The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Conference Championship Games Recap: Patriots and Seahawks advance to Super Bowl LX

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

New England Patriots. Seattle Seahawks. Super Bowl LX. Meet us in San Francisco. But before that, join Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen, and Dave Helman as they recap the the Patriots' AFC Championship Game win over the Denver Broncos, and the Seahawks' NFC Championship Game triumph over the Los Angeles Rams, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Rundown (timestamps are approximate)3:15 Seahawks win thriller over Rams, advance to Super Bowl LX49:08 Patriots take down Broncos in the snow, get back to Super BowlConnect with The Athletic Football ShowPlease take our listener survey: theathletic.com/survey26YT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowPodcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-football-show/viewX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Robert MaysCo-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave HelmanExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Just buzzing after that NFC championship game, man. It was everything you could have hoped it would be between arguably the two best teams in the league, teams that have played two bangers of games coming into this one, and just a back and forth, phenomenal football game to decide who gets to go to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.

And that team is the Seattle Seahawks, who have had a staggeringly impressive year, just on both sides of the ball, everything they seem to do in the offseason turned to gold. And so many of those moves came up huge for them in a back and forth game against the Rams. So absolutely love digging into that one. I mean, we spent a ton of time on that game. I'm not sure how we couldn't based on how that whole thing went. ASC, sort of a different story, a very strange, ugly game influenced by the weather to pretty brutal offensive performances.

We mentioned it when we were breaking it down. I mean, there were like three or four plays from the Patriots offense that ultimately swing that game for them. You can count them on one hand. It doesn't take a lot to work through those. But a ton of credit to the Patriots for the season that they've had. We will see them in the Super Bowl. A rematch of my first Super Bowl, which is after the 2014 season, the Patriots and the Seahawks. Very different feel to these teams, a wonderful feel to these games.

Let's dig into it with me, Dave Hellman and Derek Klausen right now. After the way that the first two games between these teams went, especially the second one, All we could have hoped for is a game like the one that we just watched. I'm still just buzzing here. My notes are a mess. I wrote 10,000 words about this game. I'm going to be trying to dig through them in real time as we talk about this thing. Just an unbelievable football game between probably the two best teams in the league

for a chance to go to the Super Bowl. There is nothing more that you could want from that game than what we got. And a little bit of the best of both worlds, right? I mean, the final score is 31, 27. It's very high-scoring game. plenty of big offensive moments. And Sam Darnold had the last laugh with some really clutch throws at the end, but for no points to be scored in the fourth quarter and the defenses to have their moments,

specifically the Seahawks defense at the end of that drive. I'm going to be thinking about the 84-yard 14-play turnover on downs by the Rams for a very, very long time. Just like everything you could possibly love about football distilled into one possession. and the Seahawks get the last laugh and they're on to the Super Bowl and it lived up to all my wildest expectations. My notes also look like a light show. Usually when we start to do these shows,

I go back and we'll highlight a bunch of different things and different colors that in my mind mean different things. But as I was trying to go through this, like every single line is just highlighted with like some of its scheme stuff, some of it's just good plays. Like that football game for it to come down to literally inches between whether or not Pukunuku was inbounds

or not on that final play for this series to, again come down to inches when it was one of the best three game series I've ever seen, one of the best playoff games that I can remember in like recent history. Like this was everything that this game was supposed to be, which you don't always get. Like I think sometimes we take for granted. Like we think these games are going to be great and sometimes they're not everything they're supposed to be. But this game was truly everything it could have been.

We weren't sure what to expect, I think, just because we've had different versions of this game this year. The first time these two teams played, it was ugly, it was defensive. Seahawks defense did something to the Rams and no. team really all season was able to do. In the second game, obviously we get a ton more points. The Rams offense consistently moves the ball. The Seahawks needed a special team's touchdown to win that game because we

had some really tough moment from Sam Darnold who has struggled consistently against Kraschula specifically over the last two years. The way that his season ended last year with Minnesota and then the first two starts, they'd gotten him a bunch of different times. He turns the ball over, I think, five or six times combined in the

two games previously against that team this year. And so I think that's where you to start this conversation. Sam Darnold was magnificent in this football game. Magnificent. 62 and a half percent dropback success rate for the Seahawks in this game per next gen stats. I believe that's the 15th best mark in any single game this season.

So not, I mean, just think about that. The scale of this game, I guess, would have been a really good defense for most of the year. He has one of the best games of the season. 0.46 EPA per dropback for Sam Darnold in this game, which for, for Contacts, I think we talk about this all the time. Point two, three is usually like MVP level. So we're talking about double that from Sam Darnold in this game. And on just so many different levels is that an incredibly cool story.

And obviously we know how his season ended last year. We know that he's been a liability at times this season, including in both of the Rams games. And it brings me back to a moment I had before the 2024 season when I was up in Minneapolis talking to Sam Darnold before his first season there. and just talking to him about the process of getting there and what his year was in San Francisco was like. And he just seemed to be somebody who was so appreciative of the opportunity, but also was very clear-eyed about what he could do with it.

And in talking to him about his time in San Francisco and just what he learned being in that offensive system and obviously one that has carried over that he's played in with Klin Kubiak will talk about today, just talking about how he learned that you don't need to do everything as a quarterback. All you need to do is just consistently make the right plays if you're in an offensive system that allows you to do that. And he made plenty of spectacular plays today, but him playing within himself over the last two seasons

and learning how to do that, he's an incredibly talented player. Those flashes are going to come, but watching him not try to do too much and the great moments that have come from that and it culminating in something like this where a guy who has had an incredibly strange ride to this moment shows up the biggest, in the biggest moment of his entire,

career. It's just an unbelievable story. And selfishly, I can't help but really appreciate this for him. Because again, I just think that he's handled all of this with a ton of humility and grace and really does deserve it on a certain level. And I think it looked even different and better than you would have imagined. Like, I think the bargain with like what the Seahawks team was supposed to be and what he even was with Minnesota was like, can we get him to kind of control the game, not make some mistakes, make five or six really key throws on 26 pass attempts. He dropped back like 40-something times in this game, and he really only made maybe two plays where he put the ball in danger,

and for the most part, made like a dozen incredible throws. And, you know, some of them were incredibly schemed up, which we'll talk about from Clint Kubiak, but he was pretty nails both in terms of, like, knowing where to go with the football and really attacking these Rams D.Bs down the field, which we've talked about. The Rams DPs are nice when they can click and close on stuff that is right in front of their face in the, you know,

inside of 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, when you throw some of these digs, some of these deep crossers, some of these deep outbreakers and stuff like that, you can really get these Rams corners. And they picked on Kobe DeBrant for a lot of this game. They picked on Darius Williams early down the field. And Sam Donald just knew where to pick all his matchups.

And I thought down the field, he did a really good job of giving these guys, giving them good opportunities when they were there. But I also thought underneath, like he did a fantastic job of leading for yards after catch. I mean, the ball that he throws to Cooper Cup there at the end, where he kind of stretches over and barely gets over the first down marker, if that ball isn't perfectly leading him, they don't convert that play.

And he had like a handful of other passes this game where he's perfectly leading guys, setting up for yards on after catch, and making it really difficult for this Rams defense to consistently tackle. That moment on third down is important to bring up one of eight for the Rams on third down in this game, seven of 13 for the Seahawks on third down in this game. I mean, that's in those moments where it really is all on the quarterback. And these are two teams that both love play action. They love putting their quarterbacks in advantageous spots.

but when you're just sitting back there and it's third and seven, third and eight, Darnold came up huge in several of those moments today when it really was kind of all on him and those receivers. Look at the way the Rams were able to move the ball. They had a four-play full-field touchdown drive in this game. Like that doesn't happen to the Seahawks. They had the drive that I mentioned that ended in the turnover on downs. They could very easily let this game slip if Darnold wasn't nails on that final possession.

