First Things First - John Harbaugh leaves Ravens, Bills pressure, Brou MVP Ballot, Arik Armstead joins, Mahomes Mountain

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

(0:00) Patriots vs. Chargers, How much pressure is on Josh Allen? (28:47) Brou’s MVP Ballot (42:15) DK Metcalf reinstated, Will Aaron Rodgers thrive with him back? (48:41) Mahomes Mountain (01:10:04) Patnhers upset keys, What’s the playoffs mean for Josh Allen without rest of AFC’s big 4? (01:21:17) Arik Armstead joins the show (01:30:55) John Harbaugh leaves Ravens, What would beating the Patriots mean for Justin Herbert? (01:53:18) FTF reacts to John Harbaugh and Ravens parting ways (02:03:59) What’s next for the Ravens and Lamar Jackson? (02:12:00) Who will be the Ravens’ next head coach? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's a show that's reminding you that Hollywood Brown is still on the Chiefs. This guy is such a bad guy. I had to tell America what you did. Show errors yesterday, and we apologize. No, it was my error. I evidently twice in reference to Zay Flowers said Hollywood Brown, which is like not a good mistake, but understand both both undersized first round picks by the Ravens. I get why it was that way my brain. It happens.

What bothers me is, what? Wilde heard it happen live. Let me do it again, did not correct it. And then in a moment of vulnerability when I was texting him last night, he was like, you made an error worse than your Matt Ryan mistake, which he still mocks me for it, which was during the pandemic. Because you stopped smoking cigarettes, I felt bad. That maybe you're a little bit fuzzy.

But I'm nervous about that. I know, but now you're going to start smoking again just to get stuff right. If I start getting names and facts wrong, I'm smoking again. Tell you that much right now. That's why I'm going to ignore it. I would sacrifice my health. Haven't you seen those commercials? They're terrible.

Well, that's why I'm not smoking, but I can't be getting these things wrong. First hour first things wrong. Not a big deal. Today, playoff preview, which quarterback is under the most pressure to make a run to the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, we won't know for weeks, but we will know in 20 minutes. Who takes home the award from Brew's ballot? Is it the MVP award or what actually? It's the MVP.

The Bruce Ballot MVP. The Brews Ballot MVP of the NFL season. But it, okay. What else would it be? I want it to be a separate award. Well, it's Bruce Ballet. That's the award. I'll be honest with you.

You were Brews MVP. I talked to Hobbs about getting an award shaped like a ballot box. The award is the ballot. And finally. A fresh playoff edition of Mahomes Mountain. Look at this beautiful ball flying through the air. It reminds me of Justin Fields in the preseason alongside Chris Barsard. Do you remember that?

That's true. Do you remember that? He was throwing pillowy ball. Don't be taking shots at Christina. You're taking shot Wild. It was propaganda from Christina. All day. No, just because I want to do interesting stories.

I want to do interesting stories. Lock me out to throw away the key. Guilty as charged. Wilde gave the meeting the silent treatment today because Bru and I were like, we're not that interested in Matt Eberfluse. Wow. All right. Everyone was just like, what was that?

Because T. Christina is focusing a lot on the OT. Wilde's is knifing her and bringing up old Justin Field video. Anytime the ball is floating through the air, he's a bad guy. He looked at it and be like, Garrett Wilson, guessing. America, just no bad guy over there. You know what? But I'm doing it for you.

He really wanted your list of the top five defensive coordinator. I know. He was like candid. He's out. I'll tell you. We're doing LinkedIn on coaches. We're starting with Josh Allen, the quarterback. Seven playoff wins, no Super Bowl's, no Super Bowl appearances.

And it is now looking at an AFC field without his two recent quarterback playoff foes. Patrick Mahomes and Joe Barr. Also no Lamar. Nick, do you want to start here? Sure. How much pressure is on Josh Allen, the quarterback, to make a run here? There's another Josh Allen. Oh, instead of Josh Heinz Allen.

Yeah, and they're playing each other. Josh Heinz Allen. People are going to be lost. Also, if I were Josh Heinz Allen, I maybe had created some bulletin board material. I would at a press conference this week say, if we win, I get to drop the middle name and you have to start going by middle name. Excellent. Because Josh Hines Allen was initially just Josh Allen

that he's like, everybody is confused who I am. That should be on the line. Josh, can you look up? Oh my God, Josh. Our researcher named Josh Allen. Cohen, Josh, can you look up Josh Allen's middle name, please? We'll get that. So I think we'll all agree on this.

But this is a very low bar. He and the bills are under the most pressure of six seats ever been under in the history of the NFL playoffs. That's good. Like where they are on the road against a team that won 13 games, has won eight in a row whose quarterback is playing as well as any player in the league over the last month or so. And it will be considered a huge failure if they lose the game.

And so that is just baseline very odd circumstances for a six-seed for a road team, even though they are the slight favorite. And I think it's fair because I know that there has been a lot of, in my opinion, media revisionism, if that's a word, about what the bills are. The bills are a team that has the Russian champ. The bills are a team that has the number one pass defense in football. The bills are a team that are a top 10 scoring offense, top 12s, their 12th scoring defense. They are not a dominant defense, but it's not the 28th. team chiefs. It's not the Bengals

two years ago or last year. It's right. They're not a perfect team by any means. They have good tight ends, don't have great receivers, but they have enough pieces that in this year's field when all of the other in their prime

quarterbacks that you are your rivals in your conference all missed the playoffs, people expect you to go on a run and people really expect you to at some point get off this list. Most wins ever, playoff wins ever by a quarterback who didn't make the Super Bowl. It's Josh Allen. He's the only one. He has seven playoff wins. There's only 30 quarterbacks in the history of the league with six or more playoff wins.

Okay? Josh Allen has seven. The other 29 all started a Super Bowl. So, and that, by the way, extends to his head coach, who of all the coaches, with at least seven playoff wins. It's him and Chuck Knox. There's 32 of them. This isn't win a Super Bowl. This is to get there. And so that's not even doing the MVP stuff and all. It just is what it is.

So there's massive pressure. And to me, it's totally fair. Well, first of all, it's a credit to Josh out. Yes. You only get to the level of you better win a Super Bowl when you're great. Right now it's like him and Lamar. And you can throw Burrow in there. He's been the ones

so he doesn't get as much heat. But when you get to a certain level, people are like, we expect you to win the Super Bowl or get to one at least. This also is the curse side of being the quarterback. There's the blessing where you get

the lion's share of the credit when you win and the curse is that you get the lion's share of the blame when you lose. This bill's team, I hear you, the defense is okay. They do have James Cook who's led the league of.

rushing. Receivers aren't very good. Tight ends are solid. But this is not close to his best Bills team as far as I'm concerned. Like this, if you look at the Bills team versus the AFC field, they're

in there, but you don't look at them as the best necessarily. You mean the team outside of the quarterback. Players two, three, fifty three, fifty three. The team. Like, they are what they are. They're decent, they're a good team in a field of good teams.

But they're not like head and shoulders above any they're not even above anybody else but the quarterback is viewed and is above everybody else and so because of that you could look at the team and say i understand if jacksonville beat them but we're gonna you're going to criticize josh allen because you've reached a certain stature where you got to win a super bowl and the fact is every year he's still young obviously still in his prime, but every year he doesn't win it, and it's same goes for Lamar, the likelihood of you ever winning

it diminishes a little. Just a little, but it diminishes an amount actually. Yeah, I mean, so even if he's got eight years left in his prime or whatever, it still diminishes some. And I'll say this and look, I don't see any signs

of him slowing down. You see some in Lamar, you feel like I'll let it go until next year. I think he was injured this year at times. But Josh is obviously a running quarterback. Yes. Cam Newton had eight great

really good years in his prime. And then the injuries just took their toll. Josh is in his eighth year. And again, I don't see that type of diminishment. I'm just saying running quarterbacks, he takes a lot of hits like Cam did. So you wonder,

will his prime be shorter than, say, a Mahomes or somebody like that? And then again, and Patrick's in a weird spot right now because Patrick is now going to be coming off a devastating injury. So if we just compare him instead of to Mahomes or a guy right now, just to your point, I think he is more likely to play have 12 awesome years than 16 awesome years because of his style. And by the way, 12 awesome years is still an amazing career. but if the bills don't win the Super Bowl this year.

I'm talking about getting to the Super Bowl, but just win it, then I think people have to recognize that, hey, Josh Lamar Burrow, they're not all getting one, and it might be that only one of them gets one. Because if he doesn't win it this year, then obviously none of them are winning it this year.

And they're all a year older. The young guys are coming. I think maybe people, think I'm wrong, but I think Mahomes is not done winning ever again, and so there's there's only one a season. And I know you don't always

like KW, the like historical comps. You probably really don't like historical hypotheticals, but I'm going to throw one out there. I actually do like that. So Peyton got his Super Bowl in 2006. At that point, in 2006, he beat Brady in the

AFC championship game broke through. Imagine a world for a moment, where that 06 AFC championship game, that the Patriots were up 21 to 3 at halftime, the Patriots had held on and won, okay? And Peyton didn't get to that Super Bowl.

And then 07 happens, and Patriots have that year. And then in 2008, Tom Brady was out with a torn ACL. Peyton Manning had never beaten him, had one league MVP's, and was walking into the playoffs as, by the way, a

wild card, which in 2008, Peyton Manning oddly did because the Titans, I think, won the division that year. Everyone would say, you've got to do it this year, Peyton. There wasn't that level of pressure on him that season because he had done it. He had broken through. But that is kind of how I feel. Is this his best team? No.

Is this the clearest path? No, not clear as far as home games. It's clear as far as who. There's a feel. Yeah. But it is never going to be a situation. I believe again, where no matter how the rest of the bracket breaks, the bills will have clearly the quarterback edge in every round of the playoffs. Even if Drake May is better than him right now,

it won't, Drake May in his first playoff run does not have the quarterback edge over Josh Allen when they can only meet in the conference championship game. And so, like that to me is why there's all this pressure. And to your point, it's not necessarily fair, but people expect Josh to go on the road and beat Trevor Lawrence and then in round two to be able to go beat Bo Nix. I know they're not on the same field at the same time. I get that. That's what people will expect

because people think he's the best player in football. The saving, if I'm at the saving grace, he has been criticized for not getting to the Super Bowl, but the saving grace for him has been the guys outside of his first time in the playoffs when he was in his second year, he

wasn't Josh Allen yet. The only guys to beat him have been Mahoney. Holmes and Burroughs. Yes. So people can live with that. But you go ahead and you get beat by C.J. Stroud or Bo Nix or Trevor Lawrence. Now it's a whole different thing and it becomes, oh, we've looked at him as he performs well

in the playoffs, but he's just running to Mahomes. It may become, wow, he just lost his Trevor Lawrence. Okay. I have three ways he could lose. One, loses in a shootout, right? The classic Mahomes game. Oh, you mean it won't get criticized? No, well, no.

No, he's just laying out the possible. That one he doesn't get criticized for. In fact, that was a, he lost the game, but a win for him reputational. Two, it's more like the Texans game, where it's just a disaster on the line and he's getting chased around and people are like, what is he supposed to do? No, that, if he loses that way, if they lose. You think you get ripped for that? Yes.

If they can't break 17 points in a playoff game against the Jags who don't, as Jags defense is a little underrated, in my opinion, it's not the Texans defense. Yes, he'll be criticized. And I think fairly criticized. What's the third way? The turnovers. Oh, it's Josh Allen's Superman mode. If he starts throwing the ball away, it's how they lost to the dolphins,

an interception and a fumble. I don't know if we have the full screen. But when he turns the ball over, they lose the game. So if he loses like this, then definitely it's on him. But if he loses any other way, he's the MVP. They're on the road. You're right, but it's still going to be a little bit of a knot. Oh, it's top three.

Top three is fine. But it is, he went into the year before Mahomes had the year that he had with a lot of people saying he's the best player in football. He, at three or four different times this year, whenever he has one of those crazy games, people say he's the best player in football. Who's starting next year? If he loses to Trevor, who started?

No, that's kind of my. Well, let's see what Drake May done. Oh, my. I mean, sir. And let's see what. does. See what's that. There's,

but the, and. Jaylon Hurts. I mean, who knows? If he turns it on. You see, right.

Well, Jaylon hurts if they win back to back Super Bowls. But if he loses in round one, unless it is a 38, 35, you know, last team with the ball, he's epic.

Then I do think it dings him as far as being the universally accepted, you know, QB1, except for the folks that will continue to give it to Mahomes. Like, he will get some leeway because of the receivers. Whether you think that's fair or not, if he loses, there will be a lot saying,

get him a receiver. Oh, I agree with that. They need to get him one anyway. But I just think it'll be hard. If they lose in round one, I personally think it's going to be hard for people to be like, Josh Allen is better than Patrick Mahomes going into next year. Josh, like, the, and I don't know that people are going. I mean, Mahomes, obviously, historically,

is better than everybody in the league. But next year, I don't know if people are going to be saying Mahomes is the best. No, I was. I mean, even if Josh goes out in the first, you know what I mean? They might be saying there's somebody else. Never won a, never won a road playoff game. The Bills, as a franchise, have won four.

They haven't won one since, I think, 92. Correct, against two. Ninety-two against who? Houston. Pittsburgh. I was going to say Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh and the A. I was a title game in Miami.

