The Ringer NFL Show - Sean Payton Steps Down, Divisional-Round Weekend Reactions, and Aaron Rodgers

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

Jason, James, and Ryan start the pod by sharing their reactions to the announcement of Sean Payton's retirement as head coach of the Saints. They then break down the divisional round playoff results (19:11), look ahead to the conference championship round (25:35), and speculate on Aaron Rodgers's future in Green Bay (34:45) Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, and Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Welcome into the Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL show. You've already heard it's James Jones, Ryan Shazier, and Jason Gough here with you. Let's start with Sean Peyton, New Orleans, before we get to what's going on in Green Bay, what's going on in Pittsburgh, and what's going on with these playoffs. But Sean Peyton, who currently, as we're taping right now, is addressing the media after stepping down as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Fellas, you guys have been in locker rooms with venerable coaches, guys who've been around for a long time when it's a surprise or when it ripples like this is sent throughout

the league and of course me sitting here in chicago's like hey you want to want to come be team president that was before they hired the brother ryan polls which you'll get into later but the impact of sean peyton and new Orleans and no longer having either drew brees or sean peyton and where that franchise is headed from there man i ain't going to lie when i first heard it i'm like man what is he doing you know what i'm saying because it's not to be honest with you it's not like New Orleans is far off. You know, New Orleans got a really good defense. You know, James Winston doesn't get hurt. I mean, this team is in the playoff easy. You know what I'm saying? It's not even close. This team is a playoff football team with James Winston at the quarterback

position. I feel like you get Mike Thomas back next season. You mess around and get another receiver in a draft to go on the other side of him. You got Alvin Camerra. Your offensive line is big time. Like, this team is really set up to win. So when I heard it, I'm like, man, what's going on? You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, Sean Payton, when you look at Sean Payton, you look at a guy that loves football, you look at a guy that's been with Drew Brees for so long, man, he's a mastermind of the game. So I want to know what's really going on for him to just step away from the game. You know what I'm saying? Like, when I hear stuff like this, I truly believe, with something up top, or something going on, because it's not like he's leaving

a terrible football team. Yeah, we know you ain't got a, your quarterback's got hurt and, you know, you ain't got Drew no more, but he's not leaving a big time football team. So to step away, I really want to know what's going on. Or did somebody just throw the bank at him for the TV and he like, I'm out of here. That's exactly what happened. I'm going here to get my John Gruen on or whatever. But you know what I'm saying? But, I mean, that has to be the only reason because this team, this team wasn't far off, man.

But it just sucks when you lose good coaches like that, you know. You know, we out here trying to hire higher and find good coaches. to lose good coaches like Sean Payton, man. That's tough, man. So we're going to see where New Orleans goes from here. I'm going to be honest. Sean might see something that everybody else don't see. Everybody else might think, hey, man, this team ain't that far off.

But he might be like, James ain't the guy. This O-Line ain't it. Oh, he can't say that. Why not? He can't say that. Why he can't say that? His O-Line is one of the best O-Lines in football. I'm not just saying O-Line.

I'm just saying like he's looking at the team. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just use O-Line as a unit, an example. You know what I'm saying? be looking at the dbs, like even though they got dbs. You know, but he just might be looking at something and he'd be like, man, these dudes are not as good as everybody think they are. And I don't know why both of y'all are playing right now.

Man, yeah, he is looking at that. Hey, he is looking at the quarterback position and knowing that he had Trevor Simeon, Taysam Hill and James Winston taking snaps this last couple of years. Life a lot different without Drew Brees, all right? And if Amazon or Fox is about to throw that bag at him because Troy Aitman is going elsewhere and he can get paid to go zero and zero for the next seven, eight years of his life

like Bill Cowher has been doing for 15 years, that's exactly what he's looking at. To me, I don't blame him. I don't blame him at all. The only thing I would say is most coaches, when they're done, they look at all right, what's next? You know, I'm going to be honest. Coach Tomlin, I think he would be a great personality for TV.

I don't think he'll do it. You know, I feel like Sean Payton is the type of guy that's like, man, like he loved, like he loved to entertain. He loved to just talk about the game of football. And like you said, he sees James. He see Travis Simeon. And he's like, man, if James get hurt again, man, where am I at? And he's looking at it. And I'm not trying to knock James, but he's looking at the team and like, I don't think this is the team that's going to win a Super Bowl.

Because if you look at it, he probably watched the game just like everybody else watched the game. And he was like, man, I got to have a patch of my homes. I got to have a Josh Allen, a Joe Burrow. You know what I'm saying? All my defense has got to be stifling like the 49ers. And I don't think he believed in none of that. So to be honest, I don't blame him from going to the TV money because if the TV money paying them just as much or more than what he's getting right now

and he's not stressing. That's it. about, you know, calling the plays because the first bad season you have, like, I remember this season. This season in Pittsburgh, people was calling for Coach Tomlin Head. This man went 9-7-1.

