NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Wild Card Weekend recap

Episode Date: January 6, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- recap all of the action from Wild Card Weekend. Find out why Wesseling believes that the Bengals “can’t have nice things” and if Andrew Luck will become a legend. Learn everything you need to know about Divisional Round Weekend. 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 can clearly explain the after Dalton scale. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is Dan Hanzas, and I'm joined by a room filled with heroes. Chris Wessling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys. Hey, Dan. How are you?

Wild Card Weekend. This isn't just any podcast. The people are excited. about it. They're tweeting at us. Are we getting a podcast this week? And can we have one Saturday night? No, you can't, but you can have a Sunday podcast recapping all four games. There were people that

judged on Twitter for us not having the Saturday night podcast locked and loaded. And it's like, guys, we're working hard here. We're doing three podcasts a week. You know, just back off. But we're all working on Saturdays. It's not like we're lollygagging at Santa Monica Pier. Maybe

next year. Maybe we will do a Saturday podcast. Once we get this thing closer to daily, which I'm all for. Sure, why not? Wow, you just threw it out there. Why not? The people can fight for it. All right, so this...

The lesson being, complain, and you get your way. That's, yes, my mother said, squeaky wheel gets the grease. Is that a... What is that term? Kay, Richard, do you know that term as a child? Yeah, the squeaky wheel. Is that not a unique term?

But half our listeners are from the UK. I wonder if it's translated across the scene. They don't have wheels in the UK. All right, let's get to the games Because let's face it This is one of the better wildcard weekends In a long time, right? Four games, they're all close

The only one that wasn't close was Chargers Bengals But the Bengals were ahead at halftime And it was a one-score game in the fourth quarter And it was a great, they're a good storyline to just see what was happening to the Bengals So three of the games were classics, especially the first one and the last of the weekend Well, why don't we start with the last game

because I think if you wanted to, Mark and I discussed this before the podcast, if you wanted to take one team out of all the teams we saw this weekend that probably has the best chance to be hoisting a smudged Lombardi trophy, it's probably the Niners. And they took care of business in Green Bay, field goal at the gun, a 2320 win. Phil Dawson hit a 33-yard field goal in freezing conditions, and the Niners move on.

Mark, what's your takeaway on this game? Well, I think what you just said, I mean, the Niners, is it me or they completely flown under the radar? We've been talking about it. We have, but I think in general it's like they're looked upon as like the third or fourth situation in the NFC. They're as hot as can be. Listen, if there was a week they were going to go in and get into a tough situation, it was playing in the elements in Green Bay. They handled their business.

Phil Dawson, I know he's been money for a long, long time. He took care of his deal. It's all you got. Is this kind of like when Ray Bork won the Stanley Cup, and they gave him a parade in Boston? Is Phil Dawson going to get this in Cleveland? The Nadir of Boston sports. It's funny because if Green Bay had won this game,

I would say they're the team I don't want to deal with. So much for my dream, my vision that the Green Bay Packers would never lose again until February. No, that did not happen. Until next September. I think, Mark, what you're getting at is Niners were 6 and 4. Now they're 13 and 4. they're the sleeping monster that was actually never really sleeping.

They were not. They're well-coached, best-coached team in the league in my book. I agree. I heard a lot of people today say, where has this Kaepernick been all year? Well, he's been doing the exact same thing for seven or eight games now. Ever since Crabtree came back, Kaepernick's been playing great. He has 11 touchdowns and two interceptions over the last six weeks, I believe, six or seven. And one of those interceptions was today.

And he's making better decisions when to run. Early in the season, a lot of times he was running and coming up short of first down, or he was leaving the pocket too early. I mean, his runs today were such huge plays in the game. But the two biggest plays of the game were throws. It was that touchdown throw to Vernon Davis, which was a thing of beauty. And third and ten, four minutes and 20 seconds left in the game, Kaepernick's got to make a play or else the Packers get the ball back

with a chance to end the 49er season. And Dom Caper sends a blitz. Kaepernick evades the rush, steps up into the pocket, keeps looking downfield, delivers a dart, a great catch by Michael Crabtree. That, to me, was the play of the game, and that wasn't about running. Boom. I mean, I was excited watching that. You get the ball back with five minutes to go, and the whole season's on the line,

and that's it. You just burn the clock out and win the game. That's how you do it. That's January football right there. It is sad to see Aaron Rogers knocked out of this equation because he made some throws tonight I just listen that guy just

he was out on the shelf for weeks came back in electric tonight it's hard to see him go It's one of the great what ifs Every team every season there are what if teams The Packers are the what if team for me this year If Rogers never got hurt in Chicago Right when Eddie Lacey was really taking off

And Rogers was healthy and he had everything working I feel like they could have been in the mix one of the first top two scenes and then everything's different after that. Instead, they squeak in or sneak into the playoffs and get knocked out here. I mean, I agree. I mean, you watch Rogers, you watch the play. He pulled the Eli Super Bowl 42-like playoff. You see him throwing those darts like QB12 from Tecmo Bowl downfield. I mean, he's so awesome. And it's actually a bummer to me that he's out of the picture and we have to wait until September to see him again. I think even if they, uh, if Rogers had stayed healthy and they got to buy their

defense has too many holes to go far in the playoffs. That's fair. I thought the Packers played one of their best games of the season today. I was surprised they hung in this. I thought this might be a blowout, especially the way it started, and they lost two defensive starters right away. They were so thin. I think the Packers played their guts out.

