NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Super Bowl XLIX recap

Episode Date: February 2, 2015

A stadium filled with heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler and Conor Orr -- recap Super Bowl XLIX including the Seahawks' late-game interception, Tom Brady's legacy and more.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast doesn't read Mark Sessler's articles. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis. I'm joined by a stadium filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, Greg Rosenthal, and Connor Orr.

What up, boys? Hey, Dan. Geez. What is happening? We are standing for the second consecutive year in the press box, the NFL media press box, after Super Bowl Sunday looking down on a confetti-drenched field. And they really, by the way, up their confetti game, added some streamers, some tinsel. Great work by the confetti. For Greg, in his right hand, he just took it out of his

pocket like a whimsical child, has his own confetti got from the field, and why not? Because the New England Patriots are back at the top of the mountain. The throne of these at the top of the mountain, Greg, Super Bowl champions after a 28, 24 win over the Seattle Seahawks in one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time. Nothing easy about this. I mean, Tom Brady. Tom Brady down two scores in the fourth quarter against the best secondary that we've seen in a long time for him to direct two straight touchdown drives like that to win the game and then finally for the defense this time to pull it off. I don't know. It's almost like you couldn't write that any better. I think when you factor in the ridiculous curse catch, how well the Patriots defensive backs played on that entire drive and then the final play of the game.

to me, the greatest Super Bowl I've ever seen. Wait, did you say, hey, Dan? I did. Oh, good. Oh, yeah. Greatest Super Bowl. All right, let's go around the room real quick. Mark, how are you, buddy?

I'm doing it. We were a little worried about your energy level before the show started. You seem like it's coming back. The color is coming back in your face. That's your concern. You know, the Patriots winning a fourth Super Bowl is big, and that's interesting. But I think we've now reached, what is the end breaking point for Mark Sessler? And we just, we found it in the last.

15 minutes, if anyone witnessed. We have reached the end of Sessler. I'm not sure where you're going with that. You know, listen, I'll just say that you're asking, is this the greatest Super Bowl we've seen? That's what I was trying to get at. Hands down, absolutely. Wow.

Well, for us, you've got to go with anyone that you've been to in person has a particular charm, and this had everything you could ask for. Connor, your thoughts. Absolutely the best one. Well, absolutely the best one I've seen in person. Wait a second. Just so everybody understands what's going on. up here. We are still, we are not a high-end operation yet. I'm holding the type of mics that were

used when Lady Die and Prince Charles got married in 1982. It's a stick mic, it's nice. It's a stick mic, and Greg is sharing one with Connor, so he's holding it in Connor's face. He looks like a, you know, Chuck Woolery right now. And then Wes and Gray, Wes and Mark have lob mics, so they're clipped onto their handsome ties. So you guys look kind of professional. But we take it back a couple of decades on the other side of TD who's sitting in between us right now say hi TD what's going on guys I know a lot of people I was impressed really missed TD on the last podcast that shows how much the the viewers the listeners really love you I hope everyone checked out the actual video was a fun time and it was a good time hey let's let's get to this

podcast all right away everyone everyone always wants to say the greatest Super Bowl of all time right away and I think it probably was I don't know let me add some more point okay you're talking about in addition to the back and of two great quarterbacks. Right. The best defense we've seen in at least 15 years and possibly the best past defense we've ever seen, you've got Belichick and Brady going for their fourth title

in their sixth Super Bowl, and you're doing it the caliber of opponent. You're doing it against the reigning Super Bowl champions. Against the best defense in the league for three years running. First team like that since the late 60s? I don't want to hear that the Patriots Panthers game was better. It wasn't. No.

And I hear you, and I agree. And even going into it, I just thought this is one of those Super Bowls. You remember every Super Bowl, but some you remember in history more than others. To have these two teams face off at this point in time was amazing. And for the game to live up to every possible expectation and more for the Patriots to dominate early but not really take advantage of it. And then the Seahawks to score 24 points in under 13 minutes. it was seven to nothing with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter and then it's the middle of the third quarter and people think at that point that the game is over that the patriots are down 10 and everything is going wrong for them not only that but then you're left with like this lingering what if mystery of like the call that will kind of define the Super Bowl but will always make it kind of a great discussion point yeah let's go through that sequence because that's what however there'll be two things in the upcoming week I think that will be talked about there'll be tom Brady and and a lot of discussion about him now being seen as the greatest ever after getting the fourth ring.

And then the other big conversation will be how the Seahawks blew it and how they got so close to stealing a repeat at the end of the game. So we had first, after the Pats take the lead, they go up 28-24, the Seahawks get to midfield almost immediately. 30-yard pass to Marshawn Lynch against Jamie Collins was like a beautiful. Russell played so well in the game up until that last pass. Right. So then Russell Wilson drops back to pass from midfield, puts it down the sideline, inside the 10-yard line, where Malcolm Butler, a little known, at least until today, defensive back jumps up, knocks the ball away or thinks he does, knocks it away from Germain Curse. But somehow we have a catch-to scenario, David Tyree's scenario, where somehow the ball bobbles around like Antonio Freeman and Curse catches it on his back in one of the most stunning plays in Super Bowl history. And, Greg, I was on the other side of the press box. I couldn't really see your reaction, but you had to be, you know, dying.

