NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Wild Card Weekend Recap; Jason Garrett Fired

Episode Date: January 6, 2020

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal recap each of the games from Wild Card Weekend beginning with the Seahawks winning over the Josh McCown-led Eagles (3:27) and the major upset of the Saints (16:16). The heroes take a halftime break to discuss the firing of Jason Garrett (33:30) before moving on to discuss the Patriots crumbling to the Titans (39:45) and a very merry Wesstivus (58:15).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, we're getting close to the big showdown in Miami the Super Bowl. Listen, if you are a Titans fan, if you are a Texans fan, if you are a Vikings fan, if you are someone who just watched the Seahawks, beat the Eagles, then you need to get your butt down to Miami to watch our live show. It's going to be the Thursday before the Super Bowl. Tickets going quick.

All the information on their website. What is it, Dan? Miami Improv.com slash events. Get it done. Who are you if you don't go to this thing? Nobody. The Around the NFL podcast. Ha ha.

This is the podcast right here. Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, coming to you from a room filled with Heroes, Mark, Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey. Wildcard weekend in the books, and it was one for the books. And that's today's show.

I'll see you. And it was wild. It was wild. Until that last game, not really that wild. It was just kind of sleepy. That one felt 14 hours long to me. The other three magnificent. However, that game was a one.

possession game at the end. Yeah. As was every other game ended within a possession and two overtime games. And I think the greatest, I call it a West of this miracle is what I call it.

You got, to me, the best West of this game of all time, which you're going to get to later. Well, I felt like the fourth quarter and overtime version of Josh Allen was basically the entire Steelers Bengals game from a while ago. Like the complete insane.

sanity and unpredictable nature of whatever, Josh, Alan was going to do next. So to me, it's between those two games. He felt the spirit of Westavis, and I thought about it the night before Westus Eve when we're all putting our kids to bed and everyone's got dreams of West of us in their head. The only way that Bill O'Brien and the Texans could escape Westivis is to win that game. And maybe Josh Allen, doesn't he just feel kind of like a guy that could be the face of Westivis in the 2020s? A lot of first round loss. That's a grim prognostication for Bill's fans.

I mean, I think he'd be fortunate to be playing multiple playoff games. But that's just my feeling after what happened this weekend. Yes, we're going to get to all of the football. And by the way, thank you to everybody who reached out to us around the NFL broadcast premiered on NFL Network on Friday. We were really happy with how it turned out. And everyone from fans to inside this building to reporters that we work with to colleagues, outside. We got a lot of positive feedback and also just people wishing us well and that felt good. That was nice. Also hearing that it was the highest rated half an hour of programming in NFL

network history. You're hearing that. Yeah, the 3 a.m. version. Well, it should have been. There was like a lot of replays and the 3 a.m. version they just said was Monster. We're huge with college kids stone late at night. We're basically Dave Letterman, 1982 level like impact on the youth. No less. All right. So thank you. everybody in another show coming up Friday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific, breaking out divisional round. But before that, we got to finish up wildcard. And let's start, let's go, let's basically go backwards in time, starting with the game that just ended. Let us head to the link.

More now is wide to the right side with a slot left for Russell, who goes under center. Now Lockett goes in motion. Russell play fake. Now he's going to throw down the middle. Got a man. Metcalfe makes the kids diving. He is in for a touchdown. Seahawks, what a play by the rookie D.K. Medcalf gets in behind the secondary, makes a diving catch, hits the ground, gets back up, and then drags a defender to the end zone. 53 yards. What a play by number 14. Simply spectacular. This young man, D.K. Redcalf, he could go down as one of those all-time draft misses going to the second round where everybody pegged him in the first. Seahawks get them because good organizations make smart. You know what the Eagles did?

They drafted J. Jaw, our boy, Artega White's eight, seven spots ahead of D.K. M. Ouch, that hurts. Steve Rable with the call for the Seahawks Radio Network. Yes, Russell and Wilson threw a dart. D.K. McAf used every inch of that big frame, got it, rolled to the ground, got up, went into the end zone, and then made another huge catch to basically seal the win for the Eagles late in the fourth quarter. 17-9 for the Seahawks, 17-9 over the Eagles at the link. Seattle's defense piled up seven sacks on Josh McCown and Carson Wentz,

who exited this game for good early in the game in the first quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Jadavian Clowney, no penalty called. Mark, the banged-up Seahawks go on the road, they get it done. I felt like DK Metcalf was so important because both offenses, and the reason we called the game a little sleepy compared to the other three, just so sluggish in both attacks. And they were just begging for someone to step up and play the star role. And Metcalf came into full bloom.

I think probably a vast majority of casual fans have no idea who this guy was. And you roll in and now he's a household name and he completely got it done. And my one thought afterwards watching Josh McCown, only the second 40-plus-year-old quarterback to debut in the playoffs at 4. I mean, Sonny Jurgensen was the other, you know, tears down his face at the end of this because who knows, his career is essentially probably wrapped at this point, came very close. I thought he played, he played about as well as you could ask someone whose body is essentially begging to break down at this point in freezing weather, and, you know, he got hit

a bunch of events. Barely survived the game physically. At one point, it looked like he pulled his butt. I don't know what happened. It just was clutching a butt chie. It could be a torn heine, you know. Tornhiney. 18 to 24 for 174, though.

Like, it really wasn't an embarrassing. It was just once they got inside the 15-yard line. But it's, do you feel worse for him or Carson Wentz, who it just, I don't know, the ghosts and the history of his run in January is just problematic. We'll get to Wentz in a second, just since we're on the top of McNeum, because I think Chris Collinsworth calling the game for NBC made the point right before they went off the air that that fourth and seven, right at the two-minute warning, they're at the Seattle 10, they're down eight.

But first of all, it felt like there was 80 yards between them. in the goal line. It just didn't feel like they had that special moment in them with McCown and behind center. But there's nobody open. A hole opens up in the offensive line. Josh McCown's season and instinctually darts, but he's a guy with some type of glute or hamstring injury. He's 40 plus years old. And what he thought was an open path to the end zone is immediately Jadavian Clowney grabbing him by the ankles and taking him down. And the game was effectively over at that point. And then the big completion to Metcalf sealed the game. But that's the limitations when you have McCown and not Nick Foles and not Carson Wentz-Bind Center.

I thought that was one of the big themes from Wildcar Weekend, old quarterbacks in quicksand versus pressure. They're sort of doubly cursed because they hesitate a split second when they no longer believe they can make the throw, and the hesitation ends up killing them when they have to escape pressure and they no longer have the agility to get there. It's funny because, I mean, I remember McCown the early part of his career well in Arizona. He was a lot of fun to watch.

That was his problem back then, too, was leaving the pocket immediately to try to go make a play. but he had the sort of, you know, extraordinary athleticism. Sometimes he pulled off. Sometimes he didn't, but he was a lot of fun to watch. You know, he had the same rag-tag unit around him that Carson Wentz did, and I don't think it should be lost that I think there were six passing plays with Carson Wentz in the game, and they gained two yards.

And now that's a tiny sample size, but Carson Wentz and this Eagles offense scored nine points the last time they played the Seahawks. They were a rough-looking offense for the last stretch until they played some of these cupcakes in the NFC East. It just is such a shame in a season where so many people went down. And you never really got to know what the Seagull's team would be that we didn't even get to see Wentz try to win this game. Because who knows, it's not like Seattle's offense was rolling in this game. They were primed to get picked off. Right.

It would have been fun to see Carson Wentz at least give it a shot. And it's just a shame. You feel so bad for Wentz. Absolutely. It's just unbelievable because he had worked so hard to get back to this stage after the injuries of the past two years and then to do what he did in December finally get there and then on a suspect hit, Mark, you and I were talking about a lot downstairs where Clowny essentially dives at Wence as he's going down and it's a helmet-to-helmet shot. The lights get turned out on the season for him. Yeah, it's hard to diagnose what's going through defenders' minds on these replays.

But it looked to me that Clowney angled his head. head to, you know, use it in a way that the league does not want you to do. There was no flag on the play. I thought that was suspicious, and it completely changed the game. And you're looking at an Eagles team that mined their way down to the 8-yard line at one point, the 20-yard line, and the 10. And to your point, Dan, it felt like 80 yards versus 8. And it came away with six points.

