Latest / The Right Time with Bomani Jones / Nick Wright on Josh Allen's future, Stafford's Hall of Fame case, Belichick to Bills? | 01.21

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Nick Wright on Josh Allen's future, Stafford's Hall of Fame case, Belichick to Bills? | 01.21 · The Right Time with Bomani Jones

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Beaumont Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you
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  Speaker 1: a hater. It is that time of week where we
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  Speaker 1: have a guest join us. Check him out on First
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Things First, three o'clock Eastern, Monday through Friday on FS1
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and the What's Right with Nick Wright podcast. Nick Wright,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: what's going on?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Bo, great to talk to you. It's great to see
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: you this weekend. How are you?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I'm good, man. I was telling people these playoffs is
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: just going to be me and you over there hating.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Just watching and hating.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, I'm going to be able to watch the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: NFC Championship game free of any hate in my heart.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: And that to me, not to jump ahead, I do
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: feel like the NFC Championship game is the Superbowl in
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: a real way that it hasn't felt like a conference
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: championship game is the Superbowl since may like Pat's cults
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: in 06 or Niners Cowboys in the nineties, where it
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: just seems like what that given what's happened to Denver
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: and given how shaky the Pat's offense has looked, it
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: does seem like Seahawks Rams, the two best teams all
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: year are going to be playing for the Superbowl. a
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  Speaker 2: couple of weeks before the Super Bowl.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: All right, you know what? We can get on this
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: one because I think that this is an interesting question
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: because I think the NFC Championship game is the Super
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Bowl if the Rams win. If the Rams win, I
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: think they got it. I am not moving off my
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Sam Darnold is going to fall apart at some point square.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I just can't do it. Until I see him go
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: through three rounds of the playoffs without falling apart, I
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: just can't assume that he's not going to fall apart.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: But so here would be my, the, the, my question
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: would be if they beat the Rams, I don't think
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: he's going to have to play great for them. Like
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: I think there's, they have shown over the last two
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: months really. Cause ever since that first Rams game, when
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: he threw four picks, he has been decidedly mediocre and
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: they haven't lost.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Like I think he's at nine touchdowns, eight picks. He's
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: averaging like around 200 yards per game. They have been
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: so good in every other facet that even if you
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: are anticipating a matchup where he is going to struggle,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: it feels like if they get through the Rams, he
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: could play a similar game to what he played in
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: week 18 against the Niners where he does 120 yards,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: not much of anything. and they win anyway. I have
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: been wildly impressed at just how well-rounded that roster is,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: how good that defense is. So I don't think believing
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: the Seahawks can win or are going to win the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl is the same as believing in Sam Darnold.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I think that he has been, in the last couple months,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: just staying out of the way, and that's worked really well.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think I agree with you in the
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: sense that if what we're saying is if he can
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: just keep being, yeah, right. All the way through, then
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: you're right. If, if, if, if I, if I, if
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I believe that that level you were discussing was the floor,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I would say yes. Who, if Seattle wins this game,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: then they're going to get it. I think that the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: floor is underwater. And the floor is still on the...
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: The floor that we have previously seen, I think is
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: still on the board, unless they have just completely figured
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: out a way where, okay, we don't need anything from you.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Like Shanahan managed to do for large stretches with Jimmy Garoppolo.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: But then it reached a point where, damn, we got
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to come back and win and then fall apart.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: And that's why I actually... I like the Rams this
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: weekend in large part because I don't think Seattle can
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: blow out the Rams. And if it's close late, that's
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: when you are going to need one of the quarterbacks
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: to make substantial plays. And I, I know this isn't
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: where we're supposed to start. I kind of screwed you up, but, uh,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I believe in Matt Stafford, I think a lot more
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: than you do, or at least I have more affection
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: for Matt Stafford's career than you do. And I think
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  Speaker 2: Stafford is about to, if it's close late, I trust
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  Speaker 2: Stafford even against that defense. And I think that the Rams,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: aside from a quarter and an overtime this year against
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Seattle in their second matchup, have just been the best
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: team in football this year.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: So I want to be very clear about something because
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I think you nailed the distinction here. This 2025 hyphen
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: 2026 version of Matt Stafford is that dude.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Right. I am not.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You are not going to hear me make the argument
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that the version of Matt Stafford that we've seen so
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: far this year hasn't been great. If he wins MVP,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: you're not going to hear me say, damn, I don't
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: understand how they did that.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: It is the.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Overall assessment of his career. That drives me crazy.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: So you and I are both, you know, historical guys
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: when it comes to talking about these things. We like
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: stacking all these things up. All I'm asking everybody about
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Stafford is when did you start believing that he was
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: one of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL? Or
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: because we're talking in many cases with him, the rarefied
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: heir of the Hall of Fame. When did we start
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: thinking that he was one of the top three quarterbacks
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  Speaker 1: in the NFL? And the answer to that last question
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: is never, including right now where most of us would
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: say the top three quarterbacks in the NFL were Patrick Mahomes,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. That's why when it gets
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: into this, well, you know, Stafford's going to go to
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. We never said, like the way
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: we talk about Josh Allen as a Hall of Famer
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: now and Lamar Jackson as a Hall of Famer now.
