Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Mahomes is Inevitable and Other Divisional Round Headlines, Plus Harbaugh to LA?

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

Geoff is back from Buffalo with his reports on the Chiefs win over the Bills (and Jason Kelce's shirtless performance). Then he and Gabe go through all the headlines and takeaways from the Divisional round and share some coaching updates. Be sure to follow the podcast for new episodes twice a week, and leave a rating, comment, or tweet @GeoffSchwartz to share what you think!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it is tuesday january 23rd i'm jeff schwartz as jeff schwartz is smarting you i'm alongside gabe goodwin for our recap of the divisional rounds we back with prize picks for the big game in a couple of weeks we have four teams left remaining we have multiple games to talk about from last weekend gabe how how are you, my friend? What a wonderful time to be a football fan. There's just so much great NFL right now. Jeff, let's save any small talk and get right to it. You went to Buffalo in a Chiefs hat alongside some Bills fans.

You were, I would say, the second most talked about big man in attendance. Jason Kelsey stole the show. But then comes you. What was it like? So second quarter, my wife texted me and goes, Jason Kelsey has his shirt off at the stadium. And mind you, the cell reception, you know, I'm not on Twitter the entire game. I was tweeting stuff out.

But I had to take my glove off to tweet because my hands were cold and I couldn't type with my gloves. And I was like, absolutely not, honey. And then she sent me the picture, and he's in a box. I'm like, I'm not in a box. I'm in the middle of the fans. I'm not getting undressed in the middle of the fans. Look, Kelsey was great.

Obviously, he was many. Was it Blue Labatt? Is that what it is? Labatt Blue? Blue. Many, many, many beverages. I saw a tweet that was like from a Swifty that was like, I appreciate Jason Kelsey taking the spotlight off Taylor Swift.

I'm sure that's what he planned to do. No, his BAC was four, okay? His black hole level was very intense. But Jason's a great dude. I'm happy he was able to have a little fun there rooting his brother on. So, yeah, dude, it was fun. I like those older stadiums. So Highmark Stadium has been around forever.

They're obviously building a new stadium in Buffalo. Look, you go to the Coliseum. I've been to Rose Bowl 100 times. I've been to Arrowhead. Like these older stadiums have a charm to them, right, Gabe? It's not a many-filled. It's just people there to watch a football game. And, yeah, they drink a lot of alcohol and there was some food available.

The bathrooms had, had, had troughs in them, like old school troughs, like no frills. It was great. I loved it. I got there. We walked sort of up and down the parking lot. A couple, you know, a couple of bills fans said, said, you know, hurled things my direction. We went to a tailgate. We just met someone randomly that, hey, are you Jeff Schwartz? I was like, yes, I am. I hung out with them for a little bit. Having a little bit of celebrity is nice like that. And we get to our seats, okay?

I, one of my cousins-in-law who's a big Bills fan, I bought seats purposely in the Bills section for him. I don't want to sit on the Chief's sideline. He's there. We're there to watch the Bills. And the funniest thing happened. At the middle of the first quarter, I turned to Dave. I go, Dave, have you realized when I am standing, no one says a word to me.

When I sit down, how many people walk by and say, Chiefs suck. One guy was like, Josh Allen's your daddy. And I was like, you're 0-2 against the Chiefs in the playoffs. So how is Josh Allen my daddy? I was like, you're 0-2 against the Chiefs in the playoffs. How is Josh Allen my daddy? Just like hurled stuff in my direction when I was seated. When I stood up, not a word, Gabe.

One guy even told me across the aisle, like, man, I want to talk to you. You're pretty tall. And it was a fun experience. You know, you can obviously, having been in many stadiums, and I played in Buffalo before, but not in a playoff game like this, you could feel the emotional trauma of this fan base throughout the game. So early in the game, Gabe, they're fired up, right? Like loud, intense, and it's not the loudest stadium. Someone turned up and was like, this is the loudest stadium I've ever been to. I was like, ah, it's like, it's okay.

It's not like the loudest place I've ever been to. But fired up, right? Loud. Bills come out, kick a field goal. And then when the fans realized the Chiefs were moving the ball at will on Buffalo, you could tell like a little bit of puckering was happening, right? Like it wasn't just as loud. After halftime, the Chiefs come out and score immediately. And part of the reason you defer, in my opinion, I've always seen defer, right? Like, it wasn't just as loud. After halftime, the Chiefs come out and score immediately.

And part of the reason you defer, in my opinion, I've always seen defer, right? So when you win a coin toss, you say, I'm deferring to the second half. The team who loses the coin toss will always receive. And you take the ball to the second half. Part of that is the middle four, right? Middle eight, really, right?

The last four of the first half and the first four of the second half. If you can score twice in those eight minutes you tend to win a lot of football games right because you're you have a chance i've done this before on teams game where you score 14 points before the other team even gets the ball back right you score the end the first half and that's a huge swing in the game but also too when you're on the road everyone's getting a beer so you come out and start our third quarter you score right away the stadium is about 75% capacity.

