Fox Sports RadioFox Football Sunday: Mike Harmon, Bucky Brooks, & Andy Furman talk NFL Divisional Round Weekend, Lions Loss, Coaching Carousel and So Much More!
This Week on Fox Football Sunday
Mike Harmon, Bucky Brooks, and Andy Furman bring you in-depth analysis of NFL Divisional Round Weekend! The trio breaks down the Lions' upset loss to the Commanders and yet another playoff victory for the Chiefs.
They also dive into Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki’s decision to sign with the Dodgers and explore the latest developments in the NFL coaching carousel.
Don’t miss all this and more on this week’s episode of Fox Football Sunday!
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Sometimes you need to be humbled. That's the great iron chic of wrestling fame. Welcome in another hour, Fox Football Sunday Live from the tirac dot com studios tirerac dot com. We'll help you get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard protection over ten thousand recommended in starars tirerac dot com the way tire buying should be. As we begin another glorious morning, the second day of this divisional round, I remind you that the Cowboys, Bears, Jaguars, Jets, and Giants played just one fewer game than the fifteen win Detroit Lions this year.
That's low. That's a low blow.
Let's go.
It's a cheap shot.
Hey did I not warn folks a month ago? You get cute, the football gods will smite you. First down after moving the ball twenty two yards very quickly. Two plays. Hey, you know what, Jameis and Williams ran with the ball really well on a reverse. Let's throw it. Let's take the ball out of Jared Goff's hands. How much confidence do we have in him? Give the ball to Jameson Williams to throw it. He plays sixty six yards later it's a seventeen point Washington lead.
Boy, I couldn't sound like happy. You almost like it.
Well, I got to throw it in the face of Jason Smith because I picked the Commanders to win on Friday night and all he did was mock me for four hours about it. Wow, So I'm taking a leak. And he could never go back to Detroit now like he vacations in Detroit. That's where his wife's family's all from. So like for him, it's it's a world to hurt, no question about it. Mike Carbon alongside Andy Furman, Bucky Brooks with you here had Andy Furman, fs are had Bucky Brooks. Let's call it what it is. It's like the Golden State Warriors. You were either on board by the end of the second year they were running around shooting threes and changing the game, or you got tired of it. Right with the Lions, I'm not gonna lie, it got a bit overweighted, So I got a little bit tired of it. Especially. I mean go back to when they're calling first down runs for pinay Seool against the Bears on Thanksgiving, comes back on it comes back on you. Your disrespect for your opponent comes back on you. But I wanted to go back. I was blessed. I got here a couple of minutes early, guys, as I do. I wanted to see Mark and Shay and see how they're doing in the overnight here, make sure if they needed me to go get them a cup of coffee, that I could do that. But I got to hear Andy Furman's interview with the late great Bob Buker, and it's everything that's great about this business and why we respect Andy Furman and why we love Bob Bucker.
It wasn't it to view I was a punching bag, but that's fine, no, no, But.
It's the idea that you don't take yourself too seriously. Right in the end, we're talking about sports. They are games, and having lived did it in Los Angeles, in the greater Los Angeles area all these years, and what's gone on the last couple of weeks, it's about perspective, right, It's about keeping things right now. It doesn't mean we don't take our sports seriously, right, the ins and outs, the x's and o's and all of that stuff. But sometimes I think in our business, and in the business of sports, we may take ourselves a bit too seriously. It's one of the things I loved about Ker. It's one of the things I loved about Harry carry Ken, Harrelson, go on down the line. That generation of broadcasters. They gave you the nuts and bolts. They lived and died with their teams, but in the end they were having fun, knowing it was an outlet for everybody to relax. And for you, Andy Furman, the way you graciously took and absorbed all those body body blows and rabbit punches. That's the way you approach radio and why I've always respected and loved working with you. Bucky's same thing, right, It's what we do here. We take the topic seriously. But in the end, if you can't laugh at yourself a little bit, it's gonna be a tough business, m right, true, all right, And that and that was the thing I think I love most about you, right, the mister baseball and obviously the quick wit. I am glad you still have that autograph, plaque, hall of Famer, all of those things. As a Hall of famer that you are, Andy Furman and Andy Fermans are.
Thank you very much.
Really, we got to wash them up.
It's only sports. I mean, people go crazy. And look, I listened to a lot of sports on radio. I have over the years, and I've seen a little bit of a change. It's kind of morphed into not so much personality as much as lecture. Sometimes I turn on a sports talk show on radio, I feel like I'm in a college lecture hole. They're telling me what to do. And you know, some of these hosts behind the microphones shouldn't be in talk radio. There should be personal directors of teams, really, don't you think, Buck? Really?
Although if you listen to what they say, Bucky, I'm gonna guess that ninety nine percent of it backfires. And while they talk a good game, exe cution is really where we're at here.
Yeah, execution is where it's at. But I think that's what we wanted. I thought we appreciated opinions. Strong opinions is what I was taught in this business. Give strong opinions very different.
You know, I would say, a good sports talk holst and maybe I'm way off based should be very similar to a top column list in a newspaper. You have an opinion, you state your opinion, give some facts whatever it may be, and stand by it. But there's difference in my mind between an opinion and rating players and their speed and they how to handle a quarterback position, how long it takes them to throw a football. I mean that that's the technical end of it, which I don't think that you know, unless you played the game. A guy like Bucket Brook could talk about it. I'm not qualified to talk about that. I never played the game. I'm more I'm nothing more than a fan with an opinion.
Yeah, but that's not saying that, like the only people that can talk about the game or whatever is an opinion. But I think that's some of that is the sale. Uh, some of that is the packaging in which we wrapped those opinions in. That's part of it, and I think we now have a better understanding. But before shock jock culture certainly was that it shocked us. Yeah, people would have these strong opinions. Now it's just white noise in the background.
That's kind of what we're used to.
That's the environment that we're in in the secure and state of sports media.
Yeah, it's all about trying to pull the strings right. You want to bring in everybody's collective experiences, because in the end, we're all fans. Whether you played the game or not, you got into it because you were a fan of the game. Now, yes, there's some percentage of cold calculation of Hey, I'm six five three twenty five. I don't particularly like football, but maybe there's a path here if I'm just good enough, you know, for an education, or maybe a couple of bucks, or go on down with any other sport. Right, you find your way. But for all of us, you know, the more I got protests that he's not a fan of the game, the players, whatever, I raised my hand and say, well, what are you doing in this business? But it's the kind of thing that as we come into a day like today, we've got two great games, at least on paper. The second game has all the marks of greatness, with all the great storylines. I heard you guys getting into it a little bit, with Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. Let's face it, I started with the Iron Chic. It comes back to it. It's a loser leaves Town match, right. The loser is going to have a full off season of questions, finger wagging, finger pointing, and all of the would have, could have, should as, but can't when the lights are bright, etc. What we're doing with Jared Goff and Sam Darnold, Right, they had two great seasons, but on the big stage they failed. So what happens? Acid tongues, poison pens and what do you go and get? I remind you the free agent crop out there is either forty year old guy were thrown away by their past teams, one guy was auditioning for the broadcast booth yesterday and Kirk Cousins it's pretty good, by the way, wasn't too bad. But all of that to say, what else are you gonna go find as you go through? But you know, as you guys watched watch the games yesterday, We'll get into the Sunday games in Earnest a little bit later. Andy, did you did you start throwing imaginary penalty flags or trying to pick up the ones that were thrown?
Well?
Look, I think that the situation with the Kansas City game and for players on that Texans team to claim that they lost the game because of the officiating, I get it. There was some questionable calls, several questionable calls, but I do think that they imploded on themselves with tremendous mistakes on their special teams, and I think the better team won. You know, I understand what happens after a loss. I mean, you want to point fingers and you want to blame things, but sometimes you gotta look in the mirror, say it was on us, we lost the game, don't you agree.
I think you can say that, but I think you also can point out the fact that there were a bunch of calls that were questionable that went against them, and it certainly hurt them in those moments. The first one, Will Anderson hitting Pat Mahomes. The official who threw the flag was directly behind Pat Mahomes and didn't see that Will Anderson didn't hit him in the face. It wasn't forcible contact to the head and neck area.