I mean, they came, this has to be an extremely frustrating, frustrating result for Eagles' chance. Because even with McCown, in there, you had a chance. Although on some level, I think if you're an Eagles fan, or you're on that team, you look at this season and you think, oh, what more could we have done? It just wasn't going to happen for us. The luck, which is so important, and maybe they made their own luck a couple years ago, but there's only so much that you can do.

The clowny play, I think, will be the moment of this weekend that the NFL is most embarrassed about. Not the Kyle Rudolph play, which I think ultimately will get to and they'll say that's how they want to officiate past interference. The Clowny one is one they'll apologize for. I mean, I fully expect it. They will find Jedevian Clowny. They will say they missed that call.

It was an obvious miss call. I mean, it's obvious he's going to be paying for that. That's the exact reason the rules in place, and it's unfortunate for the Eagles, too, that they didn't get a 15-yard penalty out of it. Hats off to the Eagles for making it this far, but they weren't going any farther regardless. They were playing with a preseason roster out there.

You've got Josh McCown handing off to Boston Scott, throwing passes to Deonté Burnett, Greg Ward, and Robert Davis. These guys were all in practice squads in October. Shelton Gibson. The defense showed up, and Fletcher Cox had one of the best games of his career, I thought, and they did a good job controlling Seattle. But their injuries in the secondary showed up, too. I mean, Jalen Mills had a terrible game.

Avanti Maddox had a terrible game. Kravon LeBlanc, who's been an injury replacement, didn't play well either. And that's why I love when it was third and 10 at the end of the game, 140 left. The Eagles have one time out. The typical Brian Schottenheimer Pete Carroll move there might be make them use their last time out, punt it away, and dare Josh McCown to go down the field

and get six points and a two point conversion because you know that's not likely. But no, they threw a deep shot to Metcalfe over the top because to them, they're better at that than a 10-yard out. Like I trust them more to go way down the field to Metcalf than a 10-year-out. So they did what the Seahawks did, and that I feel like is at least an appropriate

and a more enjoyable ending to what was kind of a disappointing game. Well, said, I would say the biggest subplot in this game, I can't believe we haven't gotten to it, is that coming into this affair, bird versus bird teams in the playoffs. You were all over there. The home bird team was 10-0 historically.

That is, that's huge. And now the record falls to 10-1 because of what happened today. Anyone that had a negative tweet about the NBC animation of these said birds flying through the air, the graphic, I blocked them immediately

from my feet. Not just a mute, you were blocked. It's offensive behavior to take on that production. Is there a large groundswell? Huge. Russell Wilson, by the way.

Go Hawks. What was that, Russell? Go Hawks. Okay, I got you. Through for 325 yards. He led the team with 45 yards rushing. This is not the iconic

Russell Wilson game. Go Hawks. Okay. But you understand. that how important this guy is to this team and why even though you know they'll be going to green bay to face the packers why the seahawks who are beat up are not a team to discount the divisional round because as long as he's on the field magic can happen and jadevi and clowny i've been on him a little bit because he's always hurt and you know he's going to command a massive salary and i would

be totally terrified if a team like the jets were to do that uh come free agency but again and we've talked about this before, this guy does have a habit, Wes, of showing up in these big impact games, and he was a nuisance all day long for McCown and wins, certainly wins. Well, yeah, playing against an offensive line, missing a couple of starters, and like you said, to come back from injury and be a factor, and back to Russell Wilson for a second, he still has the best, sexiest deep ball in the league, and then I think back to that third and 15 where he rushed for scramble for 18 yards, and that was a huge play in the game. I'm amazed, like, when Marshaun Lynch first got his carry in last week's game,

it's like the whole newsroom's going wild. Like, people are so excited on Twitter for his first carryback. And then I think the reality is set in here that the Marshaun Lynch-Trivis Homer duo combined for 19 yards on 17 carries. It's a big problem. The kind of offense they want to be that's. Right. So their running game is a little bit of a mess.

You know, it was a tough matchup today against Philadelphia. They smartly threw it more. One's bow-legged and the other one's pot-belly. At one point, you had Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin, and Josh McCown in this game. I mean, it felt like a time machine to 2015. Homer 11 carries for 12 yards, Marchon 6 for 7. They'd get that touchdown. He did, and it was nice.

It was his long of the day, a 5-yard rush. That's 17 rushes for 19 yards. And by the way, Seattle, they did the same thing. I've talked about on the podcast before interviewing Pete Carroll the year that Russell got drafted. okay and Matt Flynn was just signed to a free agent deal and Carol's just like don't you know don't forget about this guy we drafted this this kid is the real deal he could play and it sounded like a coach just being overly positive and then he turned

out to be a Hall of Fame quarterback he was the same way with D.K. Metcalf all through the summer program was like I'm in store this guy is going to be one of our top weapons and usually you're like oh okay the coach is being overly optimistic but I think he's earned the benefit of that when they see somebody that they feel like they've hit on and can make an immediate impact. It happens. This guy's a stud. Metcalf, Lockett looks healthy.

David Moore made a play today. Hollister's there. It's a passing game with Wilson, obviously, being the absolute key. That can scare you. Like, this is not, they are a banged-up team, but I think just because they lost their running backs, it's been a little overstated.

If they could ever get Dwayne Brown back, their left tackle, that would be huge. But for the most part, this is the Seahawks team that managed to win, you know, 11, 12 games this year. now. Another one score win. That's been sort of the tension of the Carroll Russell Wilson era that Pete Carroll's formula is running the ball, but

the offense is often at its best when they just let the play break down and let Russell Wilson throw the ball off. I noticed, you know, especially in that week 17 game, how much more quickly Russell Wilson was to run the ball. Like he decided... Just say the quarterback. Okay, just stop it.

I mean, our sound board is... I like it. Frank through the white flag. He decided in the second half, of the 49ers game, like enough of this. I've barely run this year. I'm just going to start running. And that was the key to them almost scoring four straight touchdowns against the 49ers, and he kept it up today.

All right. So there you go. One outcome, the Seahawks move on, as I said, to Green Bay to face the Packers next week. Let's now check out the other Sunday ball game. It was a shocker. Third and goal from the floor. Kirk takes the snap.

Looks right. Fade left. End zone. And it is caught. Touchdown! Amazing decision by Kirk Cousins. He saw the all-out blitz. He knew he had Rudolph one-on-one with the corner.

Rudy! And just threw the jump ball. What a beautiful throw. Bonjour, San Francisco, and Horrovoie. New Orleans Saints. What? Paul Allen and beat Versich of the Vikings Radio Network. Having some fun in the boot.

And why not? because Kirk Cousins, yes, that Kirk Cousins connected with Kyle Rudolph for a four-yard score in the first possession of overtime. It wiped away both the Saints and a former reputation for somebody. 2620, the final at the Superdome. Three plays before the Randolph game winner, Cousins threw a perfect strike to Adam Thielen after they won the overtime coin flip to set up Minnesota at first and goal.

And boys, you know, football, man. man, it's funny. This is a funny sport. I mean, sports, this is why I love sports in general, because you could think you know everything and then reality sets in. Oh, yeah.

We know, yes, Mark. We know nothing. But not many people gave the Vikings a chance in this game. Certainly nobody in this room. I picked the Saints to win the damn Super Bowl, so my bracket's pretty busted up. Bracket.

But, you know, the Vikings were clearly, it was a bracket. It's just a minor NFL bracket. Ultimately, it's a bracket. That's what I'm saying, though. But the Vikings are the better team on Sunday. And we're going to get into Kirk Cousins because that was such a huge drive. And Greg, you had the great tweet, which I banged you on a retweet, that it seemed to be going all downhill in a bad way for the Vikings,

13 yards in their last three possessions of the fourth quarter. They lose a 10-point lead. But then he makes those two marvelous throws in overtime, including the game winner, which some people, might have an issue with and we'll get to that the officiating on the play but here was in one of the great locker room scenes of the season kirk cousins after the game with his teammates hey hey that's how we've won all year team right you held them the 20 points man yes we gave us a chance at the end but i got three words for you you like that i know it's cheesy Greg, but you know, you got to feel good for Kirk Cousins.

Yeah, I know I'm a cynic because my immediate thought was like, you know what's going to fire up the guys? Like the three-word catchphrase I had with the Washington Redskins. I believe you called him a corn blank after the game. Yeah, you have, you had some choice words. He's a great one. He's a great one. What a performance.

