Green Light with Chris Long - Steve Spagnuolo! Chiefs Defense, Eagles Outlook After Loss to Seahawks & Week 16 Best Bets with Stanford Steve

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

What can the Eagles do from here? Chris Long reviews the Eagles loss in Seattle on Monday night and breaks down Philadelphia's issues and how they can right the ship. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo then joins to talk Chiefs' defense, facing Josh Allen and coaching in the NFL. We end the show with a heavy dose of Stanford Steve and the NFL - Damontae Kazee's suspension, Trevor Lawrence's performance in Jacksonville and guessing the lines for each playoff game if the playoffs ended today. We also dish out our favorite bets of the week 16 NFL slate so enjoy the money-making takes. (0:00) - Chris' thoughts on the Seahawks comeback win over the Eagles on Monday Night Football (47:08) - Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo talks the defense in Kansas City, making in-game adjustments, playing Josh Allen and facing Bill Belichick (1:12:52) - Stanford Steve on MNF and the Eagles outlook, Damontae Kazee's suspension and Trevor Lawrence's play as the Jaguars QB (1:54:30) - NFL Week 16 Best Bets! This podcast is brought to you by Cash App. With multiple tools for saving, spending, and sending, Cash App is the easy way to stay in control of your money. Cash App is a financial platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Use the GameTime app for all your ticketing needs. Create an account and use code GREENLIGHT for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download the GameTime app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Make sure to check out Fax and the King every Wednesday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FaxAndTheKing 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/c/GreenLightTube1   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

It doesn't matter who you play in this league, and if we want to get to where we want to go, we better start ramping up and recognize that and treat every game as if it is a playoff game. We have really good veteran leadership here, Chris, and we have guys that are on defense specifically that are into football, they're passionate about it, they prepare really, really well. Listen, I got a great group of guys that prepare really well. And when they take that into the game, I think that's what gives you an edge, whether you're home or away. Yeah, we're fortunate here in the next couple of weeks where we'll be. here at Ourhead, but somewhere along the way here, we're going away to play our last game,

and who knows, we might have to do it in the playoffs. But I think the veteran leadership is what's got to step up in those particular situations. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Thanks for jumping on with us today, as you can see, a Pax show. Stanford Steve joins as usual, but we don't have Macon. The Macon Man couldn't join today, but he's still sending his locks. We're still doing locks. The best bets of NFL Week 16. are given out on the show today. We've also got Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo. He's going to talk to Chris about his Chief's defense

and how dominant they are this season, playing against Bill Belichick and Josh Allen, some Super Bowl memories from the last couple years in making in-game adjustments how difficult that is as a coach. But to kick things off, and the first 45 miniature here is all Eagles talk. Chris dissects the game from Monday night, what went wrong.

He dissects the issues and problems he sees going on Philadelphia and how they might be remedied, how they can be fixed so the Eagles can have a successful end to the season. Y'all enjoy the show. Please have a great time listening to it. We'll be back on Thursday. That's right, Thursday we've got our previews. We've got our week 16 previews coming out tomorrow. Welcome to the show. Today we got Spagg, Steve Spagnolo, in my opinion, one of the best coordinators in the NFL. That chief's defense is the reason I believe in that team. Obviously, you got Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, but the thing that they have is, you know, you get this

offensive genius. You also have a defensive genius in his own right. Somebody who, and I ask him this, engineered one of the most unlikely best defensive runs in playoff history with that Giants defensive front, like middle of the season, you know, the chiefs aren't like this right now. more like, you know, the bills are more like the giants at that point where you're kind of playing for your life midway through the season, you're around 500 and you got to go on a run and win the whole thing. The bills might have that same path, but his team, the chiefs, you know, the place that they can draw at least defensively, a lot of experience from Steve is this group hasn't had to go on the road to win in the playoffs. And they have a lot of playoff experience. We make

a big deal about Patrick Mahomes not going on the road, but can that defense travel? I think they can. I think it helps to have a guy in the building that's seen it and engineered it. And for Spags, I owe him a lot. Like we were on some bad teams, you know, like I think the cars are kind of stacked against him in St. Louis. We weren't very talented. We had trouble. He lasted a couple years. But his first year there, I can remember vividly walking out to training camp. And I'm a pick my first year it's fine but it's not great and I am going through a lot of learning I'm going through a steep learning curve I mean going from a three four in in college to the four to a four three and then like it's not like four three where

you run up the field and spag's defense it's fire zones it's your plan head up on a tight end and a six technique like it was a tough defense to pick up and you know we're walking out to practice and I'll I vividly remember this him pulling me aside looking up with that Boston accent that I used to bust his balls about until he benched me. And he said, hey, Chris, you know, like we're going to go with Victor Adianju. He's going to start for us, start the season. There were a lot of really good vets in that room. This was the old CBA.

There were guys that could still play, like I had James Hall, Leonard Little, guys like that. And certainly, I took that personally. I was working my ass off. I was working as hard as I humanly could. but maybe I wasn't working smart enough. And Spaggs having that conversation with me, pulling me aside being like, hey man, this isn't about you, the dude, I love you.

You're going to help us, but, you know, like, I want to start Vic. And I knew, in my head at that point, that's not taking anything away from Vic, you know, this was a message. You know, it wasn't necessarily like he was picking the best guy. He was sending me a message. And that second year in the NFL, it took until about halfway through, I started coming on. And, you know, I can attribute that to a lot of things.

But one of them that I maybe don't think about enough is Steve pushing me. So I appreciate the dude, and I've stayed in touch with him after the Rams. He's been with the Chiefs. I've been enjoying watching him called defenses there, and he's got a great group. And I loved when he popped on, he was like, hey, and my producers heard it. And I believe it, because Baggs is my guy. He's like, I'm not doing a lot of these. I'll do it for you.

So if you want to get inside the head of an elite defensive coordinator midweek in the middle of a playoff push, we got Spags. And he's coming up. But first, I got to empty the chamber on the Eagles. Because as you know, this isn't an Eagles podcast, but that place is near and dear to my heart. Obviously, they kind of limp in, so to speak, to that Monday night game against the Seahawks. And I didn't feel great about it. I didn't feel great about it, but I didn't feel great about it because of the defense. And at this point, I don't know that Drew Locke's starting,

but I don't feel good about it because you're changing coordinators, the back end, you got sleigh down, you got a bunch of guys back there. And this is a group that just put up almost a 50 spot on the Cowboys. It felt like a couple weeks ago. They're starting to figure things out outside. And so I was worried. But I did not think sitting here today on Tuesday that I would be looking at the offense as the reason that they couldn't get it done.

and I know a lot of people have had concerns about that offense all season long. And I've seen the things that people are concerned about, but they go to Dallas. The problem in Dallas was the defense. The defense got completely overpowered, outmanned. They couldn't match their speed, and in the run game, it wasn't good enough. The offense, I thought, moved the ball, but couldn't hold onto the ball. Okay, so I'm coming in this game, and I'm thinking the offense is going to take care of the ball.

they're going to run the football. It's going to look like that first drive the whole game, and it didn't. And defensively, I got to give some credit to Matt Patricia. I know we're going to talk about having James Bradbury on JSN at the end of the game and that two-minute drive. But I thought for most of the game, the opportunity to walk away with this thing and fly back to Philly with a lead in the NFC East was right there for the taking, and the group that fumbled it, so to speak, was the offense.

What's Christian McCaffrey saying? on the Manning cast. He's calling out Eagles plays. And I know we might be making a lot of that, but in the context of this offense right now, it's not a good sign. This offense is predictable. You know exactly what they're going to do. And I think Drive 1 is as good as it was, and that's your first 15. It's got to be good. This is a spacing passing offense. Like, that's what they're going to be in. And I know Jalen prefers it probably spaced out, But looking back at last year, you look at like the Minnesota game, his coming out party. There's a lot more crossers.

There's floods. There's all types of stuff. There's more traffic. It's more complex. And we know who Shane Steichen is. We know he's a whiz. We know it's hard to replace a coordinator. We know it's hard to replace two coordinators.

Only a couple teams have ever had to do that off of the Super Bowl. I think you have to go back to the Patriots in 2005. and I think the Niners in 1994. And the outlook on something like that isn't great, but this is not good. This is a regression. This doesn't look like the Jalen Hertz. I know.

This doesn't look like the offense I know. And I think the worst part is they can't close games out. Okay? You got a fucking offensive line that has a Christmas album. That's how well-known these guys are. For offensive linemen to be famous, do you know how good they have to be at football? For them to run a play that the competition committee

is up your ass about every week for the entirety of a season and to watch 31 other teams full of big giant men, professionals, fail miserably, hurt themselves doing this play. Of course, I'm talking about the tush-push. And for you not to be able to close out games in the second half with lead in the fourth quarter, when you wear teams down and you let those big games,

guys lean on you, if they can't close a game out, who can? And so go through these games. I mean, New England, they're up five with under four left. They end up with a turnover on downs. I think they have two possessions that last under a minute. The Rams game, they're under three minutes. They turn it over on downs. The Jets game, they're under five minutes. They have a two-point lead. Hertz throws a pick. Dallas, up 11 with 10 minutes to go, three and out, six minutes to go, three and out. One-17 to go. Three and out. and you know Kansas City five minutes to go you pick up one first down you punt now I know games like that it's not always going to be easy you're not going to have those Tampa Bay drives the last eight

minutes on Monday night football earlier this year where they look like the group they should but Buffalo for instance you don't know when when your last shot at closing the game out it's going to be okay and then you got to go to overtime and kick a you know 60 yard field goal in the rain like if that's where you want to leave it to chance then then be my guess but with 850 to go You go three and out. And then Seattle, you end up coming up empty when you got the ball in the 50 yard line, okay? And four minutes to go. You have a first down, midfield, four minutes to go.

I think it's DeAndre Swift is sliding. Like, right idea, wrong time. You end up guarding against a touchdown, which you'd be doing anyways, but you'd be going to overtime had you picked up another 15, 20 yards, and kicked a damn field goal. because I don't know if you know this, but the seconds run off the same when you're in plus territory as they do when you're at the 50 yard line. That slide move is for inside two minutes somewhere close to the goal line. You know? But this team hadn't been able to close people out. Offensive line has a fucking Christmas album.

They have, and I think the world of these guys, and I don't think they're the problem. You know, Jalen's back there. He's got enough time to bake a cake. Most times I watch him throw the ball. Lane Johnson is all world. Okay. You've got a guy from fucking New Zealand that looks like he should be an extra

in like, you know, a movie about giants. I can't think of what movie he should be in. He should be a pro wrestler. The guy is 6 foot 7. My wife asked me last night, why are they still going to push? I pull up the roster.

I'm like, you remember this guy Jordan Milata? Did you ever see him at the Super Bowl party or any of this stuff? Like the guy's a fucking giant. They have a Swiss Army knife at center who's playing his ass off. They've got guards that have played really well. You know, you've had to cycle some guys in. But the point is there's no excuse for you not closing games out.

And I'll get back to the passing concepts. The passing concepts are the biggest canary in the coal mine for me. If you really watch the tape, the All-22, you get on the sideline, and you look at the spacing, it's so vanilla. It's so predictable. I don't know what to say. You know, like, 1.42 to go in the first half, you hit Smitty, you run the same concept three times in a row, three incompletions, and you punt the ball. Okay?

