The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

Published Jan 13, 2025, 5:40 PM

On today's Dan Patrick Show, DP reacts to Texas vs Ohio State and the NFL Wild Card Round. Who had the most disappointing performance out of all of the teams? Ross Tucker discusses the Steelers' poor display and what we should make of Justin Herbert's 4 interception game. Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dungy joins to talk about how impressed he was with Jayden Daniels and what he thinks of Mike Tomlin's future in Pittsburgh.

You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Everybody, gang's all here ready to go on this Monday, the Minister of Humor, Fritzy Bronco fan Seaton's here, Marvin Paulie, yours truly, and the back room guys as well. Our good buddy Ross Tucker will join us. He was busy over the weekend covering a couple of these playoff games. Tony Dungee, Hall of Famer, will stop by. We'll play fill in the blank, and we will ask you for your best and worst of the weekend. All of that coming up. Stat of the Day brought to you by Panini America, the official trading cards of the program. First Hour brought to you by Rapid Radios, the official walkie talkie of the DP Show, offering national LTE coverage, no subscriptions ever. A great alternative for the kids or your parents aging parents. We use them on the show all the time. Rapid Radios dot com go there now get sixty percent off free shipping, Play the Day, poll question, stat of the Day. All of that forthcoming eight seven seven three DP Show.

Good morning.

If you're watching on Peacock, our streaming partner Football Tonight. It's the Vikings and the Rams. It's one of those weird games.

Now.

I know they've relocated this game to Arizona because of the fires in Los Angeles. The Vikings are favored by two and a half, it just doesn't feel like they're really favored by two and a half. Feels like no one's going to be surprised if the Rams win this game. The Vikings are a really good team, and I think this almost feels like the line is was predicated on how the Vikings played against the Lions, where they got roughed up, and then people go, Okay, that's the Sam Darnold we thought was going to emerge.

What's one game?

And I think that's surprising that it is two and a half Now it's on a neutral site in Arizona. But we'll talk about that with Ross Tucker and Tony Dungee coming up. Still have some openings, the Bears, the Jags, the Jets, the Raiders, the Saints, the Patriots. In one of the worst kept secrets, hired Mike Rabel. Did they do everything they were supposed to do according to the letter of the NFL law. We'll talk to Tony Dungee about that, and that'll be coming up a little bit later. On the Bills roughed up the Broncos. It's one of those the Broncos scored and I go, all right, maybe we'll have no, we're not going to Then all of a sudden, it was all Bills all the time.

The Eagles. I thought the Eagles were like.

A three touchdown like at least three touchdowns better than the Packers the way they played it, just they couldn't put them away. And the Commanders last night with Jaden Daniels, I can't call him a rookie anymore. I don't know if I could call him a rookie the way he played this year. He's the first rookie since at least nineteen fifty to lead his team in both passing yards and rushing yards in a playoff win. Like he's starting to create a category onto himself. Also, five go ahead touchdown passes in the fourth quarter overtime this season. The last time you had a quarterback who put up those kind of numbers Russell Wilson Junior the third in twenty twelve.

Whoooow stall of a day stanlea day stall of a day Stantata Day.

This is the Stele of.

The Day, brought to you by Panadia America, the official trading cards of the program. We'll get phone calls best and worst of the weekend. Operator Tyler is sitting by. I don't know if there was a surprise this weekend. Maybe maybe how badly the Bills roughed up the Broncos in the second half. The Commanders we talked about that we weren't going to be surprised if they won. I wasn't going to be surprised if the Packers beat the Eagles. The Texans over the Chargers. Chargers didn't score touchdowns, couple of field goals, and I kept thinking, when you're on the road, you can't kick field goals and win. You gotta score touchdown. You really have to make that team start to rethink what their approach is going to be. And they weren't able to do that with the Texans as they rough up the Chargers and Justin Herbert deservedly so deserves a lot of blame.

That was a mess.

And the Ravens handled the Steelers twenty eight to fourteen. They never really put them away, but it did feel like the Ravens were a better team. I'm just not sure if there was a huge surprise where you go, wow, I didn't expect that. Now maybe the Commanders. And this is how the game ended with the Commanders last night from thirty.

Seven to send Washington to.

The final eight, Welsington.

Around.

Believe them, Mike Jerico with the call, they dink their way to the next round. You know, even going back, it was such a long You had the Texas Ohio State game on Friday night that was a lot closer than the scorer would indicate the final score because they're going in to tie that game. Jack Sawyer makes an unbelievable play on his former roommate Quinn Hewers, and Ohio State moves on.

In Ohio State.

I think the first line I saw was they were favored by nine and a half against Notre Dame. Some of the other point spreads for the divisional rounds, you got the Texans getting eight and a half against the Chiefs, Commanders getting eight and a half against the Lions, and the Ravens are getting one and a half against the Buffalo Bills. Un thank you, Polly, thank you, Pony. All Right, we'll get to poll questions coming up. Our one poll question, Yes, Paul.

