The Ringer NFL Show - The Raiders Should Move to Las Vegas | The Ringer NFL Show (Ep. 364)

Episode Date: December 13, 2018

John DeFilippo is out in Minnesota, Freddie Kitchens is impressing in Cleveland, and Frank Reich has coached himself into the Coach of the Year sweepstakes in Indianapolis (1:00). Plus, why the Oakland Raiders need to hurry up and move to Las Vegas, the three biggest games of the week (8:30), Dallas’s dominant D-line, and Joe Flacco’s future interest around the league this offseason (29:00). Hosts: Robert Mays and Kevin Clark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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In fact, with the Yahoo Sports mobile app, you can watch live local and primetime NFL games during the holidays and all season long. Never miss big matchups or your favorite team in action. What are you waiting for down with the Yahoo Sports mobile app? And may all your football wishes come true unless, of course, your team is playing against mine. To the Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer podcast. Network. I'm Robert Mays, joined as always by Kevin Clark. How you're doing it, buddy? I'm doing all right. You're in Los Angeles, Robert. Yeah, we are, we're sitting in the same room. It's always fun. Big week of football coming out. It's week 15, man. There's a lot of stuff happening.

We're getting there. The race to the NFC 6 seat is on. That's not the one I'm most interested in. I would say it's the AFC. The AFC wild card interests me far more than the NFC six seat. I can't wrap my head around every week. We just cancel it. team, like the Vikings who... They're going to be the 60. Their offensive coordinator. Their odds to make the playoffs are like minus 140. There's no other team.

Yeah. The Panthers falling off kind of just torpedoed any interest in what's going on there, which is a bummer. Panthers could crawl back into it. I think if Cam's actually hurt, then they're not interesting to me. Right. I mean, the NFC looked so stacked

at the beginning of the season, and now who cares about like any of the top three teams like if you want to throw Dallas in there Seattle's fun I guess but I mean we thought the NFC would be seven eight deep no but Seattle's got the five

seat unlocked that's what I mean like they're going to be in yeah but I mean we thought the NFC was going to be an all out war for those playoff spots and it's whatever the opposite of that is it's like a game of Tadilly Winks for the six spot teams like the Eagles and the Vikings I mean we thought that they were going to

be contenders and we were wrong It's been a bizarre year. But all right, so let's talk about the Vikings. We're going to kick it off today by talking about just kind of how the framework of the hot coaching candidates has changed over the last three months, I guess, like during the season. Yeah. So coming into the year, I feel like obviously John D. Filippa was a hot offensive coordinator candidate. But even, I think, through five or six weeks, we all figured that he might be a head coach candidate. I mean, we threw out his name several times on this show.

and now he's fired. A lot of that comes from what he did in Philadelphia. Of course. They, and I want to, because Nick Foles is bad now. John D. Filippo has been fired. Mike Groh is under fire as Eagles offensive coordinator, and Doug Peterson is not the genius he did last year. But the one thing we need to revisit is what they did with Nick Foles

during the playoff by week is one of the best coaching jobs in the history of football. They won the Super Bowl with Nick Foles because they were able to basically figure everything out in the fly, have padded practices during that by week, use it as training camp essentially, those 10 days. It was fascinating. And so coming off of that, everyone who had touched that month was considered an offensive god. And John D. Flippo was one of them. Yeah. I mean, Frank Reich is the head coach in Indianapolis because of that week.

and John D. Flippo was the office of coordinator in Minnesota and was considered a head coach candidate because of that week. Yes. And now he's out of a job. So we don't need to get into all of the specifics about why he got fired. I feel like with him and Zimmer, it was one of those things where Zimmer really wants to run the ball. They couldn't run the ball. There was no sense in running it more often than they did.

So D. Flipo didn't. And it really pissed off his head coach. So it seems like... Two straight mid-season offensive coordinator changes. Mr. Mike Zimmer. That's kind of what I'm getting at. It is that for the most part, I feel like D. Flippo may not have done the best job he could,

but I also feel like the circumstances in Minnesota were not conducive to, one, his success and to him keeping that job for very long. But I feel like the flip side of that is that as these kind of guys have fallen out of favor, the dudes we thought would be the hot candidates by the end of this season, there are other guys that have kind of risen.

And I wrote about this a little bit today, but the one person I would throw out over anyone else, and it's only been a month, but I think that you have to recognize what he's done is Freddie Kitchens. What he's done in Cleveland is remarkable. I mean, Baker Mayfield is completing 75% of his passes while averaging like 9.5 yards per attempt over the last month.

And that's almost a direct correlation from when Kitchens took over. So you have these guys that have just kind of ascended and other guys that have fallen away. There's a couple of things. Number one, this is something we've learned a couple of times. Ken Wisenhunt lost his job. because they couldn't protect Marcus Marriota.

