The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Diante Lee on Tua Benching, Joe Burrow's unhappiness with the Bengals, Josh Allen's playoff pressure | 12.19

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

The Ringer's Diante Lee joins Bomani Jones. First, they break down Tua Tagovailoa's benching by the Miami Dolphins and where both teams go from here. Later, they discuss Joe Burrow's recent comments and explain why the Cincinnati Bengals will never move off him. Finally, they talk about the pressure on Josh Allen heading into this postseason, a jam-packed slate of week 16 NFL action and the tough decision facing college QBs in the NIL era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. It is Football Coach Friday with Deiote Lee of Duranger.

What's going on, my man? I'm good, man. I was just talking to parents last night, you know, going through like that booster club process, trying to make sure everybody's got all there. eyes dotted and T's crossed, and they know what I'm about, man. I'm just trying to kind of get my feet set. So I can do this thing the right way.

He's now a head coach, a high school head coach. You know what I'm saying? You got to wear them polyester Daisy Dukes. I don't know if I'm going to go that far. I don't know if I'm going to go that far. Why not, man? You try to have an old school squad, man. You get out there.

You get them boys, them neck rolls, get some big face masks back out here. Oh, I mean, that's my style right there. That's my style right there. The more bars, the better the player. That's how I used to think about it. Right on the face mask. So, yeah, no, I don't know if I can do that just kind of based off my dimensions physically with the polyester.

With the polyester bottom. Brother, brother, you act like the people who the OGs of this was out here looking like great gods. They wouldn't. Like, that's exactly. That's whatever you thinking about yourself. That's what it's cut for, what they call bike. Now's the brand. Yeah, yeah.

You're right. You're 100% right. I might have to go take a look at Allo and all these other new sportswear spots. See what I can find out. See if they still make them. And I'm trying to. I've always wondered about the coaching shorts. was, so what was it about coaching that required you to have special shorts?

That's what I'm saying. Like, did you get this job? Because you wanted to have your ass out? Was that the gig? Was that the gig? Was that the game? Was that after? But with the people, like, when they started making the shorts,

who was the one that's like, I'm telling you, the market is these coaches? Who had that idea? Who knew this? What, what do they allow you to do that you can't do otherwise? That's funny. That is hilarious. Yeah, no, I can't, I have no idea. And every time I saw my PE coaches back in that time,

I was like, I don't know if that's the aesthetic that we going for today. I don't know if that that's going to resonate with Southeast San Diego preteens and teenagers. You know, I don't know if I'm going to recreate that over here at Benita, man. But I'm glad to have the spot that I've got. Just hoping to do this thing the right way. Yeah, man. Well, congratulations to you. If you were the head coach of the Miami Dolphers right now, would you bench your quarterback?

Because Mike McDaniel finally said, you basta and put that boy, too, on the pine. I think if I'm Mike McDaniel, I'm probably looking around and saying if the GM to hire me is gone, I'm probably gone no matter what. And if I'm tired of looking at this, then yeah, I should probably go ahead and make a change and start updating that LinkedIn, right? This is when you put the new headshot up on the profile. Start update, you know, spent four years over here. I worked on developing X, Y, and Z thing. But yeah, I think it's time. You know, I actually thought, I thought we've been on a slow march towards this.

I don't know if you remember right after that blowout loss to open the season against, Indianapolis where Tua goes out post game. And he's like, you know, guys show up for the players film meetings. And they were here before the season started when everybody was feeling good. I want to see where everybody's commitment level is at. And then Mike and Daniel followed up the very next day. Like, that's a misguided representation of what's going on in film. And my thought then was, even if that's true, I don't know if now is the time for you

to be undermining your quarterback after y'all just got run off the football field. I think that says a lot about where the relationships were. So I'm not surprised that we're here now. he seems like a very nice person that people don't like. Like, I got those same vibes off of Carson Wentz. Yeah. Like, anytime I'd see Carson Wentz, it's like, I don't really

understand. Like, you knew what the problem was with Jay Cullen, right? It ain't take but five minutes to listen to Jake Cullen. You'd be like, oh, hell no, I'm not doing this. To a same with like Derek Carr, right? Like, some of the things you hear about Derek Carr personality-wise, I'm like, okay, I can get how people in a locker room might be tired of this whole act.

Right, right, right. And you might love them deep down, right? But you just can't. like we can't keep doing this tour. Then he started doing them press conferences. And it was like, hey, hey, man, how do you manage? And he would say the wrong thing, but not, not like you heard a glass break or like a needle scratch. He'd say the wrong thing. And then whatever he said would feel like a rock in your shoe.

We're like, hey, man, that's still getting all my nerves. I mean, things like, you know, I can't always see when guys are coming open, right? I can't always work through this stuff in the offense. Things like, you know, kind of self-degregating at press conferences. Like, I don't know if I got the arm to make certain kinds of throws. I'm like, hey, brother, I don't know we're in a rough spot right now, but I don't know if I want to hear my starting quarterback talking this way before we go play these games. Hey, man, honesty is a thing for me, right?

Like, I think it's, honestly, it's easier than the alternatives. But, like, it's an important thing to me. And, like, you know, don't nobody like a lie a motherfucker, right? Like ain't nobody really got no perfect record, but you just can't be, you know, you know Cass they'd just be out here lying. It's tricky with the in-between guys. That's when it just becomes like a matter of taste.

But I'm not much for lying is the point that I'm making. However, at the ripe old age of 45, 100% truth. Yee, that's like 95, that's like 190 proof, alcohol. You understand what I'm saying? Hey, hey, hey, we got to step. Sometimes you might need to. step on it just a little bit. Don't put no impurities in it. Yeah, don't put no impurities in it,

but you got to at least put some ice. So you're like, yo, so what happened on that throw? The answer can't be. Look at me. Like, right. What do you expect? You expect me to make this play in the NFL, right? It's a lot of that. And I think that I think for him probably that's a lot of looking at the writing on the wall. I was actually, I was really interested. I think this was a couple years ago when he was on the Manning cast. And the Manning brothers were asking him what's different about him now versus when he was in college. And I thought he was very forthcoming about ankle surgeries, a dislocated hip. I can't move like I used to.

