Shot. Bateman comes in motion to the right. Lamar takes the snap. Blit's pressure coming. He pumps once pocket collapsing. He backed up the whole waterway, steps up Pros complete. Hill hasn't touchdown Ravens Lamar Jackson extended the play. Justice Hill got open and the Ravens are on the cusp but blowing the Steelers out.
That was Lamar Jackson two Justice Hill for a absolutely ridiculous touchdown at the end of the first half.
This is NFL Daily and.
Yes we're going live on YouTube and everyone listening the next day. That was the end of an absolutely perfect first half by the Ravens. Went into halftime twenty one to nothing, did not look back for the rest of the night. Twenty eight to fourteen is the final, although they ended with the ball ended up one yard short of three hundred yards rushing on the day. Yes, I'm
Greg Rosenthal. I'm in my somewhat smoky garage. I don't know if this show is a health hazard tonight, but it's still a perfect night to talk football and I have the perfect person to do it with Bill Barnwell from ESPN. What is happening? And thank you for spending your late Saturday night with me.
Bill. It's a pleasure Greg to be sitting here. I love anytime there's a call where you have, like you know, a announcer saying throw it away and the play give up, don't do it, and then the person who is incredibly talented does it and it succeeds. So perfect setup for the show right here.
Yes, thank you for covering me there.
That was our friend Jerry Sandusky Rod Woodson on the call for WB A L. And I'm glad we're not listening to them on the season. I think we had to show a first half highlight. Like often we play the play that kind of ends the game. There wasn't necessarily that play you had the.
Day might if the game, to be honest, right you, But.
The story was the first half. And it's not like textay to talk about. But the first half there were two drives. The first drive of the game where they ran the ball nine out of thirteen times and then Lamar Jackson throws an absolutely awesome touchdown through a little hole to hit Rashad Bateman on a third and long
for the touchdown. And then the other touchdown drive where they go thirteen straight runs, the longest drive any team had all season without passing the ball for eighty five yards and like that, that kind of felt like the story.
The story was the.
Beginning of the game and then the rest of it was just aftermath.
Yeah. Certainly for a team that did not have the player who we most of us I think believe is they're only above average wide receiver Inza Flowers, it didn't feel like the Ravens missed even the tiniest of beats on offense. And what struck me about this game, Greg, is we do hear people talk about this idea of the divisional game right that you're playing a team you've
played multiple times. This was the third matchup between the Ravens and the Steelers this season, and it felt like every time the Ravens ran his own read ran power read ran, you know pinpoll with the readop with the ability for Lamar Jackson, it felt like they never had answers for it. I feel like the Steelers were making mental mistakes. They feel like they were sloppy, especially on that long Henry touchdown run in the second half. There was a huge hole where multiple players ran with Lamar
Jackson early in the game, you have MIKEA. Fitzpatrick coming down from free safety to try and tackle Lamar Jackson as a scrape on the scrape exchange just the defender on the edge to try and stop a third and short like it felt like in a situation where the Ravens are a very familiar team against the Steelers. The Steelers was still trying to find answers two quarters into this game, after having played them twice already this season.
Just because there's no good answer right like the first half, the answer the answer was kind of let Lamar run, and he was running quickly. He had ten rushes with about ten minutes left in the second quarter. He ended up with fifteen rushes for eighty one yards. I don't know if he tired himself out or they just realized that that's not the best way to go, but that he really didn't run the ball much again until the very end of the game when they were trying to kill the clock and he needed to.
He looked a little.
Banged up with a couple of times. But you mentioned that long Henry run. That's one where the dots are beautiful. I know you love the dots, Bill dots. Yeah, A simple man. The dots. The dots all go with Lamar on that run. Four dots go to Lamar and Derrek Henry goes up the middle. And the reason is Lamar holds it extra long, or makes it look like he's sold the extra log or just can't decide until the last second. And it's been the story of them all season.
They're almost a hard team to talk about in at least in this matchup when it's just so much obvious they're better because it is the same thing week after week. And I'm not sure there's a great answer for it, but this Steelers defense needed to be like unreal to carry this team around them, and they weren't.
They were below average for five weeks straight.
It's kind of a Mike Tomlin thing, and just checking out the comments before we got going, like the whole fire Tomlin from the Steelers fans is going to be a thing this week. Well, let's let's put a pin in that for a second while we talk about this game. But this their defense just didn't really have enough answers On a night when Lamar did drop back to pass, they did pressure him a decent amount.
Wasn't like that was the problem. But they just they weren't special.
It's hard to be a special defense in twenty twenty four or twenty twenty five, and they just weren't special.
Well, we're going to talk about a game. I assume we're going to talk about the earlier Saturday games as well, and that was one where to me, the best players on the Texans defense won them the game. Derek Stingley was awesome, Well, Anderson was awesome. Do you know? Hunter was awesome? And they were transcendent in those moments for the Steelers. Their stars were not stars in this game. I mean TJ. Watt. You know, did you what was your favorite t J Watt woman in this game? Greg? Do you even if.
He was on the field, if he's like him shaking off a lot of injuries. He I mean, he had the elbow thing that there wasn't there wasn't much a pressure too. It's similar, frankly to a lot of TJ. Watt performances over the last four or five weeks.
Yeah. I mean Cam Hayward, who I think is phenomenal, a first team All Pro from me this year, did not have a big game, was in and out a bit. Joey Porter Junior had a couple of nice plays, but also a couple of penalties as well. Make if Fitzpatrick
didn't have a great game. He got stiff armed into the earth by Derrick Henry on Aaron, he got the rare double stiff farm where you get stiff armed and as you're falling backwards, Dereck Henry tries to stiff arm you on the way down again, which is very impressive. It just felt like the Steelers for them to win, for them to compete with great football teams, their stars have to make transcending plays and at their best this year, TJ. Watt made those plays. Cam Hayward made those plays. Bager
Fitzpatrick made those plays. They did not make those plays in this game, and there was no alternative for the Steelers defense.
No.
I was surprised when I saw the pressure rate was as high as it was. Then again, Lamar only threw twenty one passes. Yeah, he hit sixteen of them for one hundred and seventy five yards, so it couldn't have been more efficient. Part of that is he was pressured on the I would guess four to five just true scrambles that he had maybe sixty seven scrambles that he had, and so he makes a positive out of that.
But the first half of this yeah, when.
They did get pressure, they weren't able to finish most of the time. And there were plenty of places in this game they got pressure on la Mar Jackson and he just stepped up and stepped through those pressures and found an open receiver. That happened multiple times in this.
Game, Yeah, including that that touchdown throw to Bateman, who has been so good this year and steps up tonight as the true one receiver, and maybe that influenced them leaning even more on the run than usual. Henry ends up with twenty six carries for one eighty six. They ran the ball sixty nine percent of the time. I mean, the game scrapped obviously helped in that, but they were running it like that in the first half as well.
