Latest / NFL Now / Roquan Smith's Contract Extension, Bills - Dolphins Wildcard, & The Power Rankings

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Roquan Smith's Contract Extension, Bills - Dolphins Wildcard, & The Power Rankings · NFL Now

0:05
Speaker 1: NFL Now is a production of the NFL in partnership
0:08
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. We are officially turning the page
0:19
Speaker 1: to Super wild Card weekend. Welcome to NFL Now on
0:22
Speaker 1: NFL Network from our news room in Los Angeles. My
0:25
Speaker 1: name is ANDREWS Ceciliano. Brian Baldinger made it through the
0:28
Speaker 1: rain and all the travel delays. He is here. Steve
0:31
Speaker 1: White as well. We have coaching news will get to
0:34
Speaker 1: coming up shortly. Gentlemen, It's beginning to feel a lot
0:37
Speaker 1: like the playoffs. And just think about last year and
0:41
Speaker 1: what the playoffs run that we all got to witness
0:44
Speaker 1: and watch. No one saw the Bengals coming. Nobody. Bengals
0:47
Speaker 1: were tenants seven and they you know, they went to
0:49
Speaker 1: Kansas City. They knocked off the number one seed. Tennessee.
0:52
Speaker 1: Somebody came from the back to the front, you know,
0:55
Speaker 1: last year watching the Bengals, and here they are again.
0:57
Speaker 1: Somebody is capable of doing that again. Are you calling
0:59
Speaker 1: the Jags? Baldy in the NFC that might have some
1:05
Speaker 1: kind of ability to Baldi reveals which team that might be, right, Surely,
1:09
Speaker 1: maybe the Ravens make a run. Regardless, they're handing out
1:11
Speaker 1: some money today. We have some breaking news for you
1:14
Speaker 1: within the last hour here on NFL networking un Rapped four.
1:18
Speaker 1: Throw it out there first, row Kuan Smith has a
1:21
Speaker 1: new deal. Congratulations to Row quand the former Bears first
1:24
Speaker 1: round pick celebrating his Georgia Bulldogs winning the National championship
1:29
Speaker 1: last night with million dollars fully guaranteed, sixty in the
1:33
Speaker 1: total guarantees and twenty million a year repping himself no
1:39
Speaker 1: fees on that first off ball linebacker to get that
1:44
Speaker 1: kind of bunny. Tom pel Sero, Mike Grifola with me. Now,
1:47
Speaker 1: let's tie this all together. Don't a much of an
1:49
Speaker 1: updated on Lamar Jackson. Will get to John Harball a
1:51
Speaker 1: little bit later, but this does Tom now free up
1:56
Speaker 1: Eric to Costa to use the franchise tag on Lamar
2:01
Speaker 1: Jackson if they so choose this offseason. That's right, Andrew.
2:07
Speaker 1: Teams can only use one tag, and the Ravens would
2:09
Speaker 1: have had a choice between ro Kuwan Smith and Lamar Jackson.
2:12
Speaker 1: Obviously he would lean towards the quarterback, but ideally you
2:15
Speaker 1: would want to get one of these deals done, and
2:16
Speaker 1: that's what the Ravens did today with that five year,
2:19
Speaker 1: one million dollar deal that they got done with ro
2:22
Speaker 1: Kuan Smith. We'll see the precise details on it, but
2:25
Speaker 1: certainly it appears to be on initial glance, a strong
2:29
Speaker 1: deal for a guy who's made a big time impact
2:31
Speaker 1: since he was acquired from the Bears prior to the
2:33
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Now, this sets up the situation with Lamar Jackson,
2:38
Speaker 1: who now can be franchise tag. That does not necessarily
2:41
Speaker 1: mean that Lamar can wants to or will play on
2:45
Speaker 1: the tag, but it is the option that the Ravens
2:48
Speaker 1: have if you look back through the course of time
2:50
Speaker 1: and situations, like Kirk Cousins or like Dak Prescott, you
2:53
Speaker 1: need to play on the tag at least once get
2:55
Speaker 1: tagged a second time before you can get close to
2:58
Speaker 1: unfettered free agency. That's a choice that Lamar is gonna
3:01
Speaker 1: have to make. He has turned down offers in the
3:04
Speaker 1: past because he wants a fully guaranteed contract that has
3:06
Speaker 1: yet to arrive for him. So an interesting few months ahead,
3:10
Speaker 1: but this real quantument deal does clearly path here for
3:13
Speaker 1: how the Ravens may approach this offseason. Yes, and let's
3:16
Speaker 1: see what happens in the short term with Lamar Jackson
3:19
Speaker 1: with regard to his status for this week. I know
3:21
Speaker 1: there's been reports and rumblings that there's optimism and he's
3:24
Speaker 1: got a strong chance to play. I'm not gathering a
3:28
Speaker 1: whole lot of that. I still want to see what
3:30
Speaker 1: happens throughout the week, and he's got to get out there.
3:32
Speaker 1: He's got a tested he's got to feel right. He's
3:35
Speaker 1: certainly going to have a say in the matter. So
3:37
Speaker 1: there's it's potentially possible that the Ravens could once again
3:41
Speaker 1: end their season without having Lamar Jackson for an extended
3:44
Speaker 1: period of time, which would stink in the short term,
3:47
Speaker 1: but also for the long term certainly have an impact
3:50
Speaker 1: on those negotiations should they go the route of franchise
3:53
Speaker 1: tagging him and then trying to get a deal done later.
3:55
Speaker 1: There's a lot of things that need to fall into
3:57
Speaker 1: line here before the Ravens can get a long term
4:00
Speaker 1: deal done with Lamar Jackson. So Andrew I say it
4:03
Speaker 1: once again, stay tuned, Stay tuned. And John Harbaugh said yesterday,
4:07
Speaker 1: I have no update, and it wasn't is Lamar going
4:10
Speaker 1: to play. The question was is Lamar going to practice?
