The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 585 - OVERREACTION MONDAY, NFL Divisional Playoffs Recap, T.J. Watt, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys recap the entire divisional weekend in what was arguably the greatest weekend of football in recent memory including one of the most entertaining games ever on Sunday Night between the Chiefs and Bills that saw Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes go blow for blow into overtime, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers being shocked at home by the 49ers on Saturday night, Joe Burrow and the Bengals finding a way to beat the Titans despite giving up 9 sacks, and Evan McPherson calling game before he kicked a game winning field goal, the Rams narrowly holding on in Tampa Bay to dethrone the defending champions, and what this all means going forward. Joining the show to chat about the season that was is 4x All-Pro, 4x Pro Bowler, probable 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, TJ Watt. Pat, TJ, and AJ chat about his record tying season, what he loves so much about playing in Pittsburgh, the real story behind his contract negotiations, what it's like playing with his brother, his mentality on the football field, and much more (35:21-55:42). Later, 9 year NFL veteran at Defensive Back, friend of the progrum, host of the Man-To-Man podcast, Darius Butler joins the show as he does every Overreaction Monday to chat about his biggest takeaways from a crazy divisional round and why he thinks the NFL's overtime rules are perfect how they are (1:22:31-1:40:57). Make sure you subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow and listen every day on Mad Dog Radio, Sirius XM Channel 82. We appreciate you all for listening, come and laugh with us. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, it is Overreaction Monday, January 24th, after the biggest weekend and best weekend in the history of the NFL. Every game coming down to the last play with the best players playing football is a dream come true. Huge show today. TJ Watt, Darius Butler, AJ Hawk, and all the boys. There's a lot to talk about. Let's get to it. It is Overreaction Mondayay january 24th 2022 and a lot has happened can't thank you enough for joining us on this sports show youtube.com forward slash the epad magazine show all the boys are here at ty schmidt sorry about the packers hey sorry about the hell of a run good run we'll obviously dive into that at boston connor here. One half of the hammer. Done.

Cowboys at Tone Diggs. TJ Watt joining us in hour three today. Can't wait to hear what Pittsburgh Steelers legend and icon, the man who kicked his agents out of the way and said, let me get this deal done. And then almost went on to have a defensive MVP year. Those conversations will continue to evolve as we wait for the NFL Honors Show, which is going to be on Thursday night, I guess, before the Super Bowl.

Normally on Saturday night before the Super Bowl. I think that's accurate. I'm not 100% sure. Heard like four to five people mention it on kickoff shows, the people that get invited to it. A little different this year, Thursday. I've never been. I'm sure it's going to be awesome.

We'll see that. Chat with him. Darius Butler will join us in the second hour, as will A.J. Hawk. Now, I'm excited to hear from A.J. Hawk because A.J. did better than I did in picking games this weekend. And whenever I say he did better than I did, he won one in three. I won O in four this week. O for four in selecting who would cover, who would win. O for two in Superboost, in which I have the incredible honor of being able to reach out to the folks at FanDuel and say, Hey, these are the odds, what they'd normally be. I'd like to boost that for our people.

And there has been group council conversations to decide what those boosts are. But normally at the end of the day, it is my decision. I have the ability to do such a thing. And I have to treat that better. Because if you have the ability to lift the odds, you have the ability to beat the book, you're getting a little bit of a bogo. You're getting a situation where they are going to be fucked if you win more than they would have been fucked before. I want 0 for 2 on those, so I apologize for that. I want 0 for 4 on the weekend. But I could have never predicted, nor could anybody else, that we would have the greatest divisional playoff round in the history of the NFL.

Three walk-off kicks. How you doing? Keep it moving. Kickers matter more than anybody in the biggest of games. You want to go to the championship? Make a kick. And then one game, a walk-off to one of the championship? Make a kick and then one game, walk off Tud to one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the game

from one of the greatest players of all time in an overtime situation in which the entire world had to weigh in on the decision of what the NFL overtime is. That does seem to be a bit bullshit. Would love to have been able to see

Josh Allen who was absolutely on fire. Unbelievable. A fucking wagon on that fourth and four play where he rolls right, jukes and dodges some people, picks up the first down, then to throw the plays that he's able to make with that team. He's next level. And I think the whole world kind of got,

you know, gypped an opportunity to watch him come back and maybe answer Patrick Mahomes. And they played three times in the last year or whatever. The final score of those culmination, 100 to 98 are the final scores between the Bills and the Chiefs. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, the next Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two men that are going to have to stare at each other in the AFC playoffs for decades, potentially 500 million in one, multiple hundred millions in the other. Both franchises building around these players and going and getting it. Patrick Mahomes gets another win. And although the

overtime rules do seem to be quite dumb, and we've chatted about that ad nauseum on this show, not just the playoffs because these are the biggest times to go to the championship. There's only a few teams left. Why would we ever want the game to end in a fashion in which we couldn't see josh allen maybe come out and cement his legacy even more against patrick mahomes i don't know why the nfl wouldn't want that so we think it's dumb but in the regular season game shouldn't be ties either why not just trot two kickers out there to battle it off like it's a kickoff or a shootout or whatever the case is? Why not let them play?

Why not let the Bills answer that? And the Kansas City Chiefs feel the same exact way, by the way. Just a few years ago when the Kansas City Chiefs were fucked by this same rule over time by the New England Patriots, they pitched, hey, we should be able to answer. We should have been allowed to have Patrick Mahomes back on the field. Remember, everybody watched and was like, well, we'd like to see this young stud come back on the field and see what he could do the Chiefs pitched that rule change they were turned down mightily by almost everybody including the Bills said nah nah now here we are years later and it's all kind of

coming back to get them so whatever the case incredible weekend all these games have to be chatted about oh yeah I mean like said, I mean, heartbroken. Obviously, still kind of shell-shocked, but because the weekend as a whole was so good, it honestly does kind of take the sting away a little bit. Like that game last night, ending the weekend on that,

oh, man, that was like a shot of adrenaline, really. Now, I don't want to say it got real hot. Oh, yeah. Steamy in here. For those that don't know, I had a long sleeve on there for a little bit a little brock lesnar flannel okay you know it is my go-to outdoor thing because it's that's like a 4xl or something like that put it on makes me you know it's quick easy not a bad i'm sweaty because of how incredible the weekend was it's hard not to get worked up whenever the NFL delivers in its biggest weekend. Because last weekend, if you do recall in the wild card, four out of six games blowouts.

Terrible. A lot of people were wondering, did the NFL lose its fastball? Excuse me. Are the teams separating themselves so much that the greats are just going to dominate the bads or whoever's in there? Is this like college football all of a sudden? Then the divisional round. Now people are saying games are rigged now people are saying games are rigged. People are saying games are rigged.

People are saying that Vince McMahon himself drew up that Buccaneers-Rams game, the one in which the greatest of all time, with potential conversation of it being his last game ever if they were to lose, is down and out. So much so that I passed out while that game was on because it was a bit boring early. Now, you should be awake. I did sleep through the halftime,

but then Tom Brady starts getting some bounces that you see Tom Brady get in the pass. It's like, oh my God, this guy, not only incredibly talented, works very, very hard, has invested so much time of his life to the sport, but also it feels as if in certain situations, things happen that don't normally happen. Cam Akers has two fumbles. The center has a fumble, snaps that thing over Matthew Stafford's head basically in the middle of a run in which the Bucs were looking like they were going to come

back after being down almost fucking 20. rams look terrible once they got the lead down in tampa in tom in tampa bay even though the commentators were basically talking like it was a foregone conclusion tom brady's still on the other side of the fucking field let's go ahead and remember that they start coming back coming back how you doing keep it moving that game got absolutely electrifying at the end and then somehowway, there's a miscommunication in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that allows Cooper Cupp, who his teammates are saying, this motherfucker deserves MVP conversation. He's not only the triple crown, but he also is the yak leader of the NFL.

So everything receiving, this dude's the best in the game at, and we're very heavy on the pass game, and this dude is why we're so good. But him trying to explain what happened on the last play was awesome. I think it was a two-man, but then they moved. It might have been a zero. I'm not 100% sure. Cooper Cupp basically said, I don't have a fucking clue what they were doing. And then it comes out, neither did the Buccaneers.

And how does that happen? Whenever the game is on the line, reigning champs at home, how is there some sort of miscommunication these are the things that will be talked about for the next couple months if it is tom brady's last game and that's how they won out that would be insane obviously uh but the the scripting of these games and obviously matt gay will go on to hit that thing. Way to go, Matt. Way to go, Matt. Hey. He came up short. He came up short for 47 earlier in the game, and I just said, not great. That's all I tweeted. I didn't add anything.

I didn't do anything, but I had a lot of people tweeting me like, hey, you got anything to say positive about these kickers, pal, now? Guy just came up short. So anytime something is kicked, either good or bad, normally I'm going to hear about it. Right. So I just said, not great. I guess he got hurt in pregame warmups. Are they looking for a kicker right now? Whoa. is kicked either good or bad, normally I'm going to hear about it. Right. So I just said not great. I guess he got hurt in pregame warm-ups.

Are they looking for a kicker right now? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Two games? Two games? In a dome? In LA? Huh? Huh?

Uh-oh. I mean, there's certainly going to be a vitamin found in the test going in, but I don't think you might miss any games for that anymore. No, no, no. Are they going to be looking for a kicker? I think so. Vinatieri's still in shape, what a fucking vinny well vinny okay vinny might play backer for them i mean maybe they got wedo off the beach maybe they'll get vinny off the beach as well but mac a misses from 47 he obviously hits a game winner down there what are they

going to do going forward evan mPherson with the Cincinnati Bengals. That kid's a fucking stud. What a beast. I think he'll be joining us on Wednesday. Ooh, nice. I think we'll get a chance to chat with him. The story of him telling the backup quarterback on the sideline, you know, it's cold down there in Tennessee. You'd already hit a 54-yarder or whatever.

It was going to be a long ball. And that game was very fascinating. I thought the Titans were going to win. I was in Nashville on Friday. Hey. They were ready. Popping. It was awesome.

That's the best arena we've been to yet. 100%. That's the best crowd that I have been in. They were all standing. It felt like. They were. They were all very loud. I mean, obviously, there's some celebs in the stands.

Yeah. A lot of them. There's some celebs. I showed up. All right. But the energy. Yeah. A lot of them. There's some celebs. I showed up. All right. But the energy, the energy was just awesome down there. And it felt like the entire city was excited about the Titans getting Derrick Henry back. And then first play, Tannehill throws a goddamn pick.

Guess what? Tannehill's last play of the game, too. Another fucking pick. Stop that. Hashtag. Stop that. First throw. Last throw. Divisional round game. Tannehill. Pick. One seed. Atag. Stat that. First throw, last throw, division run game, Tannehill, pick.

One seed. At home. At home. Stat that. Is that the first time ever? I believe so, Pat. Through my research, yes, that was the first time ever. Stat that.

Stat that, yeah. A lot of first times yesterday. Anyways, thought the Titans were going to go on a win. Derrick Henry scores a touchdown early. That fucking Bengals team is awesome to watch. Joey Burrow on a win. Derrick Henry scores a touchdown early. That fucking Bengals team is awesome to watch. Joey Burrow is a guy. You've got to be so pumped if you're in Cincinnati that we've got to do it. All his interviews seem to be very, I don't want to say cliche-ridden,

but he is very professional. Seems like he is wise beyond his years. He gets sacked more than any human had to have gotten sacked in a goddamn divisional round game and still won. I guess there's a record somebody statted that somewhere. But he got killed. Their defense, though, was able to cover and depress and do some things. And A.J. Brown got loose a little bit.

And Julio Jones had a catch. And Derrick Henry started running. And Foreman started running. But that Bengals team, the grit and resolve. And maybe it is because they don't have an indoor facility. Yeah, could be. And maybe it is because they practice underneath a highway. Maybe it is because that squad is too young to even know what's going on.

