NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2019 Divisional Round Recap

Episode Date: January 14, 2019

In a room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling – react to an exceptional Divisional Round, including – WHO DAT advancing to the NFC Championship? Brees and the Saints overcame a 14-point deficit to edge the Eagles, but will it be NOLA’s defense guiding them to the promised land (3:15)? Sony Michel’s hat trick trashed the Chargers’ Super Bowl aspirations, and is Philip Rivers HOF-worthy (16:00)? The Rams ridiculous rushing performance was enough to send the ‘Boys packing (28:25), and Mahomes waves goodbye to Kansas City’s old playoff ghosts (41:00)!Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Divisional round of football in the books. And yes, a bit of an underwhelming weekend, given the way the games looked on paper, entering the weekend.

But, Mark, last year, we had. We had the Minneapolis Miracle this weekend. We had the double 40 burger shootout with the Jags and the Steelers. We even had that great. It was a low-scoring game. Who was it? It was Philadelphia beating Atlanta in that tense defensive effort. We didn't have that much drama.

But at the end of the day, heading into championship weekend, we get a double one-two-seed showdown, which is something to look forward to. I always felt growing up. My dog, Mark with a C. Hello? I always felt growing up that when you had the bad day. divisional round. There were a lot of seasons where that was because better teams were taking care of business, and we have home teams winning the way they should handily. That leads to a better title game weekend, which is even though everyone gushes over wildcard weekend and gushes over

the divisional weekend, if the AFC and NFC title games suck, that's a big letdown. I would rather that those two games be the most memorable of all. Well, you got the Saints and number one seed, best team in the league in the regular season being down 14 nothing at home that was certainly a good game but it is somehow fitting that like in the year where going into the playoffs the conventional wisdom was well this is a year that any team could win that the old wild card weekend team feels like it's time for them to make it through all these 12 teams or even that all the home teams win pretty easy and in a year where like the defenses were coming back to you kind of taking over in December that the highest scoring teams all four of them in the regular season

are the last four teams sitting. Do we have to readjust the Mike Francesa Kinnard about Thanksgiving as the start of the season? We thought we had a read on all these teams for the first three months. That's a good point. And then December comes, they all kind of hit their slumps

and we disregard them. Just resets again. Yeah. Well, now it's like, hey, Francesca, by the way. Oh, thank you. Francesa, the season starts in January. I mean, his season, it feels like hasn't been starting for a while. Greg had to get the Francesa shot in.

Why you got to get the Frances shot in there? I mean, there's like an A-bomb on the longtime broadcast. There's like in entire Twitter accounts devoted to just saying, like pointing out the insane things that he says every week. You could be better than them, Greg. That could have, that was your, this was your stage and you just decided. There are Twitter accounts that voted to you and stuff that you say. You're not that far away from the same thing. What is there are?

What is it? What was the old Batman or the Batman line? It's either you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. That's where Mike is in his career. That's where the Patriots are. All right. They've been the villain for a long time, and you're absolutely right.

That is the one thing that hasn't changed from one year to another. The worst game of the week involved the Patriots blowing out and overwhelmed the opponent in New England. But you've got to play your schedule. Unless you're from Massachusetts. Let's get to the games.

And like we did last week, we'll go in a reverse order starting with the late game on Sunday, which was played in a Raucus. You pronounce that Raucus, huh? Rock us. Thank you. Super Dome.

Snap gets off before the two-minute warning, bowls in the pocket, throws. And the ball's intercepted. Go to the hands of Jeffries. Marchon Lattimore. Yes. Marshawn Lattimore with his second interception of the game, returns it to the 34th.

And better than any time this season, Saints, go take a photograph. Zach Streep. with the call for WWL with Nick Foles and the Eagles driving and the game hanging in the balance Marshawn Latimer picked off BDN on a pass that went right through the hands

of Alshan Jeffrey, bless his heart. It was the deciding play in the Saints its 2014 win over the Eagles. The Saints will host the Rams next week for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl 53. Greg Rosenthal, this game could not have started any worse for the Saints

falling down 14-0. thing, but their defense took control of the game, seized it really, and then the offense did it up. This is the first defense, the only defense of the Sean Payton era that would have allowed their offense to come back in this game. The fact that they allowed under 100 yards in the last three quarters, that a game so one-sided in the first quarter, when you look at the final stats in this game, ends up being totally one-sided the other way. And the Saints weren't perfect on offense. Even in the final three quarters, they had a few mistakes here and there, but their defense was so solid, they kept coming.

And I just think after this game, you can almost picture if the Saints are to win the Super Bowl. You can just picture those post-game press conference saying that first quarter of the Eagles game like that or the second quarter, like that's where we learned what we were made of to be down 14-0 against the defending champions. And for every side of the ball,

defense, offense, to just stand up and get it done, like that's something you can build on. Wes is shaking his head. You've been doing this too long when you're already worried about what they're going to say at the rise? Does it, you know what I mean, though? Like, it is a gut. I mean, it's a cliche, but it is a gut check game.

It is like kind of a championship, impressive level performance to be able to bounce back from a situation like that. I'm with you. And in between two Marshawn Lattimore picks that really changed this game, the Eagles went to sleep with four, five straight punts on five straight possessions.

And, you know, there was reason I thought to come into this game a little concerned about the Saints defense after it was none other than Kyle Allen, the backup panthers quarterback who downstairs in the newsroom, Greg, searching for his name, called him Johnny Appleseed, took the Saints apart in week 17, just in a mysterious way. And then you got the first two drives from the Eagles, and you thought their magic is continuing. The Saints are in hot water here, but then it's almost like the Eagles were a tank of gas that just ran out. And they went completely to bed after that second touchdown. Foles the interception was huge.

I mean, there's a lot of big plays, but you're up 14-9. you're at midfield and Foles has thrown about one of these a week where it's like he's feeling himself and he's just going for it and he threw kind of an unforced error interception and that to me they were going in for a three score lead potentially helped change the game that was a turning point in the game another turning point in the game there were two calls this weekend that I absolutely loved from an onion standpoint and we'll get to the other one of later it happened last night at the Coliseum here in L.A. but the call for me was 14-0-0 and the Saints are desperate to get something going. They're at their own 30-yard line at a fourth-in-one. And Peyton, you know, Sean Peyton is a guy that's not afraid to do anything. He'll get wacky. He can get wacky. On third-in-one, it's a penalty, a hold on Ryan Ramchick.

