The Ringer NFL Show - 'GM Street’: Week 15 Rapid Reactions (Ep. 204)

Episode Date: December 18, 2017

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier sit down to discuss the wild finish to the Steelers-Patriots game and the catch rule that decided it (1:20), the biggest statement wins of the week (16:00), and Todd Gurley's MVP case (32:38). Then they close by giving out some awards (36:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Sunday night. It is Week 15. I am Tate Frazier, and I am joined by the esteemed, the local celebrity himself, Tony P. Star, Mr. Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? I actually am a star today. I'm a star because I'm a grandfather for the second time today.

Congratulations. Millie's not Millie's in Waco, Texas. Congratulations to my son and his lovely wife, Julie. Had a little baby Leo. So there's a Leo Lombardi in the family. So now that's two. Was that paying homage to DiCaprio or just? Leo, it was actually playing, I used to love, you know, in Austin Powers, when he had,

when he's carrying mini-meoradios, and then Leo comes on the TV, Leo, like that. That's one of my favorite scenes. I don't know. So it was Austin Powers that made this happen. No, I don't think it was. I just happened to love Austin. Thank you, Mike Myers.

I just happened to love Austin. You didn't ask me three times either, by the way. I would have told you if you asked me three times. Anyway, I don't know. I don't know where they got the inspiration from. But it's awesome. I mean, it's great. Little guys healthy.

So that's all that matters. And he came out on a great, great Sunday, the 17th of the 17th season of a great day of football. Absolutely. Now he's born, right? Leo Lombardi's born. He has no idea what a catch is, right? Yeah, that's what I'm going to ask. I was going to.

And I have no idea what a catch is either. To be or not to be. We're going to call it the Hamlet catch of the week. We have no idea. Well, it's really the Hamlet game. It's the Hamlet game. Right. Because it would be, you know, there's like the tuck rule and, you know,

they're going to call it the Hamlet game. Jesse James rule doesn't roll off the tongue. And it's hard. Like somebody was, somebody texted me today, had a bunch of ideas for nicknames. And the guy's usually brilliant with nicknames. Kaleeb Bacon, wonderful guy, great with nicknames. And, you know, D.B. Flacco, that's his name. I mean, he came up with him.

So, but, like, he had like, them, you know, it's just hard to rhyme things with Heinz field and, you know, the Steelers, you know, it's... There's nothing really there. I mean, Jesse James, when people hear that name, they usually think of Sandra Bullock. So, I mean, it's hard. That's true, too, yeah. It's really tough. He had all those tats, too.

Yeah, I... It's very strange. We're going to call it the Hamlet game. The Hamlet, to be or not to be? What is a catch? Exactly. And we're going to address the elephant in the room. And there's actually an elephant on the table.

That's right. That's for Leo. And the elephant in the room is the Pittsburgh Steelers, by all accounts, would have won this football game. If things were judged by the eye test, Unfortunately, they are judged. Or the Tony P test. Or the Tony P test, the way the Steelers fans reacted at Tony P's in.

They were very upset. Look, I stole this for Mike Holmgren, so I'll give credit where credit is due because he said about the tuck game. He said, I have 20 guys in a bar think it's a fumble, then it's probably a fumble. Well, today I was in a bar, and I'm sitting next to our good colleague, Joel Solomon, who's sitting there watching. The star of Saturday, sit down. Saturday sit down. He starved many things, by the way. And so we're sitting there watching a game.

And he's like, and. First of all, he knows the end is near. Like, you could just see he's the absolute complete New Yorker. He knows like something bad's going to happen. Like, he knows it. So as the Patriots are driving the ball down the field, he just knows they're going to lose, right? And then he has a rebirth on the, when Schuster catches the ball. So Smith Schuster gets the drag route, takes it about 60.

Yeah, I mean, Eric Rowe kind of gets cut off and Jordan Richards misses another tackle for about the 15th time. and it goes down the sideline they make the tackle and he gets to the nine-yard line. Then they don't cover. Two guys go to the flat and leave Jesse James wide open. Right. And Ben throws it to him. Great play by Ben. Right.

We think it's a great play by Jesse James. I'm telling this story. So the great Joel Solomon says, what are they replay? What are they looking at? And I'm like, I have no idea what they're looking at. So they show the replay again. Romo and Nance both think it's a spot. They're looking at the spot on the one yard line.

But as it continues to linger on. See, we couldn't hear that because we're in the bar. So like I'm thinking like, okay, like there's a difference between losing control of the football and trying to get the ball across the goal line. Like I think there's a real difference here. Like I get you didn't have control the ball. The ball was moving slightly. I don't always agree with it, but I could see that point. Like I didn't think Jesse James never had control the football.

I thought Jesse James was trying to get a touchdown and make sure he broke the plane. One would call it a football move. right he's making a football move that's always the way they're like was he making a football move because that's the way to determine if it's a fumble or an incomplete pass right usually right I just so like for me it was like I think we've come down to and of course

Joel has this great point he says we've turned football into CSI Miami you know where's Sophia Milos when we need her but anyway so like it's like we can't figure out like where is the you know we slow it down to these fractions a second and I really don't think nobody's asked Jesse James this

but I don't think Jesse James ever thought he didn't have control of that football. I think he was just trying to break the plane. And Tony Dungey comes on Sunday night football and he basically says you have to teach your receivers that sometimes it's better just to go down with the football than try to to lunge for the goal line. And I agree. Like in New England, you're not allowed to extend to the, like you can't extend the ball in New England. That's a rule, right? I mean, that's just, if you do it, you're not going to play. You're not going to go the pile on. Because the reason is not because you think you're going to lose control of the ball is because the ball gets slapped out or you fumble, like what we've seen

happen. this case, I just don't think he was being careless with the football at all. And he was wide open. I mean, he was basically turning up himself. I mean, it wasn't like he was in. Actually, I think he ran the route. There was two guys in the area. Like, I'm not sure that really the big Ben was throwing to him.

I think he was thrown. Huster was right there too. Absolutely. And the thing is, if he had gotten touched, like if he had gotten hit as he caught the football, his knee was down, so he would have therefore been down. Right. So then it would have turned into like maybe a potential fumble situation at that point. Right.

It would just all things came about in this whole situation. And then we go to the replay review, everyone's saying, well, based on the rule, it doesn't look a catch, but based on the rule, it's not a catch. So then it comes down to, I mean, do you have to address the rule at this point? Look, I'm a Patriot fan, and I think it was a horrible call. Everybody in the bar, Tony P's was going crazy. I mean, the Steelers were going nuts. The Patriot fans were like, ah, see, I told you.

