The Ringer NFL Show - Ep. 68: The Conference Championship Shellackings

Episode Date: January 23, 2017

The Ringer's Robert Mays and Kevin Clark break down the NFC championship beatdown (1:20), the Falcons' impressive defensive game plan (4:23), the Packers' bad breaks (5:25), and Matt Ryan's beautiful offense (12:24). Then, they dissect the AFC championship game (19:06), Chris Hogan running wild (21:27), the pathetic Steelers offense (23:50), and where they rank this Patriots team among all-time New England squads (25:39). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and Jason Sudakis. This is a battle you do not want to miss. The four-night event begins January 26th at 10-9 Central and don't miss the live finale on Sunday, January 29th at 10-9 Central to see who gets crowned the king or queen of cruelty. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. My name is Robert Mayas. I'm a writer at the Ringer. joining me on the other line. It's Kevin Clark. Kevin, how are you? I'm okay. I could have used some more exciting games. Biggest margin victory for conference championships since 1978. Could have used a little more drama, but it's football, so it's fine. I agree with you. It was cool to see the Falcons put on that type of show. I was at the game, and it was just enjoyable. The building was having a lot of fun. I think that it was a cool city to be in for a moment like that. So that part of it was enjoyable for me. Outside of that, not much to like it.

I could have used 44-43 in that spot. Yes, exactly. 44-43 is much better than 44-21. So what are you going to do? All right, man. Let's just get right into it. Yeah. I think that everyone kind of expected that sort of game yesterday

from Green Bay and Atlanta. I know the Falcon side of it was what we figured it would be. They threw the ball at will. They did whatever they wanted. And the Packers did not do the same thing on the other side of the ball. Yeah, I really couldn't believe that the Packers couldn't at least trade blows for two quarters. You know, the fact that they were shut out for so long, I was stunned.

You know, it almost reminded me, Robert, of, like, one of these NBA final series, even, like, the Cavs Warriors thing a little bit, where, and obviously the result was different. But Aaron Rogers, I think, was the best player in the game yesterday. I don't mean, I don't mean playing-wise. I mean talent-wise, okay? Yes. But then Atlanta had, what, numbers, two through nine, something like that? I mean, I think that's how I looked at it.

And so it was a question of was Rogers going to be able to overcome the fact that Atlanta had more roster talent? And I was disappointed to see that it was not able to be the game I thought it was going to be. Well, we'll get to Atlanta's offense in a bit. I mean, I feel like we have to talk about it, just Matt Ryan in general. But the defenses would impress me the most. And the Packers had some receivers out. They lost both guards over the course of the game. Jordy Nelson, by the way, I just want to say real quick,

Jordan Nelson playing like that with broken ribs is the most impressive. I was hurt watching it. Yeah, that's just absurd. I mean, it's hard enough to play an NFL game while you're 100%, let alone when you need like a military-grade flag jacket to actually step on the field. The man is, he's something else. I mean, he absolutely is. Yeah, no, I could, I mean, I think that we don't realize how hard it is to play an NFL game in January regardless.

I mean, just even like playing with, you know, a toe injury like Julio Jones is probably pain we could not tolerate, but broken ribs for Christ's sake. that's just the fact that he could even play but Julio playing like that while having a hurt foot is just kind of ridiculous I mean he was limping on the sideline and it just didn't matter

the guy ruined the game my favorite detail you were probably there when he said this at the press conference he didn't know he was going to be effective until pre-game warm-ups I mean imagine him I was talking when Ryan was talking so I was in imagine imagine like not going from zero to 100 like that

being like I don't know if I'm going to be effective today oh by the way I'm going to have one of the most dominant receiving performances in NFL history. First guy in the history of the playoffs to get 150 yards and two touchdowns and two playoff games. Yeah, well, I mean, wait until Chris Hogan does that again. It's a good point. Yeah, just two weeks until Chris Hogan matches that mark.