And they decline it, the Eagles do because they say, oh, they're going to punt it away. And Sean Payton goes, no. He asked whether they should decline it. Right. And I thought that it was the right move to decline. line, but then you also have to remember who the opposing head coach is. And Sean Payton, no hesitation, called for the fake, got the conversion, and then they scored their first touchdown, and it was the first of 20 straight points to win the game.

I loved that call in that spot, but it was undeniably risky. If they do not convert that, they are down 14 points with Nick Falls coming on in the field first and 10 from the 30. Well, in that following up on that punt, that fake punt, which Dan called in the newsroom before it happened, was the touchdown pass that went to. Kirkwood was also on fourth down. They didn't, again, it's the ultra-aggressiveness, the trust in the offense. These are two great coaches, and Sean Payton never took the foot off the gas after that series.

It brought the crowd back in. And, you know, that first play of the game, the interception by Crivan LeBlanc took the crowd out of it, defrake the stadium. And then it wasn't until the middle of the second quarter where you started to see some false starts, wasted timeouts by the Eagles. You started to see the mistakes because the noise was a factor. and then come in at a halftime that 12-minute 18-play drive in which we saw Taysam Hill come in

and throw the best deep ball of the game, hitting Alvin Kamara in stride only to have it nullified by penalty. And then, you know, if there's one thing Drew Brees did really well in this game, it was picking up second and 20s. Oh, yeah. Heard and crazy, you know, these long downs that he had to pick up because he really was jittery to start and made some mistakes.

And his deep ball wasn't great today either. There were some ducks. Cost him two touch things. Yeah. 18 plays 92 yards, 1129 is what Wes is referring to. Nine first down. It was actually 112 yards because they overcame two first and 20. Right.

I mean, that was a major, major drive by a team that I think the Saints are the best team in the NFC. But when you fall behind 14 nothing, the game could go sideways. I think there's a lot that you learned about New Orleans today. And it informs me going forward about who. who I picked to win next week and the two weeks after that because I think this was like you were saying, I don't know who said it now. But when they, oh, on the riser.

You were obsessed with the riser, Greg. This will be a memorable moment in their season, I think that we'll remember. Yeah, because they're a complete team. I mean, it's not all Breeze. And Breeze and Michael Thomas. Breeze didn't even play that well today. He didn't.

He hit a lot of key throws. And he kind of ultimately, if you just watch. Michael Thomas made huge play. Right. I think he carried the quarterback, not the other way around. I think that's totally fair. To put 12 catches, 171 yards, he doesn't fit the mold of what you think of as the top, you know, two or three receiver in the NFL.

You know, he's not T.O. or Randy Moss or Antonio Brown. He's maybe more like a mid-career, Larry Fitzgerald, but he is a... That's not a bad thing to be. He's just like DeAndre Hopkins. Right. But I don't even think he has that the same vertical ability as Hopkins. But what he can do is put his team on his back. He's done it quite a bit.

And what helps is when he'll score three touchdowns in the Super Bowl and suddenly everyone's, you know, wife, mother, son, father, uncle will know who he is. And he's relatively anonymous for how powerful and amazing of an athlete he is. With all that said, the Saints, you know, got some breaks. You know, Foles, that first of all, the Jeffrey drop, you know, they're going in right there. They have a chance to take the lead. And that was basically just a mistake by Jeffrey dropping. It turns into an interception.

Foles missed throws in this game, more throws than he has in any start that he's made. down the stretch, not just the interception, but a few third downs where he just missed the throw, where they picked up the blitz pretty well, and it's going to happen. He's not a perfect human or a perfect quarterback, but he's played closer to one lately, and he missed some throws. And he did miss throws, but what really bums me out about the game and why, ultimately, I think this could have been a more exciting game, even though it was much better than the other three games this weekend, is I wanted to see how this was really going to play out.

and instead, Alshan Jeffrey, who's a very nice wide receiver. I mean, any team would love to have Alshan Jeffrey. They wouldn't be in this position without the way he's played. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But that is a drop that will stick with him, and he'll live with that for the rest of his career because that was a spot.

He put it right on his hands and shot through the hands and right to Lattimore, who's right place, right time. I'd love to know where that happened exactly on the field, but we're talking first and 10 inside the 20, yeah. And we'll never know. I would have loved to see Nick Falls one last chance defending the title, but the Eagles didn't execute in this state. I was confident all along.

The Saints might not pull this off. What's above your head right there? Look up. Oh, a lock. Mark's closing in on the title. What is above his head? I don't see that either. I don't get the rough.

I don't know. I was just like he's going to look up and there's a lock. We'll put that in there in post. It sounds like. No, it was there. There was some nervous moments, by the way. Very nervous moments because Mark switched out of his Rams lock. He showed up at L.A. Live at approximately 7.30 a.m.

before the Rams game and saw Cowboys fans milling around and it was raining. And he jumped off the Rams pick and then had to live with the drama that lasted 14-0. He took a walk at one point. He came back and your Saints didn't let you down. And we're all thankful for it. I had this bizarre, like, semi-awake dream that the Saints and Cowboys were going to be in the NFC title game. I got jittery about the Rams, switch to the Saints, which felt maybe almost too safe.

And after watching the Rams coast over the Cowboys, I thought that was a lost opportunity big time. I could sense that in the press box with you, too, that you were living with that regret. I could sense it during a penalty called on the Saints in the fourth quarter, I believe, when you be like, come on with this BS, always with this BS. Mark needed this.

Mark, you need this trophy. It's the most into a game I've seen you. Brown's games included. Yeah, I mean, I should. That's games he doesn't speak. I shouldn't put value on what I often kill you guys are playing parlor games. This is less important than someone's fantasy team. This is no game for you.

I don't know why I'm wrapped up. The gods were with you, though. The injuries kept hitting the, it's like every other minute a new eagle got injured and then Jeffrey's dropping it. It was on your side. Have you given any thought to your strategy going forward in the lock game? Because you can try to block me out from like the Saints at home next week. Well, we have time to talk about this.

I mean, I, there's a lot of strategy to it. I probably overthrothed all of it. Fletcher Cox suffered a foot injury. He was in and out of the lineup. They lost a key part of their offensive line. Jason Peters was out at the end. Jason Peters. Brandon Books suffered a serious injury.

So it just seemed like the magic was starting to wear off for Philly. But then you had the missed field goal by Lutz. And you thought, ooh, maybe this is their last shot. Maybe they still have the magic, but ultimately the defense of the time. title comes to an end for the Eagles. But it was a great run. Nick Foles will probably, in all likelihood, move on from the Eagles. But he is, even with the loss today, and the interception that sealed the deal, a legend in that town.

