Welcome to the NFL Daily, where we always catch our two point conversions. I'm Greg Rosenthal sticking the knife in and feeling bad about it in the Chris Westleying podcast studio, next to my friend Patrick Claybaugh, who's dancing through the pain, and my other friend Nick Shook, who wishes he could feel the pain of a difficult playoff loss as a Browns fan.
Gents, how are we doing? Sorry? I don't know what's wrong with.
Well, we all we all deal with it in different ways. It was a spectacular game. There's a reason that these things mean so much. And to get out there and see, you know, some of the best in the world. I'll go out there. It's always good. And with Jim and Tony on the call, great.
Yeah.
Shook, Uh, you know you're a You're an AFC North guy. Are you like Rudy against your your rival Ravens? Are you rooting for your friend Patrick here in this situation?
I was? I mean, well, first off, I don't feel anything, so okay, so talking about the paint of a playoff loss, I don't feel anything, but no, I was on the Ravens span wagon. I was on the train. I had ten points in this game. I just didn't foresee them turning the ball three times.
Okay, so you so you don't like our producer Eric who is who is trying to not celebrate he he's making quotes like he's on the team. Was like, the next one is the one one that really matters this this is just a true step, It's true. Sure, what about celebrating Toby Roberts there? Yeah, what is this? You're not the one happened at press conference. They've lost in this round three straight years until this one home, and
the Chiefs are looming, guys, bigger problems. Yes, Horizon, thank you for leading me to what I should have started the show with. The Bills won this game against the Ravens, and we have our conference championship games set starting in the NFC. The Commanders will be headed to Philadelphia that game at three pm Eastern next week. The Eagles sweated it out, as you guys know, if you're listening, we'll talk about that game in a little while. And yes,
the AFC championship game. All season long, it felt like it was leading to either Ravens Chiefs or Bills Chiefs, and we found out in Orchard Park on Sunday that it was gonna be Eric's Bills.
Let's go there.
Jackson lines up in the SHOTGI, looks to his left, brings Likely in motion, takes the snap back the pass plenty of.
Time again looking looking.
Jackson now rolling to his right, still look much time, fires deep for.
The end zone in his.
Hot, hot diamond catch in the end zone by Likely Isaya, Likely, skidding across the end zone, holds it in and with one thirty three to go, it's a two point game. A twenty four yard touchdown the likely, and now the Ravens have a chance to time.
Play clock down to five. Here's the snap, Jackson rolling right, looking to.
Toss it and dropping the football in complete his mark andrews. It wasn't a well prone ball at all. It was behind Rays and he could not come up with it. Falling away from the pass, It's incomplete.
Wow.
Yes, that was the key sequence.
Late in Sunday evenings, Bills Ravens AFC Division around twenty seven to twenty five.
I personally agree disagree with Chris Brown there.
On WGR The pass was fine, Andrew stumbled a little bit, dropped his third pass of the game, a nightmare performance for one of the all time great Ravens. Also had a lost fumble. We'll talk about all that. That was also Ryan Radkey on Westwood One. They asked Lamar Jackson and to make a touchdown drive with the season on the line, and like he's done patrick for so much of the season, he delivered got them into the end zone.
Maybe Sean McDermott was right not to have any faith in.
His defense and kick that field goal to go up eight because Lamar delivered.
He was getting time.
They're winning up front, but they don't hit the two, and that is how the season ends for your Ravens.
Yeah, it's a story of the season for Baltimore that started with a drive like that in Kansas City. And that's what these Ravens have done consistently. They've scored that touchdown. They lose the game in Pittsburgh on a bobble two point conversion where the guards are running into each other. This game, you know, there's some snap mouth feasons on a play that leads to a fumble, But this is
the moment that everybody's gonna remember. Ryan Radkey says, as bad past, I guess he wants Lamar to fire that thing to the sideline in nineteen degrees standard temperature. I don't even know what the windchill was like at that point in the game. That would have been tough for Mark Andrews to deal with. The ball was where it was supposed to be, but it's not round. Sometimes sometimes it bounces away. It did from Mark Andrews a couple of times here. But that's what this offense has been
able to do. We saw them in the two drives before that, run the ball every single play have success there. Here they drop back and throw. I was thinking of Nick Shook when the Bills decided to rush three on that as Isaiah lankly passed where it's like, well, yeah, let's just give Lamar seventeen seconds to find an open receiver. And he does that and he comes through. But I think the reason that they're rushing three is because the offense was having so much success in every capacity of
the game. You just got to throw the wall and see what sticks. And ultimately, the Ravens just didn't make the plays and the Bills did.
Yes. And I sometimes get on coaches for not having a feel of their team, a feel of the game. In the moment, and in the moment, I feel like I was one of the few people who wanted McDermott to go for it when it was on what the three yard line, down up five, with you know, under four minutes to go, and instead they kicked the Tyler Bass field goal. And I thought it was a total
lack of faith in his defense. But when you look at how the game ended, maybe as a defensive coach, he should have had a lack of faith in his defense. The way the Ravens were moving the ball. Don't forget like there are four drives in the second half field goal early where they did make a good play at the at the end, but then touchdown. They stopped the drive with the Mark Andrews fumble, but the Ravens were moving it and then of course they finished with the touchdown.
So maybe he was right not to have faith in his defense. Shook, did you think that was the right decision at the moment?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you have to make it an eight point game and force the other team to try to convert a two point conversion if they get down there and score, because they already failed at doing it once earlier in this game. You give your best percentages in best likelihood that you're going to win the game or at least tie it and send it to overtime by kicking that field goal.
For what it's worth it, the models probably had it at as about a fifty to fifty maybe a slight lean to go. For me, it's more just like, you have Josh Allen on your team, so let's try to win the game multiple ways, one of which would be with your best player. But ultimately, obviously it worked out and I'm wrong.
That also speaks to the Ravens play calling decisions on their two point conversion attempts, because on the drive in which they run the ball down Buffalo's throat the entire way down there, they go to call the two and I go, please don't throw the ball, And what do they do. They drop back and throw the ball and it gets tipped to the line of scrimmage incomplete same situation there they score, and I'm like, please don't throw
the ball. Use one of your multiple runners and the many ways that you can attack on the ground and try to win it that way with your bread and butter. They roll out right, They force themselves into a third of the field and one throw, and that's what happens. It comes down to one throw and you lose the game that way.
Yeah, it's a fascinating game because I don't think there are these massive takeaways that everyone's going to be hammering afterwards, unless you just want to go stupid with the Lamar legacy talk. Now, Lamar Jackson did not play his best game.
I think the first half and his struggles and the interception that he threw, and certainly the fumble, and more than anything, I think the sack inside the ten yard line was a bad play by him really contributed directly to them falling in a hole that they couldn't get out of and that they lost.
Even though they had seven.
Point three yards per play, they outgained the Bills by one hundred and forty yards from sixteen to two seventy three. His struggles contributed, but so many things contributed to it, Patrick, and I can't just get past like the most basic thing of all, which is they turned the ball over three times and the Bills didn't. So they win a game where Josh Allen was sort of a supporting character and their running game overall was really strong.
And that those were two important.
Differences, But it kind of does come back to three turnovers in a game where these two teams had seven or eight possessions. That is almost impossible to overcome. And they almost did it, but they didn't.
Yeah, according to the next Gen stats, they lost thirty six point seven percent in win probability on those three play and so the Bills, Yeah, they had a conservative game plan. Josh Allen only attempted four passes that were longer than ten yards. But wow, when you have a defense that made plays like they did today, because that on that Lamar interception, Matt Mlonal gets pressure, Lamar has to get rid of the ball earlier than he wants.
