S6E50: NFL Wild Card Recap, CFP Reaction, and Deion Sanders to Cowboys Rumors

In this episode, we dive into NFL Wild Card Weekend surprises, discuss rumors of Deion Sanders as a potential Dallas Cowboys coach, and react to the latest College Football Playoff action. Plus, we break down Mike McCarthy's future, analyze standout player performances, debate coaching decisions, and explore the quarterback dilemmas facing teams like the Steelers and Vikings.

Transcription:
Welcome to the Pint Glass Football Podcast.
0:14
Pint Glass Football. I'm your host, Brad Fowler. What's up, PGF Nation? Is Deion Sanders really going to be the next Dallas Cowboys head coach? Plus, of course, a huge weekend of playoff football, college football semifinals, NFL wildcard weekend. We'll give you our reaction to all the games.
0:33
But first, of course, joining me, as always, my co-host, Alex Higdon. Alex, what is going on?
0:40
What's up, Brad? Back again. You know, the college playoffs on top of the NFL playoffs, I think both entities have gotten it right. I mean, football is just rolling and steam rolling from Christmas on through the new year. There have been steam rolling the ratings.
1:00
Yeah, this weekend was crazy. Thursday night, we get a college football playoff game. Friday night, we get a college football playoff game. Saturday, we get the start of the wildcard weekend. That follows into a Sunday of wildcard weekend. And then we get the Monday night football playoff.
1:17
game to cap it all off that's why this episode quite frankly is coming out a little bit later than before because we just had so much football that we had to digest before we could get to you guys so glad you guys are here glad you guys are
1:28
listening but we've got some news that i want to get to first here alex before we jump into these games and i mentioned it there in the intro mike mccarthy of course out in dallas they couldn't reach an agreement it sounds like to come up with a new contract for him so he's out in dallas and now
1:45
There's a lot of rumors about who could be the next guy in Dallas, but the name that's getting thrown out there that everyone's talking about, of course, is Deion Sanders. And apparently that's a realistic option, according to several different news sources out there. Let's start here.
2:00
Do you buy this story that Deion is a realistic option for the Cowboys? Let's start with that first.
2:06
No, I just think it's something that I think I think Jerry is a master marketeer. And the fact of I need to get my team's name out there and I need to get everything on the front. Let me put let me talk to Dion because that's going to lead the headlines.
2:24
I'm going to get all the back pages. I'm going to be in the lead. of all podcasts, wink, wink, and all media outlets that my team is out there so I can really assess who's going to call me, who may reach out that wants the job. But I'll have a name as we get into this further.
2:41
I have a name who's going to, I believe, is going to end up being a coach. And I said it about maybe a week and a half to two weeks ago.
2:46
No, you're right. You're absolutely right about that because I don't think it's a very realistic option either. And I think you're right. I think Jerry loves being in the news. He loves kind of stealing some of the headlines here because here's the Cowboys not in the playoffs. But what are we all talking about? The Dallas Cowboys.
3:01
What are we leading the show off with right now? The Dallas Cowboys to your point. Us and every other media outlet and radio show and everybody else that's covering this sport is talking about the Dallas Cowboys, and that's exactly what he wants. That's why the news floats out there that Deion Sanders is a possibility.
3:16
Now, look, maybe it is. Maybe it is a realistic option. I don't think so, though. And for Deion, I don't think I would want this job anyway. I don't think it's that great of a job, Alex. I really don't. Other than the fact that it's the prestige of being the Cowboys coach,
3:32
I don't think it's a great opening. I think there's several other NFL openings that would be better than this one to begin with. But then outside of that, why would you leave Colorado? He's got a good thing going to Colorado. Things are rolling. He's got that program headed in the right direction.
3:46
And I think he's a better fit as a college coach. Now, could he be an NFL coach? Yeah, probably. I mean, he's a smart guy. He knows football, obviously had a Hall of Fame NFL career. There's no reason I think that he couldn't succeed. I just don't I don't see it being realistic. Now,
4:00
let's let's shift to McCarthy before we get to who some of these candidates are, because I want to hear this for sure. Where does Mike McCarthy go next? What do you think the best fit is for him?
4:12
Chicago. He's a Midwest guy by way of Pittsburgh. I know Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania, but Pittsburgh is closer to Ohio than it is to Philly, so it's the Midwest. But he's from that Pittsburgh area, you know, where I always love to get college players from. He's from that area. He's familiar with, you know,
4:30
the town and the whole Midwest flavor of things, and I think he fits. He gets a young quarterback. He gets to groom his young quarterback. He has a nice nucleus there, Montez Sweat, Jalen Johnson, uh DeAndre Swift he's got a nice wide receiver core there two tight ends so he's
4:46
got some weapons to work with so I think in terms of that where he should go I think that's the best place I think to me personally I think even worse than the cowboy job is the Saints job so I wouldn't want to go there so and other than that
5:02
I'm not going to the Raiders I don't want to deal with that I kind of want to Be in a comfortable situation where I can groom what I want to groom and do what I want to do. And I think that Chicago is the best place there.
5:13
Yeah, I agree. I think Chicago is the best job, and I'm not sure it's even close because I think Caleb showed enough to warrant the fact that he is a good young quarterback that you can definitely build and try to help groom to your point. And I think he is a perfect fit.
5:27
I think it's actually a perfect fit. for both sides because Chicago needs a proven coach and they need a proven offensive minded coach. They need to get away from the stale identity that they've been clinging to since, or the monsters of the midway and the 85 bears and defense defense. Look, I get it. That's great.
5:47
But in this era, you win with quarterback play and you win with offense. I'm not saying defense isn't important, but it's time to shift gears here. You finally have a young franchise quarterback who looks like he could be special. You've got to get him the right coaching around him.
6:05
Now, we both agree we don't think Deion is a realistic fit. Who should Dallas hire and who do you think they will hire?
6:14
John Gruden. I think that's the guy. I think that's the guy they want to hire. Jerry Jones has the gravitas within that ownership group, despite everything that happened with him, that he can go in and get a guy who he would give a five-year guarantee contract to, to come in there and write the ship with,
6:32
with what he has in a guy that wants to get back into the NFL to prove something. So I think, he will go in and hire John Gruden and then kind of step back. And I think John Gruden, AKA Chucky also on his end has the gravitas that he's not scared to go toe to toe
6:48
with Jerry Jones and Jerry Jones is not going to fire him because he's going to be, he would set this team back even further than what it is. And it also gives your team, it gives your fan base. I don't want to sound like a, We're talking about politics, but it galvanized the fan base.
7:04
You know what I'm saying? You get a guy that's going to come in and it's going to work with your quarterback. A guy that's going to come in and it's going to be hard nose and get your team together, rally the troops and do the things that you want him to do.
7:15
And he's going to coach the way that he's going to coach the way that Jerry Jones would like his team. Now, the personnel part, personally, if I'm Jerry Jones, I'd rather Jerry Jones take care of the personnel part rather than John Gruen. John Gruen is terrible at it. Sorry.
