NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2019 Divisional Round Weekend Recap

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal recap each of the games from the Divisional Round starting with the Packers win over the Seahawks (3:11). The guys recap the Chiefs epic comeback against the Texans (18:38) before doing some halftime news including the Browns landing a new head coach (34:50). The heroes close the show by recapping the Ravens stunning loss to the Titans (44:15) and the Vikings & 49ers matchup.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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podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. Coming to you from room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Divisional Round weekend in the books. And a very interesting, I wouldn't

say it was a classic Divisional Round weekend. Sometimes with these weekends, and there's a reason why everybody's like, oh, it's the best weekend of the year, including me saying that. You, multiple. Is that because you have all these great teams at this point, and the Flotsam has has been jettisoned.

The Jetson has been jettisoned. The Jets have been jettisoned. Usually, you just have great games. It took 49 seconds for the Jets to be mentioned on the show. You struggle? Well, the Patriots won't come up much either this week. I can tell you that. Actually, no, your wide receiver is in jail right now.

We'll get to that. He broke out, Beverly Hills. They can't keep him down. Oh, we'll get to Zolak, too. What a mess. Clean it up, bro. Be a professional. All right.

Let's be pros. ourselves. We did not have a close game for the first three games at a divisional round weekend. Well, there was close. The first game today got close and then it got really out of control. And then finally, the late game, the Seahawks show a pulse and turn that into a nail biter down the stretch. We needed that way. So we wanted at least one nail biter in Divisional Round weekend. Well, Greg was pulling for a close game. I was pulling for the Packers to do away with the Impostors who are the Seahawks.

It's basically Russell Wilson carrying a A injured, depleted roster into the playoffs, and I didn't think they belonged in the playoffs. I think overall, though, it was a great divisional round weekend because the first one ended up being a dud. But the other three were fascinating in their own ways. Like this last game, it was close. The other two were more fascinating to me.

I mean, that was like a divisional round game in the Ravens game. I think we'll remember a long time from now. And we've never seen a game quite like Texans Chief. So even though they weren't close at the end, And, like, blowouts can be kind of fun and interesting, too. I'd say of the four of us, I enjoy blowouts for multiple reasons. But in this case, like, forget the close games. Like, insane plot points were written and authored and filmed.

I mean, stuff happened that shocked the senses. So I don't care if it's a close game when, like, things are happening that completely changed the story. We got a much-needed fresh batch of narratives that we can carry through an entire off-season. I think some things we're getting a little predictable and still. where we thought, even on our network show on Friday, I authored a prediction from long ago that I thought was rock solid,

and it got blown up in two minutes. Everything we said on that show got blown up for the most part. Actually, everything I said played out. Negative. My Vikings pick looked great mid-Saturday afternoon. All right, so let's get to the games, and let's go like we did last week in reverse order from the game that just got finished

to the first game that was played. So that then takes us, of course, to Lambeau Field. Rogers in the shotgun takes the snap. Rush is on, luffs it over the right side. Devonthe, over the shoulder, catch out of bounds. Cross the 50. First down, Green Bay, the 46-yard line of Seattle.

That was huge. A beautiful throw over-the-shoulder catch Devonte Adams. Oh, yes, Wayne Larravee with the call for the Packers Radio Network. Yes, with the Seahawks charging hard in Russell Wilson, looking to crush hearts in Green Bay. Aaron Rogers delivered a, I'm Aaron Rogers, damn it, moment. The one we've been waiting for, two huge third and long conversions late in the fourth quarter allowed the Packers to run out the clock and punch their ticket to the NFC title game 2823 over Seattle.

West, let's go back to your cornhole analogy with Rogers. Sometimes in that fine parlor game, the hardest point to get is when it's 20 to 17. Just put it on the board and you win. And Rogers was facing that moment. And he needed to make that throw to get him home, to send the Seahawks out of the party, and that's what he did. I feel like the Packers were up like 17 to 10 in Cornhole. Seahawks brought it back, and then there's six bags blocking the hole, and Rogers throws it, and knocks, pushes two of his in, and then goes in right behind it. What a heartbreaker when that happens.

It was a perfect throw, and I think that was part of the analogy to begin with. He can make these throws, and that's why he keeps trying to do it. And today, he didn't miss on the tough throws. Eric Eager of PFF pointed out He was perfect on throws that went over 10 yards Six for six for 145 yards and two touchdowns And you think of the end of the game Which also included a clutch throw to Geronimo Allison

On the drive before which helped burn some clock The throw to Jimmy Graham But you also think early in the game On the first drive there were multiple third in longs Where he hit the throw on time To his first read Which are the kind of throws you haven't seen a ton from the Packers or at least not consistently.

And he was hitting his back foot and he was letting it go. And it was looking like a vintage Rogers performance for the most part. You know, I wonder where they will wind up because I'm still concerned about the lack of weapons on offense. I mean, they're in the NFC championship game. No, I'm just saying, as we have to mine on and start to look at that game, you're going to be facing a completely different defense than the broken down Seahawks defense that, you know, I thought they hung around. in this game, Seattle, because they themselves simply do that in every single game.

But this, for a long stretch of time, looked like Green Bay might just completely wind up dropping a mega hammer on Seattle because they could run the ball. They were just sort of having their way on offense. And it's not, I don't feel like we've seen a lot of that from Green Bay's, you know, attack of late, but they were playing a team that was on its last gasp of air. And that's not going to be the case when you go into San Francisco. Four touchdowns in their first six drives. I mean, that's a pretty dominant.

Then went dark, though. Right, they went dark, and Devante Adams was fantastic, but all other Packers' wide receivers combined for 19 yards on two catches. Alan Lazard held without a catch. And the other wide receivers were outproduced by December waiver pickup, kick-returner Tyler Irvin. And this is on Dan's radar. I know the Packers' wide receivers.

It was in August. Like, they ignored the position. They waited for these second-year guys to step up. It never happened. And it's too late now to fix it. So now it's just Aaron Rogers find a way. It was an A-plus, though. I mean, they had eight possessions, and they scored four touchdowns, and then they killed the clock to win the game at the end.

That's five of the eight possessions. Maybe not an A-plus, an A-minus. The defense couldn't get a stop in the second half, and they did what they could. I'm looking across the field at Russell and thinking, who has, you know, more help, Wilson or Rogers. Yeah, you have Lockett and Metcalfe, and that's shiny, but you've got an awful offensive line. You've got Marshall and Lynch running 12 for 26, and you've got Malik Turner dropping the, first down throw on what turned out to be the Seahawks' last drive of the season, which to me is kind of an overlooked moment in that game. I mean, that was an easy 13-yard completion that

went right off his chest. They end up taking a sack, which makes it fourth and 11, and they end up putting the ball, which I think is a questionable decision by Pete Carroll, that at least of all the third and tens that they've picked up in this off-season, I get it. I mean, it's not a Seahawks game if you aren't questioning Pete Carroll's approach to something. Well, here, when you're getting an A-plus, when you're getting a Hall of Fame quarterback at the very peak of his powers and you're doing your best to limit his impact on the game, I think you know what I would say, though, their approach out of the gate, I wish they had just sort of ran the entire affair the way they did in the second half. Right. Just basically. I feel like we're saying that every game with Russell.

And it's true, but they continue to do that. They kind of drive you nuts because there was way too much Marshawn Lynch, like in the middle of the field early on. Let me give you a stat. Sure. Marshawn Lynch and Travis Homer carried 32 times for 58 yards in the playoffs. Less than two yards of carry, and they stayed with the stutter stepping, Marshawn Lynch. I understand that the goal line you're going to do that, but not in the middle of the field.

Right. They had three huge plays in the last three and a half minutes of the game. You had the third and five, Seattle, at their own 42, with 32 to play. Preston Smith, who's been doing it all year because Brian Gutakuntz knows exactly what he's doing. Goody. Goudy! He's got my executive of the year.

Turn this up in my ears. Does he? Goody. Sure. It's made up. John Lynch. That was a huge sack by Preston Smith with Jacob Hollister at tight end trying to block it. This is Brian Gutakuton's singing about it.

Absolutely. Or barking. After he signed the Smith brothers. So he killed it. Preston Smith again steps up with a huge play. The fourth and 11, and they punted, as you said, Greg. It should keep in mind that as great as the Packers were,

they had scored three consecutive touchdown drives of 75, 60, and 75 early in the third quarter. They got him off the field to Seattle defense twice in a row. Three plays and out, and then an eight play, 25 yards and out. So I guess Carol said, we have the momentum. Let's kick it away. We don't want to lose this game on a fourth and forever, which is fourth and 11 is getting in that range. Stop them and force them to kick a field going.

