NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Conference Championship Weekend Recap

Episode Date: January 22, 2018

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler- recap all of the action from Championship Weekend, including a great matchup between the Jags and Patriots, despite it ending as most expected (3:55); Tom Brady playing through a hand injury and what Belichick had to say about it (12:00); The Lock of the Week race is neck-and-neck heading into the Super Bowl after a slip-up by Marc (15:30); A pre-game voicemail from Connie Fox before her Eagles blew out the Vikings (21:00); An interesting former Browns GM’s assessment on Doug Pederson (35:00); Checking in with Gregg Rosenthal from Philly (38:00); And Connie Fox checks in via voicemail after the Eagles punched their ticket to the Super Bowl (49:00).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is the official hair of Redkin. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by head and shoulders. With an assist from Redkin, this is Dan Hansis. And I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Chris Wessling. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. oh yeah championship sunday is here and uh two games one excellent game in the a fc um with a familiar

ending and one surprise blowout in the late game and it made me i was thinking boys uh you want throw another hey dan in there just went out hey dan uh like it um i was thinking that's the one thing like nobody knows anything you know you could study the tape all season. You could look at trends in recent weeks leading up to games. You could study what happened last Sunday leading into the following Sunday. Really the only thing that you could really bank on ultimately is the Patriots. And everything else is kind of a, what do you call a toss-up? You know, because look what happened in the late game today with the blowout, with the Eagles moving on. There's no way to really predict this game. But the only thing

you do know is that Brady and Belichick are the goats. I think there's a lot to be said for as an analyst and what we do to look back on a game, even tonight. as quickly as the game ending 35, 40 minutes ago and having thoughts, having takeaways. But when you shift into the Wednesday, midday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday thing where we have to start telling everyone exactly what's going to happen

in the next wave of games, that's where we start to stumble. Because I don't know if the game, I think the game is probably at its peak in terms of unpredictability right now, and we have a show called Pickham, where we're regularly, overly confidently, as a group, will pick one team.

Overly confident, we'll get them all right. And it's like somehow... But let's not narrow us down to, Mark. This is not just us. This is the entire football cognizant. I'll start with myself, though, because if I'm going to throw it at everyone else, it's like I had should be looking at my own, like, insane predictions that don't come true on a weekly basis.

Playoff time delivers. It's delivered surprises. It's delivered well-played games. And I think in today's NFL, the season seems to start a month late where the preseason extends through the end of September because of the new rules from the, from the, from the latest CBA. You get sloppy football. You get poorly officiated games. Playoffs are delivering, though. And they delivered last year that delivered before that. You know, soon we'll be talking about finances and rebuilding rosters, but for now, I'm enjoying

these playoffs. And as you said, Wes, I know you are not even a closet Patriot fan anymore. That is your new team. You were very, you were happy in the downstairs today. We could all sense it that the Patriots found a way to come back. And we're going to get to that game first. Well, as I've mentioned many times, my loyalty is to good football. And I love watching greatness in any sport. The Patriots are great. And I stand in all of what Brady and Belichick and that whole crew have accomplished. All right.

So this is how we're going to do this. We're going to go through both games, obviously, in, why not, chronological order, just for fun. We also have Greg Rosenthal. We're going to try to get him on the line. He is in Philadelphia. Probably is, you know, he's a little guy, but he's wiry. He has that tennis background. I think it's him shimming up a greased up pole outside the link right now.

I can see it with like a 40. Probably to get away from the drunken masses, which are probably spewed all over those streets right now. Yeah. So Greg's in Philly, hopefully still alive and we'll try to get in touch with him and talk about the game he covered and also his beloved Patriots.

And also I might hear from Colleen too. Oh, wow. An Eagles fan and how exciting this must be for her. right now, but let's start. She might have a few in her, just throwing that out there. Maybe, maybe. I always like to hoist that idea on her that she's constantly somewhat hammered. It's not true necessarily.

It's probably true right now. It's not like way off, though. It's, you know, it's accurate more than my football picks. Let's start in New England on the throne of ease. Brady up under center, takes the snap. He plays down the middle. He fires, and the ball is caught in the back of the end zone by Danny. It's a catch.

Camindola! Touchdown! Patriots. He made the crowd just inside the end line. And New England has taken the lead. I love Tom Brady. Man, Tandy. Playoff Amidola.

It's so money on his drive. Oh, my God. Pulled together so like. Bob Sochi and Scott Solac. Now he's just openly professing his love for another man. WBZ with the call, but not just any man, of course. I love Tom Brady. Because playing with 12.

12 stitches in his throwing hand, according to ESPN's Adam Schaefter. And without Rob Grankowski, after the first half, Tom Brady rallied the Patriots back from a double-digit deficit in a 24-20 comeback win over the Jaguars in the AFC championship game. Jacksonville had a 20 to 10 lead with 12 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, but their offense went quiet. And Brady connected on two touchdown passes to Danny Playoff Amandola. Only Rob Gruncowski, by the way, who goes.

gave him that nickname could give a nickname so unoriginal. But it is accurate because Danny Amadol in the playoffs is insane. Anyway, so that last hookup in a defensive stand sends the Patriots to their eighth Super Bowl in the Brady Belichick era. Wes, the Jags were up for the challenge, but Tom Brady did it again. Yeah, I think for three quarters, it's a lot like what happened in the Falcon Super Bowl last year. It's a lot like what happened in the Seahawks. Super Bowl, where the other team was more athletic, made the Patriots look old, dominated the line of scrimmage, and you don't take out the kneecaps of Tom Brady, and he shreds your secondary.

