Transcript
Speaker: What's going on everybody welcome back to the Passing Downs Podcast I'm your host Rahul and I'm here with my co-host PD PD say what's up?
Speaker: What's up?
Speaker: And today it's a bit of a special episode where we're talking about the playoff games.
Speaker: Obviously a big weekend last weekend with the wild card games.
Speaker: A lot of not as interesting games as I would have expected, but it did lend for a lot of good quarterback play because of how one-sided a lot of the games are.
Speaker: And a lot of interesting stuff going into next week's divisional round two, which we will preview at the end of this episode.
Speaker: But with that being said, I think we should jump right into these games.
Speaker: Actually, before that, real quick, just shouting out our socials, please follow us on Twitter at PD34 underscore for him and at RealRahulPotty2 for me.
Speaker: And if you're enjoying this pod or any of the other episodes that we've done, please go ahead, like, follow, subscribe, do what you got to do on the platform you're watching slash listening on to support.
Speaker: And with that being said, we'll jump straight into the first game of Wild Card Weekend.
Speaker: And that was Cleveland at Houston.
Speaker: Monster game from Houston and CJ Stroud.
Speaker: I'll let you jump into that, Petey.
Speaker: Yeah, so on the first drive, it looked like things were starting to get going for CJ Stroud for a little bit.
Speaker: Big explosive play to Nico Collins.
Speaker: And then a drop by Dalton Schultz where Stroud just put it in the bucket along the sideline.
Speaker: But that drive stalled out.
Speaker: And then the scoring picked up for both sides.
Speaker: So the Texans respond with a field goal drive where Stroud,
Speaker: It's a bomb to Nico Collins for a 38 yard game.
Speaker: Um, and the tech are the, the Browns respond with a touchdown.
Speaker: Um, so then the Texas come back with a touchdown of their own, um, with, uh, so you just drive hitting John Mechie over the middle for a 27 yard game and then hitting you go Collins on a screen for 15 yard touchdown.
Speaker: The Browns again respond with a touchdown to which CJ Stroud hits Brevin Jordan underneath and Brevin Jordan makes a couple of guys miss and takes it for an explosive 76 yard touchdown.
Speaker: Incredible play by Brevin Jordan, but a little bit of stat inflation there for Stroud.
Speaker: The next drive stalls out for the Texans with a punt.
Speaker: Stroud can't hook up with Nico Collins.
Speaker: He gets behind the defense, but big, big, big time throw would have been needed.
Speaker: A 50-plus yard throw, and Stroud just kind of skymails him.
Speaker: The next drive ends with the touchdown again.
Speaker: The Texans just really putting it on in that first half.
Speaker: This touchdown pass was incredibly well-schemed up.
Speaker: Dalton Schultz going towards the middle of the field after faking kind of out, goes back towards the post.
Speaker: Stroud throws a dime for a 37-yard touchdown.
Speaker: Awesome throw.
Speaker: awesome play to sign for him.
Speaker: The next drive after halftime kind of stalls out for the Texans.
Speaker: They really can't get anything going.
Speaker: The next drive for the Texans, another touchdown drive.
Speaker: This time Stroud doesn't really do too much.
Speaker: It's a couple of intermediate gains, but that's really all that there is.
Speaker: One thing that I didn't mention for the Texans is that Stroud on a third down earlier on in the game, he kind of
Speaker: put the ball in harm's way, threw the ball into kind of double coverage, really should have been an interception.
Speaker: So that was a bad play from him.
Speaker: And it kind of took away from him having a basically perfect game.
Speaker: But yeah, beyond that, CJ Stroud was awesome in this game, throwing incredible passes deep down the field.
Speaker: In the intermediate area, he was very good.
Speaker: But the Texans' scheme just absolutely broke the Browns' defense.
Speaker: They just had no answers.
Speaker: They looked to be kind of over-aggressive, fighting on play-action fakes and things of the sort.
Speaker: So yeah, incredible game from Bobby Slowick.
Speaker: Very, very good game from CJ Stroud.
Speaker: I was really, really impressed with the Texans' offense in this one.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely agree.
Speaker: And I love what you said at the end there, because I was particularly surprised about that as well.
Speaker: This Texan scheme and CJ Stroud absolutely picked apart a really, really good Browns team.
Speaker: And the thing that I was most curious to see is how Stroud would deal with a very physical front that brings a lot of pressure without necessarily having a blitz.
Speaker: Obviously, the Browns have the likes of guys like Miles Garrett, and they've been doing that all year.
Speaker: And Stroud was able to kind of just shuffle around in the pocket, showed great presence, was very, very strong in the pocket and just delivered strikes all day.
Speaker: And the biggest thing that I was curious to see about is how Stroud's game would translate to kind of these bigger games.
Speaker: Obviously, this is still early in the playoffs, but
Speaker: The Browns had all week to prepare for this.
Speaker: I was interested to see how things would translate and it didn't look like Stroud's game changed whatsoever.
Speaker: And for some of these guys who we'll get into soon, we see a lot of changes, but Stroud's deep ball was absolutely on point.
Speaker: He was hitting guys on target left and right.
Speaker: His accuracy aside from that one dropped interception was pretty lights out.
Speaker: I also felt like all day his anticipation, his ability to read this defense and really dissect it.
Speaker: It was looking as good, if not better than what we saw throughout the regular season.
Speaker: And that was the biggest thing I was curious about.
Speaker: We saw it throughout his college career and even some games in his early NFL career that if teams are able to get him pressure wise, stuff like that Jets game that we saw
Speaker: that he can have some rough accuracy games, some rough even footwork games where we see him completely go back on what we've seen in the past.
Speaker: And I did think there was a strong chance with the way the Browns defense was rolling, how strong they had looked up till this point in the season, that they might be able to clamp up CJ Stroud, who did have no tank deal for a lot of the end of the season.
Speaker: Their offensive line was banged up.
Speaker: Their run game, though it played well in this one, wasn't necessarily anything that took them over the top.
Speaker: It was just down to CJ Stroud and whether he'd be able to deliver the same way he has all season.
Speaker: And he did exactly that.
Speaker: Multiple big, big splash plays all day long.
Speaker: And he simply blew them out, except for those first few drives that seemed to stall early in the game.
Speaker: It seemed like drive after drive, they were just scoring and having their way with the Browns defense.
Speaker: Definitely a masterclass or near masterclass from Stroud.
Speaker: And like you mentioned, PD, huge, huge game from Slovic, proving that it doesn't necessarily matter the competition.
Speaker: His kind of scheme and style of play is going to work and he's going to stick to it no matter what, because they're confident in the way they play.
Speaker: Huge game for Stroud and huge game for the Texans as well.
Speaker: All right, so we're not going to be talking about Joe Flacco, a great player, but we're going to move on to the next one.
Speaker: Really juicy matchup, a lot of implications here with the Dolphins and the Chiefs.
Speaker: We're going to start off with the winning quarterback in all of these games because we want to spend a little bit more time on losing quarterbacks because we're not going to be talking about them for the next three months.
Speaker: So just give a little emphasis what this means in the context of their season.
Speaker: Not really going to make large sample conclusions from one game, but
Speaker: there definitely is things to be learned in any given game.
Speaker: So we're gonna talk like that.
Speaker: So starting with the Chiefs in this one, Patrick Mahomes, he played very, very well in this game.
Speaker: I didn't think he was exceptional as a passer because the conditions didn't allow for that to be a thing, but his impact on the ground was really, really felt.
Speaker: 41 yards on two scrambles, and those were in critical situations.
Speaker: Those were really big plays.
Speaker: Mahomes dealt with a couple of drops here and there from his receivers.
Speaker: They weren't really looking to be on good footing.
Speaker: And not too many explosive plays down the field, but a ton of intermediate ones.
Speaker: So starting off with the first drive, Mahomes tries to hit Kelsey and then Rice.
Speaker: Doesn't complete either pass, but one of those is a drop.
Speaker: Then he hits Kelsey on a third and 10 for an 11-yard gain, and it just kind of continues to chunk his way down the field.
Speaker: with gains of eight and then finally 11 year touchdown to Rasheed Rice.
Speaker: The next drive stalls out for the Chiefs.
Speaker: But again, a little bit of receiver miscues in this one with Nicole Hardman tracking the football really poorly.
Speaker: Not gonna give credit to Mahomes on that one, but not gonna say that he missed the pass either.
Speaker: The next drive, the Chiefs score again, a field goal drive.
Speaker: Mahomes continually just chunking his way down the field with short gains.
Speaker: Very, very, very good drive from the Kansas City offense.
Speaker: On the next drive, again, more of the same, just short passes, chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: This is one of the scrambles that I wanted to highlight.
Speaker: Fourth and five.
Speaker: They're in Miami territory at the 62 or the Miami 38-yard line.
Speaker: Mahomes, incredible scramble for a 28-yard gain, just constantly just one step faster than defense.
Speaker: That's kind of how Mahomes is as a scrambler.
Speaker: And yeah, they end up with a field goal on that drive.
Speaker: The next drive stalls out, but the drive after that, they're able to continue to chunk their way down the field.
Speaker: No explosive plays, but get their way into field goal range near the end of the half.
Speaker: And in the second half, it's more of the same, just a couple of plays here, actually.
Speaker: One pass to Noah Gray on a second and 10 over the intermediate to deep area.
Speaker: One of his best throws of the game, and it's only like 17 yards in the air because of the way conditions were.
Speaker: Yeah, just continually chunking his way down the field with not super big explosive plays.
Speaker: Can't convert in the red zone though, and they end up with a field goal.
Speaker: The next drive, finally a touchdown drive for the Chiefs.
Speaker: Mahomes just short passes combined with the run game.
Speaker: He does hit Rasheed Rice for a 28-year game, but that was a little bit more of a Rasheed Rice play than a Patrick Mahomes play.
Speaker: And yeah, that's kind of everything that they needed in these conditions.
Speaker: Yeah, I said Mahomes was kind of average-ish as a passer to me, but adjusting for the weather, it's pretty clear that he played a very good game.
Speaker: And as a scrambler, those two scrambles that he had were enormous, especially that fourth and five-one.
Speaker: So yeah, very, very impressed with Mahomes in this one.
Speaker: Excellent performance.
Speaker: Once again, absolutely agree.
Speaker: And some of my biggest takeaways from this game is I think everyone who's watched the Chiefs this year, including us, has been very weary and questionable about their offense.
Speaker: And I don't know if it was the Dolphins defense playing kind of clearly soft and not really playing their best, but...
Speaker: it's looking like the Chiefs and Andy Reid Mahat have kind of figured out how to put together somewhat of a working offense despite kind of a severe lack of talent in this receiving core and the weapons around Mahomes and I'm starting to see a little bit of shift from them being a really Kelsey focused offense to really prioritizing Rasheed Rice and those sort of quick screens or the short passes that you feel like would go to Kelsey a lot
Speaker: it's starting to focus on Rasheed Rice a lot more and not to say Kelsey's not a part of the game plan but it's clear he's not got the same burst and same downfield ability that we've seen throughout his career and in this game they were able to use him not in that role kind of maximize what Kelsey's still best at which he's still incredible getting open quick he's still got incredible hands he's elite in that intermediate range of the field
Speaker: And in general, the chiefs were very focusing or focusing heavily on that intermediate range of the field, not only the weather, but in general, their team does not lend for.
Speaker: a high powered deep firing offense anymore.
Speaker: And even though they were trying to move away from that the whole year, I never felt like they got it right.
Speaker: And this seemed like the first game where things started to click.
Speaker: And like you were saying with Mahomes, even though he didn't necessarily have any splash plays, I thought he was very accurate.
Speaker: He was an incredible decision maker in this one.
Speaker: Like you mentioned, and I feel like this happens a lot in big games with Mahomes, he seems to always have that one or two clutch scrambles.
Speaker: that are huge for his team.
Speaker: And it once again came that fourth and five one I thought was huge that completely could have swung the game with it being as early as it was.
Speaker: The Chiefs didn't necessarily have a lead yet and that completely or not a big lead and that completely changed things.
Speaker: And I like that they're finally settling on
Speaker: getting downfield, getting their points, and locking down on defense.
Speaker: Because at this point, that's what their offense is.
Speaker: That's what they need to be.
Speaker: And Mahomes played incredible in that sort of situation.
Speaker: I think his accuracy stats would look even better if it wasn't for a few drops here and there.
Speaker: And I think he was very accurate, great at kind of deciphering this defense.
Speaker: And I do want to also take it with a grain of salt, because like I was talking about, that Dolphins defense,
Speaker: was kind of abysmal in this game.
Speaker: And so were the Dolphins as a whole, which, well, let's get right into right now.
Speaker: One thing before we get into the Dolphins offense, I think, so any conclusions to be made about the Chiefs offense, like you said, should be taken with a grain of salt.
Speaker: The Dolphins playing with,
Speaker: you and me out there at Edge Rusher resorted to a significant amount of blitzes, which Mahomes is, at this point, it's like a machine.
Speaker: He just carves that up as much as possible.
Speaker: You're not beating him.
Speaker: You can ask my roommate.
Speaker: I'm yelling at my screen, stop blitzing, and they just wouldn't stop blitzing.
Speaker: It just became pretty simple for Mahomes mentally, but that's not to take away from anything that he did physically, especially considering the conditions.
Speaker: And speaking of the conditions, let's go to the other side where the Dolphins offense was very clearly affected by the conditions.
Speaker: I don't want to spend too much time on the play by play, honestly, because it would get boring if I just went through everything in the first half and said they threw a screen here, they threw a screen there, they threw a screen here, they threw a screen there.
Speaker: But yeah, that's it's one, it's poor play calling from the coach.
Speaker: And it's also an indictment on what the coach thinks of the quarterback's physical tools.
