Yeah he can.
Gootway just limped off the field for the Bears. This one is intercepted by Chicago and Kyler Gordon. Justin Jones was bobbling it and Gordon came away where the Eric has been really good.
But they finally let a team hang around long enough. They're gonna put a drive together and put themselves back in the game.
Gordon went back to the sideline, briskers over their two end zone fuckins and touchdown. They're gonna let it tick down thirty yard try in essence to win it for Cairo. Santos lay clock had four good snap, good hold, good kick. Bears are back on top with ten seconds to go.
The Bear state on top in a twelve to ten win over the Vikings in a pretty hideous Monday night football game that provided just enough entertainment value in the back end to save us all from truly having an agonizing Monday. And it is the Vikings, the team of around the NFL. Now looking within, we would imagine after losing an unlosable game to a Chicago team that was doing everything they could to keep Minnesota in playoff position, and yet here we are. Dan Hansis with Greg Rosenthal
and Mark Sessler. Yes, Joshua Dobbs, the patron saint of atn throws. Four interceptions in this game and even two gnarly Justin Fields fumbles in the fourth quarter weren't enough to get Minnesota out of this game. Greggie, there's all sorts of goldthorns to be handed out here, but let's start with the Bears, who you know, get a win when they need one. Matty eve reflues finally as a division win, and Justin Fields. I don't know what to take out of the Field's performance.
I want to start with the goat Horns.
I'm sorry, I'm too caught up in my vikings wish fulfillment that they would come through with for us as a team of atl And.
I'm not backing off.
We knew it was gonna be bumpy if I even said when we picked him. If we're picking the better team like Houston Texans, they're better at football, we got to be in for the ride. But the thing that drives me crazy is on this night with four interceptions from josh Dobbs. To me, what stands out is the coaching losing its nerve in the final three minutes after Justin Fields fumbles that ball. As crazy as this night was going to be, I thought we were going to
be celebrating that. Wow, it's the night that Josh stobbs through four interceptions and they won the game anyways. But then the play calls after that on both sides of the ball were crazy. Kevin O'Connor going run, run, screen pass, He gets one yard, he gets two yards, and he gets a screen to burn all the Bears timeouts when he was calling for fourth and seven plays at midfield earlier,
which I didn't mind. He was trying to be aggressive, but to get so conservative in that moment and you're so far away you can't even kick a field goal there because the plays didn't go well to punt it out of bounds. And then for Brian Flores, even more surprising to me, Mark the blitz master and had been working all night, suddenly backs off in the final drive for Justin Fields. He's sitting back there patting the ball and he ends up firing a bullet to Dj Moore
up the middle of the field. Only fields his second throw all night, Mark to the middle of the field, second throw over ten yards, he hits it and the Bears win, and I do feel like at the very end, the Vikings lost that Hutzba that we love him so much.
For yep, thirty four yard completion to DJ Moore and the Bears somehow became you know, there were twenty nine teams that have failed to score a touchdown this season. They are the first team to do that and win. Is a weird game. That's kind of like what we're dealing with, and like, I kind of it's like, Dobbs is a wonderful story, one of the great stories of the season. Tonight doesn't change that. But he's a He's a deep backup if you really think about it, and like.
Oh, let's pull back the reins now and call him a deep backup.
Well, I mean it's just that, like we're asking him to lead the team of atl and I love him. I love his personality, I love his energy and his fire, but like we're seeing the flaws tonight and like it's it's gonna be it's a rough ride. It's gonna be a rough ride because I think what we were introduced to on Thanksgiving was a team in the Green Bay Packers that are like maybe we're we're awakening and now
you've got this NFC North that's in flux. And I wonder if the Vikings are heading in a different direction where the Green Bay Packers a heading upwards not downward.
They have a buy they're six and six. That there we can get into their long term stuff, but they have a buy in their six and six and they still have a lot of season. We're gonna there's gonna be upsodes its gonna be downs.
Yeah, we can't. We can't bail. We can't. This is the team we're not on the NFL. This is a teamate cecil. You know who's not the team of atl the Packers, they're not. It's the Vikings. And we need to pull together, not fall apart at this moment, but we can internally there could be tough love. And Brian Florida is as you're saying, GREGI, that is a man known for his aggressiveness on the football field. That is a man of valor, that is a man of bottomless integrity.
Look what's going on in his life beyond just what he does on the sidelines. Look at justin fields on the previous two possessions, the men didn't want to win, well, he wanted to win, but he was incapable of it.
He couldn't protect the ball. He was holding the ball all game like he does every week. All you had to do was send the heat, and there was a very good chance Justin Fields was either gonna throw it up for grabs, take a gnarly sack to kind of blow the game, or fumble on while being.
Pressured and to let him off the hook like that. I just couldn't believe it, and Troy Aikman couldn't believe it. And yet we can't put everything on floors because, like I said, the Goat horns instead of the Viking horns go everywhere. Dobbs obviously is the other big name here, and you know, you're right, like I don't think maybe he's not a true QB one. Maybe he's in this like purgatory where he's just a top rate backup or a lower level starter. So a game like this can
happen to a player like that. But yes, if you're a Vikings fan, you're a little nervous about you know, is the pixie dust now gonna disappear? The good news is again, as we know, that's internally, that's stuff we talk about inside the house. Outside the house, we get at Vegas against the Raiders, you know, which is not a not a team as bad as they were when
Josh McDaniels was there, but this is no juggernaut. And then you get the Bengals on the road in Sincy, which I would say was deadly if Joe Burrow was still around, but he's not before the Lions. So this one hurts a lot, just like the Broncos game hurt last week. But it's not over yet. NFC's wide open.
