Green Light with Chris Long - Reacting To NFL Head Coaching Hires & Rumors With Kevin Clark

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

Been a little behind on the NFL Head Coaching and Coordinator hiring cycle with all the big games going on? Chris Long and Kevin Clark have you covered as they round up the coaching news across the NFL. How will Mike McDaniel fit with Jim Harbaugh in LA coaching Justin Herbert and the Chargers? Who will be the Buffalo Bills next head coach to be paired with Josh Allen? What will Kevin Stefanski's offense going to look like in Atlanta? Was Drew Petzing a surprising hire for the Detroit Lions? The fellas answer all those questions and more in today's episode! (00:00:00) - NFL News & Miami's National Championship Loss (00:11:30) - Surprising NFL Coaching Moves (00:16:35) - John Harbaugh Hired By The New York Giants (00:25:13) - Kevin Stefanski Hired By The Atlanta Falcons (00:37:08) - Buffalo Bills Future (00:52:45) - Mike McDaniel Hired By LA Chargers As OC (00:56:13) - Drew Petzing Hired By Detroit Lions As OC (01:06:11) - Conference Previews 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 presented by Zone Nicotine and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open: ‪[phone]‬ Head to https://nicokick.com/zone and use code GL20 for 20% off at checkout. Check out Green Light's ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, where you can catch all the latest GL action 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

To promote Brandon Bean, to not change anything with the structure of the drafting, that to me was shocking. The press conference on Wednesday was unbelievable. All they had to do, Chris, he shut their mouth, and they had the best coaching opening by a wide margin. You know, the Mike McDaniel hire in L.A. Awesome. Perfect. I think it's perfect.

My big question to you is, like, do you still text Kevin's the fans? He's a big Pearl Jam fan. Given to Fly. Given to Fly. Given to Fly is a great one. He's a falcon. All right, bookending the NFL season this year. We got Kevin Clark.

Kevin joined us to start the year in Atlantic City. Yeah. Kevin, what was it, the Borgata? The Borgata. The Borgata. The lovely Borgata to do a live show, a preview of the NFL season. And he's back now to talk coaching vacancies and all things NFL. What up, Kev.

I do. now that you mention it when I last time I did this I was like on day two of a two day hangover from the Notre Dame Miami game and now I'm still kind of working off Sunday Monday and Tuesday from the national championship so this might actually be a me problem I might have to look in the mirror every time I do this show I'm like I'm still in the process of recovering from as many light beers like I've always thought like light you know light beers like water basically but I tested to the limit and I'm out of commission for not anymore at a time to that yeah that's more it was it was like water for us years ago but now it's not like water only

water's like water for us now i can't even fucking drink orange juice um too much sugar uh so yeah maybe it's a it's a i got impeccable timing dude for when i asked for these interviews but um take me inside uh take me out of the hood of miami football right now in miami football fandom yeah it sucks um It was fun. I was just telling you, guys, I was never nervous the entire game because Miami's played the same big game for two years. And especially this year. They played Notre Dame, Texas, A&M, Ole Miss, Ohio State. Every game was the same. It was keep it close. And then the got to have a drive, they get. Okay. And the Louisville game, they got to have a drive ended in a pick. That was the one hiccup, SMU. Overtime ends in a pick. So sometimes it doesn't end the way it should.

But nine times out of 10, they're able to close the game out. So once they get the ball back down six, I thought they were going to win. And, you know, a lot of people talked about that last play. Tony was open over the middle. The problem is you have 51 seconds. I would just give the ball my best player and say, hey, do something because he's been breaking tackles all year. I know you'd probably waste 15, 20 seconds off it. I'd rather have the ball at the 20.

Take a couple of shots than try to end the game on the left side, which is what they do with Keel and Marion. Richard Sherman made the point that basically, you need another route on that side, the left side, to hold the corner. Otherwise, the corner is going to sit on the vertical route. And you didn't do that. It sucks. I, you know, I got a little Dan Campbell on me. This might be our only shot. Like, that was the best quote of anybody for the past decade is that everybody keeps saying, you'll be back. You'll be like, I saw a reporter in LaGuardia on Tuesday and they were like, you got money. You got markers. I don't know, man. There might be a 16 team playoff next year and then all the sudden you know you get one bad drawing you're not there so

i'm pretty down in the dumps over it i will i want to ask you so mike golic had a clip a couple weeks ago that i thought was really interesting where he said that as a fan he's significantly more depressed after a loss than he was as a player because the player immediately has a checklist of things they have to do they are so busy they got to go get treatment that it never really hits you in the way it hits you as a fan where you just sit with it and stew is that how you process yeah but i also think it's something like when you're a fan you're powerless yes so it's a feeling of frustration it's uh it would have been so easy to not throw that ball or it would have been so easy to do this or that and the third and when you play you realize that they get paid to and that you did the very

best you could like when you're sitting in the cold tub on a monday or on the on the treatment table not to say you're not miserable after a loss but it's a different kind of misery you know and it's hard to describe and honestly as an analyst i've been able to kind of get a glimpse into that a little bit more like when i was a kid and my favorite team lost that was agony yeah and then you know as a pro athlete i got pretty used to losing i'm not saying it ever got fun um but you you find ways to compartmentalize it and you realize you know how hard it is to win games. So like for a fan, it seems so easy. Yeah.

Just do it. Just do the thing. You know, I knew the right call. You know, Brandon coach just catch the ball, you know. But when you play, it's a little different. So, you know, I use this example because I was talking to Dave Damashik about this. I went back and watched our 2018 divisional round game against the New Orleans. Orleans Saints that I knew when we played, it felt like we should have won the game.

I'm not doing the thing that the Saints have done in the past. We said, we would have won if we'd have gone to the next round. We got beat fair and square. But as a player, you know, it was excruciating. We were up two scores in the game, the whole thing. But at the end of the game, you're kind of like, you're so crushed. And this was my last game. You have to move on.

You don't have a choice. When I went back and showed my kid the game on YouTube and watched it, again, it was like I wanted to cry. It was like agonizing because you're able to kind of see it from that 30,000 foot view. So that's my opinion on it. It's, I have an uncle who flies planes and I asked him if he's ever nervous. And he said that you're too busy to ever be nervous as a pilot. And I kind of feel like with a player, it's the same thing.

You're like, you're just compartmentalizing you're saying, I have to do this, this is. As a fan, we're like the passenger on the plane and we're like, what the hell is this turbulence? Figure this out. Figure this out of the turbulence. everyone's out. But the other thing is, you mentioned like the they get paid two thing and the understanding. I also think once you're in it, so like when we're, we now, you know a hundred times more than I do, if not more about the NFL.

But like you also understand that a lot of these things, when we're talking about like, why didn't they hold the corner, right? There's probably a pretty good reason that the play was designed the way it was. And it just didn't, wasn't either wasn't executed or somebody ran the wrong route or somebody got, somebody got blocked and they shouldn't have. Like there's so many things. And this happens all the time now, especially like, with, you see all the time on Twitter where it's like, why is this guy playing?

