The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Wild Card game-by-game recap - the Browns & Bills break the curse, the Rams, Ravens, Buccaneers & Saints also advance

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Wild Card weekend wraps with a Browns victory over the favored Steelers as Cleveland moves on to face Kansas City. Robert Mays and Nate Tice go game-by-game through the best moments of the weekend, from Josh Allen's victory over the Colts, Lamar Jackson showing his footwork to outlast the Titans, Sean McVay out-dueling Pete Carroll, the Saints' solid win over the Chicago Bears and more on The Athletic Football Show.0 - Browns / Steelers13:20 - Colts / Bills32:57 - Rams / Seahawks52:58 - Bucs / Washington1:02:25 - Ravens / Titans1:19:50 - Bears / SaintsGet a special discount to the Athletic for $3.99 a month at theathletic.com/footballshow 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 buddy, Nate Tyson. How are you? Good. Wildcard in the books.

Just went exactly how we expected it to, right? Just exactly chalk. Our predictions were exactly how expected, you know, just exactly how the narratives were going to go, especially with this last game. That's exactly, that was a nice little, nice little bow because of just a normal game that just happened. So we're going to get to all of the games. We're going to start with that Sunday night game, though. Hard game to really analyze because it felt like the Browns were playing the four corners offense and defense from the halfway point of the first quarter.

And later in the game, when they had a couple high leverage moments where they needed something, I think they went to a couple plays that really seemed just to be reliable for them. They went to that juke play to Landry a couple different times against a linebacker. But I think both offensively and defensively, they were just trying to mash. I made a joke about it on Twitter. There's mash the SIM to end button is what the Browns that were trying to do there. And they got there. I mean, it looked dicey at times.

I was nervous for them and for their fan base, considering what that looks like in certain moments. But I do think that that game looks a lot different if they're not totally in control. I think they do different things offensively and defensively. But either way, congratulations to the Browns. And to Browns fans. In the playoffs, it doesn't matter how you do it. It doesn't matter if the other team snaps the ball over their quarterback's head

in the first play of the game or throws multiple tip ball interceptions in the first half. If you win, you win, you get to move on. And for the Browns especially, that was the question with this game. Because they're without their all pro left guard. They're without their coach who I think deserves to be coach of the year. And if they survived, next week, hopefully they get back. not to full strength. Jack Hawken got hurt in this game,

one of other things, but closer to full strength than they were tonight. And that's exactly what happened. The breaks went their way. The Browns have won a playoff game. And I think they absolutely could win another one. And it was funny. That first play happened.

And of course, like Malcolm Smith was in this game. Of course, that bad snap reminded me of the Seahawks Broncos first play, the safety of the Super Bowl a few years ago. And it was just like, okay, this game, of course is going to get weird. The game that just seems so expected, of course, is going to get goofy.

But that's what's awesome about football, especially the playoffs is as long as you get into the dance, who cares how you keep going. It's a one game season, one game after another, who cares how you keep winning. And how the Browns just kept scoring and just taking advantage of the situations. It was like the first touchdown to Kareem Hunt was just like gorgeous. It was a zone play. And like Treader and Teller had their cutoffs and Conklin does an amazing job. He was destroying people in this game. Every time he had a climb, he was shot out of a cannon. He was at five yards before he was even like both of these plays. He's just at five yards waiting for his cutoff because he doesn't have to like strain because he's up there so quickly. And when he was pulling, he was just crunching dudes.

His film, it looks like a high school film when one guy is just a lot better than the other guys. That's what watching him is like sometimes. And he's an NFL player. By the way, when I said the Browns had a chance to win another playoff game, I didn't realize they were playing the Chiefs next weekend. I don't want to say that quite yet. We will save our predictions for later in the week. I think that's going to be a tall order. But the point is this is a team I think is dangerous.

This was the game where they were really behind the eight ball and they still ended up winning. Yeah, they took advantage to all the chances. They did what you had to do. This is what teams do to win. They had the ball lined up for them. And they had the cream hunt, two of them to cream. on both of them beautiful blocking plays the pin pull on the second one the joku who sealing the edge just pinning guys and it was like okay this whole team is just playing together we keep talking about this is just

different guys show up and they just really work for each other and then the jarvis landry td it's a third and four design like that was a man beater and they're attacking leverage how they did it was just perfect though they motion landry across they hide his leverage inside and then how the steelers have to play that of that stack they just attack the leverage deliver a thrill and Landry makes a play. They just made plays in the playoffs. And that's what teams do to keep winning. And just props to the Browns, man, they just, at the end, I mean, it is kind of funny.

They weren't like usually a four minute drill is usually about, you know, four minutes left in the game. They were four minute drill with four minutes left in the second half or in the first half. I know. It was so funny. That's exactly what it was. I'm telling you, the four corners offense. Oh, yeah.

One of my favorite parts of the Browns being good is their offensive line getting the visibility that it has over the season. You know, guys like Wyatt Teller just more recognition, more visibility, but also Jarvis Landry. Jarvis Langeary is a football player's football player. Does so many little things well. Incredible hands, really smart. You know, we pointed out a couple different times this year of him just knowing situation

in obvious ways. He's either burning a time out or he's moving guys on his own team to different spots or resetting the ball. And he's just that kind of player. and seeing him in these sorts of big moments, I'm glad we get to see it. I don't know if he's a true number one guy and a really good offense.

I think that's why Odo Beckham is there, but he has really stepped up when that void has been there for this proud team. He has stepped into that vacuum, that playmaking vacuum for this team. And it's really cool to watch. It's almost like the NBA when they say, oh, this guy's a number one on a championship team.

This guy's a number two on a championship team. Like, Langerie is a contributor to a winning team. Absolutely. He's a number two or number three weapon. And he is, you know, he's a great, great number three. If he's number two, okay, if he's number one, you're hurting. Like, he had to be in Miami. But now when he has other stuff around him and he doesn't have to be the guy and he could just put these situations where he can run a juke route.

He can run the motion across running angle routes, stuff that's not being asked to run deep dig stuff and all this other auxiliary stuff that's just not in his wheelhouse. Now he's getting put in situations that, oh, guess what? Good coaches there in the Cleveland are putting them in right situations. And guess what? He's excelling. And also, like, you're just mentioned, we're talking about the run game, but also I don't think the Steelers pressure Baker like all night. Like it seems like he was getting rid of the ball very quickly, very quickly. But that's all ties in together.

He knew where to go. He knew what he had to do. And the ball was getting out and going to the right spots. And, you know, they stayed aggressive enough at the end of the game. What a weird like second half too, just because that's the type of game script that had to evolve. And but Brown's got enough plays done and they just won this game. And then the defense just contributed plays. Like, I mean, Big Ben, I think it was tied for third most pass attempts in NFL history,

including regular season or playoffs. 68 pass attempts, which is just absurd. It was like true. True breeze in the late 90s. Like, yeah, Purdue, that's exactly what it was like, just digging and dunk it everywhere. 68 pass attempts. That's ridiculous. His arm's going to fall off.

He's going to have to ice it for the next four years. So speaking of Ben Rothesberger's arm falling off, I don't want to get too far into this, but quick post-mortem on the Steelers. Rathusberger has a $41 million cap hit next year. If the cap settles at $175 million, they're currently $21 million over the cap. That can occasionally be misleading. You know, you have these numbers and guys,

there are clear cuts, and a lot of them are coming back, and you can kind of massage it. It's not the case with the Steelers. Bud Dupree is a free agent. Villanueva is a free agent. Mike Hilton is a free agent. Juju is a free agent.

Trey Edmonds is a free agent. this is a lot of turnover on this team, and they're already over the cap. I am very curious what the next version and the next stage of Pittsburgh Steelers football is going to look like. I cannot imagine, maybe that's a little bit too far. I was going to say I can't imagine after the season

that he's had, and especially the last month that they've had her six weeks, that Ben Rathesberger would be part of that plan. There might be a world where he is part of that plan. just at a lower number and they finagle it some way. But if he is, and if he comes back and he is still getting paid like a starting quarterback and you have all of these other considerations, I don't know how much better the 2021 Steelers could possibly be

than the roster that the 2020 Steelers had. And also just the start they got up with the bounces they got. Yes. They got every single break over the first three. months of this season. They did. They were set up to just, you know, take advantage of so many situations and this, they're maxed out. I mean, we saw Mason Rudolph last week, but I mean, I saw plenty of his starts earlier. I don't know what, what to feel about his future. So they're at a huge crossroads with what their roster. They got enough youthful talent, you know,

they traded for making Fitzpatrick, you know, T.J. Watt is a stud that you can build around. They got a lot of questions that they have to answer, especially up front. The old line is just getting older and older. You know, they need, we have to figure out what the receiver situation is, Juju, what's going to happen with him. I think he's gone. I think that's why they, that's why they draft guys. You have Johnson, you have Washington, you have Claypool.

The receivers, I think, will be fine. But this is the danger of building on defense. Yeah. This is the danger of building on defense because in your mind, you sit there and you think, oh, the defense is so young. Think about how long the defense has. That's not how defense works. The volatility of it is such that it's so hard to rely on year in and year out.