Wes, you know, do your thing. Wes, what were your thoughts as you watched Kirk Cousins? He checks all the narrative boxes, which is why he's been a laughingstock on Twitter. Like every starting quarterback in the NFL, it depends on week to week whether he's celebrated or vilified. They live this high wire act. Then when you sign that contract, it's even more of a microscope. Then when you fail in primetime games when all the eyeballs are on you, it's even more of a microscope. And he has to earn the benefit of doubt.

And I think when Troy Eickman said that's the best throw of his career right here, that's when he earned the benefit of doubt from a lot of people. I've seen him in that building before where he shook off a helmet-to-helmet hit. and against the blitz in which he got clobbered, nailed a 40-yard past of Ryan Grant for a touchdown against the Saints in a big game a couple years ago, and I've been a believer since then because he's demonstrated the ability to do this. The only question is, can you do it?

As Dan has said, when the lights are on. And he did it, and you could, people can try. The West was right this whole time. And Dan and I are more in lockstep than we're in chasm. And there's too many people on Twitter were like saying, oh, Dan, you had it wrong. I never said he couldn't do it. I only said he never did do it.

And it always seemed weird because he was such a prolific producer. And he's a guy that stays on the field and racks up yardage and touchdowns. So it never kind of made sense that he never was able to have a moment like this. And it took a long time, but he got it. Anybody that moves the goalpost on him now, I think it's wrong. I certainly won't because he did author the moment that alleviates doubts. And it's a type of win, seek Manning, comma, Eli, that can put you. on a big postseason run.

Watch out. It's the drama you like. Like an undeserved one? Let it go, man. Dan, I think all along it's the drama you liked. Like the human interest story of this guy. It was a great storyline. Here's the thing, though.

Like, it still takes a ton of luck that maybe he just didn't have in other games where he did play well. If Dalvin Cook, you know, when we thought Dalvin Cook fumbled and the Saints returned it, you know, Cousins doesn't get that chance. If they lose the coin to us, cousins doesn't get that chance. But he's not a different Kirk Cucson's. than he was before he made those plays. He was always a good quarterback.

The thing I like that, I don't know if it's changed, but I like that the Vikings showed some aggressiveness in overtime and throughout the fourth quarter in letting him throw. Not always, but third and one in that overtime drive, they go shotgun and he throws it to Dalvin Cook. That throw to Thielen certainly. And then I'm thinking when it was 1310, midway through the third quarter,

and it just felt like the Vikings were dominating, but they were only up three points and Cousins made a couple of throws on that drive. One for the third down near the goal line where he's on the run to Stefan Diggs. Another really great throw to Adam Thielen and those to me are just as important almost as the overtime throws because it set you up

and they were beautiful plays and he was clearly the better quarterback on the field today. Well, there was a section of the game though where I thought the best quarterback on the field was Taysam Hill and I'm not just saying that. for my own leanings towards him. I find him to be a fascinating player shotgunned out of, you know, decades of old. And he does a little bit of everything.

And, you know, Breeze had that killer fumble, very uncharacteristic, his first fumble of the year. But not everyone was so happy with this result. My son, Luke, who is a Saints fan all of a sudden over the past couple months, check out this reaction. Oh, got to see this. Saints have to win because Hill did a really epic. Play. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love the Saints. And, you know, I just... Look at his shirt. You got him a shirt, too. Yeah, because it's like I want them to, the same way I did in my household, find their own teams.

And Colton is an Eagles fan, so it's been a rough Sunday on the home front. Better than Browns, though. Way better. Way better. It's like, but it's, you know, I find this to be... The thought that I had was, I feel like every year it's Sean Payton having to endure these terrible, hideous playoff losses. long the journey of this season is, to think that you've got to go back into mini-camps, all this nonsense to get back to this point again, and it's been twice against the Vikings in a couple years. That is really rough. Crusher of a loss for the Saints and the whole organization. We are, you know, I do the pain

rankings, and I've always kept it to teams that star crossed and never even can get off the ground and just a horrible fan experience. But there is the like second tier of pain rankings for teams like the Saints and Packers that have a lot of January heartbreak. This is three straight years that their season has ended on a walk-off play. Well, not to mention the first 40 years of their organization. Where they had Bubkiss. And this season especially, and like I said, I picked them to win the Super Bowl because it just felt like everything was crescendoing for this team.

They had averaged 40 points a game in the four weeks leading up to this game. He had a Vikings team that looked like it was coming in as a dead team walking. And this felt like a number three season. that was going to be wreaking havoc on the NFC, and now they're golfing. Right. It makes no sense to me. Not to mention that the game,

I understand you could be in either camp. The game ends on yet another questionable decision surrounding pass interference. I just didn't have a problem with it. Greg, I know you did. I didn't have a problem with it, but if I have a problem with the rule, if there's going to be a rule, use the rule.

They said, okay, they looked at it. Maybe, maybe a... That's their cover on. No, I know they did look at it. I mean, it's not like I doubt that they looked at it, just like we did. They had the time. But they quickly decided both the defender, you know, Williams and Kyle Rudolph. Kyle Rudolph, you know, had some contact on the play.

I mean, please. This has roots in the early 90s when Chris Carter and Michael Irvin and those guys were allowed to start pushing off. And that wasn't a thing before the early 90s. Right. So Terry McCauley, the NBC Rules Analyst and the ESPN. John Perry. rules analysts both go on Twitter after the game and they say that's offensive pass interference I mean you can't tell me not called it consistently right you can't tell me looking at it if they

had called it on the both of them said the same thing which is what I thought if they called it on the field there's no way they would have overturned it the other way I don't mind that they didn't overturn it I just what is the rule there for then you're exactly your issue with it ultimately is that they didn't have the stoppage to look at it formally you didn't it wasn't as drastic as the 49ers Seahawks won. But I also think, as Wes has pointed out well, all year, the way they've officiated the rule has changed throughout the year. And so that creates a confusing sort of baseline.

And if they're trying to overturn pass, like if we're trying to review past interference, review past interference, it was past interference. I'm glad that they get overturned, though. I thought that there was two guys jostling. It was a little bit of a push-off, but it was a pretty strong, like, stiff arm there. Listen, these are grown men fighting for a ball. I know the problem is that that's the rule. Why does the rule exist if it's arbitrary depending on, you know,

these cobbled together officiating crews at this point. They're not even the same. It is crazy. But I'm just who are you guys upset with the official on the field for missing it or Ron Rivera? I'm not that upset, but I'm upset with the rule like in general of adding this extra layer of confusion and them not being consistent because here's the reality. They have buzzed down and looked at far, like, less infractions than that in the final two minutes of games all season. And guaranteed next week it'll happen again.

I mean, they'll call it next week. I think it almost feels like they've stepped back from, they don't want this rule to be a big deal. They don't, not just PR, but I think they look at it as like they don't want this to be the story. And they've taken a step back from the rule without actually changing the rules. Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say, let's get back into football. I just want to credit Everson Griffin and Denial Hunter for controlling and whooping and offensive line that we said had the best tackle tandem in the NFL. And it has to be disturbing

how old Drew Brees looked in that game where they could only move the ball when Tays and Hill was involved. Well, Griffin and Hunter are among the best duos in the entire NFL. And they said after the game, they gave an assist to the Atlanta Falcons. How great a day it is for Atlanta Falcons fans. Not only do you get to see the Saints blow it again, but the Vikings called them out by saying we saw what the Falcons did to them in terms of creating pressure in the middle, and we copied a lot of what they did because they really didn't beat the tackles too often. Ramcheck did have a couple bad plays, including on the force fumble, which was a massive play. But for the most part, they got that pressure going over the guards. They moved Hunter and Griffin on the inside, and they really

whooped Andrews P. and Warford over and over again. So give the Falcons in a sense. Well, you know, and you know the way to get Drew Brees uncomfortable, get pressure off the middle, get in his face, get him, you know, get those feet moving. Yeah, I thought Alvin Camaro was another guy that jumped out to me. Wes, you would point it out that it didn't, despite there being a bit of a narrative building that he was getting back to himself, he could not have looked any less explosive today. There were several plays that he left chunk plays on the field

where he just couldn't keep his feet or make a linebacker miss. I mean, this guy was not the same player, and that's a major story why they lost today. I think you can tell with him when he's used in the passing game to destroy linebackers, and he hasn't even been used like that in two months. They just handed him the ball now. They don't really use him as a receiver like that. I mean, this is why, you know, I try not to get too carried away with momentum,

like going into the playoffs, because they had scored 36 and a half points a game over the last seven weeks. The Vikings, of course, are coming off a really rough week 16. But they got to sit in week 17, whereas the Saints were trying to get that buy. And, you know, they could have easily been at home and waiting until the divisional round if the Lions have finished off the Packers or if the Seahawks had gotten a break. Or if 13 and 3 had been enough for a buy, which it would be almost any other year. But they got terrible luck in all those cases.

