NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Divisional Round Weekend recap

Episode Date: January 13, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus and Chris Wesseling -- recap all of the action from the Divisional Round Weekend and look ahead to the Conference Championships. Learn all about the new school vs. old school Super Bowl scenarios and find out if Colin Kaepernick is in the social hot seat. Also, help the heroes by voting for them as the best sports commentary for the 2013 Stitcher Awards at stitcher.promotw.com. 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. Openly fears Papa John. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hans, and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? Hey, Dan. What is happening?

We've got to get the energy level up from Wessling, a little downcast after a, someone an underwhelming Sunday of divisional round games. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the games. Yeah, I mean, the weekend on a whole doesn't really compare well to wildcard weekend, which was one of the better wildcard weekends in recent memory. But I think from a big picture of perspective, I could not be more thrilled, and not just because I went 4 and 0 this week in my picks. Nicely done, Dan.

So, you know, that happened. All favorites. Because, but it does not matter if they're favorites or not. Because then why wouldn't everyone have picked them in the group? people did a lot of people went for it not you gentlemen no i did terrible um my point being is that we have two dream matchups next sunday set up of course you have the seattle seahawks the best team in the nfc facing the san francisco 49ers the second best team in the nfc you could flip them if you want potentially in the a fc we have the rematch we've been waiting years

for Peyton manning tom brady four for all the marbles that will settle a lot of things things, said a lot of things including who are the conference champions, Broncos Pats. I'm excited about next week, and we had to do some, you want to take care of business this weekend to get to next weekend. I can't wait to see LaGarrett Blunt and Monte Ball settling the Peyton-Manning-Tombraini debate. Well, plus, you know, you said we got some heroes there. We're missing Mr. Sessler, of course, and he'll be back and healthy soon enough, hopefully on Tuesday.

But we do have an extra hero in the back. Kay Rich on the mic. What up, Kay Rich. Uh-oh. You gotta love it. Kay Rich, your headlines. Kay Rich. Hey, K. Rich.

Hey, guys. Are these not four teams that super deserve to be there? Yeah, for sure. Isn't that great? No question. Nobody got picked off in some, like, stupid game. Although there were three of these games, or at least two of these games, it almost happened where the team that maybe wasn't the better team almost pulled it out,

but it didn't happen. Why don't we get into these games? Unless Kerach, you have anything else you want to say? No, I'm just saying when I was watching that game, the Denver Broncos take on the Chargers, I was a little bit on the edge of my seat thinking that if the Chargers get in here, I remember West saying the Chargers can't have nice things. The Bengals can't have a nice thing. Was it the Bengals?

I don't think this season is there a year. Chargers have not had many nice things. All right, so why don't we start there? Peyton Manning, welcome to Wes Welker back into the lineup with a touchdown toss and the Denver Broncos narrowly avoided a repeat of their playoff slip from last year, advancing to the AFC championship game with a 24-17 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. The Broncos controlled this game for three and a half quarters. Philip Rivers got the Chargers back in the game, but ultimately Peyton Manning and Company

were able to ice the game with a drive late in the fourth quarter and the Broncos roll on. they beat the charges at their own game controlled the clock kept the offense off the field ran the ball and played good defense it's amazing they won in a game that they were pretty sloppy on offense in the red zone I mean the receivers made a lot of mental errors some drops they could have had a lot more points in this game

but my big takeaway was right at the end flashbacks to divisional round last year when they run the ball on third and seven and punt it back to Joe Flacco and count on the defense Instead, John Fox and Adam Gase Give him some credit They're throwing the ball on second and 17 They're throwing the ball on third and 17

Manning steps up, avoid some pressure Really nice play to Julius Thomas Who is wide open Aggression It was rewarded It was and this was a game where Peyton Manning did not put up Gaudy statistics and the Peyton Manning

haters I'm sure will be able to cook up Some type of nonsense to explain why He doesn't even deserve to be moving forward Adam Rank this might be you if you're okay tonight. But ultimately, third and 17, 306 to play, a beautiful sideline pass to Julius Thomas for 21 yards. The next set of downs, third and six.

Now 212 remaining in the game, nine-yard pass for another first down again to Thomas. Those were, that was some double onions from Peyton Manning and Julius Thomas deserves credit as well. And that's how you win games. And that's what they did it do last year. in a game in which you could see and hear the wind you could hear it every time on the microphone

every time the ref made a call Peyton Manning came through and it was a really good game plan by the Broncos not to have him throwing the entire game and not throwing deep and they tried to go deep a few times like they did towards the end of the regular season it didn't really work out

it was amazing the Chargers were even in that spot because this was a 17 point game going into the fourth quarter. It was a blowout. The Chargers had 79 yards of offense through three quarters. Of all the things that happened on divisional round weekend, that was the most surprising to me. That Denver's defense came out and just dominated the game.