Never had a losing record. He never had a losing record. Name of coaching NFL that never had a losing record that's been here more than 70 years. That's what I'm talking about. Like, he's probably like, man, I'm not about to deal with this because if we have a bad season next year,

everybody will be like, man, Sean Payton ain't the guy. We need to get it. a new guy because it don't matter how loyal your fans are people fair weather if you ain't winning man we need a new guy and he probably like man i can i can go to fox and the only thing i'm stressing about is it's saying in damakinsu i'm saying somebody crazy last name that you know just get the connectic spelling for i think i think he i think he like man i this easy this easy money for me and then if he really want to come back to coaching he can leave and then come back in a year two years

three years, and he's still going to be one of the best coaches in the league. Yeah, I think this is a little bit more simple, like you just mentioned. You know, you look at the draft, right? Hell, Urban Meyer jumped out of college football for a chance to coach Trevor Lawrence. There ain't no Trevor Lawrence in his draft this year, right? Maybe two years down the line, three years down the line, there might be somebody, but this is not a particularly rich quarterback year. So you can't even, you know, if you want to entice yourself at, okay, I got a prospect coming up

that I'm going to show you. But that's the other thing, too. Great chefs pick where they want to work, right? Like, if you're a great chef, you're five, if you're a, you know, six star, Michelin chef, you ain't got to go work at Mickey D's or Wendy's or, you know, any of these fast food joints. You can pick the city.

Like, we ain't got no, like, I love Pittsburgh there, but we ain't got no Michelin chefs here. I, I've been to a missionally, hey, I've been to a Michelin restaurant. We ain't got, we ain't got nothing here in Pittsburgh, and I'm going to be honest, I love Pitt. But that's what I'm saying. If I'm Sean Payton and the restaurant that I've been working at all of a sudden is not looking like it used to, all right, I'm going to take my talents elsewhere. And I think there's something to be said for a dude who's won, right, who's won a Super Bowl, and who's also had a certain amount of connection and just synergy with the city.

Like, we got to remember, Sean Payton has been through a lot with that city, okay? there would be Katrina and all the other things that have happened. Like he in that city and Drew Brees are synonymous, and he brought glory for for decades as a kid. The New Orleans Saints were one of the laughing stocks of the NFL. I remember when they were calling the Ains back in the day. I also remember Sam Mills, Ricky Jackson, you know what I mean? Like Vaughn Johnson, Pat Swilling.

I remember some great players on that team, but there was never sustainable success. This is the first time that I can remember in my adult life that the New Orleans Saints were something to be reckoned with and respected for year in, year out, offensive high-powered football. Take a look at the survey the landscape. This ain't no defensive coach. You've had the issue that you've had with Michael Thomas,

whatever that may be, you know, putting them back out there on a bad ankle or him saying, you know what, I'm going to take care of myself on this side. That relationship, I'm sure, isn't where it used to be. Okay, you got James Winston. as much as anybody wants to believe in James Winston, the results of the results. You know, I believe that James Winston is, you know, at times can be a very good quarterback. And there are other times James Winston is an average to below average quarterback. He is not banking the rest of whatever coaching life that he wants to live on those two things,

those two relationships with the quarterback and also the best offensive player on the team to be grounded in solid foundations. So, all right. He comes out and says today, and my plan is to not be coaching in 2022. Like you mentioned, leaves the door open. Leave the door open for all right. Let me go dabble in this TV thing. Or let me just go home and chill with my family.

But I don't think it's as hard a decision as it seems. Of course, it's hard to leave a city. It's hard to leave a franchise that you've brought to glory. But at the same time, man, there's opportunities out there. And coaches get burnt out. Like the fact that Mike Tomlin has been the coach of the Pittsburgh, for this long is a testament not only to what he can do to a locker room but also his patience. You're in a locker room the same time as, you know, as long as some players for their entire

career, those players have heard those speeches for 10 years now. And it still works. But sometimes you get tired of giving those speeches. You get tired of dealing with the same things. You get tired of getting up at 4.30 in the morning. Like, I don't begrudge Sean Payton at all. You get tired of eating bingets. Right.

Right. Right. I don't want crawfish no more, man. You even mentioned in the beginning of the press conference. He was like, yeah, you know, when I got here, I didn't know how to drink. I didn't know how to eat crawfish. And he was kind of iffy on the bignets and kink cakes with cream cheese and all that and other stuff. Unfortunately because your career got cut short, Ryan, your experience is one of, as a young player and also with one franchise.

But this is a coach who's been, you know, in Dallas, in New York, this place, that place, got his head gig and then killed it. Like, the New Orleans Saints were a feared offensive factor for a decade. He did his gig. They won a Super Bowl. He got the job done. Drew Breeze is a Hall of Famer. Got the job. Alvin Kamara, when Alvin Kamara came out of the blue and all of a sudden, he's out here looking like the new and improved Thurman Thomas.

Like, he's done everything he had to do. And if he's looking at the landscape now, like, yeah, it's ain't what I'm used to. So y'all can have y'all good defensive team. but I'll be up here in this booth. I'm an officer guy. I'll call y'all game next to you. Right, right, right. Hey, I don't blame him.

The thing is, this is, and I'm going to even bring this back to college. I'm going to bring this back to college. A lot of people get mad at guys. They were like, man, I don't understand why this guy left college early. Man, when you see an opportunity present itself, sometimes you only get one. Yeah.

So you got to take advantage of it and move forward. He might be making $10 million a year. Yeah, somebody like, hey, Tony Maker 15, we think you'll be a great commentator. I mean, Tony McGregn, it's 18. I give you 15. So what's my job? You just explain football the easiest way to the fans that don't really know football, and you don't have to stress, even if you call somebody name wrong.

For how much? $15 million. Hey, everybody in New Orleans, I used to love crawfish. I used to love big A's, but I'm out of here. I'm out of here. Got to make the best decision. You got to make the best decision. You got to make the best decision for you and your family.

I think everybody does that. Everybody look at the decisions that they can make. Some people make them. Some people don't. But you got to make the best decision for your family. And if you're not doing that, you're not, I don't feel like you're good head of the household. You're not doing what's best for your family. Yeah, you got to take care.

