Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Playoff Favorites, Coaching Musical Chairs & Quarterback Tipping Points

Episode Date: December 31, 2019

In the first week post-regular season, Geoff & Gabe break down head coaching vacancies, how scared the NFC should be of the 49ers, what the Cowboys should do & shifting trends in NFL quarterbacks. Coaching Vacancies (1:25) Cowboys off-season options: (16:12) NFC Favorites: (24:37) QB trends & mobile signal callers: (32:53) 'Move the Line' betting segment: (42:49) Social Mailbag: (56:25) *we recorded this episode before Browns GM John Dorsey was reportedly fired 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.

on the last weekend of the regular season in the nfl if the chiefs win and new england loses the chiefs will be the two seed they'll get the bye and they'll have a home game the next weekend i'm getting confused what game are you calling i'm calling both games from the athletic i'm jeff schwartz ron rivera is likely headed to dc jason garrett hangs in limbo Both games. From The Athletic, I'm Jeff Schwartz. Ron Rivera is likely headed to D.C. Jason Garrett hangs in limbo, and the playoffs will prove that this is truly a copycat league. It's Tuesday, December 31st,

and this is Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday week, and Happy New Year to one and all. Happy New Year, Gabe Goodwin. Hello. Welcome to the program, buddy. Thank you. This is what people will bewin. Hello. Welcome to the program, buddy. Thank you. This is what people will be listening to as they count down the new year.

This is it. Forget about Ryan Seacrest. Just pop this baby on and bring it right to midnight, fellas. You should. As a true NFL fan, you should listen to this as you bring in the new year. If you're awake, though, if you're over about 35, I think you're allowed to sleep before midnight. Is that the rule? West Coast rules, man.

Nine o'clock is bedtime tonight. That's amazing. It's great. Fireworks at nine out here. They know. They know that we don't need to be up till midnight. Let's just watch the East Coast do it and let's call it a night. I woke up this morning, went to Twitter, and there was a live stream of the Sydney in Australia, the New Year's fireworks.

I'm like, I'm set. Time to go back to bed. I'm ready to go. You've celebrated. Well, people can listen to this and make out with someone that they love right when we get to the high point of our takes. I will start with the one that the whole football world is buzzing about, if that's all right with you. Coaching vacancies. So Black Monday, as it's called, was yesterday.

We've got three open jobs currently. This could change any minute, but right now we're talking about Giants, Panthers, Browns, maybe the Cowboys. You mentioned Jason Garrett. We're still waiting to find out if his contract will be renewed or he'll just be fired outright. If a theory on that, we'll get to it. But here's the thing. Of the jobs that are available, Giants, Panthers, Browns, the obvious no-brainer job to take is Cleveland. And yet, Matt Rule, who most football

fans had probably not even heard of until a month ago when the PR campaign began, Matt Rule has apparently turned them down. He's missing the boat here, man. This is extremely low expectations, extremely high talent level. All you got to do is show up and not let the place continue to fall apart. And you'll probably be renewed for years and years to come. You have Super Bowl caliber talent. If you can just pull it together better than some guy named Freddie Kitchens did. This is the job to take. What am I missing? Why isn't everyone trying to go to Clevelandveland ownership ownership's the problem um ownership has not given the support needed for um you know for the browns for years now right they fire coaches as soon as possible they seem to make no sense with when they're

firing and when they're hiring but also john dorsey is remaining as general manager and if you're going in there as a head coach, you know that you have a guy above you who has the ownership's ear, and all the blame is always going to be on the head coach for anything that goes wrong. And I have a problem with the way we now run the NFL. I did not know this when I was playing for the most part. I realized this at the end of my career.

I was with the Lions. Ron Prince, our offensive line coach, we had a good relationship. I was the oldest guy with the Lions, Ron Prince, our offensive line coach. We had a good relationship. I was the, I was the oldest guy in the room by four years. So I was like, I felt like a senior in that room. And Ron, I just kind of talked about just like life stuff, football stuff. And one of the conversations we had was about team building and how, and I know the Lions aren't the best example because they're not, they've not been very good. But how, you know, the front office and the coaching staff work together

to get players that fit what they do best. And I feel that if you look around the NFL, the teams that have been very good for long periods have done that. New England's obviously done that forever. Look at the Niners now, right? Shanahan and Lynch have a great relationship of picking players that fit what they do best. The Bills with Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean, great relationship, picking players together, or maybe not together, but with an eye to what they do best in the scheme,

right? They're not taking guys that don't fit what they do and telling the coaching staff to make it work, which is a lot of teams do that. That's the way it used to be. A, you know, even Gabe, for me, when I saw the New York Giants, I didn't know this then. I realized it when I caught him in the offense. I did not fit what that offense wanted to do, right? With Ben McAdoo, we were shotgun, a couple runs, a lot of passing two point stance all day. I was not built to do it. Now I played my best in that offense. It was, it worked. I made it work,

but I did not really fit what the Giants want to do with their offensive line. I'm glad I signed there. I enjoyed it there. I enjoyed my time there. I wish we would have won, whatever. But I'm a great example of that right there. And I feel like if you're a coach and you're looking at the way some of these teams, successful teams, have worked it out, in a kind of a new era, right?

Niners, Bills are new in that. The Patriots have done it forever. Look at Ron Rivera in Washington. He's going to get to hire his own general manager. And you look at John Dorsey and you think, well, if I'm going here to the Browns, I have bad ownership and a GM who's probably going to pick the players that he wants

that don't fit my scheme. And how much say am I going to get in just how we build our roster? It's not an attractive job. You then have the drama with all the players. Baker Mayfield talks shit to everybody. There's a video this weekend of a Bengals fan talking shit to him in the tunnel, which all fans do, and Baker Mayfield answers them. Because of course, because Baker always needs the last word. He's so immature. How is that going to change with a new head coach?

He's shown who he is now. He has shown who he is. Odell, Jarvis, you deal with Miles Garrett's situation. It's just a shitty job. I know they're very talented, but nothing has shown you that this job is worth taking if you have other options as a coach. Okay, so Matt Rule, who I mentioned somewhat sarcastically, has already said, no thanks, I'm out. I guess he's holding out for the Giants job. Yeah, Giants or Cowboys, I'd imagine.

Okay. I mean, whether or not he's qualified yet for that job is a different conversation. I want to go back to a few things that you've said. And Baker is obviously the sexiest topic here, but I feel like we've covered him. We know what Baker's all about. The easy name to associate with him, the take everyone on Earth seems to have, is, well, just hire Lincoln Riley. They had a good year or two together. Like, that'll fix it.

