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#22: Superbowl Preview · NFL Power Rankings

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Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio.
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Speaker 2: Very very welcome to NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer
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Speaker 2: with Patrick Claiboah and for Mike em who is at
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Speaker 2: the Shrine Bowl, with the man who was tasked with
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Speaker 2: providing us the power rankings in the NFL all season longest,
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Speaker 2: Eric at.
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Speaker 3: Home and Eric, we've got it.
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Speaker 2: We've whittled everything down to two teams, so we've made
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Speaker 2: at least that step of the process a little bit
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Speaker 2: easier for you.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, we have right, and it's not the pairing.
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Speaker 4: I think we would have predicted a lot of us
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Speaker 4: anyway and back in September, August, whatever. But it's always
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Speaker 4: fun to see how the season, like you said, kind
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Speaker 4: of whittles down and what matters who rises to the surface.
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Speaker 4: And I think we got a pretty good one coming
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Speaker 4: up in Santa Clara in a couple of weeks.
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Speaker 1: Oh.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely looking forward to that opportunity to see Super Bowl sixty,
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Speaker 2: ten years after the last time we have the Super
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Speaker 2: Bowl there at Levi's Stadium. Time for Power Moves presented
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Speaker 2: by Energizer. As we see, the Seahawks were right there
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Speaker 2: you had them at one in the England Patriots, We're
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Speaker 2: there at two. No change there. The Rams go up
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Speaker 2: the spot in the Denver Broncos after the performance by
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Speaker 2: Jared Stood in relief of bow Nicks have dropped down
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Speaker 2: a spot. So that is the top four. Let's get
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Speaker 2: to that number one team. Eric, We're gonna have you
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Speaker 2: talk about Santa Clara. Sam Donold is gonna have three
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Speaker 2: days where he will be asked extensively about the doubters
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Speaker 2: and how he feels about it. These had a couple
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Speaker 2: of chances after the championship game to say he's not
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Speaker 2: worried about that. He's trying to get a chance to
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Speaker 2: win the Super Bowl, win a championship like everybody dreams of.
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Speaker 2: I can't ask you though, was that performance against the
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Speaker 2: Rams enough to silence the doubters as he's had seven
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Speaker 2: interceptions against the Rams these last two seasons.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously, you know Sam's been through the ringer. We
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Speaker 4: talk about his jet stays in the failed Carolina tenure
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Speaker 4: as well.
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Speaker 3: You know, he goes out to San Francisco and.
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Speaker 4: It ended up being I think a pivotal year for him,
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Speaker 4: hooking up with Clint Kubiak, for the first time, and
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Speaker 4: I think kind of regaining and resetting, you know, his
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Speaker 4: confidence a little bit. And you know, we saw what
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Speaker 4: he did in Minnesota. But even the doubters still I
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Speaker 4: think existed coming into this year, right, Seahawks were not
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Speaker 4: predicted to be a team at the very top of
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Speaker 4: the rankings.
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Speaker 3: They were in that tough division. What was this offense
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Speaker 3: going to look like?
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Speaker 4: But you know, even with some turnover numbers that were
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Speaker 4: a little on the high side, you know, a lot
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Speaker 4: of them did come against the Rams. With each game
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Speaker 4: against them, he seemed to get better and better. Zero turnover, zero,
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Speaker 4: zero fumbles in the game. And really they put it
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Speaker 4: on his shoulders after the Rams started kind of taking
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Speaker 4: away the run a little bit and they just felt
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Speaker 4: confident throwing the football. So I mean, has he answered
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Speaker 4: all the questions? Of course, and I think in his
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Speaker 4: mind a Super Bowl victory would do that. But at
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Speaker 4: this point, I think we have to look at the
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Speaker 4: product and say, he has come a long way, and
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Speaker 4: he gives them a chance to win this Super Bowl
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Speaker 4: in two weeks.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that Super Bowl, of course notably being played not
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Speaker 2: against the Rams, because they've already solved that particular problem.
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Speaker 2: It seems like, at least on the defensive side of
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Speaker 2: the ball, nobody else has come close to doing what
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Speaker 2: Los Angeles was able to do against this defense. How
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Speaker 2: do you feel about that defense? Was that a sign
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Speaker 2: of perhaps something that the Patriots or other teams could
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Speaker 2: exploit in the future, or was that just a unique
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Speaker 2: aspect of a game against the team that they were
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Speaker 2: playing for the third time.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it was really two evenly matched teams.
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Speaker 4: You saw the two prior matchups, and you know, there
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Speaker 4: were signs that the Seahawks had some answers for the Rams,
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Speaker 4: and signs of the Rams had answers.
