The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Darnold’s Apex: How the Seahawks Broke the Rams & Sean Payton’s Fatal Mistake

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

The Sam Darnold Experience reached its apex! The Seahawks are Super Bowl bound. And the Rams no longer live rent free inside Darnold's head. He did it! So did Sean Payton. Went for it on fourth down with a backup QB?! Maybe the Pats were living rent free in his head? No matter, someone needs to give the Patriots uniform attendant a bonus for selecting all white outfits. Not since Storm Shadow has a someone vanished so thoroughly into the background. Can we credit the duds with a trip to Santa Clara? Of course! Dave Dameshek and the Super Fuentes Brothers get into it all with former NFL Lineman Geoff Schwartz. Plus, the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy. For immediate reaction to the hire we head to Football America! Steelers Correspondent Mo Dameshek in Pittsburgh. She gives us the skinny on this episode of Football America! (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/via AP) AUDIO Football America! is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/football-america/id1831757512 Follow us: Dave Dameshek: https://x.com/dameshek Geoff Schwartz: https://x.com/geoffschwartz Host: Dave Dameshek Guests: Geoff Schwartz Team: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Director: Danny Benitez Senior Producers: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Executive Producer: Soup Campbell Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi hello, my fellow football American Super Bowl 60s, all set, Seahawks, Patriots, excited to talk about that, but the majority of the conversation, it seems, is about the weather conditions at the AFC title game. What happened to you, people? Okay, it snowed, and I heard it was also windy. I don't get it, just a few weeks ago, I could swear I heard you singing about how you wanted to let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Now all of a sudden you're Millie Vanilly in winter, blaming it on the snow? As you may have noticed, that game sucked before it started coming down. By the way, I don't mean to hurt anybody on either side's feelings, but if Bo Nix had played, Denver obviously wins that game.

Either way, everyone watches Thousand Pound Sisters, right? Right. Well, as you know then, Amy's getting married, and she wants the ceremony to be haunted. Ghosts for bridesmaids. Not people dressed as ghosts, mind you. Ghosts. Now, Tammy doesn't want to go. She thinks it's sacrilegious and more to the point too weird, and I agree with that.

But Amy's the one with the ring on her finger. You don't get to tell her about her wedding. And that's what home field advantage is. Getting home field is a big reward for a big season-long achievement. It was 82 and Sunny in Jacksonville on Sunday. If the Jags had the number one seat, it would have been hot for the visitors. Is that unfair? The 99 Rams were ideally constructed to play under a dome,

as their nickname Greatest Show on Turf indicated. I bet the Brownie Bucks didn't like playing under that dome. In fact, you might go so far as to say they felt disadvantage. Are we also throwing out the results of the ice? out the results of the ice bowl. I mean, there's a pretty good case Bart Starr scored on that QB sneak only because it was slippy at. Maybe they're right though. That green wall in Boston's ballpark is tall. The rough at Oakmont is rough. Maybe football fans should keep it down a little too. We don't want to distract those guys out there. Who needs actual empathy when you express your

concern for a multimillionaire who's chilly? What are we talking about? People are complaining about obstacles to success. Half the guys out there are paid to be human obstacles. They chase you around and everything. You know what, I've had it. I've got to go get some earmuff, ski pants, and bubble wrap. Let's chop, chop, and start the show. Yes, hi, and hello, and welcome to Super Bowl 60, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America.

We're presented as ever by our pals at Draft Kings. Draft Kings, the Crown is yours, Hawks, Pats, Super Bowl 49 sequel. Get ready for lots and lots of references to Malcolm Butler. Get ready. San Francisco and Santa Clara. we're on our way up there in about a week from now. Be on the lookout for me at media night, the opening night is what they call it. I have some questions to ask the Seahawks and Patriots players.

One reference here for you about the Football America YouTube page in between shoveling the snow or whatever else you're doing. Please be a dear subscribe. Spread the good word on Football America. We enjoy the conversation in the comment section on YouTube and or wherever you find your podcasts. We appreciate you, subscribing. Be a patriot, not the kind with the capital P. Although if you are with the capital P, we welcome you as well. And congratulations.

It's episode 46, the players who wore that best in NFL history. Tim McDonald and Todd Christensen, Andy Pettit wore it well in MLB. Two good ones, though, 46. First of all, Pete Johnson, who was the fat Bengals running back in the 80s. In 1983, he had three and a half yards of carry and 14 touchdowns. Then he left Sincey and in 84 for the Chargers and Dolphins. How about this? 87 total touches, 12 of them touchdowns.

How does that math work? He rushed for 2.4 yards per carry. He was the ultimate goal line back, and he was a slob on top of it. It was very funny. And also, Doug Plank wore it for the Chicago Bears. I bring him up because he is who the 46 defense of the Bears were named after, and now the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. and they lost Super Bowl 22, the 46 defense of the Chicago Bears.

And now we say hello to our fellas, the Fuentes boys. We have Mo Damashek coming up in one second. And Jeff Schwartz for the jerk list. How are you, fellas? Feeling pretty bummed, man. The Patriots are back in their 10th Super Bowl appearance since the Dolphins last won a playoff game. It's a shit exists.