I think we both agree. It's not that simple. Um, but go back to this, the relationship between GM and coach, right? So how is it, is it just ego? Is it just bad organizational structure? How is it that a GM whose job is to give the coach, the players they need to win would not do that very thing? Like what, what's going on? It's not, it's not that they don't do that you know they try to go get the players that obviously are the best and fit but i think that you often coaches and front office you know you everyone evaluates film differently right so even if me and you watch film we would we'd see things differently everyone does right and so coaches see little traits and players that they think work best and what they do and look there is some you know of course not every player

matches a scheme. And there's coaches that do a great job of finding ways to get those players touches or finding ways to put that player in your defense. There's adaptation happening everywhere. But a lot of times, general managers for a long period of time have had autonomy on the roster. I'm drafting this player. we're picking up this player, and coach, you make it work. It's your job to just make it work. And I'm finding that it's not working as well doing that because the college game has changed so much

that I think it's hard to evaluate what you're actually getting. And it's better to have the eyes of the coaches who can kind of maybe make that transition a little bit easier. And they know exactly how they're going to do that, where a front office is not necessarily going to know that because they're not the coach, right? So I think there's – I don't think coaches have full command. And Ron Rivera is a great example. I wrote about him yesterday. He said, look, I don't want full command.

I just want to choose who dresses every week and i and kind of you know have say in the final roster i don't care who they bring in and that's the way i think coaches should be hey give me you know you you pick the players that fit what we want to do but let me kind of help choose which players i want to go to battle because i think there's little things that you know coaches see in the meeting room there's intangibles at the front office. As much as the coach can relay that to the front office, they don't see that in the meeting room. And most places during training camp,

they bring all their scouts into training camp, all their college scouts, all their pro scouts that travel everywhere. They bring them in for training camp for a couple weeks, and they sit in the meeting room with you and whatnot, but they don't understand who you are as a person i think that's part of it as well and so i think that the best players are best situations not players best situation between owner uh not owner general manager and coach is when they kind of collaborate and i just don't see john dorsey collaborating very much with the he didn't collaborate with freddie kitchens i mean if

you would have asked freddie hey should we get a better offensive line or bring another wide receiver and he'd probably say let's get a better offensive line right i mean why you don't need two elite wide receivers the nfl look at the best teams around right now they don't need two you don't need two elite wide receivers you don't even need one it seems so i just think i just think there's there's that synergy is not there in a lot of organizations. And I feel like the Browns, it's not going to be there. Mike McCarthy, who people have been hyping up, I think rightfully so. I don't think he's as bad as people thought he is. He wants – Peter King wrote an article on it.

There was a video yesterday by, I believe it was NFL Network. Mike McCarthy wants to bring in an eight-person analytics team. And he wants to do that. He has a certain way he wants to do that he has a certain way he wants to coach certain players he wants and john dorsey's not going to accept all that so and that's i think the problem and so that they should just fire dorsey too and hire kind of a pair together but but they didn't and so if you're a coach who has options the browns are not your option so last thought on this but i mean it's a fascinating topic and i didn't. And so if you're a coach who has options, the Browns are not your option. So last thought on this, but I mean, it's a fascinating topic.

And I didn't know most of what you just said. So is this sort of I'll frame it in a way that I think fans like me can understand best. Are you basically saying that you need to pay attention for all 15 rounds of your fantasy draft, that just the first round or two is where anyone would go after obj let's say yes but the but your actual success is built around all those other guys who are you know nobody really knows what you're getting you know so your eighth round pick that turns into patrick mahomes a couple years ago like that is what wins you your league is it sort of the same in real football, where it's like, yeah, man, there's some no-brainer things.

Like, you're just going to spend a bunch of money on a few key guys, and they'll probably be pretty good. But then your winning franchises are the ones that fill out 50, you know, other positions with debatable guys who fit the scheme correctly, who are good fit in the meeting rooms, and that that's the difference between good and the Browns. Okay, I'll give you a couple examples.

So the Patriots is an easy example, right? Look what they've done over the years where they jettison good players and bring in guys that fit. And look at guys like Jamie Collins who left them, was bad in Cleveland, came back now. But Kyle Van Nooyen, I played with him on the lines when he got traded. He was not good in Detroit, and now he becomes a staple of what they've done in New England. They're a good example of that.

But I'll give you other examples. Right, the Chiefs have done a great job the last couple of years of bringing in offensive weapons for Andy Reid, right? McCole Hardman, he made the Pro Bowl as a kick returner, but still he's had a great rookie season, right? They bring in parts that fit. They re-sign Tyreek Hill. Sammy Watkins, as fast as returner, but still, he's had a great rookie season, right? They bring in parts that fit. They re-sign Tyreek Hill. Sammy Watkins, as fast as can be, not been very healthy,

but he's a great fit in that offense for what they want to do. The front office has brought in players that fit what Andy Rui wants to do. They brought in players on defense. They brought in Honey Badger. He fits very well with Spagnuolo's defense, right? They went and got Frank Clark, a pass rusher. They went out and made the moves that fit what they do. Look at the Niners, all right?

Juszczyk, the fullback. How many teams are paying that much money for a fullback? Koshy Ahan wanted a fullback and John Lynch found him one, right? So the idea of working together, I think, is super important and we're seeing examples. I mean, Buffalo is another example. I don't

know if Josh Allen is a good quarterback, but everywhere else, right? They needed to bring an offensive lineman. They needed to bring in targets for Josh Allen. They did that in the offseason. They drafted well on defense. They have guys that fit what McDermott wants to do. And boom, they're good now. I just feel like you don't have that everywhere else.

And I think the Browns are a great example. You traded your best offensive lineman for a wide receiver. Come on, guys. And so do you trust john dorsey who has basically failed now at hiring a coach at possibly drafting a franchise quarterback and bring in wide receivers who don't want to be there anymore um do you trust him to build your roster for you well from everything you're telling me not really uh i said last question but now i have two more so is it's part of this just stability too like doesn't it doesn't it get a lot easier if you're already good right like the

rich get richer so the patriots haven't had to worry about the most important position in the game for 18 years right so i mean they tried to worry about it a couple years ago and then tom brady's just said i'm gonna live forever so they just haven't ever had to worry about that position. How much they pay him, how long the deal is fine. That's stuff that the, you know, the suits can figure out. But the scouts don't have to spend any mental energy thinking about that position and probably several other positions on the field. So it gets easier to get into the weeds. If you have a team that's average at best and every single position on the

roster is up for grabs, isn't that a much harder position to play from? Like how do teams go from crappy to good? How do the Browns become what everyone wants them to become? You know, Dan Mullen, who coaches the Florida Gators, who won the bowl game last night, he said last night, and this is good for this, I believe. He said it's easier to go from four wins to ten wins than ten wins to eleven wins. So just because you're at the top doesn't mean you're going to stay at the top every single year. Now, having a

quarterback in the NFL makes you stay at the top every single year, right? But you still have to do your homework on what happens if that guy gets hurt. And we've seen the Patriots now bringing replacements for Brady about every third year, okay? The draft of someone, second or third round, because you're always needing

to have a backup. You need to continue to build up your roster. You're going to lose players to free agency because they're on a good team and people are going to want to snag them up

and pay them a ton of money. Look at the players the Patriots have lost over the years. Nate Soldier leaves, boom, Isaiah Wynn comes in, right? You send out Trent Brown, boom, you bring another offensive lineman. There's guys that go in and out.