And owners, when they have a 24, 25-year-old quarterback who they've invested a top-five pick-in, they want their quarterback to be upright and not unable to fly in commercial aircraft, like our friend of Sean Watson. Under siege at all times. Now, since Freddie Kitchens took over, Baker-Mayfield has the best protection rate in the NFL. He's being pressured 11% of the time,

which is just outrageous. and when he is being pressured, he's the best rating in football. I mean, that was not happening with Hugh Jackson. And I just think that that's a testament to him. If he doesn't get ahead, it doesn't just get the permanent job in Cleveland, and he might not,

if someone from a college program comes in, if someone like a Lincoln Riley comes in, if someone, you know, another, maybe even another head coach from another program comes in, they might have their own, their own offensive play caller. Freddie Kitchen is going to be a play caller in 2019.

So you think that's kind of the ceiling for next year. He's just going to be an offensive coordinator somewhere. I would guess so. I mean, he's only called plays for five weeks. I'm with you. I'm just saying, like, it just feels like as we, how many times if we had this conversation on this show about who you'd want, who you'd bet on

as your kind of head coach, offensive coordinator pairing, like the guy that's both. And we don't have that many names to throw out there. and what he's done in the last month, it just feels like, I don't know, Matt Nakey was a play call or only for like a month and a half and he got a head coaching job.

I don't know. It just, I think you're right. I think he is going to end up being an O.C. next season, but I also think that, I don't know, man. If you're going to hire a head coach and there aren't that many guys that you feel that good about,

why wouldn't you kind of roll the dice on him? Yeah. I mean, a lot of it comes down to, I mean, first of all, Mennagi was the offensive coordinator for two full seasons. Yes. That's important to note. But in the meetings, you can just buy asmosis.

Yeah, I understand that. It comes down to, I mean, I think a lot of it, and I don't know Freddie Kitchens that well, but I do know it comes down to a lot to just convincing owners that you're the guy. Yeah, I know that we all think that we're on a higher point of existence here and that we're beyond just getting the owner to like you, but that's 95% of it once you're above a certain level. Especially for head coaching jobs. Yeah.

personality is like, just you cannot overstate how important it is. Yeah. I mean, like, I remember somebody saying this a couple of years ago. It was about bad MBA general managers. And I don't remember who it was, but they were saying that they made the point, it was a reporter. And they made the point that a lot of times the owner just thinks like, you know what, I'm going to have to be on a plane with this guy, like all the time. Do I want to hang out with this guy or not?

And like, and that's how. Those are long days, man. Yeah, and that's how it happens that like, you know, Joe Dumars has a job for two decades. It's because he was a good guy. It was literally Joe Dumars was the jumping off point for that. It's like the owner was impressed by just by hanging out with Joe Dumars. So we got a had a job five years longer than he should have.

Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the thing with all this, is that we can kind of elevate dudes as much as we want to. We can talk about the guys that are the right candidates. But when it comes down to it, it's going to be personality. It's going to be a lot of stuff that we can't account for if we don't know these people. So, all right. Let's move on. Let's get to this week's take.

shop. I am very excited about yours and why don't you lay it on me? Why aren't the Raiders just moving to Las Vegas now? So what's... Where would they play? I think that's my only question. Where do they play the damn Las Vegas Bowl? They play... You and OVI soon? Yeah, UNOV. What's the problem

here? That's fine. The Bears played in Champaign for a year. The Rams currently playing that's Coliseum. That was so strange. It's definitely the weirdest year of Bears football. It's Sam Boyd Stadium. It's 40,000 people. Okay, so we'd have a bit of a stub hub situation on our hands. It's twice as big.

It's twice as big. 40,000 is not that bad. Yeah, it's where UNOV played. It is where the Las Vegas Bowl is played. Although the Las Vegas Bowl is moving to the Raider Stadium, according to Wikipedia. I mean, that would make sense. What a sad moment for all of Las Vegas Bullheads. It's tough for the UNLV football program and their general perception.

Are they staying at Sam? Wow, why doesn't UNLV just move at the Raider Stadium? That'd be kind of weird. Why not? Pitt plays at the Steeler Stadium. Yeah, that's outside. side, though. College team playing in a big dome that's half full, that's kind of weird.

There's a lot of that, I think. Who else does that? Syracuse plays the Carrier Dome, but I don't... I don't know enough about college football. I think there's... There's something weird to me about college football in a dome. Maybe that's just like a cognitive dissonance sort of thing, because I've never seen it really before.

I heard of a guy named Carson Wentz. Did they play in a dome? They're playing a little indoor weird stadium. Interesting. I don't know much about the North Dakota State. Facilities. I'm going to bring it up and I'm going to show you in a second.

