Hello, and welcome to the m m QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I'm host Gary Gremling. I'm joined once again by Jenny Prentis of the week Side Podcast. And Jenny, we have Super Bowl teams. We had games that were pretty okay on Sunday. I guess moderate excitement. It's better than last weekend. Although the Chief's Bills game dragged a little bits and took several minutes to sort out the offsetting penalties, which was probably one of the more anti climactic points of any game this playoffs. Yes, we all sat there waiting for ejections or something, and then you just had well you had three penalties on the Bills and one on the Chiefs, and that that offset according to the NFL rulebook. That is even Stephen, everyone got their shots in. Yeah, that was It was just absurd to think about three verses one, but that's how it's written, and you know, it could be fodder for some potential debates over future rule changes. Garrett. I was gonna say, if it had happened in a game that was competitive, we'd probably be having this conversation. But well, we'll just leave it there then, because I haven't really thought about it at all, didn't really affect anyone's life, didn't affect anyone except all of us waiting for the conclusion of the game. That is very true in a way, all penalties offset when it's all said and done. But uh, as far as this show goes, we're going to break down the two Sunday games, the two Championship weekend games. Uh. We are also going to talk about to Matthew Stafford put on the trade block, and we'll we'll see how that plays out, who might get him in and quite frankly, what someone's going to have to give up to get for him, because I see some folks I think maybe under selling what the lines will will get in exchange for Matthew Stafford. But we'll get to that in a little bit. We're gonna start again going chronologically backward. We're gonna travel back in time. We will start with the Chiefs victory over the Bills, and I don't really know what answers anyone could possibly have for this Chief's offense other than okay, we're just gonna overwhelm Patrick Mahomes with the pass rush and that's gonna be it, because uh, there was no stopping Travis Kelsey and Tyree Hill in this game. Yeah, it's crazy to think about. You go into the game, you know that Tyree Hill and Travis Kelsey are the opponent's biggest weapons. You know that are the people that you have to stop, and yet you can't stop them. And that's the reality of any team facing the Chiefs this season. And there were games this year when the Chief's offense wasn't up to the level we expected. And there was a little bit of a narrative going into this game like they're not firing on all cylinders. This isn't you know, the Chief's offense at its peak. But I think more of those were self inflicted issues rather than any pnit having some great game plan to slow them down. It felt like they're kind of keeping some things in their pocket perhaps. And and look, the Bills went with a similar tack that they went with against the Chiefs back in Week six, which is they they played coverage. They said, we're not going to give up big plays, rank gonna let our guys get beat over the top, and didn't do a lot of blitzing in the first half. They got pressure on Mahomes a couple of times. He had no Mitchell Schwartz in this game, and uh, Eric Fisher went down later we'll get into that, but no Mitchell Schwartz. Uh, you had a couple of protection breakdown said, just a lot of free runner to come at Mahomes. And it happened on back to back plays. Matt Milano had had a free clear shot on Mahomes on a third and six, couldn't get them on the ground. Mahomes flings at Travis Kelsey eleven yards. Next play, a j Epanessa breaks through. Uh wins easily in his pass rush, gets in there and just gets hands on my Homes but doesn't get them down. And then Mahomes flings at Syreek Hill. It turns into thirty three yards and two plays later instead of you know, having to punt the chi saw in the end zone. Yeah, you need more than one rusher to get him. Holmes is often the way that it works out because you kind of have to corral him. You know that he can scoot out to one side or the other. You know, he's excellent throwing on the run. He's excellent throwing off balance. That's become such a big part of his game. So even if you have a free rusher that you still don't have a great chance of getting him down. He's such a liar about his toe was not hurt. I mean, I know they made it seem like, well, he's cleared from the concussion protocol, but the toe might still be an issue coming into this game, or at least Andy Reid left open that possibility, and it was clear there was no impediment there. I was gonna say that it was made out to be like this gangrenous toe that was gonna have to be removed mid game or something that now he was he was moving around fine, it was. I would have been and I don't hope to see this, but I would have been very curious to see Patrick Mahomes with limited mobility play in a big game like this. But he was maybe ever so slightly limited. He was. He was fine. He was Patrick Mahomes in this game. Yeah. And to your earlier point about the Chiefs keeping some tricks in their pockets, I think that is what makes them so dangerous. And you know, Andy read has this endless playbook that he kind of cycles through from different decades. He pulls from even his high school playbook. At one point, he told me, So, there are so many different things they can incorporate into a game plan at any given time. And I think that was the reason why Gary that this looked more like the score. It will explosive, you know, free willing Chief's offense that really has defined them during this Uh what looks like the beginning of a dynasty. I know, it does just kind of feel like fifteen years from now, we're gonna look back and it's gonna be like, remember those one or two years that the Chiefs didn't make the Super Bowl like that, this is gonna be This is gonna be like this is basically gonna be with the Patriots did for for a couple of years, except I don't know if you're going to have that gap. I mean, we're getting ahead of ourselves. You don't need to project the four season yet. But um, there's just no reason to look at this and say like they're not They're gonna be a heavy favorites in the a f C every year for the next decade. Yeah, And I remember working on the Super Bowl story last year. Andy Reid of course was still trying to win his first Super Bowl at that time. While we were reporting it leading up to the game, and all these people who had worked with him said, it's taken him a long time to get to winning his first Super Bowl as a head coach, but with this team and with Mahomes and with this partnership, that they all just had this