NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Divisional Round Sunday Recap

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to recap Sunday's Divisional Round action featuring the Ravens at the Bills and the Rams at the Eagles. First, a break down of the Bills beating the Ravens (02:10), Lamar Jackson's play (08:11) and the Bills' play in the game (17:47). After the break, a discussion about the Eagles beating the Rams (33:26), Saquon Barkley (49:14) and Jalen Hurts' (54:06) play, the weather's impact on the game (01:02:45) and what's next for both the Ravens and Rams (01:10:20). Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we always catch our two-point conversions. I'm Greg Rosenthal. sticking the knife in and feeling bad about it in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio next to my friend Patrick Claibon

who's dancing through the pain and my other friend Nick Shook who wishes he could feel the pain of a difficult playoff loss as a Browns fan gents how are we doing? Sorry I don't know what's wrong with me. Well, we all deal with it in different ways.

It was spectacular game. There's a reason that these things mean so much and to get out there and see you know, some of the best in the world I'll go out there. It's always good. And with Jim and Tony on the call, oh, it was great.

I'll turn the volume on. Yeah, Chuck, you know, you're a, you're an AFC North guy. Are you, like, rooting against your rival Ravens? Are you rooting for your friend Patrick here in this situation? No, I was, I mean, well, first off, I don't feel anything. So, you know, talking about the pain of a playoff loss, I don't feel anything.

But, no, I was on the Ravens bandwagon. I was on the train. I had them by 10 points in this. game. I just didn't foresee them turning the ball over three times. Okay, so you don't like our producer, Eric, who is trying to not celebrate. He's making quotes like he's on the team.

The next one's the one that really matters. This is just a small step. It's true. Sure. What are I celebrating? Enjoy it. Kobe Roberts over there. Job's not done. It's not. You're not the one having a press conference. They've lost in this round three straight years until this one.

The home and the chiefs are looming guys. Bigger problems. on the horizon. Thank you for leading me to what I should have started the show with. The Bills won this game against the Ravens, and we have our conference championship games set, starting in the NFC. The commanders will be headed to Philadelphia.

That game at 3 p.m. Eastern next week. The Eagles sweated it out. As you guys know, if you're listening, we'll talk about that game in a little while. And yes, the AFC championship, game. All season long, it felt like it was leading to either Ravens Chiefs or Bill's chiefs. And we found out in Orchard Park on Sunday that it was going to be Eric's Bills. Let's go there. Jackson lines up in the shotgun, looks to his left, brings likely in motion, takes the snap,

back to pass, plenty of time again, looking, looking, Jackson now rolling to his right, still looking down. So much time. Fires deep for the end zone. It is caught a diamond catch. In the end zone by likely. Isaiah likely skidding across the end zone, holds it in, and with 133 to go, it's a two-point game. A 24-yard touchdown to likely, and now the Ravens have a chance to tie. Play clock down to five, here's the snap. Jackson rolling right, looking to toss it, and dropping the football. Incomplete is Mark Andrews.

It wasn't a well-thrown ball at all. behind Andrews, and he could not come up with it. Falling away from the pass, it's incomplete. Wow. Yes, that was the key sequence late in Sunday evenings, Bill's Ravens, AFC Division around 27 to 25. I personally disagree with Chris Brown there on WGR. The pass was fine.

Andrew stumbled a little bit, dropped his third pass of the game. A nightmare performance for one of the all-time great Ravens also had a lost fumble. We'll talk about all that. It was also Ryan Radke on Westwood One. They asked Lamar Jackson to make a touchdown drive with the season on the line. And like he's done, Patrick, for so much of the season, He delivered, got them into the end zone. Maybe Sean McDermott was right not to have any faith in his defense

and kick that field goal to go up eight. Because Lamar delivered. He was getting time. They're winning up front, but they don't hit the two. And that is how the season ends for your Ravens. Yeah, it's the story of the season for Baltimore that started with a drive like that in Kansas City. And that's what these Ravens have done consistently.

They've scored that touchdown. They lose the game in Pittsburgh on a bobbled two-point conversion. where the guards are running into each other. This game, you know, there's some snap malfeasance on a play that leads to a fumble. But this is the moment that everybody's going to remember. Ryan Radke says his bad pass, I guess he wants Lamar to fire that thing to the sideline in 19 degrees standard temperature. I don't even know what the wind chill was like at that point in the game.

That would have been tough for Mark Andrews to deal with. The ball was where it was supposed to be, but it's not round. You know, sometimes, sometimes it bounces away. It did for Mark Andrews a couple of times here. But that's what this offense has been able to do. We saw them in the two drives before that, run the ball, every single play, have success there. Here they drop back and throw. I was thinking of Nick Shook when the bills decided to rush three on that.

Isaiah likely pass where it's like, well, yeah, let's just give Lamar 17 seconds to find an open receiver. And he does that and he comes through. But I think the reason that they're rushing three is because, the offense was having so much success in every capacity of the game, you just got to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. And ultimately, the Ravens just didn't make the plays and the bills did. Yes. And I sometimes get on coaches for not having a feel of their team, a feel of the game in the moment. And in the moment, I feel like I was one of the few people who wanted McDermott to go for it when it was on what, the three yard line down, up five with, you know,

under four minutes to go and instead they kicked the Tyler Bass field goal. And I thought it was a total lack of faith in his defense. But when you look at how the game ended, maybe as a defensive coach, he should have had a lack of faith in his defense, the way

the Ravens were moving the ball. Don't forget, like, there are four drives in the second half. Field goal early, where they did make a good play at the end, but then touchdown, they stopped the drive with the Mark Andrews fumble, but the Ravens were moving, it, and then, of course, they finished with the touchdown.

So maybe he was right not to have faith in his defense, Chuck. Did you think that was the right decision at the moment? Yeah, absolutely. I think you have to make it an eight-point game and force the other team to try to convert a two-point conversion if they get down there and score because they'd already failed at doing it once earlier in this game. You give your best percentages and best likelihood that you're going to win the game or at least tie it and send it to overtime by kicking that field goal.

For what it's worth it, the models probably had it at as about a 50. 50, 50, maybe a slight lean to go. For me, it's more just like you have Josh Allen on your team, so let's try to win the game multiple ways, one of which would be with your best player. But ultimately, obviously, it worked out, and I'm wrong. That also speaks to the Ravens' play-calling decisions on their two-point conversion attempts.

Because on a drive in which they run the ball down Buffalo's throat, the entire way down there, they go to call the two, and I go, please don't throw the ball. And what do they do? They drop back and throw the ball, and it gets tipped to the line of scrimmage incomplete. same situation there they score and I'm like please don't throw the ball use one of your multiple runners and the many ways that you can attack on the

ground and try to win it that way with your bread and butter they roll out right they force themselves into a third of the field and one throw and that's what happens it comes down to one throw and you lose the game that way yeah it's a fascinating game because I don't think there are these massive takeaways that everyone's going to be hammering afterwards unless you just want to go stupid with the Lamar legacy talk. Now, Lamar Jackson did not play his best game. I think the first half and his struggles and the interception that he threw and certainly the fumble. And more than

anything, I think the sack inside the 10-yard line was a bad play by him really contributed directly to them falling in a hole that they couldn't get out of and that they lost. Even though they had 7.3 yards for play, they outgained the bills by 140 yards. 416 to 273, his struggles contributed, but so many things contributed to it, Patrick. And like, I can't just get past like the most basic thing of all, which is they turned the ball over three times and the bills didn't. So they win a game where Josh Allen was sort of a supporting character and their running game overall was really strong.

And those were two important differences, but it kind of does come back to three turnovers in a game where these two teams had seven or eight possessions. That is almost impossible to overcome. And they almost did it, but they didn't. Yeah, according to next gen stats, they lost 36.7% in win probability on those three players. And so the bills, yeah, they had a conservative game plan. Josh Allen only attempted four passes. There were longer than 10 yards. Wow. When you have a defense that made plays like they did today, because on that on that Lamar interception, Matt Milano gets pressure. Lamar has to get rid of the ball, than he wants.

