The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley & Kevin On Championship Games

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Cooley was with Kevin today to break down the two Championship games. They spent a ton of time on why the Ravens laid an egg against the Chiefs and how the Lions possibly blew a 17-point lead to the 49ers. Every big Dan Campbell decision was dissected as well. Cooley gave his first blush on the Super Bowl match-up while Kevin opened the show talking Commanders' head coach search and playing sound bytes from Lions' OC Ben Johnson, the favorite to land the job.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Jackson, quick snap again. She's trying to push the pocket. Jackson, throws deep middle.

To the end zone, intercepted in the end zone. Intercepted by Dionne Bush. Back to back. Turnovers in the end zone by the Baltimore Ravens. Dion Bush. Here is kids. Up the middle. He runs into a wall.

And the ball came out. Fall is loose. Who's got it? 49ers recover. A few critical mistakes and nowhere near enough plays made by the Ravens and their 17 to 10 home AFC championship loss to the Chiefs. A lot of plays made by the Lions as they built a 17-point lead against the 49ers, but then made an avalanche of mistakes in the second half, allowing the 49ers to roar back to win.

34 to 31. Super Bowl 58 is set. It's a rematch of the Super Bowl four years ago in Miami. It's Kansas City and it's San Francisco. It's the fourth time the NFL will have a rematch of coaches going head to head. The first time that happened was Chuck Knoll and Tom Landry back in the 70s. Then it was Jimmy Johnson and Marv Levy in the 90s. Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick went. head-to-head twice, and now it's Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan. The coach in the first three rematches that won the first, won the second as well. Noll beat Landry twice, Johnson beat Marv Levy twice, and Coughlin is an underdog twice, beat Bill Belichick in two different Super Bowls. Andy Reid won the first one four years ago, 31 to 20. They are a one and a half point underdog.

in Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas. The show today presented, as always, by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Chris Cooley will be with me and we will dissect, break down, analyze everything from the two championship games together starting in the next segment. Please, if you have a moment, rate us and review us, especially on our Apple and Spotify. A quick, you know, two-sentence review with five stars on Apple really helps us a lot. Subscribing to the podcast helps us a lot. Also following us on Apple and Spotify is a big help as well.

This first segment, I'm going to focus on the Washington head coaching situation. Nothing has happened as of the recording of this podcast, but the interviews scheduled for today were to be Anthony Weaver, the Ravens D-Line coach and associate head coach, Mike McDonald, the Ravens defensive coordinator, the first in-person interviews with both of them. Then tomorrow they are scheduled to interview Dan Quinn in person here, and then they are flying to Detroit. to interview Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson, the defensive coordinator, and the offensive coordinator of, yes, the Detroit Lions who lost yesterday. So the odds on favorite, still, if you believe all of the reporting, is that Ben Johnson is the number one choice for Washington and that Ben Johnson, and after meeting with Washington face-to-face in person this week, tomorrow in Detroit will become the next head coach of the Washington commanders.

I had Ben Standing on the radio show today, and Ben Johnson is scheduled to meet and interview with Seattle, the other job that is still available. And Ben pointed out, and I think, you know, justifiably so, until it's done, it's not done. It doesn't matter what the reporting is. And a lot of the reporting could be just one person that everybody believes and everybody else going with that one report. In some cases, that happens. It doesn't always happen. But it can happen that way. He mentioned to me, you know, he thinks the Washington job is just a much better job than the Seattle job. I think that

because of the cap space and because of the draft choices and because of the position of their first round pick, number two overall, it's attractive and I think it's close, but I would not underestimate the Seattle job. You know, Ben Johnson, first of all, Seattle has been a first-rate organization in the NFL for a while now. They went nine and eight this year, nine and eight last year. Their roster is very good. They've got a young team on offense, especially at the skill position players and the offensive line. They've got a quarterback in Gino Smith. How much different is he really than a guy like Jared Gough in the right system with the right offensive coach? I know that he had Shane Waldron this year as an offensive coordinator. I'm just saying that look at what Ben Johnson did

with Jared Gough. Could he do something like that with Gino Smith? They've got big time young talent on defense led by Witherspoon, the first round pick last year from Illinois, the guy Woolen. They just have a lot of good young talent. They're not far away from, you know, potentially being right back in the playoffs. You could easily make the case that Seattle's closer roster-wise to the postseason than Washington. But Washington's clean slate may be more attractive to Ben Johnson. So look, I think he's going to end up taking the job here. I do.

And I think Washington's going to have struck gold with the number one general manager candidate in this hiring cycle and the number one offensive mind from a head coaching standpoint in this hiring cycle. It will be unlike any other hiring cycle we've had here in a long, long time. And it's exciting. And I like Ben Johnson. I like what he's done in Detroit. I love what he's done with Jared Gough.

I think we've seen in these three playoff games that they've played against the Rams, Buccaneers in San Francisco, how effective he is as a game planner as a play caller. Yesterday in particular, they were awesome offensively for, you know, two and a half quarters. So I'm looking forward to it. So I was curious because I've not spent a lot of time. listening to Ben Johnson, much more, perhaps like all of you, I've just read a lot about Ben Johnson. So I went back and I pulled a couple of quotes from last week's press conference leading into the NFC championship game. Remember, like with every NFL city during the NFL season,

it's coordinator day on Thursday. The offensive coordinator speaks. The defensive coordinator speaks when you have a Sunday game as the Lions did. So last Thursday, Ben Johnson met with the media. I've heard his voice before. I've heard him interviewed before, but not long answers, not a long sit-down interview or press conference. This press conference was about 13 and a half minutes roughly, and I pulled four sound bites that I thought you would be interested in hearing.

I just wanted you to get a feel for the guy that I, I think, could be the new head coach as early as this time tomorrow, and maybe no later than Wednesday or Thursday. So one of the questions asked leading into the NFC championship game of Ben Johnson last week was this feeling that players have described that Ben Johnson empowers people. And specifically, he has really empowered Jared Gough and given him a voice. in what they do. I think empowering anybody, it doesn't matter really what position it is,

makes them a better player overall because the ownership of it, they tend to want to make that stuff work. Either it's a technique or a specific play, that's been my experience at least. I do say the mistakes I've seen over the years when it comes to offensive football is I've seen guys come in and they plop down a playbook and try to change the quarterback. And there is a degree of growing the quarterback

and challenging the quarterback, but I think it still starts with what that quarterback does best. So that was always our starting point. A couple years ago with Jared, what does he do best? And then we've looked to grow and develop them from there. And so it's been very much a hand-in-hand step-and-step process and his ideas, as well as, shoot, David Blau had some good ones last night, too. third down night, right? So all these guys, they throw their two cents in there and we try to

come up with a good product on game day. David Blow, by the way, a, I think a practice squad quarterback because I think their backup has been Teddy Bridgewater. I could be wrong. Hendon Hooker, remember, is on that roster. They drafted the Tennessee quarterback. But Ben Johnson, you know, one of those coaches, and I think it's the right kind of coach to always have, and that is a coach that adapts to the skill set of his players, doesn't force a system on his players. Here's another soundbite from last week's Ben Johnson press conference in preparation for the NFC title game yesterday against San Francisco.

Somebody complimented him on his game plan last week against Tampa. They said it was much more of a heavy, passed a set up run offense and it was a run to set up pass offense and he had talked the week before about the strength of Tampa in the middle, Vita Vaya, et cetera. And the person asked, how pleased were you that it worked out, you know, kind of the inverse of what they typically do, which is run to set up the pass, but the game against Tampa was more past to set up run. Here's what he said. Listen, the guys played really well, all right, because that defense had only given up, I think, 30 points twice less, or during the course of the season, you know, us in Houston.

So it's really kudos to the guys executing the plan. Now, at halftime, I don't know how great I was feeling at that point, 10 points. And I think we had zero explosive plays to throw that ball that many times in the first half. I really thought that we had have potentially some catch-and-run opportunities or some deeper balls just present themselves. and it didn't happen. And so those guys, I mean, everybody in that locker room, they stuck to their guns. And they, you know, it had been easy to try to reverse course or something like that. But we ended up breaking through the barrier there in the second half.

I think we had six explosives there in the second half and move the ball much, much better. And the run game came along there in the second half as well. So like you said, it's a little bit different sometimes. Each week presents itself in a different way. and we just felt like last week that was the way we wanted to get after that defense. In the first half last week, as Ben Johnson was referring to, they had thrown it 23 times, they had run it 10 times. It was what they thought was required to move the football.