No, their defense, you know, played well for most of the night. Fields came out and I'm with you, I wasn't sure what to make of that game from fields other than the Bear should just run the ball more in short yarded situations. I mean, they they called a very crazy game too. They went for a fourth and
ten early from around midfield. They hit it, and they also chose to kick field goals on a fourth and two and fourth and three, and look, points were at a premium and you can look at the final result and say that makes sense. But they weren't running the ball with fields until they really needed too late in the game, and then it worked, and his numbers were great to start. He was twelve for twelve for one hundred yards. They had a nice opening script, but everything
was lining of scrimmage or close to it. Everything was to the side, and it was a response to those those blitzes. And it worked for a drive that resulted in no points, and then they got the three points, and then after that it just it wasn't working, and they didn't have a pivot and they didn't really use him as a runner. And I thought Josh Mittelis was brilliant, Like the Vikings defense played really well, but a lot of that and I know Twitter is all about fields
and I like fields. I think he is an NFL quarterback. I don't think he's a guy you would pass up the number one pick for. But some of those plays were on him. I mean he misses Mooney when he's trying to scramble to make a play. He makes a bad decision on one hot read to Mooney, I mean to more where he throws the ball.
So he was at.
Fault on a lot of these. And then the fumbles late were brutal as well.
Yeah, he's got seven fourth quarter turnovers this season. I just I don't I think it's okay to have a football game once in a while, even though this was like an island game from like Beaeselbob like where like we don't have to have four thousand takeaways. I'm just to be real, like I don't. I don't come away from this having like major like identity, like like associations with either team. It's like, I'm not, this didn't sell me on Justin Fields. It didn't not sell me on them.
The Vikings are who they are, They've got They're gonna try to survive with Dobbs. I think Dobbs will serve, will also rebound next week and be fine. But it's like I don't I didn't need to come away with this with like a Russian novel to be honest. Is that okay? It's just like I just like it was a weird game. I think Troy Aikman like identified it as a weird game like four hundred to five hundred times tonight, and it is what it was, like, it's
like cool, like it happened. It happened. If this were on a Sunday, it would be the eighth or ninth game we talked about.
That was that was a four. There aren't many four interception games this year. That was kind of a meltdown by Dobbs. Anytime he was under pressure, he was just kind of throwing it up. There was one of the three four interceptions that you know, he put a lot of juice on it, but it was essentially a dropped by Addison. One of the interceptions was a great play
by Jalen Johnson, you know, the first one. The other two were mind numbing and he could have had one or two more, which is why the four number doesn't even seem unfair, because at some point he just was losing, like when to give up on a play.
Well, So Dan and Mark, though, are ignoring one of the darker aspects to this contest, the Locke brothers, who have been historically successful. Dan, not a good night for us, like I mean, in general, not a good lock season for us. We've nullified it. It doesn't exist in our book.
But I want to say that's had Thanksgiving your oh and one.
I want to see how far we could take this. How bad can we get every virtually every favorite one. All you have to do in this block competition is picked the right team that wins. There's no spread. You just got to pick the right team. The NFL is a very wonky place in twenty twenty three. But I say that, and then the odd old uh you know, Horsehoe up is Heinie Rosenthal over there every week drilling his picks, piping them every week. But there's really nothing
to say. It's disgraceful. I mean, it's uh. I think we're both two games under. And at this point I've even I even thought about it, Like, because I'm out of the law competition and I'm not catching Greg, why don't I just go with Greg on every pick the rest of the season. Why don't I just and and at least try to save my uh my overall career record. No, obviously, I see obviously, you know, yeah, you see, you know me well, because obviously the instincts are wrong week after week.
But you know, like so many other locks that have failed this year, everything checked out for me before the game. I felt great about this game, and I just didn't see the I didn't see Dobbs laying in this big an egg obviously, And and they can you know, they still have justin Jefferid at some point he's coming back. He's now, But out seven weeks.
He has to come back after the buyer. He has to be on their rock.
Yeah, and the expectation is they were trying to give him one more week for them.
I don't want to totally put everything on Dobbs too, because I thought the offensive line had a bad game for the Vikings. I thought O'Connell you mentioned how conservative was when they had a chance to sault the game away in the fourth quarter and he ran it three times and then he punted. But you know a lot of early down runs were just the running game is going nowhere, and it's just in general. I just didn't like on both offense and defense, just not an aggressive
game by the Vikings. They kind of just let the game play out and thought they could eventually steal it, and you know, they nearly did, but they didn't. And that is one and nine now Meddiebraflus against the NFC North. That was the longest active division losing streak in the NFL so and it was the Bears longest since the nineteen seventy mergers. So you get that monkey off your back. I think is just trying to hang around and get
another year in Chicago, and I think Fields. The only thing I'll say about Fields, and you're right, Mark, we don't need to give this game too much more because yes, it was played on an island, but also it deserves to be on a deserted island, is that Fields is gonna have to be a lot better in these last five weeks or so to have any chance to stay in Chicago, if he even wants to stay in Chicago.
But if this is the type of up and down roller coaster efforts we're going to see the rest of the way really where there's no reason to think that won't be the case based on the larger sample size that he's given us. At this point, he's probably you know, playing his final games as a Bear, so he has to turn it on anything else.
Yeah, I think.
Eberflus who was Ozero to nine. When I saw that statua, I wasn't aware of that before this game. I thought, Oh, this mean this man can't continue to coach a team if he's oh to.
Twelve against the division through the end of the year.