It's on the board they lose too. Chargers Patriots Sunday night. New England faces a rested Justin Herbert. Took the Broncos game off. Herbert was in Gillette about a year ago. We crushed the Patriots 40 to 7 through three touchdown. The Patriots are favored. The question on the bar is, should I be worried?

I don't want to answer it first, though. It's more of like a trivia and I'll tell you who's right. Do you want to go? Yeah. Yeah. You should be worried. About what? The Chargers.

Why? First, you guys haven't a great season. You played three playoff teams. You won two, you lost two, right? You crushed Carolina, which... They weren't a playoff team. Okay, congratulations to them. They got into the playoffs.

Yeah. You lost to Pittsburgh. You split with Buffalo. So you guys, again, nice, awesome season. But y'all have not reached a status where you shouldn't be worried about anybody. Y'all should be worried about every team in the field.

We'd just be worried regardless. Yeah. Yeah, because, I mean, we don't know what Drake is going to do. He's going to be, are you actually, I know people say that. Are you actually, do you think that Drake May could have a dug game? I don't think he'll be like horrible, but he might not, he could be horrible.

He's not better than Peyton Manette. I'm not saying, I don't want to, no, I agree. I just think it's possible that he could have, we don't know what he's going to do, playoff games, first time. What evidence do you have other than the unknown? But that's legitimate. But the evidence, KW, is that there has not seemingly been any rhyme or reason before a great quarterback's first playoff game if they were going to see ghosts.

If you look at all the 10 greatest quarterbacks ever and look at their, the reason I say he's not better than Peyton Manning. And I know that sounded like an attack. My point is we had no reasonable. going into Peyton's first playoff game that it was going to take him half a decade to play his first good one. There was no reason to believe it. There was no, not like there wasn't

evidence from anywhere, it just happened to be the case. And we had no reason to believe going into Tom Brady's first playoff game that he was going to be dead eye clutch even before he was great. So that's why I'm saying it is the idea that

your Drake may take that I have taken most issue with all year long is the impossibility that he plays a bad playoff game. And because to me it is elevating him above literally all the quarterbacks in the history of the league. I just think if Drake May will save the MVP conversation. But if Drake May is the MVP, I feel like you guys have to prove it to me that he can have a bad game. Because is Stafford going to have a bad game?

No, but we've seen possibly. Because you've seen Stafford as a playoff history? Yes, he's been great in the playoffs. And he still could have a bad game. I won't say it. No, but go ahead. I interrupted your point, Brew. I didn't mean to.

But here's the thing, Wilde's, too. The charges are a good team. I know they're backed up. They're a very good team. We know Jim Harbaugh is a very good coach. Justin Herbert might be second, at least in the AFC, if not the whole league, as far as the pressure on.

him as a quarterback because we know what we talked about Josh Herbert's got to start showing something he's in his sixth year. So that's something I should be worried about because Justin Herbert I have his talent though. I have proof that Justin Herbert has played poorly in the play. Right,

but he's a good quarterback. A very good quarterback and he could come out and play with it. Because you're right I think should the Chargers be worried about the Patriots obviously should people be worried that Justin Herbert's going to have a third straight playoff done? Obviously this is like a mutual fear scenario

in my opinion. Herbert's another great example. Herbert in his second year in the league threw for 5,000 yards. Herbert had never shown any signs that he wasn't that guy. And then, in his first playoff game,

melted. And then didn't miss a year. Got back there in his second playoff game was even worse. I could argue that's a little bit of poor coaching for his first playoff game. No, that's fair, but... Okay, sure, but I just feel like if it's...

He's the MVP, okay? We'll debate it. He's the top two MVP. He's an MVP candidate. He's got the best completion percentage. He's got the best yards per pass. He's got the best passer rating in the league. He's 13th best all time.

He's got the most first downs, either running or throwing. So to me, if I have a history of a guy through 17 games who has been excellent, it's like living. in, you know, Southern California. And I like, I think it's fair to say when we leave, it's going to be sunny out. And you're like, it might be a torrential downpour. I've seen it torrentially down for it. You don't think.

Sure. But I'm not worried when I walk outside and like, holy cow, you guys were right. It's pouring here. You're saying there's no difference between playoff football and regular season. Right. No, I'm saying you need to prove it to me that you've seen something in the playoffs. That I understand. I had never seen him.

play against I'm trying to think who we didn't play against the Panthers. He played well. I understand the playoffs are different. But you have to prove

to me that he's going to play more. Hold on. Wait. Other than like there's other quarter of and he might play well but not great.

Right. And they lose. So can I couple of KW? You are. You think if he plays well they all right. I don't think Justin Herbert is an example of a guy who

Justin Herbert was not the MVP his first playoff. Wasn't in the MVP conversation his first playoff. I need the example of an MVP candidate who is. Peyton Manning. There you go. There is.

Worst case scenario he's Peyton Manning. I'm going to roll the dice. I mean, Lamar, as we've said, has had basketball. How about Lamar Jackson, who was unanimous MVP his second year in the league? Now, that was his second playoff game, but his first playoff game is the full-time starter all year and was awful. By the way, I mean, I think that's a fair example. There are, it's not.

I mean, it really. It really has no, I mean, I asked for something and you guys delivered it so sure. But Lamar's Jackson's playoff performance literally has nothing to do with Drake. But we're just saying like, I know, I understand. The postseason is entirely different from the regular season. No, but hold on. Everything's going to be amped up and you just don't know how guys are going to react. That's all we're saying.

We're not saying he can't have a great game either. Can I, I just want to be on the record of what I'm saying. I am not predicting Drake may fail. there's been nothing I have seen from Drake May that makes me think the lights are going to be too bright I have been wildly impressed by him I think he is already a superstar and I don't think he is going to have

like next year all of a sudden plummet back down to earth the way we've seen with some quarterbacks I don't believe any of that stuff I also though think that you are acting as if Brew and I are saying we know he's going to fail. When we're not saying that,

we are acting like you are saying, I know he's not going to. And I think that the entirety of NFL history tells us, you don't know that. Before you have seen a quarterback play in the postseason, you do not know whether or not his regular season performance and playoff performance are going to be similarly correlated,

inversely correlated if he's going to be a playoff riser, which for May this year would be basically impossible, he's played so well, or a playoff dropper, which almost every quarterback, by the way, in fact, literally every quarterback except for Brady and Mahomes are playoff droppers from regular season numbers, postseason numbers. The question is how big?

Is it just a tiny bit or is it that much? And this is where, and this is the point Brew was making, where I think the strength of schedule stuff is the most, relevant, not about awards, but about how prepared for this moment is Drake May. And no matter how good coaching is, no matter how good practice is, no matter how good any of those things are, there is a level of only being able to be prepared to play great NFL defenses by playing them. And I think that's where the schedules worked against you guys a tiny bit.

So that's why I'd be nervous. You know I don't believe in the Chargers. You know I don't believe in Justin Herbert. But I just think you are operating from a place of certainty that I don't think any quarterback in the history of the league has earned. I have not seen anyone present any evidence that Drake May is susceptible to a upcoming struggle or slump. I haven't seen it. And it's like, well, Peyton Manning did or well, Lamar did. Okay, those are good.

What's the evidence that he has? Right. That he's not. That he won't. Because you're going to only present. Because he has played 17 games of MVP caliber football. So I would say it, there would extend to the 18th game. No, so the 18th game is a lot different.

It's a playoff game. Yeah. I mean, that's what I think. You don't think it's different. You've never seen him in a show. I don't know if it's a lot different that the MVP is going to fall off a cliff. Oh, yeah. And I think his style of play lends itself,

super accurate, mobile, experienced to offensive coordinator at home against a banged-up team. Yeah, I think he's going to do pretty well. If anything, well, I'll save that part. So then that's fine. Then he is a breed of quarterback, the likes of which we maybe have never seen, and he is going to be in forget this year's MVP conversation. perennial year-over-year-over-year MVP conversations in an all-time grade. No, you're saying, I mean, if he has a great game won in the playoffs,

I don't think it means he's all that. No, no, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if he is impervious, if he is able to treat playoff football, identical to regular season football, then he is one of the five or six greatest quarterbacks in the history of the league. Because my evidence would be we have 100 years of professional football. You can count on less than two hands.

How many quarterbacks have been able to do what you're describing? So I would be wildly, Brett Farve couldn't do it, Aaron Rogers couldn't do it, took John Elway arguably his whole career to be able to do it. Peyton Manning never could do it. I'm not saying Drake May can't. No, I just want that. The point, like, you know what, I watch this. This is going to be where he, like, he melts.

Is that what I'm trying to get? It's just a different. You're a young player. It's a, the atmosphere is different. The stakes are higher. You're not playing from ahead the entire second half. It's just, you do make a mistake. You get a little tight that all those things.

We've seen it happen. Maybe it can't happen to Drake May. I just haven't seen it from Drake May. You haven't seen him play well either in the playoffs. You haven't seen it. You're right. We haven't seen it. You just think it's not different.

That's fine. No, I think it's different. But I have yet to get, there's just no evidence. You guys aren't. There's no evidence even way. It's just all. Right. There's no evidence in the direction.

And you asked us for examples we gave them to and you said you don't care about him anymore. So there's nothing to do. There's not evident. There's just like these guys, these random guys. That's what you guys are talking about. You're not talking about Drake May. You're talking about Lamar Jackson struggles. We have evidence neither way on Drake May.

That it'll be fine or that he'll. I said he's played 17 games of great football. But not playoff. And I think it'll be good. I'm not saying it'll be bad. I'm just saying it's in the air. Bruise Ballin. Yeah, we're speaking to Drake May.

You might be happy with this, wow. Podcasts and YouTube are rolling. We are under 26 million, which sounds like a lot, but it's not. We're going to get to a billion views where Gianna loses her job. By the Super Bowl. We're definitely going to get to a billion. Oh, Gianna was trying to not to put a day. If we don't get there by the Super Bowl, Gianna loses her job.

Sorry, Gina. But I think I have confidence. She does get to their other Super Bowl. She gets a sweet green gift card. Before we start the playoff, it's time to see who's got the top spot and who has the oddly important five spot. Without further ado, it's the season finale of Bruce Ballot. Welcome Chris Brousard. Thank you, Wilds.

Wow. I put a ton of time and thought into this. So I hope you guys enjoy the ballot. All right, at number five, Nick, Trevor Lawrence. Congratulations, Trevor. He lifted Jacksonville from four wins to 13, four last year to 13. Look, I know he doesn't have the efficiency numbers. Only 91 passer rating 60% completion percentage.

However, Wiles, he was third in the league in total touchdowns with 38. He had nine rushing, 29 passing, and coach, over the last nine games, of the season. He was hot. 20 passing touchdowns, 25 total touchdowns. The only player that could match him in total touchdowns or even passing touchdowns was Matthew Stafford. So he came on strong, so I gave him number five. A little low by my mind, Brew, but I like that he's on the ballot. At number four, I know Wilde hates it, but the sack champion. I don't hate it. Miles Garrett, 23 sacks, broke a record that it stood for a quarter century, did it on a bad team.

So they weren't, teams were playing ahead, not passing as much against the Browns, and he still got the sack record. And oh, he was second all time in tackles for losses for season, coach. 33, second all time. Only two players have ever had 30 or more tackles for losses in the season, Miles Garrett and JJ Watt. All right, at number three, Josh Allen. Look, he actually had a better passer rating.

I know people think he had a down year. His passer rating is better than it was last year when he won the MVP. 101 last year, 102 this year, second in the league in total touchdowns with 39. I get that the roller coaster Josh has come back a little bit this year, but he still carried them to 12 wins. I had to give him number three. All right. And here it is. This is the moment that we all have been waiting for.

And Wilds, buckle up. Because at number two, the second year man in New England, Drake May, which means that everybody's all-American, Matthew Stafford, is the MVP this season for Brew's ballot. Now, we tried to get everybody's all-American. All-American on the phone. We couldn't, but we did get his teammate. Really?

Running back, Kyron Williams is going to offer congratulations and accept this award for his quarterback. How's it going? Karin Williams here, Los Angeles Rams running back. I just wanted to get my quarterback. Matthew Stafford for the big shout out on winning

MVP of the first thing's first show. Man, Matthew, you know the type of person you are, the type of competitor, man. You know, it's been a blessing to be here just to watch you continue to keep growing and keep being better at the game. Keep going. That was fantastic. And what are you actually sending to Matthew Stafford?

Well, we got to work that out with Dusty and me on the bathtub. You should send him one of those jackets that you wear in the, one of the harsh jackets. Let me quickly say this because I know you guys want to discuss it. It essentially, because you can make an argument for Drake or Stafford, obviously. Coach, it came down to one number for me. 46. 46 touchdowns. When the competition, Drake May had 31.

15. It would have taken Drake May a half a season at that rate to match Matthew Stafford. So that's really, I mean, Stafford obviously led the league in passing yards as well. Drake led the league in a few categories. So both were deserving. But 46 touchdowns in this last graphic I want to show. Only seven players, including Stafford, have ever thrown. for 46 or more touchdowns in the season.

