The Ringer NFL Show - An Almost-Perfect Playoff Weekend (Ep. 221)

Episode Date: January 15, 2018

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark react to the news of Mike Mularkey's firing (00:30) before they jump into the Vikings' electric win over the Saints (01:00) and the missed tackle by Marcus Williams (04:15). Then they discuss a huge victory for Blake Bortles and the Jaguars in Pittsburgh (16:00), how the Eagles held off the Falcons (29:30), and the boring prime-time matchup between New England and Tennessee (40:15). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. My name is Robert Mays. I'm a writer at the ringer. Joining me on the other line, it's Kevin Clark. Kevin, how you doing, buddy? I'm a little better than Mike Malarkey. Yeah, what a weird thing that is. I mean, that's not what I want to talk about today,

considering what happened over the weekend, but pretty surprising. The second most surprising kind of development over the last 24 hours, I'd say. The visual sort of approximation of what happened to Mike Malarkey is exactly what happened to Marcus Williams. Just right in position there and then kind of ducked under and missed his shot. It all ties in a go.

We're going to dig into that. I mean, I guess there's really no other place to start. We're going to talk about all four games today. I mean, there's what else would we do following a fantastic division of weekend. But let's begin in Minnesota where I was last night. And I'm telling you, man, I still this morning was just sitting there kind of shaking my head and smiling, thinking about it. that play happened coming toward the sideline I was sitting on in the end zone I was sitting in and just watching it unfold and the reaction of the crowd. It was like a cannon shot.

It's just a moment and in the aftermath too is just something I will never ever forget. And I won't even forget how powerful it was anytime soon. Every single bit of that is just kind of burned into my brain. So Chase Stewart does a great job. I had an article, morning, which I found really fascinating. So that crazy Niners Saints game a couple years ago, four lead changes in the final five minutes, Breeze was there. The Beast Quake game, he was there. And yesterday, obviously.

60% of all Drew Breeze playoff games have featured 56 or more points scored. And just think about the lead changes in that San Francisco Saints game too. I mean, that game was nutty. Yeah, 10% of all other games feature that many points, which means when Drew Breeze is in a playoff game, you are six times more likely to get a shootout like this. Drew Breeze, and I'm going to give all the credit in the world of the Vikings in a second. Drew Breeze is the quiet MVP of the playoffs because every time he doesn't even win these games.

But every time he's in a game, it's going to be fun. I mean, that second half was just unbelievable. You watched the first half of that game, and I compared it in what I wrote this morning. I was like watching the Vikings defense is like watching a boa constrictor. I mean, they just suffocates you slowly and just crush the life out of you over time. And that's what they did. I mean, both of those picks are just fantastic place. Sendejo getting back in, you know, as a single deep safety to make that play up the seam.

It'll breeze under through it a little bit, but it's a fantastic place. by Sondahoe. And then how Everson Griffin managed to get his hand on that ball that Anthony Barr picked off, I still don't know. He didn't even see where Breeze was. He just threw his hand up and knocked it down. I mean, it just seemed like they were coming through with all these plays. The Saints could barely get anything going.

It's 17, nothing in half. And you're like, okay, the Vikings are in control. Vikings going to win this game. I mean, this is the Vikings plan to a T. You know, Keenom's throwing 50, 50 balls at him Thiel and he's coming down with them. you know, the running the ball decently well. It's like, this is the Vikings kind of boiled down. And then Drew Brees essentially goes in the locker room, comes out half time and says,

fuck that. That's not how this is going to go. Incredible. Four lead changes in the last three minutes, including three times in the last 90 seconds. I mean, it was certainly one of the best games I've ever seen. You were there. I'm jealous. I was in the office continually re-recording things.

because I recorded a video with at 17 to nothing. And then we kept having to reshoot the stuff as the game kept changing. We kept having to go outside. I swear to God, it was, it was hilarious. And so, I mean, real quick, I want to talk about Marcus Williams. And you can talk about the play, but Marcus Williams second in the NFL in receptions per snap among all safeties. He's been fantastic. He is sixth in the.

NFL and tackle rate. This is not a guy who you'd expect to be in that situation. It was bad luck. It was a timing thing, as Sean Peyton said. They were sort of coached for no pass interference. And when you're coached to that, I think it gets in your head and you sort of short circuit a little bit.

What did you see from the play specifically and from your reporting as well, Robert? I think that's what he said is that they didn't want to commit pass interference. It's funny because Diggs said after. they were talking to him about what his idea was in that moment. And the thought was, with that route, let's get a chunk play out of bounds and maybe be able to kick a field goal.