So I tend to think he has a less than you know, fighters chance of returning next year. The only chance is to probably go four and two in their next six and this win is a nice way to even start that beforehand, like to start winning games and to kind of convince the ownership that it's somehow head
in the right direction. I think Fields is in a similar spot where to me, if they're head, if the Panthers give them the number one or number two overall pick, Justin Fields has an uphill battle to say I'm more valuable than that guy because you can get a pick for Fields. I think he's shown enough that he's going
to be an NFL quarterback. Worst case scenario, you're probably getting like a two and a three for Field something like that, and you might be able to do better, and you want him to do better, but are these the coaches to really lead him that way anyways. That's why it always gives a certain meaningless feel to a season when you feel like you're building this quarterback, but the coaches aren't probably going to be there anyways.
Yeah, I feel like the Bears are in this weird place where, like I'm with you, where I see a lot in Fields, but then like also I could see them easily looking beyond him for someone in the draft that they had that kind of a situation and It's like with Eberflus, like they have been better over the last If you look at the last month of the Bears, you can start to see it coming together a little bit,
like like they've they've been a better team. But like Eberflus is almost so resistant to giving us any impression of anything special or original or unique about him. I don't know what, Like some coaches just have this thing where you're like, we could we could attach ourselves to them and like kind of fall for them in a
certain way, whether they're good or bad. Like Eberflus, I just have no concept of what he's doing that's unique for the Bears, And I think that's a problem for a coach in twenty twenty three.
I agree with you on that mark. And he's one of those guys and this is his second year right where still every time I see him on the sideline for a split second, I'm like, oh, who's that.
Oh well, he was the guy and he's just like, there's no way that guy's coach. Like ten years from now, we'll be like, what was that guy's now at this feels mean his defense is coming together a little bit.
TJ.
Edwards, Jalen Johnson, but it's like a lot of these guys aren't going to be there either.
The one good thing mark about Monday Night Football, no matter how bad the game is, it's a chance to spend three and a half hours with Joe and Troy, two men who genuinely enjoy each other's company, one of them a Hall of Fame quarterback and I know, a long time Sessler favorite and as good as it gets in terms of color man in the booth and Buck who is like his father going to be joining him
in the broadcasting Hall of Fame one day. And I just I think they are heads and shoulders above every other play by play team in the sport right now. And they're just throwing that easy cheese. And there was a moment in this game and I'm glad, and a shout out to Sean Kelly, one of our great people behind the scenes here who have the same thought as I did that after Jalen Johnson dropped, they would be picks.
Which was the second week in a row the talented Bears cornerback had came very close to making a game changing play. Aikman mentioned you know that he was going to or Aikman was gonna mention he was going to catch heat for being critical, and then Buck kind of took us inside what it's like to be in this public opposition. I just thought it was fun. Let's listen in.
I mentioned the one he didn't want to hear about it.
I know.
I mentioned the one that he dropped last week against Detroit that likely wins the game if he makes that play. Detroit scores on the very next play. That's a pick six again, So back to back weeks. He has an opportunity for a pick six, just unable to make the play. He can't hear you now anyway, No, but he's got family. He will just hear about it after and then be mad and probably post something online, and then you'll hear about it for the rest.
Of the week, and then we'll all forget about it. It's three nothing bears on top as they go back on offense after a forty seven yard punt.
I mean they're just throwing high with a big, old breaking ball and a devastating change up right now.
I would say, as someone who's you know, from time to time put things online that I did not intend to. Yeah, you just ride it out. You just ride it out the.
Chef's kiss for me, there was him saying, and then we'll all forget about it. That's what puts Joe Buck over the top. He went through all that and then he points out at the very end like and it will all be completely meaningless.
We'll have no memory of it.
And Dan, you you once said, you know, almost hurtfully to me that that I always want to disagree with everything you are saying, just by reflex of nature. So I hope you know how much this means to me. Is I couldn't agree with you more about your Joe Buck and Troy Aikman take. They this is the bed best broadcast right now and it's not even close.
I'm all right, good, Let I see that makes me feel good as well. And you're right Mark. You know they say the Internet never forgets, but you know, life goes on old blood o blad dah, Yes, it does. Take a break and we will hit some news, all right, welcome back. Here is the reporting on Monday morning from ian Rapaport out of Charlotte.
Owner Dave Tepper.
Mike did not want to make this move during the season. Sounded like the preference would be to evaluate after the season. That was the goal and it is always the goal until unless you just cannot watch any further. The brutal game on Sunday, plenty of mismanagement, quarterback did not play well.
Owner Dave Tepper deciding this morning that Frank Reich would be out less than one season after taking over the Carolina Panthers head coaching duties, and it is once again a coaching search on in Carolina.
H Yes, unbelievable. Frank Reich is out after just eleven games, which is we're talking history. We're talking he didn't last as long as urban Meyer, and that guy was the worst. But maybe we should have known it was coming, because, as you talked about in the Sunday show, Tepper walked out of the locker room after that loss of the Titans, shook his head and said, fuck. It was bad news for Frank Reich. And sure enough, the meeting on Monday
went as poorly as imagined. He leaves after a one in ten start of the season and no growth from number one overall. Pick Bryce Young. Let's face it, Mark,
that is ultimately what got Reich canned. It's one thing, and I really do think because Tepper is so I think in it so involved, perhaps overly involved that you know he's freaking out about the Bryce Young situation down in Houston as well, Like this was too big a decision to get wrong, and he is like a CEO, has his hands in everything and has decided, Man, we got to get this figured out at quarterback. We got
to get this team on the right track. So you get rid of the head coach, something that he's been known to do since taking over this team.