I gotta tell you, I was pretty surprised that the Chargers no showed after the first quarter. When that first quarter was over, I was like, the Chargers are going to steal this one. They're rolling, They're not great, but field goals and the Texans I think had four punts in a turnover. I if you stopped that game at the end of the first quarter, I would have put money on the Chargers.

That's the surprise thing.

I thought they had a game plan, but they didn't score touchdowns, and I thought maybe the Texans got a good defense.

So I thought if CJ.

Stroud and Joe Mixon was wonderful, that if they got a couple of touchdowns. Now I put the pressure on Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert, and you saw exactly what happened when pressure was applied. That that was like a tourniquet. That was bad and Justin Herbert's got to wear this. You know, we had the collapse against Jacksonville a couple of years ago, but they were up twenty seven and then this one as well.

Look there quarterbacks.

Sometimes it metastasizes when it comes to the postseason, we've seen quarterbacks. It just certainly in the Super Bowl, somebody will have a bad game and then it becomes a terrible game, or somebody's having a good game, it becomes a great game. These bigger games, sometimes that happens. It's just justin Herbert couldn't get out of his own way. There was one interception that wasn't his fault. It was his tight end's fault there. But still we put pressure on these quarterbacks. We give them too much credit, too much blame. And now you have the MVP Bowl coming up here. You got Josh Allen and you got Lamar Jackson. I was told Sours said Lamar Jackson's winning the MVP. And I said, why do you say that? And he said, well, I always look at the all Pro votes, not Pro Bowl, but all Pro votes, and Lamar Jackson there was quite a bit of separation between him and Josh Allen, but they both played great. Lamar is wonderful, But you start to look at these running backs. Saquon Barkley, he was great, although I think their betters might not be too pleased with Saquon Barkley could have scored the touchdown and then he slides because I think they were going for that was a anytime touch He was the most bet anytime touchdown guy this weekend, so.

You're going he's going to score.

And then he slid because if they got a first down, then the game was over. He said, no game was over. I just I slid. All these betters are going, I'm going to cap, I'm going to cash in on this not the case, but lamar Derrick Henry and we could argue what was a bigger offseason move getting Derrick Henry or getting Saquon Barkley, and it might be a push. I just want to see what happens in the postseason because regular season unbelievable numbers. It's when you must get those yards? Can you get those yards? And those two guys are going to be just as instrumental as their quarterbacks, if not more so. And I think that's something that you know, we haven't really been factoring it in. Also defensive minded coaches, because we get caught up in O'Connell, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan offensive minded coaches. If you look at what defensive coaches have done, you know, d you started with Dan Campbell, you got Demiko Ryans, you got Dan Quinn, you got Sean McDermott. These are defensive minded coaches, and I think you got to remember that with the postseason, they're running the football and defense is stressed in a different way than it has been before. Now you still want to play great defense, the question is can you? And we've seen that so far. All right, seton setan pole.

Question today?

Which quarterback had the worst weekend? Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield.

Okay, Baker Mayfield had a big fumble with eleven minutes to go. He only threw eighteen times. I think it was fifteen of eighteen, but that was a huge, huge play. Jordan Love three interceptions. But I think that those two teams still had chances to win. Justin Herbert Chargers didn't have a chance. And this is another thing to factor in. And we said this at the beginning of the year. Gone are the days where Justin Herbert's going to throw for five thousand yards and thirty nine touchdowns. That's not Jim Harball's game plan. Harball wants to have a big offensive line, run the football, play good defense. Just like that happened at Michigan Justin Herbert, and we said this will statistically be one of his worst seasons because of that, they're not going to be leading with the pass. He had four interceptions, three interceptions the entire year regular season and then four yesterday. So he did have an incredible season taking care of the football, and this was a big reason why the Chargers are in the postseason. They did not have turnovers, they played great defense, and then all of a sudd uddon Justin Herbert with four interceptions. So I would say that he had by far and away the worst game perception wise. I don't think people are going to look at Jordan Love and go look at what he did against Dallas last year, and I think he can still live off that. I think Baker had a really really good season. That's back to back really good seasons going to the playoffs. And you know, Mike Evans had a wonderful season. They were a good team. We wouldn't have been surprised if they won, but we weren't going to be surprised if the Commanders won.

But I would say it's.

Justin Herbert, then Jordan Love, and then Baker Mayfield Mayfield had the fumble, but they could have won that game. Any other pole questions that you're thinking about, Seaton for the first hour.

You want to preview of our two's pole question, I can give you that.

Wow.

Okay, losing NFL team from this weekend, that should feel the goodest about their future.