But that Bengals team was awesome to watch. And the story about McPherson telling the backup quarterback right before he goes out to hit the game winner, does a couple swings, well, it looks like we're going to the fucking AFC Championship. That is the type of confidence that you would hope every single kicker on earth has. That is the type of confidence that every kicking camp you go to, the coaches are saying, hey, the number one thing that you need

is the utmost confidence in yourself. There's an old story about a guy saying, like, 100 bucks you missed or something like that. And an old NFL kicker says, 10 grand, I make it, or something like that. And they always talk about, that's the type of confidence you have to have. That's the type of everything you have to be able to do. And not everybody has it, obviously,

because if you miss something, you can get inside your own head. And not everybody can hit a ball like fucking Evan McPherson. That dude bombs balls. And there is zero. He is going full swing every single time. His old coach at Florida, Shane Graham, former NFL kicker at Cincy,

and I think he went to Virginia Tech and he kicked around other places. Now he's – I don't know what he's doing. He's coaching in college, I think, or he's running a consultant. Whatever the case. He was coaching at Florida, and he said there was a story about Evan McPherson where they had like a 38-yarder, and somebody jumped off sides, five-yard penalty, backed it up to like a 43-yarder, and somebody jumped off sides, five-yard penalty, backed it up to like a 43-yarder.

Then something else happened. It backed up another five or ten, and it got to like 52 yards, and they were in between the thing. And Evans said, hey, can we get one more so I can get like a record? I guess like 57. So that type of mental makeup of not even like, oh, shit, this is going to be a harder kick, just immediately going to, oh, this is going to be sweet, this is going to be a harder kick, just immediately going to, oh, this is going to be sweet,

this is going to be sweet, we're going to the AFC Championship, is the reason why he's just had walk-off after walk-off after walk-off. The way Joey Burrow described him the first day he walked into the building. He said whenever he walked into the building, the way he interacted with guys, we knew what we had. He was cool, he was upbeat, he was confident. He said we knew what we had. And him saying, we're going to the AFC Championship, boys,

is fucking glorious and beautiful. Congrats to the Bengals. Yes. Who they? Who they say going to beat them Bengals? I thought it was going to be the Titans at home. Felt like there was a lot of energy in the air there. For whatever reason, their season ends.

And Vrabel was quoted as saying, yeah, too many sacks. We had too many sacks, maybe. Because I like turnovers and fumbles and picks. I like those. So maybe we, too many sacks. We had too many sacks, maybe. Because I like turnovers and fumbles and picks. I like those. So maybe we had too many sacks. That was the thing. I'm excited to see how these teams all react to... Because getting to the final eight is obviously an accomplishment.

You're better than a lot of teams. But you didn't win. You just actually got two weeks shorter of vacation in the offseason. You did get two more checks, which is awesome. Some places, I guess. Whoa. What do you mean? you didn't win you just actually got two weeks shorter of vacation in the off season you did get two more checks which is awesome some places i guess whoa what do you mean no no i mean that's that's big conversation a little pop-up somewhere down the road i'm sure i mean there might be some business fuckery going on ah whatever the case yes you don't win the super bowl it's still in

the end like a failed season Especially whenever you got Those incredibly high hopes So what a fucking weekend Yeah unbelievable I mean the Bengals Like you just said Like who cares

If you don't win the Super Bowl But they are so young Across the board Like if you're a free agent You know wide receiver O'Lyman especially It's like hey I could probably go in there

They got a bunch of guys Still on their rookie deal Including Burrow, and help that team a lot. So the Bengals feel like the team, even if they don't win the Super Bowl this year, their future is so bright. Yeah, the AFC North is just fucked, dude. The whole AFC.

What's that, bud? The whole AFC is fucked. Yeah, the future is very, very bright in the AFC. I mean, because not only is Joey Burrow definitely a guy. Oh, yeah. And Josh Allen is definitely a guy. Yeah, yeah. And Josh Allen is definitely a guy. Yeah, unbelievable. And Patrick Mahomes is obviously already a guy.

Well. I'm just joking around. Of course he's a guy. Come on. He's got a Super Bowl. Whoa. He's got a Super Bowl. Lamar's got an MVP.

Herbert. Herbert's ready. Herbert there. Chargers got a lot of salary cap. Yeah, so the AFC is going to be tough. But the Bengals, I fucking love watching them play. That's a cool team to root for, I think.

Obviously, we hope that the team does invest in them to continue their winning ways. And then Saturday night, the game that everybody thought that I was

dodged, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging, I was not. Okay? Saturdays are nice catch-up days for me. R&R! All right? That's normal with Saturdays. During catch up days For me

R&R Alright That's normally what Saturday is During the college football season I'll watch You know But I'm Snoozing

I mean I'm out Yeah And then I'm up for it You know And then me and the wife Will do something And Saturday's a nice day To catch up on

You know A lot of relaxation So when the NFL Starts coming this Saturday You know It's not the easiest Especially if the game Is boring as fuck okay especially if it is a beautiful snow globe that's almost like captivating you and you're getting into a little bit of a trance I fell asleep okay for that fourth

quarter I thought we were gonna win and by we I mean the Green Bay Packers I mean granted the offense looked abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. For whatever reason, whatever the Niners defense was doing, it was working. It was helping. Aaron did not play his best football, obviously. Nobody did, it felt like. And then the special teams was always a problem.

I mean, we've chatted about it a bit. I woke up on Sunday morning, a lot of people coming after me and throw Rogan. A lot of people coming after me and throw Rogan. What? A lot of people coming after me and throw Rogan. I can imagine. I was being told, oh, you're real quiet over there. Quiet.

Actually, I think I'm snoring because I got a little bit of congestion. I don't think I'm that. I passed out. I woke up. I watched the fourth quarterback. What the fuck? I think you have to give so much credit to that Niners defense for whatever it did or does to Aaron in the playoffs that have taken them to 4-0 against Aaron in the playoffs. And then you've got to give credit to the fucking Niners special teams taking advantage of a glaring weakness for the Packers,

although the Niners special teams has not been amazing all season. The Packers haven't either. And I do know the special teams coach over there that does not mean that i can't just point out the fact that holy shit it is ugly over there yeah has been for a long time you can't have 10 players on the field for the game winning field goal that can't happen not ideally yikes that can't be your season can't end with your last play of your franchise in divisional round we didn't even have enough fucking players on the field. Okay, so that is just a bad look all across the board.

Also, the snapper for the punt that got blocked back up in his own, never ever even looked like he was attempting to sink his hips and even fight back. But that's going to happen whenever they put a fucking D lineman right over top of the snapper. That's great scheming. That's great movement. I don't think Bohork was anything wrong there. His block point appeared to be about at the two-yard line. Ball snapped at the 12.

That seems to be about the same. But that thing getting blocked, them scooping and scoring, complete game changer. And then you can obviously look back to the end of the half when the Niners blocked a field goal from a nice chop and shoot, and it appeared as if the end and the tackle were right on top of each other, and the wing did not even do a pivot step. The wing just kind of stood exactly where he was at.

And there's different techniques for everything. The one that I've been around through a couple different special teams coaches is the wing, who's the farthest out. So it goes wing, end, tackle, guard, snapper, mirror that on the other side. The wing is normally supposed to step down behind the end's outside foot and then left foot out if they're on the left side, and then their eyes are on one. Okay, so one is the one coming in. So normally step down to block that hole or gap with your right leg, help out at least. You're just down to block that hole or gap with your right leg.

Help out at least. You're just trying to slow people down. Then you're stepping out here and you're trying to get the one to just go around the hoop a little bit. So that in 1.25 seconds, 1.3 seconds, the kick is good. The end, the wing just sat there. I mean, he didn't even move. His one, the guy that he's supposed to have, did not block it. So I guess he's like, hey, job fucking well done there.

I don't know how, if that's what they're teaching. I don't know what that case is. And then the end, which is right next to the wing, he's basically stacked up behind the tackle. So I guess they might have thought that there was something heavy coming. But in doing so, there's a natural gap there that's already there. And the two shooting through is in a lot of strategies of field goal block. That's why the pivot down is normally a pretty big part to block the body.

And then the end is normally going to use its left hand to do this. So it's the leg of the wing, hand of the end. You're supposed to block that entire thing. Chop, hand, no leg no leg no that thing was a fucking scot-free block i mean absolutely zero problems at all in the chop and shoot is a distant relative to the pool shoot which is vastly illegal and different where you grab somebody and literally just pull them and then somebody shoots in behind happens inens in punts. Happens in field goals. That just seemed to be a block before the play even started, and that's even more strategery by the Niner special teams,

just like in the punt block, that deserves to be like, hey, that's fucking good special teams football. And on the opposite side, that's bad special teams football. That's pretty bad special teams football. So bad special teams. Offense isn't really doing anything. I think the defense had a fucking unbelievable game. They don't deserve to be out of there.

But as an owner of the Packers, you've got to think, what does next year look like? We are in a bad spot salary cap-wise. Aaron came out and said, I have my conversation with Goody. We'll see how that goes. I assume he's going to be on here tomorrow. I have nothing telling me that he won't be, but what a bad time to be a Packer right now.

You guys are supposed to go on fucking run. We're supposed to go Super Bowl. We're supposed to go Super Bowl. And now you've got to think to yourself, the Niners are going to be a tough out for anybody with the way they play football out there. Yeah, just, I mean, very deflating, I think, is the best way to. But like you said, we've been talking about the special teams all year,

and typically Rodgers is good enough to overcome whatever blunders they make. But the thing that's so frustrating is that first drive, they were just firing on all cylinders, march right down the field, score a touchdown. Defense, who hasn't been great against the run. Everyone's talking about how the niners are going to run it down their throats they played probably their best game of the season sack jimmy g on third down like eight times it seemed like they get that next possession fumble and then the game

just completely changed after that like it seems like they don't make any in-game adjustments and you know you like look at the floor but like i was telling was telling these guys, I don't understand how that happens. When you go right down the field, you do whatever you want. You score a touchdown, and then they make adjustments on the other side, and you just can't do anything

the rest of the game. It just doesn't make sense. And then, obviously, Bakhtiari not playing like that. What happened there? Because he ended up being fucking massive. Yeah, he had the video on Bak. Back again.

Bakhtiari. Bak is back. Tell a friend. Tell a friend, man. And he played had the video on Bach. Back again. Bach is back. Tell a friend. Tell a friend, man. And he played in the final regular season game that meant nothing. He played like a quarter

or a couple drives or whatever, got his feet back under him. What happened over the two weeks they couldn't play? That's a big deal, especially with that Niners D-line.

And we got to give credit. I mean, Bosa was pissing at some high school, I guess, in Wisconsin. Saw that. A lot of pictures of him pissing somewhere. Everybody, there's kids around. Was there a bathroom in the area? I'm not, Bosa was pissing at some high school, I guess, in Wisconsin. Saw that. A lot of pictures of him pissing somewhere.

Everybody, there's kids around. Was there a bathroom in the area? I'm not. Listen, I wasn't there. But attacking a guy who has to piss. He's got to piss. Come on. But maybe he shouldn't.

Everyone's pissing in Wisconsin. Everybody is pissing. True. Hey, everybody, I will say, everybody in that fucking state's pissing all right i'd love to piss up there that was interesting but bose is a fucking freak show oh yeah that whole d line absolute freak show and if you have bach diari in there maybe it is a little bit different maybe the game is uh drastically different there's a couple plays where aaron you know misses some guys i wonder if it's because he's not comfortable Like we'll have to ask him

Like is he just trying to get it out To who he thinks is going to be ready Because of the amount of pressure That the Niners were able to put on him And by the way Once again Shout out to the fucking Niners Yeah shout out

Because that shit doesn't just happen No That doesn't do like You don't just roll the ball out And then all of a sudden you get pressure There's a lot of shit that goes into that Which with the way Shanahan Has kind of dunked on McVay, you know, for a while. Rams hosting the –

6-0. Yeah, Rams hosting the Niners and LeFleur is – I guess Shanahan, you know, because they're all on that Washington football team. Oh, yeah. Oh, really? Buddy, buddy. Yeah. I didn't see that.