But at halftime they had nineteen first downs. That's more than the number of plays that Pittsburgh had, three hundred and eight yards to fifty nine. And the thing that will strike me the most, and let's listen to the clip we got Eric behind the glass helping us out across the Los Angeles area. Just keep an eye if you happen to watch this one on YouTube of Derrick Henry, I believe, laughing during the middle of his touchdown in the second half war the shotgun.
Three receivers to the left, Jackson Wall hand it off Derek Henry twenty like.
Right, God, touch.
Down Derek Henry and they're going wild, leaving Jay forty four for the score.
I mean, this man is so happy, he's laughing while he's running, and you you just kind of have to laugh seeing these two guys together. I do hope Zay Flowers, though, is back next week. We know as we're taping this show whether they'll play the Bills or potentially the Texans, but it's most likely the Bill is obviously a heavy favorite,
which that feels crazy. You always get one divisional round game where you're like, I can't believe these guys are playing each other this early in the playoffs, and that's going to be the one.
Yeah, And you know what Derek Henry's laughing at. Could be a lot of different things. It could be, Hey, thank god, I'm not playing in Tennessee right now. I have a meaningful team to play for into January. It could be, hey, thank you for making this so easy that you know, nearly half of your team ran with Lamar Jackson on this fake and I could just cut back through the bithic it was the b gap and
just run free for a touchdown untouched. I could accelerate through your entire defense without even having to run anybody over. Just the joy. I mean, this was a game where it felt very fun to be a member of this Raven's office. We saw Anthony Miller, who I did not know was in the league, still catching multiple passes in this game from Lamar Jackson. It really was a if you are a Lamar Jackson MVP person and I at the end of the year decided I was one of
those people, this was a great case for you. I mean, not only did Lamar Jackson make plenty of plays against a good defense or with you know, on paper, a good defense without his top wide receiver. Not only did he run the ball effectively, but just his gravity for Derrick Henry was on display throughout this game. And we're not going to factor that into his numbers, but it
is a meaningful thing. It is a real thing, has been a thing all year because he clips most weeks of players on the edge who are just frozen because they don't want to miss out on trying to tackle Lamar, and then Derek Henry runs pass them for for solid games. So it has been just a perfect fit in Baltimore. We all had expectations and it's not even better than any of us could have expected.
And yet yeah, no, next week we'll tell this story, but we'll have a lot of a lot of time to talk about that. Lamar Jackson, by the way, is the team All Pro quarterback, which generally means you're gonna win the MVP.
Have you actually have we actually looked at that. I mean, I assume it's likely, but it feels like one of those things that we all take for granted, and I haven't seen anyone actually go back and check and see how often it actually turns into being a true thing. Maybe some people split their votes.
Well, yes I have.
It's never really come up where a guy gets more votes than the other guy and then then it would flip. But it's also a it's completely different circumstances now than it's ever been because they never used to have to vote for five different players, and so that that does change the math where I guess you could split it. I mean the Steve McNair Peyton Manning year, they didn't have the exact same votes, so something changed up. It could change up. You also have Saquon Barkley like being
thrown into the mix. Some people could say, like Nick Wright pointed this out to me, like some people could say, Lamar Jackson's the All Pro, but Josh Allen's the MVP. That part doesn't make sense, but I could see. You never know. If he won All Pro by one vote or two votes, and more people had Lamar Jackson fourth or fifth where they had Josh Allen second, you never know.
Let's talk about the Steelers a little bit.
Offensively, Russell Wilson played well in the second half of this game. I did think what the Ravens did coverage wise in the first half in general kind of confused him. Like all year, he's not really going through his reads very quickly, but he threw a lot of beautiful passes. In the end, you look at his stats, it was kind of like a Denver Broncos Russell Wilson game where at the end you're like, oh, those stats are pretty good, and yet you don't feel like he dominated the game.
What did you think about RUSS.
I mean, what I would say, more than anything from the Broncos side, from the Steelers side, I should say is that it did not feel like Mike tom And and Arthur Smith trusted Russell Wilson at all until they had no choice but to let him throw the football. I mean,
it was a very limited, very conservative game plan. They punted multiple times on fourth and one and fourth and two in the first half of this game, when I think a lot of other teams would have been very comfortable going for it, and they didn't even bring on justin fields for those situations on fourth and short. You know, certainly when you think about how should I play as an underdog against a team that has an explosive offense, hold the football, you know, don't put your defense in
a compromise position. And Mike Tomlin did not trust his team to do even if oh he could go, He did trust his team to get aggressive on fourth down, and it backfired earlier in that game. And so it really felt like Russ almost succeeded in spite of what the Steelers' expectations were, Like I think they they in
this game. I think if the Steelers had won this game, Mike Tomlin believed the best way they were going to do it was we're going to slide on the mar Jackson, We're going to get a turnover or two, and we're going to have as little Russell Wilson in the mix as possible. And it turned out to be the exact opposite. They had a lot of Russell Wilson because they had no choice. They were down a ton of points. He played pretty well and the defense did absolutely nothing to
win in the game for most of the game. So, as Russ enters free agency, as we're thinking about what the quarterback situation looks like for this team next year, nothing about what I saw tonight makes me think the Steelers are desperate to have him back for another go around next year, presumably at a larger salary.
Yes, and yet they weren't. They weren't into bringing Justin fields in. I thought they might, but then it was rewarded. I mean, in the second half, he did everything that you would want Russell Wilson to do.
He moved the ball.
Now, they did have a possession where they had a chance to make it a one possession game, and they stalled out, and you mentioned, you know, having, you know, skipping and going for fourth and inches in the first half, which is just brutal to have to go for it in fourth and fifteen. And then I sent the tweet out that's like everybody now like repeat after me, And you thought I was making fun of you. I was just doing it because we all have sent that tweet at some point.
Little too close to the vest for me.
No, I didn't even know. I mean, yeah, you skipped the early fourth down. I mean the Ravens also skipped a fourth and two did to start the second half. Maybe they thought that they had a twenty one nothing lead, but they did go for fourth and about a foot from their own forty late up by two scores, which, considering where it was in the game and where it was on the field, actually was more of a gutsy call, if you want to say it, and was very smart to go for.
What I think happened is that they punted up was twenty one nothing at that point. I believe when they punted for midfield, and I think John Harbaught did the Oh, I don't want to give them a spark. I don't want to give them a short field. Get them back in the game, and then the Steelers drove like ninety eight yards for a touch anyway, then he's like, well, screw this, there's no point in not giving them a spark.
I'm just going to go for it. And then they went for it and got it with de Mark Andrew Steak, where the Steelers I think actually had twelve men on the field. They weren't even prepared for the Ravens going for it on fourth down, which is not a right signed for this coaching staff. You seem to be a little hesitant when I alluded to the idea of Russell Wilson not being back next year. You're about to push I.
Just don't know.