It's a total disaster. I like part of me like just feels for Frank Reike because I think we have enough evidence to tell us that Frank Reich is a good head coach overall. Like, I think this was a mess. The roster was a mess.
Uh.
They put Bryce Young into a tough situation.
Uh.
Their offensive line is a disaster. I don't know. I guess for me, I'm like looking at overall at the temper experience so far. And you know we talked about it before. Greg you mentioned, like on Sunday Night Show that like the NFL owner that comes in from another life venture where you succeed and you you know, you play the high roller and you fire people left and right to create the right environment that works in other places. I don't know about those places because I'm not good
at other jobs. But I do this job. But like in the NFL, like I don't know if I am, but like the owner like is going to learn real quick that like this kind of situation where you're still paying Matt Rule's assistance at this point, you signed Matt Rule to like an eight year contract that threw a bunch of other owners like into a tizzy because it was ridiculous. You're now painting you still are on the hook for twenty five million to Frank Reich. The impatience level.
If you took an overall look at the roster, what were you expecting this season? Like what are you asking Frank Reich to accomplish? Like I've been down on Frank Reike. I don't think he did. I don't think he was special this year at all. He didn't like actually come in and really make things great for them. But it's like Frank Reich is just the scapegoat here. I mean,
I mean, where's the patience level? And I think the Panthers have a one of the worst problems you can have as an NFL fan, which is your owner is creating the mailstrom. Your owner is creating the firestorm. Your owner is creating the problem. And I don't know how you get out of that. You don't get out of that because it's not solvable by firing anyone else, like Tepa right now is the problem?
Right?
And he is fired between his MLS team. He bought an MLS team a couple of years ago. It was an expansion, so they were building it up. But they started playing last year and then he's got the NFL team. Between those two teams, in the last eighteen months, he has fired four head coaches. That is not the interim. So he had his MLS team, he fired the coach after one season, then he fired Matt Rule in the
middle of last season. Then the MLS team made the playoffs actually, and he fired that coach anyways after one season, and now here's Raich and it's all fine, like obviously, Like if you're in that press conference tomorrow, the question is like, well, why should we have any confidence you know how to pick a coach because you are self, admittedly terrible at it. You have said four different times, I'm bad at this. I need to fit my mistake. You gave you said it. Matt Rule got a seven
year contractor Frank Raike got a five. They were the most expensive coaching at staff in history. Frank Reike with all these assistants. So he's bad at it? Why why should you be any good at it? And it's not even Frank Reike's fault necessarily. When the reporting from Adam Schefter was that he wanted c. J. Stroud or Anthony Richardson, there was differing reports on that that Frank Reike did not want Bryce Young, but that the owner did. And so that is just as messy as humanly possible.
And you saw it. I mean I watched the game yesterday and you could just see Frank Reich on the sideline, just his body language and he was just struggling. It was it was tough for him. And then when you think about that kind of stuff, you know, this is his last chance. Let's face it, this is Frank. You got fired by two straight teams and back to back years. He's not getting another head coaching job. It would be a stunner if he did.
Do you want do you want to quote from him to Scott Fowler of the Yeah Ever today, The quote was this is probably the final chapter of my NFL journey.
That's such a sa.
And that's said, and you if you only get one more bite at the apple, you kinda and you get hired as a guy that has a lot of experience both as a player and as a coach, and the pedigree coming, you know, before the coach job from the Eagles. You I think what Tepper needs to learn is you should defer to people that know this business more than yourself.
And maybe if you listen to Frank Reich and some other football people, you have Stroud or you have Richardson, who we don't know what he's gonna be like, but we certainly know Stroud is the dude. And I don't want to oversimplify it or repeat myself, but it is. This is the other thing that I imagine is massively frustrating to someone like a Dave Tepper is if he just picks the other guy, none of this is probably
happening now. I'm not saying Stroud would be doing as well in Carolina as he is in Houston, because there's a different coaching staff down there, different players, but you get the feeling that if if he makes that decision, differently. We might we are probably not in this situation.
He's probably not fired, but I feel like it would still be a mess, but it wouldn't.
Be the same.
I don't know, man, Like, here's the thing, Like, and he's gonna.
Seen some great quarterbacks in messes, you know, as rookie quarterbacks.
He's sure and and but I've seen a lot of quarterbacks too, Greg, Like from my time as a Jets fan. When you're when you're like at the bottom of the QBR list, there is coming back from him. You'll get Alex Smith. There's a couple of cases through the year, Eli like it happens, but it's also many times a sign of a bad sign. And and he has been very bad this year. Bryce Young and hopefully someone comes
in that connects with him. But Young being this guy so far, and the fact that they don't have a number one overall pick, and the fact that Tepper is who he is, Like, who wants this job? This is not a very this is not a very attractive job on the open market. I don't think yep.
That was my thought too, was like it's gonna be tough to pull at this point. I would imagine Tepper wants to hit a home run, you know, from an optics standpoint, and you're asking a coach to come in and work out of a corner because like I think, like the quarterback is the number one thing, and like Bryce Young, Dan, I think you said it well like last night, like he plays small, like we we there's things you like about Bryce Young, but it's like the
next coach, Like what kind of coach is it gonna be? That, Like you've been stripped of picks, you traded away your number one wide receiver, there's very few weapons, the team has a disastrous offensive line, and you're not sure the quarterback can play. Like anyone will take an NFL job at some point, but this is a rough ask and it's like you're not going to get a premier candidate, so like Tepper might wind up with someone even more unknown or riskier than even Frank Reich. And it's like
I just I don't know. I think it's like the Panthers are in a really rough spot right now and it's because of ownership.
