Throw down to Tient, snapped the golf steps off, good pocket.
Throw pick up Jeremy Chits got it yet, Celebrate like it's nineteen ninety one.
We're going to the NFL Championship Game.
This is the Motown, the home of Motown to tonight they'll be playing a pool Baby.
Amazing job by London Fletcher and Bram Weinstein like they did all season. At the final moment, the Commanders and their radio crew come through in the biggest way possible. The Commanders win forty five to thirty one in Detroit, and yes we have a Washington Commanders team led by Jaden Daniels going to the NFC Championship Game. I am joined by Jordan Rodrieg of the Athletic. This was not the show that I expected to be doing today. Jordan.
We'll also talk Chiefs Texans a little later in the show, but this is the show that we get. And it's a reminder all season long, we've been saying this is Jaden Daniels' season, and he keeps proving it true.
It's amazing and to go into Detroit and to see how unflappable he was and how like he was having so much fun. You could tell in between snaps he was having an enjoyable time with his teammates and all of that. But he was so silent on the sidelines, and they would cut to him every so often with the camera angles, and he is just sitting there, just
absorbing all of this. It's like a two hundred and forty five year old man in the in the body of a kid quarterback who's a total phenom playing football and leading the Washington Commanders to history.
It's incredible. It was incredible to watch.
We all expected the Lions to win, so this was just absolutely incredible to watch.
Yes, and he is authoring one of the greatest rookie quarterback seasons of all time. Andrew Lux was up there, Robert Griffin, the thirds was certainly up there. I wasn't there, but Dan Marinos was supposedly up there, and by all you know, the numbers show it was definitely up there. But man, this is special and it was a full team effort. It wasn't just Jende Daniels. It was a
great job coaching on both sides of the ball. I think it was fitting that the game ended there with an interception by Jared Goff because Ultimately, the Lions turned the ball over five times in this game, including four by Goff, three interceptions that late, one that didn't matter much, but two killers in the first half, and also a
fumble in the first half. And when the game was just going absolutely bonkers in the second quarter, it was really Golf and the Lions who blinked, the Commander's defense that made plays, and Jayden Daniels and the Commander's offense showing we can beat you fast, or we can beat you slow, will beat you any way you want to get beat, and they got beat. The number one seed is out.
It's crazy, Greg, because we knew, and we've talked about this, watching all these injuries pile up for the Lions. We've been saying that, Okay, the Detroit Lions need to play at their level or at their own level that we've seen all year or above it. They need to be efficient, they need to not make mistakes. And for so much of the year, Jared Goff has played such efficient football, and this Detroit Lions team has just been a bowling ball covered in knives rolling down a hill right in
your face. Any way they wanted to win, they could win. They played with their food against a lot of these sort of hapless, meandering teams that they would come up against, and you knew watching these injuries pile up that they were going to need to continue to stay at that level that confidence, sure, but also the controlled aggression, the smart decision making, and the efficiency and sound technically sound
mistake free play. And if you are that team in the playoffs, when it's any game matchup against any given opponent and you're banged up like that, you cannot be Jared Goff and turn the ball over three times. Won the pick six and the other converted into a touchdown for fourteen total first half points on the side of the Commanders. That put them in a hole early, and it was really hard for them to get back out.
Yeah, it was. And yet I don't want to put it all on the Lion's injuries. Now. Amik Robertson, who's been playing at like a Pro Bowl level level for them and was their best player in Week eighteen, got a game ball gets hurt on. I think the first play, certainly the first couple of plays, and that did set a dangerous tone. And late in the game you saw Brian Branch go out at that point they were all
already trailing. But I think the Commander's efficiency, the fact that they were able to run the ball, not just Jayden Daniel scrambling early in the game. You can't really just put that all on injuries because we've seen this
front and it's a pretty good front. Like play better over this stretch to me than the number one difference in each one of these games today, including the Texans games, was the two quarterbacks and the two coaching staffs plan in how they were going to handle pressure and Jade and Daniels all season long when you sent the blitz at him was just money, whether it was picking the right receiver to go after or scrambling, and a couple
plays really stand out to me. We'll talk about the crazy second quarter because I just want to give the Commanders as much love as possible, but let's start more towards the end. They have a fourth and two late in the game as they're trying to go possibly ice it. They could kick a field goal to go up thirteen, and they instead decide they're going to go for it to try to go up three scores, and the Lions
get what they want. They get a free rusher right at Jayden Daniels in all season long, he has been so good beating unblocked pressures, and he waits for Terry McLaurin to do his crossing pattern similar to the touchdown he caught earlier in the game, and Daniels knows exactly what to do, waits the last second, takes a hit,
hits the fourth down. They also showed total confidence a cup the next drive on a third and five when some teams would maybe run the ball or be safe, and Cliff Kingsbury calls a play action pass and he hits a beautiful throw to John Bates, their backup tight end. And that's that's Jaden Daniels being the best guy on the field and being trusted by his coaches ultimately to make plays in the biggest of spots and put the
game away. Because these two halfs were totally different. The second half to me was so mature out of this commander's offense.
Yeah, we live in a world right now where we've been talking for years about the design and the play caller in the ear of the quarterback and sort of like using the quarterback as like you know, a video game and like you throw ball where I say to throw and like you do what I and I'm going
to be the sort of mechanism behind this offense. And you rarely see, especially early in their careers, and you rarely see in this era of the NFL, just this collaboration and this beautiful trust between I mean, we've talked all this season about the revitalized quarterback, right and as it turns out, this guy playing deep or calling games deep in the playoffs is Cliff Kingsbury revitalized OC who's letting Jaden Daniels cook and giving him the keys to
the convertible and really just saying I'm you know, you are empowered to do these things because you can handle it. And Daniels has not let him down at any second or not given anyone any reason to prove to say that maybe he couldn't.
Handle all of that.
The poise I mean, like I said, I joke, I mean, he's like a couple hundred years old internally, really like has to be. He just is so beyond what we would ever expect, not just what he's capable of doing physically,
but the way that he handles a game. Like I've been to Detroit a few times in the last calendar year in that stadium, and a credit to the Detroit Lions fans, and I am sad for them right now because this was supposed to be their season in so many ways, and you could see how crushed and deflated
they were. And that's another compliment to Jaden Daniels, like he held the knife man to pop the balloon, and in that stadium, in that atmosphere, that's one of the toughest places to play in the NFL to have to trust your quarterback to have that autonomy to maximize those late downs that Greg I do think made a huge difference in this game, those margins that we're going to
talk about in both of these games right now. Maximizing every single down, including capitalizing off of defensive errors that the Lions made late in the game when they were still within ten points. This was a masterclass by the Commanders, even when they were hemorrhaging points early on, even when that crazy six minutes happened in the middle of the game. The unflappability of the quarterback, I think is the ethos.
Of that team.
Right they end up going three for four on fourth down, they get stuffed on what looked like a botch.
The one that failed was when they took it out of Jaden Jenn's right.
It's a snap to Marcus Mariota on the first drive of the game and looked like you might have had an option and maybe Brian Robinson didn't have the call. But I only point that play out, which feels like seventeen hours ago. I'm exhausted by this game. They had fifty seven first downs combined. I mean, it is crazy. People are going to get out Ben Johnson and Goff and everything. They had five hundred yards in this game and they were I'm definitely not getting on Ben Johnson,
although that trick play at the end was curious. Too much dip on the chip, Yeah.
It was.