And you're only going to have a real window to be a truly dominant defense, a championship caliber defense for maybe two or three years. Now you lose some of those pieces and there are questions about how dominant the defense can be. And then the offense is obviously lagging behind that defense. So what are you on that side of the ball? I mean, it's just one of those things where those windows disappear a lot quicker than you think they do. I mean, I saw people talking about Washington,

who we'll get to a little bit later, and the discourse around Washington, and what they need for next year was like, we got a strike while this defense is hot. And it's like, no, I don't know, man. I'm not sure that's how this is going to work. I don't think your defense will be better than it was this year. Even if you like that front and even if you think that group can be dominant,

John Allen's only cheap for what, another two years, maybe. I mean, those guys are going to be up soon. And that's how it's going to work with the Steelers. T.J. Watt is in the final year of his rookie deal. next year he's going to need an extension the windows for those types of teams are very very short and very very fragile and it really does seem like whatever window this version of the steelers had is probably closed and that doesn't mean their window is closed it means that how we understand their current construction that is going to slip through their fingers and i think defense is not only just the season

to season stuff it's that so much week to week or even two weeks to two weeks absolutely and more Even more than offense, it is as the second half of the season has gone on, talk more and more about how the adjustments, teams have made adjustments since bi weeks. And that's huge. And even on when teams have Thursday night games, they have a little mini by weeks. And we'll do a little self-scouting. And I think defense is more susceptible to improvement or after adjustments after buy weeks. I think there is more stuff that like honing in that teams are able to do. They're like, okay, we'll get rid of this shit. We're trying this blitz. This blitz sucks. Okay, we ran out third down 10. times it suck nine times you know offenses will do it but i think defense can make bigger jumps as they do it than offenses can and that's why you keep saying it's hard to build around the defense because even teams that are really good defenses they really ebb and flow as the seasons go on or a business season to season like why they are good it's a different version of good that these teams go on so it's hard to pay a lot of money to one guy because that defense could stay good in a different version if that makes sense that you can put a lot at the past

rush you could put a lot of dbs a good offense typically has a quarterback so it's easy you know where the money has to go there and probably some offense alignman and probably a weapon or two defense it's like okay do we give it to three pass rushers or do we give it to a corner and a pass rusher do i give it to my three down linebacker it's you really have to make sure you're giving the money at the right that the resources to the right spots draft picks and money and i think it's just more volatile to do that around the defense and that's why it just happens time after time that defense is either fall apart they prove out of nowhere especially a defense that's so dependent on talent.

The Steelers are not reinventing the wheel with the stuff that they're doing. It's one-on-ones are guys better than your guys. And when those guys that are better start to get expensive, you can afford less guys. And that's the moment that the Steelers are going to reach here. And I'll be fascinated to see how they plan to deal with this transition and what it's going to look like. That is a question for another day, though.

Let us get to the rest of these games. Let's get back to Saturday. first game of the weekend amazing kickoff game by the way and we knew it we knew going in this was a game you and i had underlined about 17 times because we loved both of these teams honestly this game looked exactly how i thought it was going to look the only thing that was different we'll get to this in a little bit of detail i thought the colts running game would be a little bit more effective consistently throughout this game i think one of the reasons that that it wasn't was because I don't think Jonathan Taylor played great in this game.

He had a couple drops and a couple arm tackles that a guy that's built like him should be. He was one on one with guys like Mike Hyde in the hole every once in a while and he needs to make those plays. When he was put in spots to succeed in this game, he didn't get there. He's a rookie. That'll happen. But that's the only element of this game that was disparate to what I thought it might look like coming in. Otherwise, this is the type of game I expected to see. Colts slowing the bills down, Josh Allen needed to make plays out of structure in order to get them chunks and him doing that just enough for them to win. We said styles make fights and that's like styles make these games. And this game truly was like a submission specialist versus a puncher in like an MMA fight. And it's like that's kind of like the Colts want to bring it to the ground and little jihitsu hold and all that. And then meanwhile the bills are like, literally they were going to the ground. They were like making, they were making catches.

like falling and rolling right past the first down marker like a wrestling take down over and over and then the bill's like no no stand it up stand it up we're punching no we're punching no it's we're turning this to a fist fight i mean right josh allen at first i was like oh wow the colts are you know they're slowing them down a little bit you know they're really force they and then josh ellen hits this gorgeous shot down the pipe to digs and it was like oh yeah there we go his feet weren't even set and he just flicks it sidearm hits it 30 yards down the pipe and it's against cover two. So it was like perfect. Colts kept trying to disguise it at first. They're shown single high running back to cover two. Showing single high. Running back to cover two. They're trying to get Alan to

to hesitate a little bit. And then finally, Alan after I think it was about two series, was like, okay, I know what you're doing. Flings it one by three formation, speed at three. Just like we talked about that you talked about, they love doing what knocks, wasting them onto the one side. And they put digs at the three spot. And Alan has enough time. He's trusting his old line. The bill's old line played awesome, by the way. They were great in this game. Awesome. Awesome. I mean, Colts, yeah, right away I want to talk about this because it was, it was like, okay, Colts aren't generating pressure. Colts aren't generating pressure. So they brought pressures and kind of some cool little exotics too.

And Bill's a line and runback, Singletary did a great job protection the whole game. Like they were just passing it off like it was nothing. They couldn't generate anything up front. And when you, Josh Allen doesn't have to make the crazy, even when he broke contain a couple times. It was because he was just doing it on purpose. It wasn't like he was getting pressure and he was like, I got to break content. It was like it was the controlled. Okay.

step up and out. There were a couple plays in the first couple drives, but other than that, for the most part, you're completely right. And even, it was so funny because I think this was a perfect combination and a really telling combination for Alan about all the different ways he can beat you. So the play to Diggs, I think is a perfect example.

And that's the bills at their best, right? So you have that three by one formation with Knox as the single receiver in line on the right. They love doing that. And it really does create stuff for them. They usually run a corner route to that side and flood it with Knox. They fake that.

Alan pumps it and comes back to digs in the middle of the field. It's beautiful. So that's what they can do with design, right? And then when the design breaks down, you have those plays. The two that jump out, I mean, substantially, are the ones on the final drive of the half when they went down and they scored.

You get the one rolling right to Gabriel Davis and then the one rolling left to Gabriel Davis. It's like, holy shit, man. And then the other one that really jumped out, This drive was quietly really important. And I think that it gets overlooked because it wasn't like a big touchdown drive. But the one where they had a couple big first downs in the four minute to bleed some clock. It was right before the fumble that was like made it third and 30 that would they move the ball a little bit.

Kenny Moore came off the slot. Alan got him to jump, ran, moved, slid left a little bit and found digs down the left sideline. Those are all the out of structure plays. And they were necessary in this game because of how well the Colts defense played. Yeah. And really in the third quarter, the Colts were going, they're like, okay, we were showing this. So it's just sitting too high. And how the bills counter that was they went to empty formation.

And being an empty puts a little strain and covered two, especially when you have a quarterback that can use his legs and use his own legs as a checkdown. Because you're putting five in a box. It's a four-man rush. And then it just spread. You're putting strain on the sides. And guess what? That's how good the bills all line was, was that. they could protect and didn't have to worry about it.

They ran a QB draw with Allen that would just keeping them honest. So the quarter ends, bills were driving, just torching them, torching them. Quarter ends. You know what happens when the quarter usually ends and you're torching a defensive coordinator? They can get their long play calls in. Aware for blitz. Aware for a pressure coming. Because all of a sudden they're like, hey, we're getting lit up.

Okay. You know, screw this one. We just go like, oh, cloud this, cloud this. Okay, I'm giving you the long play call with the blitz. And then sure enough, Colts came out of the blitz out of the quarter. bills were ready for it and they just punished them against those blitzes and it was just like the protection was so good and the bills were just ready for that like Alan just sits there in the pocket reads across and he hits the beautiful touchdown the digs and it's just like he's able to look

and progress throughout the entire play and hit this go ball and his arm is so good that he can throw it late he can actually progress if I were throwing this with my my arm you have to throw it it's three hitch it hit it and throw Alan doesn't have to do that he can look look look and hit it late but he can throw it was such he can throw it with heat and touch at the same time like a looping line drive into the into the gap the play was different but the ball and the trajectory and the way it looked coming out of his hand was similar to the touchdown he hit against cover zero against miami last yeah on the sluggo route last week exactly same same corner of the end zone it was going the same exact way same corner and i know and the and the corner that was covering it kind of

did the same thing like really i just get a hit with that in the back corner of the end zone and that's what that's what allan can do and when they are lining these guys up and they have these weapons going at it and they're protecting like this that is impossible to stop i don't care who you are you can't stop that if alan's not making them in any mistakes whatsoever it's too much it's it's a lot that's a lot to defend for an entire game especially a defense that's not comfortable blitzing and you know and like they're protecting it when they do uh on the flip side though like the colts looked like the red texas tech red raiders like I want to get into that.

I want to get into that. I want to get into that. Before we do that, though, I want to talk about Alan's mobility in a big picture way. Because one of the things that, I think the single element of this game that jumped out to me the most, and the disparity between these two teams is what it looks like when your quarterback can make plays with his legs, either as a runner or extending, and when he can't. And I really think we saw two eras of football on display here, one that is soon to be extinct and one that is the future. I had a conversation before this year's draft with Jordan Palmer, who trains Josh Allen, he has a lot of these guys, he's obviously very, has his finger on the pulse of the quarterback world.

And he told me that Jared Goff will be the last number one pick of quarterbacks that. have no movement skills that can't make something happen and pick something up with their legs. And I think that's true. Just based on where the sport is going and the answers that guys like that give you. Even if you're Philip Rivers and you've seen everything, if the defense calls something perfect, you don't have an answer. You can't will a guy open, but you can will yourself to a first down with your legs.

you can create more time, create more space in the ways that Alan does. And I just think that this season especially has been such an example of what it's like when you do or do not have one of those guys. And it just gives teams such a market advantage. We joked about it. Rivers had one scrambled the entire season. And even the bottom five sack percentages, it was all the old guys. It was Big Ben. It was Rogers. It was Breeze.

It was Brady. and then it was Mahomes. I think the how we have to look at these guys, this new breed of quarterback too, especially, is not only they're the athletic and they have these good arms and stuff like that, it's just how big they are. These guys, yeah,

tight ends 10, 15 years ago. I mean, they scramblers of old, the Mike Vicks of what we picture, the Randall Cunninghams, the Mike Vicks, you know, even the Steve Young's like,

yeah, like quarterbacks got more athletic, but they also got bigger. Like the quarterbacks rather than in the early 2000s, rather every quarter of becoming Peyton Manning, every quarter of it became Dante Colpepper. Like that's that's right how it, that's the path that went down. And it makes sense. I mean, athletes are just getting better and bigger and smarter. And now we're seeing that in the NFL, which is awesome. We're seeing what other sports are getting these evolutions of athletes and

scheme and just analytics coming and involved. And now we're seeing it with football. And it's not just like, oh, it's that offensive line or defense a line. We've seen that when Julius Peppers came in the league and guys like that defensive line. We haven't seen that quarterback. And now we're in this new era where it's becoming regular. Like, you know, like, it's becoming this new thing. It's unbelievable what these guys can do. And I agree with that.