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Speaker 3: For the Seahawks. So you know, you really got to
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Speaker 3: go back to that Bucks.
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Speaker 4: Game early in the year to see a team kind
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Speaker 4: of lean into that Seattle defense the way, you know,
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Speaker 4: the kind of the way we saw against the Rams.
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Speaker 4: So there haven't been a lot of examples of it
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Speaker 4: this year, and with you know, Drake May and the
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Speaker 4: Patriots having their share of issues at times, protection up front,
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Speaker 4: ball security, things like that, you know, you could say
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Speaker 4: that they could be back to that same level of performance.
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Speaker 3: I mean, this is.
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Speaker 4: Two high power wide receivers for the Rams. Great collection
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Speaker 4: of tight ends. I think, a functional, good offensive line,
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Speaker 4: and a two headed run game. I don't know that
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Speaker 4: the Patriots have quite that level of firepower, so I
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Speaker 4: would expect Seattle's you know, multi tier defense. They can
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Speaker 4: do a lot of different things to kind of rise
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Speaker 4: back to the level that we saw most of the
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Speaker 4: season when they weren't playing teams like the Rams, and.
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Speaker 2: Of course that depth a big part of how they're
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Speaker 2: able to be successful on defense. Over on offense, they
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Speaker 2: had great depth at the running back position. They unfortunately
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Speaker 2: to lose Zach Charboney for the remainder of the season
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Speaker 2: with the torn acl but Kenneth Walker, the third normally
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Speaker 2: used a little bit differently than Zach Sharbonay excelled against
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Speaker 2: the Rams.
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Speaker 3: Is that sustainable?
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Speaker 2: Do you think we'll get this level of performance from
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Speaker 2: Kenneth Walker in the Super Bowl?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? Obviously the injury was a painful one.
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Speaker 4: He was part of that two headed running attack and
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Speaker 4: they really kind of filled their roles very well. Now
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Speaker 4: Walker has you know, he had the game against the
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Speaker 4: Rams and now he's got kind of a one game
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Speaker 4: situation to kind of take the load.
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Speaker 3: No, George Hallani is back and he'll I'm sure.
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Speaker 4: Contribute in some ways, but you know, this is kind
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Speaker 4: of the Walker show at this point. And you know,
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Speaker 4: running in the red zone like he did, running in
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Speaker 4: short yardage, and obviously doing his regular body of work,
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Speaker 4: catching a few passes as well, had a big first
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Speaker 4: down reception. You know, that's that's what he's willing to
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Speaker 4: take on in a workload situation. If this had happened
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Speaker 4: in Week ten or something, maybe the season turns out
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Speaker 4: a little differently. But the fact that it happened so
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Speaker 4: late in the year, and you know, he can rest
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Speaker 4: up the entire offseason. I think they're gonna put a
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Speaker 4: lot on his shoulders in Super Bowl sixty.
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Speaker 3: One.
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Speaker 2: Guy who hasn't had a lot of chance to rest
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Speaker 2: is the guy who has the vast majority of their
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Speaker 2: receiving yard at Jackson, Smith and Jigba with another solid
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Speaker 2: performance against the Los Angeles Rams. Looking ahead as to
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Speaker 2: how the Seahawks were able to utilize him, because you
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Speaker 2: could maybe spot some deficiencies in the secondary for the Rams.
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Speaker 2: Task maybe gets a little bit tougher in Super Bowl sixty.
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Speaker 3: What do you see for JS in there?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, they could move him inside, they could put him
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Speaker 4: on the outside. When he's on the outside, maybe Christian
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Speaker 4: Gonzalez is the guy shadowing him when they move him inside,
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Speaker 4: as Marcus Jones task with trying to contain him a
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Speaker 4: little bit too. You know, Carlton Davis has had his
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Speaker 4: moments too, even if he's been penalty prone and physical
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Speaker 4: out there, so.
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Speaker 3: They have options.
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Speaker 4: I'd be fascinated to see what the Patriots defensive plants
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Speaker 4: against him.
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Speaker 3: But he's so hard to stop.
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Speaker 4: There are only a handful of games where he didn't
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Speaker 4: make a significant impact, really only a handful of halves,
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Speaker 4: you know, thirty minute periods where he was shut down.
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Speaker 4: Other than that, it was pretty hard to contain this guy.
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Speaker 4: And you know, even with him being the main target,
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Speaker 4: other teams just having a hard time preventing the ball
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Speaker 4: from getting into his hands.
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Speaker 3: And we know we can do after the catch too.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes your safety placement a little bit difficult
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Speaker 2: with one of the biggest big play receivers in the
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Speaker 2: history of the NFL in terms of fifty yard receiving touchdowns.