And that's a good sign for them. If they play three quarters like that two more times, Peyton Manning's winning a second title. Well, we have to take the competition, the level of competition into account, but they've held four of their last five opponents to fewer than two hundred and sixty total. yards.

By the way, did either of you guys just, I don't want to get off point, but during the third quarter there was a Papa John's commercial. This is off point. Yeah, did Papa John make eye contact with either of you at one point and then just keep it? And then you try to change the channel and his eyes are still staring at you? That didn't happen to me, but every time I see a Papa John commercial, I find something else to do. All right, go ahead.

Something demonic happened. I mean, Pete Manning, his performance in these commercials, is gone downhill and is more shameful than all the playoff performances, Damashik wants to talk about. This used to be the greatest pitchman of our time, and he's ruining his reputation with these Papa John's. When he was 34, 33, 34, he was the best ever. And almost like a natural quarterback progression, he's tailed off, but in real life, he's remained excellent. All right, back to the game. You guys have a lot of respect for Peyton Manning's commercials.

He's pretty good. I think they're among the lamest I've ever seen. Cut that meat. I think Papa John makes a lot of. John makes him weird. He's doing the moonwalk in one of them. He's literally right behind you right now. We need to move on before a shadowy league figure also comes in.

Moon walks into the studio. I just wanted something out of this weekend because it was a little bit lacking in late game drama. I wanted to see Rivers get the ball. Of course I did. I picked them and I've enjoyed watching them all year. Get the ball with a chance to win because they shouldn't have been in this game. And yet they started scoring the. minute that Chris Harris left the game and Quentin Jammer came in.

And that'll be something to watch over the next week. They get the onside kick. They go right back down the field again. You got the sense if San Diego could get it one more time that this just could be one of those crazy games, but it didn't happen. Yeah, I think that's another defense kind of took its foot off the gas pedal. Seattle seemed to do that against the Saints too. The Broncos and the Patriots who, you know, make it this far because of

Manning Brady more than anything because of their passing games. You know, they both had good defensive performances this weekend, and they both ran the ball well. No Sean, Monty Ball. It's kind of, you wrote about that. It's been a running weekend. There's going to be a lot of talk about that. Yeah, everybody knows it's a pass-heavy league now,

and then Bill Belichick kind of turned it on its head. He said this three or four years ago, I'm acquiring people to run a power offense. Everyone else is acquiring two tight ends after he had already done that. He seems to see the trends before other people. why not run power against all these nickel and dime defenses that you're seeing? No Sean Moreno, 23 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. Monte Ball, 10 carries for 52 yards.

That's 33 rushes for a Denver Broncos team that set the NFL scoring record this year. So, yeah, they changed up their strategy a little here. Ryan Matthews injury was a big factor. I thought he couldn't stay on the field. You know, Rivers missed a couple throws. Didn't play poorly, I wouldn't say, but he missed a couple. Their margin for air was so thin. The right side of their offensive line couldn't

protect. I mean, it comes back to Denver's defense. I was really surprised because I thought it's going to be a big weak spot and they had pressure on rivers all day. How about some love for pot roast? Terence Knighton has been playing out of his mind the past six weeks or so. Malik Jackson has been one of the better interior past rushers.

The Jeremy Mincy signing was good and the linebackers have been okay. One question I have for you guys. You are fantasy experts and prior life. Where does Keenan Allen go in next year's fantasy drafts? Because I have this argument with a friend at a bar today. I would say he get drafted like border line wide receiver two, wide receiver three. Which is what fourth or fifth round? I'd say about fifth round.

Yeah, that's about what I would think. And maybe even third or fourth. What were you thinking? I thought he was going to be maybe a third round guy. You know, and he's gotten better and better as the seasons progressed. And he's number one, he is the man on that offense. The ghost of Antonio Gates, two catches for 10 yards, by the way. Yeah, I mean, I feel bad that I even thought about Antonio Gates for the Pro Bowl this year. He did start out the year well, but he totally disappeared. He had a bad game, your boy, Lardarius Green, with a big drop in this game at a crucial point for San Diego.