You can go win the game, Russell Wilson. But, and what I think, was so huge that stop on third and five the green bay defense was gassed because they were going up and down the field Seattle they had scored three consecutive touchdowns and like i just said the green bay offense was getting on and off the field quickly so to step up with that sack was the play of the season i thought for green bay before the two passes by rogers when they got on the field the throw that we heard to devante adams then jimmy graham who hasn't made a big play in forever uh with the game hanging in the balance again third and long a nice pass by rogers

a little low and Jimmy Graham went and got it and then fell on to the first downline game over so in a season where Rogers hasn't had a lot of weapons outside of Duante Adams and Aaron Jones he's got the last little bit of playmaking ability at Jimmy Graham and they're in the final four because of it you got to give the coaches some credit too I think having Devante Adams matched up against Uga Amati who I think was viewed as a weakness of this defense I on like a slot fade, which is, you know, you've seen a lot this year on third. I mean, that's great coaching, and you see Rogers recognize the Blitz, Aaron Jones with the great Blitz pickup.

I mean, they pick the right matchups when it mattered. Hats off to Russell Wilson, whose playing style sort of reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters distilled into one corporeal entity. This is why West makes the big bucks. The Seahawks did not plan to go into the postseason with Russell Wilson, Travis Homer, Marshawn Lynch, Jacob Hollister, and Malick. Turner as key figure. I mean, that's, congratulations to them for getting this far, but that was not a playoff roster the last two weeks. Right, but, and you're right. And I was, you know, before the game I said they had a disadvantage of quarterback. The Packers did. In this game, I think both quarterbacks played outstanding. But I think, and maybe it's because I follow too many people

on Seahawks Twitter, although is that possible, you know, Seahawks Twitter. You're watching them from afar. Is that a humble brag? I don't know. I don't think it is. Here's what I'm saying. They're all, they're all obsessive. Like, are we maximizing Russell Wilson? Is he having to over overcome this coaching staff, not only Brian Schottenheimer, but Pete Carroll taking shots again. Okay, Brian Schottenheimer is this the right guy to be running their offense? And then Pete Carroll is a defensive coach who's coached two mediocre defenses in a row. And that's fine if you play that way. But we talked about it. I talked about it in week four or five. He's coaching this team he wishes a yard that could run and play defense. He doesn't have that team. Well, that's, I think the point we

made before is like they kept trying to be what Brian Schottenhamer wants him to be until they said, wait a minute, we're going to get waxed if we continue that. On the flip side, Matt LaFleur, I feel like now, you know, no matter what happens, had they lost this playoff game, you go into the offseason with a lot of questions about a 13 and 3 team that wasn't really the record. This is a huge win for Matt LaFleur, but that said, you are right now at the same precipice that Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rogers have been at throughout essentially the entire last decade. And I don't like their chances in San Francisco, but this is the same song and dance for Aaron

Rogers a hundred times. I mean, this is great, though. He's in a game. I'm not raining on his parade. He kind of are. You are convinced that the Packers are. Because they've overachieved. They've overachieved by any measure.

The better team won, but I just, I am not convinced that the, that Aaron Rogers gets any better than this game for the rest of this career. The 49ers are going to be, I don't know what the Desert says. But the 49ers are going to be a favorite in this game. People are going to disregard the Seahawks, but I mean, listen, it might be. Well, you guys don't sound like you are. I'm not. No, I think it's too simplistic. 49ers are the better team. Of course they'll be great.

I just think that you're... I'm just saying it's a little... Maybe it's too simplistic to say this, but a team that's won 14 of 17 games in an NFL season and we're getting into mid-January should not be completely discounted to have a chance. We would be fools at this point to try to sell anyone watching this, a bill of goods saying we know exactly what's going to happen because these games are a complete dart at a dartboard that's 40 yards away in the middle of the night. But I still...

What a throw just to even get it near the dog? I mean, what a throw by you to complete that analogy. The dart was wavering mid-air. I didn't think if it was getting there. And then the bullseye. Mark just used a parlor game analogy. Imagine how difficult that must have been. Well, we got, you know, this side of the table has both used parlor game analogies

to discuss the Packers at this point. So your turn. Billiards, what a sport. You got the cue ball. No, I don't have anything yet. Speaking of Aaron Rogers, after the game, I like Aaron Rogers' cliches and, you scripted answers. I just think they're fun. Obviously, Aaron Andrews of Fox is a nice little

relationship with Mr. Rogers. It's been going on for years now. They've been in the league together. Her covering the league, him as a star. She asked him after the game what he's got kind of cooking in his mind as they prepare to face the 49ers team that blew their doors off about a month ago.

You're the king of mottoes. Do you have one heading into the NFC championship against San Francisco? What do you got? Come on. I'm just going to enjoy a nice glass of Scots tonight. And get on to the film, San Fran, and get ready for a tough opponent. All right, old man. I can joke with you about that. Congrats. Thanks. The King of Motos. That's how we know him. You know how upset RG3 is to hear that?

That someone else is the King of Motto? What a man after your heart, though, Wes. Give me a glass of scotch. And I'm going to tape tape, tape, tape. Is that everything okay? I'm going to tape dog all night with my scotch. I feel like that's at least the fourth time I've heard Rogers say after a game. I'm going to have a glass of scotch and enjoy this with. That's his move. Yeah, he does feel like a pull doll at some point where you're just going to get, there's like eight. Oh, Mark, stop it. It's funny. Somebody put an umbrella over Sessler.

It's raining. It's funny because this whole year, all I heard about is that these two guys are on Seahawks Corner. They couldn't have been rooting harder against the Packers at this game. No, you're ridiculous. Speaking of overly simplistic, I was on Seahawks Corner because they're a fun team that's always in the mix. I locked up the Packers. Congrats to you. Thank you.

That's true. That's right. Because I believe that they were the better team. Seahawks were a team that were a team that were so. beat up. I'm with you. I'd rather see this game. Hopefully their running game gets worked out. I love Marshawn Lynch, but I don't really need to see him on the field anymore. It's cool that he had four touchdowns this season to end what is a Hall of Fame career, my opinion, but they need to get better and healthier. Well, I would say one thing, Seattle beat San Francisco and took them to the brink with

that banged up roster. That's true. Green Bay did not match up well the first time. I'm not trying to go down this road over and over. We agree with you. But it's just, I think this is a nice night for the Green Bay Packers. It is. It is. Who almost got disregarded as a number two seed, you know, home team coming off a buy. The better team took this game. And Dan was, I feel like Dan was pulling for the Packers. You were definitely pulling for Aaron Rogers to hit that pass. All three of you were.

Do you know what I want? I'm just, I'm keeping a real, just as a football fan and someone who's going to be lucky enough to be covering the game, a Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers Super Bowl, feed it, put it in my veins. If that's how it works out, I actually would be cool of any Super Bowl combo, but But that one is the one that I really want to see. I mean, there is something special about it, especially in a season where Rogers wasn't at his best to maybe have his best game of the year

or one of his best games of the year in this spot. I mean, he's so legendary after the game, Marshaun Lynch entered the Packers locker room to do a jersey exchange and sign with Aaron Rogers. Not many people are getting that sort of respect. A couple of Cal graduates, right? His old teammate, I get it. But still, he also came.

He's not doing that for anyone. Mark, he came into the league. He's a 2010 draft class, right? He came into the league when you and I came to the NFL. I don't want the sun setting on his career because if it's setting on Aaron Rogers' career, you know, we might be in trouble too. We're talking to who came into the league in 2010?

Aaron Rogers, right? Much earlier than that. Oh, he won a Super Bowl in 2010. Yes, yes, that is true. I mean, that's what an long time... That's what advantage we have on these players. You know, their careers are, you know, the sun is setting as they hit 40. We're just about to enter our prime dam,

our broadcasting prime. A bit more like a Romo scenario. I'll go with you on that. That is a wild presumption by you. All right. All right. So, Mark, the Packers are still alive. It's going to be that way for another seven days.

I couldn't be happier for them. But I'm not, the three of you couldn't, you were all so pro Packers. I have to offer that challenges lie ahead. We disagree with you. No challenge lies ahead. Like Packers, Packers Chief Super Bowl? Yeah, okay. 5010.

To your point, yes, Mark. Three of the teams that played this weekend that won their game. should be miserable, because they will eventually lose. Only one team ends up on top. That is the ultimate picture. And I don't want, next Sunday, if the 49ers win 3820, I don't need some Cessler monologue about how you saw it coming and we didn't. That certainly can happen.

But they should not, I'm just saying they shouldn't be discounted in that game. I don't think that anyone, I would not do that. We all agree that this is just the normal thing is that San Francisco isn't be favored and I wouldn't be surprised if they took care of business without any issues. All right. That is one game. Let's now move to the next game that occurred on Sunday. And, yeah, it got weird at Arrowhead.

