The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - The Last Snap With Mike & Xander

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

The Last Snap with Mike & Xander starring Mike Smith & Xander Sigfusson.

All right, my name is Mike Smith. I'm here with the last snap today with my grandson, Xander. His last name is Sigfusen. But he's quite a guy. He's into all the sports. The thing about him is he's very knowledgeable of all the sports. And I'm kind of hesitant here today because I wouldn't want to show an old grandpa up too much but uh you are

here with the last snap with Mike and Xander and we're going to talk some football and um the only thing I think that we're going to have a difference since today is whose team is going to win this. And we're on opposite sides because I'm an Andy Reid guy and a Patrick Mahomes. I'm a Brock Purdy guy and a Kyle Shanahan guy. Well, you're going to get caught between the Brock and the hard place. I'm scared. Because, you know, it's hard to beat the X Factor. And I think Andy Reid's going to be the X Factor in this. He's been in it a lot of times.

He's won it a couple of times. But he's had success everywhere he's been. So my name is Xander, and I am interested in football because of this man right here. Well, I certainly appreciate that. We've seen some games together, and it's just the first time we've been on the opposite sides. But it's going to work out. I think it could be a great game. It depends on, I guess, the major things in these games. A lot of times it comes down to officiating.

And I can no longer be penalized for talking about officials, so I may get off on them today. I've seen some horrible calls this year in the NFL as well as the collegiate games and the high school games. In fact, Xander, if I get off on that, you change me. Tell me why you choose San Francisco. I choose San Francisco, well, also because it's my hometown team, so I love them. But I think part of it is maybe that I think maybe they have a better defense, could be, with Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Jay Greenlaw.

I mean, depends on what you think about the Kansas City defense. Well, I agree that Nick Bosa is really good. The rest of the defense for the 49ers is up front. I think the secondary is good, but the linebackers are. Quite it. But with Bosa, he's really good. But the jury is out, and a lot of their defense is going to depend on what the other defenses in can do.

And I don't know how he's going to do. Chase Young, he's struggling right now. The thing that's bothered me so much about watching the NFL is that guys give up. They make poor tackling. They're grabbing instead of running through the tackle. And then they'll just waddle down the field. I started using a word I shouldn't use on this, but I would get upset with them.

I noticed the last time I saw Andy Reid, he had icicles in his mustache. I don't think I'd ever get those if I had guys doing some of those things. So speaking of what you've just been saying, funny question. How do you get your news and stats? I wonder, I wonder. I'm sorry? How do you get your news and stats?

Well, I watch the games, but the stats that I got, and I do know that your quarterback, Brock, had the highest rating of any NFL quarterback. This wasn't a good year for my man Mahomes, but you've got to understand that his receivers dropped 44 passes on him. So that's where stats can be different. I think I heard long, many years ago, at one time the winner of the ball game got the game ball. At the end of the game even in high school, whichever team won,

they got the ball after the game. So the only stat I was ever concerned about, who got the ball after the game. The rest of the stats don't mean much. Yes, where did you get your stats? Where did you get them? Maybe the newspaper? Oh.

Sports section? That's where I got them. 101? You must have been talking to Nana. I got them out of the newspaper. Of course you did. Not surprising. I'm not much on computers.

So I have a couple more questions. I would think that one of my favorite ones they got when he was playing was Mahomes I really liked him I have respected him

as a player and Kelsey and him as a player and Kelsey and probably the one that stood out most to me was one that I coached was a former quarterback for the

Crabbers Tyrod Taylor when he stepped in and started playing toward the end of the year and I thought he was very successful played really great totally agree with that one playing toward the end of the year, and I thought he was very successful. Played really great. Totally agree with that one.

How about you? Who's your favorite? There's one QB that stood out to me extremely well, and that QB was C.J. Stroud. He has had an amazing year studying maybe some records, especially for the Texans after a couple postseason appearances that did not go well in the last few years. I think that guy stood out a lot this year for a rookie out of Ohio

State. I agree with you full-heartedly. Although I think he was from Ohio State via the Georgia Bulldogs. He grew up from Georgia. He was originally from Georgia and ended up at Ohio State,

but he had a great year with the Texans this year. I thought he did an outstanding job. I think he surprised a lot of people, but I was glad to see him accomplish what he did. And I thought against the Ravens, he just, you know, the weather was kind of bad. Do you have, like, any other players that, like, or QBs that stood out to you, maybe as a rookie? Like, or not a rookie, just any QBs that really stood out to you? Well, I thought some of them kind of had a rough year, like Jalen Hurt.