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  Speaker 1: We never said that about Stafford in the first decade
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: of his career. And while we could say that that
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: is because, well, you know, he played for the Detroit Lions.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: All I'm saying is that playing for the Lions is
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: not some clearly mystical, magical spell that guarantees you'll always
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: be terrible because Jared fucking Goff has not been terrible
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: while he has been there. As I've said before, poor
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Matt Stafford having to throw the ball to Calvin Johnson
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  Speaker 1: early in his career. My goodness.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, so I think both can be true. First
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: of all, the Lions pre-Dan Campbell and post-Dan Campbell might
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: as well have just moved cities and changed logos. They
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: are a different team. since your guy Dan Campbell's gotten there.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: But to answer your first question, when did we look
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: at Stafford as a top five, much less a top
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  Speaker 2: three quarterback? Never until he got to the Rams. And
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: since he got to the Rams, this is where I
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: think you and I maybe view him differently. I do,
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: if you, I understand that the Rams Quarterback big four
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: for the last half decade has been Patrick, Josh, Lamar,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: and Burrow. And Stafford has been on the outside of that.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: But I also think it might be fair to ask,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: is that fair? Given what he's doing right now. If Stafford,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: the moment he gets to the Rams, they win a
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl. And then in every playoff appearance since he's
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: been there, he's been excellent. And this is where I,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: you know, my quarterback grading system is, you know, everybody
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: has their own. But I weigh... playoff performances by quarterbacks,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: like finals at fancy colleges. Like you can be a
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: perfect student all leading up to it, but the final 60%
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: of your grade, and that's really going to determine if
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: you sink or swim. And he's been, now these playoffs,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: he actually has been somewhat mediocre.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was not good last game.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: He just hasn't, right. But it's weird because six of
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: the other eight quarterbacks this weekend just beat all over themselves.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Like he just, he at least didn't turn the ball over.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: And so I, when you talk Stafford and Hall of Fame,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: what is to me, in general, I agree with you
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: like Philip Rivers. I don't care what the counting stats
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: are at no point in his career or Jason Witten
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: where we definitely agree. If there was never a single
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: moment where anybody thought you were the best in the
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: league for Witten's case and in Philip Rivers' case, if
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: there really wasn't a single stretch of time where people
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: thought you were top three at your position, how are
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: you a Hall of Famer? But for Stafford, if he
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: wins the MVP and it's like, okay, so he has
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a Super Bowl championship, a league MVP, and the crazy
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: counting stats. If he wins this Super Bowl, he's obvious,
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  Speaker 2: no doubt, or he's going to be a Hall of Famer.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: But even if they don't, He got to a functional franchise.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: They instantly won at the highest level. They have been
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: in the mix every year except one. And his numbers,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the counting numbers are crazy. You add an MVP to that.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: To me, that certainly jumps him ahead of Eli, Rivers,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Matt Ryan, Cam Newton. And on the next stop after
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Favre and Rodgers get in, to me, it jumps in
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: ahead of Russell Wilson as far as the next quarterback
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  Speaker 2: to be a Hall of Famer.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: So I think Rivers is an interesting comp because I
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: agree with you that at no point did Rivers seem
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: like the best quarterback in the league. But to be
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: fair to Rivers, there were years where he did put
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: up you are the best quarterback in the league stats, right?
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Like eight and a half yards in attempt. Like big things.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: He just, how about this is where it gets fun.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: We will give Matthew Stafford credit because he had lion's
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: juice all over him back in the day, and we
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: know that puts a cap on what you do, where
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the real holdup for Phillip Rivers is covered in Chargers
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: juice and like, hey, maybe the defense can stop us
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: from losing. We can win this game if the defense
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: can just stop him on this last drive, which is
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: like the story of the Phillip Rivers career. We don't
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: cut him slack on this. Maybe I am just taking
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: up for the Honolulu Blue right now. But I'm just
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: saying the least scrutinized number one overall pick that was never,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: ever truly asked to. OK, and I want to say
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: that because I think that there was a level of
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: request that he elevate the Rams somewhat once he got there.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: But with the Lions, if you who if you the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: guy that we talking about him being, we're not waiting
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: until your 13th year in the league. And then, wow,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: now the guy looks like a Hall of Famer. Never
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: seen anything like it. But I've also never seen a
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: guy keep getting better for as long as he seems
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to have managed to keep getting better.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Well, the point you made is a point that my
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: pal Eric Mangini makes all the time, which is because
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: he loves Stafford, but he always puts the yeah, but
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: he was like, but I always struggle with the fact
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: that if he's that guy, why was he never able
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: to elevate the Lions? Yep. He's like everybody else. That is,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: we talked, you know, Joe Burrow, at least temporarily. Elevated
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: the Bengals. The Bengals are this woe-begone franchise. Like, why
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: was he not able to elevate the Lions as the
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: question mark on his career? And this is where sports
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: and legacies and things can be unfair. While the Chargers
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: weren't as tortured historically as the Lions, they are quite
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: tortured historically. And what Phillip Rivers had going against him, obviously,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: was being in the wrong conference in the aughts and
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: the tens. when you have Brady and Manning and Big
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Ben with great franchises and great teams all blocking his way,
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: if Phillip Rivers in year 12 had been traded to
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Bucs and they instantly won a Super
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Bowl and went on a run, then I do think
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: we look at Phillip Rivers as a Hall of Famer. Like, Rivers...