And then you ask somebody and it's like, well, actually that guy, uh, actually hasn't practiced on Wednesday or Thursday in a month and like, you know, is an alcoholic and doesn't know on a pass block. Like other than that, no, definitely you should be playing. Yeah, it's, that's, that's huge, man. And I think even in being away from the game for a little bit, it helped me realize that like, I don't know shit compared to what I knew when I was inside the building. And you know this from having heard things, the hearsay.

the rumors and after the fact like hey this is what it was actually like in the building this year and you guys all in the media we're talking about this thing you were missing the most obvious thing to everybody inside the building whether it's a personnel issue or an interpersonal issue or you know it's um and we learn this lesson all the time and we're a lot better about it now but like hey if a quarterback misses a throw you know it's pretty healthy to take a beat and think did the wide receiver break the wrong way or were they not in the same page like there's a reason that quarterback just sailed that ball um i think that's kind of a microcosm of hey there's always more to it than you know so yeah and that that's a long way of diverting the conversation away from

miami just being a factory of sadness and uh tignetti being an absolute wagon you were uh i i was going to text you you are a big part of like Miami inspirational ticot because the lowest moment of our program was when we lost in the orange bowl 48-0 yeah and for whatever reason Randy Shannon went right to you at the whistle and gave you a big hug and at the final whistle I don't know I was gonna say you there the screener yeah Randy Shannon went right to you give you a big old hug and so as like the announcers are going 48-0 nothing the orange bowl is closing down Chris long is right there and and so you were a big big part you know why maybe inspirational videos it's probably because

So I went to school with Chris Olson, Greg Olson's brother. Yeah. And, you know, spring break, we used to go down to Miami. We used to hang out and I'd sleep on Greg Olson's couch. And, you know, we even went to the facility once, which is really weird, like to think about doing. And you know what I mean? But like, they were like, hey, we got to, Greg was like, hey, we got to go to the facility for a second or something like that. One of his teammates was like, and we were in the car.

And they were like, do you guys want to come in and see? and we were like, yeah, sure, and I ran into Randy Shannon in the front hall of the facility. So maybe it was that. I don't know. But yeah, 48 nothing. I do remember that. I remember the Rock did the coin toss. I don't remember the Rock being that big respectfully at that point.

But yeah, 48 nothing. It was awesome. I'll never forget that one. There is. Here we go. Oh, here it is. Pull it up. Pull it up.

We actually can do this because it's college football. There it is. Yeah, Randy Shannon. I like Randy. B line. What a B line. Like at what point we go down like what 24 nothing and he's like I'm going right for Chris Long. Actually. I think I was I think I was just at midfield. And we made eye contact. So dude, that's many moons ago. All right. So that that was that was this way. Were you at the game down there? I was. Yeah. Yeah. I was down there. Was it was it was it was it was it was it a great atmosphere? Was it was underrepresented? It was. And it was. And it was. And. And. And I'll say this, and I was talking to somebody about this yesterday,

partially, I'm not a big moral victory guy, but you're drinking with all your friends from 11 a.m. until 7.30 when the game starts. I think part of us in our head, we're all like, we didn't know this is ever going to happen again. Because we got, we're losing 48 nothing in the Orange Bowl. And we have Al Golden. And we've got Manny Diaz and we're going seven and five. Or we're losing to FIU or we're losing to Duke.

It was in the middle of Tennessee State. And now we're back in the parking lot at the National Champs of King. And so I'm not. moral victory guy. I'm not like happy at all right now. And it's going to take me a couple months to reflect well on the season. But I do think the fact that he get to experience it again, I think there was some doubt this had ever happened again. So I'm good with everything. Yeah. Well, I felt the same way when we lost the AC championship, you know? Yeah. Like, yeah, sure, were we on the cusp of doing something historic? And this was probably our only chance to do that

in my lifetime. Yeah, but I remember when we sucked. And I remember when we couldn't beat tech and we beat tech this year. So, yeah, college football is a funny thing, man. Let's move to the pros. One of the main reasons I wanted to have you on was to talk about some of these head coaching vacancies,

some of these coordinator vacancies. Has anything shocked you? What's been the most shocking hire or for that matter, firing that you've seen so far? I mean, the firings have been, have been shocking. Like obviously, Harbaugh, McDermott. McDermott shocked me only because I don't hate the idea of moving off him because every season ends the exact same. But to promote Brandon Bean, to not change anything with the structure of the drafting,

that to me was shocking. The press conference on Wednesday was unbelievable. All they had to do, Chris, he shut their mouth, and they have the best coaching opening by a wide margin. Who doesn't want to coach Josh Allen? Who doesn't want to be in Buffalo? The fan support. And then they start talking and they make it weird. They made it weird.

And now every coach is going to be like, I don't know, man. That's like, I'm sure they're going to get a good candidate, but you almost wonder, like, maybe it's stable or maybe it's Joe Brady. We're not concerned about getting a top candidate. That's also why you make this move now. You can't interview anybody who's in the conference championship games. It's totally different. So I don't, I don't know. What I will say is I'm intrigued at the guys, like Mike McDaniel taking his name out of the Browns head coaching job to go get the OC job with the Chargers.

Like that to me, I think it's probably a good idea. I'd say the same thing, even though it doesn't seem like they're getting the same kind of buzz, like the Eagles job. I'd rather be the Eagles OC right now than the Browns head coach. I think you'd rather rehab your image, get a better job. If you're Mike McDaniel, McDaniel, like, he's got great plays. He would go to Cleveland. He would win two games next year because the roster stinks, and then he would get fired.

And then he would never get another head coaching job again. And so I think you're seeing candidates play it smarter. And I think that's like career management is a big thing. Because, like, Chip Kelly, the worst thing Chip Kelly did was he went to the Niners right after the Eagles. and then got drummed out of the NFL. And like everyone saw he was out of plays, all that stuff. If he had gone and called plays for two years at a top organization,

he has a totally different career. And so that's kind of how I look at it. But there's like 10 openings is insane, dude. And honestly, you said something about passing up head coaching jobs, which I always thought was like, it's easy to say, like sitting on the sideline being like, hey, well, that's not a great job, man. Why don't you wait till the next cycle, some guy who's never had one. or in this case somebody who's already had one but um i think the ben johnson thing where he kind of

he kind of sat back and bided his time and passed up opportunities and then waited a year and ended up in a spot where he inherits this generational talent at quarterback and you know they're in the division around the first year i i'm not saying every every opt out ends up like that but i do think it reinforces that like hey you don't have to take the first job offering you get you know and and and i think uh i think yeah is it is it a bit of a red flag that people are passing up the the the philly oc job yeah um Cleveland you understand certainly I also see the upside of like hey if you're the guy that pulls a sword from the stone in Cleveland like you're a fucking you're a king yeah but Cefansky did it and then they traded for Deshawn Watson his crew his crew there was that's the

problem and that and that to me is like i think that's what people are missing about this defancy thing the thing that makes me want to shake a fan like just walk up and like shake them and be like i know you might not like kevin stefansky and and i'm not saying he's a world beater of a coach but people have such a short memory i agree to not contextualize what was going on in cleveland is insane to me insane to me and you know obviously there was a big faction of people that just wanted anybody to take the blame for the situation that Shador walked into, which was a big, you know, that whole thing was a big firestorm. But I think for Kevin Stefansky, you can't have this conversation unless you contextualize the situation, which is that they,

they saddled you with a guy with 40 civil cases whose arm was shot, who'd taken a bigger beating than fucking Andrew Luck in Houston. So the football player and the, and the mind. The mind. Absolutely gone with this guy. And you mortgage the future for him. I completely agree.

