The Fumblerooski Podcast - Learning the Hard Way -Ep 330 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

The Commanders shock the world and take down the Lions in impressive fashion. The injuries for the Lions defense finally caught up to them as they let up 45 points. What does the Lions window look lik...e now that Ben Johnson has left (and Aaron Glenn potentially gone as well), and how much as the window widened for Washington for the future? Chiefs are inevitable, per usual. The Eagles put their hat in as the Super Bowl favorite, and should John Harbaugh be on the hot seat after another playoff failure?

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Starting point is 00:00:00 the divisional round is behind us and the conference championship matchups are set i'm adam right you're listening to the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the staff sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games where he has three touchdowns someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. And this was an interesting division round.
Starting point is 00:00:43 We had a little bit of everything happen. And when I say that, I mean We had a little bit of everything happen. And when I say that, I mean we had a little bit of everything. And getting down to it, let's start off with the conference finals matchups. So the NFC Championship is going to be the Commanders hosting the Eagles. That game is going to be on Sunday, January 26th. Eagles hosting the Commanders, you mean? I was going to say, what? What did I say?
Starting point is 00:01:11 You said Commanders hosting the Eagles. That's Eagles hosting. No, I didn't. Yeah, you did. Literally did. Eagles hosting the Commanders. That's what I said. No, you said it the other way around.
Starting point is 00:01:21 I misspoke. It's okay. Commanders are visiting the Eagles. Better. Yes. Sunday, January 26th. That is at 3 o'clock p.m. That game is going to be on Fox.
Starting point is 00:01:36 The AFC Championship game. Feels like we get this every other year. We have the Bills who are visiting the Chiefs at Arrowhead. That game's also on the 26th of January, 6.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It's going to be on CBS and Paramount+. A couple pretty good matchups, if you ask me. But recapping some of these divisional round matchups, which we will. We're going to preview the conference finals on our Friday episode, but some of these games, so the Chiefs ended up
Starting point is 00:02:12 beating the Texans 24 to 12, and they're going to their seventh straight AFC championship. And so we'll get to the segment. I'm just going through all of the all the games real quick uh rapid fire but advancing to their seventh straight afc championship this is a rare game where the team that loses out gained them in total yards by a mile by the way um commanders also stunned the lions with a 45 to 31 victory and an upset win on the road there uh jayden daniels is the sixth rookie quarterback to play in a conference final ever none of them have ever been to a super bowl this is going to be an interesting one to to uh to preview for a conference championship.
Starting point is 00:03:05 Their first one in 32 years. Moving on, the Eagles survive a late Rams comeback bid with a 28-22 win. They played a lot better. The Rams, I will say they played a lot better than I expected they would. Being a dome team playing in the snow. It was like one of those snow globe games where it was the blizzard. It was clouding the cameras on the broadcast. It was awesome. Uh, then the bills ended up surviving the Ravens 27 to 25, a couple of mistakes by the by the Ravens in the coaching staff and in their personnel as well. Turnovers killed them, a couple drops, Mark Andrews. But we're going to start off by recapping the Chiefs who have beat the Texans.
Starting point is 00:03:59 24-12, 7th straight AFC championship appearance. I mean, what an unbelievable start to Patrick Mahomes' career. I mean, seven in a row. Seven. This guy is a walking championship contender. No matter what has changed around him on the roster, he's just managed to make it all work. And this is an aging Chief the roster. He's just managed to make it all work. And this is an aging Chiefs roster.
Starting point is 00:04:32 I have a feeling that what they are doing is not quite sustainable. It won't last forever. Some of their core from the beginning of this dynasty has aged a lot. Like, as we've said plenty of times, Travis Kelsey, he's still a very good tight end, but he's not nearly what he once was. He's getting older. He's 35 years old. So it's only a matter of time before he starts to start to deteriorate a little bit more. He's, he's getting progressively worse as far as the statistics go. DeAndre Hopkins is your number one wide receiver, and he's also an old guy who is also going to be a free agent, I might add. So you better hope Rasheed Rice is back and healthy and also keeps himself out of trouble.
Starting point is 00:05:22 Marquise Brown is supposed to be a free agent as well. So a lot agent as well. So I thought, I thought he literally just signed that contract. I don't believe so. I, I thought he had just fact checked me on that, but I, I thought it was a one year.
Starting point is 00:05:40 I thought it was a one year deal. Was it not? Yeah. I thought he got two or three. I thought it was like a two. You it not yeah i thought he got two or three i thought it was like a two you know what i'll look no i thought it was a one year deal but fact check me on that either way right now um either way he's not a one so um my point is just one year it's one year yeah so one year deal my point is there's a lot of moving parts throughout that have that
Starting point is 00:06:06 have been going throughout Patrick Mahomes's career and he so far he has survived it seven straight AFC championship appearances you went to a Super Bowl on top of the three that you won so that's four Super Bowls you've been to and you won three of them. You were Super Bowl MVP in all three of your victories. This guy is already an all-time great quarterback and we're seeing more of that greatness now. But I know there were a lot, a lot more questionable calls. And we're going to start right there and I'll pass it off to you guys. Overall, what are our thoughts on this matchup? I mean, the Texans had their chance.
Starting point is 00:07:02 Like you said, they outgained them. They, they outgained them. They outgained them. They got themselves in possession many times to make plays happen, to score, might I add. Like, Kaimi Fairbairn, low-key kind of blew it. What was the stats on him again? He went two for four on field goals, including missing an extra point. So you do the math there and you're down by two in the fourth quarter, maybe.
Starting point is 00:07:37 But yeah, Fairbairn blew it. But other than that, I mean, the defense played pretty well for the most part, because realistically, the Chiefs only had 13 points going into the four. I like thought that the Texans were going to pull it out of their ass. Like Joe Mixon scored in the third quarter to put the Texans almost ahead. It would have been a tie game. If he hit the extra point, momentum would have been a whole lot different,
Starting point is 00:08:06 but of course they didn't. And Joe Mixon actually ran the ball well against a top rushing defense. But at the end of the day, Mahomes is inevitable. That's the long and the short of it. Obviously you can look at the penalties here and there, but the main thing when it comes down to the penalties and i we've reiterated this numerous times it doesn't really matter
Starting point is 00:08:32 what the calls are sometimes it's how you make use of the bounces that go your way and the chiefs are the best at capitalizing on these mistakes granted whether it be um whether it be mistakes that the texans did to themselves or maybe it's just granted on a whim to the chiefs they capitalize on other teams mistakes and that's why the chiefs are so good it's kind of it's why the patriots were so good for 20 years. They capitalized on other teams' mistakes. Now, when we talk about the Chiefs in these calls, I do also want to preface, when it comes to penalties, the Chiefs are actually middle of the pack in terms of penalties called on them this year. It's not like they don't get called for anything but the problem that is at hand here is the timeliness of these calls
Starting point is 00:09:30 and obviously there's so many of them throughout the regular season late in the game you name it i mean the texans got hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty when two texans players hit each other didn't even hit mahomes roughing the passer when they hit him in the chest and not even in the head, and another unsportsmanlike or unnecessary roughness penalty for Mahomes flopping. So it's just sad to see these calls being made, especially when it's the Chiefs.
