Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Mahomes Sneaks One Out in Vegas, Brady Comes Up Short, and Tua Hits the Bench

Episode Date: November 24, 2020

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs barely get out of Vegas with the win, while Tom Brady and can't pull it out in Tampa. Meanwhile Burrow is out for the year, Tua gets benched for a game, and Taysom Hill surprises Geoff. 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.

it's tuesday november 24th another week of football in the books tom brady looks washed the chiefs barely escape joey burrow and fortune hour for the season two against bench and so much more i'm jeff schwartz alongside gago and this is jeff schwartz is smarter than you i just finished watching the minor football game the The Rams pulling out 27-24 against Tom Brady. The Rams' fifth trip now to the East Coast. Gets themselves another win. And the NFC is all up in the air. We'll get to that in just a second.

Let's talk about Tom Brady, folks. Tom Brady 1-3 now in primetime games this year. Five touchdowns, five interceptions. I think it's time to acknowledge that Tom Brady might be washed. He's 43 years old, guys. This was eventually going to happen. And I told you guys to start the season. I was excited to see Tom Brady playing this offense

because I thought throughout the year they would get better, right? We know it takes 8 to 10 weeks for a new offense to get going, right? You have to see all the looks and all the plays and you have to get comfortable with the wide receivers and your offensive line. And even in a COVID shortened season, offseason I should say, I figured it would take that amount of time. Because guess what? You're making a playoff push now. You need to play your best ball down the stretch of the season. And Tampa Bay right now is not showing signs on offense that they are playing efficiently enough to win playoff games.

In those primetime games, when they're playing against better teams, their offense is not showing up. And Tom Brady's not doing his part. Throwing way too many interceptions. He doesn't look comfortable in the pocket. He throws way too many balls at the feet of wide receivers. Do running backs drop balls? Sure.

Is the offensive line perfect? Not all the time. But Tom Brady is supposed to be able to get this offense going. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and now Antonio Brown and Cameron Brate and Rob Gronkowski, all the running back weapons. Their offensive line, by the way, Tristan Wirfs and Ryan Jensen, good football players. Ali Marpet's been out Wirfs and Ryan Jensen, good football players. Ali Marpet's been out three weeks in a row, but good football players.

Bruce Arians, good offensive coordinator. Byron Lefkowitz, good offensive coordinator. This is supposed to be working right now, and it's not. It's not working at all. It's not working enough for this team. And I don't know if Bruce Arians and Tom Brady have not been on the same page with what to do. This is not the offense that Tom has run in the past, right?

They're not doing more of the dink and dunk. They're not play-action passing. Play-action pass. Tom is fabulous at play-action pass. Yet, for some reason, Tampa runs like none of it. I don't get it, right? They're not on the same page. And I do not know if Tampa can just flip a switch.

Look at the Chiefs this weekend. Are they going to flip a switch and just become a different offense? Tom has the arm strength. You can see. He can throw the ball plenty far. Throw the ball far. Throw it across from far hash. He can do all that.

But they're not in a rhythm on offense. The pass game looks out of sorts, out of whack. And it appears Tom Brady is, and Gabe will love this, it appears Tom Brady is close to being done on the downside of his career. And for things to go well for them in the playoffs, it looks like everything has to fall into place for them, right? Defense has got to play fabulous, which Jared Goff, and we'll get to him in a second, tore that defense apart for most of the game.

And the defense wasn't perfect tonight. And Tom cannot carry the team that appears when the defense isn't perfect. And now the Saints are going to have the one seed in the NFC, at least now they have a tiebreaker against Tampa. So Tampa's going to have to go on the road to New Orleans. They're going to play more games in New Orleans in the playoffs. And I'm concerned about Tampa, folks. I was high on them.

But I don't think I could be high on them anymore. Let's talk about the Rams. Really good stuff today from the Rams. Their defense quietly, folks, has been really, really elite this season. Look at who they played and how they played them.

The Bills game, the first half of the Bills game, was the only game this season where the Rams defense looked out of sorts for any big part of that game. Otherwise, their back end, their secondary has been fabulous. One of the best pass defenses in the NFL this season. Their pass rush, obviously, Aaron Dommel, it's been great. Look after Tom Brady today. The Rams defense is doing a fabulous job. We talk a lot about the Rams offense, but the Aaron Dommel, it's been great. Look after Tom Brady today. The Rams defense is doing a fabulous job. We talk a lot about the Rams offense, but the Rams defense is really, really good.

Rounding into form. It's an elite defense. It's a defense that can get them to the Super Bowl. Let's talk about the offense. They missed Andrew Whitworth tonight, their left tackle. I thought, as everyone else who watches football thought, they would struggle tonight. But Sean McVay did a great job with this game plan first of all they stayed ahead of the of the chains right they had good plays on first

and second down which of them out of those third along situations that was McVay end arounds run plays quick passes play action passes move the pocket all things that we've come to like about Sean McVay's offense he had that going going tonight. And golf was great tonight, for the most part, right? Through bad interceptions, through two bad interceptions. But for the most part, golf was good tonight. The problem is with the Rams, and why you just can't trust them, is tonight, down the stretch, the Rams are driving down. Ball game's tied.

Third and eight. You have a chance to get a first down under three minutes left, keep the clock moving, and go score a touchdown. Third and eight, I would say that the Kansas City Chiefs are throwing the ball, the Tampa Bay Bucs are throwing the ball, the Saints are throwing the ball, the Packers are throwing the ball, the Seahawks are throwing the ball. Everyone's throwing the ball, right? Because they understand that you don't want to give the ball back to Tom Brady.

And what do the Rams do? They run the ball, right? Because they understand that you don't want to give the ball back to Tom Brady. And what do the Rams do? They run the ball. And I just don't know if they fully believe that Goff is the guy, right? Because otherwise, he'd pass the ball there. Why are you running the football? So deep down, McVay said, we'll settle for a field goal here instead of trusting our quarterback, who played really well in the first half, to make a play for us. Was it their offense line they were worried about? Probably not.