Chris Hogan and Julio, the big two. All right, we'll get to that in a second. What was the most impressive thing you saw from Atlanta yesterday? Is there anything that surprised you? Is that the surprise me? It's just that I was impressed by it. The variety of stuff they did on defense. Yeah.

I think that from the first play or the first drive, really, they announced what they were going to do. And there was that Dion Jones blitz on third down where Rogers actually made a great play to get rid of it and not get sacked to keep in field goal range. Mason Crosby misses the field goal anyway. But you saw that all over the place yesterday. Jones had that blitz.

They brought Brian Poole with a zone blitz a couple, or excuse me, a slot blitz a couple times, that actually worked for Dallas last week. So it's just a good bit of recognition and implementation from Atlanta. And I just think that they had a set game plan. The Giants and the Cowboys is both were much more content to hang back, kind of cheap, try to keep Rogers in the pocket, not let him escape and make plays. The Falcons dictated to him. They said, we're going to get

to you in a hurry every single time. We don't mind blitzing. We're going to make you make quick decisions. And it just wasn't there for him. The Packers got very unlucky. I think we need to detail that. Miss a field goal. Fumble on the one. Exactly. And also, by the way, that J.O. and Collins thing, that could have been a down at the one thing. And they scored a touchdown after that. And so There were some bad breaks their way, but I think I sort of agree with the hot take artists, which is that when it's a blowout like that, you can't really pinpoint luck. But, I mean, I think they did get some bad breaks. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, they got some bad breaks, and they were the inferior team on a lot of levels. I mean, you look at what those young defenders for the Falcons are doing. I asked Keanu Neil yesterday, I said, when do you think you guys really understood it? Like, when did you get it? When did you feel that this was kind of coalescing? And he said to buy a week. Well, we just understood the defense. And it allowed us to be a little bit more creative

because we got the bones of it down. If you look at how many young guys are on that team, it's ridiculous. I mean, every single dude that contributes on that defense, more or less, is in their first or second year outside of super old dudes of Jonathan Babineau and Dwight Freeney. It's kind of a weird contrast, but it's a contrast that works. You can see why it makes sense. It's like, all right, we have a bunch of guys that are just totally moldable,

and we have two guys that are going to do the molding. and it's happened for them. What a return to glory for Belichick's executive tree. Man, it's a hell of a year by Thomas Demetrov. I mean, if you look at what they did over the last year, or even like, let's expand it, let's say a year and a half. Hiring Kyle Shanahan, first of all, that's not a guarantee.

Cleveland letting him walk, by the way. Cleveland let him walk, and that is just fascinating. I mean, the fact that Kyle Shanahan had not got fired, He just is the best offensive coordinator in the league, and he just walked to Atlanta because the Browns didn't want him. 90% of contributors to the Super Bowl were at one point just let go by Cleveland. Just go ahead. Go ahead.

It's so true. And then, so it starts with Shanahan. And just, I mean, the hiring of Dan Quinn, too. I mean, just the coaching staff and the way they've built it. Yeah. And then they look at the way they've drafted, it's been kind of ridiculous. Yep. I mean, Tevin Coleman has given them stuff.

Even like Devandre Campbell, Dion Jones, Keanu O'Neill. They've hit on so many of these picks, and then Vic Beasley turning into what he has. The way they spent their money in free agency, Alex Mack, Taylor, Gabriel, Mohammed Sunou, had a really nice game yesterday. Austin Hooper is another rookie starting for them. He has thrown a no-hitter in the last year and a half, and it's gotten them to the Super Bowl. I have a question, and I don't mean to slight the Falcons anyway. I know you're a huge fan of the way the Falcons play.

Did you want the, from a story perspective, is the Falcons Patriots Super Bowl? your favorite sort of storyline Super Bowl. If you had your drivers, would you pick the Falcons and the Patriots to play or would you want the Packers and the Patriots to play? That's a really good question. I loved the trajectory of Rogers. I feel like I wrote that after the Cowboy game. I kind of said that if he does this, this will be his final flourish.

