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Real Football: The Nonsensical NFC Least · Go Long Podcast

0:00
[music]
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what's going on everyone?
0:31
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another Real Football episode.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm Tyler Dunne at Golong and that is my buddy Jim Monis,
0:39
SPEAKER_01: long time NFL scout, NFL exec, UFL extraordinaire.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Jim, what's happening?
0:46
SPEAKER_01: How in the hell are you doing?
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Fired up.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: We're about Quarter of the way through the NFL season,
0:51
SPEAKER_00: I would say,
0:52
SPEAKER_00: the way we,
0:52
SPEAKER_00: you know,
0:53
SPEAKER_00: the little math,
0:53
SPEAKER_00: we can get a little tricky with the math there and details,
0:56
SPEAKER_00: but you know what I mean.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: It's a long season if you're trying to win the Super Bowl.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: So you're around a 20-game season if you're trying to win a Super Bowl, you know, 2021 games.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like we can at least have a good idea right now of where we're at a little bit.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Some shocks, some not shocks, all the good stuff.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: The sample size is there.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: We can start to figure out who's good,
1:20
SPEAKER_01: who's terrible,
1:22
SPEAKER_01: which teams are maybe letting their quarterbacks fly all over the world
1:25
SPEAKER_01: with blood clot situations.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: What a mess the Philadelphia Eagles have on their hands.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a tricky one.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: We'll try to make sense of it all.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: But my first thought is Nick Sirianni just as a sacrificial lamb.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: He's forced to be the voice of the medical staff and Howie Roseman and ownership
1:48
SPEAKER_01: and navigating litigation potentially.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: General manager, Tyler, general manager needed to be out there, hands down.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Nick Sirianni needed nothing to do with that.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: That is an operations decision.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: He may have been a part of it and sat in on those meetings.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: But that's top down.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: That's Howie Roseman needed to take that press conference.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: You said it perfect.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Sacrificial layup, man.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: They sent him right out.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: That's like when a head coach fires the coordinator after two games.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And I call it that coordinator graveyard.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: A head coach can fill up that graveyard before it's him.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: That's sending him out.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough one.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: I thought Howie would go out there for that one.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a major one.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, because it is Howie Roseman's operation.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: He oversees everything with the Philadelphia Eagles.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, get the team doctor out there, right?
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Get a medical expert out there.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: If you don't like the Twitter doctors controlling the narrative, then set it straight.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: It's just bad PR all the way around by the Philadelphia Eagles.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: That's a master class on how to botch public relations if you're the Philadelphia Eagles.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: So well done, guys.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: Well done.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: Good.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about the Eagles and the NFC East.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: They could still win the division with Tanner McKee.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's got to win the NFC East.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't have been more wrong.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: I was so excited for that division.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about it.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: But, yeah,
3:23
SPEAKER_00: the NFC East is not what we thought,
3:25
SPEAKER_00: and that's part of this episode where now things are shaping up a little bit.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Now let's reevaluate where we were off or on.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we do have someone pretty high up with the UFL on this podcast.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we should figure something out.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Like the last place,
3:44
SPEAKER_01: maybe the whole division,
3:45
SPEAKER_01: just they are absorbed by the United Football League after this.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: And the NFL has to start up four expansion teams in 2027.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: If it gets to that point, can we figure something out?
3:57
SPEAKER_01: Maybe get The Rock or Doug on the call?
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Well...
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you this, because to your point, no, I would love that, to be honest with you.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: We would love anything we could do with the NFL.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: But would you like a UFL champion versus CFL champion game?
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, I would love that.
4:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that'd be great.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm just testing, just testing some things out.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Your reaction was all I needed.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: It was perfect.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: You're more than welcome to try a balloon, some UFL ideas with our listeners, too.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: Let us know, everybody watching and listening, what you think.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: Jim should do with the UFL.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: No, we have some good things going right now.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: There's some meetings going on.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Our owner, Mike Ripolli, he's down there with Doug Whaley right now.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: So Russ Brandon, they're getting things set up for the season.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: We have a draft coming up on NFL Network in November.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: You may see me on that draft.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, whoa.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Sharing a little news here.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I like it.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: It's out there.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: It's out there too.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's November, I want to say 18th or 19th.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's out there.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: NFL Network.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: And I think you guys, we've talked about it, but you're doing it right.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's really no gimmicks and Band-Aid solutions and sugar highs.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: You're really trying to build out a true football product
5:18
SPEAKER_01: with innovative measures being implemented that the NFL can look at and put
5:24
SPEAKER_01: into their game.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: It's a fun watch if you like hearing the officials go through replay
5:30
SPEAKER_00: and really how it's done and hearing the coaches kind of talk to each other on
5:34
SPEAKER_00: the headsets, calling plays.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: All that is you can get while you watch the game.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: If the NFL opened that part of their game up,
5:45
SPEAKER_00: the headset is the TV show everybody needs.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: I think the NFL will get there too, Jim.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: I
5:52
SPEAKER_01: don't know.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't think.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: I've heard some of that stuff on there.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if coaches,
6:02
SPEAKER_00: how they would feel if they knew that stuff was...
6:06
SPEAKER_01: No, that's a good point.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: They're too secretive.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: They're very protective of all intel.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: I guess I shouldn't say... You know what I mean.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't think the NFL will go to that extreme,
6:17
SPEAKER_01: but they'll probably feel... Because money talks, right?
6:22
SPEAKER_01: And if there's anything they can do...
6:25
SPEAKER_01: That will generate interest and innovate the viewer experience.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: I can see it like not too long ago,
6:33
SPEAKER_01: like five years ago,
6:35
SPEAKER_01: if you went on Twitter and like if you recorded on your phone on your TV set a play
6:41
SPEAKER_01: that you like from the game and you posted it on Twitter,
6:44
SPEAKER_01: like the NFL would be all over your ass and make you take it down and censor you
6:48
SPEAKER_01: and all.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And eventually they just kind of gave up that fight because they knew
6:51
SPEAKER_01: the more eyeballs, the better.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: I guess it's a little more extreme to let everybody in on the headsets.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: But I can see them feeling the magnetic pull toward that world.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: Things get revealed.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason the Colts owner was listening.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: And she is correct.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to figure some things out,
7:15
SPEAKER_00: you're trying to sort out who does what and get a feel for who's,
7:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say who's at fault,
7:20
SPEAKER_00: but How a game gets played out that the headset will explain some things.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: If you want to take that deep dive that she did.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't know any owner.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: Carly Ursa Gordon.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Carly.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: I was sideline because I wanted to get your opinion on that, Jim,
7:38
SPEAKER_01: because I'm thinking if it's Jerry Jones patrolling the sideline with a headset on
7:42
SPEAKER_01: and talking to the head coach, I mean, he'd be getting just killed all week for it.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: And we always talk about the best owners just empower football people and stay
7:51
SPEAKER_01: the hell out of the way.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: That being said, I mean, you made a good point just there.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: If you're owning the team and you're trying to make these informed decisions,
8:00
SPEAKER_01: you want to know who's responsible for what,
8:04
SPEAKER_01: who's at fault for what,
8:05
SPEAKER_01: because we both know a lot of really good politicians who have a way of surviving
8:11
SPEAKER_01: in pro football by schmoozing and just articulating a message to ownership.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Perfectly.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: And it's, it's game of Thrones.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: We say it all the time.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: So she wants to cut through the BS and know, okay, here's why that third down failed.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: And here's why that player was in the game.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Where, where do you fall down on that all with Carly or say Gordon?
8:33
SPEAKER_00: She has every right to listen and, and, and jump, dive in and learn everything about your team.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: Every right, but not like that.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: You can do that behind the scenes.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be,
8:46
SPEAKER_00: I'd have to check,
8:47
SPEAKER_00: I guess, with headsets, communication-wise, you know, to actually get the feed.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if she could wear a headset in the owner's suite.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how that look would be.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: So maybe she feels like she...
8:59
SPEAKER_00: But I would think you could wear it and not be on the sideline.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: You have every right to do it.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to get anything from it at the end of the day.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: You're going to figure some things out.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, you need to turn it over to the people you trust.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: So when I sat down with Terry Pagula,
9:16
SPEAKER_00: owner of the Buffalo Bills,
9:18
SPEAKER_00: ahead of their home opener, he was pretty open and honest and said...
9:45
SPEAKER_01: Now, with the way their organizational structure is,
9:48
SPEAKER_01: he's not nearly as involved as he was earlier in his ownership tenure.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: And you've touched on it here and there over the course of this podcast,
9:58
SPEAKER_01: how after games, you guys would get together and discuss things, right?
10:03
SPEAKER_01: And I think that definitely carried through after you and Doug Whaley were fired
10:08
SPEAKER_01: and it's Sean McDermott, Brandon Bean.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Everything I can gather, it was the same sort of setup.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: Now, I feel like now he's with the stadium and then obviously everything with Kim.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: He's got the Buffalo Sabres heavily involved with oil and gas still.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: I think there's so much going on in his world.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: His daughter is one of the best tennis players in the world.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: I think he's trying to let that thing kind of be more of a well-oiled machine.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, like we're Early on, what did that look like on the front end?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: It was part of your workday on a Sunday or whenever the game was.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: But the postgame was part of the workday.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: The day didn't end when the game ended.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: But you never knew what that postgame meeting was going to be.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: It could be us on the chopping block.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: It could be the head coach on the chopping block, players on the chopping block.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: But you have to give answers.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: And that's after a loss.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Wins, I always tell you, there's only two emotions in the NFL.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: When you win, it's just relief.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: You go out, everybody fakes it that we love each other.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, you get your steak dinner.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, we all love each other.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: Every player we just drafted is great.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Free agent's great.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Head coach, great.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Then the next week, you lose that dinner.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we have to cut him.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: That guy's not panning out.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: That coach, we probably – it just – Relief when you win, when you lose, disgust.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: And those are the two emotions you face in football when you're in the front office or coaching.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: And those postgame,
11:38
SPEAKER_00: we used to say it's like going to the principal office sometimes with the owner.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got to go face the, you know, face the music and what you did.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: And whether right or wrong, like I said, it's fun to celebrate the win.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: But man, those losses, it really feels like everything is nobody likes you.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: You walk in the building the next day, you feel like everybody's against you.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: When you win, you walk into that building, you feel on top of the world.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: You're going down like a parade down Main Street.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: It's just that's the raw emotions of football.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: That's why pro football
12:11
SPEAKER_00: is king.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Every week is its own story.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: You can even feel it with a fan base where after a loss, the vitriol, the anger...
