The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Divisional Round Sunday recap — Bengals upend Bills, 49ers beat Cowboys, conference championship games set

Episode Date: January 23, 2023

And then there were four. The Bengals and 49ers advanced to Championship Weekend on Sunday with wins over the Bills and Cowboys, respectively. Robert Mays and Nate Tice put a bow on Divisional Round weekend on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeToday's episode is brought to you by...Peloton: Try Peloton risk free with a 30-Day Home Trial, New Members only at onepeloton.com/home-trialBetter Help: Visit betterhelp.com/mays today to get 10% off your first month of online therapyPenrose Hill: Go to tryfirstleaf.com/mays to get your first 6 bottles for $39.95 plus free shippingPhilo: Sign up today at philo.tv and use promo code MAYS to get 50% off your first monthRoman: To get ready, Roman Ready, for better sex this Valentine’s Day. Go to ro.co/athletic today to get 20% off your entire first order. Place before February 8th for guaranteed shipping in time.Tommy John: Get 20% off your first purchase at tommyjohn.com/athletic right now for Valentine’s Day!1:50 49ers beat Cowboys, move on to NFC Championship Game17:00 What's next for the Cowboys27:30 A little NFC Championship Game preview39:00 Bengals beat Bills, move on to second straight AFC Championship Game60:53 What's next for the Bills?66:01 The Bengals are awesome Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight. It's my good friend Nate Tice. Nate, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing wonderful. That was a quaint little game that we just finished with

with some interesting clock management and just end-of-game situations. Greg Olson got to put on a clinic about explaining like five different rules and clock management stuff. So it was almost like he did an audition tape. Like, oh, okay, this guy, like his agent's like, hey, okay, now this guy's going out of balance now explain what's going on there it's like boom boom boom but eventful day i guess is a good way to put it we have a snow game which is always a good day uh finish it with that game of the bay area it was just it was an interesting day i don't know how to like explain it just felt stuff happened

but i don't know how to go about it yet that's why i can't wait to dive in we'll get to the first game a little bit later we'll start with cowboys niners let's start with the end that every moving part of that final play just to end it with turban getting absolutely just to time out before it a time out just so I kind of marinate let it all sit and just sit in our brains a little bit yeah I've been in an offense that we we had a play like that but we went all skill guys I think we kept the center in and then everybody else was just a skill guy same thing it was kind of like a almost looked like a punt formation and all the skill guys would say ineligible so like the other four guys and it acted like off the side to do a lateral play but zeke ended up looking like vati devok there taking the charge on that last play I mean everything was just

It was just, it was special. It was special. It's one that I'm going to remember for quite some time. I hope other people do too. Might have spent that practice time that was devoted to that play, figuring out a way to get the ball to somebody that wasn't CD Lamb, but, you know, we can get to that. Let's start.

So there's so much so much to dig into from this game. I want to start with just the Niners defense because I don't think Dak played well, but I think today was just a reminder of how terrifying they can be. and just how much ground they can cover, you know, just how much space gets condensed when you play against them and you don't really have a field stretcher, which the Cowboys don't do. And when you have to play in that compressed space, how difficult it becomes to do it. And I think we saw that over and over against tonight. I mean, I just thought that the Niners back seven in zone coverage, because the front, the pass rush didn't take over this game. But I just thought that the windows and their ability to move the ball at all through the air was just sucked out of this entire game because of the way the Niners defense played.

I mean, and Fred Warner just erasing the middle of the field. And if you have CD Lamb who makes a living off that and all the underneath stuff that DAC loves, I mean, the quick game, they, after a rough start after the first interception, the Cowboys had a really nice drive, but they started going to Quick game, which is fine for a drive. But then you see the 49ers going like, oh, you're doing this? Okay. We're going to start squeezing everything. You really felt Warner's presence outside that brilliant third downplay where he ran with CDLand,

St.D. Stride for straight. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And people are, Dak had a rough game, but people trying to dog Dak for that. That's just a defensive guys get paid too. And that's a S-tier. That's why he's a first-team all-pro type player right there. But you can really feel Fred Warner's presence, especially on third down, but in the red zone. And there's so many kind of high lows that the Cowboys were trying to run. And you just see Warner kind of trotting on to the screen because you know he took away some deep route as he like probably passed it off. You could see him on screen a couple times. But, I mean, the four-year-old is off. Our defense was just tremendous. And the run game, especially after Pollard got out, you could see that kind of affect the game. Only half of the Cowboys' runs were successful in the first half.

They went six for 12. They had one successful run the whole second half. Yeah. They went one for eight undesigned runs. And that's what it felt like when Pollard went out is that they really only have two guys with any sort of pop. Dalton Schultz is fine. But they really have two guys that have any juice whatsoever. And they lost one of them in the second half.

And you felt that on the. the offense. Dak was not good, but they did not have anybody that could make anything happen in their scope position room. And the Warner play, I mean, the game is tied, I believe, when he makes that play. Yeah. So there, he's mugged up on the line of scrimmage and they're in empty. So when Dak's looking at that before the play, he's thinking, I have this.

I mean, they're going to bring a pressure with him. Somebody from the line of scrimmage has to run with him. He knows that. But yeah, I take that. 100 times I have 100. Just an unbelievable play to be mugged up and to make that play down the field. And then obviously the Cowboys offense struggles the entire game. The defense keeps them in it.

I thought the defense was fantastic, especially for the first three quarters. And they started to run the ball a little bit near the end of the game. But for the first three quarters of this game, the Niners had 19 carries for 64 yards. They were averaging 0.23 yards before contact per carry over the first. three quarters. They had a 47% success rate. And it was, I mean, Hankins is a great call by you. Hankins was all over the place.

Just the entire front seven for Dallas was just playing with their hair on fire and kept them in the game. And the offense just couldn't find a single sliver of daylight to take advantage of the defense keeping them hanging around. No. And the 49ers were explosive through the air. But like, if you're the Cowboys, it's like, okay, that's fine. They're not nickel and dime against us.

they're not just putting these together. It's, it's kittle tipping balls to himself. You know, it's kind of, he's putting the ball in horse. It was hard on them. It was hard. It was hard. They made a couple really nice plays, but it was hard. That's what good defense is. You're just making it hard on the offense.

Watch a basketball team, you know, a good defense. The guys, Kobe still makes his shots, but you try to make him go 12 for 30. I noticed that with the Cowboys, they were trying, especially when Pollard was in, they were trying some changeups. Like they did a toss, wineback play, and then they had DAC. They had some QB replays that DAC only kept one. of them, but there's some others that he handed it off. And it's, those were the changeups. And those were the plays working, but you can't really lean, you can't run wine back over and

over. That's to take advantage of them once over pursuing. And then Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw and Hufanga are going to go, okay, they got that in their bag. Okay, we'll know it next time. And you could see that every time the Cowboys try to repeat a call, it got snuffed out by the 49ers defense. And like you said, they just kept him in that game. The second half, the 49ers started get into a lot of counter runs that was working out fairly well for them. But I thought there would be a little more some shot plays and some bootlegs from the 49ers because how hard Michael Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence were screaming down the line. But I think that's what they were afraid of.

It felt like they were just afraid of those things getting absolutely blown up because they consistently were. I mean, those guys, think about the run that I'm thinking of, the one where they left Lawrence unblocked and had Kittle try to get him on the windback and he ends with a four-yard TFL. it felt like every time they try to do anything like that where they're moving the pocket or they're running heavy play action, they're just worried about things getting absolutely smoked because that's how the Cowboys front was playing in this game. It was. Yeah, it was both defenses point tremendous.

I mean, it was just who would pop for a couple drives at the end. It was the night. It was, yeah. Well, it was the, so also with the 49ers offense and this was kind of every time they went to empty, going into empty for Purdy actually, I think made his life easier in the dropback game. I'd be curious to look just how many normal dropbacks he had that weren't empty because one, it clears up the picture. Two, it makes the Cowboys defense more basic. But also they were doing a really smart thing of they have these guys, Debo Samuel and Brandon Ayyuk.

