The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi’s Week 14 Reactions | GM Street (Ep. 363)

Episode Date: December 11, 2018

The Vikings struggle on offense, the Dolphins shock the Patriots, Chicago stymies the Rams, and the Steelers slip up in Oakland, plus the weekly awards. Hosts: Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Tuesday. It is December 11th, and it was a crazy week 14. I am joined by the great Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? I'm doing great, Treyfra. Man, what a great weekend of NFL football. I mean, I got to tell you, I think this was by far the best weekend.

It had a lot of playoff implications, but there was some really good games. It was fun to watch. One of those games last night happened on Monday night football. And I mean, I guess you would say maybe not reminiscent of the Monday night football. Everyone went crazy about when we saw the Chiefs and the Rams duel it out. But this was probably the antithesis of that, to say the least. This was all about defense in this game last night. Seahawks ended up winning this game 21 to 7.

A lot of people bringing up the Legion of Boom and all that sort of stuff going on there in Seattle. And a lot of excited people about that defense coming back to what we expect from Pete Carroll, or what we've seen in the past at least. on the other side of the ball of Minnesota struggled, especially offensively. And the news came out today that offensive coordinator, John DeFilippo, has been let go by Mike Zimmer and the Minnesota Vikings. So moving forward, they will have their quarterback's coach calling plays for them.

Mike Zimmer said that he will get involved in some sort of capacity on that side of the football. But just starting at this game last night, what was your main takeaway from Monday Night Football Lamarty? You know, I was really excited to see the game, Tay Frazier, because for this point, you know, this was a game where everybody thinks when you play Seattle, you have to beat Pete Carroll's cover three and his defense. And really what you have to do is you have to attack his adjustments. And I felt like going into the game, one of the reasons I picked Seattle on the Friday sit down

was because I just knew DiFilippo was going to run beaters and not attack the coverage. And that's what he's done pretty much most of his career. He's a play designer, not a play caller. And so he designs plays that look good if he gets the right coverage, against the right time. And that just doesn't happen. And today he got fired. And I don't want anybody to get fired. but this whole PR campaign that's been coming out of his camp

has just caught me by a complete surprise. If you watch the tape of the Minnesota offense, I mean, Minnesota, say what you want about their line, it's not great, but when you've got skill players to the level that they do, Thielen and Diggs and Dalvin Cook healthy now and Rudolph, I mean, they're too good to get shut down. And for Seattle to win that game with Russell Wilson throwing for 60 yards and doing one of the dumbest things, you know, he could do,

he runs Sprint right option, right? I mean, Russell Wilson's a veteran quarterback in the NFL. He runs Sprint right option. He doesn't throw the ball away. He starts to do the Russell Wilson. I'm going to do a make a spectacular play and throws an interception. I mean, that was a game that Seattle won, but man, they were so beatable that night. And they walk out of there with this whole concept that they're great on defense when I think it was really the ineptness of Minnesota's ability to understand how to properly attack them.

And when you look at the numbers in this game, the Vikings were held at 3.1 yards per play in this one. not so great. They weren't able to cross midfield, Lombardi, until 415 left in the third quarter. And obviously, they weren't able to score until about a minute 10 left in the game. And that was in garbage time at that point after the Seahawks got the fumble in return on Kirk Cousins. One note to point out about Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is defeated on Monday Night Football. O'N seven in his entire tenure, obviously those games go back to Washington.

This is the third time he's lost to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football. A lot of people are pointing to that offense. saying it's stagnant despite the fact that they have guys like Thielen and Diggs, and we saw them in the second half, you know, have some moments, even though Thelan wasn't even targeted in the first half. Is there a quick fix to what this Minnesota offense can do, Lombardi? I mean, we did see Zimmer after this game. I mean, he has been pointing out the last couple of weeks. He wants to run the ball more. They did give Dalvin Cook some carries last night.

They also gave him some chances in the passing game. He wasn't able to break anything out. Latavius Murray gets stuffed on that fourth and one. We all remember that. But overall, I mean, is there a quick. fix of this offense? I mean, is there a way you talked about, you know, designing plays? Is there a way that someone can come in and make the right play calls, not necessarily the right designs and be able to get these guys rolling again? Everybody looks at passing plays as the brilliance of a coach when it's really

how they design the runs. You know, the running game is all about how do I get a half a man advantage on one side of the football or not. And it takes, it takes motion, it takes creativity, it takes angles and that's something that the Minnesota run game really didn't have. They missed Tony Sparano who gave it to him. Unfortunately, he passed away. But DiFilippo had no interest in really understanding how to attack in a run game. He was more interested

in designing past plays because that's ultimately what was going to get him a head coaching job. So I think they will be much better. In fact, I think they will be increasingly better as they move forward. I think there was a lot of resentment in that building because they hired DiPhilippo over Kevin Stefansky, Ed Stefanski,

the president of the Piston's son. They hired him in there. He wanted to go to the Giants. He'd been there since 2006, and he'd been groomed for the job. And they went ahead and hired a big sexy name in DiPhilippo, thinking they got this great coach when they probably should have just stayed within and just kept running the Shermer offense and doing what they were doing. I think Stephancy will do a good job.

I think they'll understand what they have to do in the run game. I think Miami's vulnerable to handle that. Look, I'm not about just run the football. I'm about taking advantage of what the defense can do and attack the adjustments. And I think that Minnesota will be better for that. I think they'll be much improved. And I think that that's something that DiPilippo is going to have to eventually learn before he

wants to become a head coach. Is there anything, too? I saw a lot of people on NFL Live talking about this. John Fox brought this up that Mike Zimmer has had some, you know, over the past, there were rumors that last week he may let DiPhilippo go. That obviously didn't happen. They waited out. They go to Monday night football.

Then they lose this game. But Zimmer was watching what he wants his team to look like, right? when he's looking at that Seahawks team, a team that can run the football, a team that prides itself on possession, a team that can dominate a game but only be up six to zero and have their defense kind of carry them. And you look at the other side of that, you know, they're giving the ball to Kirk Cousins and they're trying, they're talking on both sides of their mouth, it seems like, and the identity of the Vikings has gotten caught up in the whole Kirk Cousin situation.

I mean, I know he's getting all the money and you decided he was your franchise QB, but it may not necessarily play into the strengths of what this Vikings team can do, especially on the defensive side of the ball. You know, I think Cousins is the bad fall guy here. I don't think it's Cousins' fault. I don't think there was harmony in the building. I don't think Cousins was in favor of what they were doing offensively. I think there was a lot of dissension in the offensive meeting room, coaches, players alike.