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Speaker 2: In rashicha heat is over on the other side. You
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Speaker 2: mentioned the number two team. We talked about their Super
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Speaker 2: Bowl opponent. Let's discuss the number two seed in the
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Speaker 2: AFC postseason, the New England Patriots, who are back in
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Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. There are eight year old children in
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Speaker 2: Foxborough and surrounding areas who hadn't seen the Patriots go
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Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl. Eric, I feel so horribly for them.
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Speaker 2: This is the look at the trajectory that they've been
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Speaker 2: on in your power rankings, down as low after that
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Speaker 2: season opening loss to the Raiders. Can we even fathom
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Speaker 2: that getting to twenty seven now all the way up
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Speaker 2: to number two. It's the type of growth that we
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Speaker 2: talked about at the top of the show, is we
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Speaker 2: get a Super Bowl we maybe didn't expect, definitely didn't
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Speaker 2: expect it for first year Mike rabel as the as
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Speaker 2: the head coach. Are you pulling back a little bit
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Speaker 2: on the celebration of that considering they got here, Eric,
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Speaker 2: against the backup quarterback that hasn't played in two years.
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Speaker 4: You know, it's easy to sort of point to the
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Speaker 4: weekness is their schedule. I mean, the reason I picked
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Speaker 4: them to be the last wild card in August was
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Speaker 4: I thought their schedule isn't that hard, right, And then
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Speaker 4: you look at kind of how things unfolded in the
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Speaker 4: postseason two, no Nico Collins against the Texans backup quarterback No.
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Speaker 3: Bow Knicks in the AFC Championship game.
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Speaker 4: Bad weather games, something that you know, they're sort of
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Speaker 4: uniquely prepared for. Not that Denver isn't, but still, I mean,
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Speaker 4: a different brand of football than than we've probably seen
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Speaker 4: most of the season because of the weather conditions as well.
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Speaker 4: So yeah, you have to take that into consideration. They
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Speaker 4: weren't facing the most vaunted offensive opponents in the world here,
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Speaker 4: given what the situation was. But defensively, they faced the Broncos,
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Speaker 4: the Chargers, the Texans, and they're about to face the
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Speaker 4: Seahawks too. So I think when you look at it
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Speaker 4: from that perspective, you say, boy, these are four pretty
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Speaker 4: good defenses, four of the top eight or nine defenses
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Speaker 4: in the league this year. However you want to rank
8:19
Speaker 4: those things, and that's part of the equation as well.
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Speaker 4: And so you know, look at what they did to
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Speaker 4: disrupt Stidham, never really gave him a chance to settle
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Speaker 4: in after that big play down the field, and you know,
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Speaker 4: they just outplayed the Broncos by a little bit, and
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Speaker 4: you know that's kind of the difference right there. So
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Speaker 4: I understand it wasn't the hardest field they had to
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Speaker 4: run through, but they also had some difficulty with the
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Speaker 4: defense they faced.
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Speaker 2: But in terms of the field itself, Eric, you mentioned
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Speaker 2: the unique circumstances as it turned into the ice planet Hawk.
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Speaker 2: They're late in the second half and the Patriots have
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Speaker 2: not necessarily had great conditions. Can you feel better about
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Speaker 2: Drake May's fall off? Again, it's the playoffs, They're going
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Speaker 2: up against tougher defenses. Generally, statistics fall off for all
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Speaker 2: quarterbacks when you get into the second season, but Drake
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Speaker 2: May was playing at some such a high level. Do
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Speaker 2: you think perhaps an opportunity to play in a nicer
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Speaker 2: version of a football game in Santa Clara will allow
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Speaker 2: Drake Made to get closer to where he was in
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Speaker 2: the regular season.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: I can't imagine snow blanketing in the field two weeks
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Speaker 4: from now.
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Speaker 3: I don't want to jinx anything here.
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Speaker 4: Of course, but yeah, no, it's obviously going to be
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Speaker 4: different in the Super Bowl.
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Speaker 3: And you're right though, to point out.