Ultimately, you mentioned the defense. They played pretty well for most of the game, but two long scoring drives for the 49ers at the end. They didn't have enough. You mentioned it, Dan. I mean, they were snake bit all year. A lot of injuries. The whole season.

it seemed like it just wasn't breaking right for them. It should be noted that right before the Packer scored their first touchdown, it was 6 to nothing. Greg's walking through the office, gallivanting around the newsroom, saying this game's going to be 31 to 7, 49ers are going to win. I really had a strong feeling. You weren't very cavalier about it, though,

just marching from, like, cluster of people to other cluster of people saying, this game is over, and you never do that. I've never liked that. I always am saying it's going to be close, and it's going to be a game, and don't assume anything. When you get hung up on a pick when we do the games picks and then you pick one team when you're like 51-49 And then the other the team that you didn't pick goes up 7-0

You always freak out and like you say that you're going to leap off a building or something Right, I don't stick with it But this I don't know I was really I thought the 49ers were such a better team And I think that shows how hard it is to knock out a great quarterback like Roger I mean Kaepernick played well He's got the better defense And they still barely won this game The biggest play of the game was on a third and eight with 11-13 to go.

Kaepernick scrambles for 11-yard gain into the 27-yard line, and then the Niners used their will to get another first down on the ground off that. It was all over. But that Kaepernick play, just what a reminder of what a weapon that guy is and why you cannot really... You're crazy if you rule them out against anyone this year going forward. How do you feel if you're Dom Capers and everyone associated with Dom Capers and last January

His brother, Chas Capers? Chas Capers, you know, sitting at home right now questioning existence. I don't know if that's his name. Kaepernick ran all over you last year. He didn't do the same thing tonight, but still, as Greg said, his plays on the ground were outrageous.

I think Kaepernick, for the second year in a row, leads the wild card round and rushing. Well, those were his... 98-Yorst day was the second most he's ever had behind last year's playoff performance against the pack. I mean, they went away and they huddled, and they said, we're going to talk to college coaches about shutting this down.

We're going to get together. We're going to have meetings. Nothing's changed. Do you guys think they'll fire Capers? If they didn't fire them after last year, I don't see how they could fire them after this year. It was a better performance. The defense is worse.

I read a really interesting piece by Tom Silverstein, who's one of the best beatwriters for the Journal Sentinel. And he talked about how all the, maybe the defense doesn't fit them because capers run such a complicated Lebo-like defense who they don't even let rookies play barely in Pittsburgh and that's all Green Bay has the young players and I don't know I feel like it's not working he's a good coach but it's not working for that defense I picked the Niners to lose this game and went one of three this week Wes went four and oh you know it undefeated two hero picks wow that's one of the greatest performances ever almost locks up our postseason standings battle we'll see though but I knew I was dead when Rick Flair was flown in from Orlando on Saturday night.

Total wild car. To speak to the Niners, you know, styling and profiling, and they're watching wrestling videos and, you know, there's strutting going on. It was game over. What a brilliant masterstroke by the completely insane Jim Harbaugh. Not only that, but, I mean, how could you not get fired up looking at Harbaugh's outfit and khakis today? I mean, the players looked at that and just get ready to play the football.

I never would have thought that Harbaugh would be the coach to bring back Pilb Parcell's muffin top load. Wow. Does anybody else have any thoughts on this any more thoughts about this game forward? None, we've covered every possible angle. That's certainly not true.

That's not true. I'm kidding. I don't know. Go wherever you need to go. How about Michael Crabtree coming back? All right. Let's talk about Mike. Just quickly, I'm just amazed.

Coming back from a torn Achilles, remember when Terrell Suggs came back last year and was a shell of him, his former self? That's what I expected. He's making moves. I mean, Jim Harbaugh said Crabtree has the best hands in NFL history. I don't know about that. Did he ever watch Chris Carter play?

He also said last year Or the Green Lantern, Wayne Krabat. He also said last year the Crabtree had the best after the catch skills of any receiver in the history of football. So he's a little, he's known to use hyperbole. True or Foss, this is a different team with Crabtree, though. Absolutely.

And we've been talking about that. He's a true number one receiver. And he hit the ground running. Like, he came back a little slow, but from the time he re-entered the lineup last month, he was producing for them. And he's a major X-Factor, I agree. It's a reminiscent of two years ago when Demarius Thomas was playing with Tim Tebow,

and it took him half a season or three-fourths of a season to come back from his own Achilles' tear, and then he took off. And I know we want to move on, but before we do. One question on the Packers. Now it's been three years since they won the Super Bowl. This NFC is pretty loaded right now. We got Cam Newton, Russell Wilson, Kaepernick. They're all still playing.

