NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Wild Card Saturday Recap: Caleb Williams and Matthew Stafford Deliver Two Classics

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

What a start to the NFL postseason. In the early window, the Los Angeles Rams held off the Carolina Panthers in a game that was wayyyyy too close for comfort for Sean McVay and LA. In the end, it was Matthew Stafford's late heroics that bailed the Rams out of an embarrassing loss to Bryce Young and the scrappy Panthers -- further cementing the QB's MVP narrative. In Chicago, the Bears hosted the Green Bay Packers and staged one of the most epic comebacks in NFL playoff history. Caleb Williams was faced with a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but the Bears still had some magic left in the tank, as Chicago triumphed over Jordan Love and Green Bay in the Wild Card Round. Gregg Rosenthal and ESPN's Bill Barnwell provide recap and analysis of the day's action, with every stat, narrative and major highlight along the way.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up? It's Cam Jordan. I'm back with season three of your favorite podcast, The Off the Edge with Cam Jordan podcast. It's happening every Wednesday to hear conversations with my friends and stars for the NFL, the sports world in general, and entertainment. About anything from teams and players making waves to pop culture.

And I'll take you inside my journey through my 15th season in the NFL. Looking forward to you joining me this season, the season of more, on The Off The Off The Edge with Cam Joom podcast. Catch new episode. every Wednesday on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Brought to you by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Ball in the 28th. Snap to love drop the snap. Picks it up. Keep them in the pocket. Love circles back.

Now rolling right, moving up, weighing the heed, still moving up. Now he throws to the end zone, and it's dropped. The interception drop, but it doesn't matter. Game is over. The game is over. The Bears have come from all the way behind, and they beat the Green Bay Packers. 3127. All the ghosts of 15 seasons has been released into this cold January night. What a fourth quarter. What a night. What a trilogy. The Bears and Packers just put together. 21 to 6 entering the fourth quarter. But if you've watched this Bears team all season long, maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the Bears are going to the divisional round.

31 to 27, Bill Barnwell from ESPN with me after an incredible Saturday of wild football. This is a game, Bill, that is going to be talked about, not just all offseason. But for years to come, it could change the shape of the entire Packers organization. We'll find out about that. But what strikes you the most after watching one of the most improbable playoff comebacks that I've ever seen? So much to talk about from that game. And I want to be genuine.

I thought of like three-bit responses. And I'm not going to do those because that game, that game deserves genuine analysis. Really, the thing that struck me was just how good Caleb Williams was. I mean, that final drive, they miss. A Digi Moore drops, what was a perfect pass from Caleb Williams. Then two plays later, the fake screen and go hits more for a touchdown. Just really more than, I guess, anything, the poise that he played with, the poise, the Bears played with. The points from most of the game that Jordan Love played with until maybe that

final snap where he did fumble the snap, but, you know, it felt like if you were a Bears fan and you were skeptical, and there's reasons to have been skeptical of this team, reasons to be skeptical of some of the growth from Caleb Williams, this was like such an affirming moment for you. They could not run the ball at all in the first half. They were down multiple scores. It looked like it was going to be a hopeless game. And then it had to warm your heart. Even if you're a crusty, old Bears fan and just seen decades of heartbreak, finally, things broke your way in a meaningful moment.

Oh, I mean, if you're a Bears fan now, like this isn't even close to the fully formed Ben Johnson team. You have Colston Loveland going up and down the field, dominating. You have Caleb Williams on a day where for most of the game, he was erratic, you are feeling like you have a chance to win any game in any situation. Even a game you are down two scores in the middle of the fourth quarter after the bears, you know, climb back in it from 21 to 6 to make it 21 to 16.

Jordan Love responds, goes on a touchdown drive. They have a fourth and three that Drew Dalman, the recently named second all pro team center, moves before the snap, almost starts tipping. over. Then by the time he does snap it, he snaps it over Caleb Williams' head. The game is over then. But wait, there's a false start called on that play because he moved. They get another chance at it. And this fourth and eight that if you're watching us on YouTube, we appreciate everyone who's with us after the game. We're going to get to the Rams and Panthers, by the way, which was a classic too in a bit. But you are watching Caleb Williams pull off. Unreal. Without any

context, one of the greatest throws I've ever seen. I love me some prime vision. It's because I saw this angle live of him sprinting left and jumping over the outstretched arm of a defender as he throws it rolling to his left over a defender 25 yards down the field. And after that, even though they're down 11 points, Bill, it kind of felt like it was like a snowball going downhill. That was one of the most magical plays because they finished the game off and now it will live forever that I've ever seen, except Caleb Williams made a similar play like that to win a game in overtime against this exact Packers team just a few weeks ago.

My God. Yeah, it felt like one of those games where, especially early on when the Bears were struggling, it felt like, oh, this is a confirm your priors game, right? I mean, the Bears couldn't get off the field on fourth down against the Packers. Ben Johnson was getting hoisted by his own pittard on fourth downs. They were sloppy making mistakes. One of five.

You could even see, like, coming out of the first half, the interview for Ben Johnson walking on the field was almost like, what are you doing on third down, dude? Like, you have no idea what you're doing. And it was like, nope, we're just going to basically implying his defense sucked and that he had to go forward and fourth down and score as many points as possible because his defense was bad. And then for the entire game, it felt like every chance the Bears had. and a takeaway just narrowly got stripped away.

Christian Lots and fumbles at the half-yard line and the Packers recover. Josh Jacobs, inexplicably used on a kickoff return, fumbles, and the Packers recover. A couple of balls from Jordan Love fall harmlessly to the ground when those are passes the Bears have picked off all season. And it was like, well, this is the game that proves. The Bears, once you take those takeaways away,

there's too easy to be. And they did a really good job on defense in the second half of this game. I compared the Packers' offense to a Kevin Petulow-led Eagles offense for most of the second half of this game, and that's not a comparison you want to hear. So it really felt almost like the opposite. Like it almost felt like at first we were going to confirm our priors,

and then I think that's the game more on. And by the time we got to the end, even though this was a classic Bears comeback victory, the way they got there was so different than so many of the other Bears games they've won this year. It was. and yet the feeling that they can do it at any time, it's just so unbearable.

They now have seven comebacks while trailing from under two minutes to go. That's the most of any team in the history of the NFL. According to Next-Din stats, I still got my Amazon Prime broadcast up, and I saw that out of the corner of my eyes. So after that third and eight, they finish off that drive. But it does take Dennis Allen's defense,

and we'll get into that. the second half of this game, I thought they did a great job considering how undermaned they were forcing a lot of one-on-one difficult throws. Jordan Love hit a number of them to still, you know, have one touchdown drive and put them in position. But Brandon McManus misses a field goal that was going to put them up six. It's one of three missed kicks he had on the day. Missed the field goal to end the first half, which would have made it 24 to 3, misses an extra point along the way and misses that field goal. So they lose seven points. The old story of the Packers kicker just absolutely killing them. The Bears get the ball back. And at that point, it almost felt like they scored too

quickly. Like the only chance the Packers were going to have was to give up a touchdown to the Bears. And that's exactly what happened. Let's listen to the DJ Moore go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Set to the left side numbers. Snap back, four-man, Rush, Caleb, with a double move, throw down left side. Like DJ Moore, it's on the five. End zone. Touchdown. Touchdown bears.