Every single one of them except Drew Brees won the MVP that year, and maybe Stafford, we'll see. But when Breeze threw 46, Aaron Rogers won it that year and through 45. Correct. So 46 touchdowns is kind of a magical number. Do you call it 45? There's every season a quarterback's ever thrown for 45 touchdowns. He has won the MVP, except for a year two guys did it,

In which case, you know what I mean? One guy didn't win MVP. I don't think it is, this has become controversial in a way that I don't, and maybe it's just symptom of the internet. Like, I don't see a ton of people who think Matt Stafford should be MVP, outraged by the idea that Drake May could win it. But there, to me, has been just outright, like, misinformation about Stafford's case. Stafford, like, Stafford, like, Stafford, Stafford led the league.

league in yards and led the league in touchdown passes. That's a good place to start. Led the league in passing yards, led the league in touchdown passes, and 46 touchdowns to eight interceptions is an insane number. What obviously works against Stafford is five seed versus two seed. I do think it is at least worth noting that Matt Stafford scored a touchdown in overtime against Seattle. First player team ever to score touchdown in overtime and lose the game, by the way.

And then, as you guys would say about Brock putting the Super Bowl, left the field with the lead, but not a three-point lead, a seven-point lead. And if they get a stop, his defense, they're the one-seat. Yeah. And so the other stuff was that, you know, Stafford has gotten rich on one-yard touchdowns. He has eight one-yard touchdowns. Drake May has three. So, again, you take them both off, you do that.

The other one was that Stafford, you know, just ate up against bad, like the stat-padded. So I just want to show a couple things. because I think Matt Stafford's league MVP. One is the, just go to the Jets and Cardinals thing. Because both Drake and Stafford this year had three win teams in their division that they crushed. That they just annihilated that competition. The seven touchdowns, six touchdowns, pass ratings insane,

both went two and O, team scored 3441 a game. So if you just remember, So they both killed the awful teams in their division. And then if you look at what they did in the other 15 games, they both had six seasons. And it's the same story that it is basically in everything else. Drake hasn't beaten completion percentage yards per attempt and pass a rating slightly. Stafford hasn't beaten in touchdowns and passing yards. I put up total yards to be fair to Drake because Drake is the better rusher.

And so I just, I think 46 touchdowns, eight picks and lead the league in passing yards. And this is where, coach, I will also say, against in the toughest division in the league against a tough schedule versus against the 32nd rank schedule. To me, that's the league MVP. And quickly, one-yard touchdowns, like, are those easy? Like, I mean, one-yard touchdowns are not easy. Drake hands the ball off and they throw it. I think that's right. But it's a five touchdown difference.

It's three for Drake and eight for Stafford. There's a million games that have been lost on missed one-yard touchdown. Thank you. They're in goal line defense. They're matched up outside. It's single coverage. Everything tells you, hey, we should go ahead and throw this fade. And it's incomplete way more than it's complete.

It's a lot harder than I think people give the quarterback and receiver credit for. I love your list. I love the fact that the only non-quarterback was a defensive player. I think that's good. I thought maybe a running back might sneak in. Did you think McCaffrey? I thought he had a chance. I thought he had a chance for that.

The 3.9, y'all. yards of carry. Yeah. It's tough. It's just as how dramatic his impact was on that team. But in terms of May versus Stafford, I was telling Kevin yesterday, I was leaning towards May. And as I was going through this, I looked at, okay, Stafford had the experience. He has the consistency of the offense, of the coordinator, of the head coach.

He has all those advantages. But he's playing in a much tougher division. And in preseason, we were talking about, is this guy even going to play? We didn't even know if he was going to be able to play with the back injury, and then he plays in the toughest division, and he has the production that he has. Now, May, you've got to give so much credit for it. It's a 10-game turnaround. Now, granted, the schedule was significantly lighter, but he's got a new head coach and a new coordinator. He just happened to get a really good head coach and a really good coordinator, probably not the same supporting staff.

So it was hard, but at the end of the day, I think I'm like you guys. You look at the difference in number of passing touchdowns, and it's just so significant, it's hard to give the nod to me. I think it's, look, if it's just a touchdown counting contest, and I don't want to oversimplify your arguments, but then yes, he wins it. At the same time, like the Patriots had the third best scoring offense. We gave 29 points a game, so it's not like couldn't move the ball. Sure. You know, I think the Rams are won, I believe. My question is, and I hate hypotheticals on switching guys' teams, but I'm going to do it if you guys are willing to entertain it.

To me, it comes down to the 10-game turnaround. If Drake May and Stafford were traded for each other before the season. The Pats are bigger favorites than they are right now. Maybe, but just hear me out. Not looking at it. And Drake May threw a bunch of touchdowns to Devante and Pook up. played great. Sorry, the stats reversed as well.

No, we just see how it will play out. And Stafford was able to turn the Patriots around and went from a four-win team to a 14-win team. I think that you would give more credit to Matthew Stafford for the MVP because of the turnaround. Short story is, I think Drake is almost being penalized for being on that team and like, oh, he, versus like, it's a brand-new person. If the Patriots got a brand-new quarterback and did this, I think we'd do. be like, yes, the 10-win turnaround is the leading argument for that person winning MVP. Except I think, yes, if the 10-win turnaround was we just changed quarterbacks. Instead of what actually happened was the quarterback got a lot better, but it's the same

quarterback. Yeah. And they added more players in free agency team in the league. They went from objectively bad head coach to a very good head coach. They went from an offensive system that had no rhyme or reason to a great one in Josh McDaniels. They have, the reason we on this show don't talk weapons, the Stanford weapons advantage that much is because you're adamant, the best receiver on either team's digs. Who is better than Stefan did. Not when we were listed our top five the other day.

He would be. But you certainly have digs ahead of Devante Adams. He has, yes, I do. He has no pro bowlers on offense. And so the, and so I just, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, really, the Rams was nine. So, like, both of these teams overachieve this season. The Patriots, obviously more so, because they got 14 wins. But I just, the, I, I, I do think it's, it's, I, I, I do think it's, minimizing it to say if it's just a touchdown

competition. And I the, I think leading the leading the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns for a team that was this close to being the number one seat. Now they didn't get it, I think is as legitimate of the case as there is. And I don't think

it's just a touchdown total competition. I just think when you get to the number of your four, it is 45. 46. The difference is so significant. It's not. It's just counting it's kind of it's the high watermark here and then the separation between the two the completion percentage and longest pass is yards per pass that does it for me that didn't

win tony romew the ind you think he had both and passer rate he had all texan steelers monday night d k metcalf is back texans still favored who do you trust more here the texans or the steelers I'm going with the Texans. I as much as that game was exciting and it was fun to watch. It was exciting. And it made for a good end of the season, it felt similar to Carolina's happened to me, where those two teams, the team that comes out of it, they've got a puncher's chance in the playoff, but that's kind of where it is. And Pittsburgh losing the week before to Cleveland was pretty disappointing. and then come down to this game and there's a lot of good things,

but there's still a misfield away from being home. This isn't like they're roaring into the playoffs. There's positive things, and the fact that they were able to win that game without D.K. Meckaff, that's positive as well. It's going to be interesting when D.K. comes back. He seems to have a really good chemistry with the receivers that he's working with now. How does D.K. work into that?

And is it a net significant positive? And even if it is, we're talking about a salty defense that can stop the run, they can rush the passer, that can generate turnovers, that can create problems pretty much on every level. They're as hot as anybody. And C.J. Strout isn't what he was, his rookie season, but he's playing at a level where you think that he should be able to get him enough points for that defense to carry the day.

Yeah, I'm with you, coach. I trust Houston more. one, the defense, I think, is going to really pressure Rogers, and that's going to give him problems. Last time we saw him against the defense that got pressure was Cleveland. They scored six points. I know DKs back, but still, that defense, not like they can't guard in the backfield either, you know, defensive backfield. So that they've won, and they're hot.

They've won, what, eight, nine straight, ten of their last 11. They've beaten several playoff teams. They beat Jacksonville, Buffalo, the Chargers during that run. and then good teams like the Chiefs and the Niners they beat, Baltimore. So they're hot. And here's the thing. And you mentioned earlier, Nick, like quarterbacks, the rare quarterback that improves in the postseason. C.J. Strauss, I don't know if he's in that category not, but his numbers, he's two and two in the playoffs.

Now, he has a lot of experience in the playoffs for a young quarterback, played four games, one, two. But look, his pass a rating, completion percentage, touchdown, interstays. is about the same, you know, and then yards per attempt, like everything he gets better at. And so he hasn't been great the last two years in the regular season. Last year, played a little better in the playoffs. I don't know how much of that is. I'd have to look at it. In my brain, that a lot of the weight is being carried by his first career playoff game where he was awesome.

Because if I'm remembering it correctly, the second playoff game he played was the loss to Baltimore. where he was just fine. The game last year against the Chargers, that Texan's offense was not good. That was about Herbert's four interceptions, and then they lost to the Chiefs. So I don't look at, when I remember CJ's playoff career,

it's not quite Jordan Loves, where it's the first great game and then two bad games, but I don't think he's been consistently excellent. And he was okay against the Chief. I mean, they played the Chiefs. They were fine. But so first of all,

But KW, what's our question? Do you trust the Texans or the Steelers more on Monday night? Oh, God. Dusty, the graphic. This is not the graphic. You're putting a little too much weight into this one in my view. Is this all regular season games? They've never played a playoff game on Monday.

Wayouts are a totally different. Unbelievable. Well, coach would agree with every, in the A block, coach, it would have been three on one instead of two on one. I don't know. Tom Brady went through one. We got the playoffs still coming. But more importantly than the graphic,

I think you guys are giving the Steelers a bit of a short end here. You're right, the Steelers did lose a game down the stretch, but they were playing, they have been playing their best football of their season from December to right now with one really bad game

dipped at the tail end of it, that Cleveland game. I also think yes, you are correct, that had the Ravens made that field goal, the Ravens would have won. The Steelers had a bunch of other opportunities, though, where they also could have made that moot. They

punch in the one-yard touchdown. Now it looks like the Boswell Extra Point got blocked. It got credited. Oh, I didn't even see that. It got credited in the NFL official thing as being a blocked extra point. Like that, maybe that's why. Which kind of makes more sense. You saw the way. Right. The fourth and seven. Where to get blocked? And they don't even,

like, that took an amazing play by Isaiah likely. So I think the Steelers were the better team Sunday night against a team that was as desperate as their version

of a playoff game. And I don't know that I trust C.J. Straub to score enough. I don't, CJ has been the same quarterback

the last two years. And it's not the quarterback he was his rookie year. I think this year he has 19 touchdowns for the season. Like it just, you missed a few games.

But still, he has a lot. He has. He has. He has. He has, he has, He had an 87 pass rating last year, he's a 92 passer rating this year.

And I think the Steelers at home with the addition of Metcalfe. And I'm also a big believer that Rogers is going to hang in the pocket more than he has in the regular season, that he was trying to make sure he stayed healthy for the playoffs. Not that he's going to take a bunch of hits, but be more willing to. So as much as I like D'Amico, I like Tomlin more. I think Rogers, even at 42, is better than C.J. Stroud. I think that the only team in the AFC playoffs, the Steelers might have better weapons than is the Texans.

I don't know if the Texans pass rush is enough to overcome all of that. And it's in bits. I would think the momentum matters. I think the Steelers feel pretty momentous right now coming off that win. Aaron Ryder said it was exponential. Yeah, they beat a roller coaster team.

All right now next, special wild card edition. From New York. It's a show that doesn't mind if Matthew Stafford wins the MVP. The guy threw a lot of touchdown. touchdown league. Who had the most home? It literally is a touchdown league. Yeah, definitely.

That's how you win the game. Yeah. For Drake May handing the ball off. He should have kept it. Run it in himself. Buddy, on the MVP. Gianna, we were joking before. Nice touchdown.

We're serious about. That's the only MVP he wants. But he said, also, let's get wilds that spot on EEI. We won't have. We won't have 38 minute A blocks. I will agree. I'm going to get you a spot on touchdown counting. Dot work.

Second hour, first thing for us today. Oh, my. Is Josh Allen the quarterback looking at the entire playoff field and thinking to himself must win for me, Josh Allen, the quarterback? Meanwhile, standing in his way, Jags' defensive tackle. Eric Armstrongstead joins the show. Great.

Hopefully he did not watch any of my Jags commentary. But right now, we're headed to the mountain. You know, five minutes ago, our coordinating producer, Stephen Hubbard, said, this makes sense, doesn't it? And I said, of course it makes sense. It's wild card weekend. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes are out of the playoffs. Nick loves casinos. So obviously, there's a giant slot machine with smoke coming out of the back on top of the mallon,

which I then pull a huge lever, which matches my tie. And because I'm a Patriots fan, one, two, three. Now for another episode of Mahomes Mountain. That was great. It was out of his mind. Who? Hubs. Hubs.

Made you do that. Hubs gave that to me cold. It's like, here's the concept. I'm like, I don't know. It's like, it's already built. I'm like, all right, buddy. He's like, we already have a lever downstairs. I'm like, okay.

I got it. What? It made no sense. When is there stuff on a giant? Honestly, this is probably an off-the-air discussion, but we're on the air. You're either the leader of the show or you're not. You can't be the leader of the show in good times. And when you want to throw around topic ideas.