They just put them up the slot on either side, the number three spot, the number two spot on either side. So somewhere they're going to get it, if they weren't man coverage, which they didn't do the Cowboys in those looks, they're going to run zone. So you're getting Anthony Barr on Brandon Ayuk. Like that is as a quarterback, that has his point shoot as it gets. And Purdy made those throws, but I just thought those little, when they had to drop back, that was the way they did. Those were pressing the easy buttons for the offense because, like, yeah, like you said, the Cowboys defense was playing tremendous.

That's what you have to do to, you have to find those easy buttons for the offense. It eight empty dropbacks, so 25, not empty dropbacks. So play action. That would look up, but it's, so the empty plays at the end. The Iyuk one was in the fourth quarter. And then on that same drive, they get McCaffrey into that little two-man stack on third down. So both of those third downs that get to empty and try to just create something matchup-wise.

And then, I mean, the two plays, the kiddle one-handed play, he takes that vertically. So I think that was what it felt like in the fourth quarter especially. The running game started to wear Dallas down. I mean, this is a team that doesn't have 20 guys they can roll out there that they like. And it's not a team that is really built to hold up that way. It's why the run defense wasn't great over the course of the regular season. I also thought that they switch off drives. Brunskill played two at one point when he typically plays one switching off with Burford.

But that drive where San Francisco really pushed it down their throats all the way down the field, Burford was in it, right guard. And they were running all of those plays came off the right side, and they were just kind of washing them down. And I thought that his physicality, you could really feel that. The touchdown, McGlunchy makes a great block. But I thought that was a little key difference. And then you have a couple plays with guys just taken over.

I mean, Kittle, that big explosive 29-yard reception is just him feeling that and taking it vertically being a really, really good player. So I think that eventually just the Trishon caught up to Dallas's defense. And then you saw those star level players that San Francisco has, which are innumerable to Dallas's one. And that ultimately makes the difference. Yeah. And those, like the Kittle play. And there's some other, if you notice, and Shanahan offenses love this, you know, all the backside glance stuff. that's almost it's an RPO package play to kind of control those if you have an aggressive

defense so over pursuing linebackers and other front players and that's where these things all work in unison together all plays and this is what's awesome about the Shannon and offices so much complements each other that's all packaged together that slows down the linebackers okay now it's run it we run the exact same run play those guys slow down and boom now it's a six yard seven yard gain as opposed to it would have been snuffed out before because like you're saying is that the Cowboys defense is so. so, so aggressive. But that's, the 49ers offense was exactly that.

It was, they found enough explosive plays in the past game. The run game caught on in the second half. They found the runs that were working. The Cowboys that were in some bare fronts, and that's why you saw some counter. Explain what bare fronts are. Bear front is you have both guards and the center covered and you have two stand-up outside linebackers or edge players. So Michael Parsons usually is one of them.

But it's a classic three-four front if you, if you're just drawing one up. And so they got to that, they got right out. of it. But they did like twice in a row. Niners ran them right out of that. And so the Niners were going to 11 with three wide receivers. The Cowboys were matching with nickel as they do. And they're just the same front and the same coverage. They're running an overfront, which is the three technique towards the tight end. So the line is kind of shifted towards the tight end and quarters, which is just the juiciest run look for a Shanahan offense because that is just like, okay, we're putting on the safeties basically before we get to five yards.

And that's how they kind of started nickel and timing because I think the Cowboys defense was like, okay, enough these kiddle plays. Enough of them going empty on us. Okay, but then that's the pick your poisonness of the Shannon. Eventually they're going to find that opening. Eventually they're going to do it. He finds his variable. Just keeps chipping away at it.

And I think that the biggest difference here, Rock Purdy did not make that backbreaking mistake. He did enough today, made four or five throws in big moments and really kept the train on the tracks. And Doc didn't. And I think that ultimate. ultimately becomes the huge difference in the game. I mean, if you look at just the numbers, play by play, a lot of their passing efficiency and things like that looks the same, except for the two backbreaking turnovers. And he just didn't look good today.

It was not a good game from him. And I don't think it has to be some referendum on Dak Prescott's status within NFL quarterbacking, the way he looked today, especially after the way he looked last week. But it was a pretty rough day from him. Yes, it was. I mean, you're going against the best defense. And he threw two picks and didn't take the chances that were there. The first pick getting heated up was just him like, I don't know what happened there.

I think Lenore. That one was bizarre. Lenore was kind of playing. Yeah, I don't know. He got heated up. He's taken his one-on-one. I understood everything in the pre-snap process. And that's one of the answers you are when you're feeling, if you're not hot, you're warm.

It's like, hey, as soon as I hit my foot hits the back of my drop, I got rid of the ball. It was weird. It was kind of like it was no man's land. It's either you throw a stop there or a go there. there and he kind of like threw it in between, almost like a back shoulder. So the Lord just made a great play. And then the Jimmy Ward interception was just a great play by Jimmy Ward. Yes.

That play was designed to get CD Lamb on Fred Warner, empty, spread it out, and we put him at the three spot and get him, you know, a little shake move or read move, whatever you want to call it, a balloon route is what I've called it because a balloon can go anywhere. And he returns. And Jimmy Ward just makes a great play because I think they had Schultz on like a wheel. so as soon as he went to the flat, Jimmy Ward's like, oh, he's going vertical. I'm off of him. Boom. Makes a great play.

See, I'm giving even more credit than that because he didn't take it vertical for the first three or four steps. He ran straight to the flat. Yeah, that's what I'm saying? He ran straight to the flat. So that for Jimmy Ward just say, like, I'm not taking him in the flat even though I'm supposed to be there. I almost don't blame Dak for thinking Jimmy Ward wouldn't be there.

You wouldn't. There's supposed to be a huge space right there for you to throw. That's quarterback's about assumptions. You assume a lot. Like that's what I'm sure that's where the and then the Warner play and he takes it. Of course he's going to take CD that right there. You have to, you're hot against with an empty protection, a fine air protection. It's one and done.

Like you're hell or high water going to what you predetermined. Hopefully it's a good guess. And that's why when people are pointing out T. Y Hilton on that play, it's like he's not, he's not taking that though. You're not taking T. Yilton over C.D. Lamb when all things are equal because that's what it kind of was on that look. But that's what the, that's what the Niners do. They take away what you want to do.

And then when you don't have other answers, you don't have auxiliary answers, it's really hard. Like the second best weapon in the Cowboys passing game is usually Pollard. Okay, he's out. Then Donald Schultz is a safety blanket. And C.D. Lam, as much as I love him, is a old man at the Y kind of receiver. You know, he's more of a crafty, you know, underneath intermediate type. He's not taking the top off the defense. I know he had to go ball, but that's a one-on-one.

But it's like that's not his game. So the cowboy, the 49ers took the Cowboys right. right out of their game and made it hard on them. And that's what it felt like. It felt like they got squeezed in the whole second half. Yeah, and the one opportunity he had to gallop down the field and that drive where they were down a touchdown on the fourth quarter. He just misses him.

And again, it just wasn't a good day. And he, the interceptions were a common theme all season. The interception total was absolutely inflated. There were a lot of tipped ball interceptions. The interception problem, I think, was a little bit overstated. But I think that the game he played today, I don't know if it's cause for concern. Like, what do you think about it?

Let's stack. I don't know. He's 30. He's 30. This is who he is, guys. I don't know why we think there's going to be some revolutionary with these players at 30 years old or 29 years old. He's got like, what, 2,000 pass attempts in his career. This is what he is.

He's going to put the ball in harm's way because he tries shit. That's his game. He's really smart underneath. He's going to try some stuff on the intermediate throws. He doesn't have that elite arm. So the room for error is a lot. lot greater. So I think when he goes against bad defenses, he just slices them. And when he goes against good defenses, it becomes a coin flip. And the balls bounce every which way. So I don't know.

