A guy who knows a little something about defense in the NFL. He's also got a great podcast with my heart, the Lights Out Podcast. He is Shawn Merriman. He joins us a lot of times on Monday morning as we break down what we saw happen on Sunday. And we got a lot to get to. But I want to start with your boy, Philip Rivers, who is aging, but he's still playing at a pretty high level. Colts get a big win over the Packers and what was an incredible overtime game. First of all, how good are the Colts?
Are they a threat in your mind in the a f C? And uh and and how good has Philip Rivers been? Wolf one? I think Colts are definitely a threat. Um you know, playing in Division one like they're playing and you all always have a shot to come out on top. So when you look at things like that, those are those are the type of teams you don't timpically want to see in the playoffs first time around. I mean, they are well balanced, they have one of
the best offensive lines in football. And look, I mean, as far as Philip that was the biggest problem his last year with the charges. I mean, they had a bank up offensive line. He was getting hit and he's already a guy who can't run. He's not mobile, definitely, He's never been that, but he's definitely not at this stage of his career. But they're blocking for him, they're giving him time, and these guys are going out making plays.
As long as they go out and team making plays. Uh, they're going to be very scary to play down here in the stretch. I mean, is it just me or
is the a f C in particular? I mean, I know how good, Uh, you know Patrick Mahomes is on any given week, and uh, and certainly we can we can talk about the fact that the Steelers are unbeaten, But when I look at the a f C, it just looks wide open to me, right, I mean, they're just like in terms of even trying to figure out who's gonna make the playoffs, who's gonna win divisions, it just seems like there's not a lot that separates, you know, the first team from the ninth or tenth best team. No,
it's not. And you look at the Steelers and obviously they're they're the best team in football right now. Uh, been a most balanced team in football right now, playing the game great in all three phases. And Ben Robbinsberger, Man, I mean, look, you know I'm coming back off of the injury, and him at his age, nobody thought. I mean I definitely didn't think he'll be playing at this level coming back so soon. Um and then well, then are probably the most well coached team in football. You know,
Mike Tomlin got these guys rolling this year. When you go look at Patrick Mahomes, you know, Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football and in any given time, in any given day, he can blow blow you up and blow right by you. But you look at some of the other teams going around, man, and it's like I, like you said before, just there's no one team that you're gonna say, you know what, no one can beat
them because you know, you look at the coach. We're just gonna talking about the coach because they go out and sneaking and win the game begins to cancer. The Chiefs absolutely uh couldn't uh you know, still us end up in the playoffs, still underfeather or go you know, sixteen and old fifteen and one and losing the first round against one of these teams. We just mentioned. Absolutely So if you look at look at the FC, you're absolutely right. Um, you know, any any one of these
teams can't win any any day of the week. We're talking to Sean Maryman. How nervous do you think that the Baltimore Ravens should be about what's going on with Lamar Jackson. They are now in their last eleven games, six and five. They lost a tough overtime game against the Titans, and we've talked about that game a decent amount on the show so far. But to me, big picture here, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens six and five and their last eleven six and four this season, our
defense is catching up. You've you've seen guys go out and take the NFL by storm, and then you know how it works the NFL. The guys go back into their in, into their laboratory, they look at all the different defensive setups. As a guy who was at all pro in the NFL, are you seeing things that are being done that the Ravens are clearly having trouble with And is it more what they're doing or what the
defense is doing to them? Well, first and foremost, you know what kind of quarterback Lamar Jackson is right, and he's gonna give you a hundred fiorne. He's gonna, you know, rush anyway between fifty and seventy five yards a game and have one of two Russian touchdowns, one or two throwns. Like you know where you're gonna get from him. I don't. I don't think he's the problem. You know what's gonna get means defense are figuring him out a little bit more,
and and and whatever. But the biggest problem is that defense. They're just not playing Ravens football in the defense they know me is played in the past. One thing that's made the Ravens a great team was they're able to run the ball, manage the ball and throwing the thrown and then also playing great defense. And right now they can't hold up against anybody. I mean that the Titans just ran all over the place on him, and they'll get me wrong. It's you know, King Henry back there,
and he's gonna he's gonna get his yards. But they're getting bullied up front up front the defense line of getting tossed around, and that's not something that they're comfortable to. So if you're not running the ball. Well, you're not playing great defense. You can't go out and expect Lamar Jackson to be anything other than Lamar Jackson. You're drafting him. You know what type of quarterback he is. He's not gonna go out there and sling it. He needs a
defense that's gonna hold up. And as long as that keep happening. Uh, I don't. I don't see a bright future from them until they figure it out on the defenside of the ball. To a got benched, How do you think that plays in the locker room? Fitzpatrick comes in, they're not able to come back and win. Uh. The Dolphins had won five in a row. They lose on the road against the Broncos. What do you think the response is in the locker room to that decision? You know,
I know that Tour was excited. He was scaring fitz past for getting on back into the game. But there has to be some kind of consistency. You can't whatever one quarterback started to have a problem, you can't throw the other one in. I mean, you made a decision to move on the tour from from Ryan Fitzpatrick, which is fine, but when it was a draw, you need to stay with a guy at this point, you can't, you know, drove Ryan Fitzpatrick uh In back in the mix after a two of not going out there getting
it done. Now you're gonna have some games and some teams are gonna play that Ryan Fitzpatrick is a better fit to go out and win football games for you. But it doesn't matter at that at that quarterback position. You've gotta have some consistency here and not throw Ryansit Pattrick back in the mix. What things are not going well? Justin Herbert? You're a Charger guy. We're talking to Seawan Marriman.