Speaker: I think I told Patti this in a conversation that we had before the podcast, but there's only five to six quarterbacks who I think you can really lean on in conditions like that, where you would think,
Speaker: you can either run the ball with them or you can trust that their fastball can cut through that type of cold.
Speaker: Like the ball, even with Mahomes, there's some of his throws that require touch that weren't really like, they would just kind of fall flat for the receiver.
Speaker: So yeah, clearly for a quarterback who relies on touch as much as Tua, throwing was not,
Speaker: in his bag in this game.
Speaker: So it got really tough for the Dolphins offense.
Speaker: I'm just going to highlight the biggest plays that they had.
Speaker: So 53-yard touchdown to Tyree Kale.
Speaker: Tua just kind of threw it up there.
Speaker: Tyree came back and got the ball like he sometimes tends to do and ran in for a touchdown.
Speaker: Nothing really there from Tua, just
Speaker: Great play by Tyreek Hill.
Speaker: The interception from Tua.
Speaker: So he gets pressured up the middle, has to fire off his back foot.
Speaker: This one isn't like, this one isn't something that's affected by the weather.
Speaker: This one is something that we'll continue to talk about right here.
Speaker: It's a tangible issue for Tua where he really does need his base to throw.
Speaker: And while I consider that to be a positive in the sense that it allows him to have above average accuracy, despite playing with so much anticipation with the hand-eye coordination standard being much higher for him,
Speaker: when he throws so early in the progression.
Speaker: Not being able to throw off his back foot to that degree is something that comes back to bite him, especially when the Chiefs defense is this good and the windows are a little condensed.
Speaker: That play, it was open.
Speaker: He probably should have hit it, but because he wasn't able to throw off his back foot there, it just kind of resulted in an overthrow and an interception.
Speaker: And then the last play I wanted to discuss was on a fourth down where Tua made his best throw of the game.
Speaker: It was late in the fourth quarter, which you would consider garbage time, but it doesn't show up in the stat sheet.
Speaker: It would have been something like a 30 plus yard gain.
Speaker: And Tyreek Hill just dropped it.
Speaker: So I did want to highlight that because it was Tua's best throw of the day by a lot.
Speaker: So not having it show up in the box score or the highlight reel or whatever will be kind of disappointing.
Speaker: So let's spend the rest of the time that I freed up by not talking about the play-by-play for this game by recapping what was an awesome season for Tua that kind of ended in
Speaker: unfortunate fashion.
Speaker: So this kind of adds to a long line of disappointments, I guess you could say for Tua where he shows that he's a little bit more, how do I say this, susceptible to playing worse against the better defenses, especially with the weaknesses that the Miami receivers have shown.
Speaker: So I was also talking to Patti about this before the podcast, but
Speaker: Some of the issues with physicality on the outside for Jalen Waddle, especially as he's dealing with this injury and Tyree Kill even, I think there's kind of a misconception with them.
Speaker: The misconception is that you can't play bump and run or press coverage against them because one misstep and they're gone, right?
Speaker: That's kind of the common catch-all phrase that people use.
Speaker: But over time, the physicality kind of tends to wear on them because they're not really bigger guys.
Speaker: They're not really guys who are able to just juke defenders out of their shoes or are at the line overpower and win against press consistently.
Speaker: So that type of thing against high level corners like the Chiefs have.
Speaker: The Chiefs have awesome cornerbacks like LeJarius Sneed was doing a fantastic job against Tyree Kill for most of the night.
Speaker: Just their ability to jam them at the line and disrupt the timing of their routes, that affects their performance.
Speaker: ability as players and it also in turn affects Tua.
Speaker: So I think you can look at that as a flaw in Tua's game that he can't overcome poor wide receiver play.
Speaker: That's definitely the truth.
Speaker: But for me, when I'm looking at like a high end offense and what it takes to win Super Bowls, that type of thing is less impactful for me.
Speaker: I want to see guys who can excel in high level situations because no Super Bowl has been won by a bad team.
Speaker: So
Speaker: That's the one thing.
Speaker: The big thing with Tua though that's very apparent from this game is that his ability to throw on different types of platforms has to be improved.
Speaker: And I think
Speaker: He got better at it from 2021 and 2022.
Speaker: Whatever his judo training, whatever it did, he definitely came back looking bigger and stronger.
Speaker: And his ability to take a hit in the pocket without getting injured is one way that it's shown up.
Speaker: The other way that I would like for it to show up is his ability to drive the ball off his back foot.
Speaker: Some of that is an arm talent thing, but some of that is just a body strength thing where he just can't torque like the best passers in the game in those types of situations can.
Speaker: So I would like to see that as an area of improvement for him in the off season.
Speaker: And the other thing is that 20 to be a little bit better within the progression, kind of going from one to two.
Speaker: So now this kind of bleeds into some of the issues with the Miami scheme.
Speaker: The Miami offense is kind of built around throwing to their first read as frequently as possible, which is good.
Speaker: The first read is the most efficient place to go with the football.
Speaker: It's where you win.
Speaker: But yeah,
Speaker: As you go up against higher and higher level defenses, they're able to take away that fastball, that first read more commonly.
Speaker: So it's either on the system or on Tua to be able to create something
Speaker: quote unquote out of structure.
Speaker: You can still progress to your second read out in structure, but with the way that Miami sets up their offense to get rid of the football in two and a half seconds, it's kind of, it kind of becomes out of structure if you can't hit your first read.
Speaker: So you saw so many check downs in this game from Tua and that's kind of why he was being forced off his first read by good coverage and it just went straight to a check down.
Speaker: So that kind of led to lower level impact for the Miami offense.
Speaker: And then the other thing that I would like to see from a Miami offense is someone who can add like a power element to their passing game.
Speaker: They're very, very finessey on the outside.
Speaker: They can be beaten by great press corners.
Speaker: This is something that showed up in many different games.
Speaker: So adding a power element at receiver to adding a power element to his game as in like strength, more strength.
Speaker: I don't think he would take away from any explosion that he has.
Speaker: He's not like an outer structure creator anymore.
Speaker: So adding more weight and mass, I'm totally fine with that.
Speaker: And yeah, Miami is close.
Speaker: They're very close.
Speaker: It's very, it's been very obvious throughout the season.
Speaker: Like they were contending for a one seed.
Speaker: If they don't blow the game against the Titans, this game doesn't even happen.
Speaker: It would happen in Miami if it happened.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: Yeah, they're very close.
Speaker: Things are going to get harder from here because of the way that their contracts are structured.
Speaker: But I don't think that wholesale changes are needed.
Speaker: And Tua needs to make some minor improvements to his game to really make that jump to really put Miami in serious rural contention.
Speaker: But yeah, they just didn't have it on Sunday.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the end of the regular season here because those games became very pivotal because the Dolphins offense pretty clearly is just simply not built to play in cold weather.
Speaker: It's very evident that warmer weather situations are much better for them.
Speaker: And the way to ensure that you're going to get the right conditions, you're going to have to win in the regular season and get one of those higher seeds so you can host as many games as possible.
Speaker: If we're looking at a two-seeded Dolphins team that probably or does get to host two games in Miami, I think we're looking at a completely different playoffs here.
Speaker: So that kind of end of season where they faded away definitely essentially ended their season here.
Speaker: But moving on from the Dolphins, or I guess still kind of talking about it, I think kind of to encompass what you said about Tua and the receivers, I think this team as a whole simply is not going to win.
Speaker: And their biggest downfalls come from the fact that they're just not physical enough on the team.
Speaker: We also, as a team, we saw it defensively too.
Speaker: Their linebackers were afraid to get in there, stop the run, stop Mahomes in the open field too.
Speaker: Their defensive linemen were simply not getting nearly enough rush for Patrick Mahomes to kind of get off his
Speaker: And they were blitzing, like you mentioned, PD to maybe get him a little bit under duress, and that still wasn't working.
Speaker: And looking at the offensive side of the ball, like you mentioned, people assume because Tyreek Hill's so fast, Jalen Waddell is so fast, that they're able to break press coverage pretty easily.
Speaker: But I think everyone saw clips like that, viral clip where I believe Snead just locked up Tyreek Hill at the line and almost slammed him the ground.
Speaker: It wasn't obviously how it looked the whole game, but a lot of the game, him and Waddle were very easily jammed at the line.
Speaker: They're both guys, like Petey mentioned, not much of a physical presence.
Speaker: They're more finesse guys, and when you do play them that way, and I think we've seen this time in and time out with the Dolphins, when they play better teams, when they play better defenses, they seem to get shut down, and it's because the two key parts of their offensive game, the things that they're built upon,
Speaker: And it's kind of that outside run game with Raheem Mostert and just them crossing Tyreek Hill and Galen Waddle over the middle of the field and using Tua's accuracy to get it to them in open space and cook that way.
Speaker: Both of those aspects get completely taken away when you play a physical defense because this Miami offensive line isn't good.
Speaker: They're not going to be able to
Speaker: block your way to a good run game.
Speaker: You're going to need Mostert to be able to outrun guys.
Speaker: And when the offensive line is getting blown up at the line, we see output like we did in this Chiefs game where they can't run the ball.
Speaker: And then with Tua, it's just unfortunate because he's simply not built for these sort of games.
Speaker: And I think that interception was very evident.
Speaker: like PD you were talking about, that kind of change of level back foot throws that you saw a guy like Jordan Love throw time and time in Dallas.
Speaker: Tua either needs to get better at making those or just completely take them out of his game.
Speaker: Because every time they play these physical defenses and he's forced to make that difficult throw, there's always one key mistake that ends up changing things.
Speaker: This game started off on a bad foot for the Dolphins right away because of an early interception.
Speaker: And they had a dig down.
Speaker: out of that hole the whole time.
Speaker: And when it's cold weather and you're trying to all you're already down points trying to score fast, it's it's not a good situation.
Speaker: And to end the Dolphins kind of forced themselves into that and a bigger picture thing.
Speaker: I agree with you completely like the way this offense is built and to us game right now.
Speaker: I think the situation could be as good as possible.
Speaker: And this team still is not going to win a title the way Tua is playing right now.
Speaker: And it's because I think there's a clear way to stop him.
Speaker: And I think even though he had an elite season and played very, very well,
Speaker: It's showing in games like this that a lot of it is coming as a product of the system.
Speaker: And when you're asking him to play outside of the system in some games, he's not able to do it.
Speaker: There needs to be some aspect of his game, whether it's playmaking, whether it's bulking up a little bit like you mentioned and being strong in the pocket and making those off-platform throws.
Speaker: But when teams are able to jam those crossers and take away your first read, there's gotta be another way for you to make plays consistently.
Speaker: without just completely folding because we've seen time in and time out both last season and this season when teams have the personnel and better schemes defensively to line up against this Dolphins team when they are able to jam your receivers when they all are able to bring pressure to Tua without necessarily rushing more I think guys like Chris Jones were huge in this game because they were up in Tua's face the whole game and you could say it's just them running into a good defense but
Speaker: If the Dolphins want to make it far, if Tua wants to make it far in the playoffs, they're going to face at least one team like this and they're going to need to beat at least one team like this.
Speaker: And I haven't seen outside of maybe a divisional matchup versus the Bills here and there, the Dolphins be able to beat a team or a scheme like that.
Speaker: And Tua's clear flaws or little flaws in his game are getting exposed in those situations.
Speaker: And I think he's a complete enough quarterback to where
Speaker: The minor flaws in this game, which is the arm talent mobility to a certain extent.
Speaker: I don't think those are massive enough to where you're taking away to a from being a Super Bowl winning quarterback.
Speaker: There are plenty of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks who had similar kind of downfalls and to arguably has better bodies than a lot of guys like someone like Drew Brees, for example.
Speaker: but you simply cannot make those mistakes and do stuff that you know you can't do in the biggest games of the season and when the weather does get cold like cold like this i can't expect this much of an accuracy drop off or even his anticipation which is normally very very good we didn't see it as much in this game and
Speaker: he not only needs to get better at the things he was bad at but even the things he was good at in this game i wasn't seeing it to the level that i had seen in a lot of the games throughout the year and i i wouldn't harp on it so much if it if it was just the chiefs that exposed this out of two and the dolphins offense
Speaker: but it happened against the Bills this season, happened against the Niners this season.
Speaker: And if we go through it, there's plenty of examples where we see it happening.
Speaker: And it's an issue that they definitely need to solve before they want to be serious contenders.
Speaker: Yeah, what Miami really needs is like a home run sort of draft class where they kind of get some of these guys on rookie contracts and solve a number of their issues.
Speaker: Kind of like the team that we're going to talk about next has done, but still end up falling short.
Speaker: So let's get into that game.
Speaker: This game was a blast for me to watch as a big Jordan Love supporter.
Speaker: As Packers against the Cowboys.
Speaker: And man, this was a dominant, I mean, dominant showing from Jordan Love and the Packers offense.
Speaker: They were unbelievable.
Speaker: I mean, it started early and it just didn't stop.
Speaker: Love hit Romeo Dobbs on a deep one for a 22-yard gain.
Speaker: He hit Boat Melton for a
Speaker: a seven yard gain and then continue to chunk his way down the field until Aaron Jones punched it in with a touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive was their only drive that really the Dallas defense did something.
Speaker: But even on this drive on third and nine, Love rolls to his right, hits Romeo Dobbs for a 26 yard gain, amazing throw from him.
Speaker: Just kind of buying time.
Speaker: This is what I like to call the functional early pocket bail where
Speaker: It's a third and long.
Speaker: You really need to buy time to have your guys develop their routes down the field.
Speaker: And Love does that and hits Romeo Dobbs.
Speaker: Incredible play for him there.
Speaker: Can't hook up with Jaden Reed on third and nine, so they end up punting.
Speaker: But the next drive, they come back after Dak throws an interception, which we'll get to.
Speaker: And they punch in a touchdown after Love hits Romeo Dobbs for a 15-yard gain after hitting Jones on the screen for a 10-yard gain.