He hit his shoulder pad on the front shoulder.
Later, Pat Mahomes dancing around and playing nice and running around like a cartoon character before at the last minute flopping the slide, and then he gets hit and they give him another fifteen yards. Pat Mahomes taking his time running out of bounds and being like a driver on the four or five who slightly taps his brakes hoping that you run up into the back of him. Pat Mahomes does all that, and every one of those things led to a call, with the exception of the out of bounds. I mean, it is a part of Kansas City's thing, right that they seem like all of these calls tend to go their way and to.
The victor goes to sports.
When you're a championship team, you do all this like, look, man, sometimes you make your own luck. But it certainly does appear that lady luck with the officials.
Is always on the kan City Chiefs.
Side at home.
And that sounds great. But let me just say this, all right, here's the bottom line. Texans eight penalties, miss block shots, missfield goals CJ. Stroud. That could about got sacked day times. Come on, really, I mean, they played poorly and they deserve to lose. They lost to a better team.
Hold on, hold on, wait manute you said they played poorly. They outgained the Kansas City Chiefs by more than one hundred yards, but.
They couldn't have many turnovers.
The only team in postseason history to lose a game with those things in their favor forty six and O teams were before they went into the game forty nine to zero before before that, So I can't say that they played poorly.
I would say that those penalties so.
And I will say that they didn't bring their a game A sacks certainly our issue.
Croft got knocked around the pressure almost every snap pressures.
And he's been under pressure the entire year. Joe Mixon ran for eighty eight yards. The Kansaity Chiefs certainly won the game on special teams, kickoff return, were talking about miss field goals, missed extra point, block field goal at the end of game. All of those things tend to go into favor. Old coach told me three phases of the game. You have to win two of the three to win games. The Kansas City Chiefs won the pressure game on defense, and they won special teams.
That's why they won.
But the officiating certainly helped them score.
It was a little bit of a help. It's true to me a favorite defend Travis Kelcey next time defend.
Well, that's the thing. It's the old Gronk rule of all right, that's the guy.
You know.
They're going to what is that fifteen straight games with at least five receptions seventy yards in the play fifteen straight games, you're getting the ball to him. They had one what one reception by the running back, ten to tight ends, and five's of Xavier Worthy. That's it. There's your shot chart for Patrick Mahomes, including the falling down play. He saw Burrow do that, he emulated it, and then Goff did it later on. That catch by Laporta in the back of the end zone was nothing sort of miraculous short of miraculous there. But with the Texans and the Chiefs, you have plenty of guys popping off And certainly what I wanted more review of was the timing getting off the snap on those pats on the field goal try. Sure seemed like Reid had the that was timed as well as you could possibly Otherwise it's an extra step or two. He's on the outside. It doesn't matter because he got to it pretty fast. But I will give Troy Aikman in the booth, and some folks don't like when Troy Aikman well maybe gets into the stern lecture mode. I kind of like the fact that somebody in a booth finally said something about all right. It was probably the most aggressive anti referee crew booth i've ever heard in my life. Maybe they're tired of the Chiefs too, but I want someone else in a big game. But all that came down to, like when Troy Aikman started getting after him, like, oh, this just got interesting because now it becomes a not just well you know, normally we'll side with the quarterback spirit of the law. You're up around the neck, right, because when Mahomes did is whatever I called it, a half assed slide thing. Those guys Malachi crunched each other and really never actually touched him. They were near his head but they missed. But true, you know, as they always say, it's all a matter of perspective, right where you're standing is and how you get your angle versus us on for you know, four K and all this stuff, you know, the high definition cosm I'm in the game like EA sports kind of view.
You know.
It reminded me of watching NBA games in the nineties and two thousands, where the star player would always get the touch foul.
Right.
If you can imagine someone driving to the hole and it's the star, it's a notable star, it's Michael Jordan, it's Larry Bird, and you see them miss a shot and then the late whistle, Oh there's a foul, And then they show the replay and you're like, I don't see the foul. Where's the foul at? But yet and still the star goes to the line. Patrick Mahomes is getting NBA player treatment in the National Football League. And that's the thing because we watched the last game. I mean, I saw Jerry Golf thoyd pick six and get absolutely stroked. If that was Pat Mahomes, they couldn't have thrown enough flags at one time.
That guy might have gotten ejected.
I'm you and so, and so that's the thing that makes it hard for fans to say, hey, wait a minute, now, this is different because the lick that Jared Golf took was far more greetious than any And.
The other thing with that is he was at home and he didn't get that call. You're the number one seed and you needn't get that call.
You guys are right, and the officiating left suddy to be desired. I'll leave that however, And there's questionable calls, but it would have been a lot better if I didn't hear from Will Anderson Junior who said we knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game. That to me put a damper on it. Look so you could watch it and see with your own eyes. There was some questionable calls. I don't need to hear it from Will anderson Es. Basically he was saying he going into the game that it was a negative. As soon a game stud he knew that it was gonna happen.
Well, but it was one of the narratives around the game, Andy, I mean, long before they blew the whistle, had any ceremonial flyovers, national anthems or anything else, so like it was, that's been part of the media narrative. I mean, hell, it's not just one year at this point, so it's a multi year building thing of all right, how are they gonna go? I actually know, uh, I have a Houston Texans fan in my life, believe it or not, stop the presses. Believe it or not. I know someone who is a Hey, people always say, well, I don't know anybody who was a fan of this team, Like, no, I actually have a guy. We got a guy that works here who's a Titans fan. We got another guy who's a Panthers fan, and I gotta. I got someone I know who's a Texans fan, and they went through and they were asking me all about the games.
Could you give names?
Well, I mean, you know what, you want to protect the guilty and innocent as it were. But you know, she'd write me in and she's asking all sorts of questions about what I think about the game, and then eventually got to the how big an impact do the refs have on the game. It's like, eventually he got there no matter what I do. So, I mean, it lives, it festers, and if you're a player and you know you're you're killing it between the lines, and you think you've gotten him, right because as we say, outgained no turnovers, take care of the football. Stroud for the entirety of the year, just like Caleb Williams in Chicago, Right, talking about guys taking a lot of hits, often unnecessarily. CJ. Stroud the first couple of quarters, a lot of those were on him, get rid of the ball, throw the ball, and then instead he talked about it after the game. A couple of times where he ran and he paid the price along the sidelines. Right, he took some hits. The fact that he kept getting up. He was like a good prize fighter. But you know it's part of the game.
You know it's part of the game. And well, a couple of things. One, I think Will Anderson should be honest. If you asked a question about how do you feel about the officiating, he should be able to give answer on how you feel, not placate us and give us the canned answer.
But if you would have said that there were some questionable calls in the games, I could live with that. But he said he knew going into the game is going to be him against the rest.
And then I think if you're Demiko Ryans, given the narrative that surrounds the Kansas City Chiefs, you put that out there so your guys don't react emotionally to when a call doesn't go their way.
You have to tell them amen.
For us to knock them off, we're gonna have to beat the Chiefs and the officials at home.
Things can go that way. We got to lock in and focus.
We can't be discouraged by some calls that may not go our way.
We just got to keep playing.
Sometimes you have to put that seed in your team's mind so you don't get emotionally bogged down by the trash.
Calls that may go against you.
You just got to continue to play one player at a time and do it that way. Sometimes as a coach, though, you kind of lay that foundation so they know what they're up against.
Okay, The truth of the matter is one of the major problems the Texas yesterday is they couldn't overcome not having Stefan Digson, Tank Dell Dale Rouward injuries. No one brings out of they're talking about the officiating. Ye that he's been more of a situation.
But like all of it, like I'm sure plenty of Lions apologists will do today. You want a lot of games without these guys. Aiden Hutchinson, if I saw him one more time, I could have bought an island, right the old give me a nickel for every time. You know he hasn't played in forever. You won a lot of games, You were a double digit favorite home and you failed. You didn't just lose, You got your ass handed to you.