It wasn't working great. It was a 10 to 10 game against Tampa. Remember, that game was 1717 heading into the fourth quarter. But they got the explosives in the second half. And like he said, you know, they're going to design a game plan based on what they think will work that week. You know what's funny, too, is that it's been more of like a last three to five years thing. You hear so many coaches now refer to explosive plays on offense and explosive plays allowed on defense being so critical. They are critical because most teams don't try.

to move the ball, eight minutes, 17 plays, chipping away. They understand that the longer drive goes, the more opportunity there is for a negative play. It doesn't mean teams don't do it, and it does still work, and if that's the way you've got to move the football, that's the way you've got to move the football. But teams really do look for the players and then the offensive design to create explosive plays. because huge chunk plays take a lot of risk out of a much longer drive. Mike Loxley, the head coach at Maryland, he told me a few years ago, he said the college game has essentially come down to the number of explosive plays you make on offense

and the number of explosives you allow in defense. If it's a net positive, you typically win. If it's a net negative, you typically lose. He doesn't talk as much about turnover battle or penalties or other things. first down, a third down percentage. It's explosives, allowed explosives that you get. Anyway, that was Ben Johnson on that. This was him talking about Dan Campbell's staff and the fact that there is a lot of NFL experience on the staff.

And a guy like him who didn't play in the NFL, you know, has to earn the respect of the locker room. maybe a little bit differently. Here's what he said. It's instant credibility with the players. They might not know the coach very well, but the fact that he played at a high level in this league, I do think that speaks volumes for the respect factor early on. I learned from a veteran coach when I was in Miami

that you can't coach what you don't know. And so for guys like me and probably coach FIPP, who didn't play in this league, it's been a race for growing that library, the volume, you know, what can we learn? What can we be experts on that we can share that knowledge? And then our way of teaching that to the players is just, it looks different because you might have Coach Hayden or Antoine Randallel out there demonstrating exactly what they want. It's going to look a little bit different with me trying to demonstrate those same

techniques, okay? But we just have to find a different way to get the same point across at the end of the day and that's that's been the fun part about guys like me and dave i think that uh that there's still value you know there's a good mix and and coach campbell said this all along that having not the smartest guys or all former player it's just the right mix of guys that we have on this staff and it's worked really well this year an answer i just wanted to play to give you kind of a sense of who he is and how he got to where he got to and maybe a little bit of a little bit of little bit of a hint on the kind of staff that'll put together, you know, which could include

some former players and perhaps some guys like him. One last one, and then we'll get to Cooley, and we will recap the two championship games. He was asked about his offense, and specifically, the question was, what's the hallmark of the Ben Johnson offense? Here's what he said. Shoot, I'd like to think that it all starts with the fundamentals and technique. I'd say that's a huge part of it because it's what we've been preaching from the springtime through training camp and then even now during the season, all those little things. But when you turn on the tape, I would love to think that you see us playing with speed and attitude. Speed and attitude. We talk about that from day one and hopefully when you turn it on, that's what's showing up

each and every week. Speed and attitude. I think we'll hear that if we indeed end up getting an introductory press conference from Ben Johnson later on this week. There's some guys on offense with some speed and attitude. Terry McClurentz got some speed. Certainly Brian Robinson Jr., Sam Cosmy, have some attitude. But anyway, I thought for those of you that hadn't heard Ben Johnson before to hear, to hear some of those answers, gives you a little bit of insight on what Washington may be getting in just a few days. I do want to mention to all of you that there's an opportunity to come out and see me and a lot of the people from 980 and a lot of the people from our sister station 1067, the fan. We've got an event this Friday night at Bethesda Theater. It's this Friday night,

February 2nd, 8 p.m. You get tickets at Bethesda Theatre.com. It's 1067 The Fan and Team 980 Night. We hit the stage together for a night of sports conversation, debate. John Allen

will be there. Washington defensive tackle, John Allen, will be with us on stage as well. But more importantly, when we get done with whatever the dog and pony is, I'll be hanging out. And it would be great to meet many of you who I've never met, see many of you that I haven't seen in a while.

Again, Bethesda Theatre.com for tickets. It's this Friday night. It starts at 8 p.m. Would love to see a lot of those of you who listen to this show out there. It should be a fun night. All right. Up next, Chris Cooley and I will break down. the two championship games right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Farner Johnson in for Joseph who leaves. Here's Purdy with a lot of time. Steps into one. Watching deep, going for Brandon Ayuk.

It is. Oh, we corner up the ricochet. Penalty. Is he in? He's down to the five. We'll see what the penalty is. I'll tell you what. This is the best play they've made all day.

Well, that was a bit lucky. the ball thrown straight to the defensive back right in his hands, but it hits his face mask, and Brandon Ayuk comes down with it, and the 49ers were trailing 2410 at the time, and it was game on. This segment of the show, presented by Windonation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate right now. 50% off all window styles, plus zero percent interest for five years. If you need new windows, now's the time to get it. You'll save big on your energy bills. Your home will look better.

86690 Nation, windownation.com. Mention my name. They'll take really good care of you. Guess who's with me today? Chris Cooley is here with me on this show because he watched both of the championship games. But before we get to them, congratulations. You guys upset the number one juco team in America.

Tell everybody about how you guys beat Western Wyoming. What's up, Kev? What's up, Christopher? What's up? Yeah, it was actually the, I think about the coolest moment I've had in sports in a long, long time. You sent me the video. It was awesome. Northwest, Wyoming, junior college. You're 64 junior college team. We actually wrestled Western Wyoming, the first match of the year, in Rock Springs, Wyoming,

we lost 50 to 3 as a team. Really? It means we won one match, and that one match we won by less than eight points. 50 to 3, they beat us. Who beat you 50 to 3? Western Wyoming beat us 50 to 3. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We just upset Western Wyoming in the 5th to 3.

We just upset Western Wyoming in Powell in front of our home crowd on Saturday. We had a four team, four other teams were in town for our Apodaca duels. I'm sorry? Namesake after Brooks Apodaca, who passed away in 1996 and we've wrestled this tournament called the Apadaka duels since then. And so we had four other schools in, so we wrestled Friday night, and we got pounded on Friday night. I'm all North Idaho. They were ready to go, man. North Idaho's tough.

I know you love minifield schools. Well, I'm looking at the rankings. I'm looking at the rankings. The top, I've got the top 20 in America in Juko wrestling as of January

9th, and North Idaho was fifth in the country. You guys were tied for sixth in the country in Western Wyoming, was the number one team. There are a lot of Wyoming schools that it would appear a lot of Oregon and Idaho schools in Juko wrestling.

There's just two Wyoming schools. Western and Northwest, that's it? Yeah, you're right. That's it. No, yeah, that's it. Yep. Yeah, no, that's it. Well, there isn't any more.

They're number one, and if we're number six, we're not that close to them normally. Okay. So, anyway, I'll spare you the entire, I could watch through point by point, match by match. It's amazing. But we get through, there's 10 weights. We forfeit the first weight, which is 125.

We don't have 125 pounds. We start down 6'0 to everybody. So we get through and we have a couple really fortunate wins, and we get to our 165-pounder, right there kind of where we're in the middle. He's getting pinned. He's getting pinned in a cradle. And he starts to sit on top of the guy that's pinning him, and our coach starts to yell, That's a defensive fall. It's a defensive fall. I don't know what any of this means.

He sits on him for about five seconds, and they slap pin. Our guy gets up, and he's pissed, devastated. And then he looks at coach and I who are celebrating on the side. He starts flexing on everybody. He realizes that he won. He had a defensive pin, and that really turned the match for us. We actually had 184-pounder won a national championship. He has never lost for us.

He lost. The kid from Western Wyoming beat him, which basically puts us to where it's almost out. But all of our guys that would have normally gotten beat by more got pinned found a way to lose matches, which is crazy in wrestling. You lose by less than seven. You only give up 13 points. We get to our heavyweight. We're down 21 to 17.

Our heavyweight is number one in the nation. Their heavyweight is number two in the nation. Our heavyweight has to pin. He's amazing. He goes, hey, coach. do you want to win the duel or you want me to win the match? Is this Cody Pinkerton? Cody Pinkerton.

Yeah, he's number one in the nation in heavyweights. He gets on top of this kid and he starts turning him in the he's got both his legs wrapped around him, riding legs, and he starts turning him in kind of a half. And the Western Wyoming Heavyweight adjusts his arm to try to get out. But Cody catches it deep. Pins him. everyone went nuts.

This is a 1 in 20, 1 in 30 opportunity for us to win a duel against these guys, the way it worked out. It was really, really fun. It made me love sports again. I always love sports, but, I mean, it just made me love it. I mean, you upset the number one team in the country. So where will you be ranked in the next rankings that come out? It really doesn't make a huge difference. I don't know where it will be ranked.

we're not I don't know if we're actually number six to be honest with you but we found a way to win matches when we've had to win matches and it's been fun it's amazing because you got guys they're 18, 19 years old

and a lot of our guys aren't as good as they've been wrestling and we're just getting them to wrestle every week and find ways to win and we got a couple really good wrestlers so we build on that that's awesome was Cody Pinkerton

one of the guys that the bear attacked He was not one of the bear attacks. No. Okay. Are any of those guys still on the team? Yeah. Okay. They are.