7:29
He has just go look at his Tampa Bay record. And if you want to look at the Raiders, look at the Raiders. He's not good at it. So you leave the personnel piece to Jerry Jones and his son and Will McClay, and then you'll be fine. And then just coach the team.
7:40
And I think that's that's the perfect fit for Jerry and the Cowboys.
7:45
Yeah, it's fascinating. I've heard some rumblings about Gruden. I heard a Dallas insider talk about Gruden as a possibility. It makes sense as far as Jerry's M.O., which is he loves proven guys with NFL head coaching experience and he loves guys that have Super Bowl winning experience. So he checks those boxes.
8:04
Man, that would just be a crazy, crazy fit in Dallas. But I get your point there. I definitely do. I mean, obviously the flavor of the month right now is Ben Johnson, the offense coordinator who doesn't fit that mold of what Jerry usually looks for. I also think Kellen Moore is a realistic possibility because we know the
8:20
relationship they had with Kellen Moore. and getting his guy back in house, so to speak. But it's going to be fascinating because I don't think it's a great job. I think with that Dak Prescott contract and with the cap situation they're in, they've got a serious lack of weapons on both sides of the ball.
8:35
Any coach that comes in here could be in some serious trouble, but it's always, always fascinating in Dallas, and they find a way to be interesting even when they're not. So... Alex, let's shift gears here. Let's get to this college football playoff reaction because, look, the wildcard weekend was all right.
8:51
I mean, it was fun, but we didn't get a lot of great games. But these two college football playoff games were instant classics. We had two great games. Let's start with that Notre Dame game. Wow, what a big, big time win and what a big time run that this team is on right now.
9:07
And when I looked at this game, Alex, one stat that really jumps off the page, Notre Dame going 11 for 17 on third down and holding Penn State to just three of 11 on on third down. Notre Dame was down two possessions at one point in this game.
9:24
I mean, the toughness and fortitude that this team showed, they go on a 17-0 run. Look, the James Franklin narrative, of course, that's going to continue here. 12 straight losses now versus the top five team. And on the other side, Marcus Freeman, right now in this college football playoff,
9:43
he is proving that he is absolutely the best coach in the country.
9:46
The one thing we need to do, the first thing I want to talk about is, Brian Kelly, you have to be sitting here and your seat has must have gotten harder by the moment. The final as the final seconds tick down out of this game,
10:01
because you said you left because you wanted a chance at winning a national championship. And here we are. What, Brad, what, two, three years later, two years later, correct? I believe two years, just two years later, two years later. Look where Notre Dame is. The team that you said you couldn't win with. Here, Marcus,
10:17
young Marcus Freeman has gotten this team not only in the college playoffs, but got them through. And, you know, it's the run that they want to look who they beat. Teams that you couldn't beat. They beat Georgia. You can't even be Georgia in LSU where you said you couldn't win in Notre Dame.
10:33
And you can even go to LSU and beat them. He beat them at Notre Dame. So that's the one thing. It's the run and then getting through this game to pull everything together and go back to this game. You're absolutely right. I mean, the fortitude with what they showed, that defense, tough, never giving up,
10:52
keeping his team engaged when there was a big hit by the Nittley Lions and then they came right back. And Riley Lennon, and you know how I feel about Riley Lennon, who tried to give this game away. But, you know, Jaden Greathouse, I mean, seven catches, 105 yards. But Drew Allar, as well as James Franklin,
11:10
but specifically Drew Allar, you had a chance to really boost yourself up in this draft, probably from maybe a third to fifth round to perhaps even a second round if you showed up in this game. And you were terrible, sir, especially that interception. That interception was horrible.
11:26
Yeah, I've got a few different thoughts here. For one, you're absolutely right about the Brian Kelly thing. I mean, no doubt about it. He ran from this job because he thought he had hit his ceiling with this program. He thought that, look, with the recruiting restrictions because of the academic standards that they have at Notre Dame,
11:42
he didn't think he was ever going to be able to get enough players to compete. with the big-time SEC and Big Ten programs. Well, you hit it on the head. He knocks off an upstart Indiana team, but a very well-coached team, then moves on and beats Georgia and kicks Georgia's ass. I mean, seriously, that was a very,
12:03
very convincing win versus them, and then gets another great win versus a very, very good Penn State team that was the runner-up in the Big Ten. This run has been more impressive than anything Brian Kelly did. And look, Brian Kelly took Notre Dame to a national championship. I get that.
12:19
But this being the playoff and these extended playoffs and the tests that he had to get through to get here, this is so much more impressive than anything that they've done prior. It's just unbelievable how good this guy has been. I talked about this on the YouTube podcast when we were previewing this game.
12:36
Notre Dame's got good players. But he does not have the talent that these other teams have. And this is why coaching is so important and why he is so good and why I'm so impressed with this. Because this guy has one five-star recruit on his roster. One.
12:52
going up against teams like Georgia and Penn State that are loaded with four- and five-star players and future NFL draft picks all over the place. Two picks called back in this game because of penalties. One that was an absolutely terrible call. Riley Leonard gets hurt in this game. I mean, it looked like season ends for Notre Dame.
13:12
It kind of felt like this game was going to slip away from them. But then the backup comes in. He goes, what, six for seven? Leads a big field goal drive. Keeps them in this game going into halftime. Their best offensive player, Jeremiah Love, was banged up, and it just felt like every big down,
13:31
they were the ones that made the big plays. That pick to seal it late, I mean, that was a great play by the DB. You're absolutely right. That was a terrible decision by Drew Aller, but I'm also going to put some of the blame here on James Franklin. what are you doing throwing the ball in that spot?
13:47
Why are you calling that play in that spot in the first place? I mean, Drew Aller was off all night. Just run the ball, go to overtime, and play this thing out in overtime. Why are you trying to make a big play there I didn't understand that play call at all,
14:02
and it comes back to James Franklin just making mistakes like this in big moments. It's not the NFL where you have this, what I consider, a terrible overtime format. Overtime in college football, it's a fair shot. You have a fair shot. Both teams get the ball. Line up and let's do it. But once again,
14:19
I just want to go back to Notre Dame because Marcus Freeman has been so, so impressive. Texas-Ohio State, this was another classic game, Alex. The final score, I mean, if you just looked up and saw the score, it does not indicate just how good this game was and how close this game was.
14:37
The Longhorns were one yard away from tying this game up late in the fourth quarter before Ohio State made those huge defensive stops. And, of course, the Jack Sawyer play, look, might go down in history as a top-10 Buckeye moment of all time.
14:52
There was a lot going on in this game. Let me just say it like that. If you want to talk about the back-to-back touchdowns, where I remember, Brad, we were on a text train where we were like, oh, wow, Texas. And then Ohio State came right back with the Draven Henderson 75-yarder.
