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Frank Reich Fired, Insider Injury News, & Ravens - Saints Preview · NFL Now

0:05
Speaker 1: NFL Now is a production of the NFL in partnership
0:08
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. It is our typical Monday over
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Speaker 1: reaction here after week nine games. Today though, is a
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Speaker 1: little bit different. Welcome during newsroom in Los Angeles. My
0:23
Speaker 1: name is andrews Ceciliano. This is NFL Now, where every
0:26
Speaker 1: day for a couple of hours everything you need to know.
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Speaker 1: We're gonna be live in New Orleans. Coming up shortly
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Speaker 1: the preview Monday Night Football the Saints and the Ravens.
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Speaker 1: Tell you who's up and who's down. Big game for
0:36
Speaker 1: both teams. We begin with the coaching firing. Matt Rule
0:39
Speaker 1: was let go a couple of weeks ago in Carolina.
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Speaker 1: Frank Right earlier today became the second head coach to
0:45
Speaker 1: be fired in season after his cult with Santa Ellinger
0:48
Speaker 1: at quarterback. Lost again three straight yesterday to the New
0:52
Speaker 1: England Patriots. Oh for fourteen on third down, offensive ineptitude
0:56
Speaker 1: all around. That's one half of the story. The other
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Speaker 1: half of the story is who's the new coach. It's
1:01
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday. On an interim basis, this is not a prank.
1:05
Speaker 1: That's nothing to do with like Twitter and you know,
1:07
Speaker 1: impersonating accounts that's a real Colts account that tweeted that.
1:12
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday, former offensive line at ESPN TV analysts all
1:15
Speaker 1: around good guy is the new head coach on an
1:18
Speaker 1: interim basis. He's in the ring of honor. He has
1:20
Speaker 1: never coached at the college nor the NFL level. In
1:24
Speaker 1: rapp report Tom Bella, Sero, Mark Ross, he has coached
1:28
Speaker 1: for three years in suburban Atlanta on the high school level,
1:33
Speaker 1: and he will take over the Indianapolis Colts. When they
1:36
Speaker 1: traveled to Vegas to play Josh McDaniels and the two
1:38
Speaker 1: and six Raiders coming up on Sunday, Pellicero, let's let's
1:42
Speaker 1: start with you. Um. I guess we all kind of
1:46
Speaker 1: knew frank Reich was on thin ice, but just a
1:49
Speaker 1: week ago Jim Mercy made a point of saying that
1:52
Speaker 1: he supported his coach. Well, that's right, Andrew. And even
1:55
Speaker 1: go back to August one, when the Colts signed frank
1:59
Speaker 1: Reich and general manager Chris Beller to long term contract extensions,
2:02
Speaker 1: tying them to the team through the six. Just fifteen
2:06
Speaker 1: months later, frank Reich out as the Colts head coach
2:10
Speaker 1: amidst an ongoing offensive issue that really traces all the
2:14
Speaker 1: way back to Andrew lux retirement and their efforts to
2:17
Speaker 1: find a suitable quarterback to replace him. Of course, Philip
2:20
Speaker 1: Rivers played well at one stretch of time, and they
2:22
Speaker 1: brought in Carson Wentz and then this year with Matt Ryan.
2:25
Speaker 1: Ryan was benched a couple of weeks ago. A week ago,
2:28
Speaker 1: Marcus Brady, the offensive coordinator, was fired. They turned over
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Speaker 1: the offense to Sam Ellinger, a player who had never
2:33
Speaker 1: thrown a pass an NFL regular season game. None of
2:36
Speaker 1: it worked to fix the offense, and so after three
2:39
Speaker 1: consecutive games which they scored twenty nine points total, Reich
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Speaker 1: is out. Jeff Saturday, the six time Pro Bowl selection.
2:47
Speaker 1: He was a part of a Super Bowl winning team.
2:49
Speaker 1: With the Colts now in as the interim head coach,
2:53
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of questions here, including who now
2:55
Speaker 1: runs the offense since your play caller Frank Craig andrew
2:58
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator Marcus Brady are both out. There are quarterback
3:02
Speaker 1: questions because, of course, Matt Ryan also had a show
3:05
Speaker 1: her injury at the time that Frank Wright benched him,
3:07
Speaker 1: and at the time said that he was going to
3:09
Speaker 1: be Ellinger was the starter for the rest of the season. Circularly,
3:12
Speaker 1: we have another quarterback change. Can Jeff Saturday fix an
3:15
Speaker 1: offensive line that has not played that well because Jonathan
3:17
Speaker 1: Taylor come back from his ankle? Can Shaquille Leonard play
3:20
Speaker 1: an entire game a ton of moving parts for this
3:22
Speaker 1: Colts team? And that what is Jeff Saturday was gonna
3:25
Speaker 1: try to fix it all. Not to short his resume,
3:29
Speaker 1: but I think you guys left out that his high
3:31
Speaker 1: school team didn't make the playoffs one year. They did
3:33
Speaker 1: win one head coach, so one one play. Yeah, So
3:37
Speaker 1: there you go. So that's that's definitely something. So there's
3:41
Speaker 1: so much going on here with the Colts, and it's
3:42
Speaker 1: not just who's going to fix this offense? I mean,
3:45
Speaker 1: you watch him against the Patriots. Hard to imagine anyone
3:47
Speaker 1: fixing anything that is happening on the field this year,
3:50
Speaker 1: let alone. They literally don't have any offensive coordinator or
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Speaker 1: head coach or no c who's called plays, who's designed
3:56
Speaker 1: and offense, who's really done anything. So hard to imagine
4:00
Speaker 1: they will fix this, but we'll see. I guess stranger
4:03
Speaker 1: things have happened somewhere some way. There's also the thought
4:05
Speaker 1: of owner Jim Ursay needing to know what is going
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Speaker 1: on in his organization, and the fact that he is
4:10
Speaker 1: very close with Jeff Saturday, the fact that Saturday clearly
4:13
Speaker 1: does not mind speaking his mind and telling her, say
4:16
Speaker 1: what is going on inside his building. Uh, he is
4:19
Speaker 1: going to have that added advantage now of having an
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Speaker 1: outsider like Saturday come in take a look at his building,
4:24
Speaker 1: deal with the players, deal with the coaches, deal with
4:27
Speaker 1: the personnel staff, and take a hard look at things
4:29
Speaker 1: and report back to her say and say, here's what's
4:32
Speaker 1: really going on. I mean that if if nothing else,
4:34
Speaker 1: this could be a productive several months for the Indianapolis
4:37
Speaker 1: colt just to bring in someone who's never seen and
4:40
Speaker 1: have them tell her say, here's what's going on. Then
4:42
Speaker 1: of course there's the fact of they will try to
4:45
Speaker 1: win games, presumably without a lot of coaches on the staff.