But deep in the back of Sean McVay's brain, man, he had an opportunity to put the game away. At least not even allow Tom Brady the opportunity to get this long two-minute drive to end the game. Turned it down. Turned it down. Not good. And, you know, the NFC is wide open, in my opinion. We'll talk more about the Saints later in the show. But the Saints' defense, fabulous this weekend. Just get Drew Brees back. They'll have the one seed possibly.

The Packers lost the Colts. The Packers' defense, I just don't know if they're good enough. Seattle's defense, right? Not, like, not good enough to win. Is it the Saints? Is it the Bucs, the Rams? The NFC is wide open. It's really fun to watch the NFC right now.

I mean, it is wide open. I could see any one of those teams. If Seattle's defense gets hot, the Packers' defense gets hot, the Saints' defense keeps playing well. What if Tom Brady just clicks? What if it clicks for Tom Brady and Tampa just starts playing really well? There's so many Rams, obviously. There's so many teams I think that can just kind of turn on the playoffs.

The Saints right now are the favorite because the way they're playing offensively without Drew Brees, they won again without him, same as they did last year. Their defense was fabulous this weekend. So I go Saints to slight edge. But I like the AFC when it's Chiefs and Steelers at the top. That's it. The NFC is a group of teams kind of packed right there. If anyone peaks at the right moment, can win the NFC.

All right, guys. Let's bring in Gabe. Let's talk about the rest of the NFL action. Let's do that right now. All right, let's welcome in Gabe Goodwin. Gabe, welcome to the program. It's a wonderful week. It's Thanksgiving week.

One of my favorite of the year. Lots and lots of football. How you doing, buddy? I'm good. I'm thankful that you did the Tom Brady segment without me this week. I can focus on all the Sunday action. You covered us for Monday night. I will look back so you can make us smarter on the slate of games from the weekend.

Well, let's get started with more quarterback talk and unfortunately some not so great news. Some really, really bad news. So this has been the year of the rookie quarterback, right? I mean, it's been a phenomenal year for rookies. It was all going great just until yesterday. So we saw Joe Burrow went down, really disgusting image. I wouldn't even look it up on Twitter if I were most of you. Knee was all over the place.

It's an ACL and MCL and what's called structural damage i i mean it's gonna be a while he knows that the year is done we'll see what next season looks like then tua got benched he was a little dinged up but he got benched because he just wasn't playing that well yep herbert he looked great again he smoked the jets so i don't know how to take that. And then there's this kid, Walker, who played in place of Teddy in Carolina. Got a win. The XFL kid gets his first win as a rookie. So here's where I'm taking this. It's been the year of let's see what you have.

If you were listening to fans in Philly, they're saying let's see what we have in Jalen Hurts. Why not throw him into the mix? Give me one more rookie this year. See if he can win you the division. Let's go back to Brooks. I want to end with jalen hurts i want i want that to be the the dessert here for this for this topic so look guys joe burrow played fantastic this season and the bangles did him a disservice by running him behind that offensive line each and every week the offensive line is not good it's the worst the nfl And it showed each and every week that he got hit, sacked, touched, bangled up. I actually got sent the video of that play, the all 22, from a friend right before the start.

I just watched the clip. I saw what happened. And look, the Bengals have tried to pass the other offensive line this year with backups, with some starters, with some draft picks. Here's what they have to do. They have to look at themselves deep in the mirror and say, look, man, we have to improve our offensive line by any means possible. All the resources that we have have to go to upgrade that position.

We have to draft well. They know they drafted players in the past. Billy Price did not pan out, for example. Jonah Williams, I think, will pan out. They've had some other draft picks that didn't, right? So it's coaching, too, guys. They have to go get themselves offensive linemen. But if Pinesio is available,

go take him to the top of the draft this year. You have to spend all your free agent money on offensive linemen and make sure you get the right guys. You have to hire someone in the front office. It is your coach, someone who knows how to evaluate offensive linemen. Go pay money.

Pay money for the best offensive line coach that you can get to coach the offensive line. Because guess what? Joe Burrow's your future. If you do not protect him, this will be your future each and every year. Out for 9 to 12 months after a terrible knee injury. There's no saying he'll be back even to start the beginning of next year.

I would actually think he wouldn't be back, right? The Bengals have no reason to rush him back. The Bengals have to spend every single resource for that. They did him a disservice this year. And I understand the idea that some people have said, Amy Trask, who's fantastic, longtime Oakland Raiders executive, said, look, basically he shouldn't be playing, right?

She said that a couple weeks ago. And I get where she's coming from. And I agree that in principle, you only want your guy playing if your offensive line can handle it. But you're not going to not play the rookie, right? It's like one of those things where you're basically admitting to your fan base and to your organization

that you as coaches and you as front office have failed in protecting your number one asset. So they weren't going to admit that, but now they have to admit that. Now they have to find a way to make this right. So I feel really awful for Burrow and Gabe. Like that's, it's just, it's just a part of the game man but this one felt really sucky because it was preventable we knew this was going to happen anyone who watched him play all season knew he was gonna

get hurt yeah i mean i think he'd had more past attempts than anyone in the league he's back there getting hit all the time uh you're a lineman by trade so your bias is towards beefing up the line always. But is this sort of like, you know, when you go and you get a rental car and they're like, hey, do you want to add the insurance package? And usually you're like, what? No, man, I'm good. In this case, like, yes, add all the insurance you can do everything you possibly can to help this kid stay upright for his future. Yeah. Like here's here's the thing is again it's very important it's not just just it's not just adding draft picks to the room okay we'll see the giants it hasn't worked for the

giants hasn't worked for a couple other teams just kind of it hasn't worked for the bangles just like throw draft picks in the situation you need to have them well coached you need to have them scheme adapted right so whatever scheme you want to run youemen. If you want to pass the ball a bunch, go find great pass-protecting offensive linemen. Don't bring a bunch of run-mallers in, right? Because that's not your offense. If you want your offense to be the Rams, which is what the Rams have, then you have to kind of find maybe a combination of both,

but lean maybe heavily toward more athletic run-blocking guys. And so you have to match up the linemen you have, the personnel you have, with the scheme you want to run. And then coaching, man. Look at the Browns. The Browns are a great example. Bill Callahan comes in.

