Green Light with Chris Long - Rams Jump Bills, Eagles Hold On vs Panthers& Vikings Demolish Falcons | Chris Long Reactions

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

Chris Long reacts to the LA Rams scoring a big upset over the Buffalo Bills as Matthew Stafford was dealing and Josh Allen couldn't do enough to overcome the Rams' strong play. The Philadelphia Eagles did just enough to defeat the Carolina Panthers. Saquon Barkley showed up for the offense while Jalen Hurts play was lacking and Darius Slay had a huge play to end the game and add another win for the Eagles as they chase the Lions in the NFC Playoff Race. And Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings demolished Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. (00:00) - Intro (3:45) - LA Rams Beat Buffalo Bills (18:21) - Philadelphia Eagles Hold On Vs Carolina Panthers (26:37) - Minnesota Vikings Spoil Kirk Cousins Homecoming Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I kind of hated. No, I didn't kind of hate it. I like capital H hated it. I tell my kids, you shouldn't hate anybody hates a strong word. In that moment, I hated Sean McDermott. When he ran up to the ball, you didn't run up to the ball because the fucking clock was stopped at the one yard line. And you're down two scores. You're going to have an opportunity with all your timeouts that you've been saving the whole damn possession. You've been saving the timeouts, the whole possession, trying to get to one score. ball game you get down the one yard line you line up sneak josh allen oh fuck what happens if he doesn't get in mcgovern's just laying there like we're like what are we doing mcdermit takes like a couple seconds it's like yeah well fuck it let's just burn one of these timeouts and effectively make it as

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Welcome with the Greenlight podcast. NFL Week 14 Instant Reactions with Chris Long. Chris breezes around the league and recaps the 1 in 4 p.m. games, especially that great Bill's Rams game. What a quarterback duel. The Vikings and Sam Donald demolished Kirk Cousin's and the Falcons. No homecoming for you today, Kurt. And the Eagles with Stan the Panthers.

The feisty Panthers, man. Look at these guys go. Surprising teams left and right. Just a quick taste for everyone. And we'll be back on Monday with our week 14 full reaction show. 11 a.m. Eastern. Make sure you there. What's up?

I'll just come out and say, I just lost my ass on that football game. Oh. Oh my God. I mean, we're good. on the year we're good on the month we're good on but on the sunday sunday went up in flames you assess the damages and you push all your chips onto the other other worldly quarterback plan this evening patrick mahomes and hope for the best we'll see what happens in that game that was unbelievable and and you know i have this debate with people sometimes like is matthew stafford a hall of

of famer. He's better than some guys who are who are probably in the Hall of Fame. I mean, that dude is unbelievable. McVeigh, unbelievable. And my dumb ass, I had to, you know, I just one of those things where I'm just like, let's, let's have a fun little Sunday. It wasn't the right play. Everything on earth was telling you it was the Rams. And, you know, luckily we got something on the over there because if there was one way the Rams were going to beat the bills, going to be scoring points. And so, you know, we had a thriller on our hands this Sunday. And for most of the game, it was just frustrating as hell if you're watching rooting for the bills and that sort of thing because to go on the road, to play a team like that whose back is

absolutely against the wall, you know what you're going to get. You're going to get their best. I thought they'd be able to run the ball a little bit better early on the game. You know, I thought that would have given them more control, although really didn't need it with the way Josh was largely playing, but he did miss his opportunities early at times. But the whole point is Stafford, Pooka, and Cup kind of in that order now when it comes to the Rams' offense. And don't forget the running backs and the run game and the offensive line who protected very well. That was one of the most disappointing parts of that game if you were watching the bills, is like they could not get pressure with four, right down to that third and 17, which we'll get to.

but these guys man especially stafford mcvay and cup two it's like it's like our favorite tv show that keeps they keep saying it's the last season it's the last season they're going to cancel and these guys are like nah we're not canceling the show at all you know how many times have dumbasses like me thought and i don't i haven't thought they were cooked this year at all Like this is a good football team when you have that many weapons on offense and a quarterback like that. And a defensive line who's starting to play, like they have a fighter's chance. But from a macro standpoint at different times, like I've thought they were done like a couple years ago. I mean, they've been pulling fast ones on people playing possum.

