Wild Card Saturday Recap: Caleb Williams and Matthew Stafford Deliver Two Classics

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Ball to twenty eighth, Snap to little trouble, Snap picks it up, keep them in the pocket. Look circles back now rolling r like moving up, Wayne, the heat still moving up.

00:00:12
Speaker 2: Now he throws to the end zone and it's so feterception's run by, don't matter.

00:00:17
Speaker 1: Game is over. Game is over.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: The Bears have couped on the lay behind and they beat the Green Bay Packers thirty one twenty sevens All the ghosts of business the seasons has been released into this cold January night.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: What a fourth quarter, What a knife, what a trilogy? The Bears and Packers just put together twenty one to six entering the fourth quarter. But if you've watched this Bears team all season long, maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the Bears are going to the Divisional round thirty one to twenty seven. Bill Barnwell from ESPN with me after an incredible Saturday of wild Yeah football. This is a game bill that is going to be talked about, not just all off season, but for years to come. It could change the shape of the entire Packers organization. We'll find out about that. But what strikes you the most after watching one of the most improbable playoff comebacks that I've ever seen.

00:01:32
Speaker 4: So much to talk about from that game, and I want to be genuine. I thought of like three bit responses and I'm not going to do this cause that game, that game deserves genuine analysis. Really, the thing that struck me was just how good Caleb Williams was. I mean, that final drive they miss a Digity Moore drops what was a perfect pass from Caleb Williams, then two plays later the fake screen and go hits more for a touchdown. Just really more than I guess anything, the poise that he played with, the poise the Bears played with, the poise for most of the game that Jordan Love played with until maybe that final snap where he did fumble the snap. But you know, it felt like if you were a Bears fan and you were skeptical and there's reasons to have been skeptical of this team, reasons to be skeptical of some of the growth from Caleb Williams, this was like such an affirming moment for you. They could not run the ball at all in the first half, they were down multiple scores. It looked like it was going to be a hopeless game, and then it had to warm your heart, even if you're a crusty old Bears fan and just seeing decades of heartbreak, finally things broke your way in a meaningful moment.

00:02:54
Speaker 5: Oh.

00:02:55
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're a Bears fan now like this isn't even close to the fully formed Ben Johnson team. You have Colston Lovelin going up and down the field, dominating. You have Caleb Williams on a day where for most of the game he was a erratic You are feeling like you have a chance to win any game in any situation, even a game you are down two scores in the middle of the fourth quarter, after the Bears, you know, climb back in it from twenty one to six to make it twenty one to sixteen. Jordan Love Responds goes on a touchdown drive. They have a fourth and three that Drew Dolman, the recently named second All Pro Team center, moves before the snap, almost starts tipping over. Then by the time he does snap it, he snaps it over Kayleb Williams's head. The game is over then, but wait, there's a false start called on that play because he moved. They get another chance at it in this fourth and eight that if you're watching us on YouTube, we appreciate everyone who's with us. After the game, We're gonna get to the rams and pants, by the way, which was a classic two in a bit, But you are watching Caleb Williams pull off unreal without any context, one of the greatest throws I've ever seen. I love me some Prime Vision. It's because I saw this angle live of him sprinting left and jumping over the outstretched arm of a defender as he throws it rolling to his left over a defender twenty five yards down the field. And after that, even though they're down eleven points, Bill, it kind of felt like it was like a snowball going downhill. That was one of the most magical plays because they finished the game off and now it will live forever that I've ever seen, except Caleb Williams made a similar play like that to win a game in overtime against this exact Packers team. Just go my gout.

00:04:49
Speaker 4: Yeah. It felt like one of those games where, especially early on when the Bears were struggling, it felt like, oh, this is a confirm your prior's game, right, And the Bears couldn't get off the field on fourth down against the Packers, Ben Johnson was getting hoisted by his own petard on fourth downs. They were sloppy, making mistakes. One of five. You could even see, like coming out of the first half, the interview for Ben Johnson walking on the field so almost like what are you doing on third down, dude? Or from fourth down? Dude? Like you have no idea what you're doing. And it was like, Nope, we're just gonna basically implying his defense sucked and that he had to go for it and fourth down and score as many points as possible because the new defense was bad. And then for the entire game, it felt like every chance the Bears had in a takeaway just narrowly got stripped away. Christian Watson bubbles at the half yard line and the Packers recover Josh Jacobs inexplictably used on a kickoff return fumbles, and the Packers recover a couple of balls from Jordan Love fall harmlessly to the ground when those are passes the Bears have picked off all season, And it was like, well, this is the game that proves the Bears. Once you take those takeaways away, there's two easy to be and they did a really good job on defense in the second half of this game. I compared the Packers offense to a Kevin Patulo led Eagles offense for most of the second half of this game, and that's not a comparison you want to hear. So it really felt almost like the opposite. Like it almost felt like at first we were going to confirm our priors, and then I think that's the game more on and by the time we got to the end, even though this was a classic Bears comeback victory, the way they got there was so different than so many of the other Bears games they've won this year.