But that fake punt, buddy, that was the end of the crowd at all, at all into the game. Like they were, at that point, they were like, here we go again. Here we go. Doing stupid shit. Losing the game. Now, the Chiefs fumbled the ball, obviously, which I, look, Hardman, Matt, I made Matt go viral with the tweet he put out which was great

like the chiefs of support and stuff and hand the ball off to wide receiver eight on the goal line um and they fumbled and like the crowd got back into he could sort of feel like this like the trauma in the fourth quarter like people the the thoughts and things people were saying um oh the stuff people said dude the fandom is the hell of a drug buddy it was funny things people were saying um how the sub people said dude the fandom is the hell of a drug buddy it was funny man people were saying just the most wildest stuff um out there but uh it was uh it was fun the chiefs won obviously but the bills fans were great man passionate um you know a little back and forth which i love right nothing wrong with that there's only one comment the entire game I heard,

excuse me, the entire time, because it was a Bills fan who said it to a couple, a young couple, a husband and wife looked like, or boyfriend, girlfriend, and she was wearing a Mahomes jersey, he was wearing a Bills jersey. He said, it was something said there. If I was, he said it to me to turn around, we'd have some words about what he said about my wife rooting for a different team.

Other than that, man, perfectly fun. The upper decker in the porta potty was unexpected, I will say. I did not expect to walk into a porta potty and see that in the little urinal section there. But all in all, a ton of fun. I've been to now a Bill's playoff game a super bowl anti-championship game a national championship game a world series game um and they're all dude like your competitive juice just start flowing right it's so cool just to feel the energy in that place and uh i had a good time win or lose i would have the same reaction to

to be in there it was it was a lot of fun i don't know if I totally believe win or lose, you'd have the same reaction. And we're gonna have to talk about the game a little bit more specifically in the reaction that all of us had to, you know, what clinched that game. But when you say the competitive juices start flowing, I think that's interesting. This is a difference between you and me. For me, that game made me want to go to the bar and drink a few more beers because

i saw how much fun people were having in buffalo for you you start thinking about like pulling and clearing holes and yes but also too like i don't i don't drink right so like it's not something where i just i might you know my jason kelsey just now look if i was in the i think he went to the hammer which is the the big tailgating area i mean if someone would have presented me with a bowling ball with a shot and i probably would have done it i mean i'm not i'm not like a a staunch like i don't drink for i just don't do it i i would be if someone's like dude sure take this shot i would do it uh in that situation um but uh what you what you say man that might happen the next time you pull out next time i'm buffalo um but no it was uh it was a fun experience again

the fans were were fantastic very passionate um you know obviously walking out just the same you know again the same sort of like we're never going to win this one and this is our year and just the sadness that that was there obviously was um you feel that with everyone walking out. I did realize that I am not prepared to live in an area like that. The weather, just I can't. It's not my cup of tea. But Niagara Falls, super cool. Have you ever been there before? Mm-hmm.

It was like the power. You hear the way. It's awesome. It's awesome. And then the wings. I went to Bar Bill, buddy. Absolutely incredible. Like the best wings of my life hands down beef on weck it's a it's a french dip sandwich i don't people were like yeah gotta try the sandwich out i'm like it's the french i could get the french dip anywhere it wasn't even the best friendship i've ever had so wings though

greatest i've ever had buddy not close okay well i gotta get up there for a game. I think the thing that's so hard for me to think about with the bills is the last time I really even took them seriously or cared about them. They lost on a kick that went wide in a game they should have won. Now, I don't know if I'm ready to say that the bills, excuse me should have won this game, but letting it come down to a kicker missing. When you're at home when you could have won. Now, I don't know if I'm ready to say that the bills, excuse me, should have won this game, but letting it come down to a kicker missing when you're at home, when you could have won in overtime, like brutal. So a let's cancel kicking. We've done that rant on this show. We don't need to talk about it again, but B why are people so upset with Sean McDermott as if this was a game plan issue, a one score game with the chiefs in the playoffs is what you should expect. Your kicker whaling it off to the right is not you should expect your kicker wailing it

off to the right is not something a coach can control why are people up sean mcdermott's ass well the fake punt right like that's okay i mean it's a fake punt overthinking a few things some trick plays some bad decisions that's fine i think that's why it's not but also too you know ultimately you can't beat the chiefs. You got to get over that hurdle and you got to do it somehow. Now, the injuries were obviously put a factor in this as well because the Bills had no one healthy on defense. But when you have that bad fake punt like they did, they were also, look, I understand playing to score like as late as possible, Gabe.

Yeah. But I've always thought that that's sort of a silly way to go about trying to come back in a game. Because your number one priority in that moment is to go ahead, is you have to score points to either tie the game or win the game. And Josh Allen had the opportunity. He missed on second down, third down. He didn't throw underneath.

But the point is like you have to score no matter how you do it at some point. Would you rather score with four minutes left and try to play defense or not score at all? So I think that that part of it sort of slowing things down in that moment was probably not the best as far as rhythm of the offense. And that plus the fake punt um really um the fake punt gabe was so stupid i mean he just just leave josh out on the field well if you're gonna if you want to go for it if you would have gone for it with josh allen you would have this

look the same idiots who said don't who never team never go for it right but most of us have been like oh that makes sense josh allen has the ball you're trying to win the game go for it, right? But most of us have been like, oh, that makes sense. Josh Allen has the ball. You're trying to win the game. Go be it. But the way that worked out, look, the jokes wrote themselves on Twitter after that fake pun, I'll tell you that. That's why, Gabe, right, is you're not maximizing sort of the team you have.

Stephon Diggs, even though it's not your fault, you're not the offensive coach per se, but his decline in play, he spent a lot of money on Von Miller. He didn't really show up in this game. So all those things sort of lend toward the head coach. And he's still going to be there. They win a lot of football games.