Speaker: Next drive, another touchdown.
Speaker: Love hits Christian Watson and then Tucker Craft for 9 and 10 yard gains and then hits another deep one, absolutely terrible coverage bust for a 39 yard gain to Romeo Dobbs.
Speaker: They continue to chunk their way down the field.
Speaker: slowly and then Jordan Love throws one of my favorite passes of the year.
Speaker: This was an incredible throw.
Speaker: Third and seven, they're at the Dallas 20-yard line.
Speaker: Dallas shows zero blitz and they come with the zero blitz and Love throws.
Speaker: He takes a big time backpedal, something like nine steps off his back, but kind of pump picks a little bit because Dontavian Wicks is trying to sell the corner route before he comes to the post and just throws an absolute dot to Dontavian Wicks for the touchdown.
Speaker: Yep, and he gets into that play before the play.
Speaker: You can see him come up to the line of scrimmage and kind of check into it.
Speaker: It was a little bit of a fun moment there.
Speaker: Just the total package on that play.
Speaker: I absolutely loved seeing that.
Speaker: The next drive comes.
Speaker: After halftime where Love just continues to keep it rolling, hits Romeo Dobbs for a gigantic 46 yard gain.
Speaker: And then the Packers are able to punch it in with Aaron Jones.
Speaker: The next drive, the Packers get the run game going and then Love hits Luke Musgrave on a deep touchdown.
Speaker: Horrible coverage bust, but Love has pressure in his base and he kind of has to really backpedal while throwing it.
Speaker: I would say this was a very impressive throw and Musgrave takes it in for the touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, again, another touchdown, but this time Love didn't really do much.
Speaker: He hits Romeo Dobbs, though, on a fourth and two.
Speaker: This was a really impressive throw.
Speaker: So Love, it's a designed rollout, and he has to throw back across his body to the left into a super, super keyhole-tight window, and he hits Romeo Dobbs for that touchdown.
Speaker: Really impressive three-yard touchdown, one of the more impressive three-yard throws that you'll see.
Speaker: Then they take Love out of the game because it's so much of a blowout.
Speaker: He comes back in after Dallas kind of looks like they're coming back a little bit as an incompletion on third down.
Speaker: And that's really their second punt of the day when he's in the game.
Speaker: So yeah, basically a flawless game from Jordan Love.
Speaker: He kind of just missed one throw really.
Speaker: And the explosive plays that he was getting,
Speaker: Definitely a product of the Dallas defense being really poor in this game.
Speaker: But wow, I was blown away by his performance.
Speaker: This is the type of performance that like elevates you a tier in like those Pro Bowl episodes that we do.
Speaker: And yeah, Jordan Love, he looks incredible right now.
Speaker: He looks like a superstar.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm going to start off by putting my hands up because I was so, so wrong about Jordan Love and so far,
Speaker: from being right about the way he was going to progress.
Speaker: I believe at the start of the year, I had him not even as a starting level quarterback by the end of it.
Speaker: And boy, was I wrong.
Speaker: Because I want to start off by saying that because some of the things I saw in that Dallas game is stuff very few quarterbacks in the league can do.
Speaker: And Jordan loved
Speaker: has the physical tools to do those things.
Speaker: And he's finally putting together this ability to actually find spots that break down defenses and is comfortable in the pocket and just making elite throw after elite throw.
Speaker: His accuracy is finally coming together and he's seeing the field much better than I think we've seen him do throughout the season.
Speaker: I thought there was time in timeout where
Speaker: He was hitting wide open guys.
Speaker: And you can say that's just because the receivers are so good or the scheme was so good.
Speaker: But to me, I felt like a lot of the time earlier in the year, Jordan Love was forcing tighter window throws, was forcing throws that aren't as high percentage because he can.
Speaker: He's got an elite arm talent.
Speaker: He's got the ability to fit in those throws.
Speaker: But now that Jordan Love is hitting those wide open passes like that Luke Musgrave deep touchdown throw,
Speaker: That one maybe he would have seen regardless because I don't even know what the Cowboys defense was doing at that point.
Speaker: They were leaving guys wide open downfield left and right.
Speaker: But Jordan Love is finally putting everything together and plays like that slant touchdown pass to Romeo Dobbs on fourth down.
Speaker: The ability to fit that pass in such a minuscule window in between linebackers.
Speaker: Not many people have the arm talent and precision to be able to do that.
Speaker: And all those back foot passes he was making, like the Dontavian Wicks touchdown, guys like Tua, who we just talked about, people with years in the league, that's stuff that they can't do because their arms are not built like that.
Speaker: And Jordan Love just has that size, that raw arm strength that is able to make those throws.
Speaker: And he's putting those intangibles together with his quarterback play.
Speaker: And it's coming to...
Speaker: coming together because becoming a hyper league guy who's putting up masterclass performances with accuracy looking great his ability to get the ball in his receivers hands and allow them to run for yak the ball placements incredible just everything Jordan Love did in this game was amazing and we're starting to see I think another franchise quarterback for these Packers uh man I don't know how they keep doing it I guess their little
Speaker: formula of bringing in a guy early, having them learn under a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Speaker: It seems like it works because Jordan Love is looking like baby Aaron Rodgers out there.
Speaker: His tendencies, his footwork, even that quick flick pass that he was making to launch the ball downfield 40 yards in like a second of arm release.
Speaker: One of the only people I've seen that do that ever is Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love has been able to emulate it.
Speaker: And I feel like he's got the arm talent to do that even better.
Speaker: It seemed like his flicks were going further downfield than we'd be able to see the Rodgers doing like those short period times where you just got to let go of the ball.
Speaker: Yeah, he was incredible, man.
Speaker: Yeah, Jordan Love's footwork would be caught by Turnitin for plagiarism if you compared it with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker: It's almost a one-to-one.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Luckily, there's no plagiarism in the NFL, so...
Speaker: Luckily for him.
Speaker: All right, let's go to the other side, the more depressing side.
Speaker: And that's the Cowboys and Dak Prescott.
Speaker: Dak was very, very subpar in this game.
Speaker: He was mediocre.
Speaker: And it was just so off-putting to see Dak Prescott against a defense that we don't even consider elite.
Speaker: Like, I think
Speaker: there's been a narrative that Dak struggles against elite defenses, but sometimes he just picks a defense in a day to struggle.
Speaker: Like we saw against the Cardinals earlier on in the season, and he just doesn't have it that day.
Speaker: And on Sunday, that was one of those days.
Speaker: So let's get into it.
Speaker: So Dak early on in the game, nice 18-yard scramble on a third and three, picks up the first down.
Speaker: But the drive ends up stalling out after a miscommunication with C.D.
Speaker: Lamb.
Speaker: They were really not on the same page early on in this game.
Speaker: The next drive, Dak can't hook up with Brandon Cooks, and then he throws an interception to Brandon Cooks, where this one is not on Dak.
Speaker: We'll get to some turnover plays that are on Dak, but Dak kind of throws it to Cooks, and Jair literally goes through him for the interception.
Speaker: So worst comes to worst, you're kind of thinking incompletion after a great play by the DB, but Cooks just absolutely gets destroyed on that route.
Speaker: The next drive, Dak...
Speaker: Starts throwing some short passes.
Speaker: He hits Jake Ferguson on a really impressive throw.
Speaker: Tight window throw where he puts it over the outstretched arms of a couple of linebackers and in front of a safety.
Speaker: Great 22-yard pass.
Speaker: But then he takes a really, really bad sack.
Speaker: On third and five, he gets sacked for a six-yard loss, which puts them out of field goal range.
Speaker: One of the worst decisions that he made all day, and that's including some more that we'll talk about in a minute.
Speaker: The next drive ends up with a pick six.
Speaker: Um, this one, so on, on this drive, Dak has a couple of short completions.
Speaker: It looks like they're kind of moving the ball.
Speaker: There was a nice one to Michael Gallup and then it's CD lamb.
Speaker: But as soon as they get into green Bay territory, Dak, there was a horrible interception where he just seemingly does, doesn't see Darnell Savage.
Speaker: Um, I feel like Savage just really baited him really well on this play.
Speaker: Um, where a really, really bad throw ended up with a deserving pick six.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: The next drive, the Cowboys do a good job chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: Dak just continually takes the shorter gains and then throws the one-year touchdown to Jake Ferguson off this kind of flat route RPO boot action type thing.
Speaker: The next drive, after halftime, Dak just chunking his way down the field, short gains, ends up hitting CeeDee Lamb a couple of times, and they get to the field.
Speaker: Oh, one thing I wanted to mention, on the last drive,
Speaker: where they scored a touchdown.
Speaker: Dak very much tried to throw an interception.
Speaker: Turnover-worthy play here, where he forces it into double coverage and it gets dropped for the interception.
Speaker: So that makes up for the actual interception that he threw to Brandon Cook.
Speaker: That wasn't really on him, in my opinion.
Speaker: Anyway, second drive after halftime.
Speaker: The Cowboys, again, do a good job chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: Dak finally hits an explosive big play.
Speaker: This went to Michael Gallup for a 42-yard game.
Speaker: And they just continue to chunk their way down the field.
Speaker: and Tony Pollard punches it in for the touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, the Cowboys stall out after a few nice passes from Dak for an 11 and five-yard gain to Ferguson and Pollard.
Speaker: Dak can't hook up with Jalen Tolbert on a fourth down.
Speaker: Heavy pressure, but this throw was awful.
Speaker: The next drive, the Cowboys finally get one going.
Speaker: Dak just continually chunking his way down the field.
Speaker: No explosive plays, but
Speaker: working the intermediate area of the field very nicely.
Speaker: Hits Jake Ferguson for the touchdown, but yeah, it's looking like a little too little too late until they hit CeeDee Lamb for a 47 yard game.
Speaker: Big explosive play finally there.
Speaker: And then Dak hits Jake Ferguson for the 14 yard touchdown.
Speaker: They get the two point conversion.
Speaker: So it's only a two plus two score game, but their next drive just kind of doomed them.
Speaker: Dak hits a couple of nice plays to Brandon Cooks and Michael Gallup, but
Speaker: on fourth down, another miscommunication ends the game for them.
Speaker: So Dak and CD just couldn't get on the same page in this one.
Speaker: And an offense predicated on timing and this kind of precision can't be having mental lapses from the quarterback and the receiver like that.
Speaker: CD could have ended up with something like 180 yards if he and Dak were on the same page in this game.
Speaker: That's how game script really was for him.
Speaker: Dak, a couple of
Speaker: Very bad turnover plays, a couple of bad sacks.
Speaker: This is the type of thing that really doomed them.
Speaker: He had a nice rushing game, and some of the plays that he made in pseudo-garbage time were enough to make it kind of like just a below-average performance for me.
Speaker: But, yeah, another disappointing loss for the Cowboys in what seems like a string of continuous mad losses for them in the postseason.
Speaker: And, yeah, I would say Dak was part of the problem in this game.
Speaker: Yup, another season of disappointment and failure for the Cowboys.
Speaker: And as much as I'd lie to smoke the same pack that everyone's been doing on Dak Prescott and the Cowboys on Twitter, I've never seen so many people gang up on
Speaker: DAC and the Cowboys as much as I have as this game.
Speaker: It is very unfortunate because the DAC and the Cowboys offense that we saw on this day was simply nowhere near the level that we had seen all season.
Speaker: nowhere near as good.
Speaker: And I'm not, I simply don't understand what happens to Dak.
Speaker: Like, like PD mentions plenty of times, and it seems to be apparent every year.
Speaker: Some games Dak just simply forgets to play football and, or some games Dak just simply forgets to play football.
Speaker: And you see why you see, you see him just forget to play quarterback.
Speaker: And sometimes it's not even the whole game.
Speaker: And this one, like PD mentioned as garbage time ensued and later in the game,
Speaker: The Cowboys did put a couple of drives together and did almost for a second make it seem like, oh, can they come back?
Speaker: But the amount of the comeback was just too much when you put yourself in such a deep hole.
Speaker: It's insurmountable when you put yourself in such a terrible position that Dak Prescott did for this Cowboys team in that first quarter going into that second quarter.
Speaker: And especially when you have a guy like Jordan Love playing as well as he is, which you have to expect as the Cowboys because you are playing a playoff game here.
Speaker: You simply can't give yourself this big of a hole to dig out of.
Speaker: And for me, this game doesn't come back to be slightly below average for Dak.
Speaker: I do disagree there because I do think a lot of those yards, a lot of those big plays came at a time where the Packers had kind of let their foot off the gas pedal.
Speaker: And when they were going at 100% and when the game was still in question, Dak played terrible, to put it lightly.
Speaker: His accuracy was off.
Speaker: And more importantly, I'm not sure what he was reading when he was seeing the field.
Speaker: Dak is normally a very intelligent guy, great at breaking defenses down.
Speaker: And it seemed like he couldn't do that whatsoever in this game.
Speaker: It seemed like the Packers had...
Speaker: Focused a little bit on CD lamb and it simply wasn't working like PD mentioned he was open a lot this game.
Speaker: And I see that's why there was so much frustration with CD lamb towards that.
Speaker: It felt like even though he was open all day long, he wasn't getting him the ball as much as he should have been.
Speaker: It seemed too many times he was throwing into coverage when he didn't really need to.
Speaker: In general, Dak did not look like the same quarterback.
Speaker: I don't even think he's the kind of guy to take a lot of sacks against a pass rush like Green Bay, who isn't necessarily rated highly, and he was still taking bad sacks.
Speaker: It felt like he was under pressure a lot more.
Speaker: A guy who is a pretty elite pocket passer, especially this season.
Speaker: He had an MVP season as a pocket passer and he seemed very uncomfortable in the pocket.
Speaker: Plenty of passes just felt like it wasn't going to the right spot.
Speaker: Ball placement was off.
Speaker: His footwork seemed to get a little bit messy once the Packers started to turn up the heat a little bit with the blitzes.