The other thing I need to mention this, and we talk about surprises. I'm surprised, it pleasantly surprised, that the Giants are letting John Harbaal completely remake their franchise. Because the feedback I got on the Giants job, the past couple of months is that it's not as desirable as you think because the organization is

stuck in the past because they have all of these guys who are who've been there for 30 40 years who do nothing they can't get fired um they leak everything the giants just have more leaks i mean you saw this with the hardball stuff and then before we had like the meeting notes on john hardball like every five minutes it was like john harbaugh is now is now on the tarmac john harball has yeah boarded the plane that's the best organizations don't have those kind of leaks okay like that just how it goes right part part of that is just how many people are just there in the giants building this we're we're recording this on a thursday uh at 10 but the fact that they're able to reassign they've been reassigning like the trainer they've been reassigning a bunch of the front office guys

Joe Shane, who I think is a really bad GM, has lost a lot of his power. He's just kind of kind of be ahead of scouting while John Harbaugh brings in his own guys. Harbaugh is bringing in a bunch of his coaches. The Giants, and this is what I've been saying, I thought Tomlin would have been a good fit. I said this during the season, even like a Marcus Freeman, you needed someone to come in to tell the Giants how it's going to be. Because the Giants keep failing at figuring out, oh, we're going to hire Ben McAdoo. We're going to hire Brian Day. Like, they keep botching the hire.

they needed a Tom Coughlin to be like, all right, this is what winning is. And like, you know, yeah, they're a family run business. They got a bunch of Maras and tissues all over the place. Like that's unavoidable in NFL facilities, I think. But what you need is an empowered coach who's just going to tell everybody how it's going to be. And, you know, heard this point made this morning, like the roster's not chock full of people that have won before. No. And so, you know, Harbaugh has definitely won before. Like the track record of coaches winning again in the second stop. I think it's kind of a mixed bag. Like, you know, but I think he brings a certain kind of calm and adult sensibility to the building, which has been, they've been throwing everything they can at the wall and hoping it sticks. You mentioned some of those hirings, the McAdoo, the Joe Judge hiring. And, you know, Dayball, I, I, You know, we're going to talk about him in a second with the Bill's job.

But, you know, he inherited Daniel Jones. Yeah. One of a playoff game with him. Danny Dimes gets hurt. And you said what you said about the GM. You know, I don't put that chapter entirely on Brian Dayball. I think it's been a tough organization to win in. But you look at the roster, there are some talented players.

I like the front. I think the neighbor's thing is great. and Dart is like kind of on the cusp of being a guy that I think, you know, makes you think, all right, we got a franchise quarterback. I want to see another year. You know, I'm always tentative with rookie quarterbacks unless they blow you away. But yeah, no, I think there are some pieces there. I think the young talent's been overrated. I think a lot of it, I don't know. I've never, I've never met Joe Shane. I think in the last two months of the season,

I think the young talent became overrated because just from looking at it, it looked like Joe Shane was trying to leak that they had a bunch of young talent to keep his job. That's what it read to me. And so I think you take all of these ingredients and it's going to be a multi-year build. Like that's the one thing I think people need to understand

with the Giants is it's not going to be like an overnight thing. The young talent's overrated, Dart need to change the way he plays. Like I know, and Giants fans will tell you like, oh, he wasn't diagnosed with a concussion, you know, whatever it was, eight out of the ten times he's checked. Yeah, they didn't catch him. They didn't catch him.

He went to a blue medical tent for a concussion check on average once a game. Right. He did it a couple times in a few games. That is not sustainable. So you have to tell him to change the way he plays or else he's going to be out of the freaking league. And so, again, I just think they needed someone to come and change everything about the way they did they do business and if Shane wants to stay fine because

there's a deal let's Ryan Poles whether it's George Payton in Denver whether it's less need we've seen GMs stay where they are coach comes in tell them how it's going to be and they ends up being fine I thought Ryan Poles did not deserve an extension and the joke I would say is like you get real Ryan Poles got relegated from GM to Ben Johnson's buddy that's it that's his job title, okay? But that can work if the coach is good enough. And it looks like it is in Chicago. Looks like obviously it is in Denver, and it

can work with the Giants. The thing is, though, you know, you've got, you mentioned Chicago, offensive play caller. Yeah. You mentioned Denver, offensive play caller. Harbaugh is going to have to do this thing

where, you know, and every coach that doesn't major in offense and has a young quarterback, like, if you hit on an offensive coordinator, you're going to have to hire a new one in the next one or two years. So, you know, that puts you squarely in a moment where you're trying to figure out, like, you know, projecting ahead. Like, do you want to extend or, you know, pick up the option on your young quarterback? Like, you're kind of in that zone of considering that. So, you know, I do, you know what? I think, I think speaking of the, hey, do you hire offense, do you hire defense?

I think there's a bunch of defensive coaches that are sitting there pulling for Mike McDonald and they're saying, hey, it's been fucking too long since a guy not named Bill Belichick was able to go do this thing with a major in defensive football and it bodes well for other guys getting hired. And we know obviously this year,

Mentor is a big name. We know that Halfley got hired in Miami. There's a number of guys that are trying, But I always caution like, hey, if you're not hiring an offensive coordinator, you are eventually going to have to replace that offensive mind because even if you find one, that person is going to leave if you have any success. I found when I met with McDonald when he was an assistant a few times, I found that he studied offense a lot more than a lot of D.C. did.

I think that a lot of times when he was picking the brain, I think a lot of times D.C.s pick other D.C.'s. from what i gathered mike mcdonald just picked the ocey's brains and said hey i want to do this like like tell me tell me what i'm doing wrong if i design it like this it reminds me a little bit of of of kyle shanahan on the office side of the ball richard sherman had told me that one of the reasons he went and worked in alanta for dan quinn uh or wanted to work for dan quinn and they had that's a good process was he all he wanted to do was learning to beat dan quins cover three it's all i wanted to do and that's why he was so good at being able to beat it like

is because he understood the rules of the defense. And I think on the flip side, McDonald wants to understand the offensive rules to break them. So having like Kubiak in the building is awesome for him because he'll be able to beat that for or try to beat that for a long time. And by the way, can with the defensive personality has. So with McDonald, for me, I actually think he's such a forward thinking guy,

just from our limited meetings, that I think he's going to be able to have this assembly line of offensive coordinators or people are going to want to work there. I also think if you don't meddle, like that's an attractive pitch. Hey, come here. We've got Gray's Able. We've got Charles Cross. We've got Jackson Smith and Jigba, who I just saw a stat is like there's two guys in the world.

Sorry, one guy in the world who's led the league in slot yards one year and outside yards another year. Jackson Smith and Jigba. Slot was this year. Outside was last year. And then with he and Puka are the only guys who've ever. had at least 100 yards on eight different routes in a season. Wow. And it's like, why would you not want Jackson Smith and Jigba as your chess piece if you're an officer coordinator?

So even if Clint Kubiak takes the Baltimore job or whatever, it doesn't matter, like that, the building blocks there are unbelievable. No question. No question. I think getting back to another interesting opening was Atlanta. I love the personnel there. I think we all kind of this year had the same sentiment, which was. Ghaly, sometimes they can fool you and look like a contending football team, even without a real answer at quarterback. And sometimes they look totally hapless.