You got to take care of the crib. And as we are recording, like I mentioned, Sean Payton is doing his press conference. Another one of the quotes that have come out of this presser. I'm watching it right here on the NFL Network says, quote, I don't like that. the word retirement. I still have a vision for doing things in football. So there you have it. This is a man who's looking at what's happening in New Orleans and saying, I'm cool on that. I want to do something else. And that it is well within his right to do so. I'm sure New Orleans

Saints fans and Gail Benson and the people in that organization might be a little blindsided or a little shocked. Or some of them might have seen it coming. I mean, this is huge news, though. This is a Hall of Fame level coach who is walking away from an organization as opposed to being fired by one. And there's something to be said for that too, by the way, like walking out on your terms, leaving the way that you want to leave a franchise or the game if this is his last go-round. But as he's stating and talking in this, all intents and purposes, it sounds like this is a dude who's just taking a little break, going to get this TV money for as long as that he sees fit. And when the next opportunity opens itself up, maybe it's not in coaching.

he wants to be a president of football operations or something. But I always, when I take a look at the situations like this, Ryan, I say to myself, I, a dude who's had this much control, it's kind of hard for those guys to kick themselves up to team presidents, you know, unless they're done having that kind of control. But it's kind of hard for a guy who calls all the plays and has gotten all the accolades and all the, you know, his just due as being an offensive mastermind and then saying,

okay, here are the pieces for you to be the offensive mastermind. That sometimes is a little bit of a situation. We see that in Dallas. Yeah. So, no, but I'm going to be honest. I just, he coached for a long time. He coached for a long time. And I'm not surprised, but, you know, most people, this is the biggest thing that I have, right?

And I'm all for contracts. But it's crazy to me, right? If this was a football, if this was, you know, Barry Sanders, he's like, man, I'm about just go to broadcasting. He'd be there for two years, come back. You know what? You ain't going nowhere, bro. It's kind of crazy how, and to me, this is a testament

of how, you know, other leagues and the coaches have done a good job of fighting for what they want. So in this situation, the coach, he's like, man, I'm going to go, he understands the finesse. I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to go coach. I mean, I'm going to go talk about football on TV. And then if I see a job opportunity that I want, I'm gone. If you can't do that as a player

And the thing is, guys don't have as much leverage Because first of all, it's a lot easier To get another Ryan Shazir And I feel it was hard to get me Than it is to get Kevin Durant I love Brian James. Be honest. Yeah, and of course, the amount

that they affect the game With the sheer numbers on the court and if But I feel like the NFL coaches They did a good job of fighting for what they truly want it. The NBA, they fight for what they truly want it. The MLB fought for their decision. truly want it. And I think this is like another situation where you see the players, you know, some of them are stuck in situations that they don't like, but they don't have

the leverage that somebody like Sean Payton has. Sean Payton is a Hall of Fame. You mean, you can get yourself off a team if you put up enough of a stink. Nah, but the thing is, Jason, name me an NFL team right now that's not the Steelers, the Patriots, like teams that you know going to win the Super Bowl technically. Archipede for one. Everybody else will take Sean Payton. Literally everybody else. Like you can have literally any coach the bears y'all don't have a coach right now y'all take Sean Payton. Lions, I understand it like Dan Campbell, they'll take Sean Payton.

There's at least 27 teams that would take Sean Payton right now over probably the guy that they have. Right. So, and that's kind of what I'm meaning. Like, you know. But with a player, obviously, you know, you only get a certain amount of time physically. There's a finite amount of time that you're going to play. You know, if you play in football at age 32, you've had yourself a hell of a career, right? because that means you've been in the league seven, eight years.

But Jason, but think about this. Pat McAfee right now can be like, I'm out of coming back and kick. He's better than half the kickers in the league. And you know who still got his rights? The coach. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying?

So, like, I feel like this is a situation. Now, this is the situation. Oh, so you're saying, you're saying that since Sean Payton's still under contract, if he comes back, he should be forced to be the New Orleans head coach? No, no, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that the NFL coaches did a good job of, you know, basically in situations like this, we know an out.

The NFL players in their situations, they don't have outs in certain things that they don't like. Yeah, that's the squeeze. That's the squeeze. Because they know guys only have a certain amount of time. But they're not fighting for it either, though. Yeah, because NFL players aren't looking at those kinds of scenarios. Like those kinds of scenarios are far more common with coaches than they are with players.

So while players are fighting for pensions and, you know, aid for retired players and all that of the stuff. But they're not even fighting for that stuff as much as they need to. They're fighting for weed. You can't put it like that. I understand what you're saying. You just gave me the image of like 14 player reps in the room fighting over a pound of weed.

No, I'm not saying it like that, but like guys are more fighting for like, man, I'm not trying to get suspended with smoking weed. And obviously weed is a healer. It's like it's a medicine. You know what I'm saying? So you're saying the priorities of the, of the, players union, you know, in these moments, it kind of...

Should be a little better. Should be a little better. So because like not even this situation, but just in all situations, they need to focus on things that can help the player more than they actually do. So, and this is where a situation where the NFL coaches do a good job of fighting for what the coaches want because the coach knows like any, like coach time is going to like, man, I'm looking at it still as, um, Coach Tom was just too competitive, but he's looking at him.

I don't know how they look. I'm going to go. I'm a broadcast. Even though he don't want to do it. And he would like, oh, Dallas is open. You got Zeke. You got Dak. You got, I'm going to go.

