NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Divisional Round recap

Episode Date: January 18, 2016

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling, and Gregg Rosenthal – go game-by-game breaking down all the action from the second round of the playoffs, including the Panthers outlasting a late Seahawks run to advance to the conference championships, plus a scrappy Peyton Manning leading the Broncos to a victory, and another shot at Super Bowl 50. Not to mention, a postseason classic in Arizona that was equipped with a Hail Mary, a coin toss fail, and overtime drama.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. Dab on Dem Folks. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What's up, boys?

Hey, Dan. What is happening? A valiant attempt to touch Greg. Why is he? Why are you blocking? I blocked it. I had a feeling it was coming and I blocked it. Welcome to, yes, this is the Sunday night edition of the Around the NFL podcast, presented, of course, by Scott Trade.

Scott Trade. Good man, good man, good company. Been looking for a sponsor all year and then they looked around the landscape. What's the best podcast out there? They chose us. It shows the kind of acumen that Scott Trade has. If you want to diversify your portfolio, you go to Scott Trade. I do.

Yeah. Yes, this is the show where we recap, as I said, my favorite weekend of the year in the NFL, and I think a lot of people agree, divisional weekend, four games, you know, one game, an absolute classic. To me, one of my favorite games ever. And then three games that brought elements of entertainment, none of them at that level, but a nice weekend of football, right, Mark? I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I had the chance to watch last night's game,

the Cardinals Packers game, in that same little bar where I watched the Bengals game last week. And I'm convinced every time I walk in there, magical, magical games happened. And last night's could not have been any more fun, one of the best I've seen in years. Oh, I thought that was the classic. I thought Dan was saying, watching his Patriots team

that he enjoys watching so much that that was a classic. No. That was totally unnecessary. I was in heaven all day on Saturday. Saturday's games were great, and in the Sunday games, maybe not as good, but all these games ended up being one-score games all weekend. That's right. Yeah, not bad.

I mean, yeah, I mean, Sunday's games didn't quite match up, of course. But I do think that none of those games completely, especially the Panthers. I mean, what happened with the Seattle Seahawks? But they even made a game of it. So good job NFL. I was impressed. I will have some new slogans for the NFL next Sunday show, just a little teaser. Can't wait.

I'm going to workshop that. So, yeah, we will get into all the games because that's what we do. We give them the attention. But, you know, just because this is a special show, Wes, I'm going to hit you early in the show with a little NFL research note. Bang! Wow. Looking forward to that.

Remember this one? Love this song. I don't know this. Come on. Yeah, you do. I've never heard it. Really? Please don't go.

This was the first time since 2004 that all four home teams won on divisional weekend. This coming one week after all the road teams won. NFL, can't predict nothing. You figure it out. Was the top heavy year in the NFL, really, though. So maybe we shouldn't be that surprised.

These four teams, I would throw the Bengals in there We're really with them all year. We forget about the Bengals. But these were basically the four best teams all season. Absolutely. So let's get into the games. And I think the best way to do this is let's just go in the order in which they were played.

And so we'll start with a game that took place in beautiful Foxborough. There's a mall up there that is very, you know, well populated and attended. There's also a stadium there, Foxborough. The New England Patriots, you know, they got their guys back on the field. They got Danny Amund Dole. they got Julian Edelman, they got Gronk, and they looked like the Patriots again. Tom Brady, of course, looked like Tom Brady, too, finishing with 302 yards, two touchdowns, both of them to Rob Gronkowski.

Julian Edelman, 10 for 100, looked like his old self. And at the end of the game, it was 2720 in favor of the paths over at Kansas City Chiefs team. That to me, as I watch this game, it's one of those classic can't get over the hump games for the Chiefs, where we saw it again and again. They would get, crawl within a score, and then all they needed was a stop or a turnover. Marcus Peters will, you know, dream or have nightmares about the past Tom Brady through that went through his fingers

and also a classic throne of ease deflection at the end of the game. So there were opportunities. They never could grasp them. The Patriots take advantage. This is what the Patriots do, and they win the game. They move on to the AFC title game, Wes. I thought we saw the early season Patriots offense with Julian Edelman, getting open easily with Danny Amand Dullin coming through with a clutch catch,

with Grunk just being too big and physical for opposing defenses. And Brady, I thought it was surgical. You know, the Chiefs made this a game, but I thought the Patriots were cruising and in control the entire game. Well, they were based on the score, but to me they looked like very even teams, except for two massive differences, which can't be understated. Tom Brady is still good enough to win games on his own.

And the advantage that the Patriots had at quarterback could not have any bigger for a playoff game. And Alex Smith played a fine Alex Smith game. I do not think he played bad at all. But this was Peak Brady and he can just carry you. And then the other thing that the Patriots are much better at is situational football. We saw it at the end of the game with Andy Reid botching the clock manage it. We saw it at the end of the first half. People forget about that. How the Chiefs blew an opportunity for points at the end of the first half. And you saw every time the Patriots had a chance to score, they did score. This wasn't a game that was uneven in terms of total yardage and first down. Everything looked pretty even throughout the game,

but when the Patriots had a chance, they take advantage. I mean, they held a massive advantage at the coaching spot and quarterback. And in these games, all these games look close, scoreboard-wise, but there is a vast difference between these two teams. The Chiefs, listen, the Chiefs have nothing to be embarrassed about, but they ran into a buzzsaw here. And I think the New England deserves a ton of credit for the way that they, listen, they don't have the running game that could do much against Kansas City. So they come out of the gate with 14 straight passes. That's great. It reminded me a little bit of how they opened up against Seattle in the Super Bowl, where their quick passing game replaced their ground game to some degree. And they

basically, they handed the ball off to running backs seven times all game and through, what, 42 times? And the Chiefs at halftime could not adjust to that. New England did not change the strategy, and the Chiefs couldn't get it done. I mean, New England is just, listen, the AFC is not the same as the NFC right now, but if anyone stops New England, this Super Bowl is going to be absolutely ugly. Well, Brady got rid of the ball quickly. Sebastian Volmer returned help. And then Kansas City got nothing from Toma Ali and Justin Houston.