Like, a lot of times, like, it doesn't come down to luck, but that's, it's such a big factor in who. Well, I think we should also slow down on the conclusions we come to sometimes during the week. I mean, I, you know, I assumed that the Saints were just going to absolutely obliterate the Vikings. It couldn't have been more wrong with this. I did. This is normally a Greg territory item, but the Saints not using a timeout with 21 seconds left when there was the penalty in the runoff, and they wind up before. the regulation ends having to kick a field goal instead of another shot at the end zone.

They wasted another timeout too with about five minutes left. They did not handle that end situation well. They also didn't take the time out at 240 left, just kind of a conventional way to do it, because you can really control the clock and they waited until after the two. For a veteran coach in a QB, it wasn't great. By the way, one last note, I mean, very, very fortunate that when the Sky Camp tumbled down from the wires and netting above the stadium

that it didn't land on like an entire offensive line or something. We should give a... Imagine if that did happen. What would have happened? You would have won sandwiches somehow. Nice moment for Kevin Stefanski, by the way.

If he's going to... A lot of camera turn. Get a head of coaching job. That last... Attractive man, by the last drive. It was pretty good. It's a reminder to this Vikings team is... You want me to agree with you right now

but I'm just going to leave you on an island. I know, but you were bringing it up too. I don't know what you're talking about. You said, Mark, you thought cousins and Stafansky might be the best. looking QB coordinator combo in the league going on and on about it.

Stefansky is the power source there. I mean, he's probably the two, but I'd have to go through the iterations of every team. We know what Mark likes now. We know. You could sell that head coach,

Stefansky as a head coach to people pretty easily. Adam Thielen, we should point it, might be the MVP of this game. I mean, he... Seven for one. That's calm down. The two big plays of the game

were incredible catches from him. Like the 34-yarder in the third... He also fumbled. They had a bad penalty. That's fair. Early on. But he made a different. I mean, their team is totally different with Theelan and Cook,

which should be like an obvious point, but they suddenly, they're going to San Francisco, and they look pretty dangerous. He gets 129. Cook goes for, what, over a hundred. 25 yards? Yeah, 126 from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Like, that was the end into their offense.

Is there any scenario where week one next year, Sean Payton and Taysam Hill are the coach and quarterback combination for the Saints? No. Taysam Hill, though. Taysam Hill is going to get a starting shot somewhere at some point. Not as a quarterback. I don't know.

Taysom Hill had the biggest run for the team. He had the biggest pass for the team. And he had the second biggest catch for the team. Also, the least blocker on Camara's touchdown. And the biggest catch was Deonti Harris. So it's very weird. And he almost had an iconic drive where they were driving to take the lead. And he was almost responsible for all the yardage.

And that's when Drew Breeze fumbled. He's true. It was almost like a shot at you. Breaking tackles. That was like supposed to be your moment. Right. Drew took it away from you. Well, it's, you know, that's where Danielle Hunter took it away with that

Euro step pass ram check. He's doing things that guys haven't done for literally a hundred years. It's like Jim Thorpe came back to life. And he's a sneaky old. He's turning 30 this year. I'm saying someone should give him a shot. I would like that. The Vikings and Seahawks fans have to feel like this NFC,

even though I'm not saying the 49ers and Packers aren't like, you know, good bye teams, they have to feel like they got a shot here. That it's not a year where it's just predestined one of these by-te. Just beat Dan's Super Bowl team, so off and running. They gone. Who's your Super Bowl team? Well, I wasn't asked to do this exercise. I don't have a bracket.

I mean, back in September, what was it? Oh, I believe it was odd. Well, I know what it was. This is embarrassing. It was Browns over Eagles. So, you know, why am I hired as an analyst? Let's start with that question. All right.

Let's, this is halftime now. We're going to get to the Saturday games. But before that, there was some news. It was classic cowboys. dropped in the middle of an Eagles playoff game. The end of Jason Garrett, the awkward ending of Jason Garrett as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The team made it official on Sunday that they would be parting ways. There would be no agreement on a contract extension, not a firing in the classic sense,

but it is what it is. We have a missive here from Gerra Jones, the owner and GM. we are extremely grateful to Jason Garrett for his more than 20 years of service of the Dallas Cowboys as a player assistant coach and head coach. His tenure of leadership will be characterized by his ability to produce teams

that always played with great effort, emotion, and passion, and he represented our organization with great pride, loyalty, and respect. Sounds like Wes's uncle. He went on to add that his legacy in Dallas is always going to be as, one that he strived for greatness and was a class act, which is all true.

But ultimately, Wes, 10 years there, nine and a half. He took over for, I guess, what was it, Wade Phillips? And they never got to a Super Bowl, and they busted out this year, and it was well overdue. Bill Pullian, who is a Hall of Fame general manager, built the, built Super Bowl teams in Buffalo and Indianapolis. He has a book in which he outlines about 11 different qualities you look for in a head coach. and a lot of these are organization, leadership, communication, emotional stability, character, work ethic, player respect, public relations. Those are the things I feel like Jason Garrett does well.

And then right in the middle are three very important qualities. Vision. Do you have a clear picture of how you want your team to play and look and implement that vision and keep it there when the pressure is on? Strategy, are you the one making the game management decisions with the game on the line? flexibility can you adjust to trends around the league i think these are the three areas where jason garrett struggles and he's really good in the leadership areas and the player the public relations areas the character areas he but i think most nfl coaches are good at that stuff you want the ones who separate themselves with the strategy well there's there's one more on the list for jerry

jones and the cowboys which is be fine with everything jerry jones does and don't don't make us think about it that's like the most important thing i think jerry jones looks for and a head coach. And Garrett excelled at that. Is someone that just goes along with the owner being by far the most important voice and GM and everything else and cover for it and like really take the PR aspect of the job as a huge part of the job. So is this a good job when you factor in that that's a reality?

The roster's so good. It's a great job. I think it is. Well, it depends. Can you be a guy that can work? No, I like like, I think if you were Bill Belichick at any point in his life, he would say no. Like he could. The Cowboys didn't miss the play.

playoffs this year because Jerry Jones mangles his way into situations. They missed the playoffs because they didn't play up to the talent. And I don't think the, you know, you look at the Bill Parcells run in Dallas. He found a way to make it work with they weren't. After that long. No, but there weren't immense power struggles. But I would say

if you had less, you know, playoff wins in Jason Garrett, so they work that well. But the Cowboys in general, because, and it's obviously always annoying to me that they could go two and 14 and be put on five primetime games a year. That's been that's always, that's always been tedious in my world. But you look at the NFC, and only two teams, the Lions and Redskins, have gone longer without

an NFC title game appearance. 27 years for those teams. Twenty-three for the Cowboys. And I get that half the color analysts like in the league or former Cowboys, quarterbacks and fullbacks and everything else. But what is lost sometimes is the long, consistent run of not doing enough in Dallas. Not getting there. I think this week is a great example of why. I think it was, Jerry Jones purposefully kept this thing in the news all week because he thinks it's an infomercial about the power of the Cowboys brand. And then he waited until the Eagles are playing to drop the news. Like, that is not an accident.

He's like, okay, the NFC East is, you know, isn't the best division, but I'm still going to stick it to the Eagles by being the biggest story during this. All right, well, I'll tell you what. He might be happy with how this played out over the last week. But I thought it was a terrible look for the Cowboys. It made them seem indecisive and downright sensitive. at times when you're hearing all these reports of these people that are interested in and you still got Garrett in the building and he interviewed Marvin Lewis and Mike McCarthy

according to report Marvin Lewis that's going to be the guy you bring in to fix this oh my God how is he how is he different than Jason Garrett in terms of that list of qualities come on he's not well he would I think he would you go along with he would subscribe to that rule go along with whatever Jerry wants he also has a vision though with defense whereas with Jason Garrett, I'm not sure what his vision is. By the way, bad move, like, and I don't typically cry for reporters, but having to drag the people, like Jane Slater, our friend to the show, dragging them through the mud for an entire, you know, 100-something hours, a totally muddled bizarre process.

