The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi’s Week 15 Reactions | GM Street (Ep. 368)

Episode Date: December 18, 2018

Cam Newton’s shoulder injury, the Rams and Jared Goff’s recent struggles, the Cowboys get shut out in Indianapolis, the Bears handle the Packers, and the Patriots wilt against the Steelers. Plus the weekly awards. Hosts: Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. For all the movie fans out there, the Big Picture podcast now has its own dedicated Twitter feed at The Big Pick. Not only will you find the best in Ringer film analysis and the news you need for award season, it's also the exclusive source for all the movie and video-related content you need, from Astoristboard mashups to Sean Fennacy tweeting out Gifts. So make sure you follow at the Big Pick on Twitter. Welcome to GM3 part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Tuesday, December 18th.

And on the line, I am joined by the great Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? I'm good, Tate Fraser. All you're Christmas shopping? You ready to go? You're done? I'm close to being done. I just got back to North Carolina, so I got a few things to go figure out once I'm here.

It's a lot easier to shop in North Carolina and find things for a reasonable price outside of Los Angeles, as you know. Yeah, I mean, you know, that's the best thing to do is to find it. Or go, you know, like, do what Millie and I do. Go to Manhattan and hang out there. That's always a good place to shop. I took the little guy up to Manhattan to see the tree. Millie and I walked around Manhattan with them. It was awesome.

That's the best thing about Christmas is seeing the tree in Manhattan, having dinner. Like, that really makes it feel like it's Christmas. Yeah, I did that a few years back. I went to the Panthers Giants game, I think, in 2015, the year that the Panthers were 15 and 1. And it was a beautiful time. I'm going to Chicago this weekend, actually, to go see Carolina play Kentucky on Saturday. So that'll be fun. So I'll get a little Christmas vacation, a little Chevy Chase.

get up in Chicago for Christmas. Love it. We're on the same page here. We're making Christmas happen, which is nice. Unfortunately, the Panthers are far removed from the year 2015 and the year that they win 15 and 1. We saw that last night on Monday Night Football. Cam Newton and the Panthers in a defensive battle last night against New Orleans Saints

ended up being 12 to 9. The Saints escape in Charlotte and in the hopes for any Panthers fans hoping to make the playoffs this season. Just looking at this Monday night football game. First off, Lombardi, what's your first take? In this one, obviously, we're going to talk about the Panthers and Cam Newton and all that stuff. But for the Saints to win this game ugly, it's got to be a good sign going into the playoffs, right? Yeah, you know, I wrote a column on Monday about home field and the playoffs and how you have to really win on the road.

Like there are some teams disguised as good teams. And we'll talk about the Cowboys later. And, you know, we'll talk about the Patriots later, teams that can't win on the road. And what the Saints have been able to accomplish on the road is downright remarkable. I mean, they go into Minnesota. or they get no offense, they win there. If they go to Carolina, they get held to 12 points, they win there. I mean, it's really, and they're 7 and 1, they finish the season, 7 and 1 on the road,

which is fascinating considering they've won in so many different styles. You know, they got, certainly they benefited from the Justin Tucker misfexter point, but what they've been able to accomplish their toughness on the road, to me, I think that's the Saints and then I think everybody else is jockeying for the second position. And I was impressed with the Saints because not that they didn't look good on offense, which they didn't, but their persistence and their defense rallying around it. And then my other observation, Tate Fraser, is I don't know why Cam Newton's playing football. The guy needs to sit down. His shoulders not well.

Yeah. And if you look at the stat sheet in this game, I mean, it's pretty remarkable to see how much the Saints dominated and, you know, how close this game ended up being. Despite that, Saints, more first downs, 21 to 13. They outgained the Panthers by nearly 100 net yards, 346, 247. The only real play in this game for the Panthers that was positive was the McCaffrey call, the touchdown pass eight through to Chris Mannerts, which, you know, was basically a trick play. And as we know, in football, most coaches say that they're fine to lose on a trick play because that means, you know, lining up main to man, they weren't able to figure something out.

So that was the only bright spot for the Panthers. And despite all that, the Saints, you know, let the Panthers hang around in this game. We saw Drew Brees, you know, throw a pick right before halftime, trying to find Dan Arnold, which ended up hurting them a little bit. But you mentioned Cam Newton. I think that's the big storyline coming in this game. We've had a lot of speculation, a lot of rumors, people talking about, you know, just how severe that shoulder is. And last night in his post-game press conference, it was the first time we saw him. You know, he was frustrated.

He was taking, you know, on the onus of the blame. And then, you know, they kept mentioning a pitch count, which we know from is a. a baseball term. And Rivera's talked about that. He hasn't been practicing. He doesn't want to throw more than 30 balls in a game. But he really opened up the door to kind of see what's been going on. He said that it's not that it gets worse. It's just that it doesn't

get better. And it's sort of is a lingering injury. He's trying to figure out a way to get his arm back. But now we know for sure and for certain, even though you could obviously see it on the field that he is not healthy, he finally admitted it pretty much in that press conference. And now Rivera, he said that he wasn't going to address it

last night in his press conference, about sitting out Cam, but that conversation has to come, correct? I mean, because it does not seem like Cam Newton is himself. The player that we saw, you know, just like I mentioned earlier, when he was an MVP guy not too long ago. Yeah, I mean, look, the guy's not well. The guy's not Cam Newton. He can't drive the ball down the field. I mean, he's got nothing on the football. He can't make throws. They can't move the ball offensively. And you're really playing with a limited player. And to me, if they play him the next two weeks now that they've been eliminated, to me is reckless.

And I think it's not for the best interest of the long term of the franchise. I think they've got to sit the kid down. They've got to play somebody else because he's not well. This isn't the Cam Newton that you know that I know that can make some throws. He's short on every single ball. He doesn't look like he could literally extend his shoulder. I mean, he legitimately looks like he has a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, there's a young basketball player in Philadelphia named Markell Fultz

that I can't figure out if he has a bad shoulder or not. but Fultz never looked this bad shooting a basketball as Cam does throwing a football. I know they're different sports. But to me, you can see Cam's hurt. I could never see Fultz's hurt in terms of a mechanics with his shoulder. This kid's shoulders really hurt, and I think they should sit them down. Where does that decision come from, Lombardi? Because when you look at the situation, we got Marty Herney there, the GM.

We got Ron Rivera, who after the game went asked, like I said, he said he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't shut him down. We have Dave Tepper, the new owner. I mean, who's going to make that call to say, hey, we need to worry about the preservation of Cam Newton moving forward for this franchise. I mean, does it come from Rivera, even though Rivera may be coaching for his job at this point? Does it come from Herney? A guy that kind of came in after the fact, a little bit of cleanup duty after, you know, Gettelman leaves and goes to New York. Or does it come from Tepper?

Or Tepper says, look, this is our franchise quarterback. We need to rest him and save him as we move forward with the franchise. I don't think Tepper's going to get that involved. I think Herney's got to go to Rivera and say, look, it doesn't do us any good to keep playing this. kid. To me, common sense sometimes isn't common in the NFL, but for this situation, I think it would be Paramount that they sit them down. I think Herney needs to sit down with Rivera in the room and say, look, there's really no reason. The guy's not well. Look, I mean, have a staff meeting. I mean, they can't move the ball offensively. They can't do anything offensively. It's a struggle.

