S6E49: Lions Dominate Vikings, Jerod Mayo Fired, Week 18 and CFP Quarterfinals Recap

Welcome to the Pint Glass Football Podcast.
0:14
Pint Glass Football. I'm your host, Brad Fowler. What's up, PGF Nation? Lions get the one seed. How concerned should Vikings fans be right now? Gerard Mayo fired in New England after just one season. We're going to recap some moments from the NFL Week 18 and give some thoughts on the college football playoffs.
0:35
A lot to get to, but joining me, of course, my co-host, Alex Higdon. Alex, what is going on?
0:41
Brad, we're finally here. We're up against the, I won't say up against it, but we're going into the playoffs. A lot to get to really, you know, in the next couple of episodes, but just episode just really to kind of wrap this season and talk about a few things that we saw. And I think at some point,
0:56
Brad, some victory laps because last year, at least I know I wasn't good with a lot of my takes. But however, this year, a lot of my takes stuck.
1:03
Yeah, you know, absolutely, man. We're going to take some victory laps. And look, we take L's all the time. That's part of the job. I mean, that's when you get on the mic, you make predictions, you make bold takes and make statements about players and teams and coaches.
1:15
You're going to miss sometimes, but you're going to hit on some. And we've been hitting on a lot of them. And we're definitely going to take some victory laps today, Alex, no doubt about it. And I'm going to start with the culture while playoff, because if we want to talk victory laps, Alex,
1:28
for you guys that maybe haven't been checking out the YouTube episodes that we've done the last couple of weeks, we've previewed these college football playoff games. And I'm just going to say it. And I might jinx myself here, Alex. I haven't missed a single pick.
1:41
Not only am I giving you guys money line winners here, but also picks against the spread. I've been on forever. fire for the culture while playoff hitting every single game now let's talk about these games real quick though Alex because it feels like we haven't done an audio
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podcast in a year it feels like we've been off forever but like I said I hope you guys are checking out the YouTube channel because we've been putting out some episodes over there happy to be back though with you guys and speaking of on fire Alex Ohio State man are they the team to beat right now
2:12
Because we saw them have that big convincing win against Tennessee. They followed up, destroyed Oregon. Look, Oregon came out, they looked flat 25 days off before this game. And I think it kind of goes back to something we talked about earlier. Alex, about the format.
2:29
And I think it's something that we might need to really look at here going forward. And I hope they look at because all the teams that had a buy loss in the quarterfinals, 0-4. And I think there's something to be said about the momentum of these teams coming
2:43
off of wins playing the week before versus these teams that had that extended rest.
2:48
Yeah, that's going to be interesting to look at. I think maybe the format, I guess, accustomed to maybe for perhaps even some coaching, because I think that's another thing. Because normally, you know, it used to end in December and then pick up in January. But now with the playoffs starting immediately and then having that week in between,
3:04
I think there's a coaching adjustment that's happening here versus... how it was previously. So now the coaches, the players have to adjust. And I think a lot of these coaches just didn't have their players prepared as opposed to the other teams that continuously just played on and they were already
3:21
in rhythm and they just continued to roll after they got past that first round and going into the next round.
3:26
Yeah, look, I don't want to take anything away from Ohio State here because that was a convincing win. They played absolutely lights out. But watching that game, there was no doubt that that was not the best version of Oregon that we've seen this year. This was a team that was the number one seed.
3:41
They ran through the Big Ten Conference undefeated. They beat Ohio State. earlier this year and then to come in this game with all that rest you know we often talk about the rest versus rust and we see this in the NFL too and we saw it
3:54
this weekend and we're going to kind of find out how it plays out we see it every year where a lot of teams that already have their playoff seed kind of locked up a lot of times they'll sit their starters in week 18 or week 17 back in the day sometimes those teams tend to come out flat
4:08
And it can really hurt teams. I know you're trying to get your team healthy and rested up, but it's not always the best thing. And I think it really backfired in this game for Oregon. Because like I said, they just came out very lethargic, no energy.
4:19
Ohio State came in, fired up, had a chip on their shoulder, and absolutely took it to them. Now in the second half, the Ducks actually outplayed Ohio State in that second half. But by then, the damage had been done. I mean, it was too little too late.
4:31
Regardless, I think Ohio State is absolutely a team to watch right now. And a team that we'll talk about tomorrow night when we preview. these games, but man, they've been unbelievable. What about Penn state, Alex? What are your thoughts on this team? Because this is another one of those things that we talked about with the formatting.