Not to mention the mud is a little strong. I don't know. It's like, you know, it's essentially the holidays still to some degree. I mean, what are we doing here? I don't think it's fair. They didn't survive like a POW case. I'm not saying that it's not, it's not. It's not, you know, total hard luck scenario for these people.

Job openings in Carolina, Cleveland, New York. Does Jason Garrett get a job? No. I say no. Would you suggest that he takes a year off, but also noted that he's not getting paid like a lot of these other sabbatical. It's also rich as hell. I could survive.

I could see Cleveland maybe interviewing him. I don't know. I think Cleveland is moving quickly towards a coach from a team we'll talk about soon. I see Garrett as a guy that will do well, just like Mike McCarthy got some pop here by sitting out of year, and he'll get somebody else's job next year. I also am curious to see if Mike McCarthy really did get pop and whether he gets another job.

I've been skeptical about that from day one. That's fan dog. All right. I'm sure we'll talk about this more in the week ahead, but let's now get back to the NFL action. Saturday. This is the day I liked. You can remember it?

Brady in the end zone takes the snap. Barely. Looks, fires past. bat it up in the air intercepted and returned for a touchdown titans logan ryan with nine seconds to go batting it up in the air i do believe was brock on a pass intended for sinew and logan ryan has returned it for a touchdown that's the first time in franchise history that they have returned an interception for a touchdown oh listen how quiet it is that's an amazing No, meanwhile, the throne of sleaze.

Bob Sochi. Excuse me, that was, of course, Mark Vandemir. No, that was Mike Keith with the call. Too excited right now. Yes, former patriot Logan Ryan snatched a deflected Tom Brady pass out of the air. Nine yards to the house. It was the clinching play in the Titans 2013 win. Over the Patriots in Foxborough.

Derek Henry won over 200 total yards of offense for the second straight week. as the Tom Brady offense gradually declined into nothingness. It happened. It really did happen. You're right. Wes, we watch this game together at Rockos in Culver City. Indeed we did.

And it felt like the end of an era, didn't it? It did. And I looked back at sort of the last five years and Brady looked finished against the Chiefs five years ago when everybody panicked. He looked finished the first half of the Falcon Super Bowl

he looked finished against the Titans last year in the regular season they looked finished for the past two months and I've never seen him look more finished than I did in this game against the Titans where he looked to me like Kurt Warner or Brett Farr of playing their last game against the Saints

it just seemed like it's time to go out what a career, all the respect in the world but he just couldn't do anything against the defense where a lot of teams have been doing things against them they had a good plan that the Titans did I thought they're forcing the Patriots to go down the field. There's no big play element.

He had a couple throws in this game. First of all, it's not the end of Tom Brady's career. He made that clear. He said... Well, let's listen to Brady, who said he was... What was the highly unlikely? Was his word about retirement? Yeah.

Here's a little Tom Brady. I love the Patriots. I mean, they obviously, you know, they got a greatest organization and, you know, playing for Mr. Kraft all these years and for Coach Bell, check. I mean, there's, you know, there's nobody who's had a better career. I would say to me, just being with them. So I'm very blessed. I don't know what the future looks like, so I'm not going to predict it. By the way, he said pretty unlikely, not highly unlikely. Pretty unlikely.

It, based on what people, you know, the reporters that are closer to him and those comments, it sounds like he fully expects to play next year at this point. I guess that could change. I think the, you know, best analysis on it, Mike Reese is saying, like, there's no, Brady has no idea what he wants to do. So everyone who's saying this, like, I think he really is waiting, was waiting until this all ends. But I think contractually, it's going to be a game of chicken. And we'll be talking about this so much in the future weeks. I think we can talk about this game more. But I think he knows that he has a lot of leverage because the Patriots have $13.5 million in a cap hit, a dead cap hit if he's not on the roster next year, whether he retires or he plays for another team, which is a

huge amount of leverage because they don't want to be paying, you know, the ghost of Tom Brady to not be on the team necessarily. I think they probably would be happy to have Brady back at a certain rate. But if he wants to max out all the money that he can, there might be better offers elsewhere. And it gets, you know, very complicated. But he has financial leverage. But what he doesn't have is, I'm sure it's got to be in the back of his mind. He's one of the all-time great competitors. He has to know that he's not the same guy anymore. And he knows that Bill knows that. But I think they're such competitive.

People like him or Belichick, I think, are such competitors that they'll look at the last couple months or even the last few games. And they'll look at the great throws he made last night. I mean, he made more great throws in that game than Ryan Tannaill did, certainly. They outgained, you know, the Titans. He had three or four throws that were just absolute dimes, and then the rest of it, they look slow, but they can say, well, that was the outside receiver. This has been a problem throughout the year.

And maybe it's all. You've given him too much credit. Yeah, he's not. years ago when he was MVP, what did we say about him? Unlikely at age 39 that he suddenly got better in pocket movement. He is moving away from pressure. He cannot escape pressure. He's like Eli right now when it comes to escape. And I think one of the disappointing things from this game is that the offensive line played really well. I thought they controlled the game. They gave Brady time for the most part. They opened up holes in the running game. There were opportunities to

be had throughout the game. But what stands out to me as a Patriots fan that very much that this era, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's back next year, and it would be the most like Patriots thing ever if they're playing on wildcard weekend as the AFC champs again next year. Like I just don't think that is that far out of the realm of possibility because we've seen that it's more than just the quarterback this year. But the way that they went down meekly, like think about the fourth downs that they didn't go for. They didn't go for a fourth and four on the 37 yard line, their own 37 with 317 left. They didn't go for a fourth and three

on the Tennessee 47-yard line in the fourth quarter. They didn't go for the fourth and three on the goal line after not being able to score from a foot out and they were stuffed on fourth and one at midfield in the first half and didn't go for it then either. That's four different times that the Patriots offense said, no, we're going to punt away to the best offense

in the league right now because we trust our defense more than we trust Tom Brady to figure out how to get three yards. I'd say this too. That's a bold statement. Logan Ryan won the game with a pick six. Brady is very lucky with 37 attempts for 209 yards and an interception that Logan Ryan didn't have a second pick six at the end with 18 seconds. But that was not about a drop pass. It was just kind of like a fluke play. But I just don't see. Tom Brady, if you like the Patriots or not, is one of the most fascinating athletes of our entire lifetime. And I'm not sure he'll ever be top to quarterback. Again, I just don't. I don't care about the young guys say his career is

fascinating to me, and I don't want to watch two years of what I've seen the last couple months. When they won the Super Bowl last year, I said I wanted him to retire. I mean, when they won the Super against Seattle, I sort of wanted him to retire because I was like, what? I mean, do you want to see Tom Brady playing 16 more games after what you've seen the last two, three months? I don't think he was healthy either. I'll throw that out there. But he's almost never going to be healthy at that point.

Yeah, I would be very curious to see someone else playing, but I also, it wouldn't be, I wouldn't mind. Like, if they brought him back, it's like, what? What else are they going to do? I wonder what other Patriots fans feel about it. Well, Ricky, how about you? You are someone that's lived and died really with all glory with fandom of this team. Do you want Tom Brady back in 2020 or do you think it's time to move on?

I mean, it's both. Like you said, Mark, he's the greatest quarterback of all time. And it hurts to see him. And I was sitting there watching the game being like, wow, if that's his last throw in Gillette, it's a pick six. Like, that hurt me more than the loss because it's like his legacy. is so cool. Greg, why are you smirking? No, I'm not, I'm just saying like, who cares?

I don't, the last past thing, like, that's not his, no, but this is her opinion. Yeah, yeah, I get it. She can also finish what she was saying. So it's, so it was upsetting, it was upsetting. But also, it's like, look at all that he had. I know it's like, oh, he didn't have enough weapons around him. His elbow looked better with the throws that he was making from the past couple months.