Hey, LeFleur looked bad in some of those games. Yeah, he did. Amazing what can happen when you become a head coach. I did see a tweet where two of them were singing a song, and LeFleur was in the middle not singing a song. It was a pretty good tweet. Yeah, but that particular clip I think should have had, if they're going to redo that,

it should be McVay and LeFleur singing a song and Shanahan just doing the puppeteer. Yeah, doing this to them because that seems to be the case. In that Niners team, they got dogs, dude. They do. And I don't know why we haven't given them as much credit. Did they stink this year? They lost to the Colts in that rain game,

and they were like 2-5 to start out the year. Jimmy was hurt. Trey Lance was in and out. They had secondary injuries. It was weird. I was honestly thinking about that while i was watching that fucking packer game i was like man yeah we did not talk about the niners at all this year and then i was reminded by niners fans oh how about the team you never

talked about blah blah blah losing to the team that you are basically an advocate for i'm like well i'm definitely a packers fan i mean a guy that comes on the show every single week has become a friend of ours. He's playing in there. We hope he does well, just like we hope all of our friends do well. We want George Kittle to do well. Not that he would consider us friends, but we would like him to do well. Oh, yeah. Kirkstone. Kirkstone.

Jimmy G. We're talking about Jimmy G. Let's talk about the family. Former Patriots. I forget they barely got in. Was it overtime in the last week against the Rams? Yeah, so we missed on the Niners. But everybody, including us, I think said all year, that team can run the ball. So they get in the dance.

You never know what they're going to be able to do. Now, they didn't have that much success doing that in the playoffs against the Packers defense. Their special teams in their defense win them a goddamn game there. But they have that ability to win. They have that ability to make it happen, and that's a scary team to play against, especially, you know, if you're not letting their fans buy any tickets.

Mm-hmm. Debo's not happy. Yeah, Debo, he says, this is crazy, dog. Hey, this is crazy, man. What are they doing? They're shutting down. They got geolocators on people buying tickets for this upcoming rams niners nfc championship game in sofi the rams have a chance to host the nfc championship game and then the superb out the nfl is thinking to themselves ah oh my god that's awesome yeah here we go oh my god we brought two teams into

this goddamn city, hoping one of them would at least be good because there are so many people in this city. And every single owner has some sort of house or land here because it is the place where dreams come true. They all have Malibu places. They want to have the NFL headquarters over there. For years and years and years,

there was always a carrot dangled in front of every other city that this team will pick up and go to fucking LA tomorrow if you don't want to buy us a new stadium. The fact that they have a team in LA, two teams in LA, they have a brand new stadium, they have the NFC championship game there and the Super Bowl there, I would assume there's a lot of back patting and clapping for themselves in the NFL office in New York. But that Rams team is showtime. Odell Beckham Jr. before the game said, it's like Pro Bowl.

It's like a Pro Bowl practice basically every day. With the amount of stars they have, we know when we got to work, but it feels good in the way McVay handles it. He loves it out there. And you heard every single report basically from a teammate about Odell Beckham Jr. came out and said, everybody thinks he's a diva and selfish and a bad teammate. We don't believe that at all. He fucking works his ass off.

He is a superstar, so he does deserve to be treated in a little bit different manner. But we love him out here. Maybe he's a new OBJ, or maybe he's finally getting a chance to really be his true self out there, and they're taking advantage of that. Well, it would make sense if he was a little bit more humble after he's allegedly making as much as a sixth grade PE teacher now. He doesn't have the big contract tied to him. It's like, hey, I'm making $33,000 a year. I can't be out here dancing on people's graves and not practicing hard.

So what Ty Schmidt is referring to is interesting because I wonder how the men, vet vet men weighs in on this particular type of deal so Odell Beckham jr uh took his money in bitcoin so I would assume the NFL gives him his money then it just goes straight into the bitcoin not the NFL just actually buying bitcoin in sending him bitcoin so all these people that say I'm taking my contract in bitcoin they're taking all their money from a contract and putting it into Bitcoin. Yes. The reason why there has to be a separator there,

I think, and somebody with a bigger brain than me, which there are a lot of those out there would have to tell me, with the way the vet men is set up with the NFL PA in the NFL, I'm not sure that he would be able to accept how low amount of money

that he is accepting from this season because as soon as he signed with la and said i would like my money in bitcoin the future crypto you know unregulated market this is the wave of the future when i get into the metaverse i'm gonna be using the shit out of this nfl ram's salary i'm gonna be buying it started tanking yeah big time and it has gone down a lot. I forget the amount of billions. 150 billion maybe has been lost in crypto over the last few weeks since the Bitcoin drop has happened. Is that the number?

Yeah, I see it. 150 billion. 150 billion has been lost. Oh, my God. Where'd it go? It's a lot of money. Yeah. Well, it's awful.

Where did it go? It's awful, Gabe. So who knows? Listen, I love, okay, pioneers. Absolutely. I love trailblazers. I love people that are changing and making the world better and evolving and everything. I absolutely fucking love it.

I have never understood this Bitcoin. Nope. I have tried my absolute best. I've talked to people that are all in on Bitcoin, all in on Bitcoin. Talking all in. Okay, I've talked to people and I can never, my dumb brain can never get it. I watched a documentary, I think on Prime, I'm not 100% sure, about the original Bitcoin writer, a Japanese man named, I forget what it is. And then there's the entire blockchain situation, and I even got a chance for that documentary.

Got to see the vault that's in the middle of the alps somewhere down in the and i'm like how who where it's how where is it yeah so it goes down and up who's deciding it goes down well the market well isn't it just exactly like the stock market then who controls what that goes up well that's regulated this is non-regulated this is for everybody it was like well, so who is doing it? I can never understand it. And I'm dumb, okay? There's people out there that get it a lot more than I do.

I've talked to the people that are mining these. I have tried my best to wrap my head around it. I've never understood it. Never got into it that big. Obviously bought some just to kind of ride the wave so I could see what's going on. But I assume it's going to come back well i assume bitcoin's going to come and we can't hey let's go bitcoin let's go bitcoin buy that dip i have to go in and get myself one dude for adele what's that do it for adele oh i thought you said adele who canceled her yeah she had some soft women

Adele who canceled her. She had some off women. One of them was in my house. Adele was upset, but there was some others. Those residencies. She watched the 60 Minutes thing on CBS. I heard her talking. On Bitcoin or on Adele?

On Adele. I bet there's one on Bitcoin too. I assume there is. I'm just not smart enough. There's times like these where I get pumped that I'm not smart enough. These are times because these where I get pumped that I'm not smart enough. These are times because, and I'm not pumped for the people that are all in. I have friends that are all in, and they are not experiencing great times right now, I guess. And one of your friends who is also all in happened to just lose a divisional playoff game too, which is kind of a bummer as well.

Oh, yeah, because Aaron is in the crypto. Yeah, that's right. I'm guessing he doesn't have all his money in the crypto. No. He's got the bucks. Maybe we just start talking to him more about all his investments. Can you explain the blockchain to me?

Now know that once you do, I'm not going to get it. I'm still not going to get it. When I came into the NFL in 2009, first time with any money at all that would warrant a conversation of oh, what are we going to do with this money for the future as opposed to just pay the bills, get the next month, right? That's kind of the money life that I grew up in and I think a lot of people had. So that's the first time getting a chance to talk with all those financial advisors of people pitching that, hey, we can manage your money. I'm like, well, I'm just going to let you know that there's probably zero chance of me just handing my fucking money over to somebody.

I worked my ass off. We got it. Like, I understand you can make more of it. But also, I don't know if I'm ever going to have this again. So it's going to be tough for me to do it. Good luck in there, though, whenever, you know, the whole sell. And me and CFO Phil would sit with these people. And Phil, very, very intelligent, especially with money and everything like that.

And as soon as this whoever started speaking over my head, it was i mean it was absolutely over phil would say thank you so much for coming we're probably uh not go we'll let you know it's not you it's us or whatever signing with nobody but what all those people didn't tell me about was just a year before that the entire thing crashed like everybody i was around that had money had lost so much money and like all their money was lost in 2008 with the people. So I grew up with no, like, hey, what are we doing future-wise with the money? Then I get money.

All the people I'm around that have money, they're like, lost so much money last year. So then people were like, oh, you need to get into the stock market or whatever. I'm like, I don't think so. And now granted, might be a detriment to me long-term. Everybody that's smart has told me that in the money business. But also, I don't wake up someday and my shit's just cut into one third it's like no it'll come

back it'll come back it's like i hope so yeah right who's saying that i'm gonna go buy a wrestling ring smart all right you guys hope that thing comes back i'm gonna go buy a wrestling ring back to odell beckham jr fucking dominant i assume they're gonna sign him to a big deal long term and how will they be able to dance around the salary cap? We're not 100% sure. Let's get to a break. We'll be back on the other side, breaking down the incredible games of this past weekend.

Best weekend ever. Best weekend of football ever. Truly. Let's raise our glasses. Hey, Roger Goodell and the NFL, you gave them hell, and we wish you well. Here's the championship weekend being just a little bit like

divisional round. Because man, that was awesome. Wish I could give you a pound. Thank you, Roger. Thank you, Roger. And your refs, by the way, didn't fucking stink. I mean, Hockey League

all will. Hockey League. However. That's in the blood. By the way, I like him doing that. I like him explaining that this penalty actually happened about an eighth of a second after the ball hit the ground. So play is over. This is after the play. Personal foul. 15-yard penalty.

Still Rams fucking ball. Move! Get over it. All right. Get over it. And watch the replay. I wish you would have said, watch the replay back. It's about an eighth of a second. We over it. And watch the replay. I wish you would have said watch the replay back. It's about an eighth of a second. We saw it with our own fucking eyes. That's good officiating.

First down staff. I enjoy that type of stuff, but they were starting to get a little. I like that they let the Tyreek Hill peace sign eat. Yeah. Knowing the moment. That was a big time play and a big moment. Let's not make this about us. Let's go ahead and let this happen. I like that. I think the ref's done good. Let's go ahead and let this happen. I like that.

I think the ref's done good. Yeah. Congrats to the refs. Good job, boys. Let's just get them to ref every single game every weekend. Yeah. And I'm sure they'll fuck up and we'll hate them next week. But good on you for contributing to the greatest division around in history.

I wish there was one team that was still playing. Because then we'd get a chance to see this next man still play the football. And when this guy plays the football, he shows incredible flexibility with his celebration. His intensity is incredible. The fact that he's an avatar and he sits in lakes and works out out in the middle of nowhere is awesome.

And he kicked his agents the fuck out of town so he could get a deal done with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ladies and gentlemen, Defensive Player of the Year, Defensive MVP candidate, TJ Watt. What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? Do you hear us do that, and how bad do you hate it every time we go, TJ, what? What? What? I love it.

I love it. Get the whole studio involved. Love the energy. Well, we appreciate you a lot. Obviously, the season didn't end how you wanted it to. You guys are not in the playoffs. You had a hell of a year, though. Describe the season that was, because there was a couple of times it felt like you guys

were all the way out, fought, clawed your way into conversation, get in the wild card, and then eventually lose. How would you describe this past season, you thinkj a roller coaster of emotions i think it was it was a lot of ups a lot of downs i mean as defensively as all i can really talk about is just um never really being able to get into a groove i mean um the year before we were 11 and 0 so we knew what it what it felt like to to get on a run and win games, and then obviously fell apart towards the end. This year started out good in Buffalo, and then just could never really get our footing throughout the whole season.

To be able to win three of the last four and get into the playoffs was obviously a great feeling, but the way it ended was not good at all. TJ, the tackles that you face on a regular basis, maybe tackles in your division or just guys you know you're going to play, do you keep books on them? Do you take notes and realize, okay, this is this guy's strengths? How much do you study the tackles that you will go against? Yeah, I study a good amount.