All right. What I'm saying is the city of Oakland is suing the Raiders to basically to stay or it's an illegal move. That's what they're saying. So they're feuding with the city of Oakland. Now we find out that basically

they don't have a place to play in 2019. They're considering San Diego. Mark Davis came out and said they were considering San Antonio but they don't like the turf. So I guess that San Antonio could just change its turf. How is that a problem? I don't understand.

Well, they're indoors. That's what I mean, though. How can you just not just change the turf? Is that a huge undertaking? I don't, that's the thing that would deter you from moving your football team there? Look at North Dakota State's weird indoor stadium. Well, I kind of like that. Yeah.

I'm into that. It's pretty tight, right? Yeah. I mean, in North Dakota, you probably shouldn't play outside. That makes sense. Yeah, great. All right. So, what I understand is if you're going to move to San Antonio or San Diego or any of these places for one year,

what's the point? You're not building your fan base. I mean, say what you will about the chargers, but at least the chargers are developing. a 20, 30,000, whatever, maybe less, fan base. I mean, I just, I kind of,

that's, that's my general vibe on it, is that the chargers are making some inroads to where they're not going to show up in that, in that Englewood Stadium and just have a completely empty stadium. They're going to have some. Obviously, the Raiders are not going to have trouble having fans wherever they go, but I just don't know why you wouldn't just move to Las Vegas right now.

I understand, now, the argument is the facilities aren't good, it would need big upgrades, but I thought, who cares? Have you seen the Raiders facilities? Well, Ben Rathesberger says the X-ray machine doesn't work. Yeah, I'm not too worried about that. I'm sure it's up to par for whatever the Raiders are used to dealing with. Did you see that, so Rathusberger says that the X-ray machine doesn't work.

And then John Fulciano plays the Raiders said, well, our X-ray machine is better than the one in London. So now we're just getting into X-ray. X-ray drama. I was not ready for that this week. That's a new thing. I'm totally with you. I mean, think about what the Rams. They didn't have two lame duck years in St. Louis.

They came out here. It's a weird situation. Well, they did have quietly like four lame duck years. That's fair. But it's an odd situation. I mean, just the amount of kicking around those teams have done, especially the Rams. I mean, Thousand Oaks, Irvine, bouncing back and forth.

It's not easy, but I don't understand why they wouldn't just move. I mean, if you're looking for a place and you know you're going there eventually, why not? Okay. So, or move somewhere closer to Las Vegas. move to do the Oilers thing and move to like Reno play in the University of Nevada Stadium Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea

I'm just saying if you Go somewhere that's building a fan base Where you need to be I'm with you on the biggest thing Mycay Stadium right now looks beautiful I'm with you on the biggest thing I have no idea why it would just do that All right

My take shop Toh action I think that Frank Reich is the coach of the year Okay Is that fair I understand that just by, again, the box ticking that we normally do, that Nagy probably will win it if the Bears win the division

and win like 11 games. But the job that Frank Reich has done in Indy, and the fact that that team is relevant right now, this early in kind of their trajectory as a franchise, is remarkable. With the staff that Josh McDaniels hired. Is that true? Yeah, the coordinators were hired in the Josh McDaniels era.

So Siriani and then Iber Flues? Yeah, that's right. That's right. At least Iberfluse. I think it was just Iber flus. I think Wright built his staff. But yes. So you inherit a defensive coordinator and then you're coming in at the 11th hour.

And the job he's done is just unbelievable. And early in the year, everyone was talking about, you know, luck is doing all these thinking dunk passes and is he healthy, everything else. And then you watched them last week and he's chucking 60-yard bombs at T.Y. Hilton. It just finally seems like that entire offense is coming together. And I don't know, man. I just didn't expect it to be like this this fast. Like, that team is fun.

That Dallas Indy game this week is one of the highlights of this weekend. I mean, it's an unbelievably important game. And I just did not expect the Indianapolis Colts this season, especially after their start, to be playing a relevant football game in a week for the team. Do you know when Jimmy Johnson went to a versus in Miami? This reminds me of that. They said he couldn't touch the assistance for one year,

so he was just with the other guys and he hated them. It's just a terrible idea. But he hated them. He fired them as soon as he could. All right. So, not all of them. But, all right. So a couple things.

Number one, you're absolutely right. Matt Nagy's going to win coach of the year. Which I'm fine with. He's done a very good job. The Colts have to make up the playoffs for this to even be, for him to even get a significant amount of votes. That's fair. I totally agree with you.

