Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Burrow’s Perfect Season, Aaron Rodgers’ Homecoming & Kansas City’s Clear Path

Episode Date: January 14, 2020

Fresh off the NCAA national championship, Geoff & Gabe return to assess Joe Burrow's pro potential, whether or not the Rodgers-SF storyline is tired & how Kansas City can dispense Tennessee. Joe Burrow: (2:03) Kansas City: (19:19) Aaron Rodgers: (28:28) Russell Wilson: (38:20) 'Move the Line' Betting Segment: (49:54) Social Mailbag [@Mathieu_Era]: (1:03:25) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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When we scored. I mean, I don't remember that much of it, but it was f***ing awesome. From The Athletic, I'm Jeff Schwartz. Did Joe Burrow just finish the greatest college football season ever? Oh, yeah. Plus, the pressures on the Chiefs and Russell Wilson clearly need some help. Please help out number three for the Seahawks. It's Tuesday, January 14th, and this is Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. Welcome in to Tuesday's show.

Off an impressive performance by the LSU Tigers as they take down Clemson and they win the national championship. Joe Burrow went off over 600 yards total offense for the Tigers, not him personally, just their team in general. And they dominated a great Clemson defense. We came off on a weekend to Gabe of some outstanding NFL action. We'll get into that and we'll get into conference championship weekend, which is coming up in just a couple of days. But first, you want to start with Joe Burrow because, everybody, he might be better than Tim Tebow, and that really bothers me.

Oh, come on. Don't do that. Don't kill the buzz I got going right now. Joe Burrow, I'll tell you what, J.J. Watt wears Joe Burrow pajamas. That's how great an American Joe Burrow is right now. I have never seen coverage like this man just received. And I say man because he's older than a lot of the guys in the NFL already. He's older than Lamar Jackson. He just got a graduate degree. Okay, this guy's been around forever, but he did complete one of the greatest college football seasons of all time.

Congrats to him. I think the coverage is insanity. And I want to jump right into it. Yes, he played his ass off at lsu he completed a perfect season okay he threw for the most touchdowns anyone's ever thrown for in college football he looked awesome last night he's a very very good college football player but are we positive this dude's going to turn around the Cincinnati Bengals? Like, okay, I know he's from Ohio. I've heard. That's cool.

Why is this guy and what he does in college football actually going to translate to the NFL? All right. This is a great question because I feel like there's a lot to discuss here. And Joe Burrow, by the way, I love his attitude. I love the way he plays. He backs up the swag but there is a little bit of like the the swag stuff that we talk about with other players that kind of bother us with Baker Mayfield and with Johnny Menzel are kind of there with Joe Burrow a little bit I think Joe Burrow's a lot more humble than those guys but the same things

we've said about those guys would you agree a little bit the personality of joe burrow fit with that or not that he's got the right kind of swag the right or wrong type of swag what do you think i don't know man i tweeted last night he he looks like the cocky qb who beats up nerds in an 80s movie like i think he just i think he just hides the the cocky swag part differently i think he's polite but i like i i don't think I don't think it's a problem. I think that with other players, we thought it was a problem. Here, I don't think it is.

All right, but let's get to the real meat of this, is that what will do the NFL? So let's kind of explain their offense now. So they have a unique offense for LSU, for the SEC. They love to be an empty protection, which means you have five offense alignment only in protection, no running backs, no tight ends, and the field is spread way out, right?

So you have, it's basically almost like an air raid concept. If you hear the word air raid, right? Four wide receivers, everything's spread out. Air raid, though, keeps a running back in a bunch. LSU kind of has like a pro-style air raid, okay? They have pro-style routes, pro concepts, but they spread everything out. The reason why they do this, and they do it over 50% of the time, is Joe Burrow loves to read a defense this way.

And the reason why it's great in college to do that is because the hash marks are wider in college, okay? So defense is if the ball's on the left hash list, I know I'm getting kind of technical here. Please. Pay attention. Ball's on the left hash, okay? In college, from the left hash to the right sideline,

so across the field, is a longer distance than from the left hash to the sides in the NFL. It's bigger, right? It's wider, okay? And the reason why that's important is defenses have to cheat in college to cover all that open space that you don't have in the NFL. And so when you're an empty protection, when everything is spread out wide, it's easier for a quarterback to read the defense. You can also read manner zone coverage. You can read if

pressures are coming. It's easier to read what's happening. And that's what Joe Burrow loves to do. Now, a lot of guys say they like to do that, but then they don't know where to go with the ball. They don't know how to throw accurately. So the advantage that Burrow has is that he's able to really dissect what coverages they're playing based on the formations that LSU is in. But I guess the plus on the plus side is that Burrow is supremely accurate and knows where to go with the ball. So he's not going to have the advantage of being in those formations as often in the NFL. And in the NFL, you can disguise coverages a lot easier based off just the alignment of the field. And the players on defense are just better suited to disguise things, right?

They're better trained athletes and quicker to move and whatnot. And you don't have as many wide receivers typically dressed in a game as you do in college. And there's many reasons why it's not going to be the same. So the only worry I have with Joe Burrow is when he gets to the NFL, it's just going to be a lot different than college, which it is for everyone. But he's not going to have the benefit of sitting in empty with a spread open offense and figuring out defenses at the rate he's able to do that in college. And so when it's tougher, what will he be? This is a question for everyone, right?

I mean, Carson Wentz went to North Dakota State. It's the's the same question right how is he going to be when things got different in the nfl and he showed an ability to really understand the concepts and to be an accurate passer so i i think he's going to be fine in the nfl gabe okay that that was a really interesting point so let me throw a few things out at you um one of the things he gets a lot of credit for deservedly uh one of the things that he seems to do very well against college defenses is running i don't care about that right so i'm guessing that at the end i'm guessing at the next level he can't do what he does with his feet right like guys are bigger stronger faster he's just gonna get lit up yeah i don't see

him i just see him being a pocket guy essentially okay so what would you equate him to russell wilson like what are we thinking about what who should we be picturing in terms of athleticism mobility that part of his game um who should we picture like when he wants to stand around stand there and throw read a defense and throw. But if he has to run, he can. So who's sort of ceiling in that part of his game should we be comparing him to? He's not Lamar Jackson. We know that.

But he's not Tom Brady. Yeah. I mean, I think it's somewhere in the middle. People say Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton? Has he ever run the ball in any direction? But you don't have to run the ball. You have to just be able to move in the pocket.

Okay, fine. So let's talk about it. So we're going to discount the thing that made him exceptionally good, which is his ability to run. He made some amazing plays with his feet all season long, including last night. So we're saying that doesn't matter anymore. So that's a concern for me.