That's the goal, obviously. And that's what Diggs was thinking even as he was out in the route. And Diggs said something interesting. He said, I took a picture before I turned around. And I knew he was the only guy there. So if he missed me, I knew I was good to go. And that's just incredible wherewithal in that moment from Diggs to kind of keep his wits about him, maintain his balance.

and spin around in that very small area. I mean, he easily could have stepped out of balance, even if he wasn't trying to. So, I mean, just that entire play was unbelievable athleticism. I mean, somebody after the game was trying to say it was kind of a routine catch. I was like, he was a foot and a half off the ground. Who said that? Like, if he doesn't, there's just somebody what I was talking to afterwards,

just like having a beer after the game watching the replays. It was like, what is a routine about that? No. that guy, he goes and gets the ball. And if he doesn't come back to the football in that moment, Williams isn't going to miss him. He's going to catch the ball flat-footed. Williams is not going to go for him,

and he's going to tackle him in bounds and the game's going to be over. And instead, we have the greatest playoff finish maybe in the history of football. I thought it was funny that Diggs' teammates were screaming for him to get out of bounds. That was my thought, too. Because I assumed... Keenham wanted him too as well.

I assumed when you look at the camera angle, obviously you didn't have this phenomenon because you were there. The camera angle was sort of tight. And so I thought he was going to have to like run through. It was going to be like the end of a football movie where you have to run through three guys and then drag a guy across the goal line. So I saw him like, why is he still in bounds? It's crazy.

And then I realized it was just no one in front of him. It was incredible. Watching it unfold was, it was literally unbelievable. I mean, I just, I couldn't imagine that it was really happening in the moment. And neither could those guys. It's different. It's different because. So the two best plays since I started covering football, in my opinion, were the Malcolm Smith, Richard Sherman tip play in the NFC championship game and the Malcolm Butler interception.

The difference between those two plays and this play is that something incredible didn't have to happen in this instance. They could have just gone quietly in the night. And that's why he sort of went from from zero to 100. we've seen these sort of plays a million times and very, very, very rarely does anything come of it. The other two instances, you know, the other team was close to scoring. So something was going to happen either way. It wasn't like going from zero to 100. That's what I think is different about this.

It's just the surprise of it all that something happened in the spot. Yeah. I mean, it was really hard to process for everybody. I mean, so much happens so quickly that there was really no way to, get your mind around it. I mean, in the locker room afterward, incredility is the word I would use. I mean, that's what it was.

No one could believe that what had just happened. I'll never forget Keenham sitting there next to Bradford. People were listening to Diggs and kind of around Thielen, and I think I was the only person who may have heard this. He's sitting there talking to Bradford and he goes, we ran the same play four times. Like, what did they think we were going to do? And he puts it,

he did that in between, like, harding his face and his hands. I mean, this is a half hour after the game is over. and there's still just no processing of it whatsoever. I mean, Keenham afterward was, it was so funny to watch him up there. He's just sitting there like shrugging and just shaking his head.

I mean, as he tried to describe, it was, someone was asking what his pre-snap read was before the play. And he goes, well, you know, they pre-snap reads and then you can just see him stop himself and go, you know what, man? I just threw it. And he just caught it.

Like, it really was that kind of simple in the moment. One thing I'll say, I think that, the default in those cases is to act like you've been there before or act like you don't care. Case kingdom really cared and it was really fun and cool to see because it was a mixture of just pure relation and also just pure disbelief. I mean, this was a guy who was buried by Jeff Fisher this time last year. I mean, this is not anything. It was funny. Someone, I want to say it was Michael David Smith that said, if you'd given everyone on earth,

you know, 20 guesses on who the conference championship quarterbacks would be, you would think, you might guess foals based on some, okay, maybe it's a backup or whatever. I mean,

Keenham, Keenham was nowhere. I mean, Keenham, I remember, I was in camp in, in Minnesota, and I saw Keenum there,

and I sort of chuckled. Because you're thinking, okay, Bradford's got this. And then at that point, we didn't know. I mean, Teddy Bridgewater is in the mix now. He's at least practicing. So you're thinking, okay, by the time Bridgewater gets back, Cano will be third string. I mean, I remember joking around about whether or not he was an upgrade over Sean Hill.

I had that answer now. Case Kenham isn't a perfect quarterback. I mean, he's going to do some stuff that kind of drives you crazy. That interception was brutal. But the reason he threw that interception, the same kind of ethos that creates that interception, is what allowed their passing game to make the plays that they needed to last night.

I mean, every time, I asked him this after the game if he's ever played in an offense or been surrounded by this, if you've ever had a supporting cast, where he has this level of an eight trust and just who they are and what they can do. And what I wanted to, that question is I was curious because

he's just so willing to uncork these 50-50 balls to his guys. And for the most part, it worked out last night. Think about all the throws that were put it to guys that were not necessarily open, but there wasn't more than one guy covering them. You have those two-pass interference plays early in the half, in the first half. One treadwell, one to digs, that those are 50-50 passes that you just given them a chance. The ball to Thieland down the left sideline that he had to leap for. That was a contested catch.