You know, people, some people like me at different times saying, hey, trade some of the assets away. They just refuse to let this chapter die. And I think it's because they know what they have. if Matt Stafford can look like that any given Sunday they can beat anybody and of course like with as much zone as the bills play and some of the matchups they had it was going to be a long day no matter what but they could not get off the field it was like there were nine of ten on third down at one point so like it's watching the Rams is like a movie dude it's LA it kind of reminds me of a movie it's like they're movie characters like you can't kill you can't kill them off like they just keep surviving it's unbelievable it was an awesome awesome showing from that group whose backs were absolutely against the wall and the worst thing is like sean mcdermott as much i like sean mcdermott the defensive coach and the head coach just not today they go into the half down 10 and i'm thinking to myself damn you know it's like the worst possible thing when i feel like

McDermott's out-duled. If you're, if you have the two locker rooms side by side and they're drawn up plays and they're making adjustments and you can, people can say adjustments aren't that big a deal at half. I think they are. McVeigh is like, he's chef Gordon Ramsey. Seriously. And McDermott's great. He really is. Today he was not as a head coach in my opinion. Number one, defensively, they couldn't get a stop. They couldn't get off the field. I wish I had something more constructive to tell a team that couldn't rush the passer. And, you know, Stafford dropping dimes like he was dropping and puka making catches like, it's like Brady said, there's no defense for a perfect throwing a perfect and a great catch in a lot of situations. And that what they dealt with,

a lot of DPIs, a lot of, you know, laundry on the field. But I think to me, the times that the bills botched their opportunities. Number one, you can't go on the road and get a pump block. you can't that can't go for a touchdown that sinks most teams just that alone um but they had an opportunity to fight back in this game and i think even as much they did they missed their big opportunity at the turn at the half the middle eight i always talk about the middle eight and how important that is it's four minutes before the half four minutes after the half any head coach knows that hopefully most players know this is the most important time in the game other than like the two minutes of the football game or whatever it is, the first draft.

This is a key moment in the game. And to me, there were a couple mistakes. I thought that the bills were way too nonchalant on the third and two that preceded their punt before the half, down 10, with an opportunity to the next time Stafford touched the ball. He could be down four. Instead, you rush up to the ball with 115 to go, and you don't have your best play.

Instead of taking your time, getting set, probably running the football because if you pick up you know four and a half feet you're going to get the last foot and a half like fucking just run the ball or getting your best play take your time instead you rush you have to punt so you're giving up the opportunity for the two for one now what do you do you get it out of the half and josh missed the throw a little bit but she cares got to catch that ball he knows that he had a fantastic second half he almost made up for it but that's the turn And then so next thing you know, Cooper Cups catching that ball, a couple possessions later, off his leg in double coverage. And it feels like it's insurmountable, but it's not because Josh Allen, as much as any quarterback could in a loss, he has some losses where you're like, I can't blame really almost anything on you in this game.

I know that like some people just don't like Josh and they get sick of the way we glaze Josh. but the fucking guy threw for like six touchdowns what five no interceptions um was aggressive all day missed some throws early you know kind of rolling around wasn't seeing it early but as the game went on just put them in a lot of positions that they you know nobody else could have you know with the with the run game and the whole thing like the qb scrambles so and the second big mistake i think that they had was um the end of the game game. You know, there were really two or three, depending on how you look at it. As the Rams get to that third and seven or so before the decisive fourth and five by way of a third and 17 penalty, the whole

thing, they're up three at this point. You know, a touchdown pretty much makes this thing a miracle situation. A field goal is going to give the ball back to Josh Allen down six. And I think that's the undertone that, you know, who knows what McVeigh would have done on fourth and seven. But I thought he might kick at that point. And some people say he went on fourth and five. And maybe you're right. But only McVeigh knows what he would have done on fourth and seven or fourth and eight or whatever it was.

Ten yards, except the holding McDermott backs him up, which to me, if McVeigh, was going to kick the ball is dumb as shit. If he knew that McBay was going and that may well have been the case, then fine. Back them up. But don't back them up and rush four. You haven't been getting pass rush all day. You play soft. You set them up for a fourth and five.

It's almost like you backed them up because if you backed him up, then you probably knew they were going for it. If you know they're going for it, you know they're going to go for it on fourth and five. So why give up fourth and five? Why aren't we defending it like it's a third and seven, like it's a fourth and seven? It is third and 17 now, but they fall forward for like 12 yards because the middle of the field is kind of just vacated. So for me, then fourth and five, yeah, the Rams jumped off sides like false start. They missed that thing.