4:47
This is a team that lost to Oregon in the big 10 championship and somehow they get an easier path in the playoff. They beat SMU and Boise state. I mean, quite frankly, the weakest teams probably in this field. I'm not saying they don't deserve some credit for that,
5:00
but here they are playing on and the team like Oregon isn't. I think it's another thing they have to address going forward.
5:06
The other thing we need to talk about there, these are home games. These are not neutral site games. That's something that we didn't mention. These are home games for a lot of these teams. And one of the things that we did mention, just to take a quick step back and pat ourselves on the back,
5:18
was we mentioned the rushing. We said that they're going to run a little bit more, not make it a track meet. They're going to run a little bit more. And that's exactly what Ohio State did. 181 yards to negative 23. And that's because Ohio State sacked Dylan Gabriel eight times for negative 43 yards.
5:34
We know that counts as rushing yards when you get sacked. That was a big key thing that we talked about that did play a part in this game. But Penn State forever looked at as a good regular season coach can get you to a good bowl game, but then there's always the fear of him choking.
5:51
And in this one, he did not choke. He stepped up. He rather I don't want to say he stepped up, but rather he coached his team up and they showed up and were able to overcome what they overcame, which is just the stigma of not being able to win big games.
6:06
One of the things that I also said. Penn State was not going to let Ashton Gentry get that record, and they did it. They stacked the line. I mean, Abdul Carter, we saw a man out there today, and I think he's probably pushed himself up into perhaps the top five contention in the upcoming draft.
6:23
Did what they were supposed to do. They have an incredible game coming. They have a really good game coming up that we'll talk about later on this week, but it's going to be very interesting. And at some point, Brad, we probably actually need to talk about the bowl games overall because the SEC is
6:40
taking a hit and the Big Ten is really cementing themselves. and this whole Big Ten versus SEC thing. And I've sent you some things on the battles between the talking heads of the SEC versus the Big Ten. It's been very funny over the past few weeks.
6:55
Yeah, no, let's get to it. Because look, Texas gets a win barely. Georgia gets beat by Notre Dame. We'll talk about those games here right now. But on a broader note here, I think you're absolutely right. And this is something that I've talked about for a while now. Actually, the last two plus years,
7:11
I've been saying on this pod that I think the Big Ten is slowly closing the gap on the SEC. And we saw it last year when Michigan won the championship and they played Washington, who we know now is in the Big Ten. Texas and Georgia lose in the college football playoff, who are now both SEC teams.
7:30
And I said, I think we're starting to see a little bit of a shift here. I also mentioned how the top 20 picks in the NFL draft It wasn't the SEC. It was the Big Ten who had the most top 20 picks last year. So we were starting to kind of see this shift.
7:43
And I think this playoff, the Big Ten is flexing right now and the SEC is a little bit down. You know, we also saw Ohio State third place team in the Big Ten playing the third place team, Tennessee Vols. in the playoffs and got destroyed. And now we're seeing two Big Ten teams moving on.
8:03
Georgia losing to Notre Dame. Texas almost losing to Arizona State. It has not been a good look for the Paul Feinbaums and the Nick Sabans of the world and these guys who have been waving that SEC flag. You're absolutely right. This has not been a good look for them at all.
8:18
But I want to talk about that game, Alex, for a sec. What an instant classic that Arizona State-Texas game was. I mean, my goodness. And once again, like Alex said, we're going to take some victory laps here because I told you guys on the YouTube pod, I'm going to take Texas to win.
8:32
I'm going to take ASU to cover. And I told you that because I said all year this ASU team has been underrated and this Texas team lets teams hang around. They did it again in this one.
8:43
Yeah, and once again, I feel it's in my invisible contract that I have to talk and say the name's Cam Scatterbow. And people think it's funny. However, he said it for the leading up through every game. I am the best running back you guys are not talking about. 30 carries, 143 yards,
9:04
five yards a clip and two touchdowns and led them in receptions with eight receptions and another 99 yards and his longest 62 yards. So he's showing you he can do it on the ground and he can do it in the air. And I think that's something to be said for somebody in the year that Ashton Gentry
9:20
had for him to stand up. Even in a losing effort, he did every single thing that he could to contribute to to a win for this team. Alas, Texas did win, but I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Scatterbow and backing up what he said, try and get Arizona State to the next level.
9:38
Yeah. Didn't he throw a touchdown pass too in that game? Yes, he did. A 42.
9:42
A 42. I'm sorry. He basically was LaDainian Thompson. Those of you know, know he ran for, he ran for one, he threw one and he, well, he didn't catch one, but he, he threw for one and he ran for two and then caught and basically had a hundred yards received. So.
