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The Small Ways the Seahawks Won the Super Bowl · The MMQB NFL Podcast

0:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Hello, welcome to M&B NFL podcast.
0:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Connor Ward, just got home from San Francisco.
0:11
[SPEAKER_02]: There's Albert Brear, who just got home covering the kid rock, half time performance in Washington, BC.
0:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Just kidding, Albert was there too.
0:20
[SPEAKER_02]: We are back from San Francisco and it's one of those great things, Albert, when you return from a long way away, your kids totally get it and they sleep through the night.
0:31
[SPEAKER_02]: That first night so you're not jet lagged and they don't just kind of come at you like a bear covered in honey, just kidding.
0:38
[SPEAKER_02]: That's not the case.
0:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, well, you're you got a little ways to go with that.
0:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I am past that now, but I'm not past various skill trips for being gone for so long because, you know, like we were we're
0:56
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going out to dinners and partying and not doing any work at all and we're there so, like, yeah.
1:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that is true of some people at the Super Bowl, not Albert and I.
1:06
[SPEAKER_02]: We were, I promise, we were grinding.
1:09
[SPEAKER_00]: We did go, I, we did go out to a bunch of good dinners.
1:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I, well, I'm not going to lie about that.
1:12
[SPEAKER_02]: We ate well, you know, we ate well and on Friday.
1:17
[SPEAKER_02]: We both got a chance to see Green Day and Counting Cross, which was very fun.
1:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought that was like, I needed that to blow off a little bit of steam.
1:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not saying, like, what was me covering the Super Bowl?
1:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's just one of those things that like, if you do it the right way, you're, you're gasped because it's like, it's, it's like dress rehearsals over.
1:37
[SPEAKER_02]: This is sweeps week.
1:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to have all my best stuff.
1:41
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to bring my A game, you know, you need to make it to every single,
1:44
[SPEAKER_02]: interview opportunity availability, you need to, you know, you just need to finish run through the tape as my track coach used to say, right?
1:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it was nice.
1:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Friday night you get counting pros in Green Day, beautiful day on Saturday, and then the game on Sunday, which, you know, will get to in a second, we'll start kind of breaking that down, um, which I enjoyed, I think a lot more than other people, uh, the
2:08
[SPEAKER_02]: on the flight home, there's a lot of complaining about that it not being close.
2:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And I said, I just don't think that you're watching it the right way.
2:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And we'll get to that.
2:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
2:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But the week of Albert, what were your impressions of San Francisco?
2:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You and I had some, you know, we were all about town.
2:26
[SPEAKER_02]: We did the interview availability, so we did all that stuff.
2:28
[SPEAKER_02]: What were your takeaways, San Francisco?
2:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Two points.
2:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I think for us from a media perspective,
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And no one cares about that, but it was a little complicated, just in that the teams were so far away, although that's not like wholly uncommon either, yeah, even in Vegas, if you remember, like the Niners and Eagles were far.
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: They were in Lake Los Vegas, which unbeknownst to me is like 45 minutes away from Vegas.
2:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
2:58
[SPEAKER_00]: The Eagles and Phoenix were far away.
3:00
[SPEAKER_00]: If I remember right, the chiefs that year were closer, they were like in Scottsdale.
3:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so like there are a lot of cases like this Houston was spread out like where you have to kind of
3:17
[SPEAKER_00]: like do a little extra to get to the teams, other than that, you know, San Francisco has this problems that have been well documented.
3:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think it's like, it's, if you knew where to go, if you know where not to go, you're mostly okay.
3:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and like I just, I don't know, I think it's still one of like the great American cities and like I,
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you go and, you know, eat north beach or, or shine a town or pacific heights or the marina, like you don't have a totally different impression of San Francisco than you would if you're just hanging around the convention center and unfortunately there are a lot of people that cover these events that never leave like a three block radius when you could just get in an Uber and go to another neighborhood.
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so I think that that was part of it for me at least was like, I had an idea of where to go, you know, one of my good friends from growing up live there for a bunch of years my wife lived there.
4:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So on we know each other then, but, you know, when I've gone with her, she's got pretty good knowledge of it.
4:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's an awesome city.
4:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a matter of.
4:34
[SPEAKER_00]: people having the motivation to go out and look around a little bit.
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there's the obvious too, right?
4:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we can't avoid that, which is like there's a political element to it as well.
4:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of the people that we're complaining about San Francisco, I don't think we're saying the same things about New Orleans.
4:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love New Orleans.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody knows how I love New Orleans.
4:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think every Super Bowl should be held there.
5:00
[SPEAKER_00]: But that same dynamic exists in New Orleans where you take the wrong left turn and you could be in trouble pretty quick.
5:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, right.
5:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It was, I had a blast.
5:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, you know, I, you know, and again, we're coming from New Jersey where it's literally zero degrees and then my basement right now, freezing my, you know, what's off?
5:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And it just being able to walk around the city,
5:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought the food was phenomenal.
5:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, every meal that we had was A plus, A to a lot of sourdough, which is what you're supposed to do when you're out there, you know?
5:35
[SPEAKER_02]: We're not supposed to eat bread now that we're in our late 30s or early 40s, but like I probably ate like two loaves of bread just by myself this weekend, which was great.
5:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, yeah.
5:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I didn't really see it.
5:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Like obviously, I go to New York City a lot.
5:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't remind me of anything different from New York City in terms of, you know, there are, there's charm and there's like, wonderment to a big city.
5:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's also the underside of it, which is just unavoidable and inevitable, which is,
6:04
[SPEAKER_02]: it's part of it, right?
6:06
[SPEAKER_02]: It's part of the experience.
6:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So, I don't know.
6:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I, uh, I had a good time.
6:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I think San Francisco gets to stay in, in, in my, power rankings, in my Super Bowl rotation.
6:15
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see if Nashville ends up becoming a big player here in a couple of years and snagging a couple more.
6:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I can do that, Francisco.
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
6:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I will warn people about Nashville.
6:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, having like one of my best friends from college who lives there, right?
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It has been there now, I go over 15 years and like I, and I, and I, and I, and I like Nashville a lot to traffic is going to be a problem there because like Nashville is a place where if you, if you, if you spent time there and you've been through like a rush hour there, um, and I remember getting caught in this during my camp trip.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, a couple of years ago, that city has grown faster than its infrastructure has.
7:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, for sure, there's no doubt.
7:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So they don't have the highways, there aren't enough of them, you know, for the amount of people that live there.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I just think, if you're like how your experience in Nashville when the Super Bowl is there, which I assume, you know what we know right now is it's gonna go LA Atlanta.
7:26
[SPEAKER_00]: My guess would be Vegas is the next after that and then maybe Nashville the year after that.
7:34
[SPEAKER_00]: your experience in Nashville is going to be based heavily on where you're staying.
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you can walk, you know, because to be fair, Vegas was that way, too.
7:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But Nashville is, it'll be interesting to see if that city has, like what that looks like when we get there.
7:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, it's funny because like my buddy lives in Nashville, right?
7:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's like you, when you're like, you can go to his house, which is in a neighborhood.
8:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's just like a couple left rights left rights.
8:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you don't hop on a highway and then you're just in Nashville.
8:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you know, like Nashville is connected to just like Oakmont Avenue or whatever, right?
8:10
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just like a street that attaches to like a development and then you're downtown, which is very funny.
8:15
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not like that anywhere else that I can remember.
8:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And how chicken's over it and I'm just gonna say it before we spin into this it just causes digestive upset That's all it is.
8:25
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a flavor to make your stomach.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean that's all I'm gonna say.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it because I'm a huge fan of fried chicken in general but I will say I Like why you signing up for that?
8:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, well, this is gonna sound like it.
8:43
[SPEAKER_00]: This is gonna sound offensive to people from there
8:47
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the difference between like a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich and a hot chicken sandwich?
8:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I know what I want to clip for this episode.
8:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich.
9:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like I'm big fan, like don't give me wrong.
9:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not an insult on either hot chicken or Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich.
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But like can you tell me what the difference is?
9:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, but well, like one is fried chicken that is expertly seasoned with like dozens of herbs and spices in one is a frozen chemical patty that is microwaveed by someone in a fast food restaurant and then slathered in mayo and thrown out a bun.
9:38
[SPEAKER_02]: That's like, that's the, that's the, that's the, that's the, however, the advantage to the Wendy's, is that it doesn't make you feel like your insides are going to drop out of your body and that your organs are melting after you eat it.
9:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's all I'm gonna say about that.
9:56
[SPEAKER_00]: How dare you.
9:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, oh, okay.
10:01
[SPEAKER_00]: the good people at Wendy's and how they how they've been for Dave, you think Dave's of that?
10:06
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're awesome people for the spicy chicken.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, in my mind, they've been a trend center for the spicy chicken sandwich over the years.
10:14
[SPEAKER_02]: We've upset Dave, let's let's start talking about the zone.
10:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Beautiful day at Levi and we appreciate you guys giving us that day to kind of digest it because I do think it adds perspective not only that I mean we literally had to get out of there and travel home.
10:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I flew through the airport.
10:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It was great.
10:33
[SPEAKER_02]: So kudos to SFO You know, they were on their A game that day, but Beautiful day sat in the end so I'm right before the game and just watch the kickers warm up
10:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Like bright sun and then as soon as the game kicked off like there were no shadows or you know weird sun spots in the stadium and it was perfect and and you and I both talked about this I wrote about it after I did chance to talk to both teams and and people after the game.
11:00
[SPEAKER_02]: It was evident from the opening kickoff that the Patriots knew they had one avenue toward winning this game and they knew that they had to do it fast and they knew that they had to do it right away.
11:13
[SPEAKER_02]: They needed to create a turnover, like a catastrophic moment for Sam Darnell.
11:17
[SPEAKER_02]: They were blitzing at almost 90% over like the first three drives.
11:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were undercutting every route, which is, you know, in the press box, right?
11:26
[SPEAKER_02]: We can see it where, you know, maybe it's JSN or maybe it's someone else, Christian Gonzalez is underneath.
11:32
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you have someone in the back to try to help them.
11:34
[SPEAKER_02]: They wanted to pick those balls off right away.
11:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, they wanted to be able to kind of,
11:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think they saw what the rest of the world saw, which is kind of cool, right?
11:43
[SPEAKER_02]: That this is, this was an uneven playing field.
11:46
[SPEAKER_02]: These were two very different teams.
11:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And I almost credited.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I just significantly better.
11:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They were just better.
11:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that was my first take away was this is one where you could physically see it.
11:58
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and that's not a shot of the Patriots.
12:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They just aren't there for a roster standpoint.
12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The way they see Hawks are.
12:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's fair to say the real Super Bowl is the NFC title game, you know, yes, we talked about it back then.
12:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I totally agree.
12:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that was the case and and that's okay because what we're what we're Martin right now is just an absurd amount of fallout.
12:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean poor will Campbell it crying his eyes out and then people bashing him for not talking after the game.
12:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean grow up Drake may it is shouldering this when I think what we need to do.
12:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Is we need to separate the fact that, okay, yes, was this one of the, I guess, whatever your five worst since we started tracking EPA in the Super Bowl era performances by a quarterback, yes, was it since we started tracking pressures.
12:58
[SPEAKER_02]: the worst performance by a left tackle in the Super Bowl.
13:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, these guys also have a combined three years of experience against maybe the best group defensive line that we've seen in the Super Bowl in the last decade.
13:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, it may be.
13:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And this team, I sure is pretty good.
13:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, yeah, you're right.
13:21
[SPEAKER_00]: These are pretty good last year.