Speaker: It just didn't seem like the Dak Prescott we know.
Speaker: And maybe because of how he played in the second half, I should be a little bit less harsh on how he was overall.
Speaker: But for me, it's just...
Speaker: though that part of the game doesn't matter as much when you're already have lost your game the team lost your team the game in the first half and you have put your team in such a big disadvantage that it's impossible to come back so for me this is a disaster for dak prescott and it just shows again that for whatever reason and it does happen periodically throughout the regular season and i think me and pd disagree a little bit here but i simply don't think
Speaker: for whatever reason, he can play quarterback in the playoffs.
Speaker: It's happening year in, year out.
Speaker: He makes crucial mistakes in big playoff games, games that obviously his team needs to win.
Speaker: And even if he's playing good as a whole, I remember him playing against the Niners and having
Speaker: good overall games, but then he'll have that lapse of judgment at the end, and that'll ruin the team season, and in this game, it was much, much larger, because this was a bad game as a whole, too, simply because he started off throwing two pretty bad picks, in my opinion, and it's just simply something that can be happening at this point in his career, wherein what, like,
Speaker: year eight or year nine with Dak Prescott, something like that.
Speaker: And at this point in his career, at 30 years old, these mistake games can be happening when your team's the two seed.
Speaker: It's one of the better rosters you guys have had in a while.
Speaker: And you're playing a seven-seeded Packers team that just snuck in there, one of the youngest teams in the league.
Speaker: You're supposed to take care of business at home there.
Speaker: And if it was a game where the Cowboys played well and Green Bay was simply too much, Jordan Love still puts up this masterclass
Speaker: and the Cowboy and Dak Prescott plays well and loses, I would have cut him slack.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, it would not have been his fault.
Speaker: This game was his fault.
Speaker: And I think if you had to pinpoint somebody, if it isn't on offense, it would be Dak being the big reason they lost here.
Speaker: And that can't be happening anymore in his career.
Speaker: So very bad game for me.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So we're not going to be talking about Dak for the next three months.
Speaker: So let's talk a little long-term stuff.
Speaker: I think that the lack of depth at receiver is very, very apparent.
Speaker: So they're bringing Brandon Cooks.
Speaker: Cooks is a solid option at this point, but the Cowboys offense is like a serious target funnel to CD Lam.
Speaker: And Dak has significant ability to distribute the ball.
Speaker: We've seen it with him with Amari Cooper and CD Lam earlier on in his career and a bunch of misfits at receiver, I would call it, during the Ezekiel Elliott era.
Speaker: he can play different styles of quarterback with forcing the ball to number one or,
Speaker: throwing to different types of receivers.
Speaker: I like Jake Ferguson.
Speaker: He can develop into a nice complimentary piece next to CD Lamb, but they really need that one more pass catcher to really take the offense over the top.
Speaker: The offense was awesome this year.
Speaker: It was great to watch Dak and his foot on the gas pedal.
Speaker: The offense had their foot on the gas pedal for the entirety of the second half of the year, and they were a threshing machine for most of this year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that plus continued development of the run game could take this offense over the top.
Speaker: But man, you're pushing a thin line here.
Speaker: The Cowboys have had some exceptional draft classes recently.
Speaker: And to ask for another one, you're asking for quite a lot.
Speaker: I think that the Cowboys have changes to make, but I wouldn't, like, they've already brought back Mike McCarthy, and I think that's the right decision.
Speaker: If Mike McCarthy's performance in the second half of the year was the real Mike McCarthy, if that's more of, like, a Schottenheimer decision to be more aggressive, pushing the ball down the field, and Schottenheimer leaves, then I'll take the L on this one.
Speaker: But I think that
Speaker: keeping the offense as aggressive as it is, is the best way forward.
Speaker: And you probably want to add some more receiving depth.
Speaker: The defense needs a ton of work, but that's not in the scope of this podcast.
Speaker: So yeah, let me know your thoughts on that.
Speaker: Well, yeah, I have a couple of thoughts.
Speaker: First with the roster construction, I do agree that this team would benefit highly from a big second option and it would change things completely with this offense was very, very dynamic with Amari Cooper too.
Speaker: And when you have this version of Dak,
Speaker: That would be incredible.
Speaker: But to me, I think what's more important to them right now is Dak played very well and CeeDee Lamb played very well in that role.
Speaker: I don't think you can look at the season and say passing offenses wise, they were necessarily missing something.
Speaker: Maybe in this game specifically, they could have used a bigger game out of Cooks.
Speaker: But at the end of the day, if you get a 180, 200 yard game from CeeDee Lamb in this game with a good, well, a good Dak Prescott,
Speaker: They probably win this game and you still got 400 yards out of Dak Prescott.
Speaker: I think the biggest thing for them and one thing that Dallas has kind of built themselves up all for a while now and through the Zeke era is being able to run the football consistently.
Speaker: And with how bad Tony Pollard has been, or maybe not bad, but very disappointing, this run game was very non-existent.
Speaker: And I think Dak is the kind of guy who is at his best when you have an elite run game and he can also work off the play action.
Speaker: They weren't able to do that much this year, but
Speaker: In addition to being a great pocket passers, Dak's also a great passer off to play action.
Speaker: And when you give him in these games where he's making mistakes, he's not necessarily at his best in terms of pocket passing, you need games where they simplify it for Dak and he's able to win his ugly games.
Speaker: And this isn't something to take away from Dak.
Speaker: It's more of the whole team.
Speaker: Dak, as all quarterbacks, is going to have off games.
Speaker: and he's going to have games where you can't rely on him to throw 450 yards and CD Lambda have 200 yards and for you guys to outscore, score 40 and win.
Speaker: There's going to be games where Dak's not on and you need to win and grind out games and they don't have that running back to do that.
Speaker: And it's, I think it's either or here.
Speaker: They do need a big playmaker.
Speaker: I think it could come through a second receiver or a running back.
Speaker: But I agree, they're not too far off offensively.
Speaker: Where I do disagree is I don't think bringing back Mike McCarthy was the right move.
Speaker: I think for various reasons, I do agree that the way they've changed the offense in the second half has been incredible for the Cowboys.
Speaker: But I think we've seen this for a couple of years now.
Speaker: And I think even in his career in Green Bay, Mike McCarthy consistently
Speaker: Fails in the playoffs to teams that aren't as good as the team he has.
Speaker: And maybe it's not necessarily an offensive issue, but it seems like for whatever reason, he can't put together a defense higher, the right guys that are going to put up in the playoffs and put up a good performance.
Speaker: And it seems like when it gets those close game situations at the end of the game that he does kind of fold and make poor decisions.
Speaker: And I think that's a bigger reason to get rid of Mike McCarthy.
Speaker: I also think in games like this one, he can be a little bit too predictable.
Speaker: That was the problem that ended up kind of forcing him out in Green Bay.
Speaker: And I think that kind of happened a little bit in this game too.
Speaker: I think the run game was ridiculously predictable.
Speaker: And that's why obviously GameScript didn't really allow them to use it.
Speaker: But even early in the game, it was kind of useless.
Speaker: and even the rest of the game, I feel like later they kind of just let Dak cook, and the Packers were kind of soft in coverage, so they were able to get passes going, get a lot of yards, but early in the game, I didn't really see much creativity, a lot of different route combos to get guys open when clearly things aren't working, and that's what put them in this hole, and what you mentioned, I do think Schadenheimer is a big reason why they got more aggressive.
Speaker: I don't necessarily think that's a
Speaker: Mike McCarthy philosophy.
Speaker: I could be wrong, but that doesn't strike me as the thing that he instilled in this offense.
Speaker: And I really don't see why the Cowboys would bring him back.
Speaker: Obviously, they had a lot of success under him.
Speaker: I believe it was like 35 or 36 wins in the last three seasons.
Speaker: But the Cowboys aspirations at this point and with this core, which soon Dak Prescott is going to be 31 this year.
Speaker: The window's going to be closing pretty soon.
Speaker: And I think at this point with this team, they're looking at Super Bowl or bust, especially with how big the name of the Cowboys is, how important that is for them.
Speaker: I don't think Mike McCarthy gets it done.
Speaker: And yeah, this offense has looked good, but I'm not taking him long-term because of a six-game stretch that changed towards the end of the year, which didn't even translate in the playoffs.
Speaker: All right, let's move on to the next one.
Speaker: Best game of the weekend, Lions against the Rams.
Speaker: Let's speed through the Jared Goff thing.
Speaker: Jared Goff was pretty good in this game.
Speaker: Made a ton of very impressive intermediate passes like he has all year.
Speaker: Start off on the first drive, just kind of chugging his way down the field.
Speaker: Very impressive throw to Josh Reynolds over the middle.
Speaker: Tight window stuff.
Speaker: Really, really good throw.
Speaker: Next drive, another touchdown pass.
Speaker: This time hits Josh Reynolds again for this time for a 33-yard game.
Speaker: Another good pass.
Speaker: Next drive, another touchdown drive, but this one a little bit more methodical from the Lions offense.
Speaker: Tom Rasse Brown for a 14-yard gain.
Speaker: And yeah, just continue to chunk their way down the field for that touchdown.
Speaker: The Lions stall out on the next drive.
Speaker: But this one was the reason that Goff didn't have a truly great performance for me.
Speaker: So he kind of sees pressure up the middle, interior of the pocket, and literally just flings the ball backwards.
Speaker: So that counts as a turnover-worthy play for me, as you would guess.
Speaker: And again, it does make up for it.
Speaker: Hits Amunra St.
Speaker: Brown on a third and 15 for a 23-yard gain.
Speaker: Good pass, great run after catch there.
Speaker: Their next drive after halftime,
Speaker: Goff hits Amonara St.
Speaker: Brown for a 30-yard gain, big-time play from Amonara there, and they end up getting a field goal on that drive after another big chunk play from Amonara St.
Speaker: Brown.
Speaker: The Lions kind of stall out the next few drives, though.
Speaker: Goff unable to kind of create something on third down on a third and six after hitting Amonara for a 10-yard gain on first down.
Speaker: And then Goff unable to create something on a third down again
Speaker: Can't hook up with Josh Reynolds after a throwaway from him.
Speaker: But on the last drive, they were able to ice the game.
Speaker: Goff hits Amon Ross-Aid Brown on an intermediate pass after hitting a screen pass to David Montgomery.
Speaker: And yeah, that ends the game.
Speaker: It was a great atmosphere, really, this game.
Speaker: At the end there, the crowd really cheering for Jerry Goff and the Lions.
Speaker: So I'd really like to watch that game.
Speaker: Yeah, let's speed through this.
Speaker: I really do want to get to the Matthew Stafford part of it.
Speaker: Yeah, I also agree with that last part.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: It was very wholesome and kind of fun to watch the Lions after 32 years win a playoff game.
Speaker: Clearly meant a lot to Detroit.
Speaker: And yeah, that was very cool to see.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: And I agree a lot of what you said about Jared Goff.
Speaker: To me, his game overall was a little bit higher.
Speaker: I know the turnover worthy play drops it for you.
Speaker: But for me,
Speaker: That fumble, obviously bonehead play, but seemed a little bit fluky and random, not something we see much out of Goff.
Speaker: I'll give him a little bit of slack here, especially because of how solid he was throughout the rest of the game.
Speaker: just like the whole year, Jared Goff, I think the best thing Jared Goff did is play exactly how he did throughout the year.
Speaker: I think too many quarterbacks come into playoffs, try to do things that they don't do.
Speaker: They try to make plays that they normally wouldn't make.
Speaker: It leads to mistakes.
Speaker: Goff came and played calm, cool, and collected.
Speaker: He was very accurate, continued to hit Amon Ra over the middle of the field as we saw all year.
Speaker: Big plays to Josh Reynolds here and there.
Speaker: and one thing that the lions had built this whole offense upon and i think it's kind of their mo is being able to run the ball and not only doing it what gives but also david montgomery and really smashing you down the middle of the field and then goff can pull out with the play action and play off that and in this game oh it was a aaron donald master class because to be honest not a whole lot of other guys are putting up as much of pressure as
Speaker: he was in terms of stopping this run game.
Speaker: I know a lot of the other guys got the sacks and the tackles, but I think he was the guy kind of
Speaker: taking up space and ruining that middle of the line for the run game and holding this back and golf had absolutely step up and win this game passing the football because the run game wasn't necessarily non-existent but it was nowhere near the level of what we saw this whole year with the lions and golf did exactly what he was asked to he didn't turn the ball over never put the ball
Speaker: in harm's way throwing it at least aside from the slip obviously.
Speaker: I do think he took one or two bad sacks but still the rest of the game he was very very good.
Speaker: Gave it to guys in space as much as he could and I think it was a strong performance and I think this showed that the Lions can still win and be successful offensively without
Speaker: what I'd say is the best part of their offensive game, the dynamic between Montgomery and Gibbs and their ability to do so much with the run game, how creative they are.
Speaker: That's their best part for me.
Speaker: And they didn't have it this game and they still, still Goff put up a great performance.
Speaker: So very impressed.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Speaking of impressive, wow.
Speaker: Matthew Stafford in this game.
Speaker: Matthew Stafford was awesome in this game.
Speaker: So started off early.
Speaker: Stafford chunking his way down the field.
Speaker: Hits Puka Nakua for a big 21 yard gain and a number of nice short passes on that drive.
Speaker: Nothing too explosive though, but we'll get into it.
Speaker: Next drive, a touchdown drive of 72 yards and he hits Puka Nakua down the sideline for that 50 yard touchdown.
Speaker: Awesome throw.
Speaker: Puka and Okua just separates on the route really easily.
Speaker: Stafford drops it in the bucket.
Speaker: It's after he throws a really, really impressive pass to Demarcus Robinson for a 19-yard gain on third and 16.
Speaker: Tight window, deep outbreaking route.