Like, to me, I mean, it was a great game considering that Antonio Brown gets hurt, right? And so they don't have him. But in all due respect to the Patriot to the Steelers, the Steelers, to play a completely different way. And that way really was the best way. They controlled, I think there were 10 for 16 on third down. They played a pace game, which they have to do. Now, when they play him again and Brown comes back,

assuming he's going to be better for the CAF, what they say. He's going to be out into the playoffs. That's the report right now. Which people report on television, but they read it on Twitter. It's the most fascinating thing of all time. Like, I'm watching TV. They're saying everything that they say on Twitter, Tate Fraser. It's amazing.

And you're getting paid for TV for this? Really? It's a pretty good job. It's a hell of a job. Basically, just read it out to the world. Let's go past that. So the catch happens. It's not a catch.

They decide that. So now we run the next play. We get tackled in bounds. The Steelers do. And they don't have a timeout. No time out because they take the time out after the Jujuice Smith-shooter tackle. So the clock runs down to 34 seconds. They waste their last timeout.

They come up to the line. They run a little drag route. He gets tackled in balance. The clock is rolling. Big Ben now goes to the line. All signs point out we're going to clock this football. Instead, he does sort of a similar to a fake spike spite, but not really a fake spike spike, kind of half. You know, actually he's going to throw it down.

Eli Rogers runs a slant. Big Ben stands there for a second in traffic. Pocket is collapsing around him. But the line and the other receivers, nobody else runs around except for Rogers. So he has one guy to throw the ball to. He ends up trying to force it in traffic. It gets tipped up, gets picked, game over, Patriots win. And then after the game is the interesting part because Big Ben has asked about the situation.

He says that he wanted to clock the football, but he heard from the sideline, specifically Todd Haley, the office of coordinator, that he should not clock the football, run the play. He ends up throwing a pick. And he kind of throws his coach under the bus. Right. He threw everybody on the bus. But here's what I will say about that. Okay.

So there's a real steadfast rule. There used to be a steadfast rule that if your feet were on the 10-yard line and the punt went over your head that you would not go back for it. But now we field punts inside the 5-yard line or inside the 10, which makes no sense. sense. But this steadfast rule has gone on since time of memorial. When you throw the ball to the front of the goal line, it must be thrown low. If you throw the ball to the back of the end line, it must be thrown high. What Ben did is the complete violation of all throws. You do not throw any throw throw near the goal line, especially packed in the middle of the field where the ball can do exactly

what happened in that ball, where Roe comes over, he tips the ball, the ball goes up in the air. And like Carmen said, I had no choice but to catch the ball. To me, that really is, it's on coaching. That play, again, is the wrong play. Again, why? Because if you're going to run that play, you want to run it outside where you can throw it low to the goal line or you want to throw it to the back of the end line. You don't want to throw the ball packed in the middle of field because there's too many

hands. What happens if a ball gets tipped going over the middle, all that? That's just called, you know, I talk about this all the time, that Marcus really is quote about the secret to all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious. Well, that's the non-obvious that I'm talking about. Like, that situation is not obvious. Like, nobody realizes you can't do that. Like good teams, good coaches don't want to throw the ball over the middle of the field.

Now, you see it all the time. You see it. I think the Eagles threw a touchdown pass today, Tennessee through one, where they're throwing the ball over in the middle of the field. But that throw is different. It's high. It's towards the back of the end zone. They're not throwing it through a bunch of.

people. It's just really poor. I thought it was a poor call. I mean, Ben throws his coach off the bus. Yeah, that's bad too. Don't get me wrong. But the reality of it is, is that whole drive. Having to call timeout, too, Tate Frazier, like, that's really wrong, too, right? Yeah. That just, you can't do that either. Well, I think the thing about that is, you know, obviously the great thing about Juju Smith-Schuster is that he does go about 80 yards, but the bad thing is that your whole offensive line and Big Ben have to run 80 yards. And that's why they couldn't get down there to get the spike. But in my opinion, right, if you're the Steelers and you see Juju taking off, we're sprinting.

We're trying to get down there, so we don't have to waste that timeout and ends up coming to Biden. And you can't, like, you need that timeout because now, because you threw the ball, and then the next play, you throw the ball in bounds. And look, the one thing you know, we trust you as a quarterback. I mean, as a quarterback, we're trusting you to protect the football. That's why we pay you all this money. You got to protect the ball.

You can't make that throw. I don't care what they told them in the headset. You can't make that throw. Like, you just can't do that. You can't put your team in harm's way. And, you know, it was a hard fought game. Look, I think the Steelers should walk off that field feeling like, you know what, we played this team toe to toe.

We have no answer for Grong. Like all this bragging that Tomlin's been doing about, you know, they got no answer for Gromker. Yeah, and I will say this. Maybe we will all learn one day. Stop throwing the ball across the middle against the Patriots on the goal line. You would think so. We've learned that lesson.

Because I don't think people talk about this enough. We don't talk about it on television enough. The throws, when you're in the red zone, you can't throw the ball. to the, you have to throw it low to the goal line and high to the back line. That's got to be, that's offenses, okay? There's those middle throws in that they're hard to get. And if you don't coach it, you're going to keep making those mistakes and wonder why. Yeah. And Tomlin, after the game, I will say this. I mean, I think a lot of coaches, after all that had transpired, and obviously, you know, you go from thinking, we just got to win at home. And at least we're going to

go to overtime because we're going to get a field goal. And you go to losing 2724. You know, he was pretty much in the press conference. It's like, we fought hard. We missed Antonio Brown, you know, these things happen. He didn't, he didn't, you know, pull the caveat of like, you know, the catch and all this stuff. He didn't go low, he went high. I don't see, see, Tomlin's a stand-up guy to me. I mean, Tomlin, like, there's

things that don't happen well on the field, like that timeout, all those things that you wonder what they do. There's details that I think get not addressed, but he's a stand-up guy. I think, look, they did miss Antonio Brown. I'm not going to know, but what the lesson to learn here is the pace of this game. That's how,

even when Brown comes back, this is how got to play them. Getting in a lot of third downs. They're going to get Van Neuye back. That'll help them. But we got to get in third downs. We got to convert. The best defense we can have is keeping Brady off the field.

And they did. And they just couldn't do it at the end. I think the Patriots, that injury to Rex Burkhead really helped the Patriots, too. Not that Burkhead's not a good player, but the Patriots are way better when Dion's on the field all the time. They don't want to accept it. They want to keep rotating all their backs in. But they're a better team when 33 is the back.