You talk about the middle eight. You talk about making plays before and after the half. Not good. You know how many punts I saw at the end of that half? Like, the Eagles shouldn't be punting at all. They have everything they need. to go down and get a score. They have the matchups, they have the physicality,

but last night they couldn't do it because they're predictable. And so, you know, they've been a bad early down passing team all year. That's been quiet as kept a big problem for them. Not a lot of motion, very static offense. But I'm going to tell you about a play last night that really irked me when I watched it on the All-22 today. Okay, it's the end of the third quarter. It's 17 to 10.

you're knocking on the door of getting into plus territory it's third and eight you have motion you get what you want you get smitty running across the field eight to ten yards deep he's at the sticks he's got a guy trailing him five yards behind him a j brown's cleared him out he's got a lot of green grass this motherfucker's going to run for a while but jaylin just doesn't even see him or doesn't care to look at him and takes a shot to AJ, which of course ends up being a waste. And I've been a big proponent of them being more aggressive this year, but there has to be something in between those two extremes, like something to the flat, something deep. You know, like, that's kind of what that offense feels like to me right now. And in between, it's a lot of predictable

shit. And at the end of the game, the second to last possession, it's third and seven after D'Andre Swift slides down at the 50-yard line. You've got a chance to ice this thing. and it's right there for you. They bring five. There's a pocket there. I don't know how long he's going to be there, but there's a pocket there, and Jalen Bails to the side that's,

I mean, it's like a fire drill over there. And he's trying to get out of the pocket and make something happen, and I respect him the whole thing, and then he runs back. He's reversing field trying to make a play. But time's up. The reed you had to make was right at the sticks,

and it's Dallas Goddard. And if you watch that play again, he's standing there with his hands out, and yeah, he's got somebody coming down on him and he would have been wearing a backpack at the sticks, but at least you'd be at the sticks. But because you vacate the pocket, which I'm not saying that's something that he does all the time. I'm not saying this is a guy who can win in the pocket. We've seen it before. He's a passer. He's a pro quarterback. So this isn't all about Jalen Hertz, but why not hit

Dallas got it right there? Why make something more out of it than you have to? And I know these just two third downs and we wouldn't be talking about him if the passing game didn't look so inconsistent and disjointed at times because with the game on the line the read is right there and i think what's telling is dallas goddard's standing there and i don't want to misread him but he's standing there after the play he's standing there almost the entirety of the play before he realized he's got to get into the scramble drill when jaylon reverses fields and he's got his hands out you know almost as if to say i'm right here you know and i don't think jaylin's seeing it right now That doesn't mean he can't see it.

Okay? I think that's the biggest takeaway for me. By the way, the screens are awful. I don't even know what they're doing with half of these screens, but to me, this should be one of the best screen teams in the NFL. You know who runs a really good screen game? Washington. They've been good at it this year.

You know who runs a really good screen game? Kansas City. They've been really, I mean, they're always good at it. But, you know, like maybe the commonality there is Eric Bionemi learned something from Andy and then took it to Washington. and somebody's got to know something about getting more out of these screens in that building. And I don't know who it is, but somebody's got to know something. So you're not closing games out.

The passing concepts are vanilla. The offensive line's great. The receivers are really talented. I think you have the guy at quarterback. Like I'm not here to say in this moment that there's a better option somewhere. And it's amazing how quickly things swing. And I think it's a perfect example of when you lose a play caller, you don't just lose the plays, you don't just lose the scheme, you lose the, if the play sheet is a menu, you lose the guy with taste.

You know, it knows what to order, what not to order. He knows how to talk you through the scheme. He knows how to communicate the scheme. He knows how to game plan. I think too often people assume that when a coordinator leaves, you know, offenses run themselves. It's like a machine, you know, if the scheme. You know, if the scheme's good, you're going to be able to play good football. Like, that's not even true necessarily.

But in this situation, when the scheme is vanilla, and on top of that, you don't have the guy that has the soft touch of Shane Steichen. Like, it really shows up and it shows up for the quarterback. I talked about them losing two coordinators. That doesn't happen a lot. But this is an example of why fans should never be so sure they know who a quarterback is and how good he is. And I mean good. I can tell sometimes when a guy's bad. But sometimes we can't tell when things are going really well for a quarterback,

how we're supposed to judge the context of the situation. And I think this is a great lesson of why, and I just talked about this on Kevin Clark's pod, and I think it goes for any position in the NFL. Context matters. You give me one position. I can tell you the five contextual elements that might dictate how that player is going to play.

for quarterbacks not named Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Jackson, it applies to you. And I think too often that A or B conversation leaves people salty. I don't know why we have to whisper our takes about quarterbacks. You know? I don't know why it's like politics to people.

Why are quarterbacks? Why do people take it so personally? The guy doesn't know you. and I'm not talking about Jalen Hertz, whoever your favorite player is. He doesn't know you, but you're going to bat for your favorite quarterback like it's a political debate

and you're watching TV, like the fate of our country is at stake. Why is it that if you look at a roster on any given team and you say, hey, we need to upgrade a guard, I think that wide receiver's got to go next year, that tight end. I know that quarterback's the most important position on the field, but people take these conversations very personally.

And last year, had you said, that Jalen Hertz might not be in the echelon of Patrick Mahomes, I think maybe I'd have got mugged. I mean, I was very careful making statements like that last year. Because you don't want it to come across as hate. It's not hate, it's just facts. The facts are, what we're talking about is, can this guy do it alone?

Can this guy do it in any weather? Can this guy do it no matter who walks in and calls the plays? Can he do it with whoever's outside of Y receiver? You see the room in Kansas City, the way it affects Patrick Mahomes, and there's nobody better on the planet. So you don't think a coordinator is going to affect a guy who probably lands in the upper tier of that echelon that I'm alluding to? It absolutely does. And so I think Jalen Hertz is a winner. I think Jalen Hertz is a good pro quarterback. I think he's a guy that I'd like to have on my team. Okay,

so make no mistake about it. I'm a Jalen Hertz fan, but he needs some help. he's not one of those guys that can do it alone. And if you're an Eagles fan, and you say, well, every year's going to look like 22, every run's going to look like 22. We said this at the beginning of the season. The roster's a little bit different. I expect this team to be really good,

but they might take a step back in some areas. And boy, have they. But I did not anticipate that it would be this glaring on offense. Because the players out on the field are pretty good. I think Jalen's a good player. And, you know, he had his struggles early. I went to watch Jalen play, and I've seen pre-2020 Jalen, you know, in person. I went to Vegas to watch them play the Raiders.

He didn't look like that's not the guy I saw in 22. And obviously there's a learning curve and the whole thing, and you're projecting upward, right? But what nobody ever does is project downward. And I think the reality is you have your MVP caliber season in 2022. to nobody can take that away from him. And then you get your coordinator poach by Indy. And this is why I get so bent out of shape about people hiring defensive head coaches for,

and I mean this, a very select few quarterbacks. Like Justin Herbert in the charges. You have to worry about those regressions. You just do. If you lose your coordinator because your quarterback takes that next step, you're almost saying that success for us is starting over. You know what I mean?

you at home you know what I mean if you hire an offensive head coach the best possible outcome is that it changes the quarterback and they stay together for a long time when you hire a coordinator you know when you hire a defensive guy or the play caller isn't the head coach it can be hard when that changes and so I think I've seen this movie before it's a perfect example of why you have to judge players in context and this is the inverse of last year everybody wants brian johnson fired in Philly. Okay, I opened my fucking newspaper today. Got on the timeline. You don't have to be a detective to know that. If he's that bad, do you think Jalen Hurst is this bad? That's the only point I make, you know? And I know for a lot of people who don't digest nuance, they're going to

come out of this thing and say, some people are going to say, I'm on here ripping Jalen Hertz. Some people are going to say I'm on here caping for Jalen Hertz. It's your job to get the truth out of this thing, which is nuance, which is context matters. And if you take anything away from that, I hope you do, because that's what it's about. There's only a couple guys that can fly in any weather. But here's the real issue with this team. Okay, so if they figured that out, they could, they could call Frank Reich and be like, hey, what's you up to?

You up? You know that kind of thing. They could tell Brian Johnson, like, take a walk, don't stop walking. You know, get on I-70 and just keep driving. and don't come back or they could they could promote somebody in the building i don't know who that be how he has contingency plans for everything but what does it look like when you when you replace two coordinators within two weeks span i think for a lot of organizations that might look like panic for for howie roseman it just looked like more of a howie roseman thing where he's like he doesn't

leave anything to chance so don't be sure that this guy calling the plays is going to be the guy calling the place at the end of the year maybe it's nick syriani um The defense, though, that's not going to change. There's certain things about this defense is not going to change. Did it look different with Matt Patricia? I do think it looked different. I think a lot of people take that play at the end of the game and are going to say, hey, it's just that.

But I saw a lot of good ball in the first half. I saw a lot of sound football at different times than night. Seattle threw a lot of motion at them, and I think I would too, because you can see guys training to communicate at times with a new coordinator. There's some things, some wrinkles that he's going to throw in that, you know, maybe he didn't have before. He threw in some run blitzes in the second half. He got hit on one. Okay, a little single high on some of the early third downs. I think he can stop the bleeding, but I don't know if he can overcome the talent issue they have, you know, on the back end. This is not a fast team defensively. It's an aging group, and it's a team that's had to dip in

to that depth bag pretty bad on the back end. You know, a lot of teams make Super Bowl runs. I don't know how many teams make Super Bowl runs down five, six starters on defense. And, you know, rolling out a bunch of, you know, guys off the street, different combinations of them throughout the whole year. That's not a winning formula. And the end of the game sucks, okay? I get it.

Like, it sucks. Where's the safety? If you're going to put Bradbury over there on JSN, who's their best guy on third down, you're defending against touchdown. There's got to be safety health. The thing that was so eerie to me is that JSN touchdowns, it looks identical to the touchdown he scored in the Rose Bowl. Same pylon, same thing.

It was like you could interspersed both players and it looked the exact same. And with the game on the line, they went to him and they beat Bradbury. And I know that that drive, he had been struggling. They've been going at him. All night they've been going at him. I think seven for eight for like over 100 yards.

They're going at him by way of death. DK, you know, who hadn't really done a lot to that point. He had a big screen down in the red zone, but, you know, that big chunk on the right sideline they broke off. I don't know if he could cover it better. And I really feel for James because he's going to bear the brunt of the entire drive in the minds of Eagles fans. And I get it.

He's a step slower. He's older. He's not a man corner. But he's what you got right now. And the thing I love about Bradbury after the game, if you can love anything about Bradbury half the game is he's sitting on that stool and he said that's on me i mean we already know it's on you but that's on me i was too aggressive he didn't point fingers he didn't say matt patricia should have had me in a different call he didn't say the front should have gotten there he didn't say any of that

and i want to be careful what i say here because i'm not trying to i'm not trying to come at players okay like especially eagles because i think darius slay's a really good player i mean he's better than I was better than I ever was in Philly. So I'm not punching and I'm not punching up. But I did not like his comments on his podcast after the game. And I'm not the first to tell him that or to express that. Like after the Cowboys game and maybe I'm overly boiling it down, but when you say these two things together, it's never a good combination. You can say one or the other, but don't say both. When you say, hey, after the game, you want to defend yourself and say, hey, I played pretty good.

There was a lot of games where I took a lot of shit and I played real well. So I know where he's coming from. And I'm not going to pass judgment on how he played in that game. But maybe the advisable thing would have been to just be like, hey, we need to be better. But he didn't leave it at that. He said, I didn't play bad. I actually played really well. The team played like shit.

You can't do that. No one gets to say that. You know, like, if he was my teammate, I'd be like, what's up with that, dude? I'm sure we'd have a great relationship and everything. but I didn't like that and juxtapose to you know James Bradbury

after the game saying hey that's on me I kind of feel I have empathy for James Bradbury because he's doing the best he can he's older he probably won't be there next year he's a guy that a lot of guys are respecting that locker room but he's not a man corner he's in a tough spot and he's playing with a bunch of guys around him

so you know when you look at that last drive did they get scared off of Metcalf yeah I don't think he could have covered that ball any better on the right sideline. That's just a perfect fucking throw and a perfect catch. He got beat by JSN, but that Metcalf play, sometimes those guys get paid too. And you know, the matchups are what got Matt Patricia, the opportunity he has right now, the bad matchups. He's got to stay out of those. I don't think it's necessarily a bad matchup if you have safety help. The defense

did a good job in the first half. The Seattle Seahawks came out in the second half, put some tight ends on the field, decided, hey, we're going to take advantage of having Morrow and these guys sifting through traffic, get the ball out on the perimeter. Our second level is better than their second level. And, you know, we're going to run the ball a little bit. Like I said, they hit them on some run blitzes. But the thing that was really a tough one for me, it's like, it's like the defense's version of that third and seven or the third and ten, the two third downs that I listed late in the game that Jalen just didn't see it. It's second and three. Okay. They throw a swing pass into the flat.

Brown comes down and he's got him six yards deep, can't make the tackle, bad tackling has plagued this group the whole year, and bad linebacking plays plagued the group the whole year. So Brown can't make the tackle six yards deep, and then Leonard's barren down trying to make the play. He looks lost in space. That play right there encapsulates a lot of their problems, not just the coverage stuff,

but guys not being able to tackle, linebackers struggling in space, and that drive is capped by, what I think is the biggest problem with the Eagles defense right now. Some things you're not going to be able to change. You're not going to be able to change the talent. There's no Superman. The thing you realize about the NFL,

a certain point in the season is like, there's nobody coming to the rescue. It's kind of like in a game when Dallas is getting the ball run up their ass by Buffalo, they realize that James Cook pushes past them in that 10-yard game where it's like a whole pile of bodies moving like, oh, fuck.