But they've also now, Gabe, they've lost two years in a row at home in the divisional round. And Joe Burrow's still going to be there. Patrick Mahomes is not going anywhere. And this is the year to get the Chiefs. The Chiefs will be better next season. They'll be better next season. The trajectories are headed in totally different directions.

Just looking at cap numbers and injuries. Yeah. Yeah. headed in totally different directions. Just looking at cap numbers and injuries. Yeah. Yeah. So that, I think, is why people are sort of blaming Sean McDermott.

The discourse from any game like this, because it's a standalone game, is ridiculous because you have one side. It's very extreme, right? But I don't think McDermott's as bad as people want to make him out to be, but certainly he has a Chiefs problem, and he's got to figure out this offseason how to fix his Chiefs problem. Well, I got to say as a less invested person here, I don't necessarily root for either team. I've paid a lot more attention to the Chiefs over the last few years like everyone, but especially because I talk to you every Monday or Tuesday. We're at a point now where we had a

little graphic up for those watching live that use the word inevitable. Patrick Mahomes is now feeling inevitable to me. And I know this feeling where and it puts you on tilt. And it's why you think about things like we can't let him get the ball back. I remember feeling that way against Tom Brady every time we played him for 15 years of like, if he's alive, we're gonna lose. Like something's gonna go his way. And if it isn't just his great play, the defense will do something to bail him out, the refs will do something to bail him out, he will get the end of of the game. And Patrick Mahomes is better all through the game and now has that gear at the end. So I don't

know how you're supposed to think you can get over on the Chiefs. They seem impossible. His he already has like every playoff passing record there is, you know, he's not even 30. Like, yeah, how do you how can anyone get past this guy? He has the whole league on tilt at all times. Well, that's certainly fair to look at it in that way. But again, this was the year without a number one wide receiver per se. I mean, even though Rice is turning out to be that guy.

Travis Kelsey, look, I obviously got to see him in person. He's not the same player he used to be, Gabe. No. He just is not. I he used to be, Gabe. No. He just is not. So, you know, he is – I don't think he's going to retire. But the best example, and I think this is the way – he's like the late-stage Gronkowski where you get, like, burst throughout games of plays. But every time he caught the ball, he'd go to the sideline for, like,

four plays. Like, he's just not a guy anymore that's going to give you what he did even last season. And, again, great player. He's going to give you what he did even last season. And again, great player. He might set the all-time receptions record for postseason and touchdowns the next couple of years. He might do it next week for the receptions. But it's just – so you have Travis Kelsey sort of declining a little bit.

Don't have a number one wide receiver. Here's why the Chiefs – I saw people say, well, the Chiefs just sort of turned it on in the offseason and i'll tell you where that's yes and no right no in the fact that they've had issues all season they just caught the football i don't think that like mvs is like well now it's time to catch the football guys it's the postseason it just sort of like caught the football right like he just caught it um but i think a couple of things where i think that sort of turning it on matters right the chiefs know how to focus during the postseason

the postseason is different right there's all eyeballs on you there's more media there's more focus there's more details you're playing better football teams better coaches better players and the chiefs have dealt with this now for many, many years. They had not dealt on a road game in that manner, but they understand the pressure that comes with playing in the postseason. And certain players, I thought, picked up their game. The offensive line was fantastic. Juante all season got a bunch of penalties.

He got one in this game that declined. But the offensive line just played their best two games of the season so far against Miami and against Buffalo. So they have turned up a little bit, but knowing the structure of the postseason and how that's going to feel is very important. And the last thing I'll mention, I've said this before to you, Gabe, I play with some quarterbacks like an Eli Manning or like an Alex Smith

where there's an irrational confidence you have playing on a team that has a quarterback that you know can win you a football game, right? It's the thing with Tom Brady. You're down 28 to three. Tom Brady's like, I got you guys. You believe him because he's done it before, right, Gabe? So when you have a quarterback like that, the entire team never worries about, oh boy,

we made a mistake. Oh, what's going to happen now? No chance we're going to win this game. They make a mistake. They have a problem. They just keep playing. They just keep playing because they know 15 or Tom Brady or 12, whoever else is going to win them that game in the end.

I felt that with Eli Manning. No matter how bad the game was going, we had Eli, and he'd win us the game first in the end. And he did at times. Other times he didn't. But it's that irrational confidence you get playing with that quarterback. That's what the Chiefs have right now. No matter what happens in a a game guess what 15 they'll save us in the end and that makes everyone play better it makes everyone play a little bit faster they're not worried about mistakes they're not worried about fear they're not worried about doing the wrong thing and the bills sort of have that um with josh allen but their team you know they drop passes obviously the bills i would say

lost this game a little more than chiefs won it per se right like the drops were bad a classic sports media debate oh it's great it's a great debate right the you know the fake punt um the chiefs had eight yards of play though i mean so that ends up that's helping a lot i think it was like nine yards before uh the neil downs so that's what it is, Gabe. It's that knowledge of this guy, no matter what happens in a game, we have the equalizer. We have Patrick Mahomes.