Justin Houston barely played. Toma Ali was ineffective. D4 didn't really have much of a game. But this is why I'm saying Brady wins games on his own. It was not a particularly great game by the Patriots defense, but he knew exactly who he was going to throw to. Before every snap, he was so decisive at the key moments like you mentioned. I'm thinking about when they're at the two-yard line, and in four plays later, they have a

touchdown because he goes deep to Keishan Martin and he finds Grankowski. He just had a sense of the moment that it just reminded me this has been one of Tom Brady's best seasons, and it was great to see him come through in the playoffs like that. I would like to see Tom Brady in a defensive, in a game, in a playoff game where he needs to worry about the pass rush because he never really got a sense of whether that high ankle sprain was really bothering. He seemed to be moving well, but he barely had to do anything. And that's part of the – you know – I don't think that's an issue because you saw it on the run that he had where he threw his body

and he jumped over for the sneak. I mean – Yeah, way to score, Tom. Yeah, they took his touchdown away from him, and he's like, you know what? Give it to me again. That's my touchdown. By the way, everyone's got to realize when you play the Patriots on fourth and one or any goal line inside one, he's going to jump.

He's going to jump. You got to punish him. But this was the Tom Brady game that no team can beat when he's playing at this level. And you just got to respect it. I mean, I despise the Patriots and salty Pat's fans on my Twitter feed all through yesterday. We were warring for four straight hours. I'm sure they loved the fact that you picked against them. I did pick against them.

And you know what? I thought the Chiefs actually played a good game. I thought that's part of the reason why Brady is so maddening that I didn't think the Chiefs played a poor game. They were undermanned, obviously, as we know. and still they were able to hang around in this game. But every time the Chiefs needed a score, not only you have Andy Reid's horrible game management, clock management to deal with,

but it takes them 15 plays to score, even when they need a desperation. They're huddling inside two minutes, figuring out what to do in the red zone. It was ridiculous. I remember covering a Packers' Chiefs game in September and seeing being astonished at the stat that the Andy Reid-Alex-Smith duo

had never had a successful two-minute touchdown drill. and that came to mind in this game because it just takes them too long. Well, I saw a stat that I think it was something like hundreds of drives have started with a team down two scores with under eight minutes to go in the last 25 years. And this was the longest drive that any one of those 200 teams went on. It was insane. At the beginning of the drive, even, they were taking until six, seven seconds left on the playcock. It was like they were milking the ball.

It was like they thought going out of bounds before there's five minutes left means the clock stopped. Like they had no awareness. And for them to be huddling with a minute and 40 left when they were inside the five or just taking all the time at the two and a half minutes, it was insane. And it was exactly like the Super Bowl against the Patriots. Everyone, I'm sure made that point on Twitter. I wasn't paying attention to Twitter at that point. But it was, it's Andy Reid. It's Andy Reid's Bugab.

There were some Donovan McNabb jokes for sure. I'm sure. But when Alex Smith is targeting Jason Avant in big spots. Yvonne had a big game. Well, but here, that's here the uphill climb that they had, to even lose by seven, that's an achievement to me the way the game played out. Well, that's the thing. Alex Smith, his third down play where he escaped a couple sacks and then threw it 40.

Eli like. That was one of the best plays of the year. The game is just about over if he doesn't make that play. And then the game is over if Jason Avant doesn't make a diving catch on fourth and 20. So they had a lot of things that needed to go right just to keep it, keep it close. Yeah, I mean, Kansas City had the ball for 38 minutes. Wow. And in a winning formula, which was 11 in a row for this team,

it was get ahead early and get that clock and wear it down with these eight, nine-minute drives. That's a great point. 15-play drives through all this winning streak. But they get behind, and it's not a team you can trust to climb out of a hole. And it wasn't a huge one, but it showed you the limitations of this offense. I'm glad the Patriots have an extra day arrest. They were on the field for 89 plays.

That's one of the most any team's been on the field. I didn't think of that. They could not get out of ease right there. They could not get off the field on third down. That's a serious thing. How come the Patriots don't have the one less day to get ready for the AFC title game? It's just how it happened. Yeah, exactly.

I think that also showed the weakness of New England. They have no running game. And you've got Stephen Jackson out there. I tweeted this. Oh, my God. He moves like two skyscrapers come to life. I mean, what? I mean, I like that.

It's glacial. He just doesn't move. an athlete anymore because he's I mean he's taking too many hits in his career well I think I totally agree and that's we'll get to the talk about the aFC championship game all week but that's why i'm not going to be overconfident when a team has as bad a running game as the patriots have that's that's a problem it's a huge weakness that none of their teams that they've gone to the super bowl or won the super bowl with maybe with the exception of the first one has had James white was actually their main running back he was on the field far more than any other running back

Not handoff wise, though. I mean, it's just sitting in there as a pass option. Also, you could look at the Super Bowl last year. They were able to win without a running game. I mean, I think it's definitely a problem that they have nobody to count. And Stephen Jackson's getting big carries in January. But the way they built this offense, they could survive it, I think. Yeah, and we could say, oh, they have Denver up next and how do you do that?

Well, you just dealt with a very good defense in Kansas City and got it done. Monta ball must be really fat. He can't get off the practice squad with Stephen Jackson? has the running? That is interesting. Or can't pick up the playbook or who knows, but or is fat. It would be so patrons, though,

if Monte Ball is a Super Bowl MVP. Who's bigger? Monty, Butterball. Ball or Lacey? Who's bigger? It's got to be Lacey. Well, we haven't seen Ball in like 100 days, so we don't know how big he's here.

You could be huge. One of my favorite internet things that has popped up on the radar this week is people are starting to resurface Eddie Lacey, not to get too off the grid here, but resurface Eddie Lacey tweets from his college. days where he's just tweeting about how hungry is that he loves fast food and can't wait

to eat Chinese food it's all I can think about that's Eddie Lacey right now but yeah so listen and Patriots fans we're in a rough spot right now in social media they're angry I pick against them again Bella took show their podcast to the team

Why do fans care if an analyst picks against them? That cracks me up well it may have to do with some of the tweets that Dan's put out and some of the comments he's made it's not just the pick out of you know in space There's my favorite, my favorite tweet because they were all fired up. It's an interesting fan base you guys have cooking over there, Greg. I made the comment after that last deflection, by the way, Mr. Belichick,

I would love to see how the BB Mafia would have handled it if on that last throw by Brady, if the deflection went for a pick six to tie the game, how they were going to talk themselves out of that one, is that being a smart move by Bill just didn't work out. Deplex, you know, I mean, you want to talk about throne of ease. situation. I mean, that, look at this past. If you're watching on YouTube, you know, any other team, you know, that happens to the Browns mark.

You know what happens? It pops right into this cornerback's hands and he's going back the other way. Fair point. It is one of many deflections this week that went in the favor of the many teams. But I've heard people go, well, if Ali caught that and went it back, it was like going behind his body and it was his left hand and it was a deflection. And I fully expected the Patriots to throw the ball there because you know what winning teams do?