But the NFL, like with the players, you'd be like, I'm going to retire. If I come back right now, even though I'm not. If I come back right now, it still is like, no matter what rank, you're playing for us. And like I said, I don't know how the rights translate when it comes to head coaches, contracts in terms of if Sean Pays. rights would still be under New Orleans rule. They still will be, but they know the out. They know outs.

They know more outs in situations like that than guys do. All right. So the questions that happens, you know, Monday morning, it was all over national television here and local television here in Chicago, I'm sure, in Pittsburgh as well, about was this the greatest weekend of football of all time? And this weekend is the reason why I'm, I guess, hard on the product because that was an outstanding, outstanding quartet of games that we took in this last weekend.

And for the product to be what it was during the season, and you're getting like maybe one good game a weekend, maybe two good games a weekend during the regular season, that's why I say what I said about the regular season and how mediocre it was, because that right there, whether it be what the Rams and Buccaneers, engaged in watching the 49ers go up there and just beat up on the team that was supposed to

intimidate you with the weather even though they haven't built the team for the weather they are in uh you know taking a look at at bills and chiefs and you're like yeah that's the future right there like Josh Allen patma homes is two of the three or four guys that I want to see in these final stages of the NFL season like that's what it was it was the it was the entry It was the excitement. It was the atmospheres. It was the weather. It was the hard hitting.

It was the precision play at the quarterback position. You know, this is the reason why for a long time I bristled at college football because to me, the quarterback wasn't important enough. Teams are running around out here competing for national championships every single year were quarterbacks who were just, you know, game managers or guys who coaches didn't want the ball in the hands up. But to watch Josh Allen go down the field. and score the way he did. And Patrick Mahomes not even blink and say, all right, 13 seconds is enough.

You know, one shot here, one shot here. We're in a field goal range, got one of the strongest legs in the league. We out of here. We off to the AFC championship. To act like the Chiefs haven't been those dudes for four straight years at the beginning of this year. Like, shame on all of us. To act like people that figured out Patrick Mahomes, shame on all.

Like that weekend, because of quarterback play, because of coaching, because of star players playing like star players, that weekend is what NFL playoff football. NFL football should be about. Not some of the stuff that we saw during the year where I was like, eh, it's kind of mid, it's kind of huff. Not this weekend. It was definitely one of the better weekends of football.

And I can't wait because Championship Sunday is, that's my favorite day on the sports calendar. It might be the tournament for some people, might be the first, the last day of the Masters, or the seventh game of any series. And AFC championship, NFC championship, to me, with the intrigue and the competition, there's no better day in sports. So the fact that it happened earlier in the divisional round, that's exactly what I needed to see out of the NFL season. I think that was one of the greatest weekends of football.

I'm not going to say it's the greatest weekend. But I would say that's one of the greatest weekends of football. But I'm going to go back because I know you watch a lot of basketball. You don't get that many great weeks of basketball either, though. But what you do get is, see, it's easier for basketball because the matchups can be dictated in such, where if I know is Brian and Jha going at it in a nationally televised game, I know for sure that LeBron's going to have 25, 7 and 7 because that's his average. I know Jah is going to have 24, 6 and 6 because that's his average. And I know in that average, I'm going to see some special things. And hopefully I get a good game. If I don't get a good game, fine. And it's once every. every week, right?

So the frequency of it is, it feels bigger and the magnitude of it feels bigger. There's just a lot of, a lot of average play. And the regular season, the NBA has been dubbed, you know, Nazi or not must-see television before, too, yeah. No, no, no, no, I agree. I definitely agree.

But all I'm saying is that with the NFL, the guys that you expect to make plays make plays, the guys that we think are average or average. You know, everybody would, like, I think Dallas should have made it or, oh, I don't think the 49th should have made it. I think the teams that made it to the AFC championship and the NFC championship are the teams that were supposed to make it. They play really good football.

They showed that on the defensive side, if we need to stand up, we can. But with the bills and the chiefs, they showed on the officer's side. If we need to stand up, we can. So I think this was one of the greater weekends of football. I wouldn't call it the greatest because it's just a lot of football. It's a lot of football I have never seen. So I don't want to say it could have been a weekend, you know, that is even better than this. Even though every game ended on the last play, last drive.

I always, whenever I hear, whenever I hear right, whenever I hear it's the greatest something, I was like, all right, so what's the second? You know what I'm saying? Like, give me the weekend and beat. So I can go back and try to check out those. And then you get the nerds who know exactly which weekend it is and then they, you know, they make you feel bad. I don't.

But I know for me personally, that was one of the greatest displays of consistent football I've ever seen in my life. And to me, I know this season has been looking a little inconsistent here or there. But I think at the end of the day, the season might have been inconsistent, but we still see the teams that need to be here, be here. I think that in a divisional round, we've seen the four best teams, the eight best teams. and then in the NFC championship, we're going to see the four best teams, and I think no matter who end up in the super, I think it's only one matchup

that I think that it will be a blowout in the Super Bowl. And what's that? The Chiefs versus the 49ers. Everything else, I think it will pan out to be a really, really good game. I think the Chiefs, they have way too much firepower on offense for the 49ers on defense.

Really? I think everything else has been playing out exactly how I was supposed to. All right, so what would you like to dig into before we get into some of the picks and how this weekend is going to look because, obviously, Mahomes and Allen leads the way Matt Stafford, right, getting the old monkey, the proverbial monkey off of his back. Tom Brady, being maybe his last game, maybe Aaron Rogers' last game is the Green Bay Packer.