The ball to Jerry is right. They ran this place so many times where they had their slot guy kind of wheel out, and they had Rudolph often as the split receiver kind of come inside in order to, do that little cross-action. And they ran into right right after the interceptions, the first throw he had. And he puts it on the money.

And the throw to Thielen on the four-bath go-ahead field goal at the end, that 24-yard with the pass interference. Every single one of those, nobody's open. There's no room there. There's no space.

He's just saying, I'm going to let my guys go get it. And when you have this group of pass catchers, I don't hate that as a strategy. I cannot remember a more. interesting win probability graft in this game. I'm looking at it on Pro Football Reference and it's just like from the second quarter on it's Vikings Vikings, Vikings, then it just completely tanks and then right at the last second it goes right back up.

It's really, it is a beginning of a disaster movie reading the the seismograph type type deal. It is incredible. Is there anything else you want to say about this game? I mean, I think that a couple of the plays that Breeze made just the throw to Kamara on the wheel was just disgusting. And then for him to check, did you see, Dan Roloski did a good job of breaking this down on Twitter last night. They, the touchdown to Thomas, the play action was originally supposed to be a sprint out to the right side. Camaro was offset in that, in their formation. And Terrence Newman was in the slot and called it out.

He's like he's offset. They're not, they're not going to be able to run it. This is a sprint out to the right. Breeze saw that Newman said that, checked the play to a play action throw because he knew that Newman was going to have outside. leverage to take away the sprint out and let Thomas work back inside on the play action for an easy touchdown. It's just like quarterbacking genius at its very finest and like watching one of the all-time greats do what he does.

And that was the entire second half last night. Incredible. The one thing I wanted to ask you very briefly because we're not going to be able to talk about them again until the offseason. Drew Breeze basically said we'll be back, which hints that the breeze is going to stick around New Orleans. Assuming that. what is the future look like as far as just a really talented young New Orleans team

and paired with a guy who what age he turned today? He's 39. Do you think that the breeze can come back and they can have this sort of run again? Or what do you see the next 12 months for the Saints looking like? I think the answer is probably yes. I mean, they didn't necessarily get a ton of injury luck this year. I mean, their stars on defense stayed healthy, which is really big. but they lost some guys here and there.

You like little guys like Alex Anzolone, you know, a starter that they were at Pennsylvania and that they couldn't play. You know, they lose Nick Fairley before the season even starts. You know, Alex Ocalfour was a guy who was playing extremely well for them. You know, this isn't a team like, say, Minnesota or even Atlanta that, you know, had a spotless season. You know, you could see them doing something similar again because it's not like everything fell their way in year one. You know, it's hard to be good consistently in the NFL.

I feel like they jumped on a lot of teams. Who knows of the defense and sustained? But especially on offense, this is a group you have to be excited about. I mean, Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara are both going to be on rookie contracts. You know, you have an offensive line that's pretty much set.

You know, those guys aren't going anywhere. That group is here to stay based on when they've accumulated those guys. So, yeah. I mean, I think they have a chance to be good for as long as Breeze's breeze. And I mean, based on last night and everything we saw this year, is there any reason to think that he's going to fall off? Well, but also,

age. I think that one of the things that we learned this year is that even if he has a little bit of a falloff, that doesn't necessarily matter in the current NFL. I mean, if we've learned, look at three of the four teams that are left, if you're a above average quarterback or in some cases, an average quarterback, and you're surrounded with not only good skill position players, but a defense, you're going to be in the mix. And so that's the thing with Breezes. Okay, he took a little bit of a dip this year. And it's so hard to divorce the fact that he's not passing, you know, they went

7 to 9 in the last three years. And it's so hard, or he won seven games the last three years. It's so hard to say, okay, you know, I think he lost a thousand yards off of his total passing yards this year. Well, he's not passing every down. So it's, you know, it was a different season for

him. But if he takes a step back next year, it's not a crisis like it would have been four or five years ago where you just had to have an elite quarterback to compete. Okay. So while we're on that topic, let's get to the man of the hour here. Mr. Blake Bortles, what a playoff game. Oh, I didn't know who the man of the hour was going to be. In which he scored 45 points against the Steelers. I know everyone, I wrote to say, I know everyone knows that by now, but I keep finding myself needing to say it over and over again because it doesn't

make any sense. It's incredible. I mean, that game was, the fact that that wasn't the most wild game of Divisional Sunday is all you need to know about what yesterday was. I just, I couldn't believe it in the moment as I was watching. It was like, this is just bonkers. But at the same time, I feel like among all of this hubbub and all of the celebration about the Jaguars defense, we haven't really given enough credit to the job that Doug Marone and Nathaniel Hackett have done this season. We have not. I mean, that offense was middle of the road with Blake Bordas, a quarterback, and he had some real stinkers.