They've taken the lead on the Packers with 1.43 to go. 25 yards. The same connection. Week 16, a walk-off win. This connection, a three-point lead. Wow. And that, of course, is our friend Jeff Joniak on W. MVP. We'll get to hear him for another week this season. And he's been incredible. And that play call where they fake the screen,

just kind of reminds me like in the second half of these games of Packers Bears games, like Ben Johnson has had all the right calls. And as much as I'm a Nat LaFleur defender and each half in theory counts equally, the Bears really have had the answers. It hasn't been a great couple weeks for Jeff Hathley's head coaching interview cycle, but Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams executing those plays has really found a way to pick on the weaknesses of the Packers late in these games. Yeah, I mean, it felt like they had Colston Lufland on deep corner routes and wheel routes and anything to the sideline over and over and over again as this game were along.

You mentioned the screen and go for a touchdown, the play before. What that was, I believe, was a third down or fourth down that throw to the flat, but they get a blown coverage out of a stack with DeAndre Swift running free into the flat for 20 yards to set up that game winning touchdown. And then you mentioned the Packers letting the Bears score potentially and having to have a chance to win. No, I mean, I don't mean they did it on purpose.

Right, I don't know. Right. But like the idea that like it probably was going to happen. And so as an inevitability, try to maximize your chances of scoring on the next drive. Well, Greg, one way you could hurt your team's chances of doing that is by basically lighting your timeouts on fire. And Matt Lafleur, I mean, we don't really have like a valuation for timeouts,

but it felt like he got pennies on the dollar for his timeouts in this game. The worst being, of course, third and ten, the Packers call a timeout, and then they come out of the timeout and commit a delay a game penalty and that costs them five yards. Potentially Brandon McManus might make that kick if it is five yards closer. They lose a timeout on defense.

There's a injury to their center, Sean Ryan, and they have to take a fourth timeout, which costs them a 10-second runoff. Just one of those little things. I don't think it defines Matt LaFleur. I don't think it's the biggest reason they lost this game, I think, frankly, the kicking, and we'll get to some of the other stuff that they did not do in the second half of this game. But just like a thing in the margins where you

would expect a veteran coach who's highly regarded by people like you and me who I think is a really good coach to have a handle on. And they just, it was a disaster. It's a trend. And it's crazy, because I think about LaFleur as one of the best coaches in the league. And we just had Ali, Ali Connolly on. We were talking about the coaching situation. We've been talking about it all week. The conspiracy theories and the idea that maybe Lefleur isn't a lock to go back because maybe it's a money thing.

Maybe it's a good a cuntz is getting elevated over him. And there's like neither side is completely happy. Maybe they want to try to bring in John Harbaar or some like who knows. Our guy Ian Rappaport reports before this game that the two sides plan to me after the season with the mutual, you know, goal of getting a deal done. but there is nothing for certain. Sure. And as Ollie was saying this week,

he thought, you know, Lefleur did as good a job this season, scheming, and offense as any coach in the league that he's almost ever seen. And yet, it is absolutely fair to point out, like, this is a trend. Like, he hemorrhaged those timeouts. If Todd Bowles did that,

we'd be absolutely flaming Todd Bowles. Like, if Rex Ryan did that back in the day, like, that was brutal. I mean, the first timeout, they're leading at that point. And then to have a delay of game coming back, the second timeout, it's just so that they can get their defensive play call. Again, that's over two minutes, you know, to go in the first half. And then the last drive, Love did hit some incredible throws down the stretch of this game, like in the fourth quarter.

And so it's, it's hard to kill Love. But the operation was frantic. I mean, he did not look exactly under control, like they're barely getting. the play call off, like the last handful of plays, we're not giving you, hey, I've got things under control. And Jordan Love is a veteran quarterback. I know he hasn't been starting that long. He's been in the league, what, six, seven, six years now.

It's like, it should look a little better than that. And Greg, the fact that we even got to a point where the timeouts mattered, where the fourth downs mattered, where Jordan Love had to try to win the game. You know, the defense deserves some of the blame here. There were a lot of open plays. frankly, the Bears could have scored a lot more in this game, if not for some of the four downs and some of the sloppy play they had. But the Packers melted down in the third quarter on offense.

They love talking about how Josh Jacobs is like the heartbeat of the team. He looked really good early in this game. They simply could not run the football. And the Bears are not a great run defense. They had negative two yards on the first drive of the third quarter, eight yards, 23 yards and zero yards on that four drive sequence. They get one first down before a touchdown drive. By the way, they get backed up on first and 20 after the Jacobs fumble at a holding call on that drive.

But, I mean, they couldn't run the ball whatsoever. And, you know, it felt like so much of this game for the Packers either turned into Jordan Love, fourth down shots. They had a lot of sense with, like, motion and getting. guys into the flat early in this game, but then final few minutes in this game was Jordan Love trick plays. It was like Jordan Love you know, backfoot slot fades and ISOs against the Blitz and

find Kyler Gordon and throw it at him at any point no matter who he's covering. It felt like the degree of difficulty was so high for the Packers when it shouldn't be. I mean if you have a $15 million a year running back,

you should be able to get more than one yard per carry for the second half of the game. if you have an offensive coach who we think is really good, who did such a great job building an offense with Malik Willis, build in some stuff that's going to create some easy completion, some easy run, some solid gains, make life easy for your quarterback. This is not supposed to be a good defense, and they didn't look good for the first half of this game. And so it just felt like it was such a struggle. And that was, I think, what really seems so frustrating to me if you're a Packers fan is that

it never even should have gotten to that point, Greg. Right. So the offense collapses in the third quarter, essentially, and the defense is holding on by a threat. But you're right, that four drive sequence where they took an average of less than 90 seconds off the clock with the lead and gain under 29 yards. Meanwhile, their defense, which is flawed, gets the fourth and one interception of Caleb Williams on the goal line, one of two interceptions that he has. They get a negative play to force a field goal in the third quarter earlier, too. So at that point, I think they were, what, like 0 for three, at least in terms of scoring touchdowns in the red zone. They're one for five in terms of scoring on fourth downs. And the defense or the offense, rather, couldn't make the other team pay.

This is where, like, I do want to give Dennis Allen his credit because first half of this game, and we can talk a little more about it, but first half of this game, you know, Love basically throws a perfect game. They go touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and miss a field goal at the buzzer to end the half. There weren't a lot of possessions there. And it's just dime after dime. Lefleur is calling everything right. He goes for a couple fourth downs and he hits him both. Like everyone getting so mad about, oh, how can you go for fourth downs?