The Jared Gough is going to be the last of that breed because even if you picture Baker right now, like Baker Mayfield, no one would consider athletic. Think about that third down he picked up today. Think about that key third down he picked up today. He just can get it with his legs. Think about even what Wolford gives the Rams that Jared Gough does not. And it's so funny because when. Brady and Breeze and Rivers and Rothesberger, when they're done, it'll be the end of an era of quarterbacks when they were drafted, but it would also be the end of an era of a certain type of quarterback.

And I don't think it's an accident that those guys can still survive in the league because they can win with their brain. They can find answers with their mind. But I don't know if any non-mobile quarterback will ever be able to play long enough now to have that catalog of information and experience to have those answers. It's almost a catch-22 where it can't exist because of the way the sport is now. And I truly do feel like we will just never see a long-term starting quarterback like this. Again, even like guy like Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow can move. He can pick up stuff with his legs. He has movement skills just enough.

And these guys don't. And I just think it is going to be a closed chapter on a version of football we grew up with. We came to understand. And it will influence the types of people in that. that types of players that people are looking for and that are encouraged to play quarterback. And I think it will make the sport more dynamic. And I think it's a good thing overall. But it is just so telling when you see those two teams lined up against one another.

I think even it's becoming just so much more accepted with the coaches and now it used to be everybody wanted to be Bill Walsh in the West Coast offense. Hey, three step five step. Hey, you got to look here at three step five step seven step. Oh, you're hit. You're late. You're late. You're late. That's wrong.

Sack. You know, it's just like that's the stress that you used to have mentally. And now it's, hey, you hit the top of your drop. One's not open, go make a play. Hey, Scramble Joe. We're going to practice Scramble Joe. We're going to practice Scramble Joe. Hey, this is, and everyone's become comfortable with it.

This is how the week's going. This is how football's just going. It's just a reticulation, or not retribution. It's just the steady progression of all this. And it's just really cool. I do want to say, though, it was like, like props of Philip Rivers did play great. I mean, it stinks that he had to go out. So let's get into that.

Yeah. So let's get into that. He did some great. He did some good stuff, man. I mean, I mean, I mean, they meshed them to death. I liked the Texas Tech offense. I enjoyed watching it.

It was great. They ran mesh so many times. And for people that don't know, we've talked about mesh a little bit on the show in the past. It's really just those two receivers crossing. About five yards past the line of scrimmage. Is that typically? Four or six yards.

They're taught to clap hands like when you're actually literally teaching it. Yeah. So you just clap hands in order so your spacing is correct. And then you can do a lot of stuff either behind it or off of it. I tuned to play out today. The one I love that they use is that they run. the tight end on a corner route to the right side. And it's my favorite play because Philip Rivers is the best corner route

thrower, I think, in the history of the NFL, like legitimately. He just, the touch he puts on those balls is perfect. And he's really good at crossing routes on mesh. So that's where they were just doing that play and it's beautiful. And that one and then the other one that they ran a few times that I, it was that cross-country route that you really like where you have two guys on the left, one guy in the right. the two guys in the left clear out and then you run the crosser back behind it. They hit that to Pittman more than once.

And Rivers was just putting those on the money. That play is pretty friggin awesome because I love it because they do it proper. Like I, the Cardinals ran the exact same play. They had no check down underneath. And it's all full man, it's seven man slide. And then so Kyler was just sitting back in the pocket because they, the team that he played week 17, the Rams covered it like it was nothing.

Meanwhile, the Colts, they'll run it with play action. And so they run it how I like it, Like where they have, you have somebody underneath that's holding the flat. So that's where that over comes on comes wide open. Or if there's someone, a team brings a pressure, it's going to get picked up. Same thing.

The flat is influenced or that area of the field's influence. When you run that stuff properly and you run the protection's property with stuff, it's just, it's almost stealing. I mean, what the Rams have done for years and years, what McVeigh is done with it is basically, it's just reading out like a naked concept and just having the over and something underneath. And as opposed to just being all the way outside and simple, it's just doing it from the pocket. And for rivers to do it, it's just like. like that's just stealing. Were you freaking out when Moe Alley Cox just snatched that one, that won. Oh, it was amazing.

Just snatch that rebound. Running mesh to Moe Alley Cox is like my favorite version of football. So River, I thought Rivers played extremely well. I thought the Colts played extremely well. Of course, this game was going to come down to a Philip Rivers two minute drive with a game online. And the most, the disappointing thing about it is, obviously that's going to be a loss in his ledger for the rest of the time.

But I think that if you're going to ding the Colts for something, I think you should, is the way they manage some of these situations in this game. I am totally fine with trying to score the touchdown there at the end of the half to go up 17 to 7. I can understand some criticism of the calls. So on third and one, they run that pitch to Taylor. He gets dropped in the backfield. I get why you'd want to try to get the ball on the perimeter there with how much trouble you were having inside.

If you're getting your big 230 pound back, a one-on-one with a DB in that moment, he should win. He didn't. The Taryn Johnson tackled awesome all game. And when you play the way the bills do, you need your nickel to be a really good run defender. And he did that in this game.

He was really good. Then you run a crosser, the type that you've been eating on all day, that is a staple of your offense. It's just outside of Pittman's outstretched hands. That, I have, understand and I'm not going to bury Frank Rake for. Some of the other decisions in this game, though, very, very questionable.

The challenge that he did on that fumble from Singletary that they knew they were going to lose. That timeout is so crucial to have. They lose that time out. They're down to one. They use it at 238. And it was so funny because that was that like third and 30 play. The bills did not run the ball.

Alan was running for his life and threw a desperation ball to Devin Singletary that he caught. And the Colts had to use their third timeout at 238. I don't know what the math would tell you on that. You lose 38 seconds, obviously, if it takes down to the two-minute warning. I wouldn't have called timeout there because then you have no timeouts left and it changes what you can do on that drive. Even if the timing, you maybe lose 10 more seconds than you would, I think having one to burn in your back pocket so you can stop it at any moment would have been worth it in that.

Because if you go back to the two-minute drive, the Bills had, for example, at the end of the first half, they ran two quarterback runs to Allen because they had the time out. It opens the menu of stuff you can use so much wider. And I really think that hurt the Colts on that drive. It doesn't help that they ran a four-yard pass to Moe Alley Cox with 150-something left. they snapped the ball at 132. On fourth down, and one, they ran the ball and 30 seconds ticked off. That's the type of stuff that's going to kill you. It's not going forward on fourth down and trying to score touchdowns.

It's really torpedoing your potential two-minute drive with some of those decisions. That was the most frustrating part of that game for me. This game for the Colts, it's like they do so much good stuff. They run mesh over and over because they know the bills were going to be in quarters and they might bring a pressure and Mesh has great answers versus pressures. But against quarters, it's great because they knew that the linebackers weren't passing it off. So rather than overthinking it, they just did it over and over and get. You know, it was kind of like a Michael Bay film.

Like they do a lot of actiony, like fun stuff. But then there's a lot of just like bad shit that you're just like, I can't say that was good. You know, like they have that out and up TD to Doyle and it's awesome. They run a switch release with Pittman. And it's just like they influence everybody to play. Rivers knows it's going to be open the whole time. He's just staring at it. it out and up touchdown they run mesh over and over and over they go for it they do this aggressive

stuff and then they just kind of screw it up and it really is like just watching armageddon or like bad boys too or something like that it's just like yeah okay that's entertaining they do some stuff but then they just fall apart in the ad like it's just like I can't call that good like at the end of at the end of the day it's kind of frustrating and I feel bad for rivers I'm going to say it again because I mean even on top of that they had drops too it's like the Colts just they couldn't get out of their own way It's like they're trying to set themselves up to put themselves in good situations. And they just, they just like just couldn't get out of their own way at the end of the day. And yeah, I won't put it all the head coach.

It's just sometimes one of those things. It's just one of those days. It's just one of those days where things just didn't break right, even when you were trying to do the right things. I think they're really well coached for the most part. They are. They put their guys in great spots. It's a tough moment for Frank Reich. And like the Steelers, a lot of questions for them.

They are in a much different position than Pittsburgh, obviously. The most cap space in the NFL, they have a very young roster. They're going to be able to shape this thing. The biggest question, obviously, is what's going to happen with Rivers. That's unanswerable right now. The Colts, I think, are maybe the most interesting team of the entire offseason because any one of these quarterback plans is on the table. They are the team.

If one of the teams in the top five don't want to draft one, the Colts are ready. If they love one of these guys, they are ready. Because they have the draft picks. They have so many young. sending players on their team. It's like, all right, we're ready to do this. So I'll be very curious to see what their offseason plan is, but we'll have a lot of time to talk about that. Let's move on in the next game here. Rams 30, Seahawks 20. Nate, I would say this was somewhat of a showcase for Brandon Staley and the Rams defense. Russell Wilson in this game

ends up going 11 for 274 yards. If you take out that desperation toss to D.K. McHaff, Russell Wilson finishes this game 10 of 26 for 123 yards. Even for a Seahawks offense that was sputtering in the second half of the season, that is a rough, rough day. And I think that you can give a lot of the credit for that to Brandon Staley, the Rams defensive staff, and their guys playing lights out for four straight quarters. Four straight quarters, even with Donald out, they just didn't miss a beat. That shocked me that, I mean, as much as I love stay away and everything they've done this season,

it's like that the fact that I was like, nope, they're still performing and just locking the Seahawks down right now. So you were telling me on yesterday when we were talking, you were saying it was so obvious how well coached they are. Yeah. And I think that that's, I had the same thought while watching this, but what specifically leads you to that conclusion? There's a sequence. I posted this morning on Twitter because I rewatched this morning, Sunday morning being, we're doing this. Sunday night, but in those match coverages, Cioxed were doing it a lot of time in single high, and we've seen Zimmer do it for years. This one is more out of quarters, a too high structure with this. A way to attack this is four by one concept. So usually in a football concept,

you're running out three by one or two by two, and two by two, the back goes in one direction. So the concepts play out either in a three by two cents typically. A four by one, you're overloading it. And what you're trying to do is influence the match rules, especially with motion right before the snap. And you can see the Seahawks do that a lot. They'll line up in a three by one formation with the back week to Russell's, say if it's a right formation, backs a week to Russell's left. And they speed motion method right to snap.