Speaker: Awesome, awesome throw with anticipation in a tight window.
Speaker: So that was a very impressive drive.
Speaker: The next drive he hits Tutu Atwell for this 38 yard touchdown.
Speaker: That was a really impressive play, but he also hits Pukunokua for a 21 yard gain earlier in the drive.
Speaker: And that touchdown to Tutu Atwell, wow, the anticipation on that one and the window that he had to throw into, wow, really impressive play.
Speaker: And then Tutu Atwell breaks away for that touchdown.
Speaker: They didn't really get anything going on the next drive because McVeigh,
Speaker: Sean McVay doesn't keep his foot on the gas pedal and asked the Rams offense to go try to score, so they take it to halftime.
Speaker: The next drive, the Rams actually stall out a little bit.
Speaker: Stafford tries to push it down the field to cup, but unsuccessful, and then ends up taking a sack on the next play.
Speaker: And then he can't hook up with Demarcus Robinson on a third and 11.
Speaker: The next drive, the Rams get into scoring position because Stafford stuffs the ball into a tight window to Allen for a 22-yard gain, and then
Speaker: continues to just kind of chunk his way with short and easy passes down the field.
Speaker: Next drive, the Rams again get into scoring position.
Speaker: Can't really finish the job, though.
Speaker: Stafford hits Demarcus Robinson for an 11-yard gain, pick up a nice first down.
Speaker: It hits Pukunakoa for a 22-yard gain or another nice pass, but can't finish it off in the red zone, like I said.
Speaker: And they end up settling for a field goal.
Speaker: The next drive, they end up punting.
Speaker: If you want a controversial take from me, I think they should have gone for it on fourth and 14, but that's neither here nor there.
Speaker: Stafford hits Pukunokua for a 35-yard gain on a second and eight, and then checks it down for Ronnie Rivers for a 15-yard gain, and that's basically the last big-time pass that you threw.
Speaker: So, yeah, Matthew Stafford.
Speaker: I mentioned no turnover-worthy plays because he didn't have any.
Speaker: There's always a chance in a given game that we say that Matthew Stafford ended this game with a gazillion turnover plays.
Speaker: But this year, Matthew Stafford just came back and didn't put the ball in harm's way as much, despite what the interception total may show.
Speaker: He played better than the interception total.
Speaker: And I think a number of miscommunications earlier on in the year with him and Pukunokua and such kind of distort that total a little bit.
Speaker: And even the turnover he plays that he does have, like the one against San Francisco, like late in the game in week two, he kind of just chucks it up there.
Speaker: But it's 30 to 20.
Speaker: So kind of like, there's no like downside there for bringing an interception either.
Speaker: You get a bit explosive player, you just automatically lose the game that you're probably going to lose anyway.
Speaker: So I have been absolutely awed by Stafford's performance this year.
Speaker: And this was a great way for it to conclude, just making
Speaker: Incredible anticipation throws with incredible arm talent.
Speaker: He was just on fire.
Speaker: And to kind of talk about some future talk, he should definitely be back with the Rams next year.
Speaker: I don't think there's any question about that.
Speaker: And I don't think they have to make significant changes, really.
Speaker: I would like to see them add some more depth.
Speaker: Cup looks to be regressing, so that's a little bit unfortunate.
Speaker: But Nakua is here to take his place.
Speaker: If Cubs can just return as like a wide receiver two and DeMarcus Robinson showed some things towards the end of the season there.
Speaker: So if he could develop into like a serious wide receiver three, I would still be drafting some sort of receiver on day two, day three, that they can kind of develop into a complimentary piece and just continue to add depth along the offensive lines.
Speaker: Cause we've seen that this Rams offense really breaks down when their offensive line deals with significant injury.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Yeah, I'm so impressed with the way that the Rams took this season and just absolutely exceeded expectations.
Speaker: I thought I was a Rams believer between the two of us, and they just absolutely blew my expectations out of the water.
Speaker: So an unfortunate way for a really fun season for the Rams to end, but I think that their future is looking kind of bright, assuming that Stafford doesn't fall off a cliff or something.
Speaker: Yeah, and honestly, I personally wouldn't even say it's an unfortunate season for the way the Rams season went.
Speaker: They massively overachieved, obviously.
Speaker: They have seen young stars in this season that is going to carry them probably for the next decade.
Speaker: And they were able to develop them, still make it into the playoffs, have that experience.
Speaker: And they ran into a really good Lions team, and there's not much you can do about that.
Speaker: It's not necessarily like they lost to the Bucs or Eagles where I would have expected this Rams team to win.
Speaker: So I wouldn't necessarily even say it's an unfortunate way to end, even though obviously you do want to win.
Speaker: And once again, like with Jordan Love, a little bit less because I wasn't as low on Stafford as compared to the rest.
Speaker: But I'll put my hands up again.
Speaker: I absolutely did not expect this resurgence, and I don't think many people did.
Speaker: But I thought the injuries had kind of cooked him.
Speaker: He was at an age where the injuries were piling up.
Speaker: Last year, it seemed like there was a clear accuracy regression.
Speaker: The anticipation wasn't looking as good because of the lack of accuracy.
Speaker: And I was starting to get a little bit worried about Stafford's long term.
Speaker: I thought he might be done.
Speaker: And this year, he absolutely proved that was so not true.
Speaker: And this game was another example of why he was lights out once again, accuracy wise.
Speaker: I thought he was incredible pushing the ball downfield as he has been all year long, as he has been his whole career.
Speaker: But I feel like for whatever reason, this kind of this part of his career, Stafford's long ball has become very refined.
Speaker: You don't see it go into harm's way as much.
Speaker: I think this is the most mature and kind of.
Speaker: smart mentally we've seen Stafford.
Speaker: Because like you said, the interceptions don't necessarily affect this year how good he has been compared to the rest of his career at putting the ball out of harm's way.
Speaker: And it's incredible to see a game like this, even if we did see it like in his heater games throughout his career.
Speaker: But I felt like I watched a whole Stafford game where he was accurate.
Speaker: He was pushing the ball downfield, getting it to his receivers and in space consistently.
Speaker: and still not once had a turnover-worthy play and didn't really take any bad sacks in my opinion either.
Speaker: To me, it was just breakdowns in their offensive line who obviously wasn't very good.
Speaker: And it seemed like whether it was deep, whether it was him dissecting the middle of the field in the intermediate range,
Speaker: He was lights out accuracy wise and a lot of it was off quick releases, very quick reads.
Speaker: He was able to figure out what was going on very quickly coverage wise and get it to his guys.
Speaker: Except for the few long developing plays here and there like obviously the pass to Puka, obviously the one touchdown pass to Tutu Atwell.
Speaker: Things like that, Safford still able to every now and then take that shot.
Speaker: And I like the fact that he's more methodical now about when he picks and chooses to make the deep pass.
Speaker: Because sometimes in the past, it felt like he was like, screw it, like Calvin Johnson's out there somewhere and he's throwing it up.
Speaker: Or even in 21, I thought he was a little bit more reckless with the ball when Cooper Cup was incredible.
Speaker: And sometimes he was just throwing it to Cooper Cup.
Speaker: I felt like this version of Stafford was a lot more refined.
Speaker: And that's why I think we saw such a successful season out of this team.
Speaker: And moving forward long term, I absolutely agree.
Speaker: I don't think there's much you need to change.
Speaker: I think maybe like we've seen with some of these other teams, like the Packers, you may want to start looking at investing in a quarterback who you can maybe develop under Stafford and then long term he takes over.
Speaker: But in terms of who's going to play, I think it's set up very well.
Speaker: I think the Rams scheme is always going to live and die by how good their running back is.
Speaker: Their running scheme is so elite and you just need to plug and play someone who's at least decent to be successful.
Speaker: And they found not only that, but someone who can be maybe a workhorse for the long term in Kyron Williams.
Speaker: And he wasn't as big of a success in this Lions game necessarily.
Speaker: But he had an incredible rookie year outside of maybe the injuries, which obviously isn't in his control.
Speaker: But in terms of what we saw on the field, he was incredible the whole year.
Speaker: And to find him and then Puka Nakua in such late parts of the draft and being able to use them as key parts of your team, I don't think there's much else they can add.
Speaker: And I think they'd be incredibly lucky to get another draft class
Speaker: where they get a high level contributor to the offense.
Speaker: So I think things are looking good.
Speaker: I know you mentioned Cooper Cupps regression.
Speaker: I'm with you where I think he's still more than good enough to be a solid receiver too.
Speaker: I think honestly, even this season, he didn't necessarily look 100%.
Speaker: And I think if we can get 100% a Cooper Cupp, he's like a wide receiver 1B to wide receiver 2 easily.
Speaker: And with Puka, just getting better every game,
Speaker: I think the receiving core is fine.
Speaker: And even guys like Demarcus Robinson, Tutu Atwell, I think even Skoranek in some games, I think they have solid depth.
Speaker: If they want to maybe add a solid receiver three or running back depth, I could see that.
Speaker: But I think the main focus has to be the O-line.
Speaker: And like you said, Stafford's definitely got to come back.
Speaker: He definitely proved himself.
Speaker: I still think he's at a level where he can win a Super Bowl with this team.
Speaker: Maybe it's a little bit far-fetched now because the roster clearly, clearly is nowhere near a Super Bowl level right now.
Speaker: But I still think Stafford's at a level of play where he can be a highly elite quarterback.
Speaker: So I think things are looking up for the Rams after the season when it was supposed to be a disappointing rebuild type of season.
Speaker: And it seems like their window might be still open if they make the right moves.
Speaker: All right, let's move on to the next game.
Speaker: We can kind of speed run this game.
Speaker: I'm not going to talk about Mason Rudolph on the Steelers side.
Speaker: So let's get into Josh Allen.
Speaker: He was very, very good in this game.
Speaker: Not really...
Speaker: Exceptional as a passer.
Speaker: He was pretty good.
Speaker: I thought, but the rushing, the rushing was wow.
Speaker: Um, so let's get into it.
Speaker: So Alan on the first drive, chunky his way down the field, finds Dalton Kincaid for a big 20 yard gain.
Speaker: Um, and then punches in with the touchdown for Dawson Knox, uh, next drive, they can't really get much going.
Speaker: Um, Alan can't hook up with Kincaid on third and two, um, next drive, um,
Speaker: Allen finds Dalton K for a 29-year touchdown.
Speaker: Awesome throw here.
Speaker: Puts it on the money to Kincaid for the touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, they again can't get anything going.
Speaker: Allen tries to get it to Diggs, but no gain there.
Speaker: And then tries to get it to Cooks, or James Cook on the screen, but the Steelers blow it up.
Speaker: Next drive for the Bills, this is where the rushing comes into play.
Speaker: Hits Diggs for an eight-yard gain and then hits James Cook on a short gain.
Speaker: But then on third and seven, Allen scrambles for a 52-yard touchdown where he makes multiple defenders miss in space, puts on a nasty juke move where he stutter steps a defender.
Speaker: At 6'5", 240, he just unbelievable, unbelievable stuff from Josh Allen.
Speaker: The next drive, they're able to get into field goal range, but it ends up getting blocked.
Speaker: Allen finds a couple of short passes, hits one to Deontay Hardy for a 34-yard gain.
Speaker: Great play by Hardy there.
Speaker: And they kind of take it to halftime on the next drive.
Speaker: Coming out of the half, they're not able to get anything going, kind of stall.
Speaker: Allen takes a sack and then hits Latavius Murray on a check down for a nine-yard gain.
Speaker: Next drive, they're able to get into field goal range again.
Speaker: Allen just kind of slowly chunky his way down the field, hits Dalton Kikade for a 10-yard gain.
Speaker: and Stephon Diggs for a 12 yard gain on a critical third and eight, but not able to get too much other than that.
Speaker: The next drive, another touchdown drive, Allen just chunk his way down the field on a first and 10, picks up 13 yards on a rush and then ends up chunk his way down the field, like I said.
Speaker: Hits Khalil Shakir short, who breaks a tackle incredibly impressively and takes it in for a touchdown.
Speaker: And the next drive is their last drive of the game where they really don't rely on Josh Allen at all.
Speaker: So, yeah, impressive game from Josh Allen.
Speaker: Doesn't put the ball in harm's way in this one.
Speaker: And he didn't really need to do too much as a passer until the Steelers started coming back a little bit.
Speaker: But, yeah, his impact as a rusher, especially that 52-year touchdown, was very, very impressive.
Speaker: And he played a big part in them winning this game.
Speaker: I was impressed with his performance.
Speaker: Yeah, my biggest takeaway from this game, the Bills aside, is the Steelers are starting to piss me off.
Speaker: It feels like every year we see them sneak in the playoffs, they get their little record.
Speaker: Oh, they're still winning.
Speaker: And they shit the bed in the first round of the playoffs because the team is clearly not good enough to be there.
Speaker: And this was another example of that.
Speaker: I thought the Steelers were pretty clearly the worst team in this playoffs that I watched.
Speaker: And it makes me not even want to take this game into account because of how bad it got.
Speaker: But regardless of that, and even with the weather, it kind of made this game not as...
Speaker: good as you would have wanted it to obviously buffalo was snowed in and whatnot but regardless with all that being said josh allen played very very incredible that 52 yard touchdown run one like you said it's incredible he can even do that at his size the start and stop acceleration
Speaker: I saw people even comparing that to the Kenny Pickett fake slide and to me this was even more impressive because he was able to do it without like pretending to give himself up.
Speaker: He just simply stopped and started on elite level defenders in the middle of the field and that's something that I would expect out of like a Lamar Jackson and when you see it out of Josh Allen's massive frame it's incredible and
Speaker: In my opinion, that was the best play that I saw all weekend.
Speaker: Very, very impressed with that.
Speaker: And I think we knew that this was going to be a game where Josh Allen was going to need to use his legs with the weather being the way it is.
