The Ringer NFL Show - L.A. Rams' Offensive Issues, Big Ben's Leadership, NFL Families on Social Media, and the MVP Race

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Jason, James, and Ryan start the Tuesday NFL pod by dissecting the recent lackluster performances by Matthew Stafford and the L.A. Rams' star-studded offense. Then they discuss the consistency of the Patriot way, Ben Roethlisberger's lack of leadership, and how NFL players navigate social media issues with their families. They wrap everything up by trying to figure out the Vikings' struggles, determine the leaders in the MVP discussion, and show some love for Ryan's new book, 'Walking Miracle.' Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's help everybody. I'm J.J. John D. Stramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the big apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines. So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

Welcome into the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show. James Jones, Ryan Shazir, me, Jason Gough. Fellas, another week of NFL football. We got the chance to digest. We got some Thanksgiving Day vibes in this as well. I can't wait until the Detroit Lions are done hosting Thanksgiving Day games so we don't have to worry about watching football, especially of that manner. But what stuck out to you guys in this past week of NFL football?

I'll start because we've talked about this team a lot. the Los Angeles Rams going up against James Jones's Green Bay Packers. And before we start letting James run off the Packers going to the Super Bowl parade, listen, y'all, the Rams got one of two things, and I want to bounce this off, y'all. They either got a Matt Stafford problem or they got a Sean McVeigh problem. And the reason why I say this is, seems like second half of the seasons, something happens with the Sean McVeigh offense, and you can check the numbers for whatever reason the thing slows down to a halt.

And I'm also noticing, and I'll ask you guys this, is it possible that Jared Gough was better for Sean McVeigh and this, that he was less toolsy, less talented than one Matt Stafford, just off the raw dynamics of him as a player, and that he didn't rely on Jared Gough winning the game. He didn't put the ball in Jared Gough's hands and say, go win us the game with 40 dropbacks. I remember the Rams when they were successful,

and being a power run team, and then they hit you with that play action. I'm watching Matt Stafford with straight dropbacks. They have, what, 60-some-odd yards in total rushing offense? And I know they haven't had a tied-gurly back there for a couple of years, but their run game has been okay with guys who weren't tied-gurly. So what's going on right now with the Rams' offense? I know you look at the number. It seems like they scored enough points,

but they're making critical mistakes and bogging down in critical junctions of games where we talked about this team as being the Super Bowl favorite maybe a month ago. Right now, they're looking as weak as I can remember them looking in quite some time. Am I just awfulness? Is this prisoner of the moment stuff? Or is there something that you guys are noticing in this offense when it comes to Matt Stafford and Sean McVeigh? Number one, he isn't the gun too much. Like when they were successful during the season, he was under the center.

Yeah, like you said, Todd Gurley's not back there. but then was handing the ball off and they still was able to create some play action pass off of the run game. Now he's just sitting back there in the gun. But even with that being said, they're sitting back there in the gun, all right? And he's saying, listen, we brought you over here, Matthew Stafford, because for games like this and for reasons like this, we don't have a run game. You're a special thrower of the football. Throw the football. You know what I'm saying?

Like throw people open. That's what you do. that's what Matthew Stafford is good at. Matthew Stafford has one of the best arms in the national football. Throw people open, right? Like, you win the gun, do your job. Now, I go back to the Niners game last week, but a week before they buy.

They drop seven balls on third down, right? You're not going to win a game like that. They try to throw a screen pass. They turn the ball over. So the problem with this offense is they just make a key mistakes at the wrong time. You're dropping balls on third down. You watched the Packers game last year. They turned the ball over twice.

One was a pick six. You know what I'm saying? So to me, if they eliminate the turnovers, they end these games, period. Matthew Stafford, they've lost three in a row. Tennessee, they lost Tennessee. They lost Niners, and they lost the Packers. What happened in Tennessee? Pick six, turnovers, right?

He threw a pick six. Then he tried, didn't he look like Carson Wentz when he tried to throw that ball out of the end? zone through another pick. Like, it's the turnovers. If this team just eliminates the turnovers, they're going to win a lot of the games. Even with the Packers, they threw a pick six, they

had another pick and they muffed a punt. That's three turnovers in the game against Aaron Rogers at Lambo. I picked the Rams to win that game. Even me, I picked the Rams to win that because I'm like, man, the Packers O-Line beat up, they come in and get NRA. They often, they just

have to stop shooting themselves in the foot. Turnovers and penalties is killing them. If they could clean that up, this offense will be doing what they need to be doing. Defensively, Ryan, you know, it seems, we've talked a lot about Aaron Donald on this podcast, right? And Aaron Donald makes two or three boom plays per game. But defensively, and James, you could jump in on this after Ryan. Do you guys think that this defense, with the names that it had coming into the season, I know they added Von Miller, but, you know, they still had Leonard Floyd, Jalen Ramsey, and of course, Aaron Donald. At each level,