And what they're trying to do is put strain on the communication because the defense in those match rules has to operate on a strain. They really just have to go, okay, I got this. I got number two. I got number three. Just all communicating, all seeing the same things and all having the same number count at the exact same time. And there's at least five of these plays.

And none of these are involving Rams. Donald, by the way, that this defense is one unit. It is just a beehive. They are just a cohesive unit. Everybody's seeing at the same time. And this is against, it's not just a typical, you know, curl flats or something like that that's trying to beat this cover. This is stuff that's really designed.

Their shot plays are trying to design to strain this defense. And the Rams defense is just passing it off. And that's why Russell is, he's looking at one because he's like, oh, shoot, all week, we were beating us with, you know, a switch vertical up the sideline, a swing route right over here because they're going to not pass it off how they should. Rams pass it off correctly every single time. The only touchdown, that touchdown that happened early to DK before a

it was a broken play. And if you watch it on it, the Rams are running the routes for the Seahawks players. They're running for them. They're like, oh, I got your dig. Like they're two yards in front of it. And Russ, you know,

was not seeing it well at all. And seeing that on top of it is just like, the Barnwell had a nice tweet this week, this weekend. He said the worst QBR went on pressure in a game during a 2020 season. It was Sam Darnold. had one at 3.5 against the Colts. And number two is Russell Wilson versus Rams.

He had 4.0 QBR when he was unpressured, which is insane. That's incredible. That you think Russell Wilson, on pressure, is just going to be bombs away. And it was not bombs away. It was a whole game of that. And it's not just the top players that are doing this. This is the entire team that he's coaching up. He's getting six-round picks that look godly at times.

It's incredible what they're doing as an entire unit. So I'll want to get into the Ramsey Donald Staley conversation in a second. But let's talk about some of those more on heralded guys and running routes. Darius Williams' interception on that screen was fucking ridiculous. Ridiculous.

And that is recognition. We got Richard Sherman going nuts over it? Yeah. Yeah. That is recognition. And that is, I see it. I'm going. And he did that a few different times.

There was a play on the first drive that I loved. The Seahawks were in that three by one nub formation with the tight end as the single receiver on that side. The same one we talk about with Knox and that completion. And when they do that, he's an outside leverage, Williams is the corner on that tight end. So you'd think that the Seahawks were trying to run an in-breaking route on third and six to take advantage of that, which they did. But he ran it the whole time.

He's breaking on it instantly. He's sitting there in Jacob Hollister's pocket. He did that. Johnson, on another third down, very similar thing, did a great job of reading Russell's eyes. He was actually playing a little bit lower. They were in a single high look before the snap, which is different for them. but just a perfect play on the ball on third and seven to knock it away. There was a two-play stretch.

This is one of me, my favorite stretch of the entire game for them. Ramsey took Metcalf down about a yard short of the sticks in space. Really physical tackle. Very nice play. Next play coming back to it, they just stuffed them on third and one. It was 94 and 69. Sebastian Sheldon, or Joseph Day, who's really good for them in the run game. They had a couple of those on third and one today.

The other one, 45, I have no idea who he is, took on Hollister as like coming across the formation somehow fought him off the cup block and then just stuffed Carlos Hyde for a TFL to torpedo a drive. This team playing in these light boxes with these dudes we've never heard of making these plays on third and one, they do this shit all the time. It's Darius Williams and Morgan Fox and all and these guys. And I know they have Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. And we can get into this conversation now, okay? I think that Brandon Staley is truly special. And we've talked about him a lot on the show over the – and their defense a lot on the show over the course of the season. I told you this yesterday, and I think it's important to point out.

I had a conversation with him earlier this month, or in December. We talked for probably 25 minutes. And one of my professors in college – he was a very good bit of advice. It was a very good bit of advice for a journalist. He used to say to me, don't think you know somebody because you talk to them for 15 minutes. And I've carried that with me for my entire career. He told me that 15 years ago. And I was trying to check myself with this daily thing.

Because after I talked to him, I was like, that guy's just different, man. And I've kind of allowed myself to believe it. Because I think coaching is so much about communication, especially. as a defensive coach, especially when you're trying to communicate to your players, why they're doing things, what the rules are, everything else. And he was a very good communicator. And that comes across. And that's what he's doing with these guys. Just because he has Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, that shouldn't disqualify the job that he's doing. Because as a coach, your entire job is to put your players in positions for them to succeed. It's not like he's doing what the Steelers are doing,

where it's, we're lining up. It's 11 on 11. Our 11 guys are better than yours. They are pushing edges schematically, unlike any other team in the league. He is weaponizing Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey unlike any other coaches would be able to. And we've seen the control group for this. We've seen what Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey look like in a different defense. And guess what? every defense in the NFL for the most part, they don't have Aaron Donald, but they probably have at least one elite guy, often two. We did our all-pro show. I had two bangles on my second team all-pro defense. Every team has at least one or two guys.

It's about building a system around those guys. What he is doing with the Rams defense is different than what they did in Chicago building around guys like Coleel Mack and Eddie Jackson. It's slightly different. It's the same as offense. You have the bones of a system that you feel like give you an advantage, and you filter that system through the best players on your team. And that's exactly what the Rams have done while pushing the limits schematically, unlike defenses we've ever seen in the NFL.

I don't understand how you can come to the conclusion after watching them all season and think, well, he has Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald. What he's doing isn't that impressive. Yeah, I didn't watch once upon time in Hollywood and go, well, of course, Queen Tarantino made a good movie. he's got Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes. Like I did that's not my first thought.

It goes, what a freaking great movie that was. And he unlocked, you know, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt and do what to do with them. And that's the exact same thing that these coaches do. It's, it gets frustrating a little bit because you'll maybe just because it's you're on, I'm on Twitter or whatever, but what people are just like,

oh, I've seen a college do that. That's not in special. They do that in the Big 12. That's not special. They do this. Well, guess what? There's 32 teams in the league.

31 other defense coordinators could have ran this shit. Yes. And he's running it. And he's doing it well and coaching it well. Offensive guys always have, if you have a stud quarterback can make you freaking right. You can do that quarterback can make you right. Even if you are a bad coach, if you have bad guys around, the quarterback can always make you right. Defense, you don't have that.

And offense doesn't have to throw out your star corner. Offense can slide and protect and do other things. Can run away from your step in the line. Especially on defense. You need 11 guys to do what they're doing, especially on defense. moving in the same direction direction that's why that four by one example is such if you watch it they're on a string please like please try and find it just watch it on youtube or something they are on a string working together and that's where if anyone could have done this they could be coaching it this way and you know it's the social network line it's it's if they would have invented facebook they would have invented facebook like that's that's they would have done it but guess what he's doing it and he's doing it well and it's just so much fun to watch and just enjoy watching it cannot wait to see this defense go against the packers next week Oh, I can't. I can't either. I can't wait to see what they're going to design.

Like, are they going to move Ramsey around, put them at the star position in the nickel spot? Are they, you know, like just let him follow Devante around. How does that? Yeah, it's, I, it's, the questions are, and I completely agree with you. This isn't like Frank Vogel rolling the ball out to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. If football is not like that, no. It's, of course, they're going to be plays where having the best defensive player in the NFL puts you in positions to succeed. You're going to say, well, he couldn't do that without Jaywin Ramson and Aaron.

and Arnold. That's the point. You build your defense such that you can't do that without these guys. Yeah. They're going to get a cheapy sack or an incredible pick. They're going to do it. That's why they're star players. It's all the other plays that matter. That's what matters. You have to build up. It's, yeah. Guys, I know Darius Williams has turned out to be a really good player, but he's turned out to be a really good player in part because of the positions he's being put in to succeed. And I think Aubrey Pleasant, who is their defensive backs coach, is clearly doing a fantastic job. I think he has for several years. The players are great, but the coaches are also great.

And when those two things come together, that's what you see right now. And if I said this during the game, and I firmly believe it, if you were hiring a head coach right now, I'm putting him on a Zoom. Even if you are weary about defensive head coaches, and I think you should be, because we talked about with the Steelers, I think building around defenses, there are downsides. I want to hear what he thinks about offensive football. I want to hear why he does the things he does on defense. If you care about the game, I think you should want to have a three-hour conversation with this person to pick his brain about the ways he's approaching things and why. Because I think you would learn something.

And this is free information. You might as well have the conversation with him because I do think that he can do cool things. And I'm not, I know before, even before I say this, people are going to jump down my fucking throat about it. One of the reasons the Patriots were so successful for so long is that Bill Belichick, could teach offense to his quarterback because he knew what defenses were doing. I'm not saying Brandon Staley as Bill Belichick, but I think based on everything I've heard about him, talking to him what their defense looks like, and again, the communication stuff, which is Sean McVeigh's

greatest strength, by the way, I think I would love to have him talking to my quarterback every week about some of the stuff that they do to him, what he should be looking for, everything else. I really do think that he is a top 1% sort of football mind and deserves the opportunities that will come along with it. Yeah, we even maybe in the coaching world and being like just being around it my whole life, you think it's just game day. You think it's just, oh, coaching up a couple of drills. It's everything. It's managing personalities. It's realizing strengths and weaknesses. It's self-evaluation. It's like the idea that Kevin Stefanski was overrated because he didn't coach in that game today. Just like, no, that works.