I can't get the ball to shot like the way that he wants to, and Rap makes a good play. There was Matt Milano tipping that ball in the two point conversion where you know Stanley can't see where Lamar is. If he finishes the block on Matt Milano, then yeah,
that's that's an easy two point conversion. And maybe they're still playing the game while we're having this discussion, but it's when a team executes so well like they did in the run game and that one drive, it's just we expect to see them duplicate that over and over again, all eleven guys, and when one or two guys don't, it just goes hilariously and horribly wrong for the Ravens.
Now.
I mean, it's tough because, like you said, they outgained them, like they were moving the ball well, and I hate to boil it down to the turnover situation, but it literally comes down to that. It comes down to the Mark Andrews fumble on a drive in which they had all the momentum going in their favor.
I mean, they were moving the ball really well at that point too.
That was the drive that they were supposed to finish off and really make this an interesting game, and instead they put themselves in a hole where they then have to go down the field and score that touchdown and try to get the two just to have a chance
at overtime. Like self inflicted wounds, I basically described this entire game in like one sentence, which is the Bills are celebrating a victory that they know they got away with one kind of the AAFC championship game, which is often the playoffs in a nutshell, and the Ravens are gonna fly back to Baltimore, just kicking themselves for all the missed opportunities and the opportunities that they wasted.
Yeah, I think that's fair.
I think you got to give Trell Bernard credit on the force fumble in the fourth quarter on Mark Andrews. Now Andrews made a weird cut. Let's actually listen to that play, Henry to the right of.
Jackson is the shotgun play clock down to five on second and eleven. There's the snap fakes, the handoff back to pass as time looking deep over the middle, wide.
Open, his Andrews gets away from the tackle of the balls out and Terrell Bernard forces the football and scoops up the football.
Take away number three for Buffalo.
Yeah, just such a big, big play in that game, especially after Andrews's dropped earlier in the half killed another drive. He starts going backwards, which you just don't want your tight end to do here, And that is kind of the matchup when these two teams face off on defense. The Bills are lighter, and they did a good job stopping the run for the most part in the first half. Patrick, but they kind of need to create some big plays and change things up. And this is where I am
going to give Sean McDermott some credit. He used to be a coach that would just run what he runs, and he's changed that where he's become much more of a game plan type of guy. I would still say they lean more towards a run what they run type of defense. But in the first half of this game, they were blitzing and playing man at a higher rate than they had in any game in three years now. It didn't work the whole game, and they started getting
run over in the second half. But you look at the numbers against so in defense, Lamar went ten for eleven with two touchdowns for one hundred and twenty two yards, and against man he was eight for fourteen one hundred and thirty two yards against the blitz and man coverage, and they mixed enough up to get a few extra stops and some big plays against the best offense in the league, and in a playoff game like that ended up being enough.
Yeah, and that's enough. It doesn't have to necessarily work the whole game. Yeah, These games come down to so few possessions, even conversion attempts right where you don't need to have the plan work the entire game. You forced Baltimore to adjust, which Today eventually did. But they're never going to get that time back from those first half drives. It's just not coming back. And when Buffalo had the opportunities,
you know, they just took advantage of it. And I know it's very easy that you don't toll in the ball over and you win, but you still need Bernard to poke that ball out. You still need Tamar Hamlin to grab Lamar's ankle and Von to pick up the fumble like you still need Buffalo to make those plays, and they ultimately did.
Since he just mentioned it, let's listen to that turnover. I'm sorry, this is like going through a house of horrors for you. It's Tatrick.
It's fun.
You're a professional. Here's a stab. Oh it almost went over his head.
Jackson has it, but he's wrapped up around the angles.
Pretty fumbled the football. It's scooped up by.
Von Miller coming the other way thirty and he's tackled. Had the twenty three yard line by just as Hill. DeMar Hamlin forced the fumble.
Wait a moment there for Damar Hamlin in a huge game. Just another catrun. What's been a great season for him.
And the TV angle doesn't do that snap justice. It's not that the snap was high.
The snap was to Lamar's extended left hand, almost as though if he were standing a full person over and it was high and it was coming fast, and so that started the playoff down a bad road. But those are the margins, like those are the margins in these games. But you know, to the chagrin of Mark Andrews, everybody's only going to remember that one last play.
But that's not how things work. It's a cumulative football game show.
There's also another margin that I think we might overlook in the whole sequence of everything, and it's that last drive right before halftime, in which the Bravens appear to get a third down stop and then there's a late flag thrown for a pass interference penalty on a play that could have gone either way. Lean call me kind of shoved the defender down, But I thought that was a bad on for it was. It was a bad call, and that sets up a touchdown.
That was a more important call and less questionable than anyone I saw a weekend.
I thought, yeah, yeah, and it produced a touchdown. That gave him a twenty one to ten lead right before half. I'm in forced Baltimore to really try to race back into it, and to their credit, they almost did. If Andrews doesn't bubble on that drive, they'd probably go down
there and score and take the lead. We can play the what if game all day, but these little breaks, these little shifts in playoff games, end up mattering so much between two teams that are so evenly matched that it doesn't you know, everybody's going to remember the two point conversion of the drop right, but it doesn't just come down to that.
It's just that that happened to be the last play in the sequence of the entire.
Game, right.
And when we talk about the defensive pass interference call, none of us are saying, oh, the Bills won because of that. That's not what we're saying. We're me personally, I am invested in these games, especially this one, and the outcome. And we have the benefit of high definition cameras and replay. We have an opportunity to get these calls right and allow the players on the field to determine the outcome of the game. And until we prioritize
getting the calls right. People are going to feel cheated in these situations.
You do want to bring back replay for pass interference, I.
Would like to act try it this time, Greg, Yeah, because being a disaster. Yeah, instead of it's like, oh, yeah, we're looking at this all.
Yeah, we have to have literally all of the evidence in the world and still not overturnner. I would like a legitimate attempt to try to get the calls right, that's all. And it shouldn't take twenty minutes. We sit here and spend all Sunday watching these games. Anyway, let's try to get them right right.
And one of the things, and many of the listeners didn't love it, They're thinking, I'm like a company man defending what happened in the Chiefs game yesterday. But my greater point was mistakes are going to happen because these are humans, yes, and they're going to continue to happen. So you can decide how you want to operate as a as a fan. You can get really frustrated. There's
no conspiracy to help the Chiefs. There is a league wide push to help quarterbacks, and Patrick Mahomes certainly takes advantage of that in the way that he plays.
Or as a called number eight did not get here on Sunday, jan nineteen.
Yeah, that was another miscall.
I thought there was a this I thought was the worst officiated game of the weekend, for what it's worth. I thought there was a holding call against the Bills that killed the drive that that was bad early. What was that on Dawkins? The late hit on Lamar seemed pretty obvious in this game. And my point isn't that like you can't be mad at bad calls, just like that it is part of the game. And what Patrick is proposing is to try to reduce that being part
of the game to review. I'm not so against it, but I don't think there's a lot of.
Support for that.
I do think they'll start reviewing some plays like face mask, and they'll they'll add a little more to that. Let let's talk about some of the good things that the Bills did in this game in the first half, because it was a very strange game. Like I said, only seven drives for the Bills and you get twenty seven points on the board. So even though they didn't have many yards in this game, and they had some pedal yards and it's two hundred and seventy three yards.
They actually did play pretty efficient offense.
And I'm thinking I was a lot of short fields, and then I look at it and really it was just that one short field after the interception that Lamar threw that they took advantage for the touchdown. Otherwise, like, they moved the ball well and they scored twenty seven points on only seven drives.
That's a good job by them, Shook.
We talked about their running game all year, and if I had to just pick one other thing that stood out to me in this game about the Bills other than the turnovers, it was that they are now built for games like this. They just won a game where as Patrick mentioned, he only Josh Allen only threw the ball pass the line of scrimmage ten yards four times. He only threw for one hundred and twenty seven yards in this game, averaged under six yards per attempt, and
he didn't run the ball that well. But what did it for them on offense was a fifty eight percent success rate with James Cook, Ty Johnson and Ray Davis. And that is very different, I think than the teams that the Bills were losing with the last few years.