Starting point is 00:10:09 It sucks. these calls being made especially when it's the chiefs it sucks but at the end of the day like what what else are you gonna fucking expect and the problem is like we also grew up in a time where you know break like we grew up in a time with brady and manning and breeze where they're dominant like they took some fucking hits like every time a Holmes goes and flops or does a late slide or whatever and gets a call, all of a sudden you get a montage of all the cracks, all the devastating hits that Brady used to take back in his heyday. Hits where his helmet is fucking popping off and he's getting right back up like nothing happened the problem is that during that era the league wanted to protect the quarterbacks because there's so many freaking stars and i'm sorry but the quarterbacks of today
Starting point is 00:11:00 do not compete in terms of stardom to what those guys were. They just don't. Like, obviously, Mahomes is up there, and Josh Allen is slowly getting up there. Same with Lamar. But they're not reaching that term of stardom. But it's because of that era that the league changed their rules so they could protect guys like brady and manny because
Starting point is 00:11:25 like brady tearing his acl that led to the league changing the rule of roughing the passer can also mean diving out of guys legs or at the quarterback's legs i'll be the first to admit that but that's just the result of what this, what we're, we have seen this weekend is ultimately the result of last 15 years. Yeah, now, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:56 you're true. I mean, you're right. You're right. And it's like, well, I'm not saying it's right at all. I'm just saying,
Starting point is 00:12:00 no, no, no, no, you are right. I mean, it's what's happening. Isn't right.
Starting point is 00:12:04 But you bring that up. Like, no, you're absolutely right. And, and here's, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, saw Adam giving us a look like he disagrees because I'm not going to lie. There are three very good quarterbacks. I have nicknamed Kuda, Wooda, and Shuda, aka Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Justin Herbert. You can also throw Joe Burrow in there for good measure. If you can think of a fourth word, let me know. Heck, Justin Herbert's literally gotten the nickname If Man because it's always if he, that's what he is. But but either way like i said with with uh you know what screw with burrow allen and uh lamar like i said that just could have would it and should have right there i'll let me get that out of the way right now second mahomes give him the trophy right now the trophy i'm referring to his best actress because he flopped i've heard somebody say mahomes
Starting point is 00:13:01 lebron of the nfl yes because of dominance and yes because here's the thing Mahomes flopping that is that's terrible because look when you're the best quarterback or one of the best not this season but overall he's the greatest overall but he's not the best at least not this season right when you are the greatest right now you you're a trendsetter. And this, I think, sets a very dangerous precedent that we're already seeing flopping more and more. And the fact that Mahomes was inbounds, flopped out of bounds, and got the call, that's dangerous. And you know what's going to happen? We're going to start seeing Lamar do it. We're going to start seeing Allen do it.
Starting point is 00:13:46 We're going to start seeing any quarterback that's remotely good start getting these calls. And you know how bad it is? The officials called out the Chiefs. And they said it frustrates defenses. And like I said, they called out Mahomes' strategy about how he'll run, run, run. He'll scramble. He'll get to the sideline, he'll stop, he'll wait for someone to hit him, then he flops out and he draws, and like nine
Starting point is 00:14:11 out of ten times, he draws necessary roughness. And I know we can blame the refs, but it's getting blatant at this point. And I'm not saying it's rigged for the Chiefs. I'm not. I'm not. But, oh my God, the NFL's got to do a better job at, you know, making us think that it's not, you know? Like, you're just doing a bad job at convincing people. I don't, I personally don't think it's rigged in favor of the Chiefs. I mean, yeah, look,
Starting point is 00:14:37 a good team's going to get more calls, but Jesus Christ. And by the way, for those of you saying, oh, you know, Chiefs are middle of the pack i got a stat for you when it comes to that patrick mahomes ever since he got into the league if you combine interceptions and fumbles has had 29 turnovers called back blown dead that's already more than tom brady and peyton manning ever had. Also, Tom Brady throughout his, what, 23-year career in the NFL had 35 roughing the passer penalties. Mahomes has played in seven years, technically
Starting point is 00:15:14 been in the league for eight, and already has 31. So I just want to address all that right now. Going on to the game, this is more or less what I expected to happen it would just be sloppy ugly i won't say defensive rock fight because you know one team cracked 20 but it was just not a good game chief she's got the dub but they're not playing their best ball the texans to quote that one coach whose name escapes me they are who we thought they were i mean no one really i mean i wouldn't be what did you say chris dennis green thank you yeah no no they are who we thought they were that's the thing i mean i wouldn't be shocked if the texans won and like a really ugly one but the loss also doesn't shock me either i just and look yeah the flags were bad but god texans you gotta invest in a new kicker.
Starting point is 00:16:06 This is on the Texans. And look, look, you can blame injuries. Like you're throwing to Xavier Hutchinson. I mean, you got Nico Collins. That's good. But you got Xavier Hutchinson, John Mechie, like, eh, like that. I don't know. For Texans, this is, you know, you won a playoff game.
Starting point is 00:16:25 You upset the Chargers. That's cool. Now you got to go lick your wounds and maybe be back next year. That's really all I got for them. I mean, this doesn't really shock a whole lot of people. Sure, the calls suck, but are you really shocked the Chiefs won? Nope. So my – listen, what I said before this game when we were were previewing it, is in theory, the Texans could win this game.
Starting point is 00:16:49 With the talent that they have, they were in the playoffs last year. With the vulnerability of the Chiefs, they could have won this game. The problem is they just don't have their head screwed on straight this year. And we knew the glaring weakness that the Chiefs, that rather the Texans had, and that was their offensive line. We prefaced that on our Friday episode. So if there's anything that we want to blame for this loss for the Texans and for the win for the Chiefs, maybe don't look so much at the calls by the refs, but maybe the fact that
Starting point is 00:17:26 the texans quarterback was sacked eight times and when you get sacked eight times how often do you win when that happens like how often i'm not saying has it ever happened before we all know it has everyone's look everyone is has the same thought in their head of when it last happened everyone knows joe burrow did it three times yes my point it well nine times in a game i said playoffs yeah joe burrow did it against the titans and uh divisional. But how often does that ever happen? You usually don't win those games. Adam, I'll go a step further with it too. The last drive the Texans had, Stroud was on his ass every single time.
Starting point is 00:18:19 He got sacked eight times, right? Yeah, he got sacked eight times. And the last drive of the game, they got over midfield, and Stroud was on his ass for three straight plays. Like, Steve Spagnuolo just sent the pressure every single time. Right. So, I mean, the offensive line was terrible in this game, and it's been terrible all season long.
Starting point is 00:18:42 So, in theory, theory on paper with what this texans team could have been this year they could have beaten the chiefs they have the talent to do it they have they now have more experience from last year's postseason to take that next step they just took some steps back last this past year they should have been better than they were and the chiefs kind of stayed the same. And unfortunately for everyone else, besides the chiefs, the same for the chiefs ended up being winning the super bowl. We'll see if that happens again. But right now, as far as just the caliber of team, the chiefs are from last year, they're pretty much the same. They're the same. Name the difference on this team.
Starting point is 00:19:31 They're literally the same. Yeah. The Texans got worse. And based on what they should have done this season, they should have won. I, I think the Texans, they had, they have the talent that it takes. That offensive line is so bad. And if you're going to look for anything to blame, to blame yeah i agree all those calls were egregious but that's what i blame more and just to play into to the whole refs narrative because i remember back i'm old enough to remember back in the day when it was the nfl loves the patriots the nfl wants the patriots to win for better tv ratings let's play into that narrative narrative real quick if if the league actually rigged the game for the patriots to win superbowls every single year for the chiefs to win every single year. Do you think that results in better TV ratings? If the same team wins every single year?
