NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Brandon Marshall interview

Episode Date: January 7, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling and Marc Sessler -- welcome Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall to the studio, chat playoffs with NFL Media's Andrew Siciliano and get you caught up to date on the latest headlines from around the league.  Join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL.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 League podcast gets baited into Interceptions. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. What up?

How are you doing? I feel like you forgot someone. Well, I did not forget because this man. gets his own introduction. He is the host of Around the League live on NFL Network. He is the hero of the Red Zone coverage, which is wildly popular. He is also one of the most important men in the dynamic of the NFL media newsroom. He is Andrew Siciliano.

I'm glad you added, in the dynamic of the NFL media newsroom, as opposed to in the brander scheme of things in other places in the building. Thank you, gentlemen. How are you? You're starting small, but you carry a big, weight here in the news or I mean your voice it travels we all sit together just say I'm allowed you know what

we all sit next to each other and near each other and I have a tendency to just shout out random opinions during the middle of the afternoon and pick fights with people on the other side of the room you did create my favorite game show of the year before or after Lane Kitt

or Monte Kiven's birth we sat in the newsroom a couple of weeks ago and And when was Monty Kiffin born, 30? I think it was 1940. I think it was right before Pearl Harbor. And we sat there with John Marvel, one of our esteemed, esteemed rather, and steamed at times, news from executives.

And we sat there, Michael Berger as well as producers around the league live, Jason Brooksby, who does the same. And we sat there and we were throwing out World War II timeline events and trying to figure out was it before or after Monty Kiffin's birth. Shockingly, the Monty Kiffin era didn't work out in Dallas when you could play this game involving a 70-something-year-old man. And it's even more fun if you then throw in Dick Lebo's birth. Oh, right.

And before or after or between Kiffin and Leboe. Again, these are only for World War II judges. A tight historical window. Now you're getting into crystal knocked. Andrew's tips that he just shouts out that are useful. Sometimes we end up using them up. You'll just, I like that we'll just hear a random stat. You'll be like, the Cleveland Browns have not won a game east of the Mississippi since 1977 after November 50.

I believe it's almost since the 64 championship. You know what it is? We have such a great research staff as well. And Craig, you're on top of this stuff. You guys all are, but our research staff, Drew Christensen, Bill Smith, Adam, whose name I can ever pronounce, Jeff's crew, when the research comes in, I sit there and, yeah, I get geeked up over it. I pour over this stuff, and I usually tweet it out incorrectly because I need two takes for every tweet. It's not just sports, though, because you'll throw out a development in, like, Eastern Iowa.

I am a horrible news junkie. So, yeah, if I see a headline, woman stabs man with squirrel, which there was one yesterday. Which is awesome. I will shout it out. And normally it's in Florida. this point. And Lindsay Rhodes will look at me and kind of roll her eyes. Please shut up. I'm trying to write a show. And you guys will eat it up. You guys love it. So it's kind of, I will say it over, through Lindsay, because she sits between us, all of us here. And Lindsay might look up

and say, really? And you guys will turn around. That's awesome. I'll kind of squirrel. Frozen? I hope it's frozen because those things, forget it. We're dead. All right. So we have a lot of stuff to get to. We spoke with Brandon Marshall earlier this morning. We're going to play that back for you. That was quite delightful. We'll go into, we'll get into some preview of the upcoming divisional round games. But why don't we start and the gold standard behind the glass? Let's get going with the headlines. All right, boys. Let's start with Michael Vick speaks out. He's likely moving on from the Eagles and his quote, I'm not finished. Is he a starter in September?

somewhere he's going to be a stopgap for somebody i would imagine it's a pretty weak free agent class and we keep hearing as strong as this college class was supposed to be everybody's picking holes in it now so i'd imagine vic ends up with the jets the raiders texans somewhere like there as a stopgap guy he's been dropping those breadcrumbs for weeks with the quotes of i'm comfortable here i love this team i love chip kelly but i still think i can play i mean damn we talked about the jets as like an interesting nesting spot if he moves on. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. I think if you know Woody Johnson,

what Woody Johnson likes to do in the offseason, making a splash, getting the back page of the post. Vic would do that, and this would obviously be one of those examples where it would actually make some sense to. You would push Gino and then give yourself some cover. Even if Smith wins the job out of camp, you have somebody you can go to,

and it's not an undrafted free agent that is a CBS commentator son. You know, it would be a much better situation. And you have the morning-wag connection. Oh, Marty Ball. Now, I don't know if that's good or bad. Was he tired of, Vic? Yeah, I can't answer that one.

But did you guys read the New York Times piece yesterday as well, which seemingly came out of left field? She did expose the fact that Michael Vic ran a dog fighter. I had never heard of that before. And listen, I am not making light of it in any way whatsoever. But I don't know how he'd be accepted in New York, is what I'm saying. You don't think enough time has passed? I think personally enough time has passed.

However, and again, we're not digging up his past crimes here. It is a part of his history. It is who he is. It is something that, to his credit, he has done a fantastic job in the last number of years since he got out of prison and he got the job in Philadelphia to rehabilitate his image. He has done all the right things. And I do believe, having sat with him more than once, that it's sincere that he truly is apologetic. There are people who are upset they got caught, and there are people who understand.

the wrongs of their past actions, of their ways. I think Michael is the latter. However, once he goes somewhere, whether it's New York, whether it's Cleveland, whether it's the Bay Area, wherever it is, it will get dug up again. And this New York Times thing, I think, is proof of that. That doesn't mean there's going to be enough of a public outcry where that team in that market would say, you know what, we don't want to touch him. but I think we've gotten in this comfort zone now in Philadelphia

where we forget this is still there and I think it may play a role I'm not saying it should be held against him anymore but I think it may play a role I like that Philadelphia has suddenly been hoisted up is the most forgiving city of Philadelphia's also been time how many years has it been now you're right and it matters which city

Bay Area New York not going to work New York I don't know Bay Area no way those are places that groups are going to get fired up I don't think it's going to stop. I mean, they signed Tebow, and I'm not saying Tebow Vick. But you can't compare the two. I'm just saying I don't think they're going to be worried about a PR backlash if they think it's the right thing for their football team.