9:57
Yeah, and look, Texas, as we know, we've talked about it all year, one of the best rosters in college football. That team is loaded with future NFL talent. And this guy, who basically was one of the most unheralded prospects coming out of high school, had to play at a lower level just to get noticed,
10:15
just to get on to Arizona State, to get on their radar, I should say. And this guy was the best player on the field. Absolutely. If it wasn't for that fourth and a mile touchdown late in the game that saves Texas' season, if they don't get that play and that really terrible non-call on the obvious
10:37
targeting on that fourth and long play that probably sets up Arizona State for a field goal try to win it... I mean, you could really argue Arizona State probably should have won this game. I want to jump into this Notre Dame-Georgia game before we get to the NFL games.
10:51
Because this, to me, out of all the games, and look, Ohio State's win was so impressive. But they were a slight favorite in that game. Notre Dame versus Georgia, I know the spread was close, but there was not a lot of people that really felt like Notre Dame could win this game. But this was a monster,
11:11
monster win for Notre Dame for this program and especially for Marcus Freeman because what a win for this guy. He took over this program for Brian Kelly. When Brian Kelly left to go to LSU, he not only has maintained what Notre Dame is, he has elevated this program. since Brian Kelly left. And look, Brian Kelly left.
11:31
Let's not mistake this for a second. He left because he didn't think he could get good enough athletes to win big at Notre Dame. He thought that there was a ceiling on this team with the type of athletes that they could get, and that's why he went to LSU.
11:46
And Marcus Freeman took a group of guys that, quite frankly... Look, a lot of the guys that play on that Georgia team would not be eligible to play for this Notre Dame team. They have one of the most loaded, talented rosters in college football. They've got NFL talent all over the place.
12:02
They've got five-star players that are backing up five-star players all over that Georgia roster. And Kirby Smart is considered by most to be, what, a top three coach in the sport? And he got completely outcoached in this game by Marcus Freeman. And I'm not saying Notre Dame doesn't have talented players. Don't get me wrong. They do.
12:21
They have a good team and they have good players. They have guys that are going to play on Sunday too. But I think it's fair to say Georgia has a better roster here, and they got smoked, absolutely smoked by Notre Dame. This was a convincing win and an unbelievable coaching job by Marcus Freeman. I was so impressed.
12:38
Yeah, I can't say more about it. Of course, I'm an SEC homer. I don't mind saying that. I did have Georgia to win this game. I thought Gunnar Stockton was going to be a better quarterback because Carson Beck just chokes in big games all the time. So I thought they actually had a better chance.
12:55
I am not a fan of Riley Leonard. Very simple quarterback, 15 for 24, 90 yards, and a touchdown, 3.8 yards per throw. That's crazy. But, and to your point about Marcus Freeman, perhaps that is just what they needed to do to maintain him not making the big mistake, was just keep everything short,
13:18
keep everything tight in the vest, and and run the ball, and as they did, 154 yards to the 66 yards of Georgia at that, and that's not good for a Georgia team who just, honestly, I could probably say, similar to how they talk about Ohio State and a couple other teams, they were a running back factory.
13:38
They're just used to churning out good running backs no matter what, but apparently this year they didn't have it, and it did not look good on on television or nor did it look good on film to your point that they were just they were outplayed and they were outcoached in this game and Notre Dame was well
13:58
prepared to win this game and again let's remember that is a home game for the Bulldogs that Notre Dame went into and beat them Alex let's let's shift gears here
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to the NFL Week 18 in the books. Not a lot of big games. One big game that we're going to get to. But I want to get to this news here about the New England Patriots firing Gerard Mayo after just one season. And to me,
14:24
it really just shows zero patience from Robert Kraft in the management in New England. Because... Look, was he great? Did they have a great season? No. But, I mean, what did he expect with this roster? That they were going to have instant success when you've got a roster like this that still has holes all over the place?
14:44
I don't understand the lack of patience for this guy. And, look, I think Gerard Mayo... really was put in a bad situation. He was really kind of set up to fail. And I said it all along, nothing against him, but why would you fire Bill Belichick and then hire a guy who's only learned under Bill Belichick?
15:07
I mean, why are you going to fire the professor to hire the student? and that never really made sense to me. The hire from the jump never really made a whole lot of sense because if you're going to break free from the Belichick era and start clean, why not start all the way clean?
15:21
I didn't really think that it was really a great hire from the get-go, but to be fair to him, he really never got a chance either because one season is such a quick evaluation to say, look, you're not the guy. I was kind of shocked by this.
15:34
I think this really showed a lot of impatience from Robert Kraft, and I think that he thinks that they should just be winning Super Bowls every other year like they were when Brady was there. And look, he's got to realize this team is in full rebuild.
