NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Divisional Round Recap: WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

Episode Date: January 15, 2018

A room filled with some heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler- recap all of the action from the Divisional Playoff games, including the insane ending of the Vikings-Saints game (2:30), which was so unbelievable that Case Keenum couldn’t put it into words (15:00); The Jags’ big time upset of the Steelers, which resulted in a WWE-style postgame interview for the ages (24:00); Big Ben’s future in the NFL and with the Steelers (30:00); A surprising outcome between the Falcons and Eagles (35:00), which had major Lock of the Week implications (43:00); And another average day on The Throne of Ease — almost “too easy” (49:00); Plus much more!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 a room full of bozos. How dare you? Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by head and shoulders. My name is Dan Hensis and I am joined by a room that's filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler to my left, Greg Rosenthal to my right. What is up, boys? Hey!

Hey. A little bit to talk about today. We're just recovering right now, I think. I'm an incredible day of action. Yeah, first day of the Australian Open is an exciting day in every sports fan's life. What a time. You always knew exactly where you were in your life when you first became exposed to the Australian Open. For me, it was today in the newsroom when Greg said it was something that exists. Yeah, and for me, seconds after you were first exposed to it, but I would say it's unbridled passion and joy around the event.

The other thing going on in this sporting world is divisional round weekend. And in our last show, I offered the viewpoint, which I think is shared by many, that divisional round football is the best football weekend of the year because you got eight teams. In most cases, almost all of them are qualified to be there. Now, that wasn't quite the case this year. And we did, we shepherded out some of the riffraff as we head towards championship weekend. But what we did get was, I would say, one good game, one terrible game, one great game, and one absolute stone cold classic. Is that fair, Greg, in that order?

I think that that's all fair, although the Steelers Jaguars game, which I assume is the third one you mentioned there. I mean, that's a classic game on its own right. That's a lead story. That's so much happened in that game that that would be the story of the weekend and almost. any other situation. And it certainly felt like the story of the weekend when it's 17-0-0 Vikings, and they're going on a seven-minute drive

to start the second half, and half the newsrooms fall in asleep. But the Saints and the Vikings had a little something extra for us. Well, we were talking about that Saints-Vikings game is a half-time, if you're one of these guys at the sports bar, you get in your car and you go home because, you know, you win a little bit. You get to sleep a little bit earlier,

and the game was putting people to sleep. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. I mean, and it was, and we're going to get to all four games. need to re-watch it. Yeah, so do I. It feels like we just dealt with a title wave of events and details. So we're, yeah, we're trying to process it all. Even Case Keenham himself, the winning quarterback for the Vikings when he was interviewed

immediately after the game was having trouble even processing the questions and understanding what exactly had just transpired. It was that type of game between the Vikings and Saints. So, yeah, we are all set for the final four in the NFL. but this is how we got there. And, yeah, sometimes we like to go in order, chronological order. But one of the best games in NFL history caps the weekend. That is where we start in Minnesota.

Let's go, Fulton. Case on a deep drop steps up in the pocket. He'll fire to the right side. Caught by Diggs. Stay above. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, 30.

Okay. Come on. Go! Are you kidding? Look at me! It's a Minneapolis Miracle! Step on Diggs! And the Minnesota Vikings have blocked up on the New Orleans States. It's a 61-yard Minneapolis miracle.

I can't believe what I can't call. Oh, my! What an unbelievable play! Fans in the U.S. Bank Stadium are embracing each other. They're trying to climb into the box box to hug us. No, nobody can find Stefan Diggs. He ran into the tunnel. There you go.

Wow. And Lindsay just hit me up on our instant messaging client. I could trim this down if you want. No. No. I could have listened to another 20 minutes of that because that was one of the more memorable plays you'll ever see. Case Keenham with seconds to play completed a pass to Stefan Diggs

who got away from Marcus Williams, who took in unforgivable, at least for Saints fans' angle on the play, the safety, and Diggs took it to the house untouched for a 61-yard touchdown as time expired, giving the Vikings a 29, 24 win over the Saints that sends the Vikings back to the NFC championship game for the first time since Brett Favre took him there in the 2009 season. And this was, Greg, one of the great games ever, as we said, especially, I mean, at least the playoffs,

But when you get to the crucible, everything goes up a notch. A game, Greg, where there were four lead changes in the last three minutes in one second. But it is that last play to digs that everyone will remember. It's almost like people have too much of a bias against recency bias. I tweeted something very banal saying there's never ever been a finish like that. Bainel, it's banal. Ever. And I've got a ton of responses of like, oh, you forget the Super Bowl.

Oh, you forget that. No, this was totally different. Literally, there's never been a walk-off touchdown to end a game in regulation in playoff history, much less a walk-off touchdown for 61 yards after the best defense in the league gave up a 17-point lead and two scoring drives in the final three minutes. There's never been a game where there's four lead changes in the final 301, where both fans are just going wild, but especially the Vikings fans who have been so tortured over their history

to watch this happen in their stadium with 10 seconds left and at that point believe there's almost no hope and to have a play like that happened where even within the play, you thought a bunch of different things. Is he going to get tackled in bounds? Did he step out of bounds? Are they going to kick a field goal? No, there's never been a game like that.

We don't need history to wait and find out. It's an unbelievable instant. classic. This was the game where we lost a bunch of teams this week and the week before, and it's a long season that is suddenly over for the loser. But I was watching the Vikings in the last couple minutes thinking, where are we ever going to see a Vikings team like this? Get back to this place where this team seemed so impenetrable, so balanced, and the first half had you thinking they're going to ride right into the Super Bowl and they're going to play in their home stadium. And then suddenly it looked like every other Vikings playoff story,

the snake-bitten, charmless destruction's narrative, which honestly, you have a great friend, Dan, who's a Vikings fan. I have one Eric Seyes, who loves listening to this show, and I just thought of these guys thinking, this is the ugliest, cruelest fate. And for it to end the way it did, Saints fans are wonderful, but I couldn't be happier for this Vikings fan base.

It was the most improbable, strange, beautiful ending to a football game I've ever watched. You just, you hope now, because I think the Vikings, For a lot of people are kind of a sentimental favorite now as we head towards the final four. In fact, we have three great stories now heading into the last weekend before the Super Bowl and the Patriots. And if you give me any of these other three stories, three teams that have they won Super Bowls, any of the other teams? Am I blanking right now? Not Minnesota.

Not the Jaguars. Not the Eagles. And then you have the Patriots who have won five Super Bowls and been to three or four others. But in a way that makes it almost the better story, that they are the foil. They are the greatest. As long as they don't win. It's the perfect foil. You have your perfect foil.

It's a great setup. You're right. And I think we'll see if the Pats get by Blake Bordles at home next weekend. But we'll see how it all plays out. But you really would love to see one of these snake-bitten organizations get over the hump. And if it's getting over the hump at the Patriots expense, now that's great drama. But this game had it all. And yeah, it was 17-0, correct?