You're losing points. It's like the Packers scored two touchdowns in the first half because they went for it on fourth down, including a great play call by him on the goal line. And everything that Dennis Allen and the Bears defense wanted to do in the second half where they did get a decent amount of pressure. Like the success rates were so uneven in the first half. Everything was so uneven. And if you look at everything by the end of the game, it's all back to even because the Bears essentially dominated the Packers equally in the second half. And that's just kind of been in their DNA. It really is like a like no matter what happens in this Ben Johnson era, even if there's a lot of

success, like these are the good old days to pull this off with a second year quarterback and two rookie pass catchers kind of as your lead dogs and have this sort of fourth quarter magic. And to do it against the Packers, like, I don't want to be on social media if I'm a Packers fan the rest of the off season with Bears fans just dunking on me over and over. Yeah. I mean, it felt like at the very least, you could say with some confidence, Ben Johnson did a much better job of adjusting as the game went on than Matt LaFleur did when it comes to the offensive side of the football.

It felt like Ben Johnson landed on a lot of zone clearouts, a lot of throw. to the sideline. Again, using Colston Loveland as either a man-beater when he was against Clay Walker. Entering Cooper, by the way, leaving this game hurt, I think, was a underrated difference. They were able to attack the other Packers, linebackers when they were in coverage. And then with Matt LaFle, like I said, it just felt like they were just like, okay, we're going to go back and run inside zone, and it's going to work this time. we're going to run duo and it's going to work this time. And it just never really seemed to find a connection. Jordan Love had to throw them back into this game.

And their only success, throwing the ball, their only success in the offense in the second half was when they had no choice but to throw and they had to move the ball with the passing game. And so, you know, I wasn't sitting there like they should bench Jordan Love for Malik Willis, but I was like, man, sure it would be nice if you could run the Malik Willis run game stuff right now. Like, it really was something that was missing. It's a fair point that the run game completely dried up because there were a few different ways that we were going to end up talking about this game. One way is to talk about how dialed in Jordan Lovel.

It's like the first third and one of the game. He throws an absolute dime to Romeo Dobs. It was a great night for Prime Vision to just see these two quarterbacks pulling off like really low percentage throws. Then Golden beats Jalen Johnson on like a double move and they're just looking great. And then everything's falling apart in the second half. Like every Packers game, and you think it's going to collapse. And you mentioned that first and 20 situation. And he hits Dobbs for two straight plays,

where he's picking on Tremaine Edmonds on the first play. And then it was Kevin Byard on the second. And they picked on Byrd a lot in the second half. And then their first round pick, Matthew Golden, makes an incredible individual play. Let's actually listen to the call of what I thought at the time was going to be the call. that we went into this recap with.

In the shotgun, they get motion out of the backfield, quick toss Golden, right side, got some blocking. Accelerates, 20, spinning his way, 50. That's a terrible 10 to the five, cuts it back. Touchdown. Touchdown Matthew Golden, his first career, NFL touchdown, and a backbreaker delivered by the rookie out of Texas. Wow, that was awesome.

That is our friend. and yeah, for the last time this year, Wayne Larravee and Larry McCarran on WRNW. I mean, it's an 11-point game at that point. That's before the fourth and eight drama. Like, even after that, you know, love hits Dobbs a couple times, including on a slot babe to set up that McManus.

Like, they were able to make plays. There is just something in the DNAs of, I think, these two teams that, like, situation. football plus fourth quarter just is a dramatic disadvantage for the backers. I mean, Greg, they, Jordan Love almost hit Christian Watson on that final sequence. I think it was the first downplay. He threw like an anticipatory dig. I want to say it was like a hole between five different defenders in zone coverage.

Like it was, and it was like under pressure. If he got in, I think like he got hit right as he threw it. so he couldn't really get as much on it as he would have liked, so it kind of sailed a tiny bit. But, like, that was almost one of the most perfect throws of the entire season. And it would have probably been the game-winning touchdown. Jordan Love, you know, he didn't play a perfect game, I guess, but, man, he was not the problem in this game at all. I think the degree of difficulty was extremely high, and he over-delivered, given the circumstances. I mean, I'm always really impressed by Jordan Love.

I think he's an incredibly underrated quarterback. The fact that he had two intentional grounding penalties, doubling his career total in this game was a little weird. And like he does have that habit of like just chucking the ball out at times. But such an underrated quarterback to me. Just the explosive rate is so high. The chunks are so big. You know, I think people notice his flaws more than what he brings to the table.

And I think guys who do pick up significant chunks of yardage when they do throw are underrated in general. Yep. I just think it's a really good quarterback. And I unfortunately don't think some other pieces of the offense were up to that standard. No, they didn't have Zach Tom, their right tackle who we thought would return for the game. The rest of the offensive line had their issues. He ends up with 323 yards in four touchdown. So it's hard to kill him.

Romeo Dobbs, who's an impending free agent, ends up with 124 yards. He made himself some money tonight, even if Matt Lafleur didn't. The thing I keep coming back to is like Luther Burden with three big catches today, although I think on the fourth down early where Caleb threw his first interception,

it seemed like Luther Burden ran the wrong route. Like he didn't know the play. Something was going on. And then Caleb Williams is yelling about it afterwards, but he's big. Loveland might be the best rookie in the entire draft class of anyone in the entire league. He's at eight catches for 137 yards. And I just was expecting, okay, Packers, you know, with this lead, they go to Seattle,

they set up that matchup. And now instead, it's Chicago watching tomorrow and seeing who their opponent is going to be. and they're going to have another home game. Like, I don't know. I'm still like getting over how this game finished. I mean, you know, Greg, it felt like maybe a little one thing that might have swung this game and it's going to haunt Packers fans for the entire offseason

is what if the Packers had a dude who could single-handedly win you a pass rush or two without having the blitz? And that felt like, you know, there were a lot of moments in this game where Caleb Williams had a ton of time to throw. I'm trying to find the numbers for time to throw for him. But, you know, both were really high. 3.1 over 3.1 seconds for each of them. Yeah. I mean, I just, I have to imagine that doesn't happen if Micah Parsons is in there.

The Bears, frankly, did not have a great pass program. game at all. On one of those fourth downs, they just let, I think was Carl Brooks completely free up the A-gap to pressure Caleb Williams. Packers ran a lot of twists in this game that I saw. Have to imagine that that would be aided by adding Micah Parsons into the mix. I mean, you know, is it unfair to say that he wins them this game? Yes, I don't think that's fair to say because there were other factors to play. But I, if I'm a Packers fan, I'm going to sleep tonight. I'm going to sleep for the next six months wondering,

do we win this game if Michael Parsons is in there? Because it's absolutely a possibility. I mean, you're not going to sleep tonight. It's not happening. This is a freaking disaster. I don't think we're, you know, contextualizing properly that this is one of the worst losses in Packers' history. I mean, it really is to be that.