I mean, they can't make any plays. They have no real chance to win as long as he's playing quarterback with that arm. Teams are watching them. They're going to sit on routes. He can't throw the ball. I mean, it's an arena league game. He's not going to throw the ball 40 yards down the field. So why would you play them? You can't move the ball. Before we move on and get to that Sunday night football game, final note on the Panthers and Camden,

do you think that this is, because I've seen a lot of people, a lot of people in North Carolina last night that I was watching the game with, they were bringing up the fact that this could be the end of an era with this defense. So Thomas Davis, Julius Peppers, some of these names that have been around for so long

and have been a staple on this team, Greg Olson may be done. So this could be a changing of the guard per se with what's going on in Carolina. Do you see that happening or do you see, you know, this team taking their lumps and, you know, they've been up and down sort of back and forth. They don't have, you know, back-to-back winning seasons, usually under Rivera, it's pretty much been the tradition. Do you see them taking their lumps and coming back next year and trying to run it back? Or is this final of the time where they do, you know, make a full overhaul of who

they are as a team? I think to me, if you just bought the team and your team, you've waited and You said publicly you're going to wait the year before you make the evaluation. After watching this year, after watching the evaluation, I think probably as the new owner, you want to get guys that you feel most comfortable with. And that could be, he could feel really good with Rivera. I don't know. I think anybody who says anything about the relationship between Rivera and Teper, Tepper and Herney, I don't think they really know.

Because one thing we know about Teper, he ain't talking to anybody. So everything's speculation. So I think if you just look at this guy as a hedge fund operator, he has a chance to really put his mark on the organization that I think now is the time to do it. I don't think this piecemeal mythology is going to work anymore. I mean, they made their run. I think they need to fix their organization and bring it to the modern era in terms of analytics, in terms of how they procure talent, what they do, how they manage their cap. Because remember, Herney's in this job because Jerry Richardson felt like Dave Gediman was mistreating the player. in terms of not paying them enough, right?

Yes. I mean, you know, all the players got mad. Steve Smith, you know, so, okay, now it's the time to get back to business. Okay, Mr. Richardson's not there anymore. All right, let's figure out what we want to do. Let's operate this in the best manner. I think that's what he would do. The other part I think last night that was interesting is the Rams have not played well

in the last three weeks offensively. Since that Kansas City game, they have, Jared Gough has struggled, right? And since the Philadelphia game, when the, the Saints put 48 on the Eagles. The Saints offensively have not played well. I mean, they've had six turnovers in four weeks. They haven't gotten over 200 yards passing in any of those games in the last four weeks. Okay?

They haven't been able to really dominate the game, but yet they're three and one. And to me, that's a really good sign of a good team because they've played left-handed and still won. Yes, and that brings us to Sunday night football in the game. That was probably the game of the week as far as, you know, the talking head. and the talking points that came out of week 15. And the reason for that is you talked about having to play left-handed. The Rams and the Eagles going into this game, they were going to have to play differently. The Eagles were going to play differently because Nick Foles is under center.

And the irony of it all was that this came back to a year ago when we saw Carson Winsco down with that ACL injury on the goal line there in Los Angeles. And there were just a lot of moments that brought up and reminded you of what happened a year ago. Nick Foles comes into this game. and this Eagles offense looks totally different. It almost looks like they were able to repeat what they did last year. They'd get a 30 to 13 lead at one point. The Rams made it close a couple of times,

but for the most part, Jared Koff was, as you mentioned, missing some throws that he usually is able to make because he was getting hurried up. Michael Bennett was able to make some noise in that front four and that front seven for the Eagles was able to do something that we haven't really seen them do since last season. Alshon Jeffrey looked like he was the same guy from the playoffs last year. He gets all eight of his.

targets, eight for eight, 160 yards, didn't score a touchdown, but you know, you could see the relationship between Foles and Jeffrey, and they kept mentioning this during the broadcast, Chris Collinsworth brought it up, that it was like a backyard football game with Foles in the huddle. And you saw the difference in that offense with what the Eagles were able to do and how much more comfortable they looked, you know, with Peterson and with Foles in the huddle. And from your vantage point, Lombardi, just watching this game, how crazy is it to see that Eagles team seem to get an offensive rhythm and a flow with Foles under center? and how different they just looked overall as a team.

Well, I think, you know, yeah, the Eagles look good. But, I mean, I thought more than anything, I thought the Rams are horrendous on defense. I think the Rams have been horrendous on defense. I think for all these named players that they have over there, Adomac and Sue, I don't see him do anything inside. You know, he's got all every opportunity to be single block because this protection is always sliding to Donald.

I don't see him making a play. I think, you know, Collinsworth said, you can't throw the ball over to Taleb. Hell, they were throwing the ball over to Taleb. the whole game. I mean, Talib, whether he's 100% or not, he's not the same, Akib Talib that he was three years ago. You could throw on them.

Same thing with Marcus Peters. Everybody in the league goes after Marcus Peters. They challenge them. They double move them. And I just think this RAM team, their depth is not very good. The injuries are setting in, but more than anything. If you look at the last three weeks and, you know, Jared Goff has been riding the Sean McBay train, but the last three weeks, Tate Fraser, seven interceptions, one touchdown.

average in 5.525 yards per attempt. He's only made three plays in the last three weeks of over 25 yards. I mean, his numbers are remarkably bad. This is pre-Shawn McBay, Jared Gough. And I wrote the column on The Athletic about, would you pay Jared Gough 30 million? I said, I needed more time. And if he doesn't improve now, look, he's got San Francisco this week, and then he has, you know, I think he has Arizona this week, then,

Sanford. I mean, those are the teams he plays well against. But last year in the playoffs, he was the worst quarterback in the playoffs. I said it last year after the game. This year in the home stretch, he's been really bad. And I think to me, that's got a concern the Rams. I tweeted the other night. I mean, obviously, obviously Cooper Cup has to be the MVP because he's the only piece miss it. Now, look, I know Austin Blake, the right guard is not playing very well. I get that. He's not playing good at all. But God Almighty, how can this offense be this bad when was so good. One thing that you can point out when you look at this offense and a reason why they may not be what they were is because Todd Gurley at this point, he is injured. He is banged up. I mean, he got hurt

in this game was what they were saying. I think he got hurt in Kansas City, too, Tate Fraser. He missed some time in Kansas City. He's been hurt. You know, you can see that he is limping around and he's trying to play through it. I mean, he missed most of the third quarter in this game. And even when he was able to come back when they had that goal line saying after they realized that Reynolds was down short of the goal line and he comes in and scores the touchdown, Once he hits the ground there, I mean, it took a lot of effort for him to get up and keep going there. His whole team, the offensive line picked him up. I think Whitworth just pulled him straight up from there.

But if they don't have Gurley at 100%, and he is not the threat, both in the passing game and in the running game for the Rams, and it gets put back, the onus gets put back on Goff. You've seen how different that is, and you can see that McVeigh has to call a game totally differently because if teams were able to get pressure without blitzing, Jared Goff, and this Rams offense is a totally different offense compared to what we saw earlier in the year. I mean, just look, Brandon Cook said, he's had the last two weeks, he's had 15 targets. He's got nine catches and he averages under 10 yards in those catches.

