OverDrive - Willson on Belichick's head coaching at North Carolina, the 49ers and Rams' matchup and the playoff implications in the game

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

TSN NFL Analyst Luke Willson joined OverDrive to discuss the latest around the NFL, Bill Belichick becoming the coach at the University of North Carolina, the experience against Belichick in New England, the 49ers and Rams' matchup, Hayes and Bro's selection for the game and more.

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or visit askkelvin.ca if you smell what the win wilson is cooking all right luke Luke Wilson in studio. Al's brother is hovering with tremendous information. Al's brother will come storming in here momentarily. Luke, good to see you. You got two pro athletes with you, Jason Strudwick, Jamie Noodles, McLennan, Noodles, and Strutty.

I'm sure they're willing to give you a pro athlete salute. There it is. The pro athlete salute for the boys. Keep the club tight. Keep the club tight. Keep the club tight. Yeah, it's a tough club to get in, man. How about that cover Monday night? That was the most disgusting cover ever.

That's a pro-athlete cover. No, it wasn't. That's a pro-athlete cover. That had me thinking the Cowboys were on the tape. Like something was going on there. Because how you play soft coverage on Chase in a situation like that. He didn't even touch him. I mean, beyond that, the punt is insane.

Oh, my God. How do you touch that football? What did he think he was accomplishing? My first year, I mean, really all the way through, but my first year in the NFL, this line has stuck with me. If the ball is blocked behind the line of scrimmage, goes in the way, we're trying to scoop and score. That's 100 percenter.

Right. If the ball crosses the line of scrimmage goes in the way, we're trying to scoop and score. That's 100 percenter. Right. If the ball crosses the line of scrimmage, the Peter term, it's run, but this is what I was told stuck with me. You treat that ball like it's a live grenade. Right. Everyone should be screaming Peter, and you run as far and as fast away as you can.

Because even if you're lingering around, which I don't know if you could run that back again, this is what's even crazier, is that guys can shove you into it. It's not a penalty. So it's like, not just the guy who touched the ball here, but everybody. Like, why are we even near the ball?

Why is anyone there? It's sickening. It's a live grenade haze. Run! There's four Bengals around him. I guess what he was trying to do was stop momentum, thinking this ball is going to keep going. For what?

Six more yards? For six more yards. It's insanity. If there was a gap where he's like, if I pick this up, I can take it to the house. Even then, stupid. Yes. But I can reason with it.

Totally. If no one's around, you're clear as day. But again, not only the guy who touched it, he's obviously the biggest bonehead here. Ever. But the guys around should also be screaming. And again, I don't know why this is a term, but the term is Peter, like the name. You're crossing your arms. When I would hear the term Peter, live grenade.

Get out. Because the worst thing is if somebody blocks you into it and your heel hits it, you're jammed and you're also an idiot. Those are the most entertaining reviews to watch because you know that guy A's on special teams, but we're not talking about some guy with $50 million in the bank.

More than likely at that point. Or security who's going to be around forever. It could literally be the 53rd man on the roster who is just there to make sure he doesn't touch a live grenade when it's going to be around forever. It could literally be the 53rd man on the roster who is just there to make sure he doesn't touch a live grenade when it's going. And when they slow it down, they're like, oh my God, it touched his heel. And the ball's going the other way

because that guy couldn't get out of the way. It's a sickening, sickening thing to say, but it's so entertaining to watch. Yeah, and to be honest with you, I was on the desk and my pops follows the overdrive and he's pulling obviously for the good guy. Yeah, and to be honest with you, I was on the desk, and my pops follows the overdrive, and he's pulling, obviously, for the good guy. Yeah, of course. He's texting me here, and we're watching, and he's like,

man, it looked like we were absolutely jammed. Dead. And I'm sitting up there, and I'm like, yeah. And then all of a sudden, I'm down on Jay's desk, and I shot him a text from the show. I go, what an absolute. On our group chat, because right after that punt, immediately I go, expletive Cowboys.

And then I go, if they punch in six here, this is the most disgusting cover of all time. And then you said, Jamar Chates doesn't get touched. Doesn't get touched. Dude, he was moonwalking into the end zone. Correct. From the 20-yard line. From the 20. It was gross.

But anyway, moving on to... Let's get your take. Look at this. Look how slow. He's like, I'm cruising in here. And the Cowboys quit on the play, too, because they couldn't get him. Just horrendous. Didn't even touch him.