This is a team that is fine just running back the same thing year after year and kind of accepting where they are. I think it's why so many people are frustrated. Smart Steelers fans and dumb Steelers fans like angry young ones or whatever that are just oh, get rid of this guy.
It's the same thing every year. But I listened to John Ledyard.
He's great, and he's frustrated, and I think it's fair to question a team that plays the same season over and over and makes the same mistakes and sure everyone says it's not Tomlin's fault because it's the offense and what would you do with this roster and quarterbacks? And I just think, well, Tomlin keeps hiring these offensive coordinators. If he is unable to affect change on offense for a long period, that's on him.
He's the head coach. He plays the same certain so away.
I also think the way he attacks training camp and regular season practices should maybe be looked at because they are the team that has known more than any team to hit training camp harder. And you always you always get on the teams like the Bengals who don't do
anything early and then they start slow. Well what about the reverse, Like this is a team that's always in pads, They're always a training camp, and they always stink in December Like this is this is a I know they won a few games in the in the past few years, but they've collapsed down the stretch a number of times. I don't know if it's a one to one thing, but whatever he's doing isn't working. They they consistently play their worst when they even have a decent team late
in the season. They did it during the Covid year. They did it this season, and I don't know, like, are you just fine with being the thirteenth best team in the NFL every year?
Because that's basically I.
Will take the issue with this argument. They did go two and six the year TJ. Watt got hurt to start the season, and then they're hot at the end of the year. I also think think a couple things that factor in there. Our strength of schedule. The Steelers played the hardest part of their schedule to finish the season this year. Usually the final few weeks of the year you're most likely to play your divisional games, and the Steelers play in a very difficult division, so I
think you're playing stiffer competition late in the year. But I did think your point is valid this question of you know, is it should you be? Should you have higher aspirations than just being a ten and seven team and hoping you get in And the comparison I've seen people make as an argument to fire Mike Tomlin and we want Mike Tomlin is the comparisons to Andy Reid at the end of his time in Philadelphia, which is
not good in terms of comparisons. Andy Reid was like four and twelve his final year when he got fired, he had made the decision to hire Wan Castillo to be his DC, which went over disastrously. And there's this like like like people have convinced themselves that Eagles fans were happy to let Andy Reid leave and left with goodwill and it was just time when Eagles fans have been trying to fire Andy Reid for like five years and been furious at any time anyone defended him saying
he was never gonna win. I think with Mike Tomlin, like people have they've already taken like ready but defoeward Like there's already that feeling of oh, like, we're never gonna do it. And to me, I think that's probably unwarranted. He's already done it in the past. We've seen him win with a successful quarterback in the past. We're seen him make the playoff runs in the past. We know he can do it. To me, we're punishing him for
being good at this job. Like the reason, and I would say the coaching element to me is this, how many times do you see a player leave the Steelers and play better? And how many times do you see a player join the Steelers and play better. Just think about this year. Just think about wide receiver. I mean, Mike Williams was a functional part of his offense were stretches after looking like he had never played football before the Jets. Giont Johnson left the Steelers and was a
disaster in multiple spots this year. Wide receiver is maybe the most coherent example. But this is not a franchise where players are coming here and getting worse. And if you have a guy who absolutely love if you think Arthur Smith is the next great Steelers coach, should I guess?
Go No, I don't.
In fact, like he got way too much credit this year, Arthur Smith, Like this was a bad offense all year. This this their success rate running the ball was bad all year. They were winning on these these deep balls, which at no point did they have like a sustainable plan. And to be clear, I think that Mike Tomlin is a very good coach that should absolutely keep his job and that any speculation about it in terms of him getting fired is stupid. And any speculation on him getting
traded is because of Mike Tomlin's agent. So like you can't you can't speak out of both sides of your mouth if you're Mike Tummlin, because this this trade stuff pops up every once in a while and he always gets a new contract out of it, and he likes getting new contracts.
Why wouldn't you He just got an you just.
Got a new contract with a no trade clause.
But they but they threw that out there again, like it. It came out again, and it doesn't come out for no reason. It's maybe it's a waste of time to talk about, because I don't really believe that the Ruinies
would ever consider giving him up, and they shouldn't. But I also think it's fair to point out if you're talking about the best coaches in the NFL, an organization that like loses in the same sort of way year after year in the playoffs and isn't competitive when they make it, and hasn't won a game in a long time. And in those six straight playoff losses bill that they've had the lot, they've trailed at halftime by an average of fifteen and a half points.
I mean, so.
It's it's it's not just it's not that they just make it and they don't win. It's that they make it and they're not competitive. And it reminds me of the end of this season Bill because they lost those three games against the best teams in the NFL ninety to forty and they lost this game twenty one and nothing at halftime, and yeah, the Bengals game was closer, but that's like an eight and eight team. That's just sort of who they are, and so that's got to be frustrating for.
Their For them, I'm just picturing like the Saints, where their entire aspirations are to be the Steelers, like the idea of being a nine or ten win team that makes it to the playoffs every year and loses is exactly what their best case scenario is right now. I think we're both on the same page. I don't think we think it's Mike Tomlin. But let me ask you, Greg, let's try to be practical here. If you're not moving on from Mike Tomlin, if you're not trading away Mike Tomlin,
what are you doing to break the cycle. What is the move the Steelers make Because they tried drafting Kenny Pickett that didn't work. That was clearly a let's try to get our franchise quarterback on the cheap and then we'll build around him with you know, more talent elsewhere. They have talented dunk players on this roster. No question. They went very cheap the cheapest quarterback situation late this year that you know, got them back to where they were.
What's the swing you're taking here a quarterback? What's the move?
It's like a different mindset offensively. It's not hiring Matt Canada and Arthur Smith. I don't think Arthur Smith like was good for this team.
I don't.
I wouldn't want to blow it up necessarily because the offensive line I think started to finally make progress. Ye have invested a lot in in that and there.
There was progress.
Then again, they were one of the worst running games in the entire NFL. So I guess how good is their offensive line?
Like?
They're their offense.
Their their running game was basically based on their running backs being good and breaking tackles, but they didn't really have anything going in terms of the blocking scheme. I don't know we should we should focus more on these these ravens. I mean, you're getting you're getting Steve Simms and and Thailand Wallis and Anthony Miller out there.
We're gonna have plenty of times talk about the Ravens
in the weeks to come. I the thing that really took me out in the first quarter of this game was the broadcast when first drive of the game for the Steelers and say, yeah, you're gonna see more Jalen Warren today because Mike Tomblin said he has the hot hand for them and running back and I looked it up in Jalen Warren had six carries for twenty one yards and no catches the prior week, and that that was the hot hand for this offense was a running back averaging I think like three and a half yards
of carry. It tells you sort of how dire things got for this offense here at the end of the season.
I mean, the thing is they got like the most I could have expected out of Van Jefferson, in Calvin Austin and at times Russell Wilson and Justin fields like they were better.
But but what you didn't answer my question? What's the movie you're making?