00:06:27
Speaker 3: It was and yet the feeling that they can do it at any time, it's just so Unbears, Like. They now have seven comebacks while trailing from under two minutes to go. That's the most of any team in the history of the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats. I still got my Amazon Prime broadcast up and I saw that out of the corner of my eye, So you know, after that third and eight, they finished off that drive. But it does take Dennis Allen's defense, and we'll get into that. The second half of this game, I thought they did a great job considering how undermanned they were, forcing a lot of one on one difficult throws. Jordan Love hit a number of them to still, you know, have one touchdown drive and put them in position. But Brandon McManus misses a field goal that was going to put them up six. It's one of three miss kicks he had on the day. Missed the field goal to end the first half, which would have made it twenty four to three, misses an extra point along the way, and misses that field goal, so they lose seven points. The old story of the Packers kicker just absolutely killing them. The Bears get the ball back and at that point it almost felt like they scored too quickly, like the only chance the Packers were going to have was to give up a touchdown to the Bears, and that's exactly what happened. Let's listen to the dj more go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

00:07:50
Speaker 2: Shut to the left side numbers, snap back, four man rush Cannibal with.

00:07:54
Speaker 1: A doublemore drop back up side.

00:07:56
Speaker 6: By turn to five head up touchdown, touch.

00:08:00
Speaker 3: Down, Bears.

00:08:01
Speaker 2: They've taken the lead on the Packers won pretty go twenty five yards the same connection week sixteen, hoop walk off win.

00:08:11
Speaker 7: This connection a pre pointly wow.

00:08:17
Speaker 3: And that, of course is our friend Jeff Joniac on w MVP. We'll get to hear him for another week this season, and he's been incredible. And that play call where they fake the screen just kind of reminds me like in the second half of these games of Packers Bears games, like Ben Johnson has had all the right calls, and as much as I'm a natt Lafleur defender and each half in theory counts equally, the Bears really have had the answers. It hasn't been a great couple of weeks for Jeff Halfley's head coaching interview cycle, but Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams executing those plays really found a way to pick on the weaknesses of the Packers late in these games.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it felt like they had Colston Loveland on deep corner routes and reel routes and anything to the sideline over and over and over and over again. As this game wore along. You mentioned the screen and go for a touchdown the play before what that was? I believe it was a third down or fourth down that throw to the flat, but they get a blown coverage out of a stack with DeAndre Swift running free into the flat for twenty yards to set up that game winning touchdown. And then you mentioned the Packers letting the Bears score potentially and having to have a chance.

00:09:39
Speaker 3: To go no, I mean, I mean they did it on purpose, right.

00:09:42
Speaker 4: Right, but like the idea that like it probably was gonna happen, and so as an inevitability, try to maximize your chances of scoring on the next drive. Well, Greg, one way you could hurt your team's chances of doing that is by basically lighting your timeouts on fire. That Lafleur, I mean, we don't really have like a valuation for timeouts, but it felt like he got pennies on the dollar for his timeouts in this game. The worst being, of course, third and ten. The Packers call a timeout and then they come out of the timeout and commit a delay a game penalty, and that cost them five yards potentially brand mc manus might make that kick if it is five yards closer. They lose a timeout on defense. They then there's a penalty if there's an injury to their center Sean Ryan, and they have to take a fourth timeout, which costs them a ten second runoff. Just one of those little things that I don't think it defines Matt Lafleur. I don't think it's the biggest reason they lost this game. I think, frankly the kicking and we'll get to some of the other stuff that they did not do in the second half of this game. But just like a theme in the margins where you would expect a veteran coach who's highly regarded by people like you and me, who I think is a really good coach to have a handle on, and they just it was a disaster.

00:11:05
Speaker 3: It's a trend and it's crazy because I think about Lafleur as one of the best coaches in the league. And we just had Ali Connelly on and we were talking about the coaching situation. We've been talking about it all week, the conspiracy theories and the idea that maybe Lafleur isn't a lock to go back because maybe it's a money thing, maybe it's a goodacunt is getting elevated over him, and there's like neither side is completely happy. Maybe they want to try to bring in John Harbar or some like who knows our guy, Ian Rappaport reports before this game that the two sides planned to meet after the season with the mutual you know, goal of getting a deal done. But there is you know, nothing for certain. Sure he and as Oli was saying this week he thought, you know, Lafleur did as good a job this season scheming an offense as any coach in the league or that he's almost ever seen. And yet it is absolutely fair to point out, like this is a trend, like he hemorrhaged those timeouts. If Todd Bowles did that, we'd be absolutely flaming Todd Bowles, like if Rex Ryan did that back in the day. Like that was brutal. I mean, the first time out there, they're leading at that point, and then to have a delay of game coming back the second time out, it's just so that they can get their defensive play call. Again, that's over two minutes you know to go in the first half, and and then the last drive. Love did hit some incredible throws down the stretch of this game, like in the fourth quarter, and so it's sure it's hard to kill Love, but they the operation was frantic. I mean, he did not look exactly under control, like they're barely getting the play call off, like the last handful of plays were not giving you. Hey, I've got things under control. And Jordan Love is a veteran quarterback, I know, like he hasn't been starting that long. He's been in a league, what six seven, six years. It's like it should look a little better than that.