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's losing their minds.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: And then it kind of will linger into Monday and then Tuesday off day.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: And then by Wednesday,
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Thursday, Friday,
12:32
SPEAKER_01: a fan base is starting to become hopeful again and maybe make excuses for things
12:37
SPEAKER_01: that happened the previous Sunday.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: It's like they're becoming a different person.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: It's like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly each week.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: And by Sunday, it's hope springs eternal and you just start all over again.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: And then you either win or lose and you go through the cycle.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: The best is we're getting into that time of year,
12:55
SPEAKER_00: and we always talk about it on our podcast,
12:58
SPEAKER_00: but we're getting to that time of year where the standings come out and it's who's
13:02
SPEAKER_00: in the hunt.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: We're getting there.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know my famous phrase,
13:09
SPEAKER_00: the first team that says,
13:10
SPEAKER_00: if we win out, that's the team, that's the coach getting fired.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: Because if you have to start saying,
13:16
SPEAKER_00: if we win out, we can make the playoffs, things have gone horribly wrong.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Unless you're Aaron Rodgers in 2016, could run the table when they were three and five.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: That is one of the best stretches of quarterback play.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: That is fair.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: He did put it out there, too.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: That was right after my first Bleacher Report story,
13:34
SPEAKER_01: kind of exposing some stuff and everything going on with his family and
13:38
SPEAKER_01: the leadership.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: He turned it on, man.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: He was unbelievable that season.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's funny.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you tried to turn this into Green Bay, but they are actually almost similar.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Where it looked like,
13:52
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:53
SPEAKER_00: that's the team I picked to come out of the NFC this year,
13:56
SPEAKER_00: and I was almost laughing about it after week one with,
13:58
SPEAKER_00: you know,
13:58
SPEAKER_00: after we didn't know about Jacobs and then Parsons,
14:01
SPEAKER_00: we knew he'd be out,
14:02
SPEAKER_00: but then they just looked so, all the other injuries, Green Bay looked decimated.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: They're kind of the hot team right now.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: And didn't you have Jacobson?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they're still waiting on Jacobs and Parsons.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Josh Jacobs is back.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Micah Parsons isn't far behind.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Just landed back in Western New York from our trip to Green Bay,
14:24
SPEAKER_01: so I'll have some stories from Wisconsin in the future.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, all of a sudden you've got a quarterback in Jordan Love who is playing,
14:33
SPEAKER_01: as well as anybody in the NFL,
14:35
SPEAKER_01: that ability to just hang in the pocket,
14:37
SPEAKER_01: that extra split second,
14:39
SPEAKER_01: take a shot and deliver dimes,
14:42
SPEAKER_01: downfield, accurate throws to Matthew Gold and Christian Watson.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody's doing it better.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: It's like they just decided this is our strength.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: We are going to push the ball down the field,
14:55
SPEAKER_01: and he's got an extra split second to execute these throws now
15:00
SPEAKER_01: with their offensive line holding up pretty well, at least in the pass game.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Which NBA player do you picture when you think of fadeaway jumper?
15:11
SPEAKER_00: You're in his face, but he puts that touch right over it and drops it right in.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Kobe.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: Kobe.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: I love that because I was going to say MJ or Kobe because I always think they're
15:20
SPEAKER_00: the same guy anyway.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: Perfect example.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And I swear that's what I feel like when I watch Jordan Love throw those.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: It's unbelievable how he can make these throws under pressure,
15:31
SPEAKER_00: which is how you judge quarterbacks, under pressure and against man coverage.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: If you want to judge quarterbacks, everybody struggles and tries to pick these quarterbacks.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he has this completion percentage.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Judge the real throws.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: The real throws are man coverage and when you're getting hit in the face.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: And Jordan Love has made a living of it.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: You and I did a deep dive on him.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: We've been good with him for a long time now here at Go Long.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: We know he is not the issue.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: He can play.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: And we're seeing it on a bigger display.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: And you're seeing what big-time quarterbacks can do.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: He just elevated his team.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: We said the great quarterbacks, they take care of things.
16:08
SPEAKER_00: You have two top five players, Jacobs and Parsons, sitting on the bench waiting to come in.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: And you have your team rolling right now with confidence.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's the definition of franchise quarterback.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, I think that last year at Utah State did so much good for Jordan Love.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: And we've covered it extensively at the site.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: David Yost, his former offensive coordinator.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: C.O.C.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Mariner, one of his former receivers.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Talked to a few of his former receivers.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: But he had a lot of just absolute chaos going on all around him.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: Injuries to key starters.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of guys graduated.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: They weren't very good around the quarterback position that final year.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: And he threw a lot of interceptions.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: But just having to navigate with a muddy pocket and create and improvise
16:58
SPEAKER_01: and make off-platform throws and just operate under duress.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: They played, I think, like LSU.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: They played some...
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Some top teams that year, so the Packers, all teams, could see how he is in those settings.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: I think that appealed to Brian Kutikens and Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers
17:13
SPEAKER_01: when they saw, okay, yeah, the year prior, his numbers were a lot better.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: He won a lot more games.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: But the NFL, it's going to be chaos.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: You will be under duress.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: Shit is going to hit that proverbial fan.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what the first...
17:28
SPEAKER_01: I was there at U.S. Bank Stadium, Jim.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't hear myself think that place was deafening their home opener.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: The Packers have injuries on the line.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: They don't know whether Blake Cashman's blitzing or Eric Wilson, what Brian Flores is doing.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: And they lost that game.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: They gave up whatever it was, 28 unanswered points.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Jordan Love also almost threw for 400 yards.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: He's still making some big-time throws in that setting.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: So I feel like that's...
17:57
SPEAKER_01: That's the NFL.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, you've got to be able to stay calm in those moments and operate with confidence.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at – I'm sure we'll touch on the Rams at some point.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Matthew Stafford and the Rams are in a world of hurt.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: There's a play in that game against the Cardinals where their issues go well
18:15
SPEAKER_01: beyond Stafford, obviously, but he's, like, spooked.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's barely any pressure in his face, and he just spins.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: He's just like, I've got to get out of there.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: And he spins, and then he just drops the ball.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: And Drake May, think about Drake May the first couple weeks of the season.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: No confidence.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Now he's got it back.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: Jordan Love is playing with swagger out there.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can feel it.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: It's palpable in his play style.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: No question.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: We can touch on the Rams.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you on Jordan Love, though.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: That sums it up.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: He completely, it's like you take your breath.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Here's who we have right now.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: Here's who's playing.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's out.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Now you know who's out, who's in.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's get it together.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: We have our time frame when Josh Jacobs was coming back, when Parsons is coming back.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Let's get this together.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: Here they come.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: Now it's like, man,
19:02
SPEAKER_00: it's like,
19:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you were a pro wrestling fan back in the day,
19:05
SPEAKER_00: but it was like, it was us.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: In the cage matches, new guys would come into the ring.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I forget what they were called.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Those like survivor matches.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And then the next guy would come into the ring and you were so excited.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: You didn't know who was going to come down that.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: But that's how I feel like Green Bay is right now.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Who's coming next?
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Who's coming down to help us next?
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's Josh Jacobs next.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And then Parsons.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: Those are top five players at your positions.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: Big time talent coming.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Get healthy and hot at the right time.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: That's the NFL.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: This 49ers team.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: They need to get healthy.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: Because to me, I'm looking at Green Bay right now.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who in the NFC is going to stop this Green Bay team when they come full throttle?
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Right.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be welcoming back a Hall of Fame talent on defense that is going
19:55
SPEAKER_01: to just completely tilt the gravity of the field.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Changes how you game plan Green Bay.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Very few guys.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: He's a guy you have to game plan for.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Let me know when you want to get into the Rams.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: All right.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Touch on the Rams and then we'll dive into everybody's favorite division, the NFC least.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: We got to go into the least.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: But think about this with the Rams.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: If I would tell you this after last season,
20:21
SPEAKER_00: after the season ends,
20:22
SPEAKER_00: they're going to lose their young, talented pass rusher verse.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: Just hear me out.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: They're going to lose their talented pass rusher verse.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say anything about replacing him yet because all you've done
20:36
SPEAKER_00: so far is lose him because that's what they've done.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: They've lost their number one pass rusher.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you have a first-round pick.
20:42
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Didn't use it.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: He's on some backup quarterback maybe.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: You haven't improved your team one bit.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, you have.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: You signed some 40-year-old little try-hard defensive tackle getting his head beat
20:55
SPEAKER_00: in, Aaron Donald.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't even be playing football right now.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: This team never did anything to improve themselves because Garrett never got on
21:03
SPEAKER_00: the field because he's hurt,
21:04
SPEAKER_00: and you didn't use your first-round pick to help your 45
21:07
SPEAKER_00: or however old he is quarterback.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: So this is what you have.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: All you did was lose talent.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: You've done nothing.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be surprised they're losing is my point of this rant,
21:18
SPEAKER_00: is they have done nothing but deplete their talent,
21:21
SPEAKER_00: and then they lose their – then they have injuries now.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: But I'm just saying, like, You see why Stafford's throwing dirt balls or feeling pressure.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: You remember Brady in Tampa.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Brady in Tampa, he felt anything.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Dirt.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: Smart.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: They're not going to put up with it at this point.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: They know a dead play when they see it at that age as a quarterback.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: So he's not going to sit there and take crazy hits at this point.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: But, yeah, that's a wild.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: They never did anything.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: This whole dream team that they wanted, there's no – it never happened.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: We haven't even seen it.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: All we've seen is this depleted Rams team.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: All right.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, look, they lose this week against the Raiders, I believe.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: They're done.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Two and five are done.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, their season's on the line.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they'll be in the hunt phase very soon or the win-out phase very soon.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: Sooner than you want to be.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: Sooner than you want to be.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, on the Thanksgiving Day graphic, what do they call it when you're not in the hunt?
22:21
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: Your others, what do they call that?
22:26
SPEAKER_00: Or outside looking in.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be a tinge of optimism.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: The NCAA tournament,
22:30
SPEAKER_00: the bracket busters always have that first four out,
22:33
SPEAKER_00: you know, the first four out knocking on the door to get in.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, with Stafford, too,
22:41
SPEAKER_01: how does a quarterback in possession of one of the strongest arms in NFL history,
22:46
SPEAKER_01: if not the strongest,
22:48
SPEAKER_01: I know he's old, but he I mean, he can still push it downfield.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: How does he average 4.4 air yards in a game?
22:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, against the Arizona Cardinals.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm playing catch with Sonny in the basement.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: We're about 4.4 yards apart.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: That's nuts.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that game was ridiculous.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: Sean McVay's calling...
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Screens on third and long and like dinking and dunking
23:17
SPEAKER_01: and not really getting Kyron Williams involved and Kyron Williams spoke up.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: But you got Puka, Devontae Adams before he got hurt at the very end of the game.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: Tears his hamstring, hobbles off the field, Dunne for whatever it is, six to ten weeks.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to say months.
23:37
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I don't know why you don't.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Push it downfield if you're McVay or Stafford.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're missing your left tackle to the suspension.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: A guy that really shouldn't even be on your team with all
23:48
SPEAKER_01: of his awful off-the-field issues is Larry Jackson.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: Whatever, figure it out.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Figure it out.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Take advantage of what you have that no other team has.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: McVay is absolutely culpable here, too.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Agree with you about McVay.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: He gets a free pass a lot,
24:05
SPEAKER_00: and I'm guilty of it,
24:06
SPEAKER_00: too, as far as kind of just throwing his name in there with certainty.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, coaches, and he's done so much offensively.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you need to take a step back and realize,
24:17
SPEAKER_00: is he a great head coach or is he a great offensive mind?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: And I think that is the debate we would have with moving forward with McVay,
24:24
SPEAKER_00: almost like Tomlin sometimes a little bit.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, are you a great head coach?
24:30
SPEAKER_00: You know, like we've had time management.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: You know,
24:33
SPEAKER_00: we've talked about the Rams this year with some You know,
24:35
SPEAKER_00: with some issues game management wise,
24:38
SPEAKER_00: you can't use, thank you for bringing up the offensive tackle thing.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Do not use that.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: We've learned, listen to this show every weekend.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: Don't ever use the offensive line as an excuse.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculous.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: The Buffalo Bills last year against
24:50
SPEAKER_00: the Pittsburgh Steelers were missing their two starting offensive tackles and set
24:54
SPEAKER_00: an NFL rushing record.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we always have that as our little, if you want to go there, we can.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: You can still, when you have the right quarter.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Run the same exact play repeatedly.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: When you have the right quarterback or the right quarterback, you're going to be fine.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: They will make up for all these injuries you have.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: It's no excuse.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
25:17
SPEAKER_01: Look, it's just another lesson to all 32 teams.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: You can't just purchase a contender in the offseason.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: You can't make a slew of trades and sign a bunch of guys.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: And football is different than baseball.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: And look, yes, they, they kind of co-opted the whole hot stove concept from baseball.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: You know, I,
25:37
SPEAKER_01: it's great reading Peter King's book,
25:39
SPEAKER_01: the game again, recommend it to everybody out there.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: It's, it's phenomenal.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: He gets a lot, he gets into free agency in the early nineties and how that came to be in there.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: There were a lot of, um,
25:49
SPEAKER_01: people high up in the NFL that feared free agency would ruin the game and
25:55
SPEAKER_01: then render the small market team obsolete.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: And like Peter said,
26:00
SPEAKER_01: The Green Bay Packers,
26:02
SPEAKER_01: by far the smallest market in the NFL,
26:04
SPEAKER_01: have as many Super Bowls since 1992 as the two New York teams in Chicago combined.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Combined.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Because football's not baseball.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: You still need all of these components.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: 11 components on a field to operate in concert with each other.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: They've got brains and bodies and emotions, and it's the fourth quarter and two minutes left.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Are you on E?
26:25
SPEAKER_01: What do you have left in the tank?
26:27
SPEAKER_01: There's so many variables that go into football.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: That you don't have in baseball.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: So, look, yes, the Miles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, it looks awesome.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: On the heels of a special teams gap away from reaching the Super Bowl.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: And the MVP quarterback in Matthew Stafford.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: But we've seen it repeatedly.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: We've seen these teams go out and have just an absolute banger of an offseason.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: And it means nothing.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Go back to the 2000 Redskins with Dan Snyder.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Remember that?
27:03
SPEAKER_01: I think that was the year they drafted LeVar Arrington,
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Chris Samuel, but then they get Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: They're spending money like crazy.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: It didn't mean a thing.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: The 11 Eagles, obviously, Vince Young, dubbing them the dream team.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: They had a crazy offseason.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: They think they went eight and eight that year.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: And then the Browns come to mind because I was...
27:26
SPEAKER_01: Hook, Line,
27:26
SPEAKER_01: and Sinker wrote a huge story at Bleach Report about this decorated Browns team
27:32
SPEAKER_01: in whatever it was, 19?
27:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Baker's second year, Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, Olivier Vernon.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that talent really didn't mean a damn thing.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: The Titans just blew them out in week one and they never recovered.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: Who was the head coach of that?
27:47
SPEAKER_01: Football's different.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: Who was the head coach of that Browns team?
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Freddie Kitchens.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't Baker, Mayfield, Odell, and Landry problem?
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Those guys are up all.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: I think we all know they can play.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Freddie.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Freddie.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if Freddie was the guy.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: I need to think that Dan Campbell was seated in Jimmy Haslam's office
28:14
SPEAKER_01: or wherever they conducted the interview.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: Blowing them away.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: You're getting Dan Campbell in full effort.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: But they were pretty much brainwashed by analytics at that point and didn't want
28:25
SPEAKER_01: to hear anything about running the ball and being tough and playing good defense.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: They didn't want any of that.
28:33
SPEAKER_01: Maybe Todd Munkin is the answer.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: The first place Cleveland Browns.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: But let's get to the NFC East.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Let's race to the topic at hand.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: It's brutal.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: It's disgustingly just I called it.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: It's just gross.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: All right, go ahead.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: It is the car wreck on the highway you can't take your eyes off of at this point.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: You want to hold that gaze a few seconds longer.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: Giants have a winning record.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel like it.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: No, they're.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Going to be handing the ball off to J.J. McCarthy.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: He almost threw for like 300 yards in the fourth quarter.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: And then you have the commanders.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Exactly right.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Right now, if J.J.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: McCarthy replacing Jameis Winston, okay, just think about that sentence right there.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: You would think, what a disaster season.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Just off that sentence alone, you have a chance to win a division right now.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: If you're Washington, You can say your head coach has embarrassed your organization.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Your quarterback, franchise quarterback has embarrassed your organization as well.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: He needs to be held accountable too for the way he doesn't have any type of clue as
29:49
SPEAKER_00: a quarterback.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
29:52
SPEAKER_00: You're right in the mix too to win this division.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you're Philadelphia.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't be more disastrous.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: You have life.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: You still have life to win this division.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: And obviously Dallas, we've written off The worst everything right now.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: They're the favorite on DraftKings right now to win the NFC East.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Every team still has a chance, and you couldn't, I don't know, you couldn't look much worse.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: Start right there.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: Dallas Cowboys, because they're bringing in Mike Pettin.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: They have brought in Mike Pettin.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: What kind of effect can he have?
30:33
SPEAKER_01: You know him, obviously, working together in Buffalo.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: I think he's an outstanding football coach.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: I have no clue if he can help this team right now.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: It's about talent.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: You have to be there.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: You have to build things.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe he can help out with some game planning,
30:47
SPEAKER_00: some things he saw before or that he worked on.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: They all have their notes on every team, every coach.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: So, sure, he can maybe help you with game planning.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he can be a complete difference maker at this point.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: The talent is going to get you where you need to go.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: But I like the addition, hey, you got to try something at this point.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Because that defense is, I mean, it's hit that embarrassing stage for them.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: Past it.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I guess they played a little better, but not really.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: A little better.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And Green Bay dropped three touchdowns.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't as close as the score.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: I agree with you on that.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: It would lead you to believe.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: Dallas had a garbage touchdown at the end.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: They're not playing well defensively.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: You know.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: Here's a point that I haven't really heard made out there.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: I was just watching these games and they cut up to the coordinators in the booth.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: Look, I did a feature story on Christian Parker back when he was with Philly as
31:45
SPEAKER_01: a position coach.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: Unbelievably bright.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: He actually was with Matt LaFleur in Green Bay at 1.2.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: His future could still be bright.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: There's the reason that he got the job and he's working with Vic Fangio.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: Let that play out.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Let all of these play out,
32:01
SPEAKER_01: but Look at the common denominator with some of the underachieving units in
32:06
SPEAKER_01: the NFC East.
32:07
SPEAKER_01: You've got the Cowboys defense, right?
32:10
SPEAKER_01: Younger coordinator Christian Parker hasn't called plays before.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: David Blau was a quarterback just a couple years ago.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: He was the pick at OC for the Washington Commanders.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Sean Mannion.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Right.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: He was playing football not too long ago.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: Meteoric rise, OC of the Philadelphia Eagles.
32:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's no substitute for experience.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Like there's, again, back to the offseason effect of you've got seven months.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: We all have seven months to think about football and dissect football and analyze
32:41
SPEAKER_01: and everybody's armchair GM in.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: And they've got their budding star of a quarterback's coach or
32:47
SPEAKER_01: a cornerback's coach that's going to change football.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: And then you look up and it's Jonathan Gannon of
32:55
SPEAKER_01: the quote-unquote recycled retread fired by the Arizona Cardinals,
32:59
SPEAKER_01: which,
32:59
SPEAKER_01: you know, you look closer at the Arizona Cardinals, probably wasn't Gannon.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: Some institutional filth going on there in that Bidwellian dystopia, as we like to say.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: He's been a revelation.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: They're doing stuff that Flores and the Vikings do with the double-A gap blitzes,
33:15
SPEAKER_01: pressure, simulated pressure, guys playing hard.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: No Parsons.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: And they're getting it done defensively.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: Gannon's been outstanding.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: And here's another name.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: And then to stay in that division,
33:29
SPEAKER_01: even a Matt Nagy to get that much out of Jameis Winston and J.J.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: McCarthy, I think is impressive.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: And then you've got Pete Carmichael.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: What about Pete Carmichael with the Buffalo Bills?
33:42
SPEAKER_00: Denver, you had him in house with Sean Payton
33:45
SPEAKER_01: all the years with New Orleans.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: I know you wanted to touch on that.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: I know we're jumping all over the place, but wow.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: What he's done with the Bills offense,
33:57
SPEAKER_01: nobody's really discussing it at all,
33:59
SPEAKER_01: but you can kind of see his impact with what he leaves behind there in Denver too,
34:05
SPEAKER_01: can't you?