He's one of the best offensive line coaches ever. Ever. Ever in the NFL. They draft Draymond Gomes from Alabama. They bring in Wyatt Teller. Dude, they bring in Jack Conklin. They're the best offensive line in the NFL right now. Like, no, it's not even close.

And so you have to go find yourself a coach, man. I don't know who that coach is right now. We'll see how things shake out with, you know, maybe you pluck someone from college. Maybe you go overpay for some, I don't know, whatever it is, the Bayles have to invest. It cannot be cheap and protecting Joe Burrow. Now, I know you're not the injury guy, but you've, you've been injured and you've rehabbed from injuries and you've played around a lot of guys who've done the same. You have any guesses? You said you're not 100% sure he'll be ready by next season. What's that based on? Well, Adam Schefter tweeted out something that this is like a 9 to 12 month rehab. So that would put him, I mean, you know, barely ready by next season.

And there might not be a rush to get back. I mean, right? Why would you rush? Especially if he's your future, why would you rush him back? But speaking about rushing, to your point, should would you rush, especially if he's your future, why would you rush him back? But speaking about rushing, to your point, should the Eagles rush Jalen Hurts back on the field? I say yes. Not even back on the field, but just back, just onto the field.

Turn it over. So I talked to someone in the Eagles organization, close enough, the Eagles organization today, and I asked him, like, what's happening? And he basically said he's not playing well, which we know, know right Brian Baldinger does a lot of breakdowns on this like he's not processing things well quick passes the ball's not getting out he's holding the ball too long but the scheme is just low percentage plays like there's not a lot of layups there's not a lot of easy throws they don't move him much in the pocket we know he's good on the run and so

the combination of Wentz not playing well and the offense not really helping easy throws. They don't move him much in the pocket. We know he's good on the run. And so it's a combination of Wentz not playing well and the offense not really helping him very much. I don't know if Doug Peterson just doesn't have it anymore or Frank Reich and John DiFilippo that were the offensive coordinator quarterback coach on the Super Bowl team. They left, obviously, and maybe that was a big part of their success.

I don't know. It's not just Nick Foles, by the way. Obviously, Nick Foles is getting benched at Chicago, so that's not the issue so what do the eagles do because if you look at the schedule down the stretch i wrote about this for fox sports today game the eagles have two games that might be a favorite down the stretch that's it just two they're not positioned very well to win the division secretly by the way the dallas cowboys might win the division they have four or five win way, the Dallas Cowboys might win the division. They have four or five winnable games still.

I know you hate that game, but go to my Twitter, at Jeff Schwartz, go look at what I wrote for Fox Sports. It's up there right now. And the Cowboys schedule is set at best out of anyone in the NFC East. It is. So the Eagles have a really tough schedule.

And I don't know if they want to admit that carson went as a failure because remember if you bench carson went just like the bears bench miss trubisky there's almost no going back and they paid him so much money he's the most expensive asset right now as far as like team structure in the nfl and so if you admit that he's not the guy this year after you paid him all that money Gabe how do you go back to him next year how do you go back to me after that like you you again I go back to the Bengals situation when if you have to bench Burrow then you admit you failed right on the offensive line if you bench Carson Wentz and Jalen Hurts plays well then you have a 35 million dollar

backup quarterback for the next three years. Yeah, but the teams that do admit that turn it around much faster, right? I mean, weren't you telling me just a couple weeks ago about how Arizona did that? Yeah, but Arizona did that with a rookie quarterback under a rookie contract. This is not – how many guys in the second or – was it first or second year of a brand-new deal like this in year five, I believe, for Wentz, right? Or is it five?

Yeah, year five for him. They're just going to be like, I'm done with like that. It's almost unheard of. Yeah, no, I mean, listen, I wrote it into the topic today. Like just eat it. Just screw the money you're giving him and just figure it out. Because at least you do have a quarterback who would be on a rookie deal for the rest of Wentz's time.

So they have the chance. I mean, they can just suck it up and pay a quarterback position way too much money for a few years. But this is the year of finding out what you have. So, I mean, a few other teams figured it out. Shouldn't they figure it out? I think that if the Eagles,

if coming down the stretch, they lose a bunch of the next games they have, they have Seattle, Green Bay, New Orleans, Arizona, Dallas, and Washington. Like, they're going to lose at least four of those. Oh, yeah. Those are all Ls, and then the only two winnable games are the divisional games where those other teams are going to get ready to win.

Right. So how long do you stick with this experiment? Because you can win the division still. Dude, six wins is winning the NFC East. I'm telling you right now. It's all it's going to take. Six wins. Yeah.

Six wins. That's it. If you look at the schedule, no NFC East team will be favored outside of their own division games, I think. Like, that's how bad it is right now. I think one team has the Niners. I think the Cowboys do. They might be favored in that game at home. There's not a lot of Bengals.

The Cowboys have the Bengals too. So do the Giants this weekend. So I just, I don't think they can do it yet. I'm not against the idea, but you're admitting that you have failed with Carson Wentz. I do not think they are ready to admit that this season. Well, I mean, one team that has gone for their new quarterback, but then briefly, briefly admitted a mistake,

maybe in the fourth quarter on Sunday was the Dolphins. We were all into a time. And then all of a sudden it was Fitz magic again. I need you to just tell me if that's a blip and we're going back to two and don't even think about it, or is this going to be how it is the rest of the way? So it's really interesting. This, this benching that happened yesterday. I just, before we started, Daniel Arlovsky was tweeting about this game,

and I have not gone back to watch it, but he said Tua wasn't playing that bad. He doesn't understand why they benched him. The offensive line was terrible, and I've told you guys for weeks the offensive line for the Dolphins is not very good. They got exposed against the Broncos. Maybe they were worried about him getting hit too much. But yesterday showed that the Dolphins have a slim margin of error to win this season. I've told you guys this all along.