sense that once he got one, he would just be able to rattle off more. Now again, he still face they still to face Brady and and you know, we saw the Seahawks in this position where they win one and they're back the next year and it didn't work out the way it planned they planned, But this is a different situation and it does feel it does have that feeling Gary that you know, he waited for so long to to break the damn and now that he's in this position, he could win. He could have the ability to be in a position to contend for a Super Bowl every year with Red and Mahomes together. So the chief defense who will never be noticed no matter how well they play, Steve Spagnolo. It just does a tremendous job. They took stuff on Digs away in this game. And the other thing that took away in this game was um when you blitz Josh Allen, I think early in the year, the Bill is sort of built in some stuff in structure to beat the Blitz, but later in the year it was a lot of Josh Allen rolling right and sort of making plays out of structure when when they face pressure. They took that away from him. Alan was not able to flush right in this game. But more than that, and it's tough to say without seeing the coaches film first, but uh, Stefan Diggs did his usual number of alignments in this game and just he wasn't available, he didn't do anything in his game. Yeah, the coverage on the back end was really fantastic, and there were just a lot of plays where it didn't seem like Alan had any options. And Diggs has been that player who's been an option for Alan even in a you know, a situation where all looks like the play is not going anywhere, but Diggs and Allen will find a way. And that was the difference in this game that there they didn't have that connection or there weren't those opportunities for them to make a play together. The Uh, the Bills are in a I don't want to say they're in a strange place going forward. I mean they have a young franchise quarterback who just played at the m v P level. They they obviously have a an offense that it will rightfully be expected to put up a ton of points next year. But uh, this defense at a and so good the last couple of years, and they weren't bad this year, and certainly they were much better down the stretch. Uh. And look, lots of defenses are not going to play well against this Chief's offense. But um, you wonder if they can get back to that sort of dominating defense that they had a couple of years ago to matches offense, because we all, when it's all saiding done, they're gonna be chasing the Chiefs, uh, pretty much until the end of time here. Yeah, and their division is interesting. The Dolphins are up and coming. The Patriots had a down year but could very easily figure things out. Maybe the Jets trade for Shaun Watson. You know, lots of possibilities here, Gary, So I agree with you in a lot of ways. It you know, felt like with the steps forward that Alan was taking, this could have been their year. But you're right, they needed that component that they had in previous years when Alan hadn't reached the level that he reached this year. Yeah, Jerry Hughes is getting older. Trim and Edmonds and at Oliver have to be better than they were this year. I think everyone was sort of wondering if they would be superstars this year. They just didn't play very well for the most part. But um, this is ah, this is a spot. I mean, you look at the teams with the young quarterbacks and you say, those are the teams that could possibly rise up and challenge the Chiefs for for the next couple of years. And the Bills are certainly one of those teams. But this defense has to sort of get back playing at the kind of near elite level they were at the previous few seasons when the offense was not quite ready yet. All right, hang on one second, Jenny, It is time for the SI Fantasy Segment, brought to you as always by our friends at DraftKings, and we are joined by by my friend Michael Fabiano. Uh Fabs. We are gonna talk a little bit about look ahead before the teams who maybe won't be playing in the Super Bowl, the two teams that lost this week. Uh Let's let's start with the Packers and there's some buzz is Aaron Rodgers does he want out? You know some some cryptic things said I personally and and you can feel free to disagree. Um, I personally would be stunned to Aaron Rodgers is not the starting quarterback us here. However, however, we have maybe a change in the backfield coming here for the Packers, and that's a huge fantasy impact. First off, I would totally agree if Rodgers is in any uniform but Agreen Bay Packers uniform next season, it would be an absolute shock. These guys make comments when they're emotional, when they're coming off of the biggest loss of the season, and Matt Lafleur had said that there's you know, there's no way that you know he wouldn't want Rogers back, and the floor is going to be kicking himself for not going forward on fourth down rather than kicking a field goal as well. So looking at what might be different in Green Bay and you hit the nail on the head, you've got Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams both free. As some Packers fans may be left with a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to Jones because of what happened in the game. I would love to see him go to Atlanta or a team that's got avoiding their backfield, and then you give that that starting job to a j DLL and you bring back Jamal Williams as as a free agent, and you go from there. I would also like to see the Packers get a little bit of help at the wide receiver position. An Lazard is an exclusive rights free agent, so he's not a unrestricted free agent, but green Bay maybe learning from the mistakes of the last season, I might want to get Aaron Rodgers a little more help. And we've seen some ricky wide receivers come into this league very recently and put up very good numbers, So that would be the major changes. Robert Tounyan is also I believe he's a restricted free agent. I would think they're going to hold on him, so, but that backfield could look somewhat different. But as I mentioned, and you said, Rogers being in anything but a Sucker's uniform would still be somewhat of a shock to me. It would. Yeah, I can't, uh boy, it's such a bummer to end the season that way. But which when you step back, it's like they man, listen, I mean Rogers had the entire right side of the end zone empty for him to just run that, that score in and the Packers have the lead. Instead, he decided to throw it for some reason because Rogers is not drew bledsoe it's not like he looks to throw because he's not mobile, Like he's not Lamar Jackson, but he's not a statue. He could have gotten in there. I think you could have gotten there easily. And then you know they missed on uh the touchdown of Davante Adams, Aquanamius st Brown dropped one. Tom Brady got picked off three times. They couldn't turn those turnovers into anything significant on the scoreboard. Green. You can't blame it on the floor. You can't blame it on Rogers, you can't blame it on Aaron Jones. It is what it is. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers just won the game. Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback to ever play it. I am. I'm excited to see Brady against Mahomes, but um, I can understand why the Packers and their fans are certainly disappointed after the after this weekend. It's just like, you can run it back next year and and it's always you say that about every team that gets steep into the playoffs, to say like, well they'll be back, and they're not always back. That's not the case with that room. But that team, what they did is very sustainable going on. I just I can't imagine even if Aaron Rodgers is not a sentimental man about Green Bay, which I think he is, but even if he took that away, they're ready to win the Super Bowl. Go back in the NFC Championship game. Last year, I don't think that team was nearly as good as the team that they put out on the field this season. They had every chance to beat Tampa Bay and ultimately a few odd decisions cost them. Well let's uh, let's talk about the Bills here. Uh. They're they're another team. They're gonna be pretty much the same core back offensively here. Uh. And that's a that's that's a very good thing. I mean, Josh Allen, I would imagine, is going to be one of the top five quarterbacks off the draft, off the board and drafts next year. Yeah, he'll probably be two I'd say Mahomes and then and then and the Josh probably will be too. Lamar will figure figure into there as well. There's there's a handful of others, but I think Alan probably has has earned he was the QB one. It wasn't Mahomes, it was Alan. He was the QB one. Alan had quietly one of the greatest fantasy seasons of all time among quarterbacks. It wasn't as good as Lamar last year or Mahomes the year before, but it was damn good. It was just just under four hundred points that he scored. He was very good this season. Their their wide receivers will will likely be the same crew coming back. Of course, you got Digs just coming off a career season. You've got John Brown, You've got Cold Beasley, and I would I would suggest although they did draft Zack moss In, they still need help in the backfield. Devin Singletary's he's he's he's an okay player, but he's not a number one. I mean t J. Yeldon looked better than him against Kansas City, which is not it's not a compliment. So I think if they get themselves a back and they're they're gonna be returning to being the favorites in the a f C East. It's gonna be them in Miami unless the Jets go crazy, get to Shawn Watson, make a whole bunch of other moves, and then of course they would be in the mix. I noticed I didn't mention the Patriots there. But Buffalo is still gonna have a very fantasy friendly team. Uh, that offense is going to be very good, and Josh Allen's gonna learn from you know, this this very disappointing experience, but it isn't experience. Nonetheless, in the playoffs, and you know a lot of times teams like this, like it takes a year or two before they actually get to the Super Bowl, right, even like I remember the great Cowboys teams, Right, we had to go in and we got our asses handed to us by Detroit, and Detroit ended up beating beating us and then going to Washington getting beat Washington. I'm going to win in Super Bowl. And that was until the following year when the Cowboys actually got there. Like, so, you know, you talk about like, you know, how Michael Jordan had to get past the Pistons, right, and the Pistons had to get by the Celtics. You know, like sometimes sometimes teams, you know, take a year or two and maybe it's gonna take Buffalo another year or two to get to get past Kansas City because they're gonna be the favorite every year for as long as Patrick Mahomes is under center. It seems it sucks to the FC right now if you're not I know, I know, dude, it's bananas, dude like and you know, I feel like maybe Brady, in his ultimate wisdom, said, you know what, I don't have a lot of talent in New England. Of course I love I love Boston, I love New England. This Mahomes guys pretty good, though, Maybe I need to get out of this conference to get back to the super Bowl, right man, you're not kidding, Yeah, it's uh, it just felt like one of those things. It's like, yeah that this feels like a run that's gonna be like, oh yeah, remember that time the Chiefs went to the super Bowl twelve times in fourteen years. Wherever it is, it feels like we're at the beginning of bat which which is really impressive. Um, I don't know if Patrick Mahomes will quite be the villain that maybe Tom Brady was at the height of that. I guess if you win enough, it's gonna be There's gonna be folks out there who just hate you out of jealousy. Yep, yep. Uh. Well, let's let's talk Matthew Stafford here. We you know, we we mentioned Rogers probably not going anywhere, Deshaun Watson maybe going somewhere, But it looks like Stafford's gonna be out there, Uh, mutual decision. He's gonna you know, and it's right. It's the right decision for the franchise. Is the right decision decision for the quarterback who probably has I mean, you could argue he has he has four or five years left into the back end of his prime here, but um, if you had kind of a wish list for where he lands from a fantasy standpoint, where where would you like him to go? Fat? Are we talking realistically or fantasy? Right? And I live in the fantasy world, So I'll say even even even if it doesn't look realistic because the cap members are horrible, Yeah, I'd love to see him in New Orleans. Like that's enough. I mean, their cap numbers, they're they're, they're they're about a hundred million dollars over the cap. Like, but they'll they'll, they'll they'll figure it out. So New Orleans would be great. San Francisco would be great, and then Garoppolo go back to New England. That that that that that might happen. I'd love it. The Cults would be great. Denver, Denver does this. Denver goes out and signs these these veterans quarterbacks. I did it with Peyton, right, I mean they did a flacout. It didn't work out, of course, with flakout Drew Block. I don't know if he's the answer there. I don't know if he's going to be there long term. But that imagine Stafford with that core of wide receivers and no fan and there are there are certainly other teams that could you know, that could use Stafford services. But I think the Washington is another one. They need a quarterback. And I know maybe it's gonna be Cam because Cam's got the Riverboat Ron connection. But