Bengals owner Mike Brown buried within a Sunday preview story that West dug out when dug up when things are great and the Bengals, you know, everybody was positive about what could happen. Mike Brown had said that he wanted Colin Kaepernick over Andy Dalton. This was internal conversations. And now this looks a little strange now after. a destructive Dalton performance. He did. He preferred Kaepernick's athleticism,

which is obviously superior to Dalton's. They had concerns about Kaepernick's accuracy and how long it would take to develop him. If you remember at the time, Carson Palmer was their quarterback, but had stated he was never going to play there again, they needed somebody who was going to come in and play right away. They felt that Dalton was that guy. Who's they, though?

I thought Mike, it's a little weird because Mike Brown is ultimately the guy that's supposedly making the decisions. Biggo. Jay Gruden pushed hard for Dalton. Thought he would be the perfect fit for his West Coast offense. There were reports before the draft even that Gruden loved Dalton. Well, this is one of those cases where it actually lines up with all the pre-draft speculation. Because you remember at the time, people thought the Raiders were going to take Kaepernick there

and that the 49ers had to trade ahead of the Raiders and the Bengals, because the Bengals were interested in possibly taking Kaepernick, but they liked a couple guys, so they weren't going to move out of their spot. And that pretty much changed those three franchises. I find it interesting in Cincinnati that the situation with Dalton has the 15 or so teams in the league. Fans of those teams that don't have any trace of a quarterback saying at least we're not the Bengals. But there are a million. Not a million is an exaggeration, clearly.

There are plenty of teams that would be very happy to take Andy Dalton right now. That's where the Bengals are kind of stuck because there's no veteran, I mean, to the previous conference. about the dearth of quarterbacks on the free agent market. There's no veteran that you can bring in that you could say right now would beat Andy Dalton out, is there? That's on the free agent market? No way. That's including Matt Schaub assuming he's released. That's including Michael Vick.

That's, I mean, Chad Hennie. There's no one out there that's going to beat Andy Dalton out. Well, Mark Sanchez will not beat him out either. So what do you do? What do you do? He's in the last year of his contract. He clearly, at this point in his career, has not been good enough to take you to the next level. In his three playoff losses, he has played poorly.

It's not just that they've lost, no, he has played poorly in all three. Are you going to go draft a quarterback in the second round and say, Andy, this guy's, I think you have to. This guy's looking over your shoulder. But are you really to the point where you say mid-season after one of his classic two, three-game streaks where he, goes in the dumper that you're going to bring in this second round guy? If he's looking good. I mean, Annie Dalton's a second round guy. I understand.

He's still only two quarterbacks in the NFL through for more touchdowns this year. Manning Breeze. Right. He's that guy that's good enough but hasn't done anything yet. And you just, in this day and age, how quickly do you get rid of the guy? Yeah, he did that so unremarkably. I feel like he's like the most boring girl in the room and you're like, I'm dating the most boring girl in the room

and I'm about to get married or do I just completely vanish from town and get out of this situation. But he threw for four thousand yards. Real quickly, Jay Gruden did address this today on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. Nice plug. You sound like you could be a radio guy in Cincinnati.

Lance McAllister, when I lived in Cincinnati was known as the shotgun, Lance McAllister. By the way, what are those call letters again? I liked how you said it. WLW. WLW. So he said that basically he gave the Rick Petino treatment. Aaron Rogers isn't walking through that door.

And he told Bengals Fing, you have to appreciate what you have. And by the way, I agree with him. But that doesn't mean that he's the guy to take you to the championship level. But who is that guy? Look, sports talk radio is great with this. It's the same with quarterbacks and coaches. Get rid of the guy. Okay, well, who are you going to get that's better?

And we see it way too often teams fire coaches. And then they say, oh, crap, now what? Well, you get another option and you just see what happened. Do you see if this second round or third round pick knocks your socks off? And if Dalton struggles, you have an option. Sure. Those are options. And maybe you get rid of Jay Gruden.

Maybe Gruden somehow gets one of these jobs. And that changes things. I said to Solomon Wilkatz on ATL yesterday, I said, if Jay Gruden gets another job, do you think the Bengals are upset? No. John Pagato out coached J. Rudin Sunday, period. You had an hour and a half of real time

where Andy Dalton didn't throw a single pass on something other than his back foot. I guarantee you right now somewhere in Northern Kentucky, he is on his back foot. Plus, we can get back to the point where Mike Brown's picking the quarterback, because who's picked better than your boy Mike Brown in the last few years? I mean, their

draft classes are good. Are you talking about the guy who went out on a limb to get David Klingler and Achilles Smith? That guy? That was a ancient history. We're going to send Wesleyan down a dangerous wormhole. I won't step. behind Achilles Smith's family at Old Riverfront Stadium one night? Oh, they obnoxious. I was playing so much.

An unknown, an unknown, well, and anonymous, I'll keep them in on it. Bengals player got me seats for the Browns and the Bengals, like a week 15 disaster where both teams were heading to the top 10. Exactly. I was in Chicago, I was working with the Bears. This is the late 90s. The Bears had to be the late 90s, obviously. The Bears had the weekend off, or maybe they played a, I don't.

know what it was. I flew to Cincinnati and sat in the Bengals players section behind like 15 people that had Achilles Smith jerseys on. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he wasn't his family. Maybe they just all, maybe there's a discount of the pro shop. And they were, and he wasn't playing, he was

hurt. And they were screaming and yelling and dropping names on Tim Couches. Oh, God, it was out. That dare they. Glorious era. Okay, earlier Moving forward earlier this morning, we had the chance to speak with Brandon Marshall, star-wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. He was doing the NFL AM tour, and then he came by and swung by the Studio 66, which was nice of him.

