NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Unsolved Mysteries of the NFL Postseason (and beyond)

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Colleen Wolfe talk about the unsolved mysteries from around the NFL. Before the heroes explore the unknown, they get you caught up on news from around the league including the the Titans hiring Brian Callahan (08:40), Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers (17:45), the Raiders hiring Antonio Pierce (22:17) and the Eagles keeping Nick Sirianni (26:50). After the break, they explore the mysteries surrounding Bill Belichick and the Falcons (44:03), the Lions defense (51:50), and the Buccaneers (55:45) and Dolphins (01:01:10) offseason moves. Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I am 43. From the Chris Wesley podcast studio, it's around the NFL. Dan Hans is here with Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler, and you heard it. I've been teasing this. Really, since the Use Your Illusions double album, Colleen would be on the show again, and she has, yes, returned fresh from Detroit. You guys, I missed you. There were a couple people on Twitter that were like,

Dan really needs you to return this week. So, you should. I needed you. I missed you. We all missed you. I don't like not being around. I miss you guys. I feel like my energy, my orbit, all of it is off when I'm not with you guys.

I don't see you at least once a week. So now all is right. It becomes clear on Tuesdays that Mark and I are not enough. We are not enough. That is not true. I think Dan, there was a. And I know he really meant it because it was off air too where he's just like, this show just needs a shot of Colleen.

Just really needs some Colleen. I got shots. Let's go. You were in Detroit. Yeah, speaking of shots. Because I remember being down of the field after the Super Bowl when the Eagles won. And we'll maybe get to Eagles later for the line. And seeing I connie at like the 30 yard line and bumping into it. You were in tears.

Cut to five years later, tears of joy. Right. You're watching the game with diehard Lions fans, Cynthia Freeland and Michigan native. That must have been nice. Oh, my God. Cynthia is truly such a Lions fan. So it was so much fun to be there with her

because there were so many of her friends and family that were coming through the bar that we were doing live shots from. But then we made it in the stadium just in time right before they started the game for like the end of the pregame ceremony. And you guys were watching like the whole stadium, the way they had the wristbands. it was lighting up, but it was just really cool. And I looked over at Cynthia, and she was just crying.

Like, and this was before the game kicked off. She was already crying. You have a, like, a knack for being present at these groundswell fan events of, like, Lauren Loss. I know, they just hire you to bring you to, you know, the Jets, Cleveland, other teams. Oh, my gosh. Critical mass moments. It's, it was, I just, I really miss traveling for these games.

So it's been really fun because the only two games that I've been to this year have been Lions games. And I had never been to a Lions game before. I'd never been to Detroit before this year and in the span of like five weeks I've been to two games at this point and the fans that I talked to in the bar beforehand

they were so funny because they were like we've just like never been here before literally we don't know how to act we don't know what to do and so they would just randomly start yelling like playoffs like it was almost like a Tourette's type of reaction in the most endearing possible way and I met

this dad who he was like I didn't even know I was coming to the game and my daughter surprised me with tickets when I got off the plane last night. They're right at the 50-yard line. And so I was talking to them. And right before we left, the dad came over. And he's like, you know, I didn't want to mention this beforehand. But my wife passed away eight years ago. She was such a big Lions fan. And we're here to honor her. And it was just so special for you to like have us on the show and blah. So then I started crying. There was a lot of crying going on in Detroit. It was so nice. I love that. I need to get Dan Campbell crying.

really to feed my soul. I think one more win, we might get there. One more win. Dan Campbell, I will keep this to 30 seconds, but I woke up in the middle of the night from like an insane dream where I could tell something like crazy it happened. And then I started, you know, you start to remember it.

And I had been in my childhood house with a bunch of male like bro friends. I didn't know any of them in real life. But then my neighbors down the hill, this is like my real childhood house. Dan Campbell was a teacher teaching people about the Detroit Lions and came up.

the hill and gave me an assignment to do a book report on the Detroit Lions and then the dream ended. Stop it. I love dream stories. I love dream stories. He hit it right at 30. Dream stories are the worst, but it was football related and it left me awake for like another hour and a half trying to figure out what was happening. I love

that Dan is visiting you and your dreams. He was large too. It was like the real sized person, the real sized Dan Campbell stuff. Mark how are you, buddy? Are you ready for a big at your next watch party? Well, I haven't really thought about that, but

I do want a W. You got any tips? Whether you're cheering on your favorite team or hosting a movie night, DeJorno knows planning a winning watch party on a budget isn't easy. Well, thank you for that advice, man. I get the anxiety, you know, and I know my cess dog, he loves hosting,

hangs with all his work friends, everything needs to be just right. You need the perfect setting, the perfect squad, the perfect eats, and the perfect plan to keep everyone pumped all night long. That's what you always say, man. Perfect eats, perfect squad. That's your whole thing, keeping everybody pumped up.

I like to just wing it at parties, you know? No, you need to draw up the perfect plan. Luckily, you're a game time mastermind, and you know the grabbing a de journo classic crust pizza is one call that brings home a W with half a pound of cheese, sauce, and other toppings at an incredible price. It's your game day MVP, most valuable pizza. Thank you for all the sports metaphors.

It helps a regular guy like me. So I guess I'll just make the call and have it sent to the house. It's not delivery. It's DeJorna. Ah, yes. Well, thanks, Margo. It was good info. I now understand the text that I read during that, as opposed to before.

I sound like I have a gun to my head. Well, it's funny putting together a masterful bit like that and send that straight to the Webby's. A rifle to me. As I'm listening to it over and over again. I'm like, this, this is an angry read. Yeah. This man is angry as he's reading it. And maybe that's why people are really connecting with it

because it's so unusual for someone to read an ad about pizza, like from a grocery store and be furious as they do it. I wonder if that's why the journal has not gotten back to me as I thought. I'm like, I'd never actually heard it. I think one mistake we make is because we wrap the show. And like we've got our coats on and like my car started out the parking line. Now we need you to read an ad and so I'm like knock it out baby. It's like Thursday after a little so it's a little

yeah I think if we just do it maybe before the show you're gonna you're gonna get part of me doing that show for something you need me yeah that's fine and you're gonna get I'll be pleasant and everything but I've learned actually because I'm not gonna I don't want to sound like that on the next ad spot that I well but it's your thing have pizza you didn't have the diurno before you had the reads I also know they got more pop and they just got a whole five minute bit on the show for free. This was not like a live read.

Are you ready for a big W at your next watch party? I would say this. I don't know who we're reading these ads for, but we don't see the product or payment for it. So we just simply, we do it out of the kindness of our hearts. I know Greg is looking at Dan, like, don't say that.

Don't I get it, but like we've never, I've not received any de journo pizzas. I'll let you cook. Just like that dejourno in the microphone. Bye, I'm done. All right. Let's do some news. night there are 70,000 plus

who are screaming against him well that's how many fans I play in front of normally at my house pretend like they're all there but there's zero but right now Tony Romo ladies and gentlemen

didn't know what word was coming next as they were tumbling from his mouth sometimes you just start talking and you figure out where the journey is going to take you I don't know who does that but like how many people

watch that game. In Romo's defense, I guess we've all been there, but when you're doing that in addition to the panic of, wait, what am I saying? How do I land this? I hate when that happens. Knowing that there's, what, like 50 million people? Problematic.

It's difficult. Landing the plane when there's a lot of turbulence like that, it's really rough. All right, let's get to the news. The Titan have a new head coach. They plan to hire Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.