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Speaker 4: That this is he's not necessarily playing at the same
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Speaker 4: level he was coming down the stretch, and you know,
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Speaker 4: eighteen points per game for a team that was averaging
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Speaker 4: you know well over twenty and often going over thirty
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Speaker 4: points per game. Their offense is one of the best
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Speaker 4: in the league. And you know, May was a big
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Speaker 4: reason why you saw him overthrow some passes here. Get
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Speaker 4: a little skittish at times, throw some shaky passes, have
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Speaker 4: some drops by his trusted receivers too, So not all
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Speaker 4: on Drake, but the timing and the touch was a
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Speaker 4: little bit off, and pressure can do that. That's what
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Speaker 4: I think Seattle's going to do, just like the Chargers did,
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Speaker 4: just like Houston did, just like Denver did at times
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Speaker 4: as well. So they still have to have a great
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Speaker 4: protection plan. That's what Josh McDaniel's going to spend the
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Speaker 4: next few weeks working on, especially with two rookies on
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Speaker 4: that offensive line who've had their struggles at times, Will Campbell,
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Speaker 4: especially at left tackle.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk about let's get into the protection because
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Speaker 2: Will Campbell. In terms of the lineups between Cooper and
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Speaker 2: Benito and then Will Anderson Junior and the Neil Hunter,
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Speaker 2: the Seahawks are talented at the edge. Do you think
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Speaker 2: the Seahawks edges can provide a similar challenge to what
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Speaker 2: the Patriots have done here in the past two weeks.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, h I think it's going to be a very
10:33
Speaker 3: similar challenge.
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Speaker 4: Obviously, you got to kind of weed out the bad
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Speaker 4: place and try to figure out what worked and what
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Speaker 4: didn't right, and that's going to be the biggest thing.
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Speaker 4: How much help do you give him, how much do
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Speaker 4: you slide protection that direction? How much do you get
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Speaker 4: May out of the pocket working to his right away
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Speaker 4: from the left side of the offensive line.
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Speaker 3: Is that something that's important to them? Is it more
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Speaker 3: about the quick game?
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Speaker 4: Is it more about May scrambling and taking those opportunities?
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Speaker 3: See God against.
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Speaker 4: Denver, That's something he's done all year, Right, you saw
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Speaker 4: the QB draw for the touchdown that was obviously a
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Speaker 4: call play and then of course his ad lib at
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Speaker 4: the end using his legs to get the first down
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Speaker 4: and close out the game.
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Speaker 3: So, you know, similar to what.
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Speaker 4: We're saying about Kenneth Walker, where it's like, hey, I
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Speaker 4: know your quarterback has taken a beating this year.
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Speaker 3: He's taken a lot of sacks, a lot of hits.
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Speaker 4: It has been a long season. He's never had a
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Speaker 4: season last this long before. But buddy, if you can
11:22
Speaker 4: rest up and get whatever strength you can for the
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Speaker 4: Super Bowl, and lay it all out on the line.
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Speaker 4: I think May's scrambling ability is really going to end
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Speaker 4: up being an X factor. I don't think the Seahawks
11:32
Speaker 4: have faced anybody since really what Jayden Daniels mid season,
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Speaker 4: who you'd say is sort of on that same par
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Speaker 4: as a runner from the quarterback position. So maybe it's
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Speaker 4: kind of an X factor that can kind of neutralize
11:43
Speaker 4: that rush a little bit.
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Speaker 2: And speaking of the rushing attack, let's get to a
11:47
Speaker 2: guy who at the start of the season, maybe some
11:49
Speaker 2: Patriots fans we're getting out of there were the toneovers,
11:52
Speaker 2: but late season, Remandre Stevenson Eric has been a relation
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Speaker 2: for the New England Patriots. Do you think he can
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Speaker 2: have a similar performance to what Blake Korn was able
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Speaker 2: to do in big spots in that NFC Championship game.
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: I mean I was writing at one point this season,
12:07
Speaker 4: what is Remandre's role? You know, where does he fit
12:09
Speaker 4: in this team? It seemed like Trevon Henderson was taking
12:11
Speaker 4: a lot more of the workload, But as we got
12:14
Speaker 4: into December, you could see they still had a plan
12:16
Speaker 4: for him and he looked re energized. I mean, he
12:18
Speaker 4: looked like he had had kind of the Derrick Henry thing.
12:21
Speaker 4: Going to a certain degree, He's not the same player,
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Speaker 4: but the same kind of ability to take a lot
12:25
Speaker 4: of contact, to power through to gain extra yards and
12:28
Speaker 4: I get hit in the backfield and if you do
12:30
Speaker 4: find a way back to the line of scrimmager a
12:32
Speaker 4: little bit beyond.
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Speaker 3: So in a game like that, it was very evident.
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Speaker 4: I thought it was a very impressive rushing performance, even
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Speaker 4: if the numbers weren't, you know, fantasy football good or
12:40
Speaker 4: anything like that. Obviously, to your point, he was a
12:43
Speaker 4: touchdown machine down the stretch. They were throwing fades to him,
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Speaker 4: I mean, different stuff than you would normally see from.