And trusting Jamison Williams to make a good decision in that situation maybe isn't the best idea, But at that point of the game, it's like, it's hard to blame the offense when the defense is giving up so many issues. It's hard to blame the offensive ordinator. When he dialed
up a couple different plays. We had a comment and if you're listening to this on Sunday, we're also doing it live on YouTube love everyone that's in the chat, and there was a comment about that people are deflated right now because it's not just the Lions fans that
were a part of this journey. I really feel like it started on Sunday Night Football at the end of the twenty twenty two season when they beat the Green Bay Packers in that game that supposedly didn't mean anything for them and really got them going, got them over five hundred and then last season they get to the NFC Championship and I'm torn right now. We were talking about it before the show because on one hand, I have felt like I've been on this ride with him.
You have Lions fans in your life, Cynthia Friedland, Kevin Patrick, that it's such a great football town and it would be a great story, and you just realize how hard it is to finish off one of those stories you need. Theotball got to me with you. Injuries didn't help, but
having to play Jayde Daniels didn't help either. But on the other hand, like this is football, the story you didn't see coming, the rookie you didn't see coming, This guy that we're going to see for the next decade plus that's going to be such a part of our lives, God willing, Like if we're doing recaps in twenty thirty five, me and you, Jordan on NFL Daily, that's my plan that Jayden Daniels is going to be a big part of those too, And like Cliff Kingsbury getting his resurgent moment.
So it's so tough you feel for Lions fans out there. And yet man, I'm suddenly thinking about Sunday. I'm thinking about could this be a Rams home game for the NFC Championship. We don't know we were.
I'm in Philly. I'm in Philly right now, by the way. I'm in Philadelphia right now in the Eastern time zone. Had a cheese steak.
It was great.
And I it's crazy to think how much now hinges on this game to the Rams, kind of playing with house money as the Commanders are the entire way. The Commanders are so far ahead of schedule right now, and I do think there's something to be said. And I know you see this. You see the Chiefs try to shake this off all the time. They're very good at shaking this off. We're going to talk about that when we talk about the Chiefs. The Eagles had to learn how to shake this off after, you know, making the
Super Bowl. The forty nine ers are still trying to figure out how to shake this off, how to de clench, right, And I think that as cool and free and as together and as well coached that we've seen the Detroit Lions be when expectations and when the stakes of what your season means not just to you guys as players and as coaches, but to the city, when you're reminded of it.
Everywhere you go.
And it's a positive thing, but it can also compound into pressure, into stakes, into tightening and tightening and tightening. And I'm not saying that's why they lost this game. I'm just saying there is an element to what happens when now you are a team with expectations.
It's a double edged sword. It's a huge compliment to the Lions.
Next year, it'll be a huge compliment to the Commanders, right because next year, whatever happens this year with the Commanders, we're gonna expect them to be better because they need to get better on defense.
Man, do they I don't know. They just need to get through two more games where they turn the ball over on the other team five times and then they'll be Super Bowl champ. Shout out to Matt Young who says, I have aura, I appreciate that. Let's go. Let's go back to the second quarter, so I keep mentioning it, and yeah, the final score was forty five to thirty one, and the offenses went absolutely crazy on both sides, but it really was the defensive plays for the Commanders that
turn this game around. And yes, we got into the fourth quarter the score was literally only seven to three, which is hard to believe. The Commanders respond with a long touchdown drive as they've been doing. Brian Robinson caps off that one, and then we get into what I would say, I guess you could have started there, but really from the eight minute stretch on in the second quarter, really really to the end of that quarter, but especially
through the two minute warning, was just bananas. We're gonna go through some of those plays, and let's start in this feels so long ago, but let's start with the Gough incredible throw on the run while he's getting hit to Sam Laporta for the one handed catch.
David Montgomery checks in deep back get it on a formation first and goal from the Washington Too.
Golf turns fakes to Montgomery, looks, looks in trouble.
Rolling right, he throws Oh what down.
Detroit Ryansham Laporta just reached down with this letter horse and made the grab.
What a ridiculous catch by the tight end.
Gough was in trouble, being engulfed by the rush and he just threw it.
And Laporta made the grab. It didn't look like he was just throwing it away.
Yes, I am glad that we got Dan Miller and Lomas Brown and w X y T. I really appreciate how Jared GoF has gotten better at creative plays. And he showed the arm angle tonight and he ends up with over three hundred yards. And there were moments in this game when when he did the things that showed how he's a better got golf this season, and that was one of them.
Well yeah, I mean if you look at the backward the back angle of that brow, he was getting hit.
So I don't, I don't.
I'm not saying this is like a bad thing, but it was a wobbler. So I really credit Sam Laporta for the catch. I mean that was insane. Was he getting buried. Was that were they burying him? They rolled him into a grape.
I don't know what that what that celebration was. I need I need people to translate it for me, Like I didn't know that Jamir Gibbs was doing the catch. Was amazing celebration. At first, it was a huge commander's fan. Now I'm sure Dura is going wild.
That play was extra cool and we're, you know, Commanders fans like we are going to give you so much love.
I just want to we want to point out this.
Was so cool because Dan Skipper was a decoy and actually he was early in Jared's progression on that play, and he pulled both linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu, who Frankie Luvu had a great game. Now he did have that we're going to talk about it. That hit that they were recognizing could have nullified the pick six
as a touchdown and all of that. We'll get to that, but that on that play, Dan Skipper pulled both inside linebackers toward him and thereby sort of adjusting the math in some of the zones that Sam Laporta was then able to find as he was sort of doing that little scramble drill with Jared Goff who was trying to avoid pressure, and then sort of just like heaving this this wobbly pass to Sam Laporta, who then catches it with his left hand Lefty's rule with his one hand and then pulls.
I mean, it was amazing. It was one of the best catches of the postseason.
I mean, one of the best catches ever. I mean, I don't know. What I'm trying to say is remember the catch. I yeah, I'm reading this book to my son called The Hundred Greatest Football Moments. He loves it. Joe Peznanski, great great writer. And you know, the catches very high up there, and it's forever been known to catch Dwight Clark, you know, rip like an amazing play.
But I used to have this bit on our old around the NFL podcast that almost every week there's a play in the NFL that's better than like any play that happened in the nineteen seventies or eighties, And like that play was that play? Imagine if you saw that what imagine if you added that play to a nineteen seventy seven game, like that would have been the catch that's how good that play was. So at that point they're up by four, you're thinking it's going back and forth.
And as someone who I'll admit it like I have gotten swept up in this Lions story over the last few years, I'm thinking, this is the kind of game I think the Lions want to play, back and forth. It's gonna go way over the total. It's gonna be a high scoring game, but it's gonna end up with a final score kind of like the one we got forty five thirty one. But you just thought the Lions are more built for that. But the way that the commanders kept responding to every line's score that they were
built for it. Let's go to the next drive to throw the screen pass to Terry McLaurin first to Terry.
Washington curripinal forty one yard yards that the Dangels pricked through to the opposite side. Terry mcluur got through two defenders.
Petifically for thirty thirty thing.
Dock God tuck down walking gown, Oh my God.
Like I said, you live by the bliss, you die by the bliss. The Detroit lives down up with zero bliss and they get burned back they can't Terry Well clawd oh.
And that was the moment you started to think maybe Aaron Glenn needs to change his approach because you know, I see Cliff Kingsbury getting some love after that play and it's like that's just a regular old screen pass and they pop it for a fifty eight yard touchdown. That that's what That was the moment where I thought, Oh, this Lion's defense might be in some trouble that they can tackle on the perimeter and the blitzes aren't getting close to Jade Daniels.
Yeah, Jaden Daniels is twelve of sixteen for one hundred and ninety one yards and a touchdown, took no sack specifically off of blitz plays, and they kept sending them and I get it, you have to find a way to get pressure on this kid, right, But like it just was sort of like it's just continuing to not work. And when we talk about Jada Daniels poise, that play happened less than a minute and a half after that huge Sam laporta Jared Goff connection play that seemingly was
like Okay, here come the Lions. Jada Daniels just stayed so calm and again against that pressure that zero. Look, he executes a simple play, and everybody executes, and everybody stays calm, and everybody blocks where they need to block, and Terry mccluurin makes this.