I think now that's gone, I think that'll get cleared up. Look, everybody wants to, no, I don't want to be Seattle. Seattle needed to run more play action passes. Last night to me, I thought Seattle took a step back in offensive football. When you only throw for 60 yards and you win the game, you're falling into a trap. You're never going to be able to do that and beat somebody if you have to go on the road. I mean, look, here's the reality. Seattle, all they ran last night were nine routes and the run the ball.

They didn't have any intermediate passing game. They didn't do anything sophisticated in the passing game to give themselves a chance to make explosive play. What's the point of having this great run game if you don't have play action passes? I mean, it's the same thing with the Rams. Why do you think Gurley's undefeated as a ram when he carries the ball 17 times or more with Sean McVeigh? and when he doesn't, they're five and seven because he sets up everything with the run game. What good is having a good run game

if you can't run play action passes and get chunks of yards down the field? And that's what I didn't see out of Seattle. I mean, look, before I'm going to pat Seattle on the back and I think they're improved, we've been saying it all year on this podcast, but to me that was a horrible game plan by Seattle. They did nothing to attack them

in terms of how well they ran the football. They did nothing off of it, which to me, I thought Wilson didn't look very good at all. He didn't throw the ball with any precision and they were fortunate to win that game only because the Vikings offense was worse. And the biggest play of the game for Russell Wilson, it was

the long run that he had. It was thinking it ended up being the longest run of the season for the Seahawks when he slides down at the end and wraps it up and basically seals the game for him at that point. One more note before we get out of here. I mean, is there a is there any rumblings coming out of Minnesota where people, you know, start pointing

the, you know, Mike Zimmer is now, I think this is his fourth offensive coordinator since he's been there in 2014. do people start pointing fingers at him because of so much turnover? I mean, obviously you lose Shermer, you know, do a head coaching job, and some of these other guys that have left the building, North Turner obviously got fired in the middle of last year. But is there any world in which these Minnesota fans start to look at Mike Zimmer and say, hey, we have the quarterback, we have the skill players,

we have the defensive players, why is this not working? You know, I think Zimmer certainly has to handle some of the blame in this, and I think he will. He's that kind of guy. But the reality here is there was dissension amongst the staff when Nor was there. He got Norve left. Eventually, Scott Turner left as well. Shermer took over. Things got a lot better. He lost Sherman to a head coaching job. He couldn't control

that. I think he should learn a valuable lesson. It's better to stay from within than to go outside and hire somebody you don't know because the media is telling you this guy's really great. When in reality, we're not sure. I mean, look, let's go back into an autopsy on the Eagles. So the only thing that we can determine from the Eagles coaching staff last season is that Frank Wright has taken the third down package that was so successful in Philly last year. year and has moved it to Indianapolis and has been that successful. That is a fact. Nobody can dispute that. Now, what was DiPhilippo's involvement? What was Doug Peterson's involvement? I don't know,

and I'm not judging anyone there, but I know this. Reich is running it in Indianapolis, and it's really good. And it was really good in Philly last year, so draw your own conclusions. But I think Zimmer, to me, if I was an executive in Minnesota, I would just say to Zimmer, look, you got to have somebody who models after you. And the only way you do that is by having people in your organization that you've trained that can think not like you, but philosophically agree with you. That's important. And DiFilippo was never that guy. And you could see it a couple times on the sideline last night. Mike Zimmer looked down. Once I get that big pass play to Stefan Diggs and it looked like they had a chance to maybe even take the lead in that game,

as crazy as that sounds, despite Seattle dominating. I mean, they weren't able to put it together and, you know, increase that lead. And then Zimmer, some tough play calls down there. They get stopped again and he's looking down at Di Filippo and I think that was pretty much the sign that that times were ending there in Minnesota. DeFilippo should feel lucky that he got the flight back home. I mean, there was a good chance he might have been left in Seattle. I mean, he fired him this morning, but I mean, there could have been a good chance he left. I mean, Al Davis might have left him there. You never know. Yeah, that would have been tough. If he probably would, Reggie McKenzie would have been left, right? We'll talk about that a little bit later. But first, I want to

get to probably the biggest storyline from this week. If you didn't even watch football games, you heard about this just because people enjoy seeing Bill Belichick struggle and Bill Belichick get outwitted and, you know, for him to lose a chess match, it's like Bobby Fisher losing a chess match at this point. But Bill Belichick comes out in this game. They put a hellmerry prevent defense out there with Rob Grancowski on the back end. They're dubbing it the Miami miracle at this point. I'm sure you've seen it. And if you haven't, then, you know, a lot of laterals, a couple laterals. And then Kenyon Drake turns upfield. And it's a foot race to the pylon and he gets there before Rob Grancowski. who stumbles and falls down before Miami scores a touchdown. After the game, Bill Belichick said, you know, he thought that there would be a deep ball that was thrown. That's why he had Grancowski on the field. It was his fault. You know, he pointed to the play at the end of the first half with Tom Brady taking a sack, very uncharacteristic of Brady, even though we've seen him struggle down in Miami.

Are there any major takeaways from this game? One being, are the Miami Dolphins a team that could actually make a run at the playoffs? And number two being, are the Patriots a team that need to be worried with how much they continue to struggle on the road. Oh, I think they've got to be worried on the road. Tate Frazier, I think there's no doubt. I mean, look, they're not a good team on the road. Their defense was porous.

I think if you want to take one thing from the miracle play is take how slow the Patriots look defensively on that play. And I'm not talking about Gronk. I mean, Bill admitted that Gronk didn't belong on the field. That was a mistake. I mean, I think they thought it was a hell Mary. They saw the three receivers to one side. They had Kyle Van Nuoy kind of as a spy because I think they anticipated Tannahill

to roll to his right so he could launch the ball down the field so that Van Nuoy could get over the top of it and kind of put pressure on him so he didn't have real time to set his feet to throw it. Obviously, it was a mistake. They admitted, look, at the end of the half, it was a disaster as well. I mean, they got beat. The Patriots got beat in an area where they never usually get beat, which is in the game, which is situational football.

And it cost them. But I think the key component here, when you look at that Patriot defense on that last play is how slow they looked and how poorly they looked in space. And I think that's got to concern you. That's what I've been saying all year about their defense. I think it showed on that play. Drake just ran away from everybody. They didn't have anybody that could really run with Drake.

And I know McCordy wasn't on the field. So he would have been somebody who could have. But I think you've got to be concerned with the Patriots. And this is not your same page. They're in the same uniform. But this is not your same 2014, 15, 16 Patriots. This is the Patriots team that right now sits at three and four on the road. They have a below 500 record on the road.