And the reason why the Patriots this year aren't as good, honestly, is they didn't find a replacement for Gronkowski. They didn't find enough wide receivers for Tom Brady. Nikhil Harry hasn't been as good. The downfall they're having this year is what other teams have, which is they didn't have a good year bringing in players to help the offense and help what they need to do. So I think there's there, it's hard to state the top of the NFL. And we see year in a year out where a playoff team bears Rams the following season aren't as good and vice versa. Right. And that

to me is why the NFL is so unique is that it really is hard to state the top every single year. If you're not the Patriots. Everyone else, it's tough. The Patriots have been there for so long. They're not the norm, Gabe. I'd say everyone else is the norm, where one year you're good, one year you're bad. You're A and A. Now you've won. What the Saints have done for years now is super impressive. The Packers

weren't very good last year. The Niners weren't good, but they had a bunch of injuries. It's tougher to stay at the top, I think, than we think. If the Browns just get a halfway competent coach, halfway competent coach, who gets Baker Mayfield to play average and their DN doesn't hit someone in the face with a helmet and their wide receivers are happy,

I mean, they'll win nine games next. These are 10 games. Staying at the 10-game mark is the hard part. Okay, well, good luck finding the human being who can do each of the things you just said. I mean, And this is why it's tough to make it happen. It really is.

Alright, well, let's talk about a team that gets even more talk than the Browns, and the solution might have to do with this other team we've been mentioning, the Patriots. So here we go. This is a little bit of a rehash for us, but I want to get into the X and O's of what I'm about to lay out. So we're still waiting on Jason Garrett to be let go in dallas you know remember it's a

contract renewal thing so we probably aren't going to know for a little while they could have just fired him yesterday they didn't so now we're waiting well what are we waiting for uh it could be the fact that they can't talk to the guy they want to hire. They want Josh McDaniels because Josh McDaniels can bring you Tom Brady and now the Dallas Cowboys problems would be solved. They could get rid of Dak Prescott, who they very clearly don't feel comfortable paying top QB money to. They could replace him with Tom Brady in the final year or two, we think, of his football life with his own personal chef for a head coach and Josh McDaniels. McDaniels can hire whatever he thinks they need to keep Brady sort of in the right mindset.

I mean, let's be honest. This would just be about giving Brady all the weapons he needs and giving a team that kind of sucks the leadership that it needs. Why isn't this a happening immediately and b like why isn't this the thing everyone is talking about this seems so logical to me from like a moving pieces around on a chessboard is there a reason this wouldn't work in football terms what am i missing here well i've been tweeting your your suggestion for a while now look i've been what are people saying back to you because it feels real to me. I feel like NFL people, actually not fans,

but NFL people are kind of like, you know what? It wouldn't be a bad thing. I think that people understand that it's possible. I think fans are just out of their mind. They don't know what they're talking about. But I think the NFL people haven't thought about it yet because the dynasty,

which might end this weekend, is not over yet. But I think there's a real possibility that it could happen um the cowboys according you know thank you zuri for for our notes 26 players are going to be free agents and so there's a little bit of work to do with saying the roster but if you bring tom brady in and you sign amari cooper back um you now have the makings of the best offensive line that brady's had maybe since his early Super Bowl run in the early 2000s. And you have excellent wide receivers.

You have an excellent running back. Blake Jarwin at tight end is good, but you probably find yourself at another tight end. Defensively, you need to work there, and McDaniel will have to hire a good defensive coordinator. But everything is set up. And lastly, he gets to play inside multiple times. I mean, obviously in division games late in the season it's cold,

but he gets eight games at home in a dome around the NFC. There's other teams that are in domes as well. And it feels like a situation where it does make a lot of sense. I think it's hard for people to think about the Patriots dynasty ending, which, folks, you better start thinking about it because we'll talk about this more on Thursday's episode. Oh, I think about it every day of my life. I know you do.

I know. We'll talk about it more on Thursday's episode. But I'm going to bet on the Patriots because I'm not a moron, but either of the Titans could easily go in there and win by two scores. I mean, it could get ugly. So we might see the end of that, and then all of a sudden, that becomes the discussion. As far as what the Cowboys are doing

currently right now, it's just so stupid, guys. Okay, his contract runs up on January 14th or something like that. Just tell him he's not coming back. I get it, you like him, he's like a son to you, Jerry Jones, but it's over it's over just say it's over and move on it does like just say like we're not renewing his contract end of story

and they might they're you know at shepard's tweeting right now they're meeting today and you know during this podcast we might have a breaking news for you guys about that but just end it we know that everyone's moving on and just get it over with okay so again this supports my theory maybe the reason they haven't announced it yet is because they can't they actually can't talk to josh mcdaniels yet mcdaniels would have been allowed to talk to them if there was a buy yeah but but um but you know the agents talk about this stuff well yeah i mean there's a reason there's only like four names being discussed in the coaching carousel this offseason agents are sources everyone okay if you're telling yourself that like

there's all these people are spending all their time thinking about where matt rule and and lincoln riley are gonna end up no if you hear urban meyer's name popping up every offseason for 10 years straight like there are people behind the scenes who are paid to hype folks that's what they do they make money on it on the college side urban meyer's not employed right now by by college you know matt rules name floated around every year gets him a contract extension get some more money right um and so like this is and you know you're i know you didn't go to usc uh but your did. Like, USC got four people extensions this offseason. They got James Franklin more money.

They got Matt Campbell more money. They got Luke Fickle more money. Like, they got – I think they got Matt Rule. I think they got an extension too. Like, they got everyone more money because they were talked about as trying to hire all these people. So that is a big part of this coaching. Not so much on the NFL side, right, because you're not typically getting an extension. If your name's out there, you're typically not employed. But that's the way this process works.

You're absolutely right on that. Okay. Well, so then let me ask you this. I don't think this was fed by any agent, but in the sphere of who the Cowboys should go after. So I'm on record with my take, and it's feeling less hot and more rational as we go. Here's a hot one for you, and it's feeling less hot and more you know rational as we go here's a hot one

for you and it's from your boy Dan Arlovsky they should turn Jason Witten into the head coach in Dallas what the hell is he talking about yeah I think Dan is just trying to be on TV and say something come on what was that I think I think Dan believes what he says oh I'm sure he does there are guys that do this job that do not believe in what they say. He's not one of those guys. He's not one of those guys. He's a thoughtful person. What is his thought process there? No idea.

Okay. That caught my eye because I was like, he's not the guy who pops off. But if Witten does get that job, does he grow his hair back? I don't know if that's possible any longer. He's going to have to talk to Erlacher's guy if he wants that. I feel like if Erlacher can do it, Jason Witten can bring it back. I don't think it's happening. No, I mean, seriously, though.