got a difference maker to me. Their defense hasn't played well enough in long stretches. Like this is a defense I feel like should be one of the top 10 in the league, top eight in the league, and for whatever reason, and I know it's Aaron Rogers, so he puts 30 on a lot of people, but this defense, I think, hasn't answered the bell as well, Ryan. Man, to me, one of the scariest words is, two of the scariest words, it's potential and expectation. because the thing is with all them names,

everybody, like, oh, they had a potential to be this top, this top defense. They expected to be this top defense. But at the day, they're showing you who they are. And you are who you put on film. You know, on film, they're showing right now

that we're not making the plays that we expect to make. Obviously, Jalen Ramsey, he's being Jalen Ramsey, you know, if you guard, you know, Devante going to get his, you know, Jail is going to get his. Like, so they're going to do that. All the pieces are going to get there. their own. But as a team, you don't see them stepping up in the moments that you need them

to step up. And that's what they need, especially when their offense is turning the ball over, they need to force turnovers themselves. And that's the one thing that they're not producing. They're not producing enough turnovers for them to stay in the games. And that's why my, my, uh, kind of not shocked, but, you know, the team that got me kind of going is we, is the Patriots. Because they're their total opposite. Them boys don't turn the ball over. They're not flashy.

But the thing is, they're going to get takeaways. And what takeaways do, give Mac Jones more opportunities to go out there and play solid football. Like right now, man, we say every week we say somebody new in the AFC is the king. But I'm going on for right now, man, like, I don't have to say that the way the Patriots are playing when you're talking about teams going to the Super Bowl, the way the Patriots are playing, they're playing Super Bowl-calible football.

And I'm not saying that they're a Super Bowl-caliber team. They just sound. But they're consistent. They're consistent. And I think that's more important than winning the Super Bowl. I don't know James got one. I ain't got one. But that's more important than winning the Super Bowl.

I feel it's consistency than, you know, oh, I got this guy and we got that guy. That's how you win the Super Bowl consistent. And that's why the Patriots is so scary. because even if the Patriots do go out there and lose a game, this team bounces back and they just, they, they, they know their identity. That's them. You know what I'm saying? They run the ball.

They play defense and Mack Jones does not turn the football over. That's them. That's their pedigree. And even if they lose a game, the next week they're not going to be somebody different. They're going to go back to being the Patriots. And that's the scary team. When you watch these teams like Tennessee, one week they throw on the ball all over the yard, the next week they run in the ball.

all over the yard. You know what I'm saying? If you watch the Patriots, everything consistent. McIntyza throw that thing about 30 times a game. They run that thing about 25 times a game, and we're playing defense. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, they are the most consistent team right now, you know, in the AFC, and they're scary.

And if you got to come through Foxborough, that's always scary, too, because you already know Bill Belichick going to have them boys prepared and ready. And your headset ain't going to work. No, speak on it, say, Zier. Speak on it. Have you ever had any issues at Foxborough? Have I? Have I?

Man, so we played there, we played there multiple times. But one time we played their AMC Championship. First of all, a fan pulled a fire alarm at 3.30 in the morning, 4 in the morning. At the hotel? At the hotel. Then, so the whole hotel downstairs in the lobby. Like, if we're not at no small hotel in Boston, you got to stay in a big hotel. Like you in like a grand marriott or something like that.

And it's not tropical weather either because it's playoff time. So you got a whole thousand people outside in the lobby right now. We got a whole game that we're preparing for. Then I go out there to play the game. Man, I'm over here like, you know, you tap your head trying to talk to your coach. All I hear is it's Patriots ball on the Pittsburgh 12-yard line. I'm like, why am I hearing the play ball? They had the game feed?

They had the game feed in the headset. I'm like, I'm like, okay. But, hey, Tom over there, making all the check. Crystal clear. Crystal clear. I'm like, all right. Tom said, we've seen him tapazir. We got him.

He can't hear. It's working. It's working. Hey, look, hey, check, check, check. And what they got, Spygate? Yeah. They got a lot of stuff going on there over there with the Patriots. They got drones flying over practice here.

People pulling fire. alarms, taking a little air out of the balls. They got a lot of stuff going on over there. So you don't want to go through Foxboro for that, and you don't want to go through Foxborough because they play a ball. They live out of rules. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Hey, hey.

