NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Championship Sunday recap

Episode Date: January 20, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Marc Sessler -- recap both of Sunday’s AFC and NFC Championship Games. Get the analysis and biggest takeaways from each matchup. The gang also sets you up for Super Bowl XLVIII between old-school quarterback Peyton Manning and new-school quarterback Russell Wilson. 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 knows how to spell Humanawa Nui. Welcome back to another edition of the Round League podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Zessler and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? How are you, buddy? I am okay. We have, Chris Wessling is not in today.

as a family issue, and Greg, I think I'll throw it to you to explain exactly what the situation is. Yeah, it's such a great day here for us. You know, two great games we were looking forward to, but we're hurting a little because Chris is hurting. His father passed away over the weekend, and, you know, we miss him being here, and we're glad that he's back with his family, and we kind of consider ourselves a family, this podcast and, you know, our blog and our website, so, you know, we're thinking about him, and we know, Chris, that your dad's proud of you, and it's good that you're there.

I know you watch the games today with your family, and we'll talk to you soon on Tuesday. Yes, we, yeah, we send our condolences to Wes and his family, and I know Wes, yeah, watched football today because that's what Wesleying does, and I'm sure he'll be listening to this podcast. I think so. And he wants us to talk about football, so we will.

Let's do a good one. Some good games. We'll get into it. We had two games, and there were, Super Bowl is on the line. I don't know if you guys knew this. So why don't we start, and no offense, Greg, but we will start with the memorable, truly memorable game of the day,

and it was the late game. We'll start in Seattle where Russell Wilson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and Seattle's top-ranked defense force, three late turnovers, lifting the Seahawks to their second Super Bowl with a 2317 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday's NFC championship game.

Like I said, a hugely memorable game that featured, I mean, lead changes and bad blood and a terrible injury that got showed way too many times by Fox and a great ending. And Colin Kaepernick falling short in the big stage. There was so much to dissect. I'll start with you, Greg. What a game. It was one of the most incredible second halves of a championship game you'll ever see. I think you summed it up well that just big play.

I mean, the Marshawn Lynch beast mode play. And then Kaepernick with two dimes, including a jump past 25-yard touchdown. But in the end, the Seahawks defense, we've been talking about it since the preseason. And when push comes to shove in the final quarter and a little extra, the 49ers final four drives in this game, three and out, sack fumble, interception, interception. You don't close a game any stronger, any better than that, and that was the best defense in the league stepping up in the biggest possible moments. I think just a crushing loss for, you know, watching this game, number one, it was hard to imagine.

We followed these teams so closely since the summer that one of these teams had to go home. Because it was that kind of deal where I feel so, I feel like we saw the two best teams in the NFC, no question about it. and everything that you could have expected it was. But there was an issue down the stretch with Kaepernick. I mean, I think he made a couple really questions. That first interception was Andy Daltonesco almost. I don't know what he saw in that play.

He said after the game that he saw Cam Chancellor underneath. He thought he could put it over his head and he didn't. Later in that drive before his final interception, I believe the same play happened and he was able to get it over the defender's head. He just simply under threw Anquam Bolden. I don't think he's played that well throwing the ball during the playoffs, at least the last couple of games. We talked about that he had some misses last week,

and you can get away with that sometimes, but not against Seattle. But, you know, we are, we're a couple plays away from talking about San Francisco slaying three teams on the road to get to the Super Bowl. I mean, it was tight. It was not a situation where San Francisco, you know, collapsed here. I thought they played, this team has a lot of character. Well, yes, they certainly have character. And if losing builds character, these last three playoff losses they've had

are three of the most wretched ones you can imagine. The Giants' NFC title game with Kyle Williams, of course, the Super Bowl coming down to the last play the way it did, and now this. Going back to Kaepernick for a second, I think what a lot of people forget, and one of the posts we have up on ATL, I wrote about Kaepernick's night,

was this was his first full, year as a starter. There's still a lot of room to grow and there's still a lot of flaws in his games. And when Joe Montana this past week made news by saying that Kaepernick has room for improvement, the only thing that was noteworthy about that being said was who said it. It was Joe Montana, so it was interesting. Everybody that's watched Kaepernick all year knows that he's been making mistakes and he's gone through funks. And when you have flaws and you're a young quarterback without a lot of experience and you're on this stage against the team like this, it's bound to come out, and that's what happened.