It's finding the consistency with this group. And I think that's part of why Rahim got let go. But I think the Stefansky thing, as we talked about earlier, is a perfect fit for that offense. And that's, and, you know, you talk about, like, you've got Bajon Robinson now to work with. You've got Drake London outside. you have a good offensive line, a group that, like, honestly, you're not reinventing the wheel from a schematic standpoint. Obviously, Zach Robinson last year, but this is more outside zone. This is more, you know, sideline to sideline run action. And I think it's going to work out.

And my big question to you is like, do you still text Kevin's the fanskeep? He's a big Pearl Jam fan. And so there's that. What do you think his favorite song is? he says his favorite album is no code he's a no code guy he's a no code guy yeah he's a no code guy so I mean there's a lot of ways you can go with that

smile bunch of different things so I here's a deal about Sivan's what it pegged him as a vitology guy so so I think I think true Pearl Jam fans have to be a little like you have to throw out weird a weird album just so people don't think you're like an even flow guy right

um that 10 is incredible 10 is incredible. But here's the deal. So I talked to the owners meetings and we did a no code or we did the no code clip. I put it out. And then all these people quote tweeting and being like, I saw Kevin Zafanski in the pit at like two years ago at Pearl Jam and he knew every word. And so like there's a lot of bonafides with Kevin Siffansky. Given to fly. Given to fly. Given to fly is a great one. He's a falcon. There you go. Yield. No code. There's a lot. There's a lot of. There's a lot of options there. Here's the deal about about that. So everybody loves Matt Ryan. There's a lot of respect from Matt Ryan in in the NFL. And so people really wanted that job.

They're going to hire a GM who, uh, who's kind of like just basically a scouting director and the Matt Ryan's going to be really, really involved from what I understand. Um, with Pennix like the fatal flaw they've had, Chris is that they thought all of their actions were that were predicated on Michael Pennix being like the best quarterback on earth. right even like you're going all in for james pierce which by the way looked really really good last year but you're you know you're taking on all this this extra money with kirk cousins the the whole thing their approach i think the last three years has been very arrogant which i think really hurts nfl teams is when you say we know this to be true we know we have to have this um michael panics

is going to hit and then once it happens xyz it was a very arrogant approach from the front office and the coaching staff i don't think that's going to happen anymore and And the building blocks, as you talked about, the skill guys, James Pierce, who I just mentioned, the defense, they finally have a pass rush. I think there's something there. Jesse Bates, who you talk to people in Cincinnati, you know, the fatal flaw of that whole build was that they let Jesse Bates walk. And so I think there's a lot, a lot to build on there.

The Watts kid. Did you mention the Watt? Xavier Watts, yeah, from Notre Dame. He's fucking stunned. They have a lot of young talent. And keeping Jeff was the right thing. They are what Joe Shane tried to leak the Giants were. Yeah.

Yeah. There's something to that. I also think they got like a little mini no-fly zone coming in, man. Like, like I, I, we always talk about this. Why don't more groups, A, if you're going to lose your OC in a year, like I'll, I don't know, say, I'm trying to think of somebody who, who left the nest. And then a year later, they fired the head coach. And they're like, well, fuck. wish we'd have hired that guy who was in house like a Joe Brady thing. Let's say the bills think

Joe Brady is like the truth. And, you know, and he's the key to the whole thing. You know, maybe they weren't all in on firing Sean McDermott, but you do it a year early and you say, hey, we don't want to lose Joe Brady in this cycle. We can project a year out. I'm not saying Ulbrick should have been head coach, but it's not often that they retain one side of the ball. and I thought it was like the right thing to do and I'm glad they did it right. I just did not expect them to get that right. No, I think Stifansky is a good coach

and understands what he had there. And we'll see Tommy Reese is going to be the O.C. Stifansky, I assume, will return play call and kind of like the Browns didn't want to play call plays last year, so we'll see about that. I really like the higher. And I think that, again, they're going to be pretty good. I also think that part of it,

again, we talk about how coaches are getting smarter at this career management stuff. Yeah. Taking a job in the NFC South is a pretty good deal right now. Like you got the bucks, but the bucks aren't a super team. The Panthers certainly aren't a super team. The Saints will see what they're going. I think Tyler Shucks really good. Yeah.

But I kind of see it. It's almost like college now where it's like James Franklin goes to, no offense, you know, a program. Yeah, I agree. With a bright future. I forgot to it. I shouldn't do any hockey praise, but it's like, this is a pretty good place to be. Yeah, shit. Yeah. No, but it's like, what James, he's probably thinking about like, hey, I have to beat one team a year. It's Miami. If I go to Arkansas, if I go to South Carolina, if that opened, I'm screwed. I got to be LSU every year. Like, I kind of feel like, just from talking different coaches during the process, like, they're starting to think about that kind of stuff too. Where it's like, where can I win? Well, it's one of the things that, like, you look at the Miami job. I don't mean like you of them. I mean, the pro football team, but like they, you know, Halfley has his work hit out for him. And it is interesting.

They went defense because of the great quarterbacks in that division now. But like you've got Drake May and Josh Allen in that division. I mean, like that's a tough job. And the same thing with the Arizona job. Like Arizona, and there are some pieces on that team. Some guys I like, but like you're going to go to the NFC West. Like, that's what makes that job so. hang grenade you know it's like yeah and and so yeah i mean you look at something like say

stefansky in the nfc south you mentioned all the you know the cracks in the door there the a fc south robert sala tennessee there is reason to believe and i believe this he's the best quarterback in the south cam ward yeah within here by next year i think i would hope it's a in the next two years. He didn't, I mean, like, nobody's saying this year who is better than Trevor Lawrence or anything like that, but like, you know, I feel about Trevor, like, and you know how I feel about Cam Ward? I guess that's implied in making the statement, but it is the South, like, and it's a softer

landing zone than some of these other places. Hey, what would you do about CJ Stroud? I wish they'd have benched him at the half. Sure. You know, and, and I also believe that, like, that didn't have to be permanent, but you're in a playoff game, and this guy's giving you six quarters of, like, terrorism,

like, legit terrorism. And so I would have made the move. Do I think he's going to be able to recover mentally? Like, I don't know. I don't know. So, and the ceiling on him, it looked high year one, but it hasn't looked high since. And so,

I don't know what to do about that. Like honestly, I have no idea. I think a couple of things. Number one, I talked to somebody yesterday who said that the word around the league is that he needs a clean pocket to thrive, which you don't get a lot in the NFL, frankly. You know, yeah, you just don't.

Like if you're a clean pocket guy, bad things are gonna happen. It's increasingly harder for you to find a happy place. Correct, correct. And the other part of it is the Texans could win with so many quarterbacks because the way they play on defense that you basically only CJ's drought could lose some of these games by turning the ball over

and just insane impossible situation. Were you just like, oh, what the hell was he? Like what was that throw? Like what was that? You're almost turning into like late stage Philly Carson Wentz where you're just like how how did that ball come out of his hand? Why was that decision made? And honestly it was worse.