4:12
Speaker 1: He hasn't even practiced. We haven't sat here and said, hey,
4:15
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson on the field today. He was limited. He's
4:17
Speaker 1: not even limited yet. And you gotta get on the
4:21
Speaker 1: field before you get out there on game day. And there's,
4:26
Speaker 1: as you said, a lot going on here and a
4:28
Speaker 1: lot of unanswered questions. Right, we'll see. Ravens are obviously
4:33
Speaker 1: a better team at a different team. When he is
4:35
Speaker 1: out there, they have a chance to win this game.
4:36
Speaker 1: With Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley couldn't even go last week.
4:39
Speaker 1: Anthony Brown had to start. Let's get to the other
4:41
Speaker 1: Harbor brother would be Jim Harbor, currently the head coach
4:43
Speaker 1: of the University of Michigan, formerly the head coach in
4:45
Speaker 1: the NFL, obviously with the San Francisco forty Niners. Tom
4:49
Speaker 1: tell me about his interview with the Broncos Monday, Andrew,
4:54
Speaker 1: The Broncos did interview Jim Harbaugh on Monday. I was
4:57
Speaker 1: told the sides talked for over two hours. The most
5:00
Speaker 1: substantial step yet towards Harbor potentially returning to the NFL
5:05
Speaker 1: out This comes just days after he put out that
5:07
Speaker 1: statement saying that he expects to be enthusiastically coaching Michigan,
5:12
Speaker 1: and perhaps he will. But Harbaugh has been evaluating his
5:16
Speaker 1: NFL options in recent weeks here. By accepting this, uh,
5:20
Speaker 1: this interview with the Broncos, he now has emerged certainly
5:24
Speaker 1: as a top candidate for that team. He's not the
5:27
Speaker 1: only candidate though. In Denver they're interviewing their defensive coordinator
5:30
Speaker 1: at Juro Everro today. Of course, they have sought and
5:33
Speaker 1: received permission to speak to Sean Payton remains under contract
5:36
Speaker 1: with the Saints. They would need to work out a
5:38
Speaker 1: trade depending on how things go with an in person
5:40
Speaker 1: interview that can take place no sooner than one week
5:43
Speaker 1: from today. And they've got several other requests out as
5:45
Speaker 1: well for other coaches, including dan Quinn, Whehee Morris and
5:49
Speaker 1: tomko Ryan's as well. I was gonna give you a
5:55
Speaker 1: chance to jump in everything if you want. Okay, well,
5:57
Speaker 1: I'll just say I want to see how Jim Harbor
5:59
Speaker 1: interviews this time around, because I gathered last year it
6:01
Speaker 1: wasn't the greatest of interview sessions. Although he may have
6:04
Speaker 1: already had his heart set really on going back to Michigan,
6:07
Speaker 1: which he has already laid the groundwork for with that
6:09
Speaker 1: statement last week saying he would enthusiastically expect or expect
6:14
Speaker 1: have we figured out what how it was phrased again,
6:16
Speaker 1: there was something and expectation. I'm gonna keep talking long
6:20
Speaker 1: enough to give you to pull up the statement. There
6:23
Speaker 1: were expectations and enthusiasm about returning to Michigan, but really
6:26
Speaker 1: never slammed the door. And the reason for that is
6:28
Speaker 1: because he's interviewing with NFL teams, which began with the Broncos. Go.
6:32
Speaker 1: He expects to be enthusiastically coaching. Didn't say it was
6:35
Speaker 1: enthusiastic to be coaching, but he expect He's not expecting
6:39
Speaker 1: the enthusiasts. Yeah, I'm glad he's not expecting to be
6:43
Speaker 1: coaching unenthusiastically because no one would want that. But I
6:45
Speaker 1: understand that that's part of his whole trade. Baldy, he
6:48
Speaker 1: liked that one. Can I just take you camever one
6:52
Speaker 1: here real quick, Baldy. While Tom was talking about the
6:57
Speaker 1: Ravens are list, Baldy is up here doing this taking
6:59
Speaker 1: itself of everybody. You know. I was just like, I
7:04
Speaker 1: would know, I'm he is here, but Andrew was very enthusiasm.
7:09
Speaker 1: I just want to explain that sometimes it may appear
7:12
Speaker 1: like Mike did know he was following there, or Tom
7:14
Speaker 1: might finish and I'm like Wait, what did he just say?
7:16
Speaker 1: It's because like over here, sometimes Bald, he's taking a selfie,
7:21
Speaker 1: which is why we love Bold as well. Okay, now
7:25
Speaker 1: let's get back to the regularly scheduled of this program.
7:30
Speaker 1: Georgia Bulldogs. What a national championship last night. Kirby Smart's
7:34
Speaker 1: going viral here firing up his team before the game.
7:37
Speaker 1: That was fantastic. H Todd Munken is the offensive coordinator
7:41
Speaker 1: who has been a coordinator obviously in the NFL as well.
7:44
Speaker 1: Tom is the NFL calling again, Well, certainly if the
7:50
Speaker 1: NFL calls, my understanding is Todd Monkin would answer that call.