Herbert went thirty seven for forty nine three hundred and sixty six yards, three touchdowns, and with the Joe Burrow injury and two of getting benched, I also think basically the rookie of the year is over. It's it's gonna be Herbert's to win. But I got a couple of questions about Herbert for you. First of all, as a Charger UH guy, how exciting is this to watch him?
And second, can you remember a guy who has looked this much better at the quarterback position his rookie year in the NFL compared to his senior year in college, because I can't. I was. I was talking about this earlier on the show. It's not just that Justin Herbert's great. I watched a lot of those Oregon Duck games with him, and he didn't look anywhere near the quality of player that he has been in the NFL. So I'm curious if you can remember seeing a guy who came in
this fast and looked this good relative maybe two expectations. Yeah, and and and just to say this that during the combine I posted that posted a tweet during a combine and said, look, Justin Herbert is the only quarterback for this team, and he is the future of this team. And I've seen that because it fits their style offense. He is a uh NFL style quarterback. And what I mean by that is you have some guys that stuck in the system in college. You have some coaches that say,
you know what, this is my playbook. I want you to play this way because this is how we have this plays drawn up. Now the NFL, his talent and his elite level gets to shine. He gets to use his arm and get creative, use his legs. I mean, he's people are not remembering that he's a he's six six six seven or six two and thirty five plus pounds. This is not a small quarterback. And he's mobile. He
can do so many different things. And some of these darts that he's throwing out there right now came out of the one he had when they just drilled the ball in the back of the end zone. You know those type of things where you anticipate where wide receiver is gonna be. That those are things you pick up your third and fourth and fifth you in the NFL. He's doing that right now. The closest quarterback I can see the last decade to come out and just ready to go right now. I would say if Andrew Luck.
When I've seen Andrew Luck, it was my last my last years with the Bills, and I got a chance of play him, and I was like, my gosh, man, this guy, this this young, this coming and is ready to go. Who was also a very mobile quarterback, and which is really people didn't understand how how mobile he was, But Andrew Luck playing against he was very fast, is
very mobile for his side. So that's the only quarterback I saw really seeing the last tame year in the last decade to come in a NFL ready, and let me tell you this just her. But we're just seeing that when he just scratching the surface. I don't think people even seeing what he's going to be capable of doing. This big guy who can throw for fifty three tv rds the game and if the defense keep holding up and getting him get the ball back in his hands,
he can average three fifth game, no problem. We're talking to Sean Merriman, NFC East. Uh, this is just a joke. I mean, as a player, when you look around and think, I don't know what's going on with Carson Wentz, I mean he's just been atrocious. Uh. The Cowboys went on the road and beat the Vikings. You've got the Giants who seemed to be a cycling up a little bit. Uh,
the the Washington football team. Does it seem fair that a winner of the NFC East is gonna get to host a home playoff game and that, frankly, it's probably gonna be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going on the road to play in that game. Uh. And maybe the Bucks think that's not a bad deal because they're gonna get the best matchup of all. But it seems kind of ridiculous to me that one they even get a bid and two they get to host a home playoff game. No,
I don't think it's fair at all. And I think that at some point in time it needs to change because it's been like that for a while. And you look at, uh, the NFC West and look at how many teams are locked in what six and three or seven and three and they're neck and neck, and some of those teams are not gonna get in. And look at this division and it's been like that with some time. It's it's it's almost an asensive who can lose the best? Right?
I mean that's when you started looking at that division to see what's going on, and you looking around the NFL and everybody is at least competitive in some type of wit. Well there if they clear best team in that division. And now you kind of you look in this division you're like, wow, I mean this team is really gonna get a chance to get in the playoffs and take the spot what from a team that is
much better record than they have. So yeah, at some point in time, the NFL I started to look at that and and and and make a decision on on how they are going to move forward in the playoffs birth because it is it's embarrassing. We're talking to Sean Merriman running through all the activities going on in the in the NFL over the weekend. You can listen to Sean Merriman's podcast, The Lights Out Podcast as part of the I Heart Podcast Network. Sean the the NFC in general.