The attack angle, I believe that's Duran Bland. Yeah, it is. It is. And he was... I can't even fathom. It's Duran Bland. Yeah, it is. It is. And he was. I can't even fathom. It's a horrendous, horrendous turn of events that put us in a position where we're plus two. We're still okay. But if we were plus four going in.

That's a huge swing. Massive swing, that one. To be honest, we're grinding right now. We erased minus six to plus two. Yeah. And we've been stuck at this thing. But that's why I'm feeling great about tonight because, boy, is it a greasy one. It's a greasy game.

It's a greasy one. We've got the pick. Our pick is set, so we'll get to it in a moment. Al's brother will join us. But do you think both of these teams, like Seattle, I think, has Green Bay at home this week. That's a tough game. I've got to think Shanahan and McVay are telling their guys,

we win a game tonight. We could win this division. We could be leading this division in a week. Totally, because Seattle has Green Bay, which I don't expect them to win. But then they also follow that up and both games are at home, which will help Seattle with Minnesota.

You're playing, arguably, of the top four NFC teams. You've got the Lions and Eagles, and you're playing three and four. I would be very shocked if this whole division does not come down to week 18. The crazy one to me is the Niners. Their schedule

is an absolute gauntlet. They get this one tonight, they play Miami next week. That's a winnable game. Now, all of a sudden, they're going to have to grind, like I said, because they go to Detroit. Actually, they play Detroit. I think Detroit comes to them. Excuse me. I've got to figure out

where that game's at. They do have Detroit coming up, though. They've got Detroit Week 17, and I believe it's Arizona Week 18. So I sit here and say, hey, at that point of the year, that Week 17 game against Detroit, is it one of those things where if the Niners can win tonight, beat Miami, which is plausible. They are favored

tonight, as you know. Now all of a sudden, the Seahawks slip up. They're sitting there like, hey, we could probably have a home... For all the garbage that's happened, they could have a home playoff game. The same could be said for the Rams. Rams win tonight, and the Seahawks lose Sunday. We're tied for the division. Well, you talk about momentum.

The Rams beat the Bills in a shootout at home. If you go into your arch nemesis and beat the Niners tonight, that is a significant swing. We'll get to the pick momentarily. We haven't asked you about Bill Belichick going to college. I'm glad you asked. Where does your head

go with this story? I think it's the coolest thing on planet Earth. Really? I really do. I'm confused by it. I can't understand it. Everybody's all jammed up. I look at Bill. First and foremost, what has he got to prove in the NFL? I know there was some stupid documentary that claimed he had nothing to do with winning. You're talking

to a guy who's lost a game in the Super Bowl to Bill Belichick's Patriots. I can promise you he is the only coach I have ever played a game against where we were prepping for two totally different defenses with the same guys. Amazing.

We would come out here and it was like, hey, by the way, this team will go from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in the middle of the second quarter, which is, again, I think I played over 100-some-odd games in this league. I've never, ever heard of anyone doing that. And this is prepping for a Super Bowl. This guy, he's done it all. You can make the argument it was Tom. I think it's a collective. I don't think any Super Bowl's ever won by one person. So I look at him now and

I'm like, all right, look at the NFL. It's the opposite of what Bill Belichick wants to do. It's a joke. Week in and week out, you have dummies who touch punts after it's cross the line scrimmage. You have brutal play calling. We come in here every week and it's like, hey, coach calls a timeout. Coach does this. Coach runs a QB sneak from the one yard line with three timeouts left. Shout out the Buffalo Bills.

And I sit here, I'm like, why would Bill want to be in this league anymore? He's going to go to North Carolina. It's the perfect spot for him. He's going to get all the hard-nosed football guys that he wants. He's got complete control of everything. He's so happy. Look at this guy. He's going back to what he likes doing.

Just playing ball at a fundamentally more enjoyable level. Do you think he'll be effective, though, as a college coach? I think they will win the ACC within two years. I mean, it's all about recruiting. Like, the whole thing is recruiting. I agree, but here's my... If I'm Bill, this is the angle I'm working.

I'm going to the kid, just like he did it. This is the next thing I'll say about playing New England. Okay? The year before, when we won the Super Bowl, you looked at that Denver team. Across the board, loaded. I'm talking, you had Julius Thomas at tight end who back then was ripping.

Demarius Thomas, Welker was on that team. I mean, those three guys, obviously Peyton Manning, you're humming. It's like, we play the Patriots. I'm like, this team's got three above average players as far as athletic talent goes. But as a team, they were way better.