I think that that is the level of self-awareness that we are all great with. That causes a threshold where we're comfortable. Saying things like, I don't know if I got the arm strength to make this throw or make that throw that these other quarterbacks make, I don't want to hear that. Even if we know it's true, let me say that, right? Let me say that from my seat. You don't have to say that while you're at the press conference and at the facility. And look, there are other contexts in which that sort of self-deprecation I think is appreciated by the audience.

For example, hey, man, maybe you ain't about that goal rapper. You know what I mean? Like, if you're honest with yourself about that fact, I'm sure it endears you to the people that you deal with under those contexts, under those circumstances, right? But in this case, you just need to be like, yeah, I don't know. We didn't make to throw. Right. Be a boxer, right? Be a boxer.

Hey, if I go out there and I get land and I land on my nose and that's just what it is. Until that point happens, I'm the greatest that the world has ever seen. That's all you need to know about me. I interviewed an undefeated boxer once, and I tried to get him to talk about what if he was not here for it. He was not here for it. No, don't get me wrong. It was against Klitsko. And if the if came true.

Right. And it just so happened by co-esteadist, his buddy lived in my neighborhood. I had no idea. I flew to his training camp, only to find out that he lived around the quarter for me. And I saw him driving. around and his Chrysler 300 and he had not considered the F. This had not dawned on him. And he was,

he was really struggling to cope with the realization of what he's taking place. That's how I feel about, you know, not to, not to totally derail us, but that's how I feel about guys like Anthony Joshua stepping in the ring with these Pauls. Why? I get the money. I understand the money.

But why? You're not going to like what happens on the other side of this if this don't work out in your favor. It was one thing for Mike. Mike, you want to go get paid. Oh, man, I'm with it. I'm not going to watch, but I'm with it. More power to you.

For someone like, you try to be a serious boxer, there's no way I will play with that just because of what's on the other side of that if, no matter how I feel about my own abilities. Hey, man, let me tell you this. If I'm Anthony Joshua and I'm fighting Jake Paul, you know, I had fun interviewing Jake Paul that one time. One of my favorite pieces of content. Oh, God, it was wild day, man.

But anyway, if I'm fighting Jake Paul, brother, we ain't going to be here for long. at all. Right. I, I, I, I, this is, I'm not feeling him out. This isn't about strategy. One of us is going to sleep. No, it's either, I'm putting you to sleep, or we're going to have to wave the white towel because I can't breathe no more. But I'm not stopping these punches until one of the two happened.

Uh-uh, uh-uh. What, what is not about to happen is Jake Paul is not about to beat me on points. Exactly. Right. We ain't going to the cards here. No, I can't believe what no judge got to say. No, I can't believe this shit is still going on, by the way. How did you bring it up?

I can't believe that this is still happening. Not only that, it's outpacing the actual sport by magnitudes at this point. It's scary. We're in a scary spot. Now, let me tell you what that means. The fact that it's outpacing this, this tells me that kids don't fight enough in school. How much you? Right, right?

Because I feel like if you've been in some real fights, you've got a whole different, like, the idea that fighting, like, that is just a, like, Jake Paul fights feel like Rast. right? Like they try to make it as real as possible, but in the end, they like wrestling. If his kids was out here fighting for real, I don't think they would, they would be satisfied with this right here. Like when I see people fight, I want, I need some stakes. So for real stakes. Jake Paul fighting against the people he fighting against. Nobody was in true danger of going to sleep. Look, man, sometimes you don't even got to be a participant. Sometimes just being close enough to see the real consequences that come from right punches is enough of an

education to teach you how real it is once you step into that ring or step into that octagon. So I totally get where you coming from. That's right. But tell me this, though, about the dolphins. So what do they do now? So you bench Tua. You don't have a great draft pick. It's not a great draft for quarterbacks.

I'm curious your thoughts on this. I've been saying for all these people, your move has to be to go kick the tires on Kyler Murray, right? Because people don't like Kyle of Murray, but Cala Murray's not bad. See, and it's tricky from Miami. I mean, I was actually, I was thinking a lot about this with Minnesota when I wasn't sure whether or not J.J. McCarthy could be kept as a starter for longer than this year. You start looking at their cap situation. They already traded Jalen Ramsey after they gave him a $72 million extension.

So you got $21 million, just hanging out that you can't use. Tyree Kill, whether he's going to retire in the offseason, or they're going to have to cut them because he can't pass a physical. That's probably another $28, $29 million on your dead cap. What do you do with your roster when $50 million are, you know, allocated to $2,000? two players that aren't there anymore. It's going to be really similar to where Denver was at after getting rid of Russell Wilson. It's where Minnesota's at right now with all these vets that they're going to have to cut this upcoming offseason are asked to take pay cuts.

There is a legitimate chance, even though I don't think it happens. There's a legitimate chance of Miami and whoever their next GM is going to be. They're going to have to sit around and say, that we need to keep to it as a $50 million backup for a little bit just to try to help our books or are we going to have to cut this guy and have over like $70 million in dead cap trying to put together. a competitive roster. I don't know where they go from here. I mean, the Falcons did that with Kirk Cousins, right?

Like, a very similar thing. And is it possible that somebody will try to take what's left to him? Maybe. Maybe because of where we're at with quarterbacks. I mean, if you don't get Fernando Mendoza, what are you about to do? Yeah, but if, I mean, but if you get Fernando Mendoza, okay. Right. Exactly. Yeah, your world's probably not saved. Unless you've got the roster of all rosters for him to step into or one of these Wonderkin offensive coordinators.