Yeah, but not really because he was great from the pocket. He threw five touchdowns. Yeah, he did. So that's my next question. Do most college quarterbacks throw to NFL-level receivers? No, and this is an issue that Alabama quarterbacks have had um you know with coming the NFL is they don't really have the talent is so the talent gap Alabama is so large the NFL you just don't have that talent gap that you have Alabama so this is a concern yes is that he has he has um all these pro guys

LSU he's not gonna he's gonna have LSU pro guys but they're not gonna be that much better than their opponents like they are in college right so every guy he throws to all season long, even against some of the he beat all the best teams he could face. He was great. The toughest schedule like ever. OK, to get here and to win was phenomenal. I mean, he really jokes aside, he deserves a conversation about greatest college football season of all time. We'll give him that. But every time he throws the ball, it's going to a guy who's going to the NFL, who's playing against the guy who probably isn't just statistically. Now, I know Clemson has some NFL guys out there. Obviously,

Alabama does. Georgia does, too. He beat all those guys. But it just I don't know, man, like you're throwing Moss's son isn't even the best receiver on your team when Randy Moss's son is not the best player you're throwing to you got a real good team and I worry when you go to the Bengals the gap like you said is is suddenly vast you don't have mismatches you don't have guys who can win one-on-ones you can't throw jump balls he threw some nice balls but he also threw a few that it looked like the bigger stronger faster guy could just go get for him. Well, yes. Number one, Chase is amazing.

No, and look, this is a concern with, I think, every quarterback who plays on these super teams, right? Is that, and how those pro guys, is how do they translate to the NFL when they don't have all the pro guys? And the guys have struggled that way. I think it's a valid concern to have if you're trying to find ways not to draft Joe Burrow. But I do think that he's just better.

Like, Tua has the same issues in my opinion, and Tua's just hurt all the time. So to me, it feels like you would find drafting Burrow over Tua still. Yeah. So I would say I am comfortable drafting him over Tua, especially because of the injuries.

But then how come, why is it that the same people who are going to tell me he's a no-brainer, the most obvious number one pick of all time, and, you know, I don't want to misquote people, but McShay was raving about him last night. A year ago, he was a fourth or fifth rounder to McShay. Last night, he's the no-brainer number one. You explain that. I can't. What I don't quite understand is why it's so obvious he's gonna succeed and the number one pick is destiny versus and yeah i'm gonna bring him up tim tebow oh he's gonna be a bomb

at the next level people had doubts about vince young people had doubts about of course because they weren't as accurate because they were not as accurate. Joe Burrow is supremely accurate. And even with the wide receivers he has, he knows where he's going with the ball and he throws the ball very accurately from the pocket. Tim Tebow never did that. Vince Young didn't throw the ball as accurately. And I think another thing too is the quote-unquote um you know pro style of their

offense like he's doing pro things tim tebow did nothing in college that he would do in the nfl until the broncos decided to change their entire offense for eight games for him yeah they won most of those games by the way they won a game when he was two for eight passing all right like calm down tim tebow truther um i know you're upset that he wasn't on the college football top 10 list, which was. By the way, these top 10 lists are atrocious. All right. Last night, they put up the top 10 players in cultural history. The youngest guy graduated college in 1989.

So you're telling me in the last 30 years there's not one player in college football who's a top 10 player all time that's what they're telling you i looked at i was so mad forget about tebow for a second because obviously he belongs higher so is reggie reggie bush does too but right so we're pretending reggie bush didn't play college football apparently reggie bush tim tebow vince young all you know guys from our lifetime who lit it up uh who maybe didn't have the nfl success that they were hoping for i mean reggie had a nice career but they so suddenly they're they're not topping not even top 25 like tebow i think was 76 out of 150 all time it's an absolute joke i mean say whatever you want about the guy

you know, criticize him in a number of ways. I've heard it all. He's absolutely in the top 25 college football players of all time. Nobody should dispute that. So he's not there. The problem is I looked into it. The method they chose these players by was they had 150 people on a panel. So they did some kind of a vote, right? The people on the panel are former coaches, players and A.D.'s. Right. So former, which means statistically speaking, older folks. All right. Former media members and broadcasters. So people who've been around college football forever and are no longer doing it.

And then quite a few current media members. So just on average, these are going to be older people. Certainly people older than us, Jeff, because we're still doing it. So imagine when we're not doing it 20, 30, 40 years from now, we're going to be pretty old. And they're saying, go ahead and rank this. Well, who do you think they're going to pick? I mean, I looked at the list. I think Jim Thorpe was a top 10 player of all time. I don't even think there's footage of him i read something that he apparently punted the ball to himself and then they changed the rule he kicked it so high and was so fast that he caught it himself and ran it in for a touchdown and that's a top 10 player all time in football you can't first of all that's not possible second of all you can't do that by

the rules of the game and we're calling him a top 10 player like what the hell people um there's not even like stat oh here it is stats is there cultural stats is this this is a bunch of olympic stats for him i listen i didn't even know what the man looked like i know he's legendary i'm sure people want to get in your mentions and yell at you about what you do and don't know who are these lists for i'm trying to to find, like, football stats, and I can't find any of them. He's a fascinating individual and probably a terrific athlete. He played better than Tim Tebow. Dude, stop.

We should all know more about Jim Thorpe, but the point I'm making is simply who is this list for? Why are we using up halftime to celebrate a bunch of players? And then, yeah, Barry Sanders is the young guy out there. Like, it should just all be Barry and Bo Jackson. Like, fine, you want Herschel Walker in there? Yeah, that's that's like early 80s. I'll go for that.

But then no one, no one else that we've seen play. I'm 38 years old. OK, I'm kind of an old person at this point. I have to have watched these guys to get excited about to tweet about it which i think is what you're looking for when you make a list like this um yeah i'm like how do you i'm still stuck on the gym i'm trying to find any sort of mention of him playing like actual football like what he did at football what why he's there i mean obviously it doesn't really

have yeah i don't understand this but i didn't even make it about jim thorpe he he might be oh no i'm just now now i'm fascinated by jim now i'm reading about jim thorpe you've now sucked me into jim thorpe i'll get off jim thorpe okay he rushed for 3616 yards as a back for carlisle whatever car i don't know even know what that is like i i don't know what we're supposed to make of this this is the same issue i had with the nfl's um top 100 list is that the all the people voting on it were in like their 50s and 60s at least and they didn't include basically anyone in the modern era not even in the modern era in the last 20 years that's not the modern is the wrong way to say it it lasts like 20 years um almost like they

ignored that and they put in a bunch of guys like i said like from 19 like an offensive line from 1936 i mean he might have been great then and he might have been but i don't understand how he's better than you know someone who's playing now not. So, so you have this whole crazy list and it's just, it's just that bias that you're talking about. I, Jeff, just to be a wise ass, I put together the top 10 comedies of all time from my point of view. Cause again, I'm 38. You know what?

Every single one of them came out from when I was 12 to 19. Why do you think that is? Because that's what I loved. What's your favorite comedy? Wayne's World. Okay. You okay with that? Are you going to be upset if I've said I don't think I've ever seen that, like, start to finish?