And the third and seven to cup was incredible. and then the second down out to Jackson Smith and Jigba. He's very open on that play. But to put the ball in his hands, you're up by three, you're up by four with three minutes to play. The Rams have just burned their final time out. Plenty of people would advocate being very conservative there. And Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady kind of were.

They were like, look, they're throwing here. And to put that on Sam Darnold and have him deliver for you with two really, really clutch throws. And I know the Rams eventually got the ball. back, but you bled it out to the point where it was going to be a last gas situation. That's all Sam Darnold. And it was very, very impressive to watch him. So, you know, going back to the wild card round, Stafford talked about it before the game,

like taking people's hearts. Donald was doing that with the game on the line in those final few minutes. You mentioned that second and 10 completion of JSN. I think that's a really good one to like zone in on as we talk about the guys that really shine for the Seahawks offense in this game. That is a combination on that play of Sam Darnold, JSN and Clint Kubiak calling that on second and 10 in that moment, knowing they have no timeouts left and just saying,

we're going to try to win the fucking game. I love that being the mindset from the Seahawks there. And then JSN, what he does on that route and what he did on so many of those plays in this game, just an incredibly special season from a guy that we've talked about this so much, Derek, is just different than most people. Like, I think if you go back and you really compare him to anybody over the last 10 years, like Prime Antonio Brown is probably the close,

this guy I would get to when it comes to like the way he moves and the way he plays. And so for him to kind of have that moment and then we'll talk about some others where just this perfect confluence of you have this incredibly special receiver and you have a play caller who in my opinion was just dialed in the whole night period. But that moment specifically with the game on the line, second and 10, we're going to call play action pass because we believe that our guy can make this happen and Sam can make that throw. It's so many just nails moments from that trio specifically.

in this game. Unbelievable stuff. And it started from like incredibly early in the game with, in the first quarter with like three and a half minutes left. They had that third and two like in the red zone. And they do, it starts off with Clint Kubiak. They start with trips to the right hand side and then they motion a player to the left. It actually gets the Rams D.Bs to flip where now Kobe Durant ends up taking Jackson Smith and Jigma as like the point man in that bunch.

He has to run across the field with him on that crosser. And that's the play where Jackson Smith and Jiggin makes that insane one. hand catch like just like stabbing it on the sideline. So he has that play and then they just had a bunch of other ones. Like the corner post that he takes against cover cover two right before that I love that play. That is an incredible call and an incredible route like you, it's a good right. Like you knowing that the Rams play a bunch of cover two, that's just a great call from Clint Kubiak, knowing what you're probably going to get. And we talked about that coming in like the Rams play a lot of it. And for a lot of the season, the Seahawks had not had good answers. That's an incredible

play call. Sam has to be so just ready to rip that ball and he was. That was a really good throw. Like they just had so many incredible moments this game. And I was just again, that was probably the fact that we got a Sam Darnold game of what did you say? 62% success rate on 40 dropbacks. It's just like that's not the type that's not the type of game I thought that he was really capable of, especially against the Rams defense that has its issues and the corners are very getable. But I just didn't think he would be able to do that in a playoff game. I was about to say, they sacked him three times. They pressured him 14 times on those dropbacks.

Like, they got to him and made him uncomfortable, and he fought through it anyway. There were some times when he made some really nails plays against pressure. And I want to talk about a couple of those. That sequence, Derek, that you just mentioned, though, where that sequence and that swing and right at the end of the first half is a massive swing in how the game goes. The Rams are up 13.10. They give the ball back to Seattle with like a minute left. And so then you have that sequence of plays from the Seahawks.

that one you're talking about, there's 37 seconds left in the second quarter when he makes that massive throw to JSN down the field. And that's just such a, there's so many little details on that play. But right before the play, you get a quick motion from Cup that gets Quentin Lake running from side to side. And then because of that, the number of the corner that's over JSN bumps out with Cup right as that play was happening. And so instead of JSN having, I think it was Kobe Durant,

like on him on the line of scrimmage, he gets a free release on that play because of the motion. And it essentially leaves him one-on-one with the safety to that side. He does an incredible job with his shoulders and the head fake, which he always does. And Donald puts it on the money. And so that play is design. It's what JSN skill set is. It's Sam making a great throw it on the field.

And then that drive ends with the touchdown to JSN from the backfield, which they do all the time where they want to get him singled up and got linebackers and they'll throw the ball with a flat a decent amount when they get him in that situation. But instead, he runs a corner route, and then if you look at the rest of the design on that play, Shaheed runs a big crosser, so it yanks the corner out to that side, and then Cup ties down Quentin Lake,

who's the flat defender. So it's really just Nate Landman having to carry JSN on that corner route. He drops him touchdown. And so that sequence with like less than a minute left in the second quarter where you have the monster chunk play against cover two and then the JSN touchdown out of the backfield, it's a massive, massive set of things that turns it from a, a three-point deficit at half for the Seahawks to a four-point lead.

And so just so many little moments in this game of those guys with Kubiak and JSN and Sam Donald just being on the exact right page. I fully expect the Raiders job to stay vacant through the Super Bowl based on the way Tom Brady was complimenting. I completely understand that. And then it's even when you got into the second half, this wasn't like the showiest version of it, but there was a stretch in the second half. when they went down to score, it was 2420, right?

The Rams had just scored a touchdown. And then the Seahawks kind of answered there. And it was another big third and nine conversion. They actually motioned, they actually had a bunch on the left, and that's when McCullough just kind of drops cup in the left flat. And so Sam hits him, it's wide open. And then you have the sequence where it was like,

the answer from Donald and Kubiak combined was just so good. There was a little empty checkdown on first and 10. They used a lot of empty in good ways in the second half. you have the little design swing to JSN from the backfield, which he makes somebody miss after the catch. You have a little boot to Barner on first down that gets you into like a second and three. And then on third and three,

which is the cup touchdown to go up 31 to 20, they have a little bumper motion with Kenneth Walker on the left side that lets Sam know that it's zone coverage. And then so he's allowed to come all the way back to cup on that play and he hits him for a touchdown. And that's another example where you talk about the pass protection. He was pressured. You're always going to be pressured against this Rams team.

But for the most part, they had time to come back to the backside on a lot of this stuff because the protection down to down was really good. And the guy that jumps out to me there, Charles Cross was left one-on-one with Jared Verst for like a huge chunk of this game. And over the first 20 dropbacks, that's the last time I looked it up, verse had four pressures on 20 dropbacks, none of them quick pressures. Average time to pressure was 3.05 seconds. And so what Charles Cross did against Jared Verbs,

in this game to give the offense that much time to hit plays like that, even if Donald was pressured, which inevitably is going to happen. I just felt like the pass protection overall for Seattle was really good and needed to be. And that tracks with like just what it felt like you were watching to, because most of the pressures in my mind were like Sam Darnold gets pressured through the middle and then had to bail out. It was a lot of times to his right, he ended up bailing out, had a couple of throwaways, had a couple of nice checkdowns that way. But I really did think the tackles played incredibly well in this game. And this was one where I think in a lot of other times that they've played this

matchup, the longer, stronger Rams defensive ends have kind of had their way in that matchup. And so the fact that Cross clearly not even being 100% healthy coming into this game playing the way that he did, I thought was incredible. I want to go two more shoutouts on the Seahawks offense before I kind of say my piece here. In terms of Kubiak's play calling, I thought he had a couple in the first half, I thought he had a couple of really nice feel moments. On the first drive, they attacked Darius Williams straight down the field on a go ball. The very next play, they throw like a smoke alert screen at him.