This will be his masterpiece that puts him on the Mount Rushmore of all quarterbacks of all time. But I also find it pretty intriguing that Matt Ryan is a guy they tried to run out of Atlanta last year. I mean, the fan base, not the organization. But I feel like people were down on Matt Ryan. Ryan to the point where they thought, really, is Matt Ryan a guy that can take us there? And knowing that that was the tenor of the city a year ago.

And then being on the field yesterday, as he was like waving his arms and doing like the, yeah, let me hear it thing with his fingers as they were chanting MVP, that was pretty fucking cool. Like to see a guy get that moment that he has more than deserved this year, I'm not totally upset about that narrative being my reality. Well, I think we couldn't lose as long as it was the Patriots because it's Belichick game planning against something historic. Either it's this incredible wide open

Falcons team with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. I can't wait to see what Belichick does against Julio Jones. I cannot wait to see that, okay? But the other part is, I really would have liked to see Aaron Rogers against Belichick. I really would have liked to see Aaron Rogers against number one scoring defense. Belichick

with two weeks to prepare, that would have been so damn fun, dude. It really would have been. I totally agree. I think you're right. There was a no lose. And from a schematic perspective, I think the Falcons against the Patriots are even more interesting, just from every level and every layer of it. But just Rogers against Belichick is cool.

But another thing I thought was kind of funny. I mean, we've said that this Falcons team is like the greatest show on turf now. You know, that's our modern day version of it. And I wrote today, they're one of the greatest offenses of all time. You can't take that away from them anymore. And the first time Belichick won a Super Bowl, it was beating the greatest show on turf. Yeah.

Like, it's kind of awesome. And it's interesting. Marshall Folk was the focal point of the game play. plan there. And they were basically just going to hit him on every play. I mean, it's been told a million times now, but they basically knocked the crap out of him on every play and the Rams didn't adjust. My curiosity is going to be what happens if they're able to, I mean, look, the game has changed. They're not going to be able to just knock the crap out of Julio Jones in every play. This is not 2001 anymore, okay? My curiosity is what the, if there's a sort of weird mind trick thing where the

Falcons are going to assume that Julio will be taken out of the game or they're going to double cover him on every play or if they're just going to force it and say Julio is impervious to double coverage. I think that it is going to be a very interesting matchup to see what they think about how Belichick is going to approach the Falcons offense. I totally agree, but I also think that one of the reasons, the reason that these Falcons are so dangerous is because if you take away Julio Jones, cool. I mean, good luck. Because if you look at the way that Ryan distributed his throws yesterday and over the course of the season, it's to a degree we've never seen. He completed touchdown passes to 13 guys. Are there even 13 eligible receivers on your roster? That is just a

mind-blocking stat to me. And yesterday, he targeted nine different dudes in the first half. And it wasn't as if it was Julio 10 times, everybody else won. I mean, he throws it around to whoever's open, and they just do an excellent job of finding ways to get guys open. The fact that Pat DeMarco is running 30 yards down the sideline in the first drive. If you're a Packer fan, you just have to be like, what the fuck? Like, that's what we're going to have to deal with all day. It's fullbacks leaking out in the flat for 30-yard gains. That's what makes the Falcons so scary.

What was with the Packers defense? I mean, what was that? It was just a total lack of speed, first of all. I mean, I don't know what they do. You know, it was interesting. I don't know if you saw the comment after the game. Aaron Rogers said the lesson from this year is they need to be all in every year. And I think a lot of people on social media at least took that.

as sort of a nudge to Ted Thompson that we need to go out and get more. You know, they went out and got Jared Cook last year and it worked out, right? And so I think that was a sort of signal to Ted that they need to start signing guys or try to win now, you know, maybe swerve a little bit away from the draft and develop philosophy. But I just, I think that defense needs more speed, man. I think they need more speed. That's the lesson of yesterday. But also, on the other hand, as you just said, Patrick Tamarco going 30 yards up the field

is not an issue of speed, it's an issue of coverage and scheme and awareness. The Falcons offense is just so beautifully designed. I broke down a couple of the plays in my thing that I wrote today. There was one completion of Julio over the middle was play action. I can't remember exactly what in the game it was. I broke it down just the way they do it. And it was Julio on the left side and Mohammed's Inu in the right slot. And DeMarco was the fullback in the eye formation.