Why is it that we skip over logical, proven guys like Mike McCarthy, let's say, and try to arrive at this crazy idea of Jason Witten? Why is that taking place? Because you know how it is, man. taking place because because you you know how it is man everyone's always looking for new and for sparkly and shiny and flashy and that's not really who mike mccarthy is and so that's why you know people look at win and say he's smart guy obviously you know can well spoken maybe he can be the coach but um i'm saying the nfl have we had kind of a guy go straight from like it happens at baseball but they don't have much in the nfl the guy just goes straight from

the field to the to coach be a head coach yeah the culture the culture of football in general i mean college too is like you have to pay your dues you know and some guys move fast sean mcveigh move fast but like go google sean mcveigh go to his wikipedia page there's 10 lines of you know and some guys move fast sean mcveigh move fast but like go google sean mcveigh go to his wikipedia page there's 10 lines of you know he's but he also remember he also he also is like football royalty his family he's been in football since he was two years old that's something that i mean people were like well just hire next sean mcveigh and i'm like yeah but you're gonna hire the experience he grew up with like that to me is part of what Sean McVay is, and people don't ignore that, but they don't talk about that enough. That's right.

It would be like if Chelsea Clinton started running. You'd be like, well, okay. I mean, I know that Clintons trigger people. I'm just saying in general. Oh, I am so triggered right now. I'm shaking. She's been around the Oval Office the oval office for her whole life basically if she just decided to run for something you couldn't say well she has no experience like

she obviously does sean mcveigh was the same thing it's irrelevant i guess what we're saying is the the notion that tom brady and josh mcdaniels might orchestrate a way to get to dallas this offseason when the patriots crumble is no longer seeming like a crazy fun thing to say. That's actually seeming like one of a few possibilities. All right, I'll take it. The movement is coming. Anything to bring on the downfall in New England.

Let's move along to the NFC's top team. I think you're among these people. I'm just going to say everyone out there. By the way, you'd be surprised. I'm just going to say everyone out there. By the way, you'd be surprised. I am not. Everyone is convinced the 49ers are the clear favorite in the NFC. Colin Cowherd, who you know I love, who I reference regularly,

he said they look like Tyson or Ali, a giant heavyweight who can knock you out with a single punch. Our boy Damoshek is doing a victory lap because he predicted this success from the 49ers. I think everyone is loving on the 49ers right now. You love their coach more than any coach out there. You talk about Kyle Shanahan any chance you get. Big Red is my favorite, but continue. Okay, well, you second favorite Kyle Shanahan. So here's the thing. I'm not 100% sold. I get it. They're the one seed that was an impressive win the other night against Seattle. But it also required a totally blown call, like Pete Carroll having a brain fart at the goal line.

It took a few things. Pete Carroll has a lot of those, doesn't he? Well, he does, but this was a particularly silly one. So all of a sudden, the Niners win this must-win game and become the one seed. They were one play away from being, what, the five or the six? Which is sad because the Se win this must win game and become the one seed they were one play away from being what the five or the six which is sad because they they the seahawks should not have been the one seed or the packers not been the one seed sorry okay but so so why are people like just look at what happened on sunday night are are people positive that's the best team in the nfc i'm not so i think there's a couple things and i understand colin's point about

they looked apart and they do look the part right, because their defense has been outstanding. Now, their defense, though, has taken a step back when they played better quarterbacks. They're not the same defense as they had been early in the season. That is accurate. It's true. You can go look up the numbers. Not the same team. Offensively, though, I think that their coaching is such high level that they're going to be in every single game.

And they have the one seed. The team I like the most are the Saints. The problem with the Saints is they don't have a playoff buy, and that lowers your chances of making the Super Bowl buy a ton. I think the last six years, every team who's made the Super Bowl has had a buy. I think that overall, only 21% of teams that have ever not had a bye made a Super Bowl. It's hard to do.

The Saints have to play a Vikings team this weekend. And then they kind of got – the NFL schedule has did them dirty. The one advantage of Lambeau Field in the playoffs is the weather. It's not loud there. It's not crazy. Like, you're not going there worrying about the noise. You're worrying about the cold. And they put the Packers in a night game in the divisional round.

So the Saints, a dome team, have to play a night game in Green Bay, which has been the problem for the Saints. I know they're good on the road this year, guys. I don't give a shit about that. They're 1-5 in the playoffs outside with Drew Brees and Sean Payton. I don't care if they were good in the playoffs, I mean in the regular season on the road. I don't give a shit.

They played Tampa and they played the Panthers last week those games don't fucking matter what matters is what they've done in the playoffs in the past i just don't like i just don't think like oh they're seven and one this year on the on the road who cares they played bad teams half the time it didn't matter to me they're a good team i don't think the road thing home thing the problem is they're playing green bay at like zero degrees in the division around. But I think they're the best team. I think they're the most complete team. And I think there's something overlooked in these situations is experience.

All right? They are very experienced in the playoffs. They've had two straight years of, what's the right word, humbling experiences in the playoffs or disappointing or upsetting, right? The Minneapolis miracle. And then they had the play at the end of their game last season. So they're kind of due for one, but the whole road, if you look around the NFL right now in the playoffs,

they're the one team without a bye I think that can make the Super Bowl. I mean, and so that, I like the Saints. If they had a home bye, they were the two seed, I'd be all over the Saints. But in general to me the saints are going to win the nfc okay well um two takeaways one uh you made a better case for the green bay packers being the top team in the nfc which you just seem allergic to admitting i i made a case that they're the best team because of their home field advantage well

they're playing at home so i mean they have the best path, right? No, they still have to go to San Francisco. They have the best path if they beat the Saints, obviously. I mean, the best path is Niners, who get two home games, and they're the number one seed. The Packers, to me, their point differential is like plus five, dude. You know they did not lead the Lions in any of their two games this year? Yes, I have Twitter, so I saw that 1,000 times this week. I just don't think they're that good. Okay.

But your point about boring is good. I get all that. But they're really boring. Boring team with a bye in a freezing cold stadium in January? Sounds like a winner to me. But what if it's like only 30 degrees and not zero degrees? I mean, I don't know. We'll see.

I like the Saints a lot, but they're in a bad situation as a three seed. Well, my other takeaway of the two was that you have a potty mouth today, Jeff. F-bombs. I threw it only one time. Oh, man. I've been fired up this week. I was yesterday for my radio radio show i was so fired up at the ending of that niner seahawks game i couldn't sleep for an hour afterwards like i was

um and i know i mean i bet the niners but like it wasn't that much money or if i lost i'd be that upset about it i was just my heart was pounding like i was like super excited it was great i'm just fired up this week man i love I love football. I love this time of year. Yeah, it's a good football week. All right, so you're on record now. You're going Saints over Niners. I just bet the Saints, by the way, while we were talking. What the hell? How'd you do that?

To win the NFC. I'm just... Dude, we've done this many times. I do multiple things. I don't just sit here and stare at a wall while we do this. We got to get a camera on Jeff while he's doing this. I just looked, by the way. I have money on the Packers to win the NFC.

I didn't realize that. Plus 2,000. Get on board, bro. I've been telling you about the Packers for weeks. I think it's plus 900 with the NFC, plus 2,000 with the Super Bowl. All right. Well, since we're here, before we move to our last topic, why don't you tell me then, to even it out, who's your AFC pick?

Baltimore. It is. It seemed reluctantly, though. They're good, dude. They kicked the crap. Sorry for my cussing. That's not cussing. Give it a saltier word.