Are you?
I think it has to be taking a quarterback or is this something else?
Well, sir, you have to always keep taking swings at quarterback, I think every year in the draft until you have one.
So I didn't love this idea.
I'd rather have gone with Fields, like we'll never know everyone that apologized after the move to Wilson. Ultimately, he was dead last in the NFL in the last five weeks in EPA per place. So I don't I don't know, like how whether it would have been better or worse in the end with with Russell Wilson or not. But it's it would have to be like having a totally different offensive, like modern mindset like that they just haven't had. They have this weird idea that hey, we're the Steelers,
we want to run the ball. I think it plays play to our defense, be conservative and and that's it. And those are the types of guys he hired, like Arthur Smith sold them on that vision. But when was the last time Arthur Smith, like like had a consistently good running team, like in terms of the talent that he had, I don't.
Know the year before. I mean to be fair, I think there is an element of the Steeler, significant element of this Dealers fan base that also wants that, Like I think the when Steelers fans think about what they want what their offense to look like, they wanted to look like Jerome Bennis. They wanted to look like sure, you know, Franco Harris. They wanted to be the teams that are running because they're thirteen and four and they have a great defense, and they are running in the
fourth quarter. They want smash mount football. I think there was a subset that Caarac just wants to win, but I think ideally that is what they want. So I think they're sort of playing a element of fans service by hiring Arthur Smith.
Fair.
That's absolutely fair. And like I said, I don't think the Rooneyes are going to do anything. So we say goodbye to what I think was the worst team in the playoffs, the Steelers. When you lose four straight games, I mean, I don't think it was. I think them and the Texans were the contenders coming into the day. They were not the contenders coming out of the day.
And yes, shout out to all the Ravens who got the job done today, a da fe Aoway, even Nate Wiggans who is maybe in single coverage to George Pickens a little too often and was driving Patrick Claybond crazy.
We were about it.
Madam Buike had a nice game like they have a lot of players that are playing better on defense. We'll see if they're good enough next week. And you talked about the Steelers.
Yeah, like you've.
Talked about the Steelers defense not being prepared enough. This is the last time that we'll hear them this week. But like Kirk kerk Street like doesn't know who the like, how the playoff seeds work, and who's going to play each other in the playoffs. And it's just like a consistent it's a consistent pattern here.
Get myself in trouble. No comment, No, yeah you can't.
You can.
Moving on all right?
That is it from Baltimore, you know, before we take a quick break. Of course, we're here in southern California and in LA all heartbroken by the devastation and destruction from the wildfires.
Here.
I was driving down the four or five pet pass some of it today and it's crazy, it's still happening, it's still horrifying, and families affected by these fires urgently need support. You can help the American Red Cross respond to and help people recover from these disasters by donating today at Redcross dot org slash NFL again Redcross dot org slash NFL we will be back after the break In Houston.
Stroud gets under center fourth and one at the seventeen yard lot of the Charger. CJ hands off to mix some money left.
How's the fifteenth ted? Nextit across the five, Next look to.
The pilot, Next sit to the hud zone.
Celebrate mix it on fourth down, Peter and the Texans have their lead extended.
Seventeen yard touchdown run.
I think you just started the h Town leap.
That was Joe Mixon, that was Mark Vandermere and Andre ware On k I l t thirty two to twelve. A score of GOMI in the playoffs and.
A scorey got me in a situation where it felt like if any team was gonna win thirty to twelve in this game, for most of the first half, it felt like the Chargers were going to be that team.
It was absolutely crazy.
I almost can't believe looking at the final scores and even the final numbers, where the Texans end up with four hundred and twenty nine yards and the Chargers end up with two sixty one, Like, I can't believe that's how it ended, because it just didn't feel that way for most of the game. And if you look at the success rates for the two teams, they're actually pretty
similar for a lot of it. But that drive, and I wanted to start there, Bill, was one of the most surprising drives I've ever seen to see the twenty twenty four Houston Texans. Maybe they're turning a new leaf like in the in the actual New Year, run the ball. I believe it was fourteen straight times to end that.
Drive, thirteen so fourteen play. Drive it through the on the first play and then ran it thirteen consecutive times to finish up. So that's why they're not also in the thirteen for thirteen club. It was thirteen for fourteen, Right.
I have not been more surprised by a drive all season, considering how in effective the Texans have been running the ball all year, And yet at that point it was like the Chargers defense, which were absolutely ready for this game. It was a good defensive game. They just sort of gave out and Houston was just much too much for them.
And that place was rocking.
And the Texans are going to the Divisional round for the second straight year.
Yes, And you know, I think there was an element of being tired. They've been on the field so often because their offense was either scoring really quickly or turning the ball over really quickly or going three and out. And I don't know what the play disparity was in this game, and certainly the Chargers had a lot of plays early before the Texans then took over and sort of controlled the ball at that final drive at the
end of the first half. We could also talk about as a you know, a season saving drive in some ways for the Houston Texans. I mean, this game was there, it was there for the taking for the Chargers. There is a a version of this game where instead of getting stuffed on third and one in the first drive,
they convert. They score a touchdown when they've been moving the ball really effectively, Texans turned the ball over immediately, give them a short field, They score another touchdown, They get the ball back again after a Stroud they dropped a Stroud interception, and then they get a Strad interception, they have another short field, they score on that. It's
twenty one to nothing. I mean, they could have taken over this game, and there's a lot of like, you know, a lot of me filling in the blanks for this offense, which is maybe undeservedly given that they really did struggle for the majority of this game. But we see this happen in games where you give a team a couple of short fields and the game's over, and you know, there would have been no thirteen play run, drive down
twenty one nothing. I think that the Texans defense did such a heroic job of saving this game long enough for the offense to finally get going, and once it did, it felt like the Chargers didn't have many answers outside of the occasional turnover.
Yeah, that's all really well said.
I want to blame the Chargers on one hand for having in their first ten drives of the game under one hundred and fifty yards, with three interceptions and a.
Fumble that they picked up the fumble.
And one third down six points in the one of the field goals was a twelve yard drive that was just you know, set up by one of those turnovers. I want to blame the Chargers offense. But one of the reasons I actually thought this was a good game.
It was obviously like a West of this game. That is, you know, for those who are new to the show, the early Saturday afternoon game, which our dear friend Chris Westling dubbed West of which is when Andy Dalton and the Bengals would traditionally lose, although at some point in there they started playing the Texans, and the Texans just took over that time slot and they've actually played in Yes.
That was the jj WAT Pick six game. I think was the turning point.
That was the turning point. I was at a game that brock Osweiler started against Connor Cook, which is in the mix for the worst starting quarterback com you know, matchup in the history of the NFL, certainly in the twenty first century, which is you know, more about passing.
And they won that game.
It was the first ever home victory by the Texans. At some point it switched to the Texans and they own the slot. They are now six and two.
What why why were you at that game of all games?