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: didn't get an opportunity with another franchise until he was,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: you know, a shell of himself. And so there are some, yeah.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Do I think that if Matt Stafford had played his
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: whole career with the Lions, we'd be seeing this out
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: of him? Probably not. Now, let me.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Well, that's an interesting thought. Because if Matthew Stafford plays
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: for the Dan Campbell Lions... Correct.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: That's what I was about to say. If they keep
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: him and you have this Dan Campbell renaissance and Brad
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Holmes drafts these guys, then maybe we do finally see it.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: But I just... I think that... I think he's been
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the best player in the league this year. I think
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that next year's, you know, if he doesn't, so here's,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: let me ask you another question. This maybe will get
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: us to the bills. If the Rams win the Superbowl
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: and Matt Stafford is excellent in the Superbowl and does
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: not retire.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, does not retire.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Does not retire. If he does retire, it's a whole
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: different thing. He does not retire going into next season.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Do people have to say he's the best quarterback in
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: the NFL? Given the other contenders, what their seasons were
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: or what they ended with?
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: For me, it's always such a fascinating question. The difference
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: between you played the best this year and you are
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the best player, right? And this is the one thing
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I want to say about Stafford is that You put
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: together one of them Stafford highlight cut-ups, there's no way
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I'm explaining to you that that guy's not a Hall
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: of Famer. Like, the Fred Taylor internet discussion from a
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks was interesting because I'm like, Fred Taylor,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: perhaps a Hall of Fame player who did not have
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame career. Now, if Stafford winds up
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: with two rings, an MVP, and a Super Bowl MVP,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: which I would presume that he would then also win, well, okay,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: that sure looks like a Hall of Fame career there,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and he's not Eli Manning, where he was a middle-of-the-road
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: quarterback Um, the entire way, like he's going to get
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: in and it's okay. Shrug. That's why I say though,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: if they don't win this one this year, going up
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: against Jared Stidham, um, a 17 year old Drake May
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: and Sam Darnold. Hey man, get out my face. That's
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: where I'm going with that on him. But you're right.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: If he comes back next year, assuming his back doesn't
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: fall apart, then why wouldn't he be the best player? Because, man,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: he made some throws in that game that even though
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: he didn't play that well against, that one opposite hash
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: throw that he made in the Bears game, I was
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: just like, what are you talking about?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Well, and just the best quarterback in the league discussion
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: right now, because the other avenue is this one. Stafford
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: plays poorly this weekend and they lose. And the Denver
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: crowd gets to, you know, a young quarterback in his
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: first road playoff game and we end up with a
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: darn old Stidham Super Bowl and that's the Super Bowl.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: You know, I obviously believe and think I have reason
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: to believe the best quarterback a live discussion is silly
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: because it's clearly Patrick Mahomes. But that has become a
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: very unpopular opinion. People throw up his pass rate in
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: the last few years. People have almost dismissed Mahomes. So
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: if the Rams and the Patriots lose this weekend, their
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: quarterbacks don't play great, the first and second MVP candidates,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: and we get a kind of weird Super Bowl, who
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: are we going to take my homes out of it.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: If you don't want to say it's my homes, are
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: we really going to say after Lamar misses the playoffs
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and his coach gets fired, he's the best quarterback alive.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: That's going to be tough for me. You're going to
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: say Josh Allen after the worst playoff game of his career,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: he's the best quarterback alive. That's going to be tough.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Like it's, it'll, it'll almost feel like if it's not Patrick,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: it's a vacant championship belt, which is, Probably leads us
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: to the Josh Allen discussion. Yeah.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Now, one point I'm going to make that's really interesting
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: when you talk about that with Mahomes, because I'm with you, right?
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: You could throw these stat lines out there and they're
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: perfectly fair, right? I don't know where to stop from.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The best quarterback I've ever seen is not performing statistically
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: in that way. That is Dan Marino after a certain
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: point in his career. You know, he was 1984 and 1986.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: It was never like that again after those seasons, right?
