming off a torn Achilles, I think he is held now in higher regard than he was going into last year, when people didn't even know, like, should they be starting him over Anthony Richardson? Now to the top 15, and I got to say it's a strong top 15, given who's not in it. Jordan Love

almost moved up based on his season this year. I think where he's at is fair. Dak Prescott, again, didn't want to move him up, didn't want to move him down. Jalen's got to move down. Even KW's not going to, I would imagine, not going to take issue with it.

At one point, he was number one after this, you know. briefly for a moment. Baker Mayfield, if not for the last nine games of the season, he was looking great. That's true. However, I think that the way the season ended up

the way the season ended, plus Stefanski coming to the division, we might get Chip on his shoulder, Baker. Love it. Oh, I think we definitely. And here's what we know about Baker Mayfield. Injured shoulder,

Baker really bad. Chip on his shoulder, Baker, really good. And Bo Nix played the best game of his career in the divisional round. And then saw his stock rise a little bit more when you saw the Broncos offense looked without him in the conference championship game. Don't get mad to me wilds. I understand. I understand. I understand.

I understand. But Bo Nix. Bo Nix, top 15. Top 15. That's good for you. Yeah. Fair is fair. The games have to matter, America.

Up 10. What a row. We have the average draft position of this row is one and a half. 3-1-1. Sam Darnold has played the best game of his life to get to the Super Bowl. Back-to-back 14 win seasons, 4,000 yards. KW, something sneeze at. K.L. Williams, if NFL films was like, hey, show me the 10 best playoff throws

of this century. Two Caleb William throws are on that real. From this month, the Prince 13 and 4, top 5 MVP candidate. I thought, again, he wants that throw at the end of the playoff game back, but acquitted himself very well

over the course of that playoff game. And Jared Gough just, I know the team wasn't very good this year, but another just workman-like Pro Bowl level season from golf. Golf and love, Brew, just so you know, where's the hardest, again, it's not left to right,

but oddly enough, it was the far right, far left, whatever. Top six. Allen and Lamar's teams underachieved to a level where the coach got fired. Now, that is not all on them, but Josh Allen turned the ball over four times in the playoffs, and Lamar missed half their third of the season. Can't move them up, and other guys, to me, took their spots. I think it's fair. Joe Burrow had already kind of been, not penalized, but,

was we had some injury skepticism, which is why he was where he was on the ranking. I guess you could argue for Darnold ahead of Borough or one of those other guys, but I feel comfortable with where he is right there. Second run. Stafford, who's going to win MVP. Drake May, who I think is going to finish second an MVP. Not left to right. Not left to right.

And May had a really strong argument like, is May going to be at the top of the mountain? legit. 80 yards in the conference championship game, the overall struggles in the postseason, not quite enough, which, listen, I'm as shocked as anybody because it was out there to be taken. Somebody, the belt was

hanging over the ring, like Helen LaSelle or a ladder match or whatever the WWE thing is. But Lamar missed the playoffs, Burrow missed the playoffs, Josh had four turnover, Stappar just didn't make Super Bowl. Drake Mays averaging 50 yards passing the last week. I don't

know what to tell you, atop the mountain. Patrick Mahomes. I'm as shocked as the next guy. We're going to. Here's the thing. I understand the audience, and maybe someone on the desk is going to say, Mahomes can't be at the top of the mountain. I want to know who is.

That's it. I just want to know if it's not Patrick, who is it? Greg Jennings? Well. What do you think of the mountain? It's good to have the whole league back. It is good to have the whole league back. I'm not going to address Patrick Mahomes.

There's no one to replace him. We're almost just letting it happen. You know, it's unfortunate. However, I will say a couple things really quick. Daniel Jones. I moved him up. I like that. I think he could be a little higher.

What I will say really quick before I get to mind is, where is it? Tell me. Just tell me the name. I'll tell you where he is. Herbert. I honestly, I think Herbert gets knocked because of how he showed in the postseason. Yeah. Versus the entirety of the season.

Yeah. I would have Herbert a little higher. I didn't choose him as my guy. I'm going to go to my guy, though. Caleb Williams. You got Caleb, you moved him up. I actually don't think you moved him up high enough. Wow.

Wow. And for all you guys, I think I'm just like, Caleb Williams, hate her. I'm not. I actually believe that Caleb Williams should be on the row, and you can move any one of those guys. I actually said Burrow, swap him with Burrow, because Burrow, obviously, it hasn't looked like what we have, what we came accustomed to believing it was going to be sustainable,

what was going to be sustainable for him in that team in terms of wins and losses and where they hold their ranking. And his health has been an issue. Correct. Caleb Williams, though, the constant progression. And I know the knock has been, you know, he's through 58% of, he only completed 58% of his passes this year. But if you watched him all season long and listen to Ben Johnson, it was all about his progression, his growth, his development.

And we saw that all season long. He's the one that of everyone on this list, and I mean everyone on this list, next year, going into next year, I feel like the growth and the development he can make again the biggest. his jump because in year one he was 62% completion. Obviously didn't have the coordinator. Obviously didn't have the head coach support and all the things that he needed and the skill guys around him and the offensive line. He made such strides this year and we still were like, man, he's not really playing complete games.

He's not really playing like efficient football. But when the game is on the line, he's spectacular. I think that's the next step for him. He has the situational football he has down. Ben Johnson challenged him this year, which is why I believe his completion percentage was down. Next year, going into next season, I believe he works on that all offseason.

He comes back even better. And who knows what this team can do next year because of that man right there. Caleb Williams, I believe he deserves to be up. Very optimistic. I mean, it's a, listen, I'm a Caleb guy. Everybody knows it. And, I mean, you want in.

You kind of gave up on him. No. He gave them off completely. You dropped a banner. You dropped a banner. You're around the office. Off the air. Yeah.

What am I famous for? Giving great gifts. A crippling nicotine addiction. Yeah, that's true. But am I a great gift giver? Yes, you are a gift. I am a great gift giver. Everyone can attest.

Not so much Greg. I was going to say, oh. Wait, wait. And whether it's like what. You are. And whether it be, you know, nice, shoes or robes for you guys. You should give Greg a gift.

Let's give back to you. I should give Greg a gift, but what do you give the man who has that? Oh, oh, oh, nice. I gave Danny Parkins Caleb Williams, not because I didn't want him, not because I didn't need him. Well, you're certainly not the biggest.

Caleb fan on the show. On the show, you're not. No, because Danny's from Chicago. So, yeah. So we all, we all are about even. No, because KW doesn't believe. I like him now. No, I said he, I'm in a,

I'm in a criticism. The KW doesn't believe. I do. And Brew, you're reviled in Chicago. Everybody knows. Apparently. So I don't really, I don't want to go against what you're saying because I'm such a Caleb guy. You just want him back where I had the four.

The row I had the force I had to put him when he was a sophomore in college. I think it's smart points. Brue, go ahead. All right. I'll represent the people. Mahomes camp. Yeah, we didn't want. It just feels like it'd be a fight.

And I'm a Mahomes guy. But who is it? Stafford. Okay. Great regular season, probably the MVP. Great in NFC. midship game, defense and special teams failed. But nobody's more homes?

That, yeah, that, again, Dusty. All right, teammate in the year with Dusty, not me. He put Brew, I can even put brew on there. Just that's you, Dusty. I like it. All right, here's, you know, I mean, first of all, he's hurt. So we don't, he wants to be back for week one. We obviously hope he's back for week one, but that's up in the air.

if he's not, even if he gets back for week one, is he rusty? Is he, you know, banged up, you know, not quite himself? And that could, who knows how long that goes? Maybe by the time he gets back to himself, they're in a hole that they can't get out of and don't make the playoffs or something like that. And then this year, when he was healthy, they weren't going to make the playoffs. And these are his numbers. I mean, those ranks, you just can't put him that number to that.

the team record, the passer rating, 23rd out of 32 starters. You know, you just go down the line. The yards, he threw for a lot of yards. Outside of that, it was bad. And then Nick, even the last three years, I've shown this several times. But the last three years are low. I mean, I get it. He did win a Super Bowl.

Historically, of course, he's the best quarterback coordinator. But I'm saying now, this is now three seasons of mediocre stats. So can I show you these last three seasons through a different lens? Because here's his last, this is also his last three seasons. It's the most yards. He's the eighth most touchdowns. And even with this year, fourth wins. And here, don't show the next one yet.

