The Ringer NFL Show - The Buffalo Bills Are in Trouble, Ravens-Steelers Is the Best Rivalry in Football, and Coaches on the Hot Seat

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

Jason, James, and Ryan start the Tuesday NFL pod by sharing their reactions to the Patriots' tough win over the Bills on 'MNF'. Then they dissect the Ravens' dramatic loss to the Steelers and what to expect from Ben Roethlisberger towar the end of the season. They wrap everything up by discussing Mike Zimmer's coaching struggles, the Cardinals' playoff prospects, and the Washington Football Team's recent success. Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Chris Sutton Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's help everybody. I'm JJ John G. Stramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the big apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm repping Shottown 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are here. This is the Tuesday edition of the Ring of NFL show with me Jason Garbride Shazier and James Jones. Fellas, let's get to it. We got a lot to talk about. Let's start with what happened last night. Now, you gentlemen who have played in this glorious entity called the National Football League, I haven't.

I've just been a fan, an observer, you know, covered it here and there in the city of Chicago. But I would ask y'all how in the league that is, is accentuating, passing. You can't touch receivers after five yards. You know, the murder rocks, there used to be murder rocks in the 80s and 90s. Receivers can now run freely across the middle

because of targeting and all these other things. How in the world can a football team pass the ball three times and beat what is thought to be one of the powers of the AFC while being one of the powers of the AFC? I'm not going to say how I feel about it. I know the weather was bad. I know it was windy. I know it was rainy.

all those things. But what the New England Patriots, and more importantly to me, what Bill Belichick did to the Buffalo Bills, and what he's been doing this entire year is showing y'all, hey, I know y'all think I'm only like this because of Tom Brady. But I had Cam Newton who might have been cooked

with no wide receivers. I had eight guys who didn't want to play last year because of COVID, right? And that's there, well within their right. But it seems to me Bill Belichick just went in there on a Monday night stage. It was like, hey, y'all, watch this shit I'm about to do. And did it.

Like, three. James, on the office side first. Is there a game plan that calls for three passes, or is it like, hey, y'all, we just running the football well. We're going to keep doing this. Because I got to think during the week, you're going to know that you're not going to throw the ball. If only, if only but 15, 20 times if you're going to run heavy.

But three pass attempts, James Jones? I'm going to tell you what this was by the Patriots. This was, we better than you. we tougher than you. That's it. And this is our division. Because for you to watch film and say, we're going to run the ball down in these boys' throat.

And we're going to run the ball down in these boys throwed again. And we're going to run the ball down these boys throw it again. 30 plus times in a row. And I understand that as windy out there. I understand all that. But 30 plus times in a row lets you know that the Patriots was just like, We tougher than you and a better football team than you, period. You ain't going to move the ball on our defense.

We believe in our defense, and we're going to run the ball down your throat, period. That's what this game was. This was a statement game. The Buffalo Bills is in trouble. This was a statement game. Like, Ryan- Y'all been waiting for this. I know y'all been waiting for this.

I had boring on my fantasy league team, bro. Good luck. 30 times. Hey, you should have talked to Bill Belichick before you put boring in here to Billetcher. But Ryan, no, like to be honest with you, this is something that you watch on the sideline as an offense, as you watch on the sideline, and you like, they dogging our defense. Like, they bully in our defense. They running through our defense.

And as a defense, it's like, come on, bro. We got 10 in the box. And these dudes is getting five, six yards of pop. Like, that's a gut blow to a defense. Like, these boys is running the ball at will. and you got the box loaded and don't get it twisted, the Buffalo bills is built by their front seven up on the defensive end. And Bill Belichick and them just came in there, man.

It was really, as I'm watching the game, I'm watching it. Like, they're really disrespectful. Yeah, it's a thing of beauty. It was a punking of mass proportions. And Buffalo couldn't do anything about it, man. Like, I don't see how Buffalo could mess with the Patriots. Like, that was probably the worst Patriots team that they going to get right there. They couldn't throw the ball.

They couldn't get into their office. They just said, we're going to run it down your throw. And they still beat Buffalo, man. Like Buffalo, and we've been saying it on this show, but Buffalo is in trouble. They can't run the ball. They're not going far. And the Patriots came in there, and they made sure that, hey, the only way y'all going to beat us is if you all run it and y'all can't run it.

But it was a disrespectful performance by Bill Belichick and that Patriots, Patriots, Patriots, offense, and team to just say, we've been to tote this thing at you 30 times. And you can't stop. saying it since week one, bro. What you've been saying since week one? Yeah, tell us, Ryan. I told you all the bills ain't like that.

Like, everybody, they had a nice structure schedule, and I know we talk about this more than in the other part, but the thing is, like, the Patriots basically said, hey, we have a great defense, and we trust Mack Jones, but at the day, if you ain't going to stop something, we're going to continue to do it.

And that's what Bill Belichick has done his whole career. If he's seen that you are really bad, that he can exploit something, he just takes advantage of it. And he doesn't stop. You know, some games he's going to throw the ball a little bit more here and there. But in the day, man, he's seen last night,

he's like, man, it's 40-mile-hour wins. We're out here playing in a tropical storm. I'm not about to throw no football. And to me, it's all about will. Like, at the while, at the while, James, you're going to look at this game. And on the big board, it's say, all right, we ran 10 times, they ran 30 times.