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: But it makes me now understand the people who will
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: tell you that John Elway was the best quarterback that
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: they thought they'd ever seen. And he was that dude.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: And then you go look at them, John Elway stats,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and they are absolutely nothing to write home about. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: then you watch a John Elway clip and you're like, Oh, okay.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: God gave us a quarterback, right? Like the stats in
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: football don't mean what they mean in other places. It's
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: so much more amorphous. Like our explanations are, for what
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: everybody is. And now that gets us to Buffalo, because
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: you and I talked about this over the weekend. We've
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: never seen a team that despondent. We've never seen a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: guy seem to be as broken at the end of
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: that game. I was shocked that people were shocked that
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: they fired McDermott, A, given how close they had been
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: to firing McDermott the year before, But two, hey, man,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: it's just somebody loses their job after stuff like this happened.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: This is how it goes. But I, too, admit that
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: I did not think that this would mean that the
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: general manager would get promoted to the president of football operations.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: And it's one thing to say, hey, McDermott's got to go.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: It's another thing to say it's McDermott's fault. And, you know,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: they are saying this because the general manager got promoted
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: to president of football operations.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't think that this was.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Of all the seasons to say McDermott underachieved, it didn't
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: feel like this was a fair one. Now, we've talked
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: about this before. Every coach quarterback ever that's won a
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl together won their first within five years. This
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: was year eight for Lamar Harbaugh. This was year eight
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: for McDermott Josh. So it might've just been, we can't
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: keep running it back. And especially after that team looked shattered,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: looked absolutely shattered in a way that I do not
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: remember a team being shattered after a divisional round loss.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: They seemed more shattered, at least at the podium, than
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: the 13 seconds game, which also was a divisional round loss.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: So I get why you say we have to turn
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: the page. It is puzzling to me, and maybe it
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: shouldn't be. Maybe it's as simple as the guy sits
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: next to him during the games, has a relationship with him,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: has been talking to him all season long, and the
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: GM has ingratiated himself to ownership. But it is puzzling
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: to me that a team that hasn't made... a mid-season
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: acquisition that moved the needle in a half decade, that
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: has had, you could argue, four consecutive really shaky drafts,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: whose biggest swings in free agency have all been misses,
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: that that guy... gets a raise out of this, a
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: promotion out of this.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Presumably a raise.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, presumably a raise too. That part of it was
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: stunning to me. And it also felt like the only
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: person either, the only person related to the Bills playoff
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: loss or the person related to Bills playoff loss, whether
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: it's player, coach, or media member covering it, that most
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: acutely understood what happened in that loss was Josh Allen,
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: who I think the reason he was so broken up
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: was because he felt like he had screwed it up
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: for his teammates, which, by the way, is accurate. And
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: that is not an indictment, meaning you're not a great player,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: you can't be a great player, but Josh was... devastated
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: because he's the best player on the team he's the
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: leader he's what everything runs through and he had the
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: worst playoff game of his life and one of the
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: worst games of his maybe the worst game of his
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: regular of this whole season and that's why they lost
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: he got it in a way a lot of other
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: people seem to refuse to get it in my opinion.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah that was the the take that we had over
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: here was just that he wants to be accountable i
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: don't understand why it is that Nobody else will allow
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: him to be Kirk doubt, man. He had four turnovers.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: One of them, a flat out Kirk out that into
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the first half turnover. That was comically that's indefensible for
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: a player in the eighth year of his career. By
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the way, they weren't going to get anything out of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: that play, right? Like that was every now and then
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I say this about guys, they can typically get better,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: but rarely do they change. And Allen is the rare
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: player that it feels like got better and in some
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: fundamental ways changed over the years, except that right there
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: was in the Josh Allen DNA, right? Like he was
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: addicted to shit like that back in the day. And
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: maybe he had been going to meetings. They got them
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: 12 steps. He'd been in there talking to people and
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: getting through, and he just had a relapse.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Well, that's why, I mean, that's why I also, he's obviously...
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: He's the greatest wildcard round quarterback ever. And I don't
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: even say that sarcastically. Statistically, he's unbelievable in the wildcard round.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: And in the two rounds after that, he's been quite good.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: He's only been truly great one time in that 13
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: seconds game, but he's been quite good consistently. But there
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: has been a lot of The player that we always
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: reference in his first playoff game ever, throwing the lateral
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: behind his head in the waning moments of regulation, on
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: the first drive of the AFC champion, the divisional round game,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: it was one of the last two years, one of
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: the playoff losses to the Chiefs. On the very first drive,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: on third down, On a designed quarterback run, he panicked
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: and threw a 15-yard forward lateral to a teammate on
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: the first drive of the game. On the final drive
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: of that game, he had a play very similar to
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: one at the end of the first half where he's
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: running with the ball all loose. It gets batted out
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: of his hands. The Chiefs almost scoop and score to win.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: They end up kicking it. The Bills get the ball
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: back and leads to the best field goal. In the
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: AFC Championship game last year, he had three fumbles. They
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: happened to recover all three. So he has been playing
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: with this fire in these biggest spots. They've just been
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: getting away with it. And my biggest issue with, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be too meta here, but like
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: the Josh Allen discourse can be summed up in this.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Because it's gone past he's the best quarterback in the
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: league and it's gotten to people saying he is as
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: talented as any quarterback to ever live.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: He is one of the greatest players in league history.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Have we ever, in any sport, given that type of
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: anointing or declaration for a player who has... never led
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the NFL in any major passing category, has never been
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: first-team All-Pro, has never won a championship or been to
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: a championship round, and who, while he is an MVP,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: has two guys exactly his age, his contemporaries, who have
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: more MVPs. People like there is somebody asked me the
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: other day, like how much of Josh Allen right now
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: is similar to Braun, you know, before he won his