We, you know, what's he going to do? Check down to running backs the whole time. There's no one to throw to. So if, for some reason, he was. he could come back with more than just Edelman, I would want to give it one ago. I think Erica hits on something there that jumped out to me. I'll say this,

that this is the first year to me that Belchick really and Greg, you could probably point out a year here or there over the last 20, where they just didn't do a good job helping them out because everyone that follows the sport looked at the week one roster and said, I don't know, man. He doesn't have a lot working for him. Gronk was out of the picture.

And the Patriots told you they weren't confident about the situation either when they went out and got Antonio Brown as nefarious as that move was they didn't do a good job protecting him with weapons and what I think if I had to guess what happens here and how this plays out is that he does come back and maybe they do try via free agency or the draft to surround him with better talent and see if that solves the issue or at least slows down what seems to be happening here but also there's absolutely a case to be made that the writing is on the wall here. It's never going to be clean the way these things end.

Can we move on to the Titans for a minute? Because the one, as weird and a crushing loss this was for New England and what it might signify for a team that actually is a lot of work to do, the Patriots, I think, on the roster. This was a franchise altering win for the Titans, who I think in this era have been laughed at, chuckled at, seen as just a little bit above average. A totally special season by Derek Henry.

I mean, what he did and that you knew, Their leading receiver was Anthony Furksler with 23 yards off two catches. If you knew, if you looked at the box score of the receiving crew for Tennessee, you would think they're going to get knocked around here. And Tanna Hill was 72 yards. It was Derek Henry and nothing else. 72 yards a pick and a fumble. We've seen this in New England before because Loucair Blunt used to do it to the Colts all the time,

where you go for 150 and three touchdown. I just thought that this was a huge moment from Mike Rable. And the one thing I felt about the Titans this whole game, And really the Dolphins the week before, this is the new approach to New England is these teams had literally no fear of the Patriots. The Titans had no fear of New England at all and went in there and put it on them. That's concerning. It's not just Tom Brady or no Tom Brady. They have a lot of work to do on this roster.

Right. But I totally agree. It was one of the worst Patriots teams of the last 20 years. But it was a team that made a playoff run. I was sort of surprised. You know, I picked the Titans because I thought. thought they were the much better team. I was sort of surprised how winnable this game was for the Patriots.

I mean, the Titans offense scored 14 points. With the running back running wild over your night. They had nine possessions and they went 14 points. I think the plan was essentially to take away the play action game, which you spoke about beautifully on our show, Wes, and they totally did it. And they didn't contain Henry as much as they would like, but they also only gave up two touchdowns in nine drives,

which to me against the Titans' offense, I was sort of stunned to see it, and it took a lot of self-inflicted errors by the Patriots. If Julian, like the Julian Edelman drop in the last offensive drive that they have, which just ended that drive, and he led the league in drops this year. He was more banged up than Tom Brady at the end of the year, which I thought hurt them as much as anything.

A ton. The Shaq Mason, Illegal Man, Downfield, which took them out of field goal range. Sony Michelle Tackle for Loss at the goal line. How about Sony, Michelle? They'll show up in this game. They had a first and goal at the one yard line and didn't score. A lot of it was like, was self-inflicted errors, although you should get, I do give credit

to Rashon Evans of the Titans who made a couple amazing plays on the whole life. That was the first time in the Patriots era that they had first in goal from that distance and did not get a touch. Wow. That had never happened in their playoff history with Brady. By the way, back to the Titans doing absolutely nothing in their passing game, Tannahill throws for 72 yards. receiving receiver, Anthony Furkser, two for 23 on three targets.

A.J. Brown, who we're anointing, as a, you know, all-time great, one for four on one target. Did he get hurt? Did I, what? No, he had Gilmore on him. You're great against the best secondary. I mean, New England's defense. Devante Parker had no problem with the best secondary. But that was one of the things I wanted to talk about before this game, that DeVante Parker is a much different kind of receiver than A.J. Brown. He's a catch point leaper, jumpball specialist, and he won at the catch point against Stefan Gilmore. A.J. Brown's a run after the catch receipt. And to Tanahill's

credit, I know, 8 for 15, 72 yards. The touchdown throw was a third and long, was perfect. The third and nine to basically put the game away was also a big time play. And Belichick kept playing in the defense. And it kind of, you could see

with the entire offseason plan that this was what they were hoping to do. And they just thought the offense would be better than this. because you could see it in the resources. They brought everyone back in a year that no one really expected that to happen to keep Hightower, to keep McCordy, to have all this money in their defense,

not spend nearly as much in the offense. And you kind of look at a game like this, and you see, well, I guess that could have worked. The offense just needed to not completely fall through the ground, and it did. By the way, Tom Steyer, you're running for president. I think we get it. How many ads do we need to see over the course of the two games on Saturday?

I think I saw 30 ads for Tom Steyer running for president. Want to take a trip? Yeah. Back five years ago when Greg used to be our boss and the editor downstairs in the newsroom. Oh, no. He jumped in on news one day. And he wrote this about Tom Brady's father, predicting how it would end. It will end badly.

It does end badly. And I know that because I know Tommy wants to do. He wants to play until he's 70. It's a cold business. And for as much as you want it to be familial, it isn't. Right. he's 42. I think that's...

I mean, I guess it doesn't get lost, but... It's over, Greg. He won a Super Bowl at 41, 39, and 37. It's like, what do we... Let him go, man. Right, what are we expecting here? I'm with you.

I kind of... You just let him go. I wouldn't mind... I wanted him to retire last year. I would love for him to retire him. Who's throwing the ball better? Tom Brady or Josh McCown this weekend? I think Josh McCown.

Josh McCown and some lasers. One more Titans note, and of course, the Titans now draw the Chiefs at Arrowhead. No, excuse. me, the Titans get Baltimore. Tough sitch for Baltimore. I think they would have loved seeing if Houston come in there. That's a tough sitch.

Craig's a top of it. One thing you need to know is that Derek Henry has had 67 touches in the last two weeks. Can he keep it up? Can they make him the focal point at that level? And can he stay healthy? That's really the question I have. You know, these names become holy to us, but he's playing Earl Campbell football for the last two months. 67 touches.

He's just imposing his will. Right. I think the Patriots thought. we can tackle better than other teams. And they did for most of the game, but like not enough. Like you cannot contain that guy. Ross Tucker's been saying it for a while. He thinks he's the hardest, like physical man,

like specimen to tackle in NFL history. There's been no one that big, that fast that can get to the outside like that. You know, Dan, before, this just goes back to kind of just the professionalism that loses out of us. When we did a segment on True View technology, we had a chance to pick any type of Titans play, but we picked, obviously. Derek Henry because we felt he'd have a big impact on the affair. Great stitch for us.

Totally right. And you have to know. Really good analysis that Henry would be a factor. Well, you know, listen, sometimes you can't get too cute. And you should know, Greg, speaking of Class X, that I do have the Patriots radio call of the pick six. But I know you've been through a lot, so I'm not going to play. I want to hear it. You know what the only annoying part of it?

Be nice to Greg. He's going through a lot and you can hear it in his voice. Let's play it. Let's play it. All right. Let's play it. What the hell? I wasn't going to, but.

Sunu in short motion with the ride as Brady takes the step. It's over. Fires underneath for Sunnoot. Ball's tip, intercepted by Logan Line and hops into the end zone. A pick six. Is that pretty? Sure is.

Here on the postseason with nine seconds to go. Although it is a seven-point game at 2013. If you're Mike Grable, do you go for two? I think you do. You go for two to score a touchdown. The Brable is exactly doing it right now. He hopped into the end zone with the Titans in a 20.

It's a morgue in Foxborough. Wait, so it's still going to be over when Jarrett Stidham gets Adam Gase fired in week six next year. You can't hurt me. You can't hurt me. Not today, Greg. Not this weekend. I lost sandwiches on Jared Stidham, by the way. It is, I have to say.