Yeah.
Absolutely, and that that's a good way to counter a team that had a fifty five point four percent success rate in the Ravens offensively. That's how you match it
right there with the running game. But it goes all the way back to last season when the Bills ran the table to get into the playoffs after they changed offensive coordinators, and a massive tip of the cap is due once again to Joe Brady for balancing at this offense, emphasizing the run and then within the flow of the game, calling the plays at the right times, going forward at the right times, taking the risks at the right times, and knowing this is the situation in which we try
to impose our will on you on the ground.
And we don't just use James Cook.
We used Ray Davis, we used Ty Johnson, we used Josh Allen a little bit once they got inside the red zone today. That's why part of the reason why I was a little bit surprised they didn't go for it in that final possession before the Ravens final drive at the end of the game is just because they had been winning and succeeding upfront in those situations in the red zone on the ground, it makes them a very tough team to play against, even when they only
have seven possessions. When they have that type of balance, you never really know what is coming. And they're really hard to bring down. And there was a few situations there, especially in the second half, where they're gashing them.
They're getting big games.
They're just winning with James Cook being patient or James Cook getting through the line and breaking a tackling very hard to go down, and that makes them a tough team to play against.
Yeah, you bring up that drive after the Andrews fumble, Alan hits mac Collins. I like that they started out with the pass on that drive and then after that it's short passes to Coleman and Johnson and it's them able to run the ball with Cook and they get down to what the two yard line, it's third and two, and you think they're just gonna go QB sneak there, the Josh Allen Toushbush type of play, and instead he's in shotgun and it's a quarterback run. And those have
been effective for them. He didn't, you know, have a ton of yards in this game, but they were effective for him. But he gets held up and for a second he's held up and he looks backwards, and I just want to know Eric, like, were you clocking that in the moment and what was going through your mind at that moment?
I yelled, He's gonna later relate. Chris is sitting there watching with me because you see him shuttle it. I got a phone call from my brother watching at his home. He knows I'm at work. He called me moments later he's like, did you see his hands? Yeah, he was totally thinking about latering it was. Cook was standing there and Cook kind of gave a little hesy like and there was like eight arms on him.
Yeah, at all eight were owned by Madam, but he totally was.
It is funny, and I don't want to get caught trapped in in what the conversation could be or wouldn't be. But it's like mattab Weeke ultimately helped the Bills out there because if we had had a Josh Allen throws a bad fumble there in the moment, I don't know if I could have lived with like the narrative after that. I know they still would have been up five at that point, but it just would have been a preposterous ad to that game and Josh defense.
If you go back and look at it, Okay, it's Cook.
Mac Collins and Keon and there's just there's just for Davious White over there. If he if he rolls that thing to James Cook, Okay, he probably walks into the end zone.
That would be another fun way to end the game too. Then it actually works, that would have been that would have been fun. But if he's got made Weekway's arm just grabbing him as he's doing, who knows.
Well, there's a little pucker there, guys.
And also you know, the.
Referees could blow the whistle when somebody is being dragged down by five people and nobody's going anywhere.
They do have the option to stop the play, yes, and they did not, So they were they were fired up after the game. I love what Josh Allen said about Lamar Jackson, about just the respect that he had for him. They had a nice embrace at midfield. Let's actually listen to Sean McDermott after the game, a little spicier that I would have expected. They heard it all week long.
We're not we're not big enough, we're not strong enough, not talented enough, not fat, whatever it is, they heard it.
I don't do the social media things, but I think.
Josh did this too in the post game where the people did you hear yeah they're not fat enough? In fact, when when they when he said it, when Josh said on the field after what I said, oh, shut up, like we don't need this narrative.
You're a good football team. But this is not a ton of doubters. This is this is just how it goes, like the Chiefs do. This is like Novak Djokovic is over there in Australia. He refuses to do post post match interviews right now because one guy like made a joke about not liking him, and you just it's these great players they did and coaches apparently they need to find enemies.
No, they'll do it.
Sean McDermott needs to ingratiate himself to the people in Buffalo who call for his job when they don't have postseason success. So saying this maybe does that. It maybe makes him a little bit safer. I think it's a solid place.
I feel like he should be apply safe.
Although you're right, if they had lost this game, who knows people people would would not be happy with him. I like I said, I'm impressed how they have mixed it up in terms of being able to run the ball, and in terms of the defensive approach, they didn't have much of a pass rush.
We'll get into that.
Next week talking about the Chiefs, because I do think that's a problem for them that maybe he recognized when deciding to kick that three that their four man passwords just isn't great and that's why they needed to blitz today. But ultimately they do force the mistakes, and Lamar Jackson spoke about that after the game.
The first half, I had two Casey turnos, me not holding the safety, me just knowing the covering, me knowing it was man through a BS in the session, Gabe, it was seven seven at the time.
I believe they scored after that bad or bad fumble.
It's not trying to make something happen and couldn't though. It was like a RPO place, so I couldn't really throw the ball likely with the office line down the field, so I was trying to make something happen. Try to sweeze the ball, stood up, my hand, picked it up, got some yards that led to points for them. So it's a team effort out there. You know, he's been busting his behind making places happened out down that field
for us. UH came up short. And like I've been saying all season, every time we have situations like this, turnovers play a factor.
Pennanties play a factor.
Today, Well tonight the turnover. You know, that's why we lost the game, because as you can see, moving the ball wonderfully is hold on to the I'm sorry for my labor room annoying.
How to fill up?
Yeah, And there's there's an instinct I think to.
Talk about because it's going to be annoying obviously for the Ravens and frustrating in in this aftermath and for their fans and for the next six months until we do this again.
It's just it's just how it works.
But I want to resist the urge to talk about the legacy of it all and the long term view of it all, because I just have been around enough to see how it just is always changing. Lamar and Peyton Manning, who I think have a lot of similarities, just as in terms of their individual career and their success and not playing their bet Like Lamar really has had some of his worst games in the playoffs.
I don't think this was one of them.
But he did have the mistakes in the first half of this game that he obviously regrets, but otherwise we saw what made the Ravens great. But there are a lot of similarities with Manning. I'm old enough to remember that Manning was always the guy who couldn't win the big game. He was always the guy that couldn't win
the big game until he wasn't. And then it actually flipped so far that he was the greatest of all time and it actually was kind of done and dusted at that moment, which is funny to think about now. On NFL dot Com the morning of the Seahawks Broncos Super Bowl, it said, greatest of all time? How Peyton Manning can cement like his tie with one more win over the Seahawks. They got in this game and they lose forty three to eight, And it's funny to think
about now. And now people make their top fives and people don't even talk about Manny, which I actually I think they should, like he should be in that mix.
But it's just it's just stupid. It's all stupid.
It's the same people. Greg.
We let them off the hook every single time, whether it's Andy Murray, Phil Mickelson, Lebron James Michael Jordan, they.
Just say it and then the person wins, and then they say it.
About the next person, and we never take the time to mute and block these people and take the microphones out of their damn hands.
It doesn't make any sense.
You win the game and then everything is great, But if you don't, there's only two outcomes that can happen.
There's only two outcomes that can happen. So the idea if you don't win, that you can't win. It's asinine.
And if you love football, if you love sports, then you should hold people that you communicate with to a higher standard where they don't say dumb shit.
Doesn't make any damn sense.
It's also imply reductive. In a team sport, it's eleven on eleven. You have to stay healthy. Things the ball that's not round has to bounce your way. You have elements that you play in, especially in playoff games that are played outside, some things can go wrong. It's not always down to one player, no matter how important the
position is. Yet, because we reduce everything down to the simplest, most easily understandable, form for talk shows, which a podcast is a talk we are airtime on TV on Monday morning. It ends up being that. And then you go to the barber shop or the locker room and they all say the same things.
And guess what.