He shreds, once again, a historically great secondary in the fourth quarter and wins the game. It is, to me, it's like watching Michael Jordan after his baseball career in those last three years with the Bulls, what Brady's been doing the last three or four years in New England. It's just phenomenal to watch. It was really the idea I thought that Jacksonville, the way they were against Pittsburgh, was loose. We are going to go for it. We're going to put our foot on the gas from start to finish.

We're going to go for it on fourth down. We're going to dial up pass plays, a down before you think we're going to pass the ball, play action, all that stuff worked. A lot of it was working today, too, for Jacksonville. The ground game was good. I thought in that fourth quarter, their final four possessions were three punts and a drive that ended on a fourth down. in completion. This was the final four possessions for the Jaguars. And that was the game. It was the New England offense tightening up Jacksonville playing tight on offense down the stretch and then Tom Brady doing his thing. The last four drives for Jacksonville, three plays

nine yards punt, five plays, 22 yards punt, three plays negative one yards punt. And that's set up the go ahead touchdown for New England because it was a bad punt and then a return to the 30. And then Brady took it home. And then finally six plays 32 yards and a turnover on downs. It's hard to imagine a playcaller and quarterback's stock rising to the meteoric degree that Blake Bortles and Nathaniel Hackett did for seven quarters until that final frame when they kind of went in the tank. And Bortles was part of the problem. Hackett's playcalling was part of the problem.

The Jaguars' defense was part of the problem. There's a lot of blame to go around. But I do think you can look back at it and say now, considering the Jaguar's recent comments and the way Bortle's played with Hackett that he's going to be their guy under center next year, too. Yeah, that's an interesting thought because, yeah, he did play well down the stretch. He played well in this game, and I don't think it was all his fault. The counter to that was to what you're saying there, Wes, is them, Hackett,

I thought he called the game scared once they went up 2010. And again, it felt like at the heart of it was don't let Blake kill us here. Right. But that's been a part of their whole philosophy for those seven quarters. even when they were playing well, they didn't want Bortals to kill it. And Bortles, like, I'm glad the game, just for narrative's sake, didn't come down to some grisly pick six he threw because, look, he's strung together some impressive showings this season and a couple that haven't been.

This, I thought, was one of his best games, three quarters in, one of the best games he had ever played in a really rough setting when you're going up against Tom Brady and one of the best coach teams of our life, the best coach team of our lifetime, this Jaguars team felt like they were going to take this game, But our newsroom was openly rooting for Jacksonville. As much as I've seen our newsroom root for one. Absolutely, because I think covering football, it's like you wanted this fresh narrative and you're going into a Super Bowl.

I mean, it just made sense for a lot of people. It's not even just covering football. I believe, and if you follow Twitter and just basically around following the NFL, unless you were in that New England area, and one of the things I hate, it's so broie. People like wear shirts and hats. New England versus everyone, New York versus everyone. That stuff's annoying.

It is kind of true what's happened now. with the Patriots, because everybody does want a new storyline, but it just, like West said, these teams, and I think the last three playoff wins for the Patriots now, they've come back from a 10-point deficit in each game. Well, that's not sure they were down seven against the Titans, but they've had a lot of deficits in these playoff games in the last few years, and teams just don't step on their throats, and I don't know how much of it has to do with the aura around the Patriots and starting to get, you know, tensed up knowing how close you are

to finishing off the team. And then how much of people probably if you're listening to this podcast, you're expecting me to be super salty about the Patriots and do I have a little bit of an issue that the Patriots got one penalty called on them in this game compared to nine for the other team? A little bit wise. Bother me a little

bit. They got away, I thought, with a couple calls. But I am not taking anything away from the Patriots because specifically Brady and Belichick, because everyone else can go out. Everyone else can get hurt. We saw it last year when Gronk got hurt and Edelman was there to pick it up. This time, they have no Edelman or Gronk.

And I think a lot of people thought, oh, this, they're not going to take it. They're not going to be able to handle this. But we saw it again. Brady, I thought Belichick and McDaniels kind of emptied out the playbook once Gronk exited. They got some trickeration involved. And they just went for it. And then when you have number 12 back there, greatness happens. We have two trick plays back to back at one point.

And to go back to our newsroom, you could feel in the fourth. quarter that everything went, even with Jacksonville up, everything went quiet. Because it's not that other, it's not just that other teams don't know how to put their foot on the neck of the Patriots. The Patriots have been in these situations so many times. They simply ultra, they had the ultra belief in themselves. They're going to get out of every one of these situations. And it's like they just spun their own reality at the end here. This is what's impressive to watch. Here's the darkest moment in Foxborough at that mall up there when it really felt like we were watching a replay of the Pittsburgh game.

It's a 7-3 score, and the Jaguars are knocking on the door again. Let's hear from Frank Frangy and Tony Bisselli of WJXL. They give to Fournett running to the middle of the field, lower the shoulders. Leonard Fornett, touchdown. A four-yard touchdown run by Leonard Fornett, and the Jacks have extended the lead here at Gillette Stadium. It's 14-3 in the second quarter at that point. Do you think if they call the game more aggressively, the Jaguars are going to the Super Bowl

in the second half? I don't know. I don't ever detract from the Patriot's ability to come back. And what Mark said about experience, you can never underestimate in sports the expectation of winning and that DNA that you build over decades of being a dynasty and you expect to win every single time and then to be outcoached and you see that delay of game penalty, you see the play calling change for the Jaguars, and then you see Brady with no running game with gronk out like you said edelman out playing with stitches against the best defense all of that

doesn't matter he transcended the moment here's what brady said about those stitches like i said adam shepter reported there were 12 of them and it was right below his thumb in a tricky spot uh here's talking about it after the game i thought out of all the plays my season can't end on a handoff in practice it didn't come this far to end on a handoff and uh I think it sounds kind of arrogant to say, oh, yeah, it bothered me. And when we had a pretty good game, so I wouldn't say that. Belichick, by the way, was asked about the injury. And in classic Belichick deadpan, he said this.