The Saints are good every year. And the Packers are just a lot. little bit below them. Do we, do we think Rogers and the Packers that there's concern that they're not quite there with the NFC's best? Is that an overreaction? I don't have concern. I think they have to fix the defense. I think that offense is better than any of the teams you mentioned. I think they still have the best quarterback. And if they could just figure out a way to get that defense stronger and stay healthy, I think they'll be right back in the mix next time. Right. It's not like in other situations where the heat is on the quarterback to flip

that switch. What more could Rogers do? It's the rest of the Packers team on the other side of the ball that's... Can't you envision a scenario where Clay Matthews is the comeback player of the year next year? Yep. I agree with all of you. It's just, you look at this NFC and with the young quarterbacks and the defenses on those teams. It just feels like the conference... I know there's parity, but it's really loaded. Shane Graham, signed by the Saints just over two weeks ago, kicked a 32-yard field goal on the final play Saturday night to give the New Orleans Saints their first road playoff victory, 26-24 win over K. Rich's Philadelphia Eagles. Kay Rich, your thoughts?

Wow. These are my thoughts, guys. You know what? I have to give it up for the Philadelphia Eagles with a new rookie head coach for being the NFC East Chance. This music doesn't match. But it doesn't matter if it doesn't match right now because, you know, we didn't capitalize off our first turnover. which I think dead at us for getting the win. We were so close, but no cigar.

I'm sorry for using a cliche, but that's exactly how he felt. And, you know, I think it's very funny that someone on Twitter had a very funny comment. Dan tweeted out that he was upset that Eagles fans would boo a visiting team who might be faking injuries. At the same time, I'm so sick of that. I'm being an Eagles fan complaining that. that other teams are faking injuries. You don't find that a little bit sketchy when we're gaining momentum, have a really good drive, and twice.

He got taken to the locker room. Twice. This is ridiculous. He never came back to the game. This is one of the most annoying new fan trends. Oh, it's the worst. Anytime there's an injury, they assume that it's a fake. And then when the Eagles player went down where he had the quote-unquote cramp of any of the injured players,

he was the one that was almost definitely faking, the crowd was like, oh, feel better, man. You're going to get through this. I just happen to send that tweet at the same time K. Rich complained, but, you know, K. You know, it's just sketchy. It happens right at the same time when we're gaining momentum. I feel like K. Rich's mourning of the Eagles

was really her personality in a nutshell. You can put on the sad music, but nothing's going to keep K.Ritch down. It's all sunshine and positivity. That is why we love it. I guarantee you K. Rich will have $7.4 million in the bank in about 12 years. She's an unstoppable force of sunshine.

Let's go 7.5. So, yeah, I mean, the Eagles, this is the weird thing about this game, was that if you would have told me that Drew Breeves would have thrown two ugly first half interceptions and that they wouldn't be able to hit on their signature chunk plays, and they would still win the game by using their running game and their defense, Rob Ryan, King of the Universe, ground and pound the saints? You know, listen, like Billy Davis, the defensive coordinator of the Eagles, said they caught us off guard. We plan to stop the pass.

We scheme for that. That's how we played the first half. My problem is, Chip Kelly, one of the best adjustment quarterbacks there is, flexible as any coach in the league. Physically flexible, actually, too. Maybe physically too. They didn't adjust. He basically said they stuck with the stop the pass thing the entire game. And the Saints just took advantage of that, just pounding away at them all day.

They didn't stop anything, though. They didn't stop the pass. I mean, really, they didn't stop the run. And no Pierre Thomas. It doesn't matter what the coaches say. The Saints were a better team. That's the thing that got me. The Eagles beat one team all year with more than nine wins.

They weren't tested by good teams all year, and that's what got them. They ran into a better team. Dan, you talked about annoying trends. My least favorite trend, post-game talk. from athletes is that the better team didn't win. And that's what Carrie Williams said after this game. We stopped caring what Carrie Williams said. How about Jason Peters?

He said they got lucky and beat us. We beat ourselves. Did anyone watch that game? The Eagles were lucky to be in that game. The Saints were so much better. 434 yards to the Eagles 256. It felt like a beat down to me that the Eagles almost stole. They had no business.

The Saints were in control of that game. And Carrie Williams should be hiding in the showers until the media is gone because on that kickoff return that set up the game-ending field goal, the foolish horse-collar penalty, and then, you know, you have Collins were saying, well, he had no choice, but then you watch the replay and you had two Eagles guys in front of him that could have made a tackle. That game was over. Once Drew Brees takes over at midfield needing to get 25 yards, it was over, and that was a foolish penalty.

Go play with your sconces, Kerry, William. How about a bad kick there by the Eagles kicker who also missed the field goal? he was a big factor in the game. Alex Henry. There's no reason they should have won that game. When the Saints have, you know, they were playing the number, this is the number one rushing team in the league, Philadelphia, and the Saints easily outrushed them.

I mean, when Mark Ingram's taking care of Lashon McCoy and you're doubling the rushing yards, it's not going to happen. Is this what's going to happen with the Eagles going forward, by the way? Because I think on balance Chip Kelly had a great NFL debut of the season and the franchise is headed back in the right direction. But when you get to January, well, his style of offense, check out when you get real the games get more physical and you get the better

opponents or am I making too much of this? Well listen Chip Kelly hasn't even had a cheese he took the players he inherited for the most part added a small dose of his own I want to see what he does when he gets Foles obviously is a good quarterback but plug in guys that he feels

are the best fit for his system I think the Eagles had an amazing start this season. Two things on that I think you can't write Chip Kelly's offense off as a regular season phenomenal Dominon after one year. And the second thing is, Chip Kelly isn't just about one formulaic offense.