You can't feel like, all right, we just roll the ball out with Fernando Mendoza. Now we're about to be an 11-win organization. Well, I think another level of this that for me would be tricky about this quarterback game is, we don't know if they're going to be, like how many of these kids coming in the draft next year are actually going to be good, right? Cam Ward was the number one pick this year. They've been so bad. I haven't thought he's been bad from what I've seen, but they've been so bad that it's

somewhat hard to tell. But Shanoa Sanders has been better than it looked like it was going to be early. But his advanced metrics are awful. Like he's at the bottom of every stat just about that people throw out there. I'd just say all that to say that last year didn't really have quarterbacks. This year doesn't really have quarterbacks. But with the presence of NIL and the fact that these cats can make some bread and the revenue sharing is about to start. Take Ty Simpson at Alabama, where the highs are great, but the inconsistent.

is an obvious problem. Does he come into this draft because this draft is weak and he thinks somebody might take him? Or does he stay at Alabama, try to get better and get himself some more bread, which is to say, I don't even know how many of these quarterbacks that we think aren't that good

are actually going to try to go in. Some are going to see a weak draft, but some are also going to be like, no, I think I can get paid to get better. See, and I think that the second factor you brought up, the get better part, at least for a guy like Ty Simpson, right? Like I think this has been a conversation for Garrett Nussmeyer last year, right,

is do I come out or do I take the extra year to try to develop? And that ended up going sideways for him at LSU. I think it's going to be more about if I can go get five, seven, ten million dollars to go hang out for an extra year. I'd probably rather do that than have to risk not being picked. I think that what we saw from the NFL last year, we saw it in the Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis draft is I think these teams are getting a little bit wiser about not taking big swings. And I think the thing that probably really was the final nail on the coffin on this is Anthony Richardson. I think that for a lot of these teams now, if they are not certain, they are not going to play around with the top 10 pick with a quarterback.

Right. And I think that if you're a Ty Simpson, I think Lenora Sellers was a big, it was a big conversation point for him before you returned to South Carolina. You've got to be real careful, I think, if you're a quarterback coming out of college right now. If people are not over the moon about you, you're probably better off getting in that portal. if you need to get to an actual national title contender or sticking it out where you're at, take your money, feel good about another year at your college, and then go see what your draft stock is after the fact.

Let me explain something to you, brother. And I know what the money is in the NFL and what the possibilities are and you want to get the clock started as soon as you can. I get all of that. You're saying, but I'm thinking. You're saying what I'm thinking. Brother, you're going to give me millions of dollars to be the man in college? Let's come on.

I can't have. I can't imagine to be the million-dollar man in college? 100%. Overgoing to be a grown-up? I was listening to a podcast on the way home yesterday talking about Cincinnati quarterback Brennan Sorsby being offered north of $4 million in the portal. I could not pick that young man out of a lineup, but I know who will be able to once them contracts get signed,

and it's going to be a whole lot of people on whatever campus he lands on next, right? Yeah. And I'm saying if I'm 21, 22 years old, yeah, being the end. NFL quarterback is nice, but what's real cool right now is being able to walk these halls and knowing that everybody's eyes is over here. Come see about me. Think about what it was when you ain't even have no money, right? Because let's think about it.

You ain't even got to have the money. You can just take them to a nicer apartment. Now, young fellas, I'm going to let you know. It's harder to get them to leave. But, you know. Being a man with a nice kitchen in your apartment can go a long way. Being a man with the biggest bedroom. Can go a long way.

Just having new unused furniture, right? A new couch. Did you see that press conference that Pete Golden, the new head coach at Ole Miss did where he was like, hey, man, players live by the country club right down the street from me. And I got to be honest with you, we got to have an HOA meeting about this because no, they cannot.

They cannot. Absolutely not. I can't imagine living down the hall from a football player who got bread. Hey, like, no, y'all, I know it sounds crazy, but you might want to stay on the yard. Adjusting Department complex. That's going to be more fun. Right.

They're going to call it cops on you over here. I was going to say if I'm a young black player getting an NIL deal in Oxford, Mississippi, where I don't want to be is what the rest of the Mississippi money is at. Okay? Keep me over here with my peers. All right? I do not want to run across the wrong one while I'm out here because I'm trying to live large in a country town out there in the South.

Not to mention with what you probably got to be doing in Oxford, depending upon who you are. Hey, man, her daddy don't need to know. Daddy's friends don't need to know she over there hanging out with you, partner. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Pops my smile in your face. Yeah.

Uncles and homeboys and coworkers might not feel the same way the dad is projecting me. I don't want to play that game. Ah, don't need it. Don't need it. But you mentioned a Cincinnati quarterback. You would talk about the kind of Cincinnati quarterback. That NFL Cincinnati quarterback, Joe Burrow, and I don't know if you remember this. I feel like, I'll go to meander a little bit on this.

But I've been trying to talk to people about for years about what it is at Alabama. and what the pressures are and how Nick Saban has been so good that you haven't seen the monster get tested. I was watching get up on Thursday, and they was up there talking about how, what are you, you know, the idea of DeBoer going to Michigan. They're like, what, are you saying that Michigan has just world's lower standards than Alabama?

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. And you guys, it's just been too long. You don't remember what it was, right? When Joe Burrell got drafted by the Bengals, a lot of us were like, hey, man, you don't have to do this, right? You can get yourself to another place. And Bengals fans were obviously upset, didn't like the talk, all of this stuff. But in the end, we've been here for a long time over here.

We've seen what this has been since 1988, okay? Now Joe Burrow, this is what we was talking about. Now, I don't know, maybe he's sad with the rest of his life. But who was that made a very, I think Stephen A. Smith that may have, and others probably made this distinction after the game where he said, asked him if he had a problem with the team. He's like, being in Cincinnati, he was like, I have no problem with Cincinnati. He didn't say I have no problem with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Right. He said he had no problem with Cincinnati. Rett Row Javar Chase said he needed to go hang out of buddy house. You know, saying kind of make sure that this guy, you know, gets up, shaves in the morning, gets the teeth brushed, you know, puts gas in the car, the whole thing. And it's funny, it's funny that you brought up a college football program as an allegory because I think about Joe Burrow, maybe trying to be what Nick Saban was to LSU when he's sitting across from the Brown family, right?