The Gold Standard, behind the glass, how are you, buddy? Yeah, doing fine, thanks. Good, good. Can you, why don't you let the people in on our conversation with Brandon? Yeah, why not. All right, we have a very special guest in Studio 66 right now. He is a five-time pro bowler. He is one of the best playmakers in the NFL, Chicago Bears wide receiver, Brandon Marshall.

Brandon, woo, woo, woo, welcome to the Around the League podcast. Thanks for having me, man. You are so better dressed than the rest of us right now. It's embarrassing. It's immediately created an awkward tension within the room. This is the good thing about podcast. No one can see. I know.

Faces for radio and also dress codes for radio. So, Brandon Marshall, welcome, welcome to the podcast. I guess to get going, I just want to ask you because I know the Bears lost that end of the season was pretty tough to swallow. Was it hard for you to watch games this weekend after what had happened? You know what? It wasn't because I was in work mode. You know, I've been, you know, on a little media tour, you know, this past week. So, you know, it's really helped me actually get over it, you know, keeping myself busy.

It's really going to hit me when I go on vacation and it gets closer to the Super Bowl. And that's all of our dreams as players. organizations is to make it to one game, and that's the Super Bowl, and for us not to be there this year is disappointing, you know, but every year you got hope. So, you know, guys like myself, you know, halfway through my career, it's, you know, you get a little anxious, but I really believe in Chicago, you know, we'll get it done there. You know, you look at how that NFC North played out down the stretch. Very strange, right? Do you look at the Bears right now? Were you the best team in that division this year? No, we weren't. You know, I mean, if we were, we, we, we, we, we, we

we would probably still be playing. You know, it's a disappointing year, you know, but we have something to build off of. I truly believe next year we'll be able to contend. Brandon, you know, as well as you played this year, I might be more impressed by your prognostication skills. Yeah. With Jake Cutler, what wasn't about Alshun Jeffrey

so early in the season that you said he might be the best wide receiver in Bears history? No, it wasn't this year. It was last year. You know, I think it started with Phil Emery, drafted him where he did and you know last year you know from his first OTA this guy just swallowed the ball with his big hands and the way he caught it so we were like this guy can you know make plays and then once you got into him a little bit you understood you know his background in sports

and how this guy really understands he gets it you know and as far as on a football say he knows how to sit in zones he he knows how to use his body you know he's a basketball player so uh all that stuff really transferred over to the football field and, you know, he just got banged up last year, so he wasn't a good for us. So getting him down to Florida with us last year was big for us in our facility to really give him what he needs to have a year like this year. It sure seemed for us on the outside that Mark Tressman coming in, working with your quarterbacks and with your offense in general, and you as the wide receivers had a giant change for the way you guys attacked opponents in all shons of production and yours. A lot of

players after the season called, Blake and Stanzo called Tresman a different kind of guy? Yeah. I mean, to adjust from Lovie to Tresman, what kind of coach is he? Why would players call him different? Well, every, you know, every coach is different. You know, unfortunately, I've

been in a few different places and had so many different coaches, you know, from Coach Shanahan to McDaniels, you know, to Coach Barano and Lovie Smith, you know, they're all different, you know, just the way he approaches the game, the way he prepares,

the way he teaches, it's just another guy, is, you know, all of us are unique. So, you know, if I had to really answer that, would say, you know, his approach is a little different than a raw, raw football guy. When you see a football guy, you know, guys like Blake Costanzo, he thinks football is all about, you know, no, you know, that's maybe in Pop Warner, you know so blake is one of our leaders and our special team cats but he's a he's a freaking high-motored guy man just so just he's crazy out there but uh and coach trussman's opposite of him so probably for him it seemed a little different it one of the weird things mark sessler here his favorite coach is mark trussman but only because the sea at the end of the

first name really that's kind of weird that's not the only reason but you would think really we can go down that road but that's not accurate like a football podcast guy would would go beyond first name, but no. I'm being lamb-based here. Not true. I think Trisman's a good coach. So, it's all right. So I want to ask you also another wide receiver question. Jim Harbaugh came out.

So Jim Harbaugh. Stop. Stop. Don't even go, guys. Stop, stop. You don't want to talk about best catcher ever? No, I'm just saying, stop. I knew where you're going.

No. Yeah. Oh, man. Come on. You're a better catcher? Am I better catcher? You know what? You know, I read this book a few years ago by Jim Collins

Good, the great some of us business. men may have read it, you know, but in it, you know, he did a case study on, you know, the companies that made the jump from good, they're great, and their comparison companies who didn't. And what they found was the guys who stuck to the hedgehog was the guys are successful. I know my hedgehog. My hedgehog is sitting in the zones, catching the ball, you know, and getting up field. That's what makes me great.

That's what makes me different and separates me. My thing is now I'm not going to make the one-handed catches, you know, that's not on my highlight reel. You know, I have some big plays like that. you know i can do it but you know that's not for me so you know uh to answer your question you know i said all of that you know yeah to say uh you know i i don't really get into the hands thing where you all got good hands chris carter is the best is the best catcher ever though come yeah i would say that yeah i will say that larry fitzgerald's gaining on him no no no no when

you talk about hands see larry fitzgerald was the best i don't think he is now i give it to a I was on Jeffrey, but he was the best at tracking the deep ball and making those big plays with two or three guys on them. You know, but as far as hands, man, Chris Carter catches still to this day, you know. Kets off the drug machines, one hand, no gloves, behind his back, between his legs. I'm being serious. I'm not even over-exaggerated. This guy's amazing what he can do.