What was your take? And I agree. And it was tough. That was a tough one to explain to my seven-year-old daughter why Nick Foles won't be on the team next year. Like, that's a concept that's really tough for her to figure out. Well, I want to know your take, Dan, that. Please don't tell me you try to talk contract with your seven years. Let or enjoy the game of football.

She was asking because she was saying, is he guaranteed to play the rest of the playoffs? Honey, it's a lot of dead cap money. I said, yeah, pretty much. And she was saying, like, so he'll be their quarterback next year, right? They'll keep him, right? Because he's playing so on. And then I was trying to. She's using the word guarantee.

I like that. What were you going to say? I wanted to ask Dan what he thought of the saints turning their locker room, going next level with their celebrations by turning it into kind of a nightclub. Oh, I love it. And they were playing meekmill too, so they were really trying to stick it in the Well, we were in the locker room last year after the Super Bowl dreams and nightmares was the signature song of the Eagle Super Bowl run.

So the Saints thrown salt on the wound there playing that song. They also got the case with the Super Bowl trophy and $200,000 and rings. Sean Payton may be going crazy. He's like making his post-game speech with a strobe light going around. They have some characters on that team. I'm not surprised. They're in the right city for that too. So anyway, there you go.

The Saints move on. Any final thoughts or shall we? head to the early game on Sunday. I don't really want to. I know you want to put this off as long as possible. But a total pro. I've been dealing with this for years and years. I can handle a divisional playoff game to Foxborough.

Michelle, the eye devil and counter handoff. Michelle right to the 10, hang wing right to the five, to the pipeline. Diving. Touchdown. Patriots. What a run. Two very workman-like, executed, perfectly. hype drives to start the football game for the New England Patriots.

Bob Sochi, Scott Zolak Patriots Radio Network, yes, they started fast and never let up. Sony Michelle ran for a hundred, twenty-nine yards, three scores, and the Pats rolled over the Chargers, 41-28. New England will face the Chiefs in next week's AFC title game. It is New England's eighth straight trip to the championship game in the AFC, and 13th overall in the Brady Belichick era, which is, I even have to say, impressive, vaguely. Mark, the final score doesn't tell the story here.

The Patriots played a nearly perfect game. And the Chargers, they just pulled a total no-show. It was the recipe for another January blowout at Foxborough. I know there's a lot of Patriots hate out there. And at this point, almost, it's going to take for all of this in New England to finally wash away, maybe it's years from now, to appreciate some of these Patriots games. But they became the first team since the 2003 cults in the playoffs

who knocked off a Jake Plummer-led Broncos team to open a game with four straight touchdowns and their first drive. This was another one of these games, and it reminds me of the Colts Texans game from a week ago where we were sitting around and you knew this thing was curtains, 10 minutes in. Total curtains.

They opened with a 14 play, masterful drive that was their longest of the longest opening drive in the Bill Belichick error, seven minutes and 11 seconds. Total domination that showed you what was to come. It was James White with little screens, sometimes from a wide receiver position. 15 catches.

15 catches on the day. He had six in the first couple minutes of the game. You could tell right away that Sony Michelle was blocked well. The charges were dominated on both sides. the line. They could not get to Tom Brady and Tom Brady for the second game in a row played a very clean, very intriguing game that leaves me concerned about Kansas City next week if they cannot get to Brady. Isn't it the story of the Patriots every playoff run? The years where they get knocked out is when the opponent shows up and can rush Brady. And we thought what we had here was a

great recipe for us being most of America that wants to see the Patriots go away with Ingram, with Bosa. And we just, we didn't see. any pressure on Tom Brady for the majority or all of this game. They were erased. And one thing on, if the crowd played a huge element in that Saints game, I think that the Chargers looked cold. They looked unhappy. And it wasn't long into the game that you were starting to get those long sideline shots

of Philip Rivers just standing there watching Tom Brady drop kick father time into another dimension. It's another week we're going to have to wait to write him off. Tom Brady. He looked great today. Well, claiming a player as well, washed up is always tricky business because you just don't have any knowledge or data to back that up. All you're going on is by what you see.

And when Ian Rappaport reports that Brady had been playing through an MCL sprain or tear, that would explain maybe why he didn't want to take a hit, why he wasn't doing well with pressure in the pocket. But it doesn't explain why all of his throws were losing momentum at the end of the... I was going to say, not to be, you know, the guy that always shoots down Brady or whatever, but did he I mean did he play a tremendous game today or did he all I would say execute what was laid out in front of him because executed at a very high level executed and that's what that's what he's always done right it's the stuff but I mean the challenge it wasn't the highest level of challenge the Chargers did not show up today right but that's like him and McDaniels as a combination winning before the snap it identifying the matchups kind of looking up on receivers that's been his game all along I mean that was his game in the Super Bowl last year when he threw for 500 plus yards too and played great. That's kind of who he was.

And McDaniels deserves a lot of credit along with Brady for really just putting it on Gus Bradley. I mean, talk about a fall from grace. Gus Bradley was getting so much love last week. And this is just a zone defense where they kind of knew what was coming. The first couple third downs of the game, they were just wide open. I thought that was like a great sign that he was getting these easy third down throws. And the thing that the Patriots and Brady and McDaniels all do well is they mix it up so well drive to drive. So one drive was really pass-heavy.

Then they went with the power, and the dime defense was suddenly out for the chargers again, and they ran it down their throats with Gronk and with Dwayne Allen, with James Devlin, and then they mixed it up again, and they were never the same. Sometimes they were using tempo, sometimes they're not. They're never the same thing. Forget about halftime adjustments.

They're making adjustments every other drive, and you're right. It made it look. The two AFC games were as one-sided as you would expect, like the Raiders to be if they were a road team playing the championship. Chiefs or the Patriots. One of my biggest takeaways was how incredibly out-coached the charges were, which shouldn't be a total surprise.

Bill Belichick's on one side, and he has a bi-week to prepare. But you just could tell from the minute this game started, that the Patriots had a game plan, and they executed it, and the Chargers had no answer. But to Greg's point, they had 23 first downs when the Chargers had 23 total plays. And the one thing that the Patriots are so flexible, you essentially cannot count. on Grunk taking over the game as a pass catcher. I get that now he's the greatest blocker on Earth. That's fine.