And then when all of a sudden we have a smoking. Well, perhaps I was. Perhaps I was usurped in the meeting this morning. Hop machine. Hostile tape over. That makes no sense narratively. If you want to hear about Mountieverfluse, you came to the wrong spot.

I tried. Time for the mountain. Only 14 quarterbacks is only 14 teams. So it's a five row mountain. So that does mean certain guys who you're going to see. Green means they moved up. Some of the guys in row five moved up by default

because fifth rows as low as it gets. Let's show it to you. Bottom row, Jordan Love, who is an odd postseason career. His first playoff game ever was unbelievable. His next playoff game, he was okay and then through a really indefensible interception when they had plenty of time to try to win the game. And then the game last year, he was downright awful and nobody cared. He had three, but everyone's focused on Herbert's bad game,

Darnold's bad game, his three interception game. He was like, oh, yikes. Also, here's another sneaky thing about Jordan Levy and the Packers. The seven seed every year. Seven seed didn't exist until the pandemic. They've been the seventh seed every year. And so they win nine games to the seven seed pretty consistently. Sam Darnold's the one seed.

He has eight touchdowns in the last eight weeks. And I am not going to call him the weak link of the team. I'm going to call him the biggest question mark on the team. That's more fair. I don't think it's fake. Like, we glinket. Well, his splits from first half of the season, second half the season are grizzly. Even if you remove the Rams game, it's still not great.

Right. But they have won all the games. And they're the one seed. And they're going to be rested. It's question mark. Vacant guy, Bo Nix. This is dirty right here. What?

What do you mean? It's not left to right. I mean, then. It's not left right. He wanted to split. It's just like a random guy. There's a different. between these two and those.

It just happened. It's not left or right. Then why is that random silhouette there? Ask their graphics department. I just tell them the rose. I've told you guys this many times. I just tell them the rows and they put everyone wherever they want. I assume they did it for symmetry purposes.

Oh, you know what I mean? Two quarterbacks, two quarterbacks. Or make it move down. But who knows? Bo Nix. Kind of outplayed Traylance this week. Kind of. Trey Lance, not great.

And Bryce Young, I don't know, man. Here's the bright side, I guess. Go be awesome on Saturday and change your NFL life. Get a playoff win, get a huge upset. First playoff victory for the Panthers in a decade. Change your whole NFL way. I don't know what else tell you. Ro four.

Caleb Williams has been very good this year. I have never seen him in the postseason. I happen to think that matters. I am not going to just assume because he was great in college and has had a very good, not a great year, but a very good year that he's going to be great this year. I also really didn't love how the Bears finished week 18. I thought week 17, I understand they lost to the Niners,

but the offense was exceptional. They could have stolen it. Week 18 against, I knew the lions weren't going to roll over, but to only score 16 points and have zero points late in that game was alarming. Purdy against a great defense, that wasn't great either. Now, he was playing outstanding, but you do worry about, was that just a bad game for Gershire McAfrey or did the fact that they were using him as if he had said,

this was going to be my last time ever playing football. I want to get as many tucks as possible. is it finally catching up to him? Obviously, the no Trent Williams and Ricky Pierce all hurt him. We expect those guys to be back, but it's concerned. Justin Herbert, we've seen him in two playoff games. He was very bad in both. He is now rested, ready, the more experienced quarterback,

has maybe the more experienced coach has, I think, in my opinion, maybe Wild's to disagree, the better of the two defenses supporting him. doesn't have the great offensive line in fact doesn't even have a good in fact doesn't even have an average offensive line Herbert's where he is and C.J. Stroud to Bruce's graphic earlier

has performed at intermittent levels but never horribly in the postseason and so he is where he is. Roe 3 this is about as high as I can put a playoff rookie in Drake May

unbelievable season a deserving top 2 MVP candidate carries on the legacy of Tony You're almost greatly in leading the league in completion percentage yards per attempt to pass a rating. However, I having never seen him play a postseason game and which what I think is an oddly tough matchup because of the coach and defense he's going to be up against. That's where he is. Jalen Hertz gets helped more than just about anybody by his playoff resume compared to the regular

season that he's had. He has proven to be a big game quarterback. He has proven to play his best in the postseason, particularly playoff games. that are not on the road, and certainly round one is not on the road. And his two road playoff games, one year was his first year as a starter, and the other year was Supernatural Funk, so we don't even know what to do with it. And Aaron Rogers, the veteran experience getting D.K. Metcalf back, coming off his best month of football, and I think the best game he has played,

all things considered, in five years, he gets bumped as well. Road to Josh Allen, more quarterback wins than any quarterback in NFL history without ever reaching a Super Bowl. All-time great quarterback or passer rating come the postseason. And to Bruce Point coming off, not MVP caliber season, but he's going to finish probably top five on most ballots, MVP. And then there's the Prince, who I got to be honest with you, Brew. I thought it was a little low on Bruce ballot.

I would have flip-flopped Allen and Trump. Trevor personally. Last six weeks, 19 touchdowns, one interception, no other turnovers, 290 yards per game. Last eight weeks. They're beating teams by three scores a game on average. Haven't lost. Trevor, KW, where's the vibes antenna these days?

They're very high. Vives are pretty good. They're very high. Yeah, vibes are pretty good. And you better talk nice about in this next half hour before Eric Armson joins us. Walter Payton Man of the Year might put you through the table like a Bill's fan. And then atop the mountain, a guy who has unbelievable postseason numbers, a guy who's already a Super Bowl champion,

a guy who very well may add league MVP to what would then be a Hall of Fame resume, and who is getting Devante Adams back. Top of the Mountain once again, Matthew Stafford. Coach, your thoughts. So when I was looking at the mountain, I was thinking about the past and where I had seen certain things before. And so there was Nick wearing the blonde wig. I've seen that before. There was the trumpeteers. I've seen that before. There was the discussion about the incredible way that Trevor Lawrence finished the season.

I've seen that before. I think it was the year that he got a new head coach. And so I went back and I looked at 2022. And so in 2020, if we can bring this up. Third-grade's playoff coming back ever? Third-grade's playout. But let's see how he finished the season. So he finished the season 5-0. And actually had a couple losses prior to that, but sprinkled in with a bunch of other wins.

So he finished the season red hot back in 2022. And how did he respond in the postseason? Well, he had through the four interceptions in the first half of that game. How did that game end up? I forget. So then here we are this year. So we're 8-0. But the numbers are similar.

So we've seen this movie before. And it was great. We wanted a sequel. It wasn't great. It wasn't great. It was, it was, it was streaky. And he's streaky now, just like he was streaky then. And then he went into the playoff game and he struggled mightily.

And I think there's going to be elements of that coming up again. And to that end, that's why I think he's too high for where you have now. I'm going to lose my mind versus you can lose your mind all you want. But just like you put on the wig, we'll see you lose your mind again. We've seen it all before. We've seen this movie before. To use 20. It doesn't end with him being the second tier quarterback on the mind.

So let's talk about how 2020 ended. He did play a bad quarter and a half. In fact, a historically bad quarter and a half. And he then rallied to the tune of the third greatest comeback in playoff history. and then the next round went on the road to Arrowhead and lost. Like, oh, I don't know, everybody does.

And he, by the way, in that game, played a totally clean game until down two scores with two minutes left through a desperation pick. Like, I, the difference is if he wins this week... The difference is three games at the end of this season. Hold on. If he went and 14 touchdowns, and let's do it, actually, Coach, 14 touchdowns, a better passer rating,

three, four more points per game. Like, you're talking crazy. Not significantly better passing rating. I just said better. Yeah, I just said better. And you know, you could meltdown. You don't even, you don't even like passer rating. I don't love it.

Yeah, you, I don't love it. No, no, I don't hate it. Completion percentage are not too fond of, and it was good of you to leave it off. I just think they would, the Jads right now would sign up for the 20, postseason when you add in round two, you're not going to Arrowhead. You're not playing Patrick. And that may be the case.

What I'm saying, that doesn't make him the second tier of the mountain quarterback. I don't know. I think he's still going to finish third in MVP voting. One, two, three, sounds good to me. Go ahead, Brooke. Well, I do agree with Coach. I think Trevor's too high, so I support that argument. But he's on your palate.

He can't be way too high. But he, I think he should be down. I put hurts. You're obviously looking at experience. So you got made down there. But I'd put Hertz and switch Hertz and Trevor. But anyway, uh, Jay-Lo is too low.

I would switch J-Lo and Caleb. All right. Caleb, first of all, at this moment, now maybe next year, two years from now, it'll be different. But right now, Jordan Love is better than Caleb Williams. If only because he can put together four straight quarters of solid football.

Caleb seems incapable of doing that. Like, his first three quarters, he looks terrible. He looks like he looked last year at times. and then comes on in the first three quarters against your beloved Niners, bro. It looked pretty good. The Niners, half their defense is in the blue tent. And if Jaylo gets hot, Caleb's going to be home.

Yeah, yeah. And so J-Lo, the one time they matched up this season, Jordan beat him. I think he's a better quarterback. He does have experience. Now, like you said, his playoff resume is up and down, but he does at least have some playoff. experience. And so I believe that J-Lo and Caleb should be switched.

Yeah. I- Caleb has he given you a lot of confidence in these last few weeks. The game's more than 12 minutes long. Okay. And again, you're just ignoring the game where he was awesome the entire game and threw for what he threw for against the nine. That was a rarity. And again, Philip Rivers cooked the Niners defense. Yeah, the Niners defense has been. Yeah. I mean, nobody, they're not stopping anybody except saying. Niners just played the Seahawks. Seahawks scored 13 points.

That's the only Sam Garland. Nobody scored 38 on the Niners but the Bears. You just spent 10 minutes killing Sam Darnell. Oh, my God. First of all, no, I didn't. Second of all, you guys, this idea that Caleb has been, you're talking about it like he's been Bo Nix. Like he's been terrible through three quarters and then just came the fourth.

He hasn't been good through three quarters. I disagree. I think against the Lions, that was true. What about the Packers when they beat him 22-16? and he was bad. He was getting outplayed by Malik Willis. Yeah, to a late. Everybody would have gotten outplayed by Malik Willis that day.

But yes, that is true. He was brilliant late. But I don't think that has been the case every week. And I don't think it's fair to just say he hasn't done anything through early parts of games. When two games ago, they scored 38 points and be like, yeah, that team stinks. One of almost. That defense, though. Say it again?

I'm sorry. So he scored 31 points. My apologies. Go ahead, KW. First of all, I want to apologize on keeping my feelings. phone on for this part of Mahomes Mountain because my son has basketball practice and I'm looking forward to his first 360 dunk. He's 13 trying to do a 360 dunk. Now do I have any evidence. Now do I have any evidence whatsoever that he can do that? No. Has he come close to dunking?

No. But I know that other 13-year-olds in the history of the world, have done a 360 duck. I don't have any evidence that my son can do it. But because other guys have done it, and it's a new day and you never know, maybe today's the day. That's such an order. No, let him finish.

No, Drew, let him go. What are you talking about? KW, go ahead. The audience agrees with you. Unbelievable. I have no evidence that Drake May is going to have a bad playoff game. That was the analogy. Where you want to ding, even though you don't make the mountain, a lot of it's, is Drake doesn't have enough experience, which I agree with.

But Josh McDaniels has a ton of experience. So I think the combination of Josh McDaniels and Drake May, six Super Bowls between them, Josh is on his 14th year as Patriots OC, and I wanted to bring up this play that I was going to kick around last. Josh McDaniels has six Super Bowls? Josh McDaniels has six Super Bowls in different capacities, not all his OC, but he has six Super Bowl. rings with obviously with the Patriots. How deep is Josh McDaniels playbook? I was talking to coach upstairs about this.

This is the Jets touchdown that Stefan scores from Drake. Here's Drew Brees on the call. Take a listen. All right, I'm sorry. This play looks all too familiar. 2016 Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons. They're going deep into the archives. Josh McDaniels, just that quick dish.

You've got all those lead blockers. So this is the two-point conversion in the Falcons comeback that made it 28 to 28. And then I think Dusty has a video of them combined. The fact that Josh McDaniels can go this deep into his playbook, I think is a nice moat around Drake May's playoff in experience. Also, as a nice added bonus when the, if you see the score 21 to 3 when we're playing the Jets, the touchdown made it 28 to 3. So part of me thinks that Josh McDaniels is doing this as a little troll job against the Jets, even though the Jets had nothing to do with the Falcons. But it's like, oh, this is just a clever play I can run, speaking of 28 to 3.

So I think Josh's playbook is so extensive. I think it's a bit of a buffer around Drake's inexperience. So I'd like Drake to switch with Trevor. Coach, yes. Is regular season football the same as playoff football? It is not. Coach, do you think it's fair for any quarterback, no matter how good over a regular season they've had, before they've played a single playoff game, to be at least somewhat anxious,

that their first playoff game they might not play up to the regular season standard? I think everybody that goes into their first playoff game, regardless of positions, anxious. Everybody's anxious. Do you think there's such a thing as being, if you're a quarterback in this league, is being immune to a bad game? I think everybody has the potential for. a bad game. Okay, thank you. That's all I got. I don't want to keep having this argument. But to Kevin Wilde's point, the fact that he's going in with someone like for someone like

for someone like Josh and I, and Mike Rabel, you didn't even count how many Super Bowl rings he has. So I think I think the fact that he has that and one of the things that makes you less anxious is preparation and also the understanding that you have an advantage schematically. And when you have a guy like Josh, and when you're working with guys like Mike, typically you're going to have an advantage schematically and you're going to be well prepared for whatever challenge is. Listen, I agree with all of that. Which will make you less anxious.