You're going to look at the board and be like, yo, these dudes ran the ball in the last 15 plays. You know what I'm doing? I'm selling out on the run. It's like they expected them to pass eventually. It's like they're not going to do that. They're setting us up for the past. Next thing you know, that never passed never happened. The past never happened.

That's my problem because they were selling out on the run. It's 10 people up on the line of scrimmage. They're talking about the player's mindset, though. Like, Milano starts shooting the gap at the end of the game. But right, it was a one-score game the entire game. That's the part. Like, if it was, to James's point, if it was 28 to 10, and you ran 45 times and passed it five times on me, that's different.

And this final score is 14 to 10. No, but the thing is, this was the Patriots thinking, like, yo, this weather is bad. Like, this weather is bad. We go into this game playing and know we're going to run the ball heavy. We're going to throw it less than we want to, but we know we're going to throw it heavy. They got the lead and it was like, yo, we're going to milk it as long as we can.

Basically, like we're going to run the clock out and milk it as long as we can. And then they seen that their defense was standing up, how they needed them to stand up. And then from that point on, it's like, yo, why pass the ball? You know, so to me, if I'm looking, I'm like, yo, these dudes just ran the ball with me 10 straight times. As a linebacker, it's like, yo, I'm shooting every gap. Like, I'm sorry. Like, I'm sorry. I'm causing palli-ups everything.

I'm cutting people. I'm doing something to make you. It's my film out here too. I can't look this bad for four quarters, right? Yeah, like, I don't know why Hyde and Poyer was mad at the reporter. The man says, is this embarrassing? Yeah, it's embarrassing. Like, what do you mean?

Like, if you asked me, hey, man, is it an embarrassing? Somebody just ran the ball on you 50 straight times and you couldn't stop it. Like, what you want me to, like, obviously, I don't know what they wanted them to say, but they can't get mad at the man. doing his job. They didn't stop the run. They didn't stop them dudes from, you knew what they was doing.

It's basically like, it's like Kevin Durant. You know what he's going to do. You can't stop it. And that's what, that's how it was last night. So let me, let me ask the both for all this

because you guys say the Buffalo Bills are done. And then they're done. I just think they're going to have a long run in the playoffs. They're flawed. They're extremely flawed. Like, I think,

go ahead. When I say they're done, I mean they're done because this team is built to win a Super Bowl. We all agree what they've done, the people they have, everybody before the season, MVP, Josh Allen, you know what I'm saying? Like they're built to win the Super Bowl.

No, they're not. They're not winning the Super Bowl this year. They can't run the ball. They're depending on Josh Allen. They're not going to get to the Super Bowl. So that's what I mean by saying they done. Tampa Bay ain't done because they might have a shot to win it. Packers ain't done.

They might have Buffalo done. Thet isn't done. See, and this is why this is, I'm glad you. I'm glad you mentioned them, though, because in the AFC. Bears. I mean, they were done when the, when. when Justin Fields was selected. I mean,

this ain't no season that I was looking forward to other than the evaluation of that quarterback. But the AFC, so what you're telling me is a team that threw the ball three times in one game and beat a team that you guys think doesn't have a chance in a long playoff run

is the best team of the AFC. Are the Patriots the best team of the AFC? Period. And right now, at this point where we stand right now doing this podcast, on a Tuesday, December 7th, it's not close in the AFC. The Chiefs don't want to see the Patriots. The Titans don't want to see the Patriots. Obviously, Buffalo don't want to see the Patriots.

Them the top teams in the AFC. It's coming through Foxborough unless something crazy happened. And I think there's something crazy might happen because I love the, like, Mac Jones is getting this, hey, y'all, this is the best rookie quarterback in the league right here. And it's like, that's the best, that guy has the best infrastructure of any rookie quarterback in the league. He's got the best coach of any rookie quarterback in the league. But, you know, I'm not sure that he ain't Jay Feedler. Shout out to Jay Feedler, but it's like, you know. First off, let's not get a twisted. The Patriots are 7 and 0 in the last seven games because of

that defense. That's what I'm saying, though. Yeah, Mac Jones, but he's doing his job. Yes, he's not. He probably ain't got all the intangibles that all these other quarterbacks got, but he's doing his job. He's not making the mistakes, taking care of the football, and he knows his team. If they get into a position, James and Ryan, if they get into a position in the playoffs where, you know, crazy shit happens, right? You muff a punt, you know, your defense, you know, gives up a couple of plays

early in the game. You don't know what the situation is. You're down 17 to nothing. Is Mack Jones the guy that you guys are trusting in that situation more so than anybody else behind them just because of who the Patriots truly are? I don't see Mac Jones being the guy that bring you down from 17.

I don't see it. And that's the only thing that I worry about with this team, The weirdness that happens in the playoffs. We've seen it before. So for instance, if, like, Matt Jones, if he goes down 17, the only way I see him coming back in the playoffs versus down 17 is that he's going to get some team that has a good offense,

but a bad defense. But if they have a good defense, I don't see him. And then most playoff teams have a pretty solid defense. So I don't see him coming back from 17 down and winning a game in the playoffs. Because if they're down 17, you know, Belichette is going to figure things. things out, and then they're going to be down 17 pretty much the whole game. Like the whole game, like, it's 17 points, and they're not getting much more. They're probably going to get 24.

Like, they're going to probably finish the game off with 24. But it's going to be hard for me to see Mack Jones come back from, like, come from behind on that because now it's totally different when you handing the ball off and throwing it three times to throwing it 40 times and airing it out. Like, he has it in him. He has the weapons around him. It'd just be too much to ask for it. I think it's too much pressure.