And of course, Joe Burrow in the Ascension, because I think that's where the story was. I mean, we weren't, I wasn't really surprised at anything that Ryan Tannenhill did or didn't do in that game offensively. So Joe Burrow on the Cincinnati Bengals with a story. So which one of those three or four you want to jump into and then we run down the line. So I like the Joe Burrow. I like the Joe Burrow, but I'm going to talk about one thing real quick. Go ahead.

Man, Tom Brady has said, man, I don't know if I can continue to play. Jacelle doesn't like to see me get hit. You are the most protected guy in the NFL. In the league. In the NFL. Because I'm not even saying by the rules and all this. They may rules for them, but also, his O-line. And then I think this last week, he's seen what it's like to have your O-line hurt.

And there's so many other quarterbacks, Mahomes was like that last year in the Super Bowl, Josh Allen be like that sometimes. Joe Burrow got sacked nine times. They can't keep letting that happen, by the way. I love how they be doing this whole, like, look, he's tough and he stands in the face of all the punishment. I'm like, you keep doing that. You're going to be gone. And he'll have another ACL. Yeah. To me, I think it was just kind of funny how he was like, man, Giselle just doesn't want to see me continue to get hit. It's like, bro, you haven't been hit for 20 years, bro.

Knock it off, though. Like, he might get hit here and there, you know, but like, Tom Brady gets hit way less than Ben. Like, Ben gets hit. Oh, yeah. You know, like, then Lamar gets hit because Lamar wants to get hit. You know what I'm saying? But, like, I thought it was just funny.

But to me, I think was so crazy about this. division around is that the Cincinnati Bengals, they have a legit chance of win the Super Bowl. Yes, they do. There are way better teams than people. I knew they were going to be good at the beginning of the season, but they are so much better than people thought they would be. And then they're continuously getting better throughout the season. Like every week, Joe's throwing for 250.

And what really helps them is, I think they have the. best run game in the playoffs. And I'm going to say this. Zach Taylor could use it a little bit because I'm glad you brought up the run game. First of all, you know what it is with the Bengals. It's the brand that's on the can. If there was any other team in any

other uniform and any other colors in any other city, we'd be like, oh, shit, they got Jamar Chase, Joe mixing and the number one picking a couple of, you know, from a draft a couple years ago. This team's ready to rock and roll. But it's the orange and black uniforms. It's that stripe helmet. We're not

used to seeing it, especially, you know, talking to a Steeler. Like, nobody in that division is used to the, like, yeah, Andy Dalton, AJ Green, they had their running, but you already knew. Like, you knew that was going to be the first game of the NFL playoffs. A wild card weekend is going to be the Bengals and the Texans or the Bengals and the chiefs back in the day were like, yeah, you knew they was, it was one and done, right? This squad, like, they got, and it's not just, it's not just on offense, but it's on defense, too.

They got some dudes. They got some, like DJ Reeder was playing on the other end, on the other side of the line of scrimmage the entire game. And I'll say this, Zach Taylor, if my quarterback gets hit or sacked, because I think you got hit 12 times and sacked nine times. If my quarterback gets hit double digit number of times in a 19 to 16 game, I'm thinking it's close enough to run the football

with one of the better running backs in all of football and Joe Mixing. Like, I think in a game where he kind of understood they had, control because of who he had going at QB as opposed to Tennessee and Mike Vrable had going to QB. He thought he could just, you know, he can get his offensive shit off, right? Like, all right. But guess what? Your quarterback is out here.

Like, the Jeffrey Simmons and them, dude, they was not playing on that Tennessee sideline. Like, that Tennessee defense did everything that they should have done to go on to the next round. 100%. But Joe Burrow and them boys made enough plays. Run the football, though. Run the football. I like Cincinnati a lot, man.

I like Cincinnati a lot. I just, I don't know if they're ready for prime time against Kansas City Chiefs and the Patrick Mahomes-led offense. They beat them. I know they did, but you already know. Yeah, I already know. Season different than postseason.

It's only different in the postseason. But yeah, I agree with you. Joe Mix only ran 14 times for 54 yards. Yeah, you got your quarterback here 12 times. He definitely should have ran the ball a little bit more. But to me, I know everybody's going to like, oh, the 49ers have the best run team. But, like, true running game,

not like scheme, just true running game. The Bengals have the best running game. They, in the playoffs. They have the best receiving court. Yeah, yeah. I'll give you that. Definitely give you that. And then they might have the best defense.

Ooh, you're going to get them to nod over San Francisco and over L.A.? I love the Rams. I love San Francisco. Like, San Francisco. So Aaron Rogers has not beat San Francisco. I think he probably went to the game with that I have to beat them. And we're stressing too much about that. so on that game.

And then the Rams, they have a lot of star power, but they also have a lot of holes. Like, they have, you know, Aaron here, they have Linder Floyd here, they have, you know, Von Miller here. But all the other guys can get beat by everybody else on the Bengals. Yeah, they had Eric Weddow come out and play safety,

so they definitely trying to cover up some things, right? And then the Chiefs, they're playing great right now, but I think this, I think that, I think the, championship game is going to be a low scoring game. I think it's probably going to be that round 16, 19 type of game. And I think the other game, I think there's going to be like 35 or 38, something like that.

Well, this is the thing. If Tyrone Matthew is disabled or out for this game, that makes a big difference because that means that Drew Sorensen is going to be back there. And if Drew Sorensen is back there, that means somebody's going to have a party. So that chief's thing, them kicking Chris Jones inside and Melvin Ingram gets. getting in there on the passing downs and wreaking havoc. Like, it's made a difference, but don't, let's not act like the bills didn't put up 36 points. And when they got the football back, they marched their ass down the field on that defense, too.