Isn't it fair to say that we saw some of that from Russell Wilson as well? He didn't play a flawless game tonight. That's fair, and I think it was a microcosm of both their seasons, really. I mean, Kaepernick, what a wild game that he had 130 yards rushing. He had over 100 yards rushing at halftime, but they only had 17 yards passing in the first half, and they were ahead 10 to 3, and then he makes some crazy great plays in the second half throwing,

He almost drives him at the end of the game. I mean, that drive, getting him into the red zone was a thing of beauty. They're at the 29-yard line before that last pass with 30 seconds to play. And then you're just a couple inches away. I mean, Crabtree was open. He beat Sherman. Sherman's hips were the wrong way. And he made a fantastic mid-air recovery.

And that was a play that I don't think many quarterbacks can make to recover after he had already been beat and deflect it with his left hand to tip it to Malcolm Smith. If that's another cornerback, maybe they're not recovering, maybe Crabtree catches the ball. And we're talking about the clutch Colin Kaeper that's out of the chair.

But we've got to talk about what, I mean, we do have the sound clip here. Yeah, we have... Well, I'm the best corner of the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. Don't you ever talk about me? Who was talking about you?

Crabtree, don't you open your mouth about the best? Are you on the shatter for you real quick? L-O-B. Here's the thing about this. We will be, and we are all fortunate enough to be going to New York for the Super Bowl. This will be the primary narrative, at least for the first week and a half leading up to the game. It's going to be about Sherman. And I don't want this game to get swallowed up by that, but that's what's going to end up happening, at least tomorrow.

And there will be two weeks to lead up to this game. But Sherman's comments and what he said, going after Crabtree, which was, let's face it, odd that even in that pumped up state for him to the first thing he says is I'm the best cornerback in the league, it was funny to me and also strange and kind of came off like a butthead. I don't want to say like, you know, there are a lot of people that first thing is to say that he's the worst person in the world, and he's certainly not. But that was a little strange, I thought.

So you're halfway up Mount Pius. You haven't climbed to the top of it. And this is, yes, and this is the point I was making down says, you don't need to go to the top of Mount Pius. But then you don't need to go to the rival mountain and then cast down upon people that think it's a little out of line for this guy the way he acts sometimes bringing attention to himself. There's a way to kind of do it.

K. Rich wants the pipe up here, I can tell. You know what? He is the Kobe Bryant of the NFL. And I believe that, you know, some people love it and some people hate it, but I love it. I love his arrogance because he follows up with it. He follows up. And not a lot of people will follow up with their,

talent. And you know what? We had a discussion last week about Colin Kaepernick and his little imitation of Cam Newton or what he said was his fraternity. And he was beating around the bush. Oh, no, it wasn't Cam Newton. It wasn't an attack at him. But guess what? Richard Sherman is the total opposite of that. And I love it. I absolutely love it. He's honest. You give him that. He says what's on his mind. But I don't know. I just feel like you don't need to be totally against Richard Sherman, but you also don't have to then, you know, throw trash. Throwing trash is another thing. What's up with the 12th man in Seattle throwing popcorn on Navarro Bowman as he's getting carted off the field?

Terrible job. Well, yeah, but they're going to get flamed as a fan base. How many, what was the action of one or two people there? And I don't know if anyone else saw it, except for us, we were watching, Dan and I were watching the feed from the networks. I don't think it was on the air. Some popcorn being thrown on Navar Bowman, who Jim Harba said after the game, preliminary indications that he has a torn ACL, which was, was a really tough moment in that game and definitely not a good look for the Seahawks fans.

Yes. But let's get back to the play. So Sherman, and it was an amazing play and everyone will talk about his interview after the game and he didn't back down after the game. But yes, an amazing play that clinched the game. And it was so fitting. I like the fact that he talked, I mean, I just like that he's true to himself that he talked himself into being the best cornerback in the league a year ago. Who was this guy, Richard Sherman, before 2012, no one really knew him. And then he kind of backed it up and all of a sudden was right there among the best. And then this offseason kind of took it to another level.

And then he leads the league in interceptions and the Seahawks defense is historical. And he makes the game-winning play to go to the Super Bowl. So I'm a football fan. I like guy. I like when stuff like that happens because it's good for the sport. It's like Dion Sanders. You know what I mean? It's a modern-day Dion.