I just think because he doesn't have those elite arm tools that he gets a lot more of these mistakes that seem glaring. But he's doing the right stuff. And this offense needs it. Otherwise, this offense would just be suffocating. If he doesn't try those intermediate to deep throws that he does try, it's just that he doesn't have the Josh Allen, the Holmes, Herbert. types arms and this offense doesn't ask for that anyways. So he has a $50 million cap hit next year. Okay. So are we getting this that contract talk?

I'm just, listen, okay. If the gap that we're talking about here between those guys that have some of those elite elite traits and maybe what he looks like in a game like this, when you start getting up to that price tag, does that gap if he's the eighth to 10th best. quarterback in the league start to matter in these moments. Yeah, it's a top tier quarterback.

I think sweating over $6 million over a tier of quarterbacks is not the discussion I get into. I don't know. There's so many teams that gladly pay that money for this. I think that the quarterback pay, once you get into that tier of the good above quarterbacks, sweating over the millions, it's when you're paying the guys that are Daniel Jones tier 30 something million. That's where you sweat it.

Like that, oh, man, now we're. we got to eke out. It's that an overpay and all that. But I think DAC is worth the penny that you pay him. And I don't think, I think that contract's going to be fine. I don't know. That's how I feel.

I know I'm a DAC supporter, but I just think it's ridiculous that that would even be like a thing. For me, the question is, okay, if we're looking at the makeup of the current roster, and we just understand that they don't have nearly enough firepower on offense, they don't have a lot of disposable income to create firepower on offense next.

year. Michael Gallup has a $13 million cap hit. They're already over the 2023 cap. They can save, I think it was 11 million by making Zika post-June first cut. How much of that goes to Pollard if they want to retain him? Right. Terrence Steel is a restricted free agent. Vanderex is a free agent. Bar is a free agent. Daltin Schulz is a free agent. This team that they have right now, it's not like they're flush with resources to make sure that he gets those other weapons heading into next year. So I just worry about the amount of wiggle room that you have overall with team building question. And he makes $50 million. So, I mean, that becomes the question is when you make that sort of money, you need to be able to elevate the players around you because there aren't as many resources to go around.

And is the gap between him and the top five quarterbacks is that ultimately when you get to this stage, that was good this year. The Cowboys offense was explosive this year. It was very good. But when we start getting to these moments where you watch the way that Burrow played today and I know that his weapons are, much better than Dax are. But when you get into these homes and burrow and these are the exact situations where you need to really elevate the players around you, does that margin between him and those guys really start to exaggerate and become glaring?

That's my question. If you have the same question with him, do we have the same question with Josh Allen for his game today? That's what I'm saying too. It's like, these guys have these games. I don't know. I think it's a fair point. I mean, or we talk about is Joe Viro worth the contract after that playoff performances he had last year?

You know, is he going to be worth that contract in a few years? You know, I don't know. These discussions to me, I think is just, DAC is at the level where it's like, yeah, pay him, whatever, done. Like, move on. Like, okay, now we figure out, okay, do we go through the bank of Dak? That's not a question to me is it's not about whether you pay him. It's all right. I would have paid him too.

And I think that they should have paid him. But now that they have and they now deal with the reality of that. That's it. Don't pay Ezekielo at $20 million. Like, I mean, you pay your quarterback, though. And it's the other decisions that become more galaric. No, I understand that this is their space. And as much as a DAC fan, I am, he's not the elite guy.

I think he's more than that good, very good tier. Like you said, eighth-ish, like that's where he is in that six to ten range. And I think I feel like that's a pretty safe thing to say about him. You win with him. You win because he makes good plays for you, but he's not perfect. And so I think where when you're in that realm, you have to get smart. You have to hit draft picks. You just have to because I think it's such a bottom following out if you're working off of this.

I don't know. I think also is that he's worth that money. And he's worth, I know it's a tight space. And that's where, but you're also living in Jerry World where nothing really. Everything's a little warped. You know, so that's where you don't know what the line I think will be down the road. So he has a $49 million cap at next year to second in the NFL among. quarter banks. His number against the cap next year is $10 million more than Josh

Allen's. And that is, it's always funny money and you can play with it. And Josh Jones goes up more. I'm sure later. And I do think that's what's going to happen. Right. So he is a $31 million base salary. How many years are left on Dax contract? So, yeah. So, man, it's only two. Wow. Yeah, because he wanted to re. That was the whole thing. He wanted to re-up. Well, with a lot of these guys, it's, we don't think about the fact that the extensions are tacked on to contracts that already existed. Dak was playing on the tag. So he only has two more years left on his deal after this one.

So I was going to say. Age 30 and at age 31. I was going to say maybe they borrow from it that $31 million base and don't even think about it because you got a few years left on the deal. You push it further on. But there's only one more year left on that contract. So maybe they're not willing to borrow from it quite as much as if he had three years left. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know with them. I don't know with them. It's a real question. It is. No, I totally get what your discussion is, or your inquiry, I should say, is trying to figure it out. But it's like, that's what happens is once you pay these guys and we talk about it all the time and everybody wants to harp on it. It's the thing to say, rookie contract quarterbacks.

You know, it's the greatest advantage you can have. Because once you get into this world, then every decision has such louder repercussions on your team. And that's what it is. It's just that room for error. It just becomes tighter and tighter and tighter. That's the world that the Cowboys are in. And that's why when they pay guys like Zeke, and I'm not saying that just the Zee contract is what cripples them.

But when you do that, like we've, we've had this. That's the opportunity cost of everything else that you do down the road. So the Cowboys are the Cowboys are the Cowboys. They're just always going to be their own world too. It would have been nice to have Amarie Cooper in this game. I mean, those are the types of moves where you're looking at it, like, man, they just lack that. And they overcame it at times.

with their offense, but losing Pollard, I think, really lays bare just how little explosiveness they had on that side of the ball. Just general changes for Dallas. Let's say Dan Quinn doesn't get a head coaching job. You think everything just comes back status quo and you figure out how you exist in those margins financially to find two in the roster. It kind of feels like it has to. It has to, right?

I mean, McCarthy's winning games with Cooper Rush, you know, like they, so it's kind of hard. Dallas is an elite team all season. It was. Top six team. No matter where that's an elite team. That's the top, you know, the top tier. They played great the whole year underlying med. It wasn't lucky.

You know, they had some dominant wins. They, I mean, some really dominant wins. They dominated last week. Yes. Yes. In the playoffs. They play balanced, like balance football. I don't know.

But coordinator wise, no. I think Kellan Moore has improved so much as a play caller this year. Let's be clear. Both of the coordinators absolutely should be back with their jobs. They're very good at them. That's what I'm getting to. And it goes back to the initial thing. It's like every time I feel good about the Cowboys,

you look at Mike McCarthy and you go, oh, that's right. And I don't know. Do you just see some of the situations happening today? There's nothing that I was like, oh my God, that's on Mike McCarthy. You know what I mean?

But, you know, rushing into the two minute or not punning the ball, trying to get that extra play before the two minute. Like, he did do it, but it wasn't perfect, you know. But I think a lot of what Mike McCarthy has done this year, there hasn't been that moment where I'm like, ha, ha, ha, you know, all of us are going, what is he doing there? He kind of was fine this year.

I mean, really was. So I don't know. It's a lot harder to ax him than it was six months ago. Totally. And he's really helped himself out. I mean, obviously. Here's where I worry a little bit. Let's say Dan Quinn gets hired by the Broncos.

Yeah. And now you don't have that special sauce that he really has been able to provide over the last two years. He has been a really good defensive coordinator. Yes. And so if you take a step back from this being, I think there's a second best team in the NFL in DVOA on defense this year, I'd say you move back, and I think they were first to last year. So let's say, Dan Quinn leaves. You still have a lot of really good players.