He's done a really, really good coaching job. There's a couple of sort of other candidates I think about. And this is just, if we're not playing the box ticking, this is always the coach of the year game, okay? I think that Pete Carroll has done a really, really, really good job. And Brian Schottnheimer is just dunking on us weekly. I think that, you know, I don't necessarily think that someone like a Sean Payton, someone like Andy Reid, even in Anthony Lynn,

I think that people perceive those teams with having so much talent that they're not going to be considered, but they've done obviously great coaching jobs. I think Andy Reid, by the job he's done as the coach of the year, but he's not going to win. Right. What about like a Jason Garrett if they wouldn't go 11 and 5 here? Absolutely not. I'm just letting you know he's done a nice coaching job. He really hasn't.

He's been fine. I'm giving Jason Garrett very little credit about what's going on right now. Scoreboard. I'm going to gaslight people into thinking I was hugely in favor of the Amari Cooper trade and the Cowboys organization. That's going to be impressive if you pull that off because that's a lot of kind of cleaning up that you have to do. Oh no, I can do it. I believe in you, but. Thank you.

All right. Let's get to the biggest three games that we. Let's start with Patriots Steelers, which, I mean, if you think about the AFC over the last 10 years, this is it. And I just feel like the Steelers are going in a really bad direction. I wrote about it on Monday, but I don't know, man. They could miss the playoffs. It's very conceivable for them to do. I mean, they're playing the Patriots this week.

They play the Saints next week. The Ravens have a decently easy schedule down the stretch. And I think the Ravens are playing much better football than the Steelers are right now. This is a huge game. If they lose this, it's going to be. trouble very quickly. Last three games, last four games, excuse me, Rob Gunowski versus the Steelers.

Nine catches for 143 yards and a touchdown. Five catches for 94 yards and three touchdowns. Four catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. Nine catches for 168 yards. No touchdowns. And the Steelers aren't exactly better in their linebacking core and at safety than they have been in years past.

That's correct. Now, and also just the schemes have been so strange. And as we've discussed, the schemes against good players are still not that good. Okay. So I'm interested in this because it's as big a test for Grankowski as it is for the Steelers. Like, I want to know if Grunk can still do this.

He had a really nice game last week. No, of course. I mean, outside of the botched defensive play at the end, he had a really nice game. We've spent an entire season talking about Granc has maybe lost a step and is not the guy he was, which has been seemingly acknowledged by all corners here.

And I'm really intrigued to see if the easiest test of whether or not Gronk is still gronk, is whether or not he can own the Steelers. So last week was weird for the Patriots in my mind because they lose that game. Because they lost on a 69-yard touchdown at this time of spires. They lost a 69-yard touchdown in the game. They gave up a ton of big running plays, including to Brandon Bolden, which I didn't even know he was still in the league,

let alone ripping off 50-yard touchdowns. But there were also kind of moments in that game that were encouraging on the New England side. Brady's three touchdown passes were all really impressive. Absolutely. I mean, the one to Edelman was perfectly placed, the one to Patterson up the scene was gorgeous. And even the one to Gronk, he dropped that ball behind the linebacker

in front of the safety and was like, all right, it was a very good game outside of him taking the sack at halftime. Did you see Rocky Blyer's criticism? No. Okay, so Stewards Legend Rocky Blyer made a weird, I'm not even sure where originated. He made a weird cell phone video

where he just ripped the Steelers and it's become a huge thing. I've not seen that, unfortunately. I mean, it's the same thing as, you know, any sort of team legend ripping a current team but because A, he has,

Rocky has an incredible mustache and he's also very dignified person it was the most dignified ripping I've ever seen in my life. He has a very like established voice

I really recommend everyone viewing it. I'll check it out because those two things are not those don't work for me dignified and ripping

those don't normally go together you can barely even tell that he's ripping the team even though he's just completely ripping them to shreds he's just like well I'm done with them. Look at this. Look at this.

Yeah, he really does look like a very dignified man. He's just destroying the stewardess. Great mustache. Great mustache. Like the sweater over the dress shirt. It's just unbelievable. Incredibly put together. Unbelievable. So I wrote about this on Monday with the Steelers, but I also think it's worth kind of discussing here. If they

missed the playoffs this year, what happens? Because... Well, we talked about this on Monday. We did, but then I looked at it a little bit more, and you figure that, you know, if you miss the playoffs and you have the kind of downslide they've had. One significant change is

in the organization, but also just retooling the roster, but they only have $9 million in CapSpace next year. There isn't a lot of wiggle room for this team. It's pretty much set in stone. I think part of it is they thought they had their team. Because they've been close.

And when you're close, you think you don't need $30, $40 million in CapSpace. So are they $9 million under, even with the $14 million rise? Yeah. I mean, just like whatever the estimation is on over the cap, it was $9 million. But then they're going to roll some over because Bell didn't sign his franchise tag. So it's going to be like 23.