He was at a 9.8 on the C. The B scale was high. He everywhere. I did immediately say. Sessler said, like, people are going to remember that play for 50 years. That's one of the best plays in Super Bowl history. I said, I did say immediately, well, only if the Seahawks score a touchdown. So I wasn't giving up at that moment yet.

But I did think back to the last time I was in Phoenix, was to which to watch the Patriots try to finish off the Super Bowl season. And Randy Moss caught a touchdown with about two and a half minutes left, very similar to this game when Edelman caught it. And I thought, to go up for it, this is the exact same scenario that happened last time. And I'm not the only one thinking this. After the game, you know, they asked Tom Brady about it. He said these plays have gone against us.

They said to Belichick, have you ever seen a play like this? And he's like, he said, yeah, I've seen two of them. Mario Manningham and the Thai replay. So then they run it with Linnich. He gets, I believe, about five yards to get it down inside the two, or maybe even the one. One. And then in the play that will be talked about, Mark Sessler, forever, on second down from the one-yard line, less than a minute to play, on a team that has Marshawn Lynch, arguably, or maybe not even arguably, the best goal line back in football, they call a pass play intercepted by the same guy that was covering Jermaine Curtis Malcolm Butler. and the game is suddenly over

and the Patriots win 28-24. Mark. Dad's losing his voice. Oh, my goodness. I mean, obviously right away on Twitter, which is exploding, calling it the worst play call of all time. You know, five times this year,

Lynch ran from the one-yard line. One touchdown, two for zero, and two for a loss. You know, at the same time, they made the pass? No one would be saying this. My voice is going. By the way, this is what happens when,

Greg, you send, an almost 35-year-old dad and a 40-year-old dad to multiple parties. Well, Dan, Dan, you were on the party, B, and you did a great job. If anyone hasn't checked out the Super Bowl Experience blog, please do. Mark was really on a self-appointed party. I didn't see him right about it at anything, but I think he really dominated the party scene probably more than anyone in the entire city. That's fair, but Dan needed someone to bounce ideas off with at the party itself.

Especially at the Bud Light Party. That was a good party. I don't think anybody would make the argument that Marshawn Lynch is not a good tackle-breaking goal lineback. Even if the one-yard stats are crazy, we saw him score earlier in the game breaking tackles and busting him. He just had a five-yard run on the play before. We all agree you give the ball to Marshaun-Ling. At that point in the game, they had a 90, I don't know what it would be, but it would be like a 96% chance to win the game. It's a shame it overshadowed what Pete Carroll did to close out the first half when a lot of coaches would have taken a knee,

and they go down the field and score 29 seconds they score a touch. and he opts to go for a touchdown with six seconds left instead of kicking the field goal. Two aggressive, aggressive, high reward play calls. The high reward play call on second and one was to hand the ball to your best player. With a timeout. They had just blown a timeout, and I wonder if that came into their thinking, and that was a bad timeout to blow down the field there. But they still did have one time out, and Bevel, the offensive coordinator,

Darrell Bevel talked after the game, and it sounded like the clock was a factor because he thought, well, if we don't get the, this play it kills the clock we still have two plays left and we can run it you know one or both of those plays so so he was overthinking well it's definitely over thinking with lynch from the first play they talked all week or we're going to gang tackle marshawn lynch it's like that's fine you know what that's what every team said all year long and it's not happening they really got five six guys on them and shut them down early marshall lynch was not a factor you know he's going to climb back in but the patriots took care of business and what i thought would be the matchup that would

wreck him. He had over 100 yards and was dominant in the second half. In the second half. Early on, I'm saying they can't, they were, they went into the half time still in the game because of what they did. It was an up and down performance for Lynch because there was a key spot where they had the lead in the second half and it was second in three and they run the ball two straight times. He gets two yards and then he loses yardage. And so if Lynch could have just delivered in that third one scenario, you know, maybe they have a bigger lead. I got an interesting text from someone in the league after the game that just said, how about your $20 million future quarterback doesn't throw a pick on the one yard line.

I mean, like, seriously, I mean, if you can freeze frame it at a certain point, you can see Malcolm Butler about to jump the route. I mean, so I'm not putting this on Russell Wilson's shoulders, but how about you just, how about you just sky that one over his head and run the ball on the next point? And it is funny how in this game, how legacies are, how are born, because it takes luck, too, because. So much luck.

I always go back to, as one of our mic pieces almost falls to the ground, It's a ghetto operation. But, Tidi, you're doing a great job. Not your fault. We need more money. Titi's out here. We're hitting midnight, by the way, right now, boys, in Phoenix. That means it's two back on the East Coast.

We're going to be having a good old time tonight. Anyways, go on. Yeah, so my point is I always go back to Super Bowl 23 and the San Francisco 49ers in Cincinnati Bengals when Joe Montana throws nearly throws a fourth quarter interception two, Wes. Oh, Lewis, third and Billups. Yes, third and Billups that gets dropped in the end zone, or it could have been to pick six, gets dropped, and then he goes on, Nantana wins the game later on the past of John Taylor.