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Speaker 3: A bigger back like that.
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Speaker 4: So it's clear he's become in some ways the centerpiece
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Speaker 4: of the offense, even if Mays the engine of this
12:56
Speaker 4: entire thing.
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Speaker 2: Looking back, Eric, there's been so many great Patriots Super
13:00
Speaker 2: Bowl moments. People forget about the Dante hot Tower tackle
13:03
Speaker 2: on Marshawn Lynch before the Malcolm Butler interception, which we'll
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Speaker 2: have a chance to see six million, approximately times between
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Speaker 2: now and when the game kicks off. Of we're looking
13:12
Speaker 2: back through Patriots' history, who could be the player on
13:15
Speaker 2: this team that maybe we're not necessarily thinking about who
13:17
Speaker 2: can make a play to win them the Super Bowl.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, how about Craig Woodson, the safety. The rookie's done
13:22
Speaker 4: in a really nice job. Of course, he's a cow
13:24
Speaker 4: kid coming back to the Bay Area too, which is
13:26
Speaker 4: kind of cool.
13:27
Speaker 3: But he's really grown in his role.
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Speaker 4: Of course, he almost had the interception on fourth down
13:31
Speaker 4: there in the play that a lot of people felt
13:33
Speaker 4: the Bronco should have kicked the field goal, you know,
13:35
Speaker 4: came up with a play to make sure that reception
13:37
Speaker 4: didn't happen. Had to play in the previous game against
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Speaker 4: the Texans that was very big too. They use him
13:42
Speaker 4: as a blitzer. They use him in deep coverage kind
13:44
Speaker 4: of as a box safety too. So you know, Woodson,
13:47
Speaker 4: as the season has gone on, I think it's grown
13:48
Speaker 4: increasingly comfortable in that role. And you know, rookie safeties
13:52
Speaker 4: don't step into like that very often and play to
13:55
Speaker 4: that level. So with each game, I think he's gotten
13:57
Speaker 4: better and I think he could be one of those
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Speaker 4: kind of X factors. And there's a ton of candidates
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Speaker 4: in the front seven that could could make that happen.
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Speaker 4: On Chase on Spindarn good, but I'll go with Woodson.
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Speaker 4: I think he could be the kind of guy.
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Speaker 3: That comes up with a surprise play for New England.
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Speaker 2: I like that pick in terms of if you're watching
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Speaker 2: Super Bowls to find talented rookie safeties who can make plays,
14:16
Speaker 2: super Bowl sixty is probably the super Bowl for you.
14:19
Speaker 2: We got more coming up here on this edition of
14:21
Speaker 2: Power Rankings the fallout from jampion Hip Sunday. The Rams
14:24
Speaker 2: and Broncos come up short. So what does the future
14:27
Speaker 2: look like for both of those squads? Are they locks
14:29
Speaker 2: to be contenders next season? We'll get Eric's thoughts. We'll
14:32
Speaker 2: come back on Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Back here
14:43
Speaker 2: on Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Patrick Clay bound here
14:46
Speaker 2: with Eric at home. As we look to the teams
14:48
Speaker 2: that did not make it to the Super Bowl. The
14:51
Speaker 2: number three team in your rankings right now, the Los
14:54
Speaker 2: Angeles Rams, Eric, come up a touch short. They had
14:57
Speaker 2: a fourth in goal against the Seattle Seahawks that would
15:00
Speaker 2: have given them the lead. The Seahawks defense makes a
15:02
Speaker 2: couple of plays on third down and fourth down? What
15:05
Speaker 2: do you think the fallout is? How is your evaluation
15:08
Speaker 2: of the Rams depending and does it depend on the
15:10
Speaker 2: results of that one play and the crucial set of
15:13
Speaker 2: plays after that.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so close.
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Speaker 4: Obviously the two prior games too, really came down to
15:18
Speaker 4: one or two plays as well, And so you know,
15:20
Speaker 4: on the one hand, you say to yourself, they were
15:23
Speaker 4: that close to making a super Bowl. But on the
15:25
Speaker 4: other there's still so many questions about this team, right
15:28
Speaker 4: starting with Matthew Stafford whether he's going to be back,
15:30
Speaker 4: and we'll have to, you know, kind of wait for
15:32
Speaker 4: an answer on that, give Sean McVeigh a few days
15:34
Speaker 4: to answer another question.
15:36
Speaker 3: About that one.
15:37
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, obviously you look at the special
15:41
Speaker 4: team's turnover, the red zone turnover, those.
15:44
Speaker 3: Were really the two biggest plays.