And they don't have that many guys to cut. I think Hayden would save them $10 million. And then there's a couple more. But for the most part, their expensive contracts are new contracts. Well, they thought that they just needed sort of maximum output from the guys they had. If you have a good Antonio Brown season, a good route, This Berger season, Levyon,

not having Levy on Bell Hertz, but James Connor has been very good, even though he's been banged up recently. I just think that they probably thought they built the team they wanted to build. And for some reason, they are playing just completely, inexplicably badly.

Some of these losses have been horrible. So they have won three playoff games since Antonio Brown became a full-time starter. Three. Yeah. We kind of throw them in there with the Steelers and the Seahawks and everybody else that's like to find this decade.

But in reality, they have not been that successful. And their defense, it's not like one or two players away. Their evaluation and kind of acquisitions of defensive backs over the last five years has been atrocious. And it's not going to get fixed anytime soon and they don't have that many resources to fix it. It's not as if they're an offseason away from becoming a team that can play on

the level of the chiefs and the saints and everybody else. They're further away than that. So I just don't understand what this team is and where they are and where they're going. It's very confusing to me and kind of depressing. We talked about this with the Patriots a little bit where essentially the Steelers were in position to compete because they were just good enough at a lot of different things. They were solid. And I kind of feel like in the era of all-in, in the era of mega, really incredible passing stats

of teams that are spending every dime to the cap and don't care about the first. future and there's a lot of teams like that, I think it's harder for those teams to compete. Just solid A-minus teams. It's harder for them to reach the level they need to. Having said that, having said that that does not excuse some of these losses, they should not have lost the Chargers. Or to the Raiders. Or to the Raiders are not all in, folks.

They don't even know where they're playing next year. All right. Let's get to Eagles Rams. This is a game that looked a lot better in August than it does right now. The Eagles are a mess. Well, Nick Foles is starting. Nick Foles is going to play. Did you see the latest update on Nick Foles?

Excuse me, on Carson Wants. No. It's from Adam Schaefter. A recent CAT scan on Carson Wences' back revealed a fractured vertebrae. Oh, that's good. That's very good. That if allowed time to rest, would fully heal without further expected issues or Sistel ESPN. He shouldn't play again.

I mean, this year? Yeah. No, I just said fractured vertebrae. That's what I'm saying. Let's take it easy. Guys have played with broken bones in their back. Sure. He should not play again this season.

They're years over. Are you familiar with the famous Mike? Tyson, I broke my back thing? No. After one of those fights, he said, I broke my back. During the fight? Yeah, I guess. And then the interviewer says, what kind of back injury was it?

And he says, spinal. It was amazing. After you watch the Rocky video, I recommend Mike Tyson's spinal. I'm learning so much today. I really appreciate it. So in this game, I just feel like this is the classic bounce back for the ramps. Yeah. I mean, the Eagles secondary is a mess.

Well, I got to tell you, the same way I view the Stewards game as a test for someone like Grunkowski, if the Rams can't absolutely own this Eagles defense, that's when I start getting concerned. If golf doesn't sling it around on Sunday, then we should start getting worried because it just feels like they- Because they gave up 434 passing yards? To the Cowboys who cannot throw the ball like the Rams? Yes, that's exactly why. They've given up since the buy.

the Eagles have given up over 400 yards of offense in four of their five weeks. Cornerbacks are important. This is something we've learned. You need some of them. I was messing around on PFF yesterday, and the Eagles have the fifth worst tackling in the NFL. Just miss tackle rate? Yeah, just tackle rate. Why don't you go ahead and have a bad tackle rate against Todd Gurley?

See how that goes. Their run defense has been much worse as of late, but I still have more faith than that than I do. in their secondary to stop the Rams. I'm just saying from a big picture standpoint, if the Rams can't get off the Schneider here, then I'm officially worried about the Rams. Yeah, I feel like this is the golf game where he throws for 400 yards and four touchdowns,

and we start feeling good about the Rams again. Maybe I'm just simplifying that in a way that I shouldn't, but that's kind of where I'm at with it. Yeah, totally agree. All right, Saints at Panthers, again, a game that looked much better about two months ago. The Panthers are a disaster right now. I mean, would they allow the,

Browns to do through the air last week. Baker Mayfield did whatever he wanted down the field. And against Drew Brees, that's probably bad. It's the same kind of deal. Like, if the Saints can't move the ball on this Panthers secondary, just all game without any sort of problems at all, then I'm going to start getting worried about the Saints because they had that slow start last week against Tampa,

the week before they could not move the ball against Dallas. This is the game where, again, they need to get off the Schneider as well. It's interesting to me that Breeze and Sean Payton, had some of their lowest offensive outputs of their era. In Carolina. In Carolina, but also this season. I mean, just this season, we've seen some of the highest numbers of the Sean Payton, Drew Brie's era, and some of the lowest. And I don't necessarily...