Speaker: And he took advantage of it absolutely.
Speaker: His physicality in those runs too, I feel like absolutely opened things up for the rest of the offense.
Speaker: I feel like the Steelers defense kind of pressed in to make sure that
Speaker: Allen and even James Cook a little bit, but mainly just Allen really wasn't destroying them through the middle of the field and that opened things up for the rest of the team.
Speaker: And even though we weren't seeing plenty of deep passes, which is obvious, you're not going to get that in that weather.
Speaker: I still felt like Allen was very, very good passing the ball.
Speaker: His accuracy for that weather, in my opinion, was incredible.
Speaker: And even though you didn't have a lot of long developing routes, people going downfield,
Speaker: And in theory, it should be easier for the Steelers to cover.
Speaker: He was still able to find guys left and right not many times where I felt like Josh Allen wasn't reading the defense the right way.
Speaker: So definitely a very, very good performance, high-level performance.
Speaker: I'm excited to see what he does in this Chiefs game in that similar sort of weather because to me, that'll be a more competent game.
Speaker: And we'll get into that soon.
Speaker: But for now, time to move on to the next one.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: This game, man, I don't want to say I told you so, but I was saying many times during the week to hammer the Buccaneers and hammer the Eagles.
Speaker: They did.
Speaker: So let's talk about Baker Mayfield.
Speaker: I'll say I hammered the Bucs, and boy, did I enjoy my winnings.
Speaker: Okay, very good for you.
Speaker: And it's easy to see why when you see the Eagles' defensive performance in this one.
Speaker: Baker Mayfield, despite a turnover in the play, played very well in this one.
Speaker: So first drive of the game hits a nice one over the middle to Kate Otten for a 15 yard game.
Speaker: Kate Otten was a very featured part of their offense, which kind of tells you the weakness of the Eagles interior of the defense.
Speaker: Anyway, next, next play, he hits Mike Evans for a 21 yard game, continues to be his way down the field.
Speaker: But they kind of stall out in the red zone and end up having to kick the field goal.
Speaker: The next drive, though, they make up for it with a touchdown.
Speaker: Baker hits Moore for a 22-yard gain, and then hits Moore again for a 44-yard gain, which turns into a touchdown because of horrendous tackling, some of the worst I've seen all season.
Speaker: The next drive, field goal drive for the Bucs, Baker's able to get some stuff going with K-Dotten again for a 24-yard gain.
Speaker: But then he takes a sack, which kind of ends the drive, and they end up having to kick a field goal.
Speaker: The next drive, another field goal where Baker takes the Bucs offense down the field with short passes, but really, again, not able to convert on the Eagles side of the field and end up kicking a field goal.
Speaker: The next drive, they stall out again.
Speaker: This time, again, because of the sack from Baker Mayfield, this time on third and 10, so it's not as egregious, but yeah, they end up punting because of it.
Speaker: Their next drive,
Speaker: After the halftime, another drive where they stall out.
Speaker: Baker hits K-dotton a couple of times before taking a sack.
Speaker: This time it was his fault, in my opinion.
Speaker: So bad play by him.
Speaker: The next drive, again, they stall out.
Speaker: Baker takes another sack that was not good.
Speaker: Third and one, ends up taking a nine-yard sack in Philly territory.
Speaker: So they end up having to punch on a fourth and 10.
Speaker: The next drive, though, they end up scoring another touchdown.
Speaker: This time, again,
Speaker: just horrific tackling from the Eagles defense.
Speaker: He hits Trey Palmer over the middle and Trey Palmer breaks about five tackles before getting to the end zone.
Speaker: The next drive, another touchdown drive for the Bucs.
Speaker: Baker hits Payne Durham for an 18-yard gain and finally hits Mike Evans for second catch of the day for a 19-yard gain.
Speaker: continues chugging their way down the field before deep throws a very impressive pass, actually, for Chris Godwin for a touchdown to beat the Blitz.
Speaker: Very, very nice pass there.
Speaker: And the next drive, they kind of stall out on downs, trying to end the game, but just kind of running the ball and then not really getting anything done.
Speaker: So kind of a dominant performance from the Bucs offense.
Speaker: They just kind of did whatever they wanted.
Speaker: Baker had the one turn where they play where he pushed the ball too aggressively into a team ball.
Speaker: But beyond that, he was just destroying in the intermediate area of the field and made a couple of impressive throws.
Speaker: But he really didn't need to make those impressive throws, if I'm being honest.
Speaker: That just kind of added some extra credit to his performance.
Speaker: The Eagles defense just lay down and gave up.
Speaker: I don't know if you have anything else to add to that because it was just atrocious, no matter how you look at it.
Speaker: Yeah, honestly, I can only add to that because I think anybody watching this game could see how horrific this Eagles defense was playing.
Speaker: And I think the only other unit that made me feel as bad as I did like the Steelers was this Eagles defense because it was ridiculous to see how poor the tackling was.
Speaker: But to me, the biggest takeaway was kind of the play calling and game plan coming in from Dave.
Speaker: Canales or Canales, sorry, I'm not familiar with his pronunciation, but I think he did a fantastic job of attacking where the Eagles are weakest.
Speaker: And I think all year, people could kind of point out that the Eagles linebacker core was nowhere near what it needed to be in the playoffs and in general was just not good enough.
Speaker: They didn't have the speed, they didn't have the strength, and they got absolutely exposed in this one.
Speaker: When you see a guy like Cade Auten,
Speaker: being the primary target on an offense that features Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, even the likes of like a Rashad White or Chase Edmonds out the backfield.
Speaker: Like when Kate Otten's the guy taking over, you know the middle of the field was a hole from the Eagles and that's what it felt like all game long.
Speaker: It was just wide open and they seemed to be confused.
Speaker: They couldn't tell whether
Speaker: The Bucs wanted to run the ball and it gave a lot of favorable looks for Rashad White too.
Speaker: He seemed, even though he didn't necessarily have the best game overall because of some bad carries here and there, he was still getting multiple six, seven yard carries, even 10 plus yard carries that were
Speaker: Crucial in keeping their drives going.
Speaker: And I think the way to beat Baker is being able to push him off where he's most comfortable.
Speaker: And the Eagles did the exact opposite.
Speaker: They gave exactly, well, to be honest, everything that Baker wanted.
Speaker: But more importantly, Baker is good coach.
Speaker: at going vertical and just attacking that middle of the field or even the sidelines just going downfield because he's very, very accurate.
Speaker: And I feel like he can see the field in the right way to be making those throws.
Speaker: And the Eagles kind of just let that happen all day long.
Speaker: And to top it off,
Speaker: Even after not being able to cover any of these guys, golly, they couldn't tackle anybody in the open field.
Speaker: I mean, that Trey Palmer touchdown was ridiculous.
Speaker: Two, three people, it seemed like, should have brought him down.
Speaker: And there were guys that I think it was Avante Maddox who may have even had him.
Speaker: wrapped up at a certain point and still didn't even slow him down.
Speaker: It was ridiculous how soft that defense played.
Speaker: And in general, they just got steamrolled.
Speaker: There weren't many individuals on the Eagles defense I felt like played well.
Speaker: And I am focusing too much on the Eagles defense, I guess, not to take away from Baker's game.
Speaker: But like with some of these other guys, you have to take that into account, obviously.
Speaker: I still think he played very well, though.
Speaker: His accuracy, even though shaky at times, I feel like he missed a couple of passes he could have made, sailing them out of bounds and whatnot.
Speaker: but I still think he was accurate in general.
Speaker: He did a good job of pushing the ball downfield when necessary, but he really killed in that intermediate range of the field and he was lights out there and that's what mattered.
Speaker: And even those sacks for the most part, I felt like it didn't really come in crucial situations.
Speaker: I feel like he was trying to do something and it didn't really work out.
Speaker: Maybe you can credit him for it, but aside from that turnover worthy play that PD mentioned,
Speaker: I thought it was a very clean game for Baker.
Speaker: Not hyper good or very good compared to some of these other guys, but I feel like it was closer to something that we saw out of like a Jared Goff, at least for me, or maybe even a Matthew Stafford, or probably not as good as Stafford, but kind of in that same realm.
Speaker: It was a very productive game.
Speaker: And I can't say the same for his counterpart for a different reason.
Speaker: Oh my god, I don't know.
Speaker: I barely want to talk about the Eagles offense.
Speaker: It's so miserable.
Speaker: It's so bad.
Speaker: I think we talked about this too much.
Speaker: Dude, like play action, five step drop, goal ball.
Speaker: Can I interest you with that?
Speaker: Quick outs, can I interest you with that?
Speaker: Five screen passes in a row.
Speaker: Can I interest you in that?
Speaker: Oh my goodness.
Speaker: The Eagles have a fundamentally broken scheme in terms of their ability to pick up projections.
Speaker: They just refuse to throw hot routes against the blitz.
Speaker: It's so bad.
Speaker: This is not entirely a scheme thing.
Speaker: Jalen Hurts misses players over the middle sometimes.
Speaker: But when you fundamentally don't have answers against the blitz, this is like, it's like one-on-one level stuff.
Speaker: It's like the first thing you do in training camp.
Speaker: The fact that the Eagles don't implement that stuff in their offense, this is like before I even get into the game.
Speaker: And just to jump in before you move on to the game, Jalen Hurts is already someone who we've talked about struggles with bailing the pocket early and struggles with the blitz sometimes.
Speaker: So when you combine that with the play caller who simply refuses to beat the blitz, well, you get this result.
Speaker: So the Bucs, smartly, I don't even know if it's smartly, you ask a three-year-old to play Madden with that game plan, they could have come up with that game plan.
Speaker: Sorry, I'm getting worked up here.
Speaker: Let's get into the game.
Speaker: So the first drive stalls out like many of the drives in this game with a punt.
Speaker: Jalen Hurts throws a couple of short passes but can't complete one deep to Dallas Goddard because against the Blitz, chucking it up to Dallas Goddard, not a good idea.
Speaker: Next drive, Jalen Hurts, again,
Speaker: Completed a short pass to Quest Watkins.
Speaker: Gets the blitz on third down.
Speaker: Shucks it up to Dallas Goddard.
Speaker: Two receivers are in the same area.
Speaker: So there's no completion there.
Speaker: The next drive, they finally get something going.
Speaker: Hurts, voila.
Speaker: You run around in the middle of the field.
Speaker: Jalen Hurts hits it.
Speaker: 31-yard gain.
Speaker: Very complicated concept here.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: Anyway, they get into Tampa territory.
Speaker: Hurts can't hook up with Devontae Smith on third and eight, so they settle for a field goal.
Speaker: Next drive, their only touchdown drive, Hurts throws a fantastic deep ball to Devontae Smith for a 55-yard game.
Speaker: Very, very impressive throw.
Speaker: The best throw by any quarterback this game.
Speaker: And then punches it into Dallas Goddard.
Speaker: The Bucs stop the tush push on a two-point conversion after a player jumps off sides on the extra-coin attempt by pulling the face mask.
Speaker: So that was fun to see.
Speaker: The next drive, the Eagles try to get something going at the end of the half, but they can't.
Speaker: because their blitz answers were not very good.
Speaker: The next drive, after halftime, they come out on third and 11.
Speaker: Fritz ends up getting sacked for a nine yard loss, because against the blitz, he doesn't have any good answers.
Speaker: Next drive, they end up punting.
Speaker: Because on third and sixth, they finally have an answer against the Blitz.
Speaker: But it's off this stupid motion that Kenneth Gainwell runs to the sideline.
Speaker: And with no blockers, he catches a screen.
Speaker: That's their answer to the Blitz.
Speaker: It's comical, honestly.
Speaker: Like, you're laughing.
Speaker: But that's, like, the correct reaction.
Speaker: It's stupid.
Speaker: Next drive, I have something big to complain about with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker: So he hits Dallas Goddard for a 10-yard gain.
Speaker: But then on a third and six, Hertz just runs 14 yards backwards into his own end zone, ends up taking a safety with multiple opportunities to get rid of the ball.
Speaker: Very, very poor play by him there.
Speaker: Kind of dooms the game because they basically don't get a chance to score again.
Speaker: Next drive, turnover on downs.
Speaker: Hertz hits Devante Smith on a nice intermediate pass for a 19-yard gain and then again for a 15-yard gain, but can't convert on a fourth and five because their answer to the blitz is a corner route to Devante Smith.
Speaker: on a 1v1.
Speaker: The next drive, another turnover on downs.
Speaker: OK, this one.
Speaker: OK.
Speaker: Anyway, Jalen Hurts gets sacked for a seven yard loss because of poor blitz answers.
Speaker: Hits a couple of short passes to DeAndre Swift for some gains.
Speaker: On third and 18, he hits Olamide Zaccheaus for a five yard gain.
Speaker: But then on fourth and 13, their play for fourth and 13 is a seven yard comeback route down the sideline.
Speaker: And then the game ends because they just run out the clock on their final drive.
Speaker: So a miserable, miserable day of offense where Hurts, yeah, he takes blame for the safety.
Speaker: A couple of the sacks weren't good.
Speaker: Has a great throw for that 55 yard gain.
Speaker: So kind of neutralizes to just a decent performance for me.
Speaker: But the Eagles, the Eagles scheme and play calling are so, so poor.
Speaker: They just, they don't have answers to anything.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: Without AJ Brown out there, their best guy for winning these types of one-on-one situations, they just stop functioning as an offense.
Speaker: It's like Devontae Smith played a good game.
Speaker: Dallas Goddard is a nice complimentary piece.
Speaker: But when you have Julio Jones and Quez Watkins out there as your 1v1 beaters instead of AJ Brown, like,
Speaker: The offense just stops working.
Speaker: Like if you just use AJ Brown and Devontae Smith on skills that they're very good at, like running over the middle of the field and using separation skills instead of taking edges and out routes off the sideline, you'd have a much better offense.