Like we can't just mash a button and stop the run. the Eagles can't mash a button and get some coverage guys in the building. They're just not out there. There's only so many pro football players like walking around this planet right now. The guys in street clothes, there's not but so many of those either.

And there's just no magic bullet. I think they're going to struggle on the back end. That's going to be a reality. If you win, and this is why I'm talking about the offense, you're going to have to win some shootouts. They're down six or seven starters, the defense is in shambles. But I think the biggest,

issue when I watched that game last night you're going to Seattle okay I played there a bunch Seattle's beat the Eagles a bunch of times in a row but when I was in St. Louis we went there was an annual fucking thing week 17 back when we only had 17 and I used to walk to school in the snow and we had like regular remote controls that you know just an up and down arrow and no smart TVs and all that bullshit 18 weeks week 17 Seattle in the Rams and we had we're When you go up and play in that place, that's what it feels like to go play a playoff game on the road. Seattle in December. And as I've said before, the NFL, what I think separates the NFL for me is every week is the playoffs.

Whether you realize it or not, we don't need a play-in tournament. In fact, we have a play-in month. We have a play-in four to six weeks where everything matters. And with everything on the line, Dallas loses a game. They get fucking killed in Buffalo. You got a chance to go right the ship on the road Again, I'm not blaming the defense for the loss But what I did notice

Is that this team does not play with emotion You're down starters Everybody thinks you suck Philly's ready to implode if you lose the game So why aren't you playing like your backs against the wall? Why aren't you playing with emotion? You know, and it's a real like Joe fan thing to bring to the table in my analysis

to this defense. And I've given them their flowers. I mean, I thought they hung in at times last night against the team that even with Drew Locke back there, they got some guys outside and they got good backs. And they're a good football team. But I didn't see anybody celebrate. Like Nolan Smith blasted Kenneth Walker.

Didn't see anybody celebrate. Third and nine, we get a sack. You know, there's two fists up. Where's the guys mobbing those guys? You know, where's the guys that are jumping? on your back after you make a sack. Where's the guys that are fucking headbutting each other, screaming at each other, trying to scare the shit out of the offensive line that you just abused. Like, where's that emotion that sometimes you have to manufacture in life or as

football players? Some days you have a bad day, you've got to like almost trick yourself. You got to walk into the office and I don't do a good enough job of this, but walk in the office just fucking smiling. So people are like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? And it'd be the same thing. And I've been on some bad teams. I've been on one. one in 15 teams. I've been two and 14 teams. You have to play with emotion. You have to celebrate every play you make. You celebrate your teammates. And I just didn't see it. Morrow has a big play on third and two. Like I just didn't see that juice. It looked flat. It looked like a group that was shell-shocked. When Drew Locke

beat you to the pylon, because he's so excited to get a block at that pylon, and he beats the entire defense to that pile on, that's a problem. And they can fix it. But the leadership, and I know they have great leaders, Fletcher, BG, those guys, it can't just be them. They need these young guys in the back end to play with more intensity. They need the backers to be mobbing each other when they make a play. They need to mob Jalen Carter when he makes plays. When Jalen Carter, Jalen Carter did some amazing shit last night. Had to run the tape back and show my son. like a good football dad. I had to rewind two minutes of the game

to go back and show Jalen Carter bench pressing a guard into Kenneth Walker bouncing him seven yards behind a line of scrimmage. Create a TFL. They didn't talk about it on the broadcast because they're talking about one of the calls from two plays earlier.

But a couple plays later, he beats the guard so fast. Drew Locke can barely get the ball off. He does. They go to review it. It's a sack. Jalen Carter was dogging people. Why aren't we dogpiling this mother?

fucker when he makes a play if i was playing with jalen carter you wouldn't be able to get me to stop celebrating those plays have some have some emotion out there you got to trick yourself into doing it even when your team's not great in fact when you're bad on defense you got to play with more emotion and so that's the predicament they're in like where's the emotion where's the feeling like if we lose this game it's over because that's what every every game should feel like from here on out um Having said that, Eagles fans, you know, and any fan of a team that's struggling. Well, no, this part doesn't apply to you because not every team's 10 and 4, but the Eagles are 10 and 4, man. You're 10 and 4.

Do you know how hard it is? And I said this after the Bills game, because that same team is in there, same team that we're lauding for the stones they have to hit that kick, to going to overtime, to win it. the same team that were like, oh, their experiences, what carried them to, you know, 8 and 1 or, you know, whatever they were a couple weeks ago. That same team's in there. It's pretty remarkable they're here. And, you know, I think a lot of people would take this situation, you know, like I played on a lot of bad teams.

I alluded to that. I'd have killed to be on the Philadelphia Eagles, 10 and 4 in the thick of it, with a chance to win the division, with a chance to host a playoff game. Some guys never sniffed the playoffs. So if I was on that team, what I'd be saying is like, hey, when I was in St. Louis for eight years, I'd have killed to be you. Why are we playing like there's nothing to play for

or like we're defeated? There's nothing to be defeated about. It's the holiday season. Nobody died. Okay? You got a lot to be thankful for. As a football fan, I'm talking to you fans, Eagles fans. I know you don't want to hear it from me,

but I'm just telling you, I stayed up to the end of the game last night. I got my seven-year-old son Whalen. he shouldn't be awake watching this game he's on Christmas break but this was a big moment for me like even the Eagles losing like you're spending time with your family you're watching your favorite team

that's a beautiful thing I mean 10 years ago if you were 10 and 4 under Chip Kelly getting ready to host the playoff game and I think you actually did host the playoff game once with Chip Kelly but if you were in that situation

you'd be like we're having a pretty good year I'm not asking to lower your standard but everything you want to do was out in front of you it was going to be just this hard three four weeks ago people just didn't know it yet and i think that's the difference now um i watched that game with my son i watched the whole game with my son you know he shouldn't be up that late half time comes he actually he has to take his shit and he said his stomach still hurt like into the third quarter and then eventually i got keen on

the fact that like he just he just wanted to stay awake and watch the eagles and i said you know what buddy you and I are staying awake to watch the whole Eagles game you know my wife goes to bed in the fourth quarter when she's thinking she didn't hear this whole rundown of all the games they haven't closed out she's thinking they probably win uh and and poor whalen he's got to watch the whole thing but it's really special to me to be able to watch football with my son you know he's like dad did you ever play there i'm like i played there a lot you know dad did you what was that field like you know there's a fan in seattle that hangs out in the visitors tunnel right the corner and he's still there and you know it's cool to be able to say to my son like hey i know that

guy um i was there every year um we got to watch fastest three minutes in football he'd never seen it before he was looking at chris burman like he had magical powers okay so on nights like last night where the eagles lose and the over doesn't hit because that killed me you know i put that in a week ago didn't know that captain uh captain put on for my city was starting was starting to start for the Seattle Seahawks or that the Eagles would forget how to play offense. It kind of feels like the sky is falling. But I guess all I'm saying is take a breath. I hate the fact that every time I log on right now,

it's people arguing about football like it's politics. I hate the fact that some people think the world is ending because the Eagles are 10 and 4. They might not be that good. They might not be the best team in the NFC. They might not be whatever you want them to be this year. But they're a good football team. There's a good football team in there with some issues that they got to fix. And if they're not, if it looks just like what happened to Carson Wentz,

the year after we lost Frank Reich, if it looks like that this year and you lose in the divisional round or wildcar weekend, the Eagles are in the playoffs, it's been a really good run. I think there's a lot more good stuff to come, but there's some issues on this team that you just can't fix, like waving a wand. And a lot of that's personnel. As for Seattle, Leonard Williams made some big plays for them. That was exciting.

Drew Locke outplayed the guy last year that we were comparing to Patrick Mahomes. So this was a big moment for him. You saw him after the game. You're seeing guys like Jake Browning win. You're seeing guys like Drew Locke win. You're seeing guys that haven't had these opportunities in a while getting them.

And you have to smile and tip your cap to that guy. Because the throws he made at the end of the game, He's gonna remember those the rest of his life. And I know you will too, even if you're on the eagle's side because that one sucked. But Pete Carroll still enjoying it, still doing it, never in my wildest dreams that when they fired Mora, I think, after my rookie year, and Pete Carroll became the coach.

I thought this guy from USC, one of the few in modern football that has done at a high level as a college coach and as a pro coach would still be there, 72 years old, chewing the fuck out of his gum, running up and down the sidelines celebrating the guy moves great i don't know if you ever noticed this but pete carroll he hears with his face you ever noticed that about pete carroll like he legitimately can't hear you unless he's squinting like that's his way of opening his ears is like doing this uh he's my number one coach to watch on the sideline i am wildly entertained by this guy

right down to the fact that late in the game he calls one of the worst timeouts i have ever seen I tweeted about it. A lot of Seahawks fans came back like it was a dunk. What now? I'm like, it's still one of the worst timeouts I've ever seen. Not only did you not need the timeout, and it's like he doesn't care about him at all, but as soon as they call the timeout,

they're like, I think his knees down. Then they go to review and they come out of commercial, and they've got like some like elevator music playing over the official reading the results of the review. And it was hilarious. It's challenging the ruling on the play that the quarterback was down by contact, before he threw the ball.

After review, the runner was down by contact before releasing the pass. The ball be placed at that spot. It's fourth down. That call, first of all, sounds better with the music under it, but it's an expedited review. This is a successful challenge for Philadelphia.

They're not be charged to time out. This guy that's been on death store a few times as far as his future in Seattle, like people have been like, we need more modern football, we need this guy out, the whole thing. Yeah, he's not the best game manager coach anymore. Yeah, he kind of plays like Stone Age football.

Sometimes he makes some decisions that some of the analytics crowd gets all hot and bothered about. But the one thing he does for this team that you can't measure, and whoever takes his place whenever he stops coaching at 90 years old or whatever it is, he breathes a sense of belief into this team that I just haven't seen with too many other organizations in spots like this. And especially at home, that is a special place. You know, I talked about going up there a lot when I was younger. I got an admission to make. I was jealous.

I mean, I was really jealous. There were times where I was like, man, you know, if it could have been here, I love the city I played in. But, you know, the organization in Seattle is incredible. And that experience playing it now Lumenfield, it was Questfield. It's a gorgeous place. It's so loud. I think they're cheating sometimes. It's so loud.

I think they're pumping noise into that place sometimes. Do you realize that if you watched the all 22 of that game last night? and you watch that catch and he makes that catch when j s and catches that ball in the end zone the fucking camera is shaking it's like there was an earthquake i mean beast mode during the beast quake that registered on you know the seismic deal they got over there somewhere in california the the oh shit bar like it registered on the you know there was seismic activity because of that play only in Seattle. You think about all the things that have happened

on that field that have gone their way. I used to call it them having a horseshoe up their ass. I think it's Pete Carolyn. I think it's that place. I just do. It's a special place. I got to tip my cap to him. That camera shaking.

As bad as that was last night watching in real time, I got chills because that's football and it's playoff football. And so if you're the Eagles, lick your wounds, get back to Philly, worse flight. couldn't be a worse flight.

You know, we gave out worse flight on Monday. Could not be a worse flight than flying back from Seattle to the East Coast after a night game that you lost on the last play. Well, not the last play. You had 30 seconds and one shot at midfield. But get home. Somebody talks some sense into these guys where it's like, hey, dude, we didn't just leave our funeral.

There's three games left. And when they play the Giants this week, they need to take it out on these fucking guys. and they need to play with some emotion. Fuck. That was tough, but they're not dead. And there's a lot to be thankful for. So enjoy Steve Spagnolo.

I'm thankful to have them on the show. We'll be back on, what are we doing, Cowboy? I said, what are we? For Thursday. So we're going to be out. Our preview show is a day earlier this week. I'm going to go on vacation with my kids and my wife, of course, my lovely wife.

for a couple of days and try to get away. So we are going to record that Thursday preview show tomorrow. Check that out. After Spag, stick around for Steve. We're going to talk a little bit about the playoff race. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you.

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and I think it's the quarterback, and I think it's that defense that gives them a chance every week, and the defensive coordinator is none other than my old ball coach, Steve Spagnolo. Coach Spaggs, what's the word? How you doing? Oh, great, Chris. Love being around you.