Moving on, Lagart Blount had four touchdown runs. That's insane. And the New England Patriots kept Andrew Luck from a second straight comeback win, beating the Indianapolis Colts 4322 on Saturday. Saturday night to advance to their third straight AFC conference title game where of course they will meet the Broncos. Blount scored on three two-yard runs in the first half, then burst

through the right side of the line and rumbled 73 yards in the second half, a complete just complete domination in that spot, which I called it as an X-factor when we wrote up the pieces this week. Of course, I can not cop to thinking this was going to happen. Blount carrying the Patriots offense? Now, are we going with Blount or Blunt as the...

I think it's Blunt. Is it Blunt? Blunt? Like a blunt instrument. Blunt force. That's where he was going. Yeah, you know what. That's where I thought he was going. Me and Dan kind of looks at each other like, um...

Where are we going with this? You know where it's going. Hey, Lagaret, Blunt. This isn't just a one-week phenomenon. This was actually a come-down from his game against Buffalo. I'm not even kidding. He had a better game against Buffalo in week 17. Yeah, like 364 total yards.

He had 189 yards on the ground. He had two long kick returns. We talked about Ligarip Blunt is kind of the face of this Patriots team. He's not the guy you expected at the beginning of the season. It's not quite the offense you expected, but it's very effective. They are a very good power-running offensive team, and that could be a problem for Denver. It could be a big problem. Lageret Blunt's averaging seven yards per carry over the last three weeks with eight touchdowns.

You can't stop him. He's got to be the most feared runner in the NFL right now. They acquired LaGarrett Blunt for a seventh round pick in April and the track guy. Jeff Demp's. We don't even really need to say who he is. What's he doing now? Training for the Olympics? He's just jumping over hurdles in the darkness somewhere.

And now this guy has emerged as Jerome Bettis in his prime. It's absurd what's going on here. It's a great run blocking line. They've kind of, I think what they do well and why the Patriots not to be too big of a homer, why they have such a good December record over the years and why they always close strong. I think by the end of the year, Belichick and the staff, they figure out what they are and what they do well,

and they kind of realize, hey, we've got Ridley here as a very good backup. We've got Blunt is running well. We've got a good run blocking line. Let's stick with that. You could let it out, Greg. I can let it out. You could drop a Boston Strong if you want. Go ahead.

Was there a point in this game that you just thought Andrew Luck was going to come back and evaporate this Patriots defense and make me miserable. Yes, after both those back-to-back throws where he climbed the pocket and just uncorked a perfect pass down the field. Yeah, I thought Andrew Luck was going to do it, but he, too many mistakes by him, and he clearly needs help on that offense. That was going to be my follow question. Obviously, the cults had that amazing, memorable win over the Chiefs,

but let's not get crazy. They were down 3810 at one point, and the Chiefs kind of folded. How close are the Colts from actually being a big boy in the AFC, or are they kind of far off still? Well, you have to consider he lost his number one running back, number one tight end, and number one ride receiver before the end of October. So you get, I don't know if Bradshaw's coming back. Wayne's going to be 35.

His left tackle is still Anthony Costanzo, unless I'm unaware of some change. And his guards are even more of a problem. And his center. His in tier your blocking is just awful. But don't you think the biggest disappointment, if I'm a Colts fan in this game, is that the defense, it's a defensive coach that they have, has made no progress. Since the day he got there, I think their defense has been better than the sum of their parts.

But here they are in the playoffs and late in the season, they're giving up 40 points in two straight games, and there really has been no progress from the Peyton Manning era defenses to this. say they're worse now. And it doesn't just stop with Chuck Pagano. We love Ryan Grigson, but he should get a little heat for this. They had as much salary-capped space with anybody, and they used it on Eric Walden, Laurent Landry, Ricky Jean-François, and these guys haven't made them a great defense. They're not any better than they were last year. Guy in our newsroom Mike Coppinger made a good joke about, it's like Loran Landry. Landry is

his middle name and taking a bad angle is his last name basically because I mean he was a big part of some of these big runs and some of the big plays by the Patriots and he'll make big plays but he'll also kill you that's interesting because he was such a great player for the Jets last year and they wanted to keep him they couldn't the Colts that's one move that Grigson made to make sure he got him and he didn't help him and he looked really good early in this year he had moments he had great moments he was a key part of the their win over the dolphins I don't know I don't think they're far away from being a major contender because they have Andrew Luck.

So why can't they make the playoffs have a good chance every year and then you've got a chance? Trent Richardson finished the season from hell three carries for one yard along of two. There was never a point in that game where you wanted to see Trent Richardson with the ball if you were a Colts fan. Is he on the team? Yeah, I want to see him. Is he on that team week one next year?