We were talking about this in the office earlier, Dave. And I think that the dolphins don't catch. enough shit for being as bad as they've been over the last 20 years. I think like people like to pile on the Browns. The Browns have won a playoff game since I've exited high school. So I think, I think football America and other football Americans, yeah, we should find a way to collectively give the dolphins more shit. Listen, I think that's spot on as, you know, what do you call them, a legacy team or a tent pole franchise or whatever you would call them. Obviously, they don't date back of the 30s or anything, but deeply important in Super Bowl era lore, those two early 70s titles

that they win and all of that. You're right. They've been lost at sea for way too long, despite having one of the three or four best quarterbacks in the history of the Super Bowl era. Interesting stuff. By the way, Super Bowl 46, the lowest total since Super Bowl 50 between the Broncos and Panthers, that total was 43. Right now, the total is 46 on this game. And the Seahawks are laying five down in South Beach. They're sad because it's sunny outside but gloomy in their hearts. In Pittsburgh, it's actually snowy and they have a new head coach up there. If you haven't heard about that, let's get it to our weather girl, Mo Damashik,

for a quick update there before we talk about the two teams going to the Super Bowl and the final four. Apparently some technical difficulties are getting in the way of our brand new segment in which we get a weather forecast. Today in Football America, we want to travel to the banks of the three rivers. It's apparently a tundra, a winter wonderland here as our correspondent, our weather girl. It's my mother, Momo Damasek. I know time is short because you have to play Canasta. We appreciate you squeezing us in to your busy schedule. First things first, Momo, what is it like out there?

What are the latest conditions in terms of snowfall and otherwise? It is, we had 12 inches of snow. It finally stopped snowing and they plowed the streets. But the snow is piled so high now on the streets. It'll be like April or May. You know that till it melts. How great would it have been if it had snowed? If there had been an AFC title game in Pittsburgh, it would have been even worse.

And the tears would have frozen even more quickly than they did in Denver. Everybody weeping about it's snowing at a football game. Shame the devil. It would have been glorious in Pittsburgh. So it's snowy there in other words. It is very snowy. It's very cold. It's going to be 12 or 13 all week.

So as I said, it's not going to melt. But one good thing, one bad thing. Remember when I was in nursing school? I told you they shut down Fifth Avenue. No, I wasn't alive then. But no, I've heard the story. Yes. Anyway, Negley Hill.

Pittsburgh's a very hilly city. Negley Hill is right in the middle of a residential area. It's a big hill. They shut down the bottom of the street. And we walked up and went sled riding down. Negley Hill. They did the same thing yesterday. They shut down Fifth Avenue, this major thoroughfare, and people were skiing and sled riding down Negley Hill. And the other thing would be horrible for you because you loved snow days. You loved them so much. Now they just...

The only ray of sunshine that my youth ever saw was a snow day. That was it for you. That's your only happiness. So I was happy with now they all go to remote learning. And so they still have to sit there. Ah, no. No sled rides. The man wins again. I thought of you, I thought you would just be, you would be in that bad being like, no. The forever war continues.

This battle goes to the man. It does. Boy, does that suck. All right. Your sisters would be like, okay, but you'd be like, oh, Oh, is he there. Anyway, yes. Go ahead. So wait, they've taken away one of the few pleasures of being a school-bound kid, which is in wintery climbs. When they announced the night before, you listen to the radio to hear if your school gets named or morning of. I don't know which is better. Both are great when you hear your school's name. Shout it out and you have the day off. Now the man weighs down on you and says turn on your computer and learn some more. I can't stand it that's the same noise a lot of people

in Pittsburgh you said that the weather the temperature is 12 degrees but the wind chill they say it feels like it feels like things are chillier in the reception from Steelers fans for the local the prodigal sun

coming home now to coach the Pittsburgh Steelers it seems like from a distance there are more people upset by this news than happy about it give us a temperature check on how Pittsburghers are reacting to Mike McCarthy's hiring in Pittsburgh. Many, many Pittsburghers just distraught. Of course, they're never going to another game. They're not going to watch them on television. They're finished. This is the last straw. Fortunately, our family, really good loyal fans, as you know, much more optimistic.

I mean, guarded optimism, but much more optimistic. Amy was over here Friday night, went on and on about they can Amy my older sister yes yes Amy your older sister okay stealer fan oh big big Pittsburgh sports fan as we know her family went to pirate games until the last one or two years big fans they're weirdos yeah right they cross a line in my book they're too much but okay but okay anyway I appreciate it no Mike McCarthy he's too old maybe they're hiring him if they hire him because he's a Pittsburgh guy she doesn't agree with that she just didn't want him someone younger and everything. So I talked to her immediately after I hear on Saturday. She's changed completely. Well, maybe he'll do a better job. I think he's going to do, you know, that's Amy.

Okay. So the arrows pointed up on the thermometer. Wait, across the board. I did a small poll. Yeah. People in their mid-20s, mid-50s, mid-70s. So we're covering, you know, the gamut of ages and everything. Okay. Uncle Mike, you know, curmudgeon about so many. Sure. Yes. Well, he's worried more now about the quarterback situation. If they, he, that man doesn't even bring up like Mike McCarthy that much except to say, if they're able to get a good young quarterback, maybe. So his temperature is moderate.

It's temperate. He's white. But he said, too, he's old. He's like, you know, he doesn't have a lot of years. Amy wanted somebody that could be here for 20 years in the Steelers tradition. That's what he says again. Benjamin the most optimistic. My nephew.

Your nephew, Benjamin, cautiously optimistic. Oh, good. He thinks they must hire, though, a defensive coordinator. He thinks that he, and he thinks to, the quarterback is big to everybody. And he's thinking that Mike McCarthy might be able to. And he did a decent job in Dallas. They won 12 games. So they're all, they're not on the naysayers.