13:22
[SPEAKER_02]: The Eagles are pretty good last year.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think the Eagles are as good as they see Hawks.
13:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if they play together.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you said, we're telling you, you're probably right.
13:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that was just sort of thing.
13:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Like last year, was you have jail and Carter?
13:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You had Milton, Milton Williams is your third detackle.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You had Jordan Davis.
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're at, but the edge is Warren is good, right?
13:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So the edge is like Josh sweat and Josh sweat, had a huge game in the Super Bowl.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Josh, what I've known Smith, they're like not quite at the level of in general, in lawsuit and in Marcus Lawrence.
13:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
13:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And they played together differently, right?
14:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Like Fangeo's defense, I think was more mysterious on the back end, whereas the, um, we're a Seattle really won that game up front with the way that they were gaming, the way that they were stunning.
14:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was interesting, I mean, you know,
14:15
[SPEAKER_02]: when you're in the trenches of reporting after the game, the kind of the revelations of how it takes place and how it team wins the game, it takes place over time because these players end up doing so many interviews and maybe after the game they're saying one thing and then it expands and it expands.
14:34
[SPEAKER_02]: But I was talking to a couple of Seahawks coaches and they inferred to this and then I think Devin with her spoon and ended up just coming out and saying it like a day later, two days later,
14:44
[SPEAKER_02]: But Leslie Frazier was telling me that he's like, you have no idea how thoroughly we digested the patriots between the Denver game and when our basically when we put the cap on our game plan, which was earlier in Super Bowl week, right?
15:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And another coach was saying that basically, we watched the offensive line, we saw their tells, and then we programmed a number of calls for our defensive line to have,
15:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Because you know, I mean, Leonard Williams, to Marcus Lawrence, like you guys are smart enough to know that when he's standing like this, we're gonna call this when the tackles are setting like this.
15:22
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna call this, and then we're just gonna mix it up, coverage wise in the back end.
15:26
[SPEAKER_02]: But how well they were able to break New England's internal codes and tendencies.
15:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that is the story of the Super Bowl for me.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was in a way, like just the tail kicking was like reminiscing of last year.
15:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it didn't go both ways the way last year did.
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like where I'm both sides of the ball, the eagle just blew the chiefs up, right?
15:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, like upfront, but defensively it did.
15:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think there are a couple things that are key here, right, as far as that goes.
15:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, number one was being able to shut down the run and do it out of their nickel.
16:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, and I thought that was to me, you know, one thing that, that, that, that, that, that Aiden Durday said to me after the game, their defense of coordinator was, we wanted to be able to stay in split safety, right?
16:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And if we could stay in split safety,
16:21
[SPEAKER_00]: then we felt like they weren't going to be able to do much against us.
16:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what that means for people who don't know, the Patriots, I could tell you this on a quote, the Patriots felt like there's no way we're going to be able to go 12, 14 plays on the defense, right, over and over and over again.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to have, we need to, we need to hit shots.
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And to combat those shots,
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: the what the what the seahawks were trying to do because they knew how good the Patriots were getting down came the ball down field with Drake.
16:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we want to basically have our our our two safety is over the top and to do that and to play the way they wanted to play it.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It required Nick and even more he being himself on the injured ankle and he was right and and the way you want to look at
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You're basically asking him and worry to play like a hybrid nickel, safety, just nickel, strong safety line back or roll, where if the pages come out with two tight ends and try to run the ball at you.
17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You're good enough to defend the run in that situation against bigger personnel.
17:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the way for the Patriots to get you out of split safety coverage is to run you out of it.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you can defend the run against, if you're going to defend the run with with with Julia in loving Kobe Bryant over the top, and even worry down in a in a in a nickel or a lineback or spot,
18:01
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, like you have almost no shot and that's that's what they were able to do.
18:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So I thought this was one of the most interesting hidden stats the game is going to be my Tuesday column today.
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: For 70 of the 71 plays, even worry, love and Brian were all in the field together.
18:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, 70 of 71 plays, which tells you they were able to keep their nickel defense out there the entire freaking
18:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you can't make them pay for that in the run game,
18:35
[SPEAKER_00]: as an offense, you're cut, you know, and that's where the Patriots were because now they're able to, they're able to take the deep all the way and take the wrong game away and what is that leave you with?
18:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now all of a sudden you're having to, you know, having to throw the ball underneath a nickel and dime and be so precise.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's just impossible to do that when the C-Ox were rushing the pass or the way they were.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, shout out to the
19:05
[SPEAKER_00]: winning in the running game.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We could talk about the past game too, but winning in the run game, it's really hard to play that way.
19:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
19:13
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you're totally right.
19:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and I want to give a quick shout out to because one thing that that stuck with me, um, during this game, and I think one thing that stood out to the Seattle coaching staff, and it's worth mentioning because God, it's so like a, you know, keeping an eye on everything, uh, the Patriots are doing their baggy day right now is a recording, and it's like a freaking funeral when to me, this should be a celebration.
19:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, and what the
19:42
[SPEAKER_02]: their defense was phenomenal in that game.
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: That is a phenomenal young defense.
19:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were throwing stuff at the seahawks that they were not prepared for.
19:55
[SPEAKER_02]: They had a bunch of new sim pressures in that game that the seahawks coaches hadn't seen, and especially over the first three or four series,
20:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, God, they were so close, Albert, right?
20:06
[SPEAKER_02]: There was a couple of plays that they were so close on, right?
20:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Adding to Sam Darnold.
20:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And how many times was it just one step between an incomplete and a strip sack and a fumble, right?
20:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think that it was closer than we thought.
20:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we give Sam Darnold some credit?
20:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
20:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, people are, and look, Sam admitted to me after the game.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He said, I didn't throw the ball away I wanted to, right?
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: pretty avoided the turnover and you talked about them undercutting route undercutting routes aggressively going after the ball, which they were, I think the first thing I thought of when you said that was that throw to AJ Barnard on the first series.
20:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
20:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Where he had to put that thing in a perfect spot for that not to be picked off.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was Marcus Jones that was there and it was like kind of like he put a
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and it was right, but I think it was right before the throw to cop on the on the deep out breaker, but you know, like his ability to
21:11
[SPEAKER_00]: not put the ball in harm's way like probably the one that came closest to being a dangerous throw was at the end of the first half when he was late to JS and yes it looked like JS and had a touchdown and Gonzalez played incredible in the game unbelievable but I think we have to give Cardinal credit for is as a quarterback and this was another thing that I
21:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna go out and throw for 300 yards.
21:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But what do I have to do to win the game?
21:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
21:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And like that to me for Sam was, how do I go out and just win this football game?
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And there was even a play.
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you, I don't know if you saw this, but there was a play where I think he got sacked, maybe it was the Milton Williams sack, where it looked like the ball could have come loose.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It reminded me of, I don't know if you remember this one, you were probably like, you know, and you were in diapers actually, that's not even a joke, but Jeff Haustettler in the Super Bowl, Super Bowl 25, okay, so the bills were up.
22:26
[SPEAKER_00]: 10 to 3 in that game and Bruce Smith comes screaming off the edge and sacks hostile are in the end zone right and they get the safety great play for buffalo but if you watch like the you know the half hour super real highlights packages they have right yeah right they actually point this out in the high in the
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he loses the ball there, they're like three bills right there to recover the ball in the end zone, right?
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So by hanging on to the ball, by having a strong enough hand on the ball to hang on to the ball, it's now 12-3 rather than 17-3.
23:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And how much did the Giants win that game by?
23:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, one point, right?
23:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So like I just there was that sort of thing you saw Sam playing the game that way where I like I like him hanging onto the ball again forgive me if I'm wrong I still have to go back and look at a lot of this stuff again, but I think it was the Milton William sack where it's so easily could have been a strip sack and he was able to hang on to the ball I just think it was
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, overall Sam made a few big time throws and gave the team what it needed like those two throws to barner and cup on the first drive were massive massive throws and taking the early lead was really important he made some throws right before the half to get them in possession of make position to make it a
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: To make it a two possession game the throwing a barn are obviously recognizing that quickly enough to get it out before the rush Not that he needed to make great throw there, but the ball was where I needed to be Again, like he missed throws two 100% But like I thought it was a good example of a quarterback understanding what the game was asking him to do and then giving the game Exactly what he needed to to get comes out of it with a win
24:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I, there was another game within the game thing and you mentioned Darnold and JSN and, you know, JSN should have, I mean, there's a world, it's so funny right where there's a world where the Patriots are just a step quicker on defense and Darnold does.
24:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Fumble the ball twice right and New England maybe wins this game like 12 to tonight You know what I mean and there's a world where JSN has 200 receiving yards because he was so close on some of those right and One of my favorite game within the game moments and I was talking to some of the coaches about this after the game was we knew going in that
25:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Carl Davis actually said this to to my buddy Tyler done over it go long.
25:20
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to man J. S. and with Christian Gonzalez.
25:23
[SPEAKER_02]: That was a plan.
25:25
[SPEAKER_02]: But what was really interesting was that they came out of it though.
25:29
[SPEAKER_02]: They came out of it because, um,
25:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Seattle was so insistent on moving JSN around what they did was, because New England wanted to do that the week before, against or two weeks before, against Denver.
25:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And with the Seahawks saw was, if you just broke the huddle with a little bit of urgency, and you know, if you watch, like Smith and Jig was running out of the huddle a lot of these times, like, yep.
25:54
[SPEAKER_02]: he's breaking the huddle and he's running to one side and then emotion and run to the other and he's just going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, you can't, you can't cover, you can't man-coverage someone like that, right?
26:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of times the Patriots couldn't dictate the terms of the play necessarily because they couldn't get the matchup that they wanted.
26:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was just all these little tiny kind of moments.
26:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you play that game again, Seattle, you're just gonna lose.
26:23
[SPEAKER_02]: and this is not a knock on the Patriots.
26:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, it's just that there's so much institutional knowledge on that coaching staff, there's so much skill and then there's so much smarts on the player side like veteran experience that like you're you're not going to win that game if you're the Patriots.
26:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think Seattle knew that too.
26:40
[SPEAKER_02]: That was just another kind of hidden edge that the Seahawks had going into this game.
26:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And again, that's not a knock
26:51
[SPEAKER_02]: is Josh McDaniels the most experienced Super Bowl offensive coordinator in NFL history must be right.
26:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It's got to be up there.
26:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, so his first three Super bowls.
27:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't the coordinator.
27:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It was Charlie Weiss.
27:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's right.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but he, he, he, he went no seven.
27:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And Levin, he wasn't the coordinator either.
27:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that counts as a Super Bowl for him.
27:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But he wasn't the coordinator than either, because you remember he joined the team.
27:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was Bill O'Brien.
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember he came in to help out because O'Brien had taken the Penn State job.
27:23
[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.
27:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, like he was 07 and then the 4.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is 6th as a coordinator, which is still a lot.
27:33
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine any offensive coordinators called more.
27:36
[SPEAKER_00]: No, because they would become a head coach, if, right, you know, like in this day and age, there's no way a coordinator would, an offensive coordinator would make it through six super balls without becoming head coach.
27:52
[SPEAKER_02]: any more kind of thoughts that the only other one that I have is is this.
27:57
[SPEAKER_02]: So we had the two I thought it was a really cool kind of tendency breaker for the seahawks and some of their coaches were saying that they have those two great with their spoon blitzes early on that game.
28:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Go ahead, go ahead.
28:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And what some of their coaches were saying was like, we need to get, we wanted to get Drake really uncomfortable super early in that game.
28:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And again, I don't want this to come off is like me big shotting Drake may or us crap in all over Drake may, because that's not the case.