No one remembers that Joe Montano almost threw, or basically threw away Super Bowl because he got lucky. Russell Wilson could have got lucky, too, if some no-name defensive back drops that throw, but he didn't drop it, and sometimes that's when luck comes in. And you have to give him, you have to give Butler credit for making an outstanding player It reminded me a lot of the Bobby Wagner interception on Brady from earlier. It was a bad throw in a bad decision, but you had to make the perfect play to pull it off.

And Butler did that, like going hard and aggressive after it. Beville kind of threw Lockett under the bus after the game and said he didn't, you know, he could have been a little stronger going to the ball. It also gets you thinking it's crazy. And I think Bill Belichick is smart enough to know this. We're just letting Greg just revel tonight back there. You know what, and we're not going to give them a hard time about it. I mean, this is a moment.

Isn't it weird, though, Belichick, for everything Belichick does, he is aware that these Super Bowl championships come down to Butler versus Lockett. Isn't that bizarre in like these one place? What are you guys laughing at? No, just an idea. What if we all put down our mics and went and got on the bus and then like Greg just do the pod? Just one thing. It's given the stage.

We've come this far and barely talked about the fact that, you know, Wilson had an interception. Brady overcame two killer interceptions in this game. And down the locker room, all players were saying was we never, for one second, panicked. Just like with Joe Montana, staring up at John Candy in the stands before he orchestrates that drive, Brady's the same way. They were like, I said, what did you think to Sebastian Volmer over the pick? He's like, oh, we don't even get. It's like from Germany, some guy from Germany, but he's like, we don't even think about it.

No, I want to hear the Volmer impression if you're going to be doing it. Well, they went on trying to interview the guy. He goes off the scene, I'm a thin man from Germany. I like that they kept me. I was like, well, all right, let's get back on the topic of the game here. So, but if you're going to talk about luck and how it worked for the Patriots, and you talk about legacy, if not for Asante, Samuel, and Wes Walker drops, Brady would have six Super Bowl. Right, or Ted David, Terry's getting to six and you're going to win a bunch.

Well, and that is, I guess we should definitely talk about Brady a little bit more now because he threw the two interceptions. They were both bad picks, especially the first one, which was like, uh-oh, where is this? game. By the way, just, I don't want to get sidetrack, but show of hands, which is a very good device for a podcast, who thought that game was over at 2414 with the C-OX-7 the ball, honestly? Yeah, because of the way the one is fading. Four out of the five, or three out of the five of us. Wes and I did not.

So, I mean, I thought this game was over. I thought this thing was going to be 31-14, and that's really a testament again to Brady. And honestly, guys, like, Connor, I'll ask you, does this to you make Brady the best ever. It has to, right? I mean, you know, just the way, especially after the way, like Mark was saying, all the players just had an absolute certainty that he was going to come back from this. And especially as ugly as that first interception was, it just totally didn't phase him. And that whole game plan was predicated on his ability to hit short, accurate passes. And he was able to do it against the best secondary in football consistently through the last three quarters.

They didn't have a play over 24 yards. I mean, the Seahawks had about five, five or six plays that big. It was all short. you know, dink and dunk. But when I think of what Brady did well in this game, I'll think of the third and 13 in the third quarter when they're down by 10 points and he climbs the pocket and he throws it to Edelman. A couple plays later, it's third and eight.

I think it goes to Gronk or Amandola and he gets another third down where he climbs the pocket and that's where the game started to turn around. I think these Montana Brady debates, they're going to be hotly contested in sports bars and talk radio. The Wesleying household. The Wesleying House. NFL Networks.

NFL.com. You wrote a piece already. It's up on the website. I did. And I don't think these things ever have definitive answers unless you're like Michael Jordan. But one thing I don't want to hear from Joe Montana. Apologist is that he's 4 and O and Brady is 4 and 2 that gives Montana the edge. That makes no sense whatsoever.

So you're saying it's better to lose individual round and championship game rounds than it's better for Joe Montana's career. They got it picked off in the Giants at home in 1990. TD, I just realized why you're so slumped in your chair. Russell Wilson is your boy. If there's a mansion of boy for TD, it is Russell Wilson, and this was a damning moment in the young quarterback's career. He will be the highest paid quarterback in the league in a few months or maybe a few weeks,

but still crushing for your boy. Yeah, this one sticks with you the rest of your career, you know? I mean, for a guy who's known for the- Wait, sticks to you for the rest of your career, today? That's how it feels right now. For a guy who throws a sexy deep ball, he threw a clumsy short slant. Climsy short ball? I guess.

And, you know, it's tough. It's tough to deal with, but, you know, next season. He finishes, though, with 11.8 yards per attempt. When he threw that ball, he said he thought the game was over, they won. That was what he said after the game. Well, there's a fair reason to think that. But then. And I'm just saying, like, up until that point, he had an almost perfect game, a much better game than Brady.