didn't Martin made you draft Stafford in Detroit, So maybe there's a there is there a connect, right, I mean, I was gonna say, was it was? It was it Mayhew who draft from him that year. I think you're right. I think Milan was out and mayhe was in at that point. So I'm just thinking off the top of my but I think I think, um, we can, we can. We can check in on that. But so Washington would have some interest in him as well. Where this could be a good move from a fantasy perspective is that Stafford goes to a team that's got a lot of talent around him, improves the value of those players around him. Detroit is gonna have a whole new look potentially. Kenny J's a free agent, Marvin Jones is a free agent. I'd love to see them get like Josh Fields. That would bring a lot of excitement to the franchise. I mean, Dan Campbell, I don't know if he's you know, going to be biting kneecaps or whatever the hell that was all about. I have no idea, but you know, Detroit's gotta get you know, fresh start man. You get an exciting quarterback in there, like Josh Fields. I think you could follow them in the first round. I think I think he could. I've seen, I mean I've seen I've seen Daniel Jeremiah, my guy over at the NFL Network redid his his mock draft. When Stafford was reportedly an agreement to part where was the trade and he he put fields in Detroit. Yeah, but it could be I mean, it could be somebody else, but Detroit's I think it's time to you know, get a fresh start and get a good quarterback in there. A lot of good young quarterbacks coming out of that, you know, those college ranks man the last few years. So I think that would be fun. Detroit's gonna be. It could be very different if if Jones Walks and or Colliday Walks like Golladay could end up in any number of places Jacksonville, Baltimore, and there's a lot of teams out there that could use the number one wide receiver. But Stafford, New Orleans would be my my top pick, although again maybe that's more fantasy than reality. The Niners Denver, uh, certainly in the mix there as well. Washington, like I said, also, uh, well, we'll be looking for quarterback helps. So there there there are going to be no shortage of of suitors, and the Colts will be on that list as well. Yeah, Anthony Line there in Detroit now too. So you know he's he's a guy who is utilize these mobile quarterbacks. Well, so you get him adjusin fields again, a tree. Lance Zack Wilson is also mobile, but maybe not too like I think Lance and Fields are sort of they can be almost foundational guys and you're in your rushing offense if you want to use them that way. And we love those rushing quarterbacks and fantasy football, you know that, So we love them. And by the way, fact, when you started to say you were gonna give me the fantasy pick for how do you're gonna say, like Chiefs say Tyreeke Kelsey because like you know, I'm gonna be doing my my off season wish list here in a couple of weeks, probably after the super Bowl. And you know when I do these in the past, people are like, well that can never happen because of the salary cap. It's fantasy. This is what I wish for. Okay, It's not like Wonder Woman, which was garbage, by the way, where the wishes came true and everything was gonna be reality. It's not what I'm talking about. What a bad movie that was. But I'm just saying I would love if the Saints can figure it out. Think about Stafford in New Worlands with Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, Jared Jared Cooks the free agent, but they got Adam Troutman, Emmanuel Sanders gonna be I mean, tray Kuon like that. They got some, they got some, they got some weapons there. You put Stafford in that offense. Sean Paynton called the play giddy up. I love that. Everything looks better than Detroit minus Kenny Golladay that he was playing in last year. Jamis Winson might not like that so much, but right, Hayson Hill, Alright, fabs, we got we got super Bowl stuff coming up in the next couple of shows here, and we'll have plenty more off season talk. We're we're gonna want guys landing. It's gonna be, man, it's gonna be a mind blowing off season here in the NFL, of lots of big games, so much fun. We're gonna have big name wide receivers on the move. I think quarterbacks moving all over the place. It's and we might have we might have h the seventh Super Bowl championship for time, but that's just bananas. That it's just bananas. I and I grew up watching Joe Montana and I always thought he was the greatest of all time. And I'm a Cowboys fan Brady's There's there's no question you can't. I don't care if you could hate him all day long. This guy's this is his tenth freaking Super Bowl ten, right, He's he's the only quarterback to win both conferences, to be playing in the Super Bowl for two different teams, two different conferences. I mean, like, dude, there were a five seed and I know he's got a lot of talent around him. We've seen plenty of teams with a lot of talent that fell on their faces plenty. Look at my Cowboys for the last two years. Tom Brady went in there and he won the conference at forty three years old, and he's got a shot to go seven and three, seven and three in the Super ten Super Bowl appearances, went to New Orleans, went to Green Bay. There are gonna be There are gonna be teams in the history of the National Football League that won't ever get to half of those number of Super Bowls half. Let me think about it, how many times with Cleveland brownsmen in the Super Bowl. They've been in elite for a long long time and we got one. This is what it is. Brady's just he's the goat man. He's the goat. It's all that avocado live stream. And you know Mary to a supermodel. I mean, I guess that's the that's the fat youth, brother, that's that's that's what we all should have done, supermodels of our own and we'd be celebrating center super Bowl. Alright, Fabs, we'll we'll catch you next week. But if you out there want more Michael Fabiano SI Fantasy Podcast, SI dot Com Slash Fantasy, I'll talk to you next week. Alright, my brother. Al Right, we are back with Jenny Brentis and Jenny Uh the early game. Let's let's be optimists and let's start with a good side of this and that's uh number one. Tom Brady is is going back to the Super Bowl now with another franchise. I don't know if people knew about that, but he is. He didn't play you well in this game. I don't want to overstate it. I don't want to say Tom Brady brought the Bucks back, um, but obviously he's he's he's a very big part of this. He played reasonably well in an offense that I would still insist is maybe not the most quarterback from the offense in the League and they're they're going back, They're gonna play a super Bowl in their home field. Well, he planned really well in the first half, Gary, that first