For like a year or two, my old boss at the NFL wanted me to get out on the road more and they were sending.
Me to they to playoff games.
And yes I was the Houston Texans or Cincinnati Bengals of NFL dot com column writers. I you know, I'll respect Jeffrey Chidia, Judy Batista. They deserve their spot in line. They were doing it, you know, all season long, and so I was fourth in line. Maybe it was wish as the other one, but yes, I would go to the worst games usually of the weekend, and they went. They won that game. There are now six and two
in these games. And for all and I know I'm talking about here for although blame I want to put on the Chargers defense offense. I just think this was an incredible defense by the Texans, Like sometimes that really can't happen. And for a while, the Chargers defense was playing incredible this game. You mentioned the third and short that they don't pick up, Well, who's making the stop there? That was Kaylen Bullock, their young safety I believe was
in on that stop. It's passes defense. Darryl Stingley ends up with five passes defense in this game. An incredible interception, Kamari Lassiter has an incredible interception. Autry is making plays all over the place. Will Anderson saved them early in this game. Like they all just were taking turns, making incredible plays, and they were just obviously better schematically and talent wise than the Chargers offense was on this day.
Yeah, and that's a surprise because the Chargers, whatever you want to say about their offensive abilities, are a well
coached offense generally. But I think we saw a game plan that really hit the weaknesses of the Chargers hard, and that was a lot of twists with their star edge rushers, So not just rushing them one on one against these strengths of the Chargers their offensive tackle, a lot of them getting them inside, getting them against the offensive guards, getting them against the centers, getting them against the running backs. That worked really well. There was a
lot of flush justin Herbert in this game. We saw a lot of doubling of lad Bakkonki. Derek Stanley did not travel in the slot with lad Bacconki. But this was you know, they didn't play a lot of man coverage in this game. They played a decent amount, but it wasn't like they were, you know, the twenty sixteen
Patriots when he came to man coverage. But I think there was that element of the same filosophy of Okay, lad McConkie, We're going to try and double him with our guys in the interior, get him a safety over the top of La McConkie get a linebacker to help, and then we trust Derek Stingley is going to takeovers on his side of the field and shut them down.
And that was the key part of this game in a lot of ways, is that the Chargers repeatedly tried to go at Derek Stingley and time after time were rejected. I mean, not only did Derek Stanley have a couple of two interceptions in this game, one of which was on a Will Distey drop, the other one on a great play on a throw down field, But to me, one of the biggest plays of the game was that fourth down the Chargers went for where Lad McConkie is
not open. The Chargers have seven in protection to send three guys out, and their only option was to throw a pivot route to Quentin Johnston against Derek Stingley, an all Pro cornerback, where not only did Quentin Johnston run a half yard route on fourth and two where even if he caught it, he would have been short of the sticks, but then he also did that complete catch
and it was an incompletion as well. So just a you know, just a if you can get your best player against a wide receiver, three caliber receiver and on a fourth down that's say win for you on defense. So I think the Texans really gave the Chargers the answers they wanted them to take, and then exploited those answers with their best players.
So Quinton Johnston, who had the best game of his career last week, it really was the Quinton Johnson's game.
I don't know what it was. It was like eight for one, ninety seven or something. Insane. Didn't have a catch on five targets.
Today.
To go to the rest of the Chargers receivers for non lad mcconkee targets, they had forty five yards on eighteen targets. McConkie goes nine for one to ninety seven and one, including that incredible touchdown, And you can blame that completely on all the other receivers. Justin Herbert obviously bears funy of blame in this game, ends up with four interceptions. It's more than he had all season long. And yet I do think about that play. That's a good example. It's their lack of talent to win a
one on one matchup. It's Quinton Johnston running a bad route. You can't really blame Herbert there for throwing it to him because he's got to assume his option right is making it.
That said that where.
You could blame him a little bit on that play maybe is you got seven into protect and I know he hadn't been protected great that game. He doesn't try to become a playmaker too often, like the ball was still out of his hands quickly and seeing the matchup that he had and there wasn't a lot of separation there.
It's a split second decision. But what CJ.
Stroud did well in this game more than anything I thought was it was run the ball and make a couple of plays to help turn this game around. And when it's not going well for Herbert, that does stand out that he doesn't do a lot of playmaking. Though that's one pick you could knit here along with the four interception.
It's a tough week out here for Herbert the Herbert Hive. I mean, it's going to be a tough six months.
It was weird because he did do that more during the regular season. That was one of the welcome benefits of justin Herbert the shear was that he was we anymore and it felt like that was something that he was being encouraged to do by the Chargers, and I want to go back. You know, it's Saturday night. I want to go back on Sunday or more realistically maybe Monday and watch this game again and see if those
opportunities were there. Figure they were. But the interceptions, Yes, the Will Disley pick is not on Justin Herbert, but I got three that are and that's the entirety he had of all season that were bad decisions, bad throws. I mean that first pick, every bit of a twenty nineteen Josh Allen. We're all laughing on social media. What is this guy doing? Pick after a interception from Justin Stratt for for CD Strat, excuse me? You have you
know you're gonna take a shot. I understand that you're throwing across your body, you know, from the right side numbers to the left side sideline. No window is there. Like the best case scenario is that's going in complete, like just a bad decision, just the decision decision you cannot make as a great quarterback, as a quarterback, expecting
me when a playoff game. And the disheartening thing is now, I think we're gonna go back to this regular season and people are gonna look at what Justin Herbert did, and his numbers are not great this year. I mean, he had a incredible interception rate, but his first down rated, sharts per attempt, everything else was okay, some above average, a little bit below average in some places. He took too many sacks, especially sacks that got him injured, where
he wastly extending plays. There's going to be a real reflection on Justin Herbert. I don't think they're going to make any changes, obviously, but I think you know, there was a lot of good will built up for Justin Herbert over the course of this season.
That was coming out hard. He's coming swinging for Herbert.
What did I say here? That's crazy?
This this man now he had four receptions.
In the playoff. Can't be through the entire season. But this was in the shoe all year. That was that was propping him up all season was an incredibly low interception rate, and that's unsustainable. We know.
I thought he managed games really well all year. Their offensive line was okay this year. Their running game was miserable for the most part, and was miserable in this game. One of the lowest success rates sixteen, yes, all season long, they had one of the lowest success rates in the NFL. And they couldn't run the ball today either outside of that first drive. And even that first drive it ends on a third and one that gets blown up.
And it even.
Reminded me of last week against like the Raiders, like they couldn't they couldn't get a third and one early in second and one third and one early in that game, and that that was them all season.
And so the running game it's stunk. It's not.
It doesn't mean that it's an excuse for Herbert, but they you know, Greg Roman without a running game is like, what do you got here?