28:30
[SPEAKER_02]: it's just that this is how Seattle's coaches saw the game possibly going and their ideal was if we can get him thinking that that might happen throughout the game even though they blitzed at the sixth lowest rate in the NFL going into this 19% then he's going to be uncomfortable and you know what Albert and again this is not an indictment on Drake this is what happens to all quarterbacks he just he was uncomfortable in that game he drifted into the rush after that
28:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I thought there were, that's number one, right?
29:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, is that you wanted to change the picture on them and get them thinking and get him to steal the phrase seeing ghosts, right?
29:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, and so that did happen.
29:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I think one thing you have to give the Seahawk staff credit for too, to me, like, two of the biggest plays in the game of the game,
29:23
[SPEAKER_00]: were new calls right and one was one of the weather spoon blitz is that you're talking about both of them were specific to the patriots right but one was the weather spoon one was the weather was the first weather spoon blitz which again I thought that was to me like that was what really changed the game I thought that one
29:45
[SPEAKER_00]: because they had given up some stuff on the first possession, right?
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the second possession, there's the 21-yarder to booty down the left side, I think.
29:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it looks at the page right here in business again, and they're at least moving at some.
29:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it was three straight losses right after that, with the weather-spoon thing kind of punctuating it.
30:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And the weather-spoon blitz,
30:09
[SPEAKER_00]: was a specific adjustment to the way that they would run that and where they were sending him.
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And what they wanted to do was they wanted to challenge the patriot's interior with speed.
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it was like, how do we get, how do we, how do we test whether or not they can deal with
30:29
[SPEAKER_00]: a fast guy coming in there and so instead of sending him off the edge like you normally would with a corner in these situations, let's loop him in and send him up the middle and see what happens right and they knew whether Spoon's got a good feel for it like one of the coaches said to me he did such a good job navigating that you know what I mean like just finding his way through without compromising you know the rush plan.
30:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I thought like that adjustment, like, was something like, okay, if you're Drake, you're sitting back there, and now instead of 21 coming from over here, you see 21 running past Morgan Moves, it's no crap, but that's what can create a scene ghost situation.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like that one obviously, they wind up, they wind up landing, landing that one.
31:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And when they land that one, it's all the sudden now, okay,
31:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, now we're talking about the game being played in different contexts.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Did you know that from that sack, from the weather spoon sack?
31:30
[SPEAKER_00]: until the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Patriots only got one first down on their own.
31:35
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a defense polling also.
31:38
[SPEAKER_00]: One first down, that was like five minutes left in the first quarter, so from that point to the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Seox almost completely shut them down.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was number one.
31:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two was the barn or touchdown.
31:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, like I think this is such a good example of the Seox,
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: that the CX staff just being freaking on it, right?
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So the AJ Barnard touchdown was created by Clint Kubiax seeing, well, they play in this cover three, and this is going to be ready here, so stick with us, mate.
32:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're very what they call matchy, right?
32:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that means, like,
32:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, there's two different types of zone coverage.
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There's, there's the spot drop zone, which is like what you would think of as a conventional zone, which in older schools zone, where a guy's kind of cover area is, that's an older school zone, and then you have a match zone, which is like the Nick Sabin version of Zones, which we're almost in hybrid of zone and man.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what this Patreys would do is they would give you like a cover three look, and then they would match routes.
32:42
[SPEAKER_00]: what the, the, the, the sea ox bat here was, was they were going to simulate pressure, right?
32:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And if we can, like, kind of vacate,
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And area, the linebackers won't be able to get back there fast enough to match our tight ends.
33:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So long as the outside receiver, the corner over there goes with them.
33:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it was, and the interesting thing about this is JSN wasn't even on the field for this.
33:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So they had to do something scheme-wise, right?
33:13
[SPEAKER_00]: To kind of create this, the touchdown.
33:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you watch the play, it's a cover three look.
33:20
[SPEAKER_00]: and Gonzalez is over to the left side, and cup comes in and runs like an overout, and follows, Ganzo follows, cup, which that is like in the cover three.
33:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're vacating the deep third, right?
33:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And so then Barnard, you see, you see, Barnard comes out and he goes right into that area.
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: This has been vacated and Jack Gibbons who was supposed to match him.
33:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm guessing if Gibbons is supposed to match him there, will Gibbons was simulating a pressure, right?
33:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And Gibbons is coming up and off of that, the Seahawks are like running this outside zone play that they'd run 15 times already.
34:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So Gibbons is coming up, then he sees the outside zone action and before he knows it, barners into that area that Gonzalez has vacated and it was just something that Kubek noticed in the way they were playing these things and it's like, oh God, you know, here, and that's why barners were so open.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just think it was like a good example of the C.O.C staff using the two weeks to their advantage.
34:28
[SPEAKER_00]: and like let's see if there are some things that we can create.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know when I talked to Mike McDonald after that, after the game about it, because I had already kind of picked it up from a couple other people what they were doing there.
34:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And um...
34:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what, I'm going to pull up the McDonald quote here because it was so freaking good.
34:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because I had asked him about it and I never used it.
34:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So this will be exclusive to the podcast.
34:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, so Mike McDonald said to me after, like I said, like, so I heard this was a new call.
34:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, yeah, I remember that working in practice and saying, that's pretty sweet.
35:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Clint, run that in the game.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that the name of the call?
35:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I think he's called Nail, was the name of the call.
35:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
35:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, it was just a, it was just a, honestly, like a fantastic job to me of the, of Clint noticing something like subtle about the way they were covering.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: and they spent the whole game setting it up.
35:37
[SPEAKER_00]: All those outside zone runs, you know, like they spent the entire time.
35:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's obviously an old school shoe, Shanahan, Kubiak family staple.
35:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And you spend the whole game setting it up and then when you really need it, right?
35:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, we need to finally break through and score a touchdown.
35:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And if this is a three possession game, it's probably over boom, touchdown.