And they're like, you just gave up a big play. We're going to make you tackle. They pick up like another eight or nine there. I thought that that was just like a smart way to attack kind of your matchups and know what you're doing. And then there was another one where inside the red zone after that, actually the JSN insane one-handed snag. They had got set back on second down with a penalty. And so it ends up being like second and 17. or 18 or something like that.

They run this little play where they have JSN starting to the left. He motions all the way to the right, orbits back around the backfield to the left. So everyone's got eyes on him. Everyone's going to the left. And they run a fake screen to JSN to the left and then screen back the other way to Kenneth Walker

and pick up most of the yardage they lost on the penalty. And they don't get the 39 into the end zone or whatever. But I thought it was just such a sharp way to understand how to move these guys. And it was a really good like get back play call. So you had those moments. and then Kenneth Walker today was unbelievable. He was unbelievable.

That's my last shout out. Like he just the one, the first, the first touchdown he gets where he just bounces duo out the front door and just outruns Byron Young insane. And then the play against spates in the backfield, that's like a. I think we have that too. I mean, we have the touchdown for sure. I hope we have the one where he makes Spacesmiths because the one where he makes Spattsmiths is like, that looks like a Madden Juke.

Like that looks like what it looks like in the video game. Right. It just doesn't really happen in real life very often. Just brutal. He was insane. The catch he had in the left flat late in the game. Oh my God, yes. Making a guy miss on that play.

He was unbelievable. If I did not win my fantasy league, I'd be so bitter about the Kenneth Walker playoff breakout. I would be just furious about it. But now because I did, I can just enjoy this in all its glory. I, stats can lie because, and I know he had receiving yards, but like the next gen I'll tell you, he had a 42% rushing success rate. Bullshit.

I don't believe it, man. And look, I got to learn how to take notes as detailed as y'all because mine is just a hodgepodge. So I just, I searched the word Walker, and it's just like six instances of me saying, holy shit, Kenneth Walker. The touchdown was one. The spades play was two.

You just mentioned the third and ten, which again, that's just a throw to the flat. If he doesn't get that, the Seahawks are punting like three minutes earlier to Stafford, could change the game entirely. And then he had another one later in the fourth quarter. second and six, it's after the turnover on downs. Byron Young has him dead to rights in the flat.

That's the play I was talking about. Oh, it was the second and six after the turnover on downs. He had two plays in the flat because the other one was... The second and six is the one I was talking about. He picks up exactly 10 yards on a third and 10 that lets the Seahawks bleed another series off the clock. And then the Byron Young play where you tackle him there, it's third and long in the shadow of your own goalpost.

I mean, Donald was dialed in, so maybe he gets out of it anyway. But you pick up 15 yards on a play where Byron Young has you in the grasp. Every time he touched the football, he gave them new life. I thought he was incredible. Like other than Darnold and JSN, he was so, so good. He's a free agent after this year, and I would not be surprised if what he has done in the playoffs gets him a healthy chunk of change heading into the market next offseason.

The last play I want to mention, because I think it takes us into a different part of the conversation. The Bobo touchdown is another one of those just really well-designed, plays, you come out in that situation with that personnel in that grouping. They're in 12 personnel with Bobo out there. What does that tell you, Derek? I would think that tells you we want to run the ball here a little bit. Yes.

Yeah, when Jake Bobo on the field is one of your two receivers and 12 personnel, that is a run, run, run formation. And instead, play fake, Bobo on the little end breaker. And that, to me, is the best example in the whole game. Kobe Turner is coming on that play. I think it might have been on a twist. he has completely unabated, bearing down on Sam Donald who makes just a on the money throw to Bobo on that play. So again, that's one of those we're playing with expectations.

We know what you probably think this is because of the personnel that's on the field. We're going to play action. We're going to rip it behind you. And if you watch how hard the linebackers bite on that play and the space it creates, another one of those really good moments. And why I wanted to finish the Seahawks offense conversation there is that it kind of brings us into the swinging doors elements of this. game because that touchdown happens immediately after Xavier Smith drops that punt inside the 10-yard line. And so whether this is fair or not, I'll be curious what you guys think about this, I almost feel like

in terms of like the karmic swings in the game, the Xavier Smith dropped the punt into a touchdown and the requal and taunting into a touchdown just kind of like neutralize each other. I 100% agree. The one happens on each side and then we can just kind of play the rest of the game. I agree in the like zero-sum aspect of it, but the, no, I can't all the way get there because I don't support the taunting. Okay, but that is a clear distinction. That's fair.

That's fair. That's fair. Look, guys are going to drop balls in playoff games. Shit's going to happen. It happens every year. That's part of football. It sucks for Xavier Smith, but that's football. The league wants refs to throw a flag in a situation like that, which sucks.

Yeah, that's awful. I cannot believe. Are you kidding me? Even, I understand that he was like taunting the entire way down the sideline. I'm okay with that. Oh, you mean to tell me? It's the N.S.C. Championship. Who cares?

We spent 10 minutes before kickoff talking about how marvelous it is that these teams have played two games separated by four points and two yards or whatever it was. Like they are neck and neck playing for the Super Bowl. They are division rivals. How the hell wouldn't you be talking your shit all the way down the sideline after you make a play like that. It's undeniably ridiculous. I'm more so I'm equating them just in the sense that like both teams had a brutal stretch where it ended up giving the other team a touchdown.

And I want to be clear. Like I don't go in for officiating nonsense. Like, DeMarcus Lawrence got away with a face mask on a throw down in this game. I'm going to war I yanked DeMonte Adams by the hair. Like there was a bunch of stuff. There's plenty of stuff on both sides. But like the league, like that is a coaching point for the league. Like the league will look at that.

be like, yes, that's what you should have done. And I hate that. It is so soft. Anyway, rant over. I 100% agree with that. But that, again, those are like, there are two sequences in the game where, like, the other team kind of gets a touchdown

that materializes out of nowhere that really didn't happen in, like, the normal rhythm of how the game went. Otherwise, for the most part, I mean, the Rams offense had another fantastic day against the Seahawks. And it was such a strange version of the game, Derek. I mean, I think some of it is driven by the fact that, and the broadcast. hit on this into the second half and I had noticed it

kind of going back and rewatching a bunch of the plays but then especially when I was looking at some of the stats at halftime the Seahawks were just playing an crazy amount of man coverage in this game like a crazy amount of it they were at 58.8% at halftime per next gen stats 58.8% I wish I had gone and looked at how that compared to any half the Seahawks had played all year I guarantee you it was maybe double any other half they had played all season maybe the first

Niners game is like the only example where that's not the case. Talk for long enough and I'll try to find your answer for you. And you know what's funny is the the first third down to the game. I think it was like a third and three or something like that. The Seahawks did run man. They ran like a little bit of like one robber where the safety is coming down. And I was like, oh, interesting change up here for the Seattle Seahawks defense. And then for the entire rest of the game, they tried to do that.