The Pellraiser reported on Monday night. He had a second interview with the team on Monday. And he's staying. He had interviews scheduled with the Falcons and Panthers for their vacant head coaching gigs. But they decide or he decides, I don't need to go anywhere else. I like this spot. So Callahan, Mark, who had success in Cincinnati. and I think it probably helped him

the way the season went on after they lost Burrow that they remained competitive on offense. He ends up getting a gig and that's what happens with successful organizations. They lose their coordinators. Well, we're obviously like getting deeper and deeper to the trend of just younger coaches

being made head coaches. He's 39. He has already worked with Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Joe Burrow, obviously. You can throw Derek Carr in there if you want. But he's like a, he's a life like he's the son of Bill Callaghan. It's like he's been around head coaching and around the NFL since, like, his earliest days.

And so I think he's a little bit anonymous just because he's not the guy who was the obvious play call or he wasn't in Cincinnati, but he's been around football forever. And I mean, I kind of was like tracking some Titan fans' reaction to this. And they're fired up because I think like the Mike Rable experience for some kind of hit its wall and you have this defensive coach who does things his own way. And it feels a little bit like an attempt to modernize the Titans. bring them up to speed with other teams that are offensive based. Good news for Will Levis.

They've got the second most cap space in the NFL. But I do wonder, like, does this mean like Bill Callahan comes over to Tennessee 2 and recreates that offensive line to work with that? That alone would make him worth it, Brian Callahan, if you could bring his dad. Bill Callahan, the best offensive line coach in the entire NFL. He's with the Browns. So you could fire him and show him that, dad, you're not under my thumb anymore. Great power play, familial.

Uh, that would be amazing. I don't, oh my God. What? Why would the, I guess why would the Browns let, um, Bill Callahan do that unless they just wanted to be nice and let them work with them. Or you could, you could make him like, you know, assistant, but they, they did that even last year. I think they gave him a big raise. I would guess he's, you know, if not the highest paid offensive line coach in the league, uh, close. People love Brian Callahan.

I'm sort of over even guessing which of these coaches are going to be good or not when they get hired because it's just the most impossible thing to predict. you made a good point that he hasn't been a play caller. So we don't know his profile too much, but we do know like there are only so many of these McVay Tree guys every year. And like everyone wants one now. Like Zach Robinson is a guy who's getting interviews all over the place for coordinator jobs to bump up a level. Bobby Slowick might get one of these head coaching jobs.

There's like only a couple of them out there and they all eventually get hired. At some point, I feel like, won't this have diminishing returns? But to be fair, it really hasn't yet. They're almost all hitting. It is an offense that's working. I think their number one objective of the Titans

was to find a coach to work with Will Levis. It really struck me the owner, Amy Strunk, saying, when they asked her, what's there to be positive about this Titans team? And she, like, went with, oh, we have a quarterback to build around. I was like, oh, okay, that's how they're kind of viewing Will Levis. Like, I get it. He's a first-round pick, but they're really looking at him as the guy and Callahan's going to be the guy to make him better.

And for Levis, it's going to be his fourth offense in four different seasons. But Callahan's offense, it's going to have obviously some similar concepts as Zach Taylor in Cincinnati. And Taylor worked with Levis's former offensive coordinator from Kentucky, Liam Cohn, for a season with the Rams. So there might be some overlap there. But the Titans always had eyes for Callahan. This was like the first candidate that they requested. It was the first one that they met with virtually. It was the first person that they had in person.

in the building. And I think it's positive that Callahan has a track record of getting good production out of an offense with a shaky offensive line like he did in Cincinnati because that's exactly the issues that are in Tennessee with that offensive line there. So bringing him in to try and develop Will Levis. I mean, the Titans have never had offensive continuity under Mike Rabel. It was four different offensive coordinators during that time. So I'm wondering if not only will he bring over his dad from Cleveland but also will they end up hiring Alex Van Pelt, the offensive

coordinator who was let go by Kevin Stefansky at the end of the season because Van Pelt previously worked in Cincinnati as the quarterbacks coach with Calihan for two seasons. I went down such a rabbit hole. I spent way too much time on this one. This is why we missed you. He worked directly with Callahan

so they're probably going to share some similar concepts. I came up with a little list of potential offensive players that he could hire including... Now you're scaring me. Liam Cohen, who is the offensive coordinator at Kentucky, so then maybe they end up keeping their quarterbacks coach, who is in place now in Tennessee, just for like that continuity.

But Leon Cohen seemed to get blamed quite a bit for the 2022 Rams disaster. Fair. That's fair. For what it's worth. Was it his fault? Who knows? We'll find out. Sounds like a fall man to me, Roald. Is it Studsville? Studsville?

I like to call him Studsville. I like to call him Studsville. Formerer interim head coach of the Denver Bronco. That's not objective. testify the coaches, Connie? Well, Studsville, Studeville, and Calihan. Was he one of the co-o-o-censees? He was.

He was a co-offensive coordinator. Keep getting deeper. Keep going. Okay, so he's survived multiple coaching regimes in Miami. He's been the running backs coach, one game coordinator, the co-offensive coordinator, and Callahan and Studeville spent six seasons together with the Broncos. So there's also that connection there.

You mentioned Derek Carr, by the way, how he's time with him. To the core of the time with him. Core of the art. You could just, like, throw him in, but you might remember that he helped Eric Carr reach his first 4,000 yard passing season. So I did that.

Wow. You can leave now if you want because that's an incredible amount of heavy lifting. I have nothing else to offer you guys. I ran out of time on the road. That was good. That was more than we could have. We got to move on, but I just,

I will just throw out there. It's not a Desmond Ritter situation, but, you know, they have the seventh overall pick. We're definitely all in on Will Levis. We're just all in. I don't think you should be. I think you should have open eyes. I know he had some pretty nice moments.

But just see what falls to you at seven because, you know, you can do a lot. Which is tricky, obviously, because if you take a quarterback, he was the 33rd overall pick last year. If you take another quarterback, you're not only kind of punting on that, you're also passing up a chance to add a major piece around him on the offensive line or is a playmaker. So I get why you probably are going to be in on Levis, but not a perfect prospect. Never was. I agree with being in on him in terms of not drafting another young guy. Add a veteran to the mix

that is going to be a decent backup. That's a good plan too. I just have a plan. Have a backup plan. And then this is the year for that. This is the year for them. In other new, by the way, you know I have a tremendously

close relationship with my father, Mark. Yes, it's evident. Humble brag. But the idea. We all know that. Why are you just singling out Mark? It's like, hey guys who don't really get that. Along with your dad, I'm going to make you feel bad now.

I'm just pointing out, like, if I was appointed to the top of the company and had a chance to just be like, dad, you know, every generation, like, you know, we build. And that would be my opportunity to say, Dad, we've got to let you go. That's all. And imagine being at IBM, Mark, during your dad's time there, getting promoted to Vice President. Being able to call your dad and be like, Dad, you can't tell me what to do anymore. In fact, get the fucking out of your office. You're gone.

I don't have fantasies like this. I don't, like, that, you know. This feels like something. thing you personally might need to unpack a little bit more. You can try to turn it on me. I'm just saying this is an opportunity that young Callahan has. I wouldn't do it to my father. I'm just saying he might want to if they don't have a great relationship.

We don't know like what that relationship is. And to the point of the people that he works with six or seven years, maybe, you know, maybe Brian Canahan just burns people out. Maybe the father burns everyone out. And now it's power rank relationships with our dads. Okay. So Colleen, you and Ed are in a unbelievable. like unbelievable race for the top seat.

I won't do that. We don't need to unpack this stuff. Wait, you're just like, you don't even know. You don't even inquire about this situation on the Greg and Marks. It'll take like until the ninth month of therapy for dance therapist to be like, why is it your greatest wish to fire your own at father? What is this really about? Guys, I'm bringing my dad to the Super Bowl.