I think it's going to be so much pressure because you're going to have pressure from D-Lyman because you're going, all the playoff teams have a solid pass rush. All the teams that's thinking about going to the playoffs right now have a solid pass rush. And it's going to be hard for me to see if somebody jump out on them that they overcome it.

I think he can. And the reason why I believe he can is because the defense. That's the main reason why I believe. So something crazy, you muff punts, you're giving people short. They jump out on you. you 17-0. I feel like

Mac Jones could make the throws to get his team back in the game because that defense is going to help him out. And the crazy thing about it is is we got to give him a chance. We ain't even seen him have the opportunity to do that. You know what I'm saying? We see them in Alabama with arguably the best

players in the world and all that throwing the ball all over the yard. You know what I'm saying? But just watching him play, seeing how accurate he is, seeing him throw the ball over the yard. And yes, they're on schedule and they in favorable third down the distance and you can get to any play you want to get in a playbook. You know what I mean?

You're not down in games. I understand that. But where he's placing this football to where only his receivers can get it, putting this football on the money, all signs show to that the Patriots could win either way. If they got to throw it or if they got to run it or if they got to be in a nasty one like they was yesterday and play some defense, you know what I'm saying? But you got to give the dude a chance, but just watching him throw the football and the place that he's been putting this football as a rookie,

I believe he could do it. Yeah, I think we're lining up for which NFC team is going to win the Super Bowl, to be honest with you. I don't, like, the AMC right now is, not that it's just wide open. It's just, I'm trying to figure out, and you guys, you know, but the Patriots is the hottest team in the NFL right now.

They are. They are. They are. There ain't too many people run and running to the Patriots right now. But I think, I think there's a couple of quarterbacks on the other side of the conference, well, the other side of the league, I should say, in the NFC,

who when a play is broken down can make something happen. There's a few of those guys that I think, no matter how much good defense you throw at them, I don't know if you're going to hold these teams under 21 points, 22, 23 points. And that's the Cardinals, that's the Packers, you know, Tampa Bay. I think at some point Mac Jones is going to have to go, you know, blow for blow with a talented, really, really, really good quarterback.

And maybe it'll be in a Super Bowl, Right? I mean, hell, he's had a hell of a rookie year. I'm not knocking back Jones at all. I'm just trying to look at what the AFC is presenting right now. And if the Patriots are overwhelmingly the best team in the ABC, then what are some of their fatal flaws? And I'd hate to put it on him because this is his first year in the league. But like you said, James, we haven't seen it yet where he has to go throw for throw because both defenses said, hey, it's on y'all too. And he's going to be doing that if he's in a Super Bowl situation, probably against Kyle Murray or Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady. Just looking forward to that moment in trying to figure out where he is. And hell, he's had a hell of a rookie year so far. And the fact that he gets a win, only throwing three passes, let you know.

And he tweeted out, I've never seen snow before. That's a hell of a way to get introduced to snow, by the way, to go to Buffalo and have to play in that shit. Moving on. Speaking of playing in inclement weather and tough rivalry games, Steelers and Ravens, thank God for this game, by the way, because we had another week of NFL football where it was maybe two games,

three games, it was like, oh, okay, I'm down with that. I got to ask you this, Ryan Shazier. Why do they go for two? Why go for two in that moment? Did the decision-making at the end of the game take you anywhere, or it wasn't the right decision to make? To me, I wasn't surprised that they went for two, kind of like what Coach Tomlin said.

He said they play analytics heavy, and so you kind of know what they're going to do. But to me, if Coach Tomlin was in that same situation in Baltimore, Coach Tyler would have went for two. And the reason I say that, I remember I talked to Coach Tomlin before, and I think he said he was like most of the time when it's a like late game situation, Coach Tomlin is always going to go for the win. He's like, I'm not playing football for ties.

But secondly, if it's a late game situation, when you away, most like most teams go for the two. but when you home, since you have the crowd with you, a lot of times you know, you'll go for the tie because you kind of, you feel more comfortable at home. But I'm not surprised that they went for the two. If you kind of look at how the Ravens have been playing the last two years technically,

and really, you know, tough situations, go to get, fourth down to get, when it's less than a yard, two yards to go, they've been going for it. So I'm not surprised that they went for it in that situation. You know, they trust Lamar. They're 8 and 4, so they're one of the best teams in the AFC. They were 8 to 3 at the time before they lost.

They were one of the best teams in NFL, and they've been playing good football. So I think it also hurt that Marlon Huntsbury wasn't playing in the game. So obviously Ben isn't what he used to be, but I also feel that the passing game was stepping up a little bit towards the end of the game. And with them losing one of their key defenders, I think that kind of played. into the role of him going for it as well. Absolutely the right call. If I'm the coach, I'm yelling at the TV, go for two. You know, for me, I coach my little sons, football teams, both their teams, right?

You know, 10 you tackle, you know, and I'm the coach, and I don't got no punter. All right? We ain't punting. We ain't kicking. So the showties, the showties from the soccer team that come out and be like, hey, coach, can I get on the team? I can kick field goals and punt. We had no need for your help. We're going for all this, right?