15:07
I literally thought I said, okay, Texas scored. I'm going to go grab a drink. By the time I got back, Ohio State had scored and were kicking off, and I was confused as to what happened. So there was a lot going on. However, I'm going to give myself another pat on the back because I told you all,
15:23
unless Arch Manning gets in at quarterback, you were not going to win. This was the only way you were going to win. is that Archmandad was going to get it because Quinn Hugh was again through a terrible, terrible interception. Now he's a gunslinger and I don't have a problem with that.
15:42
You just have to be able to curb that in a way. So he is a gunslinger. That's not saying he's a bad QB. It was just about if you want to win. This chip, Arch Manning is the better quarterback. He's more mobile and everything, but I digress. But it was an exciting game.
15:56
Again, like Brad said, 20 to 14. It was 14, 14 in the fourth quarter. So this was a great game down to the wire until Ohio State took, you know, stepped away with those two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
16:07
Yeah, two great defenses, really stepped up in this game. I thought it was amazing to watch the game plan that we saw from Texas. They were just absolutely not going to let Jeremiah Smith beat them in this game. Only had one catch for three yards. And when you go back and watch, they were...
16:25
bracketing this guy every single snap. They had at least two guys on him. There was even a couple times where they had three guys with another guy over the top. I mean, they were taking him completely out of this game plan. And I have to give some credit to Will Howard.
16:42
Just continues, I think, to be the best quarterback in this college football playoff. Showed some real toughness. That golf ball-sized lump on his hand that they showed during the game was crazy. He pushes through it. I mean, the Texas game plan, I think, was really good.
16:58
But this guy still threw for 289 yards and a touchdown to go along with that huge fourth and two first down run on the way to that winning touchdown. I mean, just made some really key plays and just thought it was a really gritty effort from them and this Ohio State team.
17:16
So, Brad, do you want to talk about it or do we both want to talk about it? Because that goal line play, that goal line call with Arch Manning was a horrific, horrific call from a guy that people championed as one of the better offensive coordinators in college.
17:33
Man, it's tough. So hindsight is 20-20, right? And I get that. And it's easy to pick apart this kind of stuff. But I actually thought in real time, there was a few different calls in this game from Sark that had me scratching my head.
17:46
Because, you know, everybody remembers the Jack Sawyer play at the end of the game. And by the way, I agree with you. The Archmanny call was, I don't know what they were doing there. But what about the play right before the Jack Sawyer play when they tried to throw that pitch out and get to the outside?
18:03
I mean, were we watching the same game here, Sark? What made you think you were going to beat Ohio State to the outside? They had been covering up the outside the entire game in the flats and to the sidelines. This team is so fast and tackles so well, and they had been the whole game.
18:19
And you decide to run that play right there, you lose yardage. Because remember, we talked about they were on the one yard line and they lose yardage on that stupid play call. And then the very next play, Sawyer makes the huge strip sack and returns it for the touchdown.
18:33
So I thought the play calling in general when they got down there in the red zone just cost them.
18:39
Yeah, I'm going to say, Sark, you're cautious. Listen, I look at everything. You know, I'm a big top down person and Sark in this instance is at the top. The minute he said he allowed Quinn Hewars to come back, I said, this is a mistake. This is a mistake. This kid is the Arch Manning is ready.
18:57
Like, put him in. You have to know when to cut bait here. listen, kid, we loved you. You've been here four years already. It's time for you to go. Or if you want to stay in college, then you need to transfer. I'm sure Michigan would have loved you over there this season. Shout out to Worlds.
19:12
But I'm just making the point that there was just certain things I would have done to really unlock everything that was here that this team had. The other part is we talked about them shutting down Jeremiah Smith. Well, the top guy on Texas, Isaiah Bond, was shut down as well.
19:31
Yeah, the defensive game plan. And I had a feeling this might be a low-scoring game, even though both teams have a lot of offensive firepower. These defenses are legit. These might be two of the better defenses in the country. I think Ohio State obviously was,
19:45
and I think Texas has a lot of firepower on the defensive side of the ball as well. But, yeah, this was a crazy game. This was a great game. It was a classic. It didn't shock me that Ohio State went. I took Ohio State in this game, but these games lived up to it, man,
19:59
and the college football playoff to this point has been an absolute home run. I know there were some people that weren't a fan of the expanded playoff originally, didn't like the idea of it, and Look, we got to put that to rest because this has been awesome. I think it's been great for the sport.
20:15
We've had so many fun games, so many great matchups and great moments leading up to this. I can't wait for the national championship game. I think it's going to be a great one. And I think this entire cultural playoff has just been amazing. So, yeah, what what a year for college football. I mean, what a year.
20:32
And it's going to come down to, I think, a classic national championship game should be a lot of fun.
20:38
But before we move on, and I know we talked about it briefly last week, there's going to be a lot. This off, I guess you could say offseason for college is going to be very interesting because I, for one, am upset.
20:53
So I know the rest of the SEC is upset, regardless if you have a rivalry with Texas or not. They were our last hope for our foothold to talk a lot of crap to people because essentially – We're getting a Big Ten matchup in the championship game because for all intents and purposes, by location,
21:12
I know Notre Dame is, you know, by proxy there in the ACC, but by location, they are a Big Ten team. So as far as I'm concerned, this is just a Big Ten. This is just a Big Ten matchup. And the SEC has nothing to do with it at all. I'm mad, so I know they are infuriated.
21:31
Yeah, and we did. We talked about it last week. And look, I think it's worth mentioning. I think you're right. I think we've seen a little bit of a shift here. I really do. And I think the NIL and the transfer portal has really changed the landscape of college football.
21:46
I mean, look, we all knew the SEC was handing out bags of money decades ago. long before a lot of these other programs and a lot of these other conferences were doing that. And now that it's all equal and it's all fair and it's all above the table, we're starting to see a much,
22:03
much more balanced college football across the board. And look, I think it's better for the sport. I really do. Because I think there for a while, the SEC dominance was giving college football a very, very regional Southern feel. I think it hurt the sport from a national standpoint.
22:23
I like the representation that we got this year from multiple conferences and so many teams being involved in this. And there were so many teams that I think going into this had a real shot to win this thing. Because how many people pick Notre Dame for starters?
22:36
So that just goes to show you how wide open this playoff really was. And I think it's good for the sport overall. But I think it'll be really interesting to see what the SEC kind of does next year and some of these power programs and how they respond. Because you're right.
22:51
Because right now, it has definitely kind of shifted these last couple years. And it's starting to feel, like I said, I said it last week, I felt like the Big Ten was kind of closing that gap. Well, this playoff has certainly kind of stamped that. Did you know that Pint Glass Football is more than just this podcast?
23:09
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25:25
Don't get me wrong because we love the NFL and we love playoff games, but a lot of lopsided scores in these games. And what it got me thinking about, Alex, was it's never been more obvious coming out of this weekend just how important having a true franchise quarterback is in this era of football.