Chip Kelly is one of the best adjusters in the NFL, and he's always open-minded. He'll change what he does if it's not working. I think they'll get better. I think the question has to be asked a little bit about Foles that he played all of his worst games at the end of the season. That when you look at the box score, he looked pretty good. But when you watch the games over the last month,

I don't think Nick Foles played that well. Well, isn't Foles house money? I mean, they didn't expect Foles to come in and do what he did this season on any level. He's their quarterback, though. He is right now, but it wasn't the theory they're going to go get someone new next season. That's what the thought was. Here's what I find most interesting is Chip Kelly is convinced you need two quarterbacks to win in the NFL. And I wonder how much that's going to catch on with other coaches.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if he brings in another quarterback next year. And he plays behind Foles, but could be every bit as good as Fools. I think they will get better. And, you know, Kelly was my pick for coach of the year. year they were great there is always a concern that okay we're building for next year whenever you hear teams say that after they lose usually don't get back next year i mean that's just how it is there is no building to next year really this everything changes too much on a year to year base i believe in in kelly and what they're doing but you don't know i mean there's no you're not starting from this

point it's going to be tough for them to win they need to get a lot better on defense so we have san francisco and carolina uh playing one game next week the saints Seahawks game is the other game. Do you guys, will the Saints be able to either replicate what they pulled off on Saturday or will they become the more traditional Saints offense we know with Rob Ryan? Will Rob Ryan and the Saints' offense be able to, can they steal that game in Seattle? No. Greg said today that he's not going to give this game to Seattle.

Saints aren't going to go into Seattle and win. They played a Philadelphia team, like I said, that hadn't beaten anybody good all year except the Cardinals. That's one thing to go into Philadelphia and beat a team that's iffy on their home field. Philly has one of the weakest home field advantages in the NFL. They're going back to the place that has the best home field advantage in the NFL. I see a beat down here. And we have all week to get into next week's games. I was just curious, like, how much you guys took out of what the Saints did yesterday.

I mean, Mark Ingram can run on the Eagles. He's not going to run on the Seahawks. They're capable of beating anyone anywhere. And I know they haven't been a good road team, but this isn't like a 10 and 6, 9 and 7 team that snuck into the playoffs with an okay quarterback. It's Drew Brees with the best defense he's ever had in his career. This is a better defense than the one they won the Super Bowl with,

and they're playing an offense that hasn't been playing very well lately. I mean, they got a shot. Why not? That field is going to be even more of a madhouse than usual. Was this strategy a one-game strategy? this run the ball first, catch everyone off guard who thinks Drew Breeze

is just going to throw the ball a day or are they going to revert back to what we know about the Saints next week? They shouldn't. I don't know. They've tried to run the ball before. It usually doesn't work like that. I mean, so...

It's the first time it's worked all year. I'd rather lose on Drew Breeze's arms than trying to run the ball, but it's a good defense. Give this defense a little credit, especially if they get Keenan Lewis, friend of the podcast, back next week.

that would be good. I think they have a shot. Andrew Luck threw four second half touchdown passes and scored on a fumble recovery leading the Indianapolis Colts from a four touchdown deficit to a historic 45-44 comeback victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Saturday's wild card

opener. This will obviously be the game that is remembered 20 years from now. It's the game that will be played on NFL network on loop during the summer. Wow, wow, that's the only thing I could say. Andrew Luck is the first step towards legend status.

Is this the beginning of the Andrew Luck arc towards greatness? Yes. Yeah. If it wasn't already, I mean, he's broken the records for comeback victories, and you just can't ever count him out. He puts the team on his back. He starts running. He starts passing.

He's physical. He does everything well. His instincts are great. That fumble play was awesome. He's 24 years old. He's not even 25 until September. next September, this guy, I mean, it's unreal what we're seeing at this young and age with this little experience. I can't even imagine what we're going to see five years from now.

I feel like the ceiling's been taken off. There is no limitations to what this guy can be. Look at his surrounding talent. I like him as he was pulled what appears to be out of Amish territory. And, you know, we talked to Greg today before the Bengals game and you said that you would rather face Andrew Luck and the Cults over Andy Dalton and the Bengals and that shocked me because I wouldn't want to deal with Andrew Luck on any level in the playoffs

he is just flat out finding a way to win these games what about T.Y. Hilton? Outrageous. Yeah he's great and they use him a lot like the Eagles used to Sean Jackson. I mean Andrew Luck was so good he was almost the best quarterback in this game let's give a little love to Alex Smith I mean seriously it was great

378 yards, four touchdowns, over 50 yards rushing. That's the first time any player has ever done that in NFL history, period. And not in a losing effort at all. And he did it without Jamal Charles. If Andrew Luck had done something like that, we would be talking about him, like in saying. I mean, I'm not saying we shouldn't give him all the credit. Only to Alex Smith does that get completely drowned out. And that's unfair to him because he's now, he had, you know, the dramatic win two years ago against the Saints.