15:46
Even last year when they hired him over the summer, I didn't understand the hire because I said the person that's perfect for the job is the person that I wanted for my team at the time, Mike Vrabel. And I believe that's what they're going to end up hiring this offseason is Mike Vrabel. Let's get very clear.
16:06
There's this big misconception about Mike Vrabel. Mike Vrabel is not a part of the Bill Belichick coaching tree. He played under Bill Belichick. He did not coach under Bill Belichick. He did learn defensive coordination and things like that from Belichick disciples like Romeo Cornell, but he never coached under Bill Belichick.
16:32
He was in the Houston Texans organization under Wade Phillips and a couple other people that were coaching over there at the time. So he's not a Bill Belichick disciple. He's his own person, not connected to the Bill Belichick coaching tree as a player. Yes. As a coach. No.
16:47
So I think Vrabel is going to be the guy that's going to come that they're going to end up hiring to move forward with.
16:53
Yeah, I'm glad you said that. I'm really glad you said that because you're right. I think that does get mistaken. Look, this guy cut his teeth at Ohio State at the college level before getting jobs in the NFL and then, of course, becoming the Titans head coach.
17:04
So you're getting a guy with a proven track record of success. And that's going to be fun to watch here because Drake May... quietly had a really nice rookie season. And I say quietly because I don't know if enough people really paid attention nationally on just how good this guy was at times.
17:20
Now he had rookie moments, of course, but this guy really flashed. And I think it got lost a little bit in the shadow of what Jaden Daniels was doing and to a lesser degree what Bo Nix was doing in these unbelievable rookie campaigns. Not enough people really were talking about just how good Drake May looked at times
17:39
and how much potential there is for this young quarterback.
17:42
Yeah, I think they have a lot of things there. They don't have any weapons. That was the biggest thing. So expect, and we'll get into it later as we get into the offseason, expect big names like T. Higgins to be start yelled out for some type of huge bidding war because they were in on IU.
17:57
So they did a lot of what they did, and he did gradually get better and start to look better as the season got on, as he got more reps. But those are the highs and lows of getting a rookie quarterback.
18:08
Yeah, especially because this is a guy that we talked about in April. This is a guy that I really, really liked coming out of this draft because I thought he had a really high ceiling. Now, I knew he was a little bit more of a developmental prospect versus a guy like Jaden
18:21
Daniels or even a guy like Bo Nix or Pinnix who came in with a lot more starting experience. I thought those guys would be able to hit the ground running a lot more than a guy like May. But I loved the ceiling and the potential of this guy. And to your point, Alex,
18:34
I think we saw him get just a little better, it seemed like, every week. and really started to show that he could be a guy to build around. So now you get a legitimate head coach, a proven head coach, to really start to reshape this program.
18:45
And it's going to be really fun to see what happens here if Rabel does end up getting that job. But I do expect that to be the case. And look, the rest of those rookies, just kind of put a bow on this rookie class here, Alex, because I know you wanted to talk about this.
18:58
I think we're looking at a rookie class that could be historic. And when you look at this class, every single one of these guys right now, looks like they could be potentially franchise starting quarterbacks for years to come. And it's not very often that you get a class with this many guys. Look, Bo Nix has been great.
19:17
Jayden Daniels, we know, has had a really historic rookie season. There's been a lot of talk about Caleb Williams not living up to the hype. Look, I get it, but this kid to me has shown more than enough for me to believe that he's a guy you can build around.
19:31
We saw, of course, what Pennix did late in the season. Small sample size, but I think he flashed late in the year. I think we could be looking at a, and we just talked about Drake May, of course, we could be looking at a very, very good rookie class. Four or five years down the road,
19:47
we could be talking about this class being one of the all-time greats.
19:50
And the funny thing is with Caleb Williams, statistically, and I was only speaking specifically statistically, go take a look at Caleb Williams' numbers. And then I wanted you to go take a good look at one CJ Stride numbers and tell me what you see. I won't even tell you what you're going to see.
20:05
You go look for yourselves and tell me what you see statistically. And this is something, Brad, that, you know, I preach all the time. I don't jump out the window on quarterbacks on the first year. They have a great first year and I'm not out on them.
20:20
and I'm not out on there if they have a bad first year. So whether it goes good or whether it goes bad, I look to see, are you making the right reads? Are you doing certain things? Are you improving? Are you flashing? And Caleb Williams did that. Obviously, CJ Stratton had the year that he did.
20:32
And also, on the flip side, we can also talk about Bryce Young on how his first year looked and how he looked the last nine to ten games of the season where he had basically the Panthers in every single game. But you're talking about the rookie class. I just want to just mention some names.