They play to win. They didn't want to run the ball two more times. and punt it and give the Chiefs the ball back with 90 seconds? Why bother? Why not let the best player on your team, the best player in that game by far, try to win it? Trust him. He didn't make a good decision that play, but it worked out anyway.

Preach on, Greg. I disagree. Totally. If you know your opponent, the game was over. You run it two times and punted it. It takes them 15 plays to score. You think Alex Smith is leading him down the field? Probably not, but the Patriots defense, you know,

we didn't really talk about them, didn't really have a great game, didn't have much of a pass rush. lost Jamie Collins. It wasn't an inspiring performance. I thought they would play better. And so I absolutely want to trust Brady, who his pocket movement was great,

his rhythm, everything was great from Brady in that game. Let him try to win it. His pocket movement and ball placement are better now than they have ever been. He can't throw the deep ball like he did in 2007, but he is phenomenal. And he got through. He dealt with a lot of drops yesterday, and he, you know, it didn't shake him in the end.

Before we move on, I know we're so spoiled as Patriots fans. The fact they've made 10 AFC championship games in 15 years is one of the most amazing stats that you could come up with. And we had a graphic earlier, the all-time coach quarterback combinations in terms of title games. They've now been to 10. The next closest is 6 with Noel and Bradshaw and Landry, I believe, was in the other mix.

So 10 out of, two out of three years, they're in this final four is just insane. In the Super Bowl era, it's really, especially after they won again last year, it's hard, I think it's hard to make a case for anybody else as the best quarterback and coach combo ever. So they're playing with, as Greg, you say, as a fan, you're playing with House Money.

So as Belichick and Brady in terms of their legacy at this point. I mean, it's amazing what they've done. Yeah, and one last thing. I mean, people looked at, you looked at last year's Super Bowl win is the crown on top of this entire era, and you would have been fine if the wheels came off at that point. Well, you got your little cherry on top, but they're a game away from being right back there again.

So the ease has not stopped being easy yet for Greg Rosenthal. That's nice. So the cherubs, they float down. They're very plump. cherubs and they're you know they're popping grapes in your mouth and the harp is going it's it's a nice it's a nice life you have i can't complain i'd love to see them back in san francisco now that they're close that's for sure all right so there you go that it was the first game let us now move to the game one of the best games i've ever seen and i don't know if i i haven't really been

plugged in on uh you know what people are talking about um in terms of historically that game but as I watch that game in the newsroom and I was by myself in terms of the around the NFL group, but the Packers and Cardinals definitely wasn't a humble brag. I'd love to trade spots where you were on Saturday night. Put it that way. The game was, to me, one of the most amazing games ever. And let's talk about it now. A 26 to 20 Arizona Cardinals win over the Green Bay Packers,

a game in which Aaron Rogers pulled. off something that I've never seen before. Two Hail Marys on the final drive of the game for the Packers what ended up being the final drive of the game. And they force overtime. And then what happens, Wes? Larry Fitzgerald takes over.

The greatest playoff receiver in NFL history takes over. What a guy. What a leader. I hope he gets a Super Bowl ring. So he has a 75-yard reception. And credit goes to Carson Palmer, who will get into Carson Palmer. who did not have a good game, who spots Larry Fitz in the flat on the opposite of the field.

He runs through six Packers players for going down. And then they go to the playbook. They go to the playbook, a play that they had designed weeks and weeks earlier. They finally use it a shovel pass to Fitzgerald who darts into the end zone. Touchdown. Game over, a classic game and a classic fits game. there were so many twists and turns in the last quarter and a half. I was thinking that this was a great classic,

just edge on your seat type of game through three quarters. I mean, because I thought the Packers came out, and there's often one of these games on Divisional Round Week, and I was thinking actually of the Giants Packers game back in 2008. It kind of reminded me of just this team that was dominant all year, and another team just comes in playing smash-mouth playing exactly how they wanted. and the Cardinals didn't know what to do. I mean, they were almost lucky that they were only down 13-7, 13-10 in the middle of the fourth quarter.

And so for that exciting and tense a game to be followed up by what was the most fascinating last five minutes, and you said it, the two plays that Rogers made back-to-back was just like one of our great athletes, not just the NFL's, but what of America's great athlete at the top of his game, just dropping it for everyone's enjoyment. I woke my kids up, me and my wife, yelling so much on that one. Your wife was yelling, too? Yeah, we were just like, oh, my God! And then my daughter comes out of the room and says, like, what's going on?

I never get to watch these games in bars or in a public setting because I'm always in the newsroom. But I had the time of my life in Santa Monica. And the whole bar was going absolutely bonkers throughout the whole fourth quarter. And then it just reached a peak with those Jeff Janice plays. It was just crazy. It was also an all-time newsroom moment because everyone was kind of in holy S mode, as this was all playing out. And I think Brandon, behind the glass,

we have the local Packers radio call of the Hail Mary to tie the game. Snap to A-Rod, looking downfield, being flushed. Rolling left winds up. Rainbows it high and deep into the end zone. It's high point, and it caught. It is caught for a touchdown. A miracle test.

Yes, Janus. In the end zone. Can you believe it? Unbelievable. Believe it. And the Packers. Packers are an extra point away from getting this thing tied. I always love whenever it's the local call, which is the best.

There's always the color guy who's always a homer inevitably. So the guy doing the play-by-play call, sometimes they go home or two, and that's fun. This guy was pretty professional about it. The color guy just lost it. Well, it's funny because this is a rare time. The national guys, Collinsworth and Michaels might have been crazy. Their reaction was, oh, stop it. Please, that's insane.

And then Collinsworth goes to that's one of the greatest throws. or the greatest throw of all time. It might have been falling away to his left while he was getting tackled after a spin move. There is no one in the NFL maybe ever that can make that throw. I thought the first throw was even more impressive than that one. I agree with that. And it's a game where Jared Aberderas and Jeff Janice had a combined 23 targets. It makes what Aaron Rogers accomplished at the end of this game all the more impressive.

And I got some flack on Twitter when I also was out at a public place with you, not with U.S., but across town. From people that were saying, it is a humble brag. Yeah. All right. I'm bragging, I guess, because I was at a bar. Keep going. This is an achievement in America.