You know, DeMarcus Lawrence has shown that he still has a lot left. We know that Mike is elite. They have a lot of those pieces back. You know, there are a couple of guys that are role players that are hitting free agency. Talk about Van derash. They're going to have to do something just that linebacker period because Anthony Barr is going to go. Clearly, they didn't want to put any of those linebackers that were homegrown guys on the field this year. So those are some of the Donovan Wilson as a free agent.

Just those little tiny pieces that you start. to lose and the flexibility that they've had over the last couple of years starts to go away. And you fall to being the 12th best defense in the league. And you don't really have the resources to make up some of that ground on offense. And you settle back around where you were this year, which is like a top eight offense. Is this one of the best chances you're going to have based on Dax contract, based on the trajectory of your franchise, all of that? That would be the unfortunate question I'm kind of sitting there with if Quinn leaves.

Right. Well, especially if Quinn leaves. Well, God, it's funny. It's like it feels the same as how we felt with them last off season. It's just that they held off the regression. They really did. I mean, that's on defense. I mean,

on defense. And then the offense, once that came back had, well, stretches of brilliance for their legit top four offense, no matter how he shook it. But then, you know, kind of tapered off at the end there. But it's kind of funny how that just, it feels like the same discussion we had last year. They need another playmaker on offense. The defense, you know, they have to find linebacker help. They have to find other guys for these role players.

there's going to be regression on that side. Like, oh, offense alliance still has question marks. Like, it just is funny that we're, I think we're reverting right back to the discussion before the season and discussion this off season. So I don't know. I sound like a broken record with it,

but it's, I think there is going to be some drop off just naturally because of what the team, how the team makeup is. I mean, they're playing Anthony Barr all those snaps. That's not good. You know, that wasn't,

that's not ideal. So maybe they do get some bump because they do find somebody, they draft somebody or something, but it is hard. They were going to be playing on expert mode this off season, just to maintain what they showed this year. Obviously, like we said, they're a top 16. I think, again, one of the reasons that their offense looked as hapless at times as it did today is that what DiMico Ryan's and what that unit has for San Francisco, it's hard to overstate just how great they have been in stretches this season over the second half of the season, how good they were tonight, how good they were really all year. and now they get to play against the Eagles.

And that is, we're going to have a lot of time to talk about that between now and when that game happens, but that's a firework show, that Eagles offense against this Niners defense. I mean, because we talk about the Niners, I think of their offense too, where eventually they're going to find a way,

even against a really good Dallas defense that was playing really well. Eventually they found a way. And the Eagles offense feels the same. The Eagles, and so that battle and whatever that side, liver ends up being that sliver of daylight that Philadelphia could potentially find against this team, I think is going to be absolutely fascinating.

It's teams with identities. That's a lot of fun, like as far as especially that defense, the four-in-hers defense and the Eagles offense. And that's, that's great. I mean, these are two of the best rosters in the NFL. I think the Eagles were hands down one, but the foreigners were right there with them. Two of the best rosters going at it. That's what you want.

There's a lot of all pros littered on these teams. a lot of pro bowlers littered on these teams. I think that's fantastic. That's what you wanted a championship game. I thought no matter who came out of the 49ers Cowboys Tilt, it was going to be a great championship game, but this 49ers conundrum, or the conundrum, I don't know, the conundrum that the 49ers defense kind of presents itself, I'm very curious to see how the Eagles offense goes against it.

You got a great run defense. I know, we're getting ahead of ourselves. But it's, I just want to, it's going to be really, really fascinating because there's uniqueness and both of those sides. sides. And so how do they answer each other's uniqueness, which is going to be, it's going to be amazing. I'm excited. One big question about that matchup that I think applies to what we watch today. It becomes clear to me after watching that game that the Eagles have a huge advantage in the game management side of this. Multiple times today, Kyle Shanahan is putting his team in a

position that's going to make things harder. What they were doing at the end of the half, just letting all that time take by without taking the time out, Purdy nearly eats one and they lose out on three points, some of the field goal decisions. The Eagles all season, and this is an argument for, honestly, for Siriani as the coach of the year that probably should have been more cognizant of, the little edges that they have created on their fourth bound decisions, on every single time there is a 50-50 or a 55-45 decision. They're making the decision on the right side of the 55-45. and it feels like the Niners consistently have struggled with those decisions.

And I think you're going to need every percentage point that you can create against that Eagles team and the way that they played last week. Or last night. It seems like a last week. It does. Game of inches. But yeah, game of 0.1 percentage points. They add up, though. They, they those add up.

If you make them consistently consistent. The Eagles game stands out the most was against the Jaguars. I think it was just because I did a little study on it. but it was through the Eagles aggressiveness of going forward on fourth down. They created like, I think, five points just basically out of thin air by being aggressive. I mean, or I think it was three points. They created a field goal for themselves. But again, if they create two point five points for themselves, expected points,

and the 49ers cost themselves two points by their decisions. That, and a spread that's going to be fairly tight, those, that matters. And it does. I think that's a really good point to bring up. Shane has got better this year and he still. Yes. But today was still like, oh, big reminder. It was a big reminder.

Yeah, especially at the half, the half management. I know, he just, it's like, he never knows it's like the whole will day, won't day kind of thing. You know, like any sitcom. Like he just doesn't know whether to be aggressive or not. He doesn't know which one of the pick or playing his foot and decide. If you're Dallas, you have a 26 pick in the draft is one of your first priorities finding just one more playmaker somewhere. I mean, you got those every, the monotonous tight ends,

the homogenous tight ends that I can't pick between. All of them are going to be back next year except for, I mean, it's, what is it, McKeehan, Henderson, who did play today,

whoever, Ferguson. They're all built exactly the same. They're all the same. You can't tell them apart. So all those guys are going to be back. I assume you try to build your tight end room out of that rather than spending money on it.

But I just feel like that has to be the direction that you try to go with whatever resources that you have on offense. The offensive line, I assume, will be back in some form. So they kind of have a decision to make. So I guess theoretically, when everyone is healthy, if they bring steel back, which feels like they can, they can match whatever another team offers him, they bring steel back, Tyron goes back to left tackle, Tyler Smith goes to left guard. Yeah.

And then you just kind of roll with that group. Does that feel right? That feels right. And then hopefully Tower can be your swing guy. injuries go it's going to happen to Tyron at some point next year so that that helps that he can bump in it out so yeah I think offense a lot of it's got a 17 and a half million dollar cap at next year and you can save half of it. And a team that needs every every dime is three years old. His contract breakdown's hilarious because he signed that eight year deal years and years ago. So it just it takes forever

to scroll down. I just did it. So the first year of his contract is in 2014. He was 24 years old. 24. You got drafted at 20, right? That's hilarious. He, I think for them is they need an interior swing guy because they, they, because I think if an injury happens to a tackle, Tower Smith bumps out, that gets them. You start exactly there. Yeah, yeah, that's the game. I think they would play. You know, that's the math.

That's the offensive line is a lot about just like, all right, it's if shit happens. That's what you're trying to discern it with their offense line. If this guy gets her out of wheat, fill it in. So I think that obviously need juice. They had, they drafted the guy from South Alabama and the first on day two last year. Thank you, Tobert. And he kind of was a non-factor and injured this year. So they signed him off the street in the middle of the season.

He was a very big part of their offense. Right. So I think that kind of shows you where they need help. It's just like in a later discussion when we talk about a different team like the bills, it's like they're throwing balls to Cole Beasley off the street. It's like, oh, I think that's the help that we want to address right there. Usually if it's a, why is the ball going to that guy, then that's the position that you want to revamp in the offseason. And so I think on offense wise, interior lineman, tight and fine, I think they're fine.

Henderson can be a Y. Ferguson can be a Y. So that helps juice on the offense, you know, juice that skill position. Last thing before we move on from this game, thought it was a real showcase for him to be able to do that. You already mentioned it. Greg Olson is very good at this. I believe it for the last two years that he is the best color guy in broadcasting right now.

