Transcript
Speaker: What's going on guys?
Speaker: Welcome back to another episode of the Passing Towns Podcast.
Speaker: I'm your host Rahul and I'm here with my co-host PD.
Speaker: PD say what's up.
Speaker: What's up.
Speaker: And today we're back with a very similar format to what we've done all year, but obviously a little bit more special.
Speaker: Today we're going to be talking about both the Super Bowl and the two NFC Championship games.
Speaker: It's a little bit of a bittersweet time to the year because it is the most important games of the year, but it does mean the season's almost ending.
Speaker: But if you guys have been enjoying our pods throughout the season, our weekly episodes, these specials,
Speaker: Playoff episodes and whatnot, please like, follow, subscribe, do what you can on the platform you're using to support.
Speaker: And follow us on Twitter as well at PD34 underscore and at RealRahulPotty2 for me.
Speaker: With that being said, we can jump right into the games.
Speaker: Today we're going to be going in a slightly different order just based off how these games have played out.
Speaker: We'll start with the NFC Championship game, which was certainly a thriller, starting with the losers first.
Speaker: the Lions and Jared Goff.
Speaker: Petey, I'll let you get into Jared Goff to start.
Speaker: Yeah, so Jared Goff in this game, he played well for a large majority of it.
Speaker: This game started off with a drive where Goff hit Sam Laporta for a 14-yard gain, and the run game did the rest, with Jameson Williams taking
Speaker: A well-designed reverse for a 44-yard touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, again, the Lions chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: Goff with a few nice intermediate passes, specifically a 39 on the San Francisco side of the field to pick up the first down.
Speaker: The next drive wasn't so great for the Lions.
Speaker: Goff took a sack on second and 10, and
Speaker: Checked it down to Sam Laporta on 3rd and 15, but he wasn't able to pick up the first down.
Speaker: The next drive, another touchdown drive.
Speaker: This time, Goff chunking his way down the field to Sam Laporta and Amon Ross St.
Speaker: Brown before Jameer Gibbs finishes off with a touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, a little bit of a source of controversy on this one, but the Lions slowly chunk their way down the field.
Speaker: Goff making some nice passes here and there.
Speaker: Specifically one I wanted to highlight, a really nice throw from Goff.
Speaker: On third and 18, he hits Amon Ra for a 23-yard gain, takes it into the red zone.
Speaker: And then the Lions used the run game to push their way into the San Francisco 10, and they faced the fourth and goal from the three.
Speaker: Ten seconds left, and this would have been a situation where I went for it.
Speaker: I thought that...
Speaker: there was a chance here to go up three touchdowns, which would have been a pretty significant lead.
Speaker: And the goal here for the Lions was just always to maximize points because as a heavy underdog going into this game, you just have to score as many points as possible.
Speaker: And I don't think that playing the game script in this one was the greatest idea.
Speaker: The next drive came after halftime for the Lions, chunking their way down the field again.
Speaker: But on the fourth and two, Goff throws left for Josh Reynolds on the San Francisco 28-yard line, and Reynolds just drops it.
Speaker: So Goff gets let down heavily by his team there.
Speaker: Significant play.
Speaker: Would have been a game-changing one if he was able to recover it, or if he was able to pick up the first down there.
Speaker: The next drive, Jameer gives fumbles on the first play on the subsequent drive.
Speaker: Goff can't hook up with Josh Reynolds on third down after an incompletion to Sam Laporta.
Speaker: Another pass where Josh Reynolds could have hauled it in, but lets him down again.
Speaker: They end up punting.
Speaker: The next drive, another drive that ends on a fourth down miscue.
Speaker: But Goff able to hit Amon Ross and Brown for seven yards on third and 10 before being unable to hook up with him on fourth and three.
Speaker: This time, Goff actually unable to make the play, doesn't put it in his receiver's hands this time.
Speaker: It's just for a drop.
Speaker: The next drive, the Lions end up scoring a touchdown, but it doesn't end up mattering.
Speaker: Goff chunks his way down the field, makes a nice throw to Reynolds.
Speaker: Punches it in for a touchdown with a nice throw to Jameson Williams, but it's a little too little too late.
Speaker: And as we'll talk about on the winner's side, the Nines were making a furious comeback at this point.
Speaker: And kind of the only reason that they lost was because of some stuff that was out of Goss control.
Speaker: And I thought he played really, really well this game.
Speaker: Yeah, for the most part, I absolutely agree with you because I think we look at Goff's game completely different if Josh Reynolds particularly is able to bring in a couple of those big time catches.
Speaker: That fourth and two one was awful.
Speaker: And I think the third and nine was even worse because at least the first time it was broken up out of his hands.
Speaker: The second one was just a blatant drop in the open field.
Speaker: Very unfortunate for Goff, who I also thought was playing a very good game overall.
Speaker: Apart from maybe one sack, I thought he didn't necessarily have to take.
Speaker: Other than that, he was very accurate.
Speaker: I felt like in general, he played his game that we've seen Goff play throughout the year with the Lions, getting the ball to guys like Laporta, Amon Ra over the middle of the field.
Speaker: getting them in space and allowing them to move the football.
Speaker: And most importantly, he was doing a great job working off that run game, which in that first half was incredible for the Lions.
Speaker: Honestly, a little surprising how they weren't able to keep it going in that second half and was a big part of their demise in general.
Speaker: I even agree with you with the point of the end of the first half.
Speaker: I think
Speaker: If they had gone for four downs like that at the end of the first half, they wouldn't have been forced into some of those situations in that second half where I wasn't so happy with them going for it on four down.
Speaker: I think in the first when you have so much going for you with the Niners pretty much have nothing going for them offensively.
Speaker: and you're able to drive the ball downfield once again against a defense that showed in that second half it's a good defense that just simply wasn't playing well at that time you're at the three yard line and you've been able to get three four yards pretty consistently at that point offensively i i would have also elected to go for it would have saved them from a situation later in the game but
Speaker: Obviously as a Niners fan, I'm very glad things played out the way they did.
Speaker: And it's just unfortunate for Goff to give up a big lead like this.
Speaker: A lot of people do just end up simply blaming the quarterback.
Speaker: They didn't do enough in the second half or whatnot.
Speaker: But for a lead like this to get blown, a lot of unnatural, abnormal things need to happen.
Speaker: And most of those things that happened in this game for the Lions was completely out of Goff's control.
Speaker: that Gibbs fumble on like with the very first play of that drive was a huge killer and that's something that he really can't do he really can't affect same thing with both of those Josh Reynolds passes and for what it's worth even though the Niners defense was kind of sagging off based off the situation when he was forced to push the ball move the ball downfield and his receivers did catch the ball consistently
Speaker: The only drive that really happened was that final drive and he was able to go down, put together a very solid drive, score and give his team a chance to maybe get an onside kick and win.
Speaker: Unfortunately, at that point, it was a bit too late.
Speaker: But overall, I have no problems with the way Jared Goff played.
Speaker: I don't necessarily...
Speaker: think this is one of those games to look at and be like, oh, a player like Jared Goff can't necessarily win you games in the playoffs or whatnot, that sort of mentality, because this Lions team clearly had what it took.
Speaker: That first half showed exactly that.
Speaker: If they were able to stick with that run game and then just...
Speaker: the same way the Niners defense adjusted to lock down that run game.
Speaker: If they had continued to do that, I think this would have been a completely different game.
Speaker: Unfortunately, the Lions simply didn't adjust.
Speaker: Even in that first half, they were kind of running the same sort of run concepts over and over again.
Speaker: At some point, it's going to get stopped simply because the Niners defense is seeing the same thing over and over.
Speaker: And maybe they did get it together a little bit,
Speaker: but I would have liked a little bit more creative play calling from the lines in that second half.
Speaker: They forced themselves in a lot of key third and four down situations.
Speaker: And you know with them, they're gonna be aggressive in those situations.