4:48
Speaker 1: There's a lot of challenges, no doubt keeping the players
4:50
Speaker 1: engaged will be difficult. Saturday is beloved in Indianapolis, maybe
4:55
Speaker 1: that helps, But a challenging year in Indie for many
4:58
Speaker 1: many There are so many places to go with this
5:01
Speaker 1: conversation here, Like as you said, Thomas matt Ryan came back,
5:04
Speaker 1: come back? Who actual did bench Matt Ryan here Jeff
5:06
Speaker 1: Saturday good TV analysts. We like Jeff Saturday now coaching
5:11
Speaker 1: against Josh McDaniels, who initially had that colt shop five
5:14
Speaker 1: years ago before he backed at. Jeff Saturday tweeted last
5:17
Speaker 1: Sunday during the Raiders lost in New Orleans, the Raiders
5:20
Speaker 1: look horrible. So you got a TV analyst now facing
5:23
Speaker 1: the team that he was tweeting about a week ago.
5:25
Speaker 1: You know Mark Ross I joked before, not just because
5:28
Speaker 1: he's confused often for Jeff Saturday, this would have been
5:30
Speaker 1: like Joe Judge fired last year and Shawn O'Hara was
5:34
Speaker 1: hired midseason to coach the Giants. Have you ever seen
5:37
Speaker 1: anything like this? No, I think this is historic. I
5:41
Speaker 1: think I read where since not not since nine sixty
5:45
Speaker 1: Norm van Brocklyn did NFL head coach get hired with
5:48
Speaker 1: no college or pro experience. So this is obviously what
5:52
Speaker 1: I look at this. This Jim Ursay just saying, this
5:54
Speaker 1: is what I want to do, And that's part of
5:56
Speaker 1: the reason with the NFL, where there's no sort of
5:59
Speaker 1: checks and balances, where other companies, at least you have
6:01
Speaker 1: a board that is the committees and boards. They get
6:04
Speaker 1: together there and make decisions. But here with the coach,
6:07
Speaker 1: Jim Mercy can just say I'm gonna put Jeff Saturday
6:10
Speaker 1: is my head coach, and we joke and laugh about it,
6:13
Speaker 1: but this is serious implications for a team. And part
6:16
Speaker 1: of this is the frustrations of year after year of minority,
6:20
Speaker 1: minority coaching candidates getting told, well, you don't call plays,
6:24
Speaker 1: or you've only had this much experience, and now you
6:26
Speaker 1: just get a guy that's handed a job with no
6:28
Speaker 1: experience at all. Sure, we can kind of spend it
6:31
Speaker 1: that he's beloved and the owner likes him, but that
6:34
Speaker 1: is not true qualifications to be a head coach. Thus
6:37
Speaker 1: a lot of the frustrations and what about the players
6:40
Speaker 1: with this, You know they're looking at this. We joke
6:42
Speaker 1: about it, but this is not joking for them. I mean,
6:45
Speaker 1: these guys go out there every day trying to win
6:48
Speaker 1: games and now you're just signaling it saying, well, what,
6:50
Speaker 1: we really don't care that this is an experience experiment
6:54
Speaker 1: for us. So a lot of layers to this. Uh,
6:57
Speaker 1: it's not a lot of fun and games for a
6:59
Speaker 1: lot of people who are whose lives and jobs are
7:01
Speaker 1: really seriously invested in winning football games. So just unfortunate
7:05
Speaker 1: on a lot of levels. And when I look at it,
7:07
Speaker 1: especially coming from the minority coaching tree, and what the
7:10
Speaker 1: Fritz Polo Alliance and even the NFL lead office has
7:13
Speaker 1: tried to do to rectify these sort of situations. Andrew,
7:16
Speaker 1: and again, on the field, you get it. They were
7:19
Speaker 1: over fourteen yesterday on third down. That's the third most
7:24
Speaker 1: third dat attempt about converting one, I believe in league history.
7:28
Speaker 1: They had add one total yards of offense, which was
7:31
Speaker 1: the worst for the franchise in twenty five years. Uh.
7:34
Speaker 1: We said coming in this team had a lot of talent.
