The MMQB NFL PodcastConor Orr and Albert Breer break down the highlights of wild card weekend including Dan Campbell leading the Lions to their first playoff win since 1991, if the Dolphins should consider trading Tua Tagovailoa after their frigid loss to the Chiefs, the fast, dominant win by the Texans over the Browns, and the big questions for Dallas after getting run over by the Packers
Head and welcome and then would you be NFL podcast. I'm conrour Albert Preers here. The first playoff weekend is over. It's Girl Scout cookie selling season. For those of you who also celebrate, We're already at a hundred boxes, no big deal, but let's get Yeah, by the way, hundred boxes in six days.
So I never so my daughter is four, so we're not quite there yet, and you'll be I didn't have any sisters, so I obviously know about Girl Scout cookies, but I have no experience with that at all.
It is totally shifted. And I was initially one of those parents who when we would get the link because a lot of it's digital now, and the parents would just text us all a link and say, hey, can you order some cookies? And I'd say no, make the kid come to my house with the wagon and right, yeah, take my order down and then I'll order some cookies. Like there. But now that my daughter is in it, like I'm running this thing like Amazon, and I'm just sending everyone QR codes.
We did well, Yeah, like it actually like might not be as like might not be as like kosher to go door to door now as it wasn't like the eighties and nineties, you know.
True, yeah, we're we're being safe and uh, but we did make her. We sent out like, we made her do a promotional video, so she had to she had to do a video and say like, these are the five reasons why you should buy Girl Scout cookies, and you know, broke it down for everybody. And so I think that helps. But we're crushing it. You know, I'll be up to I'll be up to my neck in Samoa's here in a couple of days. But uh, but it's all good.
You know.
I was a big I was a big fin mins guy. You put them in the freezer, right, like, yeah, that.
Was the move.
So to me, I think we start with, uh, you know the lines. I think with the story of the weekend. This was the game of the weekend, first playoff win since when was it?
It was nineteen ninety one, They beat the one.
They actually were the team that beat the Dallas Cowboys, And this is going to show my age. I think this is like, this is one game that might actually show the age gap between me and you because I can remember that was the game. Troy Aikman did not play Steve Berline was the quarterback for the Cowboys. Aikman was hurt and Berlin had played good enough like for there to be at least some conversation, as I remember it, like are the Cowboys going to go back to Aikman in nineteen ninety two?
Wow? They went back to it.
They went back to Aikman in nineteen ninety two and things worked out for them. So but yeah, that was that was that was That was the That was the first playoff run for for Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys, and the Lions knocked them out, and then the Lions lost to Washington, which is the mark ripping team in the NFC title game.
I don't remember any of that because I was four, so yeah.
I was, I would have been so my I actually that year, so my birthday used to always fall in the Super Bowl, so I believe the Super Bowl that year was on my twelfth birthday, so it was like now like mine now now it's more like AFC NFC Championship game where my birthday would be.
But uh, yeah, I hate talking about my birthday, so I can't believe we brought.
That up on the podcast.
I know last week. I almost exposed it. Yeah, I mean anyone can look it up.
You have a very now.
Yeah, now you have that. Now you have the actual date.
So I know, I know we're gonna send, uh, We're gonna send to Harry and David's beat or what is it, Harry, Harry and David? Is that the thing you send to someone who you don't know what to send and it's like those hard candied almonds than like pairs.
That's I have no idea what you're talking about.
That's what you're gonna get. So nineteen ninety two, thirty eight to six, they really put it on the Cowboys. I'm just looking at this the.
Well people forget like how those Lions offenses were freaking electric, like Herman Moore and Brett Parriman and obviously Barry Sanders. And I think the quarterback would have been like Eric Kramer then, right.
Rik Kramer was twenty nine to thirty eight for three hundred and forty one yards, three touchdowns, no picks, a one twenty nine quarterback rating.
So I don't know it was June Jones there yet, Like I think June Jones went there and became the offense. I'm not sure if he was there at that point, but June Jones was there at one point where they ran the run and shoot with Herman Moore, Brett Paraman and Johnny Morton I think it was, and Barry Sanders at tailback, and uh yeah, those Lions teams were those were those were good Lions teams.
Dave Levy was the offensive coordinator, so it wasn't Jones yet. And then Dan Henning, Oh there you go.
Dan Henning, the father of like that, the father of the Patriots offense, like the guy who's like Charlie Weiss's mentor.
Who yeah, yea.
So my first takeaway was this was the Rams game to lose, and I thought I was a little disappointed that they ended up punting at the end of that game. But I do know that kicking was always kind of their achilles heel. This season, it was the really down the stretch. It was the one thing that they couldn't depend on. They were missing extra point. I mean, that Giants game was awful, and so I think it probably altered the way that you play in that situation where Okay, you're looking at whatever it is, third and fifteen, third and fourteen, you know, you just try to get ten yards. You try to get as much of that as you can to set up for a kick, but you can't. Their kicking game was so bad this year that you almost had to hope and pray that you could stop Ben Johnson one more time.
And it was.
It was interesting too, because like the decision by Dan Campbell to accept the penalty there, right, I believe.
It was what was it It was.
Either third and fourteen or fourth and seven or something like that, Right, wasn't.
That what it was?
Yeah, And he chose to move him back, and that show I mean, I think, like that's my big takeaway at the end of the game is like how Dan Campbell kept doubling down on his own guys.
You know what I mean.
He doubled down on the defense and said, no, we're going to knock him out of a field goal range here, because I trust the defense to get a stop and keep them out of.
Field goal range. Right.
And then you know they get the ball back and they're throwing aggressively.
Right.
They threw on second down two times in a row to close the game out. I just I think like what you saw at the end of that game was, I mean, so much of what we've you know, I think what happens in these playoffs settings sometimes Connor is like coaches get in these situations and they forget who they are, and they forget who their teams have been, and they tighten up and like I feel like down the stretch of that game, like Dan Campbell like leaned in too, who the lines have been, in the risk taking, in the doubling down on his own players, and you know, it really paid off there at the end of the game.
Every big moment this year, dating to the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, he he has he has acted in accordance with the way that he has always acted, which I think is just so cool, right. I mean, I think we see some coaches sit on it, some really good coaches. I mean, Kyle Shanahan is still overcoming two really high profile instances of sitting on his hands in big in Super Bowls, and so I think it's you know, it's instructive for coaches, like, yes, and not everybody can pull this off. And I agree that everything should still be situational with football, but with Dan Quinn in particular, he has.
Dan Camble, Sorry, what Dan Campbell, you said Dan Quinn. I know it's early.
Ah, we're all good, and I mess up the situation. So I'll lay that out for you in a second. But I was close. I was close enough, and you were close because you had the first name right.
My goodness, Dan Campbell, the fact that he is the fact that he was doing it from the beginning and was just like, Okay, I'm either going to get fired doing this or I'm going to be one of the best head coaches in the NFL doing this. And there was no concern from him. It was basically like, Okay, I've always wanted to do it this way, and I'm going to do it this way. And it creates a sort of guideline for you to operate through. And here's where we see the value in that, you know, the success in that.