And guess what? Like that's, it's so fitting that Staley's doing it with the Rams because McVeigh has shown that he can do that on an offensive side. I mean, I mean, it's just, I love watching this team just because even though sometimes it's not sexy what they do, it's just so cool just seeing well coached teams and just everything having a purpose to what they're doing.

And like just like even McVeigh, like if we want to touch on what they did on offense. Like they got they figured out a way to get it done. Like, but they were just enough. They were going at Jamal Adams, which is pretty cool. All game from the jump all game.

Their first 12 pass attempts, seven of them were at Adams. And he gave up four catches for 78 yards. And it was like, it was obvious. Like even if you weren't looking like we are looking for these things, it's pretty going like, wow, 33 just seems to be making that tackle again 20 yards down the field. Because like there was the one to cup that golf through late, that is not a throw that you, you wouldn't look at an inside fade with a guy covering him 70 yards off the ball. That usually that's a press man one.

you're trying to beat either man coverage or a pressure of something of some sort. The whole time on that play, golf is just looking at it, just going, okay, let him throw it right. And then he threw it late. That's why it ended up, Cup had to come back, but Cup still just made the play on it. It was great. Even getting that ball off, though, was impressive. And I thought that about golf several times in that game. He had a double clutch because the guy was in his grill, but he gets it off late,

but that's the thing. It was just like, he knew where he was going the whole time. Wolford got hit early on. He got tackled. It was incomplete third down. He had, he had Everett singled up. on Adams on that concept that is he had a man beater on both sides so he could have gone either way to whatever matchup he wanted he had a whip route going to the field no he stared at Everett the whole

time he was like no I got 33 on him I'm going right at him it was just it was just interesting to watch that that that was their plan and they stuck with it because Wolfer did it and then when golf came in golf did it so obviously in the coaching room the QB room this entire week they had a point of emphasis and I mean they had a couple awesome plays they had some outside zone they had you know they hit the over and sit route which you know you know know, they used to run all the time with Cup and now they hit it again, which was great off of play action. They had the bootleg game was going great.

They had some front side bootlegs, which was awesome. And even that touched on the Woods was awesome. That was my favorite one. Oh, setting up with the run with a run with a run. Even Woods on it, because Woods is such a good blocker. You have to honor when he comes in to crack you. Well, they ran it on the previous play. On the play before that, Woods, I think, had gone in motion.

So he was not in on the action. But they ran that windback play with. cup where they have him coming back as a blocker on a counter. They did that on second down. Their first down they gained six yards and they went right back to that action and had Woods leak out for the touchdown. They created

just enough explosive plays in the passing game and Jared Goff made just enough explosive plays. He didn't play great by any stretch but 12 days removed from surgery he did just with that thumb looking as swollen as it was I mean it was bad. I thought he did

just enough. I thought it was an admirable performance all the way around by the by the ramps on the flip side what the hell do the seahawks do now oh god nothing to look good did it like russell looked lost he's looking the wrong way on some of these plays it's really worrisome even the past concepts yeah it's getting frustrating russell's always going to be a guy that can be frustrating to maybe coach or scheme up for or even cheer for i'm sure for seahawks fans because you'll miss the easy throw sometimes but it looks like some of those four by one place, those are designed that the one of that four by one is just a man beater and you only look there against man coverage and the four side, it's zone or pressure or whatever.

And Russell's looking at the one side against obvious zone coverage. And that's, he did it last week and then he did it against San Fran and then he did it again this week. And it's just really scary to see that. A guy that's been in the league this long, fairly simple read. And I don't know if that's what they designed it to be, but that's how I just know those types of concepts. So it's just really interesting to see Russell doing that.

And that means he's not playing with confidence of what he's being asked to run or just maybe not just getting it. Sometimes a light bulb doesn't go off for a concept. Me as a quarterback, I read differently than Derek Carr, who reads differently than Jared Gough, who reads differently than Baker Mayfield, who reads differently than Tannerhill. We all look at something different. You know, it's just how it is. And something's not clicking for Russell right now. It's just, it's weird. It's just really weird because the first couple of weeks of the season, he was throwing less incompletions than he did touchdowns, if I just said that correctly.

but it was just ridiculous what he was doing the first half of the season. It's crazy to see how different it is now in basically week 18. I think that the lessons the Seahawks learn from the second half of the season is going to shape the next five years of their franchise. If their lesson from this is we threw the ball too much and we need to overcorrect, I think it's going to be a problem. And I'm not saying the answer is, We need to throw the ball all the time and any of that.

Yeah, it's not what I mean. Passing equals good, I think, is a reductionist way to think about the sport. I think they probably need a new offensive play caller, and they probably need a new plan on offense. I think that should be the lesson that was learned from this, not we threw the ball too much. If it's the latter, I think we're in for a long, long couple years in Seattle with Pete Carroll there as still as the head coach.

I think that they need a total revamp. on the offensive side of the ball. I think they would be well served to do that. And if they don't, I don't know how it gets any better than it was. How about the second half comes out? And I think it was Aaron Andrews. He's like, I just talked to Coach Carroll and he said, you know, we got to get back to the run game.

I know. And I was like, oh, man. You just hear everybody screaming at Seattle. All of Seahawks, Twitter, just yelling into the void. Screaming. Just screaming into the abyss. I know. I know.

I think that it's a naughty conversation about what happened with the Seahawks. It's a lot of different things going wrong. And obviously teams were going more too high against them. So should they run the ball a little bit more? What answers do you have for that if you're not throwing the ball vertically down the field? I think there's a lot of different things. But also it's like what we talked about with just the conversation we just had about the Rams. It's not just about what sort of.

plays are you dialing up against too high coverages? Do you have two high plays? Like, that's not what that, like, it's coaching points. It's how it's, what are you stressing? What, like, how are you tweaking things? It's just having like, okay, let's go to more of the two high beaters is not, that's not a thing. It's so much deeper than that. And I just think that, I don't know, it really does feel like they need a total reset on that side of the ball. They need to throw everything out, say what do we want to accomplish? What do we need? Who are our players?

And just have a real kind of come to Jesus conversation with everything. Let's get to our next one here. We don't have to spend a ton of time on this game. Washington falls to the bucks 31 to 23. We were right about Taylor Heineke. I guess that's the first takeaway that I had. I mean, he did everything that I saw in that short bit of action

that he had in regular season. When he hit that in-breaker to McClorin in the first quarter on time. I was like, yep, I was like, that's what he was doing. That's what he was doing.

He was throwing the ball on time, reading things confidently, even over the middle of the field. I was like, oh, that's what I saw, and he's just doing more of it. That's a classic Turner concept, and I know it because Coach Chris runs it.

And so he hits that backside dig, and I was like, oh, there's a couple, there's about four coaches in America that are freaking out right now about it. That like they were just like, yeah, I know that one. So he did that,

a couple really nice cornerouts. He was exciting. The touchdown run was amazing. All of his outbreakers were beautiful. He was throwing a nice touch. Yeah. I mean, the touchdown one was awesome. The best one was the one that Sims dropped.

Yeah. It was down on the left island. That was the best one he threw. So he was fantastic, very entertaining. You know, I had really enjoyed my two hours liking Taylor Heineke a lot. We'll see what happens now. So their future, I think, is a conversation for an entirely different time. I want to talk about the Bucks and their offense because we spent a lot of time on last week's show going into this game talking about it.

I texted you this today. I think I kind of like the Bucks offense. Like you like like them. We have been hard on them and just how unimaginative a lot of their stuff has been over the course of the year. They are doing some stuff now that actively helps their players and ties together with the other stuff they're doing, which is all you can ask for from an offensive game plan or an offensive approach. So the touchdown to Godwin, beautiful. They motioned Godwin into a stack with Evans on the run.

right side. They're in-man coverage. They fuck with the leverage. That play was over. That snapped the ball. It was over. As soon as they played stack like that, it was done. It was like, oh, I know. I bet you the entire Bucks booth coaching booth was like, yes. Guess what that looked like, by the way? That looked like a Patriots play. It did. You're in 12 personnel. You have Gronk on the back side. You motion him down into a stack. They do that with Edelman. They did it with Edelman 10 million times, often on third down. But play action, touchdown. Godwin, set it up beautifully. Love that play.

There was a couple plays, my favorite two-play sequence in the entire game. In the first half, I think it still was. They set up a nice little screen to four net, which I like them getting back

to more screens. Again, easy plays that help your offense. They came out and they ran a corner route with a go on the outside to Evan, just a 9-7 combination, to Evans out of 12 personnel with play action.

Same kind of idea where Brate was on the right side in the slot and Gronk was backside in line as a blocker. Hit it, Brade on the corner. Beautiful. Love it. They came back, same drive. Instead of the corner in that same sort of formation,

Brate broke it back over the middle of the field as a little bit of a counter. It's like, oh, this stuff is tying together. It's tying together. And they have the talent that if they're going to start finding a groove like that, the left which is, I think that they are really, really dangerous because that's all they needed

was a plan that was going to get the most and make things a little tiny bit easier on this absurdly talented group of players. And they're doing the old school 12 personnel stuff where they're going on to like ace formations or dot as I know them, but ace formations of two, you know, 12 personnel and balanced formations on top of the hip slot stuff that we've talked about. And they're running similar stuff out of these looks. And it's just like old school play action. If you ever watched early, early Colts and Tom Moore and stuff or Eric Correll like stuff, this is, I mean, this is what it looks like. This is what Arians ran when he was around the Colts for a couple of years with Peyton Manning for those for a couple of years at the turn of the century.

tree. And it's just funny seeing it again. And it gets unlocked a little bit because Grog is a kick-ass pass protector still. He's locking down Chase Young one-on-one over and over and over. It was awesome to watch. It was awesome. It's so impressive. It's not like two times a game. He was doing it's a straight one-on-one pass set. He might as well just be kickstab. That's exactly right. It's not like a chip. It's not like helping out. It is him pass blocking like a tackle against the guy who is the defensive rookie of the year and the number two pick in the draft. Basically a seven-step drop. And it's like it's legit stuff. And camera break. It's, I mean, having two useful tight ends that can kind of do everything and you don't have to hide them on the back side. It's that can be a pain in the ass for defenses to guard because then they go, who's the strength?