Well, Irv likes it. On my friend chain with the Pixburgers, people, Irv likes it. Yes. Richie sister, Sarah, does not like it. She's very upset about this. Okay. And so it's a range of opinions is basically, is what I'm hearing. But not in our family.

Then, Zachary. Brett doesn't like it, but he's going to get behind it because he feels obliged to get behind it to toe the line. I really think that's what's going on. with Uncle Mike, Amy, Benjamin, and Zachary, who is in college, as you know, Zachary. Yeah, I do know that. I did know that. He's in college. He is such a fan, too. He has driven back for some Steeler games. He, the first day of classes was last Monday. Was he a temple? Oh, no. He went to the Steelers' playoff game because he's such a fan. But then he realized, I shouldn't miss two day of classes,

got in his cart midnight and drove back five hours to Philadelphia. Heroic. Heroic thing. So he is a fan. His comment was predictable. Very sort of coach signetti type sardonic thing. Typical. Predictable.

Typical of the Steelers. What else is new? They just, they operate like it's in 1974 again. All right. Well, good. We're very good update there, Mo. It's interesting to hear what's going on. You're the boots on the ground, a chili straw pole for the rest of football America to get a sense of what's going down there.

Last thing before you go. Any update on who you like better, Mike Fuentes or Gino Fuentes? No. I need to spend a little bit more time with both of them. Right now, they're equal. But, you know, eventually I will have a favorite. You know what? The Super Bowl is.

you know, right on the horizon there. On the other side of that, maybe we should have Gino and Mike go on dates with you on audio dates here, like we've done in past efforts. And Mike and Gino can court you, and then you can choose that based on that. One of them has- Gino does,

but Mike is apparently a ladies man down Florida away. So we'll see. We'll see who can win the heart of MoMA. I'm sure he'd be honored, but I would be uncomfortable. I don't know. We'll see. With Gino. You have to stiff arm him.

And Gino's, you're better. You said. Mike, do you think you have better game than Gino to win over Mo Moe? I know I do. Oh, you do? Okay. I don't know. This is going to be a tough relationship, Mo, just so you know, though, you and Mike.

Mike hates the winter. He thinks football is no good if it snows. Oh, it's chilly outside. So that may be a pointed division for the two. Neither of us are going to move. But long distance might work. People do it. All right.

We'll say how it works. Maybe Mike is good at canasta and that'll be enough, you know? That's all need, right? All right. Go play your canasta. Okay. All right. Love you, son.

Bye. There goes, Mo-Moh, Damasek, with an update on Mike McCarthy and all the rest of what's going down in Pittsburgh in Football America. All right, for this next item, I want to bring in our pal here. He joins us every week. We appreciate it all through football season. I know you appreciate it, too. he's Jeff Schwartz. Host of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you.

He's doing all the bare bets stuff over there on Fox as well. Meantime, how are you, Jeff Schwartz? I'm good, you know? I know the football's coming to an end, Dave, but it, you know, it turns just, it makes me think of like spring and baseball and softball season for my daughter. It's like I get excited for that idea, but obviously one game left, man, one game left. I know in a corporate event at that. All right.

Here's the thing that I'm bringing. in for and this goes neatly for you as a SoCal native. Sam Darnold, USC University of Southern Cal, that's what it stands for if you haven't heard. I was surprised by this and I, you know, I love my Super Bowl history and all that. I just never put two and two together. Do you know Sam Donald is the first USCQB to ever start a Super Bowl? I saw that today. Yeah. I think they had like 26 in the NFL. He's the first, 26 drafted. He's the first one. And this is what is. fourth team, right? Fourth team, I think that's

what it ends up being. So look, but I'm going to have to eat some crow on Sam Donald. I'm fully okay to accept that. My standard was always this, right? Like, if you close your eyes and visualize Roger Goodell, I know he's not

holding the Lombardi, but like he gets the Lombardi eventually, right? And he hands it to the owner and then maybe they hand it to, like, is Sam Donald raising that Lombardi trophy? at the end of the Super Bowl? Yes, he's going to. Like, I never pictured that in my brain.

That's something that's going to happen at the end of this season, Dave. And it's very likely going to happen that Sam Dernold is the one with the picture at the end hoising the Lombardi Trophy after he was a Super Bowl for the Seattle Seahawks. I mean, that obviously is now. His life is completely different

than it was 48 hours ago before the NFC title game kicked off. He is now won and had a great game. against the L.A. Rams to take his team to the Super Bowl. The idea the QB wins in the postseason don't matter, don't impact how we regard quarterbacks in the quarterback league is weird. It's an attempt to create a reality that is not there. I'm fascinated by the people who argue with me about it. I'm not talking about necessarily. In fact, I did argue with one mean of times about it on the Levitard show a week ago. I think where we get confused.

where were two ships passing in the night, the people who argue against QB wins, is it's not necessarily about the performance of those guys, although if they blow it, if they throw three or four interceptions in a big spot and they're supposed to be carrying their team like Josh Allen did, then that deserves a little stink on this guy who you're holding up. On the other hand, what I'm talking about is the result. Recorded history is based on the victors. They write it, as you may have heard the cliche say.

And so now when you win, you're the. enduring legend of the era, not the guy who had better stats than you in October. All right, I don't want to have this conversation again, even though I'm having. But I think, Dave, I think the reason why people don't like the quarterback and win discussion is because oftentimes a winner or loss is not solely on the quarterback, right? I get it, of course. But you're right, though. For legacy, winning these games absolutely does matter.