It's a very well-constructed offense. and I think that yesterday was their masterpiece. I mean, the game plan was utterly perfect, so many gorgeous designs. You know, Blake did what he needed to do, but he was really helped by a ton of schematic stuff yesterday. I mean, the amount of play action throws that just gave them easy chunks was fantastic.

And you can blame the Steelers for terrible defense, but that Bohannon touchdown, that's really hard to do anything about. I mean, what are you going to do on that? I mean, the first drive, they ran that. that Kovac play action throw where he came back across the formation like he was sealing the backside.

I mean, that's just beautiful marriage between your run and your pass. And you have to give Bordel's credit for hitting those throws, but the coaching staff won that game for the Jaguars yesterday. Blake Bortle's hitting a fullback to go up 42 to 28

on the road against the Steelers is the funniest moment of the NFL season. Yeah, it absolutely is. By a wide margin. So there's a couple of things. It's number one, the Jaguars, and this is skewed by the Jimmy G game, but at this point the Jaguars have given up over 30 points a game in the last four road games.

And it's interesting because since October 1st, the Patriots have given up three points, less points per game than the Jaguars. The Jaguars, I still think are in the top five if you're just going from October on. but I think the narrative of this you know unstoppable jaguars defense it's a little bit I think they have incredible players we've written about it a million times we both love the jaguars but I think this this notion that this is a historically dominant team

not getting a little overhyped at this point I think the jaguars are just a quarterback away from me a complete team which means you're a complete team in the 2018 playoffs I think that exactly what you said. Marone put Bordels in incredible schematic positions. Bortles made a couple throws, man. I mean, it wasn't much. It wasn't much. And a lot of guys could have been an upgrade from him yesterday. But I mean, generally, Bortles did his job. He was utter trash for most of the second and third quarters. I mean, there was a stretch where they could not do anything in the

air whatsoever. But when it came down to it at the end and at the beginning, he did what he had to do. I mean, that throw to Q and Cole, that's a ballsy throw. And it's a really good one. I mean, just a perfectly placed ball, again, on play action down the middle of the field. And you know what else? He made a lot of throws on third down that I was very impressed by. They did a ton of stuff where they cleared out the outside with the outside receivers. They would clear out just with the two vertical routes and come back underneath with something inbreaking on third down.

And two things allowed that to work. One, Bortles put the ball on the money more often than not when they asked them to do that. And two, he had time for those plays to develop. And the Jaguars just dominated that game up front. I mean, whether it was past protection or in the running game, they really pushed around a Steelers front forward. That's very good. You know the linebacking core is depleted, but those guys are fronk in play, and they kind of kicked their ass for four straight quarters. Obviously, this is a problem and an issue that goes well beyond yesterday's game, but this was the game where you noticed how big of an impact Ryan Shazir had on that deep.

100%. Yeah, they missed him desperately. I mean, for a lot of different reasons. I mean, think about it. I mean, that Bohan touchdown is exactly what that's designed to exploit. It's just the middle of the field when you have a speedy guy there. Yeah, I mean, it's just a great game plan. I mean, I and I, and Rathusberger, you know, the interception's terrible, even though it's a great play by Miles Jack, which whatever.

The effect of Miles Jack is there. and the fumble is his fault. I mean, that you have to, you cannot drift into the past rush like that. You have to get rid of that. I mean, that's just where he, he knows better than that. He cannot hold the ball that long.

And I know this is a weird thing to say, because those are two game-changing plays. Outside of those two turnovers, he was kind of magnificent yesterday. Yep. He dropped back, I think, he'd had 57 pass attempts yesterday. Yeah, something like that.

Yeah. I mean, that was similar to his numbers in the first game. And obviously it was a shootout and the game changed a million times. But I was under the assumption that they were trying to not have him pass more than 50 times. But what are you going to do? I mean, they made it happen. I mean, they were gashing them when they needed to.

I mean, those two Antonio Brown touchdowns, my God. Oh, I know. That's my point. What is that, man? He's not a man. I guess that's probably the answer. I don't know. I still don't understand how he caught either of those balls.

AJ Boyer was in his pocket and he managed to come down with two touchdowns. Like the guy's just ridiculous. He both times, AJ Boyer's reactions to those two touchdowns were very funny to me. Like I like AJ Boyer, but like both times who reacted a little bit like,

I don't know, like a heel professional wrestler who's like an indignant about what just occurred. You know what I'm saying? Like he both times you couldn't believe it and then sort of theatrically look to the referee, like what the hell just happened? And the answer was Antonio Brown happened?