I can't get the ball to shot like the way that he wants to and that rap makes a good play. There was Matt Milano tipping that ball in the two point conversion where, you know, Stanley can't see where Lamar is. If he finishes the block on Matt Milano, then yeah, that's, that's an easy two point conversion and maybe they're still playing the game while we're having this discussion. But it's when a team executes so well like they did in the run game in that one drive, it's just we expect to see them duplicate that over and over again all 11,

guys, and when one or two guys don't, it just goes hilariously and horribly wrong for the Ravens. Now, I mean, it's tough because, like you said, they outgained them. Like, they were moving the ball well. And I hate to boil it down to the turnover situation, but it literally comes down to that. It comes down to the Mark Andrews fumble on a drive in which they had all the momentum going in their favor. I mean, they were moving the ball really well at that point, too. That was the drive that they were supposed to finish off and really make this an interesting game. And instead, they put themselves at a hole where they then have to go down the field and score that touchdown and try to get the two just to have a chance at overtime, like self-inflicted wounds.

I basically described this entire game in like one sentence, which is the bills are celebrating a victory that they know they got away with one kind of to get to the AFC championship game, which is often the playoffs in a nutshell, and the Ravens are going to fly back to Baltimore just kicking themselves for all the missed opportunities and the opportunities that they wasted. Yeah, I think that's fair. I think you got to give Terrell Bernard credit on the force fumble in the fourth quarter on Mark Andrews. Now, Andrews made a, a, a, weird cut. Let's actually listen to that play. Henry to the right of Jackson and the shotgun play clock down to five on second and 11. Here's the snap, fakes the handoff, back to pass,

has time looking deep over the middle, wide open is Andrews. Gets away from the tackle, but the ball is out, and Terrell Bernard forces the fumble and scoops up the football. Takeaway number three for Buffalo. Yeah, just such a big play in that game, especially after Andrews' drop earlier in the half killed another. drive. He starts going backwards, which you just don't want your tight end to do here. And that is kind of the matchup when these two teams face off on defense. The bills are lighter. And they did a good job stopping the run for the most part in the first half, Patrick. But they kind of need to create some big plays and change things up. And this is where I am going to give Sean McDermott some credit.

He used to be a coach that would just run what he runs. And he's, he's a coach. And he's, changed that where he's become much more of a game plan type of guy. I would still say they lean more towards a run what they run type of defense. But in the first half of this game, they were blitzing and playing man at a higher rate than they had in any game in three years. Now, it didn't work the whole game. And they started getting run over in the second half. But you look at the numbers. Again, zone defense, Lamar went 10 for 11 with two touchdowns for 122 yards. And against man, he was 8 for 14, 132 yards against the blitz and man coverage. And they mixed enough up to get a few extra stops and some big plays against the best offense

in the league. And in a playoff game, like that ended up being enough. Yeah. And that's enough. It doesn't have to necessarily work the whole game. Yeah. These games come down to so few possessions, even conversion attempts, right? Where you don't need to have the plan work the entire game. You forced Baltimore to adjust, which they eventually did, but they're never going to get that time back from those first half drives. It's just not coming back. And when Buffalo had the opportunities, you know, they just took advantage of it. And I know it's very easy to say you don't hauling the ball over and you win, but you still need Bernard to poke that ball out. You still need DeMar Hamlin to grab Lamar's ankle and Vaughan to pick up the fumble. Like, you still

need Buffalo to make those plays and they ultimately do. Since you just mentioned it, let's listen to that turnover. I'm sorry. This is like going through a house of horrors for you. Patrick, you're a professional. Here's a snap. Oh, it almost went over his head. Jackson has it, but he's wrapped up around the ankles and he fumbled the football. It's scooped up by Vaughn Miller.

Coming the other way, 30. And he's tackled at the 23-yard line by Justice Hill. Damar Hamlin forced the fumble. What a moment there for Damar Hamlin in a huge game, just another cap around what's been a great season for him. And the TV angle doesn't do that snap justice.

It's not that the snap was high. The snap was to Lamar's extended left hand almost as though if he was standing a full person over and it was high. And it was coming fast. And so that started the playoff down a bad road. But those are the margins. Like those are the margins in these games. But, you know, to the chagrin of Mark Andrews, everybody's only going to remember that

one last play, but that's not how things work. It's a cumulative football game show. There's also another margin. that I think we might overlook in the whole sequence of everything, and it's that last drive right before halftime in which the Bravens appear to get a third down stop, and then there's a late flag thrown for a pass interference penalty on a play that could have gone either way.

Keon Coleman Coleman kind of shoved the defender down. I thought that was a bad call. It was a bad call, and that sets up a touchdown. That was a more important call and less questionable than anyone I saw a weekend, I thought. Yeah. Yeah, and it produced a touchdown that gave them a 21 to 10 lead right before halftime and forced Baltimore to really try to raise.

back into it. And to their credit, they almost did. If Andrews doesn't fumble on that drive, they probably go down there and score and take the lead. We can play the what if game all day. But these little breaks, these little shifts in playoff games end up mattering so much between two teams that are so evenly matched that it doesn't, you know, everybody's going to remember the two-point conversion and the drop, right? But it doesn't just come down to that. It's just that happened to be the last play in the sequence of the entire game. Right. And when we talk about the defensive pass interference call, none of us are saying, oh, the bill's one. because of that. That's not, that's not what we're saying. We're, we're, me personally, I am

invested in these games, especially this one and the outcome. And we have the benefit of high definition cameras. Right. And replay. We have an opportunity to get these calls right and allow the players on the field to determine the outcome of the game. And until we prioritize getting the calls right, people are going to feel cheated in these situations. Do you want to bring back replay for pass interference? I would like to actually try it this time, Greg. Yeah. Because instead of it being a disaster. Yeah, instead of, it's like, oh, yeah, we're looking at this. Oh, yeah, we have to have literally all of the evidence in the world and still not overturned.

I would like a legitimate attempt to try to get the calls right. That's all. And it shouldn't take 20 minutes. We sit here and spend all Sunday watching these games anyway. Let's try to get them right. Right. And one of the things, and many of the listeners didn't love it, they're thinking I'm like a company man defending what happened in the Chiefs game yesterday. but my, my greater point was mistakes are going to happen because these are humans.

Yes. And they're going to continue to happen. So you can decide how you want to operate as a fan. You can get really frustrated. There's no conspiracy to help the chiefs. There is a league-wide push to help quarterbacks. And Patrick Mahomes certainly takes advantage of that in the way that he plays. There was a call number eight did not get here on Sunday, January,

19th, 2020. Yeah, that, that was another miss call. I thought there was a, this, I thought was the worst officiated game of the weekend for what it's worth. I thought there was a holding call against the bills that killed the drive. Fix the bad ones. Right. That was bad early.

