OverDrive - Saturday on Allen aiming for the prize, Jackson's career trajectory and Hurts' quarterback role

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

ESPN NFL Analyst Jeff Saturday joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NFL, the Conference Championship matchups, Lamar Jackson's ceiling in his career and the comparison to Peyton Manning, Josh Allen's impressive season, Patrick Mahomes leading the Chiefs, Hurts' quarterback play becoming the biggest factor, Jayden Daniels' excellence and more.

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Here's Jeff Saturday. How you doing, Jeff? I'm doing fantastic. How you guys doing? We're doing very, very well. We're hyped obviously for this weekend. And why don't we ask you the question that we were just thrown around taking my homes out of it if you look at Lamar Jackson Joe Burrow Josh Allen of those three who do

you think is most likely to win the most Super Bowls or who do you think will win the most Super Bowls throughout their career oh my gosh that, that is an intense question. Let me see. So Allen is kind of in that phase now where he's kind of learning how to manage the games. And usually you see teams when they start to do that, you know, get a little further and, you know, he's not trying to press the envelope every time. And I would say like with McDermott, like the stability of that organization and the stability of Baltimore would give me more, I'd probably lean one of those two ways in the borough way, just because you just don't,

that organization and since he just has not been as, I guess as, you know, Brian hasn't been here, he didn't spend a ton, it's not kind of based on the same thing, so that it goes up and down more of a roller coaster than those other two. So I like where Buffalo's sitting and I like where Baltimore is. I think both of those teams are poised for some special things in these next few years. Jeff, what did you see from Lamar and Buffalo? Like we were

talking, just breaking down there was the pass, there was the fumble, but as far as his play, I don't think it was superior by any stretch. What did you make of it? I thought he played extremely well in the second half, dang near perfect. I thought the first half, it really set him back. I know the interception didn't change points, but they had scored on every drive, that they didn't turn it over, so you're costing yourself some kind of points there. And then the scramble fumble, I thought,

was particularly painful, and Buffalo Pulley took advantage. And the truth is that we give these guys all the credit in the world, and they're in the MVP conversations, and they should be, right? They've earned that ability. Well, if that's the case, then you can't yet be critical when they make mistakes. And I thought those were two massive errors. And, you know, just one of those things where you can't have them in those games. And I think that's

kind of what I was alluding to with Josh. He didn't try to press in that game. He protected the ball and allowed the game to kind of come to him. Whereas I felt like Lamar kind of pressed it early and it ended up costing him. And here's the other thing. I said this this morning on getup.

Even if Andrews catches it and they tie Josh Allen still getting the ball back. And I think there was 90 seconds or maybe even more, whatever, whatever it was, the game's not over. So to, to, to act like, Hey, you know, this thing just all of a sudden was going to be the Raven's game. I don't believe that either. I mean, I, you know, I, I, I, I would say that to either count Josh Allen and that offense, you know, out, um, I wouldn't have done it. So, you know, I think that game's still not over and, and unfortunately it did drop it,

but that, that, um, that game, the way it played out, I thought Josh Allen, I thought that offensive line, that offensive line impressed me moving the ball, running the ball as well as they did was, that's a statement. And I don't care what anybody says. You win in the playoffs because of the trenches. I won a Super Bowl and played for another one.

I'm just letting you know, when the offensive line, the running games get, I don't care how good your quarterback is, it makes everybody play better. Your defense plays better, your quarterback is it makes everybody play better your defense plays better your quarterback plays better receivers play better and right now Buffalo's riding a hot streak on that offensive line. Jeff Saturday and the way we ended up getting into that conversation comparing Lamar with these other quarterbacks was we referenced the

comparing and the contrasting that's going on between Lamar Jackson through seven years in the league and your former teammate Peyton Manning through seven seasons in the NFL where they're both three and five in the playoffs, both multi-time MVPs, neither of them had made a Super Bowl. And as you referenced, Peyton went on to play in four Super Bowls and won two of them. Do you see the similarities in the arc of Lamar Jackson and and if so in which way and if not in which way comparing Lamar through seven seasons to Peyton Manning through seven seasons? I do see it very similar and you know Peyton started you know you know I think he still has a record for the most

interceptions in in the NFL for his rookie year so they both both, I mean, Payton started and struggled and then obviously next year we were 13 and three. So it turned, but the playoffs is where it would get us. Now, similar to what's going on with Lamar, we lost to the Patriots, I think two or three times in those playoffs in that early run where they were winning Super Bowls and we lost one AFC

championship game. So that's why I compare those two. I think their careers and the reality is, you know, whether Lamar gets there soon is he's going to have to beat Josh in the playoffs. They're going to have to beat Mahomes in the playoffs because the Chiefs are going to retool, you know, Baltimore is going to have to retool, the Bs are going to retool the Baltimore, you know, that the Baltimore is going to have to retool the bills are going to retool. These are, these are two good teams, two good of teams and, and their, their front office are too stable to think that these teams are going to go

through like droughts and ruts. That's the, that's the issue is there's no easy way to get there. And so, um, you know, for Peyton, like you said, he made four, but he had to beat, I think he had to beat Brady in the AFC Championship game three times to get to four of them. That's, I mean, so you gotta go do it. And that's where Lamar has come up short,

and unfortunately all gets laid on the quarterback's feet. It's the team as well, but we evaluate quarterbacks by those things and by those metrics. And, you know, right now, Mahomes is sitting on Kings Hill, waiting for somebody to knock them off the, knock them off the perch. Well, Jeff, looking ahead to the weekend, which unit do you think will be more important, the Chiefs defense or the Chiefs offense? Oh I think I think the Chiefs offense is gonna have to play I think that you know I think it goes under discussed the the Bill's defense put it on the Chiefs the last time y'all played like it like they

I think they held my homes to under 200 yards throwing, and held them to under, I know held them well under 100 yards rushing. And so, the Chiefs are gonna have to be able to create some type of rhythm offensively. And whether that's Pacheco or Hunt, or checks down to,

they're gonna have to be able to, they have been incredible on third down this season. And so, it's gone to help them, but that is, that's a risky way of living when you're playing a Josh Allen run, offense on the other side. So, I think the Chiefs offense is gonna have to, gonna have to give some help. It can't be, I just don I think the chiefs offense is going to have to, going to have to give, uh, give some help.