I mean, they can't get the ball down the field. I mean, this is what people are eliminating that. The protection has broken down. And, you know, the Rams defensively, look, they haven't been good all year on defense. And if their offense doesn't carry them, where are they going? I, you know, and look, you know, they might have gained 413 yards. against the Eagles the other week, but that wasn't, they never had control the game.

Heck, they never had control of the Lions game. It took everything in their power. Now, I know they won by 14, but it took everything in their power. I kept saying that he's getting hit. Like sometimes quarterbacks are like boxers. The more they get hit, the less effective they are. And golf looks like, he looks like he's gotten hit too much. And he's not, his eye level isn't down the field, nor is he very accurate anymore.

I mean, his accuracy looks horrendous, doesn't it? Yes. And it is, it's interesting to me because I pointed this out on, you know, Twitter, then everyone's calling me George Whitfield. But I do understand a little bit about when the pressure is coming and he was trying to throw the ball harder. He was trying to get some more zip on the football and trying to get it out quicker. When he was doing that, he was snapping his wrist and he was missing guys.

I mean, he had, I think it was Gerald Everett that one time where he had him wide open. I mean, he could have just lobbed it up in the end zone and he tried to get it out quickly, snapped his wrist and he missed him way left. And he had that same thing happened on Todd Gurley running a seam route up the middle where you know, he had him open and, you know, he kind of just zips it and throws his, you know, you know, lets his wrist nap a little bit and he misses him left and misses it high. And it is an interesting situation there with Gop because as the pressure was getting in his face, you could tell he didn't want any of it. And this is at home in Los Angeles. And that's a worrisome,

you know, a proposition when you get to the playoffs, obviously. You know, I always thought in college, and I said this, I went on Rich Eisen last summer, and I was talking about it. And I just thought then that and had not known how good McVeigh was, you know, I thought the guy can't play fast. Like Rich Eisen says, what do you think of this player? And I'm like, I don't think he can play fast. I don't think he's ever going to be a good player. And obviously, you know, he played way better than I thought he would. And I was wrong on that evaluation. But to a degree, I am right, in the sense that every time he has to play fast, he loses the strike zone. He loses his ability to handle it. When the runners are on first and third and he can get into his delivery and set and check

the runners and throw it, perfect, right? No problem. But when he's got to play a little bit faster, this is what always worries me about quarterbacks from that Texas tech style. And I know Mahomes is beating everybody to that punch, but they don't seem to play in rhythm and they have to wait for people to get open. And they can't, even though they've thrown the ball and been in shotgun so much, they don't play fast. They don't play fast. They don't play quick-minded. I can still remember one time I was on the road with this great scout, Frank Schmouse. His name was Smouse. He used to wear a French beret. Really an interesting guy. A fascinating man, he worked for the Bengals. He ran the Bengals personnel department. And we were in, we were in Iowa watching tape on some quarterback. And he said,

you know, kid, he said the number one thing you got to figure out is are these quarterbacks, not are they quick-footed, are they quick-minded? And that's always stuck with me, that term, quick-minded. Is he quick-minded? And it's hard to always see. I think McVeigh has made Gough more quick-minded. I'm just not sure he can always make him quick-minded as people start to see what he's doing. And the better defenses and the better defensive coaches maybe have a handle on him. And as long as that offensive line isn't playing well, and they might be beat up too, Trey Frazier, we don't know that. I just don't see Gough playing quick-minded. And it's got to concern you. Now, you know, they're going to turn it around the next couple weeks,

But, you know, I do that betting show on weekends, betting across America. And, you know, the one thing when you do those betting shows, those gamblers, they know, you know, you don't cover that line or you don't get, like the Rams are like persona non grata to the sharp betters, right? They don't want anything to do because they can't, they're not covering. They're against the spread. They've been horrible. Of course, naturally me, to be in the idiot, I went with them last week, you know, and oh, yeah, they're going to cover me. I'm a big macho man, right? So, like, but they don't, they haven't been covering.

Like the Rams to the sharp betters have been persona non grata. And because they don't cover, they're not as good as their press clippings or what we think they are. We know they're not good on defense. But this little hole in the ointment offensively has been a problem. The difference between the Saints not being very good offensively and why they're three and one and why the Rams are one and two the last three weeks is the fact that the Saints defense is better than the Rams defense. And it does seem like, you know, McVeigh was confounded by the situation in this game. They showed, you know, when they had the fumble, when Watson fumbles the ball in the pump, and they finally get the ball back, and it does seem like they have some, a little bit of momentum going in, down seven, you know, 30, 23 at this point,

that they have a chance to make a run here. You know, they fumbled a punt and they cut to Sean McVeigh, and it just seemed that, you know, for the first time, he seemed like he didn't have necessarily the answers, you know, he seemed to be shocked by what was going on. Things weren't going according to plan. And it does seem like when Sean Peyton, Sean Payton has seen some of those things, not go according to plan and is able to adjust in the fly. and even if, you know, Drew Breeze isn't 100% on the night, they can find another way to win the game because Davenport and some of these guys on defense,

Cam Jordan, whoever it may be, can make a play for them and, you know, can get up and do something for them. But for whatever reason, the Rams haven't been able to do that. And if you're McVeigh, I mean, who do you turn to for the answer? Do you go to Wade Phillips and you say, hey, unfortunately, this office isn't doing what we thought we were going to be able to do at this point. We need you guys to step it up,

maybe get some more pressure, maybe do some more blitzing, maybe figure out a way to get some of these guys to play differently against us because we can't rely on our offense as much as we were able to earlier in the season. Yeah, I mean, I think they're going to have to figure something out. I think the one thing is, if I were the Rams, I would make sure Gurley's healthy for the playoffs. Like these next two games, you know, you're not going to lose the number two seed, you know, because obviously the chart, the who, nobody, you know, they've got the West convinced, right? So they're not going to be able to do that.

You've got to keep the bears at bay, right? Because you don't want to go on the road back to Chicago because there's no way golf can throw the ball in the coal. So these are games you've got to find a way to win. Just get through the next one, clinch at least the second seed. To me, that's more important. And then I would get girly rest. I would just get girly needs to. I mean, when you have swelling on the knee, there's something going on in your knee.