Ooh. How could it not be? That's a high bar. How could it not be built? Is this worse than the NFC championship game against the Seahawks? That's the game. I was going to bring up. Nothing tops that.

I mean, that's a 50-0 or whatever it was lead where you blow an onset kicking the NFC championship game. But this is to the Bears. It's a 21 to 6th, fourth quarter lead. There's so many different moments where you can put it away. And more than anything, it's possibly the end of the Matt Lafleur era. Like you hope that cooler heads prevail, but. If ever there's a game where there's going to be an emotional decision afterwards,

and I'm not sure if that decision is made by Lefleur or if it's made by, you know, the new president of the team or like Goudicunst is involved or how it's all happening or if it's about money or what it's about. But if there's ever a scenario that makes like a rash decision like that happen and maybe something they would look back on as a mistake, this is it. This is it. Because they gag, they gagged this game away. And it was just so many, like, familiar hits of Bad Lefleur losses, unfortunately, from over the years, including the missed kicks, unfortunately. I mean, Greg, it's not just this game. Go back, this is a month. I mean,

they lost the Broncos. They lost a game where if they beat the Bears a couple weeks ago, where they just have to recover an onside kick to win, probably win that game. And of course, they end up losing that game. In overtime, they get blown out by the, Ravens where Derek Henry looks like he's an MVP candidate for a week. And then they weren't trying against the Vikings. I'm not going to fault them too much, but I'm going to fault Cleed in tune mostly for that. But I mean, they're nine, three and one after that, that interception by Keishaw Nixon of Caleb Williams. And they lose their final five games in the season. I would say it's the combo of not only how they lost in the postseason, but the fact that they couldn't find a victory

and really blew the NFC North with a big advantage. over the bears with with um we're certainly in pole position to top the bears if they had swept Chicago. It feels like a missed opportunity and this is a team now where three years in a row they've been the seventh seed I I feel confident we're not thinking about this team the same way if we're in the 12 team playoff era. I mean it's you know it's not like being the seventh seed is good. It's better than not being the eighths. It's better than being the eighths. But it's not like you know,

sneaking into the postseason as the final seed is like a sign that you're, you know, one of the great teams in football. I know the numbers said that Packers are better than their record, but this has been a consistent thing for them where it feels like we're sitting here at the end of the year and saying, well, their DVOA is good.

ESPN Football Power indexes us they're good, but it doesn't look all that great when we get to January. Yeah, and I'm seeing a comment here in the chat that say, Packers lost this game. Bears didn't win it. Let's be honest. And to that I point to that fourth and eight play.

And I point to another whole shot to Colton Colston Loveland after that. There were there were so many jaw-dropping throws by Caleb Williams. Even like before they were really making the comeback. And the thing about Caleb Williams is like the play before that, he was just a little inaccurate and he missed the third down throw. And then the play after that, he had an open receiver and missed that throw too. And he ends up throwing 50% completion. in this game, you know, and he was dead last in the league in completion percentage.

And the more that you watch them this year, the more you realize, like, for now, that's just part of the package. And the good is making up for any of the inconsistency. And for such a young player, you really feel like you can improve on that consistency. And you're having a hell of a lot of fun along the way. Yeah, I mean, he had a negative 15% completion percentage over our expectation in this game and still made at least two, three, four. I'm just thinking of great Caleb throws in my head, just fantastic throws in this game,

one of which wasn't caught. So I don't blame him for that. But, you know, like, I think it's just you have to accept that flawed at all, this is what the Bears can do. They can look totally hopeless on offense for a half. they can look like they can't cover anybody on defense. They can look like they're going to miss wide open receivers. They're going to be screaming at each other on the sideline.

But they also have the potential to be great. And they can be great for a quarter or a half or even a few series. And that might be enough if the other team lets them hang around long enough to pull that off. I mean, they can have four fourth down fails in a game where they can't get many stops. They can have a total of two successful runs in the first half. you know, if you're talking about like success rate. They can have Ben Johnson on the sideline looking like, yeah, his dog had died or something like that.

And pre-answering questions, as you mentioned, like about the fourth down plays and almost just like defending it. And then they turn it all around. They are different. And they are going to the divisional round. What a season. This is it for the Bears. Like I've had a hard time imagining them making it all the way to the Super Bowl because

of this lack of a pass. because of this defense. And, you know, tonight they lose T.J. Edwards. They're linebacker. It's still hard to see them winning like two more. But who knows? They found a way to win this one. We'll find out their opponent on Sunday.

Before we get to Sunday, though. We had another classic earlier in the day on Saturday. Yes, there's been a total of three playoff games in the history of the NFL. This one was from Brian Knowles, who, used to work with over at a football outsider who pointed out there's only been three games ever where there's been four fourth quarter lead changes with touchdowns in the playoffs it was that great 49 or saints divisional round matchup between alec smith and drew breeze it was the great aFC championship between patrick behomes and tom brady and let's go to carolina where yes

Matthew Stafford and Rice Young gave us a classic What's up? It's Cam Jordan I'm back with season three of your favorite podcast The Off the Edge with Cam Jordan podcast tap in every Wednesday

to hear conversations with my friends and stars for the NFL, the sports world in general, and entertainment about anything from teams and players making waves to pop culture and I'll take you inside my journey through my 15th season in the NFL looking forward to you joining me this season

the season of more on the off the edge with Cam Joom Catch new episodes every Wednesday on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Only pay for what you need. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. In the 19, Stafford has it, Helmut High, settles his feet, shoots right side, leaping catch. Touchdown, L.A.

Wow! At the front, right, Thailand. Colby Parkinson gives the Rams the lead. with 38 seconds to go, an absolute dot from Stafford, 33, 31, and the try coming. Our friend, J.B. Long, excited for an absolutely fantastic throw, fantastic drive, fantastic fourth quarter by Matthew Stafford in what was otherwise an uneven game for this entire Los Angeles Rams team, including Stafford. Yes, that was Colby Parkinson. That was J.B. Long on KSPN. The Rams defense holds, gets a four and out on Bryce Young to win.