Three of the four still wrestling for us. Um, all right. Well, congrats. That's awesome. Thanks. Northwest Wyoming, uh, a Juko powerhouse in wrestling upsets the number one team. Chris Cooley's the assistant coach. Uh, now is this a guy, the heavyweight that ended up winning it for you?

Is this a guy that, you spend a lot of time with? Every day. I spend a lot of time with him. I'm there every day. Right now we're practicing twice a day with them. We work out in the morning. Half the time we're in the wait room at 6.30.

We'll go wait room or a wrestling room in the morning. And then we practice from 4 to 6.30. Watch film with them. We're with them a lot every day right now. We're in the middle of it. We got one more dual match. and then we have our regionals, which is actually at home this year.

We have six teams in our region. That qualifies for the national tournament. So really we have one more dual match, regional and nationals. So we're getting ready to go wrestle and get them ready to go for nationals. They have to be no worse than third in our region. And that's a regular tournament.

So they have to be in the top three normally to qualify to go to national. And then the national bracket's a 24-man tournament, 24-man bracket. I'm looking at the national D-1 wrestling rankings. God, the Big Ten just dominates, don't they? Penn State's one.

Oh, the Big Ten is unbelievable. Yeah. Penn State's won. Iowa's three. Nebraska is six. Ohio State's seven. Minnesota's nine. Michigan's 10. Rutgers is 13. Wisconsin. 21. I mean, they represent.

The Big Tenet has always been what was rep, I mean, the Big Tenet is always the best conference in wrestling. Right. All right. Let's talk some football. How about those games yesterday? Which, I'd like to, which game do you want to start with? I don't care because they were both amazing

football games. I thought, the ending of the San Francisco game. The last, the second of a San Francisco game was unbelievable in a lot of different ways. The Baltimore game, I think, is an amazing game, too. I think it's just unbelievable to watch what Andy Reid does to get his team ready for the playoffs. Andy Reid, that chief team reminds me of when you talk to a lot of the guys from the

Redskins of the 80s, Riggins has always said this. A lot of the hogs have said this. We cared about the season, but we were ready for the playoffs. The season started when we got to the playoffs. And I swear to you, Kev, Andy Reid gets that team ready. Whether or not they're playing well, week 10 through week 16 is irrelevant to him. It's finding a way to get him to peak as they get into the playoffs. And he's done that.

So we chatted a little bit last week, I think, at some point when you were on your deathbed because you had a bad case of the flu. But I forget who you liked going into these games. First of all, did you like anybody? Did you bet anybody in either one of the. these two games. I bet Kansas City outright in

San Francisco to cover, which they almost did. I thought San Francisco would beat Detroit by more than they did. I, for some reason, just had a feeling that San Francisco had had it tough for a couple weeks, and they had really

grinded through something, and that this would be somewhat of a coming out party. The way Detroit had defended the past, I thought San Francisco would open up more early. But Detroit, the way they put it on them to start the game, I think changed the flow of what that game really was. But really great job by Dan Campbell and the Lions early in that game. All right. Well, since you started with the Mahomes and Andy Reed, let's talk about that game. So I really liked Baltimore. I was dead wrong. I thought that they were the best team during the

regular season. I thought they were one of the best or one of the most complete teams that we've seen in the NFL in a long time. The DVOA metric, which you know, ranks regular seasons and then postseason had Baltimore as the sixth best regular season team of all time. And I just did not think watching Kansas City, you know, whether it was against Miami in negative 9 degree temperatures, and Miami had all those players out, Buffalo had most of their defense injured. I just didn't think that they were going to be able to do anything against Baltimore. So I love the Ravens. So why did Kansas City win the game? in your opinion.

Because their defense is unbelievable. What Fags is doing to other quarterbacks and putting people in situations where they're out of it a little bit, it is impossible to stop. We actually were, our head coach at Northwest is a die-hard chiefs that.

I mean, all he can talk about is the chiefs right now. So I spend a lot of time talking chiefs football. But we did this thing, we were watching on the road, for us, on the road, the Miami game, and he was saying, the Chiefs have to have more scoreless quarters defensively than anybody has ever had.

Like, okay. So we look it up. You can't actually look that up. So we went game by game and, like, they're like 29 scoreless quarters of defense, Kansas City this season. Like how many quarters they've shut out the other team is,

is really almost unbelievable. I didn't look up any other great. defenses. I mean, you've got to go through every single game, every single quarter to see when people scored on them. It's not a stat. Well, Baltimore was the number one scoring defense in the AFC, and the Chiefs, I'm sorry, Baltimore was the number one scoring defense in the NFL, and Kansas City was the number two scoring defense in the NFL. They were the top two teams in the NFL at allowing the fewest points. Yeah, and Baltimore's defense all year was unbelievable.

The physicality that Baltimore plays with and what they can do to teams in the back end of stuff is unbelievable. They couldn't do it to Travis Kelsey early in the game. I still don't understand where there's no real plan for him. Do teams play him and go, maybe he's not going to get hot on him early in a football game? God damn that guy can find open space. I've been separate against man-to-man coverage is one thing, and he's as good as I've seen at it. But his knack for settling route down the field

and rolling cuts and finding open gaps and open holes in secondaries is unbelievable. I haven't seen anybody as good at him ever. Never. I've never seen a tight end do it the way he does it. And they got him going early, and they got some stuff going early. I mean, you could go through this whole game.

Lamar struggled early, and I think that a lot of that was on Lamar. You know, he looked like he was in a rush early. You watched him continue to take deep shots when he probably didn't need to be taken deep shot and continue to overthrow guys. He didn't look comfortable in the pocket. He probably should have ran more. Gosh, Kansas City's defense really did a good job throughout the game. They were tight in coverage.

They did not make it easy. None of the throws were easy. The pressures were there. It wasn't like Lamar just had time to sit back there and made terrible decisions of bad throws. But then you also look at – here's the other reason Kansas City wins the game. Kansas City knows where they're at. They know how to play in the playoffs, and they just don't kill themselves. I mean, other than a couple penalties by the right guard in a big situation,

which won on a stream pass. It's the absolute bull crap. Baltimore is the team that killed themselves throughout the game. The two turnovers in the end zone. We're on the one-yard line. Well, they're going into score and Sneed punches one out on the one-yard line. That's insane. That's huge.

And then Lamar forces one into the end, though, later in that game. And it killed him. I was really rooting for Lamar Jackson. I think we've talked about this before. I like Lamar Jackson. I like everything about him. Everything I've heard about him. Everything that everybody in Baltimore says about him, it's all about the team.

He's apparently just incredibly well respected and well liked. But going into this game, he was a two and three playoff starter. And they beat Houston last week, 3410, and he played well in the second half. And I thought that there was some pressure on him last week. And I thought he delivered in that game against Houston. And I really wanted him to get, I thought Baltimore was the better team. And I thought that he would play well. to me, in order, it was Lamar Jackson being asked to do far too much by Todd Munkin.

There were six carries for their running backs. This is the number one rush offense in the NFL, and Gus Edwards and Justice Hill had six carries in the game. That made no sense to me. This game was never at a point where you had to throw like he did against Tennessee a few years ago. remember in the first playoff game when they were a one seed and they got beat by Tennessee. He got way down. Yeah, they got way down. He threw it 59 times, which is no way for them to win.

So Munkin essentially put the game on Jackson, and the bottom line is he didn't play well enough. He just did not play well enough. He didn't see things. You had the sack fumble, you had the interception into basically triple coverage. You had a third and four throw sailover Justice Hills head. You had a third and nine sack, which knocked him out of field goal range. He just seemed to not see where pressure was coming from. He didn't use his legs as much as I think he has to in a game like that when he's unsure.

And I'm going to point out something that I think I mentioned on radio at the end of the show today. The very first play of the game, it's both. Baltimore receiving the opening kickoff, and first and 10 from the 25 after Butker kicks out of the end zone. And they huddle up and the huddle stalls and then they get to the line of scrimmage. And Lamar keeps looking at his wristband. He's folding it up. He's looking at it. He's looking around.

Then somebody's lined up in the wrong spot. These are scripted plays, correct? I mean, whatever they're going to run in that first play, this has been part of the, whatever the scripted. 10 plays, 12 plays, whatever it is. And I remarked to my son Corbyn, what's going on here? It was a one-yard run to Justin Hill. It was just a handoff to Justice Hill. I'm like, he looks confused.

I wonder if he's tight. Because I was thinking that he was going to come out and let it fly. He never played freely at any point. The plays he made were off schedule, which is typical for him, but there were too many bad plays. And I hate this, but Lamar Jackson is certainly near the top of the blame chart. Number two is Todd Munkin for putting too much of the game on him. Number three was just the undisciplined nature of the Ravens.