20:49
You have Malik Neighbors and Brock Bowers not only fighting for – not only fighting to be – perhaps in the Rookie of the Year ballot voting, but also fighting for the most catches for a rookie. That was a great game. Malik Nabors passed Brock Bowers, and then Brock Bowers came in the later hours and passed him,
21:08
so Malik Nabors ended up with 109, and Brock Bowers broke the record with 112, and then also broke the record for tight ends with 1194 as well. And just for this year, just for this 2024 season, he was the most consistent and best tight end on the field. We could talk about people like Berkey Irvin,
21:27
who we talked about, who I said would be taking the job from Rashard White. He ended up with a total of 1,514 yards, 8 TDs. A guy that nobody's ever going to talk about, but except I'm going to continue to bang the table for him. One is Joe Ault. The other one is for Tavondre Sweat.
21:44
Anything that Tavondre Sweat did, you will not see in the stat. He had 51 tackles, one sack, and four tackles for losses. That does not tell the story that this interior defensive lineman had, who, if we were talking about the 90s, would be probably a top 20, 25 pick if we were playing that.
22:01
And I'm just going to run through something. Quinone Mitchell, Brian Thomas, 1282, 10 TDs, Ladd McConkie, 1149, 7. Jalen McMillan, a guy that we talked about now, he didn't have gaudy stats. But after Chris Godwin got hurt, his 461, his 37 catches, 461 and 8, touchdowns in that short span. You know about James Daniels.
22:24
Everybody was killing the Giants for getting rid of Saquon, this, that, and the third. They found the gem in the fifth round in Tyrone Tracy that ended up with 1,123 yards and six touchdowns, and he did not start the season. The starting running back for the season was Devin Singletary. He talked about Bull Nix and the quarterbacks,
22:41
and one last guy that I mentioned, I don't know if it's bad luck on the 49ers or anything like that, but Isaac Garendo was a guy. when he had to come in and play, he looked like he, they could move on. He looked like emphasis,
22:55
looked like they could move on from Jordan Mason as well as Christian McCaffrey and start with this guy. Cause in the three, he only started three games, 572 yards total and four TDs. Even the guys who had minimal on the field action showed and flashed when they got a chance. So you're right.
23:12
There's a lot of guys and there's a few other guys that I probably didn't even mention, but there's a lot of guy on, especially on defense, Kwame Lasseter to be one of them. There were a lot of guys that contributed, a lot of good players,
23:23
looked really well and were able to go out there and capable and step on the field right away and play and play at a high level.
23:30
I'll name another guy that you missed, which I know you haven't missed, missed, but just on that list. How about Cooper DeGene? Oh, yes. Yes. My goodness. I know you mentioned Quinn on Mitchell, who's been fantastic. Cooper's gene took over the starting role. I think what week five or six, he's been unbelievable.
23:46
PFF has him right now is the fourth highest graded corner in the NFL right now. As a rookie, pretty impressive stuff. So yeah, no doubt about it. This class has been unbelievable. And it's gotten me really excited just thinking about April. PGF Nation, you guys know, the NFL draft is something that we do as good as anybody.
24:05
We love the draft and we covered it at an incredible rate. And so it's going to be so fun to do it again because this class lived up to the hype. Absolutely.
24:15
Hey, Brad, before I move on, I just want to mention one thing, too. We talked about Gerard Mayo. I still I would just want to mention real quick that the Giants said they're going to maintain, which I think is very smart and keeping Brian Dayball and as well as the GM.
24:30
And I'm not sure what's going to happen down there in Jacksonville, but as expected, they did move on from Doug Peterson. And just really quick, when you start talking about coaches and everything, the top five picks ended up being Tennessee number one, Cleveland number two, the Giants number three, Pats number four, and Jacksonville number five.
24:52
Those first two picks, those first three picks are going to be very interesting and specifically Cleveland after they reworked Deshaun Watson's contract. So we're going to have a lot of fun in the offseason talking about where the quarterbacks and who's going to do what and maybe try and trade up in this draft
25:09
because it's going to be really interesting to see what some of these teams do.
25:12
Now, the big game, of course, in Week 18, Lions-Vikings. This game didn't live up to the hype at all. This was an absolute beatdown by the Lions. Really dominant performance by these guys. And look, Darnold was under pressure pretty much all night and couldn't adjust to it.
25:29
I think that was really one of the big takeaways here is that they kept bringing pressure. They kept bringing the blitz. They were getting home. And he absolutely struggled in this game to adjust to what they were trying to do defensively. They struggled in the red zone. There was a 60% pressure rate by this Lions defense.