You're all luck into six Super Bowls, Mr. Shays here. You need a little luck to get to them, though. Yeah, no, 100%. You need a little luck to get to them. You know, I say, taking air out the balls and flying drones over practices, a little luck, but you do need a little luck to get there. Speaking of a little luck to get there, we are at the point of the podcast where we're going to make this nice and nice and short and sweet. Shout out to the Cincinnati Bengals for-

And we already talked about we ain't talking about this today. Hey, no, to be honest with you, Ryan, the Bengals are a damn good team, man. I just want to know your reaction, man. You know what I'm saying? Because I think we've had a- Hold on to hold on to hold over a week. I think we've had a podcast before where I said, man. Mama said it'd be days like this. I've been beat up like this before.

Just nothing going your way. You're like, man, I ain't there. Steelers, we ain't never been. No, no. Standard. Is it standard. Right, right, Jay. Hey, what's up with your Steelers, man?

First you lay an egg against the Chargers. Then you come out here and you just. And first off, I wanted, did you see a couple of the Cincinnati Bengals reactions after the game? Did you see that? No, I see it. Very chaty. A couple of them said, distillers quit.

He said, we've seen it. He said they dropping balls out there, three players in a row. He said, we was looking in their eyes. He said, they quit.

He said, us as a Cincinnati Bengals, he said, the dudes we got in the locker room, that'll never happen, man. We ain't never quit. He said, we made them boys quit out there,

man. What's crazy is when I played, that's the same stuff we used to say. Like, we used to really made them quit. Like, we'll go against AJ Green. Everybody, like, AJ Green, a dog. And I'm like,

he'll quit on you. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, the thing is, like, we, and I'm not saying that he's doing that verse everybody. You know what I'm saying? But, like, we usually go hit them dead in their mouth like they did to us. Like, they went down there like, yo, we got a plan. And then we ain't stopped that plan.

And we're like, all, we're going to keep punch you in the mouth. Like, and you've seen it in the game, man. Them boys got hit in the mouth immediately. And it was like, yo, like, I don't, like, I ain't witnessed no more. And like, to me, on a defense. the side of the ball, you normally see guys like that. You normally try to pick guys in that type of mood. And like, I'm going to be honest, I've never been on a team that's been like that.

You know what I'm saying? But it's sad to see the distillers looking like that because at the day, everybody know the tradition of the stillers is to be the bullies in the league. I do have a question for you, no, right? Yeah, what's on? And this really gets under my skin. Big Ben, I ain't, I never met him, been a rat. around him like that or you know how to

conversation with him. So I don't know what type of dude he is. But every time this dude makes a bad throw, whether it's a pick, whether it's behind the guy, too far in front of the guy, he's throwing his hands up, he's throwing

his head back, he's staring at the dude for 47 seconds like it's always the other person's fault. I've never seen Big Ben. And I notice a pod. People can't see me. I've never seen Big Ben make a throw and miss a throw in pat his chest. I ain't a lot.

I plead the fifth. There it is. That is. No, no, no, no, no. This is all I'm going to say. Nah, no, that, like, me and Ben, me and being cool. Me and being cool. So the thing is, like, I've heard that before, you know, from guys on the other side of the ball.

You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just like, man, like, it's hard to criticize him sometimes. And sometimes it's, you never, you don't really see him self-critit. size. You know what I'm saying? Like, I remember when it was times when I made mistakes, I'd be like, oh, yo, that's on me. You're like, even Tom, James, like, you might have did this before. Like, somebody else on your team might have made

a mistake, and you was like, hey, coach, that was on me. Like, you know, hey, like, Jason, I know it's your fault. Of course. But the thing is, I know, like, coach ain't going to be on me, like he's going to be on you. 100%. Hey, coach, that was on me. You know what I'm saying? Now I'm going to go harder for you. Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying? And that's all,

that's all I'm saying. I've never seen him do that. Just a quick little story. My rookie year, I'm out there with Brett Far. They throw me out there as a rookie. I'm starting. I don't know a lot of the signals. Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, know all this stuff. Because in training camp, I was out there with Aaron the whole time.

You know what I'm saying? First real game, they tossed me out there with Brett. I'm out there starting. He gave me a signal in the game. I ain't never seen the signal every day in my life. Right? So as I do, he say hike. I'm looking back at the quarterback to see if it's a run.

You know, I seen him take that thing out of the belly. I said, it is play action. Get on your horse. So I just take off running deep, right? Yeah. So I come back, coach chewing on me and all that type of stuff. We get in the meeting room and coach, you know, he reiterated. JJ, you got to know what you doing.

You know what I mean? We got a curl route on right here. You run and go. You got to know. And Brett said, I told him to run a go. Yeah, I definitely got that before. He ain't told me none of that. And it caught me off guard

because I look back into me like, man, appreciate you. Like you saying, the coach ain't going to get on him like he's going to get on me as I'm a rookie. And he stood up and had that. But Big Ben, like I said, in all the years me playing against him,

watching football, I've never seen him pat his chest. Yeah, no, that's, I think that's, and I think that's another reason that, you know, you know, the kind of an A-B situation happened a little bit because, you know, he get held to a different standard a little bit compared to other guys.