They haven't had one of those in a long, long time. and I think it shows because they're not as talented as a team. And I think if Belichick gets this team to the conference championship game this year, I think it certainly would be one of his finest. I thought 13 when he got the team to the conference championship game was his finest coaching performance. I think if he gets this team to it this year, I think it'll be one of his most amazing coaching performances. And despite the main takeaway from this game being Rob Grunkowski not able to chase down Kenyon Dirk,

he did have a nice game. It was a nice little vintage Grancowski performance. especially offensively, you saw some signs of him be able to make an impact, at least. I mean, he's had a tough time. What we talked about with Des Bryant last year, being able to get any sort of separation, and that comes down to foot speed a lot of the times. But in this game, he was able to show some signs. And then after the loss, Matt Slater, the captain of the Patriots, was asked if he thought

that this would be a crushing loss that could sink the Patriots. He said, I certainly don't believe so. And then on the other side of the football, the Dolphins, they asked Ryan Tannahill about this game. He said, there's no quitting me, and there's no quitting his team. I love it. I love it. Yeah, there's no quitting team. He had no thought that that was going to be a play. I mean, seriously. I mean, but look, let them enjoy it. They're going to get smoked in Minnesota this week. I mean, let's face it. I mean, the Patriots miss an extra point. They miss a field goal at the end of the half. They miss another field goal, and they give up one of the worst plays in football. I mean, you know, and I'm criticizing the Patriots for the lack of speed. But that was the one game where on the road, you know, that would have been a nice five-point victory, which it should have been. I thought the line at 9. and a half was way too high because it's just the way it is. Miami, they're not good. We talked about it before. I mean, Brady's one and four down there. He averages under six yards per attempt. But,

you know, I mean, I just think to me, Miami's not a good team. They're one and five on the road. They're the opposite. They're a bad road team, good home team. They lost it home to the lions. That's their only lost. Believe that or not, right? And they are. But I'm not buying, I'm not buying Miami. Miami's not good enough to travel. They'll get smoked in Minnesota this week. one thing about Miami, and this is just a random aside, but is there a world in which one of these teams that is going to replace and find a new head coach this offseason looks down at Adam Gase and says, this guy doesn't have much going on down here, but he somehow is figuring out how to win games. Is that make him a top target on the market? Or do people sort of ignore the fact that it is Miami and it is sort of just happening? You know, before that game, I think there was a lot of people around the league thought Gase might lose his job. I mean, that might have saved his job. You know, the great Mike Tanibam is the president of the team. God knows what he could come up with. I don't know. I mean, I think to me that there was always, and look, I thought Miami would compete for the first pickover on the draft.

And when they play on the road, I'm right. When they play at home, I'm way, way wrong. So I don't, you know, I think Gase's, you know, next year is going to be Gase's make or break season. He's going to have to do it. And he's got a ton of problems because what's he going to do a quarterback? He's just good enough a quarterback to not get rid of Tana Hill. And he's just bad enough with Tana Hill that he can't win good games on the road. So he's in a tough spot.

It's sort of reminiscent to the Doug Marone Blake Bortle situation we saw this last offseason. And I'm not implying that the Dolphins are going to make a conference championship. Only Blake Bordles can get replaced by a player worse than Blake Bortles. Let me think about that. I mean, Cody Custler's worst. As much as I bitch about Blake Bortles, you know, I mean, Cody Cessler's worth and worse than Blake Bortles. I mean, there's just no, there's no chance. Cody Custler, I'm not sure in these two new leagues that are starting with the, I'm not sure he could start in either one of those leagues.

My head is spinning. I mean, I'm serious. That's a backhanded compliment for Blake Portals. That was nice. Well, I mean, look, in fairness to the great Blake, he's better than Kessler, but that just shows you the delusionalness of the Jacksonville front office in that you have Cody Kessler. I mean, does anybody watch the quarterback at Jacksonville's practices this summer?

Did anybody watch it? Like, seriously, you got to wonder. It's like, it's like you have to wonder, does anybody watch the Redskins practices? Seriously. Players are bitching because they're in pads. They come out and they play the Giants. the first three passes they drop or get tipped it. Does anybody watch their practices and think they're going to be any good?

Bruce Allen, I guess, right? That's the only one? Yeah, only Bruce Allen could. Because if you asked Bruce Allen if it was a nice day today and it was sunny, he would tell you it's raining. So what could I tell you? Hey, he's all into player personnel. You know how that goes? Yeah, he does.

That's right. He's an expert in that area. That's right. He was right about Kirk Cousin. That was the big takeaway I saw today on all the NFL shows. I'm sure he's on the soapbox today. Yeah, of course, of course. All right, Lombardi, let's take a quick break to talk about Fanduel, the fantasy

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every week and get all the fresh starts you need to get back to winning. So come play with us at fandul.com slash the ringer. That's Fandul.com slash the ringer. New users only, bonus not available for withdrawal. State and age restrictions apply. For full eligibility, rules and terms and conditions, go to fandul. com back to GM Street. The next big game that we got to talk about, and this is one of the ones that I think shocked

a lot of people, maybe not so many people in Chicago because they believe so much in the monsters of the Midway and their defense and what they've been able to do with Khalil Mack. But going against the Rams, there were a lot of conversations about Jared Goff going on the road, dealing with the cold weather, would he be able to do it? And from this vantage point,

he did not do so hot. I mean, the Rams are limited at 3.5 yards per play. That was their worst of the season by far. The next closest, I think, was 5.4 yards per play, which is crazy. Goff in this game, four interceptions, a fumble and a safety. The Bears have 24. five interceptions on the season. Kyle Fuller continues to play well. They're able to get pressure inside.

They were able to shut down Todd Gurley. And then after the game, Sean McVeigh came out and basically said, put this loss on me. This is all about play calling. This is all about what I did wrong. And I put Jared in tough situations. I take full responsibility for this situation. And we will be better for it. But before we get to the Rams, I do want to just talk about this Bears defense because defense wins championships Lombardi. That's what I've been told. And this defense looks like a team. a defense that could actually make it to a Super Bowl, even if they have a quarterback like Mitchell,

who is limited at times in tight games. Well, I mean, look, they stopped one of the best offenses in football, and I think the cold helped them too. And it wasn't really that cold. But did you see Jared golf on the sideline? He couldn't wait to get his ski cap on, sit on the bench. I mean, you know, he was cold. He acted cold.

And I don't think you can dismiss cold weather. We talked about it in the pod last week about Matt Ryan going up to Green Bay and dealing with the weather up there. He wasn't going to be very good. and anybody who bet Atlanta, which should have made a donation to their favorite charity because that was a gimmie putt right there. Weather is a factor.

And I think golf doesn't handle weather very well. But I think the bigger issue here, Tate Frazier, is how good is golf in terms of your appetite to pay them? Are you paying golf 30, $35 million a year? I mean, that's the question. Is golf good? Yeah, there's no doubt. Is golf a top 10 player in the NFL?