Yes. At the half. And you get the feeling that. when Kai 4-bath lines up for a 53-yard field goal, and Kai's Kai, you know, that's one thing we know. It's one thing we learned today without a doubt, Kai's Kai. A lot of people seem to, you got a lot of feedback on that. I got easily over 100 mentions at Kai's Kai,

and then I sent it to my wife, who, as the story goes, we were at the hospital before my first son was born, and this nurse had a connection to Kai. and she said to me, after I sent her a screen grab of all my mentions, my wife, she said, can you even imagine if the nurse saw this? Like, it would blow her mind. Like, I told you this offhanded story and now all these tweets. But Kai drills a 53-yarder onions,

and the game's not even close to over at that point. 129 left at that point. It's just amazing how the game twisted and turned, and it just looked like the Saints weren't even going to compete. And then the game, it was like two totally different games. Well, let's start and, like, move our way backwards. Marcus Williams had a great rookie season for the Saints. Practically played every snap at a position where you can be exposed and make a lot of mistakes,

often as the deep safety on the play. It was a big part of why they had such a rookie class. If ever there's kind of a snapshot of sports, as you like to say, Dan, just like, sports. Sports! It's this Marcus Williams game. He started this comeback. He was the guy who made a leaping interception to take Case Keenham's flutter ball away when it was 17 to 7 at that point. And that was the first moment.

Everyone in Minnesota and everyone in New Orleans thought, oh my God, maybe this can happen. This rookie safety just made a play. Maybe he would have been an afterthought. But in his mind, that would have been one of the most amazing moments in a young man's career. And then you get to a situation where the theory is that he was trying to avoid a penalty on the plate. That makes a lot of sense. I don't know if he's totally going to explain that or not. I also noticed he was trying to tackle in theory, Stefan Diggs,

in a way that would keep him in bounds. And maybe that just is partly how he missed it. It was sort of just in an inexplicable moment. And now that's going to be with him for the rest of his life, no matter what else. Well, his earlier heroics are lost, and so was a second half by Drew Brees that would have gone down as one of the performances of the ages. Marcus Williams, who on NFL network, Dion Sanders, who I'll give it to Dionne for keeping it real, not sugar-coting it. But I thought that he made a point about Marcus Williams, which is in the playoffs, this is where they separate the dogs and the cats. And Marcus Williams, he basically exposed himself as a cat because with the game on the line, you have to be aggressive to succeed.

in this sport, you have to approach that play in a non-passive way. And that is they'll be, you don't want to be the teaching tool for people how to not play that situation. It made me think of Rahim Moore in Denver five or six years ago on the Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones touchdown. It was crushing. And you said Drew Brees, Mark, like, let's not lose how well he played in this game in the second half.

And seeing him walk off the field, he's 39 now. Who knows if they get another? Does he ever get this close? And we spend all our time talking about the age attached to Tom Brady. This is someone who's months younger than Tom Brady and is playing at an incredibly high level. And his contract is running out. What happens to this team? I mean, there's a lot of moving pieces for the Saints.

He should be back. Oh, I think he would be. But it's just as much as losing the Vikings in a cruel way today, you feel the same way for the Saints because they've been one of the most. exciting teams to watch. They've been the most transformative team in the entire NFC to go from a team. No one believed in. And eight and eight has been to what they accomplished this season. This was a cruel way to go out. I mean, if you think about what it just happened in the final three minutes, Breeze with a gorgeous pass to Camara

to take the lead at 21.20. I mean, just like the young, exciting Saints players stepping up, Camara, Michael Thomas had big moments. The fourth and ten pass from Drew Breeze, which is just one of the most ice-cold throws you ever could have to Willie Sneed on the sideline. I mean, that's a play that Minnesota thought that they were going to be seen in their dreams. And then you think from a Saints perspective of just the little things that could have been different. You choose to run the ball on third and one.

It's hard to second guess that. I'm sure Sean Payton will think about it. Should I have decided to let Drew Breeze maybe throw the ball on that play and really just keep Which plays this again? The third and one play, 29 seconds left. They decide to run the ball up the middle with Camara. To set up the field goal. Which is the percentage play.

You're trying to get the first down, but worst case scenario, you force the Vikings to take a timeout. But the Saints are such a go-for-broke team all the time. I thought they might go play action there so that they can keep the ball, not leave any time left, and get a little closer for that field goal. That doesn't happen. They get great pass-rush pressure on the Vikings' drive. But on that last play, the Vikings' offensive line,

which really was struggling in the fourth quarter, The Saints pass rush was better than the Vikings pass rush. They held up on that last play for Keenham, gave him plenty of time, great protection, and he made a good time. We talk about a lost moment. The Willie Sneed option pass to Alvin Camara, where had it been maybe about a yard and a half, two yards closer, it would have been an absolute zip line touchdown. I think he would have scored.

There was a safety hanging back there, but that's a lost opportunity. And, you know, this time didn't come into this game at the end the way that it necessarily would have. but Sean Payton had some bizarre challenges in this. I think that's one thing they have to review how they decided to challenge two plays rather mystical. The game's over. Like after all that, after some bad challenges.

I don't like the kickoff. I think you've got to hit the kickoff short of the end zone. And all that, I know. And you could talk about that. Unless you think your kicker can't cough and corner it like that. And you don't want to kick it out of bounds because that's a disaster. But after all that, this game should be over. And 99 times out of 100, it probably is.

is. But the football gods kind of intervened. And one guy, Case Keenum, that we cannot give enough credit to that he is now in the final four of the NFL. And he threw the pass. He wasn't perfect in this game. He threw that duck that was picked up. But once again, made big throws and has a historic play in Viking's history. Here's what he had to say after the game. Tell me about the last play, desperation time to Diggs for the win. Yeah, man, I mean, I can't even explain it, man. I mean, we were definitely in desperation mode. just tried to give my guy chance and jigs him had the heck of the play made a lot of plays today uh you got to give our guys credit man we fought to the very end and uh that's special man that's one of the special times of my life you had to be thinking just maybe a penalty to give me a chance at a field goal here at that situation right i mean you were down to your last out yeah we missed a few there early we know you need to get a chunk and then uh you try to get into fill go range but uh i mean with last play i mean i don't even know what just happened man it's crazy crazy crazy He doesn't...

He never been in. This place is going crazy, and it's a special... You can cut it there. Yeah, he was kind of in another world, and you get it. Well, you're like, listen, Case Keenum, who, I think a lot of people, if you're watching the games, your perception of Case Keenom has changed this entire season. But a guy that is just a simply a backup, a career backup until this season, this moment changed his life forever, and it changed Minnesota Vikings' fandom forever. And no matter how you think of Keenum, like this game kind of confirmed or...

whatever you thought about him, positively or negatively. Like, you could think he got a little lucky with some of these throws, but you could think when push came to shove, I was even more impressed by the field goal drive preceding this, you know, miracle touchdown. When Keenham on, I think it was third and long, maybe it was second and long, did a crazy sidestep maneuver that he didn't need to make, just throws the ball in a wild, almost ephist play, which is kind of his trademark rainbow.

and when he throws it, you're thinking, what are you doing? And it just falls in beautifully. And that was the key play that set up the go-ahead field goal. That was the play that really ended the drive. When that drive started, everyone was like, okay, now we find out.