It was this part of the game is going to be as it always is incredible to go back and watch on film because it just felt like so much of how the Rams move to the ball was either stuff they actually don't do a lot or Stafford making an unbelievable throw like right past somebody's fingertips. So there were all those moments which we'll talk about. But then there were just a couple of stuff that I thought the Rams did that they don't do a whole lot of. They popped like two or three draw runs for like really successful gains. One of them got them a first down, which they don't call a whole lot of like under center draw. I thought that was like a really nice just change up that they were able to find there. It was awesome. It was the only way they

were able to run the ball out of 11 personnel. It was the only way they were able to run the ball out of 11 personnel in this game is with those two second and long draws that they had. And then the problem was they went back to it one too many times. That second and 15 late in the game where they only get three yards on it and sets up that third and 12. That's one where I'm like, I'm not running a draw on second and 15. Like I think early in the game, it's like somewhat more normal down and distance.

That was the one time where I was like, I think they went back to the well one too many times. Okay. And by then, you've already kind of shown your hand. The Seahawks played 59% man in the first half against the Rams. The next highest after that all year, 46% also against the Rams in the first game. Interesting. I don't know why I didn't pick up on that in real time when it was happening. But they've done, like, they ran 40% man against the Colts in the first half. But like for the most part, I mean, the average for the season is 22%. So I mean, a lot more than usual for sure. And when you look at just the stuff

that was working for the Rams in this game, I mean, Derek, did you imagine a scenario where the Rams' most important and effective plays in the passing game were just going to be like one-on-one goal ball shots down the sideline? Like, I just, that's not a version of this game that I anticipated, and how many of those had to happen.

You have the one to puka down the right sideline against Spoon on the, I think it was maybe the second drive where they end up kicking the field goal. you obviously have the there's a fade to Devante which happens trying to find it in my notes there's the fade to Devante that happens at some point in the second half and to me the coolest part about that play is so that that drive starts first of all that drive starts with that big overroute to Parkinson off play action that's like the four play touchdown drive right that staff are just like the layering on that throw to Parkinson on that big overrout is just so crazy good out of 13 personnel and then they hit a fade to Devon And the coolest part about that fade is Devante Adams, right? Where they, that was the drive where they went down 24 to 20. So they hit that fade to Devante against Josh Job, who's, like, isolated on that side.

And my favorite part about that is in the first half, there was a third and five. It was that sequence where Amon Wari had the multiple PBIUs in a row. And so on third down on that drive, if you look at the way the play unfolds, that zone, this was man. but on that play Stafford has Devante on a fade against Josh Job he turns it down and checks it down to the back the Eminari just eats up and they're punting

and if you watch the plays actually as they happen in real time the safety is Julian Love on both of them he's on the hash on both plays so man zone whatever it is a choice I'm going to take this fade with him on the hash or I'm not and so he didn't the first time ends up biting them their punting on the second one, he's like, fuck it. Like, I'm taking my shot to my guy and he throws a beautiful ball. And

there are plenty of those. I mean, a ton of really good down the field strikes from the Rams over this entire game. I don't know the numbers in front of me. I'm curious, like, what the explosive play rate combined with any other, especially down the field. Like, explosive plays down the field. Like, 20 plus area-yard throws in this game versus any other game the Seahawks have played. It's got to be night and day. Well, and after the whole woolen taunting thing, like the Rams get into the end zone because they throw a go ball to Pooka Nacuah. Which is just nasty work. To go after that guy as he's tilting.

It's an incredible choice. Again, both play calls doing a really good job of like, we just frustrated this corner. Let's go out of again. So again, yeah, just their ability to, and it wasn't just the downfield stuff with a lot of one-on-one. There were so many instances in this game where Rams were creating three by one or four by one after the snap and just taking that isolated player and being like,

we're going to throw goal ball here. We're going to throw deep stop route. We're going to throw dig. We're just going to trust our guy to win one. on one. And there were a couple of cases where Tariq Wulin makes a really great play or, you know, whoever it was just makes like a really good play on the ball. But the Rams were very confident playing a lot of ISO ball, which I thought was really, really interesting, especially since over the last like three weeks, it just didn't seem like Devante Adams had been fully

healthy. But he had the one, I think my favorite Devante Adams play in this entire game was it was second and six early in the second quarter. He just bullies through Devon Weatherspoon and just like throws him down at the top of his break. on a slant route. Stafford pins it right on him. He goes and runs for another 15, 20 yards or whatever it was. So their ability to challenge the Seahawks corners and really play a lot of one-on-one ISO ball. Again, they lost a couple of those reps, but they won more of them than I would have thought. And they definitely won enough to have won this game if like one or two other things had went their way. And that same point we made about the Seahawks, the only way you can play this game the way

the Rams did it and how they push the ball down the field, your pass protection against a fantastic front has to be really good. And for the most part in this game, it was. I mean, the Seahawks defense and the Seahawks defensive front specifically is capable of taking over and controlling any game they play. We said it might have happened when we did the previous show

and that just did not happen. Stafford, for the most part, had enough time to do what he wanted to throw in the ball in this game. And that was far from a guarantee when you think about how good Seattle's front has been all the, like the entire season. Sub 30 pressure rate, which I mean, Stapford gets through the ball so, quickly, but even still, the job they did keeping him clean.

And also the job Stafford did getting away from pressure when he had to. The Stafford scramble is one of my favorite plays. Think about how big it would, like how large it would loom in this game, the fourth down where DeMarcus Lawrence had him dead to rights and he somehow willed his way past the sticks. I mean, what a play. That, like I said at the top, that drive was just so excellent. Like the stuff Stafford was doing the degree to which he was dialed in. And then Mike McDonald had a wonderful play call, like just mugging the entire line on fourth and got to have it and just dropping everybody back.

He gets the last laugh. But, oh, man, it was pure adrenaline watching Stafford deal with that all the way down the field. I mean, that drive from the Rams period was just, he was just taken check down, check down, check down, just like so methodical. And it was such an impressive sequence in just the way that he was playing. And then you get down into the Red Zone and the Seawks with multiple just huge plays. And so Eman Wari had that stretch where he had the second and five and third and five PbUs in the first half. And then in the second half, you have the third and four in the fourth and four. And Wetherpoon gets the Pbue on both of them.

He's on Mumfield on the first one. And then on the second one, you mentioned it. Seahawks are totally mugged up. Looks like it might be cover zero. And instead of bringing seven up, that play. They bring two and a half, right? And Julian Love specifically does such a great job of peeling with the back on that play

where that would have been the quick outlet if Stafford. And I think that's where Stafford wanted to go. Not only does Julian Love do it, Lawrence also peels off with him on that play. So there's nowhere for Stafford to quickly go with the ball. And the coverage from Weatherspoon on that like backside bender by Terrence Ferguson, he is in his hip pocket step for step and gets the past breakup and essentially wins the game for the Seahawks

before that last drive. So the Rams for the most part, I mean, and this game with a 48% success rate, they have a 55% dropback success rate against the best defense in the NFL. But ultimately it comes down to one or two high leverage moments,

red zone moments, and the Seahawks defense does what it needs to do. So cool. just unbelievable football game everything I could have wanted to be again the fact that these teams played three times in all three games were

if we listed like the best dozen games of the year they might all be in there like what just what a treat that we got to watch this for the NFC championship all right before we get to the rest of this game let's take a quick break I think the last thing that's worth talking about just in how the game ultimately went is the decision

the timeouts is kind of like whatever They call the final time out at 305. I think that we've seen more and more teams start doing that. Ben Johnson does that a lot where calling timeouts really, really early to preserve as much clock as possible. I'd be curious what the actual analytics say about that, but I think there's probably some merit to approaching it that way. The fourth and four going forward in that situation,

the numbers will tell you to go for it. I'm fine going for that. You kick a field goal, you still need another score. And so trying to score the touchdown there, I think the numbers will support it in that moment. and anecdotally I supported in that moment, the one mistake that I think is worth bringing up just in terms of game management from them,

not going for two when you score the touchdown to go down 3127, that feels like an unforced error because there's really no downside to that. If you don't end up getting the extra point, you're down 3126. And so even if they were to kick a field goal at some point, you're still only down one score and you need the two-pointer anyway.