I'm not talking about open-heart surgery here. Yeah, I just, what I, early on, too, what thing that the Patriots took away, I thought, from Jacksonville, was Corey Grant early on giving them an element where, and we saw this in other games, too, where you look at these, these completions for Bordals, they're 17, 20, 26, 20, it was all yards after the catch. And they were giving him, you know, outside of crossers and stuff, these little screen passes and dump-offs that they were at the speed, they had more speed than New England's defense. All of that vanished down the stretch. And Leonard Fournett, who I thought he was clearly not 100 percent, he said he wasn't, ran well in the first half of this game. They took that

away too. And suddenly there was long drives to Jacksonville, suddenly in the first half there'd be five minutes left where Jacksonville is eating up the clock. It became New England's game to win. It just, you know, a hundred times. Those scripted plays disappeared, and you have to give Bortle's credit for the incredible prowess on third downs. And going through his progressions, like you don't normally see him, the Corey Grant plays. Just Nathaniel Hackett, dialing up all these protective plays to cocoon Blake Bortles, and that cocoon is gone in the fourth quarter. There was one moment when Miles Jack recovered that fumble, they're up 20 to 10.

You know, you were later in the game here, and Jacksonville had a chance. Had that been the time that they took that thing down, field and punch it in like the same way they did down the stretch against Pittsburgh. It would have been 2710. I think the game would have been different. Three and out, nine yards punt. Yeah. Then the next drive, New England goes on an eight play, 85-yard march that puts them down

2017. To me, that was the turning point because mentality's changed right there, I think, for everyone. That did feel like I was never thinking the Jaguars had the game in the bag. But when Dionne Lewis gets that ball stripped and he went into Belichick's doghouse right after that, disappeared. for a while. You started to get the feeling, oh, they're going to make enough plays on defense. And I think what also disappeared down the stretch was a pass rush because Brady was taking some fire early on. He was getting some, he was getting hit at one sack in particular. It was memorable in that it seemed like he was seeing ghosts. And it seemed like one of those bad Brady Super Bowl experiences against the giants. But by the end of the game, he was having a clean pocket. This is Brady's stats, by the way. Fourth quarter, nine of 14, 138 and two touchdowns, both to Amadola. Amandola. went five for 57 in the fourth quarter. And that big punt return for 20 yards

that had them almost immediately in the red zone. He follows that up with a diving catch in the red zone and then the toe-tapping touchdown. Amundahl all he does is take pay cuts and make huge plays in the playoff. Right, that punt return set New England up at the Jacksonville 30 versus wherever they would have been. The farther back you can get New England,

the chances of some sort of turnover, some sort of play that Jacksonville's been dialing up all year. If you're going to ask them just to go 30, yards to get ahead. I mean, it's, it was silent in our newsroom. And it was silent for me watching the game because I knew it was over at that point. Ooh, what else is over, Mark? Nothing's over.

This lockoff is over. I lost it to the three of you. Oh, give us a triple lock, Lindsay. The rare triple lock in one game. Number two. Wes, this one's yours. Right here, baby. All right.

All of a sudden, a Super Bowl Sunday is a lot more interesting. a one-game lead for the Sizzler going into the final game of the season. So we're not putting lock-offs into the way this is, I would essentially lose the lock-off in some sort of bizarre tie after destroying people in lock-offs all season. Well, the lot, this is how I, that's my, you want to hear my take on that? Sure.

Is making up a rule in the middle of the season about what's the tiebreaker, probably would affect it how certain people might have done lock-offs. Like, I probably wouldn't have taken the Brown. Sure, okay, I get that. I knew it was a tie-breaker. We'll find out if the Super Bowl is a lockoff. Oh, it will be. If I get pulled into this trap 100 times.

Anyway, so one other thought. The Jaguars, hats off to him. I saw a lot of columns and tweets and all that. I don't necessarily disagree that the Jaguars proved there for real. The Jaguars proved they're here to stay. They probably are, but you never know how things are going to change as we spin forward. and one thing that would kill me as a fan. And it did bring back memories for me.

You know, I don't have a huge reference point with the Jets in the playoffs. But after when they lost in the AFC championship in 2010, they had a third and seven with a chance to get the ball back down five. And Ben Rothersberger rolled out right and found a young Antonio Brown to ice that game. And Jets fans still live with regret. What if Sanchez? Mark Sanchez, of all people, was on fire that day, got the ball back one more chance. that's what I'm thinking as a Jags fan on third and nine the Patriots and even Romo who was out of his mind exuberant in this game borderline a little too exuberant for the first time although I do respect how much he loves the game third and nine Romo calls it out wow I'm a little surprised they're not giving Brady chances to end the game here they're going to hand it off and I think it was James White or Dionne Lewis goes around left end for 11 yards game over you couldn't get that stop to give your offense one more chance but you kind of get the feeling the paths are going to close

that game out either way. I think we all knew that in the fourth quarter. No days off. No days off. So terrible. Did you isolate the audio? Sure did. Look at chill, Lindsay Pulton.

No days off. I had some skills, you know, just a few. Oh, my God. No, that last one. That was a problem. Do you know what their slogan? What he says. It's real.

Yeah. Do you know what their slogan is this year, by the way? No. They have one this year. I don't want. you're going to hear it. I love Tom Brady. Not done. Is that the one? Not done yet, I believe.