7:36
Speaker 1: Here most people think this team had a lot of talent. Tom,
7:40
Speaker 1: you know that Jim Mercy is going to get asked
7:42
Speaker 1: about Chris Ballard's status. What do we know. What we
7:46
Speaker 1: know is that Chris Ballard was in the room when
7:49
Speaker 1: Frank Craik was let go, that he addressed the team
7:51
Speaker 1: this morning that he's going to appear at the press
7:53
Speaker 1: conference at six pm Eastern time alongside Jim or saying
7:57
Speaker 1: the new interim head coach Jeff Saturday. Now that would
8:00
Speaker 1: indicate that Chris Ballard is safe at least for the
8:02
Speaker 1: remainder of this season. He liked frank Reich under contract
8:06
Speaker 1: through with the Colts, but like everything here, when the
8:10
Speaker 1: team is struggling and when you make a drastic type
8:13
Speaker 1: of a move like firing frank Reich and bringing in
8:16
Speaker 1: someone with no pro or college coaching experience on the
8:18
Speaker 1: inter room basis, it casts everyone's future into doubt. Now,
8:22
Speaker 1: in defense of Chris Ballard and the rest of the
8:25
Speaker 1: Cold scouting staff, there is a lot of talent on
8:27
Speaker 1: the roster, not all of it has been on the
8:29
Speaker 1: field throughout the course the season. When you're talking about
8:31
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor dealing with his ankle injury, skill Leonard with
8:34
Speaker 1: a bunch of different stuff going on, broken nose and
8:37
Speaker 1: a concussion, and of course the back injury as well,
8:40
Speaker 1: all of that has impacted the results on the field.
8:43
Speaker 1: So to an extent, you would certainly think it's important
8:45
Speaker 1: now for the Colts to play better with Jeff Saturday
8:49
Speaker 1: in charge, just to show what the talent on this
8:51
Speaker 1: roster can do. Yeah, we talked about no play caller
8:54
Speaker 1: on staff. I got an idea, Matt Ryan offensive coordinator.
9:00
Speaker 1: Anybody no stupider than Jeff Saturday. Hearn to me, tell me,
9:06
Speaker 1: tell me a better option? Right, now Ian, Tom and Mark.
9:11
Speaker 1: It's been one of those days. Stay tuned, get to
9:15
Speaker 1: the Bills and the Jets from yesterday. I remember the
9:17
Speaker 1: Bills have swept the Jets in each of the last
9:19
Speaker 1: two seasons. Jets, we just needed a clean game from
9:23
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson. Don't turn the ball over, keep us in
9:25
Speaker 1: the game. They did that. He did that. James Robinson touchdown,
9:29
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, Jets take a lead, seventeen fourteen, back and forth,
9:32
Speaker 1: Tyler Basset tied. I think Greg's airline had put the
9:34
Speaker 1: Jets back on top, and then after Josh Allen fumbled,
9:38
Speaker 1: they got it back. They were facing a fourth and
9:40
Speaker 1: twenty one. Chuck the downfield, sauce made of play Sauce
9:44
Speaker 1: Gardner and the Jets get a win. Twenty seventeen. He
9:49
Speaker 1: definitely go great. Uh, Dig, I got that one play.
9:52
Speaker 1: They called me early, you know, so when I play,
9:54
Speaker 1: I was just making a quarterback to go to who shot?
9:57
Speaker 1: You know he threw it, So yeah, I saw you
9:59
Speaker 1: and Dig's elbow and after one play a little bit
10:01
Speaker 1: of friendly competition there. Yeah, definitely been. We an't got
10:04
Speaker 1: a bad love, you know. At the end of the day,
10:06
Speaker 1: we both love football and We're both gonna go out
10:09
Speaker 1: there and go at each other. And that's that is.
10:10
Speaker 1: That's what happened season low and points for the Bills.
10:13
Speaker 1: Your defense held them the three points in the second half.
10:16
Speaker 1: They don't even get yardage on that last drive. How
10:18
Speaker 1: good is your defense? Great defense? Shout out to Coast
10:21
Speaker 1: Brick because Aubert and the defense, the defense, Uh, that's
10:26
Speaker 1: all it took. Man Mike Garafolo with an interview there
10:29
Speaker 1: with Sauce Gardner Gara Folo fighting through some laryngitis and
10:33
Speaker 1: a scratchy throat there. Well, Mike, this is Judy Batista
10:36
Speaker 1: and Mike Giardi Judy formula for success for the Jets.
10:40
Speaker 1: It worked yesterday. It worked. It was executed to a
10:45
Speaker 1: tea yesterday. That is how the New York Jets want
10:48
Speaker 1: to play, and as we could see from yesterday, that
10:50
Speaker 1: is how they can win. They want to have a
10:52
Speaker 1: physical running attack. They ran the ball for a hundred
10:54
Speaker 1: seventy four yards yesterday. They want to play great defense.
10:58
Speaker 1: They got after the quarterback. They were harassing Josh Allen
11:01
Speaker 1: all day. And then they want Zach eight plays, but
11:05
Speaker 1: they don't want him to have to be a gun slinger.
11:08
Speaker 1: They don't want the game completely in his hands. To
11:11
Speaker 1: his credit and to the coaching steps credit, he played
11:14
Speaker 1: a really smart game yesterday. Didn't do anything to cause problems.
11:19
Speaker 1: He made some plays when they had to, especially on
11:21
Speaker 1: that last drive when they were running, running running, but
11:23
Speaker 1: then on third down he had to make a pass
11:25
Speaker 1: and he made it. He played a really smart conteen game.
11:29
Speaker 1: That is what they need from Zach Wilson because the
11:32
Speaker 1: other pieces are in place. They can run, they can
11:34
Speaker 1: play defense, and they need heavy play from the quarterback.