Like, this ain't, this ain't a short thing. The bills are good, but the Chiefs also just gave up a record-breaking performance to somebody. Right. They gave, they let a receiver score four touchdowns. That's the first time in NFL history. But somebody scored four touchdowns in the postseason. So that, that scares me when it comes to the defense. Because they damn show don't have nobody to guard Jamar Chase.

No. At all. No. At all. T. Higgins, he going to jump all all their receivers. And they have Tyler Boy. So they have three legit weapons. So you're picking the Bengals.

I'm picking the Bengals. I'm picking the Bengals. You're picking Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals to go to Super Bowl. Oh, you know what? You know what? I know what this is. I know you ain't going to see. Just because James ain't here.

I ain't going to, you know what this is? A.R. You know what this is? Chris. This is. is this is Ryan Shazir picking the Bengals because he knows it's going to make the Steelers performance. Yeah, this is going to make the Steelers performance look and feel that.

No, no, no, no, no. No, it's not even that. It's not even that. It's not even that. Me and A.R. talked before the pond. And I was like, man, I'm going to be honest. I really think they have a squad to win a Super Bowl. I really do.

To me, I think the Rams are, I think, so I want the Rams to win. Like, they are my preseason. Like, before we started the season, I say Rams. I want the Rams to win. But the thing is that the Rams scare me is that they cannot beat the 49ers. The last six times they have not beat the 49ers. It's the playoffs, so it's totally different, but they have not beat them. So that kind of scares me.

So if the 49ers go to the Super Bowl, I have the Bengals. If the Rams go to the Super Bowl versus the Bengals, I have the 49ers. I mean, no, no. If the Rams go versus the Bengals, I have the Rams. That's what I mean. But I have the Bengals going. I have the Bengals going. So of the four teams that are remaining,

you think the 49ers are the fourth best team, you think the Rams are the third best team, you think the Chiefs are the second best team, and you think the Bengals are the best team? No, no, no, no, no, no. I think the Rams are the best team left. I think that the Chiefs scare people more than the Bengals, but I think the Bengals are better.

So I think the Bengals are two. I think that I think is the Chiefs, than the 49ers. But if the Chiefs and 49ers play each other, the Chiefs are going to blow out the 49ers. Not blow them out, but win by 14 or 17 or something like that. I mean, that's a blowout, you know, especially in a postseason game,

if you're getting beat by two touchdowns unless it's like a pick six later or something like that, depending on how the game will play out. I want to talk to you about the Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, angle, so we can, you know, put a ball on that. Do you think, well, you just, you mentioned that you, thought it was hilarious that Tom Brady is. I don't think he's retiring, though.

You don't think he's retiring? I don't lie. Like, I know Jaseel has a lot of pool in the house, but for some reason, if you playing 20 years, I think you wear the pants in the house. He's being real. Hey, at some point it's going to have to happen. Some people wives, after a while,

like, hey, man, you've been playing for 17 years, bro. Like, I love you, but it's time. Like, you won seven. Like, last year, you won seven Super Bowls. You're better than every franchise. It's time to come home. And he was like, no, I'm playing a game. So obviously he wearing the pants over there.

You know what I'm saying? And I don't know. I'm just joking around. Right, right, right, right. I think he's going to play again. But I think the only reason if he doesn't play again is because it's not the right situation. Like I feel like the, I think that the bucks,

I think they have to pay people. So if they don't have the team situated like they need, the team looked like they looked last week. He's not coming back. Aaron Rogers is gone. They're 44 million over the cap. He's gone. I didn't know that during the season.

Yeah, their cap situation is bad. If they renegotiate everybody, that's the only way he gave him back. And then he's going to get all the cap. So I think he's, I think he's gone. I think he's gone. And the only place that he's been speaking lately is to the Pat McAfee show. And apparently he hinted that his decision will have to be, or will be by franchise tech deadline so that he could give Devante Adams a heads up,

who was also a free agent right now. So this can either look like this can look like them running their back. You know who got a lot of cap space? Bit cap, big cap. Hey, go on with that. Go on with that, man. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, look who's dropped back in on us? We got bit cap space, y'all, negative 44 million over there.

Hey, we could get whoever you won't. I came in at the right time, man. Quit trying to take our quarterback, man. Nah, he wanted to come to us. Before we get to James' thoughts on this, can I? When is it the optimal time to say goodbye to Aaron Rogers? Because you got a 7-9 post-season record now. You got 39 wins during the regular season the last three years.

At what point does this franchise reach the point of diminishing returns? Or is it going to win a whole bunch of regular season games again and hope you can run it back? Well, you know, I woke up and I had time today. So, you know, this is something that Bears fans never experienced. There we go. No, I'm playing with you. I'll play with you. But no, you're talking about, you're talking about a dude with the caliber of Aaron Rogers.

In my humble opinion, you let him decide. Now, I don't, I don't mean saying you let him decide by not communicating with the organization. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like you communicate with the organization. This is kind of what I'm thinking. I want to play two to three more. You know, I want to play one more. This is all I want to do when I'm done.

I feel like you should communicate with the organization so that they can be, you know, as best they can be when you are gone. But I feel like I don't care what playoff record is. I don't care what none of that is. Aaron Rogers has showed he's one of the baddest men to ever play and walk the green grass. And with that being said, he's earned the right to tell them when it's his time. You know what I'm saying? and I feel like they should give him that opportunity to do that. You know what I'm saying?