No, I agree with all of that. I think he is better positioned to avoid a playoff, a bad first playoff game than most quarterbacks. I don't think he's immune to it. But also, since we are doing showing Drake May against the Jets highlights, I'm glad you brought up that game. Because I did have a full screen and it's a double-blind reveal, but one of them is the last.

left-hand column, I'll admit, is Drake May against the Jets. It was one of the best games of the season, and it was the game that Kevin Wilde's got very mad when Danny Parkins called just a singular data point. It was the game that a lot of people thought won Drake Me, the MVP. So if we can reveal it, that's Drake May against the Jets, and then that's the following week, Mitch Rabitsky against the Jets. So I don't know where Mitch, you know, maybe Mitch is going to be the next hot, free agent, quarterback acquisition, and maybe the Jets just quit at the end of the season, I'm not certain.

But I do think for a team that didn't do any stat padding and all of Drake May's touchdowns were honorable and deep bombs when they were trailing as opposed to stabber dinks and dunks. A three-yarder up 21 to 3 on a Jets team that quit is very, you know, I think impactful in the overall Drake May season-long narrative. In this era of former number ones having resurgence, maybe mistribis. Maybe he can. That's what I'm saying. Everybody is just carve up the jets like that. Remember like half a game? Oh, the slot machine is that.

That is good looking slot machine. That was great TV. The slot machine? Yeah, yeah. Wild card weekend, two huge games on Fox. On Saturday, it's Stafford and the Rams against Bryson the Panthers. Then on Sunday, Jalen Hertz and the defending champion Eagles take on CMC and the 49ers. KW.

What? Granted, CMC is the only non-quarterbacker. Once again, tells Brock Purdy they know where the nine is bread and butter. He's a little injured. Mac Jones is ready to go. Quarterback, quarterback, quarterback Christian McCaffey. Wild card weekend powered by Verizon Saturday and Sunday on Fox. Bills and Jacksonville, Sunday at one.

Josh Allen looking at a playoff field with no Mahomes, no Lamar, no Borough, no Mac Jones. He's on the 49ers. Sporting news headline, the end of an era. NFL playoffs will be missing these three icons for the first. time since 2017. What does this QB field who's in and who's out mean for Josh Allen? This this is couldn't be better in terms of of the opportunity and if you told me or told anybody at the end of the season that there wouldn't be any Patrick Mahomes just that alone would excite everybody. They also could have written that same sporting news article. Yeah it's just Mahomes

has been there since 20. The other guys have missed him. It's him alone so you eliminate Patrick for Holmes, now your chances ramp up dramatically. Now you take out Lamar. That's an incredible opportunity. And you have no Joe Burrow. So you're the last superhero standing in the AFC. Now, maybe Drake May is the next guy to join that group, or maybe Drake May is the young guy like we've seen with young guys who have a year and

then, you know, take a year. No evidence of it. But having a year where he's really good, like we've seen the last few years, and then maybe takes a step back. But this field couldn't be any better in terms of what Josh Allen would hope for and what the Buffalo Bills would hope for. And I don't think we're going to see this happen again

for a long time where that many of the superheroes are out of the race in the playoffs. So if they aren't able to get to the AFC championship game and, you know, I would argue win the AFC championship game, at least, I would imagine it's a pretty, dramatic disappointment. Yeah, I mean, the only two guys who have beaten him in the playoffs once he became a star level quarterback was Mahomes and Burrow.

So with them gone, and look, if Drake May does become that next guy, that superstar on their level, then bad luck for Josh. Because in the future, you are going to have to deal with those three again. And then if Drake May is another one, and who knows, Trevor, if Trevor's really arrived, like, this is the year, even though this is not the best bills team that he's had, this is the year for him to at least reach the Super Bowl, if not win it. And if he doesn't, coach, whether it's fair or not, because I don't think the bills are necessarily the best

team, but he's clearly the best quarterback in the AFC, even with Drake playing better this year. Like historically, he's the best one left. If he doesn't do it this year, then you've got to wonder when's he going to get it done. So it's obviously as best chance to get off this list. It's not a great list. MVP quarterbacks, forget win, have never made a

Super Bowl. It's two guys we know as all-time greats, if we throw it up, Dust, in Josh and Lamar, and then one of Bruce's favorites and Brian Sipe, and John Bray, Brody, it's a bunch of guys, you're like, wait, who?

And so that's, it's Josh and Lamar, and Lamar's out. So this is the best chance, has to get off this list. The other thing is KW. Now that we know the playoff field, if we assume the Steelers and Aaron Rogers are not going to go to the Super Bowl, then if Josh doesn't, it means a younger quarterback jumped him.

Yeah. It means CJ got there or Herbert got there. That's interesting. Or Trevor got there. Or Bowenicks got there. Or the youngest of them all. Drake May got there in his own division. Again, the excuse is the wrong word.

But for Lamar and Josh, the not getting to a Super Bowl thing, has been blunted a bit by the fact that Patrick went to five out of six. That it was one guy just kept going. A little Barkley-ish. I would say even closer, more like Ewing, because of the same conference. Yeah, like we can't. get to the finals because the same team is getting there every year.

And don't you think the same pressure, if this was a situation where just Burrow was in the playoffs and the other three guys were out or just Lamar was. Oh, yeah. Same exactly. We'd feel the same way. You are, you're in a different category than everybody else in the AFC. You've got to at least get to the Super Bowl and then we'll see where that goes. It's also why, in a weird way, no matter what happens, this is an, an.

awful result for Burrow. Because Burroughs only thing is, during the Mahomes era, I'm the one guy who got there. AFC quarterbacks to be in the Super Bowl of the last decade. Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, have been to nine, eight of the ten,

whatever it is, eight of the nine, pardon me. And then, no, no, no, no. I'm talking about from 16 to this season. There have been 10 years. Brady, 16, 17, 18. Mahomes. 19, 20, 22, 23, 24. So that's 8 of the 9.

The one guy is Burrow in 21. And now it's going to be someone else. It should, from a quarterback person, just looking it through the lens of the quarterback, it should be Joshua Lamar. Lamar's out of it. It's a tough beat man. Trevor gets there before him. Rams are 10-point favorites in Carolina, return trip to Carolina.

This one is Saturday at 3 on Foxx. Coach, you correctly called this upset post- Thanksgiving where the Panthers won 31-28. What are the keys for Carolina to do it again? Yeah, so they're 10-point dogs again, right, at the same level. So they're going to need a very similar, very similar plan, not plan, but result as they had last time. The first thing is they're going to have to win the turnover battle. And when you look at the last time they played, they ended up winning it 3 to nothing. Okay?

And the turnovers that they got, they got the first interstate. in the red zone, so that took at least three points off. They got the second interception. They picked that off and brought it back for a touchdown, so there's a 10-point swing. And then the last turnover was a forced fumble when the Rams were driving late, which sealed the game. So that took away their last drive,

and then Carolina didn't turn the ball over at all. So that's the first thing. And they've been pretty good at generating turnovers. There's six right now in interceptions. E.J. Everrow, the defensive coordinator there, I think does a really good job. really good job. We'll probably be a head coaching candidate here in the near future. And then the second thing is going to be big pass plays. And so the Rams are about the middle of the

pack in terms of giving up big pass plays. And the last time they played, they had three significant pass plays that led to touchdowns. There was one that was 43 yards. There's one that was 35 yards. And there was one that was 33 yards. And the reason a lot of that gets opened up is going to be the third point, which is run it to win it. Because the Rams were so focused on stopping the run game last time. There was a lot of isolated man-to-man coverage out on the perimeter, which allowed the Panthers to take advantage of that and take some shots down the field. In terms of running the ball, they ran it 40 times last game for a 4.1 yard average.

They've got two really good backs. Rico Dowdo is playing better than Chubba Hubbard is. Right now, he's had a great year. But it also lends itself to time of possession because they had trouble stopping the Rams last game. I mean, that was an issue. And the best way to stop this offense is to keep the offense off the field. So those three things have to align because otherwise, from a pure matchup standpoint, it's not great. Can I ask you a question? Can they win without a three nothing turnover advantage, though? Yeah, I don't think they can win with a negative turnover

advantage. I think they can make it close if they win the turnover battle with a plus one, you know, plus two would be a lot closer. And, and, and, and, and, they can make it close, if they win the turnover battle with a closer and that historically that's the way it works in the league but if they if they lose the turnover battle they've got no no child no i like your list coach i'd add one more thing though they they need the rams to take them lightly and look past them like they did last time that was part of your keys because who were they playing next was it seattle the next game they come off an emotional game and they were going into another and it was a 10 a m game yeah and it was a 10 a ms game of And Bryce Young played the best game of his career.

Here's what I will say, again, about playoff football is things do ramp up and unpredictable things happen. And we've seen it. I think it was the NFC South in the past. We're a 7-9 team or maybe, I think it was them, you know, beats a team that they're heavy underdogs too. So it's possible things are going to have to have to break right. Panthers played on Saturday. Rams played afternoon window Sunday. this game is on the East Coast

the first game Saturday. So it's not a short, short week for the Rams, but short-ish while the Panthers are on regular rest. We're about to talk to Eric Armstead for the Jags, who part of their rallying cry is nobody believes in us. I agree with the Jags in that regard, but here's the thing. I think that has been a legitimate rallying cry for the Jags.

It's more legitimate for the Panthers. who literally nobody believes in. Like, and I, I, when we just put up the, the season stats before we got to coach's keys, one thing did kind of jump out to me, and it was the Rams scoring offense number one, and the Panthers, it said either, I think it said 27.

Yeah. And that's, to your point, KW, I think it does have to be, I think the Rams win, if they win the turnover battle, if they tie the turnover battle if they lose the turnover battle by one and maybe

if they lose the turnover battle by two I mean they lost it by three last time and it was it came down to the very end. The last game was shortened because of how much they ran the ball and then the other thing Carolina did great last game was when third down. How high are the

vibes in Duval Nick is going to put on his grill? You put in a grill, not on a grill. My God. I'm not really I'm really familiar with grills. It's huge in the Northeast. You know, grill? I just want you to know all the Jacksonville behind you.

We know it's a meme that's kind of going viral, so we got to your own video. Joining us now is Eric Armstead as the Jags get ready to take on the bills. Eric, thanks for joining us. We just watched a video of Trevor getting his grills. Can you describe the vibe around the team? It just seems like you guys are just flying high. Yeah, vibes are definitely high. Guys are connected, playing from one another, which you love to see.

And, you know, sacrifice and all for to get wins and keep our season going. And vibes are definitely high, though we're having a lot of fun. I want to ask you about Trevor because he's one of the most decorated, and these guys give me a hard time for pointing this out, high school players ever. He had one of the greatest college careers this century. He's the number one pick. And it feels like America doesn't know a ton about. his personality. We saw him in the

Adidas commercial with Travis Hunter and we saw that clip I think one of the reasons people liked it was he is not really out there so much to where people really know Trevor Lawrence the guy. They know Trevor Lawrence the quarterback. What type of teammate is he? What type of guy is he?

You know, you've seen him kind of grow up in the league. Any funny Trevor Lawrence anecdotes? I ask as what I believe to be his biggest national media supporter this last half decade and I'm really glad he's having this Yeah, I know the, I know y'all can't stand Nick right now. I know he's been going crazy.

Trevor's just a dude's dude, man. He's relatable. He's approachable. I know you guys saw when the lady was squatting him at the bar the other night. He's just that type of guy, man. Just, you know, he wants everyone to be together. He has events at his house. Him and his wife, Marissa, are very gracious with their home.

and we just recently had a holiday party at their house. And so, man, he's just a great guy, proud to be a teammate of his. And, you know, that's my quarterback. And so, you know, he's been silencing a lot of people. I know he's not going to pop up himself, but I'm going to pop it for him. And he's playing on another level right now. And it's really inspiring to be a part of. And as a defense, we just want to get the ball back into his hands, man,

and keep that magic going. He really has taken off, obviously, in the second half of the season. First eight games, he had nine touchdown passes. Last nine games, he had 20 touchdown passes, 25 touchdowns overall. Did you notice, like, midway through the season, was there, did you notice any difference in him confidence-wise or anything from, say, last year or even early this season versus the last three months when he's been on fire? Yeah, you know, he's been on fire and the stats obviously are showing that, but he hasn't really changed much at all in his process or preparation.

He's just the same guy, you know, shows up to work weekend and week out and gives it his all. And, you know, we've caught our stride. We've added some pieces. Jacoby Myers has been a huge addition to our team. And we just found our stride, you know, confidence and keep it going on weekend and week out. But he hasn't really changed much of anything. He's just the same guy. Every day, he prepares the same.

And, you know, he's going to continue to do what he do. Eric, you face great quarterbacks all year. Trevor's playing out of his mind right now. When you're preparing to play Josh Allen, what unique issues does he bring to the table and unique challenges that you try to solve? A lot of times when we see him do something spectacular, we default to, oh, Josh Allen went Superman mode.

no one can stop him. What are you doing to prevent Superman mode? He's an extreme talent. It has been for a long time. I faced him multiple times throughout my career. You know, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, really, in terms of the talent and what he's able to do out there on the field.