Those deep balls, as a Patriots fan, I kept just seeing them. up there, and it's one-on-one. And I just started assuming that the Seahawks are going to come down with it every time. I mean, it was like we were deep into the second quarter, and Russell Wilson was 0 for two. At that point, Brady had about 20 attempts, and he finished with an NFL record high, what, 37? And he owns the touchdown. Completions, yeah. Touchdown record in the Super Bowl as well. I just think that, you know, forget Russell Wilson. He'll be back. He's young. He's going to play for another decade. That's what we always said. This may be the last time we get to see Belichick and Brady.

together in this kind of a game. But at the same time, with the way he is, I wouldn't be shocked if they're back two more times before he goes out. And that's another not small factor in the legacy question that Brady and Belichick have a chance to come back here and defend this again to add more to their legacies. They're already the best quarterback coach duo of all time. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm ready.

I've said it to you before, Greg. I've always put Jeter and Brady together, and this is very much like the 2009 Yankee World Series where Jeter had a ton of success early in his career and then went through a long period of good teams that never got over the hump and then they got one more shot late in his career and he got it. This is your 2009 Yankees season.

Boston and New York connected, buddy. What just happened? We just talked Derek Jeter for a minute. Brady's one of the best of all time. Jeter's not up a lot. No, I'm just... Some people are more culture in multiple sports. There's a strong parallel there. Well, I do think there is something to the fact

of why I really think it did mean more to Brady, to Belichette. to craft, to be knocking on the door for 10 years. It's been, you know, when they left in 2004, you would have thought Brady would have had another Super Bowl by now, especially considering they've been back to two, they've been back to three AFC championship games that they lost, too. Tudor parallels.

Four straight by, so to just be that close each and every time and be one yard away from losing it again, it just, it's insane. And how about the shorter history of the past two weeks where they've been villainized? One thing I'll never forget from today, which I'm not sure you would have picked up at home watching television, is that when they're flashing around various characters, players, and coaches through the National Anthem,

you know, at a time when you're so, you know, let's be serene and let's celebrate the country, so forth, they show Belichick, and it's like Darth Vader just showed up on the screen. They went absolutely. The National Anthemps. This was a Seahawks heavy crowd. And that Patriots, I saw Edelman after that just dancing around because he was, they loved it.

I thought it'd just like Greg said it was. You're totally right. I think it was like, it was like a 9-to-1 ratio. It was insane. I mean, it was like CenturyLink here. By the way, I don't think it's fair that I can't make a Jeter parallel. You could make it. When West makes his Michael Jordan ODB parallels, come on.

We're just going to pick on you for it. It's not nice. I think it just went a little too far when you're saying New York and Boston together here. Drell Revis. Drell Revis just won a Super Bowl for the Patriots. Oh, that's true. Somebody cut me some slack here. And by the way, speaking of legacies, everybody's got to come.

calm down now a little bit about the Seahawks defense because 2414 in the fourth quarter make a stop will you see Hawks defense make a stop at least hold them to a field goal at the end there giving up the two touchdowns that's with the Patriots secondary I think that will that will stick to that team and Michael Bennett after the game who will get to a little later and more depth but Michael Bennett after the game says this game doesn't define our legacy I'm sorry this plays a part in your legacy if you're the best defense of your era as Bennett said a couple of weeks back and you get burned in this spot and cost your team a Lombardi trophy, you're not the 85 Bears and you're not the 2,000 Ravens.

Hot takes, I love it. They're the 87 Bears. Maybe. That is all well said. Injuries were a factor. They stopped getting as much of a pass rush once Cliff Averill went out with a concussion. Jeremy Lane left early in the game. The primary slot cornerback and Tharled Simon was picked on after that.

Ugly broken arm. In the Patriots, they used way more three and four wide receiver. sets than we've seen in other games. I think for that exact reason. Danny Amindola had a big game. Oh, boy. Wes's a stable of boys. Steve Smith got his eviction papers today, officially.

Amadola at one point. And Mendola wasn't that much of a factor in the offense late in the season until the playoff started. And then they started using more four wives. And I'm sitting between Wesleying and Greg in this game, by the way. So I'm dealing A with the fact that Amandola turned that horse around and started to trot his way back to Wesleyan Stable of Boys. Wes is a pump-fisting about Amadol.

At one point, you were like, Amidola is looking five. But on the other side, you got Greg, and I wanted to watch Greg. That's a terrible West impression, by the way. This was the biggest game, Patriots game. And nothing has come close. And all the times we watched Greg, watch this team win and lose. I want to say when it really looked like they were going to lose,

I thought we're going to get a meltdown scenario. And Greg's starting to hand out assignments and say, they're all going to be working without a vacation. He was level-headed, just like Brady. I built a time machine, and we're all covering honors over and over again. Like, everyone's going to blame it on the Ciac's defense. and you're right, but you don't blow a lead like that in the fourth quarter unless both sides of the ball are doing it.

I'm not blaming just their defense, but that's a big part of it. I guess my point is the Seahawks defense did make a couple stops after they went up 10 points. So at that point, the Seahawks, they picked up a big first out on their first play, and then they go three and out, and they had that long throw to Jermaine Curse. And we can debate whether Curse dropped the ball or, whether Malcolm Butler, who played a very good game, made a good play on the ball and prevented him from catching it. But if Jermaine Curse caught that ball, I think the game is over then. I was thinking they're going to come back the whole time, and the offense couldn't move the ball. They had

a four and out, a three and out, and a three and out in a row before their last Seahawks drive. So as much as we're killing them for going too pass-heavy, they kind of went run heavy for a little bit there. They couldn't quite make the plays. The offense had chances to end this game. It's a testament to how dramatic the finish was that we have gone this entire podcast and have not even spoken about... Katie Perry. What a show. I mean, let's start from the first song.