Which game outside of the Dallas game? Minnesota. Yeah. Hold on. Let me get the stat. The Minnesota game, they scored 30, so it's kind of misleading, but they had the defensive touchdown. The offense did not move the ball, especially through the air. All right.

So you look at the last three. weeks of the New Orleans Saints. This is what I'm talking about. 198 yards last week. 111 passing yards. Drew Brees. 198 last week, 111 the week before, 162 the week before. And I understand they're one two of three.

I understand they're 11 and 2. It's just slightly strange to me when they're basically connecting every time. I mean, his completion percentage is still absurd. He still have an incredible season. But they're not that machine they were earlier in the year. No, that's the difference. I think in some ways that was always unsustainable. I guess so, but why?

The way they were dominating teams to that stretch. When you throw to Michael Thomas and you complete 90% of your passes, I'm sorry. Like, one out of every 10 times, having a misfortune or whatever is not sustainable because... Somebody's finger is going to get in the way. Yeah, someone's going to get in the way. someone's going to fall down 20% of the time.

There's going to be a blade of grass. I mean, the idea that you can connect, I think his completion percentage at one point this season was 80%. That just doesn't happen. It was higher than that. It was like 88 through the first like five or six weeks. Right.

And then his completion position over the middle of the field was like 93%. I mean, everything was absurd, and it just wasn't football to expect that always to continue. Just things happen. Misfortunes happen. Yeah, I mean, it just feels like they're probably somewhere in between, but I'd like to see them closer to that end of the spectrum on Sunday. It's still 75%.

Yes, I mean, their offense is still very, very good. It's just not the unstoppable juggernaut that it was for that kind of three or four week stretch that we saw. All right, before we move on, let's take a quick break. Control Center by Kavo is the one remote that does it all. This holiday season, help your loved ones take control of their TV with the gift of Control Center. Control Center cleans up your home theater so you can control everything connected to your TV with one easy-to-use remote and stop wasting precious time searching for shows.

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just in the sense that the Colts offensive line is involved. but it's about the Dallas defensive line because that group right now is dominating games. DeMarcus Lawrence is playing as well as he did at any point last season. Gregory's been really good for them. Crawford had a really nice play last week.

They do so much great stuff individually, especially Lawrence. I mean, he is in a zone right now. So going against Braden Smith, who is playing decent but is a rookie, I think that's a matchup that Dallas can win consistently. And then every single time

they do a stunt, it seems like somebody gets home. For whatever reason, they're just really clicking right now. And the Indy offensive line has been playing excellent, and they really shut down Houston last week. The Colts had their deep passing game working like it hasn't all season. But I feel like this is going to be another huge test for them. And I don't know. The Dallas defensive line has controlled their last couple games,

and I feel like they have a chance to do it again. Having studied this, where do you put DeMarcus Lawrence when you're talking about the absolute stud stud pass rushers. He's in the top tier. Top tier. So, like, let's do it this way. If the top tier of front four players is,

let's say, Donald Watt, Mac, DeMarcus Lawrence is right below that. But it's definitely tier two. I mean, he's played phenomenal this season. And combined with what he did last year, that dude is going to get that $100 million like a McAddonald contract. He absolutely is. Cowboys are running some cap problems at some point.

They've got some space next year, though. Yeah. They can sign him. But I'm just saying the next couple of years, there's going to be some day extension. I mean, the DAC contract is obviously kind of the ranch. And Zeke and Amari. Yes. But I feel like next season.

And Byron Jones, Elite Leaper, Byron Jones. If they want to bring Lawrence back next year, they can. Oh, of course. Next year. I absolutely think they should. Because he's played at that level. If he wants $22 million a year, he's going to get it from somebody. Yep.

Oh, totally agree. Yeah. It's, it's. Past rushers are so interesting to me because the way that they, the way that they develop is it really interesting to me. And just the, I love seeing a guy like DeMarcus Lawrence go from good to great. I just think it's so fun. And so many times just guys don't get there. Vic Beasley is just not going to get there.

He's very far away from there. No, no, no, no. I'm just saying you see these guys when they're young and they all kind of look into one group. Vic Beasley's not going to get there. Bud Dupree is not going to get there. DeMarcus Lawrence is there. That's what's so exciting about his development and seeing a guy who can wreak havoc. Because that's the piece you need now in the modern NFL.