I think with McVeigh, he can be. But is he alone? know, but I think McVeigh's a top coach. And for McVeigh to take the heat on that game, to a degree I think he's right because he didn't feature Gurley. And I don't think he put the pressure on Goff, not the pressure on Gurley. But at some point, Goff's got to make some throws and he's got to handle the weather, which he didn't do. To answer your question about the bears, I think the bears can certainly compete with their defense and keep them in the games, but there's no way you're going to lose the turnover. I mean, if it wasn't for Goff,

turning the ball over, the way Trubisky turned the ball over, we'd be having this conversation. I thought Trubisky was exactly what we've talked about on this podcast, inaccurate. And the Bears overcame him and won. And Matt Nagy said, hey, I told him it was no big deal. We won, so don't worry about it. Well, to me, I'm sure they're worried about it now. My question to you about some of those throws earlier in the game, I mean, Gough, he had struggles.

I mean, he was throwing some balls that just looked like, you know, I mean, wounded ducks just like floating in the air. It looked like they could easily be picked off. Trubisky had the same thing where balls were soaring on him. If you're Nagy and if you're McVeigh and you see that the elements are affecting your quarterback so much. I mean, what was the, I mean, both those guys, I mean, Mitchell throws three picks, goth throws four picks. It just seemed like they kept doing the same things and, and expecting something different. And, you know, that is what they call insanity, right? Yeah, no, I think, look, you got to know it.

I mean, Goff's numbers going into the game in less than 40 degree weather. He's played in four games, and they were bad. He had five touchdowns, three interceptions. He averaged under seven yards per attempt. He wasn't very good in that. His quarterback rating was around 74. Look, it's just what it is. I mean, The kid grew up in Marin County. It's nice up there. It's warm. You know, he doesn't have to play. And a lot of his hands are not very big.

Trubisky, you know, grew up in mentor. So he's more used to it. But we know Trubisky's more athlete than he is quarterback. No matter what you want to say about him, he's more athlete than quarterback. And that's going to be the concern as you move forward. Can he make enough plays in the playoffs? Because she's going to make plays in the playoffs in the past game. That's the reality.

Now, I think golf will. I don't think there's any doubt. Golf's going to be playing in sunny Los Angeles. It's going to be the weather's going to be great. The ball's not going to be frozen. and he's going to be able to make some throws and they're going to be able to utilize their home field. But I think for the Bears, if they have to travel,

now how good is that defense? You know, they travel to New York Giants. They struggle to stop the Giants from moving the ball. Can they stop the Rams on the road? I think it's a whole different story. And it will be interesting to see what happens. I mean, the one lone touchdown that Trubisky does have in this game is basically a trick play where they got the eyes all looking at Hicks

who they put in on that play and they expect them to run up the gut. And then, you know, it's a little play action pass where he rolls out. and throws the touchdown to Bradley Sol. You know, so that was the one lone touchdown for Tribesky. And, you know, trick plays in the playoffs. A lot of times when things tighten up, they don't tend to work out so well and fare so well. So that's something to keep in eye. And even that throw, Tate Fraser was high.

I mean, So well made a great catch. That kid must have been a tight end in high school. I know I went back and looked it up. He wasn't. And it was an all-state lineman in Mississippi, but we're Tennessee. But, I mean, that was an incredible catch. And I heard Nagy say later that the kid catches everything in practice. I could see it.

I mean, that was an incredible catch. He extended those long. He's 6-7, and it took every inch of his arm length to get the ball. It was a hell of a catch. It was not a great throw. Now, look, I think Trubisky had to throw it higher because you don't want to throw it on eye level because you're trying to throw it through bodies. That wasn't a great throw.

That was not a great throw, but it was a great catch. And Bradley Soill apparently is a scratch golfer also. So if you want to see big guys. You can see it. You can see it. I mean, you could see it. You know? It definitely showed.

One more point I want to ask you about it. And they were talking about this during the game, and this is just something I'm curious about. They were talking about McVeigh going into the huddle with Goff, and he can obviously hear him in the headset. How long is McVeigh in the headset for Goff? Because I do feel like- Until it gets to 15 seconds. Once it gets to 15, it turns off. Actually, I thought they did a great job of showing it.

They had McVeigh talking. They had Goff in the huddle, and they had the clock. And you could see, you could see McVeigh's mouth stop right at it hit 15. He was going to keep talking until it. but you could see it closed off. And he's coaching him up the whole way. Hey, look, if the safety's down, remember the outside technique of the corner on this play,

we're going to throw it here. He's living his life vicariously through golf as the quarterback, and he does a great job. Look, I'll say this. If the cap's $175 million or say the cap's $185 next year, great coaches should make $20 million a year. It's just a fact. They should make a percentage of the cap.

I mean, Bill Belichick had $20 million a year underpaid. you know, Sean Payton, a 20 million a year is underpaid. I mean, the owners are getting incredible value for coaches paying them $4 to $5, $6 million a year when a cap's going up to $180 million. McVeigh's worth $20 million a year because what McVeigh has done is make you think, he's made you think that golf is great. And golf is good, but he's making you think he's great. You've got to pay for that.

You've got to pay for that. You've got to pay for that ability. And I think, you know, what's that line in the usual suspects is the devil is the greatest trick that the devil ever played is making you think he exists. That's the beauty of great coaching. You know, you ask that,

you think golf is great. And people say, well, Lombardi, you're just not hard on golf. No, I'm not. I think golf's a good player. I think McVeigh makes him a greater player. And I think you see it all the time. I think Nagy has made

as much as he possibly can. I think Nagy has made Mitchell as good as he can possibly be. Do I think Nagy's worth 20 million? Not yet. But I think he's worth, I think he's certainly earning his stripes. But I think the great coaches

in this league make players better than they are. So the fundamental question you would say to me, well, Lombardi, how much, you know, who made who, Brady or or Belichick, I think in that case, they both made each other. But to me, there's sometimes when a player makes a coach, when a coach makes a player better, and sometimes a player makes a coach better, which a lot of people think in Mike McCarthy's case. My one thought about this whole McVeigh thing, you know, he is basically a sideline quarterback. I mean, he's sitting over there and he's pointing out all this stuff to goff in the huddle and he cuts dead at 15 seconds. What happens when we have a situation where communications from the sidelines aren't getting into the huddle and, you know, in the playoffs, say they're in New Orleans and communications get cut and McVeigh can't talk to Goff.