Shit. Say shit, Jeff. Shit! There you go. They do. They're just good, dude. And they have a vibe this year, it feels like. I mean, the Chiefs can do do it go in there and win but i just i don't know what happens by the way if the patriots beat the titans and they beat the chiefs patriots ravens and as a championship game

got you you have to put the pats don't you give, Yib? Baltimore would be a one-and-a-half-point favorite at home, and everyone would hammer the Pats, and it would cash. That's what would happen. Wait, there would be a three-point favorite at home? No, I don't think so. Not if New England does what you just said. People would be so hot on New England. They would just set it right at three and leave it there

and see who bets what side. Okay, you know more than me. But if New England wins these next two games that they've got in front of them and goes to Baltimore, all momentum will shift. Everyone will be where my head has been all year long. I will bet New England in every playoff game this year as I did last year. You'll make money. If you'd bet New England every game that they played since 2001, you'd be a millionaire right now. every game that they played since 2001,

you'd be a millionaire right now. That was the most surprising game result on Sunday I've had in many years. I'm not very surprised by what happens in the NFL. I mean, look, we're showing, oh yeah, that, but like, you're like, whatever. Stuff happens, weird stuff happens all the time. But to lose like that to the Dolphins and Ryan Fitzpatrick

in three 75-yard touchdown drives, Stephon Gilmore, who's going to win Defensive Player of the Year probably, just completely abused all. I mean, it was shocking to me. Like, just utterly shocking they lost that game. I couldn't believe it. And I guess this is the end, I think. It's pretty much the end.

Yeah. Well, you know, maybe they didn't have a do your work feature planned in miami this year and so they weren't quite ready for what they were facing on offense who knows let's move to the last topic there's a lot at stake here not just for you know who gets a ring this year um this is i'm going to set up a broad idea here and i think colin and others have have touched on similar concept here so i'm going to go up a broad idea here, and I think Colin and others have touched on a similar concept here. So I'm going to go really broad, and then hopefully we can narrow down to a specific point. I think this year is a tipping point for the NFL.

So this is probably the best crop of quarterbacks I can remember in a postseason at once. We have multiple Hall of Fame guys, like no-brainer Hall of Famers. And there's sort of two camps here and you could quibble with what i'm about to say but go with this there's essentially the breeze brady rogers type of quarterback and then there's the lamar deshaun russ type of quarterback and before anyone like jumps down my throat or gets in your mentions over this i am not talking about white guys and black guys i'm talking about traditional passing quarterbacks built the team built around this guy versus obviously atypical mobile quarterbacks,

guys who can run. And so Josh Allen is with those other guys. Josh Allen's one of those mobile running type guys. And Patrick Mahomes, as you've told me all year long, is probably more of a pocket passing guy. Yeah, he's got good feet, but he's a pocket guy. So this is not a white-black thing. Don't misunderstand it if you're listening. I think whoever wins the Super Bowl, if they're from either of those camps, is going to change the way drafts look for the next few years, the way recruiting in college looks for the next few years.

The trend is going to continue towards mobile if one of those mobile guys wins. What say you? I think you're framing this a little bit wrong. Remember, Russell Wilson's already won a Super Bowl. Yeah. I look. And we saw people take chances.

Mobile quarterbacks are the way to go. Okay. I would, if I were ranking quarterbacks on what i would like i would like i mean like the dream quarterback now in 2019 i like a mobile pocket passer which russell wilson is deshaun watson pat mahomes um you know we could let you know joe burrow trevor lawrence justin herbert to a tongue of iloa all these guys have mobility and that's the that's the product you're getting from college football now. You cannot play the position in college football and be just a Drew Brees or Tom Brady, right? Unless you're like in these

run and shoot offenses, guys are like that more often in the air raid offenses, like the true air raid, like Mike Leach air raid. For the most part, you're getting extremely mobile quarterbacks from college football. That is the new wave. There's no choice in that. Kyler Murray, by the way, is a mobile pocket passer. He throws from the pocket. He's actually good at throwing from the pocket. Lamar Jackson is unique and special, and I've come around to this.

There's no one like him. There's no one like him in the NFL right now. Jalen Hurts, for example, is maybe the closest to Lamar. He's not even close athletically to Lamar, like not even remotely close. Even Kyler Murray, in my opinion, is not athletically as special as Lamar Jackson. Teams are going to

make the mistake of trying to draft the next Lamar Jackson. And remember, the Ravens have built their offense. I was talking with a buddy about this, about the playoffs and how teams will defend. And someone said, well, they'll just go with a smaller package like the Chargers did last year. You can't do that anymore because they have Mark Ingram and they have multiple tight ends who will eat up your safeties in pass pro.

Not pass pro, in run blocking. The Ravens have built their team around Lamar because he's a special athlete. Like Lamar would not be as good with, in my opinion, with other coaches. And even like Kyle Shanahan. Like I don't think he'd be as good in that offense as the offense the Ravens have built for him. I think we're going to have a mistake of,

I think, I might be wrong about teams go overboard here, but that often happens in the NFL is teams go overboard and it's a copycat league. I think that the mobile quarterback, Mahomes, Wilson, Watson, Murray, I mean, you can clue Josh Allen on that. I don't think he's terribly good. Even look at the college rights.

Joe Burrow's mobile. You've seen him in the pocket. He can move. Trevor Lawrence obviously had a long scamper the other weekend. Over the weekend, I should say. These guys are mobile they're not statutes anymore but i don't think they have to be what lamar jackson is to be doing the nfl okay fair enough so then what i guess what i want to know though is if lamar wins don't you

think that the kid who was told he had to play wide receiver or defensive back uh who's 17 and and breaking every state record wherever he's from yeah but if he wants to go to the big state school he's got to change positions don't you think that kid now is going to play i think i already think that's not how i already think the guy's playing quarterback now okay so that kid is waiting for his chance yeah and the coaches at major schools now are saying screw it let, let's go for it, because maybe that guy will get drafted in the first round like Lamar Jackson did. Don't you think this is just the tipping point? That's all I'm getting at.

I'm not saying these people exist or don't exist. No, I think Lamar is an outlier. It's the physical gifts he has. I think his maturity, by the way, is off the charts. I know I did not think that he would make this offense work in the NFL, but nothing to do with him as a person or his maturity. No, you've been clear about that. But people often think that that's the case.

It's nothing to do with that. No, no, no. You've been very clear about that. And I've actually been very impressed, even more impressed with his maturity and his leadership this year than I think I previously had been. I think it's been fantastic. Um, you know, he, and also to like, he's kind of like showboaty, but like, not like he's like quiet about it, which I love. Like, I love like a little bit of quiet confidence and like a little bit of like, I told you guys I was going to be

good. And I love that. Um, some of the bakers doesn't know how to do, I just want to get a shot at Baker. yeah um so i think that it's a complete outlier what they're doing and the way they bought into this system and what they've done for lamar and i don't think this can be copied unless you find a talent like lamar who they don't have one right now in vienna in college Well, that's fair. Let me ask it this way then, and we can move to moving the line in a second. If Brady, let's say, or Breeze, or even Rodgers, who maybe he helped shift the Overton window here. He started to create a need for some mobility even in your big, tall, strong, durable passing quarterback. durable passing quarterback. If one of those guys wins, do we actually see a return to that as a standard or even just the way that these guys are incentivized? So does a Herbert just stand tall in

the pocket longer and not give himself the option to run more? Like, is it possible that some of these guys we've grown up with could have been running a bit all along and just didn't. And we're going to go back to a world where don't run, man. Just throw it away if you have to. Stop doing that. The way to win in this league is to just be in the pocket. Is it possible that the winner will make that the trend? But I think that already is the trend.