DeMarco runs a little out route from the backfield to hold Clinton Dix there as a box safety. Julio curls around in front of Gunter who does not have safety help anymore because Sunu is running a seam that's holding Morgan Burnett on the other side of the field and it's play action so every single linebacker take two steps up. It's perfect. It's literally

unguardable if you don't get there and the Falcons offensive line has been so good that people often don't. It's just I don't know what you do against that. One way to neutralize it is for the offensive coordinator to get a job with the 49ers. I'm, yeah, it's me again

That's one way. That's one way for the league to get rid of this whole thing is, by the way, you have Colin Kaepernick now. Have you thought about, have you kind of thought about who else this has happened to? Like, what shooting star offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator we had that two years created a world-altering historically great unit and then it was just over? When's the last time this has happened? You know, Josh McDaniels went to Denver. That's different, though, just because the Patriots are so. such a franchise wide deal and Belichick coaches the offense as much as Josh McDaniels does?

I think on the other side, I mean, I think that Buddy Ryan leaving kind of ended the Bears. That's the first one I thought of. Yeah. I mean, that was where it was, I think everyone knew that he was the heart and soul of that defense. That's why didn't they lift him up on the shoulders after the Super Bowl? Yes. Yeah. There's your sign.

Are they going to do that in Atlanta? If they wouldn't say they're going to put Kyle Shanahan on their defense. their shoulders. It'd be pretty great. I wouldn't mind it at all. Is there anything else you want to hit on from this? I mean, it just feels like those are most of the points. Atlanta's offense is really good.

Their defense is coming and, you know, it's cool to see Matt Ryan do this. Disappointed in Green Bay. I just, you know, I thought the most fascinating thing I saw a tweet this morning that both Pete Carroll and Mike McCarthy, the two coaches who have lost to the Falcons, in their opening comments, both referred to the Falcons as a buzzsaw. Like, that's the actual war. And so they literally use that word. And so I think that the NFC just saw this as like, okay, everyone is playing for second

place in the NFC because the Falcons are just unstoppable. And it's what we talked about all year. They had enough on defense. You don't need – this was a year of imperfection. You didn't need two great units. If you had – if there was a team with two great units, they would win the Super Bowl going away, right? And especially in the NFC, they would have won handily. But the Falcons had just enough on defense.

the spine of the defense was going to be good. We knew those young guys were going to be fast enough and good enough. The rebuilding project has been incredible, the retooling project, because they did keep their core from Dimitrov. I just, I love what the Falcons have done. I'm fired up for the next two weeks. They kept their core, but really the core is just Julio and Matt Ryan. Yeah.

I mean, outside of that, they've retooled most of the roster. Ryan Schrader's a guy who came along in a good way for them, a younger player that got an extension that turned to a really good left-right tackle. outside of that though Jake Matthews is a recent draft pick Alex Max is a free agent signing they got Andy Levitre off the street I mean it's been a lot of turnover

from the four years ago when they went to the NFC championship games Yeah Desmond Truffant unfortunately has missed what the I mean he's on IR but he's I think he missed half the season He's another guy The last Green Bay game was his game

His last game Yeah and so he's been on IR for a couple months now I mean so he's another member of the Corps But I think you know I think the one thing you have to realize is the Julio and Matt Ryan is a pretty substantial core. You know what I mean?

It's that if every other team kept their quarterback and their star-wide receiver would not be considered a rebuilding project. It's a good point. No, it's a good point. It's not a tear down. It's not a tear down. You're just taking Matt Ryan and Julio Jones saying, what are we going to do around it?

I also think, you know, I say this all the time, going back even to the draft pods we did, the rebuilding project is two years. That's it in the NFL. And it's going to take you two years. And if you haven't done it by two years, maybe two and a half years, then you're not going to get there. Because I have these long-term rebuilding projects in the NFL just do not work.