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: first championship, like Braun in 2012. And I said, man,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Braun in 2012. had been the consensus, without a shadow
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: of a doubt, best player across at least five consecutive,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: or Kobe fans will get mad at me, call it
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: three consecutive regular seasons, had been to the championship round twice,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: including once his fourth year in the league, right at
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: 22 years old. There was proof of concept, like, Everyone,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: it's not that, Peyton Manning, before he finally broke through
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: and won in the playoffs, was... universally accepted as in
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: the regular season, the best quarterback in the league. And
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: we knew that because he won more MVPs during his
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: early part of his career than any other player he's
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: playing against. He led the league in passing, led the
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: league in touchdowns. And so Josh doesn't have that. And
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: also has, I was listening to Barnwell and then I'll
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: stop ranting. And I think Bill is the smartest person
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: covering football. And I text Bill about this. Bill talked
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: about the play right before the end of the half.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: And he put a little bit on, and I'm pulling
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: up what I text him because it's the exact quote.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: He put a little bit of it on McDermott for
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: not making it clear to Josh, basically time score situation.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: And Bill said, and I quote, you have to be
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: aware you have a lunatic at quarterback. And like, if
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: that is table stakes, to Josh Allen, then that has
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: to be a part of whether or not he's the
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: best player in the league. That to me is like
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: the fair piece of it.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: That's the hashtag GTBW of it all, man. That the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: idea that you got to work around this white man's limitations.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: And if you don't, that's your fault. It's the rooting. And,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, this is, you know, you down
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: with us. I say we have to cook out at
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: your house, baby. So you don't necessarily wind up in
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: these situations. It's the rooting for Josh Allen that really
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: came to surface today. in this loss, right? It's such
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: a tragedy that he just can't get this win while
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the juxtaposition has to be Mahomes. That's the only explanation
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: for how this gets to be where it is and
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: that whenever Allen does something, we don't go to, hey man,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: this is on him. It goes to, well, you have
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: to build an infrastructure around him because you know he
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: might burn down the house.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Well, and I reject the premise of Well, that team
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: would have been terrible without him. He brought him there.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: If not for him, they wouldn't have had a chance.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: If that is the rules of engagement on player criticism
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: when they play poorly in a big spot.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Then we.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: can never criticize any NBA player for playoff performance. Because
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: every single NBA superstar, which the closest comp to star
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: quarterback is NBA superstar, every NBA superstar ever, the reason
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: their team is where they are is because of that guy.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: So if that therefore means that when James Harden goes
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: two for 13, with nine turnovers, we can't be like,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: he cost him the game. And folks would be like, well,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: would the 2017 Rockets have been in that game without him?
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: It's like, no, they wouldn't have. But that doesn't mean
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: he's not accountable for how he played in that spot.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: And as far as you meant, here is the thing
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: that I will say about the racial dynamics at play
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: in quarterback, discourse I think people are too easy on
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Lamar as well oh yeah I talked about this where
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: they're a little afraid they they went too far to
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: start correct and.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: So they're afraid to come back although I think that
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: one's always tricky because the internet makes sure that we
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: see those people who have no such fear.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: A hundred percent but I don't I disagree with folks
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: who are presenting it as if Lamar gets pilloried and
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Josh gets a pass. I do think Josh gets a
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: pass when he plays poorly, but I think a lot
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: of the people who give Josh a pass also have
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: been telling me the last five years that Lamar is
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: the greatest passer in the league and that Lamar's team...
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: I see a lot of folks that want to... give
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: seemingly everyone a pass, except they, and maybe that's the
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: nicer way to do this. I don't know. Maybe that's
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: the way I should do it. But I just, it's
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: to me very obvious that we have elevated players to
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: a place they haven't quite yet earned in Lamar and
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: in Josh. And then when they are held to the
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: standard of which they have been elevated, which is best
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: player alive, and both of them have been called that
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: repeatedly by certain folks during Patrick Mahomes' prime, when they
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: are held to a Patrick Mahomesian standard and fall short,
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: pointing that out is considered unfair. Or why are we
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: not looking at the roster construction and those such things.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: And I think that's, I think that's full.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: All right. So I think one thing before we go
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to break, I think there's an important distinction to be made. One,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: I'll be honest. I have not seen much of the
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Lamar's best player alive, even with the MVPs. I don't see,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I don't, I don't see as much as that, but again,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the algorithm gives us what will infuriate us and they
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: know you. Number two, The difference in this case between
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Allen and Lamar, and I do get your point about
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: some people cutting Lamar too much slack, is even the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: people that cut him slack, when his team loses in
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: these games, or take when Mark Andrews drops that ball
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: in the end zone. I do not recall the prevailing
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: response on television being what a shame it was that
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: that happened to Lamar Jackson, right?
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, I agree with that.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where I think there's one, the thing with
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the Josh Allen stuff is it's one thing to give
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: him slack when he comes up short. The other part
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: is the people outright rooting for him like he's their child.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: No, the whole, that part, the entire media a week
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: ago banged on Lynn Jones, the Jacksonville older lady for
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: rooting for the Jags and was like, that's not what
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: we do. And then.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Went out publicly and said, my heart breaks for Josh Allen.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Yes. Like that.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: And so, and, and again, I'm a weird messenger on
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: this as you look over my shoulder and there's a
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Kansas city star framed and Patrick Mahomes, but I don't
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: claim to be a neutral. Like I try to be
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: fair to everyone, but I root for the chiefs. Mahomes
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: my favorite player. So like, and I, the, so you know,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: that going in folks that, claim that they're not rooting
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: for anyone when they are obviously, and by the way,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: I don't think, Bomani, that is like a phenomenon that
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: is unique to Allen. I think folks did the same
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: for Peyton when it felt like, man, this is a
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: great player who hasn't broken through.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, boy.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, I disagree.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I feel like when the going got tough for Manning,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: we were on his neck about it, right?