Is Case Keenham for real? Like, is he... Found out twice. And you found out twice. Yeah. We heard the call from Paul Allen and Pete Bersich of KFXN, and that is obviously, Lindsay,

we should cut that for the top 10 calls. I don't know if it made the list. but and maybe this is just Shadenfreude Shadenfreude Shadenfreude Shadenfreida But let's hear

the Saints call Of the same play Here's Keenan Drop it looking Throwing near sideline And it's caught by Stefan Diggs He's going to take it inside the 15 10 5

touchdown on the final play of this game Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Sports, man. One thing that both calls to tell you. Jim Henderson and Deuce McAllister, WWL. We're going to be there in a couple weeks,

and we have been to some loud Super Bowl stadiums. This is going to be different. Well, they got to win. I'm not saying, I don't care who's there. The noise in that stadium is insane. It would be anti-climactic if they lose to the Eagles after that 50s. They'll always have this moment. It still would be anticlimactic.

The last thing I'll say on this game, I think there was, and the fans of these teams could tell me it's crazy. It's obviously the biggest game. It's a divisional round game ever. But I feel like there's even a little bit extra knowing Nick Foles and the Eagles are on the other side of this game. That if you're a Saints fan or you're a Vikings fan, you're thinking when we win this game, we're going to go to Philadelphia and win. It's not the normal situation where a normal one C.

It makes it that much tougher for the Saints. It's, wow. So there you go. one of the great games ever, probably the best game in the Around the NFL podcast history? There's some Super Bowls. I think so. And let's not forget this was our team of around NFL last week, last year.

Once upon a time. I mean, I think the 25-point comeback in the Super Bowl by Brady. Is it definitely in the mix? Well, it's, no. Dan, your interest aside, I'd have to agree that was, we've seen some classic Super Bowls, but this, for the fan base attached to it, I'll never forget this one. Give you a break.

You're like, eh. I like the giant Patriot Super Bowls. I put those in the world. Oh, yeah. Those are you. Those are real Barnberg. Let's move. All right.

So there you go. Let's move now on to Heinzfield, the early game on Sunday. Sorry, Saints' fans. Play faked to Fred. They go to the middle of the field. Wide open for the touchdown. Tommy Bohannon. Touchdown Jacksonville.

They faked it. They snuck the fullback out. That's a touchdown for the Jaguars. Oh, my. Frankie Frangy and Tony Baceli of WJXL with the call. Leonard Fournett ran for 109 yards and three touchdowns. Blake Bordels.

Yeah, you know him. Added 214 yards through the air. Two touchdowns. I don't think he had a turnover. Look at you, Blake. And one of those touchdowns was a monster hookup to Jets legend to Tommy Bohannon. And the Jacksonville Jaguars stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers, 45 to 42 in Heinz Field. As I said, Mark, a game.

in which the Pittsburgh Steelers, everyone, most of the football cognoscenti, just getting ready for Steelers, Patriots, too. But then the game started, and the Jaguar started whipping some ace. We were watching this, and I think within the first five or six minutes, we could tell, are you going to get last week's Jacksonville team, or are you going to get the one that pasted Pittsburgh in week five? You're going to get the second, because Pittsburgh could not handle their business on defense. Jacksonville came out of the gate with an eight-play 66-yard drive in which Doug Marone went for it on fourth and one, total onions, fourth and goal from the one, when you could have kicked a field goal and sent it's Leonard Fournette diving into the end zone saying, you've got to come after us, Pittsburgh.

We're not going to come in here and let down. That was a huge play in the game. Very similar to Doug Peterson and the Eagles going for fourth and goal at the one. And I think those moments. It set the tone. It changes those games. It set the tone. And I really think that I under, we'll get into it.

But the one thing is everyone's saying, bemoaning that we're not getting Steelers, New England, Pittsburgh had two chances this season to beat Jacksonville. Had they done it either time, they would have had home field advantage in their home stadium. You've got to take care of business for us to buy into you as a Super Bowl team. Jacksonville is a strange operation. They are very weird, but they are fun to watch and they earn this victory. That's what makes me so scared of next week. is someone that A, hates the Patriots, and B loves competitive...

Wait, you don't like the Patriots? They're not my favorite team. Really? But, and B, loves competitive football, especially in the crucible once you get to championship weekend, which Jags team is going to show up next weekend? Because we got the really good one this week. But if the Buffalo Bills team, the last week... The defense was great last week.

Well, I'm saying if that team shows up, it's not going to be good enough in New England. But for today's game, Greg, it was because every time Pittsburgh started to creep back into it, Jags always had an answer. Well, it's funny what you're saying about the Jaggs, which team is going to show up and their best games are so great. The numbers support it.

Football outsiders has almost not known what to do with the Jaguars all year. They have the biggest variance of any team just about ever because their great games are so great that they really, but like the numbers say that they're a Super Bowl team. They're one of the Super Bowl favorites because teams that have great games that great,

they're going to win in the playoffs. but their down games truly are that down. I think we're going to see a great Jaguars team because at this point, being able to come through like this on the road with your offense. That was the story. And the defense made big plays, and that can't be ignored,

the turnovers that they forced. I don't want to hear that they had a terrible day because they gave up 540 yards. It wasn't their best day, and they certainly would have liked to handle that 28 to 7 lead a little better. But the fact that it was the offense in the end, especially in the fourth quarter, responding great play calls by Nathaniel Hackett, Bordell's doing what he needed to do. I mean, just look at the people who are catching passes here. Keel and Cole, one catch.

One huge catch. Yeldon led the team in receiving. Koyek, one huge catch. O'Shaughnessy, one huge catch. Bohan, one huge catch. It was just like a little bit of this, enough running, some bigger plays on defense. and I think they got to go into New England just feeling great. And they're a talented team.

The reason they win is because they have talent. They got crazy swagger also. They really do. And they love and they love to, when they win, they celebrate a win like nobody else in the league. And Blake Bortles, I feel good for Blake. I'm happy for Blake Bortles. Never met the man. I think I met him at one of those pre-draft things.

And he looked 37 then, but that's beside the point. But for him to come out after all the trash talk on him and deliver a really solid game, Even after as the Steelers were charging back and it felt like they were going to take over the game, Blake Bortle's kept on making throws. And speaking to that swagger and to the Blake Bortle's criticism, here is Malik Jackson. You're going to hear Callais Campbell first and then Malik Jackson coming in later in the locker room, the credit here to Alyssa Lang of First Coast News, Swagger. He's a great leader, you know, and he loves the game.

He makes everybody prepared, and every time he's going out there, he's a true competitor. You know, he has a lot of heart. And people can tell him all they want to, but we know what he can do, and he proved it today. He's a dog. I want to know what Jarrell Casey has to say about him choking in big moments. Why, you sit at home and watch us next week. It's fair.

Who would have thought that the Titans Jaguars rivalry is heating up going into AFC championship weekend? What, giving New England a waltz through the AFC South to get to the Super Bowl. I mean, the one thing is last time they played Big Ben, they forced him to 57 passes in five. This time around, we got a completely different Ben Rossburg. A couple big mistakes early on, a bad interception, the strip sack. That was on him, too. That was too.

That changed this game. But he threw four of the prettiest touchdown passes. You will see all season. Five on the day, 469 yards, that one killer pick. But, I mean, I felt over and over watching this with you guys. I kept thinking at least five or six times. This was your Super Bowl. Pittsburgh's going to win this game.