Speaker: But unfortunately, when you have a lead and things aren't going your way,
Speaker: In some of those drives, maybe they should have gone a little bit more conservative, taking their points because, I mean, when you're playing with the lead in that second half, it's a lot harder to blow it when you are putting points up.
Speaker: Whereas in that first half, like we talked about, PD, like I would have been completely fine with them going for it because it's a different situation.
Speaker: But yeah, very unfortunate for Goff.
Speaker: Great year for him overall.
Speaker: Something that I didn't foresee coming whatsoever.
Speaker: And a solid way to end it because I wasn't as big of a fan of his previous game.
Speaker: Yeah, so let's talk about Jared Goff in terms of where he's going this offseason.
Speaker: So the Lions obviously are going to retain Jared Goff.
Speaker: I think that's a foregone conclusion at this point.
Speaker: With Goff, we've seen, and also we have the context that Ben Johnson is staying in Detroit now, so that's a huge, huge boost for that offense.
Speaker: With Goff, we've seen that
Speaker: As the situation changes, he changes along with it.
Speaker: This, I think, is arguably his best season of his career.
Speaker: And it's no coincidence that the other season that's in Kansas City for the best season of his career came with a similarly amazing supporting cast around him.
Speaker: You know, this offensive line is fantastic.
Speaker: Aminar St.
Speaker: Brown, Josh Reynolds, Jameson Williams, combined with the explosive run game, as well as Samuel Porter, who I forgot to mention.
Speaker: This is like a really, really strong supporting cast.
Speaker: Similarly in the Rams analog of this season, Woods Cup, strong offensive line, run game, Sean McVay.
Speaker: You can see all these elements coming together and forming a strong supporting cast.
Speaker: And I do really give credit to Goff for being able to amplify those supporting casts and continue to keep his foot on the gas pedal.
Speaker: And the thing that separated this season from a season like last year was the lack of turnover he plays for him.
Speaker: I know that the interception luck for him last year was really, really positive, really, really helped him keep his stats like his EPA and his yards per attempt adjusted quite high.
Speaker: But this year, by actually avoiding putting the ball in harm's way, he played at a much higher level, in my opinion.
Speaker: He's a quarterback worth building around if you can get him
Speaker: and a contract that's not prohibitive to keeping the highest level of skilled players.
Speaker: I think that it's worth keeping him around for the Lions, but yeah, I could see that presenting some issues if the contract situation gets too negative for Goff at some point in the future.
Speaker: Yeah, I absolutely agree that the Lions will keep around Jared Goff.
Speaker: Not only has he been very key in this resurgence of the Lions team over the last year or so, but also the city of Detroit loves him.
Speaker: The teams loved him and he's been an amazing fit.
Speaker: And like you said, played incredible this year.
Speaker: So I see no reason why they wouldn't.
Speaker: One place where I do disagree is I don't necessarily think Jared Goff, even on a friendly contract, is the type of quarterback you would ever necessarily build around.
Speaker: But he is the type of quarterback who can be the final piece to a great offense, kind of like the Lions treated him.
Speaker: The Lions did have slightly unique team building offensively where they were able to pick up
Speaker: every other piece of their offense, whether it was left tackle, running back, receiver, tight end in the draft.
Speaker: And then they just placed that last cog of Jared Goff with that trade.
Speaker: And some of those guys they did get after Jared Goff as well.
Speaker: That's why this team is much better than the last few years, because this offense was a work in progress and eventually they got it right this year.
Speaker: But I think Goff is a type of quarterback to where if you do have an elite roster, and I think we agree here,
Speaker: Jared Goff is the perfect kind of engine to that offense and the final piece that will be able to get it to all these playmakers in space.
Speaker: Another offense like the Niners offense, I feel like he would also play incredibly there.
Speaker: And this type of quarterback, I think that's also why it's huge, like you mentioned, with the turnover-worthy plays.
Speaker: it's amazing that he was able to cut it down this year because he's the type of quarterback that can't afford those types of plays more so than your other quarterbacks who we see throw more interceptions uh he doesn't necessarily have that many chunk plays or big time throws that you see that happen as a result of his passing if it does happen in the lions offense it's as a result of their playmakers making big plays in the open field
Speaker: You don't see Jared Goff go past that intermediate range often.
Speaker: So when he is turning the ball over, it's a lot more impactful for a guy like him.
Speaker: And he is when he does have the right pieces around him.
Speaker: He is incredible in the play action.
Speaker: He's incredible without pressure in the pocket.
Speaker: And there's a lot of aspects of his game which are...
Speaker: uh really good as a result of that and I I do think the Lions will take that and move forward with him uh one thing that I did see him struggle with in this game and I feel like it's been a problem throughout his career and I don't know if this will ever change with him uh
Speaker: He's not very good under pressure, and I think we saw that a lot in that second half.
Speaker: The one thing I would have to take away from Goff's game, and I think a key play we saw that is maybe that forward down with Josh Reynolds.
Speaker: But when the Niners did send a little bit of pressure, which isn't very characteristic of them, but they brought it out because of Jared Goff.
Speaker: You saw him kind of fumbling with his feet.
Speaker: You saw him make slightly less accurate throws like that pass to Reynolds, though it was more of a drop with Reynolds.
Speaker: I think with no pressure, Goff lays that throw in exactly where it needs to be.
Speaker: It ends up being a little low in a way because Goff was under pressure.
Speaker: You see his mechanics kind of fumble a little bit.
Speaker: And that's one part of Goff's game that I'm not sure it'll ever improve and kind of worries me long term because...
Speaker: When you do face these games where teams are able to stop the run game like the Niners did in that second half, teams will bring you a lot of different looks, a lot of different packages that will end up confusing the quarterback.
Speaker: And Goff will be forced into a lot of quick decisions.
Speaker: And I feel like in general, including this game, he hasn't been great at that.
Speaker: But other than that, he's been fantastic for Detroit.
Speaker: And I do agree.
Speaker: If it's a similar kind of contract situation and he's not taking a whole lot of the cap,
Speaker: they'll definitely move forward with him.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So in order to keep the consistency for the quarterbacks who are playing in the Super Bowl, we're going to jump games and go to the loser on the other side.
Speaker: And that was Lamar Jackson, unfortunately for Ravens fans.
Speaker: This game was an absolute disaster class from the offense as a whole.
Speaker: And Lamar was unfortunately a contributing factor in that.
Speaker: So let's start off on the first drive.
Speaker: Lamar unable to hook up with Nelson Aguilar after scrambling for a two yard gain, they end up punting.
Speaker: The next drive, or that one was a drop, so I probably should mention that.
Speaker: The next drive, Lamar able to hook up with Mark Andrews and then able to run for a 21 yard gain on a sweep on the
Speaker: fourth and one.
Speaker: Um, after Gus Edwards takes it into Kansas city territory for an explosive game, Lamar makes a great play.
Speaker: His best one of the day by far, um, breaks out of a sack rolls to his right and finds Zay flowers deep down the field for a touchdown, um, on a scrambled drill type play.
Speaker: Um, that would be the only touchdown for the Ravens of the day.
Speaker: Uh, the next drive ends with a fumble.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Lamar hits Dave Flowers for a nine-yard gain before being unable to hook up with him on second and one.
Speaker: Then Justice Hill picks up the first down.
Speaker: The next play, this one was a really long developing play-action concept.
Speaker: where you could see Ronnie Stanley kind of sets and like four seconds into the play, he finally gets beat.
Speaker: The way the play is drawn up is like a crosser and a post corner type thing behind it.
Speaker: And Lamar has to wait for the safety to come down and drive the crossing route before he can throw the post.
Speaker: And that long of a time,
Speaker: It is too difficult for the pass protection to hold up.
Speaker: Ends up stripping Lamar for a fumble there.
Speaker: Didn't think that play was on Lamar.
Speaker: It's kind of tough play design to execute without holding the ball that long.
Speaker: The next drive ends with a punt again.
Speaker: This time, though, Lamar throws a turnover-worthy play on this one, scrambling out to his left, puts the ball in harm's way, looking for Zay Flowers.