Kelsey trots in motion across the face of Mahomes who sprints out to the left side. He's holding it. He's going to try to hold it. Throw us it late. It is it caught in the... It's caught touchdown. Carians Oz City. The Chiefs take the lead.

And Kelsey with another catch of a sprint-out run-pass option again. and Kelsey gargling in the sweet nectar of the end zone. Ryan Barlebone on the glass said it's a good one. Mitch nailed this one. You say gorgling? Gargling. Gargling that nectar. Like that?

Gargling? Yes. It's kind of gross. It's a tad. Because it's thick, the nectar. It usually is. It's a tough thing to gargle, I imagine. Ah, all right.

Here we go. Mitch Holt is with a call. Chiefs Radio Network. Down 24-0 with a lot. 11 minutes to go in the second quarter. The Chiefs, they had a lot of work to do just to make the game respectable. Well, they did more than that. Patrick Wilhomes threw four touchdown passes in the rest of that second quarter,

giving them a lead by the end of the second quarter, a lead they would not relinquish. In fact, they'd build on it quite a bit. By the fourth quarter, it was a laffer. Final score, 51, 31, Chiefs over Texans, and they head to the AFC championship game. Greg, this is one of the wildest outcomes in a long time in a game that is, this term gets thrown around too much unique. This was a unique NFL football game. We've never seen a game like this.

Certainly never a first half like this in the playoffs. And yet some people on the other side of the table here, Chris Wesley and Mark Sessler saw it coming. I think that the minute that Bill O'Brien didn't go for fourth and inches to possibly go up 28-0, they kick a field goal, they make it 24. Once the Chiefs get back at that game 24-7, they're very confident that the Chiefs are going to come back and win this game comfortably, and that's exactly what they did.

And my big takeaway from all of that is everyone killing on Bill O'Brien and pointing out the fourth and inches or other decisions. Fourth and three, fake punt. It's like Bill O'Brien wasn't playing defense for the, Patrick Mahomes, you're going to give credit to the Kansas City Chiefs who scored seven touchdowns and seven possessions. One play call is not going to change that. What happened is just a far better team offensively.

exerted their will. And that was going to happen at some point in that game, I think, no matter what Bill O'Brien did. I'm not going to kill Bill O'Brien. I thought he got the risk-reward wrong on the decision for the fake goal and then the decision to go for the field goal and then the fake. Those were backwards. I thought the risk-reward was wrong there. But the problem with this team is they have a really bad secondary and that's been true

all year. And then they lost two of their top three safeties in week 17 and 18. And they're playing Lonnie Johnson, a rookie cornerback who they're, They traded for Gary and Conley and picked up Vernon Hargraves off waivers so they could bench Lonnie Johnson. And then in the playoffs, they were so desperate they had to put him on Travis Kelsey. And that was a lopsided matchup, one of the most lopsided we've seen. And that's why I don't hate what O'Brien did. Although I know he went for the field goal.

That was a little weak. Sometimes just give credit to the players, I guess is what I'm saying. It's like Mahomes, Wachens, Kelsey, they're making these plays. And Daniel Sorensen made a great play on the fake punt. I think if you had watched, if the time. Texans coaches are watching that play again on film. They would still call it again. It took an unbelievable play to stop him.

And O'Brien said after the game, he made it clear. He was like, we thought we needed to score touchdowns. We could not give the ball. So why didn't you kick a field goal in fourth and inches? That's fair. The Chiefs... He spoke on that and I'll say what he said in a minute. Go ahead.

The Chiefs basically did to the Texans what the Texans did to the bills a week ago. They played a... They had mistakes. you know, it was two special teams gaffs that put the chiefs in a hole. It wasn't their defense getting burned left and right. Third down drops. Right? I mean, just like uncharacteristic play, but unlike the tech, you know, they fought back

the way the Texans did against the bills. But unlike the Ravens who we'll talk about, they got out of their own way and solved their issues, went on and scored. The possession chart is insane. They became the first team to score on six straight drives in a divisional round game since the Packers and the Mike Holmgren Seahawks in 2007. But then they went on to score a seventh straight touchdown. And I don't blame the Texans.

They just basically drove a bike into a shredder. I mean, you cannot do a whole lot against the Chiefs when they suddenly got earned. Like a paper shredder or? Like a gigantic. One of those like when you read about. Like you just like a bike goes off a jump into one of those giant shredders. Like a tree shredder. Yeah, tree shredder.

But only it's got to be large enough than a typical tree shredder so the bike and the person could go into it. The bike and the person representing the entire Texans team went off a jump into the shredder. And there's a funnel effect in the shredder? It was more than a funnel. It was separating the entire team into a billion pieces. Yeah, people see what they want to see. Sometimes, us included. We're all the same, you know.

And in this case, it was like Twitter. Everybody's watching the same games now, and it gets crazy. It was like a Chernobyl-level Twitter meltdown with the analysis in this game. Within the first hour of the game in real time, everybody wanted to say Andy Reid needs to be sent out to pay. pasture. He's put 10 foot, 10 feet under the ground. An hour later, Bill O'Brien's getting run out of the country. That's all. Which happened to Bill O'Brien last weekend, too. I mean, it's just these, it is not healthy for, you know, 80 million people to be watching

and commenting on the same thing at once. This is a very 2020 issue that somehow we need to eradicate, putting some type of system, a lock system. I think someone threw it out there downstairs in the newsroom. Everyone gets two tweets per game and make them count because You don't get to flip-flop, and it will keep the sheer volume of hot takes down. I'd vote for that in a heartbeat. I like that. I could think of some people that don't deserve two either, but that's. Well, that's, and some people don't, you have to clear a certain bar.

Can you get tweets taken away? Who decides? Tweets get taken away. We have to install some type of cabinet of people who confer and decide who gets to be a part of this. It sounds like a job for Claibon. Brinson and Claibon are on the cabinet. That's very good. Yeah, but so the game changed.

Should this guy be tweeting, Dan? How about that? Who? Oh, Zolak. What is going on with Scott? Zolak. I mean, he was bombed, right? Zolak, I got to read some of these Zolak tweets.

He claims he had the flu, but I mean, you can have all sorts of flus. I mean, he uses a derogatory term that I won't say on the air here for Travis Kelsey, questioning his manhood and calling him a fake and all this stuff. Oh, Travis Kelsey, who what, went 10 for 1.30 and three touchdowns? It was one of the best games by a tight end in posties in history. 10 for 134 and 3. He had an early drop like the rest of his teammates, and then he proceeded to dominate it.

The minute that tweet went out, he essentially turned into like a human fireball. And Scott Zolak, for people that don't know, is the color guy for Patriots Radio Network. He has obviously free time this weekend. So he got loose. The ridiculously over the top Patriots color guy. Yes.

And Zolak, he also claimed that he had the flu. And that is why he was tweeting in this manner. I cannot tell you, I don't remember a Sunday where more listeners of the show were hitting up my mention saying, Dan, you're aware of this, right? You see what Zolak's doing on Twitter right now. Hey, Dan, just putting this on your radar.

So, yes, we were tracking Zolak who went dark, and it made me wonder who shut down Zolak? Was it his wife? Was it someone from the radio station he works for? Was it the Patriots themselves? Because he did not have the flu. It was the man flu. We've all had the flu before.

Have you been tempted to tweet crazy stuff because you had the flu? I don't see the connection. why that led to tweets. Yeah, I've lied before, and that's what that felt like. The Texans' defense was so bad. I guess that Bill O'Brien didn't expect them to do it. He's like, he's my man.

We don't claim him. No one claims him. I'm surprised. I was more surprised that everyone, like, how many people follow Scott Zolak? What's wrong? You were offended that I followed him. It's sort of on you. At this point, it's 20-20.

If you've got bad people in your Twitter feed, that's on you. He is entertaining. say this, Greg is smart because we will see him in a couple of weeks on media night at the Super Bowl and we were couched near him a couple of years ago. I mean, if he gets over the hangover. Well, fair question. Go ahead, Greg. I think you can tell a lot by what Bill O'Brien said after the game that basically they had no faith in stopping the Chiefs. And if you think about the start of that game, it wasn't like the Texans were stopping the Chiefs. The Chiefs were stopping the Chiefs. Jay J.J. Watt had a rough day against Mitchell Schwartz. Whitney Mercilist

you know, didn't really make much noise. And then what's ultimately a slow team at the linebacker spot and not a very good secondary, he just had matchup problems everywhere. I mean, Sammy Watkins is making plays. Damien Williams is making plays. Nicole Hardman made a play. And there was a tweet about Mahomes in the locker room after the game, like laughing while looking at the statute and they asked what.

And he was surprised how many rushing yards he had. Like Mahomes, to me, this is just another example of that he's the biggest dangerous weapon. whatever you want to call him. To me, he's the most talented quarterback that's ever played in terms of like every box being checked. And this was a great example of it. I mean, those throws he was making on the run to Kelsey were outrageous throws.