And then we're in a situation where Goff has to make a decision. I mean, I don't know if we've ever seen him have to do that because I don't know how much McVeigh is telling him before, you know, every snap. I think the way to ask that question, Tate Fraser, is we haven't seen them do that against top level competition. You know, you can do it against Tampa Bay and get away with it, right? You can do it against, you know, a bad defense and get away with it. I mean, like I wrote in the athletic this week about, you know, Trabiski's interceptions, nine of the 11 have come against really good defense coordinators, and 15 of the 21 touchdowns have come against really bad defenses.

So, like, you make your decision. You know, it's the level of comp we're talking about. This is why this weekend was so good because the level of comp is rising. And teams, and there's no tank in the NFL. I mean, people talked about the Raiders tank. And no, coaches don't want to tank. their jobs are at stake. They can't tank. So nobody wants to tank. And so, you know, there's a lot of good coaches that are now battling. And it's when you face a good coach, when Di Filippo faces Pete Carroll, who are you betting on? That's the question you got to ask. And when McVeigh is coaching against somebody not of the ilk of Vic Fangio, you know, now he's got a challenge. It's going to be a little harder. But when he's playing against guys that he can beat, then it's a lot easier. And that's why he needs to get paid. Yeah, something to keep an eye on. And right now, as it says, the ramp. of the number two seat in the NFC.

Let's move to a team that is not talking playoffs, not talking much of anything, but they did have a big win this week, and that is John Gruden and the Oakland Raiders. They announced this morning, actually, which is shocking to some, but also two days ago we did see some reports about the fact that Reggie McKenzie may be let go in the off season,

didn't know what happened this soon, especially after a win against the Steelers. Gruden a couple days ago when he was asked about, he said, I don't have any comment on that. We're going to build this team back. I know that. We're going to bring the Raiders back. That's all he said. And then he tried to play the whole shock and all card this morning when he was asked about the Reggie McKinsey situations if he had no idea about it, which gives me the perfect ammo to ask you, Lombardi, a guy that knows a little bit about the Raider situation and who's making decisions there. If John Gruden had no idea of Reggie McKin was going to be let go, who made that decision. The decision was made by Mark Davis when he gave John Gruden $10 a year for 10 years. I mean, that's the reality of it. I don't know why this is a comedy. I don't know why there's a whodunit involved in this one. I mean, you know,

this is a murder sheet wrote here, or this doesn't Professor Plum did it in the library, you know, with the crooked knife. I mean, that's pretty clear. I mean, you look at the 50, I know everybody's talking about Reggie's great drafts, and, you know, Reggie hit on some great players. There's no doubt. But look at the 15 to 17 drafts, they haven't really been to the level that they needed to sustain.

And if you look at over the last five years of the franchise, they've had one winning record, much like the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then they reverted back. So, you know, look, I think Gruden is doing what he wants to do. got to be somebody for Gruden that he feels comfortable with that understands the pro game that is a pro scout that can help him identify players that fit within the system that he's trying to operate. And when he got that job, that was never going to be Reggie. And I hope Reggie gets another job somewhere. And I hope he lands on his feet. He's got paid of 2021. But sometimes this business that we've chosen isn't kind. And sometimes, you know, there's not relationships that can

work. And I think that Reggie and John professionally are personally can be fine, but professionally they're from different cloths. And I think that was never going to work. So, you know, John doesn't want to take the heat for it. Maybe so. But the reality of it is is Mark Davis ultimately made this decision when he went to Tampa Bay and he gave John Gruden 10 years and $100 million. That's the reality of it. And so John's entitled to run the team the way he sees fit because he's got that authority and you know and it gave reggie a chance to prove himself to see what he could do and you know i don't know what goes on inside their building but you know obviously that was never going to be a marriage that i could say this is going to last i just just just knew it just from knowing

the two personalities that doesn't make either one of them right it just you know the two personalities so you know life goes on john finds himself a guy that that he can that hopefully a guy that'll challenge him hopefully somebody that'll help him in personnel because that's going to be the critical component of John's success as the Oakland Raiders general manager. Is John going to be a good general manager because he's a good coach? So he's got to do both jobs really well. And a lot of speculation right now that's coming out of Oakland is that Sean Herrick, who is, I think he runs college scouting for the Raiders. He's apparently one of those guys that I think he is technically the interim GM at this point. But is Gruden, we just know no matter what the title may be, there may be a GM in the

building and they may have the title of the GM, but it is a nominal title at best because John Gruden is going to make the ultimate decision, because as you said, he has 10 years there and it is his team. He will make the Raiders in his vision throughout his entire time there. No doubt. And look, I mean, it won't be Bruce Allen, you know, because Bruce Allen's not a personnel guy. I saw somebody reported that Bruce was the name. It's not going to be Bruce Allen. I mean, I'm sure the, I'm sure Redskinned fans would would probably hire, pay for a private jet to send Bruce there, but that ain't going to happen. So, you know, I mean, I mean, John needs to find a grinder.

John needs to find somebody that sees the game in his way, sees players the same way, philosophically can get along with Paul Gunther, the defensive coordinator, Rich Pashachi, the special teams coach. Because it's going to be more of a collaborative effort. The personnel guy is going to be almost as like a coach because he's got to understand what John's doing. He's got to understand the fundamentals, the techniques John's teaching. Remember, I wrote about it in the book, which would make a good stocking stuff for, by the way, Tate Fras. I wrote about it in the book. I mean, a shameless plug, perhaps.

You know, you've got to scout inside out. You can't scout outside in. And I think that what John needs is somebody that I'll help him scout inside out. We'll see if they can figure that out. They did figure it out on Sunday going against the Steelers. They win that one 24 to 21. Fourth and goal from the six-yard line, Derek Carr hit. You probably don't even know this name if you weren't watching the Raiders too much.

Derek Carrier, who is their third tight end on the team. He scores the touchdown. And then it goes down. The Steelers have a chance. like they may have a field goal to tie the game. We get a slip on the turf, a blocked field goal, and John Gruden and the Raider celebrated. And back-to-back weeks, I mean, even last week against the Chiefs, the Raiders showed some signs of life. No, they did.

They are. Hey, Tay Frazier, this game was amazing now. Nobody's talked about this. The Raiders had 13 penalties for 130 yards in the game and still won. I mean, this was a team that featured two teams that were the two most penalized teams in football. And the Raiders had 13. They gave up 130 yards and penalties and won the game. That's freaking remarkable.

ball. I mean, I don't even know how you do that, but they did. And, you know, look, I think the Raiders are going to keep trying to win. I mean, you know, they're going to keep fighting because I think that's just human nature. And plus, they know there's no substitute teacher as the head coach. They know this guy's coming back. They've got to fight for their jobs. And the Steelers in that game, only two penalties for 14 yards because that was something to keep an eye on. I think the biggest fallout from what happened with Pittsburgh. I mean, we've seen them go on the road and, you know, lose games that they probably shouldn't have lost before. That's nothing new with these guys. But Rothensberger goes down with the rib injury. Some people have had some concerns about that. Obviously, they were mission James Connor. And Jalen Samuels, I mean, as much as Jalen is, you know, a very electric player, a guy that you want to have on the field. He's not necessarily an A1 typical running back, not a guy you want to have as your number one back back. More a guy that you want to have out of the backfield, you know, in a Darren Sproul's type of way. So they struggled there, getting the run game going. And just overall, looking into that Steelers team.