00:12:58
Speaker 4: And Greg, the fact that we've got to a point where the timeouts mattered, where the fourth downs mattered, where Jordan Love had to try and win the game. You know, the defense deserves some of the blame here. There were a lot of open plays. Frankly, the Bears could have scored a lot more in this game if not for some of the fourth downs and some of the sloppy play they had. But the Packers melted down in the third quarter. On offense. They love talking about how Josh Shacobs is like the heartbeat of the team. He looked really good early in this game. They simply could not run the football, and the Bears are not a great run defense. They had negative two yards on their first drive of the third quarter, eight yards, twenty three yards, and zero yards on that four drive sequence. They get one first down before the touchdown drive, but by the way they get backed up on first and twenty after the Jacobs fumble at a holding call on that drive. But I mean they couldn't run the ball whatsoever. And you know, it felt like so much of this game for the Packers either turned into Jordan Love fourth down shots. They had a lot of steps with like motion and getting guys into the flat earling in this game. But then final few minutes in this game was Jordan Love trick plays. It was like Jordan Love, you know, backfoot slot fades and ISOs against the blitz and find Kyler Gordon and then throwed it at him at any point no matter who he's covering. It felt like the degree of difficulty was so high for the Packers when it shouldn't be. I mean, if you have a fifteen million dollar a year running back, you should be able to get more than one yard per carry for the second half of the game. If you have an offensive coach who we think is really good, who did such a great job building an offense with Malik Willis, building some stuff that's going to create some music completion, some easy runs, some solid games, make life easy for your quarterback. This is not supposed to be a good defense, and they didn't look good for the first half of this game, and so it just felt like it was such a struggle, and that was I think what really seems so frustrating to me if you're a Packers fan, is that it never even should have gotten.

00:15:07
Speaker 3: To that point, right, right, So the offense collapses in the third quarter essentially, and the defense is holding on by a thread. But you're right, that four drive sequence where they took an average of less than ninety seconds off the clock with the lead and gain under twenty nine yards. Meanwhile, their defense, which you know is flawed, gets the fourth and one interception of Caleb Williams on the goal line, one of two interceptions that he has. They get a negative play to Fort's a field goal in the third quarter earlier too, So at that point I think they were what like zero for three at least in terms of scoring touchdowns in the red zone. They're one for five in terms of scoring on fourth downs in the defense or the offense rather couldn't make the other team pay. This is where, like I do want to give Dennis Allen his credit because first half of this game, and we can talk a little more about it, but first half of this game, Love basically throws a perfect game. They go touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and miss a field goal at the buzzer to end the half. There weren't a lot of possessions there, and it's just dime after dime. Lafleur is calling everything right. He goes for a couple fourth downs and he hits them both, Like everyone getting so mad about ah, how could you go for fourth downs? You're losing points. It's like the Packers scored two touchdowns in the first half because they went for it on fourth down, including a great play call by him on the goal line, and everything that Dennis Allen and the Bears defense wanted to do in the second half, where they did get a decent amount of pressure, Like the success rates were so uneven in the first half. Everything was so uneven, and if you look at everything by the end of the game, it's all back to even because the Bears essentially dominated the Packers equally in the second half, and that's just kind of been in their DNA. It really is like a like, no matter what happens in this Ben Johnson era, even if there's a lot of success, these are the good old days to pull this off with a second year quarterback and two rookie pass catchers kind of as your lead dogs, and have this sort of fourth quarter magic, and to do it against the Packers, Like, I don't want to be on social media if I'm a Packers fan the rest of the offseason with Bears fans just dunking on me over and over.

00:17:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it felt like, at the very least you could say with some confidence, Ben Johnson did a much better job of adjusting as the game went on than Matlaflir did. When it comes to the offensive side of the football, it felt like Ben Johnson lands it on a lot of his own clear outs, a lot of throws to the sideline, again using Colston Loveland as either a man beater when he was against Kwai Walker. I'm entering Cooper by the way, leaving this game hurt. I think was a underrated difference. They were able to attack the other Packers linebackers when they were in coverage, and then with Matt Lafluir, like I said, it just felt like they were just like, Okay, we're gonna go back and run inside zone and it's gonna work this time. To run duo and it's going to work this time, and it just never really seemed to find a connection. Jordan Love had to throw them back into this game, and they're only a success throwing the ball. And the only e stcess on offense in the second half was when they had no choice but to throw and they had to move the ball with the passing game. And so you know, I wasn't sitting there like they should bench Jordan Love for me Malik Willis, but I was like, man, it should be nice if you could run the Malik Willis run game stuff right now, Like it really was something that was missing.