15:45
Speaker 4: In the game in a back and forth game where
15:47
Speaker 4: they had their opportunities, just couldn't come through with the
15:49
Speaker 4: big play. And look, they're built to have a great
15:52
Speaker 4: red zone offense too. I mean, you know, two backs
15:55
Speaker 4: who can move very well, two great receivers, a slew
15:58
Speaker 4: of tight ends, an offensive line I think is very
16:00
Speaker 4: capable in general. But on defense, they just their issues contained.
16:04
Speaker 4: The Seahawks really came back to bite them.
16:07
Speaker 2: And looking at that defense, they do have the Falcons
16:10
Speaker 2: first round pick. They have some ammunition, some opportunities to
16:13
Speaker 2: acquire some talent. I think back Eric in that Super
16:16
Speaker 2: Bowl season, where they see you need at cornerback, they
16:19
Speaker 2: go and get one of the better cornerbacks in the
16:21
Speaker 2: league in Jalen Ramsey. Do you think that there's a
16:24
Speaker 2: space for the Rams to make those changes on defense
16:28
Speaker 2: where they're not necessarily seeing such a size mismatch in
16:33
Speaker 2: the secondary against these teams like the Seahawks.
16:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I think it's a great question, and maybe
16:38
Speaker 4: the draft provides an opportunity.
16:40
Speaker 3: It's I think it's going.
16:40
Speaker 4: To be a relatively strong position at cornerback. You know,
16:43
Speaker 4: maybe it's the veteran route. Obviously, we've seen less snead
16:46
Speaker 4: use assets to go get veterans in the past. We
16:49
Speaker 4: know the famous saying he had for picks and all that.
16:53
Speaker 4: But I'll be fascinated to see what direction they go.
16:56
Speaker 4: Obviously a lot depends on Stafford. If he comes back,
16:58
Speaker 4: you have to go into that kind of win now mentality.
17:01
Speaker 4: You know, if he says this is his last year,
17:03
Speaker 4: you still have to solve the quarterback issue. Do one
17:05
Speaker 4: of those first round picks go to that position? But
17:08
Speaker 4: you can't forget about corner. You know early in the
17:10
Speaker 4: game they clearly were tested, clearly were pushed as far.
17:13
Speaker 3: As they could.
17:14
Speaker 4: They were trying to find any solution they could at
17:16
Speaker 4: that spot. Even with good performances from guys like Kobe
17:19
Speaker 4: Durant throughout the playoffs, you know, just not enough production,
17:22
Speaker 4: enough plays on the ball to make a capable defense.
17:26
Speaker 4: So you know that pass rush can cover up a lot,
17:28
Speaker 4: but if you don't have the guys on the back
17:30
Speaker 4: end who are able to operate and tight coverage, it's
17:33
Speaker 4: not gonna work. They played really well at times against
17:35
Speaker 4: the Bears, but not enough against a high power offense
17:38
Speaker 4: like the Seahawks.
17:39
Speaker 2: And sometimes on all stats can tell a little bit
17:41
Speaker 2: of a myth. They can do some as the ball
17:44
Speaker 2: doesn't lie allegedly or they on all stats can but
17:47
Speaker 2: Kobe Turners on off splits were bananas all season. They
17:50
Speaker 2: were the best pass rush in the NFL when he
17:52
Speaker 2: was on the field. When it was off the field,
17:54
Speaker 2: they were number twenty seven, and we saw that late
17:56
Speaker 2: in the game against the Seattle Seahawks. Let's get over
17:59
Speaker 2: to the AFC runner up, the Denver Broncos, who lose
18:03
Speaker 2: this game. Eric tend to set them in which their
18:05
Speaker 2: backup quarterback runs backwards seventeen yards deep in his own
18:08
Speaker 2: territory and throws a backwards chess pass. That's pretty much
18:12
Speaker 2: it's That's the reason they're not in the Super Bowl, right, Yeah?
18:16
Speaker 3: That and the late pick.
18:17
Speaker 4: I mean, look, I understand the need to take a
18:19
Speaker 4: shot at that point, and you know, I don't blame
18:21
Speaker 4: him for that one, but obviously Stidham's decision there and
18:24
Speaker 4: that in that situation, and he'd been facing pressure, you know,
18:28
Speaker 4: up before that, he'd seen some all Outlitz situations, so
18:30
Speaker 4: they shouldn't have been unexpected, and he just didn't have
18:33
Speaker 4: a solution for you know, again, whatever your your reading
18:36
Speaker 4: of the call was, and whether it should have been
18:38
Speaker 4: intentional grounding or whether it should have been considered a fumble,
18:41
Speaker 4: it was a risk he probably shouldn't have taken. And
18:44
Speaker 4: hard not to think, Patrick, like, what would this team
18:46
Speaker 4: have been with Bonix in this game?