Zuri will edit this out. This is now we're beyond anything anyone cares about. You haven't seen Wayne's World? No. What the f*** is the matter with you? I don't know. I haven't seen it. I don't think we should edit out this is perfect what you're i can't wait until people get in your mentions about having

not seen wayne's world when you saw bohemian rhapsody yes the queen movie did you just not understand why mike myers was in it is this a revelation to you right now on the air that you don't know why mike myers was in that movie i had no idea oh my god wait when was mike myers in the movie what he's the he's the the record exec who like thinks they're going to be a bust and won't sign them and they basically like tell him to shove it up as you know what wait that's mike myers yes and the reason is because mike myers is in wayne's world which brought the song bohemian rhapsody back to life for a generation of people our age who didn't live through queen in the 70s and all of a sudden we all loved queen and it's why they're still popular college football take notice yes yes this is yeah yeah

okay okay well with the beard it's hard to tell with the beard and the hair yeah they wear makeup and the the uh definitely definitely a jew fro i like it you're allowed to say that all right so i am because i'm jewish yes you can make us smarter about football you cannot make us smarter about movies or really most of pop culture. But let's stick to your wheelhouse here. We agree that Joe Burrow is an NFL caliber quarterback. I'm not sold on number one. You say it's the smartest play.

Let's see what happens in April. Okay, moving on to something you know very well, the Chiefs. To steal the words of our good buddy dave damashek um i am worried that the chiefs your chiefs are soon going to take on the curse of sposta they are suddenly supposed to win it all all right they they got a much easier path now um they they better win the afc in fact once they win the afc they're obviously going to be a favorite in the super bowl, whoever they get. They got these boring six seed Titans who shouldn't even be here.

They're suddenly the offense is clicking seven point favorite. We should probably they should probably spot him 14. I mean, after what we saw last week against the Texans, no amount of points is too much for the Chiefs. They're supposed to win this game. Bottom line. All that is true. They're supposed to win this game, bottom line. All that is true. They're supposed to win this game. Here's my early thoughts on this game.

Let's throw out what happened on Sunday. What happened on Sunday is against a really bad Texas team. I know that it was fun for a little bit for everyone who thought the Chiefs might lose down 24-0. But the Texans are not a good football team. They are 27th in defense. They're 31st on third down on defense. They're coached by a coach who I think is like the Jason Garrett of the AFC, just good enough to get him in a dance but falls apart. I mean, look, the coach going for a field goal, attempting to fake punt when he did. They just look completely completely out man once the chiefs got out of their own way and the chiefs won that so let's throw that game out when you talk about this game

so the question becomes gabe is how much do we buy into the idea of the momentum is not the wrong word but confidence right right now the tit are an extremely confident team. They have Derek Henry setting rushing records in the playoffs. Their defense has played really well now two weeks in a row. They shut down Lamar Jackson, an offense that no one thought could be remotely stopped. They made big fourth down plays last week. They're feeling good about themselves. They're a confident group heading to this weekend. The Chiefs are just better, okay? The way I've looked at this game is that the Chiefs can win this game playing their B game. The Titans can only win this game playing like an A-plus game because they win one way, at least in the playoffs they have, which is rushing the football, playing great defense, and limiting Ryan Tannehill's exposure, basically, right?

He's thrown first 75 yards and 88 yards in two games. First time since 1974, where a quarterback has won two playoff games throwing for a combined less than 200 yards. So I think that's my early thoughts on this game. I feel pretty comfortable the Chiefs should win this game. We'll talk more about that Thursday. But weird things happen in the playoffs, and weird things happen between the Chiefs should win this game. We'll talk more about that Thursday. But weird things happen in the playoffs, and weird things happen between the Chiefs and the Titans.

Andy Reid, including the Eagles, won an eight against the Titans all the time. They do not play normal games. The game in 14 was not normal. The game in 16, the Titans won on a 60-yard field goal in zero degrees, and the kicking balls are brand new. By the way, they should not have made that kick. They lost a playoff game to the Titans because of a Mariota touchdown pass

to himself, blew a 21-3 lead. And this year's game, the Chiefs lost because they botched a field goal snap, and then they missed, and then they got a field goal blocked to end the game, like two weird things happening. So I think the Chiefs should win. I feel pretty comfortable about it. But there's still a little bit of worry in the back of my head. Okay.

Well, let's drill into a little bit of the worry to make people smarter here. Obviously, the run game. I mean, you touched on it a little bit. But so Derrick Henry is better than anything the Chiefs have played recently. And they've historically really struggled with him, which is part of it as well. Everyone since college has. Well, no. There were times where he didn't have the greatest of seasons or stretches,

and he always played well against the Chiefs. That's one thing that he has done in his career very well. And the Chiefs do not stop the run very well. They still don't. The reason why their defense has played better, and I thought their defense took a step back last week, which is what I sort of thought they would do. I didn't think they're as good as we think they are,

is they can't stop the run. But teams are always behind, so they have to throw the ball. And that's partly why. Against the Chiefs, he's played two games against them. He has 32 rush attempts for 246 yards. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. And I do not think that includes the playoff game.

That's maybe regular season stats only, but nonetheless, he's torched them. Well, and he torched the last two teams he played, which are the best two teams in the AFC. But the one caution I give you, again, is that it's hard to continue to win playoff games in one style.

And Ryan Tannehill I think can throw the ball and they've shown they can score points but they have to win this game I think differently than the style they've been using the first two games of the playoffs. Because the Chiefs can score points. The Chiefs will score on them.

Explain this a little bit more to me because they beat the best offense in the AFC and the best defense in the AFC when they took out the Pats and the Ravens. So didn't they sort of play different games? No, because they played...

You're saying offensively they need to do something other than just pound you. Yes, because I do not think the Chiefs' offense will be held to 12 points or 13 points. They haven't shown that all year besides one game, like a terrible game. I guess they can play a terrible game here. But if you look at the drive, the Tennessee touchdown drives in this game, that's why field position really matters, right? They scored on drive, eight plays, 35 yards touchdown.

One play, 45 yards. Two plays, excuse me, six plays, 81 yards. That was Derek Henry's long run. And then six plays, 20 yards. Otherwise, it was punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. So they had short drives and they managed to convert. Their red zone offense right now is incredible. I believe they've scored on, if they scored in the red zone at all, they scored like 25 straight touchdowns because they run the

football. That's why. So what happens, Gabe, if they need to score 28 points in this game? Can they do it? That's the question. Because you're not holding the Chiefs to less than 24 to 27 points. Okay. Well, the last time, thank you, Zuri, for this note, or whoever you found it from, the last time a team won consecutive playoff games

while completing less than 10 passes in each game was when Trent Dilfer did it in the 2000 season, also known as the worst quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl season. Yeah. So, you know, listen, Ryan Tannehill has had some nice games this year and is probably going to be perfectly fine with replacing Trent on the list of worst quarterbacks to ever win a Super Bowl if if he gets that ring yeah I you know listen it's hard to bet against him I've been out on them all year I've teased you about it we've joked about them and how we don't need to talk about them and here we are you know with with Mike Vrabel's manhood suddenly really in jeopardy oh really looking dangerous here for Mr. Vrabel and Mr. Vrabel Jr. Like, I'd be nervous. I have an amazing, I have an amazing Moyle joke I'm saving for if they win the Super Bowl.