Well, I, if he doesn't like... You said game over at one point when the Steelers were down seven and didn't have the ball. You're like game over. You missed a couple before that, too. This was Mark Super Bowl. To give a little peek behind the curtain, you were living and dying as a member of a football county.

I do not like the Patriots. I do not like the Steelers as a Browns fan. And I lost any sense of, you know, I wrote the game up and I hope a professional manner. But, you know, I think at one point I whipped a pillow across the newsroom. I think it was like, you peek behind the curtain. How about a peek behind the blinds?

We sit in the corner of the newsroom. And after, I think it was the fumble return for a touch. Yes, it was. To make it 287. Mark has a cute little pillow that he sits on to keep his hiny nice and warm. Well, there's back nice. Wait, really? I never knew that.

I had a blood issue last year and I was supposed to keep a leg elevated and for some reason I've just kept it on my seat. So Mark's cute little hiny pillow. You picked it up and threw it right hiny pillow on the pillow. That is strange. He threw it against the blinds. And if anybody who said here, it probably would have been like a head turning. Well, there was a management figure who popped his head out of an office. But yes.

But yeah. So, Mark was hyper-invested in this game. It was fun. The good thing, though, this is the only thing you get, because I know you do liken it to my hatred of the Patriots. The Steelers end up losing a lot. Like, the Patriots are in their seventh straight AFC title game. For all to talk about this quote-unquote Steelers Patriots rivalry,

in the past seven years, the Steelers have only made it that far once. And a lot more to unpack with the Jags. But with the Steelers, where do they go from here after a loss like this, where their defense laid one of the biggest egg. you can imagine. I know Ryan Shazir is not there, but what an egg to lay when the offense was time and time again saying, hey, guys, let us take care of this game and steal this one and get to New England.

But the defense just wasn't up to the test. One lesson for me is that we keep, and Greg, I always kill you for this. And I think it's just because we don't know how these seasons, today shows you how weird these seasons could be. But the idea that we're equating certain teams to be on New England's level or have it, there really is only one Patriots. And the Steelers are a deep second place. And there is a fatal flaw that seems to,

creep up with Pittsburgh. Every year, to the point where with Dave Dameshack, crows about how the Steelers have had such a tough time. And you're like, whatever. I'd love to be a Steelers pin. We still have glitter, by the way, in our floor here because Shaq had glitter dumped on him for predicting 13 and 3. But in the end, he has a point because their seasons always end in these awful ways

outside of a couple Super Bowls here and there. Well, that's what happens to every team, essentially. I mean, that's what happens to the Packers over the last seven or eight years. And you're right. The Steelers haven't always been there. Different AFC teams have taken turns. It's been the Colts. It's been the Broncos, the Ravens sometimes.

It's the Pittsburgh Steelers. And you're right, Dan, the numbers look great for Pittsburgh. But the two turnovers from Ben Rathesberger were absolutely crucial and early in this game. And the two failed fourth downs that they went for, which whether it's on the coaching or it's on the players, I guess especially the last one where they end up throwing the ball when Levi-on-Bell is having a very good game. and they throw the ball on fourth and a half a yard. Those are essentially offensive turnovers. So to me, it's a team loss.

And they had no pass rush, and that really stood out. And that's why I kind of buy into what Tony Romo was selling Saturday night. You're always buying what Tony Romo selling. Well, not when he told us repeatedly, because I watched this disclaimer on the plane home. I was covering the game in Philadelphia, didn't watch the game at all.

So I watched it on Game Pass on the plane home. he sold for the first quarter and a half or so. Oh, this is going to be a great game. I'm telling you, people don't know what they're talking about. There's no way the Titans are not going to stay in this game because they are physical. And then, of course, it just went away. But he also really made the case that he thought the Jaguars not only would beat the Steelers, but that they were the team that could give the Patriots problems because of their unique matchup.

And when you look at this Steelers defense, the way it finished the season without Shazir, I kind of buy into that because it's just hard for me to see this Steelers defense getting enough stops, whereas the Jaguars, I think they could. So you're saying Tony Rom was right about 50% of the time, like the rest of us. Yeah. Well, ultimately, it wasn't right about the Titans. That was a weird hill to really go hard on because it really went hard on it. It was driving me crazy when I was watching that game.

But Big Ben, you're right. Well, it looked like you would. You make a good point that the two fourth down calls where it's, whether it's Haley or Tomlin or Big Ben, Big Ben's 6-5-260, and one play, they pitch it to the right for a three-yard loss, and then they try a deep cross that doesn't work out. But still, one of my favorite Big Ben games ever because it was just so chaotic and wild. I never saw Joe Namath play, but some of the gunslingings. He just could not move, though.

The Big Ben of Old, I could scamper around the wheel. It's so many crazy throws. Oh, no. The fact that he threw the ball 43 yards on 4th and 5 when he could have just run for it, and the game was going to be over, and Antonio Brown makes them. play i mean this is a class it's kind of it really is i and sorry to step on your point but just one quick thing is like it is kind of a classic antonio brown ben rothusberger game in the sense that you understood all of their individual brilliance and levi on bells too but ultimately the team

kind of made enough boneheaded plays that it wasn't enough and here's by the way big ben um is going to be back next season uh he virtually or more or less confirmed it after the game here's what he had to say uh because as you remember last year at around this time he didn't know if he was going to continue in the NFL. I definitely have a desire to play football. I love this game. I love these guys. Like I said, it's tough.

It's things. You hate to lose it. You hate to lose at home. I feel bad because I feel like I let the fans down, my teammates down. And, you know, the fans, we gave them so much to enjoy and cheer for this year. But to lose this at home, I know that a lot of them, not a lot, there'll be some that say, you know, we had a great season. Thanks for the ride.

but a lot of them are disappointed like we are. It wasn't enough. I have sandwiches on Big Ben retiring, so I'd like to ask him to reconsider his line of thinking. For more than one reason. I mean, the sandwich is being highly number one, the fact that he'd be out of the AFC North, a deep set. He's 35 years old, and all these quarterbacks are kind of rewriting,

what's the end of your career? But you also don't know how many chances. And to your point, what's going to happen here? Levyon Bell is threatening retirement unless he gets a long-term contract. Don't really buy that. Todd Haley is reportedly going to be on his way out, the offensive coordinator. I don't know if that's good or bad. Apparently didn't really get along with Ben Rothensberger,

but they were awfully productive under Todd Haley, considering how unpopular Todd Haley apparently was with a lot of fans and players. So you're right. There could be a lot of changes. At bar is in the area. Not totally popular. At least one. One last aspect of the game.

You're like there's more to that story I still haven't heard. It's fine. One more aspect of the story of the game we should touch on was the decision because he was criticized for it. Mike Timlin opting to onside kick it with two minutes and about 20 seconds to play and two timeouts in his pocket. I think some people said kick it deep there.

He opts to onside kick it and it goes worst case scenario because Chris Boswell, who once upon the time tried that, what's that call when you try to kick behind your leg in soccer? Vendata or Vendetta? I'll go with that. Urbano.

Robano, I think, is it got there. Maybe he got there. This time he kicks at five yards into his own player, and that puts him at the 45 with the penalty for not going 10 yards. Then it's at the 40, and then the defense gives up nine and a half yards to set up the Lombo field goal that ices the game. And that's Tomlin saying after the game. We hadn't stopped him all day.