I'm glad to get a chance to visit. We don't get to do this too often. I know. It's cool. It's cool. I appreciate you taking the time. I probably make you smile with this right off the bat, but this week, Christmas, you're going to be working on Christmas, which is nothing new, right?

Yeah. But you're coaching against one of your old players. And you've already seen AP this year. I thought, you know, I thought they've done a great job there. And you can tell he really, the players believe in him and the whole thing. You've been an interim head coach. How hard is that? And what are the keys and how impressed you with your guy?

Well, I will tell you this, Chris. not an easy thing to fall into. I mean, listen, we're all loved getting head coaching opportunities, but in the middle of the season where you haven't had a chance to kind of lay your foundation, get your culture right, it is really tough. But I will say this, Chris, and I don't know if you know Antonio very well at all, but he's done a terrific job. And quite honestly, I would have expected nothing less. He's that kind of guy. I told his dad about two, three years ago, I think maybe when he went to the Raiders the first time, I said, we tried to get him here in Kansas City. We begged for him to come the coach for us when we first got here,

and then he stayed at Arizona State. But I thought in five years, once he got in the league, he would eventually be a head coach. It happened a little bit sooner than I thought. But I'm proud of him, Chris, like I am all you guys that have had the pleasure of working with. And I told him I would root for him for him for him all but two games. We played one already, and the next one's coming up. I'm not rooting for him on this one. Yeah, no question. I mean, it's got to be great to see him. And I wonder, you know, like with your experience, what is the biggest challenge, like that people don't see when you have to take a job like that in the middle of season? You know, when you, listen, when you take over, everybody initially is looking for to do things your way.

How do you want it done? So I remember when we went through it in New York, and actually Antonio was with me when I took over Zerunum head coach of New York Giants in 2017. And I remember he was very helpful, to be honest with you, Chris, and kind of a connection with the players. But one of the things we strive for was to be, was for clarity and simplicity. I mean, you had to be clear and who was in charge and who was running this and who was running that. And I talked with Antonio a little bit when he took over, and that's probably the biggest challenge. Make sure you get everybody on the same page, make it clear and concise, try to get everybody headed in the same direction. I think he's done a great job of that.

And he brings the extra flavor, Chris, like you would bring. He's played the game. You know, he knows the game. He can relate to the players. And I think you're seeing that on the field. No question. I got to have a couple beers with them at Super Bowl when I was actually on the ramp. It might not have been a couple, though.

It was a few more than a couple. But that night, I was totally sold on the guy. It was me, Freddie, Justin Tuck, and Antonio Pierce, and those guys, as you know, are amazing. I would have loved to have all of them as my vets. But, you know, like, this is a team. You talk about your Giants team that had to go win some games on the road. Now, I know you guys are trying to close this season out and play at home and win one game at time and all that stuff. But the challenges of possibly doing that, you know those challenges. And for a

defense, how do you explain to a group that maybe hasn't been on the road? If you have to go there, what does it take to take over a stadium in January? Well, I mean, we kind of, we faced, I know we played the Patriots this week and everybody thinks they're down right now. But when you go in New England to play the Patriots, they're always tough. You know you played there. And one of the things we stressed in this particular game. I know you're asking about on the road in the playoffs, but every game right now does as a playoff game. We can't afford to give one. I mean, the margin for error is like that. And one of the things I did say at halftime, Chris, in this particular game was, listen, don't expect anything to be easy. Yeah. It doesn't matter who you play in this

league. And we got to, if we want to get to where we want to go, we better start ramping up and recognize that and treat every game as if it is a playoff game. Um, We have really good veteran leadership here, Chris, and we have guys that are on defense specifically that are into football. They're passionate about it. They prepare really, really well. Listen, I got a great group of guys that prepare really well. And when they take that into the game, I think that's what gives you an edge,

whether you're home or away. Yeah, we're fortunate here in the next couple of weeks we'll be here at Our Head. But somewhere along the way here, we're going away to play our last game, and who knows we might have to do it in the playoffs. but I think the veteran leadership is what's got to step up in those particular situations. And your role players have been great. And I don't even like using that word because it can sound like you're diminishing their role. But like a guy like Mike Dana, I think he's really important to you guys.

I mean, for example, a Mike Dana, what does somebody like that do for a defense? And we're not talking about the quote unquote stars, but guys like that. Yeah. You hit one of the best ones. If you had asked me to list those kind of guys. Chris, that would have been the first one of I brought up. Mike is, we rely so much on Mike. He plays inside.

He plays outside. He's so reliable. We put a defense in. We know one guy that's going to know it inside and out. It's going to do exactly what you ask for. It's going to be Mike Dana. But we have other guys like that. Leo Chanel is a linebacker for us.

He plays, you know, we'll put him in defensive end. We'll put him on the edge. We'll play inside at linebacker and stack. Drew Tranquil has been a godsend. Yeah. I mean, if you've followed us, Chris, when Nick got banged up, to have Drew Tranquil to go in there and do what he did at Mike Lineback. It was huge.

But you're going to need your stars to show up in those games. You've been in a lot of playoff games. Chris, you know that. And then you need what you're calling these foundational players to play solid like you know they can play and even up their game a little bit more. I mean, all 11, we always talk about chemistry and being on the same page to make this thing click. And when we're doing that and everybody's own in their role, we can play pretty good defense. You know, Chris is so important, obviously, to your defense.

And I know, like, you know, he's not 15 sacks this year, but he had 13 pressure Sunday. And if you watch the tape, you know how important Chris Jones is. But, you know, the contract situation is water under the bridge. It's so good he's there. But, you know, for 10 days or a month, are you, do you have two plans for how you want to run your defense? You know what I mean? You mean going forward? Yeah, if he wasn't going to be with you guys this year, which I thought was not going to happen.

thought he was going to be back in the building. But is there any party that's like, hey, there's two ways we got to go with the way I call this defense? Well, there was when we didn't have been that first game. But what he brings, Chris, and you're right about, he may not have the stats that he had last year, but when you, I'm sure you watch the tape and see how much attention is paid to him. And that has opened up things for other guys. You bring up Mike and George and, you know, Charles when he's in there. And so when you have a player like that and he demands attention, whether it's two or three guys that they commit to them, where the center's always going to turn that way. That helps us in things that we can do to try to expose the protection.

And, you know, he makes us a better defense because, just like you know, because of the pressures he gets, it may not finish off in a stat with a sack. But people certainly recognize when he's there, and hopefully that can open up some things for some other guys. Yeah, he's like that tight end, you got on offense. Even when Kelsey's not making plays, he's making plays. You know, that first shot the other day. They got two flat defenders, basically. And I think it has a lot to do with Travis. So that happens for Chris, too. So I, one thing that I think is really interesting to me on a macro level with defenses in the NFL right now and offenses is, you know, you guys had a big red zone stand early in that game where, you know, it's a short field. It's a, it's a ball game.

And you guys, you guys force them to kick, I believe. And in that situation, you know, I know you pride yourself on situational football, but when you look across the league, offenses are having a hard time in red zone this year. And I kind of wonder what you attribute that to, having nothing to do with your team, but just general football trends. Is it the lack of quarterbacks that are healthy, or is it the fact that people aren't paying as much attention to it? You know, you bring up a good point. I did not realize that it had been a struggle for offense because I'll be honest with you, Chris, we haven't played particularly well in the red zone. defensively, which is kind of a thorn in our side.

I'm glad you brought up the one that we stopped because all the one... That was great. All I can think about is the one that we didn't, Chris, because they had another turnover and they ended up scoring on it. But I don't know that they got a good answer for you on why the trend might be that way. But, you know, as you know, in this league, the one thing about whether it's offense or defensive, if offense has got something that's clicking in a particular year in the red zone, defensive coaches, players figure it out at some point and get caught up.

And that might be what's happening there. And then, you know, there'll be a cycle here where the offenses will come up with something else and they'll be more effective in the red zone. But I wish, I sure wish, I don't know what the rest of the leagues do. And I sure wish we played red zone a little bit better. And if we're going to try to do what we want to do going down the stretch here, that's one of the places we've got to get better defensively. So, and maybe I know some of this stuff, but if you're looking for guys that you need to play

well in the red zone. What do you look for in a red zone defense? What are the things that a red zone defense does great? I know the space is constricted. But for me, a grunt up front who I just knew don't run past the quarterback or I'm going to get yelled at, it's a lot more complicated for everybody behind me. So what is the right profile for a good red zone player and why is it so different than the field? Yeah. Well, like you said, that the whole thing's constricted. To me, it does begin. You can't, first of all, can't allow our offense to run the football. So we begin there. Now, when you commit to taking that away, I think the pressure now goes outside to the corners on whoever they're covering. And so that's why you're going to see teams that if you have really confidence

in those corners, you're probably going to be in more of a single high shell, man-free, three-deep defense. If you don't feel comfortable about them, you're probably going to be in more quarters and too high. Now that weakens your run for a little bit. So it's always the game, I think for us, at least from my standpoint, what do you want to defend on this particular down, the run or the past? Do you want to be in quarters and be a little bit weaker in the run and try to hit it with guys playing two gap? Or do you want to commit to an eight-man front and then put a little bit of pressure on the corners? And we have a little bit of both and we determine what we're going to do, Chris, based on who we're playing and what the threats are. But you face these teams with really good wide outs that can go up and catch the ball

and a running back on an offensive line they can run it. That can be challenging. That's what people I think are really tough to defend. You mentioned corners. You have two really, really, really good corners. And one of them I think is probably, and you probably agree with me, one of the most underrated guys in the league in Sneed. Absolutely.

I think the wherewithal and the mentality to line up and especially as aggressive as you, you are to match up with yeah you put pressure on this guy but he steps up every week and you know he's got their best guy and you know he hadn't been to a pro bowl I don't know if he goes this year doesn't matter I think he's up there and you know what can you say about him and that mentality every week of guarding their best guy but he's a pro bowl player to me Chris and if there's others that are out there that have better than I I'd have to see it I mean I'm not studying defenses this time of the year that off season. But we think the world of LJ, I mean, when you take a guy and put them on the best receiver every week, that tells you how we feel about them. Yeah. And I think if

you go back, I don't turn through these stats, but I know that, you know, most of the time we've played an elite receiver, he's kind of kept them in check. Yeah. And that helps us defensively. There isn't anything he can't do, Chris. I mean, he could be playing nickel and be blitzing every down and be making plays that way. But he's on the outside now because of some of the wide receivers that we see and we commit him to helping us take that guy away. I tell you what, Chris, the other thing, you know, you don't see a lot of corners in this league that cover like LJ and play the run and tackle like he does. He had some outstanding tackles this past weekend up in New England. I mean, he had seven, I think seven solos and two assisted tackles.

And so he didn't have an interception and whatnot. But to me, those things go. unrecognized and you need guys like that to play good defense. Us the linemen see it. I'm like, man, it'd be nice to have a run-forced guy like that behind you. But when it comes to McDuffie, you send this guy more than anybody in the league now. And there's a skill I know that it's not just, hey, run towards the quarterback. You know, you guys disguise and the whole thing. But I think as a, you know, as it relates to a corner, becoming a pass rusher, that's not something that happens on accident. And I know you guys probably work things to prepare for these these situations. How do you get a corner to become a pass rusher in those situations?

That begins all the way back in training camp, Chris, to be honest with you, there are a lot of individual periods where I, you know, because I don't have an individual group, but I do like taking DBs working on pass rush, blitz technique, you know, handling, coming off an edge and taking care of a boot or going down the line of scrimmage, the heel line and taffling it for a running play for a loss. But Trent really embraced that particular position. Look, we wouldn't, we would not have. been able to move LJ outside.

Right. And we not had a guy that we felt comfortable inside because the nickel is really important in today's football. You know that. You see it. All these three wide out offensive skill guys that they put out there. And in Trent is one of those guys he can cover. He's another guy that will support on the run.

And because he does have a burst and can accelerate, he's a real good blitzer for us. I love bringing them. He loves coming. You know these guys. I can tell you. Every D. lineman wants to be able to cover man to man to man. and every DB wants to be able to rush to pass it, right?

Hey, I don't know if you remember this about me. I was like, hey, no fire zones for me. I don't like being out there. So maybe I'm your, I'm your. You wanted to go forward, right? I want to go forward. Spags, you know, you've faced Josh Allen. You've spoken highly of Joe Burrow before, and I agree with you.