Yeah. And that's not a Carson defense. Yeah, no. It was awful. It was worse. And so like how, how, many quarterbacks in the league could win a playoff game with that Houston defense is creating havoc and will end the two best edge rush pairs in football the defense it creates turnovers

Derek Stingley like I think three of the top five dbs by pass the rating are on on Houston like you just need a game manager's not going to turn the ball over and you've got the exact opposite of that that's why I think you know I'd brir on my show yesterday and he was like I think we're going to see an offseason not that any of these guys are going to get dealt where teams are going to get more aggressive about trading for some of these mid-mid-looking guys. Yeah, but also, like, do you, does Houston say, screw it, we'll let somebody else figure out with C.J. Stroud? Does Caroline do it like, does Caroline do that like Bryce Young? No.

Where it's like instead of giving the 60 million, you just say, eh, let's start over. I think Bryce has an opportunity to prove it this year. I thought like what he did in the playoffs and what he did down the stretch. I don't think they came to the season thinking they'd run a very ambitious offense and passing game. And I think as the season went on, they got more confident in what he could do. And it culminated in them, you know, letting him rip it a little bit, like in some of the key spots. And, you know, admittedly, I see good football and Bryce. And I've been a proponent of picking up this option because there's no harm in doing it. You know, anything speculative beyond that,

like it really is pointless to me because you have a one-year trial. But with CJ, I don't know. And I hand up, I'm a guy that first year, I was like, he's got a chance to be one of those guys. Because he had that pocket presence that I felt like his eyes were always down in the field. And ironically, the thing that's killing him now is his eyes are always down the field. And so you can get too comfortable back there. And I look at Houston and I say, yeah, like the time is now. There's there's with Carolina

You can claim a lot of things But you can't claim that you're wasting a window with Bryce Right You are wasting a window in Houston If you don't like the quarterback You need to get busy And um and so yeah that that one That one is uh that one's tough for me

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If that bet loses, you'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets. Then get access to second chance promos, odds boost tokens, same game parlayes, and so much more throughout the entire football playoffs. BetMGM, make it legendary. The other offensive coordinator spot that I think is really obviously very interesting is the Buffalo thing.

We've kind of hinted at it earlier. But what is your solution if you're Brandon Bean and you're somehow handpicking the head coach? Like, what are you doing? It kind of feels like, hey, my co-host, Macon, one of my co-host, you know, Megan. I do. He renovated his kitchen. And we got this inside joke this year, me, Stanford, Stephen, him, because he, he, blew up his kitchen, but he had no plan. And so here he is sitting there without a kitchen and three

young kids, but they're making the plans for the renovation while the kids are eating like off of George Form and Grill. Like that to me feels like what happened in Buffalo. And I'm not saying that they don't have a plan, but the longer it goes without them landing that big fish, when they fired Sean McDermott, I was like, you know, they have to have something waiting in the wings. Like some John Gruden kind of corollary. Like Tomlin.

Yeah, like Tomlin. Like they must have their guy, but they don't apparently. And the list, the short list of guys that I saw was Udinski and Arumo. And I love Lou, but that's just a fact-finding expedition.

and Lynn. They're no different from McDermott, which is not doing it. And, and, and, and, and Daibol, which is, that one is like, of interest to me. It also, they said that Josh Allen wasn't consulted.

If it's Dayball, it feels like Josh Allen was consulted. No question. Like, come on. But you know what? Dayball also might have pushed Josh. I agree. Like, Dayball is kind of an asshole in a good way. I agree.

I've been around BD, and when I, I was in New England, you know, he's a lot different guy, I'm sure, and he hadn't been a head coach yet. Like, he's the perfect mix of cool, can be your buddy, but can also be a fucking asshole. You know, where I think Josh needs that sometimes and every player needs it sometimes. The other thing is this, though, everybody's focused on the offensive hire because we think it's going to be an offensive hire because you go the other way. And it's arguably the best, most talented quarterback in football, arguably.

But you are thumb in your nose at a guy who coached defense pretty well in the second half of games down the stretch with a group that was pretty untalented. And again, you can say what you want about Sean McDermott, but Brandon Bean somehow survives in a couple years in a row, your secondary depth, your pass rush isn't there, you can't stop the run. Like, what is it that they do well other than

disguise some looks. Yeah. And, and, and make adjustments in the second half of games defensively. Like, you have to figure out, like, how you're going to replace Sean McDermott on defense, too. So you have to nail two hires. I want to just tell a 10 second Macon story, which is Jason Gallagher. The funniest thing that he's ever seen in his life was going back to the Super Bowl house last year. Yes. That Macon got, was because he was texting with the Uber driver. Do you know the story? Yeah, I think he told me about the Uber driver. Section with the Uber driver.

And as you guys are going down, whatever street you're going down to New Orleans, Macon just starts texting the Uber driver. This is a trap. Turn around. Turn around. These people are trying to kidnap you. And he just was,

and the Uber driver kept looking at his phone. And Jason Gallagher could see what he was texting. And he was like, what is happening right now? And Macon just wanted to make everybody in the car laugh with the most aggressive, offensive texts in the world. But just be like, these people are going to kill you. It's unbelievable. And I,

And the Uber driver just kept driving and dropped you guys off. And I guess maybe this had happened before. That's drunk making. Dude, that's drunk making. Makin got done get drunk a lot, but he got drunk like two years ago, which is memorable because that's kind of like the last time we went out drinking.

And he gets on the phone outside the bar. And I'm like, who are you calling? He's like, I'm calling Uber. He's just a fucking, he turns into a damn lush, dude. He just.

It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah, he's mindless. But yeah, I don't know. All right. Wait, do you want to do making or do you want to do the bills? I can do I just want to say this. Do some combination of making and the bills. All right. I'll do this. Right now, Bill's fans are texting the Uber driver saying turn around. We're getting kidnapped. Yeah. Come on, man. First of all, Keon and Coleman is still on the roster. That's an also. That's an insane. us throwing. He's a second round pick. It's not like Vernon Goldston, where he's a top 10 guy. And it's like, oh, you know, the Jets missed a generational opportunity to upgrade the defense here with Vernon Goldston. It's a second round pick.

You traded back. He scored a touchdown on Sunday, by the way. It was a good touchdown. I think he's terrible. I think Keon Coleman's terrible. But it's not like he's the worst player in the history of the world that we need to have a, a committee to figure out how it happened okay so i couldn't believe that and i think it's probably someone tweeted at me yesterday and it made me laugh they like pagula looked at bishati's press conference

and was like what if we did that but bad what if we did the bad version of bishotti just being like awesome and transparent but gula did the worst possible version of that so if i'm brandon bean what i would have done so like the whole structure it's happening the mba if you get kicked upstairs, the first thing you need to do is name a GM and pretend they're in charge of the draft. You have to. And so a couple people would say, well, maybe their coach, the next coach brings a guy that kind of is his guy in the front office and then you change your structure that way. If I'm a Bill's fan, I'm very discouraged that the drafting process feels like it's not going

to change because they keep missing on guys. They don't have any receivers. Again, you're talking about arrogance. they were very arrogant about this receiving thing. They thought that they could just throw screens to Khalil Shakir and then hit backs and running backs, and it just wasn't going to work. It wasn't going to work.

And then they missed on the pass rush. I was really disappointed. You know, they had that game against Mahomes where they pressured him more than any. They ever had, Mahomes, they ever been pressured in the regular season. And he had under 50% completion percentage for the first time ever. Part of that was Michael Hoyt, just in his face all the time.