The Texans basically had the right defense on those plays. A lot of times with two on Kelsey, and he's on the run thrown across his body. We've taken it almost for granted that Mahomes just does this because no one else is doing this. Sorry, Aaron Rogers. He's not like no one else is doing it at this level when Mohan's cooking.

Well, Aaron Rogers has done this. Yes. It's kind of perfect that it happened this weekend. Last year, Mahomes was the bell of the ball and the MVP. He threw 50 touchdowns, all that good stuff. And then Lamar Jackson Mania took over. And Jackson deserves every bit of positive, you know, energy and comments his way because he was incredible this season. But on the same weekend that Jackson stumbles and goes out of the playoffs, I felt like this was just Patrick Mahomes reminding everyone, dude, I'm the best.

I am at the top of my game right now and I can do things nobody else can do. I would say also because it's always every, the one thing I feel about the Chiefs, it's always lost in the offense and it makes sense because of the gaudy numbers. I don't think they get back into this game with the speed that they do without Frank Clark absolutely devastating the Texans on key third downs, three sacks in this game. And they really, like the Texans offense went to sleep in a big way because they were discombobulated. They allowed 12 sacks in two postseason games. That's a problem.

Frank Clark, we talked about it in the preview show that Clark was a guy that had turned into a major menace in the second half of the season, and he had three sacks, three tackles for loss, four QV hits, and he did it when they needed him to do it because they're playing short-handed. I mean, we're feeling really good about this Chiefs team, right? Absolutely.

Without getting ahead of ourselves. It was not a good defensive performance. I mean, you gave up 442 yards to the Texans. I know special teams was a problem early, but you gave up a lot of big. They're not the same without Chris Jones. To me, this was a lot closer without Juan Thornhill and Chris Jones on the field to the let's get by and let's count on Patrick Mahomes to put up 40 plus points type of defense, then a defense that was really making a lot of plays.

I mean, Deshaun Watson played great in this game, too. He made a ton of plays. I mean, the Texans' offense, to me, with Wolf Fuller, played well enough to win this game. Well, this defense isn't, they're not stout enough to stop Derek Henry. But the difference is when the Chiefs fall behind, Mahomes is going to pass him out a bit. When the Ravens fall behind, they're not meant to be a past first operation. They're meant to be a run-first operation. Right.

It is, I do like that Will Fuller playing this game. He had 5 for 89. Hopkins goes 9 for 118. Kenny Stills gets a touchdown early where they victimize Sorensen. To me, this was the Texans team. That's fine. You saw the representative effort and they weren't good enough. That's fine.

But to find the Texans, you have got to go into next season with a duplicate of Will Fuller that is actually able to produce on a week-to-week basis. That's what Kenny Stills was supposed to be. Well, and he's made some plays this year. He has. He made a play in this game. The numbers, and you broke it down last week, when he's not on the field, Will Fuller. I mean, the offense is compromised. You've got to, they have work to do.

I think they have, they're in a good spot, though, relatively. Even though, they trade away that first-round pick. The offense is pretty young. It has good continuity. They have all the cap space in the world. The defensive players, for the most part, other than maybe like DJ Reeder are all under contract for next year. Like, we know Bill O'Brien's going to spend money.

I mean, there's no reason not to expect them to be right back in the mix and maybe be better defensively. Romeo Cornell might retire or get forced to retire. Why is it Honey Badger still on this team? Why did they let him go in the first place? Could they not afford it last year? That's a good question. My sense would be a good piece.

They didn't think he was worse. the top level money that Kansas City got and they were wrong. And I think Honey Badger wanted to go play for a Super Bowl team. All right. A couple more numbers and then I want to throw it to Andrew Reed for the last word. The Chiefs of the first team in NFL history, regular season or playoffs to trail by 24 plus points in the first half and be tied or leading entering halftime. Again, truly unique.

The Chief scored 51 points in a span of 32 minutes. And they also announced on their big video board late in the game that they had run out of fireworks. at Arrowhead because the Chiefs had scored so many points and so many times they ran... That's a humble break. Out, that was. And finally, here's Andy Reid on what he, you know, said and what he was projecting to his players when things were looking very bad. I just said, listen, this isn't you.

I mean, let's just get back, relax. Pump the brakes here for about a second and focus, refocus, and let's go. I mean, it's that simple, really. I mean, you're in that situation. You've only got a few quarters to play this game. So you've got to get it done and no need to panic, right? That's not going to help it at all. So you just try to fix the problem and it's kind of what we did.

Speaking of Mitch Haltes, I listened to a tiny bit of the radio broadcast near the end of the second quarter. And he pointed out that Andy Reid is the king of the flashpoint. Like he is a guy that when things are going sideways, one of his great skills as a head coach is getting a team under control, making sure they don't panic, making the adjustments and also being that type of. of figure that you could kind of not get spooked by, get spooked over. So, Reed, good coach, good number one overall pick in the coach's driving. It was you, Dan, I think, who said that you had a envision. That one, very nice pick. Of course, you circled back.

But you envisioned him at opening night of Super Bowl week. Want him on the riser. I mean, you put a lot of people into that envisioning role this one. You put Rogers there. I'm sure there's three or four. I think you're going to get your wish on Reed. To me, with the Ravens out, Mahomes Reed, that's the A story.

At least for me, I'm sure obviously fan bases would feel differently. You're confusing me with Greg, by the way. He wanted someone on the riser. I couldn't remember. Kirk Cousins was. I wanted cousins. I know, but I dismissed that vision at this point. Titans are freaky, though.

Andy Reed's one of the greatest coaches of all time. I mean, to me, he's much more of a Hall of Fame than some coaches that are in the Hall of Fame. And he's got his young quarterback. Like this, if ever there was a time, this is his time. The Patriots lost to give him this by, you know, the Ravens lost to set up home field advantage. Like, if not now, then when? Speaking of Zolak.

To give it to them, he took it. Yeah, one of his crazed maniacal tweets Zolak today was, and none of this would be happening if we just beat the Dolphins. Well, that's true. So how about to take care of business? Let it go, bro. All right, let's head to halftime. By the way, you mentioned coaches that belong in the Hall fame.

Jimmy Johnson. Oh, yeah. One of the great studio moments I've seen in a long time was the big man from the Hall of Fame. Your boy, Mark. David Baker. He's bigger than a front door. He lumbers out.

Literally. That guy is a man, and he makes the official announced that. Jimmy Johnson immediately knows what it means when he sees Big Man Baker coming out. You can fit all four of us inside of David Baker's form. He's a man. And Jimmy Johnson, on live television during the halftime of the late game, finds out he's going to the Hall of Fame in part of the NFL 100 class. The day before, the same dog and pony trick was playing.

well, Baker went cross-country. He was in New York for the CBS show and Bill Cowher also getting in. But the Jimmy Johnson one was excellent because he could barely talk. He was so choked up. All of us with asthma were running for our inhalers when it looked like he was so choked up

that he was having trouble breathing. And I thought, whoever the producer was that said, let's shoot, let's get a Troy Aikman shot here. That was gold. Yeah, and I think like we talked about our favorite announcer duos at this point. And I had to go with Aikman because of just my early football fandom and what that Cowboys team and what Aikman meant to me.

But Jimmy Johnson is so tied and woven into that. I know that he was there for, you know, about half the time that Akeman was, but he changed NFL history. And I feel, honestly, we're at the point where it's not just these old-timers getting to the Hall of Fame. It's people that we watched and kind of bathed in their careers and saw them do what they do. And I honestly, because I was walking in as it was happening, and Dan was like, get over

here. It made me feel something to watch Jimmy Johnson. and I did, and that was a whole different experience. But it was, these are the things that like... The first thing Mark felt all weekend. These are the things that make me love football because it's like, it is a crowning achievement on someone that probably should have been in a long time ago.

He's one of those guys, too, all the other coaches revere, like Belichick and all the other coaches revere him as one of the all-time greats and couldn't understand. And it wouldn't surprise me if not only Belichick helped him get in because he was on this panel. But our old friend Elliot Harrison and Gil Brant, who Elliott would stump so hard, for Jimmy Johnson, and he was in that room as part of the panel.

So I think Jimmy Johnson was a guy who was like a mistake getting corrected. Actually, I have footage of when I called Mark. I was like, Mark, come here. Sit on my lap. Oh, yeah. That is. It's been a weird show. That is not how that went.

I remember learning like five years ago that Jimmy Johnson was not in the Hall of Fame, and I was just shocked by that. Right. How is he not in the Hall of Fame? People forget how much of a wild leap it was to have a college coach come in and suddenly take over an NFL team. Cowers moment really got upstaged, you know, because it was a cowers moment was great too. Nice moment for Bill to.