Yeah, And I think and again to lay out the situation here and this is and I think we can get to that part of it two in a second here, because I do think there's an interesting nuance to the way that Campbell operates and why he operates that way. But you know, again, like the situation here is third and four. They created an incompletion to put the rams in the Rams in fourth and four at their thirty four yard line, So I'd say, like with Brett Maher, they're probably like in the fringe of field goal range there. That's probably a fifty two yard field goal, right, so maybe maybe not, Like I think a lot of coaches would have just accepted penalty or we're have just declined the penalty there. Instead, he accepts the penalty on Havenstein, which I believe was on Hutchinson, right, Like, didn't he hook him as he was coming off the edge, and so Avnstein the flag, the offensive holding flag ten yards knocks them back. Now they're in third and fourteen from the forty four. They get the stop they need there with Cam Sutton making the play, and then the Rams are forced to punt from the Lions forty four. So like again, like that to me is just a sign of not coaching tight. I think a lot of coaches would have looked at that and said, let's just force them to kick the field goal because we don't want something stupid to happen on third and fourteen, Right, That's not what Dan Campbell did. And I think, like as to your point about like we're like this sort of decision making. I actually think this has something to do with being an ex player. Like I actually think like this has something like the Mike Rabels, the Demico Ryans, And we've talked a bunch about that, right like in how you hire into these jobs and everything else. I just think like there's a psychology to it, Like if you are a coach, like you've your whole life has been built up to make decisions like this, right Like, your whole professional life has been built up to make decisions like this, And so you might tighten up a little bit, right like, because you feel like that's going to define you. If you're a player, you've been in those If you're an ex player, you've been in those situations, and you might have a little bit of a different view of them and how they can affect your team and how they, you know, can impact the psychology of your guys. And so I just think, you know, again, I know, I sound like a broken record here talking about like the trends and like how you know, the offensive coach trend, the young offensive coach trend has really worked a certain way. But there's also, you know, the ex player trend that's starting to have really good history, you know, with Demiko, with Dan Campbell, with my frable, with Kevin O'Connell. But I think this is a good example of a player just having a feel for his team and not feeling the weight of a decision like that, the same way a career.
Coach might feel the way of a decision like that.
It is a back up for a second, how fire number you to see Eminem the you know the millennial in you that was was? That was that cool?
I'm no millennial.
I'm like a I'm pre millennial, but yeah, that was pretty cool. Eminem got big when I was in college, so which probably makes me again sound years old, but yeah, he got big when I was in college.
I like how like he was, like his stuff was like underground.
When I was in high school, it was like you you you hurt, like it was you could you could get it, and it was like around.
But it was very very underground when I was in high school.
And then when I was in college, I think, you know whatever, it would have been my freshman or sophomore year.
That he blew up. Wow.
He has become like the the Paul Rudd of the situation.
Though I would say, right.
Yeah, and it's so funny because Eminem used to rap about.
The Mark Wahlberg.
Yeah, Eminem used to rap about the craziest stuff, like I remember, you know, he was big when I was in like fifth grade or sixth grade. And when your parents get a load of that, they're just like, you can't this this CD can't even be in the house, Like it's not allowed to be it's not all to be in the same street. This is crazy. And now that he's like now he's like the vo like the voiceover and and basically like the person that everyone's getting to interview is like the celebrity fan of the Lions, which is very funny to me.
Yeah, although, like I mean, Mark Wahlberg was Marky Mark when I was a kid, and he became that guy for like New England when the Patriots are really good. So I don't know, I like, there's also like I feel like there's like an expiration date with these guys too, where it starts to become too much, like you're seeing them too.
Much, right, and it's like, is he really that big a fan? You know what I mean?
Like that's that's what we wonder. I mean, Eric stone Street Love Eric stone Street cam for Modern Family. But Okay, we've been to a couple of chief Super bowls now and you're good. You know, you don't have to do this anymore.
Yeah, and so I can.
I've actually, like I've actually said that to some of my friends, like who, like, people up here are a little tone death, I would say to some of this stuff, and so you hear that, you know, there's all that, like like, I'm so sick of seeing Eric stone Street, Paul Rode. I say to them, I'm like, do you know what people thought of us? And like Mark Wahlberg ten years ago, like they got hit Yeah, they got hit over the head with this like ten times over. Like so yeah, I would say the eminem thing is still kind of fresh and new.
It can't go on forever, though.
I did like how the game spotlighted the one season ticket holder who's been there since like nineteen sixty four eighty.
That's cool.
I like that more, you know, yeah, show those people because everyone's like, wow, Mark Wahlberg, John bon Jovi, they're real fans. No, there is this.
The Lions version of that that Chargers one.
Yeah, they're taking a heated limousine to the front door of the stadium, and then an armed security guard takes them up a private elevator to the owner's box.
Where they watch the game. They eat sushi and they drink you know, don perry on, and then they take the private elevator back down to their heated limo and somehow get helicopter lifted out of the stadium so they don't have to sit in traffic. That's their experience. They're not real fans. That guy in there that NBC was showing, it's been a season ticket holder since the sixties. That's a real fan. That guy's seen some stuff. You know, Show me more of that guy, not, you know, with the Rams, okay, right, Like you know, I think while you're disappointed in blowing another year of Stafford's prime, and I talked to people, there were coaches that said, if they be the Lions, they're going to the super Bowl. Like the Rams are that hard to play. You know, you're never happy with the way that a loss shakes out. But everything that you basically everything that you tried to accomplish in that game, you were able to accomplish. Your defense was a little bit weak, but you gave up twenty four points to the Lions, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. I really think that this was.
Especially after the way it started, right, especially after the like the way it started, it looked like the Lions were just going to go up and down the field the whole game, and they were able to kind of put their foot in the ground and stop that. And like, now you look at where they are coming out of this was I mean, their rookie class is ridiculous, right, Like I mean Pooka Nakua and Kobe Turner and Byron Young and they did that without a first round pick, and now they're going to have a first round pick for the first time in what a decade, And like they've got suddenly a ton of cap space and they just went through that cap reset and they did all this with seventy five million dollars in dead money on their books.
This is like, this might be Sean mcvay's best coaching job.
And I know that sounds crazy, but like to be able to get that out of this team and for the Rams to be able to pivot on the fly this way phenomenal. Like the front office deserves credit for finding all these diamonds in the rough. Like in the in the draft and setting the team up going forward. I'd be really excited if I was a Rams fan right now. Like, I think they are positioned to get aggressive the way that got aggressive four or five, six.
Years ago and build their team a certain way.
You know, probably got to go get an air apparent to Matt Stafford at some point.
Right, But they have time to do that, you know, they have a little runway to do that.
I feel like, yeah, no, I I agree, all right, let's.
Move so real quick.
By the way, one thing, like one thing I do want to stand On a personal note, I don't know, it's hard.
I'm so happy for Jared Goff and like what he was able to accomplish too.
I just thought that that that like being able to win that game against against Stafford, against McVeigh and a guy who was seen as like a salary dump three years ago, like to be able to do this and establish himself. And you know, the crazy thing is Connor. We could be looking at a divisional playoff game next weekend with two former number one overall picks who are dumped by their.
Teams going against each other. Yeah. So I don't know.
I think I think it's a good example of like I think it's a good example of being able to separate a guy who may have a contract that you don't want versus the guy just being a bad player, you know.
And also I think there's a degree of acceptance. Like I wrote this about Tua and we'll get to the Dolphins game next. I think it's a good transition. But Tua would be able to start for like ten NFL teams right now, but he's not good enough to start for the Dolphins right now. Because the Dolphins have one more year of Tyreek Hill. They have like I think one more year of Jalen Waddle before they have to give him a big extension. They have Vic Fangio, and they're paying him more than any other defensive coordinator in the NFL. Like you are. You are to the point where you can't have to a doing what he's doing. And so and the same thing was true of Jared Goff. That team was one centimeter from the super Bowl, and so you need to make that one sensible upgrade. And you know, I'm not you know, Sean Sean McVay won a super Bowl. You know, there's no laughing to the on their way to the bank. I think what's remarked that.