Where you walk in the building and you say, hey, I'm good enough to win here. Right. But what's happening around the rest of me, it ain't up to standards, right? And we've seen them try to swing that weight around. And I think that it's kind of bitten them in the ass a bit, right? It's nice having two great wide receivers. It ain't so nice having a defense giving up 30 points per game, right? And you got to make tough decisions as an organization.

And I think that Burroughs heart's in the right place. and I can totally understand the frustration. And if you're him, you've also got to consider, man, like, where do you go from here? Because the last place you want to be is in Las Vegas, if Gino Smith retires and Pete Carroll leaves, and Tom Brady goes and gets you. And now you're stuck with another owner who's just now starting to get money and is not demonstrated that he knows what to do with it, right? So I think if you're a borough, you just kind of got to keep leaning on the Browns,

keep leaning on the Bengals, keep leaning on the Brown family, and see if you can get more games to kind of build this thing out. Because otherwise, if you leave that owner to his own devices, you're still going to be wheeling out projector screens to serve as podiums for your press conferences. Yeah, but I also say this too. Burroughs a blessing and curse quarterback in that what he, his superpower is the patience and the willingness to wait and move

until something happens, right? But I referenced this. I've referenced this many times over the years. Sacks taken are a quarterback stat. Yep. And he takes a lot of sacks. Like I've seen people try to make the comparison and be like, oh, he takes even more sex than Andrew Lut.

Yeah, he does because Andrew Lut got the ball out of there, right? Like those offensive lines weren't bad every year for him. But the key, and that was, that's the point, is that Andrew Luck figured out how to get the ball out. some of Joe Burroughs misery is self-induced, right? But he ain't even played that much this year to be so sad. Like I get why Jamar Chase is sad. He was out there with Jake Browning and the ghost of Joe Flacco.

Right, right. And I wonder for him what's happening behind them walls to have him talking about, I need to find my fun in football again. And some of this is injuries, like you said. Some of that is kind of self-induced with the way that he wants to play. I think that he would probably benefit from borrowing a little bit of what we seen from Dak Prescott, right? After he broke his ankle, he came back and said, you know what I don't want to do? I don't want to get hit. And if that means throwing a couple more interceptions to avoid that,

then let's make sure that we do that. I think that would probably be best for him play style-wise. And yeah, I think that they probably just need to turn over a lot of what's been going on in this organization. I think Duke Tobin has been there for a while. You probably don't need to keep him around his GM. And I think that they need to kind of find another defensive coordinator that can do for than what Lou Anirumo did in 2021 and 2022. Counterpoint. Who the hell trying to take them jobs, bro? Not me. Not me.

And if I was a defensive coordinator on the rise, I probably don't want to be in Cincinnati either because you know that the owner might wake up one day and say, I don't really feel like paying market price for the players we need to be good at this. But also how even if he did want to, how are they supposed to do it? They put, look, they did.

This is also Borough has to own. You wanted both of them boys to catch passes? You got them. Now we don't have anybody to cover. Yeah, absolutely. And they've spent on offensive line trying to address that issue. I mean, it's a zero-sum game in a salary cap sport. But, you know, every game that we put forth for you on offense

is going to have a cost on the other end. And that's how guys like Jesse Bates end up in Atlanta. That's how DJ Reader ends up elsewhere. You know, that's how all these guys end up leaving. And certainly, you know, after a few years, you look up. up and it's like, man, what happened to the team that was forcing turnovers against Tennessee in the divisional round, right? What happened to the team that was beating Kansas City, you know, in a divisional round

of a playoff game? It's really hard, I think, for them to kind of find a balance. And if you're Joe Burrow and you request a trade, I would just be very, very careful about what can land on the other side of that because it ain't no guarantee that it's Sean McVey who's going to be your next head coach. Well, well, this is the other part, too. You go ask Mike Brown for a trade and he'll be like, duly noted.

All right. We've seen that. We've seen this game played out before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People at hell want ice water, baby. Like, like, what are you? What's that got to do with me? Okay?

Like, no. Okay. He wants to play somewhere else. I don't know, I don't like care. You want to go play somewhere else? Like, what do you? Like, this is, this is where the NFL becomes the NFL, right? Yeah.

Like, Carson Palmer sold his house and still hadn't been traded. Right. Literally have to say, am going home home. No, not to my home in Cincinnati. I am going back to Orange County, California. And you're going to have to see me another time. And he got lucky because the only reason that that trade happened was Al Davis died. And Hugh Jackson had the keys and was like, all right, let's go ahead. And looking back, it only worked out but so well, but it was probably the right decision. Like if in this day and age, you traded two first round picks for even though

that was not the best version of Carson Palmer. But at that time, yeah, that version. That version of Carson Palmer, two first round picks in this day and age, we're not really tripping on you doing that. Okay, right? But otherwise, he'd have been right there. Mike Brown, Mike Brown don't care about losing? At all. Clearly, clearly, clearly he ain't tripping about no losing because he ain't done nothing

to change it when they lose. No, no. It doesn't, offend him in the least. Again, people are going to find out. This is not, like, if I'm joke, look, man, do what you got to do to put on a happy face, brother. like I'm not saying I don't care how you feel but I'm saying don't nobody else. Hey, look inward. Okay. That's all I can tell you.