Number one, number one. Number one, the reason why I say I agree with the call, because as a head coach, you have to go off the feel of the game and the fill of your players. That whole game, T.J. Water, and that Stiller's defense was on the Ravens head. They could not move the ball. They were frustrated. They could not move the ball. Lamar Action Jackson gets that ball, that last drive.

He goes straight down the field, making throw, making run, go straight down the field on the Steelers defense. Right? So your offense finally got it going. The game on the line, listen, we're getting out of here with Pittsburgh with a win. We're going for two. You know what I'm saying? I'm putting the ball in my quarterback's hands, and we're going for two to win this game.

And that's how they do it. The Ravens do that all the time. They go for two. They go for fourth downs. That's what they do. You know what I'm saying? They put the ball in Lamar Jackson's hands. Listen, this time it got them.

It was a great play call. Everybody blaming it on Lamar a little bit because, you know, it was a missed throw a little bit. had pressure this face, man. He had pressure, but buddy stopped Mark Andrews slowed down. Yeah, yeah. He stopped running. He turned sideways and shuffling and slow down. Boy, run.

You run. It's a touchdown. You know what I'm saying? So they had an excellent play call on. Hey, PJ Watt was in his face. Hey, Mark Andrews slowed down. Good defensive play, bad throw, whatever. But I got to go for it.

And if I was in the same situation tomorrow, I'll go for it again. You got to try to get out of here with a lot of here. win and your team been playing garbage all game long. They don't need to go into overtime and see your team can continue to play garbage. Hey, that's that's big facts. Play for the win. You play for the war. Yeah, let's try to sneak out of here.

As bad as we don't play, we got the ball to go for a two-point of abortion to sneak up out of you. Hey, I think it's more also what James is saying. It's like John Harba, I've been watching like, hey, man, Alejandro having another one of them games, y'all. Hey, Alejandro Villan O'Aweba be getting it handed to him this last year or so. That boy. Robert Quinn going to the Pro Bowl because he saw that man.

Like, I think, I think Lamar Jackson, too, the microscope on Lamar Jackson has gotten a little bit more intense over these last few games. And we joked about it and talked about it early in the season. Like, oh, they ain't got no running backs and the receivers. Some of them hurt. They got a tight end. But it's all Lamar Jackson. He should win the MVP. And later on in the season, I think you're starting to see how much of a toll that is to have to be everything for an off.

Be the running game for the offense. And, you know, fine receivers, extend plays, make sure that you're making up for, at times, you know, poor pass protection. But once again, Ryan, this is a Raven Steelers game. And I can say this, even as a Bears fan, you know, Bears Packers, you can do the whole oldest rivalry. Yeah, it's the oldest, but it ain't the best by far. The best rivalry in the NFL. And I've been looking forward to these games since Ed Reed and Ray Lewis and them boys and Lodi Nata was. was doing their thing for the Ravens

and Troy Palomalu and San Antonio Holmes and Antonio Brown and all of them dudes on the other side for the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is the best rivalry in the NFL and I think it's one of the top five rivalries in all of professional sports, to be honest with you. Yeah, no, I agree because, like, I remember my first time playing against the Ravens.

Coach Tomlin, like, he supposed to have a pregame talk before us the night before, and he talked about just about what's going on in the game, but he didn't even talk that long. he was just like, man, this is one of those type of games. Y'all understand what's that state. And he just put on field collars and just turning lights off. You know, so it's like, it kind of let you know.

In the air of the night. Yeah, in the air of the night, man. He just like, he just pretty much let us know, like, this is that game. Like, this game is that important. And every time we go out there and play, you see how important it is. It don't matter how good somebody is, no matter how many people hurt. Man, we're going to figure out a way to make this be a good game. and it's going to come to the wire every single time.

And I like to tell people of this all the time, like the Browns, you know, people would like to say that's a rivalry, but, you know, when I was playing, it wasn't much of a rivalry. You know, the Bengals, when I was playing, it was a little up and down, but we had more than they had us. Obviously, right now it's kind of, you know, they've beaten us. They got the last three wins on us, I think, like that. But with the Ravens, it didn't, like, it didn't matter.

It was like, that's like your brother. No matter what, no matter what it looked like, you get into that fight, you don't know what you're coming out. You don't know who comes. Like every time you go in there, you don't know who coming out with the win. And to me, one thing that I have noticed is the still has had the last three wins on the Ravens.

And I think that Coach Tomlin is really figuring out how the Ravens are trying to use Lamar. And I think that they're starting to take advantage of it. And that's why he's been having so much pressure. And it's been bothering him so much the last few times they've been playing each other. I will say this. I've been part of a good rivalry to the Packers and the there's oldest rivalry in football history, right?

But it's something about this Ravens and Steelers rivalry as even a player just watching it out there. And I'm like, these cats get madded. They're getting nasty. They move, they're moving, they hitting. I mean, it's really like old school football. Ain't no helping nobody up. Ain't no dapping after the play.

But like I said, I've been a part of a rival and it's a rivalry, but it's still you help it be. Like you just, there ain't none of that going on. It's sports. It's sports and all the rivalries. We're coming to get you right now for these next 60 minutes. We don't like you. And we come and you can feel it.

As you watch the game, you can feel it. And it don't matter if you're sorry. It don't matter if you're good. When these two teams play, it's about to go down, man. It's fun to watch. And it was fun to watch again, man. The game was physical. It was violent.