It can't be, I just don't see them winning, you know, 13 to 10. I think, I think the bills are going to score 20 plus points. I think that, I think that's going to have to happen, um, for the chiefs as well. So, uh, you know, you, you can see, uh, Chris Jones having to have a massive day to slow down Josh Allen then, but I think the Chiefs offense is gonna have to play one of their best games, if not their best game, to get this win.

With Jeff Saturday, as for the NFC, there's a lot of discussion around Jalen Hurts and whether or not he's playing at 100% and whether or not he's playing well enough, whether or not they need more from him to actually win a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, they're sitting there at home in the NFC Championship game and if you're in Philly, you got to be feeling pretty good, right? Like, can they, I guess what I'm asking you, Jeff, is like if Jalen Hurst just plays the way he's been consistently

playing all year, in your opinion, is that enough for the Eagles to win a Super Bowl? consistently plan all year in your opinion is that enough for the Eagles to win a Super Bowl? It is. I said this today. It's frustrating at times because we're so quarterback-centric in our discussion of everything, but you're talking about one of the top three defenses in the league. You're talking about one of the, if not one of the best offensive lines in the league you're talking about one of the if not one of the best offensive lines in the league you're talking about a 2,000 yard rusher that you know they took the get took the foot off the gas in a number of games otherwise he walks away with the rushing title and to pretend like it's gonna be easy for anybody I don't care who they play, to just, oh yeah, they're gonna take the run game away.

Like, that's so much easier said than done. And you think about the unexpected explosive play that comes from Taequann Barkley in the run game, that's why, I keep trying to tell everybody, that's why people throw the football. They throw the football for the potential of the explosive play. Very few teams are patient enough to throw check downs all day, right? Like Drew Brees did a fantastic job of being super patient quarterback. Most

quarterbacks aren't that patient. The Eagles are getting that production from Saquon and that offensive line. And so when I look at this, absolutely they can win it. Now, are they going to, who knows, right? You guys go play the game. Could the commanders beat them this week? Sure. I mean, they beat them a few weeks ago when Hertz went down.

But if you're gonna commit all your assets to stopping the run, I think A.J. Brown and Smith and Goddard give you a lot of pause to wanna go do that as well, right? Because all you gotta do is put the ball in either any of those hands and they could house it and so I think Jamie is doing exactly what the Eagles want which is a low risk high reward offense let the defense stay fresh and make teams chase you and it has worked and unfortunately everybody wants to

criticize I'm not into the criticism man I you know if it's a quote weakness every team has them avoid yours and emphasize your you know the things you do great that's what every team know there ain't been a perfect team y'all we know it right so this is what they do this is their formula and they've executed it extremely well this season Well, and you look at the other side of it in Washington You know Dan Quinn has has just put forth this game plan in this belief where they're aggressive And you see what they did against Detroit and Tampa I have no reason to believe that's gonna stop if anything, maybe they have to be even more aggressive

Yeah, you look at Jayden Daniels in the way he's playing You know it kind of has a college vibe to it Jeff even more aggressive. Yet you look at Jaden Daniels and the way he's playing, you know, it kind of has a college vibe to it, Jeff. I don't know if you see it that way, but like tons of RPOs, tons of options, and he's just reading the defense so well right now that I can understand why Dan Quinn puts so much faith in him. And I mean, this will be the biggest challenge of it all, but if, you know, if Jaden Daniels finds a way to win this, he's a game away from the Super Bowl as a rookie. How do we put that into perspective?

No, it's unbelievable. Like you said, he's not being hidden from... He is the reason why they are where they are. It's been exceptional. Kingsbury has done a great job, their offensive coordinator of simplifying the offense, but still leaving him with enough answers that it's not the same each and every time. They do a ton of slide protection where they're kind of grouping offensive line, but they're not putting a bunch of guys on islands, they do a good job of that.

Where, and what that does for a quarterback is, you know exactly where your problem is gonna be. You know, often times when you, you know, when you have multiple protections that, you know, the quarterback has to know where he's hot, and who's, you know, who's quote free, right, on the defense, because you can't block them all. So it's, okay, who if somebody comes would be the free guy?

Well, if coverage starts to change and guys start to move over, all of that can kind of get blurred, but they do a really good job of keeping it simple and straightforward. And then Jayden Daniels just, he makes the right decision. He does not get flustered. He sees where it's coming from.

He can beat you with his legs or his arm. And the receivers are making plays down the field, whether it's McClorham, whether it's Brown. He is putting the ball where it needs to be. And it has been an exceptional effort by all of those guys. And they play hard for each other, man. I mean, you can see it. They love they play hard for each other man I mean you can see it they love the group loves each other and they got faith to believe it obviously they beat the

Eagles a couple weeks ago so this is one that could you know could go either way I think both these games are our pick-em's which makes it so much fun for me to analyze but I love the matchup and I love what DQ is done there up for the commanders for sure that's gonna be awesome uh... enjoy the games only got three left this season's chaff uh... take advantage while we can and thank you for doing that really appreciated appreciate you i have a great one thanks so much there's a just saturday years being an awful and a super bowl champ