Speaker: He does complete a pass to himself, which was pretty cool as well, batted up in the air, and then great hand-eye coordination to go track that and pick up a 13-yard gain.
Speaker: The next drive, again, ending with a punt.
Speaker: Lamar this time, he hits Isaiah Likely for a short gain before being unable to hook up with Nelson Aguilar.
Speaker: And on third and four, he just misses Justice Hill bad throw that ends up causing the punt.
Speaker: The next drive comes after the first half.
Speaker: The drive ends.
Speaker: Lamar taking a deep shot to Zay Flowers, unable to hook up on third and six.
Speaker: The next drive again ends with a punt.
Speaker: Lamar checks down to Gus Edwards for a 16-yard gain.
Speaker: Then scrambles for an 11-yard gain before hitting Justice Hill for another 11-yard gain.
Speaker: He then hits Mark Andrews for a six-yard gain and then takes a pretty, pretty bad sack.
Speaker: Third and nine in Kansas City territory.
Speaker: In range for Justin Tucker, but takes a nine-yard sack, which puts them out of field goal range.
Speaker: The next drive, Lamar hits Zay Flowers for a 54-yard gain on a nasty coverage bust.
Speaker: Zay Flowers wide open down the sideline.
Speaker: Hits Zay Flowers again for a 14-yard gain after he gets called for a taunting.
Speaker: and then hits Rashad Bateman for a short gain.
Speaker: And then on second and eight at the 91 or Kansas City nine, he hits Zay Flowers for an eight-yard gain.
Speaker: He dives for the goal line and fumbles at the goal line.
Speaker: Great play by Lejerius Snead, but man, really, really tough play for him.
Speaker: um next drive um the ravens seem to be chunking their way down the field lamar hits isaiah likely um and then scrambles for a nine yard gain on second and ten before getting sacked for two yard loss and then he hits odell for a six yard gain throws a little low but it's fine uh picks up the first down then he hits odell for an eight yard gain
Speaker: and then hits Nelson Aguilar for a 39-yard gain, one of his better throws of the day.
Speaker: And then, man, he misses Odell and then tries to stuff it over the middle into an incredibly tight window.
Speaker: This one, though, in triple coverage kind of sees Isaiah likely put up the mailbox or stick his hand out like he's supposed to be wide open, but doesn't seem to check what's going on backside, and the safety just comes in and intercepts it for one of the easiest picks of his life.
Speaker: next drive it's too little too late um Lamar and the offense kind of chunk their way down the field um and Justin Tucker hits a field goal but the Chiefs come back and end the game which we'll talk about in a minute but man this this performance from the Ravens on offense the Zay Flowers fumble the two turner worthy plays from Lamar were pretty atrocious um
Speaker: And on top of that, another fumble where the play design and offensive line lets them down.
Speaker: Just a really, really bad day for the Ravens offense and a tough way for them to go out.
Speaker: Yeah, unfortunately, unlike with Jared Goff and the Lions, there aren't very many good things to say about the way this Raven season ended, the way Lamar Jackson ended even.
Speaker: And when you do get to this point with NFC and AFC championships in general, you know that your roster is good enough to be there, good enough to win a championship.
Speaker: The only one maybe this year you could have argued is the Lions, and they showed in that NFC championship game that they absolutely deserve to be there.
Speaker: And the thing that annoyed me the most, and I guess it's been talked about quite a bit after this game has happened, I'm super, super confused as to why the Ravens elected to play the way they did in this game.
Speaker: It almost felt like they were trying to make a statement, try to silence the doubters with Lamar not being a passing quarterback, with
Speaker: them having to rely on his legs too much and I don't understand why they kind of maybe they didn't let that get to them or maybe this is just how they wanted to play but even when we talked about it in the previews
Speaker: In no way were we saying that the Ravens should go on a pass heavy attack because everyone could see that the Chiefs strong suit is their secondary and the way to attack them is by running the football.
Speaker: And this is a Ravens team that for years and years now, even though they strayed away from it a little bit this year,
Speaker: But for years and years, their identity has massively been running the football, not only with just Lamar Jackson and those designs, but running it with their running backs as well.
Speaker: And even during this regular season, they averaged significantly more carries with their running backs than they did in this game.
Speaker: And I know part of it was game script, but at no point in this game were they down so much to the point where they should have been abandoning the run.
Speaker: So my biggest confusion and concern, I guess, with this team was why they chose to play the way they did.
Speaker: There was a point in this game where six straight drives of the Chiefs ended in no scoring for them.
Speaker: And this Chiefs team, even though they weren't particularly good offensively throughout the year,
Speaker: The previous two games they played, they were clicking on all cylinders, even coming out in this game.
Speaker: It took a second before the Ravens defense was able to adjust and stop this team.
Speaker: So this was a big feat for that defense, showing their championship DNA, I guess, in that Ravens defense, being able to stop the Chiefs over and over again and giving this offense so many chances.
Speaker: And they constantly...
Speaker: just forced Lamar to play in a way slightly different than he had throughout the year.
Speaker: You didn't even in the last two games we saw are the last game against the Texans.
Speaker: We saw him really use that dual threat ability and the Texans had no clue how to stop it.
Speaker: He was running all over the place and that opened so much in their passing game.
Speaker: and in this game we saw very little of his playmaking ability we saw none of his scramming ability really except for a couple of uh instances where it was a last ditch effort their heavy packages just running the football with guys like gus edwards and justice hill it simply wasn't there and unfortunately when you give lamar jackson the
Speaker: that many instances where he's got to pass the full ball that simply isn't his game and you end up seeing mistakes like you did in this one and that's not to excuse Lamar for it that interception at the end of the game I feel like saying there was a small window there gives way too much credit
Speaker: That pass, even from the point of where Lamar threw it, had absolutely zero way of going through.
Speaker: There was a guy underneath the entire time underneath Likely.
Speaker: And even when you have both safeties crashing over the top, there was no way that was going through.
Speaker: One of the worst passes Lamar Jackson could have made in that situation.
Speaker: And for him to fumble two in this game, the way he was playing is absolutely awful.
Speaker: I also was not a fan of his accuracy in this game.
Speaker: And it was a little bit uncharacteristic of Lamar, too, because at this point in the year, I feel like we've had a string of games where Lamar Jackson's accuracy looked very good.
Speaker: In this game, not so much.
Speaker: And I'm not sure if it was him not being on the same page as his receivers.
Speaker: Maybe it was because of the lack of separation because of...
Speaker: how good the Chiefs secondary was.
Speaker: But aside from a couple of big plays here and there, there weren't that many consistent passes going to any of his receivers.
Speaker: It felt like a lot of check downs and here and there you saw a big play break out for them and as a result you got a couple of those scoring drives.
Speaker: Even that drive where Zay Flowers fumbled at the one was a very successful one.
Speaker: But in general is drive in, drive out.
Speaker: And I don't know if it was Lamar Jackson or the offensive play calling from the Ravens, but they completely went against what their identity was.
Speaker: And it baffles me how they would do it in their most important game of the year when the game was right in their palms.
Speaker: I mean, it ended 1710.
Speaker: for most of this game it stayed at about 17-7 it was a very winnable game for this Ravens team uh yet they chose to play in a way that did not suit them whatsoever and forced Lamar into making a lot of passes that we didn't see him make throughout the year it was a lot of
Speaker: tight window out routes, tight window throws that you necessarily don't ask Lamar Jackson to make.
Speaker: It was very weird for me.
Speaker: And I guess the Ravens deserve to lose the game as a result, even though they had the talent to get it done in this one, the way they played, they're never winning like that.
Speaker: All right, so let's reflect and talk about what it could look like in the future.
Speaker: Man, this is a rough, rough loss for the Ravens.
Speaker: This season, they had what was, by many metrics, one of the best teams that we've seen in a while, mainly because their defense, which showed up on Sunday, has been exceptional.
Speaker: And their offense just really, really let them down.
Speaker: This team was just exceptionally well built.