It was chippy. it was all that type stuff came down to the last player of the game and 90% of these games do. James, man, I truly hated Justin Tucker, right? Did I end up meeting him like just on some random like, we both would to like this meeting? And I was like, why you hate him? I'm like, because like, I don't know, man. It's like obviously he's a, he's a. Because you hate the Ravens.

Yeah, because you hate the Ravens. It's like I hated him, bro. But the kicker. He's not like a regular kicker. He's not a regular kicker. No, he's the one of the greatest all time. Yeah, yeah. So like I literally hated him, right?

And then we both went to like a conference theme for like Lulu Lemon, right? And then I was like, man, he actually a pretty cool dude. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, he actually a cool dude. I can stop hating him for a couple minutes. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm like, man, this actually, he's like a cool, like a dope dude. You know what I'm saying?

Like, so I actually, like, we started chopping it up. And then I'm like, man, you know, all right. He's all right. You know. But like, every time I used to see him otherwise, I'm like, man, I hate this dude, man. Like, we played them in the playoffs my rookie year, bro. and he had to kick a field go to win a game. It was like a 55-yarder.

Man, he could have kicked it from 60, 70 yards, dog. He would do the guitar on us and walk out the stadium. I'm like, bro, I hate this dude, man. But it's just like, bro, like, that's kind of how it is. Like, me and CJ Moser, we was cool, like, before we got drafted. But ever since, like, the robbery, we didn't really chop it up much and stuff like that. Like, even a guy I know, like, me and him real good. friends. He's like Ryan, like, before I got here,

he's like, man, I don't care what you do. He's like, he's like, if you lead a Steelers, like, I don't think you're going to lead to Stilers, but if you ever lead to stillers, I love you, but no, he's like, the moment, he's like, you can go anywhere but don't go to the Ravens. He's like, our relationship will be tarnished. I'm like, damn. It's a rap.

That's how it should be. That's how it should be. Go over there to the dark side, we're in full of with you. Hey, six, five, and one, Ryan, Shazier's Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Rothersberger that talks about this being his final five games of his NFL career. We've been talking about this for the last.

Why you say five games, that's, that boy got more than five games. We're making the playoffs. Well, that's why I'm laying it right here at your feet. Your team making the playoffs is incumbent on him being better at the quarterback position. When you're starting to hint that you're getting ready to step on out this thing, people have talked about for the last couple of years,

what do you expect these last five or so games, regular season games, to be for Ben Rothensberg. What offensive formula suits this team best? And also, how do you make sure that Ben Rothsberg still dialed in if he's not going to be throwing the ball 30, 35 times the game? Because obviously, he's lost a little zip, right? You know, the arm strength isn't what it used to be. He's never been an incredibly mobile guy, but, you know,

you can still see some anticipation. He's getting over on Gile and seeing every coverage imaginable over the last 15 years and so. But what do you expect this five-game stretch to be in order for them to make playoffs and Ben Rothsberger ride out on, you know, like the white knight that he is. I think honestly, if they have a, obviously the game then go as we, like, the game went well we wanted. But I say if they played more of how we played last week, you know, like trying to give

an effort to get Najee the ball, because I think that produces play action passes and deep throws. Because you've seen if you watch the game that it was a, he had a lot of nice throws. He had like a lot of nice throws. it was throws that he had touchdowns that guys were dropping the ball. And Deonti ended up with two touchdowns, and he should have had three. You know, and to me, I think if they do that, they do a good job of putting an effort or running the ball and then having been throw it like 25 times, maybe 30 times a game,

and then we rushed the ball about 25 times a game. I think Ben can finish off with a nice, solid, you know, last five games of his career instead of, you know, him trying to slink it around 50 times a game because we have a seen when Ben does that, the team doesn't play as well as a team. You know, so I think if we do a better, if they do a good job of just, you know, giving Najee the ball, giving the run game ball, and allowing him to spread it around. Because Ben want to take shots. You see that.

Everybody that watch football know Ben want to take shot. But I think we have to do that. But in situations when there's one high, not too high. And when it's too high, we run the ball and get us in good situations. second and mediums, third and shorts. And then obviously, anybody that will watch film, obviously see the Steelers would like to go deep on third and short.

So I think that's, we don't, I think they'll do really well and Ben will finish off really well with the Steelers if he does that. If, you know, focus on the run, get 30 medium, 30 shorts, and then he can error it out more like that. And he'll still get his yard instead of,

you can still get 200, 300, 300 yards passing games without throwing the ball 50 times. James Jones, they got four. and one in them down the stretch here does ben rufflesburg have four and one in them uh uh uh no they did it this season they did this season hey this last five it's over for the pittsburgh stillers man big time hey big time win big time win division division opponent right here this is over for the boys there four and one i got i got the schedule up right here too i got to yeah let me see Talk to him.

Where the four wins coming from, right? All right. So, so our next game. No, let us do it because you're going to say you're going to. Yeah, they're going to go six and old the last four games best with Ryan. No, no, no, no, listen. Our next game, this team just lost to Detroit. Oh, we're going to talk about them.

All right. You're losing to the Vikings. You lose it to the Vikings. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So that's your one. All right, then we got Tennessee. That's a toss-up.

Yeah. I feel like we have better chance versus the Vikings than Tennessee. Oh, no, no, no, no. AFC opponent, you got a little bit better chair. Oh, my gosh. Then we got the Chiefs. That's a L. The Browns.

Ooh, that's, yeah, y'all, y'all out, bro. What? You're all out, bro. I can't do that, James. Not the way Cleveland playing right now. Come on, James. He's a hater, bro. Like, it's no guarantee wins in there.