Who are we declaring? Are we going to Gronk's side if they're in a balanced set? So that can really play with what they want. And it's not by accident that they kept Gronk in, obviously, to block, but having Brayt catch all those. And I've noticed, too, as I think they've really honed in. We saw it real early in the year and it kind of, because just we talked about it was just as box offense is even more impressive than we've given a. credit for is I think they've really gotten comfortable with how Brady wants his progressions on his plays. And everything is cross field left to right or right to left. There's no one to two to three

like triangle read. There's no split field reads and reading single high to side, too high this side. Everything is working left to right or right to left. And I think they're just like, okay, we like this play action stuff. We like these kind of old school three by one formations. Okay. If it's three by one, Mike Evans is singled up. We're going there. If it's three by one, we got a three man combination. okay if it's anything else and then they can just go all these play action stuff Brady's just going left or right I mean it that's literally what the progression is and it's it works so well because he's just hitting overs and then he can hit the backside now you can check it down and it's just working they're just honed in on what they have and it looks so

impressive I mean just they're using those guys and they got some fantastic weapons this so I mean it's just traditional concepts but when you have the guys that are running them like they do it just looks beautiful it's like oh man why does every team run this it's like oh yeah because their players are You know, I'm Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and Antonio Brown as your Z and Scotty Miller coming off the bench, two usual tight ends. Thank you for mentioning Scotty with that. I appreciate that. I knew that was thrown in for me.

I had to. It's a token. I think we have to get them every single week. So Brady goes 22 of 40 for 381. Easy 381 too. There was the play. The play that really strikes out to me is the one he hit to Evans down near the goal line in the second half, where he had to step and avoid young. because they had a six offensive lineman and Chase Young had an inside move,

and Brady had to step away from him and step up in the pocket. Does it? Delivers to Mike Evans. I saw that play, and I just said to myself, I need to step back and appreciate what that is. Because I think with Brady, it's so easy to just say he's Tom Brady. Yeah. This is what we should expect.

Tom Brady is 43 years old. What we're watching is crazy. they were the number one offense in EPA per play in the league over the second half of the season with a 43-year-old quarterback playing at this level. I was listening to Dex Shepard's podcast this week. I was driving a lot. I actually really like it. It's for people that, like, it's the new year.

If you're thinking more about like self-improvement and stuff like that, he has like a lot of mindfulness people on and stuff. And Brady was on there. This is an older episode from earlier this year. And I was sitting there listening to it. and it was informative and helpful because it was just a reminder that Tom Brady is a person. Tom Brady is a real person. He was talking about his kids and his dad and all of this stuff.

And I think it's so easy to see Tom Brady as this wax figure of a man that's almost like a statue-esque thing. Like he lives in the bronze that he'll be in in Canton, I think in my mind a lot of the time. And he's 43 years old. He's a human man that is doing this at this age. And it's absolutely unbelievable. And I think it's just worth taking a step back and appreciating and not just throwing it in the Tom Brady's great bucket with all the stuff that we've seen over the last 20 years. Yeah. And it's we wanted to dog him.

It's like early in the season. Not we, but just like a few people like, oh, is his arm strain still there? It's like, I mean, the fact that it's even like competent is impressive. The fact that it's good. still is, I mean, he's throwing deep balls. He's throwing bombs away. It's not like he's just dinking and dunking back there running quick game over and over and over.

This is high level QB stuff. He's still being asked to do. And it's not like it's a safe offense that he can just tuck in and just curl up and hide from hits. And they're like, oh, okay, they're really making it safe for him. They're like, no, they're putting them in harm's way. And he's still standing and delivering. It is impressive.

It is like a 40-something-year-old pitcher going out there and pitching 35 games or something. It's ridiculous what he's doing. It's Jordan coming back with the Wizards and scoring 20 a game. Like it's just, it's pretty crazy what he's doing right now. I completely agree with you. We have to appreciate it. So we'll have a lot of time to talk about Washington. I think that the kind of wrap up of the Washington season is they're respectable.

They are, they're a real team. They played in a real way. Their quarterback situation is definitely the biggest question. You know, they're a team that I think could do some stuff with the real quarterback. They'll have some money. I think they need more weapons. But their offensive line has some pieces. I think they absolutely could use a left tackle.

We'll see how they address that spot. But the defensive front will be back next year. We'll see what happens with the back seven. They have some really good players. They're well-coached. I was impressed with what they did this year, but they still have a long way to go before they're in a conversation

with some of these other teams in the NFL. So let us move on to our next game here. Ravens 20, Titans 13. I was at this game. Yeah. I got there about at kickoff because I slept in Louisville last night in order to not miss any of the Saturday.

games because I broke the drive up in two days. And I am, time zones are undefeated against me. I have no idea how they work. And I was going from Eastern to Central, even though it was a two-hour drive. And I had gone from Central to Eastern on the way. So I totally fucked it up. And I got there like at kickoff. But I saw the game.

And I have never seen Lamar Jackson play in person before. The scramble was. absolutely insane. I mean, just the level of acceleration and watching the angles get erased from that vantage point. Port football reference tweeted today that the two longest touchdown runs by a quarterback in NFL history are the run the Kaepernick had against the Packers. Yeah.

In the 2013 game and Lamar's today, I was at both of those games, which is really funny. I was at that Kaepernet game. The fact that it was eight years ago now, I'm so old. A candlestick, too, wasn't it? At Candlestick. Oh, boy. First and only game I've ever seen at Candlestick. The first game I saw at Candlestick was the last game played there.

The first game I saw in the Georgia Dome was the last game played there. The NFC Championship game in 2016. So very random stuff. But the Lamar in-person thing, watching the way he moves on the field is really cool. I did not appreciate it fully until you're there. And he was their offense today. I mean, the plays he made with his legs was, a huge part of what they did because for the most part,

this game was much uglier, much lower scoring, much more of a defensive battle than either of us expected. I thought it was going to be a track meet. And, you know, no pun intended. And it's watching Lamar sometimes is like, it's like an alternate reality.

It's like if Randy Moss played quarterback or something like that, like that's what it's kind of like Washington. If the best athlete on the field was the quarterback, Vic is the only thing that's ever come close to it. It's pretty ridiculous. It's like in the huge difference too is yeah, you could run this GT stuff, these counter stuff,

these read plays and teams running across the league and they run zone reads and stuff. And I think Kyle Shanahan had a great point about this when they drafted Johnny Mansell or I think it was maybe after that he was talking about just quarterback speed and athleticism and stuff and I'm sure you know about it. But he because Kyle Shanahan said it, do you think I just have an encyclopedic knowledge

of everything that Cal Shanahan's ever said? I do watch us. I'm going to watch your face when I say this. So he was talking about RG3 running zone read and he said well RG3 is a legit 4-4 guy getting to the edge Johnny Mansell is yeah he's athletic but he's a 4-6 guy getting to the edge and guess what you know how fast that DN can run in the NFL probably about 4-4 or 4-5 yeah yeah so there's a big difference when you have a legit guy that can actually get to the edge and that's where some of these big guys like the Josh allen's of the world too

can they can get to the edge because they're so big and athletic getting out there and you know can was the first one that kind of did that but then like that's what that's a different with Lamar it's yeah it's different it's different you see call it looks like it looks like it looks like it looks like it looks like an SEC guy doing it against a sum belt team like but he's doing it in the NFL because he's getting to the edge like that cams can cam could get to full speed but camp did not so yeah so yeah yeah the fact that cam Lamarra can just go from zero to 60 instantly like on that touchdown it's just different and have the vision the vision paired with it that Absolutely. Exactly. Exactly.

That last play or that long touch on what you're talking about was third long. It ends up, it was too high stuff. I think, believe that the Titans ran. And it ends up playing out like, man, just because of how they have to match it and everything. But Lamar knows he went to the one to read. He'll really let the linebackers kind of get the tight end and run it back and open up. And then he just navigated the pocket and just became Lamar. And a couple cool runs, I think you were about to ask me.

Like, I mean, they had the QB. lineback play. That was awesome. And that's a playoff of zone read. You're going to make it look like zone read with the runnerback coming across. But the runnerback winds back and ends up a lead blocker. And it was the one where Gus Edwards ends up the weed blocker about 20 yards down the field for the mall. The reason I love that play is because they had Ricard on that side, but they had Marquise Brown as the only receiver on that side and he was in kind of a reduced split. And for a lot of this game, the Titans have done a really good job with their second level and third level even defenders coming up to support the run. By only having Brown on that side and that

side of split, you had a ton of space over there with no bodies over there. And it allowed them to get to the perimeter and it wasn't clogged up with a receiver that it was just sitting out there on the right side. That's why I really like that. It was also a great block by Ricard. Yeah. I think Brooks Reed was the edge guy on that play. Yep. He set the edge on it. Yep. I thought the Titans did a great job just with their overall plan stopping the Ravens running game. You know, Lamar had 136 yards rushing, but one of them was that huge touchdown run that was a passing play. For his design runs, they strung it out a lot, they made it hard on them, and they did a lot of stuff where they had three down linemen. They had three down linemen, and they're playing everybody off the ball in order to flow side to side.

And it worked for them for most of this game. And there was a reason why they, GT counter, the counter read that we talked about last week, it's running, it's the garden tackle polling. and the running back going one way and Lamar going the other way. Why that's working is because that's what the Titans were playing on defense. They were running the, they're running the odd front. That's a three down front and other terms. And that's a great play, I guess I'd say.