Those 15-yard penalties, all of them, were all legit penalties. I mean, 98 clothesline Mahomes. Clowny goes helmet to helmet. Van Noy, you know, head butts. I mean, Zay Flowers definitely taunted after that play. The undisciplined nature of them, they had 12 men on the field on the final drive. That hurt him. And then Kansas City's defense was awesome as it's been all year long.

Spags was awesome in his plan. And Mahomes and Kelsey in the first two drives of the game. And then on the third down when he hit Valdez Scantling at the end, that's all they needed. He was brilliant on the first two drives. He was Mahomes-esque. He was Kelsey-esque. And then he needed one play.

They did nothing in between. Baltimore completely shut them down after the first two drives of the game. They averaged 2.8 yards per carry. Pacheco had 24 carries for 68 yards. And all they needed were 17 points to tie And they had a chance with flowers down there when he fumbled. That's a really good defensive play.

They had a chance, you know, when he got sacked in field goal range. And then, you know, I just, Kansas City was better. And we're just going to, we're, this Mahomes, and like you said, Andy Reed and Kelsey, this is four Super Bowl trips in six years. This was, we need to see him do it on the road. He's never played a road playoff game. Well, he just wants to. went to Buffalo, and he just went to Baltimore and won.

And here's the thing about both of these games. The dude doesn't make any mistakes. No mistakes. They had three penalties in the game, and I don't even think they were close to a turnover in the game. Last week, same thing. No mistakes. Totally well-coached, smooth, and, you know, they just let Baltimore, they clearly

felt like they could confuse Lamar and that they could keep Baltimore's offense down. But I think Baltimore contributed to that. I don't know why they didn't try to run the football more. I thought they should have run the football more. I thought they at least early and involve Lamar and running the football more. Yeah. And they didn't. You know, I noticed this throughout the game. I've seen it with Lamar before. And it does go back to Monkin, too. but he starts to miss throws, and he is a baby. It's like he's stomping his feet up and jumping up and down and frowning and cussing. At himself, though.

Not his teammates. Yeah, no, this isn't a bad leadership. Right, right, right, right. But it's not a good look. I'm not saying it's a bad look when you're watching a quarterback going, God, he is really beyond himself frustrated. It just settled down, dude. He looked so upset.

seven or eight times when he misses a throw to a back out of the back field. Oh, I think it's the third quarter of can't remember who it's over his head. And he is just stomping around. He's not getting the first down anyways. He's going to be two yards short anyways, and he's so frustrated. And to me, when you have that situation as an offensive coordinator, I can clearly see it from the TV. I know everyone can see it and sets it on the film.

Man, you've got to get him easier throws. they'll find a way to get him going. It's almost like they went to like scheduled checkdowns there in the second half a little bit, which got him going a little bit. I mean, I kind of just, look, he's going to win his second MVP this year. I think he earned it during the course of the regular season. I do. But he's two and four in the postseason now.

and he really hasn't played. He played a good game last week against Houston, but Houston couldn't generate any offense in either one of their two games against Baltimore, so they were never threatened. Yeah, you know, it's just like anybody else. When you're in that position, whether it's, you know, an NBA star, you've got to win a title, an NFL quarterback. You at least got to get to a big game.

And he had a chance to beat Mahon. when Josh Allen hasn't been able to do it. Burroughs done it, but didn't win the Super Bowl. And he had a chance to kind of separate himself from maybe the Burrow Allen group with Mahomes, but he didn't. And at the same time, Cooley, I said this on Friday or Thursday last week, that this is the biggest game of Mahomes' career. This is a signature game.

If he goes on the road, plays well, and they beat that team in that stadium, that is, that's his best postseason win. And I think he, the combination of last week and this week, and then if he completes it in Vegas in two weeks, you have to start to, if you're not already there, he has to be in the conversation of the greatest of all time already. Has to be. Sorry for those that just want to hang on Brady and Manning.

There are so many signature games. I think that's the thing you've got to think about though with the Mars. is, is, you're looking at it and saying, and Romo said it throughout, like, these are legacy games. Somebody needed to get through to him that this is just a game. Just go play. Yeah. It became, it was almost like it was too big. And I know Lamar can perform in that situation, but for the Chiefs, it was just a game.

And to me, for the Ravens, it seemed like the legacy game. It was everything was riding on it. And that you should just go play another game. And that does go to the penalties. I mean, those couple penalties, the ones that Van Nuoy has to start the drive right before they get three at the end of the half, which was massive. That's an idiotic penalty. And then you have the next clothesline penalty. The 30 yards of penalties when Kansas City goes down and gets a field goal.

Well, not only that, the Van Nuys penalty is after a zero-yard gain at the 10-yard line. you're going to be able to call time out and potentially get the ball back at 14 to 7 in good field position. It was awful. You know, the Zayflower's penalty is absolutely crap. And then he ends up fumbling later on that drive, but if he doesn't get the penalty, he's got a butterfly effect of where he actually was. You never know what's going to happen down there, but they step back from way up from there. Yeah.

But that was like three penalties in one. So bad. Because he gets up after the catch and shoves the dude down. Then he spins the ball on him. Then he stands over and taunt him. Like, are you begging them to call a personal foul here? You're begging them to call it in a critical moment, the game. I saw so many people saying...

By the way... Yeah. By the way, you made a honey... You were opening a honeyhole shot. Like, we're not talking about Dave Flowers, double-moved, breaking somebody off. Like, he's running vertical down the sideline into a honeyhole shot where Lamar is the one who makes the play.

He caught a ball. And he should have scored. And here's the thing. I saw a lot of people saying, oh, you can't make that call in a championship game. Are you guys kidding? These were egregious. You can't ignore the shoving back and forth

and the hit and, you know, the other guy hit. You can't ignore the clothesline on Mahomes. No. The Van Nuys head butt. The Van Neuiland's like, okay. I mean, it's not like he went through a punch. You just got a little bit too close into Kelsey's face and ends up being a little headbutt. But he headbutted him pretty hard.

I don't like that call, honestly. But he did it. I thought you got to flag him. You mentioned Romo. I mean, yeah, everybody. It's now becoming, you know, an absolute. you know, pile-on situation because everybody realizes how bad he is and how bad he's gotten. He doesn't prepare at all, but yesterday was just an embarrassing day. I mean, it was as if

at times he's like involved in broadcasting or watching his first football game. He didn't realize at the end of the first half that they're going to try to draw them off sides before the two-minute warning. He doesn't know the difference between an RPO and a zone read, and then on the intentional off sides at the end of the game, which I got to tell you a quick story here in a moment, he had no idea what was going on on first and five. He had no idea that that was intentional. He is lost, and by comparison, Greg Olson's excellent. Now, he doesn't have the big time voice or sort of the authority, but he's really good at breaking it down. smartly and quickly.

And he's following everything that's going on. I have this caller to the radio show. His name's Stan, right? He lives in Jersey. And he's one of these guys that has followed me and you and all of the situational football stuff for years. Two weeks ago he calls me and he said, I got one for you and he goes to what?

And he said, you know the play where it's like first and five late in the game and you're going to intentionally offside to make it up first and ten? be his first and five, you're at a disadvantage, and, you know, they can run the clock out easier. And I said, yeah, he goes, well, you decline the off sides. That's the play. And I go, yeah, we've seen that done before. And he goes, that's why you don't jump off sides. You go commit a personal foul, which is exactly what Harbaugh did. He sent Roquan Smith in there to not only jump off sides, commit a personal foul, which you can decline. But Andy Reid just was like, wait a minute, you can't decline it.

But we just take the 15 yards then. And they took the 15 yards, but it was first and 10. It was brilliant. I had a caller calling two weeks ago and give me that whole scenario at the end. But Romo had no idea what was going on. God forbid he had done the Detroit San Francisco game. He would have been completely lost. but Kansas City deserved it. I mean, totally deserved it. It was impressive.

And I mean, we'll get to the Super Bowl here briefly, like first blush, but let's get to the second game. So let me go first on this one. This game was over. It was a dominant performance by Detroit through the first half. and I couldn't believe my eyes because Ben Johnson Cooley, who's the offensive coordinator at Detroit, who is more likely than not going to be the head coach named head coach here in Washington this week. I mean, he had Wilkes completely bamboozled. They were dominating the line of scrimmage. They were averaging seven yards per carry. They had, midway through the third quarter, they had 340 yards of offense, and it scored on four or four or four.

five drives and they're up 24 to 10. And at that point, they gifted the game to the 49ers. I look this up. I hate this thing that ESPN does because I don't really think it's real, but I looked it up anyway for emphasis for the point of how badly Detroit just handed it to them. Their win probability up 24 to 10 was seven minutes to go when they were on the move in the third quarter was 91.5%. San Francisco. couldn't move the football barely. Purdy was horrible in the first half.