You've already referenced the Jew fro. You might as well give the Moyle humor away. Like, it's going to be just, I mean, like, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be great. Because the Moyles, there's plenty of Moyles in South Florida. They'll be ready to go man we i mean the venn diagram of people who understand the references in this show suri's arms are just being thrown up in the air he has no idea what we're talking about is the um is the man in the jewish faith this is gonna sound weird people is the he's the rabbi he's a rabbi he can be my my my wife would not let that happen i had an actual doctor pediatric surgeon who's all jewish and was blessed to do this they they performed the circumcision and so

called a mohel now my guy pediatric urologist like not he was not a mohel um yeah my wife who's not jewish was like no chance in heck that we're gonna have a moil come to the house and perform the ceremony we will get a doctor to perform the ceremony which which he did um so the moils will be on call in south florida i can't wait yeah and and to back up even further this we're referencing moils uh and circumcisions because the coach of the titans said that he would chop his you know what off if he won a Super Bowl that that's how much it means to him so we're gonna hold him to it or at least hold him close to it I don't think we really want to see him slice anything off but he's got to do

something painful man if they win this Super Bowl it's it he can keep his groin out of it but we need something I need a digit on a finger something I need I need ideas people tweet tweet jeff tweet him your moyle questions please let's move along uh aaron rogers okay all you're gonna hear this week is that this is uh a revenge game for aaron rogers remember everybody aaron grew up in northern california okay he was a niners fan as a kid storyline okay he's still upset because they didn't pick him in 2005. Remember, they took Alex Smith, not Aaron Rodgers, and he's annoyed about it. In fact, you're going to hear this tape a lot this week. Let's play it for you, just in case you haven't heard it yet.

How disappointed are you that you will not be a 49er? Not as disappointed as the 49ers will be that they didn't draft me. Oh, burn, Aaron. Okay, that was right after he went to the Packers. It all worked out. It took him a couple years, but it all worked out eventually. And now here he is going back to the West Coast to try to get his revenge on the Niners. Stick it to him 15 years later.

He has kind of stunk there, including this year. He lost the worst game he's probably played in years in San Francisco. But yet, and I'm being serious here. I know this sarcasm sometimes is years in san francisco but yet and i'm being serious here i know this sarcasm sometimes a little thick in this case i'm being serious isn't maybe at the end of his career isn't maybe there's something to this chip on his shoulder this this revenge mentality couldn't this maybe inspire aaron rogers to go get this win isn't that kind of how guys motivate themselves if he's not inspired to win this game to get to the Super Bowl, he needs to be inspired because they're playing the Niners, and he has some major problems with motivation in his life.

This is a drawn-out storyline. He wants to win this game because he wants to go to the Super Bowl, not because the Niners snubbed him 27 years ago. This storyline is so overblown, over the top. He doesn't need any extra motivation. They got their butts whooped earlier in the season, so there's no reason to come to this game with a big head and be overconfident.

This is such an overblown storyline. I could get if it was a year after the draft, two years after. There's so much happened. And he's already won a Super Bowl as a Packer. This storyline, as well as it's great for the media, it plays on the media, but it's nothing for Aaron Rodgers. Okay, so is there anything to the idea, though,

that guys do find weird ways to motivate themselves? Of course we do. Of course we do. Because it's a long season. And being slighted is a great way to feel motivated you know joe burrow for example getting back to him he's always talked about he's the underdog which is kind of silly because he went to ohio state at lsu um but um michael jordan didn't make his varsity basketball team allegedly um yeah um and i you know i'm motivated by by people

said you know jeff you you should have your own podcast. I showed them. So those people showed them, dude. They thought it wouldn't work, everybody. But so far we have 30 or 40 episodes. So screw you guys. Find me another former football player talking about Moyles and Wayne's World. Can't.

You just can't do it. You can't do it. Really not. Talking about Wayne's World is a very loose thing we did okay um we uh we spoke i spoke sort of about it um so uh yeah showed you everybody my own podcast episode was is there episode 43 episode 43 so start everyone 43 that's right there's always motivation i think for um for anyone took it to find it, but in a game like this, in a game of this, of this magnitude,

there should be no motivation of, I need to win this game because I grew up a Niners fan. I think it would be great for Aaron. If he won this game in the Bay area, he's had problems against the Niners in the Bay area. It'd be great if all those things, um, we're all remedied in this game,

but not just because he, um, just wants to stick with the niners who by the way i believe have new ownership since then obviously have a new general manager um they're just they're just different organization there's no reason to hate different people make a decision well also every one of the guys trying to sack him was in elementary school when he was drafted. Oh, yeah. They're all kids. They're at least 10 years younger than him. So he's not playing against the Niners of a previous generation.

So let's talk about this team. They're seven-point dogs. That might be another motivation for Aaron if he pays attention to that kind of thing. People don't think he has a chance in this game. I've been hyping him. I think we've been sleeping on Aaron Rodgers. He's got Devontae Adams back back they looked great together the other night um you know listen he's the best quarterback left in the postseason you could argue Pat but I'll take Aaron the I I don't know like are we how do they match up but you know the run game's pretty

good with Green Bay now like they don't there's a lot of mismatches for the Niners, I think. They're very strong on their secondary, which is going to be tough against – which is going to be good, the Niners, which will be good against the Packers passing attack. Their interior defensive line, Buckner and Armstead, will eat up the Packers' interior offensive line. So there's some issues there. And the Packers' offense will often go through lulls in the game,

but they just don't score a lot of points. It really has been the Chiefs' issue, too, until Sunday. And so I think the Niners are just more well-rounded. They're the most well-rounded team left in the NFL. I think that they should be the Super Bowl favorites. They're just really good. And they're just a better team than the Packers. Now, to your point, though, Aaron Rodgers made some amazing throws the other night.

There were big-time throws that I think people didn't think he had left in them. And if he plays like that, it's going to be a tough out. Actually, the Niners, dude, are just much better than the Packers. Okay, so when everyone talks about – we talked about him earlier Joe Burrow when everyone else is looking at Joe Burrow and think they're seeing Aaron Rodgers they're not like what Aaron Rodgers can do stop comparing I know you're not doing this but please everyone I hate these comparisons I know it's part of the draft process but Aaron Rodgers is his own special guy that's what I'm trying to say the thing that you think you're seeing with Burrow you're not it's Aaron Rodgers is his own special guy. That's what I'm trying to say.

The thing that you think you're seeing with Burrow, you're not. It's Aaron Rodgers is one of the only people on earth who can move around and then find perfect balance in his body on running full speed. Agreed. And throw the ball in one, like within a hand of where it's supposed to be

for the only person on earth who can catch it to catch it. That is, he is singularly capable of doing that. Agreed. Okay. So if this is a one score game, don't you like Aaron Rodgers over Jimmy G late in this game? I hate to boil it down to that, but don't you like that? You're saying Aaron Rodgers has the ball in the game? If we get a game like we saw against Seattle, if it just comes down to Rodgers versus Wilson,

who has the ball last, who can make a play and win, if it's that with him versus Jimmy G, don't you like him? Rodgers, yeah, we like Rodgers, but the Niners' defense is just much better than Seattle's. I mean, that's part of it too, is that they might not be in the situation at all. Well, okay, fair enough. I mean, the Niners have some great players.