And he runs hard inside. they take him out when it comes to goal line and then Burkhead got hurting, herding, he ran the ball in the end zone. I mean, like the guy's a really good runner. On the short yardage play, they run him. He's a good inside runner. Like, they're a way better team when he's on the field. Yeah, it's good for Pitt Panther fans.

You know, you got Conner on one side, Dionne Lewis on the other side, even if he's going against you, so congrats to Pittsburgh. I think if you're if New England, you sit there, you won the game, you've won, you got the hat, you got the T-shirt, you know, you've won the East again. I got to ask you. I mean, I can't believe they actually put on those hats and T-shirts. I mean,

How many do they have? That's too much. I got to throw those out. No, look, they're worth it. You fight your ass off for those things. You got to be, they enjoy them, you know. Enjoy them. Just like the Eagles enjoy the being in the top two seeds.

Those are, those are things are hard to come by. You know, and you think, and you know, you can't take them for granted. Like my first couple years in the NFL, we went to the playoffs, Super Bowl. You start to start thinking you take those for granted. And then you have those long dry spells. And all of a sudden you realize, no, man, I'm not taking this for granted anymore. Enjoy it.

But they earned it. I mean, the one thing I will say, the games like that really teach you about how to stay mentally tough and focused. Like the Patriots could have easily just collapsed at the goal line. And that wasn't them. They played their asses off down there. They made the play when they had to make the play. Pittsburgh's the same way.

Pittsburgh rallied back. I mean, they gave up the touchdown. They fought. It was too hard fought tough mentally teams. Yeah, I will say this. Brady, there was a good sign. When they got the two-point conversion, Gras, you know, spiking the ball celebrating, flexing at the camera, doing all this stuff.

And Brady, someone caught a clip of the audio. Brady runs over to him. He's like, it ain't over, it ain't over, it ain't over. It ain't over. It pulls him in the sideline. And he was correct. Their defense hasn't played very well. And that defense didn't play very well.

I mean, they gave up 10 for 16 on third down. They put a little bit of pressure on. You know, they missed. They had a couple chances. Ben had a couple runs. Ben ran the ball once or twice. I tweeted out, like, this is Big Ben Retro. I mean, he looked good doing it.

But it was a great game. I thought it was a great game. I thought it was a really, it was now the chess match, if they play again, will be different. But I thought it was a really good game. But the pace of the game was exactly the way. I know the Steelers missed Brown. I'm not denying that. But the way they play that game is how they should play.

They can't get the game into the 30. If they get that game in the 30s, it's not going to work out. Where if you're a Patriot fan, you're thinking, hey, we came from behind and beat them. Usually, and the one area that's not going to get talked about is too, and Joel reminded me of this when we were watching. They got conservative. When they had the ball back and it was 24 to, I think the score was 2419 at that time, right? They should have said, they should have had the mentality. we can't get the ball. We got to get first. We can't punt the ball back to them because you knew they were going to come back down the field again. You can't put the game with their defense. You've got to win the game with your offense. Unfortunately, they lost the game with their offense. And the funny thing about that, too, is even when Lewis scored and they take the lead, I was thinking to myself, I'm sure Belichick wished that Lewis would have gone down to take more time off the clock because you didn't want to give Big Ben in that offense. They were really letting that clock milk. I mean, they do it so good. I mean, they're so good at doing that. I don't think anybody thought it. I think they ran that ball on that down, not because.

they thought he was going to run it in. I think they ran it to keep the clock going. Exactly. And he kind of just, they almost like let up a little bit. You can see his tears like, look, if he's going to run, just let him go in so we can go back on offense. Which is probably a smart thing to do. It was a great game. I mean, what made it a great game was the fact that the RAM game, we could talk about this now. But the RAM game was so dominant by the Rams. The Rams made a statement today, Tate Fraser. Absolutely. I mean, I think that's the, there was a couple teams that made statements today. The Rams made a huge statement. They get, they get beat last week. They come back. And, you know, Todd Gurley was the man today. And I've defended Seattle all year thinking that eventually they're going to get it.

Seattle has gone from being a team that appears to be, you know, in control but plays hostile to really an undisciplined team out of control. I mean, there's a reason they have all these penalties. There's a reason they play like this. They can't stop the run. I mean, the end is, I don't think this, I do not think Seattle, even if they get in, I don't think they're going to go more. When you lose at home this badly and you're a really good home team,

that tells you a lot right there. Russell Wilson is a quarterback that thrives in chaos and a lot of times today it was chaotic in the pocket. I mean, Robert Quinn was unbelievable getting after him. I mean, there were a few plays that Russell Wilson made where I mean, I don't know how you is, I mean, he's an escape artist we know that, but like he was getting

crying, Dwayne Brown was just getting rocked. I mean, a guy they traded for and brought in and hoped that he would work out for them. I mean, he's supposed to be a pro bowl guy, but he did not look like it against that. I mean, that D-line for the Rams and that defense in general, I mean, they look like a Super Bowl They kick their ass. They kick their ass. I mean, Seattle's got real issues. I mean, you can't stop the run.

I mean, look, they got a lot of guys hurt. And they got a lot of guys. But with all that being said, like at some point, Pete's got to sit this offseason down and say, we got to fix this offense, whether it's we got to change, Daryl Bevel, whatever we're doing on offense has got to change. Because we can't win games with our best player leading the team in rushing, making 15 throws, jumping over buildings, you know, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, you know, I mean, he's like Superman out there. We've got to be able to, we can't be an offense that just runs plays. We've got to be an offense that can run effectively a system.

Right now, all they are is just a bunch of loose plays. He runs around and makes a play. And then, you know, Los Angeles wasn't having any of it. He chucks it down the field. I mean, you can't beat anybody doing this consistently, you know? What do you think about the fact that McVeigh, I mean, even when they got this big lead? I mean, we obviously had the Farrow Cooper has a big special teams play. I mean, they didn't let off the gas at all.

That's sort of the weird thing. I mean, they were up 20 to zero. They showed the Seattle defense, and they're getting this whole speech, the defense, let's turn this thing around. And a lot of times you see that, and you're like, hey, it looks like Seattle may figure this thing out. But, I mean, the Rams just blew them out. I mean, it wasn't even close. I mean, I liked it.

And the other thing I like what Sean did today was when the game was getting out of hand and the team was losing control of their poise and their composure, he called his team together. He called a timeout, got his team. I thought that was really a smart move because at some point, he's got to take over and be the head coach. and just can't let Wade do it. So he did that. I was really impressed by him on that. I'd take my hat off from that.

I think he did a great job. Look, they are. We talked about on the Saturday sit down. They're all about Todd Gurley. They're all about Todd Gurley. And Todd Gurley was great today. He was great. He looked like he was shot out of a cannon on top of his runs.