And if you don't have that lower body power, it's a problem. And I think they need Gurley more than anything. Gurley is the best tool for their defense than anything. But were you surprised when the Eagles, what was your thought process when you watch Jott Elliott go out there to kick the, to attempt the 53 yarder? I mean, you've read Gridiron Genius. Like, would you have attempted, like, why would you ever do that? It is interesting to see where, you know, the Eagles themselves, I mean, as much as there was such a hoopla and so much excitement about how they were, you know, looked like the team from last

year with Foles under center, they still did a lot of things in this game, which gave the Rams a chance to win despite the Rams playing as bad as they did. And you mentioned that situation there. It is, you know, what, what is the thought, you know, process behind that? that. I mean, obviously, you know, things were rolling for them at that point, but, but I don't understand what the odds are, you know, in doing that because you honestly, you just set yourself up for the potential of catastrophe and the potential of a team at home to be able to get some momentum back and swing it back in a positive light despite the fact that they'd been struggling all game. Not a good iron genius move. No, I mean, look, you know, if they, if they could have gotten the ball

out of bounds on a couple throws, I mean, they ate up too much time throwing checkdowns, but the reality of it is is, you know, they had taken five-yard gains and six-yard gains on their two-minute drill, but the reality of it is is they're throwing the ball into the end zone on first and 10, you know, I mean, they got second and 10. They're throwing the ball in the end zone. He missed, you know, he had a guy, literally, I thought he had the guy in the scene, but like, to me, I don't get that, you know, and for as good as the Eagles were on offense that day, and they were. And I think Nick Foles has certainly helped him. I think Nick Foles will help them this week against Houston. They couldn't convert a third down in the fourth quarter. And that's always problematic. I mean,

when you got to convert third downs in the fourth quarter and you can't do it, that's a problem. But going back to the Rams, to me, I think they better get themselves healthy because the way they're set up right now, if Gurley's not 100%, I mean, think about this tape, razor. The Chargers went into Kansas City without their best player and beat the Chiefs on their field. Do you think the Rams could go into Kansas City and beat Kansas City in Kansas City without Gurley? Not right now. Absolutely not. I don't either. You know, and then not only did they not only did not have Gordon, they didn't have

Keenan Allen in the game. So for all the Cooper Cuff, you know, we lost Cooper Cuff. The season's coming to a complete end. I mean, they didn't even have Keenan Allen and they overcame it. So I'm, I think, you know, the city that I once lived in a city that you still reside, I think the best team in that city is the Chargers. Yes. And that is becoming a really big talking point for the most part, for a lot of people that

have declared themselves to be Major Ramas fans. They are worried about the Chargers. possibly taken over. I call them the Carson Chargers. So we'll see what happens with all that. But you know, Trey Frazier first, I lived there two years. I don't think I saw three Chargers hats walking the walking Bell Alana. Millie and I didn't see three Chargers hats. The whole time we lived there walking that beach and I walked it every day. You got to go down to San Clemente or, you know, La Jolla or something like that. I saw probably let I saw less than three Ram hats. Now, I saw a bunch of USC Trojans, saw a bunch of Lakers, saw some kings. It's just a weird place.

It's a weird vibe in terms of the football. It is, absolutely. And it's a weird vibe in terms of the sports fandom because a lot of transplants and all those sorts of things. I mean, I can't walk five steps outside this house and see 75 Eagle flags. You know, it's like weird. Well, the Eagles fans are very happy

because as we move on in the NFC East and talk about what's going on, they're very excited to see their team get a big road win in L.A. And, you know, sparked some of the discussion points that we heard last year going into their big Super Bowl run. And also they got to watch the Dallas Cowboys and the Clapper put up a donut. The Dallas Donut, as they like to call it.

The Colts go in this game. They win 23 to 0. Jason Garrett, as you pointed out on Twitter, still happy, still smiling after the game despite getting basically just completely dominated the entire afternoon. After the game of Zico Elliott said it was a piss poor effort all around. Thank God for Elliot. I mean, let me say this to you. If Al Davis would have been in the box and he would have seen Jason Garrett shaking hands

smiling, going over to Andrew Luck, he would have not been on the fucking plane coming home. Like, we're just going to leave him here. We're just going to leave him here. You're not coming with us. Like, you weren't even allowed to talk to the opponent coaches. Like, if he saw you bullshit and with coaches on the sideline, you're working for the enemy now? I mean, like, are you kidding me?

Like, I'm watching this and I'm thinking, you know, look, I know I pick on Jason Garrett, right? I understand. I do. But, and I've nicknamed him the clapper. I understand that. And it hurts me because he's A from Jersey and B, he loves Springsteen. So those two things are near.

dear to my heart. But I got to be honest, I don't have a grudge with the guy. I'm just trying to solve the mystery of what does he actually do besides greed. Like, I'm trying to solve that. I'm working on mysteries without any clues here. You're like, I'm trying to figure it out. And then he goes and pulls that he's so fucking happy for everybody. Are you kidding me? Like, you just got your ass kicked on the road. You are now two and five on the road. And you're sitting there shaking people's hands. I mean, go over, shake Frank Reich's hand and get the hell out of there. Like, get out of there. Like, you've got to be more angry than that. And the other thing, I think, I think fans should really understand this. And this is a, this is a huge, huge point,

especially as we live in the age of, of subcontractors in the NFL, where these coaches are calling, you have got to as a head coach, your team adopts your personality. It does. No matter who you are. The Vikings will adopt Mike Zimmer. You know, the brownies, they, they were adopting Hugh Jackson. Okay. You're going to adopt the head coach's personality if the head coach is involved with all the phases of the game. And since Garrett doesn't call offense and since he doesn't install the offense, you would think he's involved. That team does have his personality. And that team doesn't look very tough to me. When you're two and five on the road, you're not a tough team. You're just not. I'll say the same thing about the Patriots. They're three and five. I would say if they're honest with themselves in New England, which they are, they know they don't have enough mental toughness.

because that shows on the road. And when you're two and five and you can't win, I love Zeke Elliott. I mean, at least he's the one speaking the truth. I mean, Garrett's out there. I mean, seriously, he should work at Caesar's Palace. Come in. Would you like, please play the slots? We'll comp your room food and beverage.

I mean, like, he should be a host. We'll call him the greeter. Garrett the greeter. That's what it is. The greeting clapper. I mean, seriously, Tate Fraser, doesn't it fucking piss you off? Like, at some point, like, stop it. Like, I'm telling you, like,

Like anybody, I mean, it was like so obvious to me. Like, all right, you're picking on them. No, I'm not picking on them. Like, watch them. Do you want your coach to be like that? No. Do you want your coach to be like, I don't want Mike. I want my coach to be pissed off.

Like, because I'm pissed off. Like, we just flew up there. We got our asses kicked. And don't tell me, don't give me this crap that, oh, it doesn't count. We're still fine for everything. Yeah. No, it counts. They keep score.

You got your ass shut out. You got shut out. Matt Iberflus, the defensive coordinator of, of the Indianapolis Colts who practiced against your ass three every day just shut you out. And you're happy about it? And that was sort of the damning thing, honestly, after the game when people were asking questions was, you know, Frank Reich obviously is, you know, coming from the Eagles, an NFC rival, a team that knows the Cowboys.

You mentioned the defensive coordinator for the Colts had been with the Cowboys. So he knew what was going to happen. He knew what this offense was going to look like. He knew what they were going to roll out there. Zeke was getting a lot of touches in this game. He had 16 touches before the half. and they're trying to run him down. I mean, we saw these fourth and one plays where they're giving him the ball,

and he's getting stuffed, getting hit. And it's one thing to lose on the road, and maybe you save some of your big stuff, maybe you save some of your plays as you get closer to the playoffs. But they seem to be throwing everything out there to try to win this football game, and they still end up with zero points. They still get a field goal block.