And they're healthy, which is, you know, hugely important this time of year, obviously. All right. Well, I'm just maybe digging in a little too deep on something I said weeks ago. I felt that we, the media out here, were, we've gotten so used to talking about Aaron Rodgers as one of the best players players of all time that this year because there's been so much other fun stuff to talk about we've just forgotten about him and here we are at the nfc championship game a game he could win and there he is and we just haven't acknowledged it yet um so let's say look i know we talked about this the other day boring is good right in football um do you know that they are, I think their yardage differential, which is not always fair because a lot of teams can get a lot of

yards at the end of the game. For being 14 and 3, they're like 100 yards, which is nothing. Normally for a 14 and 3 team, it's not even close. You'd be a thousand yard differential between yourself and the opponents. They're just a little bit flawed this year.

They've been able to mask it over, but the Niners, I think, are so well-rounded. You can force Jimmy G into some errors, I think, in zone coverage, but they're just so well-rounded, it's hard for me to believe that if both teams play their games, the Packers win this game. You mentioned zone coverage, and you can force Jimmy G into some mistakes. Was that Kendrick's pick that because he never saw him? Yes. And he's had that problem throughout the season.

Yes. So I'm no football expert, but I watched that replay a few times because I was watching with Vikings fans and I was like, oh, Jimmy just never even saw there was a human there. So I don't think it's as complicated to disguise coverage and confuse that guy as people think it is. And I think a good coach can figure that out. But let's say that you disguise coverages and he kind of is on this game

and you kind of blow coverage and he hits a home run. I think it's tougher than just doing it every time. Okay, but I'm just saying a linebacker making a clean interception, no tip ball. Yeah, it was bad by Jimmy, yeah. He just stepped back and caught the ball out of midair.

Like, that's a troubling sign. You don't see Aaron Rodgers throw those types of picks. When Aaron Rodgers throws a pick, it's because Aaron Rodgers is just like, ah, screw it. It's because he wants to throw it. Yeah, he doesn't give a shit.

He's just going to throw it and see what happens. He's just that good. He's just that good. He wants to throw yeah he doesn't give a shit he's just gonna throw it he's just that good he's just that good he wants to throw an interception we reference him on the show and he is the man he's our friend everyone's friend he's dave damashek if you want to hear more check out his podcast it's fabulous i've been on there that's the only reason why but no really it's great football fact check on the athletic find it on their pod network as usual every monday and

wednesday he gives you interviews with nfl experts at the athletic and picks every game of every week he's done a good job of that so far in the playoffs remember everyone football fact check subscribe today all right let's move along to the guy aaron Rodgers beat. The only take you were allowed to have, and you're part of this group, so you will have to defend yourself. The only take you were allowed to have after the Seahawks lost to the Packers was simply this. Russell Wilson is being wasted in Seattle. Pete Carroll is screwing him up.

He's killing him in his prime. This offense sucks. Russell's the only person on the team who can play. The defense is garbage the play calls are trash we that russell poor russell he can't possibly you know win like this everyone's screwing him over let me just remind everyone for a second i like russell wilson but just just for one second this dude got carried to a super bowl by the best defense in the last 20 years okay he lost a super bowl when he threw a pick that he could have won.

That could have been number two for him. The guy everyone is criticizing, Pete Carroll, took a chance on him and has been with him his whole career. They've had a lot of success together. And suddenly, it's just everything about this team is wrong except Russell Wilson? Explain this to me. Why did they take a chance on Russell Wilson?

Like, what, they took him in the third round. Well, that's right. They took him in the third round and gave him a starting job and let him have a 12-year career or whatever we're up to now. Better than Matt Flynn. You know he was only drafted in 2012, I believe?

Is that all it is? Okay, 2012. It's actually not as long as we... I said 12 years. I thought it was longer. Okay, fine. I think it's 2012. I think you're right. Yeah. Somewhere around there.. I thought it was longer. Okay, fine. I think it's 2012. I think you're right.

Yeah. Somewhere around there. Maybe 2011. You're right. He's been around fewer years than we think because he's had so much success, which is my point. The reason why it is this way is because their game plan is set up almost like anti anti like anti-russ they they game plan offense like they have um a subpar quarterback and not a hall of famer explain that so p carol is the traditional run the football and yeah pass the ball and traditional Yeah, be carol and traditional.

Those are words I put together. Well, I know that some of his takes are not traditional outside football, but he is a very much traditional football coach. Defense, punting, running the football, running the football, and then every fourth quarter, Russell Wilson goes ahead and tries to win him the game. And it worked for a long time because Russell Wilson is very good at that because he's amazing. He can always do that. And it does not feel that they set up the offense

to help Russell Wilson achieve basically the best he can be, the offense best they can be. And to a lot of us, that feels like obviously the wrong way to go about building your offense. For example, Russell Wilson attempted the second hardest throws out of the eight divisional round quarterbacks, but completed the second highest percent of those throws. Like they put them in tough spots and they don't have to do that. They can design an offense that's more suited to what he does best. And they never do that. They always make it tough for him.

And they always make it difficult on themselves by being so stubborn with their offense. Or Russell Wilson, who I know you're not allowed to say a bad word about, and I have only ever said good words about, but let's just look at this another way. Or great stat here from NextGen over at ESPN, and Zuri pulled this one up, so thanks, Zuri. Russell Wilson averaged over four seconds to throw on Sunday, the highest in a game for any QB with 20-plus attempts over the last four seasons. Yeah, he was on open.

Okay, but at some point, you got to get rid of it, dude. But he did. He did. He eventually did. He made the plays. What are you talking about? I don't know if we're gonna maybe have to agree to disagree you could say this is evidence that everything around him is trash and he has to do

it all himself squad wide receiver drop an open pass that would have that would have that would have got him a first down and kept him and kept the game going okay or he should just get rid of the damn ball and not be scrambling around all day long. To who? But that's not play calling. That's personnel issues. So which is it? What's the problem? He doesn't have the weapons? Is it a Brady type thing?

It's both. It's both. The problem, look, there's clear numbers that show that too, that they don't allow really Russell Wilson to throw the ball very much in the first half. And the second half, they let him throw all the time. And the offense just gets much better. It's pretty amazing the difference in those numbers. And maybe you say, well, they established the run, which is the joke I made yesterday about why they

do that. But it's very clear that they try to kind of let him take over at the end when kind of things aren't going very well. Well, I mean, that's been a good strategy. I don't know. Here's a good example here. The percent of losing plays in a game. I'm sorry. I finally found this.

Okay. Percent of losing plays in a game. In the first quarter, Seattle has 48% of their plays that are a loss. So that means that you run the ball at first and tend to get three yards. That's a loss. In the second quarter, 55% of their plays are a loss. In the third quarter, 62% of their plays are a loss. And in the fourth quarter, only 41% of their plays are a loss.

So their fourth quarter is their best quarter, which is abnormal if you look at the chart of the rest of the teams where they're pretty much even throughout the entire game, good or bad, or they get much worse in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks get better in the fourth quarter. That's because they let Russell Wilson run the offense. Couldn't I argue that if they just let Russell Wilson run the offense all the time, that he'd be running around trying to make it up as he goes and he'd look a lot more like Deshaun Watson who hasn't won anything? Well, you'd have to have a change of philosophy of who you are to allow him to do that. It's the philosophy. It's not just saying, hey, go be our guy in the first quarter. It's the philosophy of Pete Carroll not letting him do that

and not designing an offense that works great around him. By the way, that 48% number of losing plays in the first quarter, by the way, in the first quarter is mostly scripted. So you're coming off a week of preparation until you're ready to go. It's second worst in the NFL. Okay. Fourth quarter wins is like you take the top five offenses out that are really good.