We have Tom Brady. And that's how the Chiefs play in the postseason. Yeah, well, the best weapon on the Bills offense, I don't think has had confidence in Josh Allen for damn near the whole season and has been chirping through his brother on social media. Stevan Diggs numbers have been terrible last several weeks. Some guy never even heard of Khalil Shakir has been, you know, the go to. I don't I don't think that Josh Allen has that it that you're describing. He might have irrational confidence, but I don't think anyone

else believes in it, which is sort of a very different kind of confidence. The guy who does have that and and probably has it even more than my homes right now where everyone's just like fine, he'll go win it for us is Lamar Jackson. And he didn't even need those extra gears against CJ Stroud who might have it one day. They just kicked the crap out of him. And, you know, they look like the best team so far but i really because of everything we've just discussed i don't see any reason to assume the afc championship game will be a blowout and if it's a one score game give me my homes like sorry yeah i i think this is a tough game for the chiefs um i'm not betting baltimore minus three and a half i've told you this before i don't like betting i only like betting on the chiefs if it sort of helps the outcome of the game if that makes sense like the chiefs to cover

a game or win a game outright or the chiefs to just cover as a favorite i think it's weird to like bet against your team in that manner baltimore's just a really complete team gabe they're really good um and you know the first half of that game against the texans a little slow you can sort of tell like that the talk you know, the slow starts in the past, and in the second half they came out, it just kicked the shit out of the Texans, who really, look, the Texans are a great story. They're not on the same level. And the Texans get to see now what playing an NFC favorite is like.

So next year, right, next offseason, okay, we've got to build to playing Baltimore. The Ravens just have a lot of different ways to win, and that's the important part about this time of the season. Okay, our passing game wasn't the best passing game of all time, but Lamar's going to add 100 yards rushing, right? And some weeks maybe he rushes 30 times, it's going to be 30 yards, but those are for 300 yards.

Okay, the defense, they'll stop the run, we're going to rush the passer with four, we're going to pressure. Like, they have different ways to win game and they also have a combination of two things that i think win super bowls the quarterback who's elite and the physical nature the physical team like they have the most physical team right now your boy tyler linderbaum i was waiting for his name to come up i have to get in there for you um but like they have they have a physical physical team and the chiefs do as well by the way and that elite pastor and so do the chiefs obviously so i don't think you count the chiefs out of this game gabe but i think there's some advantages to

the ravens that the chiefs look i mentioned kelsey earlier the chiefs the ravens are standing linebackers and safeties if they take away kelsey like who who are we trusting rashid rice okay yeah it's a rookie though. MVS? We can't just catch the ball again? Is it McColl Hardman? Is it Sky Moore? Like who are you trusting for Patrick Mahomes?

So there's just some issues I think the Chiefs have achieved in this game. Three and a half, obviously, is the number right now. We'll talk more about this on Friday with Matt. There's a reason it's three and a half, not three. I mean, Vegas is telling you they think it's better. So it would not shock me if baltimore wins this game um but dude the chiefs have been to six straight asian championship games now patrick was 28 years old like it's it it it's it's crazy um yeah so i as of tuesday i think baltimore wins this game um i think that it's just a little bit too much for the Chiefs to overcome in this matchup.

All right, so can you help me out here? Because I look at the game as a fan, and obviously I also play fantasy football. So we go into the season, and Mark Andrews is the next tight end taken after Travis Kelsey in most leagues. And Mark Andrews puts up big numbers. He's been his, you know, Lamar's favorite target for years. And then he gets hurt and we're like, oh no, Mark Andrews is down. What's going to happen to their offense?

And someone named Isaiah Likely turns up and is every bit as good. He looks like an awesome, awesome player who's a backup tight end. So why why just dork out for me? Why are some coaches or teams just able to nail position groups and make them no slight on Mark Andrews? He's still a good player. But like if the next guy up can be that good in that position in that role? Why is that so doable for some people? You know, Hank, help me out here. He listed

Niners linebackers, always seem like it. Obviously Packers quarterbacks look like one of those positions, less continuity there. Why would the tight end job be so effective in this offense? Well, that comes down to play calling, right? It's finding matchups that can exploit weaknesses, but also putting your guys in the best spot for success and so part of that is obviously just drafting right drafting guys that fit the mold of what

you want to be now this wasn't really the case with with lively so it ends up just being that he just i think sometimes game we give teams too much credit. I think sometimes it just ends up happening. Like, he ended up just fitting perfectly to what this offense wanted to be, and you have to give Todd Munkin credit for getting him in there and getting him in the right position. But it's not like the Ravens, I think,

thought he would be the best, not the best, obviously, but a tight end that is producing like he is now um otherwise they would have drafted him much higher right sure but there's something about the way that they move and the way that lamar scans the field and the space he creates sort of in the middle of the field because of the possibility of him taking off and running that favors a tight end and this guy is playing the position right now and he's doing it well. So follow-up question is basically if Mark Andrews is healthy, let's say they make the super bowl and he's healthy enough to go. Could we see like a more athletic two tech? Could we

go back in time to the Patriot days where we had two really athletic tight ends and no one really knew how to guard them. Could that be a thing that they tap into? Oh, absolutely. It is, it is very hard to guard tight ends in the national football league. Yeah. Because what do you, because what do you, how do you do that? Do you put a linebacker on them? Well, they're faster than the linebackers, but a safety they're bigger than the safeties. And some of them run as fast as safeties. It's a tough matchup. The Chiefs win a ton of 13 personnel against Buffalo.