And obviously all quarterbacks held to a different standard. But, you know, some guys, you know, you would call him out in front of people. And some guys, you won't call him out in front of people. And Ben was kind of the guy, you know, coach is going to talk to him. And they're like, hey, I need you to understand this type of stuff compared to other guys getting called out in front of everybody. So, you know, I don't know. To me, it's kind of hard to say, like, what he does.

does and what he doesn't do because I was on the deepest side of the ball. But I know sometimes, like you said, I'll put my neck out there to defend my guy, you know, and I think, you know, God's appreciate that more because I remember, I remember clear as day one day one of my, one of my, I think, cornerbacks, he had went on the blitz. Like, he definitely wasn't supposed to blitz. And I was like, it was like, it was like, I mean, there's like a nickel blitz. And then he blitzed. And it was like, yo, like, what, like, what you doing, yo?

And then I was like, hey, coach, man, I checked into this. It might have been a miscommunication there. Everybody ain't here. You know what I'm saying? And then that boy came to me like, man, I appreciate that. Like, you know what I'm saying? He didn't miss no more checks. You know what I'm just saying?

That's how you earn the respect to your teammates too, though, man. You know what I'm saying? Like Big Ben, and just the one player, Big Ben through that pick six. And he's staring at James Washington like, bro, what you want him to do? The boy running the out route, you throw him behind him.

You won't go-go-gadgett arms and all that for him to reach back and make this play. Like, that's a bad throw. You threw an out route behind the guy and the cornerback inside of. Like, man, this pick six. And on top of it,

you want your guys to sell out for you because you know that they know that you got their back. If you're throwing murder balls across the middle and you're doing that kind of stuff, I might, you know, might make an executive decision, especially of the season going down to toilet. And that's just human nature, right?

Like when we talk about leadership, it comes in those moments that aren't the shiniest, right? Anybody can get off when it's 11 and 0 or 10 in 1 or 9 and 2. But when things seeming to be sinking, it doesn't seem like Ben Rafflesberger is under the same fire that anybody else on that team is. So it's tough to watch. Yeah, it's tough to watch right now. So the thing is, like, he, you know, I can't say exactly what he do, you know what I'm saying? Because he was on the other side of the ball, you know, so in the meeting rooms. But, you know, it just sometimes from, you know, guys I talk to and just, like, the perception on being on the other side of the ball, sometimes that's kind of how you felt, you know, so.

From the ridiculous to the sublime. How do you guys, well, how did you guys, I have to say, navigate the social media waters, which, your family because we've now had a couple of different daddies in the NFL, especially on the Cleveland Brown, step up and say some things. Of course, Odell Beckham Jr.'s dad retweeted the video. And by the way, for all of y'all out there, talking about, Odell Beckham Jr. Daddy put that video together. Let me tell you something right now.

I don't want to typecast the man, but I don't believe Odell Beckham Jr. Daddy listening to R&M like that and cutting up a smash cut. They definitely do that. Yeah, cutting up a smash cut of his son. Right, of his son, you know, being wide open. But now Kareem Hunt, Sr. has entered the chat, y'all. This is what he had to say. Now I'm getting people on my Facebook saying I'm being like OBJ daddy,

and I'm not, I'm stating the facts on football. And what we see, he's limping, he's scared to throw the ball, and they know he's hurt. They're going to keep listening. But if they don't like what I'm saying, unfriend me. I'm not jeopardizing nothing. I got a right to speak. I am posting no videos.

Have a good day. Go Browns, hopefully. Now, I look at these things from a very, very, very small standpoint, right? I'm in local media here in the city of Chicago. I tell my sister and my mom and everybody don't even interact with people because they always going to have something to say and we ain't going to win. You know, Kareem Hunt Sr. I'm all about percentages, player.

I don't know how this does your son any good. And yes, you do have a right to speak. You also have a right to hurt your son standing in a locker room as well. And until Baker Mayfield ain't the quarterback, he is the quarterback. That's one of the most important people in that building. And the last thing you want is to have a running back kind of making you feel uncomfortable, especially if you're already insecure about your gig and you're hurt on top of it, like questioning toughness and all this other stuff.

How do you guys go about it? And does it come up in the locker room when people's family members get to chirping on social media? So, like, you know, Jay is older to me, so I don't know if they had. social as much. All right. So back in the day when y'all worked with the abacus, James. I remember even when Martavis, like, Martavis, like, Martavis tweeted something and Martavis tweeted something.