He is the closest thing to Tom Brady that I'd seen. I agree. As a young player, until I saw CJ Stroud, okay? He's pretty good to. Is that right? Yeah, I hear a lot of them. He's pretty down. He's got that, like, you know,

He's got the pocket awareness, keeps his eyes downfield, every movement's efficient. You know, all the reasons that I'm sure you think Joe is like Tom. But I've heard you say because you face Tom and you're one of the only guys have been 500 against Tom. That's a hell of an accomplishment. You don't want him reading your mail. So there's that pre-snap conversation in your building leading up to the game. But then there's the Josh Allen where it's like, you know, when we get there and I save my

best call for the third quarter and he just obliterates. my free runner, like, who would you rather see the guy that can pick you apart or the guy that can ruin it all in one play? Neither. I tell you what, he's Houdini, Chris. He's amazing. I told him that after the game. I mean, we threw everything but the kitchen sink and actually got, you saw, we got the free runners, but he finds a way, he's strong, he's the ultimate competitor. Yeah. And he just, it's never say he dies, all the way over on the sideline there and he gets that that pass off. But he's insane.

He's tough. Listen, I, whether it's cerebral and, you know, sit in the pocket like Tom did, I'm able to get it out or extend it down like Josh does.

Both of those guys in their own way make it really, really difficult. And they're both, listen, I love going against them because we all like to compete. It's a challenge.

But thank God Tom's gone. I'm going to have to deal with him anymore. Get him out of here. He ruined all the rules for defensive players. Now he's gone. He sure did. And we got to deal with the yellow flags. Yeah, we'll blame him on him, right?

Yeah. With Nick Bolton, man, I knew when he was out, that was going to be a big thing. I think he's another guy who's super underrated and, like, the heartbeat. When I look at him and Willie inside, what was the thing you learned about y'all's selves in his absence? And when he came back, what was the thing that you were like, ah, it's nice to have Nick Bolton on the field. Well, the one thing we found out with Nick gone was how good Drew was.

Yeah, he played really well. I really felt like, Chris, if I look back at the six or seven, games that we lost Nick. We really didn't scale anything back. You know, and you know we're very multiple and we put a lot on our guys from the standpoint of intelligence. And Drew, he just ran with it, man. And he was new to the system this year. It wasn't like he's been in it for the past few years. So I credit him with keeping that part of it together. Getting Nick back just feels so much more. He's just so natural with the guys and connecting all the docks, connects the front with the secondary and the whole linebacker crew. And he's just, he's just, he's one of those leaders that's

got great instincts for the game. He'll, he'll be over on the sideline, Chris, in between series, saying he's doing this. I think we should do that. And listen, I'll roll with whatever he wants to do because he's got a really, really good feel for the game. You got to trust that guy. You're right. He's very underrated myself, my opinion. That's awesome. And, you know, you bring up something with adjustments that I've been dying to ask you. It has none to do it this year, nothing to do with an opponent, but it's an older question. I've always wondered, what goes on at halftime for you coaches? Is it like a fire drill where you're like, you know,

you've been making the adjustments the whole first half? But an example of that would be you got to tell me what you did when you played Houston a couple years ago because they're going nuts. Yeah, they're going nuts. And then the second half you guys come out and blank them. So in general, what are you doing? What did you do in that game since it's all, water under the bridge. Yeah, it's been a while. I don't know that I can remember exactly what we're

dead. I will tell you this, Chris, that, it like you said, it's ongoing all the time, even though people think it's halftime adjustments. You know, I might get to the end of the, or the middle of the second quarter, and I know we've done this a lot. We'll be on the headset saying, I'll be saying, in this case, it's Donald who works for us as an assistant. Don't, write this down. We need to convey that to the guys at halftime. Or, hey, circle this call. I'm going to want to use that in the third quarter. I always have somebody let me know at half time, Chris, which blitzes we have not run. In other words, which ones have they not seen, which ones did we already show them. So there's always that kind of chess piece going on. And listen,

the one of the things about any kind of halftime adjustment is really how the players will embrace and receive whatever you're telling them. And it could be as simple as, hey, look, guys, I mean, you played in New England, Chris. How many times did Coach Belichick walk in there and say, hey, guys, just do your job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't get reached. I mean, it's something simple. It doesn't have to be some rocket science. Exactly. Sometimes it's not a rocket scientist adjustment. It's just everybody deciding, okay, look, it didn't, as players, we didn't do it the way we were supposed to in the first half. Let's all do it the way we worked on it all week long, and then, lo and behold, it works out a lot. We had the right game plan all along. We just

have to execute. Just had to execute a little. And sometimes it's just as simple as that, Chris. You know it as a player and I think every every coach knows that too. But every once in a while we get a good idea and we'll go in and throw something at halftime. And if the player is executed and it works out, we all feel like, you know, we did something really good. Last question for you, Spags.

You get a really special opportunity. I can tell you take it seriously going to New England. And with everything swirling around Bill, I'm not going to read the tea leaves because I don't care. It's just like it's special to get the coach opposite Bill. And especially when, And you know he's his best because he's like, I want to take Travis Kelsey away. I want to beat Patrick Mahomes.

It's me and Andy, who I respect. But we're two of the greatest. How cool is it to coach against Bill and what made him so great and what makes him so great, you know, from a defensive mind standpoint? Yeah. Listen, it was double special for me, Chris. Look, I grew up a Patriots fan. I grew up in that area when they didn't win. And then, you know, I get in the NFL and they start to.

win because coach bellichick gets there and now i find myself in soup balls against them so it was kind of flipped but i think we'll all be you know years from now we'll all be talking and bragging about how fortunate we were to have coached against and during the time of bill bellichick um he's legendary in my opinion not only as a head coach and leader but defensively of what he does in taking away what the offense does best we all know that he's he's he's You know, made a career in stopping people by taking away their best players and then trying to put and put together a defense that defends people week in and week out, year in and year out, always really good.

You know, Chris, he's, I think Jim Johnson and Coach Belichick, both, we learned this from, I'm always talking about stopping the run. But, you know, if you really study them, it's more about defending the pass in this league. If some stats get out of there run-wise, nobody panics about it. Because when it's all said and done, it's about points allowed. It's not about total yardage. And I think Coach Belichick understands that. And he plays the situational game better than anybody as a head coach and as a coordinator.

And I got the utmost respect for him. And I'm really happy that you had the opportunity, Chris, to play. It was cool. Yeah. It was cool. But he does. He'll let you think as a coordinator that you're doing something where he's letting you do exactly what he wants to let you do.

Yeah. You know, whether it's the run game or feeding some guy that's got 10 targets, it's like, fine. I just don't want the other guy to beat me. That's right. But it was a special year, man, and I've had some great coaches, one of them, coach Spags, and I just appreciate the time. I know you're in the middle of a big run. I'm rooting for you guys. I appreciate it, Chris. Always great to talk to you, and make sure you tell the whole family I was asking for him. I appreciate all the work you did, us when we were together. I really do. Thanks, man. You too. Okay.

See you, buddy. Hey, tell Flaj, I said, what's up? I will. You still get the tattoo? Oh, yeah, man. Hold on. Have you seen it before? Oh, yeah.

The Flage is good. I love it. I talk about that. I talk about it all the time. Oh, Flage is on the other side. On the other side. I forget where Flage is. There's his money.

So, yeah, you get to. That's an all-time great story, Chris. I love that. When the fucking guy walked up to my wife at training camp's bag. And he goes, it's nice to finally meet you. and she goes, I wake up next to you every morning. That's an all-time, great story. I'm going to go tell them right now, but I said hi, all right?

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hire. You need Indeed. Steve, so do you do you like land from from Seattle at what, seven in the morning? We left Seattle Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. and landed at 210 Easter. Unbelievable. Yeah, he's fresh off the plane. And right here for you. Dude, all right, you're the man. All right, but my question is this. And I have the answer in my head, but I want to hear what you think because I did not know you had never been to that stadium. Is it the toughest home field advantage in football? Yes, because those fans don't care about any circumstances, whether it's the weather. There's a lot of things here, Chris, that I'd love to get your tank because being on the sidelines,

first off, I'm going out there because I've only known Husky Stadium and playing in that and then being at games at that, it's, you know, everybody knows the picturesque view and the sale gaining. But the loudness of that deal is something that, you know, just drove me crazy playing there because it never stopped. And I think Husky

Stadium's different because it starts. When you play Udub, you stay in like Bellevue, and there's this one bridge from Bellevue over to Seattle, and it's super low on the water. And as you're driving over, you have police escort, they clear the bridge, and you're

just going. The bus is going, and all that is in your view is freaking Husky Stadium. And it's up on a perch off the water, off the boathouse. So you're looking at this thing and you're like, how freaking big is this? Because, again, you're low on the water. And you obviously, all you heard about was the noise and you practice with noise. And good God, that thing lives up to the hype every time.

Lumen, I'm texting all my Seattle guys, got a bunch of guys that live up there, played ball with guys that live up there. I'm like, all right, what's better? and they're like they're both great. I'm like, no. I was like, something's got to be better. And this, the, the, I have a group that, the guys that went to UW, say Husky Stadium,

the fans said Lumen. And I said, all right, I get to see for myself. And being in there, it's raining pregame. You know, Scott starts his, his show at three o'clock local time. And teams are starting to come out and you start getting this feel. You know, it's right in downtown. You know, people love it. They could walk there.

The travel situation. I mean, in Seattle, you take ferries to the games. That's how many people are on islands and stuff. So I think the idea, I was thinking about this, the idea of losing the Sonics and the angs there, and then with the rise of the Seahawks, there is a serious, serious passion there with their fans. And, you know, your dad played in the kingdom,

and I'm sure he has stories about that good and bad. but Lumen Field, man, because those fans do not care about if it's going to rain, if it's going to be cold, who are we playing, what's our record? All that is factored in there. And Scott and I were talking on the silence last night. He said, you know, when Smith and Jigma catches that ball, it's a shock. It's an absolute shock. Like, holy shit, they did it.

But then when they confirm the interception, that's when I thought it was loudest because it's, Oh, shit, we won. Like, this is game, you know? And it was just really, really cool. And for us, Scott and I, being the show that we do in D.C., you know, most of the time, midnight Eastern, it's only 9 o'clock out west. So our, our, are so many of our fans and watchers and viewers are out there, and they were just ecstatic to have Scott out there doing the show with the guys.

It was really, really cool, and it lived up to anything. It was Scott's first time in Seattle. So it was awesome. He said he did a tournament with Tiger way back. But yeah, he's never, he had ever been to a event there or spent any time there. And I did the mat. We were there 19 hours. And it was freaking awesome.

And it's a tribute to those people in that fan base. I talked about this in the open a little bit. But like when I played in St. Louis and we went up there early, Maybe my first year. I mean, we went up every year. And it was such an eye-opening experience to me because it was my first experience on the road early in that year and being like, oh, this is what the NFL's like. Yeah.

Because in St. Louis, I mean, you know, it was, we were a bad team. And Edward Jones Dome, admittedly, even if you're a Rams fan from that era, it just doesn't measure up to what they have there. I mean, like, from the high shot of the stadium to the, cityscape to, I mean, it's one of the most gorgeous stadiums, and the fans are insane. Yes. And they love their players, and it's perpetually raining there. Uh, I think every year, but my first year, we played their New Year's. And they always put us like seven, you know, week 17. And it was always with the playoffs online. I've told these stories about, you know, the Beastquake game. That was

preceded by us losing to Seattle and Charlie Whitehurst. And, you know, where else does this kind of magic happen. You know, Drew Locke to JSN. It's like there's something, you think, think back to all the things that have happened in that stadium. Beastquake, that play, so many in between you talk about. And that didn't happen. Phil Mary, Aaron Rogers, blown a lead.

Aaron Rogers blowing the league, the onside kick. It felt like when I played, I was so jealous of them because they had this horseshoe up their ass, but they were really good. It was like things fell their way all the time in that stadium. But when I went up there, I was jealous. I mean, like, of the football situation that they have in that city. And I've been watching Pete Carroll chewing gum up and down that sideline my entire career. And at every turn, as bad as the timeouts were last night, I mean, it was one of the worst timeouts I've ever seen called.

You weren't watching the broadcast. But when he called that timeout and then Nick was able to actually review the play, they come back out of commercial and they're playing like high energy jazz somehow over his like intro music. and it stayed on during the reading of the overturned call. And it was like, this is the worst timeout that was ever called. And so many of Pete's decisions are questionable, but he gets these guys to believe, which is an immeasurable thing, and especially in that stadium.