Buffalo didn't match up correctly. And that's one thing, too. So 13 personnel is one running back, three tight ends. And even one running back and two tight ends, those 12 personnel, sometimes teams just keep their nickel, their smaller defense on the field because those are passing situations still. And they just get gashed. You know, like if you put a smaller team on the field,

then you run the football. I would imagine if Andrews and Lively both play, we'll see a lot of two tight end stuff either this week, but most likely they're pulling the Super Bowl. And I think the winner of the NCAA championship game wins the Super Bowl. So, and that's Baltimore winner of the edge championship game wins a super bowl so i'm and it's baltimore by the way so i i'm curious to see sort of how this matchup goes on on sunday okay well i'm eager to talk about the nfc but before we move off the ravens and the team they beat give me like a summary thought um i've seen some big hyperbole our buddy mike greenberg uh

referred to cj stroud's season as the best rookie season ever for a quarterback. I think Greeny is not a hot take guy. That's pretty reasonable take where what do you make of him and their future because it seemed like I was watching the end of that game and thinking they should be staring at the Raven sideline and Lamar specifically and CJ should be thinking I'm on that guy's path right now I started great I got there I'm not all the way there yet but MVPs and maybe even Super Bowls are in my future if I keep a nucleus here with this coach well the Texans dude it's so it's right in front of them right Like you just played the AFC champion most likely. You don't have Lamar Jackson, but you have CJ Stroud.

Just build around him, right? You have a ton of cap space. You have draft picks. Give him more weapons. Get better on defense. You have a two-year window when he's cheap to go get this done. You have two years now. That's why, look, a loss is not the same everywhere, right?

The Texans losing is not the same as the Cowboys losing, right? The Texans are in a spot where they say playing with house money, and that's not really about on Sunday per se because the Packers playing with house money should have won that game. It's about the future, right? You know what your future is now if you're the Texans. You played at AFC. You didn't play all too well. You scored zero off at the touchdowns.

Look at that film. You're saying, how do we get players to beat that team? That's your job. Just like you should be really thinking of the AFC. How do we get players to stop Patrick Mahomes? We saw for years out west, right? Drafted quarterbacks and drafted cornerbacks, right? Because you want to stop the Chiefs.

The Texans now have a blueprint. Not a blueprint, really, but they have sort of the, you know, they have a blueprint of how do we build our roster to look like the Ravens that's what I have to go ahead and do yeah well okay you talked about playing with house money so two guys who very clearly uh have been playing with house money the last few weeks Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield both make the mistake that ends the game after what was a really great run. They were always, we all agreed, always going to be the guys to play hero and win the game or, you know, screw it up and throw the ball away. They both ended up throwing the ball away.

Okay, so now we have Lions Niners. I think everyone is excited to talk about the Lions. We're seeing a thousand posts about, oh, the last time the Lions were here, an iPod didn't exist and this didn't exist. Like, I got it. It's been a while for the Lions, but I think that this is the end of it, right? Like, good job, Dan Campbell. And now go home, please, because the Niners are twice as good a team. How is that debatable? Hopefully it's not raining in Santa Clara this weekend or Brock Purdy is screwed. Brock Purdy, the guy who was almost replaced for tom brady this offseason allegedly you just you just you love tom brady so much i know you deep deep down your soul you do

okay i'm looking i'm looking at weather for santa clara right now uh for this weekend sunday 70 degrees and no precipitation good for you brock purdy um i mean look he can't play in the rain obviously which is great for a number one quarterback. Just can't play in any weather whatsoever. This game to me is – There's a lot of sarcasm pouring out of you right now. I mean, come on. This game to me, I think, is closer than people think.

The Niners can't stop the run. What are the Lions going to do? They're going to run the football every play if they have to. They'll be stubborn about it, man. If Debo can't play, we've seen this year for the Niners' offense, if one guy is out, Debo, CMC, Trent Williams, Brock Perry's not the same player. So if Debo's not playing, the Lions can win the football.

This game is much closer than it has to be, in my opinion. I think it's seven right now is the bet, right, is the line. I think it's inside seven. I know Sharps are on the Niners. I get that. Just with my football brain, man, I think that if the Lions run the football and one of those guys doesn't play,

which obviously would be Debo, McCaffrey and Trent Williams are healthy, Brock Purdy has shown that he is not the same quarterback of, of all his weapons are not available for him. Yeah, he's well, at least lots of people have said that he's shown it. I don't know for sure, but can I, can I ask you this though about the other side of this? Because I feel like there's a lot of, uh, propaganda about Dan Campbell. I think we're all being asked to believe something about him that like just the fact that he drinks so many espressos in the morning and

like the way he introduced himself to all of us in his introductory press conference and and the kinds of you know, crazy tough guy things that he likes to say because you know, they make our buddies at PMT and others retweet them. Does any of that shit matter? Who cares? Do professional football players need a guy to gas them up like that? These are not high school football players. Gas them up, no. you know setting up your your program for um you know for

success by being super physical by drafting players that fits your scheme by promoting sort of this way that you want to play i think that matters, Gabe. I don't think the motivational part of it, like that matters terribly much, but the identity of the culture, the identity of what the Lions are, yeah, it does matter, and it comes from the coach. So again, it comes from the coach. In the end, better players are worse players, and guys play good or don't play good, but yes, I think it matters that they believe in Dan Campbell.

He also, also very important, has hired really good coaches to coach with him. That's also important, Gabe. That's part of his job. Ben Johnson, the offensive line coach, guys on defense. So, to me, that all matters for why Dan Campbell is having this sort of moment. And they're doing it with Jared Goff. That's part of it as well. A guy that the Rams discarded.

A guy the Rams obviously did not want. Now, Stafford's better. I get that. But a guy that none of us thought would be here. I saw a list today of there's five quarterbacks that have ever brought two teams to a conference championship game. Goff is one of five. That's insane. The other, let me read them off. Brady, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Kurt Warner. Those are the other guys.