But, like, to me, you know, I think, like, I feel like people, parents and people, family members start tweeting when they start telling them how they feel. And it was like, I don't care no more. You know what I'm saying? Because, like, for instance, Aunt Baker, wife said something to. I believe she responded. Because I thought, yeah, because she was like, people aren't tough enough or something like this. I don't know.

But, like, all I'm saying is that, man, you are who you put on film. Baker is not looking good, obviously. Man, he don't need to be playing, man. I know you're trying to help lead your team to victory, but you're not. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, I think he needs to get healthy. But the biggest thing for me is I think it's after a while, people, family members are just starting to get tired, man. Like, they know how hard their sons work to play this game.

game of football and they see that their sons out here, careers getting wasted. You know what I'm saying? See, but not too many, too many people going to see it on the other side and spend whatever you have to say, though, Ryan, like, even if you're taking up for your son, right, which every day is going to win. You're not going to win. Exactly.

Exactly. You got to play the percentage. I told my people that. I told my people that. So for me, when I play in the 80s, because Ryan, Ryan, when I play in the 80s, man, it was it was Instagram and it was. Twitter and it was all that. Number one, I had none of it, right?

I didn't get a Twitter page until I signed with the NFL network. I had none of that when I played because I felt like, number one, I didn't have it because they're going to talk good about you one week like they do. You're going to read your press clips. And they ain't going to talk good. Yeah, I know. I used to look. People going to be talking about your kids on there and all that knowing you can't.

So I never had it, period, right? But number two, right, I always remember what Coach Mike told me as a rookie, as a rookie when I came in there and signed my contract. Mike McCarthy? Coach Mike McCarthy. When I came in there as a rookie, he said, JJ, he said, if we think you're going to be the player that we think you're going to be, you're going to be a pretty doggone good player.

He said, I'm not worried about the football field. He said, the only thing I want to tell you that I've learned the hard way is never create questions for your teammates. He said, that's the only advice I'll give you. So whenever you have a good game, a bad game, the media is coming up to you, never create questions for your teammates. And that always stuck with me

because that's the same thing I told any of my family. Let me handle the football stuff. 100%. Ain't no need for you to come in here and say, why ain't Aaron throwing you the ball? Why ain't Brett throwing you the ball? Why ain't no need? You don't know the coverages that they end.

You don't know what my route is. You don't know if I'm the first week, the third week. Yes, you don't know nothing. You are not in the meetings with us, nothing. You got what I'm saying? So what happens on this football? There's nothing for you to comment on this football field other than you to say, man, good game son.

That's it. You know what I'm saying? So I just hate it because, like you said, Kareem Hunter's in that locker room. Better believe Baker heard it. You better believe Baker's family heard it and all that. And Kareem is in this locker room now. Now he got to say, hey, my bad for my pops, man.

You know, we ain't mean it like that. Or, or, or Kareem could be like, yeah, my daddy said it and I pressed in form. But I doubt it's going to go like that. Right. Yeah, it's not going to go like that. You know what I'm saying? Because as we all know, because as we all know as football players, it's a bunch of plays in a game that it's not just on bacon.

So that's what, that's what I'm saying. like we're going off the eyeball test we look at right now baker ain't playing that good all right we we understand that but usually the cleveland bow is running the air out of the ball too what they had 30 yards rushing yeah you know what i'm saying baker can't block baker can't block you know what i'm saying so like it's a lot of things that go on in a football game we don't need parents and all these other people coming out saying what you're saying you know what i'm saying you know what i'm you know because that's creating questions for their son you know what i mean so i that that's always been me, we're a team, bro.

We lose as a team. We win as a team. If Baker played bad, I'm going to come up to the media. They're going to say, can Baker play better? I need to play better. You know what I'm saying? So I just don't like that their parents is creating questions for them. And then they got to go in here and see what their teammate.

Y'all got to sit down at the lunch table with Baker smiling and laughing. Like, we don't know what his daddy said and all that. Yeah, he's Gen X. Gen X is a different generation. Look at you. Look at an old man, Shazier, out here talking like that. A game that I was interested. in that I watched and saw the comedy of errors at the end of it.

49ers of Vikings. First of all, the fact that these two teams, like the Bears are one game out of the playoff hunt, right? So the NFC is what it is right now. The 49ers and Vikings game was interesting to me because Mike Zimmer, I think Mike Zimmer is a good coach, but I think this might be the last go-round because this defense has been a little too Swiss cheesy over the last couple of years in inopportune moments. And once again, if it ain't all perfect for Kirk Cousins, you might lose a ball game.