There's too many variables. There's too many injuries. I think they did it really well targeting a two-year cycle and getting out and getting to the Super Bowl. I thought it was great. I totally agree. And Kyle Shanahan told me last week, he said, we were closer than other people thought we were on offense. We knew that this was a tweak and a little hop-skip and a jump away from where we were a season ago. It wasn't this massive leap that we had to make.

They lost to Jim Tom Sula last year. That's fair, but there are a moment, so I remember that Houston game, where they just burned down the Texans. It's like, these guys, I like this. I like what they have here, like the bones of it. And they proved me right. And it's just little stuff. And it's kind of, the offensive coordinator quarterback relationship in general fascinates me.

And just Matt Ryan told me in November, he said it was as much about changing what didn't work as figuring out what did work. Sure. Little tiny things. Like, Matt was never comfortable playing with his back to the defense because in dirt cutters offense, there was a lot of. of shotgun play action and just facing and taking in everything, even when you're using fakes.

He had to change that a little bit with Kyle, but then there were also moments that were like, well, why don't we do it the old way? Why don't you do it the way I'm more comfortable? So it's just this give and take that allows you to really build on a foundation of what you believe in, what you think you're good at, and what you think you have to change. And they just, they hit a home run with it.

They did it in every way that they needed to. Yep. Again, I'm all in on this Falcons team. I just, I could have used, A little more drama yesterday. I agree. And then let's get to the lack of drama on the other side. Before we do, let's hear from one of our sponsors. No team goes into the season without a gameplay.

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so they add up to the kind of game day experience fans can appreciate. And we do it because we appreciate fans. So win or lose, if you're a fan, you still win in having the best game day atmosphere there is. Buffalo Wild Wings. Wings, beer, sports. We do it for you because you're a football fan. All right, bud, let's get to this. I did not watch the first half until this morning because I was doing Atlanta-y things.

I mean, when Levi-on-Bel gets hurt, it's kind of over in my mind. Hey, do you know who else? You know who else wasn't watching the first half? Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin was now watching the first half. He also, I don't know, I do not know if Mike's Tomlin has seen the Patriots play ever. I mean, I just, I don't know what they were doing, soft zone coverage against Tom Brady, leaving Chris Hogan open. Chris Hogan, whose entire job is to poke holes in nickel defenses. It was not great. It was not great, Robert. I wrote about this today, like what my favorite version of Tom Brady is. And there are moments against the huge against the Texans. I've thought of a couple where he'll hit Edelman on those just perfect timing routes that are designed to beat man coverage. But watching Brady sit back there and just pick you apart surgically when you play zone like that.

I think that's my favorite version of Tom Brady. Yeah, but you need the other team to be a willing party. It's like they were the stewards of the Washington generals yesterday, like Tom Brady take out a ladder in a confetti bucket. I mean, it was just, I just don't understand why they did that. I mean, it was bizarre. You know, I saw a nugget that Ross Tucker on the radio broadcast interviewed Mike Tom 1 at halftime. And basically, Tom 1 admitted that the young secondary had no idea what was going on, that they were bedazzled, I think was his word, or befuddled.

It was just that the Patriots knew they had a young secondary. So just throw five receivers at them all the time, go empty, go, go, go, go, Hogan up the seam. You know, I wrote a story last week about how football has really become basketball in the sense. It's really five-on-five or five-on-six now in the secondary. There's more five-defensive-back looks and more five-receiver looks than ever in the history of the NFL. And that's a substantial jump.