But you also don't have Josh Gordon. And they did not really miss either today in the sense that they find a way to flexibly rejigger their offense where on the Chargers side, Melvin Gordon is obviously not healthy and wound up with about 15 yards on the ground. They came up with no alternative solution on offense to mystify the Patriots. None. Well, the Patriots were very physical and creative on defense, too. Brian Flores has been like that since the bye week.

And I thought it was really telling. This game, I don't think, came out of nowhere for the Patriots in the sense that when they beat the bills in week 16, Belichick was as happy as he was all season. And all he talked about was all we talked about all week was being more physical than the other team, which seems like kind of a coaching cliche. But they did it against the bills. They did it against the Jets. They did it against the chargers.

We're on both sides of the ball. They really dominated pretty well up front. They didn't quite dominate against the bills on the. the offensive line. They certainly did that today where the defense is trusting the secondary for the most part. They're getting very creative with what they're doing up front and they're causing all sorts of problems for that Chargers offensive line. Well, it didn't come out of left field in the sense that the Chargers have been a bad offense for two months. They've been a bad, bad offense for two months. And the talk about them being a complete team was just never true. Edelman looks different

than he did early in the season. I think he's healthier. I think the by week certainly must have helped Tom Brady. The injury supposedly dates back to week 11 in that when they tried to run that Philly special that he tripped himself up on. And I think the week off, helped them all. What did they run? I mean, it occurred. We're trying to correct.

It was the Philly ordinary. Yeah. Well, that comes on a day when there was a helmet catch in the Saints game. And Emmanuel Sanders, who was on NFL Network, had a whole purpose. promo about a helmet catch he made at one point. So, you know, helmet ordinary. Sit on that. That was Wes's lock, by the way.

And Tamposies. Oh, yeah. Oh, Erica's hot. And, and unfortunately. I'll eat it. I got to get it. But you know what? I rooted for it.

I would have never made this lock if I was really in hardcore contention for the lockup. I decided to follow my heart and just go all in. But I felt pretty strongly that the Patriots had a real chance. not only to win this game, I always thought they were going to get back to the title game. Do I think I'm going to get to the Super Bowl? They could.

You have to admit, though, in a season where, you know, there's been a couple times this season where you're like, yeah, we know they might get back, but these aren't the same old Patriots. You have to admit that this is different, that here on divisional round weekend, they are breaking new ground. They are putting up as good at,

even if this is all there is, like a divisional round home playoff win is not something to be taken for granted. Some teams don't do that for a decade. And they looked as any good as any team this entire week. This was as good a half, at least, as they've had statistically or anything else since they beat the doors off Tim Tebow in 2011. That was the only half that was anywhere similar to that. The demise of the Patriots.

Against a good defense. The demise of the Patriots was always overblown this season. Like I've said this on this podcast that I, people have really, even Patriots fans, you've heard Patriots fans going nuts this year about how this year feels different. Something's wrong. But this team has never been that bad. Tom Brady's never been that bad. So this shouldn't be a shocking outcome today. There was more compelling evidence, but then that evidence vanished today.

For much of the season, they were maybe the fifth best team in the league instead of the second or third or fifth or sixth. I did see, though, that your negative energy in this game, Dan, kind of turned towards Philip Rivers, which I thought was unfair. Well, let's just, let's be fair because Teflon Phil never gets any heat. And you'll notice we've done an entire breakdown of this game without even mentioning you up for. Yeah, without even mentioning his name because whenever things go wrong for the charges, it's never on Phil Rivers. When things go bad for the Giants, for instance, it's all on EY. But that's, I mean, it is what it is. I'm not here to get into that conversation.

But I will tell you, O and 7 against Tom Brady in his career, he is now 37 years old. He's not getting closer to the Super Bowl. In fact, he's taking seven teams of the playoffs and never gotten to a Super Bowl game once. You could say he's a Hall of Fame or fine. He's putting up great stats and he's had a fine career. But that's the way the sport is, West. You get judged by what you do in January. your Super Bowl glories.

And Phil Rivers just does not have it. It's a huge gaping black mark on his resume to me. That's fine. I'm never going to choose like a handful of playoff games over 15 years and 220 games of excellence. Well, that's right. I'm going to judge a point. That's not what you have to do, though.

But you can't ignore what he's done. You can use your Hall of Fame criteria and I'll use mine. No, I'm saying Phil Rivers is a Hall of Famer, but you cannot ignore that he just hasn't gotten it done. It reminds me a little bit of Dan Marino, who did get to a Super Bowl right away. and then never got back. And growing up, always hearing about Damarito being the best quarterback,

even over many thought over Joe Montana. For me, as a fan, I would much rather have the quarterback that won multiple Super Bowels. I get the whole quarterback wins thing, please. But there is something magical about it. This was a good example, because Rivers didn't play well at the end of the season. So there's not much to defend. Although I don't think this game, the first half, was really on him. He was fine in the first half.

And then he just started throwing up prayers. This game was typical a lot of the Chargers era though Absolutely no running game Absolutely no help from the defense Absolutely no offensive line And you can say that's Teflon Phil That's making excuse for him But it just is true if you watch this game

Like if you put if you switch teams Tom Brady would have no chance to win this game That's just I'm not even a Phil Rivers fan I don't care if he gets in the Hall of Fame or not But I just think you don't ignore what a guy's done over 15 years Well I'm saying you don't ignore anything You look at the entire picture Absolutely yeah

And this, and I, today is, the team didn't show up to play. The offensive line didn't show up. The defense certainly didn't show up. The coaches. But the coaches did not, were not competitive with the Patriots coaches. So I don't put this loss on Phil, but I'm just, facts are facts. He's 15 years into a career. And he has not won the big game or even gotten to the game yet.

That's going to be the nice little poll quote that they use when they advertise our show three hours from now on Twitter. And you're going to have like all of a bunch of people coming after you. The West will sit and go like, You're about to say, like, all of Chargers Nation, and then you were like, well, I just said lots of people. There are lots of people. Let's get off that topic, Mark. Well, I was going to say, like, we all know about the AFC championship games for Brady. But I saw a stat today that really blew me away.

The Patriots have been favored in their last 69 games that Tom Brady has started. And now they might not be favored going into Kansas City. They're not. No way. So for the first time, like, seven years. Three points. Yeah. Yeah, I would be surprised if they were.