Look inward. But think about this. The other level of it is right now, I don't think we expected this so much. And I do think that it's probably the case that the Ravens are a little bit of a blip this year and what's happening with them. But that division is down. Like the idea that we are at once talking about should you fire Mike Tomlin and the Steelers are probably going to win this division. And those are, those are reconcilable thoughts, right? Like they, they can go together, but that tells you what's going on with that division where winning it

does not mean anything to a savvy eye. Right. And I think that, you know, that probably informs how Joe Burrow feels. I'm sure that Lamar Jackson probably feels the same way. What do you mean the one year that Kansas City is not the behemoth that has been for the entirety of our careers? We don't have any access to go compete at that level, right? We can't be, Josh. Allen right now where you just feel like, man, just get me in the dance. Right. I'll probably get us to the AMC championship game just on the sheer force of my greatness. I think if you're a borough, you've got to feel like, man, the moment the 15 gets back

in Kansas City, even if we try to get this thing upright, we're going to be chasing up this exact same hill all over again. First of all, Josh Allen better get this done this year. Otherwise, it's going to be very interesting to see what happens. This is one of them, I don't want to hear it type seasons. Yeah, yeah. I don't want to hear it. I know the defense is bad.

I know you ain't got no number one receiver. Guess what, buddy? I don't want to hear it. My buddy Nick makes the point that the, and he's right about this, that the Josh Allen, the legend of Josh Allen in the postseason has been patted by the seventh playoff team. They've been two and they get the seven at home and they be wearing their asses out. And then the other games, it doesn't quite go this way.

But all in a world where people feel like it's quarterback versus quarterback, the rest of the quarterbacks are out of here. They're not there. This is the time. But for the Bengals also, before we go into break it, the same thing we said about tool apply to them joe burrow thinks that they could trade and then go do what right right and then go get what's waiting on you what's waiting on you on the other side of this right that's my thing look they already did the thing that most people would advise and it didn't

work out badly for them which is they took the serviceable second round pick quarterback and they rode that for about a decade and the ceiling for those teams you could claim that ceiling was Marvin Lewis, it wasn't. The ceiling was Andy Dalton. And we all know that the ceiling was Andy Dalton, right? Then they got Joe Burrow. And they went to a, they went to a Super Bowl and an AFC championship gang. I want to be traded.

Yeah, right, buddy. Yeah, they'd be like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I hear you. Look, I'm going to call you back, okay? Exactly. What happened? Joe, Joe, Joe talking crazy. Right? He ain't going a damn place.

We ain't going nowhere. No, no, not with us. But coming up next, we got some pretty good games here on the week, whatever it is, Slate. Sorry, I can't remember. This show is brought to you by Better Help. The holidays are a time of traditions. Some people have many in their family, while some have none or are just beginning their own. Now's the time to reflect on what they mean to you or to rewrite those traditions and make your own.

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That's drinkag1.com slash Bomani. for $126 in free gifts for new subscribers. So we're at this place now, right? It's the interesting time of the NFL season with Deontay Lee. No need to talk about the Cowboys anymore. Right. No need to talk about the Chiefs anymore. We're supposed to talk about the Carolina Panthers.

I don't know what the hell they've been doing over there. I just know they might go to the postseason, right? Even America's team, the Detroit lines, they might, you know, they got a big game against Pittsburgh. That one matters. The Ravens. I mean, I guess we can keep talking about them and then playing against the Patriots is going to tell us a lot. But Jacksonville, Denver, oh, okay, we can talk.

This is, this one is interesting because Trevor Lawrence looked great last week, but they were playing against your team. And when I say your team, I mean, the high school team that you coach. I mean, they were the Jets, but it's about to say, thank. on the other side, and you follow the quarterbacks closely, it looks like Bo Nix was really good against Green Bay. I think we're kind of getting to that Jalen Hertz's place. Oh. Where you can feel how you want to feel about them most of the season.

And I've heard it from Broncos fans who have been real frustrated with me, kind of not bending the knee with the way that this offense operates. And then you get that game against the Packers. And I feel like, oh, this is going to be a, let's see the truth about Mo Nix game. And then he goes out and he balled. out and leaves his team to win in the second half of that one. And you kind of just got to sit back and accept what it is that we're looking at. I think that this week for him and really the rest of the run through the season,

it's kind of cruise control, man. I feel like the Bronco, because the Broncos have already kind of locked up their spot in the playoffs, they were more likely than not end up getting the one season. Kansas City isn't going to have their starting quarterback. And I think they're going to have more talent than the Chargers will in week 18. And it might be in the Chargers' best interest if they've locked up a wild car. spot to go ahead and take their quarterback off the field to make sure nothing bad happens to them. I think if you're Bo Knicks now, you're good. I'm about to go lean on this defense.

What I'm most interested in is, and this is for all the AFC teams and not just for Denver, what's going to happen if Houston keeps rolling the way that they are? That's the team I look at and I'm like, look, man, I try not to invoke, you know, those great teams from when I was growing up, when I started thinking about the O2, those O2 bucks, where it was we're going to force a bunch of turnovers, we're going to make every play hurt. And by the end of the game, we're just going to outlast you. I look at Houston and I say, even if you're Jacksonville, even if you are Denver, especially if you're New England, you've got to be looking at the bracket and saying, let's make sure

we end up on the opposite side of whatever's happening down there in Texas. Well, they're also the sort of team that the dorks and the somewhat dork inclined, and I add, I am in one of those groups. the record caught up to what the numbers and films seem to say to people, right? They also did a decent bit of time where their quarterback was not playing. And he is interesting because he was so good, C.J. Stroud, that is, so good as a rookie. I don't know exactly what the ceiling is. I think we talked to somebody earlier this week where I'm like, he's a guy that could win an MVP,

but I mean that like Matt Ryan could win an MVP, right? Like, he's a guy that could maybe get that done, but he's definitely good enough. if you got a monster defense that you can do something with it and they come in for you, Jack. Yeah. And I mean, after watching how they play Buffalo and then watching how they play Kansas City, I'm like, if I'm a quarterback, man, please, please, just not them, anybody but them. I'd rather see Denver's defense than see Houston's defense. And you don't really want to deal with the Broncos either on that side of the ball. But I am fascinated to see kind of how this thing all shakes out because right now Jacksonville sitting as a three seed in the AFC, which is just not a place

that I thought that we'd be when we're trying to project out who can win this conference. And it comes back to what we said about Josh Allen. We covered it with Houston. And I think if you're Denver, you've got to be looking and saying as the one seed, we probably get the worst of these teams. Maybe we see Pittsburgh in the second round. We might be kind of skating to the AFC championship game. And it's entirely possible.