And to watch him at this point in his career, I mean, he's $45 million guaranteed. I'm not in his pocket anything. But to have the issues that they had down the stretch, you're getting receivers lined up correctly because they don't know where to be. Next thing you know, you're lining up over the right guard, right guard looking at you like you're crazy. You got to burn the timeout. It's the last one going into the fourth quarter. Like these are the mistakes that playoff teams don't make. And now on top of it, Dalvin Cook is hurt.

The Vikings in the 49 is game. There's two teams trying to edge their way into the playoffs, but the Vikings really, really shot themselves in the foot. And shall I say it, it was the game to me of two coaches who are not happy with their quarterbacks, but both are still in playoff contention some way somehow. Good football teams don't find a way to keep beating themselves. Dude.

If you watch the Vikings over the course of the year, Yes, they've had some big wins. You know what I'm saying? They've been in a bunch of close games, and they keep finding ways to lose. That is just signs of not a good football team. But is it coaching James when you get? So, like, for instance, the Lions,

the Lions have lost four games by three points or less. If you're that close, that means you've got the talent to play. It's just for whatever reason down the stretch. You're not making the right decisions, or you don't have the players that could close? That stuff is tricky to me. Okay.

And the reason why I say that is because they lost to the Arizona Cardinals because the kicker missed a 28-yard field goal. Zim can't do nothing about that. You know what I'm saying? They down there, great game player, great call, buddy missed 28-yard field goal. Zim can't do nothing about it, right? Then you get down here, you play the Cincinnati Bengals.

You're on the 20-yard line, you hand it off to Alvin and get a little closer. He fought. Yeah, that's right. Zim can't run it. Zim can't run it. Like we're down there, we're going to, you know, hey. All right, well, what's up when his defense

be getting dragged up and down the field in? Because that's his defense. But to be honest with you, they're putting up points, though. So his defense has got to go out there. Yeah, I'm not saying they can't get better. But it's not like his defense ain't going out there and these teams is in past mode.

You know what I'm saying? Because of the kids are scoring, you know what I'm saying? So number one, I feel like this is a very good football team, like on paper. But right now, like, they just don't know how to win, you know. And if you want to put that on coaching, you possibly can. But when the game is on the line, they just making the mistakes to not win the game. You lost to the Ravens in overtime. Like I said, missed a field goal in the Cardinals,

fumble the ball in the 10-yard line against the Cincinnati Bengals. That's three wins. To me, sometimes you've got to have a coach. He don't got the cajones. He don't go for it in the big moments. He don't go for it in the big moments. He always like, I'm going to put it up to my defense. Your defense gets scored or all you lose.

That's the right play, though. But if you've seen that your defense is leaky, though, James, I mean, how are you going to put the game in their hands? You don't play the tie. You play the win. Ah, Herm Edwards in the building. Check out the last game against the 90s. They have the ball on the four yard line.

They down. They down. eight is seven something minutes left in the game. This boy go for it on fourth. Damn! What does you even go on for it on fourth down for anyway? Kick the ball. No, that situation, yes.

Make it a one game, make it a one game score. Trust your defense. No, that situation, yes. I'm talking about like late game situations. Like three minutes left, four minutes left. Oh, like one, like you got, you know, one, You got one yard to go, but you kick a field goal instead of going for the win. You know, maybe go for the two.

I don't trust your defense. But how are you going to trust them? How are you going to keep trust them if you know they're leaky, though, James? You talk a lot of basketball, Jay. Yes, sir. You know what I'm saying? That's all analytics. That's all analytics.

That's like you being down. That's like you being down by two or being down by two, you're on the free throw line foul. You got fouled on the three pointer and you make two, you shoot another one. And you're like, I'm a miss. Get the rebound. No, the right play is to make the three. No, but I think a better analogy for me would be if I know the corner shooter is open,

but he didn't miss his last four and his five seconds left in the game, the right play is to keep the ball out of his bum-ass hands. But I'm passing it to that man. Hey, the defense wants you to pass it to him. Defense closed down on you, he's wide open. You traveling? I'm using his name in the context because he's, I can feel something coming.

We seen J.R. miss it. We seen Danny Green miss it. We seen Aresa miss it. Hey, that's the right play. But hey, but the right. But we see LeBron take it is money. But if you three people owe you. It's money.

The problem is, James, you didn't have 58 minutes or 58 minutes and 15 seconds of proof that you should not be putting the game in the end. And the proof is to take his ass out. Over the point of the game, you didn't have missed some shots too. Not five wide open. Not five wide open. And listen, Mike Zimmer is respected around the NFL community. Obviously, you know, you guys speak highly of him.

And, you know, we know the battles that he has gone through over these last five, seven years. This Minnesota team's defense hasn't looked like this. Like, for instance, Harrison Smith was talked about as the best safety in the league two, three years ago. we don't talk about them in that vein anymore, right? The Everson Griffin situation is sad. We've got to win too, though. But they haven't, the thing is, they've been winning on offense. That's the problem with the Vikings.