Now, maybe you believe me. Okay. The defense, again, by the way, had a big turnover early in the game and led to the Dolphins touchdown very early in the game. And they're built to win by defense, special teams, and limited offense. Small margin error in 2020. We saw yesterday when the defense plays a little bit worse than usual, when they don't have a special team score,

or big special teams play, they can't rely on the offense to get them a lot of points. I think the Fitz thing was very interesting because if you're down, they were down 10 with like 11 minutes left. Who do you trust in the situation right now? Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has proven many

times he can come back in a situation. And they had to go to a two-minute, spread the ball out, like boom, boom, quick passes. And their offensive line was terrible. And Ryan Fitzpatrick ain't getting hit. He's throwing the ball, right? And so they're able to, in that moment, use Fitz to help them win the game. Because look, Brian Flores, their head coach, is trying to win now. He's trying to make the playoffs this season.

The long term is Tua. You could have made a good argument, Gabe, that Tua should remain in the game because then he can learn how to get better in these situations, but you might lose the game. But Brian Flores is not thinking like that. Brian Flores is thinking, I've got to win this game because I want to make the playoffs this season. The front office is probably like, hey, man, just keep him out there.

Like, let's see what he does. But coaches don't think like that on Sunday. We've talked about this for years now, right? Coaches don't take on Sundays. They try to win football games. And that's a situation that I think they wanted to just get Fitz in there, spark the team a little bit. It didn't work, obviously. But they drove the ball down the field pretty well before he threw a pick, which, look, what's going to happen eventually. So I don't think it means very much for Tua. I don't really change my opinion about the Dolphins. I've had the same opinion all along, which is Tua's a rookie quarterback.

He's had some good, some bad. But the Dolphins are a small margin of error team right now. And next year, guys, watch out. They're going to be really good. This year, eh, they might make the playoffs. They might squeak in. But are you telling me that they're going to be the seventh seed and go to Kansas City and beat the Chiefs in the playoffs? Not a chance.

And they play in two weeks, I think, anyways. So in Kansas City, I'm curious to see how the Dolphins do in that situation. But it's not an indictment on Tua. It's an indictment on their offensive line. It's not very good. They, like the Bengals, have got to spend time coaching you know, they draft a lot of young players there. They should get better as the years go on. All right. So we're not going to read into it too much. There were a couple other rookies that we don't need to spend the time on right now. Your boy,

Herbert kicked ass, look great against the jets. He's setting all kinds of rookie records. He feels like the rookie of the year, given all the problems these other guys have had. And then how about Preston Walker? That was cool. XFL kid wins a game in his first start in the NFL. We'll see if he can keep it going. He's probably going to go back to the bench with Teddy coming back. Why is Matt Patricia still coaching the NFL? No, no idea.

Can't answer that question. Don't know. They lost 20-0 yesterday to the Panthers, who had lost like five in a row. Yeah, no, they suck. Why is he still coaching in the NFL on Monday of recording this? It's Thanksgiving week. Yeah, they play this week, obviously. They play the Texans Thursday.

They're not going to win that game. They'll probably lose on Thursday. And I think it seems like owners don't like firing guys Thanksgiving week, but I think the week after, anything goes. I think that's it. This is probably the last chance. So Friday, Thanksgiving's over. You're eating your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Are you a Thanksgiving guy? Are you a turkey guy? Yeah, sure. What do you do for Thanksgiving? Mm-hmm. I've never cooked one myself. Might be my first year doing that. You've never cooked a turkey yourself?

Never done it. So who makes the turkey in your household? Well, I got a British wife. So, you know, she's not too experienced with cooking Thanksgiving. So you don't celebrate thanksgiving then in your house well we got we got enough to be thankful for i'm thankful for my friendship with you i'm thankful for this podcast and the people who listen but no i might be going to the grocery store and picking up something pre-cooked this year that's that's

totally fine i might real quickly um you'll like this story in uh college i got a i've had this question asked since then but people ask me because i'm jewish you are jewish yourself um do you celebrate thanksgiving yeah and i have to remind them that it's not a religious holiday it's an american holiday i'm american you're american we celebrate thanksgiving yes jews celebrate thanksgiving and we eat turkey and some of us eat ham i i don't, not for kosher reasons. I just don't like ham, which might be a hot take, but I don't like ham. That's a crazy take, yep.

And we celebrate Thanksgiving like the rest of it. We get fat. We enjoy the football. We have some fixings. Now I'm in the South now, so I've got some homemade macaroni and cheese. Fantastic. I love it. It's my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

My wife does that. A deep fried turkey. Unbelievable. Creole butter seasoning in there. It's amazing. So yes, I celebrate Thanksgiving. If you were wondering, I know you were. I was not wondering. I've known you a few years. I've seen you celebrate it. And I knew you were going to do that with your turkey. You'll have to teach me someday. While you're getting nice and happy and thinking about all the great food you're going to have later this week. I want to bring your mood down a little bit. Listen, taste some Hill.

He shoved it right up our, you know, what's Jeff, especially yours. You were doubting him. Then he went out and ripped off 18 to 23 for 230 plus yards, ran for 50 plus yards, had two touchdowns running as a Ian Rappaport said,

Sean Payton, one world zero. It might as well have said jeff schwartz zero are you gonna eat some crow tasem hill looked pretty good in his first start might be working sean payton kind of throwing a middle finger at you and everyone else um so i think you can throw a better deep pass by the way than tasem hill can even though it was fun to hear that tasem hill admitted that that pass was really bad so yeah it yeah, it worked, man. It worked. And when they put him in the traditional drop-back situation,

it wasn't pretty, but when they ran a quick passing offense, took the shots they need to take, used him in the run game, it worked well. I thought in game one, I tweeted this out. People were surprised. I thought game one would work well. When you introduce a quarterback like him, not just a regular back, I'm not Joe Flacco in the game for Sam Darnold, but when you change the offense for quarterback,

it takes some time to figure out for the defense how that offense is going to be, right? The Falcons probably thought, okay, they're going to run this gadget offense. They ran some of it, but they also ran a quick passing game. There was no deep passing game unless it was play action pass.

There was nothing vertical down the field. So it reminded me a little bit of what they did with Teddy Bridgewater last season, but Taysomilk could run a little bit more. So he was very efficient. They didn't score a lot of points. 24 points is not typically enough to win you a lot of games. The takeaway for me yesterday was the Saints were fabulous on defense.