I really enjoy listening to him to a game. I think that the insights that he consistently provides are good. the right energy, but it's not too much energy. He lets stuff breathe. There are so many aspects of the way that he's going about it right now that I think are just elite. I think he's doing a really, really good job calling NFL games. I thought that last year, and I think you can argue that he's even gotten better. I mean, what he was doing there at the end, every single play, it seems like he has a pointed useful observation. So I don't know what Fox ends up doing, but I think it's worth acknowledging that while the CBS crew, there are times where I'm kind of groaning when I'm listening

to the game. When I'm listening to Olson now, there's absolutely none of that. Beyond like not having a cringe factor, I think that he's elevating what you're watching. And for, you know, I don't know a ton about football. I think I know more than like my mom. So, but even me watching that game, I think that, again, it's enriching the experience. And I just didn't want to like move on before acknowledging that. because I thought today was a really good example of it. Oh, today was his, he pitched nine innings and gave up one around. Fantastic game today. He was awesome.

He cost me about a thousand likes on Twitter because there's like three times I'm about to record something. And then he's like, also he's breaking it down. I'm like, well, never mind. Never mind. Thanks, Greg. I mean, but it's awesome. He's giving, it helps say he's a tight end to as an offensive guy because he doesn't

just like a lot of former quarterbacks, myself included. Oh, whatever with the line play. whatever. Oh, you know, oh, I blame it on the receiver. So he's talking about out calls, like for the offense, a line against pressure. And then at the end of the game, the fact that he didn't even hesitate when Dalton Schultz went backwards or got knocked backwards and the clock kept winding. He didn't go, oh, yeah, there's that rule. He right away broke it down because I was about to oh, yeah, thing it. He nailed it right then and there. He had multiple of those. And especially at the end of the game, just nothing surprises him, which goes to show that, oh, he knows football, really, really

well and can explain it really well. He's awesome. I really appreciate him listening to him, especially compared to the passive aggressive CBS broadcast. All right, let's get to that CBS broadcast. Where do you want to start with this from Cincinnati? Oh, man. There's so many places that we could go. Yeah. I would say this was this is the stat about the Bengals offense, but it's a Sean McDermott stat. This was the fifth worst game by success rate under Sean McDermott since he's been a head coach for the bills. And they only had, the Bengals only had six explosive plays. That means they just got peppered.

I mean, peppercorn steak there. That was, I mean, that was just all game. I think that was just a brilliant display on both sides of the ball from the Bengals, understanding opponents, understanding their own usage. I try to even think of what the explosive plays were. I mean, the Chase touchdown, I think, is probably considered an explosive play, which that's a run. that's a broken play.

But, I mean, a lot of the other completions are underneath. I mean, it's really interesting because that's what the game felt like. I mean, the Bengals were in total control the entire game on both sides of the ball, honestly. And I think that's what it felt like to me. My biggest takeaway from this before I get to, before we talk about like kind of the personalities involved in Cincinnati and I think how we should talk about them. Coming into this game, I was concerned about the Bengals offensive line and what they would look like against. Buffalo's front. Not because Buffalo's front is elite or anything, because they're not.

And I think that that's also worth mentioning. The bigger mismatch in this game was the Bill's offensive line against the Bengals front. And the fact that I could be as concerned coming into this one about three guys being out for Cincinnati and the bills looked like the team that was missing multiple starters up front, I think that's all you need to say. I mean, that defined the game, in my opinion. They absolutely own them physically. And going into their place and doing that for a team that I think last year, maybe, especially in offense, you probably thought it was a little bit of a finesse team, their inability to run the ball. The fact that they have changed their stripes, pun intended, to be able to do what they did today,

is such a testament to what we, it's a conversation we've had all season, right? I mean, this is something we've talked about all year, that week five shift. This was the culmination of that shift with three starters out on the offensive line, which is absolutely remarkable. they were owning in the run game. They were pushing, getting movement on their double teams in a run game with backups. And this was, I mean, the Bengals run game, just to reiterate, it was a top five in every metric since week five, fourth in rushing DVOA, second since week five, third since week five in rushing success rate,

and fifth in EPA for rush since week five. Top five unit, no matter what, it fell off a little bit going against the Patriots, you know, who are a really good defense and the Titans a little bit, Titans did okay. but other good defenses near the end of the season. But that's what this offense was. It's just sound on both sides. The defense had a great plan. I said last week when I've watched,

even the last year in the playoffs when the Bengals had a poor or last year had a poros line, it was never, again, they never got beat mentally. It was just they got beat physically. And sure enough in this game, the bills are trying to test them. They're bringing some pressures. They're doing some stuff.

The chase touchdown is a perfect example. They bring the slot pressure on that touchdown. and Volson comes off onto it. And Mitch was talking about it on Twitter, whether that was the move. He was supposed to go straight to him. He was supposed to actually work to him. It seemed like he was supposed to work to him.

So they slid left. It was slot pressure. The runnerback at P. Rine starts working that way because he's scanning. The point was the mic. So a scan, they go Will, the guy in the box to the nickel, the slot, or whoever came off the slot. So it was the back sky. But I thought it was a heads up play by the left tackle because the guy crossed his face

to go in and he just kept working out. Exactly. So it's not, it's like no matter what they were covered. Yes, it's not ideal that the running back, the running back was like, Piron was like, what the hell now? Like, what do I do? And then you try to like leak out or do something late. So it was like it wasn't his job, but he fell into it and made a smart play.

It's like just, he almost covered for him or just, it was a bonus. It was a great play. But that's what they do. They have no hesitations on these protections. I mean, they got tested with a ton of backups in there. And that was so, that's what was so impressive. P Ryan had another really good day in pass protection, which, I mean, having that as part of the overall equation is hugely helpful. Them changing over offensive line coaches before, I think, last season is something that, like you said, even when they didn't have the talent, the eyes were in the right place.

And I think their ability to kind of find what this group did well and how they should create their run game, again, is a testament to the coaches that entire staff. The numbers in the run game here. So I pulled the stats with like 1245 left in the fourth quarter, as it. it was kind of getting out of hand. So it was the normal flow of the game. Yeah. 60% rushing success rate. 18 carries for 103 yards from the running backs.

3.82 yards after contact per rush. That's huge. The tackling for the bills today was awful. Rough. And both the ground game and at the same time when I pulled that, same time, when I pull that stat, six yards per catch yak for Cincinnati at that point in the game six every single time they're not they're not and why that i just want to reiterate the bengals aren't a slant and crossers offense so that's not or or a heavy they do screens but

not a heavy so usually the stuff that juices that numbers that's pure broken tackles of getting yards especially on checkdowns they're averaging six air yards per attempt and about six yak per completion so that's that's it and they're catching it underneath and making people miss in space and running through tackles the entire game so overall it's 22 carries for 138 yards 6.27 yards per carry. 11 rushing first downs on 22 carries. They had 10 first downs in like the first quarter. Like two drives it felt like they were just marching on them.

It was a really, really impressive performance. It was. You would think with the injuries to the Bills, DVs, their safeties, that you would think it would show up in the past game first. That's where you'd naturally think. It showed up in the run game for them to me because they play so much quarters. A quarter safety is the run. run fit. They are the forced defender. They come down late. And that's where I felt was missing.

They'd be in too high. The Bengals were run a run play. They'd be that first contact at like one or two yards. And then usually a good defense is like, boom, boom. Okay, tackling is a group effort. It's not just, I'm just you have Michael Parsons or something. It's a group effort. And you never felt that guy flying it off the screen to make the play at the end there. It was just boom, broken tackle. And then whoever was would get the first down or get eight yards. And that's where I felt the were showing up was those safeties were not into that run fit quickly or they were in somewhat their eyes were so focused on the receivers so they just didn't have that extra stuff and so one guy misses the tackle and the Bengals were taking advantage of how aggressive the bill's D line could be

and just like getting upfield and just working with it. It's like judo working them against them, working their own force against them. Honestly, how the Bengals played today was brilliant. I'm going to just use that term on offense and defense. It's just brilliant. Everything they did made sense. We haven't talked about the other side of the ball, but total team game. And it's like this is why ever since that week five change, it's like this has been one of the best teams in the NFL.