Because as we watch this postseason and aside from, and even Stafford, who you thought wasn't playing great this postseason until the game they lost, actually. And we are reminded how difficult and rare it is. to play great in the postseason in these last three years. Again, this is during the down period. I'm not talking about anything BNME, nothing Tyree Kill, nothing is MVP year. His

postseason numbers, and again, he wasn't there this postseason. He still are these? 280 yards, 100 rating, all traditional Mahomes numbers. So I I agree. And I actually think Mahomes has skewed

what we expect other people be. Because we've seen great, Brady was not great in all his playoff games. Peyton Manning, we know, has been bad. Like, more often, it's not quite Lamar, but you see a lot of great players. Well, Josh Allen just had the ups and downs of Lamar. Right. So I'll give you that. I'm just saying.

I didn't think you were going to argue for Stafford. If someone wants to say it's Matt Stafford, I think that I think he has a very strong argument. My, my argument had been, we had been calling it a big, of Mahomes, Alan Lamar, and Burrow. And even though Mahomes had by an unequivocal down year in the team for the first time in his career didn't make the conference championship game,

they didn't even make the Super Bowl, none of those guys, to me, took it. Alan had an opportunity, and if they had lost in round two in a normal game, maybe he would have, but the way they lost. Lamar and Burrow missed the playoffs. So that, to me, is what makes it tough.

I mean, he still would obviously be in the top, that top five tier one, I don't think he could be at the top. KW. I feel like Jaden Daniels is being penalized for having a better year than Caleb, earlier than Caleb. But since Caleb just did it and Jaden was hurt this year, he fell too far.

So this was Jaden's rookie year versus Caleb's current year. So he's got to had a better record, better completion, percentage. Total yards were more. The touchdowns of turnovers were a little bit more. Passer rating better. And he went further in the playoffs. But because he did have a knee sprain, a hamstring, and an elbow, we've kind of just dropped him down too far. The other idea about Caleb is like, yeah, he's not, you know, he completes 58% of his passes. But when it's winning time in the fourth quarter, late in games, he plays great. Man, Jaden had that his rookie year too. Better completion percentage.

The yards are about the same. Touched at 40. This is very similar. Passer rating was higher. Oh, this is great. So I just feel like he's become a bit of the forgotten man because Caleb was spectacular. Drake is headed to the Super Bowl.

And Jaden is sitting back there and being like, man, I was pretty good. I just got banged up a little bit. Now all of a sudden I'm down here with Cam Ward. And I'm a Cam Ward guy, but gee whiz. I definitely agree that if this was Mahomes Mountain one year ago, that Jaden should be way higher and Caleb. And he was in the top five.

I mean, I don't know what to. I agree that Jaden last year was way better than Caleb and Drake and Bo. And then this year, he was the worst of the four. And he was hurt multiple times with multiple different injuries. And his team was bad. Yeah, I like, I like Wiles argument. I think when I look at it, it's hard to have a player even. stay the same when he's not even available.

And so if we would have been able to have more Jayden. Who do you think has a better year next year, Caleb or Jayden? Honestly, I think, I like, I like Jade. I think he's fantastic. With this pairing of head coach coordinator with Ben Johnson and Caleb and this natural progression and young roster and developmental guys around him, at the receiver position and tight-end position. Caleb.

Yeah, also, I would feel better about Jaden if he had missed the same amount of games and it was because of one injury. He didn't. He did. I think the injury plays a bigger. I think you're doubtful that he's going to be healthy, consistent.

Very skinny. But that's fair. Saturday, oh, number two, Yukon. We're just behind Arizona, you know. Taking on Creighton. I do not like playing Creighton. They give us problems. Saturday at 7 o'clock only on Fox.

News out of Buffalo, Greg. Josh Allen for a new coach. Actually, it's his current OC. Joe Brady. It's a fresh start. Kind of. Do you think the bill's gotten better with this hire? So I'm not sure if they got better because that's to be seen.

However, I think when you, we talk about guys like Kay getting his head coach and coordinator and having a longer runway now with him, the development and the idea of that's what we're growing with. That's kind of the mindset when you're ownership and you're thinking about Josh Allen and what we saw from Joe Brady in the development of Josh Allen. We saw him trend in a different direction with taking the ball out of his hands, playing a smarter brand of football. That all stem from Joe Brady, taking over as offensive play caller.

When you are in that position, you also have to answer to head coach. Like, okay, do we go for it on fourth down? What do you think, coach? I don't know. I'm not in control of the defense. Now he's a head coach. He already has the quarterback in lockstep. Can they get better offensively, weapon-wise, of course.

However, now you have the overarching, this is the power to, I want to go for it on fourth down. I don't have to answer to anybody. or I don't want to go for it on fourth down or this is the type of defensive guy that I want to bring in. So that's to be seen. I think we will get a good version of the bill's offense because that's what we come to expect,

how great depends on what they end up looking like from a skill position. So here to be my concern. I think Josh Allen's your quarterback gives your offense a very high floor. A higher floor actually than most great quarterback because he can be such just a great power runner. That, you know what I mean?

There are certain things that I think Josh and Lamar create at their best and when they're healthy, you're just averaging 20 a game. It almost is, you know, independent, a floor of 28. Right. And so my concern would be this. I understand that in the playoffs, most notably in game, against Patrick Mahomes, but now also a game against Bo Nix. The defense got shredded in those playoff games from the AFC championship game in 2020

to this last six straight years of the playoff game they lost. They got shredded. In the regular season, I believe these defenses every year, including this one, outperformed their talent level. I don't think, I think the bills had had excellent defenses without necessarily. having a bunch of excellent defensive personnel. And guys were hurt. Right.

And that is where I think the value of Sean McDermott was. And that is the risk of the cost of this and the risk of this. And to it, you love Joe Brady as a play caller. Is he going to be, and we haven't seen the press conference yet that we don't know yet, is he, are you going to ask rookie young head coach Joe Brady to also be play caller? because that's some guys They did it with Matt LaFleur They're doing it with Ben Johnson

They do it with Kevin O'Connell I'm not saying it can't be done But it is a lot to ask They tried it with Siriani He gave it up You know what I mean There are other guys that have You know giving it up because it's too much

When Matt The head coach of the Lions Sorry Dan Campbell When Dan Campbell took it over I think that hurt them a bit this year It's a lot So it's just, it is a risky move that I'm sure Josh Allen was comfortable with. He sat in on the interviews and he knows the guy, but I can't say they got better today.

Well, I think the defense, and if I, they gave up 27 to the Bengals in that playoff game. They lost. And then if I remember correctly that year, didn't the dolphins give them some problems with backups? They did. But that game, Josh, I think, had two picks and three fumbles. And so it was a lot, Skyler Thompson, it was high scoring, but I think a lot of adverse situations. But I agree.

Look, that is the, like offensively, Greg, I think they're going to be at least as good. I think they're going to just hit the road where they are and take off and they'll either be a little better or they'll be at least the same. And if they get a top-notch receiver, they should be better. So I feel like this hire essentially guarantees that they're not going to go backwards. They're going to be

a contender just like they have been. You think it's a guarantee on offense or across the board? Across the board. I agree with Nick the defense. That's the biggest question because who's going to be the deep well you said they already hired the D.C. And I agree McDermott was great there.

They had a lot of injuries and they still always were very good in the regular season. But the postseason they failed and not and miserably. I mean they would give up 30 points. points a game in the playoff losses and things like that. 30 plus.

So I agree that it's somewhat of a question. It is a question what's the defense going to look like. But I think the offense will be so good. And I just trust that they'll hire. I think they'll still be solid defensively. Can I hit a trivia question for you? Because I'm just off the top of my head. And I know this is recency bias.