They were great. They had, what, nine sacks, I believe? Eight or nine sacks. They hit Matt Ryan even more than that. The Falcons looked like they couldn't move the ball. I tweeted out in the second half, will they get a first down this half? They got, like, one first down the entire second half, Matt Gabe. It was terrible.

So, takeaway is, yes, Taysom Hill was better than I thought. Second, I want to see how he does this week, and defense will have more time to prepare for this. Three, they've got to be a little more explosive on offense to really make this thing work. And maybe they can build that into their offense as they move forward. But four, this defense that we saw on Sunday,

that's a championship-winning defense. They got Drew Brees back. When that defense plays like that, they can win a Super Bowl. Okay, so take me through a week here where it's his week. Everyone knows he's the one. Opponent knows he's the one opponent knows he's going to be out there like what does that change in an opponent's scheming planning use whatever words you want yeah when they're positive they're getting ready for taste some hill and what he can do versus not really being sure because it was kind of unclear you know throughout the week yeah

so how does that change things in real ways, make us a little smarter here? Yeah, so, well, the defense has to prepare for the quarterback to run. So when you have a quarterback that's a pocket guy, you can rush the passer in a way, kind of without fear of the quarterback moving. Like, you know where he's going to be. So when you set up your pass rush, for example, and your pressures,

you know Drew Brees is going to stand in that spot. So you don't have to worry about rushing a certain way to make sure he can't leave the pocket. When Taysom Hill is in there, you have to rush a more disciplined rush. When you pressure, you have to do a little more discipline because you know Taysom Hill will escape that pressure. When there's

a shotgun formation on third and two, with Drew Brees, probably a pass. T tasem hill is a quarterback run is it is it an option is it a quarterback power is it a pop pass is it a fly sweep like see so there's all these new things that come into play on third and two let's say because you have a quarterback that can run so all these things make it more difficult for the defense look the play action pass drew breeze does a ton of it but not like like the throw the sanders like 50 yards downfield that's not really what drew breeze does too so it's a defense you have to

look out hey man play action pass is coming soon when's it gonna come so maybe safety plays a little bit deeper in the run game doesn't come fit up or he fits up and the guy goes behind him so all these new things are added to the Saints offense that the Falcons had to prepare for and I'll tell you the first time you see this offense teams are going to struggle which I tweeted out I'm curious to see whether or not we see this continuing over week after week until Breeze comes back all right well I mean if nothing else they will learn as we continue this theme sort of learn what they have when Drew Brees will be the starter again, we assume by the postseason, but they'll know they can put Taysom Hill in for a whole series instead of what used to drive you crazy,

where Brees would get the ball rolling and then here comes Taysom Hill on third and two and all momentum is lost. They could maybe just say, hey, let's give, because the field position, because of time on the clock, timeout situation, whatever it is is just give this one to tasem hill if they see that he can win a few games and lead the offense correctly right wouldn't that just give you two playbooks it would um the one thing that i'm most curious about um is moving forward is like i'm'm not really sure if I, so the goal for any team obviously is to win a Superbowl. And I,

I, I know that's a high bar for a lot of teams. Right. But like, I think they're going to keep him to be their quarterback next year. And I just, I don't see that that being a thing that helps them win a Superbowl. No,

I just, and, and so like, but that's the problem, right. um like you the goal is to win a super bowl tasem hill is not a super bowl winning quarterback in my opinion so is this good for is this good for them is this good that they win they kind of get this taste of winning with tasem hill and then use him next year as their quarterback well Well, I don't know because I'm not looking at the Saints' future.

I'm just looking at them this year and the chance to give Drew Brees one more ring. And it seems like he could be a nice change of pace guy on a series-by-series basis. Well, I would not. The series-by-series thing would bother me if I was Drew Brees. It would bother me as an offense, too.

Oh, okay. Really? Especially in a rhythm. Drew Brees is playing in a rhythm. Why take him out of the game? But what Taysom Hill is doing is he's helping them get the one seat. If they get the one seat, right?

They're at home. They're inside. Maybe there's fans in January. Maybe we get a vaccine in early December. Cross our fingers. Let's talk about that. Pump people with a vaccine. And people are showing up in January.

I doubt it. I doubt it. There'll be a lot of fans in the Superdome. But I don't know. So home field advantage is don't have to go to Tampa. Donome, but I don't know. So like home field advantages, don't have to go to Tampa, don't have to go to Green Bay. So every win that Taysom Hill

gets the Saints or helps them win is a huge benefit to their team right now. Yeah. Okay. Well, we don't know exactly what to make of all that.

Let's take a quick break here. We're going to move the line in a second. This is our little over-under game and we got a bunch more teams to hit. I mean, we barely talked Chiefs. We've got Steelers to get to. We've got a whole bunch of other AFC and NFC borderline playoff teams I want you to separate for us. So a lot moving forward here and moving the line. Let's take a break. Boom. And there it is. Wireless on the most

reliable network nationwide. That's cool. But with my wireless, I get unlimited for just 30 bucks. network nationwide. That's cool. But with my wireless, I get unlimited for just 30 bucks. Impressive. But does yours have 5G included? Of course. And my wireless saves me 400 bucks a year. That's because you all have Xfinity Mobile with your internet. It's wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. $30 per line per month. Taxes and fees extra. Compares pricing of top carriers. Xfinity internet required. Reduced speeds up to 20 gigabits of usage per line. Most reliable based on root metrics. UL's report. Results vary. Non-ity internet required. Reduced speeds up to 20 gigabits of usage per line. Most reliable based on root metrics. You also report results vary. Non-endorsement. Alright, Jeff, let's move the line. These are the

over-unders that you don't know are coming. So here goes. Jeff, money on the Chiefs versus money on the Steelers. You've liked them both. What's a little bit bigger number right now? The Chiefs or the Steelers in the AFC? Still the Chiefs. Still the Chief chiefs but their defense didn't worry me last night but here's the thing about it gabe what's really interesting is that if you look at the season for the most

part they played well in eight of their games on defense the two they have it are the raiders so if they don't put the raiders in the playoffs, maybe they will be able to kind of roll through the AFC. So a couple things that alarm me about the Chiefs right now. Their pass rush was non-existent last night. You can credit the Raiders for that. The Raiders did a fabulous job of pass protecting, of scheming things up. Waller

was not guard all night. They had a bunch of guys just opening the flat the entire night. Derek Carr played out of his mind. He played out of his mind. He was really, really good. I gotta give him credit for that even he even got hit that you know he there was a one time when there was pressure in his face he just turned he knew where the outlet was right threw the ball right to the outlet got caught it ran down the field for a big game and I think he had five balls that hit wide receivers hands that were dropped the one bad pass I think he had all game was the the intentional grounding they failed to call on that final drive of the game the problem again with playing the Chiefs Gabe is you have to score