He gets hurt late in the game. And I said this is like a week before the trade deadline. They had to go out and trade a big pass rush. That was your window. And maybe that would help with, if you get another defensive lineman, maybe that helps with the run game problems, which was disaster. They should have lost to Jacksonville, but Liam Cohen got too cute and banning the outside runs, which were getting 15 yards every time they did it.

There's a lot of holes on this roster. And I think part of the narrative here, everybody loves the bills, job. Everybody loves the Ravens job. Everybody loves the Steelers job because of some combination of roster with the first two I mentioned the quarterback. But all three of those places have real holes on their roster. Yeah. And I think that as much as people want that, I mean, for God's sakes, the Steelers have three coaches in 1969. You're going to get a long leash there. You're going to be fine. Okay. But I do think part of it is that do you want to be the guy if the roster turns out to be a seven and 10 roster. Do you want to be the guy holding the bag there?

So I think there's some not pause because people want those jobs, but like there's some downside of taking those jobs, especially in Buffalo, because do you want to be the first guy who doesn't, you know, get to the second round of playoffs in the last few years with Josh Allen? Dude, it's a huge gamble. It was a big gamble for Buffalo. And that's why I thought they must have had something like a burden hand. And yeah, you do have to replace also a defensive coordinator who over the last five, six years has kept the points down largely. despite having next to no talent. And you look at the offensive side of the ball.

Yeah, they go get King Kay, what, in the first round, you know, a couple years ago, but like, you know, they have not poured in that wide receiver room. And then the look by throwing a player on the roster under the bus in public like that. Unbelievable. You know, using and lying about it, really, because I'm not saying that like Bean doesn't have

plausible liability or that video might mean nothing, but that video where he's like, it's good he ran a four or five, seven, so we can go get him. Like, that didn't seem like, if you were anti that player, you're not saying that. And so, like, it's just,

that's what's making the job. It's ironic because you have Josh Allen, who, and I, you almost have to whisper that these days that you think he's a great quarterback because a lot of people are mad that two guys on ESPN are too soft on him. That thing has become,

that thing's become like my biggest pep peeve in sports media the quarterback discourse is now politics it's now politics and and uh and i can't take it anymore it's just it's you can't even talk about it and and it's got to the point where fans feel gaslit by players and people in the media who played because they don't agree about josh allen um you know and and it's the same thing when people kill lamar I defend Lamar. When people kill Josh, I defend Josh. These guys don't grow on fucking trees. And can you believe the nerve of these team doctors in Buffalo giving Josh Allen's surgery,

babying him? They're giving him surgery on his foot. What a baby. My thing about this. Keep loving this guy. Part of it. Play through. It started with Jalen Hertz last year, where it became a,

joke like you couldn't rank Jalen Hertz like if you did a top 10 list if it was number two you got killed if he was number nine you got killed um with Josh well I don't love now is that it's a little bit like uh and I'm I only understand this peripherally but like it's like stand Twitter and pop music where it's like everything everything's a conspiracy oh uh Taylor Swift got a billion streams well that's because they they they they they bought bots or whatever. Like I see, you see stories about this all the time

where like so and so is accusing so and so. Didn't Drake file a lawsuit against Kendrick Lamar because he said that everything was fake? Like, it just feels like the quarterback discourse is becoming more and more like that. Like I saw a thing yesterday that blew my mind. It was like someone was like,

well, people only like Josh Allen and the media because they're both represented by CIA, which, first of all, a lot of people, in every walk of life represented by CIA. And I'd also say that very few people have any idea who's represented by anybody else. Like, do you know what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, no, it's not that. And it's just like, but then everything becomes a conspiracy. It's Occam's razor, man. Yes. Yes. Here's what it is. The guy's six foot six and throws the fucking ball 70 yards on a rope and can run and he's tough and puts his head down and is actually a pretty good.

a pretty good thrower of the football. Here's the thing that drives me crazy. And listen, he blew that game the other day. I'm the first to tell you. And I'll still get your kid gloving him. That's crazy. The standard he's held to as a thrower is ironically higher than we hold like Matt Stafford to these days. You know, like Stafford has had some stinkers Yeah. Late, late in the season last year, this year. These guys missed throws. Drake May puts the ball in the ground a bunch.

Like, I think collectively, and part of this is, you know, when you are missing Mahomes and Joe Burrow and those guys, you know, you know, the aggregate of all the quarterbacks is going to be a little sloppier. But there was a lot of bad quarterback play last weekend. And the guy that really takes it on the chin is the one, one with probably the seventh best roster in the divisional round. And that's not taping.

That's just being real because everybody's reaction to Sean McDermott getting fire was the same. Not Brandon Bean, even people that probably hate Josh. Because you know, and you know what it is? I don't care if Bill Pollyan was mean to Lamar Jackson. It has nothing to do with the way I analyze Josh Allen. Right. And it's the same thing for Lamar. like I love Lamar and I've defended him at every turn.

I'm going to do the same thing for Josh Allen. It is a team sport. However, I don't want to go too far into this, but the comparisons between Josh and Lamar and in the postseason are crazy. This week has been hell for content creators trying to talk about quarterbacks, dude. Well, here's the deal. So I'm intrigued. You mentioned the bad quarterback.

What I'm intrigued by is, so there have been more fourth quarter lead changes. in this year than any playoffs by a wide margin. And in fact, the loud card round broke the record for a fourth quarter lead changes for an entire playoffs. And we still had three more rounds to go. And when thinking about why that is,

partially is coincidence or lock or whatever. But I also think part of it is that the teams with really good quarterbacks have missed on some massive roster decisions, massive. So it allows Bo Neckon. and the Broncos to catch up. It allows the Texans to catch up to where they're in a league team. On the NFC side, it allows some teams without great quarterbacks to be in the mix for it. So I think you're seeing a little bit of like if Baltimore and Buffalo and Kansas City did their job or Cincinnati did their job, the playoffs will be over. We would be ready to crown them.

We'd say only, only Josh Allen can beat Patrick Mahomes or only Lamar Jackson, whatever. But because of the roster decisions that have been bungled the last few years by all of those teams, Cincinnati is a little bit different because their philosophy is just to not really be that aggressive. I think we're seeing a lot of openings for less than teams. I think that's why these playoffs are so wide open and fascinating is because some of these GMs just have botched it. Y'all know I'm a bit more selective of my nicotine pouches these days. For me, the quality of the pouch is what I prioritize, which is why I'll pop in a zone wintergreen, one six milligrams is all I need, whether I'm kicking back and watching ball on a Sunday, floating the river with Cowboy,

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check out their roster of options. Use promo code GL20 at nicokeek.com slash zone for 20% off at checkout. You know, the Mike McDi-Den annual hire in L.A. Awesome. Perfect. I think it's perfect.

Well, a lot of Dolphins fans were like, Mike McDaniel is a great play designer, but has no feel for the game. Jim Harbaugh has a great feel for the game. And so, like, no, with those plays and Jim Harbaugh knowing how they should flow, I think that's unbelievable for Justin Herbert.

I do too. I also think, like, when you watch L.A. at times, I would wonder, hey, where are the easy reads? Where are the easy answers in the passing game? And I look at that and I say, you know, this is the perfect guy for it. He's the guy that's been putting on a silver platter for Tua and others for the better part of five years in Miami. And, you know, you talk about outside zone.