I mean, seven, two and one, everyone was excited. Look like they had figured things out post-Lavion. and now Lavian Bell's liking Instagram stories about, you know, the Steelers losing and all these Steelers fans are in an uproar. I mean, is there trouble in Paradise? Is there trouble in Pittsburgh? Is there something to keep an eye on? Oh, there's no doubt.

I mean, look, Tate Frazier, they can't close games out. I mean, they had the, you know, they're lucky to be on it having beaten, you know, Jacksonville was a fortunate win for them. I mean, there was a couple of plays in that game that could have gone the other way. They're down on the goal line. They've turned a ball over too much. this game they actually protected the ball. They had a chance, but they can't get control of the game.

I mean, now they play the Patriots at home where they haven't been great this season. This is a huge game for them. And they get the Patriots at the wrong time because the Patriots after that horrible loss in Miami. But look, they match up against the Patriots. Now, the Patriots match up against their defense really well, but so does the Patriots defense doesn't match up against this Pittsburgh offense. They can throw the football on them. It's going to be a challenge.

This will be a really good game. And this is going to be for a home field advantage type of game, not for Pittsburgh, certainly for Houston, which plays on Saturday night against the Jets. Houston can fly home if they beat the Jets, knowing that they got a chance to be the number two seed. Yep. And unfortunately for the Texans fans out there in the world, I mean, they'll snap their nine-game winning string, losing two division rival, the Indianapolis Colts.

We can talk about that a little bit later. One more takeaway I want to get to before we move on here. Carolina Panthers fall for the fifth straight game. Cam Newton after the game, I mean, said he didn't have any words to explain how he felt about it, didn't know what was going on. They just haven't found a way to win games. And it is true. It does seem like this Carolina offense is able to get in positions where they should be

able to get a score or at least get a field goal or get something positive, and they haven't been able to do it for whatever reason. And five straight losses for them. Browns and Baker-Mayfield have a great game and they get the nice win there. Now they're at 5, 7, and 1 with a chance to make some noise possibly. You need a lot of people to fall by the wayside for them to have a realistic chance to make the playoffs. But just looking at that Panthers team and where they are, right now, six and seven after being six and two, five straight losses, as I said before.

Is there trouble for Riverboat Ron at this point? I think there has to be. I mean, look, I don't know, you know, they have a new owner in there that is a hedge fund guy and smart. He's an analytical person, so I'm sure he's going to want to build his organization. You know, he was in the Pittsburgh model. So, you know, whatever they do down there, it'll be similar to what Pittsburgh does. I'm sure he's going to want to get a coach that he can work with for the next 10 or 12 years

and see where it goes. If, say, John Harbaal would get fired in Baltimore, I could see that. happen. And I think a lot's going to happen around the NFL based on some other situations. But look, Carolina is a team that I don't quite get my hands on. I've tried to play them. I think they're more talented than their one loss record. Offensively, when you look at Cam, he's having career numbers, percentage of completions, quarterback rating, but they're not winning games. Turn the ball over. Their defense can't really stop anybody. They're bad on the road. I mean, they've won one road game. They beat the Eagles when they held them in the Eagles only scored 17 points. All other road

games, teams score over 20 on them. You know, that's not a good sign. And so, So look, I think there'll be changes coming. Do I think Marty Herney, the general manager, gets fired? That I don't know. But I do think there'll be a new, I do think that if they don't get this turned around with a tough Monday night game against the Saints, it's going to be challenging. And the way they play defense, man, it's hard to stop anybody. And it's something to keep an eye on there. We'll talk about the playoff picture a little bit.

But that's six seed in the NFC right now is, you know, Eagles, Panthers, Vikings, all of those teams that, you know, a lot of expectations going into the season. and now a lot of variations of how it may play out. But obviously those three franchises are in a bind, and they need to win games down the stretch run here to see what really happens. The next one we have, the NFCE showdown between the Clapper and Doug Peterson. The Clapper delivers again, the Cowboys get a nice 29, 23 win. If you just see the final score, this would not showcase what this game was until about the fourth quarter. I mean, Dallas was up 6'0 at halftime, tied at 9 in the third quarter,

and then once we got to the fourth quarter, you know, throw everything. out the window, Dak Prescott and Carson Wins turned it on. And it was a showdown and a shootout. And then at the end, and Amari Cooper tip pass, tip ball. I mean, it was fortunate to say the least, but he's able to reel it in and get a win. And Dak Prescott and the Cowboys,

I mean, now they have control of the NFC East. Yeah, I mean, what a game. I mean, the Cowboys are dominating the game and the scoreboard doesn't look the same. You've got to give the Eagles defense credit. They played a double header. I mean, they played a double header and hung in there with bad guys in the secondary. I mean, the fact that Amari Cooper had a great game doesn't surprise you because the secondary is

I mean, when you look at their team and Sidney Jones, the corner goes out. I mean, I don't know how physically competitive that kid is in terms of playing through some pain and some, you know, he's got the hamstrings. So he's not 100 percent. But, you know, the secondary was really weak. I thought the Eagles laid at all on the line like a champion. They fought hard. You know, they were just horrible on third down. Once again, where's Frank Reich?

You know, they were great on third down last year. They're one for nine in this game on third down. They couldn't control the football can't score in the first quarter again. you know, the Cowboys were able to play from in front. But if there was ever a game that's going to tell you, you've got to be careful with the Cowboys in the playoffs, this was the one. I mean, I know they fought back and won the game in overtime, but if they would have played a team that could really throw the football effectively,

the Eagles weren't doing that very well in the first three quarters, it could have spent trouble for them the way Dak turned the ball over. This offensive line, I think, is questionable if Zach Martin's going to miss much time. You know, it puts Connor Williams in there at right guard, who's not very physical. So look, it's a great win for the Clapper. Cowboy fans, I mean, tomorrow when you do the pod with Cousin Sal, please congratulate him on the Clapper's extension,

which will be coming soon at a theater near you and enjoy it. Yeah, it'll be fun. I mean, all the Cowboys fans are very excited. I mean, two notes that are not exciting if you're a Cowboys fans. One, Zach Martin goes down in this game. And if you don't have Martin, that obviously, that will hurt them down as we get to the playoffs because Zach Martin is so important to that offensive line for the Cowboys. and then Ezeko Elliott in this game.