7:53
Speaker 1: He had some success in the NFL. He go back
7:56
Speaker 1: to his three years as the Buccaneers offensive coordinator early
7:59
Speaker 1: in the Jameis Winston era, when Ryan Fitzpatrick was there
8:02
Speaker 1: as well. He had a top ten offense in two
8:05
Speaker 1: of those three seasons. Then went to Cleveland Freddy Kitchens
8:08
Speaker 1: was the one calling the plays there. Ultimately ended up
8:10
Speaker 1: at Georgia, where he had one of the most prolific
8:12
Speaker 1: offenses in the country. There's always a lot of movement
8:15
Speaker 1: at this time of year. There are not a lot
8:17
Speaker 1: of experienced play callers out there. In terms of guys
8:21
Speaker 1: who are not currently employed by other NFL teams. Keep
8:23
Speaker 1: an eye on Todd Monk and his name popped up
8:25
Speaker 1: again this year on the ready list for head coaching
8:28
Speaker 1: candidates that the NFL Football Operations Department since out to
8:31
Speaker 1: all the clubs. Don't sense that he's going to have
8:34
Speaker 1: head coaching interest right now that he was close to
8:36
Speaker 1: getting the Packers job when he went went to Matt Lafleur.
8:39
Speaker 1: Keep an eye on him though, as a potential NFL
8:41
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator if the right situation rises by college head
8:46
Speaker 1: coach obviously as well as luck would have it Mike,
8:48
Speaker 1: there are offensive coordinator positions open, including one now in Tennessee.
8:54
Speaker 1: Todd Downing fired by the Tennessee Titans yesterday along with
8:58
Speaker 1: three other assistant coaches. Now. Downing did have that d
9:01
Speaker 1: u I earlier in the season after that victory in
9:04
Speaker 1: Green Bay, but they didn't fire him at the time,
9:06
Speaker 1: so this is more about performance on the field, and
9:09
Speaker 1: Downing took a lot of heat for a lack of
9:12
Speaker 1: offensive explosiveness, but he had an injured quarterback. Uh. He
9:16
Speaker 1: also had a lack of a j Brown. They already
9:18
Speaker 1: fired the guy that they feel was responsible for that
9:21
Speaker 1: in general manager John Robinson. So Downing was this seems
9:24
Speaker 1: like trying to play to the strengths that the team
9:26
Speaker 1: had kind of built around Derrick Henry in a strong
9:29
Speaker 1: running game. Trailon Burks was also out of action a
9:31
Speaker 1: bit and also learning as a rookie. So Downing did
9:34
Speaker 1: the best that he could. But the Titans are moving on,
9:37
Speaker 1: trying to find someone else in a different identity on
9:39
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball. Meanwhile, the Steelers are
9:42
Speaker 1: evaluating their coaching staff and offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Mike
9:46
Speaker 1: Tomlin spoke to the media I believe it was yesterday, uh,
9:48
Speaker 1: saying that he's not yet ready to determine what's gonna
9:52
Speaker 1: happen with Canada as well as the rest of the
9:54
Speaker 1: coaching staff, but seemed like he was leaning towards having
9:57
Speaker 1: Canada returned for another season, saying that he got better
10:00
Speaker 1: as the season went on, as did the entire team.
10:04
Speaker 1: Tom saying that Canada's progress and the offenses progress with
10:08
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett at the helm was quote encouraging. So we'll
10:11
Speaker 1: keep an eye on that one. But if Canada returns,
10:14
Speaker 1: it would not be a surprise at all. So in
10:16
Speaker 1: other words. He didn't want to anybody remember the south
10:19
Speaker 1: Park song from years ago, Blame Canada, anybody that's the one. Yeah,
10:26
Speaker 1: tell us, I'm not gonna sing it because we'll get sued.
10:28
Speaker 1: But yes, it's a good song. Baldi's laughing off camera,
10:31
Speaker 1: which is all I go for. Thank you Tom, thank
10:33
Speaker 1: you Mike, gentlemen, to a far more serious subjects here,
10:38
Speaker 1: we are all very very happy that to bar Hamlet
10:41
Speaker 1: is back in Buffalo, but he is not out of
10:43
Speaker 1: the woods yet. He said, he's not quite home yet.
10:46
Speaker 1: Put that on Twitter today. Still doing and passing a
10:48
Speaker 1: bunch of tests special thanks to Buffalo General. That's now
10:51
Speaker 1: where he is getting his care from Cincinnati back to Buffalo.
10:55
Speaker 1: Uh said. The care has been great. Keep praying for
10:57
Speaker 1: him in the bar. You know that everyone is as
11:00
Speaker 1: we get ready for the Dolphins and the Bills coming
11:02
Speaker 1: up here um in the Super wild Card round. The
11:07
Speaker 1: Bills beating him a couple of weeks ago on a
11:09
Speaker 1: Saturday night in Buffalo. They have dominated the Dolphins the
11:14
Speaker 1: last few years in Buffalo. If the Dolphins are going
11:18
Speaker 1: to win this game, they need to run the football
11:21
Speaker 1: as they did on that Saturday back in December. But
11:25
Speaker 1: can they steve that's the question. I mean, I think
11:28
Speaker 1: a lot of it depends on who's playing quarterback. I mean,
11:30
Speaker 1: if two is cleared or if Teddy Bridgewater is back,
11:33
Speaker 1: then there's the threat Buffalo has to sit back and say, Okay,
11:35
Speaker 1: they do have a quick, short, intermediate passing game we've
11:38
Speaker 1: got to protect against. But if not, and you gotta
11:40
Speaker 1: go in with Skyler Thompson, then there's we're just gonna
11:42
Speaker 1: stack the box and already good run defense, Baldy. They've
11:45
Speaker 1: got linebackers who can run with the running backs come
11:47
Speaker 1: out of the backfield in the short passing game. So
11:50
Speaker 1: I mean you're seeing right here. Look at the speed.