I thought last year he had an outstanding year, and this year. Not as well. I went south on them this year. I think they might have had something on the team that caused the entire team to have a breakdown. But now, let's go to you. You tell me what you think about the running backs that are going to be in the Super Bowl. Who's the top dog in this? The running back of the top dog in the Super Bowl. Who's the top dog in this? The running back of the top dog in the Super Bowl. Pretty hard question because Isaiah Pacheco has an unknown superpower. He is very fast, can get through a hole very easy,

and Kirsten McCaffrey is a big guy who can powerhouse through a lot of people um and but would you say the question is how many like who do things gonna have yes in comparison who who do i think i have to go with mccaffrey because I think he's just going to power through the defense against Kansas City I mean something that would maybe stop him would be Chris Jones and Justin Reed in the backfield like Chris Jones is tough up inside.

They move him around on the line. But I agree with you. I think Chris McCaffrey is the best running back in the league. There's no doubt. Also, the 49ers have had a rough time on defense the last couple games, and I think Isaiah Pacheco can get through a couple holes against them. Pacheco has had an excellent year. Very impressed with him.

Do you know what school he came out of? I don't know. I'm thinking maybe Rutgers. Pretty sure he did. Wow. So, Isaiah Pacheco. They're going to have to depend on him, but he's tough. But McCaffrey, Chris McCaffrey, he's in a league by himself.

I have a question for you. Who do you think is going to win MVP of the year? MVP. Well, I think that was kind of set in stone before they got beat, and I think probably it's going to Lamar Jackson. He's had a great year. Okay, that's an interesting pick for me. What do you think?

If we're talking MVP, I'm going to say Christian McCaffrey because he's had an excellent running back year this year, especially coming out of California and getting drafted. Well, getting drafted by Carolina and then coming to San Francisco. I remember watching him when he was number five when he was playing for Stanford. He was an excellent player at that time. But do you have any opinions on Rookie of the Year? Because I have a great pick that I think it will be. Oh, I think you already

mentioned him. Yeah, I think it's going to be C. Chase Stroud. There's probably no doubt about that. I think you're exactly right. But, as I said before, when you talk about the defense of the 49ers,

I think it's all going to come down to what kind of job Chase Young can do. We know that Bosa's got the other end, and they're adequate inside at the defensive tackles. But Young didn't play too well, I didn think the last couple of games they really expected he was going to take care of that defensive end for him if he doesn't pick it up get his legs moving start chasing the ball a little bit

they may have a little bit of a rough time with Pacheco so I have a question for you. I've got the answer. Okay. Why did Kansas City fall down at the end of the year, towards the end of the year of the preseason?

I can answer that. I think it was four games or so prior to the end of the season, five games, and they went through a rough time, and then they went out and lost to the Raiders. Yeah, the Raiders was a big loss. That was a big, major loss for them, and they played. They weren't playing well. They didn't play. They weren't getting the plays off. So I think when they went back and they changed their offense, they have a very. Speaking of Kansas City, how do you feel about the Kadarius-Tony call against Buffalo?

Refresh my memory on that. It was the offside penalty when he pitched it back to Travis Kelsey and Travis Kelsey scored it. I think. I believe that happened against Buffalo. Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that I was going to complete my observation, what I observed earlier. I didn't get to finish. I want to finish on why they had a rough time. And the problem they had was that Andy Reid's calling the plays.

Then he was calling it up to the box, giving it to his offensive coordinator. He was calling it back down. The day on day calling it in to Patrick Mahone, and for Patrick Mahone has to make the call in the huddle. Well, what ended up was it was taking up all their time. So now he's got to rush, and they were missing the calls. So I think after they went back from that game, they shortened the way they did that.

They changed their offense somewhere back where it was made a little more simple for some of the guys to understand. They were challenged a little too much with it. Excuse me. I kind of want to go dig into college for a second about Jim Harbaugh for Michigan. Going to the Chargers? Going to the Chargers. Is the main reason that you think the Chargers fired their coach and hired

Jim Harbaugh is because of that big loss to Las Vegas? I don't know. The Chargers struggled this year. Would you say it was just the Chargers, or was it part of Justin Herbert having a rough time? Well, Justin Herbert, I think, he's more than an adequate quarterback. In fact, I think he's a very good quarterback.

I'm not sure that the system suited what he was doing. But, you know, Justin Herbert took over as quarterback after Tyrod Taylor was injured and got the shot that went into his lungs, and then Justin Herbert became the starting quarterback. So I don't know, but Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh is a good coach. Of course, his dad was a coach. His brother's done a great job. So I think he'll do a good job. But it's going to change how that division ends up. Do you think, like, Jim Harbaugh's, like, play calling at Michigan

would help Justin Herbert in Los Angeles? You know, I don't know who he's bringing in as his offensive coordinator, but that's going to be important. And I'm not, you know, I didn't familiarize myself that much with the Chargers this year, but I'm sure he'll make a change in how he goes. Now, who is in your, who's the best tight end in the Super Bowl? I was just going to ask that. You're going to ask me?