You can also say that Mack Hollins held somebody on. I think it was the Ty Johnson touchdown. I forget which one it was. But, you know, calls go both ways. That's a big spot for a call not to go their way. I think there was also a reason to believe late in the game that Cooper got tugged a little bit. But like, hey, I am not. the Rams won that damn game fair and square.

And there's a lot of calls that went Buffalo's way. You could say, hey, the verse penalty went Buffalo's way early. It wouldn't verse. It was young on the sideline. I actually think that was a penalty. I understand why people get frustrated looking at it. It's not so much the timing as a rusher. Had I made that hit on the sideline, I would have said,

shit, they're going to flag me. And it was because you have time to lay off and instead you kind of dip your shoulder. And you really make forcible contact to the head and neck area. like I believe now I'm just making the point that the calls go both ways so we end up with that fourth and five obviously you bring the blitz which you probably should have done on third and 17 and here we are and you know Josh gets all the way down the field and this is the one I wanted to break my TV like Cowboys fan I just McDermott robbed us of just one more opportunity for this defense like statistically it's damn near impossible to not get them off the field the

next one it's like you haven't gotten them off the field all day maybe you'll get a stop here but i kind of hated no i didn't kind of hate it i like capital h hated it i tell my kids you shouldn't hate anybody hates a strong word in that moment i hated sean mcdermit when he ran up to the wheel you and run up to the ball because the fucking clock was stopped at the one yard line and you're down two scores, you're going to have an opportunity with all your timeouts that you've been saving the whole damn possession. You've been saving the timeouts, the whole possession, trying to get to one score ballgame. You get down in one yard line. You line up, sneak Josh Allen.

Oh, fuck. What happens if he doesn't get in? McGovern's just laying there. We're like, what are we doing? McDermott takes like a couple seconds. It's like, yeah, well, fuck it. let's just burn one of these timeouts and effectively make it, as Tom Brady pointed out, an onside kick game, which if you look at the statistics of that happening,

that is, it's like it's astronomically low. What, 3%? 7 on the broadcast. I call bullshit. I think it's like 1%, dude. It's not even good in Madden. Okay. So when you turn that game into an onside kick game, you take the ball out of job.

give your defense an opportunity. Give your de. I don't care if you're going to say they're going to try to pick it up. Well, look how close you've been. You know, you did not need that 15 seconds. It would have took to line up and do the same thing again because that's what you did. You took a time out and then came back out and sneaked. Bro.

It's like, what are you doing, bro? What are you doing? Now, none of this matters. If you don't get a block punt, none of this matters if you play. better defense in the back end. Listen, this doesn't affect where I think the bills can go. And this also is a statement from the Rams, which is like, we're not dead. And we're hard to kill. Like some cockroaches, man. And I mean that, like, as a massive compliment, you cannot kill these guys, man. Try everything. You can't kill him. Can't kill him. And the guy that totally flipped the game with

some guy named Long on the Rams. I was like, I was getting texts like, how about Long making the play? I'm like, well, not today. But cool, good, good for him. Is it just one of those things? Yeah, good for Hunter Long. That was a great play.

So anyways, that game was incredible. I can't wait to talk about it more tomorrow, but like just great quarterback play. Great quarterback play. Unbelievable. Josh's got some losses now where he couldn't have done anything else. I mean, wow. So, you know, I don't know what else to say about the damn game.

I wish there was, I'm not going to talk about a single defender. No show. Everybody, both sides. It just was like insane. I love my RV. I got a 24 footer. Take my family wherever I want to go. Even better.

I can go alone. Sometimes I take Nate and Reed to Tennessee. Sometimes I'll take it to the river. Sometimes. I mean, had a lot of great trips in my RV. But what I didn't realize is that when I take my RV somewhere else, I could be double-diffing. I could be making money at home while my house is vacant. I could turn it into an Airbnb. And I guess that's the point. You never know how much your

house is worth. You think it's worth one thing. You leave for the weekend. You could be raking in cash. So while you're away, your home could be an Airbnb. Had you thought about that? Your home might be worth a lot more than you thought it was. Find out how much. at airmenb.com slash host. The other game, the Eagles game, which, you know, this Carolina team, if you've been watching them, they've been muddying up some damn football games

and Bryce has been playing well. And that game was bookended by two plays on deep balls where his receivers let him down. And I think that if he has better receivers on the field, not named Adam Thielen, who played his ass off, they probably win that game. Now, that should never be the case, playing a football team like the Eagles.