And Detroit, there was no stopping Detroit. And then all of a sudden, in a five-minute span, fourth and two, they go for it, but we can talk about the fourth-down decisions here in a moment. And it's a catchable ball for Josh Reynolds. He drops it. Then you get the deep ball that we came in with, hits off the face mask,

Ayuk pulls it in. Then you get the fumble. Then you get a third nine drop, which would have gone for 30 yards, Josh Reynolds again. Then you get a magnificent punt and the guy downs it at the two-yard line, but he runs into the end zone with it. Touchback. It's a five-minute stretch of total self-destruction by the Lions. And they handed the opportunity to the 49ers to get back into the game and to the 49ers

credit from that moment on, they took advantage of it. Detroit served it up and they said, sure, we'll take it. And they played great from that moment on, including Purdy, who made big time plays with his legs, made some big time throws. I mean, McCaffrey, Samuel, Kittle, Bosa, Kinlaw, not Chase Young, by the way. I'm sure most of you have seen the effort he gave on the a Gibbs touchdown run. And they took the game. But that game was as over as almost any NFL game you will ever see midway through the third quarter.

They had not been stopped. They were on the move. They went for a fourth and two. I would have kicked the field goal. We'll go through the fourth down decisions. I would have kicked the field goal to make it 27 to 10. But they went for it. It was open and the ball was catchable and he dropped it.

And then from there, was a shit show of an unbelievable five or six-place stretch in the third quarter that went from 24 to 10 to 24-24 and the 49ers having the ball. So that's essentially my take before we get to the fourth downs. The Lions handed it to that. It went from 24 to 10 at what point to 34-24. Yeah. It went to the 49ers.

24-7. It was a 27-0-0 run. It was 24-7, but through that span, after the third down or the fourth and two, San Francisco scored, what, 24-unanswered? Yeah, 24-unanswered from that moment on, yes. Exactly. And they became absolutely the dominant team. I was blown away with Detroit, also speaking of how good Greg Olson is, Greg Olson defining what Detroit is in third down situations, and then third down after third down after third down,

them executing it in a way that you're listening to the announcer, the commentator define this. San Francisco can't stop them to the point where they had that run on third and 11, they don't stop them, and you're like, this game is over. The third and 11 Gibbs run. It's like, I mean, San Francisco was the number one rush defense in the NFL this year. Now, Green Bay may have given us a hint of what was to come because they ran it down their throat last week. But, I mean, Detroit was averaging 7 yards.

They had 168 yards rushing with 7 minutes to go in the third quarter, 340 yards. They were on their way to a 500-yard day and an absolute blowout win before the 4th and 2 drop and the ball off the face mask. and those two plays completely got San Francisco back into the game, and to their credit, they took advantage of it, and then Detroit continued to make error after error. So where it's crazy, the craziest thing to me is the fourth and two. I mean, so let's just go there. So I've been through so many of these games and watched so many of these games

and participated. With that amount of time left in the third quarter, the field goal is like so much extra momentum to make that a 17-point game and a three-score game where you're running the ball so effectively

and you really are not getting stopped on offense it's so demeaning to the other team just to get the three points and it makes it a three-score game and you're you've got to just sit there and think what are the amount of possessions that San Francisco is going to possibly have left here and realistically Detroit runs

the ball, your best case is that they get four possessions. It's most likely you keep them to those three possessions, and so they have to score on every single one of those possessions to win. And, yeah, I completely understand the philosophy that Dan Campbell's played with all year. I understand that there are times where you've done it and you want to stick with it and you're not changing it. But in the moment of that game, the three points, essentially the game's over. If you're on the San Francisco sideline looking up like, God, they scored again.

and now it's 17 points. Like we can't do anything wrong. Can't stop them. And if the trade does get the fourth down and go and score, yeah, the game's also, the game is effectively over, but you still got to go score. You take the three points, and to me, San Francisco is demoralized. It's a crushing moment in the game to go down 17 points. It changes what you do.

It takes every bit of run the ball ability out of first and second down. it makes them completely one-dimensional. They must score on the next three positions. And Detroit effectively was controlling the line of scrimmage without a problem. They were dashing San Francisco. So to say, like, what are we afraid of here? If we just kick it, are we that afraid of them? No, they shouldn't have been.

They should have taken the three points, and they would have went and won the game. But you open the door and give San Francisco the ball right there, and then it is. It's one unbelievably lucky play that I make. But that happens. Those things happen in football. So I was blown away by that call. That one in particular.

All right. Well, so. You know, the next one I understand, I think it's a little different, but that one just kills me. So let's go through them, because there are a couple that people haven't spent a lot of time on in the aftermath of this game where a lot of the attention and a lot of the focus was on Dan Campbell's fourth down decisions. First of all,

let me just say this. I don't, I can't stand the analytics people that think it's black and white that it's all math, it's all numbers, and that's how you make decisions. And by the way, I don't think a lot of those people are that way anymore. I think a lot of them understand that it's an important piece of information, but context. And there's a lot else that's involved in these decisions that are made by the coaches in game. Also said, Dan Campbell has gotten Detroit into the position of being this team, 12 wins this year, you know, the number three seed, two playoff wins at home, and up 17 points against San Francisco in the NFC title game because he just is a guy that airs on the side of being super aggressive.

He makes decisions emotionally with feel. he's not actually, in my opinion, a numbers guy. I mean, he's a bit of a meathead in a nice way because he's got so many... No, he's an attitude guy. He's an attitude guy. He's not... If he were all about the analytics, he would have gone for the fourth down at the end of the first half. He would have gone for the fourth down when they were fourth and five in San Francisco territory. So let me go through him. The first fourth down they have up 21 to 7, up 14 to 7. They're at the San Francisco 45-yard line. They got a fourth and five.

and a half. That is a slight lean go for it. He punted. So that was his feel. He's not straight analytics, straight numbers. I actually would have been fine had they gone for it because they had not been stopped. They were completely owning the line of scrimmage. And they were up 14-7. But he punted. And then you go to the end of the half. There they are. Fourth and goal at the three-yard line with seven, with seven seconds to go. The analytics actually say, go for it in that situation. For me, I wouldn't have had a problem had he gone for it because that's who he is.

That's what they've done. By the way, this season, they were 20 of 25 on fourth and three or less. But I thought, make it 24 to 7. Don't give them any sort of spark heading into halftime with a stop. And plus, one of the real benefits of a fourth and goal, Fort situation. They're backed up. They're backed up and you can take advantage of it on defense.

And that was not a possibility at the end of the half. So I was okay with them going for the field goal there. Did you feel the same way? I was completely fine with them going for the field goal. In the situation that they were in, like I, okay, the Dan Campbell thing, because you do it all the time in your attitude guy doesn't make it all right that you do it the next time. Like that doesn't just make it all right.

Because I stay on 16, 10 times it works out, doesn't make the next one okay. The field thing isn't just always, well, he does it. That's what he does. So it's okay. It's the right decision because that's the decision he always makes. But my point is he didn't make that decision in the first half. He punted and took a field goal. The field goal he takes, I like the field goal that they end up taking because I like when you're in that kind of a lead to guarantee,

to continue to put points on the board. I hated the fourth and two because you're winning by 14. Let's make it a three-score game. Put more points on the board. So let's go to that fourth and two. All right. San Francisco's gone down the field. They kicked a field goal to make it 24 to 10.

My God, the third and eight that Purdy threw to Juan Jennings, I mean, it was seven feet over his head, and it nearly got Jennings killed. I thought Purdy for the first two and a half quarters was dreadful. And I was convinced we were going to be having a conversation today about how great Kyle Shanahan is and the roster is great, but they just keep getting the quarterback wrong, whether it's Garoppolo or the trade for Tray Lance or now Purdy, who's decent. I'm not saying he's not good. He's just not good enough.

And for two quarters, he was awful. And so they kicked the field goal and here's Detroit. they're on the move again. I mean, they haven't been stopped yet, except for the punt decision in San Francisco territory. They've scored on four or five drives. Let me just say the third and four at the San Francisco 30 before that fourth down, they put Amon-Ross-St. Brown into the backfield against six D-Bs, and he ran the ball. I loved that call. And I thought Amon-Ross-St. Brown, who I think is elite in this league, I think he missed his cut. It was there. Warner made a good play, but I I think he missed the hole, and I thought it would have been a big play.