I've got an opinion. I don't think George Cato has not been getting that many targets if I'm correct. And I think Travis Kelsey had a big game against Baltimore. So, I think

it's going to be Travis Kelsey that is going to be the better tight end in this game. Well, he's got more spectators, I guess. He's got all the girls watching him now. Yeah. So, but Kittle is a different type of guy. I think they do it in two different ways. They're great tight ends in two different ways. They're both.

Kettle, you got, what, 975 yards or so this year? Yeah. And I don't know what Kelsey had, maybe 1,000. But I think my thing with that is I think both tight ends are very good, so I think they're going to be a big part of the offense. But certainly I would have to agree that the 49ers probably have the edge in the other three receivers. Okay.

Who has it all for QB? I'm sorry? Who do you think is the better QB? Oh, I don't have any doubts. That's Patrick Mahone. I think, as I told you earlier, I think you're going to be in between a Brock and a hard place. That's what I was hoping.

Who do you think is the best? I'm going to have to agree with you with Patrick Mahomes because I don't think Brock Purdy has been playing as well as he usually has in the postseason last year, even though they lost to the Eagles in the NFC Championship last year. But still, I think that Patrick Mahomes has it this year. Well, you have to look at this, you have to look at the time of experience. Purdy didn't have a great deal, hadn't had a great deal of experience.

And then he went into the Super Bowl. He went in last year. Was it the Super Bowl? Was it? No. It was the game before the Super Bowl, and they lost to the Eagles. Yeah, they lost to the Eagles. He got injured in the first quarter.

Yes, Brock Purdy did. Then the backup quarterback got hurt and he went back in and all he could do was hand the ball off. But this is the second meeting of these two teams for the Super Bowl.

In the last four years. Do you recall what the score was in the last one? 31-20, I believe? I think probably. I think it was 31-20 KC win. Kansas City won, but in the middle of the fourth quarter, 49ers were leading by 10 points. So I'm sure they're anxious to get back and try to finish that

try to finish it up and get a victory here. But the X factor comes into the coaching part of it here. And if I'm not mistaken Andy Reed's been around a few years. He looks like he might be about 82 years old, so that would give him an advantage.

Kyle Shanahan might be a little younger. I don't know, but maybe, maybe, maybe. Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan's dad, were coached together. I'm not so sure that Andy Reid didn't babysit Kyle Shanahan back during the days. So they've got some family ties but when it comes to that game during the Super Bowl there's no brother-in-law going on you can't have friends on the other side so

this is like in a year what is the next Super Bowl matchup that you think you have after this one? Well, it's a possibility it could be the same two teams. That's true. They're both very good.

Although, I think I was surprised that I wasn't surprised that they beat them, but I was surprised that they beat them but I was surprised that the Chiefs beat the Ravens so handily and the Ravens were playing great but maybe it was a competition at toward the end of the season that they were playing which made a significant difference. So what are your opinions on Jason Kelsey retiring?

Well, I'm sure he's got other interests at this point. I don't know. I don't think he will retire though. It kind of gets in your blood. Are those any certain interests in your mind or are those unknown?

No, I think they're known but I'm not going to mention that. But the girls seem to like Kelsey better now than they used to. He's got the women and the girls into watching the Chiefs. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Okay. Do you remember going to a football camp when you were

approaching five years old and you had to be five in order to participate. San Francisco? Oh, I believe it was San Francisco. And there, somewhere there's a video of you hitting the blocking dummies.

Actually, you were hitting them better than some of the guys they had. I've got a picture, and I should have brought a copy of that picture of you in your stance when we won the school's 800th victory. And you were down in the stand when you were in a stance after that game. You're 18 months old. You're in a better stance than most of my linemen. I remember that photo.

You've got some good DNA in you for a football player. Speaking of Jason Kelsey, how do you feel about no shirt in Buffalo? I like Jason. I like Jason. I like that. I thought that was that was a little

pushing a little bit. Yeah, uh-huh. He was getting fueled up I noticed over in his hand. I thought he could have probably got him a good advertisement commercial for the type of beer he was drinking that night.

But he had to be getting a little chilly. It was cold out that night. But I guess he had enough antifreeze in him to warm him up. Yep. All right. You got any more questions? I don't have any more. All right.

What's your thoughts on the receivers? Receivers. Who's the best receiver in this game? Receiver in the game. All right. I'm going to... Taking the tight ends out of it. Tight ends out of it. Tight ends out of it.