Yes. Yeah, I think so. Definitely. But it struck me how that performance, if you had looked at this box score, you know, back in week three after this trade happened, you would have thought that would have been such a big story that Trent Richardson, the guy they gave up a first round pick for, had one yard on three carries a week after he had a fumble on his only carry.

And yet, no one was really talking about Richardson because at this point he's become almost a non-story. It just got worse every single week. It's crazy. I would like to say about this game. I knew my Colts pick was in trouble before the game. started that early that afternoon when I saw a quote from Bill Belichick saying how proud he was of his team Bill Bill Belichick had emotion he had emotion he's proud of

more than seven smiles in this press comments and Greg's been talking about how this reminds him of the early 2000s teams and I just didn't take that into account I should have that was a big mistake by me and the fact that I picked against Tom Brady which just doesn't even make sense why would you pick against Tom Brady it is weird though it's still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that one of the best offenses in the league is led by Julian Edelman as their number one receiver and a guy they traded Jeff Dems for. Yeah. We will be getting obviously into Sunday's game all week during the podcast, but Greg, I do

want to, I'm just curious as the Patriots guy in this group, how do you feel your opening thoughts about heading towards Peyton Brady Bowl for? I feel good. I felt pretty good all year about this team. They're in the spot that I was hoping they would get to. It doesn't quite make sense, but I like it. I feel pretty confident. I mean, it's, how can you not like Brady Manning?

I mean, it would have been easier if it was Patriots charges, but how can you not like that? I'd feel better after seeing Jamie Collins as a difference maker. Yes. I thought he was, I mean, he has been coming on slowly. And you wonder if they, when they put spikes on injured reserve and there's some dispute over why that was, whether knowing that Jamie Collins is going to be on the field a ton. I thought it made them a better defense not to have Collins over spikes.

I've never seen a player quite like him at his size that can cover people like him. Against a team that has to be a pass-heavy team like the Colts. If it was a run-heavy team, maybe you'd rather have spikes, but Collins is definitely better on the field against the Colts. We'll talk about this game, but my take is whatever defense can give a C-plus or B-minus performance, that team is going to go to the Super Bowl, because neither defense is very good. But they just, the Patriots need to do something like they did against Indianapolis,

which is just force a bunch of turnovers. And they have been known to do that this year. Marshaun Lynch ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Stephen Houska kicked three field goals in blustery conditions, and Seattle's defense flustered Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints and a 23-15 victory Saturday in the NFC divisional playoff games. The top-seated Seahawks advance to the NFC title game for the second time in franchise history.

and will host the San Francisco 49ers. Thoughts on this game, fellas? Yes, the only reason this was not a blowout and we can serve in volley semantics on whether it was or not, I feel like the Seahawks controlled the game from start to finish, much like the Broncos did. They absolutely controlled the game. The only reason it wasn't a blowout was the on-side kick,

same thing in the Broncos game, and Darrell Beville called one of the worst games I've ever seen called. He just decided that Russell Wilson couldn't pass anymore, and he was just going to run it every play because he was so confident his defense would stop Drew Brees. And it was just like how not to call a football game out of aggression.

You've lost all perspective here because you picked a huge blowout for the Seahawks. You and Dan who just think the Seahawks have to win every game at home by 40 points, you're not watching the game as it's happening. You know, the Saints missed two kicks. At halftime, I know the score was 60-0, but I felt the opposite.

I felt it was so much closer than that. The total yardage was close. At half time, Drew Brie's had the fewest passing yards of his career. And yet, and yet the Seahawks weren't doing anything either. First downs in this game, 25 for New Orleans, 13 for Seattle. I thought the- How was that not a close game? It looked to me like two fairly evenly matched teams.

This was a total stinker in the beginning of the fourth quarter, and the Seahawks had played a C-minus game and were still whooping this team, beating them decisively until it got tight-tight late. I just thought there was a misleading, score and the Seahawks were a much better team. I thought it was the other way around because the Seahawks, the Saints missed two field goals and they got stopped on fourth down. They had four drives that went into Seahawks territory where they got no points.

It was definitely a misleading score. They needed a onside kick and a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the game to make it look close. What is your concern level, Dan, as the biggest Seahawks fan in the room? Not a great title, but here out of the three of us. Russell Wilson Passing game They're really doing it lately

Here's a little Here's a little play on words I'm going to give Russell Wilson a pass On his passing game yesterday How about that? Can I leave now? No? All right

I'll continue with my analysis That was terrible conditions Drew Breeze didn't know What to do with it either initially And then the play calling He didn't get a lot to do after that He lost Percy Harvin again To a concussion

Yes, Russell Wilson has had some blips on the radar this season, but I'm not going to go too crazy about what I saw yesterday. It was just, it was a game that was made for the run, and Marshawn Lynch was the guy that was going to carry the team. I still feel very much, I feel very strongly that Wilson has a chance. He has that Tom Brady-type DNA where he can become maybe one of the best playoff quarterbacks of his generation. I think he has that in him, that DNA, and I think it will come out next week.