We talked about how many teams there are in the in the a f C to have a chance to potentially win this win this Super Bowl trip. But when you look at the decision that the Saints made to go with Taysom Hill over Jamis Winston as a defensive player, what would you have thought about that choice and how would you assess Taysom Hill's performance on Sunday? Well, you know, I don't want to take anything from from Tayson Hill, because he can do it all. I mean, he's he's
earned his stripes, uh in multiple positions. He's done everything to the organization and asking to do. So. You know, the problem that the lives in me and I'm and I really tugged with it myself, is how we need to stop praising one guy to kind of kicking another guy to the curve. We're not saying that Taysom Hill and uh and Jamie there's a problem there. But if you look at it from the outside, looking into Jamis Winton, Winston probably should have had the upper handed playing quarterback.
He probably should have had the upper handed a starter. Uh. Then that Drew Breeves went down. But that's not to take anything away from Tayson Hill, and I think we do too much of that nowadays, if you can't give someone else problems without kicking another one to the curve. But from the I am looking at a defensive player, you think that you would think that Jameis Winston had a better shadow, should have been the starting quarterback. What do you think about the city? I don't know if
you saw this or not, but but you had. Immediately after the game, Sean Payton, who has coached a lot of games in the NFL, he went on Twitter. Did you see what he did? What he did on Twitter? Yeah? Yeah yeah. So for people out there who may not have seen this, I'm gonna read it for you. I'm scrolling through my Twitter account. I want to make sure I get it right. Uh, Sean Payton. Right after the game, Roddy White said Saints about to get whipped trying us
with Taysom Hill at QB. We're about to snack them. And Sean Payton retweeted that after the game, you like that from a head coach or you don't like that? I do, Man, I don't, especially for um you know former players, which just just anybody coming from another UH team in that division, right, and you want the team to resemble the coach's attitude. So big, big, big props to Sean Payton becoming acts at him that way, and it gist shows the confidence that he had in table
Hill and really the confidence going forward. And you know, being a player in the locker room, you love it, right, you love it because you're looking at you. I'm surprised that we didn't see a bunch of the other guys retweeted as well, because it just shows man the confident level that he has and planned on that division. Man, you you have to have that attitude. Are you're just not going to be successful? Did UH last question for me? And we're talking to Sean Merriman. Did the Bengals set
up Joe Burrow to fail? I mean one of the one of the big challenges and we may see this with Trevor Lawrence. In fact, I think you said on our show a couple of weeks ago, you know, the Jets continue to lose, and you said, Hey, if I'm Trevor Lawrence, I don't know that I want to go to the Jets organization because of the incompetence there. And you went through this a little bit yourself with Eli Manning not wanting to play with the Chargers. I know
it's an awful injury. Joe Burrows out for the year. He showed a lot of flashes, but they gave up a lot of hits for him. Uh. The Bengals not do what they should have done with their young quarterback. Or is it unfair to blame the Bengals organization? Well, first off, I hope Joe Barrow is UH he has a healthy, good surgery and a healthy recovery. Um. You never want to see that somebody that talent level, UM that he's gonna have one of the brightest futures, and
you can see it early on. And he was just put in a position to have to do too much his first year. And it's unfortunate sometimes that UH an organization don't build enough around you and I'm I'm talking about from the offensive line standpoint a lot. Yeah, but he was getting hit and he was being forced to do way too much. I mean, look, he's still a rookie. First of all. I'm against anyway rookie being thrown on the field right away. Anyway, I'm telling your old school
in that respect. Or you think young quarterbacks should have a little bit more seasoning, yeah, I don't. I don't like it. I don't like it. I think that especially especially because they didn't have a full offseason. He didn't have a preseason with this with this team, mini camps and all the things that they normally would have had.
That for sure, you bring somebody else in and even if you gotta take some lumps early on, you get that other guy and let him come in four or five, six games into the season, because this is gonna be your guy for the next five or teen years. Never throw a guy Joe Barrow statue right there in the mix. And I'm not I don't want to say that it's their fault, because freak injuries happened all the time to anybody.
But at the same time, you can't put a guy of his skill level, someone who you expect to be around five and ten years in your organization and put him in a bad situation. And I think that's what happened, not just because of the injury. I mean the back to back hits that he was taking an entire year. All this added up to him to to just end up being that one uh knee injury that he has. Talking to Sean Merriman, Sean, appreciate the time, my man. We will talk to you hopefully next week. Have a
good Thanksgiving week. You got any big plans? Uh? Yeah, I'll be back home. He's coast, my family in Maryland and my son and spent a time near and hopefully come back not ten pounds have you? What's your first round draft pick for Thanksgiving? If you're going into the going into the buffet line and you can only grab one thing, what would be your first first round pick?
Oh to Candy as Oh yeah, yeah, Candy Yanns my grandmother, you know, from my family from South Carolina originally, And they get down in the kitchen and I will I'll actually throw blows with somebody who touching touch candy cans first, because I like going in first for them. Out standing stuff as always he Sean Merriman, Lights Out Podcast, I heart podcast and Network appreciate you, my man. Thanks, thanks that