Explosive play and all of a sudden, hey, we've got a ballgame.
Right, They take the lead. And then what followed what was to me the biggest play of the game. This is where we were going to lead our show. But then Golf throws an interception right at the end, and we had to get Bram Weinstein and and London Fletcher really going crazy at the final whistle. But to me that the goth pick six is where he blinked in where everyone in the city of Detroit just just gulped a little bit.
Golf pointing out the defender pressure up the middle. Golf has time yours, oh picked up.
Got picked up by clad Garden twenty tide Chuck Dawn touchdown, Why Dad quad Morning.
And in actuate throw at least to the klond Martin tapped out eighth bound pity and swarthed into an zone of the Detroit last whoa.
Great call there?
They called a great game, didn't they?
They just called that they've been, you know they are they are circle around the call of the year. I don't know which one it would be, but they've just been such a part of our life. I think that maybe started to give some Rams fans, maybe Lions fans at certain points started to get a little bit of flashbacks where GoF maybe just was a little I don't want to say panicked, but he had some pressure near him and he didn't react well to it and the
ball sailed. And we have seen that pass from Jared Goff before, in some of his worst moments, I.
Would say, and even further before that.
I mean, that was a play that I think a lot of people have a version of that play sort of etched into their memory banks from a long time ago.
And Jared Goff has come so far since then, let's not leave that out.
But I actually think that the waterfall effect that I started to go oh no oh, like I had a bit of a flashback myself was when he lost the fumble, and that was an issue for him big time in the last part of his tenure in Los Angeles. And again, Lions fans like, yes, he is. He played amazing all this year and he's grown so much and he can do this, He can do this. That's why it seems
so frustrating. I think to see these types of turnovers when the ball is sailing like that, and then you know, when he's trying to come back and make a play on the return, you know, he gets hit by Frankie Luvu and the broadcast has a discussion about it, and Mike Pereira, the rules analyst, you know, postulated that perhaps that touchdown shouldn't have shouldn't have actually counted because it
should have been a foul. And that's where, you know, you can go back and forth about those types of things all the time, but certainly all elements of that moment, the pick, the reaction, then the fact that Jared Goff has to go be evaluated for it.
It was your guy. I mean, defend your guy, Frankie Louva. I said it in the previous show.
Every had a hell of a season.
What do you mean defend my What do you mean every week I bring out an All Pro, second team All Pro should be a difference maker.
I mean there were points tonight where I was like, man, they almost got to get Bobby Wagner out off the field. Because they're just they're just targeting Bobby Wagner a little bit. And Luvu is incredible, but every game there's like a Luvu cheap shot pretty much once a game somewhere. Mike Evans got it last week and he just immediately goes to the rest, like, what is this guy doing?
Multiple things, Multiple things can be true, Greg, I'm just saying, I'm painting a picture of a moment, of all parts of a moment that changed a game, changed.
The swing of a game. And I agree with you. I think that that.
I think that that entire sequence start to finish, swung things in the almost like, oh no, this is not going to be what we thought it was.
Kind of yes, And I'm half kidding about Louvu. That happens on interception returns all the time. But it was a penalty they would have had to go earn that touchdown. But everything I saw out of the Commanders tonight indicates to me they would have earned that touchdown. So I'm not going crazy about them missing the call. I just don't love that Gough took a headshot there. And you know, one of the commenters here asked, was Gough the same after that they check him for a concussion. I mean
that was a hit right to his chin. He comes out of the game, and yes, the moment I've been waiting for for years. Literally, we were talking about this last year, like, what if it's a situation Not that I want Off to get hurt, but what if it's a situation where Teddy Bridgewater comes into the NFC Championship game and he has his Drew Bledsoe moment you know with the Patriots when he threw a touchdown before Brady came back in in the Super Bowl and just has
that moment and he gets his Super Bowl ring. Well, Teddy Bridgewater did have a moment. He comes out there. You know, they take a penalty right away because they're not all on the same page, and you're like, oh my gosh, is this how the Lions season ends? And instead, the Teddy Bridgewater drive goes perfectly well because he doesn't have to do anything.
It's on first down, Bridgewater hands and give it to Gibbs. He goes on the end around the other one table. Jamel. It's not the pooty Jamel, the fifties Jamel down to the party. So Jameson Williams turbot and so touch down the True Giants sixty one yards.
You can tell how late it is for me here because I started talking.
Now, don't even worry about it.
I'm laughing.
I'm laughing. And if you do check this out on YouTube eventually, we appreciate everyone that does and like and subscribe it. And you can see Jamison Williams just getting after it after that touchdown. I think our friend Andrew Hawkins had the tweet of the night when he said his homage to Philip Rivers after that stuff. That was ridiculous.
But what play calls if if you're gonna hate the trick play by Ben Johnson at the end of the game, and I know they're different, you gotta at least appreciate the crew creativity that Ben Johnson showed I think on this, you know, certainly in that situation and in the first drive of the third quarter where it almost felt like they were hiding golf a little bit, I don't know, or at least not doing much drop back passing and they're getting touchdowns out of those drives.
Yeah, it was a really cool moment because Jamison Williams has been open and talked a few times with local reporters in Detroit about how big of an influenced Teddy Bridgewater was on his life.
He sort of took Jameson and Williams under his wing. You know, Jamison williams.
Struggles and some of his setbacks have been very public, and he said that not only did teddy Bridgewater basically teach him the offense in a way that really made sense to him, but also just kind of.
Kept after him, kept him on the right track.
And then part of the reason why Teddy Bridgewater came back was obviously his connection his relationship with Dan Campbell from their time together at previous stops, but also because of Jamison Williams.
And so I when you talk about the.
Idiocy, I guess of the last call of like, Okay, you're down ten and you're going to run a cute trick play to put the ball in Jamison Williams hands as a quarterback.
You know, in that situation that's not great.
But this play really I think showcased Ben Johnson at his best, which is not only are you going to are you going to call the right play in that moment? And it's a huge gain. It ends up working because everybody is bought in and executes it really well. And it's also really creative, but also it's crazy. But also it was a galvanizing type of play call when people wonder, oh is Ben Johnson like a leader of men whatever that phrase means, and like, oh, is he gonna, you know,
connect with this play. That type of thing gets players with you. They ride with you because that is one of those things that you know that detail about those people involved in that play, and you're calling that specific play, putting the ball in those two hands in that moment, knowing that you need a galvanizing moment for your team in a crazy situation.
And I have a lot of respect for him calling that play when he did.
Yeah, and it absolutely worked. It was cool to see Teddy out there. I've seen some hate sent Teddy's way that like he made a business. This is no that's what you want your backup quarterback to do. He's not blocking out there, but he's screening. He kind of got he totally got in the way, got away. So at that point you're just thinking, Okay, we need if you're a Lions fan, to have some complimentary football. It's twenty four to twenty one, this insane stretch that we started.
Those four touchdowns happened in under four minutes. That's absolutely bonkers.