He gets 40 touches in this game. I mean, 28 rushes for 113 yards. Called 12 of 13 targets for 79 yards. But you just look at the workload that they're throwing on Elliott to win these games. I mean, I know it's December football. I know it's the time when you've got to start throwing it at these guys. But is there a chance? Maybe, you know, Azique gets worn out as we get into the playoffs.

I mean, it seems like the Cowboys are hitting their stride right now the past, you know, four or five weeks. They got no recourse, Tate Frazier. They got to give them the ball. I mean, they have to. I think there's no doubt about it. And this, you know, for the record, this had to be one of the worst officiated games in the NFL. I know the NFL has fired officials this year so far, but that call on Goddard on the offensive pass interference was a joke. I mean, the call on the fumble, the opening game in the game.

You see the Eagles come out of it with the ball and they say, well, we don't know who had the ball. I mean, seriously? Like, really? I mean, just watch the TV tape. I mean, it's really, it was really a poorly officiated game on both sides. I mean, the call I thought on Zeke, on lowering his head. I mean, you know, I mean, gosh, I don't know. So look, I'm not either way, I mean, the Eagles had ample opportunity to overcome the bad calls.

And they scored on that drive anyway, but it was really a poorly efficient. If that crew gets a playoff game or if that referee, I forget who it was. If he get, I go back and check. If he gets a playoff game, man, I don't know what they're grading. That's something to keep an eye on. I mean, there were a bunch of questionable calls. I mean, even last night on Monday football, a lot of people were pointing to the fact that Bobby Wagner, when he blocked the kick, he used two guys on the Seahawks'

leverage to help jump. They threw the flag right away and then they, I mean, how many times they pick it up? I mean, are you kidding me? Like, why can't they just go up to replay and look at it right there? I mean, why don't they just do what the NBA does

and go over there? If you called it and you're going to pick it up, you better have some evidence to pick it up. Like, all it becomes is who yells the loudest, who's debating better? And it's like, you know, who's going to win that argument? You know, I mean, I'm not a good debater. You lose.

Okay, so that would pick up the flag. And you're trying to appease the home team at that point. and it did seem like the Seahawks had won that game and that blocked, you know, it seemed like it all worked out. And he didn't use someone on the other team as leverage, I guess, was sort of the argument. But still, you know, they talked to the officials and they were like, yeah, that's an illegal play. You can't do that. You can't use two of your own guys to jump over the line on Twitter.

He was pitching about it live when it happened. Yep. I mean, you know, look, I don't want to sound like Al Davis and, you know, like I'll take you another one that's, for example. Like, Tate Fraser, like, how do you, this would be a classic Al Davis. I'm going to give you a classic Al Davis question here. How the fuck could we throw the ball, could the chief throw the ball 53 times and not get called for holding once? They're after me. They're out to get me.

Seriously. Now, that's a fair question, right? How did the chiefs throw the ball 53 times in one game and not get called for one holding penalty? And riddle me that, Batman. Andy Reid, right? It's good schemes. That's what it is. I don't know.

He would be going berserk over that one. I mean, that would have drove him absolutely. 53 times. You mean to tell me, we're drop back in the past, 53 times. and the quarterback scrambling around, losing leverage in the pocket, going right, going left, going backwards, going forwards, like a video game. And they only get, they don't get called once.

We don't ask those questions. See, that's what the brilliance of Al Davis was. He would ask a question that nobody, that's a brilliant question. It is a good question. And it's something that we need to look into because you actually brought up basketball, and I wanted to run something by something I was watching the game outside. This was the digs catch when you got the 48-yard. catch down the sideline. The only

positive big play for the Vikings it seemed all night. But he also had, it was past interference when he caught the ball. So, you know, we talk about basketball rules. We see pick plays. We see screens that are set. Is there a world in which we can get an AN1 where, you know, Diggs catches that ball and then we give him 15 more yards? If he catches it,

maybe there should be like a little bonus, you know? Yeah, we'll give you five more yards. Yeah, five more yards. Yeah. I mean, that's one. Yeah, that's right. I mean, that's a great idea, T. Fraser. That should be brought up. I mean, they won't ever go for it. But I mean, I think, you know, to me, it should be just a 15-yard penalty, like the college rule, you know, not a spot foul, a 15-yard. I think that would clarify that.

But you're right. I mean, look, you just can't, some things you just can't explain when it comes to officials, 53 passes and they don't get called for holding once? Yeah. You know, I mean, really, that's hard to believe. No wonder Pat Mahomes is throwing no-look passes, you know? He knows no holding penalty. He's a lot of confidence out there. Are you ready to get to the Week 14 awards, Lombardi?

I'm always ready, Tate Fraser. You know that. I mean, I can't wait. Let's do it. Week 14 awards, the first one that we have is time to go on the lamb. Lombardi, you look around the landscape of the NFL. Who needs to go on the land this week? Well, I was going to put Minnesota John D. Filippo on the lamb, but he's already there.

I mean, you know, he's already there. But I think at the nation's capital, that's a permanent lamb job. I mean, I think Bruce Allen should go on the lamb. I mean, you can't be 52, 80, I think he's 52, 85 and 1. He's got like a 41 winning percentage, 27th ranked amongst general managers in the league. I mean, I don't know. Does Dan Snyder watch practice? Seriously.

No. Do you look at that team and you think that, I mean, when they were six and two, we weren't buying them. I mean, it's a joke. I mean, you know, I feel bad for Jay Gruden, but look, let's face it, the Redskins are poorly coached. They look like an unmade bed. They have no attention to detail. You know, they're, oh, we got so many guys hurt. you know, there's a reason you got guys hurt.

You don't practice. Their players were bitching about putting pads on last week. Can you imagine that they're bitching about putting pads on last week? You know, I mean, come on, give me a break. And so, you know, to me, I just think to me the culture that I've written articles about the cultures there. But, you know, I think Snyder must be on the Lamb too because he doesn't seem to care. He's too busy trying to get a stadium.

And he's, I think his attention's on Washington. I think it's more about, you know, the stadium than is about his team. Yeah. And getting Patrick Ewing to the game. I did see that. Dan Snyder with Patrick Ewing and Doug Williams. Hey, how about a shout out to my man Mus at Reno at Nevada Reno? Can we give him some love?

Are you giving him love on the shining pod? I mean, come on, how about my man, Musk? He's doing great. You got to get on the bus bus bus. And it's the best because Eric Muslim, I call him the sandbagger. I don't know if you've heard this, but he basically lets the other teams in the first half, like USC, I went to the USC game on Saturday. And then I went to when they played out here in Los Angeles against Arizona State and Bobby Hurley,

he lets these teams get a bunch of confidence in the first half. They have, you know, ranging from an 8 to 16 point lead at the half. They feel good about themselves. Musk goes in a halftime, makes all the adjustments, and they come out and blow people out. And that's what he does. That's good coaching Lombardi. Make the adjustments. You got to love my man, Musk.