35:57
[SPEAKER_02]: After the game, Albert,
36:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was funny because it kind of puts a bow on this entire thing.
36:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Last year, the Eagles locker room was like the first keg party that you went to in high school.
36:13
[SPEAKER_02]: It was completely out of control, right?
36:15
[SPEAKER_02]: There would be like, you're doing so, wow, so loud.
36:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Like the music was so loud that it hurt to be in there, right?
36:26
[SPEAKER_02]: In a good way, like Vic Van Gier, I remember like standing on the edge of the locker room, just like, wouldn't even go in there.
36:32
[SPEAKER_02]: He's just like, now,
36:34
[SPEAKER_00]: a big misson was taking a series of pictures holding the Italian flag with people.
36:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
36:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: It was great.
36:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, and don't give me right.
36:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you should do that.
36:44
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I mean, they were guys on ladders like screaming and then you go into it and the lights are off.
36:50
[SPEAKER_02]: They're strobes.
36:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you go into the Seattle locker room and like,
36:54
[SPEAKER_02]: music's just that of moderate volume, you know, like the lights are on and people are just like talking and I was talking to one of the seahawks coaches and I was like, you know, I just in this person I'd never, you know, but it's already on the, I'm, I'm, I'm a Southwest 11 o'clock to Vegas.
37:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, he already had like a button down on like he was dressed up like and just on his way out It's not gonna one coach who hadn't been in a super winning locker room before and I was like, you know This isn't normal and the coach was saying well, you know what like it's it's he described it as eerie and the reason why it was so eerie It's because he's like we we knew we we knew this was gonna happen.
37:35
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean like we I'm He was so well always.
37:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, they knew yeah
37:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I like, all teams that make it the Super Bowl have a certain level of confidence, but this was like...
37:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We know it's about to happen, you know, and I just, and that way it felt like the 13 C Hawks.
37:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
37:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's like almost like they were in on on on on a secret that no one else wanted to believe, you know, no, we are that good, you know, I mean, like, and, you know, I certainly have that feeling, and I think like it got validated by people like the Marcus Lawrence, like
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: that have been around the block, you know, that aren't second or third or fourth year guys, that like have real perspective on how good the team was, you know, Sam Darnold for that matter.
38:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, you have, if you've been on eight or nine or 10 different teams, you know, and I'm not saying different teams, but like you've been in the league for that long for eight or nine or 10 years, you've seen different iterations of whatever team you've been on.
38:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You probably have a pretty good sense for like, oh, this is different.
38:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the Seahawks knew that about themselves that it was for a talent perspective, a different type of team.
38:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
38:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's, you know, again, I think this is a, this is a particularly unique situation, right?
39:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, this is a unique Super Bowl situation because, again, this is why this schedule stuff
39:10
[SPEAKER_02]: and I understand that Patriots fans have heard it at Nazim, but this is why it needs to be and had to be part of the conversation all over.
39:20
[SPEAKER_00]: 100% is.
39:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean?
39:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Because the reason why Albert is that, so can I just jump in there?
39:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
39:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So here's the, here's the proper perspective.
39:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I, this is the way I feel about it.
39:34
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I've told people around here.
39:39
[SPEAKER_00]: year.
39:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, hey, it's going to be tough.
39:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you're going to have to go through in the AFC every air, some combination of Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mohalms, some combination of them in the playoffs.
39:56
[SPEAKER_00]: They, of course, any of them.
39:58
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and if you look at Patrick Mohalms, he played in seven AFC championship games, right in
40:06
[SPEAKER_00]: His other quarterback in those seven games.
40:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Brady, Ryan Tanahill, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Burrow again, Lamar Jackson, and Allen again.
40:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the one year he played Tanahill,
40:22
[SPEAKER_00]: that year in the divisional round, he played against the Sean Watson and the height of his powers and fell behind 24 and nothing that had to come behind, come from behind.
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
40:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So look, we have to, you just call it what it is.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They did great to take advantage of it.
40:36
[SPEAKER_00]: They, they, they, they, no one thought they were going to mean anywhere near this good, like forget making the Super Bowl.
40:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I would have considered making the playoffs a win for them and if they win a game, that's a massive success.
40:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So to get all the way to the Super Bowl is incredible, but the schedule is part of that.
40:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and the luck that you got in the playoffs, I mean, you think about this, right?
41:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So in the second round,
41:03
[SPEAKER_00]: They play the Texans and Nico Collins gets hurt the week before.
41:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
41:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The championship came.
41:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They play the Broncos and Fonex gets hurt the week before.
41:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, it's, I mean, let's be adults about this.
41:19
[SPEAKER_00]: the schedule is part of it.
41:20
[SPEAKER_02]: 100%.
41:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And the reason why I think it's important to bring up, and I understand why Vrable had to be Vrable, and that's part of his own matter class, right?
41:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.
41:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But the kind of the downside to it, or the flip side to it,
41:40
[SPEAKER_02]: is, and I'm not saying this is Raeble's fault because Raeble was always going to do that, right?
41:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And he had to have these guys believing at a capacity that they just simply probably didn't have in themselves after winning four games last year.
41:54
[SPEAKER_02]: But the downside to that now is these poor kids flaying themselves over blowing this opportunity when, I mean, listen, this is like,
42:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to come up with a proper example, but it's like when a 12 seed makes it to the national championship and Duke is on the other side, right?
42:17
[SPEAKER_02]: That's just really what it is, right?
42:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's not the fault of Will Campbell, who just said today's played with like a torn ligament and one of his, you know, one of his, which he's hiding behind reporting some on that, like he had a grade three MCL spray, which is a tear.
42:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's like, you got that going on.
42:41
[SPEAKER_02]: You got Drake made dealing with, you know, so the shoulder and also just like, just help.