Like, I don't see no dance. We have the hardest schedule in the NFL. So you can say that they're not going to go four-on-one because of that, though, right? I didn't say four-on-one. I didn't say four-on-one. I'm talking about to make the playoffs. They got to get to 10. Who's after the brownies?

The brownies, we got the Ravens again. The Ravens are hurt, bad, and Marlon and Humphrey playing. Who they, you don't know that fifth screen. It's so hard to say goodbye. Damn, you hate to see it. He's a hater, bro. He just a hater, bro. He's a homie being.

He's done, bro. Why are you even wearing Raiders gear right now? Oh, my, here we go. Here we go. It's my workout gear, man. I'm just going to work out. You know, Ryan had enough when he started getting on James clothes. Hey, that boy said my Steelers ain't making the playoffs.

I'm getting there, everybody. Jason, they already said y'all can't make the playoffs. Here we go. Here we go. Hey, look at him, James. He just, he got the street sweeper out now. Yeah, exactly. Hey, he's hunting out.

Hey, he's hunting out. Hey, he's done filming. We done taping. Ryan pissed. He's going to start talking shit about the bulls here soon. You know how it is. I can't say nothing. My spurs ain't looking good.

Hey, man. Well, you know, you all figure it out, you know, maybe 2015, years from now when you get another Tim ducking itself. Mike Zimmer is a terrific coach, good dude seemingly. We know his story, but when the defensive side of the football is the side of the football that keeps letting you down and you're a defensive coach, I've seen it too many times. We've all seen it too many times.

What side of football are you responsible for? Oh, that's the side of it ain't good. All right, you got a few weeks to figure this thing out. And Kurt Cousins, if it's all perfect, he's going to look awesome for you, When it's not, there's going to be some issues. You lose the Detroit Lions, who, by the way, Lions fans, y'all got to stop celebrating every time this team win one game.

Y'all look crazy out here, right? Like, you know, this. Hey, beggars can't be choosy, man. On the last player of the game, though. Right. So Mike Zimmer is one of those coaches that people are talking about. Matt Nagy here in Chicago, Pete Carroll in Seattle, Urban Meyer, and Jacksonville. Are those four guys, and the hot seat is getting a lot hotter?

Who do you think is staying? and who do you think is going to those four dudes? Well, Matt Nagy gone for show. Hey, let me tell you something, James. Man, I understand how this business is going. If Matt Nagy keeps his job, man. Justin Fields has two good games down the stretch. And Justin, I'm going to know Justin are a star for real when he get a coach fire.

Like, if I'm Justin Fields and I ball out these last couple of games, I'm like, yo, by the way, I can't do this again. The Bears can win their next couple games by 50 points each time. Matt Nagy, out of here. I've seen Stranger Things with this franchise, brother. This organization needs a new. voice, period, man. You know what I'm saying?

It's tough for Urban Meyer because it's year one. You can't fire a coach after year one. You got to get him a little time to get his people in there, build his system, and do what he got to do and try to win some games. Zim, I don't think Zim going anywhere because of strictly what you're trying to say with Matt Nagy, just the organization. I feel like they got a really good relationship. I feel like they believe in Zim.

You know what I mean? I feel like that they'll give Zim another chance. You know what I mean? And I think he just signed an extension in the offseason if I'm not mistaken, Zimmer. Yeah, yeah. So I don't see them, I don't see them letting him go this season. I think if he lays an egg next season, that possibly could be a conversation. But this season, I don't see him out of there.

But the one clear cut I do see gone is Matt Nagy. Pete Carroll. I don't think Pete going nowhere. No? No, I don't think Pete. We always think Pete a lot younger than he is too because the way he bounced around on that sideline. At some point, Pete going to stop coaching.

And this would be a great time to jump out of it if I was Pete. because that thing... You're saying he going to leave by himself. Well, I'm not saying that. I'm just looking at the, you know, checking out the environment. You know, Russell Wilson is talking like a dude who don't want to be there, right?

And you're going to have a couple of guys on a free agent market, so we'll see if he's one of them. That Seattle thing is hurt, is dismantled, all the dude, the principal characters are elsewhere or out of football

that were the Legion of Boom. I mean, that Seattle thing has rebuild written all over it. I don't know if you want to rebuild, Pete Carroll and hell. I don't know if Pete Carroll, you know, it wants to take a thing and start it up all over again. I don't know if that's the move for him.

So with those four guys, Ryan, what do you think? Zimmer, Nagy, Meyer, and Carroll. Meyer ain't going nowhere. I know that for a fact. Because, you know, like you said, it's his first year. They already got through everything they need to get through, so I don't think it's no more a problem. Nobody even thinking about that no more.

I think Zimmer, I think he needs to figure out what was going on. To be a defensive coach and your defense is struggling, that's like, imagine it still is out here with the worst defense in the league. I won the worst defenses in the league. Everybody's going to look at Coach Toddling like, yo, like what's going on? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's a problem out here right now. And I think that's what's going on in Minnesota. But if somebody just gave you an extension literally last year, they believe in you.

So I don't see them going nowhere. Like you said, Matt Nagy's out of there. I agree with James on all these talking points. to me, y'all had two years in a row of literally the same thing. And I just don't feel like y'all have the best coach for the talent that y'all drafted. You know, so obviously everybody loves Justin. You know, Justin might end up being a regular quarterback in the league. But I think he has the talent to be a great quarterback in the league.