Football is a much more complex sport than that. It is like dance and jazz. That's corey and raft at a high speed with massive humans all playing at once, and sometimes it's slippery and cold out there.
It is not that easy and it's not that simple.
Yeah, And I like what you said to me Patrick before the show is something that you don't want the conversations around this game to.
Impact how you feel about the game.
No about this particular team, because the twenty twenty three twenty twenty four Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens were very good football teams with very good and notable stories that should be remembered and celebrated, but because ball bounces and things didn't ultimately go their way, were forced to relegate them to.
The back of our minds in history. But they were still very good football team.
They were very good, but they did ultimate results.
They ultimately didn't play their best game, which is what they needed to go through the playoffs, and I do think that's where it's not about legacy, it's about the twenty twenty four Ravens. That this was a really good Ravens teams. They've had some before. I think the way they came into the playoffs, and I think you saw today their defense wasn't perfect, but I think it was good enough, and I think their offense was special. That
it was a missed opportunity. It's a loaded AFC with three major superpower but they had a real opportunity and if they had gotten through this game, it would have been really tough. Next week in the super Bowl would have been tough too. But I think I'll think of them a little similar to the twenty twenty two Bills that lost in overtime or twenty twenty one Bills. It's so hard to con this Bills team is always knocking on the door, Eric, but that team, i'm'll always be convinced.
If they had just gotten through that game, I think they would have won the Super Bowl. And this Ravens team was that kind of team and they didn't get it done. And so that that hurts because we've been around long enough to know they're not going to have that team every year, you know, and Lamar has years left in his prime, but you can't guarantee that they're gonna have that good of an offense going into the playoffs. I was gonna say healthy, but relatively healthy is the word.
I really think they missed Zay Flowers in these last two games, and that's that's just how it goes.
He saw a cross or to Miller, Yeah, and it's like, wow, the Miller game.
Yeah, it would be nice, but everybody's dealing with injuries, and all credit to a Bill's team, Eric smokes.
Nobody get mad at me. They played great, good luck against Kansas City.
They did.
I think they're such a good team and they're so diverse that they played their B minus game, not a bad game or a B game, Eric, Is that fair to say? And they won a divisional round game against a really good opponent.
Yeah, And these conversations would have been the exact same thing. If Lamar goes down and wins, then we're talking about Josh Allen never getting over the hump.
Yes, it was a doomed matchup from the start.
The loser is gonna sit and dwell in it for six months, whatever it is, and the you know, now what's on to case.
It sucks.
You know, I would have much rather this have been the AFC Championship game, but then we would have been having the same conversation next week instead of right now.
You know, selfishly, I just wanted like.
Twelve percent more fireworks, or like seventeen more percent more fireworks. Like I wanted Andrews to make that catch, and I wanted them to go back and forth in overtime. Or I wanted to see what would happen with Josh Allen with the ball there. I wanted to see what happened with Josh Allen going for it on fourth down there. I wanted to see these two great players do even more.
But they did. They did plenty. They've entertained us.
Us all.
Let's let's go and talk about the NFC.
Let's take a quick break after I let you know that you can still donate and support the Red Cross at Redcross dot org slash NFL. The devastation, the destruction from the wildfires in the LA region has died down over the last week, but it also is really becoming a difficult time. You know, we all have people close to us in this city that are starting to rebuild, and.
Just the.
Day to day.
Practicalities of now what they're doing like that, that's where they're going to need help. And some people have more resources than others, certainly, but it's difficult for everyone. And the Red Cross is out there trying to help. And we're worried about this wind event and the heat that it's coming over the next couple of days.
So we hope for the best there.
But you can help all the families in the Red Cross respond to and help these people recover from these disasters by donating today at Redcross dot org slash NFL. We will be back on the other side and you will hear from the Philadelphia Eagles radio crew.
It's fourth and eleven.
If the Eagles stop that right here, if they keep them shy of a first down, they win the game. Stafford lines up, he's in the gun. Both shut on their sign, Stafford, but he's looking. He puts on the air and it's in complete. It's in complete. The Eagles check over domes. Hello, they are heading fully NFC Championship game.
Put your porter. That was Merril Reese.
I'm w ip fitting that the Eagles defense had to finish the game like they did much of this season, with a little help from Saquon Bark a lot of help, Let's be real.
Twenty eight to twenty two.
The Eagles get it done, although when Matthew Stafford hit Pooka Nakua down the sideline in the snow their second drive in just the last couple of minutes, that ends up getting close to the end zone. I don't know about you, Shook, but I thought this improbable Rams season was going to continue.
I really did.
I said out loud, this is why I don't start writing at length in close games like this until it's over, because they're about to blow up everything I've written so far.
And they didn't, but they made it really interesting.
What was funny, I think to me is in the broadcast, Collinsworth with like three and a half minutes left is like, yeah, you know, they're finally moving the ball. They decided to go up tempo and it's working, but they just went to it too like speaking in the past tense is if the game's over, and I said out loud, then Chris, they got all three timeouts in three and a half minutes. Low, This game is not over and it almost clearly wasn't over.
Although to be fair to Chris and I agree with you, Nick, you were right in that scenario, the drive that Stafford put together, the hurry up that he's talking about after the Saquon Barkley one play seventy eight yard drive which put them up twenty eight to fifteen with four and a half minutes to go. First of all that the offense was not plentiful in this game, and you figured it was over, but they won ten plays in a
minute forty eight. That was some badass gunslinger. Only of a couple quarterbacks, veteran quarterbacks are gonna be able to pull that off. That took three, four, five really nice throws by Matthew Stafford and great decisions, and then he hits that Puka throw and I'm thinking that's the Matt Ryan throw to Julio Jones in the Super Bowl, and it kind of will be remembered that way. A great throw, that's for not But man Stafford had a great kind
of final case. Our friend Jordan Rodrieg got emotional right in this last game of the season for this Rams team, and they put it well in their headline. If the Rams like improbable season had to end. Stafford got a last word and it was not a perfect game from Stafford, but all the things that you love about him.
He put the fear of God in the link, not just the ball to Puka, but it was another classic Stafford playoff no look on touchdown to Parkinson where it's like, don't give none the ball back. I mean we now, the Eagles played most of this game. I think Quiyon Mitchell only got six snaps of pass coverage before he
left the game hurt. So the Eagles were man down in the secondary, but Jalen Carter was getting pressure all game, and the season long narrative was, hey, you get to Stafford a few times, the offense is gonna slow down. But the Rams offense it kept coming. And even though it happened late we talked about earlier, these points are cumulative and this Stafford gives the Rams this puncher's chance that that really isn't duplicated almost anywhere else when you
look at the guys. Of course, Pooka and Cooper Cup provide a thing that not a lot of folks have. But the plays that were made DeMarcus Robinson right, great catch, takes the ball away from a defender. He puts these guys in position to make plays where these balls might not even be thrown by a lot of other very
very good quarterbacks. And that's why it's if this is right, because we talked about the potential end of the Stafford era like to take away this coronation from Tom Brady to steal that Super Bowl to ruin the first season of Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow like to come in and be this Babba yaga, right, Like this man is the John Wick of the NF And even when you know all the tools might not be available, you could still scare a really good thing. The Eagles could win
the Super Bowl. They could have also lost tonight.
Right, And their offense has not been good enough passing the ball through two games in the playoffs to win a Super Bowl. But they've gotten through these two games and they can get better. They actually have one hundred and eighty six net yards passing combined in the two games, which is outrageous. They average two point five yards per play.
And I feel like the preview that we did with bo Wolf was so Eagles focused, and here we're starting in a similar way where we're going negative Eagles, even though they won the game, But I do want to start at the end and work our way backwards because the reason the Rams had the ball there not only is Stafford's great quick drive where they go and hurry up. And yes, the Eagles decision really all season.
Not to rotate their four down linemen.