It is the salty Bears guy that doesn't want to see Aiden Hutchinson, the the local hero, the Michigan man that came to save the Dan Detroit.
We don't like it.
No, no, but it's it's reasons and excuses and look, it's you stipulate the injury, you know, but you can only play right. But you can only go play with who's out there. I'm sorry all those guys were on IR. Guess what where Bucky. Wasn't there a Packers team that had like a million guys on IR that went and won a Super Bowl?
Yeah? I mean that's that's this life in the big time. You got to be able to play with whoever you get.
Earl mar bring up history a little bit, Earl Marl right, injury.
Explain to the kids who oral moral is? Wow, Google, there was your chance to do the lecture. Come on, professor, I'm not a lecturer. No way, no way, come on, have him as a lecture teaching you broadcasting from the back of that little booth where he talked to the Bob Buker. Please, you gotta love it. No, it's it's look, in the end, you never let it go to the judges. If you're playing along the edges and you don't execute you, you're going to lose in the margins. You were a heavy underdog. Refs included or not. So it's got to be about being buttoned up. For the Houston Texans. They've gotten through a year where we I thought the division would be better. That shame on me. But you end up winning the division. You ride some good feels, you take whatever, Rex Ryan, whatever that motivation was. You went away from running Joe Mixon. See there you go ex bangle. You know, so he had himself a good game, but you go away from running him. It seemed like they were winning the line of scrimmage for most of the game. Bucky.
Yeah, they were there. They were controlling the game.
They had the game on their terms, and they didn't take advantage of it when when they had opportunities early in the game. You know, and I'll say this, I feel like the momentum killer, the buzz kill, was to miss pat where the game could have been even at thirteen thirteen.
They missed a pat and you just saw the.
Collective faces on the sideline like, oh my gosh.
Like you know, and.
I say that there's a mistake to the Kansaity Chiefs. That reminds me of the Patriots and what they had for twenty years. You are always looking for the other shoot to drop. And when those things happen, it kind of plays into the narrative and the folk lore and the urban legend that the Kancity Chiefs have become because it just seems like everything is going against you. And you know, sometimes perception becomes reality because you do little things that allows the Cancity Chiefs to continue to hold onto that mystique.
Well, let me and I said, look, the Lions will not win because of the curse of Bobby Lane.
All right.
That's and I mentioned this to Bucky earlier today. Back in nineteen fifty eight, the Detroit Lions trade Bobby Lane, a quarterback, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and an angry Bobby Lane said at the time allegedly declared the Lions would not win a title for fifty years.
All right, that's basically it. So they're on the clock for another couple of years, all right. Final the pole question of the day, who took a bigger hit? Jared Yaw or Frank Ross, special teams coordinator for the Houston Tensans.
Geez, I mean there was a nice there's a nice.
Hicks Chris Boyd put on the special teams coach, But I mean it surprised him, for sure. He was very aggressive coming in, but it was almost like a punch of taste in the jab.
He backed up.
Oh oh, okay, gotta go with where the energy is flowing.
Yeah, like he was coming, he knew was coming.
I think that some extra though, right right off the jumps, like, Wow, what kind of practice week did you guys have together?
Right?
Holy cow? All right, that's Andy Furman over there at Andy Ferman FSR. Find Bucky at Bucky Brooks Readham NFL dot com, Foxsports dot com. Andy's got links to everything he's writing in his radio appearances as well. Find me over at Swollen Dome. As we roll forward, we've got a couple of games later on today, but we'd be remiss if we didn't go into the coaching carousel because you know that Lions loss makes things a lot more interesting. You know, they can go back and interview today. You don't have to wait anymore. We'll talk about it next year on Fox.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sportsdio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Hey, welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio, Mike Carbon alongside Andy Furman Bucky Brooks. Please to be with you this fine morning as we get ready for the second half of the divisional games. You know, shortly after the show, podcasts will go up. Mark and Shale take care of that. He missed any of you today's show. Be sure to check it out Fox Sports Weekends, Fox Football Sunday, Furman, Brooks, Harmon Search it wherever you get your podcast. Be sure to follow, rate and review it. Evangelize to friends and family globally. We'll appreciate it. Catch Fox Sports Radio. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts. You'll see the show posted right after we get off the air. Hey you guys, yesterday Jay Glazer a little bit of break news, good friend in the show. He's got his efforts. He's out there. He was displaced with the fires. He was evacuated three times in like six weeks. So Fox out there doing the good things. They set up alter to mobile places where folks on breaks can pause while fighting the fires and cleaning up rubble and everything to watch the games. But he had the news that Northwestern graduate Eddie George see what I did there Northwestern graduate Eddie George, executive NBA. Obviously, you know, big time running back. And now a coach is going to interview with the Bears, becoming the ninety seventh person I kid to interview for the job. I'm not far off at this point. We'll revisit this because, let's face it, between them and the Jets, I think they're leaving no stone unturned, Andy Furman, is that a good hiring practice or not?
Well, let me go back and say they're leaving those stones, and I don't think there's many people that really want those jobs. That's the problem. I mean, talk about the Jets. I think Rex Ryan's going to get the job, so because say, I don't know how many people want it, and be he's probably the only one who could deal with Woody Johnson. He's been there, done that. He knows the inner workings of that ball club. As far as the basic concern, don't you think you want to have a guy who's had some sort of experience. I think that Mike McCarthy probably is the guy in the front runner for that job, don't you think. I mean, I thought McCarthy is going to get his interviewed. But again, I think people somehow have doubts because of the way that front office is run in Chicago.
Yeah, man, I.
Mean I think there's certainly some doubts in both situations. There's a reason why both teams are searching for a coach. It's not always just on the head coach. Sometimes it's the lack of alignment from the top down. As we specifically talk about the Chicago Bears, you.
Kind of wonder who's running things.
Ryan Poles may be leading the search, but everyone knows that Kevin Warren, the president, looms in the background. How successful can you be with so many cooks in the kitchen? It's really hard for a coach to come in and implement this coach if you have others who also have voices, that may dissuade everyone from fully buying in. With the Jets, I mean the Jets, you can say the same thing. We've seen the dysfunctional culture that is the Jets, that has popped up, the leaks in the building when it came to media sources. Maybe the lack of fool support behind the head coach and the front office. All of those things matter, and at a time where people are really looking for the culture builders. Culture builders are also looking to see, will I have a legitimate chance to implement a culture if I have so many roadblocks that could prevent me from being able to get some of the things done that I want to get done.
Well, I made my alliances and my friends back in Chicago love the fact that I keep calling Ryan Pulls an empty suit. He's there conveniently to be fired if this doesn't go right. But for all appearances and for everything, Kevin Warren keeps saying he's the guy that's going to make the choice. His track record in terms of decision making now, look, it's so great and will remind folks that Dan Quinn remember the end of last year he was being clowned for giving up one hundred and fifty eight point three quarterback rating to Jordan Love in a playoff game as a defensive coordinator for the Cowboys. But to your point, Bucket, it's something that Jason and I talked about on our show on Friday, is going away from coordinators and going back to guys. And it's the euphemism that a lot of the Bears players had used, kind of ripping the way they've done things is the leader of men is sometimes seen, you know, like the word synergy for a long time would make people cringe, but it's but it's actually something you need in your business. You may not like the term, but everybody in theory should be you know, not of that you're always holding hands and singing kumba. Yeah, but everybody should know what the hell's going on, and you should lean into each other's strengths. Likewise, you know, here when we're talking about you know, the leaders of men, like you need a locker room that's not divided, that you've got all three phases of the football team together and it's not. Hey, you know what, that guy's a really good coordinator, which is why the sexy coordinator still has its place, but maybe not as much when we start talking about you know, Mike McCarthy, dan Quinn, some of these other guys getting their shot, right.
Yeah, there's something to be said for that, right, And I'm glad you brought up to dan quinn. Thing like, in terms of a coach getting his second opportunity at it. For so long we have talked about how hard it is to be a head coach because there's no manual in terms of what you should do and how you should do it when you make the jump from being positioned coach or coordinator to head coach the second time around.