No, they're not. And that was, weren't they underdogs in Jacksonville this year? But that's what I said to the point. You tell us. And not according to the multiple sources on Twitter. Let's move on to Saturday, starting with the night game here in L.A. Golf under center, turns left, gives to Anderson, and he puts it in the pants. Touchdown L.A.

C.J. Anderson powers through the left side. And with 716 to go, it's 29. 15 Rams with the lead. There is Wes's neighbor, J.B. Long with the call for KSPN. C.J. Anderson's one-yard plunge on fourth down served as a statement of intent for the Rams who bullied the Cowboys at the point of attack in a 30 to 22 conquest at the Coliseum. It is the first playoff victory in for the Rams in 14 years, and it sends them to the Superdome to meet the Saints in the title game.

West, a week ago, the Dallas D completely stymie completely stymie. in Seattle on the ground. How could the Rams bulldoze them for 273? About on. We saw a lot of dominant offensive line play this weekend. The Patriots, certainly. The Chiefs bullied the Colts. And this game might have been the most impressive of any of the offensive lines.

And if you, I think if you look, you'll see that the Rams coaching staff had picked up some tendencies on the Cowboys and that played out too. But it really was just blowing those guys off the ball. ball that this was the worst game jalen smith and latent vanderash played and mixing in shan lee i'm not sure helped very much well that's a lot of the play calling though too and i think that gets lost in sean macbay you know his reputation is that he comes they ultimately come from the shanahan tree and the running game is so crucial and you can be creative in the running game and they were incredibly creative with everything that they did pre-snap and it's it's kind of more of a

finesse and timing offensive line you don't want to call any offensive line finessell finesse, but it's like they are moving in unison and they were at their best, just like they were the last couple weeks of the season behind C.J. Anderson. They found a little something with C.J. Anderson in the power running game. I think they're better run blocking than they are past block. You had a good observation, Greg. We went to this game last night, Greg, myself and Mark, and you were rewatching the game this morning. This was an absolute beatdown and it kind of, some people might not notice that. They had the ball nine times. They punted once and they didn't have a turnover. I mean, they went up and down the field.

To only have the ball nine times is very low in a game. And to score or have a scoring attempt, they had one missed field goal every single time you had the ball is amazing. And I give a lot of credit to McVeigh for the fourth and one that he took early in the game, not the one at the end, which wins it, which is also kind of amazing. and Sean McVeigh just showing who he is. But fourth and one on his side of the field to go for it, kind of understanding we are better than you,

this is what we're good at. And even though it's kind of supposed to be a strength for you, we're going to run you over. A great development for football fans, who I think in many ways led the way because of the way they played Madden and other things where it's like it's a video game. Of course I'm going to go for it on fourth down.

But coaches were late to that. And we're in a season now where you're basically shamed if you aren't going for some of these fourth and short situations. And McVeigh is someone who led the way on this. Let's hear from Sean McVeigh on the fourth and goal rush, which was the other big onion hanger for me because

they kick the field goal there and control that game. But if they miss it, all of a sudden the door's wide open for Dallas. Here's McVeigh on his reasoning why. Talk about going to talk about. Don't say talk about. Yeah, you know, I think really when you think about what our team is, we always

talk about attack and success, never fear and failure. You know, we wanted to come out here and play fearless tonight. So McVeigh never doubted it, but that, to me, just shows the confidence that they had in their offensive line in this game. And he feel good for guys like Andrew Whitworth, who was 0 and 7 in the playoffs and his career stuck in Cincinnati, finally wins a game. He's like hugging his family on the field, and he was a major star. The offensive line was the star of this game for the round. The line was getting dinged in recent weeks for not being its normal self. It was, it is cool when you're at these games because you see things.

obviously you never would otherwise. And Whitworth running off the field with his two boys in Whitworth jerseys in front of him. And one cameraman around them like bumped shut his butt like went into space. He like moved his butt to get out of space.

I'm sorry, this is not making sense. The cameraman like thrusted his butt into space and knocked Whitworth's little boy down. Oh no. And like the other boy kept running. But Whitworth like reached down and just picked up his son and just ran into the locker room

without skipping a beat. Totally happened. We talked to Kara Henderson. Did he crush the butt guy's head with his hand? No, he actually said to his son, he was like, come on, you got to watch out. Yeah, he's like, watch out for these guys. And we talked to Kara Henderson, who is the wife of Rams general manager, Les Need after the game.

And she was joyous because it was a year ago that Wes and Dan and I were there where you could see on her face after they lost to the Falcons. What a let, obviously, what a massive letdown that was after that Ram season. She was in fine form last night, totally happy. And she brought up Andrew Whitworth over and over because she's very close to the whole family. that this may be the last time that he has a chance to go to the playoffs after such a long career in Cincinnati where that was not an option. Never got credit in Cincinnati when he played at an all-pro level for a lot of years.

And another guy who played at an all-pro level, but really got criticized this year was Indomacan Su, who I thought really controlled Zeke Elliott in that line of scrimmage. I know it wasn't like a great game in being there. It certainly felt like the Rams had control of it. There were a number of moments where the Cowboys could have gotten back into it, and they couldn't make that one play. And one of those was certainly the fourth down that Zeke got stopped at the beginning of the fourth quarter. I mean, that is a massive play in that game.

It's 23 to 15, and you think about that whole sequence. Donald breaks through to get a four-yard loss on the first down on a running plate. The Cowboys ran 10 times on first down for 15 yards. I mean, they don't have a strong offensive line in the interior anymore. They have Zach Martin, but there's two other guys that are just getting killed by Donald and Sue and Brockers. Then the Cowboys do a good job basically setting up a fourth and a foot, and they get blasted again. You can't get a yard with Zeke Elliott like you don't deserve to win. Do you think that the Rams defense is sort of fixed now, or was this matchup specific?

I think they're fine. Kind of like all four defenses left are just are fine. I think the Saints are probably the best one. Closest thing to a difference maker. where it's it's they're okay and they're trying to make their plays but it all of them to me are offense-led team i do think they matched up well with dallas i'm not sure you're going to see you know this same situation i don't think they're fixed to answer your question now cj anderson amazing what a story at 23 for 123 two touchdowns he not only had making guys miss

yeah it's not just the offensive line he's making some guys mean what if the raiders kept him on his roster on their roster all year and he never even got to go they go to the that would have been the great tragedy he's like a bowl bowling ball at this stage of his career. I was marveling at the shape of his body in person. I mean, he just goes right through the hole. There's nothing cute about it. But he outtouched Todd Gurley in this game. And I wonder if that's a product of Gurley's knee injury being more serious than anybody knows. Or if they just loved what Anderson brings to the offense so much that they couldn't take him out of the attack. But it's amazing to see what he's brought to this team.