Yeah, that's enough. I don't think either of them. Bad for you. Yeah, neither of them were, I mean, like the first one he was really calling for a push-off, but I didn't see a whole lot. I just think it was when you get, I mean, it's very similar to when you get dunked on in basketball

and you just assume it's a foul. A lot of times it's not a foul. It's just you got dunked on and you don't know what happened. I want to talk about the second Antonio Brown touchdown because I think it, speaks to a larger issue with the Steelers. Not necessarily an issue, but something that came up a couple times yesterday.

So that throw was a 43-yard touchdown that came on fourth and five, which is kind of in line with the attitude the Steelers typically use in the passing game. It doesn't really matter what the down-and-distance is on third and fourth-down. They're going to do whatever the hell they want. And oftentimes, it can lead to spectacular plays like that.

It's a 43-yard play when you need five yards. earlier in the half, though, it's fourth and one. Rathusburg comes to the line of scrimmage. He checks to a play-action throw and hucks like a 15, I don't know, my camera exactly how far downfield it was, I believe it was like 15 yards to Juju, and who's tightly covered. Almost comes down with it, does not turn over on downs.

And I know that people were kind of destroying that choice because they needed three feet to get a first down, but you can't really have it both ways in my mind. Like the Steelers either play, like that or they don't. The issue I have is with the fourth and one call where he checks to that pitch that goes back six yards. That I have a problem with. Was that, was that some sort of tribute to former Steelers, Ted and Mike Malarkey? I thought it was the Steve Sarkeesian special. That's how I saw it. It says a lot about the NFL that they could have been a tribute to any number of play callers in the NFL.

What do the Steelers do? It's a great question. I, at Ruffisberger's, seemed to say that he was coming back, so you have to worry about what they're going to pay Bell. I mean, this is a team that I would necessarily pencil in the same way I would with the deal with the Saints, just because it's a much different trajectory, right?

Yeah, I mean, it's completely different. And, you know, you have to, you get a franchise levy on Bell and I guess go for another year with this core. Do you make any coaching staff changes? No,

maybe? I don't know. I guess it depends. Todd Haley's kind of like this has gotten stayed, but you can say that, but this is a team that just put up 42 points on the Jaguars and was one of the best offenses in the league again. Great.

I mean, they just need a couple more elite players on the defense. I know that that's the easier to have been done, but you lose Shazier, you got to have something there. I mean, here's the thing, though, man. There's some decisions to be made. Right now they're sitting about $2.7 million in Kaepern.

according to over the cap for next year. And that's without Bell. Yep. I mean, they're really up against it. I mean, this is a team. It's hard to be up against it in today's NFL. But some of these teams, man, they do manage. Well, I mean, it's the product of having a lot of old good players

who've been good for a number of years. I mean, the Antonio Brown contract, by the way, is a freaking bargain. When I was reporting that cap story last, week, two weeks ago. He makes $17.7 million next year. This was the last season where it was a bargain. He makes $17.7. I understand that it was a bargain this year and it will explode next year.

But as far as how much the cap rises a year, which is $10 million a year and Brown's percentage of it, the fact, here's why it's a bargain. Aside from the fact that it's not a cap crippling percentage of the salary cap, it's a bargain because no receiver has reset the market. Because Odell Beckham, and I think Joe Banner said this, Odell Beckham's going to get a little bit more than Antonio Brown. And then Mike Evans going to get a little more than Odell Beckham. And that's just how this works.

The receiver position has not been reset in any meaningful way. And I think that as the cap rises $10 million a year at some point, and maybe it's Beckham, maybe Beckham says screw you, you giants, I'm heading to free agency. But no one, no elite receiver has just said, I'm resetting the market. I'm going to make $24 million a year. Antonio Brown could in theory do that, and that's why he's a bargain. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, I think that, yeah, looking at that number, it seems big, but he's a different sort of player. I mean, I think that there's no way you'd say that, man, they're really hurt because of how they're paying Antonio Brown. The problem for the Steelers is they're paying everyone the sticker

price. There is no meaningful player on that team at this point, maybe outside of Juju and Martavis Brian, who's a free agent that is on a rookie or a comfortable deal. I mean, you look at, they just paid Stefan to it. He's making 13.6. Hayward's on his contract.

Joe Hayden, I know everyone's like, I can't believe Joe Hayden was available. Joe Hayden to make $12 million next year. Joe Hayden, no bargain. That's not exactly a steal for Pittsburgh here. it's a Castro pouncy I mean almost all the line feeling a wave is on a new deal

and Marcus Gilbert's gotten paid I mean they're really that they're paying exactly the market value for almost all these guys and eventually that bill comes due and it's going to be a problem for them next year they're going to have just decisions to make all right I'm so Vince McDonald makes more than

$4 million a year I didn't know that Vance McDonald wasn't Jesse James yesterday so that's probably not a good sign in that I'm not I'm having a tough time on this Why is Vance McDonald do $4 million next? He got like 16 targets yesterday. So I mean, I wouldn't just write on Van S McDonald's.