I mean, he takes his fingers and he touches his wrist, bends him back. You know, it's crazy. Can you do that? No, I can. And he thinks it's all-receiver. it like it's awesome like bro you're born like that you know really's hands his mitts are huge and he's like bro you need to be driving down the road every time stretching your hands out i'm like get out of here chris uh the big bears news obviously j cutler signed three years 54

million which is guaranteed which is pretty decent money and then seven years 126.7 that's awesome that brings a lot of stability to the organization obviously and i think everyone in this room at least the three of us and i'm sure you do to agree that was the move for the bears to make but a lot of also there's another side of it he's such a polarizing player a lot of people said wow that just that sinks the bears to mediocrity for the next several years why is j cutler like this or why is he perceived that way i should say because we've been mediocre you know it started in denver we were mediocre we didn't get it done there uh they shipped us out you know uh we separated for a little bit and you know you're looking at just jay you know

got to Chicago and he's been he hasn't gotten it done you know but you know people don't understand the most successful quarterbacks you know they have receivers they have office alignment they have you know offensive coordinators jay had a different officer coordinator been a different system almost every other year every year you know he hasn't had alshon jeffrey martellis bennett you know he hasn't had those guys are offensive line you know we went from the one of the worst offensive lines a year ago to a top five you know O lineman protecting the quarterback so you know now he has that and then he has Mark Trustman your favorite coach you know and we know why now but he has him someone who

stimulates him everyday challenges him put him uncomfortable positions to make him better and before he got hurt we saw you know his numbers you know on pace to be the best he's ever had so you know I think we made the right decision I love the way Phil Emery he got it done you know you know they didn't let it drag out to the offseason no distractions for the team It was like, hey, this is our guy, and we're moving forward, and that's why I love being a beer. You're obviously tied to Jay now for the foreseeable future. Is there any one of the young quarterbacks in the NFL that you would most like to play with? No, I'm not going to answer that question because if I, you know, the headlines was going to read,

Brandon Marshall wants to play with it. Did you see the gears in Wes's head? It's how I get Brandon in a big spot. Well, I know you weren't going for that, but I know if I answered that, you're going to be like, oh, Brandon Marshall wants to to play with this guy. Then I have to, you know, put out some fire. So let's move on. That's wise.

That's wise. Do you feel like in your career that you've been, you know, misunderstood? No, heck's no. Been freaking all over the place in so much trouble, man. Freaking lost. But now, you know, it's good because I can take those experiences and give them to the younger guys in the locker room, even some older guys, man. It's like, hey, man, that's not the road you want to go down.

And what's pretty cool is that, you know, now I can identify, you know, people who are struggling or suffering in silence. So I'm really excited about where I'm at right now as far as in the leadership role and how I can, you know, pour into other guys' lives. Brandon Marshall, thank you very much for joining us. What do you have planned? I know you're going on vacation. Are you going to be at Super Bowl Week in New York? You know what I am. I got a crazy schedule.

I've been working a past week or so. I'm going to do that up until vacation. You know, I'm really just trying to prepare. You never know when you're going to, you know, that jersey is going to be ripped off your back. So, you know, this is something I want to get into. You're a business man. Yeah, man. Just, you know, you got to prepare.

You got to start planning, you know, a few years out. But for me, man, after, you know, the whole month of January is vacationing and a little bit of work. In February and back to it, I really believe I had a down year. I didn't have a chance to really work. I had a surgery, so that put me back. And I didn't really like the way my game was. So I'm going hard, and I'm really going to just revamp my whole game and come back a totally different player or something you guys never seen before.

Kind of like an artist, like a musician. You know how to say, this next album, it's going to be killer. This next album, you guys aren't going to know anything. It's going to be the thriller. Totally different. Yeah, this is it. This is how I'm doing my game. Like I'm an artist.

I like this. Yeah. Awesome, man. All right, that is Brandon Marshall. He's delivering the thriller of NFL seasons. I like it. Can we name my next season the thrillers and do it? Let's do it.

We're going to push it out very hard now. All right, Brandon Marshall, thank you very much. Thanks, guys. A nice fellow, wasn't he? Very charming. Wesleyan wasn't that excited. He doesn't like to talk to the players. He's kind of like that guy who just wants to sit behind his computer.

You know, I had to pep up. Get him excited about it. You weren't too excited about it either. I had to watch my daughter this morning. It was about that time. I'm just saying, wasn't it fun talking with Brandon? It was more fun than I thought it would be. You're right.

If I have my druthers, I would not be, like, interviewing players. Why? I don't really care what they have to say. Is this better for, like, a performance review? Wow. What is he happening on the podcast right now? Poor Brandon Marshall, if he ever listens to this, this is a rather brutal outro to that. I like Brandon.

He was great. I said he was charming. He was great. He's charming. He's introspective. He's self-deprecating. But at the same time, he knows he's damn good. It's a rare combination of someone.

who is willing to admit his shortcomings when he's a pro bowler, yet at the same time carry himself confidently where you know he knows. You can tell he's at a very comfortable place in his life. Far more so than he was three, four years ago, or even a year ago. And he gave an honest answer about Cutler. We said basically, listen, is this an average team right now with Cutler? And he said, we've been that way up to this point. I mean, he didn't pull any punches or, you know, lace too much on to,

colors play. All right. So here we move forward now to the divisional playoffs. And, you know, three of the games are rematches of games that were played in the last two months, which is pretty interesting. The other is a rematch from last year. That's the Colts Patriots game. So we figured this would be a good time to talk about what has changed between these teams since the last time they met. And Greg, I'll start with you. San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos, of course, that Thursday night game when Philip Rivers' Bolo became hugely influential in the culture what is the difference

between that team Charter's team and now or is there I don't think there's that this is the one game of the three rematches where I don't think that much has changed and we haven't learned that much when was the last time we saw Denver in a game that really mattered that was it so they've

they've been getting ready for this sort of game for a month and yeah they had to beat a couple of the worst teams in the NFL to get home field advantage but I don't feel like I learned too much about them there This Chargers team, you talked about it, you wrote about it, Mark, how they are the biggest run-heavy team in the league right now. They have a quarterback playing at a very high level, and they have a defense that's completely different than they were early in the season. And it really started the week before that Denver game.