That's just what Fangio does and for the most part it's been fantastic. It seemed to catch up up on to him late in this game. They were getting tired, the Rams going to hurry up.
That was a problem.
But the bigger problem shook was they need one first down to win the game, essentially just about win the game. Oh God, and they get a four yard run I think from Saquon on first down and Jalen Hurts is not moving well. He suffers I believe a knee injury early in this game. He's in the medical tent for
a while. We think we might get Kenny Pickett. It doesn't happen, but he's compromised and he doesn't do a lot of passing after that, and they call a rollout to his left on second down with the season on the line, and he smartly just gets sacked by Kobe Turner on a play he really had no chance and there was an open receiver if you look at the dots, like DeVonta Smith was open. If Kobe Turner had taken
the cheese. Kobe Turner did not chake take the cheese, shook, and we would be talking about the coaching decisions by the Eagles if Stafford had finished out this game.
There. Wow, that sequence to me drove me crazy.
Yeah, And it was indicative of a game at which one point I described it as Kellen Moore as having a twenty twenty three AFC Championship game Todd munkin day, where like he's just not going to his strength, like he just actively went away from Saquon for a portion of this game. And yes, it's predictable to hand it off three times and you're trying to salt away the game, but also don't outsmart yourself and get your quarterback out on the move when he clearly hasn't been moving well
the entire second half. They're putting deep drops on him in his own end zone. He gets sacked for his safety. Like the play calling in terms of situation and the state of your quarterback and where your strengths lie on a day in which it's snowing like crazy the entire day, and to the point where that to super impose the numbers on the field on the TV broadcast because you can't see him in real life.
They're still making strange decisions.
So you have to like thank the defense for coming away with one last stop to win this game, because yes, it very much has been a game that they lost in epic fashion. And like uh Patrick said, the fear of God was in the link because all the Eagles fans felt it happening. As soon as they went three and out with that second down play call, they immediately were like, oh God, they're going to get the ball back. We're really gonna have to sweat this out all the
way to the end. And luckily they came away on top of man, not without some nervous moments.
Right.
That was a minus twelve sack for Kobe Turner. These kids, I shouldn't call them kids, I mean, they're large men. We had some of them on the podcast before the season, including Kobe Turner, but especially Turner and Verse in this game were just awesome. I saw someone comp first to Khalil Mack on Twitter today and I was like, oh, that's kind of perfect a young Khalil Mack. They win in the same sort of ways. They're just so freaking strong. He made Jordan mylotta like who outweighs him by one
hundred plus pounds. Okay, maybe that's not true, but it.
Looks like it.
Like maybe it might be if it's lifted, if it's listed that way, maybe not, but like he made him look small, and he had a monster day with a couple of sacks and and all these pressures, and then Turner and they lost Brayden Fisk early in this game.
Was it was definitely a factor.
But then so on third down they give the ball to Saquon that the Rams get the ball back, they have a throw to Cooper Cup with probably his last game as a Ram. They have that throw to Puka down the field. But yes, I think after Stafford and the offensive line made a couple mistakes, like Dotson takes a false start to back them up, but then Stafford gets the ball to Pooka again to set up a third and two. Really, the biggest play of the game to me was Jalen Carter's sack where I don't.
Know if it was a mental error from bow limmer the.
Please do, please do okay, So then I think this is what won the game for the Eagles. Defensively, Vic Fangio on the second half started deploying these stunts because he realized that Stafford was, you know, trying to push the ball down the field, and what he was doing, like every arter back does, is he was stepping up into the pocket. And essentially what he created was a
lie for Stafford to see. It was a falsehood right in front of him in which they would stunt the interior guys away and it would create this space that Stafford thought, okay, I can step up into that, and as soon as he'd step up into the pocket, a guy would come around on the back side of the stunt and drill him from his blind side. And second, that's why they ran up their sack total and why they got after him in the second half. So on that last drive and in that key spot, they see
Jalen Carter there and what they try to do. At first, I thought they were sliding. I went to look at the end zone angle, I realize, oh, they're not sliding. He hits, he puts a hand on him, and as he puts a hand on him, he looks to his left because he's anticipating a stunt that never shows up.
And Carter does a great job of faking as if he's going to come in he's going to crash inside the other guy's going to twist around behind him, But he doesn't twist around behind him because he makes the fake and then goes the opposite direction and leaves Alan completely in the dust and has a free path to the quarterback. I thought it was a great example of how constant stunts can get in the heads of linemen and in the biggest, high pressure moments, they can force mistakes like that.
And that's a great pass rush move by Jalen Carter. And this game was why you draft a defensive lineman as early as you can when he's as talented as Jalen Carter. There are a lot of teams that wish they took Jalen Carter. Bears fans are probably thinking, man, we could have Jalen Carter and Jared Verse. I know that's wishful, thy just say just saying like this game
was elite six pressures. He was double teamed on twenty six snaps in this game, so most of the snaps that he was out there, he was double team And that's what I thought for a second to Limmer think like he was getting help there because there weren't many one on one passing situations for him. And despite the all those double teams, six pressures, two and a half sacks, three quarterback hits, five tackles, a forced fumble, and a
pass breakup. So Carter just a massive performance. He had that punch out on Kyron Williams, which was such a big part of this game. If I had to pick just like a sequence that made the difference in this game, there were a lot of them. It was a really fascinating game. But the back to back turnovers that the Eagles offense had, so you had one by Jalen Carter and then you had the other by Nolan Smith on Matthew Stafford, So it.
Was so tempick the toy bullocks are gonna be coming, becks Stafford.
He looks up, he's big chase.
He cast the ball, backed.
Out of the towns. He fucked out of the tent, had covered up with a bowl of Smith played a head Bowland, Smith, Hill.
Duck covered, Zach Bond was all over the place in this game, and I just thought it was two good teams. It wasn't like it was a terrible offensive line performance by the Rams. And Nolan Smith has just improved throughout the course of the season. I thought this game the guys without Quinn Mitchell being there, that you've seen step up in big moments all season for them. Bond with massive plays, Nolan Smith with massive plays, Darius Slay with massive plays, and of course Jalen Carter like that.
It was kind of the the reason that the Eagles got.
This far despite not having like a great passing game like that, the defense got it done today.
Yeah, and Isaiah Rogers stepped up, yeah, and had a huge target on his back and made plays now when
he needed to make plays. It was such a great way that Shouk pointed out how Carter makes that that sad play by kind of going Jordan versus Byron Russell and just you know, it's the crossover allows the move, but the push feels like it's a push, but he's he's running over there to catch the stunt anyway, and it's that union, right because we talked about this hypothetical Bears defense that they could have all this talent, you still need to put the guys in position to make plays.
And I was I was doubtful of vig Vangio. I didn't necessarily believe. You made me believe, Greg when you talked about this Fangio effect of designing defenses that have had lasting impacts in the league. And to see it work with this particular unit when and I know that he came in as the consultant that didn't work against the Chiefs at all in the Super Bowl. It was the categorical failure across the board. But to see it working,
I believe now because this group which is very young. Yeah, it's a very young group, and they're making plays together like cohesively in the way that we see like a Brian Flores defense with guys with like thirty years of combined experience between three guys.
These guys are all young and they're doing it.
Yeah.
I was thinking, there isn't an interior defensive lineman I'd rather have on my team than Jalen Carter, Like he would be the number one pick in terms of you're talking about like the next three years five years, whatever it is. Then I was even thinking, like, even defensive linemen, you could make an argument that if you were choosing one defensive lineman to have for the next five years, Jalen Carter's on that list, you could make different choices
if you wanted. But uh, like that's a totally reasonable case. And yeah, they got they got a bunch of them. They got Kunya Mitchell, they got Cooper de Gene. I don't think they're gonna have Zach Bond unless they want a franchise tag them that that's a conversation for the offseason because some team like the Patriots or the Titans are gonna give him like thirty five million dollars a year to just be like stupid money.