But anyway, fourth and two, the analytics, it's a very slight lean to go for it. Context, for me, I would have kicked the field goal. I agree with you. Did I have a major problem in the moment with him going for it? I didn't, and I'll tell you why. Because San Francisco hadn't stopped him from doing anything. It's like, why are we going to all of a sudden, you know, okay, it's 2410. They're not doing much on offense.

either. I mean, they went down, they kicked a field goal. I mean, Purdy can't throw the, throw the ball into the ocean from a boat at this point. We're stopping McCaffrey. He's got like 28 yards on 10 carries. Like, let's just go down there and make it, you know, make it 31 to 10. And so I didn't really have a massive issue at that point. The other thing to consider is Badgley, their kicker is not a good kicker, especially outdoors. But in kicks of 45 yards or longer, he's like 60 something percent. So it's like more of like that was a perfect environment. I agree. Totally agree.

It was his first kick outdoors all year was the kick at the end of the first half. But I agree with you. I would have kicked the field goal knowing that there's a pretty damn good chance, probably at least a two-thirds chance. It's going to be a 17.3 score lead again. So then we go to after the series of bungals after that, and it's 24, it's 2724. And it's fourth and three at the San Francisco 30 with seven and a half minutes to go.

I'm actually surprised that you aren't have a bigger problem with this one. It's fourth and three, not fourth and two. You're down three now, not up 14. The analytics again say slight lean, you know, borderline coin flip, but slight lean to going for it. But for me in the context, you've already given up at this point, 20 straight points, you need to get some points on the board and just settle this game down a little bit. And you had a nice drive to get down there.

And I would have kicked the field goal. Now, Badgley from 47 yards out, you know, if he misses it, you know, and this is his move, you know, Campbell, to go for it and to go for the lead here. But given the context, I would have kicked the field goal there. But it's not a massive mistake, fourth and three. Fourth and seven, fourth and five, yeah. But I would have kicked the field goal. Would you have kicked the field goal here?

This is where I think, I would have kicked a field goal, but this is where I see this Dan Campbell, the Campbell elitics coming into play. He's trying to fully swing the game back into their favor. He's saying this is who we are, this is what we've done all year, the game's getting out of hand, tying it's great, but we haven't stopped them. let's take the game back and swing it in our favor. This is who we are. This is what we've done.

We'll get this. We have, I mean, we've worked to have all these plays, all this stuff. Our guys, the moment's not too big in the situation. Just so clear, again, for me, I would tie the game up. I would tie the game up. Yeah. Especially knowing if they score, I'm going to have another position, and I don't want to have to score twice, which is what they ended up having to do.

I would have kicked a field goal. But I think the reason I have less of a problem with this one is this is who they are. Yeah. In a tight game, in a tight situation, we believe in who we are, in our attitude, to win a game right here. I think that's really well said in terms of the comparison of the two, because up 14, it's like we're not trying to take the game over. We're not trying to take momentum back. We've dominated the game. and we're just going to continue the domination.

We're going to make it on them. Yeah. And what you said about the fourth and three down three is much more of a Campbell analytics thing. And again, I would have kicked the field goal, but like the one earlier, I didn't have in the moment like this massive thought that it was just an absolute analytics no-no. In fact, I thought, and I didn't know it. the time. I thought it was probably a lean to go for it in that spot. But again, the feel, the

context, I just would have stopped the bleeding with a fuel goal. But I understand what you're saying too, which leads us then. Yeah, he is not a stop the bleeding guy. No. He is a pound it back down their throat guy. He is. And that's a lot of what's gotten in there. And then that gets us. But I do. The first one is a, is a continue to pound it down. their throat with the field goal. Put up 17, like, go ahead, 17 points. I don't, it just makes the game from the other sideline and be in that situation, you're like, dang, just score again.

All they do, they can't stop them, they just score it again. It's the meaning. So the punt in the first half from the 49 or 4-yard line, whatever, I'm actually kind of surprised he didn't go for it, felt that way in the moment. The field goal at the end of the half, rather than going for it, we didn't have a problem with. You would have both, you felt strongly about kicking the field goal to go to 27-10. I definitely felt like that was the right thing, but I also didn't think that the 49ers were going to stop them, and they shouldn't have.

Reynolds should have caught the ball, and then down 27-24, we both would have probably kicked the field goal, but we kind of understand what he was trying to do based on what he's done. Now let me get to the thing to me, two things that are going. just one thing in particular that's not debatable at all. Down 34-24, and again, credit to the 49ers, and Purdy in particular for making play-after playoff schedule, some of those scrambles were massive. And the touchdown throw that made it 24 to 17 to IUC on that third and goal was big time.

When they get down to third and goal at the one with a minute five to go and the clock stopped, and they've got all three timeouts left. You're down 10 points. What is absolutely imperative at that point is no matter what the score is, a field goal or a touchdown, you have all three timeouts left. If you take a timeout in that situation, the game is over because the odds of recovering an onside kick

in this day and age of NFL football with the rules and the safety is like 4% this year, two for 41. Okay? So on third and one, the one decision to me that's not even debatable that he made a mistake on, you cannot run the football. You can't run the football. It doesn't matter if Ben Johnson says our best play to score is a run here.

It's this formation and it's a run. As the head coach, you have to say, no, we have to throw it. We can't be forced to call a time out. And if we try to go hurry up, it's going to burn 25 seconds of the clock before we run the next play. We have to throw the football. So that was a massive mistake. And it essentially for all intents and purposes when he got stopped ended the football game. Because it forced then the onside kick with two timeouts left.

And you weren't going to get an onside kick. It was actually an interesting onside kick that actually there was a chance. It was a great onside kick. The odds are so low. So that was a massive mistake. They called the time. And they knew they were calling time out. Yeah.

As soon as they didn't get it, it was time out. Like, it was unbelievable that it was almost planned exactly in that fashion. Like, gosh, dang, you can't. Couldn't run the football. They can't happen, though. And then on. And I get the must score of seven. I do.

It's hard to go back down the field when you have no timeout. at the end of a game. I like getting the seven first, but I hated the call. I'm with you. I hated the timeout. And Greg Olson was perfect with it. It was well understood. Like, what are they doing? Yeah, you just could not. That was, all of the other things were somewhat debatable. This one's not debatable. You can't, you have to make sure that Ben Johnson does not call a running play and that golf knows he can't get sacked. The ball has, to go into the end zone. And if you don't complete it, that's the next thing. I'm kicking the field goal on fourth down. I know analytically, it's a lean to go for the touchdown. And to your point,

it is harder to get back down there. But I'm not from the three-yard line after I called the time out. I'm kicking the field goal. I'm making it 34 to 27. I got to recover an onside kick to have any chance. And if I do, there will be, you know, 55 seconds left and we'll have a chance to go down there. But I'm not, the touchdown, they threw a touchdown pass. It was a nice throw in the back of the end zone to Jameson Williams. Give a chance. But I would have kicked the field goal there. And I know analytically, the lean is to go for it, even from the three-yard line. I'm not, I'm extending the game. I'm not going to. Well, the decision process to run the bomb, they were going for it on fourth down. That's the thing. They had it backwards anyways.

With the decision, they knew if they didn't get it, that run play, they're going for it on fourth down. I mean, they played themselves into a situation where they knew what they were doing. It's just the wrong thing to do. I don't feel like they fell into having to call a time out and then gassed on going for it. They knew what they were doing. It was just the wrong thing to do. Well, they were clearly going to go for the touchdown on fourth down if they didn't get it on third down,

regardless of which play they ran on third down. The killer was that you had to leave that possession with either seven or three and three timeouts. And if you left with any less than three timeouts, the game was in effect over because of the low, low chances in the NFL now of recovering an onside kick. Well, here's a question for you. Yeah. Because I was thinking about this as well with the three timeouts and the chance of the onside kick. Are you kicking it deep? Because you're going to get backed up.

If you don't, you're getting backed up with 40 seconds left on the inside to 10. I'm not. It's almost impossible. I'm kicking it deep. I know you can take, you know, you've got an opportunity to take an onside kick and not have the game end because you've got three time out. You can get the stop. But because, no, you have to get a stop, right, regardless. you have to get a stop.

Yeah, and so where do you want to get a stop? You want to get a stop in midfield and get backed up, or do you want to get a stop on the 25 and have a chance with the party? I mean, I say you have to get a stop that assumes the 96.5% chance, or 95.5% chance that you're not going to recover the on-side kick. I'm kicking deep with three timeouts. I am to. I am to. But let me just mention one other thing.

that I, it's just, it's a minor pet peeve and it's a small knit to pick at the end of the game. When San Francisco gets the ball after recovering the onside kick, 55 seconds to go, and Detroit has two timeouts left, just understand, I don't know why coaches don't understand this. When you run plays, when you could almost kneel the game out. Now, you got to kneel the game out in a way in which Purdy goes back. He takes a few steps. he takes a kneel down to try to get three seconds off the clock. So you're at 52.