I mean, everything from just little things like snap count, when the quarterback's getting, when he's hiking the ball on the play clock, stuff like that, and you go to the tackles and um a lot of the times i'll always text my brother and say hey i got this guy this week do you have any do you have anything on him how do you how do you think he played you the last time and um just little things like that that can help me um when i go into a game but i do a lot of individual study as well throughout the week but uh tackles are smart man they play guys differently too they know that we're watching the film, so it's tough. Now, outside of the Titans getting nine sacks on Joey Burrow and the Bengals still winning

somehow, you know, and Vrabel saying like, yeah, maybe we had too many sacks. You know, I like turnovers. Maybe we get more turnovers and things like that. But if you look at like the Rams with Aaron Donald, Vaughn Miller, and the boys, what they're able to do completely changes the game. And then the Niners and Bosa, what they were able to do to the Green Bay Packers. And they always talk about if your front can get pressure and then everybody else can kind of sit back in the shell, you're obviously way ahead of the game. Whenever you're talking about trying to take out a TJ Watt or a Bosa or a Von Miller, what do you think like people try to do? Has there been any innovations or is it always just chip,

and let's hope we can help? What does that exactly mean, and when in games do you know that they're targeting you specifically? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely the chip. I mean, you have to figure out if it's going to be the tight end chip or the running back chip. I mean, there's been times this year where I think it was Denver specifically where I lined up on the left side of the ball, which is where I primarily do.

The tight end came out off the ball and followed me over there. So I got up and went to the right side, and he got up and came over to me. Still chipped me. So, I mean, it's tough to get past two guys no matter which way they do it, if they're sliding or whatnot. But definitely late in the games. I mean, you see yesterday when they have a got-to-have situation, it's tough with those tight ends that are so active in the games i mean you see yesterday when um they have a gotta have a situation it's tough with those tight ends that are so active in the passing game i think we have

it with mark andrews um in baltimore and then obviously see with kelsey yesterday they don't really like to keep the tight ends in the chip when they're their primary receivers so um as a passer you have to know that usually it's going to be that running back chip in those types of situations what do you think about the bangles and their chances now in the AFC championship, obviously? And I know they're a much different team now than when you got into the league. What's it like playing them now with Joe Burrow and all their weapons? And what kind of chance do you give them going forward? Yeah, I mean, the Bengals are a solid team.

They beat us twice this year, and they've continued to improve since he's been there. And just having a quarterback like that that can get the ball out quickly they like to spread the ball out and make decisions pretty easy for him and see if you're in man or zone and pick you apart that way and then obviously he has the the running component too which I mean again you saw yesterday where if you're in man coverage and you try to eliminate those those routes those those dangerous receivers all he has to do is kind of tuck the ball and run if you're not very determined in your rush lanes for the guys that are left that are past rushers trey hendrickson's obviously in there making plays

and for the other teams do you all keep in contact with each other do you watch film of the others do you expect that they watch film of you as well is that a whole community you guys all in a group text like we're fucking dogs and unblockable is that something you guys have there's no group text anything like that i mean definitely um mutual admiration for all the work that guys are putting in i'm always watching the beat tapes uh every week you watch the tackle and how he got beat the week before to see if that's something that you could that's a move that you could use going into this game and um there's so many pass rushers that are just doing things at such a high level i'm always trying to

steal moves from guys so um any any moves that you guys see i want to it yeah we'll clip them and send them to you before tone digs has a question for you and the boys as well hell of a season obviously and you got paid okay which is cool. And there's some Yinzer folklore that would make you a Yinzer superhero, if true. And I think we asked you before, but I don't know if you remember more of the details. Did you tell your agents to get their stupid fucking suits out of the way? I'm going to go sign to be a Steeler. And I would like everybody to know I'm going to fucking work out immediately afterwards. And what does it mean to be a Steeler?

And why is that something you think? Why does it mean something to be a Pittsburgh Steeler, you think? Yeah, it was one of those things where, I mean, in the process, it was so much back and forth. And towards the end, we got to a number we were very happy with. And they said, hey, we can go back one more time, and we think we can get X, Y, and Z. And they said, man man i'm sick and tired

of going back and forth like let me just go up there and just shake the guy's hand for saying thank you for for listening to us and offering what we we wanted and let's get this thing done and i mean it was like a thursday so i normally work out on a thursday i mean it's not like it was uh you know, it was like a Rocky Balboa, like I got to go work out right now. But it was just a normal day from there. And I went home that night and just had dinner with my agent and just thanked him and just a surreal moment. But, yeah, playing in Pittsburgh is, I told Mr. Rooney that this community

and the people here, the blue-collarness and it just matches me and it matches my family and my beliefs and I love the people here I love playing for Mr. Rooney coach Tomlin and it's just a great fit and if you're from here like you are you know you know yeah the whole place runs through the success of the Pittsburgh Steelers the morale of the entire town goes through Sundays. And I'll tell you what, when we went and saw, and you got introduced last as a young buck, it was like, oh, of course, TJ is this place's fucking hero.

I mean, that's the way it is. And you've shown up and continue to work. And I think they know that, and they see that, and they appreciate that. Go ahead, Diggs. First off, thank you, TJ. Thank you, TJ. 22 and a half.

Tied the record. And I think about the one where Cam got a personal foul against the Ravens and the one where the botched snap against the Ravens, where that could have been another one. How much have you thought about the ones that didn't happen, that almost happened, that could have got the record by yourself? A little bit, but not as much. I mean, 22 and a half i mean i'm very happy with it i i would have i would have definitely traded in a lot of those to be still playing right now

um the number one thing that bothers me about it is everybody acts like it's a personal accolade it's just myself and um there's so many sacks in there where i mean i think a couple times the quarterback just kind of takes a coverage sack and I'm just the first guy to tap him down. It's not just myself getting those numbers for sure. What do you do? Pre-workout? A little smelling salts?

What do you do before games? You flip the switch and become a different animal, just like your brother, by the way. Your brother is like, very nice to be here. Hey, how you doing? Don't you know? Then they get a mic up and he's like, maybe we're just fucking better than these goddamn bitches you know like is there something that just

like is there something in the just you flip a switch how do you get it go to you know for what on the field yeah i think my dad always growing up i remember if like i didn't play well or something he'd be like man that in fact you just wasn't there today. Like, you've got to find that switch, man. So now, I mean, it's just, it's kind of built in, you know, you work so hard, put so much into this all off season, all season, all week leading into a game that when the lights come on, it's just kind of the work is done. And I'm going to go out here and have as much fun as I possibly can because this is the best job in the world. So I'm sure pre-workout, a little bit of peppermint,

essential oil under the nose to get the airway, and go out there and have a fun time. That's awesome to hear. Go ahead, Ty. TJ, obviously 22 and a half sacks, that's incredible, and you're always going to go to work every single day. Your work ethic, obviously, is well documented. How do you actually get better after having a year like that?

What will you do this offseason you actually get better after having a year like that? What will you do this offseason to actually be better next year? Work on staying healthy. That was the big thing for me was not being able to play in every game this year, which was very frustrating. But there's always things from a leadership standpoint that I'm trying to continue to grow at. Obviously, if seven's not in the building, there's going to be a void there. So we need to step up, and me and Cam Hayward definitely are willing to step into that role.

What's it like having Cam Hayward in there? Sorry, Pat. When you have Cam Hayward inside, he's such a monster, such a strong dude. Like, you guys work together so well. Like, how valuable is that to have a dude like him in there? Yeah, Cam's Mr. Reliable, man. He's been doing it at a high level. I don't think he gets the respect that he deserves.

I mean, he's got three first-team All team all pros in the last four years or something crazy like that um i don't even remember the last game he's missed just just the guy that is so reliable and ohio i didn't know if you're doing the big head we call him head because he's got such a massive head i was doing the head yeah that was for the head but it did ohio is that cam hayward by the way when he was a kid you know just doing the ohio coach tomlin always puts up like old high school pictures um throughout the weeks through like training camp and stuff and cam hayward in seventh grade looks like cam hayward right now it's pretty he had 31 tackles probably in a game like that fucking big ass head that's on your left

uh the screen's right let's talk about coach tom Coach Tomlin. In the middle of the season, Coach Tomlin had to answer questions about not taking the USC job, and he was disgusted by it. I will not take any more questions about something like that. I have the best coaching job in all of sports. What is it about Coach Tomlin, you think, that not only keeps him relatable with the players, but successful as well, even when it doesn't seem as if it should be the case? What is it about him behind closed if it should be the case. What is it about him behind closed doors that makes him the coach that he is? He always says he doesn't care where good ideas come from, and that's something that he's taken to heart,

and he always is open to listening to our opinions on things. Just in my exit meeting a couple days ago, he asked me on what I think not only himself could do better, but just us in the facility, whether it's the training staff, the weight room, or the cafeteria, stuff like that. And then I think it's just this transparency that guys really gravitate towards. He's not going to sugarcoat anything. He's going to tell you exactly how it is. And when the guy walks in the room, he commands the whole room.

He's a big-time motivator, and there's no BS about him. Do you think you would stand – I know you've got 22 1⁄2 sacks. That's a lot. But you get to watch film on those people. My past set, pretty well documented. What is the style of tackle that gives you the most problems, you think? Is it the incredibly stocky, athletic, strong tackle? Or is it those with a little bit longer arms than maybe me?

I don't know why I would give you that type of answer. Well, I don't think I'd have any problems with you, though. What's that all about? What's that all about? We're going to ball out quick, but don't you fucking worry about it. That's the most frustrating thing. Those quarterbacks get the ball out in two seconds now. It's ridiculous how quickly and decisively they can get the ball out.

So you know that going in, and that is why sometimes you're squatting, it feels like waiting for the patented Watt swat, because that has been added, I think, to the repertoire a lot more. Has that been something you had to work on, or is that just natural instinct feel? I think it's just natural instincts feel, kind of knowing the situation. There's so many situations within the situation.

We always talk just to kind of know if the ball is coming out quick, if it's towards the sideline, stuff like that. Situations are situational too, TJ. You know what I mean? In situational ball, of course. Yeah, of course, because there's situations within a situation, and situations are situational in situational ball even more so. I mean, I've never heard it said better.

You deserve the MVP just for that if I had to guess. Go ahead, Connor. Yeah, TJ, we saw you score a touchdown against the Chiefs. In your exit meeting with Coach Tomlin, did you tell him, hey, look, my older brother can catch the ball in the end zone, so can I? Can we get some sets, maybe two to three packages of me and Derek in the backfield maybe leaking out to the flat or are you just focused on defense i did not maybe they're

in otas we can draw up something where see where i where i uh cut the the dn and derrick gets out on the flat or vice versa little watt tag team how is it having your brother on a team i mean here's another season done, obviously. It's nice to have someone. I mean, you guys dress exactly the fucking same for every travel thing. It's very, very interesting. I see it on the IG stories. But what is it like?

Is it nice to know that? Does he ever say, like, hey, you remember when you did this? You should try that? Like, what are the conversations like with Derek on the day-to-day? Oh, it's been cool, man. I mean, I always pick him up. I drive to the airport on away games, and every time he gets in the car, we both leave each other.

Are you freaking kidding me, man? You are a Lululemon fan. But today, he lives in my neighborhood, so today I was just driving home from the facility, and he looks like he's about to get on the back of a snowmobile just to stink and shovel his driveway. It's pretty ridiculous the amount of winter gear he has on just to shovel it's fun to have those little interactions with him and um it's it's very surreal to uh be able to share all the experiences here and have someone to talk to

that i grew up with um just about life in the nfl it's pretty cool you're saying he's soft i just heard there wow yeah oh. He took offense to it. I took a picture, sent it to group chat, and said, don't know if this guy's getting on a snowmobile or shoveling his driveway. Classic. Classic. You're obviously up for defensive MVP. 22.5 sacks is a record

holder, tied, obviously. You did it in the 17th game, so that will always be a conversation, but only a couple people in the history, you being one of them, accomplished such a thing the defensive mvp and those types of conversations they're going to be held against you forever in the legacy conversation and obviously your brother has a few of them and it's an individual award and you just said it's a team award but how much do you think about those types of things during the season and right now do you hate or love the fact that you're a part of it all?