And it's all been building to Richard Sherman, heading to the Super Bowl stage, and Eisen made a good point on Media Day a week from Tuesday. He now has, if he didn't already, we'll have the high rafter on the fields where all the media will be around him. He'll be a major figure, and this is what he's wanted. Well, we had Ocho Cinco two years ago. We had Randy Moss last year, and why not just another, you know, we got Richard Sherman this year. There was going to be somewhat of an absence of this type of trumped-up figure if they hadn't gone. And there wasn't a lot of Sherman plays in this game to get excited about.

He was not a huge factor. They did not throw at him much. I thought Bobby Wagner made a lot of big plays in this game. Cam Chancellor made some big hits. Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril. Again. Both combined again for some big plays. It's a team defense.

It's really not all about Sherman. Why are you throwing, listen, that play was similar to the Super Bowl ending play from a year ago to some degree. Why are you throwing a fade route when you're up against a taller cornerback? I just thought it was a strange play to dial up, to be honest. It's just tough, though. That's one of the best secondaries in years. And Kaepernick set up to the game, he underthrew it a little bit. He wished he put it in the corner.

He just didn't. You have to make against the quarterback, cornerback that good with length like that. You've got to make almost a perfect throw. He's at the 18-yard line on that play with 30 seconds to go. Crabtree gets some separation. I don't think the decision was bad. I don't think it was a great throw. We did see him make in an absolutely incredible throw to Bolden.

Right. And Wilson had an incredible. I mean, you do see the other, the flip side with the ability of these two quarterbacks was they occasionally make a play that just blows your mind, but they're both growing. There's no question. I want to see what Wilson's able to do against Denver because he was far from perfect tonight. Yeah, but like you said, on that play where he's scrambling around back there,

you know, conjuring up memories of Randall Cunningham and then throwing it deep. You know, they had a pretty good second half. They could have put the game away a little quicker if they took advantage of that possession where they got the ball in the red zone and they ended up fumbling it on fourth and goal after the Bowman injury.

So many things happened in this game. It's almost hard to remember it. They could have put this game away earlier. But ultimately, they scored the final 13 points of the game. They went into halftime down to. 10-3 and, you know, the 49ers defense supposedly right there with the best groups in the league, they put up 20 points on them in the second half. They got the job done. I thought what other thing that seemed, you know, last week against Carolina, San Francisco

shifted second half into a power approach. They just shoved the ball down the Panthers' throat. Frank Gore, 14 yards on 11 carries. He didn't look completely, was he, did he look banged up to you at some point? He left the field for chunks of time, and they weren't able, you know, when you have Kaepernick running for 130 yards, that's great if you're against the Packers and you're scoring points in different ways too, but they didn't really get that ground game going. They weren't able to control that part of the game at all, I thought. they weren't consistent as an offense. They got some drives going in the second half with Kaepernick's throws. Most of his 153 yards were all in the second half. But they weren't a good offense. They had no consistency in terms of their past game or their running game.

And a lot of those rushing yards from Kaepernick were on scrambles. It wasn't like they were called runs. They called plenty of runs, too, but the big players were on scrambles. This was the 49-1st first loss since November 17th. and you know how many times do you see you see it year after year the team that that gets hot at the right time takes off and wins a Super Bowl and this year is a little different now

this year is shaping up different in a lot of ways for starters the top the two number one seeds are playing the Super Bowl for the first time in five or six years only the second time since 93 so we had it recently with the Saints and the Colts but this doesn't happen too often right and the seed

Seahawks knocking off this Niners team. I got a feeling by the time kickoff happens on Super Bowl Sunday, a lot of people are going to be picking the Broncos. That's just my vibe right now, a Cessler, if you will. But I think ultimately I'm so impressed by what the Seahawks were able to do against a Niners team that is such a good team. And Kaepernick is such a good quarterback. Yes, he's a little raw still and he's still got some progress to make.

But to turn him into a Gino-Smith-type figure in the fourth quarter of the NFC title game tells you... Easy there. Just in terms of turnovers, let's be fair, that tells you so much about how good this defense is. And when we get into the second game of the day, how fascinating it will be to see the defense this good, especially the secondary against the best quarterback ever, arguably. I want to apologize to the Seahawks fans and 49ers fans and anyone else about saying that we needed to move the Patriots Broncos game. into prime time because this NFC was the underdog. I take it all back.

That was a snoozer. This was fantastic. I'm so excited we're going to watch these teams and these coaches and these quarterbacks for a while, and it lived up to all the billing and more. Final stats in this game, 308 yards for the 49ers, 308 yards for the Seahawks. Penalty yards, 65 for the 49ers, 66 for the Seahawks. I mean, this was about as even as it gets. Time of possession split right down the middle.