That I mean that trade is like an unbelievable when when win.
It was a win win and and but I think if Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson aren't there, maybe we are talking about Jared Goff needing to find his way, taking even longer to find his way, like someone like Geno Smith. You know, but I don't think there's like we we end up demonizing these things and needing to have a winner and a loser, where I sometimes I just don't think that there's a winner and a loser. Yeah, now you're talking about the other number one pick who got cut. You know, I don't know. I think that there's a winner and a loser there. But at this point, but again, all these situations are different. But let's we're gonna get to that. I'm gonna get out of my soapbox for a second, and I'm curious what you think. So I test ran this take in one of the hardest places in the country to test run a take on WIP in Philadelphia.
Okay, nice, I'm sure things have been very level on WIPS.
Yes, the hosts are all fine, They're totally well adjusted. They're not freaking out about anything. But I said this was right after I think that the Bills and Steelers game got moved, and then they were asking me about the Chiefs and Dolphins game. You don't, you don't play that game. You don't play that game there you ship everything to the to whatever Atlanta you ship it to a dome, because I think it's incredibly silly and this isn't a toughness thing. Like I saw Taylor Lawn and Robert Griffin arguing about, oh, you know, you put vesselina on your Okay, cool, good for you that that's great. I'm glad that you're the iceman.
I am curious if the Vassallian thing really works because, like Trent McDuffie told me after the game that he covered himself in.
Vessel chado Cho Cinco used to take viagra because there was something that it would it would remove, it would it would take blood from a certain part of the body and displace it elsewhere, you know, and somehow that bothered you less than the cold anyway.
Elsewhere.
You know what I'm talking about.
But what you're doing, I'm sorry.
What you're doing is like that game was clearly impacted by weather and what you're saying to these teams, And sure, home field advantage is something that you're going to have to figure out. But the Miami Dolphins were playing badly, but they weren't even close to being the Miami Dolphins because it's negative thirty degrees outside the field is a sheet of ice. I mean, I don't know how many times they showed that freaking heater during the game and they're like, oh, it's fine. Like I watched the pregame, Tony Dungee and Rodney Harrison like Holme's helmet broke stepping on the ground and it's concrete and so but Roddy like ninja yeah and so, But but what was the why did we Why did we go through with that game? Because it was on Peacock and because people were going to pay six bucks a pop to watch it and everyone wanted to see what would happen in the cold weather. Uh maybe some people wanted to see Tiller Swift. I don't know, but I think if that game was on CBS, and you.
By the way, that shot of Taylor Swift had to be staged, right.
The whole thing is staged, Like, I mean.
Behind it picture of it.
It's like behind that it looked like a freaking album cover, didn't it, Like behind the frosted glass.
Yes, And I can't believe that. We're all just like, isn't it an amazing how all this stuff just works out? That's my god, Come on, everybody, this is all you know, she knew where to stay, like this is Hollywood, you know. And now the NFL is in bed with it. But it's like, I think if you didn't have a streaming service you needed to pump. I think if that game was on regular.
You think they would have moved it. I mean, I don't think that was it.
I think it's I don't know, I think to play that game in those conditions, I think.
I don't want to be like I don't want to be Johnny Hardass here, But like, honestly, I just I think this is sort of like part of the drama of the whole thing though, and I kind of look like, yeah, maybe sad it was extreme, but I just think, like this is like what I like about this, is it like increase the stakes of the week before, because if Miami beats Buffalo, you know what, then Miami is not going to Kansas City, and Buffalo is not getting to play in a snow drift, you know, So I think like that part of it, Like Buffalo earned the right to make Pittsburgh schlep up there right under these weird conditions, and Miami did not earn the right to play in seventy degree weather. And I just I like the stakes being like that, right, So you know, I guess we can take this back to college football.
And maybe this is because like.
I like, I don't know, I go like back four generations in the Big Ten with all my family, but I always I always hated how like Big Ten teams were forced and the bowl games were a bigger deal when we were kids, but how the Big Ten teams were always forced to go down and play in.
Humidity in Florida and it's eighty degrees and the southern teams never had to come north.
Yeah right, And I like, I I think one of the cool things about the college football playoff now is that some of those southern teams are gonna have to come north and they are gonna have to play in the elements. And so why should teams north of the Mason Dixon line be at a disadvantage, like if it's snowing in a mess at your facility, like that sucks and that's going to be tough to work around, especially if you're playing against a team that's practicing in seventy degree weather. So if you're the better team, why shouldn't you have the advantage of playing in those elements? You know what I'm saying, that's fair.
I just think that I think about these teams and like the entire road that you have gotten to at this point, and then is it.
F But this isn't it on your team? Isn't it on you to prepare your team for that?
It's on you to prepare your team for it. But I think that there's like I don't know what it is, but there's a there's a line right where I think when once you cross.
That's what I'm saying, though, Like that's the hard thing.
It's like, where is that line? You know what I mean?
Negative?
Okay? Wind chill danger?
Danger is where that line is if.
You can expose your body to whatever temperature it is outside only for limited periods of time at risk of frostbite. I would say, there's there's your line.
I do I do want to know what became of the dolphin fan who had his shirt off.
There was a couple, there was cheap you know, I think.
You know, I think I think you know who I'm talking about, though, the guy who was just wearing a winter hat. Yeah, dolphin fan. I want to know what became of that guy.
He so, So, I'm actually reading the book on wim Hoff, the iceman. Do you know who that is?
No?
So, he basically he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in his underwear. He's like he started, he started the whole ice ice bath. He started, like the whole cold plunge tray.
The whole cold punch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I got a buddy here who's got a plunge pool, and he swears by it.
It's phenomenal.
I do cold showers, I try to. I have a plunge pool. I tried it. It's twenty two degrees right now. I did it a couple of days ago when it was like thirty one degrees in the morning. I have it on my deck. Miserable, just terrible, but yeah, anyway, I.
Do feel better after though.
You feel phenomenal, like you feel like a million bucks. Yeah. So, I mean don't not get into you tried it. I think it's a good thing. But so I do think that these people can survive, but I don't think that they did the proper like acclamation process. Like the guy's just like, okay, let me have eight yinglings and then take my shirt off at the at the Chiefs game. It's different than I have taken ice baths up until a certain point to acclimate my body to the cold weather. I think that there's a big difference between those two things.
Like like Randy from Randy from what was coming up and his and his remedy for the cold was like thirty six beers in the parking lot.
Yeah, just like a fifth of old Granddad. And then it's like, yeah, I'm ready, okay, which would make you colder, I think, right, because alcohol thins the blood.
Yeah, but it dumbs you, so like maybe like it helps in the moment, but we might do to do long term damage, which is like the case with everything with alcohol.
Right, it was so cold that experienced Chiefs fans were bringing cardboard boxes to stand up.
Yeah, I did not. I this was the first I've heard of this trick.
I mean, think about how cold it has to be that you're wearing winter boots and thick socks and you're still bringing an additional layer of a surface to stand on because your feet are too cold and these.
That's not this was this was the first I had ever heard of that trick. That's another thing I'd like to know if.