It just had maybe sometimes it just feels kind of boring with all the checkdowns and everything. But it's, no, they are brutally efficient. Like I talk about the Cowboys offense. And on top of it, they don't have the explosive play worries that other teams that have to be efficient like this. Every guy is an explosive play waiting to happen. Every single guy. And I thought the way they used Chase today. as all the ghost motion with him,

getting the ball in his hands underneath. A lot of the time, using that orb motion, they were pulling the nickel either over in man coverage or they were forcing the nickel into the run fit, and then they would run that counter run with Deneji pulling right into it. And so they just felt like they had a really good handle

on which levers to pull, whether it was by motion, formation, whatever, to get into the run looks that they wanted. And I think that you saw that in the final results. And it was happening in past protection. two. 37 dropbacks for Borough.

Burroughs first 37 dropbacks, eight pressures. Wow. And his first 37 dropbacks. 21.6% pressure rate. The bills, at that say, again, it was fourth quarter when the game seemed to be over. So I wanted to do it like within the flow of the actual game. At that point, with about 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, 43% pressure rate for Buffalo. Yep.

That's exactly the game right there. So let's talk about Big Lou. One last schematic thing the Bengals were doing with that was so cool was they the Chase touchdown was one of them and had not to do with the actual play. But they did it a few times. If people know, Burrow has a wristband, but they were having some long play calls in the huddle. And it was because they were doing a lot of total formation shifts. So they would show chase in a split back backfield and then shift him into the slot. But their bills don't run a ton of coverages.

So they're very astute on what you're trying to do. so they make up their rules. Hey, he's going to be the slot. We got to do this, this and this. That's one way to hide it. That's another layer of communication they're forcing on the defense. But they did that a lot in the first half. And I just thought that, again, again, another just a brilliant little tweak.

But the other side of the ball, some frustration. The Hayden Hurst touchdown was also beautiful. Running that screen, again, you're running a lot of screens, getting the ball on guys' hands quickly and to pump that and to try to create an explosive play. I thought it was just another, like, beautiful little wrinkle. They had so many of those today. So go to the other side of the ball. The play that you wanted to talk about is, it's very funny because they're up 14-0,

Cincinnati is. It's first and 10. After this exact play is what I tweeted that Big Lou was cooking. Literally this exact play that you wanted to talk about. So it's first and 10. They're out 14-0 and the Bengals bring Von Bell off the perimeter on a blitz here. Yeah. It ends up being a simulated pressure.

They rush four. And with the Bengals here, and this is what, you know, Sweet Lou, he was in his mystery box, man. They went with this is that these simulid pressures have given the bills a lot of issues. And on this, they're showing single high, either man coverage or cover three. If I were a quarterback, I would guess this would be a cover three. So why that is a huge tell is the safety is rotated over Dawson Knox. He's coming down, bomb bells, down, down, down, everything looks normal. He's at five yards, not really in a blitzing position.

his leverage is everything. Everybody else looks like they're in cover three. At the snap of the ball, the Bengals defense splits out into cover two. Inverted cover two to the field still looks like cover three, but it actually ends up being cover two to the field and cover two to the boundary. And they're bringing the simulated pressure where they rush for. Fombelle's untouched. You know, I think it's a six-man protection that's going to be the running back guy.

He has no idea. He's not expecting that. He's five yards off the ball. He looks like he's covering the tight end. So this is just, they brought some fun pressures, but they brought simulated pressure like this that not only flooded the lane or flooding the passing lanes with bodies, they're getting free runners while rushing four. I mean, that's how you know you're dialed in is when those are hitting and you're

getting sacks off of them as opposed to just pressures. First two third downs, they're mugged up on the first third and four that the bills have. They bring five with Logan Wilson dropping out as a spy. Osai wins one on one against Roger Saffold, bothers Allen enough in completion. Next third down. They're in a diamond front. So they only have three down linemen with both linebackers walked up into the A-gaps. So they're mugged up again.

They drop eight. And Hendrickson just wins one-on-one against Deanne Dawkins. So it's just this combination of funky looks, not knowing exactly what's coming, but also guys winning one-on-one matchups that they were given. And then the Mike Hilton strip sack at the end of the game is another simulated pressure with him cut off the left edge. They drop out the defensive end to that out of their side. I can't remember if it was Hendrickson or Zach Carlin. or somebody, he drops right into the throwing lane where Alan is looking to Stefan Diggs,

double pumps, eats it, strip sack. I mean, just all game, he was uncomfortable because it wasn't like they were sending all this heat the entire game. It was that it was a little bit of everything. Some man, some zone, some were going to blitz, some it's a simulated pressure. It was just a different little dial almost every single drive and they had absolutely no beat on what they were trying to do to them. Yep. They were doing or everything they showed, it was all smoking mirrors.

They showed single high, then they rotated the two. They showed cover two. It was a blitz. They showed everything they showed was just like, what am I? You know, what, like they, I knew they're in Allen's head is they, it was a second down. I want to say it was second and four. And so far in that game, the Bengals had showed cover two, even though whatever the pre-snap picture was, they ended up in cover two on a lot of the second downs. And they just run like a normal like double slant play to Dix. you would think Josh Allen had a ton of confidence in ripping a slant to digs. Clean cover two look.

They snap at the ball. Boom. Okay. This is easy. Even for me, I was like, oh, that's cover two.

Alan triple clutches it and then throws it. And they get a first down because there's no one there. But it was one of those. It was like, oh, God, you're seeing ghosts. Like you are not confident. There's so many RPO's where he's holding on to the ball.

I tweeted it. That was like, refs should learn what RPO's are because the offense alignment are like eight yards up the field. I mean, there's just a lot. Even some of the good plays, like Khalil Shakir had a catch on a corner route in the first quarter, first or second quarter. It was the touchdown drive for the bills. And he has the corner route. On that play, it's a four by one concept. Everything about that pre-snap was I'm going to the four-man side because those looks as a man zone read. I'm taking my one-on-one with digs or I'm reading the field to the four-man side. And snap of the ball, Alan looks, it's empty protection. This is a difference between him and Dak and Burrow. He looks at the one-on-one and goes, I'm good. And he's, and he's good. And he's, and he's, and he's good. And he's, and he's, it goes all the way to the four man side and throws the corner and it works. Yes, it's a great play.

It's a first down, all that. But it's like, that's not, that's hard to sustain. It gets a good defense. That's what it felt like today is that they had nothing sustainable. Nothing. And that was my concern with the offense in stretches this year. I was watching them at week 12, wherever. Yeah.

I'm watching some of those games. I'm like, they have, they've nothing in rhythm. It is all shot plays and him trying to create and he's getting, his eyes are going down. He's getting into creation mode really, really quickly. And in the end, in the aggregate, it was fine. They were one of the most efficient offenses in the league. He was a borderline MVP candidate. I think both of us picked him to be second team all pro based on the way that he had played.

He had a very good season. Again, a lot of turnovers, more toners than he would have otherwise. But the highs were more than enough to elevate this team to very high levels on offense throughout the season. But those highs went away today, and you still had. that chaotic feel to what they were doing. Same thing as last week. Last week was kind of an extreme version of what they were for stretches this year. And then against a better defense and against a defense that's completely tuned into

what they're trying to do to you, those splash plays go away and that chaos remains. And that's what happened again today. Yep. It felt very 2019-E, you know, with this bill's offense. It did. There's not the late go ball to Patrick DeMarco 50 yards down the field. but like I was not shocked that we didn't see one of those. But that's what Alan at the beginning of the year, I've joked about this,

is that people were trying to hype him and say, oh my God, look at his eyes. He's like, Brady. He still has that chaos gene in him. He kind of made that voice go away for a while and just said, no, I'm not going to listen to you. But it comes up in the biggest moments, it comes up. But when the rest of the offense isn't doing shit or no one's making a play and the defense isn't getting to stop, oh, again, it gets magnified.