You'll be able to hang out with him there. We're going to go to the red carpet honors together. It's going to be great. We love that. Are you going to bring your dad? I've done it four times. Who's brought their dad to the Super Bowl? I have as well, yeah.

I have not. But there were extenuating circumstances around some of that, so. Let's take on that. No, let's move on. Absolutely not. All right. The Chargers and Jim Harbaugh are now in striking distance of getting a deal. You know who that's from?

Mike G., Mike Garifolo, and you know you could trust it. So the Los Angeles Chargers, after saying by to Brandon Staley, they decide it is time to get serious. We think they decide. It's always, it's Harbaugh, who's had some crazy stories over there. the years. Also, striking distance is interesting. Right. It's sometimes he's been at the finish line. So I'm going to give this like an 80% chance, 90% chance. All right. Well, because Mike G is implicitly putting that 10% in that report. So Jim Harbaugh, who's had great success everywhere he's gone from college to the pros back to college and now coming back to

the pros, it looks like, uh, gets a beautiful canvas to work on. Uh, maybe not the perfect charges roster, but not certainly not a bad one either. And most importantly, he comes back to the NFL, uh, with a quarterback that if he hasn't quite reached superstar status yet, obviously has that potential with Justin Herbert. I think everyone that likes Herbert and is frustrated by the arc of his career so far has to be happy about this news, especially Bolt's fans. AFC West, the head coaches are going to be wild if that happens. You're going to have Jim Harbaal, Sean Peyton, Andy Reed,

and then Antonio Pierce, which is a wild card because you just don't know his track record. But still, those other three head coaches in one division, makes those division games so much more fun. I also, I'm hesitant here to get too deep into what it all means, and I'm a little worried about this Aaron Wilson report. Who does good work for the Houston Chronicle? Or was there. Now he covers the Texans for another outlet.

He said Greg Roman would be the offensive coordinator, which is like, Greg Roman, I don't need more, Greg. Not a fan of Greg Rosenthal, never been a Greg Roman guy. No, he's a very interesting. coordinator who you sort of can't write the history of the last 20 years in the NFL without him because he led to that that Colin Kaepernick offense was totally different than anything we'd ever seen and he did a great job with Alex Smith too initially and it could have not have

like crashed and burned harder and then the same thing happened with Lamar Jackson where it's very one-dimensional just like imagining that I guess I'm I guess I have a little bit of scar like crashes and burn because it comes from a very it's speeding at a high rate before that. Look, he was the OC of that 2019. That's what I'm saying. But then they never sort of developed or had answers. They weren't like a complete offense. But we'll see if this happens because

Jim Harbaugh is different than other people. And supposedly he was really close to getting that Vikings job in 2022. And then the Wilf's and at some point I think couldn't stand being in the same room with Jim Harbaugh and all the demands he was making. And it blew up in his

face and he didn't end up getting that job. And he promised. He said, I'm done chasing NFL jobs. Never got to do it again right after that. The very next year, he tries to get the Broncos job. He's reported to be close to getting that job. The Broncos didn't want to hire him either. Again, after he's like, actually, no, I didn't want that job. I'm going to stay at Michigan forever. And so, like, now here we are again. They're close. It's like, I don't know. What is he going to demand? Supposedly, according to Mike Garifolo, they are offering a lot of money and probably all the control that he wants. So I think he found his spot that he will take. But you never know

with this guy. He's a little erratic. Well, there is one thing, though, because the Chargers are a special team in a strange situation eternally because they're in Los Angeles as the undercard always. And their stadiums are filled with the enemy fan base, game after

game. And Harbaugh changes that a lot. I think Harbaugh would juice up the Chargers in a way that Brandon Staley never could. Anyone from the past never could. And he had to work with Alex Smith out of the gate in San Francisco and turned him into a pristine quarterback before they switched over.

I think him and Justin Herbert, like I don't know if I see a two or three or a crash and burn thing. Although the Greg Roman thing is, I thought the relationship by the end of all that was a little funky too. We'll see what this all happened. But I'm not worried about Greg Roman

right now at this point. We'll see what happens. It's kind of fun to imagine Harbaugh with Justin Herbert. There's all these like old Greg Roman headlines that I just pulled up from 2013. Why is his play calling, holding back the Niners?

And I'm sure we could go and find multiple other things with Greg Roman, but the fact that Jim Harbaal is going to be back in the NFL, it's like, I'll believe it when it actually happened. But it will be spicy. It will be... It's great. It's great for the NFL. It's great for this podcast. It's great

for the Chargers, at least in the short term, I think. Great news for Raiders fans that did not want Antonio Pierce to be only an interim coach because they decide to rip that in-term label off. And it will be Antonio Pierce, who will be the full-time head coach,

rap sheet and Mike G reported this on Friday for sources. The team later announced it. Pierce took over for Josh McDaniels and it was just an absolute circus there and a non-competitive just trash bag operation, as Mark would say, floating trash bag, as they say. Whereas he says, only Mark. You're a unique man, Mark. I mean, you're allowed to, you put those words together in the same way as well. Can't do it the way you do it, Mark.

Pierce's hiring comes after he coach raters to five, wins in those final nine games and that along sestog with his very vocal fiery style and the players latching on to him and him being essentially the antithesis of what McDaniels was I think all that kind of came together and got him this job I don't think it's just bells and whistles in terms of how the players responded to him I mean they they were a different defense down the stretch I think it matters I think we're seeing this all over the place like these coaches need to relate to these players in a different way. Meetings need to happen differently.

And there was this drumbeat with Josh McDaniels of like, why is he not getting along with this important guy and this important guy? And there's all these like behind the scenes whispers that this is just not working. So this is like when you have one relationship and you just go to another and you go to someone completely different, Antonio Pierce couldn't be any more different than Josh McDaniels. But I think the hard work begins now because it's like,

nice idea to put O'Connell in there for a bunch of time last year. Jimmy G is Jimmy G. And that thing flamed out. It's like, you've got to figure out who you're going to be because you can't be one of these teams in a power-heavy AFC with a maybe he works quarterback, maybe he gets us six wins type of guy. So it's like a nice story now turns into the acid test. We still got to find out who the GM is.

Don't know that. There's reporting that Marvin Lewis will be involved in the staff, kind of in a over-helping Pierce out. He apparently actually was getting help from peer, he might have been on the staff last year and we didn't really know after Pierce came aboard. Like a costume? Yeah, no. And like, you know, advisory role and Tom Coughlin

helping, he says he knows what he doesn't know and needs some help. Maybe filling out the staff, all this different stuff. And I'm curious to see what the staff looks. There's Zach Robinson. Again, another McVeigh guy is getting interviewed for the OC job that that would be promising. I just think it's should not be lost because we didn't hit it on this podcast that Max Crosby put it out there that he will request the trade

if Antonio Pierce doesn't get hired and then like a day later Antonio Pierce was hired so I just think by the transit of rule Max Crosby runs the team now he's the GM. He's the GM he's the owner he does it all. He's going to be like

looking at the tax receipts from the restaurants inside the it's all Max Crosby I love him. He must really love Antonio Pierce. He's he's. It's moving all the strings. I just, I'm wondering about the offensive. Trade me if you don't hire them? The philosophy there.

If they do end up going with like a McVeigh guy, if it is going to still be like a run first, like with a bunch of play action type concepts. And if he does end up hiring an OC like from McVe or Shanahan going forward. But I think three out of their five offensive line starters are free agents and Josh Jacobs too. So they have, they really got to hire a GM because they have a lot. of questions that they need to figure out.