18:48
Speaker 3: I think they would have had a better chance to win.
18:50
Speaker 3: Obviously I'm not going.
18:51
Speaker 4: On on a limb by saying that, but by using his
18:54
Speaker 4: legs same way that the Patriots used Drake May, I
18:57
Speaker 4: think they would have had a little bit more success
18:59
Speaker 4: and a little bit more more options offensively. Now, they
19:02
Speaker 4: did use Stidham's legs at times, but not enough throughout
19:05
Speaker 4: the course of the game. And Nix is just a
19:06
Speaker 4: better athlete. So yeah, those two critical mistakes. You know,
19:10
Speaker 4: after he got over the O and three start and
19:11
Speaker 4: hit that long bolly fot, Okay, he settled in this
19:14
Speaker 4: is gonna work out, okay. Obviously didn't end up that way,
19:17
Speaker 4: and he just sort of get rattled the more pressure
19:19
Speaker 4: he faced and the more untenable situations he was put in.
19:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you will not go out on a limb, Eric,
19:26
Speaker 2: I will go out all the way on to the
19:28
Speaker 2: end of the limb and hold it from the ground.
19:30
Speaker 2: I think bo Nicks wins that game left handed. You
19:32
Speaker 2: mentioned the difference in athleticism. Bo Nicks a player who
19:36
Speaker 2: in space with Michael Parsons, made a move on Michael
19:38
Speaker 2: Parsons that ultimately ended his season, and Jared Stidham did
19:42
Speaker 2: not display that level of athleticism at any point, not
19:46
Speaker 2: just in this game, but the moments before. Sean Payton
19:49
Speaker 2: regretting decisions, he said there was a timeout on that
19:52
Speaker 2: crucial fourth and one he had a run called there's
19:54
Speaker 2: questions about the field goal. He feels like the run
19:57
Speaker 2: would have been a better play. What are your thoughts
19:59
Speaker 2: on the decision there in the last real scoring opportunity
20:04
Speaker 2: did Broncos.
20:05
Speaker 4: It's crazy to think about, right, that really was their
20:07
Speaker 4: best opportunity to score there, and you know that early
20:10
Speaker 4: in the game. I don't think Peyton anticipated it would
20:12
Speaker 4: be such a tight game where you know, the Patriots
20:15
Speaker 4: are handing off on third and ten and third and
20:17
Speaker 4: seven and contend to do so and understanding that their
20:21
Speaker 4: defense could completely collapse the Broncos and hold the run
20:24
Speaker 4: game and check. I don't think he felt like it
20:26
Speaker 4: was going to get to that point, you know, And
20:28
Speaker 4: that's obviously why he took the risk.
20:29
Speaker 3: Was it the right call the wrong call?
20:31
Speaker 4: Funny enough, the analytics seemed to lean field goal in
20:34
Speaker 4: that situation, So for all the people sort of complaining
20:36
Speaker 4: about how the models work and how much you should
20:39
Speaker 4: trust these things, you know, it was almost anti analytics
20:43
Speaker 4: in that way, and so obviously it ended up hurting later.
20:47
Speaker 4: We knew at the time he'd be second guests for it.
20:49
Speaker 4: So it's not looking.
20:50
Speaker 3: Back and playing Monday morning quarterback.
20:52
Speaker 4: I think it really is fair to ask should he
20:54
Speaker 4: have just not taken the points at that point, taking
20:56
Speaker 4: a two score lead and put the Patriots under a
20:59
Speaker 4: little bit more pressure to when they do score that touchdown,
21:02
Speaker 4: you're still ahead and still playing with some.
21:05
Speaker 2: Yes, a valuable discussion to have Eric versus you know,
21:08
Speaker 2: looking at the model in a spreadsheet and saying, yes,
21:10
Speaker 2: it's the right decision and there's no reason to talk
21:13
Speaker 2: about it anyway otherwise. Don't. I don't think that's fun
21:16
Speaker 2: because this is football.
21:17
Speaker 3: This is fun. This is what we like to do,
21:18
Speaker 3: and we got more of it coming up.
21:19
Speaker 2: On Power Rankings presented by Energizer, we're talking about some
21:22
Speaker 2: of the new faces in new places when it comes
21:25
Speaker 2: to head coaches. Hey wait, that guy's face isn't new.
21:28
Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy is going to Pittsburgh.
21:30
Speaker 3: Should Steelers fans be happy?