This game will get forgotten about his performance anyway. So next year when the Chiefs are in the playoffs or the year after, again, people back, well, I don't know about Alex Smith, the game manager. It's so unfair because the guy has proved he's money. He's got serious onions in a big spot. Well, can't we blame coaching staffs for turning him into a game manager if he has this ability? I don't know if he has the greatest ability ever, but this offense is pretty dangerous.

They were good for the last half season. It really comes down to a defense, which either there's, talent is wildly overrated or Bob Sutton is one of the worst defensive coordinators in the NFL because it's one or the other. They have five pro bowlers and that doesn't count Derek Johnson who's one of the best players in the league at his position and they're giving up 40 points a game. They're the Dallas Cowboys for the second half of the season. They could have been a Super Bowl team. They could have won the Super Bowl this year, I think, if their defense had kept up their first half performance. If you want to destroy the quarterback wins as a way of measuring

Right. Success. Alex Smith is your best example. Earlier in the year, he wasn't playing well. And cheese fans were all saying you have to give him credit because he's winning. Late in the year, he plays great, and they just lose. I think, I questioned at midseason whether he was the answer for them, whether they'd draft a quarterback. I think he is the answer. He's convinced me that he's plenty good enough to be a top 15 starter in the NFL. Just trying to put into perspective how insane this comeback was. It's only the second time in playoff. history team has rallied from a deficit of 28 or more points to win. Of course, the Buffalo Bills

back in, I think it was 92. 1892. 93 playoffs, trailed by 32 points before beating the then-Hustin Oilers 4138 and overtime. This was a game that was literally, I was in the office. I went to get a sandwich at our

commissary and lucked through a bad interception, quickly turned into seven points. It was 3810 It was 3810 And they blew it I was on a wine tour Eating lunch

Don't admit that Eating lunch And I forced the people The restaurant to move our table So we could watch the game And then proceeded to jump out of my chair When Andrew Luck hit T.Y Hilton Deep down the scene

Wesleyan was whining and dining His lady friend this week And he wouldn't normally be missing Some Saturday games But you know the football gods Punished you You missed an all-time I watched it.

Okay. Cupid takes down the football gods once again in Chris Wessling's life. Seduction Sunday. I forced our tour to go an alternate route and turn on football games. That reminds me, K. Rich, because I occasionally get tweets about get K.Rich to say seduction something or other. Do you get these same creepy tweets? I get them sometimes. What do they want you to say?

Seduction Sunday. All right. Thank you. It was easy. We've picked on the Chiefs fans this year a little bit because they're a little sensitive here and there. But I really, you have to feel for them. They're a sad people.

You have to feel for them after this loss because people talk about how the Bengals are terrible and the Browns. And I think the Chiefs fan base in terms of being tortured, it's a little bit overlooked. They haven't won a playoff game in 20 years and they've lost eight straight playoff games. Stop it.

That's outrageous. they've had eight promising regular seasons filled with high points though. Come on. You can't compare this. Oh, great. Wow, we had Matt Castle win ten games. You don't, you, your whole argument is about high level losses versus teams that go four and twelve year after year saying that that's worse. They haven't wanted to play a half game in 20 years. I mean, that's the facts. I'd say that Bengals, Browns, Chiefs, fan base, and the

bills are all in rough territory. You can't, come on. These people have access to some of the best barbecue in the world. They have a fountain on every quarter. This is a good place to live. They ought to quit being so upset about their football team. I will say this. And I don't feel this way about any other coach. When I see Andy Reid kind of skulk off the field after a devastating defeat.

Dan doing a great Andy Reid impression in Studio 66 right now. I worry about the big man's ticker and how much he can take. There's been a lot of rough losses on that guy's watch. Would anyone be surprised if the Chiefs finished next season seven and nine? No. No. Maybe you don't use those timeouts so early in the second half if you don't want to lose. I heard. I heard he got, Reed got a lot of heat for how they handled the second half.

But it's like it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't. If they would have piled up more points, be like, Andy Reed, he didn't take his foot off the pedal. And that's how you have to play this type of situation. And because it didn't work out, now it's like, Andy Reed, what a jackass. Well, it's just the second biggest collapse in NFL history. So play it however you want to play it. But I'm just saying, like, either way he would have played it. he's in trouble if it doesn't work out.

Sure. They scored 13 points. I mean, his offense was dynamite. It's amazing what he did with that. It was just, I honestly have to think whether they wonder about keeping Bob Sutton next year. I know it seems weird because they had such a good first half of the season, but it's getting overlooked how truly awful that was. I mean, this game was a microcosm of their season that the offense picked it up.

The defense collapsed, but it wasn't good enough. By the way, it's so unfair that we haven't brought up the injury. situation for the chiefs yet. I mean, look at this list. Jamal Charles lost during the first possession with a concussion, which was terrible. Nile Davis came in. He's playing well as Charles's replacement. He goes out with a knee injury.

They lose Justin Houston with a lower body injury. Brandon Flowers had to be helped in the locker room in the third quarter. Didn't return. Donnie Avery, who had a long touchdown catch, suffered a concussion. He didn't return. I mean, I don't even know if they would have been able to play next week if they would have won. But it should be mentioned that this was a team that was a walking mass unit by the fourth quarter.