It was great. In other future Hall of Fame head coach news, the Cleveland Browns have made a higher. How dare you. Vikings offensive coordinator. Kevin Stefansky is their new head coach NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport reported Sunday morning. Comes a day after the Viking season ended in that loss of the Niners, which we'll get to in a little bit. but that didn't deter the Browns, who after eight interviews, Robert Sala, the Niners, D.C. was very close to getting the job, it sounds like, as well, but did not happen. They go with Stefanski, who was the 18th full-time head coach in franchise history, but I believe, what is it, 12?

It's a lot in the last decade or so. Anyway, Mark, Stefanski, in for Freddie Kitchens, your take. Well, it leaves me, you know, it's hard to even know who Kevin's, Fanski is. So I, to wait and see on that. And they, and they've interviewed him now for about the range of 16, 17 hours over two off seasons. And Paul DiPatesta, their analytics guy, wanted him last year and got his way this year. And I truly do think he got his way because the, the word essentially is that Josh McDaniels went in there. And what he wanted to do was suggest massive sweeping changes to the Browns, top down, take the organization, put it

in the blender and recreate it in Josh McDaniel's image. The woodchipper. Right. And Stefansky, and I mentioned here on a tweet that I thought he looks to me a little bit like a hot dad with a complicated home life and a Netflix dromedy because he certainly is a good looking coach. It looks the part. I don't know much more about him at this point.

So that's the end of my commentary on him. But it was Stefanski who went in and said, I will work with D. Podesta, which includes at this point, it sounds according to reports, having an analytics person in your headset. which is not offensive. That makes total sense to me. A lot of coaches do that. A lot of do that. So if they weren't doing that,

you're catching them up and that's fine. But also, Jimmy Haslam did not want to part ways with certain structures and certain people inside the organization. So I think whatever happens with Josh McDaniels down the road and where he goes, they will always be measured by these other coaches

that they did not bring into the building because Stefanski essentially would do what Haslam wanted to do without blowing up the apple cart. What about the report from Dustin Fox? that the new head coach will have to hand in his homework on Friday so D. Podesta can take out his red pen and make it copious notes all over the game plan. I mean, I don't, again, like, I, the Browns are going to get killed with that kind of report. Other teams are viewed as forward thinking and right where they should be because, you don't

have to defend the Browns here. What would you think if any team decided that all the work you put in during the week on your game plan, we have to run this through our analytics guys to see if it's okay? I think that the Browns have been B-line dysfunctional and that feels a little bit like you're not empowering your coaching staff to me but again I want to see what 31 other teams are doing on that one of the things we hit on the show

every year at this time of like the front office and the coach being totally aligned and it's tricky when you're not hiring both at the same time and this is what happens. You have a group of people interviewing potential coaches where if you hired McDaniels he would essentially make some of the people interviewing, you know, redundant or out of a job. So, of course, they're not going to hire him.

And that's, that's sort of, that's potentially problematic. But if the structure that Haslam actually is setting up, you know, is a good idea, then it'll work out fine. I mean, it's just, you know, past history doesn't give him the benefit of that it has. Not at all. Josh McDaniel's not hired. It looks like he'll be back in New England for another year at the very least. I feel like Browns fans seem to be hoping it was McDaniels

But it doesn't feel like a huge miss there I mean No but I think that like I kind of like Sala Just because I wanted to see what I just Sala felt like a wildcard Well there also did you see the clip where There was some sort of interview being staged And there's a Niners sort of office door behind it

And the door barrels open And Sala runs through on his cell phone And like sees the camera and darts off screen And everyone's like, was he talking? of the Browns on this phone right there because it was like right before the Vikings Niners game which we'll get to.

Real quick, because this would fall through the cracks otherwise. The Broncos make a move on their coaching staff that surprised people. Rich Scangirorello. Skangs. Skangs.

He's out after one year as the O.C. there. And he's replaced by Pat Shermer, the recently dismissed head coach of the Giant. Shermer obviously has a long history as an offensive coordinator and an offensive mind.

That makes sense that they would want to bring him in the building. But people were surprised, Greg, that this whole angle, Drew Locke, he's had the nice ending to their season. Their offense got better near the end of the season. Why kind of blow things up and start over? Your thoughts? I think Elway, John Elway, just is dead set on improving this offense. And they weren't in love with, you know, Skangs as a first-year coordinator.

They're getting a guy who has a lot more experience in Shermer. I'm not sure you're going to go wild about Pat Shermer either, but kudos to him for the old double dip. He's going to be getting that nice Giants head coaching check and then get a little something for Mr. Raleigh. Vic Fongio was determined to upgrade this offense, and it was not improved at the end of the year. They averaged 289 yards and drew lock starts compared to 308 from the other quarterbacks.

And they were the only team in the NFL to finish bottom five and all four of points, yards, third down percentage, and red zone percentage. Maybe this is a little Raville Magnifico that, despite what Elway said at the end of the season, he's not that freaked out that Drew Locke has to start over with the new coach, because maybe he's not in love with Drew Locke anyway at this point. Wow. I'm just saying, if he really did finish strongly and you really believed in this kid, he's my future, maybe you would hesitate to make a change here?

I saw, for the sake of continuity. And Sherman is solid, but I did see a, tweet that's stuck in my head a little bit, just like Shermer's, you know, gone a long way the last few years with, you know, on the reputation of an offense where Case Keenum played like Lamar Jackson for eight days, for eight games, you know, like where Case Keenum was just basically running around and made. What comparison did you just make? Like, like, Case Keena was running around and defenders were like clashing into each other, like falling all over before he threw like a 60-yard bomb and suddenly, suddenly Pat Shermer's getting all the credit for it. I mean,

that was a bad, like, can you remember that? That was a wild time, the Kiskeen and Vikings half season. That was a wild time. All right, that ends our halftime. Let's get back to action. Let's head to Baltimore. Shocker at the bank. Tannahill under center.

Play fake. Tannahill, looking, throwing deep down field going for Raymond. Who's there? Can he hold it? Yes. Touchdown. Titans. Caliph Raymond went to the ground as he laid out.

Selling out and scoring in the divisional round. The hay is outside the barn. It's everywhere. And it's not going in for the Ravens. As Mike Keith just told you, it was exactly the opposite of what people expected. The Titans show up and blow the doors off the Ravens. 28 to 12 at the bank.

Ryan Tannihill making big passes early on. Derek Henry doing what Derek Henry does. 30 carries, 195 yards. That's big boy football, Chris Wessling. And here we are. The 9 and 7 Titans have now won two playoff games, and they knock off the number one seat in the AFC and the team that everyone seemed to believe

was the number one team in the NFL. How'd they do it? Well, I loved what Vrabel said after the Patriots game when they asked him about how do you measure a team's toughness, and he said short yardage, both lines, kick coverage in the run game, and the Titans excelled. in all of those areas.

And I think everybody knows that the two fourth down stuff were the turning points in the game. After the first one, first play, Tanna Hill hits that perfect play action bomb to Cleef Raymond. And after the second one, on third and one, Derek Henry goes 66 yards after that. Those were backbreakers. I did think the other really deflating sequence was that drive just before halftime, Lamar Jackson's best drive of the game, where Ian Eagle is trying to tell us on third and sixteen they should go conservative and just you know go for something and just punt it back

to the Titans and he ends up hitting the pass and then the bird taking astray here that great one-handed catch by hollywood brown in the middle of a bermuda triangle of titans defenders but it's so deflating to have the clock beat you right there and you run out of time got a shot at the beard while we're here no just like i ain't go what are you talking this is 2020 not 1994 you You don't just run the ball into the line on third and 16? I know it sounds. Come on. I would like to hear more.

Come on, Bird. That's a big stage for you, Bird. We've kind of liked, you know, Eye Eagle in the past. You're a huge fan of the Bird and the Beard. Mark once told an entire barful of people, they better start respecting Iron Eagle. Well, they weren't. Did they respect them by the end of the night? I don't know what the message was extremely clear, but I know this sounds so basic.

but the one thing that hit me watching like the Baltimore's two losses this year was the only way to kind of get them out of the monstrous flow they seem to get into in every game was to get lucky with major mistakes and they and turnovers and that's what happened in this game and it and unlike the Chiefs I really expected I was watching this at home with Colton who was like thought the Ravens were going to know the Super Bowl was kind of blown away by what was happening because the Titans like are just not had not been on everyone's radar to this degree especially

not this juggernaut version of the last couple weeks, and they could not get out of their own way. And I just waited and waited for them to get back on track, in their flow, start doing what the Chiefs did down the stretch today, and it never happened. It was like observing just a bad dream that you expect to wake up from, and it's actually October 8th, and they're 7 and O. I wouldn't say that Lamar Jackson and the Ravens were on tilt in this game, but you could see it in their faces and you could sense it in that crowd that there was a bit of shock that they don't play from behind they haven't been in these situations i think part of the shock was it didn't feel like there was this was luck that was leading to the titans uh pouring it on and

jumping out to this 14 nothing lead and essentially coasting to a win they just got beat and they got beat handily and that is pretty hard to figure out and we were talking about it last week mark you were making the point that people tend to get too wrapped up in the team that just played and forget about the buy week. This was the other side of the coin where the team that had the buy and then the team that was so good that they didn't even play week 17,

their big guys, they come out and they did look rusty. And I do not want this to be like the storyline that everyone talks about. But it's fair to bring it up that the Ravens were just cooking all season. They disappear for 20 days and when they come back,

they're a different team. They were taken out of their element. I mean, they're running backs had nine carries in this game. Ingram's injury killed them. They missed Mark Ingram A lot. They did. He had a run or two or he looked okay, but, you know, they didn't use Gus Edwards.