And when push game to shove, that third down, again, aggressive call by the Seahawks that they threw the ball on third down late in the game instead of trying to milk the clock and they hit a 24-yard throw a beautiful catch by Doug Baldwin that really puts that game away. Yeah, they were forced to do that because of the, I don't know, 18 possessions in a row where they just ran the ball every time and put themselves in that spot that they had no business being in. I thought it was a big story in this game. Percy Harvin's concussion. He looked really good early, that huge third-down catch in traffic. And then Golden Tate, I don't know why he wasn't checked for a concussion after that early first quarter hit because he slept through the rest of the game. Every catch after that, he couldn't catch it.

And then it looked like he was out of it on the on-side kick that he missed. And let's give it a lot. Let's give it up for Beast Mode, Marshaun Lynch, because in a game where Golden Tate disappeared, Harvin got hurt, the conditions were bad. Lynch was the one guy that the Seahawks could lean on and Carol could lean on to get the job done 140 yards, two touchdowns on 28 carries. He is to me kind of an unsung hero

even among when you rank running backs. He's really the first guy that comes up when you start rattling off the best guys in the league and yet he does it every week and he's been doing it almost consistently for three years now. We've got to give it up for the guy. This guy's a beast. Yeah, he is.

Mode. Go ahead. I was going to say it's one of the reasons why next week's matchup is so much fun because they're so similar in a lot of ways. Lynch is a lot more fun to watch, I think, than Frank Gore, but there are these two power running backs who can shake off a lot of tacklers. They are so similar, but right now, I wouldn't have believed this six weeks ago. I have a lot more faith in the 49ers passing game than I do the Seahawks.

I do, too. This Seahawks Saints game was, it was a strange, I wrote the game, you know, game story afterwards and it was kind of a hard game to put a theme to you know what i mean and the more i thought about it's because the seahawks team what they are is a collection of like five or six defensive players who are all so talented they can take over any play and just win that play camp chancellor had a huge game bobby wagner had a huge game earl thomas totally shut down jimmyl bennett hit a big game michael bennett had a monster game cliff ariel made a couple of plays for them. And it's, you have to give it up for John Schneider and Pete Carroll. This is kind of

their vision of when they came into Seattle. This is the team they wanted. They are built to win these ugly games where it's somehow not that impressive. But that's, that's what they are. That's what they're built to do. And I, Mike Silver, NFL Media, is Mike Silver wrote a really good piece breaking down the Seahawks yesterday. He was at the game. And he made a good point and he's right is that while other teams maybe rested on their laurels the Seahawks they stayed aggressive Cliff Averill was a big

player for the Lions and they got him at a bargain rate. Michael Bennett was a guy that everybody saw. We wrote about him at the end of last season how he was potentially one of the best defensive players on the market. He went out and got both of them at low prices and they've become major players along that defensive line. Two guys that they were able

to sign because Russell Wilson makes under a million dollars a year. That will change eventually. That's a factor, but You still have to give him credit. And Schneider, who comes from Green Bay, but he doesn't act like Green Bay. You know, the Packers, who just refused to sign any free agents because that's their philosophy, and they won't jump off that philosophy. Bob McGinn wrote this great piece criticizing them a little bit for that.

And I think it's smart. He napalmed Lambeau Field with that column. I loved it, too. It was great, and I love that because you should not be so married to any plan that you can't look for value in any way possible. and the Seahawks have done it in the draft looking for guys other teams didn't want and they've done it in free agency. And this is also why P. Carroll is, you know, against all odds has become a great NFL coach. I say that as a jet fan when he first took the jet job in 94 and then he stunk in New England, went to USC and then came to Seattle and all of a sudden he's winning every year.

These guys buy into this plan because Bruce Irvin said that there's so much depth on that line in that front that he's coming out and getting less snaps. And his quote was, we're winning though. even tripping. These guys bought in to this plan and as long as they win that everyone's happy. That's what Cessler said to me actually this morning.

He's got the early shift. He's got to do a couple extra posts but he knows it's all for the team. Cessler's big on slang. He ain't tripping. Big on urban slang. I mean, Pete Carroll could have won the coach of the year, I think. I almost wish I voted for him. He was my pick

halfway through the season. Just what he's done overall. Sometimes the team that's expected to win you don't give credit to the coach but what he's done as a body of work to me is about as impressive as anything that's happened in the NFL. You would make the same argument for Bill Belichick.