Particularly for Dan Quinn, he.
Talked about the clarity that he ended a job with what's important, what's not important? If I get a chance to do it again, how would I remake myself to make sure that I do it better the second time around. I can appreciate that Mike McCarthy having been one successful three straight twelve win seasons in Dallas before it fell off last year. He's been successful, won in Super Bowl. In those things I understan and why there's interest there, not gonna lie. I'm still kind of trying to figure out what ron We're very so hot on the circuit right now. I can't understand it because I've seen the Washington franchise kind of fall apart up under him. He has some successful moments and some highs, two time Coach of the Year in Carolina, but there were a lot of losses, a lot of losing there.
So I'm bafful But.
I do understand why there is a fascination between someone who's done it before, because at least they know.
The layer of the land.
Now it's about can you help them get it up and going by giving them the players that they need to be able to be successful.
Yeah, and the Bears. I believe McCarthy's going to get the job. You know why because if I'm making that pick, it's a safe pick. It's a safe choice. Why, he's got the resume, been there, done that. You bring up that guy Eddie Eddie Eddie Jordan, Eddie George, I'm sorry, and he hasn't done it. You know, been there, done that. Mike McCarthy has been there, done that. So basically, the person who's making that decision in Chicago, whoever it may be, he's got a safety net.
You know.
McCarthy's done that, been there, he's won. Ron Rivera not so much. But my question is this, I've always thought that Marvin Lewis were going a second chance. How come he's never gotten a second chance? I thought he did a decent job in Cincinnati, changed that so called culture, went to the playoffs five consecutive years, did win a playoff game, But why can't he get back into it?
Yeah?
I mean that's a good question. You know, this only one that owners like now. I would say the time has passed where he won't get that opportunity ever, right, Like, just too much time has passed since he was a coach. I can't imagine him getting the opportunity to really do it.
I thought he was helping out in Vegas.
He's in Vegas. Oh yeah, he is.
He was in Vegas with Antonio Pearce.
I'm just saying in terms of time, it's been a long time since he was the last head coach, you know, and so.
People forget how hard the job.
Was when he took it, the success that he had on the job, despite lacking a playoff win, all of those things. And so I don't know if you ever get the credit that he deserves for being the type of coach that he was. But yeah, some of these guys getting second opportunities, that's it. But I think it also speaks to maybe how underwhelming the hot coordinator candidates have been. Yep, in terms of when you got in the room and asked him the hard questions about leading the entire team as opposed to the play sheet, That to me is what stands out, and this maybe owners are getting better at asking the questions as it relates to being a head coach compared to just a give me the best play call, and I'm gonna give him the keys to the kingdom.
So I think some of it will go back to the Marvin Lewis comment and guys of his ilk Andy, and you know where you've had the ability to maybe build some infrastructure and take a team forward. You know, I will always talked about it going A to B and then B two C. Right, I can get a guy that can get me consistently winning. It's kind of where Mike, Mike Tomlin is right now. But can he get me over the top anymore? Love Smith? In Chicago, they had that one run, the most improbable run ever, right, Rex Grossman as quarterback, Devin Hester and the special teams and every ball that hit the floor or hit somebody's hands and popped into the air was caught in return for touchdowns. So most improbable season in it. But love Smith was a great leader of men. Couldn't win division or late season games, so eventually he's out, But he builds a base for you that in theory, you can build on, like Lewis did in Cincinnati, and we we want guys going from straight from A to c Now we're expecting that miraculous turnaround and recovery so quickly, I think with the way things consumed right now. But you look at all the jobs that are available. Every one of those owners gives you a really big question mark as you walk into the room. I want to interview them as much as I would the candidate.
You know, you bring up a good question, and Bucket may have the answer to this. You say, all these owners, do the owners actually interview the potential coach or is it the GM? How does that work? Because the owner may want, say Whatody Johnson may want Rex Ryan, But is he he knows Rex Ryan. Is he going to do the interviewing or is it the new GM will be doing the How does that work?
No?
I mean, ultimately, the the owners are involved in the process. They have to be involved in the process. That's a big part of how it's done. H The general manager may lead it in terms of like les's identify the candidates. I'll lead the line of questions, but the owner certainly has to be aware of who's about to trust the power of the franchise too. The thing about these cycles and those things, and I'll just say it and watching how some of it's played out. A lot of times, what you have is the perspective candidate is the smartest guy in the room when.
It comes to football, and.
So he's trying to convince people who don't know football that he is the one that understands football.
It's a delicate balance that you have.
To toe the line in terms of trying to let people know here's what I know, while also not I'm gonna say this dumming it down so they really understand where you're coming from.
M make it digestible, just like we do here every Sunday, Fox Football Sunday. We are with you in spirit and embody in mind. That's Andy Furman over there at Andy Furman FSR. Over, There's Bucky Brooks at Bucky Brooks find me over at Swollen Domes. We continue, guys. We have three big games to talk about to today and of course that pesky National Title game, and we'll do it next here on Fox Sports Radio. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio. Hey, welcome back in Fox Football Sunday. Fox Sports Radio from the Tirerack dot Com Studios. Mike Carmen, Bucky Brooks, Andy Furman. You know as a talking to Mark and Shay. One of the promos ran, I mean, we're not going to talk baseball and earnest for a while, guys, but I know you're both big seamheads. Sasaki to the Dodgers. Anybody want to cry fall or make a complaint with the Commissioner's office.
Uh No, I'm good. It's Dodgs fan.
I'm okay with I'm good.
To Brooklyn, I see it nicely done.
Great opportunity for him to get better.
I'm with you.
Yeah, I like that they're saying they're going to lodge complaints thinking there was some funny business since he eschewed the money to go to Toronto.
Yeah.
That and Padre fans are just generally angry, all right. So we got a couple of games left on the docket. Later on today, we'll get to the Buffalo Baltimore. I mean, that is your headline, or that is your main event. That is the cage match to be all to end all. Rams are six and a half point underdogs forty one and a half. Little snow, a little precipitation there in Philadelphia. Can this Rams defense slow down? Jalen hurts in the book, reading AJ Brown enough to go steal a victory. Also, can they plug the holes to keep Saquon Barkley from running for another two hundred yards? Monky, you go first.
It's gonna be tough. Now.
I would expect that they will keep him und one hundred yards on the ground. It would be the point of emphasis that's been talked about. They've watched the film. They're embarrassed, So pride is going to enable them to keep him under wraps.
But can they keep him under wraps.
And neutralize everything else that the Eagles want to do on offense? Jalen Hurst running, Jalen Hurst, Thorn, Devonte Smith, AJ Brown, Dallas Goddard.
A lot of firepower that you're dealing with.
And before you even get to that, can you deal with them in the trenches with that offensive line?
Man, it's a tall task.
The Rams were feisty and ready, and all of La La Strong was behind them.
This is a different bull of wax. It's gonna be hard for him.
You hit it right on the head, Buck when you said the Rams. The Eagles just have too many weapons for the Rams to handle. On way back, I think it was week twelve or wherever it was, the Rams lost to the Eagles thirty seven to twenty in LA and Barkley had two fifty five that game in that thirty seven twenty win. However, you look at the Rams defense. We talked about this earlier today. They're averaging or allowing like thirteen points a game over the last four regular season games. With Sean Bickfay, They've turned it around a little bit. I just don't think that they have enough firepower to be depos I really don't.
Baltimore one point favorite on the road, fifty one and a half the total reperee crew eleven and three in playoff games go to the under. Just use that as you will. A lot of snow expected chaos, Andy Furman, you get first DIBs.
Ravens beat the Bills thirty five to ten in Week four. That was earlier in the season, obviously, But I think the duo of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson has to give Baltimore the age.
It just has to.
I think Baltimore wins this game.
Make it easy for you. I got Baltimore in this game.
I think they eventually wear the Buffalo Bills down in the second half. I think the challenge of dealing with the heavyweight and Derrick Henry slow star for Henry. But I think in the third and fourth quarter you begin to see the big Fillo run roughshot over the Buffalo Bills.