11:38
Speaker 1: That's the biggest win I can remember guys for the
11:40
Speaker 1: Chets in years. Yeah, and you know, to your point
11:44
Speaker 1: about Zack Wilson, a couple of plays with his legs
11:47
Speaker 1: as well, running for first downs, and then on that
11:50
Speaker 1: last drive too that led to the game when he
11:52
Speaker 1: field goal. He took a sack in the red zone
11:55
Speaker 1: that I don't know last week if he makes that play, well,
11:57
Speaker 1: he made that play in this game. And I think
11:59
Speaker 1: that's just sort of the development and sort of cameraing
12:01
Speaker 1: at home. Dude, don't make bad mistakes like that. Just
12:04
Speaker 1: take the l that play so we can live to
12:06
Speaker 1: play another down. But I want to talk about the
12:08
Speaker 1: defensive line because last year, the Jets had to blitz
12:11
Speaker 1: a ton and that's not the way Robert Salo wants
12:13
Speaker 1: to play. They were top three depending which metric you
12:16
Speaker 1: look at in blitzing the quarterback last year. Well guess
12:18
Speaker 1: what this year their bottom tree. You know why, because
12:21
Speaker 1: those four guys up front, and it's a rotation. There
12:23
Speaker 1: are nine ten players that they'll use over the course
12:25
Speaker 1: of the game. They are getting to the quarterback on
12:28
Speaker 1: their own. They don't have to scheme anything up. They say, hey,
12:31
Speaker 1: Quinn and Williams, go win. And that's what he did.
12:33
Speaker 1: Does Karl Lawson, who has been awesome for them this year,
12:36
Speaker 1: he was actually very quiet yesterday, no pressures for him.
12:39
Speaker 1: But they're getting placed from guys like Gryce Huff, Sheldon
12:42
Speaker 1: Rankin's doing a nice job in the middle. So on
12:44
Speaker 1: and on it goes where they're able to do this.
12:46
Speaker 1: And Josh Allen had his worst day of the season
12:50
Speaker 1: at least amount of points they scored, completion percentage, passion rating,
12:53
Speaker 1: whatever you want to look at. He was weighed down
12:55
Speaker 1: and it's because of that defensive line first and foremost,
12:58
Speaker 1: and they have playmakers on all three levels. And obviously
13:00
Speaker 1: you saw sauce Gard to what he's able to do.
13:03
Speaker 1: I mean, that guy is playing beyond his years and
13:05
Speaker 1: is one of the best in the league. But that's
13:07
Speaker 1: how that whole defense is planning right now. They are
13:09
Speaker 1: legit not only playoff defense, but I think maybe a
13:12
Speaker 1: top five defense in the league after being the worst
13:14
Speaker 1: defense in football last year. It was Bryce Huff who
13:16
Speaker 1: actually got to Josh Allen late in the fourth quarter
13:18
Speaker 1: of their final drive. Hit the elbow, Alan said, the
13:21
Speaker 1: elbow source something to monitor here. The Jets now get
13:24
Speaker 1: a buy and then they get the Patriots again for
13:27
Speaker 1: the second time in three games. We'll see in two weeks. Yeah,
13:32
Speaker 1: if Zach Wilson plays any better against the Patriots than
13:35
Speaker 1: he did last week with the three picks, Thank you, Mike,
13:38
Speaker 1: Thank you Shooty new Right now into our news room,
13:42
Speaker 1: it's Ian and Tom back with us with some news.
13:45
Speaker 1: Tom at a Carolina They have a short week as
13:48
Speaker 1: to who they're starting quarterback is Thursday. I admit this
13:51
Speaker 1: one's kind of surprising. Lander I am told that the
13:54
Speaker 1: Panthers are going to once again start p J. Walker
13:57
Speaker 1: at quarterback for that Thursday night game against the Falcons.
14:01
Speaker 1: Walker had played very well the previous week, and then
14:04
Speaker 1: of course yesterday against the Bengals. It was a disaster
14:07
Speaker 1: really on every front for the Panthers, not simply for
14:10
Speaker 1: p J. Walker. What the Baker Mayfield in relief of
14:13
Speaker 1: Walker in the second half of that game. Sam Donald
14:16
Speaker 1: will also activated off injured reserve today. But it does
14:19
Speaker 1: make sense when you talked about a short week of
14:21
Speaker 1: preparation here and what Walker has shown in a positive
14:24
Speaker 1: direction on the field, to give him another opportunity at
14:27
Speaker 1: a time that, let's not forget. For as rough as
14:29
Speaker 1: it's been so far for the Panthers the firing of
14:32
Speaker 1: Matt Rule, they made additional changes on the coaching staff
14:34
Speaker 1: earlier today, There's still two games back at the division lead.
14:38
Speaker 1: At this point, they have something to play for and
14:41
Speaker 1: if win on Thursday night against the Falcons would certainly help. Yeah,
14:44
Speaker 1: but let's not forget that if Baker Mayfield play sevent snaps,
14:47
Speaker 1: that fifth round pick becomes the fourth round pick. Tom
14:50
Speaker 1: Xavier McKinney just going that out there. Bye week here, Seriously,
14:56
Speaker 1: Giants had a bye week. Xavier McKinny took a vacation,
14:59
Speaker 1: got injured. What's the story, Xavier McKinney, according to what
15:04
Speaker 1: he posted on social media earlier today, was in Cabo
15:07
Speaker 1: during the Giants bye week. He went on a guided
15:12
Speaker 1: sightseeing tour on a t V S and, in an
15:15
Speaker 1: unfortunate accident, suffered what are Ian rapport reported to be
15:19
Speaker 1: a broken hand. Now, the expectation, as McKinney said in
15:22
Speaker 1: that post, is that he is going to miss several
15:25
Speaker 1: weeks here. He also said, I will do everything I
15:27
Speaker 1: can to get back as quickly as possible so I
15:29
Speaker 1: contribute to what we're building here in New York, and
15:31
Speaker 1: McKinny has been a big part of what they're doing
15:34
Speaker 1: so far this season for that revived and new look
15:37
Speaker 1: Giants team. They've got the Texans coming up this weekend. Okay,
15:41
Speaker 1: let's get to the injuries for the Packers, because yeah,
15:45
Speaker 1: they do have a lot of problems after losing back
15:47
Speaker 1: to back years and in Detroit, starting with Rashaan Gary.