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's true.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: And I don't think that collectively, the get on Josh
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Allen's neck thing, the closest we got is at the
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: beginning of that one season where people started pointing out
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: that he was turning the ball over all the time.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: And then by the time that season turned around, people
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: were apologizing for the fact that they had the nerve
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: to go count things up and balance them against each
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: other and then speak to us about that which they
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: have seen. It's a wild one, but I'm going to
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: do this. We're going to go to break right fast
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: because there is something else with Buffalo I want to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: talk about before we get out of here, which is
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: where they go from here. And I think they're about
• 33:49
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• 36:47
  Speaker 1: All right, we are back with Nick Wright. We've been
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: talking about the Buffalo Bills, um, There is a press
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: conference on Wednesday where the owner and the new president of,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: I call Brandon being the president of football operations. That's
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: not true. He's the president of all of them. They
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: about to make him the man in charge, but they're
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: going to have to explain themselves. But we're also seeing
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: reports and people, again, so little of this is ever
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen's fault, but the stuff that's around it. You
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: hear about different guys that may wind up getting the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: job to be their head coach or offensive coordinator. I
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: think it's Davis Webb that people have talked about giving
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: him the job because he says Josh Allen is his
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: best friend. And that seems like the worst person to
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: give a job.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: The actual best friend. I can't imagine they're going to
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: give it. So to be fair. But even if he's
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: offensive coordinator, right?
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: He's the guy's best friend is too close.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: So what I was going to say is to be fair,
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: this is a weird one in that. Now, maybe they
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: are incredibly tight, but. Davis Webb called Josh Allen his
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: best friend.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen has not called Davis Webb his best friend.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: To be fair. Josh Allen might have read that quote
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: three years ago. Like, I mean, we're cool. Like, I
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: don't know. I have no idea. Maybe they are best
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: men at weddings. I'm not sure. But that's always a
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: weird one. I, you know, I forever, a little quick anecdote.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: have called Danny Parkins, who I went to college with
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: and we worked together in Kansas City. I'm the godfather
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: of his kid. He was the best man at my wedding,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: if there was a wedding. I've always called him my
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: best friend. And then he wrote a book with a
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: guy named Ben Kaplan. Yes. And I saw him doing
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: an interview, multiple interviews about the book. And he talked
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: about how it was so gratifying to write a book
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: with his best friend. And I'm like, I didn't write
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: no fucking book. Like what happened here? And so there's
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: always the concern that one person's best friend is not
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: someone else's. But the three people we hear are Davis Webb,
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Joe Brady, and Brian Dable. And that, to me, is...
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: I'm not... As head coach, I think Dable as offensive
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: coordinator is very interesting. But I'm not.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: I think it is.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Incredibly risky to trust what I would imagine will be
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: another three, maybe four years of Allen's prime to a
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: first time head coach. And I think it'd be risky
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: to trust it to Dable, who I didn't think covered
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: himself in glory when he's screaming at doctors in the
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: medical tent because he needs to get Jackson Dart back
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: in the game. so he can call more quarterback-driven runs. Like,
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: that all is concerning to me. And these, Bo, these jobs,
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: we pulled this on the show yesterday. Since 1970, here
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: are the full list of head coaching jobs where you
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: walk into a guy who is one league MVP who's
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: not yet 30. Favre twice because Holmgren left for more power.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: They didn't fire him, right?
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: He left.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: They hired Ray Rhodes. Ray Rhodes was one and done.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: They hired Mike Sherman. And then Lamar this year and
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: Josh this year. That's it. In 50 years, we've never had...
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: The only time we had a job opening like this
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: was when Mike Holmgren opted into leaving the Packers. And
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: now we have two of them and they are such...
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: obviously important hires because I don't think Josh or Lamar
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: are going to be, you know, look playing at the
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: level that Stafford or Brady did in their late thirties
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: because of who they are stylistically. So they are when
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: the championship next year jobs, are you going to trust
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: that to a first time head coach? Like, I don't
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: know what they're going to do. I don't know what
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: the right move is.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to hit you a couple of things. First,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: um danny parkins has referred to you to you to
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: me as his best friend before that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: Has happened he's edited that now it's weird though i've
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: been called best friend by people like while in their
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: face and been like huh really wonder what i did
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: uh how i how i got to the top of
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: the power rankings this doesn't speak very much to your
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: quality of friends but two in line with what you
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: were saying The Davis Webb thing was a segue to
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: me to the one that I think is a terrible idea.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: It's Daybold. I like, what do you have? Some of
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: these guys that people talk about giving other jobs to,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what do they have to do? Daybold was what,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: 20 and 40 and one or something like that with
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: the Giants. And he loses his shit. And that's the
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: thing to me about a head coach. Like the way
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: he talks to people when things are going well, or
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: as you pointed out, going in the tent to try
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: to save his job with Jackson Dart and everything else. No, no, no, no, no.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: That team that just looked like it was broken, that
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: little man is not the one that you make the
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: head coach of that operation. Like that is craziness to
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: me that they would think to do that.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: I agree. But that then leaves us. So then we're
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: in this weird spot Where first-time head coach is such
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: a crapshoot. Yeah. And then, like, I would, I think
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: you will think this is a terrible idea. I would
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: try to hire Belichick. That is a horrific idea. I
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: knew you would say that. Let me make the case
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: for it. I would trust that that man's ego and
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: vindictiveness and seeing the Patriots rise up this year without
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: him would fuel him to tap into the best stuff
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: he has left and be like, listen, this is a
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: three-year thing. Can you get the Bills a Super Bowl?