And so to make that 3128, if that's the score in that moment, you don't need to worry about going forward on a fourth and four. You can kick that field goal and just kind of go on with the game. And so in terms of like the game management choices, that's absolutely the one I have the biggest issue with from McVeigh. But all the other stuff, I'm pretty okay with how it went. The only thing I would say there,

and I think it's valid to bring that up, that happens with two minutes to play in the third, right? And the way the game was going, I just would never have guessed that no points would be scored in the fourth quarter. You're right. But you never know. I mean, that's one where like it's, that feels like a free decision to just be like, we're just going to make a three point game.

Because like you said, it doesn't hurt you. Yeah. The downside to, there's just not that much downside. And so to not do that, I think ultimately does come back to bite them. But it, I'm not going to sit here and like shit out on Sean McVeigh for a failed four, a failed two point conversion decision at the end of the third quarter when the Seahawks played just a phenomenal football game. That was not the difference in this one.

I'm glad you bring it up though, because it just reminds. reminded me and they showed him on the broadcast. And I don't mean this as a criticism. It's just fascinating to think about. But McVeigh will call a timeout to get into the right play call. He freaking loves doing it. And he doesn't do it on the fourth and goal. And he just decides to let it ride.

And like understandably so. Because if you don't get it, you're going to need every time out. And so he ran out of that time anyway. He swallows his, he decides not to do it to keep the timeouts. And it doesn't make a difference. And I, like I said, it's not a criticism. But knowing Sean McVeigh, he's probably going to lose sleep about like, oh, what could I, what play call could I have gotten into if I had called timeout right there and would we have taken the lead? And it's fun to think about it. I don't think he did anything wrong. I think he did it the right way. You got to keep your timeouts in that situation. But I bet he's not going to feel that way when he wakes up thinking about it tonight. But you guys are going to handle the postmortem on the hangover tomorrow. So I just, I want to hit this restrict beat before we move on. I think he's going to be thinking about this entire season. You know, this is going to be one.

one of those where the Seahawks were, the Seahawks are an awesome team, just an awesome team. And top to bottom and like for the offense to be able to have this gear in this moment and pick up the defense, when the defense has been just the centerpiece of the team for most of the season, just really does speak to how complete they are. They get the big special teams play, which has happened for them over and over and over again all year. They're starting on 35 every time they get a possession because the other team doesn't want to kick to Rashid Shihed, who had his own big moment in this game, so credit to John Schneider for that.

But their Seahawks are an incredible team, but we talked about this setting in. The Rams, this felt like everything was kind of falling into place. You know, you had an MVP caliber season from a 38-year-old quarterback that's been consistently banged up. Was it going to be,

were you going to have a better chance than this with McVeigh and Stafford still in town? And I think the answer is probably no. And so to fall short, knowing that's the case and knowing how many things fell into place here for you to steal another one before the end of this little mini era ends, this is going to be one that sticks with them for a very, very long time. You could feel during the game how much McVeigh wanted it. Well, to me too, to me too, this was like Matthew Stafford and this Rams offense,

the way they put it together, this really felt like the only offense that can do this to the Seahawks defense. Yeah. And the fact that it still wasn't, quite enough in the end is that hurts a lot. It hurts a lot. I don't say this to dog pile on Xavier Smith because like I said, if it didn't happen to him, it would happen to somebody else. But just like think about if a handful of special teams breaks go the Rams way. The Eagles game comes to mind. You have an extra point blocked and you miss a field goal against the 49ers. The Rashidt. He touched out. The Rashidjii-Hi-Hi-Hi-Hi-Han. You might be playing this game at home. You would be playing this game at home with like three other special teams plays.

And of course it comes back to doom you in the postseason and a team that was so, so good, winds up as a wild card and comes as close as they do. Yeah, nobody on the Rams is going to be sleeping well for at least a couple weeks. But the Seahawks deserve just so much credit. Not to take any credit away from Seattle. It's just, and Mike McDonald was hired to be the Sean McVeigh stopper

and Kyle Shanahan. And so for him to beat both of them in route to getting to the Super Bowl is just such proof of concept for everything that you wanted when you hired him to be your head coach. And we talk about it, you know, when we decided, like was he the coach of the year? And for me, the argument,

one of the arguments for it is to have last season happen. And this happens where your first time head coach, you know, you're scrambling to put a staff together and, you know, you make a decision somewhat out of convenience for who your first offensive coordinator is. It goes poorly. You know, it just never came together. They never played a,

style last year in his first year on offense that I think McVe or McDonald was ever comfortable with. And so for him to go out and after one year, be like, all right, we're cutting bait, starting over. What is my vision for what I want the offense to be? And I think it's so telling that he went out and got Clint Kubiak because think about life as a defensive coach in the NFL. Who makes it hardest on me? Like, what is the type of offense that makes it hardest on me?

And I think for McDonald's specifically, it was always those offenses where the run and the past are tied together, where everything is cohesive. Everything builds off of each other. And if you watch the Seahawks offense from last year, it was the exact opposite of that. There was zero cohesion between what the run and the past was. And so to go the exact opposite direction in a very intentional way to go seek out this sort of offense, he deserves credit for that. And Kubiak has been even better than you ever could have imagined. We've talked about this. And Derek, I think the first time we ever hit him.

it was after the Thursday night game against Arizona, where seeking out this type of system, that's a structural choice. There is a difference between offensive structure and offensive execution. Play calling is the expression of that execution. And Kubiak so often this year, it wasn't just we're going to use a bunch of heavy bodies

and we're going to use a lot of play action. His play calling feel and his ability to understand what were the right buttons to push levers to pull in the moment has consistently come up all the way through this season. And I think you can make a serious argument that given the stage, given the outcome, given the results, this is the best performance that Clint Kubiak had the entire year. I mean, it's like being a pitcher, right? You can have all the right stuff.

But if you don't know when to throw it and how to throw it and where to like, you know, how to paint the plate, like it doesn't really matter. And I do think that was the part of the Kubiak thing that surprised me. Like, you could have sold me that the system would help the offensive line a little bit. And it would keep Sam Darnold on the rails and all that sort of stuff. but I just some of the situational stuff in the specific game planning stuff, like all the three or four different moments that we talked about in this game where he's picking on something specific with the Rams. That part of it, I just, you know, he'd never really had a good enough roster with New Orleans

to really be able to flash enough of that. Like they had the first two weeks, but that's like the first two weeks of the season is kind of fake. And so the fact that we got such proof of concept over the course of this year and really did build in different ways. Like obviously over, I know Sam Darnold threw the ball a lot in this game. but for the last like six, seven weeks it's really been more of a rushing attack and he's adapted to that incredibly well.