15:51
Speaker 1: This one's this one's tough because he's heading towards a
15:55
Speaker 1: big contract here. Yeah, and maybe one of their best
15:59
Speaker 1: defensive players and creates pressure off the adds a lot
16:02
Speaker 1: of good things Rashaan Gary has done with the Green
16:04
Speaker 1: Bay Packers this year. It sounds like he will not
16:06
Speaker 1: be doing that for the rest of the season. Source
16:08
Speaker 1: says he has torn his a c L had an
16:11
Speaker 1: m r I today to ascertain whether or not there
16:13
Speaker 1: is additional damage. No word yet on what else there is,
16:17
Speaker 1: but the belief is he is in fact done for
16:20
Speaker 1: this season. Not a household name, but an excellent, excellent
16:23
Speaker 1: player of the Packers will now be without better news
16:26
Speaker 1: for Aaron Jones, their star running back. He left the
16:29
Speaker 1: game with an ankle injury. Left the game in a
16:31
Speaker 1: walking boot as well. X rays were inconclusive, which really
16:35
Speaker 1: is never good news, but the fact that the m
16:37
Speaker 1: r I and the CT scan today did not reveal
16:40
Speaker 1: any damage is good news. Should be back at practice
16:43
Speaker 1: this week, no more issues there. And then for Romeo Dubs,
16:47
Speaker 1: one of their up and coming receivers, he also left
16:50
Speaker 1: on a cart. A lot of that going around. My
16:52
Speaker 1: understanding is he suffered a high ankle sprain. Those are
16:55
Speaker 1: generally four to six week injuries, so we should be
16:59
Speaker 1: back this season, but obviously not going to be on
17:01
Speaker 1: the field for the foreseeable future. Okay, that's a tough
17:03
Speaker 1: one there. The injuries keep on pilot up to Andre Campbell,
17:06
Speaker 1: for the Packers took to the Twitter complained about fieldter
17:10
Speaker 1: versus grass. We could delve into that a little bit
17:13
Speaker 1: later the week. Regardless, Packers get the Cowboys and they're
17:15
Speaker 1: definitely going to be shorthanded here. Thank you and thank
17:18
Speaker 1: you Tom. All right, coming up next, what about the
17:20
Speaker 1: NFC playoff picture? What if I told you the Bucks
17:24
Speaker 1: of a losing record maybe be in the playoffs right now?
17:28
Speaker 1: The f true story, breaking news. We have a second
17:37
Speaker 1: head coach fired this year midseason. The first was matt rolled.
17:41
Speaker 1: The second is Frank Wright, relieved of his duties in
17:45
Speaker 1: his fifth season in Indianapolis. Jim Mercy made the announcement
17:48
Speaker 1: this morning. Uh, the stunning part B of this story,
17:53
Speaker 1: Jeff Saturday, ESPN analyst Colts Ring of Honor member Jeff Saturday,
17:59
Speaker 1: with high school coaching experience only, has been named the
18:02
Speaker 1: interim head coach. True story. Uh that that is not
18:07
Speaker 1: not some kind of frank we're pulling on you. All right,
18:10
Speaker 1: Let's get to Tom Brady in the Bucks Todd Bowls
18:12
Speaker 1: and the divisional playoff round rematch from last year with
18:16
Speaker 1: the Rams. Looked as if this game was over. It
18:18
Speaker 1: was an ugly game. Late the fourth quarter, fourth down,
18:21
Speaker 1: Rams turned it over. But then the Rams go three
18:23
Speaker 1: and out finding back to Tom Brady no time outs.
18:25
Speaker 1: What is he wouldn't think he does? I mean, seriously,
18:29
Speaker 1: what do you think he does? Hits the rookie Kay
18:31
Speaker 1: dot and marches down the field and then hits the
18:33
Speaker 1: rookie again, the kid tight end from Washington. That's a
18:37
Speaker 1: touch Dad Bucket ears. Wait, it was ugly sixteen okay,
18:45
Speaker 1: a grind it out game, but you guys only needed
18:48
Speaker 1: a little bit more than a minute to pull it out.
18:50
Speaker 1: What about scoring that game? Win it touchdown? Yeah, unreal.
18:54
Speaker 1: You know, there's been a lot of frustration on the
18:55
Speaker 1: offensive side up the past week and even the season,
18:59
Speaker 1: you know, but we just kept believing, kept working. Everyone
19:02
Speaker 1: did their job and you know, it's it's great to
19:03
Speaker 1: come out with the wind. That was awesome. That was awesome.
19:09
Speaker 1: You know, Kay caught the game winner. So that's what
19:11
Speaker 1: takes man is then go perfect, and we certainly haven't
19:13
Speaker 1: played perfect behind the stretch, but hopefully it gives us
19:16
Speaker 1: some confidence and we can you know, win win again
19:19
Speaker 1: next week and get to five and five, which would
19:22
Speaker 1: be good for us to buy week and then kind
19:24
Speaker 1: of reviuate everything. Tom Brady walked to the podium. First
19:28
Speaker 1: thing he said was a curse word, like, yeah, that
19:31
Speaker 1: felt leaping good. But you give him a chance, he's
19:35
Speaker 1: gonna cut your heart out. And that is what happened.
19:37
Speaker 1: Another game winning drive. Ramps can't get the first time
19:42
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, or they can't get ten yards
19:44
Speaker 1: when they needed most to win the game. Will get
19:46
Speaker 1: to the ramp side of it in the second Mark
19:48
Speaker 1: Ross Beauty Batista through the year, righting about it. NFL
19:51
Speaker 1: dot Com. You were there yesterday, um and Todd Bowles
19:54
Speaker 1: echo the same thing again on the podium last night
19:57
Speaker 1: and today, Well, look we got Tom Brady, so you know,
20:00
Speaker 1: I guess we'll figure it out. I think they all
20:03
Speaker 1: needed to remember that they have to Tom Brady. I
20:05
Speaker 1: think they needed to prove it to themselves that they
20:07
Speaker 1: were still capable of doing that. You know, they were
20:11
Speaker 1: not perfect, as Brady said. I mean, this did not
20:13
Speaker 1: solve all of their problems. They still can't run the ball.