He has a thousand career yards. He's 27. Yeah. He's done very little to impress me over the years. All right. It's the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer podcast network. In need of great talent for your business, but short on time. You don't have to get lost in a huge stack of resumes to find your perfect hire.

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One more time to try it for free. go to ziprecruiter.com slash ringer NFL. All right. Let's get to the Steve Sarkeesian special here and the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. We kind of, I know both of us picked Atlanta to win this game, but I feel like this version of the game is something that did not surprise either one of us.

Did you see the, this was perhaps the lowest point of the weekend. The maybe Carson Wentz is a. system quarterback discussion. Get the fuck out of here. It was amazing. It was like, no, so here's,

here's, here's where we're at, okay? Carson Wentz is significantly better than Nick Foles. But Doug Peterson was able to draw up some fairly good third down plays that put Nick Foles in a position to go six of 13

and look fairly decent. And a couple people on Twitter that I saw made the logical leap that now Carson Wentz is just Nick Foles with more opportunities, which is like a top five bad argument I've heard

in the NFL this year. Nick Fulh, Carson Wentz through 33 touchdown passes this year. I don't... Carson Wence was the most valuable player in football for the first 14 weeks of season. I'm not sitting here listening to this argument.

You can't convince me. I might, at this point, I might just vote for Carson Wence to be MVP. I don't have a vote, but I might, maybe he's still just MVP. Nick Foles was fine.

Nick Foles had 246 yards. I mean, he played reasonably well. There were a lot of run-pass options. The game of a ton of easy throws. He hit several of them, the Nelson Aguilor. The one to Matt Collins is only nine-yard game, but there's another run-pass option. They got him an easy throw.

They put him in field-goer range. So, yeah, I'm not really here for that. The one, you know, a couple of throws he made were impressive. I mean, the one to Jeffrey at the end of the half to get them a field goal was a nice play overall. And another great catch by Jeffrey. But I'm running out of great McFol's moments from that game. The offensive player in my mind that stuck out to me for Philly, outside of the linemen who,

you know, they played well again. The Jai trade really showed up in my mind on Saturday. He only ended with 54 yards, but he had 50 in the first half and just a ton of plays where he really made stuff happen that wasn't there. And I wrote about this today, but, you know, when they traded for him, it kind of seemed like a luxury item. Their running game was very good. They didn't necessarily need a running back.

But now that we've transitioned from the wence to the foals offense, it's not just about being able to plug and play a guy. You need somebody that can kind of conjure offense on his own because of how much focus and attention is on the running game. And Ajai is that? I mean, the swing pass he took on third and seven in the fourth quarter of 33 yards. I mean, that's just a play that nobody else in that offense is going to make. I mean, he is the guy to do that.

And he's become extremely valuable because Nick Foles is the quarterback. Totally agree. I mean, the Eagles had drives of 14 plays, 12 plays, and 14 plays. One of the 12 play and 14 play drives were in the third and fourth quarter. The ability for them, you know, Chris Collinsworth is sort of going over the top about how Ligarra Blunt is a closer. I don't necessarily know if that's the right term for him. but their rushing games ability to just drain the clock. I really was impressed by that.

And I was impressed. Do you see Lombardi has admitted he was wrong about Doug Peterson? I did not. I mean, I feel like that's fair. Doug Peterson's done okay. But we all, everybody, we all have to do that every once in a while. Sure. Having said that, I felt like Doug Peterson was really good on Saturday.

And I feel like he knows, Nick Foles' limitations. I'm actually, I'm looking at it the other way. I'm looking at a, Doug Peterson is a fairly good coach. The second thing I'm looking at is that Chip Kelly was a much better NFL coach than we give him credit for. Yes, I agree with you. I feel like Chip Kelly is just a good football coach, period.

I mean, like, I don't know. I didn't know how to not just eight times during that game tweet, Chip Kelly ruled as an NFL coach. Like, I just, he turned, he turned Nick Foll. into a legitimate above-average quarterback, which he clearly is not. He is clearly a very much average quarterback. Yeah, absolutely.

And it helps that he's surrounded by a very above-average roster. I mean, this team is, what Howard Roseman did and what that front office did in terms of just assembling the talent. Again, we talked about Ajaya, but it doesn't stop there.

I mean, that defense was so good on Saturday. I mean, what Fletcher Cox did to that Atlanta running game? just good Lord. I mean, De Monta Freeman had 10 carries for seven yards. I mean,

he abused the interior of that Falcons offensive line. And without that running game, that Atlanta offense stalls. And, you know, Julio did his Julio stuff,

but for the most part, you know, they didn't really have anything else outside of some perimeter runs to Tevin Coleman. That was it.