25:45
If you don't have a guy, you just don't have a chance anymore. in the NFL. And I think the lone exception to that is the Philadelphia Eagles. That's probably going to sound like a shot at Jalen Hurts. I'm not intending for it to be, but look, the Eagles are really the lone exception here.
26:01
And I think it's just because they have the best roster in the NFL. They're so loaded at so many other positions. I'm still not sure that it doesn't come back to haunt them in these playoffs because look, Jalen Hurts didn't look good at all.
26:15
And we're going to get to several other quarterbacks that didn't look very good in this playoff as well. But no one's really talking about it, Alex, because they won. He went two quarters without a completion. It's almost shocking. But like I said, no one seems to kind of be talking about it because this team wins.
26:34
They get a, you know, they overwhelm Green Bay in this game. They dominate on both lines of scrimmage. A lot of injuries to Green Bay. You can ask the Niners about what that's like. And then Jordan Love, of course, just continues to be a really streaky quarterback. And I think we saw this again in this game.
26:52
We've seen him play at a really high level at times, but we've also seen these moments where where he makes really dumb decisions and can really cost his team and can get a little reckless with the ball at times. You can't get away with that type of play versus this defense because this defense is absolutely legit.
27:08
They have big time players at all three levels. Like you always say, Alex, defense and running game is still going to win in January.
27:16
Yeah. Jordan Love is out there. He, like I always say, he, I get it. He's not a rookie, but last year was his first, you know, true starts of his career. He looked great, especially the second half. And then you go in and then you come back the second year,
27:31
they figured out what Mike LaFleur likes to do well with him. And there's things that he hasn't seen before. So they threw a couple of different things. And I will say something that Mike LaFleur said, I don't want to say it's going to come back to bite him,
27:43
but it may seriously sit out there and be untrue because his whole moniker was, we don't need a number one. We don't need a number one. Well, you sure look like you needed a number one out there because Quinone Mitchell is for sure a number one quarterback.
27:58
And if you don't have a guy that can make a play, That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have a Calvin Johnson or a Randy Moss. We're just talking about a guy that can make a play. Who is the playmaker? And all I kept hearing was Christian Watson.
28:12
Well, Christian Watson has not been healthy since they announced his name on draft day. Right. Because he came into training camp hurt and he's been hurt every single year. So, you know, he wasn't a guy that you could count on. If that's the guy, that's the excuse that I've been hearing around here. Josh Jacobs.
28:26
I saw that he, you know, didn't get enough touches. I mean, he was running for four and a half a clip. He had a touchdown, 18 carries for 81 yards. So he seemed like he was able to do what he needs to do just to get enough touches because of the score.
28:38
But then Jordan Love, you were just reckless with the ball. So there needs to be some cleanup there. It's fine. It's fine. People. People in Green Bay shouldn't be jumping out of the window or anything like that. On to the Eagles side of, I know we know what the excuses are.
28:52
He didn't, he was coming out of concussion protocol. He hadn't played in like, what, five weeks, four weeks, you know, for the most part with Jalen Hurts. So they're going to get, they're going to call it a lot of Russ, Saquon Barkley. Hey, that 25-119, had he had it the other game, he would have, nevermind.
29:05
But, you know, the Philadelphia defense did what the Philadelphia defense does. They kind of smothered the Eagles. And, you know, with the interceptions, we saw what happened in the defensive backfield and what the plays that were being made out there. I mean, really, this game was over from the first play of the game. Correct.
29:20
I don't know if you agree. You know, the first play of the game kickoff, they fumbled the ball in their own territory and then. Jalen Hurts this is really we know where this is going to excuse or I don't even want to say excuse but the narrative is simply going to be he himself just was
29:35
knocking off the rust and then the real judge comes against this next game next
29:40
week right let's shift to Bills Broncos I don't want to spend a ton of time on this game I don't think there's a whole lot to talk about but I do want to mention the fact that Bo Nix And the Broncos, of course, they get smoked in this game. I don't think it was surprising. Rookie quarterback,
29:54
first playoff start, going up against the Bills veteran-led team with a lot of playoff experience. Nothing was really shocking about this game. Just watching it, though, Josh Allen totally in command of this offense. Him and Cook in the backfield, and they found balance, and I think it's why this offense is playing probably the best brand of Bills
30:16
football we've seen in the Josh Allen era since they've shifted to this running game and running attack with James Cook leading the way and not relying on Josh Allen to run the ball as much. And I think Allen has just really gotten in full control of the offense and where to go with the ball,
30:34
when to use his legs and when not to look, they get rid of digs and Josh Allen just got even better this year. And look, they tied a record this season for the most players catching a touchdown pass and In the NFL with 13. So it's way more of a spread the ball around offense.
30:55
There is no like legit number one guy. It's just a lot of good receivers. There's no great players for him to throw to. He's got some good tight ends and some good receivers. He's got a really good running back. But man, they're just clicking and calling all the right plays.
31:11
And I got to give a lot of credit to Joe Brady because we've talked about some of these coaching candidates. I'm surprised his name isn't getting mentioned a little more as well.
31:20
Right. Well, I'll say this. There's another record that they broke that I actually think is even more important. I don't want to say they broke it, but they tied it. Fewest turnovers ever because it was 17 games, but they tied it through 16 games and With eight, this team only had eight turnovers.
31:44
You can ask any coach or any analyst worth their salt that talks about football, and they will say the number one thing that kills you is turnovers. And they only had eight all year long. Let me repeat that, eight. Very careful with the ball. But I think in terms of this specific game,
32:02
the number one thing that jumped out to me was that Amari Cooper... And Keon Coleman together, three catches, 13 yards. They were non-factors, quote unquote, in terms of actually, I'm not saying they weren't a distraction where other people were able to get loose, but just in terms of what their specific production was, three catches, 13 yards.
32:24
This was Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, and Dalton K. Kincaisho, specifically more on James Cook, but as far as the receivers, it was them. And you know, one thing I didn't know about Khalil Shakur until they said it, he was second in yards after the catch. As far as Denver, I mean, there's not much to say.
32:41
There's no need to kill them. Again, a young quarterback, Peyton Braves found this man. The only thing I can ever say about Denver is that they just don't run the ball enough. But 31 to seven, you didn't have time to run the ball. So I'm not even going to kill them for that.
32:55
You know, Troy Franklin, there was the Oregon connection there, Bo Nix to Troy Franklin. They could have had another one, but I think Bo Nix might've missed it. So those are the things that I look for. Not that it's a mistake. He made the right read. He just missed it.
33:06
Those are the things that you hope you come back the next year and you can fix those things. So obviously the Broncos have something to build on. And obviously the bills are, Going forward. So I think both teams, I think, you know, I know nobody likes to lose or anything like that. But if I'm Denver,
33:20
I'm walking away from this game like, OK, I feel comfortable that I can move forward and address the other things on this team because I found my quarterback.
33:27
Yeah, no, I agree. I totally agree. This is a team that had really low expectations. I think if I remember right in the offseason when we were talking about over under season win totals, if I remember right, I think Denver was like five and a half. Something like that. Yeah, they definitely went over.