Speaker: But the Eagles offensive coordinator and head coach seem very, very intent on making life as hard as possible on their offense.
Speaker: I think they're very interested in style points rather than winning games.
Speaker: That's really the only explanation I have.
Speaker: Anyway, enough ranting that.
Speaker: If you want to add anything, you can go for it.
Speaker: I mean, if you're worried about guys who are focused more on style points than playing football, look no further than Jalen Hurts.
Speaker: But enough of the dunking on Jalen Hurts.
Speaker: Second to Dak, he was probably the guy that got the most shtick online.
Speaker: I saw stuff like him getting compared to the target guy who feels himself going to target.
Speaker: It was getting nasty, but I, and it's probably not deserved for this game.
Speaker: Cause like PD mentioned, it's absolutely on the play calling.
Speaker: And as much as we want to laugh and joke about it, it's getting ridiculous to the point where the Eagles are wasting seasons and wasting a very
Speaker: talented roster.
Speaker: Obviously not the same roster, but a team that was talented enough to make the Super Bowl last year and had a scheme good enough to destroy offenses or defenses all season last year to the point where midway this year they were trying to take away this team's most valuable play or most successful play, though it is the one yard gain here and there.
Speaker: But it got to a point where
Speaker: that automatic one yard game did not matter anymore because they were in constant third and long and fourth and long situations.
Speaker: And for me, I have to emphasize, I also don't understand the need to use such low efficiency, low percentage plays.
Speaker: Why are you running so many screens, especially with this team?
Speaker: I understand that you have a dominant offensive line.
Speaker: I understand that maybe you want to be able to get them blocking in space and give it to your guys.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: You clearly did not have the level of talent without AJ Brown on this team.
Speaker: Why are you trying to make your receivers be the ones that make the plays and get open on a hitch, get open on an out route when you have a franchise quarterback who's shown capability of winning you these big games by making important passes?
Speaker: And in fact, that's probably his strongest suit, being able to make those passes over the middle of the field.
Speaker: And you're taking away from it completely.
Speaker: For what?
Speaker: I have no idea.
Speaker: And when you have AJ Brown on the field, it still doesn't make sense.
Speaker: But like, at least I can wrap my head around what they're thinking.
Speaker: AJ Brown's obviously a huge target.
Speaker: A lot of those routes that they were running, a guy like AJ Brown...
Speaker: with his size, with his agility at that size, maybe it works.
Speaker: And then you can have a guy like Devonta Smith running across, running downfield, which even that they don't do a whole lot for whatever reason.
Speaker: And it's just slowly starting to feel more and more like Sirianni was not the genius that led to that insane Eagles Super Bowl run and insane Eagles offense last year.
Speaker: It was really striking.
Speaker: And this year when TAS to do
Speaker: the same job it looked like a complete shell of themselves i don't understand how you can have five or maybe four now elite offensive linemen and get 42 yards rushing in a whole game and i understand they were down but
Speaker: Until like that safety, it was a one score game for a lot of this game.
Speaker: And that's why I'd probably have Hertz a little bit lower than you.
Speaker: I also have him roughly decent, maybe slightly below average, because I do think that safety was very pivotal and that was completely on him.
Speaker: At that point, the Bucks had kind of stalled and it seemed like that one possession game, maybe the Eagles could make something work.
Speaker: But then giving up the two points and then having to give them the ball back to take all that time off the clock and score again.
Speaker: I feel like that kind of put the game away.
Speaker: And for that reason, he's a little bit lower than that.
Speaker: But aside from, like you said, that and maybe a couple sacks he took.
Speaker: I can't name any time Hurts put the ball in harm's way.
Speaker: I can't name that many times where Hurts missed a pass.
Speaker: It was simply just the Eagles time and time again doing the same things.
Speaker: And really the only form of successful offense was when they deviated from that.
Speaker: And as Petey mentioned, there were multiple times they went to Devonta Smith over the middle of the field, deep, actually used him at the skill set he's good at, which is...
Speaker: getting open, being a separator, being a good route runner, finding space in zones.
Speaker: That is Devonta Smith's skill set.
Speaker: That is exactly what he looks like.
Speaker: That's how he plays football.
Speaker: And you've forced him into an A.J.
Speaker: Brown role randomly at the end of the season when he's never done that.
Speaker: You're you're asking guys like DeAndre Swift and Julio Jones to be pivotal like people in your passing game when you have Dallas Goddard doing nothing.
Speaker: And he is so good at winning over the middle of the field.
Speaker: And I don't think there's anyone really in that Bucks linebacker course, a safety room that could cover him consistently.
Speaker: And you're simply not going to him.
Speaker: it makes no sense to me.
Speaker: And when we look at the long-term thing and we look at what they need to make, if we look at their offensive unit, there's not much they need to change.
Speaker: Like maybe if you have a guy like Jason Kelsey retiring or someone leaving in free agency, yeah, you need to go out and replace them.
Speaker: But from what they have right now, you have your franchise quarterback, you have two hyper elite receivers, you have a good running back room with a solid run game.
Speaker: there isn't much personal changes they need to make to be a good offense.
Speaker: It's simply the scheme.
Speaker: And when it's that scheme dependent, it's really frustrating and really annoying because it seems like a lot of people could come in, immediately make changes.
Speaker: There's so many of the coaching candidates that I'm thinking about right now, like Mike Vrabel or even a Jim Harbaugh, who I know would come in and do so much more with this team.
Speaker: And it's kind of infuriating to see them play this way with so much talent on the field.
Speaker: Yeah, being a little mean to Brian Johnson, he has history of running good offense, and the offense didn't look like this.
Speaker: I can say that Sirianni's offenses, before Steichen took over the play calling, did look like this, though.
Speaker: There was a stretch from week one to six, I would say, in 2021, where it made me want to quit watching and charting Geo and Hurts.
Speaker: I remember that vividly.
Speaker: And then Steichen took over the play calling, and it got a lot better.
Speaker: Steichen was their play caller throughout last year and we see what he's done for the Colts.
Speaker: It kind of does seem like Steichen was the brains behind Philly.
Speaker: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't have anything more to add with their long-term stuff.
Speaker: The needs that they have are obvious.
Speaker: They can sort themselves out.
Speaker: They have enough talent on the roster.
Speaker: All right, let's move on to the divisional round.
Speaker: We're running long on time here, but there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker: So let's go to the Texans Ravens, which is the first game.
Speaker: 1.30 on Saturday Pacific.
Speaker: And I'm excited for this game.
Speaker: I think that the matchup that I'm most interested to see with CJ Stroud.
Speaker: So I'll pose this as a question to you.
Speaker: How do you think that CJ Stroud and the Texans offense react to the linebackers that the Ravens have mugging up the middle of the field?
Speaker: And how do you think that they will look when they're forced to test them outside the numbers more rather than attack the middle of the field like they have consistently this season?
Speaker: Well, one thing I feel like, well, before I even talk about the games, one thing I want to point out, the AFC matchups are incredible, and I'm very excited for those.
Speaker: But jumping into this, I think one big story that people are not talking about enough is the absence of Marlon Humphrey.
Speaker: I feel like this Texans team, who at this point has one clear number one option, and you know he's going to be the guy they're going to consistently, having a guy like Marlon Humphrey over him would have been...
Speaker: Very, very helpful for the Ravens defense being able to slow the Texans down.
Speaker: And honestly, if he was there, I don't know what essentially what unit the Texans would be able to attack.
Speaker: But with Marlon Humphrey out, I feel like the corners on this Ravens team are very, very susceptible.
Speaker: And with Sloic's offensive scheme that we saw last week,
Speaker: which was already able to make things work with a pretty elite front seven and maybe not the best guys behind him, but he was still able to kind of put Stroud in positions where he's got time, gives him extra protection, blocks extra people, and is still able to get off those deep passes.
Speaker: I think they're going to be able to do a lot of that same thing in this game.
Speaker: I think their run game isn't necessarily going to be successful as we have seen them be able to make things work with Devin Singletary.
Speaker: I think this front seven is too good for them to make that work.
Speaker: And I do expect a couple of mistakes from CJ Stroud because I think there's going to be a ton of pressure on him all day.
Speaker: But I do think that they'll be able to equalize things with big plays because Kyle Hamilton's the kind of guy who you do see jump in a lot into the front sevens.
Speaker: I see Marcus Williams play a little bit aggressive.
Speaker: The Ravens do like to emphasize a lot of man coverage and kind of just...
Speaker: let their corners do their thing.
Speaker: And I don't think that's a recipe for success against this Texans team.
Speaker: Now, if the Ravens try to play it differently, maybe drop to a zone because obviously they're lacking.
Speaker: Now we're looking at things differently.
Speaker: But I also think Stroud is mentally strong enough to be able to cook you if you're in zone consistently all game long.
Speaker: So I think the absence of Marlon Humphrey is pretty huge.
Speaker: I'm not sure why it's not being talked about more.
Speaker: And I think that's where they attack.
Speaker: And even with the linebackers doing what they can to stop Stroud, I think that's going to be pretty key in what happens in this game.
Speaker: Yeah, I have some questions as well with their corner unit.
Speaker: I do think that whether they could play
Speaker: With Kyle Hamilton over the top and just and you know stone as well, like their ability to use safeties to send help towards Nico Collins should be something to monitor in this game and.
Speaker: I just like the Ravens defenses is so like counter heavy they just keep throwing punches at you when you throw a haymaker at them so.
Speaker: I trust in Mike McDonald to figure something out, to be honest.
Speaker: Yeah, I was going to say they're very well coached.
Speaker: And it seems like whenever things like this do happen where there's been multiple times where the Ravens defense has had key injuries.
Speaker: And a lot of times it feels like things don't skip a beat.
Speaker: And maybe that's why people aren't focusing too much on this injury.
Speaker: But I do think Marlon Humphrey is one of those guys that is impossible to replace, at least on this team necessarily, looking at their roster and their other options at corner.
Speaker: So, yeah, but I do agree that this could be maybe even schematically just a hidden option.
Speaker: Looking on the other side of the ball with the Ravens going up against the Texans, I think the Texans are in trouble here.
Speaker: I really do.
Speaker: The Texans were going up against the Browns offense that kind of cut them up for most of the game, and Joe Flacco just decided to throw the ball at their face a couple of times.
Speaker: So I guess to hire a little quarterback like Lamar Jackson, who I think is less likely to do that, I think they're in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker: They don't really have good defense around the middle of the field where Lamar does like to work,
Speaker: And I do have a little bit of questions with their ability to defend like on the move and things like that.
Speaker: So yeah, I have high hopes for the Ravens offense.
Speaker: I think you should be in agreement with there, right?
Speaker: Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement here.
Speaker: And I think one thing that kind of has been swept under the rug because the Texans haven't really played any high-powered offenses in a while.
Speaker: I think more importantly because of how good Stroud has been and all the attention around him.
Speaker: I think what's gotten swept under the rug is how bad this defense is, comparative to a team that's made it this far.
Speaker: I think for me, this is probably the worst remaining defense.
Speaker: And like you said, you saw the kind of cracks in their armor.
Speaker: Last week, the Browns just simply weren't able to take advantage.
Speaker: I think their biggest kind of problem on this team is the linebacker core.
Speaker: And most importantly, being able to deal with physical teams.
Speaker: And that's exactly what the Ravens are.
Speaker: I think they're going to pound this pause, but I think they're going to pound this front seven all game long.
Speaker: I do think Lamar Jackson is going to be huge in the run game.
Speaker: I don't really see anybody who can necessarily...
Speaker: not keep up, but even contain.
Speaker: I think Will Anderson maybe can do a good job on one side of the field, but when you're looking at their linebackers, when you're looking at the other pass rushers, I don't really see much talent in being able to, or even athleticism in general, being able to keep up with Lamar Jackson.
Speaker: And I think we've seen late in the season, him kind of use his legs now that we've got getting to the point where every game matters.
Speaker: I think we saw a little bit more mild Lamar Jackson earlier on in the year.
Speaker: Now I think he's playing a little bit more aggressive, and I think they're going to take over.
Speaker: The one thing maybe that the Texans could pray works is I do think their secondary matches up pretty well against the receivers of Baltimore, who obviously not very good.
Speaker: So if they can maybe pray to lock them up and hope Lamar makes mistakes, something can go their way.
Speaker: Maybe the Ravens come in rusty.
Speaker: But I think in general the Ravens rule.
Speaker: All right, let's go to the next game.
Speaker: This one on Saturday night.
Speaker: I'm excited for this one.
Speaker: I'm excited for every Packers game, man.
Speaker: They're a blast to watch.
Speaker: Packers against the Niners.
Speaker: Looking at this from a Packers perspective, I think that the Niners run defense has been a little bit questionable this season.
Speaker: They are 26th in rush EPA allowed for play, which is not good.
Speaker: So if the Packers can kind of get out to an early lead, they took the ball last game, elected to receive it.
Speaker: So if they can score a touchdown and continue to run the ball, I think they can have some sort of success.
Speaker: The part where it gets a little bit more difficult is if the Niners jump out to a lead and they just kind of have to try to come back against the Niners' pass defense, which is really, really good.
Speaker: So kind of looking for play action opportunities for Jordan Love.
Speaker: a low volume, high efficiency game like he had last week, that would be the formula to win with an explosive run game.
Speaker: But yeah, easier said than done when the game script likely on the other side where I think that the Niners defense just, or the Niners offense just, like they're kind of unstoppable.
Speaker: They like, the Green Bay defense has shown signs of life recently, but I still don't think it's enough.
Speaker: They're not good enough in their season long metrics
Speaker: either run or pass game in any sort of extended sample for me to just be like, yeah, I trust the Green Bay defense.
Speaker: So that's how I view the offenses on both sides in this matchup.
Speaker: Yeah, so one thing I want to point out most importantly about kind of the Green Bay offensive matchup, I do agree that the Niners have been not the best defending the run.