Starting point is 00:20:29 I tell you that. I'll go a step further. Brady isn't getting suspended for four fucking games. Yeah, exactly. In fact, I could argue the Leafs hated New England. They literally manufactured a cheating scandal to try to discredit them. They literally created something. Like, so don't you hit me with erm, erm, erm,
Starting point is 00:20:50 the league was helping them because some ignorant fans thought so. And remember that Nothing Burger spy gate, which New England literally didn't break the rules but the league wanted to put their foot down. Like I remember and here's the thing, right? If the Kansas City Chiefs, and i hear something i will tell you let's just say they did something like spy gate or if they actually or if it actually was a real deflate gate if they did that i will put a hundred bucks
Starting point is 00:21:17 on it right now mahomes is not getting suspended they will not be docked a first round pick and that just won't happen because like like I said, it's like numerical. They are getting more calls. Mahomes is getting more ruck in the passer calls. I got to cut you off right there. He'll be Brady probably by next year, and he's already had more turnovers a race. So the numbers just don't back you up. I think the Patriots and Chiefs, as far as the league hating them,
Starting point is 00:21:43 as far as league fans hating them, are kind of cut from the same cloth. I don't think there's much different. The cheating scandals just haven't come yet. I think something might come up. You know if there's something sketchy that happens that everyone is going to jump to the conclusion the Chiefs are cheating. It's going to happen. And as far as Deflategate goes, to this day, I don't understand why the Colts footballs were not checked
Starting point is 00:22:12 any more than four of them. They checked four. Three of the four were underinflated, and they stopped checking them. But I don't remember the Colts getting punished. That's because they gave the weather treatment to the colts but they gave the cheating treatment to the patriots that's why well you know only one of those balls was more than a few ticks under the under the legal limit and that was the one that uh what's his name intercepted and he didn't even feel
Starting point is 00:22:46 something wrong with it he just wanted to keep it as a souvenir and then that dingleberry gm took the ball and said check them because there's no reason we should be down 45 to 7 to a team that's superior to us just saying and spate, they keep saying they we've gone down this rabbit hole. They keep saying that the Patriots were taping somebody's walkthroughs, but that wasn't what Spygate was. Spygate was about film in game of, don't forget that, which they, no one said they couldn't. And when there was rules that were established,
Starting point is 00:23:31 it was not even that you couldn't do it. It was the angle from which they were recording it from. Does that, does that change whether or not you're winning or losing a game, the angle from which you're recording the sidelines of the opposing sideline? Does that change anything? Are you winning? Are you losing any of those three Super Bowls if you just have a different angle? I'm just saying. Listen.
Starting point is 00:23:59 No, not really. Unless you're Marshall Falk who thinks it made a difference. But then again, he's already got CTEs, so we don't care. All I'm saying, to round this out, because we need to move on, this is a 25-minute segment here. To round this out, being someone who has followed the Patriots my whole life, I understand a lot of what the Chiefs are kind of going through. It's a lot of kind of the Chiefs have been good for so long
Starting point is 00:24:27 and somebody wants to see someone else come out on top. And to that, I say, why isn't the rest of the league playing better in times that it matters most? There's no shortage of quarterback talent, especially in the AFC. Joe Burrow is one of the better quarterbacks in the league. Josh Allen is in the AFC championship right now. Lamar Jackson may just win his third league MVP this year. You have Justin Herbert, who's extremely talented and hasn't been able to put it together. CJ Stroud is a solid quarterback. Why haven't all these quarterbacks won a Super Bowl yet? Why? They don't play well when it matters most. They're incredibly these quarterbacks won a super bowl yet why they don't play well when it matters most they're incredibly talented quarterbacks but why aren't they winning super bowls it's because patrick mahomes is just that much better than everyone else
Starting point is 00:25:14 unfortunately yep and i i'm i'm here's what i'll end with i'm'm sick of the Brady Manning comps to Mahomes Allen, because Brady Manning is closer to if you were to clone Mahomes and have the two of them face each other. I'll end with that. We have to move on. We're going to the divisional round on the NFC side. The Commanders going to the NFC Championship for the first time since 1991. I'm Adam Wright. You're listening to the FC Championship for the first time since 1991. I'm Adam Wright. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws.
Starting point is 00:25:53 Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Roki podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting adam right cj madero's chris kostich after a 25 minute segment of ranting about the chiefs about how bad the texans have gotten somehow managing to turn it into the Patriots. The league loves the Patriots when they suspended Tom Brady for the possibility that he might know something about underinflated footballs when the Colts footballs were underinflated too.
Starting point is 00:26:34 But that aside, the commanders pulled off one of the better upsets that I've seen in some time. And they beat the 15 and two lions, a team that I believe was going to the Super Bowl. I had been saying it since the preseason proudly. And disappointingly, they did lose. But what an absolute assassin Jaden Daniels is. 45- 31 victory unfortunately this injury depleted lions team especially on
Starting point is 00:27:10 the defensive side of the ball could not stop jayden daniels and that aside some of the throws that daniels made were insane um i cannot believe some people actually thought Bo Nix should be offensive rookie of the year over this kid. I cannot believe it. And he's one of just six rookie quarterbacks now to go to a conference championship. Three of those guys, I might add, eventually, none of them that year won a Super Bowl, but eventually went on to go to a Super Bowl. Brock Purdy went the year after. Ben Roethlisberger won it the year after. And Joe Flacco won it in 2012.
Starting point is 00:27:57 So, there's a possibility this kid, in a couple of years, or maybe this year, who knows, could end up with some bling. But Jaden Daniels, 299 rushing yards, receiving yards, passing yards rather, two touchdowns. Jared Goff threw three picks. This is devastating for the Lions. And seeing how Goff has played in some big games over the course of his career, it makes me wonder if the Lions even had a Super Bowl window to begin with. Yes, sure. Jared Goff has been to a Super Bowl. How did he play in it?
Starting point is 00:28:47 And yes, he's been to a conference championship with the Lions. Maybe they could have gone that year, but how would they have done against the Chiefs? And that's to say that even if they didn't go for those fourth downs, maybe they still don't win that game um i there's a lot on there's a lot of uncertainty around the lions especially after you're going to end up losing both of your coordinators one of them ben johnson's already a lion uh as far as the commanders go what did i I say? You said he's already a bear.
Starting point is 00:29:25 Misspoke again. Jesus Christ. He'll be fine. Put a band-aid on him. He's already a bear. Lions, Tigers, and Bears. We need a Tigers team. Well, they have the Bengals.
Starting point is 00:29:37 Detroit Tigers. Ew. Sure. The last time the commanders were in the conference championship was in 1991 when they were known as the Washington Redskins. And ever since then... Adam, you want to know the funny part about that? Yes.
Starting point is 00:29:58 About 1991? Yes. They also beat the Lions in that game. And also put up 40 points in that game. This is... And I want to... One last angle I want to take before I hand it off to you guys. This is a team that knew how to rebuild.
Starting point is 00:30:23 And it fits the narrative that once you do get that quarterback, now this one ended up playing out of his mind, right out of the gate, which is already fairly rare as it is, um, happens more often lately, but it's still relative to the rest of our league's history. Extremely rare.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Um, once you have that quarterback, as long as you make the right moves and I'm looking at you, new England, you got that quarterback, as long as you make the right moves, and I'm looking at you, New England. You got the quarterback, but did you even do a coaching search? No, you hired one guy who you were friends with five years in advance who had no experience even doing a coordinator job. They went through a hiring process, landed on Dan Quinn,
Starting point is 00:31:10 brought in a nice offensive coordinator in Cliff Kingsbury. You retooled your offensive line, actually utilizing your free agency rather than just bringing guys back from a four-win team the previous year. You used the draft. And your third-round pick, by the way, third round pick number 67 overall was your left tackle, who is a pretty reliable left tackle. I might add Brandon Coleman. You know, who was 68? Guess who was 68? Caden Wallace by the New England Patriots. What went wrong there? I'm just saying, if you make the right moves, a rebuild should not take three to four years.