I think we think the last six or seven years has been, you know, a ton of receivers, ton of defensive backs in the field. You know, the base is basically nickel at this point, as everyone says. But the jump has been massive, even from 2015 to 2016. as far as how many receivers are getting on the field at a time. Chris Hogan is one of the best receivers at that in the entire NFL. There were so many times, I spoke to Trent Dillow for the story, there were so many times where Chris Hogan was supposed to be a decoy for another player,

and the secondaries were just so befuddled by everything that they let Chris Hogan go open up the seams. It happened against the Ravens, happened a handful of times this year, and that's exactly what happened with the Steelers. They had no, it's like they didn't know that the Steelers were, that the Patriots were going to have four or five receivers out there. I could not believe how unprepared they were. You have to understand your quarterback. And I think the most oppressive part, if you look at what Chris Hogan's done all year

in last season, it reminds me of what Jordy Nelson does with Rogers, but Jory Nelson's been playing with Rogers for a decade. The fact that Chris Hogan is able to understand Brady as well as he has this quickly, I kind of find fascinating. And you're totally right. It's just this idea of with five or six defensive backs on the field, being the standard, depth that those positions has mattered even more, and understanding space has mattered even more.

And I think about the Falcons, again, them losing Traffant and having to play undrafted Brian Poole at their slot corner and him being good, you need those breaks to go to the Super Bowl. That's the type of stuff you need to go your way. And the Patriots do that as well as anybody. Training nothing for Kyle Van Nuoy, getting Alan Branch off the scrap heap, going to get Chris Hogan, who, again, he had his best seat game ever. against Belichick the year before they signed him last year. Of course Belichick's going to get that guy.

Belichick loves the people that crush him. I thought it was interesting. I saw a nugget today that Kyle Van Noy and, and Shea McCullen both had more snaps than Donta Hightower. It's crazy. I mean, I think there were some rumors that maybe Hightower was a little bit gimpy, but still, that's a, to have that sort of contribution from two guys as far as snap counts that you got off the scrap heap is really incredible.

I thought Alan Branch was awesome yesterday. Even before Levi-on-Bel got hurt, what he was doing to Pouncey, he was matching the patience. Well, he was matching Levi-on-Bel's patience with his own. He was bringing it but not being passive. He was controlling Pouncy and waiting to see what was going to happen. And I just thought that was really, really smart. Belichick said it before the week, or before the game.

He said it last week. We're not going to be over-aggressive. We're going to make sure we maintain our gap discipline. And I thought he might have been trying to zig and whatever, people thought he might zag, just some misdirection. They didn't. That's exactly how they played it, and they played it to perfection. Steelers' offense. I know that Bell was out and all that, but I mean, really, I just thought that Antonio Browns would be a little better. Can we get more weapons on the receiving

core? Why is there not been a jump for Sammy Coates? Why has there not been a jump for Eli Rogers? Why hasn't Darius Hayward Bay been able to catch more touchdowns? I mean, you have the easiest job in the world, guys. Like, you have single cover. on every play because the safety's always crashing down and they're going you know they're putting Malcolm Butler on Antonio Brown. Sammy Coates make a play, please. I said this before the game. I was actually talking to somebody on the train on the way to the Georgia Dome. We're talking about Steelers games. Just approach somebody and just talk about Eli Rogers. No, he asked me a question. We're just sitting there. And I said this is the game where Martavis Bryant, not being there is going

matter. This is the game where they're going to miss him the most because they're going to bracket Brown in every way possible. They're going to take away Bell as much as they can. And they're going to say, we dare you to beat us over the top, and they couldn't do it. Without Martavis Bryant, with Sammy Coates being a shell of the guy he was in week two or three, they just couldn't make that happen. Yep. Or even if Marcus Wheaton were healthy, it's a little different. Yeah.

I mean, yes. I mean, that jump over, that says a lot about those other guys. Effect that, man, if Marcus Wheaton was healthy. Well, he's somebody. He's somebody. You know, I mean, and that's the thing. How much different is this season if Martavis Bryant plays? for the Steelers.

I think it's a lot different, but I also feel like Rathlisberger was bad for a stretch, so I'm not sure how much a difference Martavis Bryant would have made when Rathusberger wasn't playing very well. I thought Rathusberger was actually pretty dang good last night. He was putting the ball where he wanted to on most of these throws.