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's unpack that.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Pete Carmichael, let's stay on that quickly.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: He's been around forever.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's talking about Pete Carmichael and Jonathan Gannon as – A-plus hires.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Those aren't going to get headlines that the other guys were.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: No, I like that.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: We chop down so easily.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: It's nice to give credit to guys that have made impacts on their teams.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: And you never know,
34:30
SPEAKER_00: unless you're in the building,
34:31
SPEAKER_00: how much impact a coach like Carmichael has had in Buffalo.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: But you can at least see his impact left in Denver.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what went down with Sean Payton and Pete Carmichael,
34:42
SPEAKER_00: the longtime duo together, like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes it comes down to Contract money,
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Andy Reid would,
34:51
SPEAKER_00: he's known for letting his Eric Biannimi go,
34:55
SPEAKER_00: go, go, you know, go to another team, Matt Nagy, go to another team.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to branch out, learn whatever it is.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: They, they,
35:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that to me,
35:04
SPEAKER_00: why would you ever change if you have that comfort level and the success you've had
35:08
SPEAKER_00: that they had,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: especially in Denver too,
35:10
SPEAKER_00: they seem like they were right on the right path with,
35:13
SPEAKER_00: you know, they develop both next together.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: And you see the effect right now.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: They're a mess in Denver offensively, complete mess.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And it's probably not all Pete Carmichael, but you can't say it's not a part of it.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: You can't say that that comfort level that Sean Payton had and all that,
35:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's something off.
35:32
SPEAKER_00: And then you don't want to give them all the credit either in Buffalo.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they've been pretty good on offense too, but they are now revolutionary.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: No, we're not,
35:39
SPEAKER_00: but we're saying they have gone from Top five offense to now we're talking maybe one
35:44
SPEAKER_00: of the best offenses in NFL history.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, it's that good.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: Really?
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: I've told you every week I say it, and it's growing with me, this Buffalo.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: You can't do anything with this Bills offense.
35:57
SPEAKER_00: There is nobody.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Bring Minnesota in.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: If Flores, he wants to pump his chest, they're going to put up 40 on him too.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Nothing you can do with this Bills offense.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: All right, back to the NFC East, though.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Because we, all right, we did Pete.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: The impact that like a Harbaugh,
36:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if there's an impact that he's having in New York,
36:22
SPEAKER_00: but at least you have a veteran coach that can handle a mess.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine what Harbaugh's thinking.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: I've thought about this a lot too.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: He goes from steady Eddie.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: You have franchise generational Lamar Jackson,
36:33
SPEAKER_00: who you've drafted, develop, you know, you're helping develop every year.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're fighting for a Superbowl.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: You go to the Giants now.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: You thought you were getting a young quarterback that you had no clue,
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Dart, if he was going to be any good.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: You had to develop him.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: You don't get a chance to develop him.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Now you get Jameis Winston, and your brother said, take a shot on J.J.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: I had him in Michigan, cheated in Juan.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can win.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: Good luck.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't see, like – and we talked about McCarthy, too.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy for – I think he has some ability.
37:03
SPEAKER_00: He needs to stay in an offense.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: He needs developed.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: It's coming out that KOC in Minnesota didn't ever really want him, apparently.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: That was all.
37:13
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a lot of revisionist history there.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: Kevin O'Connell definitely had his say
37:22
SPEAKER_00: in the selection of J.J. McCarthy.
37:24
SPEAKER_00: You would think they would not force a quarterback on a head coach.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: But anyway.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's had to be put on a stick when Sam Darnold's in your building,
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Sam Darnold's out of your building,
37:34
SPEAKER_00: and Sam Darnold's on the Super Bowl dais.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: That's a good way to say it too.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: But do you see any,
37:40
SPEAKER_00: do you like, okay,
37:41
SPEAKER_00: let's just start with the,
37:42
SPEAKER_00: who do you think could come out of this NFC East right now?
37:44
SPEAKER_00: You don't like to,
37:45
SPEAKER_00: I know you don't like to do the gambling stuff,
37:47
SPEAKER_00: but if you had to take a team right now, who are you taking?
37:53
SPEAKER_01: So in that fourth quarter alone, JJ McCarthy was 11 to 21 for 243 yards.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: He averaged 11.6 yards per attempt.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: Right.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: Started with the interception in your, Which is right on cue.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: I saw that right on cue.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: But he understood the assignment.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Throw it deep.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: Huck it deep.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: Neighbors, likely.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: You've got two studs.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: Drive it downfield to these guys.
38:21
SPEAKER_01: Is that sustainable over the course of an entire season when teams are game planning
38:25
SPEAKER_01: for you during the week?
38:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: A fresh start can be reinvigorating though.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: And It got bad.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're right.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: The relationship with O'Connell,
38:37
SPEAKER_01: I think,
38:39
SPEAKER_01: through the course of their second season together,
38:41
SPEAKER_01: McCarthy's first season as the starter,
38:43
SPEAKER_01: as I've chronicled in that two-part series,
38:46
SPEAKER_01: the Kyler Murray project, not the most coachable quarterback, right?
38:50
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't exactly as open-minded as those who came before him when he should be,
38:54
SPEAKER_01: when he barely threw the ball in college.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Very naive, very immature, didn't work out.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, The part of that story that wasn't kind of retweeted
39:07
SPEAKER_01: into oblivion was what Matt Hasselbeck had to say
39:10
SPEAKER_01: and how Matt Hasselbeck lived this himself.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: He gets knocked to the canvas and Trent Dilfer in Seattle is the one
39:17
SPEAKER_01: that becomes Mike Holmgren's quarterback.
39:20
SPEAKER_01: He gets the contract, right?
39:23
SPEAKER_01: Holmgren and Hasselbeck was anointed.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: He was traded Seattle to be the guy.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: It went poorly.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, Dilfer, the Super Bowl champ, is QB1.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: The next year, he suffered an injury late October.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: Hasselbeck gets thrown back in.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: He used that time, not time off, but demotion to learn.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: It humbled him.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: He got better, right?
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Quarterbacks can get better.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: How's J.J. McCarthy handling this all?
39:52
SPEAKER_01: Did he handle it well?
39:54
SPEAKER_01: He already has a chance.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: He's getting it pretty soon here.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how he's wired.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he does have raw tools and maybe this is the coaching staff that can get it out of him.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm still pretty dubious that this is going to work out for J.J. McCarthy.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: The only thing I want to watch with McCarthy and the Giants is his timing and accuracy.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Until that improves,
40:21
SPEAKER_00: getting rid of the football on time quickly is what was hurting him in Minnesota.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: So if that's not until he improves getting rid of the football quickly
40:30
SPEAKER_00: and correctly, decision-making wise, you're getting the same guy.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: But if you see some improvement with that,
40:36
SPEAKER_00: some timing, the offense looks in rhythm, okay, now you're connecting.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: Now you know that you've connected with the quarterback a little bit.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: So that's what I'm going to see if he improves on.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: Out of all these four teams,
40:51
SPEAKER_01: I guess if I had to pick one, I still like Washington.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: I'm apologetic to a fault, I suppose.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
40:59
SPEAKER_01: With Jayden Daniels, somebody's got to win the division.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's got to win.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: It's been awful in the clock management department from the overtime against
41:09
SPEAKER_01: the Giants where
41:10
SPEAKER_00: you're in field goal range.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: It's right there for you.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: And for whatever reason, Jayden Daniels runs a play.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: Runs around, takes his time.
41:21
SPEAKER_01: Dan Quinn.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Nobody on the sideline is in command of the situation.
41:28
SPEAKER_00: Nobody.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: And then against San Francisco,
41:31
SPEAKER_01: there was a penalty on the play,
41:32
SPEAKER_01: but the moment that everyone's talking about now is,
41:37
SPEAKER_01: did Dan Quinn know it was fourth down?
41:39
SPEAKER_01: It looks like he's on the headset saying,
41:41
SPEAKER_01: oh, that was fourth down when Gene Daniels threw it away.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, the clock management leaves a lot to be desired.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: But when they went no huddle and Jane Daniels is able to be a playmaker,
41:52
SPEAKER_01: they got back into that game against an undefeated team.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Problem is now Terry McLaurin's hurt.
41:56
SPEAKER_01: So you already lost your go-to receiver.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I don't know.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: Somebody's got to win this division.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: I'll take the best.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe Dak Prescott's the best quarterback.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: I'll take the best playmaker at the quarterback position.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: That's a good way.
42:15
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
42:17
SPEAKER_00: The way Dak's playing.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: Once again, we can get into this.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: The best defense left in this division is probably Philadelphia.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: I guess it would be up for debate, but it's right now.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Philly Giants have a little – they have some pass rush.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: But if I'm looking at the points per play,
42:34
SPEAKER_00: the stat I like, the Philadelphia defense is actually pretty good.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: So at least Philly has a defense, so maybe they can win.
42:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm just guessing right now,
42:43
SPEAKER_00: trying to throw some stuff out there, who's going to win this division.
42:46
SPEAKER_00: But Dallas obviously has a playoff-worthy offense, even though it's hit or miss still.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: It's still bumpy, consistent-wise.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I think you're looking at Dallas offense, a Philly defense.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: Washington has Daniels, so you think maybe.
43:03
SPEAKER_00: But And the Giants are just,
43:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how they,
43:07
SPEAKER_00: that would be,
43:08
SPEAKER_00: if they won the division with J.J.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: McCarthy,
43:10
SPEAKER_00: it would have to be,
43:13
SPEAKER_00: depending on all the stuff we talked about in the preseason,
43:16
SPEAKER_00: with the battle between McCarthy and Kyler Murray in Minnesota,
43:20
SPEAKER_00: which we said was never a battle, we knew it was Murray's deal anyway.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: It just makes you wonder why they didn't,
43:25
SPEAKER_00: if they liked Carson Wentz in Minnesota,
43:27
SPEAKER_00: why you didn't try to get rid of J.J. McCarthy.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Maybe sooner, but whatever.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: That's for another topic.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you're going with Washington.
43:35
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, because Kyler Murray could have used those reps. And we said that from day one.
43:38
SPEAKER_01: You're finally starting to see everything click now.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we said.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: You're at the front end of it now in late October.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: When you sign Kyler Murray, he's done enough to earn the starting job.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: There's no competition.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: You can go ahead and give him the reps.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so you're taking probably Washington.