He didn't look like he was affected at all by the Eagle games. Yeah. I mean, he was really. They made a statement today. Like, I don't think you want to play. And the Rams are win on the road. Like if I know the Wams are going to win the West now, but I don't think you want to play the Rams

home or away right now. I think he'd rather play them in Los Angeles than play them on the road. Absolutely. Let's go to another statement when that's the Carolina Panthers. Your Panthers. Yeah, the Aaron Rogers came to town and a lot of people were excited to see what Rogers would do

but I don't think he was prepared for this Panthers defense going after him. I mean, they were blitzing him all day. Even Julius Peppers gets his 10th sack of the season on him with a huge hit. It was a nice little respect moment. Rogers pats him on the butt and it's like, you know, that's a good play by you.

Rogers throws three picks. He was taking a lot of hits today. and the Panthers, I mean, even when they made a little comeback at the end of the day, they made some big plays on defense. They got the onside kick. I mean, they had a chance. Green Bay had a chance here late in the game. McAfree, we should talk about that onside kick real quick.

I mean, I know we love McCaffrey. He's got great hands. He's a great receiver. He's getting better running inside the tackle, but that was tough to dive at that football with the hands team. So if they're in that situation late in the season, I don't know, they may have to figure that out. Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, when you can get the game, I always say this, when you can get the game to an on-side kick game.

And when you're in the league and you're watching the game, all you care about is let's just make this an on-side kick game because your chances are going to get it, you know, and then you lose the on-side kick, those are scary. I mean, hell, I remember one time we were playing the Bengals in Cincinnati years ago, and we had a 10-point lead, and Millie had brought the kids down to the game, you know? And so the game would look like it was over, right? So the boys want to come down on the field and celebrate the game.

You did the Arthur Blink thing. You come down from the box. Yeah, but I was way, way before, Arthur. I mean, this is like, there was like a minute to go in the game, you know. And so, and Matthew, my youngest one, just had a baby today. He's like, he's, you know, he's really little. So anyway, we're up by 10 and they kick a field goal, no big deal. All of a sudden, they're down there on the field.

I'm holding as I'm telling them, I'm leaning over, telling them both, look, if they, we'll get this on. So I kick games over. We'll celebrate on the field here. You know, it happens. They get it. I got to give them back to them. I'm like literally handling them back to the stands to the mother, you know, so.

that's a hard one. You know, when you don't get that on-side kick and you're like, oh, shoot, then you've got a rally and play defense. But I thought Green Bay, I thought Green Bay got mesmerized by Rogers coming back. I think they lost, like, look at the stats.

They ran the ball really good against Carolina. Like, why didn't they run it more? Like Aaron Jones was running really well. Yeah, like they couldn't stop him. And, you know, Joel said this, when we were watching, he's like, Rogers, so they're going to ride Rogers to the playoffs. And that's what they were trying to do.

but we talked about this in the Saturday Sitdown. They actually became a better team, complete team, without Rogers, than they are with them. And now that you add him back in there, you had a running game a little bit. Before, it's never Rogers could run the ball. But they were running the ball against Carolina. Yeah, Jones had only three carries for 47 yards. Rogers himself had six carries for 43 yards. So the fact that Aaron Rogers ran more and rushed more than Aaron Jones.

I mean, that tells you right there. And he wasn't like he wasn't running. And I think it's Johnson or the other backhouse. The other back, would he have? The Williams kid, he had yards too. So, I mean, look, they could run. They were running the ball. Yeah, Jamal Williams had 10 carries for 30 yards.

I mean, so, you know, I mean, that's three yards carry. But anyway, so, look, I just think they kind of got, look, Green Bay is not good on defense. We know this. I mean, Green Bay, look, it's good for Packer fans that they're not going to have their heartbroken. Now, my question you, Treyfraiser, is this. You think, you think Aaron Rogers should play these next two games? Absolutely. Just sit out.

I don't know. Why would you play them? right? Yeah, just sit out. You're going for next season now. I think the biggest thing in this game that I think... They won't. They'll take it seriously. Like, no, no, we're going to play Aaron. Like, really? If I'm him, there's no way I'm playing. I mean, he took one hit today where Kowan Short landed and took him down on his right shoulder and he got up and I mean, they did like the slow-mo Fox were going to break and, you know, he had grass and he was just shaking his head as if, you know, wow, I didn't know I was going to get hit like this today. This was not the team.

I think if there were any other game for him to go into, there's teams in the NFC, I wouldn't, If I were Aaron Rogers, I would not want to come play the Vikings. I would not want to play the Panthers in my first game back, especially when you rush back. Or the Rams or the Eagles. I mean, those four defensive, I mean, look, there's no secret why those four teams are going to be playoff teams because their defensive lines are really good. I mean, look, I don't think you want to play Carolina either because Carolina is doing enough offensively to make you say, well, wait a minute. Cam's playing better.

Can we just say Cam Newton out played Aaron Rogers today? I know the whole storyline was Rogers had this great game and almost pulled off this comeback. I mean, Cam Newton's 20 for 31, 24. 42 yards, four touchdowns, no picks. When he plays like that, they're hard to beat. Absolutely. And they get Charles Johnson. See, I think that's the other thing. When they can get Charles Johnson back, this is what I think the third game without, they get one more game to go and they get him back, that'll really help their defensive front.

Yeah, big win for the Panthers, a big win for the NFC South. Now, you know, it's going to come down on the wire with the Saints and the Panthers to see who can win that one. But obviously the Saints have the tiebreaker with the two wins over the Panthers. Next up, we got another statement game, the Minnesota Vikings, they go to Cincinnati, and they just basically blow him out from start to finish. If Marvin wants to quit, wouldn't it be better off just to say, like,

wait to the end of the year? Like, I know Adam Schefter's great at what he does, and he gets incredible scoops from everybody, and he's wired to everybody in the league. But, I mean, like, do you really need that, like,

an hour before you're going to get ready to play or whatever time he put it on? Like, Marvin says he's not coming back. And, of course, Marvin denied it after the game, right? Of course. I mean, what can he say at that point? I mean, yeah, like, what can he say? Obviously, he leaked that, but then you can't go.

He didn't want to be full frontal and say, here's what it is. So he, you know, so basically the team played, like, they were so flat. Like, there were two teams there. And I know this from watching because Tony P's, we watched the Browns too. You know, we don't discriminate. I apologize for making that Browns pick. I will say that. You owe a lot of people that.

People were coming up to me saying, did tape razor really pick the Browns? Anyway. That's second quarter, though. They look good. Yeah. But like they were flat as hell too. Like, I mean, their GM just basically said you're not real players. You think they're going to play hard?