25:48
And look, this is a Lions defense that we know is missing a lot of key players. And somehow they came out and had one of their best defensive performances of the whole season. I was really, really impressed. with Aaron Glenn and the job that he did on that side of the ball I mean he had a
26:04
game plan and he was dialing it up in this game Aaron Glenn brought the fight to
26:10
the Vikings he because the Vikings blitz a lot because you know on the back end they have a lot of issues Harrison Smith who had an interception in this game it has seems to have been playing since the 90s as far as I'm concerned but what they
26:23
did was they brought the fight they blitzed a lot and remember The Lions have a lot of injuries on. Aiden Hutchinson, gone. Aiden McNeil, their star defensive tackle, gone. So they're out there rushing and creating a pass, generating a pass rush with blitz. And this was,
26:41
and rarely do I get to say this about Dane Campbell in the sense of, he was out, he outcoached Kevin O'Connell. Because one thing, Kevin O'Connell never adjusted to the blitz and to get the ball out of Sam Donald's hands faster. He still had a lot of route concepts that were going down the field instead of saying,
27:00
okay, let's shorten some of these routes, get the ball out the hand, use caremakers in the pass game. Use Aaron Jones in the past game. Use TJ Hawkinson. TJ Hawkinson only had only had two catches for nine yards. Jordan Addison, one catch for zero yards, a non-factor.
27:17
Justin Jefferson guarded by 5'8 Amik Robertson, three catches for 54 yards. That's not good when you have those type of weapons on your team. And I'm not saying that that doesn't discredit anything Detroit did. I'm talking about the coaching and then taking a step back and say, let's shorten some of these routes.
27:35
Let's get the ball out your hands quicker. Let's do some wide receiver bubble screens. Let's use some running back screens to slow this pass rush down. None of that was apparent. in this game. And I think they just made a lot of mistakes.
27:48
And even on the fourth down plays, the plays that they chose, I just didn't understand. I haven't had a chance to look at the all 22 to kind of see, was it Darnold or was it the play calling or was it just simply the defense?
27:59
But what I saw in real time just wasn't really good plays called in those fourth downs when they were inside the 10 trying to make a play.
28:09
Well, I think I want to go back to Aaron Glenn because not only was he bringing pressure, but he was bringing it at the right times. He was bringing it in the perfect moments. He was going back and forth from zone concepts to man to man. And he had this Vikings team on tilt.
28:24
They did not know what they were getting here. They were disguising their looks. They were disguising their coverages. And like I said, bringing pressure from all different sides. Darnold in this offense, to your point, look, he got out-coached because I don't think they made adjustments. I don't think Darnold made adjustments.
28:40
I don't think the coaching staff made adjustments. Everything Aaron Glenn did in this defense, it seemed to work, and the game just got completely away from them. Now, on the offensive side of the ball, Jameer Gibbs, man, this guy was just absolutely lights out. Incredible, that offensive line. We've always talked about this offensive line, but seriously –
28:59
They're as good as it gets. Jared Goff was sharp for the most part. He had a nice game. The offense did its job. But when the defense plays like that, because, look, we have seen this team in several weeks now where it feels like they have to win in a shootout. But this has to be really encouraging.
29:15
If you're a Lions fan, to see that defense go out and play like that against one of the better offenses in the NFL, I thought it was really impressive. And look, they get home field advantage. They get the one seed, and it's a massive win because Ford Field, that place has become a serious home field advantage.
29:31
The fans were going absolutely crazy. on Sunday night, and that has become a very tough place to play. And look, if I'm a Vikings fan, I think I've got to be a little bit nervous going into the playoffs after what has been a great season from this team because Sam Darnold, comeback player of the year,
29:50
I think hands down at this point. But he struggled in this game, and he missed a lot of big opportunities in this game, and it has to make you wonder, this was really probably the biggest game this guy's played in since the Rose Bowl, and he really didn't show up.
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Download the SeatGeek app and remember to enter the code PGFPOD to grab your $20 discount. Another game I wanted to talk about here in week 18 was the Bengals-Steelers game. Because here were the Bengals beating the Steelers, fighting to get into the playoffs. They come up short, of course. They miss the playoffs.
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But Burrow coming off of really a career year, putting up unbelievable numbers, putting himself in the MVP race on a team that is missing the playoffs, that alone is pretty impressive. Jamar Chase finishes the year with the Triple Crown, which...
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Look, I've said for the last few years now, I think he's the best wide receiver in the game. And he has a career year. Trey Hendrickson leads the NFL in sacks with 17 and a half quietly. I don't know if a lot of people have been talking about just how good he's been this year.