I mean, this was the first game Jordan with four forty plus yard touchdowns in a first half since a Saints game in twenty ten, and only the sixth time in the history of the NFL that was three forty yard touchdowns in four minutes three other four like it happened that quickly, and the next drive is I think one of the moments where I was reminded, Okay, even though the lines are the team that have been there before, the commanders are are actually the ones who are as
comments can be that their regular running game with Brian Robinson was working, that Jade Daniels is just picking apart the defense. And then when he threw that beautiful pass to Diami Brown, it was also just like excellence and just oh, my best is better than your best. And so that was a thirty nine yard play that set up a third down touchdown to zach Ertz where almost everyone on the field kind of knew it was going
to be going to zach Ertz. But Jane Daniels gets all the time he needs, and generally that was only two and a half seconds, but the Lion's pass rush ultimately just wasn't good enough today. And Jane Daniels throws that ball before zach Ertz even makes his break, and when zach Ertz turns around, there's the ball and he's in there for the touchdown under the two minute warning. And to me, that sequence followed up by the goth
interception to end the half. I know there was a long way to go, and I thought the lines could maybe come back, but man, that sequence was massive. Let's to wrap up this just a little segment here. Let's listen to the Golf interception to end the half.
George, here we go. Ten Golf steps off three.
In the end zone.
He's pointing it out five ten pits his own man tries to get out of the tackle and could not.
Walk out at the fifteen. The rookie, the Michigan man.
Mike you Sandtown rookie.
He's their quarterback one. And like, what a draft class by Adam Peters. What an off season for Adam Peters who forced that uh fumble? It was Doris Armstrong, which has been one of the sneaky best free agent signings, Like a three for forty five. People are like really armstrong for that, but he's been their most consistent edge rusher this year. He's been good for them. And then Sandrastill. It wasn't a good throw by Golf, maybe just a half tick late and didn't lead Williams enough. But I
also give a on a credit. Was just a great play by san Ruso, who's been awesome this year.
To undercut that, though, is such a high degree of difficulty a play for a play that a cornerback has to make and you have to read it perfectly and the throw has to be a little bit off even for you to make it work. Some a somewhat physically high degree of difficulty play and mentally as well, you're tracking it a long distance. And so that's that was a big time play for the rookie off. You know, a throw that just wasn't leading the receiver correctly and
just the little margins. Like I said before, and to your point, I do think you know Adam Peters, and you know there's Brandon Sasna's in there, a former Lions front office guy.
You know there there are connections there.
As this overhaul of this top organization top to bottom from ownership into every single level and every layer of this organization has been astounding to watch. It's like it wasn't just that Sage was burned in the building. It was a full on exorcism, and like that, that's so cool that they can be so far ahead of schedule in this way after being so behind schedule in so many ways in every other facet. And it wasn't just
that they got the quarterback. That's huge, they nailed that, But look at the free agents too that they brought in. You brought up Armstrong as one of them. They had a really good draft class. They brought in Austin Eckler as a leader and somebody who had really been an outlet, really be an outlet for Jade and Daniels. They brought in Frankie Lulu. They brought in Jeremy Chin who had
the game ceiling play. They brought in Bobby Wagner. You know, Frankie Lulu and Jeremy Chin coming from a despondent Panthers team that nobody thought they would be good players, and here they are, Bobby Wagner leaving the charge, playing on one leg essentially tonight, but really has been solid for them and a mentor to Jade and Daniels all season. You know, this has just been a really cool team building effort where it's like they all bought in together
and they grew together. They're very well coached on both sides of the ball, and they're deep at coaching on both sides of the ball as well.
It's really an advertisement for the type of head coach like Dan Campbell who isn't just about scheme, because I think that's where dan Quinn's magic is. Even after that Brian Robinson touchdown in the in the second quarter, when he gets out there and he he hugs Brian Robinson. First of all, I think Robinson, you had a bad play in the first quarter on that on that mistake by Mariota. But I think dan quln't understanding that moment.
There is something greater that's going on with this Commander's team than just the pickups. But the pickups were also big. Like Brandon Coleman is a rookie left tackle. He's not a great left tackle, but he's a rookie who's out there and isn't killing the team that fits well enough in their scheme and is gonna get better next year. And man, they just so many good different decisions. And
look there's Commanders fans out there. You know i'd won text me late in this game, James Pittman, if you're out there, you know, my my buddy Kat who you know, it's been a listener and a fan came to the Super Bowl with me a couple of times, like what
is Greg and that crew gonna start picking the Commanders? Like, Okay, I guess, I guess wait a week Like that was the moment when Goff threw that interception after that sequence, like I thought, oh, maybe the Commanders left too much time for them and they pick off Golf at the end of the half. That Wow, the Lions are in a tough way, and yet they get a three and out or they get the ball back in the second half, the Commanders allow that the Lions to go down the
field in a very methodical way. It was the drive I was mentioning in the third quarter takes up almost half the quarter, and I really liked that Ben Johnson was purposeful giving the ball to David Montgomery and getting
it to Gibbs and there was very few dropbacks. It was like a screen pass and a couple other and otherwise it was just their running game and Gibbs was so good in this game, and maybe they got away from them a little too much and they score the touchdown to get it to within three, and then Washington and just returns with like a fifteen play drive and they just showed they can beat you any sort of way. That drive. Yeah, it was fifteen plays, seventy yards that
that's capped by the Brian Robinson touchdown. And if I'm not mistaken, that's where the Lions did have the Commanders on a fourth down inside the ten yard line and at that point in the game, Brian Branch had gone out and they get a twelve men on the field penalty, and they did. They made the bigger mistakes tonight and it was stuff like that.
Yeah, Dan Campbell needed to call a time out.
There had Tom and coaching.
That's the thing is like he's been so good in the margins for so many years, even before everybody was watching this football team, right when they were really starting to pick the pieces up and start to build something like, he's been so good. Aaron Glenn has made the most out of a really decimated roster all season now I think you could argue a little bit nothing they were doing pressure wise was working, certainly not sending the blitz after Jade and Daniels, But I don't know what you're
gonna do. You can't get pressure with four either, so you know, you kind of it's a mixed bag, double edged sword on that. But they've done such an admirable job for the past couple of years, but particularly with the way that they can win in the margins, the way that their players understand situational football, the way that they maximize every down, not just on offense, but opponents
don't maximize those downs against them in return. Now they finally met a team that does maximize every fourth down they come across. There's no reason in Dan Quinn Cliff Kingsbury's mind, because they're ahead of schedule, because they have Jade and Daniels, because what the hell do they have to lose. They're playing with house money, like five years ahead of this rebuild, and so why not go for it? And they the Lions have not met a team with this same sort.
Of like big Dan energy. They have big they had Greg, they have big Dan energy.
They have Dan the Campbell. That's absolutely right. It's a good point, and I do that was a couple That was a moment where a couple of the narratives matched up the fourth down one and then you know them getting that done. But also the injuries, because I went into NGS to look at the participation on the twelve men penalty and two of the men on the field in the secondary Jordan were by the names of Stanley Thomas Oliver and Maurice Norris m O R I s C.
You spelled Maurice for him. I mean they haven't those are I don't want to make the joke of like, oh, who are these guys? Have never heard of them? Like they haven't played all season. Those guys, like they literally haven't played football on the team, And you have to imagine that was part of the.
That's what I said at the top. Yeah, like it just it contributed to them losing in the margins?
Was there?
Their injuries as much as they tried to make of it.
Man, probably the probably the end of the Ben Johnson era. He did have that fun pitch shovel play which apparently was like an Antoine Randall l play back in two thousand and four, and Randall ell is now a coach for the Lions. He's the receivers coach, so that that's pretty cool, and yet just going out there playing football. The Commanders were better at it tonight. The Lions were in man coverage sixty percent of the time, which just crazy, and it just it didn't work. You couldn't do it
with the players that they had on the field. That's probably it for the Ben Johnson era. Maybe that's it for the Aaron Glenn era. I wonder if Tom Brady's in the booth like happy that the Lions lost because now he can hire the rate. You're rolling your eyes, why is that?
Well, don't get me started on this topic, honestly, because why not.
He deserves criticism. They tried to address it. People were like, oh, I can't believe Kevin Burkhard brought that up to him. That was choreographed, like on Tuesdays.