But you should still feel good the goodest. Yeah, Okay, I think that's grammatically correct. Is that right, Ton?

The goodest?

It would be goodest? That is exactly right.

Okay, got any Bronco gear on today?

I do not.

I'm wearing somber gray black t they lost.

Still waiting to get a possession. Maybe we can get a chance to.

Have the ball.

I you know what, when they scored the touchdown to start, I'm like, all right, that little guy is sitting there with all his Bronco gears, got his bobbleheads and the penants and hats and everything. Your your Bronco color Adidas.

I was remarkably.

Reserved, knowing that they were trying to pull me in.

They're gonna trick where they're gonna come out and some BIG's gonna happen here.

But I didn't buy into it. I didn't. I was excited to see that, but I didn't buy it.

Isn't the weird Do you think the Broncos uniform had anything.

To do with their subpar play? Yes, without questions, Okay, thank you.

Marvin looks so good against the Chiefs on the looks wise and on the field.

Well, when Seton set out a text, a group text, and he goes, the Broncos uniforms are but.

Butt Yeah it was but ugly. Yeah.

No one has ever won anything major wearing orange pants.

Yeah.

Tennessee fans are like, yeah, well you should see what it's ugly.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Sean's right though. The buttet's ears when they won, their pants were pewter. They were not orange.

They were not orange.

No one has ever won anything great in orange pewter.

Yeah. Well you had a good season, Todd.

We did.

I was hoping it would be a little more competitive in the second half. Once that field goal point that would have tied to ten, I started feeling a little bit of that momentum.

That they could have had that they lost.

Going into the book, I agree. When that happened, I was like.

Oh uh oh, yeah, isn't the weirdest thing this year? That the Buffalo Bills have become a run first team. Forty four carries two hundred and ten yards, and two years ago that was the story. Oh they got a bunch of decent running backs, they can never establish the run. They leave Josh Allen hung out to dry. It's very weird how much that's changed.

Yeah, but we're seeing teams run the football now. It's just that's part of the game plan. Where it used to be can you run the football? It's you, we will run the football. And you saw that yet you saw that all weekend long.

But you're right.

I think they look at Josh Allen is just he's another running back there playing quarterback and that ability to control the line of scrimmage. Cook is when was Cook drafted? Like was he a third or fourth round draft pick? But you know they got a couple of running backs they run hard.

Yeah.

Yeah, Pauling he was the final pick of the second round in twenty twenty two. He makes one point two million dollars a season. Yeah, we've talked about this before. You wanted to do an MVP based off salary, he would be in there this year.

Yeah, but I think that should factor in.

I've said this before when a Rod won MVP in baseball and Big Poppy I thought was more of an MVP if I factored in he made five million and a Rod made I think twenty five million. I got to factor that into value. But they don't. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with Ross Tucker. We'll get phone calls coming up, Best and Worst of the weekend and eight seven seven three DP show. We're back after this. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday morning nine to noon Eastern or six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Danpatrick Show at Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.

Hey, Steve Cavino and I'm Rich Davis and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.

You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the iHeartRadio app.

Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.

We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world.

We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss.

And the fact that we've been friends for the last twenty years and still work together.

I mean that says something, right. So check us out.

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We'll get to phone calls coming up, as we always do every Monday, Best and worst of the weekend.

What you saw that you liked you didn't like.

He's Ross Tucker, CBS Sports Westwood One, NFL college football analyst and hope to the Ross Tunker Football podcast Busy Man. He was on the call last night with the Packers and the Eagles. Also on the sidelines for the Steelers and the Ravens, and he'll be in the booth with Kevin Harland for the Texans Chiefs on Saturday in the divisional playoff. And get ready to hear this voice very often over the weekend.

Ross Dallas Goddard is a beast.

The Philadelphia Eagles cannot be stopped.

Look at what he did to Valentine. That's an embarrassment. Ross Tucker.

Hi, Ron, Hey, Dan, you know what I want.

I think you at some point this week, maybe Friday, you could do a play by play, like do a couple plays with Fritzy doing his Kevin Harlan and Paulie doing his terrible impression of me. However, Pauly, that like that would be I guarantee I will cut the clip I'll.

Put on social media.

If you guys do a couple play, do a series of it seeing Paulie as Kevin Harlan and me, that'd be amazing.

All right, Well, Fritzy, why don't you give us a little bit of the Chiefs against the Texans and then Paulie will jump in and be the analyst on the call.

Patrick mahomes back to passing avoids the ruts. He's going down the sideline and that's another twelve yards for Patrick and another first down for Kansas City.

I love behoves, behooves can get the ball in the pocket like anybody at Kansas City.

The other thing about Kansas City sauce on ribs. Look it up, Google it, legit.

There you go, Ross, you asked for it, you got all right.

Where do you want to start here? Do you want to start with the Eagles against the Packers or you want to go back to the Steelers' loss?