They just didn't, like, hand the ball off. You know, when Mark East Brown is catching seven, Sneed catches six, you know, it's just like that's not exactly who the Ravens are. And I give so much credit to the Titans for taking them out of who they are, especially on offense. You know, the Ravens, the Titans offense, that is, the Ravens built their team from the back to the front. And I think the Rams did this.

I think the Patriots did this. I think the Titans have done this. That it's an interesting, maybe smart way to use your cap space, build up this big secondary and they've been blitzing like crazy. All the monies back there. They couldn't even play those guys. Like Jimmy Smith barely played in the game because the Titans didn't have many receivers on the field. They had to defend something.

They weren't really totally ready to defend. You can't blitz every down, which is basically what they did all season, when the other team's not throwing the ball, it was like they kind of neutered what the Ravens were doing so well. And I think that was true on the other side, where they really dared them to pass all game and the Ravens obliged and they couldn't do it. I felt like Lamar Jackson's passes were, you know,

he's been a crisp thrower in other games to the point where that was one of his biggest, you know, elements of growth this season. He just seemed to be off. And how many, name another game for Baltimore this year, where they had a drive crumble at the 36 with an interception, another one crumbled at the 31 with the Lamar Jackson pick and then a drive that crumbled on downs at the Titans 18.

They left points on the board and then they got into a really rough position in the second half. I actually think Lamar played and threw the ball pretty well after the first quarter, but the short yardage runs that got stuffed were an absolute killer. Why is he throwing the ball 59 times? He had three turnovers. I'm not really going to put the first one on him.

That was the sort of bad luck that you're talking. talking about, that suddenly it got spooky. That was basically a drop by Hayden Hurst. The other two turnovers were on him, and that's not what he did during the season. I mean, he threw a bad pick, and he fumbled and lost the ball that he shouldn't have. And that fumbled to me was pretty telling that game, too. Jeffrey Simmons just took the ball away. I am forgetting right now who was the Raven that was there.

But when Lamar fumbled it, there was a Ravens player there first. It seemed like he had recovered. And Jeffrey Simmons just comes in there and steals the ball. And, like, that was kind of, like, one of the big plays of the game is he just, like, grabbed it away from him. And on the flip side, you have Jono Smith making one of the better catches we've seen in, you know, 10 years worth of the playoffs. The split-butchee catch.

They were just making, they were making plays. And the little trick play from Derek Henry into... Beautiful jump-up. Come on, I mean, they just, they got creative. And they, against the Patriots, they didn't care about New England's legacy. They didn't care about Foxborough or any of that nonsense or Scott Zoluck. They had no fear. And my question was, would that carry over to this?

week, because we talked about the Titans being loose, but the Ravens have been loose the entire season, and they just simply carried on with the same exact force and power of a week ago. You talk about that no fear, and to me, the one play that is emblematic of the Titans team is Derek Henry shoving Earl Thomas around, and the stiff arm and then shoving him in the back. I wrote an article in 2016 when John Robinson was hired as GM. Their purpose in life is going to be get big and shove around all these teams that are going nickel and dime packages, getting small and speedy at linebacker, and the Titans plan was let's draft Jack Conklin at right tackle, put him with Taylor Luan, pick up some guards, and plow Derek Henry through your

defense, and that's what they've been doing. This is a tough team, and they remind me so much, Mark, we're old enough for this, John Riggins and the Hogs with the Redskins, where they are on a historically great playoff run with their running game. When the Texans go up, nothing, then 21-0, then 24-0-0-0. The reason why I felt like the Chiefs had a chance is because the Chiefs were so explosive, obviously. And the Texans, they didn't have like a Derek Henry. That's why, once it got to 14-0-0 in this game,

like they also have Derek Henry, who is the evolutionary Earl Campbell right now. You knew the Ravens were in serious trouble. And I do not want to overshadow what the Titans did because, and the Titans fans always think I'm against you. I am really, how could you not be outst- I mean, how impressive they played. It was incredible.

But I keep going back to I cannot believe the egg that the Ravens laid in this game. I mean, they were eight for eight in the regular season on fourth and one. They go 0 for two in this game. That's insane. They had five drop passes, according to PFF, the most in a game that they've had all season. And it just, and, you know, Lamar Jackson, who I didn't think played poorly, but it's crazy. He threw it 59 times. He ran how many times, 20 times?

He touched the ball on more plays in this game than any. any quarterback in NFL history. It's like, in any game. It was just like, in that crazy? With Mark Engingham banged up, just like, Lamar, save us.

And one player can't do it all. He ran for 143 yards. It's crazy. And there was a lot of that padding at the end of the game. But Marlon Humphrey, the Ravens Safety, he was very honest about what he felt

happened to Baltimore in this game. You've got to look yourself from here, and I think it's this team right now, his identity is to get the playoffs and choke. And just, you know, it is what it is. that's just the hard truth. Really?

They haven't won a playoff game. You know, they've lost, they lost, they've, you know, the Jaguars have won two more playoff games in the last five years in the Ravens. The Ravens haven't won any. Such a short span of time. Right, I don't think that's true that that's their reputation. I think he's just, that's his way of dealing with anger. And a defense, like, you know, the offense for the scoring 12 is wild.

That's the lowest that a, the highest scoring NFL team has ever scored. But the defense played pretty poorly, too. as good as the Titans' defense was in short yardage, I think of the three runs that Tannahill picked up. And Tannale's not getting a lot of love for these performances, but he had one for a touchdown where he made a great decision not to pass it off, made a great read, like kind of bowled over a guy into the end zone. That's a type of Lamar Jackson play.

He had another first down he picked up with his legs that led to the first touchdown of the game right near the goal line. And he had another quarterback sneak later in the game. So I know his numbers have. haven't been, like, unbelievable. He's playing well. He's done his job. They just haven't needed it.

They're just doing it a different way. It's pretty incredible, though. Under 100 yards passing in both games. And they've won easily both games. First quarterback to win two playoff games in a row like that since Terry Bradshaw in the steel. I forgot who tweeted this, but their hope was that the Titans would win the Super Bowl. And over the course of four playoff games, Tannenho would throw for less than 400 yards, which seems possible.

By the way, footnote, Dan, you won your lock. I, not boldly, not boldly, locked up the Ravens, kind of hedging my bets trying to get into a late season showdown with Greg. The Ravens always screwing you. It doesn't matter what the contest is. There is a history of that. But Dan and I now sit two games behind Greg, so we are just aiming for a three-way tie.

And whatever he does for one out. All the thing he needs to do is get one pick right in the last two weeks. Yeah, I just got to get one right here. Lamar Jackson set career highs in completions, 31, incompletions, 28, pass attempts, 59, passing yards. 365. As Greg mentioned, he runs for 143 yards. He really did stuff the stat sheet. And if your box score scouting again, you're saying, wow, he had one of the great NFL games in a losing effort ever. But that wasn't the case either. He didn't bring his A game either. It's just, to me,

remarkable what happened here. I was kind of proud of football Twitter. You had to kind of hunt for people to have lousy takes on Lamar Jackson after the game as if they were going to bury him. You had to go and find them. They weren't out there. I found a couple howlers. If anything, the more annoying thing was the guy in the press conference, and this happens all the time, who goes, you know, Lamar, you know, a lot of people are going to be saying, you know, that you struggled with the playoffs. How hard is it going to be for you to deal with, you know, people saying that? It's like, you said it. You don't have to ask that. You don't have to ask that.

They say. Right. It's like, people are going to be talking about your playoff struggles. No, man, you're talking. Own your criticism. All right. The Ravens. A little punk.

The Ravens go home. Get that little punk. Well, put a name on it. I don't know who it was, actually. I did rewind it because I kind of wanted to figure out by the voice. Who it was, but I couldn't tell. I do want to get, I don't know what it does or what it doesn't do, but the little calf massage.