Okay, take Russell Wilson, for example. Obviously can run. We know that. But all his great plays already is the trend. Like, okay, take Russell Wilson, for example. Obviously can run. We know that. But all his great plays are throwing the football. And I know some of them are out of the pocket, quote, unquote, out of the pocket. But, dude, he is an amazing passer of the football. And most of the time, it's done from the pocket.

And, like, I think that we overlook that because he's so athletic and just say, well, he's a running quarterback. But still, dude, outside of Lamar Jackson, we're winning from the pocket, but the quarterbacks are now just mobile. And that's what you're getting from college. The only offense I think about that has... Like USC's quarterbacks.

I don't talk about USC a bunch in this podcast because we both follow them. Those guys aren't very athletic. That's like... They're the old school quarterback, the pocket passer type of guy now we're getting mobile guys who throw the ball downfield at a high rate and that's lamar jacks is not the future i just think we're continuing on this trend of supremely athletic quarterbacks unless you find someone who's just as physically gifted as lamar and you can make it happen right

now in college football there's not that guy who is that athletic yeah i just wonder if you know joe burrow 10 years ago gets back to the sideline after one of these plays twitter's praising him for and coach o is just like are you out of your effing mind well i think i still think i still think now that that there's an idea of just hey let's not get hurt yeah like let's not run as much. But yeah, but the game has changed so much to where that's just now the game. The game is now quarterbacks being mobile. You can't – I don't think you can win on college football or in the NFL.

Brady and Breeze could prove us wrong, and Breeze is definitely capable of doing that, so is Brady, of kind of the old school. There's very few guys that can be an old school. Matt Ryan is one of those guys, I think. Just kind of like an old school, stand tall, big pocket passer, which Drew Brees is not. I mean, Big Ben's still in that mold, I think, too, and he'll be back next year as well.

All right, well, a good note from Zuri here. Much to my chagrin, we've had a Brady or a Manning in seven of the last eight Super Bowls. Dude, since like 2001, we've had Brady, Manning, Big Ben, or Flacco as the AFC representative for quarterbacks. That's it. The playoffs are here, and there's no better place to get you up to speed on your favorite teams in the postseason than the Athletic Podcast Network. If you're a Saints fan, try Duncan Holder with Jeff Duncan and Larry Holder. If you like the Chiefs

like I do, check out the podcast Times Hours with Nate Taylor, Seth Kaiser, and Josh Briscoe. Eagles fans, check out Birds with Friends, Vikings Loyalists, it's straight cash. You know what that phrase means. Patriots, Niners, and Seahawks, we've got you covered as well. So no matter who you root

for, check out all the coverage again on the Athletic Podcast Network today. Jeff, let's play Move in the Line. Let's do it. A little over-under game we like to play. These are all made up this week. Sometimes I sneak some real ones in, but I don't think you can bet any of these in Vegas.

So let me try them on you. I want to know odds we get Chiefs-Ravens in the AFC championship game. You kind of gave this away earlier, but odds of Chiefs Ravens 99% over under. I'll take the over here. I think that this is for sure going to happen. Again, I know it's weird to say that I would bet the Patriots, but kind of think the Chiefs are going to win anyways.

But I think this is for sure going to be a situation where we have the two best AFCT teams, as we should, and it will be an amazing game played at Baltimore, and I think it's surely going to happen. Okay. Well, I, of course, don't agree with you, and I'm trying some sort of reverse Jinx Juju stuff here with the Patriots. But after the last two seasons. Wait, after the last two seasons watching them get to

the super bowl for no real reason win one of them i'm just never i'm never allowing myself to believe that they're done they're just a zombie that can't be killed the stake through the heart knife in the head whatever the walking dead guys came up with it doesn't work they're going to be in the super bowl all right next up antonio brown regular season games played next year next year okay half a game over under will he even get to play he did play in a game this year remember it was close like it almost didn't happen but it did and then he was gone again what do we think now he's just tweeting nonsense and he obviously had a tryout um it did. And then he was gone again. What do we think? Now he's just tweeting nonsense. He obviously had a tryout. The news is that he was in New Orleans.

We don't know why, and I don't think he impressed anyone there. I think it's over because if he is cleared by the NFL, someone will sign him. But who? Who wants that? Patriots, Cowboys, Saints. Anyone who needs him. I think they can do it. I don't think the Saints need them.

They have the best receiver in recent memory. You can have another one. They tried them out for a reason. Okay. I have a feeling that what's been working in New Orleans for 10 years, after three decades of mostly failure, they've had a decade of success. It would seem silly to me to bring that guy in right now and blow that up. But who knows?

More desperate teams might be able to sign the guy. And I don't have some weird thing against Antonio Brown. I have been the guy who settled along. This isn't funny. There's something wrong with him. Oh, there's something definitely wrong with him. I'm with you there. Yeah.

So, okay, you're saying, though, if he gets cleared, which is still an if, you think he'll be on a roster next year and make it into a game? Because remember, he could get signed by three teams next year and still not actually play. I'm fairly certain he's going to be in the NFL. If he gets cleared by the NFL or his suspension ends, that he'll be back in the league, yeah. Okay.

All right, here's another one. You sort of hinted around this, but it gets us to talk about a couple other games that haven't come up yet. I want to know a five or six seed pulling an upset this weekend. Do you have over under one half of one team pulling the upset? I think the bills are being the Texans. Okay. That would count.

That would be over. Texans, I believe are a three point favor. Yeah. I would count. That would be over. Texans, I believe, are a three-point favorite. Yeah. I think that the Eagles will beat the Seahawks. Really? And we'll give these picks out again on Thursday. I think the Patriots will do enough to beat the Titans, and I think the Saints beat the

Vikings. That's a big line. That's like eight. It's a crazy line. Okay. But you picked two dogs there, and one is a home dog, which is weird Vikings. That's a big line. That's like eight. It's a crazy line. Okay. But you picked two dogs there. One is a home dog, which is weird. Philly being a home dog.

No, Philly's a favorite by one, I think. Oh, I saw them at plus money. So that line's going to keep moving around. That line might have – I think it opened at – and he goes by one. Okay. That one's going to be a weird one to watch.

I just do – the Seahawks are so beat up, but they have Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson will never get the credit he deserves for playing with this coach and with this. Yeah. Oh, wow. Wow, there's a ton of money in Seattle. This line's at two now.