It's like the sixth or seventh best. I mean, they're good when they need to be good because Russell Wilson makes them great at the end of these games. All right. I guess it's just hard for me to separate him from his coach who he's only ever played with, and the defense that for most of his career has kept him in games. And here's a great example of actual proof

that Pete Carroll just does what he's always going to do. So 4th and 11, 245 left in the game, down 5. Your offense, I mean your defense, had not stopped Aaron Rodgers the entire game. They were something like 70% on third down, right? You hadn't done it all game. There was nothing showing you were going to do it if you punted the ball. Nothing.

There was nothing showing that anything would change at all if you gave the ball back to the Packers. Yeah, they were 9 of 14 on third downs. Fabulous, right? Was Green Bay. So I know it's 4th and 11. I get that. You have Russell Wilson.

You have DK Metcalf. You can make plays. We've seen him do it all the time. So Pete Carroll, as he always does, he punts the ball, right? Because that's what he always does. He's always going to punt the ball. His defense wins the game. His defense is not good this year.

This is a situation where, again again you should let your quarterback who's the best part of your team try to win you the game but pk was going to rely on his defense because that's what he's always done even though defense is not good this year of course aaron rogers came down and threw the ball twice and they won the game and never got the ball back you know what you should have been doing back in the early 2000s? Instead of watching every play that Pete Carroll coached at USC and grumbling and being upset and being jealous of Pete Carroll's success at SC because you weren't an SC guy. Instead of that, you should have just been watching Wayne's World on loop like I was. I don't really dislike Pete Carroll from the USC days.

Yeah, I don't know. It seems like you've got a real problem with Pete Carroll. You were a UCLA guy growing up here in the city. Then you go up and you become an Oregon Duck. I would have committed to USC if they offered me. Oh, now we're getting to the heart of the matter. Well, that's not why. I mean, I was glad I didn't because that's USC.

But I would have committed, yeah, 100%. Ed Orgeron would call me every Monday at 720 on the dot the dot, 7.20 p.m., and talk to me every Monday. Hold on. We're an hour into this podcast. We've been talking about Moyles, and now is when you mentioned that Ed Orgeron used to call you at the exact same time weekly when you were in high school? Yeah, every Monday at 7.20. Edit everything to this point out of this show hey welcome to jeff schwartz is smarter than you uh exclusive here with jeff schwartz what ed orgeron used to call you explain he's the recruiting coordinator at usc and he was recruiting me and he called me every monday at 720 on the dot we knew it was oh well i mean you know you're hard to miss it's ed orgeron calling you but we knew

it was him every monday at 720 um he was actually the most honest of any, really, two moments of real honesty in recruiting. And I know people think recruiting is dirty and nasty. It is a lot of the time. He told me that they weren't going to offer me because they're waiting to see if someone else committed. And that if that person committed who they wanted in front of me, that I'd be out of getting an offer at USC. So they recruited me. I went to games and did the whole shindig of recruiting. And then Jeff Byers, who was the number one player, basically the number one offensive lineman in the country, committed and I was out. They had five redshirting offensive linemen. They only were going to take two in their class. So that was it. And he was honest.

He told me from the beginning, if Jeff Byers commits, you're out. And Jeff Byers committed. He called me and said, you're out. It was all right. Huh. And any other conversation with him? Did he sound like that that many years ago? Oh, yeah.

Every time. He knew exactly who called you every time he got on the phone. Whatever happened to Jeff Byers, by the way? How's he doing? He played a little bit in the NFL. Dude, his high school film, he was Gatorade player of the year in high school as an offensive lineman. Dude, he would destroy people in high school. He would get like three pancakes a day.

I mean, a play. He knocked down the offensive lineman. He knocked down the defensive lineman, the linebacker, and the safety. Yeah, well, that sounds great. He was Gatorade. He was the nation's top high school football player as a lineman. I just Googled him. I don't see any podcast for Jeff Byers.

So look who's laughing now. Jeff Schwartz. And then he came to the Panthers for a year. He's a good dude. Okay. I was trying to make a little rivalry with him, but it's not happening. Let's move the line. It's time to play a little over-under game.

All these are made up this week. I'm out of real ones. So here goes. I want to know Tannehill passing yards over under Derrick Henry rush yards. Oh, under. You think for sure that quarterback will throw for fewer yards than the running back runs for. Because the Chiefs can't stop the rush.

The only thing I worry about for the Titans is that, you know, Derrick Henry has had a lot of rushes the last couple of weeks. Oh, Zuri was ready for that. He has a stat for you. I know he does, and I'm just not sure that he can continue running at this pace. We'll find out. Well, he did it in college.

I'm going to pull up the stat because this blew my mind. He's also not in college anymore. Well, that's okay. Workload is workload. When he was in college at Alabama, and probably the best back in college at the time, he went up against Auburn, and where is this? Auburn, 46 carries for 271 yards.

A week later, 44 carries for 189 yards in the title game against Florida. Ran 38 times for 210 against LSU back then. 36 times against Clemson in a win in the championship game. Well, college is not the same as the NFL, right? I think we're aware of that. Well, it is in Joe Burrow's case. He's obviously just going to be great in the NFL, but for everyone else the rules like that don't apply.

I'm sorry that Joe Burrow is not Tim Tebow. I know that bothers you a lot. It'll bother him one day when he realizes he's not Tim Tebow. That he's not going to hit 179 at AAA? When he's whiffing at single A for the Indians at that one, he's going to realize life comes at you fast. I can't believe it. That story has not been given its due because everyone likes Tim Tebow.

It's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That story has not been given. You don't think that we've overdone Tim Tebow plays baseball? You don't think that story has been talked about? Me and you, no, we have not overdone on this podcast. I have some friends in minor league baseball they can't stand it but it's another day for the man didn't play baseball for 10 years and then bat he hit 200 against professional

baseball players he was smacking home runs against guys who do this for a living okay i get it michael jordan left basketball yeah and then just showed up and hit 200 and double a did not didn't do rookie ball did any of that stuff michael jordan's story is a lot better yeah fine i'll give you that okay i can't argue there that's amazing what michael jordan did it's i don't think people realize how tough that is all right let's move along um i want to know total rings before jimmy g gets any respect at all especially from me i'm giving him none right now two and a half rings before before we start to say you know jimmy g's pretty good because by the way jimmy g's already a two-time champion do you think if he wins a

super bowl this year they'll refer him as three-time super bowl champion oh that's a great point i forgot he has those rings yeah so i So I'd go over. Brady could call. That's a loophole. Brady spotted him two rings. Yeah. Huh? How does that work? I actually never thought about that before.