Yeah. We don't trust. They just marched down the field. And they gave up nine and a half. You know, they're lucky that they were able to force Jacksonville to make a field goal, essentially to win the game there. It very well could have been a first down. And that was a reminder.

And the Jaguars, you know, we should give them, their fans are loved it. They have great fans. And this is their first AFC championship game since, when, 99? 99. And their offensive line, who I was taking shots at early, and they had an incredible game, Fournette came out really strong. And for the defensive, even though they gave up a lot of plays, they also made a lot of plays.

So there you go. That's the big game at Heinz Field. and one more note is we spin forward, Greg. Tom Coughlin. He's ready to do a little bit more Tom Brady legacy wrecking. This narrative. Break out the wrecking ball

because Tommy Coughlin's coming up to Foxborough. So you like this. Yeah. I'm not that upset about it. They got a better chance. When that Pittsburgh defense laid an egg the way they did, I was bummed because I think

it would have been fun to see that rematch, but they played so poorly on defense. Talent wins out, and that is the most talented defense we've seen. It's not about, their scheme. It's not about some hot shot coordinator coming up with crazy blitzes. It's just like they are just great at every position. And I am, I'm already sick. I'm sick of this Coughlin bit. I bet you are. You know, you're going to have to deal with it all week.

Here's the only reason why. He's the guy that's above the general manager. I mean, he's not having a huge impact. He's not the one pick. I mean, I'm not saying, I don't know about that. I'm not saying he didn't have an impact on the Jaguar's organization this year. I don't think whatever Tom Coughlin does in the next week is really something that's going to impact this game. How about this way? I don't know. You got to go through the Swiss cheese AFC East, and now you're going to get two home games

against the AFC South to get to the Super Bowl. You could eat a little bit of, you know, bunk. I think this is a... Just a little bit of Tom Coughlin hype. Sure, I can eat that. They're playing one of the... Otherwise, you're pretty blessed this postseason done. No, they're playing one of the great defenses that we've seen,

and they're playing the second best team of the AFC. It's a week year in the AFC. It's a week year in the AFC. It's in theory, it's a week year in the air. AFC overall. I'll definitely agree to that. But they're the second best team in the AFC. Who can really argue with Well, all I'd say though is the New England's experience

does come into play. We're going to talk about that too because Jacksonville, they've never been here. Not these players, not these coaches. We'll get to all that in the upcoming week. Let's now move on to the Saturday games, the game that kicked it off. Another surprise for many people. The game could ride on

this. Ryan with Coleman to his left. Ryan Rolls. Ryan pumps. Ryan is throwing it up in the air. Incomplete! Incomplete! And Tether for Jones! Incomplete!

And the Eagles take over on downs with 58 seconds left. Merrill Reese, WIP, with the call. Yes, the Eagles delivered a last-minute goal-line stand thwarting a final Falcons play. They knew was coming. It's 15-10 win that advances the Eagles to their first NFC title game since Donovan. McNabb was in town back in the 2008 season. For the Falcons, there will be no atonement for last year's Super Bowl collapse, only questions about what happened to their offense this season,

getting shut out in the second half in the crucible. My God, Greg, the Eagles were counted out by the football cognizanty after losing Carson Wentz, but their defense and the everlasting power of home field advantage, which I think was huge in this game, humbled the doubters. Yeah, I think home field was massive, and there are so many. different ways you can slice up this game, because I think they were ultimately two evenly matched teams where a lot of weird stuff happened.

I mean, the Eagles fumbled four times. There was a fake Hail Mary. There was a ball off of a knee that falls through that should have been intercepted that ended up being caught, and then the Eagles score three points off of that. There was a blocked punt in this game. I mean, it was a strange. cold weather, windy game.

But ultimately, it was down to one play. And it's very rare that going into that play, everyone knew it was that play. And the Eagles even took a time out. And I wrote about how Malcolm Jenkins, the safety, you know, gathered the team together to make sure they understood, like, this is the season, this is what we've been doing everything since April for.

And then when they line up for the play, both Jenkins and Rodney McLeodd knew what was coming, that it was going to be a sprint right where Matt Ryan looked for Julio Jones. They said they practiced it three or four times on Thursday. They practiced it again at the walkthrough, but you still got to execute it, and that came down to Jalen Mills on Julio Jones.

And Matt Ryan, I think,'s going to be kicking himself for the first down throw to Julio Jones with kind of got overlooked, where Julio had a one-on-one situation and a better throw there maybe gets a touchdown. And then the fourth down play where Julio Jones ultimately slips. It gets physical. It doesn't happen. and I don't know. It's hard to read too much into it when it's all down to one play.

And I don't want to pile on Steve Sarkisian because he's gotten plenty of it this year. But I thought it was a terrible final series by him. I thought, all right, first down, that's fine. That was a good play call and a bad throw by Ryan, and I haven't seen anyone even mention that because it was one-on-one to do it. I don't know what happened on that little shovel

or whatever the hell that was. That was a terrible, geared play call. Matt Ryan, and we've been talking about it in this playoffs. We talked about it last year during his MVP. season he is one of the best in the league at surveying the field looking through his progressions they basically and they mentioned the eagles talked about this they cut half the field off put him on the run which is really not playing to ryan strengths and then made it Julio jones or death and he's going to the hall of fame but has not been one of their better red zone end zone guys so

like you kind of made it Julio or bust there and i thought that sarkesian had a bad year the falcons had a bad year on offense and that was kind of symbolic for me. And on the flip side, I thought Doug Peterson saved the team in the second half with an excellent series of game calls. And Nick Foles was, the concern around Nick Foles started right away

in this game. But he was fine in the second half in terms of you're playing around him in general, but two clock chewing drives that both field goal drives that I thought changed this game. And you look at the box score and it doesn't look like Philly got anything done on the ground.

But in those two drives where they There were a couple key runs where they kept moving the sticks, and their offense, you saw little hints of that ground game that was dominant in other stages. It just wasn't for the full game, but give it to Philly for using their strengths to get out of this one. I couldn't agree more with everything you said there, starting with Peterson having a really good gameplay calling,

the offensive line having an incredible game. I think that was probably the number one key for the Eagles, that Foles had no one near him. And if you're an NFL quarterback and no one's near you the whole game and you've got a good play caller and a team that's trying to prevent the run, you're going to make those throws. And Foles missed some throws in the first half, but Peterson got him into open receivers. And that's what coaching is supposed to be. I mean, that's, Foles did his job. There were a couple plays that he made where he stepped up in the pocket and made a nice third down throw.

I remember on one of the field goal drives. And the play at the end of the first half, and a lot of the Eagles in the locker room, talked about that. They really felt like that was one of the big plays of the game where Foles hits Alshan Jeffrey on what was a high level throw. Probably his best throw of the day to hit Jeffrey on about a 17 yard out into the sideline and they hit the field goal going into halftime. And that like Foles did his job. He did not make any big mistakes. Even the near interception was on a play where he got hit very quickly in the leg and like I'm not going to kill him for making that throw. How about Nick Foles?