It's very interesting that, like you said, the owners of the teams were like, hey, we hit a wall and we really just need to get over this wall, but we're right there on the edge. The successful coaching hires that we've seen recently took over for kind of messes and were successful. Vrable, Ben Johnson, Liam Cohen, Sean Payton. Is there an example that we can point to is like, here was an internal hire that just got us, we went from here to there and that was it we had to actually remove McDermott

historically it's guys like Parcells I asked Josh about this George Seaford it is a while I just like if you look at it through another lens like did the bills get worse by letting Sean McDermott go I think it was like yeah that's on the board that's definitely on the board but that's what I'm saying you're like it's a guarantee

I'm like was Gary Kubiak Josh with the Broncos The thing is this, it's very rare that a really good team moves on from their head coach. So it's more often bad teams. But John Fox was the coach of the Broncos with Peyton. And then Gary Kubiak took over and they got to the Super Bowl or they won the Super Bowl. But I don't remember if Gary Kubiak was on that staff or not. Maybe McCartney.

I mean maybe McCarthy LaFleur? LaFleur was on the McCarthy staff? No, I'm saying it's just like, hey, we're still good and we're. Yeah. Get it. No, who will be acting from the outside. I think he has to, when you compare to like what Ben Johnson was able to do and some of the other guys, like, when you have a coach and you lock them with their quarterback and they're young, the benefit stems or the advantage you then have is you have to go out and get an offense or a head coach-minded defensive coordinator. somebody who's been in the head coach

because you look at Ben Johnson, he has Dennis Allen. Right. Had been a head coach. That's not what they did. They got Jim Leonard. Jim Leonard who had been Well, no, I know. That's my point.

You would think that would have been the philosophy. This is why I'm saying I don't know if they are going to get better. I'm not willing to guarantee like you are. The defense is the question. Because Sean McDermott, to your point, he covered a lot of degrees. I think it's risky. But I think, yeah, offense is gone. Not miss a beat.

Patriots won four games the last two years. They did have an easy schedule and are now in the Super Bowl. Here's some headlines from the Patriots run to the Super Bowl from the New York Post. Patriots being win from Super Bowl, hard not to view as incredibly lucky. That kind of hurt my feeling. This one really hurt my feelings. Cam Newton. We've got Patriots jerseys.

Come on. Cam Newton calls out Patriots for having, quote, easiest road in Super Bowl and NFL history to the Super Bowl and NFL history. NFL history. And then finally Yahoo Sports, the Patriots have been gifted a path to the Super Bowl. Nick, we have a special edition of not title pie. It's credit pie. And as always, since we do a pie-based segment, it gives us a chance to, it gives us a chance to expense a pie. What type of pie is it? And it also ruins the segment, I would say. I understand. I don't think it can't eat anymore. I don't, oh yeah, you're off of pie. Look, y'all trying to heard of money. Is it misses it? It's Mississippi mud. Oh, my goodness.

Well, KW, it's going to be all you. Smells delicious. Off pie. Greg hasn't eaten a pie in 30 years. And I obviously, you don't get this physique by eating a bunch of sugar. That's true. So it's all you. All right.

Credit pie. And it's actually two pies. Two pies. I did a regular season and a playoff version. Oh, excellent. Regular season credit pie, and we'll go quickly here. I am going 5% luck. And that I think is less than typical.

I actually think they were, I don't think they had, like, you don't look at a bunch of Patriot games, like, oh my God, that one lucky, bounce, whatever play. Now, this is the playoffs. No, I'm about to show you the playoffs in a minute. Oh, okay. This is the regular season. Regular season, 5% luck. 15% schedule. A little less than one sixth, where they did, they had the, literally the softest schedule this century.

That's not nothing. 20% what you were calling their underrated defense. Actually, you were calling it overrated, but now you think it's on the radio. You thought they were like, you made some Glass Joe comparisons. Mike Tyson's punch out. 25% Drake May. And that's the offense as a whole, but I'm giving May the lion's share of it. You got MVP level play from your quarterback.

And I didn't love the supporting cast going into the year. Now, maybe it was underrated. Biggs. And I'm giving third. And I'm giving 35% to Vrabel and Josh McDaniels on the coaching staff. And I think that is, so in the regular season, that's how I saw it shakeout. Here is how that has changed for the postseason. In the postseason, the schedule slash luck, 5%.

I don't think they've had an incredibly easy schedule as far as route to the Super Bowl. I do think you get 5% luck because the opposing team's quarterback broke his ankle. on the final play of the divisional round, and it's never happened before. That, to me's luck. I'm giving 15% to May and friends. I am giving 35% to Vrable and the coaching, and I am giving 45% to the defense,

which has shut down every opponent they have faced, made Herbert look terrible, made C.J. Stroud play the worst half of playoff football we've seen since Jake Del Ome. and they allowed one play to stid them and then shut it down the rest of the way. So that is the postseason credit pie. Brew?

Not bad. Not bad. I differ. I am going to give 45. We're saying on the defense, 45%. I'm giving 25% to Vrable. Okay. I'm giving 25% to Drake May.

Okay. Because he's made some big plays. So you're taking 10%? 10% from coaching and giving it to Drake. Yes. Yeah. And then I guess this falls in the line of luck. Sorry, CJ, but 3% C.J.

Straub. Wow. And 2% to the injury to Bo Nix. I mean, I guess that's luck. But CJ, I said it on that show. CJ has to wear that loss. Yeah. C.

I think they should have beat y'all, but if they don't throw all those picks. Look, I didn't do the pie. I just, when you... It's credit pie. I know it's credit pie. Whatever, whatever, dude. If I were to put, I didn't put percentages on mine. If I were to put percentages, I would go 50%,

and I would just go strictly playoffs. I would go with 50% was coaching. Wow. Which is a lot. I know it's a lot. But a lot of the scheme, a lot of the calls that we saw and the adjustments that we saw offensively, definitely defensively stemmed from coach.

Getting healthy, obviously. I would give 25% to then the defense. Drake May, I will stick with the 15%. And what do I have? 10 left. I have 10. I'm not going to give that all to luck. I'll give 3% to luck and then.

7% to mother nature. 7%. Look, that offensive unit, they had a variety of guys that just played well too. So I'll give that to them, the offense. But Drake may, when you have a quarterback that's consistent, and they had that all season long, you have a defense that's evolving and getting healthy and health. That was the thing I wanted to give the 7% to, the health.

You have a defense that's progressing and evolving, and you have coaching. You got the three most necessary ingredients to have success. I don't care. Everybody, everybody every year has to have a little bit of luck. Correct. A little bit of ball bouncing their way,

a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It happens to any and everybody. So I don't put all that, those headlines and all that. Don't let them stir you up. Yeah. With Matt Collins coming back, Patriots are at full strength going to the Super Bowl.

Full strength. Again, the island's base, the headches too. The health is important. You just don't get this oddly healthy. I love this. I'm going to be there. Are you going? I go every year.

Really? Do you really? Of course. Swettsman's for Kno Club dog shows. Saturday 430s are on Fox. Sorry, Kda. Is it open? No, this is, just for the record.

This is the agility. Do I compete? Your dog? Is it open? I don't know. Is it open to anybody? Is it open? I got to be honest.

I know nothing about this. Well, no. I can't, I can't bring Rocky. I mean, I know. I know. I know. I know. You know about it.

Absolutely. Greg and my dog are, you know, you know, the type of dogs that are allowed to, we just haven't given them the training. Y'all could be. Yeah, I mean, they're, there are purebred show. Okay, I believe it. You should get in it. That's not how it works.

Exactly. Did you not just. Why not? No indication. Start competing that he wants out of Baltimore. But Mike Fourier pro football talk says it's not a guarantee that he's under center for the Ravens in week one. I think we got some sound here. Take a listen.

I don't think it's a given. Lamar Jackson is going to be back with the Ravens. We've been talking about this. and writing about it, just because John Harbaugh was fired. It's not like Dan Reeves versus John Elway back in the early 90s when Pat Boland picked quarterback over coach. I think there's still a chance that Lamar Jackson decides it's time for a fresh start for him, too. And he's got a ton of power in this situation.

He's got two years left under contract. There's a no tag clause in his deal. So he walks away two years from now as a free agent if he wants to. Okay. Do you buy that? I will just say this. It seems like Florio's been hearing some of the same stuff I've been hearing, which is not that Lamar Jackson is leaving or Lamar Jackson wants to leave,

but that it is 100% guaranteed that Josh Allen's the quarterback of the bills next year. It's 100% guaranteed that Patrick Mowman's quarterback of the Chiefs next year. I don't think it's 100% with Lamar, and I think the contract stuff is going to be more complicated than Bashati made it sound like at the press conference. Look, I could see it being contentious contract negotiations, but what he said, to me this is reckless speculation.