That's all they talk about is their offense. The Vikings think that their identity is running the ball and defense. The reality of the situation is their identity is throwing the ball and making it as perfect as it possibly can be for Kirk Cousins. Because put it like this, you guys have played with dudes who can't play. play over the play, right? And those are the guys, you know, that you respect. But the cats who wow y'all, even as professional athletes, are the dudes who can execute when the play is shot to hell, when it's covered perfectly, and the guys who extend the play and guys who do more

above and beyond the play. Shout out to Kurt Cousins, he ain't that dude. So, so what, that's why they keep getting these nine and sevens. Yeah, and Zimmer knows that he's not that guy to create something special. That's why he say we're kicking it and we're playing Ethan. Yeah. I'm not messing with him tonight. I'm not messing with him. It's too big of a sample. It's too big of a sample size.

Hey, that sample size is big enough for me. Hey, I got to change something up. Y'all believe in the 49ers? Hey, to me, it's so funny. The 49th is literally just like, hey, Atlanta, what y'all doing over there? All right, let me steal your playbook. Pretty much. That's pretty much, right?

Right? games with a rushing touchdown for a wide receiver. At this point, you just call him a football play. I know it's cliche. I know it's corny. Bro, Debo to MVP right now. Hey, I'm so glad that you just said that, James. I'm so, listen, in terms of impact, there aren't many non-quarterbacks.

I don't think there's any non-quarterback. This one play running back quarterback, punt returner, kick returner. He's just going to receiver. He just going to work, bro. He's super egg. This three-game winning streak, he has willed the 49ers to three games. It ain't Jimmy G. Debo has willed them to three games.

This boy rushing the ball. He receiving the ball. 90% of the points is coming through Debo. So if we take a look at that MVP race right now for the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL shows podcast, what will you be saying? I mean, Kyler is in there, right? Aaron Rogers is in there. Debo.

Who else is in that MVP discussion? I'm going with a big 10 running back. You're going with a big 10 running back. Which one is that? Jonathan Taylor, this man is crazy, man. That's what I'm saying. Like, when you really look at the season this year, there's not no clear-cut MVP.

And usually right off the bat, we could go to a quarterback and say, boy. They want to give it the time so bad. And they will. Let them boys win three games in a row here. Debo the MVP, man. They're not going to give it to a dude

with a losing record. I was going to say that. Do you think the football would ever do that the way baseball has done it a few times where A-Rod, because of his astronomical numbers with the Texas Rangers did it that year. Andre Dawson, one year got it, being on a losing team. You'll never get it on a basketball team where the MVP is on a losing team because one player dominates the ball so much that if you're that good, you're not going to be a losing team, period.

Steph should have won it. Last year, Steph had a really good case to win it. but do you think you'll ever see a day where an NFL team has an MVP on a less than 500 or non-playoff roster? I'm sure we can go back and look at it. I don't believe it's happened, but we can take a look. I don't think they would do it, and the reason I don't think they would do it is because football always try to say it's a team game and this and that. To me, MVP stands for most viable player, and to me, that means best player. You know, so I think a lot of the awards and a lot of the way we do things in the NFL is messed up.

So the way that they have it set up now, I think it's not, I think they're just going to stick with what they know. So I don't see them allowing somebody that's bawling on a bad team to get a, yeah. It's going to be interesting. It seems like it changes every single week, to be honest with you, as is everything in this league. Before we break up out of here, our man Ryan Shazir, you know, hung out with us here on the late night because he's got a very, very early morning tomorrow. It's been fun knowing him, right, James? Because the boy is about to take off into the stratosphere. If you catch this tomorrow, make sure you devian his Good Morning America appearance.

Walking Miracles about to be in stores. So I want to congratulate you, man. I tweet about it. I throw it up there on Instagram. And it's not a joke. you are definitely an inspiration, everything that you fought back from with your traumatic injury to now on the other side of your playing career, doing your thing in the broadcasting and podcast lane. And now, ladies and gentlemen, he can add, I got a book to his resume.

Tell the people where they can find it and when they get it, what they're going to find inside this thing. Yeah, so the book is Walking Miracle. Like you said, you can get on Amazon or you can go to walking miracle book.com. To me, man, I'm just really excited about this book. It's a little bit about my life, but it's about just overcoming adversity, overcoming tough times. And I think right now it's the perfect time for this book to come out. It's the holiday season. But also, I think it's a perfect time to come out.