That's what the playoffs are. Your issues get magnified and what you're not, what's not sustainable gets magnified. We said at the pregame, our preseason award show or preseason prediction show, I don't think, I don't think I had, I didn't have the bills in my FC championship prediction. I don't think I don't know what you did too, but I did. You did. Okay, but I remember we're kind of like, okay, we had some stuff, even though they're like, by far the preseason favorite, Super Bowl favorite this year was can they do it on a cold, rainy night and Stoke? which is a soccer saying, but that's when you watch this team is, can they? You know, this team, you see this in the muck against a defense that's trying to make it hard on you.

There's not the sustainability. There's nothing that they can just the easy buttons outside of Josh Allen making chaotic plays. And when he's not really willing to do it or he's not, those aren't those coin flips aren't going your way, this is what it looks like. And it's, you know, it's reared its ugly head the last couple weeks. You got the big plays last week, no big plays this week. And this is what it looks like. I don't want us to look back at them losing in the playoffs over the last couple of years and do this thing. We're like, God, is Josh Allen that guy?

Can he do that for you in the playoffs? Josh Allen had one of the greatest two-game playoff stretches in NFL history last year. They lost because they gave up a touchdown with 13, or a field go with 13 seconds left to lose to Patrick Mahomes in Arrowhead. He was incredible over those two-game stretches. But I think that what you've seen this year is twofold. It's him kind of reverting back into that chaos moment. a little bit and really showing us overall what deficiencies exist talent-wise on the bill's roster that we did not give enough thought to either coming into the season or over

the course of the year when you're watching that bill's team today okay how many elite players are you watching right two three on offense you have josh allen two you have josh allen and stephan dix okay that's it too Gabe davis was not the guy that he was in that game against Kansas City last year over the course of this season. Okay. He was not that tried and true, like super reliable number two option within the offense. That never happened. Who could break the game?

Like a game breaker type. He was not that. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. The offensive line was just, I mean, porous. And we knew that, right? It was the number one concern about this team personnel was coming into the year. And I think that that rears its ugly head down the stretch.

That is not a good group. And eventually you got to skimp somewhere when you're spending all these resources elsewhere. And that brings me to the defense. Okay. I know Von Miller wasn't playing. But the fact that the fact that signing Von Miller was even necessary is a product of them swinging and missing on all of the draft picks that they've had so far.

And not swinging and missing. But they haven't found elite players through the draft. They've scored a lot of runs. They're getting on base, but not scoring a lot of runs with their picks. Since 2018, all right, which was the Josh Allen draft. here are the first and second round picks from the Buffalo Bills. Ad Oliver and Cody Ford, A.J. Epinessa. Zach Moss was a third round pick.

Devin Singletary was a third round pick. Greg Russo and Boogie Basham, first and second round in 2021. If those guys develop at the rate that you probably want them to, you don't need to go sign Von Miller theoretically. It's not that these guys have been huge flameouts. It's that they have not found elite players through the draft over the last three or four years. And I think that you have seen that. You know, no Mike Hyde. There are a bunch of other things to consider.

But I think that we talked about the bills, like they were this top to bottom gloated team. And I think that today was really an expression of how few truly elite guys they have, especially when you compare that to a team like Cincinnati. Like I think Cincinnati's roster top to bottom is kind of in arguably better than what the bills have. And Josh Allen, I think what he was in the playoffs and what they're. that team looked like in the playoffs, I think did a lot of heavy lifting for our expectations of that Bill's team. And when he wasn't that superhero that he was down the stretch, I think that we kind of saw what this, saw this team for what they really were. Yes. It's, I know the numbers were really good, by the way. I know their advanced numbers were really

good. But like, you watch that game today. It's like, eh. No, I'm with you. All those dice rolls, you know, you crap out. Like, that's, that's the Josh Allen White. There's just not, there's just, no, I'm with you. All these guys, you watch, watch the, Niners Cowboys game. It just watch all those guys breaking tackles on their offense and those are auxiliary targets. Yes, the Niners are exception. Watch the Eagles offense. Watch the chief's offense even where guys are just making plays and at top of the

quarterback and there's just like, okay, this isn't work. Here's a six yard run play. Everything just feels hard with the bill's offense, whether it's Josh out unless it's Josh out. Unless it's Josh out. But even with him sometimes, it's him running around three and a half, four seconds. You know, and then it's like, okay, well, Well, okay, there's a eight-yard completion to Cole Beasley as he's falling out of balance after we just held our breath for four and a half seconds.

That's a lot of work to get that. That's why it's hard to do. It's hard to sustain. But it's just funny that, again, like with the Cowboys discussions, the issues that we had before the season reared their ugly head at the worst times when everything becomes magnified. But they need more difference makers. They do. They have a lot of Bs and B pluses on that roster.

They're fine. Like we keep saying, they're fine. they need other guys that can take over when they don't have a schematic advantage or they're not going against a lesser team. The playoffs, that's what it comes down to sometimes. That's why they signed Von Miller, but they need to develop or find other ones. And the most disappointing part about this, the most worrying part of this is this was supposed to be it. Yeah.

The Von Miller move and this season, this was supposed to be it. Josh Allen had like a $16 million cap hit this year. It goes to $40 million next year. Okay. Tremaine Edmins is a free agent. Jordan Poyer is a free agent. Dane Jackson is a restricted free agent.

Just a little time. I mean, obviously, Poirer is a very good player. But these are just the considerations that's now start to creep up when your team starts to get more expensive. When you make an all-win move for Von Miller and are paying him $18 million.

When a lot of these guys are on second contracts, Matt Milano players like that. And they just haven't had the cost-controlled guys take that step into a borderline elite or elite tier to make up for those guys getting more and more expensive. that just hasn't happened. So now I just, what do you do now? Like if this was supposed to be the year, now what do you do?

I mean, I have faith in that leadership to keep this team very competitive and I think that they'll be fine. But this feels like a missed opportunity. Right. When this Bill's personnel staff took over there, I always liked that they found some kind of nice super role players or role players. They did a great job problem solving. Always.

Yes. And finding some cheaper options. overpay, maybe some of a couple guys, but find cheaper options and all that. So I'm kind of curious if they can find that again. Like I maybe trust this pro staff because maybe when they do have the resources to spend, it's like, maybe we got to make it hard on you. Like it's a bunch of Marines, you just give them a bunch of crap and hopefully they can make it make the most of it. But that's again, like the Cowboys discussion.

And this is, it's the world they live in now. That's the way they have to go about it. They have to get creative or they have to, you know, they have to earn their keep. You can't just, we've, it's already, there's proof in the pudding now. Okay, we had it last year where he got Josh Allen got some help. Now we see it this year where it's like, okay, it's just purely him. He's got no help for him. Okay, okay, all right.

Now we got to figure out some better answers than this than what we're doing right now. And I'm curious what their path is going to be. I trust them. They've made plenty of cool moves. And I think they've signed some great street free agents and free agents that they signed the deals over the years. Now they got to, you know, keep hitting. Keep making contact. So I want to contrast before we get out of here,

I think we have to talk about the way that he played today because I think it's one of my biggest takeaways from the game. Contrast the chaotic feel that Josh Allen had at times today with how in control Joe Burrow felt the entire game. Right. Just the entire game. And we talked about this coming into the game, just that both these guys are elite players.

They are. I mean, Josh Allen, what he did, even over the course of the season, if he was ugly at times, the final result is an elite offense driven mostly by him. By him. They come to it in a very different way. And I think that different feel that you can get from those guys was on display today.