There was tons of drops, guys not getting open. It was really difficult for him to take advantage and really get the most out of that version of himself because he wasn't getting any help. Where are you putting this picture? team as far as Patriots Super Bowl teams. Are they in the high end?

Are they in the low end? Number one in scoring defense, which tells me a lot. But on the other hand, they traded Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins, obviously. So, I mean, I think it's a great Belichick year. I don't know if it's a great Patriots year. I think they're secondary is excellent. And I feel like that's a big part of it. Logan Ryan's played really well down the stretch.

He's had some bumps in the road. But I feel like during the playoffs especially, he's been really good. And when you take that with McCordy and Butler, you're going to be able to do a lot of stuff. And they have a lot of flexibility back there. They'll play to Ron Harmon is another safety. Move McCordy to corner. They'll move Chung down. I just think they have a lot of flexibility and talent on the back end.

And in their front seven, they're just extremely well coached. I mean, they're just so disciplined. They're never in the wrong spot. And I think that's a huge deal. And I give a lot of credit to Matt Patricia for that, honestly. Because there have been Belichick teams where they haven't looked like this on that side of the ball. And under Matt Patricia, they're not. have. They've done a very good job this year. Let me ask you a question. Maybe I don't understand

this because I'm, maybe, maybe I'm just missing something. There was a slot receiver who played lacrosse, who was available for cheap, who would be great in the Patriots offense, and 31 other GMs let the Patriots have him on a good contract. At this point, I think the other 31 GMs may be just huge Patriots fans. That's my only theory on this. How do you let Chris Hogan become a Patriot? This was like written in the stars as he would become a Patriot and that he would have a huge game in the AFC championship game. I've never seen anything more obvious.

It's so true. You do they wanted them to. And that's the thing about this Patriots team that I find impressive outside of the defense is that without Gronk, they've been able to maintain because it's kind of similar to the Falcons, honestly, they just have so many avenues. And I think there's a lot of reasons that's been possible. One, their offensive line is healthy this year fully.

They haven't lost anybody, and they're playing extremely well. The jumps that guys like Marcus Cannon and Shaq Mason have made under Dante's Carnegie coming back has made a huge difference. The fact that they have such a varied running back collection, all those guys in the second receiving core, your Hogan's, your Edelman's, can make a play. Bennett is just a factor. I know he hasn't been awesome, but he's there and able to make things happen for you. and just the amount of options they have in that area,

it makes them really scary. Who's the second best player right now in the Patriots offense? I would say, I would probably say Nate Solder, honestly. I was between that or Edelman for me? And Edelman's playing extremely well, too. That's a difference. And there were points in the season where I think he was a little banged up. There wasn't the same explosion that you're used to seeing from Julian Edelman.

I've seen that over the last two weeks. I think he's played extremely well, and that's made a huge difference for them. He showed up in a big way against Houston. Oh, by the way, maybe the Steelers shouldn't have put Lawrence Timmons on Julian Edelman for a bunch of plays. That's not a really good choice. I don't want to talk about this. We're purposely not previewing the Super Bowl because we're going to do a bunch of that over the next two weeks.

But the speed that they have at linebacker against this group of Patriots with the basketball running back to Edelman, I've been really excited to watch it. We'll talk more about that later, but I had to mention that while I was in my mind. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, we're going to preview all of this, but these teams are matching up extremely well. I'll say that. I mean, it's not a surprise. The two best teams do similar things well.

You know, that's how they've gotten to this point. Yeah, but I mean, I just, number one scoring defense against Atlanta Falcons. I mean, I don't think you can get a better matchup, just position unit wise than that. What would you say is the scariest offense you've ever seen? Oh, I mean, that. That's a great question. I mean, I think the 07 Patriots. They're number one for me.

They're number one by a pretty wide margin. I know the 2013 Broncos broke every record imaginable. The 2007 Patriots did it in a way that was so casual. It should just scare the shit out of you. And that was the difference in my mind. Yeah. No, I mean, I agree with that. I mean, I think that the, I think that the 07 Patriots were also a cultural phenomenon, and that shades it.