00:18:29
Speaker 3: It's a fair point that the run game completely dried up because there were a few different ways that we were gonna end up talking about this game. One way is to talk about how dialed in Jordan Loves. Like the first third and one of the game, he throws an absolute dime to Romeo Dops. It was a great night for Prime Vision to just see these two quarterbacks pulling off like really low percentage throws. Then Golden beats Jalen Johnson on like a double move and they're just looking great and then everything's falling apart in the second half like Repackers game and you think it's gonna collapse, and you mentioned that first and twenty situation, and he hits Dobbs for two straight plays where he's picking on Tremaine Edmonds on the first play and then uh it was Kevin Byerd on the second. And they picked on Byered a lot in the second half, and then their first round pick, Matthew Golden makes an incredible individual play. Let's actually listen to the call of what I thought at the time was gonna be the call that we went into this recap with.

00:19:31
Speaker 6: In the shotgun, they get motioned out of the backfield, quick toss, Golden right side, got some.

00:19:35
Speaker 3: Blocking, Celerex Funny spitting his wife.

00:19:37
Speaker 6: Fifteenth to the five cuts it back turns down, touchdown, touchdown, Matthew Golden his first career NFL touchdown, head up backpiker delivered by the rookie out of Texas.

00:19:53
Speaker 2: Wow, that was awesome.

00:19:56
Speaker 3: That is our friend. And yeah, for the last time this year, Wayne Layer and Larry mccaerrn on w R and W. I mean it's an eleven point game at that point that that's before the fourth and eighth drama, Like even after that you know, Love hits Dobs a couple times, including on a slot fave to set up that McManus like they were able to make plays. There is just something in the DNA's of I think this these two teams that like situational football plus fourth quarter just is a dramatic disadvantage for the Packers.

00:20:34
Speaker 4: I mean, Greg, they Jordan Love almost hit Christian Watson on that final sequence. I think it was the first down play he threw like an anticipatory dig I want to say it was like a hole between five different defenders and zone coverage like it was, and it was like under pressure if he got in. Oh, I think like he got hit right as through it and so he couldn't really get as much on it as he would have, so kind of sailing a tiny bit. But like that was almost one of the most perfect throws of the entire season, and it would have probably been the game winning touchdown. Jordan Love, you know, he didn't play a perfect game, I guess, but man, he was not the problem in this game at all. I think the degree of difficulty was extremely high and he over delivered given the circumstances. I mean, I'm always really impress by Jordan Love. I think he's an incredibly underrated quarterback. The fact that he had two intentional grounding penalties, doubling his career total in this game was a little weird, and like he does have that habit of like just chucking the ball out at times, but such an underrated quarterback to me, just the the explosive rate is so high, the chunks are so big, you know. I think people notice his flaws more than what he brings to the table. And I think guys who do pick up significant chunksy garage when they do throw are underrated in general.

00:22:04
Speaker 5: Yep.

00:22:05
Speaker 4: I just think it's a really good quarterback, and I unfortunately don't think some other pieces of the offense were up to that standard.

00:22:12
Speaker 5: Tip.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: No, they didn't have Zach Tom their right tackle, who we thought we would return for the games. The offensive line had their issues. He ends up with three hundred and twenty three yards in four touchdowns, so it's hard to kill him. Romeo Dobs, who's an impending free agent, ends up with one hundred and twenty four yards. He made himself some money tonight, even if if Matt Lafleur didn't that the thing I keep coming back to is like like Luthor Burden with three big catches today, although I think on the fourth down early where Caleb threw his first interception, seemed like Luthor Burden ran the wrong route, like he didn't know the play. Something was going on. And then Caleb Williams is yelling about afterwards, but he's big. Lovelin might be the best rookie in the entire draft class of anyone in the entire League's eight catches for one hundred and thirty seven yards, and I just was expecting, Okay, Packers, you know, with this lead, they go to Seattle, they set up that matchup, and now instead it's it's Chicago watching tomorrow and seeing who their opponent is gonna be and they're gonna have another home game. Like I don't know, I'm still I'm still like getting over how this game finished.

00:23:31
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, Greg, it felt like maybe a little one thing that might have swung this game, and it's gonna haunt Packers fans for the entire offseason is what if the Packers had a dude who could single handedly win you a pass rusher too without having to Plin And that felt like, you know, there were a lot of moments in this game where Kayla Williams had a ton of time to throw. I have I'm trying to find the numbers for time to throw for him, but uh, you.

00:24:05
Speaker 3: Know both were really three point one over three point one seconds for each of them.

00:24:09
Speaker 4: Yep, yeah, I mean, I just I have to imagine it doesn't happen if if Micah Parsons is in there. The Bears frankly did not have a great pass pro game at all. On one of those fourth downs, they just let I think it was Carl Brooks completely free up the a gap to pressure Caleb Williams. Packers ran a lot of twists in this game that I saw. Have to imagine that that would be aided by adding Micah Parsons into the mix. I mean, you know, is it is it unfair to say that he wins them this game? Yes, I don't think it's fair to say because there were other factors that play. But I if I'm a Packers fan, I'm going to sleep tonight, I'm going to sleep for the next six months wondering do we win this game if Michael Parsons is in there? Because it's it's absolutely a possibility.