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So you've got all these stars, and this team misses the playoffs. It's pretty shocking. It kind of makes you wonder really what went wrong here for Cincinnati. But I want to shift to the Steelers here because they finished the season on a four-game losing streak, and they have looked absolutely terrible.
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Not only do they lose the North, they fall all the way to the sixth seed. Russell Wilson, look, earlier in the year, we were giving this guy praise. We were talking about how he was playing some of his best football that we've seen in the last couple of years.
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And he was looking like a guy that the Steelers might resign in the offseason. But now, look, I'm not so sure they will because his game has really eroded. This offense has really eroded. been terrible the last few weeks and he has just looked like a guy that went from
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getting the ball out quick being decisive with where he wanted to go with the football to kind of regressing back to what we've seen from Russ in the past which is hanging on to the ball too long trying to ad-lib, trying to make plays off script,
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and trying to make big plays down the field instead of just taking what the defense gives you. And I think it's really been hurting this offense because, look, those days are gone for us. That's not his game anymore. He has to be a guy who manages the game, takes care of the football, and makes good decisions.
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And we just have not seen that from the Steelers team the last month.
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Russ. Russ obviously can't carry a team anymore, so you need to have the full array. George Pickens, attitude aside, because there's an attitude issue there, and we'll have to see how that works for Mike Tomlin going forward. We know how he feels about the Diva wide receivers.
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We said the back end, those last seven games, they're going to have an issue with. So they beat, they lose to Cleveland and they beat Cincinnati and they beat Cleveland. And then they lost the last four games. I'm not surprised about that. I expected you to lose to Philly. I expected you to lose to Baltimore.
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I expected you to lose to Kansas City. And it didn't matter how they looked. It's just that's what I saw. I'm not surprised at where they ended up at. I'm not even surprised about the slide because that's what I expected, because that's what that's how we predicted it.
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And that's how even the pundits on the bigger on the bigger platforms, meaning TV, not podcast with the biggest podcast. But we expected them to look like this in the second half. So we shouldn't be surprised that this is how they ended up, because that's what it looked like before they played game one.
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It's not the slide. It's the way they've looked because they haven't even been competitive. I mean, their offense has been terrible. They're not moving the ball. They're not getting it done in the red zone. Way too many turnovers from Russell Wilson, not taking care of the football. To me, it hasn't been the fact they've lost these games.
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It's the fact that they're not even competitive. Now, they were competitive against this Bengals team because for the first time in the last few weeks, the Steelers' defense actually bounced back and played really well in this game and held a really good Cincinnati offense to just one touchdown.
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So when your defense finally shows up and starts playing like its old self, you expect, okay, this team should be able to get this win, and the offense could not do anything. I mean, they just could not move the ball at all. Now, you're right. George Pickens made some big drops, and he didn't look very good,
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but I'm not going to put it on one guy here. because it's a team game and they just did not get it done. And I think they have a real decision to make going forward here. And like I said, mid-season, I was starting to think maybe Russ is the guy who's going to get re-signed here.
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I really don't know at this point, Alex. I think there's a really tough decision for this organization to make because, look, they're going to be one and done. I don't think they have the horses to hang with Baltimore in that game. But with that being said,
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I think this team has to really take a look in the mirror and say, what do we need to do to upgrade the position? Because I know they were aggressive, going and getting Justin Fields, getting Russell Wilson, and they did upgrade the quarterback room,
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but it clearly wasn't enough if this team wants to get back to where they think they belong, which is in contention. Some final takeaways here, Alex, from week 18. How cool was the Mike Evans record? Yeah. Breaking, or I shouldn't say breaking, but tying Jerry Rice as the only players to go 11 straight seasons with 1,000 yards.
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When you saw his teammates and Baker and the rest of the team celebrating with him, when you saw his reaction and what that meant to him, that was a really, really cool moment on Sunday.
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really put Mike Evans over the top in terms of when people start talking about where he should rank and where he probably may end up ranking when his career is over. He has 105 touchdowns. This guy gets a lot. He has a lot of years with eight or more touchdowns every single year. A lot of double-digit touchdowns.
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touchdowns at least half his career he's double digits and touchdowns and that's a feat because we can look at guys like julio jones who has the catches and has yards but will does not have touchdowns if i'm not mistaken i think julio jones may only
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have like 85 touchdowns in his entire career and in mike evans career he's got he's already got 105 he had 11 this year 13 led the league last year And you talk about Mike Evans, I think that's really cool. And I just want to say this one thing.