And I feel like when you can't run the ball, when you're this version of the Falcons, then you're going to struggle. And they eventually had a shot, but, for the most part, that offense could get absolutely nothing going.

Okay, let's get to the real action. Steve Sarkozyans play calling. Do you just want to talk about the last, the goal line situation at the end? I mean, there's a million things we can talk about, but we can talk about the goal line, sure. The first play is a fade to who. I have no problem with it. Yeah, sure.

That's okay for, it's okay to me. It's first down, you know, you have a centaur, throw him the ball. That's cool. second down I have more of a problem that's when they threw that little shovel pass to Tehran Ward. How many plays do you think Tehran Ward played on Saturday? You're going to have to tell me. I couldn't even begin to guess.

It's two. Great. So he played two plays, one of which was a shovel pass with the game hanging in the balance with less than two minutes remaining. Here's why I have several problems with that. One, that play does not involve Julio Jones in any way, shape, or form. And I'm not saying you have to throw the ball to him every time, but he's one,

hell of a decoy in the red zone. So the fact that he wasn't even an option on that play is problematic. Issue number two, you're at the nine-yard line. Even if he catches that ball, what's the best thing that's going to happen? You're going to get to the five? Okay. So you need to take two more shots at the end zone. Three, Devante Freeman's very good at that play.

Kevin Coleman is also a very capable receiver. He's not even in like the top three running backs who could do that. Yeah. But everything about it just doesn't make any sense to me. So that one, I'll take issue. Third down, slant to Julio is the single split receiver to the left. That's fine. You know, again, it involves Julio Jones.

You're trying to get him in space. I don't mind that. You know, got you down inside the four. You know, give you one more shot to kind of punch it into the end zone. And now we get to the coup de grace here, which is the fourth down call. Beautiful. Let's begin with the biggest issue with all of this is that Derek Coleman. who is fullback is lined up wide to the left.

Okay. Classic, classic decoy. What are we thinking here? Are you trying to get them in base personnel by having two backs on the field? Okay. That's fine. Like,

that's a cool gimmicky thing. The Patriots do that a lot. Patriots do that when it's like second and three on the 42 yard line in the third quarter. Not when your season is on the line. So, they do it on October 11th. Yeah, exactly. So we know that the ball is not going that direction.

That is 100% is not going to be a part of the play. So now everything that could possibly happen is going to happen to the right. And not only do they limit their options to that side of the field just based on alignment, they cut off one half of the field, period, by rolling Matt Ryan out in that direction to the short side of the field. if there's one thing that we've learned from years of Madden

it's that you have to have on a game deciding play you have to have as many options as possible. Correct. The entire flaw of the goal line package in Madden is it's too much play action and it's like two tight ends

and those are only options. It's a nightmare. You would never actually do that in a real game and Sarkeesian who at some point in his life had to have played at least the early Maddens is seems unaware that you need as many options

possible. Not two options while sprinting right. He looked back to Derek Coleman. I never saw sort of an all 22 angle when he looked back to the backside of the play. What was there for him? Because he looked right back. I don't know. I assume that was not a desperation. He probably saw his fullback and remember the play call

and bailed. He was probably like, oh, wait, there's a fullback over there. never mind. It was maddening. I mean, it just, Julio fell down, but that's not the,

you have to remember that players fall down sometimes so you can't put all of your eggs in one basket. Yes. Don't give yourself one receiver on the play that will decide the game. I mean,

line up with four guys, put Kevin Coleman in the slot, do something that is just, it gives you more than one chance here. Julio is a good option if he's your only one, but there's no reason to make him your only one. it's the whole thing just kind of drives me crazy.

I mean, the Eagles defense deserves a lot of credit. They're fantastic. They played really well on Sunday, but this is just an offense that deserves so much better than what it got this year. That's sad. It bummed me out. Yeah,

it really does. It just makes me sad. Because we've watched a handful of really boring primetime games this year. This was a 15 to 10 game that was certainly not boring. But what I'm saying is that the Falcons are the type of team where they need to be like, Drew Breeze, right? Like we talked about

Drew Breeze putting up 56 or more points combined in 60% of his playoff games. The Falcons with the way their offense has been constructed should be in that mix. They should not be in a game

that we're combining 25 points. Yeah, I totally agree. I buddy. Speaking of boring prime time games, let's get in and out of this Patriots Titans game. What is there to say about this outside of the fact that

the Patriots are a much better football team than the Titans. This is exactly what we assume is going to happen. Corey Davis is good. Corey Davis is fun. I think that with a new offensive coordinator and a new head coach, that team could be kind of interesting to watch. Yeah. I mean, it depends who it is. If they actually get Josh Daniels, I'm officially intrigued. Yes. Yes. I feel the exact same way. If they get Frank Reich, I'm less intrigued. Yeah. I mean, I like Josh McDaniels a little bit more, but I think that what the Eagles have done on offense is pretty fun. Yeah. but I mean,

Doug Peterson has had a lot to do with that. That's parsing those, the credit in situations like that is often difficult. I'm going to go ahead and parse it. But so the, the, the, the,

the, the, the, I think that the Titans, obviously John Robinson's has done a nice job adding some, some young talent to that roster and I'm excited to see a really competent head coach there.