I mean, they did a great job. And Greg, as a Patriots fan, and also you were... What? Let's not even bring that. As a Patriots fan before the Patriots became the Patriots and myself as a Jets fan going back to the early 90s, seeing Pete Carroll going to the Super Bowl, this is not something you could have predicted about 15 years ago, is it? No. No one...

I always thought Pete Carroll got a bad rap for his tenure in New England. It's like replacing... You don't want to be the guy that replaced Parcells. Look, he wasn't, he was a 500 coach with an awful general manager. He wasn't the one picking the players. You never would have thought that guy would have turned into a college football legend and now he's leading, you know, just one of the best constructed teams in the NFL. But I've gotten used to it by now.

I think he's a great lesson where, because he talked about when they got hired, when he got hired at USC, at his first press conference, he said, I understand this is not popular. And there were a lot of USC fans and we're not college guys, but they were railing against the concept of what at that point was a milk toast, Pete Carroll being hired to run USC. He was their fourth or fifth pick. Right. It was, it's like, and you know, he had basically ran out of the NFL for being too boring and too nice.

But then he comes back and he's recreated himself. He grew. I mean, he is a, that team is a reflection. They're a reflection of what he is. And I think in a way what you see from Sherman, I don't think Carol has a big problem with that. Because I think that confidence bordering on boastful. is part of what that team's all about. Sherman, I mean,

Carol's going to go into the Seahawks Ring of Honor in like seven years and the Jets, he's most famous for being the coach of the fake Spike game. So it's fun being a Jet fan. You know who else? Should maybe go into the Ring of Honor someday who will probably be thought of

so highly by Seahawks fans, even if he's not a popular figure nationally. Stephen Houska. Maybe a little bit. Me for picking Seahawks v. Broncos. Not Dan Hansis. Doug Ball. What a big game he had today.

He has made so many tough, contested catches throughout the playoffs, throughout the season. He also had that kickoff return today. He goes over 100 yards. I swear, whenever the Seahawks need a big play, it always seems like it's little Dougie Baldwin coming up big. Maybe he grew agitated with this storyline bubbling up all week that they have no wide receivers, which I believe was mentioned on this podcast. That's fair. This is the first big day for a Doug in some time.

Well, even... Just across all spectrums. Maybe a Doug that had a big day. It's been that long. No Doug has sort of resurfaced as a famous individual since then. You are on the money with this one. I mean, even the Seahawks didn't believe in Doug Baldwin. Why else do you bring in Percy Harvin?

Also a slot receiver. You're trying to replace him, pay Sidney Rice $40 million. He's like, I think he's a great story. Any final thoughts on this game, gentlemen? And by the way, one thing about Crabtree, Crabtree is a good receiver. The other thing that bothered me about Sherman, he kind of went after Crabtree for not being any good.

Crabtree is a really good player, and he just got beat by Sherman. What I hear from you, Dan, real quick, is I think it's fine to be annoyed by Sherman. There may be something about him that just sort of like, come on, dude, why? But I also think that a lot of people feel the way Crystal feels is that, A, this guy backs up what he says,

and B, it's not that big of a deal. But we are going to be focusing on it primarily for two straight weeks. Everything that comes out of this guy's mouth is going to be put through your hands on a typewriter on to NFL.com. A typewriter? Well. What year is this, mom? Do you tell me what year it is? I'm back in Doug Williams, famous Doug Williamsland, 1987.

Did you know Crystal doesn't even know what a typewriter is? Crystal, it's a device that used to... I don't know what that sound of that. Typewriter? I like it. Yeah, it's an old device. Don't worry about it. If K.Ritch doesn't know who you, too, is, she definitely doesn't know what a typewriter is.

I typed on a typewriter when I was a little girl. Okay, that's good. You asked for final thoughts? Just thought of one. Okay. Because I'm never done. How about Pete Carroll and the Seahawks coach is going for it there on fourth and seven? You mentioned Houska gets a star of the game.

Maybe the best thing he did. Did he tell them he couldn't hit the field goal from that long? I don't even know. They changed their mind after they took a time out, after they couldn't get Houska in the field, then they go for it on fourth and seven. Wilson sees that they're off sides, goes for the big plays. They send three verticals. That was kind of the stone's moment of the week.