No. I mean, come on. I mean, Duke Johnson did one good move and that was about it. You think they're going to play hard? Yeah. I mean, now Hugh's one in 29 and then the best thing of all. Coming back. No, he's coming.

Not only is he coming back. People are going to trade for him. People want to trade for Hugh. That's the, that's the latest. I hope the Bengals trade for him. That's what they say. The Bengals could buy. Like, how is that possible?

You're one in 29. Like, nobody's one in 29. It is Mike Zimmer hearing that. No one's giving him any credit for the great coaching job he's actually doing in Minnesota. Yeah. Hugh, who was with him when Cincinnati, he's getting all the love. I mean, Dirk Cotter's sitting down there saying, everybody says, I'm getting fired. I've won some games.

I'm not one in 29. Like, you're going to measure me against that? Look, I think the Vikings were great. They were going to beat the Bengals thing no matter what they did. You know, the Vikings are going to be a hard team to play up there. I mean, Case Keenham's still playing well. They put Teddy Bridgewoodering through a pick today. You know, it wasn't his fault.

It was a great moment when he came back in the game. The fans were going crazy. Absolutely. But I mean, this Minnesota team, now they have Green Bay on the road. I think they have somebody out. But, you know, Philly's got the number one seed. I don't think anybody's scared to go play Philly in Philadelphia based on what I saw today up in New York. I know Nick Foles through for four touchdown passes, but that was a tough game.

Tough game. Another statement game. We've got the Jaguars. They get the big win. Blake Portals is getting a lot of love, Michael. Oh, my God. It's unbelievable. I mean, Blake made a throw today that I actually said to myself,

Oh, my God, that's a big time throw. Like, I got to say that Blake Bordell's made a throw today. That was unbelievable. But, you know, look, I'm like not buying this stuff. Like, okay, the Eagles beat the Giants. That was a hard game. I mean, this Texan, this poor Texan team, like, they don't have anybody left. Like, they're calling, they don't even have a reserve army.

They're like, they're going back. They're looking for volunteers. Like, it's like. Poor T.J. Yates. I gave him all this credit last week and he comes out the day and just lays neck. But that was like a no-chance game down there. I mean, come on. They got no offensive line.

I mean, it's really hard. I mean, look, the Jaguars are going to be a tough out because of their defense. Again, I'm going to say this again, if the Jaguars play against good teams and Blake does it against a good team, I'll be the first guy to admit, hey, I was wrong about Blake, but I'm not buying into this against the Houston secondary. That's not very good. Just like today, you know, Nick Folse throws four touchdown passes against, you can't, other than Eli Apple, it's hard to find guys back there in their secondary, right?

So like the level of comp isn't quite to the level of comp that you need when it comes to playoff time. I think the big thing for the Jaguars too, I mean, obviously no Fort Nett with an injury. Lee goes out with an injury. I mean, Keel and Cole was the big receiver today. Mickens was big for them. But when you get into big games and you play the Steelers in Pittsburgh, you're going to have to have to have guys like Lee out there and Fortnet out there to really send a statement. You're going to have to change the game. I mean, they're probably going to have to go in.

Pittsburgh will be the two seed. They're probably going to have to go in two place three usually, one place four. You're going to have to go into Pittsburgh and win another game. We've got to beat Pittsburgh on their field twice in the same year. Hard to do. Absolutely. Another statement win, the Kansas City Chiefs a team that, you know, people have kind of gone back and forth on from saying they were a real Super Bowl

contender. And then obviously they had this bad run. And now, I mean, they showed up against the Chargers. And we said this on Saturday sit down. The Chargers may show up and be the Chargers of old. Oh, the Chargers. The game, the game, the game, anybody who thought the Chargers were just going to go out there and dominate were wrong.

I mean, look, they're the better team. Don't get me wrong. If Bill Belichick coached the Chargers, you would the Chargers like hands down. But for whatever reason, those things that make you win to the secret to all victory is the order that the Chargers are not very good at the non-obvious. I mean, they just like to take too many chances. You know, Bosa and Ingram really their impact wasn't in the game. Like I still don't think Kansas City's any good, but Kansas City won the game. And Kansas City dominated the game when they had to do in the second half. They made the plays that they had to make.

I don't think Kansas City's improved. I saw the Jets move the ball up and down the field on them. Marcus Peters play better. But you know, you can't do these, like to me, like tonight, the Raiders in Dallas or when you play Kansas City, they can't cover well enough that you don't have to take nine route shots, like what Rivers was doing. There's enough throws that they can't cover. Just keep matriculating the ball down. Just keep taking the profits.

They're trying to take the big play. I think they got a little cocky because they've been blowing these teams out each week. Just take the profits. Just keep taking it. It's like playing $5 blackjack. If you keep winning. just keep playing. Like don't go and all of a sudden play a $1,000 a blackjack and lose two hands

and all of a sudden you're out of money, right? Just keep taking the profits. I can't relate to that. I wish I had a thousand dollars. I don't gamble either. But my point is, it's like I don't understand why they did it. And I saw that to me against San Diego. And I never ever get the sense that I know San Diego is really good on defense at end.

But I never get the sense they ever control. I mean, look, we talked about the Browns game. I think when they play like this, we should call them the San Diego Chargers. And when they play good, we'll call them the L.A. Chargers. I mean, I can't stop it. been 30 years I've called in San Diego. I apologize to people in Los Angeles, but I don't see how they possibly, there's just not enough mental toughness in their team. Like, I never think

they're good on defense to really think that, like I think Boas and Ingram are great. Don't get me wrong. But I never feel like they just take control of the game. We talked about that secondary in the back end and they really got exposed in that game. Right. Now, that being said, I think the Patriots are probably happier in hell that they're probably not going to make the playoffs because the one team that doesn't match up is the team that has ends like they have, and Brady would be worried about it. Just like if Jacksonville comes to town, they'd be worried about blocking those guys.

So I think that's probably the case. Absolutely. Let's go and play our favorite game that we do each week, and it's called Guess the Narratives. If you had to pick one narrative this week that's going to pop out to the world, what would you say, Mike Lombardy? Oh, let's see, guess the narrative. I'm going to guess that, you know, everything's fine in Philadelphia.

Nick falls through four touchdowns and things are great. They're going to build a statue for Nick Foles. Like, I watched that game. I mean, Eli threw for five. Eli looked like you could almost make the case that Eli's back. And they had the ball with, where they had a ball first in goal down there. They really, the four plays in the red zone were really, I think they would probably like to have back. They wasted two plays down the red zone.