That really works.
But I I mean, good for everybody who was out there. I mean, I like, I've I guess the closest thing for me to that would be like going skiing, like in really really cold conditions and how good it feels when you walk in the lodge, you know what I mean. Like, so that probably the closest thing for me. But it did not look comfortable out there.
So the game, but again the Chiefs earned that.
The Chiefs earned that, like and I think, like to get back to the football conor, Like, could you not see on the Dolphins' faces how little they wanted to be out there?
Yeah? I mean that that was my takeaway. Like two minutes into that game, I was like, oh it's over, and I you know again, I'm.
They looked like they wanted no part of being out there.
No, And you could I mean you could have. It could have been Isaiah Pacheco and six other guys, and I think it would have been the same. It would have been the same deal. Which it surprised me a little bit that Miami can be a tough and physical football team but for some reason kind of just opted not to play that style into try.
To gain, which was weird.
Yeah, I mean, I got you, yeah, And it was like it was weird because it did feel like, oh, well, this is Miami should just lean on the run game now, and what do they have? Like I think it was I have to look it up again, but I think it was like something like fourteen attempts, Like what are you doing with your You're going to lean on your quarterback from Hawaii? I did, Yeah, only they only ran it eighteen times. Now, part of that's a function on the score at the end of the game. But Raheem Mozart eight carries thirty three yards. Tua actually was their most efficient runner. Three carries for twenty five yards. I can't imagine any of those were designed. So you take those out of the pot and you have like an end around a waddle. I mean, Echen and Mozart combined for fourteen carries. That's not enough in those conditions.
And almost forty attempts for two one hundred and ninety nine yards. My thought here was that.
And the Chiefs ran almost twice as much thirty four times.
I think it's a it's a gut check moment for Mike McDaniel, who is you know, I have no doubt that he's gonna be a great head coach there for a while. But yeah, I do think that, you know, you you need to throw yourself into the Kirk Cousins sweepstakes this offseason.
Oh you think so?
I mean you would do that over like, so like you have TUA for next year for what twenty three?
I think it is right on his fifth year option.
Yeah, right, so like you're basically now, I would say the difference is if you go get Kirk Cousins, you're sort of getting him without strings attached, right right With Tua, like you still have his draft status attached, and you still have the hey do we have to pay him long term attached? Where if you bring in Kirk Cousins is like very clearly a rental, right, Like it's like, all right, this guy is here to get us to the next guy. Plus, you know, Mike was with Kirk in Washington, and that offense clearly is a good fit for Kirk. So I'm not against that because that would be like kind of like, all right, here's our exit. But the problem is, because of the new rules, you're already you've already fully guaranteed to his money for next year.
So what do you do with him?
You know? Yeah, I mean it's just it will be interesting because Mike McDaniel, I think his revolution has been one of kindness and understanding and leveling with players in a way that not a lot of coaches are willing to do. Self awareness, a lot of self awareness. But yeah, to get to that, let to get to it to that level took a lot of work for Mike McDaniel, and a lot of public defense of to by Mike McDaniel. He was constantly defending to every time anybody brought up the idea that Mike was the one that was getting him better, Mike would immediately downplay it and say it's not true. But now he's got to get into a spot where he's either got to ride to it and be like listen, so can't happen again, or he's got to replace them.
Well, so just to look at his coaching tree, then do you think he's like where McVeigh was with golf could be or where like where where Kyle was with Jimmy Garoppolo. Now those guys got to Super Bowls too, so it's a little different. But I mean, like, I do think that that piece of it, that piece of it may definitely makes things complicated. And I I wouldn't even be against if I you know, like let's just say you love JJ McCarthy or you love bo Nicks.
Is it the worst thing in the world to just draft a guy?
No, and then you hold on to Tua because you're paying for the you have the fifth year option.
Anyway.
Now, it's hard to do that because like you have to make decisions in the veteran market well before the draft, and you were they're going to be picking. You don't know what's going to be available to you, right like, so that's all a projection. But you know, like do you look at it and say, Okay, we're going to ride with Tua and we're not going to go all in on Kirk Cousins or something like that, but we're gonna turn over every rock and the quarterbacks in the draft. Yeah, and you know what if it's Bonix or if it's JJ McCarthy, because I'm assuming, you know, there's no way they're going to be in a position to get Caleb or Drake may or even probably Jayden Daniels.
Do we take that swing? You know?
I think it's a fair question to ask, and I don't think it'd be the worst thing in the world. Like you sort of set up them like the proverbial like Drew Brees Philip Rivers situation, where you know, the the Chargers got a couple of good years out of Drew Brees after taking Philip Rivers, you know, and then eventually the handoff happened.
This is I think a moment where I don't leave this game feeling much better. Like, are you like, okay, the Chiefs are fine. You know, they're definitely going to the super Bowl now? Or do you were.
You would take on a yeah, I would take on this. I think the weather forced the Chiefs to play the sort of game they have to play to win right now. I think their running game is pretty good. I think their offensive line can run block. I think Pachecko's a good back, and they've got some depth in the backfield, right, And I think their defense is really good like now, I think as the collapse of Jim Schwartz's defense and Dan Quinn's defense showed us over the weekend, it can be tough to lean on your defense to win week after week after week. But they have Patrick Mahomes as sort of their escape patch there, right. So I think playing the way that they did in those conditions and being forced to play the way they did in those conditions, I think revealed how this team has to win a little bit differently than the previous Chiefs teams did. And they can do that if they lean into it and they don't like, like, all right, well, let's see if MVS like turns it around in the middle of January, you know what I mean, Like they don't have to play that way because they think they've got good enough players everywhere else.
And I'll be in to.
See when the conditions are a little bit more ideal. And I mean they're probably going to Buffalo next so maybe they won't be more ideal, but if they if they sort of stick to the way that they play, because I like, look at that defense man like Chris Jones, le Cherry Steed, Trent McDuffie.
Uh, Like it's there.
I think there are good players on that defense, you know, and versatile weapons, and Steve Spagnola's really kind of sunk his teeth into the personnel there, and he's got the kinds of guys that he needs, he wants. Carl Loftis came up big at the end of that game.
You know.
I just think like there's a formula that they were forced to enact on Saturday night because of the weather. That may just be the formula that they're gonna have to lean on over the next few weeks.
The the game that I'm really excited to talk about, and I think we'll save We'll save Packers Cowboys for last, because I do think that there's it leeds into the coaching carousel nicely. But Texans Browns, oh my, so yeah. I mean everyone knows my story. I was a Browns fan until the Watson trade. I'm no longer a Browns fan. And so if you were to ask me, say, hey, Connor, how would you draw up kind of the most sickening way for Cleveland to lose a playoff game? It would be losing to the team that they traded for they got to Shaun Watson from and that team is propelled by all the draft capital that Cleveland handed over for Shawn Watson could and I said this the other day, it's not just a new.
Quarter and a new quarterback who maybe playing better than Watson ever did.
Right, and that Cleveland could have, you know, just got you know.
Which I mean, like it's easy to have revisious history in there that but like that's not a low bar.
Now, you know, Watson was playing really well before everything.
And what's funny about it is it's not just the picks like, oh, you know whatever, Damian Pierce or you know, any of these guys that got taken directly by the Watson capital. It's the fact that because the Texans had multiples in every year and in a lot of rounds, they could also take the guys who are really good. Right now, you know, whether it's I mean, there were so many people who showed up big in that game in particular that were drafted by the Texans, and whether it was directly as a result of the Watson trade or not, you know, the Watson trade allowed them to draft elsewhere and then pick some of these other guys and you know.