That's what I'm saying. The absolute game wrecker, the guy who can create a turnover and you're not going to be able to keep all, you know, you're not going to be able to keep the chiefs or in this case the Saints under 20 points every single week. You did it once. You may not be able to do it again. What you can do sustainably is get in the backfield and wrecked games. I also think, you know, what's interesting to me right now is look at a team like Denver.

and Denver has two of the top four pass rushers in the NFL right now in Chubb and Miller. And those are two- Chubbs-s-Quiley had a really nice year. He's fourth NFL in pressure rate. The only players better are his teammate,

Aaron Donald and Danelle Hunter. Yeah. Than Chubb. It's, I love that foundation. When they did that, I've always enjoyed when teams load up on a strength. If you have Vaughn Miller,

just get the next guy and have that be your total identity defensively. And that's what they've done. It's worked. Yeah. No, and so what I'm saying is, is that you need those pieces going forward because you're not going to be able to be a dominant defense every week. I know Cowboys fans say, okay, we have Layton Van derash, we have a good secondary, we have whatever. You can go out and free agency and get a little more help.

But no, it's not you're not going to be able to, yeah. You're not going to be able to, in the future, offensive, offenses are still getting better. There's going to be more offensive minds in the league next year. Have a game record like DeMarcos Lawrence to just own people. You need that guy. Plus, you need the guy to get the sack after Randy Gregory commits three straight penalties, which is really important. All right.

Sneaky truth. Hit me. This is the sneakiest truth. Maybe all season. Deep breath, everybody. Because I'm going to say it. Joe Flacco has been benched, semi-colon.

Joe Flacco is going to have a depressing amount of interest from multiple NFL teams this off-season. That is, by the way. So like who, though? That's my question. I'm just letting you know it's going to happen. So let's first take a look at Joe Flacco's contract. Joe Flacco's cap hit this year, $24 million. His dead cap is $40 million.

Why was Joe Flacco's dead cap in 2017, $53 million? I would do you want better. Why was it $69 million in 2016? I believe they restructured. It was basically guaranteed. So it's $40 million this year. It goes to $16 next year. Okay. They have a potential out in 2020.

It's so bad. Which would have made it essentially a They have an out which is basically $8 million net cap after next year. So if you're the Ravens, do you just eat the $16 million? They have $28 million.

Okay. So do you just cut Flacco? Do you try to trade them? I try to trade him. I mean, you just said he's going to have a lot of interest. Man, everybody has a lot of interest. This is a depressing league. And we think, oh, you see Mahomes, you see even Lamar Jackson, who's really exciting. You see goddamn Josh Allen, who looks more exciting than Joe Flacco.

Let me say that for the people in the back. Josh Allen is like 50 times more exciting than Joe Flacco. Absolutely. That's why I wanted the Ravens to stick with Lamar, no matter what happened. At least this is interesting. Yes. They did. They did.

Okay, so let's take a look at the candidates. Who needs a quarterback next year? The Bucks? Theoretically, yes. Theoretically, yes. I mean, we'll see what they do. The Winston thing is one of the biggest kind of decisions in the offseason.

Yeah. Jackson and Jaguars need to quarterback. They definitely do. And the Jacksonal Jaguars are the type of franchise. If they went with Flacco, they are the type, I'm just telling you that they're the type of franchise. I'm just telling you that the type of franchise.

That would be so sad. Now, here's, I have a question about this next one. Okay. What are the Raiders going to do a quarter? It feels like after the last couple weeks, cars are going to stick around. Well, that's my question, because the last five weeks, cars,

been on fire. He's been fine. Yeah, I mean, he's been much, much better. Okay. I mean,

we wrote him off a month ago. And we thought, he was gone. We did on this podcast, basically the obituary for his season. We said that this is not going to work. And his time in Oakland. And yeah.

I did that. Yes. You may not have. I absolutely did. I was a little slower on the trigger there. I was ready to go. I mean, just feels like every single thing

was pointing to him not being the quarterback there next year. Now I don't feel a strongly about that. So he has 7.5 in dead cap. He is, he has a 22.5 million cap hit next year.

It's 25 this year. They can get out of it if they want to. This is going to come down to Gruden's ego and what he wants to do with the position.

I feel like they'll probably roll with him I think they'll probably roll with him. Now do they draft a quarterback and then roll with them? If they like one of those guys. That's the thing we can't predict. Do they like Herbert if Herbert comes out

or do they, are they Will Greer people? I mean, that's the thing we can never kind of understand is are these teams attracted to these quarterbacks? Here's my thing, though. The one thing I don't understand with John Gruden is the profile of quarterback that he liked was never the sort of high draft pick.

I mean, he liked Jeff Garcia more than... He tried to trade for... He rolled with Sean King. He tried to trade for Jake Plummer when they had Chris Sims. I don't know why this era of books football. is just out of my mind, apparently. You all these nuggets that you've been pulling out.