Starting point is 00:31:55 It could take a few years. This is the other extreme where it just takes one year and you're just back. But for five years, the New England Patriots have just been messing around, dawdling around. I rest my case. But the Commanders, what a great turnaround this has been from being the number two overall pick, now being in the conference championship. I'll hand it off to you guys. Maybe a bigger narrative to build off of that is
Starting point is 00:32:26 Maybe all it takes for some teams is a new owner The commanders got rid of Dan Snyder Two years later they're in the NFC Championship I mean Think of some teams that You could use the same logic on Kraft Jerry Jones
Starting point is 00:32:42 Maybe Jerry Jones Johnson, Lamaras Oh yeah by the way I don't care Kraft. Jerry Jones. Maybe Jerry Jones. Johnson. Mara's. Mara's. Maybe. Oh, yeah. By the way, I don't care if they're football's oldest family. You got to kiss the ring.
Starting point is 00:32:52 I don't respect the Mara's. They're clowns. And their owner has more business operating a dump truck than a football team. Yeah. But it's okay. But yeah, Jaden Daniels. He's a fucking dog brian robinson jr rushed the ball really i mean the commanders in general rushed the ball so well 182 yards on the ground and it's funny because some like the commanders had a good off season but i don't
Starting point is 00:33:20 think anyone expected it to be like this. Like they got Austin Eckler. They ended up picking up Bobby Wagner. And I'm just saying those two names because those are two consider two guys considerably, like probably they're one of their better free agent signings. If you want to call them that. And everyone was like, why are they getting Austin Eckler? We just saw him run like a fucking fullback last year.
Starting point is 00:33:44 And Bobby Wagner's on the downturn of his career. And here they are being incredible difference makers on this team. Dan Quinn, I said this before the show, but Dan Quinn, if it wasn't for Kyle Shanahan shitting his pants in Super Bowl 51, we could potentially be looking at Dan Quinn as one of the best head coaches in the league probably because he comes in, gets a rookie quarterback, and boom, in one year, they're already in the NFC Championship. And you could even say that this team is probably one more good wide receiver to wide receiver three or maybe some just more pieces in general from being a Super Bowl favorite you score 31 points, you should be winning the game.
Starting point is 00:34:48 But the problem is the injuries on the Lions defense finally caught up to them. Like we're talking about to the point where you're just grabbing guys off the street and on special teams to fill these defensive holes. And that's not going to be sustainable and granted if you were able to get to the Super Bowl or maybe even the NFC Championship next uh this week then some of these guys probably would have returned like Aiden Hutchinson was saying he would most likely be back for the Super Bowl if anything but that's that's the thing, if you get there. And I guess more credit to Aaron Glenn, the defense coordinator for the Lions,
Starting point is 00:35:32 for making it so that this was still a two-loss team, got them right, and got them ready to go. Basically, still had a defense that was holding up as much as possible so i guess credit to aaron glenn at that point but you can only go so far with this and obviously like i said adam make matters worse ben johnson's already gone and by the way like in terms of ben johnson i don't know why David Montgomery was even... It's great that David Montgomery made the great return that he did. I don't even know why he was getting carries.
Starting point is 00:36:14 Jameer Gibbs was roasting the commanders all day long, especially in that first half. He basically had 100 yards by himself in the first half, and they just stopped running the ball with him i just felt that was a little insane jared goff had a really shit day four turnovers total with those three interceptions that you mentioned and i thought that the lions especially with that interception from jameson williams i thought at that point, the Lions were just getting way too cute. And, you know, all this, all the shit that the Lions love to do ended up being their downfall. Granted, there was more to it.
Starting point is 00:36:56 Like I said, the defense was beaten and battered and it finally caught up to them. But Jameson Williams throwing the interception late in the game on that, on that trick play was kind of just the catalyst of, um, of the demise of the lions. Something tells me that Ben Johnson gets too cute sometimes. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:21 Especially like that. As soon as Williams threw that interception i was like why are you doing that you're down 14 you need fucking points dude like why are we why are you going towards trick plays to get back into the your offense is so damn good you shouldn't need trick plays to come back from a 10 point deficit, 14 point deficit, whatever it was at that point, you don't need trickery to get yourself back into the game because of how
Starting point is 00:37:52 good this offense is. Yeah. I mean, five total turnovers, four of them from your quarterback, four interceptions total. That's just inexcusable yeah now you could also make the argument
Starting point is 00:38:09 I said this before the show you could also make the argument Jared Goff was concussed for 30 minutes of football as well but anyways CJ what say you my friend what say you first and foremost before we get to the game let's address the narratives I think Adam is a point when he says we need to address the fact if Detroit had a window to begin with
Starting point is 00:38:39 because I don't think Jared Goff's gonna to get it done. I think he's a very good quarterback, and it would seem that you need a great quarterback in order to win a Super Bowl. And, look, I get the point about injuries, all right? The Lions' defense, by the way, which we're about their injuries, they really only accumulated on one side of the ball on defense. In fact, positionally speaking, you could make an entire new starting 11 based only on the guys that they lost to season-ending IR. And yeah, usually I would say injuries aren't the best excuse
Starting point is 00:39:22 unless you lost your quarterback. But when one side of the ball is basically a glorified graveyard, then yeah, you get a pass. And look, and look, I get it. I know that you dropped 31, but your defense couldn't stop a nosebleed. Jade Daniels had those guys on skates. Terry McLaurin had them fooled on every route that he ran. And oh my goodness. And here's the thing for the Lions. It's about to get worse. Ben Johnson is gone. Aaron Glenn has one foot out the door. Heck, the one bright spot of your defense, which was the pass rush, your defensive line coach is probably about
Starting point is 00:40:06 to go be a defensive coordinator in New England. And like I said, Johnson to the Bears, Aaron Glenn, I believe is probably going to end up going to the Jets. So you're about to pay, even though you didn't win the big one, you're about to pay the good team tax.
Starting point is 00:40:24 We like to talk about if you're a bad team there's the suck tax but if you're good there's you know as interesting as like i said the good team tax where you're gonna get pitched clean like all your coaches are gonna get scraped away from you and whether they go on to be good or not well that's anyone's guess but but the thing is, it hurts you. And even good teams with good rosters can really suffer. For example, two seasons ago, the Philadelphia Eagles made the Super Bowl, didn't win, but they did win the NFC. One offseason, they lost both their coordinators and Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon. Regardless of how they were as coaches, they were good coordinators. And even though the Philly roster actually got better that offseason,
Starting point is 00:41:13 the play declined because they whiffed literally on both their coordinator hirings. This season, obviously, it got a lot better, but still. Or what about the Colts, right? The resurgent Colts with Frank Reich. Remember that one Andrew Luck miracle season, and he even got like a double-digit win season out of Phillip Rivers, of all people? Hey, the Colts looked like, you know, once they got the right guy, they were on the mend. What happened?
Starting point is 00:41:41 Any postseason aspirations they had went out the door when they lost Nick Sirianni and Matt Eberflus, both of their coordinators. And so, like I said, this is something that if you want to be a good team, you're the Lions. Hey, you know, there's no better time to learn. You're going to have to learn how to adjust. One of the reasons that we talk about dynasties, that Kansas City has been so good for so long is that they haven't had a lot of coordinator turnover. They really haven't. I don't know if Mahomes, I mean, they lost Biennium at one point, you know, to go to like Washington. That was pretty much it. Mahomes was pretty good by himself. And the defense has always benefited from Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs haven't had to face that much adversity. And I mean, that's not a knock on them. I'm just saying that's why some teams stay so good. You know, if the coordinators are content, and if you're Steve Spagnuolo, why wouldn't you leave? If you're Matt Nagy, the OC, why wouldn't you leave? Or on the other side of that, there's the Patriots, you know, the most recent dynasty before Kansas City. They lost so many people, you know, Charlie Weiss,
Starting point is 00:42:54 Romeo Cornell, Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia, Bill O'Brien, Joe Judge, Brian Flores, and yet they were still competitive. So either A, you better have coordinators that are either willing to hunker down or you better know how to replace them. I'll go. CJ, I'll go. Sorry, I'll let you finish your point. What was B? You said either A, but like what was B?