Seems pretty good, right? Yeah, that's nice company. That said, Jared Goff was the number one pick and really no one ever thought he was there. He was bad, but Sean McVay understood he could go further with a different guy. Jared Goff's career seems a lot like what two is probably will be eventually Mike McDaniels just gonna be like, I can't win the Super Bowl with this guy. He'll go somewhere else and to be a good player again because he's a good player. So Jared Goff's that way. Look, I think that golf and Purdy are probably pretty alike, right?

That they are. Except one was the first pick overall and one was not. Is that they're great in their systems. They're great fits for what the team wants to do. If you're having a fancy draft, they're not going very high, right? Not a fancy draft, like a quarterback skills draft right you're drafting quarterbacks from the top not fancy football wise but you're just taking like the you know they're not in the top 10 but they play well in their systems they are they

make winning football plays even when it's ugly for times as it was with brock purdy but this is the reason why i'm picking the AFC to win the Super Bowl. I get Lamar Jackson against Brock Purdy or Jared Goff or Patrick O'Holmes against Brock Purdy. I'm taking the better quarterback, the far better quarterback in that game. That's why I'm strongly on the AFC, I think, heading into the Super Bowl, which obviously is a couple weeks away from now. I mean, look, I can't buy Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan's sort of conservative, at times, play calling and when things get tight over Lamar Jackson and Patrick Holmes.

I also think, too, the reason why we like Dan Campbell so much is he coaches with an aggressive nature, right? He's always going forward. He's always pushing. Even when it doesn't happen, he talks about the process about why he does things the way he does. That thing that also goes a long way. All right. But again, I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other about him, but I think we just have to pierce through some of these narratives. Brandon Staley does the same kind of stuff, but he's a dork and it has failed a few times. It seems also did not win. That's also important.

Yeah, I know. But Dan Campbell, he's like a tough guy who's got some swagger and goes for it. The numbers be damned. And it happens to have worked out a few times. So he's really embodied the city. Whereas if you're some nerd and you're pointing at what the book says you should do and you fail, then you're soft and then, you know, no one has your back. Like, it's just, it's all BS is what I'm saying. Fair, but the winning and losing plays a big role in this. And Dan Campbell wins a lot of football games. If Staley won more football games, then people would look at him differently. Yeah.

Well, okay. So you like the Niners by a little and you like the AFC champ, no matter what, we'll have chance to revisit each of those ideas after we've watched the championship games. Anything else coming out of this weekend that you need to share before we maybe switch gears a little and hit some college topics? What are we gonna do Saturday? Okay, I feel like no football

on three weird. what are we going to do saturday we're gonna have like no football on it's gonna be weird my son came to that same realization he uh he every single day literally every single day no matter which day of the week it is he wakes up and the first question he asked me is is there football on today it's my kids don't like football that much yeah it's been nice because you know in december and january the answer is oftentimes, yeah, there is actually. No football Saturday is a hurting time, but we do get probably the matchup that we wanted in the AFC. I think this is the best AFC championship matchup we've seen in a little while.

Did you see the numbers for the Bill Chiefs game? Over 50 million people watched that game. Yeah, well, let's give credit to Taylor Swift. It must be her. Must be what it was. I know that social media, a lot of people just tweet stuff to troll and get attention. People that are like, NFL's being ruined because they showed Taylor Swift on the Jumbotron. What is wrong with those people, Gabe?

They're morons. And listen, as you get older audience, if some of you are probably a slightly earlier stage in life than me or Jeff, I'm going to be the old guy for a second. As you get older, you realize that the things that make your your spouse or your children or the other people around you in your life say yeah yeah let's put the game on or like yeah let's go let's go to the bar where the game will be on with the kids instead of going to the park anything that gets those people to make those decisions is good for you whatever it takes yes whatever it takes to get your wife kids grandma whoever's around your house to say yeah yeah sure let's put the game on is net positive so go with it there's a i think

taylor swift just can't make it to the super bowl there's like she's in tokyo for her tour i believe but um if she is there my wife will like want to watch the game to see Taylor Swift over wanting to watch obviously the Chiefs play. Like she's watching games now because of Taylor Swift. Fine. And everyone in the household is having fun watching football. She's not really a Swifty per se. Just I think because my daughter likes it too. Like my daughter is so into it.

Okay. My daughter, I came home yesterday um from buffalo um my kids got home at like 3 30 from school they walk on the door we say hi i come upstairs to do a little bit of work and i go into my daughter's room and she's sitting she's a makeup like thing set up for her i don't know she's in there doing like full-on makeup at seven and a half and it just it just you know i was like oh it feels early they grow up fast gabe they grow up fast they definitely grow up fast uh but you know we gotta let them do it for herself yeah let them let them do it maybe taylor switch inspired that it was a, it was a weird feeling yesterday. Just a random aside.

You're getting old and so are your children. Uh, let's not age too much during this break. I think at about, about 10 seconds for the live viewer, uh, for the listener.

Here's your, here's your break. We'll come back. We'll, uh, we'll talk coaching in college ranks, maybe get a few picks or, uh, ideas out of you and then we'll wrap it up.

All right. Yes, let's do it all right we're back from our mandated break all right what do we got gab i think we have that's mandated right it's in the it's in the rundown the rundown is the run the rundown is is gold it's if it's in there it's uh we're like wrong burgundy man we if it's in. If it's in there, we're like Ron Burgundy, man. If it's in the prompter, we're saying it. All right. We've got some college football topic to hit.