Yeah, I would. This might be Belichick's best coaching job. It's up there. This in 06 when they almost got to the Super Bowl and then Peyton beat him. That was the last time these two teams played in the AFC time. And the first Super Bowl year. Last two times these players played, I should say.

Sorry, I'm getting a little lost in thought. Um, when, when my time comes, my name gets called by the big guy upstairs. I want to use this platform to say, I want my tombstone to say, Dan Hansis, I ain't even tripping. Can we do that? Sure. All right. Thank you. It's been said.

And now it's been, it's been settled. Shall we move on? Let's do it. Do you want to linger on that for a while? Well, I know. When you think about it, when you wrestle with your mortality, these weird thoughts come up. That's all. Crystal can't stop giggling back there.

She's loving it. You know I can make that happen. Well, I ain't even tripping You know I can engrave your tombstone, Dan Wait, you can make... I ain't even tripping. You can make his death happen? It would be funny as like a...

Hey, hey, I didn't say all that. It's funny like as a Pratt fall to it. People could like literally trip over your tombstone. Ah, interesting. Colin Kaepernick threw one touchdown pass and ran for another score as the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Carolina Panthers 2310

on Sunday to advance to the NFC championship game for the third straight season. and Jim Harbaugh. Good job by you. Colin Kaepernick completed 15 of 28 passes for 196 yards, avenging his worst statistical performance of the season two months ago against the Panthers. Better team won here, and it was pretty obvious as you watch the games as it went on that San Francisco was much better than Carolina. Oh, I don't know about that.

All right? Let's talk about it. I don't know about that. The Panthers thoroughly outplayed the 49ers for a quarter and a half in the midst of some awfully one-sided officiating. And I know a league figure, shadowy league figure is coming in the door, but awfully one-sided officiating that happened throughout the first quarter and a half. They failed to take advantage of those two goal line opportunities,

and you just knew they were going back to haunt them. And then after that, they just went in the tank. But I don't think, after watching that, that I would say the 49ers were definitely a better team. Really? I would. Because I think those goal line stands, and staying in the game when they weren't playing their best, And then doing the long drive at the end of the first half,

which is situational football, those are marks of title teams. You know what I mean? That they're going to survive against a really good opponent that's playing well while they're not at their best. And then they come out in the second half. And they killed them in the second half. Yeah, I thought the 49ers were mentally tougher.

They built that team that way. You know, we talk about how, you know, everyone loves each other now and it's not like the old days. These teams legitimately hate each other. It could not be more clear as the game was going on. Guys were just taken out of the game. Who's the defender for Carolina that basically ended the game with that personal foul near the end?

It was just a matter of time before someone kind of went over the edge and that's what happened. There was a lot of bad blood on the field. And how about Troy Aikman throwing some serious shade at Anquan Bolden? See, I don't, I didn't even, I wasn't even listen to that. I saw your tweet, but I missed what you, I wasn't paying attention to Troy. Yeah, I saw all these sports writers saying the Panthers deserve to have all these personal fouls because they were playing stupidly. Anquine Bolden was playing just as stupidly, and Aikman pointed it out, but the rest would not flag Anquan Bullden because he's Anquan Bolden.

Right. And you also have to know how far to go and what's too far. I think when guys start throwing headbuts, although Baldwin, I think Baldwin threw ahead of it. The 49ers threw two headbuts. None of them got called. The Panthers got called for theirs, which led directly to points. Got to talk to Dean Blandino about this. get the Xbox Patrol about this, yeah.

I disagree, though, that back to the point that it was a close gamer, they wouldn't, I thought this was the most impressive performance by any team on the weekend. It seems like, Dan, you kind of agree with me on this? Yeah, I would be very intimidated if I'm the Seahawks watching game tape of the Niners, how physical and gifted they are in the roster. I think the Panthers win in the tank when the calls went against them. That's what I think. Well, that's not good.

No, it's not, but I think that was a factor. That's what I said. I think the 49ers were more mentally tough. Cam Newton, who is as streaky as any quarterback in the league, this was a microcosm of his season. He was on fire for the first half, had two bad throws total. One of them he was unlucky enough to get picked off on a tip pass, but they only had 10 points.

And then the second half, he didn't play that well. And he'll get some heat for it. But how about the Panthers defense that we talked about all year? You know, the 49ers get the ball back, down four points late in the second half, second quarter, 80 yards for a touchdown. Coming out of halftime, 77 yards for a touchdown. Next drive, eight-minute drive, 73 yards in a field goal.