Speaker: And it's hard to see them sustaining this level of success, specifically on defense.
Speaker: Going into next season, losing their defensive coordinator, likely having more injuries than they did this season.
Speaker: Yeah, it's going to be a little bit of a tough time.
Speaker: Zay Flowers, who's looked like a very solid piece for them and will likely see some growth.
Speaker: They always have a very stout offensive line.
Speaker: Aside from 2021, where they experienced a number of injuries, their offensive line has been fantastic in every season of Lamar's prime.
Speaker: So there's pieces here to continue to have offensive sustainability.
Speaker: Mark Andrews coming back and hopefully to full health.
Speaker: Isaiah likely continuing to ascend as a player.
Speaker: So I think we will see the Ravens continue to be solid on offense, barring significant injury.
Speaker: But man, you really cannot waste a defense like this.
Speaker: In terms of what this means for Lamar in specific going forwards, I don't think that this game specifically changed my opinion of him.
Speaker: One-game samples don't really do that for me.
Speaker: But I do think it's a feather in the cap of the argument for people who are saying that the singular season shouldn't change the way that we view Lamar significantly because in any game,
Speaker: He is capable of having poor accuracy.
Speaker: He is capable of putting the ball in harm's way multiple times.
Speaker: So we did add that sort of game to the sample, albeit against a really strong defense.
Speaker: But it is something to think about.
Speaker: And yeah, not really too many takeaways long term from this game other than, wow, what a letdown for what it was looking like at certain points during the year, an all-time great team.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe I'm a little bit more pessimistic on this Ravens team, but to me, I do have a little bit more negative outlook.
Speaker: Just looking at what happened this season, like you said, this looked like not one of the most talented rosters we've seen in general in the last couple of years.
Speaker: This team seemed throughout the year kind of destined to make the Super Bowl.
Speaker: And to crumble at this point, not only is it wasting this elite of a roster and in terms of defense, a lot of the time you don't pay guys, like you said, their defensive coordinators leaving.
Speaker: It's going to be tough to sustain that level of dominance that we saw in this Ravens defense.
Speaker: But not only that, looking at the AFC, I think people forget at the start of the year how much of a bloodbath we thought it was going to be.
Speaker: And it didn't end up being that kind of because of luck, because of injuries.
Speaker: Joe Burrow missed the end of the year, and the Ravens not only didn't have to deal with them in the division, but also in the playoffs, the Bengals have been a threat for years.
Speaker: And that obviously didn't happen this year.
Speaker: You had Trevor Lawrence pick up a key injury and his level of play massively fell in that second half of the year.
Speaker: And as a result, they didn't make the playoffs.
Speaker: And that was another person who could have potentially posed threats in this point of the season.
Speaker: Aaron Rodgers gets hurt at the very beginning of the year, and that's another Jets team who maybe if they end up sticking with Rodgers and having as good of a defense as they did this year, that's another team that could pose a threat in the future.
Speaker: And there's other teams I can name off too, like Cleveland was massively, massively injured this year.
Speaker: Even the Chargers coming back with Harbaugh and Herbert, you never know what they could do.
Speaker: This AFC is looking really good and not even to mention the team that's been dominating it for the last six years in the Kansas City Chiefs and teams like the Bills and the Dolphins that we know are going to be back.
Speaker: This AFC is a very, very stacked side of the league at this point in time.
Speaker: And the Ravens kind of had a couple of good breaks.
Speaker: Not only was there good injury luck on their side, but a lot of other AFC teams had bad injury luck.
Speaker: And that combined with how good this defense was, how good this offense has looked at points this year, dropping 50 plus points against the Dolphins, dropping massive amount of points against the Niners.
Speaker: And throughout the year, they have beaten pretty much every good team you could name.
Speaker: They've beaten them in this regular season.
Speaker: This Ravens team had exactly what it took and had things bouncing their way to go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker: Even looking at this Chiefs team, this is the worst iteration of the Chiefs team we've probably seen since Mahomes took over and whatnot.
Speaker: So there was a lot riding for the Ravens here and for them to fumble not only in this way, but for them to fumble in the way where they just simply didn't play the way they did all year offensively, I think is a huge concern.
Speaker: And I think the even bigger concern with Lamar Jackson, I know you're not a huge fan of looking at things differently with one game sample sizes and whatnot.
Speaker: But
Speaker: I think Lamar Jackson's style of play, like you said, is prone to sometimes having these games where he's going to have multiple turnover-worthy plays and kind of lose you the game.
Speaker: And we've seen in pretty much his whole career at this point, either he has one of those games to end the Ravens season, or he's too injured to play at this point in the season.
Speaker: So my worry with Lamar is whether he'll be able to both health wise and ability wise, be able to put together a whole postseason at a high level of elite play in order to win this Ravens team a Super Bowl, which is obviously the ultimate goal in this Lamar era, so to speak.
Speaker: And so far we haven't seen it.
Speaker: I thought this was going to be the year.
Speaker: The game against the Texans instilled a lot in me.
Speaker: I thought this was a different Lamar Jackson.
Speaker: I thought we're finally going to see him show up to play.
Speaker: And if Lamar had played at least solid or maybe a little bit below average, I wouldn't have been so kind of
Speaker: hard on him but the way he played and fumbled it's especially after two years of not getting to this point simply because of injuries uh long term it's starting to worry me whether Lamar Jackson will ever be able to put it together for that few game stretch to put his team over the top because his style of play still even though he's running the ball a lot less in the regular season
Speaker: It still in general does lend itself to a lot more injury.
Speaker: And at this point, maybe you could even call Lamar a little bit injury prone in terms of full length seasons.
Speaker: We've seen him only do it twice.
Speaker: And those are both his MVP years.
Speaker: So I guess that is a good sign in some ways where...
Speaker: If he is healthy, he's playing at an incredible level.
Speaker: But it's starting this lack of consistency in all of his postseason runs at this point is starting to become a little bit of a concern to me, especially the way this Ravens offense is set up where it's very reliant on Lamar's level of play.
Speaker: They rarely set him up with playmakers to where you can have a more...
Speaker: similar offense to maybe like the Lions to where he can in games where he's not playing as well rely on his playmakers.
Speaker: Just like the Bills, this is a very Lamar Jackson centric and Lamar Jackson dependent offense.
Speaker: And when you have a guy who becomes inconsistent or even injured in those games, it's a little bit of a problem.
Speaker: All right, so let's flip over to some more positive talk with the winning side.
Speaker: Let's start off with
Speaker: Brock Purdy in the 49ers offense, like we started off from the NFC.
Speaker: Man, this game did not start off well for the Niners.
Speaker: And Brock Purdy, he was missing throw after throw to start this game.
Speaker: Started off in this game, the first drive,
Speaker: They were able to get down the field, Brock Purdy hitting Brandon Ayuk for an 11-yard gain, misses Ayuk on the next play, but hits Debo Samuel underneath for a 15-yard gain.
Speaker: And then they used the run game to kind of push themselves into field goal range, but Jake Moody misses the 48-yard field goal attempt.
Speaker: The next drive, able to score a touchdown.
Speaker: Brock Brady hits Debo Samuel for a six-yard gain and then use check for a 23-yard gain on a short pass.
Speaker: He then checks down to McCaffrey for a 28-yard gain, and they're into scoring position, and they end up scoring a touchdown.
Speaker: The next drive, the Niners kind of stall out.
Speaker: Pretty can't hook up with IU gone back to back plays and then gets intercepted on third and 10.
Speaker: This one, not really on him.
Speaker: Get his hand gets hit as he's throwing.
Speaker: So I think that was a little bit of a tough play, but he does have a turnover where the play on a first down on that drive itself, where kind of chucks it up to IU comes up short.
Speaker: So tough luck.
Speaker: Next drive again, ends up with a point pretty can't hook up with George Kittle on third and 10.
Speaker: And that's the last drive for the first half.
Speaker: The next drive comes after halftime.
Speaker: Purdy hits Debo for a 26-yard gain before hitting Debo again for a 9-yard gain.