And even like moving forward to two weeks from now, I've always been one that's been like, I know, darn it, the big games, not as good. good. Not anymore. Can't use that. Right. That's it. But he also played well where like Drake May has made the Super Bowl and the offense hasn't been very good. So like you can't really use that as a quarterback wins thing for him. I don't think any differently.

I actually think worse about their offense, even though they're three and on the postseason. So it's just a matter of how you frame it. But this was, I mean, the Donald, this has to huge. He played so well. He was so good. I agree. And now we regard him very differently.

big spot, big performance, obviously now, Sam Darnold, is a virtue under center for your team, not a detriment. Okay, here's the thing I wanted to ask you. And Fuentes, boys, I'm interested in how accurate you can be on this one too. Jeff Schwartz, you know, I like the history a little bit better than you do. So Sam Darnold, first USCQB to ever start a Super Bowl. Do you know the school, and it's one school who has the most quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl? This is probably going to be pit or something.

I don't know, Dave. I know it. I'm not going to say it. Do you know it, Gina? It's Michigan. And it's all one guy. No, no, no. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm right. I don't know if that's definitely true, but I'm talking about most quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl. Just the name count, not how many Super Bowl. It's probably going to be like some obscure, some obscure school that we don't put as a quarterback school, it's my guess. Well, it's not obscure. You've heard of it.

But it's a school that we don't. would associate with most quarterbacks starting in a Super Bowl. But I will tell you this. One of the guy, well, he didn't do it there, but he is a champion.

Nevertheless, this guy, who went to Cal. It's Cal? It's Cal, that's right. Fernando, went to Cal before he was an IU legend for all of time.

It is Cal. They had five. The most quarterbacks ever to start a Super Bowl Rogers golf. Correct. Doing well. Doing well.

You won't get the other ones. Are you going to name a bunch of guys that were there like before the Cold War or something? Like that's not fun. Yeah. Well, I don't think the Cold War, I think Super Bowl era follows the Cold War. I was listening to,

or the start of the Cold War. I was listening to a podcast and they brought on someone who is an older, an older gentleman. He was talking about like Autogram. And I was like, I'm out. Like, what do we do? I agree. You know my cut point.

The NFL, I think she think is great because they never do this, right? Like we don't ever, we're like, Shoah, Tani. Best season says 1910. You're like, what? Just enjoy the season for what it is. Knowing the NFL is like, you know what? That's Sam Darnold. It reminds me of 1913 old oil can boy.

You're like, no, like, no. What are we doing? NFL never does that, Dave. It's one thing I love. Oh, no, no, no. people, I've had many conversations with people who invoke the name Don Hudson as though his stats in the 30s have anything to do with modern football. You probably talk to the real idea.

I know. Well, I always say Don Hudson was covered by my forefathers. It's not impressive to do anything. Who cares what he did? The general NFL media doesn't do that where they do it so much in baseball, a little bit in basketball. It frustrates me so much because NFL is so different than it was even 15 years ago comparing, even baseball.

Like comparing O'Tonni to Babe Ruth is not even remotely a discussion to be had. And baseball people cannot stop doing it. Well, here's the, you have to start the clock at different points for different sports. I think in baseball, it makes sense to start at around 45. Jackie Robinson makes the scene and changes things. Okay. So, okay. So mid-40s for that sport. Hockey, it's either 67 when they're become more than a half-dozen teams in the league

or maybe 1980 with further expansion, 7980. 81-ish when they bring in some of those Western province teams from Canada and otherwise. NBA, I think, is, again, somewhere in the 70s, maybe even you start the clock when magic and bird arrives. That's not an unreasonable argument. And in football, the needest of all, the Super Bowl era, nothing before it matters. Who cares about any of the rest of it? But okay, so there you go.

Joe Cap is the answer. I don't know. He was born. I know Joe. Okay. Cold War son, yes. Craig Morton started for the Broncos in Super Bowl 12 against the Cowboys, former cowboy, Vince Farragamo, Super Bowl 14 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. You said it right, shorts.

Bama is the second most QBs to start from one school. Do you want to try to name those guys? Are you counting Jalen Hertz? Yeah. What do you mean? Oh, yeah, I guess, okay. Yeah, that's fair. You couldn't remove it.

I think about the portal. What do you count it? So it's, um, uh, yeah. So by that standard, I guess Fernando, well, he didn't make a Super Bowl. Now I'm getting confused. Joe Namath, right? Correct. Um, no one, no one, no, I don't know who else.

Snake Stabler. There are some names on this short list. Let me tell you. Snake Stabler and Bart Starr. They're enduring legends of the sport. What are we talking about it? Number three, Notre Dame. There are three schools.

I just named one of them for you. Name the school. There are three schools that have had three QB start a Super Bowl. Jesus. I just gave you, I think Notre Dame's kind of obvious. Notre Dame, who's that, Montana? I can't, I mean, I know, like, Joe Disman and Daryl LaMonica.

Sorry, it's easier to name the quarterbacks of like, who win, obviously, than losing quarterbacks. I'm trying to think of all the winning quarterbacks. Oh, that's weird. It's weird for the people who don't believe in QB wins, that that would be true. I don't know the other two teams. I mean, Michigan?

Is Michigan one of them? No, it's LSU, the late David Woodley, the worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl. Borough, obviously. Stan Humphrey is also in the conversation for worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl and Joe Burrow. And then another kind of weird one, although they do have a nice legacy of QB's, Purdue.