I mean if Chris Wesleyan was here He would bury Foles And I get that too He was I mean he started He was he was like the 10th reason they won But he did his job But he absolutely did his job And I think you guys nailed it with Doug Peterson

That they realized what's gonna work How do we make this work with Nick Foles And I don't know if it works next week Against the Vikings Yeah But in this case where they were able to do this run pass option RPO now everybody's going to start saying Like they're insiders in the league

But it's good to learn I'll start using it as well a lot of RPO and don't make them think. Just give them somebody to throw to and hit the throws. It worked this week. And the Falcons, we spent a whole week talking up their defense. They were fine. They played well defensively.

15 points they gave up. You need your offense to go in there and get the job done. And they just could not do it. It's crazy that falls. He threw the ball 30 times and had only seven incompletions. And yet I remember repeated disasters from him. But it was that second half where those two field goals drives ate up nearly 14 minutes. Right. Well, and there was even the first play of the game.

Like, that was the perfect way for it to start where Foles throws it up in the air. And it was very windy. And I do think the wind was a huge factor in the game. And the ball live looked like it got blown backwards and to the side. But they end up getting a 40-yard play on it. Then they fumble the next one. But there were a lot of those sort of moments where things could have gone wrong for Foles. And they didn't.

But when you have a great line, like, that can cover up a lot of ills. And I just wonder, like, there are a few. moments in this game where I just wonder what would have happened if different decisions were made. The first one being Doug Peterson wanted to go for it on fourth and one late in the game before they kicked the field goal to go up 1510. He called the running play. The players in the locker room confirmed that. It was going to be a run to LaGarrett Blunt. But he took so long making up his mind to do it that they ran out of time, had to take a time out. And then once he had all that time he got indecisive again still couldn't decide and then decided to go for the

field goal who knows maybe they would have picked up the first down maybe they would have won anyways but i don't know it's like those there were so many of those little moments back and forth that could have changed i remember on thursday i correctly by the way called it a coin flip game at least in my mind you and west both picked the eagles i believe we did i mean i although with no exceeding confidence well you did more than pick a oh i forgot about that you locked it uh you didn't forget No, I mean, I did during this show, not during yesterday. Actually, I found myself, and this is how this, outside of the four of us, I'm not sure any humans truly care about this lock-it-up thing.

But I found myself, like, rooting hard. Are you tracking on Twitter, by the way? People care about it on Twitter. No, they do. I was rooting hard for the Eagles because of the lock-it-up contest. So I did not forget yesterday, but I forgot during the show. And come on, Lindsay. Oh, yeah, that was a lock-off.

It's unfortunate for Dan. Lindsay, I need to stay on top of these lock-offs. Very important. We got a trophy, hypothetically, on the line here. We do have a trophy on the line here. I have a great, I've lost six in a row. I'm going to embrace that chaos, and I'm going to, no spoilers. But I got somebody, one team in mind that the old Zeus is going to throw his lock behind in the championship weekend.

I feel like you're going to pick the Patriots in a way that you think that's got to put this thing out. You can't ask me to do a lockoff again and pick takes a lot. I can tell me your reaction. At first I was going to say, you're going to pick the Jaguars, but then I thought about it. No, I'm going to use this evil for good to defeat evil. Let me just say what I meant to say. Because I wish Wes was here. He's not able to make the show.

But he did a great write-up, and he had something that really, I thought, was spot on by calling this like a victory out of the 1980s Bill Parcells game script, which is what it was, which was don't, the quarterback is not going to be some high flyer. It's not going to be Dan Marino in 88. You're going to have a more Phil Sims, Jeff Hostelter-type attack, dink-and-dunk, take what the defense gives you, and then win the game in the trenches, win the game on special teams, win the game in time of possession. And that's how the Eagles won. I don't think the Eagles necessarily, all due respect to the Eagles fans, were the better team, ultimately, with Nick Foles involved.

But I think the home field advantage and the fact that they coached a better game, I think was enough to take it home. I think it's a huge win for a coaching staff that was dismissed out of hand. by some before the season. And Jim Schwartz is a big part of that, too. Nigel Bradham, after the game, was talking about one of his sacks, how it was a play. They didn't, it was a blitz. They didn't practice all week.

It hadn't done all season. And usually, like, those are parts of their packages, but Schwartz saw something and literally just explained it to him during the game, said, hey, I want you to do this, ends up in a big-time sack. A very similar, really well-timed sack by the safety McLeod in that game. I think Schwartz had a really good game, because I agree. I don't know if they were necessarily the better team. And one final thing, just in case we're moving on.

I watched this game after I got back to the hotel. Had a drink. Humblebrake. You know, with a good friend Matt Casey. Look at you. Look at that. Shout out to Matt Casey. Football Night in America producer, big shot.

And then I was back. I couldn't fall asleep. Started watching this game. And you're right. The run pass option stuff was going crazy. RPO, bro. And that's why I was like, why is this all over my timeline? but that's why.

But I got to say to the shadowy league figures. Uh-oh, here we go. There we go. You can start talking about drugs again? No. Okay. I work for the NFL. You know, Roger Goodell talks about protecting the shield.

Yep, at all costs. And it was probably, I think it was 3.34 in the morning when I'm watching this. I don't remember. 2.30 in the morning. You got to look at who you're allowing to provide advertisements on some of these. Ad blocks. night NFL network games. They're replaying the game.

I'm enjoying the telecast, Collinsworth, all this stuff. And I was hit with some pretty risque material. Really? Very risque. I mean, I don't even want to say what was going on, but it was... I would love to...

It was creepy. How about a hint? In this climate, I don't even want to do that. Okay. Well, I think you're... It's an unorthodox move by you to take... There's a 1-800 number. I'll say that.

Oh, I think you've said enough. I mean, whether it's three in the morning or three in the afternoon, an NFL network is a family it's family broadcasting. Let's please remember that. So how did the phone calls go? Anyway, there you go.

The Eagles move on and congrats to Connie Fox, who I texted during the game and she was the nervous wreck. That must have been a lot of fun. I've never really spent time in Philadelphia, but people keep on saying Broad Street all the time. So I'll just say it, probably a big

party on Broad Street. Philly was rocking. I mean, people, it was Oh, you were there, Greg. It was rocking, you know, I got in very late the night before, you know, because they tried not to be the worst father ever leaving for Philadelphia and my son's third birthday. Yeah, too late. I stretched it out, like half the day.

Got there very, got there very late. Is Daddy ever coming back? But, yeah, when I arrived there, I mean, it was, I think it was one in the morning. I mean, the whole, the city was on fire. On fire. And by the way, I texted. We'll be on fire next weekend. I texted John Gonzalez, along with Colleen, as you did.

but, like, Gonzo's future prediction for the Eagles next week, not so sunny. But it's always something about the shadowy, speaking of the shadowy league figures, get Colleen Wolfe a credential here. She couldn't even get into the game. She's hosting two of your national programs on the weekend. How about you take some of that? Get her in there. Some of that ad revenue.

I saw some of that riff wrap. Some of the ad revenue. Take some of that ad revenue from your 1-800 numbers and get Connie in the building. How about that? Actually, it's not even, it doesn't cost them any money. Just pick up the phone. Don't call the 1-800 number. Call Howie Roseman's assistant.

Be like, hey. Just a common courtesy to someone laboring on like seven or eight shows for the network. How about it? All right. She couldn't get in. Just been jet lagged into oblivion for the shield. All right, let's count down. And we got to talk about the last game, which was actually the second game and was also the worst game.