All Right, I picked the Eagles Bills for the Super Bowl, so I'm a stubborn man. I can't go against that. Finally, the National Title Game eight and a half, the number Ohio State favored. Can the Notre Dame. All the prayers from the faithful rise up here? Bucky?
You know what I'm gonna go with Notre Dame in this one.
And the reason why I'm gonna go is the familiarity between the two teams. They played I think a year ago and Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame did a really good job on Marvin Harrison Junior. I know that Ohio State has a ton of firepower on the perimeter, but there's something about this Notre Dame team. Maybe it's the sweat equity to toughness.
I'm going with Notre Dame.
I'll tell you what I love Marcus Freeman. I'm a Marcus Freeman guy. I loved to see Notre Dame win, but Canota Dame defense cause they stopped the run of Ohio State. Ohio State Hell Texas the fifty eight rushing yards, they forced two turnovers.
It's tough.
You're playing the best football of the season right now. I think Ohio State wins, but I'm really, really, really pulling for Notre Dame.
In other words, you're taking the eight and a half. He's Andy Furmer and Furman FSR. That's Bucky Brooks Bucket. I continue. We love you Andy, You're a Hall of Fame too. Greetings and welcome in another hour Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio Live from the tire rack dot com studios, tirerac dot com. We'll help you get there. I'm on matt Selection, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection and over ten thousand recommended installers tire raq dot com the way tire buying should be. Thanks to Andy Furman for the last hour, we had some great spirited discussions. You got to hear a clip of him earlier with Bucky of an old interview with Bob Yucker. You basically just roasted him. It might as well have been in one of those old legendary roasts that they try to sell you the CD set late at night on television alongside the other infomercials. So check that out wherever you get your podcasts, as well as the First Hour with Me as he is always my friend partner here you hear him and see him all over the place, NFL dot com, NFL Network, Sports dot Com. He's an author, he is a writer, he is a coach. Man about town. It's our guy. He's Bucky Brooks at Bucky Brooks. It's going out, Buddy. It's uh where we only have five more games? Uh to break down here?
Yeah, I mean, I mean it's crazy. The season has kind of come down to this. But man, what a fantastic weekend of football. We just got a little appetizer yesterday. The Kansity Chief Houston game wasn't exactly what we wanted.
It was. It was close, but it wasn't a lot of excitement.
But man, that that that nightcap, that final game was everything that fans enjoy. A lot of scoring, a lot of high power stuff, some selective and opportunistic defense, and at the end of the day, man, the underdog wins. And you know, American we love an.
Underdog, generally love an underdog, and especially you know, as we were talking about Chris Purfett tags in for our guy Mark On a technical producer, all right, he does work with the lines and talking about narratives and where these things flow, right as as we do U. You know, we we love the the underdog part of the thing. Watch Detroit historically the underdog now the heavyweight with Washington, it was more about people saying, how will Dan Snyder take credit for any of us? Right? Talking about culture and changing things out, Magic Johnson now one of your faces of the squad, all of those things. But you know, a celebration and I'll take it to you know, its obvious turn, you know, whoever's in the seat. However, it affects their teams because people like to, you know, punch at us since the Bears are such a cluster in many ways. Uh talked about the coaching hiring process, who's really in charge? How great a job is it when you've got to deal with who's in charge? All of those things. But the Jaden Daniels Caleb Williams referendum on full display as that game unfolded as it has from much of the year. Right, a lot of side by side graphics of their stats, and Caleb had a lot of fourth quarter numbers that people would say, look at those Oftentimes they were deep, deep in the hole in those games, whereas Jaden Daniels five straight one last possession wins coming into this game against Detroit and then was just magnificent at every turn yesterday, I had a ton of answers for anything Glenn tried to throw up with that defense.
Yeah, he absolutely did.
And Anglen kind of tried it out a similar game plan that he used against Minnesota, and they played a lot of Manda Man. They would challenging those guys on the outside, and what they discovered is Jayden Daniels understood what this assignment was. He had the answers to the test, and they were in attack mode and they attacked. The Lion's defense attacked him. They had better people on the outside, and he had his way.
And the thing that is.
I would say remarkable about Jade and Daniels as a young quarterback. The poe, the poise, the composure, the confidence to make the plays, but also, as you've seen it, the judgment, the understanding of the game and when to kind of insert himself into the game with some of these high risk throws and when to just take the check down or throw it away. He is playing like a ten year vet in a Rocky's body. It's just something that is rare to see.
Sixteen carries, fifty one yards behind Brian Robinson finally healthy, fifteen seventy seven and two for him. Eckler gets his smattering of touches ten touches over all, four catches out of the backfield. The throw and catch for me, if we're going to highlight the offensive size of it, I mean the McLaurin catch and run right, sprint to daylight, duck down and go through. Big play obviously finds the house. But that throw and catch to Diami Brown down the field where he had the hand in the face and still was able to bring the ball in. I'm watching it with my daughter, right, the soccer player and indulges dad with football as a second screen experience for her. She was watching with me and she just looked at go, how does he do that? Ago? That's why he's a paid professional, and it's now making his bones right. And a lot's been made about that draft class and what you have and everything else. Finding a second option to McLaurin, and that's been Zach Ertz for much of the year, but being able to go down the field and make that throw and catch, I mean that was one of the highlights of the day for me for sure.
Yeah. No, he was on point.
And I think that's the thing when we talk about elite quarterbacks and quarterbacks that have the goods is their ability to put the ball in the right spot away from the defender. So much of what a quarterback is supposed to do is he's supposed to communicate with the receiver based on the ball placement. I learned as a young player in the league. When the quarterback puts the ball a certain place, he's telling you whether turn where to move away from the defense.
So just go with the ball.
Jade and Daniels ball placement and accuracy is unbelievable. You add the fact that he brings another dimension to the table as a dual threat playmaker who can make it happen with his legs or his arm, talent inside and outside of the pocket man. He's the ultimate cheat code. And I've said this in terms of he could be the best dual threat quarterback that we've seen. I'm saying that because he can give you everything that you want to see from the pocket, but he also has to build a dazzle as a runner.
He's slender.
And I know the people talk about Lamar Jackson and those things, and Mike Tomlin warned us not to make comparisons to mister Jackson, a three time or maybe soon to be three times MVP, But man, how can you not make the comparison with Jaden Daniels and Lamar Jackson When you watch him play, you look at the frame and you just think of what could be.
Man, this dude is terrific. He's an elite player.
Fact that he recovered as well as he did. From let's face it, he got tenderized quite often throughout the year, but certainly mid season the rib injury affecting some of the throws, and even in that game against the Bears, that ill fated thing that really seemed to have jump started things. So I guess the Bears have a hand in something positive. Is that hail Mary play where he couldn't even get it to the end zone, right, compromise, tip, drill, all of that stuff. But conversation Smith and I had the other day, which I'd be curious is to your take on this, because you start getting into arguments and into the weeds pretty fast? Does he come in at like number five? Like I get it's a recency bias, it's one year of track record. But if we're talking about where we're at and ranking quarterbacks already, Mahomes obviously just win baby, We love Joe Burrow, Allan and Lamar later will have the war to settle the score. But did Jaden Daniels rise up that high that fast?
Why?
Kenny I tweeted out before the playoffs that I felt like, of all the playoff quarterbacks, there are four guys that were elite, right, It was.
The usual suspects.
It was Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and then Jayden Daniels was the fourth one included.
In that list. You can check my time this there. Jayden Daniels is different.
He's unique in terms of the poise, the maturity, the emotional control to the exhibits on top.
Of all the skills that he has.
What's going to be a fascinating conversation and one of the things that you have to talk about we talked about the Chicago Bears coaching search, is did the Bears take the right quarterback at number one. Everyone is going to pin Kayla williams failures early season on the coaching staff and those things.
But these dudes will be linked.
Forever number one and number two, and they had started that. Jayden Daniels has on Kayla Williams a lot of ground to make up for the number one overall pick.