Something like that. So get ready to hear Belchick channing that two weeks from like Wednesday. Anyway, so there you go. The Patriots move on. One more gaudy Tom Brady stat. See, what a big man I am. A little with some maturity. I want to piggyback off of this when you're done. Okay. Whatever Tom Brady's accomplished today and whenever he fought through 12 stitches, you're right. You're showing a much, you're putting on much more on. display here, Dan. Thank you very much, Mark. I do not doubt your sincerity at all. It marked the 54th time that Tom Brady has engineered a game-winning performance

leading the Patriots to win when they were facing a fourth-quarter deficit or a tie. Eleven of those have occurred in the playoffs. He's just kind, he's in his own realm now. The Patriots are in their own world historically. They are. And I will save my floweriest praise for the Super Bowl in case Brady wins again about the power of sports and the meaning of legends in our lives. But Brady has reached the Super Bowl in half of his 16 seasons as a Patriot starter in a league built on the twin concepts of parody and socialism. You could take his career at 2009, bisect it in half, and he'd be an automatic Hall of Famer in each halves of his career. He's beaten 22 different quarterbacks in the playoffs.

no other quarterback has more than 16 playoffs wins. And in his last three defining playoff moments in the postseason, he has dissected defense has led epic comebacks, not by posting great numbers, but by controlling the game,

picking on the right players, spreading the ball around, and just absolutely shredding great defenses. And you know what, Wes? I'm still not going to watch his dopey Facebook show, Tom versus Time. I love Tom Brady.

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for the old zooser to use? Why? That's exactly what we have. Oh, my goodness. Bring it in here. Daddy needs to get younger. Plenty more where that came from. Oh, my God. I'm going to do it. I'm going to try it. You actually are going to try it. Because why not? Because just for men, Mark, helps men look their best so they can celebrate who they are, what they achieve, and how they feel. Are you listening, Wes? My beard is screaming. for that. All right. There you go. Get another one in here. They relentlessly innovate and deliver smart hair care technology that does the work for you, making it radically easy to get the natural look you want. And now, reducing your gray is as, and Mark, I'm looking at you. You're getting a little older. I'm seeing some gray in there too. Maybe you should use a bottle.

I'll think about it. Sounds like a quality product, no doubt. Reducing your gray is as easy as washing your hair with Control GX. Just use as your regular shampoo until you like what you see. subtle natural looking results shampoo in rinse out move on it's that easy well i'll let you know if it's easier or not i'm going to bring you the real news you want the truth go to the zeus most guys get the results they want in about two weeks look forward to a smart a smart look get 25% off control gx using the code around at control gx.com again the code around to get 25% off control gx at control gx.com. Oh boy, here we go, Wes.

Let's fly. You know what appeals to me about that? It's the natural look. I tried a beard product a few years ago. And I ended up looking like Greg Williams with some wild dark hair, you know? It's no good. You need the natural look.

Post suspension, Greg Williams had one of the more unforgettable dye jobs. And in this case, it wasn't a good reason to be on. No, but if an evil scientist looked to him back then. But yeah, if they're going to reduce the gray, I just hope that you have the correct color, Dan. that I hope that Lindsay knows what your color is. I'm diving in just for men. Control. GX. Let's fly.

There you go. Patriots move on. It's all up to the Eagles now. And speaking of the Eagles, Colleen Wolf, a hero, an official hero in the around the NFL podcast, that also Pennsylvania native, I think she grew up outside Philadelphia, and a huge, huge Eagles fan.

And I contacted Colleen over the weekend. Mark would probably say, oh, she was probably drunk at that point. No, I think she's often sober, like when she wakes up potentially in the morning. Give me a percentage of drunk to sober, Connie Fox. I'm going to be fair here. I think that it is a very solid 60-40. I reached out to Connie Fox this weekend. I said, hey, in advance of the NFC title game, which I know you're attending, I'm paraphrasing here.

This wasn't the exact text. Would you mind sending me just a quick voicemail right before kickoff and immediately after the game. So as we get into the talk of Eagles and Vikings, let's start by a time machine five minutes prior to kick off Connie Fox's voicemail to the old Zucer. Dan, it's Connie. I haven't left anyone a voicemail in like five years.

You know, I don't really do this whole phone thing. But I got to tell you, I'm on the field right now in Philadelphia. That's not even a humble brag. That's just a straight bag. I'm feeling really freaking nervous about this game and I know Mark Sessler through all sorts of shade against the Eagles and about the Eagles

and to the Eagles but listen here's what I'm going to say I'm puzzled I think that they're going to win I have a feeling that they're going to pull this one out and the Vikings they will not be hosting a home Super Bowl this year in Minnesota

and every the Eagles could do it all right so I'll call you after the game Stay right there. Bye. To the highlights. Keanu takes the snap. Here comes for Lush. He's hit and it's intercepted.

It's picked off by Robinson. Robinson at the 30. Catchback across the field. Patrick Robinson looks for a block. Now he's at the 20. He's at the 15, the 10 to 5. Touchdown! Patrick Robinson!

There's the first interception by an active eagle in playoff history. What a huge play that was. for the second straight week, the Eagles were underdogs in their own building. And for the second straight week, they made everyone look like idiots. Nick Foles played the game of his life, throwing for 352 yards, three touchdowns, and a passerating north of 140 against the NFL's top-ranked defense, no less. A dominant performance that powered the Eagles to a 387 win over the Vikings, who, to use a maddenism, must be wondering, where'd that truck come from?