This has been an incredible seven days. I know. I thought of you more. Like, it was a little tricky because I missed the beginning of this game. I had promised like a soccer game. I watched every second. With Walker and then the overtime in the first game was a problem. And so I ended up watching, you know,

the rest of it with my son and catching up later. And I was thinking, like, doing this recap with you bothers me a lot more than doing this, like, watching the game. The game's fine. It's kind of a relief because this was clearly not a championship team, and we're not going to be able to watch them next week in person. Let's move on just with the football. I would suggest that you try to experience an Owen 16 Brown season

and being on the show with emergency podcasts when the coach is fired left and right, you know, everyone's giggling and having a great time. That's not a whole lot of fun. And I just have to say it. It really has been since 2001, that team and that quarterback has ruled the AFC East. Now, they've ruled the NFL, the AFC, but especially the division. If you're a Jets, if you're a Bills, if you're a Dolphins fan, it is unreal the chaos

that is unfurled over the last two decades. It's such a strange feeling to be watching that game and sensing that division's about to open up again. And I mean, the Patriots might reload and still dominate because they have the best decision makers. But things are changing. Or we're in a post-Patriots world. It's certainly possible. All right.

See, I'm not rubbing it in, Greg. It's just there is a bit of a celebration that cannot be avoided because it's been very hard. It's been very hard. I feel for you. We like to see Rome Burn. I mean, you want to see these epic dynasties crumbull. You've been very lucky football fan. I've said that.

So many times you mocked how many times I've said it. I mean, that's sort of where I'm at. On an unprecedented level. All right. We have one more game to talk about. It was a dandy. Bring it back to Andy. It's back in 2020.

It's been done. Deshawn calling for the ball on second and six at the bills 44. Here's the snap. Here's a blitz. Watson in trouble. Watson escapes to the right side. And Watson throws it to Jones. Putting inside 40, 35, 30, 30.

25, 2015. And down to him. Guard line. What a play. The magician does it again, and he finds Taiwan Jones for a huge catch-and-run to get the Texans in field goal range. What a play. Oh, my goodness. Mark Van Damir with the call for the Texans Radio Network. Yes, Deshaun Watson, that magic is real.

The magician. I don't know if that's a thing, but all right. Watson was at his best in the second half in overtime against the bills, making plays with his legs, with his arm, leading the Texans to a 12. 22 to 19 comeback win at Aracus Reliance Stadium. They did a nice job in that building. They did a nice job. Watson's Escape Act and completion to Taiwan Jones set up the game winner by Kayami Fairbairn with 432 to play in overtime.

Greg, according to one metric I saw on Twitter, the bills had a 91% chance of victory at one point in this game. They were up 16-0, of course. But the Texans found away. Yeah, that 91% didn't take Josh Allen into. account. I mean, Josh Allen has a way of looking like one of the best quarterbacks possible in the first half. I mean, he played, even his incompletions were great throws or right on the money, like made good decisions as athletic as possible and did as good a chance, you know, as if he was

trying to lose the game in the second half. He was a total disaster. And so 91% doesn't take that into account and it doesn't take into account Sean McDermott and the bills, I think not being as aggressive as they could be in the second half because they're somehow afraid of what Josh Allen might do and then having their worst fears realize and not having kind of another move. You know, everyone who loves Sean McDermott as a coach has to admit you coach for 60 minutes and coaching is about adjustments and ultimately like Romeo Cornell and Bill O'Brien and mostly Deshawn Watson figured out the Bill's defense enough, and Josh Allen gave the Texans a chance to win. I mean, if he doesn't fumble to start the fourth quarter, they win.

I don't know what was- Period. Like, it wasn't that J.J. Wattsack suddenly gave everyone life. I mean, they kicked a field goal. It absolutely was over. Was it? This team was dead until J-J-J-Watt made the play. They had no pulse. I get it, but it was third. I hear you, the crowd was good, but it was third and ten. All they did was not pick that up. They hit the field goal, and Josh Allen gets the ball back, and they still are in total control of that game,

and then he fumbles, and that's where it starts. That play was pivotal. To sell that as if JJ Watts' play did not fire up his team, you're denying reality. I don't know what was the Josh Allen play that I'll remember the most, but I've rarely seen any player collapse the way he did. You could point to the lateral. at midfield in the final two minutes of the game.

To an offensive line. He got bailed out because of bounce out of bounds, got swatted out of bounds. How about the bomb into double coverage to the fullback? I've never seen that play before in my life. The decision making, the kid was on tilt. And then even the play, he takes a grounding penalty. They were in field goal range. This is earlier in the fourth quarter.

He takes an intentional grounding, then takes a sack on fourth in 26. When he had two dropped interceptions in that whole final sequence, too, that would have ended the game before. And I'll just say this. This isn't a popular take because I know the general consensus was that he was great in the first half and he certainly had moments, especially with his legs.

But there was also a drop pick six in the first half and a very near miss on a fumble. So it became to me an idea of he was playing with fire in the first half and it seemed to be breaking his way and then it all came tumbling down when the pressure came. And if I'm a Bill's fan, I'm totally spooked after what happened in this. I spent this game with Bill's fans early on at a, I think we have some footage

if you're watching the YouTube show, up at Busby's West, which I went there 10 years ago for an NFL.com story, and it was a smaller room of Bills fans. This was like a six-room party, and these people were high-flying, and I do think that what they witnessed in the first half was a Bills team with an awesome plan,

and they did this, they got as much as they could out of their limited roster on offense, and Josh Allen, actually I thought, gave you a lot of hope for the future, and he's a danger to deal with when he's on, but what happened in the second half to Greg's point is I thought that Brian Dable and Sean McDermott

looked at a 16-0-0 lead and stopped being aggressive when you know that Deshawn Watson is at some point going to start to break through as ugly as that first half was you could just feel everything start to turn and before he had that pass to Taiwan Jones he made an incredible excuse me before he ran for that incredible 20-yard touchdown run

which was a thing of beauty he made a throw to DeAndre Hopkins where two guys came in and essentially destroyed him and he had the grit to get the ball out, perfect dart to Hopkins, and that saved that drive. I just thought that Houston figured out their problems in time and adjusted, as you mentioned, where the bills completely felt planless in the second half, you know, combined with their own mistakes. I thought the first 40 minutes were like an extreme example of my vision for the game, where it was going to be the matchups in the bill's favor, the coaching in the bill's favor.

and then for the last 30 minutes the Texan Star Power took over and Dan's like a stream version of his vision for the game where J.J. Watt, to Dan's credit, what if he does show up and play a big game and he had the big tackle for loss on Frank Gore in a big spot? He had a third down rush

that caused a bad throw on Josh Allen in another spot. He was huge and all the credit in the world to him to go out and sort of author his own history here to change the course of his team's season and rushing back from an injury when people told him he wouldn't even be able to make it back.

And it seemed like he was only in on past rushing downs early on and then by money time the guy's on the field making big plays in the running game. The play, the Deshawn Watson play and I think it's to me

the signature play of his career so far now. The Taiwan Jones completion and Jones deserves credit too because he made a guy mess and then rumbled the 35 yards. Jones, by the way, he's been in the league since 2011,

one year where he had a hundred yards receiving. Every other year, it's down like 0, 9, 11, 43, 11, 25, 55. I mean... They moved into cornerback at one point. Watch that play again. I actually broke it down on slow motion. I sent out a tweet earlier today. So you have apologies for, if I mispronounced the name, but Saran Neal coming on one end on Blitz, the safety. On the other side, it's Matt Milano. So Watson senses at the very last second, Neil, and steps up and, and, and, and it goes from a kill shot to a glancing blow, but still pretty hard hit.

But then Milano comes, and it's a straight shot right in Watson's grill, and he just bounces off him. He literally, Matt Milano, who's a big dude, a professional athlete, bounces off Watson, who then spins out and makes the pass. I've never seen a linebacker run into a wall like that.

See, Saran Neil is twisting Watson and throws him into Milano. I think if only one of those guys comes free, he probably gets set. That's a good call right there. It's a remarkable play by one of the great athletes and they made the call, the quarter of the coach, the college coach, Sweeney, or Sweeney, he was the guy that said, this is Michael Jordan, don't pass on him. That's Jordan's stuff. It really is. Absolutely. And I think that you're going to see that play when he retires and, you know, God willing, he stays healthy, goes in the Hall of Fame.

That is a nightmare scenario for Micah Hyde, who's one of their best players and just completely whips. on Tewan Jones in the open field. That play kills Sean McDermott, I'm sure, but the third and 18 that they picked up on a very simple path over the middle to a running back earlier in the drive to me is the bigger kill. And that's, I guess to me, the whole game was a reminder. It's so hard to win if you don't have a reliable passing game.