30 points to beat them that's as bad as bad as the Chiefs played last night which offensively I think they played fabulous which had methodical drives right they took what the defense gave them I have not watched the film yet but I imagine the Raiders put a bunch of two deep safeties and said, look, man, you're not going to beat us throwing the ball deep. And Pat Mahomes was like, sure, okay. I'll hit seven yards, eight yards, 15 yards, 17 yards, whatever. Fine.

Just took what the defense gave them. They had four drives of just like five really drives of just methodical, just boom, boom, boom, boom. Right down the field, you know, he threw a bat. I guess most people said that blame Robinson for the interception. But even that, like that drive was a long methodical drive that just didn't end in a touchdown. right down the field you know he threw a bat i guess the most people said that boy robinson for the interception but even that like that drive was a long methodical drive that just didn't end in a touchdown so can the steelers score 38 points or 35 points can they make sure that under two

minutes left in the game they're up by more than eight points like that thing is if the chiefs get the ball back to end the game, they're going to score a touchdown. And to prove it otherwise, I do not believe they can be stopped in that situation. Now, the Steelers have a great defense.

The Steelers can do it. I mean, they're the one team in the NFL that I think can do it. But the Steelers have to be up 35 to what? To 24? 23, 24, yeah. Like with two minutes left to win the game.

Otherwise, so like, yes, you can do it. Yes, the Sears can do it. And they'd be the one team I put my money on to do it. But again, the Chiefs are like the Warriors, man. Like they just turn it on and you're not going to beat them. So I'm curious to see that matchup. I do hope the AFC Championship game is, is Kansas city in Pittsburgh or, you know,

Pittsburgh and Kansas city. I don't think it matters where the game is played. There's no fans and the weather's equally going to be shitty in both places. So I'm just curious to see, I'd love to see that matchup and the chiefs still have Tampa Bay this weekend. Great matchup for them.

So all the dolphins, like I mentioned, so the chargers to play again. So I'm curious to see if the Steelers can hold this one game lead over the Chiefs. Yeah, well, when we were heading with, I think it was a minute 37 left in the game and the Chiefs were getting the ball back

by down, what, four or whatever it was. Yeah. I tweeted something. I could have texted you this too. Like, would anyone bet the Raiders right now? Like, of course they were going to score. And they scored with almost no doubt. It was never even in question.

My question, though, to you is like, you're kind of getting at it, but isn't Ben exactly the kind of guy who understands how to pace out the fourth quarter, who would be good enough? And Tomlin has done this enough times to be good enough to not leave

a minute 37 for Pat, but to leave him with 27, which also might be enough we've seen that happen but like to really actually better strategize but the chiefs the chief should just let him score earlier in my opinion it's like but but you know but then the raiders went backwards right so they had they had like a first and goal they went backwards five yards and so like the chiefs i think we're gonna let them score and the raiders went backwards they're like okay well let's try to play defense, see what happens.

I mean, no, the way defense is now, look, they're so smart, right? Can you imagine even just three years ago a team just saying, hey, man, score a touchdown. Just go score. Teams are like, okay, go score a touchdown now because we'll just go down and score right away. Yeah, dude, that final drive was so incredible. Pat threw one ball away.

Otherwise, it was boom, boom, boom, boom. Again, it took what he gave him early on, right? Running back in the flat. I think he got 15, 30 yards on two or three passages right in the flat. Guy runs out of bounds. They used only one of their two timeouts. And then, obviously, he got Abrams to step up and hit Kelsey on the undefeated play of all time. Four verts.

Amazing. All-go special. Undefeated play. And, yeah, so you have to be up by nine points with two minutes left to beat the Chiefs. Yeah. And then I still think it's a, it's a close game. All right. Well, so then the other team that you, you know, we're talking about a lot in this context has a huge game on Thursday. We can't say much about it yet because we need to wait to hear more about what's going on with the Ravens. You know, I know you probably touched on this at the beginning of the show, but we're getting to that moment here where the

league is going to confront this reality of, wait, what do we do? We can't give a, you know, we can't just give a win to the Steelers if the Ravens can't field a team or it's not safe to play. There's that theory of maybe they expand the playoffs or they add a week. Can you give me any kind of insight on that at this moment? I know it's hard to do because still things are still coming in. Yeah. So they say the reports are now that is Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins that have tested positive for coronavirus. So the running back room is in trouble. The running back room is in trouble. They say Gus Edwards right now is in the clear. And yes, the game is Thursday, Steelers-Ravens. They could move it to Sunday to get themselves time. Now, they would not obviously add aers-Ravens. They could move it to Sunday to get themselves time.

Now, they would not obviously add a game back to Thursday night. They wouldn't do that. You just have two games on Thanksgiving. So there's possibility of – they could play Monday as well. I mean, there's time to figure out – if this is a Sunday game, maybe – but they have time to figure out to move the game back. The Ravens need this game, by the way. The Ravens lose this game.