20:15
Speaker 1: He still has to throw away more than they want
20:18
Speaker 1: him to have to throw during a game. But you know,
20:21
Speaker 1: in forty four seconds, that was vintage Brady. And I
20:25
Speaker 1: think they needed the reminder that they're still capable of
20:28
Speaker 1: of doing that. And I was really struck by the
20:31
Speaker 1: atmosphere after. I mean, it was a huge win for them,
20:35
Speaker 1: like music, blasting, laughter, lots of hugging. You saw the
20:40
Speaker 1: embrace between Tom Brady and Yron Leftwich that was quite emotional.
20:44
Speaker 1: I happened to see Todd Bowles as he was coming
20:46
Speaker 1: off the field in the tunnel and he exhaled big
20:49
Speaker 1: exhale um. And then Scotty Miller, the receiver in the
20:53
Speaker 1: locker room, was asked like, you know, what, what was
20:55
Speaker 1: it like in here after the game and he said
20:57
Speaker 1: it felt like he used to and he said he
21:00
Speaker 1: feels like this maybe the spark they needed that. They
21:02
Speaker 1: feel like they've needed a spark and make eat this
21:05
Speaker 1: is it. And he said, this is really a lot
21:08
Speaker 1: about our morale, our swagger, our confidence, and I think,
21:12
Speaker 1: really you saw this lifted a huge weight off their shoulders.
21:16
Speaker 1: And look, Scottie Miller dropped the pass or two, and
21:19
Speaker 1: Mike Evans did and Chris Godwin did. It was ugly.
21:22
Speaker 1: This came at fifteen punts. I mean, the Bucks just
21:25
Speaker 1: happened to score last, but the Rams had a chance
21:29
Speaker 1: to put it away. They just couldn't put it away.
21:33
Speaker 1: They turned ready over and on downs in the end
21:36
Speaker 1: zone and then look Cooper cups trying to stay in bounds.
21:40
Speaker 1: I get it here, but look it boiled over. White
21:44
Speaker 1: was there? It boiled over. After the game, the defense
21:49
Speaker 1: should not have went I had to go back on
21:51
Speaker 1: the figure. Then have some dogs who gonna go get
21:55
Speaker 1: it be like we shouldn't come to the s eideline
21:57
Speaker 1: after a big stop like that, and our coaches or
22:01
Speaker 1: the other side or whoever telling knows, man, how we
22:03
Speaker 1: gonna needs you out one more time. We're gonna needs
22:04
Speaker 1: out one more time, like what we just We made
22:07
Speaker 1: a big stop, turnover on downs with a minute and
22:12
Speaker 1: some change left in no time else for nobody. I
22:18
Speaker 1: have some dogs like, man, let we're gonna we're gonna
22:22
Speaker 1: end this game right now, good stop, We're gonna end
22:24
Speaker 1: this game for y'all. Like we gotta play off each
22:27
Speaker 1: other in that in that sense, you know what I mean.
22:29
Speaker 1: That's what I mean by we shouldn't even have to
22:31
Speaker 1: go back out there. But it is what it is.
22:34
Speaker 1: It ain't the first time that does happen. Does happen?
22:37
Speaker 1: You know? Must of the times this year, there's lots
22:42
Speaker 1: of unpacked their Jalen Ramsey's right, they shouldn't have to
22:44
Speaker 1: end it twice. Mark, they ended it once. They shouldn't
22:46
Speaker 1: have to end it twice, but they did because the
22:48
Speaker 1: Rams offense couldn't get ten yards. Cooper cups the only
22:50
Speaker 1: thing working on this offense right now, and he said
22:53
Speaker 1: the same thing as Jalen Ramsey. We should be able
22:56
Speaker 1: to get ten yards, but right now we can't. And afterwards,
23:00
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh was asked, I don't know, kind of a
23:02
Speaker 1: cliched question about the panic button, and he said, we're
23:04
Speaker 1: not hitting a panic but but something's gotta change and
23:07
Speaker 1: we're gonna figure out what we need to change. And
23:10
Speaker 1: people read that as maybe he rearranged the coaching stat
23:14
Speaker 1: maybe he starts benching people. They gotta do something, Yeah,
23:18
Speaker 1: they have to do something, but can they do anything?
23:20
Speaker 1: And this is why it's so hard to repeat as
23:22
Speaker 1: Super Bowl chants. As soon as that game is over, Andrew,
23:25
Speaker 1: you're a completely different team, And it's two different things.
23:28
Speaker 1: It's the on the field how you're different, and then
23:30
Speaker 1: the off the field mentality. So look, on the field,
23:33
Speaker 1: is you lose O b J, you lose Andrew Whitwork,
23:36
Speaker 1: you lose Von Miller's So you're losing Pro Bowl players
23:39
Speaker 1: who contributed serious impact to what was going on on
23:43
Speaker 1: the field. And when you look at this Rams team now,
23:46
Speaker 1: they haven't replaced that production and that impact from those players.
23:51
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford, we saw his up and down struggles last season,
23:54
Speaker 1: got it straight towards the playoff run there and the
23:57
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, but he hasn't been able to recapture that
24:00
Speaker 1: consistency and that magic because of the dearth of talent
24:03
Speaker 1: on the offense and then all the off the field.