Speaker: He then hits Juwan Jennings for an 8-yard gain.
Speaker: But on 2nd and 3rd and 8th, he can't end up finding a completion and they end up having to
Speaker: Kick a field goal, that third down and eight, especially he just absolutely sails Jawan Jennings on the pass.
Speaker: Really, really tough throw.
Speaker: The next drive, another touchdown drive.
Speaker: Purdy hits Debo Samuel for a 17-yard gain and then chucks up a prayer, the prayer to end all prayers.
Speaker: And it hits Kendall Vildor in the face mask, and Brendan Ayuk makes a ridiculous circus catch come up and catch it.
Speaker: So turn over the play, whatever you want on that one.
Speaker: But Purdy gets blessed with the hand of the gods on that one.
Speaker: Ends up capping that drive off with a nice touchdown pass, though.
Speaker: Next drive, again, another touchdown pass.
Speaker: Purdy with a big-time scramble on second 11, pick up a 21-yard gain, and Christian McCaffrey is able to punch it in for the one-yard touchdown.
Speaker: Next drive,
Speaker: Ends with a field goal.
Speaker: Niners really chunking their way down the field on this one.
Speaker: A short pass to Kittle for a 28-yard gain.
Speaker: And then another scramble on the second and sixth for a 10-yard gain.
Speaker: Purdy then does take back-to-back sacks, though, which ends up putting them in a tougher position for the field goal.
Speaker: Checks it down to Debo Samuel for a 7-yard gain on third down.
Speaker: Next drive.
Speaker: A critical touchdown drive to put the Niners up two scores.
Speaker: Pretty hit Samuel on a short pass for an eight-yard gain.
Speaker: And then another big-time scramble for a 21-yard gain on a third and four.
Speaker: Huge, huge play there before they punch it in with Elijah Mitchell for the touchdown.
Speaker: And then the final drive, they're just kind of burning clock.
Speaker: So really, really, really impressive day from Brock Cruddy as a scrambler.
Speaker: Has the turnover of the plays.
Speaker: on the passes that he threw, but I thought he did a great job in the run game to make up for it and made a number of his signature intermediate passes to kind of lessen the damage that he did with the turnover he plays in the passing game.
Speaker: So average day passing, but a really impactful day as a runner.
Speaker: So I would say his performance in this game was slightly above average overall.
Speaker: Yeah, I massively agree with what you're saying.
Speaker: And this man, Brock Purdy, as a Niners fan, has to be the guy to induce the most heart attacks by far because he comes out both of these playoff games playing...
Speaker: Not awful, but nowhere near his best football.
Speaker: And you see him completely 360 and turn around in both games.
Speaker: Some point late in the game.
Speaker: One thing I can say about him is he is clutch, so to say.
Speaker: In both games, he did turn up in those final drives when they really, really...
Speaker: needed a drive to win or lose the game, but I would have liked for him for sure to play a much more complete game and immediately to touch on some of those key plays.
Speaker: I do think that Brandon, I, you can play those.
Speaker: First of all, incredibly, incredibly lucky for Ayuk to be able to come down with that and very surprised the Lions defender is not able to catch that.
Speaker: But I do believe that was that play had they called pass interference on the defensive player.
Speaker: So I do think that even if you do consider that a turnover worthy pass, it is kind of a result of the pass interference that happened.
Speaker: So regardless of if that catch ends up happening or not, I won't necessarily call that a good throw by Brock Purdy.
Speaker: It was just a prayer throwing it up there.
Speaker: But I wouldn't necessarily call that a turnover-worthy pass either because it would have been called a PI had that not been caught by whatever luck that Brandon Ayuk had that day.
Speaker: I think he said a ladybug landed on his foot that day or something as a joke.
Speaker: Maybe it did, because that was one of the luckiest passes I've ever seen.
Speaker: However, in general, in that second half, he was lights out in the running game, like you mentioned, PD.
Speaker: Big time runs to get big first downs on multiple third down plays.
Speaker: And I think kind of like we talked about with Mahomes in some of his other games, and we'll talk about it, I guess, in this AFC Championship as well.
Speaker: It was the timing of Brock Purdy's runs.
Speaker: A lot of the time you see quarterbacks leave the pocket too early, kind of ruins the play or take sacks as a result of that.
Speaker: There were multiple key moments where there was nothing going for him and Brock Purdy escaped at the perfect time, picked up lots of yardage on all of those runs as well.
Speaker: It felt like he ran the ball more than just five times because of how big of an impact it was.
Speaker: It was just the timeliness of it
Speaker: was huge for him.
Speaker: And speaking of timeless, some of those throws he made to make that comeback were huge as well.
Speaker: The Brandon Ayuk touchdown pass, which I believe was the game winning touchdown pass, was on a big time third down play.
Speaker: And it seemed like the Niners weren't going to be able to come away with seven points there.
Speaker: And if they didn't, it would have been a lot, lot harder to come back at that point.
Speaker: My mistake, this wasn't the game winning touchdown pass.
Speaker: This was the one that brought it from 10 points to 17 points for the Niners.
Speaker: And had the Niners come away with three points at that point in the game, and knowing Kyle Shanahan on a fourth and sixth there, he probably would have elected to just go for three points.
Speaker: I don't know if the Niners are able to make that comeback, but that pass, being able to fit that right in between two defenders on that slant, Tyuk was huge.
Speaker: Multiple huge throws on the next drive as well, or the final drive, I should say, that ended up bringing the 49ers to 34 points.
Speaker: A lot of big-time throws from Purdy, and when you combine that with how impactful he was in the run game,
Speaker: I also agree he was slightly above average.
Speaker: That turnover-worthy pass and the inconsistency for the first half is a big concern for sure.
Speaker: We still have not seen a complete game from Brock Purdy, not only in a while in general, but in these big time moments where every time he's been tested, so to speak, whether it's been the Ravens game, the Packers game, the Lions game,
Speaker: He hasn't put together a complete performance.
Speaker: And in the game, we'll talk about later in this episode, the Super Bowl.
Speaker: I'm not necessarily sure he'll have that luxury to come out so slow and still be able to make that comeback.
Speaker: I think for him to be able to be in those conversations with some of the top quarterbacks that because of his winning experience,
Speaker: Some people have started to talk about him in the elite tier.
Speaker: He's not necessarily there yet because of this lack of consistency.
Speaker: We still too often see first halves like this where he's missing throws left and right.
Speaker: He's making key interceptions that put the Niners down even more of a hole than they would have been before.
Speaker: And I do think much like Jared Goff on the other side,
Speaker: The run game massively influences whether Brock Purdy plays well or not.
Speaker: I think he's amazing playing off the run, even though he's not a huge play-action guy.
Speaker: I think that run game with Christian McCaffrey just...
Speaker: Opens of space so much more for him and he's able to fit those intermediate passes that Brock Purdy thrives off of.
Speaker: And I think it's a little unfortunate that it needs to get to that, but that's just the type of quarterback Brock Purdy is.
Speaker: I think this game even more so reinforced that because even though he was clutch in the end, he made a lot of big throws, a lot of timely runs.
Speaker: You can't forget that first half that put the 49ers in that position and they wouldn't have had to make such a monumental comeback.
Speaker: with as many things breaking their way as it did, it wouldn't have had to happen if they just played a consistent game and he was able to play as well offensively as he did in that second half.
Speaker: As good as he was or elite as he was, I'd even say, in that second half, the first half does drag it down a little bit to be slightly above average for me.
Speaker: All right, so let's move to the other game with the other Super Bowl quarterback.
Speaker: And that's Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker: And Mahomes was putting up an absolute masterclass in the first half.
Speaker: The Ravens defense did a better job in the second half, but I still thought he played very, very well overall.
Speaker: So let's start off on the first drive.
Speaker: They're chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: Mahomes hits Pacheco on a short pass out of structure for a 10-yard gain.
Speaker: And then Rasheed Rice for an 11-yard gain.