Starting point is 00:43:19 Okay. No, I was going to say either A, you go to replace them, or B, you know, you do what Kansas City does and just have guys that are, like I said, just willing to stay there. You create a situation that's so good they don't want to leave, or B, if they do, you better know how to replace them. That's the thing. Those are your options.
Starting point is 00:43:39 So there's two ways to go about it. And hold on. I'm sorry. Sorry, Todd. So yeah, so for the Lions, I think it might get a little worse because there are very few teams that bounce back from losing both of their coordinators. However, let's talk the commanders. I'm so proud of you guys, whether you win it all or not. I'm just proud that y'all made it this far.
Starting point is 00:44:02 I really am. And you deserve it. And here's the thing, right? The entire DMV, you know, that region, you know, I got to tip my hats to you. You finally got rid of the human embodiment of cancer known as Dan Snyder. And now with the culture change, you're finally winning. And new owner, new GM, new coach, hell, they're probably going to get a new stadium soon. So yeah, I'm happy for you guys. Jaden Daniels is not playing like a rookie. We say, hey, act like you've been there. But I don't know if the spotlight's going to get bright enough for him. This man just takes it all in stride.
Starting point is 00:44:45 And the thing is, they have a lot of cap space to burn this offseason. And they're going to be a hot destination. And they can only get better. You're going to add more pieces to the defense. You can probably make the offensive line better, get a really good receiver too.
Starting point is 00:45:01 The future is looking pretty bright for you guys. Unless you lose Cliff Kingsbury, but I don't think that's going to happen. All right. That's the point I was going to build on, actually, about Cliff Kingsbury. All right. Real quick. And I just want to finish.
Starting point is 00:45:15 One more thing. The Lion, get healthy. And for God's sake, don't whiff on your next coordinators. Commanders, just keep doing what you're doing you're looking good on a serious note though um Jared Goff might not be that guy you know we've talked it to death but he's really not that guy anyway continue Chris so Adam Schefter was just on uh part of my take last Friday talking about the divisional round and they asked a question about Cliff Kingsbury because of how well he's done as OC for the commanders this year on if he would be a potential candidate for head coach for this next season and he said no straight up no so I think Cliff
Starting point is 00:46:00 Kingsbury is gonna stay with the commanders for a pretty damn good amount of time because the main reasons were, I think the stresses of being a head coach got to him a little bit, which is why like he just went on a hiatus for a straight year, came back and now he's dominating. I think he's happy of where he is right now as offensive coordinator. And I think that's probably going to be the case for him is that, yeah, like because of how good of a coordinator he is,
Starting point is 00:46:29 he's going to get head coaching opportunities, but is he actually going to be a good head coach? And I think he realizes that where he needs to be right now as an offensive coordinator. So I think that he's going to stick around Washington for a good amount of time, which leads to what I was going to say after that was i think that washington's window because of that has opened up extra extraordinarily wider
Starting point is 00:46:57 well they're going to need some they have some work to do if they're going to get there they are in the conference championship so we're at the point where anything goes and you're facing a division rival but if we're talking about let's let's assume they lose on sunday yeah what they will have to work on and they have over a hundred million dollars in cap space to do it is like you said they're going to need another target besides terry mclaurin he's a wide receiver one but they need something more because if you if he's covered then you're sol shit out of luck uh you also need some work on the defense but overall you're in a great spot to take another step forward next year and you have the money and resources to do it yet again.
Starting point is 00:47:48 So they have some work to do, but the future looks great. And you mentioned you brought up the correlation between their turnaround and ownership. They made all of these moves right after Dan Snyder was out. So, I don't rule that out. In fact, I'm far from it. I think that's pretty much likely. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:17 Like I said, other teams could probably follow suit if they... if the owners decide, hey, you know what? Maybe it's best best i sell the team um in some quick breaking news uh vikings head coach kevin o'connell has been extended a multi-year contract extension um he is just 39 so um let's say they let's say they're great quarterback play whether it's from sam darnold or from jj mccarthy continues the future could be bright in minnesota as well um and i i think the
Starting point is 00:48:56 league is going to because we've talked about coaching how they made the change at at co not just the quarterback position but also coaching in general. I think the league is starting to recognize that it's not just talent on the field, but it's also the coaching scheme. It's how things are organized, leadership that's really helping. We've seen over the past few years how much that coaching really matters. And we're seeing it here with the vikings they're rewarding their young head coach who has been an offensive mastermind giving them some money
Starting point is 00:49:33 i feel like it would have been really stupid for them to let them walk anyways and i love the i love the people that were like oh well v well, Vikings could trade him for picks. The talks were about him being traded, which was weird. Yeah. And even the team that trades for him, it would just be weird. Because if you look over the history of trades that have happened with head coaches, they almost always go for first-round picks, like multiple. Yeah. almost they almost always go for first round picks like multiple yeah um like john gruden has said
Starting point is 00:50:06 many times that like he actually hated the fact he got traded like it was great because they ended up winning a ring the next year but it was terrible because now he's going to a team that just got rid of a bunch of first and second round picks so like he doesn't have a future to work with yeah so it's it's weird and i don't think it was ever going to happen but just the fact that it was floated as a possibility yeah i don't think the vikings were ever thinking of it but it's just something to think about and now that we're also talking about the the turnaround of the washington commanders a big part of it was coaching i, they brought in a bunch of new guys. Dan Quinn, most notably.
Starting point is 00:50:52 Cliff Kingsbury. And that really helps to further the development of Jaden Daniels, who now looks like a finished product and could be a league MVP in the next one to two years. So everything's looking awesome in Washington. And there's a bit of a trend. Two of the top five picks in the 2024 draft. So that is the Washington Commanders and the LA Chargers. Turn their organization around
Starting point is 00:51:26 overnight and one of the other teams a couple of the other teams who took quarterbacks failed to eclipse five wins actually i think it was how many did the bears win four five or four or five or no no it was five because they're uh i was thinking it's either five or six i think it's five because they were trying to remember what their record was when they lost the commanders literally pull it up right now hang on it was well they had four wins at the time they were four and two at the time and it looks like they beat the packers week 18 yes so what do those teams what do those two teams have in common what do those two teams have in common they had the quarterback there they had the quarterback in place with plenty of promise but what was the problem? Coaching. The coaching was not good for either team.
Starting point is 00:52:28 Offensive line also sucked. It's amazing what happens when you make good decisions after you draft the quarterback of the future. And that's what the commanders did. They built an offensive line around them. They already had a wide receiver one in place. They put in good offense friendly head coaches, uh, uh, coaches. You also have a coordinate good, had a good coordinator, but the commanders are definitely a sort of a template for many franchises who are struggling
Starting point is 00:53:01 right now to follow. And, uh uh yet another segment where uh uh a topic that had nothing to do with the patriots was made partially about the patriots all right we're now that we're an hour in with two more segments to go we're going to move right on the eagles beating the rams and going back to the nfc championship This is their second appearance in three years. And the Rams played a little better than we expected them to. That's next. Fumble Rooski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet,
Starting point is 00:53:35 but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumbaruski podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. So in here, so the Eagles, they were hosting in this one, and they were playing in a little bit of winter weather
Starting point is 00:54:08 against a dome team. And said dome team played much better than we all expected them to play. So overall, pretty solid showing for the Rams. I mean, for most of this game uh it was a two possession game and um the rams only led once in this matchup but it was still a relatively close one and they did have the ball in Eagles territory on their last drive. Problem was that last throw was just a complete throwaway. Unbelievable. But Matthew Stafford, 324 yards, two touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:54:58 He went 26 for 44. Kyron Williams, 19 carries, 106 yards. Pukunukuwa, six receptions, 97 yards. Saquon Barkley was the star of the show for this one. 26 carries, 205 rushing yards, and two touchdowns. What a year this kid is having. And we've talked it to death, but he is in an environment that is the complete, dare I say, anti-giants, right? Horrible offensive line, horrible passing game,
Starting point is 00:55:33 and you're rotting away. You're probably not going to win. That franchise may never win a Super Bowl for the next 10 years. This one, the Eagles, they've been on the edge of contention for quite some time now. Ever since, you could even go all the way back to 2017.