What he just said is Lamar might play out the next two years and then walk as a free agent. Well, if I'm Lamar Jackson, I'm 29 years old, I'm a running quarterback, I've been coming off all these injuries, I want to lock up as much money as I can now.

Because two years from now, I might be banged up and coming off a season where I missed 10, 12 games. So to me, that makes no sense. Secondly, why in the world would Lamar, if Lamar Jackson were to leave? Now, if he gets traded, that's one thing. If he were to leave the Ravens from Miami, the state that Miami's in right now, the Dolphins, or ask for a trade to Miami, you ain't about winning.

You ain't about winning. You are on the cusp of being able to win a Super Bowl And if you don't, it's on you. It's on Derek Henry. It's on that vaunted defense. It's on your new coach. But if you were to leave a team that's close to go to Miami, where they aren't nowhere near close,

you want to rack up stats. Or you want to enjoy your life in Miami and make a lot of money. But I can't imagine why a player would do that. Why would you need? Play it out like that. It doesn't sound. I mean, I'm just saying, seriously. You want to enjoy your life, make a lot of money,

up stats. I'm like, well, no, no. And there are athletes that want that. I'm just, I think Lamar, the thing he needs to get is a Super Bowl and he's close. But Brew, you wouldn't think that

a fully healthy Lamar Jackson makes almost any team a contender? No, I mean, I mean, again, like Miami was a playoff team not that long ago. But they haven't been close to a Super Bowl in decades.

So sometimes I think we get too far removed. from from what players say and how they really feel about a situation. When you get drafted to a team, you have the thought process of this is it. This is my team. I'm going to be loyal to them. They're going to be loyal to me. Steve Bashadhi is showing that I'm, Lamar, you're my guy.

Lamar has stated, I want to win a Super Bowl for Baltimore for this Ravens franchise. He has said that time in time again, what? makes me believe that he's just going to walk away from that. He has shown, regardless of how we feel about him, not playing, being injured, could he have played or whatever, he's shown an extreme amount of loyalty. And I think players, to our detriment at times, show more loyalty than organizations due to us. And I just believe Lamar Jackson, because of his statement of what he said, he wants

to try to execute that. This getting rid of John Harbaugh, whether he was involved or that or not. The reports are that it was some of him. Regardless, he feels like he can still get this done and deliver on his promise. And he was, remember, he was in the meetings, like on Zoom, but in some of the meetings with the coaches. Steve Beshati was right to say Lamar is not picking our coach. But I would imagine, if Lamar would have been like, nah, I don't. But he said he was going to be involved in.

Right. I'm not really on. I just, yeah. No, I buy all that. And I also think moving on from Harbaugh helped Lamar's future with the Ravens immensely. But if we're going to go back in time and talk about things Lamar has said,

we are also three years removed from Lamar Jackson saying, I'm demanding a trade from the Baltimore Ravens. I was waiting for that. The last time he was in a contentious contract negotiation. And I tell you right now, when you are, when you feel like you've been slighted, when you feel like you've been taken advantage of and you're in your emotions,

you will say something like that. But that's my concern is, could those emotions come back with this contract negotiation? Well, when you have your ownership that has spoken, and we, none of us had, I hadn't heard from Steve. Bashati before. And now all of a sudden he's speaking like, yeah, Lamar, like, Lamar's going to be a part of it.

I'm not giving any player power, but Lamar's going to be a part of our process moving forward as far as our interview process. Man, Lamar's going to be a rabid. Live from New York, first things first, overtime today did Josh Allen pick Joe Brady as his head coach? I'm putting it out there. It's reasonable. He certainly didn't veto it. Right. That's right. So if you don't veto it. It's basically like picking it. Meanwhile, top 10 Tuesday, this is a special edition. We're calling it,

we didn't make the Super Bowl, but we still had a successful season top 10. So basically 12 teams, but obviously the Patriots and the Seahawks are in a good spot. What are the next 10 teams? This is going to be fun. No, it's an excellent list. And finally, could have Rogers McCarthy Reunion win the AFC North. Oh, this is little known fact about my long time pal Danny Parkings. Can't stand Mike McCarthy. Why? 2014 NFC championship game.

Just we'll never get over. I can't get over. Onside Chris Bessard. I'm Kevin Wilde. Nick Wright. One Super Bowl with Aaron Rogers kicking field goals from the one yard line repeatedly. I told you. Give the ball to Eddie Lacey.

Well, that was before the combo here. This combo, would you like this? No. From a bear, from a like, how many wins would they get this year? A meaningless eight to nine wins. Just good enough to not do it. Probably right.

That's a sneaky win. Eight, nine wins? I think the larger conversation we need to have about the Steelers is the Steelers might be playing, might have a different version of what's a successful season than the media. They do not. They got six Super Bowls.

They have one of the great, greatest dynasty ever. I'm just saying all the indications are there. If you want to win a Super Bowl, this is not how you behave. If you want to win nine games, that's how you do. Bill stay in house to find their next head coach, Joe Brady. From Carolina OC to Josh Allen QB coach to OC to now head coach. The question here, Danny, is, did the bills get better in your general reaction on this hire? So I, this one's a weird one. I do think the bills got better. But have you You guys ever seen Men in Black? Yeah.

The movie where you have to hold up the thing in front of your face and it erases. Neurreiser. Yeah, exactly. It erases a little portion of your memory. Like, if I just erased the end of season ownership press conference, and then you told me, the bills fired Sean McDermott because he had to go. There was too much scar tissue. There were too many losses.

The defense underperformed in the playoffs, averaging 33 points allowed in the last six playoff losses. But the offense has been really good since Joe Brady took over for Dorsey. Josh Allen likes him. Don't let the 36-year-old offensive mind play caller out the door who's got a good relationship with your quarterback. And then you hired to improve the defense a 43-year-old defensive coordinator that's universally respected in Jim Leonard, who is coming from one of the best defenses in the NFL this year. I think we all would have been like, yeah, that makes sense. Continuity, young, bright minds on both sides of the ball, young coaches. But instead, we heard the owner of the team be like, I thought we should have won because

they caught the ball, but we got screwed by the refs, but I fired the coach because he was crying, and so we needed turnover. And then I just promoted the guy who was here. Like, their explanation for it made no sense, but I actually think where they got to is a pretty good thing to do. Yeah. I mean, I think you just sold it really well. And I, I, I, I don't think they've taken a step back. I think it's all about Leonard and what he does with that defense. Because offensively, I think they're going to be, they're just going to hit the ground running.

And they're going to be just as good. And if they get a better receiver, number one guy, they could be better offensively. And if Leonard is good defensively, I think they will, I will be shocked if they are not right back where they were, you know, next year, where they have been the last several years, which is in contention to get to the Super Bowl.

We'll see if they do it. And I don't care that the, I mean, I get it, the press conference was wacky. Who cares? He's not an owner that, like Jerry Jones, where he's all in the mix and, you know what I mean? He's not going to have any impact on the coaching to our knowledge. And so I think a lot of owners, if you put them in a press conference like that, they're not used to dealing with media, they might come off wacky. So that doesn't bother me at all. So I, as I said at the beginning of the show, I try never.

to have a strong take on rookie head coaches. You know what I mean? That there is never, this is a short, the closest thing to a sure thing I felt recently was Ben Johnson, that ended up being correct. But in the positive way, and the one that I was most skeptical of recently was Brian Schottenheimer,

and that I think it ended up being incorrect. I thought he did a nice job with the Cowboys at least on the offensive side of the ball. It's all something of a black box with these guys. But I can't ignore the press conference, and I can't ignore that. even without the press conference, we would have thought if Sean McDermott got fired after a game

where Josh Allen turned the ball over four times, and it was in part because, man, there is just too much scar tissue to use your phrase. And promoting from within when that's part of the reason feels like you have a friend who moves out of an apartment that they like, they have a good lease payment on, all of it's like, yeah, but I'm, yeah, but I'm. I lived with my, you know, long-term love there, and she left me.