You're done. And that's all the defense couldn't get off the field. Once again, Anquan Bolden took over a playoff game. I think he had catches of 12, 14, 15, 16, and 45 yards on those first two scoring drives and took over the game. The Panthers secondary is, you saw it today. It's not good when they're not getting a fearsome pass rush. It's very hard for wide receivers to get in the Hall of Fame,

as you see a lot of the guys on the waiting list. But if he gets another ring and sticks around for a couple more years, I have to check his numbers, but he's built a pretty nice resume for a long time, though. He would have to go in under the Lynn Swan postseason heavy resume. Would you put Anquan Bolden over Heinz Ward? I would. I would not. Not yet.

I would not yet. He's got a chance if he could somehow put together like another run here, have a Super Bowl MVP doing it for three different teams. Gems gives him a little bonus. He's showed up in the big spots. And sometimes that's what these games come down to. And the 49ers stars came out bigger. Bolden stuck out to me, and so did Navarro Bowman on a couple plays.

One of the biggest plays in the game I thought was it was second and goal early in the game. And Cam Newton, or his first in goal, and Cam Newton runs around the end. And it looks like he's going to score a touchdown. Navar Bowman has two blockers. on him. He sheds both of them. He tackles Newton. They stop him two more plays for that first goal line stand of the game. Bowman makes another huge play

later in the game. He has been electric all year, and he outplayed Keekly and Davis today. Yes, he did. And those are, like you said, game-changing plays, and that's what makes players great. Going back to Newton for a second, we talked about it. I talked about it with Damashik on his podcast, and then we

did a organic email chain on the Around the League blog. We all had Cam Newton eighth of the eight remaining quarterbacks entering divisional round and it was all about you had to show us something and there's going to be questions

about him going into next season about his big game pedigree off this. He was dealing in the first time. Oh, I don't think so or I don't think there should be. There might be, you're right, but I thought who played better today? Kaepernick or Newton?

I don't think Kaepernick played any better. I mean, who played better? Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers. You know, I think Newton did a lot of good things. He got in a nice group. move there, but once the tide turned away from him, he wasn't able to get them back. I mean, you've got to put a lot on him because he is that offense. I put it more on the front seven.

We talked which team was going to be tougher in this game, and the short-yardage situations and the front sevens, the 49ers were. Short-yardage on offense and defense, the 49ers were tougher in-and-away game. It almost shows that quarterbacks occasionally, at least in this match, I almost feel like their importance would be overrated because I don't think there was much of a difference between Kaepernick and Newton. The rest of the team decided this.

That's the theme of divisional round weekend. We had these eight... I like theme. We had these eight quarterbacks that we had this debate about and we ranked them. And in the end, it ended up being a lot more about power running games than quarterbacks this weekend. In defense.

And defense. And you could actually read about West... Gabe. a thoughtful and nuanced take about that in our what we learned on the around league you know great that's where you jump in i want you should be throwing that plug in there for the blog i threw it out earlier in the podcast you got to be listening as host bring it back i don't care who it comes from as long as you guys build up my ego this is i mean it you started the show by talking about how it sets up such a a great weekend and it does i mean when was the last

time that you saw all the teams you expected and not just going into the weekend the best teams in the NFL this season but really the teams that were expected to be there before this season the teams that were all in the mix as the very best teams in the league last season everyone had the Seahawks and 49ers meeting and here they are they've hated each other for years manning and brady have been building to this game since the day manning signed with denver and now here it is. It's so rare that... I love it.

It's so rare that we couldn't... We weren't even allowed to believe it because all of the know-it-alls on Twitter told us that the best teams never make it. Well, it almost... You have to admit that it never happens this way almost that the exact thing that everyone expected happens. And I'm glad it did because, you know,

the thing I thought about San Francisco and Seattle, I think this game is at the level of the old Cowboys' Niners' rivalry in the 90s where it was potentially, the two best teams squaring off. And if you got out of the NFC title game, you won the Super Bowl. The only difference this year is what happened a lot during that era in the early 90s was that game would happen and then someone get just pasted in the AFC and the Super Bowl. And the AFC this year, you have two great teams with iconic quarterback.

So not only we're going to get an amazing next Sunday, the Super Bowl is going to be sick. Well, it would be great if we didn't already know that Seattle is going to win in a blowout. Yeah, well, I didn't want to bring it up. I didn't want to bring it up because I did let the people know on Twitter months ago that Seattle would blow out the Broncos in the Super Bowl, but try not to think about that and just enjoy what we have coming out. I'm not confident that Darrell Bevel's offense is going to be blowing out any. Old school quarterbacks, new school quarterbacks on the other side.