Yep, it's a flexibility, which is like.
The Christian Harris was a perfect example. I mean, four of the eight best players that are maybe I would say five of the eight best players on that team were drafted in the last two or three years.
So you're talking like CJ. Straw, Will Anderson, Derek Stanley, Christian Harris right, Like I mean, it's it's impressive the way I mean even like a Jonathan greenerd you know, like the the way that they It's not just CJ.
And I'm sure we'll get to CJ. Right.
They look so fast, Like there was a play where they I can't remember if Cleveland threw it out to the edge or they it was a toss play, whatever it was, but it was out on the perimeter, and like it looked like the kid whoever it was, looked like he had the corner and it was like you snap your finger and there were four Texans right there, you know. And like then you watch on offense and you see Brevin Jordan, who is like by trade a tight end, like bursting through the defense and everybody underestimating what he can do with the angles they're taking.
He's breaking angles and scoring a long touchdown and.
Nico Collins, who's a bigger player, but it is capable of running by people too. It's really impressive how fast they look. I thought, you know, like across the board, and it's like you said, it's all these guys who are in year one, year two, year three, where at least on paper, it looks like that team should just keep getting better. Yeah, Like this is no layout, Like I like, now we assume maybe it's Baltimore next week. This is no layup for the Ravens.
Nope.
And I want to be careful because I said almost the exact same thing about the Jaguars the year before when they came back and they beat the They came back and they stunned the Chargers in the playoffs, and it's like, oh, unlimited, Sky's the limit.
And I but that division, man, like that division is actually gonna be really good, I think, I think, which is crazy because I can't.
I don't know.
It's been it's been around. The FC South has been around for like twenty years, and it was really good at the beginning when Peyton Manning was in it and like Steve McNair was on the Titans and whatever. You know, that division's got a chance to be really good for a long time, especially if like Anthony Richardson hits with the Colts, you know, I mean where they are. I mean like, so you have the Jaguars with Lawrence, you have the Texans with Stroud, you have and then like if Anthony rich hits, like holy crap, like that division could be good for a long time.
My thought though, is, you know, c J. Stroud, we make this mistake all the time where c J. Stroud is playing really well right now and we're like, oh my god, oh my god, the sky's the limit. And it might be, but we also have to remember that, you know, like Trevor Lawrence had a bad season this year, Peyton Manning had some weird bad seasons throughout his career. We could be still debating three years from now whether or not the Texans should pick up c J. Stroud's fifth year option. You know, we could be in that. But I think what we should have we should take away from this is that to me, the blockbuster quarterback trade it is dead because what the Texans have shown is it really doesn't matter if you hang. The NFL is so cyclical that just having additional draft capital helps you be flexible enough to ride with the ebbs and the flows of the NFL to the point where you know, Deshaun Watson may have phased out of the NFL as a player. I mean I say this all the time, but he only played a vic Fangio defense like once. Yep, yeah, while he was before his suspension and before he sat out the year, and now it's the most prevalent defense in the NFL. Things change, Players phase out, they become less effective, they lose offensive coordinators, whatever it is. But the one thing that doesn't change is the value of immediately sucking up guys from the college pipeline. And with those guys sucking up all the you're watching all the film and you're digesting all the ideas and you're stealing all this stuff from college that's going to inform the next evolution on the turn. It's so much more valuable to me than spending three first round picks on a quarterback. And okay, the last two guys that have done it are the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns. And it doesn't look great.
Yeah, it's crazy to think, but like eventually, do we get to a point where team a team tries to churn quarterback the same way they would churn another position.
And our Eagles are already there.
Yeah, And I remember like that was like, you know, going back to like the Seahawks, like when things got like contentious with them and Russell Wilson the first contract negotiation, and like if you go back and you look at those Seahawks teams, how how like Russell Wilson's contract, like being on a third round contract allowed them to aggressively re sign everybody, you know, Sherman and Chancellor and Earl Thomas and Bobby Wagner and kJ Wright, like they paid everyone, And like I remember talking to somebody about like kind of the position they were in with Russell, and they were like, I think John Schneider is and this is somebody who knew John really well, goes, I think John is thinking about churning the quarterback, and it was I think Seattle doesn't think he's as good as everybody else does, which I mean like wound up being kind of telling It's like I think that they think that they could turn in the quarterback position. The question is do you have the balls to actually do it. And that's what's really hard, because the quarterback, like, it affects everything, you know what I mean. It affects ticket sales, it affects fan morale, it affects merchandise sales, It affects everything.
You know.
So do you have the balls to sit there and say, I'm confident in my ability to get a quarterback right every three years and we're going to keep churning it and that's going to give us an advantage over everyone in the league.
It takes some real stomach to do that.
But I mean if you look at it, like, you know, like Jared Jared Goff signs a contract that like the Rams like almost immediately regretted, right, and then you turn around and you trade him and that contract matures into good value.
Now he's a really.
Good player for the for the Lions, right, you know, Baker Mayfield somewhere now, Baker Mayfield is the example of like, oh, you can get away with it. You know, you can get away with not paying Daniel Jones forty million dollars. Baker Mayfield was the number one pick in the draft.
YEP.
It's just like there are I think there are very few I think what we're learning and this was like, this is something I talked with a few teams about like last spring, and I think this is what you're getting at Connor. Correct me if I'm wrong here, But like the NBA went through this where there was a point where every team had like a max contract guy on their roster, and the reality is there weren't that many guys across the NBA that were worth that, and eventually like that evolved and changed to all right, like just because he's the best player on the team, doesn't mean you give him a max contract. I think that's sort of what's happening at quarterback now, where you realize there are some quarterbacks that are worth that fifty million, fifty five million dollar number, but it's like it's not many of them, you know what I mean, Like, it's not many of them, and you got to be real careful about paying somebody at that level.
And it's it's just it's better practice. Like so the Eagles were the first. The Eagles were the big RPO team during their run to the Super Bowl when Carson Wentz had that near MVP season and got hurt. And the reason they're running those is because Doug Pearson watched a bunch of North Dakota tape and was like, holy crap, look at the way they're just killing people with this, and he installed it in the NFL at a time when Noah was running it and so they were just ripping everyone to shreds with this. You can do that. I mean, every quarterback, top rated quarterback that comes through is going to come attached to a system that people probably aren't running at the NFL level at this point that you can install slivers of and give yourself an advantage not only schematically, but like you said, financially, and I think that you know, to me, it makes all the sense in the world to try it, you know, to.
Your point like that you bring up the Eagles again, like and you know, we can hammer this home with Phelly because where was the turning point for Nick Siriani with Jalen Hurts. It was when they put it when Shane's I can put in the Oklahoma run game, right, And that's really what kind of turned it for them, like that midway through that first year. It was Jalen hurts second year in the league, and they were just like, like, I think shame was sort of just like fet like, let's lean into the Oklahoma run game. And you wouldn't think of that as a way of making a quarterback comfortable because everybody thinks like it's just about the passing game. But that run game like allowed them to set everything up for Jalen Hurts in a way that would make him comfortable and where he didn't have to be a world beater as a passer, and it just turned him into a different player.