Speaker: They get their way into Ravens territory.
Speaker: And Mahomes hits Travis Kelsey for a 13 yard gain on a pretty ridiculous scramble.
Speaker: Going full speed to his right, just kind of chucks it up there and Travis Kelsey comes down with it.
Speaker: Unbelievable play and then finishes it off with a really nice back shoulder throw to Kelsey on the money in what is a tight window.
Speaker: The next drive, another touchdown drive.
Speaker: Again, chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: Mahomes hits Rice for a 10 yard gain and then scrambles for an 11 yard gain before hitting Kelsey.
Speaker: for a six yard gain and another impressive pass.
Speaker: Finds Rasheed Rice for a nine yard gain on a third and four before continuing to chunk his way down the field on short passes.
Speaker: On the third and five, he hits Kelsey again for a 10 yard gain, another impressive pass.
Speaker: And they end up punching it in for a touchdown with Isaiah Pacheco.
Speaker: The next drive,
Speaker: Unable to convert on a fourth down because of the run game.
Speaker: The Chiefs kind of slowly going their way or chunking their way down the field.
Speaker: The Holmes hits Kelsey for a couple of short gains of six and eight yards, but not really much to write home about on that drive.
Speaker: Next drive ends with the punt.
Speaker: It's actually good defense from the Chiefs or from the Ravens.
Speaker: Mahomes tries targeting Rice a couple of times for no gain before being forced to throw it away by Kyle Hamilton on a blitz.
Speaker: The next drive ends with a field goal for the Chiefs.
Speaker: The Chiefs kind of end up chugging their way down the field again.
Speaker: Mahomes hits Kelsey for a 21-yard gain into Baltimore territory with another scramble on third and four that gets called back for a holding penalty.
Speaker: And then they get
Speaker: Another play where Mahomes hits Rice for a 33-yard touchdown, which gets called back by penalty.
Speaker: And Mahomes is just forced to eat it for a short gain for Kelsey, and they end up kicking the field goal.
Speaker: The next drives for the Chiefs come after the second half, and the Ravens do a really good job, like I said.
Speaker: They did in the second half.
Speaker: Mahomes unable to hook up with Justin Watson on third and three on the first drive of the second half.
Speaker: Then they're able to get a few plays off.
Speaker: in the second half, but end up getting stopped on a third and 15, where after holding penalty, Mahomes is forced to check it down for a four-yard loss for – or throw a screen for a four-yard loss to Isaiah Pacheco.
Speaker: The next drive, another punt, Mahomes is forced to throw it away on their own 11 on third down.
Speaker: Next drive, another punt, Mahomes hits Kelsey on a third and seven for a 14-yard gain, and
Speaker: And then hits Justin Watson for a three-yard loss, but they call roughing the passer.
Speaker: Next play, Mahomes gets sacked, which was one of the only sacks this postseason that I said was on him.
Speaker: And he's unable to hook up with Noah Gray on third and 13.
Speaker: The next drive, again, ending in a punt, Mahomes takes a two-yard sack, which, again, I thought was on him.
Speaker: And Isaiah Pacheco unable to pick up the first down on a third and eight.
Speaker: But Mahomes, in typical Mahomes fashion, like he's done for so many times in the postseason throughout his career so far, a game on the line on a third and nine in their own territory.
Speaker: If they don't get this, they end up punting it back to the Ravens, who I wouldn't have expected to score, let's be honest.
Speaker: But it's definitely a clutch situation.
Speaker: And Mahomes hits Marcos Valdez-Scantling, who absolutely burns the defense.
Speaker: Ball's a little bit behind Marcos Valdez-Scantling, but Mahomes is fading away.
Speaker: Kind of has to throw it off his back foot.
Speaker: And very, very impressive throw.
Speaker: Kind of gives his second half a much more positive spin to it.
Speaker: And yeah, overall, I thought Mahomes was very, very good in this game.
Speaker: which is extremely impressive because the Ravens haven't really allowed a performance of that caliber to really anyone this season.
Speaker: And so Mahomes kind of besting that defense.
Speaker: No turnover-worthy plays again.
Speaker: Only a few negative plays here and there.
Speaker: Just really, really impressive against one of the better defenses that we've seen in the past few years.
Speaker: Just a really, really strong performance here.
Speaker: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker: This is also very strong to elite performance to me.
Speaker: And honestly, it might have been a masterclass after those first two drives.
Speaker: I was watching that kind of surprised to even see what's going on.
Speaker: One of our biggest things about going into this game was the two defensive matchups because obviously the Chiefs defense is...
Speaker: very good but this Ravens defense as we've talked about a lot today is incredible and the way the Chiefs were just able to kind of slice through them for two drives straight was insane and some of those throws he made on those drives were also incredible uh the pass that you mentioned with him being hit just flipping it over to Kelsey for 12 13 yards on the fourth down was incredible
Speaker: The pass on Kyle Hamilton to Travis Kelsey on that front right pylon was also amazing, both the throw and the catch.
Speaker: It looked like vintage Travis and Mahomes, which we haven't seen a lot because of the way Travis Kelsey has been playing this year.
Speaker: And the next drive as well, also amazing.
Speaker: And it looked like the Chiefs simply had this Ravens defense number.
Speaker: And after that big Lamar touchdown pass, it looked maybe like it may even be a little bit of a shootout and we would have gotten a completely different game than anticipated.
Speaker: But as we know, the Ravens team adjusted.
Speaker: And like I said once, it went like six straight drives without giving up a score.
Speaker: It went from those 14 points till the rest of the game, not giving up a touchdown pretty much the whole game.
Speaker: Maybe the Chiefs would have got one on that final drives had they needed to, who knows.
Speaker: But
Speaker: If for a majority of this game, they were trying to score and when we're unable to, and I think the adjustment that the Ravens made was, I feel like they had given my homes and this chief softens a bit too much respect, uh, in particular, the receiving core or the talent around my homes.
Speaker: I think in typical fashion, when you would play my homes in other years, they kind of sat back in coverage to stop the big play, but it allowed my homes to kind of dance around and find guys in open pockets of space.
Speaker: As we've seen him do throughout his career and those two drives looked a lot more like previous years Mahomes when teams were allowing him to do that.
Speaker: This year a lot of teams were playing a lot more aggressive a lot more upfront to shut down not only Isaiah Pacheco but jam his receivers.
Speaker: They don't have a lot of guys that can get separation and.
Speaker: I think that's what was able to stop that Chiefs defense, Chiefs offense consistently the rest of the game.
Speaker: I don't even necessarily think it was a lot of Mahomes playing bad, even though he had a bunch of key misses throughout that period of the game where he wasn't playing his best.
Speaker: But a lot of the time it felt like nothing was really going for this Chiefs offense simply because the Ravens went back to playing their game and throughout the year they were aggressive.
Speaker: They were letting their defensive backs play in coverage, not necessarily giving them too much safety help.
Speaker: They were rushing the passer a lot.
Speaker: We were able to see the Ravens get a couple sacks on Mahomes, which we hadn't seen in a while.
Speaker: Mahomes had been on a crazy streak of not taking sacks.
Speaker: So I think the aggression was what ended up allowing the Chiefs to...
Speaker: stall for a little bit.
Speaker: And I think that same aggression is what ended up winning them the game because the Chiefs on that final drive, I felt like finally were able to capitalize on how kind of happy, kind of trigger happy the Ravens had gotten with their aggressiveness.
Speaker: And they were pressing Marcus Valdez-Scantling, who typically isn't the best at getting off the press and getting downfield, even though he's fast.
Speaker: But this one play, the Chiefs were able to scheme him up.
Speaker: They were able to get him downfield.
Speaker: And the Ravens had been so aggressive that they didn't have the help back.
Speaker: And MVS wins on the one route.
Speaker: Like you said, even on that play, the Ravens' pass rush did get through.
Speaker: And Mahomes did have to make a tough throw off his back foot.
Speaker: But he still got it there just enough to come up with, once again, another clutch throw to win him a major playoff game.