11:51
Speaker 1: Look at tarrelllets coming, I mean just just coming in
11:54
Speaker 1: and then and then that Lanto. They can run, so
11:56
Speaker 1: they've got the edges of you in the corner, come
11:58
Speaker 1: up here and force. So Miami has got to get
12:00
Speaker 1: some type of traction. But again, I think, you know,
12:02
Speaker 1: the quarterback situation can dictate things. And also how they
12:05
Speaker 1: designed their office for this game, because Buffalo is playing
12:08
Speaker 1: really really solid against them. But the one thing you know,
12:10
Speaker 1: hidden in that game that happened Sunday down at hard
12:12
Speaker 1: Rock Stadium in South Florida was in the game that
12:16
Speaker 1: no touchdowns were scored. Uh, the Dolphins ran the ball
12:19
Speaker 1: really well. Both Raheem Mostert And Jeffrey Wilson Jr. Both
12:22
Speaker 1: ran the ball real well against the good Jets. Even Yeah,
12:25
Speaker 1: that was that was pretty encoortinely did it without Torn
12:28
Speaker 1: Armstead at left tackle, So that was pretty encouraging. Because
12:32
Speaker 1: whether Skyler Thompson has to go or not go in
12:34
Speaker 1: this game, we don't know yet, but it's good that
12:37
Speaker 1: they were able to control things on the ground. A
12:39
Speaker 1: little movie and Mike McDaniel would not rule Raheem most
12:42
Speaker 1: out yesterday, but he does need surgery and the broken thumb.
12:45
Speaker 1: It it certainly is not sounding optimistic. Give that game
12:48
Speaker 1: week fifteen on a Saturday and idead that great first
12:51
Speaker 1: quarter run for sixty seven. He finished with one thirty
12:54
Speaker 1: six of on omd ran well as well. I mean
12:56
Speaker 1: they had nearly two hundred yards on the ground. They
12:58
Speaker 1: got to get back to that formula. He got big.
13:00
Speaker 1: He got big passes that game to Jalen Waterford touchdown
13:02
Speaker 1: and the Tyreek hill in that game, and that that
13:05
Speaker 1: the thread of the run game and with two of
13:07
Speaker 1: that opens up all those slants, all that in breaking
13:10
Speaker 1: stuff over the middle of the team. If you killed
13:11
Speaker 1: the number one rated quarterback into sleegue after eighteen weeks,
13:14
Speaker 1: even though he's missed a bunch of times, still the
13:16
Speaker 1: number one rated quarterback. And McDaniel wouldn't even go there
13:19
Speaker 1: with two a yesterday either. This is the weekend schedule
13:23
Speaker 1: we mentioned, kind of rain in San Francisco. Then we
13:26
Speaker 1: have the Jaguars and the Chargers in the late window
13:29
Speaker 1: on Saturday. That Miami Buffalo game is your first game
13:33
Speaker 1: on Sunday. It's gonna feel like a normal Sunday, A
13:35
Speaker 1: one o'clock Eastern time pick for the Dolphins and the
13:39
Speaker 1: Bills Sunday, Sunday Sunday. Alright, So some breaking news here
13:52
Speaker 1: on NFL now Ian or app report reporting the Ravens
13:55
Speaker 1: have a deal with Roe Kwan Smith. What what a
13:58
Speaker 1: deal they made? By the way to get him from
14:01
Speaker 1: the Bears. The guy bet on himself, Barrett decided to
14:03
Speaker 1: trade him. You know, Ravens didn't give up much, but
14:06
Speaker 1: they gave up a lot here on the contract five years,
14:08
Speaker 1: a hundred million, forty five fully guaranteed, sixty million in
14:11
Speaker 1: total guarantees congratulations ro Kuan Smith, the first off ball
14:15
Speaker 1: linebacker Ian says to get twenty million per year in average.
14:20
Speaker 1: Ro Kuwan Smith did the deal on his Oh, save
14:25
Speaker 1: some money on that one. Good job. Jim Harbaugh interviewed
14:29
Speaker 1: with the Broncos yesterday at the University of Michigan head
14:33
Speaker 1: coach had a virtual interview with the new Broncos ownership group.
14:39
Speaker 1: All right, so there's that. The ponder in Carolina, Steve
14:42
Speaker 1: Wilkes is getting an interview today. He also gave a
14:48
Speaker 1: final statement for that interview on Sunday when he won
14:51
Speaker 1: another one, got six wins after Matt Role got fired
14:54
Speaker 1: and got his team to seven and ten, and in
14:56
Speaker 1: the conversation for the NFC South title, Jim Caldwell also
15:00
Speaker 1: getting an interview. Five head coaching vacancies right now added
15:06
Speaker 1: within the last thirty six hours Houston and Arizona to
15:10
Speaker 1: the list of Denver, Carolina, and indeed Jeff Saturday has
15:16
Speaker 1: already said he wants that job after holding it on
15:18
Speaker 1: an interim basis. Here's the GM, Chris Balor. Look, I failed.
15:26
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit up here and make excuses. Failed.
15:30
Speaker 1: A lot of people, um highly disappointed, you know, about
15:36
Speaker 1: where we're at, how the season went. You know, I
15:40
Speaker 1: never take lightly what's at stake here and it's not
15:47
Speaker 1: you know, the wins and losses, but you know, people's
15:50
Speaker 1: lives are on the line, players, families, coaches, families, front
15:54
Speaker 1: office people in this building, and I don't ever take
15:56
Speaker 1: that lightly. And you know, I'm disappointed um this point
16:01
Speaker 1: where we're at, and ultimately it falls on my show olders.
16:06
Speaker 1: I know there's doubt, there should be, absolutely there should
16:09
Speaker 1: be the criticism. It's warned criticism, you know, regarding my
16:17
Speaker 1: job and what I've done. It's warned. But I'm still
16:20
Speaker 1: I've not lost any confidence and what we can build here.