I actually want to talk about the Steelers.

I want to start there because you know, Dan, I live in central Pennsylvania, right, so where I live now, it's like fifty to fifty Eagles fans Steelers. I grew up closer to Philly and grew up as an Eagles fan. I can't remember watching a Pittsburgh Steelers team get beat up physically that badly. You know, everybody focuses, I feel like on the quarterback situation, and in fairness, they're in a tough spot there, like what's your solution or anybody's solution for the Steelers to get a quarterback that can compete with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, like, it's hard that they're in a tough spot there, but that's that's a separate issue their defense.

Dan, this is the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, you have Cam Hayward, TJ.

Watt, You're paying Patrick Queen, you're paying Mink and Fitzpatrick.

They have a lot Alex Heismith getting paid.

They have a lot of resources invested.

In that unit.

And for the Ravens to have two hundred and fifty yards rushing with six minutes left in the third quarter. And by the way, the Ravens have had one Pro Bowl receiver in franchise history. He's eight Flowers.

He was out for the game.

He was not playing in the game. So they don't have by far their best receiver. And you allow the Ravens to run you over like that. It had to be embarrassing for a Steelers fan to watch. I thought that was one of the most notable. Like, if you told me best and worst of the weekend, I would say worst of the weekend was watching the Pittsburgh Steelers get run over, around and through by Derrick Henry and the Ravens.

Well, let's look at what happens in the offseason with the Steelers, you have Russell Wilson. I don't think Mike Tomlin's going anywhere, So what changes do you see with them?

I agree about Tomlin.

He's a good coach, I will say, and we probably talked about this last week. There's a gigantic disconnect between how people feel about him nationally and how the locals feel about him because he hasn't won a playoff game in fever. But I would also submit to you and how many of those playoff games did he have the better quarterback?

How many of those playoff games? The problem is, you know, everybody wants them to get somebody better.

How are you going to do that? You know, we have to live in the real world. They're not going to draft somebody. They're not gonna draft high enough. So who could the Steelers get that's better. Do they take a swing in Aaron Rodgers? Do they go way out of character and try to pay a lot of money for Sam Darnold? I mean, these other guys, they're just not available. To get a top ten guy, it just doesn't happen.

I actually thought.

Russell Wilson Junior the third played pre darn Well in the second half of that game and gave them a chance to win. If I'm the Steelers, maybe I have somebody else can be with him, but he's probably your best option to win a bunch of games next year and have a chance to win a playoff game.

But we make it seem like Mike Tomlin's not involved in decisions to get these quarterbacks. Is it just, Hey, the front office takes care of this, and we're going to get you a quarterback and you'll just make him better. I imagine he's involved, given his tenure with his Steelers. He's involved in who they're bringing in. So there is culpability throughout the Steelers, including Mike Tomlin with them.

No question, he's definitely involved because I know he's a big Russell Wilson fan. I actually thought bringing in both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson this offseason was really smart to kind of give you two bites at the Apple. They exceeded expectations. I think their season win total was eight and a half, so they exceeded expectations.

Obviously they faltered down the stretch.

There's no question Dan that he's part of taking the quarterback, no doubt about it. But how nobody everybody complained about the Steelers quarterback situation doesn't have a solution. So you want them to try to lose every game for next year and then have the number one pick and take the quarterback next year. Like they can't trade for somebody that's better than what they have. Those guys aren't getting traded.

I don't know.

Maybe they'll be Derek Carr, you know, maybe it's Aaron rd I don't know what.

They're not gonna get a top ten guy.

They're gonna have to do whatever they can to get the best guy available.

You've got the addition of Derrick Henry with Lamar Jackson, and I always felt like it seemed like the Ravens got one dimensional in the playoffs, maybe you start to panic a little bit. They don't have to be one dimensional. They can be two dimensional running and then add another dimension with the passing of Lamar Jackson and hopefully you get Zay Flowers back. But what makes this raven team different?

I love that point, Dan Love love love that point because it's funny. I did the Ravens Browns game earlier in the year and we were talking with Jim Harbaugh or Jim Harbo, John Harbaugh about Derrick Henry, and he has a nice way of just kind of telling you like it is. He said, you know what we were talking about, and I said, we're a running team. What it would be like if we had a really good runner, you know, because the Ravens have been a running team of Lamar Jackson, but they've never really had like.

A really good running back.

You know.

JK.