33:42
Yeah, they were way down there. I mean, people thought this was a team that was going to be picking in the top 10 in the draft. And here they are making the playoffs. They found a quarterback, like you said, and had a really nice season. So yeah, hats off to them.
33:55
I think they're heading in the right direction. No shame in getting blown out by a veteran team like Buffalo at all. Now, I talked about it a minute ago. It's such a quarterback and head coach league. I should have mentioned that because it really is. And it's just become more evident than ever because, like you said,
34:11
Denver hits on a rookie quarterback back in the playoffs. Chargers get a real head coach for the first time in years, and they have a big turnaround year one. They're back in the playoffs. I'm not shocked that they lost to the Texans, but I'm definitely shocked that they got routed the way they did and that this game
34:32
was as ugly as it was. LA on the road. Look, we both took LA to win this game. I think we liked this matchup on paper. And when this game started, I mean, they controlled the game for the first about 15 minutes or so, but they only had that 6-0 lead.
34:49
They weren't able to capitalize on the way they played early in the game CJ Stroud, I think – I mean, I'll have to ask you, Alex, what you thought, but I thought he should have been called for intentional grounding in the end zone, and it should have been a safety on that play.
35:06
I was a little surprised that they didn't call that. A few plays later, he escapes – from that big sack and makes that huge play downfield, it felt like that was really when the momentum shifted in this game. It was really a turning point because once that big play happened, it felt like he started clicking.
35:26
And then on the other side, Herbert just came unraveled. And the whole game kind of swung after that. And look, first player ever to throw more picks in a playoff game than he did in the entire regular season. And it was really shocking because this guy really took care of the ball this year,
35:44
had a really nice season, especially in that regard. I think he only had three picks all season. Just came unglued in a big moment here. And look, there's no way around it. It was a bad showing. Now, his receivers didn't help much. They had some bad drops in this game.
36:00
And there was a couple picks, or at least one that I know went right through a receiver's hands. But nevertheless, being really, really poor performance from him, I got to give some credit to the Texans. I think they have what might be the best young cornerback duo in the NFL right now.
36:18
I mean, these guys are playing at a high level. They were getting a lot of pressure on him. And in those corners with Derek Stingley, who is absolutely become the player I predicted coming out of LSU. He's an absolute stud. Kamari Lassiter. I mean, he's been absolutely awesome. This Texas defense.
36:37
This secondary is really something special here because we have to remember, we go back and look at some of the games these guys had. This team picked off Jared Goff five times. They had three interceptions versus Tua. Jordan Love threw two picks versus Houston. Josh Allen went nine of 30. Versus this defense.
36:57
So this secondary and this defense. Maybe we're flying a little under the radar here. And I got to give a lot of credit to D'Amico Ryans. I thought he called an unbelievable game. I thought they had a really nice game plan. And really executed it. After a slow start. But they got it rolling.
37:14
And a big bounce back for CJ Stroud. Who a lot of people talked about. Kind of had a quote unquote down year. I don't think he was terrible. But obviously didn't live up to what we expected after that. you know, kind of historic rookie year that he had. But here they are winning another playoff game.
37:30
And I got to give this franchise a lot of credit. I think Houston, one more really strong draft class away from really being a threat in the AFC.
37:41
Yeah, and that draft class is going to have to definitely include some receivers after we know, you know, Stephon Diggs is a free agent, though hurt, and Tink Dell's gruesome injury after coming, already coming off a previous injury, there's some issues there as well. But I will say, yeah, C.J. Stroud, you know,
37:57
he held his own this game, but it was really the defense that kind of smothered and did their job and did their job very well so I can't say anything too much about the Texans they looked like how they should look they gave Joe Mixon 25
38:09
carries which is what you want to do because CJ Stroud's kind of been streaky this season which is what I always say and I'll just keep reiterating it if you have a good year you usually end up coming up and having a mediocre year and then that
38:20
third year is kind of when you go in and you kind of figure everything out and the game starts to slow down is what you expect so However, on the other side, I will consistently tell all of you people, stop crowning people until you see them do it.
38:35
Justin Herbert has shown you nothing except in the regular season. The rules of football when you're a quarterback and people start talking about the way they talk about you is the playoffs. Troy Aikman is not a good quarterback. If I showed you his stats compared to his contemporaries, he's a quarterback you would never take.
38:50
You know why Troy Aikman matters? Because of what he did in the playoffs. You want to talk about Eli Manning? You don't care what he's done in the regular season. You care about those two playoff runs. Joe Flacco, same thing. So stop crowning people because you all crown Justin Herbert as this guy because of
39:05
what you saw in the regular season. And when he gets to the playoffs, he does nothing. I do not care about his weapons. I do not care about any of that. Justin Herbert, really good regular season quarterback. But what's the difference between, as far as I'm concerned, can anybody tell me the difference between him and Kirk Cousins?
39:19
I can't tell. When they get to the playoffs, they do the same thing. Sorry. Good in the regular season, bad in the playoffs. Sorry. So that's that. But I mean, I'm sure they'll go out and they'll get him some more weapons. Glad McConkie's a nice piece that they added. Perhaps they can. I don't know how that works.
39:34
A lot of people talk about tying T. Higgins to to the charges. You know, you get a T. Higgins, you get him some more some more weapons. specifically, I guess, the running game, because if Harbaugh is going to try and do some of the things that we assume he wants to do in Michigan, you know,
39:50
I like J.K. Dobbins, but I've said he's a good running back, but he just can't stay healthy and is short again this year. Gus Edwards also got hurt, so they didn't have the strong running game the way they like to play defense and not throw the ball and control a lot what they do with Justin Herbert.
40:05
in terms of keeping him upright for the most part, they weren't able to do that. So things kind of got out of control. They couldn't run their specific game plan, which is, you know, grind it out, fight in a phone booth type game and have the defense do their job. So they weren't able to do that.
40:18
So we'll see what type of, you know, draft class, because we know a draft class can change anything in the NFL. They get one of, they get one of those quote unquote guys that wide receiver, whether it be through the draft or or perhaps both, you know, and they'll be right back.
40:33
They'll be right back in the mix because at this point, they're going to start aiming there. They're going to start aiming their guns at the Chiefs and start trying to take down the Chiefs now that they feel comfortable. It's a weak division, but still they're comfortable.
40:45
But the Denver could seem to be right on their heels because they're in the same space of, you know, another draft. You can see some things change here.
40:54
Yeah, the only thing I'll say is I don't know if it is a weak division because all of a sudden, like you said, Denver's on the way up. Now the Chargers are definitely headed in the right direction, and we know the Chiefs are still the Chiefs. So, I mean,
41:06
it's actually – and all three are in the playoffs, obviously, so it's a pretty good division.
41:10
Why are you not talking about the Raiders, though, bro?