Lenny Dawson, Bob Greasy, Drew Breeze. Wow. That's that. I don't know. Am I the only person interested in the conversation we just had for the last four minutes? Maybe. I'm interested. I will say I did see

before the National National Championship on Monday a Purdue fan that had like a Purdue like mascot with Indiana head on it saying like I'm rooted for Indiana. I thought that I was that was that was treason. You should be you should be hanged for that. Yeah, it's pathetic. It's really it's really sad. We don't need to indulge

that sort of flailing about for relevancy. All right, let's get to the jerk list. If somehow this is your first experience with the jerk list, Mike and Gino, Gino and Mike Fuentes will make a statement to me and Jeff Schwartz and then Schwartz and I will decide whether or not that's a rational thing to say given the evidence we have or if that's a knee-jerk reaction to something we just saw. Take it away, Fuentes, boys. All right, let's see. Brady's performance in the booth has come a long way over the last two years.

Shorts, you go first. Yeah, it's got a lot better. Are we surprised that Tom Brady put the working to be a bit? better broadcaster, it's hard to broadcast games. Dave, you'll like this story. I'm going to try to do as quick as possible. So I called some games when I was, when I retired on Facebook Live was the was like Stadium Facebook Live. We streamed the entire game, no commercials. I don't think I knew this. It was 2017. It did three college games that year. The first one I did was UTSA at home in Alamo Dome against rice. All right. And that week I had a very intense stomach bug.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I like this already. Okay. And it was better Friday. I got to San Antonio a better Friday. And Saturday I was pretty much okay. Took some emotiums, lock everything up.

And I told my broadcast partner that, hey man, I might have to go running. It's just when you know. It's giving you a lot. Lock everything up. Now, mind you, no commercial breaks. So there wasn't like a good, there was no, we had five minute,

half time break. That was it. Like commercial break, like during like a, be like, let's go down to the sideline reporter and get a social media report. Like it was one of those, you know, like, now that's more common. We didn't really do that. So about seven minutes left in the game, the bubble guts, like it starts bubbling.

I'm like, oh, boy, here we go. And it was, it came, but two minutes left, man, I missed a third down and fourth down. I missed two plays. I just ran to the bathroom, did what I had to do, cleaned it up and went and missed two plays. though. I was pretty impressed with myself to miss two points. Wait a minute. Jack Youngblood played a Super Bowl on a broken leg. I think you should have played through it. You guys should have cram my pants?

Yeah, right. I think like Ruprecked like Rupert like Rupert. Steve Martin in in whatever that movie that you should have just gone. My first my first ever broadcast poop attack, two minutes left in the game. Holy hell. No commercials. Mike, he just goes, right? that's the pro move. You just, you just, sorry, I got to make it through this game. No, I know.

No. No. I mean, I'm already questioning his cleanliness just by saying he only missed two plays. You know, that's like, that's like a 90-second window. Well, there was a timeout before the fourth down play. So I got, I got a third down play, a time out, a fourth down play, and came back. And no one knew. No one knew besides my first one.

No one knew. Yeah. It was not good. I would be better right now, obviously. It's like the first thing I did after I retired. But it was, I was not going to call games. No. Hey, G. No, see if we can get Tom Brady on. Maybe he has a poop story he could share from his broadcast, from his broadcast. But Brady's gone a lot better. Yes. Okay. Yes, he has. And I was struck by listening to him on Sunday just how good he was. But I'm reminded to, I mean, for real, if you go around social, media and look at football stuff. There is a piece at least one every week of his broadcast career where there's an update on how Tom Brady's doing in the booth. It really is like a make a wish kid kind of standard.

Like, okay, he was bad, but he's getting better like these constant updates. Of course, I would hope he's getting better. He's the highest paid person to ever do the job. I would hope he's doing good at it. I think it's because Romo has gone worse that. it that's why people are sort of like surprised brady's gone better maybe i don't know but but the other thing is can we do away it you know i say this all the time that we live in a world in which both of these things are true you hear about nflm injuries you hear oh he has a lacerated

spleen they'll get into nitty gritty detail about what's going on with a with a football player a what do they call it a twisted testicle or whatever people have had they've had all sort of of terrible injuries. But in hockey, the standard is upper body or lower body injury, and that's all they'll ever tell you. How both of those things can exist at once, I don't know. Same goes for, we can't have broadcasters who are calling the game make a pick on what they think is going to happen in that game. At the same time, Tom Brady is picking the next Raiders quarterback. What the hell? How can both of those things be true at once? It's a loco. You know what? Everybody talking about Tom Brady too much. You're a jerk. Taste a

blaster. It's too much. It's the most famous person ever and he's the most highly paid person to talk about football. I would hope he's getting better at what he's doing. The Broncos home field advantage is actually what doomed them. All right. I've already made my thoughts on this clear. I don't understand what's happened to this world that we're bellyache about the elements having it. Yeah, that's right. The elements impacted a football game. That's happened since they started playing football, Schwartz, how say you? So I was doing radio Sunday morning and I got a text message. Well, we talked

about text messages a buddy of mine got and it had a forecast for the game. The forecast called for the weather. Like, it was known it was coming. It might have been a little more winning than I thought. But one team was ready for it. New England was ready for it. They didn't

suffer from it. No, they had a whole bunch of other problems they had. They never looked like they were unprepared for it. They had no idea was coming. Even, I thought that was a keen note from Romo, as a matter of fact, to say, you know, they really better start, you know, trying to make some plays here because they're about the flip sides and they're not going to be able to move the ball once it gets to the fourth quarter. That was an interesting note. And that's not going to stop moving the ball when they didn't get the wind. They did in the

third quarter. They moved the ball and kicked a field goal. Um, uh, I, I know I differ for some people on this. I want the Super Bowl to be playing in pristine conditions. Don't I want that perfectly, perfect pristine conditions. I'm okay with. the benefit of playing at home getting a snowstorm. I'm fine with it. But they didn't get a benefit. They did not get a benefit. But that's because of the quarterback.