16:28
Speaker 1: Chris Ballard Colts GMA the podium this morning also said
16:31
Speaker 1: hi there. Jim Trotter joining the conversation that hey, I
16:34
Speaker 1: fired myself fifty times this year. I mean, he over
16:38
Speaker 1: and over again said how much he deserves in the blame.
16:42
Speaker 1: There are plenty of people however that from AFAR will
16:44
Speaker 1: say well, ownership deserves a lot of the blame here
16:47
Speaker 1: as well, Putting Jeff Saturday into position that he had
16:50
Speaker 1: never been in before. Saturday made it clear yesterday that
16:54
Speaker 1: he would like this job full time he went one
16:57
Speaker 1: in seven, which is statistically the worst interim head coach
17:01
Speaker 1: performance that we've seen in the NFL in over a decade.
17:05
Speaker 1: What's going to happen now? I agree with the latter
17:09
Speaker 1: point that this is about ownership and not as much
17:12
Speaker 1: about Chris Ballard. Um Jim Mercy was involved in a
17:16
Speaker 1: lot of things that went on this year, from the
17:17
Speaker 1: firing of Marcus Brady to the change of starting quarterbacks
17:22
Speaker 1: and to the hiring of Jeff Saturday with no experience,
17:24
Speaker 1: So I don't think this is as much on Ballard
17:27
Speaker 1: as as it is on Jim Mercy. And I'll ask
17:29
Speaker 1: you this, Andrew, is there anyone out there who truly
17:32
Speaker 1: believed that Jim Mercy does not want to give this
17:35
Speaker 1: job to jeff'son? I think most people believe. Most people believe.
17:39
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the reality of what it is. So
17:41
Speaker 1: in my opinion, I think it's Jeff Saturday's job to lose,
17:44
Speaker 1: and Chris Ballard is going to have to talk Jim
17:48
Speaker 1: Mercy out of hiring Jeff Saturday. Is what I believe
17:51
Speaker 1: based on what we have seen this far. And look,
17:53
Speaker 1: here's the other thing. It's so interesting about how owners
17:56
Speaker 1: handled this situation, Jeff can go one and seven, as
17:59
Speaker 1: you said, and still be in a position to say
18:01
Speaker 1: I want this job. And we still think that in
18:03
Speaker 1: all likelihood or that the owner would like to hire him.
18:06
Speaker 1: And then you look at other situations and the job
18:08
Speaker 1: that Steve Wilkes did down in Carolina and the owner
18:11
Speaker 1: doesn't even show up for the final game to say
18:13
Speaker 1: thank you to the players and Steve Wilkes for playing
18:15
Speaker 1: the way that they played down the stretch and going
18:18
Speaker 1: six and six. And you look in Houston where David
18:22
Speaker 1: Culley gets a one and done and love Smith gets
18:25
Speaker 1: a one and done, well the Lion. Look at Lion's ownership.
18:28
Speaker 1: They were patient with Dan Campbell. He won only three
18:30
Speaker 1: games last year, and how was that franchise rewarded? So
18:34
Speaker 1: I still think that we focus sometimes on jams, but
18:36
Speaker 1: really it all comes down to ownership here and who
18:38
Speaker 1: they want and how they do their business, and the
18:41
Speaker 1: way that they have done their business in recent years
18:43
Speaker 1: has been laughable, to be quite frank with you. Yeah, look,
18:47
Speaker 1: Jim Jim Bingo. It comes down to how ownership handles it.
18:53
Speaker 1: And that's where any prospective head coach has got to
18:55
Speaker 1: look at his situation and say do I want to
18:59
Speaker 1: work for that owner? Because there's a reason why certain
19:02
Speaker 1: teams are hiring coaches every three or four years, over
19:05
Speaker 1: and over and over, and usually the constant is ownership. Now,
19:08
Speaker 1: getting to this Colch job, it's just really interesting because
19:12
Speaker 1: Chris Ballard is there. But is he gonna have any
19:14
Speaker 1: other say so other than basically being a Scott will
19:18
Speaker 1: the head coach, whether it's Jeff Saturday or whomever, be
19:22
Speaker 1: the shot caller all the way across the board. It
19:24
Speaker 1: seems like Jim Rsay is being very heavy handed. Is
19:27
Speaker 1: this is Jim pointed out. I mean he's been involved
19:30
Speaker 1: publicly with a lot of stuff. I mean the video
19:32
Speaker 1: he made last year when the when the team and
19:33
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz flopped late in the season in front of
19:36
Speaker 1: the plane from the plane. Yeah, I mean just all that.
19:39
Speaker 1: So who wants to go work for that? I mean,
19:41
Speaker 1: that's going to be part of it, you know. But
19:43
Speaker 1: that said, you know, the Colts may feel they've got
19:46
Speaker 1: a lot more talent than they actually do, that they're
19:48
Speaker 1: going to be competitive. Go ahead, Jim, But they don't
19:54
Speaker 1: write exactly, don't have as much talent as people, but
19:56
Speaker 1: they but they but they might believe it even though
19:58
Speaker 1: the GM just sat up there and told us I
20:00
Speaker 1: have failed. I would have fired myself well fifty times.
20:03
Speaker 1: They don't have the quarterback first and foremost. And without
20:06
Speaker 1: the quarterback, I mean, it doesn't really matter how much
20:09
Speaker 1: other talent is out there. And Noward said the right
20:11
Speaker 1: things today about making every move possible to go get
20:14
Speaker 1: that quarterback. They're picking fourth, but they don't have that
20:17
Speaker 1: guy now. And some players, Jim by the way, say
20:20
Speaker 1: they like the way that Jeff Saturday changed practice. They
20:23
Speaker 1: like the way that he held players accountable. That's great,
20:26
Speaker 1: but on game day, other than that first game against
20:30
Speaker 1: the Raiders, they were pretty bad. Let me let me
20:33
Speaker 1: tell you something about inter coaches, and Jim, you can
20:35
Speaker 1: follow me on this. I've rarely heard in all my
20:38
Speaker 1: years of doing this, decades of doing this, players say
20:40
Speaker 1: that they dislike the job that interim coach has done
20:43
Speaker 1: just because it's different than the head changes of all time.