Mark, this game started with a masterful touchdown drive by Case Keenham, and then everything changed. Oh, that drive was, I mean, it's utterly forgotten at this point, but it was pristine. It was something that made you think the Vikings are going to come out of here with 30-something points in this game if they play this way. The pick-six happens, and then from there, they have essentially a punt, three-and-out, punt, three-and-out, a fumble, a punt, a drive that ended on downs, drive that end of times, at that point, they're down by a hill of points and going forward on fourth down and a pick to end the game. I mean, 38 unanswered points and an utter onslaught. I can't remember a playoff game where it's not just because of the pick six, but after that pick six, the team, the Vikings went completely to sleep. I think the crowd had a lot to do

with it, too. Well, their front four, which we thought at certain times during the season might be the best front four in the league disappeared. For almost the whole game, they had so many coverage bust out of a disciplined defense, normally disciplined, and Nick Fools, I'm going to eat a heaping helping of Crow here, which is probably the best meal I've had in months. I never doubted their coaching staff all year. Flip, Frank Wright, Doug Peterson have been phenomenal. Jim Swartz on the other side of the ball. I doubted Nick Fools. My philosophy on football analysis is you always trust your eyes. You have to. It's the only way to do football analysis. My eyes told me he wasn't good. He hasn't been good for a few years. He was phenomenal in this

game. It looked like an out-of-body experience. He looked like a different quarterback. And what impressed me most was continuing to attack downfield hours after we had seen Bortals kind of go in the tank and stop attacking. Fools just kept attacking aggressively downfield and looking downfield, playing with a confidence that we have not seen out of him. I think you can point to John D. Filippo and you can point to Doug Peterson and the coaches because the one note And you hear this all the time, and it's sort of like, what does it mean? But they said, oh, we really coached up Nick Foles to be loose this week. We just wanted to say, be loose, just have fun.

And it's like a lot of times that can result in just a heap of mistakes from a guy like Foles. And make it worse. Right, because your eyes were not wrong on any level about what we had seen from Foles. The offense went to sleep under him. But then today, the deep ball, which everyone, you know, these stat packages, which is compile and compile. Nick Foles can't throw the deep ball. Next-gen stats tells you he can't throw the deep ball. Tape tells you he can't.

Then today he's unfurling. I mean, it started with Tori Smith dropping what would have been a 54-yard catch, but then Alshan Jeffrey. Tori Smith gets a touchdown. I mean, he's whipping it down. He put the Vikings defense away. It didn't help that Sandejo was lost again.

But in general, guys that have been absolutely pro-bow level defensively all season, none of it showed up for the Vikings. Here's the stat that will tell you everything you need to know about how precise Foles was. Everybody's like, oh, well, 2013 Nick Foles show up again. Well, this guy was better than that guy ever was. On passes traveling 20

plus yards downfield, this is a stat from PFF. He was four of six, including that drop to Tori Smith, for 172 yards and two touchdowns, a pass rating of 149. He was slaughtering them. And let's call out specifically this was the touchdown to put

the game away. And some of these throws he was making downfield, there were a lot of coverage busts. The Vikings played terribly on defense. It was kind of a shock. Dudes are wide open. But some of these throws, came with like a muddy pocket, and he was just eyes down the field, making the throw. Here's the one that really put the game away. Foles steps up.

He is looking. He is going deep and alone. And into the touchdown is Jeffrey. Jeffrey was open at the five. And Nick Foles hit him for a 53-yard touchdown. That was with a 109 to play in the second quarter. And it went from 7-0 in the early minutes of the game to boom seven points

14 points 17 points 24 unanswered points in the to close out the first half and all of a sudden it's 24 7 Wes and let's talk about so foals out of his mind I wish they gave conference game MVP's away because they do that in baseball and it's a worthy award because it's such a huge game in playing his career

but foals would have had it but the Vikings defense Wes like just like the Steelers defense went to hell last week but that was not a great defense, especially with Ryan Shazier out. The Jags defense up and down is the season war on. But the Vikings defense is the one thing we could count on, and what happened? I would say, let me approach it this way. For three and a half months, when I looked at the Eagles team,

the vision I had was Carson Wentz spinning out of pressure to create magic. The vision I have from this one game is Garrett Blunt, absolutely steamrolling Andrew Sendejo on the way to a touchdown. They were the more physical team. They brought the fight to the, the Vikings. They showed up, and that's what the Eagles defense has been all year. That's what their offensive line has been all year. And I thought that the Vikings were similarly built, similarly well-coached, and today the Eagles had a different level to them in all of those

areas. Defense, offensive line, coaching staff, they looked like a juggernaut. No team, no defense in the NFL was better on third down than the Vikings. And then in this game, prior to garbage time, which is the entire fourth quarter, but before a garbage time, the Eagles are nine for 11 on third down, shredding the secondary. And I, as I've said in the last week, a couple weeks, I have a close friend, Greg, who is a huge Viking fan. He's suffered as I've suffered with the Jets. And even he was confident going into this game, because everything, if you studied their games every week, if you've watched how this season unfold, if you watched how Nick Foles looked in the past four weeks since becoming the starter in Philadelphia,

Philadelphia. It all trended towards this Minnesota defense smothering Foles, and it was just a different unit. I mean, that to me is the most surprising outcome of this week. If you said 387, I think most of us comfortably would have thought, if things is going to go totally south, it's probably going to be a terrible game by Nick Foles because we hadn't seen that from Case Keenham. And then for this to be the game where you get Case Keenom's only pick six of the season, and you get his second loss fumble of the season, which those two turnovers changed this game entirely. And you go back to that Saints game, you're up 17 nothing at the half. And lost in the miracle finish was the way that New Orleans went up and down the field on the Vikings in the

second half, 24 points, which you thought, okay, that's a Drew Breeze-led versatile offense. I get it. The playoffs are crazy. But they've given up 62 points in six quarters now. It's almost like this team just went to sleep on defense six quarters ago when you still needed another four from them to win the Super Bowl. It makes you wonder what's in store for them. next year. Because this might be their best chance. And Rapsheet was talking about Keenham possibly getting the franchise tag. I cannot see the Vikings allocating $23 million for a quarterback. As well as Keenham played this year with his skill set that was bolstered by Pat Schumer's coaching, a good offensive line, great wide receivers, a strong running