They might keep Champ Kelly who is there too. And they are letting go of the previous offensive staff, which did a better job. I'd keep an eye on Tom Telesco. There's reporting that, like, if you're, Mark Davis wants, like, because you're at a rookie head coach, like a GM with experience and he's someone they've talked to. And so, I mean, Tom Telesco,

I thought he did a good job with the, with the chargers. And the terms of, like, stockpile. And also the chargers, we didn't mention before, of like the second biggest cap red space issue right now of any team. the league so the chargers yes so you know he left them in some in a bit of a fix too um yes i think the mark davis and company have dreams of this being the next dan campbell hire man there's a lot of work that needs to be done and you know the charge still in the same division as the chiefs it's good luck uh to ntonio pierce and the raiders uh on to philadelphia connie it looks like

Nick Siriani will survive the epic flameout to 2023, but he is cleaning house along the staff. So Sean Desai, the D.C. He gone after being booted upstairs. Matt Patricia, he gone. He decides to pursue other opportunities. They got rid of the OC now. Who's the O.C.?

Ryan Johnson. He gone. So it's that move, Connie, where they decide, what are we going to do? We're going to fire the coach. Or are we just going to clean house under the coach and give him one more shot? And that's where they're going with it. God, what a weird.

You agree with that? No, I mean, no. I think that the team pretty much, like, quit on the coaching staff, whatever the main issue was. Because it really reminded me of that Chargers Raiders game the night before Brandon Staley was fired when the Chargers defense completely gave up. and that's what it looked like watching the Eagles trying to tackle. Like, no one was even trying. And I know that Siriani's record, exactly, his record with the team is good,

and he was just at the Super Bowl last year, and you have players doing the Max Crosby thing, like Fletcher Cox coming out and standing by their man and really, like, kind of pleading to Jeffrey Lurie for him to stay, I think. but watching Jeffrey Lorry at that last game against the Bucks, like I thought for sure that Siriani was going to be gone. That was it. So I'm kind of surprised that he's sticking around,

but it seems like he's sticking around on an extremely short leash. I don't know what happened between like where the friction was with Jalen Hertz and the offensive staff as well because it wasn't just the defense. The offense too was just not doing what it was supposed to be doing. And when you return nine of your 11 start, on offense, and you have an MVP runner up as the quarterback, and you have two incredible wide receivers and a really good tight end, and one of the best offensive lines in the league, you should absolutely be able to do more than they did.

I have a theory. What? I've been workshopping this. What if it's just all inexplicable? Like, football results, like, literally no one knows. Why did that all happen? There actually isn't a reason other than maybe they didn't adjust enough offensively, and that's a big thing.

Like, everyone who's into the exes and I was like, they just ran back the same offense as they did a year ago. But to be fair, like, the offense was kind of fine until the last three weeks of the season. It was pretty good until the last three weeks of the season. And then they joined the defensive collapse. And just like, and then... It's like an intangible thing.

I know that's what I mean, though. But what if, like, literally no one knows? I think that's possible. That's like, I don't know why this team fell apart totally. Like, there isn't a reason. It's just the opposite of momentum. Is it an unsolved mystery? like saving for the next segment.

I was thinking about that. Rosenthal. But that is a mystery. One of the great mysteries. And I think, yeah, I think the owner. Because no one's talking. Lori just threw up his hand. We don't have any great answer.

And them keeping Siriani, maybe they at least don't know the answer. So they're just like, gosh, we, I think they like Nick Syria. They could blame it on the new coordinators, sure. Like, that's a huge difference. But still. That's the easy move. That's the move when you don't want to go.

It's a half measure is what it feels like to me. And what happens when they start two and six next year. not saying they will, but then you lose another whole season for a coach that you already saw. Last year, they already told you they don't want to play for him. So it's a big gamble. I think it's a massive gamble, Connie, to bring him back when if it doesn't work next year, you're going to, there's going to be a ton of second guessing. So this is first guessing, saying, hey, like, this is your fault.

You lost another year here because they told you by the way they played that they were done with this head coach. And I have to look at the cap space and I have to look at the free agents for. next year, too. I don't know what type of shape they're even in, but... They have a lot of big decisions to make. Because it seemed like last year they did, and they just made it work, and it looked like it was going to be good, and Mark it just wasn't. I don't like teams that have

their third O.C. and third DC in three seasons. Like, for a team that a year ago, we're like, they're so consistent, their front office is so forward thinking, it seems like whatever... Well, fairness, they lost the first two because they went to the Super Bowl. No, I mean, but it's still transition. Yes. It's still transition, and it's like, I

I kind of feel like when Doug Peterson refused to make staff changes before his exit that it doesn't feel like this coaches don't want to fire their own guys, their own assistance, even with the decide thing where you want to say,

they're loyal to the dudes for the most part. Unless they're getting fired. But I'm saying, I think it was Lori probably saying you're obviously on the 11th hour here, Siriani, but like you've got us clean house.

And I think you can lose the rest of your staff by doing that. The players already have issues. Like it's a chaotic swirl for the Eagles in this off season. They can look a lot different. It all changed after Big Dom, so that might be it. That's true.

The Big Dom did come back for the playoffs, and that was maybe their worst game. He didn't get any better? Yeah, he was back on the sideline for the player. Well, I guess it triggered, let it just postseason. It was just in the regular season. It was ridiculous. Well, at least that killed that theory.

You can't spend all off season thinking put the guy back on the, you know, but the moment he put hands on that player is really when it began. That's fair. Yeah, hubris, you know. That could be a 70-year curse, Colin. You just know, you never know with those things. Get that juju off of me.

Gross. You know who's interviewing for the Eagles defensive coordinator job, among other people? Who? Ron Rivera.

Wow. I'm just like, wow, this guy loves ball. Stays in the picture. Because he doesn't need the money, but he loves ball. Let's spin the coaches carousel, by the way,

let's wrap this up. The Jaguars, Jaguars hire former fellow. Uh-oh. This is a good transition to our next segment. They hire former Falcons D.C.

Ryan Nielsen. So he's there going to run the show there. Shane Waldron lands with the Bears. He's their new OC. So he's got, going to have a lot of eyes on him. So there's two more. And then in the front office ranks, the carousel spins as well. Dan Morgan hired by the Panthers as their GM.

He was previously the assistant GM under the previous dude. Scott Fitterer, who was fired after the Panthers went 2 and 15. I do have a statement. This is not Tepperby talking. but this is an episode of Teperby a release in a statement. Okay. Now that works.

All right. Here we go. Dan has a thorough knowledge of our football personnel and a clear vision to take us where we all want to go. We know he will attack this opportunity with the same intensity

he did as a Panthers player. He was a linebacker or something. What do you mean? Or something. He was like one of the best linebackers for the league. Oh, my God. Hey, if someone said that about CJ Mosley, I would say like...

Stick it to me. Stick it to me. You'd get bad. Stick it to me, Rosenthal. Those concussions, though. He was kind of a poster boy for too many concussions and it ruined his career. Great. Well, that's the guy I want running my football team.

I'm surprised that they stayed in house considering. Are you? Yes. I'm not. Because it's like things... Because they interviewed everyone. I think Tepper's like, I want someone who's going to follow my orders.