McVeigh said that Gurley's was a conditioning issue that after a month really away, he wasn't in football shape. Still played 40 snaps. But I still think, like, to Dan's point, you're not pulling out C.G. Anderson and, like, sticking him on the bench from now on. Right. I mean, what? He did physically look different than he has every time.

Erica asked also, like, what is up with this guy? He looks like he's just massive. And I call him, he's T-H-I-C-C. He is thick. I mean, he has a chance to be a start, you know, he has a chance to be a two-time Super Bowl champion here. I mean, this is a guy who is a key starting running back on a super. Super Bowl winner.

Why would John Gruden need that? I understand. You got to move on. The game could change in New Orleans, but I thought even though Gough, I saw some derogatory stuff about Gough being, I thought he was a game manager in the best way possible in this game. He was calling a lot of those runs at the line of scrimmage when he saw what he liked, or at least he was relaying what McVeigh wanted to do.

And he did hit a number of key passes. There was a third and four to Robert Woods early in the game that kept a drive going that was not an easy throw. There was a third and four to Cooks, which is a beautiful. I think you called it, Dan, a double turkey hole shot. I don't even know that's possible. It was like a turkey hole supreme because he put it between the safety and quarterback and over a linebacker in pursuit.

And nothing close to a mistake really out of him. I thought, like, when he hits the guys in stride, I sometimes think, like, ooh, that's why those West Coast offense coaches like those West Coast quarterbacks. Like, there were guys who wanted golf and there were guys that, like, went. So when you see some of those pretty golf throws where you're, he just hits them perfectly in stride, just like kind of they coach you to do it. You're like, oh, I get why people love during.

The one very L.A. thing to this game was where we were, which was, if you know the Coliseum, under the Olympic torch on the big white area at the end of the one end zone. We were essentially far from the field, but overlooking a tent that housed LeBron James, a Lakers player, but also a Cowboys fan, who came out to cheers from both sides to the field.

Because the L.A. side can cheer on LeBron James. And then you got French Montana roll and at halftime, but you also had, I thought, a very mixed crowd here. It's a, well, yeah, the L.A. sports fan experience is so funny. It's someone that grew up on the East Coast. At one point in the game, it was like a key, West, you would have loved it. It was a key, some type of third down, maybe third and six, the game hanging in the balance. It's, you know, late third quarter, early fourth.

And in between the play, like five seconds before the snap, the PA guy comes up, they put LeBrono the Jumbotron, he's like, hey, everybody, the king is a, in the house. And the guy's like, yeah. I was like, what about the game? But it was such a L.A. moment and not even in a bad way because it is fun that LeBron James is in the house, but you wouldn't see that happening at the Meadowlands or maybe Foxborough, because they got Bon Jovi singing next to Robert Kraft now.

What's going on over there? Accurate. But it's just a, it was a funny, weird scene. I sat with my wife and daughter who went to the game and they sat in the crowd. And I kind of went to check them out of their seats and no one kicked. me out. So I stayed there for a quarter and a half. And it was wow. And LeBron's box was

on their end zone side of the field. And there was a lot of Cowboys fans and they were loose. I mean, they were getting that. I felt like the Cowboys, maybe it was 50-50, but the Cowboys fans were loud and loose. But the one thing that the Cowboys fans and the Rams

fans could agree about was LeBron and there were Let's Go Lakers' chance. And I was like, what is going on that there's Let's Go? It was during like the timeouts, but I was just like, give me a break that the Cowboys fans and the Rams fans could They could also agree about Stephen A. Smith, who got the loudest booze of anyone. I don't get anything game-related, they put him on the screen and even he just got destroyed. That's an accomplishment.

For a guy who's just like a media figure to be booed lustily by 80,000 people, he's never even played a game. I told Greg, that is you in 15 years. He's like, I'll take it. Okay. Amish and sweating from his pores. We don't know because we don't watch those programs, but apparently Stephen A. Smith, I believe, makes a living like killing the Cowboys.

So that might have been 47,000 Cowboys fans going off on them. A little context that we're missing, I think. But who cares, ultimately? Any other thoughts on this game? All right. I'll take your silence as a sign. Let us move on to the first game Saturday from Arrowhead. First down, they're going to bring it on an end-to-round.

Tyreek Hill gets a block, 35, 30, jet speed, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 snow shoes, touchdown. Touchdown! Kansas City! The Cheetah can run in the snow. A 36-yard end-round, and the round, and the Chiefs, two touchdowns on their first two possessions. I enjoy it. Let's put that in the top calls of the year group. Mitch Holt is with a call for Chiefs Radio Network.

Tyreek Hill had one of four rushing touchdowns for the Chiefs who jumped on top of the Colts early and cruised to a 31-13 win at Win Tree Arrowhead. The Chiefs returned to the AFC title game for the first time in 25 years when who was their quarterback? Joe Montana. Joe Montana. They'll face the pads. We saw 433 total yards in a ho-hum day for the Chief's offense. But Wes, the real story here had to be their defense who gave Andrew Luck nothing.

from the opening whistle this looked like an indoor team that had no footing that had no confidence in its ability to move in the elements on a slippery turf in those elements and they continued to melt down at every level of their offense and defense the rest of the way from Andrew luck throwing ducks to the right side of their offensive line getting worked over to no running game to Eric Ebron dropping the third down pass on the opening thing uh false starts holding penalties anytime they did something right then on defense you're without malik hooker and mike mitch mitchell at safety you're playing j j wilcox who had been cut by the cowboys out of football and he's getting lost in coverage on all kinds of plays it was to me just a comp i don't want to throw out the fact that the chiefs were more talented because you could see that the colts had no answer for the tyreek hill Travis kelsey conundrum that every defense faces and the colts you look at the colts offense and they've got a injured T.Y. Hilton is basically their only weapons.

So to me, the offensive talent disparity was a big issue in this game. Guys weren't open. And just the way the game started, you said it. Ebron drops the first third down. The next couple of drives for the Colts were tipped passes from luck, a ton of tip passes. There was another one. Chris Jones had three of himself.