I think that it would have been interesting. I think it could have worked, you know, if you didn't read the report, on Monday morning, essentially the Titans ownership, talked to Mike Mularky about an extension, and then, but they would have to hire a new offensive coordinator, and Malarkey said no to that.

It wasn't made clear if that was in place. I mean, Malarkey is the offensive coordinator, but there's a quarterback's coach who has some say in play design, Jason Michael. It was unclear who they were going to have to fire, but that was sort of it, as Malarkey has principally walked away. I think this is good for the Titans.

I just do. I mean, if they weren't going to fire him, I felt like them winning that game against Kansas City ultimately was going to prove to be a bad thing if it meant that Milwaukee was going to stay there. I'm not trying to like, you know, good for Mike Malarkey. I hope that he remains gamefully employed,

but that's not what I'm after here. I think that Marcus Mariotta can be a really good quarterback and that offense has a gear or three that we have not seen. He might, did you see that Malarkey might go to Cleveland to be Hugh Jackson's, see. Good Lord.

Rep. Before reported that. Oh, no. There's so few things in life. Why is everything terrible? The fact that Brian Schottenheimer is now going to coach Russell Wilson and Norv Turner is Cam Newton's offensive coordinator and we're going to bring Mike Malarkey in to deal with Josh Rosen, whoever is the quarterback in Cleveland.

Why are we doing this? I just... I have some ideas on why we're doing it. Um, okay. So the Patriots looked fine, what, 30. I mean, Brady's just ridiculous. 31, 31 first downs. I mean, Brady was a machine again.

I mean, just that Titan secondary is kind of garbage, but I mean, they played poorly most of the season. And they've definitely against teams that do anything complicated on offense, usually struggle. And that was the case again. I mean, but Brady was just masterful. The one thing I took away from the Patriots that was different than the versions we've seen of them so far this year, I mean, eight sacks. And some of them were kind of. you know, cheap late in the down plays.

But their pass rush was really good. Trey Flowers, I think, is somebody that nobody really talks about because the Patriots play a certain way. You know, they're not pinier their ears back. Pass rushers for the most part. He had six and a half sacks in the season. And they really let him lose yesterday. And I was impressed.

When he's moving downhill, he can make some stuff happen. And the reason I kind of took notice of that is because Bortles, when pressured, it just has no chance. And he was clean the entire game against Pittsburgh. It's a big reason they were able to do what they did. I mean, if that pass rush is anything close to what we saw yesterday, or on Saturday at least, then I think that it's a boon for what New England's going to do for the next two games. The Patriots sent more than four pass rushers at Marietta.

This is a PFF stat. Just seven times. On those plays, he went five of six for one touchdown in 143 pass rating. And so I think it's interesting if, if they can get a four-man rush, that's how you win the Super Bowl. I mean, I just think that it's,

it's the, the blitzing has not been incredible, as you can see. Obviously, it's a small sample size, but I agree. Trey Flowers is, is a key to that defensive line.

Is there anything else you want to say? I want to get out of here, buddy. What else is there to say about, I mean, the, the Blake Bortles Patriots matchup, which we'll get you more later in this week, is as,

unpredictable matchup is I could, I can remember. I'm ready to believe anything about the Jaguars. It's so fun. I'm really looking forward to the Bordell's Patriots thing. And I'm excited at the Vikings won. I mean, I think that Saints Vikings was the NFC championship game in a lot of ways in my mind. I think those are the two teams that best,

those are the best two teams left in my mind. I think that the same, the Vikings are a better team. I think they will beat the Eagles. I mean, Vikings Patriots is a fun Super Bowl. I mean, that is a really good match. No doubt. I will love watching.

I mean, once went, went down. And Wenz first Brady is without a doubt, was without a doubt on December 2nd that morning that Wentz got hurt was without a doubt the best possible Super Bowl matchup. But Vikings Patriots is second. And now as far as health goes is number one in my opinion. Yeah. And I think that Zimmer against Belichick is two excellent coaches. I mean, that's the one I want to see. And I feel like we're kind of headed that way. We'll dig into that over the next couple weeks here though. Yeah. For now, as always, we really appreciate you guys listening. Thanks for listening to Ringer NFL

show on the Ringer Podcast Network.