20:45
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Jim, no, no, you're good. But let me
20:48
Speaker 1: say this about their personnel. Andrew, you talked about the
20:51
Speaker 1: quarterback position, and you're right, they don't have a quarterback,
20:53
Speaker 1: but it goes much deeper than that on offense. When
20:56
Speaker 1: I was at one of their games this year, one
20:57
Speaker 1: of their assistant coaches said to me, we have over
21:00
Speaker 1: two fifty million dollars invested in several players on our
21:03
Speaker 1: offensive line, and those players are paying are playing like
21:06
Speaker 1: they're being paid two dollars and fifty cents. So if
21:09
Speaker 1: you think this is simply about the quarterback position, it
21:12
Speaker 1: is not. They have issues up front. They lacked depth
21:15
Speaker 1: in certain other areas on that offensive unit, and so
21:18
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, I say to you, it is not
21:20
Speaker 1: as good as some may look. We keep thinking about
21:22
Speaker 1: this offensive line. Is that a few years ago when
21:24
Speaker 1: it was one of the best in football? And it
21:26
Speaker 1: is not that now. So there are a lot of
21:28
Speaker 1: things have taken to consideration when it comes to the Colts.
21:32
Speaker 1: And there are plenty of people that say, hey, you
21:33
Speaker 1: want to keep Jeff Saturday, have him, you know, fix
21:35
Speaker 1: the offensive line that's his specialty, and maybe go get
21:39
Speaker 1: a head coach somewhere else. I don't know if that's
21:41
Speaker 1: gonna happen, though, Thank you, Jim, thank you Steve. All Right,
21:48
Speaker 1: you're watching the NFL now you're looking at with all
21:51
Speaker 1: eighteen weeks played the new Dan hands, who's wild card
21:57
Speaker 1: should say super wild card? Power rankings have won ten
22:02
Speaker 1: games in a row. They are clearly the number one
22:05
Speaker 1: football right, I mean they should be ahead of the
22:07
Speaker 1: Bills Dan Hansers ten game winning streak longest active streak
22:11
Speaker 1: in the NFL. That makes sense, I think. So that's
22:14
Speaker 1: why I haven't at number one. Now there's some pushback
22:16
Speaker 1: internally in the building. Rosenthal, for example, does he want
22:21
Speaker 1: the Patriots. He says all three a FC teams should
22:23
Speaker 1: be ahead of the Niners, and okay, whatever, But I
22:25
Speaker 1: need to I need to look at it from different angles. Okay,
22:28
Speaker 1: not only yes or the Niners riding a ten game
22:30
Speaker 1: winning streak. They are healthy. Brock parties turned out to
22:33
Speaker 1: be a revelation. I also kind of like their path.
22:36
Speaker 1: If this is about what are power rankings, it's nebulous
22:39
Speaker 1: or nebuloss, Michael Scott once said, but getting to the
22:43
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I like their path. The Eagles are in
22:46
Speaker 1: a place right now where I think they're vulnerable. The
22:48
Speaker 1: rest of the NFC doesn't really do it for me.
22:50
Speaker 1: I think the Niners gonna roll straight through January. Okay,
22:53
Speaker 1: well we'll find out that I'll be wrong, of course,
22:55
Speaker 1: but if you're wrong, then we'll talk about it on
22:57
Speaker 1: the show and it will be even more interesting. You
23:00
Speaker 1: have as by the way down at five, you have
23:02
Speaker 1: the Cowboys sitting here at six despite the egg day
23:07
Speaker 1: late week eighteen, with at least going in something to
23:11
Speaker 1: play for six. Is that too high? Maybe? I struggled
23:15
Speaker 1: with it, Andrew. I didn't want to overreact to Week
23:18
Speaker 1: eighteen and how poorly they played, but it also was
23:20
Speaker 1: a bit of a a little bit of a funky
23:23
Speaker 1: Week eighteen in general, for a lot of teams, it
23:25
Speaker 1: does concern me this Dallas team, given their history, given
23:29
Speaker 1: the organization's history, they have won a road game, Andrew,
23:33
Speaker 1: since January in the playoffs, since January nine three. You
23:36
Speaker 1: had the rex In Effects Rump Shaker cassette single at
23:39
Speaker 1: that time, playing my D three. I looked at the
23:44
Speaker 1: billboard top one D. I think I was listening to
23:46
Speaker 1: the Guy CD member Teddy Riley, and oh yeah, okay,
23:50
Speaker 1: but you could have had the Rexin I might have. Um. So,
23:52
Speaker 1: it's been a long time since the Cowboys, you know,
23:55
Speaker 1: leveled up on the road. But it's the offense and
23:57
Speaker 1: the sloppiness of the office. I think the defense even
23:59
Speaker 1: not playing at their highest level right now, will take
24:02
Speaker 1: care of business of Tampa and their inconsistent offense. But
24:05
Speaker 1: can Dack play clean football? Can they move the ball?