34 to 31. Back and forth, we went Bill Barnwell in a game that a lot of us thought it was going to be a blowout. Like myself, I was wrong. We really thought it when it was 14-0 early. We probably thought it when it was 17-7. and it looked like the Rams were driving in for another score right before halftime, but this Panthers team,

there's just something about them that is inexplicable and they were that close to knocking off one of the best teams in the NFL today. I mean, we got a Bryce Young drive to take the league. I mean, it wasn't like, you know, like you mentioned the four and out to end the game. That was going to be a tough spot. They didn't have a drop on that fourth down

that would have extended the game. from Horn but I was so impressed with how Bryce Young played in this game this was not a great matchup for the Rams on defense on I'm sorry great match for the Panthers on offense given the Rams front they were in Bryce Young's face all day I mean he just was getting hit he was being forced to scramble he was being forced to create out of structure and did throw an interception I don't think that was his thought. I think it was Jail-Loker, I believe, stopped on a route where Brician was expecting him to keep running. But I thought if you're a Panthers fan, I know you're upset, you're

going to be bummed that you lost. This was a winnable game. They played really well. But I think you have to be impressed with Briccheon in this game. And I think you have to be optimistic about Bryce John in this game. He was just making plays, extending plays, accurate throws. it felt like, you know, it felt like this was the closest thing in a big game that I think we've seen to Alabama Bryce Young in terms of the improvisation

in terms of the creativity and I mean, one where you can move from, frankly, a pretty bad Bryce Young game against Tampa for most of the day. So I think seeing that against the Rams team where they were being physically dominated in the front just felt like

like it has to make You feel good. It does. And yeah, you mentioned the Rams front winning. And I think that was the biggest difference in this game. Pressure rate, it really depends on where you look. But Sumer Sports, which has a great kind of live box score going in this postseason, had the Rams pressure rate at 47% in this game, and the Panthers down at 9%.

And I think they're valuing quicker pressures much more because next gen has it, you know, still double for the Rams. Next time is 46 to 23. 23. But the thing is, NextGen does like proximity, and you could be like somewhat close, pretty late in the down. The thing that is telling most to me is even at Next Gen, 14 quick pressures for the Rams in this game and two for the Panthers. And so Matthew Stafford was operating in a much more advantageous situation. And the idea with Matthew Stafford is when he's clean, he's going to kill you.

And he did early in this game. And he absolutely did late in this game. and there was a whole bunch in the middle where maybe it was this finger injury that he suffered and maybe it was just decision making. It was a little bit of everything. To me, it was more of the decisions. But ultimately, he goes 12 for 15 in the fourth quarter

with over 100 yards and a couple touchdown drives. And supposedly, before that fourth quarter drive, he gets the ball back, you know, down four. And Devante Adams, as he tells the story, says, let's go snatch those guys' hearts. and Devante Adams says that's one of the most gangster things I've heard. Let's actually listen to Kobe Turner,

friend of the show, talking after the game about Stafford. Yeah, I mean, nine's been in these situations all the time, so I'm used to it. Honestly, I was just telling somebody else. I was just selling Gary. I looked up at the clock. It said, 234 with three timeouts left.

My first thought is, do you not know who's on the other side? Like, do you guys not know who nine is? Like, nine is that guy. Nine is that guy. I have to stop you. He's fixing nine. He's saving this nine. You can't.

No, you cannot, you cannot call someone nine in this culture right now. You have to wait. Let the JJ McCarthy pass by and then you can start using nine again. He's the, he's, if you're the first team all pro and Stafford did get first team all pro, 13 more votes than May. Very similar to the Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen vote a year ago. So you can't really say that Stafford's definitely going to win MVP. We don't know. I think he's taken back nine, Bill.

Like, it's his now. You do what he did in the fourth quarter because they, I was not expecting this situation, but there they were in this situation. And the offense, and this team has to be led by the offense, ultimately did respond. And they picked on the Panthers in the middle of the field. They took advantage of the fact that J.C. Horn went out

with a concussion in the fourth quarter of this game. and they diced up Carolina when they needed to. Yeah, I mean, outbreaking routes, 26 of Matthew Stafford's, uh, 304 yards. Everything else was either vertical or in breaking from Matthew Stafford. That's how the Rams got back on this game was finding those digs,

finding the play action shots, finding, um, you know, some of the option routes where they hit Karen Williams for a touchdown coming out of the back field. Um, I have to be honest with you, though, Greg.

I was not super impressed with Shaw McVeigh in this game. It really felt like for a long stretch, the Rams did not have answers for what the Panthers wanted to do. It felt like Matthew Stafford was throwing a ton to the sidelines. It felt like after they went through their first 15 where they had some fun stuff like the Pukinakua vertical shot out of the backfield for a touchdown.

It felt like Schaimegh got away from running the football. It felt like it was a lot of shotgun tossing the ball around. And if you did believe Stafford's finger was injured, it seemed like you would have leaned further into the run. And the Rams were pretty successful running the ball in this game, a 50% success rate for the run game that has one of the highest success rates in recent NFL history this season. And yet really felt like for a long stretch, it was just,

we're going to put Matthew Stafford and shotgun and throw the ball. And it wasn't working. And it's fine that they found solutions later in the game. Obviously, Sean McFey is a Hall of Fame caliber coach for a reason, but this is not the first time. I go back to the Super Bowl run. I mean, they almost lost that game against the bucks because they just kept handing the ball to Cam Acres.

They almost lost the Super Bowl to the Bengals because they were insisting on committing to a bad run game at that time. And so, you know, with the Rams, they did win. Our memories are going to be Stafford's final drive and the quote from Devante Adams, which, by the way, do you want to waste? that on the first round.

Like, do you think Stafford had that in line for like a Super Bowl quote and was like, whoa, we got to toss it out now. I got to think of something more clever for the Super Bowl. But, you know, this is a Rams team where the results have been kind of disappointing for a month now. Do you feel like there's a reason to sort of treat them as something less than what we think they can be based on how they've played recently? I have thought a lot about that since the end of this game.

Like, how much do you? take basically everything from when the fourth quarter started in Seattle to now and think that carries forward and knock the Rams and their chances to win the Super Bowl because they've looked mediocre since then. You know, they blow that lead in Seattle. They had no business blowing that game. I know it was against a good team, but the way they blew it, they did not play well. They lose the Falcons game in a game they're pretty outplayed.

When I finally got back to watching that Cardinals game this week, I was like, man, they were losing like two minutes left in the third quarter that game against the Cardinals team that had just been absolutely collapsing. And then you have this performance where it goes back and forth. And I tend to think, Bill, it doesn't matter. Yeah. I know like really. I actually don't feel.

I tend to think in the playoffs, like it's survive in advance. They have all the pieces that matter that like I don't think it necessarily is going to carry over week to week. Like you think about that Bucks game that. that they almost lost when they did go on that Super Bowl run. The team overall is not playing at the highest level of where they've been this season, certainly. But they're going to be in the final eight.

And would it surprise me if they just start playing better football consistently from here out? Like, it wouldn't surprise me at all because for the most part, like, they're healthy and there are reasons to believe that they can turn around. It was not a good Devante Adams game today. Like maybe that helps with him another week back into the lineup after being out for five weeks. Maybe they get Kevin Dotson back. But yeah, like I think they can still straighten it out. But they survived one today.