What was that on Dawkins? The late hit on Lamar seemed pretty obvious in this game. And my point isn't that like, you can't be mad at bad calls. Just like that it is part of the game. And what Patrick is proposing is to try to try to. reduce that being part of the game to review. I'm not so against it, but I don't think there's a lot of support for that. I do think they'll start reviewing some plays like face mask, and they'll add a little more to that. Let's talk about some of the good things that the bills did

in this game in the first half, because it was a very strange game. Like I said, only seven drives for the bills, and you get 27 points on the board. So even though they didn't have many yards in this game and they had some penalty yard and it's 273 yards. They actually did play pretty efficient offense and I'm thinking I was a lot of short fields and then I look at it and really it was just that one short field after the interception that Lamar threw that they took advantage for the touchdown. Otherwise like they moved the ball well and they scored 27 points on only seven drives. That's a good job by them. Chuck, we talked about their running game all year and if I had to just pick one other thing that stood out to me in this game about the

bills other than the turnovers. It was that they are now built for games like this. They just won a game where, as Patrick mentioned, he only, Josh Allen only threw the ball past the line of scrimmage 10 yards four times. He only threw for 127 yards in this game, averaged under six yards per attempt. And he didn't run the ball that well. But what did it for them on offense was a 58% success rate with James Cook, Ty Johnson, and Ray Davis. And that is very different, I think, than the teams that the bills were losing with the last few years. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's a good way to counter a team that had a 55.4% success rate in the Ravens offensively. That's how you match it right there with the running game. But it goes all the way back to last season. When the bills ran the table to get into the playoffs after they changed offensive coordinators, and a massive tip of the cap is due once again to

Joe Brady for balancing out this offense, emphasizing the run, and then within the flow of the game, calling the plays at the right times, going forward at the right times, taking the risks at the right times and knowing this is the situation in which we try to impose our will on you on the ground and we don't just use James Cook. We use Ray Davis. We use Ty Johnson. We use Josh Allen a little bit. Once they got inside the red zone today, that's why a part of the reason why I was a little bit surprised they didn't go for it in that

final possession before the Ravens final drive at the end of the games just because they had been winning and succeeding up front in those situations in the red zone on the ground. It makes them a very tough team to play against. Even when they only have seven possessions, when they have that type of balance, you never really know what is coming and they're really hard to bring down. And there was a few situations there, especially in the second half, where they're gashing them. They're getting big gains. They're just winning with James Cook being

patient or James Cook getting through the line and breaking a tackle and very hard to go down. And that makes them a tough team to play against. Yeah, you bring up that drive after the Andrews fumble. Allen hits Matt Collins. I like that they started out with a pass on that

drive. And then after that, it's short passes to It's a Coleman and Johnson, and it's them able to run the ball with Cook, and they get down to what, the two-yard line. It's third and two, and you think they're just going to go QB sneak there, the Josh Allen-Tush-Push type of play. And instead, he's in shotgun, and it's a quarterback run. And he, those have been effective for them.

He didn't have a ton of yards in this game, but they were effective for him. But he gets held up and for a second, he's held up and he looks backwards. He sure did. And I just want to know, Eric, like, were you clocking that in the moment and what was going through your mind at that moment? I yelled, he's going to lateral it. Chris is sitting there watching with me because you see him shuttle it. I got a phone call from my brother watching at his home.

He knows I'm at work. He called me moments later. He's like, did you see his hands? Yeah, dude, he was totally thinking about laterling it. Cook was standing there and Cook kind of gave a little hezzy like and there was like eight arms on him

yeah and all eight were owned by Madabweke but he totally was it is funny and I don't want to get caught trapped in in what the conversation could be or wouldn't be but it's like Madabweke ultimately helped the bills out there because if we had had

a Josh Allen throws a bad fumble there in the moment I don't know if I could have lived with, like, the narrative after that. I know they still would have been up five at that point, but it just would have been a preposterous add to that game. In Josh's defense, if you go back and look at it, it's Cook, Mack Hollins, and Keon,

and there's just, there's just Tradavius White over there. If he rolls that thing to James Cook, he probably walks into the end zone. That would be another fun way to end the game, too, then. It actually works. That would have been, that would have been fun. If he's got Wadabweke's arm just grabbing him as he's doing it. Who knows?

There's a little puckering there, guys. And also, you know, the referees could blow the whistle. Yes. When somebody is being dragged down by five people and nobody's going anywhere, they do have the option to stop the play. Yes. And they did not. So they were fired up after the game.

I love what Josh Allen said about Lamar Jackson, about just the respect that he had for him. They had a nice embrace at midfield. let's actually listen to Sean McDermott after the game a little spicier that I would have expected. Well, our guys heard it all, they heard it all week long. We're not big enough. We're not strong enough.

Not talented enough, not fat. Whatever it is, they heard it. I don't do the social media things, but I think most of those guys do. Josh did this too in the post game. Where were these people, Nick? Did you hear them? They're not fat enough. No.

In fact, when they said it, when Josh said, on the field after I said, oh, shut up. Like, we don't need this narrative. You're a good football team. There are not a ton of doubters. This is, this is just how it goes. Like, the chiefs do it. This is, like, Novak Djokovic is over there in Australia.

He refuses to do post-match interviews right now because one guy, like, made a joke about not liking him. And you just, it's these great players. They need, and coaches apparently, they need to find enemies. No, they'll do it. Sean McDermott needs to ingratiate himself to the people in Buffalo who called for his job when they don't have

postseason success. So saying this, maybe does that and maybe makes him a little bit safer. I think it's a solid play. I feel like he should be absolutely safe.

Although you're right. If they had lost this game, who knows, people would not be happy with him. Like I said, I'm impressed how they have mixed it up in terms of being able

to run the ball and in terms of the defensive approach. They didn't have much of a pass rush. We'll get into that. Next week, talking about the chiefs, because I do think that's a problem for them that maybe he recognized when deciding to kick that three, that their four-man passers just isn't great. And that's why

they needed to blitz today. But ultimately, they do force the mistakes. And Lamar Jackson spoke about that after the game. First half, I had two costly turnovers. Me not holding the safety. Me just knowing the cover, me, knowing it was man through a BS interception. Gabe, it was 7-7 at the time. I believe they scored after that. battle bat, uh, fumble, snap, trying to make something happen, you know, couldn't throw the, it was like a RPO play, so I couldn't really throw the ball to, uh, likely, you know, the law of his line down the field. So I was trying to make something happen, try to squeeze the ball, it stood up my hand, Von Metta picked it up, got some yards. I think that led to points for

them. Um, so it's a team effort out there, you know, he's been busting his body, he's making plays happen out down that field for us, uh, came up short. And like I've been saying all season every time we're in situations like there's turnovers play a factor penalties play a factor today well tonight the turnovers we can't have that shit you know and that's why we lost the game because as you can see moving the ball wonderfully is hold on to the ball sorry for my language I'm annoyed I'm tired of filled up yeah and there's there's a instinct I think to talk about because it's going to be annoying obviously for the Ravens and frustrating in this aftermath and for their fans and for the next six months until we do this again. That's just how it works. But I want to resist the urge

to talk about the legacy of it all and the long-term view of it all because I just have been around enough to see how it just is always changing. Lamar and Peyton Manning, who I think have a lot of similarities just as in terms of their individual. career and their success and not playing their bet like lamar really has had some of his worst games in the playoffs i don't think this was one of them um but he did have the the mistakes in the in the first half of this game that he obviously regrets but otherwise we saw what made the ravens great but there are a lot of similarities with manning i'm old enough to remember that manning was always the guy who couldn't win the big game he was always the guy that couldn't

win the big game until he wasn't and then it actually flipped so far that he was the greatest of all And it actually was kind of done and dusted at that moment, which is funny to think about now. On NFL.com, the morning of the Seahawks Broncos Super Bowl, it said greatest of all time, how Peyton Manning can cement like his title with one more win over the Seahawks in this game. And they lose 43 to 8. And it's funny to think about now. And now people make their top fives. And people don't even talk about Manning, which I actually, I think they should. Like, he should be in that mix.

But it's just, it's just stupid. It's all stupid. It's the same people, Greg. We let them off the hook every single time, whether it's Andy Murray, Phil Mickelson, LeBron James, Michael Jordan. They just say it, and then the person wins, and then they say it about the next person,

and we never take the time to mute and block these people and take the microphones out of their goddamn hands. It doesn't make any sense. You win the game, and then everything is great. But if you don't, there's only two outcomes that can happen. There's only two outcomes that can happen. And so the idea, if you don't win that you can't win, it's asinine. And if you love football, if you love sports,

then you should hold people that you communicate with to a higher standard where they don't say dumb shit doesn't make any goddamn sense. It's also massively reductive in a team sport. It's 11 on 11. You have to stay healthy things. The ball that's not round has to bounce your way. You have elements that you play in, especially in playoff games that are played outside.