It's like, oh, okay, where are you moving? It's like, cross the hall. It's like, I guess it's a little different, but you're still going to be constantly reminded of it. And so, I mean, you know, like the commute, and there are some positives. And the other piece of it is, I have a hard time deciphering how much credit Joe Brady actually deserves when we have seen Josh Allen post his second year in the league. He started to show who he could be in year two, and then year three, he was not fully formed,

but he was MVP candidate that year. He's been an MVP candidate every year since then. And when you look at the three coordinators, the game has, his style has changed, right? He doesn't throw as much. He cut down on the turnovers to a degree, but also cut down on the yards. The overall efficiency,

the touchdown interception rate, ratio is not all that different. And I just wonder if the order had been reversed, if Joe Brady had taken over for Brian Dable, and that team started five and five. I know they put it on Ken Dorsey, but if Ken Dorsey was sitting there. Remember, Josh throwing the ball all over the place too.

Josh was throwing the ball over the place, but I think a lot of Bill's fans, I think probably the guy sitting in my right, is like, you know what the bill should do? Throw the ball more with Josh Allen. And so I just, a all-time talented quarterback gives you such a high floor on offense that I just can't really decipher how much is Joe Brady's brilliance and how much of his Josh Allen's brilliance. But I do know that at least in the regular season, I feel that defense consistently overachieved. And I don't look at Jim Littern, a first-time defensive coordinator is a sure thing.

And I think Sean McDermott's loss will be felt there. I think having a head coach who's also a play caller, which I think this will be, game management stuff can fall through the cracks. It just feels risky. And now maybe whomever they hired was going to be risky. But risky without the catharsis of who cares about all these playoff losses. We have a new everything around here because Joe Brady learned under Josh Allen. I feel like it's less risky though. Like if they had brought in, I mentioned Clint Kubiak or anybody, we would have legitimately been like,

Like, we don't know. And you're right, Joe Brady, this is his first year. But it was his offense. They're going to keep essentially the same offense, which has been like top three in the league since he's been there. And James Cook has done really well under Joe Brady, right? So it's not just that Josh Allen has had similar production across the board. They actually have a more traditional running game since Joe Brady's got there. What I am with you with on the press conference and not being able to shake the dysfunction is,

of the cream of the crop AFC guys, if we should be comparing Josh more to Burrow than we do Lamar. What do you mean? In that we know Cincinnati's a dysfunctional organization and Joe Burrow is the deodorant for a lot of it. And how dysfunctional are the bills that we just, like if Josh Allen wasn't the first,

second or third best player in football. That's what Van Jeannie saying McDermott might be. Right. They broke their playoff streak with Tyrod Tamp. Taylor with McDermott. And so how much of that was McDermott as the armor to that? And can I ask, go ahead. Yeah, well, I'm not asking a quick question.

Take a new job. People always be like, tell your boss this. What does success look like? So when you go into the job, you know like, oh, did I do a good job or not? You don't just take a job blindly. If Joe Brady says, ooh, I heard your press conference, keep on coming up short, an AFC championship game, what does success look like for me next year?

I mean, he obviously has to make a Super Bowl. That's it. So I think that it's when you frame it through that. That's really tough. Yeah. But that's what it, that's why the other guy's gone. No, I agree. Absolutely.

They'd be on your S Bob list, right? No, absolutely. But it's just in his first. Like if they, look, yeah. I mean, they've been to the conference championship and lost in heartbreaking fashion. There have been two rookie head coaches ever to, to, win a Super Bowl. That's the thing. Don McAfordy with Wilde's favorite team, the 1970 Baltimore Colts, who took over a team that had won a championship and was consistent, like had been a champion,

and George Seaford, who took over a dynasty in progress. Like the only two rookie, by not first year with a team, but first year as a head coach, they took over teams that had won championships. And this applies to the Ravens as well. The Ravens and Bills fired their coach because we're S-Bob, and they're asking their coach to do something that's literally never been done. That's why I think I hear you, and they are clearly S-Bob, but if they get to the conference championship and it'll be heartbreaking, particularly if it's to the Chiefs.

But it's got to, I mean, they have to understand that. Well, if that happens, they're obviously not going to fire the guy. Well, Sean, you said, Scha, McCarthy got fired. He won 13, and he, and he, and he. Flamed out. Yeah, but he had been there. Oh, okay. Yeah.

He had been there and he's just getting there and hitting a wall. So they fire him. They bring a shot him. He was like, hey, pretty good job. Didn't make the playoffs. You know what I mean? You had a longer leash. Just real quick before we get to top 10,

because we're going to need a lot of time for top 10 because spoiler I think it's good. It's bizarre. Really? Like a good segment. Fun. When you guys say that the bad guys, you're confident they didn't go backwards, you think they maybe got better.

Here's where I. I think KW and I are. I would have been stunned if the bills ran it back and next year they go seven and ten. I think that was almost off the board. With a rookie first time head coach, it can't be off the board. Really? Yeah, really. Absolutely.

Get me into it. What? I'm ready for that conversation. I got all the opponents. Oh, you got the Texans. Oh, oh, the Texans, the bear, it's not easy. The Rams are up there. I guess anything is possible.

Seahawks, you're playing both teams in the Super Bowl. The Patriots twice, but they'll be coming off that Super Bowl loss, so they'll probably be down. Are you sure? You're in for a real treat right now. It's time for Top 10 Tuesday, okay? This time, this features the top 10 most successful teams that didn't make the Super Bowl. Okay? It's not just like Vince Lombardi-style winning's the only thing.

You got the Patriots and the Seahawks. So they're not eligible. They're not eligible. But they've got 10 other teams. Some teams are like, guess what? We have a good year even though we're not in Santa Clara. And some people are thinking, is Wilde over selling this? No, I'm not.

This is actually a great idea. And what you're about to see is just a terrible list. No, I like it. It's such a good idea. Poorly. With friends like me. No, I'm selling the heck. Got it.

It's coming across real genuine. Coming in at number 10, really successful season. By Los Angeles charges. It's not a me top 10 list if they're not on it. I'm sorry. Did you lose two of your four best players basically for the entire season? Still win double digit games. Still prove that that's now your floor.

Have top five cap space going the next year. And officially, they got this guy. Let's take a listen. Mike. You know, you lose in the playoffs. in the first round, and it's a lot of work that you feel kind of like you have an empty stomach. So that hunger I could hear in his voice. It's going to be great.

It's going to be great. He already works like that right. That's a good. He already looks sharp. He looks like L.A. It's going to work out beautifully. Coming in at number nine, very successful season for the Houston Texans. You might say, well, that's a little weird.

Quarterback had some serious problems at the end. of the year, but everything else on the defensive side of the ball screams, if they can just get CJ Stroud to be Bo Nix, they can win a Super Bowl. Their defense has now just been phenomenal. Went from good to great. You like your coach. You love your defense. That gives you an incredibly high floor, 12-win team, the team that no one wanted to play in the playoffs. We know that C.J. Stroud has talent. Can he figure it out? Coming in at number eight, the Dallas Cowboys. Nick's been saying it. I didn't like the coach at the beginning. Well, Sean, actually did a pretty good job this year.

Defense got better after the trade deadline, and they have two picks. They have the 12th pick and the 20th pick this year. So you've got an elite offense. It worked out with George Pickens. It worked out with the coach. Two top 20 picks to add to that defense. I like it.

Pretty good momentum going to the next year for the Dallas Cowboys. Coming in at number seven, the San Francisco 49ers. They were under the radar for me for a lot of the year because I kept thinking, well, eventually it's going to fall apart. Too many injuries. Warner, Bosa, Brock Purdy, the wide receiver situation, the IUC situation. All of these top guys got hurt for serious amount of times, their first round pick, multiple receivers, their quarterback, their best players on defense, and they were still a game away from the one seed in the NFC. It just shows that your coach quarterback combination, the organization is incredibly healthy, one of the highest floors of any organization in the NFL. Coming in at number six, the New York Giants.

Tons of flashes from Jackson Dart. A lot of frustration, but flashes. And you get back, you're running back. You get back what you believe to be a top 10, maybe top five wide receiver. You've got an awesome front seven. You finally have a competent head coach in John Harbaugh. Top five salary cap position. Top five pick.