Dobbins was pretty good, but he kept getting hurt. And they've had like Gus Eard, They've had guys and they've had a lot of success running it because of the scheme and because of Lamar. But this is like the grand experiment that's working fabulously is to actually have a really, really good running back like Derrick Henry, which makes them so difficult to defend the And by the way, I don't think it's a great matchup for the Bills. I mean, I love the Bills. That was my favorite team I played for out of the five. And it's good that they have a home game. But that is going to be tough because as much as you want to stop the run, there's a lot of times because of Lamar that you don't really have a very good solution, and your solution to put everybody in there, Well, then you're manning up the tight ends and they run play action pass and both likely and Mark Andrews, you're putting your linebackers or safety is in a tough spot. I mean, there's a reason why Lamar had the ridiculous stats he had is because there really aren't that many good answers for a defense with having Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in the same backfield.

And the Ravens are favored by one and a half against the Bills. We're talking Ross Tucker, CBA Sports, Westwood One and host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast.

How should we look at Justin Hurt.

I think the same way we always have. I think he's a very good quarterback. And I said this, you know, I did that Patriots Chargers game for NFL Network.

He's a very good quarterback.

A lot of teams would love to have him, but we're not gonna consider him an elite quarterback until we feel like he elevates the guys around him to the point where he's winning some playoff games, you know, I mean, and that's that's just the reality of the situation. Look a lot of people aren't gonna put Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson in certain categories until they get to a super Bowl and win it. We're not gonna put Herbert even in their category until he finds a way to be able to take this team to the next level. In fairness to him, their old line got wrecked and they have a bottom five receiving corps in the NFL.

So they exceeded expectations.

They did not have the same personnel as the Texans or even most these teams in the playoffs.

They knew it, you know. Talking with the Chargers coaches, I think they kind of knew it.

That they were a year away from being a legitimate contender. They're gonna get better on the interior zero line, They're gonna get better at receiver, and Herbert's gonna have a much better opportunity to actually win a couple of playoff games next year and try to get He's like the in the friend zone. He's in the good quarterback zone right now. He needs to win some playoff games to get into that next category.

Did the Eagles look good or great?

Good?

Yeah, they did not look great because they did not look very good on offense, their defense was awesome, you know, the force four turnovers. They've had the best defense in the NFL since the bye week. They were fantastic for the most part in that game. But offensively that was rough. I mean that Jalen Hurts clearly was rusty. He did not play well. I thought the Packers, that decordinator Jeff Hathley, had a good plan between you know, forcing Hurts to stay in the pocket and make throws from the pocket, but then also bringing blitzes at times. I mean, the reality is is for the Eagles to go to the super Bowl, Hurt's gonna have to play better than that. I mean, if he played like that in Detroit, they wouldn't win. I don't even know if they would win next week against the Rams with the Vikings. If he plays like that, he's gonna have to play better than he did. I think he will. I mean, he had missed almost three full games. That was kind of his first game back. I would expect him to have a much better performance next week against the winner of tonight's game.

Yeah, I just look at Jalen Hurts and I probably in the minority. I think he's just a good quarterback on a really good team. And look, he had an unbelievable super Bowl, could have been the MVP even in a losing effort there.

But I just I'm waiting to see more from him.

And maybe that's not fair, you know, that's maybe who he is for that team, but that's just the indication.

I always get with him well.

And Dan, there's no question, I mean, he has not been a top ten quarterback in the NFL. This year, He's got the best situation a quarterback maybe he has ever had. I mean, they have the best offensive line in the league. Okay, he is the best running back in the league. The tight end Dallas Goddard is a beast. He's a top five tight end. The receiver duo is at least the top five duo. I mean, we're talking about like Troy Atman with the Cowboys, and like, how often are you in a situation where every guy around you is top five in their spot.

They should be able to put up a bunch of points.

He should be able to play better than he did yesterday, and they're gonna need him to for sure.

Let's look at the losing teams.

We talked about the Steelers let's look ahead to who you like better with the Broncos, Packers, and Buccaneers. Who's set up for success better?

I think it's the Packers. Yeah, I think it's the Packers.

I mean they had this year the second youngest team ever in the playoffs. The youngest team ever in the playoffs was the Packers last year. I mean, they're all home grown. They got really beat up in that game. You know, to have no Christian Watson, then you lose both Dobbs and Read during the game. They lose their best offensive lineman, Elton Jenkins. They lose the turnover battle for nothing, and they still were right there. I mean, if the turnover battles three to one, do the Packers.

Win the game?

If they don't, if they only lose one receiver and not three receivers, do they win the game. I think the Packers are positioned to have success next year.

They just they kind of took a step back at the end of the season.

They got to figure out why that was the case these last three games and being banged up as part of it. But I would still be buying stock in the Green Bay Packers. And I didn't think Jordan Love's performance was anywhere near what Herbert was thought. I thought Jordan Love played pretty well. I mean that the one interception of Bond was bad, but the first one.

Was a great play by Slay.

The last one he just had to try to make a play and they probably should have called interference on Bond. I really thought Jordan Love only had one bad interception. He had some nice throws. Maybe could have made those other touchdown throws down near the goal line in the third quarter when they were still right in it. But I still I would be bullish on Jordan Love and the Packers moving forward.