Exactly. Like the fact that they've, he's been able to oscillate and really go between both of the worlds. I just, I didn't know if he had that and he clearly does. We said this on, we've said this a few times

since the Seahawks really got rolling, but it's just so cool and wild that like everything you could have daydreamed about didn't just come to fruition, but like hit. You know what I mean? Like you do the, darn old thing. Everything. You do the

darnal thing. He has a career year. You bring in Cooper Cup. He doesn't light the world on fire, but he just scored a touchdown for you to win this game. He was huge in this game. Did the defensive hold that he drew? He had a... J.S.N. makes the leap. Byron Murphy makes the leap. You got a defensive rookie of the year

candidate playing on one side of the ball. That unlocked so much of who you want to be defensively. If we gave offensive rookie of the year to offensive lineman, Gray Zabel would at least be on the podium. 100%. Like, he is absolutely phenomenal. Rashid Shaheed. makes he makes six plays all year, but all six of them swing games for you.

Just every single decision that they made going back to March wasn't just good. It was like a home run. And now you're in the Super Bowl, and it's cool. Now you're on the doorstep of the Super Bowl where you will play the New England Patriots. Before we get to Broncos Patriots,

let's take one more quick break. Fun for me, it's my first Super Bowl, was Patriots Seahawks after the 2014 season. Half that good. ball behind us is from that Super Bowl as a way to like quietly commemorate that. And so the fact that this is a Super Bowl rematch that, uh, between two teams and it harkens back to a Super Bowl is very important to me is extremely fun. But let's dig into that Patriots win.

The New England Patriots win a very weird game, 10 to 7. Can I just say? And are on their way to the Super Bowl. I said this to you during the game. And like, I'm not clearly this was a weird game and the weather got in the way and it's fine. Oh, did it? I just saw Drake Mays style and I had not seen it yet. Oh, it's, it's horrendous. It's completely insane. I genuinely love that these two games happened on the same day. And like, it's, we need a reminder. I don't care. Even having watched that and even knowing that it was a

disappointing end to the AFC season for just people that want to see good football, I love that football can be wildly influenced by like when you play and where you play the game. And if you want to sit through a three-hour delay until conditions are better. Go watch baseball. I like that about football. I don't know, man. You gotta find a way to adapt to this shit. Where do you land on this, Derek?

As a man who has never had to endure weather in his entire life. Because they don't, we remember them because when they happen, they're completely insane and obviously the end of this game. But I think it's so much of like, I'm okay with it when they happen a little bit sparingly. And the other thing about this game specifically, for like 49. or like maybe not 49 but like almost 45 minutes of this game it was like relatively normal conditions like it was cold and windy but it was not the insane blizzard that we remember for the fourth quarter like the first half of this game was relatively decent conditions there was not snow on the ground and it was still disgusting football it didn't even it didn't get silly until like the fourth quarter though like it was snowing in the third but it was normal snow game snow it didn't become unusual until fairly late in the game I would say. And I think because of that, because the whole game was not played this way, because we got three quarters of like relatively normal football and then the end becomes this like, do you have this

gear to you as a team and as a coach? I actually do kind of find it like pretty compelling as as theater. If this happened on a regular basis, I might change my mind. But we play 272 regular season games and a dozen playoff games. And if five of those a year take us back to 1908, I think that's okay. Yeah. I think it's fine. I land in a place where I'm like, all right, I'm generally supportive of this possibility because the other side of it where every team just plays in a dome is disgusting to me. Like I, the, like, it's too sterile. Playing all football under sterile conditions and not having any sort of like outdoor, like the fact that the bears are building themselves a dome, it just makes my skin crawl. I cannot believe that that is going to happen in this town where you have so many

fun moments late in seasons where it's cold and like I just hate that. And so if we're going to stumble into one of these every so often as the price to be paid for playing these games outside and giving them a little bit of character and a little bit of feel to them, that's okay with me. At the same time, when you watch a playoff game where it's not a real football game by the end, that does frustrate me a little bit. I think it's the cost to do in business if we want to play the sport and the way it should be played

like Dave is talking about. But it's still one of those things and I'm like, it's kind of a bummer. It wasn't really a game for the final quarter. It is kind of a bummer, but the Broncos lined up

for a makeable fuel goal with five minutes to play and Leonard Taylor just got a finger on it. Yeah, we're just going to weigh that away. We could have played this game forever. Because if that game is tied, and I don't know what the hell was going on. I'd like to thank Leonard Taylor

for making sure that wasn't. a 12-hour football game because it might have been otherwise. The Patriots found ways to overcome. And to Derek's point, which I never in a million years saw this coming. I didn't think the surface of the field would be unplayable by the end of the game. But Sean Payton didn't have to go for that fourth down in the like earlier in the game where you had a chance to go up to nothing. He opts to do that, which I'm sure the numbers backed him up, but considering that you have a backup quarterback. And guess what? NFL teams keep track of forecast. by the way.

Like, the Broncos might have had an inkling this was coming, even if they didn't know it was going to be that crazy. And so you go for it, you don't get it? These things happen. It was a bummer of a game, but I am in favor of games like this being possible. Yes, I'm in favor of games like this being possible. I think it's just kind of sucks when they ultimately decide

the AFC championship game. But in the end, I'm fine with that happening every once in a while because I do want to see the weather and the conditions affect the game to an extent. I just want to be able to pick all a cart how much the weather is affecting the game so unfortunately we can't do that. That play you're talking about,

obviously just a massive, massive, massive play. So it's fourth and one, 928 left in the second quarter. Then the play before, and this is something that will be, I think, completely forgotten. I don't want to hammer him for this decision because I can understand turning it down,

but I don't think he even looks at it. The play before the fourth and one, it's third and six for the Broncos. Patriots send a big pressure coming off the left side and Stidham actually has little Jordan Humphrey and I think it was Carlton Davis is going to close down on it

but if he throws that ball immediately that is a completion that he leaves on the board and it ultimately goes to fourth and one because he takes off and scrambles on that play if you go back and watch third and six he immediately runs to the right side instead of trying to potentially make that throw so that's kind of a sliding doors moment

but then you get to the fourth and one and on that play Derek I don't know what your read on it was but it felt like the Broncos just kind of botch the protection. I mean, you look at it and you have two guys, like, Milton Williams just comes completely unblocked. Miners blocks nobody. The left guard and the center block the same guy. And so it just torpedoes the play before it even has a chance to get started. I mean, my guess there is that I think it's 46 Adam Prentice. I would guess he's like, he's blocking N-Man on the line of scrimmage rate. Which closest one to him is Jolani Tevi. But like Milton Williams ends up

being the one who is the bigger threat. But he's lined up so much more inside and kind of stunts outside at the snap. I actually think it was just like kind of a good overload call from from the Patriots. And like, I just, I really didn't hate the decision to go for it because I almost think like, I almost think in my mind, if the weather is coming, I don't want to just take points. I actually do want to rack up as much as I can and make the other team score on us when it starts just, you know, snowing everywhere in the fourth quarter. So I didn't hit the decision. I thought the play call, I think again was just like a pretty good call from New England and Milton Williams gets there immediately. And Stidham had some moments as a runner and as an athlete in this game,

but he's not going to get away from an athlete like that right in his face. So you have that. And then the other play, when the Broncos offense is on the field that ends up swinging the game, is the fumble. I mean, the intentional grounding that turns into a fumble on that backward pass. Speaking of blowing protection, I don't understand what Denver is doing on that play because they, New England only had two guys over set to the left hand side like to Denver's left but they have four potential rushers set over

to the right hand side but they end up sliding it to the left. The back doesn't stay in on protection on that right side. He's actually going from right to left crossing the formation so I was just like confused why both the back and the center went to the left. I know they had some like pre-snap checks

where Sidham was moving guys around and they tried to reload the formation and so maybe guys just got a little bit mixed up about where the slide was supposed to go or what the back was supposed to do, but they pretty much moved all of their protection away from where all of the potential New England rushers were, and one got free immediately instead and just didn't really have an answer for it. Yeah, and that he just makes a bad play catastrophic, right?