On the other side. So, I mean, I think what we all conveniently sort of ignored about the Browns during this miraculous Flaco run was there was a lot Flacco made a lot of boneheaded plays during the four or five games he had as a starter, And how stare you he and he's still and he's still Flacco, so he's not necessarily very mobile. This is a wildly athletic front And I think I did say this on WIP on Saturday, was if they can get like if they're going to get into the backfield, I do think that the playing field is completely leveled in terms of you know, the Texas defense and the Browns. In the Browns defense, Flacko made a lot of bad throws in this game, and they were costly because they create they generated points. And I feel like a pick six is such a backbreaker in a playoff game, especially on the road, especially on the road, and to just have have it happen the way that it did, you know, there's there was no coming.
Up, which just like I feel like it almost feels like it has like an avalanche effect, yes, you know what I mean, Like it does. It like just feels I think for an opposing team, like when those things start to happen, it just feels like the roof is caving in on you. And I'm sure that's how it felt like for the Browns, like the whole thing, and because they were strung together, like they were walking a tight rope with their fourth and fifth tackles and with no Nick Chubb and with their fourth quarterback and with their fourth and fifth safeties, and they had to adjust.
And I think this is such a credit.
Like if I'm a Browns fan, I wake up today and I feel great about where my team is because of the job they did managing it. Forget about the quarterback, just the job that Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefanski have done setting.
It up and absorbing injuries and everything else.
But like the reality of it is they were really walking a tightrope because of all the injuries, you know, and they had to win games a certain way.
And you know, when you're walking.
A tightrope like that, you know, little like like something like a pick six can just make it snap, which I think is part of what happened on Saturday.
If you the Browns, how do you feel about everything right now?
Like you know, I mean pretty good?
You think so, don't you.
I mean, I don't like feel like Jim Schwartz is going to leave for a head coaching job. I don't feel like you're gonna lose your offensive staff. You got Bill Callahan. I mean, it's just I look at the infrastructure there, and maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way, but like I look at the premium players. They at premium positions. You're Miles Garrett, your Denzel Awards, in the tackles they have when they're healthy, and with the way Mariy Cooper played, I just I feel like, if you're them, you feel really good about the infrastructure you have in place, and the one thing that obviously is the variable. Unfortunately for them is at quarterback and which way that goes, which is a huge variable.
You know.
So Marik Cooper turns thirty in June. You have Joel Beatonio is going to be thirty three in the middle of next season. Wyatt Teller is going to be thirty next season.
Let's see offensive lineman generally last.
They age well, Miles Garrett is going to be in his age twenty nine season, I mean, shows no signs of slowing down. Obviously, if Brian Callahan gets a head coaching job, does Bill Callahan go with them? You know, And that's something that and Brian has interviewed for a couple of jobs, and that was something that I was thinking about. But you know, because again we always project like an ascendancy and complete health. I think, to me, what happens if one or two or three of these things start to break down. Now again, you get Nick Chubb back, so there's gonna be you know, there's gonna be positives in Cleveland. But you know, what if this is it? What if this is the height of what you were able to do, what you traded Deshaun for Deshaun Watson for the reason that you did it, I mean, It's a scary thing to think about, right if you're Andrew Barry, if you're that front office, like this was this, it was this our year, you know.
Right, yeah, and that's that's fair.
I mean again, like I I think you can look at the team and say, like the corp has gotten a little older, and you know, it's like where Buffalo is, right, Like Buffalo's got I mean some of the guys that they've got in there with the core guys, you know, you're you know, von Miller is not a core guy because he hasn't been, but he was sort of an older guy in their roster. And then you're Matt Malone's, you're Tredevious Whites, You're Jordan Ployer's your Micah Hyde, you're Dion Dawk and Stefan Diggs. Like it's like the window is going to be open as long as we have Josh Allen, but there's probably going to be a roster reset coming here. I think the brown I think the Bills are probably maybe a year or two advanced from where the Browns are. But I think you're right, the Browns are getting into that that that that territory where okay, like we have to start to kind of get some some of the next pieces ready to take over from for some of our stars, which is challenging to do. But again, like I mean, based on what we saw this year, man like from their coaching staff and their scouting staff from Barry and and Stefanski, and how they kept having answers, you know, how they had a fourth and fifth tackle ready, you know, in an era where like a lot of teams can't feel field too good tackles, you know, and how you know they were able to win, you know, in a game where they were able to compete in a game where they didn't have Amari Cooper or Elijah Moore and to win with your fourth quarterback and to win without Nick Chubb, I just I would have a lot of trust right now and that staff on both sides of a coaching and scatting their ability to reset the roster gradually over the next year or two.
Moving on to what was the most stunning part of the weekend for me was you know, I mean the Packers just absolutely both rassed the Dallas Cowboys, and it was it was weird to.
Me because I got a little scary there at the end where they let their foot off the gas, but.
It had to put Jordan Love and and everybody back in. I thought that was pretty funny. But to me, and you know, I was surprised. It reminded me a little bit of the complexion of a couple of years ago when Mike Petton was still the defensive coordinator of the Packers and the forty nine ers. It might have been before the Chief Super Bowl, right where they ran for like three hundred yards in that playoff game at Levi Stadium. That's what this reminded me of. And like everybody, I mean even Greg Olsen in the booth, but everybody's sitting at home. You know. I was listening to some talk radio this morning and callers were coming in and saying the same thing. It doesn't take a defensive genius to know that, like, Cowboys were playing way off the ball, they're playing super light against the Packers, and it just set the stage for them to just just run over the Cowboys. And it was stunning. I mean, Michael Parsons was a non factor. You could see where and I thought it was really smart of Matt Lafleur to take the ball at the beginning of that game and run a sustained drive, disallow the Cowboys from using all their pressure packages and force them on their heels. It was coached perfectly, but I was stunned at the flatness of Dallas's offensive game plan, at the flatness of their the almost the I don't know what you want to call it, just like the surrender nature of the of the defensive game plan. I I really I expect them to go after Jordan Love and and and he made some good throws under pressure. He made some great throws getting hit in that game. But yeah, I mean, you have the best pass rush in the league. Like it has to be better than that.
Yeah, And I think like a big part of it. And this was something like when I when I was asking around and I did that playoff preview last week about like, you know, team's strengths and weakness. Is one thing that came up pretty consistently with the Cowboys was like with their defense, you have to run right at them, you know, like and you have to and like you have to do that to minimize the amount of like bad down and distance situations you're in because that's when they can really dial it up. And you have to and and and it allows you to sort of like make Micah Parsons think about being aggressive, make DeMarcus Lawrence think about the way he's coming up field, and it can really put them on their heels because, like you said, they're a little light up front, right, thirty three carries one hundred and forty three yards, like I just and if you look at that first drive, there was no third long right, so they sort of set the tone there and the way they're able to run the ball in that first drive and the way they were able to stay out of bad down in distant situations, and it just limited for the rest of the game the amount of bad down in distant situations they were in. Now, Jordan Love was fricking off the charts when they needed a phenomenal you know what I mean, off the charts, Like that throw he made on third and seven to Dontavian Wicks, like down the pipe where he couldn't step into it. It just flicks his wrists and like puts it like right on the goalpost for Wicks to go and get. It was insane, and I like it was funny. I talked to the floor after the game and he said to me, he's like he's like, yeah, So first of all, he's like, I asked him what.
Play he wanted, so he called that play right.