Speaker: Stuff we've seen time and time again with Mahomes.
Speaker: And it is, like I said, an elite game once again for Mahomes.
Speaker: Doesn't look like that necessarily on the stat sheet because he didn't put up a crazy amount of yards or touchdowns.
Speaker: He was very accurate once again.
Speaker: We didn't see as many of those timely runs in the run game.
Speaker: He wasn't as impactful there.
Speaker: But in the past game, he was very accurate, was able to get it to Kelsey time in and time out in situations where he was able to turn and get plenty of yak yards.
Speaker: And in those red zone situations, he fit it right to only where Kelsey can get it.
Speaker: Him and Rasheed Rice were also great in that short to intermediate range as well.
Speaker: Another solid or another very good game for Mahomes, even though it doesn't necessarily pop out as many as the last two games we've seen.
Speaker: All right, so let's talk about the Super Bowl, man.
Speaker: Chiefs against the Niners.
Speaker: Really, really intriguing matchup.
Speaker: Let's start it off with the team that's favored in this game.
Speaker: We'll talk about their offense against
Speaker: the Chiefs defense.
Speaker: So the Chiefs defense has been exquisite at concocting game plans that will specifically cater to their opponents.
Speaker: And I think that the Chiefs ability to stick in man coverage against the best of all receivers is definitely something to look at.
Speaker: One thing I will say is that they did go up against a really strong duo in Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddell.
Speaker: But I've highlighted many times of how
Speaker: Specific techniques that the Chiefs use in man coverage, specifically with their physicality and press can bother.
Speaker: Definitely Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill as well.
Speaker: And I don't know if the Niners have those same issues.
Speaker: Specifically Brandon Ayuk and George Kittle, I don't think that they will deal with contact as poorly as someone like Jalen Waddell did.
Speaker: Additionally, I think that the Niners' run game is, again,
Speaker: Another area where you can run on the Chiefs defense.
Speaker: I know that teams haven't really exploited it to a great degree so far against the Chiefs, but I think that has more to do with the Chiefs offense and the way that they've changed the game script on teams.
Speaker: And in the Ravens case from last week, they're just outright refusal to do it for no good reason, in my opinion.
Speaker: So attacking the areas underneath and being able to break tackles as well as running the football
Speaker: will be a way that you can counteract this Chiefs defense because they rarely ever have a coverage bust.
Speaker: Like we saw last week, they had a couple of coverage busts and it's still like the Chiefs defense still showed up and had a great game.
Speaker: So it's really, really tough to beat the Chiefs down the field.
Speaker: And that's not necessarily a bad thing for the Niners offense who can basically win every single way that you can imagine.
Speaker: So I'm very interested to see if the Niners are able to
Speaker: force the Chiefs out of their comfort zone as a defense and make them play a little bit closer to the line of scrimmage and then kind of generate explosive plays off the back of their short passing game and their run game with the play action and some sort of deep shots down the field.
Speaker: So I'm pretty interested to see what they scheme up.
Speaker: It should be an amazing matchup, especially on the outside.
Speaker: I'm really excited to see Brandon Ayuk versus the likes of Lajarius Sneed.
Speaker: And if he gets Trent McDuffie in the slot and stuff like that, that should be
Speaker: Fantastic matchup as well as Debo with whoever else that the Chiefs are putting on him.
Speaker: So very, very intriguing matchup.
Speaker: And of course, Kittle and McCaffrey working in the middle of the field, all different really great matchups.
Speaker: And the Chiefs have a ton of personnel to work against that.
Speaker: And then the last thing I want to highlight where the Chiefs have a pretty significant advantage.
Speaker: I remember, or I just mentioned that the Chiefs are maybe at a disadvantage with some of the, like the overwhelming nature of the 49ers weapon group.
Speaker: but up front against the interior of the Niners offensive line, Chris Jones is going to be a mismatch issue.
Speaker: No matter which of the Niners offensive linemen on the interior that he goes up against, I think that's a good matchup for him and really anyone against on the Niners offensive line, except for Trent Williams.
Speaker: And the scary thing is that Chris Jones can,
Speaker: lineup outside in critical downs if you really want him to.
Speaker: So going up against anyone who's not Trent Williams is going to be a little bit of a matchup issue and it's going to be exacerbated when it's not Chris Jones on the inside, but on the outside against Colton McKibbin.
Speaker: So yeah, definitely something to watch for is that offensive line, defensive line in your play for the Chiefs.
Speaker: And then how the secondary holds up is going to be my main question mark for the Chiefs defense.
Speaker: Well, first and foremost, I'm glad you mentioned that this is a great matchup.
Speaker: I think I'm seeing way too much of people complaining about this matchup because of all the narratives around it.
Speaker: But when you look at it from a pure football perspective, these two teams are not only both really, really good, but the matchup between them is incredibly interesting.
Speaker: And I do agree with you the way in which the defense has played throughout the year where they don't give up the big play.
Speaker: They're not really scored upon a whole lot because of the way their defensive backs play.
Speaker: I think that can be challenging for a lot of teams like we saw with the Dolphins, for example, who rely on those things.
Speaker: But as you said,
Speaker: The Niners have the personnel to win in multiple, multiple different ways.
Speaker: They have so much talent on that offense.
Speaker: And me personally, I don't necessarily think they will try to break that mold of the Chiefs defense.
Speaker: As someone who's seen them throughout the year, this offense changes week to week massively based off.
Speaker: the personnel of that chiefs, of the defense they're playing because they can do so many things.
Speaker: They can play into kind of what the chiefs defense wants.
Speaker: The way I'm talking, the way I'm thinking this Niners defense or this Niners offense will end up playing is they're probably going to pass it short and run the ball a lot more because they can still do that.
Speaker: Like you said, this chiefs defense is a defense that you can run the ball on.
Speaker: And we've seen the Niners have a very consistent run game.
Speaker: Pretty much since the day Christian McCaffrey stepped into this team.
Speaker: And even though there's maybe one advantage on the offensive line with Trent Williams, he's a massive advantage and almost counts for like two guys in that run game.
Speaker: And when you combine it with elite edge blockers like George Kittle, Kyle Juszczyk,
Speaker: Even guys like Debo Samuel and Ayuk are great on the outside, stealing the edge.
Speaker: And you have a guy like McCaffrey who, even if you do lose a rep on those other sides, he hits the hole so fast that by the time these D-linemen get off their blockers or even the linebackers get there,
Speaker: He's damn near almost at that second level.
Speaker: So I think the Niners will massively play into the way the Chiefs like to play football.
Speaker: They don't necessarily need to hit you with big plays like we saw maybe in that last week when they were kind of forced into it.
Speaker: But plays like getting it quick to Debo Samuel on screens, getting it quick to George Kittle over the middle of the field, even those quick slants and quick ins to Brandon Ayuk, that's stuff we've seen them play and be successful with against other defensive teams that play in a similar way.
Speaker: And since the Niners can just do so many things, I think they'll just take what the Chiefs give them.
Speaker: And eventually the Chiefs will maybe be forced into playing more aggressive.
Speaker: I don't think they ever will play incredibly aggressive because I think they know that if you do get burnt one play, guys like Devo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk, even Kittle in the open field simply aren't going down.
Speaker: And when you give up a big chunk play against the Niners, it's a lot worse than giving it up against any other team because...
Speaker: those guys simply just don't go down and they're breaking tackles left and right.
Speaker: So I really don't think the Chiefs will try to break from what they're doing.
Speaker: I think they're going to trust in Mahomes to be able to put up enough points to
Speaker: Make up for this diners offense that'll be playing a lot more slower and steadier than we've we've seen them do throughout the year but that's just them playing into how they're going to have to I think they'll have a very steady run game.
Speaker: I think we're gonna see a heavy dosage to depot Samuel because I think that.
Speaker: Physical type of receiver is exactly what the kryptonite for this Chiefs defense is.