They had so many moments in this game where, you know, it's one thing to lose and you don't show your hand. But when you do show your hand and go out there and throw everything at the wagon and see what happens, happens and you get, you know, basically trounced by a team that knew what you were going to do, that is not bode well for the future as you get into the playoffs. The Colts run the Cowboys defense. Yes.

And the Cowboys' offense was four for 12 on third down. Now, that's a real problem. Now, the Cowboys run the Colts defense. The Colts rate for 12 on third down. There's the difference. Like, you want any more de evidence? Like, there's the difference. The Colts were two and three.

They both run the same red zone offense, red zone coverages in the Red Zone. the Cowboys are O for two. The Colts are two for three. I mean, it's right there. Like at some point, when does somebody get pissed off and say enough is enough? Like, why are we not beating this team? You know,

and I don't want to hear that crap. Well, you know, it doesn't count. It's not going to affect our standings. Shit, it's your team. It's what you look like. You look like crap. Your team, you think you're going to be able to go into New Orleans.

I know you beat New Orleans at home. You think you're going to New Orleans and beating them in the Superdome. You think you're going to go out to Los Angeles and beat them there? I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, you think you're going to go to Chicago and beat the Bears? Seriously. I don't give a fuck what Trubisky does in that game.

He can just hand it off in that game. They're going to win. Yep, yep. And it's an interesting, you mentioned the Bears. We can go ahead and get to that game because the Bears do win the NFC North this week. They win and beat the Packers 24 to 17, obviously. This is a very emotional moment from Matt Nagy in this game. First time the Bears have won this division since 2010.

After the game, you know, a lot of excitement in the locker room. Mitchell Trubisky wears a light-up sweater. I don't know if you saw that Lombardy, a Christmas sweater. He said it's lit. A lot of exciting things going on in Chicago at this point. And you mentioned the Cowboys having to go in and play this Bears team. This Bears team, you talk about having an identity. They seem to have an identity as a team.

They seem to like each other. They seem to enjoy playing with one another. They seem to trust one another. And you saw it in this game as much as Aaron Rogers was trying to get things going for this Packers team. The Bears were able to be steadfast. They seemed to understand the situation that they were in. they played so well at home, and we saw it against the Rams not to, you know, a couple weeks back. But you got Tariq Cohen, you got playmakers, you got Trubisky, who was able to make some throws.

He seemed to, you know, be a little bit comfortable with this team, understanding that he's playing a team that he knows well in division. 20 for 28, 235 yards, two touchdowns in this one for Trubisky. But this Bears team in general, I mean, they've shown signs. I mean, I saw it was on ESPN. They were saying that, you know, a lot of people are picking them to be the team to come out of the NFC at this point. I mean, are we overhyping the bears at this point? Or do we just see that they know who they are as a team? And that's why people like them at this point in the year.

I think, look, they are a team that's really good on defense. I mean, even though, you know, they lose it in New York. They give up some yards against the Giants. I mean, that was a bad game. Now you say, well, Chase Daniels played. Well, I mean, Chase Daniels did play. But, you know, they still, they still gave up a ton. I mean, Chase Daniel didn't play defense in that game.

So, you know, I mean, so you got to look at that. And then I think that, you know, but they're a tough out. You know, we're seeing a downward spiral in scoring. And that's because the weather is affecting scoring. And because weather is affecting scoring, defenses that are good will keep rising up. And I think that the bear's defense is really good. They can create turnovers. They've got 35 tonovers for the season.

You know, they can pressure the passer. Hicks to me is one of the biggest, you know, like to me, every time I see Akeem Hicks on TV, I look at Millie and I'm like, I can't believe we didn't sign him back. You know, it's like to me, we did all that work to get him to New Orleans to get him to New England from New Orleans. And he's on somebody else's team. You know, that's just he's, he's a dominant inside player. I mean, he's a dominant inside player. And it's hard to block. And he pushes the pocketback. And he affects games more. He'll affect Drew Brees more than anybody because he can push the pocketback. And I know Kille Maq gets all the praise and rightly so. But Hicks is a, Hicks is a blue chip player by far. So you add that to it. I mean, they're a tough out. I mean, as long. as Trubisky doesn't screw it up, as long as, and they've got enough weapons on offense, they got a chance. I mean, they're going to win ugly on offense, but they can win pretty on defense. And when you mention that defense, I mean, it is not just Galil Mack. I feel like that is the token player that everyone wants to point out when they look at this defense. But you look even

in this game, Leonard Floyd was amazing in this game. He gets two sacks, two tackles for a loss. Six tackles overall. Roquan Smith had 10 tackles in this game. The rookies looked really great for this team. Obviously, Mac, you know, two and a half sacks in this game as well. also played to a premier level. But overall, that entire defense is almost like the offense of the Bears. And I think that's why there's such an interesting team and why a lot of people are trying to ride that bandwagon as we get to the playoffs because we saw what the Eagles were able to do last year with the defense that is very similar of being able to get some pressure up on the front.

And I do want to ask you about Aaron Rogers. So in this game, you know, Aaron Rogers goes down. They lose. They are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. We talked about maybe shutting Cam Newton. Now, do you see Green Bay shutting down Aaron Rogers for the last two game now that they are officially out of the race for the playoffs? I mean, they've got to shut him down.

The guy's not healthy. Why risk it? Why really risk it? Like, shut his ass down. You're not going to get anything. Actually, it'll benefit you more if you shut them down than it would if you keep playing them. And so to me, I don't think he's going to play against the Jets. I think that line swing from the Packers being favored, I think, by three on the road to

the Packers being underdog with the Jets to be in the underdog. I think there's a huge line shift there. And I would sit. Rogers down. I mean, how bad? I mean, seriously, if you're Mark Murphy and you're the King of All Kings now in Green Bay, like, you got to sit there and say, we are 0 and 7 on the road with Aaron Rogers. How is that possible? I mean, the Arizona Cardinals, and they say Steve Wilkes is going to definitely get fired, whether that's true or not. They've won road games. And we can't win a road game with Aaron Rogers. Are you kidding me? I mean, the only other team that hasn't won a road game are the 49ers,

understandable, right? They're not very good. They lost their starting quarterback. They're not very talent-wise. But at what point, to me, that's an indictment of your talent level of your team. And you can say, well, Rogers isn't playing well. That's true. Rogers missed some throws in that game that he should definitely have made. There's no doubt about it. Had St. Brown, had Van Dell's scantling wide open for what I thought would have been a touchdown, he overthrew him by five yards. So, you know, and they're still talking about bringing Randall Cobb back. Randall Cobb is the greatest receiver for if you want under 10 yards of catch in the league. You know, pay them $9 million for that seriously.

So I think you sit them down and I think you really evaluate where are you as a football team. I think the Packers need a defensive coach to be their head coach. I think the Packers need a tough guy. I think the Packers are soft. And I think O and 7 is a reflection of that. Just like I think the Cowboys are soft. I think the Packers are soft.