Yeah. I mean you look at the way they operated it, and this is, you know, not to make it a Bears conversation, but when they promoted Thomas Brown to head coach, I thought it was the most foolhardy thing that you could do. Not that he didn't necessarily earn the respect of everybody in the building. And you wanted to do that, but you'd literally just started to find some continuity in your offense. And now you're tasking a guy less than two and a half weeks later to go from one job to the next job to the head job. Right as he's got the communication and the offense is showing some semblance of consistency, now he's got to go run Everything seems kind.
Of a lot. Yeah, Yeah, it's a lot.
I mean it's a lot to be able to handle and navigate just trying to figure out a way to call the game, trying to make the quarterback comfortable while also having all the other response abilities that hey, coach must manage. Man, it's crazy, you know it is. It is a crazy deal to see. And that's why this coaching search with all of these guys, it's gonna be fascinating to uts.
It has been a crazy run. Obviously vrabel installed had his presser and everything else. But it's funny because certainly the scars are there in Chicago as they try to find another head coach, but also people with Patrick Mahomes winning again, it's the convenient narrative of the twenty seventeen draft. Again, if you were going based on all evaluations, the guy that would have ended up in Chicago was Deshaun Watson. It was never Patrick Mahomes. And every person that wants to run that narrative eventually just needs to go and put their computer away and go play video games or do something else, because it's convenient narrative to go back and say, well, yeah, I mean you could have had Mahomes, Like, yeah, you could have, but reason did anybody have Patrick Mahomes as the guy?
Well, no one knew that.
Everyone was fascinated by the stuff and aver vision. And since you will have all these people talking about yeah, we knew who's going to be that. But I would say Patrick Mahomes perfect storm, right, Andy Reid's track record with.
All quarterbacks lick up.
But that's the other cour Aj Feeley like, that's what he that's what he did. You're right, And it's the same thing with Kayler Williams and Jaden Daniels. Would it play out the same Cliff Kingsbury who had a history with mobile quarterbacks that were unique dual threats. Look at the work that he did with Caler Murray, offensive rookie on his watch, multiple time Pro bowler under his watch.
That stuff matters. The experience matters, and.
The Bears could have had that guy calling place for Kayler Williams but didn't work out.
No, but that's just it right hiring processes Again, That's just where we get back to do you trust who's in charge, who's picking the groceries and setting the table. All of those things matter before you sit down, say grace and start glutton eye. So the apples to apples thing is never a real conversation. As much as we try to make it one to one. Jaden Daniels comes in there into Chicago, and look, it might have gone smoother. I don't know, but I've watched enough football and enough organizations to know that there is a vast difference of how they're run and why you're looking for guys. Why dan Quinn worked after getting fired in Dallas, right, why he doesn't come back. Zimmer becomes the guy, and after what he did against the Packers, he gets the head coaching job, and you're building culture, building things around. As you cite the experience with Kingsbury versus unknowns, I mean, the waldron Hier didn't make any sense at the time, and it certainly made less as you watched it unfold. Say nothing of eber Flues. That's a whole other thing. He'll be a fine defensive cordon or somewhere. But you know, you're just assuming this guy was going to be the elixir that was going to fix everything. It takes a culture, it takes a squad, It takes a roster and a coaching structure to really make things work in this league. And I don't think that can be understated and underscored enough.
Yeah, it takes all of those things, and I think, what's interesting and we're finding this out, and I'm hopeful and listening to the fallout from some of these processes that people are going to focus more on the culture and the leadership things. I think I heard the clip from your show with Jason Smith and how people are asking more leadership questions, how you're you going to handle certain situations and problems. Because one of the things that I'm sure you are hearing, all of the losing teams all point to, hey, we need more discipline, we need more structure.
We get guys coming in late. Guys aren't doing this stuff. Guys aren't studying.
I don't know if my guys are all the way bought in and the coaches are allowing it to happen.
But they're finding them, but they're not taking action. Mike McDaniel saying, what can I do? I can only find them.
No, you can lead them, you can impact them in different ways. You can take their playing time away. So there does appear to be an emphasis on culture more than play calling. That's why I can't wait to see how these dance cards fill out. I don't think it's gonna be as many play calls as we once thought, we're gonna be guys that end up getting some of these top jobs.
Yeah, and then again it's not Chicago centric. But let's face it, a lot of media breath heading there because of well, just what a cluster that it's been on the field and off glimpses of hope, which you know, I've always said with the Shawshank gives you both sides of the hope glass. I try to be the positive guy, but you know, Red Red talks about how dangerous it is, one of the great lines from Morgan Freeman. But it's just that idea of as much as you want the shiny thing and think that a coordinator can come and fix it, and maybe he could, Like in that clip, My part of it was pushing back saying that the leadership part of the equation is very apt. If a person has never been a head coach before, I mean, it's app for any of them, certainly if I mean players in Chicago were having those conversations in the media in week five before Eberflus was ever fired. Go back and listen to some of their local appearances. They pulled no punches the stuff down in Miami. Some of the stuff coming out with the Jets. Notice it's those same squads Jacksonville. You had that weird ass zoom call with Shod Khan and Trent Balkey. Yeah, if the guy comes in and makes the right pitch as he's sitting there on the zoom call right next to him and he's looking at him like wait what. So I mean all of that to say that, Yeah, you're trying to change business is conducted differently than it was back in the day, and you're trying to make sure you're more buttoned up. So while there are euphemisms that we don't like, and I use the term synergy as a as an example last hour, it's a very true thing of all right, you may not like the buzzwords. You may not like the terminology. Doesn't make the concept any and relegated to obsolescence.
No, and you know, no one likes the buzzwords. No one wants to hear about it. But that's really what it talks about.
I don't know if you heard Mikey Sandra Steele's interview after the game and he tries to show out, yeah, I mean he just talked about the brotherhood, right, talked about the Brotherhood in Washington, and it's kind of corny when people talk about it, particularly at the pro level, like the chemistry, the connectivity, the bonds that you have in.
The locker room. But dan Quinn learned about that.
He understood the value that from his first time in Atlanta, how they were able to us that that brotherhood that bond to go to a Super Bowl, and ultimately how the things that transferred into Super Bowl fractured the brotherhood going forward, and how he had to make amends for it by making sure he put more of an emphasis on being accountable, not only holding players accountable, being accountable to your own shortcomings as a head coach, and how that's being transformative. And when you hear a young player, a rookie player talk about the older Vests and how they came in and they took them in and they talked about the culture and doing all that other stuff. To me, that's fascinating because dan Quinn's only been there a year. So when they're talking about a culture and how the Vets took the younger guys in, he had to quickly get everybody on the same page and everybody kind of viewing the game the same and having the same value system. That's a tremendous job by a leader to get everyone to buy in that quickly.
He's Bucky Brooks on Mike Carmon here, Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. As we continue a couple of games to look at for later on today, the re ferendum, the straw poll of I don't know what this game really means in NFL history. As we talk about the night cap, we'll do that and we'll continue a talking divisional round here on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, welcome back in Fox Football Sunday. Here Fox Sports Radio, Mike Carmon alongside Bucky Brooks. Hey, football fans, keep it locked in all day long. We've got you covered for the second half of these divisional games, but coming up in thirty five minutes from now, as they are every Sunday morning, ten o'clock Easter, seven o'clock Pacific, It's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM, Ryan No, Jeff Schwartz, Professional Better Bill Krackenberger. They've got you covered three hours before kickoff. Every Sunday morning, listen to Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. Right here on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. I saw one of Bill's tweets last night immediately talking about how the books might have gotten beaten up here there wherever by the public, but all those parlays, futures and everything else on the Detroit Lions help get them back in the black, as it were. Bucky Brooks.
Yeah, no, it's a look, I would hate to live that life, like living on the edge. Just just so many little things that happen at the end of the games to drive you crazy.
You know, like taking a safety in that first game. Yeah, nine and a half was the number there, Bucky.
Brooks just just giving away stuff, and I just can see the betters all around the country, like.
No, what are we doing?