43:55
SPEAKER_01: I guess.
43:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they play Philadelphia Sunday night.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't have much conviction in that prognostication.
44:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take Philly as my team to win this division because they're the team
44:08
SPEAKER_00: that seems – they're going to go under a lawsuit.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Their franchise is coming down under – and that's how the NFL works.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: They'll win the NFC East now.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: That's the thing.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all four of these teams have varying degrees of distractions and just –
44:29
SPEAKER_01: Nonsense going on in their buildings, but the Eagles is kind of like next level.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: Next level.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
44:36
SPEAKER_01: does Jalen Hurts just sue this team if they knew something and they did nothing
44:41
SPEAKER_01: about it?
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Blood clots is a very serious issue that's a little bit more profound
44:49
SPEAKER_01: than clock management in Washington or quarterback injuries with the Giants.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: Dallas, everything they're going through, so I don't know.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm in a weird, in a weird way, really looking forward to Sunday night.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: And I like the fact that the NFL and NBC, they're keeping that matchup in that slot.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: I want to, I want to see commanders Eagles.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a little cryptic, but you know, let's see who wins that game.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: Dan Campbell.
45:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, not Dan Campbell, Dan, Dan Quinn.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: He's still the head coach of the commanders.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, You talk to people around Dan Quinn.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: They love the guy.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: They love working for him.
45:35
SPEAKER_01: He had to clean up a mess there post Dan Snyder.
45:39
SPEAKER_01: The first year, they're winning all these one-score games.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: They're in the NFC Championship game.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: Jane Daniels is having one of the best rookie seasons we've ever seen a quarterback.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: The next year, a ton of injuries.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: They lose that Monday night game in the slop to Chicago when Jane Daniels drops
45:56
SPEAKER_01: the football on the last drive to ice it out.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: Everything that went their way in year one didn't go their way in year two.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: Look, they've got an owner, Josh Harris, the majority owner, comes from the NBA.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: And you have to think that there's some pressure involved there.
46:15
SPEAKER_01: Like in the NBA, they're always going through coaches.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: They're always making changes every offseason, more than the NFL.
46:21
SPEAKER_01: They get two new coordinators in year three.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: They take the chance on David Blau.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: And you lose your quarterback right off the shoot for a couple games.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: Where are you with Dan Quinn?
46:32
SPEAKER_01: Because I do think there's a lot of good there in his leadership style.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: But man, these are some egregious mistakes in pressure-packed moments.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: He's a defensive guy.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: You've got a potential superstar quarterback.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look what Ben Johnson has done for Caleb Williams, right?
46:53
SPEAKER_01: Versus Matt Eberflus as the head coach.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: You have a head coach for these quarterbacks matter.
46:59
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I feel like if Jaden Daniels had his own Ben Johnson,
47:04
SPEAKER_01: he's in a much different conversation right now.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm laughing because Washington's ranked 29th points per play on defense.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: And to your point,
47:14
SPEAKER_00: Dan Quinn being a defensive coach We talked about this a lot with Sean McDermott
47:19
SPEAKER_00: in Buffalo,
47:20
SPEAKER_00: how when the defense started slipping,
47:22
SPEAKER_00: sometimes that can make you look bad as a head coach when that's your kind
47:25
SPEAKER_00: of known strength as a, you know, why you got the job.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: And like you said,
47:30
SPEAKER_00: in Chicago,
47:31
SPEAKER_00: you're seeing your return on investment with the coach and quarterback synced up.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: And I thought with Quinn's leadership and you get Daniels,
47:40
SPEAKER_00: a young,
47:40
SPEAKER_00: you know, who we thought of, or I at least thought was a first round worthy pick.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Playmaking quarterback.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: His legs are crucial for him to max out his talent.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: And what we talk about, everybody talked about it coming out of LSU.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: His frame didn't fit a running quarterback because he's so little.
47:57
SPEAKER_00: And they've dealt with that.
47:59
SPEAKER_00: So Quinn has been,
48:00
SPEAKER_00: like you said,
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Quinn has taken on some really things that you need a leader,
48:03
SPEAKER_00: a veteran leader to take on the ownership transition in Washington,
48:08
SPEAKER_00: a young quarterback that's going through it.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: And he's had, and Quinn has had to own up.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: These press conferences now are weekly.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: We're waiting to hear the explanation on why,
48:19
SPEAKER_00: quite frankly, it's just elementary school stuff that's happening.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't make sense.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't.
48:25
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just Quinn, but at least he's up there, and he doesn't sell anybody out.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: He takes accountability.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: He knows,
48:31
SPEAKER_00: once again,
48:32
SPEAKER_00: if you were on the headsets,
48:33
SPEAKER_00: like I said earlier,
48:34
SPEAKER_00: if you were on those headsets,
48:35
SPEAKER_00: we would get to hear and know what was told and who knew what.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I like Dan Quinn.
48:43
SPEAKER_00: I think he has a proven track record.
48:46
SPEAKER_00: But it's a result-based business.
48:48
SPEAKER_00: And the quarterback's not going anywhere.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: He's not going to be the issue, at least for another year or two.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: The investment has been made on the quarterback.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think he looks good.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: He looks like what we thought he would be in the NFL.
48:58
SPEAKER_00: He playmaking quarterback.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: He is definitely a problem for defensive coordinators right now.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Daniels we're talking about.
49:07
SPEAKER_00: I think he can be the best quarterback in this division.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch Magic Johnson at a tweet after that overtime loss to the Giants?
49:19
SPEAKER_01: Magic Johnson.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: He's a minority owner.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: I think Mike Sando,
49:25
SPEAKER_01: NFL writer at The Athletic,
49:27
SPEAKER_01: posted when Magic Johnson did the same exact thing as a player for the Lakers,
49:32
SPEAKER_01: letting the time just kind of melt down in a finals game against Boston.
49:36
SPEAKER_01: He kind of passes it when there's like one second left.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: I suppose even the greats can have these mental lapses,
49:45
SPEAKER_01: but you could feel that in real time against the Giants.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: That is a moment that could have,
49:53
SPEAKER_01: we might look back,
49:54
SPEAKER_01: broke the team, broke the coach, broke the quarterback, killed their 2026 season.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: There are specific moments.
50:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
50:01
SPEAKER_01: Washington did the same exact thing to Chicago two years ago when Caleb Williams is
50:07
SPEAKER_01: a rookie, Jaden Daniels is a rookie.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: They throw the Hail Mary.
50:11
SPEAKER_01: Tyreek Stevenson's taunting with the fans.
50:13
SPEAKER_01: And Chicago's season, as we wrote, completely fell apart.
50:19
SPEAKER_01: That was when everything just caved in on the Bears.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: So there are moments so big.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think it was their lineman Cosme as he's coming off the field.
50:28
SPEAKER_01: Washington, after this overtime loss to the Giants.
50:31
SPEAKER_01: Like, what the heck are we doing?
50:33
SPEAKER_01: There's a locker room full of testosterone-fueled, red-blooded American men just...
50:39
SPEAKER_01: They know their ass is on the line.
50:41
SPEAKER_01: Their livelihoods are on the line.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: And for it to come down to an elementary mistake,
50:45
SPEAKER_01: whoever's at fault, coach, quarterback, OC, whatever.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: There are unforgivable errors in pro football.
50:57
SPEAKER_01: Like I've said a few times,
50:59
SPEAKER_01: 13 seconds came up in conversation organically
51:03
SPEAKER_01: from some high-ranking bill sources several years later
51:06
SPEAKER_01: when Sean McDermott was fired.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: And it was referred to as a dark cloud over the organization.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if Washington can recover from what happened against the Giants in overtime.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: They may not.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: And that's what adds to the intrigue of a primetime game against Philadelphia.
51:23
SPEAKER_01: Because like you were saying earlier,
51:25
SPEAKER_01: with this being so week to week and you lose and it feels like the world is ending,
51:31
SPEAKER_01: you win and everybody's throwing a party.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: One win can stop.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: Get you back on, especially in this division where seven wins might, might win it.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: Do you like, so you mentioned Dallas.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: Is that the most talented team left because of Dak and CD lamb,
51:53
SPEAKER_01: George Pickens, Javante Williams.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: You've got in theory, firepower.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: I would say that Dallas's offense is a playoff, you know, it's playoff worthy offense.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: And the Eagles have a playoff-worthy defense.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: That's how I'm looking at these teams right now.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: Which one of those,
52:16
SPEAKER_00: I think, that's why I'm looking at Philly and Dallas, I think, in this division.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: And Dallas, to me, I can't stand teams that don't have defense.
52:22
SPEAKER_00: It just drives me.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: It's just, I don't know how you're going to do it.
52:25
SPEAKER_00: I think it always comes and gets you if you don't have defense.
52:29
SPEAKER_00: And I just, it doesn't seem, Mike Pettin, That's a – you're getting desperate.
52:37
SPEAKER_00: Not that he's not qualified.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: He is.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: But that's just – it's a desperation move.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: The talent's going to get you over the top at this point on that defense.
52:45
SPEAKER_00: Who's getting to the quarterback?
52:47
SPEAKER_00: They have ability up front.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: They have players.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: But you got to come together as a unit.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: What does Philadelphia do beyond this season?
53:00
SPEAKER_01: It does seem like Howie Roseman has already –
53:03
SPEAKER_01: Before this Jalen Hurts blood clot situation was already starting to move
53:07
SPEAKER_01: a few chess pieces around.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: They traded Cam Juergens for a second round pick.
53:12
SPEAKER_01: As you see in the writing on the wall,
53:14
SPEAKER_01: they've got to start plotting a new course at quarterback.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: I think we were talking about it a little bit on the phone the other day, Jim.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: The Eagles with Howie, they've always viewed themselves as bigger than the quarterback position.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: We can plug in.
53:33
SPEAKER_01: Nick Foles beat Tom Brady in a Super Bowl, which is going to go down as an all-time NFL story.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: You know,
53:42
SPEAKER_01: Carson Wentz is setting the league ablaze before that as an MVP candidate,
53:46
SPEAKER_01: tears his ACL, in comes Foles.
53:50
SPEAKER_01: Back comes Wentz, has the contract, doesn't go well.
53:55
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's draft Jalen Hurts in the second round.
53:58
SPEAKER_01: Throw Jalen Hurts.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: They don't.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: They're not quarterback-centric.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: They kind of believe their front office has an ability to just find the next guy.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they're bad enough.