And two of us in this room follow terrible football teams, right? And we watch a lot of bad football. Yeah, we do. And the difference between the four teams that started alive and the two that exist tonight are that gutsy go for the throat. strategy, out-of-the-box stuff. You watch bad football teams. They're conservative. They do stuff.

It's vanilla. And I love Carol and what they did on that play. That was a great decision. Fortune favors the bold. And that was the go-ahead touchdown. Maya Angelou. Correct? Actually, it was Kurt Vonnegut.

That was a go-head touch. I think that's probably the biggest play of the game. I know there's a million big plays in this game, but that has to be the biggest. Chance favors the prepared mind under siege two, dark territory. second bad guy all right let's move on to the aFC championship game right it's time to move on right we got to move on your life feels like days ago at this point johnny moxon varsity blues yes Peyton manning through for 400 yards and two touchdowns and the denver broncos are heading back to the super bowl after a 2616 win over the new england patriots on sunday in the a fc championship

game. This is a game where the Broncos looked like the better team, the whole game. I know the Patriots got back into a little later, made it a game of it. And if they got that two-point conversion, who knows what happens. But they didn't. And Greg, I mean, listen, how upset can you be about this season? You got it to the AFC title game. You got beat by an awesome Broncos team.

You weren't that disappointed down in the newsroom, and you're okay, right? Well, I'm at work. It's different. You guys have to admit. It's different watching a game. at work, it's easier to take a loss when you just get beat, when a team is so clearly better than the other team. And I think if they play this game more, I'm not whining.

I'm saying very philosophical. Look, easy there, Crystal. He's out of the chair. He's moving around. He actually looks kind of angry. No. Broncos, it was the most one-sided Patriots game of the year, and it's not even close. No other team pushed them around like the Broncos did.

They went over 500 yards. They moved the ball the entire game. The Patriots had some chances on offense. They didn't play well, and the Broncos defense was terrific, especially against the run. It wasn't a close game. A lot of their playoff losses have not been close. To Baltimore twice, to the Jets, I thought was a convincing loss.

These are games where they've just been clearly outplayed. You know, it's like the Baltimore game last year, they were a little lifeless. it just seemed they got sunk in a hole and they couldn't get out of it. In this game, both games, both these games that lost Akib Talib, that was a big factor. I think that we talk about a Patriots defense

that, you know, in Damasek's Jenga. And Wes Welker took him out of the game, which I thought was interesting. Yeah, you did. I mean, but, you know, and they can question if that was flagrant to some say, I didn't think so. But losing Talib, that sunk this Patriots defense because you have to be able to defend

four or five targets that are legitimate receivers at the same time, and they just didn't, they couldn't do it. And Manning kept chunk pass plays, 12, 14, 10 yards, converting major third downs and chewing up the clock. They did what the Patriots are good at sometimes, which is keeping the opponent off the field. Brady, it felt like eons in between drives for the Patriots.

But losing Talib was no doubt it was a big loss for their secondary. But really, wasn't that what their season was all about? the Patriots was losing guys and filling the holes and moving on. I'm not going to put the whole game on a Taliban injury. I think the Broncos were going into this game in the much better team. I think people talk themselves into the Patriots because they're the Patriots.

But what happened on Sunday makes sense. The Broncos have the better quarterback. They have the home field advantage. They have the better overall team and they won. This wasn't a big surprise. I agree with what you're saying. The defense of the Patriots had such an uphill battle

going into the game, not just because of the injuries that they've had this year, although that's a factor. They don't really do anything well. The best thing they do is bend but don't break. And they actually did that for the most part. They stopped the Broncos in the red zone a few times today. Once Talib was out, they can't get off the field on third down. Even before Talib was out, I thought the tone was set early

when after the first Broncos punt, every other drive, they're hitting third and ten, third in nine, third and ten. There was that early fluttering Manning pass that looked like it could have maybe been picked off, but Arrington overran the ball, and it just fell in perfectly to Welker's hand. At that point, it's zero-zero, and they keep going down the field after that,

and there was just no confidence that they were going to get anywhere near Peyton Manning and that they were going to get stops. They got one stop. I mean, they stopped the Broncos one-time. in the game. That's about as big a beat down as you have. Denver had drives, six straight scoring drives. The only reason it wasn't seven was because they burnt out the clock at the end of the game. 73 yards, 93, 63, 80, 60 yards. They had two drives over seven minutes. They just,