We get to February and we still haven't answered the question for how much Bo Nix is doing for this team's Super Bowl odds. But see, this is, you are correct, right? like the odds are there for them and you'll get them at altitude. And I just, I, that is not an insignificant factor, right? 100%. I have only been to Denver once, right? But I wouldn't like running around and stuff like that.

But hey, man, playing at a mile off the ground, it's a thing. It is. It's absolutely a thing. We're still waiting on Bo Nix to have a good playoff game. He's only played in one and he was awful in the one that he played against. Yeah. And so that's a lot to ask, man. And like we saw Lamar Jackson how long, I mean, we don't even know if he's actually there.

Like how long it took him to like settle down and be able to play decent football in the playoffs. Like this is, I'm trying to think the AFC. I mean, the Chiefs have been in the championship game every year for what the last eight. Yeah. So. Since my homes has been a starter. Yeah. So what we got here and makes this interesting is we have mystery over there in this side of it.

Everybody's even Aaron Rogers counts as a mystery because he's never done this at 57 years old. Right. I don't know if you're watching the Monday night game, but I have to commend, you know, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck trying to make that game sound a lot more compelling for Aaron Rogers than what it is. It feels very 2015 Broncos offense. Not 2015 Broncos defense from Pittsburgh, but it feels very much three yards in a cloud of dust in the passing game, which is not really how you want to live. Hey, let me tell you right now, Pat, and I don't think I'm going to be watching the Monday night football game this week because I'm not going to just keep watching until I see Philip Rivers die. You understand? that what I'm saying. I don't want to hear. I'll be very curious to hear Troy Aitman try to find a way to gild that lily up. And the one thing I will give him credit for when he don't like how you play in the position, he does not miss words about it. He is going to say in no uncertain terms that he is not enjoying what he's seeing from quarterbacks. And based on what we saw against Indianapolis against Seattle, I don't think he's going to be very happy with all them bubble screens and little short

hitch routes and slants that Indianapolis is going to be trying to run. I have always found Aikman to be an unremarkable broadcast. He's been doing it forever now. But I had always found him to be unremarkable. But as I get older, I have a value for him being like, no, dog, this ain't it. This is bullshit. And he doesn't raise his voice.

Like, he never sounds like he's enjoying himself watching any of the, he doesn't ever sound like he's enjoying himself ever. I'm trying to think of what I've seen Troy Aikman laughing and smiling about anything, including a Super Bowl. You know what? I think, I'm sure you've had this experience. right? He is the professor that is going to tell you you're dumb for what you put on this paper without actually saying it, right? Yeah, I was looking at your argument and I thought you,

you tried to dress it up well, right? And I see you went and got this empirical evidence. The only problem with your argument is, it's the worst thing I've ever read. It is not coherent in X, Y, or Z fashion. I had a professor in graduate school and like, let's just say that there's a spectrum. You understand me? He's somewhere on it, right? And, and not like, not on the fringes of it either, okay? Right. And I asked him some question about a homework problem. Because like when you do a PhD E-kind stuff,

you get homework problems. One problem take you all week. Like literally, okay? And so I went to office hours to ask him a question. He wouldn't even look at me, right? And I didn't think it was personal. Like I just, you know, like I say, the spectrum.

He's somewhere on it. And I was explaining myself. And that man said to me, you are only off on one thing and that one thing is everything. Listen, been there, okay? Took the constitutional law.

I was trying to work through, you know how this set a precedent for X, Y, Z give my own legal analysis, and my professor handed it back to me, and was like, I'm giving you a B minus for your vigor and commitment to your own understanding for how you wrote this out.

But this is absolutely not. what was being argued in the courtroom on that day. Let me tell you, man, after he said that to me, I looked at him. He didn't look at me, but I looked at him and was like, so what I'm supposed to do with that? Like, I didn't, I didn't, this is it. I'm awful one thing and that one thing is everything. Well, get me all the one thing. Right.

Give me anything. Yeah, Troy Eggman is just like, I can't believe it's 11 o'clock at night. I'm out here watching this. Can you believe that? Like, you believe this is what I'm doing. But so, also, we got Pittsburgh and the Lions. Like, my lions, I don't, it doesn't look too good, right? But they get it at home.

Like, I think they win this one. I do think that they win this one. I think that, I think if you're Detroit, the only thing that you're kicking yourself over is that game against Minnesota, right? You go and you win that game against Minnesota a few weeks ago. And now you kind of control your own destiny into the playoffs, right? Because it would be a little bit safer in terms of win loss. I think that they will probably kick around Pittsburgh's defense.

the issue for them is you're just going to need help the rest of the way, right? You couldn't have possibly forecasted that Chicago would be as good as fast as they've been and I think that that's really complicated their picture in terms of trying to get into the postseason. Yeah, now this is the game though. Green Bay is Saturday night, Green Bay in Chicago.

It's going to be really cold. Yeah. And boys got throwing arms though. Like they will be whipping it through the Hawk. The Hawk will be there. It will be going. Owen, where are you on the Bears? I feel like there's a less consensus on the Bears than just about any team you could imagine being 10 and 4.

I think, I think I believe in what they will be. I do not believe all the way in what I'm watching right now, right? Like, and some of that probably is me still being married to some of my preconceived notions of like, their offensive line, some of the stuff that Caleb Williams was struggled with in this first year and early in this season, their defense, which is really not that impressive outside of the turnovers that. they force. But I watch every week and we get to the second half and it's like, oh, there goes Ben Johnson, calling the good Ben Johnson plays again. You know, there's Caleb Williams escaping pressure and ripping a ball. You know, you kind of spoke to it about it being cold and windy.