Here's the part that concerns me, though. If this had been like a Panthers, have everything go right for them game. If it had been like a, you know, Panthers are like the first game. Panthers go three for three on fourth down. I hit a couple long touchdowns. They win the turnover battle. That was not this game. The Panthers handed them three short fields, one on a muffed punt,

one and then two on failed fourth down tries. The Panthers do turn the ball over or an interception. They lost their left tackle almost immediately in the game. They lost Iki Aquano early on to it apparently is a serious injury, unfortunately. Then they go to Josh Diamond, who has allowed, he handled out as many quick pressures per next gen in two starts as Garrett Bull. did all seasons for the Broncos. He allowed four more in this game at Left Tackle.

I mean, they brought Robert Hunt back, and they had to take him out for a stretch because he was just getting run over. Like, it was a, like, you mentioned the pressure numbers earlier in this game. Like, the fact that the Rams could not turn this game script and the things that happened into this game into a 20-point victory does concern me a bit.

And, like, I know they're capable. of hitting a gear that maybe nobody else can football and football can hit. But I want to see him do it. I want to see him do it for the first time since Thanksgiving. I want to see him do it for an extended period of time for a full game. Like this was supposed to be a, we're going to dictate the situation, we're going to tell you who we are, we're favorites, we're going to get revenge on the 25th best team in football per DVOA, and the Panthers played them to a three-point game.

like they deserve to be in a three-point game at the very end. Yeah, it's a great point that it did not feel like the Panthers were lucky to be in this game. If you took the uniforms off, you would have just said, like, oh, these are two pretty equal teams. These are two quarterbacks playing at a pretty high level, like, but that made a handful of mistakes each throughout the game and went through little rough patches. But like the quarterbacks were kind of even, you know, you could almost give price, you know, a lot of credit because he withstood the advantages. That part of it is concerning.

And I do kind of going to run through a little bit of the run of play. Because if you go back to the first half and, you know, they get that 14 nothing lead. They go for it on a fourth down late in the second quarter. They don't get it. And then Bryce Young drives down the field, gets a scramble touchdown before halftime. that makes it a game at that point. And then you're just in it. And then if you're watching us on YouTube,

you can watch the interception that Matthew Stafford had, where Mike Jackson picks him off. And at this point, it's 2017. It's a third and long late in the third quarter. That was the first moment where I thought, my God, they actually might lose this game. Mike Jackson, Bill Barnwell, played the game of his life.

He's had a really good season for them, like in terms of advanced metrics. Like he's been one of the better cornerbacks in the league. And both him and J.C. Horn played an outstanding game. And that was kind of the moment that got the Panthers going for their fourth quarter comeback. And that was like kind of kickstarted what was a really fun end to this game and made me realize like, okay, they actually could win this game. When throughout before that, I just kept expecting the Rams to kind of run away with it. Yeah, I mean, if the Rams hit that fourth down, you sort of figure, okay, they're going to go in and score. The Panthers are not going to score, and that's going to be like a, perhaps an unassailable lead for the Rams in this game.

And yet the Panthers didn't really even seem desperate to try to score when they got the ball back at the end of the second quarter. They sort of hit a couple big players, and it was like, oh, well, I guess we'll try. And then they score a touchdown. And then Pooka Kua drops, which should have been a 50-yard touchdown, hit. him right in the hands. Which is why I kind of struggle with the Stafford finger thing because Stafford actually had a number of dimes throughout that. He actually had a two for 12 streak during the game where he only completed two of 12

throws. But Devante Adams had two killer drops in this game and Puka had that one. And if like if you gave him those yards, he throws for 450 yards or something in this game. So it's kind of hard to separate if there was an injury, like what impact that was. Right. And I mean, like, I think sometimes when we think about a quarterback being injured, less than 100%, we assume that like every pass is going to suck.

And sometimes that is the case, if you have like a certain kind of injury. But quarterbacks can also be inconsistent. They can feel at some plays and not feel at some plays. You know, they might, if you have an ankle injury, maybe you step into a throw right. Maybe you don't step into the next throw right. Like it is, there's a certain level of erraticism that I think comes into play with these injuries. And so if you told me Stafford was sore, but not really impacted, I'd believe that. You told me Stafford was injured and it was actually impacting his throws, but not everyone, I'd believe that too.

I just, you know, it felt like he wasn't confident for that stretch. And I was a little surprised the Rams did not respond to that by maybe leaning a little more into their run game. Yeah, the run game was quiet. It wasn't ineffective, but you're right. They did kind of go away from it. So the Panthers, you know, respond and get a touchdown, you know, to take their first lead of the entire game after that interception. Then the Rams are driving. And a play happened that I think it's got to be remembered throughout the week as like the biggest non-scoring play of the game, which was Puka Nakua breaking up a potential interception of Stafford.

It was the ensuing drive. It's a third and one. and they decide to take a shot. And I think he thinks Puka Nakua is going to keep running on the play. Nick Scott has a chance to make an interception in the end zone. And Puka basically acts like a defensive back and knocks the ball out. That is when they are down four. And then they end up scoring later in that drive.

And so Puka Nakua, who goes over, you know, 100 yards, has 10 catches. Between Puka and Devante, they had 31 targets. It was just spamming the two of them. Puka also had three carries. I mean, they did that end-around play that they absolutely love, like, over and over. But, you know, they threw the ball to him 18 times today to get that the 111 yards. But that past breakup might have been, like, the biggest play that he made. Yeah, I mean, Xavier Smith, 2-2 Atwell, kind of Bumfield, Cardio Club, 42 routes,

one target between the three of them at wide receiver. I was a little surprised. I know our friend Mina Kimes also was a little surprised that they did not lean into the tight ends. Yeah. In this game, you know, they didn't have Terrence Ferguson. Maybe that impacted things here and there, but they had Tyler Higby, had Colby Parkinson, had Davis Allen.

The Panthers have been terrible on throws tight ends this year. We saw as the game are on. They wanted to attack Christian Roseboom, wanted to attack Nick Scott, wanted to attack the linebackers, and yet didn't really do that for much of this. this game until, of course, the game-winning touchdown pass from Stafford to Colby Parkinson. And so I understand wanting to force-feed Puka Nukuha and Devante-Adams.

I think Pooka made a great play to break up that touchdown. But again, I just, I sit here and say, this is week 19 of the NFL season. You are a veteran offense operating at a high level with the probable MVP of quarterback, a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame wide receiver, a wide receiver who's the probably to an offensive player of the year, it shouldn't look this disjointed, not against the Panthers' defense.

You should have answers that are not, you know, low percentage curls and outrouts that aren't working against the strength of the team. And it just felt like the Panthers made it more difficult for, the Rams made it more difficult for themselves, just sort of thought they were going to dominate with their talent, and it almost cost them their playoff lives. Yeah, they, they,

They end up, you know, when I looked at the final numbers, it wasn't a ton in the first half in terms of going two tight end or three tight end. But now, now when I look like, they still, you know, went either two or three tight end, over 40% of the time, which is a ton. And pretty much went at their season average in terms of three tight ends, which was, you know, by far the most of any team in NFL history. It just didn't work very well. I mean, they would average under four yards per play with three tight ends on the field, under five yards per play with two tight ends. So, you know, it was a lot of the numbers are coming in those last two drives where they kind of finally figured out. And that was mostly with three wide receivers. And it's really just the offense wasn't consistent in general.