Speaker: I think a lot of the guys that we've seen them lock down these past few weeks has been guys who aren't good at dealing with the press and aren't good at dealing with that physicality at the line.
Speaker: Debo Samuel, George Kittle, even Brandon Ayuk with how good he is at his releases are amazing at kind of beating that sort of coverage.
Speaker: So I do think the Niners will be able to still be successful against this Chiefs team more so than we've seen in recent memory with some of these other offenses.
Speaker: All right, let's look at the other side with the Niners defense against the Chiefs offense.
Speaker: So like the Chiefs, the Niners are a far better pass defense than they are a run defense.
Speaker: So using the run to set up the pass would be the theoretical better way to go about it.
Speaker: Obviously that
Speaker: It's pretty clear that the Chiefs offense has taken a huge step up from where they were in the regular season with their receivers making a ton more plays than they did in the regular season.
Speaker: Rasheed Rice in particular has been a big-time emergence for the Chiefs offense.
Speaker: And then, of course, Travis Kelsey has returned to his normal form.
Speaker: One thing I will say is that Fred Warner in this game has a pretty significant responsibility with what he has to do against Travis Kelsey.
Speaker: I would also anticipate that they try to double Kelsey on critical downs.
Speaker: and force everyone else to beat them.
Speaker: They do have the dogs on the outside to go with Rasheed Rice in a Trevor's ward or something like that.
Speaker: But yeah, we really do have to see if the Chiefs receivers can step up and make plays.
Speaker: In terms of the Chiefs run game, I am not too hot on the Chiefs run game.
Speaker: I don't think that they have this sustainable run blocking to consistently wear down the Niners run defense.
Speaker: So again, for another game, I think that
Speaker: a ton of load is going to fall on the shoulders of Patrick Mahomes, which, you know, anything can happen.
Speaker: Patrick Mahomes is, is incredible.
Speaker: He's been playing incredible this post season.
Speaker: So putting the ball in his hands is, is really not a bad thing in the slightest.
Speaker: But again, the, the issue is that consistently relying on these receivers to make plays has cost the chiefs during the regular season pretty significantly.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: I wonder if this is a game where they continue to show up like they have in the postseason or kind of regress back to their regular season selves where dropping the ball, not being able to make plays, that type of stuff emerges again.
Speaker: If you force me to pick, I'm not really sure where I would go.
Speaker: I think it's a bit of a 50-50 proposition at this point with the recent evidence that we've seen.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, at the end of the day,
Speaker: Patrick Mahomes is capable of overpowering all.
Speaker: That's why he's the best quarterback of this generation.
Speaker: He's incredible.
Speaker: So can't really rule anything out for the Chiefs offense.
Speaker: But on paper, it looks like they're going to be in a tough situation in the passing game and the run game, in my opinion.
Speaker: Yeah, as a Niners fan, I'm absolutely in fear of what he's going to do.
Speaker: In there's been many instances like we've seen in previous weeks, and most importantly for me that 2019 Super Bowl where things on paper.
Speaker: don't look too particularly good.
Speaker: But like you said, PD, when it's with Patrick Mahomes, there is a world where he's able to overcome all because I do agree with a lot of what you said.
Speaker: This run game throughout the year has not been consistent or efficient enough to sustain throughout a game and kind of rely on in especially a big game like this.
Speaker: Even though this Niners defense has had a lot of holes rushing the football or give it
Speaker: going against the rush.
Speaker: And I do think the Chiefs, especially early on in the game, will lean to Isaiah Pacheco a little bit because of how much the Lions and Packers were able to expose that part of the Niners game.
Speaker: And we did see in games like the Chiefs and Dolphins game, the Chiefs be able to, the Dolphins and Bills game, the Chiefs be able to use Isaiah Pacheco decently well in the run game.
Speaker: But at the end of the day, guys like Fred Warner, Dre Green, Lodge, Yvonne Hargrave, I still do think, especially with Joe Tooney out, are going to be huge mismatches for that kind of front line of the Chiefs offense.
Speaker: And I don't expect Isaiah Pacheco to be a massive, massive game changer in that regard.
Speaker: So once again, it will fall upon Patrick Mahomes and this passing offense to...
Speaker: Do their thing against this 49ers passing defense, which, like you said, is the better side of this diners defense, but I do think and i've seen many times throughout the year this diners defense is very exploitable they have studs in the passing game with your Fred warner is with your car various wards.
Speaker: Even guys like Jair Brown and Tashaun Gibson have stepped up big time.
Speaker: But outside of Ward, at the corner position, the Niners lack a lot of depth.
Speaker: You're relying on guys like Ambry Thomas, Demander Lenore, who...
Speaker: are not very good and even in these past few games have been getting exposed throughout the year or not only these past few games but have been getting exposed throughout the year and luckily this Chiefs offense doesn't have that many playmakers at the receiver position.
Speaker: Outside of Rasheed Rice, there's really no one else they rely on.
Speaker: And the Niners do have the personnel to deal with a guy like Travis Kelsey, particularly Fred Warner.
Speaker: Like you said, he's going to be huge in stopping that run game.
Speaker: And I think his assignment for the most part of this game is going to be Travis Kelsey.
Speaker: So there is solid matchups there.
Speaker: But like you said, with Mahomes, there is a way you can overcome all.
Speaker: And when you have that kind of lack of secondary depth that the Niners have, even if the Chiefs receivers aren't the best, I could see a world where even those guys who aren't as talented necessarily
Speaker: be able to beat your Isaiah Olivers, your Ambry Thomases.
Speaker: And with Mahomes getting open receivers, it's very rare that he's going to miss.
Speaker: So I also think they're going to massively rely on Mahomes.
Speaker: It's going to be another situation where it's going to be this whole Niners offense with plenty of stars all over the field versus pretty much Mahomes and Kelsey and a little bit of Rasheed Rice and Isaiah Pacheco sprinkled in here and there.
Speaker: I think Travis Kelsey is going to have to show out
Speaker: Much more than we've seen him do even in those last few games.
Speaker: He's kind of returned to form, but we need, or the Chiefs need a prime Travis Kelsey if they want to win this game.
Speaker: Because he's going to be able to have to get off of guys like Dre Greenlaw, Fred Warner, with guys like Jair Brown over the top waiting for him.
Speaker: That is a lot of talent and a lot of speed that is kind of exactly what you need to stop Travis Kelsey.
Speaker: So once again, like I said, on paper, it's looking good for this diners defense.
Speaker: They match up well in the points where the chiefs offense lacks, so to speak, which them dealing with a little bit of injuries on that offensive line.
Speaker: I think guys like Hargrave and Bosa can take advantage a little bit, but
Speaker: At the end of the day, Mahomes can always figure a way out.
Speaker: This Niners defense always struggles against scrambling quarterbacks.
Speaker: And like we've said, Mahomes has the best scrambling timing of anyone in the league.
Speaker: And somehow, someway finds a way to pick up those key first downs and tiptoe along the line, get those extra yards.
Speaker: And I do think that's gonna come into play massively in this game as well.
Speaker: You just never know with Mahomes, unfortunately.
Speaker: All right, man, that will be our last podcast for this season.
Speaker: That's exclusively an in-season podcast.
Speaker: Next one will be a Super Hill wrap-up plus some off-season talks.
Speaker: So, you know, it's been a great season so far, and we're excited to wrap it up next one.
Speaker: If you enjoy this podcast, make sure to like, leave a rating, do what you need to do on wherever platform that you're listening on.
Speaker: Make sure to follow us on Twitter at PD34 underscore and RealRahulPotty2.
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: One final word from me before we ended off, and we didn't get to talk about it because we didn't really go over special teams, but that man, Jake Moody, has missed three or four games in a row now, and if he misses to lose the Super Bowl,
Speaker: we may not get a Super Bowl episode.
Speaker: That man has to step up for sure.
Speaker: And I think that's going to be a huge storyline in the Super Bowl.
Speaker: That just had to be done before we're out.
Speaker: With that, I'm out.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: We'll see you guys in the next one.
Speaker: Peace.