Right. The fourth one, Ebron didn't get to the sticks on a stick route, and so he catches it one yard short. And by then, you know, because the Chiefs are who they are and Andy Reid and the Chiefs do such a good job very often in the first 15 plays, they're already down three scores. And in a game where they got a punt-block touchdown, the Colts did, to not be competitive is kind of amazing. I mean, they scored six points in office. Well, in that blocked punt, which resulted in a touchdown, had them trailing only 17 to 7. And it turned 24-7.

And the killer moment in this game, I think what they were psychologically. broken if it hadn't already happened, was inside the two-minute warning, Andrew Luck and the offense looked like they were finally getting going. They marched down the field with some big pass plays. And then, of all people, Adam Vinieteri, missing a 23-yard field goal attempt right before the half, which would have made it 24-10, and you have something to cling to. And for him to have that thing- Sure enough, they score a touchdown in the second half. And you're thinking, if he just hits that chip shot, like, give me, this is a one-score game.

and then, of course, he misses the extra point on top of it. By the way, Vinitieri is one guy. You know, Frank Reich looks amazing with the white beard. Vinitieri doesn't need that. Everyone's always thinking in the back of mind, is this guy too old at this point to be on this stage? And then with that white beard, he looks like he should be in some, like, rec league or something.

He's like Ken Stabler. He's got a lot of thinking to do and at least maybe some shaving at the very least. It reminded me of early Chiefs games this season, though, where Mahomes didn't. He was on point early, but he didn't have to do that much in the first couple drives. I mean, he had some of those third.

and sixes where he threw it across his body. But like the first driver to, it was the play calling. It was Kelsey. It was Hill. It was coasting. And they ran to win. I mean, I don't really think the Colts were ever in this game. I don't know what they could have done, whether Vinatieri's kick or anything,

whether it would have mattered because the Chiefs immediately went into running mode. And they were pretty effective doing that, getting time off the clock with Damien Williams. He is like the AFC, CJ Anderson. He is good. And they signed him to a. low-cost two-year extension about two weeks into this little run. And that looks like a bargain because he might be their starter next year. And if he's not, he's going to be part of the team.

He might be firing his agent. When you have the Chiefs, you know, there were a couple weeks where they're trying to cobble together their backfield and figure out how to handle this situation, when you get that from Williams, then suddenly it opens everything up. And I love this tweet from Evan Silva about what Travis Kelsey did. His catches, 16 yards for a first down, 14 yards for a first down, 16 yards for a first down, 10 yards for a first down, 30 yards for a first down, seven for a first down. Wow, big fish.

And so much of that is what Tyreek Hill is doing before the snap to get the defense in a bit of a chaos. And then you're sort of at the snap, you're Darius Leonard, and you're like, do I go where Tyreek Hill is or do I go where Kelsey is? Chris Galsworth was giving him a little bit of heat on the telecast that Leonard was maybe prone to getting confused in those type of zone reads. Maybe he is. He's a rookie, and he and the linebackers had to do so much because there's no pass rush. I mean, this is what I think happens when you go into Kansas City with a team with no pass rush, which I think is one reason why the Patriots, and really any team is going to be scared of the Chiefs, but the Patriots especially who don't have a one-on-one pass rusher.

I mean, the Colts defensive line got housed, and then they're trying to do all these schemes and stunts, and that opens up the running game. I was impressed, though, by how Mahomes played in terms of, like, he was getting them to come off sides. He's doing the hard count. He's doing kind of... So many. He's doing the next level stuff

where he's looking off. He just seemed very calm and ready. Like, this was just another game. That's pretty impressive for a 23-year-old MVP. I think it's amazing because we were at the owner's meetings and we all were kind of taken by Andy Reid. And I think for this room a little bit, that there were the boring chiefs teams

that would go 10 and 6. And you could count on them getting whacked in January religiously. And we felt a little bit something different about Andy Reid when we met him in person. and the fact that you're going to get Andy Reid versus Bill Belichick and Reid's got that playoff win monkey off is back now. I love it.

You know what it's like when they say like never meet your heroes? In our situation it's like never meet the people that you kill on the podcast. Then it's harder. We're pretty pro-Andy Reid on this podcast. Well, there was a shift though after that. You're right.

The team was boring. That's fair. They put up 24 points before the Colts had a first down. That's one of my favorite stats of a weekend. I mean, you wouldn't expect that. Damn, that's embarrassing. I'm just kind of, I was kind of stunned by the Colts, but the better team. But the Colts have a lot to cling to going into next season.

There's a lot to like. One game doesn't define your season. No, totally. And this performance is not representative of who the Colts were in 2018. I don't think it's representative of what they would be if they played in Indianapolis instead of Kansas City. But I think it does illustrate for the Colts that they need more talent specifically at the offensive skill positions and at pass rush. Well, you, Wes, and. you were on the cults from day one really even when they were one in five you saw this

a team that could put it together and you said on Thursday's preview that this is a more talented team you thought at this stage were you surprised that they came out and looked like a dome team being exposed because I didn't see that in their DNA that they would look this overwhelmed in that setting shocked and from what I saw especially from their defense early on it wasn't mental as much as physical they simply couldn't get footing on that turf well and they were slow to react to everything. And they were playing the Chiefs, who are the best offense in the league, and they hadn't played anyone, you know, really remotely close to that all season.

That is a fair criticism. And I'm not saying that the Colts would have won in Indianapolis. I'm saying they would have looked more like the Colts have looked all year had they played in Indianapolis. I do think the Chiefs, and we talked about a little bit, is that when you go away on the buy and we can become, and it's not a cult's note, it's just about in general by teams, when you go away for a while and you didn't finish the season at your peak dominance, it's not that we're overlooking them,

but they're just not what we're most recently impressed by. And then the chiefs come in and say, excuse me, we are right here and we are now hosting the AFC title game. Don't forget about us. That's a major monkey off their back because we know that they blew, what was it a 17 point lead in the playoffs last year,

whatever it was. It was a hugely, they let that game against the titoons of all teams get away from them. Now they're able to get this win. They're catching the Patriots. They're hot at the right time. But now you're going to have a chief's team in their building, getting that monkey

up their back. Can we win this? Can we carry this into the playoffs? I don't want to jinx it because the digital playoffs were set up to be amazing. But Patriots against the Chiefs, Andy Reid against Belichick, Mahomes against Brady, this is good. Well, I was going to say Gronk against Kelsey, but, you know,

Travis, Kelsey's there. You never know. Maybe Gronk will show up. That one catch he had today. He was targeted once today, Gronk. He was pretty well. I mean, this is my lock, the Chiefs. You've had a nice workman-like Locke performance. Greg, that's the way to do it.