Well, yeah, don't don't tell me.
By the way, you didn't want to do this, you know, I know Ian is just reporting what they were saying, you know, he was saying, like this was not the plan. He didn't want to do this. The hope was to make it to the end of the season. No, you did want to do this. You did it. It's literally the earliest coach been fired in forty years. You fired him faster than urban viral. You couldn't wait to do this, So you did it.
And I don't. Well, he didn't want to do it, but but then he.
Did want to do it, because he did it. You know what I mean.
He wanted them to be ten and one right now. There's a lot of things he wanted.
But this is not the context of like a couple of weeks ago, Oh, I don't, I don't want to do it.
Just man up.
I wanted to do it. I made a mistake. I don't.
I don't even like hate that in a vacuum of like you're at this point, we don't need to like belabor that this isn't going to work. Let's move on. It actually might help. I mean it helped last year when they hired Steve Wilkes. That's why they fell down to the ninth pick and had to trade up DJ Moore and uh, the number one picked to get the number one overall pick because he was so impatient last year.
If you had let matt rule play out the string, you probably wouldn't have won all those games and you wouldn't have traded all those picks. Let's just go over some things that have happened with Tepper. He has a half built facility in the middle of South Carolina. We keep hearing how like, oh, he closes deals. Well, he didn't close that. It's literally a half built building. He wanted Deshaun Watson couldn't get him. That worked that well.
At least once they get the doors built on that facility, they're going to close him.
Doors he wanted Matthew Stafford. Remember that they thought they had Matthew Stafford.
They didn't.
They didn't close that. They traded Christian McCaffrey. They turned down a couple high picks for Brian Burns last year. I mean, it's it's just, uh, it's depressing.
And we'll talk more about uh the Panthers on Wednesday, because guess what, we've been teasing this for a long time. It's been in the works. There was a scrubbed pilot edition of the program. A couple of weeks back that was at an editorial error on our part. But this time this week Wednesday, the premiere episode of Tepper B talking
and against stylized. That's Tepper Dash, the letter B capitalized dash talking, no G at the end, just the apostrophe there, Tepper B talking because he has a press conference ten thirty am Eastern on Tuesday, and I should just get
before we move on. Special teams coach Chris Tabor has been pointed as interim coach while offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, who just he right gave Brown play calling duties and then took them back, and now Reike's gone and he's once again on the play calling duties with help from senior assistant jim Caldell. Jimmy Caldwell still in the building. Also let go, by the way, Josh McCown, who once upon a time was being touted as a head coach who didn't even need any experience. Just put him right
up there. He's canned. And also Do Stalley, a hard knock star for the lines. Last year their running backs coach who jumped ship went to Carolina and that was a mistake. So a lot of mistakes being made around the Panthers at Giro.
Everro, who's a defensive coordinator, was also in the middle of that Broncos mess last year when Hackett got fired before the end of the season, So he has had some tough luck in terms of the defenses he's coordinated.
We have both played well.
And you mentioned McCown wanted to skip right to the head of the line and become a head coach without
any you know, college or professional experience. The same can be said for Greg Olsen, the number one analyst in the Fox booth, who's potentially getting bumped down to number two if Tom Brady actually decides to broadcast and he is letting it be known through a source close to Greg Olsen, who you know, sounds a lot like Greg Olsen to me from the outside that Greg Olson would listen if David Tepper was interested in offering him the pandemic, he's.
Trying to lure him with that, like stinky Dan Campbell cheese, listen, I'm a tight end. You like me. I connect with the players. Okay, by the way, that is made if.
Dan Campbell coach of the NFL for about eight years though, before you go coach.
But you know that's major points for the side of the coin, arguing Tom Brady's on his way to a booth because Olson's already looking for a parachute. He's like, I ain't dropping down to number two.
Well, yeah, Richard, coaching job, Richard Ditsche and Joe Person this was a joint reporting. I should give them credit for the athletic and Richard ditsch is their media journalist, and he said that it looks like right now, yes, Brady, you know that is probably gonna at least try it for a year, and that in that scenario, Olsen would be bumped down to number two.
Oh isn't that a shame for you guys?
Mostly right now, right now, it's not. It hasn't happened. You know, we'll see.
That is a disaster. By the way, because Olsen and Burkehrd are excellent together, I don't wonder. I don't get why Olsen would want to leave what he's doing right now, where he is in a great spot, doing a great job, to go take over a team in like disaster mode.
I don't know.
It feels very just Saturday ish to me.
But because he's butt hurt, because old Tommy Boy's riding in to take his job.
Well, Creig and I have theories that you know that Tom Brady may never take that job. But well, at this point it sounds like, you know what, it took a year off to study announcing.
Please, I think we have sandwich props on that one. If I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, I believe, I believe we do. And uh, let's go.
Another angle is like John Lynch, he uses some outside interest in returning to the league to leverage a nice little raise there at Fox.
But we'll see, Okay.
In other news, Miles Garrett thought he heard a pop in his shoulder in Sunday's loss to who Mark I'm blanking on it.
The Denver Broncos.
The Denver Broncos. However, according to rap Sheet, the injury is not believed to be serious. The shoulder quote checked out, okay, and that is, you know, season saving for the Browns because you know you could take away Nick Chubb and somehow survive. You take away to Sean Watson and still chug along. But if you take away the great Garrett, I think the jig is up. So hopefully he will
be healthy and his normal dominating self this week. Dorian Thompson Robinson not so clear after he took that wicked shot in Denver. That could mean mark more of the other Cleveland quarterback, which we do not need to see more of.