Let's say Jimmy does win a few Super Bowls, and he's going into the Hall of Fame, and everyone's writing a script about him. Does he get those extra two rings to his credit? Well, he does. Or let's call him Super Bowl champion. get those extra two rings to his credit? Well, he does, but let's call him Super Bowl champion. Or it'd be like two-time champion, starting quarterback

of the two-time, you know, and then like in parentheses also won two with the Patriots. You think they'd explain? Like, what about Steve Young? Didn't Steve Young get a ring as a backup behind Montana? Am I imagining that? I feel like he had a... It's not common that a guy becomes a Hall of Famer and sits

behind another Hall of Famer. I think Steve Young... No, Steve... I don't think he... Maybe in the late 80s he got one? I don't... I think they probably didn't overlap during Super Bowl seasons. I think Steve Young was behind him for more years than... No, no. He won three Super Bowls. So he won two of the Niners

before Joe. But we never talk about Steve like that, though. We only talk about the one he won as the quarterback in 95. Right. The 94 season. Oh, so you're looking it up as we speak. God, you're good at the multitask. So Steve Young has rings that Joe Montana won for him?

Yeah, he's a three-time Super Bowl champion. He only won one as a starting quarterback with the Niners. Okay, so there's the perfect comparison. So I wonder if Jimmy G wins one ring as the starter in San Francisco, and then 10 years from now, you know, that massive giant guy shows up on a Fox set somewhere to shake his hand and surprise him. That was a bunch of nonsense.

Yeah, I think you want – wait, wait, wait. Do you not like David Baker doing that? The TV producer in me was a little confused by all that. I loved it i mean it was great it's great for the league and great david baker is a you know his son sam baker went to usc yeah i know i got i got no issue with the man the six foot nine 400 pound guy who shows up in a red coat before he's very nice he seems like a lovely guy i got no issue with him i thought you know i i'm a little confused by the emotions we see on set in that moment.

Like, what do you think that guy's here for? But what? Wait, wait. Do you think they were genuine? No, of course. I mean, Terry Bradshaw was like, I wish I had a buddy like that every time I did something great. I agree with you.

I would love to have a hype man like Terry Bradshaw. Terry was happier for Jimmy than Jimmy was for Jimmy. When Jimmy almost had a heart attack, which wasn't very helpful. That was scary. But I know I just I found the whole thing to be a little... It was odd. The guys were so overwhelmed. I'm kind of struggling, and Sheck and I talked about this a little bit.

I don't know why this is so validating for these guys who've already... We've all agreed they're terrific. They have rings. They have great careers. They're well-respected. I didn't know that this would be so important to them still i'm not saying it shouldn't be important because i'm just saying i'm surprised like imagine if you got like a man like you you've had a great career so far like i mean how would you say your career's gone hall of fame level

okay so if david if the david baker of of um production of media i don't know what sure yeah no that's a good good description yeah um i was going to short you and say podcast production but you've done way more than that so i want to give you a little bit of credit um if he came to you and said gabe congratulations you're in the hall of fame you you'd feel like you'd feel great i think jimmy johnson summed it up properly this is the ultimate validation of your career. And that's why it's so important. I was put into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. And that validated me as a Jew who also played sports.

Who else is in it? Oh, it's a giant. It's a huge list. Come on. I went in with Ramona Shelburne and Mark Stein to cover the NBA. It's basically just like they let everyone in who's ever been Jewish and remotely Jewish. So is it just a bunch of writers? No, it's athletes.

You just named two writers. This weekend, Cody Decker is going in who played baseball at UCLA. I actually played literally baseball with him. He's a great – he's a good buddy of mine. And then there was – There's a guy named Cody Decker who's Jewish? Yeah. He went to Sammo.

And we played literally together. He was on the Israeli baseball team that they made the movie about. So this weekend, this year, it's actually next weekend, the week after. They have – so Cody Decker played baseball. There's two soccer players in ice hockey, another baseball coach, Jock Peterson, who plays for the Dodgers. Sure, he's Jewish.

A track and field softball. Debbie, my agent, Debbie Spanner is going in as well. And Soren Thompson is a fencer. Okay, wait a second. joe peterson is jewish i guess i did not know he was like swedish i didn't know that and there's um uh jewish sports hall of fame youth inductees there's three youth inductees okay this is really this the theme of this show is we're really into a very specific niche of listener right now. So I yeah. So I'm saying like that validated my my career.

So I understand why Jimmy Johnson feels that way. I'm happy for the guys. I really I'm not throwing shade. I just was surprised by how overwhelmed with emotion they were, given that they've already been showered praise upon for their whole lives. And I thought honestly i was surprised to know that jimmy johnson was not in the hall of fame i just assumed he was so it was strange to me that it took him by such surprise i i'm not making a joke about it i'm not throwing you know anything nasty in his direction i'm happy for him good for him but i just i i thought it was

strange that's all i thought it was strange that terry bradshaw was that excited about it that's like his best friend he already knows and loves this guy i didn't was strange that terry bradshaw was that excited about it that's like his best friend he already knows and loves this guy i didn't know why that was the emotion that poured out of them it was just an interesting moment okay i'm all for it though keep doing it i'd like for them to come up with a even more of a surprise i mean once that giant walks on the set you kind of know i feel like now they need to do it to where they're just like surprised to the grocery store yeah like like david baker's the he's the checkout he's a checkout totally person yeah and he should have a mask there should be no red coat like let's really how are you gonna how are you gonna do that that's a good point it's probably hard to

hide that guy anywhere you go all right let's move along we are still currently in a show with a bunch of things in a rundown so I'm gonna go through the last few things Ravens wins next season over under 11 and a half um over uh really oh this time you're going to be on the ravens train i think that they're still going to win a lot of regular season games there's obviously issues here with their playoff performance but we're talking about regular season right and no one no one has stopped them and i think it's tough to just say well just do what the titans did okay um the titans were outstanding on defense they played with no hesitation they always had a clear game plan and they executed the game plan i think

it's hard to just say do that like hey just do this against them because you don't have the same players don't have the same personalities don't have the same players, don't have the same personalities, don't have the same ability to tackle and play in space. And so I think they're going to win a lot of games again next year. And they have cap space. They need a big wide receiver in the worst way possible. And they may need a new right guard if Yander retires. So I can see them drafting a big, bruising running back.

There's many ways they can improve. I'm going over. over okay there's plenty of teams i like to go under not this team okay well i'm i hope for lamar's sake um and the league's sake that he can get a ring someday because it will hopefully make the league more exciting and break out of the old conventional wisdom that gives us you know guys like and no disrespect to matt ryan but i don't need to see matt ryan for 20 years in the league i mean that's just boring yeah i know just being like really good at your position sucks so i'm sorry i'm sorry being good your job is bad for game sorry everybody i just prefer that somebody be a little bit more interesting so let's talk about a guy who's

a little bit more interesting but may not ever have the ring I think he deserves. Deshaun Watson career Super Bowls as the starter since apparently we have to qualify this. Over under .5. Will he ever get one? Not with Bill O'Brien. That's the problem? Yeah.

Okay. Bill's terrible. Plain and simple. He might get one eventually but not with Bill O'Brien. I'm going to go under here. Was Bill O'Brien. That's the problem? Yeah. Okay. Bill's terrible. Plain and simple. He might get one eventually, but not with Bill O'Brien. I'm going to go under here. Was Bill O'Brien on that staff, that USC that didn't recruit you? Why do you hate Bill O'Brien so much? He's terrible. He's a terrible game manager.