I have an assignment for you in this game coming up. You have the Texans and the Chiefs. If this happens, a receiver caused interception. So let's say go off the hands like it did the tight end with the Chargers. It's a receiver caused interception an RCI, and then you could throw that in and Kevin Harlan would probably then acknowledge that. How would Kevin Harlan acknowledge that, You've.

Got to be kidding me. That is not acceptable. That was pretty short. Yeah, So here's the deal.

Now, everybody has to listen to my broadcast on Saturday. If that happens, I'm getting RCI in the broadcast. I am getting RCI in the broadcast. Here's the question. Do I have to credit you Dan personally? Do you have to credit the Dan Patrick Show? Or do I just have to get RCI in the game.

No, don't need to credit me at all. I want this to be about you. I want you to hopefully get credit for it. Where somebody goes, yeah he went to Princeton. Yeah, that's why he came up with RCI.

Hey, you know what's fun about that? Dan, You're gonna love this.

Saturday night during the game, I'm on the sideline and I called George Pickens mercurial because George Pickens is mercurial and you can't say pain in me whatever on the.

Radio, right, So he's mercurial.

And the play by play guy Ryan Rakey and Mike Golick, the color analysts, they're making fun of me, and they're saying I'm using big words, and they're saying, you know, Princeton guy or whatever, which I didn't only look at mercurial as being like a fancy word. Sunday mornings, I drive back from Baltimore here to Pennsylvania, and I talked to my daughters. I asked them first if they've ever heard of mercurial. They have no idea what I'm talking about. Then I asked my wife and she didn't know, so that that's a fail. That's a fail as a radio guy if you use a word. My wife's very smart. She went to buck now Together NBA from Kellogg. If she doesn't know what mercurial means, I should not be saying that on the radio.

That's a bad job by me.

I think you just called your family dumb, is what you said.

Well, and fairness, my daughters are eleven and twelve, and hopefully I'm now praying my wife does not see this clip. It's a good thing there aren't five hundred stations around the country listening right now.

And of course everybody knows Mercurial Morris who ran for the Miami Dolphins.

That was his real name. Mer Curial.

What Todd the definitions of or having to do with mercury? No, it's not, I'm joking.

I don't that's what a lot of victories.

We'll take the word and use that as the explanation to the meaning or having to do with Mercury.

Thank you to Ross's great to talk to you. Save travels. Remember rc I RCI.

I'm ready for it. Hopefully it happens.

All right, Ross Tucker, CBS Sports, Westwood One, and the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. He'll be on the call with Kevin Hart Gerland Texans Chiefs. That'll be Saturday, four thirty Eastern. Well, come back, we got our play of the day. We'll work in some phone calls as we always do every Monday, Best and Worst of the weekend after this. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday morning nine until noon eastern six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, and you can find us on the iHeartRadio app at FSR or streams live every day at YouTube dot com slash The Dan Patrick Show. We will give you our best and worst of the weekend. Coming up, we'll play Phill in the Blank and more of your phone calls as well. Hall of Famer Tony Dungee Football Night in America analysts joining us on the program. Good to see you. Tone The philosophy of a coach going into the playoffs. Are you more aggressive or more conservative? Does it change up in the playoffs as opposed to what you did during the regular season.

For me, I.

Always trying to be myself and be who we are and try not to let it change you.

But it was very interesting. We had the Commanders last night.

I talked to Dan Quinn before the game and he said, I have to be more aggressive, and he did. They went forward on fourth down a couple times went forth when I would have kicked field goals myself. But he definitely made it a point to be more aggressive and let's go try to win this game.

What do you see from Jadon Daniels That is not.

Normal, unbelievable poise for a twenty two year old or twenty three year old whatever he is, to come into those big moments and be able to just function like nothing else is going on.

I was talking to Todd Bowles and the defensive coaches before the game. They said, we've got to get the ball out of this guy's hands because when he has it, he makes things happen.

And they couldn't do that.

They blitzed, they played coverages, they did different things. He kept the ball, he made great decisions and that's.

Just beyond those years. For however, he does it.

I'm not sure, but when you're drafting somebody, you can look at changible items. I can watch you at the combine, I can see things on tape.

Poise is something.

That I don't know how you measure it or what you look for when you're trying to find out if somebody has it or doesn't.

That is the key thing too, especially with quarterbacks. Everybody wants to look at arm strength. They want to look at all these measurables, and it's really can you process information and then can you function in the big moments just like it's practice. And that's what this young man has done all year. They're winning all these close games. At the end, he's making the place to win it. And that's what you can't measure. That's what you don't know until you get them.

The team that lost over the weekend, that's in the best shape moving forward.

You never think you're in good shape when you lose. Y always look at the couple of plays you could have made.