That was a choreographed way to bring it up without actually bringing it in.
And he didn't answer the question like they brought it up to address it, and he didn't say anything. He just said what they do on the field is the resume, Like he didn't even answer Burkard's question.
I'm pretty sure he didn't even mention. I think someone on social media was counting this.
I don't even think he said Ben Johnson's name till like the third quarter when he absolutely had to and honestly like listen, like whatever if this none of this really matters in the grand scope of the world.
There are much larger things going on.
But at the same time, like, just sack up and talk about it, man, own you're like, yeah, you're in this position. You're not happy to be there. You're not just oh my golly gosh, like look what I get to do and I get to be in these meetings. No, it has been reported over and over again like you have an active role and that's fine.
You're Tom and the face. Just own it, man, It's okay.
People trust that you know what you're talking about when it comes to filling a coaching and quarterback position until you prove them otherwise. You don't need to act like all this oh shucks, like Eddie Haskell crap on the TV, like you don't have to do that anyway, Okay.
No, And yeah, a couple of teams I think will be interested in the in this result in terms of being able to interview. Glenn and Johnson are possibly highing the Raiders, certainly the Saints, maybe maybe the Jaguars if they wanted to fork over the bag and fork over Trent Balk for Ben Johnson, who knows. I really do think, and it's unfortunate, but the timing of these losses can
really affect the future like of of these franchises. It like Kyle Shanahan, I think his his process to becoming a head coach got got delayed a year basically by going to the Super Bowl, and just think things happened this way all the time. Man, it's gonna be a tough offseason because because the Lions, they're a little bit like the forty nine Ers now where they're going to have some of the problems that come with winning without having actually gotten to the Super Bowl in their case
or winning it in the forty nine Ers case. But all credit to the Commanders. We got another whole game to talk about, so we should probably get to that game before we spend an hour on this one.
What do you think happened nine hundred years ago? Yes, it happened before Jaden Daniels was born.
Jaden Daniels. We pray to you at this point, you are not worthy. You are the commissioner. All right, let's take a break. We will be back on the other side with Texans Chiefs.
Twelve o three to go in the game. Chief lead thirteen to twelve.
They have third down and goal to go at the eleven and a half yard line of Houston.
Three receivers to the right.
Mahomes stepping up again, tries to throw.
A light touchdown Cansas City twelve.
Ish Kelsey owning this game, an eleven.
Yard touchdown, playoff path to playoff.
Kelsey in the Chief lead nineteen.
Yes, Mitch Holtis on WDAF. If it's mid January and you have Travis Kelcey setting his personal records for postseason yards and Mitch Holtis making calls on a divisional round game, you know football is back. The Chiefs get it done
in a really entertaining game, twenty three to fourteen. A frustrating game for the Texans, probably a frustrating game for a lot of America, who at this point has started to root against the Chiefs, much like they rooted against the Patriots when they were making what was it, eight straight conference championship games. I can't of all the records that I would like, you can never get broken. That
one is absolutely insane. Patrick Mahomes gets it done, and he had to give us at least one beautiful highlight. And the fact that that came after or he kind of you know, faked getting hit out of bounds made everyone not appreciate in the moment. But that was a ridiculous throw as he was falling down, like he has made that kind of throw just seem absolutely ordinary.
It's like that, It's like that whole like just when I'm just finally starting to get a little bit annoyed with you, you pull me right back in and I adnore you again, Like you know, you can't fault it. It's just he's he's he's great. That's greatness, and he knows how to try to sell things. He's going to use every tool in his bag to try to win football games. You don't have to agree with it. I think that that was there was a little bit of a I thought that would have kind of sucked if
they would have thrown the flag. I thought that, you know, to do that after two calls clearly went your way. That I think the entire world was like, what the hell was that? But let's calm down, but listen, let me finish, let me get please, let me finish my point.
Like I, it's multiple things are true.
You can hate the fact that those calls their way and we're disagreed upon pretty universally, but you can also respect the fact that that guy is going to do whatever it takes to get extra yards, including some of that maximizing some of the sideline runs, maximizing some of the tools that he knows are to the advantage and are not updated in a systemic structure that is more so the league enabling things, and him maximizing the rules
that he can take advantage of. And I think that multiple things can be true at the same time where you can't fault him for trying to maximize and take advantage of a system and win in every little tiny margin, which the Chiefs were better at than the Texans today, like I said before, capitalizing on those little margins, including those advantages that Patrick Mahomes has that he knows he has, and also capitalizing on special teams and capitalizing on the
fact that the Texans could not stop a drop of water from going through a paper towel up front.
Yeah. My thing with the flopping, and it is really annoying, is that players do it all the time in every game, like Alex Angeloni did it when Jade and Daniels pushing the quarterback tonight or whoever, like remember you remember like the I forget who was, but there was a play where Jayden Dane was kind of got up after and they were getting each other's face and it was a Lions linebacker. It was either Campbell or Angeloona like flopped down on the ground.
It's like, okay, it's the quarterback. Though there are different lesped.
You brought it up right right off the bat. I think it probably is the number one talking point from fans that I've seen, at least on social after the game, is just how frustrated they are with those two calls. So if we're going to start there, I do think it's important to put them put those two calls in context.
The first one from the first few angles, like it was not forcible blow to the head on Mahomes and they end up getting that penalty was what the first or the second drive of the game, their second full drive, they got that first one, which was a re and out after they recover the fumball on the long kickoff return. So some breaks there for the Chiefs, but also good special teams. They get three free points on offense, and they kind of get three free points after this bad
roughing call the first one it happens. It wasn't forcible blow to the helmet, but when you watched it at the right angle, like there was a little contact with the helmet, and because he was getting hit hard at the time, he did naturally like bounce back, and oh, an official made a mistake in that play. These players are the very best at what they do, and they make fifty mistakes all game every game, like mistakes happened.
Patrick Mahomes made a ton of mistakes. Jared Goff made mistakes like the officialing it's impossible to do, so that like when it's something that I can understand can't be easily overturned, and I think in the future they'll be able to overturn calls like that, I actually understand. I don't think that would have been overturned because I think in the moment there was contact on the helmet and he gets hit and it's all happening fast moves fast like that probably would a stand. It's a bang bang
call and they got it wrong. But that that stuff happens all the time. Why do we have no I guess, grace for them making mistakes. It's gonna happen. It happens in every sport. The next one was a terrible call where Mahomes is running around and then the two defenders you know, clash into each other. And that was a huge call in the game. But also you know, the Texans have ultimately like your defense has to be able to make a stop after that. It's really unfortunate it was.
It was a big call in the game. I don't think that's the difference in the game. But I also think that being the number one story off of those two calls when one of them to be to me was like fine, like they got it wrong, but like I see wrong calls all the time. Why is it okay for like coaches and teams and players to make do a million wrong things, but like, of course the refs are going to do some wrong things, like it's part of the game.
I think what people are rightfully upset about over those types of things is that there are the tools to get it right, but they're not being utilized because they just in some cases they wreck game flow.
In some cases they just can't.
But in other cases, like replay assists would have been really helpful on that first but they.
Did so they stopped the game. They never talked about it. They stopped the game on the first one, and suddenly they were just like hemming and highing because they were didn't know what was going on, and you could tell they watched the same replay as us. They did do the replay assist and they decided not to change it, and then you got one more angle later, and I don't think they would have that one. I don't think
they would have changed. So I think next year at this time that that will be a reviewable play and the second one probably would get overturned, is what I think is going to happen because of the high because of this being in such a spotlight. But I do think like replay Assist has made a huge difference this year in speeding up the game and correcting a lot of things quickly, and I just think like that is
not the difference they lost this game. The difference is Patrick Mahomes was perfect against pressure and their team had a plan against pressure, and CJ. Stroud and the ten
did not have a plan against pressure. Just going back to what's on the field, Like tell me if you disagree, Like that to me was the biggest difference in the defensive coaching for the Chiefs ultimately got over with their pressure packages late in the game, and that Mahomes handled the pressure that was coming his way late in the game.