And I don't know if yes are gonna be willing uh to pay that money.
But as we continue to kind of go backwards in the fourth quarter, the Eagles settled for a field goal after those turnovers. Like the Rams defense, despite giving up a bunch of big plays in this game, I think played really well overall, and they kept holding on and forcing three points and getting the ball back for the Rams until they didn't.
That was the Saquon fourth quarter run twenty two yard line.
That's what'll still it all if you opens up handoff, gets perfully, running.
To the left, portly, gets done everything.
Sha Kwon Barkley is gone Tuxtown on a snowy Sunday. Berkley just dominated for the Eagles.
Yes, that was iron Eagle. Love to have them on the show from Westwood One. And I'd like to apologize to Saquon Barkley. We've made it this far into the proceedings and having brought up like the whole reason why the Eagles are.
In the NFC Championship. Not the whole reason, but like the biggest reason. Let's be real.
He had two hundred and five yards in this game on the ground, more twenty seven more through the air. Add that up for me, Shook. That's two thirty two out of a total of three hundred and fifty yards. Where Saquon and just a magical season. He has six plays, six touchdowns over forty yards this season.
Four of them are against the Rams.
Like poor Chris Shula and this Rams defense are going to be seen Saquon Barkley long runs in their nightmares all off season.
Yeah, you know it's not really representative of the entire game because other than those two long touchdown runs, I think the remaining sixty five rushing yards camon is the other twenty four carries, so math wizards can tell you, I think that's like under three yards an attempt, right, So they did a good job at bolling him up, but it was the big plays and really what it comes down to is the cohesiveness of this entire offense.
It's the offensive line getting to second level on that run and catching everybody that was in the box in the wash so that Saquon was never interrupted on that touchdown run. Like it's the way they all play together so well, and they have such a special athlete and a special back in Saquad that can take it from
a big gain to a touchdown run. That makes this offense so special, And especially on a day in which they are not throwing the ball well, the elements are not in their favor, they can lean on a guy like that and bust one big open right there down the sideline for a touchdowns. It's a magical thing to see happen to a guy who had struggled so much because of the situation he was dealing with.
In New York. It's like freeing. It's like dreams do come true.
Guys, He's ruined other running backs for me.
I don't know if you guys do this, but when I watch other games now, I think, oh, Saquon would have housed that one like when like it's like a like a twenty yard like mix and run against the Chiefs or whatever, and I was like, actually, that hole would have been a Saquon touchdown, and like, no one else other than Saquon is doing that. And yes, you're right. They didn't have a crazy high success rate. It was
like forty percent today, which is just average. But he had a sixty two yard run on a three play drive for a touchdown in the first quarter, and Jalen Hurts in the first drive of the game had a forty four yard run. So those those long rushing plays were so massive. They are a big play rushing offense. And it's the combination of Saquon and Jalen Hurts today
and the offensive line. They are like a big play offensive line because it can't be perfect every play, but sometimes with those guys when it's all lined up, they had that on that Hurts run, Like my lotta didn't even have anyone to hit. It's just so perfect that it's like a big play. It's like a seventy yard throw. Except that's how good this whole offensive line and operation.
And that's why it's hard to go specifically carry by carry and be like, oh, they did a good job on this play, right, because it's always there, like the big bat is always there and the ball could leave the park at any time. And I don't know why Derek Henry's the only back that we say like, oh, you got to get him early or he's going to be gone, because that applies to twenty six as well.
And even when you do make those plays and get to him in the backfield, he's so creative in short space because that ability to pull away is always going to be there, and the explosion is separation.
And it's so glad that the idea that, oh, if.
You put a replacement level player in then he's still gonna No, it's not the same. If somebody's going to get the ball twenty six times on the ground, you would like that player to be better than other people.
He's better than almost.
Everyone, he really is, and he is the number one reason it is interesting to think about the economics of the game with all of this, because it's crazy that he's making less money than Dward's Armstrong, who said a nice season.
For the Commanders.
I didn't want to I didn't want to pick a guy who was like a free agent bus last year. I actually want to pick someone who I think has had a good season for the money that he made. But Armstrong actually got a better deal overall than Saquon did in the offseason, and he's actually lived up to it. So what is Saquon really worth? He's he's really worth wide receiver one money.
Yeah, it's It's a clear and easy case.
And I think when he and Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs were having those off season conversations when they all weren't getting the compensation that they were rightfully due, they all knew that ultimately there's nothing they could do for themselves. But hopefully in a few years, Jamiir Gibbs, Bjon Robinson, Ashton Genty will have opportunities to actually be properly compensated because these guys have proven if you have a difference maker back there again, if you're going to give the
ball to a particular person. It makes sense that you should invest well in that particular person if you're giving it to them more than anybody else.
All Right, still a lot to get to with this game. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back in just a minute. Okay, let's talk a little bit about Jalen Hurts, who after the game answered a series of questions about the status of his knee, and the headlines coming out of the press conference were that that he said he's okay to play next week. But that was after three questions, and the final question was
whether he's confident he'll play, and he said yeah. Before that, they also asked him about the injury, and he says, I was able to finish the game. We'll see how the week goes. They asked, what does that mean your status is uncertain? He said, great question, No, just seeing how the week goes, see how the things will progress. He was limited in this game took in terms of his movement, but they've been pretty limited in terms of their passing game.
Even before he had that injury.
He was holding onto the ball a lot and taking sacks and not making great decisions. What is your confidence level with their passing attack going forward on potentially like a compromise.
Jalen hurds, I'm worried about it.
He has the average time a third night, it was actually only two point eight one seconds, which is way lower than.
Usually, but that's because it doesn't count the sacks like those sacks also right, those sack plays, I feel like we're an average of like five seconds for those sacks.
And the problem is is he can hang onto the ball and extend the play and make plays when he can move. When he can't move, that all falls apart and breaks down, which puts more of the onus on Saquon to rip off a few big plays to keep
this offensive float. So that's what I'm concerned about. I don't know if I evaluate the passing effectiveness today, you know, with the same by the same scale as some other games, because the conditions were bad and the flow of the game just didn't really call for it necessarily, like if you put him in a dome as he completing more passes.
AJ Brown. AJ Brown had like two drops.
He snapped the streak of a ton of games in which he hadn't gone with a drop, and he had a couple of drops so like it was tough to catch the football. So they'll probably be better if the you know, conditions are better. But overall, this passing game hasn't been great for a while. I shouldn't we none
of us should be very surprised by that. It's just that we should be more concerned if he can't move and they're gonna go out there and take the same approach and oh, by the way, go away from Saquon for periods of the game.
Inexplicably they can't do that. They have to learn from this game.
Yeah, and he's just got to get and I know, like you want people to get rid of the ball quicker. But there's moments where we've seen Jalen Hurts make those throws. The safety play it was a delayed route by Dallas Goddard where yeah, pressure gets to him in three seconds, but there was an option to throw the ball from his end zone.
Right.
This isn't like where Lamar was explaining, you know, he gets an RBO. There's nobody in the middle of the field, right, like everybody's running the sideline. He has to make a play. No, Jalen Hurts had an option there for some reason. He just stared it down. He did that like four or five times today, and it's you don't want to speculate and look back to the concussion a few weeks ago, but there were opportunities for him to get rid of the ball where he just didn't.
Yeah, let's listen to that play from our friend JB. Long missed this guy.
Second down in six of eights, thirty five seconds left in the third quarter. Play clocket two Hurts calls for the snap, Rams coming after with full from his end zone.
Pressure's there. They got him.
It's a safety to bring the Rams within one. Neville Gallimore got there first with the flex. The defense does it again.
Shout out to JB. Shout out to Neville Gallimore.
Nice pass rush, nice performance actually down the stretch as it kind of a situational pass rusher for them. But out outstanding point there by Patrick, because I think you got to be able to throw over the middle of the field and throw with anticipation to be a top ten quarterback, to be on QBI.