00:24:58
Speaker 3: I mean, you're not going to sleep. It's not happening. This is the freaking disaster. I don't think. I don't think could you know contextualizing properly that this is one of the worst losses in Packers history. I mean, it really is to be that. How could not be? How could it business? It's the NFC Championship game against the Seahawk. Nothing tops that. I mean, that was a that's a that's a fifty nothing or whatever it was lead where you blow an on SI kick in the NFC Championship game. But this is to the Bears. It's a twenty one to six fourth quarter lead. There's so many different moments where you can put it away, and more than anything, it's possibly the end of the map. Lafleur era like you hope that cooler heads prevail. But if ever, there's a game where there's going to be an emotional decision afterwards, and I'm not sure if that decision is made by Lafleur or or yeah it's made by you know, the new president of the team, or like Guda Kunst is involved, or how it's all happening, or if it's about money or what it's about but if there's ever a scenario that makes like a rash decision like that happen and maybe something they would look back on as a mistake, this is it. This is it because they gaged this game away and it was just so many like familiar hits of bad lafleur losses, unfortunately from over the years, including the mys kicks unfortunately.

00:26:32
Speaker 4: I mean, Greg, it's not just this game go back. This is a month. I mean they lost to the Broncos. They lost a game where if they beat the Bears a couple of weeks ago, where they just have to recover it on side kick to win probably win that game, and of course they end up losing that game in overtime, they get blown out by the Ravens where Derrek Henry looks like he's an MVP candidate for a week, and then they weren't trying against the Vikings. I'm not gonna fault them too much were I'm going to fall clean in tune mostly for that, but I mean they're nine to three and one after that that interception by Keishaw Nixon of Caleb Williams, and they lose their final five games in the season. I would say It's the combo of not only how they lost in the postseason, but the fact that they couldn't find a victory and really blew the NFC North with a big advantage over the over the Bears, with or certainly in pole position to top the Bears if they had swept Chicago. It feels like a missed opportunity. And this is a team now where three years in a row they've been the seventh seed. I feel confident we're not thinking about this team the same way if we're in the twelve team playoff era. I mean, it's you know, it's not like being the seventh seed is good. It's better than not being in the eighth. It's better than being the eighth seed. But it's not like, you know, sneaking into the postseason as the final seed is like a sign that you're, you know, one of the great teams in football. I know the numbers said the Packers are better than their record, but this has been a consistent thing for them where it feels like we're sitting here at the end of the year and saying, well, they're DVOA is good. ESPN's power and Nick says they're good. But it doesn't look all that great when we get to January.

00:28:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm seeing a comment here in the chat that say Packers lost this game, Bears didn't win it. Let's be honest, and to that, I point to that fourth and eight play, and I point to another whole shot toon Colston Lovelin. After that, there were there were so many jaw dropping throws by Kayleb Williams, even like before they were really making the comeback. And the thing about Caleb Williams is like the play before that, he was just a little inaccurate and he missed the third down throw, and then the play after that he had an open receiver and missed that throw too, And he ends up throwing fifty percent completion in this game, you know, and he was dead last in the league and completion percentage. And the more that you watch them this year, the more you realize, like, for now, that's just part of the package, and the good is making up. Yeah, for any of the inconsistency, and for such a young player, you really feel like you can improve on that consistency and you're having a hell of a lot of fun along the.

00:29:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he had a negative fifteen percent completetion percentage over our expectation in this game and still made at least two three four. I'm just thinking of like great Caleb throws in my head, just fantastic throws in this game, one of which wasn't caught, so I don't blame him for that, but you know, like I think it's just you have to accept that flawed and all. This is what the Bears can do. They can look totally hopeless on offense for a half. They can look like they can't cover anybody on defense. They can look like they're gonna miss wide open receivers, they're gonna be screaming at each other on the sideline. But they also have the potential to be great, and they can be great for a or a half or even a few series, and that might be enough if the other team lets them hang around long enough to pull that off.

00:30:07
Speaker 3: I mean, they can have four fourth down fails in a game where they can't get many stops. They can have a total of two successful runs in the first half. You know, if you're talking about like success rate, they can have Ben Johnson on the sideline looking like, yeah, his dog had died or something like that. And pre answering questions as you mentioned, like about the fourth down plays and almost just like defending it. And then they turn it all around. They are different and they are going to the divisional around. What what a season? This is it for the Bears. Like I've had a hard time imagining them making it all the way to the super Bowl because of this lack of a pass rush, because of this defense. And you know, tonight they lose TJ. Edwards there, their linebacker. It's still hard to see them winning like two more. But who knows. They found a way to win this one. We'll find out their opponent on Sunday. Before we get to Sunday, though, we had another classic earlier in the day on Saturday. Yes, there's been a total of three playoff games in the history of the NFL. This one was from Brian Knowles, who we used to work with over at Football Outsiders, who pointed out there's only been three games ever where there's been four fourth quarter lead changes with touchdowns in the playoffs. It was that great forty nine er Saints Divisional round matchup between Alex Smith and Drew Brees. It was the great AFC Championship between Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady and let's go to Carolina, where, Yes, Matthew Stafford and Rice Young gave us a classic.