As stacked as that roster is, that should never be the case. And I'm looking at one guy today, just today. It's like when you call somebody a name and you say, you're not, but you're being, Jalen's not a bad quarterback, but today he was being a bad quarterback. but if I see it a couple more times, I mean, that was not good.

That was not good. I like being fair to Jalen because I think he's done a hell of a lot. I mean, he's won a lot of games. And, you know, obviously, when a guy plays the way he played that Super Bowl year, you know, a lot of grace should be given. And he has come on. But it's been up and down, you know, since that. Super Bowl. This was one of his worst games. I don't know how else to put it. But it wasn't like there

were jaw-droppingly bad throws, although he missed Johnny Wilson, who's about 11 feet tall, missed him high. It was just a lot of like he's not, it's not, it's not, it's not snappy. You know, they were on the RPO's. I swear, if they'd have given the ball to Saquan Barkley, every play, he'd be like Forrest Gump through the, through the damn tunnel. But we had to just every second down be like, let's try some quick game or some RPO. Well, there is no quick game, actually. Our quick game is the RPO.

And when the quick game isn't there for this team, it gets difficult, man. And I did. I wrote down some thoughts. I don't think this like, you know, I don't think this worries me. The chiefs just had trouble with this team, you know, the Bucks just had trouble with this team.

But Baker Mayfield finished like 11 of 12 down the stretch. in that win that Tampa pulled out. So it is, it's, it's frustrating if you're an Eagles fan because you want to, you want to enjoy like, you know, this was a game that should have been 3016, right? And you were this close to maybe that outcome, but it never felt like that, you know, it never felt like that. I think a lot of it was because credit to the Panthers,

they decided early, hey, Jaylon's not playing that well. we're blitzing him on our early downs he looks lost we're on the r pos we're running the ball bryce doesn't look you know outmatched thieland's winning his matchup with de jean which hey cooper's played amazing this year you're going to run into some crafty vets like he met his crafty old white match and who's got a big body and kind of press up on him and uh i think thought Dillon played really well. And so, you know, the defense largely did their damn job. Bryce just made it look tough sometimes. And that's a credit to Bryce Young. Like, he made some plays not just with his legs, with his arm. He was checking him into runs. He was kind of like the link

was loud at the end of the game, although the delay or whatever it was, it got him to fourth and eight. That's kind of a death sentence there relative to a fourth and three that was kind of makeable he really played well there were two plays on that final drive that were highlight real plays it was truly like the meme where or the the pop culture reference whether i sound like a boomer but where they're like if my homes did this seriously some of the shit he did and that he's done the past couple games there was a moment the one where he was running out of the end zone It was an unbelievable play shaking dudes off.

He made two of those plays in the last. I'm very happy for that dude. Even though he made me sweat today with the Eagles, just played really well. The other side of it, the veteran quarterback who's been to a Super Bowl, who's been there, done that, did not play well.

There were just a lot of moments where it felt like they were out of sync in the passing game. And I think AJ said something after the game, like, what do we need to improve on the passing game? And I don't think he's taking a shot at the QB. I think he's taking a shot at the whole operation. Like it just did not look crisp.

And you wanted to look a lot better than that. Okay. Again, I think defensively, Zach Bonn made a big play, great rush on third and seven. Jalen Carter was absolutely dominant at times. In the red zone, he almost blew up like three run plays in a row,

blew of a screen on the day. Really hard to operate with him playing at full speed, man. He really looks great. CJ Gardner Johnson with the pick. But again, first interception for Bryce and 127 downs or passes. So I think the Jake Elliott thing is getting a little sketchy. Love Jake. That's my dog.