I mean, that's just the one thing that you cannot do in that situation, especially when your defense is playing the way that it was. I mean, the Broncos defense in this game was incredibly good. Like, you can count on one hand the really important. crucial moments that the Patriots offense had over the course of the entire game. You have the huge scramble, the huge second down scramble from May that sets up the first, that sets up the field goal drive for the Patriots, which, I mean, what may it did with his legs in this game?

You have this scramble. You have the design quarterback draw for the touchdown. And then obviously the final play of the game, that final third and six, where apparently that was not the call, he like kind of freelanced in that moment. I missed that. Wow. Andrew Callahan, I believe it's his name, who Reiser the Boston Herald,

wrote that apparently that was not the call, and May didn't tell anyone in the huddle that he was planning on doing that. That looked like so obviously the call that I was like, McDaniel's genius. Wow, good for you, Drake, May. That's incredible.

So you have the plays he made with his legs. You have the flea flicker. And that's like it. Which I actually... That's it. So the flea flicker I want to talk about because on, on one hand, it's an insane call in the weather.

Like, to have that amount of ball handling in the weather is crazy. We like shit on Dave Canales for trying that a little bit earlier. Like, it's a completely insane thing to do. But one, they actually execute it pretty cleanly and pretty well. Drake May has to step up and make pressure. But the reason I loved it is that he's throwing that big over route to Matt Collins. Because of the weather and especially in the second half, you could see in this game, Drake May couldn't really like drive the ball on a rope the way that he wanted to.

there was like speed outs he was missing and putting in the ground. There were a couple of dig routes he put in the dirt because he just wasn't able to like drive the ball through a guy's chest. But that's a layered throw. That's like I can just put some air on this and put it up and over a guy. That to me is just, it's such like a niche little like we need an answer for something to get something going in the passing game. I thought it was a great call.

And it's obviously just a phenomenal throw in that moment. My favorite part of that play. And he, there were four or five moments and I'd no reason to go through all of them in my notes. but Remandre Stevenson had a bunch of really nice moments in pass protection in this game. And so if you watch what happens on that flea flicker, he gets the ball, flips it back to Drake May, and I can't remember who it was, but it might have been Singleton, was kind of coming untouched on that play. And unless Stevenson picks him off after tossing that ball back to May,

he is not going to have time to get that throw off. And there were multiple really nice moments for Remodre Stevenson in past protection. The scramble where he gets them into the, 30-yard line. That's Stevenson, like, taking the mugged up Agap player and just punching him in the mouth and it gave me some space. There was one where he did a, I think it was somebody was coming on, touched off the left edge and he picked him up. And he again, like four or five really nice moments from Madre Stevenson and past protection. And those three handful of plays that the Bronco or the Patriots

had, there's a reason for that. Like the Broncos defense in this game, I think two things really stood out to me. One, the Patriots front or offensive line really had no shot. against that Broncos front. And that's the area that I would be most concerned about if I were a Patriots fan heading into this game against Seattle. Like, you are outgunned when it comes to your offensive line against this team.

Morgan Moses got dusted by, I think it was Jonathan Cooper at one point early in the game. Will Campbell has, I mean, multiple plays where they're just trying to cut quickly that end up going horribly for them. And Nick Benito is affecting these plays. And so that would happen inconsistently. And I thought the Broncos defense did such a good

job of passing things off in man coverage on third down. There were like multiple really nice moments of that in the game. The first drive for New England, where it's a near pick, I think it was to Hufanga. May thinks that Hufanga's getting cleared out and man coverage on that play. He falls back on it, nearly picks it off. There was a Zach Allen sack on like what was a simulated pressure with like six and half minutes left in the second quarter where they drop out, they drop, they only bring four. they do a fantastic job passing it off.

Drake tries to take off and scramble, gets dropped at the line of scrimmage. And then on third and three at the goal line with like six minutes left in the third quarter, the Broncos drop off a defensive lineman on that play, and then the whole players and McMillan on that play do a fantastic job of passing everything off. And so Drake may have couldn't do really nothing throwing the ball in this game.

Some of that is the pass protection, and some of it is you go back and watch these plays, there is nobody open. Like, there is absolutely nobody open because of the way the Broncos are playing on the back end. It's funny you bring up that sack. The play before, one of the plays that's going to linger with me longest was the direct snap to Stevenson. Yeah. Or they kind of rigged it up to make it look like a fumble, which I love the play call.

And Talano Oufunga just destroyed it. And maybe if it's a cleaner snap, it goes differently. But the Broncos were keyed in on everything. And yeah, I guess we haven't brought that sequence up. but ultimately the quarterback sneak that gets spotted as a first down. And again, like I said about the Seahawks Rams game, like when this happens, this was before the weather had really come in.

And I'm like, okay, well, didn't really look like Drake May got that, but you hold them to a field goal. It's 10-7. You've got plenty of ballgame left, and I had no idea how few real scoring opportunities would be left in this game at the time. And that drive, there was a third.

On that drive where they kick the field goal, I think it speaks to the mindset that Josh McDaniels had in this game, and I kind of don't blame them, given you're playing in certain conditions, you know that the conditions are probably going to get worse, you're playing against the backup quarterback, just don't torpedo the game.

Like, just do not make the sort of mistakes that will torpedo the game. That play that you're talking about, that fourth and one sneak, the play before it's third and 10, and they were on a tight end screen. That was the mindset from the Patriots in most of this game.

It was like, we are not going to make the catastrophic mistake that's going to allow you guys to get back into this thing. And I actually had that in my notes. I thought that was an unbelievable effort from Hunter Henry to like navigate through that. And not even a spot where you could sneak it. Yeah, like to get it to fourth and one was like I thought that was going to be fourth and six, five. Like it just did not look like that play had anything left for it. And so I thought that was an insane effort. I think the thing I really want to say about Drake, may, obviously the passing stats are bad because, yeah, conditions.

Broncos defense played out of their mind, both in coverage. And I thought they tackled incredibly well in this game. But what really stuck with me about May in this game is right after that Allen sack, it felt to me up to that point, Drake May just wouldn't go. He just like would not pull the rip cord and scramble. He was trying to stay in the pocket. He was trying to make these plays. He was waiting too long. He just didn't feel like he was ready to just sprint through the A gap.

And after that moment is when you finally got some of the scrambles where he's taking off getting them into the red zone. they start calling quarterback draw for him. Obviously he takes the final play where he just boots out. Like he, it felt like for the first quarter and a half, he was a little just kind of stuffy in the pocket and didn't quite know what to do with himself. And the fact that he kind of eased into the game and realized,

oh, the only way I can win this is if I just take off and do this myself, I thought that that was like a small moment of like, good job young man. That's like the correct way to have played this game out. He looked shook in the early going of this game between the way Denver was playing. and the protection.

There was a third down early. I think it was after the Denver went up 7-0 where they just, yeah, it was third and 15. He had just gotten sacked, and so you're backed up anyway, and they just called like a, you know, it was like a dumb little out to the flat just to try, you know, get out of here.

And he shorted it to Stevenson. And I was like, ooh, we got to work through some things here. But he eventually did. I mean, in just all the moments in the second half where the Patriots again, we're just like, we're just not losing this thing. There was a third and 10 where they just like had like a sprint out throw away

in the fourth quarter. We just like chucked the ball on the bounce. That was crazy. The most perfect example of what this game devolved into is a give up, a give up throw. Like I've only, you only,

you usually only see those types of things when you're trying to like kill seconds off the clock at the end of a half and to do it in the middle of the fourth quarter was really funny. And then the, they're even early in the game. I could just tell that I think they were really playing a risk-averse sort of version of things where there was that second down in the first half where they threw a bubble screen to Stefan Diggs.