Some things can go wrong. It's not always down to one player, no matter how important the position is. Yet because we reduce everything down to the simplest, most easily understandable form for talk shows, which a podcast is a talk show. Yeah, we are one. But for airtime on TV on Monday morning, it ends up being that. And then you go to the barbershop or the locker room and they all say the same things. And guess what?

Football is a much more complex sport than that. It is like dance and jazz that's choreographed at a high speed with massive humans all playing at once. And sometimes it's slippery and cold out there. it is not that easy and it's not that simple. Yeah, and I like what you said to me, Patrick, before the show you said something that you don't want the conversations around this game to impact how you feel about the game. No, about this particular team.

Because the 2023, 2024, Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens were very good football teams with very good and notable stories that should be remembered and celebrated. But because ball bounces, and things didn't ultimately go their way were forced to relegate them to the back of our minds in history but they were still very good football teams.

They were very good, but they didn't... They ultimately didn't play their best game which is what they needed to go through the playoffs. And I do think that's where it's not about legacy, it's about the 2024 Ravens that this wasn't a really good Ravens teams.

They've had some, some before. I think the way they came into the playoffs, and I think you saw today their defense wasn't perfect, but I think it was good enough. And I think their offense was special that it was a missed opportunity. It's a loaded AFC with three major superpowers, but they had a real opportunity. And if they had gotten through this game, it would have been really tough next week. And the Super Bowl would have been tough too. But I think I'll think of them a little similar to the 2022 bills that lost in overtime, or 2021 bills. It's so hard to, this bill's team is always knocking on the door, Eric, but that team, I'll always be convinced. If they had just gotten

through that game, I think they would have won the Super Bowl. And this Ravens team was that kind of team. And they didn't get it done. And so that hurts because we've been around long enough to know they're not going to have that team every year. And Lamar has years left in his prime, but you can't guarantee that they're going to have that good of an offense going into the playoffs. I was going to say healthy, but relatively healthy is the word. I really think they missed Zayflowers in these last two games, and that's just how it goes. You saw a crosser to Miller today, and it's like, wow, the Miller game. Yeah, it would be nice, but everybody's dealing with injuries. And all credit to a Bill's team, Eric's folks, nobody gets mad at me. They

played great. Good luck against Kansas City. They did. I think they're such a good team and they're so diverse that they played their B minus game, not a bad game or a B game, Eric. Is that fair to say? And they won a divisional round game

against a really good opponent. Yeah. And these conversations would have been the exact same thing if Lamar goes down and wins. Then we're talking about Josh Allen never getting over the hump. It was a doomed matchup from the start. The loser is going to have to sit in well in it for six months, whatever it is, and the, you know, now it's on to KC. It sucks.

You know, I would have much rather this been the AFC championship game, but then we would have been having the same conversation next week instead of right now. You know, selfishly, I just wanted like 12% more fireworks or like 17 more percent more fireworks. Like, I wanted Andrews to make that catch and I wanted them to go back and forth in overtime, or I wanted to see what would happen with Josh Allen with the ball there. I wanted to see what happened with Josh Allen going for it on fourth. down there. I wanted to see these two great players do even more, but they did plenty. They've entertained us all. Let's go and talk about the NFC. Let's take a quick break after

I let you know that you can still donate and support the Red Cross at Red Cross.org slash NFL. The devastation, the destruction from the wildfires in the L.A. region has died down over the last week, but it also is really becoming a difficult time. We all have people close to us in this city that are starting to rebuild, and just the day-to-day practicalities of now what they're doing. That's where they're going to need help. Some people have more resources than others, certainly, but it's difficult for everyone, and the Red Cross is out there trying to help,

and we're worried about this wind event and the heat that's coming over the next couple of days. So we hope for the best there. But you can help all the families in the Red Cross respond to and help these people recover from these disasters by donating today at red cross.org slash NFL. We will be back on the other side and you will hear from the Philadelphia Eagles radio crew. What's up, everybody?

Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team-building philosophies, coaching trends and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else.

It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding. And in the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture.

If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official.

Automotive Partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. It's 4th and 11. If the Eagles stop them right here, if they keep them shy of a first down, they win the game. Stafford lines up. He's in the gun. Motion to the near side. Stafford, back. He's looking.

He puts it in the air, and it's incomplete. It's incomplete. The Eagles take over on downs, and now they are Heading to the NFC championship game. Pressure by Carter. That was Merrill Reese on WIP. Fitting that the Eagles defense had to finish the game like they did much of this season,

with a little help from Saquan Barkley. A lot of help, let's be real. 28 to 22, the Eagles get it done. Although when Matthew Stafford hit Pooka Nakuwa, down the sideline, in the snow, their second drive in just the last couple of minutes that ends up getting close to the end zone. I don't know about you, Shook,

but I thought this improbable Ram season was going to continue. I really did. I said out loud, this is why I don't start riding at length in close games like this until it's over, because they're about to blow up everything I've written so far. And they didn't, but they made it really interesting. What was funny, I think, to me, is in the broadcast,

Collinsworth with like three and a half minutes left is like, yeah, you know, they're finally moving the ball. They decided to go up tempo and it's working, but they just went to it too late. Like speaking in the past tense as if the game's over, and I said out loud then, Chris, they got all three timeouts and three and a half minutes left. This game is not over, and it clearly wasn't over.

Although, to be fair to Chris, and I agree with you, Nick, you were right in that scenario, the drive that Stafford put together, the hurry up that he's talking about, after the Saquan Barkley, one play, 78-yard drive, which put them up 28 to 15 with four and a half minutes to go. First of all, the offense was not plentiful in this game, and you figured it was over.

But they went 10 plays in a minute 48. That was some badass gunslinger. Only a couple quarterbacks, veteran quarterbacks, are going to be able to pull that off. That took 3, 4, 5. Really nice throws by Matthew Stafford. and great decisions, and then he hits that puka throw. And I'm thinking, that's the Matt Ryan throw to Julio Jones in the Super Bowl.

And it kind of will be remembered that way, a great throw that's for not. But man, Stafford had a great kind of final case. Our friend Jordan Rodriguez got emotional writing this last game of the season for this Rams team. And they put it well in their headline. If the Rams like improbable season had to end, Stafford got a last word. And it was not a perfect game from Stafford, but all. the things that you love about him. He put the fear of God in the link. Not just the ball to Puka, but it was another classic Stafford playoff. No look on touchdown to Parkinson where

it's like, don't, don't give nine the ball back. I mean, we now the Eagles played most of this game. I think the Quinnion Mitchell only got six snaps of pass coverage before he left the game hurt so the Eagles were a manned down in the secondary, but Jalen Carter was getting pressure all game. and the season-long narrative was, hey, you get to Stafford a few times. The offense is going to slow down, but the Rams' offense, it kept coming. And even though it happened late, as we talked about earlier, these points are cumulative. And this Stafford gives the Rams this puncher's chance that really isn't duplicated almost anywhere else. When you look at the guys, of course, Puka and Cooper Cup provide a thing that not a lot of folks have.

but the plays that were made, DeMarcus Robinson, right? Great catch, takes the ball away from a defender. He puts these guys in position to make plays where these balls might not even be thrown by a lot of other very, very good quarterbacks. And that's why it's, if this is, right, because we've talked about the potential end of the Stafford era,

like to take away this coronation from Tom Brady, to steal that Super Bowl, to ruin the first season of Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow, to come in and be this Baba Yaga, right? Like, this man is the John Wick of the NFL. And even when, you know, all the tools might not be available, he could still scare a really good thing. The Eagles could win the Super Bowl. They could have also lost tonight.

Right. And their offense has not been good enough passing the ball through two games in the playoffs to win a Super Bowl, but they've gotten through these two games and they can get better. They actually have 186 net yards passing combined in the two games, which is outrageous.