Look, I think the Eagles did what they had to do. Would McAdoo have drawn up a better play down there? No, I don't think McAdoo would have drawn. This is the first time they've scored 30 points in forever. Yes. Okay. So, I mean, they were moving the ball. I mean, the Eagles couldn't cover them.

I mean, Eagles, and this wasn't the first line receivers for the Giants. They could say, well, the Eagles had a letdown game. I don't know. I mean, Foles, I thought, played well enough, but it wasn't, like, dominant. Like, he wasn't like, oh, my God. He threw four touchdown passes. One guy was wide open. He didn't cover him.

He put the ball in twice. I mean, I thought it was a nice win. I don't know if you can save Philly off that performance as a Super Bowl contender, especially if they had to play the Rams or if they had to play Carolina or Minnesota. I don't see that. Yeah, I would say this. The Carson Wentz's MVP case that we've all been pushing. I know personally I've been pushing this whole time.

I think when you see Nick Foles go and throw four touchdowns, I mean, some people, I don't think it should necessarily, but some people are going to take that. I was like, well, they can throw anybody in there, even though Nick Foles is a quality quarterback. No, Nick Foles play well. They did enough to win the game. Their special teams play well. They blocked a punt. They turned the ball.

Eli turned the ball over. I mean, they're up 20 to 6 and Eli. But the kicker, I mean, the kicker for the Giants killed him. He had a field, extra point block, and he had a field goal blocked. I mean, they had a chance to really, they should have, you know, but that's what happens when you're 2 and 11. You should have, coulda, woulda, and you can't do it. Exactly.

And then you've got to wait to next season. What's your narrative? I got the Todd Gurley MVP momentum. We've had back to- Don't jinx them now. Here, look. This is going to be like the Maddenk, Chris. I'm going to say, we had Carson Wentz.

We had penciled him in as the MVP. He goes down, unfortunately. We had Antonio Brown. We'd penciled him in as the MVP going to go against the Patriots. He goes down. So Todd Gurley, I will say that the momentum will gain because of this big game. And they're also Wilson, an MVP thing. We can stop

that now. He's the MVP of their team. He is their team, but he's not the MVP of the league. You can't be the MVP of the league and not qualify for the playoffs, right? And you also can't be the MVP of the league when you're not the MVP of your own division. I mean, let's be quite honest about that. I mean, Gurley's the best part. I mean, we said this on the Saturday sit down, and I'll keep saying it again.

The Rams are a really good run team. They do, everything they do is based off a Gurley. It's not based off a golf. And their screen game, which is basically, you know, Todd Gurley just basically getting him out in space and let him go. It's all their misdirection stuff. It's all they have very few dropback passes in the game.

It's all that. Look, I think Gurley's been great. It looks like he's rejuvenated himself. He looks like he's back from when he was before the knee injury. I mean, he's shot out of a cannon. He's explosive. So I'm all for that one. Yeah, so if I had to say the big thing, I would say Gurley, probably the MVP.

I mean, look, I think he could make a care. I mean, Gurley's been great. I mean, Antonio Brown's been great too. But the Steelers had the Patriots beat today without them. You got to do things on the stage, right? So today, obviously, people are going to tune in to watch the NFC West Showdown in Seattle. People are going to say, you know, let's see if Seattle's a real team that can contend. And then this happens.

The Rams go up there and just blow them out and dominate them. And it's all because of Greeley for the most part. Yeah, no. They went up there and they went up there with an agenda. I mean, they went up there and they weren't going to, they weren't not going to back down. I mean, I think it showed a lot of mental toughness for the Rams, what they did. They went in there. They looked at it.

They said, you know, they beat us once. They're not going to get away of beating us again. And look, it's not the same team. Seattle is rapidly declining. I mean, Seattle is rapidly declining. I don't care what happens between now and the next two games, especially when your head coach comes out and says, you know, it's now we're up to a three-game season.

And then that's how you come out and respond. I think you got some real issues. He also said he couldn't find a silver lining in the game, which I'd have, you know, I agree with the other. I mean, there's no silver lining in that game at all. I mean, Aaron Donnell. had three sacks of the game. I mean, you know, you're talking about a MVP candidate.

There's one for you right there. Yeah, they got a bunch of guys on that Rams defense that, I mean, Ogletree, Quinn, Donald. I mean, the list goes on and on with those guys. No doubt. The other thing I would say is the catch rule. We're going to hear that all week. Everyone's going to be talking about that.

But we've been doing that for four years. Eventually, they're going to address this at some point. The catch rule, what's past interference? I mean, look, I just think to me, what's not being talked about, and we talked about this in the opening, like there's difference between the guy not having control, and a guy trying to cross the goal line. There's a complete, and then once you start getting into that,

once you start trying to be a mind reader, then I think it becomes real dangerous. Yeah, and we're going to replay for all this stuff and we're doing nitpicky things, like centimeter by centimeter and I don't know, all this stuff is a lot for football, I think. Before we get into some awards here, let's take a quick break to tell you about the Ringers YouTube channel. We have stepped up our game in 2017 with weekly videos like Cousin'South

best bet, slow newsday, NBA desktop, no BS, table reads, director's commentary and Captain Morgan's make-believe casino as well as our video podcast just like this one, GM Street and many movies like Take Hunter, Ringer 360, and Claytheism. Coming in 2018, a weekly video mailbag from the boss, Bill Simmons, another series called Mallory Out of a Hat,

and a slew of other new digital shows. Don't want to miss anything. Just go to ringer.com slash videos or even better. Please subscribe to our channel at YouTube.com slash the ringer. Let's go to our awards, right? Are we ready for that?

I think we are, yeah, I think we can. Let's do it. The Tony Palermo Award, I'm just kidding. No, no, Fred. Joel Solomon's probably the Tony Palermo Award this week. Joel was impressive. He was good there. He held it together.

He didn't throw anything at the TV. That was good for a Stewart fan. He's not going to sleep much tonight. He's going to be so upset. But look, I think you've got to give it to the Rams. I mean, the Rams went up there with a good game plan. They got beat by them. I think the Rams kicked ass.

I think Jacksonville kicked ass. I mean, look, the one thing you've got to do when you're the better team is take control the game early like they did. in Jacksonville. You know, that's what happened in Philadelphia. They didn't take control of the game early. They fought back. You know, they're playing a 2-and-11 team. They had a fight back to do it.

But, you know, you got to take control of a game early like they did and went on the road like the Rams. The Rams are a good road team. I think that was impressive. I give them credit. They almost look better on the road, which is very strange. They really are better on the road. And, you know, look, when Gurley was going like he's going and they can do all the things they are.