They're, what, 6-5 now? Not looking good in the AFC, right? Teams continue to win in front of them and they need this game badly and the Steelers are favored by 3.5. They're at home Thanksgiving night. It's going to be a fantastic game. I cannot wait to watch it. For the Steelers to wrap up

we'll tie 1-2, topic 1-2. I've said for weeks that I need to see more explosive play from the sears offense we've seen it now against the bangles and the jaguars but those are the bangles and jaguars can you do it thursday night against the ravens i'm really really fascinated to watch this game and see if the sears can translate their better offense performances the last two weeks it's a really good ravens defense okay well let's use the ravens then as our segue to the second topic like you just suggested I want to know how scared you are just you as a Chiefs guy of the following AFC teams we just talked

about the Ravens a little bit knowing only what we know right now are we officially officially permanently done worrying about them after this this weekend's loss and now these COVID issues can we just stop talking about them yes they've lost to the chiefs the patriots the titans and the steelers like the four teams at the top of their that's who they would face in the playoffs yeah now i beat the colts but i i mean we'll get the colts in second i don't understand the colts okay well let's just get right to them then by going through the titans so titans beat the ravens that's part of why we're pretty sure the Ravens are done. I mean, Derek Henry looks as good as ever, right?

Yeah, but I mean, they've got the Colts coming up. This is going to be a big game for them. It is. You're not winning running the football. Ryan Tannehill hasn't played as well last month, partly because their offensive line is so beat up, right? They have a backup left guard, left tackle, haven't been the same. Great job finishing that game against Baltimore.

Give them all the credit in the world, but Baltimore's offense can't finish anything right now. I don't, if they're, if they're down eight points to the chiefs with six minutes left, they're not winning that game. So I mean, the Titans, no, not, I'm not worried about that. Not all that worried. Okay.

The question was over under 75% scared. So you're going to say under on Ravens and Titans. How about the Colts? This is the weird one. We said if they beat the Packers, then you'd take them seriously. I don't get the Colts. Obviously, they're good on defense, but they were down 28-14 that game, right? It made no sense.

This whole game was screwy. And like, I don't, I don't't what do we do with philip rivers we've watched him for years do i trust him to go into arrowhead and win a playoff game nobody trusts him to do that no so i i'm not worried about the colts at all because of philip another quarterback sure but not philip rivers okay so even though they're going to do everything they can do to make you worry you're still not going to be worried. So that'd be total confidence in the Chiefs beating the Colts. I think I'm with you on that one.

I'm going to ask this because I have to. I think you're going to laugh at me. But the Browns, you've complimented their offensive line earlier in the show. Their defense did it without Miles Garrett yesterday. They are quietly 7-3. I can't believe quietly and baker mayfield go together but quietly seven and three is they ask him to do less and less this is like the best start they've had since bill belichick was the coach there 100 million years ago what do we think what would be the final score of a chiefs browns game i would guess 37 to 10 chiefs

game i would guess 37 to 10 chiefs okay end of end of discussion okay that's a time saver we're not gonna do that and then again they didn't they didn't give us anything to look at but the bills still not scared i'm i'm not scared not scared okay all right percent chance it's been pittsburgh by the way the entire season yep you've said it all along. You've been very consistent on this. You have admitted you might maybe been slightly wrong about Taysom Hill for one week, but you haven't had to admit anything about the Browns or Steelers so far this year, or Bills for that matter. Let's switch to the NFC. I want to know the percent chance we need to ever seriously talk about these NFC teams ever again,

or at least this season. Keep in mind we— Like never, ever, ever or at least this season. Keep in mind. Like never, ever, ever. No, ever for the next few months. I already declared that the Eagles were gone last week or two weeks ago. So we don't even need to get into whether they're to be taken seriously. But let's talk about their division. DC and your boy Alex Smith, they got the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Either of those two teams.

Do I have to ever take them seriously? Dallas, you do. I think you do. Washington, you don't. Washington's being the Bengals, the Eagles, and the Cowboys with Dalton got hurt. Good for Alex. Let's hope he stays healthy. We're writing them off.

So here's the thing with Dallas. It's kind of interesting. So healthy Andy Dalton is the best quarterback in the division right now. Yeah. No question. Except for maybe Jalen Hurts, but we don't know yet. Sure, sure. Okay.

Except for, you know, like the ghost of Eli Manning in the Giants. Whatever. Okay. So Cowboys offensive line appears to be a little bit better. They put Zach Martin to right tackle, had their best game a long time offense ran the ball pretty well Dalton was good CeeDee Lamb had a great catch now defensively is where the improvement has happened and I was I think I fairly ragged on the Cowboys early in the season for their effort their effort has improved a lot they're playing a lot faster a lot more sound and a lot better now they still have some issues. They gave up a ton of points, obviously.

But they were a little bit better on Sunday. And I talked about their schedule. This is very important, right? Their schedule. I'm going to pull it back up here because the Dallas Cowboys' schedule sets up really well for them. Unlike the Eagles and Giants and Washington football team, who just have a bunch of tough games outside of their division,

the Cowboys do not. The Cowboys' schedule sets up really well for them. They have Washington this weekend, Thursday. I think they beat Washington Thursday at Baltimore. Tough game. The Bengals in Cincinnati, they're going to beat the Bengals. Then they get the Niners

and the Eagles back to back weeks at home and finish with the Giants. All you need to win the division is six games. Yeah. There's three wins in those last six games. I counted four and two if things break your way. That's more than enough to win the division. Yeah.

Well, right, because some of those wins are against the stupid teams that are all three and seven in that division. Correct. Well, excuse me, Eagles are three, six, and one. Excuse you. Sorry, right. The three-win teams in that division are who they're going to beat up on plus maybe they steal a game from those other you know the bengals should be a win i don't think they're beating the niners but they could i don't think they're beating the the ravens i'm not even gonna

say they could they won't but yeah so if they go six-10, that's it? Right. Okay, so we have to keep talking about the Cowboys for another few weeks. The Vikings, the team they beat, are we – I mean, they're technically still in it for the seventh spot. We're just, no, let's save time on them. We're not talking about the Vikings. Good. Done.

And then Bears, we have more of a claim, but let's skip them too. They don't even know who is playing quarterback this week. So they're out. They've been the same conversation. Since they started really hot, they've been the same conversation for like two months straight. I'm glad we don't have to talk about them. Let's move to college football if we can. A fun weekend.

Weird weekend, but fun weekend. So I want to know Pac-12 playoff teams instead of Clemson. I want to know over under the chance of that happening, 1%. Under 1%. No Patel team is getting in. Sorry. What if your team, Oregon, and my team, USC, marched through however many games they've got, call it six.