Then the second down gets you to 49, it's a second timeout. Then the third one, you try to get to 46, 40 second. Now six seconds to go and you have to punt it or you have to drop back and heave one into the end zone to eat the six seconds. But here's what you bring into play by running the football beyond just the opportunity for a strip and a fumble. It's a holding penalty. Any penalty on the offense stops the clock and gives the. the other team, the third and crucial timeout. So when there's that much difference, like, if it's a minute 10, I'm going to run,

I'm going to run plays. You know, I need five or six, seven seconds, whatever, to run off the clock in before they get a timeout. And by the way, maybe I can get some yards. Maybe I can get a first down. But with 55 left, I'm taking knees trying to burn a little bit of clock off on each knee down. And then if I've got a punt with six seconds or I've got a lot. line purdy up and have them roll right and throw one deep down the field out of bounds to burn the

final six seconds off the clock, I'm doing that. All you need is one holding penalty, and all a sudden Detroit's going to get the ball back with, you know, after a punt. If you think about, I'm completely with you, it drives me nuts too, because how many seconds are we gaining? When we run the ball, an effective run play, and get three, What's that a four-second play? It can be a five to six-second play, depending on the run. You know, depending on how easy. He takes three steps back.

It's a two-second. Played a down ball. Yeah, two to three seconds. By running plays, you've given them eight less seconds at the most. Yeah. I just punt. Yeah, I mean. You give them one gas play.

the best case with two risk plays, like you explained. Yeah. Here's the other. Here's the other. It's putting, it's a normal, it's completely fine, it'll punt in that situation. It's not a ton of pressure up. The first down run I'm looking at it right now was four seconds, all right? It went from 55 to 51.

At that point on second and six, then I'm definitely taking knees. I'm taking a two-second knee, a two-second knee, at 47, and I'm going to, you know, pun it or have them run around and throw the ball, you know, deep out of bounds. try to get it to like six seconds, but he ran it three straight times and whatever. I mean, it's a miracle at that point. It's just about a fumble or even, you know, what doesn't get taken into possibility by a lot of teams is, what if we get called for a holding penalty? That's an automatic clock stops and a free time out for the lines.

And now they're definitely getting involved. Yeah, if we're in the situation, though, you're not holding. But that's an easy explanation. We don't care if we get yard. Yeah, but you don't want your back to get nailed right when he gets the ball either. You just tell you, if your de-tackle gets beaten, there's penetration in the back, so you just tell your back to go down. It's not hard to not hold, but I understand what you're saying.

I mean, I don't want the ball punched out anyway. I got to exchange a handoff. I got the opportunity for somebody to hold the back up by some chance and guys coming in and punching at him. I don't want that, but it's not hard to not hold. It shouldn't be. It should be a very easy explanation. Hey, there are no holdings.

Okay, if you're beat, you're beat. Let him go. Let it go. Our back's got to go down. Hell of a game. Exciting game. I just, it's funny because I bet Sam, Francisco and I had the under.

When it was 27, 24 and they were driving, what was funny about it is I was thinking, I want them to run the clock out and get the under because it was 51 and a half. It actually went off at 52, 52 and a half. And then when they scored and they went up 10 coolly, I thought Detroit was going to come down and score. San Francisco couldn't stop them all day. Are you getting out for your practice? I'm just about, but you're all right.

I just had to start driving. I just felt badly at the end for Detroit because once I realized I wasn't going to win the 49er bet, I was like rooting for Detroit because how many times are you going to be in this position? You have Jared Gawth, a quarterback. He's been coached up so well by Ben Johnson and company. They have, I tweeted something out during the game. People are so sensitive. God, what is wrong with some of you people?

Not most of you. but I tweeted out, I understand how good Dan Campbell is and has been for Detroit. No, that's not the one. Sorry. I tweeted out, Ben Johnson can really call some plays, but don't ignore the Lions' elite offensive talent. I mean, I was looking at the responses to that this morning. I couldn't believe how many people thought that I was being critical of Ben Johnson. No, I actually want him as the coach. I think he's really, really good.

They also have elite talent. Both of those things are true. their offensive line is awesome. Amon Ross, St. Brown, and Leporta, and Gibbs, my God, Gibbs. Yeah, Lipporta is great. I love Leporta. He's so good. And then, you know, don't draft running backs in the first round. My God, I don't think they would have been where they are right now this year without Gibbs on that team. Montgomery's good. They have special talent offensively. But it would have actually on some level, remember, they already beat the Chiefs in the season opener.

I mean, that would have been a, it would have been the first game of the year and the last game of the year had the Lions, you know, hold on. I bet two Chiefs fans are excited to play the 49ers, not the Lions. I think you might be right about that, except for the fact that the Lions have never been there, you know? Yeah. It would have been sort of like, you know, house money, which kind of yesterday was for them, too. But in terms of offensively what Detroit would pose,

look, the 49ers have the best roster in the NFL, minus the quarterback. McCaffrey's incredible. He's just incredible. Oh, they're awesome. And you know what? They play hard, too. I like the 49ers because all their dudes play falls in the world. So hard.

They've got great players, but they play hard. That said, you know, when you watch Detroit, they're a Super Bowl team. I mean, like, that's a team that could win a Super Bowl, for sure. Offensively. Here's the thing with this next game that would concern me if I were a 49er fan. So the last, Detroit was not a good defensive team, okay? You know, Tampa Bay moved the ball up and down the field against them last week. The Rams moved the ball up and down the field against them last week.

The 49ers had 100 yards of offense and 7.5. points basically. You know, 100, I'm sorry, it was like 140 yards of offense and seven points at halftime. The last time San Francisco played a good defensive team, it was the Ravens on Christmas night, and they got their ass kicked. And it was, it was hideous. 3319, it wasn't even that close, Purdy through four picks in the game, and they got

dominated. and Kansas City's defense is going to be the best defense they have faced since that Ravens game. And then the other thing is this. Defensively, all the sudden, the 49ers in these two playoff games, I mean, they have given up chunky plays. I mean, the Packers rushed for five yards to carry. Aaron Jones had 108 yards on 18 carries. The trees just don't have that, though.

That's not the Chiefs M.O. You don't think Pacheco can run it right down their throat? But I do think that the Chiefs are going to have answers on offense to what San Francisco is, but I don't think that they can just go pound the ball down the throat the way Detroit did. I don't think they can line up under center the way Detroit did and just get after them. Or the way Green Bay did. I think that the Chief, because they're just not as physical that way. The line isn't, that, it's not that type of line.

It's not that we'll see. I love the way to check of runs, but I just don't see them with that downhill get out there, a blocking scheme. The run seems to be more of a compliment to what they do. Kansas City's defense is awesome. Will San Francisco have answers for that? I don't think they will. I think that San Francisco is going to struggle against Kansas City, especially with

party. So what are you saying? You see a low-scoring game? I think you're probably looking at a game in the 20. But the other thing is, Kansas City is ahead. If Kansas City is ahead in that game, 24-7, that game is over. Kansas City is not blown 24-7 league against San Francisco. It's just not happening.

No way. Like, San Francisco cannot get down again and go figure out a team and battle through it. They get down on the game's over. The city is disciplined. They're not going to do what Detroit did, which it was essentially completely soiled. themselves. No, they will not do that. You know what's funny about that?

Is San Francisco, you know, Kyle with the big lead with Atlanta and the Super Bowl, the lead against Kansas City the first time they met? I'd love to see San Francisco with a lead and see how he handles it this time. Oh, I know. It'll be a fun game. I'm excited about it. I am too. I mean, I appreciate you having me on your show, but I do have to go.

I know you do. Everybody is thrilled that you did this. All right, maybe we can do it again soon. Good luck with your top five Juko wrestling program in America, and congrats on the big upset over number one. All right, buddy. Thank you so much. That was so nice of you to just thank me so much.

Thank you so much. I'll talk to you later. Chris Cooley, everybody. We'll finish it up with a few other things from the world of sports right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I want to tell you about Lucy. Lucy is upping the nicotine. pouch game with breakers.

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Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. If I didn't say it earlier with Cooley, I think the best player on the field not named Mahomes or Kelsey was Kyle Hamilton, the safety from Baltimore. The player selected by the Ravens in the 2022 draft at number 14 overall. Three picks after Washington. had a chance to select Hamilton, but Washington ultimately traded back with the Saints, picked up extra picks, and selected Jahan Dotson. Hamilton was the guy I wanted Washington to take. I wasn't the only guy. He got mocked to Washington by a lot of people.

And a lot of you out there agreed with me that Hamilton looked like a star high, high ceiling safety. And to me, you were going for the best player on the board. and you were looking for A players, and I thought Hamilton had a chance to be an A player. I like the tradeback. I like John Dotson, but Kyle Hamilton, wow, was he all over the field yesterday for Baltimore? This quick final segment brought to you by MyBooky. Go to mybooky.orgie.org.

Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. You have to use Kevin D.C. if there's something already written in the promo code section, erase it and write Kevin D.C. I want to get credit for you signing up, not because I'm going to make any money off you signing up, but because I want my bookie to know that that customer came from this show. And I want you to get the cash bonus by signing up. If you use Kevin 980 or K. Sheen 980, you're not going to get the credit. Kevin D.C. is the promo code at mybooky.ag. They've got the 49ers right now as one and a half point favorites. The total is 47 and a half. San Francisco is a minus 120 money line favorite and Kansas City's plus 100 on the money line. I think there's going to be a lot of public money on Mahomes and the Chiefs, but I also think there's going to be sharp money on Kansas City as well. If this line moves at all,

between now and Super Bowl Sunday. Just a guess, just a hunch. I could be wrong. I think it'll move in Kansas City's favor. I think it'll move to a point. San Francisco minus one, maybe a pickum. I don't think San Francisco is going to increase in the point spread. It could stay the same.

I know that the look-ahead line a week ago was San Francisco minus two and a half, and then after the games yesterday, they're down to minus one and a half. So that's kind of where the books thought it should open. That's where the sharps thought it should open. We'll see what happens between now and game day. And if any injuries come out of yesterday's game, none so far. McCaffrey did look to be concussed there at the end. And they went with Elijah Mitchell there on the final few plays of the next to last drive

and then the final drive of the game. Debo Samuel played pretty well, looked healthy enough yesterday for the 49ers. And the Chiefs probably get healthier than they were against Baltimore yesterday with two weeks to rest up. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin, D.C. Ron Rivera reportedly will interview, and he may have interviewed already, for the defensive coordinator position with the L.A. Rams. Also, that was according to Jonathan Jones at CBS. The other report that came out over the weekend,

and I'm looking for attribution here, and I can't find it. This was something that my producer Denton told me about, is that the Cowboys may interview Ron Rivera for their defensive coordinator position if Dan Quinn leaves. Interesting. Look, when he got interviewed by Philadelphia, I told all of you, I don't think he's going to get the job.

I think if anything, if Ron Rivera works again, it would be as an associate head coach, maybe linebacker's coach kind of a thing. I don't see him being a defensive coordinator. but would be interesting if he ends up in Dallas. It would be interesting if he replaces Rahim Morris in L.A. to coach for Sean McVeigh. Again, I'm surprised that Rivera really wants in again. But I'm not knocking it. Good for him.

He had a rough four years here, that is for sure. And it wasn't all of his doing. That's for sure. Two other things, and then we will wrap it up. for the day. Saturday, Maryland smothered Nebraska, 73 to 51. It was probably their most impressive performance of the year. Nebraska, for those of you who don't know, is actually pretty good this year in basketball.

They were 15 and 5, 5 and 4 coming in. They had beaten Purdue when Purdue was number one in the country, blew them out in Lincoln. They had come in off of wins against Northwestern, who Maryland lost 2 by 3 Northwestern, played well this year and Ohio State who they blew out and the Terps absolutely took him to the woodshed. Maryland is a real interesting case right now. This was a team that started slowly. They've struggled to score offensively at times. That's been their limitation. But they've been one of the top defensive teams in the country per Ken Palm, the most efficient defensive team in the Big Ten this year. And they are five and five now in the big three.

10 after back-to-back wins over Iowa and Nebraska. They are tied for fifth. They're 13 and 8 overall. They've got 10 regular season games left and then the Big 10 tournament. They were a team picked to finish in the top three or four preseason in the Big 10 and be an easy NCAA tournament team. They're not an NCAA tournament team now, but they have a chance now. They have won four out of their last six and the two games they lost.

They lost by a grand total of five points, a three-point loss to Northwestern, a two-point loss at home to Michigan State. With 10 games left, their next game coming this Saturday at Michigan State in East Lansing, National Television, Fox, late Saturday afternoon. If they can win seven of them, if they can get to 12 and 8 in the Big 10, they'll likely be a tournament team. Winning 7 out of 10, the rest of the way, would mean actually winning 9 out of 12. because they've won two in a row. But if they can get to 12 wins in the Big Ten, I think they would be right around the top four in the league, top five in the league worst case.

And if one of the seven wins was against either Illinois or Wisconsin, the two highest ranked teams that they have left, they've already beaten Illinois once on the road, they have them at home on a Saturday afternoon February 17th. They also play Wisconsin, the top team in the big. Big Ten on the road. They're number six in the country. If they get seven wins and one of them is against either one of those two teams, I think they'd be in at 12 and 8, 20 and that would be 20 and 11 overall going into the Big Ten tournament. They might have to win one Big Ten game.

I think 11 is problematic unless they were to beat Wisconsin and Illinois. I think 13 would be a lock if somehow they won eight of their final ten. Can they do it? not going to be easy. The Big Ten's not loaded this year with great teams, but there are a lot of solid teams. And they'll be an underdog against Michigan State. But after that, they've got Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa at home, Illinois at home. Those are games. They may be favored in all of them. Maybe with the exception of at Ohio State where Ohio State's really struggled this year, the 13 and 7, 3 and 6 in the Big Ten. So, you know, I think a lot of people gave up on the Terps. I was certainly distraught watching them offensively, but as I said, all along, give it time. Hard to really tell anything about a college basketball team in November, December. You really don't know what you have until you get to January.

And what they have is very good defense. They've got an all-American type of point guard, a first-team all-Big 10 point guard. And what they got Saturday is imperative. They got their great defensive effort, which has been kind of a given, but on Saturday they got other people to score. Jihari Long had 11 points, hit three threes off the bench. Jamie Kaiser Jr., who was supposed to be a big-time scorer and shooter in his freshman year and really hasn't been. He finally got it going. Four for five from Long Range, 14 points off the bench in 17 minutes.

Reese was dominant inside with 15. 15 points and 16 rebounds. And they won a game by 22 points in which Jemir Young scored only 12. He had nine rebounds and six assists and two steals. But still, if you had told me three weeks ago, Maryland beat somebody by 22, I would have told you Jemir Young had to have 38 to 45 points somewhere in that range. So good win for Maryland and for us Terp fans. It keeps us really engaged in this season and gives us.

something to get pumped up about this coming Saturday at Michigan State. One last thing. So I tweeted something out Saturday morning. It was a bit of a shot at the Wizards organization. And with perhaps a little bit of hindsight, I probably should have gathered more information before sending the tweet out. Not the first time it's happened and it probably won't be the last. But netting it out real quickly, there was a story that was sent to me. that was written by this outlet that covers sports media called Awful Announcing. And it was a story titled, The Washington Wizards revoke reporters' credential after drama over a billboard.

And it talks about a gentleman who's covered the wizards. I'll be honest with you, I had never heard of them, has covered the Wizards for 10 years independently, for various blogs or websites, I guess. and he tweeted something out about a billboard that didn't have Wizards Point Guard Tyos Jones in it. And I guess he came to the conclusion in a tweet that it might mean something with respect to Tyos Jones's future with the franchise.

And awful announcing in their story essentially says that he had his credential revoked because of this tweet. Well, in reading the story, I felt like, well, wow, I mean, that seems pretty insignificant. That seems pretty, you know, tame. So the conclusion that I reached after reading that story was kind of petty by the organization, kind of small. And I wrote, unless I'm missing something stupid.

And I wrote, the wizard should be beyond thrilled about anyone deciding on their own to cover their team, which I do believe. The wizard should be thrilled. with anybody deciding on their own intentionally to cover their team, which, you know, is hard to do. I mean, it's hard to carve out any time in sports media these days. For any of Ted's teams, they're just insignificant in the overall landscape of what's important to the majority of DMV sports fans.

You know, if the caps get into the playoffs, that'll be a different story. But we're, you know, we're a couple of years from the Wizards mattering anymore. And for some of you, you know how much that hurts me because that's a team that I really have been a lifelong fan of and would love to see become competitive again. Anyway, here's the bottom line. It's really hard in this day and age to credential everybody. You know, it's bloggers, it's social media people. It's fans who create, you know, online blogs that may have five. people subscribe to them and it gives them a chance to get in and cover games for free and watch

games for free and kind of start a career. Look, it would be the way I'd be doing it. If I were young and looking to try to get into the business, I'd create some sort of online blog or a quick website and try to get credentialed and be in there interviewing and getting experience. I can appreciate all of the people that are doing that. But when you do that, there's a certain level of professionalism that's required. And this team, and I was told by multiple people, that the team, you know, doesn't revoke credentials, you know, willy-nilly, and they give a lot of people that really aren't traditional media or even people associated with legitimate media organizations, or let me just say not legitimate, bigger media organizations, they credential a lot of these people. But there's a certain

responsibility you have, whether you're a fan or you're representing, you know, Team 980, 1067, The Fan, The Washington Post, or some, you know, Caps blog. There's a certain responsibility you have to be professional in every sense of the words. So I probably should have talked to somebody before I tweeted it out. So that's it. All right, done for the day. Back with Tommy tomorrow.