That's one thing that I think the chargers feel like they're not getting enough out of. The numbers backed that up. they were really bad outside zone this year. I think Miami obviously prolific there. But the thing that I think the charges get more out of with Mike McDaniel is the play action because, and for Mike McDaniel, you get more of the play action in LA because you had Tua who, if you're running outside zone, you're booting, you know, quarterback off it, you're moving the pocket.

Like Tua's not going to move the pocket. Like he's just not a running quarterback. Justin Herbert can move the pocket for you. You can also get Hampton on the edge. it feels like a good fit and kind of a perfect marriage for Jim. But here's what I'm imagining. You know, like was it meet the parents in, you know, I bet you would Panama Red. Like the kind of the interrogation that Nero put Stiller through.

Like that's how I imagine that interview process going for for Jim and Mike. Like Jim was probably like, so do you smoke pot, Mike? I know I can't say that because he's sober but I also wonder where because I think I think the dolphins have some really creative when I watched them like they got creative ways of getting to the same thing which is something in the run game I think is very valuable for Miami and then for for LA and then also like the use of two back sets yeah like to pony two running backs I think I think this is going to be a good fit and I also think it's ironic that you know we spent four four years or well now it's like six years

comparing Justin Herbert and Tua because of the draft class and McDaniel's like yeah let me go see what that's like over there it's a little bit different he was he was watching our tweets and be like yeah yeah you guys are fucking right like but he did a really good job of like like kind of playing supportive and so anyways oh and by the way I just the offensive line's gonna be better it's gonna be healthy next year they might win the super bowl next year well yeah you got to get over justin herbert's playoff performances which i i can't even defend anymore it's hard but but he was but he was pressured like 75% of the fucking time in that game and greg roman was calling the plays it was so bad

that jim was like hey buddy buddy old pal like this has to end the thing that's exciting though you talk about all that that outside zone like the tip of the spear in that in that concept is the tackle play and so you've got that in l-a Um, the last coordinator I want to talk about was petting. Yeah. Um, the petting hire. I think this actually makes more sense than people think it is he has, um, he has, um, he doesn't have a splash face. Hmm.

I think I, I think people like in, and name like, it's not a splash hire like, but, uh, but I think it's going to work. I do. If they can get the personnel right. Because if you know anything about. Arizona the last couple years in 23 and 24 and you could chalk a lot of it up to James Connor but I they were elite running the football and this year you lose your whole running back room you have 10 plus O line combinations I just think most people were like huh this guy

didn't they suck this year I think there are tight end usage precarities that yes are definitely going to play well in in number number one and targets to Tray McBride the last two years. Sam Leport to get healthy, buddy. Yeah, no question. I mean, and they want to put 13 on the field. Like, that's what they did. Like, I don't know of too many teams that ran more 12 and 13 than Arizona. And then I found this nugget, too. The goal to go stuff for Detroit this year was terrible. I think they were 27th and successful play percentage in the low red, that being 10 and in the way I'm defining it. And then in the Cardinals through 20,

23 through 25 they were top 10 in those spots. So like I think that's a big thing like Detroit just had trouble in some areas that they were really good. And namely like the zone runs this year, they suck. Now I know that pet sing's like a gap scheme guy and you're going to run more counter. But I also think they want to kind of get back to to what they do well. And I think the zone run scheme, although the personnel fit them running inside zone in Arizona. I think the outside zone probably he's got some wrinkles. ideas of how they can get back to you know their bread and butter and then this the most

diabolical one kev that i saw was pet sing was in ben jonson's wedding so that's a fucking psychological power move dude i wait wait hold on i i got to look this up where did they do they work together in in miami they worked together it was um where was it yeah there were gays together at Boston College in 2010. Austin College. Yeah, and then Ben became the tight-end coach in 2011 and Petting was the GA still there. So they had

two years. But this is the most interesting thing. Ben Johnson is going to, he's getting a squeeze put on him. They fucking hate him in Green Bay. LaFleur hates him. L.A., the Rams, I don't think McVeigh likes him because of what he did to LaFleur. And then Dan Campbell hiring his groomsman,

that's a mind fuck. You basically delete that friend and the guy knows you well. Tough. Ryan Day was on the Boston college staff when those guys were there too. What were they cooking in 2011 and BC? I have a friend who went to BC was telling me when they're in the Ohio State run. They were like, oh, yeah, BC had all these stud coaches on their roster. And so I looked up 2010 and 11.

Ryan Day, Drew Petzing. Who was the head coach in 2011? 11. What's a second? Oh, Spassiani. Oh, we're looking it up. Yes, Frank Spaziani. Luke Keekly was a captain.

Do they have to hire Paizons there? They went four and eight, by the way. Luke Keekly, Chase Redding is the quarterback. Ryan Day, Ben Johnson, tight ends coach Ryan day wide receivers coach yeah to check out the names dude this just Irishman and then and like Polish guys and Ryan Quigley yeah you guys in the league Michelle is it punter man oh Brian Halfley Gunnell he was an interim Adazio Spaziani jacket Jagadinsky yeah you go all the way back to the 2007

there. Hold on. I'm just looking at one thing. No blackhead coaches at Boston College in their history. What a shocker. Jeff Hathley was the coach at Boston College like three years ago. No, I know. I know. It's crazy. They weren't that good. And then he got the Green Bay job. And I actually kind of like Jeff Haffley and he's got a work cut out from Miami. But they weren't very good defensively without Michael Parsons, which is kind of why they made the trade. But I am like kind of surprise his name stayed as hot as it did. I agree. And then I saw a couple quotes that was like,

well, once he starts, you know, at the press conference and stuff, people are going to like them. I don't, I don't love that. I get it,

but I also don't love the idea of talking your way into a job. I think you have to have a resume. And I know communication, like I, like communication is important. Like I watch, I'll tell you this, though,

I watch a lot of just to learn about a ball. I watch a lot of coaching clinics on YouTube and stuff. And you'll come across, like Dan Lannning from six years ago when he's like you know whatever he was linebackers coach whatever and you're like oh I get it like he's an amazing communicator I get this of course he's going to be a great coach and then you hear other see other coaches and it's not the same but I do think that like these guys who interview well or whatever it is I think you have to make sure that they have the resume to back that up and I'm I'm kind of with you I think the dolphins are going to be

I think people like the GM but I also think that like Micah Parsons made that defense go Yes. And I have a theory that the worst an introductory press conference is the better. And, you know, I can support that with data. Dan Campbell, everybody was like, oh, this guy's a barbarian. He's the worst. He's a fucking idiot. How violent is that? It's like football's brown suit. You know, it's like, were we really arguing about a football coach metaphorically saying he was going to bite kneecaps? like get over it. I can't believe it.

When you think about some of the things going on today in society, we were worried about that. Nick Siriani fumbled through his press conference, was super nervous. There were a few more examples that I've cited over the years. It's almost like the worst, the fucking the introductory press conferences, the better. Well, so I asked.

Stanley, remember when Staley interviewed? And people were like, oh, my God. Staley's a great, a great. Oh, he was so fucking smart and smooth. Well, also, also the thing that drove me nuts about that, Liam Cohen, Duvall. Yeah, Liam Cohen. So the thing that drove me nuts about, about Staley is Staley was giving all these interviews about how he could stop the run without devoting resources to the run, okay?