That also was a from a football standpoint. I can't say that I necessarily understood it either. You know, I get the run around and loss of eighteen and all. I mean, I get it to a point, but yeah, it's it certainly did not sit well. What You've already got people questioning all sorts of officiating stuff in that game. Anyway, Now you get the number thrown in to where the booth has to allude to it, they make the Obliga torri Al Michael's reference. But Bucky, as we're talking about these divisional games, we'd be remiss. We've got our guy, Chris Prefet with us. It's still raw, still coming off of this and all the narratives flowing. I know he was live last night Pride to Detroit at Chris Purfett where you find him. We've got a guy that covers this team inside and out, day to day, Bucky. So we throw it up to Chris. Initial response positive negative, season wise, I mean, how do you walk away from that one? It's tough.
It's tough because I feel like you just had one of your best seasons out there. You had, you know, people talking about the best division in football, go and you know, collectively zero and three in the playoffs show yeah, yeah, yeah. I think all all the teams look terrible, which is the really shocking part. And for the Lions, it's like you three things killed him. There is number one. Injuries finally did catch up to you. And like I know we always say injuries are an excuse, but I'm sorry, Like I want someone to tell me who Maurice Norris was. No disrespecting Mariice Nors but like we're down the Lions are down to that stub of it A Meek Robertson going out in the third play is the kind of bag of luck the Lions have had all year. So suddenly you don't have the personnel to rush for, you don't have the personnel to blitz. You just you have a personnel to do nothing except just get beat by a team who's pitching lights out and the Commanders, who did play an extremely stellar game on top of that, Jared Goff, you know what was it, twenty one points over off of turn turnovers, just one of his worst games in Detroit since probably the twenty twenty one season. And then yeah, just some very uncharacteristic mistakes, a lot of penalties, and the twelve men on the field like just mentally the worst game they've probably had, and it just comes at probably the worst time. And that's the playoffs. That's the playoffs, and that's how you lose, and you kind of you kind of struggle with it considering all the good you had in the season. But you know, I I think the team still in a good spot. They're going to probably lose both one or both of their coordinators and just going to have to figure out how to bring this back the next year.
Yeah, you know a couple of things.
When I think about it, it was their worst game, worst performance, or whatever. I will say that some of the clues were available in the Minnesota game when it looks when you look at how the Washington Commanders attacked them for all of the credit that Aaron Glynn got received for knocking off Sam Donald in Minnesota Vikings, I had colleagues who told me, if you really look at the tape, there were guys running open. Yeah, it's just that Sam Donald was getting hit and couldn't get the ball to them. And what we saw was a better quarterback take advantage of some of the openings when it came to the vulnerable secondary for the Lions. The other thing that I wanted, and no one can ever like quantify this, but the distraction of conducting multiple interviews throughout the course of a practice week.
And I know that people.
Say that you can handle it, it's virtual, what's the big deal, But man, it's just hard when we talk about playoff focus and being locked in and all of these things that coaches are asking players to do, but the coaches themselves can't do. I have to think that it's not a coincidence that on both sides of the ball that we saw things that we haven't seen from the lines in terms of execution in those things, even though the offense was executing at a high level, the fun stuff was there, the quarterback didn't play great. I do wonder how much of the constant pulling of the coordinators in these different directions with interviews might have impacted their ability to do their job on Saturday night.
It is.
It's a valid question.
I don't want to doubt anything about the guys, but I know Dan Campbell took a lot of it on his own shoulders about not having it ready, and I mean it ultimately falls up to him right at the end of the day. Like I do, think there is something to the interviews. I will say on a least positive note, and I was talking about this with with Mike Dirry with during the break, is that you at least saw even more out of Jami or Gibbs last night that makes you just really really excited for the rest of this man's career.
Bucky already got him as your keeper running back over there or what I mean.
He's an easy one to keep and what I'm really what I really like about all this is like we had all the smarter yardies tell us for about a four year period that you can't go heavy with running backs and don't do this with running backs and why would you do it?
And I just find it so fascinating.
That Jamie Gibbs, who was scoffed at people, said what are they doing? Twelfth overall pick and he by far was the best player on.
The field for the Lions, like he is terrific.
And then when you go with Sakwon Barkley and Derrick Henry and Josh Jay all those guys in the playoffs, the running back position is real and how essential it is to have someone that can balance out the heavy.
Load on the quarterback.
Because for all the things that I love about Jerry Golf, I also know that you don't want to put it on his plate. Fifty plus pass attempts in a game and he didn't have his best game, but being able to lean into the running game kind of alleviate some of the pressure on him to have his a game each and every time. Did he trusts out on the field.
What was the immediate response Chris with the Jared Goff side of it. You can get to the Gibs, but certainly the Jared Goff. I gotta imagine the chat room was not safe for work with.
Nice of all, I think I think most people do focus on Aaron Glenn among Lions fans, and they've not been happy with him for quite a while now. And I've kind of argued usually on his side, just because like twenty twenty three he just did not have cornerbacks and this year like it's just been, you know, a mash unit on defense. But on Jared Goff, like Bucky's right, the signs were kind of there with Jared Goff. Both the forty nine Ers game and the Vikings game, Jared Goff had multiple turnovers and some really weird decisions. I think some a lot of Lions fans and some people in lines media kind of brushed off because Jared Goff also had a five turnover game against Houston that he won this year, right, Like, you've seen good Jared Goff and we kind of had some bad Jared Goff that kind of that the team was able to still win in spite of. But I think you're onto something like you don't want Jared Goff throwing the ball fifty times. That's how you lost the Tampa Bay game early in the year, where it was all on Jared Goff's shoulders. And we know that it looked like there was definitely points in the game where he was trying to stretch the field and maybe that's to try to help set up for the for a run game that the Washington was starting to clamp down on, but like it just was not working. They the Saints still was playing out of his mind and like you just you had Washington defenders just really clamping down on anything and any kind of contested ball was just going to be a threat and just went the wrong way for him. Yeah, we'd some real questions.
Yeah, we had the inn and the yang of friends of the show. Smith and I had a chance to talk to Sandra's still after the title game last year with Michigan and so all positive things for him. And then we had David Montgomery on weeks ago before his injury and Jason pitched him on a promotion with a Burger joint what he's vegetarian. So you know, it's the yin and yang of things. And generally when Jason really hypes somebody up, we go the other way, so I'd fade him if I were to go through there. Thanks Chris for the inside. I'm sure you'll be leaned on as the day goes on. Lots to come out of this one.
Maybe maybe Steve Hartman will let me talk. We'll see. It's always I get three words and then all of a sudden, it just immediately slammed the door.
Well, Steve has been known to do that. Isaac started laughing. He just did a spit take over in the updates studio, So why don't we go for him.
I'd see what he's got to say this morning. Hello, Hello, Hello everyone, not breaking news. Steve Hartman will not let anyone not named Steve Hartman talk.
I don't think he actually draws breath.
It's it's something that he's perfected, it coming in through the nose.
Oh, is that it?
Yes?
And lucky you got any other theories as a prime athlete among us?
No theories. I don't have any theories. I can't understand it.
Who knows he is considered a physiological phenomenal. In fact, the Central Intelligence Agency a few people know this. In fact, I probably shouldn't be telling.
You I tell you got to look out.
They actually tried to utilize him as someone who could perform underwater intelligence. World about that for them because of that, but he wouldn't stop talking, so they eventually had to scrap the project. Someone who's not a team, who's not scrapping the project. The twenty twenty four Washington Commanders as On Saturday night, they advanced to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in thirty three years by beating the Detroit Lions forty five to thirty one. That ends the longest active conference championship game drought in the NFL. Commander's rookie quarterback Jaden Daniels twenty two of thirty one for two ninety nine, two touchdown passes, no interceptions. Washington will visit the winner of today's Eagles Rams game in the NFC Championship Game. Philled Oltia host the Rams today at three pm Eastern. Earlier Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans twenty three to fourteen. Despite the following Houston out gaining the Chiefs by one hundred and twenty four yards. Houston had four more first downs than the Chiefs, and they also had a seven minute advantage in time of possession, but despite that, the Chiefs advanced to their seventh straight AFC Championship game. They will host either the Buffalo Bills or Baltimore Ravens. Those two teams faced one another in Buffalo at six thirty Eastern. Finally, this one's for you, Mike Fox Sports Jay Glazer reporting late Saturday night that the Chicago Bears will interview former NFL running back Eddie George for their head coaching job today. George has been the head coach at FCS Tennessee State the past four seasons, with a record of twenty four and twenty two, including nine and four this past season.