I just think more than one thing can be true about this game. In fact, many things are true about this game. And those calls led to points. They extended drives that led to points. I think that when fans are angry about those things because they do see the results of the extension of drives that lead to points, and those things are significant in a game.
Sure, the second one it wasn't on third down or anything, so you never know what's going to happen to just be a different game.
But yeah, it gives them a play.
I mean, like, really, Greg, come on, man, like seriously, like, let's hold multiple things in our brain at the same time at the same time, Like the pressure that was coming at c. J. Stroud all game and in a lot of cases purely unblocked pressure there were bl and a lot of those blitz some of those blitzes were successful.
But George Carl Loftis and his three sacks and his eight pressures according to next Gen and next Gen as of now, and they adjust things as time goes and they rewatch and they kind of retract different things.
But he wasn't doubled. He wasn't doubled.
And there were certain plays where he was chipped and where they would assign like, Okay, you have a tight end and you have a running back on you, Like we could see some of the ways that Spags was then re checking his defense into a different pressure, like right before the snap, just because of freeing up some of his players to get that extra pressure. And the Texans offensive line like did not have a ton of
answers for that. And yes, I do think that that was if we're going to talk about the hierarchy of things of a game that had a lot of factors that were the reason that the Chiefs won. Another reason, and probably the biggest reason, was that pressure. And I think the second biggest reason, which we'll get to in a few minutes, is the disastrous performance on special teams, which really ended up factoring in to this game as well.
So those three things, I think if we're going to rank them, I'm not going to put the calls first, of course, not like you know, logic and reason. But at the same time, that pressure was absolutely game changing for CJ. Stroud and it put him in incredibly stressful situations all game. He got banged up early on because he was trying to pick up some yards on the run. His scramble rate over the last two games has doubled since the course, since the end of the season. He's
trying to pick up these plays with his legs. He's trying to avoid pressure. But he was sacked eight times, and that's just not a sustainable way.
To play football.
No, and the pressures weren't all equal. He got sacked, yeah, eight times, which is just preposterous. He got hit fourteen times in this game. When they first played, the Chiefs actually hit Mahomes I think twelve, thirteen, fourteen times, and today it was only eight. I mean, they got after it in parts. Some they held the Chiefs to under two hundred and fifty yards of offense. They out gained the Chiefs by over one hundred yards and didn't have
a turnover. They're actually the first team I think in the history of the playoffs to outgain an opponent by over one hundred yards, not have a turnover and lose. Teams were forty nine to one, and I saw some people say, well, you can like divide up the numbers, and it's like, my friend Nick Wright was mentioning, like, yeah, I'm sure their success rate was great and all this stuff. It's like, no, the success rates were actually about the same.
Those aren't analytics, like they just that's like as basic as it gets. They out gained them by one hundred and they didn't have a turnover. Usually that as a recipe to win, but they didn't because of what you're talking about, the margins on special teams, the margins on the sacks and the pressure, and then the margins on penalties. Like the penalty yardage was great, Jordan, given the Greeks love Carloftis was absolutely awesome. But yeah, these pressures, they
weren't equal on the seventeen blitzes they blit. They pressured Stroud on what over sixty five percent of those plays, twelve pressures on those plays, eight of them were unblocked. I mean, you texted me, that's a war crime.
That's true.
It's absolutely true, though, yeah, and like it is like that is. The difference to me is that the Chiefs late in the second half of the game actually had a pretty good plan against pressure. Mahomes took some sacks, but he was nine to fourteen for one hundred and forty six yards when he held it over two and a half seconds, and when CJ. Stroud held the ball over two and a half seconds, the play was over and late in the game. And I know I'm rambling here,
but late in the game. To me, there we do that.
Greg's okay, this is our safe space for that.
Okay, ten nineteen left in the fourth quarter. This is still very much a game. The Texans are driving, they have the ball at the Chiefs forty yard line, and it's still very much a game. And tech the Chiefs blitz four straight times on the Texans. Three are quick pressures, the last three are unblocked pressures, and the last one is that horrible sequence where they go for it on four and ten after the play call. And to me,
that was the Texans season in a nutshell. And it was also Steve Spagnolo knowing exactly where and how to blitz and how to completely break both Bobby Slowik and c J. Stroud and set Shaq Mason and all the offensive linemen's brains and they just won right there and it was basically over at that point.
Yeah.
I think one of the things we've seen from Andy Reid, and I want to talk about his game plan too, because even the the Chiefs only put up what twenty three points, I don't have it in front of me, and it was a million years ago. But even though they did put twenty three, Yeah, even though they didn't put up like you know, it's this crazy amount of points. I loved Andy Reid's game plan on offense. I want to talk about that in a second. I'll tell you why.
But on one of the things that makes these guys so great and makes them like these long haul truckers of a team that just understand what it takes to get through those final dark miles right to their destination is the fact that they have a brilliant head coach on offense, a brilliant quarterback, but also a brilliant head coach on defense, and somebody who is going to run that entire unit as if it is its ecosystem that
totally and it complements the offense in a way. But it's not like it doesn't play into what the offense needs to support the offense. It like does its thing as its own entity. And sometimes you see these teams, and especially like when the Tampa two surge was happening and it became like a lot of that deeper shell stuff. When it morphed over time from the early two thousands onward, you would see offensive coaches gravitate toward it because it
would set up their offense right. It would set up their offense, it would mitigate damage via explosive plays so that the game wasn't lopsided too quickly, so that offensive player coaches could stay in their A plus plan. Steve Spagnola, Andy Reid, don't give a crap about that.
They're going for it.
They're going to be who they are, and they're going to be aggressive, and they're going to be smart, and they're going to be well coached and fundamentally sound, and they're going to know how to get in your head and stay there and eat your brain.
And it's just cool.
And that's and they just do this and they're so experienced at doing this that at a certain point, again, when you're in the in the long haul truck and the giant semi and you're on the straight line on the ten and maybe the lights in the distance start to weave back and forth a little bit, you just put your elbow up and you just go. And that is what Steve Spagnolo and Andy Reid do and do it better than almost anyone, if not anyone in the league.
All Right, we got more to get to with this game. Let's just take a quick break. We'll be right back. In the first half of this game, and even at the beginning of the second half, the Texans offense was winning. We got We got a comment from Will Gavin, a regular guest of this, so say yeah and beans on toast guts, and he also asked, can someone please give Spags a job?
Uh?
And you need to break up this AFC trio. I know that is part of the Chiefs magic is they haven't broken up Spags and read you never know. Spags did get some interviews in this cycle. You never know. Matt Naggie did too, although I don't think that would really impact that the Chiefs too much. They did they did just lose their assistant GM. I don't think that's going to really hurt the bottom line to the to
the Titans Mike Borganzi, so shout out to him. But yeah, I really thought at the end of that game that was that was so massive and it took a while, like it, let's be real, we went into the half with the Texans out gaining the Chiefs, with the Texans having a pretty good run game, like Bobby Slowek after
eighteen games, finally did establish the run. And I don't get on him for putting them in a lot of third down situations and going to run, run, pass and didn't always work in this game, because for the most part it was working, like they did get the running game going, and you kind of have to know your personnel and look what happened when they had got into
clear passing situations. If anything, you could criticize SLOK for passing their four straight times like late in the game when they should be running, because when they got the ball after halftime and they went down on what was one of their best drives of the season, a fifteen play, eighty two yard ten minute drive that ended on a mix and run after a really good fourth down pickup, like you thought they were in it, and then the
special teams kicked in. Tell me about Kayimi Fairband's game, I mean that's just yeah.