That's exactly the conversation Scott and I had on the flight home was to see it for her. Because I knew people that were in and around New England when he was there was a lot of positivity. Like they loved them. And, you know, it's just a tough place. And then, you know, you factor in all that happened. Whatever, he's done there.

But there's people that, you know, thought his thing would work better in college. And you saw what he did at SC. The best of the best. I mean, Reggie Bush's, that era is the most, you know, want to watch a team in my lifetime. And then the question is, can he do it at the pro level? He didn't succeed. He didn't get a fair shake in New England. But the idea, and Chris, you're in that locker room, and the idea, and they're on the cusp, right?

Were they seven and seven now? And it feels like they're always there. Last year, awesome year. You know, no expectations. Gino, year of his life. And that's the Pete Carroll thing. But to extend that and have guys that are, you know, people want to talk about the money they're making, whatever they, whatever you want, they're professionals. But to be able to constantly motivate them to change.

Just stay in the fight. Stay in the fight. Just keep next play. I know it's all the cliches, but there's something in there that's built from him that his teams are going to be there. And he's had horrible. I mean, that Super Bowl loss is an all-timer,

all-timer. And to turn over the roster, the decision with Russ, all that and still be there. I just think speaks to the world to him. And I'm so bummed. He had to watch. You see the picture of him on the field after everything?

He walked out on the field. After we went off the air, we went off the air at 945 local. And then Scott and I get back to the hotel, and somebody had a picture of Pete. He's on the field. He's got his hat backwards, his air monarchs on. And he's just like, he didn't want to leave the stadium. I'm like, if he ever walked out in the last minute we were going off the air, Scott and him would have talked on the air.

We were to extend our show. They would have talked 20 minutes easily because of what. he is Scott's first time. I was just going through the questions. It would have been incredible. But yeah, it's a really cool reflection of him with his teams. And then like saw your boy Michael Bennett there last night. You saw Mike.

What was he? He was decked out. All of them. Cliff, I think they had some kind of reunion. Cliff was there. All the, all the guy, Sherm was there. So they were, I mean, and then Pete brings those guys out there in pregame. Like they're hooting and holler

And you know Their pregame routine They're out in the field with those guys And it's it's cool It's like it's like a college feel almost That those guys So many of those guys come back And it was just really

Like I said Lived up to everything There's not a lot of things that we get to Especially doing this Monday night gig We've had an unbelievable run of underdogs winning And the games have been tremendous Like every time we're out there Two Minute Morning Scott does this thing

The game's on the line Yeah And yeah it's just been been incredible and it's it attributed to Pete and those guys I mean those guys lining up and you know they had to be having a little excitement that game getting flexed and you got the Eagles coming in you got everything you want and uh they pulled it out man it's a it's a huge credit to them incredible place I got to admit that you know whalen stayed up till the end of the game and I talked about that but like you know just being able to point out to him hey that same fan in the you know

to the left of the visitor tunnel. He's been there the entire time. Like I know that guy. I talk to him every year. And that's what's so funny about being in the NFL is like you go places to play and you meet people at those stadiums that are constants. And some of the stadiums have fans that are predictably right where they're going to be. And they're super fans and they rib you.

But I can remember walking out of the tunnel my last game and dapping that guy up and being like, hey, it's been fun. little moments like that up there you know you can't trade them even though we we lost seven in a row up there I loved playing there and I love the city no and you know

really cool now with the with the NFL games your preferred season ticket holders I never asked them but they're they gate off like the corners of the field so the fans could come down during pregame and you know the first night where there are jets Aaron Rogers it's mobbed like there's no standing room at all

the Giants do a good job with theirs. We go to the Chargers game. No one even wants to go down there. It's just amazing. And last night, it's pouring rain before the game, and those people are out there. They don't care. No.

And it really hit me finally. And that's the advantage. That is because you think about it. I mean, you're going to play in Seattle. Oh, what's the weather? Just expect rain. It's going to be miserable. And actually, Michael Bennett said he's looking up in the sky.

I'm talking to him. He's like, man, this is perfect. This is perfect conditions. He's like slippery. They can't hold me. And he's just going through all the advantages. And I'm like, man, it's real. It really is.

And I will say this. I mean, I played at Arrowhead. I played in New Orleans. I think those two places are really loud. I think there are great NFL stadiums that I'm not even going to name, but that place when it comes to being on the road, the noise level, the acoustics of that stadium. It's second to none, and they are crazy.

So shout out to Seahawks fans, even though this is kind of an Eagles podcast, you guys really earned that one. I was just going to say one quick thing. I was at Eagles Chiefs this year at Arrowhead. I was at Eagles Seattle last night. The Eagles fans are there, man. They're there. They are everywhere. They're everywhere.

They represented a big time last night. And it was, I won't say it was great. But it was different hearing my, hearing the Eagles spelling lesson after the game and the winning chiefs. Arrowhead and not having to hear it in the whole post game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That gets a little easier to do your show. A non-Eagles fan, but shout out to them. They were tremendous and showed out for sure.

All right. So the next question, we brought this guy up. And you framed it as Herbert or Lawrence. I mean, I'm going Herbert. Yep, me too. And I also, dude, I gave this answer on Kevin Clark's show yesterday. He asked me, what's the one thing that you wish fans knew that they don't? and they constantly miss.

And I think in general, it's not a cop-out, but it's really, it really fits when you're talking about quarterbacks more than any position is context. You know, like judging these quarterbacks with context, whether it's, you know, looking at everything that Herbert's had to deal with this year, or, hey, when you look at CJ Stroud in the rain with a ton of guys down up front, which has had all year, but now the guys outside are down, he looks different

and I think he's that dude but it just goes to show you how much context affects you know how you evaluate a quarterback and you should look at Carolina the same way with Bryce and so on and so forth Jaylen Hertz is a perfect example I talked about this in the open

last year you couldn't say a bad word about him but this year they want to run him out of town after a game like last night so when you think you know who a guy is just take a beat and consider the context in which that player's playing schematically and with the people around him and so I would caution people

writing Justin Fields off. But Trevor Lawrence, there is not, when I look at that offense, there's nothing that tells me he shouldn't be better. Like there's no like, oh, they don't have enough guys outside or the protection is terrible. I know they have injuries.

ETN's a good player. You've got a good play caller who's done it on the highest level. Why isn't he better? And since he's been in a league, He's kind of at the top of the league when it comes to turnovers. And I kind of, I'm wondering a night like the other night where I think the Ravens are ripe to be beat. Now people tell me I'm a little bit alarmist on the Ravens with Mark Andrews and Keaton Mitchell now out. But I feel like that's the perfect example of a game where another quarterback wins that game.

And I'm not trying to be too hard on Trevor Lawrence, but I'm wondering, can you fix those things? and what would you need to see better from him? And you've watched him since Clemson. Yeah. You know, so what was the word on him coming out? Was this turnover stuff a concern? No, no, it wasn't because they were good enough where that wasn't an issue or if it did happen, they overcame it. The deal with Trevor Lawrence is from his moments at Clemson to now.

I've just always wanted more. I've always wanted more. I think there's more in that. And there's that Fiesta Bowl win against Chase Young in Ohio State, one of the greatest games I ever been at. And I saw it. He said, screw it. He breaks out like a 60-yard run, turns the whole game around.

But when you look at this, you know, not missing a start, I love that. But when you're going to do that, give me some more production. And the other night, I just, you know, be in there the night he got hurt and feeling it. Like this fan base is like, all right, we're going to take the next step. That night when we were there, they were in the driver's seat for the one seed. And no one, I think, has had their stock lower more, in my opinion, than Trevor since that. I know he got hurt. But when he comes back and then the other night, all right, you're back, you're ready to go.

You throw the ball. I think it was 26 times in the first half. You go up and down the field and you don't have a point. Yeah. And it's self-inflicted wounds. It's the fumble. the decision before the half to throw that out route. You can't do that.

I've never seen that. I don't know what that's drawn up for. And I don't know why he wouldn't burn that ball, even if it's the wrong call. First off, it's a huge pepive of mine. The teams don't spike the ball there. Yeah. You're getting two plays. Yes. Mathematically.

You're not going to get more than you do. Burn a play. Yeah. It's first down. Yeah. You got a big play. First down. You fought all this time. you've been down here a bunch of times all game.

Get it right. Clock the ball and get your two plays. Call two plays if you have to. But just get a sense. And, you know, he had an erratic first half. I don't think I think the fumble. He was just, you know, distraught after that. But the red zone turnovers and the inefficiency in the red zone,

that's what's really, really eye-opening. And when you look at the numbers, that's been a continuous problem. Yeah. And so I think the world of Doug, I put him up with anybody as far as game planning, taking advantage of where your team has the advantage in quarterback play. And I mean, you saw it on the other side of winning the Super Bowl, what he did with a situation like that, that this is more advantageous than that. They got the pieces.

Ridley watching him in pregame, I don't know if there's a better route runner out there. What he brings to the table? I know they lost Kirk, but you got E. end as a running back. The tight ends aren't great, but they still are. He got hurt the other night, but you know, you have pieces. Yeah. So I'm worried, and I heard McShay tell a story on Rissillo's pod last week that I thought was really, really eye-opening. And he talked about your elite quarterbacks. And when he would talk to GMs and personnel and coaches at the next level when these guys are

coming in, you know, you're Andrew Luck, you're Peyton Manning, you're, you're, you're, your sharp guy, your leaders of your team, they would go through game instances, and it would be, oh, on this third and a, I did this, on this second and long, we knew we had to get yards, we did this. And he said numerous GMs were shocked at how Trevor didn't have that detail.

A recall. That recall in his mind. And then what I took away from that is he's a half second late on a throw. He's not taking a proper drop all the time. And you see that now, as I heard that, I'm watching them Monday night, I'm like, or Sunday night, and I'm like, it's, it's still very, very good. But that, that little bit, you know, is what I see in the difference, because I do not put him in that upper tier or second tier, whatever you want to tier quarterbacks now.

Because of that, the problems in the red zone, I think, are so decision-based. And if it's a, if it's a quarter of a second late, whatever it is, I think that's what it is, and it hasn't, he hasn't shown improvement on it. Well, there's also something kind of interesting just came to me is when I think about a great quarterback, they're not just making the right decisions. They're not just making the right throws. They're also making the people around them better. And they, they work at that relationship through the year. Like Mahomes has not been able to quite do it with this group.

That goes to show you how bad this group is. but some of the same problems relative to expectation have popped up in Jacksonville, whether they're not getting both your feet in against the Chiefs and a low-scoring ball game. It's third downs. It's option routes where guys are going the wrong way. And I put some of that on Ridley for sure.

No doubt. He's getting paid a lot of money to do this stuff. I put that on Kirk. I put that on these guys. But the quarterback not seeing, and you know, part of this is dumb. sure but I know Doug can do this so the guy I'm looking at is Trevor and I'm saying why haven't you and your receivers improve the report as the year has gone on a perfect example

of this play at the end of the game would be Calvin Ridley in the back of the end zone just catch the ball and these are the problems that have plagued them all year and at that point in that game you have an outside chance of winning that game you'd have to go you'd have to get a stop and another score and the whole thing could have covered a team teaser. For sure, if anybody had teasers. Anybody. If anybody did. But these are the problems that keep showing up for them, and they're not all on the receivers

because the quarterback has a responsibility to get on the same page with these guys and get them on your page. And so extra credit for a quarterback is not just making throws, not just making decisions, but improving the people around you. And that hasn't happened in Jacksonville either. And, you know, this division, when you looked at it last year, you were like, they're tanking in Houston. Tandy Hill's on the way out. The Colts are drafting a quarterback.

This is our division. And you're sitting there watching and look at the things that have happened to the Jags. If you want to do a stock up, stock down organizationally over the last year, nobody's arrow has been pointing more drastically down than the Jaguars because, and I put the lines in this category too as well as they've played because of what's happened around them. with Chicago making some leaps, with the Vikings having a great head coach, with Jordan Love coming on.

In the AFC South now, you have Domeko Ryans, Mike Vrable for now, until he gets hired by the Patriots. And then you've got Shane Steichen, and all of a sudden you look up and there's no foregone conclusion that you don't have the best coach in the division.