Right? That's not what I was going to say, is you know you bring in Greg Roman. That's what he's there for. That's what he's supposed to do, is fix your running game. And I understand this was not a running game that had a Lamar Jackson as an active participant, didn't have a Colin Kaepernick as an active participant, or a Tyrod Taylor. They didn't have the quarterback run game
factored in. But Greg Rowman was still supposed to be able to build a coherent run game around the pieces he had, And I think We all love seeing JK. Dobbins have a great start to the season, but he had two one hundred yard games to start the year and didn't have another one the rest of the way. I mean, they were very inconsistent running the football and that led to a lot of ways to drives and in this game, Herbert misthrows. He made mistakes, got some
really good throws of course as well. It's not like he was completely terrible, but you know, it felt like they did not have the ability to rely on the run game when they needed it.
No, but the numbers, the numbers are crazy. Now if you go through the four inner sevens. Yeah, that first that first pick, terrible decision, but an awesome play.
Out a Lassiter.
Yeah, like these Texans cornerbacks, it's the best young secondary in the league by far. I mean, that might be the best cornerback duo in the league. It's in the mix right now, Lassiter intingly, just just because just because Stingley is that that good right now? Like they're in the mix. But in terms of a young secondary, Okay, that's fair the Steelers, but I'm including Jalen Petrie, who is awesome this year and he's out he's out, and I think is he out for the season.
He's He's not gonna but Callen.
Block's been great and like that reminds me of another play from recent weeks, Like when he has a chance to make the catch, he makes it. Now, you got the Eric Murray pick six. That was more of just Herbert's a little rushed, a little crowded in the pocket, throws it a little high and it and it goes through Maconkey's hands, but it's a high throw.
They were forcing him to try to make touch passes.
That really wasn't one of them, and that's not like something he does that well. And the other interception, what I'm trying to say is sometimes you have opportunities to make an interception and you don't make them. Those weren't the easiest ones ever, and they did make them. Whereas the Chargers, for instance, as you mentioned, like second drive of the game, they drop a potential Stroud interception. I mean, hell,
the Chargers did turn the ball over three times. The first freaking play of the game is a fumble that they force on a short catch like and it doesn't matter.
The Texan defense just was ready for all of it.
Yeah, I mean, yes, there was pressure in Justin Herbert's lap on that overthrow for the pick six. It's also a throw into the flat, Like you can dirt it, you can put it in a place where it's not going to be that they're going to be a short catch or an incompletion. There's lots of things you can do. What you cannot do is sell it over your wide receiver's head. And this is not you know, this is not Bonicks, this is not year one. Let's see what
this guy does. It's not Caleb Williams. This guy is in what his fifth sixth is as a pro, like he's on a second contract. He is getting the hype as a superstar quarterback. Like, you can't make that throw. You cannot miss that throw under any circumstances. That is a like that that I cannot think of another quarterback.
I'm sure you'll sure someone clip for me tomorrow, but like, that is a throw you cannot make as a franchise quarterback in that situation, Like you have to be able to either escape that pressure or be smart with the football and smart with your placement. And he was not, and it it basically ended the game as a contest.
Yeah, out of playoff games. I think it was your friend Seth Walder right that he put it out that out of two hundred and fourteen playoff it was it Shield that put this out that Justin Herbert was two hundred and thirteenth in EPA per play So it's gotta be a rough offseason. I think he's a top ten quarterback. I think he played like a top ten quarterback this season.
He's absolutely fair through five seasons to think that the promise of his rookie year that he was going to be right there with the top guys in the league, He's obviously not with the top guys in the league. Can can he get there eventually? Yeah, Like it's possible, but he obviously is not in that top tier group. And yet despite all this, Bill like, this was absolutely a game that I still thought the Chargers were going to win when it was six to nothing late in
the second quarter. Let's take back. Let's think about where the Texans were. They had the ball pretty much coming out on their own goal line. Were they on the two yard line? Everyone thought they were probably gonna like take a safety there. Everyone's making the same joke like here comes the safety CJ.
Stroud, there was almost an intentional grounding call, right.
That's what I was going to say, like, oh sorry, that call to me or non call was almost as big as the third and sixteen play where Stroud scrambles. After that, he you know, trails after a bad snap and hits the third and sixteen play to kickstart that two minute drive. He is flushed, he's in the pocket. He throws it out of bounds and when they showed that replay, at least from that angle, it looked like he was in the pocket to me, but it was close.
Those are tough calls to make.
They didn't make the call, but that would have made it eight nothing with under two minutes to go, and then clicking out instead, they get another chance. He has a third and sixteen play and it's just like a scramble play, and it was almost like that moment Bill CJ. Stroud, like he couldn't think because he's just running after a
ball and the game is about to end. He's running after it and he's just finally just makes a play and gets a big first down, and after that it was like he locked in and he was the CJ. Stroud for the most part that you would want to see. There were a couple of little blips, but like he starts hitting a ton of inbreakers.
Yeah. I actually went and looked at it on next Gen. I tried to, like, you know, chart it out, and I think it was the right call. I think it was good to hear. It was either the right call or it was close enough that I cannot fault them for not making the call. And my first instinct was that it was grounding. So I feel like not going to put the refs down too much for that. But I see what you're saying, and I don't disagree to
one extent. But when it's eight nothing and you're getting the ball back, your instant goes, Okay, we can score a touchdown and make it fifteen nothing and then we're we're in great shape. But nothing the Chargers. Did you think that they were going to score? That's that's the only part that I find difficult to believe is that, Okay, if it was going to be a defensive touchdown, maybe
that would have gotten a fifteen. But it felt like even when they got short fields in this game, they were not able to do anything with them, and so to me, you know, the defense was gonna have to win this game, and once, like you said, one Stroud hits that play. It felt like so much of what the Chargers were doing was just taking away stuff over the top. I think they were playing, you know, very
conservative shells on defense. I think they wanted their pass rush to get home and to be the focal point of the defense. They did lose Denzil Perriman early in this game, but there's not a great, you know, coverage linebacker. He's more of a run plucking linebacker. So I don't think that made a big difference. But like you said, Nico Collins just got open over and over and over again on in breaking rounds. They had Christian Fulton covering him a lot, and it felt like Fulton was not
up to the task necessarily. But I think in the big picture, the thing I would say is just this is a very top heavy Texans team. They have some very mediocre, play meaningful roles. They are some guys who have been banged up because of injury were playing more
than they should because of injuries. Like they have their stars, they have Collins, they have Stroud, They have the defensive ends with Hunter and Anderson, they have Stingley, and then to a lesser extent, they have maybe maybe not to a lesser extent, but they have Lassiter and they have Bullock in the secondary, and all of those guys were
awesome in this game. And that is the difference. The Texans were able to attack the weakest parts in the Chargers roster, and so many times the Chargers were stuck trying to attack the strengths of this Texans team and were not able to do so.
Will Anderson ended up with six quick pressures in this game. So that's under two and a half seconds. Like, that's wow, that's just like an epic performance. Seven overall, both Daniel Hunter and Deniko Autry both had five pressures in this game, and three for Hunter were quick.