Way better. And I sit here and say to myself, full team, because the Broncos offense that year obviously has a million records. But I'm like, man, he's going to go, he's going to have some numpty from rivals.com give all the five stars out.

He's not going to want any of those guys, much like he did in free agency. Outside of Randy Moss, I don't know who they had offensively outside of Tom. Dante Stalwer? That was kind of their history, yeah. They've had 15 different running backs? Yeah, a couple of running backs, but that's it. Some obscure school in Pennsylvania.

I mean, he had Gronk. We should point that out. Gronk was probably pretty good. Okay, some obscure school in Pennsylvania or North Carolina or down in God knows where, find some just football kid and be like, hey, buddy, you want to go high-end D1AA or you want to come here and I'll make you the best player in the country? And he's going to get them.

Yeah, he probably would. He's going to get them for that exact reason. But don't you think people would want to play for Belichick? Yes. Like if you're a player, you want to play for the best coaches, regardless if he's a pain in the ass or hard on you. Like, I know some of the best coaches and hardest coaches in hockey was Daryl Sutter. I loved playing for Daryl Sutter.

Was he a dream to play for some days? No. But he got the best out of you. Don't you think Belichick will get the best out of you. Don't you think Belichick will get the best out of some of these players and they'll go, I need to play for this guy. He will make me a player. He will. Noodles, it'll go both

ways. The guys who love ball will do exactly what you say. And the guys who don't will fan out and hate Bill Belichick. That's how it's going to go. But I will say this. The other thing is if you're a person that believes that they want to be a pro football player, how do you say no to not going to North Carolina?

And what I mean by that is you don't think Bill still has a million connections in the NFL, whether it's the front office. A million. They're going to go right to Bill, and Bill's going to be like, can this guy play? You get the stamp of approval from Bill Belichick, you're good. I think what you're also going to get,

you're going to get a lot of parents, a lot of dads who are like, Belichick, we're going to Carolina, we're going to Carolina. I saw Florio point out, and I think it's a pretty good point, how many college coaches this year was Belichick talking to and getting information on and they had no idea that they were giving it to him

with what's coming, right? Because Bill's so connected and he's been doing so many different things. He could call up any coach in the country. They'd tell him anything he wanted. For an hour. Hey, what kind of defense do you want? And now the guy's the head coach in Carolina. He'll be competing against these teams. And again, I sit here and I say,

let's say Bill goes to Chicago, which obviously he Bill goes to Chicago, which obviously he's not going now, so he wins another Super Bowl. What does that do to his legacy? Does that mean he's the best coach of all time? Is he not already considered that? He would be on a

short list. I mean, listen, Don Shuler keeps the record. The 72 Dolphins keep their record. Which ain't coming down anytime soon. It's not coming down in terms of most wins ever, but yeah, he's 72 and he's off to Chapel Hill. It's pretty incredible. And now he's going to enjoy himself. Yeah, he will. But Luke,

isn't there some element of relationship building with alumni, with the boosters? Yes. How's he going to, like, is that not a big part of the coach's job? I just don't see him gladden handing, you know, Jimmy from Ford down in North Carolina to get his 500 grand. Like, I think that's going to be a real challenge.

So, Strutty, I would totally agree. And my guess is, knowing Bill, he has a guy that's going to do that. And I also doubt that he's going to be calling or making any home recruit calls. Like, I remember a different situation, but when I got down to Rice, I took an unofficial visit to Stanford, and I sit there and I meet with Jim Harbaugh. And it's like, hey, Harbaugh's calling. But it's like he doesn't call you, his guys do.

There's a minion where at a school like Rice, I got my recruiting coach, but the head coach is also calling me. So there's kind of that dynamic where it's like, Bill ain't calling me. His recruiting guy's calling me. Similar to how Harbaugh was at Stanford, where it was just like, I think that for that stuff, knowing Bill Belichick, he'll be like, I'm not doing it, but here's a guy that will. Well, here's a guy that will bring tremendous information. I've got him in a huge blender right now.

I don't think you do. He thinks it's a layup, and I've got him in the world's biggest blender. Oh, it's far from a layup. He just told me it's a layup off the set. Well, he's throwing you off, man. I don't have to do nothing. Alice Brother knows what's up. Take a seat there, Alice Brother.