But he might end up being a regular quarterback in the league. And we just don't know. And Matt Nagy might see it. And we don't know. I think it's still time for everybody else to see somebody else give him another option. Like, you know, give him another chance. And then Pete Carroll. That's Seattle thing is done.

Yeah, to me, the Pete Carroll thing is kind of crazy because if your quarterback don't want to be there, I think it might be just time for him, like, you know, when he leave, I leave type of thing. Like, hey, if he out of here, if I don't have my quarterback, because if you really think about it, their team is not built to win anything. And they're in a division where you're going to get your headbeat in on a weekly basis if you're not. Yeah, they're not built to win anything.

Like, they have Russell, and that's kind of like, and obviously, I'm going to say it. But, like, I feel like Green Bay probably going to win the Super Bowl this year now based off of, you know, at first I had the rounds, but the way Green Bay is playing, I'm going to have to go with James, and I know he's happy, but he's wearing a Raider jacket.

So he's not a Packer today. Oh, man. No, but the thing is, like, y'all look at your team and sometimes y'all be like, ah, we ain't that, we ain't that good, but we got Aaron. You know, and that's kind of how Seattle is. Like, we got Russell, but it's like, like Russell was hurt, and my defense ain't really like that.

Our offense is questionable. We have some good weapons over here, but it's not what we wanted to be. So I just don't think, I don't think that, I don't know if you're going to, I think he's more likely to leave himself than get fired. So why are we just handing the NFC in the NFC in the Super Bowl to the Green Bay Packers this week. The Arizona Cardinals sitting at 10 and 2.

Packers beat them with half their team. I understand, but right now, right now. I just don't feel like this one thing I do, I would say, I don't feel that their Cardinals get enough respect. They don't. Because their coach and their quarterback are both young. I don't think they get enough respect. And to me, I think their team is completely different

if obviously everybody's team is completely different if their quarterback's hurt. But if everything's not in place for them, I think it's a lot harder for them compared to like the Packers. The Packers, they'd be having like missing links all over the place over there. As long as Aaron playing, they straight.

Yeah, I will say this, though. I think a reason why a lot of people ain't putting the Cardinals up in there is because of the quarterbacks in the NFC. So you basically saying, Kyla Murray got to beat Tom. Kyle Murray got to beat Aaron, you know, to get to these Super Bowls.

Like, Kyle and Murray going to have to go through one of these. Can he do it? Like Nick Foz did. Yeah, possibly. Can he do it? We don't know. You know what I'm saying? You know, Nick Foals did have a really good defense, too,

getting after that pass or all that. Cardinals defense ain't shabby. Cardinal defense is good. When you watch Kyler Murray straight up, sometimes you go like this. There'll be some moments, yeah. You go on from MVP to what is he? What is he doing?

You know what I'm saying? So I think it's a lot of those moments that show up, you know what I mean? And we ain't seen Kyler in them big games yet. You know what I'm saying? And you know how it go. It's year one of them having all this success. You know what I mean?

You ready for prime time? But not only that, I think a lot of people is like, man, are they for real? Like, they, what they've been garbage. You know what I'm saying? Like, are they for real? They got to keep showing us. You know what I'm saying? It ain't like it's the Packers and Tom.

Like every year these boys is up there. You know what I mean? So you better believe they for real. But some people can be for real for one year and they'll be over with it. Or it could be the first year of them being for real. I think that's what this. I mean, James, James Connor, DeAndre, Hopkins, Buda Baker, they got Chandler Jones.

They got like, that offensive line is better than I thought it was. Now, what I do think they need to do is they need to find out, I mean, they need to find a way to finish with this number one scene. Yeah, they can't go on the road. And everything has to come through Arizona. Because if they find a way to lose a couple and the Packers get this number one seed and you got to come to Lambo in negative 30, man, it's different. Yeah, I know that's the truth because I walked a dog this morning.

It's a little frigid here in the Midwest right now. So anything before we wrap this thing up to you guys, we haven't touched on, you know, a lot of talk about the Cowboys has died down since Dak Prescott and his calf injury is kind of. I mean, if y'all been watching, Dak's got what, seven touchdowns and four interceptions, I believe, his last four or five games or so, you know, people are doing the whole Ezekiel Elliott is slowing down thing again.

Tony Pollitt is becoming the, you know, the flavor of the month again. He's a terrific, terrific young player. Is there any backing off for the Cowboys or are the Cowboys in a good position right now because nobody's really talking about them the way they were the first two months of the season? I think the Cowboys are still for real.

And the main reason why they're still for real, man, is because they different on the defensive side of the ball. They come out of each game, man, two, three takeaways, man. So they always going to be in the game. They always going to have an opportunity to win games. You know what I'm saying? They win that Raiders' game. game if it wasn't for a couple pass interference penalty.

You know what I'm saying? Like, as bad as they played in the Raiders game. So I think this team is always going to be in the game strictly because they different on that defensive side of the ball. And it's only a matter of time before Marie Cooper, Zeeke, Tony Pollard, Gallup, C.D. Lamb explode. You know what I'm saying? And go out there and make plays and put up for you.

You know, so yes, I still think the day the Cowboys is one of the teams to not mess around with that NFC. That's my problem, man. Offenses always feel like they're going to eventually explode. That's the same thing they say about the cheese. Man, they're going to figure out there. They are. They're going to playoffs.