drive, he came out and there were a lot of games this season where he had a really slow start, so this was completely different. And so from that first position possession, it was like this we were all unnoticed that oh my gosh, like this could be Brady's day. They could actually win this, and that is how it turned out. Now, obviously the second half was very different from the first half, but they built this huge advantage and that opening drive really just stood out to me because we talked on this show last week that the Breeze I just merged their two names together there. Gary the Brady Breeze matchup was like old man football, I think, is what I said last week. And then Brady comes out and he's pretty clinical in that first possession. They convert three third downs and it was just a really good omen for the day and gave the Bucks a lot of momentum, I think um. And some of the interceptions in the second half were ugly. One one was under pressure and he kind of threw up a floater. Another one, you know, the safety came over the top. Another one was high to Mike Evans. So yeah, there was some you know, mistakes, there were some high throws that resulted in mistakes. Ultimately the Packers couldn't capitalize on those. But but I thought this was an impressive performance because ultimately Brady did what seemed almost unfathomable entering this season. Yeah, he, I was gonna say the the interception where he threw high to Mike Evans in the middle of the field, and that was soon followed by he had another high miss to Chris god In on a little out. Those little uh those I feel like those probably ruined his weekend as far as this goes. But two paired together as being the same kind of thing. They're there, Yeah, they're and they're just they're just accuracy, they're their mechanical problems that he just happened to pop up in the fourth quarter of this game. But um, all that said, uh, look, he he did more than enough. But I mean give credit to Todd Bowls here, and we're gonna get into some of the maybe some of the Packers missteps in this game. But uh Noah Antoine Winfield Jr. In this game and then he lost Jermaine Whitehead in the second half. White Head Head forced a couple of fumbles, including one that end up being a big takeaway early in the third quarter. But going against Aaron Rodgers with neither of your starting safeties and and trying to sort of uh stem the tide of this comeback that it seemed like the Packers were about to mount. The Packers went three and out, three and out, and then the final drive they settled for a field goal that was their three fourth quarter possession. I mean the Bucks defense held on. Yeah, off of the three Tom Brady interceptions, the Packers only got six points and that was the touchdown they got after the Amus interceptions. So Jaire Alexander had interceptions on two straight possessions and the Packers, as you just referenced, went three and out both of those times. So it was pretty you know, I agree with you, Gary, I mean, the performance of the Bucks defense has been a storyline all postseason. Last week what they did against Breeze and this week what they did against Rogers. Yeah, the pass rush was big time in this game. No David Abatieri as we know, but Jason Pierre Paul and Shack Barrett were both the huge and this one five sacks of Aaron Rodgers a lot of heat on him in this game too. Um. I meant to look up the last time Rogers was sacked five times before we started the show and just neglected to uh, it's not that long ago. It's it's that Saturday night game or they beat the Panthers back in December, he was sacked five times. So you had some similar problems with this Packers offense that you saw last time, where they had what you would really consider a dud game for this offense. Um, but let's uh, let's talk a little bit about Matt Lafleur in this one and and some of the the game management issues they ran into. And I always give the caveat he's going to be criticized, and he'll rightfully be criticized, but uh, there was a good, I don't know decade of Andy Reid is a terrible in game manager, and Andy Reid will never win a big game, and Matt Lafleur is certainly young enough that he can learn from this and be better going forward. I think game management is something that is that is actually fairly easy for a coach to correct as his career goes on, because he's getting more situations. And even if you're a guy who doesn't really want to listen to the analytics guy in your ear, you sort of learn from your mistakes. And Matt Lafleur made some mistakes, um most notely kicking the field goal, kicking to kick the chip shot field goal from the nine yard line instead of going for it on fourth and goal when they were trailing by eight points. And then obviously you know the question is, uh, you need eight points, do you try to get the touchdown and the point a virgin? If you don't get it, you're trying to get a stop and then you get the ball I don't know, maybe six yards away and try it again. He chose to kick the field goal trying to get the ball back, and then you probably have to go, I mean whatever. It would be seventy five yards to uh to get the winning touchdown. But it didn't make a whole lot of sense mathematically when he did it, and uh it obviously it didn't work out. They never got the ball back. Yeah, it seemed at that point, you know, you have to get a touchdown anyway, So you're that close, you're eight yards away, you might as well go for it. Then it was a strange decision, and I agree with you, Gary, I do think that we underestimate the ability of coaches to grow in certain areas. And I think there's a lot going on on the sideline. I think sometimes you're trying to toggle between sending in play calls, managing the clock, analyzing the situation. But this one was it was more than like a clock management thing or you know, somehow the wrong play gets sent in. This was like, uh, it was the turning point of the game, and I am unclear the process that led to him making that choice. Yeah, And I think even more troubling at least four for sort of the pr aspect of this is they had kind of erased this whole. Okay, you drafted Jordan's love, you disrespected Aaron Rodgers, what's wrong with the Floria and you know, all this stuff that had sort of it had gone uh you know it was watern't of the bridge based on what they did this season, and now you sort of just unearthed this sort of you know, the FLOORA doesn't trust Rogers, and Rogers didn't like the fact they were kicking the field goal, is what he basically said in the in the media availability after the game. So now you got this this really I mean, it's an ugly storyline that got unearthed. Then I don't know exactly what the Packers thought process was when they took Jordan Love. It obviously is something of a knock to the uh quarterback in his late thirties. You just signed to a big contract, and I know there are some people out there floating, Okay, Aaron Rodgers going elsewhere. Jenny, you may float that if you would like to. I I think there is zero chance that that happens this offseason. Uh, there's absolutely no reason you wouldn't run this back considering what you did this season. But uh, it was just the play was so metaphorical for everything that happened last spring, and that just added this really uh ugly element to it. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And they seem to be on different pages after the game, and then Rogers postgame comments sounding like he was issuing some kind a farewell or at least putting that on the table, saying something like there's a lot of uncertainty here. Myself included, Um, and it's not the exact quote, but it was the gist of it. So, uh, I agree with you, Gary, I don't think this is the year that it would be the pressure point for Rogers to go elsewhere. But I did think about the fact that, you know, he's on the field with Brady. Brady was at a place where we never thought he'd leave. He hand picks a place where there's tons of weapons, good offensive line. He thinks he can go and contend for a championship, and it works out for him. And I just wondered what was going through Roger's mind seeing that and being like, maybe I can pick my destination. But the question is, you know, if you're Rogers, like what are you looking for? I mean, obviously he's been frustrated with the lack of weapons. You know, he wanted a receiver. In the first round, they drafted a quarterback. But la Fleur is a good play caller other than this this decision, which is baffling, which is not a play call, it's a game management decision. But overall, like Lafleur has been a fantastic play caller this year, So you know, if you're looking for an upgrade in that area necessary and I'm not to say I'm not saying that Brady was looking for an upgrade. Obviously had in that area. He had a good relationship with McDaniels. But you know, Brady was looking for upgrade and skill position players, and he found that in Tampa. It seemed like a ready made roster. But I guess the question would be if if you're Rodgers and you want to go somewhere else, like what do you what else do you want out of that partnership? I know you just I mean, we're going to find out in what thirteen days? But he likely will get the MVP Award for this year. Uh. The other thing with Rodgers is, and I don't think it's as important as it was in the old Mike McCarthy offense, where it was a little more static, a little more reliant on his improvisational play. But uh, it takes time to build chemistry with Aaron Rodgers. Uh So, while I know we need a new receiver in there, and he wanted new weapons and all that, and and he should have gotten him, and and you know, we can we can replay last year's draft, but that doesn't really do anyone any good at this point. But uh, they should have taken receiver. But the point is, I mean he has to mate Adams. He has Marquez Valdes, Scantling who is emerging as a really good weapon, Alan Wizard, Robert Tonyan. He has these guys who he has. I think they're more than enough based on what they did this year weapon wise, And he's spent the last three or four years sort of uh investing in this, in these relationships, these football relationships here and off the field relationships. I'm sure they're all buddies, but uh, it's like, why would you want to go somewhere and sort of reset on this when it can be just as good next year. There's no reason to think it wouldn't be. Yeah, and Davante Adams is better than any receiver, for instance, that Brady had in New England since probably d Moss. Grady had Gronk of course at the tight end position, but um, Davante Adams. You know, you hear the respect that DBS have for him, and a lot of times it's his release off the line, which we saw in this game. Um a few times he's just kind of is easily able to shed people at the line. So yeah, that the decision to kick the field goal instead of go for the touchdown. Gary, you know will resonate through the off season, but the question is perhaps it resonates for longer depending on which way the franchise goes from here. The the last thing I'll say about it, because we have to talk about other stuff in the show. But the last thing I'll say about is and I very much put myself in this category. Uh, those those of us who play Madden, It's just you get to play like a thousand games and these these game management situations kind of become like second nature. Uh. And on top of that, I can't really rightfully criticize Matt Lafleur's play designs or the way he installs things or the way he teaches things. But I can point out, like, oh, he should have used the time out in this spot, he should have kicked a field goal here, he should have gone for a touchdown here. Uh. Those are those are like those are things that any fan can and be correct about. It criticized head coach, but obviously there are there are ten million other things that go into being a head coach. And and Matt Lafleur ultimately has won twenty six games in his first two seasons and as one UH playoff games and has been to the conference title game. I will say that the two things I really again, I'd be stunned if Rogers forced himself out of Green Bay after all these years and and what they had going this year. But the two things I do think are going to be big changed for green Bay this this offseason. I don't know if Mike Petton makes it through another office, and he was kind of I think he's done a nice job of that secondary. Um he had had a really rough day in last year's conference championship game, or when the forty Niners just they they they just dashed his run defense. They just found something they liked and they just went to it again and again and again. He couldn't stop it. Um, he had another rough one in this one. Whether it was the the play at the end of the first half that shades of Greg Williams uh letting Scotty Miller get behind his cornerback. Now, I would argue it's also very poorly played by your cornerback. UH. And I know Kevin King kind of has his eyes on the backfield because he's expecting something to come out quick. To the sideline so they can set up the field goal and then next thing, you know, Scotty Millner's behind him. Um. And the other thing is, I mean they got they got caught twice with twelve men on the field defensively, and it wasn't hurry up situations. It was just situations where they couldn't get the right personnel on the field. And that is that is very upsetting to see happen in the conference title game. Yeah, I think that a more likely departure than Rogers, and