James, let me ask you, let me ask you, do you think that when, like, when have we seen a all-time great leave a franchise in a good situation when it's been on them to announce when they want to move on? Like, if I'm, if I'm anybody there that is going to be there after Aaron Rogers, I'm like, hold on at what point? at what point we're going to get this thing rolling in a different direction? Or will you get caught never having made that transition fully? To be honest with you, I feel like the people that I've seen doing it the best was the

Colts with Peyton. Even though Peyton was coming off of that injury, they still did it the right way. Payton, what do you want to do? What are you thinking? You know what I'm saying? Because if you're thinking, you know what I'm saying, that you're going to be done or you only want to play. We're going to draft this boy, Andrew Luck.

we're going to get us a quarterback. You know what I'm saying? You know, so I kind of felt like they left on good terms. The relationship left on good terms. That's a Hall of Fame quarterback. But they both did at the time what was best for both of them. You know what I'm saying? And I just feel like that's how it needs to go with Green Bay.

You know what I mean? If Aaron wants to come back, you welcome Aaron back with open arms. You have no money. I do think Aaron needs to. No, trust me, it's a lot of ways. that you can work around the money because it's all about giving guys contracts. And that's why I said, if Aaron wants to come back, that's why he's saying I'm going to do it before the tag deadline because if he comes back and he signs two years, you know,

or he says, hey, I'm going to play for three more years. Then you can sign them to a contract, give him some of that cash up front, and make sure his cap hit ain't that big. So now you free up money. and now you're possibly able to give Devante a contract, give Devante enough money up front, so his cap hit ain't that big. Yes, are you going to have to let some guys go?

You are, you know what I'm saying? But at the same time, you're still going to be able to keep a lot of the key guys around if we understand what some of our stars are doing, and it starts with Aaron Rogers. But like the question you asked me, yes, I think it should be strictly on Aaron. He's earned that to say,

hey, fellas, this is what I'm thinking. I want to play one or two more, and then I'm done, you know, and the Packers can do whatever they got to do to make sure when he is done with those two years that we in this situation where we set to can still be able to compete. I'm over here on Spot Track right now. Y'all cap situation look crazy, you know what I'm saying? So.

Here you go back to the cap. Hey, y'all cap situation. Y'all, look at, look at, de Bartolo-esque. Hey, this is all I'm saying. If you keep an errand and you're keeping divixte, that means you're leaving, you're losing, you're losing. key guys. key guys. Like, you're losing key guys. And I understand they're key guys,

but like, you're losing, you're losing big time guys. So, Ryan, what you got to understand is the cap hit is like that right now because what guys are making right now with the salary cap, what their contract is hitting it for. So if you tag Devante with $20 million, that's a $20 million dollar cap hit. You know what I'm saying? You're already negative 44.

So that will be stupid because you're going to lose a lot of players if you've got to try to tag Devante. That's why Aaron is saying, I'm going to make my decision before this tag deadline. So maybe we can come to an agreement to where we can do a two-year deal or something like that, three-year deal or something to where the cap hit is not that big. You know? So who y'all letting? Who y'all letting go? That's why Kansas City did it.

smart. Let's lock down Patrick Mahomes. Give him all this money up front and his cap hit is not that big. And now we're able to put anybody and everybody we want to put around Patrick Mahones because he's out of the way and his cap hit is not that big. The one key guy that I think you're going to see out of there is Zadarius. I was going to say one of the Smith boys, right? Zadarius Smith has a $15 million cap hit. Now, I don't think he restructures because I think he knows that he's going to get that money elsewhere. Yes, he is. You know what I'm saying?

Strictly because of the type of player he is. You know, he's coming off of injury and all that. But when he was out there, he was dominant. You know what I'm saying? After the Bears released Khalil Mack, you can go ahead throw that orange and blue on them. So it will be stupid to say, hey, man, we're going to, you got one year left on your deal. It's a $15 million dollar cap hit.

We're going to take you down the fire mill. He's going to be like, absolutely not. Release me. you know what I mean now the good thing about that is rashon gary has came on and rishon gary bawled out so you got rashon gary and you got the other smith brother and you possibly you possibly could go in the draft and get another pass rush so i think he is one of the key guys that you see get out of there but i think the packers

especially if erin rogers makes his decision early they will be able to keep guys like devonte and jayr alexander Now, the people I want to see him keep is Jair Alexander. I don't want him to tag Devante. I want them to give him a contract. And I want to see them keep the middle linebacker Campbell. Yeah, Devondre Campbell has turned himself into a little bit of a young star. I think that's going to be hard because he going to demand some money.

Strictly because of his all pro all pro year, he going to demand some money. But if Aaron Rogers comes back and. says I want to play for two to three more. And he got a year left on his deal. If they add two, he can have a decent amount of money. He'll save some money on the cap. You get Devante done. You get Jair done.

You know what I mean? Give them some money up front. You'd be able to save some money on the cap. You know what I mean? And you're going to have to let Zadarius walk. Man, it sounds like a lot of situations where, like, y'all got to do a lot to keep airing. when there's other things that don't.

Or he could be looking at how Tom Brady did this thing and say, I want to go live my life somewhere else for a couple of years of my football career and end up in Denver or end up in Seattle if they move on from Russell Wilson. One thing I do want to say, though, in this whole situation. I know Aaron Rogers, I'm proud of my dude because he opened up to the media this year

and showed everybody that he a cool cat. You know, he wasn't just, you know, locked in and acted in a fool in the locker room and not letting everybody see his personality. You know what I mean? But one thing that a lot of people don't know about Aaron Rogers is I don't know if there's anybody who loves his teammates more than Aaron. Aaron will ride or die for his teammates.