00:31:53
Speaker 7: From the nineteen Stafford has a helmet, high settles his peak, shoots right side, leaping catch touchdown Wow at the front right pylon. Colby Parkinson gives the Rams the lead with thirty eight seconds to go, and absolute dot from Stafford. Thirty three thirty one and the try coming.

00:32:18
Speaker 3: Our friend JB. Long excited for an absolutely fantastic throw, fantastic drive, fantastic fourth order by Matthew Stafford in what was otherwise an uneven game for this entire Los Angeles Rams team, including Stafford. Yes that was Coley Parkinson, it was JB. Long on KSPN. The Rams defense holds gets a four and out on Bryce Young to win thirty four to thirty one. Back in fourth we went Bill Barnwell in a game that a lot of us thought it was going to be a blowout, Like myself, I was wrong.

00:33:01
Speaker 5: Uh.

00:33:02
Speaker 3: We really thought it when it was fourteen to nothing early. We probably thought it when it was seventeen seven and it looked like the Rams were driving in for another score right before halftime. But this Panthers team, There's just something about them that is inexplicable, and they were that close to knocking off one of the best teams in the NFL today.

00:33:24
Speaker 4: I mean, we got a Bryce Young drive to take the lead. I mean it was like, I don't like you know they like you mentioned the four and out to end the game. That was gonna be a tough spot. They didn't have a drop on that fourth down that would have extended the game from Horn. But I was so impressed without Bryce Young played in this game. This was not a great matchup for the Rams on defense or on up. I'm sorry, great batch up for the Panthers on offense. Given the Rams front, they were in Bryce Young's face all day. I mean, he just was getting hit, he was being forced to scramble, he was being forced to create out of structure, and did throw an interception. I don't think that was his father. I think it was Jalen Kocher. I believe stopped on a route where Bryshelm was expecting him to keep running. But I thought, if you're a Panthers fan, I know you're upset. You're gonna be bummed that you lost. This was a winnable game. They played really well. But I think you have to be impressed with Bryschhaun in this game, and I think you have to be optimistic about Bryshaun in this game. He was just making plays, extending plays, accurate throws, like you know. It felt like this was the closest thing in a big game that I think we've seen to Alabama Bryce Young in terms of the improvisation, in terms of the creativity, and I mean we're one where you can move from frankly a pretty bad Bryce Young game against Tampa for most of the day. So I think seeing that against the Rams team where they were being physically dominated up front, just felt like it has to make you feel good.

00:35:02
Speaker 3: It does. And yeah, you mentioned the Rams front winning and I think that was the biggest difference in this game. Pressure rate, It really depends on where you look, but Sumer Sports, which has a great kind of live box score going in this postseason, had the Rams pressure rate at forty seven percent in this game and the Panthers down at nine percent. And I think they're valuing quicker pressures much more because next Gen has it, you know, still double for the Rams twenty three, but The thing is next Gen does like proximity, and you could be like somewhat close pretty late in the down. The thing that is telling most to me is even at next Gen fourteen quick pressures for the Rams in this game and two for the Panthers, and so Matthew Stafford was operating in a much more advantageous situation. And the idea with Matthew Stafford is when he's clean, he's going to kill you. And he did early in this game, and he absolutely did late in this game. And there was a whole bunch in the middle where maybe it was this finger injury that he suffered, and you know, maybe it was just decision making. It was a little bit of everything. To me, it was more of the decisions. But ultimately he goes twelve or fifteen in the fourth quarter with a you know, over one hundred yards and a couple touchdown drives, and supposedly before that fourth quarter drive, he gets the ball back, you know, down four, and DeVante Adams, as he tells the story, says, let's go snatch those guys' hearts, and DeVante Adams says, that's one of the most gangster things I've heard. Let's actually listen to Kobe Turner, friend of the show, talking after the game about Stafford.

00:36:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean nine has been in these situations all the time, so I'm used to it. Honestly, I was just selling somebody else. I was just selling Gary. I looked up at the clock. It said two thirty four with three timeouts luff. My first thought is, do you not know who's on the other side, Like, do you guys not know who nine is? Like? Nine? Is that guy?

00:36:57
Speaker 3: Nine?

00:36:58
Speaker 4: Is that guy?

00:36:58
Speaker 3: He has to fixing nine? He's saving this nine.

00:37:02
Speaker 4: No, you cannot call someone nine in this culture right now. You have to wait let J. J. McCarthy pass by, and then you can start using nine again.

00:37:12
Speaker 3: He's the he's if you're the first team All Pro. And Stafford did get First Team All Pro thirteen more votes than May very similar to the Lamar Jackson Josh Allen vote a year ago. So you can't really say that Stafford's definitely gonna win MVP. We don't know. I think he's taken back nine Bill like it's his now you do what he did in the fourth quarter because they I was not expecting this situation, but there they were in this situation. And the offense, and this team has to be led by the offense. Ultimately did respond and they they picked on the Panthers in the middle of the field. They took advantage in the fact that jac Horn went out with a concussion in the fourth quarter of this game, and they diced up Carolina when they needed to.