But, you know, look it, you have a game where, sorry. Yeah, you did throw me off. You know, it's, I don't even know what I was going to say. Well, I know what I was going to say. Last week, I was hard on this game being in prime time. You were. I thought, you know, I was not alone that it was going to be 40 to 10. And one of these celebrations of what the Cardinals have done all season,

Instead, it became something completely different. I underrated the Packers, and they showed a lot more fight in this situation than I ever thought they would. They won me over. Had they won this, I would not have had a problem watching them play another two games. They were that fun. This was a tough year for Aaron Rogers, as we all know. Even though 10 years from now, 20 years from now, you're going to look at his stats and make, oh, it was another big year. We all know that wasn't the case if you looked at the season closely.

but what he did in a loss and it reminded me a lot once Cobb went down early in the game and it was kind of like I thought about LeBron and the Cavs last summer when Kyle Irving his knee went out and it was

basically Aaron Rogers the best player in the league against the world and he almost did it. He was playing without his four top wide receivers entering the season. All of them out of the lineup and he almost pulled it off and the credit goes that Jeff Janice, I don't know how he wasn't in the rotation before that is a legitimate question that you have to ask when you saw how slow their wide receivers were all year.

And we know that Aaron Rogers has said he doesn't trust Jeff Janice to be in the right place. But I think you have to swallow that pill and just play him. Ann Aberderas showed quickness and got open. And for all that you said that was good about Rogers, I think you do have to remember. I think Rogers will look at this game and think we had them in great position. and when it really was money time in the last 20 minutes of this game, for the most part, the Cardinals dominated the game. The Cardinals, after it was 13-7, scored on their four of their final five possessions.

The fifth was that terrible Palmer interception in the red zone. The Packers, on the other hand, after they got that 13-7 lead, and things were feeling good. They had gone 17-play drive to end the first half, 17-play drive again. They had a Rogers interception thrown in, but then they had the touchdown. But after that moment, three and out, seven and out, four, and they went forward on fourth down and got stopped. And that was the point in the game. They had a little bit of a lead.

They had a chance to keep it close. And that was the moment where, you know, Cardinals' defense for the first time all game really stood up, totally stopped them. Well, yeah, I mean, but that's what we expected Green Bay's offense to be like potentially, where you have four or five drives in a row where not a lot's getting produced because that's what they've been. We were not expecting. I get the four out of five drives to end the game, but Arizona overall on offense was very underwhelming. They came up big in the end, but this is not the cross-section example

we thought we'd see from their offense. You look at the Seattle game and this one, and I have to ask, is it possible that they're not at their peak level, and is it just a one-game thing where we throw off in the playoffs? They'll be fine next week, or is there something going on with Carson Paul? He did not look great yesterday. That was, again, the numbers, they look okay, 25 of 41, 3-49, 3-touch downs, Made some great throws.

He made some nice picks, but I thought this was a wretched game by Palmer to the point where, you know, he threw the two picks, both were terrible interceptions. He threw one that Sam Shield should have picked off in the second half that could have salted the game away if Shields makes a play after catching the ball. I thought for them to survive this game when Palmer, first of all, I'm a little nervous if I'm a Cardinals fan about what's going on with Palmer because as much as everyone kills Andy Dalton, other quarterbacks have struggled in the playoffs, Palmer played like a guy that was tight and knew was very well he knew what his legacy was potentially as well the way he played this game I think everything you just said is true

he absolutely played tight but with the game on the line that touchdown drive that resulted in the fluke touchdown to Michael Floyd he made a third and four play to Floyd he made that great pass and David Johnson made the great play too two huge third down plays and I think both of these Saturday games showed

two quarterbacks the work they put in in the offseason. Carson Palmer worked out like a maniac got in the best shape of his life, and Brady and Palmer had some of the best pocket movement in the NFL, and you saw that in both of those games on Saturday. If anything, he was too aggressive. So I don't know if it's tightness or just his default mode throughout his career is always to just go for it. And he needed to be smarter with that red zone pick, which was an awful throw. And it almost happened again against Shield. But the thing I think you can say in the rest of those five drives, like you mentioned, When it got to 13-7, they needed a response, and he came up with a couple big throws in that field goal drive to make it 13-10.

The last play, by the way, against Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald should get a lot of the credit. There's Clay Matthews coming up right on the middle out of him. He avoids him. Then there's a free rusher. Carson Palmer does a spin move to get away from a Packers defender before finding Fitzgerald and throwing it across his body. So that's the gunslinger, aggressive Palmer, working out. So I don't think he got afraid of the moment.

He just kept going. It was kind of weird. You're right, because he did look tight as the game is progressing. But he was almost like tight and reckless, which doesn't really make sense. But that's the way he played. But when it wasn't a good game. I don't disagree with that. In the end, I mean, the play, the 75-yard catch and run by Fitzgerald and overtime was, you know, that is all Carson Palmer.

You give him 50-50 credit on it for spotting Fitzgerald, having that type of field vision. and then, you know, and then the final play. Do we have Brandon? Watch a stiff arm at about the 30-yard line. It's so great. Number 42. Get off me! The Sheld runs through six guys.

Get off! You know, the only reason he can score is a great ankle tackle by somebody in the secondary. Casey Hayward, yeah. Casey Hayward. Do we have, what do we have, Brandon for this? Palmer takes the snap, play action pass. Palmer's setting up. He's in trouble.

He's hit. Look at that spit. Rolls right, throws back to the left. Fits is wide open. Go crazy color guy. He's at the 40 at the 50. He turns up. Yellow color guy.

At the 40, 35, 35, 15, 20, fits to the near side, 10, to the five, and tackled there. Carson Palmer's son-hout out of trouble and found a wide-open fits. That was all day patch. Isn't their color guy Ron Wolfley? I don't know. Oh, yeah, the guy who sounds like Jesse the Body Ventura. Yeah, I thought he'd have a lot to say there. He went, he went absolutely asleep at the wheel.

Is it like a Vince Scully situation there, or there's only one guy in the wheel? I don't know. I don't know. Step up your game, Arizona. that's one of the biggest moments of franchise history the team of around the NFL which was so fun to watch all year you talked about it before the show Dan maybe maybe it's a little bit of a team of destiny here because this clearly was not their best game they survived a bad Palmer game and you would hope and you would think that moving forward they're going to play a little looser going to play more of their game after after dodging this narrow miss here I you think I'm a little worried, though, and I want to pick the team of ATL and the NFC title game. And I do, I buy into the destiny thing a little bit because it's amazing that they won that game, the way he played for most of it.