They average 2.5 yards for play. And I feel like the preview that we did with Bo Wolfe was so Eagles focused. And here we're starting in a similar way where we're going negative Eagles, even though they won the game. But I do want to start at the end and work our way backwards

because the reason the Rams had the ball there, Not only is Stafford's great, quick drive where they go and hurry up. And yes, the Eagles decision really all season not to rotate their four-down linemen. That's just what Fangio does. And for the most part, it's been fantastic. It seemed to catch up to him late in this game. They were getting tired. The Rams going to hurry up.

That was a problem. But the bigger problem shook was they need one first down to win the game essentially. It was just about win the game. Oh, God. And they get a four-yard run, I think, Sequin on first down and Jalen Hertz is not moving well. He suffers, I believe, a knee injury early in this game. He's in the medical tent for a while. We think we might get Kenny Pickett. It doesn't happen, but he's compromised. And he doesn't do a lot of passing after that. And they

call a rollout to his left on second down with the season on the line. And he smartly just gets sacked by Kobe Turner on a play. He really had no chance. There was an open receiver. If you look at the dots like DeVontas Smith was open, if Kobe Turner had taken the cheese, Kobe Turner did not take the cheese shook. And we would be talking about the coaching decisions by the Eagles if Stafford had finished out this game there. Wow. That sequence to me drove me crazy. Yeah. And it was indicative of a game at which one point I described it as Kellan Moore as having a 23 AFC championship game, Todd Munkin Day, where like, he's just not going to his strength. Like, he just actively went away from Saquan for a portion of this game.

And yes, it's predictable to hand it off three times and you're trying to salt away the game. But also, don't outsmart yourself and get your quarterback out on the move when he clearly hasn't been moving well the entire second half. They're putting deep drops on him in his own end zone. He gets sacked for his safety. Like the play calling in terms of situation and the state of your quarterback and where your strengths lie on a day in which it's snowing like crazy the entire day. and to the point where they have to superimpose the numbers on the field on the TV broadcast

because you can't see him in real life, they're still making strange decisions. So you have to like thank the defense for coming away with one last stop to win this game because yes, it very much could have been a game that they lost in epic fashion. And like, like Patrick said, the fear of God was in the link because all the Eagles fans felt it happening. As soon as they went three and out with that second down play call, they immediately were like, oh God, they're going to get the ball back. We're really going to have to sweat this out. all the way to the end. And luckily they came away on top, but man, not without some nervous moments.

Right. That was a minus 12 sack for Kobe Turner. These kids, I shouldn't call them kids. I mean, they're large men. We had some of them on the podcast before the season, including Kobe Turner, but especially Turner and verse in this game, were just awesome. I saw someone comp first to Kalee Mack on Twitter today. And I was like, oh, that's kind of perfect, a young Kalee Mack. They win in the same sort of ways. They're just so freaking strong. He made Jordan Milata, like, who outweighs him by 100 plus pounds. Okay, maybe that's not true.

But it looks like it. Like, maybe. It might be. Closer to 100 than it is 50. If it's lifted, if it's listed that way, maybe not. But like, he made him look small. And he had a monster day with a couple sacks and all these pressures. And then Turner.

And they lost Braden Fisk early in this game was definitely a factor. But then, so on third down, they give the ball to Saquan. The Rams get the ball back. They have a throw to Cooper Cup with probably his last game as a ram. They have that throw to Puka down the field. But yes, I think after Stafford and the offensive line made a couple mistakes. Like, Dotson takes a false start to back them up. But then Stafford gets the ball to Puka again to set up a third and two.

Really the biggest play. of the game to me was Jalen Carter's sack where I don't know if it was a mental error from Bo Limmer that the center okay I can explain it to you please do please do okay so then I think this is what won the game for the Eagles defensively Vic Fangio on the second half started deploying these stunts because he realized that Stafford was you know trying to push the ball down the field and what he was doing like every quarterback does is he was stepping up into the pocket and essentially what he created was a lie for Stafford to see it was it was a falsehood right in front of him in which they would stunt the interior guys away

and it would create this space that Stafford thought, okay, I can step up into that. And as soon as he'd step up into the pocket, a guy would come around on the back side of the stunt and drill him from his blind side and sack. And that's why they ran up their sack total and why they got after him in the second half. So on that last drive and in that key spot,

they see Jalen Carter there. And what they tried to do, at first I thought they were sliding. I went to look at the end zone angle. I realized, oh, they're not sliding. He hits, he puts a hand on him. And as he puts a hand on him, he looks to his left because he's anticipating a stunt

that never shows. up. And Carter does a great job of faking as if he's going to come in. He's going to crash inside. The other guy's going to twist around behind him, but he doesn't twist around behind him because he makes the fake and then goes the opposite direction and leaves Allen completely in the dust and has a free path to the quarterback. I thought it was a great example of how constant stunts can get in the heads of linemen. And in the biggest high pressure moments, they can force mistakes like that. And that's a great pass for us. Move by Jalen Carter. And this game was why you draft a defensive of linemen as early as you can

when he's as talented as Jalen Carter. There are a lot of teams that wish they took Jalen Carter. Bears fans are probably thinking, man, we could have Jalen Carter and Jaredverse. I know that's wishful thing. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Like, this game was elite.

Six pressures. He was double-teamed on 26 snaps in this game. So most of the snaps that he was out there, he was double-team. And that was what I thought for a second, Did Limmer think like he was getting help there? Because there weren't many one-on-one passing situations for him. And despite all those double teams, six pressures, two and a half sacks,

three quarterback hits, five tackles, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup. So Carter, just a massive performance. He had that punch out on Kyron Williams, which was such a big part of this game. If I had to pick just like a sequence that made. the difference in this game. There were a lot of them. It was a really fascinating game, but the back-to-back turnovers that the Eagles offense had. So you had one by Jalen Carter, and then you had the other by Nolan Smith on Matthew Stafford. To his third term, he'd be the tight end in motion. Eagles are going to be coming. Back to

Stafford. He looks up. He's being chased. He has the ball knocked out of his hands. Eagles have second turnover. back out of his hands and coming up with a Nolan Smith made the hit. Nolan Smith hit him. And Zach Bourne, we've covered. Zach Bond was all over the place in this game.

And I decided it was two good teams. It wasn't like it was a terrible offensive line performance by the Rams. And Nolan Smith has just improved throughout the course of the season. I thought this game, the guys, without Quinnian Mitchell being there, that you've seen step up in big moments

all season for them. Bonn with massive plays. Nolan Smith with massive plays. Darius Slay with massive plays. And of course, Jalen Carter, like that it was kind of the reason that the Eagles got this far, despite not having like a great passing game. Like the defense got it done today. Yeah.

And Isaiah Rogers stepped up. Yeah. And had a huge target on his back and made plays. When he needed to make plays, it was such a great way that Shook pointed out how Carter makes that sack play by kind of going Jordan versus. versus Byron Russell and just, you know, it's the crossover allows the move, but the push feels like it's a push, but he's running over there to catch the stunt anyway, and it's that union,

right, because we talked about this hypothetical Bears defense that they could have all this talent. You still need to put the guys in position to make plays. And I was, I was doubtful of Vic Fangio. I didn't necessarily believe. You made me a believer, Greg, when you talked about this Fangio effect of designing defenses that have had lasting impacts in the league and to see it work with this particular unit when, and I know that he came in as the consultant that didn't work against the Chiefs at all in the Super Bowl. It was a categorical failure across the board. But to see it working, I believe now, because this group, which is very young, it's a very young group. And they're making plays together like cohesively in the way that we see

like a Brian Flores defense with guys with like 30 years of combined experience between three guys. These guys are all young and they're doing it. Yeah, I was thinking there isn't an interior defensive lineman I'd rather have on my team than Jalen Carter. Like he would be the number one pick.

In terms of you're talking about like the next three years, five years, whatever it is. Then I was even thinking like even defensive linemen, you could make an argument that if you were choosing one defensive lineman to have for the next five years, Jalen Carter's on that list. You could make different choices if you wanted, but, uh, like, that's a totally reasonable case.