And then nobody stopped and said, hey, has anyone noticed he had Aaron Donald? He had Aaron Donald, and he was trying to be like, well, my scheme. He had Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. Run against that and see how it goes. I will say go ahead and see how it goes. I did like the job they did in New Orleans this year, which supports another hypothesis, which is that you should always hire retread head coaches that fail

because they got their job for a reason. Hire them as coordinators. It usually goes well. Like, you know, Vic Fangio was fired as a head coach. Staley did a better job this year. Dennis Allen did a great job. in Chicago this year. Couldn't coach a lick with the big office,

but he's a fucking fantastic D-Corporonator. There's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But yeah, no, the big thing, so I stand in Canada about the press conference thing, and I think that this is, and I think Liam Cohen fell into this trap is the wrong word, but in this bucket as well,

they're not talking to me. They're trying to talk to the fans, and they're trying to talk to their players. And so at the press conference, Dan Campbell's about biting kneecaps. Listen, he played in Detroit. He knows the people in Detroit want to hear. Liam Cohen. He's trying to fire up Jacksonville.

He's not trying to fire up so-and-so columnist at the Jacksonville Times Union. He doesn't care. And so I think a lot of times when you mention like the press conference stuff, they're not trying to win the press conference in the media. They're trying to talk to the 53 guys in the locker room and the fan base. And that's why sometimes the media can be like, oh, I don't get this. The only one that flies in the face of this whole thing is John Gannon's. Pee Pee,

verticals. I still feel bad for a guy that's saddled with Kyler Murray as your quarterback. I'm sorry. I still think Kyler Murray can be okay in his league. Yeah, he would just have to completely change his mindset. And that's the hardest thing.

Like, how do you make a jump? How old is he right now? Like, 28. Guys don't make a lot of, like, jumps at quarterback at like 28. He is 28. It's also funny.

He came in. the league and it's just been and it was immediately good and just been the exact same player since yeah there's just never any development no he he really is truly getting by off talent it's really incredible his passerating has been between 87 and 100 his entire and his average is 91 for his entire career he's never had like a stud season he's never had a wheels fell off season it's just he's kailer murray yep he's kailer murray he's kailer mary And you are Kevin Clark, and this is football. No pun intended.

This is football. Can I ask you one thing about this weekend's games? Yes. I send this to read, and I wanted to ask you about it. Top four defensive tackle pressure duos in the league all playing this weekend. So if you have interior pressure, you're playing this weekend. Is that a coincidence or is that something schematic, the defensive tackle pressure having dogs of the middle is more important than the edge stuff well uh

i would say you'd have to look at like each conference championship weekend to get a better sample size but i do think i am always partial to a dominant interior rusher um what it does is it can make and i as a as a former defensive end here like I think those guys can be the straw that serves a drink even more so because they can shorten the edge for edge defenders like that's a fact you know if if all of a sudden the quarterbacks at nine because of middle pressure 70% of the time like that that might make me an all pro you know and people might say oh chris long's fucking fantastic well you know I'm playing next to fletcher cox or something like I played next to Fletch when I was 32 years old. If I'd have had Fletch with me at 26, holy shit. I would have been getting credit that I was never deserving of. It just, you know, and I barely got to play with Aaron Donald because I got hurt.

Right. You know, it really is. And another thing is, more to the point, interior offensive linemen, no disrespect. are the most expendable players on the field, right? They really are. And so, like, if you have an advantage there, the amount of depth guys that you face inside or just subpar players, it's high.

And if you've got a really good group, you also, like, if you go each group, L.A., they got good pocket-crushing ends. they run a lot of games. Okay, so that's one group. New England's been blitzing a lot. They have a dominant inside guy in Milton Williams. They have very good inside guys across the board.

They run a lot of games on the outside, right? Denver, is it the edges or is it Zach Allen? You know, like, I think Zach Allen's fantastic. I think it's a little bit of both. Or is it the coverage? Yeah. You know, New England's got great coverage as well. the outlier there for me is

the outlier there for me is the Rams because they don't have the best cover guys in the league they just get pressure and give Smith in that group they do a great job they run games they have athletic fast guys you know Fisk they're a little bit undersized which is why sometimes they can get the ball run on them

but they can pressure the quarterback and then the group that we haven't talked about is Seattle which those guys are fucking studs man they are just studs. And, you know, I know that, you know, Mike's not the biggest blitzer in the league, but, you know, just getting pressure with four across the board for them. I love watching Leonard Williams play. He is Entang, but Leonard, as much as anybody,

that was one of the biggest signings that they made over the last couple years in Seattle. So, long story short, I would have to see a bigger sample size, but I think you can get on guards in today's NFL, especially like young offensive linemen and really dominate in the middle of the pocket. And it can make things harder on the quarterback and also it makes things easier on the edges. And you picture like winning the middle of the field.

If you have guys that can reset the pocket, like the middle of the field is such a battleground in today's NFL. You know, if you have limited access there because of a wall in your face, you know, for a lot of these quarterbacks is hard. So is it a coincidence? I don't know. But this year, obviously there's something to it. God I asked.

Well, I'm fuck, man. Hopefully I gave you something, but I'm not really sure. Like, it's hard to say. Also, just pressure a quarterback from the interior also means you're just a hell of an athlete. And that's going to suggest you can do a lot of stuff in the middle of the field. And if everybody in this league now can run and throw as a quarterback, taking away the middle of the field is a big deal. No question. No question. Taking away the middle of field is big. And, you know, you look at certain coverage trends and that sort of thing. Like it really is, I think the best offenses in the NFL that are the most dynamic, you know, and this is this is kind of shoulder content to this question. But like good linebacker play is back. Yeah. Like good linebacker play is very important in today's.

NFL. And, you know, especially with all the eye candy, the motion, you know, um, kind of looks like, uh, the 405 in there when you play a really good team. You know, you have to be able to, to work through traffic and, and the whole thing. And you have to be athletic enough to cover these backs and, and in the passing game. So, um, I think the middle of the field is very important in today's NFL. And for a while, you know, you're kind of like, oh, it's a safety or it's a linebacker. It's like, but that is, that's that's hugely important as his defensive tackle play so you got any lean this weekend you lean LA or Seattle ramps change the quarterback play is better yeah I hate to say you're right but uh I

kind of lean Seattle and then I and then I lean I lean New England a little secret here and I hope that the people I gamble against on the gambling show don't listen to this but I think Denver covers I'm with you. I'm with you. We had Chris Harris on the show yesterday, and he said the big difference in the playoffs now is like Denver for as dominant as they were in the regular season, they weren't creating turnovers. And now Nick Benito is just knocking the ball out of dude's hands.

Right. That matters. Yes, absolutely. And Drake May is putting it on the ground a little bit. Yep. Yep. All right. Well, Kevin Clark,

appreciate you, brother. Thanks for bookending this wacky season, man. And I assume you'll be in San Francisco, yeah? I will be in San Francisco. I'll see you there. Yeah, we're in the Harbor District. I don't know where that is, but come see us. I never heard that.

We're talking about going to Alcatraz. Alcatraz. Live pod? Yeah, maybe doing some content there on mushrooms. Are you in? I've never done mushrooms. What? Alcatraz seems like the worst place to start.

Alcatraz is the perfect place for you to start. That, all right, that's the thumbnail right there. Kevin Clark's first. All right. Thanks, Kev. Thanks, fun. Appreciate it.