I mean, also, I mean, bear. Morgan, like, rose up through the ranks to become like the director a pro-personal of the Seahawks during their big run. He was with the bills. So, I mean, he's not being pulled out of nowhere, but I am not that surprised. It didn't surprise me that Tepper couldn't go

get a powerful experienced candidate from outside the building. He needs people simply to follow his order. Yeah, they did like seven or eight interviews. They've had so many second interviews with head coaches that it's almost not worth listening. We'll see who they end up higher. I want Ron Rivera going back there. That seems

perfect. He can handle it. He dealt with Snyder. He's already been in the building. He knows where the bathrooms are. The Waldron news to me is the biggest here. Nielsen did a great job, I think, for the Falcons overall with the town. That's a nice hire for them. But the Waldron news is big because first of all, we heard this news that maybe Cliff was interviewing for that job. I'm glad they didn't hire Cliff Kingsbury. Kingsbury's interviewing around. Waldron takes that job. I think knowing he's got the number one overall pick. And I think Walderin did

overall very good job. Another McVaytree guy in Seattle the last couple of years with Gino Smith. You know, Dave Conallis got so much pop moving to Tampa and being the QB coach. It was Shane Waldron who was running that offense the last three years. And for the most part, I think he's a good play caller. He is balanced like they were

creative enough. I know they weren't like incredible, but they were good. And he's probably going to be working with Caleb Williams or Drake May, whoever they choose. And then when he was with golf, golf had two of his best seasons as a passer. When Waldron was the Rams passing game coordinator and quarterback's coach in 2018,

2019. So it's like, who's he going to be calling plays for? We don't know if it's Justin Fields or Caleb Williams, but they hired someone who's going to maximize the talent on that roster and they need someone who's going to create a little bit more of a balanced. They didn't want to wait because this coaching process is taken forever for all these teams. It's never taken this long. And so they snapped up someone quick that I think would have been in all of these interviews once head coaching guys got hired. And he took it because he's like coaching the number one. one overall pick, that's how I get a head coaching job next year. I think they brought on Cliff Kingsbury

and a bit of trickery just to get some Kayla Williams' information. Cliff thought he's getting flown into town for a steak lunch and it's like, we're just going to pick your brain and then send you back home. Doesn't seem nice. I'm sure he got a state. It's not a report.

It's a cutthroat situation. Just like you call him the old man into the office. You got a little vacation. Added him a cardboard box. Take a seat. I feel like based on Cliff's house is going to be a tough conversation.

He doesn't need steak dinners to be paid for. He's good. He's talking to the Steelers about their OC job, according to Peter King. Any other Cliff Kingsbury News? We're good? All right. That's what's happening in the news. All right.

What is that, hey, what is this award that we're trying to win? One of the shadowy league figures sent a text like, hey, idiots, like, try to win this award. Like, plug it on the show. This is why we know we've made it. It only matters so much to us. It is the sports podcast awards that Collie Wolfe was hosted. It's a UK property. That's right.

We're nominated for Best American Football Podcast. I mean, we've got to win that award. Listen, we don't ask for much from the listeners. But where is that? Can he tell us, Eric, where they can go vote for around the NFL? Let's bring home a trophy. It's been a while. It's been a while.

It's been a while. It looks like it's on sportspodcastgroup.com. Okay. And then it's, yeah, it's under the best American football podcast. Just vote for us. Let's take a chip. I'll throw it up on all the socials, IG, so it can make it nice and easy. We're going against Eisen overreaction Monday, which I guess is a separate thing from his show.

Eisen's in the mix. Shannon Sharp and Ocho Cinco are in the mix. Her huddle, if you had multiple votes, I would, you know, her huddles, you know, those are friends of ours. God bless football with Stugats, who took some shots at you. Sessie made it, Sessler. That's a chance to get revenge. Neil Reddles and Jeff Reinbold inside the huddle we're going again?

We're like friends with that. I almost went on their fun. Nat Coombs, PFF, NFL, the fantasy footballers who we had on. There's too many people we know. Why are we plugging them as options? Just go vote for us.

They're not options. Dan's going to have to talk to you after the show. There are a ton of options in every one of these categories, but there's obviously only one number one option. We can't win the overseas Best American Football Podcasts. I'm voting right now. You know what? You know what I'm doing?

I'm pulling a Max Crosby. If we don't win that award, I quit, okay? I will also quit. Well, what about, what if you learn that these awards have been, this is the third year when we haven't yet, this is our first time being nominated. First nomination. So, what's going on?

We did not win the awards previously, assuming this category. Greg, are you going to quit if we don't win? No. No, that was a nice plan. He's setting it up. Well done, Greg. What? We're going to lose the award and then Mark and I will quit.

and then it'll be your show. I don't want anyone to quit. I think... Well done. I think it's all... Very strategic. It's all good. Strategie.

All right, let's... No, let's win. Mark and I are out if we don't win. Did you guys vote? I just voted. And this isn't like... I'm not even going to vote because I don't want it.

Yeah. No, don't need it. It's in the hands of the listeners. Wow. It's inglorious, sir. All right. Yes. It's like...

When you lose by two votes, that's going to suck. We're gone. In fact, you know what? We're going to do the move. We're going to do the election move from a few years ago. We're leaving the country as well. Yep. We're going to Canada.

Or some other country, but yes. Mexico. I mean, if we're really leaving, if we're starting over, it may not be Canada. Let's go to Mexico. Mexico. Now I'm going with you guys for some reason. All right, Colleen's out too. Is that what you want?

All right. Let's take a break. And then we're going to dig into some scary territory. It's 5.23 p.m. One of your kids is asking for a snack. Another is building a fort out of your clean laundry. And you're staring at a half-empty fridge and thinking, what are we even going to eat tonight?

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You knowvo, The novo. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that.

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones & Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This program is about unsolved mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual family members and police officials

have participated in recreating the events. What you're about to see is not a news broadcast. whenever you heard the voiceover it was like get out the blanket make sure the back door's locked I hated it hated it it is time now to explore

some unsolved mysteries of the NFL playoffs and beyond and you know what Mark you're a big conspiracy guy some mysteries don't want to be solved you know and then they take on a whole life of their own so maybe that's how this ends

and it's always because you always wanted at the end of the ep of with stack and company you want an update and then wanted closure visceral reaction to that when that happens so there's a frustration because we won't have any update at the end of this episode not that we know of but we're going to put it out there

what what needs to be solved what's out there what is out there what is your favorite type of unsolved mystery episode I like the paranormal ghost lady on the lake type stuff

so my god I hated that I hate it if you go and now there's like the channel that has like it's unsolved mystery nonstop one like um

fast channel they do there's a big problem with unsolved mysteries in general is that they have to go recreate with like typically low level actors

right and it's a lot of them become unwatchable but my favorite plot line that made it more watchable for me, but teach their own. Well, yeah, it was variable. I mean, to me, even as a child for some reason,

I always liked the guy that was living like multiple lives in different states back before the internet where it's like... That checks out. I'm just saying, like, it's, it is incredible micromanaging skills. Oh, yeah. Like, it was always some business guy that wasn't accountable to anyone,

like able to have like situation in Iowa, situation somewhere in like Northern California flipping back between the, because all the rest is like ghost stories and murders and it's like cool. But like, to me was like, weren't you so mad when the internet came and it made the world smaller? You can't do it.

You can't do any. That guy doesn't exist anymore. What happens when a family member is on Unsolved Mysteries? Did that happen for you? We've talked about it on the show more. He was on the show. John's grandfather disappeared in Vegas in the 80s and his family was interviewed on Unsolved Mysteries

because it's still a cold case. They never found his body. They found his car at the airport at McCarron and his name was not on any of the flight manifest and the we actually got the police reports from Vegas and it reads like a whodunn it's great I thought John was working

on like an eight part podcast about this well we'll see I would listen the hell out of that oh yeah sometimes I just like yeah his his 1988 Cadillac was found at the airport but no evidence of him taking a flight I like to think he's

somewhere in Mexico right now. Yeah, that would be the brighter end of the rainbow there. You know, the worst episodes were, I haven't seen my sister in 50 years since we were split up at the orphanage. Don't care. Yeah, and then they reunite and just like massive snooze fest. Raging.