And Cup, I mean, look, that would have been worse. Cup drops another pass. I mean, for a guy who gets so much publicity and so much. love. He drops a lot of balls. Yeah. I mean, I think someone in the crowd today had a sign with like all these first round picks like Mike Williams and it like was a first round pick and he has like 10 catches. And then they had Cooper Cup and it was like third round 58 catches like Cooper. I think it's more of the underdog. I mean, he's a good player. But like you almost think he's got like,

you know, unbelievable Chris Carter hands. But he really does. I mean, he drops a lot more than you think he should. Well, he almost gets covered more than girly, which I think is the whole point of this exercise is the guy needs to get covered more because he basically is the engine to the Rams offense. That's right. Next up, we have the KGB Award, and that's probably going to go to the Seahawks, right? I mean, the Seahawks are the Texans. I mean, there's a big list you can go through right here. Can we do a quick tangent here? I just want to ask you about Billy O'Brien. I mean, there's got to be trouble in paradise at this point. Well, we talked about it earlier. Look, I mean, Billy O'Brien has never really had a harmonious relationship with the front office.

I mean, that's fact. I mean, I don't care what anybody's, they can deny it all they want in Houston. It's, you know, Billy's comes from a place where he's always had a collaborative effort. New England's, even though Belichick is the general manager and he is the head coach, there's a lot of collaboration that goes on within the building. You know, Rick Smith is the general manager. He's got a four-year contract. He's the best friends of the owner's son. I mean, he's not going anywhere.

He's going to be the general manager there long after Billy O'Brien's not coaching. So Billy O'Brien's got one year left. I think they're going to have to make a decision. I think all these guys that have one year left, especially with all these jobs that are going to open up. We know since he's going to open. We know Indy's going to open. We think Arizona, he's going to retire. Now, does that mean Todd Bowles, who's got one year left on this contract?

Does he want to be a lame duck? Or can he go, you know, there's going to be a lot of those kinds. Yeah, Billie O'Brien want to go to Indianapolis. Right, where he's not a lame duck anymore, you know, and so either going to give me an extension or what am I going to do here, right? And there's so many jobs that are going to be open. You've got to worry about that. I mean, you got to, you know, look, if you got a good coach in your hand, you better

keep them and try to help him, not try to think you're going to get just to get another guy to come in here. Or you could just trade for Hugh Jackson because he's the best coach in the league. Well, there's no doubt. There's going to be a lot of teams doing that. I mean, because who, Tate Frazier, where else can you get a guy who's won one game in 30? I mean, where else can you get this? They don't exist anymore. That there's a command for.

Like, I don't understand. I think I was told by somebody reliably in Cleveland that, first of all, let's just say this. Maybe you could trade for Bobby Petrino in the college ranks or something. Yeah, Bobby would be a hell of a coach. Anyway, I'd probably still be at the Raiders if they were to let me hire Bobby. Anyway, so the reality. So Sashi Brown was on record of saying a year ago, we're no 4-1 team.

We're not tank and we're not a four-win team. Of course, they won one game. And then I was told by some of the Relioli in Cleveland that Hughes on record of saying, like, if we win one game next year, I'll go swimming in Lake Erie. He's got to have a put together a streak here or else he's going in for a swim.

We should go video that. You want some video content. That's a pivot to video. We'll get Hugh Jackson swimming in Lake Erie. That'll be good. All right. Next time we got I can't tell my courage from my desperation. Who's that this week?

You know, look, I got to give some love to my man, Jimmy G. Like, can we have a... The best thing about this is that that was not what Michael Lombardi picked before when we playing this show. And I love it. You just can't deny you how much you love Jimmy G. I can't deny it. Like, I sit there and my man, now I got a guy who sits next to me.

He's a jet fan, Anthony. He sits next to me. And now, so I put the Jimmy G up and I, like, the poor guy's probably got bruises on his right arm because I'm elbow. Do you see Jimmy on that throw? Do you see Jimmy on that throw? Like, oh my God. There were so many 10 jerseys in the crowd today, too, in San Francisco.

They kept cutting to the crowd. All you saw was 10s. I mean, they're buying in to this guy. Buying in. They ought to buy that. Hookline and sinker. They just got a franchise quarterback. Are you kidding me?

I think he was the last 49ers quarterback to win back-to-back games in his first two starts was, what, like Jeff Garcia? It was like something crazy like that. I can't remember what it was. I mean, first of all, he came from behind again, right? Like, he beat the bears from behind on a drive. And this game, he throws a, I mean, it was. It was br- and look, the Titans are supposed to be, they're supposed to be good.

They're classic good, bad team of Titans. Absolutely. I don't know. Where are the Titans in ranking? I mean, where are they? Are they in or out now? No, they're in. I think they're the six-seed now.

Are they still the six-seed? The Titans are the five-seed, the Bills are the six-seed. Oh, my God. That's a bad wild car. I think we should trade one of those teams out for one of these NFC teams. Yeah, because I'll tell you something. Lions should go in, Cowboys, Seahawks. Maybe even the 49ers, just let them go in.

Let Jimmy G play in the playoffs. I watched another Jimmy G game. I mean, I watched another game. Just for you. I watched another Jimmy G. game. I mean, he was, I mean, the guy's unbelievable. The guy is really, really a true franchise quarterback. There's no doubt in my mind. I mean, there's no way he's Kirk Cousins.

I mean, he's better to Kirk Cousins. Can I ask you? Are you a little sad that he's not going to be playing for the Patriots when you watch him there? You know, I am sad because I feel really, you know, the reason I have so much love for Jimmy G is because I got fired in Cleveland. He was groomed in the system. I got fired in Cleveland, as you know. We were doing a lot of work on quarterbacks before I got fired. And, you know, and so that work actually did pay off.

And, you know, it did pay off a little bit at the end. And then they got drafted. And then what you saw and what you thought you could see, to me, there's a sense of fulfillment with the guy. I really feel, you know, good for him. And he's a great kid. I love the kid, too. You know, I've been around the kid a lot. He's humble.

He works his ass off. I mean, nothing's going to get to his head. He's been groomed good. And he plays well. I mean, you just can't deny it. Who's going to get the statue at Eastern Illinois? Is it going to be Tony Romo or Jimmy Garapolo? Well, I love Tony too, but Jimmy...

Tony might get one with like the mic in his hand. Jimmy might get one with the football. Jimmy's going to win some Super Bowls. I mean, Kyle's a really good coach. I mean, obviously, and they're playing with guys that they're not the most talented team in football right now. And they just beat the Tennessee Titans. Oh, my God, you know, the Titans are really good.