Number five in the draft. A lot of optimism for Big Blue going in next year. Coming into number five, the Las Vegas. graders. If you're not going to be great, you may as well be awful. Worst place to be is in the middle. You pulled the rip cord on the Pete Carroll experiment because that was a disaster that wasn't going to work out in the AFC West. It's a one quarterback draft with Mendoza out of Indiana, and you got the number one pick. So if you like him, you draft him. If you don't, you hold a bidding war, and you can completely retool your team. You're going to have a new coach and a new

quarterback this year, and Tom Brady is heavily involved. That can only help. Great season, in a bad season for the Raiders. Coming in to number four, the Denver Broncos. A historic defense, a trip to an AFC title game, and if you win 14 games this year and 10 wins last year with Bo Nix, you have to feel remarkable about, man, we have multiple years left of Bo Nix on a rookie contract and could have easily been in the Super Bowl this year,

if not for a devastating end of season injury, but the future obviously very bright in Denver. Coming in at number three, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Liam Cohen, real case for coach of the year, had a top 10 offense in Tampa, brings it over immediately, top 10 offense in Jacksonville, and he saved Trevor Lawrence. He saved the Prince. He saved the Knicks guy.

Well, Prince, I mean, he needed saving. They helped each other. Not symbiotic relationship. He didn't. Let's see Liam Cohen head coach team without the Prince, see how it looks. I'm just saying, well, you saw Baker Mayfield-led offense, but I believe we had. have the how the Jaguars finished the season offensively.

Those nine games on the right obviously carry you in for next year, feeling very good about your coach quarterback combination. And save the running game, by the way. Travis E.T.N. finally living up to his draft position since Liam Cohen got there. Coming in at number two, the Rams. Before the year, could Matt Stafford even play this year with his bad back? Ended up just being the MVP who led in passing yards, passing touchdowns,

overwhelmingly likely to bring it back and sneaky benefit for them. The Atlanta Falcons missed the. the playoffs. Rams almost made it to the Super Bowl. They have two first round picks. They get the 13th pick in the draft to continue to add to that team and Stafford assuredly going to come back and coming in at number one. Is that a pick from Atlanta. Atlanta from this year's draft. When Atlanta rated for James Pierce for the past rusher. The Chicago Bears most successful non-super Bowl season. This most enjoyable season of 40 years watching the Chicago Bears beat

the Packers twice. And if you solve coach and quarterback, in one season where it legitimately is. Best coach since Ditka, best quarterback since ever in one year, and a bunch of throws of the year. Caleb Williams ends up on this list. This is the company that the Chicago Bears quarterback keeps. Best touchdown the interception ratio, first 34 games. Mahomes is pretty good.

Lamar Jackson. I'd say 85 to 18. 85 to 18. Yeah. Because he, you know, that takes out the first 16. It doesn't. Yeah, I understand. Games don't count.

His is pretty good, Nick. 85 to 18 strong. We're all chasing him. Still, pretty good. Yeah. Company for Caleb Williams. Top 10 most successful teams this year, Brew. I assume perfect top 10.

It's just terrible. Bonus take, but I'm going to be quick because I know Nick wants to really hammer. The Texans, look, they don't know if they got a quarterback. Correct. They don't know. I'm sorry, and I love CJJ, they don't know if they, their last game, they found out. If you're like, I don't know if he's the quarterback. He threw four interceptions in the first half.

Then you don't love him. You got to ride with him or not. I like it as a person. But I mean, I'm just, I mean, my good life. I don't know it's a person. But I like what I see. I mean, Nick, right, they went into this season and last season thinking we got our guy. They're excited to give him a quarter of a billion dollars.

Now they have no idea. So I don't know that they can be on the list. And the Rams, look, I get they got to the final four. That's nice. If you want to have them really. low, ninth or 10th. But this was not a success. They are S-Bob.

Their quarterback's 37 years old, had an MVP season. It was about winning a Super Bowl. He might retire. Then next year, they're starting all over at quarterback. They weren't on your S-Bob list before the year. No, but when you're that old, as far as your quarterback, and you've already won

a Super Bowl, it's like, we're not happy to get to the Final Four. We got beat by a divisional opponent with a, with Sam Darnold previously a bust at quarterback, and we got beat because of our defense and special team, a special team's gaff, which has been our problem for years. I mean, I get that they got far and that was nice, but they, that might have been Matthew Stafford's last dance and certainly with them.

And so it was like. And then you got to see an MVP season. No, that was great. But once that became evident, oh, he's. cooking, we're not happy with anything but a Super Bowl, especially when we've won one already. Anything else, Bruce? Oh, the Panthers should be on there. The Panthers should be on there.

Bryce Young, it might be our guy. Here's the issue. Here we go. Go ahead. Seven, eight, nine, and ten are all ridiculous. What happened with the Niners this year? Oh, I don't know. We found out some electrical substation is poisoning their players.

They're going to have to do. You were adding. We had such a successful season. Our GM at the end of season press conference, like, we're going to do an investigation over whether or not we have to move the stadium. That ain't great. You're a little too online. What about the, John Lynch press conference said, we're going to investigate it. What about the Dallas Cowboys?

Let's go for it. Win right now. Trade future picks for Quinn and Williams. That didn't work out. George Pickens experiment went great until, of course, it didn't in the end of the year and he quit on the team. and now they don't know if they can pay them. Houston Texans, everything's all great except for our number two big of the draft franchise quarterback just melted down in the playoffs. And the Chargers had the only thing happen that can't happen, which is Justin Herbert had such a bad playoff game that even you came out and said, yeah, drop him a little bit.

They fired their coordinator. They got a better one. Maybe. So those four teams did not have successful seasons. And I know that I tipped you off on this, but as you always say with the top 10 list, the problem is you have to actually have to have a tag. Number seven, the Panthers, they made the playoffs. Oh, good.

They're going to pay. Number eight, they're going to pay Bryce Young. No, I don't know that they're going to pay Price Young. Number eight, the Titans, they moved on from a head coach who should not have been there, and they all of a sudden, they're like, hey, Cam Ward showed me something for the last month of the year. Number nine. The Saints. Kellan Moore looks at least fine.

And Chuck might be a diamond in the rough as a second round pick. And number 10, Miami ripped the Band-Aid off with their coach and their quarterback. Miami, no. They can at least move on. It's better. Miami fans are more optimistic today than Texans fans. No, they are not. No, they are not.

No, they are not. They are starting fresh. No. Start and fresh. No. They still got to pay to it. That's the problem. No, they're not paying to it.

You don't like Cam Ward. The Panthers are just good enough to pay for Price Young. I do like Cam Ward as a person. You are correct. No, they already paid him. They're not writing a check to Tua at any point in the future? No, the money's already paid. Yeah, but it's on the cap.

I mean, they still got that money on the cap. Shmab. No. They're in a bad spot financially. It's not so easy to make that top. It's certainly easy not include. I thought it was good. Thanks.

Really? It was good. I would add the tightings. I'll be honest. Not your best word. going to be the Giants because I forgot they were on there. I think it's, yeah, the Giants were fifth. That was good.

Sixth. It started with six. Does Danny want to see a Rogers McCarthy reunion in Pittsburgh discuss next on first thing's first overtime? Welcome back to the OT. That is the new head coach of Willie's Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike McCarthy, and we got Greg Jennings, who used to play for Mike McCarthy out here with us as well. Mike McCarthy was very emotional today as a Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh native being introduced

as the new head coach of the Steelers. But of course, the top question on everyone's mind was whether or not he would want a reunion with Aaron Rogers. And this is what Mike McCarthy had to say. Take a listen. I mean, definitely. I mean, obviously, why you wouldn't. And I have spoken to Aaron.

And so that's really where, you know, that's really where we are there. But I was able to sit back and watch the games. I watched most of the Pittsburgh games on TV. And I thought he was a great asset for the team. So Greg, we'll start with you here. because you won a Super Bowl under Mike McCarthy catcher passes from Aaron Rogers. Sorry. It's just, it is just true.

I mean, you got one too, though. He ended up getting one. Is that reunion a McCarthy Rogers reunion something Steelers fans should be hoping for? I don't think it's something that they were hoping for, no, because I don't think that they were looking forward to even a Mike McCarthy hire. Aaron Rogers, the idea of bringing Aaron Rogers back, I think it's probably, and Willie could probably speak better. to this, but I think there's mixed feelings there. Obviously, he having the best performance since Ben Rothensberger being under center that holds some type of value, being able to go to the postseason.