I'm happy for you, but not for me. I saw one where it was like talking about someone spontaneously combusted and just like. I like that. And I, it shook me for my entire life. I was like at some point, Am I just going to light on fire and die? It's possible.

I didn't know until Unolved Mysteries. All right. Here we go. Let's get into it. Greg, it's time to unpack some unsolved mysteries. Did you have anything to share? Do you ever have a family member on Unsolved Mysteries? I have not.

Nor have I. Have you ever watched the show? I have not. I was sort of sensing Greg sitting back there. little bit, but that's fair. You don't have any connection to Robert Stack? I can't tell. I've not seen it.

I'm so disappointed. He is being honest. He's being honest. No one watched more TV than me for ages 7 to 12. I challenge you all. All right. That's okay, though. You don't need to know it.

We've talked about it enough on the show for you to be aware of the program by now. Anyway, so I'll start. Are we about in Atlanta to a galaxy brain our way out? out of having Bill Belichick as the head coach. Is that where we're at? The Athletic reported on Tuesday morning that Mike Vrable is expected to interview for the vacant head coaching vacancy.

When that happens, he will be the 14th person to do so. I love this. On Sunday. He scored two touchdowns of interviews. On Sunday, with the extra points. On Sunday, they knocked out two in one day. They got Texans. Benz O.C. Bobby Slowick. Detroit

O.C. Ben Johnson. These guys had like playoff games. Do you think they were like how efficient could that have been at? What kind of interview could that have been? Those take a long time too. Those guys weren't able to prepare for those interviews. What's the point? I don't get it. Anyway, Rooney rule, they are all

over that as well. They've interviewed six minority candidates. The only guy so far of that group to get a second interview will be Rahim Morris and that will happen this week. So that all takes us back to Bill. And he has met with the Falcons twice. Most recently on Friday, this again, per the athletic,

in a meeting that included Arthur Blank, the owner, team CEO Rich McKay, team president Greg Beatles, GM, Terry Fontna. And yet, he doesn't have the job that has been offered. Bill hasn't taken any other formal interviews. And I think this would be a horrendous decision by the Falcons. I think it's a home run hire. but they're at least, because of the depth, Gregi, of how deep they're going in,

it's not for show. They're really wrestling with the decision, or they've outright passed on Belichick. They're, according to the coaching tracker on NFL.com, people should check that out. There's been eight second interviews, or scheduled or completed. Eight second interviews.

When does it become too much, by the way? FYI. Well, I think we're already there. At one point, paralysis by analysis, what does that set in? I think the mystery here is, does anyone really want Belichick? Because the reporting around Belichick from the outside sounds like the reporting that you would get if there actually wasn't much interest in Bill Belichick and that his agent is using his connections to make it sound like Bill Belichick has a lot of interest. Oh, the Falcons are after him so hard. He's their number one pick.

Oh, this is happening. Okay, well, look what's actually happening. And then there's some pushback that, like, no, actually the Falcons are looking at a million people. He might not be the number one pick. It's a weird setup. Oh, there's other teams that are really interested in him, including one that's still in the playoffs. You know, if they lose, but they're circling him. It's like, okay, let's see it.

Because there are only five openings left, and they all seem to be circling different people. I think the mystery or possibly the solution here is that Bill Belichick doesn't really have that big of a market. What if he doesn't want it? What if he is the one who is lukewarm on coming back? What if he wants to do a Sean Payton type year and just do take time out? Well, then he would interview twice for this job, though. Well, but to your point, maybe he's like on the fence, though. Right.

Maybe they, maybe even they did want it, but he doesn't want to be reporting to Rich McKay, you know, like, and that's the setup there or whatever the setup's going to be. Right. Like, Belichick, I think, is probably very driven to get that Don Shula Mark beaten. I mean, from one angle, but from another angle, like, they really cert, like, they characterize it not as an interview with Arthur Blank. They talked. And I think a lot of it is Belichick saying, look, I don't care who anyone is. Like, I've been, I'm the greatest coach around, maybe not in those words, obviously, but like, here's how I structure my front office. Here's how I've been doing things.

I've been doing it for 20 plus years and the results speak for themselves. Like, if you're going to put up blockades and make. me at my age change and do things in a falcons way when the falcons have nothing to show for it like this doesn't fit for me I could see it where he is peacefully saying I could wait a year or I don't I'm not going to jump into the wrong situation

we don't know what the falcons I agree with that presented to him and the Raiders went after Tom Brady a few years back and then the bucks got him and there wasn't a huge market for Tom Brady otherwise I think this is that same thing all over again but with a head coach like take a chance on Bill

like being more motivated than ever and getting the greatest most successful coach in NFL history. I think it would be a huge mistake by the NFL on the level of the Lamar Jackson situation. If you let this hiring cycle go by and everyone ends like, nah, he's not

going to be for us. Yeah, but Lamar Jackson wasn't coming off of two awful seasons. Well, they weren't high level seasons by his stand. No, they were bad. He did a bad... Then he got hurt both years and missed the end of the season. Oh, Lamar. I mean,

Omar was playing well. My point is Bill Belichick did a bad job at what his job was the last two seasons. And it is a, what have you done for me? You can say that about Tom Brady. It's all relative. But he was a guy that appeared to be in decline in the last couple of years there. Even there, like, those guys are playing at a level that's much higher than the average performer. I would say it's fair to point out Belichick did not coach and run that organization in an average way the last two seasons. That's the thing. Between the Patricia year and what I was. But this is my point. My point is if people are going to look at how the end of the Patriots run

when after Tom Brady left, I think you're overthinking it when you have an opportunity to give him a fresh start. And listen, go hire some 37 year old offensive coordinator that's never been a coach. Be the Raiders and hire a guy in Antonio Pierce that was an interim coach that was coaching high school the year before. That's all cool if you want to do that. But like the idea of fair talking yourself out of Belichick, I just, I think it's a possible.

possibility of a huge thing. I think when you've rooted for a team where you've never had a Bell Belichick or anything close to him as a coach, your mind's going to like, why not take a shot at this? You made earlier in news. It's not even a trend anymore. It's the way it is. Everyone wants to get the young guy now. And you want it's like you want him to almost be the face of your organization. I think that's one of the reasons like my team, Robert Salas, still has a job. They like the way he looks. They like the way he presents himself. And Belichick is like a 72 year old frumpy guy that's grumpy with the media and all that

maybe he's that's part of his problem now too he doesn't look the part the NFL's changed well and like what is his plan because there was reporting from Washington Post other things that his staff could include Josh McDaniels Matt Patricia and Joe

Judge. Oh my God. But that's I think that's a little concerning absolutely it is I can't deny that all right Connie. Okay give us an unsolved mystery of the NFL. Okay, so this is a team that has given up 400 yards in three games, three straight games defensively.

They've given up 74 plays of 20 plus yards this season, which is the third worst in the entire league. They've had six different quarterbacks throw for over 300 passing yards against them, and only the Jags defense was worse this season. but the lions are still in and their defense is just such a mystery to me because their run defense is incredible they've only allowed one 100-yard rusher

this entire season and it was a quarterback it was Justin Fields the most a running back had against them in a game 69 yards that was Ty Chandler and week 18 Ty Chandler their run defense is awesome Aaron Glenn is getting all sorts of head coaching interviews. The players absolutely love him. They just do one thing really well.