Well, it's a good thing they tried to control football by benching all their players in week 17 to keep them healthy. And then they got injured because that's what happens in football. Well, somebody tweeted that as like, oh, so much for resting and protecting the players. Well, it did. It worked. It did it for it. Nobody got hurt in week 17. That's what it was about.

They can't control what happens once. There was one killer moment because Cyrus Gray, the third string running back, ran a sideline route that Alex Smith, and Gray said later that they had never had any reps with Smith. He hesitated. Smith overthrew him, and that would have ended the game had they connected that pass. And Smith said, we've run that play with Charles in practice all week over and over.

Injuries played a major role here. It did, and it's almost like we talked about the Packers, everything breaks wrong for them. The Colts, everything breaks right this year. This is a tough team to figure out every time. Last year, too. Every time we think they're done, and yet you look at their resume, they've beaten the Seahawks, the 49ers, the Broncos, the Chiefs twice.

They have all these crazy comebacks like against Houston and Tennessee. Any situation, it's like you can't kill this. And by the way, they go to New England to face a team that, let's face it, although the Patriots are always good and they're tough. They're not impossible to beat. So they even got a nice draw for the divisional round playoffs. And Greg wanted luck, not Dalton, and you got it. That floors me.

here you go Greg my thought is on their look that was before the game so obviously it looks stupid now and it is stupid perhaps in their best on their best day i think the bengals are a better team than the colts would be that the bengals if they played their very best they're going to their best day never comes in january what what from andy dalton's history would make you think that his best day was coming in new england and i'm thinking more about the bengals defense but i i hear you guys you got a point let's talk about andy don't god sandy the san diego charters took it advantage of three Andy Dalton turnovers in the second half on Sunday,

pulling away to a 27-10 victory that extended Cincinnati streak of playoff misery to 23 years and counting. Philip Rivers, got it done and the Chargers move on with their fifth straight win. They'll head to Denver next week

as the AFC's top seed. Chris Wessling, get it going. The Bengals cannot have nice thing. They don't get Get to win playoff games. The last time the Bengals won a playoff game, I tweeted this. My high school debate club was talking about Parastroika.

That is a long time ago. Frankly, I'm a little sickened by the glee and the enjoyment that you have. For all, you know, enjoying the Bengals lose this game, knowing all the people that you left behind in poor Cincinnati are going through, you know. He got on the lifeboat off the Titanic, and he's just like have a nice day. I was on a wine tour in Southern California yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, those people are chumps. They could have got off the boat when I did.

How many family... Don't family members care about the Bengals? Don't you want nice things for them? My dad has really not ever liked the Bengals because of their ownership. The rest of the family, you know, they're very nice people. I love them, but they're chumps. All right, Wes, I have a big announcement to make. I finally get it.

You get the Andy Dalton scale? I get it. And tell me if I'm wrong. Okay. Andy Dalton is the first guy, first quarterback, who's not good enough. Yes. So if you have, if your team has a quarterback that's not as good as Andy Dalton, you need to find a new quarterback. Yes.

Yes. Wait, you got that part. You just didn't get the part how it goes up and down throughout the season. But now I know where he is. It makes sense. And this was the game. And to be fair, the reason why I was so can. confusing because I felt like I didn't have a big enough sample. After what I saw today, I now

get the Andy Dalton AD scale. I feel like Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh must have felt last year as Colin Kaepernick was running through the NFC playoffs, just to see Dan's maturation here to see all the learning that he's done during this season. To have it all culminate here on Wild Card Week, it's beautiful. It is a good point, though. That was one thing that did I got hung up on how it moved up and down, but I'm not even going to think about it anymore. I'm going to stop overthinking the AD scale and just stick with the brass tacks of it,

and I agree with it. Well, it's moving down. It is moving down. Were you surprised it was that ugly today, Mark, focusing in on this game? Well, I picked Cincinnati to win because I thought after what we'd seen them do, you know, Marvin Lewis said we've got a couple of goals this year.

One is to go eight and no at home. and when the team responded and did that in the way that they played in Cincinnati, I was surprised to see them play as poorly as they did against what we felt was a frisky but an average team. And San Diego beat them in a way that they've played in the last couple of weeks, but Andy Dalton, that fumble, when he did that headfirst dive and lost that ball, that was a bona fide, terrible play. And he made some awful throws.

And he fulfilled every bad thought you had about him. I'm surprised that happened today, to be honest. We've reached the conclusion that Andy Dalton is not the answer for the Bengals, and it's not because of what he came into the league with was a weak arm. That was the wrap on him. It's because his decision-making is bad. He throws some of the most head-scratching interceptions you see. He dove instead of sliding, and when you dive, you fumble.

These are bad decisions, and they're game-changing decisions. Right. If you're going to be that kind of quarterback without great- skills, you have to make up for it with everything else, accuracy, smarts, and you don't see that from him. And that's why stats can be misleading. When you look at the regular season stats for Andy Dalton, it's very impressive. But when he's bad, he's really bad. And those interceptions today, in the box score, it doesn't look that crazy. He had the two intercepts of the phone. But those were bad interceptions. I mean, those were ones that you just can't make those throws.

He had no chance. He predetermined. He kind of, it looked like he kind of freaked out. You just started missing passes. The Cincinnati Offensive Line really did not play well for a stretch in that third quarter. It felt like every time that Dalton dropped back, there was people in his face. But that doesn't excuse that second pick, which really turned the game for good. I know Gio Bernard's fumble was a big play in the game when they were going in and they were going to take a big lead. But, you know, that was the type of play where you can't get behind.