Back to you.
Banks, Ilo, ed Isaac Ohencrod. You know, il, he's one of those guys I claim, fuck you. You'll appreciate this. You know it's White Sox Hall of Famer Tom Seaver White Sox Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Junior, Northwestern University's very own. Eddie George got that executive NBA, so we're gonna gonna claim him. I got Brett Musberger on my side, Warren Batty and Margaret and me, Me and all those luminaries. Oh and Swimmer. Now that Goosebumps is a hit obviously, friends, But you know, I keep on going down the line, Colbert. I mean, I could do this for days, which is why they don't need my money, because these guys have plenty more of it. Julia Louis Drivius, she had a kid on a basketball team. I mean all of those to say that. Coaching jobs though, Bucky, just to punctuate that one. As we roll through, I mean Detroit one or both coordinators or do they stay? Wow? And Johnson gonna go to the Raiders After that very weird exchange between Kevin Burkhart and Tom Brady.
Oh, they were talking about all this stuff. You know, I wonder because you know, does he want to take on the challenge of the Raiders. The thing about the Raiders that he won't have He doesn't have a quarterback and there's not really a path to getting a quarterback in the draft. Does that mean you're gonna take on someone in free agency? Like everything is great until you don't have someone who's the trigger man. And so I think Ben Johnson has to be very careful with the job that he takes. But if he wants full control, to be able to bring in the personnel man and those things. The Raiders are certainly going to be an option, but there may be some other options out there for him. But I'm fascinated to see what he does. I do believe Aaron Glenn is gone. Things appear to line up like maybe he gets the Saints' job given his relationship and that stuff there time of till. We'll find out quickly though, because they're out so they have plenty of time to interview.
Well, they can get back to interviewing. Now, Ben Johnson down to Jacksonville and be the guy that unleashes the beast, you know, the generational thing that we heard about Trevor Lawrence.
Maybe so, I mean, I certainly believe that he's gonna be in play. They have their eyes on him. Can they get it done? What exactly is Ben Johnson looking for as a head coach? All of those things will impact how this goes, you know, because if he really is set on having some level of control when it comes to personnel, how he builds the team and those things, yes, you know it's gonna be a big part of it.
I mean, I know that's part of one of the many hats you wear. But is he a guy with the juice enough to come in and force the issue If he wants to pluck someone from say the Personnel Department of Detroit to help run things, look.
It certainly could be a big part of the conversation and situation to make sure he has the people that he wants. And with Ben Johnson to dame that you're gonna hear link to him as Lance Newmark, the assistant general manager for the Washington Commander, spent a long time in Detroit. They could be a package. We'll see, We'll see how this thing plays out.
And in my self serving way, the Jason Wright who is running things and helped steady the ship there in Washington, now out of that job and into his next ventures. He was posting videos about what it was like to just watch as a fan, because it's far more enjoyable as a fan than having to watch that in a booth, living and dying with either each of those decisions, you know, knowing every one of those decisions is off a decision you had made. At Bucky Brooks where you find him on Twitter, read them foxsports dot com at fl dot com, see him all over the place, Man of the people. Find me over at Swollandome. You find Bucky also on Instagram at Big Play Football. I'm at Swollen Dome there as well. As we continue, we'll turn our attention back into today's games. See are we done with the coaching carousel? Because you know the hot seat could rev up here? Can it rev up after Monday night? We'll see. We'll talk about it next to on Fox.
Oh.
I love the conversations the halls. We talk Divisional round two more games later on today. Welcome back in Fox Football Sunday, Mike Carmen, Bucky Brooks with you coming up in ten minutes. You got Countdown to kick Off presented by bet MGM. They'll talk about all of the angles that you need to look at. Prop Bets parlays the fallout from yesterear yesterday and trying to put some numbers around it when you talk about the safety in the Chiefs Texans game nine and a half, the number nine, the finish and obviously the fallout for the books and better coming off of the big Washington upset last night. But Bucky, we've got three more huge games coming up over the course of the weekend out here in Los Angeles, the feel good story of the Rams winning last week. Obviously, if I had a nickel for every time now since last night, the meme of I'll see you in two weeks between O'Connell and Campbell, I'd be a wealthy man. Might have a little island of my own at this point coming off of that. But Matthew Stafford and that that offense against the Philly d We've talked about their back seven quite a bit. We know the the Eagles always strong in the trenches, but looking at Nick Sirianni and the aj Brown thing was interesting. I know you and Andy talked about if folks can find that in the podcast, but trying to get that offense and passing game jump started. Is there any possibility? And he's won a lot to the where they be a little bit of with Sirianni and a late addition to the coaching carousel.
Man, I just can't imagine someone who has won. I mean, this dude just wont a ton of games. I think he's at seventy percent.
Oh, it's ridiculous. Yes, it's like the questions we have with Ryan Day right with Ohio State I mean, whether it's the fringe or whatever.
But yeah, I just can't imagine them wanting to move on from him.
He's quirky or whatever. But it works in Philly, and.
Even the I would say the dysfunction that appears on the surface is not It is kind of part of the city, right. It's just very contentious and confrontational and different. And he doesn't mind embracing the locker room that has strong personalities, that they go back and forth and they do some of those things and it's worked for them. Is that a Kelly No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not even at all.
I didn't even think about chipping a thing.
But I just think it's interesting to see how they do have some of these things that show up, yet they continue to play well. Like all of that stuff is pretty fascinating when you think about it on the bigger picture.
Now, they are one of the more fascinating squads for Jalen hurts a lot of questions about his ability to get these guys involved, because you certainly do have plenty of weapons at your disposal, and let alone just doing the two step to Saquon Barkley all day long. Matthew Stafford an uneven year, but with the injuries to wide receivers, but Hookin Nakua certainly something special. Can they get Cooper Cup? Can he be a hero just for one day against that Philly secondary to give them a chance.
They have a chance now the cole Weather is going to be a fact of the big thing for the Rams is can they slow down Saquon Barkley and make it a game where Jalen Hurst has to throw and he has to throw thirty to thirty five times.
If they can do that, they have a chance.
The big thing for the Eagles is taking away Karen Williams in the running game and making this a drop back passing game in a way to put some double team selectively on Poka Nakula and Cooper Cup and crucier moments. If they can do that, then they'll have their weight with him. But the Eagles are a better team. But the Rams are hot man. They found that identity. Their young defense is playing well. They're kind of feisty and scrappy, and so if they allow the Rams to hang in there the first half, you don't want to deal with Matthew Stafford in the fourth court.
Always enjoy the word scrappy finding its way into the conversation Marcus Freeman against Ryan Day in the National Title game. We talked about it a little bit last hour. I did. I picked the Notre Dame of Fighting Irish as well. So I ask you for Buffalo and for Baltimore. Who is going to be the butt of all the hot take nonsense as the Bloviators take the air later on tonight and tomorrow.
Well, I mean, look, there's gonna be a lot of conversation about Lamar Jackson, and you know, I think did have to wait until next week before we have a referendum on who he is and what his career is like. To me, I think this is a hard one for Josh Allen. They don't have the same talent and even though the second game would be different than the first one, thirty five to ten was a resounding defeat, and I know it was in Baltimore, but they get a chance to play it on the road.
But I think the talent shows up.
This would be the game where they miss Stefan Diggs, where we see the lack of premiermeter talent show up. Because right now the Ravens have more talent than the Buffalo Bill.
See if you get a little more from Rashad Bateman. Some of those secondary options there, Ze Flowers still listed as doubtful. We'll get an update as we roll forward. I picked the Bills in the Eagle, so I got to stick with it and sweat out whether I'm just picking losers anymore. Bucky, enjoy the games. We'll talk to you next week. Countdown to kick off his next on Fox.