And then everything else, they're just kind of mediocre in or bad in. They're bottom 10 in sacks. They're the middle of the pack in total yards. Bottom 10 and points allowed. Middle of the pack and takeaways. How are they doing it? How is this working? Lions magic, baby.

That's what I don't understand. I think offense being more important than defense is how. In the end, like, you got to be, you got to make some plays on defense, be opportunistic, situationally. Like, look at the 49ers, the 49ers defense played terrible against the Packers until they didn't in the fourth quarter and they made a couple of plays. But like before that, they were kind of getting run over. Even the, the bills, I mean, the Chiefs defense, like, that was their worst game of the season.

They get through. So that would be my, my end. Yeah, like this last game as an example, um, they forced Baker. into two interceptions one stop the opening drive led to points the second one mark ended the game so they're opportunistic and and their past rush has gotten better hutchinson's been on a tear uh the last couple weeks so i guess it's maybe the numbers don't tell the full story of where the defense is right now in this moment under aaron glen or they just have that magical thing or maybe they do and we're gonna they'll have but i'll tell you what marky they're gonna be

tested in a big way at the big bell bottom on sunday yeah and i think you know it comes down to the end and they gave up 20 points to the Cowboys, 20 to the Vikings, and that started, you know, their playoff run after that, 23 to the Rams, 23 to the Bucks. They've generated some turnovers. Aidan Hutchinson's been playing. You get in the best version of them. I think the Lions are just a different type of story where, like,

they're winning close games here, but there's just something about the team that I think under Campbell, that's like, we are deficient in certain ways. We understand it. We're still a team that's being built. And like a lot of their draft picks hit so hard. I think that's why they've leveled up. and one extra playout game

than maybe they would have. And it's like next year, this offseason, you amp up the defense to some degree, but they're surviving, but they're not giving up 45 points a game here and having to win shootouts at the end of the season here like they were last year. Last year was like,

we've got to somehow score 38 points and give up 37. It's a little bit different textually in terms of like what they've done in the last three or four weeks. And they come up with some big plays. Like, yes, they gave up a ton of yards the last two weeks, but like you think of the stops, the negative plays they force the Rams into

to get them out of field goal range last week. So many times the bucks get across midfield and then Baker, you know, gets fooled by a blitz scheme that Glenn cooks up. So it's like to bend but break defense. But you're right. Like the next two weeks, if they get to play two more games, they're going to have to win shootouts.

Gregi, an unsolved mystery. Debating between two. Tough, always tough. Yeah, but this team. team doesn't get a lot. But that's what the showrunners of Unsolved Mysteries had to do, Greg. So you do understand how the production. And they came to stack with the rundown. He's like, get this

out of my face. Rearrange. Smashes a bottle against the wall. Like whiskey. What does Jason like see this Buccaneers team be? That's my mystery. Because I think he's sneaky down a good job with this team, drafting, keeping it together.

They've really hit on their drafts better than almost any team in the league over the six or seven years. They've been pretty good. Mike Evans is a free agent. He is going to cost an incredible amount. And you could franchise tag them. That would be, that would cost a lot in your gap. Levante David is a free agent. Baker Mayfield is a free agent. Antoine Winfield, I would argue as your best defensive player is a free agent. And David might be second. So maybe your two best defensive player. Heck, even Chase McLaughlin's a free agent.

Just a lot of pieces. I think they'll say goodbye to Devin White. But the biggest, the biggest part of all this is how much do you really love Baker? Because I think when you mentioned the Gino Smith type of contract you were probably right, Dan, of like, that's what it's going to take to... That's what his agent's going to want. That's what he's going to take to prevent him from going in the free agent

market, which would be something like $25 to $30 million a year. And then maybe 40 total guaranteed where like if you really wanted to give up on him after one year, you'd have to eat it a little bit which is what the Gino Smith deal was, which was what the Derek Carr deal was.

with the Raiders, actually, not with the Saints. Do you want to do that for Baker? Are you willing to spend all this money? Because they have a lot of cap space on Evans and these other guys and actually move on from Baker. Yeah, I think like Baker worked partially because it wasn't quite to the level of Tom Brady landing there, but this was a better roster than people.

I mean the roster around him. People kind of wrote the box office like a five-win team. And a lot of it was like, well, Baker-Mafield feels like a placeholder. and you got at least I think the second best season of Baker Mayfield and like it came at the right time in the playoffs like the whole thing

and like it worked and it's a nice story but I think the teams have to be really really careful of nice stories and I'll give you another Brown's example when they went 10 and 6 back in the day with Romeo Cornell and Derek Anderson and as that season came crashing to a halt and they missed the playoffs you could kind of see through it

and it was like well and what they did was because they had never had kind of success was they re-upped Romeo Cornell on a monster contract, re-up Derek Anderson, and brought in a bunch of half-baked free agents, and they were being talked, they were given the most primetime games in the league, and then went on like the worst scoring drought of any team in like 45 years or something. So I think if you're the bit, you're the bucks, you have to be self-scout and say we were in a terrible division, wrapped inside a conference that was going to make it easy to go through a trapdoor into the playoffs, but don't deceive yourself. Baker might

deserve to stick around, but don't anoint him as the start. harder yet. I'd say look in the draft, look at competition, but also give him credit for what he did. Even Mike Evans, as great as he is, it's going to be 31 next year and is probably going to, like, does he even fit better on a team that can just give him $60 million over two years to try

to go win a Super Bowl? You know what I mean? Versus having to pay that much money in Tampa. This is off topic. Is Mike Evans a Hall of Famer? I think he's probably right there now because it's been so so many years. What, 11 straight years? He feels like one of those guys that's going to be slowly, like he'll be a

semi-finalists for five years. And then at the end of his thing, it'll be like he'll get into the room and he'll be like on the border. And one of those guys will have to wait forever because he doesn't have those all pros. It's so tough too. He doesn't have those all pros. I think you mentioned the Browns is an example that year. Chet said the same thing with Ryan Fitzpatrick after he had a great season out of nowhere or a good season out of nowhere. It's very easy for these middling teams that are maybe a ball bounce the right way and you win a playoff game to talk yourselves into, oh, let's bring the core of this team back. And then it's like,

well, this team actually isn't that good. And they won a bad division. And this is a lot of the core players from the Super Bowl team from three years ago that continue to get older. And you could make the same, you could make a case, which is weird because you're coming off a team that was just in the

essentially the quarterfinals of a Super Bowl tournament to blow the whole thing up. Like, like you could do that too. Right. And it might not be the wrong decision. which typically you don't say about a defending division champion that won a playoff game, but they are in a weird space where they could go two ways.

Imagine if Antoine Winfield hadn't done that play against Carolina where he knocked the ball out at the half of our line in Week 18. And the, you know, the Bucks didn't score an offensive touchdown in that game and, like, the season had ended there. Mike Evans has my vote, Colleen. Yeah? Not in the superstar club, but the Hall of Fame. Weird.