And I do feel bad for Berger, Michael Berger, who's been on the podcast before. I came into the office and he had a hood on and apparently he's very selling, a big bangles fan. And he's going through what I went through as a Jets fan during the 2011 season where you invest so much in a quarterback, even more emotionally maybe than the team does. And you think you found the guy and you're behind him and you defend him over critics as criticism mounts. And then something happens, a game happens or a stretch of play happens where you can no longer defend him. and you understand that maybe this isn't the guy, and that's how I'll remember this game for Andy Dalton. Mark Sanchez is probably the best comparison for Andy Dalton anyway.

They're both tremendously flawed quarterbacks who have been carried along by defense and running game. And the difference between maybe some of those Jets teams and this Bengals team is this is a really talent-laden Bengals offense, number one. And look at, A.J. Green hasn't had a hundred-yard game since November 10th. And I attribute that not just to A.J. Green, but to the quarterback who I think doesn't spread the ball

around the way he should sometimes and listen he's had some very good statistical games but it's all an aberration because this was the game that at home he needed to capitalize and what happened to him mentally he crumbled entirely Jay Gruden gets some of the blame

but it falls on Dalton do you think they draft a quarterback this year I think they should have to in the second round maybe the third round give it a shot see what you find After what Marvin Lewis said in this post game's press conference, I wouldn't expect them to do that. I think they should. I do too, but it's probably more of their style to bring in a veteran, a Michael Vic type.

Well, the reason I struggle with this organization is because they are so slow to make any sort of a change that I could see them doing nothing. And, AJ Green, honestly. Make a big tough catch for me in the playoffs, AJ Green down the field. That's what I was going to happen. That's your all pro. This happened in the Texans game last year, too. He had a chance for a game-changing play. Didn't make it.

Same thing happened today. Dalton is, he deserves to take the lion's share of the blame, but with about five minutes to play, they're down, I believe, 20 to 10. Dalton drops back to pass and drops a beautiful throw in the bucket to A.J. Green, in his hands. If he catches that ball, it's probably first and goal from the eight-yard line, a 10-point game, five minutes to play, and who knows what happens. Green gets it knocked out of his hands.

It wasn't an easy catch. It wasn't a flat drop. I don't think there's many receivers in the NFL that make that catch. It was underthrown, to be fair. I don't know if it was underthrown. But if AJ Green is as good as we all say he is, you make that play in that spot. And the game could be totally different if he makes the play. Let's be fair.

Like I said, I don't think many receivers make that catch. When a defensive back is pulling on your arm and the ball, it's often hard to make the catch. Is he at that level? Is he at that level where you expected him to make that catch? I don't know. It's hard for me to say because it's hard to make a catch physically when somebody's pulling on your. arm in the ball. Let's be fair to the San Diego Chargers who won this game going away. I would have never guessed that they could win a playoff game going away with 16 pass attempts by Phillip Rivers. The Bengals threw for 326 yards in this game. The Chargers

threw for 122 and they won by three scores. Well, they're averaging 40 carries per game over the last five games. It's like they change their offense. They changed their entire team identity. They're a ball control offense and their defense has only allowed Kansas City's second string offense to score more than 20 points in the game in the last six weeks. You know, credit to Mike McCoy because a lot of these teams, you get a coach, you get a system where do or die, they keep what they do right till the bitter end. And San Diego was flexible enough to play to the talent of the personnel and what they have with the roster. See, I disagree. Their offense to me is the most consistent, similar offense that I've

seen in the NFL all season. They were ball control, long drives, run first from week one to week five, and they were great at it. But they were passing ball control early. They were the highest percentage pass team in the league early on the year. They were running the ball well, too. The difference now is just they have a defense that gets them a lead. I mean, they've been a very effective, efficient offense all year.

But there's a distinct change in how many times they're going to the ground game, distinct from the last five weeks. But that's because they're ahead. For a team that was always behind or in close games, they were running a ton. And McCoy deserves all kinds of credit for turning that team around. You've got to kill him for his game management, though. Why? Greg said this today.

The football gods don't look good on timidity, and he was timid. He calls games like that where you can't kick two 25-yard field goals and expect to win. That's going to come back to haunt. The Bengals had so many opportunities to get back in this game, empty drives that didn't become anything. And you're right, if the Chargers were more aggressive, maybe they didn't get that many chances. They kind of ran into a Cincinnati team

that played with two hands around its neck. That's their M.L. I mean, in the second half, they had that touchdown drive to start the second half, and then after that, the Bengals defense actually did a good job. They stopped them on two short fields. They got two, three, and outs right at the end of the game.

You know, the Chargers' offense gave Cincinnati so many chances. I think that's why it was more frustrating to watch Dalton not take any of them that just kept building and building that's like oh here's another chance oh here's another chance and he didn't do it watch out for the charges by the way next week

they're going to be super loose us against the world going into Denver no pressure at all against the Broncos team that has all those ghosts from last year I don't know if that's going to be 55 to 24 I think we have a real game and we know the charges went in there one already

on a primetime game at front of the nation you think blowout Broncos blow them out The first game they played, I think the Chargers had the ball for 39 minutes, and they lost by 10. Well, they had at 38, the last game. So their formulas work to some degree. It's had two close games.