But don't you worry about Carson Palmer, whether it's his finger or just he wasn't playing well, going to Charlotte, where things go downhill quick for opponents as we saw and we'll talk about a little later, that he might struggle in that venue with the crowd going nuts. I don't know. I'm a little nervous of him a Cardinals fan about my quarterback. I mean, I think being on the road and going to Carolina, which is obviously an amped up scenario, that would have me more worried than where the Cardinals actually are as a team. It was not a great game by Palmer, but if we're going to give the Patriots credit

for passing at the end of the game and being aggressive, we have to give the same credit to Bruce Ariens. They're not going to change who they are next week. They're going to go for it from wire to wire, and I still believe the Cardinals are the better team. I totally agree that the Panthers, the concern there is that they haven't lost at home in 420. seven days, not that Carson Palmer is coming off a mediocre game. Before we say goodbye to the Packers, it's amazing how they've had some of these really painful playoff losses sneakily. I mean, maybe it's not sneaky to Packers fans, but this is now five straight years

they made the playoffs since they won their title. And everyone thinks, well, they won their title. That doesn't make these hurt that much less. I had a guy in Twitter said, any thought about the Packers cracking the pain rankings? And I said, when you go far down. When you go FAR to Rogers' 1992 to present, you don't get to do that. But it does, there is a level of agony as a fan

when you are the team that gets to the playoffs every year and then you lose these. I mean, the last two years are heartbreaking loss. Absolutely. And you feel this as a Patriots fan that watch your team lose the Super Bowl, that the problem is a little bit that if you're one of these bottom feeder teams,

everyone's like, oh, yes, your team stinks, and we know it, and everyone acknowledge it. When the Packers lose games like this, Everyone defaults to who's not a Packers fan. Yeah, but they've had nothing but playoff runs and it's easy. It's a whole different situation. It's been rough for them, but they're not in a pain ranking. No.

Give me a break. But this one was particularly excruciating. They played such a great game. Wasn't worse than last year. No, that's not at all true. That was to me the worst loss ever that any teams ever had personally in my watching football. But one last thought about the Packers because this stat is just crazy because you'll never see this again. long as you watch football. Packers were facing a fourth and 20 from their own four yard line down

seven, 55 seconds left, no timeouts, and they tied the game. And then they lost, but the tie that game, it's crazy. And also, it was great, you know, it was great to have Chris and Al with us. Oh, yeah, you're right. You guys run a bar. I don't know if you're able to hear it. I'd sound, but they had a great game and it was just, especially after Fouts, Fouts had a tough game early in the early game. Dan was all over the day. He had a nice game. He saw Fouts struggled throughout the early game to have Alan Chris calling that game at Fokin. I agree.

The other week I said that Mike Tariko and Gruden had passed Al and Chris on my power ringing. That was wrong. I was too rash. I knew you were. It was an emotional in the moment decision. And after being home, a rare time of you be home and watch a game. It's big of you to admit you mistake. I take it all back.

I mean, Chris was so good at it. Oh, he was locked in. Chris and Al, I'll be happy to hear that. Don't sleep on Iron Eagle, very much a professional on the rise. I said that. He can have a podcast all by himself. he can handle the broad. Total pro.

You know what they call him? The beak and the bird or the beard. The beak and whatever. The bird in the beard. Who cares? All right. Let's move on to the Sunday games. And we'll start in Charlotte.

A game we build heading into this week on the podcast as the game of the weekend. And it was a one score game in the end, but it was not anything anybody could predict it. Because at halftime, the Carolina Panthers were up 31 to nothing. And we're talking about a historic one-sided affair. The Seahawks shell shock. My boy Michael Bennett yelling at teammates. Everyone frazzled on the sideline. They can't make a field goal.

They can't convert on fourth down. Seattle, everything going wrong. Russell Wilson, you know, playing like Macklemore behind center. But what happens in the second half, a total flipping of the script is the Seahawks that go nuts. They scored 24 points in the second half. Shut out the Panthers, but basic math. and I am no math expert, as you guys know, I got a 39 on a state-mandated math test as a 10th grader back in Pearl River, New York.

Out of 100? Out of 100. Okay. That sucks. That's hard to do. Thank you. But 31 beats 24. Simply put the Seahawks put themselves in a hole that they could not dig out of.

So Carolina moves on, and the Seahawks have been slayed. The back-to-back defending conference champions are dead. It reminded me a lot of last year's. NFC title game with the Packers basically being dominant for a first half. But the difference this time around was that the Panthers got touchdowns. Packers settled for field goals last year, kept the Seahawks in it. You don't come back from 31 to nothing, even with Russell Wilson. Well, I think the Panthers dominant, like when they put a 30 minutes of dominant play on

you, that's the most dominant 30 minutes there is in the NFL this season. And that's why they're 15 and 1. And then they can go into this lackluster mode. as Cam Newton put it, their butts were tight. You would have liked a lot of butt talk from Cam Newton. Tight butt. He literally said tight butts three times in 20 seconds. That is a cousin of the hot butt.

Right. But they're just, when they get on their roles, and they've done it at different points of the season for 20 minutes. The game's over. You can't come back from that. I mean, they did it against the Packers, the Colts, and the Giants, where they gave up these big leads, but in the end, they won all those games because they were just too good early.

If you look at the score and you, were to say, listen, they got up 31-0 and this is the final score, I would have expected a more dramatic second half, to be honest, because it never really felt like the Seattle crossed the threshold where they truly were going to tie this thing up. It just was too little, too late. But that said, it was one of the rare games where we wrote a halftime post because of the first half dominance. It was that unusual. And I asked, that's when it's bad. That's when it's bad. I asked Wesleyan, you know, as they were climbing back in Seattle, is this potentially the most daring thing we've ever seen Pete Carroll do.

Allow Carolina to get up by such a lead, and it's such a deep psychological warfare that they kind of take their foot off the gas from there, and here comes Seattle. But I would imagine that was not the strategy. Sneaky Pete. After the Seahawks second touchdown to make it 31.14, there was right out of the gates in the second half. They just came out firing, and Mark, yeah, what did you yell? Just set fire to my halftime post.

Well, you know, I just written this thing, and like within five minutes, it was like off the I don't root for this happening to Mark, but Mark does this a lot where he tries to get ahead of a game or story. So he writes a lot. And then, you know, as the NFL, what happens in the NFL teams get back in it, and it blows up Mark's post. And then you could see him simmering with rage. Still waiting for the Jimmy Garoppolo analysis piece. Yeah. Our editor, Mark Ortega, pointed out the same thing.