So do you remember in the two plays before the crazy Mconkee touchdown?
Okay, let's play it. So this is one of the crazy four play sequence. Our producer Eric had some fun putting this together. Just sit back and enjoy.
Empty packfield for Herbert first down from the charge with her Ause, these looks like he's coming.
Three receivers to.
The left side, watched out of the field as these drops back. Here comes well co terminator with a second Herbert second and seventeen from the charger.
Twenty three. Here's Herbert in the backfield again. Mario cuts back there. They brassed Herbert for another sack.
Back to back.
This is an onslaught by the Texans defensive front third and forever, third.
And twenty six down, twenty three to six. Herbert the throne steps up in the pocket.
Mclakey with a grab and mccaukey in the race is fifty forty mccaukey thirty twenty ten touchdown. Chargers on a third and twenty six eighty six yard touchdown Dicker.
The kicker between the hashes with the spot Jake K. Scott will hold as the Chargers get the block. Kick here and it's patted down by Ticker.
The Texans are.
On the move with it.
It's still alive, being brought back across the thirty twenty ten DiAngelo Russ all the way to the house as the Texans get too.
Unbelievable. Yes, that was the four place sequence sack sack. It's twenty three to six, by the way at this point, like early in the fourth quarter, long Maconkeye touchdown that was for eighty six yards, A great throw by Herbert. I mean, it could have gone either way, but it got through Maconkey's so freaking good.
He ends up nine for one ninety seven. And then yes, the.
Blocked extra point, which I don't know how the Nickelodeon crew was on it, but I think it confused the regular CBS crew of like, wait does this count?
Confuse the players.
As to either And I think if it gets past the line of scrimmage it doesn't count. But it doesn't matter because it's blocked before the line of scrimmage and then they return it and it would have been a ten point game. Like you said, I don't think the Chargers defense was gonna come back enough in this game. But that's about as wild a four play sequence as you will ever see.
That was fun, Yeah, And I think it's an example of everything you might want to confirm about the Chargers offense. I mean, first two plays, two just immediate sacks. I mean, just no protection whatsoever. I would guess the first is on Justin Herbert. It looks like he's hot off the right side there. Again, I want to see what the tape says, but it looks like there's three people coming to that side, so he should be hot. Doesn't have an answer. It takes a sack immediately from Will Anderson.
Second play, nobody blocks anybody. It feels like four people break through. And then just In Herbert saying, screw it. I'm just throwing it as hard as I can to the only receiver I trust, and either he's gonna come down with it or I'm gonna throw a pick. But I don't want to get hit on this play. And then the Dicker play, which Dicker is going to get a ton of criticism for knocking the ball down. If
you see JK. Scott on this play, he sees the Texans recover it and does not break into anything more than the lightest of jobs. I think he thought the play was over. I think other players on the Chargers team thought this play was over. It was like, what did it?
Was?
The fair kick? What did they run a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, the Chargers where they had the free kick free kick kick?
Yes, yes, yes, they felt like the opposite of the free kick, where like the free kick was. You know, these Chargers are geniuses. The special teams were so well prepared. This was the exact opposite. It felt like they were not prepared for the situation whatsoever, and it came back to bite them and cost them two points at the worst possible time.
Yes, and they didn't do anything when they got the ball again anyways. And they also couldn't get off the field as the Texans are just.
Running the ball over and over and over.
I will say I thought of a camp today for Ladi McConkie, just in terms of how people talk about him. I was convinced after Nico's kind of breakout year that like coming into this year, that he was still weirdly undervalued, that that contract was one of the best contracts in the entire NFL. And because he's like a top ten type of receiver, and I don't think people quite saw him that the way that Texan's knew and he is. I mean we saw that again when he's on the
field this year. He is absolutely electric. There's nothing that he can't do. He ends up with seven for one, twenty two and one. He can do it all. I think lad McConkey is going to be a top ten NFL receiver. There's this weird thing because he's so small that people just immediately like, Oh, as long as you get someone with him, he'll be fine. What doesn't he do? He wins on the outside, He wins contested catches. He is electric in terms of his short area quickness, but
he has long speed. If you watch the second half of this season, there's so many catches like that where he is leaping. He's not mossing guys because of his size, but he's winning at the catch point. As long as he stays healthy, and he stayed healthy this year year, I don't see why he isn't a guy that can't put up even better numbers than he did this year and they were absolutely electric, and you can build a passing game around him. It's just you need more than
just one guy. You need like Nico needs this year. His guys are hurt. You need to get more guys around him. But Lad McConkey is that good. He's one of the better like rookie receiver seasons we've seen in a while. That the problem is he's surrounded by all these other great rookie receivers.
That's a tough part, though, is that he did this with nobody around him this year, and that's the big off season project for the Chargers is getting more playmakers, whether it be a running back, whether it be a tight end, whether it be hopefully at wide receiver. It stinks because you're basically riding off the first round pick the prior regime used on Quinton Johnson and sort of not relying on him.
They tried to make it work this year.
He was he was okay, you know, he had some terrible games. That Ravens game I think was really awful. I don't think you want to run it back next year needing Quentin Johnson to be your wide receiver too. I think if he's in Nicks, it's fine. But I think they so many teams are going to try and get t Higgins, but they need somebody else who could win on the outside. So Talkie can be you know, poor man ceed Lamb on the inside.
Sure. And but because yeah, that's a fair comparison.
I mean, he's obviously not going to be as physical, and maybe it is the size and maybe because he struggled staying healthy at Georgia and it felt like every game he was kind of limping to the sideline this year. But then you look at what he actually just did and I couldn't be more impressed. I would absolutely take him in a redraft over Marvin Harrison Junior, Roma Doonzi. It's not even close because this tape matters more and
to me, he showed wide receiver one NFL tape. I would still take Brian Thomas over him, Like I love Brian Thomas. My Lak Neighbors is awesome. So whatever you could, you could choose. But like he's He's that's not bad dude.
Being being right up there with Lak Neighbors and Brian Thomas is not exactly any.
Right, And I wouldn't argue, like if you were like this, this guy fits what we want to do. Like he he is absolutely a dude. So is Nico Collins, so is CJ.
Stroud.
I hope, I hope he locks in a little bit. One thing that really struck me was a really key sequence at the end of the first half after the Texans scored their first touchdown. They're hitting all those Nico Collins in breakers. They get one for a touchdown, the Chargers get the ball back. They're trying to The Chargers actually took what I thought was a smart time out late in the in the Texans drive to try to
save themselves time and it paid off. They have a decent amount of time, but they go three and out and they give the ball right back to the Texans who get a field goal. That was really keyed by a CJ. Stroud scramble, and that was the first big scramble and he never scrabbles, and Demico Ryans was shown on the sideline at that point yelling, that's.
What I'm f and talking about.