They shut down the Giants. They did a great job shutting down the Broncos. That was the fewest yards the Broncos have had in the game all season. The top two. They're two fewest – this isn't even English. The games in which they had the fewest yards, the top. two, we're both against San Diego. So they know what they need to do against Denver.

This is more a game where Denver's been getting ready for this moment now for a month, and we'll see. I don't think much has changed. The Chargers are the same. The Broncos didn't have Wes Welker for that game. True. Andre Caldwell played the slot, and I believe led the team in targets, yards, and touchdowns. You know who had a good game that night, Von Miller?

Not there. Not in the mix. Wesley Wood, you're benched. Their defense is different. Ionacho's not always on the field. There's such big questions about this Broncos defense, whether they can be middle of the pack or whether they're awful. Because you would have thought the Broncos had the advantage defense,

the better defense. But right now you have to say the Chargers probably have the better defense. The Broncos middling defense, below average defense, has been, I think, one of the most overlooked storylines of this entire NFL season. They went 6-0 without Von Miller out of the gate. And that's the hell with them. They don't need them. They're fine because the attention, well,

deserve it was on Peyton and the offense. They are statistically, I believe, the greatest offense of the history of the National Football League. Highest scoring, right? Right. So, you know, the defense ain't that good. And the lineup shuffling that you referred to there in the last month, that has all flown under the radar. It was, you know, we focused so much about Vaughn and Champ Miller and his, Champ Bailey rather, in the first couple of months. We've totally overlooked this. I mean, consider years past when the Saints defense has been that bad when the Patriots and Giants' defenses

a couple of years ago going to the Super Bowl were historically bad for two teams to make it to the final round. Pay attention to this defense. It's not historically bad. It's not Packer bad from last week. It's not Bears bad from two weeks ago. But they're going to run the ball. I don't think they can outscore, Peyton,

but they're going to run the ball. San Diego running the ball 40 times per game over the last five games or so. Do you see them just, you see them doing the same exact thing? They have to. I mean, they have to. Philip threw the ball six. LT and I were talking about this yesterday. I know.

Philip threw the ball six times in the first half. Sixteen times total. I mean, you don't see Rivers games like that. But then on that drive in the third quarter, I think he went six of seven or seven of eight or something like that. So when they had to, they had to. He converted on third down when he had to. One of my favorite people in the NFL, one of my favorite stories of this postseason, the fact that Philip Rivers got in, he was left for dead a year ago.

And now look at this guy I love the bowl tie Love the attitude Love everything about him And I think it's not just one game That they went to Denver And one that we're looking at I think the fact that they've played two games

And both of them played out in very similar ways Almost the exact same score Except people forgot how close the first one Except Denver won the first one 28 to 20 But the stats in that game Are crazy The Chargers had the ball

For 38 minutes of that game And so they did what they wanted to do. They just weren't as good in the red zone and on third down, you know, converting into touchdowns. But that's what they wanted to do. But in 22 minutes of offense, Denver still had nearly 400 yards. Right. They're not going to shut down the Broncos, but they can slow them down. Got to keep them off the field.

The old Tecmo Bowl match. It's a tough matchup for the Broncos. I like it. It legitimately is. But I don't think there's, I mean. We can do Patriots Chargers, AFC Championship rematch of O-A. He's not excited. This game at home.

Come on. Do we really think Peyton's losing this game at home? No. No, but I think they were losing to the Ravens last year, either, though. No, I didn't. That was, this is, can you even imagine what happens if the Broncos don't get this done on Sunday? I mean, how disastrous would that be for Manning's legacy? Would you be able to fit Damashick's head in the newsroom after that?

They would go 14 and 2 next year and do the same thing. All right, moving on, we have the San Francisco 49ers facing the Carolina Panthers. I think we talked about it on Sunday night that the Niners were, perhaps the NFL's best team right now going from 6 and 4 to 13 and 4 rolling, played a great game in Green Bay. And now they face a Panthers team that earned the home field advantage and had that very close contest in November, a 10-9 win that really kind of got a lot of people on the bandwagon to understand how good this team possibly is, the Panthers. How much of these teams changed since that game? The first thing for me, obviously, Crabtree, what we saw last week, it looks like he's back at a level where Kaepernick is trusting him. He threw to Crabtree 13 times.

He threw to Davis and Bolden a combined 13 times. So the way that they're moving the ball through the air has changed, and Kaepernick looked frisky as well. This is the game where the most has changed. Vernon Davis sat out most of that game with a concussion, too. Mario Manningham led that team in receiving yards. He's on an injured reserve. Alden Smith was a non-factor in that game.

He's playing better the last few weeks than he has. Then he has maybe in his career. This is the best game. I mean, in terms of just pure matchup, This is the best game. I think a lot of us think if there's a road team, I don't know about you guys, if there's a road team that I would really favor this week, you would be the Niners. But that makes it sound as if you're somehow disrespecting, which I hate that word.

The Panthers, or think less of the Panthers. I don't. We don't know about Steve Smith. He says he's going to play. I assume he will, but how effective he is. I have no idea. The Niners are just on a role. I mean, you want your stereotypical.

Here's the hot team ride them. They've won seven straight. Kaepernick has been, I don't want to say great in all seven, but collectively his numbers in all seven are great. And I mean, they're on, again, another cliche. They're on a mission. I like the Niners here. But again, that's sounding like I'm, and they have all the playoff experience, too.