Okay. I probably have to narrow it down to Rasheed Rice for Kansas City. What number is he? Four. Four? Yeah, four. You know, as much as I like Kansas City, I think Debo Samuel might be. Oh, okay.

Is that? Yes. I had Brandon Ayuk also in there. Brandon Ayuk has had. Ayuk is good. Ayuk is good. He's had definitely a better season than last year, even though he was still a pretty good pitcher.

Who's the best receiver that you think you saw play in the NFL this year? Oh, okay. Who? Does that include? Any team. Does that include tight ends? Tight ends, wide outs. Oh, Lord. Do you have your opinion?

Because I need a thing. Oh, I do have an opinion. Okay. What is yours? I can't even tell you his name, but he played for the Rams. Pukanakua. I was afraid to try to pronounce that. Pukanakua. I was afraid to try to pronounce that. Pukunukua.

That guy's amazing. He's good. He is good. He is the best I saw this year, I thought. Best you saw this year. And that was, he was good. Okay. What do you think the score prediction and who's going to win at this Super Bowl game here?

I think it's going to be 35 to 20. Chiefs with a 35. I hate that we're on different sides, but I just, I think Andy Reid, as I said, I think Andy Reid is going to be significant, X factor in this, as well as Spagnola, his defensive coordinator. Now, when Spagnola was with the Giants, he defensed a lot of good teams. I have my score prediction. My score prediction is 31-24, SF wins. Oh, you're trying to put Coach Mike in a bad situation here.

But I think two good teams are here. It's going to be good. It's going to be good. It's going to be great. I don't really have any more questions. Well, I'll tell you. Who are you going to play for when you're the quarterback? I'm going to come out of retirement and coach you. For NFL, are we talking?

No, let's start a little lower. Let's start when we're in high school. High school, okay. I will be playing at St. Ann's Bellfield School. By the time you're seniors, your brother will be your starting linebacker. Papa will be going, come on, Zander. And we'll get it done, boy. Yeah.

We're going to call. By that time, maybe we can get the Higgins boys back. Yeah, okay. Jack, Bob, and Chris. Christopher. Christopher. Yes. Christopher Dex.

Sir. Well, I don't know too much more that we can do today, but Mike and Zandra are going to be around for a while, and we're going to bring in some of the, I think a guy that we could get on, that we could do one with, would be Dwight Stevenson, NFL Hall of Famer from the Hampton Cravers, the Alabama and the Miami Dolphins. Oh, I do have a statistic I'd like to share with you.

As good as the University of Alabama and all the pros that they sent, do you realize that they sent. Yeah. Do you realize that they're one of the very few, and I'm talking about there were schools that, I can't even look up a name and find now, they're probably disbanded, but they're the only ones that have never had a player that scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl. Hey. Wow.

Now they had some quarterbacks that threw. Are there any Alabama SF players or Kansas City players that have a big potential of scoring a touchdown in this game? It's not going to be. There's no Alabama players on either team. Wow.

The one that came the closest was last year was Smith, the wide receiver. Oh, Devontae Smith, yeah. For Philadelphia? Yeah. And then he got tackled. I thought he was getting in the end zone, but he got tackled on. He scored one in the NFC Championship, but he didn't quite score one. In the Super Bowl.

He came up about a yard short. So we could be looking for that. But the one thing we're going to take note in is, though, that San Francisco, I mean, excuse me, the Chiefs are going to get the play in and snap the ball in a time frame that's going to give Mahomes time to take his time and not rush. That's when they change the whole avenue of things and reduce the play calling. Do you have any other people that you think would come on to the show? Oh, absolutely.

We've got one watching us tonight, a guy that was a high school, National High School Football Player of the Year when he played for me by the name of Robert Banks. And Robert Banks played at Notre Dame. Notre Dame. He played for Houston Oilers, Cleveland Browns.

He lives in Houston at this time, and he was going to watch us live tonight, I think. In high school, he was a 6'5", 245-pound linebacker, and one of the finest people you ever met. We get him. Hopefully we get Ronald Curry also. Mike Tomlin, maybe? Well, I'm sure he's a Peninsula District guy. Do you know who the new coach of the Patriots is?

I do not remember quite I'm going to have to get you to look that one up ok he's from Hampton, Virginia played at Kecoughtan High School well thank you for watching the last night

with Mike and Xander and that will be it well I tell you what my main man over here on my right, and when we come back, we're going to really fire it up the next time. So, until that time,

have a great one, and if you need any coaching tips, contact Mike and Xander. Goodbye from Charlottesville, Virginia. Ha, ha, ha. Good job, boys. See you. goodbye from Charlottesville, Virginia Thank you.