And I think whenever you're facing a guy like that, it's going to be a group effort. You know, no single person is going to be able to corral that or stop that. you just got to play team defense. And the main thing I think is more so of a mindset of playing against a guy like that. He's a guy that, you know, ultra competitive.

He's going to try to get a first down, whether that's with his arm or with his legs. And there's no just resting as a defense. You know, you've got to be on it and locked in all game because you know what he's capable of and just continue to bring that mentality regardless of what happens. You know, he might be going to make some plays, but we keep going and we keep hunting.

So I'm going to ask about the head coach Liam Cohen. Because again, I think nationally, people remember his, let's call it, interesting Duval rendition at his introductory press conference. And that's all they know about him. There was a little viral video of him yelling at Trevor early in the year. And other than that, we don't know except for that Baker Mayfield had the best year of his career by a mile with Liam Cohen. Trevor Lawrence is having an MVP adjacent caliber year with Liam Cohen, and he seems pretty mild-mannered. You've had a bunch of different head coaches in your career.

Tell us about Liam Cohen and kind of what he brings to the table and his personality. Yeah, Liam has been a great coach. I think being a first-year head coach is a tough position to be in. And, you know, there's a lot. You have to learn on the fly, but he's done an awesome job handling it. I think the main thing with him is just our mindset mentality that he wants us to carry with us out there on the field. And creating the edge, you know, being resilient no matter what happens, sticking together. And whatever you bring to the team, maximizing that to help us win games, you know.

And I think that is truly creating the edge. Whatever edge you bring as an individual, he preaches that all the time, bringing that to our team and bringing that out there on the field. and as long as we stick together and realize it's all about us at the end of the day will be just fine. Eric, we need you to settle something for us. On this show, there's been this debate.

Miles Garrett obviously broke the sack record. I thought it was terrific. I didn't too, bro. Nick also thought it was terrific. No, I wanted to play on a winning team. I like Miles Garrett when you guys probably. You're happy to have him wasting away in Cleveland. I mean, you as a defensive person,

in yourself. What do you think of what he's done this season in breaking that sack record? Absolutely phenomenal. Miles is one of the best players of all time. Been a big fan of his since he entered the league. He's came in day one and dominated. I heard about him when he was in high school.

And, you know, his combination of strength, athleticism, work ethic. He's taking everything that he's been blessed with. and turn it into a Hall of Fame career. And you see that weekend and week out with him. Like I said, he's one of the best of all time. You know, my favorite is probably Julius Peppers, but I put him and Miles right there in that same category

of big guys who are super athletic and super consistent, and they're going to get after the quarterback every game they're playing. Take that while. I like Miles Garrett. I want him to join the Patriots. Special Candleck. Before we let you go, Coach Eric Mangini, fresh from his 49ers reunion.

Tell us an embarrassing coach Manjini story. Yeah, tell us about him as a coach, please. What up, coach? How you doing? Can I tell you about Eric as a player? So what a thing, we talk so much about the quarterbacks and all the guys on offense, but you don't talk about veteran leadership and you don't talk about those guys that when you have a rookie head coach and the locker room is trying to figure things out, go in

and set a tone and be an example for all the young players and all the players that are trying to figure out how to win, that's why you bring a guy like Eric in. And Eric, they subbed me out for interviews. Good leadership. But that's those, the value that Eric brings outside, they're number one against the run. So obviously that's a huge value also. But the leadership, the intelligence, the work ethic, all those incredible attributes that he has outside of being a great player. That's why he wanted you to come back on.

I appreciate that, coach, and I appreciate you for believing in me and drafting me, shoot, now 11 years ago, and it was an honor to play for you. So it's definitely great to see you. I haven't seen you in some years, man. I know. You look the same. I wish I could say the same. Well, best of luck against the Bills.

Winner of that game goes to the Super Bowl. Wow. No, it's just first round. Bill's Jags. No, it's first round. I understand. I'm saying. winner of that game is going to win the age.

Good luck, Eric. Good luck. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you guys. Yep. See it. More first things first after the break.

Live from New York, first things first overtime. Today, did the Bears rise or fall in Danny's top 10? You never know when it comes to the Bears and Danny and top 10. I mean, they did lose, which by Danny's top 10 logic probably to their number one. Meanwhile, I give you a cool stat about Drake May. We'll find out who locked up the MVP, Danny Willie, and coach. Finally, do the bills need Josh on the quarterback to be Superman to get past Jacksonville alongside Chris Broussard? Nick Wright and Danny Parkins.

I'm Kevin Wilde. Do you have a question? I want to ask Danny. Okay. Danny, Nick's going to ask you the question. Okay, Nick. Do you agree that this game, the loser of this game, Jags Bills, the Josh Allen that loses is the one that should have to go by the middle name? Yeah, I like that take.

So Josh Hines Allen plays for the judge. Jags, if they win, he gets to be just Josh Allen, and then, yeah. It's a non-starter. You're going to say Josh Allen doesn't have a middle name? Patrick. Josh Patrick Allen? Yes. Wow. They named him after his dad. Set it up, you knocked it down.

That was well by the friend. That was a nice coming. Did you tell him that before? That was a nice number. We prepped that for three hours. Real talk, though, Nick. If I'm Josh, Alan for the I'm big boy in the other Josh.

I'm like, really? What does that mean? What does that mean? It means I'm the Josh Allen. Well, that's what happened. Josh Heinz Allen. I'm on another level. I'm sorry.

I'm staying Josh Allen. Win or lose. Well, yeah, bro. I think that is what's going to have. I'm making this up. In that hypothetical scenario, I would be like, no, you go by the middle name. I don't want to win or lose.

Josh. Josh. I'm not going by the middle name. Nobody's mistaken me for you. Why should I change my name? Right. First thing's first over time. Justin Herbert looking for his first playoff win,

when the Chargers take on the mighty Patriots team of the century on Sunday night. Here's some compliments from Mike Vrable. This is a physical football team with, you know, they're a big football team. The quarterback is as good as anybody can scramble. It's tough, can make the throws. So it's good, big receivers. So it would be a big challenge to get going on these guys.

And like I said, learn who they are and try to put a plan together. Here's Herbert in the playoffs, Danny, your guy. He had that game against the Jags where Trevor spotted him four interceptions. And then in Houston, he's like, okay, the way to win the game is at four interceptions. No. It's a bold strategy. God, we see if it works out for it. Nope, he tried it.

What the heck? Yeah. What would a win mean more for Herbert or Drake May here? Herbert. I, I, Herbert, obviously. Like, it would mean more for me. He's in year six. Drake May's in year two.

Herbert's on his third coach. May's on his second. Herbert's 27. May's 23. Like, if Drake May doesn't win a playoff game in year two, okay, he wins MVP or his second for MVP, had this breakout year. We all think he's arrived as a potential top five perennial quarterback, and he's going to be hanging out and have a shot for the next decade to do it.

Herbert still has a long runway ahead of him. I obviously think that. But the longer you go into a career without a playoff win, the tougher it is. So I do think it would mean more for Herbert. Having said that, I just want to also try to be fair. not just because I'm a fan of his, but just to be fair, we shouldn't set up a world where the underdog on the road with the worst team, if he loses, he's a choke artist, right?

He's not supposed to win this game, right? No, but he better ball. He better not go out there and throw three interceptions. I agree completely, but he's not supposed to win. But so this is, hold on, because I have a different answer than you, but to answer that, I, I, don't love the setup of this team is the seven they are in this game as the seven seed as if Herbert was out all year and got dropped in on on the seven seed now we're asking

him to win it like part of the reason the Patriots are the higher seed is because how great Drake May was part of the reason the chargers are where they are is because the offense I don't think most of this is on Herbert by the way in fact we know I think Herbert's been very good but they were, they earned their way to this playoff matchup. Absolutely. And it was a team that, I understand, they lost arguably the most valuable player in the history of pro football, Joe Alt. They guys valuable enough to make a pro bowl after six games. I mean, seriously, it's super valuable.

He is valuable. But a team that going into the year, I think most people thought, well, they're better than the Patriots. But the Patriots had the better season. But we don't, I don't look at the Chargers as huge dogs. I look at this. Three and a half point dogs. Well, I understand that they are three and a half point dogs. But I think talent-wise Chargers Patriots, pretty damn fair fight.

And that I think both coaches, I look at similar caliber. I think Drake May is better than Justin Herbert. But I understand some folks that feel like Justin Herbert and Drake May are very similar. And Herbert's the more seasoned quarterback, even though May's had the better year. So I look at this as a very even matchup that I don't. to me, wouldn't take heroics for Herbert to win it. And so I am rejecting your initial setup of that a win, and it's unbelievable what Justin Herbert's done,

and a loss, what do you want from him? I got to see how the game plays out in that regard. I think that's fair. I would just say the fatal flaw of the Chargers this year is Slater and Alt and then a bunch of other injuries on their offensive line, and Justin Herbert has been pressured and hit. a historic rate, right? Normally, and we just did the last 20 years,

quarterbacks don't win playoff games in that scenario. And we just show, like, in terms of most hits taken, but you still make the playoffs, there aren't that many occurrences of guys getting hit this often and even making the playoffs, but the ones who do immediately lose in their first playoff game. But you think Herbert's better than all those guys? Better than old Russell Wilson.

Yeah, which is why. That was a good Deshawn Watson, right? I mean, that's when he was really good. And a very good Andrew luck. Listen, this is, it's, yes, and that's why not heroic, but I am picking the Chargers to win the game. And I do think it will mean a lot for how we talk about Justin Herbert because a quarterback who gets hit at the rate that he does with those offensive line injuries normally doesn't win in the playoffs. And it would take a Superman-type effort from Herbert in order to do it. No, look, I agree that if Herbert loses but plays well, you can't kill him to me.

Look, I think if they were healthy on their offensive line, I mean, Slater is a whole other issue, but just all. And I might think the Chargers should win this game. Like, I think that's been their downfall this year's the injuries. But if he doesn't play well, then I think that's a problem. And he's going to really be known as a guy that melts in the playoffs, which is surprising because he had shown, as we talked about earlier, like, even I was at your house. his first start against the Chiefs, and he was great. He got thrown in there, and he was great. So I expect him to play well.

I'm surprised, though, Nick, because I agree with you fully that Herbert has more to win. Like, if he wins this game, it means more for Herbert than for May. You disagree with that? Yeah, I think that we have been living in a world where Drake May is going to win league MVP, the Patriots are, in some quarters, believed to be the most complete team on their side of the bracket. They're the two-seed, and I think that everyone at this table trusts them more than they trust the one-seed. You're like, believes in the Patriots' chances of making the Super Bowl more than we believe in Denver's chances of making the Super Bowl. We are simultaneously living in that world, while the reality might be in five days,

Drake May has not won the MVP and they lost the playoff game. And next year they go from the easiest schedule in the NFL to a far more difficult one and all the questions of, man, here was Jane Daniels in year one and year two, here was CJ and year one and year two. Those things start to pop up fast. I also think that the Patriots do have a legitimate chance of making the Super Bowl and I don't think the Chargers do. So I think that just advancing, there is more championship equity, if you will, in the Patriots advancing than the Chargers advancing.

I understand that getting the first playoff, a loss in a weird way, like a loss is more damaging for Herbert than it is for May. But that's it slightly to me, KW, I don't know if you understand. Maybe I'm parsing too much. Different question than who does a win mean more for? A win for Drake May this year stamps this season. Just one win, you think? Yeah, I mean, I think you win a playoff game

against what we all think is, you know, a legitimate team with a legitimate quarterback and a legitimate coach. Then you, to me, enter the House money phase. It's like, oh, okay, wow, now we're playing for the, to get to the conference championship game. If you lose in round two, you deal with it. If they lose this game, it's going to be a lot of, man, I told you guys.

Who'd they beat Buffalo once this year? There would be a lot of that. And I'm also baking in, I don't think he's, whoever should win MVP, I think Stappard's going to win MVP. And then it's like, so what is, you know, what is, what was this season, you want to, you want a division championship? And like that's for a team that has real Super Bowl aspirations. It feels different.

I'll give you a path. This is, and I'll try to, I'll try to give you some nuance. The strength of schedule stuff, I think, starts to say like anger Patriots Nation, because it takes everything that Drake did and just, like, puts an asterisk on the whole season. And it's just kind of a blanket. Like, you played a bunch of cupcakes. You had the third best offense, 29 points, but he didn't really do much. So I think people push back against that a lot because when you watch Drake, it's like, you know what?

Drake would have carved up most of these. Like take it on. This was, reminds me like early Mike Tyson. Like, yeah, there was some tomato cans, but we're wanting move up the ranks. We think we can win it. The defense, on the other hand, no one talks about like, hey, your defense is the fourth best in the league. I think that's where the strength of schedule comes in. Like, we haven't played a bunch of great quarterbacks.

We have played a lot of guys that were riding the bench. for the year or just rookies or just not good quarterback. So are we really the fourth best defense? On paper, yes. I'm not sure we're worried about Herbert having success against you. Yeah, I don't think we're actually the fourth best defense. I oddly do think we're the third best offense. And I think it's a huge piece of why the Chargers,

in addition to keeping Herbert healthy in week 18 against the Broncos, they're like, we like our matchup with the Patriots. We don't want the pass rush. Breaking news. Farable, gone from Baltimore. Danny, I hate to say it. We're going to discuss this rather and push top 10 Tuesdays.