He's throwing up in Florida. He tried to trade for Jake Plummer. Jake Plummer wouldn't come out of retirement. Chris Sims then said their relationship was irrevocably broken. Excuse me. He had Jeff Garcia around then. Jeff Garcia being the best quarterback he had in that, basically in that era. Which is terrifying.

He had, obviously, Brad Johnson, which you won the Super Bowl with. I mean, like, we keep talking about the Raiders quarterback situation. like it's ever going to be rational. John Gruden has never acted rationally towards a quarterboard. I think they make a big move in the next two years. But I don't know if it happens this off-season. I think Brian Greasy was on some of those teams? Yeah, he was.

Brian Greasy was on those bucks teams. Absolutely. When Gruden was still there? Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was on the Bears after. I thought he was on the Bears earlier than that. He spent two seasons there.

We keep approaching the Raiders' quarter acquisition, like it has anything to do with who is good and bad. at quarterback. I think they do go out and get somebody, but I think, I mean, just based on their timeline right now, do they need one this year? No, they absolutely can just run it back next year and be terrible again. They're not in a hurry. I would like to...

Maybe that'll change if they moved to Vegas. I would like to talk to you for one second about a couple of things. Number one, let's talk about the Tampa Bay Bucks starting quarterback Wikipedia page. Brad Johnson to Rob Johnson, 2002. Rob Johnson started a game. What a time. Brian Greasy, Chris Sims, Bruce Grady Tim Rite

Jeff Garcia Luke McCown Finito then we get into Raheem Morris Starting with Byron Left Witch Starting with Byron Left Witch Starting with Byron Left Witch Then we get into Raheim Morris

Is a hell of a sentence Byron Left Witch Anything else to say about Flackett I did not know that Byron Left Witch player for the box I don't remember this He started three games for them Yeah I do not remember that whatsoever What here?

09 Wow That was my junior year of college I apparently was not paying attention. Yeah, me neither. I was five hour drive away. Before we get out of here, let's talk about a very good Thursday night football game.

Chargers at Chiefs. This is fun, man. I mean, that division is not settled yet. It is not settled. The Chiefs have a two-game lead on the Patriots for the one seed, and they still might, in some scenario, end up playing a wild card weekend. Well, who do they have after this?

I believe they play the Raiders. again, right? They play the Raiders and the Seahawks. I mean, it's conceivable that they could lose in Seattle. And the suddenly hot Raiders. Yeah, I'm not too worried about that one. Suddenly hot Oakland Raiders moving to San Antonio.

So the... 538 gives them a 90% chance of getting in the buy and winning the division. But there's always that chance. So the thing I want to see this week, who wins is not that important to me. The Chargers defense has been playing much better. And I want to see how they play against this.

If the Chargers win this game, it goes down to 70%. It's going to be fun. These are the rare Thursday Night games that are actually watchable and enjoyable. After last week's debacle, Derek Henry becoming the greatest running back of all time because the Jags is on longer give a shit. The Jaguars game was most embarrassing thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm glad that's over. Yeah, I'm very excited to have a real football game on Thursday night. Wow.

I love that they scheduled this game the week after Titans Jaguars. I think that's what they did. We did a little. They lowered expectations to such a degree. They did a little detour and they said Here's your classic to shit hole Thursday night game And now we got a classic. Here's a couple of real football teams.

So if the Chargers win out no matter what They win the division. Yeah, I believe so. I mean, that Chargers team is really good. The fact that they just, by the rules, have to be a wildcar team just because they play in the same division as the Chiefs is very misleading.

I think they're one of the best five or six teams in the league. They don't ever play them twice. can beat him. I love playing around the playoffs scenario generator because it's just... You spent a lot of time

on there like the entire month of December. It's... I got the Lions in the playoffs recently. How?

Are you a wizard? It's very... It's not very possible, but it's possible. The Lions have a better chance of making the playoffs are the same chance as the Packers.

They get to 8-n-8. Which seems unlikely. They get to 8-8. It's 4% for both. What a time. They can get to 8 and 8 and then it's anybody's ballgame. The sixth seed has created just ultimate

playoff scenario generators. Yeah, and in the AFC too. I mean, think about all the teams that are 7 and 6 and all the stuff that's going on there. I have to tell you something. I'm less intrigued by them because they're all the baseline of competence. Like, the Colts getting in is not funny to me.

Funny? Yeah. The Lions getting in is the funniest thing I can possibly imagine. Oh, the Lions getting in is the lairous. The Colts are a real team. There's no reason to play with the play. generator to get like realistic scenarios. That's fair.

No, that's... Get the lions in, get the... I guess the lions are the funniest team, right? I think that the Giants can make it. That's definitely... That's better.

All right. And that's all we got, buddy. We will be back on Sunday night, as we always are. And in the meantime, thank you for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network.

Nice, guys.