There's no foregone conclusion. In fact, I'm sure of it, that you have the best quarterback in division. I think that's C.J. Stroud. And these other teams are gaining ground and passing you. You could lose the division this year. And so I think it's an interesting conversation for Trevor, but also for this organization because teams are catching them.

And they only had a lead for a second. Another thing that popped up this weekend that I didn't get a chance to talk to you about, and we really didn't talk about on the show, was the Kazee hit. Now, I went through because my take initially was, and I'll explain in a second, what else do you want? what him to do. Now, I go through the other four or five times that he's been disciplined this year by way of like $10,000 fines. And I went through this with Perryman, the backer for Houston when he got whacked for hitting people too hard. And, you know, I look back at the

Zach Moss play. I look back and I thought in those circumstances was absolutely insane that they were suspending him even with the prior infractions. When I look at, the plays that Kiziz has made this year, I see that there is a pattern. I do see that on at least two of those, I'm like, you could avoid these things. You know, like there's a play on Puka Nakua. There's a play against the Bengals where I think like,

hey, keep your head up, that sort of thing. But they're different plays in this play the other day. And in fact, all these infractions that he got flagged for, I don't agree with them all. I mean, there's one against the Jags where E.T.N. is lowering his head first. And, you know, he's got to get his level under him. And sometimes people don't understand. that but on this play the other night i kind of liken it to a guy who had like a criminal history

he got out and he's on parole and somebody tried to you know rob his family and he went too far and then he's going back to jail and i just don't think like in a vacuum i understand with this history but i don't think in a vacuum if you think that that's a a malicious hit and exactly what we're trying to get out of a game unless you're going to say to me just let him catch the football when I ask you the question, what does he do there? I don't know what the answer is. Yeah, because when you look at the one on Pittman,

he doesn't leave his feet. You know, like that's always been, you know, the M.O. when I think about the feet, like, all right, guys extended, are we also leaving our feet too? Because that's where you get, you know, the biggest collision. The true launch. Yeah.

Yeah. So he doesn't do that. And, yeah, like, when not, I'm watching it, it's like he has to wait for him to catch him, to catch the ball and then tag him down. Yes, that's what people want him to do. I mean, like, there are people, there are people that say, hey, go for the ball. But what they don't understand there is the ball does not come without collision there. Like, you, there's, that's, you want him to go

for the ball. That's what that looks like. Coming from 20 yards deep. There's no way for him to slow down anymore. He's running from the, he's running from way back there. He doesn't have time to gather his feet. And also, if you look at the launch angle of Michael, Pitman, which he's not doing that maliciously. He's trying to catch the ball, but he's launching to. He's the one who's launching, right? He's launching to catch the ball. He's almost parallel to the ground. And as he's

falling, you know, Kazee has to lower his target even more because then you've got to get under a parallel guy whose head is down and his arms are outstress. He's clearly defenseless. But for Kazee, in a 13-7 ball game with the playoffs on the line, I want to know what you would rather

have him do, and it sounds like you don't know either. The only thing, I could say is he's got to go through Pittman's hands. Yes, but from that angle, there's no way to do it. And I'm saying, and the contact might be worse because he's going to get the side of his ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is way sturdy. You know what?

You know, you're hit by that. A fan said they'd rather him knee him in the head. I'm like, have you been hit with a knee in the head? It's worse. But that's what I'm saying. If you go through the hands, then it's worse. and the idea that it's, I mean, out for the year, that that's brutal to me. I understand the track record.

I understand. I do too. I'll acknowledge that. I've seen a couple of those hits or, you know, they could be avoided. Yeah. Understood there, but I think it's way too rough of a penalty. And like, it happens all the time. I think, you know, now that with the hip drop, it's like we have to be able to tackle people.

and I get it. There's no launch there. Is it, look? And this is a problem. Scott and I watch games every Sunday together. The problem, every time we know when you're watching the games, too hard of a hit gets flagged every time now. Every time.

Every time. You got to look up. You're like up. You hit him hard. Yeah. And it's just the way it looks. And offensive guys know that. Here's my thing too is, you know,

because people are going to be in the comments here this video and they're going to say he should go for the ball he should do this you should do that if you're leaving a comment please leave a detailed explanation describing because that's what i'm what what i'm asking for uh the process with which he would go for the ball and not do what he did because i think if if you think about going for the ball um running 15 20 miles an hour the ball's in front of his face and if you want to go for the guy's chest where the ball is going to be, what's not going to be because he's going to catch the ball extended, he's going to land that way. But if you want to go for the chest, there's no way to get to the chest without hitting him in the head because he's parallel to the ground. And I will say this, he didn't lead with his helmet.

I've heard some people saying he led with his helmet. He, at the very last second, changes his launch angle ever so slightly to try to get the side of his shoulder on that guy. Now, you can say it's malicious, you can say you want it out of the game, and I would say, hey, I'd like to see it out of the game too. But my question is, what would you rather him do? And I read a guy on Twitter who watches a lot of film and will go unnamed and said, you just got to let him catch that ball.

It's just not worth it for anybody in that situation. Tell Mike Tom on that who might lose his job, you know. And so tell these guys that who are going to lose out on. the playoffs and all that stuff i'm not saying that's the difference in the game but up 13 second at that point if that play doesn't stand and they don't get the 15 yards the game could be different and so uh you got to get that ball off and i don't know what else to do there hopefully you just don't have a track record walking into the situation i would like the referees to show us too that's what i'd like to see that's what that's what i want those are the

videos i want i want i want to i want a physical demonstration of how you would do it rather than throwing the flag right at the guy he threw the flag right at him. You know, you almost had a Orlando Brown Senior situation. Yeah. Okay. So, here's what we've got to talk about today. We're going to get into a little bit of college football afterwards, but I think it's really interesting to look at the playoffs if they started today because the first two years, a super wild card weekend. Um, there were a little much and not all the games were high quality. I mean, you talk about having backups now in the playoffs for the NFL. I still think this year could be the best wildcard weekend,

even with the quarterbacks that were probably trodden out there, especially in the AFC. Look at last year, Steve. Seattle at San Francisco, that's a 10-point line. L.A. at Jacksonville. I believe it was one and a half. So that was a pretty good game. You had to come back the whole thing.

Miami with Skyler Thompson going to Buffalo. They made it interesting, but it was 14. and a half. You had the Giants at the Vikings, which was, no, that was a great game. I was the Eagles. You're the Eagles. Yeah, the Giants at the Vikings was maybe the best game of Wild Card weekend, including that big comeback. And then you had Baltimore, Cincinnati with a backup quarterback Cincinnati laying over a touchdown. Dallas at Tampa Bay, which we could see again this year. And that was a three-point line, but not a fun game to watch. And if you go back to 21, you had Colts at Bills, that turned out to be a really good football game.

If you remember that at the very end of that game, Philip Rivers, they almost beat the Bills. But that was a seven point line. You had Rams at Seahawks, which I believe, looking at that line, I'm not misremembering. I think they had Wolford starting that game. And then Bucks at Washington. Heineke was a backup at that point, technically.

Seven and a half point line. Yeah. These are the games where nobody in the stance. Yes. You had Ravens, Titans, which was a good one. at Saints, the Nickelodeon game. That was one of the most dog-ship playoff games I've ever seen. That was a nine-point line. It was Tribusky.

And then Brown Steelers was a great game. The Browns jumped the Steelers on the road. And that was when the Steelers were kind of, they finished with 11 straight wins and they were kind of fraudulent. Ben couldn't move the whole thing. It was Ben's last game. It was Ben's, I think it was the last game. Yeah, because they got in on the last day of the season, I think, I remember. Yep. And then you look at

if you look at this year, and this is why I actually think it could be better. There's one game to me, and we're going to guess these lines that I think could be close to a touchdown. We'll start in the NFC. Right now, it's Cowboys hosting Rams. It's Lions hosting Vikings. It's Bucks hosting the Eagles.

Now, although I think that flips, the Niners on the by. And in the AFC, you have the Ravens on the by. You have the Colts visiting the Dolphins. You have the Bengals visiting the Chiefs. You have the Browns visiting the Jacks. So let's start in the end. The Browns visiting the Jags. Oh, I would love that game.

A little rematch, yeah. So which wildcard game would you be most excited to see? And then we'll go down and guess the lines. I really want the Browns to go to the playoffs. I think what they've overcome this year. And then just what we talked about with Trevor Lawrence, like with everything there. you get a home game, I'd take that one.

I take Brown's Jack. I mean, I know we just saw it. And, you know, the not knowing of Trevor was going to play. It would be a great game. It would be a great game. That defense you know is going to travel. And Jacksonville gets their chance at home. That's what you want.

And now you got to go do it. I don't think it's possible necessarily. I guess it is possible. The Browns visiting the Ravens would be. with Joe Flacco at M&T would be incredible. And the same thing with, I think, on the other side, and I've mentioned this a couple times, L.A. going to Detroit, which would be a game.

And you'd have Stafford and Gough and McVeigh and Gough and the whole thing, Stafford back in Detroit. Did you have Rams at Cowboys? So right now it's Rams of Cowboys. Yeah, that would be. Rams healthy? That's, Dallas doesn't want that. No, nobody wants the Rams right now.

The Eagles don't want the Rams. right now. Nobody wants the Rams right now, but if you look at it, let's start in the AFC, Colts at Dolphins, you guess the line, I'll give you what I, what I had. I think it's seven. I had it at six. Okay. Okay, we're parking our car in the same garage here. We got Bengals at Chiefs. What say you? Six. I got four and a half. I guess I'm betting the Bengals. And then we got Browns at Jags. Jags minus one? I have Jags minus two. Okay.

I got Jags minus two. And then we've got Cowboys hosting the Rams. Now, if you look at the first time they played, it was an absolute massacre. The line was six, I think. What do you think the second time around if the Rams get in? I could see six. Yeah, I was going to say four. Okay.

And I guess I'm betting the Rams, okay? So Lions hosting the Vikings, I think it's four as well in this game. Oh, I think it's more. Do you think it's more if it's in Detroit? Yeah, I'd go four. five. You just got to consider if the Vikings get in, I think that means that Nick Mullins looks like he looked a lot of the game.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to. I was just, you know what? It's funny you said that because I was just trying to do that with Jake Browning. If they get in. If they get in, he's going to be, he's going to be Josh Dobbs of three weeks ago.

They will have beaten the lions probably if you get it in. If they get in, they'll probably have to beat the lions. Yeah, like so that would be, that would be a tough. And because, you know what,

play a team twice in three weeks. So, you know, so let's go Bucks hosting the Eagles. This is an interesting one to me. If you asked before last night, people might say, you know, it's five and a half, like it was the first time they went down there this year. Wow, that's right. Six. I think it'd be three today.

Okay. And I bet the Eagles. And I'd bet the Eagles. And we are where we are. I would bet the Eagles. Yeah. Now, now here's what's so interesting to me. I mean,

the bills are the elephant in the room, right? Are they going to get in? How are they going to get in? Because they can go two and one. Chances are if they go two and one. I think they're going to win division. I think they went out and they host a playoff game. And could you imagine if we had, you know, some variation of this,

but the bills hosting a playoff game, you know, possibly hosting the bangles or something like that, the Texans getting in because I'd like to see the Texans in, if the Texans go two and one, I think they're in. It's all going to come down to that Colts game anyways last week of the season. But could you imagine the Texans going to Kansas City? That'd be great. And that would leave probably the Browns or the Dolphins. And it'd probably be the Dolphins.

And maybe the Browns leaf frock the Texans anyways by way of the dolphins getting knocked out, knocking a wild card team off the board. But I want to see the Browns in the playoffs so bad. Me too. There's too many teams in the AFC. that I really want to see in the playoffs. I mean, I really want to see Browning in the playoffs. I really want to see the Browns in the playoffs.

I really want to see the Texas in the playoffs. And I know the dolphins are getting in the playoffs. Even if they lose out, they're going to get in the playoffs. So one of those teams is going to lose the game of musical chairs. And I don't know who you'd actually not mind. I mean, I want to see CJ Stroud in the playoffs. But do I want to see that more than I want to see Joe Flacco and the Browns in the playoffs? No.

I think the Bengals might be the opposite. I'm always new fresh blood too. But it's more about the Browns with me, not flacco. Like I said, that defense I've thought, I mean, I think we talked week two or week three about what I saw from them. I'm just like, wow, this is, this is sustainable. And now obviously they lose Chubb and quarterback situation with what it was. But those guys, the way they're playing and what they bring to the table every week, I think they deserve to be in. Now they got to go do it.