00:37:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean breaking routes twenty six of Matthew Stafford's three hundred and four yards. Everything else was either vertical or in breaking from Matthew Stafford. That's how the Rams got back on this game was finding those digs, finding the play action shots, finding you know, some of the option routes where they hit Karen Williams for a touchdown coming out of the backfield. I have to be honest with you, though, Greg, like I was not super impressed with Sean mcvagh in this game. It really felt like for a long stretch, the Rams did not have answers for what the Panthers wanted to do. It felt like Matthew Stafford was throwing a ton to the sidelines. It felt like after they went through their first fifteen where they had some fun stuff like the Pukinikua vertical shot out of the backfield for a touchdown. It felt like showy Fay got away from running the football. It felt like it was a lot of shotgun tossing the ball around, and if you did believe Stafford's finger was injured, it seemed like you would have leaned further into the And the Rams were pretty successful running the ball in this game, a fifty percent success rate for the run game that has one of the highest success rates in recent NFL history this season, and yet really felt like for a long stretch it was just We're going to put Matthew Stafford in shotgun and throw the ball and it wasn't working. And it's fine that they found solutions later in the game. Obviously, Sean mcpaye is a Hall of Fame caliber coach for a reason. But this is not the first time I go back to the Super Bowl run. I mean, they almost lost that game against the Bucks because they wouldn't they just kept handing the ball to cam Akers. They almost lost the Super Bowl to the Bengals because they were insisting on committing to a bad run game at that time. And so you know, with the Rams they did win. Our memories are going to be Stafford's final drive and the quote from DEVIANTA. Adams, which, by the way, do you want to waste that on the first round? But do you think Stafford had that in line for like a super Bowl quote and was like, well, we've got toss to that now. I got to think of something more clever for the Super Bowl. But you know, this is a Rams team where the results have been kind of disappointing for a month and now are do you feel like there's a reason to sort of treat them as something less than what we think they can be based on how they've played recently.

00:40:18
Speaker 3: I have thought a lot about that since the end of this game, Like how much do you take basically everything from when the fourth quarter started in Seattle to now and think that carries forward and knock the Rams and their chances to win the Super Bowl because they've they've looked mediocre since then. You know, they blow that lead in Seattle. They had no business blowing that game. I know it was against a good team, but the way they blew it, they did not play well. They lose the Falcons game in a game they're pretty outplayed. When I finally got back to watching that Cardinals game this week, I was like, man, they were losing like two minutes left in the third quarter of that game against the Cardinals team that has just been absolutely collapsing, and then you have this perform where it goes back and forth, and I tend to think, Bill, it doesn't matter. I know, like really, I actually don't feel I tend to think in the playoffs like it's survive in advance. They have all the pieces that matter that Like, I don't think it necessarily is going to carry over week to week. Like you think about that Bucks game that they that they almost lost when they when they did go on that Super Bowl run. Like the team overall is not like playing at the highest level of where they've been this season, certainly, but they're gonna be in the final eight. And would it surprised me if they just start playing better football consistently from here out, Like, it wouldn't surprise me at all, because for the most part, like they're healthy and there are reasons to believe that they can turn around. It was not a good DeVante Adams game today, Like maybe that helps with him another week back into the lineup after being out for five weeks. Maybe they get Kevin Dotson back, but yeah, like I think they can still straighten it out. But they survived one today.

00:42:05
Speaker 4: Here's the part that concerns me though, if this has been like a Panthers have everything go right for them game, if it had been like a you know, Panthers are like the first game, Panthers go four three for three and fourth down, I hit a couple of long touchdowns, they win the turnover battle. That was not this game, right, The Panthers headed them three short fields, one on a muffed bunt, yeah, one on and then two on failed fourth down tries. The Panthers do turn the ball over for an interception.

00:42:36
Speaker 3: They lost their left tackle almost immediately in the game the pay.

00:42:39
Speaker 4: They lost Ikwanu early on to its apparently as a serious injury. Unfortunately, then the Gordiosh Steamon who has allowed and he handlowed as many quick pressures for next Gen in two starts as Garrett Bulls did all seasons for the Broncos, and he allowed four more in this game at left tackle. I mean, they brought Robert Hunt back and they had to take him out for a stretch because he was just getting run over. Like it was a like you mentioned the pressure numbers earlier in this game. Like the fact that the Rams could not turn this game script and the things that happened into this game into a twenty point victory does concern me a bit. And like, I know they're capable of hitting a gear that maybe nobody else can football and football can hit, but I want to see him do it. I want to see him do it for the first time since Thanksgiving. I want to see him do it for an extended period of time, for a full game like this was supposed to be a we're going to dictate the situation. We're going to tell you who we are. We're favorites, We're going to get revenge on the twenty fifth best team in football per Dvoa, and the Panthers played them to a three point game, and it felt like they deserved to be in a three point game at the very end.