Second and goal to go. Brown Calski, the inside slot receiver left. It's a shovel pass to white in motion to the left. He's going to sprint to the pylon, then die. Front touchdown, Patriots. That's the easiest touchdown past Tom Brady ever threw. I love it. You were doing that voice.

I was thinking of jumping in and going like, too easy. That's too easy. Every touchdown from Zolak. They're making it easy. Oh, no. So easy. It's like that scene in Billy Madison where O'Doyle's like, O'Doyle rules in the Billy Madison one day after O'Doyle puts all the manure in the locker.

Finally, Billy Madison turns to the bullying. And he goes, O'Doyle, I got a feeling something really bad is going to happen to you. That's how I feel about Scott Zolak, freaking Scott Zolak and the rest of the Patriot Nation. Anyway, that can wait because now we have to give you credit, Greg. James White scored two touchdowns. He is a touchdown machine in the crucible. And Tom Brady threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns as the New England Patriots rolled over the overmatch Tennessee

Titans. 3514 on Saturday night. Yes, we're up to seven consecutive. I don't care. Come after me on Twitter. Titans fans all sour. I mean, they have to be sour with their own team today, not you.

We're up to seven consecutive AFC championship game appearances on the throne of ease, bully for them. All 35 of those Patriots points, by the way, came unanswered after the Titans exited the first quarter somehow. with a 7-0 lead. A great pass from Mariotta to Corey Davis.

Tony Romo was feeling himself at that point as we talked about earlier. But Tennessee's offense was a non-factor the rest of the way. Matt Patricia's defense, Matt Patricia, soon to be the Lions head coach, kept Mariotta in the pocket to predictably mundane results. And in true throne of ease fashion, Mariotta suffered a quad injury in the first quarter that apparently limited him and made them change their game plan in the game's final three quarters. But in any event, oh, right tackle Jack Conklin, who's a star also blew out his knee.

I'm sure that was a bummer for the Titans. But at the end of the day, the better team won. And no one, no one could be surprised because this was not a fair fight mark. No, it's we pointed to New England's weakness of lacking a pass rush and they have eight sacks. And, you know, their defense lets up massive amounts of garbage. they let they let up seven points all day and what i do i mean new england the reason i looked up from you know writing uh my column or whatever and saw some cessler sub tweet about that like oh wow you know like a really big problem because i i openly i openly disagree with the

idea that they're that the defense like is this big mess they let let up your points in any team in the league you said that all year and you're being proven right i truly believe they're getting better but they're getting better i mean i just the way that they shape shift on offense and it's they They've dealt with a lot of injuries on offense. And it doesn't matter. I don't mean this in a condescending way to the Patriots, but it's like whoever is out, they find someone else to fill in.

Danny Amandola, a guy that has been lucky to make this team having to take pay cuts year after year, leads to the lead. Give him a pay raise, Bella Tech. He should. 11 catches. I thought that White looked like the Super Bowl version of James White. Brandon Cook had his plays.

Rob Grunkowski was incredible. Dionne Lewis was an utter story. last night. They just have so many weapons that if we talk about Jacksonville, they're big, they dealt with it today. They gave up 42 points to a team with a lot of weapons. They're going to face another one with just as many next week. Yeah, they're going to put as much pressure in terms of defending as any team can on that Jaguar's defense. And we'll get into that during the week. But the presence of White and Hogan sort of slipped under the radar going into the game. And they actually weren't overly productive. White got the two touchdowns. But

between the two of them, you know, 45, 50 yards. But the difference is that's two more guys who know the system, who know exactly what Tom Brady's thinking, who defenses have to account for, and it just creates more problems in terms of covering Dionne Lewis and Amund Dolan, and it takes the guys off the field like Philip Dorset or Kenny Britt, who is heavily involved late in the season and some of the backup tight ends. It takes those guys off the field,

and it puts on Super Bowl champions who know this offense, and that's a pretty big deal. Like it's a big difference and they got a great matchup with the Titans. I think if you played this game 10 times, the Patriots are probably going to win all 10. And that's where I buy into that. They definitely were fortunate,

but they earned those breaks by winning those regular season games despite the injuries, by winning games like they did in Pittsburgh, by finding a way to get that one seed and that's how you get your brakes. The Steelers getting robbed on that. Yeah.

I will not forget that. I feel like Steelers should, should have won the game. And that would have happened. But yeah. But my point is they never got to play again, obviously, because the Steelers blew it today. But that still did have a huge effect because today could have been totally different

with the Jaguars delivering the performance that we saw today up in Foxborough. And the Steelers, and I'm not even going to entertain it. It's like, oh, well, the Steelers were, you know, they could have gotten beat by anybody. No. The Titans did not belong in this round of the playoffs. And maybe they will down the line. Although, like we said last week, they might have got to get caught in a

Catch 22 here now. Now as we're hearing reports that Mike Malarkey is going to get an extension, is that really the best thing to be happening for this organization going forward? Everyone has an opinion. But they just were not, this was not a stage at the Titans mark, or anywhere close to be ready for it. No, last week's win over the Chiefs was something to build on. And I think that they kind of, they overshot by suddenly celebrating the coaching staff and

making all these pronouncements, which wait a week because this was the acid test. and it shows you how far they have to go. But it also is like the type of game that it's like, okay, yeah, the Patriots are lucky they play the Titans. But it's because they are never the Chiefs. They are never the team that gives up the 21-3 lead to a bad team. So it's like they, it's like, I don't know, you kind of can't have it both ways.

Like, yeah, they beat up on the bad teams. Like, that's what you're supposed to do. I don't have a problem with New England taking out. They can't, it's not their fault they had to play the Titans. They took care of business. They don't stumble. They also, the Patriots don't tweet, like, Levy on Bell before the game

guaranteeing that they're going to beat Team X, Y, and Z. They're very different organizations. Shout out to the Jaguars Twitter handle, by the way, when they caught wind of a player on the Steelers talking about what a war it's going to be with the Patriots, it doesn't matter where the game is played, it's going to be

crazy, and then the Jaguars tweeted something along lines of you could play the Patriots all-off season on Madden. It's like, all play. That's a good job. They never got Derek Henry going the way they did last week. 28 yards off 12. Patriots were committed to stopping them.

For all the options that New England has for Tom Brady, this is an offense in Tennessee that has a long way to go in terms of adding weapons and making them looking more multiple going into next season. They can't do this again. And they make their breaks. Romo was really strong talking about the difference between a Tom Brady audible

and basically almost any other audible system in the league. No other quarterback is at the point. It's like having Belichick be a great quarterback. First of all, Tom Brady made a lot of great throws in this game and was one of his best games of the year. So the worry about him falling off, he definitely feel better watching this. He made some great throws.

But a lot of it's just mental where he's motioning guys in a no-huddle offense and audibly and doing so many sort of next-level changes where he changes everything about the play because he sees something. it's like that Sean McVeigh story where everyone's excited that he's changing the play when he sees it with 20 seconds left well, except Brady's the guy who is the quarterback

and he's changing so many different things and they're kind of next level and Romo pointed this out in the sense that they went no hole early and it didn't totally work right off the back because they know the Titans only have four defensive linemen and as the course of the game goes on the Titans get tired

and those are the types of things other coaching staffs and other quarterbacks just aren't doing This was, yeah, Brady looked great. A very soft landing getting the Titans here. Absolutely. I would like to see what Brady's looking like if the Jags defense comes to play and he has to move in the pocket and takes a couple shots. It will be, that's the upshot, like for me that if the Jaguards go up.