It's just the angles. And they put the stress. You can see one Titans linebacker keying the polar and the other Titans linebacker going like, oh, what's Lamar doing? What's Lamar doing? And that's happening on the front side. And then he's handing the ball off to the runnerback going the other way. So it's like even before they realized what's going on,

he's already four yards down the field. and it could be any running back running that. I'm just glad I'm maybe somebody at halftime just like burned Greg Roman's dropback part of his call sheet because I never want to see them run another dropback pass and let's his third. The first quarter was like oh my God is he doing it again? Like is he going to

actually do this get? And then they got away from it and then he's just like in the second half it was like oh look look look what they're running. They're moving Lamar they're in a little play action if they did pass it and it was just all running the ball just different versions of counter and power. And then he they get into the red zone and he drops back on first down, I think it was like second or eight or something like that. He drops back again.

It was like, no, stop. We just stop. I get, it was probably good on Wednesday, but just do not do it. It was not working. And that's not what their game is. Every time they stall on offense, that's what happens. Let's drop that game. Just burn it.

Give me a reason that they shouldn't use play action or an RPO's we're working today. I actually liked some of those perimeter RPOs that they have. I think it's a really smart way to just kind of catch defenses the way that they're playing them. I like them doing that kind of stuff. So give me a reason that they wouldn't use play action or an RPO or some sort of non-traditional passing play on every single early down. What would you do as a defense? You just start blitzing if you were a defense.

You start bringing pressures. But then you have to worry about the RPO stuff and all that. And it's like it would put strain if you're trying to sit back in coverage. They shouldn't drop back. It should be anybody twice a game like once a half just to throw a little change up in there or something like that. Just something get the ball out of his hands because it doesn't work for him. There's so many different things you could fold in. There's so many, like, little wrinkles off the play action stuff.

And, like, the GT, they were doing it as, like, as was a replay today and giving it back going the other way. They have so many counters to their counters. Just fold a pass-in. Do exactly what the Rams do. It's just like every single run concept should have a pass-off. It's stuff like that. I just, I want them to build it off the run game and just toss, drop back stuff into the garbage can. And that, it's partly because of Greg Roman.

and I just don't think that's his strength, but it's also because of their personnel. They are not built to throw the ball. They do not have the receiving talent to drop back and beat you. They just don't have it. They don't have anybody that deserves eight targets or 10 targets. They just don't.

Everyone deserves four targets just like they're getting. They did do one nice thing. I think either Andrews dropped it, which is possible, or I think the defender made a great play on it. It was in the red zone, but they ran to play action off the GT counter. And it was just like,

oh, there you go, there you go. That's perfect. And it didn't work, but it's like, run that four more times with the different concept behind it. If you have that protection in, might as well have other concepts off of it. That's going to be your winner. Like, might as well just run it. Like, we see the Titans do it all the time. All their stuff ties in together and might not work today.

But, you know, at least that's what kind of that offense really would work. And we'll see if the Ravens get to it, you know, going in the next week. It didn't work today because the Ravens defense brought it today. Dared it. dared it. The Titans. that's all they did the whole game. So early, their first drive, the first touchdown drive,

AJ Brown got the best of Marwin-Humfrey a couple different times. They had them manned up, they hit him on that slot fade, they hit him on a little in-breaker, and then they had the slot fade for the touchdown. And it's like, all right, they're coming today. But for the rest of the game, Humphrey had a couple plays where he really took it to him in that matchup. There was a couple really important, like there was a second down slot

fade where they tried to get him one-on-one, didn't work. And that's why when people are like, oh, the Titans, you know, their play calling was terrible. It's like, I don't know what that means. When you say that, I don't understand what that means. So when we get the fourth down decision that the Titans made, which we'll discuss, leading up to that, okay, second and two, they have that slot fade to Brown on Humphrey, one on one, a matchup that you will take based on play calling and one that worked for you earlier in the game. Humphrey did a great job breaking it up down the left sideline, okay?

Third and two. They take Derek Henry out of the game. I don't love that. But if you're going to, what they did on that play, I think makes sense. They had John Smith in the backfield, and Elliot,

Jared and Elliott was lined up. He was manned up on him, but he was the deep safety to that side. So you're thinking that's a long way to go. Based on formation, we have two yards to get to the sticks. We're going to run a little swing to Smith right at the sticks. He's going to catch it because it's too long.

It worked. He was open. Tannhill hit him. Elliot came downhill so fast. that he was able to jar it loose at the marker. Both of those plays based on design are advantages for the offense. The defense gets paid too. It's not just bad play calling.

The Ravens just did that consistently today. And against the run, they were pushing them around. Pernel McPhee was awesome on the edge in this game. Similar to what KJ. Wright did to the Rams a couple weeks ago they were talking about. It was not a great day for Arthur Smith, but for the most part, that is the Ravens' defense throwing an absolute shutout when they needed to. Yeah, they just didn't get to the game that they wanted to. But like, that's a great point because like in the first quarter, the man beaters that the Titans were running, they know they're going to get man against Ravens. That's just what

they run. They have awesome dbs. They have great heat up front. That's what they're going to run. And the man beaters that the Titans ran were they were great. The first catch you just talked about that Brown hit on Humphrey. It was on the under route on that play. It's play action. It was out of the gun. It was play action onto the boundary. side. The receivers just ran clearouts because what they were expecting man and then they knew Brown or the other outside route was also running an end breaker catch and they can get yards after catch on it.

It was designed to have space to operate with probably one of, if not the best guy with the ball in his hands because I mean, just even look at the stats with AJ Brown getting yak. And on the touchdown, just the fade the touchdown. That's as man as man can get. Off of that, they also had a 13 personnel play. They hit the tight end. They hit Pruitt. I think you were just saying, but the crosser.

and they hit it on it, that's a man beater. It's a quarter's a meter. They ran, they were in 13 personnel. They motion Henry just a little bit to give like a little indication. It was also just to undress the bullets that the Ravens were showing. And they also have John, that was the FERC, sir. Yeah, whoever the title is, they all look alike.

But it might have been FERCIRs. 85 and 86 are the same. Oh, I know. Oh, my gosh. But that's what's awesome about the Titans is like all their tight ends getting involved. It's pretty cool, actually. But they run with John Smith in the backfield. They run an angle route to them. And usually that play is designed.

we everybody runs if you run madden you've seen the angle route score touchdowns in the red zone all the time but they put a tight end back there and on that they have the crosser because what that is dude if that was man with a whole player the crosser would occupy the whole player and then you hit the angle route behind it if it's man versus pressure like the raven's had then you just hit the crosser and replace the pressure and it's a catch and run great design on it and it was just a little tweak it's a simple route that plays in madden but they did it out of 13 personnel out of the gun putting a tight end in the backfield that's i think that's pretty damn good play design So, yeah, it didn't end up working.

But also, by the way, you can really see AJ Brown's baseball background because he was drafted in baseball. Oh, my God, he snatched that fade. It was just like him just robbing a home brought or something. It was just, it was pretty impressive. That is the case all game of good players playing well for the ratings. And they, I mean, even if they won a lot of one-on-one matchups in this game. And one-on-one matchups are typically an advantage for the offense.

And the Ravens negated them consistently. There was another play. One more I want to talk about it was a third and two with five-twenty. left. They ran a rubber out. It's a rub concept on the right side. And the Ravens just passed it off beautifully. And Humphrey just played it great, knocks it down, forces a punt. Speaking of Titans punt stuff.

Oh, boy. Punting that ball on fourth and two from Baltimore's 40 when you're losing in the fourth quarter is unacceptable. No matter how you slice it. I don't care about game flow. I don't care about anything. You cannot have a first team all-pro. 250 pound running back and have third and two from the other teams 40 and finish that sequence with the punt and preach about and preach about toughness as a team and like or situational awareness how

how many well we talked about it earlier brable is like he had some has set some savant clock management game management moments where you're just like it's like and then also he does this and it's like what are you doing i i think it was uh edj sports that was 14% win expectancy see that this this swung it like just punning there like was that 99% cowardice index oh that's surrender index oh oh just oh and how you said that too cowardice cowardice too that just that's just a dagger to the gut it was brutal i i didn't get it i could think because they punited earlier near midfield i would say another fourth and one or fourth and two situation i'd say they're about the 45 minus 45 and that one was that was that third and two sweat that third and two rubroth that didn't work

yep great point and that's that was okay I can see punning, but really I wouldn't know if like in that how the game is going, you need to get any points that you can generate because just how the game has gone so far. And then the fact that the second one happened and not that far after that, it was like, that's pretty bad. I don't get it. I just don't get it. Whatever happened. I don't know how the communication was, whatever was going on in the sidelines or anything. It was just a weird, weird thing.

Just a weird opportunity for that. It's not week four. This is, this is the wild card weekend. Like this is times you want to throw your dice rolls and when you can take it a chance. And I don't think it's that much just an advantage. Like you said, when you have a 250-pound runnerback that could probably just trip forward and get the first down.

And the Ravens did a great job against him all day. I still think that he has to touch the ball in one of those plays. And I'm not like, oh, Mike, this is a fireball offense. No. Bullshit. Mike Vrable did a really good job of getting that defense ready to play against this team.

They slowed down the running game impressive ways. I thought they were going to give up 35 points. Like there was no problem. Exactly. Yeah, props to their defense. They did. They did. I honestly think that this is,

it reminds me of last year, honestly, when they had really good single game game plans in the playoffs for certain offenses, even if their defense wasn't very good. DMP isn't there anymore, but I still think that situationally, the Titans are going to be able to put their players in good spots in these sorts of games. But their future is also kind of murky here because I think Arthur Smith is gone. Independent of what just happened in that game, he's interviewing with every single team.

I think he gets one of those jobs. And now, now you get the test when you don't have an offensive-minded head coach and your play caller can leave, can you sustain success. because that is what the Titans have been. They have been a team driven by one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL. And the guy who shaped that offense is probably walking out the door.

And that leaves you with a lot of questions. Questions we will definitely be getting to when all the coaching stuff settles and everything else. All right, before we get out of here. Is that the last game? That was it. We got Chicago Saints, yeah. I was fucking, I was fucking, I was fucking.