I mean, after the fact, it's fun to be a part of it. But in the season, you don't really have time to think about it. I told people early in my career, I used to always set individual goals. I want to have 20 sacks. I want to have X amount of TFLs, batted passes, all that stuff. And lately, I just found it's better to just kind of have the game wrecker mentality as a goal instead, because I was putting too much pressure on myself. You're sitting there week three, and you only have one sack, you have no sacks. And you're trying to reach and get out

of gaps and do a whole bunch of crazy individualistic stuff. And it doesn't help your football team at all. So I've gotten away from all I want to be defensive player of the year, I just want to be the best player I can be week in and week out. And also never dress like a soft ass when you're shoveling your driveway. Correct. I'm going to go out here in shorts and a t-shirt and shovel my driveway. Hey, are we getting in the lake this offseason or not? Are we getting in the frozen lake this offseason?

I don't know. That happens at Jay's house. So if he lets us, maybe. We've got to get a sauna ready because that was freaking cold, man. You sound a little soft right there. Oh. I guess I am contradicting. Last question here from Tone.

Go ahead. TJ, you talked about potentially being sevens last season and you and Cam stepping up as the leaders. What was it like? What was that last home game at Heinz for seven? Like, what was the locker room like after that? How cool was that as a situation? Yeah, it was a playoff-type atmosphere.

It was one of the best atmospheres I've been a part of in the NFL. Just to be able to have all the fans stay afterwards and have him go around and give everyone high fives in the lower bowl was was awesome and i think he deserves that after everything he's done for the city of pittsburgh brought two superbowls and uh the locker room he gave a nice little speech to us just thanking us and um just very appreciative for all that he's done and all that we've been able to give him this season and obviously we weren't able to get the end job done um but i'm very appreciative for the the five years i had with him so as tomlin sends you a text and be like hey tj what quarterback would you want to have next year for a team you're a part of or or there's no no i wish but no no oh you do wish oh who would you say uh i'm not going there

hey that's a part of it. You get into that position, that becomes a part of it. I don't wish. I take my wish back. Well, we wish you nothing but success in the future, and we appreciate the hell out of your time here. Thank you for making time on this Monday. Did you watch all the games this past weekend?

What was your big takeaway? What a fucking weekend of football. Yeah, I did. It was crazy, man. Got to have the field kickers were definitely the stars of the show other than the quarterbacks just being able to get the ball down the field as quick as possible but uh what do you think about the last uh you squid that last one or not no so i hate the squib because i think it's too quick you know and with the athletes that you have in

the nfl like even big guys can handle a squib but i do think you keep that one in bounds and if you heard mcdermott he said it was an execution thing I think they were trying to do that and he might have hit it a little bit far what are your thoughts do you get into the whole strategery game is that is that something you enjoy yeah I mean I'm not big in analytics or anything like that I listen to it if guys are willing to tell me uh analytically stuff but I mean I wouldn't have hated the sky kick and at least put it in bounds and make them make a decision um I think it's tough once you have 13 seconds on the clock, they were trying to not let any guys get over the top of them. But as you can see the undercover,

the underneath coverage wasn't as great either, but. Hey, two timeouts. What are you saying? Immediately going out there, somebody on the field saying, Hey, they have two timeouts. So even if we picket fence the out of bounds, which it looked like Buffalo was doing there, which I don't know. Is that communicated on the field, coach, player?

Are you reminding yourself at all times and reminding everybody of the situation, or is it just expected at this point? Oh, for sure. I mean, you practice it all at training camp, too. When you go out there, you know, two timeouts, 13 seconds. I mean, they don't have to throw the ball out-of-bounds or anywhere near the out-of-bounds, so that eliminates some routes that they could be running.

What do you think about the overtime rules? A bunch of bullshit you asked me, but I've heard defensive players say, well, you've got to get a stop. You've just got to get a stop, but it's not a problem. Yeah, you take the ball. It's disrespectful. Obviously, they're going to take the ball, but it's our job to stop you or keep you to a field goal, and then we trust our offense.

So I don't have a problem with it. You're going to be out at the Super Bowl, probably winning awards. You're going to be out there? I haven't decided yet. Well, we'd be honored if you were to go out there and do your thing to stop by and say what's up. All right. If I am, I will. That sounds like a no.

Ladies and gentlemen, potential defensive MVP, Pittsburgh Steeler icon already, T.J. Watt. What? Thank you, T.J. So sorry to interrupt, but I want to let you know that if you're not gambling with FanDuel, you're wrong. Okay? FanDuel Sportsbook is available in seven states, I believe, at this point. Six, seven, eight. You get it.

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hey let's go centerville oaks i learned this weekend that you had 31 tackles in a high school game for the Centerville Elks fucking twice. You are a menace. And when I texted him about this, he goes, oh, dude, I don't remember that. The only thing I remember was just being tired in games because he played offense, defense, and was punter. So that means in one of those games, he was running back, punter, and had 31 tackles.

Ladies and gentlemen, a fucking machine, A.J. Hart. What up, A.J.? I mean, largely because Larry Knopfsinger, my linebacker coach, a legend, was the guy that tallied the tackles, so I'm sure he padded my stats. So thank you, Coach Knopfs. I appreciate that. A lot of J.O.P.'s

being counted as... There was no spearing rules back then. No targeting rules either. So yeah, you're jumping on everything. Hell yeah. Yeah, especially with that big old fucking hair. Hey, quick. I want to go to the Bills game. I'm sure you've talked about it.

Yeah, but I would like to talk about a different game with you, but let's talk about the Bills game first. Quickly, because I think you guys, I watched a little bit at the end. I heard you guys talk about the last kickoff. Should you squib it? Whatever. So it was Hardman back there, right?

It wasn't Tyreek Hill. It was Pringle. It was Pringle back there. We actually just did the research there was pringle i think you do hit either i don't like the squib personally never really made sense to me i like a pooch down to like the you know inside the 10 maybe yeah i agree and it's not necessarily an easy ball but you should be able to kick it um i just the squib never made sense to me because in the nfl with how athletic guys are like even offensive linemen and fullbacks that are out there that's probably going to be collected early so the hang time of

a squib even though it's on the ground we'll just count hang time as how long it takes from foot to somebody's hands is normally much quicker it's like two seconds real quick and they're catching it sooner than ever well they might drop it yeah but they're in the NFL they're probably quick enough to get on it I never like the squ, but I think a nice high pooch there, take off like four or five seconds would have been the right move, especially if Tyreek Hill was not out there. But, I mean, hindsight's hindsight. You have the number one defense in the NFL, 13 seconds.

You would hope you wouldn't just let free pass to Travis Kelsey as you're trying to fence post everybody inbounds when they have two timeouts. How's that happen, AJ? I don't know. I know I'm curious about McDermott's comments after the game. I don't know if you saw that. They asked him about not squibbing. He said, let's just leave it at execution.

It's about execution. I'll leave it at that. Something like that. So I'm thinking, did you assume Tyreek Hill was there? So we're not going to give him a chance, which I completely understand. Or? Or he doesn't like his coverage team. Or he asked Tyler Bass to keep it in play.

Yeah, that's possible. Could that happen, though, if he's like, hey, try to pop this one up and we don't want to touch back, want to run some time, and he just boots it in the end zone? Yeah, especially with how cold it is. You've got to think, like, the difference between keeping it in between the five in the goal line versus maybe five deep in the end zone is probably, I don't know, like hitting it 87% or hitting it 95%, you know? And at that moment, you just fucking took

the lead. You're Tyler big ball back. I mean, he's like an energy guy. There's a chance that they did ask him to hit one high in the field of play. Probably if Tyreek Hill is not there, because I didn't hear that quote, but if that is exactly what he said I would assume that ball might have been that was supposed to probably stay in balance I would assume yeah I yeah I just assume when I was watching in real time that they're going to do something to try to run some time off the clock they're not going to just okay give them the 13 seconds but yeah I'm sure you guys have talked about Patrick Mahomes and Kelsey in their post-game press are talking about how Kelsey kind of freestyled that route. He saw how they were playing him.

They called a timeout. I saw what the coverage was. I cut my split down to like a yard. I know Dane Orszlowski did a great job actually today on get up. Wow, Dane. What was he wearing? Why was he wearing a jacket? Because he's fucking going to war, dude.

He's Stafford's wingman oh he's Goose yeah exactly okay I've never seen the thing but Goose is a good guy right Goose is a great guy

Goose is at the piano no yeah Goose is dead yeah Goose does die rest in peace Goose Goose gets shot out of the plane the canopy didn't didn't

evacuate fast enough he donged his head on his son got his son got fought by a random dude in Hawaii when he was with Aaron. Top Gun 2 is Mai Tai.

Yes, and that is Goose's boy. Mai Tai is Goose's son? Yes. Okay, is that movie ever coming out? You're friends with Mai Tai, Goose's son. I don't know. You're friends with Tom Cruise. What does he say? I'm not friends with Tom Cruise. I assumed in your high level of income and your stature that you and Tom are boys.

Well, he's been in the Illuminati a long time. I know a lot of your friends are keeping their eyes out for Jizz Line's list. Yeah. Okay, I have not met any of those people. I stay in my own world. But when Travis Kelsey is freestyling, I think that happens on a regular basis in that offense. Travis knows what other people are doing, what he's allowed to do, and that's why Patrick Mahomes and he have such a great relationship

because normally those off-script plays, everybody's doing that, but Travis just has an ability to do it in a high fashion. He goes, why are they fence posting out of bounds? Why would that happen? But they had timeouts. They had three timeouts, right? Two at least. I think two.

Yeah. You know, like, yeah, you don't need to like if they had zero timeouts that's what you should play absolutely do that let them catch the ball you tackle them yeah they'll probably get up there and maybe get one more chance but don't let them get out of bounds no matter what you do the fact that they had timeouts and they were still doing that i don't it was also a great execution by pat mahomes to look it off he kind of had a little uh little pump because he wanted to throw it earlier and Kelsey was still setting it up and it was just a beautiful thing man yeah it was an incredible play and great players make great plays and you can hindsight everything as being stupid but if they somehow jump a route when Patrick is trying to go out

of bounds and the number one defense in the NFL gets a stop there Josh Allen is thrusted into the oh here we go it's now Josh Allen's AFC. This defense who had no pro bowlers was able to stop Patrick Mahomes when they had to. But instead, here we are, a coin toss into overtime. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey

and the boys get the ball. They go down and score. Now it's the Buffalo Bills who yet again lose to the Kansas City Chiefs. They have played three times in the last year. Final score, cumulative score, if we're in Europe, that's how I saw it, congregative. That's right.

Aggregate. There it is. Aggregated score, 198, those two teams. Pretty evenly matched slots, huh? Yes. Well, and Josh and Patrick. I think the entire team knows, hey, our quarterback is going to be judged

against this quarterback forever. This is how this is going to go. And remember years ago, who could throw the ball further? Who's more athletic? We talked to Josh last week. He said he has a good relationship with Patrick, has a lot of respect for Patrick Mahomes. He's already won the big one.

But those games always live up to the hype, it feels like. And that thing ended in overtime the way it did. I think everybody's bummed about it. Darius Butler is going to be joining us in like nine minutes, AJ. I guess he's not happy with how we spoke about the overtime rules being dumb. Why is that? Is that a defensive mindset that the defense has to make a fucking play? Hold him to a field goal.

Get off the field. Your team deserves to win. If you can't do that, you deserve to lose. Is that why he's thinking that? You're thinking, is that a natural defensive thought? I mean, maybe. I don't know. I'm just sick of talking about rules and changing rules.