54:09
SPEAKER_01: Maybe Howie's looking at this saying, okay,
54:12
SPEAKER_01: we could be bad enough to pick high in this draft and have a chance
54:16
SPEAKER_01: at somebody going pro.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: Like they did once upon a time when you were still in the NFL studying Wentz down at
54:23
SPEAKER_01: the Senior Bowl.
54:26
SPEAKER_00: That's well said.
54:27
SPEAKER_00: And those conversations could be once they knew that once they know whatever
54:30
SPEAKER_00: the deal is with Hertz and they're looking at the season,
54:33
SPEAKER_00: if they're like, Hey, we're losing Hertz.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: Let's, let's just, let's see, we can get with what we have.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: You know, if it's a bad year, it's a bad year.
54:40
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's organ that starts at the top of the GM and owner,
54:45
SPEAKER_00: which Howie and Jeffrey Lurie, we know are synced up.
54:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's nothing that they do that is, um, that each other approve of basically.
54:55
SPEAKER_00: And I think that could be very true where they're going to set up.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy that this injury,
55:02
SPEAKER_00: whatever you want to call the blood clot to Hurts,
55:05
SPEAKER_00: and with Sirianni,
55:06
SPEAKER_00: this is a chance for them to reset their franchise with head coach quarterback
55:10
SPEAKER_00: if they're looking to.
55:13
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's exactly what Howie Roseman's doing here.
55:16
SPEAKER_00: He's in charge.
55:19
SPEAKER_00: You never hear Howie come out in any interview and speak glowingly of Hurts or Sirianni.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: I think because he knows that neither one is probably quote unquote ideal
55:30
SPEAKER_00: for what you're looking for.
55:31
SPEAKER_00: Like we've said, Hertz is Tebow.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: He's an unbelievable leader, system quarterback in the NFL.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: Everything you want as far as that part.
55:38
SPEAKER_00: But as far as the physical talent at quarterback, he lacks.
55:43
SPEAKER_00: And that's just a known thing.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: That was in college too.
55:45
SPEAKER_00: That's why I went in the second round.
55:48
SPEAKER_00: So you have a less than ideal quarterback that you've won with, which we always talk about.
55:53
SPEAKER_00: You have to have,
55:54
SPEAKER_00: you have to really,
55:54
SPEAKER_00: you've also won with this quarterback with quite possibly that maybe you could argue
55:59
SPEAKER_00: that they had the best set of offensive tackles in the history of football
56:03
SPEAKER_00: with Lane Johnson and Malata.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I've ever seen two more talented tackles, to be honest with you on tape.
56:10
SPEAKER_00: They're that physically gifted.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: You can argue it.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: Then you have Saquon.
56:14
SPEAKER_00: We know if he could ever stay healthy, he's a home run hitter.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: They've had million tight ends and receivers that we know are legit.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you had your all-star team around Hurts.
56:23
SPEAKER_00: It's gone.
56:25
SPEAKER_00: Time to reset.
56:26
SPEAKER_00: And that's where they're at right now.
56:31
SPEAKER_01: That's the benefit of the general manager being the tip of the spear, too.
56:36
SPEAKER_01: You think of the other team in the state of Pennsylvania for all those years with Mike Tomlin.
56:42
SPEAKER_01: Fighting to the bitter end with Devlin,
56:44
SPEAKER_01: the Duck Hodges,
56:45
SPEAKER_01: and Mason Rudolph, whoever's that quarterback, clawing their weight.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: Nine wins in a playoff berth.
56:54
SPEAKER_01: Really, it's set at the top with Art Rooney.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: His dad was the same way with competing year in and year out, being very frugal.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: They were practicing inside Three Rivers Stadium forever.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have a practice facility.
57:08
SPEAKER_01: Now they share one with the Pitt Panthers.
57:09
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to spend a lot of money.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: And they're going to fight.
57:13
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to rebuild.
57:16
SPEAKER_01: It's a word that is not used in the Rooney family vocabulary at all.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: And then when Mike Tomlin is who Mike Tomlin is,
57:25
SPEAKER_01: and I think it's a redeeming quality,
57:27
SPEAKER_01: the way how he can just get the absolute best out of all 53 players in
57:31
SPEAKER_01: the locker room, a player's coach, how he handled all those crazy receivers.
57:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in retrospect, it's unbelievable.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: Le'Veon Bell, throw him in there, too.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: All the personalities.
57:44
SPEAKER_01: It does benefit,
57:45
SPEAKER_01: I think,
57:46
SPEAKER_01: to have a GM that is thinking long-term,
57:49
SPEAKER_01: thinking big picture, seeing the forest from the trees.
57:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Ben Roethlisberger suffers an injury in September.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: Maybe let's not trade our first-round pick for Minka Fitzpatrick and get to 8-8
58:01
SPEAKER_01: with Devlin the Duck Hodges.
58:03
SPEAKER_01: Maybe let's think about the next year.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: And you don't have to just give up completely
58:11
SPEAKER_01: and become this utter embarrassment every single Sunday and lose on purpose.
58:16
SPEAKER_01: But
58:19
SPEAKER_01: in the best interest of your team, you can plan ahead and get some draft capital.
58:27
SPEAKER_01: There's different ways to do it.
58:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in Green Bay, they don't have an owner.
58:31
SPEAKER_01: So football people make football decisions and the GM is in Is in charge.
58:38
SPEAKER_01: They've always been winning.
58:39
SPEAKER_01: But I think that, yeah,
58:41
SPEAKER_01: it was a concerted effort to take a quarterback when you don't need a quarterback.
58:44
SPEAKER_01: Let him develop behind the scenes for three years.
58:48
SPEAKER_01: And then pull the trigger when the time is right.
58:49
SPEAKER_01: They did it twice.
58:50
SPEAKER_01: Rodgers, Love, in 23 and 24, they had the youngest team in the NFL.
58:54
SPEAKER_01: And now look where Jordan Love is as a quarterback.
58:56
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the best going.
58:57
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of different ways to do it.
59:00
SPEAKER_01: But I think that Howie Roseman is...
59:03
SPEAKER_01: And granted,
59:03
SPEAKER_01: he's got some bigger issues at hand with Jalen Hurts and whatever's going on behind
59:07
SPEAKER_01: the scenes.
59:07
SPEAKER_01: When it comes to the football, he's absolutely planning ahead here.
59:11
SPEAKER_01: Like he is moving on to 2027 and thinking about his next quarterback.
59:16
SPEAKER_01: I think he was thinking about his next quarterback maybe before this all went down.
59:20
SPEAKER_00: Saquon too.
59:21
SPEAKER_01: I mean, not too long ago, Sirianni and Hurts weren't even talking to each other.
59:24
SPEAKER_01: They're winning Super Bowls and they don't even like each other, it seems.
59:27
SPEAKER_00: None of it makes sense.
59:29
SPEAKER_00: And like I said, Saquon too.
59:32
SPEAKER_00: How much money are you going to pay a running back?
59:33
SPEAKER_00: He never stays healthy.
59:36
SPEAKER_00: So this could be a reset.
59:39
SPEAKER_00: We say all that, and here they go.
59:41
SPEAKER_00: They'll win the division.
59:45
SPEAKER_00: Tanner McKee.
59:46
SPEAKER_00: You like you some Tanner McKee?
59:49
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, he's right on that.
59:51
SPEAKER_00: We need to see more.
59:52
SPEAKER_01: Is he even on the island?
59:54
SPEAKER_01: No.
59:56
SPEAKER_00: I've studied.
59:56
SPEAKER_00: He's not there yet.
59:58
SPEAKER_00: We have him in the basic guest rooms on the island.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_00: He's not in the Flacco Wing suite yet.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_00: The Andy Dalton and Flacco suite.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_01: Dalton told the Eagles thanks for no thanks.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't want to play for you guys.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, the island life is nice for some of those backup quarterbacks.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: They made a lot of money.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_00: Go out there and get your head beat in for, you know.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_00: Tough.
1:00:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_00: Dallas, you were talking about this week.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_00: I think it's Dallas and Philly that play on Monday Night Football this week.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_00: Washington is off this week.
1:00:38
SPEAKER_01: I think you were talking about Washington.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, my goodness gracious.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_01: Washington has a bye, and then they play Sunday night against Philly.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for correcting me.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_00: You threw me off because I was
1:00:51
SPEAKER_01: thinking, I was like, wait,
1:00:52
SPEAKER_00: I thought.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was looking at the commander's schedule here, and they don't have the bye factored in.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_00: But you're right.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_00: You're right, Jim Onus.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_00: But that's okay because it's still – I love that it's a Monday night NFC East game,
1:01:04
SPEAKER_00: and it's still going to tell us how – I Philadelphia is getting four and
1:01:10
SPEAKER_00: a half points at home on Monday night football with a good defense.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_00: So that's a, that's a fun game for the Eagles to turn things around.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_00: The Philadelphia Eagles winning on Monday night.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_00: What would that do to Dallas?
1:01:26
SPEAKER_00: Cause far as Jerry Jones and coach.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
1:01:30
SPEAKER_01: Jerry and Steven are going to ball up some fists and pound the table in front
1:01:34
SPEAKER_01: of them up in the suite.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: They'll be unhappy.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_01: They've got, so here's the Dallas Cowboys schedule ahead.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: At Philly, Monday night, October 26th, this weekend.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_01: And then hosting the Arizona Cardinals at the Indianapolis Colts.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, the Cowboys have a chance.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_01: If they beat Philly, right, they're three and four.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_01: They get to four and four.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_01: They get to five and four.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_01: Then they've got San Francisco undefeated.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_01: But then you go right back to Tennessee and Philly.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have a lot of wins.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_00: You can start stringing together some wins.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_01: But they also just lost to an undrafted rookie quarterback in Jalen Daniels, too.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_01: So we can play this game and think, oh, this team can go on a run.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_00: When you don't have a defense, you could lose every single week.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_00: Defense is critical.
1:02:39
SPEAKER_01: So where are you?
1:02:40
SPEAKER_01: Let's end it here with the Buffalo Bills' defense.
1:02:44
SPEAKER_01: They are struggling.
1:02:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and Buffalo's on a bye week.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_00: So now you do your deep dive if you're the Buffalo Bills coaching staff.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: And that's really what I want to talk about is the defensive coordinator,
1:02:56
SPEAKER_00: Jim Leonard,
1:02:56
SPEAKER_00: who when you deep dive on his career,
1:02:59
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: I was DPP for the Bills,
1:03:02
SPEAKER_00: and Jim Leonard was a player for us when we had Rex Ryan was the head coach.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_00: Jim Leonard as a football player was everything you wanted, right?