24:07
Speaker 1: Can the Vikings stop anybody? You have the Vikings here
24:10
Speaker 1: at ten are a polarizing team. Certainly they give up
24:13
Speaker 1: four yards a game if they somehow find I mean,
24:16
Speaker 1: like we k t against the Bears, it was it
24:19
Speaker 1: was a comfortable victory. We haven't seen that very often
24:21
Speaker 1: for this team. But you have them like behind the
24:24
Speaker 1: Lions will get to the Lions in a second. You
24:26
Speaker 1: have a team that didn't make the playoffs ahead of
24:29
Speaker 1: the three seed in the NFC. Yeah, And what I
24:32
Speaker 1: think about the Vikings regular season, what other people think,
24:36
Speaker 1: Whether you think that they're thirteen and four division winners
24:39
Speaker 1: should be treated as a team that should be respected
24:41
Speaker 1: and dangerous, or you see them as having kind of
24:44
Speaker 1: a fluke season. Now that matters anymore because the great
24:46
Speaker 1: thing about the playoffs, says you know, Andrew, is like
24:49
Speaker 1: the postseason shakes out the contenders and the pretenders. So
24:53
Speaker 1: I know there may be more high octane games to
24:55
Speaker 1: watch in wild Super wild Card weekend, but Giants Vikings
24:59
Speaker 1: is gonna be fun, and just because I want to
25:01
Speaker 1: see how this Minnesota team looks now that it's the
25:04
Speaker 1: playoffs and all the other talk around them goes out
25:07
Speaker 1: the window. I think they could beat the Giants, but
25:10
Speaker 1: I kind of like New York in that game a
25:11
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago, the Vikings needed a sixty one
25:14
Speaker 1: yard Greg Joseph field goal to beat the Giants. Now,
25:18
Speaker 1: as for your lines, For those who don't know, Dan
25:20
Speaker 1: did a whole podcast every week on Hard Knocks and
25:23
Speaker 1: the Lions, so I know you love them coming in.
25:25
Speaker 1: Are you saying that colored my analysis? I do think
25:28
Speaker 1: it did, but I also know that no one wants
25:30
Speaker 1: to play the nine the Lions. Now no one has
25:34
Speaker 1: to play the Yeah, and I struggled like should a
25:36
Speaker 1: team that's not in the playoffs be in the top
25:38
Speaker 1: four team of the power rankings? But ultimately, this is
25:41
Speaker 1: a final snapshot of where this regular season finished. And
25:44
Speaker 1: we talked about the Cowboys. Do I think the Cowboys
25:47
Speaker 1: are a better team than the Lions right now? I'm
25:48
Speaker 1: not even sure about that, but I don't want to
25:50
Speaker 1: go crazy and put the Lions near the top five.
25:52
Speaker 1: That said, it was a season of huge progress for Detroit.
25:55
Speaker 1: Everyone saw it, and the Sunday night was a perfect
25:58
Speaker 1: cap the way that how well coached they are. The
26:00
Speaker 1: offense always stepped out, stepped up throughout the season, and
26:03
Speaker 1: the defense improved. I'm happy for Aaron Glenn their DC
26:06
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson. Both of those guys could get jobs. Watch
26:09
Speaker 1: out for the Lions next year. Expectations will be higher,
26:12
Speaker 1: of course, but they've earned them. Hey, look, you have
26:15
Speaker 1: three teams in your top fourteen fourteen teams make the
26:17
Speaker 1: playoffs that didn't make the playoffs. The Lions at nine,
26:20
Speaker 1: the Packers at twelve, the Steelers at thirteen. The Dolphins
26:24
Speaker 1: are in. You have them at seventeen. Last week they
26:28
Speaker 1: were twenty. So, as Dan always likes to say, they
26:31
Speaker 1: are not the power standings, they are the power ranking game.
26:36
Speaker 1: I see it as courageous that I would do such
26:38
Speaker 1: a thing, but I'll let other people decide. Fo himself
26:42
Speaker 1: a hero. Van hansers everybody alright. So as we stand now,
26:48
Speaker 1: there are five head coaching vacancies in the NFL. The
26:51
Speaker 1: two most recent after Week eighteen were the Texans and
26:55
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. Candidly this might change again after Super wild
26:59
Speaker 1: Card weekend. You never know, but right now, there are
27:01
Speaker 1: five vacancies. Just try to make sense. As we told
27:04
Speaker 1: you before, Jim Harbaugh interviewed virtually with the Broncos yesterday.
27:07
Speaker 1: James Palmer is in Denver, Jim Trotter, Steve White with
27:10
Speaker 1: me here as well. Oh okay, I'm on a single um, James,
27:14
Speaker 1: let's start if we could with another team. You've covered
27:17
Speaker 1: a lot, not just the Broncos, but I would be
27:18
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans here. They have now gone one and
27:21
Speaker 1: done with head coaches and consecutive seasons David Culley and
27:26
Speaker 1: now Lovey Smith. If you're a coaching candidate there sitting
27:31
Speaker 1: down for an interview, what questions you are you asking
27:35
Speaker 1: to the other side of the table, Andrew, There's several
27:38
Speaker 1: questions and I'll get to them, but the first one
27:40
Speaker 1: is the most important one is that asking Nikos Sary
27:42
Speaker 1: was gonna be running this along with owner cal McNair's
27:45
Speaker 1: are you going to give me time to rebuild this organization?