And that's a play where I.
Think a veteran quarterback knows where his guys are and they throw that pass with anticipation that they know God it's gonna be there, and they get to that read a little quicker, or they throw it before he's out of his break. And there were a lot of There were a lot of plays like that. He took seven sacks in this game, and he just hasn't looked confident with what he's seen. And I don't know what the fault of that is, but it's a big problem. I really think it's gonna be a big problem for them.
Now.
The Commanders are, you know, a different matchup, maybe not as good of a pass rush, but when you look at the numbers, the Rams actually didn't have that many quick pressures on the day, only four, which is under two and a half seconds, which is crazy. And so a lot of it was was Hurt holding the ball. I do like that from what I saw after the game, Hurts was in a celebratory mood, joking a little bit. Let you know, maybe it was a little bit of relief.
He's always just so serious. I don't know, maybe that speaks to me that maybe he's not as hurt. Hopefully, like he was enjoying the moment. I expected like a dour Jalen Hurts after that performance, and actually he seemed like appropriately enjoying that they just won a playoff game in our one game away from the Super Bowl.
Maybe his biggest smile I've seen was the was the cutaway after Sakuon gos On that seventy six yard touchdown run with Jalen just beaming. Now, of course things got rife with terror after that when Stafford went into grim reaper mode. But still they're gonna have an opportunity to play next week against the team that it's given them some problem.
Yeah, and it's funny because it really it wasn't all on Hurts at all. Offensively. They look they got the job done in the end. But you mentioned the Hurts drops. Shook one just killed the drive. It was on maybe Hurts his best throw. Actually, both drops that aj Brown had were on very good throws by Hurts. The deep ball where maybe that's on the snow and this was
an ultimate snow referendum game. We'll talk about that in a second, but like that was a dime, Like how different is this game if Brown just catches that ball, and I think they would have been up what twenty to seven at the time, maybe going into half up twenty to seven, Like in his numbers would be totally different.
It'd be a different game.
And actually the second drive of the game, he had a nice anticipatory throw on second down where he did kind of make the read that Patrick and I are asking for and a J.
Brown kind of alligator armed it.
And then the offensive line, which has been good all year, obviously fell short. In a couple of big moments, Makay Beckton had a mental error on a couple plays, a blown block, a penalty, and then Lane Johnson moves when they're third and inches on the goal line. If Lane Johnson doesn't flinch there, that's another four points. Like, they made a lot of errors that usually get your beat SHOOKI.
Yeah, and we're overlooking them because they had the explosive plays for touchdowns. When Lane Johnson flinched, his like butt came up in the air, and I thought he was actually trying to like dig his feet in for more leverage on first like view, and then I saw the replay and I was like, oh, no, he just fall started. He clearly he fall started so bad that when they actually snapped the ball, he didn't move for a half second.
Then he's like, oh, we are playing to play.
Yeah, they made the mistakes like McKai Beckton's illegal man downfield wiped out a great screenplay that would have set them up for a great scoring opportunity.
And I came away from those two.
Takeaways in the second half where they only got field goals out of both of them, I'm like, oh, you're gonna regret that. You know, you really should have cashed at least one of those in for a touchdown. But in the grand scheme of this entire game, when you count all those mistakes and everything, you look at it now and you're like, Okay, well, they still won the game. They definitely have things to iron out offensively, and the matchup next week is very different from this one.
But luckily they have a week repair.
Great teams have multiple ways to win games, and they have a chance to be a great team. And I get I'm glad we talked this through because I think I thought there were the Rams were gonna win after that Pooga catch, just because I've seen so many games like this where the team that in theory should have won makes all the sort of mistakes that the Eagles
make and then they end up losing the game. But it didn't happen that way, and that's happened a couple times for the Eagles this year of frankly, like where the defense just kind of bails them out.
Yeah, like we saw in the in the AFC Divisional game on Sundin, Right, the Eagles made those mistakes and that's how small again those margins can be. Going back to that AJ Brown drop, right, because Jalen goes through his reads perfectly, he holds Cam Curl in the middle of the field.
Dallas Goddard threatens.
Jalen throws a great ball, but you don't you don't execute at the catch point something. Aj Brown is one of the absolute best in the NFL. At Puka had a drop today, you know it's it's.
Well, yeah, the ball was was slick. Okay, let's talk about the weather. I was not a fan of the weather in this game.
It's spoken like somebody's lived in LA for a long time.
No, it's spoken by someone who likes the biggest football games to ultimately be decided. I'm of two minds. I do kind of like it, but this was too far. Like the Bills game, it didn't feel like it affected as much. Although there were some slippery pass Like some of the biggest players in this game, Matthew Stafford just drops the ball while handing it off. We're getting drop after drop by AJ Brown and Puka Nakua in big situations. Stafford the ball seemed to slip out of his hands.
I mean, we know this guy's built for it, he's played well in Elements before, but it's just the ball slippery, like Hurts Missus one of his throws by like twenty feet, even that last throw by Stafford, Like, I don't even know, Like I don't want to. I think that the elements had this big of a factor. Before I get your thoughts on this, let's listen to Sean McVay after the game talking about the elements.
I think you saw.
I mean, there was some times where some uncharacteristic things just in terms of the ball handling. You know, we had two turnovers that probably don't necessarily occur in different elements, a couple drops you could see, you know, when Sakuon got to the second level, similar to the first game, but there was some different layers that we did have in our defense. He was able to pull away, but you know, they had to play in it too.
We had to play in it.
We had every opportunity to be able to win that game at the end there, Sarah, And we're a couple of plays away from me being a lot happier right now.
Good perspective, Schuck, What do you think about the whole weather the weather discussion.
I'm a throwback and I as a former offensive lineman. It loves the run block, I love the elements. Baby, let's muck it up, Let's make it dirty, Let's make it nasty. Let's go winn the trenches. But and by the way, Landon Dickerson had an awesome game today. He was throwing pancakes left and right, just second guys into the snow. It was the beauty in the essence of football at its core. But I also thought it was an interesting test of a kicker in Jake Elliot, who's
been very up and down this season, very inconsistent. Miss is an extra point earlier before the elements really set in, and then they're clearing snow for him, Like it's Adam Vinati against the Raiders in the playoffs in two thousand and one, just for him to make a kick and he drills two clutch kicks and snow so I think it's a test of both sides of the game. You know. I think that you can find greatness in guys who are able to overcome it. It's also a convenient excuse
when guys drop passes. But I think it is the ultimate. It levels the playing field. I think sometimes it levels it.
I agree it does probably level it because it just adds more randomness and luck to the proceedings. But I'm glad you mentioned Jake Elliott coming up big in a big spot. Justin Tucker hit a big kick in a big spot in a tough situation. So shout out to some great kickers over the years who had bad years who stepped up in the playoffs. Your thoughts, Patrick, Let me let me just give you a Josh Sweat quote where I do that.
This was Josh.
Sweat's comment on on the field in this situation. He said, y'all just see me cleaning my damn clee every step. I'd rather play on that Brazil field again before playing on that again. That field was ass.
Thank you, Jefs. Sweat.
That's your own crew like that, that's your own you know, field management team, our grounds crew.
What can they do?
Wait?
It also was going from like hail to wintry mix to heavier snow.
It just was.
It was a lot to deal with.
Yeah, it's nasty, and I've said it where we've had some quick quick change, like playoff postseason college football games at State Farm Stadium where they get a new field in there. I saw Oregon and Auburn play where Cam Newton had that Heisman season where he could do anything. They were playing in mud. I was down there shooting the game. It was like six inches of mud. It didn't add to the at all. And I understand if
folks like the elements, they like it aesthetically. The only beef that I have is is the idea that like because I liked the game between the Lions and the Commanders and they determined it on the field right, that like the air conditioner didn't fall on anybody and I could see the whole game. It doesn't make me less tough, right or whatever. I like to see people have full
use of all ten of their fingers. I don't want to see Saquon running to the sideline because he took a helmet straight to the bone in cold weather and I'm sure it sent like shockwaves through his entire body. I just I would like to see guys being able to execute. And it's frustrating to watch an entire season of football and guys managing injuries and all of this, and then it kind of come down to randomness, which is always going to be play.