1:03:08
SPEAKER_00: He's coach on the field, knows everything, smart, tough, instincts, everything.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_00: So naturally, everybody knew Jim Leonard was going, he wanted to, he wanted to be a coach.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_00: So he gets right into University of Wisconsin.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, he gets granted a D coordinator's role quickly.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: But being a D coordinator in the Big Ten It's two different sports.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: The NFL and college football aren't anything comparable.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_00: So anything he did at Wisconsin,
1:03:36
SPEAKER_00: that's worthless,
1:03:36
SPEAKER_00: in my opinion, if you're looking for a defense coordinator in the NFL.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't even care what you did.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_00: Now you get to Denver Broncos, and you get a fake title.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_00: And when I say this, they gave him a passing game coordinator title.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_00: That's just a nice title to say we like you.
1:03:53
SPEAKER_00: You're not actually calling the defense.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_00: You're learning.
1:03:57
SPEAKER_00: You're in.
1:03:57
SPEAKER_00: You're valued.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_00: But you're not calling the defense.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_00: So you do that for two seasons.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_00: And now in Buffalo, we're saying this is the man to lead us.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: And this franchise quarterback,
1:04:09
SPEAKER_00: Josh Allen,
1:04:10
SPEAKER_00: Jim Laird is going to be the D coordinator for a Super Bowl championship team.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_00: He really has no experience.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_00: So I guess what I'm saying doesn't mean he can't get is doesn't mean he's not
1:04:19
SPEAKER_00: learning as every coach learns.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_00: And that's why you need experience.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_00: You have to build a library.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_00: You have to have tough losses, tough seasons, things that didn't go the way you thought.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_00: So you can learn from that.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_00: And he's kind of learning on the fly.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: And I think we're seeing that as he uses the terms simplify.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're going to take this bye week to do that's.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_00: That's a young coach trying to figure things out.
1:04:39
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying this in a good or bad way.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm just pointing out we don't really ever talk about the fact
1:04:44
SPEAKER_00: that he doesn't have much experience as a D coordinator in the NFL ever.
1:04:48
SPEAKER_00: And these guys have some young talent up front.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: They have a player.
1:04:53
SPEAKER_00: I was criticizing the talent who's on defense that scares you.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_00: They have one guy now that officially will every team knows about.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_00: And you did the story on Walker, the number 96, the defensive tackle.
1:05:04
SPEAKER_00: You have to now pay attention to him.
1:05:07
SPEAKER_00: But that's all.
1:05:07
SPEAKER_00: You have to pay attention to him.
1:05:08
SPEAKER_00: You're not game playing for him.
1:05:10
SPEAKER_00: You better know that he can absolutely destroy your play when he's in the game.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_00: But you also have to know that he stands straight up.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_00: And I saw a couple plays in that fourth quarter against Vegas
1:05:20
SPEAKER_00: where he was getting driven off the ball on big downs because he stands up.
1:05:24
SPEAKER_00: He's a tall guy.
1:05:26
SPEAKER_00: But my point of this is Jim Leonard's learning,
1:05:31
SPEAKER_00: but you have a young coach learning with,
1:05:34
SPEAKER_00: in my opinion, not a talented roster on defense.
1:05:38
SPEAKER_00: And that,
1:05:38
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
1:05:39
SPEAKER_00: explains your 25th, 25th,
1:05:41
SPEAKER_00: and 28th rankings right now in the stats I care about on defense,
1:05:44
SPEAKER_00: which is just garbage.
1:05:45
SPEAKER_00: You're picking top 10 with those numbers.
1:05:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
1:05:50
SPEAKER_00: Luckily,
1:05:50
SPEAKER_00: to offset that,
1:05:51
SPEAKER_00: the Buffalo Bills have what I consider possibly the greatest offense in the history
1:05:54
SPEAKER_00: of football when they get D.J.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_00: Moore back.
1:06:01
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be aggressiveness
1:06:03
SPEAKER_01: at the deadline, right?
1:06:04
SPEAKER_01: You've got to get somebody else in there.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Trey White.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go full sauce gardener,
1:06:08
SPEAKER_01: multiple first-round picks,
1:06:09
SPEAKER_01: but you've got teams that are falling apart that will be pawning off assets.
1:06:16
SPEAKER_01: It's obvious you need more than Tredavious White to fix this defense.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_00: That's bad.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_00: That's a stopgap that he's going to get.
1:06:24
SPEAKER_00: If you have to play him, they're going to target him.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_00: He's a target.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_00: That's bad.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_01: Can he be much worse than what they've had at times, though, with the way Harrison was playing?
1:06:35
SPEAKER_00: Well said.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_00: Can't be any worse.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_01: I like Igby Nosen.
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: He's physical.
1:06:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, though, he's physical, but his coverability is – his speed isn't there.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_00: I saw it in the Vegas game.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have to have speed at corner.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_00: That's part of it.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_00: I like him, though.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_00: He is good.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_00: He's a good player.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_00: Benford, too, though.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_00: Benford, he doesn't run well.
1:07:02
SPEAKER_00: Their safeties aren't good.
1:07:05
SPEAKER_00: The Kilgore guy got exposed just on that play light.
1:07:09
SPEAKER_00: He should never touch down.
1:07:11
SPEAKER_00: Did make a big play before that to end a drive.
1:07:14
SPEAKER_00: And that was a Jim Leonard play.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_00: They completely fooled Kirk Cousins on that.
1:07:19
SPEAKER_00: He never saw him.
1:07:20
SPEAKER_00: He thought it was cover two, and he thought that safety was gone.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_00: And they fooled him with a two shell and no route ever.
1:07:28
SPEAKER_00: There was no route that really took Kilgore out.
1:07:32
SPEAKER_00: And Cousins just thought for sure he wasn't going to be there.
1:07:35
SPEAKER_00: You saw Cousins' reaction too.
1:07:38
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't believe it.
1:07:38
SPEAKER_00: He's like, oh, I got away with one there.
1:07:41
SPEAKER_00: I never saw him.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_00: But he shouldn't have gotten beat on that touchdown.
1:07:45
SPEAKER_00: Jim Leonard had the right coverage called on that touchdown.
1:07:48
SPEAKER_00: The late touchdown in Vegas, Buffalo game.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_00: That was the right player error there.
1:07:51
SPEAKER_00: That was a player error.
1:07:52
SPEAKER_00: So that's what I'm saying.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_00: He's going to he's Leonard.
1:07:55
SPEAKER_00: He can get there.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying he can't.
1:07:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, let's be easy on him, too.
1:07:59
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't actually done anything like.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think I'd be a little more encouraged if I just saw some.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_01: Easy for me to say, sitting here in an office, just blitz, you know, go down swinging.
1:08:17
SPEAKER_01: You look around the NFL,
1:08:18
SPEAKER_01: some of these games, you see that Flores stuff, the double-A gap blitzes.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_01: You see cornerbacks up in the slot, Kyler Gordon for the Bears calling game against the Falcons.
1:08:26
SPEAKER_01: Just throw the kitchen sink.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
1:08:30
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
1:08:30
SPEAKER_01: You might give up a big play.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
1:08:33
SPEAKER_01: You're going to give up a touchdown drive in 10 plays anyways.
1:08:38
SPEAKER_01: Try to just create a turnover.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_01: Create a sack.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_01: Create your offensive tackle needing to hold to tackle you down.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_01: Duke.
1:08:47
SPEAKER_01: What do you have to lose?
1:08:49
SPEAKER_01: Go balls out.
1:08:51
SPEAKER_00: You're going through the great debate that every defensive coordinator goes
1:08:55
SPEAKER_00: through probably daily in his mind,
1:08:58
SPEAKER_00: where their number one rule is don't give up big plays.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: That's how every defensive coordinator is.
1:09:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying give it up.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to tell them to give, hey, it's okay.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_00: We just want to see.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_00: And then there is, is it okay?
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: Because in the next day in the paper,
1:09:12
SPEAKER_00: when we give up that 45-yard touchdown on third and three because we blitzed,
1:09:17
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to pay my paycheck for me when they say,
1:09:20
SPEAKER_00: why are you giving up big plays?
1:09:21
SPEAKER_00: So to your point, though,
1:09:23
SPEAKER_00: you have to find that fine line as a D coordinator as being you're
1:09:27
SPEAKER_00: the aggressive coach, but it's tough because you don't want to give up big plays.
1:09:33
SPEAKER_00: And you see every defensive coordinator.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_00: I came into the NFL with Jim Johnson in Philadelphia,
1:09:38
SPEAKER_00: and he didn't care what you did from 20 to 20.
1:09:39
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and get your yards.
1:09:42
SPEAKER_00: Get your three points and get off the field.
1:09:45
SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
1:09:46
SPEAKER_00: Your three doesn't hurt us.
1:09:47
SPEAKER_00: He had a pressure package himself, though, too.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, come on.
1:09:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we know about that.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_00: Historic.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_00: And even when I was with the Saints, too,
1:09:56
SPEAKER_00: with Greg Williams when we went in the Super Bowl,
1:09:59
SPEAKER_00: our defense was, you know, obviously he was always coming with pressure, turnovers.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_00: That was it.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_00: It was pressure, turnovers.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_00: It's your point.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_00: You could go for a little Greg Williams style right now.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_01: They really do remind me of the first team I covered full-time,
1:10:18
SPEAKER_01: the 2011 Packers, where the offense is historic.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_01: That was the year after Green Bay won the Super Bowl,
1:10:27
SPEAKER_01: Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver and Jordy Nelson,
1:10:30
SPEAKER_01: Jermichael Finley, James Jones, Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb was a rookie.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_01: Remember, they're all on cover of Sports Illustrated.
1:10:38
SPEAKER_01: They're just dropping 30, 40 points on teams weekly.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_01: You just knew in the third quarter at some point they'd be a free runner.
1:10:46
SPEAKER_01: Rodgers would get outside of the pocket and make a play.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_01: Teams weren't really doing two-shell stuff then.
1:10:50
SPEAKER_01: There was a ton of single high safety and Rodgers was just killing teams with all these weapons.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_01: They were rolling.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_01: They didn't lose a game until at Kansas City.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_01: I think they were 13-0 at the time.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_01: Funny as an aside though,
1:11:03
SPEAKER_01: that was the Tebow year and I'll never forget as the Packers are pursuing
1:11:07
SPEAKER_01: an undefeated season, they're playing the Raiders and up in the press box.