Newton is such an X factor, too. I mean, is he ready for this stage? Can you foresee a scenario where he kind of stinks out the joint and, you know, all the questions come back about what's Cam Newton all about? Or has he made the leap now to the point where we can count on him playing at a very high level when the stage is this big? He hasn't for six weeks. He didn't against the 49ers. But he's been good on third down. He's been good in key spots.

And late in the game. This isn't a good offense. It's a worse offense than it was with Rob Chudzinski last year. And I think that game, that was typical. That wasn't typical, but it wasn't a good Cam Newton game, but he made a couple great plays on third down where he escaped out of the pocket, made a few great throws.

They end up scoring 10 points and they win the game, and he gets credit because he's played big in the big moments. But think of what their offense has done over the last five or six weeks. They had that game in New Orleans where they were awful. They had the game against the Jets where it was all running. They were okay, but it was almost all running, and they had some struggling performances against New Orleans, against Atlanta.

In the final week, they needed home field advantage. Their offense scored 14 points. They didn't move the ball all day. They won that game in Atlanta because of a botched snap by Matt Ryan. It's just been a while. We haven't seen Cam New and this offense get better. It hasn't been better than from week one to week to now.

I agree, but the defense is phenomenal. And to me, we've been talking about this all year. Earlier in the year, we thought it sounded so odd to say the Panthers needed to get the ball in Tech Ginn's hands. Yeah. And at this point in the season, They still need to get the ball in Ted Ginn's hands, and that's a disastrous place for an offense to be. Their running game is great, though, and I think that's gotten better. I think DeAngel Williams looks better.

They use Tolbert well. They're not afraid to run Cam Newton, call runs for them. So, I mean, in their mind, they'd probably love to play like the Chargers and run the ball 35, 40 times. I think the Niners will legitimately have trouble moving the football against the Panthers. Their defense is incredible. Yeah, this is not, I mean, I don't know. if it's 10 to 9 again, but this is not 31 to 28 in any way, shape, or form. And Charles Johnson's another one.

He was healthy for this game the first time around, but he was not himself for a five-week stretch. Came back, and he and Greg Hardy combined for five sacks and eight hurries in the season finale. They were pretty good. I think we all want to see, I mean, I think fans want to see the Niners and the Seahawks round three. We wanted it last year. We didn't get it. I think you're waving your arms, Greg. but I think we're going to get it,

but I don't think anyone would be shocked if Carolina goes to Seattle. Well, the Panthers are the unofficial team of the Around the League podcast. So I don't know if you guys are probably all taking the Niners anyway, but I'm sticking by these pants. I want them to win at the very least. I can't.

Even if I don't buy it, I want them to win. I literally, I was sitting in the cozy bar nearby on Sunday watching the game, drinking Diet Coke, of course. You could say you were having beer. I was watching the game drinking. beer. No, because I came on later and did a podcast Sunday night.

You've got to be responsible. You could have a drink. Anyway, no, I'm watching the game and I picked the Packers last week and I watched, I saw these Jim Harbaugh sideline shots and I was like, I hated myself. I was like, how did I pick against Jim Harbaugh in a wildcard game against a middling Packers team? I will not get caught again. I'm going to pick Jim Harbaugh teams at least until next Sunday.

You know, Rich Eisen, that is, made such a big point during game day final about the fact that Harbaugh was wearing cackies in the 14 below with the windshield, which, again, it takes a man to wear, I hope he had long johns underneath there. He has no other options. You open up a suitcase, that's all is it, it's cackies and black shirts. Here's my issue. They were pleaded cackies. Come on, dude.

It's 2014. Nobody was, nothing says old man more than pleaded the cackies. It upset my wife enough. The pleaded thing? She texted me about it. Why is he layering from the front to back, sort of? because he must have had something other. Why is he starting with cackies and then moving back from there?

Because you have to have some layers from there. Cackies do not provide good insulation from the cold. Cackies on top of cackies, however. I love their first album. And the drummer left. Yeah, whenever the drummer leaves, it's bad. All right, we'll move on. The Saints are heading to Seattle.

The last time these two teams played a 34-7 whooping, a tough game there for the Saints, and now they need to go back there and somehow prove themselves as a true road team. I know they did it this past week. You know what else happened last time these two teams played? You gave the Lombardi trophy to the Seattle Seahawks. Oh, that's right.

You said not only that, they were going to win the Super Bowl in a rock. Convincingly. Yes. The Michael Lombardy. Wait, and I've been proven wrong, I see. No, no. But they have lost the game at home since then. You're saying they said, just put.

them in the Super Bowl and they're going to win my prediction you know what i did too i'll be honest i did too all right and i don't back down what i said the nfc was going to be a struggle they're going to they're going to be tough playoff games once they get out of that and they are to me the best team in the league they will then take care of business in the super bowl we'll have our first route and sometime your logic is in the lombardy you're fine yeah you're trying to pin me on this don't let a cardinal victory up there knock you from your convictions i will not these two bullies It's not going to happen, buddies. Bullies.

You bullies. Let's get to the games. But listen, if Sean Payton, and listen, Sean Payton played every single ounce of they don't respect us in the entire state of Louisiana last week. And it worked. I worked by one Shane Graham field goal, but it worked. And I'm going to talk to Ben Watson later today. My question is, what does he have left? What else?

I mean, what's behind door number two? You change your sweatsuits last week You changed the flavor of your Gatorade last week They I believe they They left at a different time They were something about beefy Mac or something They changed something

I'm like getting a Gatorade On the training table Everything So you played that card last week What card is there now Sean Payton's good at it He's very good at it He really is

That's why they're good That's why he wins Does that stuff Does that even matter though? I don't know To the mind of a player, it does. I mean, look, if I have to hear one more time, I joke before about I hate the word disrespect. They disrespected us.