Sharks. Roar. What a song. Wes. Your thoughts on that? It was absolutely over-the-top ridiculous. When the lion roared... I like that West is listening to this.

I'm like, what? I mean, I let out an involuntary belly laugh because it was just so absurd. Another thing that was great to sit next to Wet's watching this metallic golden, like, space-age lion roll in. I want TD's thoughts on this. T.D. and Connor back to back. Is that really what Wes was going to bring up, Katie Perry? No, but this is half time in the pod.

Let's get back to it. We're going to talk about Katie Perry real quick. TD, our pop expert. Katie Perry was a great, really great set. However, extremely random that she was essentially Missy Elliott's hype man for like three minutes. That did extend a little too long. Connor, your thoughts? A little light on Lenny Kravitz.

I would have liked to have heard like a couple bars of are you going to go my way. If we're going to drag them all the way out here. Well, by the way, on Friday at Radio Row, I went up to his handler and asked for minutes with Lenny Kravitz. Again, by the way, in 2015, and I got a hand in my face and said, no way. Little light on Lenny Kravitz is something no one's ever said. All right. So that concludes our Katie Perry, halftime review, four stars out of five. Wes, your point. How have we gotten this far in the podcast? We haven't even talked about the guy who was going to be the MVP, the MVP of the game from out of nowhere, had never caught a pass in his NFL career until the

until that bizarre end of the game scenario. Chris Matthews, basically when the whole Seahawks team was inept for a quarter and a half, put them on his back, made three plays that led to 17 points and turned the entire game around. I think the one thing I enjoyed the most about it was like the newspaper reporters that were on deadline that had started their Chris Matthews stories and had to finish them for the first edition. So like they were still asking like how great it was for Chris Matthews and everyone's like, well, it doesn't really matter now. That was like, it was the same thing when I was downstairs in the podium area,

and Malcolm Butler was still wearing his jersey and pads. And while he's sitting at the riser, then one, one journo started to really, like, dive in on that. And he was like, hey, man, I noticed you're still wearing your pads. Is it because you don't want to take him off? And he was like, no, not really. I just haven't taken him off yet. Yeah, but it's part of the reason maybe you haven't taken him up

because this moment is so special for you. And he was like, no, not really. Jerno trying to force the angle. Over under on the Butler did it headlines. Oh, no. Well, we'll ask our newspaper consultant Connor O'er, formerly the beatman of the Star Ledger. The Daily News went with balls of steel, which I thought was good. That's like multiple layers there.

One of the keys I thought in turning around for the Patriots was when they took their small cornerbacks off of your boy, Chris Wallace. Matthews. I keep wanting to call him Chris. Wallace, like B.I.G. I mean, this guy came, he never had a catch before this game, which is outrageous. He looked like, like, AJ Green today. Like, I'm convinced he's going to be good just based off this game. He looks better than any. He's a player. I kind of blame the Seahawks for never playing him before this because he looked more physically talented than the rest of their guys. He was re-signed in mid-November. I don't know how well he knew the

offense or had Russell Wilson's trust. I'm guessing that's part of it. But I think you have to give their coaches to have credit for seeing what he's doing in practice and saying, In the biggest game of the year, we're going to make this guy a key part of our offense. So Brandon Browner in the locker room told the story of how he went up to his safety's coach after the game, during the game, rather, after halftime, and said, I want to cover this guy. You know, these guys are too short. They didn't listen to him. They didn't put him on. They gave up the 45-yard play to start the third quarter, and then they finally listened to him.

And he said he was begging them, let me put him on. And the officials really let Browner and those guys play, and I think that helped, you know, both defenses a lot. In the end zone there that was big later in the game. Connor is on the beat, and he's checking Twitter, and he's got some breaking news from Golden Tate's Twitter feed. He says, if I'm Marshawn, I'm livid. So that's, they're slinging a little fire there. Yeah, they talked about, you know, the NFL network broadcast said that they walked past,

you know, a handful of Seahawks players and overheard a similar thing that they were. Bobby Wagner was mipped. Yeah, Tharold Simon, who probably wasn't the guy to be questioning play calling, But he was very aggressive about, I have no idea why they didn't run the ball. Isn't that exactly what caused the issues in Seattle midseason when they, you know, before and after the Harvard trade is like, now you're in that moment. You're going to give it to the guy that everyone wanted you give it to all season long and they don't. Oh, I thought you were going to go somewhere else with that. I thought you were saying now you're seeing some cracks in the armor and maybe dissension in the ranks.