they did everything they needed to do by just chewing up the clock. And at one point, they had 21 first downs in the third quarter when New England had 24 total plays. That's ridiculous. They're the best offense. in NFL history just looking at points and Peyton Manning had the best season in NFL history just looking at touchdowns

and they played like the best offense you ever want to see in a really good matchup for them on Sunday they played right to how they played all season they were the best team in the AFC all season long and then they came through with a great performance and let's give credit to Peyton Manning

because this was hanging over his head all season like I don't a lot of there was a vocal minority some people located in the building that basically anything he did in the regular season was, oh, well, he's no good in the postseason, you know, and everybody kind of pointed to this game as this is when Peyton's going to come out and fall short again. The guy was as good as he's been all season. He was won Julius Thomas drop away from three touchdowns in an even more impressive offensive

day. His passing, he was surgical. It was like a seven-on-seven drill all game against a very good Patriots team, not a great team, but a very good team. He stepped up in a big spot. He's now 2-2 in the Manning Brady Bowls in the playoffs anyway and he is I guess his playoff record is now 11 and 11 and now you get now you get to the Super Bowl we have plenty of time to talk about this but Peyton Manning wins that one more game now and you got to throw all that garbage out the window it will go out the window though but two quick garbage but it will go out the window but two quick points one I think that the Broncos learned so much from that loss last year, that Ravens loss.

And Fox said that made us a tougher, more resolute team. And, you know, when all that jive came up about, oh, Peyton Manning can't play in the cold, they game plan to show that he could. And today, when it was, what's going to happen to Peyton Manning? All this stuff you're talking about, Dan, they came out and threw the ball on first down to start the game seven times in a row.

I think they went out of their way to get that passing game and get Manning in the floor. And he was as sharp as he's looked all year. But number two, we can't get out of here with talking about what Denver's defense, which it didn't do last year, but it did do today, was it shut down New England entirely. Legerrett Blunt, six yards on the day. We all, as a society, all of a sudden,

talk to Lagart Blunt into superstar status. I think it's because people read your article about him before the last game. I said that he could be a difference maker. I didn't know he would go, like, Madden on easy level against the Colts last week. But I think everyone almost assumed Blunt was going to be a factor this week, and he totally wasn't. And then let's talk about Tom Brady. Tom Brady missed some big throws in this game.

And, you know, a lot of people get on Manning when he misses throws in the playoffs and they point to it. Is Brady going to get the same level of criticism? Because the reason they weren't in that game until very late was because he missed some throws in the first half that would have changed this game potentially. You know, Mark makes a great point that the Broncos came out aggressive. The Patriots came out aggressively throwing, too. You know, the Patriots begged the Broncos to run last time, and the Broncos obliged.

This time they wanted to throw. And I think the Patriots came in here saying, your secondary is weak. Without Harris, we're going to put it in Tom Brady's hands and give him a chance to win the game for us. They came out throwing, and it didn't work. I mean, the first third down to the game, they throw it to Austin Collie. That doesn't work. second third down of the game it's third and short

they throw a bomb to Matthew Slater he has one career reception who are these guys Matthew Mulligan was a factor Danny Amandola's Jet Legend Dan's X factor didn't have a catch

you couldn't get the ball to him there wasn't a lot of separation in winning on the outside and when there was Brady missed throws it wasn't a great game for him he played better in the second half but I thought it was a typical 2013 performance by him. Manning was better than him.

And we could close. You brought up Amandola, and I did pick him as my X Factor this week, targeted once, he dropped the pass, had no catches. And we can now officially close the book on a huge personnel blunder by the Belichick-era Patriots. I know Welker didn't have a huge game for the Broncos, but Patriots had a better chance to win if they just would have been smart and kept Welker in their building. And now you're throwing to these Hammondegers, as Bobby the Brain Heenan would say, when you could have had Welker, and Amindola was not the guy this year, and today when they needed him to step up, he disappeared. How about our boy pot roast?

I agree. Although you can't forget that Edelman did turn into a football-quality type of receiver. You could have had them both. Yeah, could have had them both. It's a bad sign when Austin Colle. That says so much. Austin Collie, four catches 57 yards today, and Amandola didn't have any, and they're picking Collie up off the street. Mark is disappointed

Amadola was against the backup slot cover man I would have liked to see them find a way to get the ball to Vareen more on some which I saw initially that it's success throwing the ball to the outside to Vareen chewing up some yards here and there but then it's just everything sort of shriveled up and I think Dan's right about the

Brady with the deep passes that took 10 points off the board those misses I mean potentially one was had the had the Edelman pass Pass been caught, that's a touchdown. Could have been a touchdown. Missed Collie open towards the end of the first half.