And yeah, they got a, they got a bunch of them. They got Quinnian Mitchell. They got Cooper DeGine. I don't think they're going to have Zach Bonn unless they want to franchise tag them. That, that's a conversation for the off season because some team like the Patriots or the Titans are going to give him like $35 million a year to just be like stupid money. And I don't know. Well, good. Good for Zach Bond. Yes. Are we going to be willing to pay that money. But as we continue to kind of go backwards, in the fourth quarter, quarter, the Eagles settled for a field goal after those turnovers. Like, the Rams defense, despite giving up a bunch of big plays in this game, I think played

really well overall. And they kept holding on and forcing three points and getting the ball back for the Rams until they didn't. That was the Saquan fourth quarter run. 22-yard line, that's where Philadelphia opens up, handoff. It's Barclay, running to the left. Barkley gets by everybody. Sequot Barkley is gone.

Touchdown. On a snowy Sunday, Sey Walker has dominated for the Eagles. Yes, that was I and Eagle. Love to have them on the show from Westwood One. And I'd like to apologize to Sequin Barclay. We've made it this far into the proceedings and haven't brought up the whole reason

why the Eagles are in the NFC championship. Not the whole reason, but like the biggest reason. Let's be real. He had 205 yards in this game on the ground. 27 more through the air. Add that up for me. Shook, that's 232. Out of a total of 350 yards were Sequin and just a magical season. He has six plays, six touchdowns over 40 yards this season.

Four of them are against the Rams like poor Chris Shula and this Rams defense are going to be seen Sequin Barkley long runs in their nightmares all off season. Yeah. And you know, it's not really representative of the entire game because other than those two long touchdown runs, I think the remaining 65 rushing yards came on his other 24 carries. So Math Wizards can tell you, I think that's like under three yards an attempt, right? So they did a good job at bottling them up, but it was the big plays. And really what it comes down to is the cohesiveness of this entire offense. It's the offensive line getting to second level on that run and catching everybody that was in the box in the wash so that Saquan was never interrupted on that touchdown run. Like it's the way they all play together so well. And they have such a special athlete and a special back. Saquant that can take it from a big game to a touchdown run that makes this offense so special, and especially on a day in which they are not throwing the ball well, the elements are not in their favor, they can lean on a guy like that and bust one big open right there down the sideline for a touchdown. It's a magical thing to see happen to a guy who had struggled so much because of the situation he was dealing with in New York. It's like freeing. It's like dreams

do come true, guys. He's ruined other running backs for me. I don't know if you guys do this, But when I watch other games now, I think, oh, Sequin would have housed that one. Like when, like, it's like a 20-yard mix and run against the Chiefs or whatever. And I was like, actually, that hole would have been a Sequin touchdown. And like, no one else other than Sequin is doing that. And yes, you're right. They didn't have a crazy high success rate. It was like 40% today, which is just average.

But he had a 62-yard run on a three-play drive for a touchdown in the first quarter. Jalen Hertz, in the first drive of the game, had a 44-yard run. So those long rushing plays were so massive. They are a big play rushing offense. And it's the combination of Sequin and Jalen Hertz today and the offensive line. They are like a big play offensive line because it can't be perfect to every play. But sometimes with those guys, when it's all lined up, they had that on that Hertz run. Like Milata didn't even have anyone to hit.

It's just so perfect that it's like a big play. it's like a 70-yard throw, except that's how good this whole offensive line in operation is. And that's why it's hard to go specifically carry by carry and be like, oh, they did a good job on this play. Right. Because it's always there. Like, the big bat is always there. And the ball could leave the park at any time. And I don't know why Derek Henry's the only back that we say like, oh, you got to get him early or he's going to be gone. Because that applies to 26 as well. And even when you do make those plays and get to him in the backfield, he's so creative in short space

because that that ability to pull away is always going to be there and the explosion and separation and it's so glad that the idea that oh if you put a replacement level player in then he's still no it's not the same if somebody's going to get the ball 26 times

on the ground you would like that player to be better than other people he's better than almost everyone he really is and he he is the number one reason And it is interesting to think about the economics of the game with all of this because it's crazy that he's making like less money than Dorrit's Armstrong, who's had a nice season for the commanders.

I didn't want to pick a guy who was like a free agent bus last year. I actually want to pick someone who I think had a good season for the money that he made. But Armstrong actually got a better deal overall than Sequin did in the offseason. And he's actually lived up to it. So what is Sequin really worth? He's really worth Wide Receiver won money. Yeah.

It's a clear and easy case. And I think when he and Derek Henry and Josh Jacobs were having those all-season conversations, when they all weren't getting the compensation that they were rightfully due, they all knew that ultimately there's nothing they could do for themselves.

But hopefully in a few years, Jemir Gibbs, Bejohn Robinson, Ashton Genty will have opportunities to actually be properly compensated because these guys have proven if you have a difference maker back there again if you're going to give the ball to a

particular person it makes sense that you should invest well in that particular person if you're giving it to them more than anybody else. All right. Still a lot to get to with this game. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back in just a minute. everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching

trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard

fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin, and This is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my.

We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Okay, let's talk a little bit about Jailet Hertz, who after the game answered a series of questions about the status of his knee.

And the headlines coming out of the press conference were that he said he's okay to play next week. But that was after three questions. And the final question was whether he's confident he'll play. And he said, yeah. Before that, they also asked him about the injury. And he says, I was able to finish the game. We'll see how the week goes.

They asked, does that mean your status is uncertain? He said, great question. No, just seeing how the week goes, seeing how the things will progress. He was limited in this game, shook in terms of his movement, but they've been pretty limited in terms of their passing game. Even before he had that injury, he was holding onto the ball a lot and taking sacks and not making great decisions. What is your confidence level with their passing attack going forward

on potentially like a compromise Jalen Hurts? I'm worried about it. He has the average time to throw tonight was actually only 2.81 seconds. which is way lower than it usually is. Yeah, but that's because it doesn't count the sacks. Like those sacks, right. Those sack plays, I feel like we're an average of like five seconds for those sacks. Yeah.

And the problem is, is he can hang on to the ball and extend the play and make plays when he can move. When he can't move, that all falls apart and breaks down, which puts more of the onus on Saquan to rip off a few big plays to keep this offensive float. So that's what I'm concerned about. I don't know if I evaluate the passing effectiveness today, you know, by the same scale as some other games because the conditions were bad and the flow of the game just didn't really call for it necessarily. Like if you put him in a dome as he completing more passes to AJ Brown, AJ Brown had like two drops. He snapped the streak of a ton of games in which he hadn't gone

with a drop and he had a couple of drops. So like it was tough to catch the football. So they'll probably be better if the, you know, conditions are better. But overall, this passing game hasn't been great for a while. I shouldn't, we, none of us should be very surprised by that. It's just that we should be more concerned if he can't move and they're going to go out there and take the same approach. And oh, by the way, go away from Sequin for periods of the game inexplicably. They can't do that. They have to learn from this game. Yeah, and he's just got to get and I know like you want people to get rid

of the ball quicker, but there's moments where we've seen Jalen Hertz make those throws. The safety play, it was a delayed route by Dallas Goddard where yeah, pressure gets to him in three seconds, but there was an option to throw the ball from this in zone, right? This isn't like

where Lamar was explaining, you know, he gets an RPO, there's nobody in the middle of the field. Right. Like everybody's running the sidelines. He has to make a play. no Jalen Hertz had an option there for some reason he just stared it down he did that like four or five times today and it's you don't want to speculate and look back to the concussion a few weeks ago but there were opportunities for him to get rid of the ball where he just didn't yeah let's listen to that play from our friend J.B. Long missed this guy second down in 608s 35 seconds left in the third quarter play clock at two hurts calls for the snap Rams coming after with four from his end zone pressure's there they got him it's a safety to bring the Rams within one. Neville Gallimore got there first with the flex. The defense does it again.