It tears apart the Seahawks little run here. Sit in the joy in Greg's voice right now. Gargamel. What a moment this is for Greg. Well, let's talk about stories from the locker room, tales from the locker room. Mark, we start with you. Give us one interesting thing you saw. It was just, you know, Tom Brady coming in. He's not talking to anyone. But having, you know, the first Super Bowl we covered, Dan, when it was that Giants win over the Patriots,

Brady absolutely devastated in that locker room. And the look on his face, I'll never forget that was the first time I'd done that after Super Bowl. Today, just seemed like a guy at peace. It was really kind of a Michael Jordan wins his multiple title thing where it's pretty cemented. it's a nice way to close the book on his career when he retires in a week you wish we gotta hear TD what are you got no it's going back to Connor on the tweet from

what's his name? Why does Connor always get his last name mentioned by the way? That's one of those guys he's the last name first name of him. Cindy Rice also XC authoritative he tweets out second and goal from the one yard line one time out and baseball in the backfield

I would not have thrown that ball to Jerry Rice hashtag fail so the second guessing. Jerry Rice isn't even on the team. Rice is like 59 years old. He had his stint with the Seahawks. It didn't work out so well. Michael Bennett also said when I talked to him, and that's another tease too, a little later.

Someone said that Emmett Smith called it the worst play call in history. And Bennett's, John Sanders. Bennett's snipe back. Emmett Smith's time has passed. It's over. Well, we're talking about scenes from the locker room. He's in a great mood, by the way. Why don't we just hear your Michael Bennett story?

All right. So I was talking to Michael Bennett at the risers. They have a little not in the locker room, but there's a little conference room, I guess, that has everybody basically gets up for their own short amount of time. And Michael Bennett, who was everybody's favorite player during Media Day and all week because of his unique outlook on life and his odd sense of humor, especially in relation to other players. And for three quarters tonight.

And he was a great player tonight. He was incredible. Yeah. I thought he was in the mix for MVP. So, you know, when he's, people are asking him questions, And I would say one out of every two questions was met with some derision from him where he would insult the reporter who asked it, saying, oh, the most you've ever lived in your life is probably a microphone or that recorder right there. He called a couple people's questions stupid. And then I should have known it was coming, but I asked it anyway.

I asked my question. I said, what was the feeling on the sideline after that wild catch by curse was followed almost immediately by that interception? was their shock. What was the shock on the sideline? Granted, not the greatest question in the world, but, you know, get off my back. His response about as shocked as your wife when she saw your penis for the first time.

And then after a beat, because it's small. Well, that was good at. I'm glad he buttoned it up at the end there, just to make sure. So I already wrote a blog post about it, and I wrote it at the end of it, you know, he took a shot at my male anatomy, but now I know that Michael Bennett's a which is ironic. But that was quickly pulled by the bosses.

T's like, wait, I have more editing. Yeah, exactly. Tadis like, how much of this can we use? Whatever, you know, we got one of those deeps here. That was my fun encounter with Michael Bennett on Super Bowl Sunday. So, you know, I consider that one of the highlights of my career, but it speaks to the frustration of Bennett and the entire team and maybe his two-faced nature, ultimately. What do you got from the locker room got?

I was just stunned at kind of the composure that Pete Carroll showed. I mean, he really had to come out and explain his reasoning, which was semi-complex to a bunch of people that were on deadline and really just wanted to call him that play called the worst in history. He not only took the blame, he explained it several times, and he tried to shield all of his coordinators and players, which I thought was, you know, it was crazy to see that. I'm just learning tonight that there is no deadline when you work for an online site. He's in a former newspaper man. He's realizing it's three in the morning.

positive to print. By the way, it is a good point, Connor, that the head coach went out of his way, not to throw anybody under the bus, and then the O.C. does it, like, concurrently. Yeah, that's not going to look so good in head coach interview. He said Lockett didn't really fight for the ball that Butler picked off. He had no leverage on that play, though. I mean, like, I mean, his defender was starting from so far back in the end zone. I mean, you saw that photo that we talked about right before the podcast started. I mean, he got leveled. I mean, I would love to see where he wanted him on that play. I heard a lot of people saying this can't be the greatest Super Bowl ever because the

Seahawks lost that the Patriots didn't win it. What? That's absurd. Butler made the play, and Tom Brady riddled the best past defense in football with two epic fourth quarter drives. And they were crazy. The Patriots definitely won that game. And they were inside the 10-yard line.

Maybe they would have gotten there anywhere, but they were inside the 10-yard line from one of the flukiest plays in animal history. I mean, it was a great play, but it was insane. But the Patriots defensive backs have, what, three past deflections and an interception just in that final section of plays? I was amazed in the locker room how quiet the Patriots locker was. They floated into the locker room. I almost wish I didn't go down because it was so sedate. I talked with a couple of people afterwards.

It was definitely the most calm Super Bowl locker. There were still a Patriots like, yeah, we're not going to quite celebrate now while the media is here and really embrace talking to the media and now. We're going to wait until everyone's got. And I get it. coming in. Right. I get it. There were little moments. Like, people were taking, I love seeing that, like, the players were taking

photos with the trophy and Mr. Kraft and Robert Kraft, and like, they were loving that. Mr. Kraft. I call him Mr. Kraft. My God. By the way, I... Yeah, it did. It really did happen. Listen, he's floating right now. Mark, both you and I have

had the fortune of being in the winning locker room four straight years now of these Super Bowl teams. And I've always been shocked, and I wrote about this in my the blog that the first year, which happened to be the last time the Patriots in the Super Bowl before today, I remember gathering my stuff and thinking, oh man, this stuff might get champagne on it. Oh, no. I was so naive and stupid at the time, but that's not how these locker rooms ever are. They're