41:14
They're bringing up the rear. They got a top pick, so we'll see what they do with that. But, yeah, I think – Looking at the game, I think you're right. I think he deserves a criticism. He clearly has had two playoff showings, and he didn't show up in either one of these games and really,
41:30
really played bad in this one. So all the criticism of him at this point when it comes to the playoffs is warranted. I never was one of those guys that put him in the quote-unquote elite class. I never put him in that group. with Burrow and Allen and Lamar and Mahomes. I never put him in that group.
41:48
I thought he's always been in that next tier of quarterbacks. And after another poor performance in the playoffs, look, maybe he's not wired to play in big games. Because to your point, not everybody is. Because guys like Kirk Cousins, guys like Dak Prescott, these guys have great seasons now.
42:07
seemingly year in and year out and then crap the bed in the big games and maybe he's in that group and maybe that's what we need to come to realize and quite frankly fair or unfair that's going to be the narrative until he changes that
42:20
narrative and that's what I've said about Dak it's what I've said about Kirk and some of these other guys like look you're a really good quarterback but We know that legacies when it comes to quarterback are made in the playoffs to your point, Alex. And until he starts playing better in these games, because look,
42:35
if they would have lost his game, but he played good, I don't know if we'd be having this conversation. If he had a three touchdown, no interception, you know, 300 yard performance and they just came up light. I don't think we're sitting here crushing the guy,
42:49
but the fact that he came unraveled and played his probably his worst game as a pro, to be honest, he's never had a three interception game ever. in the NFL or college. This was his first one ever, and he had four. So it really shows up with his worst performance probably ever in the biggest spot
43:06
in his career. That hurts. That absolutely hurts. So I think this team, though, kind of taking a big picture step back, This team is exactly what I thought they would be this year. I picked them to make the playoffs. I picked them to win about a 10 or 11 games.
43:22
I thought they'd be one of the kind of surprise teams this year because I thought Harbaugh would absolutely get this team moving in the right direction. But I didn't think they had enough of a roster yet to make any real noise anyway. But, hey, better luck next year.
43:37
We'll see how it goes and where they go from here. And speaking of which, we've got to jump to the Steelers because now I think there's some serious questions about where do they go from here. Because, look, I know you picked the Steelers in this game, and I get it. It was a divisional matchup.
43:53
I never thought the Steelers had any real chance in this game. When you have, quite frankly, I think it's fair to say a washed-up Russell Wilson facing what – is soon to be, it looks like, the three-time MVP. This was a complete mismatch.
44:10
And I go back, I keep saying it and saying it again, but this is a quarterback league. And the Steelers are once again still searching for one. And I just think the home stretch of this season and then going into this wildcard game, it was more obvious than ever just how far they still had to go.
44:27
at that position if they were going to really compete. And then you add in the fact that they're going up against, quite frankly, the most dominant running back of this generation in Derrick Henry. This game was over at the coin toss. And look, the fire Mike Tomlin crowd is getting really, really loud right now.
44:45
And I get it. But you can only go so far in this league with mediocre quarterbacks. And look, like I said, I get why people are saying maybe it's over, maybe you've got to move on. I get it. But when you have mediocre quarterbacks or below average quarterbacks, eventually you run into a team with an elite quarterback,
45:06
usually in the playoffs, and you're done. And that's what this team is right now. And I don't know how they fix this, Alex. I don't know how they fix this issue because they're always just too competitive to take a top quarterback. They're always drafting in the 20s.
45:23
So they never have a shot at a guy like a true guy in April. Look, I think Russ is out next year. Maybe they keep fields as a backup slash like insurance policy. I don't know where you go from here, Alex.
45:37
Do you take a flyer on a guy in the second or third round and hope you find a diamond in the rough? I don't know. I don't know what they do at this position, but they're not going anywhere. I don't care if it's Mike Tomlin or Vince Lombardi that's coaching this team.
45:51
You're not going anywhere without a quarterback.
45:53
Okay, hold my beer. I have a lot to say. I have a lot to say on this because this is not even just about the game. Like you said, Brad, the memes and the booze and everything that came out about Mike Tomlin, who I didn't know had a no trade clause.
46:06
I don't even know if you knew that, Brad. He actually has a no trade clause as a coach. I find that funny. But let's talk about Baltimore really first. Lamar came in saying, listen, not this year. We're running this year. And he even ran a lot more.
46:18
then probably sometimes what he needs to do, he had 15 carries for 81 yards. Even though the game was 28 to 14, it was a lot further than really what it was as they were already up 21, nothing in the first half. You know, Lamar was 16 to 21 and two TDs.
46:33
This looked like Lamar really from some of the middle years where he ended up getting hurt, but he had to play a little bit more conservative. I mean, Derrick Henry was going, he was unstoppable. Actually, Derrick Henry, a la, you know, what, maybe six years ago when Lamar, when they beat the Ravens, Derrick Henry,
46:51
as he tossed Earl Thomas, you know, a fringe Hall of Fame player, he then in this game threw Mika Fitzpatrick, a person who was having a fringe Hall of Fame career. I mean, he picked him up and threw him the exact same way. You can Google it. I'm pretty sure
47:07
somebody on the internet has done a side-by-side of this because he did the same exact thing to Earl Thomas that he did to Mika Fitzpatrick on the Steelers. And then the Steelers were off and running and playing. You know, Zay Flowers was not in this game. So Lamar picked up a lot of slack on him.
47:22
As how I like to look, he picked up a lot of slack on him. And I think he also wanted to make a statement because if you look at last year's game against the Steelers, there were several opportunities he had a chance to run. He did not take off.
47:33
Everybody, like I said last year, I won't get into it again. People talk about they didn't run, they didn't run, they didn't run, but also Lamar didn't run when he had the opportunity to. And some of these were designers and some of these were just him making plays. So, you know,
47:46
applaud him because I think he wanted to make a statement and start this playoff differently to let them know that this is a different Ravens team. We've spoken on the Steelers. I mean, not a lot of us expected. I did take the Steelers. I will say that, you know, it's hard. It's still a divisional game.
47:59
It's still a black and blue game because they are rivals and things like that. But we don't need to get too much into what the Steelers are in terms of that. We know both. But what I will say is this before I get to Mike Tomlin and the Steelers. Baltimore has a problem.
48:13
And I thought they cleaned it up and they haven't cleaned it up because that second half defense is still a problem. Now, Brad said, you know, Russ is washed up. Or if you want to look at its pickings, not doing picking type things as a guy that that guy that he believes he is.
48:31
because the Pittsburgh Steelers had opportunities to score. Now, there's a big difference in the Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers than Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. They're not going to make those mistakes. They're going to make some of those plays. So even if you get up, if you don't fix this second half defense,
48:48
because it's been leaking all season, you had a period about maybe four to five games where it got fixed. It's still not fixed. Because the Steelers, as far as I'm concerned, the way that you manhandled them in the first half, they shouldn't have had a chance in the second half.