Oh, I like that thing. Taser gun that Mark Ingram was using. And you knew once he was doing that, he's like, oh, they're done. Wait, it was a taser gun? It was like pointed and it was going up and down. It was like violently massaging his calf. I have one of those. I have one of those things, and it's the goddamn best thing in the world.

I mean, it got them back on the field. It's not pointy like that. No, it's the more conventional one you've probably seen. Like, you see them on the sideline sometimes. On that trip, you guys, I consider it like a third child. You know I went on a trip with Markeringer, by the way. Mentioned that, yeah. But there was a player that had the massage thing Greg is talking about, and I thought about that,

but this one was much more, this was much more pointed and very dangerous looking. A masculine, almost like a medieval weapon. Yes, it looked medieval to some degree. quick update on rhoda keisha's mom big lamar jackson fan she had sewed her own like lamar jackson raven's pants and socks and went to buffalo wild wings to go watch the game and you know she went to bdubs she went to bs it's tough out here for a st louis rams fan by the way we don't have a sponsor so bdubs come at us she was kind of desponded but had a really positive attitude after the game and basically said this is a confident growing quarterback and it's a good team all they have to do is

get stronger next year, surround him with better weapons, and we're talking about an MVP embracing the challenge and coming back even better next year. Sounds like a mother. It's hard to get back. It is hard to get back, but they are set up great. Marshall Yonda might retire. Jimmy Smith is probably gone,

but they have not nearly as many changes as they made a year ago, cap space, like, I don't know. They're set up pretty nicely. Is Derek Henry going to have the greatest playoff run in the history of the NFL for a running back? He's been on top. He's entering the conversation now.

Yeah, they need to win this next one. Oh, my God. Unbelievable. So the Tennessee Titans will play the Kansas City Chiefs and the AFC title game at Arrowhead. Let's close it out with the first game of the weekend at the big bell bottom. Third down and now here comes the gold rush.

Cousins back throws out. Right. Intercepted by Richard Sherman. And Sherman will take it back inside the 30-yard line. Drop down the Minnesota 28-yard line. Your best player. are playing their best right now. Good call there, Greg, Papa.

Niners Radio Network, Richard Sherman. He saw it coming. He read Kirk Cousins. He made the play, a big interception. The Niners get the ball back. They run it eight times in a row for a touchdown. Goodbye. Game over.

San Francisco cruises to a 27 to 10 win over the overmatched Minnesota Vikings. Mark, the Niners dominated this game on defense and in the running game. I don't care what arrow we're in. You're in good shape when you're doing that. I mean, it's one of those games where you could tell within five or six minutes that the Vikings, and they have done this a number of times late in this season,

pulling Wes, as you tweeted just an ultra no-show, they just were not there. And that's why I just consider the nine are so dangerous, because they got finally healthy on defense. And I thought Dee Ford made a couple plays early that mattered. You're getting big plays from Kendrick Bourne. You've got Tevin Coleman, who's been relatively, you know, not, really the big part of this lineup used excessively. Kyle Shanhan must have just thought this is the guy to lean on this week. Jimmy G. doing what he needed to do, one turnover early, but really

made a lot of great throws. And they just absolutely dominated. The Vikings to me did not. The one thing that concerned me, and we mentioned this on the preview show, was you have to establish right away Dalvin Cook, like they did a week ago against the Saints. Oh, they tried so They really, really tried to the point where it was like, give me a break. But he had, like, I think he had 18 yards on the entire day, and they just could not play the kind of offense they wanted to play. And at the point where we talked about Kevin Stefanski, and they were saying that Cleveland was looking at that game as a referendum of Sala versus, you know, Stefanski. I mean, Sala absolutely dropped an A-bomb on the Vikings. So I don't know how they came out with the answer they did on that front.

But this was, you're going to get one. You're going to get one. I don't have to think about it too much. No, I don't. But you're going to get one of these. Every divisional round weekend, I feel like, just an absolute, almost you have to just sit back and accept it, a beat down. And this is what, this is, I think Vikings fans probably within 15 or 20 minutes of kickoff just said, I understand we're not, we are not going to compete in this game. This is an easy one to digest if you are a fan of the losing team because, yeah, they're out gained.

Well, the Niners only put up 300 and eight total yards are off offense. But when you put up 147 and a big chunk of that comes on a digs play early on, they just were unable to do anything in this game. And it was so clear, even though they were hanging around score-wise for much of the first half and even early in the third quarter, the game just felt over pretty quickly. Yeah, even in that third quarter, the 49ers were only up by a little bit, but they had 20 first downs to the Vikings four at that point. That's a perfect stat to look at.

And then 12 straight runs down your throat to put the game out of reach. That's just disrespectful. And a reminder about the 49ers that when they're healthy, This team is exceptionally deep and talented To the point where you've got Matt Breda as a garbage time afterthought You can do things like put Emmanuel Mosley in your starting lineup And take a Kello Witherspoon out if he's struggling a little bit They've just got a lot of parts that they can move around

You can have D Ford as a designated pass rusher when he's healthy Quine Alexander in there making plays This is a deep deep, deep talented team Yeah, that drive where they just ran it down their starts And really the whole game if you watch the two running games I kind of was thinking, you know, you had Kubiak on one side, and you had Kyle Shanahan on the other side. And he's like, I am the real Shanahan.

I am the real son of Mike Shanahan. We have the Broncos running game. We're the offensive line that you can just put in anyone behind like Rahim Moster or, you know, whoever it is, and we're going to be able to run the ball, whereas you have an all-pro running back, and you're trying to be the Shanahan running game, and it's not really happening for you.

And I think the surprise was because coming off of last week, and one of the reasons I think, Greg, that you were high on them was that the Vikings defense looked like they had turned a big corner, but it mattered a lot to get Mike McGlinchie and Joe Staley back at tackle. I mean, to your point, when they're healthy, now their line is healthy again. And I just, I don't see an overt weakness because you don't have to have Jimmy G do what Patrick Mahomes is doing.

He threw for 131 yards, but they imposed the will. We've got a lot of these playoff teams at this point that when you run the ball at this time of year, like, and I know that's super cliche, but the Niners simply do it effectively. and the Vikings did not have a first down in the second half until five minutes left when the game was over. Well, this defense that was so unbelievable in the first half of the year, partly because of injuries, but I'm not putting at all on injuries that they weren't the same down the stretch. You just wanted to see that kind of before. And you saw it. I mean, Armstead, Bosa, and Buckner combined for 22 pressures.

I mean, those three guys alone just, they killed him. I mean, Cousins didn't play well. He had a bad pick. there was a couple times where he had some time and he just took an easy checkdown. I mean, Dalvin Cook had six catches for eight yards, but I don't know. I don't think it would have mattered if he played well in this game. Claibon tweeted this, so credit to him, but how about your quarterback makes a play out of structure just one time? Right.

How about when the running game is shut down, you find a way to make plays when they pressure you? I mean, you're allowed to do that. And for the second time in four weeks, they basically came one floater to Stefan Diggs away from 100% inaptitude on offense. My lasting image from this game was just cousins with his hands over his ears. He's like, I can't hear. I mean, didn't you guys see that?

A million times in this game as he's just like, he's kind of shaking his head trying to hear the play call because it's so loud there and then he's taking a checkdown. It's been a good year at the big bell bottom. Yeah?

For a stadium that's gotten a ton of heat and criticism to the point where some people can't even sit on one side of the stadium because it was built in the wrong direction. There's all sorts of heat around Levi's Stadium. but there have been several spots where that place has sounded loud. Here's a stat that, where was it?

Did I lose it? I was so excited talking about the big bell bottom. Well, while you get there, you know, one visual that I thought illustrated how this stadium had an ability to explode was when Joey Bosa, who was dominant yesterday with two sacks, was down on the ground near the end of the game with an injury, and it looked like he wasn't moving for a bit, and he was kind of whispering and not moving to the trainers. and then they kind of got away from him and his body started shaking like Hulk Hogan

or what's the, they talk about all these other wrestlers Ultimate War. Just like his body and like rising up, stood up and just started dancing up and down the field and the state and he went literally not. It was his Rod Tidwell moment from Jerry McGuire. It was beautiful. Yeah, exactly. After Rod Tidwell suffer is a massive brain injury.

He's doing backflips in the end zone. Here's the stat. The 49ers are the second team since the 1970 merger to allow fewer than 30 rushing yards and have more than six sacks in a playoff game. The other team, the 1985 Bears in Super Bowl 20. Anytime you get connected to the 85 bears,

you're doing something very, very good. Oh, my gosh. That is why. It could have been a lot worse. Like, the 49ers didn't need to score more. So I almost felt like they took the foot off, you know, the gas a little bit. Like, they played really well offensively. Five of their first six drives had eight plus plays.

Jimmy Garapolo and his wide receivers made plus. plays, especially early. The numbers aren't that crazy for Jimmy G. But if you look at, I think there was three or four different third and longs, which were high difficulty throws under pressure. And guys like Bore and Samuel and Sanders like made tough catches too off of good throws. Like Jimmy G played well too, kind of like Tannaill.