Speaker: And I think that's been kind of their biggest weakness throughout the year.
Speaker: But I think a big reason that's been the case and what's kind of skewed at the second half of the season is the absence of Eric Armstead.
Speaker: And I think earlier on in the year where you did have a healthy Eric Armstead and Hargrave in that middle of the defensive line.
Speaker: And at that point, they hadn't even gotten Chase Young yet.
Speaker: And they were playing very good defensively against Iran.
Speaker: And now this is the healthiest the 49ers front seven and defensive line has been.
Speaker: Even guys like Greenlaw are healthy now.
Speaker: Fred Warner is looking the best he is.
Speaker: Nick Bosa is looking the best he is.
Speaker: I think this current unit that they have without injuries is going to be a lot stronger versus the run.
Speaker: Now, it could completely be wrong and they could continue the way it has been.
Speaker: But when we've seen this unit together, they've been very good against the run.
Speaker: So honestly, I'm more confident that the Niners do a good job against the run.
Speaker: where i think the the nine the packers kind of have deferred as we saw last week and where i think things can really go go well for them is jordan love pretty much i think when you have a team like the niners who are obviously defensively stout and i've seen it for years now the teams that are able to beat us are the teams that have quarterbacks who can play make at a high level
Speaker: and consistently make things happen because against this Niners team, which not only has high level personnel, but has consistently had good schemes, you're not going to be able to execute offense consistently, especially with this Packers offense that simply doesn't have the talent level to match the Niners.
Speaker: Teams like maybe the Bills, the Ravens, those are teams that I could see just simply executing and beating this Niners defense.
Speaker: The Packers team is not one of them.
Speaker: And I think for them to win, they're going to need Jordan Love to make plays out of their system, run out of the pocket, make things happen that way.
Speaker: Because I don't think a traditional run game is going to work.
Speaker: I don't think a lot of the pocket passing will be able to work if the Niners pass rush shows up and their secondary shows up the way they have all year long.
Speaker: So for me, I do think the Packers offense has the tools to win.
Speaker: But I think they have to do it in a different way than kind of how you were stating it.
Speaker: And I agree pretty much what you think about with the Niners defense going against this Packers defense.
Speaker: I mean, there's a pretty clear skill gap here.
Speaker: They put up an amazing performance against that.
Speaker: Cowboys team, but to me that felt more self-inflicted.
Speaker: And I think if the Niners have a similar sort of game, similar sort of disaster performance to this Cowboys team, to the Cowboys team, it would be if Brock Purdy has a similar game to Dak Prescott, because I simply don't see anybody in that front seven that can stop this hyper elite run game with Kristen McCaffrey that the Niners have put together this year.
Speaker: with a hobbled Jair Alexandrian, honestly, pretty replaceable cornerbacks, and even safeties for the most part.
Speaker: I don't see how they're going to cover Debo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk, George Kittle, the whole nine with the Niners.
Speaker: It's tough sledding for the Packers' defense, and I think if they were to win, it's going to have to come off the back of a hyper-elite Jordan Love game and mistakes from Purdy.
Speaker: And that's something that can happen, but...
Speaker: it's obviously not very likely and i'm particularly excited for this one i'm actually going to be headed to this game looking forward to it as a niners fan hopefully we're not going to be recapping another jordan love master class next week all right moving on to the next one again with the bucks and alliance intriguing matchup here both of these teams exceptionally good run defenses both top five and you feel for play against the run doing a very very good job there um i think that this affects
Speaker: the Lions more than it affects the Bucs.
Speaker: Bucs not having a good run game in general this season anyway, but they do have a really good play action game.
Speaker: So interested to see what happens there.
Speaker: I think overall though, the issue that I really have with the Bucs defense is their coverage.
Speaker: Their coverage is poor.
Speaker: They have a ton of miscommunications, a ton of coverage busts.
Speaker: They give up a lot of explosive plays.
Speaker: You can remember the Texans Bucs game where they just absolutely annihilated them.
Speaker: Yeah, they could tend to misplay coverage quite a lot.
Speaker: And I think that Aminara St.
Speaker: Brown, Josh Reynolds, Jameson Williams could have some explosive plays in there.
Speaker: And on the other side, I trust the Lions defense to get some sort of pass rush with just Aiden Hutchinson, even if he doesn't have too much support.
Speaker: And their run defense to kind of make it a little tougher on the Bucs offense.
Speaker: And I don't think that the Bucs really have the skill players to match up with what the Lions have on that side.
Speaker: So
Speaker: Yeah, looking for a more successful performance from the Lions offense than the Bucs offense in this one, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, I'd agree with you there.
Speaker: I think in general, a lot of people can tell from the performances we saw in Wild Card Weekend that this Bucks team is not as good as the Lions team.
Speaker: The Lions-Rams matchup seemed to be the easily better matchup of the two from both teams.
Speaker: And this Lions defense has highly impressed me because I did not think they'd be anywhere near the level they are right now.
Speaker: But the scheme just seems to be working perfectly.
Speaker: Aiden Hutchinson has turned up massively and is becoming a hyper elite pass rusher.
Speaker: And I think that's what's going to end up hurting this Bucks team the most.
Speaker: I also agree that both teams, you're probably not going to see much from the run game.
Speaker: And though that's going to hurt the Lions more, like you said, because they're more dependent on the run game.
Speaker: I do think shutting down Rashad White is going to be huge for the Lions defense because
Speaker: You kind of have to put the ball in Baker Mayfield's hands.
Speaker: And personally, I do think the Lions secondary matches up well against a pretty top-heavy Bucs skill unit.
Speaker: You're going to need kind of Mike Evans to take over and have a big game for...
Speaker: me to expect this team to have a high level offensive performance.
Speaker: The one thing that I do think the Bucks have in their favor is I think Baker Mayfield is the kind of guy that to knock him off his game and kind of get a bad Baker Mayfield performance, you're going to need to take the ball away.
Speaker: And I don't particularly think the Lions are the team that has the playmakers to get a key turnover.
Speaker: or force those things late in the games.
Speaker: I'm not sure what the numbers on it is, but from what I recall seeing the Lions a lot this year, I don't remember them getting a lot of turnovers.
Speaker: And I think the Bucs being able to...
Speaker: I think the Baker being able to play without having that as something to hold him back should be huge for him.
Speaker: Looking at the Lions offense, though, I do think they're going to put up a much, much better performance than what we saw out of the Eagles.
Speaker: I thought the Eagles in spurts showed the clear kind of
Speaker: problem with the Bucks defense is their inability to kind of guard that middle of the field.
Speaker: And in general, guard deep because I'm very, very questionable of their secondary.
Speaker: I don't think they have any answer for Amon Rossain Brown whatsoever.
Speaker: I think this play style of Amon Rossain Brown is absolutely exactly what you need to expose this Bucks defense.
Speaker: I think over the middle of that field in that intermediate range,
Speaker: He's going to get plenty of separation versus the corners.
Speaker: I don't expect guys like Levante David and Devin White to be able to drop back to get that because they're going to be so focused on the run.
Speaker: I think we're going to see another very clean and accurate game from Jared Goff with the not-so-great run game and the Lions take care of business.
Speaker: All right, moving on to the best game and the last game of the weekend, I think.
Speaker: Chiefs and the Bills.
Speaker: Here we are again.
Speaker: Chiefs-Bills four in the playoffs.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: It's really been five years since the first game.
Speaker: Anyway.
Speaker: I know.
Speaker: So this one, very much more defensively driven than you would expect with Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen matchup.
Speaker: With the Kansas City Chiefs having one of the better defenses in the league and the Bills defense,
Speaker: doing a better job down the stretch.
Speaker: They've had some injuries recently though, so that could put a dent in it.
Speaker: So what I'm looking for from the Bills offense in this game, the Chiefs defense can be ran on.
Speaker: So if the Bills want to lean on their run game to kind of get some stuff going and then kind of work their way into their play action game,
Speaker: Yeah, I think that those can have some success with their offense.
Speaker: Of course, there's always the Allen factor in both a positive and negative way.
Speaker: He can do anything to any defense, both in a positive and negative way.
Speaker: So, you know, there's always that element of randomness from him.
Speaker: I think that the Chiefs do a really good job covering both receivers and tight ends.
Speaker: Their coverage unit is just fantastic.
Speaker: They just make it really, really tough on opposing quarterbacks, though.
Speaker: We'll see how that goes for the Bills passing attack.
Speaker: Meanwhile, on the other side, the Chiefs just have to stay out of their own way.
Speaker: Like the Bills defense has been very, very good defending the pass, kind of a top 10 type defense.
Speaker: And those defense has been a little weaker against the run.
Speaker: So if the Chiefs, it's kind of similar formula for the Chiefs.
Speaker: If they can run the ball against the Bills, then they'll do better.
Speaker: but they just really have to stay out of their own way.
Speaker: The likes of Kadarius Toney and Sky Moore and Marquez Valdez-Scantling and whoever else you want to throw there, Noah Gray.
Speaker: Even Travis Kelsey has, yeah, good shout.
Speaker: Even Travis Kelsey has been making some mistakes recently.
Speaker: So the Chiefs just have to catch the ball.
Speaker: Stay their way out of trouble, and Patrick Mahomes has to kind of miss less passes and stick in the pocket and not throw the ball to the defense, as he's done in a few games this year.
Speaker: So it's all about not beating yourself for the Chiefs.
Speaker: And for the Bills, it's kind of asking your quarterback to do a lot or getting something out of your run game.
Speaker: I expect this one to be a little bit of a lower scoring game.
Speaker: So, yeah, it should be a fun take on this.
Speaker: Yeah, I was going to say that this is going to be Chiefs versus Bills with a little bit of a twist because the Chiefs versus Bills that we're used to is high powered offense going back and forth.
Speaker: You see Mahomes with 13 seconds left go downfield with the game winning drive or sorry game tying drive.
Speaker: That's not how this game is going to be at all.
Speaker: Both teams are nowhere near as good as they were offensively at that time.
Speaker: And more importantly, even though the weather I don't think is going to be as bad as it was for the Steelers game, it's going to be windy there.
Speaker: It's probably going to be snowing still.
Speaker: And in general, it's not a game very kind of acclimated for passing football.
Speaker: And I think it's going to be interesting to see.
Speaker: I do agree with you with the way the Bills are going to go.
Speaker: I think they absolutely will lean into the
Speaker: rushing side of their offense.
Speaker: I think everyone at this point knows what you said about Allen.
Speaker: He can, in both ways, end the game or win the game.
Speaker: And I think in this weather, there's no reason to risk the possibilities of a downfield play, except maybe a couple of times in this game, with the risk of potentially throwing a pick.
Speaker: because of simply the weather.
Speaker: And even though Josh Allen's a great cold weather quarterback, it's just not something you want to lean on in such an important game.
Speaker: And I do think they're going to try to establish the run with Allen and Cook with how bad this Chiefs defense has been against the run.
Speaker: Because passing the ball, I think this team is going to struggle.
Speaker: We saw what the secondary was able to do against Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddell in similar weather last week.
Speaker: with the way Diggs has been playing with how I don't even think Gabe Davis is playing.
Speaker: So it's a very weak Bills receiving core.
Speaker: I'm going to be very surprised if the Bills are even able to get a lot of separation.
Speaker: And I think that's going to make things very hard on Allen.
Speaker: I think someone who he's might have to lean on a lot is Dalton Kincaid, because I don't think guys like Nick Bolton or Gray, whoever it is on the Chiefs linebacker core can keep up with him.
Speaker: And I think he's the kind of guy you do want to lean on in these sort of situations.
Speaker: I think Dawson Knox is back too.
Speaker: I think we're going to see a lot more of like the old school Allen type of game where he's not throwing the ball a lot downfield, but he's going to run the ball.
Speaker: He's going to hit short passes, maybe have one or two deep shots and play the game that way.
Speaker: And I think the Chiefs,
Speaker: what they should do and what I hope they do because I think this game is going to get out of hand quick if they don't because I think this Bills team is much more talented roster wise than the Chiefs team.
Speaker: The Chiefs need to focus on playing the way they did last week.
Speaker: They can't take shots versus this team and most importantly they can't make mistakes because they have
Speaker: nowhere near the firepower and ability to make big offensive plays that the Bills have.
Speaker: And if they want to keep up, they need to play a similar way, somewhat conservative football, but get the ball out of Mahomes' hands quick, throw it, let him do his thing in terms of reading defenses, get it to your playmakers' hands, and just get five yards, get six yards, march your way downfield because you're not going to get big plays in that weather.
Speaker: with the talent you have.
Speaker: As we mentioned, Mahomes isn't necessarily even as good of a cold weather quarterback as Allen.
Speaker: And in this weather, maybe not be able to play at his best.
Speaker: Even though they may be a little bit used to it in Kansas City, I think Buffalo is like a completely different gravy.
Speaker: I think they're going to have to deal with that.
Speaker: Even though the Bills are maybe better equipped against the run, I think the Chiefs will also rely heavily on Isaiah Pacheco.
Speaker: And honestly, I think weirdly enough, I'm feeling a big Travis Kelsey game because I also don't think much like I don't think the Chiefs linebacker core is particularly good.
Speaker: I feel maybe worse about the Bills linebacker core.
Speaker: And I think guys like Pacheco and Travis Kelsey are going to feast on that because that secondary to me is a little bit stronger for the Bills.
Speaker: And I don't know how much the Chiefs receiving corps can get open against that.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: That's your episode.
Speaker: If you liked this episode, make sure to like, leave, and do what you need to do on whatever platform that you're listening on.
Speaker: Make sure to follow me and Potty at realrewhopoty2 and at pd34 underscore.
Speaker: That'll be all from me.
Speaker: That'll be all from Potty.
Speaker: We'll see you guys in the next one.
Speaker: Peace.
Speaker: Peace out.