49:01
As far as the Steelers are concerned, you're absolutely right, Brad. They're never going to be bad enough to be picking at the top of the draft. And when they have picked at the top of the draft, because I went through this, Brad, they picked Devin Bush number 10, and that was the Daniel Jones, Dwayne Haskins,
49:14
got rest of the dead draft where there weren't really any good quarterbacks. The only time that the Steelers have had a chance to truly draft a quarterback was was the year they drafted Chase Claypool in the second round at 49 and four picks later with some guy I don't know named Jalen Hurts,
49:29
who might probably fits the Pittsburgh narrative in a sense. That's really been the only time they've had a chance to maybe that they, if you want to say, quote unquote, passed up on one. You know, as much as everybody wants to yell at Tomlin, this is a front office. This is the front office's fault.
49:45
If, Brad, what you say is true, and let's be fair, Pittsburgh is no different than the Ravens. The Ravens retool. They don't go through four to five. They don't go through four or five years of rebuilding or 10 years of rebuilding. They have about a couple of years where they may win six,
50:00
maybe two years where they win six or seven, and they're right back up. They fix the issue, and they're right back up in Pittsburgh. in the playoff hunt, and they're competitive even when they're not in the playoff hunt. This is Pittsburgh for holding on to Ben Roethlisberger, letting Ben Roethlisberger hold the franchise hostage because that's exactly what
50:17
he did. I get it about Antonio Brown, but he's the one that got Antonio Brown up out of there when he came down there with the GM, and the GM told the whole entire team, it happened and it's documented by everybody on the team that was on that team, that they said this is Ben's team,
50:32
he's in control, and whatever he says is what we're going to do. And I don't think that's a good way to handle it, but you were beholden to him. So we're keeping the same energy with Aaron Rodgers. People doing it with Aaron Rodgers. We're going to do the same thing with Ben.
50:43
So you did not go and address your quarterback situation. And unfortunately, the quarterback, excuse me, the head coach is taking a hit instead of ownership in the front office because this is your fault. And they're not going to step forward. But Mike Tom, somebody should. Well, somebody in the media. Oh, wait, that's me.
50:58
Somebody should step forward and say it's your fault. It's not Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin is a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach. You're not giving him the weapons to do it. So he's been he's been basically taking shit and turning into sugar for all for the
51:10
for the last five years of Ben's career and all the way up until now. So basically for the last 10 years, he's been turning sugar into shit. And it's your fault. So you can yell fire Mike Tomlin all you want to, but this is a you front office problem, not a Mike Tomlin problem.
51:24
And I dropped the mic.
51:25
Yeah, I couldn't say it any better. I mean, and look at the teams that they're losing to in the playoffs. Josh Allen and the Bills, Mahomes and the Chiefs, Lamar and the Ravens. I mean, just like I said, they run into a team with an elite quarterback and it's a mismatch. And that's what this league is nowadays.
51:40
You have to have one. If you don't, you're done. And they haven't just had Average quarterbacks, they've had below average quarterbacks. They haven't had guys that can even come close to competing with the names that I just mentioned. So I'm with you. I think the fire Mike Tom the crowd, I think it's crazy.
51:55
I don't expect Pittsburgh to make a move. That's not how they operate. I expect them. to try to get aggressive in whatever way they can to try to address the quarterback room. It's just going to be interesting to see how they do it and how aggressive they get. It'll be a fun offseason, Alex,
52:13
but we're not there yet because we've got playoffs football right here in front of us, of course, and we've still got a couple games to get to. So I want to talk about this Commander's big... well, I don't want to say shocking upset, somewhat, somewhat shocking upset of the Bucs on the road. This game was crazy.
52:31
Washington kept going for it on fourth down. I thought, and Alex, like you mentioned before, a lot of times we text or we're in these group texts with a bunch of friends of ours talking about these games. And I said during this game that, look,
52:45
I think them going for all these fourth downs might just come back to haunt them here. And it almost did. And this was a close game. Obviously, if Baker doesn't cough it up late in that game on an unforced fumble that really just gift wrapped a score for them, there's a good chance they lose this game.
53:05
And we are crushing Dan Quinn right now. for going forward on all these fourth downs. And look, when the Lions and Bills played earlier this year, I defended Dan Campbell on this podcast for going forward on fourth down in that game. The reason I did then and the reason I'm being critical here is because that game
53:26
was a shootout. They couldn't stop Josh Allen. It was back and forth, high-scoring game. I felt like they needed to be aggressive in that game, but in a low-scoring defensive game like this, points are at a premium. Kick the field goals. They got stopped twice on fourth down,
53:44
and it was both times in the red zone when they had chip shot field goals. Look, they wouldn't have needed a game-winning drive and a doink field goal in the final seconds if they had kicked them earlier in the game. And you look at the Bucs.
53:59
disappointed in for this team because they just made so many mistakes in this game. There was a ton of key penalties in this game. Turnovers. I don't want to take anything away from, from what the commanders did, but I do think the bucks kind of shot themselves in the foot, several different points in this game.
54:15
But hats off to Jaden Daniels. The guy, look, he might have just had the best rookie season ever. The guy plays with poise, confidence, and he shows up in big moments and clearly showed up in a big moment in his first playoff game. His comp, of course, is pretty obvious.
54:32
Everyone talks about Lamar Jackson being the comp, and I get it. But here's the thing, Alex. I think it's safe to say he's light years ahead. of where Lamar Jackson was as a rookie and throwing the ball from the pocket, delivering the ball with accuracy. I think it's scary how good this guy could really become.
54:51
I saw a list that I have to dig into some more. I think they had Russell Wilson, number one, to have the best rookie ever, if I'm not mistaken. So I have to take a deeper dive into that, maybe look at it again when they add Jaden Daines.
55:05
But I believe he's considered to have the best rookie year of at least the modern era. I'm not going to go back too far. At least of what I understand is where he is. Like I say, it takes an off season for defenses to catch up.
55:18
I'll wait to see what happens when defenses catch up and see how you adjust to when they, when they adjust to you. And then we'll see as we go forward. He looks, he looks great. I mean, this is, this was my, my, my surmise of him. I said, he's boomer bust.
55:31
He won't come in and I'll just use a Kirk cousins. He, I don't, he won't come in and be Kirk cousins, like a really good quarterback, but needs a lot of help. He's either going to be great or, or he's not going to be good. So, so far he looks great, but, you know,
55:45
we'll give him some time to go through some, let's see how to, you know, as he gets to a sophomore, a junior, and then a senior, we'll just use it from a grade standpoint. And to see where he is two to three years from now, if he's still trending up, trending down,
56:00
did he just stay where he would, did he just stay where he wasn't in not get better at anything and defense is caught up. But I can't say anything bad about Jaden Daniels. He's doing his job, especially the third down. I think the key thing is the third and as well as you mentioned the fourth down.
56:14
As far as the Buccaneers, it's really two big mistakes because there's the mistake that That Baker made that he took responsibility for. But then there's that bad snap on that third down where they lost yardage and ended up having to kick the field goal because of that bad snap, that bad snap by the center. Nobody was ready.