I have asked, and we all have, countless players over the years, veteran players. And I say to them, when does that get old? Because there has to be a point in your career. You reach a certain age, a certain level of tenure, where it just doesn't work anymore. Where the coach is playing the, here's what this guy said, card. And you say, all right, come on, really? And they said, it never gets old. Seriously.

I said, oh, we get it that it's just stupid Jedi mind tricks. Yeah, during the summer when I'm sitting on the beach, having a Mai Tai, I get it that it's nonsense. But that week, it works. It has to work because it's the only thing that possibly fuels you to go out there and run 100 miles an hour and hit somebody on Sunday. So here's hoping for Sean Payton and it works again. Well, how about the plan that let's not have Drew Bree is one of the greatest

quarterbacks of this generation throw for 3.9 yards in one of his worst games of the season. In a decade. Right. In a decade. He's capable of playing outstanding in any game. I don't care where it is. The Seahawks, I saw this from Chase Stewart earlier today. Since the 1970 merger, their past defense, is the second best adjusted for era. Sounds right. So that's what hasn't changed since then. What has changed, the Seahawks passing attack in the last four games, it's the worst four-game stretch of their season. Percy Harvin looks like he might be coming back.

I don't know if he's a savior. He can't expect him to play after not playing all year to be their number one receiver. So we don't know what he's going to do. You would think 20 snaps maximum even if he did play. Has a team ever been this good without a legitimate number one receiver? It's a good question. Patriots in 0-3-04?

Most Patriot teams, yeah, before Moss. Yeah, I guess. But I think you hit it on the head that there has to be concerned with the Offensive Line in Seattle. New Orleans's defense is coming off one of their best games of the year. They held a very good offense to 256 yards. Russell Wilson has four touchdowns and three interceptions over the last four weeks. It's not a great offense.

You know, the Seattle Offensive Line finds a way there to survive against most teams not named the Rams. They generally will find a way. You guys should get Darren Sharper on. I don't think we could discount the Saints past failures in that building in the postseason. for some of the Sean Payton motivational stuff this week either. Yeah. I mean, and going back to that game, how does that not leave a mark to go into Seattle, what was it, a month ago, a little over a month ago, and get completely trounce? That sticks with the team, doesn't it?

Yeah, like the 2010 Jets? Well, that was it. Or the 2013, 12 Ravens? There's only so much you can do with that. There's only so much you can do with that. The Seahawks are a better team, and they just don't lose in that place. All right, moving forward. The other game is the Colts heading to New England to face the Patriots.

They did not play this year. The last time they played was November 18th, 2012. That was a 59-24 Patriots win. I remember that is the game where Gronk hurt himself on the extra point attempt. Oh, that was the game he got hurt. Yeah, and, you know, that led to issues for months and months and now years. Greg, you have a takeaway from that, though, don't you? The Patriots defense is worse somehow than it was.

back last year. And the whole reason I picked the Patriots of the Super Bowl before the season, other than I'm a homer, is I thought the defense would be much better. And it started out this way. But now here, Brandon Spikes, their best run-stopping linebackers, suddenly out for the season. Which kind of came out of nowhere.

Totally came out of nowhere. He played every game this year. They're missing, of course, Vince Wilfirk, Tommy Kelly, Jared Mayo. That's all their run-stopping. They're one of the worst, they're probably the worst defense that's left in the playoffs. I would say they're even worse than the Broncos.

So this Patriots team has to score 51, 59 points again. That's the type of game I think this is going to have to be for them. I do think, I agree with you on the analysis of their defense, but do we agree on this? Bill Belichick will, with Akeb to leave and God knows who else, find a way to take T.Y. Hilton out of the game. I don't agree with that. You don't agree with that?

I think that's what Hoke game plan to do. I think Akeed Talib has not been the same player since he re-injured his hip, and he's been taking advantage of on defense the last two months. And T.Y. Hilton isn't a guy where we're just bodying him will work. You've got to run with him. How they call the game is going to matter. We saw a lot of people getting away with a lot of contact. That would play in the Patriots favor.

Pass interference went away this past weekend. I think we all agree. No, seriously. No, that's a good point. I'm not suggesting that these were hockey reps. nor am I criticizing the officials. But in hockey over the years, and I'm not a hockey fan, obviously in the playoffs, even in the NBA, everything changes with the officiating. The NFL doesn't like to say that it does, and generally as a rule, I don't think that it does.

But we saw a lot of contact in all four games this past weekend, and they got away with it. If you can do that on T.Y. Hilton, it certainly helps the Patriots. There are a lot of lockdown corners of which Akeep Taleb is when he's at his best, who are physical and do well against big-body receivers. It's another thing to cover a jitterbug like T.Y. Hilton. Or it's a lot harder for those guys to shut him down. I'm trying to think of a – like, there's a scenario where the Bengals were going into New England, and you're dealing with Andy Dalton.

That would have been New England going straight to the AFC title game in my book. I'm trying to think of a quarterback east of Peyton Manning that I would want to face less than Andrew Lodden. But I think the Bengals' defense was far as a more difficult matchup. Mike Zimmer is a more difficult matchup. And that's all due respect to Chuck Pagano for Tom Brady than this Colts defense. Patriots have had trouble with mobile quarterbacks, getting them on the ground. They have no pass rest right now.