Starting point is 00:55:53 And they've been, I mean, they've been in and out of championship contention for quite a while. And here they are in the NFC Championship game. Saquon Barkley is the centerpiece of the entire run. And if he played in Week 18, he probably would have had the all-time single-season rushing record. He already has over 2,000 rushing yards.
Starting point is 00:56:19 I mean, if this is the last season of Saquon Barkley's prime, what a year is it for him to go out on? So the kid's 27 years old. Again, the running back position, it's a really hard position to play in the NFL because it's the only position in professional sports. I've said this plenty of times. It's the only position in professional sports where you can still be in your twenties, but be considered past your prime. This kid is 27. He amassed 2000 yards this year, and he's still going strong throughout the playoffs. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's not quite the same player next year, because just the usage rate, the wear and tear of 17 game season after 17 game season,
Starting point is 00:57:14 we saw it from Christian McCaffrey last year. Everyone said, how could he possibly fall off after the year he had? It always doesn't until it does. And he's making the most of this run that he has right here. I wouldn't be surprised if this Eagles team is in the Super Bowl. Again, we're going to get to our preview of the conference championship on Friday. But overall, this was a great game from Saquon Barkley. A solid showing for the Rams being the team that they are. And they kind of held their own against the Eagles. And I don't even hold that against the Eagles that the Rams hung in there. I just, I give,
Starting point is 00:57:49 I give the Rams credit and they won a Superbowl. They sold their souls from it. And they somehow are still right there and are a couple, still a couple pieces of what, just a couple pieces away from a championship. Overall, I mean, out of the remaining playoff teams i would say the eagles are probably the most likely team to be um to win a championship the best all-around team remaining but what do you guys think i'll agree with that and to give you some more context of how good Saquon did especially against the Rams this is the most yards gained by a running back against the same team twice combined Saquon had a total of I think 460 yards combined and when you look at the other running backs on the list there was only one game that the running the other running backs had where they went absolutely
Starting point is 00:58:52 stupid and the other game they had like less than 50 yards rushing which makes it even more impressive that Saquon is able to rush like this the second time around. Because a lot of times, second time around, defense has an idea of what you're doing. They got the film. They're going to set up a better game plan. But today was different. Or not today. Sunday was different.
Starting point is 00:59:19 Boy, I mean, even the thing with the Rams, even with that press conference from Sean McVay, like when they got, they had the ball back with two and a half minutes left. And Matthew Stafford, who knows a thing or two about fourth quarter comebacks, like the fact that he even got the ball back and that the Rams got a stop is insane. And the fact they were driving downfield to potentially win, they got it to the Eagles 13-yard line. McVay said it in his press conference, like, he was stunned.
Starting point is 00:59:54 With a minute 14 left. They thought they were going to win the game right then and there. They, like, I thought they were going to win the game right then and there that's how insane it like i couldn't believe what i was watching i thought we're about to get another upset down six points down six points all it takes is the extra point to win the game yeah that's where they were and the defense stepped up at times too, they couldn't stop the run to save their life, but they sacked Jill and hurt seven times, including a safety. It was insane.
Starting point is 01:00:31 All around, I mean, when you think about the Rams as a whole this entire season, the minute you saw Cup and Puka go down with injuries and miss a considerable amount of time. Like you would have thought the Rams were cooked right then and there on top of the fact that the defense hadn't really played all that well all season. I mean, yeah, they gave up 28 to the Eagles, which you should lose if you're giving up 28, but they still gave him fucking hell. So I think if you're a Rams fan,
Starting point is 01:01:07 obviously you're kind of shooting yourself in the dick over the fact that they had first and goal from the Philly 13 with over a minute to go. And to kind of catapult off of that, like they would have, if they were to say, get that fourth down conversion and get a touchdown, like they would have if they were to say get that fourth down conversion and get a touchdown like they would have played that drive so perfectly minus the sack obviously but they would have played that drive so perfectly because at that point the eagles have 30 seconds to go
Starting point is 01:01:38 down and kick a field goal which you don't really know what's going to happen with that in the snow. And Jalen hurts has been kind of hogtied and not really doing too much in the, in these playoffs. So you don't really know what would have happened with that all rounds playoff classic. Hey, I mean, I don't know if I'd call it a classic. I would say it's a good game overall but uh yeah
Starting point is 01:02:09 this is just one of those games where yeah the rams kept it close but honestly i would argue it's more on the uneventful side because look this is more or less we thought would happen i mean you know the better team just won and i'm sure the elements played a part in it but hey the rams for being a dome team you know handled it pretty well i mean and you know and and even still like even though the eagles won and all the eagles fans are gonna say, ha, scoreboard to Jared Verst after he called out their awful fans. He got, I mean, Jared Verst got the better of notorious steroid abuser Lane Johnson. And honestly, like I said, you can't really fault the Rams. They just, I don't know, maybe if they were a bit more of a ground team.
Starting point is 01:03:02 I mean, you know, obviously they're past first. I mean, Kyron Williams is still solid, but, yeah, they just couldn't. They just didn't have an answer for Saquon. That's what it is. And I said before, you stop Saquon, you got like a 90% chance of stopping Philly. But then again, stopping Saquon is tough, isn't it? But, yeah, overall, I would just say good win for philly i mean you guys haven't touched on anything that i could find i mean you guys have touched on everything that i
Starting point is 01:03:34 would deem worthy to talk about but yeah i mean sure the rams came back and made it a game but either way they left philly way too much time. So honestly, just a good win for Philly. Rams can, I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do this offseason because, I mean, I don't see much changing because they're not exactly swimming in cap space. But, hey, overall, just a good season by the Rams. And for Philly, man, that NFC Championship game
Starting point is 01:04:04 is going to be something. Yeah, and one more thing. just a good season by the Rams and for Philly man, that NFC championship game is going to be something. Yeah. And one more thing on like, I know we talk, we've talked about this a few times, especially on the sake one side, like when you're thinking of the giant, like anti giants,
Starting point is 01:04:17 like yeah. Hindsight's 2020. They shouldn't have paid Daniel Jones all that money and should have thrown it at sake one instead. But when you look at the Giants this year, Giants probably would have won like two or three more games if they had Saquon. You know, look, Chris, with all due respect,
Starting point is 01:04:36 I don't think the term hindsight is 2020 applies to the Daniel Jones contract because I don't know anybody who thought this was a good idea. i am still baffled that joe shane kept his job once again i know no gm is going to be perfect and i've said this before i get that but that was like a franchise kill oh yeah no for sure but like i said with all due respect i don't know hindsight 2020 really fits that because and i know you don't pay running backs but would you rather give a big contract to a running back like saquon or daniel jones i just i don't know no i i know i'm just i'm just more saying like yeah like you should you should have paid saquon but i don't think saquon's rushing for 2K on that Giants team.
Starting point is 01:05:31 Yeah, well, I mean, that was also kind of my point, was that Saquon wouldn't be doing any of the things he's doing now on the Giants. He would still be a great running back, but he's reaching heights that he would never have reached before that he was probably capable of doing the entire time, but he was, he had such a bad situation roster wise,
Starting point is 01:06:00 terrible coaching scheme. I mean, day balls. All right. But overall, like, is this, is that anywhere close to the run-first scheme, the heavy run scheme that the Eagles run? Your quarterback runs. They have everything that you need to succeed.