And I was unwilling to concede it at first, but it's absolutely true. I've wasted hundreds of hours. You mentioned that there was never any tense point in this game. And I totally agree. The one moment where it felt like Seattle could legitimately get back in, it was after they did the fake punt, down 31-14 at the time, and they had some momentum. And you thought, well, if they can score another touchdown there,

and there's still a ton of time at that point in the game. But they didn't. They stalled after the fake punt. They didn't score there. And then when they finally got that late touchdown, it just took too long. When they got the second touchdown, yeah, you thought that maybe they're going to pull this off

and really get back in this game, but they just didn't have enough momentum after that. point they obviously badly outplayed the panthers in in the second half and what about that though because this is the second time we've seen the panthers lighting up an opponent and then take their foot off the gas pedal and almost get beat because of it four times yeah i can think of four colts game packers game giants game it's a trend and they've talked about it and cam new they could come back to haunt him against you know we're down to four of the best teams in the league now and and two more wins they need they need to play a more well-rounded game here the reason it's

surprised me to see Seattle storm back. Not so much just that, but for Carolina to go to completely dark on offense in the second half, was that it wasn't, they didn't get up 31-0 in fluky ways. They absolutely dominated both lines. And that's how you would expect a 45 to 10 finish. Seattle's defensive linemen, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, like, we've been watching them dominate. They had nothing, no answers for Jonathan Stewart early. I think when they lost April for the game early. That was a big problem because they had no pass rush. Even in the second half when they

were stopping them, they didn't really have any pass rush, which was different than what we saw all year. I look at it just like the Seattle Seahawks were one of the three or four best teams in the entire league and it was weird how this game was all one way and then all the other way. But in the end, it sort of turned

out what you would expect. Seattle should have had some dominant moments in this game. It just happened to all be in a row. I mean, this is an awesome Seahawks team. where if you had given them the one seat, if they had been a good team during the regular season, they didn't earn it. Like, it wouldn't have surprised me at all for them

to win a couple home games and go to the Super Bowl. It wouldn't a surprise if Seattle won this game. We picked, a lot of us picked them. If you're a Seahawks fan making excuses about the poor field condition or the early East Coast time, the whole time, I think, just stop, stop whining. Just wait until tomorrow. Be a better human being.

Enjoy your three great seasons in a row. And the fact that you'll be back in the playoffs again next year. It may be, though, as we were talking about downstairs, the end for Marshawn Lynch, because my big question would have been he wasn't effective early and did not look right to me. Could make anybody miss an open space. Right. And as you asked downstairs, where was Kristen Michael? I mean, he probably was the better option and it was too late.

That's tough, though, if you're the coach, because it is tough. Take him out of the lineup because you never know when Lynch is going to break one. That's true. If he doesn't look like Marshall Lynch, you don't want to take him off. I know Kristen Michaels played pretty well. since he came back but i mean he's christin michael still ultimately well in the first half i don't think you could have put walter payton back there i'm not sure it would have mattered with the way carolina's front seven was playing well he's he's dead so that wouldn't have been a good man well gregg you had to go

there and that was a little bit that was an ugly way to approach that i think the point was made well lynch is do lynch has an 11.5 million dollar cap hit i don't think there's any way he's back after thomas ralls thoroughly outplayed him you know it's weird that commercial um with eric dickerson that they play all the time where he talks about Walter Payton. I guess it's for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. And Eric Dickerson is supposed to be sharing a memory about Walter Payton. And his memory is that when he introduced himself to Walter Payton,

when he was a young player, Walter Payton said he knew who he was. So it was kind of like a humble brag. Well, there was another element to it, but to get out of the gate, it was absolutely a humble brag. And while we hear on commercials that are getting played constantly, I tweeted about this, the nationwide commercial with Peyton Manning, where, you know, he's wearing the shorts and playing golf. And then he's playing ping pong, and he goes,

the comeback starts, epic comeback starts right now, hits it, the kid returns served. Manning swings and misses, but the kid's return served doesn't hit the table. So the point is Manning's. He should know that. It's a fair point. The epic comeback did start right there.

He doesn't even know the rules. How's he going to make a comeback? Read into it how you will when looking ahead to this week's AFC championship game. That's all I'm saying. I think one part of the Panthers we didn't really talk about was the defensive line and Kwan Short and Star Lota Lele, your buddy. The Hog Mollies.

Playing so well early and dominated. They had 14 QB hits today, the Panthers did, including three from Jared Allen, who sounds like he may or may not be able to play next week. But the Seattle problems that they had earlier in the year kind of came out in this game. I mean, they start games poorly, they start seasons poorly. They can't protect Russell Wilson, especially up the middle.

And that was a big part of why they fell behind. Speaking of Hog Mollies, I love the Dave Gets. Gettleman's sideline shot standing with Ernie O'Corsi, and whenever I can see Ernie of coursey's hair, and any time, I'm excited. I don't disagree at all. The gorgeous jet black mane on Ernie of course. Ernie and Corsi must be like 107 at this point, but I mean, I love the guy. Old Brown's general manager, Giants general manager.

Yeah, those two guys, Gettoman and Corsi, go way back with the Giants front office, and I believe, of course, he got him the job in Carolina as a consultant. So, you know, Cam Newton said, you know, tight butts. which is a cousin of the hot butt. Dight butt, hot, butt, tight butt, hot butt. Do we have any, are we nervous at all about the Panthers what we saw in the second half? We'll get into the games, but did that spook you at all?

Or was it, if you watched the interview after the game that Cam did, I don't know if you guys saw that, he clearly was not perturbed, but when he said, yeah, well, you know, we were pretty conservative in the second half. I think he was a little frustrated how conservative the offense was. I guess you could kind of mark it off to that because they certainly did not play the same way in terms of passing the ball and all that.

So you're up 31-0, I guess. Part of that was on Cam. His mechanics backslid in the second half, and he wasn't setting his feet again. They were annoyed. It was a weird feeling to the fact because this is the first time they've made the NFC title game since 2005, I believe. And so this is a celebratory biggest moment of Cam's career. But from Rivera to Keekly to Cam, all of them after the game were a little annoyed. about the game, which maybe isn't a bad thing.

You go into the title game a little, you get, you know, fired up. They had a chance to go in at halftime of 31-0. You know, they could have, if they would have stayed playing at that level and won 48-10 or something, yeah, you're right. They're flying into the NSE title game. I think it's actually, it happened at the perfect time. Because instead of wiping out Seattle and maybe thinking a little too highly of yourselves, and everyone's suddenly saying, oh, you know what, they are just that team.

They had a wake-up call in the second half where you just said it, the coach, the quarterback, everyone on Mike Shula, everyone on both sides of the ball says, we can't let that happen again. I think it's a perfect timing for Carolina. They're not going to let it happen next week. I like that.

I don't know if there's any predictive value in doing that. It seems like a habit, but to me, when you take something more tangible, like the fact that Larry Fitzgerald is going to absolutely toast Cortland Finnegan. Oh, man. Because Finnegan had an awful game.