I know that's what USC is slated for. Meet up in a championship. Winner 7-0 undefeated with some ranked wins in there. And Clemson never really does anything from now till the end to get back on track. You don't think that maybe they get the nod? So that would mean that Clemson has to lose to Notre Dame again. Well. Right, right. Cause they play the AC championship game.

I guess that I'm at, well, then I would obviously, right. If there's an undefeated PAC 12 champ and it's Oregon. So if they beat, but Alabama's in Ohio state's in. Yeah. If, if Clemson beats Notre Dame in a close game, I think both those teams are in. Okay. I think they're both.

If they, so if they, if they split the regular season schedule, and would they throw them against each other in the playoff? That'd be fun. No, you'd probably have like, they'd be like three and four. Yeah. So it wouldn't play against each other.

So I would say no. I mean, look, USC, the problem with USC's schedule was the only ranked opponent they have is whoever wins the Pac-12 North. That's right. Oregon and Washington at least get each other December 12th.

So they do have a ranked game before that, right? So like they have a little bit better chance. And maybe someone schedules BYU in between at some point. The BYU's obviously their motto of any team, anytime, anywhere, any place, whatever, obviously not very accurate. So yeah, the Pac-12 is not getting the playoff, which is fine. team anytime anywhere any place whatever obviously not very accurate um so uh yeah the pact all was not knocking the playoff which is fine we forfeit that opportunity when we cancel north season i but see i i don't know if you're really giving oregon as much of a chance i think there's a path what

what you just said would mean beating a ranked washington if they can convince byu to play that would be beating a top 10 team an undefeated team in BYU. If they beat USC in the final, that means that USC is probably a top 10 team by then. Right. Right. But they were right now, BYU is not on the schedule. So they have to have a cancellation and then pick up BYU. Swap a game for that. I'm just saying that that puts you in the conversation against a one loss Clemson team that, you know, or one loss Notre Dame team that maybe doesn't quite deserve it in that conference. I don't know. It'd be tough, man.

All right. You know better than me, but I was just trying to give people some optimism. Let's, uh, let's stay in, uh, out West here and switch to professional basketball, your team. I want to know the percent chance. LeBron repeats 99% chance. I'm giving them over and over, over a hundred percent.

Right. I mean, technically is recording this. AD has not signed back with the team yet. So come on. He's coming back. So they, they add mantras,

Harold, they add Schroeder. Two guys who can score but aren't like give-me-the-ball guys. They've just like solidified the whole team. Oh, yeah. They're so much better now than last year. Are you a Knicks fan? No.

I mean, I was as a kid. Okay. I was just curious. You're not going to get me on O.D. Toppin. I don't know anything about the guy. The draft kind of snuck up on us last week didn't it yeah my my pact of radio show sirius xm 373 monday through friday seven to nine eastern um we could talk about the nba draft and i was like i told my producer like uh uh i no like when i'm not i didn't know anything obi toppen was the next pick obi toppen was the player of the year from dayton now congratulations yeah now when i knew that or that he won that the

thing with the nba though is like after the top 12 picks is like very rarely game-changing players well also how who knows well if you're the player of the year but you played at dayton i mean listen i'm an a10 guy i the a10 gets a player of the year every few years they don't tend to become superstars in the nba uh david west and jameer nelson are two examples you say you're an a10 guy yeah man gw okay i was like can you name me more than one school but you can't obviously i can but uh well actually the a10 has changed a bit since I went to college there, so now I'd be less sure. Duquesne, I think, still in the A-10.

Marquette? They weren't when I was there. They might be now. It used to be St. Joe's was a powerhouse in the A-10. Xavier was a powerhouse in the A-10. Dayton was pretty good. GW was pretty good for a few years there umass there was there's some good teams the uh oh oh wow the uh davidson is now in the a10

yeah yeah yeah yeah i'm looking at the i think charlotte came and maybe left already it's uh wow there's a lot of random teams it's not. It's not 10 anymore either. No, it's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. It's 14 teams. Wow. You added some. Did I? Fordham. Oh, Fordham's always been in.

Yeah. Fordham's a good one. Rhode Island, VCU. Yeah. George Mason. LaSalle. VCU's newer. LaSalle's always been in.

UMass. Yeah. St. Joe. Yeah. St. Louis, Richmond. Yeah. St. Louis was an ad since I was there't ad since the bonnies yeah bonaventure yeah it's incredible couple a couple uh tough upstate new york trips there i i used to call the games for gw so i would travel wait really yeah yeah so like play by play i play yeah we'd split half and half i do play by play and color we need

to find some old please we need some old gig wait i want to hear some let's hear some play oh i can't i can't do it for you but i but my homecoming game we used to get to pick it when we were juniors or seniors we'd pick a game we wanted where we'd travel to this site so fordham is right near where i grew up and Fordham isn't any good, but it was a free trip home and a chance to call a game, some friends came. So we're calling the game at Fordham and we, the sports information people like either forgot or didn't have information

to give us. So late in the game, they start emptying benches. I think it was, it might've been like a homecoming game or something. So they start emptying benches. So we're down to like the 12th, 13th, 14th guy on the bench for four. We have no information, none whatsoever. So on the fly, my partner and I just started making up a whole backstory for this kid. I love it. We just, We're just totally making the whole thing up. And there's a tape somewhere of us describing

the life story of a kid who played for Fordham, none of which is true. I'd like to find that tape. My actual call is not that great. That's incredible. Play-by-play, wow. I did not think that was a thing that you would do. I would never guess you're a play-by-play guy.

I was for a little while in college, and then I went the other side of the mic. And that's how I met you, Jeff. I became a producer and finally got my destiny. I mean, not doing play-by-play, but yes, being a producer and producing on that. All right, guys, another great show. Thank you guys for joining me.

We'll be back on Thursday for our gambling picks. It's now officially time, by the way, to fade Jeff Schwartz. So if you were listening to our show on Thursday, I appreciate you listening. But, oh boy. I don't think I've had a good couple of weeks. I know I haven't. All right, guys.

Talk to you on Thursday. Have a great couple of days.