Starting point is 01:06:16 They have good targets to keep the field open so that teams don't stack the box against you. They literally have everything working in your favor. The defense has gotten much better. have everything working in your favor. The defense has gotten much better. Everything is working in their favor. And if a run-first team were to win a Super Bowl, this Eagles team would be the one to do it. If there was an exception to the rule, this would be the team to do it.
Starting point is 01:06:40 The last time an elite workhorse running back won a Super Bowl was Marshawn Lynch in 2013, Super Bowl XLVIII. That defense pulverized Peyton Manning in 2013 in Super Bowl XLVIII. And this kind of matches that formula, right? Run first quarterback, workhorse running back, the defense. The stars are aligned. You just have to go and do it. So, I mean, let's see what happens.
Starting point is 01:07:18 Run first. I mean, run first teams rarely win Super Bowls nowadays, but maybe this is the exception. So, overall, I mean, I think we've covered everything, and we definitely want to get to this next game. The Bills beating the Ravens, holding off a late game comeback, a few mistakes the Ravens made, and narratives weren't formed. They were confirmed yet again for the Ravens, unfortunately.
Starting point is 01:07:45 And that's next. This is the FumbleRisky Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides.
Starting point is 01:08:11 Welcome back to the Fumblerooski Podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. So the Buffalo Bills are advancing to another AFC championship after Josh Allen did it back in 2020. It was his third year in the league. He's back and running into, yet again, the Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes. But the Ravens, they struck first. That was their first lead of the game.
Starting point is 01:08:43 It was a 16-yard pass to Rashad Bateman. That was their first lead of the game. It was a 16-yard pass to Rashad Bateman. That was their first lead of the game, and it was their only lead of the game. Buffalo eventually took the lead in the second quarter. They never looked back. And going over some of the late-game antics for the Ravens. This was, so overall, four turnovers for the Ravens. And so one thing after another, so on the second to last drive for them in the game. So the Ravens ended up taking the ball into the... Ravens ended up taking the ball, and Lamar fumbled.
Starting point is 01:09:39 And that resulted in a Bills field goal that made the Bills lead much larger. The Ravens' next drive, which was their final drive, they scored a touchdown. However, when they went for the two-point conversion to tie it, which they were down two points at this point, Mark Andrews dropped the ball. He was wide open. He was right there. He was standing right next to the end zone.
Starting point is 01:10:16 Ended up dropping it. And unfortunately, another year for the Ravens, another year of just coming up short of the Super Bowl, a year with so much promise. We talk about running backs who leave a certain situation and go into a better one. I mean, Derrick Henry was in the same kind of situation as Saquon was. Better offensive line overall.
Starting point is 01:10:51 A run-first quarterback, run-first scheme. Saquon was better offensive line overall, a run first quarterback run first scheme and a passing offense that had been improving year by year, but overall still wasn't able to do it. Guys, what are your thoughts? I'm just going to correct you on one thing, Adam, who Mark Andrews fumbled on the second-to-last drive. Lamar did fumble in the first half, though.
Starting point is 01:11:10 That pretty sure led to a Buffalo score because Buffalo ended up taking the fumble and bringing it into Baltimore territory. But regardless. Right, yeah. Makes that up. But honestly, I think that if it wasn't for that last-minute drive by the Ravens and Lamar finding likely in the end zone
Starting point is 01:11:35 to give them a chance at that two-point conversion, I would be all for the narrative being that Lamar still can't get it done in the playoffs, this and that, you name it. I would still be all for that, but I feel like this last drive was kind of a bit of a saving grace for him in terms of the narratives, because as soon as that two-minute warning hit, like bang, bang, bang, they were down the field.
Starting point is 01:12:01 They scored. Granted, they might have scored a little too quickly because they left a good chunk of time left for the Bills to potentially go back down and take the lead and win the game. But obviously, I'm not sitting here now still saying the Bills won. But yeah, I think that when you also look at this game, you kind of would have figured that it would go a lot differently than the first matchup. And it's just based off of who the bills didn't have the first time around and who they had this time around.
Starting point is 01:12:33 And it was all on defense and it showed, um, not saying that the first time around shouldn't have gone any differently. Probably should have. But I mean, saying that the first time around shouldn't have gone any differently probably should have but i mean when you're taking the first play of the game 90 yards for a touchdown the first time around it's hard to not win at that point but this is just obviously if you're a baltimore fan it's a tough one to swallow but at the end of the day you still got derrick henry for another however many years.
Starting point is 01:13:06 And you just got, I guess you just hope that you have a home playoff game next year that you don't have to worry about. Um, yeah, maybe, maybe fire John Harbaugh. Maybe, maybe his time's up.
Starting point is 01:13:19 Maybe it's time to start calling John Harbaugh. Maybe it's time to start calling John Harbaugh the choke artist and not Lamar. Maybe John Harbaugh has been the choke artist this entire time, but he's been masked by the fact that Lamar usually hasn't played well in the playoffs to mask that. I don't know. Maybe it's just me. CJ, I have a lot to say about it. I already know CJ has a lot to say about it.
Starting point is 01:13:52 I just wanted to open the door, peek the curtain real quick. Show them the light. Thank you, Chris. Show them the light. You know, you're right. You're very generous, I'd like to point out. So, look, Ravens, Bills, that's, you know, we, you know,
Starting point is 01:14:16 you guys have mentioned it a whole bunch, and I get it. I do. And, by the way, before I start, I want to point out the post about Kevin O'Connell is up on Fumble Rooski. I think you should go like that. That way you too at home can be very generous. But you guys talked about the game. That's great. We need to talk about John Harbaugh.
Starting point is 01:14:45 You guys remember my criticism of Mike Tomlin, right? But I'm going to keep that same energy for Harbaugh. He's got to go. And I know what you're thinking. All the Ravens fans will crawl out from wherever they live in Baltimore, probably somewhere unsafe, and say, Erm, he has a ring. My response is literally, okay, and say, Erm, he has a ring.
Starting point is 01:15:08 My response is literally, okay, and? Do you know what the NFL stands for? What's the old adage? NFL stands for not for long. The NFL is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league. And yeah, sure. Sure, Harbaugh's got a ring. So does Doug Peterson. so does Mike McCarthy like what's your point there are lots of coaches that aren't good that have rings and I would like to point something out
Starting point is 01:15:39 every year the Ravens do this first of all the, the Lamar choke artist thing, I feel is a little unfair because, look, this is a playoff game between two high-profile teams. One team's going to win, one team's going to lose. And one quarterback, because both Allen and Lamar both have a reputation of a guy that can't get it done in January. And if I'm being honest, I think that's a tiny bit unfair just because, you know, one team had to lose and, but whatever. So every year we point the finger at Lamar. When are we going to point the finger at Harbaugh? Because sure he could point to Lamar's turnovers,
Starting point is 01:16:18 but this is a coaching disaster class. It seems like every year with Lamar that Harbaugh makes the postseason, they go away from what they do. Do you know how many designed, so the Ravens, you know, once again, it's a cold and we talk about how, you know, ground games win in the cold. We've mentioned that. Ravens are a ground and pound team for the most part do you know how many designed runs harbaugh used with lamar not one they did not have a singular designed run all eight i think of lamar's carries were literally on a busted play or bust six six i knew it was eight or six some even number yeah all six of his carries were literally busted plays that's shameful and yeah sure we can talk about our mark andrews dropped the ball yeah yeah and don't get me wrong mark andrews should not be
Starting point is 01:17:13 dropping balls in the end zone with the emergency isaiah likely should probably start dropping my fries in the bag but that's cool we we know that we know about cj i'll go cj i'll go one step further maybe the ravens should stop throwing mark andrews the ball on it on two-point conversions yeah mark andrews also this is nothing new he's notorious for his disappearing acts in the playoffs but whether we go a step further or not we need to think about why the ravens went for two because they got greedy they got stupid and they went for two earlier in the game than like what the second quarter yeah no because here's the thing I get that you want to tie it up but here's the thing if you play normally and you kick the extra point
Starting point is 01:18:03 sure you don't tie the game, you're only down by one. If the rest of it still plays out, which let's just assume it does, then you're only down one. And instead of having to go for two for overtime, you can kick the extra point for overtime and going for two would actually put you ahead. So literally it's just coaching. If you don't go for two right there, then you're not chasing points. Because a missed two-point conversion early in the game, in my eyes, is the exact same as missing an extra point. It always comes back to haunt you. Because then, you're just chasing points. And that's the thing. You can say, oh, you know, the Bills, you know, were only up by one score most of the time. It was kind of a
Starting point is 01:18:51 back and forth. Yes and no. Because Baltimore, like I said, they weren't chasing the Bills. They were chasing points. Baltimore never recouped from that decision. And let's take a look at both of those. Sure, you don't have to do it the first time and the second time you had to, but both times he went for two were completely ass backwards. You have Derrick Henry and both times you did not utilize him. And look, I know it's like, oh, but the Bills are going to be expecting it. Sure, they're going to be expecting it, but the question is, can they stop it? Can you stop Derrick Henry, a short-rear situation? Odds are no. So even if you feel the need to, why didn't you hand the ball off to Derrick Henry? Or do a designed run, QB sneak, or some weird bootleg thing with Lamar. You have a running quarterback.