They have Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich. It's not bad, but they're not great. And they don't like to blitz because they don't like to expose their back end at this point. Colts can't run the ball, though. If you love... They could on the Patriots. I think they can on the Patriots. If you love epic football games, root for a close game,

because Andrew Luck is 15 and 2 in one score games since he came into the league. The next closest team is 7-3-1, the 49ers. And Tom Brady, as far as I'm concerned, has made an art out of the one-minute drill. So if you like close games, this should be fun. Well, I hate close games. I hate them too. They suck. I said yesterday, let's play the put Andrews,

Luck on the 20 teams that didn't make the playoffs game and you tell me if they make the playoffs they all do they all do do do the Browns make the playoffs with Andrew Luck yes do the Cardinals they were good enough with Carson Palmer sure the Cardinals are probably a Super Bowl

contender with Andrew Luck do the Bucks yes there's no way the Texans lose 14 in a row with Andrew Luck I don't know if they make the playoffs there's some mad mojo there you put Andrew Luck and J.J. Watt on the same team they're making the playoffs yeah I mean the guys unreal

Unfreaking real Totally agree He is Or flip it around Where are the Colts And I'm not kidding Where are the Colts with Brandon Whedon? Two wins

Three wins Picking seven So let's say they weren't picking first Last year Let's say they were picking fifth Let's say they go Trent Richardson And they take Brandon Whedon in the second round

I'm not trying A lot of angry tweets from Jim per se they're circling the toilet as a franchise they are yeah because i don't know we talked about the game last year i don't know if their defense any better at this point i think it's worse it was good early this season they lose toller now this week as well right and their linebackers are very slow i mean the chiefs killed them with with throwing those short paths especially to the running backs patriots are great at doing that but andrew in that equation cleveland has traded its first round pick for trent richardson so thread richardson's greatest contribution last week and listen i hope it

works out for the kid. I really do. But was when the end crashed on the fourth down, they bought the dive and luck went for 20. Right? His best contribution. Andrew, since you will not be with us on Thursday when we will be making our predictions for

this week, we would love to hear what is your AFC and NFC title game prediction. Okay, I'm going to go... Matchups. I'm not going to go with the chalk. The chalk would be Carolina at Seattle. I'm going to go with the games that I think America wants to see. I'm going to go with the Niners winning in Carolina, the Seahawks somehow getting by, because I think

the Saints are a legitimate threat. They're regardless of what the numbers show you. I'm just going on a motion here. So I think it's the Seattle, San Francisco, round three that America wants. And I do think, not just because this would be the TV ratings game of the decade, I do think we get Brady v. Manning round 15 for the right to go to the Super Bowl. I know it's what I would like to see. I was hoping it for last year, too.

But this is what happens. But think of the alternative. I do think Denver's going to win. They're both juicy. The Andrew Luck at Peyton Manning? As long as, you're right, as long as the Broncos win, we have a treat. I mean, you are getting the wake the neighbors or wake the kids called the neighbors game of the century. Or even better, the Pagano Bowl in Indianapolis.

No, wait, that's not better. Nobody cares about that. I call it during the season. I always call it, it's our weekly game of the year. Because every week in the NFL, and it's remarkable this way. It is, we have a weekly game of the year. If you get Brady v. Manning, I mean, that is your weekly game of the year of the decade of the century. The only difference between your games of the year and Greg's is that yours does not involve Matt Shop.

Whereas most of Gregs involve Matt Shop. Why does he always look sad? Plenty of reasons. A lot of pick sixes. Sleepy. Andrew says a guy that, obviously, I need makeup to go on TV, so. Andrew Siciliano, he is the pulse of the NFL media newsroom. You could find him at Andrew Siciliano on Twitter,

and he is the host of the Around the League Live telecast, which airs 6 p.m. Eastern Time. Telecast. You like that, that's old. I would love you, Andrew, if you could tell people who haven't watched around the league live what it's about. It is a little different than your typical football Jabba talk. It is 6 o'clock for yours truly.

The great Lindsay Rhodes, or as we like to call her, television's Lindsay Rhodes, does the 7 o'clock Eastern Time hour called around the league prime time. Some have compared it to Wolf Blitzer yet without a beard in that we have the giant video walls there. We have all the reporters, Albert Breer, Jeff Dolphinton, all our great reporters in the field, Kimberly. It took me a second.

He's in Miami all the time. Kimberly Jones. Adi, who am I leaving out, Ian, Desmond Pernel, Steve Seifers, Omar Ruiz. I'm missing somebody here. You had me at Wolfblitzer without the beer. We have all our borders in giant video walls, and we do exactly that. We go around the league. You know what?

Forget Pulse of the newsroom. This is the conscience of the NFL. And you know what Dan likes? Sometimes you have John McLean on, too. Oh, John McLean. That's right, Andrew. John McLean. I'm happy he survived this season.

You're talking about great followers, great follows on Twitter. John McLean during a Texan's game or his alma mater, a Baylor game. He is, I mean, he all but tells people to go kill themselves. The word apoplectic comes to mind. Or when he's live tweeting his day on the set at Spring Breakers, which he has a speaking role. He's been in more movies than Ralph Machio. A masterwork of Twitter was, I believe it was the game the day before Kubiak finally got fired. It was a loss of the

Jaguars. Yeah, Thursday night. And that was a Hall of Fame Twitter performance by McLean. Him and Vito Stilino went at it. Vito. In the press box. Vito's a little feisty. Yeah, well, John McLean's feisty. John McLean will, I mean, he'll say this is a disgusting performance. The Texans

should be embarrassed to even go home and see their families. And that's like some of his tame stuff. Seriously. Yeah. For a guy named, I mean, I'm convinced that Yippie Kaya, that John McLean, Bruce Willis, was named after this shot. Yes, we should try to get John on the show.

Anyway, so thank you very much, Andrew, for coming on. We will be back on Thursday, and we'll talk more about these games. Any coaching moves or any other NFL news that happens? If Rick Flair changes allegiance again, we're going to cover all that stuff. Until then, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for the mailman, the Zizzler, the boss, the gold standard. Now I know how to say your last name, too, there.

Yes, and that's a big gainer, too, and Andrew Ceciliana. Until Thursday.