I do want to give them some credit of like the things, you know, that they did do well. Like Stafford, I thought his decision making was a little all over the place. But he also did some things that not many like. quarterbacks would would do. He had an audible on a fourth and one to a Kyron Williams run, which was like the exact perfect play call in the time. He had a sneak by himself, which was literally the first one of the season, right? His first, first down of the entire season, Matthew Stafford as a runner. He's now 40 behind Drake May if he wants to try and catch up. I like what you did.

Good call. Good time for it. And then there was another third and long on one of their field goal drives in the in the second half where he sees exactly where the blitz is going to come from. He moves everything over to the side. They get it blocked up. He hits it and they hit a field goal later in that drive. So sometimes it's the small things that he does is really good. And yet, you know, they got the ball back with four minutes to go.

And sometimes you don't need the game when he. drive if you just finish it off earlier. They get it with about seven minutes left, up three, and I think they're going to put the game away here, and they take a holding penalty, and they end up settling for a couple underneath passes, and they punt the ball away, or at least they try to. This is where the game got really crazy. Let's actually listen to the Panthers block front. Short and had to check that ball down.

Evans gets the state. The kick is blocked. It's loose. It's on the ground. It doesn't matter who has it. It's Carolina football at the 30-yard line of L.A. Isaiah Simmons with the block. He recovers the ball. Special teams comes through. So they get that punt block. They drive down. That's with just over four minutes to go. And Bryce Young is set up on a fourth down. situation and he does what Bryce Young does and has done really the last two seasons. If you've watched him every game, you know. The prettiest Bryce Young throws are extremely pretty.

He does the hard stuff really well. Let's actually listen to the go-ahead touchdown pass to Jalen Koker. Young out of the gun. Here's the snap. Bryce looking left throws deep left corner of the outside. Jaylon Koker pulls it in for a touchdown. And the Panthers have to. the lead with 239 to go. Bryce Magic is real and Coker has played the game of his life. Great call there. Coker goes over 100 yards, by the way. I wanted to correct my mistake. That was a third and three. I think in my head it was a fourth down because they're down three. And I'm thinking they'll probably going to kick the field goal there. And he just puts that in the spot only Coker can get it. Yeah, I thought Jell and Coker was really good in this game,

running away from cornerbacks. By the way, be honest, Greg. Yes. I'll be honest after you're honest. Did you know Isaiah Simmons was on the Panthers when he blocked that one? No. I had no idea. I was like, are there two Isaiah Simmons?

Like I was thinking of like, Giants? I know he's in the NFL somewhere, but man. He was bouncing around. He was with the Packers at one point, obviously back in the day. No, I did not know he was kicking around on special teams because they are not using him on that big play big play and you're right about brys young and that he makes the hard stuff look easy and i think like you know there's like sort of like a meme or some meme element to him about like you know all his best passes or touch passes like the only thing he can do is a touch pass

but like man when he's throwing those outbreaking routes and there's a little bit of space to work with those throws are on the money he was again i just think it reminded me that a little bit of like Tony Romo to some extent. He was like scrambling and like spinning out of pressures and escaping and then hitting receivers on the run. I just, you know, if he had been terrible in this game, I still think they pick up his fifth their option, but you don't feel good about it. And I think if you're the Panthers, you're like running to the window to hand

in Bryce Young's fifth year option after that game. And not like, you know, this was the biggest game of his career. I don't think it was a game that was single-handedly going to decide his future, but I think it made life so much easier for the Panthers to envision a future with Bryce Young being a focal point of it. Because he was every bit as good as the NFL MVP against worst pressure with worse receivers, with a less imposing coaching staff, and put Carolina in the best. position to win this football game. Yeah, I think that the fifth year option decision is easy,

as you said. I think it would have been easy barring just like a disastrous performance. It's a $26 million contract for 2027. And in fact, you could argue if you're Bryce Young that the fact that they're just happy giving them the fifth year option is almost disrespectful. I, you know, like, you know, like, Because it's Bryce Young, he'll probably, he just doesn't seem like he's going to be pushing for a new long-term contract this off season. But overall, I think his play over the last two years, certainly overall down the stretch, like, has been good enough to get that sort of middle tier quarterback contract. And the fifth year option actually does them a favor because it kind of kicks the can for a year down the road to make that decision. But yeah, Koker had a good game. He gets nine catches for 134 yards.

Tetaroa McMillan has five catches for 81 yards. And I did think it was a bad game for the Rams secondary in general, because you're getting that pass rush. For the most part, pretty quick, you would have liked to see them maybe finish a few more plays, like Jared Verse and Kobe Turner. Kobe Turner did finish plays on that last drive, certainly. But, you know, Kobe Durant's getting picked on.

Akele-Weatherspoon left this game pretty early with an injury, and they were playing a lot in base with like an extra safety, basically playing a linebacker position, and they're just not impressive. And if you're looking for the biggest problem that they could have, it's going to depend on the matchups. But let's say they're in Philadelphia next week. You got to have Jalen Hertz to take advantage of it,

but you're loving those matchups of those receivers on the outside against these Rams cornerback. I mean, that's what won the Eagles the game. Well, two things, ironically enough, won the Eagles the game when they played the Rams earlier this year, which was AJ Brown beating up Emmanuel Forbes, who was the best Rams cornerback. And he, like you said, briefly, got the game injured before coming back in.

But Block Kicks, Greg, decided that game for the Eagles, and it almost decided this game for the Panthers. And I guess I want to ask, maybe it's not realistic, but... Yes. Do you think the Rams special teams... especially when it comes to blocks and punting are they so bad

that you think Shomikvay drastically needs to change the way he approaches fourth downs for the rest of the postseason? Oh, okay, different question than I expected. I thought you were just going to say drastically changes the approach that he has the special teams in general which he doesn't seem like he really respects it that much

or tries that hard at it. Well, he fired his coordinator and changed the kicker. Like, what else can you do at this point? like just the way he talks about it, the fact that they wouldn't kick the ball last year in bounds, they just took the, they took the, you know, touchback all season long.

I think he's been aggressive going for it on fourth down and, you know, they didn't get it a couple times today. Did they have two turnovers on downs or they just had one turnover on downs today? The Panthers actually were quite aggressive and

you know, got stopped twice including on their first drive of the game. I think he needs to stay aggressive because that's that's where the moneymaker is. That's where Matthew Stafford is. This should be one of the best running teams in the league. Like they are an offense first team. And yeah, like, you know, I'm all for the thicker kicker. And he hit a couple kicks today.