People talk about how arm strength is overrated. You should go watch how Caleb Williams was throwing in the cold against Cleveland last week. That's what I'm telling to do for you because it certainly didn't look like that ball was losing any velocity. I think that, I think they're a legitimate playoff team because we just got this parody in the league. I do not think that what we watch is actually reflective of a 10 plus win team. And I don't think that there is talented as Green Bay. All that said, it's entirely possible. We're going to get to the end of that game. And Ben Johnson will have schemed them up and they end up winning by 10 or so points, right? I think that that's in the realm of possibility. I just don't think this is a team that's actually competing to get

into the NFC championship game. Are the Packers? Before Michael Parsons' tour as ACL, I would say yes. I think we, but I feel like we felt pretty good about them before they got him, right? That's fair. That's fair. You know what? To me, this is a lot of, this is Oklahoma City before Shagullis, Alexander became Shade Goulda's Alexander. And we keep waiting for Jordan Love to take that leap, right? And I think that this game, as well as last week against Denver is where we keep kind of say, all right, buddy, real defenses, right? High stakes games. We've seen this thing falter. Now's your time to go put that big arm and all that ambition with the ball deep downfield. This is where we need you to turn the corner.

And it's just been mixed results, right? And I think that for him, he's in that same place. So he's in a similar place to where we are with like a Lamar Jackson, right? Where Jackson is an MVP, right? So it's a little bit different context in terms of the national conversation. But we keep waiting for these guys that we want to crown as potential champions, being in the top five quarterback conversation. And we just have not gotten over the hump in the way that we need to in these high leverage moments.

Hey man, thing about top five is it only got five. Exactly. All right. Somebody got to be seven. Somebody got to be nine. Somebody's got to be there, right? Did the Eagles fool you last week? They went out there and they also destroyed your team, your high school team that you coach.

I mean, I didn't think the Raiders are going to be this bad. I was like, okay, got Gino, got Pete. Like, they're awful. And I feel like good for you, Eagles means nothing. It means absolutely nothing. Man, we've been around football too long. I know that game. I know that game like the back of my hand, man.

I watch college football. I know this game. You go and you lose your top 25 matchup, and then you've got, you know, you've got the sisters of the traveling poor coming in the next week. We're about to go ahead and just kick the hell out of them to feel a little bit better about ourselves. But that don't mean that we're going to be champions.

If they were going to fix what they needed to fix to be a real team, we would have seen it much earlier, right? And I think that their defense, similar to Denver, right? They can get hot. and end up shutting down enough teams maybe to get deep in the playoffs. But in terms of what we've seen offensively, there's no way. We would have seen it already if they had it and they clearly don't have it. And that's going to put, I think, Nick Siriani in the exact position he was in after

2023, which is where he don't like to be, where he's winning all these games in the regular season and nobody knows what you do and whether or not you value it to people are. I'm trying not to let it jump out of me, Beau. I know, I don't think anybody is more clear. all the, I don't see what's going on with this guy that you are about Sir Yati. And I admit, I don't know what's going on with them either. They just win a lot of games. But when they're not good, they're not good in ways that speak to coaching.

When they are good, I don't give him any credit for that. None. And that feels horribly unfair. Look, man, I'm in the high school ranks. We've seen those high school hoops teams, OAAU, Hoops teams, where you got one set. And we're running flex. We're running motion. and all motion really means is pass it to will, right?

And that's the whole offense. And with them, when they do the things that are obvious, get the ball to AJ Brown, get the ball to Devante Smith, right, run the ball behind the offensive line that has taken a step back this year. I will say that that is a complicating factor that they might not have anticipated. All that stuff is something anybody can do. You don't got to hire Sean McVeigh to go put together an offense for A.J. Brown and Devante Smith, but if you can't get an offense with those guys,

and you were an offensive coach before you became, a head coach, I think it's fair for us to ask, what exactly is it that we are doing with you that's adding value to this operation? Well, you know what coach they need to hire? It's another coach that's won a championship with that exact roster. Kirby Smart. Man. We can make, man.

That would be a hilarious combination. I'm trying to consider what Kirby Smart would be with Philadelphia Media. Oh, no. Kirby will handle that on that. That will be very buddy Ryan-esque, I would think. Kirby could navigate that. I'm just saying, don't nobody know that roster better to Kirby.

It's all his guys. All his guys are out there. Got a stock that'll be their quarterback in a year or two. Whatever their quarterback is, it'll be some white guy with two last names. You'll try to go get George Pickens, right? I'm going to go bring back my old headache.

Oh, yeah, that's not I'm saying. I think he might be like, nah, dog, I've, I've, I've, I've, we better apart. Yeah, a little bit better apart. I've written this one as far as it'll go. It's funny that you mentioned that with Pickens because I think you would,

and I have talked about this, but I talked about this to somebody else. To me, even, it's going to go a little bit under the radar, but the biggest surprise of this NFL season for me personally is that Brian Schottenheimer appears to be a good NFL coach. And I have felt that Dak Prescott is a very good quarterback with not a low ceiling, but an apparent ceiling. But that is not what he has looked like this year at all. At all.

Like he's looked like a top four dude. I'm about about five weeks into the season. I was sitting there listening to. Ryan Schottenheimer talking to post-game conference. And I'm like, God damn it, do I like this man? What's happening right now? This sounds like a really good football coach. This is not how I felt about this man in Seattle.

This is not how I felt about him as an offensive coordinator in Dallas. And Georgia or any of these other places he's been. Right. I mean, I never thought that he was terrible, right? I think that he's taking a lot of blame. Maybe outside of Georgia, the Georgia time there was real rough for what the expectations were. Right. And I don't think that he got the offense where he needed it to be there.

but as far as being in the NFL, I feel like everywhere he's been, he's probably added value. Maybe this is him inheriting some of how I feel about his daddy, right? And that is kind of tainted the way that I look at the Schadenheimer last name.

But he's been great with Dak, and it's a shame that he's got to play for the owner that he's got because if they would have had a serious roster going in with the way that Dak Prescott's been playing, he could have been in the MVP race. And this team absolutely could have been competing to win the NFC.