But you know, run down the list here, okay, I said the chart, Steelers, Broncos, Packers, Buccaneers. Out of those teams, who is in the best position moving forward for success?

I'd have to go with the Broncos because I like their young quarterback.

I think they have belief in him.

They've got a defense that is a playmaking unit, that's aggressive, and I think they're going to keep all of those elements in place for a while.

Some of these other teams have some.

Of the elements, they're going to lose some of them. They've got to make decisions. I think the Broncos going forward are on the up too.

If you ran the Steelers, what would you do moving forward?

I would try to find the long term answer quarterback and build around that.

And I thought the move to get Russell Wilson was really good, and in the middle of the year it looked like a very good move.

But somewhere something is just missing and they've got to find that quarterback and build on it.

And I don't know where that comes from. I really don't.

Dan.

Do you think did you see enough from Russell Wilson that he would hold onto this John?

I think he could. But then again, what are you looking at? Are you looking at another year? Another two years? I'd like to get that guy that I can build with for the next seven or eight years. But I again, I just don't know how you do that. They're not picking high enough to get that in the draft. Can you go out and find one of these younger twenty eight thirty year old quarterbacks.

I just don't know.

He might be the best answer for the short term.

What do you think of Aaron Rodgers with the Steelers?

I again, that would be a short term answer. I don't think that's a good one. Would If I'm going to do that, I'd stay with Russell Wilson. I've already had a chance to see that for one year. Build on that. But I don't know. Maybe justin fields and maybe they've saent enough in him to say, hey, he could be the answer down the road.

I'm just not sure.

If you start to look at these games, you know, as we move for if I gave you the Lions or the field in the NFC, who you taking?

I'm probably taking the Lions. But it's gonna come down to the Lions in Philadelphia. In my opinion, they're on a collision course. Philadelphia has this monstrous defense that can really shut people down. Detroit has looked unstoppable on offense. They're putting up thirty every week. I don't think They're gonna put up thirty on Philadelphia. So the question is Phillies offense can it generate enough in the big moments. I think that's gonna be a great game, and I think that's what we're going to end up seeing.

All Right, I'll give you the Chiefs or the field in the AFC.

Oh gosh, I'd have to take the field because I think Baltimore can do some damage. I think Buffalo is a problem for Kansas City, the negative for those two teams. They've got to play each other and they're gonna knock each other out and wear each other down. I think Baltimore has a great shot to win this game in Buffalo. Not many teams I would pick to go in there and win it. But they've got the physicality, they've got the mentality. If Lamar Zackson can play his regular season game up there in a big moment, they're gonna be tough to deal with.

It's Tony Dungee, the Hall of Famer. Tony won a Super Bowl as a player and as a coach. As a defensive back, who was that running back that you knew it was going to hurt when you had to tack him, like these defensive backs who have to go against Derrick Henry.

Derrick Henry.

You know what, it reminds me of dB Earl Campbell, and I can remember our dbs talking to that front forehead.

You guys are supposed to be the steel curtain. You better show up today. We do not want to see that man coming through the secondary. He was. You did not want to see him with a fullhead of sitting.

Oh my goodness.

He would just take on and guys would go up top with him and try to I just want to trip you up. I don't want to try to be a man and go up to I'm making a business decision with Earl Campbell.

Yes, he ran over Isaiah Robertson.

You probably remember the player het his head down and just blew him up, and Woody wln't offer. Our defensive coordinator was going to run it back and make a point, and Lambert.

Said, don't run that back. How different are the Ravens with Derrick Henry. They're different because of the mentality. I think that's what they want to be, that's what they should be. But now with Henry, they feel like they can be that no matter where they are home or away no matter what the score is.

And the crazy thing about it, and one of the reasons I actually voted for Lamar Jackson as the Most Valuable Player is you watch and they get in that zone read and he hands it off, and you'll have defenders that won't even chase Dereck Henry because they've got to watch Lamar. And if I was a defensive back, I'd be sitting there saying, hey, go tackle that big man.

We'll deal with you. Better go tackle Henry.

But it's just that double edged sword where you've got to defend the whole field.

You've got to watch Lamar keeping the ball and then Henry gets those downhill runs. When they get that going there, it's super tough.

Yeah.

I had somebody tell me that when this person votes for the MVP, and said, you know, I thought Lamar Jackson made Derrick Henry better if you look at what he was like with Tennessee. They got him and anybody else could have gotten Derrick Henry. But you got to give Lamar credit because you focus on the mar and it allowed Derrick Henry to be a star again.

Yeah, sometimes it's just that perfect storm, the right person fitting in. I think Derrick Henry went to the absolute best system for him.

Sakwan Barkley, you could say the same thing.

Okay, you've got a big offensive line that's creating holes. You've got a quarterback that keeps the defense honest and they have to defend him.

And now you've got a two thousand yard back.