However, I don't mind this higher. I wouldn't mind even seeing them reunite simply because when you, when Mike McCarthy was talking, and he did get very emotional, he ended up talking about, you know, development of young quarterbacks. in that quarterback room and how you develop young quarterbacks. I think that was a large part of why he got the job. They want a guy that has proven that he can develop quarterbacks and get the best out of the quarterbacks.

But it starts with having somebody in that room that they can look to to show them how to do it. And Aaron was there, obviously, last year, under a different Arthur Smith, under a different scheme. Now you're under Mike McCarthy, if he can get that and still have the opportunity to, him have toulage over those young quarterbacks in that room. Will Howard name came up several times.

Sure did. In the chat and even with Mike McCarthy, then that would be ideal because you would see how it works, but then you also get those reps in the offseason, which is what his quarterback school stemmed from. Yeah, if I'm Mike McCarthy, there's nothing wrong with that old thing back, right? We all remember that X, right? We, that cap of twinkle and I.

I think this comes down to fit and need. The Steelers need a quarter. who can solve the answers to the test at the line of scrimmage and still spin it. Aaron Rogers can still do that. The question is, does Mike McCarthy fit this culture in locker room that Mike Tomlin built? Right? That's going to be an issue. If he can, then it comes down since you took this year off of football.

Have you involved and caught up to modern day NFL? Because one of the things that would, I guess the bugaboo or the knock against Mike McCarthy's offense was that it was static, a little stale. Now that you've had this full year off, what are you bringing to the table that we haven't already seen? That's going to be key. Also, if you're the Steelers right now, with the defense who you know you have to get going, you also have to get a run game because if you have a run game, that takes the pressure off the passing game. And since you have a 42-year-old quarterback and you need more options on the outside, you're going to need a running game to stabilize that.

Can Mike McCarthy provide that? So, yes, do I want them together? 100%. But I want to see change. I want to see a more efficient, Ann Rogers, and I want to see a new scheme, Mike McCarthy. So I'm going to say something that I know that you are not going to like it. don't say it. That's as easy as that. Okay, fair enough. But I just, and I don't

expect players, and certainly not a 42-year-old Aaron Rogers, or a T.J. Watt or a D.K. I don't expect those guys to want to do that. And clearly the Steelers are not doing it because they hired Mike McCarthy. But I think what I'm saying is based in fact through history in sport. And that is, there is value

in being bad. It is a good thing to be bad for a short period of time. Because if Mike McCarthy brings back Aaron Rogers, They won't be the worst team in football. In fact, they probably won't even be a bottom 10 team in football. But you know what they won't be?

The best team in football. So you will be somewhere between seven and 11 wins with a 42-year-old's quarterback that maybe ekees out a playoff win. And when the whole thing, I watched that whole press conference today, how many times do they reference? We've got to get that seventh trophy. The standard is the standard. We are the Pittsburgh Steelers. bringing a 42-year-old quarterback in with a 62-year-old head coach, they're not winning the seventh trophy this year.

To me, fastest path, if you're going to hire Mike McCarthy, is I guess you get him a quarterback that he can develop. Well, the best way to get a quarterback to develop is to get a great quarterback in the draft. Best way to get a great quarterback in the draft is to have a top five pick. Best way to have a top five pick is to be a bottom five team. Lose games this year, draft a great quarterback in next year's class, that Mike McCarthy can develop and start building the next era of Steelers football. What is the point of going 10 and 7 with Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy?

What's the point? You're never going to sell Steelers fans or Art Rooney tanking. That's what you're asking. It's never going to happen. You're asking for this team to bottom out for what? When you won the division this year, when you feel like you're a couple pieces away from getting back to where you need to be. Honestly, if you believe in Mike McCarthy and what he can do, believe the fact that he can develop a Will Howard to become. quarterback. Do you believe that? He's only had one year. Nobody believes it because we haven't seen

anything that he's been able to do. Yeah. And I would add, like, I think you could sell that to the fans tanking. I think you could sell that to the fans. What organizations are you don't need to, you don't even need to say it. You don't need to say it. You don't need to sell to the fans. You just need to do it. As it pertains to developing quarterbacks, like you, if you believe in Will Howard and they spoke about Will Howard several times in this presser, of being, you know, I'm excited to work with this young quarterback group. Will Howard even before Mason Rudolph, they mentioned. Obviously, there's something that they see there, that they feel like, you know what,

I can work with that. If that is the case, you are going to bridge it with Aaron Rogers, unless you just go into, and it's not, this isn't guaranteed. Let us start right there. Aaron Rogers isn't guaranteed to be on this roster. He's just saying, you know what, if that opportunity presents itself, I wouldn't mind it. Why not? So even without Aaron Rogers, like what do you think the ceiling is with Mike McCarthy?

What's the ceiling there? Well, he was hired to develop a young quarterback. And the thing about this situation, which is funny, Mike Tomlin, part of his legacy, he was able to do more with less. Yeah. Mike McCarthy is going to have to do the same thing. Because if Aaron Rogers doesn't come back and Will Howard is your quarterback or Mason Rudolph, he's going to have to deliver. And if he doesn't, that's going to be a knock against it on his legacy. So I love the fact that he's home.

He understands the pressure. I understand the Steelers are willing to say, hey, we got a short window. We want to take the noise, but we want to bank on Mike McCarthy and what he has done because of his resume. I'm fine with that. You're never going to sell Steel a Nation or any organization that taking is a solution. Because drafting a franchise quarterback isn't easy as buying a pair of shoes. It just isn't. They're lucky.

It happens. Most teams that have one, they even develop a team around them, and they put him in place and say, go. It's never about building, bring a one guy he saw, he finishes it, he clears all the deficiency. It doesn't happen. It's about building a team. So the Steelers are in the business of building a team around a young quarterback possibly in Will Howard. That's how you win Super Bowls. I just think the clearest path to getting him, assuming we all believe that late rounds pick, Will Howard, is not going to be the next Tom Brady or Brock Purdy or whomever.

Assuming we all believe that, the best path to getting that quarterback is to have a premium draft pick. It's not a guarantee, but it is the best path. Look, not every quarterback, to Willie's point, like not every quarterback strikes, you strike goal. It doesn't happen. No doubt. I'm just playing the percentages. And when you are a story franchise,

it is definitely more challenging, almost impossible to sell the idea or to even grasp the idea of, you know what we're going to do? We're going to sit back in, lose some games. We'll be in the basement. We're not going to try to patch working.

That's just not how when you're a storage franchise, it is very challenging to subscribe to that idea. It doesn't exist. It only exists for people that never played. No, it's okay. I get it.

Non-athletic regular person. No, I'm saying that from a player's standpoint. I get it. A coach can never tell us, hey, and Valley, he's saying it or not, we know what they're doing or not. Our job every Sunday is to go out there and perform not only for the name on our back, but for the city.

You're never going to step into Pittsburgh and talk about, hey, man, we're waiting for year two or three. That's going to be our year. It's never going to happen. Hire me to do PR for you. You don't need to say it. You don't need to say it. You don't need to tell anybody you're trying to lose. You just need to.

You mention rebuild. That's basically the thing. You just play Will Howard with a first-year head coach and trade T.J. Y. The losing takes care of itself. You don't need to say it. You just need to do it. They very well may be in that situation. They'll set the city on fire before that.

Thanks for hanging out with the O.T. We go and discuss the Seahawks. They're in the Super Bowl. Head coach Mike McDonald said Sunday, you know, you can't talk about that Seahawks win without talking about how great Sam Donald was. Well, he went to the podium again yesterday to say how impressive Donald was

facing all of that pressure. Take a listen. Yeah, it's just, that was a great place. All-time great place. Standing in there and trusting the timing of the play and letting it rip. That's pretty awesome. Willie, what does a Super Bowl appearance mean for Sam Donald?

I mean, he has an opportunity to rewrite his legacy. Bottom line, man. And I think he's proven right now that fit and scheme matters, which is important instead of raw talent, especially considering where he was drafted with Lamar and Josh and Baker. I also think right now he's, and I think I said this yesterday, this offense of him is peaking at the right time. I think we witnessed this during the last two games in the playoffs and now he goes into the Super Bowl and he has an opportunity to put his feet on Super Bowl grass.