Jared Sidham was playing. But you're trying too hard. He was moving the ball. Fuentes is trying way too hard with this observation. If Bowenicks had played, they win that game. Someone had the gall to tell me, Sean Payton didn't know the weather was coming. Gino Fuentes texted me and told me the weather was coming.

And there's no reason. Gino Fentzis should know and Sean Payton shouldn't. Fair. If I moved the ball, you mean he completed one whole pass that went more than seven yards. Okay, it was two. Okay, one to Mims, one for Sutton and the end. So did you watch the game? I just want to know if you watched a game or not.

The Sutton won the three of a Dave, who very clearly complained and I felt quarterback, he could have made that throw too, okay? That, that, he made one throw through all game. By the way, Jake made me one throw over 10 yards all game too. So, I mean, it was not the best game. But I will not put him the way for this loss.

No. I mean, well, I, the thing that I would blame is, and I think that's a completely fair thing to say is that, Sean Payton should have been playing to the reality of the situation more than he did. I also think, and this isn't Prisoner to the Moment stuff, 2020 hindsight or otherwise, I guess not present. Mike Fuentes and I definitely park our cars in the same garage on this. And I think a lot of people do in the moment. What the hell did Sean Payton not kick that field go for?

That was crazy. Why would you go to 10-0 in that spot with the terrible conditions? And you, even if it was sunny and 75 out, it's your backup cue. you can go up 10 points with 35 minutes left for you in a trip to the Super Bowl. What do you thinking, man? So a couple of things on this one, Dave. I'm generally pro going for it. I thought the play call was really bad.

Yes. There's about four different plays that defense would expect with a backup quarterback. That was one of the four, right? One of them is a quarterback sprint to the right. like Q8 sprint right option whatever you want to call it the other one's probably some sort of play action pass to a tight end right like a little wide leak type of thing like that's the tight end one them just run the ball up the middle and the other one was this was this the teams do they do this like roll out to the back in the flat it's against man coverage against zone you have to go look back

inside someone kind of sets up in the zone and they got pressure right away like it was just the play call was very predictable if you go for do something else i think i'm okay with that with that option, they just did one of the four plays that everyone expected to come. And I just thought in general that the game plan was not as creative as I thought it would be. Maybe there was no fifth in Stidup. I don't know why we convinced ourselves that Siddham was going to play well

as I did. He covered, which I'll take. But I didn't mind going for it. If you go 14-0, the game was over. I mean, he's going for the kill shot. I'll really. I get that. But I mean, so I say I idealized the weather condition.

and all of that, but the reality is it's miserable outside, and it's your backup QB, and you have them throwing? None of it made any sense to me. Not to mention, the defense had been absolutely dominating the Patriots. Like, they had not been able to move the ball at all, and the only reason they scored a touchdown to tie it was could Stidham fill his pants in his own end. So you go up of two scores there. I mean, you just have to take every point that's available when you have Stidham and weather

coming. Sean Payton said he saw six men on the line, and that's when they changed the play. Wait, which one? The fourth down play? On the fourth down play. He said that the Patriots put six men up front and they crowded everyone together and that's when they changed the play. I wish Schwartz would have filled his pants, but instead he locked it up.

But then he went, I don't know, all that. That play, by the way, I think it was just an incomplete pass. They called it a back lateral. I did not see that. No, no, it was a lateral. No, no, that's on the other end. Here's a question, Dave. If I throw a ball and it gets hit by the defender, it goes backwards.

Is that a backwards pass? No. Okay. So are we saying the defender did not hit the ball? I don't think. The two-handed pass? Yeah. No, I don't.

Believe me, it is an optical illusion like a lot of those are. We have the benefit of the actual stripe to guide us. And the ball you can see empirically, the ball goes back by about a half a yard. So the defender hit his hand, not. the ball then. Yeah. Okay, because if you hit the ball, it's incomplete pass, not a backwards pass. It's deflected pass.

Right. Okay. Okay. I agree that went backwards. My thing is that it's not often ruled that. Like, if you're a quarterback comes to throw the ball, their hand gets hit as they throw the ball and the ball goes backwards. They're going to call that a deflected pass.

The same thing happened here, they called it a backwards pass. It's sort of inconsistent how they rule these, which is a way that a lot of these go. Before we go, because I have to jump, I have to. throwing in here too before the Fuentes boys roll on. Dave Damashek is the opposite of a jerk here. Get out a jerk free card for Dave. Simple minded Dave, maybe. But Dave told you sophomore QB goes to the Super Bowl, team with a first round by goes to the Super Bowl. Both are true. Can argue with me. We can overcomplicate it. Those are the two measures of who gets to the Super Bowl. And it happened once again. As a reminder, put a little footnote in it. Remember it for next year. Press your friends.

in September, 2026, when you say the same thing and then it comes true about a year from now. Dave wins again. Okay, continue. All right. I think I'll take it from here then. Let me see.