Hey, also this man, his father, no matter what anybody ever says, was an excellent head coach. One game away from being in the Hall of Fame. It's one of those John Elway games. He's probably like John Elway game, the drive in January 1987. If the Browns win that one, yeah,

Marty Schott and Haber probably makes, if Ernest Biner doesn't fumble in 1988, he probably does. And then I am assuming that you did the charges. thing. I don't think people talk nearly enough, and I forget what the play was. I mean, who the player was, but you know what I'm talking about. Marlon McCree. Okay, Marlon McCree. Yes, it was. Interception to ice that game against the Patriots, and then they gave up the booty and it went back the other way. And that, I mean, that's the LT MVP year where he looked like

what are the best players that we'd ever seen. Yes, you know, that's when you got Antonio Gates at the peak of his powers. You got a young Philip Rivers, Sean Merriman, Sean Phillips. That team, was stacked. That team was pretty loaded. And if you go and look at what the rest of the AFC playoff bracket was and how the charges were playing them at that point in time, they 100% if they beat New England, at least get to the AFC title, get to the AFC title game, and very likely could have gone to the Super Bowl. And I would have taken my chances with that offense against any team they would have seen coming out of the NFC. So yeah, I think if Marty Schenheimer gets over the hump there, even if it is that late in his career in 2006,

you probably just reclaim enough of those failures to be able to get himself in the hall. Look here, man, because he only had two losing seasons ever. I'm certain of this. They would have been- Almost never had a bad offense either. Right, just never a great one, right? Except for what we were just talking about. But they would have beaten the 06 Colts

because if there's anything that Peyton Manning did not need to see is a stacked three-four defense. Hell, they beat them into playoffs before. Exactly. They were the exact sort of team to give Peyton Manning fits, and then they would have gone out there and played against the Rex Grossman Rex Grossman.

Chicago best. And I'm telling you right now, if I'll go outside right now and just yell out 2006 outside my complex, I'm going to get cussed out on my balcony, okay? Because nobody here wants to think about it, talk about it, see about it, okay? Y'all still my hat of the team today and won that game. You're not lying.

You're not lying. And now all these poor Chargers fans that have been adrift have now all kind of adopted the Padres, which is just inheriting a whole lot of the same kind of heartbreak. Amen, but at least the Padres is the spending money. I don't know if they're still doing it now the buddy passed away, rest in peace. But they was throwing that bread around

though. And it looks nice. I mean, going to Petco was one of the nicest parts you can be at in the majors, right? So everybody feels good when they go. I think they're probably a couple pieces away. And like you said, now the ownership is obviously going to be going in transition. We'll see what that roster looks like because it probably ain't going to be

as nice as it was in 2022 and 23. I can't imagine living in San Diego and my job is to be intense because how I'm supposed to do that? I got to get myself out of bed early enough to get there every day. Like, you got to, you got to be mad, man. It is hard,

it's hard to have an attitude. I cannot lie to you. It is hard to have an attitude. 70 degrees again. Right. Hmm. How poor old me. If I better of fact, if anybody can identify,

it's Mr. Pissing off Cleveland for three straight winners. Yes. So I don't. I know you can identify with that. God, I did. But see, the difference is Miami can get super hot on you.

Miami gets rain on you. Hurricane type situation. San Diego is just like, what if it was the same great day every day? I can't even talk weather with my buddies. I start complaining about how it's 55 degrees and people want to throw me out the group chat because nobody want to hear that shit.

Well, my problem when I was in Miami was ain't nobody want to share in my joy. Everybody was just all wrapped up themselves. Ain't nobody want to share in my joy. You know, misery seeks. And if you ain't got none of it, they don't want you around. Oh my God. Let me tell you, I don't

ever miss Miami. But I do miss the weather in my, like, you miss things about Miami, right? Right. But that January, February, boy, that was, I remember, but I say this, though, 50 degrees there, it's cold, and it's the same San Diego. The 50 that you get is different than the 50 that you get in other places.

Exactly. Exactly. So, that They don't understand. They can't understand what it's like coming off the coast. See what I'm saying? See what I'm saying? They ain't never had to rough it like we'd not had to rough it. See, and I wish for more of our American public that they got to experience that. So that way they'd have a deeper appreciation for what it is that they have.

That's right. That's right. You know what I'm saying? It's me and Deontaine Lee from the ring and we teach you all about appreciation. The head coach, we got to come up with something like a sister nickname for you. I'll start calling you coach. Like I do my high school coach. called them coached today he died.

You know what I'm saying? Like, this is just what it is. You're going to be coached forever to them young boys. 100%. I got coaches that I had in high school now, that I'm in my 30s and they were in their 30s and they were coaching me and their kids now are in high school and it's never going to change. But I'm also now trying to imagine you.

Coaches, coaches forever. I'm also trying to now imagine you hollering at them boys. It's kind of hard for me to grasp. I'll see. And that's something, if I'm ever in New York and we get a chance to cross past, right? I think that you got to hear some personal. reference on that, right? Because how I project as a media member is 100% different than what's

happening once I step out on the turf. Hey, man, I appreciate your brother. All right, man. I appreciate being on. All right, man, ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four times a week. Ryan Brumley handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit our voicemail line. 3-2-3-9-6-7-67. This is our last episode of 2025. It has been a wonderful year. I want to say thanks to Sean you for the first half of it and thanks so much to Ryan Brumley for what he's done since he's gotten here and of course thank

all of you. We got big plans for you in 2026. In fact, I'll go ahead and tell one, get ready. We're going to start doing time machine Tuesday. So every Tuesday we're going to have some sort of material that looks back at something that happened in sports in the past. We definitely already got it set up where we're going to have

talk about the Vince Young Rose Bowl. That's going to be our first one that we talk about. That's also where we'll do our series on rap in the year 1996. We're going to keep that going on Tuesday, so we got something consistent that you guys know is going to be there. So thank you for working with us through changes we've made and adjustments and everything else. And remember, follow the right time. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days.

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