No, no, we can't have that. All right. Saints 21 Bears 9 because of that bullshit Jimmy Graham touchdown at the end where they didn't kick the extra point. You should have heard of a roared a touchdown. A roar from the sports book. What that happened? The fact that Jimmy Graham scored a touchdown that didn't matter

and they shot off the slime cannons in just the terrible, ugly win for the Bears is the perfect epitaph for the Chicago Bears season. I don't have a ton of things to say about this game in terms of the ins and outs of it. I thought the Bears front played very well. I thought they kept them in this game. I think that Mario Edwards did a lot of good stuff. I thought the Mac was giving Ramcheck and Taran Armstead as much as they're going to handle for the most part.

I mean, his stat line is going to look great, but I thought he played decent. Really rough game for Eddie Jackson on several different levels. I mean, just kind of a bizarre game. The offsides, De Yante Harris beating him in man coverage pretty badly on one play. He had a tackle in the flat. Just trying to do too much. happens sometimes. It really does. So obviously there's the trick-play touchdown, the whims dropped.

I don't, that changes the game a lot, but I don't know how much it changes the game. They had nothing going offensively. By the way, if that ball would have been completed, it would have been the second throw all season of 30 air yards or more completed by Mitchell Trebiske. You're kidding. Second. The first one, last week, on the boot left to Darnow Mooney. Second one all season, their first one was in week 17.

that's awesome i kind of want to rank them now just like see what everyone says hit over 20 now one of four one of four on the i think i did hear you scream after that drop that drop touchdown though but at the this game though it was the race to 20 it was the race to 20 points that's exactly what it was the and my congrats to the bears for getting slimed once you know that i think they get a nick nicolodian blimp because of that well tribisky was the was the nicolodian most valuable player which i assume he will I assume his reps will take into his contract negotiations this spring it's it's like that gif of the the kid that won the uh he wants like a spelling bee and all the confetti just pours on him he's just like looking around like what's going on that's kind of like what happened with the bears

today but like I mean everything the saints really just dominated this I know the bear's defense try their hardest and everything but it was you know 39 minutes and 21 minutes time of possession uh it was you know third down battle was 11 uh the saints went 11 for 17 the pairs went 1 for 10 27 to 11 first down ratio. It was just a thorough butt whipping. That was just kind of more like clinical as the game went on, especially after the drop gadget play. It was like a Barcelona,

the soccer team, like when they were rolling, especially like, you know, when Messi was hitting his prime, it was ticketaka. That's just exactly what they looked like. It was just like,

hey, we're not going to let you have the ball. Okay, we're not going to let you have the ball. We're just going to pass around, pass around, maintain possession, maintain possession.

They would control the ball like 80% of the game and win one nothing. And that's what it looked like. That's exactly how the Saints game unfolded. Yeah, that's exactly what we expected out of this game. I mean, props. Kulomack made a couple of good plays. Just weird. They just needed to make a couple more.

They had to generate a pick six or something. They almost did. They almost had a couple turnovers there for a little in the middle there, but just wasn't their day. I think the Saints will be fine. I think that their defense is great. I think that they will be in every game they play in the playoffs. I think that this game in so many ways,

I think indictment is strong. I think it is a representation of the faults of this era of Bears football and why things need to change in a drastic way. And it goes from all the way top to bottom. You could easily say, oh, the Bears, you know, they're out a couple corners in this game. You know, they have backups in the game. They are a couple offensive linemen.

There were a couple different plays. Bars got roasted by Rankins on that sack, where Chibisky got hit in the head on the next. play Cam Jordan beat a fetti. It's like, oh, those are guys not playing in the positions they started this season. They have backup corners everywhere. Do you know why the Bears have no depth? Because they traded away a ton of picks in the last.

Anthony Miller. It did? It did nothing again in this game. They traded away a second round pick to go up and get Anthony Miller. They traded away a third round pick to go get David Montgomery. Instead of using what little money they had to try to build up the rest of the roster, they gave Robert Quinn a five. year deal with $30 million guaranteed.

They gave Jimmy Graham $8 million a year over a two-year span. That's how they spent their resources. I think it is so telling to watch what Leonard Floyd is doing for the Rams and watch what Robert Quinn is doing for the Bears and understand smart and not so smart ways to add talent to your team. Robert Quinn had a really nice year last year in Dallas. Robert Quinn is in his 30s and he was a year removed. from being available for next to nothing to go to Dallas.

That's not the kind of guy that is the last piece that's going to take you over the top here. And that's the way the Bears have done it. It has been if we get this one more guy, if we get this one more guy. And the bargaining that Romo and Nance were doing at the end of that game, you could hear it. It's like, oh, you know, they made the playoffs two out of three years under Nagy. You know, Trubisky's getting a little bit better. You bring it back. You do this, you do that.

that is the sort of bargaining that dooms you. And that is what they have done over the last couple years. And I assume what they will do again. And it's if we get this one more guy or this one more guy, if we go out and we replace Massey next year and we get a right tackle. If we do this, you can't do that anymore. It's not, you know who we, this really reminds me of? It just came to me as you were talking there.

It's just the, the Mark Sanchez, Jets, and Rex Ryan in there. It's like, yeah, you can make a run and ride the defense and make some hits, but it's like you still got Mark Sanchez at quarterback. And guess what? The defense isn't good enough to make a run anymore. It's not complete enough to make a run. We're talking about guys getting put in positions to succeed. I would love to see what Brandon Staley could do with this group of players on the Bears. If you want to be really a championship level, ride the defense to a championship, you cannot do it with the people that are currently in charge of shaping the defense. You can't. It's not that good anymore, and the players are not good anymore just to ride them all the way. This defense was really, really good and really, really healthy in 2019.

When one or two guys dinged up, and I know Hicks was hurt, but it is not going to be as complete of a unit next year. You're at the cap. You were there. You're going to have to lose some of these pieces, not gain more. I just think that the bargaining of, oh, we made the playoffs. what if one or two or three of these things go a little bit differently, you're going to stay in this exact same place. And I just hope that that's not the conclusion that they come to after this.

Your goal, every team's goal. Yeah, every team has different goals. And you're like, oh, we got to make the playoffs this year. Oh, let's have a winning record. But like the Bears in their head, they're Super Bowl contenders, but they're really more built to be happy to get a wild card at 9 and 7. That's exactly right. Their expectations is not the reality.

And I think they just have to come to grips with what the reality is. and we'll see what happens the next couple months. Are you a team that's trying to be relevant? Are you a team that's trying to win a championship? By relevant, I mean not a six and ten team. A team that's going to be middle of the pack and maybe sneak into the playoffs. If that's your goal, that's fine. And I understand that's how some organizations operate because it's a business.

You're trying to make money. You're trying to stay in the spotlight to some degree. You don't want to be at the bottom. But what is happening right now and the ways that they're identifying talent and adding talent and shaping this roster are misguided. And I think that I would be fine with Nagy coming back and the coaching staff coming back. I'm fine with it in part because it's probably going to happen.

I think that they need a different plan for picking the players. That is what I will say. I think they need a different plan all around. But I think the picking of the players, they need to start over. And this game is all you need to see, I think, in order to come to that conclusion. I think the initial domino effect of, you know, the signing of Mike Glennon, then trading up for Jurisky.

And like, that was all, that was like, okay, this might not be going where we want it to go. And we're just seeing it just continue and continue a few years around, a few years down the road. It's, you know, it's the same stuff. It's the same stuff you've said, the same frustrations you've had. There's nothing that's been changing for it. And I understand that Leonard Floyd, a $13 million cap it. They needed to do something. And that cutting him was probably right.

But I think that is just, even if it's, it makes sense in the moment, it's so indicative of why this team is falling short because you let a guy go who's 28 years old and goes and looks like a superstar on the Rams for one year and 10 million. You bring in a 31 year old guy on a multi-year deal. He has $9 million in debt cap on his 2022 contract. I think, by the way, Troy Aikman and Leonard Floyd's agent or like buddies or something because he was playing amazing. He was playing incredible. No, he's playing incredible. But he was like, yeah, he was selling it. And it's deserved though. I mean, that's, yeah. Again, we talk about. the Rams, do you know it's as much as you want because that actually makes us happy on like

this conversation. It's just sad. It is. It's tough because it. Because you can see where the, you can see where it branched. You can see those moments. Just like in the game, you see those plays, those five, four or five, six plays that really affected the game. The same thing with team building. Same team with team chemistry. Same thing with anything with a franchise. You see those moments. And especially when you're a committed fan like you are, you definitely see it. You see the macro view. And sometimes the coaches get caught in the micro view sometimes. But, this is what happens. These are ebbs and flows of franchises.

It is frustrating when you can see how it could have gone differently and it didn't. Well, mercifully, it's over. We won't have to talk about the Bears on next week's show or for any show in the foreseeable future, which I'm really looking forward to. All right, buddy, that's all we got. Six games. So jam-pack show. We're going to have four games for the next couple weeks.

I assume it would be a little bit more concisisis for next couple shows here. We'll see the next couple shows here. We're about six. And the six wild card games were great in theory, but that's a lot to talk about. We will be back on Wednesday. Really fun show for you guys. I have a very special guest. I don't want to ruin it quite yet, but a very good one that I think you guys are going to enjoy.

You and I will be back on Thursday with Lindsay to preview the divisional round. Really fun slate of games. I don't even know what time or when the games are because I haven't even started thinking about it yet. I was trying not to get distracted by that. So we will dig into all of that this week. Please rate and review the podcast on your favorite podcast. podcast platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that. Also, please subscribe to the Athletic. $3.99 a month. That's the deal we have going right now. You could not get a better price on

great sports coverage. I have a very fun couple stories this week that I think you guys would really enjoy checking out. So please subscribe if you have not gotten a deal with theathletic.com slash football show. We'll be back on Wednesday. Thank you so much for listening. Talk to you later.