game. All of that isn't necessarily going to be in place next year. You don't allocate that money to Keenham. I just wonder what's the staying power of this team. That's a tricky decision for the Vikings now. And we have plenty of time to talk about how they're going to play it. But Keenham for three months was everything they could have asked for. And then he came down to Earth. Now, how are you going to view him going forward? They have a big decision to make. 23 million on a one-year deal to Case Keenum. That feels like a hard pill to swallow. My sense is they like Sam Bradford a lot more than everyone else likes Sam Bradford, too. I also, though, one of the biggest supporters in the entire NFL of Sam Bradford is Pat Schumer. Now Pat Schumer's gone. I wonder

if he follows him to if he follows him or that's a good that's a good question or if or just who this the remaining coaching staff will favor because they put a lot of effort into helping Teddy Bridgewater heal as well and you've got all three of these guys heading towards free agency so a lot

of questions it was interesting to me first of all that crowd oh my goodness they gave the Eagles the late kickoff and there were Eagles fans reading you know reading around the web today the Information Super Highway

that they were tailgating from 6 a.m. on. By the time that game started, it was a absolute fever pitch, pandemonium, and then by the end of the game, and you've got to feel bad for Vikings fans for a lot of reasons, number one, their team's not going to the Super Bowl, but now the team that will be representing the NFC

is coming to their building, and it will be filled, and I mean, teaming. It will be, it will just be packed with Eagles fans because I don't know how many Patriots fans maybe they'll surprise us

are going to travel to Minneapolis when they're in the Super Bowl every year and this was a Eagles fan base by the end of the game they were doing the skull clap

in chanting foals which is well done fair play so I think home field advantage was such a big part of this for the Eagles but that's almost like not giving them enough credit

because they delivered an amazing performance in this game I think they're fans, I mean, they get a bad rap, and every fan base has that element. Well, that's fine. Them especially, though. But it's Philly. I think they own it.

If anything, they own it. But it's like, it has been 13 years since they made a Super Bowl. And it is crazy, although this narrative is going to tire out real quick, because let's not call it a Super Bowl rematch. That was one of the dollar Super Bowls that I ever watched. It wasn't very close. There's really not much linking these two teams together. But it is a Super Bowl rematch for all it's worth. It is weird, though, to me, that we came out of this weekend without Minnesota having the chance to play in their own stadium.

I think that that was something psychologically that was in our minds as a possibility for the last month, and it's just been yanked away. What about them? After the digs touchdown last Sunday, they seemed like a team of destiny. And that just, again, unless the Patriots are involved, this stuff, and that's not even always true, this stuff is so hard to predict that the Vikings had everything in front of them. We were talking last week. You know, one of the Saints' big regrets of getting picked off on the last play of that game is they knew they had a chance to go to Philadelphia and go against Nick Foles. Well, now, Nick Foles looks like a guy that could beat anybody.

Well, here's the thing, because we totally trust. What we're going to get with Brady and Belichick is going to be there a week after week. What happened with Foles today in this week-to-week NFL, everyone's going to remember this latest game and talk about how Grady is and the chemistry and all this, hey, this, you know, does it mean anything against New England? sure. I'm even willing to say it does. Good question. I worry about underselling the Eagles who are one of the mentally toughest teams in the league. And I think when you consider the increasing complexity of football with each generation, Belichick's Patriots are the best coached teams in the

history of the sport. And the Eagles this year were the second best coach team in the sport. All season long, they were so well coached, so much mental toughness. So I think that's something to look forward to in the Super Bowl. You're getting the two most fundamentally sound teams. one that lost its MVP quarterback, lost its Hall of Fame left tackle, lost its middle linebacker, and here they are to go on and take the Patriots. And, you know, to that point, by the way, lose all those key players, keep on trucking to use a term from your guys' generation. And this is for you, Mark.

Okay. Because I know that you lost your lock today. And, you know, the 0-16 thing happened. Another rough season in the NFL. I've stopped asking. for anything at this point. So I'm going to give you something. Okay.

All these losses that the Eagles overcame. They're scheming in the playoffs to beat all these stud teams. And the man at the front of it all was Doug Peterson. And it's amazing how he was able to overcome this from Mike Lombardi. My beloved 76ers hired a guy by the name of Roy Rubin from Long Island University. Poor Roy. He finished 4 and 47 before the Sixers' Candum. and 47. Years later, Fred Carter said letting Ruben coach the Sixers were like letting a teenager run a big corporation.

Hey, Fred, meet the Eagles head coach, Doug Peterson. Now, everyone knows Peterson isn't a head coach. He might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I've seen in my 30-plus years in the NFL. When will the Eagles admit their mistake? Will they throw away 17 stubbornly sticking to the Peterson principle? The immortal Roy Rubin lasted 51 games. I bet Doug Peterson lasts way less than that. Mike Lombardi of the ringer and former Cleveland Brown's general manager. Well, I don't know. Not your favorite. I don't know what led him to, with such surety, say that about a head coach who did an all-right chart last.

Where did that surety come from? It felt like an evaluating a head coach. But Peterson, a roundabout way of saying, Peterson has been at the forefront of all this. What he's been able to get this team out of adversity and to, survived the loss of their MVP. It's been pretty wild. So congratulations to the Eagles.

To Lombardy's credit, he came out. What's that smirk you have? What do you think of? I will say one thing. You know, you took the Jet, the Eagles fan base, love you guys, great. You took the Jets trademarked something or other at one point. What was it? They took Gang.