almost always very kind of surprisingly calm. They're not like what you would see in other sports where there's just a raucous celebration. And I, you know, I wrote before that it makes sense, though, the amount of adrenaline that these guys are on when the game happens and just the mind. monumental nature of the win, maybe the locker room is where the guys kind of just decompress a little bit. You need time. If you get yourself that high, it's not like baseball. You're getting yourself to a much higher peak of adrenaline in football. You need time. Well, plus it's weird because we're all there. Yeah, but Wesleyan made a good point. These teams are a reflection of the coaches. And I would say that

it isn't just that you need time because last week when we went into our last one into the Seattle locker room, man, they were on fire. they were all having the time of their life and p. Carroll was right in the middle they were doing cheers i mean you went in tonight in new in new england and maybe some people don't like the patriots because of this but it was a morgan there and it was business as usual and i've not it was i think they're going to be parted it just wasn't they are it's just there will be a gronk video up in about seven hours on every sports blog in the country we are who we are right you want to be a part of that that's fine we'll have you there or not the patriots are like we're going to

do this at another time and place i mean it's a strange super bowl locker room Right. Honestly, the thing I'll remember most from that whole scene was I kind of watched, I left around the same time Belichick did. He, you know, he saw me leave and he was like, okay, I guess this is over. So he walked out with Linda Holiday and they were walking down the hallway. And someone, you know, some guy from the Patriots like yells at Belichick, like, yells at him. He's like, hey, hey, you want some food. He's like, we got some chicken tenders. So we got some chicken tenders. And Belichick kind of like looks over. He like walks past and he stops. And he's and he thinks about it for a minute. And he goes and kind of looks at it and has like, oh, this. sucks but then he just takes it and shoves it in his face anyways you know that's the night to go have those chicken numbers isn't super bowl life just saying hey bill he's just like one of us you know all right gentlemen what else do we want to talk about before we get out of here i think we got we got to leave eventually td's dying over here russell wilson just you know set his career back potentially forever and td is soaking that in anything else guys that we want to talk about before we head back to phoenix one quick moment which you know gregg you're very proud of you

day and happy for you but a little bit of uh proud of me what did i do a little bit of a black mark because when you want to get into journal ethics you know got a lot of journal total journal ethic uh conversation coming up the super bowl i look over and gregg is sent out on both instagram and and twitter a picture that he took a bellichick like reaching out to be like hey how are you man good to see you thank you and puts a quote in addressing that belichick had spoken to gregg thanking gregg's done i thought actually one of not accurate and potentially unprofessional Well, other than that, everything is. Definitely, I'm professional.

But the one I sent from the Around the League account, actually, it said, great job all year by the ATNFL guys, love the podcast. He's a big fan. Even more untrue. Wow. We don't know that to be untrue. You weren't there. It wasn't a quote.

Anyways, I'm not going to get stuck on that. We've gone off track. Great stadium, by the way, here. Oh, yeah, beautiful day. When they opened up the roof, I thought that made, in my mind, it put me in a much better mood. It just, what a beautiful. After a very rainy, lousy week, it just came out for the football.

I don't know why we come to the Super Bowl games 14 to 18 hours before kickoff every year. No one's ever quite defined why that happens, but it's what happens. We drove here in a deep fog where you couldn't even see the stadium until you were right in front of it. It was like the iceberg and the Titanic. By the way, now it's locked and we're not getting out until roughly 10 in the morning. TD nodding his head. Someone's going to go down for this. Greg, I think we're going to give you.

We're going to give you the floor now to espouse about the Patriots and what they accomplished. I don't like this, you know. Just own the moment. It's a big moment for you. It will never happen for me or Mark. Or Connor, who's also a Browns fan. Wes lives in a state of football purgatory. This is your moment right now.

I mean, I'm good. I'm good. I don't want anything more as a fan for any of my teams for the Patriots. Like, this was the one. I don't believe a word of that. Well, I believe it right now. It's a bunch of garbage. Next year they'll be back in the playoffs and you'll be rooting this before.

Of course I'll want them to win, but this was really the one that you just wanted to get that one more to kind of solidify all this success that they've had since 2010. And there is something about how it started in controversy with the tuck rule and everyone's kind of hated them ever since SpyGate Gate. And you had all this deflate gate the last couple weeks. And just for them to win kind of in that old school early 2000's way like they did with a, with a role player making the big play at the end, just kind of with a big middle finger to everyone else. Oh, let's calm down with that.

But again, think about it. Think how close we came 2414 in the fourth quarter, how close we came to Tom Brady winning three straight Super Bowls, then losing three straight Super Bowls, and that really being a bittersweet, let's face a black mark on how he's remembered as the guy that started strong and ended week in the biggest game. instead all that's wiped off the books four out of six is dominant and and listen i i tweeted it

it was in the heat of the moment but i still stand by it um i do like to like to have fun and talk about the greatest quarterback ever stuff i think he's the best ever i think i agree with i think this game mocked it up he's going to have he's going to be in the top five in every major passing category by the time he finally quits maybe top three and he has four rings and six super bowl appearances at least we think to me i guess it's up to cap off the day for me We're here last year, and we're talking about Peyton Manning's legacy, and going into that game, most people considered him greater all time than Tom Brady. A year later, we're not even bringing up Peyton Manning in the discussion.