But I don't know if even if they played, they had to play an A game to win this. And they weren't close because the Broncos were so good in situations. Like the end of the first half, how they had the ball. And it was second in 20 after a penalty. And I'm thinking, ooh, the Patriots are going to get the ball back with a chance to score at the end of the half. But instead, Manning, you know, in the shadow of his own goal line, completes a 25-yard pass.

They end up going down and scoring a field goal. Then they get a touchdown right after intermission on a seven-and-a-half play drive. That's the Patriots move. That's the Patriots move. Situational football, 10 points, and suddenly the game's almost over. They did that all day where the Patriots found themselves in some type of desirable down-and-distance scenario. And then Demarius Thomas, 15 yards. Eric Decker, 13 yards,

Julius Thomas, 11 yards, and all of a sudden, you know, any momentum was lost. And let's talk about the Patriots pass rush, which literally didn't exist. Oh, it didn't exist at all. I mean, they couldn't. To what level?

Well, they got a little bit of a, what do we like to call it? Greg. Greg. A Goldston. You mean a dirty Peter? A Goldstead. And if people haven't been listening to every podcast, we...

Yes, they are? If we asked you early in the season, when a team has no quarterback hits, or a sack it's called a Golston although Dan wanted it to be called a dirty Peter Dan I'm with you I like dirty Peter

The people's champion is the dirty Peter However Greg I thought we came to a compromise That they could both be used It's like a home run being a dinger or a round tripper Yeah you could tweet as Is it a dirty Vernon You could tweet at us and let us know Which you like better but yeah we could say them both

It was a Golston Whoa what about a dirty Golston That's pretty good Not bad That's called compromise See we met in the middle as a team Crystal smiling Everything's good

See I want to flip it around here for a minute Because Denver How are we getting out of here Without talking about pot roast Oh I thought you were going to give some Their offensive lines Did we ever explain to the people

That don't know What Dirty Peter Goulston dirty Goulston is I said a no sacks About a hundred and five times Okay I wasn't sure You don't want to get the pot roast thing in here I can tell

We brought up about 12 times. Listen. He was dominant today. He's brought it up. He's brought it up. This is now the third time. I've said it like three times. I just was impressed with him today. It was one of the things that we talked about.

Mark's holding a no-pad that just has pot roast written like 400 times in a row. I'm going to rudely interrupt you and just completely change the subject so your head starts spinning. I will take someone down. Let's give him the floor. Let's give him the floor because there's an agenda here. Let's be honest. Mark Sessler's X factor for this game. Terrence, pot roast night.

I honestly was not even going to bring that up. What we had written about, though, coming into the week was that, oh, this run defense of the Broncos has gotten better for four weeks in a row, but it's like, oh, here come the Patriots, maybe that's not real. But they just shut them down, and pot roast, you know, by the way, a sack. On the fourth down, on a huge play. Major fourth down, a couple quarterback hits, tackles for losses. I mean, this is a guy that the Jaguars let walk, who a lot of people didn't think that much.

much of, maybe the off season, outside of Welk are the biggest edition for Denver in the off season. I agree. It feels good. Doesn't it, Mark. Get that off your chest. Two years, four and a half million dollars. John Elway, what a signing.

Right. He gets Pot Rose Knighton, his best run defender. He gets Sean Phillips, who I know is replacing a mistake in Dumerville, but ultimately Phillips has been good. He gets Dominique Rogers Cromarty, who's been their best cornerback. What a free agent. I know I'm forgetting some off the top of my head, too. And they don't have Peyton Manning without Elway.

And I ask us to Dan downstairs because I think we look at John Elway and for us, we just still remember him as the guy scampering around or the quarterback. Is he underrated as a general manager? I mean, he's done an incredible job. Yeah. Whenever Peyton Manning's involved, and it's the same thing with John Fox, it's almost hard to discern and even the offensive coordinator, Gase. It's hard to discern, you know, if he's great or it's because he has the greatest quarterback ever.