Shout out to J.B. Shout out to Neville Gallimore. Nice pass rush. Nice performance actually down the stretch as kind of a situational pass rusher for them. But outstanding point there by Patrick because I think you've got to be able to throw over the middle of the field

and throw with anticipation to be a top 10 quarterback to be on QB Island. And that's a play where I think a veteran quarterback knows where his guys are and they throw that pass with anticipation that they know Goddard's going to be there and they get to that read a little quicker

or they throw it before he's out of his break. And there were a lot of plays like that. He took seven sacks in this game and he just hasn't looked. looked confident with what he's seen. And I don't know what the fault of that is, but it's a big problem. I really think it's going to be a big problem for them. Now, the commanders are, you know, a different matchup, maybe not as good of a pass rush.

But when you look at the numbers, the Rams actually didn't have that many quick pressures on the day. No. Only four, which is under two and a half seconds, which is crazy. And so a lot of it was was Hertz. holding the ball. I do like that from what I saw after the game, Hertz was

in a celebratory mood, joking a little bit. Maybe it was a little bit of relief. He's always just so serious. I don't know. Maybe that speaks to me that maybe he's not as hurt, hopefully. Like, he was enjoying the moment. I expected like a dower Jalen Hertz after that performance. And actually, he seemed like

appropriately enjoying that they just won a playoff game or one game away from the Super Bowl. Maybe his biggest smile I've seen was the cutaway after Sequan goes on that 76-yard touchdown run with Jalen just beaming. Now, of course, things got rife with terror after that when Stafford went into Grin Reaper mode. But still, they're going to have an opportunity

to play next week against the team that's giving them some problems. Yeah, and it's funny because it really, it wasn't all on Hertz at all offensively. Look, they got the job done in the end, but you mentioned the Hertz, drops shook. One just killed a drive was on maybe Hertz's best throw. Actually, both drops that AJ Brown had were on very good throws by Hertz. The deep ball where maybe that's

on the snow. And this was an ultimate snow referendum game. We'll talk about that in a second. But like that was a dime. Like how different is this game if Brown just catches that ball? And I think they would have been up, what, 20 to 7 at the time, maybe going into half, up 20 to 7, like in his numbers would be totally different. It'd be a different game. And actually, the second drive of the game, he had a nice anticipatory throw on second down where he did kind of make the read that Patrick and I are asking for, and A.J. Brown kind of alligator armed it.

And then the offensive line, which has been good all year, obviously fell short. a couple of big moments. Mackay Beckton had a mental error on a couple of plays, a blown block, a penalty. And then Lane Johnson moves when they're third and inches on the goal line. If Lane Johnson doesn't flinch there, that's another four points. Like, they made a lot of errors that usually get you beat, Shucky. Yeah, and we're overlooked them because they had the explosive plays for touchdowns.

When Lane Johnson flinched his butt came up in the air, and I thought he was actually trying to dig his feet in for more leverage on first, like, view. And then I saw the replay and I was like, oh, no, he just flinched. started. He clearly did. He false started so bad that when they actually snapped the ball, he didn't move for a half second. Then he's like, oh, we are playing the play. Yeah, they made the mistakes. Like, Mackay Beckton's illegal man downfield wiped out a great screenplay that would have set them up for a great scoring opportunity. And I came away from those two takeaways in the second half where they only got field goals out of both of them. I'm like, oh, you're going to

regret that. You know, you really should have cashed at least one of those in for a touchdown. But in the grand scheme of this entire game, when you count all those mistakes and everything, you look at it now and you're like, okay, they still won the game. They definitely have to iron out offensively and the matchup next week is very different from this one but luckily they have a week to prepare great teams have multiple ways to win games and they have a chance to be a great team and i get i'm glad we talked this through because i think i thought they were the rams were going to win after that puga catch just because i've seen so many games like this where the team that in theory should have won makes all the sort of mistakes that the eagles

make and and then they end up losing the game but it didn't happen that way and that That's happened a couple times for the Eagles this year, frankly, like where the defense just kind of bails them out. Yeah, like we saw in the AFC divisional game on Sunday, right? The Eagles made those mistakes, and that's how small, again, those margins can be going back to that A.J. Brown drop, right? Because Jalen goes through his reads perfectly. He holds Cam Curl in the middle of the field.

Dallas Goward threatens. Jalen throws a great ball, but you don't execute at the catch point. Something A.J. Brown is one of the absolute best in the NFL. Tell it. Puga had a drop today. You know, it's, it's, well, yeah, the ball was, was slick. Okay, let's talk about the, the weather. I was not a fan of the weather in this game. Spoken like somebody who's lived in L.A. for a long time.

No, it's spoken by someone who likes the biggest football games to ultimately be decided. I'm, I'm of two minds. I do kind of like it, but this was too far. Like the Bills game, it didn't feel like it affected as much. although there were some slippery passes. Like some of the biggest plays in this game, Matthew Stafford just drops the ball while handing it off. We're getting drop after drop by A.J. Brown and Puka Nakua in big situations.

Stafford, the ball seemed to slip out of his hands. I mean, we know this guy's built for it. He's played well in elements before, but it's just the ball slippery. Like Hertz misses one of his throws by like 20, feet. Even that last throw by Stafford, like, I don't even know. Like, I don't want to think that the elements had had this big of a factor. Before I get your thoughts on this, let's listen to Sean McVeigh after the game talking about the elements. I think you saw. I mean, there was some times where

some uncharacteristic things just in terms of the ball handling. You know, we had two turnovers that probably don't necessarily occur in different elements. A couple drops. You could see, you know, when Sequin got to the second level, similar to the first game, but there was some different layers that we did have in our defense. He was able to pull away. But, you know, they had to play in it too. We had to play in it. We had every opportunity to be able to win that game at the end there, Sarah. And we're a couple of plays away from me being a lot happier right now. Good perspective. Shuck, what do you think about the whole weather? The weather discussion. I'm a throwback. And I, as a former offensive lineman who loves to run block, I love

the elements, maybe. Let's muck it up. Let's make it dirty. Let's make it nasty. Let's go win in the trenches. And by the way, Lannon Dickerson had an awesome game today. He was throwing pancakes left and right, just decking guys into the snow. It was the beauty and the essence of football at its core. But I also thought it was an interesting test of a kicker in

Jake Elliott, who's been very up and down this season, very inconsistent, misses an extra point earlier before the elements really set in. And then they're clearing snow for him, like it's Adam Venetary against the Raiders and the playoffs in 2001, just for him to make a kick. And he drills two clutch kicks.

No. So I think it's a test of both sides of the game. I think that you can find greatness in guys who are able to overcome it. It's also a convenient excuse when guys drop passes. But I think it is the ultimate. It levels the playing field, I think sometimes. Right. It levels it. I agree. It does probably level it because it just adds more randomness and luck to the proceeding. But I'm glad you mentioned Jake Elliott coming up big in a big spot. Justin Tucker hit a big kick in a big spot in a tough situation. So shout out to some great. great kickers over the years who had bad years who stepped up in the playoffs. Your thoughts. Patrick, let me just give you a Josh Sweat quote before I do that. This was Josh Sweat's comment on the field in the situation. He said, y'all just see me cleaning my damn cleat every step. I'd rather play on that shitty Brazil field again before playing on that again. That field was ass.

Thank you, Josh Swet. That's your own crew. Like, that's your own, you know, field management team, our grounds crew. What can they do? Wait, it also was going from like hail to wintry mix to heavier snow. It just was, it was a lot to deal with. Yeah, it's nasty. And I've said it where we've had some quick change, like playoff postseason college football

games at State Farm Stadium where they get a new field in there. I saw Oregon and Auburn play where Cam Newton had that high. Heisman season where he could do anything. They were playing in mud. I was down there shooting the game. It was like six inches of mud. It didn't add to the experience at all. And I understand if folks like the elements,

they like it aesthetically. The only beef that I have is the idea that like, because I liked the game between the lions and the commanders and they determined it on the field, right? Like the air conditioner didn't fall on anybody. And I could see the whole game. it doesn't make me less tough or whatever. I like to see people have full use of all 10 of their fingers.