27:48
Speaker 1: How can you sell me on the fact that you
27:51
Speaker 1: are going to be patient after as you mentioned, you
27:53
Speaker 1: went one and done with David Culley and one and
27:55
Speaker 1: done with Lovey Smith. When I've been down there covering
27:58
Speaker 1: that organization a lot over the last year, where they've
28:00
Speaker 1: been very open with saying they believe they're several years
28:03
Speaker 1: away from being a row contender in the NFL. Yet
28:07
Speaker 1: you still continue to move on from these head coaching candidates. Now,
28:11
Speaker 1: the other question I would have is how is the
28:13
Speaker 1: process going to be as you're interviewing me, because it's
28:16
Speaker 1: been different over the last couple of seasons as they've
28:19
Speaker 1: been churning through these head coaches. I remember two years
28:21
Speaker 1: ago when they were looking for a general manager and
28:23
Speaker 1: a head coach to help out ownership. They hired a
28:27
Speaker 1: head coaching searching committee that included Tony Dungee, included Andre Johnson,
28:30
Speaker 1: included Jimmy Johnson. That group was barely used, to my understanding,
28:34
Speaker 1: to they're there. They weren't leaned on by any stretch
28:37
Speaker 1: of the imagination. Now, when you look into this search,
28:39
Speaker 1: owner cal McNair says that he is going to have
28:41
Speaker 1: a much larger role in this head coaching search as
28:44
Speaker 1: opposed to the previous ones. We don't know what that
28:46
Speaker 1: role is going to be because yesterday during the press conference,
28:49
Speaker 1: he had an opening statement and then sat in the
28:51
Speaker 1: front row and didn't take any questions. So we don't
28:53
Speaker 1: know what that role is going to be, but there's
28:55
Speaker 1: a lot of questions as a head coach that you
28:57
Speaker 1: would have if you're trying to fill this vacancy in Houston. Now,
29:00
Speaker 1: Nick Cassario says that they are going to be welcomed,
29:03
Speaker 1: that those are fair questions to ask him in the process.
29:06
Speaker 1: It just being a very interesting process in Houston from
29:10
Speaker 1: the coaches perspective of things. No, look, James nailed it, unsurprisingly.
29:17
Speaker 1: But here's the thing Cassario said at his press conference
29:20
Speaker 1: that race was not going to be a factor in
29:22
Speaker 1: this race is a factor with the Houston Texans among
29:25
Speaker 1: coaches who were out there, who were diverse candidates, And
29:27
Speaker 1: why do I say that? Two years ago, we know
29:30
Speaker 1: when Jack Easterby was there, they had a strong interest
29:33
Speaker 1: in going after Josh McCown who had never coached in
29:35
Speaker 1: the NFL or at the collegiate level. But what did
29:38
Speaker 1: they do when there was pushback on that? They went
29:41
Speaker 1: out and they hired David Culley who was black, and
29:43
Speaker 1: fired him after one season. The next year, who do
29:46
Speaker 1: they hire Levey Smith who was not even a candidate
29:48
Speaker 1: for the job. He was actually one of the consultants
29:51
Speaker 1: in their search when did they hire him after Brian
29:54
Speaker 1: Flores found his discrimination lawsuit against the NFL. So for
29:58
Speaker 1: Cassario to say race is not a factor, that may
30:00
Speaker 1: be true in his eyes, but it is not true
30:02
Speaker 1: in the eyes of some candidates who are looking at
30:04
Speaker 1: the Houston Texas. Secondly, I want to move to another franchise.
30:07
Speaker 1: I want to move to the Arizona Cardinals here who
30:09
Speaker 1: have both a GM and a head coaching opening. It
30:12
Speaker 1: appears that owner Michael Bidwell is going to try and
30:15
Speaker 1: fill his GM job. First, he has already interviewed internal
30:18
Speaker 1: candidates Quintin Harris and Adrian Wilson, and today he has
30:22
Speaker 1: Jerry Reese in the building for interviews. So from that standpoint,
30:25
Speaker 1: I would say, Steve James, we can look for them
30:28
Speaker 1: potentially to try and address the GM candidate Baconcy first. Yeah, Jeff,
30:33
Speaker 1: though those are great points. It would be interesting though
30:37
Speaker 1: in Arizona the GM situation, will the new coach have
30:41
Speaker 1: to report to the general manager or to the owner,
30:43
Speaker 1: because you know, people like Sean Payton will be like,
30:45
Speaker 1: if I'm interested, I need to have that authoritarian type
30:48
Speaker 1: of control like he had in New Orleans. Worked well
30:50
Speaker 1: with general manager Mickey Loomis and Kay Harley down there,
30:53
Speaker 1: the salary cap guy, and saman Houston. Nick Serry was
30:57
Speaker 1: leading the search. Is he gonna even look at a
30:59
Speaker 1: candidate you know that may want that type of control
31:02
Speaker 1: or are you gonna look for a can't and say, hey,
31:04
Speaker 1: look I've I run things here, you know you kind
31:07
Speaker 1: of report to me. So James kind of started this
31:10
Speaker 1: off with the right tone. These candidates need to be
31:12
Speaker 1: asking a lot of serious questions of ownership and leadership
31:17
Speaker 1: before they put their careers on the line, instead of saying, hey,
31:20
Speaker 1: it's one of thirty two. Now we know someone's gonna
31:22
Speaker 1: say it's one of thirty two. The money is gonna
31:24
Speaker 1: be good, But what does that do to your reputation
31:27
Speaker 1: after the fact. If you go to a situation where
31:29
Speaker 1: if you look at the list of teams at those
31:31
Speaker 1: five openings, there's a reason why they're constantly hiring coaches
31:35
Speaker 1: every four or five years, if even that long, and
31:40
Speaker 1: it starts at the top and they're all great points
31:42
Speaker 1: here because so often you look at and go, well,
31:43
Speaker 1: do they have a quarterback or I want that quarterback,
31:45
Speaker 1: or I want to work with Kyler do I want
31:47
Speaker 1: to work with Russell? Hey, maybe I want to work
31:48
Speaker 1: in Houston. I have a top five pick. I could
31:51
Speaker 1: go get my quarterback. It runs so much deeper than that. Yes,
31:55
Speaker 1: these jobs are all one of thirty two, but they're
31:58
Speaker 1: not all built the same way. NFL Now is a
32:06
Speaker 1: production of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio.
32:10
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32:13
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