People are like, oh, my goodness. All right, Nick, you were on this for months. Your immediate reaction to this newsbreaking. I would like to congratulate the Baltimore Ravens and making it so much easier to keep Lamar Jackson. I am trying to do this as professionally and without making myself the subject of this week's sports media ombudsman where I eviscerate myself,

I have tried all year long to point to publicly available things to demonstrate what I knew was a real rift between Lamar and John Harbaugh. And so I pointed to the fact that the head coach and the quarterback don't communicate about injuries, clearly. And the fact that. And the fact that, and I thought that article was pretty clearly, to mix metaphors, hail Mary, I felt by John Harbaugh to signal to the organization, guys, I know you think if it's one or the other, you got to go with the star quarterback.

But, wow. That was my, that I don't know, that's my, that's my read. The only way to read that story was that it came from the Ravens and Harvost. Well, definitely came from the Ravens. Right. And at a minimum. And so I, this is a very, very risky maneuver. I don't know, again, who the best available head coach is.

Because I don't even know who the best available D coordinator for the Cowboys is. But, and I don't know. For the Ravens, their appetite of, with two years left on his deal, giving Lamar a fully guaranteed top of the market deal, which is the only thing he'd want. Like the one would, he would be justified in asking for that. The markets moved 20% since he signed his deal. He wanted a fully guaranteed deal before he won a cup or an MVP to first-em-all-pros.

But this was coming. and even if they won this weekend, barring this team making the Super Bowl, I believe this was coming. And I thought it was the biggest story in the NFL the last three weeks, and now it's here. Look, you may be right about Lamar and Harbaugh. Obviously, Lamar didn't give him,

forget ringing endorsement at all when he was asked about this the other day. But regardless of that, unless Lamar Jackson was like adamant, I want John Harbaugh is my coach. He has helped me become what I become. He must be here. Barring that, it was time.

I don't care. If Lamar liked him but was like, hey, whatever, we got to win. It was time. We saw year after, and again, Harbaugh will be just like Stefansky, although he's obviously done more than Stafansky. Harbaugh will may get another job. He'll certainly get interviews with some of these teams that are looking for head coaches. So he's a good coach.

But 18 years, the last, after they won that Super Bowl, he missed the playoffs four out of the next five years. And then Lamar popped because they wasn't going well. Lamar's rookie year, and then he put him in for Flacco, and the rest is history. They became a contender. But we saw so many times where things I look at as coaching. I thought they were an undisciplined team with a lot of the penalties in critical situations,

taunting unsportsman-like fouls, you know, just not being able to get a full complimentary game together. I look at a lot of that as coaching. And so I thought it was time whether him and Lamar got along or not. And so it is risky in that you know you had a good coach. Now you got to get a good coach, but you still have Lamar, Jackson, Derek Henry, and some other good players. So I think they'll be fine and this was the right move. And I think it's actually less risky just to build off that for a second. This is immediately the best job opening by far in the NFL.

It is not close. Right. You get the second best job is the Giants. Right. You're going to get your pick and you might even be able to like entice people that otherwise were not terribly interested in entering this job market to be like, oh wait, I can go work for one of the five most stable organizations. What is it? Were you like alluding to somebody? I don't, I mean, I don't know.

Like, is Marcus Freeman definitely staying at Notre Dame? That's his cool. Kurt Signetti definitely staying in India. Right. I just think people that otherwise would be like, the Giants, the Cardinals. Oh, wait, I can coach Lamar Jackson at 29 years old and work for one of the best organizations. To me, the coaching market changes immediately with this news, and we should just like think bigger on it. But also, sometimes it's just time. I obviously used to work in Chicago would cover the Cubs very closely.

Theo Epstein used to talk about this all the time. He said he got it from Bill Walsh. Like 10 years, and then it's about time for leadership to change, both for the leader and for the team, because the leader needs a new challenge and the people receiving the message from the leader, it can just grow stale. And so it's best for both parties to go.

Why I had to give the show over to Wild. Right, yeah. 10 years from now, who knows where I'll be. And Brew mentioned this because I've been sounding the alarms of like one of the longest, I don't know, who's longer termed here? Just Tomlin. I think Tomlin's the only one.

Tomlin's one, he was two. So he spent there, I think, 18 of the 30 years. And we were just talking Coach O'Bee on after the break on how deep your roots are within the organization. So what I would be worried about is Belichick. And I know their system is different Belichick in New England. I don't know if you want to be the guy after the guy. We've seen a lot of quick turn rounds.

But there's a lot of untangling that you need to do. But like Mike Vrable, for example, in New England, he has a clean slate. Gerard Mayo was dealing with, like, signage in the building and, like, really trying to undo, untangled Belich. I wonder if you're doing that with Harbaugh, and, like, are we going to see someone come in immediately, like, Ben Johnson, and turn it all around? Or do you spend a lot of time trying to unharbaugh the whole franchise? I think that makes sense, and that's a good point. However, most of those times you're not going, you don't go in there where you got a two-time MVP in its prime. true at quarterback not to mention one of the best running backs in the league that's the

difference like mayo even though he had may it was a rookie year you know it was a whole clean slate so yeah i have i have one thing that won't happen but wilds you'll love because i mentioned kurt signetti i just also i again i think the i i think that the lamar contract stuff is going to be troublesome no matter what i'm really interested in what the phone call is like. It's like, hey, Las Vegas Raiders, who have never gotten the quarterback right, you have the number one pick

and you have an unhappy Max Crosby. And we're thinking about hiring Kurt Signetti. Would you give us the number one pick where we can draft Fernando Mendoza and Max Crosby for Lamar Jackson? Just think about it. Just think about it. You get your quarterback.

We start fresh. We add Max Crosby. That's certainly a trade that is... It's fun for shows like this. It's fun for shows like this. I think it'd be nuts. It would reset everything. But if you're resetting.

It would be resetting. But you don't know if Mendoza is going to be doing anything. No, you don't know any. But it would be resetting. I think Lamar is going to stay. Can I say something about the Ravens the last decade in defense of this move that I think because there have been so many franchises that have just been bad and just, I think it has been underrated how tragic the ends of these seasons have been for Baltimore. And this predates Lamar.

So this is, and it's not even Harbaugh's fault. It just means maybe everybody needs fresh start. 2016, the second and last game of the year, they are playing the Steelers for the division title on Sunday night football. There's 10 seconds left. They have a lead. Antonio Brown is at the one yard line and extends over the goal line to win the division. The Ravens missed the playoffs. 2017, final game of the year, win in your end of the playoffs.

They have Andy Dalton in a fourth and 12, 60 yards from the end zone. He converts it. They're out of the playoffs. 2018 had the bad playoff game of Mars Rookie year. Who cares? 2019, you're the number one seed unanimous MVP. You play the worst playoff game as a team to the Titans and Derek Henry and you lose. 2020, you have a 99-yard pick six to lose to Josh Allen in a 10-3 game at the one-yard line.

2021, you miss the playoffs when you're 8 and 3 because Lamar gets hurt. 2022, you miss the playoff. Looks like you're going to miss the playoffs. You make it with Huntley. You have a 99-yard fumble 6 to lose that game. 2023, Zay Flowers extends. 24, Mark Andrews drops the ball. 2025 Tyler Loop.

That's eight of nine years your season came down to a moment. and you lost eight different ways. You're just trying to torture her bird right now? No, no, I'm saying. That was probably Harbaugh's argument. Like, look, is this going to be? I mean, this is my long? Guy makes a kid.

Right, but I'm saying, like, I just think there's too much scar tissue. Like, they have to find a way to start fresh. A new coach. And now you have to start a contract negotiation with Lamar. John Harbaugh out after 18 years in Baltimore. Willie Colon and coach me and Jeannie with more on this. Continuing now to react to breaking news, John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens. They're calling it their parting ways.

We've got Coach Manjini and Willie Colon on set with us here on the O.T. An undeniably successful 18-year tenure, the second longest head coach in terms of one team, one organization in the NFL, just him and Mike Tomlin at the top of that list. Only three losing seasons, won that Super Bowl back in 2012. Coach, your reaction. Your reaction to an undeniably successful coach and a very successful tenure coming to an end after that heartbreak and loss to Willie Steelers. Yeah, it seems like it's reactionary, but maybe this has been a long time coming in terms of them thinking that they need a fresh start. From his perspective, you know, if you do kick the field goal, it's a 40-yard field goal, we're not having this conversation. And maybe they would have gone to playoffs and after a playoff loss, we'd be having this conversation.

I don't know, but I think it looks dramatically different. So that feels a bit reactionary. With the amount of smoke in terms of Lamar Jackson article and seems that there's some underlying conflict there, I guess Mr. Bershadi felt like it was time for something to change. But from his perspective, he's got three years left on his deal. He could easily sit out one year, two years, and he's going to be the most sought-after coach next year.

if he decides to do that, all these openings, I'm sure they'll want to talk to him. But, you know, in the interim, he should go hang out with his brother and help him coach in the playoffs if he wants to do that. And, you know, maybe he had some insight that helps the charges win. Yeah, this is tough because I didn't think he deserved to be fired, honestly. I thought he was a mainstay. I thought this season, you know, we talked about the Baltimore Ravers being a contender, not a team that was in trouble in any. FACID validate never took an account Derek Henry's ball control issues Lamar being hurt

the defense playing not up to par but then we saw we saw them being one game away from being into being in the playoffs and I thought John Hallball coach Hallbaugh did a good job for the most part of taking all the arrows right because there was a lot of criticism going his way nevertheless you know everything they they need to do in the off season is more of a facelift it's not a crisis crisis and identity. So I didn't think the firing was warranted. Nevertheless, man, I think right now what's the next step? I think the next step

is where does this organization go? If you want your defense to be the spearhead of your team, you got to go get a defensive-minded head coach. Go get Brian Flores. If you want an offensive-minded head coach, you go get Mike McCarthy because you know what he can do, especially when he gets the best out of quarterback. See what he did down at the deck.

He has a winning record, and he's ran an operation before. So I think it's about the next move being the best move. And If you do pay Lamar Jackson that season, you can't be back. You can't be in this situation next year, a question of his worth and what he can do, right? He has to erase all the deficiencies for the Baltimore Ravens. And what people don't realize is when you fire a head coach, there's so much transition that takes place in the organization. It's not just the coaching staff.

The scouting staff has to get used to you, the group that does for agency. They have to understand what the new coach wants. So there's a whole personnel perspective. A lot of the roster gets turned over. You may change your medical department, your PR department. There's layers to this, and then everybody's got to get used to the new person. So teams that have continuity also have efficiency and take advantage of teams that are constantly churning over guys. Now, the one thing that the Ravens did with John that was very different is he was one of the only special teams coaches to ever become a head coach.

So I could see their head coaching search being a little bit different than maybe the traditional head coaching searches where they could look in that realm for another guy. Listen, I think that they're going to have their pick. It's the most attractive job on the market. That's the part about what's next. You get to go work for an organization. They've only had three head coaches in the history of the Baltimore Ravens, right? It was Ted Marshall Broda, Brian Billick, and now John Harbaugh. I was there with Ted Marshall Broda.

Were you? I believe it. First ever Ravens team, yep. Really? So organizational stability. And you get a two-time MVP who will be 29 years old for next season. So the Ravens are not going to have a hard time finding a coach. And I know you're not going to come out and support coaches getting fired.

And you said that he didn't deserve it. I would just say that it was not to cut you off an honor. Oh, you're good. And I think it goes back to your point. We're watching other teams look for their head coach like the Giants and other teams like that. Who have blue bloods. And I'd say the Ravens are. But what coach is saying, when you get a new coach, it's not just about what they, it's the philosophy change.

That changes the makeup and creed of the building. That doesn't, you're not going to, that takes years. You know what I mean? That's not like a one year fixed type situation. I mean, listen, I understand that John Harbaugh was very entrenched. And so undoing that or changing some of that will take years. Ben Johnson seemed to do it in one year. But Mike Rable seemed to do it in one year.

Liam Cohn seemed to do it in one year. Like it can happen, especially with the things that I think Baltimore has going for it. But more than that, just about whether he deserved it or not, him and Lamar Jackson were not on the same page. I don't know about that, D.P. I don't know if that's overblown. This just happened. He didn't give him a vote of confidence at the end of the year.

If Lamar Jackson wanted him back, I got to imagine he would be back. Sometimes it is in everyone's best interest for there to be a change. Andy Reed in Philadelphia, it happened. Sometimes it's just time for people to part ways and go. All the best. you. Best of luck to you as well. And look, Philadelphia made the decision. That's a really, really good organization. They were able to win two Super Bowls without Andy. But imagine if Andy had stayed and they'd gotten Patrick Holmes, what that could have been. And

we look at the New England situation. That's so unique because Mike Frable was a part of that organization and the start of the dynasty. And then you bring in Josh McDaniels. So that's a different package. And we see coaches all the time come in and win one year. It's whether you can win over time and that's what John has proven. He can win over time and we can disregard that. Sure. But that's a unique, unique talent. I thought

one of the things that came out in the piece we read the big article that came out. In the Baltimore son, yeah. Was that Eric DeCosta didn't talk to John Harbor. John Harbor only talked to Steve Boshadi. And it felt like that was a disconnect. Because usually the head coach, GM, owner, that's one

triangle that has to be the core foundation of your team as far as communication. So maybe that was a tell that there was something coming down the line. But never enough, I think John Harbaugh is a hell of a coach, man. I just felt like it was premature. Sorry, Coach. No, no. So I was there when we hired Eric DeCasta, too, when he was a really young guy.