Just got completely blown up. They had a third and five late in the first half where, again, I know it was quick game because they had both the tackles cut. And they just threw like a little flat route to Hunter Henry. It was just like, a punt is okay here. And so it,

the Broncos defense is fantastic. I think the Patriots played an ultra-conservative sort of game on offense because in their minds, as long as we don't beat ourselves, their offense with a backup quarterback is not going to have enough against our defense. And ultimately, they were right. I mean, it took a blocked field goal. It took a fourth and one failure. And it took the weather ruining the game in the second half. But ultimately that it was an approach that paid off for them in the long run. I guess that's what I'll say. And actually, kind of speaking of the field goal, other small moment we forgot, I actually thought about Dave. when this happened, the Broncos missed a field goal before the half, which like we joked about like if they're, if they're going to win the Super Bowl, especially now with the backup quarterback, Dave said they're going to have to Will Lutz their way into the Super Bowl. And you have that one missed and then you get the one blocked that maybe that goes in if that doesn't get blocked.

Those six points win you the game if New England doesn't get into the end zone at any other point or doesn't put up any more points of their own. So like those small moments were huge. And then the last one I really want to bring up is the Stidham Interception, he throws at the end. obviously conditions are terrible, all that other stuff. But the part of it that was impressive to me and goes back to like having to figure out how to win these games, the clock is running and Denver is trying to sub on a player late. And Frable does the thing again where he's like, oh, you're subbing. We're going to get our 300 pound defensive linemen and move them a little bit on and off

the field. Yeah, let me get my slowest running players to jog very casually out here and burn off another few seconds. And like the last guy gets off the field with like four seconds, three seconds on the clock and so Stidim's just got to go immediately. He can't reset do anything and then he just kind of chucks one up. Gonzalez does an incredible job and knowing what's coming and that's pretty much the game right there. I can't believe some people don't view Vrable as like a cerebral coach. Like I feel I feel like that is, I don't know, that's the line on him for some people and I

just couldn't disagree more. I mean, I said it when they beat the Chargers. Like what does your CEO coach do for you? What's he doing for you? And Mike Grable has that type of CEO coach does a lot in those game management situations for these teams. Real quick, since Derek brought up special teams, while it's on my brain, it's going to get consigned to the scrap heap of history. Jeremy Croshaw was amazing in this game. Yeah. He was so good.

I don't, I'm not even kidding. I know. I know. He averaged 51 net yards per punt. He allowed two punt return yards on the day. Six punts. Two return yards allowed. He penned three inside the 20, and I believe two inside the 10.

like he gave the broncos a chance to let the Patriots muck this up many times and the Patriots just didn't take the bait but it was an outstanding punting performance and he had a couple good ones last week as well like that's pretty nice from a rookie punter very strange run to the Super Bowl for the Patriots just like a very strange collection of games

and it's not even like to disparage what it has been but you just think about what their offense hasn't had to do because of how bad the other offenses had been and what their defense has done. I mean, they dismantle the Chargers in the first round. They play a disgusting game against the Texans in round two. And then they play this game against a backup quarterback and a snowstorm in round three.

And so I think I can pretty safely say that in San Francisco, two weeks from today, the offense will have to do more than it has done. and it's three previous playoff games that they're going to beat the Seahawks. Not saying they can't, but they're going to have to do more than they've done. It is how they've simultaneously,

I mean, they've taken, what, Drake May has now, I don't know, let me rephrase that, because you can't say Drake May has done something when you pass for 86 yards in a game. But the Patriots have taken down two of the best defenses in the NFL back to back, including a Chargers defense that is also no slouch.

Well, they, the Patriots, before the playoffs started had played against one team that finished in the top 10 in defensive DVOA this season. It was just the Browns, that's it. In the playoffs, they've already played against three of them.

And then now we'll play against a fourth one that was the best defense in football. And I said before the Texans game, like if they win that game, I don't want to hear any of the qualifying. And I stand by that. I'm legitimately impressed by what they've done. But you're not, you're not,

winning the Super Bowl with the way that Donald's been with the way Donald played today and what we've seen from the Seahawks offense and what we know about their defense you're not winning the Super Bowl with the offensive performances we've seen the last two weeks because you can even you can give them a mulligan for what happened in the fourth quarter here but first of all plenty of time to play better while the conditions were still good and we saw what happened even against the Chargers like it's not even

like it was just the Texans in the snow too like the Chargers game was very very ugly it's not going to get it done yeah the The Chargers game, I look back at that game and the ball security stuff and some of the mistakes from Drake May loom large in that game. I do think overall the offense was considerably better in that game down to day. A lot better in Wild Card weekend than it has the last two. That's definitely fair. Yeah, I mean, over the last two weeks, obviously today is like the gross whatever it ends up being. And then last week, we talked about it. They had those three drives last week where they had like those three slant flat completions. And then they had the one pass interference go ball again. You can remember the moments on like one. hand and then they have the game today. The Chargers game, they only score 16 points in that game. But down to down, it's not like, they had a 44% success rate in the Charger game.

They went 4 of 11 on third down. Drake may put the ball on the ground a couple of times. The overall, like, quality of the offense moment to moment didn't offend me against the Chargers. The last two weeks, it's been pretty offensive. And the conditions play into that, but it has not been a good showing for the New England Patriots offense the last two weeks. Do you think what we got from them again?

against the Chargers is getting it done against the best team in the league. No, because again, the Seahawks offense isn't actively imploding in the way the Chargers offense did in that game. Like, it was better. I think that's worth saying, and you're fair to point it out. It was not good enough to win the Super Bowl unless the fog descends on Levi's Stadium and we get another insane game in the Super Bowl. Which it's been insanely foggy over here in California the last couple weeks.

So that is entirely possible. Well, we will be at Levi's Stadium. two weeks from today will be in San Francisco for all of Super Bowl week. Very much looking forward to that. You guys are handling the hangover tomorrow. We're going to do some deeper dive, postmortems and look-aheads for both the Rams and the Broncos and kind of how the season goes.

Just one more note on the Bronco. To have this sort of season, to be in the AFC championship game and then to have to play this game with your backup quarterback, it's a tough way for the Bronco season 10. Because if Bownix plays in this game, I think there's a very, very real shot that they win this game. I told you during the game, like no, I don't say this tongue in cheek. Like, Bo Nix is so well equipped to help you win a game like that the same way Drake May was.

Three or four plays with his legs that Jared Stidham could not make. Yes. And so, and I think that you look at some of the plays where Jared Stimms pulling the rip court a little bit quickly in the pocket in this game. And I just, I think with Bo Nix, there's a very good shot that the Broncos win this game. And so the fact that they weren't playing with a full deck in this sort of moment does suck. We'll definitely get into it on the hangover. but like there's so much reason for optimism about why the Broncos could be back here very soon. But it's the cliche we keep going back to with Dan Campbell where you just, you never know that for sure.

The Broncos right now, $1.2 million in dead money on their books, which is a pretty significant departure from what things it looked like over the last couple years with that Russell Wilson contract. So they got like $27 million in cap space. You guys are going to talk about that tomorrow. I don't want to let this get there right now. that is all we've got for today. We will have a full slate of shows coming your guys way over the next week or so. For now, that's all we got.

Appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you very soon.