I think that is one of the flaws. And I mean I covered the Rex Ryant Jets teams and Petton was there, and it's not an identical scheme obviously, but there are some similarities. And I think one of the flaws in that system is it's prone to some of these breakdowns or you know, games where you just feel like things kind of get out of hand and you don't have UM. You know, a couple of individual players playing certain calls badly can really snowball UM. And I think that's what we saw in the first half of this game. I also really wanted the Packers to be more aggressive. I know they end up throwing an interception at the end of the first app But I really wanted them to be more aggressive when they got the ball back in the two minute drills. You know, I thought so too. And also just in general, there was just a slowness to how the offense was moving, Like even outside of two minute situations, it didn't seem there wasn't a lot of tempo. And I wondered, Um, yeah, I just there were certain situations where you thought, hey, this is the time to try to wear him down with a little bit of tempo, and it just didn't happen. Yeah. I mean you wonder if in the end they just didn't trust the protection to hold up. But it was plenty of stuff two second guests in this game. Yeah. Um. We will talk a super Bowl preview here in just a second, but but first, let's let's talk about another NFC North quarterback who it sounds like mutual decision, Uh, Matthew Stafford is going to move on. I think that's the right move for the franchise. I think it's the right move for Matthew Stafford, who. I just I think it's morally wrong to make him sit through another rebuild here, and and it's basically, uh, just the expiration of his prime on a on a team that doesn't have a chance to win. So Stafford is going to be out there. I guess the first question is, Jenny, I looked around and look, the market will determine what the Lions end up getting. There will be teams interested. But I looked around. You see Jamal Adams get two first round picks. You see learned me tons will get two first round picks. You see Jalen Ramsey get two first round picks. I think Matthew Stafford is deserving of at least that, just based on positional value. And you know, people will say, well, he's he's thirty three years old. I mean we have a we have a guy ten years older than that playing in the in the super Bowl. And I'm not saying Stafford will age that well, but I think he his prime basically has as much left in it as you would get from a mid twenties player at another position at this point. Yeah, and especially you mentioned the Jamal Adams price, right, you know that's a that's a safety. Uh. I mean, I guess the left tackle, a cornerback, those are foundational pieces and they're younger players, and you hope that they're part of the team for a long time. But I agree with you. It's it's sort of uh shocking price to hear thrown out for a player like Matthew Stafford, who, if you were in a better situation, you think could be a you know, he's the kind of quarterback that could help a team win a championship or be a playoff contender. He's just been in these really crummy situations constantly in Detroit. Bad decisions by the organization, bad roster building, bad choices for head coach, etcetera. So, um, it'll be interesting to see him go somewhere else. And I agreed Gary, I think he certainly should command a hire price in what we've seen suggested. And I'm I'm very happy for Matthew Stafford this point, because one, I think he's sort of unfairly depicted as a guy who was a stat accumulator. Um. I think he's been exceedingly valuable for the lines. I think the only reason the Lions won games for a lot of years was because he was their quarterback. And I think he saw when he went down last year, and he hasn't really had durability problems. He's been dinged up, but the only time he missed a a major chunk of time, they lost every game. So, Uh, the other thing is he's sort of I don't want to say stuck because that's that's a little that's a little bit rude, but he's sort of been stuck in these offenses that are they're there the two thousand ten offenses when everyone was sort of doing that static eleven personnel ISO route type of stuff. That's what they did with Jim Bob Cooder. That that's sort of the coaching tree he came off of. Uh, you saw Darryl Bebel, who I think at his core is still sort of a conservative coach, but you saw Bebel start to work in some of these more forward thinking concepts in that offense. And you saw what Stafford did. I mean, Stafford was playing at the MVP level last year before he got hurt. He wouldn't have won m VP because of the defense kept on giving games away. But uh, what you saw from Stafford the last two seasons. If you drop him into let's say, let's say Kyle Shanahan's offense in San Francisco, I think you have a guy who uh, to be honest, I think and play at legitimate m VP level in an offense like that if you give him a chance to to run it with a good supporting cast for a whole season. And there are a lot of creative offensive coaches who are looking for an upgrade at the quarterback position. So this could be a really interesting offseason for quarterback movement. It is there are it's Connor or our our dear friend Connor. Um did the sort of Matthew Stafford landing spots story and st dot com and I mean he put ten teams and it's it's like, oh yeah, these alternate these teams. Sure, that's a third of the league. A third of the league should be in the market here, Um, Colts, I mean forty Niners are are the perfect landing spot for him. I'm sure if Stafford had his way, Patriots, Broncos. Broncos have tons of weapons. I mean, there are lots of good options here. I don't know about the I don't know about the Rams. I think the Rams are one more year with golf. We'll see what happens though. But yeah, but with Stafford, we have the Watson conversation. We have potentially to uh, you know, if there was some Watson to a swap, which seems a little bit fanciful, but who knows, Um rogers kind of casting uncertainty. I mean, this could be the year of quarterback movement, Gary, and perhaps quarterbacks are more emboldened because they've seen Tom Brady make the jumps so seamlessly, and it it will help us fill the content hole. And that's that's really what it's all about this offseason. Alright, we we have we have Super Bowl participants are set now, Jenny Um, I'll be honest, I'm a little bit bummed that the Buffalo Bills, who are near and dear to my heart, did not end up making it. I I legitimately thought that team was the most fun I have really ever seen any team be, just because Josh Allen he played well, but he still had that tinge of he might do something just exceptionally dumb at any moment, and that just