Then he identifies that there's a zero blitz coming, he maxes the protection up right, so he basically adjusts the protection. Then he stands in there knowing he's going to get hit, and he knowing he's not going to be able to step in the ball into the into his throw, and knowing he's not going to be able to see the receiver he's throwing to, and he puts a dime right on Wicks And it's just like that, Like I mean, having that Like so we talk a lot about how you bring up young quarterbacks. Don't ask him to do that twenty five times a game, you know what I mean? And the Packers did ask him to do it five times a game. And I think that that's the genius of what the Packers are doing with Jordan Love is they're not asking him to like win every single play for them. He only threw the ball twenty one times yesterday, but when they did ask him to bail them out, he was freaking spectacular. And I think like that's sort of the key to the whole thing, like, it's what we've talked about with Josh Allen. It's like when you start to ask the guy to put on the cape too much, eventually he's going to crash, you know. And I just think it was a beautifully managed game, and Jordan Love deserves all the credit in the world. And I think again, like this brings us right back to that old quarterback argument right where it's like, like maybe everyone should sit there quarterback for three years. And it sounds ridiculous after the way that CJ. Stroud played, But you know, I do think that there's a lot of benefit in coming up the way that Jordan Love came up.
Everyone's making fun of me. I've been saying, keep Justin Fields and draft Caleb Williams, Like Caleb williamsit for a year, do it?
Yeah?
Why not?
Why not?
Why not? I mean build the offense up, like for another year.
So then you build up Justin Field's value, right, Yeah, exercise the option and then you know, if you have enough confidence in yourself to do it, exercise the option and then and then trade him on the option.
In twenty twenty five.
Aaron Jones looked like he was shot out of a cannon in that game too.
I mean, oh my god, yeah, I could have used that during the fantasy season. To be honest with you.
On the other side, I mean, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't get him motivated. I did a good job. We were we were a resourceful team. I did a good job getting the most out of my pledge. But she just couldn't get Intern Jones going.
You had to get him away from JayR Alexander, I think was the problem. You know, Jay was just you know, he was out goofing around and he was distracting Aaron Jones from here.
Do you think Jay Alexander made the lateral decision to be active in yesterday's game because it was a question going in right whether or not he was gonna play.
It is it is funny that like, I mean.
Just didn't just just just didn't check with Lafleur, just like you know, like he's in his he's in his game.
Jersey there during warm.
Up, going from shot in the coin toss to then just hopping into local news interviews and you have this miraculous run and maybe it's his lightness that is keeping the team going, you know, uh, Lucy, I.
Think that that actually is a factor. I have thought about that, which might be, but I have thought about.
That, and I mean he did have a pick, so you know.
It's like that whole like not giving a bleep thing.
Yeah, you know what I mean, Like there's that there's like power in that, Like we've talked about it with Flacco. Yeah, like Flacco, I think there's the power not giving a bleep. He didn't care about his legacy anymore, Like he's just going out and playing.
And maybe that's what it is with Chi. Hear Alexander too.
I think, I mean, he played well on Sunday. I think that pick was really critical at the end of the first quarter because then you put yourself in a spot where you're up by fourteen before Dallas is even really able to blink their eye, you know, And.
So yeah, change the context of the game totally. I mean, just like the games played a different way when you take a lead like that.
Dallas's defense and this is the one thing that we saw in various they looked so good against bad teams that we kind of just thought that they were really good when the truth is that they are Dallas. It was almost like that one year that Louisville made the final, like played really well with Rick Patino and their full court pressing all the time. It's it's like it works if you can get the game into a situation where you need it to be. Here. I went to Syracuse, so we always played two three zone defense for absolutely no reason, but it worked. It worked if a team couldn't shoot and then you got up on them all of a sudden, and then yeah, I think that's right. That's how you beat a zone while you shoot your way out.
Yeah, I can remember.
Like so it's sort of like like Don Brown and when he was at Michigan as the college defensive coordinator, was called doctor Blitz and Michigan would dominate freaking everybody all year, and then Ohio State would like basically run a bunch of mesh routes with NFL receivers and score seventy on right, and eventually they had to fire Don Brown because of it. Where it was like, all right, like that's great that we're like shutting out like Indiana and like limiting limiting Minnesota to like thirty four yards for a whole game. But then once the talent equates, it's like we're getting boat raced, you know, And so I do think that there's that element of it where it's like you have to It's like are you building what are you building for? Are you building for a week six or are you building for the wild card round, the divisional round?
You know, like that's what it is.
So let's let's boog into a little bit about coaching carousel. But I'll lead it off by saying that, Okay, I think it's stupid to fire Mike McCarthy. Yeah, three straight, twelve and five seasons, these playoff games happen. I don't think it's necessarily an indictment of the coaching staff. I don't know. Do you think Jerry Jones goes wild?
I think both.
So I think two things I'm gonna do the two things can be true thing, which is a stupid cliche, but like, so two things can be true. It is insane to hot fire Mike McCarthy after thirty six regular season wins in three years, and after the Cowboys have ranked first, third and first in point scored, right, insane to do that.
And the latter part of that, he took back the play calling. It was directly his responsibility.
Right, and the year you got out of Dak, all of it. It's insane to think about, like, all right, now is the time to whack Mike McCarthy. But I can also understand acting with urgency and the old The owners eighty two years old, and they haven't They haven't been to the NFC title game since nineteen ninety five, which so next year that drought is going to be approaching thirty years. I think it's the four it's the fifth longest such drought in the NFL. And they've got a roster that is very much like win now. Like you talk about teams that are relying on some older players like Tyron Smith, Zach Martin, DeMarcus Lawrence. I mean, Steph Gilmore will see if he's around next year, Brandon cooks like, there are a lot of older players on that team. And so I can see where if Jerry looks at it and says there's some unique opportunities out there, and whether it means promoting Dan Quinn because I don't want to lose him to Seattle, or hiring Mike Vrabel, or hiring Jim Harbaugh, or taking the biggest swing of all and hiring Bill Belichick.
This is just the time I have to do it.
So I can both understand, Like I can both say I think it's crazy to look at Mike McCarthy in the last four years and say, God, that's not good enough.
God, he's awful.
And I think it's insane to think about it that way, Like I think Mike McCarthy, on balance, has done a really good job.
But I can also understand.
I think if Mike McCarthy gets fired, he gets a job this cycle, if he wants it.
Yeah, I wonder where that would be though.
True, maybe Pittsburgh, if Mike Tomlin, Philly, Philly pending tonight, right, So let's let's run through things. We gave our predictions last week, and it was funny. I mean, I my predictions post published about forty five minutes before Gerard Mayo accepted the Patriots job. I had thought that maybe they would have taken a little bit longer and given a second look to Mike Rabel. But I give New England credit. I mean, this was the plan. And I feel like, if you're Robert Kraft, this is your this is your baby now. And so you know, Tom Brady went to Tampa. Bill Belichick's gonna go to Atlanta or Dallas, and we're gonna see what he can do on his own. You have identified Gerrod Mayo, you wanted him, this is your guy, and you were like, I'm not even going through the interview process.
So yeah, you're on the stage.