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: And here's the deal. you're all that power and stuff
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: you wanted. You don't have it. And my guess is
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: your girlfriend's not going to be a huge fan of
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: Western New York in the fall and the winter. So
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much we'll be seeing her during
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: football season anyway, but I, you, we know the floor
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: you bring to the table. Hey, that to me, I
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: don't think Tomlin is coaching this year and I don't know.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's coaching again. Yeah. I'm not sure.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: And so who are you going to hire? It can't
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: be Mike McCarthy. Mike McCarthy can't be the answer here.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: So then you're just rolling the dice with a first-time
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: head coach. That seems so risky, man. And the same applies,
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: by the way, for Baltimore. Like Baltimore, it feels less
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: risky because I think they do have enough organizational infrastructure
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: that if you wanted to go with whether it's another
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: defensive-minded guy, whether it's Flores or Jesse Minter or something,
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: you feel like they could grow within the job and
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: Lamar gives you a floor for the offense. And they
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: just draft better than Buffalo. So I don't know what
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: the right hire is, and I don't know that the
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Bills know what the right hire is.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: I think both of those teams, there is also a
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: question of, have your star quarterbacks peaked? And that doesn't
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: mean that they're going to be terrible after this. But
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: both of them play games that are heavily predicated on athleticism.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: And both have taken their blows. You may have seen
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: the best of them physically at this point. Now, of course,
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: they've both gotten much better at the mental parts of
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: the game. And so they can figure out ways to
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: get it done from there. But the quarterbacks that they
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: had are not necessarily the quarterbacks that they are going
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: to have. in the future. And the idea that you
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: can build this team, Buffalo has built a much more
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: heliocentric operation with Josh Allen than I'd say that Baltimore
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: has with Lamar Jackson. But still, you're going to need
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: to figure some stuff out around both of these.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: But to your point, if Bills and Ravens fans are
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: listening and be like, no, we are going to have
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: MVP caliber play from our quarterback without a doubt next season. Fine,
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: so be it. But your overall point, whether they have
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: peaked or not is definitively true, which is their The
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: window of Allen and Lamar being in the discussion for
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: best quarterback alive or second best quarterback alive, I think
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: for both of them, is around the next three years, max.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: And because of that, that means you can't screw around
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: with the 2026 season. It's why they both fired longtime
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: head coaches. It is the ultimate pressure of the moment.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: The additional issue the Ravens have that the Bills don't,
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: luckily for the Bills, is Josh Allen's under a long-term contract. Like,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: the Lamar contract stuff is about to pop back up
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: this offseason and be, I think, a difficult negotiation in
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: this regard. I thought that press conference that Bishotti gave,
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: that everybody loved, there was real news in it when
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: he said, listen, we want to get this done by March.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: We don't think there's going to be a hard negotiation.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: And he said, and I'm paraphrasing, but it's almost a
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: direct quote. Yeah, all we do is take the contract
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: he has and change the number, which is, I do
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: not think what Lamar wants. Lamar wanted a guaranteed deal before.
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: he won another MVP and was a two-time first-team All-Pro.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: And the league colluded against him, apparently.
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: And so, I just.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: If Lamar would take the exact same contract structure just
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: with a $ 10 million-a-year raise, great. But if he doesn't,
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: then the Ravens have a whole... That's going to be
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: an arduous task this summer for a new head coach
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: to be walking into.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that is a great point that you raise because, again...
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: We've got reason to think, even if the arbitrator said, no,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: it wasn't collusion. It felt like that decision, and that's
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: the one where Pablo dug up the paperwork on it.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: It was like, it's not collusion, but they did collude.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: I understand that that doesn't make sense to anybody, but
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: that's basically what they said.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: And so... If Lamar wants that, I don't... It's very
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: interesting and curious how that works because, again, that's what
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: they did the last time. There's nothing really to stop him.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Nobody.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: When Arthur Blank came out and was like, no, we
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: don't want Lamar Jackson, I was like, oh, y'all just
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: out here bullshitting then, huh? Oh, okay. Got you.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: And it's also complicated because when it happened last time,
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: he had... His contract, you know, had expired. And now...
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: There's two years left, but he's obviously underpaid. So I just,
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: I think the Ravens did themselves a huge favor in fixing,
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: if it needed fixing, the relationship with Lamar by moving
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: on from Harbaugh. But it doesn't mean the work is
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: done and that him signing a contract is going to
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: be easy. Which job do you think Bo is the
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: better job? If there was a A-plus coaching candidate out there, right?
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: Between Baltimore and Buffalo?
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: Baltimore, because I feel pretty good that if they fire you,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: you will have had a chance. I think the Bills
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: are probably going to be more prone to panic because
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: on some level, for Brandon Bean to get promoted, what
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: they are saying on one level or another is the
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: players are good enough.
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: Correct.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: The problem was the coach, and the players are clearly
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: not good enough.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: So the Bills are definitively saying, we had a Super
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: Bowl caliber roster. and not a Super Bowl caliber coach.
• 49:22
  Speaker 2: And that's why we... And they have such an allergy,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: it would seem, to... I don't want to say they
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: have an allergy to taking accountability. It is not lost
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: on me, however, that a handful of their playoff losses
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: compared to the rest of the leagues, it hasn't been
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: their fault. The 13 seconds game, oh man, we just
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: got unlucky with the coin toss. Okay. People forget this.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Last year, the Bills, not quite to the same level
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: they're doing right now, did a bit of a media
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: tour on Josh picked up that first down on the
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: tush bush. I still think that was a first down.