This one's fun. Why don't I get a parade? Nobody can say, you know what? No, you know what, Dave? That was pretty good that you said that all year and it came true. It's for one, the buy thing is obvious. And the second thing is obvious. So then why doesn't everybody point it out all the time like I did?

Okay, go Jito. Okay. real loser on Sunday was the Minnesota Vikings. I've seen this one floating around. Shorts, how say you? Oh, man. Okay. So if your favorite team had drafted a quarterback in the first round

who didn't play because he was hurt, and then you saw a guy who had a one-year deal play as bad as he did in week 17 and in the playoffs, you would have been like, get out, get this guy out of here. And in the moment, they made the right decision. See, I'm Donald did not play well to end the season, the two most important games of the season. And you have this young quarterback who you drafted who's cheaper on a win contract.

And you loved him so much. You drafted him 11th overall 10th to 11th, somewhere like that. They made the right. Now, they might hate how it ended up for Sam Donald in the situation he's in now. But you can't go back and you can't go back backwards and say, well, now we know you would have kept him. When they got rid of him, he had to play the two worst games in the season. their two most important games, and they have McCarthy waiting to play.

They didn't even see play yet. It didn't play at all. So I think the Vikings in the moment made the right decision. Now, it might not work out for them because McCarthy looks like he might not be the guy and he hasn't played enough to really know that. And Donald's going to win the Super Bowl, in my opinion. So, yeah, the Vikings probably hate themselves

that the end result is what it is. But when they made the decision with the information they had, I think they made the right decision. I think you get it right. And the only thing that would dissuade me from agreeing with that is if we could hook KOC up to a lie detector and say, did you know a year ago that J.J. McCarthy was not going to work out. But obviously their behavior indicated that they thought J.J. McCarthy was going to work out.

And so they moved on from a guy who, by the way, again, had shown no one under the sun that he could win in big spots, which brings us back to the importance of QB wins and what they mean to a guy. Look, I think quarterback wins again. in general matter but postseason legacy

it does matter but this is a more practical one this is not result means that now we we build a statue to the quarterback this is a guy who had shown boy he falls on his face in big spots

he's not the man that's why you move on from him this is 2020 hindsight he played very well he played very well But, I mean, look, record winning team scores under 17 points, okay? Justin Herbert's 2 and 16, Burroughs 1 in 10, Allen's 419, Mahomes is 2 and 7. Drake Mays 2 and 0 in the playoffs. Like, quarterback, I mean, it's not the BL end off for a team winning and losing. But it's also what I always tell you is when you have the guy and he's still on his rookie contract,

that's when you're going to get to the Super Bowls. We try to talk our way around them to steer it into other factors when those take a backseat. Only two in our lifetime to really break that trend of Brady and Mahomes, right? I mean, Manning for a short window, right? But like it's been pretty much young quarterbacks have gone their teams, right? Carson Wentz got his team. Big Ben did in year two. Wilson did in year two, May now in year two.

And Donald's not that expensive. Donald's a mid, he's getting paid like a mid-tier quarterback. Well, by the way, I also was advocating for another team to go after Sam Darnel. take a big swing on that guy or draft Jackson Dart and bring a bridge guy Justin Fields to play 2025 to play September and October of 2025 until you decide, okay, let's give the kid the keys and let him take over from that spot or swing big on Sam Darnel. They did neither. And I don't remember how it worked out there. That brings us to the next item on the jerk list. Take it away there, Fuentes, boys. Before we get going. So Dave, are you willing to put your money

any of these quarterbacks winning the Super Bowl next year or getting to the Super Bowl. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Cam Ward, Chador Sanders, Jackson Dart, Jalen Milro, Dylan Gabriel, can I raise his name right? Or Tyler Shuck. Are you going to take any, putting any bets down, any features on that? No. Maybe. I don't know. I have to see what happens in the year. You're trying to put me on the spot. How would I know? I want to see how confident you are. Well, listen. You're going to say how confident you are. I'll bring it up. I'll bring it up.

So this thing that's going. Well, the Steelers are hiring. Mike McCarthy is uninspired. That's the... Well, right. Okay, but let me just... That's what... See? But no, this is this thing that people are doing about specific to Mike McCarthy hire and all these other situations that are unsettled around football America.

I mean, it's the same as like stopping the barber halfway through your time in the chair and being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this haircut sucks, man. Like, well, we don't even know what it's going to look like in the end. I don't know who Mike McCarthy's going to be going to. hire to be on his staff. I don't know who the quarterback in Pittsburgh is going to be. The only thing I do know is shame the devil if it's a 43 year old man who we last saw once again, afraid of a pass rush. He shrinks if you heat him up. That's not good in pro football so long as I don't want to be a negative Nelly. I bet that some pro football teams next season

also have a pass rush. How say you, Jeff Schwartz? That would be impressive if the past going next day. McCarthy has won a lot of football games. I tweet this out to this friends like, oh, it's like, Mike Tomlin. He's won more than Mike Tomlin, to be fair. You won 12 games three years in a row with Dak. Then Dak was hurt. He won seven games

gets fired. Quarterbacks obviously a huge hire there. But look, what were the other options? People throw out like some of these young OCs. The Browns appear to be hiring this, the Rams past game coordinator, who's 35 years old and doesn't even call plays. that's not a good hire either.