I knew it was going to happen instantly. Josh, no one doesn't get a chance to touch the ball. Yes, that's how it works. It's not fair. Life's not fair. It's football. People don't know, didn't it used to just be sudden death? If you kick a field goal, you win, right? Yeah, and then they change it to... Yeah, now they change it to, if you kick a field goal, you win, right? Yeah, and then they change it to. Yeah, now they change it to if you kick a field goal,

the other team gets a possession. But if you score a touchdown, game over. I think that when I sit there and look at it, that's pretty good to me. I don't know. Chiefs fans were upset that we talked about the overtime rules at all being stupid. We've been talking about the overtime rules

and many other rules for a long time. Okay, that is a major part of the program. Yeah, that's right right trying to make the game better but in this particular case the chiefs deserve all the accolades of the fucking chiefs the chiefs is the chiefs again it was awesome to watch but also you know in this fairy tale land where everything is how it should be and i wish that that was the case seeing if josh allen could come fucking answer would have been awesome yeah you know that would have been it would have but also they have to take into account like could you have i guess could you have different playoff overtime rules like they're not they don't want you to have

one like 15 minute extra quarter because i think it's more wear and tear on the players and they're looking out for player safety so could you change it for the playoffs so i think the chiefs pitched that i think the chiefs actually pitched that because the Patriots did this to them years ago. And we're left wondering, will this young gun, this young star, Patrick Mahomes, would he be able to come out and answer fucking Tom Brady in this situation in the overtime and playoffs? I think the Chiefs actually pitched different rules for playoffs than there is in the regular season because what you just said about another full quarter being a lot wear and tear. If you have a lot wear and tear,

if you have a couple of those games, that's a whole new half. That's 17 and a half games that people are playing and the body can't take it. But for the playoffs, it just feels like we should get a chance to see somebody answer. But Darius feels differently. I'm excited to feel why that is the case. And also listening to everybody want to change rules, I can see how that can get a bit tiring. But shout out to the refs this weekend aj they didn't they didn't decide the games did they no they didn't make themselves the game which a lot of those motherfuckers did for a lot of the year hey i thought for sure when i saw old tyreek throw up the deuce i was like oh yep they're gonna call and i was so happy they didn't call yeah we all were actually the first hour we talked about

knowing the situation, knowing how big of a play that was in the moment, knowing what the game was doing, two legacies on the line. Why would we want this flag to be the story of the game? Why would we want it? I like the self-awareness by the refs saying, ah, nah, this is a game. So it's exactly like they didn't see it, right?

Don't you think they can say, oh, I didn't see it. I was chasing the ball. I guess, but I hope whenever they get home, they actually tell their friends and family, like, there's no reason for us to fucking slow that down. It's actually pretty sweet. Did you see him? The guy was in front of him.

He was running one-handed past the guy. I mean, he didn't even use his other hand in form running. He didn't even say, excuse me, I need to say see you later, cuz. He's unbelievable to watch, Tyreek Hill. He's so fun to watch, man. Watching his legs work and just bounce around. He never gives up on a play, that's for sure. Well, and it's the entire Chiefs squad.

They're back. This is what we bet on the Chiefs for every single week during a regular season because they have the ability to flip the switch and go. And once Patrick Mahomes starts getting the crowd and he starts vibing, you know, and he's in there, are you not entertained? And him running for however many yards he ran for early there, it's just, that team is fucking awesome to watch. I wish I was seeing him.

Josh Allen could have came back out and did that. But hey, I'd bitch about it if it went the other way too. That's right, yes. I had some people coming out, I would have bitched about it like, hey, Patrick Mahomes, just like against the Patriots, would have loved to see him come out and answer because that's what we're inevitably going to judge these people's characters on forever.

Can they rise to the big moment? Can they answer? And I think Josh Allen, when he had to, he went in there and threw a couple strikes. I mean, shout out to Gabriel Davis, who we've been talking about all year. Hey, this guy is going to have four year. All season long. All season long. Hey, this guy is going to have four touchdowns at some point.

At least. He's going to go ahead and do that thing. I loved just watching that game. I wish I could play every night. A lot of people said, well, there's a Super Bowl winner. Whoever wins this game going into the weekend. Now people feel even firmer about that thought. But there's a lot of other games that happen, AJ. I was being called spineless earlier today for our take on Aaron Rodgers

and the Green Bay Packers on the internet. Had to block somebody actually because fuck off. I think Aaron did not play his best game. He did not play good football. That was a boring fucking game. The Green Bay Packers defense did their job. The Green Bay Packers special teams did not do their jobs. The Green Bay Packers offense did not do their jobs. And the Niners go into a snow globe in Lambeau and get a fucking big-time dog win. Now they get a chance to go to the Rams and continue their legacy. Bob Gold hits a 45-yard game winner in miserable conditions, then immediately afterwards says, fuck the Packers forever.

I just enjoy this Niners team. They're a tough out. But, boy, what a surprise to see the way that Packers team played, AJ. Yeah, especially after they came out right out of the gate and come down, drive down, and score. And you probably weren't thinking, hey, this is the last touchdown the Packers are going to score today. And so the fact that that happened, it just – I don't know what it was.

It was just a weird, like, clunky game at times. They got a ton of pressure on A-Rod. So, once again, we always want to say, oh, what did the Packers do? Obviously, they had a punt block for a touchdown. They had a ton of pressure on A-Rod. So, once again, we always want to say, oh, what did the Packers do? Obviously, they had a punt block for a touchdown. They had a field goal block. That was a huge momentum deal to where going into half, you should have – the Packers probably should have been up 14-0 because of that Jimmy G pick that he threw.

And you go in just down 7-0 with a ton of momentum. Debo takes the second half kickoff. Boom, gets to like the 50. Okay, so Big Dog fumbles there in that second draft. Probably scored a touchdown there, right? So that's 14. Yeah. Maybe they were rolling.

I mean, they were running there. Everything seemed to be going well. Not 100% sure if they end up scoring. Maybe the Niners defense gets it figured out. They force a fumble, too, so they deserve credit for that entire thing. But then that field goal, that's 17 zip potentially at halftime. I mean, that is – That feels a lot different.

A lot different than seven nothing i think so i think absolutely and instead there's a chop and shoot where i broke down the first hour the entire mechanics of most field goal operations with what the wing's supposed to do what the end's supposed to do then to tackle the guard in the center the end was right on top of the tackle if you watch back the film like literally stacked up behind them so i think they thought that there was going to be a heavy bull coming through there and then the wing i don't think he was told that that was happening because there was a clear gap and the wing never moved one time so they chopped down the end's arm and it was a clear path for old

cuz to come through i mean it was one of the clearest paths I've ever seen. We'd have to get a clock on the operation. I assume it was a little bit slower because how cold it was and everything like that. But that ball's getting blocked regardless. That's a game changer, man. Those three points are game changers. Yeah, I would say. I mean, yeah, what a weird game too, though.

It felt like eventually the Green Bay's offense was going to get it going. They were going to figure it out and score some touchdowns, which they didn't look like they played bad but they didn't score points how come what do you think it is why do you think aaron wasn't on his uh the top of his game what do you think it was the niners defense or do you think it was self-inflicted first off first off i would give credit to the niners d the pressure they got they got a ton of pressure and even when they even if they're not hitting him or or getting a sack like they're making him move around the pocket not have have clear throwing lanes, things like that.

So I think the Niners' D, first off, unbelievable, especially after letting them basically go down the field, score in the first drive. The way to rebound and come back and do that, man, it was just super impressive. And also, I'm always weird about, like, having off time, going in number one seed with the bye. We saw both one seeds lost.

Now, of course, you're not going to lose any games during the regular season. You want to get to that position. But, man, there's something to, like, fighting your way into the playoffs and then just taking that momentum into the playoffs. I don't know, man. It's something about it. And what the fuck happened to Bakhtiari? I don't know.

I don't know. I guess he probably, after Detroit, did he not feel great and he just couldn't get back to feeling okay? Because I thought the two weeks were to heal everybody. You know what I mean? Like that. And Bakhtiari has that um-Bak. The Bak is back.

That's right. And then that ends up being a big-time storyline, right? The pressure that Aaron's seeing. That's probably getting in the way of a lot of decisions being made. Can't wait to ask him about that whole thing. There's a lot of video and tape coming on the internet of Aaron clearly, you know, either throwing it to somebody that isn't open and missing somebody that's open, which is not normal for Aaron at all.

I'm intrigued for our next conversation with old Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, me too. And I think the thing that's so frustrating is, yeah, the offense played like shit. They did. But 10 points should have been enough to win that game. 10 points is nowhere near enough points. We all agree.

Yeah, for sure. But watching that game, it seemed like. Exactly. I mean, the Niners didn't score an offensive touchdown. And for the whole concern going in to be like, hey, they're going to be able to control the ball and run it down the Packers' throats. That's not how their offense wasn't effective at all. That defense played the best game they've had in so long.

And just like the offense had many, many opportunities. I mean, at the end of the game there, even after the blocked punt, it's like, okay, there's under four minutes left. Usually this is like, okay, no big deal. They'll have a nice – they might not score a touchdown, but they'll milk the clock, go down here, get a field goal, and it just – it never happened. And the longer they let him hang around, it was like,

okay, I kind of know how this is going to end up. A.J. Dillon getting hurt, I think. That was big. I mean, he – you saw him run behind his pads early. Yeah. I mean, that's a big boy to try to stop in the middle of Lambeau, in the middle of the snow globe. Him being out, obviously not good for the team, but they still – why weren't they able to move like they were it just seems like that aaron was missing some shit

obviously some plays are going to get called into question was there any in-game adjustments people were going to talk about and hopefully we'll learn it all but what a fucking outcome there yeah losing dylan's huge and like i like rogers and but i really didn't have any you know wants for the packers to win or the Niners to win aside from Ty. But it's 10-10 with four minutes left, and you're the MVP of the league, and you need to go get points to win a game. You're the one seed.

You got home field advantage. Your defense has played damn near their best game of the year. You can't go three and out. You can't win playoff games. That's how you win a Super Bowl. Exactly. How many times has Brady been down 7-3 tied

And they need a drive And they march down the field And score points to win a game in the playoffs Except for his last game against the Titans His last game against the Titans But even yesterday No, no, no But his last game against the Titans

With the Patriots Ah, yes, exactly His last game against the Titans Much different With the Patriots He goes out there They need a drive. I think it's a pick six.

Pick six, and then they get the ball back, and then I think it's like a three and out. Immediately after that game ends, the way it ends. And I don't want to say that I'm some human that could think like Aaron Rodgers. I cannot, obviously. I mean, there's a meta level up there that I cannot reach, I don't think. I've tried my best. I mean, I have. I don level up there that I cannot reach I don't think I've tried my best I mean I have I don't know if we'll ever reach it

he's a big universe talks to him hey how do I feel I mean if I might be reading this the wrong way that felt like the universe saying get the fuck out of here dude and I don't know if that is how he took it or not but the fodder around his future is very loud right now.

In the market, if he was to go to the market. Now, he said, I need to address if I want to do this any longer. What do you mean by that? Did he talk about, is that with the Packers? Is that retired as a whole? I mean, there's a lot of questions that are going to have to get answered from Aaron Rodgers is probably going to win back-to-back MVPs here, even though they had an early exit. That whole conversation is going to get loud, and that market is probably going to win back-to-back MVPs here, even though they had an early exit.

That whole conversation is going to get loud, and that market is going to be a hot one if he is going elsewhere. There's going to be a lot of teams that are like, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's immunized. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not good. Also, can we get you on our fucking team? Can we get this immunized guy on our squad? I don't know how this is all going to go, AJ.

You know him more than any of us, and obviously you're in an interesting predicament yet again because you probably know more than everybody, and you probably don't know what you can say and what you can't say. But that whole situation with Aaron is going to be one that, do we think it's going to happen quickly? He's been alluding to the fact that he'll know early. What do you think whenever you think about Aaron's future?

He told the media, obviously before free agency he's going to make a decision. When is that? March what? 16th. We still got a little bit of time. We got a couple months here. We get to mull this over. He said he didn't want it to linger. Didn't he also say he didn't want this thing to linger around?