The last 20 years, the world's been fighting through COVID. And, you know, everybody's been going through rough times, going through adversity, dealing with struggles. And I think it'll bring a positivity to a lot of people, you know, just, you know, motivation and just inspiration to a lot of people that's going through some tough times right now and just how, you know, just positive thinking can help you overcome that. So I think it can help anybody. I know a lot of my football fans are going to jump on it, but just anybody that's going

through anything, I think they'll really love the book. And I'm right now, I'm about to do it in front of y'all. I'm going to hit that pre-order on this thing right now because I know Ryan ain't sending me nothing for free. No, I got you. I got you. Hey, but I support, though. There it is.

I appreciate it. And, and it's for the low. You know what I'm saying? It's a nice price on that thing. When you get it, you wrap it up and put it under the Christmas tree. You'll put it under somebody in somebody stocking, you know, along with the video games, give them something to read, a little knowledge. You can go to Amazon, like you mentioned, or wherever you get your books.

Walking Miracle by our guy, Ryan Shays here. That's big time, man. Congrats, brother. 100%. Just make sure you shout out your boy. I ain't really worried about Jason, but make sure you shout out. Good morning. We're in America.

We all good. Oh, my Lord. Sometimes you got to be selfish. So what are we doing tomorrow with the fit, Shazier? Oh, man. I actually got my bag in my locker, leaving my office. I got me a, I got like a, I got one that's a button down. I'm thinking about wearing that.

Or I got like a collar shirt, but it's like a zipper instead of like a button. Oh, the quarter zip. Yeah. That's that real money swag right there. Yeah, that's got clean. Yeah, I got some Chelsea boots. Oh, the man breaking out the brunch boots? Oh, we out here.

We're out here. You know he's going to have a coat on, too. He's going to have to... No, so it's actually in the story of you're going to have to start with the coat and take it off in front of people, you know what I mean? So, you know, I got... You know, I'm rocking James closet. I got the St. Loran, but Chelsea boots.

You know what I'm trying to be like you. Walking Miracle, how faith, positive thinking, and passion for football brought me back from paralysis and helped me find purpose. Ryan Shaysay's... year with Larry Platt helping him out. Make sure you guys go out there and get that book and, you know, take, take in some wisdom from a young cat who, and I'm 41, right?

So I can say this because I'm an old head, but a young cat who inspired many and continues to inspire every step that he takes, not only in his post football playing career, but as he licks his wounds because Big Blue did what they had to do again. So how to stay guy dance, man. You know I want to go let you go, right? You know what I can let you? Hey, hold on real quick, though. First big blue, then Pittsburgh.

Hey, no, hey, I got a few days for this boy. Hey, this is a much needed for what you got going on in a while. I'm going to tell people, man, it's kind of crazy. To pick me your projects. Yeah, sir. It's kind of crazy because, like, most people, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know who their teams are, but, like, my teams is like, all right, I know at least one of them going to win, you know what I'm saying?

The most hated, too. The most hated. Normally it's like, oh, I get two wins, boom, boom. You know, so it's like every week I'm going to be straight. This week I'm like, man, I got the devil whammy. I'm like, oh, man, and they both got beat pretty bad. So it was tough. And I'm going to the Ohio State Duke game tomorrow,

and Ohio State I already know it was about after that. Yeah, you're about to get it put on your head. But me and Michelle, we low-key Duke fans, but I went to Ohio State. So, you know what I'm saying? So I'm cheering for Ohio State, but like, you know, I'm not mad. You know what I'm saying? Whatever happened? Oh, did you hear that Ohio State fans?

fans, he went and got that bag, and no more allegiance is being pledged to your alumnag. I got an allegiance to Ohio State. That's not playing with me. I mean, I said, when it comes to basketball, you know, I love my school, but, hey, but you got to also like somebody, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. So Ohio State men's basketball team, when you see him, turn the other way. He's room for Duke.

I'm not rude for Duke. I'm rude for us, the show. I know, I know, I know. I know. I just know, Paul are going to get 19, so. Yeah, no, in the first half, in the first half. You're about to watch number one pick, do its thing. Fellas, as always, good to see y'all, good to talk to y'all.

We appreciate everybody who's been hanging out with us here on the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show. We got some information for you, all right? If you love this show, then you need to check out all of the shows here on the Tuesday Ringer NFL feed. We got a preview with Brian Solac, Kailin Jones, Stephen Ruiz, and Nora Prince Eoti coming up. We'll be back next Tuesday. Also, check out the full go with me, J. Jason golf every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Engineering credits goes out to our guy Chris Sutton on this episode with production supervision from TD.

And also our guy, Ajuna, Ryan Gapal Arjuna, we think about you, man. We love your brother. Give better soon. And we can't wait to get you back in the fold. So for James Jones and Ryan Shazir, I am Jason Gough. Thank you for listening to the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show. Make sure you guys be safe out there and always remember to take care of each other. Thank you.