I think they don't have any toughness. I think they've waltzed into this world that Rogers can get everything to I saw it happen with the Saints, and Sean Payton did a great job of converting this back over. Early, before they won their Super Bowl, it became so easy for them to run Y-stick on third and four and get first downs that they lost their toughness. They lost their whole demeanor as a football team. The next year, he came back with that group of people, the Mike Bell, all those runs, and he became determined to become more tough. I think if I were Mark Murphy, that would be the number one requirement for my next. next head coach, really smart, but really tough. That would be the two things I would want.

And is there anybody that comes in mind when you think about those two qualities? I mean, I'm trying to think about defensive coaches that are just around the league that are current head coach. I mean, Ron Rivera may come to mind. John Harbaugh may come to mind. Is there anyone that is a defensive guy? Obviously, Mike Zimmer comes to mind. He's also in that division. But is there someone that you point to and you say, that's the defensive type of coach that this team needs because Rogers is going to have the offensive side handled no matter what. Right. And I mean, you're going to have to get somebody in there to stimulate Rogers. I'm not saying you want to come in and run a bad offense, but I think you've got to look at it and say,

okay, like I'm not saying, is Vic Fangio a head coach, but Vic Fangio is a tough guy. And Vic Fangio will make the team tougher, you know, and that's what it needs. Now, you still need to be able to throw the ball effectively and you need to be progressive on offense because if you don't do that, you're not going to be able to score a lot of points and Rogers is going to be pissed off. But I would really look, look, I would say Chris Richards at the Cowboys. He looks like he's a tough guy. That defense plays tough, you know, his personality shows up.

up. I think he would be one of the guys I look at. I look at Don Martindale at the Ravens, tough guy. That defense doesn't have really, people think that everybody thinks the Ravens defense is the Ravens defense from 2003, four, five. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and, yeah. I mean, they're all wearing the numbers, but they're not very talented. They play well, but they're not very talented. So I would, I would lend to go in that direction and see if I could find an offensive coach, but I think you've got to get a leader who's tough, who can make this team tougher. They've been going indoors, too much to practice.

All these West Coast guys, Dave Fraser, they want to have the perfect practices. They want to go inside. If it's cold out, we're going to go inside. I mean, Patricia catches a lot of shit for going outside of the lions and everybody gives them crap. But he's trying to get the team tougher. He knows the lions aren't tough. That's one of the fallacies of the lions. They're not tough.

He's trying to tough up. And you say, well, going outside is really going to make them tough? Yeah, it does. It'll make them tough. Run, condition the team. It'll make them tough. But that's what the Packers need. That's what the Packers needed.

And when you're in that division, you're in that division. and when you're in a town like Green Bay or if you're in a city like Detroit and it is cold, you know, you have to almost like, you talked about the identity of your head coach coming down and representing, you know, your football team. Sometimes the city itself needs to be represented even if you do play indoors in an indoor facility. And, you know, a lot of indoor facility teams, you know, showing signs that they may not be what we thought they were earlier in the year back in August and October and some of those months. Because as we hit December, January, you start to see the identity of some of these teams.

really come out. Speaking of, we need to talk about, this is the fifth and final takeaway from this week. Steelers, Patriots in this game, it was such a back and forth. Steelers were almost in must-win territory. I mean, if you think about who they had coming up, they had New Orleans coming to town. And coming into this game, they had lost three straight. And the Patriots were flagged. A lot of penalties in this game against the Patriots. Steelers were able to find some footing there with Jalen Samuels. But for the most part, looking at this game, it was a defensive showdown. of a storyline of week 15 overall, but this was a defensive game back and forth. Steelers were able to find a run game. Patriots, even though they lost this game, they were still averaging 5.1 yards per carry, which was nice for their offense. Brady only sacked just once in this game. But again, penalties were the problem and a costly interception late that kept them behind. But Lombardi, looking at this game, I mean, nice win for the Steelers, obviously. But what is the takeaway from the Patriots? And, you know, they obviously are going to address and look at who they are as a team. But what is the main,

takeaway here is just that they're shooting themselves in the foot, right? Well, I mean, two of the last three weeks, they've had double-digit penalties. Against the Jets, they overcame it. They had 10 penalties. This week, they had 14. That's not typical, right? And so, you know, and look, this is not a good road team. What the Steelers, what the Patriots did is exactly what we talked about on the Friday forecast.

We said, hey, Belichick's going to stick his tongue out at the Steelers and say, I dare you to be disciplined, to be patient, and to be willing and persistent to run the football. And they were. They had 25 calories for a buck, $1.50. average six three. They had some nice schemes on their runs. They did it. They were not going to let Ben make throws down the field. They were not going to let Ben beat him. You know, he had two 35 passing, two interceptions, two touchdowns. So if you would have told me that the Patriots held the Steelers to 17 points, I would have said absolutely they're going to win. They're going to win 31.17. You know, they dared them. And this proves the point about everybody talks about the run game. You can run the ball and you can have yards running. And I preach. running the ball to control the pace of the game. But what Belichick did was he encouraged the Steelers to run to reduce the scoring in the game to allow his defense to play well enough to get it under 30.

And they did. I mean, they only give up three points in the second half. But the problem was the Patriots offense was a disaster and they only scored 10 points. They couldn't convert third downs when they needed them. And they couldn't make throws down the field. As bad as I complain about the Patriots slowness on defense, they look slow offensively. trying to make place. And when you look at, you know, the team as they, as they rolled this thing out, I mean, we've talked about, you know, at Nausem about the Levion Bell situation, the James Connor

situation, and, you know, what they were going to do in that backfield. But whoever they throw out, they throw Jalen out there. And Jalen goes, the rookie goes and, you know, rushes 19 times for 142 yards, called two passes for 30 yards. And he seemed to be, you know, able to keep this offense moving and keep the Steelers, you know, possession was a big key in this game. And, you know, we, we saw, touchdowns early in this one, and then from there, it was all field goals in the second half, and it was a tight contest. And regardless of the situation, the Steelers kind of got over, you know, a hump in a sense, because they've had so many, I mean, we remember, you know, the Jesse James catch, you know, from not too long ago a couple years back. And, you know,

the moments that they've had against this Patriots team, where things just didn't go their way, and it seemed for the first time, for whatever reason, the Steelers were able to get a win and have things go in their direction for the first time against this Patriots team, which was not necessarily a changing of the guard, but it was interesting to see this Patriots teams kind of flail a little bit. And after the game, I mean, you talked about the coaching job that Belichick has done with this team and how it could end up being one of his best coaching seasons. You know, I think you brought up the 2013 team, you know, in comparison with this team. And the talent necessarily isn't there, you know, throughout the roster on this team, but they've

been able to find ways to win. And that's been a Belichick staple. But for whatever reason, they haven't been able to do that. And, you know, Tom Brady just showed some signs this time where, you know, perfection isn't perfection sometimes with Brady this season. And you've seen it, you know, on a big stage. And for the first time, the Steelers were able to get away with one. Yeah. Look, I think that, you know, the penalties hurt. They got behind in the down and distance count, which was critical.

They weren't able to do that. Brady missed some throws. Brady made a really bad decision on the interception. I mean, that's un-Bradie-like. The pressure kind of broke down. and, you know, they got to find a way to fight through it and they got to find a way to get better. I think the problems are going to mount themselves when they go on the road. Look, they'll play good against Buffalo.