I do think like you're I'd say, like there's a little bit of a parallel here with what like Jerry Jones did with uh with with Jason Garrett, where there's an ego thing with owners, right, and like Jerry kind of viewed like Jason Garrett is his creation, you know. And I think to somebody like there's a little bit of that with Craft and Mayo. But I think Mayo's got special qualities to qualify him to be a head coach just from a leadership standpoint, who he is. I think he's got a lot of the same things that some of the ex players like Demiko and Dan Campbell and like Frabel had and like, yeah, they had a bad year, but does what do you have? What do you like put more weight on a bad year or the sixteen that you've known the guy for, you know. And the one thing that came up that I thought was sort of interesting in having discussions with some people that were involved over the weekend was how Robert Kraft in nineteen ninety six had this like feeling like I should just hire Bill Belichick, right, he didn't wind up doing it because it would have been awkward to hire one of Parcels assistants when things fell apart between Parcels and the Patriots in nineteen ninety seven, So he didn't do it then, And like he's he has set himself, he like regrets that. I think he has the same sort of feeling and hiss gut about Mayo that he had about Belichick, And I think that that's what's driving this.
And I can't fault him for that.
Because I if you're if you've been right about people the way he has been right about people, then there's reason to trust your gut. And look like, if you don't hire the guy now, he probably gets a job in the next year or two, so you're never going to have the chance to hire him, which like kind of is that Sean McVay thing, Like when the Rams hired Sean. I remember talking to people there about and it's like, you know, is he ready? Maybe not, But we either hire him now or we lose him forever, right because because if we don't hire him now, somebody is going to either this year or next year, and whoever our next coach is, if it doesn't work out, we're not going to be rid of that guy. Like by the time we get rid of that guy, McVay is going to be off the market. I think it's the same sort of thing with Mayo, So you know, you try to support him and put infrastructure around him. But yeah, I mean I think the world of In full disclosure, you know, I did TV with Girodd for a couple of years, so I.
Know him really well. You know, I think the world of him. I think he's going to be I think he's a really good pick.
And I would just say this, I've worked with a ton of ex athletes on TV and a lot of them had potential, a lot of them are smart, a lot of them have like the ability to be good at it. But there are two guys who got it, like just automatically right away. Understood how to speak to the audience without being overly complicated but giving their insight, understood how to speak in sound bites, all of it. And one was nape Elson and the other one was Drowd Mayo, which I think speaks to how Mayo is sort of one of these guys who's just he's the kid in high school who you know, everybody was buddies at, but everybody slightly resented just because he was good at everything he did.
You know that kid.
Oh yeah, I think everybody everybody had had those kids for us that for themselves growing up, right, Like I would say, like for us, like it was this kid Damien Roomett, whound up playing both football and baseball at Dartmouth.
Yeah, like so he I think d Mayo's just that kind of.
Kid that you loved, that you grew up with, but everyone just had like a slight little bit of resentment because it's like what the hell, Like everything this guy does, like he's like just snaps his fingers and.
He's good at it.
Damien Ruettes, Roumettes, Roomettes, Yeah, Roomettes and Ye.
Played football and baseball Dartmouth, and he burned out a little bit athletically, but he broke the Dartmouth like single game receiving record as a sophomore there, and he pitched on the baseball team.
So two sport Division one athlete pretty good. Wow did he come up?
He did nice?
Nice there he is.
Look at that not how I thought you would have spelled his name, but I found.
Him yep, roomy wow.
Si stats don't go back that far for the Big Green, but I'm gonna go down a rabbit hole there. Other than that, we have Harbob meeting with the Chargers as we speak. I don't know. I mean to me, that still makes the most sense. If he pulls out and stays at Michigan, everything that I thought I knew kind of goes into chaos a little bit. You know. I feel like I kind of had a nice little setup where I think that the Raiders either do Antonio Pierce or Mike Rabel. I think that the Titans either do Antonio Pierce or maybe a Raheem Morris or maybe your offensive coordinator three Falcons, Bill Belichick, commander's Ben Jonson Panthers. I think like Frank Smith or Dave Canalis maybe yeah for that job.
Or did you say dan Quinn yet? Did you put him in Seattle?
I'm saying dan Quinn is possibly in Seattle, but I you know, it's interesting with Canalis, like let's say that he lights it up tonight and Canalis has been with Tampa or UH with Pete Carroll since two thousand and nine. He was on Pete Carroll's staff at USC as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, and then Pete Carroll brought him to be a quality control coach in twenty ten. He was there through everything. He knows everybody. What if he goes out and hangs forty on the Eagles tonight, you know what I mean? Does that change the complexion of it?
I don't know.
I mean, we are you know, but I'm interested to see where this all goes. But I do think that Harbaugh is a key. I think Belichick is a key, and I think that these these and dan Quinn and I think these experienced guys have to go because the only reason these teams got into it, they did not get into it to hire this staff of first time head coaches because it's not a good you know.
Yeah.
So I think, like with with Harbaugh, what it'll be interesting today with the interview and maybe we find out, maybe we don't what happens inside the room. But like I do think like he's perfect for the Chargers because again we've talked about this Connor. They're sensitive to the idea they're cheap. They're sensitive to the idea that they're irrelevant in LA. And Harbaugh addresses both those things, right, because you're gonna have to spend to get him, and he's going to put you on the map a little bit more in LA than you already are. I think the question is going to be what Harbaugh asks for, not salary wise, like, because I think you pay him what you pay him, but for the people around him, right, And so, what are you willing to pay Jesse Minter to come with him and be his defensive coordinator? What are you willing to do to maybe modernize some of the things you're doing from a sports science standpoint or an analytics standpoint, And what what is Harbaugh asking for?
I think that that's going to be the interesting thing. Now. The Chargers aren't a unique position.
Here because they're about to open a brand new practice facility by the airport there in LA, and so I think that they've got the ability to say, Hey, look, Jim, this is a nine figure facility we're opening. We've got some flexibility in the way that we're going to set them things up there. We'll let you shape what the facility looks like. So I think there are in a unique position to sort of accommodate what he needs. But I think that that's going to be as big a part of this as anything is. Can you put can you give Jim the infrastructure that he's going to want to set up the program the way he wants to set it up? And are you going to be willing to convince Are you going to be able to convince Jim like, Hey, we're going to be able to work with you in a way that ownership in San Francisco couldn't because I'm sure that that part of it hangs over him to a little bit.
We're going to be able to We're going to be able to not get pissed off when you make fun of the owner in front of everybody, like like Jim Harbaugh used to do in San Francisco and basically pin everybody against everybody else in the building except for you. That does it for us. Today, we have Matt and Gilberto who are on deck. They're gonna be the Thursday show and they're gonna take you through. I'm presuming I'm not telling them what to do. They can do whatever they want. They can talk about their favorite barbecue recipes if they want. But I think that they will take you through Philadelphia. They will take you through Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Enjoy the snow tonight, Albert and I will be warm and cozy in our homes, not exposing ourselves to the temperatures.
It's a little chilly in my basement, so I can relate with the people in Orchard Park, you know, I get My home office is downstairs, and you know it does maybe, you know, drop into the sixties down.
Maybe I'll cold plunge it tonight before the game, just to get myself a little bit. I mean, I took an ice cold shower this morning, so you know, I feel right.
I am going to be looking into a plunge pool now, like you're you're the fourth or fifth person who's like advocated for me getting one, So I'm gonna definitely look into it.
Yeah, it's I don't know how different it is from just having a cold shower, but I think the fact that you can say that you have a plunge pool is you know it it.
Makes you makes you feel like cutting it. It's like like wow, like they're pretty cutting edge over there, you know.
Like like all the other dads that are jogging in the neighborhood just don't have their ship together like I do.
You know.
That's that's what it's all about, all right. Thank you Albert, Thank you guys for listening. Enjoy the remainder of the playoffs, and we will see you next Monday. When the field narrows, it's a