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: And that was a fourth down play with eight minutes
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: left in the fourth. It wasn't the deciding play. But
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: they pedaled a bit. We got screwed there. And then
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: Deion Dawkins and others whining about what was obviously an interception.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: And then McDermott obviously calling the Buffalo News and stuff.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: But he's gone now. The woe is us. We got screwed.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: I think that whoever the new coach is, is going
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: to have to find a way to make them turn
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: the page, which I think can be difficult after what
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: they consider another devastating postseason loss.
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: All right, last thing before we get out of here,
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: and I wonder if I'm going wrong in even getting
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: into this because it's hard to make this quick, but
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: I feel like everything that's going on with Buffalo allows
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: us to forget it's going to be a hell of
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: an offseason for Philadelphia and a hell of a season
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: for Philadelphia next year as we figure out where this goes, right?
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: Because Talent they have, absolutely, but a run can only
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: go for so long. They're kind of in like year
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: four or five of what this run is, and man,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: it's always a lot.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: Well, they also, not to be too nerdy on this,
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: because they have an owner that is willing to spend cash,
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: they have pushed more money into void years in the
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: future than any other team in the league by a mile.
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: So they have over $ 400 million of void years attached
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: to the current roster. And so for some context on that,
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: seven teams in the league have $ 0 million. Just don't
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: use them. The Browns have the second most, and it's
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: because it's all Deshaun. And it's not all Deshaun, but
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: it's almost all Deshaun. And it's less than $ 200 million.
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: The way Howie Roseman does business, and it's been smart,
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: is we borrow from a specific future year for the Eagles.
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: It's 2028. And we have this window. And then we
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: have a very quick one-year reset. And then we start
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: competing again. And it's worked for him. Obviously, he's done
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: a great job. But it means this year was such
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: a blown opportunity because you had all that talent and
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: you lost it home to a Niners team that showed
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: you the very next week who they really were. I
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: don't think A.J. Brown's going to be on the team
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: next year. I don't know what to expect from Saquon
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: next year. And there's just more and more whispers about the.
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: Or whether it's teammates or coaches or whomever, being a
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: little nonplussed with some of Jalen Hurts, either style, leader,
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: whatever it is, and this is their team moving forward,
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting. I think it's very interesting
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: who they get to be the offensive coordinator there because
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: that's been such an interesting job where... Because some parts
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: of the league don't think Jalen Hurts is great. If
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: you have a great offense with him, you get a
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: head coaching job. But because the, but if you don't
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: have a great offense with him, you get fired. Like
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: they've had four offensive coordinators and two of them have
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: gone on to be head coaches and two of them
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: been one and done fired. So it just, it seems
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: like high upside, low floor job. And I look at
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: it next year and I'm like, man, do I think
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: that And I know this sounds disrespectful because the guy
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: won a Super Bowl and his record's so crazy. But
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: are they going to go into next year with the
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: worst coach in their own division? I thought Schottenheimer did
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: a good job. I think Dan Quinn's fine. And Harbaugh's
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: obviously good. Are they going to go into next year
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: if Jaden Daniels is healthy with the third best quarterback
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: in their division? I think so. It's such an interesting
• 54:28
  Speaker 2: spot for them.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: It's also going to be fun. And this is a
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: who knows what year it's going to happen. But at
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: some point it's going to happen. The year they start
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: taking second round quarterbacks, third round quarterbacks in the way
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: that they took Jalen Hurts with an expectation that we
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: got to start figuring out how we get to another guy.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: Because when they did that with Wentz, we still felt
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: pretty good about Wentz. And I would say that we
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: still largely feel pretty good about Hurts. But this is
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: not a sustainable situation. And I don't think he's going
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: to get much better.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: Well, like you said, listen, like you said, this is
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: certainly don't have time to get into this, but you
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: were talking about some of the racial components to the
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: discussion of around Josh Allen. I don't know how much
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: you digest any Philly talk radio, but Tanner McKee is
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: quite a popular fella. Some folks in Philly love them
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: some Tanner McKee.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: You know, we have a macro level observation about that
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: entire dynamic. Like, you know, they not serious about Jalen
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: Hurts for real because they would have had a black
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: dude behind him to quell some of this talk. But
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: the thing about it is, be your own people. Like
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: I say about black quarterbacks, every black person loves another
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: team's black quarterback. When it's their own, they be talking
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: about that motherfucking just like they would anybody else, man.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: And Philadelphia is the test case in this. So no,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: that's going to be fun. We'll get to that when
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: it comes up, though, more. Nick Wright, check him out.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: First things first, FS1, 3 to 5, the What's Right podcast.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: My brother, I appreciate you.
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: Of course, absolutely. See you this weekend.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: All right, now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: joining us here on The Right Time. We do this
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: four times a week. Ryan Brumley had on everything behind
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: the scenes. Thank you, sir. Remember, follow The Right Time. Subscribe, like,
• 56:07
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• 56:09
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• 56:12
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• 56:13
  Speaker 1: couple of days. Dexter, tell Leela I got my lion's
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: helmet up there. Take it easy.