Well, they tried to take Gangrene, but it's not allowed. It's been disallowed. And someone told me 10 years ago that, listen, it's going to be a really rough decade, but 10 years from now, this plucky little underdog team. underdogs in their home stadium are going to be all wearing dog masks and barking like crazy on their way to the Super Bowl. I would have thought, well, hell,

there's a reason to stick around and watch the Browns. But there wasn't. Yeah, be careful there, Eagles fans, with the dog mask stuff. I mean, at the same time. We get it, it's a bit, and your popular offensive linemen made it a thing, but let's not get too carried away

and try to make it a thing long term. You could use it for this playoff run, just like, you know, Gang Green has nothing to do with you, and I think bird gang a while back they took from the Arizona Cardinals. You know, you got enough going on. And Greg Rosenthal were about to get on the line.

He had a great tweet that really sums up what's going on with Eagles fans right now who really are. I mean, Eagles fans and Patriots fans are going to be swarming into Minneapolis. Just think about that. Here's a tweet from Greg, The Vikings beat writers in front of me on deadline while Eagles fans knock on the press box window taunting them.

That is hell. And now let's get Greg on the line, Greg Rosenthal. Greg, were those Vikings beatwriters able to file their copy? They were professionals. They barely looked up at the insanely drunk Middle-Aids Eagles women bomb just waving dog masks at them. It was a delight to watch. That's a track. Yeah, we, you know, it's been all over social media throughout the day.

like the Eagles fans given the late kickoff just got into it, got at it, went for it. What was the scene like in Philly for this game? Yeah, the fact, I don't know if you mentioned they were greasing the polls I watched back

past a couple of those polls that the police had made I mean, it's just asking for it to have a 640 p.m. I mean, come back to us NFL. I know it's good for the ratings, I guess, but it just is an interment day to wait that long for football, even to wait

to the 3-10 games a little too much. In this town, I mean, like, every single person was wearing a Brian Dock and Jersey, I think, in the entire city. It's like a rule. It's a great choice. Your thoughts on the game in general. We've been talking about just how stunning it was from that first drive from the Vikings, and then it took such a turn.

What to you was, how did this happen? How did the game turn? Was it the pick six just changed the entire nature of the game, in your opinion? I mean, it's like cliche, but I was surprised just how more physical the Eagles were on both sides. I think the Vikings were too. Terrence Newman, you know, I just came back from the Vikings locker room, and he said he couldn't believe that the Eagles just had more energy than them, that it almost felt like they wanted it more than them.

I don't know if that's just said with hindsight or what, but that the Eagles, on both lines, and they've been good all year, just kind of just ate the Vikings lunch. And I thought that was the key. I think if you put Case Keenham behind that Eagles' offensive line, they would be just fine, too. But it's like those two groups up front for the Eagles, I think, just kind of didn't let the team lose.

I mean, you watched Nick Foles live last week. You watched them again this week. For us, we felt like, whoa, what happened? What sort of science project did they do with Nick Foles? him into this super warrior this time around. Deep ball was there after all these metric studies telling us that he can't throw deep. I mean, being there

live, what did you see different from falls? Well, it's true. I mean, it's everyone's just like, he can't do this, he can't do that, then suddenly he's destroying this defense that we've crowed about all season. Metrics studies. I think it comes back to Peterson. I mean, Jason Kelsey was talking about it after the game. Like, their

knack for dialing up the right play at the right time. I mean, these receivers were open. So that is partly on Minnesota, and then once Folls got it going, like the one throw on the run that he had over the shoulder when they were up, I think it was 24 to 7 at

that point. I mean, that's when you knew Nick Foltz was just kind of on another level. And, I mean, I don't know. I mean, he's capable of this. Pat Schumer said after the game, look, I was with him when he was 27 touchdowns in two interceptions. We know Nick Foles can do this for 60 minutes. Maybe not for

16 games, but he can do it for a game. Speaking of Peterson, you mentioned him, I got some breaking news, guys. This tweet from Mike Lombardi. Doug Peterson won me over. Making Wentz great was not sure it was him. Getting Foles to play this well is him. Hat off. Respect. Well, there you go. What else can you ask for?

Hey, listen. It's a little mea culpa. You don't even need to play the Super Bowl. I mean, that's the ultimate victory for Doug Peterson. That's it. Any other thoughts on the game you were at, Greg? We're going to have two weeks to talk about the Eagles, but anything that you really want to get off your chest.

No. Well, let's talk about the other side then, Greg. The Throne of E's back to another Super Bowl. Do you have anything to share? Were you watching this game? I think you were obviously preparing for your job, but did you have a place to watch the latest great fairy tale from your boy, Brady? I was, of course, watching, although I did have a quick trip down to the field,

but then it seemed pointless trying to watch the Patriots game on the Jumbotron. I was thinking, like, what am I doing here? Just go back up and watch the game and start taking some notes. It's weird, though. You know, you're surrounded by all these people. There's no sound. You've got, like, Connor Orr, and a very good-looking blazer, you know, talking trash to you.

So it's not a normal place to watch a game. I saw a tweet from Connor that said something like, I wish you were here, Dan Hanzas, to see Greg Rosenthal trying to talk himself into the Patriots actually being in trouble in this one. Sounds right. That's paraphrasing. No, I would say the level of how tense I was watching it,

like, you know, it's frustrating myself just as a person. Like, I don't, you know, like going through these sort of emotions. Right. Well, that checks out. Good news, buddy. We're all going to be in Minneapolis next week. and another week preparing for a final Patriots game to close the NFL season. No days off.