It's almost. Quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson. 20 years from now, they're all the Hall of Fame. Wow. Oh, yeah. Get a little ahead of your stuff. They're all in.

Easy there, Jowarski. Colin Kaepernick will walk on water by the end of the season. At least two of them will be in the Hall of Fame. At least two. I mean, I know. All right. I got a little excited. Manning and Brady aren't going to last forever.

And I don't, how many more times are they going to get a swing at the bat to win this extra title that they wanted? Right. And for now, at least, this feels kind of like, you mentioned it. That's a perfect comparison, the early 90s with past. these are four power teams that have been building up to this and have been very good for a while like these aren't teams that are sneaking up on anyone when we were one of our assignments in the off season uh was when the schedule comes out what are the big games who are the big teams these were the four powerhouses in the nfl back then well except for all those clowns that took the

texans to the super bowl we'll talk we'll talk about all there were a few we'll go over some picks later this week on the podcast on Tuesday and see how they panned out. K. Rich, before we go today, how about a little Stitcher plug? What's going on a Stitcher? Yeah, guys, you know, all this Super Bowl talk, but the Around the League podcast and my best Matt Money Smith voice has his own Super Bowl going on. Guys, we're up for the best sports commentary in 2013. So everyone, all of our listeners, please vote for us for best sports comment.

N-F-L-A-T-L at Stitcher, S-T-I-T-R-O-M-O-T-R. P-R-O-M-O-T-W. That's promo-T-W dot com, because we want to win. Did you? Seduction Sunday. Yes. Did you know K-Ritch that you could vote every day? This is almost as shameless as Kaepernick's Superman celebration. No shame. No shame.

We want to win. Like Dan said, World domination. Yes. Yeah, that Kaepernick thing. What was up with that? I think, Crystal, you had a hot take on this. You seem to be somewhat offended by this Kaepernick celebration. Yeah, I mean, well, you know, I'll throw that to Wes and let Wes say what he said,

and then I'll comment after. I think it'll make more sense. Why don't I jump and explain what it was? He pulled his, he mocked Cam Newton after a touchdown run on Sunday, showing the Superman chest, and then there was some type of Instagram that Kaepernick put up later. That was a little odd that West didn't understand. It was some kind of call back to his. fraternity in which his nickname was

kryptonite. Yeah. And then he's also doing the Superman pose, so he's got all kinds of Superman things going on. It was meant to be. No, this is what I think, and I'm sorry, this is just my thoughts disclaimer from the NFL. You know, to save my behind. Now, listen, that you can say whatever you want

to say that was from your fraternity. I'm well familiar with the Divine Nine or whatever fraternities that he may have been in. That was a total throw at Cam Newton. He was mocking him. If you can't put it any other way.

And Cabernick, by the way, is this close and if you're listening, my fingers are very close together to annoying me. He's favoriting the haters on Twitter and he's mocking Cam Newton and then he's putting up some silly Instagram from his old frat days. He already annoys me.

Everybody, Cam, just relax. Oh, pipe down. You know who he reminds me of? Steve Smith, your boy, ice up son. a little fun what's wrong with teams not liking each other don't we like this little trash talking and wake up well and also if we're going to talk about creepy commercials and pop of john what about the commercial where he's on the bus cam capernick and then he gets off the bus and that the bad uh song is on that's uh the sample of elton john and then someone throws a cooler through the windshield and it's like a last boy scout situation is anybody that did you guys

see this commercial haven't seen it's my only one that watches commercials i don't In television. Well, these are happening during the game. Do you guys have a feed that I don't have? We actually do. It's called the clean feed. Yeah, there you go. Or, you know, I use it to get some water to talk some trash.

But, hey, I like it. I'm a consumer. I'm an American. I use commercials for blocking people on Twitter. Anyway, look for that commercial because it's a little off-putting like Colin Kaepernick to me. Anyway, we'll live back on Tuesday. We're going to begin, which will be a big week for the podcast and the NFL as we head toward one of the great title weekends. long time, but until then, and hopefully

Cecil will be back. I assume he will be. Sure. I'll approve that. Mark, come back to us. Until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for the mailman, the boss. K. Rich behind the glass. Kay Rich behind the glass. Until Tuesday. Till Tuesday, that's the name of an 80s band. Voice is Carrie. Get with the times, Wes. Amyman. Yeah, till Tuesday. Come in up close.

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