Well, I think I think it. I think the big question is if they put Joe Flacco in there at this point, who was wearing a It's very odd to me, very odd to me to see Joe Flacco in a Brown's hoodie on the sideline yesterday. That did not feel
right to me on any level. But you know, I think if we were in a world where the MVP race wasn't just simply like who the best quarterback is, which it just that's all it is at this point, Miles Garrett is in that world, like for Cleveland in the if you look at what he's done for the Cleveland Browns, I think he's in that kind of you know, space where he's won them games where I think in the years past, like he's been more of a T. J. Wattish type character this year where he's had major, like
an incredible impact game. After game yesterday, he watching him, he couldn't lift his left arm at all, like they were trying to, like teammates were attempting to give him a high five. He had to switch his body around high five with his right hand. So I thought like we were gonna get devastating news today. So this is quite a boon for the Browns, who you're right without Miles Garrett, check you, lator.
We can't have Joe Flacco on the field in twenty twenty three.
Right across the sidewalk, we actually might all have to go.
We might have to Joe Flacco. He is the old meaningful game too. They're seven and four. The Rams are trying to get in the middle.
I had to watch Joe flacko on games I counted last year for my team. Joe Flacco can throw, still throw a tight spiral as many old dads can. But that man is the ultimate Stone age pony in the pocket, and even worse, if you even sniff around him in the pocket, if he gets a little bit money muddy, that ball goes flying. I'm I still stick to the theory I was sharing with you yesterday in the newsroom, Mark that Flacco doesn't want to play. He's like, no,
I just I missed the guys. I I miss being in the buildings, I missed the meetings, the camaraderie, but don't put me in.
No, he looked very comfortable, just sort of like hanging out in street clothes, you know, as part of the collection, part of the crew. Suddenly you're in a game where you're getting like destroyed by like a pound defensive end.
No, just getting smoked by guys born in two thousand and two.
And it's just like we're not Donald Donald, Aaron Donald, Like, yeah, come meet Aaron Donald four days from now.
That'll be fun.
And think about it. Like with with Flacco, he's Johnny and iis biopic fell through and at this point he already thought he would be you know, knee deep in his Hollywood career, and since that never took off, he's just looking to fill the void. And that's just being in buildings and being around the guys, being in love.
I will tell you I've mentioned poor but like in the when we went to the Super Bowl in New York and on you know that night, as we were leaving were I think we're the last people to leave that stadium, it started to snow and Greg had verbal words with our taxi driver who tried to like get gas in the middle of that trip, and overcharge us.
But the next day it was snowing pretty heavily and I was walking down the street Cider Hotel and Joe Flacco like came out of a you know, swinging door, and it was like like other quarterbacks that you just think on the sideline look like average dudes. Like he was a strapping, like handsome man. So he's ten times cooler in person than you'd think just by looking at him in a hoodie on the sideline. So we'll see. But him on the Browns makes no sense. No, but
him on the Browns makes no sense. Rights one of the most jarring bizarre things that makes no like.
I mean, it's almost as weird as Carson Wentz taking snaps through the Rams on Sunday. They didn't let him throw the ball, but they just watching him run out onto the field. What if we saw I mean, I do not want Matthew Stafford to get hurt or anything, but maybe he has to go to the bathroom for a second. We see a little Wentz versus Flacco in twenty twenty three.
I know we should move on, but I don't know how many more times we're gonna have a chance to talk about Joe Flacco, super Bowl forty seven super Dome. The Ravens have just pulled it off, and Joe Flacco just won Super Bowl MVP after one of the greatest
postseason runs by any quarterback ever. It happened. Look it up and Mark, you and I snuck on the field at the Superdome, was right before they did that thing where you have to scan your badge to get onto the field, and we kind of remember, we ducked through these curtains because the Superdome, you know, it's kind of a dump in some respects, and they didn't have a they didn't have it secure, so we kind of snuck
through these curtains. Got on the field right after the game with the confetti and the cannons and the celebrations all around us, and there's Joe Flacco and next to him is one of his brothers, and Joe looks taps his brother on the shoulder in like a quiet moment during the celebration after they did the Riser stuff and pointed out this beautiful two thousand and thirteen or twenty fourteen Corvette that was given to him for being the Super Bowl MVP. And he goes, hey, that's my car.
Pretty cool. Let's be cool to be a quarterback and have success. All right, let's move on. That's my car.
Maybe the best half of football, it is my answer for the first half of that game is the best half I've ever seen any quarterback play in person.
Period. It's n even close. It's it was outrageous.
So Garrett expected to play Sunday. DT are uncertain shack loss and brutally frustrating a loss for the Bills on Sunday. And imagine a loss like that, and then you're in Philly with all those fans everywhere there and they're giving you a hard time. He ends up lost in He got caught on video in a confrontation with fans during that game, and you know, I actually didn't have a chance to take a look at this, but he did apologize and say he respects the game and he respects
his opponents. He was giving his side of the story that before the game there was a fan behind our making life threatening remarks towards us and our families. Whoever you are, Bradley Cooper, you gotta cut that out, all right, this is just football. But anyway, there was lines that shouldn't be crossed lost and said and they were and you know, so obviously a very emotional situation, and he shouldn't have used hands. But I could see it too.
I have a feeling that the NFL will react strongly to this because it's on video. If it wasn't on video, which no one had heard about it until you know, I'm gonna watch it, post it on Twitter. You know, no, he wouldn't have gotten punished. But this is this is the NFL's nightmare, as him getting right in his face, right right in the front row as the game ended. I wonder if the fan came down even in further or if he was there the whole time.