What if, by the way, to interrupt you, the name that was at the top of the list that I thought was going to get the gig based on a couple of people I was talking to, I thought it was going to be Chris Shula. How would it go over if they announced Chris Shula today as the new head coach after Sam Darnel just hung 30-something on him? Yeah, I mean, it would be bad. I don't know if that disqualifies you to being a head coach,

but it would have been bad for the Rams defense when they played down the stretch for them, you know, to him getting the job. It feels like a situation where the Steelers just wanted to bridge to a better coaching cycle, essentially, right? Like we bring McCarthy in there for three or four years. And I mean, you won a Super Bowl? Probably not, but Drake May and the Patriots and Sam Donald and Steelers are in the Super Bowl this year, Seahawks Super Bowl. Like, it's not a super we expected. That doesn't mean, you know, Pittsburgh can certainly be with.

They need a quarterback. What's your player for quarterback, Dave? That's the number one issue, not who they hit coaches. Well, there's a lot of buzz that it's going to be the sixth round draft pick. Will Howard from Ohio State, of course. I mean, maybe he'll work out. You know, people cite Tom Brady and whoever else. It's like the idea that you would put all your eggs in that basket seems awfully silly to me.

Like maybe, as I say, I'm not saying that there's no chance he works out. But he went in the sixth round for a reason, everybody. Settled down. Okay. The thing that frustrates me about this discussion all the time is there's 32 teams the NFL. I think four have quarterbacks that aren't first or second round picks. That's it.

Jack Prescott, right? Brock Purdy, who's the other one? Of course, other ones, I'm forgetting off the top of my head. Jalen Hertz. Second round pick.

That's second round pick. So like, mostly second round picks are mostly like top half second round pick of the second round. It's just not, all Franksuk has are first round picks. So the idea that like Will Howard

is going to be Tom Brady because it happened one time I don't get why fan bases convince themselves of this, even though there's no evidence of that being the case. This weekend, Sam Donald's on his 14, but he's picked fourth overall, right?

Right, fourth, like, he's a first round pick. Drake May, high first round pick. This is what the sport is at this position. Yes, you can find a Dak Prescott. He can find a Brock Purdy. But that's not the way the quarterback system works.

So just think, oh, Will Howard will step in. It's just not aligned with history. Chris to if right if that is your plan it's ludicrous if it happens now it's it it's fine in a hundred dollar bill on the side one correct if you look into it's great and to be fair the daughters lucked into it because they drafted tray lance that's who they wanted to be their quarterback that looked into it and look and look and look and the cowboys sort of lucked into it too because Dak was going to be a backup Roma gets hurt and Dak becomes a starting quarterback it's it's very rarely a guy that you expect when you draft you know Russell Wilson like he third

round pick. Like he, not lucky into it. He beat out Matt Flynn because that was a dumb deal. The Seahawks did. But the idea, like, you just don't, so Will Howell is not backing into any job. He's not good enough to be the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl team. Well, I mean, to address the Mike McCarthy higher, though,

I get why people would say uninspired because he's been around for so long. Mike McCarthy has been. But, and I think a lot of the negativity for people, not just in Pittsburgh as a sports town, But expressing dim cynicism equals gravitas, I think in people's minds at least,

that it makes them feel important to come out of the gate with some piss and vinegar. But the thing that makes no sense is like, well, they get rid of Tomlin. Tomlin moves on and they just go to Mike McCarthy. What's the difference between them two? And Mike Florio, who obviously I would think knows better saying, like if they were going to do all this, why didn't they go after Jim John Harbaugh? I mean, aside from the back that he's the Ravens coach, they would never do, which would rule him out as the Ravens guy,

they would never hire him. That's not a Steelersy thing. But John Harbaugh is not what Mike McCarthy is. Mike McCarthy develops QBs everybody. Mike Tomlin does not develop QBs. That is specifically what Mike McCarthy does about as well as anybody. Just because he's been around for a while doesn't negate the fact. that's the goal whether or not it works is another matter,

but that's the thinking of hiring Mike McCarthy. If we just all ignored Mike Florio would be a lot better. I don't know anyone who hates the sport they cover more than Mike Florio. I think he's just trying to take it down. I just think he loves the... He also is everything's conspiracy. It's always... It's every conspiracy.

It's always a conspiracy. It's just... And the thing about it, he's smart enough to know it's not. And it's, what you about social media that frustrates me is, like, people that know better and they just act this way anyways. A lot of it, and a lot of it's on the political sphere when like, you're like, buddy, like, I know you. Like, you're, what the fuck are you saying? Like, I know, you don't believe any of the shit you're saying. And the conspiracy stuff with Florio just boggs.

He knows, but he's a smart guy. I don't think he's dumb. And he puts out some just silliest stuff sometimes. Like, he knows things are not going to hire Jim Harbaugh or John Harbaugh. Why would you even, if it's for clicks, then that's your business model. go ahead and do it. Be my guess. Because I get to

it. It's just frustrating because I feel like he was better in that for a long time and not anymore. All right. I think we've said

just about it all. I thought this was a real good episode. We covered a lot of ground about the title games and what it means going forward for Super Bowl 60. Let's catch up before that game kicks off

to get our final picks with Jeff Schwartz. In the meantime, make sure you're checking out Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. Bear bets and all the rest of it. Great stuff from our guy, Schwartz.

There he goes. here we go to. We're rolling forward. We will have an episode for you on Friday as Super Bowl 60 draws ever closer. Until then for everybody here at Football America, thanks so much, my fellow football, Americas, Americans, Americas, whatever you call yourselves. It's been a thin slice of heaven.