He had an office at the Raider facility, too. He had an office there. So, I mean, it was awesome. You know, when he got fired at the Warriors, I gave him an office next door to me. He would come in there and watch tape every day and work on his shit. So he was great. And you can tell that, you know, he has it together. You look at that staff, that Nevada staff,

they work really hard. I also got yelled at this week by calling them Nevada. Apparently it's Nevada. The people that live in Nevada wanted to be Nevada, but I've always said Nevada. So I'll keep it at that. But we'll keep supporting must for sure on this podcast as we move forward. One more note on Washington.

They were down 40 to zero if you didn't see this game. And Josh Johnson, he breaks the record for the longest drought between playing in the NFL with six years, 363 days. He broke the record set by Doug Flutie, who went eight years, 277. days between games played in the NFL, and that was 1989 to 1998. So that's one more note there. Next award we have, we got the Fred Palermo Award for preparation, good game plan going

of the week. Who do you have for this, Lombardi? You know, you've got to give it to the Jets. I mean, look, they had a good week this week. They beat the bills up in Buffalo after getting destroyed by them the week before. So you've got to give them some love on that one. I think the Colts deserve it too because, I mean, look, the Colts went down there and beat them, you know, they got beat and they went down into Houston and stopped

the nine-game win streak. I think Frank Wright's done a great job. So, you know, I mean, I think both those teams deserve a lot of praise and love. I think that they did a great job. And, you know, look, it's not very often that you beat a team so soundly on their home field and then you lose to them in the rematch when you get to play them on their field. So you've got to give them some credit. Sam Darnel actually looked much better.

And it gives some hope for New York. Yep. A lot of hope for the Jets fans. And I want to point out for the Giants fans too. Up 40 to zero came out, actually played a game of football, and embarrassed to Mark Sanchez and the rest of that Washington. in the team. So congratulations with those guys, the G men make it happen. Yeah, we got to always give

love to the Giants. Always give love to the Giants. It's so important. You know, they're so nice, and they do such a nice job, and they always pack a nice lunch, and they share, and they have an Apple every day. I love the Giants. I love the Giants. I really do. So say nice things about it. And Eli was spectacular in that game.

He was spectacular. I've never seen a more brilliant play of quarterback. Eli 2020. That's all we're saying right now. And that's talking about him being a quarterback, probably in the CFL. The next award we have is the KGB Award team that got snuck up on. Who do you have here at Lombardy? Well, I think Denver obviously got snuck on them, right?

My man, Vance Joseph was thinking he had this one in the bag. But this was a game. We talked about it. You know, this was Kyle Shanahan. You know, he didn't get the head coaching job in Denver. He interviewed. He finished second to Vance Joseph. His dad got fired.

This was a motivating game. Look, I'm not in love with the 49ers by no means. I put him on the land before. But you got to give him credit. They came back. George Kettle made some incredible, you know, over 200 yards, catch reception yards.

And Denver, who had a chance for the playoffs, can't beat a bad 49er team. You know, they got duped. They definitely did. The next one we have, can't tell my courage from my desperation. For this one, I have the Packers. Packers showed up this week and finally showed some signs.

Aaron Rogers was happy in the post game, and they get a nice win over the Falcons. Yeah, look, I mean, I think this Falcon team's not very good. I think the Falcons are always mis-evaluate their own team. And Matt Ryan on the road, we talked about it on the Friday sit-down. He's not very good. But you kind of knew. That's why I think Minnesota will respond this week.

I think there was some bad blood going on between Minnesota and D. Philippa with the offensive staff. I think Minnesota's offense will come out and play well, just like Green Bay did. Yep. And we'll keep an eye on that moving forward as we get into week 15. The final one that we have, if you don't know, now you know, Lombardi, what do we know? We know that the six teams that are currently seated in the NFC and the six teams that are currently seated in the AFC are the 12 best teams.

And I think what we know now is there's no true A-level team. I think all these are B teams, and I could easily see a six-seed beating the three-seed. And I'm telling you, Tate Frazier, I think it's going to be a fun playoff ride all the way through. I don't think there's a dominating team anywhere. I think the Saints are really good, obviously the Rams, but I think it's going to be a fun playoff run. I think if Baltimore got the sixth seed and they played New England as the three-seed, I could see Baltimore winning that game. I think it's going to be a lot of fun playoff time. I think the 12 teams that are currently where they are right now are the best 12th.

We have the Chiefs as the one seed, the Patriots of the two-season. Seed. Texans is the three, Steelers, Four, Chargers, Five, Ravens, NFC, NFC, we got Saints, Rams, Bears, Cowboys, Seahawks, Vikings, those are the teams that are right now. And then looking at, from the outside, looking in teams to keep an eye on that are also in the hunt that are right there nipping at the heels, the Colts, obviously in the AFC, dolphins, Titans, and then in the NFC you got Panthers, Eagles. And, you know, I guess you could give the Redskins, but I don't think we can do that.

Oh, stop it, stop, get them out of there. They're done. They won't even show up. They won't even, I mean, they won't even, they're going to Jacksonville this week. I mean, half the team might not show up. Lombardi, any more notes to keep an eye on for week 15? Anything else that stuck out to you for week 14 before we get out of here? No, I'm good, Tate Frazier. I'm looking forward to week 15.

I can't wait for it. I think we're in the best time of the year. Make sure you get your Christmas shopping done now. Will you hear? Yes, exactly. We're out there and do it. Yes, sir. I will be shopping.

I hope everybody else will get ready for the holiday season as we move forward. And it's been a great time in the NFL, a lot of good games, a lot of good teams. And like you said, there is not. There is no A1 team. There is no one dominant force. And it's going to be a very intriguing playoff picture as we get down here to the stretch run of the full NFL season. So this has been another edition of G.M.Street part of the Rigger Podcast Network. We will be back on Friday for Lombardi to give his five games to watch out for in Week 15.

Until then, we will see you. Thanks again to Fandul. If you're not a fantasy expert, Fandul is the place to play. At Fandul, you get the excitement of researching and building your team each week, regardless of the outcome. Come play with us at fanduil.com slash the ringer and get a $5 bonus when you make your first deposit. That's fanduil.com slash the ringer. New Year's only bonus not available for withdrawal. State and age restrictions apply.

For full eligibility rules and terms and conditions, go to fandul.com. Thanks for listening to GM Street. We'll see you on Friday.