It could be on their third string right tackle. Adrian Waddle got hurt in this game and he already was their backup. But this was perfect. And the Patriots, they did earn it. They did, yes, get lucky with the Steelers and winning that game. But ultimately, everything's set up in a way to get the first seed, to end up to get in a position where you get the buy and then get a home game. And then if some things work out in your favor, as they often seem to do,

you got the Titans. So now you got the Jaguars in your building. And we'll say, if they go back to the Super Bowl again. It's a good set of for him. There's no way around it. For shame, Mike Malarkey, of crying about the Eric Decker pass interference. You should pipe down. I was vaguely aware of what was going on in this game.

and I thought this, you know, I was going to rewatch it and it was going to be some like Titanic call which like swung the balance of the game. It was 7-7 in the first quarter and they were on their own 30-yard line and it was a touch foul that they probably got wrong. But it happens all the time. There was a million other calls this weekend

that were worse than that call. But because everyone hates the Patriots so much, they make a bigger deal out of that. That's very true. And some of the officiating was terrible. All, again, going to the Patriots way and that gets people annoyed because people are sick of the Patriots.

I get it. But watching the game in real time is different than how you watched it. I will say that. So if you're in the moment watching that record play, it felt bigger because it seemed like if they could, if they started moving and had a positive drive coming off that Patriots touchdown, they were going to be maybe okay.

But then once that went the other direction. But they wouldn't. But they wouldn't have. At one point the Patriots had more first downs like than the Titans had plays or something. It was a blowout of blowouts because it really, when you get to the divisional round playoffs and by the start of the fourth quarter, it's hard to keep your TV on, you know that a game has been dominated. It's very similar to the Tebow game and then the AFC Championship against the Colts. You've had some blowouts.

If you're Mike Malarkey, the command is self-reflection, not critiquing the officials going into the Osses. Yeah, I agree with you. A real question. I don't think you're the right person to ask really, Greg. But I'm wondering if, like, if you're a Patriots fan and say, you're 35, 40 years old, 45 years old. You were born like 1975 to 1985.

I was 79. Okay? I'm in this range. All right. It's a good one for me. Are you really, do you get anything out of these games at this point? These type of playoff games,

do you get any rush from watching them, or is it kind of the same as watching some game in November? No, you definitely get a rush. You don't sense it in that building. I can tell you that. I think you definitely do, because if any, the playoffs are almost, that's all that matters on some level.

You don't get the rush on the rest of the regular season. I get it. So it's only now that you get it, though, because it's not like in week eight. I get that this game was easy and everyone assumed it was going to be easy. So it's maybe, yeah, it's a little different. But I think you get something. I mean, you were a Yankees fan throughout a pretty dominant threat. And you know what?

There was, it never lasted this long. But I can say, like, as a Yankee fan when they were in their turn of the Millennium Dynasty era, some of the playoff victories in, like, the lower level tiers, there was less reward to it. as a fan. The Patriots fans are so... I think that's natural. Patriots fans are greedy, though.

Like, if they, if... No. I don't... You're right where I don't think I feel the same way, but, but, like, if they lose next week, it'll be, it'll be like the sky is absolutely falling on them. Amazing. And yet, they're in such uncharted... The thing is, it really is on chartered territory.

It is. They've made seven conference championships since the last time any one of these other three teams that are left were in the conference championship. There's never been, like, an 18-year run like this. They've made 12-old. out of 17. That to me is just as crazy as seven straight. They made 12 out of 17.

It is incredible. Remember how they turned on the team in week one when they were getting crushed by the chiefs? I mean, all will take is literally one bad month and this fan base will go nuts on their own. Matt Patricia. He's garbage. He gets spoiled.

Hey, Dan, I cut another call from this game just for you because I know that the radio calls at this point this season are few and far between. The teams dwindled down. Fulton's getting her tamposi on here. No, this is a great call. and it was actually the drive before the touchdown. Are you hitting me with more Zolak?

Oh, yeah. So this is a classic. Had a screen right for DeAnne Lewis makes the ground. Gallops to the 45-40, 35-30, out of attack under the 25-20, and check down from behind. He's on the right. He goes down to the right. Lewis into the end zone.

He's in for a touchdown. What a play. The Lions gave up on the play, as did I. We've seen this before with Dionne Lewis. His butt is down. He's down. He's down. He's down.

Come on. Now we get excited for nothing. Zolak. It's like... Damn, get excited for nothing? Yeah, right. Yeah, it's like micing up just a guy that's drunk in the bleachers, like at Old Foxman.

Like, it's basically... What if we took a guy that was in the parking lot drinking for years and then made him the color guy for the most successful NFL franchise in modern history? Totally objective viewer. There's no question about that. Hansis is off watching old. old Tommy Bohannon clips.

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Get that gray out of your hair. There you go. That is the divisional round wrap-up. What a weekend of games. Only three more games. It's been a great playoffs. It has unbelievable. A believable divisional round.

It's a good wildcard round. And we have three really upstart underdogs you can really get excited about. Weirdest AFC-NFC combination of games that I can ever remember. Give it to me. Give me weird. This is weird? Yeah. I think so.

Well, the people are going to be so, I'm already tired of hearing like the Keenum-Bortles, Foles, and Brady. Oh, we get it. sticks out. Yeah. Yeah, we get. But three of them have... It does. Three of them have top five defenses.

I mean, the best defensive teams made it into the conference championships ultimately. How are you going to spend the Patriots as underdogs almost every week? How are you going to spin this? You're the heavy favorite right now. They are absolutely favorites. I think the Jaguars are as talented a defense. And the whole book on how to beat Brady, They are that book, man-to-man, physical coverage, pressure up the middle,

being able to get guys, get pass-rush pressure with four, especially on the interior. Like, that's describing the Jaguars is the old Giants motto, is the model, is the way that everyone believes that you beat them, the way that the Broncos beat him. I think it's a fun. I'm excited for that game, and it's nothing like Tennessee, New England. It's completely different. And they're such a weird, they are such a crazy team that any game the Jaguars are in. This season to me has been compelling.

And they don't have the playoff experience, and they don't care. Cannot wait. They have a total attitude. Like, I do think there's a little bit of a Tom Coughlin effect there. Oh, yeah. The Tom Coughlin effect, correct. They were saying that he was going absolutely nuts up in the booth the entire time, absolutely beside himself.

He was stuck next to the reporters. In some stadiums, they put the personnel in the press box, which probably drives Tom Coughlin crazy. But our old friend, Jeff Darlington, was tweeting about that Coughlin was banging out, expletives while the Jaguars were up 21-0, just burying the Jaguars. A guy forgotten by the Giants, he's back. I cannot wait to make my lock pick this week. There we go.

This is Dan Hads signing off for Quiet Storm. I'm not locking you off on that one. The old boss, Lindsay, falltime behind the glass. Until Tuesday. This is an IHeart podcast.