56:33
Obviously, he wasn't on point in paying attention and critical in a critical time. I think it's Casey Bach is his name. wasn't paying attention because he hiked the ball and nobody moved except the except the commander's defensive line, which they were able to get in.
56:47
And then I think they tackled the running back when he handed it off. So that was another blown play that, you know, I don't want to just blame it all on Baker because they had another chance. And that happened as well. The Buccaneers, they had a chance to win this game and perhaps put it away,
57:02
but they weren't able to. So I'm not going to kill Baker. He's a fighter. He's he's a fighter. He's a dog. He's never going to stop fighting to get his team in the end zone to do certain things. It's just that those critical mistakes is why they're gone fishing, as they say, and the commanders are moving on.
57:19
Yeah, speaking of moving on here, I think Sam Darnold just played his last game with the Vikings. Complete and utter meltdown that we saw on Monday night. And this is really back-to-back huge games. When you look at Week 18, the one seed was on the line and now in the wild card.
57:37
And look, the guy had a great year. I was rooting for him. I know, Alex, you were rooting for him because, look, it was a great story. you know, to see this guy who was labeled a bust one, you know, I think he was a second overall pick if I'm not mistaken,
57:48
or maybe third overall pick guy that they thought was going to be a franchise quarterback for the jets. And we know the story, but for him to make this really big turnaround, I thought it was a great story, but it's, it's costing a lot of money.
58:01
I don't think there's any doubt about that because four or five weeks ago we were talking about not necessarily us, but the media in general was talking about the contract situation. What were the Vikings going to do? Were they going to trade JJ McCarthy and
58:12
give this guy a big deal and think these two games has really kind of sealed his fate with Minnesota. And I don't think there's any doubt that they're going to turn to JJ McCarthy. Maybe they bring back Sam on, on a more team friendly deal and kind of let JJ develop as a quarterback.
58:28
But needless to say, I mean, it's, it went back to the Sam Darnold that I remember playing for the Jets, you know, and you see a lot of tweets and a lot of stuff recently about seeing ghosts. Look, I get it. He didn't look good in this game. I mean, he looked jittery. He looked undecisive.
58:43
He looked uncomfortable. He was hanging onto the ball too long. He wasn't seeing open plays. And we talked about Herbert a little bit ago, you know, not showing up in the playoffs again, but look, Some guys just aren't wired with that clutch gene and whatever that is, whatever, you know, whatever that gene is,
59:00
whatever that is that some guys just don't have it. And I talked about Dak Prescott and Kirk Cousins and guys like this that look, they're really good quarterbacks. They don't have it in big games. And now maybe, at least for the time being, I think we have to add Herbert to that list until proven otherwise.
59:16
And I think Darnold is obviously going to be added to that list. I mean, both had really good regular seasons. Both have a lot of talent. But look, Eli Manning was an average regular season quarterback, but he was clutch in the fourth quarter and in the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers was unstoppable in the regular season,
59:34
but he fell flat a bunch of times in the playoffs. If you really want to go back in history, Terry Bradshaw was actually a pretty average quarterback, but in big games, he was lights out. And look, these big games, these playoff games, they define careers for quarterbacks, fair or unfair. That's just the way this thing works.
59:52
to be fair, the Vikings have a lot to discuss because if we want to believe the rumblings that we're hearing, there's talks about people trying to trade for Kevin O'Connell. So not only everything that the head guy on the field, the quarterback is a decision you have to make.
1:00:07
You perhaps even your head guy as your coach is a decision you're going to have to make a choice on as well. They actually have the six most cap space, just projected cap space ever now. They look to have about between 70 and 80 million in cap space. So if they wanted to Give Sam Donald,
1:00:22
let's just say, we were talking about three years 150 based on what we thought about the Baker Mayfield deal. Let's just say they wanted to do two for 80. I don't know, something like that. Two for 75, two for 50, whatever you want to look at.
1:00:33
I'm not sure if I would want to keep him if I'm going to turn to JJ McCarthy. i did pick the viking money was coming heavy on the rams you know they basically converted on every single minnesota turnover sam donald was sacked nine times for
1:00:47
82 yards you're 1000 correct it looked like the old jet sam donald just sitting in the pocket scared to make a move and not knowing what was going feeling like he looked like he didn't know anything that he had did during the regular season he
1:01:00
didn't apply any of that you could probably even go back to last week brad right against the lions like it I don't know if the Lions showed something or what happened because there was a lot of blitzes coming his way, and I think that's exactly what Aaron Glenn was doing,
1:01:12
and that might have been the recipe to upend this great Sam Donald regular season in terms of what it turned into in that last game of the season and then the playoffs. But, you know, no big surprise for a lot of people. The Rams moved on. But I will say this, and I'll say it again.
1:01:27
Cooper Cubs getting traded. And I don't know where they're going forward, but we can wait for that. But I want to get that out there before people start running around and trying to be first. I want to be first. But Cooper Cup had one reception on one target. What does that tell you about a guy,
1:01:44
what was that, three years ago, that won the triple carry-on and was looking like a top three receiver in this league?
1:01:50
Yeah, I'm going to end it with this here, Alex, because I'm glad that you brought up Kevin O'Connell because I didn't get a chance to really mention him I don't want to put this all on Sam Darnold because look, he did not play well, but I don't think Kevin O'Connell called a very good game.
1:02:05
And I don't think he set Sam Darnold up for a lot of success because he had to have seen what was going on there. Brian Flores bringing tons of pressure and Sam Darnold not responding well to that pressure. That's when you've got to be able to get some play calls in to give your quarterback some layups,
1:02:22
give your quarterback some easy reads, give your quarterback some layups and get him comfortable with run the ball for starters. How about, how about that for once? Cause this guy just goes away from the run. I know you're always really critical of Sean Payton going away from the run. Look, Kevin O'Connell is a McVay Shanahan disciple, right?
1:02:42
He's, he's, he's from that tree. Right. So the one big difference though, that, and I think Kevin O'Connell is a good coach, but the one big difference that I see with him is that running the ball is 100% in McVay and Shanahan's DNA. Right. And for some reason,
1:02:58
that didn't spread to Kevin O'Connell because this guy just continues to go away from the run way too often. Now, look, in the second half when the game got away from him, I get it. You can't really afford to run the ball there. But early in that game when they were still in the game,
1:03:12
He was abandoning the run and throwing on early downs and just allowing Brian Flores to tee off on this quarterback. And so I do want to put some of the blame on O'Connell because I don't think he called a very good game in this situation. And I did like the Rams in this game.
1:03:26
I didn't think it would be a complete blowout. But I did like them for the simple fact of kind of to bring this thing full circle, Alex. head coach and quarterback. I thought that that's where this mismatch really lied, is I just thought the Rams had the better coach and the better quarterback and more playoff experience.
1:03:44
And on a quick side note, man, I love that young Rams defense. 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.
1:04:04
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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