Good seeing you. I think Gruddy and Noodles are going to love how this conversation goes. All right, let's clarify where the line is at, all right? Doogie, is it minus two and a half still? Two and a half, but that was three. No, it's Niners minus two and a half. Even better. Even better for us.

We discussed this, that we're going to get jammed up because you know the Niners are probably going to add a bunch. Like, Bosa will be announced that he's playing in half an hour, and the line will shoot up. That's 100% going to happen. You know that this is going to happen, too. We woke up this morning. It was sitting at three. All of a sudden, it gets bet down to two and a half. It was probably Doogie

throwing in a big old bet. He's now getting paid by NFL people. And we know that Garendo's going to play tonight. Bose is going to play tonight. They activated Dre Greenlaw, who's coming back off that Achilles injury from the Super Bowl, and he's going to play. I think there's going to be a lot of late money that's going to come in.

I guarantee you it's going to get pushed up to three. We're going to get jammed. Okay, so with that in mind, we've got to put that. It's loser energy. We don't want anything to do with that. Leave that to these guys. Tremendous information. Niners laying two and a half at home against the Rams.

I came with some TG today. Where are you at? I came with some TG. Where are you at? I was sweating this. Week 15, man. It is like we're into December. This is when the pretenders separate. You ever heard of momentum?

We weathered the storm. That was such a disgusting cover the other night. We covered the grossest game of the year. You lose this and we're down one and it's our pick heading into Sunday. For a layup on Sunday. Worst game on this. They haven't been announced season. They haven't been announced yet. They haven't been announced yet.

We'll get to that tomorrow. We can get to that. We'll get to it tomorrow. I'm warning you right now. We get another lead this year. You will not see it again, boys. You better pick this right. You better pick this right.

And we're going to because you're not going to see another lead this year. It's going to stay with Hazenborough. I guarantee it. A Charles Barkley guarantee. Alright, what do we have? I like the Rams to cover the number tonight. It got that downward, getting half a point less, which sucks, because three is a key

number. And I did have to really think about it, but then I went, and I did the information, I went and I looked up some things, and look, it's Thursday night. Sean McVay on Thursday nights is automatic. Nine and two in his career on. And look, it's Thursday night. Sean McVay on Thursday nights is automatic. 9-2 in his career on Thursday night football. That's not automatic. It's 9-2.

It's a very, very strong likely. It's very close to automatic. He's going to win this football game. But what I like really is the way that this Rams offense is rolling. And I'm not sure what information that you've cooked up. You told me that it's not a good offense. That's not what I said. Look what they've been doing the last four weeks.

The last four weeks, this offense has been rolling. They're averaging 28 points a game, averaging 367 yards per game. Stafford's got 10 touchdowns. No picks are protecting the football. Kyron Williams is going off for 4.8 yards per game. He's got four touchdowns. They've averaged 367. Yes.

Which puts them, first and foremost, they're 15th on the year average. But just to let you know, on the whole season, San Francisco averages 376. That's fantastic. It's a fourth best offense in the league yards per game. This is correct. Let's go to the defense. I'm just letting you know this doesn't happen. Listen, go ahead.

He didn't come with TG. He came with, oh, I watched the Bills lose last week. This team must be good. Accurate. They did lose. There is not one stat on planet Earth that says the Niners will lose this game. The Niners are, they may not lose this game. I just need them to not cover this game.

That's right. I can see this being. You're telling me right now, yards per game, San Francisco 49ers. All the numbers. Erroneous. Third best in the NFL. Erroneous. I will tell you this. Los Angeles Rams All the numbers. Third best in the NFL. Los Angeles Rams. Sixth worst in the NFL.

Rams, 15th yards per game offense. But you're going to tell me. Fourth in the NFL. Thank you. I'm just giving you tremendous information. Who's won more Super Bowls? Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan? Who's more desperate?

I would argue McVay and company Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan? Who's more desperate tonight? Who's one more? Who's more desperate? I would argue McVay and company. McVay and company lose this game. The Packers are going to beat the Seahawks. And they'll be one back. And by the way, week 18, the Rams see Seattle. So they control their own destiny.

The Niners lose tonight. They're eliminated. Desperation on both sides. I think Bosa's going to play too I just saw a video of him walking into the building He looks like a million bucks I'm so excited that the pick that's going to Bury you guys

The TG was right in front of you No it's not, this is TG Here's the thing What's the moon reading? You tell me all the time There's got to be context within the numbers Noodles, you're a big analytics guy. Context really, really matters.