They'll play good against the Jets. They'll be 11 and 5. But if they're the third seed and they got to play Baltimore, that'll be a hard game for them. Because Baltimore is the sixth seed will be able to spread them out horizontally and force them to defend the width of the field and the length of the field. And that'll be a problem for their defense. And Baltimore's defense typically will play good against the Patriots. So look, I think the Patriots are a work in progress. I wrote about this in the athletic on Monday.

This team reminds me, the Patriot team reminds me of the 2009 team, the year they did the documentary on a football life and Bill's on the sideline talking to Brady saying, I just can't get us to play tough. I think there's an element of that here. I think there's an element that this team just doesn't seem to have the tough mental toughness. And when I say mental toughness, it's the ability to focus and concentrate when you're under pressure.

And when you have 14 penalties in a game, that you're typically not, going into the week, the Patriots were only the ninth most penalized team in the NFL. They're in the top 10. But 53 of their 89 penalties occur on the road. And it shows up more on the road than it does at home. And I think that's really the issue. And so that leads me back to their mental toughness issue. And I think everybody's got to step their game up. I think that's pretty clear. And it comes down to toughness is something we talked about. Maybe they can get them outside in that weather in Foxborough and get them outside to build some toughness. Patriots still holding on to that number three

seed. She's with the number four seed. As I mentioned before, Pittsburgh's got to go down to New Orleans and they come back home against Cincinnati. They'll be rooting hard for the Chargers to beat the Ravens next week as they try to figure out that division and get themselves sealed in as the winners of the AFC North. So that's something to keep

an eye on. We're going to take a quick break here and then we're going to come back. We're going to do awards for week 15 and break down the rest of the games and the big statements from this weekend. Quick break. All right, Lombardi, quick break. get a word from our sponsor, Fandul. The fantasy playoffs are fast approaching, and at this point, you probably know whether or not your team is in the championship mix. If you're not, then Fandul wants you to know that there's no shame in walking in from a losing team.

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against the Titans. And, you know, all week they were playing better. Eli's playing better. You know, I read the morning papers here back in the East Coast, the Post, the Daily News. And they're all saying Eli's coming back. But to me, like, you watch that game, even when they were four and one and you watch their games, like at some point, when somebody going to just realize if they had a quarterback, they could play better. Now, I understand, we don't want to make them upset. Like, you don't want to be too mean on the giants. But I mean, the bad weather game, the Titans shut you out. They dominated the game at home. That's not a good sign. I think it's, it might be time to go on the lamb there, Tate Frazier. Yeah, and it's one of those things. I mean, Manning comes in this game. He's playing a

good defense. You know, it's a torrential downpour. But, I mean, it was a, it was a game where Manning continued to make some pretty big mistakes, nearly through a pick six at one point in this game. And in general, Eli Manning, you know, as much as he's much maligned on this program. and across the NFL, we continue to talk about it. But it is interesting to see what happens in the offseason and to see if they do try to make a run to get another quarterback there. Because as we saw, Joe Flacco was apparently going to be a very targeted free agent this offseason as teams try to find a quarterback.

So it could be a situation where, you know, could they go after a Flacco type in New York? Or is that just sort of more of the same with the Eli situation? I were going after Flacco. And I'm not a Flacco guy. But if I were going after Flacco, I would hire Gary Kubiak as my offensive coordinator and then I would sign Flacco. Like I would only partner those two guys up. If I can't get Cubiac, if I can't get Kubiak, I don't want, I don't want Flacco.

Flacco had his best years playing for Kubiak. And Kubiak can get the things out. And that's the kind of quarterback that Flacco is. He's a play action pass quarterback. I think when you go back to the Giants, I mean, look, the Titans took away Barclay. He had 14 carries 31 yards when he can't make a, and 17 came on one play. He can't make a big time play. It puts the ball back in Eli's hands.

He throws it 44 times. for 230 yards, you're not going to win, and it can't convert third downs. So, like, you know, they're three for 16 on third down. I mean, the more third downs you put Eli in, the better chance you have to win the game. I mean, the Giants know it. Now, they're saying they're bringing Eli back back back. I mean, I read the New York Post, the Daily News this morning. They said they're bringing Eli back next year. And so, you know, and I assume they're going to draft a quarterback and bring Eli back saying, you know, why not? But I mean, look, they don't see what they're watching a different game. Yes. We are all watching a different game.

and maybe Gettelman and the Giants are. But it'll be interesting to see what happens with the Eli situation. We will keep taps on that as we move forward. The next award we have for Week 15, the Fred Palermo Award for the best game plan going to the weekend. Does this have to be the Eagles after what they did to the Rams in L.A.? I think you've got to take your hat off to Jim Schwartz and the defense coordinator. And I think you've got to take your hat off to Doug Peterson.

I mean, look, they did an incredible job. Incredible job. I mean, I thought they would get blown out. I mean, they're coming off playing a doubleheader down in Dallas. Their defense played forever down there, but yet they were able to come out, bounce back and play the Rams, put pressure on the Rams. They didn't have Journeygin in the game, typically. I thought Jernigan would have made a huge difference for them.

I think this was truly the heart of a mentally tough team, the Eagles. They showed resilience. They showed the heart of a champion. They showed fight. They came back. You know, Nick Foles takes the credit. But I think this is a true team win. I think that they kept it simple.

they put pressure on Goff. They didn't complicate it. Their players played their asses off, having to make the long trip out there. You know, I think that was, to me, it was the best win of the Eagles season by far. By far. And if you look at that game,

Fletcher Cox, obviously had a great game for them. He came out early in that game and seemed that it could be an issue, but he continued to stay in there and disrupt and to make Jared Goff have to make close a lot quicker than he wanted to. So that was something to keep an eye on for the Eagles.

Next award we have for the week, the KGB Award team that got snuck up on. Seahawks, right? They got snuck up on by the 4th. 49ers this week. Yeah, I mean, look, I didn't think it would happen. I argued on my show betting across America on the weekend. I thought, you know, Jonathan Van Toble, he, he liked the 49ers in this game. And I'm like, how can you like the Niners? I don't like the Niners in anything. I wouldn't like the Niners playing Nevada Reno, you know, and he's like, no, I think it's a

perfect spot. Seattle's going to be looking ahead to Kansas City. He went through it all. He was right. I mean, they snuck up on them. I think Seattle's a team that we're getting carried away with. I like Seattle. I think Seattle's really good. I think Seattle's improved tremendously. I think Pete Carroll has to get consideration for being coach of the year. There's no doubt. He's done a remarkable job getting this team around.

But until Seattle starts to prove to me they can throw the football better, I mean, Russell Wilson's had five interceptions and two touchdowns the last two weeks. He's got to throw the ball better down the field. They've got to be able to have a better passing game. If they don't, it's going to be one and done in the playoffs. You're not going to beat anybody running the football come playoff time. You've got to throw it. And you've got to make plays.