Finnegan's a problem. He's a problem, and I would be more concerned. I won't say anything because, you know, I've been on his bad side, but you got a salty expletive laced direct messages from him, didn't you? I did.

He's had a very good career, but he was a liability today in coverage and as a tackler. That corner, well, we'll get into it, but yeah, their loss of those two of their top three cornerbacks. I think if it's ever going to show up, it's going to show up against the Arizona Cardinals.

I agree. Which takes us to the final game of a divisional round weekend. The game played at Mile High Stadium. Invesco Field at Mile High. That's correct. something like that. How did I become the authority on corporate stadium name?

It just shows you you're such a sponge for football knowledge how far you've come. But this game with Peyton Manning behind the center takes care of business. They took care of business. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 2316, a beat-up Steelers team that clearly, Penn Ralthusberger, a gutty performance playing with all those injuries. But no Antonio Brown certainly was a factor in this game. Even if Martavis Bryant did step up, they did not move the ball. as well. And it came down to a big fumble. Big fumble saved them when Jeremy Hill fumbled last

week for the Bengals, setting up the game-winning field goal with the help of all those personal fouls. But this time it was a fumble from their own stealer running back. Remind me of his name. Fitzgerald. Fitzs. Fitzs Tucson. Thank you. Fumble setting up the game-winning touchdown drive by the Broncos. The defense holds and game over the Broncos and Peyton Manning back to the AFC title game, Greg, for the second time in Manning's four years in Denver. Well, it's weird to see this formula work in the playoffs and that it is the Broncos formula, but this is the Broncos team we saw all year

that the defense holds the other team, keeps the offense in the game as the passing game and Peyton Manning's doing nothing, and then Manning somehow comes up with his best drive of the game at the end to win it. The defense holds. The special team's got six points in this game early, which ended up being a big factor,

and on you go. It's ugly, and Manning is, is, you know, the fourth or fifth or tenth reason why they're winning, but I don't think it makes them any less effective. This is a defense that has the capability to make plays at the end of the game. Let's calm down. They gave up 400 yards. This was not a good defensive performance.

They gave up 16 points. Wade Phillips got outcoached by Todd Halley. They didn't have their two best running backs and their best wide receiver, and the Steelers moved the ball up and down the field pretty regularly. But they didn't finish drives. And a lot of that was because... But that's not a dominant defense. It wasn't today.

That's for sure. I think they have the capability and the personnel to play dominant defense. It was not today, but what they were, like we talked about, was situational football, was very good in the key situations. Fourth and one, Pittsburgh decides to go for it early. Denver was ready to make that play, and they stopped them. They blitzed them late, DeMarcus Ware, stops Ben Rathesberger late in the game. They get the fumble when they absolutely need it.

A lot of times they got the sack of Ben Rathesberger to knock them out of field go range. I mean, in the end, they made all the big plays. I know. You know, we were, Greg and I were getting into it downstairs because I want to feel like you believe what you're saying about Denver. Of course they do. I don't believe that. I just don't matter.

I don't buy into this team right now. I don't believe you. They haven't played awesome defense since the first day of the season. And their quarterback is a humongous liability. But here's the thing, and I think this is what Greg is probably getting out a little bit, at least partly, is that even when they don't have a great defensive game, and Peyton Manning has bring little to the table. they still find a way to win a game.

You got to deserve credit for that. They get credit. I guess I'm just saying. Right. If we end up, what would be the biggest disaster scenario of all these teams we've talked about? The number one is Denver getting into the Super Bowl. And it's not a knock on Broncos fans who are one of the best fan bases in the league. But this is not the team that should be in this situation.

You don't have fun watching them. You're sick of watching them. No, they're going to be. Part of it. It's a sport. It should be fun to watch. Let's start there. But that's where it should be fun.

The eyes are coming right at you. No, no, no. I just, I think that part of this is trying. And Greg, you know what? Listen, you're probably coming from a totally different angle. But I feel like we're trying to sell this AFC championship in a way that New England doesn't have it in the bag. You know, they might not really be that good of a team. And Denver has a lot of strong points to it.

But these games come down to, they're going to talk all week about Brady versus Manning. What's most depressing is the legacy of what all that is does not exist. right now. Peyton Manning is not even a serviceable quarterback at the moment. I disagree. I think he, I think that he is serviceable. Okay.

Well, then I use the wrong word potentially, but you guys also think he had a pretty good game today. I don't think he had a pretty good game. He didn't kill them today. He just stayed out of the way. He did not turn the ball over. He made some passes, especially on the game winning drive, you know, and he did not, listen, he got, his receivers didn't help him out. and his running backs drops and passes.

Manning can't throw deep anymore. He misses receivers a lot now, but now he is, you know, well below the Dalton line, but he is not just completely awful where Brock Osweiler is in the game today because that was never even in consideration. Well, here's where I have a problem with Peyton Manning,

and it is something that we talked about downstairs, that if you get them into second and third down situations where it's not, they just need more than three or four yards, they're in hot water. Because, yes, Peyton Manning completed 21 passes. But he is nearly in the Gabbard zone today because of the fact that really he's completely limited as a thrower. And the route tree and everything they can do with their wide receivers is not NFL offense worthy right now, not AFC championship worthy. No, that's true of Manning.

But they have Demarius Thomas. They have Emmanuel Sanders. They have an offense, kind of like the Chiefs, kind of like the Packers, that needs to be precise. And they can't afford the penalties. They can't afford the drops. That's why I don't think he had an awful, awful game. Three of those drives stop because the third down drops. He goes 21 to 37.

He doesn't make any big mistakes. If you don't drop those passes, they're moving the ball along. And you're right. He still has to be the fourth reason that they win the games. You need the defense to play great. You need the running game to be better. And it's hard to win games like that. But they just did it again.

And they've done it enough to get the number one seed in the AFC because of when Peyton Manning is playing. And to Mark's point. like Peyton Manning was almost sheepish after the game talking to Tracy Wolfson because he's aware of that he is not the guy that is leading them. It's such a different part of his career now where he is just, they're trying to almost hide him to get through these games. And that's weird.

And but really, when you look ahead to Sunday, and again, we'll get into it. What makes it a strange AFC title game and a strange Peyton Brady thing is it's no longer two juggernauts going against each other. It's one guy that really most likely is in his last season. And you think Peyton Manning, or I hope so, to be honest with you, is in its last season. And Tom Brady, who's still one of the best players in the league. So they're going to have a huge mismatch of the quarterback position. But the Broncos have enough, especially if their running game can get going next week, where I think they can hang in that game.