24:07
Speaker 1: With the difference of repeating is the mentality when you
24:10
Speaker 1: when you're going through Super Bowl runs, as I went
24:12
Speaker 1: with two with the Giants, everybody is all in. There's
24:14
Speaker 1: no egos, there's selflessness, it's all supporting each other for
24:18
Speaker 1: one goal and that's the win. But now you're seeing
24:21
Speaker 1: a lot of the off the field, as represented there
24:24
Speaker 1: by Jalen Ramsey's comments, is we shouldn't have to go
24:26
Speaker 1: back out there. Well, yeah you should. The game is
24:28
Speaker 1: not over, so it doesn't matter if you have to
24:30
Speaker 1: go out there three or four times. That's your job
24:32
Speaker 1: as a defense to stop another team. So I think
24:35
Speaker 1: with McVeigh the on the field issues that we see,
24:39
Speaker 1: but also the mentality and the mental mentality of togetherness
24:43
Speaker 1: also has to be fixed if this Rams team is
24:46
Speaker 1: gonna go anywhere this season. Andrew, listen, as I said,
24:49
Speaker 1: Cooper Cup said, Jalen's right. We should be able to
24:52
Speaker 1: get ten yards. It's inexcusable. We've got to be able
24:55
Speaker 1: to get ten yards. And the easy answer is the
24:58
Speaker 1: offensive line is in shambles. But it feels like there's
25:03
Speaker 1: something deeper than that. Now the Rams have to pick
25:06
Speaker 1: a back up, come back home and get the Arizona Cardinals.
25:09
Speaker 1: Thank you Mark and thank you Judy. The front runner
25:13
Speaker 1: in the NFC Western Force is the Seattle Seahawks. They
25:16
Speaker 1: won again. They went into Arizona, they closed out the
25:20
Speaker 1: Cardinals in the fourth quarter, and now they go to Germany,
25:24
Speaker 1: Munich to play the Bucket Airs football made in Germany.
25:29
Speaker 1: We are going live there now. Sarah Walsh in Munich,
25:34
Speaker 1: where I have no idea what time it is, but
25:36
Speaker 1: Sarah is burning the midnight oil to set the scene
25:38
Speaker 1: for us. Hi, there's Sarah, Andrew good news. I have
25:41
Speaker 1: no idea what time it is. Either they just say
25:43
Speaker 1: beyond it this time. Who knows what time zone we're in.
25:46
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just know I'm live with you
25:48
Speaker 1: right now. But what I can tell you is I
25:50
Speaker 1: can sort of set the scene behind me. Behind this
25:52
Speaker 1: shoulder is the National Theater here in Munich, and right
25:55
Speaker 1: here is what used to be a postal office. It's
25:58
Speaker 1: the fanciest postal office I've ever seen. They certainly don't
26:01
Speaker 1: look like that in Florida. It is a great night
26:03
Speaker 1: out here. It's beautiful, great weather so far here in Munich,
26:06
Speaker 1: and of course we beat the teams out here there
26:08
Speaker 1: days away from arriving. I can tell you that Todd
26:11
Speaker 1: Bowls talked just about an hour ago, and of course
26:15
Speaker 1: there's things he would like to see better out of
26:16
Speaker 1: his offense. How many times have I said that to
26:19
Speaker 1: you on this show. So let's start with the positive.
26:21
Speaker 1: He was happy about his defense and a lot of
26:24
Speaker 1: regards they got back Carlton, David, Sean Murphy, Bunting. He
26:27
Speaker 1: said that those guys played physical. He liked what he
26:29
Speaker 1: saw out of them. He liked how they looked on
26:32
Speaker 1: third down defensively, that they stopped these big plays that
26:35
Speaker 1: they were giving up. Now on the other side, of
26:37
Speaker 1: things that I know. You were just talking to Judy
26:39
Speaker 1: and Mark about this. He was asked about these big
26:41
Speaker 1: explosive plays, we just don't see them from the Buccaneers
26:44
Speaker 1: this season, and he said, because that run game struggles
26:48
Speaker 1: to get going. They don't suck guys up defensively, and
26:51
Speaker 1: so guys are sitting back. They can't go over the top.
26:53
Speaker 1: And he said, We're not going to go over the
26:54
Speaker 1: top just to go over the top. We're working on it.
26:57
Speaker 1: We would like to do it, but I can tell
26:59
Speaker 1: you this, and Judy talked about the reaction there after
27:02
Speaker 1: that win. I saw more reaction after that win on
27:06
Speaker 1: Sunday than I did after Bucks playoff wins, because you
27:10
Speaker 1: can tell this is how bad this team needed it. So, yes,
27:13
Speaker 1: there continues to be things that they would like to
27:15
Speaker 1: get corrected on offense, but they will take a win
27:18
Speaker 1: anyway they can get it, and they are thrilled becoming
27:21
Speaker 1: to Munich off a win. Andrew and the Google tells
27:24
Speaker 1: me to seven thirty eight in the PM where Sarah
27:28
Speaker 1: Walsh now stands in Munich, whereas she mentioned, the Bucks
27:30
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks will get there a little bit later,
27:32
Speaker 1: and when the Seahawks get there. They're flying high. They
27:34
Speaker 1: are a first place team and they want to get
27:37
Speaker 1: and now they have Gino Smith against a Bucketeers defense
27:40
Speaker 1: that I mean, they do deserve some credit here, Sarah.
27:43
Speaker 1: They gave up the big play to Cooper Cup, but
27:45
Speaker 1: they also for the most part, did the job. But
27:47
Speaker 1: this is a different task this week. It's a different
27:51
Speaker 1: task every week. And the thing with this Buccaneers defenses,
27:53
Speaker 1: we have seen them play really well. They started the
27:55
Speaker 1: season great against the Cowboys on the road, and then
27:58
Speaker 1: they sort of fell off. I think some of that
28:00
Speaker 1: has to do with injury. So let's start with the
28:02
Speaker 1: Seahawks and give them credit where credits due. Geno Smith
28:05
Speaker 1: is playing lights out this season, and Gino is happy
28:08
Speaker 1: to pass along the credit because he said that it's
28:11
Speaker 1: really Kenneth Walker that's the leader of this offense. Again yesterday,
28:14
Speaker 1: a hundred nine yards two touchdowns for the rookie running back.