I mean you had to feel for him at a certain point because he's been pretty good all year. I think he only missed two kicks prior to this game all year. They lost seven points via two missed excuse me, a missed field goal, blockfield goal, a mix missed extra point that had a bad punt late in the game that gave the Chiefs field position in deep in Texans territory that.
They opened right to make it two scores.
Yeah, they opened the game in disastrous fashion, not just because the kickoff return was a big explosive play. They also got a penalty and then you saw just how undisciplined they planned to be in that phase all all day because Chris Boyd shoved special teams coach Frank Ross and like, I get emotions get high.
Whatever you know was that? Wait?
I have a theory f on that, Like do you think he was actually excited and like because he made the tackle that forced to fumble and do you think it was like I'm happy shove or I'm mad at you, Schef. I was like, I actually think he was celebrating, but I could be wrong.
I think they were fired up. It's one of those things.
You saw it, Remember when everyone made like a big thing about Travis Kelce and Andy Reid being all like Travis Kelsey push Dan Reid, Like sometimes people like these guys are just they can't even they're fired up. They're just two They're out of their own heads, especially on special teams. You're opening a game, you're an arrowhead. Like, Okay, I'm not going to read into it.
I don't know.
I'm sure people talked about a post game, so I'm not gonna put words in anyone's mouth without having seen them myself. But in those moments, you really saw, oh, they're not in this phase specifically, they're not quite ready for this moment.
Whether it was a happy.
Push, a fired up push, or a mad push, it's a push and they're not ready for the moment in that phase.
And they lost in that phase all game long. And that was huge, a huge swing in the Chief's favor.
Because I said this on social media, I was like, what do you get for the Chiefs team that has everything?
Already.
Well, you f up special teams in their favor, and that's really what you can give them, because they've been winning in these close games in these margins all season, and I keep saying I feel I'm still annoying.
I keep saying the word margins.
But they keep doing that, and they did it again here and they maximize that to the Texans detriment.
And Texans shot themselves in the foot on that one.
So that is how you outgained the opponent by one hundred yards and don't have a turnover and lose opening kickoff that leads to three points. There's three rate there, Fairbairn. They decide to go for it on the it was windy on that side of the field, fifty two yarder in the first half. It's six to three at that point. He doesn't even come close to that field goal. Not only do you miss miss it, there's another three points. I'm just going to write these down. That's three plus three.
But the Chiefs go right down the field. That's where Kelsey gets the forty nine yard play. They cash in and score the touchdown on a short field. I'm I'm not going to count this on my special team's total, but that was situational foot right there. Fairbairn misses the extra point. You know, it's a letdown in that moment, but it's also just a point, and the points were
very valuable at that point. There's another one, and then late in the game, they're trying to kick the field goal to make it one score and he hits a scud missile that gets blocked. But that's you know, you've probably talked to special teams coaches who say, like more more blocked kicks than not are on the kicker and on the kicking operation, and that was another So just
on special teams, that's ten points right there. And then you also mentioned the bad punt which set up the field goal that ultimately made it two scores and kind of ended the game. So that's more points there. And these that came after the fourth and ten fire drill where they weren't prepared for the moment. There was just a lot of between special teams and then the situational coaching.
There was also when they rushed to play right for the two minute warning at the end of the game and took a sack and Steve Spagnola kind of psyched out sword with what looked like a cover zero blitz and instead they drop out, Like all of this is just on the margins where the Texans weren't really ready and the Chiefs look like the team that's been there before.
And the Chiefs on the other side, they kept it really simple.
I mean, yeah, Patrick Mahomes is always going to make these astounding plays.
He's the greatest we've ever seen.
Do it right, and like he can do these things like that, like that touchdown pass like that just they don't make sense. They just they baffle the brain and they scramble you up, and you're like, how could anyone stop this? How could anyone think that this would go any other way? I haven't written in my notes how could any of us have ever thought this would go any other way than this? Because of what he's capable of doing. But at the same time, I loved how
simple they kept their game plan. It's like the Texans have two of the best outside corners in the entire league. They're like second, first and second in limiting completion percentage of passer rating among corners this who have played who have been targeted fifty plus times into the and including into the playoffs, and like, that's Derek Stingley and uh, excuse me, I keep I always mess up his name Lassiter.
Yeah, and I always.
Like I barely saw them today. Occasionally Derek Stinglely was on, was on Kelsey. But those are the plays they.
Didn't start to forgive me Texans fans, it is twelve thirty four in the morning where I'm currently am.
But they are unbelievable.
They've been great all year, and to your point, you barely see them on your screen other than when Derek Seeley's like making these amazing takeaways in the Chargers game.
Like you're like, oh, yeah, they're pretty dang good. They're there.
But but what Andy Reid and the Chiefs did was they moved the ball toward the middle of the field where the Texans are notoriously missing a couple of safeties that they would very much have liked to have in a game like this, one of whom is playing on
the other team. And also they used the screen game, and they used some of the underneath stuff, and they use some of the quick stuff that was just just a little bit of misdirection here and there, maximizing the space that they did have, and they didn't try to
go outside of that plan. There was one big explosive play downfield early in the game, but at the same time, most of it was in the Most of their explosive plays and even their mid range plays happened in the middle of the field or they came off of these dynamic screens, and that was really important because if you're going to run those screens and you're going to make sure that you force those dynamic and awesome corners to come down a little bit more so, then you can
attack other voids behind them, because you need those guys to tackle in space. And then if you're going to target the open areas in the middle of the field using Travis Kelce, who like somehow in the creakiest looking.
Way possible, is still like putting up these great.
Stat lines in must have games, right, and you're going to maximize those areas of the field because they're open. And it just really was a very simple Nobody was asked to go outside of themselves. There was a simple game plan, and everybody executed and it wasn't perfect. It was only twenty three points, but at the same time, between winning and those margins and then also executing a very simple game plan.
I'm gonna put dudes where your dudes are not it was it was effective.
Yeah, I mean, twenty three points is a lot for getting two hundred and twelve yards. Two hundred and twelve yards is like bottom ten to fifteen percent of you know, an average NFL game this season. But they did get the penalty yards, they got the short fields, and yes, out of those two hundred and twelve yards, Travis Kelcey had one hundred and seventeen on seven catches, one on the long display of his postseason, the forty nine yarder, the catch and run where he beats Kylen Bullock, who
who doesn't tackle there? Yeah, you mentioned the safety position. It's just such a killer for them. Jalen Petrie brought that entire secondary together, and Jimmy Ward was so valuable for them. I always mess up and say Justin Reid when I think Jimmy Ward, because they both have been so good in that Texans defense, and now Justin Reid's on the Chiefs.
But like they miss Jimmy Ward back and.
Jury's injuries really matter when they're clustered together. And so there's two middle of the field slot slash safety players. You know, Petrie was playing the slot this year and playing it really well. Yeah, and then there's two really dynamic wide receivers Stefan Diggs in tanked Dell and that really hurt them. The offensive line is there's no excuse for that because they've poured resource after resource into that,
and to me, that's bad coaching. Laramie Tunsel was not like a plus player this year, which is a huge problem when he's one of the highest paid players in the league. Let's actually listen to the chief sacking Stroud on the fourth and tent. There's so many failed fourth downs it's like hard to keep track. But let's go to that one.
Houston trying to snap it before the playcoun Here comes I rush against Stroud on fourth down and.
He's gonna go down the chase.
Not only hold, they get a sack.
Cheorge karloft Us and Shadon Hicks also there. It's not only a hole, it's a sack and a loss, and the Chiefs will have the ball in Houston territory.