And I think both of those guys just hit the perfect system to showcase their talents.

Any issues with the Patriots hiring Mike Rabel, No.

I love them hiring Mike Brabel. What I didn't like was them firing Jerrod Mayo in one year. When you sit there and say, we've got a succession plan. We know that eventually Bill Belichick is going to leave, and it's all set up.

We've got this young guy, he knows us, we know him.

We're going to build this way, and then after twelve games or fourteen games, you make a decision to terminate it. It doesn't make sense to me. I've told you, and I've had this discussion before. Chuck noele One in thirteen his first year, Tom Landry won one game. His first year, I played on Bill Walsh's first team. We won two games. Okay, that's about nine or ten Super Bowls there that wouldn't have happened in.

This era of this.

Well, if you don't get it done in one year and turn it around, Dan Rooney, I remember him telling me, I knew I had the right person when we're one thirteen.

That's when I knew Chuck no was the real deal, and.

That it's you know, I get so mad that these owners don't be impatient. You can't build Rome in a day, and especially when Rome's been torn down. So I'm just a little frustrated with the Raiders. I'm a little frustrated with the Patriots right now. Let things play out. Give these young guys a chance.

I think the Patriots realize they never should have promised Yourrod Mayo the job, even though they put it in his contract, and therefore they were going to they had to let him coach one year. I think they wanted Rabel last year, but they were tied up with this contract with your odd mail.

Maybe that was the case. And Mike Vrabel is a proven winner. He's been there, he knows them, they know him. It makes the logical sense, and he's going to do a great job. But I just see these one and Done's just bugged me to death because I remember my first year Dan with the Bucks.

We had had thirty team straight losing seasons.

I come in, we're zero to five and everybody in town is sent We're worse off than we've ever been. And the owners took me to lunch and said, hey, this is not a six week project, it's not a nine month project. We're in this together. Well, the next year we're ten and six and in the playoffs, and it just that's the kind of supports you need.

Did you think you were being asked to go to lunch to get fired.

I did, I really did.

When they said hey, we need to talk to you, and they're in business suits, I was Okay.

This might not be good.

But they surprised me and just said, hey, we understand and we're in it, and don't panic. Don't worry about these next few weeks. We end up being one and eight before we turned it around. But they were perfect, and that's what you need.

Tell me, why now this came up with the Chicago Bears. They didn't bring in Jim Harball for an interview, They didn't bring in Bill Belichick for an interview. Why wouldn't you bring in great you know, football minds like that to tell you what they think of your franchise. So you would gather information when you come in. So why wouldn't you do something like that? That's for you get advice for free.

You could.

But here's what I think is a big problem in the hiring process. A lot of these owners do not know what they're looking for. I know I've consulted with some and ask them what are they looking for, and they just well, who's good out there? And tell me this Dan Rooney, to me, it was the perfect, perfect formula.

Okay, I know what I want.

I want a young thirtieth guy because I don't want to do this every five years. So I don't want to hire a fifty year old. I don't want to hire a seventy year old. It's going to be a young guy. We're a blue collar time, okay, We're built around defense. I want hardcore defensive coach, and I want a good communicator I want to teach. So in sixty years, he hires thirty something year old Chuck Nole, a very good communicator, defensive.

Mind, strong will.

Then he goes and hires Bill Kauer in his thirties defensive coach, strong will communicator.

Then he hires Mike Tomlin.

He doesn't go interview everybody because I don't want the next thing from outer space. I want a defensive minded, tough, young coach. So if you know what you're looking for, then you go get that. Now, if you don't know what you're looking for, then you've got to talk to everybody that comes across, everybody who's recommended to you. But my advice to these guys, figure out what you want, what works for you, okay, and then go find that.

Is it just good enough to make the playoffs in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin or does he have to win? I mean, it's been a long time since they won a playoff game.

It has been a while, and you do have to win, and eventually you've got to come into the playoffs hot. You've got to build this and you've got to win a couple of games in the playoffs.

And the last three or four years has been very disappointing.

I thought in mid season they had a team to do it, but something happened and the defense just didn't play the way that they can play down the stretch, and I know ownership's disappointed, the city's disappointed. They've got to figure out a way to win a playoff game.

But you don't move on from Mike Tomlin.

Let me ask this, who am I going to get this better? And that's the thing.

That's going to go through our Rooney's mind. Okay, yeah, I could move on from Mike Tomlin. What's my next plant? And when you look around out there, there's no guarantees that you're going to get somebody who knows your organization who can build this and do it any better.

So I think that's what's going through their mind right now.

Good to talk to you a coach, as always, thanks for joining us, Safe.

Child, right always. Good to talk to your brother.

That's Tony Dungee, Hall of Famer.

We'll take a break. We'll give you our best and worst of the weekend and fill in the blank right after this

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