21:32
Speaker 2: Or maybe another emotion that's coming up on Power Rankings.
21:44
Speaker 2: We're back on Power Rankings presented by Energizer, as we
21:48
Speaker 2: do have some movement in the head coach carousel. Could
21:52
Speaker 2: be a carousel because we've got some refeats on here.
21:53
Speaker 2: But congratulations to Joe Brady who is now the head
21:57
Speaker 2: coach of the Buffalo Bills. And we've also got some
22:01
Speaker 2: movement in some other spots, but let's focus on the
22:04
Speaker 2: team at the top, the Buffalo Bills. Bringing Joe Brady back,
22:08
Speaker 2: the offensive coordinator gets to state in the building. Also,
22:11
Speaker 2: the general manager Eric gets to remain in the building
22:14
Speaker 2: as well. So we got some continuity there in a
22:18
Speaker 2: team that perhaps ided some need for a lot of change.
22:21
Speaker 2: Are they getting it? How do you feel about Joe
22:23
Speaker 2: Brady as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
22:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was clear that they felt that they were,
22:28
Speaker 4: at least the people who are still there, a lot
22:30
Speaker 4: closer talent wise to competing for a Super Bowl than
22:33
Speaker 4: maybe some others did. There was a report of this
22:36
Speaker 4: meeting and you know, disagreement over how much talent there
22:39
Speaker 4: actually was. But by promoting Brady, a guy who look
22:42
Speaker 4: did pump some life into this offense. When he first arrived,
22:45
Speaker 4: I think it was, you know, stagnant, things weren't working well.
22:48
Speaker 3: He was able to get them to a higher level
22:50
Speaker 3: play calling wise. You can decide what this season was,
22:53
Speaker 3: whether it was a talent issue or a play calling issue.
22:56
Speaker 4: But the fact is Joe Brady's gone from a virtual unknown,
22:59
Speaker 4: you know, in the college ranks in twenty nineteen to
23:03
Speaker 4: somebody who's at the top of his persion now leading
23:05
Speaker 4: one of the better teams in the NFL, and we'll
23:07
Speaker 4: have to find out if.
23:08
Speaker 3: It works out. It's a big risk obviously, first.
23:10
Speaker 4: Time head coach, and it does feel like, you know,
23:12
Speaker 4: the pressure squarely on him to produce in year one.
23:15
Speaker 4: That's the biggest thing. It's like, this isn't going to
23:17
Speaker 4: have a runway to it. He's got to win now.
23:19
Speaker 2: And on the other side of the new head coach fashion,
23:22
Speaker 2: we have Mike McCarthy, who was decidedly not a first
23:24
Speaker 2: time head coach. He was an offensive coordinator for the
23:26
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers, he was an offensive assistant for the
23:28
Speaker 2: Kansas City Chiefs, the head coach of the Packers and
23:31
Speaker 2: the Cowboys. Twenty six of the fifty nine Super Bowls
23:35
Speaker 2: have been won by franchises that had Mike McCarthy as
23:38
Speaker 2: a coach in some capacity. How do you feel about
23:40
Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy leading the Steeler.
23:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, obviously Pittsburgh ties, right. He used to work out
23:44
Speaker 4: at the toll booth out there. I wonder if they'll
23:46
Speaker 4: name it after him or anything like that. But you know,
23:49
Speaker 4: he's being brought in, I think for his work with quarterbacks.
23:51
Speaker 4: Obviously a retread guy who won a lot of football games,
23:54
Speaker 4: but you know, couldn't get over that proverbial hump in
23:57
Speaker 4: the last several years in Dallas, and even with several.
23:59
Speaker 3: Twelve win teams down there.
24:01
Speaker 4: But you know, I understand why a lot of Steelers
24:03
Speaker 4: fans are saying, is this sort of you settling for
24:05
Speaker 4: somebody who will make you good but maybe never great.
24:09
Speaker 4: But again, his work with quarterbacks is kind of undisputed.
24:12
Speaker 4: I don't know if this means there's an Aaron Rodgers
24:14
Speaker 4: come back in the works, but it certainly means that
24:17
Speaker 4: they have an eye on developing the quarterback position as
24:20
Speaker 4: the whole and finding their next passer, whether that's Rogers.
24:23
Speaker 3: Is a bridge guy or starting over completely.
24:26
Speaker 4: I'm fascinated, but you know, no guarantee this will work,
24:28
Speaker 4: even with a very strong resume.
24:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, working with quarterbacks that contingent on finding that quarterback.
24:33
Speaker 2: Thanks for watching Power Rankings for eric On Patrick. We'll
24:36
Speaker 2: see you next time.
24:44
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