I don't think it will be a blowout. They waited way too long to get C.J. Anderson going today. They cannot toy around with that next week. You hear our uncles and our dads always talk about the lamentable scene of Willie Mays playing the outfield for the New York Mets. That was Peyton Manning today. when he gave himself up on that sack. And then got up and had his biggest play of the game. The refs missed the call, but he gave himself up on that.

But he was doing that when he was winning the MVP. He's the king of the slider. Not to that. Not to that. Not to that. Steelers thought the play was over, which is their fault, if that's the way it is. But, I mean, I couldn't agree more. I think, I think it sounds like we don't like Peyton Manning's. But the part of it is just.

That's not to that degree. Come on. Right. We're watching a shadow of what he was. And that's not, that's depressing. No, I'm not saying you arguing. But that's what's depressing. act like the Broncos, I don't know.

To me, Tom Brady is so much better than Peyton Manning. Oh, of course. Oh, we all agree. That the Patriots have to be the clear favorite. I agree. But this used to be when we would look at Brady versus Manning. It would be, you know, who's going to win the game? Which quarterback has the better game?

You can't look at that game next Sunday like that. This is about which team's better. And the Broncos have enough pieces as a team, including his weapons, Manning's weapons, where it could be a battle. It's just, it's different now. And it's kind of strange. It has to be said on third and twas. 12, you know, everyone's going to say the Tucson fumble, that's what lost it for the Steelers.

Special teams were disaster for the Steelers. Special teams was a bad job for them, too. Right after that fumble, it's third and 12. The Steelers, I think they blitzed on that play. They're getting some pressure on Peyton Manning, and he threads the needle for a 32-yard throw to Fowler, which was by far Manning's best play of the game. I would say it's his only throw that really stood out, but it was also his biggest throw of the game because if that's incomplete, they're punting the ball right back to the Steelers. They're right in the same field position that they were.

But he hit that throw, and then he hit the next throw, and then they ran the ball and the offense came through at the end when they couldn't. And to me, it just shows that to me that's worth something. Like you have to give them credit for winning a divisional round game, no matter how banged up the Steelers were. Sure. And from a Steelers angle, people will focus on the Tasan fumble, but they had the ball again with three minutes to go in a chance to tie the game.

They didn't get it done. And the Bengals and Steelers killed themselves. They knocked themselves out of contention this year. Because I honestly think the Steelers would have won this game if they had Antonio Bryant, Brown on the field. I actually, I do think that I think this was obviously a close game. When Tucson fumbled the ball, they had a one-point lead in Denver territory. I mean, they had a chance to win this game.

And if you put the best wide receiver in football on the field, I think it would have made the difference. I agree, especially in this game, where receivers were open, which is a concern for Denver. I mean, the receivers were open. And Rathlisberger was Rathlisberger. He was throwing the ball downfield. He looked like his old self to me. Yeah, and you said the Bengals knocked themselves out or knocked the Steelers out.

But it was really Vantes perfect. I mean, he knocked Levyon Bell out for the season. He knocked Antonio Brown out. He injured Rathesberger, although that didn't really seem to be a factor in this game. Rathesberger looked the same as he ever is. When you look at the Broncos' chances, one forward, the inescapable fact is that in six home games this year, Peyton Manning has one touchdown and eight interceptions,

which is beyond inept. Defense has to play better. They need the defense to play like we were talking about really early in the season, that they could be like the Seahawks from a couple years ago. I mean, they need to have one of those types of games. I think the football cognizente, West, and the people out in the desert in Nevada, everyone is going to look at the Broncos as an underdog in their own building

and maybe they'll draw off that. I don't know. Right. But the same group was saying how. the Patriots, not that everyone was picking the Patriots to lose, but saying, well, the Patriots, they haven't been the same team. They're not the same. And then one game flips all that.

That's why the NFL's the NFL. The Patriots were materially different. They got Julian Edom and Gronk and Amindola healthy, and that makes all the difference in the world. That's why Wes's tagline for the NFL is the NFL. You figure it out because we don't know what we're talking about half the time. Is it just you figure it out or is it then comma because we don't know. No, you got to get it.

Short and sweet. Yeah, that's what I thought. I had, like, the subtitle underneath, like, the long subtitle on the book. He has, like, a fan hands his vanity URL. Well, there you go, guys. That is a nice recap of all four games, professional. I thought we hit out a lot of good points. Hot fire.

A little bit of mirth. Crazy eyes. Nice job. A little crazy eyes, Sessler. Well, I just want Greg to be honest. What are you talking about? I agree with Mark. I don't think Greg's being honest.

That's it, that you're imputing my character. I am imputing your character. And this is terrible. Now you're taking it to an even greater degree. by sticking up for yourself and you know that you don't really believe the Broncos is that true Greg no you don't believe the Broncos just lied again why would I why would I make that out you're doubling down you're insane this is going to be a great week I'm looking forward to it we have let's see two more shows before championship Sunday it's sad there's only three games left this season guys that's the pro bowl

let's not forget that that's not sad I have forgotten it already oh like even when you just mentioned it's gone I don't even know what we were talking about four games You can watch game pass all offseason. Football never ends. You know, I will be watching is the Pro Bowl draft. I always tune in for that. No comment. Good luck.

It'll be great. I want to party with you, Cowboys. This was the Around the NFL podcast sponsored, of course, by Scott Trade. Oh, yeah. And we'll be back on Tuesday with the first of, as I said, two shows as we lead up to championship weekend. The Throne of Ease still alive. So congratulations, Greg. Thanks.

We keep on rolling with the throne of ease. It's all me. I can't do it. I mean, another week of the Super Bowl with the Patriots. It just can't happen. We need something to happen. It can. It probably will.

Peyton Manning. Peyton, go down to Florida. Go talk to that guy. See what you can do. We need you. Go to Sweden. Go somewhere. You want the Broncos in the Super Bowl.

See, now I'm concerned. Pray. Do something. I don't know. And if the Broncos do make the Super Bowl, great, got to make sure marks on the Peyton Manning Bee. Of course. Why not?

I'll bring some honesty to the subject. All right. We will be back Tuesday, as I said. So this is Dan Hansis, signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the boss, and B-mark behind the glass. Tell Tuesday. Damishek here. Make sure you check out the latest episode of the Dave Damashek football program, Matt Harmon.

Handsome Hank and I are picking the divisional round games and talking a little Chip Kelly. Check it out on NFL.com slash podcasts and iTunes. This is an I-Heart podcast.