Starting point is 01:19:43 You have one of the best running backs in the game and you don't use them. Not running with Derrick Henry for a two-point conversion is eerily similar to Seattle just not running the ball at Marshawn Lynch at the one-yard line. It's just stupid. You got too cute and you paid the price. And the thing is, I know Harbaugh's not going to go anywhere, but he's literally just Mike Tomlin, who instead of going one and done, goes two and done. He always wins the first game, but loses the second, whether or not he gets the one seed or not.
Starting point is 01:20:20 Heck, remember that one time they were the one seed and lost? I remember. But it's just harbaugh just doesn't seem like a guy that can get it done and not and let's not forget he commandeered one of the worst passing defenses in the league that defensive backfield got gashed and the worst part is there's no reason to why do you have a backfield with rookie standout nate wiggins the elite marlon Humphrey, and the elite Kyle Hamilton, and yet any QB in the league can literally get anything they want on you. And
Starting point is 01:20:54 even still, some people are like, if it were in Baltimore, we would have won. Okay, A a coulda woulda shoulda b well then why didn't you win more games you lost to the raiders the gardner minshu raiders you literally lost to the russell wilson steelers and who could forget when they let james winston turn back the clock to his college days on them. And they also lost to the Eagles. Oh, yeah, and Philly, where we're not touching that. But overall, I don't care what you've got to say about Lamar. If we're going to point the finger at anyone, Harbaugh's disastrous coaching has put the Ravens over a barrel year in, year out. And I said this before, I say we should
Starting point is 01:21:46 fire Tomlin. Let's throw Harbaugh in there too. They need to go. You know what I would like to see start to make a comeback? The direct snap. Remember the Patriots running the direct snap? Brady thinking, oh no, the ball went over
Starting point is 01:22:02 my head. Yeah, with James White. Yeah, or James White, Kevin Falk back in those days. That should come back. That should come back. But I know I said this prior to the show, but I'll say it for the audience. Them throwing it for two, that's just more of what this game has been where teams, for some reason, want to throw it on the two-point conversion rather than just run.
Starting point is 01:22:30 I just saw Georgia versus Georgia Tech go seven overtimes, and each team threw the ball once, max, or ran the ball once, max. Every single play was just a pass play, and it's ridiculous. You're on the three-yard line. Shit, a direct snap. I don't think I've ever seen a failed direct snap from the Patriots when they ran it. They didn't run it very often, but when they ran it,
Starting point is 01:22:56 holy shit, was it bread and butter. Fuck, man. I could run a direct snap in college football 25 and get a good 5 to 10 yards out of it. Brad, it's a video game, but still like, let's bring it back. Well, you were a former quarter. Well, you're a former quarterback. So, uh, Hey, you, you, you have the most authority to speak on it out of all of us.
Starting point is 01:23:19 I guess. Oh yeah. Long story short, fire Harbaugh. Yeah. Let's fire Harbaugh. And I'm going to say it again. Yeah, long story short, fire Harbaugh. Yeah, let's fire Harbaugh. And I'm going to say it again. The people are wrong. I think we're at the point where it sucks. Because Harbaugh has had a solid career with Baltimore.
Starting point is 01:23:39 Obviously, he got them a ring. But every single coaching tenure has its day where it's like, all right, maybe it's time. Yeah. I mean, at this point, there's one common denominator, which is the head coach. And Lamar Jackson played reasonably well in this game. One would say that they probably should have won based on the way Lamar Jackson played reasonably well in this game. One would say that they probably should have won based on the way Lamar Jackson played.
Starting point is 01:24:10 So I just don't know what to say here. And I would say I'm very encouraged by Lamar's performance because overall this season, he showed that he can be more of a passer than a runner, even though he can still run with his legs. So he's still a very dominant force. What they need is to be able to execute down the stretch and not mess up late in games yet.
Starting point is 01:24:40 So it was Mark Andrews who fumbled and then he dropped the pass. So by mistake there, but Lamar actually, So it was Mark Andrews who fumbled, and then he dropped the pass, so my mistake there. But Lamar actually – Lamar fumbled. I mean, you can't make these mistakes late in games, and a lot of it comes down to discipline, leadership, coaching scheme. Maybe Harbaugh does have to go. All right.
Starting point is 01:25:08 Now that is all of the scheduled content that we have for today, but do we have anything else before we end the show? No. Just the coaching cycle continues to ramp up. Bring in Josh McDaniels for offensive coordinator. Allegedly it's going to happen soon, but none of the big boys have announced it yet. According to Kirk Minahan.
Starting point is 01:25:29 We'll see. Kirk Minahan of Barstool Sports, that jack-off? Yeah, well, he got the other thing right. Which one was the other thing? I'm completely forgetting what it was, but he got it right. I'm blanking on it because we've done now done an hour and a half long show um but i think i think just josh mcdaniels is the obvious choice he just seems like this he's the safe choice you know that you can open the playbook with him. You know that he can work in multiple different play styles.
Starting point is 01:26:08 Josh McDaniels is the guy for me. I really like Josh McDaniels. Fuck, man. I want Josh McDaniels. You know, that was cool, but I mean, look, he has a lot of potential, but Josh McDaniels, if you hear this, please leave the third and ten screens
Starting point is 01:26:23 at home. Yeah, sure. But also, he should probably never go for a head coaching job again because it screws up his value. No, he shouldn't. Which, like, it's good for us because we're picking up, I mean, our Patriots, we're picking up a premier offensive coordinator who was able to turn Mac Jones into the pro bowler
Starting point is 01:26:44 and the runner up for offensive rookie of the year. Not to mention he won 11 games with Mac Castle. He did do that. So I like Josh McDaniels. I just I love Lamp. I love Lamp.
Starting point is 01:27:00 That'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. Call me a mock because I love the Lamp. I love L tonight. Thank you for listening to us. What? Call me a moth because I love the lamp. I love lamp. Do you really love lamp or are you just pointing at things and telling us that you love them? No. I'm sorry. What are you referencing?
Starting point is 01:27:15 Anchorman. Oh, yeah, that movie. Or the moth memes of like. Or just the moth. Oh, yeah, the moth. Yeah, from back in the day. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m eastern standard time and fridays at five be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel we also have all our episodes available on spotify spreaker apple podcast
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