adds a real light, just sense of excitement to every every offensive snap that they took. But uh, we have not the Bills, the Chiefs. We'll play the we'll play the Bucks and the I think the big storyline we're gonna besides Mahomes and Brady, sort of the the the the the big storyline will be who will win, who will score more points in this game. The connoisseurs storyline in this game will be the Chiefs are are most likely going to be without both starting offensive tackles. Eric Fisher had an achilles injury. We don't know at the moment if we'll keep him out, but it seems like it will. It will very likely keep him out of this game. So you did just see this. These Buccaneers edge rusher Shack Barrett and Jason Pierre Paul uh really had their way with the Packers front five in in their NFC title game win. And we've seen the Bucks. They've won with sort of a defense first approach the last couple of weeks. Here, I guess that is the that's sort of the um. This the storyline that I have circle and the other thing I'll put out there. And and sorry Mike Grammers, but last time we saw Mike Grammers in the Super Bowl, he was getting um just just all but literally devoured by Von Miller. Yeah, that was a rough memory for Mike Grammars. Earlier in the show, Gary, we talked about how you kind of have to corral Mahomes with more than one rusher, and that is what the Bucks have the ability to do. I mean there was literally one play where that's how Rogers was cornered. It was Jason Pierre, Paul Shack, Barrett, and also Vavey who was newly activated. So, um, they have the ability to kind of get to him but also get to him in a way that he can't escape. Who do you think is gonna win? I mean, my instinct at this point would would be this the Chiefs because they have the ability to just put up points and it's hard to keep up with that. And I'm just thinking how we felt about Brady two weeks ago. And again, like I said earlier in the show, I think the first drive in the first half of the game, it was exciting and it was you know, uh it was it felt like a very different performance from last week. But then we with some of those errant throws that cropped up in the fourth quarter at you know, we remembered some of the limitations and however remarkable it is that Brady has gotten to this point his tenth Super Bowl. Yes, it is a defense first team, So if you match up with the Chiefs who can score at will. It's it's hard for me to see the Buccaneers being able to put up enough points to keep up. However, all of that being said, like, I don't know, it's really hard to it's really hard to pick against Brady in the books. I saw in my inbox and I'm double checking it right now to see if the line has moved yet. I saw Chiefs three and open at three and a half. Right now it's down to three point favorites. Um. I just again, I don't have a ton of good thoughts about this, this buccaneer sort of offensive approach and design that they have. UM, I do think the Chiefs are gonna win. I think they'll probably win handily. I will say, though, I will open up the possibility that this kind of might end up having sort of a Giants Patriots type of feel, except Brady's on the other side of it this time around, when when it comes to um maybe the pass first does just take over and that's what sort of foils Patrick Mahomes in this one. When we have seen Mahomes play play poorly. I mean, I think back to he didn't have Tyree kill in this game, but um, two years ago when the Colts beat them on Sunday night and justin Houston sort of just dominated that game. Could you get that maybe, Yeah, you're right, Gary, if it's going, if the Bucks are going to have a chance of this game, it would have to be like that Super Bowl forty two or like the Super Bowl forty six where the pass dress rush just took over. And really the m v P of those games was the Giants pass rush. It was, it was. It was an interesting championship today. I don't know why. For the first time when I was watching, like Shaq Bartt, I was like, all right, Shack Barrett like wrecked Tom Brady in the a C title game five years ago, Like it's it's weird. It's still really weird. Yeah. It added like this new wave of weirdness to once again Brady being on the Bucks. I know, sometimes I'm talking about these teams and I get momentarily disoriented because Brady's in the NFC, and Brady's teammates with players he wasn't teammates with ten months ago, and Patrick Mahomes and Brady are not in this conference. So uh, it's just kind of hard to Yeah, it's hard to keep things straight. Back to that Super Bowl forty two game, Gary, I remember beforehand someone asked Plexco Buris his prediction. I think he said. I think he said seventeen to fourteen UM, which was the final score. But I remember that was related to Brady and he said something along the lines of like, We're only going to score that many points, like L O L, which is exactly what we would say about the Chiefs like right now, would be like, oh, the Chiefs are only going to score seventeen points, but you know, matchups work out differently and crazy things happened. So I kind of like your analogy there. That was smart, Gary, it would well, it's more interesting than just saying the Chiefs are probably gonna score forty points in the Buccaneers will score twenty and turn it off after after the weekend does his thing. But I mean, I don't I'm not that interested in the weekend and now only because I've seen these the Super Bowl half time commercial like a million times at this point, and so I don't think I'm very hyped for the halftime show on account of all of these commercials. Yeah, I don't know if he has a second song. I heard that one a lot and he'll probably play it, and it's you know it. It's a very nice song. It is a good song. I just have heard it too many times. Yep, all right, Jenny, you will be back with Connor for the week Side podcast. If you folcus out there don't already subscribe to it, please do so now. I have a feeling they're going to talk about the Super Bowl sometime in the next two weeks. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL podcast is Jenny Brentis and me Gary Grantling. We are produced by Shelfy Royson as as executive producer of podcast of Scott Brody. Ben Eagle is director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Radock is a Meredis editor of the MMQB, and I Benoit is the founder of the MQB NFL podcast. Be sure to subscribe to you this feed, as well as feeds for the week Side podcast on the Albert Your Show featuring Albert Reer. They're all for free on Apple Podcasts, and once you do subscribe, please leave a rating and review for all of them. It really does help other people find the shows, which are also available on Spotify. 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