Maybe you should bet it while we do the next topic. Well, I'm going to wait until he gets to three or two and a half or three. Okay. If it gets to two and a half, I might buy half a point. Just keep watching that while I keep going through our show, and maybe you'll find a moment to make the bet like you did earlier with a bet. Yeah, I mean, New England is four now. Okay.

Got a half point. Houston. Oh, Houston is now at two and a half. Oh, look at that. I need to get on this right now. Okay. You got to think about this. Oh, Houston's now at two and a half. Oh, look at that. I need to get on this right now. Okay. You got to think about this. I need to go find three somewhere.

All right. Let me ask you this question. Which game are you most excited to watch? Forget about BetOn. Which one do you think is going to be the most interesting game? Because Sheck and I were debating this yesterday. Titans-Pats. That's the game you're most excited about.

Yeah, because this could be like the end of a dynasty type of thing. And also that, you know, like as a Chiefs fan, this game matters a lot. Yeah, I found myself surprised to say that I'm excited for Seattle-Philly. I don't care about Philly, but I know that's going to be

a good fourth quarter. I think that every game outside of the first game is going to be great. You don't think... Because you just have some weird issue with the Bills. Did they do something bad to you?

They're not very good on offense. Well, I know, but you're like so salty with the Bills. Why? Did they throw you through a table in the parking lot once? I like Brandon B. I like their GM. He's a good dude. He was in here with Carolina with me.

Okay. No, I just don't think they're that good on offense. Okay, fair enough. They're going to be the 2017 Jaguars, 2018 Bears. They're not going to win the playoffs next year. They're going to be the 2017 Jaguars, 2018 Bears. They're not going to win the playoffs next year. I think that could be true. It won't be because my Jets have improved, but I think...

It will be. I mean, look, you saw Gates yesterday gave a riveting press conference when asked about Le'Veon Bell coming back. I mean, the energy and enthusiasm there was like we've never seen before. Your sarcasm isn't helping. Let me move to the next topic. One of the teams that did successfully tank, I mean, they won a game or two that they shouldn't have,

but stuck to the plan and managed to lose 14 games this year was the Bengals. So now everyone just assumes automatically it's Joe Burrow at number one, no problem. I mean, remember, this man still needs to play a football game. Opinions could change, and then he has to go to the combine. How would his opinions change after what he's done all season? Well, I mean, I don't know.

Let's see him play one more football game and decide if he actually is everything that we want him to be. Okay. I get it. He beat up Oklahoma. That's cool. You know, he had a great season. He also beat up, like, Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia.

No, he's a nice player. What do you have against Joe Burrow? Sounds like you have something against him. No, I've watched him play, and I don't quite see what everyone else sees yet. But I don't know this stuff as well as some people. These are one of these takes where I don't know if you're being Twitter or you're being just your own personal take. Me personally, with my eyes. I know I'm not with Twitter on this one. you're being no i swear to god twitter or you're being just your own personal take me personally

with my eyes i don't know what i i know i'm not with twitter on this one you probably want keaton slovis to be your quarterback oh my god i've watched joe burrow play and i'm sure that he is a very good college quarterback i'm sure that he deserves to make the nfl and he might be a great nfl quarterback i'm just I don't see an automatic no-brainer number one pick. And so here's my question. Joe Burrow wins in Cincy in 2020, over, under two and a half.

Yeah, I'll go with the over here. You know, there's some talent on that team. They've played hard all year. They just need someone who comes in and just kind of galvanizes them. And so I... That's such football guy talk. What the hell does that even mean?

How is a 21-year-old dude going to galvanize – That's great football talk, isn't it? What does that mean? I think just the idea of just they – like right now if you're a Bengals player, you don't think you have a future. No. Like you know with any dollar you're not winning.

I feel like with Joe Burrow, there'll be a renewed excitement to come to the facility every day, prepare and win. And that to me feels like a win for them. And the players will play a little bit harder, prepare a little differently. I think over three wins or two and a half wins. So let's dig into that for a second because you played on some good teams and you played on some pretty crummy teams um and you've told us stories about a year in carolina where it was pretty clear that everyone had given up um yeah yeah so talk us through that like what do you mean like guys know there's no hope i mean i think it's a whole

it's hard to say that guys don't play as hard because I don't know if that's quite the truth. But you know that like when things start going bad in a game, you're just going to lose. Like if things don't go perfectly, you're out. Like there's no way you can come back. You're just like, oh, well, here we go again. I mean, I've said that before in the silence.

Oh, but here we go again. Let's try to score some points. I think their defense sucks. And like it just becomes mean, I've said that before in the silence. Oh, here we go again. Let's try to score some points. Our defense sucks. And it just becomes emotionally draining having to do that each and every week. And I think with Joe Burrow there, you're going to feel like we have a chance to win every week. And that's a huge boost to the defense. Maybe the defense is not playing well, but they know,

hey, guys, just need one stop here, and Joe Burrow will go win us the football game. Well, when you're – when I have Jimmy Clawson, the defense is not thinking that. They're like, well, whatever. We're not winning this game, right? It's just a confidence and mindset thing. And so, I think with Joe Burrow in there, you'll feel better.

And by the way, you know, winning three games, I mean, how many times do we see go 2-14? It's not very often, right? I mean, you got to, the Bengals did it this year. They went 2-14 because they're really, really bad. But it feels like next year, you're going to have a different, I mean, it's hard to just win two it this year. They went 2-14 because they're really, really bad. But it feels like next year you're going to have a different – I mean, it's hard to just win two games every year. Yeah, no.

I mean, you're just saying even if he isn't great, they have to get a little bit better. I would think so, yes. Do you think – and we'll move on to the next guy. But do you think, truthfully, I'm skeptical. Are you all in on Joe Burrow? Is he definitely a guy you think has a good NFL career? I'm not totally all in on him because we've seen that there's not as much success

for kind of one-year wonders in college going to the NFL. But I do think that he's shown some remarkable ability to maneuver the pocket. He's not going to get nine seconds of pocket time like he does with LSU's offensive line right now. But I think that he's done some really – I mean, yesterday, you know, the first time I actually probably like really, really sat down and watched an entire LSU game. I've watched them play, but, you know,

my kids are running around in the background. I sat down and watched this entire game. It was really impressive, man. He made some great throws, some pre-staff decisions that were impressive. I was very, very impressed. Okay. Well, a guy who is arguably even more impressive, arguably, Trevor Lawrence. So I want to know, Trevor Lawrence wins wherever he goes next year.

He's not going to be draft eligible until 2021. How much better will he make that team? He wins over under three and a half wherever he lands because we would expect him to be the first pick the following year i would say over he's a good dude really good he's yeah it's i'd say over by far so i want to compare him to someone who i don't compare anyone to loosely um there's some Tebow quality to this guy uh he has never lost okay like just take that in I mean I mean he can I mean is Tebow quality like how he doesn't lose so whatever you want to say about him whatever critique there might

be of him one day and I haven't heard many whatever it is milton at ucf didn't lose many games so he does i i think that college nfl scouts overthink the whole who should we draft process and when you see a guy and there are a few of them in the league right now deshaunun Watson, Lamar Jackson are good examples. Like, oh, wait a second. He won 95% of his college games, and he's like basically never lost in high school. He's just always ever won games. And he has more or less all the same skills as anyone else we're thinking about drafting. But this guy's two inches taller, or he did a little bit better in a combine drill, and they go with the other guy.