But when you're afraid to kick a 50-yard field goal, and I wasn't down there at the link, so I don't know what the win was like. You know, if you make the kicks early in the game, we're not even talking about it, right? but at the same time with the game in the line I can remember time if the Eagles are up

six and a 50 yard field goals on the menu to put you up nine you're kicking that ball so they weren't able to really and honestly that that came about because of a delay of game I believe which is another you know QB sending a guy in motion with one second to go on the damn play clock

so the operation was just sloppy today and, you know, Jake not being on affected Xavier Leggett, almost catching that ball. If Xavier Leggett catches that ball, I don't think, I don't know if the Eagles get out of that, that damn game. I mean, so definitely the kind of game that, and maybe it comes at the right time for the Eagles who are like as hot as anybody, people talking about, oh, are they better in Detroit, all that stuff? Not yet. You've got to play better than that weekend and week out.

the thing that makes Detroit great is now in one game can they beat Detroit absolutely they can they'd have to play a hell a lot better than that but the thing that makes Detroit great is they're consistent their consistent play they're there they're I mean fuck they had so many guys down the other night and dudes just stepped up and made plays you know that all the the offense doesn't have days like that the last time Jared golf had a day like that was quite a while ago You know, he had a bunch of picks against the damn, the damn Texans, but he was still throwing the ball over the yard and led them to a victory. You know, so when the quarterback plays like that or has it in him to play like that,

you can go home at any time. So that's got to get cleaned up, and it might be a function of the offense, the preparation, the game plan. I felt like Carolina was kind of on top of them. Like they kind of understood what to expect. So listen, a win's a win. And I think Hertz knows that he's got to play better. He did have a great process to Calcutera in the red zone.

You know, he made a couple of throws that turned out to be the difference, but you shouldn't be that close. And, you know, I think for the Eagles, sometimes they forced getting the quarterback involved when they could have just ran the damn ball. We've heard that before. Okay. Minnesota, super impressive. I know it's just the Falcons who seem to have lost a step in the NFC South with the Bucks taking care of business.

Sam Darnold, for him to get over the hump that he kind of had, it felt like it culminated in that Jacksonville three-pick game. There was a point in this game where he had thrown nine touchdowns and around no picks. He's the reason, you know, like, and you hear Greg Olson talking about him being not just a, he's not a game manager for this team. He really isn't. And honestly, who's ready for the darn old Purdy conversation? Yeah, dude. Because these guys have both, I mean, Purdy, people like to call them a game manager. They kick the shit of the Bears today.

I'll watch that later. But they were both on the same, you know, roster. And they're both, I think, relatively similar guys, although they have different skill sets. I think Sam Darnold has earned the, some title north of game manager for sure. That guy played really, it's a small sample size,

but he's played really well. He created the opportunities to take those shots, you know, today. He knows when to take the shot. They're not, they don't have to be jaw-dropping throws, but to make throws off schedule and to know where to go with the football and have a head coach who we talked about this week could be coach of the year, in my opinion, to come into a game and say, hey, it's pretty simple.

We like the match up on Addison. We're going to get to it. Some coaches don't even get to the matchup. You know, and some quarterbacks don't know when to take the shots. And so a lot of shots today felt for Kirk because early on he hit some in cuts. And, you know, like we said, Minnesota gives up a lot of them. But it just wasn't enough, right? you know they weren't putting enough points on the board they had multiple opportunities in my opinion

and i'm talking a little bit too much about the falcons i don't think they're going anywhere that like not to be rude but where i should be talking about them this much but they could have played their game which which should have been running the football on this front okay um because they had some success doing that i felt like at different times fourth and five early up seven nothing has pits outside he's stacked metellus maybe it's just that it's pits maybe the fact just outside the numbers he didn't look there goes somewhere else addison immediately tie ball game then they're fourth and two they opt not to go they fall down 14 seven um and darno was under siege but made some plays in this game uh and and

then the game gets out of hand was 21 all kirk as he pointed out doesn't seem to see the see the ball until it's 35 21 they tied up he doesn't see the ball until it's 35 21 so the Vikings finding different ways to win. Very impressed with this team. Also a very tough place to play. They really do play well at home. And, you know, they're hovering right there. I don't think the lions are going to miss step like that,

but they're right there. And they're going to play some games at home in this playoff this year. So Donald's been a big part of it. Listen, that was wild. that was just wild that bill's game was wild i don't even know like i'm not even mad you think that you think that hurts any of the bill's confidence going in the next week no honestly probably the best thing it could happen to them and it's a game i think they win just because of where detroit is physically right now but um the rams man damn dude can't kill him all right let's get it chiefs

Let's do this thing. Y'all take care. I'll see y'all in the morning.