Really one college football topic. Let's get to it. It's probably more of an NFL topic, if we're being honest. But the most obvious... But I think it affects college football maybe more, but go ahead. Yeah. Well, interesting. That sort of gives away what you think about this.

We are in striking distance. That's in quotations. From a deal between the Chargers and current Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, this is in no way surprising to anyone who pays attention to anything. I think I've been predicting this since about September.

But it's probably actually going to happen soon. So big win for the Chargers, definitely. Big win for Justin Herbert, probably. Big loss for Michigan, I assume, but who knows? You tell me, Jeff. Well, look, this felt like was sort of always the landing spot for Harbaugh. He obviously coached in San Diego. He has a coach at stanford like he knows the west coast well um but more importantly as justin herbert and that was the selling point for this job now this job has a little bit of some drawbacks the salary cap situation's not great there it's a little bit you know older roster but you have justin herbert you're set at that position

already where if you go to washington or vegas or somewhere else you don't have a quarterback so you know right now her Herbert's your quarterback, and it always felt like this was the fit. And just to be able to fix Justin Herbert, man, I mean, Herbert's going to love Harbaugh. It seems like he's going to bring his defensive coordinator from Michigan along. I imagine he'll bring some coaches from Michigan. We talk about impact, though.

This impacts college football, in my opinion, more than it does in the NFL. I mean, are the Chargers winning a Super Bowl with Harbaugh, with Mahomes in their division? I mean, it's possible. He's been in a Super Bowl before. He's been a great coach everywhere he's been. But with the transfer portal, and Michigan already is losing a bunch of players. I mean, Michigan can be set back years, Gabe, if Harbaugh leaves.

They don't give the job to Sharonaron moore who's the offensive line coach and was the the interim head coach there at the last three games of the season because once you once your coach leaves your 30 days enter the portal that roster gets gutted michigan is no longer michigan right um and that i think affects college football especially if moore doesn't get the job someone else is taking the job staffss get raided again. It's not such, it's not, it's not so dramatic in the NFL when Harbaugh takes that job. Yeah. Well, okay. Fair enough. It is more, it is more impactful. There's ripple effects are greater in the college game. But for me as an obvious longtime Charger fan, you know, live and die by

the Chargers. Uh, I see this as worrisome for the Chiefs, but not really. And, you know, everywhere Harbaugh's sort of catch up. Everywhere Harbaugh has been, he has won. Like that is that has happened. So I would imagine the Chargers do a lot of winning. What's more likely a Harbaugh sweep in college and NFL this year or a state of Michigan sweep in college or NFL this year? Oh, Harbaugh sweep. Harbaugh sweep. It's like it's looking pretty likely. Here's an interesting

nugget. And I want to get your take on a few other coaching vacancies or rumors out there. We can't end the show without you telling me where you think Belichick is going to go. But real quick, Hank found this note and I did not know this. This is pretty shocking to me actually. Tyler de Santa reported with the Bengals needing to replace Callahan after he took the Tennessee job. Every team in the NFL has changed their OC since the 2022 season. Yeah, that's insane. Okay, how why? What explains that? That's not a coincidence. Okay, let's talk about this.

Yeah. Some teams, Chiefs, Rams, Browns, their head coach calls the plays. So it's not so much the offense is leaving the room as the coach is leaving the room. But the reason why there's been so many coordinator changes is because everyone tries to hire the offense is leaving the room as the coach is leaving the room but the reason why there's been so many coordinator changes because everyone tries to hire the office coordinator right these guys are getting the head coaching jobs yeah and that's why they're getting at a higher rate than defense coordinators are that's why there is the the change of the guard with that but again if you have a head coach who calls plays you're losing a position coach you're not really losing the

coordinator because you're not that guy's not coordinating the offense it's the head coach who calls plays, you're losing a position coach. You're not really losing the coordinator because that guy's not coordinating the offense. It's the head coach. Eric Bien-Ami left the Chiefs. It's the same offense, Gabe, with Andy Reid. Sean McVay has lost coordinators to other positions, to other jobs. It's Sean McVay's offense. Stefanski just hired Tommy Reese, I believe, to be his

OC. Former Notre Dame OC with Alabama. It is Stefanski's offense still so at least for now they say he might Tom Reese might call plays that's why there's been so much you know change in that in that position all right fine it's still strange because half the teams by definition are are below average on offense so why their OC would get a new job well they get fired those OCs get fired and the good ones get hired. I guess that's how you, the word was changed. The word was changed. Good point. All right. So then

real quick, let's, let's hit a couple of teams and a couple, a few coaches who might be up for the job. So the new England job is obviously the most interesting one. It isn't actually a great job right now, but it's an interesting job. Yeah. Mayo got it. Sorry. He got it, but they, the vague, the vacated spot was Belichick. Yeah. Mayo got it. Sorry, he got it, but the vacated spot was Belichick. Sorry, obviously the New England

job's full. What do you make of the other open jobs right now? I just want Belichick to take the Chargers job so you can root for him. That's what I'm rooting for.

Not going to happen. It seems like Belichick's going to- It's up to Harbaugh. Yeah, so we got Mayo in New England, we got Harbaugh in LA. And we have Callahan

in Tennessee now. It does feel like Belichick in Atlanta is going to be a thing. We got Mayo in England. We got Harbaugh in LA. And we have Callahan in Tennessee now. It does feel like Belichick in Atlanta is going to be a thing. Ben Johnson is going to the Commanders. It looks like Dave Kanellis, who is the OC for Tampa Bay, has more smoke to him. Second interview with the Panthers, it looks like. Maybe he's in Carolina. Seattle's interesting.