Why? Just take the guy who always won. or he did a little bit better in a combine drill, and they go with the other guy, why? Just take the guy who always won. And Trevor Lawrence is going to – he could win the national championship this year, go undefeated next year. He could come out of college. But everyone already thinks he's going number one because he's an amazing passer of the quarterback, amazing passer of the football, and a great runner,

and makes great decisions, He's a tough kid. The winning is obviously great and part of that. That's why Clemson's winning. But you're way overthinking this, dude. You're trying to get your boy Tebow some love, and it didn't happen on this podcast. I'm predicting. Go find the Tebow fan podcast. I'm predicting by next year we're having to have a conversation about if Trevor Lawrence is too skinny

and is his you know is he just the price his hair too good is he just the product of that offense we're gonna hear 900 questions but this is the way but this is that every draft we do this we have too much time on our hands we make up reasons the the whole thing about scouting in my opinion players is finding reasons not to draft someone. That's what people do. Why should we not draft this kid? Why should we not pay him?

How can we get value on him? That's just what draft process is. So, of course, they're going to do stuff like that. But, yeah, just ignore it. That's why you come to this podcast. You come to this podcast, I'll tell you how it is. Okay. So Trevor Lawrence, 2021, first pick, going to win a bunch of games wherever he goes.

Let's see if that's the New York Jets. All right. Social mailbag is our way to close it now this is tying us all the way back to that uh that last game of the season and it gets us into the big topic that i think will dominate the offseason all right which is this new pi thing that you think is probably soon to be extinct so i saw you going back and forth on a tweet um this was from you it says no way the nfl was reviewing that in reference to the obvious pass interference that took place in the end zone uh linebacker for the niners holds a seahawks receiver seahawks lose the game so you say no way the nfl was reviewing that i know they have the capability to do it but they weren't getting

into that mess tonight now i want to just add, the NFL says they did look at it, and they said there wasn't enough there, so they didn't interfere. They didn't get involved. So how do you feel about where things stand with this P.I. rule? Well, that's basically what I tweeted. All right, yeah, so make me smarter here. It's gone. This P.I. rule is totally gone, and I liked it, but now I've realized it was extreme overreaction

to one play last season that happened poorly. I think that if you, I think you can call P.I. in a lot of plays, and it may make the game unwatchable if we just call P.I. every time there was one. And I know that sounds crazy because everyone's always like, well, referee the game exactly like it's supposed to be refereed. Well, then you get holding all the time. And why stop reviewing pass interference?

Why don't we review holding? Why don't we review an eligible man downfield who's an extra half yard downfield as a lineman than we should? How about we review every hand to the face every time a defensive player is held? I think that human error and the idea that we're not perfect as humans kind of happens in sports, right? Sports is not perfect. The referees are going to make mistakes.

They're not going to call the strikes right. They're going to miss it. And now baseball can review out and whatnot, out or safe. I just feel like football, man, there's just too much going on. You cannot review everything. And they're going to go away with this rule, thankfully. And we'll just continue watching football as we always have. Yeah, I wonder if we just strip the game of all technology,

if we might enjoy it better. I think we 100% would. Right? I mean, look, I'm for a lot of what we do. But I'm with you, man. I think that if football was kind of – slow motion replay is great, but it's really hurt officials. Just the way we look at the game is so different now.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to be a ref, honestly. No, I wrote this like a month ago. Why would anyone ever want to be a ref now? You just get crapped on all the time. Parents hate you. You get yelled at. These youth officials are always getting cussed at. I coached – I umpired high school baseball when I was in college in the offseason, dude.

And it just – it sucks, man. You get paid nothing to do it and parents yell at you. Coaches yell at you. I had to throw a parent – I coached girls softball when I was in high school. So these 12-year-old girls. And one of the girls was really struggling. And like she couldn't even, you know know like get the ball to the plate it was bad so you know in between innings they run her back out there and i was like i just you know this is gonna slow it down for everyone

that's gonna embarrass her this sucks so i went out there and just like gave her three tips i'm just like here's how you get the ball out of your hand to get it near the plate. And the coach of the other team yelled at me for helping like an 11-year-old girl try to throw a softball over the plate. Jeez. Yeah, yelled at me about how I wasn't there to coach. I was there to call balls and strikes.

And we got into a whole argument. I'm like a 16-year-old kid. He's an adult. And I threw him out of the game. That was the end of him. Absolutely. So I'm a big fan of the clap ejection where you point at someone. Yeah.

You clap and you throw them out. Yeah. Big fan of clap ejection. I love it. I love it. I had to summon the help of some other parents. I didn't have the authority to just do it and point. He wasn't going to his minivan with my point.

I needed a couple other parents to let him know he was out of line so i my buddies love when i do umpire stuff like i i did i should do a video i do a great umpire like the hand the signaling the out um when i umpire high school baseball um it's second like a guy would steal second base you know and try to steal their base and he would get tagged i would i. I'd point at the tag and be like, show me the ball. The guy with the short top would show me the ball. I'd be like, oh, yeah, and punch him out. I wouldn't even say out. Just be like, oh, yeah, boom.

Just punch him out. I loved it. I'd get on a knee at first base and just casually punch guys out like the pros do. I loved every second of it. I could see Jeff Schwartz as the Enrico Palazzo of the Santa Monica Softball League. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Santa Monica Little League.

That's where I played. Oh, man. We had a guy at umpire. Tyrone was great. He was, now looking back on it, he was umpire. Everyone knew who he was. He took it so seriously.

You know, like 10-year-olds, right? Like major league, you know, majors in, you know, boys. And so we're like 10. And a check swing, right? He would take off his mask. He'd take his mask off with his left hand. No, yeah, left hand. And he would point to the first base umpire.

He'd be like, did he go? And the first umpire would be like, no. And they're like, just so over the top. You're like're like what are you just like point with your right hand like everyone else does and like did he go the umpire is our safe and he's like yeah he just oh he like over exaggerated he'd step out he stepped from behind the plate he'd open his right hip he'd point his left hand with his mask and did he go it's incredible it's amazing i i bet you this doesn't exist anymore i bet you that parents have outlawed this kind of like because it made the kid who got thrown you know the kid who struck out now feels bad and blah blah blah you're probably not allowed i would for

sure by the way if i like if i had enough money in life i don't want to work anymore um and some argue that's the case now, but I... Yeah, I've seen the Christmas tree in your house. Your ceilings are 900 feet tall. I for sure umpire. I loved it. I would do it again hardly. Alright, everyone. Well, have a great new year

and we'll be back on Thursday. Enjoy yourself some bowl games. We've got bowl games today. We've got the Rose Bowl tomorrow for Oregon Duckeys against Wisconsin Badgers. So enjoy all the football you can. We'll have some more news on Wednesday with coaching hires. And take care. Talk to everyone then.