Oh, it's an ugly scene.
I'm looking at it now. Did he bumped him?
It looks like they were like in each other's face. You can't really tell from that angle. Maybe there was a little pushing, but thankful it didn't go further.
By the way, that fan sucks whoever you are, you sucked, course, yeah, of course, I mean it's a very it's a high stress environment, an emotional game. You are there to watch the game, not taunt the players and try to get a reaction that you suck. Anyway, Alvin Kamara with Greg set up this Salvin Kamara quote because the Saints are in very desperate straits right now. It doesn't seem like anything on either side of the ball is particularly noteworthy.
But it's the offense especially that is in the crosshairs, an offense that has been failing miserably in the red zone, and everything is hard and the quarterback is not getting it done, and neither is anyone else. Really, here's uh tell us about the Kamara words.
Yeah, Well, Cabert has been an interesting person to listen to this year because he's clearly just frustrated. I think it's not too hard to read between the lines of the leadership that you know, there's some liking of tweets from Michael Thomas that would maybe indicate like they're not thrilled with the quarterback either and the coach. But in this case, I thought he very pointingly in a way that you don't hear a coach or a player almost call out directly his head coach in terms of the
words that his head coach uses. And he did that after the game on Sunday. Now, this clip is from Nick Underhill site New Orleans Football but it's a special edited clip from a guy on Twitter, Nola Flint at e f l y n T, and he had a little fun cutting it up.
Let's listen to it.
Just I don't know if we need to find a real fix, not just oh, we got to be better, because that's you wanna be better every week. That's obvious. Right, Let's let's get past that. We already know we got to be better. How are we gonna get better? What are we going to do to get better?
One day? Laydell?
Yeah, look, I mean does it need to be better? Yes, you know I'd be the first one to stand up here and tell you that it needs to be that it needs to be better. And it really hadn't been quite where we needed to be in the last couple of years. So it's going to continue to be an area that we'll that we'll address and try to work on and try to be better at.
I don't know if we could use all that, but he literally said, I'm sick of hearing you say we got to be better. Tell us how to be better? How are we going to be better? This is a man Kamara that was coached by Sean Payton, who I think is very good on the details, the small details of the game, and that's where the Saints are struggling twenty ninth in the red zone, all sorts of penalties, and he's like, give us some answers.
We're not getting answers.
I feel like the Saints, like this offseason kind of made it clear outside of you know, attempting to try to convince us that Derek Carr was going to help things, that they were very content with winning eight to nine games, and Dennis Allen was sort of like the signal in the in the symbol of that, and like, I can't imagine a team that could have more changes coming this offseason. I could see a lot of transition.
Yeah, for sure. I mean we talked about it, we did the what you people don't realize we are going to see a lot of turnover in head coaches. We've already now seen two go by the boards and we just crossed Thanksgiving. There are gonna be you know, potentially ten changes here by the time we get to January. It could be one of those real bloodbath years.
NFC Southfield's like one coach survives basically, like whoever wins the division, you keep your job. Maybe Arthur Smith could keep it if you like when eight and nine and didn't win the division. I don't know, but I don't think that's the way it's gonna work.
Imagine like having your dream job that you fought your whole life for and it's coming down to whether Desmond Ritter can get you across the finish line at eight and nine. That sounds very stressful. That sounds like an ulcer waiting to happen. Injury news, Well, no, let's let's hit some Raiders news. They cut Marcus Peters, the veteran cornerback. He had to pick six a couple weeks ago and was playing for them, but they had a team meeting.
They had a meeting with him and he was due I believe a million and a half in cent of money if he played the rest of the season, and I think that played a role in the decision to part ways, as the Raiders obviously are not contending right now. Roderick teamer, he gets a DUI on a game day, so he gets cut as well.
Yeah, maybe Peters ends up with his old Ravens team. They could use a corner back and.
Then he would play like he was twenty six. Again, I could see it. The Jags put left tackle Cam Robinson on injured reserve. Dolphins left tackle Toront arms said is week to week. We'll see where he comes down health wise and anything on that.
Boys, well, I feel like every couple of weeks we have our like wow, toront Armstead. They're just not the same without him. And Saints Fanson kind of mentioned like this was their experience with him too. Great guy, but almost never plays more than eight to ten games and they really aren't the same offense without him. And that's a big loss for the Jaguars too. They're starting left tackle even though they have some good depth there.
And finally, uh Joe Shane he uh came out and did a press conference. He's the general manager of the New York Giants, and he has said something that I guess raised eyebrows. It did little a little bit less for me, and we could talk about it. After listening in on his words today, I think.
We're gonna have to do something in the quarterback, whether it's free agency or or the draft. I mean, just where we are, Tyrod's contracts up, you know, Devido is obviously on our contract, and Daniel you know, we don't know when he's gonna be ready, So you know, just from an off season program standpoint, you know, I think that'll be a position that we'll We'll have to look again. There's different avenues free agency or the draft, but we'll have to address it at some point.
It was also said by Shane that the expectation is Daniel Daniel Jones will be the starter went healthy. But listen, we've been doing this for a while. That's that's what they They almost always say, and they that and that allows you to kind of cover yourself and also, uh, you don't have you don't get accused of lying because in the moment you're saying the expectation is that he's
our starter. But then you go through an off season where you check out what's in the free agency market, the trade market, and the draft market, and it could be very different. I'd be surprised, quite frankly, if the Giants end up with a top five pick and don't pull the trigger on a QB.