It was a low drama. You don't have to worry about this all weekend. You got it out of the way by around 2 p.m. But I will say, it wasn't all daisies for Greg in this realm of making selections because he had a teaser of sorts. We've been waiting for that. With the rain.

And once again, the rainmaker lets down all his raindrops. I knew this is coming. It has it rain and day. Is that Camelina? I'm so hungry. I wish I could buy some food. Oh, is that some of the people that have taken your advice over the weeks? Yeah, it's been a tough weekend.

It's been a tough weekend. And he said he needed this Patriots loss so badly that he needs to hold on to something. But yeah. Greg, hold on. It's very typical, by the way, that I somehow got this pick wrong. In a week where I went for or no against the spread in my other pool. Oh, I still somehow went, I somehow got out. Greg, what is your overall record right now in this?

Still think of Cam's voice right now. This exercise, this hobby. Can I hear Cam again? Well, how do you not know? I don't, yeah, I like you. You were saying, like, it was good to get the lock out of the weekend early for me. Here's my argument against you. Whenever you listen to these radio shows where these gibronies are given all their, like, spread stuff, it's like, I win eight and one.

They're always locked on their records. So when you say you have no idea what your record, it feels to the person in taking your investment advice as a little bit shadowy. Yes. I would like to know what your record is if I'm going to invest my money. I don't think they should, clearly.

Was Cam channeling the chocolate rain guy? Was that what that was? The YouTube guy? Yeah. Yeah, he was. Oh, man. Oh, man. That speaks to Greg's charisma

that the Bick can continue even though he keeps losing. It does. No doubt about that. He wins either way. So, Greg, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You know, you got something cooking here. But does the Rainmaker come back? At this point, you're about 0 and 6 in the last month or so.

In the last few? Yeah. That's why it has to continue. Yeah, it was getting, I generally, as you guys have made fun of me over the year, I generally am sick of bits after about four times anyways. I like the self-loathing came on pretty strong about Week 16. And so I think your wish will probably be granted. Oh, that's a shame.

Good news for our listeners, though, that have been hit hard financially. Any other thoughts about this game? All right. It wasn't a good game. And we hope for better games coming up this week because we only got three games left. Wes, what do you got? I have a thought. Yes.

That everyone's going to be riding high on the Patriots and you can never underestimate their coaching staff. And I might end up picking them in this game. Really? But to me, the Chiefs are clearly the more talented team. and the Patriots were clearly a much better team at home than on the road this year. And we're 8-0 this year, or 9-0 at home, the pets. And the talent on the Chief's defense is not to be trifled with. I mean, D-4 dominated this game.

Chris Jones made a huge difference. Well, I mean, D-4 was unblocked every other play. Right, but he also killed Braden Smith in the – we were hearing a lot about the Colts offensive line. He destroyed Braden Smith in the passing game. My point is I think the Chiefs are the best team in the NFL. I've thought it all year. I thought their defense isn't nearly as bad as people thought. I think if I had to choose.

They're not really bad. I think they've made a lot of plays in that there's a decent amount of potential and that within what they do as a team, they're not so bad. And more importantly, they found a couple answers late in the season. Charvarius Ward, their cornerback, has played pretty lights out for two or three weeks. He didn't see the field early in the scene. Jordan Lucas at safety has also played pretty well. So kind of like the Patriots, I think they figured some things out, and I do think they're the best.

They can't be the next team to allow Brady to go 60 minutes untouched. Plenty of time to talk about this. We got a whole week to preview the AFC and NFC title games. Ricky, were you ever – was it ever in doubt the Pats in your lock? Because it obviously worked out well for you. Yeah, I mean, I always believed, but I feel like everyone else just hates us. Nobody believes in us. It would be a good game.

They're a good team. And we played them earlier this year. You know, I know everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can't win any games. So we'll see. It'll be fun. Oh, please. You stick that in your pipe and smoking. No one's buying the, we're the Patriots. Doesn't matter if anyone's buying it.

I remember Rodney Harrison doing this when they were going for their third Super Bowl in four years. As long as they believe it. No one believes in us except for the people in this room. Well, I'm Tombraudy. Didn't we say at the end of our. Whatever. Didn't we say in this room at the end of a preview of Chargers. Where we all thought it was going to be a really good game.

and that the Chargers presented a ton of problems. Didn't we say in this room? They often do their best work when they're a little, right, that's true, when there's a little bit of doubt. So whether you think it's manufactured or not. I said that. It's worked in the past. I said he's got the Jordan gene that he's pathological.

He's going to feed off it. But don't try to sell us that the football cognizanti and fans around the universe are discounting the Patriots having a chance. They have an absolute chance to win. Maybe it's less about like the point spread. I've seen people point out the point spread. and more just that they know everyone is rooting against them. I think that's more it.

That just people don't like them. Whether they respect them or not. The newsroom was even fired up and angry when that game got away. Because it was just like, get out of our lives and they're not going anywhere. The only time in the playoffs so far that the newsroom had like a standing ovation for any moment was the first Chargers touchdown. Like everyone, the newsroom exploded just that it was seven to seven. Well, it helped that Dave Schott, who works on the network side, is insufferable. New England sports fan.

We like giving it to Dave's shot whenever things go against the Patriots or the Bruins or the Red Sox. So that was a great moment. But ultimately, as it always works out, your buddy shot, Greg, and you end up with the big old eating grin on your face

and you walk out of the building head held high. Inseparable New England sports fan is redundant. Yeah, maybe it is. All right. You don't have to worry about shot listening to this. No, he does not listen to our show.

All right. We'll be back. Well, we have a Twitter show on Tuesday, which I implore you to check out or whatever. And then on Wednesday, we'll be back on the podcast. We'll have Ian Rappaport on the show on Wednesday. Thursday, we'll preview the championship Sunday. And then we'll be right back here one week from today, recapping and talking about who's in the Super Bowl. How about that?

We're already here. Mark, three games left. We're almost home. I am having the time of my life. How is it? Sounds like a hostage. Yeah, clip that, please. That is, that is some less.

That's a nice turnaround, by the way, because, like, 72 hours ago, you said that you were, like, drifting in a dark lake. Talk to me tomorrow. Thank you, Saints. Thank you, Saints. Thank you, Saints.

This is Dan Hansa signing off. Four, Quiet Storm. The Mailman, the old boss, and Ricky Hollywood, behind the glass. Till Tuesday. This is an eye heart This is an IHeart podcast.

Thank you.