And with that being said is why I'm saying that is because I don't think he would do that to Devonte. I don't think he will leave Taylor. You know what I'm saying? It's a lot of places that he had taken go together. Isn't Devante a free agent, too? Devante stuck. Yeah, with the free agent tag.

Yeah, Devante stuck. So we're talking to Vante. Devonte is in a very bad situation. Well, I ain't going to say bad situation because when you, when somebody say we're giving you $20 million and not going nowhere, that's a perfect situation. But then you already get paid, though? He did get paid, but now he's. So, but they can still franchise them?

You can franchise them. But then after the second one, it becomes the average of the top five players in the position. Why are they going to franchise them, man? Like, let the man go. He don't want to be there. He does want to be there. You ain't letting the best wide receiver in the league go, though. Number one, you just hear what you just said, Jason, the best wide receiver in the league.

So he wants best wide receiver in the league money. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not going to agree that me and Devonte got the same agent. So I'm not going to agree to a deal that you're not going to make me the highest paid receiver when I am the best receiver in the game. I'm not going to agree on that. You know what I'm saying? So if Devante, if Devante knows that Aaron is here for three years,

then that kind of puts a little bit of pressure on me to say, okay, well, let's hurry to get a deal done because I know I'm going to have my guy for three more years. You know what I'm saying? But with Aaron, I know a lot of people like, look at Denver, look at, Pittsburgh, look at all that. I'm telling you, 12 ain't worried about that. 12, 12, he loves his teammates. He wouldn't leave Kay and do Tay like that.

So that's what we're saying here. James Jones, former Green Bay Packer, is saying that Aaron Rogers ain't going no damn weird. So we can stop with all the consternation about what's happening in Green Bay. Well, that's just what JJ is. Hey, JJ, I like that mask, too, man. I'm going to need you to send me one of those. That's like the NBA mask.

That's that rich money mass. Oh, man, y'all got all the money, man. Yeah, that's the mask that come with. the antidote right there. They don't tell you. Trying to stay safe. That's the same as LeBron be wearing. I ain't got that access.

When we come out to L.A., we're definitely going to see, you know, how much James going to let us live like James Jones out there. I can't wait for it. It's just people looking out for me. That's it. Oh, God. That's what all the rich folks say. All right.

So Ryan gave his picks. Ryan believes that it will be Cincinnati versus the Rams. After a crazy week of division of football, we are getting ready to figure out what's happening here for the NFC championship and the UFC championship. Who you got, James? Man, as bad as I want to agree with Ryan and as bad as I want to see Jojo Burrow get to that Super Bowl and see Jamar chasing that Super Bowl against my man Matthew Stafford, because I'm rooting for Matthew Stafford because of all his bad, bad, bad, bad,

years that he had in Detroit. I'm rooting for him. I like the Rams. I love Jojo Burrow, but I just don't think he's in the outdoor Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. He did it once this year in Cincinnati, but Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City just got it going. I think we're looking at the Rams versus Patrick Mahomes

and the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. There it is. There it is. All right. Well, the picks that we've thrown out there, you know, the way we're doing is probably going to be the 49ers in the Bengals. So I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this, though.

If his 49ers and Bengals, bangles winning. Ooh. I'm telling you that right now. I like that defense, man. It's just hard for me to see the 49ers. Jimmy Garoppolo beat the Rams three times, man. They beat him six times. Who got more pressure on him going into that game?

Jimmy Garoppel or Matt Stafford? Matt Stafford, easy. To be honest with you, and you could call me crazy, but I think Jimmy already know his job gone. He already knows his job gone. He's playing with house money. He's playing with house money. I think the most pressure is on both these head coach.

Kyle Shanahan, you have been to the Super Bowl and you've lost. In tough fashion. Yes, we brought you here to take this team to a Super Bowl, all right? You don't got the hard part done. You don't battle with injuries. Your team is healthy now and all that. Like, the pressure's on you to get back to another Super Bowl and win that thing. Sean McVeigh, we didn't gave up every draft pick known a man to get you to players in here.

to go win a Super Bowl. You better get this job done, brother. And you are at home twice? You know what I'm saying? You're in front of your home crowd twice, and you got the opportunity to sleep in your own bed twice. You better get this thing, thing, thing, done.

I think all the pressure is on the head coach. You know who got the least pressure? Zach Taylor. That boy was like, y'all ain't think I was going to be here at all. You're right. Joe Joe Burrow on the Stanley Bangle playing with house and money. They ain't supposed to be here. Yeah, Zach Taylor need to run the football

so his quarterback don't, get hit nine times again that's that's what jack taylor need to do all right fellas we've given our picks we we've talked about what's happening with not only tampa bay and tom brady but of course a ron rangers and the green bay packers so it's been a stirring edition of uh the tuesday ringer nfl show for ryan shazir and my man james jones and of course chris sutton and arjuna ramgapal i am jason goff thanking you once again for checking us out next up on the ringer n n nfl show is the show with Kevin Clark. We'll be back next Tuesday. You can check out the full go with me, Jason golf every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday now on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. Getting ready

to break down the Bears hiring their new general manager, 36-year-old Ryan Poles. We'll be talking about that on the full go. And of course, as always, we leave you with this. Make sure you guys are taking care of each other and be safe. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.