28:18
Speaker 1: He's got seven rushing touchdowns in his last five games,
28:21
Speaker 1: and Gino said he's just so tough and he's only
28:24
Speaker 1: scratching the surface of what he can do. Geno said,
28:27
Speaker 1: he makes it so hard on defense. Is well, this
28:30
Speaker 1: is a Bucks defense that is getting healthier, and I
28:32
Speaker 1: think the biggest way in which you saw it manifest
28:35
Speaker 1: itself on Sunday is Vita Vea was all over that
28:39
Speaker 1: game film. I mean they were talking about him the
28:41
Speaker 1: entire game. He had two sacks of Stafford. He would
28:44
Speaker 1: love to harass Gino Smith, and we haven't seen that
28:47
Speaker 1: as much because they didn't have a chem Hicks, so
28:49
Speaker 1: Vita was getting doubled. Well, Hicks came back for the
28:52
Speaker 1: first time yesterday since week two, and what did we see.
28:55
Speaker 1: We saw Vita Via all over the field. Hicks said,
28:58
Speaker 1: we need that, we need him to get those singles
29:00
Speaker 1: and take advantage, and he certainly did yesterday. So again,
29:04
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to the Bucks defense, they're
29:06
Speaker 1: getting healthy at the right time. We're seeing improvements and
29:09
Speaker 1: it should be a big challenge for this Seattle offense.
29:12
Speaker 1: Andrew Davia, who was stealing souls on the rams O line,
29:15
Speaker 1: Bobby Evans most notably yesterday, Kenneth Walker, who is doing
29:19
Speaker 1: the same to the Cardinals defense in the fourth quarter.
29:22
Speaker 1: Should be a good one. All right, we are not
29:27
Speaker 1: yet done for week number nine. One more game and
29:30
Speaker 1: a good one. Actually, you got the Ravens got the
29:33
Speaker 1: Saints in New Orleans at the Caesar's Super Dumb Kayla
29:37
Speaker 1: Burton live in Orleans for this one a week after
29:41
Speaker 1: the trade deadline, where roe Kwan Smith is gonna make
29:45
Speaker 1: his debut tonight for the Ravens were in eighteen, Kayla,
29:47
Speaker 1: what's he bringing? Andrew? He is bringing some playmaking abilities.
29:53
Speaker 1: Expect to see ro Kuan Smith out here in the
29:56
Speaker 1: number eighteen, a new number. He's going from fifty eight
29:58
Speaker 1: to eighteen. He said, look new start, new number. Why not? Now?
30:02
Speaker 1: Smith did admit when he found out he was traded,
30:05
Speaker 1: he was initially shocked. He didn't see it coming. But
30:07
Speaker 1: he is happy that he's with the Baltimore Ravens. I'll
30:09
Speaker 1: tell you this. Ravens are excited to get a play
30:12
Speaker 1: making linebacker who leads the NFL with eighty three tackles.
30:15
Speaker 1: Of course, the big question comes tonight, well, how is
30:17
Speaker 1: he going to adjust to this playbook in such a
30:20
Speaker 1: short time span. Well, head coach John Harball addressed that
30:23
Speaker 1: earlier this week or last week, i should say, and
30:25
Speaker 1: he said that he's already been acclimating himself. He's learning
30:29
Speaker 1: the playbook. If there's any challenge that may present itself tonight.
30:32
Speaker 1: It's going to be from a terminology standpoint, but Smith
30:35
Speaker 1: is feeling confident, he is feeling ready to go. He
30:37
Speaker 1: was asked about how he's going to fit into this defense.
30:40
Speaker 1: Is he going to play inside linebacker or on the
30:42
Speaker 1: week side, and he says, Guys, I'm a linebacker. My
30:45
Speaker 1: goal of my focus is to run, to hit, to
30:48
Speaker 1: play good ball. And I'll also say this, his teammate
30:50
Speaker 1: Patrick Queen said, this guy was born to be a
30:52
Speaker 1: raven and he's facing a team that has some issues
30:57
Speaker 1: here with the injuries offensively, Kayla, how are things looking
31:01
Speaker 1: for the Saints after Michael Thomas had to be put
31:03
Speaker 1: on i R late week? Andrew, definitely some unfortunate news
31:08
Speaker 1: there with no Michael Thomas here today, But this is
31:10
Speaker 1: a Saints offense that is still ranked top five going
31:14
Speaker 1: into this match up here tonight, spearheaded and led by
31:17
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton and as you mentioned, no Mike Thomas. Mark
31:20
Speaker 1: Ingram also out with an MCL sprain for a couple
31:22
Speaker 1: of weeks, and we haven't even seen Jarvis Landry take
31:25
Speaker 1: the field since Week four. He's listed as questionable with
31:28
Speaker 1: an ankle injury. Of course, I'll provide you the latest
31:30
Speaker 1: once I found out his situation, But they are relying
31:33
Speaker 1: on playmakers. Alvin Camara coming off of last week three touchdowns,
31:37
Speaker 1: He's had four straight games with a hundred plus scrimmage yards.
31:40
Speaker 1: Crystal Lave leads all rookie receivers and receptions receiving yards
31:45
Speaker 1: as well as targets. And of course Taysom Hill is
31:47
Speaker 1: just a playmaker at the line of scrimmage. I spoke
31:50
Speaker 1: with Ravens defensive and Klaas Campbell, who says that he's
31:53
Speaker 1: so hard to prepare for. He called him a premium
31:55
Speaker 1: running back. And if you asked John Harbaugh how to
31:58
Speaker 1: match up against Taysom Hill, it's playing sound defense. NFL
32:04
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32:07
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32:14
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