You know, they're really good. All the Titans are just so classic. I mean, they had a chance to win this game. They got a third and four. And, of course, they run some stupidly conservative play. There's a job that could open up, too. See, that's what I think we're not counting on. some of these jobs that are going to open up.

There's some jobs that are going to open up, whether it's the Titans or another team that people think are safe, right? But the owner's going to say, if I can get this coach to be my head coach, if I get Billy O'Brien to be the coach, I might fire my guy to get him. I'm not saying that's going to happen for Billy O'Brien,

but I'm just saying that's the mentality that's going on in some of these buildings. Can I get John Gruden? And if I know I can get John Gruden, I'll fire my guy. So you're saying time to go in the lamb as my guy? Melarkey? Oh, I think Malarkey's in trouble. I think Malarkey's in a lot of trouble. Yeah, I do. I think he's in trouble. I don't know if he's going to go on the, I think that's going to be an interesting one,

because I'm not sure there's all talk about where they're going to sell that team, all that stuff. It's a little bit more complicated there. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty there, so it's going to be hard to get somebody, but the quarterback hasn't really developed. Their team isn't really any much better. I mean, let's be real honest here. And, you know, they lose San Francisco, you know, and we predicted it. We did. You did. You did. You did. You did. You did. And finally, if you don't know, now you know. Homefield's going through the Patriots, huh? Everybody's going to go through Foxborough. Through Foxborough. What a novel concept. They have Miami left, right? They have Buffalo this week. And then they have Miami. They finished the final two on at home, right? Well, you know, Miami. Miami, oh, I'll tell you that's the other team we didn't talk about. We didn't talk about Buffalo. Let's, can we talk about Buffalo for a second? Talk about Buffalo and then I'm going to talk about Jay Keller. Okay, but I mean, Buffalo, I think Buffalo, look, they've had their ups and downs. I think Sean McDermott's done a hell of a job. I think Sean McDermott, like, everybody wants to give coach the year to the guy that wins the time. I think Sean McDermott has

done a tremendous job coaching that team. They're not great. They make mistakes. They screw things up. He's a young coach, but I think he's done a great job. I think he's got a great future there. I think they're going to go places again today. Miami, you're Miami Dolphins. They reverted back to who we think that, who we thought they were. They're exactly who we thought they were, right? It's horrible. Yeah, we talked about onside kick earlier and how nervous and scary that may be. The dolphins get this great onside kick.

And you're thinking to yourself as you watch that live, like, oh, this will be interesting. Let's see what happens with this. They get the onside kick and it happens. And I swear to you, not within two minutes, as soon as the dolphins line back up to go out there and play offense, they hiked a ball to J. Cutler, and he just throws it back to the bills. It was like he wanted to just go home anyways. All right, well, you guys can have the ball back. We didn't even need to do this.

They can't even blame it on the weather. They can't even blame it on the weather. Like, it wasn't like a snowy day there. I mean, like, give Buffalo, give Buffalo some credit. I love Buffalo. I think Sean's done a great job. I think it's been unbelievable. Do we miss a game?

Did we miss any games here? I'm just running through it right now. I mean, as far as, I mean, obviously, the Lions, you know, they get a win. They're going to stay in the playoff picture. Look, anybody thinks John Fox is going to coach the Bears next year is not thinking. I mean, let's just be really honest. They're going to make a change. They're going to have to.

And, you know, I tweeted out this, you know, what would happen if the Bears would have drafted to Sean Watson? And, of course, naturally, I got all as well, he would have been hurt. he has no receivers. At some point, like, this is what drives me absolutely insane, okay? We watch Jimmy Garapolo, and he makes these receivers look really good. You don't have no idea who these receivers. Like, they're playing with nobody at receiver and nobody at running back. I know, you know, they had some skills, Carlos hides there, but for the most part, they don't have anybody. All of a sudden now, these receivers start to look good. When you get a great

quarterback, everybody else looks good. So this crap, well, he doesn't have this, he doesn't have that. you know, like I was texting with a coach in a league. I said, you know, the bear should have drafted Watson. And he said, yeah, but Watson has, you know, he has all those receivers down. He has Fuller and Hopkins. Yeah. Well, so does Tom Savage. So does, you know, they're not making any place for him, right?

That's what drives you crazy. Like, if they take, if you take the right player, he makes everybody else better. Jimmy's the right player. Watson's the right player. Like, is Trubisky the right player? He might be, but it ain't right now. He is. Don't listen to him, Mitchell.

Just kidding. I wanted to mention one thing. We did say the Giants scored 30 points. What did they score? 29. 29. They're almost there. They're on the cusp.

Maybe. What they lost? What they lost? Lose. 3429. 3429. Yeah. So they had the four plays to go in the end zone.

That was really, they kind of poorly, they tried to run the ball on third and third and eight from the red. It was horrible. Like, I wasn't sure what their play call. And then they threw the ball in the back of the end zone. It was kind of an iffy call. Look, the Eagles had a hard fought. win. It was a good win for the Eagles and Nick falls through four touchdowns and he looks good

like doing it, but I mean, they're going to play better competition as it goes forward. They won that and look, they're going to have home. It's going to go through Philly. I just don't think it's going to be hard to go through Philly just because, oh, it's like you can't win there. Yeah. That's probably the biggest takeaway. We know we're going to go through Foxborough. We know we're going to go through Philadelphia and the Patriots look like they're primed and ready for it. And now we're going to have probably a showdown between the Steelers and the Patriots again in the playoffs. And the Eagles look pretty vulnerable at this point. You got the Jeff Fisher quarterback.

You got Case Keenham. You got Nick Foles. And Jared Gough. And Jared Gough. That's right. The big three. All making the playoffs. What do you think Jeff Fisher's up to right now?

Just buying new sunglasses? No, I think Jeff thinks he's going to become a head coach again. I think he's working it. I think he's working behind the scenes. Maybe he'll go back to Tennessee or something. I could. I think he's got a lot of contacts in the league. I'm sure the league office will push him through, you know, try to get him a job somewhere.

He wants to be a head coach again. Yeah. You know, what people don't realize is these jobs are select, they are elected, not selected. So a lot of these owners that, you know, they feel like you can be in there getting talked to by the league office to listen to somebody. You never know. I mean, look, you could never tell. I mean, there's going to be so many openings, but at least there'll be six, seven. I mean, it's ridiculous.

You would think at some point with the work for, with teams being having 32 teams, you'd figure out how do we get better, how do this improve, but it doesn't? And we keep looking at the problem as if it's always just the coach. It's not always the coach. It's the organization. And that's a great final throw off of Mike LaBardi. This has been GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. I am Tate Frazier. Thank you, Michael Mombardi.

Thanks, Tadre.