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I think it's very interesting to talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and what Baker Mayfield has become there. 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns at 71%. I think this is the guy that was the number one pick in the draft that everybody was looking for. Granted, he did lead the league in interceptions, but 41 touchdowns, 4,500 yards,
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72% completion percentage. That's the guy. He deserves a lot of kudos for what he's been able to do with his career and fighting through. This guy was a walk-on in two different places, and he's shown it again in the NFL,
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the 4-2 to go through and also be a part of what he did for Mike Evans because who knows? I don't know if that was a play that – the coaching staff call or perhaps known Baker. They may have been a play that he called himself.
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No, you're absolutely right. And him and Sam Darnold, who we talked about earlier, a few years down the road here, guys that were viewed as being bust, guys that were both taken in the same draft, very high draft picks. They get better coaching. They get better teams around them. And now we're seeing them flourish.
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Playing the position has more to do with coaching, teammates, systems, and all the things around you, play calling. Those things really matter in this league. We talk about week 18 moments. Aaron Rodgers joins the 500 Touchdown Club. And look, it's amazing how good this guy was at one point in his career.
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And it's amazing how bad things have gone. One of the most talented quarterbacks ever. I mean, absolutely one of the most talented guys. And in his prime, he was as good as they get as far as being able to make every throw and make it look easy. Incredible talent. But here's the thing.
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When it's all said and done, and it looks like it could be coming to an end here pretty soon, we might have actually watched his last game. We'll obviously all be following that. You could actually make a case that this guy who's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer has really underachieved.
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And the reason I say that is because, look, when it comes to quarterbacks, it's the one position where winning really does matter. Now, look, the stats are great. And all that stuff matters. And Pro Bowls and All Pros and MVPs, that stuff all matters. Don't get me wrong.
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But winning is really the thing when it comes to quarterbacks. We know that's what really separates the all-time greats. And it just felt like this guy didn't do enough winning. And yes, he has a ring. He has everything that you would want as far as a career resume. He checks all the boxes.
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But we're talking about an all-time talent here. We're talking about a guy who is literally, some have said, maybe the most talented quarterback we've ever seen, and it never felt like he got the most of his ability. Even though, like I said, he's a first ballot Hall of Fame lock,
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And I think about another guy who played in a similar era, a crossover era, is a guy like Drew Brees. Because I look at Drew Brees, and I don't hear anybody who's ever critical of Drew Brees for only getting one ring. But a lot of us, and myself included, and I know you as well, Alex,
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are critical of Aaron Rodgers with only one ring, one Super Bowl appearance. Why is that? And I started thinking about this. Why is that the case? And I think it's because when we look at a guy like Drew Brees, Drew Brees, it feels like squeezed every drop from the orange.
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You know, this is a guy that came in the league. He was short. He was a limited athlete. He never had a big arm. He never was a guy that could throw off-platform or off-schedule. But here's a guy that became an all-time great quarterback by working hard and really maximizing his ability to play the position.
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It never, ever felt like Rodgers did that, fair or unfair.
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Fair. But I'll say this. The thing about, you know, my thing on the Saints, that's a Sean Payton thing, not a Drew Brees thing. When Sean Payton decides to lean into the defense and run a bounce attack, they make it to the NFC Championship game.
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When he decides to throw the ball 800 times a year, they go eight and eight. So that's why Drew Brees doesn't get the blame. Because when you look at it in totality, that's on coaching. I said his football obituary is going to say all of the all of the MVPs and all of everything.
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There's going to be a huge but that says he did not win enough. Your defense intercepted Tom Brady three times and you did not convert. And if you're one of those ones, the way that he wants to be considered one of the ones,
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the way that other people like to talk about him as one of those ones that you have to convert. The only thing we have is him being mad that they didn't go for it on fourth down when he had a chance to run for the first down.
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or the end of the other game when he just refused to throw the ball at anybody else and just keyed on Devontae Adams and only throwing the ball when Aaron Jones was running wide open down the field, as well as I can't remember what the tight end that was running wide open down the field.
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That is an Aaron Rodgers problem. So there's a distinct difference between those QBs and why they're going to be looked at. And then not only the fact that Aaron Rodgers comes off as an asshole. Sorry, he does. So your attitude plus the gameplay and what we saw in its recent, so it's very fresh in our memories,
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is why he's going to get the criticism.
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If you enjoy the podcast, do us a favor and subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Once again, I'm Brad Fowler. He's Alex Higdon. This is Pint Glass Football, and we'll catch you next time.
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Thanks for listening to the Pint Glass Football Podcast. Be sure to subscribe and follow us on Twitter at PGF Podcast.
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