What does that mean? He's not going to make a decision within the next five days. You know that. Okay. Is he? Put within the next five days. You know that. Okay. Is he? You tell us. Put it on the ticker, though. AJ Hawk says Aaron Rodgers. Okay. I'll tell you that. Yeah, I don't think he will retire, say he's coming back to Green Bay or say he's leaving Green Bay in the next five days.

Okay. How about six? Can we get six? Maybe seven? Maybe a week. I'm not playing that game, but yeah. Whatever you want. Whatever I want. So 10 days? Is 10 days also in the same world? 10 days would count.

I'm saying before, why would we expect it before free agency? Okay. We're going to have an insider analyst. Yeah, we do have to analyze the insider-ness of A.J. Hawk here. But A.J. just said he doesn't expect to hear anything until free agency, which is March 16th. I didn't say that. No, I didn't. I just said he doesn't expect to hear anything until free agency, which is March 16th. I didn't say that. No, I didn't. I just said not in the short term.

In the short term, I don't. I think you'd probably wait until... He said before free agency. Wait to see what Brady does. AJ, please be specific. You're the fucking guy. I'm just telling you what I'm thinking in real time.

I don't think Aaron knows. I would imagine Aaron does not know what he's doing right now. A.J. Hock also said that. But don't you think, hey, the way they lost and everything comes to a sudden halt, either he's saying, get me out of here, or he's saying, I don't want my Packers career to end like this. I'm coming back. So that's a fascinating thing because Tom's Patriot career ended terribly. Yep.

Others have ended in a poor fashion. Is that a writing on the wall? Or is it, hey, I don't want to do it? Either way you go, you can see the reasoning behind the decision. I guess we'll chat with him here hopefully tomorrow. I'll do my best journalism. I'll do my best journalism.

I'll ask him about some stuff. I also don't like it. People are sitting on Th on throw Rogan. Oh yeah. Karen Rogers came back yesterday. I mean, they were sitting, they were sitting, they were just surprised. Are you, are you surprised?

Well, after the interview with ESPN, I assumed that was only going to get heightened. You know, some of the things I took a. On Friday, I think that all got dropped. I took a screen shot and sent some to AJ. You know, I'm like, he went directly after the president of the United States. Do you know that? This is a wild. Hey, people are going to be loud about that. And they were.

And then if you lose, they're all just going to be even more and sitting on it. His haters got very loud. But I will say, I don't think he has a lot of haters in general manager positions around the NFL on whether or not they can get him in the building. And to Roger's credit, John Stockton came out and said, you know what, Aaron, I'm with you, brother. This vaccine is bullshit. And, you know, so he got the greatest point guard in NBA history.

That's quoting John Stockton. I'm vaccinated. That's quoting John Stockton. I'm vaccinated. That's quoting John Stockton. I'm vaccinated as well. I'm just right here. I'm vaccinated as well. Right here. I got it.

Just like everybody on this program, we don't want to be the misinformation brigade. Well, according to John Stockton, you guys' days are numbered, though. Well, I'm not a professional athlete anymore. Correct. Oh, there you go. I didn't know there were so many sports analysts who were also doctors, either. Well, that's what they say about throw Rogan. Yeah, true.

All right, let's get to a break. We'll be back in four minutes. More games to cover. Darius Butler will be joining us, I believe, in four minutes. He was a little bit behind. Dad of the year stuff, I assume. Cannot wait to chat with him. Or poop, I don't know.

Zeta did say he's pooping for the last ten minutes. Okay, possible. Hey, I had a good weekend eating too. What? What? I might have a nice ten minute. What? What? I might have a nice 10-minute. What? What?

Big dump. What? How could you not in the middle of that divisional round with how good the football was, AJ? I don't know how you remain so committed to your diet whenever such good football is going on. It's like, wow, some chicken nuggets with hot sauce on it would be great, right? But AJ knows at any time throughout the day, Bobby Carpenter might be knocking on the door with a body fat test. Yeah, exactly. I mean, how do you know what I was eating during the game?

Well, we can tell because you're always glowing and you're oiled chicken. I'm hot here, man. Something's going on in my room up here. I told you, people are messing with stuff. It's like I can't cool it down. I assume you guys in dorm rooms, you would go into people's dorms during training camp, reset their thing for incredibly hot, and then just say, hey, see you later, and then they shut the door and then wake up 2, 3 a.m. Holy fuck, is this the hottest dorm room of all time?

You guys did that as well? That's just classic dorm room shenanigan? That would happen to guys. They would get into someone's room before they did, and they would take a dump in the room and turn the heat all the way up. Not to my room. I never did that to anybody else a big o-line thing no because you had to like prepare and get off the bus first and grab the dude's envelope and sprint to the room and have your buddies distract him so no like i watched it happen it was funny but luckily not tomorrow

was the poop guy yeah you and nausea david josh sitting i was i was lucky to be a part of the you know watching some things happen in some places. Did you guys have the trash can? We'll be back in four minutes. I guess that place is still... I guess there are still some remnants. Some black mold.

Not me. I seen it there. I was like, you guys need to not do that. But he didn't listen to me, man. Fucking hilarious. That was the greatest those garbage cans full of water knock on the door open i mean help pretty rude yeah nice i agree it wasn't me obviously i just so happened to be going to the bathroom at the same time or whatever was happening over in the coach's dorm. What are you guys doing?

Did they just do a soft knock or a hard knock? No, it was a full... Because it's 1 a.m., 2 a.m., you've got to wake them up. And then, obviously, the people that were getting chosen, they could have been being forced to get out of their bed at that time to work at some point. Help! Oh, my. Call the fire department. I would never forget that sound. Help! Oh my

Call the fire department I would never forget that sound A man who played corner, nickel, and safety In the NFL in his nine year career He's the host of the Man to Man podcast And everything DB Friend of the show every Monday Ladies and gentlemen, Davis Butler

Hey D-Butt, thank you for being Dad of the Year. I appreciate that. I mean, we did miss you the last 16 minutes, but I seen your tweet saying, boo me. Why are you booing me, Darius? I don't think I should be booed. I think I should be clapped every once in a while. Why are you booing me on the internet, D-Butt?

I mean, it might be the first time. It could possibly be the last,, I mean, that was weak. That was weak. I mean, we got some great football, you know, 60 minutes of great football, and then you get OT. It comes down to a coin flip, and then two units got to go out there, defense and offense. And if you get a stop as a defense or even just holding to a field goal,

you give your offense a chance to go down and win the game, man. And they didn't get it done, obviously. The rules are the rules. I like it. I mean, I hate college football, personally. I love NFL football. There's nothing I want to take from college football, bring to NFL football. Win the damn game in regulation, you don't have to worry about the OT rules.

Okay. Way to go. Obviously. You're right there, D, but you have a chance. Just hold them to a field goal you're right there d but you hold him you have a chance just hold him to a field goal i mean people acting like they flip the coin and then the offense just goes out in the field and they can just you know just 10 out of the last 11 times that has happened 10 and 1 the team that won the coin toss it's the off only the playoffs that's why 13 seconds i mean you, you got 13 seconds, bro. Like, special teams, dribble the ball down there,

waste off a couple seconds. And as a defense, you can't play it that soft. Like, Todd Bowles, everybody's talking about the blitz and leaving the cup wide open with a safety that's one-on-one. You know, you're aggressive. Your players got to make plays. Cup makes a play. Stafford makes a play.

I can live with that. The Bills, they just completely misplayed that situation. You leave Hill open to catch a 20-yard. He marches right down the field. Then you leave Kelsey untouched, wide open. It's covered, too. You got no hook, curl, dropper. The corner doesn't get a reroute. I mean, you give it to him, and then you're

complaining about a coin toss. Nah, man. You got to get it done in regulation. I mean, where would that game have ended if you keep giving both of those quarterbacks the ball? That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for. I mean, Josh Allen. No, we didn't win or lose it, man.

Okay, I appreciate that, and I respect it, saying, hey, these are the rules. AJ said something similar, and I just think, you know, for years now, just like whenever it happened to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs years ago, we thought to ourselves, man, would Patrick Mahomes answer there if he had to? And that was before we knew anything. Same thing with Josh Allen. I think that would have been huge. Would Josh Allen be able to answer? That is how we're going to judge this dude forever against Patrick Mahomes being able to answer or not. Obviously, number one defense in the NFL has to get a stop. I just think we were robbed of a moment, but I appreciate your take. Let's move on to a couple of these games, and I know A.J. has a question as well.

When you think about that Chiefs-Bills game, and they played three times in the last year, the final score is aggregate score 100-98. Why do these two create electricity, you think, when they're on a football field together? Do you think it's because the teams know that Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are going to be judged against each other forever? Or do you think these two teams

just understand that they are the class of the AFC and this is going to be how it goes? I mean, those quarterbacks, man, it starts there. And then the play callers, too. You know, you've got great play callers on both sides. Eric B. and B., Andy Reid, and then you've got Dave Ball with Buffalo.

I mean, these quarterbacks, there are no right answers with these guys. You cover everybody, they can scramble, especially Mahomes in the playoffs. When it's playoff time, when it's really nut-cutting time, that's when he really starts to use his legs. You know, the sidearm throws and the throws, like he's going to do that. Josh Allen, same thing. He's probably, he's not probably, he is the best dual threat quarterback in the game right now.

He can make all the throws, and then you damn sure don't want to see him in the open field. And then they got playmakers surrounding him as well. I know Diggs didn't put up a bunch of yards, but the defense was keying on him. Fucked up a drunk white. He fucked up a drunk white. He did get some – he was looking for some –

he was looking for some action, man. He got some action. He took that fan out who deserved it. But you open it up for a guy like Davis who, you know, in the contract year, he scored four touchdowns. So, that's the game, man. But these quarterbacks, I mean, they're unbelievable. Play call is unbelievable.

And I hope we, you know, continue to see this for the next, you know, 10, 12 years. Deebo, what about that? The Niners-Packers game. What did the Niners defense show you that, like, what were they doing to hold the Packers to only 10 points, especially after driving down the field and scoring on the first drive? So on the pod, man, the man pod this morning, me and A.B. actually had Jimmy Ward on there,

who's a big-time DB for the Niners. And he said, man, look, we play Aaron Rodgers. And after the first drive you saw, he's looking for 17. And they did a great job. You know, you got the script, first 15 plays, we play Aaron Rodgers. We know. And after the first drive, you saw he's looking for 17. And they did a great job. You know, you got the script. First 15 plays, they're going to work. And then they settled down. They took away 17.

Half the time they did a pre-snap. Other half they did it with disguise. And then that D-line, you can't go to 17 and then look at your second, third option with that D-line that's hunting. Man, you saw him do it the first week with Dallas, even when Bosa went out. Then Bosa was there this weekend. They dominated the game. Green Bay's D-line played

well also, but you hold a team to three points for three and a half quarters, especially a team like that. Just physical. Just beat them up. Like I said, take away 17 in the past game. That recipe definitely worked. Special teams, too. Huge, huge, huge play when you

needed a touchdown the offense wasn't moving and scoring it you know you get that block up by jimmy ward and field goal block right before half um and then they came out jimmy g made enough plays at the end to put him in field goal range man won an ugly game defense and run game jimmy g is three and oh whenever he throws for zero touchdowns that That Niner squad is just ready to go. Shanahan's such a good coach, I think. And the special teams, although their special teams hasn't been fantastic all year,

knowing that they can chop and shoot on that field goal block with Jimmy Ward, that's like hours and hours of film. That doesn't just happen. Like, oh, we're going to try this out. It's like, no, that's an entire scheme. The end seemed to be on top of the tackle it didn't make much sense and the wing gave no help jimmy ward gets a big block did you

talk to him about like the actual thought process behind that whole thing i told i told him man because that's something we see you know you see it obviously more than me but guys practice that chop down jump through the gap block i told him nine years league i've never seen it actually work in a game so the guy i mean, it was perfectly executed. You know, you get down there and make a play. The play before that, you know, Aaron Rodgers made a great throw to Jones up the sideline. Tart chased him down, got him on the ground, and they ended up getting that block. It's complimentary football.