He occupies a very weird, unsolved mystery of his own, in my opinion. Might have a little bit of Reggie Wayne, but not he didn't get the as many like primetime games and stuff like that but occupied a similar space yeah Andre johnson he's in the hall fame right i mean andre johnson to me is another level above but yes and then tom brady aside like the quarterbacks that he's been with he's Mike evans has been kind of quarterback proof that's a big argument for him i think absolutely he would have better numbers if he had had a better quarterback mark

mark has a lot to choose from no i mark told us he had 27 different big old database 23 of them were, you know. Cooking up that Dejarno's in the brain. I want to know. I think the Eagles collapse when something like that happens, you kind of forget about the second biggest collapse sometimes, right? It's like Eagles became such a big story

and they were part of our flashpoint. But what about down in Miami? A team that absolutely was torn to pieces by most winning teams in general, but the Ravens exposed them in every possible way. I think that launched Lamar Jackson and ended the MVP race right there. They have a critical game at home against the bills that they lose. And the division floats away. And the early season luster and the idea that Mike McDaniels, who was an incredible press conference guy, had some

sort of like hand or secret over the rest of the league when they were scoring 70 points on the Denver Broncos back in week three, goes on from there into inclement conditions in Kansas City The offense never shows up. The defense gives the Chiefs one of their best offensive performances of the year. And you now march into an offseason. This team that looked like they were going to soar to playoff wins with the second worst cap situation in the league.

And I know that you can say all these things are just solvable, but they are $58 million in the red. You have got a flock of free agents, Jerome Baker, Connor Williams, your center, Christian Wilkins, Andrew Van Ginkle. These guys all sound like they're going to get murdered with this. Van Ginkle is a character I am convinced that you've made up.

We're going to find him in a barrel. Andrew Van Ginkle. I love Van Ginkle. I think he's, you know, through two coaching staffs, he's been a difference maker for them. I love him as a player. All right. They've got three or four offensive linemen who are free agents. They already were really short at wide receiver.

As soon as they lost Waddle, it looked like they were exposed at that position. They have to start over at that position, essentially. All their backup guys are gone too. Start over. Well, I'm saying just beyond your two stars. You lose one star and they're not the same team. And the other star needs to get paid soon. That's right.

You've got problems. I mean, I am just sort of saying also that you were in this place where you can look at Tua and I understand that he's one of these guys. It's like the people that are pro Tua, you can paint any picture you want. But I can't repaint the picture of what happened to him down the stretch and in that playoff game. And it's like I just feel like he's a quarterback and I have my own thoughts on Tua where he's like very capable, accurate.

There are good things about him. It's not to put him in one box, but do you trust him in the biggest NFL moments that your team's going to encounter? I think we've got a couple. We've got a sample size where the answer is no. And you are Mike McDaniel, who is... This is an epic setup.

You've come out of the belly of Kyle Shanahan, who for a decade plus has had like an intense man crush on Kirk Cousins. Oh, this is all leaving... I'm just wondering if like, do you just sit there with Tua? because I would say one thing about Mike McDaniel. He's gone as far as he can

to build up the confidence publicly of Tua. He has been his supporter verbally from wire to wire. I'm just saying that someone like Kirk Cousins, other options in the world, if you're Mike McDaniel and you feel like an inflection point of like, we can't just repeat this same season where you walk into the playoffs and get waxed and cold weather.

How do you change things? What is Mike McDaniel's next move? A lot of questions you asked there. I appreciate how thorough that was. That was deep. That was good. I want that entire thing on Instagram. Well, welcome to the fish fry.

I've been here for a while and the seats right next to me. I also appreciate having you not have to take every bullet from that fan base. Like, they've got to have open eyes and it's not just. They did not have open eyes. And their offense went into a funk last year, too, that people looked away on and just said, oh, well, too, it was hurt and all this stuff. I got to see if that offense is functional when it's not Super Bowl September in Miami. And, yeah, there's a lot of work to be done there to see.

them as a real contender. I don't need to add anything else because I was saying it all year. It was the same questions that we had about this team and they showed us the answer in the most important and biggest game possible. We weren't sure how they would play against good teams and we definitely weren't sure how they would play against good teams on the road

and then that's exactly what happened and that was the concern all season long and it came to fruition. I think defensively there's a lot to be excited about and they can keep most of their people's year or two of Vic Vanjou. That was really showing dividends before the injury struck.

But everything you said is really well positioned, Mark, because I think they're in a very difficult spot where they have a lot of challenges to keep this team together and very difficult decisions to make and yet they have these high expectations, and yet they haven't really achieved that much. It might be the most difficult spot you can be in.

It's like, you know what I mean? Like the expectations are high, but there's a chance it could all crash and really tough decisions, but you actually haven't put any playoff wins in your pocket. It's a tough spot that their GM Chris Greer and their coaches in. And I like McDaniel. We all like

McDaniel. Right. Some of us love him. Some of us adore him. He's what makes you think they can avoid it falling apart. But I think in terms of their roster, they have as many questions as anyone. Ugly ending to the season

for sure. All right. I think that's good. I think we're good, right? Yeah. Colleen. Yes, Dan. Are you attending Super Bowl 58? I am. Are you still going up in that fighter jet?

Oh my God, the Thunderbirds? Yes, I am. I don't like it. I can't wait. Yeah. Is it you and one other pilot? Yeah. So you're not like playing gunner.

I'm not saying that you'd be shooting and gun me. Like you're not like, you don't play a role. You're just a passenger. I'm just a passenger. But there's like five hours of training and like medical assessments I have to go through first. and yeah I mean if I do you train to be the passenger if I have to eject I have to eject okay so I cannot wait I've been I'm jealous falling down some YouTube wormholes lately about the thunderbirds just about everything and my algorithm's out of control lately I was watching I watched a 26 minute video about the the mechanics of the Titanic sinking and then that spit me into some different lanes and then it would spit me to here's a world 96 year old World War II pilot guy, you know,

a guy who can barely walk, you know, he's ancient. They load him up in the old fighter jet and after showing a whole real montage of, you know, able-bodied young people passing out due to the G-Force. I know. I'm really worried

about it. And then Gramps is up there and he no effect. No way. Gramps, the veteran who's been in, who had been many battles. And then all I could think was calling him into the office and being like, Gramps, I'm taking your wings. You're fired.

Get the fuck out. Because that gives you a chance to really get one over on him. Yeah, you're like you've got some lineage issues, but it is making for good listening. Have you ever been a boss of like people that you could potentially fire? Not yet, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity. Maybe hoping that doesn't happen, though. But it's a lot of family stuff that I think, you know, especially like a grandfather.

If you can, I respect you. It's sort of like a godfather fantasy for you where you're like Al Pacino in the bathroom finding that what it is. I respect you, but. Ego. So yeah, I'm worried about passing out. I think you will, I guess is what I'm going to say.

I know you've flown before. Oh, I've flown before. Many times, right? Uh-huh. But you've never gone G-Force. I did my ground school for my pilots license. I got my, not all the hours I needed for my private, didn't solo. but I've been up there

and yeah I've never pulled G's before but when I was talking to the pilot I said that I was worried about passing out and or throwing up really don't want to do either one of those things and she was like oh I'm not worried about it women's bodies are more physiologically capable of

handling the G's so usually when people throw up or pass out it's men I swear and I was like I'm sorry can you just say that one more time you drop down What if the man is 60% G? Oh, oh my God.

Craig was sitting on that for 10 minutes. So yes, I'll be at Super Bowl. I'll make it to Sunday as long as that flight goes okay on two days. Not only, you know, is everyone counting on you, including your war veteran father. That's right. He flew missions. Yeah. He was stationed at a missile silo.

Now all the women of humanity are counting on you, too, to keep up. the reputation of G-Force. It's a lot of pressure, but I'm ready to handle it. I like that you harbor, like, spontaneous combustion fears, but also jump into this assignment. I'll jump out of planes. Let's go. Good stuff.

Thank you, everybody, for listening. We will be back on Thursday. Title game Thursday preview. That's a big one. Got to cook up some guests for that. Spicy. Thank you, Connie. Yeah.

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