A fourth down and ten loss of fourteen yards.
And the Texans were heroic in this game. They actually stood up there and forced the Chiefs to punt, but
that play call still mattered. I think, knowing where they were in terms of how they were playing on offense, I would have it's a rare time where I'm like, I don't think you should have gone for it on fourth down, And it absolutely mattered because that changed the field position in a game where there wasn't a lot of offensive yards and directly led, you know, to that bad punt that we were talking about by the Texans and basically ended the game. They were they were too good.
Yeah, the field position on some of those, including the punt and then also the fourth down there definitely helped the Chiefs out. Sheil Caapatia, who we both really like. I know, he posted on Blue Sky that of the seven real possessions the Chiefs had, they did score on
five of them, two touchdowns, three field goals. So still, like you know, looked it looked uglier, right, But some of that was game flow, Some of that was possession of where they started with the ball, some of that was you know, a couple of those it just looked creaky at times, but I guess that you.
Know, they're long haul truckers, man, We're going to expect this from them, and.
I know that's the win football. That's one of the reasons I love football is every game is can have such a different character. And the Chiefs are so amazing at being able to play any sort of game. And the Patriots got way too much credit during their dynasty, probably just for their situational football, and the Chiefs are just so good at that because cause you're right in the end, like it's not like the Chiefs offense had like a really low success rate or anything throughout the
course of the game. It dipped later in the end, but they got done mostly what they got needed to be done. But they played, they played to the score, and they did exactly what they needed to do. And you get the sense they were almost just kind of for part of the game getting a little loose, you know what I mean. It was like theory, they got loose and next week they're going to play better.
I have a theory.
I'm not personally annoyed with the Chiefs, but I see a lot on social media, which is not really real, but you do see it, like people are annoyed with the Chiefs.
But I have a theory about it.
I think we're all a bit traumatized from like remember in college when like everyone was on the group project, and then you know, the person who would do just enough but not a lot more than was needed in that moment would still be a part of the a and like the overachievers would always be the ones that
were getting mad. I just think that in my theory, the chiefs know how to do this, they know how to manage the project right because they're getting just enough done and it looks weird at times, and all of a sudden you look at the box score in the advanced statistics and some of the efficiency and you're like, actually, that wasn't that bad, Like you actually did You did exactly what was asked of you.
You needed to do right in this week, it should work that only Travis Kelcey and Xavier Worthy had like all the catches in all the yards. By the way, Xavier Worthy made two of the best catches he made all season in this game, a contested catch early and then another one going away from him to set up a score, and a really nice throw by Mahomes, like
he has absolutely stepped up. Other than that, Noah Gray went three for thirteen and then the combination of Kareem Hunt, DeAndre Hopkins who didn't have a catch, Juju Smith Schuster who didn't have a catch, Soma J. P Ryan and Isaiah Pacheco had a total of I think eight targets for two yards and they got it done. Anyways, the protection after the beginning mostly held up and they will move on. It is just it's incredible to make seven straight AFC championship.
I know it doesn't it just it's almost hard to process it and it's but it's really cool to watch every other team, Greg, I talk about this with you all the time, Like every other team strains and presses and clenches and gets so tight and terribly injured. And like the Chiefs haven't been immune to injuries either, but like they seem to be immune to this burnout thing that all of these other teams get.
They just got twenty five days off. I wouldn't be burnt out either.
Well, I'm not talking about this season specifically, I'm talking about every year. I mean, they play longer, they play more football games on average than any other team in the NFL, and they get less time really at the end of the season to recuperate and part of it, I think is that Andy Reid is not losing some of these really high quality coordinators, and if it happens on the offensive side, he seems to just pick things
up where he left off. And certainly on the defensive side, spags more than pulls his weight, if not way more than that.
So I think that helps.
But at the same time, I mean, especially when you have guys who are getting old and like it, and problems along the offensive line that they've had all season, and yet they just go and it's like this unstoppable force and at some point they're going to meet in a movable object and that's going to be chaos and fireworks coming up in the next couple of weeks.
And you get a break or two, like a miss missed, an opposing kicker having a bit.
Like a call, You get a caller two that you seem to think that you seem to think like did not matter at all in this game.
But I think you get a caller too.
I think it absolutely mattered. I just think it's just it's lower.
It's not the only thing. I'm not saying it's the only thing. It is a thing. It's certainly not.
People are people are just so tired of the quarterback thing. But it's just weird, like you're going to go through the rest of your life complaining about these calls if you keep complaining about these calls, because it's never ever change, like there will always be bad calls, Like there's always going to be bad throws. There's there's never going to be a moment where you get to the point and they'll they'll try to improve it. I think let's go,
let's go more replays. I think they will expand replay review, which which will be good. We don't need to.
Get and I simply let people feel their feelings.
Greg, that's no, no, I am going to control their feelings. Shout out to the YouTube commentary who says, my dole hoodie is sick. By the way, when I was, you know, writing down those points, it was supposed to pay off with me adding it all up on my note card here and yes, that's just the chicken scratches of the seven miss points from fair Baron's kicks and then the three off the opening kick. Add that all up, that's
ten points you know for one by nine. Of course, they took the intentional safety at the end, which was cute, and depending on where you bet on this, if you are into that sort of thing, it was either eight and a half or nine and a half, So it might have might have affected your day, and luckily doesn't affect our day because I'm not allowed to do that. The Chiefs, by the way, are the first team ever
to go eight straight games without a turnover. That's a stat that I feel likes a little underrated, like in the history of the NFL, first team ever h wins.
Football games that win football games. I was more concerned about Walker's emotional state. I know he's a big Texans fan.
It felt bad for him.
Why do you got to bring that up?
Well, I felt bad. How's he doing?
I think the audience, the listeners should know he took it. He took it kind of hard today, I think, right, I feel bad for him.
Yeah, he left the room, put a blanket on his head, like yelled at us essentially for like continuing to watch it. I was like, you need to you need to handle this better, So turn the volume down, you know, with like three minutes left, I'm like, uh, they're driving, you know, on that last drive.
You know.
Then he comes in for the the third down and they take the sack and he just like runs back out.
I mean he I mean he tried to control your feelings, Greg.
What Yeah, he did, he did try to control it. He was just he wanted total silence. He was so upset. And then he was talking about becoming like a Michael Pennox Falcons fan. But I was like, you can't do that.
It was there, They'll get there Walker stick with them.
No, he will absolutely stick with with CJ. It was just emotions in the moment. A lot of people were feeling that. And yet you know, we we knew it would be an arrowhead. We have to find out if it's going to be the Bills or the Ravens joining the Chiefs Man. We we could get to a lot more, but we shouldn't. We should We should say goodbye and let you go to sleep. I'm like, oh, we had all this other sound we had, Damiko, Ryan's complaining. It
doesn't matter at this point, Jordan, thank you. This is the last time I think we're going live for the year. We will be back on Sunday though in the studio. Have fun covering Rams and Eagles on Sunday. Everyone check out Jordan's coverage at the Athletic. I'm looking forward to it.
Thank you snowgame guys. It's going to be a snow game.
Oh my gosh.
I know I am prepared. I don't know how the Rams will be in the snow, but I personally. We have a great coat gloves. I will be sitting behind glass in like twenty layers. I'm sure looking soft as hell, so that's fine.
But I'm excited. This should be a really good one.
Yes, I am too, and we will of course be recapping that game from the studio. I'll be with Patrick Claibhn and Nick Schuk play the music. Eric, let's go please, I need to end this thing. Yes for Jordan Rodriege of the Athletic and Eric Roberts behind the glass. When the Lions are breaking America's hearts. We love you, commanders, but the Lions you still broke our hearts. Football is It's back. See you Sunday,