That's what you got in the playoffs. But for them to execute that in that moment, and then obviously the punt block and touchdown that they had later on. Special teams has been showing up this whole playoff. But this whole weekend of football, man, probably the best weekend of playoff football we've ever seen. Absolutely. The NFL delivered one week after four out of six games were complete blowouts in wild card weekend,

maybe the greatest weekend of NFL football in history. The Buccaneers looked like they were going to get buzzsawed at home. Then Tom Brady finds a little bit of magic. Obviously two fumbles from Cam Akers. Cooper Cupp loses the ball in the center, decides to snap it over Matthew Stafford's head in the middle of a wave of awesome

for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All signs pointed to another big time comeback for Tom Brady in the Buccaneers. This story is not over yet. Now there's a little people alluding to the fact that Tom Brady might retire. I think Tom Brady in the Buccaneers. This story is not over yet. Now there's a little people alluding to the fact that Tom Brady might retire. I think Tom Brady with how active he's been on Twitter and how transparent he's been, if there was no real truth to that, he would have shot that down in some sort of fashion. Maybe him running a sprint in the backyard, nowhere near done,

whatever the case. So there has to be some sort of conversation there. What did you see from the Rams though that made you think, okay, this Rams team is different? Obviously, they give up a bunch. And Matthew Stafford would have been judged so hard today if that Rams team loses after being up like 17 points, even though everybody else was trying to give it away. What did you learn about that Rams team?

And at home against the Niners, how do you feel about it? That was huge, man. Cam Akers, like you said, he coughed it up twice, which you feel about it? That was huge, man. Cam Akers, like you said, he coughed it up twice, which, you know, you can't do ever, especially in the playoffs. But he brings a different element to that offense, man, that outside zone run game, which sets up the play action. Cup is phenomenal. Stafford, you know, and I've been tough on Stafford all year. But in those moments when it's got to have it, those fourth quarter comeback type plays, you know, he's always risen his game play in that level.

So to see him do it on this stage, to kind of watch him, you know, live rewrite kind of his his own narrative. If you can go and get a win in this NFC championship and maybe win a Super Bowl, I think his whole career is looked at completely different. So I love to see that for a player. And then Cooper Cup, man, he's been, I mean, he dominates games like all year long. When I had to pick between him or Jonathan Taylor for offensive player of the year, I'm looking at his game log. It was like two games. He was under 90 yards and you know, he's the guy coming in every game, obviously blocks in the run game. So for him to make that play in that moment, I gave him the MVP. He deserves it. Okay. His teams are out there stumping for him to get it because they've gotten a chance to feel it both day in and day out. And obviously Cooper Cup is said to go into the building every morning

with Matthew Stafford at 6 a.m. and go through hours and hours of film to be on the exact same page. Receptions leader, yardage leader, touchdown leader, and the act leader at wide receiver. I mean, that is a lot of titles to have for one guy. And when he described the defense after the game, he said it looked like they were running a two-man and maybe a zero. He was kind of befuddled by it all that he even got open.

Now it's coming out that there was a miscommunication. Not everybody heard the call. How can that happen, D-Bud, especially with them going out of bounds and a full play clock kind of being there on the defensive side, the most important play? You know, that was the first game since week one. You know, you had all the starters for the Bucs. And, you know, Murphy Buntman kind of in and out of the lineup.

And it's no excuse on that stage. You know, you've got to come ready to play. You've got to get the call around. But that's something that happens in two minutes. And even if that play is called with Murphy Buntman, that situation, I know, you know, that was a position I play as a slot defender and SMB. That's what he is for those guys. Like I want to be on cup in

that situation. Even if we have a blitz call, I'm looking back at Winfield or a BS a you take the blitz. I'll cover this guy. This is who I've been watching on film all week, but it happens. Yeah, it happened in the the Bills Chiefs game that last touchdown at Davis had the Chiefs weren't lined up you

know they were trying to get situated and you give the middle reed right up the scene sorenson was yeah directing he was trying to get yeah he was trying to get outside in the corner so it's as a defense young defensive players play callers play callers get the call in as soon as possible i don't care if it's a bad call just get it in so guys can communicate and see the offense come out of the huddle because the sooner you see them come out of the huddle, you see where guys are, now you can start to anticipate different things and get on the same page, you know, as a coverage unit. Go ahead, Connor.

Darius, when you look at the Cincinnati Bengals, do you see that team for how young they are going on a serious, you know, 10-year run where they're always in it? Or was last night kind of the Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes prequel of what the afc championship game will probably look like going forward nah man you you can't you can't ever count out i mean it was kind of like big ben when you had peyton and and uh brady you know you can't you can't count out a guy like bro he you get he's already shown that he's he's built different you get beat

up like that you get sacked nine times. You still throw it 340. You still make the play to set up the game winning field goal. And then even the rookie kicker having the sweaty, we probably go to the AFC championship. That team is built different. The city deserves it. First road playoff win in history. And even Burrow coming out saying, hey, man, this is what's expected.

This is kind of what we're going to be doing. Once they actually get an offensive line that can protect them, who knows what this team can be. I'm excited to watch this AFC championship. Obviously, you saw these two quarterbacks, two teams play a couple weeks ago. But I'm excited for the future of that team. Well, is it nine sacks and they still get a win? Yeah. Nine sacks, they still get a win if they can protect him and move forward.

And, by the way, there's probably a lot of people in Cincinnati who say, well, it's Joe's fault. He hangs on the ball too long. People that are on the offensive line, their families are probably saying the same thing. Whatever the case, he's been getting killed since he's been there, and it doesn't seem to matter. Like, Joey Burrow just doesn't seem to get rattled at all. Is it that they

don't know what they don't know, or is that just hey, you just got the right group of people over there? Yeah, I mean, he's I mean, he's he's good and he's white you know he's got it between the ears too uh if you give him time he's gonna make the right like you watch young quarterbacks and it's tough for young quarterbacks to read coverages and then see okay that guy's going there okay this is the guy i'm going to oh he's not open i'm going here and then make an accurate throw if you know exactly where you're going with the ball pre-snap it's much better to anticipate the break and make a throw but joe burrow he actually goes through his reads and he

finds matchups obviously chases his favorite target but if chase is covered he's going to find somebody else that can hit you so as long as you can protect that guy man that that team got a chance and the other teams in the afc if you don don't have, you know, Burrow, Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, you know, Lamar Jackson, like, hey. Colts, hey. Hey, it might be a long damn day in the AFC for the next 10 years or so. Zach Taylor told, I think Trent was calling on that call. Who was calling? Yeah, Trent Green. I think Trent Green was calling to play,

and he said Zach Taylor told him that Joey Burrow can envision the entire play before, like when he gets it, he has the ability. No notes. You got to take notes. See, I heard that. That's awesome. Straight off the top. Good brain on that kid.

I love it. Go ahead, Ty. D-Bud, it seems like they pretty much flipped the switch. Man, sorry, I didn't mean kid. Man, he's a grown-ass man. He's got cool glasses. He's really smart. Very cool glasses.

D-Bone, it seems like the Chiefs flipped the switch last night, and the Bengals are fun to watch and kind of upstarting a good story. But if the Chiefs play like that, can anyone beat them? I mean, the Bengals can. Maybe with better overtime rules, you know? Maybe with better overtime rules. The Bengals can. You already saw it happen. Obviously, it was in overtime rules, you know? Maybe it was better. The Bengals can, man. You already saw it happen.

Obviously, it was in the regular season. And, you know, I don't think the Chiefs defront. I mean, the Titans' defensive line, like, they have some dogs up front. You know, Simmons, Landry, Autry, like, those guys get after it. I don't think the Chiefs will pose that same kind of threat. So, like I said, if Burrow's protected, like, we don't know if Honey Badger's going to be in there. He left the game with a concussion.

I'm not sure if he'll be back or not. I would bet that he would. But, I mean, damn right, Burrow, this team can beat him. They're there, man. We've seen, I think, dogs of three and one yesterday straight up. So, yeah, it could definitely happen. Wow, and the Bills, you know, better overtime rules. They've made four in a row. You never know. You got it,

Tony? D-Butt, Shanahan is 6-0 against McVay. For some reason, I think it just feels like a good time for the Rams. It feels like destiny, kind of like the Bucs last year. Am I an idiot for thinking that McVay will get... It's hard to

beat a team seven times in a row. It is and this is this is the third time they'll be matching up but um it's I don't know man it kind of feels like it kind of feels like it's the Niners time too they they've been piecing together some stuff and Jimmy Ward man Jimmy Ward he'll be matching up with Cooper Cupp I think it'll come down to that matchup honestly you'll see a lot of each other and obviously in the and when it's nut cutting time that's where Stafford is going with the ball. McVay's going to dial up

something for him to try to help him get open. And it's going to come down to players. And it's going to come down to D-line, too. If you can rush four and get pressure on Stafford, and then you can disguise and mix up looks on the back end, you can get him uncomfortable and pick him off.

That'll be a really good game. L.A. is pulling. They're pulling some whole shit out there. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Come on. Whoa. That's crazy, says Debo. It's crazy.

Hey, Debo, what about the Tampa Bay Bucs? I don't know if you saw this. Levante David and his postgame presser said something about there's a lot of turmoil in the organization at this time, which is the first I had heard of anything like that. What do you think is like, what's the future of San Francisco? I'm not saying my bad, Tampa Bay. Yeah.

I mean, shit, I know. These guys look at me like I didn't say it. Like I made it up. I didn't know he said that. That's crazy to hear, especially. I read it. I hope it's right. Yeah. I read it. I hope it's right. Yeah.

I heard it. At this time of the year, man, who knows what's going on. Obviously, they had some things going on in there, the A-B situation, the car with a couple other players. You had some things going on, B-A getting fined for hitting my young UConn guy in the head. But if Tom comes back, man, New Year, guys will be all right. A lot of guys on one-year contracts, too.

They brought some guys back with some deals. Hey, Tom ain't coming back. I think Tom. I mean, you just threw for 5,300 yards, you know, 40-something touchdowns. Would be runner-up most likely for MVP. I don't think he walks away like that, losing individual rounds. Hey, the TB12 team is letting that out there without burying it. You know, like, that's my big thing. Like, that even. That's what you do. Hey, the TB12 team is letting that out there without burying it.

That's my big thing. That's what you do. Tom isn't like that. Tom doesn't do that type of shit. Darlington is in the camp, too. He's the one last year that actually said, look out for Tampa Bay. Or not last year, but two years ago. He's the one that said, look out for Tampa Bay to possibly beat Tom. It just doesn't feel like Tom is about the drama bullshits.

I might be completely wrong. you know, and he did get a taunting call less than seven days after he said, you know, these refs really let me say whatever I want. Brassnitching. On himself, D-Bus. On himself. I mean, I honestly think Tom is

just, you know, he's just laying back, I mean, he's pissed off right now. He just lost in the divisional around where he could have had home field advantage going to the Super Bowl. So I think he'll let it play out. But, you know, I think he'll be back. He'll be back 45 years old next year, which is absolutely insane. But I think Tom will be back on the football field next year.

And if he's not, we all say thank you. Thank you, Tom. There's definitely going to be some turmoil in Tampa. Tom's gone. That whole place. Welcome back to the suck years, dude. Anyways, ladies and gentlemen,

we can't thank you enough for joining us. Darius Butler. Thank you, D-Boy. Yeah, D-Boy! Can't thank you enough for allowing us to penetrate your ear holes.

The fact you allow us to be a part of your day-to-day, I'm eternally grateful for. We'll be back tomorrow with Aaron Rodgers Tuesday, we all think. That could be a pretty good listen. Be a friend, tell a friend.

Ty, please play some independent music and propel these people into a beautiful Monday evening. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Outro Music you