That wasn't their problem. But yeah, I think they should be aggressive. But I mean, like, I'm saying like to an extreme extent. Like let's say middle of the game, fourth and three on your own 30. yard line. I don't think show me Day is ever thinking about going forward before this season. But is do you believe their punting game and their

pension for having stuff blocked is so bad that that should become a go for it spot for them when maybe it wouldn't have been if they had competent punting this season? I mean, Ben Johnson essentially went for that tonight in the first quarter of the game. So it's not that crazy. I don't think

he will go that far though. I do think it's a problem though. And like special teams was a draw today because as you mentioned, it is an interesting game to think back about because the Rams were given a lot, including a special team's turnover that sort of made, you know, sort of evened out that fake block punt. It just was a ball bouncing off the Panthers helmet on a punt earlier in the game. They also had like a wide open drop the Panthers that killed the drive on third down. And then the Rams credit to them did have a couple fourth down.

stops that that gave the ball back to, to their offense. It's, it's an interesting game, too, because, like, you look at the score and you think it was, like, a great game by the offense, and you see that the Rams got over 400 yards, and it wasn't, like, a terrible game, but they had 13 possessions. They had, it was the exact opposite of what happened

when these two teams played the first time around where it was just, like, very limited possessions. The Rams got as many possessions in the first half of this game as I think they might have gotten in the entire game last time. They had seven possessions in the first half. So they had five punts. They had an interception.

They had the block punt. They had the turnover on downs. There was actually like a lot of Rams possessions that didn't end up in points. And I think that's why it left you feeling so underwhelmed. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm biased here in a house with a couple, a couple women wearing Rams gear today. But I kind of look at playoff games where you shouldn't win and you win usually as just like a, the odds are you'll probably play better next time. Because that's like how the regular season works too. People always like, oh, they're lucky to win.

But it's like, no, they'll probably play more at their level the next time around. You know, like if they've established the level and then you don't need to be as lucky. If they've been playing great for the last month of the year and then they had a had a stinker here, I'd be like, okay, whatever. But it's been a month where they've been okay and losing and in danger of losing. I mean, I don't know. I picked them to win the Super Bowl after the season, so I don't know any better. I'm with you on this, but I don't know. I was, especially after the 14-0 lead,

I mean, it felt like I wasn't going to turn it off. But I thought about, like, maybe I'll put something else on the second TV and see if I don't focus on that. I mean, it was so easy. That first drive was like a four-play drive, and there was no one within 10 yards of any of the defenders. It almost looked unfair early, which is why, you know, I give Coker and Browker.

and Bryce and in that coaching staff because look I know the Bill Barnwell article about teams most likely to regress is coming out next August or whatever and the numbers aren't going to be that kind to the Panthers granted they only won eight games but they've kind of profiled all year like a six and eleven type of team not really even an eight and nine type of team but this will make you know everyone feel good I think about how this season and yet they have a lot to work on I think just roster-wise. It did show some proof of concept, though, of that, okay, maybe Dave Canales really can be the spiritual godsun to Pete Carroll

and just like make everyone super positive. And that somehow overwhelms, like, logic. Well, let me ask you, Ray, it feels like the last two years, we've entered the offseason and the Panthers have, like, their goal has just been, oh, my God, we have to help Bryce. Oh, God, Bryce is a disaster. We have to fix them. we have to help him.

Is this the first off season where the Panthers can go into the off season and not be like, oh, my God, we have to get three more receivers and another running back and another offensive like, do you feel like they've done enough? No. The crazy thing is I think they kind of still need. I mean, they couldn't run the ball all down the stretch. They were a little better today. Not really.

A 42% success rate isn't bad, but they only ended up with 83 yards on the ground. They were one of the, I think, the two worst running teams in the league since week 10. So you can't run the ball and your number three receiver is who? Like no one, essentially. It's Jimmy Horn who's dropping a ball at the end of this game. Yeah, it's Xavier Leggett, but you can't trust him. So you don't have much receiver depth. You don't really have a tight end that you love.

So no, they still need more on both sides of the ball. But I think they'll feel they'll feel better about it. It would have been an interesting what if. If Jimmy Horn catches that ball, he's probably, is he probably in bounds or he gets out of bounds at like the the Rams 45 and and you're throwing a Hail Mary or maybe you have two plays and you can get a little closer and throw a Hail Mary. They're probably not really going to win this game either way. Probably not, but they got pretty close. They got pretty close. Can you get Ryan Fitzgerald like a 65 yard attempt? It wasn't that far away. And it wasn't like it was

the Bears conditions either. It was a little nicer out there than it was in Chicago. What a day, Bill. Thanks for honking and going all over the point. I love a little like a bombs away type of game because that, that Panthers Rams game kind of was a sneaky bombs away game. You know, everyone complains about it was how it's just like everything's short passing in the NFL today. Bryce way over his average 9.4 air yards per attempt.

And Matthew Stafford was almost at 12. Like he was just hucking that thing down the field. Mm-hmm. And he got it done. You can't ask for anything more for an NFL, for an, for an, for an, an NFC wild card Saturday than the two games we got today. Yes. That has to be, I'd have to go through all the wild card Saturdays,

but it is off to a rollicking start for this wildcard weekend. I can't imagine there's been any better than those two games. That was an all-timer in Chicago. And, man, I tell you. I think if we went into the day thinking the Panthers were some great team, we would be calling that an all-time or two, because that was back and forth as good as it gets. Can I tell you what the two Saturday games were last year, Greg?

Okay, please. Texans 32, Chargers 12, a game where neither offense looked like it had ever played football before for the first half of the game. And Ravens 28, Steelers 14, a game where I literally could not tell you one thing that happened in it. And yet you were on live with me on YouTube after that game too. We've made this Saturday evening at the year. The year before, the year before, Texas. Texans 45, Browns 14, Chiefs 26, Dolphin 7, the game where I was afraid Tua was going to freeze. We did get Jags Chargers a couple years ago as the Saturday night game.

That was a pretty good one. That was great. But I think this is the best two-game Saturday slate we have seen in the Super Wildcard era. They're no longer calling it Super Wild Card, and you know what the key was, Bill? They took the Texans out, and it's the first time, I can't believe this. literally the first time they haven't been in the early Saturday game, the West of this game. Our great friend Chris Wessling,

who named it Westivis, because it was the day every year, the time every year that the Cincinnati Bengals would go, bye-bye for the playoffs, Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton and the whole crew. Well, you know who was on the Carolina Panthers? And they gave it a good try, but they also said bye-bye in the West of this slot early.

It was Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers. Thank you, Bill. Appreciate you. We will be back on Sunday night. We're not going live on Sunday night, but we will be in the studio with all the trimming, me, Nick Schiff and Patrick Claibon, recapping all the Sunday games,

looking forward to the triple header. Man, I thought that Bill's Dagg game is going to be the best game of the weekend. Got a lot to live up to. We'll see you then. What's up? It's Cam Jordan. I'm back with Season 3 of your favorite podcast. Be Off the Edge with Cam

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