Like, that's it. If you do not have a quarterback that can hit a variety, of routes and a passing game that does not rely, you know, rely on a bunch of trick plays and your quarterback running and shot plays for a guy who's not that accurate. It's really hard to win because, as West said, they did so many different things. But when push came to shove at the end of the game, what were they doing? They were just running Josh Allen. Most of the, in the key spots of the game late, and some of it worked. I mean, he ran for 92 yards. It certainly worked early. They weren't saying, okay, let's go to the slant for John Brown. They

were saying, like, let's have Josh Allen run. And that instinct is partly why he fumbled. I mean, that was on a scramble. And it was partly out of a lack of faith in their own quarterback. And then you get into a situation where you should be up by more than 16-0. And it's still 2019. And defenses have a hard time keeping you down all game. And at one sequence, you know, when the Texans were rolling, they go touchdown field

go touchdown. I mean, the defense still did blow a 16-0. Yes, they do. Yeah, they're putting a tough situation, too. One little note on that Taiwan Jones throw, Mike Silver wrote a pretty gray, sorry, pretty awesome write-up on this thing. And he, Watson noted that Kevin Johnson, who's on the Bills, knew the Texan signals. He was a former Texan, secondary player, and, like, basically had to work around the fact that he knew that this player knew exactly what he was going to do. And that's how the ball wound up in Taiwan Jones' hands.

Unbelievable. Kevin Singletary, like, his performance, like you look at the box score, and you're, you look at the box score, You wouldn't, I mean, it still was pretty great. It was over 130 yards from scrimmage. How's Frank Gore getting nine carries in this game, or nine touches? Right. Single time he's doing something every time he touched the ball. It is unbelievable how many, like, broken tackles he made.

This was like the ultimate Twitter changed their mind from like the first, if you read Twitter for the first three quarters, Bill O'Brien's the biggest idiot ever, Sean McDermott's a genius. Josh Allen is amazing. Deshawn Watson took too many hits during the season. Yeah, which doesn't, by the way, you're sort of telling on yourself there because they past protected great all season and Deshawn Watson played absolutely terrible for the, like it's weird that

Watson's one of these guys that... Right, Watson's one of these guys that for whatever reason like people are afraid to say played better. He came out and the moment felt a little too big for him like he was trying to go hero ball and he had probably about the worst two and a half quarters yet. They didn't have 100 yards until midway through the third quarter and a lot of it was him just kind of

not taking what was there and taking sacks that he didn't need to. McDermott, in addition, to going for it on 4th and 27 at Houston's 42-yard line and giving Frank Gore, all due respect, Greg, eight touches. Cole Beasley had a really nice season, and I don't know if he's beat up or what, but Duke Williams out snapped Cole Beasley? Like what?

I don't know. Duke Williams played well. Yeah, but Beasley was a great guy for them. Yeah, that's a good question. And after all that, it was first in 10 at the 43 for the Bills in overtime. I mean, there was so many game management decisions in this game that were fascinating. The Bill O'Brien, I think, did a good thing, taking the field goal. Instead of going for the fourth down to go down five, that ended up paying off pretty well.

The fact that he went for fourth down, I mean, all they needed was a foot and the game was over. I was going to go play that soccer game with Walker. 45 minutes later, the game's still going. The kickoff return, or the kickoff that was a touchdown originally? Yes. I don't want to hear Bill's fans complaining about that because they won a game earlier this year when it was ruled that Trudevius White gave himself up on an interception that the Bengals would have won the game if it wasn't ruled that way.

They know about this rule that it's the referee's discretion when a player gives himself up. And Mike Pereira even said on that kickoff return, as soon as the guy tosses the ball to the official, officials know that means you're giving yourself up. It happens all over the way. Thank God they got that right. It was kind of like a perfect start to what was one of the wildest second half and then overtime playoff periods we've ever seen. I mean, that was, it was like the perfect start.

to what was about to come. I don't want to get too down on Sean McDermond, though, because it's like, this is a learning curve. You're learning how to get out of these big games. The Bill fans quietly went through a lot of, like, coach GM drama for a long, long time, and they've got, they're building something. I think they've got questions at the quarterback situation,

but I don't question the coach. I don't, but it's... It was not a great... I get to not, especially the kind of things that get you all fired up. Yes, and it's understandable, but... Game management was not great, but it's still, it's a good culture there. They've done a terrific job.

I just would worry that just because you've built something doesn't mean, A, you're going to be back here very often, or B, that the flaw, the reason you lost this game is going to change it all, and you don't want to waste that. Well, I think if you're a Bills fan, or even if you're in the Bills front office, you have to be thrilled with how the season went, and you have to be thrilled that Josh Allen showed some development this year.

Let's give Josh Allen the final word. Every loss is personal, and, you know, if I can go out there and execute differently, and hindsight, you know, hindsight, 20-20, but, There's some things we should have, you know, hit on, you know, and put that on my shoulders, especially with how well our defense played today. So teams go, how their quarterback usually go, and I've got to be better for this team.

And now the Texans go to Kansas City, where Will Fuller, Wes, hypothetically, will be back on the field, which they obviously used that. Didn't they beat the Chiefs in Kansas City? Yeah, that was when we were in London? I feel like they've been chasing that performance all year. that was kind of their high watermark of the season was that win. I feel like the Chiefs have improved since then.

The Chiefs have. The Chiefs are the only team. To my point, there's no guarantee of being back there next year. They're the only team that was in the divisional round a year ago that's back. Like that is how hard it is to reap. Like seven of eight of the teams did not make it that far. It's honestly surreal that we're going to be following divisional round football and the Patriots aren't involved.

Surreal and for you and for others. slightly delightful. I mean, fresh blood's good. It is. I think it is for sports. I mean, not every team at Andrew Luck retire also, but that didn't help the call. All right, so let's, again, I've mentioned these games in passing so far, but here's the schedule for next weekend.

Minnesota at San Francisco, 435 on Saturday, the late game, Tennessee at Baltimore, 815 Eastern kick on Sunday, Houston and Kansas City, 305 kickoff, and then the late game, Seattle at Green Bay, 640, going to be a cold one in Lambo potentially, Marky Mark. Yeah, I don't know. I guess, you know, they put it the one game on the West Coast as an early game and like a, such a scenario in Green Bay where it's going to be like one degree with wind chill up to like, you know, 400 miles an hour. So have a nice time with that, Seattle.

Can I make a quick announcement? Absolutely. We have a lot of listeners down under in Australia and they are really battling some brush friars there that have gone crazy. I think 500,000 animals have already been lost. You're all in our thoughts. We hope the best for you. And if people out there want to give to help out some of these animals and people who need the money and for the fire crews that definitely need some money,

some avenues are the rural fire service, wires animal rescue, and the Australian Red Cross. There you go. Help those people out in need. We will be back on Tuesday with another. edition of the podcast as we turn our attention. We're down to eight now. More dirt naps, Mark. More dirt naps.

Why does Wes have Johnny Mansell's pro football reference page open? I'm going to ask him about it. We're down to seven games, unless you count the granddaddy of them all, the Pro Bowl. I do. Then we have eight. We don't have to cover it, so I don't count it. That's the way I look at it. Yeah, we'll be back Tuesday.

Then Thursday we'll preview divisional round. And a reminder, yes, the around the NFL broadcast on NFL network. back for our second episode. See, everybody can do one episode. But now we got to go back and figure out how to fill another, you know, 22 minutes. That's the challenge we face. Yeah, he just filled about 74.

I think we'll figure it out. It's different. That's the one thing I learned in the first week. It ain't the same. We, uh, we... It ain't the same. We are on YouTube live, almost right after these games. And we will, the time will be later next week

because the game is later. It's a, what, a 640 Easter start. So if you don't want to wait until you get the podcast, you can check it out almost right after the final Packers Seahawks whistle sounds. And Greg, remember, don't be mad it's over. Be happy that it happened at all. I'm happy, baby.

I love Tom Brady walks into that, you know, like the football life opening animation of The Man in the Shadows walking in the tunnel? Yes. That's where we're at, the tunnel man. Ricky, can we get some football life music? No. Okay. She's not going to play along with that.

All right. This is it. That's it. Let's go home. This is Dan Hansa signing off. Four. Quiet Storm. The mailman.

The old boss. Ricky Hollywood. Ryan Bartlett and everybody behind the glass. Thank you. Till Tuesday. You know, Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks.

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