Everyone, I think, sort of puts in like Vrabel to Tennessee. Maybe. Maybe that's a thing. Vrabel to – sorry, did I mishear you? Sorry, Vrabel to Seattle. Vrabel to Seattle. So that's sort of, I think, where we're at right now. We know Sirianni kept his job.

We know McCarthy kept his job. So that's right right now. All right. So everyone's going to want to talk about Bobby Slowik. He's interviewing again with the – I think he's too inexperienced to be a head coach at the moment, and that's what people will not – it's his good experience to interview this year.

McVay was very young when he got the job gig, but he had been in football his whole life. This is Bobby Sloak's coaching so far. Ready? 2011, he was defensive assistant, then defensive quality. Then he went to PFF, by the way, for four years, from 14 to 17. Then he went back to the Niners, defensive quality control. Then offensive assistant for two years.

Then 2021, past game specialist in San Francisco. 2022, past game coordinator. 2023, offensive coordinator. I'm not saying that he's not ready to be head coach, but I think this process for him is more about being vetted and and sort of going through this process for next season is my guess i do not see him as a head coach this year yeah one name that we don't have written down that we spent a lot of time talking about over the last few seasons but it's gone quiet ever since and it might be because of the legal situation that i actually don't know the latest on but where's brian flores's name in all of this um yeah he i don't think he's got

many interviews this year right why is that lawsuit i guess i don't i don't really know um maybe people maybe the lawsuit gets settled he swole it back in the in in the discussion i don't know um i don't have a great answer for that uh yeah okay my guess is the lawsuit is people don't want to hire him for that reason all right um you want to give that a square should we uh if you try to make make people a few bucks um sure i could i could make one right now it's hard i don't want to put you on the spot i wasn't sure if we're supposed to can make one right now. I don't need to. I don't want to put you on the spot. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to be doing that right now. No, I don't think we are because we don't have it.

It's Tuesday, man. Unless you want to do like an NBA one or something. I've bet on NBA zero times this season. No, we don't even need to do it. You know what? I wasn't 100% sure. Like you said, I'm Ron Burgundy right now. I'm going off what I see on paper.

I thought maybe you were going to give me a square, but don't give me one. Don't give it away for free jeff how's uh how's the usc basketball going for you this year any games gonna be at the usc women's basketball game on friday taking the fam uh big juju watkins fans in my family well uh we'll see if the trojans can uh pull up a dub pack 12 women's basketball man that's where it's at dude who you telling uh so who upset uh utah upset ucla last night right and then ucla has beaten usc and ucla in the last week then so it's ucla's two colorado's three i think that's what it is usc6 is that what sort of like sounds familiar that that's the latest rankings, but they've all played each other recently.

And I think a lot of that's going to change. Um, the, the, the Caitlin Clark flop heard around the world. There's a lot happening. Women's college basketball right now. It's a busy time.

Do you, what's your take on the Utah beat USC and UCLA in the same week, both games at home. What's the, what's your take on, on Caitlin Clark's, uhlin Clark's flop there? I don't have any take on Kaitlin Clark's flop because basically anything Kaitlin Clark does is awesome.

So if people are calling it a flop, then the flopping is cool now. I'm looking at, yeah, Pac-12 has six teams ranked right now in the women's college basketball. Kate Clark is awesome. That's her first sort of misstep in her short fame is the flop. Like just, you ran into someone, it happened, just kind of play it off and move along with life.

The king does it. She should do it too. Maybe LeBron is her idol. So, all right, Gabe. We did it. Back from Buffalo. Back home. The dog is taking a little sleepy right here.

The dog, by the way, very well behaved today. Very well behaved. I took him out for a walk beforehand. So, I'm sorry. We took him to the barbershop today. He just sat in the barbershop and hung out. Oh, I thought you meant to get a haircut. I was like sat in the barbershop and hung out. Look at him. He's good.

Oh, I thought you meant to get a haircut. It's like barbers do that. No, me. Me. No, look. There we go. Look at him. He's just chilling.

There he is right there. Look at him just hanging out. What is that? A little cot? You got him like a little cot to sleep on? Yeah, that's his training bed. He likes the bed that we were told to buy for him. Oh, and that keeps the fur up. How's the fur situation in your house?

Is that pillow normally that furry? He's not. He hasn't been shedding. He's not. Fur's good so far. Huh. Is he a hypoallergenic breed? No, we've removed like all the rugs downstairs because he likes to piss on rugs.

Hmm. He thinks like they're grass or something. He's a good boy, man. He's well behaved. He's doing better. A couple weeks there. Early in the playoffs, end of the regular season, he was not so focused. He thinks like they're grass or something. He's a good boy, man. He's well-behaved. He's doing better. A couple weeks there, early in the playoffs, end of the regular season, he was not so focused.

Now he's locked in. He's like Patrick Mahomes. He's knocked out, Nancy. He's enjoying his life of living in this wonderful house of ours. All right. We'll be back on Friday with our championship weekend preview. And it's coming down to the end of it. We've got a lot to get to still.

We'll do that on Friday. All right, guys. Have a great couple of days. We'll talk to you on Friday. Take care, everybody. Outro Music