And I know him personally, and he's a good guy and John's a good guy. I think when they say he didn't talk to him, he didn't have to answer to him. So when he took over for Ozzy, the reporting structure was head coach, the owner, GM to owners. That's the ultimate way. So I don't think it's about them not getting along as much as just the way the power structure is done. Do you think that John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson were aligned?

I think that a lot of people didn't want Lamar Jackson. And John Harbaugh said, yeah, I want him. And then he brought in a system with Greg Roman that really lent itself to help Lamar grow and blossom. No, I think no question

it worked in the past. I'm saying, like, now this year well think things do change like any relationship or you know a marriage or any long-term relationship things can change over time it doesn't mean that they can't work together right just may have some differences that they have to work out what doesn't a lot may look like to you this question like i think that if because i watched harbar and his presser come out and say hey man me and lamar's fine like i don't know what all this is coming from and maybe it could be smoke i give you that but i don't think i think actions over words like the the actions there's that they they parted ways with their coach. And if they thought it was just bad luck with injuries and a missed 44-yard

field goal, they wouldn't be doing this. Like, Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh, yeah, maybe grew apart. But again, I referenced it with the other guys. It's just something that I've always thought was really insightful. Theo Epstein said that he learned it from Bill Walsh, like, wrote about it. Sometimes it's just time. They call it 10 years of leadership. Like, it's in the best interest of John Harbaugh, to get a good. new challenge and it's in the best interest of the Ravens to hear a fresh voice. No football team in the league has more losses than the Ravens do of five points or less. I showed you guys the number yesterday in the last 18 years since Harbaugh has been there.

They've lost close games. They've lost double-digit leads. They have heartbreaking losses at the end of seasons. It might just be time for a change. But when you're there for 18 years, you're going to have heart-bred losses. You're going to have wins. But I'm saying more than the Browns or the Jets or the Bears over the last 18 years, not just one coach any any organization in football they've got the most close losses it's just it might have

just been time it's not that john harball's a bad coach he obviously isn't well you don't get fired if you're a good coach i'm saying it just might might might not be a good coach for the ravens anymore like that's a reasonable that's a reasonable thing sometimes people get divorced and then they both end up happier how are all those new voices for the giants working since they got rid of tom coflin those those fresh voices every year yeah those fresh voices helping out to be very clear you also could do way worse than John Harbaugh. It is a risk. Yeah, he's going to have his pick of, if he sits out a year, next year, every single job.

I wonder if John Harbaal take it. We also, to your point, you brought it up a little while ago, like, Hallbar vouched for Lamar. There was a trust there. There was a relationship there. There's that comic, there's that clip that they keep showing with, like, it was like a fourth and one. And Harbaugh walks into Phil Lamar. Should we go for it?

He's like, hell yeah. John Harvard doesn't even blink. We're going for it. They get the first down. That's called chemistry. That's called a report that, that you just don't, that doesn't happen just on the football field. Those are private conversations.

That's two people learning about each other and believing each other. And that's broken now. So now you're putting all this faith in Lamar to be the difference. And head coach has to have their same belief that Harbaugh has in them. And that takes time. Well, we're going to figure out and discuss the ramifications of this for Lamar and the Raven. So what's next for Lamar, the type of coach that's coming in to coach the 29-year-old two-time MVP. We'll get into it on the OT with Coach Manjini and Willie Collelle.

Massive news out of Baltimore that John Harbaugh and the Ravens are parting ways, which is a kind word for firing. He was fair. Yeah, they fired John Harbaugh in Baltimore after 18 seasons, only three of which he missed the playoffs. John Harbaugh, of course, if he wants it, will be the top candidate for basically every opening this year, though he does have three years left on his contract. So he could get paid to hang out for a bit. One, two, three, Keku. Exactly.

This from Diana Rossini, friend of the show, very interesting. A key pressure point in the John Harbaugh dismissal, according to those familiar with today's discussions, was his refusal to entertain any conversations about potentially moving on from offensive coordinator, Todd Munkin. So Harbaugh trying to stay loyal to Todd Munkin, according to Diana.

I would imagine the Ravens, if they are choosing Lamar and this breakup with Harbaugh would look for an offensive coach. Like if they thought that Todd Munkin, what was the issue? I would think that they were trying to do that. Because let's be honest, the Ravens arguably the most disappointing team in football this year. They were the preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl, and then they outright missed the playoffs.

But, Coach, what would you say is next? What this means for Lamar because of the news? I think, first of all, I have a lot of respect for John, if that's the case. If he, the role of the head coach is to hire his coaching staff, and then to be responsible for his coaching staff. So if he fundamentally believed that Todd Munkin did a good job, and then somebody in the personnel department, or another department said, no, no, no, he didn't do a good job. The fact that he was willing to stand up and hold his ground there, to me, that's the way it should be. And if you don't want him to make those decisions, then really he's no longer the head coach anymore.

Sure, a head coach has to be able to hire his own assistance. And in terms of what's next for Lamar, I'm not sure how this is going to work. Is Lamar going to be part of the hiring process? Does Lamar now suddenly have a, and we've seen this before, with MVP type quarterbacks where they want to say and who's coming in. But is that always the best decision? It could help itself, but Lamar's not going to be there forever. So you want to make sure that you're going to get the best person for the entire offense,

obviously with Lamar in the forefront, but how much a role does he play in that hiring process? I mean, when the smoke is fired, if that report is legitimate, I can understand why Todd Monkin was on a. of death and potentially actually actually leave because when you go back to 2023 that aFC championship game against the chiefs I mean that second half of that game the Ravens lost the identity they they were running the ball well in the first half they didn't do it in the second half and that lost the game we watched the chiefs going to their building and play bully ball their brand of football and beat them at it and that's

on tied and monkey and even to go back to the game against the Steelers what I think Derek came in the rush in the rush around 120 yards or something in the first half he was killing the Steelers on the ground second half they went away from that and so when you talk about the identity of this offense, it was always in question under Monkin because you've seen them do things really well really well, especially when you come off a game against the Greenway Packers when you destroy their

front seven and King Henry looks like, man, he's a juggernaut and then you're going to the Steelers game and you're saying, man, okay, we see him in the first half. What happened to the second half when you needed to control the clock and keep Aaron Rogers in his office off the field the way they respond in the second half. So if you're a Monk and if that was a, and I hear you coach, be loyal to

your guy. I get that. But if you're a harbore, man, you really have to maybe do a self-audit, was Monkkin the best guy for this job, and if he's no longer that guy, time for change, then you got to let him go. Because Lamar is the answer. I totally agree with you if he's not the best guy, but John's not someone that's shied away from making changes if changes had to be made. And we're only a couple days removed from the end of the season from a very disappointing loss. Why not take a little bit of time here to let the emotion get out of the, get out of the room and objectively evaluate,

is this the best decision to move on from this person, as well as other changes? But you've got to let the pain of the loss kind of go away and then really be objective and make decisions unemotionally, not, hey, someone needs to be punished for this loss. I think what I think destroyed that broke the camel's back is that the film looked the same every time they was in a tight loss. The fact that Derek Henry wasn't the X factor,

that it came down to them pretty much playing outside their identity, and it cost them a game. And I think ultimately that's what I've seen enough, and that may have been the reason they asked them to leave. So the facts of the Ravens offense this year, they were 11th in points per game. That's their worst since 2022. And they had their fewest yards per game

of any year since Lamar Jackson has been their quarterback. I would imagine the defense of Todd Munkin and the coaching staff would be, well, Lamar was hurt. He wasn't able to practice. He had an ankle. and he had a hamstring and he had a back and he had all these different things over the course of the year.

But the facts on the ground are what they were, fewest yards per game of the Lamar era and they're sitting out. So I would think it's an interesting job, though, because Lamar is not going to be the most explosive running quarterback in the NFL for his 30s, right? He turns 29, I think, like tomorrow.

His birthday is very soon. Happy birthday, Mark. He's in his prime, though. We can admit that. He's definitely in his prime, but he might not be in his athletic. prime. Had five had five injuries this year. There's been a ton of wear and tear. Guys who play like him tends to have shorter shelf lights, short. But he's also not gone

into the offseason with any surgeries that he can't. You know what I mean? No, no question. But my guess is his number of rushing attempts per year will go down, right? He's going to need to be in order to play like a great quarterback for the next five or six years, he's going to need to be a great passing quarterback. And Derek Henry is at some point, bother times undefeated. Like at some point he's not going to be Derek Henry anymore. Like if they looked at it as the problem was the offense, what type of offensive coach they hire to kind of transition away from Derek Henry and dual threat Lamar to we need Lamar to be an elite passer, pure passer. It's an interesting profile of a coach you have to hire.

Yeah, look, I've never thought that Lamar was that guy. I thought that a big part of what Lamar did was because he was such a threat at running the ball and a threat as a runner that had forced very specific types of defenses against them, which then opened some things up. But now if you're taking that component out of it, the volume of defenses and the type of defense that you can play expand. And I'm not sure if he's developed as a true pocket passer. And even the game against the Steelers, those plays were broken plays. Those plays were extended players. Right. The threat of Lamar running helps his passing. It helps his passing.

but also the fact that he can extend plays so much, that's where he was so effective against the Steelers. Those big plays came off of broken plays, not off of just sitting in the pocket, making a read, throwing it down the field. But when healthy, I've seen him play to you what you're talking about. I think he, since, every since he got into the league, he has evolved as a pastor. I think the scheme has changed.

They went into more 11 personnel where they can get more deep developing routes. And I get you, if he can no longer be that mobile athletic quarterback, now the playbook strengths. Now we got a problem. But I also think whoever you bring in right now has to understand that, right? Like I think you add more pieces around them. Understand that D-Hop is no longer that guy. Somebody that can compliment Zay Flowers.

Mark Andrews is getting older. Likely he may be gone because of free agency. So you're going to have to bring in somebody who can not only help Lamar Jackson evolve, but also put pieces around this office that can continue to grow, especially in the division when you know Joe Barrow and the rest of the company's going to be coming out of football purgatory. It's the most attractive job opening in the NFL right now. The most sensitive one, too. Most sensitive one?

Yes. They've had three coaches in the history of their franchise. Right, and the next one has to be the right one because you got Prime Lamar. Prime Lamar and you got to follow John Harba. 100%. News happens fast. John Harba is out and the question now is who's next in Baltimore, an organization that's only had three head coaches in its history. Diana Rossini says, keep an eye on Cliff Kingsbury as a name to watch.

He was let go as the commander's offensive coordinator. Of course, he was the Cardinals head coach from 2019. to 2020. Will you got a name? Who should be the next coach of Lamar? Like I say, I think if you got an opportunity to coach Prime Lamar, you go get Mike McCarthy. He's been a winner in every campaign he's ever ran. He's won a Super Bowl officer with Aaron Rogers beat me and beat me as I was out there by myself. That's how he remembers it too. It's like I beat Willie Colon for a Super Bowl. Beat the Steelers, but nevertheless, man, I like Mike McCarthy. I think he gets the best out of every coach, I mean, every quarterback. And I think he can work wonders for this office and Lamar Jackson.

Yeah, so replacing guy who's been there that long and essentially as a legend is really challenging. We saw it in New England with Bill. So take your time and it may not just be the list that's out there now. And they did hire John, who was a special teams coach, which was out of the box at the time. Maybe you look at that group, but to me, this is not a decision that you just want to rush and interview a bunch of candidates. Think you got to dig really deep and then it's not only about the headgeargeting. coach it's about the head coach and who he's going to be able to bring with him. So if you do decide to go defensive head coach, what offensive coordinator is going to come?

Because obviously the starting point is Lamar centric. Not that time travel exists, but I wonder if they wish they did this two years ago and they could have just promoted Mike McDonald, the current coach of the Seahawks and just had that transition who's maybe going to win coach of the year. This year, a little bit of FOMO there maybe on Mike McDonald how well he's doing in Seattle. What I would say is this is a unique opening because of the organizational stability in their history and because of Lamar Jackson at age 29. So the names that are out there for the Giants job and the Cardinals job,

my guess is it's a different list. Marcus Freeman was like, I'm going to go back to Notre Dame. Baltimore's going to call and be sure. My guess is they're going to say maybe we should trade for a coach, bigger names and more outside the box thing. Well, I say this. Somebody who actually coached for the Ravens,

You go, the opportunity, especially if you want to go get Dink Martin to. I mean, he. You think they're going to go young, right? But you need somebody to run the operation that has the resume to step into the world. It would be really ironic if they went and got Kevin Sopansky's two-time coach of the year. Not good enough for Cleveland. Ravens are former bronze and then have, you know, have beat the bronze. Everyone's going to want the job.

Everyone is going to want that job. You got to follow the legend. It's a great job.