42:50
[SPEAKER_02]: out of control these conversations tend to get like, and this is not, it's connected only in the way that I'm about to connect it, but we just came from a Super Bowl week where we had a guy vote for a very smart football analyst, vote for Justin Herbert to BMVP and people dox's address and threaten to kill him, you know, and literally, right?
43:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we had,
43:15
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, Drake may have a bad game in the Super Bowl and now all of a sudden he sucks and he's terrible and it's like, you know, first of all, like let's all get a grip, you know, collectively as a society and just go touch grass and think about things and get a grip, but really let's step back with the patriots and just remind ourselves that this like,
43:44
[SPEAKER_02]: but the schedule became such a rub for them and such like an anti rallying cry for them like, oh, well, we beat this team and it had nothing to do with the schedule, the schedule, the schedule, you have to accept it because it's part of the story, right?
44:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And that was the reason you were there, you know?
44:06
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, if there was good weather in Denver two weeks ago, we would be talking about Jared Stittham getting the crap beaten out of him by this, see, I mean, I mean, I'm wrong.
44:17
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just, you know, so my, my kind of bow on this is like, God, let's just take a chill pill, accept the schedule thing when it works for you.
44:27
[SPEAKER_02]: That's great.
44:28
[SPEAKER_02]: It's awesome that they arrive early.
44:31
[SPEAKER_00]: The great thing for them is it gives them proof of concept to sure like and I think it gives variable like now he carries an even bigger stick there where, you know, it's going to be just easier to get everyone in the building to lock in on his program.
44:48
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be easier for him to get resources into the program.
44:51
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's gonna I think be a carrot for free agents.
44:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean New England over the last five years since Tom Brady left was Siberia for free agents.
45:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They had to pay.
45:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah.
45:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Milton Williams way over the top to convince him not to sign with a Carolina pandemic.
45:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, like, they're in a different spot now.
45:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They won't have to do that anymore, you know?
45:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's a great benefit to them and where they're at and they've got good momentum.
45:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, I just, I don't know, I look at like, this is a major step forward for that franchise.
45:29
[SPEAKER_00]: That was, that had sunk to the very bottom of the league.
45:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Like they were, I mean, one of the worst teams in all football over the last couple of years,
45:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, take it for what it is.
45:41
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a magical run that was aided by the schedule, and eventually, you know, you got the wake-up call.
45:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you are fortunate not to get that until Super Bowl Sunday, but eventually it came.
45:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I think it should be taken as a
45:58
[SPEAKER_00]: as instructive and how they build their team going forward and that they still have a little ways to go to get to the level where a typical Super Bowl champion is.
46:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And let's be real.
46:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, maybe in a year, Will Campbell is a guard.
46:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe in there two years that Will Campbell is a guard.
46:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe in two years, you know, Travea on Henderson is ready for, you know, two or three downs, right?
46:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And maybe in a couple of years,
46:31
[SPEAKER_02]: there is sort of a back end of this offense and skill position that doesn't rely so heavily on like a 32 year old step-on-dix, but I think you're right.
46:41
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just one of those situations where it's like, hey.
46:45
[SPEAKER_02]: weird stuff happens in the NFL all the time.
46:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But to say that this was a missed opportunity is a misnomer to me because this was a bunch of smart coaches knowing, right, to come back from the beginning that like if they didn't force three turnovers, they were cooked and everyone could see it and everyone in the NFL knew it, you know?
47:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, put it this way.
47:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Do the Patriots beat the Rams?
47:11
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
47:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Do the Patriots beat the Niners?
47:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
47:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
47:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.
47:21
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a really beat up knife.
47:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems so maybe.
47:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
47:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Do the Patriots beat the Eagles?
47:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe.
47:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
47:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you just kind of like look through it and you kind of flip through in your head, the different scenarios, and I just, I don't know, I have a hard time seeing where this was, do the pictures, be the bears.
47:48
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
47:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, you just kind of like look through it and it's like a,
47:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You had an incredibly wounded AFC.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: They took advantage of it.
47:58
[SPEAKER_00]: That's phenomenal.
47:59
[SPEAKER_00]: That's awesome.
48:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Great.
48:01
[SPEAKER_00]: You know.
48:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to set them up.
48:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's going to set them up in a way.
48:08
[SPEAKER_00]: that they couldn't have dreamt of the beginning of the year for the future, you know?
48:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And so like there's, it's all good coming out of this.
48:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
48:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But don't be under the illusion that like that, and that's the thing that kills me about these situations is like, you know, with the losing teams, there are super bowls where there can be second guessing going on and man like that was close.
48:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We could have done this, we could have done that.
48:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if you were the, the, the, the Niners, you know, two years ago, I think there's a lot of second guessing where you could have been like, man, we were right there.
48:47
[SPEAKER_00]: We were good enough.
48:47
[SPEAKER_00]: We had the whole thing work like that's a, that's a blown opportunity.
48:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Then there are other super bulls where it was like, we just weren't quite there yet.
48:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is one of those.
49:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I think anybody, the lesson in this, right, is that anybody who me, God, sorry.
49:07
[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, you're fine.
49:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going into historical thoughts on this that I could throw out there, but you go ahead.
49:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Go ahead, no, no, no, do that.
49:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, like I just looked like the Broncos, like it's not similar because you had no record back for a stronger quarterback all that, but I think about the Broncos in 2013 when they got the,
49:21
[SPEAKER_00]: there you know what's kicked in by the seahawks, right?
49:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And it caused them to really evaluate like the way their roster was built, and they got super aggressive and they went and built like a defense that was like off the charts, right?
49:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So they go out and they get a keep to leave and they get to Marcus Ware and
49:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's like I said like it was it was a recognition at that point like maybe we weren't like what we thought we were and now that the Patriots have like their head and the clouds of the over these things, but like this isn't the type of suitable I think you come out of and say
50:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, like if we had done two or three different things, we would have been fine.
50:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The chiefs, you know, in 2020, he's like coming out of that suitable, like my God, we have a lot of issues.
50:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And that offseason, you know, they go and completely where you've empt their offensive line.
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Of like that, that I think, you know, you, or the chiefs coming out of last year's suitable, you know, like,
50:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You take it for where it is, great run, and then you reevaluate some things, and I think the C.O.X exposed some things that I think of looking at it honestly, we're always there.
50:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, I mean in that way, it's not an exposure, it's like, yeah, and that's why I want to finish it off this way, and I think it relates to a lot of stuff, it relates to
50:46
[SPEAKER_02]: the Patriots and the Super Bowl it relates to the halftime show.
50:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Watch me string all this together like a psychopath.
50:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
50:52
[SPEAKER_02]: If you feel the need to blindly defend anything and not acknowledge its faults.
51:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
51:01
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a team with a bad schedule.
51:04
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a best friend.
51:07
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a political party.
51:10
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a business.
51:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Whatever it is.
51:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You are the problem because patriots fans like it's not just like, oh yeah, we're patriots fans and we're just going to be assholes and that's like our identity and that's cool.
51:24
[SPEAKER_02]: No, be the intelligent fan that I know that you were capable of being.
51:29
[SPEAKER_02]: and go into that Super Bowl going house money man like whatever happens I got to take my kids to San Francisco for a week and watch cool game and you know if we get our asses kicked by the seahawks totally fine and be the Patriots fan that is like actually I mean our defense played lights out in that game like we said before this is a this is a seahawks team that beat the 49ers 41 to 6 in the playoffs.
51:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know what, we're, we're doing okay.
51:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
52:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Be the person.
52:02
[SPEAKER_02]: who can be like, hey, bad bunny was actually pretty cool halftime show, you know, just be that guy.
52:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's not be the guy who has to be like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, all the time and just ruin it for everybody.
52:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I like that bunny, by the way, we were there and so you don't, we're like top down so we're looking down on it.
52:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's not a made for stadium halftime show, but I went back and I watched it on YouTube at the airport.
52:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I had a lot of fun, I like that bunny.
52:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to watch it.
52:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to go back and watch it because again, we'll be having a glass so we don't really get the full effect of it.
52:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Although I didn't see the ferns running off, which I wouldn't see the ferns.
52:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I was actually like stuffing my face.
52:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I did, I did, by the way, resist the halftime hotdog.
52:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So, um, I, uh, my arsonemesis, I'm, I'm 2-0, um, against the hotdog, halftime hotdog in the playoffs this year.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Um,
52:55
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I was I I come back out.
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So I didn't know those weren't pride.
53:00
[SPEAKER_00]: No, those were people.
53:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought they were just, you know, whatever ferns or fake ferns and they were actually people.
53:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Then when I saw them run off, I kind of caught my attention.
53:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a great time.
53:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And I will just say this and we'll close it out this way.
53:20
[SPEAKER_02]: When I was in the locker room, you know, and I was talking to some of the coaches and they were, you know, relaying some of the intricacies of the game plan and just, you know, writing about the celebration, looking at all the different tequila and the champagne that they were drinking, the cigars that they were smoking.
53:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And you're just so excited to go back and write about it and to tell people about it because that's our job.
53:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I texted my old boss Peter King after this
53:49
[SPEAKER_02]: just about how much I appreciate it, everything that we learned from him, and it's just, you know, there are those moments where you're just so filled up with thankfulness and gratitude.
54:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, this is like 12 Super Bowls, I think, for me, and it just feels like just, you know, I know how lucky I am, and it's because of people who listen to this show.
54:10
[SPEAKER_02]: It's because of people who
54:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, check us out on YouTube, it's because of people who click on our articles and like, I just don't think for one second that I don't think about that every minute of a game like that.
54:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
54:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I, I, I, I, um,
54:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't want anybody ever think of that I'm cynical to the point where I don't enjoy my job there's no question.
54:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
54:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I love my job.
54:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can tell you that if it wasn't my job, I would be right there with everybody living and dying with with a team in the NFL season.
54:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't rooted for a team in over 20 years now.
54:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I've no rooting interests other than, you know, it's good to see good people do well.
54:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, my outlet for that is through my alma mater obviously as people know, but, you know, I, I,
55:04
[SPEAKER_00]: the ability to cover the sport that I love most when I was a kid that I grew up playing that I played for the longest.
55:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't take any of that for granted and you know I hope that all the people out there know that were right there with them.
55:19
[SPEAKER_00]: As people really appreciate the sport and love the sport and would be watching the sport if it weren't our job and hopefully
55:28
[SPEAKER_00]: in the way that we talk about it and conveyed in the excitement we have over the great things that happen in it.
55:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I, you know, 100% appreciate everybody who comes along with the ride for us every week.
55:43
[SPEAKER_01]: No doubt.
55:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Not for us with us.
55:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry.
55:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so, as you can hear my voice is still kind of gone and I may need another, another nice sleep to, to give fully recovered.
55:56
[SPEAKER_02]: No doubt.
55:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, sorry.
55:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all worth it.
55:58
[SPEAKER_02]: We can't thank you guys enough.
56:01
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to take a little miniature hibernation here and we're going to fill up the tank.
56:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And then we're going to get ready to go out.
56:11
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to start talking about the draft.
56:12
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to start talking about the combat.
56:14
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to start talking about the combat.
56:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start talking about free action.
56:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I leave for the combat in 13 days.
56:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Go on, I'm going to talk about it.
56:21
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like
56:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I just need something where the other people in my house to swallow after I just came back from San Francisco and there is legitimately like 36 inches of snow on the ground here.
56:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I know, I need to, my, my Christmas decorations are frozen to the house and so I look like I have to take the lacrosse rebounder today and carry it down to the basement, stuck under all of that snow, so that's my big project today.
57:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Alright, see, the grind never stops, but we appreciate you guys and we will see you in a week or so, thanks again for listening.