You talk about, you know, when he was drafted, you know, I cover the Jets outside of here. And I remember when he was drafted. The Jets felt like they got their guy. The problem was they didn't have nobody around them. And they suffered. And he suffered because of it. And all he got out of New York was a slice of piece of mono, not a good trip, you know. And so then he goes to Carolina onto San Fran, lands in Minnesota.

And then what I'm most happy about is that he seems like he's found himself, right? He's found that. He's found the home. He has guys that believe in him. and he's playing within a system that really benefits him and his team. And I like the fact that, man, he's, he's not a, I don't know how to say it. He's not a, he's not a me guy, right? He's a we guy.

He comes across a guy that loves the process. He's internally motivated and he wants to win. And he's fortunate to be in this position. So I think this whole situation, he's able to beat the Patriots at Santa Clara, man. His trajectory is up, man. We talk about Sam Darnard in a whole different life. Yeah. When I look at Sam Darnold, he.

He exemplifies what it means to never quit. Like you talk about second act or rewriting his legacy. I look at it as second act when you talk about Baker Mayfield, Gino Smith, those guys, we were kind of putting them in the upper echelon of guys that was able to do it all over again after their first 10 year of didn't work out. Now he becomes that poster child, if you will,

of how it looks, knowing he doesn't have all the skill sets of a Lamar Jackson. of a Josh Allen. He is a pocket guy with some athletic ability, but he has to have the supporting cast. Like, what he's been able to do has been special. Like, and just to give you guys a greater glimpse of what it is, I put these numbers together.

And this speaks volumes because of how we've always viewed Sam Darno. And I know on the left, you got the, this is down or under pressure, regular season. That's all game, Sam Darno. but the passing touchdowns six to then in the four in the playoffs to four and that's in two games that is impressive obviously you're probably going to have more interceptions because you got more opportunities to be pressured but the passer rating he just turned it up a notch all the things that we went into this postseason saying that sam darnal could not be if this team had expectations to get to the Super Bowl you being one of

those guys was the guy on the left in the regular season he had to turn it to turn the time into the guy on the right, exercise those Sam Darnold demons, and he did that. And so now you got a guy playing with an extreme amount of confidence and belief because he was able to do that. And so they put themselves in a great position. You know, Nick does those like most to gain lists. Sam Darnold has the most to gain. He'll be number one when he does it for the Super Bowl because what you said, changing

the narrative, perceptions, second act. It's a fifth act. It's his fifth team in eight years. And the Super Bowl gets overcovered because we have two weeks to hype up, you know, the biggest television event of the year. And Sam Darnold's, it's the type of story that it's like, if he actually ends it hoisting the Lombardi trophy and as the Super Bowl MVP, it's like, do you want to join the motivational speaking circuit? And to talk to Fortune 500 companies about resilience. Like it's just the type of thing that, yeah, Baker Mayfield will look to him. We'll be like, so who's going to be the next Sam Darnold?

Maybe is it going to be Daniel Jones in Indy? Yeah. Is it going to be Kyler Murray when he gets a new team? Mac Jones. He's going to be like that standing name for all of those things. And then, and I just keep going back to this, and I'll probably say it a bunch more between now and two. He's only 28. Yeah.

Oh, wow. You know, like he, we've entered the league so young, which is part of why he failed with the Jets, right? 21, 22. There was a lot of reason he failed. No, a ton of it. Adam Gay, Slough. He played a role to your point, though. But he was, we wrote him off as a bust because at 22 years old, he wasn't able to save the Jets.

Correct. A lot of people haven't been able to save the year. Now he's 28. Like, who knows what the next 10 years looks like for Sam Darnold. All right, from the Super Bowl to the Pro Bowl, the original three quarterbacks picks made sense. It was Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, and Drake May. They'll sound like Pro Bowlers. But the Patriots have advanced Drake May's roster spot.

He's been replaced by Shador Sanders. What? Yeah, Shador Sanders. Greg, you played in a Pro Bowl. Willie, I believe you told me that you used to party at Pro Bowls. All the time. Yeah, you partied at Pro Bowls. You played in Pro Bowls.

What does Shador's selection mean to you? So this is the process. And I don't make a big stink about it because I understand how it works. I've also been an alternate for a handful of Pro Bowls and never got in. And so when you go through the process as players, there's a player vote, coaching vote and then there's the fan part. As players we have a list of guys and

the guys who are on the bottom we don't even see them. They don't even make the list and so we can't select a Shadur we can't select a Cam Ward. We can only select the guys that actually are Pro Bowl worthy if you will. The fans however can vote for anybody. Shadour

was like 10th and quarterbacks at one point. So like the The fans, this is what the fans did. But look, in terms of how it works, this right here is how and why he's getting in. If you look at the AFC, I don't care how you feel about Chador Sanders. It's not his fault. He was the next guy up.

So Trevor Lawrence, though, declined. There you go. Decline, because it doesn't matter anymore. Well, he didn't accept it. So they're going to go to Trevor Lawrence first. And then Aaron Rogers, nah, I'm cool. Like, what's the point that Aaron Rogers going to another Pro Bowl? He doesn't care.

So it just trickles down to the next available guy. Next available guy. You saw the list. All those guys have injuries, so you go to the next available guy. And it just happened to be Shador Sanders. And I know there's some Cam Ward fans that are like, well, what about Cam Ward? I ain't got no answers for you right there. Yeah, I hate it because Shadour takes unnecessary arrows, right?

He now becomes the poster boy for everything wrong with the Pro Bowl, right? And I think when we're doing it. when we played going to the pro bowl was like you said at the night's table it was only the elite it was some type of feeling that you were playing amongst the best

Delta force right that's not no that's no longer the case and to Greg's point man he's the next guy online and why wouldn't he take the nut what do you want him to turn it now I have no issue with Shador I actually I don't think this helps him

because people will use it as a punch as a punchline ooh Shador Sanders pro bowler they need to just figure out you're a pro bowler and then we can make it an alternate distinction. Like, Matt Castle is not the same level of pro bowler as Josh Allen, but they both made the Pro Bowl.

But Matt Castle was an alternate. You know what I mean? Like Mitch Trubisky, an alternate, but technically a pro bonnett. Then Snoop Huntley make it? Yes, Snoop Huntley. Just call these guys alternate. And also, it's the Pro Bowl games now. Right.

There's not even, Josh Allen skipped it last year to play in a pro-am golf tournament. Well, I understand why. It doesn't mean anything anymore. But I think, I understand why guys. Remember when Tyler, I forgot her towards ACL, crush the script. I understand why guys are saying, no monster. But it's just, it's a meaningless thing now. And it used to really mean something.

We have breaking news in the world of the NFL. You read that right? Not a typo, not the onion. Bill Belichick will not be going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot. Second most wins all time. Most Super Bowl's all time. Most playoff wins all time. Not a good enough resume.

I guess there is a report from Seth Wicker Sham and Don Van Nata at. ESPN that cites subsourcing believing that spy gate and deflate gate and the punishments around those cheating scandals with the Patriots have made some of the Hall of Fame voters on the coaches committee believe that Bill Belichick should, quote, have to wait a year and that it was Bill Polion, a close friend of Robert Kraft, who was leading that charge. There's been a lot of reporting that Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick and their rivalry. They've both been campaigning to get into Canton, and it seems like maybe Robert Kraft is winning behind the scenes there because Bill Belichick, not a Hall of Famer.

Yeah. Big yikes. It's just, it's ridiculous. It's flat out ridiculous. It's embarrassing. It definitely is, because are you going to make Brady weight because he was a part of it? Are you going to make Gronk weight because he was a part? He was involved.

Like, no, you're not. Like, what are we doing? Like, this is. It's ego. That's all it is. I think it's not only ego, but the end of the day, it's embarrassing for the NFL, too. Like he is honestly behind Vince LaBardi. He's the best head coach to ever walk the sidelines,

and you're making him wait. Like it's an embarrassment. It is. And, you know, it'll be, no one, of course, was willing to speak on the record to that story about it. Yeah. Wonder why. The 10 voters who didn't vote Bill Belichick and DeKanton,

it's like, should you be voting? Should you? Because it just seems a little personal. We'll be back tomorrow.