Brady has distanced himself a little bit from Peyton Man. It is such a weird sport, though. It's true. I wrote it right when that drive started by the Seahawks that what the Patriots defenders do, what Malcolm Butler and Jamie Collins does for the next three minutes is going to change the way we talk about Tom Brady for the next 50 years. That's just how it is. And Connor, to just talk about for the Patriots to do this in Seattle.

Did you hear that crowd, the way they were cheering here in this building? This was a Seahawks home game, basically, and the Patriots shut them all up and sent them home sad and moping. I mean, we addressed it earlier, but Bill Belichick was roundly booed during the national anthem. That was pretty crazy. On my television, I mean, that was the atmosphere there. It really felt, and I will give Patriots fans credit, it did. They got pretty loud when good things happened. for the pets too, but this was probably

a 70, 30, 60, 65. It felt like 90-10 up here. It was so loud. It was probably 90 to 95% Seahawks fans. But there was a good amount of noise when the Patriots did things. So they must have been Patriots fans in the building.

Maybe some of those Seahawks fans jumped ship and went over to the game. I thought it was the loudest Super Bowl I've ever been. I thought it was a pretty big factor in the game. Like Brady was having trouble. Just everything sound-wise. It was insane how loud they were. I did feel bad.

for our social media interloper goose price guffsson i looked i was sitting behind us turned well we all did because you know he's back here we couldn't even see him but turned around he just had he's a notorious seahawks fan family involved with the seahawks organization thousand yards stare into nowhere you know what's interesting you that is sad well because that for those he came up after me 10 minutes later he's also the nicest guy in the world too so he was like oh golly right 10 minutes later he came over to me like shook my hand said i'm glad we're still friends and congratulations like fans do anything. Mark quietly was the biggest cheerer in the Patriots corner. Wes, Mark and I were in the same corner. And Mark was, when things were going poorly for

the Patriots, he was getting fired up pretty pissed. He was showing more emotion than me. I had to be your good cop, bad cop because I'm like, I know Greg is quietly going crazy, but he's an editor. He's got high-level bosses watching his behavior. So I had to be the one that was a little bit more emotional to show Greg he wasn't alone. The mystery of the game, I want to know who threw the Skittles that buzzed Mark Sessler's Tower. We're in the highest possible place

in this building, and the Skittles came from above us. I don't know how that happens. Speaking of covert footage of high above bosses, one of the management figures got a video exclusive around the NFL exclusive footage of Greg celebrating and Mark and West celebrating the go-ahad Patriot touchdown in the fourth. quarter it was it was my takeaway again you will not see me in that shot

whoever took this footage how high level executive or not does did not have a lot to do during this game right they were literally taping us instead of the biggest play in the super ball um all right gentlemen Greg you are the boss we have reached the end of another season together I just want to say thanks to all our listeners first of all because Nice start. It's, I don't know. It's awesome how much this podcast grown. It was a great feeling seeing Mark and Wes and Dan on Friday and Connor when we're doing this video that they started.

You can still watch that, by the way. They started the debate club a couple years ago, and the podcast is grown. It's because of you guys telling your friends, and here we are doing videos. Next year, we're going to be back on Radio Row, except that is going to be on NFL Network. Wow. Well, we already get them. That one caught me off guard. We're already getting the beep out.

By the way, let's get the on-to-London train back moving for next year. So let's, again, I don't know, what did we come up with again? It was send a postcard, a British-based postcard, to the league home office on 345 Park Avenue, send the around-the-league team to London for one of those games because we know we have a huge fan base here out in the UK and we want to meet everybody and do it. So that's a big bucket list for.

me personally for next year maybe not the jaguars we we have we have the best job in the world so much fun to be here covering these historic games and these guys killed it all week dan mark west connor you know kind of a solid uh oh shots fire i'm just kidding i didn't want to give too much praise the first actually connor's been killing it all week features the news the podcast late night crank it out i'm just saying it was a great it was a great week for us I love coming out here. It was fun. Special shout out to our international listeners who have been an ever-growing presence on Twitter,

and they get involved. Let's go, America. Step it up in 2015. Trying to, you know, soften that situation where he still hasn't gotten that map together. Right. Oh, it's out there. And finally, last but not least, a special shout out, and congratulations to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

I thought about them tonight. really good guys they deserve another title for their wretched city I thought you were going to go TD it's been a great well you missed TD don't put TD on me because I wasn't done there we go I just did it so that's it that's it for the second annual Super Bowl Sunday edition of the around the NFL podcast we're going to take a couple days off to recharge our batteries at least a couple of us are slowly dying so there's going to be some IVs needed but we'll be back I think we'll have our next show on Thursday so

Let this one slow cook a little bit. Percolate. And percolate. So enjoy it. And thanks for listening. Let's get on the bus to Glendell. This is, or to Phoenix. This is Dan Hansis, signing off for the boss, space ghost, the mailman, the sizzler, and T-D in the press box.

Right. Until Thursday. I got one question. Give me a bra. Your ma-bra? Give me a bra. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

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