They need Ryan Matthews to get healthy. He wasn't around in the second half. He was just hanging out. He tweaked his ankle injury in the second half. That's a big issue. If the Chargers win next week, do Damashek and Adam Rank go skinny dipping in the Pacific Ocean in celebration? Are they already not doing that? I think we need seduction music.

I don't know either. Together. Can we give one quick bit of love to Ronnie Brown? I thought that was a cool moment. That was one of my favorite moments of the whole weekend. Shugging Ronnie Brown? Ronnie Brown, after all these years, he did have one playoff game for the Dolphins, but they got wiped out in that one.

And always been one of my favorite players. Seems like a cool guy. You know, he's the guy that handsome Hank named his son after. Ronnie, going deep for the last touchdown. It was pretty cool. That was nice for Ronnie Brown. You guys aren't excited about the Ronnie Brown touchdown. I watched some of this game with my wife at home,

and she called Philip Rivers. She found Philip Rivers attractive. She had never seen him before as if he was some fresh, dough-eyed kid, a poor man's Tom Brady, which I thought was interesting because that's kind of accurate to who Philip Rivers is as a football player. In the looks department, she called him that? Yeah, but then it translates.

Did she see the Bolo tie after the game? I told her about the Bolo. Well, she's in Texas. She's in on that, too. Did you mention that he has, Nearly 10 children. Oh, yeah. And that's centered to Google

because women hear that. Like, oh, this guy is even more interesting. Married man with seven children. Did you point out that he looks like the O'Reilly owl? I did not. I've never noticed that before. That bolot tie keeps getting bigger. I want them to make the Super Bowl just to see what he could break out.

It's going to be like a satellite dish by Super Bowl Sunday. Yeah, it's wearing a saucer under his chin. Hard not to love Philip Rivers. All right. So that does it for Sunday's edition of the Around the League podcast. We will be back on Tuesday where we will be talking about all sorts of NFL goodies, right guys?

Oh, yeah. What are we talking about? There's going to be some more coach heat probably. I think we can figure something else to talk about divisional round weekend, the best weekend of football all year, usually the best eight teams. We talked about that, actually.

That is, to me, the best round of the entire season, best weekend. Can you think there couldn't be a better eight pack of quarterbacks to make the final eight here? That's actually what Dan and I were talking about before the show. Cessler sent out like a Skip Bayliss-like tweet that led to a lot of ridicule. What was it? I basically said, listen, if you don't have a prime time quarterback,

good luck and have a nice day trying to get to the divisional round of the playoffs. And then hashtag hot take. It wasn't those exact words. All sorts of people flaming me going crazy. It's like you give me the- What's so controversial about that? Because he didn't actually read the tweet. I didn't find it controversial. Do we have to pull the tweet up and actually read?

Yep, we got to do it. The year-end quarterback rate. rankings on NFL.com. We did, you know, the quarterback index. Out of the top eight quarterbacks on that, seven of them are still playing. People came to me saying, oh, are you saying Rogers is in the top eight?

That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying for the other 20-something teams in the NFL. Here's the tweet. Lesson from this year's playoffs, nobody with a phony, half-baked quarterbacks going anywhere in January. You need the guy, no excuses. What's wrong with that?

I was just, don't shoot the messenger. Pass my own test. The actual tweet. I didn't want Mark paraphrasing his own tweet. People probably misunderstood that as a shot at Rogers during that game, which is... Right, I tweeted it right in the final minutes of that game. And granted, the only real shot it was that dog. Wait, by the way, the tweet before that said Aaron Rogers is a god.

So it couldn't... How mixed up can you be? Mark Sessler underscore NFL, correct? Is that it? No. Oh, Mark Sessler NFL? Correct. Okay.

You really are becoming like the bailist of the NFL media. That is nonsense. You just say things controversial to get people to react. He has 3,000 more followers than me. I fly from the heart. I just fly from the heart. People didn't seem to like that. Your life would be greatly improved if you start blocking people on Twitter left and right.

Now something else that we can talk about, guys, that we failed to do, is the 2013 Stitcher Awards. We got nominated. Thank you to all the listeners who nominated us. We were nominated. Now we are up for best sports commentary, so please go to Stitcher. That's S-T-I-T-C-H-E-R-P-R-O-T-W.com and vote for the NFL around the league podcast. Pretty good. Thank you, Crystal.

And you can vote every day, is that correct? You can vote every day twice a day. So, you know, do your thing. Every time we put out... Stop the ballot box. Every time we put out a podcast, we want you guys voting. Do we win like a leg lamp or something? What do we get?

Maybe you guys can get Chris's toaster. You're going to have to earn it. Hang in Cheds. All right. Until Tuesday, this is Dan Hansa signing off for the mailman, the boss, the sizzler, K. Rich behind the glass. Until Tuesday. This is the first football Sunday I've had off in a long time where I wasn't off

because I had something going on. Right. And it's crazy. Like, people working in grocery stores are wearing football jerseys as you forget, like, how excited people are about the NFL. This is an I-Heart podcast.