But Elway deserves credit. He came in there and immediately that team headed in the right direction. And even with the horrible Tim Tebow, they were a playoff team and won a playoff game. That was the product of a lot of people forgot. That was a great defense that was in place there more than Tebow. And now he made getting Manning was on Elway because he was able to woo him to town. And they built a nice team around him. And also Elway, not that anyone would choose Tebow over Elway, but he very, he did a nice job of taking

Denver out of that whole Tebow Mania thing it was entrenched in and said handled that perfectly. No, no, we're going to go get a quarterback. He did. And by perfectly, you mean he got Tebow on the first flight out of town the moment he got there. He did not. You know, some teams hang on to the wrong quarterback for two or three years. He didn't do that.

And not to start talking about Tebow, but the genius of what Elway managed was when Tebow Mania was raging at full effect and every day people were coming to him and like, all right, now you obviously buy in on this. He was always like, you know, it's good.

It's fine. We're not going to make any decisions. It was good. It was good. Like he never bought in, and that's a test of him. But anyway, yes, I think that he's doing a great job. As we say, they're in the Super Bowl. Pot roast.

It's like Terrence. You still call him Terrence, and you call them Pot roast, just like we can call it a Goldston. Right, sure. And a dirty Peter. I mean, he whipped Logan Mankins there a couple times. Both offensive lines got a lot of credit this year for being good groups, and Denver's offensive line,

looked like the far better unit today. We're the guys who weren't starters at the beginning of the year where New England starters, typically completely solid, didn't have a good game today. Okay, so if you missed any of the last 20 minutes or so, the Denver Bronco is completely embarrassed. The New England Patriots in every way imagine. See you next season.

That seems like an overstatement. It's too bad, though. Good job by John Fox, by the way, because you talk about growing from losses. You could put a lot of last year's loss on him, kneeling on the football and taking overtime against the Ravens. There were spots in this game where the Patriots could have gotten back into it if they went, ball controlled and ran into the line.

They kept throwing the ball and that showed a difference in philosophy from last year to this year. Yeah. And that paid off. And it all goes back to what he should have leaned on last year, which was you have an amazing quarterback. Let him make the plays. And if he screws you, that's what happens. You can't get mad about that.

Give him a chance. For all the dominance, if the Patriots had got to, that two-point conversion, as Bill Belichick said after the game, that would have changed their strategy. They would have kicked the ball off. He didn't say that directly, but he said it would have changed their strategy. But I don't, as a Patriots fan, I don't think it would have mattered because I think you said it. John Fox has been aggressive. He let him throw there when they got the ball. I think he would have let them throw if they got the ball up eight points. And I think the Broncos would have gone down the field and run the clock out because there's no reason to think

they wouldn't have. They've dominated all game. I just picture John Fox last night at like one in the morning in his like hotel with like his phone to his ear with Ron Rivera just saying listen you got to you got to do what I did you got to be a riverboat Ron hey and two Super Bowl coaches here both retreads John Fox and Pete Carroll so whenever you break out that retread go get a retread in any area of life where you can find a retread to be part of what it is that you do do it how about experience it's like an older woman experience not a retread that they can, they know a lot. So this is where we really miss Wes.

I totally lost Greg on that last point. Wes would have chimed in with something about the ways of a lady. Yes. Crystal's enjoyed this. I'm not sure where Greg was taking us there, but let's continue on. It's been a log day. I know. All right.

So that does it for Sunday's edition of the Around the League podcast, Championship Sunday edition of the Around the League podcast. We will be back Tuesday. We will have the aforementioned Wes back with us. us, and once again, hang in there, Wes, and our condolences are with you. We love you, we'll talk some football Tuesday. It'll be great. We'll get Wes on the phone, and until then, and we have a lot of, there's a lot to get

to because the Super Bowl is the next game. You know what else we have Tuesday? Kevin Patra, not in Chicago. Coming at you? In Hawaii. Covering the Pro Bowl for us. Going to get some good inside scoops there. It's going to be like a lost in translation situation for Patricker in Hawaii.

I think. He's just going to be kind of hanging out at the bar alone. Maybe, you know, talking up some coaches. He's staying at the league hotel in Hawaii. That's a good assignment right there. I think there's some Bill Murray parallels with Patra. I don't see them, but I'm going to trust you on this. Well, he just hopes there's a Scarlett Johansson involved.

I don't see that either. Okay. All right. So, yes, we will be back on Tuesday. Until then, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the sizzler, for the boss, for K. Rich, behind the... the glass until tuesday the ways of an older woman seduction sunday this is an iHeart