No, there's all. And by the way, you'd be shocked to know, and Wes and Mark could both contact you privately. Just what a class act I've been all through the show towards the Patriots. It's been very impressive, yeah. I mean, it was definitely, you know, bittersweet not being able to be with you guys during the first three and a half quarters of that game, because I'm sure it would have been, you know, it's a delightful. experience being a couple of ways. I mean, the whole newsroom, to be honest with you, it was many disappointed people by the end of the game. Anyway, Greg, you got to file some copy,

like I said, NFL.com slash Rosenthal to check out his piece. It's going to be Vikings-centered, correct, or incorrect? No, it's going to be a little bit of a look ahead and Super Bowl and some flavor from tonight. I mean, Greg, do you at this point, you're in a lathered up, you know, somewhat probably happily angry metropolis that are, just beside themselves with drink. I mean, they're probably like getting out, you know, decades of anger and what's happening. Do you just go on the NFL expense account and hired like an armored limo to take you back to your room so that you aren't taken down in the, what probably feels like the third act of mother right now in Philadelphia?

By the way, the armored limo is for NFL network people. The dot-comers, it's just, it's a cab. Mike Silver is getting that. No, Mark, I want to get in the mix. When I get away from you guys, I'm like a totally different person. Oh, okay. It's just out until 4 a.m. We're going to go crazy on the expense.

Find Colleen at least. It's like 1999 in New Orleans. Yeah, it's like the Greg of Delaware days, his old acid rock band. All right. Greg, congratulations, buddy. You've done it again. All right. I'll see you guys Tuesday.

I feel like my five years at NFL Network have been one long march toward Greg's team being in the Super Bowl every single year. Thank you. More or less. I mean, this is their third Super Bowl in four years. There's another one that Mark and I, you, we've been, this is going, we've been very blessed, Mark, hashtag blessed that we, this will be, I think, the seventh Super Bowl we've covered in person, and four of them in the seven years will be the same team.

It's quite an achievement. Yeah, and it's, I mean, up until, I think I've behind the scenes lobbying hard not to cover the Patriots this time, which I've covered three times in a row. they're running out of storylines. What can they teach you? Well, they, no, they could teach me a lot. I mean, they're like, they don't say anything anyway. Yeah, that's the thing. Zero access, you know, steel trap.

Yeah, last year, at least people could like talk themselves into, oh, Marty Bennett at media night this year. This year, it's like, James Harrison? Yeah, good luck with that. Go ask your questions to James Harrison, see how that goes. A couple of things before we go. A couple things. first things of we never talk about the desert you're not a lot to talk about the desert around here

but the desert people already have the Eagles as the biggest underdog in almost the decade in the big game that seems foolish well they must not be in on the Nick Foles experience just yet

but give them two weeks there's a lot of time for things to change also I want to shout out to Howie Roseman because never forget Howie Roseman a man who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. Now a NFC champion GM after he was sent deep into the Poconos

to live in a cottage that was his work office. Chip sent him out of the building and said, you are history and he came all the way back, baby. Executive of the year. And one last note connected to the Eagles. Let's check in with Colleen Wolfe.

After the Eagles defeated the Vikings in convincing fashion. Connie? She'll be going to the Super Bowl. Nobody believes it's happening, Dan. It's happening, everybody. Get excited. Holy crap.

I can't believe. Holy that they're going to. She definitely has boots that will counteract to Criscoe on the polls in Philadelphia. She'll be on Broad Street partying the night away. Good for her. Good for Colleen. I mean, everyone in this, unless you're Greg, you never get to be. happy for your team. So at least she, as an honorary hero, gets to celebrate and enjoy just once, Mark. Imagine not even winning the Super Bowl. I've often thought about this. Like, it would be great. It would be like life changing on some level if the Jets ever won a Super Bowl. But even if they just got to a Super Bowl in my lifetime, how fun that two weeks is. And especially the weekend leading it up to it. Just imagine how fun it must be to be a fan that can experience that. And along those lines, I find Colleen,

journey easy to root for because she's not she if eagles fans you want to paint some of them as annoying she is the opposite she's ultra nervous she's freaking out uh all season long she almost needed cars and wence to be taken out of the picture for the perfect season not to be at her feet she seemed to kind of dig in when foals took over and now she's gotten the most improbable storyline so that kind of eagles fan i'm all about it reset the season when wets got hurt because it was they were the obvious favorite in the NFC and then reset expectations and people like Connie

were able to then say well we kind of got screwed here it's been a great ride whatever happens is going to be gravy at this point and then you got to tick through the two rounds of the NFC playoffs after your buy and just experience pure glory both weeks and a great environment

in Philly so Eagles fans I'm sure you're going to be completely insane people I'm guessing I looked it up the capacity in that stadium in Minnesota is 66 and change. I would not be surprised if you have 40,000 insane Philadelphia people at that game. I wonder if there's a group of New England fans that say if we've skipped the last one, we've got to try to get

there because this may be the last. I could say it over and over, but something feels a little bit different. Yeah, but nobody thinks that right now. That's true. Not Patriots fans and certainly not Patriots haters. It feels like this is just going to go on ever and ever and ever at this point. So I'm glad we didn't call Tamposi tonight.

That would have been next level insanity. We did flirt with the idea of giving her a call if the Patriots lost. Only in loss, do we call her else. I do not want to hear from her. We've known Colleen for about three or four years now, and I would not want to dismiss her attitude toward the Eagles as cynicism, but it's certainly been a trepidation about having your heart broken or giving yourself over to the possibility of putting your heart into that team.

and it's been fun to see her be rewarded with this trip to the Super Bowl. All right, so that's it for the flagship program, often imitated, never duplicated. We'll be back on Tuesday with our Tuesday video show, our last one of the year, or the season at least, but I think it's the last one for a while. I don't know. We'll figure it out. And then no show next Sunday because we will be traveling that day to Minnesota, and we have a big week lined up in Minnesota. The most we've ever done connected to the podcast.

so we're very excited to share all that news with you when the time comes. But for now, it's time to say goodbye. Stan Hansa signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, Greg Rosethall, the old boss from Philadelphia, and Lindsay Fulton, behind the glass until Tuesday. This is an I-heart podcast.