That's why. That's it? Just football? Yeah. I don't dislike the guy. I mean, he's got a weird looking chin, but we all have our problems. but we all have our problems so i just i i feel like deshaun this is one he's one of those intangible like he just wins kind of guys you know and he did it in college and he seems like he's doing it in the nfl and i i just want that to work yeah there's there's things he's got to work on i think his pocket presses at times can be kind of subpar um other than that i think he's got to work on. I think his pocket presence at times can be kind of subpar. Other than that, I think he's

got everything you need. He's really good. All right. Well, I hope then that they make a change and get him a coach that'll help him win a championship. A guy like Pete Carroll who can help you turn from an athletic scrambler into a champion and then

one day be sold out and given the excuse that you're going to go to usc i don't understand like your wife's not listening to this you don't have to like usc in the podcast you know that i just i don't think that your attacks of pete carroll are fair or warranted and and i think they're fair and they're fair and they're warranted um Yeah, the whole – it's so stupid. The USC was so good. They kicked our butts. Oh, they were good. Not good enough to have Reggie Bush acknowledged.

Even though we beat him in 07, it was like the greatest win I ever had at Oregon. It was so much fun. We would beat USC finally. Who were the stars of that SC team you beat? It was Sanchez's like second start. Oh, yeah? Yeah. The beginning of a great ride.

But the defense was all the guys got drafted. It was like all 11 guys got drafted. Yeah. That's probably Clay, right? It was like Everson Griffin and Lawrence Jackson and Phelan Wallace, Cedric Ellis, Ray Maluga, Keith Rivers, Brian Cushion, Clay Matthews, Terrell Thomas, Taylor Mays. Did you just quietly Google that or all of a sudden your brain just kicked in? Thomas Williams was the fifth string linebacker who got drafted in the fourth round. That's who we played and we beat him.

That's pretty good. Yeah. Huh. All right. Joe Burrow never played a team like that but whatever uh he did not know all right let's do the last thing we like to do here which is a spot a little conversation in social and highlight it and have you explain a little bit more so i noticed you uh i think retweeted and commented over a tweet from uh the honey badger who shared a video of how he basically didn't blow up Deshaun

Watson, even though he could have. Oh, yeah. So he pulled up at the last second on what would have been a clean hit if he wanted to. Some people were like, oh, that's your boy. Why aren't you playing tough football? And he basically said the game was over. Yeah, that's my boy, but I'm not fake tough. I don't have to hit you to make you feel like I'm a big beast.

This is football, but every act isn't violent. And you like that message, so go ahead, explain. Well, I liked it because he had played really well in the game, Matthew did. And he was in Watson's face, and there was a timeout that was called because he was messing with Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson kind of was spooked by the coverage. And it was very clear that Matthew played well. And they're best friends. They're boys. They're good buddies. Chiefs are up by 20 points in that game in the fourth quarter, the end of the game.

Deshaun Watson knew that Matthew could have blown him up. But to Matthew's point, he goes, look, he's my boy. We're winning the game. He knew I was there. No reason to blow him up. I have respect for my brother. We're beating them. And I think the best part is he goes, I don't need to hit him like that to be tough. I'm not going to be fake tough. And I loved it because I think it's a good sign that you don't,

you don't always have to do, it's a violent game, but you don't always have to be violent in the game. And so I liked it. Okay. Well, I like it yeah sure i mean i i my respect for honey badger has grown as i have watched him um i think sort of evolve as a person i feel like he went from being one of these guys who was an undeniable talent and maybe a bit of a loose cannon. And, you know, I'm not great with the facts right now, but I feel like there were some question marks about him, the dude, several years ago. Nobody wondered if he was a good player, but he couldn't quite stick because people weren't sure if he had it all together.

And then, like, I don't know whether he just matured or got help or did change something. But I feel like now as an older player he's just this mature wise level-headed guy who isn't quite as fast or can't jump quite as high as he once did but he suddenly seems like he totally gets it and can help his team and i think that's cool i think it's nice to see that at a time when some other players just go completely the other direction you know like they don't figure it out and they they just can't use the talent they have and i just i don't know i've always liked him as a player and i like to see that he's doing well um it's good he overcame

a lot he was there last night too the national championship game um but he you know he's really he didn't talk about him as much as other players this year for best acquisitions he's changed the the Chiefs defense good for him. Yeah but I mean a few years ago you'd have been like I don't know can we have that guy around here? Well it was in college and Bruce Aaron took a chance on him in Arizona

and he Matthew proved him right. Yeah well it was cool to see him tweet what he did and, uh, and make a good argument the way that he did without being mean or, you know, a lot of guys like to get in the mud with fans and I don't think he was

willing to do that. So good for him. And yeah, and he was there last night enjoying it. Unlike Odell, who was, I guess, throwing money around,

like handing money out to players and stuff. I, somebody's going to have to explain how that's possible, but, um, he was hamming it up in front of cameras last night. I didn't see the honey badger doing anything silly. But even if let's ignore the NCAA violation,

which I'm sure someone will finagle out of thin air for the Odell thing. I like my money and I just don't give it away like that. Yeah, I don't think you have as much of it as he does. I have enough money to hand someone $500 if I like the person like Odell did. Maybe it was more than $500. I think you probably handed out a few more dollars than that. But I told you this,

if Oregon wins a championship, you're going to get a firm high five from me. Oh, that's nice. I hate you getting Oregon fans. You ain't getting any money. Odell has a lot of money. Good for him. Listen, that's a high five from a southern california jewish athlete hall of famer that's

not just a high five from any guy well yeah i mean it's i i think i got i think i got to the hall of fame for more of my looks anything else it's even better you're you are a rare i am in this company with you we are rare uh men of Jewish heritage with blue eyes. You don't see many of us. I have green eyes, but thank you. Okay. That's a podcast. I can't even see your face.

I didn't know that you studied me that intently. My brother has blue eyes. Apparently, I don't. I thought you had blue eyes. My dad and brother have blue eyes. I have green eyes. At least that's what I thought. Maybe let's take a little self-healer.

Wait, I haven't been doing this show with Mitch Schwartz for 43 episodes? My eyes are still green, yes. I just checked. No, my dad and brother have green eyes. I do not. My son has hazel eyes. My little girl has brown eyes. So, yeah, the green has been stopped and passed down.

All right, I think we've gone off the rails enough now. Completely. Use those eyes to go watch Wayne's World. Yeah, I'll do that at some point, but probably not. All right, guys. Thank you for tuning into the podcast. I really appreciate it. We're getting a lot of interaction.

I love it. We're getting tweets, getting reviews, ratings. It seems to be taking off. People are less upset with you, Gabe, so even better. But I appreciate all the listeners. I see your messages. I try to respond to all of them. At Jeff Schwartz on Twitter.

Gabe, what's your Twitter? It's like at Gabe something. Yeah, at Gabe something. That's right. Just tweet that and you'll get to me. At Gabe the WP. But just whatever. Tag me in when you need me to defend my silly takes. But thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you guys Thursday. Have a great couple of days.