Yeah. And it was just like. A hundred percent. Yeah, and it was like the SpyGate stuff and the Randy Moss stuff. And it was also just like I was in college as a dumb NFL reporter as opposed to a out-of-college dumb NFL reporter now. And I was at that game where the Patriots played the Dolphins. I'll never forget that game. To see that in real time, see the ball go as high as it did, come down.

Randy Moss split two dolphins defenders, one of whom tore their ACL. There was another ACL injury that was forced by Moss. That was two. Basically, the Randy Moss tore more Dolphins ACLs that year than the dolphins had wins that year. Was that Todd Johnson? No. I think Cameron Worell was one of them. Oh, Cameron Warrel. There was some white former Bears safety. Oh, no, no, no. The one you're talking about is Cameron Worell. There was another player. Will Allen was in on the coverage, but he did not tear his ACL. I want to say, I forget who the other person was who had an ACL injury that game that was Moss enforced.

He had two touchdowns that game, though, right? One was he jumped over a safety to catch it. The other one, when he was between the two guys, he literally caught it with one hand on his hip. Yes, and they needed a party in the Red Sea celebration. Yes, which is just, yeah. I can talk about that to you all day. Then the other part of it was, you know,

the other touchdown that sticks out my mind was against the Giants, where they ran the bomb de Moss and he dropped it, and then they just ran the exact same play. Like, I don't even know if it was impressive. Like, I don't know, because what the faculty was, doing is impressive. What the Patriots did in 07 was just badass. That's what it was. It was just like

it was on another level. And so I don't know if I could be as scared of the Falcons as I was of that 07 Patriots team. I tend to agree. And what I would say about this Falcons team is just that they don't have that

put the fear of God in new elements. But if you look at what they have done, I really think we have to talk about them with the best units we've seen. I agree. me, the slate of defenses, the toughest defensive schedule in the league, and they scored less than 28 points three times. That's it. And one was to Seattle on the road before Earl Thomas got hurt.

They scored 46 times. That's bonkers, man. Like, that is just crazy. And they did it so easily for the most part. They had that one stinker against Philly. And other than that, they had at least a moment or two in every single game. And that includes games against really good. good defenses. I would say the biggest difference between those teams and the greatest show on

turf and also the 07 Patriots is that, you know, in the early 90s Cowboys like this too, I would be shocked when those teams would lose. And I don't necessarily, if the Falcons go out and score 20 points in the Super Bowl, I would be surprised and lose. I would be surprised, but I would not, my jaw would not hit the floor like it would for those other teams. Is that only because they're playing Pellichick, though? If they were playing any other team, would your jaw hit the floor at this? No, I just feel like I've seen them be vulnerable this year. I've seen them lose games.

You know, there was that there was that period during the year where I thought that, you know, we were talking about it, then maybe the Falcons were starting to nosedive a little bit. I mean, I think the other teams were just so consistently unbelievable. Now, the Falcons are hitting their stride at the right time. And obviously they had, where did they finish on the total points list this year? Seventh. Seven. There's 33.8 there are right ahead of the 2000.

Rams. It just wasn't the same sort of fever pitch the entire year for me to the point that I think they, I still feel like they could have a game where Matt Ryan gets three interceptions and then they lose. That's probably fair. I just don't think the Patriots are built the way. Let's not do this, but I'm just saying I don't think the Patriots are the team that can do that from a talent versus talent perspective. But we'll get into that a lot over the next two weeks. All right, buddy, I think that's all we got. I got to get in a plane. I'm coming to Los Angeles to see you guys. Making content. Making content, Robert. We are doing a talking football live on Tuesday morning.

We're also doing a ton more video stuff regarding the Super Bowl, the season that it's been. So please be on the lookout for that. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at Robert Mays. Kevin's at by Kevin Clark. We'll hit you guys with the details and update you when it becomes relevant. And as always, we really appreciate you guys listening. Sorry, the games weren't better, but I have a feeling the Super Bowl is going to make it up to us.

I had the same feeling. Later, guys.