I don't think you can go into next season if you're Brian Dieble trying to sell Daniel Jones to the fan base or to yourself. I think it's like, you know, they came out of a year where he was the most productive version of Daniel Jones and got the contract. But it's like they're gonna be in position to draft someone.
There gonna be a number of quarterbacks that are available via trade, and it's like he'll at least have intense competition for the starting job because I'm not convinced he's a reliable starter on any level.
Well, their win, you know, we talked about it on Sunday, was really potentially huge for their draft position. And then the Bears winning tonight is another team. There's quite a bit of separation now between the top three picks. Carolina at one win obviously that's the Bears pick, and then the Cardinals and Patriots at two wins. Everyone else, including your Jets as four wins, so the Jets are even in the mix for like a top five pick at
this point. There's a lot of teams, but there's a operation there like Arizona and the Patriots, and then the Bears are a pretty strong one two three right now and they would all have to win multiple games to fall out.
Of that if the season ended today. I'm on the Great Tankathon Dot com it would be top five would be Chicago from Carolina, Arizona, New England, Chicago again, Washington. I'll give you the top ten Giants at six, Tampa Bay, seven, Jets, eight Chargers, nine, Tennessee ten where things stand right now.
And yeah, picks four through ten, I'll have four wins, So get excited.
How about that, Greg? How about that that week eighteen Jets at Patriots. That's a wild one because the Jets, it's probably the Jets last chance to beat Bill beat Bill Belichick, which they, outside of one miraculous playoff win, could never do. And the Patriots need to lose that game most likely. But they literally can't lose to the Jets. They've been trying to lose to the Jets for a couple of years now. They still can't.
Right, they can't beat the Giants, no matter who who they threw out there, and they can't lose to the Jets. And and I thought, I just from you know, I would have guessed that would have been one of those fans that could actually root against, you know, the team I grew up rooting for in a situation like this, because I do know it would be better, I really do want one of those quarterbacks that would get me excited.
But when it came down to I can't root against the team when they're on the field against the Giants, they still wanted them to win until the game's over. And then you're like, especially the Giants, Yeah, especially the Giants, but until the game's over, but really any of the games. And then you're like, Okay, actually, now that that's a half hour old, that's probably good that that actually happened.
But how can you root against your own team?
It doesn't. Can I just double back? Mark? I can't. I came too strong there. I feel like the Daniel Jones things maybe has a little more. God, they just gave him this huge contract and the whole season was a lost season. He gets hurt. Are they gonna bail on him? I know there's only one year guaranteed money left beyond this year. Yeah, also Dabel is Now if Dabel really does like Jones, and I would imagine he liked him a lot because he had to be fully on board, you would imagine, or yeah.
With no, I don't I don't think there's I don't like it. First of all, like the kind of the contract is what for they're tied to him for one more year. I think it just depends what other opportunities come up, like Brian Dable after this season. I mean, assuming it just continues in the skittish fashion that it's been in, Like you're coaching for your job next year, Like do you tie your job to Daniel Jones? I would not. I would he did.
I mean what I'm saying is three months ago or whatever he was perfectly comfortable with it, or four months ago when they whenever the contract was handed out, at did they did he lose the faith of the team that quickly? I guess it's certainly, certainly. And maybe they're
trying to thread the needle Greggy. Maybe they're they're looking at like the old, the old Chargers model, and it's like, well, we got Drew Brees here, but let's draft Philip Rivers and then if Drew Brees plays, well, we could trade him and then give Phil. You know, maybe they're hoping they can maybe Jones is still involved next year and then they have a backup ready to roll either way. I don't know.
Yeah, I think they want to be ready.
I think they will absolutely get a quarterback if at all possible. But if they have the sixth pick, are they going to maybe trade picks up to get a quarterback? No, Then having Dania Jones maybe changes that and we'll see what veterans are available. But I always thought, as as I usually do with quarterbacks and the Giants, that ownership was involved, and in that contract, I think they were big. They're big fans of Daniel Jones getting that thing over
the finish line. And and it's only one more year, and this year could not have been any worse Dan. I mean that if he had this year a year ago, it's not like it would have been a decision, you know what I mean.
So, and he's coming off in ACL. I don't know.
I'm not a huge Danny Dimes guy, And I always thought it was a little weird that, like the last four games in a playoff game before the Eagles loss, that's really what got him paid when he got hot there, I thought, more than anything else, it always seemed weird that he got the deal. But I don't know they got a big decision to make anything else, boys.
Not particularly for me.
Has the Christmas parade ended?
Mark? Yeah? What did you get into your apartment? Mark?
Eleven something eleven something like, you know.
You could have like parked like a mile away and then like walked or something like that. I could have if he really needed to get back for some reason.
Right.
Right, But this was a disaster, So I am, what's up?
Like, I don't know. I don't know this because I don't produce, But could Mark have like jumped on on his phone from the car if he's anyway, if you really like cared?
Yeah, no, I mean yeah, it's definitely a possibility. I don't want to throw you under the bus, but I think I want to say we had Bonetta on her phone at one point in.
The Friday last year to.
Established but.
I've been in the Hollywood area he signal out there. It probably would have been a nightmare and it would have just created a problem. So I will give him that. So yeah, well it could have been done. Eric, Sorry, sorry Mark, Thank you?
Eric.
Uh, we'll talk to you later. Have a nice night, all right, everybody, have a nice night.
We'll be back. Check out NFL Plus where we broke down Eagles bills, and we'll be back Wednesday. It's Connie Fox Wednesdays. Uh, and the premiere episode of Yes Tepper be talking. Uh so you can't miss that till then eat the car people,