The numbers weren't great. But other than the interception, he played well. Pancake the line packer. Right. Pancake Anthony Borg. This will be very, very tired even by Tuesday's episode. But you are going to get Kyle Shanahan versus Matt LaFleur now, which I think is a nice master student showdown, which we just had that.

Another potential for it. I am the real Shanahan. I don't think Matt LaFleur is the real Shanahan. I mean, he was there in Washington under my Shanahan. That's an aggressive claim by Matt LaFloor. He was there in Hooters once Jeff Darlington introduced me to this brand new Washington Redskins coaching staff. And it was just like Kyle Shanahan and a bunch of his friends.

and they looked, you know, they were 10 years, they were younger than me by a decent amount. How old did Matt LaFour look then? I was like, what is happening right now? The flower, if he can go into San Francisco and get a W, the bearded boy becomes the bearded man. I think he's not a boy now. He's moved beyond boyhood.

Adolescence? He's an adolescent with a beard now. He's the bearded teen. Then he'd be a man with a beard, and no one has a problem with a man with a beard. Richard Sherman, you heard at the top, 38 career interceptions. And he's been down this road before West.

he's been in the NFL's version of the Final Four several times. He knows how to play the narrative game going into the big ball game. People just keep disrespecting us. And at the end of the day, all you can do is go out there and impose your will and execute. And that's what our D-Line and our secondary and our linebackers were able to do. Our offense did a great job of scoring points and taking advantage of the opportunities. It felt good. It felt good.

That's what we look like when we're totally healthy. Have they been totally disrespected? Did I miss something there? Greg, but I was going to say he was talking to me. Oh, right. You were on the Vikings that train, I forgot. I mean, here's what happens. If 15 to 20% of the, like, analysts out there pick against your team, then it's, like, wild

disrespect or whatever. Everyone is disrespect. You know, it's not like, yeah, of course, like, if you have, there's a million idiots like us talking about these games. And so, yeah, like, only eight out of 10 picked the 49ers in an incredibly unpredictable sport. That's the disrespect you'll find. You've got to craft some straw men. That said, it was a horrific prediction.

I mean, this was a one-sided bloodbath. I mean, in your defense, you also predicted the Vikings to lose by 30 points in the Super Bowl. So you didn't totally get it wrong. They lost convincingly. It was just a couple weeks earlier. Any final thoughts? Before these playoffs started, there was one team in the last decade that ran on at least 69% of their plays. Now there are four.

The Titans have done it twice, and the 49ers did it. Wow. It's a running playoffs. It's, yeah, and it's crazy that the Ravens aren't involved, too. I was thinking that with the Titans, it was like this team who's kind of like playing football, a totally different way, you know, went into Baltimore and beat them. Like Ryan Tannahill is your revolutionary leader. Doppelganger.

And Dean Peas is just mowing through organizations who didn't want them anymore. Go up and take out Belichick. Go out and take out of the Ravens. Yeah, the Ravens. Oh, you try to retire me? Please, I'm Dean Pease. Jared Valdeer, Marshawn Lynch, Dean Peas. Retirement means nothing these days.

Bad job, I ask. We talk about coordinators all the time. We didn't bring up Arthur Smith once for the Titans. Oh, my God. Arthur Smith, great job. What a play call on the Derek Connery touchdown. He's been flawless. That's like the perfect call where if that did not work,

everyone would have killed Arthur Smith. Like, but how could you have Derek Henry? And you're trying to get cute on third down in the biggest spot. but, you know, Derek Henry is a baller and great call. He's in the zone, but Mike Vrable isn't just one of these typical defensive coaches who handcuffs his offensive coordinator. He told Arthur Smith at the end of that Patriots game on a key drive, go win the game, call whatever you have to call to win the game.

He didn't say, run the ball, do this to the clock. He just said, go win the game. And I think Arthur Smith is getting a lot of his confidence from Derek Henry, who's the power source of that confidence and Mike Vrable. He's not putting on fourth. Mike Rable arrow up. One of my favorite tropes, also analysis play-by-play tropes of a big game or around a team. That team takes on the personality of their head coach.

The Titans, are there Mike Brable personified? That's a thing. And you don't buy that. Yes. I mean, it's just, you know, whatever. Does that mean if they're a bad team? What are the Packers? They're a flower in full blue.

They're a little boy with a beard. So what are the 49ers? They're like a cool dad who likes Little Wayne. I mean, Kyle Sannan's got to be a little worried here. A little solid, little shunning. As our friend Andrew Hawkins pointed out, he named his kid after Little Wayne and Little Wayne is a Packers fan. That's some problems.

Some problems. You know, he's got a lot of issues, Little Wayne. Chemical, yeah, the dependency. Like, what does that mean for Perry Fuel? If you take on the personality or head coach, does that mean because the Panthers got blown out like four straight weeks that Perry Fuel is like some type of like... I think it's typically when things are going well.

To your point, I feel like it doesn't need to be said. I feel like if you're a football fan, you're watching your team over the course of a year. You feel that. Pointing that out feels a little excessive. I once saw the Bengals take on the personality of Dave Schuller when the linebacker came over and patted him on the head on the sideline. Rough.

All right. Good recap, guys. Oh, the AFC Championship, NFC Championship schedule is as follows. VAMP, somebody say something while I found me to say it? Yeah, go ahead. The Titans and the Chiefs play at 305 Eastern. They're up first. Nice.

And the NFC Packers in San Francisco, 640 Eastern. I like that. I like these matchups. This is nice. There is no matchup where I would be. annoyed and that's usually well usually the patriots are involved here so we're totally in the clear there um yeah it's been a decade unlike julian edelman who's not in the clear right now he is actually they he's in very big danger he got spending the rest of his life in prison well

here's the thing with edelman getting a misdemeanor for jumping on someone's car in beverly hills i you know i did the google maps just to see where that was and it's where i thought it's basically like a uh like a popular shopping sort of street in beverly hills like the last place that you you should be, like, trying to, like, be going out on the, no, it's not even that. It's more just like, who are you trying to fool that, or who are you trying to kid, that you're some sort of, like, cool, tough guy on the town, like, doing things? You're out at Beverly Hills near, like, Earth Cafe. Well, like, give me a break.

What time did it occur? It was after a boozy dinner. That's what I was going to say. I mean, Greg is training like a man walking down the avenue at 3 p.m., you know, having come from eating a piece of cake. This is a very quiet, boring part of, like, the richest part of anywhere. It's pathetic. He may not have been operating at full capacity. It may have been, you know.

It was not a rigorous decision-making process going on in Edelman's head at the time. And I have done dumber stuff in my 40s, so I can't say anything. As have I. I was going to say, yeah, none of us are perfect. But, you know, you're a grown man, 33 years old jumping on Lamborghinis. The first thing I thought when I read it, there's a series of images that came to mind that I'm glad I didn't get caught. for on certain little time. I'm not saying it was I didn't rob a bank or something.

We have a tweet from Paul Pierce. Is that true? I just hear that in my ear. I mean, it's definitely the wrong place to be jumping on cars because they're going to call the police. Everywhere else, that's just Thursday night.

But Beverly Hills, they're like, someone just jumped on my car. Get this, get this Edelman out of here. And it was Amandola and Edelman hanging out together last night? Yikes. And Paul Pierce.

Amandola. That's Rick's people right there. What is he like taking out windows with a baseball bat? What is she said? I think they went out for drinks and he tried to be a cool guy and jumped on someone's car and he can pay it off. He got arrested. We've all done like, you know, I'm willing to like. We've all been arrested?

Yeah, I jump on cars every day. How do you think I get to my car at the end of the night? I hop from hood to hood. Like, it's just what people do. Of course. That's what everyone. That's what they do. I was arrested, but that was college.

That was also for mail fraud. You guys are bad boys also. I've been in trouble. I'm not, I'm not going to say. Anything about Edelman? Stay tuned for the after show where we go through Wes and Greg's rap sheets, arrest by arrest. And we dig into the aftermath and what it meant in terms of the family and the penal system. It's going to be a great show coming up.

Maybe it'll be a segment on our TV show Friday afternoon. Well done. It won't be, but that would be an amazing seg. Six o'clock Eastern, three o'clock Pacific are potentially our last TV show. Also, check out that all-important Saturday 3 a.m. Eastern airing, which is also... Edelman could have watched that. Midnight our time. Yeah.

Well, if they had a TV in the slammer. True. He was in the big house by then. They did not take him. All right. We'll be back on Tuesday. Stan Hans is signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the old boss. Rick Hollywood.

Ryan Bartlett and the whole gang behind the glass. Thank you to everybody. Till Tuesday. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning roster. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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