I don't want to see Sequin run into the sideline because he took a helmet straight to the bone in cold weather and I'm sure it sent like shockwaves through his entire body. I just, I would like to see guys being able to execute and it's frustrating to watch an entire season of football and guys managing injuries and all of this. And then it kind of come down to randomness, which is always going to be a play,

I would just prefer not to have it. And it's adding a different X factor that isn't always there the rest of the season. And my thing is people like to say, well, that's football weather. It's football weather. All right. Show me all your five-star recruits that are coming out of Buffalo and Massachusetts. No, football is played at the highest of levels in Texas and Louisiana and Florida. And I know you've got some people out there in Ohio, Shuki.

It's football weather there. But if you're just counting up the numbers between the warm weather states, California, all of them, like the best football and the best football players are coming from where the weather's better because it's more favorable to football. The states that devote more resources to football have. There you go. There you go. The higher population, more tax dollars.

Nobody's getting magical powers due to their place of birth. Okay, that's good. I tell you what, I sunbathe a lot as a kid. My boy is California quarterback that won for the Buffalo Bills today didn't acquire snow powers. I might see he's been there. Okay, you win. Point for college ball in Wyoming.

Point for Patrick. In the dome. My point is, it's football weather in Florida. It's football weather in Georgia. It's football weather in Louisiana. It's football where there anywhere that football is played. There it is. It's not more football weather where it's cold when you can't tell me.

Oh, wait. You know what? Like it's a football weather in Texas. Okay. Let's get the opposite of this. How do you feel about it when it's 100 degrees out and players are roasting in the sun? in Miami in September. Because that's also the elements on the opposite of it.

Yeah. I don't love that either. I don't want. But there's not a lot of that. There's not a lot of that. That's the thing. Is all those teams for the most part played in domes other than Miami? Yeah.

I will take 72 with a breeze coming from the vents. I'll take that all day. If that makes me, you know, whatever, that's me. I'll watch it. Optimal condition. I'm glad you brought it. Yeah, optimal condition. Because it doesn't have to be about the weather.

There will be Eagles fans and players. that will hold till their deathbed that they lost that Super Bowl to the Chiefs in part because the field you know, both teams had to play on it and so that wasn't bad weather, but that was bad conditions and I just don't like

the conditions having such an impact and those conditions I think had an impact in the Eagles chiefs. It hurt the Chiefs pass rush too. It's not like it just hurt the Eagles, but that's all I mean is I wanted to be decided by the excellence of the player. I think back to the Broncos Panthers Super Bowl where you have tackles

sliding six and seven feet it's easier for people to understand when it's the field conditions because i don't think anybody likes that and so if you could take that if you disagree with me and gregg about snow and extrapolate that to the whole kind of dome aspect of of the game like totally i think you start to understand where we're coming from okay so before we move on we're not going to preview next week but i do just want to have a little thought on these teams that lost today. What do you think Ravens-wise is their biggest off-season push?

Like, question, worry, it's funny. They are a team that always feels like they're in pretty good shape. But what do you think? The offensive line got better as the year went on. People thought Zach Orr was a mistake. Since week 11, they have the best defense in football. as long as eight is upright,

you're going to have an opportunity and they can get better at corner. They can get some more depth at receiver where everything isn't relying on Rashad Bateman. You know, you mentioned Cooper Cup. You know, Coop, what's up?

That is such a, that would be such a Ravens signing if the Rams do cut them. And yeah, that's a good segue. I think it's fair to say the following Rams are not guaranteed to be back. Uh-oh.

Cooper Cup. Be a little surprising if he was back. Tyler Higbee, Rob Havenstein because of the contract, and then Matthew Stafford. Let's actually listen to Stafford after the game. Believe this question came from our very own Jordan Roderick. To get to this point, you know, anytime you play like this and get into the playoffs and get a win and keep it moving, you know, it's anytime you come up short, it's even tougher, you know, and so that's difficult. But I'm so proud to be associated with this group.

And, you know, as far as my future goes, I mean, it's 30 minutes after the last game. So I'll take some time to think about it. But I feel like I was playing some pretty good ball. You got football lift in you? Sure feels like it. I think that's pretty close to definitive on whether Matthew Stafford will be playing football again, shook. I happen to listen to the post game. J.B. Long did such a good job.

wrapping up this ram season the rams are really lucky to have him and then they threw to kind of more like the local post game show that's not officially from the team or anything and they're talking about stafford as if most likely him and cup are gone and i don't know are you sure you want to do that rams are you sure i don't know yeah yeah that's the thing is what's your backup plan is jimmy garoppola your backup plan like are you going to get in the market when it's what i'm saying like they don't have a clear succession plan here because that guy doesn't exist on that roster. So in the name of salary cap and the way the contract is structured, you're just going to part with him when he's still playing football good enough to nearly lead

you back to a divisional round win on the road in the snow? Like it just feels like it's a little too business minded for me without considering the football aspect of it. And also, if he became a free agent, I could count five or six teams right now that would be like, let's go sign him immediately. Like fly him in. He's our guy for the next two to three years because he can still play football well. Yeah, he was up and down. We've talked about this at length. He's been the hardest quarterback to pin down this year. Very volatile in performance. But when the lights shine the brightest, he came through in two games. Yeah, he lost one of them, but he still played much like the Stafford we knew. And I think that's worth something when

he still has a desire to play football. Yes. And as Chris Rose and Daniel Jeremiah walk by after doing the NFL Network show, that's a sign that we should be almost done. We've been honking for a while. I think that's well said. And I I think it's important for them to realize they have one of the best young cores in the NFL, especially if they can have another good draft. They've had two great drafts in a row that's really helped their lines. Puka Nakua, a true number one, still on a rookie contract. So it can kind of flip and reverse that you want to take advantage of all these great young players on a rookie contract. And you don't want to waste a year with a, unless you really

love a Sam Darnold or or like a third round pick or maybe a first round pick. We'll see. The way they structured Stafford's contract, you know, they would save a lot by post June 1st cutting him. And they would absolutely find a trade market, which is much more likely and save like a little bit of money by trading him. And then they could use that to to refill the position. I don't know. But why? Right. Why not draft? Why do all that, all those machinations when you have that young Core that you talked about where you'll be like, oh, we're a quarterback away. Why send him out of the door? Yeah.

And how far removed are we from the whole talk of Sean McVeigh walking away to a broadcast job? Like, let's go win now while he's here. Well, fair. That's a good point. He seems very in it as they would like to say where their feet are and he seems very motivated.

That's not a question for them, but that's a great point. Why not try to win it? You better have a good plan if you thought you're going to get rid of I came into the season thinking kind of like, all right, well, that's just a to be continued. Like, decide based on the evidence that you get during the season. And I think based on that evidence,

I would keep Matthew Stafford and start drafting quarterbacks, either in the first or the second or even the third. Just give it a shot. Use one of those picks. Do something. A pleasure, guys, on this day. Some other news out there, Sam Cosmi, the Pro Bowl Guard,

for the commanders, is out for the season. You know, that's something to keep in mind as we look ahead to the NFC championship game. Unfortunately, suffered a torn ACL. Jeff Ulbrick of Jets interim head coaching fame. He's free. No, he's, well, he's not free. He got a job. That's what I'm saying. He's out.

Yes, he got the Falcons defensive coordinator job. So the wheel keeps turning. Our wheel will continue on Tuesday when we get Jordan Rodriguez back in the studio with Colleen Wolf. But you two, these Sunday nights have been a treat, and we have one more to get to before the Super Bowl. Fun Sunday, fun weekend.

I think the divisional round, you delivered in a way that the wildcard round for me did not. And, yeah, we've reached the end of the road when there's only three games left in this NFL season. You know football is back. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies

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