I would just prefer not to have, and.
It's adding a different X factor that isn't always there the rest of the season. And my thing is people like to say, well, that's football weather. It's football weather, all right, show me all your five star recruits that are coming out of Buffalo and Massachusetts. No football is played at the highest of levels in Texas and Louisiana and Florida. And I know you got some people out
there at Ohio, Shookie, it's football weather there. But if you're just counting up the numbers between the warm weather states California, all of them like the best football and the best football players are coming from where the weather is better because it's more favorable to football.
The states devote more resources to football there.
You go there, you go to the higher population, more tax dollars.
Nobody, nobody's, nobody's getting magical powers due to their place of birth.
Okay, let's call you.
What California quarterback that won for the Buffalo Bills today didn't acquire snow powers there?
Okay, you win point for point for Patrick the dome.
My point is, it's football weather and flo it's football weather at Georgia, it's football weather in Louisiana. It's football whether anywhere that football is playing. Not more football weather where it's cold. When you can't tell me, oh wait, you know what football weather in Texas. Okay, let's get the opposite of this.
How do you feel about it when it's one hundred degrees out and players are roasting in the sun in Miami in September?
Because that's also the elements on the opposite.
Yeah, yeah, I don't love that either. I don't want but there's not a lot of that. There's not a lot of that.
That's the thing is all those teams, for the most part, are played in domes other than Miami.
Yeah.
I will take seventy two with a breeze coming from the Vince. I'll take that all day if that makes me, you know, whatever, that's me.
I'll watch it.
Optimal condition.
I'm glad you brought it.
Yeah, optical condition because it doesn't have to be about the weather. There will be Eagles fans and players that will hold till their deathbed that they lost that Super Bowl to the Chiefs in part because the field. You know what, you know, both teams, both teams had to play on it, and so that it was in bad weather. But that was bad conditions, and I just don't like the conditions having such an impact. And those conditions I think had an impact in the Eagles Chiefs. It hurt
the Chiefs pass rush too. It's not like it just hurt the Eagles. That's all I mean is I want it to be decided by the excellence.
Of the player.
I think back to the Broncos Panther Super Bowl right where you have tackles sliding six seven feet. It's easier for people to under understand when it's the field conditions, because I don't think anybody likes that. And so if you could take that, if you disagree with me and Greg about snow and extrapolate that to the whole kind of dome aspect of the game, like totally, I think you start to understand where we're coming from.
Okay, so before we move on, we're not going to preview next week. But I do just want to have a little thought on these teams that lost today. What do you think Ravens wise is their biggest off season.
Push? Like question worry. It's funny.
They are a team that always feels like they're in pretty good cheap But what do you think.
The offensive line got better as the year went on? People thought Zach Orr was a mistake. Since Week eleven, they have the best defense in football. As long as eight is upright, you're gonna have an opportunity and they can get better at corner. They can get some more depth at receiver where everything isn't relying on Rashad Bateman.
You know you mentioned Cooper Cup. You know Coop what's up?
That is such a that would be such a Ravens signing if the Rams do cut them in. Yeah, that's a good segue. I think it's fair to say the following Rams are not guaranteed to be back. Oh, Cooper Cup be a little surprising if he was back. Tyler Haigbee, Rob Havenstein because of the contract, and then Matthew Stafford. Let's actually listen to Stafford after the game. Believe this question came from our very own Jordan Rodrieg.
To get to this point. You know, anytime you play like this and get into the playoffs and get a win and keep it moving, you know, it's anytime you come up short, it's it's it's even tougher, you know. And so that's that's difficult, but so proud to be associated with this group. And you know, as far as my future goes, I mean, it's thirty minutes after the last game, so I'll take some time to think about it. But I feel like I was playing some pretty good ball.
You got football left in you?
Sure feels like it.
Mmm.
I think that's pretty close to definitive on whether Matthew Stafford will be playing football again.
Shook. I happen to listen to the post game. JB.
Long did such a good job wrapping up this Rams season. The Rams are really lucky to have him. And then they threw to kind of more like the local postgame show that's not officially from the team or anything, and they're talking about Stafford as if most slightly him and Cup are gone, And.
I don't know, are you sure you want to do that? Rams? Are you sure? I don't know?
Yeah, Yeah, that's the thing is, what's your backup plan? Is, Jimmy Garoppolo your backup plans? Like, are you gonna get in the market when it's what I'm saying, like, they don't have a clear succession plan here because that guy doesn't exist on that roster. So in the name of salary cap and the way the contract is structured, you're just gonna part with him when he's still playing football good enough to nearly lead you back to a divisional
round win on the road in the snow. Like it just feels like it's a little too business minded for me without considering the football aspect of it. And also, if he became a free agent, I could count five or six teams right now that would be like, let's go sign him immediately, like fly him in. He's our guy for the next two to three years because he can still play football. Well, yeah, he was up and down. We've talked about this at length. He's been the hardest
quarterback to pin down this year. Very volatile in performance, but when the lights shine the brightest, he came through in two games. Yeah, he lost one of them, but he's still played much like the stafford we knew and I think that's worth something when he still has a desire to play football.
Yes, and as Chris Rose and Daniel Jeremiah walk by after doing the NFL Network show, that's a sign that we should be almost done.
We've been honking for a while.
I think that's well said, and I think it's important for them to realize they have one of the best young cores in the NFL, especially if they can have another good draft. They've had two great drafts in a
row that's really helped their lines. Pukainakua a true number one, still on a rookie contract, So it can kind of flip in reverse that you want to take advantage of all these great young players on a rookie contract, and you don't want to waste a year with a unless you really love a Sam Darnold or like a third
round pick or maybe a first round pick. We'll see the way they structured Stafford's contract, you know, they would save a lot by post June first cutting him, and they would absolutely find a trade market which is much more likely, and save like a little bit of money by tradium, and then they could use that to refill the position.
I don't know, but why right, Why not draft.
Why do all that, all those machinations when you have that young core that you talked about where you'll be like, oh, we're a quarterback away, why why send them out of the door?
Yeah?
I would, And how far back, how far removed on me from the whole talk of Sean McVay walking away to a broadcast job, like he still win now while he's here?
Well, fair, that's a that's a good point.
He seems very in it, as they would like to say where their feet are, and he seems very motivated. And that's not a question for them, but that's a great point, Like why not try to win it? You better have a good plan if you thought you're going to get rid of him. I came into the season thinking kind of like, all right, well that's just a tea to be continued, Like decide based on the evidence
that you get during the season. And I think based on that evidence, I would keep Matthew Stafford and start drafting quarterbacks, either in the first or the second or even the third.
Just give it a shot to use one of those picks. Do something a pleasure guys on this day.
Some other news out there, Sam Cosmi, the Pro Bowl, guard for the Commanders is out for the season. You know, that's something to keep in mind as we look ahead to the NFC Championship game. Unfortunately suffered a torn a cl Jeff Ulbrick of Jets interim head coaching fames he's freet No, he's well, he's not free.
He got a job, That's what I'm saying. He's out.
Yes, he got the Falcons defensive coordinator job. So the wheel keeps turning. Our wheel will continue on Tuesday when we get Jordan Rodrieg back in the studio with Colling Wolf. But you two, the these Sunday nights have been a treat and we have we have one more to get to before the Super Bowl. Fun Sunday, fun weekend. I think the divisional round you delivered in a way that the old card round for me did not.
And uh yeah, we reached the end of the road.
When there's only three games left in this NFL season, you know football is back.