1:11:11
SPEAKER_01: I want to say Tebow might've been like his comeback, you know, all these crazy ass comebacks.
1:11:15
SPEAKER_01: He played like absolute dog feces for three and a half quarters and turn it on.
1:11:22
SPEAKER_01: But he was, like, orchestrating one of his comebacks.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_01: And in the press box,
1:11:26
SPEAKER_01: everybody left their seats, except for, like, the Packer beat writers and Raiders.
1:11:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's a lot of national people there.
1:11:31
SPEAKER_01: Everybody left their seats to watch Tebow on the TVs.
1:11:35
SPEAKER_01: That was the Tebow effect.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_01: But, you know,
1:11:37
SPEAKER_01: that team,
1:11:37
SPEAKER_01: that Packers team, their defense just gave up a crazy amount of yards
1:11:42
SPEAKER_00: and points.
1:11:43
SPEAKER_01: And you just knew at some point.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I didn't know it at the time.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_01: I just figured Rodgers and this offense would figure it out.
1:11:50
SPEAKER_01: Looking back, it was pretty clear this defense was going to cost you.
1:11:54
SPEAKER_01: It was unsustainable.
1:11:55
SPEAKER_01: And they forced a lot of turnovers, too.
1:11:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, they were giving up yards,
1:11:59
SPEAKER_01: but they were even getting the turnovers until they didn't,
1:12:02
SPEAKER_01: until the divisional round playoff lost against the New York Giants
1:12:05
SPEAKER_01: at Lambeau Field.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_01: Eli lights them up.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, they got Brandon Jacobs, I think Ahmad Bradshaw.
1:12:12
SPEAKER_01: I think they scored 37 that day.
1:12:15
SPEAKER_01: So you've got to get this fixed.
1:12:17
SPEAKER_01: As good as Josh Allen is, Aaron Rodgers was better that year.
1:12:21
SPEAKER_01: It might have been his best statistical season, and it wasn't enough.
1:12:25
SPEAKER_01: So whether it's the trade deadline finding somebody,
1:12:29
SPEAKER_01: whether it's Jim Leonard getting comfortable,
1:12:30
SPEAKER_01: a new approach, something is going to have to change.
1:12:34
SPEAKER_01: Because it is about the Super Bowl for the Buffalo Bills.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_01: We've been saying it every year since 2020.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_01: It's about January.
1:12:41
SPEAKER_01: So something's got to change because – History tells you you do need a defense.
1:12:45
SPEAKER_01: Look at the last two winners.
1:12:47
SPEAKER_01: Philadelphia with what they did to Mahomes and Vic Fangio.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_01: They didn't even blitz, right?
1:12:52
SPEAKER_01: That's the other extreme.
1:12:53
SPEAKER_01: They're not blitzing at all.
1:12:56
SPEAKER_01: And then Seattle with Mike McDonald, what they did to Drake May.
1:13:01
SPEAKER_01: Defense still wins championships.
1:13:04
SPEAKER_01: Prehistoric as it sounds.
1:13:07
SPEAKER_00: It's just I've always as much as I'm always all about quarterbacks and offense
1:13:11
SPEAKER_00: because I love quarterbacks so much.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_00: But after quarterbacks,
1:13:15
SPEAKER_00: I told you as if I was ever asked to be a GM or went on an interview,
1:13:19
SPEAKER_00: my whole roster building is based on I'm getting my quarterback and then I'm going
1:13:23
SPEAKER_00: to have a ridiculous defense.
1:13:26
SPEAKER_00: You may not even see me draft an offensive player unless he was just a weapon to score.
1:13:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm building.
1:13:32
SPEAKER_01: That's what the Bills have been doing, too.
1:13:34
SPEAKER_01: They've been drafting defense.
1:13:35
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:13:36
SPEAKER_00: You got to be right.
1:13:37
SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's why I've said they've invested.
1:13:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that behind closed doors right now is Jim Leonard saying,
1:13:46
SPEAKER_00: I need this, I need that, and then Brandon Bean's looking at him, hold on now.
1:13:50
SPEAKER_00: This guy was a second-round pick, first round, first round, first round.
1:13:54
SPEAKER_00: We like these players.
1:13:55
SPEAKER_00: You need to, as a coach, you need to get the talent out of them.
1:13:58
SPEAKER_00: We've seen talent in them to invest in them.
1:14:01
SPEAKER_00: You, as a coach, now need to get that talent out of them in your scheme.
1:14:07
SPEAKER_01: Easier to have those conversations when you're 5-1, too.
1:14:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, man.
1:14:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't even imagine.
1:14:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:14:16
SPEAKER_00: That's like you're just – that's what we call a first-world problem.
1:14:20
SPEAKER_00: That's a first-world problem right there.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_01: And it is – sometimes the furor here locally can get pretty intense.
1:14:29
SPEAKER_01: The Bills are 5-1.
1:14:31
SPEAKER_01: They do have Josh Allen.
1:14:32
SPEAKER_01: They do have James Cook.
1:14:33
SPEAKER_01: They're welcoming DJ Morp.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:14:37
SPEAKER_01: Things are good for the Buffalo Bills.
1:14:40
SPEAKER_00: Offense is like historic, historic offense.
1:14:43
SPEAKER_01: There's not a dominant team.
1:14:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all of these teams have lost.
1:14:47
SPEAKER_00: All of them.
1:14:48
SPEAKER_01: Even San Francisco.
1:14:50
SPEAKER_00: No doubt.
1:14:51
SPEAKER_00: They're banged up.
1:14:52
SPEAKER_00: San Fran.
1:14:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:14:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_01: So there's time.
1:14:56
SPEAKER_01: There's time.
1:14:59
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:15:00
SPEAKER_01: I've got to take the kids to school this morning,
1:15:02
SPEAKER_01: but I do want to get your take on one final travel note.
1:15:07
SPEAKER_01: Drives me nuts.
1:15:08
SPEAKER_01: We always like to point these things out.
1:15:12
SPEAKER_01: Detroit Airport,
1:15:13
SPEAKER_01: the moving walkway, the people who go on the moving walkway, and they just stand.
1:15:21
SPEAKER_01: Able-bodied, right?
1:15:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking physical ailments, handicaps, none of that.
1:15:24
SPEAKER_00: Right, if you're able to walk.
1:15:26
SPEAKER_01: You're able-bodied,
1:15:27
SPEAKER_01: you're young to middle-aged,
1:15:29
SPEAKER_01: and you get onto the moving walkway, and you just stand there.
1:15:34
SPEAKER_01: Dredge on society.
1:15:37
SPEAKER_01: Should be eliminated.
1:15:39
SPEAKER_01: What are we doing here?
1:15:40
SPEAKER_01: I will never understand it.
1:15:42
SPEAKER_01: You're able to walk up to the walkway.
1:15:44
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to then travel at a faster rate with the walkway's assistance to get
1:15:50
SPEAKER_01: to your gate?
1:15:52
SPEAKER_01: Also, you're cluttering everything up.
1:15:54
SPEAKER_01: They're very narrow,
1:15:56
SPEAKER_01: so then people who actually want to operate in a functioning society
1:15:59
SPEAKER_01: and keep things moving,
1:16:00
SPEAKER_01: they've got to kind of
1:16:02
SPEAKER_01: wiggle around you like you're at a club or something.
1:16:07
SPEAKER_00: I don't like these people, Jim.
1:16:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm laughing because it's so true.
1:16:14
SPEAKER_00: I've been in airports I feel like my whole adult life, and I've always just never understood it.
1:16:20
SPEAKER_00: It just seems painful to stand there.
1:16:24
SPEAKER_00: How can you have nowhere to go faster than stand on the walkway in an airport?
1:16:31
SPEAKER_00: It's lazy.
1:16:33
SPEAKER_00: It's lazy.
1:16:34
SPEAKER_00: Is it lazy or does that mean your life is good?
1:16:36
SPEAKER_00: You are absolutely in no rush to do anything.
1:16:42
SPEAKER_01: That's the only thing I think about sometimes.
1:16:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm going with lazy.
1:16:46
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to believe that you could just stand there.
1:16:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
1:16:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't see the advantage of just standing.
1:16:50
SPEAKER_00: That thing doesn't move that fast.
1:16:51
SPEAKER_01: And it moves so slow.
1:16:52
SPEAKER_00: I was going to say, it's not that fast when you actually stand on it.
1:16:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:16:57
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
1:16:59
SPEAKER_00: All right.
1:17:00
SPEAKER_01: I love that Detroit airport, though.
1:17:01
SPEAKER_00: You're quite there with me, you know, the deplaning budget.
1:17:03
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm there with you, though.
1:17:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you, though.
1:17:05
SPEAKER_00: It's terrible.
1:17:06
SPEAKER_00: But I love that Detroit airport, though.
1:17:08
SPEAKER_00: I wanted the hip check.
1:17:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Detroit airport's great.
1:17:11
SPEAKER_01: I wanted the hip check, somebody.
1:17:12
SPEAKER_01: Give him a little patch or Coletta.
1:17:15
SPEAKER_01: Just a little love tap.
1:17:17
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's going to take.
1:17:19
SPEAKER_01: Like we talked about,
1:17:19
SPEAKER_01: the sharp elbows into the sternum and they're trying to budge you as you deplane.
1:17:23
SPEAKER_01: It's going to take some people pushing back to change.
1:17:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm just picturing you.
1:17:28
SPEAKER_00: You traveling just seems like I'm just picturing it.
1:17:31
SPEAKER_00: You're just looking for a battle.
1:17:32
SPEAKER_00: You're just trying to battle somebody.
1:17:35
SPEAKER_01: Just looking to pick a fight.
1:17:37
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:17:38
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:17:38
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, everybody.
1:17:40
SPEAKER_01: Listening, watching, reading, subscribing.
1:17:42
SPEAKER_01: Be sure to share with a friend.
1:17:43
SPEAKER_01: Let's keep this thing growing.
1:17:45
SPEAKER_01: That's Jim Monis, as always, bringing the goods.
1:17:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm Tyler Dunne here at Golong.
1:17:51
SPEAKER_01: Be on alert for all the stories that we have cooking.
1:17:54
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, it was just in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
1:17:56
SPEAKER_01: Was able to glean quite a bit, Jim.
1:17:58
SPEAKER_01: Can't wait to share those stories.
1:18:00
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, everyone.
1:18:02
[music]