They're going to explode. That's what we did when we won the Super Bowl. All I'm saying is they might not, because if you run into the right defense, and I feel like this is one team I want to talk about because we haven't really been giving them respect. I feel like the Washington football team has been on a nice little street. Like their defense has really been. I don't know if Tyler Honeckee can beat all these quarterbacks, you know what I'm saying? You can't.

Yeah, but all of them. saying is that the Washington football team at the beginning of the year we thought like hey this defense is going to step up and everybody like all this defense is washed and now you seeing them start to step up and putting themselves in a position to be in the playoff hunt and to me I think I think if Washington getting in the playoffs they're going to mess up a lot of people's story they're going to mess up a lot of people's story I think they I think they're just going to to me I don't think they're I don't think they're good enough to you know win those Super Bowl but I feel like they're one of those teams

in the March Madden is that, you know, they're going against a two seed and just upset. Messer by her out and send somebody home. Yeah, Ms. Arroyo. Sit the role team home and then now you're like, God damn, man, we just lost to the Tyler Heineke. Yeah, say it.

We just lost to Tyler, Taylor Honeckee. We lost the Tyler Hineke in the damn Washington football team. You know, I think, to me, I think that's kind of, I think that's kind of going to be their story this year. I feel like if you let the, because they, well, they're on the, It's five game winning streak, six game win the street, something like that?

They have won four in a row. Four in a row? I think the dog is on the five game win in the street. I think if you let them step into the playoffs, I think they'll be one of those teams. And the Steelers might be one of those teams, too. If you let them slip into the playoffs, they're just going to upset the wrong team, you know?

And James, stop shaking your head. All I'm saying is, hey, hey, we've been winning games that you didn't expect us to win, and we've been losing games that we thought we should have won. You know what they're going to do? They're going to mess around and beat y'all. Hallowed Rams. That's what they're going to do. They're going to mess around and send y'all Rams home.

And then we're going to have to have this Matt Stafford conversation all over again that we was having two weeks ago. Watch. That's going to be the ticket. It's going to be a team that we've been talking about all season. They're not going to be the Rams. They're not going to be the Rams. Why not?

The Rams are very getable. They're very getable, but they're not going to get the Rams. All right. I know the names on that defense. As soon as they start playing like it, then I'll be. Aaron Donnell and Jalen stuff up this week. I feel you. You know, they play the Jags, too, though.

Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. You know, they play the, you know, they play the Alabama Jaguars, right? Like, they played a 4A team pretty much. So I'm looking forward to it, man, because all I'm doing is sitting in the cut, getting the football knowledge from y'all to. I was told the Titans was world beaters. Next thing you know, they're looking like they're looking every once in a while. I was told that the Rams is world beaters.

All I know is a team. Man. A team passed a ball three times in a football game. 100%. And it's considered the best team in the conference going forward. Right now they're the best team in the league based off of their play. Bill Belichick and them got it going. Tom Brady versus Bill in the football.

You just said the Packers, bro. Don't put Tom in there. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Hey, man. Hey, this is a podcast. I can say what I want. Speaking of, hey, shout out to you, my man.

All I know is, good morning America will never be raised off my DVR after I got a chance to see. As James Jones put in the chat. you know, hey man, I know that guy from work, right? Like, me and my lady watched you. It was a terrific piece done by Michael Stringham and the people over there. You look good, right? I saw you with the quarter zip that you told us you was going to rock, right? All the B-roll looked great.

The book looked great, man. It was a terrific appearance for you and the book. So very proud of you, man. How was that? No, it was great, man. It was a great opportunity. I really enjoy being on there. Hey, man, it's so short, you know, because they're so tight.

I was going to congratulate him on getting his jersey retired, but I didn't even had a time, you know. They ended out with it. Yeah, they ended out with it. But to me, it was a great opportunity. I was able to, I was really happy to be able to talk about my book with just in my experience, overcoming just my, you know, spinal cord injury and all that adversity I went through.

But, man, that's something that I never forget, you know, being able to be on Good Morning America. And, you know, one day, you know, one day, James or Jason might be on there too. You know, they're great at hosting and talking. Oh, man, I'm just trying to get like y'all, man. That's it. No, James got the NFL network money going on.

James rocked the double breast. He rocked like a double-breasted burnt orange a couple weeks ago. I was like, see? That's that money where you got all the flavors in the Starburst bag. You know what I mean? Just try to keep my swag up, man. You know what I mean? That's it, man.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And make sure you guys go out and cop that Walking Miracle on Amazon or wherever you get your books. Our guy, Ryan Chase is here. We're very proud of him. and also inspired by the movements of the young man out of Ohio State and, of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

We're going to keep watching these football games and hitting y'all over the head with this Tuesday edition of the Ringer NFL podcast. Coming up next on the Ringer NFL show is the Wednesday show with Kevin Clark. We'll be back next Tuesday. You can check out the full go with me, Jason Garf, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, has Sebastian Man Oskalco,

and also Ninth Wonder on this podcast. So check it out. And we're talking about the bulls on the pie, so it's always fun. Engineering credit goes out to Chris Sutton on this episode with production supervision from Arjuna Ramgapal. Our guy, A.R. back. Chris, great job, as always. For Ryan and James, I am Jason, thanking you for listening to the pod. Thanks for sharing it, download, doing all the stuff that you do. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.

Be safe out there and take care of each other.