That's what I'm ef and talking about, and he was so happy that Stroud just finally ran because he's so just loath to run all season. And then the second half after the game, he really ran a lot. The dude can't slide. I don't know what's up with that, but it was a big part of this game, him picking up first downs and then just kind of like falling forward in a way that made him look like he was going to get hurt.
Still counts, still counts. So you don't break your ankle sliding. It's good. I mean, that's never going to be the focal point of his game, but it gives you the opposing team something to think about. I guarantee the Chargers did not come into this game thinking Okay, we have to be prepared for the possibility of spying CJ. Stroud, like we can control them in the pocket. We're good. That never came up and it absolutely mattered. And now whoever they play next week has to be prepared for that.
They have to think, okay, like CJ. Stroud's going to go if we don't have eyes on him. That's going to change the way they rush the passer, are going to change the way they play coverage. It opens up a lot of things. There's the reason that a lot of the best quarterbacks in football are devastating scramblers because it is a button you can press that picks up easy yards, helps you convert third and longs, and you know, changes the way people cover you. On defense, What did.
What did you think?
Like?
Overall?
Does this give you optimism that the Texans offense specifically could play well enough to win another game because the defense, this is one of the best defensive performances you could possibly have to ask this again is too much, but they could. They could be the best defense left in the playoffs if they just went on a tear.
I'm not expecting them to be.
I'm just saying, like We've seen that happen a defense gets really hot. Now can the offense do you think play well enough to give them a real chance to beat these better teams.
They prove that they could do it for a half or for a little over a half of football. They were incredible on offense. Outside of the turnovers, which they lost the fumble and they nearly threw an interception to Derwin James. They tried their best. It was more of a good play by Derwin James and a throw by CJ. Stroud. But this offense has been so inconsistent and so frustrating all season. They've been stuck in third and long so many times, and eventually they're going to hit a couple
third and longs, and they did in this game. But to me, they were They were so bad ely in this game, like they could have thrown a couple interceptions, they lost a fumble, They looked like they weren't on the same page. Like Stroud's throws. Nobody was even near them early in this game.
He seems as streaky as any quarterback in the league. That he can be in his own head where he just can't think straight and then like something happens, and then he clicks in and he's CJ. Strouded again for the rest of the game or for a couple of quarters, and they have some good drives, but I still have my doubts. I mean, even during that second half run where they were coming back, you know, they had the fumble, they had a second and forty situation which you don't
see too oft. They also had a second and one at the four yard line where they ended up settling for a field goal. That was a four play, one yard drive where they go backwards. That was like, so even during this run, I don't know, it's hard. It's a little hard for me to see this offense getting it going. But you have a quarterback that you have a chance.
But I had no faith in them being good on offense heading into the postseason, and now I'm still skeptical. But at least I saw them be good for a half. That's a half more than I had seen from them for the vast majority of this season against good football teams.
And the vibes are good.
Let's actually listen just quickly to uh Will Anderson post game with Omar Ruiz.
Congratulations Will that one game season continues, yes, sor it does.
Thank you, let's go take.
I love a little bit of that. I also love the locker room, which we dote have clearance for that. Demico Ryans comes in and one of the first things he's as to the team is how about that bye week? In reference to Rex Ryan. A lot of the players were talking about some comments that I wasn't even aware of until then that Rex Ryan said it was gonna be until recently, yeah, that that was going to be a bye week. But that was that was a rallying cry for this team. The the dismissal from your colleague.
I know you can't you can't talk.
I would never I would never comment on that. I mean, we saw the who was at the Vikings and Lions, the Rams have the the Kevin O'Connell. We're going to see you in you know in two weeks.
Dan Campbell is the one who said it, what is this? What is this second hand like trashtock that I've never heard of, like secondhand trash like Rex Ryan.
I get, it's just like someone from the media. You can yell at the media, people.
Do that, but this was Dan Campbell that said see you in two weeks, but somehow that they're they're mad at Dan Campbell.
It feels like we're finding very innocuous stuff to push back on or even even coleneral damage, like like you know, I I can ended up as bull to more material for a different team. I trace this back to the Tom Brady everyone says we suck comment where it turned No one could possibly find anyone saying the Patriots sucked that year, but I'm sure there was like someone on Reddit saying that they sucked and that was enough for Tom Brady.
Well, they'll have plenty more people to find as doubters going into next week. Before we get out of here, Let's let's at least we'll hear from Justin Herbert. I fear for this tall, handsome man's off season.
Yeah, it's tough. You know, I let the team down and you can't turn over the ball like that and expect to win and put the team into a tough position there with four turnovers like that. So you know, the defense hung to off. They got some turnovers, they
gave us opportunities. But I just have to be better. Nope, you know, it's just for me to protect the ball and be better about that you know, it was aggressive downfield and you got to do a better job of getting the ball out throwing it away or better ball placement.
So that's on me.
Some of the numbers just crazy, like over ten yards, six for seventeen against pressure.
He started out one for ten, He started.
Out one of eleven. The eleventh was the pick six. Yeah, I mean, listen, he's a I don't want to be part of this justin Herbert culture war. I have felt the same about him for several years. I think he is very talented. I think the results are not always there. I think he has the ability to be a franchise quarterback. He has never had a season as good as many
of his peers in that draft class. It's not make him a bad quarterback, but we have been sitting here for many years now waiting for him to have an MVP caliber season and he's never really come close. And that's fine, but I think we have to be realistic about what the guy is versus what I think we want him to be or hoping he's going to be.
Not herbobeast.
Yeah, So the Jim Harbaugh initial season for the Chargers somehow ends up feeling a little more similar how a lot of Chargers seasons ended.
You take it if you were a Chargers fan this time last we said you're going to the playoffs.
Of course, they won a couple games at the end of the season. The game against the Broncos was great. I mean it was a step forward. The schedule was easy, and we'll we'll get harder. But they definitely took a step forward. They were a disaster last year and so to make the playoffs at all is a big step. But they were road favorites here and they did not get it done. You were one of my favorites.
Bill.
I appreciate you coming on for the first time we've ever done this like a Saturday night playoff recap, and appreciate everyone who came into the chat. A lot of people watching live got to check out the Bill Barnwell podcast. Where else A You're going to be this week around the NFL? I mean around the Horn?
Oh there there's a forty in slip.
Yes, I'll be on around the Horn this week, probably talking about Justin Herbert some more, probably Sports Center this weekend. We will see plenty of plenty of stuff to discuss here.
And in the ESPN plus everyone.
Sure, as I say, it's worth it just for Bill.
You just it's worth it for Bill and the Australian Open like Court fourteen Ky Query match that I'm I'm gonna watch if he's still playing, although he was down two sets when I went into this.
Let's get out of here. Thank you, Eric.
We will be back on Sunday Night recapping those three games. It will be with Patrick Claybonn, Nick Shook maybe a special guest. Thanks again as always to Will Barnwell. Yes, when the Chargers are charging right out of the playoffs, you know football is back.
See a Sunday