And the heights that you can get with Joe Burrow and the type of player that he is, that was on display today. I think there was a couple play stretch. I'm trying to find it in my notes. But it was right before the touchdown of chase got overturned. They had like a, it was like a third and four. And the bills were totally mugged up. and he just flips it out to chase immediately for the first down on that third and four look. He just immediately takes it.

That was the same drive where he had the one-on-one to chase down the left sideline. He just immediately takes it. It just doesn't seem to matter what sort of disguise you're trying to do, how you're trying to play with what he's seeing his feel for the game right now and his ability to kind of sit there and play point guard. and then at times three, four, five times a game, when you do get him, he can create enough. His ability to scramble,

his ability to make a guy miss in the pocket, that combination of the way that he's seeing things and just that utter cool about him right now combined with that little seasoning of creation, I don't know, man. I know. We're talking about Holmes being on his own tier. Like, he's right there now.

If we're talking about step down, he is right there at the top of that second group, whoever you want to throw in there. I mean, he is right, right there. After how, it's a whole season long.

And that's what I, even doing awards articles, it's like you got to take everything in the season. And getting that early woes out of your head, it's borough has been fantastic for months now. And it's because of these changes of him being more of a quarterback. But how, like you say,

he's on face. He's always going to find an answer. And I think that's the difference between his, play and I mean there's a lot of differences but him and Alan is Alan it's it's like a kid taking a test that didn't study it's like he's just answering D every time and hopefully some of them hit and sometimes he was like oh my God I got 85% there burrow studied bro is every question that you have he has an educated guess on that he is not just having to go with this gut instinct on SAT does that analogy work what's what's go I want to give I want to make it clear that you're not saying that

Josh Allen doesn't study because Josh Allen is very prepared and very smart. And it's very smart. So I want that to be clear. I think it's more about, I think it's more about if you're in like a speech class. And Josh Allen is just somebody who is really charismatic, has a way about him, can just get up there without even planning for a single second, wing it and be fine every once in a while. Right. Where Joe Burrow is like, everything is down to a T.

He's got no cards. Even his pauses. the prep. Even his pauses are playing. He's got the hand down. Yeah. That's a best, much better analogy.

It's where Alan just has those peaks and valleys. And we've seen those peaks and those valleys over the last couple weeks. Yes. Burrough's ability to just kind of be right here steady all the time right now and still have those splash plays and those elite moments. Yep. Him eliminating any sort of dip and negative play this year when he stopped taking sacks, combined with the overall feel he has for the game. game and the weaponry that this team has.

It's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. And I think that the coaching really shined through today to be able to survive with backup offensive Wyman. So you have this combination of a staff that I already felt good about Anirubo. I think that he absolutely should be in conversations for being a head coach. I think that people should be talking to him about that job. What he has done with that personnel, the fact that he's assembled some of that defense

and the amount of input that the coaching staff has in personnel. on this team and the fact that he's going out and getting some of those veterans that they found in free agency to kind of mold that secondary. It's not like they've hit a bunch of 500 foot home runs in the draft on that side of the ball. They have put this, they've pieced this thing together over the last few years with free agents. And to be able to build it that way, I guarantee you he's had a large hand in that. So what he has done has been amazing. But the offensive staff, we certainly had questions and what they have done combined with what that

young core is with Burrow and Chase. and all of those guys, it's marvelous. I mean, and today was their statement. Today was their like, we are here and we're not going to go away anytime soon. You know why all those players look like they're playing fast and it's not that they're good players. Offense and defense is because one, they're probably well coached, know exactly what to do. And two is they're getting put in positions that work for their skill sets. Offense and defense.

There's a reason these guys, especially on defense, they just look, they look the part. It's not like where you see a guy carrying some guy in a wheel route. You're like, what are they doing? Why is George Carl Loftus running with Christian Kirk? You know, there's never that moment with the offense or the defense. Sometimes with the offense, it was like, oh, man, this is predictable. But it, but not anymore. I don't think it is.

Oh, can it be? It's the opposite predictable now. Oh, my God. It used to be like, oh, two by two, why off? All right, here's 99. Like, I could just boom. Oh, empty, here comes slam flat. Not anymore.

now they have three counters off of everything on top of their money plays. And on top of it, they're getting coached perfectly, but I just want to say with Burrow, too, how in control he is, the fact that he had two rushing first downs to Josh Allen's three. And I thought this was going to be the Josh Allen running game. Josh Allen didn't have like a scramble until the middle of the second quarter. I thought he was going to have like seven by that time. Like I thought every third down is going to be a scramble. What should have been emphasized, it felt like that he was like trying not to. And it might have been some of the past rush runs.

I thought they did a great job pushing the pocket. The past rush rushes were great. consistently did that. I thought they did a great job at that. We played this kid. I'm sorry for saying that. But the Taylor Martinez at I was at Wisconsin. Oh, I remember. Yeah, he threw like he was skipping rocks. But he could run. And I mean, he could. He certainly could. Our pass rush plan legitimately was don't rush him. Just stand there and just make a wall. Just make a shell. It's the Stan Van Gundy defense. Just make a fucking wall. And that's what they did. But that's what they did to Josh Allen. This group is also. equipped to do that. That's what Henderson wants to do anyway is push the pocket. So the fact that they have this group that is really built to do that, and then you get, again, a little something from Osai here,

BJ Hill had a nice game today. DJ Hill had like three or four plays. You got a holding call drawn. DJ Reader had a couple really nice moments. I mean, everybody. And then you combine that with your Von Belsack, your two Mike Hilton plays. Camp Taylor,

Britt, having a really nice game being kind of the one position. Maybe we were a little bit worried about. Dax Hill and man coverage down there in the goal line. It's just what they have done, I mean, just hit after hit after hit moment,

win after win for this team and kind of the way they've built it and the way that they've deployed it and they've earned this man. They deserve to be here. They are as good as that they were today. Yep. And I think that's important.

Yes. They deserve to be in the final four. Like this is, that's what they are. That's what this team is. That type of team. All right. I mean, I just, I'm telling you guys, going from watching that Bingle team for the first four weeks to where we are now, like, we can't gush about them enough. It's been tremendous what this team is done. It really, as far as coaching and how the players are playing, it's injuries didn't matter for this team. They just kept on clicking, kept on winning, find different ways to do it and also being dominant sometimes. It was a tip of the cap to that team right now. To lose three starting offensive line and to play like you weren't the team that did it and to make it the other team look like they were. Which is seven pressures, was it?

Eight. Eight pressures. on his first 37 dropbacks. The bills were a good defense this year. You would have never guessed that. They lost with what the Bengals were doing. And it's just awesome. What a good team. Now we get round three, man.

Yeah. I guess it's round four. And they played twice last year. But this is a nice little rivalry that we've got building. I mean, the Cat and Mouse came now after the Bengals have seen, or after Mahomes have seen them a bunch of times and what they've tried to do to him. I was thinking of this. because of all the seeding of how schedules work, we get Mahomes versus Burrow versus Allen versus Trevor Lawrence all against each other next year

because they're all number one season and their division. So they all, we got get a little round robin next year. So I'm, that may be a little fun too as well. So sorry, I know there's other great quarterbacks, but I'm excited that those four,

we get guaranteed matchups. I think that's going to be brilliant. All right. We got a lot of time. Yes. We got to talk about that game. For now, it's all we got today.

Thank you guys. very much. We will see you, I think in the middle of the week, right? Are you and I doing a show for Wednesday? We can if we want. I think one of our buddies is going to join us and do a show that we did last year.

So I think we'll be back on Wednesday. I will be back with Mike Sando tomorrow heading into Tuesday, kind of wrap it up the weekend, talking about some of the coaching news that we may have missed over the last few days. Ten offensive coordinator openings. Ten?

Ten. And there were 15 that changed. that changed jobs three years ago. So it has been a consistent rotating cast, not an accident. I think we will talk about that a little bit tomorrow, along with a bunch of other stuff. So please come back and check that out.

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