I feel like Houston's a little too fast. Yeah, you think it's too fast. And they stole that one last weekend. If they were at full strength, I honestly think if they were at full strength, they had Tank Dell. I think they could win a playoff game in the playoffs, at least one.

I think CJ is that good, and I like this team enough, but the injuries they've had, they're going to be tough. Now, a little preview into the locks, which are coming up next, I like their chances this week. can. So do I.

Good to know. I do. While we're on this, I'm just thinking about who, who's the first team that would go to San Francisco. As of right now, Matt, who would go to San Fran? It'd be the worst winner. If all the favorites won. If all the favorites won, it would be Philly. It would be Philly. Wow. Yeah, but it would be Dallas because Philly's going to win out. If Philly and Dallas both go three and O'clock, listen, I couldn't.

I couldn't give them out because I don't give out other teams when the Eagles play. Like if you'll notice when the San Francisco 49ers played the Eagles, if you asked in this building, I was like, yeah, San Francisco. And went on the show, I just didn't pick it. I was like, I'm not prepared to pick this game. Got it. And, you know, Dallas, a little bit of a hedge for me. But last night was a game I didn't feel great about for the Eagles.

And the next couple, I feel like they can win those, even with the problems they have. and if it stays the way it stays, the Eagles are going to take the NFCs, as I understand it. So, you know, it might be Dallas going to San Francisco, you know, and it might be the Eagles headed to Detroit or vice versa. And they're going to have to go to Tampa the week before,

or whoever the NFC South is. Yeah, so pretty interesting. A lot riding on that thing, because I said this on the show the other day, the reason that Bucks wins so important is, you know, if you want anybody, to win the division from the NFC South, and you're one of the Cowboys and the Eagles.

You probably, the last team you want to win the division would be the Bucks. Because those guys have been there. Quarterback hasn't, but he's been around, and Canal's doing a good job, and they got the run game going. The Saints, tough place to play, but I just don't know who they are in the Falcons.

You'd love it if they won the NFC South. They can't get out of their own way. No doubt. Can you, hey, I would say this again. Can you believe Arthur Smith, man? Like, here's my problem, and it's encapsulated perfectly in this sequence. Bejan Robinson, your best chance to win that game in any game you play in. He fumbles, it's a bad fumble, you yank him.

You can't really run the ball on the few possessions you have left. It leads to a second and long, and that's where Ritter goes hero ball in the red zone, where all you need to do is be a game manager. The irony for me is you took Bijon Robinson out of the game because he's not taking care of the football. And the guy that you've defended all year long, even giving Heineke the hook when you put him in is Desmond Ritter. And Desmond Ritter is a turnover machine. And he's cost you multiple games by not taking care of the football, but you take the best player on the offense out. And earlier in the game, at third and seven, at midfielder and plus territories, a seven three game.

under center and hand the ball to be John Robinson because you don't trust your quarterback so I don't know what the fuck they're doing down there yeah it's and now I just saw the Heinekees coming back I like that yeah I think you have to you talked about the confidence thing like that's basically right there um the aftermath of it you know speaking of confidence. I'm not that confident in my locks. We're all winners so far this year. 22, 21 and 2. Bringing up the rear here. I had a bad weekend. Making 25 and 20 and Steve 25, 19 and 1. I got a little ground

to make up with, I can't remember if we do these things through the playoffs usually. Weren't we doing these or no. We just do one. You know what? Next year, you're not going to like what I have to say. Oh, boy. Next year we should pick every game, week. All right. Because I, you know, like my problem right now is not picking winners. It's going to be a long video for those guys to clip.

Yeah, it is. But, you know, they're good at this stuff. I think then it goes to a graphic, you know? There you go. But right now, you know, last weekend, just to take you through it, I had the bills. That was, that was great. I had the Falcons, Desmond Ritter, as you can already tell, not very popular with me. I knew it's like the Kedarius.

thing for me. You know, I'm Patrick Mahomes on the bench. I keep giving you these chances, Desmond. I cannot believe I gave him out a lock. All week I read about how it was a sucker bat, and it turned out to be because Desmond can't ice the game or the cover. I had the Vikings Bengals under 39. That one got away from me late. Macon took the Lions minus five. That was a no-brainer. Jags plus three and a half. And then the Browns minus two and a half, bought the half point. okay uh i had in real life bears plus three and that ball when it hit mooney's chest and then five minutes later after i caught my breath i asked what did these guys have in the locks because i know somebody was on the browns and somebody was on the bears and both you motherfuckers won because you both you both bought

half points and it landed on three yep so steve had the bears he had the rams was a good play i like that one in real life too and then Saints minus six. My favorite pick of the year. Wow. What did you see? There's no cutlets in New Orleans. It was that simple. That thing was done.

We've got the locks this week, the suggestions. So I'm up first and without batting and I, I'm going to take the Dallas Cowboys. This is a tailor-made bounce-back spot for a team, in my opinion, that people don't understand. Okay, people think they're frauds. It all depends on who you play.

Can you run the ball up the middle of the defense? Can you pound the middle of the defense? I don't think that's what Miami is going to be able to do. They're going to get out on the edges, right? And I actually think if you have special guys on the edge, which they do, you can make life hell for Miami running that wide zone action. And everything that comes off of it, the pass rush. Like, I really feel good about the pass rush in the situation.

and the reason I think that, you know, like Tennessee is able to beat Miami because their pressure rates 44%. And, you know, we talked about that whenever there's pressure on tour. I think this is a weekend where you get it. And everybody's like the dolphins are back

or they're, yeah, they're back. They're back to being what they beat the dog shit out of bad teams. And we'll see this weekend. But I like the Cowboys. Two things. Dolphins are in trouble health-wise. Yes. Like that roster is depleted

And please dolphins wear the white uniform So the Cowboys have to wear the Navy Blue Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But right now it's solid. This thing opened, I think it opened with the Cowboys' Favor by one another, one and a half. Steve, a little friendly advice for me Would you just wait to bet this

until it goes to three when Cheetah is announced? Yes. Okay. So don't bet it now. It's not going to go the other way. It's just going to keep going that way. I can't see it going the other way. I guess the only way it goes the other way is if Cheetah's down.

Correct. They got all the Miami money and it's only going to keep going that way. You're right. And guess what? If they don't play, if Cheetah doesn't play, I bet the Cowboys at minus four. That's what I'm saying. I got you. You know what I'm saying is, you know, I should just wait.

You know? Yes. Just wait. Okay, I'm going to sit on my hands for a little bit. Steve. I am Macon's proxy. You're Macon's proxy. Matt's because Macon's got a stomach bug.

like half of the city yeah again yeah making takes rams minus four it's a great play i'm already on the rams in real life i love i love that i love the fact that i got i hate the fact that i got a route for macken's lock but yeah here we go thursday night he's trying to get out ahead because steve i had the over last night i had it for a week as soon as i heard sleigh was down i thought i beat the books to it and i thought i had you know trick dick the books but the books had trick-dick me and that That number went from 47 down to 45 and with good reason. Just on principle. Give me the under and commanders jets.

I think you might get hurt there, Steve. It happens. I just, I have to take that. Okay. 37 and a half. Okay, I'm up. I like the Texans. I like the Texans.

Yeah, you should have picked them first. You're not, you're like Trevor Lawrence right now. You're not remembering five minutes ago in the game. Nope. Uh, I, Macon's going to be mad too. Well, fuck Macon. I,

I like the Texans. I love the Texans of the spot because C.J. Stroud's going to come back. And the Browns are different on the road. They are different on the road. And I like the Texans here. Oh, you know what? They played there last year and I was one of the Sean's first games back.

He was awful. That's what I remember. His game back there last year. Yep. I was like, I remember this game. Uh, Macon's up. Jaguars plus one. that's a good play. I like it.

Wow, I see minus one places. Yeah, it was a pick-um this morning, and then I got plus one. Well, Trevor's in concussion protocol as of right now, and now I'm in two impossible situations because I bought the Jags over 10 and a half a few weeks ago. I didn't know they play like this, obviously. Now I got a route for the Jags to win,

Macon's locked to hit, and the Rams to win, and Macon's locked hit. Fuck me running. Okay. This team has come near and dear to my heart And I really feel for them But they've been good to me against the spread Give me the Bears minus four and a half

I think they bludgeon them I agree with you I think they do I love Flus Yeah He should give his jobs Give me to Flus. You think Flus should keep his job Yes Just find a new coordinator

Correct exactly And figure out the quarterback Yeah I don't think there's much to figure out there. What are you doing at this juncture? I'm drafting two quarterbacks. And then letting them go through training camp,

keeping the best one and trading the other two. It's actually a great idea. Yeah, I guess until your second quarterback's like... It's a hell of a training camp. You want Davis Mills. Sign them up for hard knocks. All right. So I guess it's my pick here.

And I'm just going to do it, man. I think everybody's going to be on the Ravens. I'm on the Niners. That's a lot of points, but I think they're a class above everybody else. And I think the Ravens, some of the things that I'm worried about with the Ravens are going to come to fruition in this game. I'll take the Niners. What are you getting to Niners? Five and a half right now?

Okay, that's a funky number. Yeah. They have six first round draft picks in that front group. Crazy. Yeah. That's. Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable.

All right. Macon's last pick. Chargers plus 11. And that's the sharp play this week. So I might, why is that? You know, that's how he picks? He just finds out who's, you know, he takes the, he, he fades the public. He looks up where the public is and he fades the public.

And he says, I have a formula. So why is the, why is, why are the charges the sharp play this week? Because everybody's taking Buffalo. I know. They're just going against the public. I know, but why? Like, why did we all agree that we knew everybody would be taking Buffalo? But there's enough people that are willing to look at what Easton Stick did last week.

Like, how many points are you assuming they score, I guess, is my question. When you do the math that way, I don't know, 14, then it's just Josh Allen against the ghost of Brandon Staley. Yeah. Which might be better than Brandon Staley. And maybe that's the problem. So Levis got the high ankle. I don't think he's going to be able to go. So that means we get...

Huh? I don't think he's going. Yeah. So we got Tannahill, right? Yeah, I think it's either Tannahill. It's got to be Tannahill. I don't see for Aves putting Malik Willis out there. Maybe situationally.

Gee. Had that workout last time. Yeah. I'm going to take the over in the Packers and Panthers game. Wow. 36 and a half. Low number. It is a low number.

You got Joe Barry out there. everybody's favorite guy you know uh you never know what happens and then going through some of these other games to see what what we're eyeing up outside point oh i'll take my half point yeah fuck yeah i'll take that somewhere i'll take mackens on the jaguars where you want on chris i'm gonna take it with the ooh that's tough either the texans or the nineers because i'm not worried about the cowboys catching points um niners minus five i feel like more games ended too sure than five. So I'll take,

I'll take Texans minus two. Put mine on the Bears, please. Gotcha. He said please and everything. Um, all right. So if we're looking to the slate,

uh, Browns, interesting slate. I, it really is. If you're sitting there watching the one PMs, how you got your TV set up this week? How many TVs do I have?

You got like four. Okay. One of them's big. The other three are small. Okay. Um, The big is Texans Browns. Yeah, that's the big TV for me, too.

I have to put Commander's Jets on just to see it. I'm not putting it on. Come on. I'm going Lions, Vikings. Yes. Okay? Because I got the Vikings underwin total, which is miraculously. You would rather have Colts and your Falcons than Commander's Jets.

Yes, because honestly, I'm probably going to bet that Colts game. I'm probably going to bet the Falcons come this weekend. Falcons. Wow. Because Taylor Heineke. I'm a fan boy. And then I'm going to want the Seahawks and Titans on. I just feel like that's a game I want to see.

Okay. Steve, I'm wishing you luck this week. I really hope you win the locks. If it's not me, I just hope it's a good, solid guy. And so I'm rooting for you. I'm rooting for you too. Screw that other guy. He probably didn't have a hat to put on.

That's why he didn't come in. Yeah, he just didn't have a hat. He couldn't go two straight weeks with no hat on the pod. Hey, Steve. Shout out to the branch, bro. Shout out to the branch. Happy holidays to all the boys and girls. Behind the scenes.

And happy holidays. Happy holidays to Hendon Hooker, who just got called up to the 53. Wow. That's a Christmas present. Mm-hmm. All right. For him.

Talk to you soon, Steve. Bye, bud.