They've only had 30 plays over 25 yards all season. They've got to make some plays down the field in their passing game. And last week, they just couldn't do it against a bad 49er defense. They didn't make enough plays in the passing game. He averaged 7, 6 yards per attempt. The week before, they beat Minnesota, he averaged 3-6. I mean, they've had too many games where he's not making enough plays down the field. And I think when he does, like he did in Denver, like he did in Carolina, you know,

like he did the first time they played. San Francisco, they win. When he doesn't, they run the risk of losing like he did against Chicago and they did against the Chargers. Yeah, and if it's not a broken play where Russell Wilson can make up and conjure up some magic, it seems like that Seahawks offense can be very stagnant. So that's something to keep an eye on. So we get closer to the playoffs. Next award we have, can't tell my courage from my desperation. The Colts, I mean, they're showing some courageous plays and then they obviously had a very courageous win against that Cowboys and the Clapper. They did. I mean, they came out and just punched them in the mouth. I think the thing is I talked

about having a personality of your head coach. And I think that Frank Wright is a guy that many people might think is soft. He's not. He's a tough guy. I mean, just the way they run the ball, the way they mix up their runs, the way they have different runs each week. And the way he coaches that outside zone, I think they're really well coached offensively. And I think Matt Eberfluse, the defensive coordinator, did a great job. He knew exactly what he was getting on every single play. It was like he was calling plays for the Cowboys. Look, I don't think the Colts or a talented playoff team, but I think the Colts play their ass off.

I think the Colts have a great future with Frank Wright. I would have never guessed it. I mean, Frank Wright, it's funny. Frank Wright wanted to be the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. They didn't even, I don't think they even interviewed him. I think Frank Wright would have been the head coach of the Buffalo, the University of Buffalo. I mean, the Bulls, he would, I think he just wanted it.

And nobody was giving him a chance and it took really, I don't think he would have gotten a chance. Say the Eagles would have been a limit. I don't know if he would have gotten a chance, A, if the Eagles didn't win the Super Bowl. and B, if the Colts were left at the altar. I mean, and the guy's a hell of a coach. And I think sometimes we often think perception is reality.

I know in my life, that holds to be true. People have perceived who you are. They really don't know you. I think that happened to Frank Wright as well. I think people perceive him one way, but he's really not. Yeah. And he has shown that the value that he has on third down and the way he's able to call games and control games is something that is very unique

and it is something that has really stood out in his first season with the Indianapolis Col. So that is a- You know what? Tate Frasian, it spreads to the defense. They play freaking hard now. They play hard on defense.

I mean, they play their asses off. And his personality is all through that team. That's what I'm talking about. His personality is all through the team. Just like the Redskins personality is all through their team from Jay Grun. They look disorganized. They look kind of out of pocket.

You know, and last year, the personality of Doug Marone showed up through the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's not there this year. Something happened in Jacksonville, Marone either changed or they got complacent. but the personality of your head coach has to show up on all three phases, and it does in Indianapolis. Yeah, and it has to be a trickle-down effect, and we've seen that out of Indianapolis with Frank Reich,

and it's been fun to watch as the Colts try to make a run to get that six-seed and take that spot away from the Ravens. Final award we have for the week, if you don't know, now you know, Lombardi, what do we know? I think it's going to be hard to play in New Orleans. I think, look, New Orleans is undefeated when they play home playoff games. I think all they've got to do is one of the next two win. one of the next two and they have home field advantage all throughout. I think they know they've got to play better. I think Sean Payton couldn't be in a better situation than he is right now because his team isn't playing great on offense and yet they're still winning. That's the dream come true for

any coach. Like we're winning, but I can still get mad at the guys. We're winning and I can still put pressure on the guys. We're winning and I can still keep demanding. It's a little bit like when Secretary it was winning the Belmont. You know, the jockey's still hitting him on the ass and he's got a 23 late lead. There's nothing better than that, right? That's, what you want. And so I think Peyton's in the driver's seat here now and he's just got to manage it through the end. I think two guys have to manage their team really successfully the next two weeks. Matt Nagy, he's got to keep putting pressure on the bears to be mentally tough, to go and play in outdoors, he's going to have two weeks to get his team ready to play a road playoff game if he happens

to win this first playoff game, right? These next two weeks, he could utilize the road to tough up his team mentally. I think that's great. And I think Sean Payton the same thing. He can use the next week to toughen up his team to then give him the buy coming in the last game of the week. Yeah, and sometimes it is nice to almost compete against yourself at times to make sure that you keep some sort of mission and some sort of goal ahead to keep your team ready and

keep an eye on the prize as we get closer to the playoffs. Speaking of the playoffs, let's look at the playoff picture. In the NFC, we have the Saints, Rams, Bears, Cowboys, Seahawks, Vikings with the Eagles, Redskins, now the Panthers probably officially out at this point. So those are the teams that are involved in the NFC. The AFC, we have Chief Texans, Patriots,

Steelers, Chargers, Ravens, with the Colts, Titans, Dolphins, and Browns all trying to come in and make a last second push to see if they can get that six seed there. Just looking at the playoff picture at large, I mean, what is, you talked about, obviously, you know, the Saints being a team that you can trust and, you know, the Bears now that they've won the NFC North that is a team that we can buy in on. But is there a team outside of that? I mean, you mentioned the Chargers. Is that the team that you can really trust that is not in that top tier group right now as far as the seating in the playoffs? Yeah, I mean, look, the Chargers have won on the road. I think that's been important.

and they've proven that they can go into hot. I mean, look, I think they benefit from the fact that they don't have a home field advantage. So they relish going on the road. I mean, look, when they play home or on the road, they're all, the Chargers played 16 road games this year. Let's be real honest, right? Nobody had Stubhubs rooting for them. I mean, even when they played the Broncos and lost at home, there was more Bronco fans than were Charger fans.

So they're taking that into effect. And I think that that really helps them. Also, you know, Baltimore, they have a huge road game. This is their seventh road game. They're three and four on the road. They play Los Angeles this week. I like Baltimore's team. I think they're a little bit like playing Princeton and basketball.

It's hard to get ready for when Petey Carill was to coach. You've got to handle some stuff because it's so unique. And their defense plays better with Lamar Jackson and quarterback. So I think Baltimore can find a way to win this game. And they're obviously the more desperate team here than the Chargers, even though the Chargers have to keep pace with the Chiefs. I think that they could be a sleeper team come playoff time. Yep.

And that's something we will keep an eye on as we move forward. This has been the week 15 takeaways from all things that are going on in the NFL. We will be back here on GM Street on Friday. On Friday, give you the Friday forecast for week 16 as we get into all of those games and try to set up all the situations as we move towards the playoff and break down all the scenarios as it goes. Lombardi, I appreciate you as always. I appreciate everyone listening to GM Street.

And again, we will be back on Friday. Any last thoughts on week 15 before we get out of here? No, my man, I just got to wish my little man, Leo, a happy birthday turned one-year-old yesterday. So my little man Leo down in Baller, they play Baller, the Baller Barrage play Vanderbilt in the bowl game two days after Christmas. So my man turned one year old. I want to wish him a happy birthday. Yes, happy birthday, Leo. And we hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season.

Hope everyone is getting closer to break. And go shopping, Tate Fraser. Yes, exactly, exactly. We will be back on Friday, as I mentioned before. We appreciate everyone. This has been another edition of GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. See you on Friday. Thanks again to Fandul.

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