And here's the context. It's how you apply the numbers to your knowledge. Exactly. And here it is, okay? You're bringing up season-long stats. You know what has not been around for the whole year? What? Pukunukua, Kyron Williams, and Cooper Cupp.

Those three have not played together all season long. But in the games in which they have in the last two years since they've been put together in this offense, they have been elite. They're 11-5 with those guys out there averaging 27 points, 383 yards per game,

and that is a far cry from the 19 points that they're averaging. Only one of them are out. So with all three of those guys, and keep in mind, they beat them earlier this year, 30-20, without two of them. Cooper and Puka were not in that game,

and they still went and played 30-burger. You know it's hard to beat a team twice. What about the Rams defense, my guy? Are you not worried? I'm not worried about Brock Purdy. You're not worried. Last four games, they've given up. It's warm. You said it the way you were right. Have a chance.

They got blown out in the cold in Green Bay. They got blown out in the snow game. Yeah, that's right. Listen, the Bears defense has been fine all year. Bears have quit. The Bears have quit. They absolutely smacked them. Why has Vegas got this team favored then with all these stats? Explain to me why this team is favored. Because it's about covering the number.

It is a trap game for dummies to be like, oh, the Rams are going to win. I'm going to take this on money line. Vegas knows. Absolutely not. Hayes, I try to give you TG. Listen, I love where your head's at. I love where the tennis promotion is. I love where my gut instinct is at.

We're locking it in right here. Lock it in. Lock it in. Lock it in, Parsi. The Rams for life. The Rams, lock it in, plus two and a half. And I think this line may move a little bit. If anything, it's going towards the Rams. You're telling me Bosa's playing tonight?

It's not confirmed, but I think he probably will. Green Law's off the bench? Bosa, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He'll be on a snap count. Noodles, you're concerned for who? For us or for the other guys? So I want, before we go, I want Joe from the Bridge or JP to just clip this one line. Trap game for dummies.

I just, that's all that. And if you guys lose, he's going to play that ad nauseum tomorrow, correct? Is that what's going to happen? That can happen. Listen. That's fine. We're still plus one. Pro athletes have done now.

We weathered the storm. We're here. Great cover Monday night. But now it's time to turn up the heat. Let's see if the frauds can handle the kitchen. We were 2-0 last week. It's not like we're on fire. I brought this up.

Scumbag tweet. Every other time we have a weekend that you guys have done well and you've taken the whole shebang of what the record was, including our losses. We won last week. We didn't miss a pick. And all of a sudden you're like, oh, 2-0. No, it wasn't.

Based on our answer. We were 2-0. It's 2-0 when we hit, but when we missed, it's 3-0. Context. Scumbag stats. It when we miss, it's 3-0. That's right. Context. Dumb bag stats. It's terrible teaching. It's plus one tonight. Context, man.

That's how you apply the numbers. That's right. Undefeated week for Hayes and Bro when we pick our game. That's right. That's what the tweet was all about. That's the code we live by is context. I'm going to tell you, Hayes. I'm going to tell you.

Lock it in, Rams. Plus one out. But I want to tell you an honest and tell me this is wrong. I walked in here 10-15 minutes ago. Al's bro was back there probably trying to schmooze Doogie.

There it is. Right there. There's the photo. Two gentlemen. I walked in and I said this. Tell me I'm lying. I said, I know you're taking the Rams, and I'm going to let you know right now, this is fool's gold, buddy. And he sat there, and the look on his face when I was like, and I've got the TG, this man saw the face.

I mean, it was a ghost. It was like he saw a ghost. He saw the devil. Deep down, I know that he said that, trying to get into my mind, to make us make the other. He's trying to do the reverse stuff, but we don't handle that way. It doesn't work on us. It's just not going to happen.

The pick's in. It's locked in. We've got more picks tomorrow. We've got a lot of games coming up. We're going to have Saturday games coming up soon. Bang, bang, Niner gang. I hate that. I hate that bang, bang, Niner gang.

It's the worst. I hate that stadium. It's too far from downtown. Rams roll tonight. Look at his fingers rolling out. You saw something gross happen in that stadium. His fingers are rolling's the worst. I hate that stadium. It's too far from downtown. Rams roll tonight. Look at his fingers going right now. You saw something gross happen in that stadium. His fingers are going. I did.

I've been there. He didn't do his homework. He let you down in the moment. No, we're locked in.