00:43:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, that it's a great point that it did not feel like the fans were lucky to be in this game. If you took the uniforms off, you would have just said, like, oh, these are two pretty equal teams. These are two quarterbacks playing at a pretty high level. Like but that made a handful of mistakes each throughout the game and went through little rough patches, but like the quarterbacks were kind of even, you know, you could you could almost give Bryce, you know, a lot of credit because he withstood the advantages. That part of it is concerning, and I do kind of want going to one run through a little bit of the run of play, because if you go back to the first half, and you know, they get that fourteen nothing lead, they go for it on a fourth down late in the in the second quarter, they don't get it, and then Bryce Young drives down the field gets a scramble touchdown before halftime like that that makes it a game at that point, and then you're just in it. And then if you're if you're watching us on YouTube, you can watch the interception that Matthew Stafford had where Mike Jackson picks him off. And at this point, it's twenty seventeen, it's a third and long late in the third quarter. That was the first moment where I thought, my god, they actually might lose this game. Mike Jackson, Bill Barnwell played the game of his life. He's had a really good season for them, like in terms of advanced you know, metrics, like he's been one of the better cornerbacks in the league, and both him and J. C. Horton played an outstanding game, and that was kind of the moment that got the Panthers going for their fourth quarter come back, and that was like kind of kickstarted what was a really fun end to this game and made me realize like, Okay, they actually could win this game, when throughout before that I just kept expecting the Rams to kind of run away with it.

00:45:52
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, if the Rams hit that fourth down, you sort of figure, Okay, they're going to go in and score. The Panthers are not going to score, and that's going to be like a perhaps an unassailable lead for the Rams in this game. And yet the Panthers didn't really even seem desperate to try to score. When they got the ball back at the end of the second quarter, they sort of like hit a couple big plays and it was like, oh, well, I guess we'll try and then the score a touchdown and then Puka Akua drops which should have been a fifty yard touchdown, hit him right in the hands.

00:46:23
Speaker 3: Which is why I kind of struggle with the Stafford finger thing, because Stafford actually had a number of dimes throughout that he actually had a two for twelve streak during the game where he completed two of twelve throws. But DeVante Adams had two killer drops in this game and Puka had that one. And if, like, if you gave him those yards, he thrust for four hundred and fifty yards or something in this game. So I don't it's kind of hard to separate if there was an injury, like what impact that was, right.

00:46:51
Speaker 4: And I mean, like, I think sometimes when we think about a quarterback being injured less than one hundred percent, we assume that, like every pass is gonna suck. And sometimes that is the case if you like a you know, a certain kind of injury. But quarterbacks can also be inconsistent. They could feel it some plays and not feel it some plays. You know, they might if you have an ankle injury, maybe you step into a throw right, maybe you don't step into the next door right like it is. There's a certain level of erraticism that I think comes into play with these injuries. And so if you told me Stafford was sore but not really impacted, I believe that he told me Stafford was injured and it was actually impacting his throws, but not everyone. I believe that too. I just you know, it felt like he wasn't confident for that stretch, and I was a little surprised the Rams did not respond to that by maybe leaning a little more into their run game.

00:47:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, the run game was quiet, It wasn't ineffective, but you're right, they did kind of go away from it. So the Panthers, you know, respond and get a touchdown, you know, to take their first lead of the entire game. After that interception, then the Rams are driving and a play happened, and that I think's going to be remembered throughout the week as like the biggest non scoring play of the game, which was Pooka Nakua breaking up a potential interception of Stafford. It was the ensuing drive. It's a third and one and they decide to take a shot and I think he thinks Pokinaku is gonna keep running. On the play, Nick Scott has a chance to make an interception in the end zone and Puka basically acts like a defensive back and knocks the ball out. That is when they are down four, and then they end up scoring later in that drive, and so Puka Akua who goes over you know, one hundred yards has ten catches. Between Puka and DeVante, they had thirty one targets. It was just spamming the two of them. Puka also had three carries. I mean they did that end a round play that they absolutely love, like over and over. But you know, they threw the ball to him eighteen times today to get that the one hundred and eleven yards. But that pass breakup might have been like the biggest play that he made though.

00:49:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean Xavior Smith to two out well kind of umfield cardio club forty two routes one target between the three of them at wide receiver. I was a little surprised. I know our friend Mina Kimes also was a little surprised that they did not lean into the tight ends.

00:49:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, in this game.

00:49:22
Speaker 4: You know, they didn't have Terrence Ferguson's maybe that impacted things here and there, but they had Tyler Hitbee, had Kobe Parkinson, had Davis Allen. The Panthers have been terrible on throws tight ends.

00:49:32
Speaker 1: This year.

00:49:33
Speaker 4: We saw as the gamer on they wanted to attack Christian rose Boom wanted to attack, Nick Scott wanted to attack the linebackers, and yet didn't really do that for much of this game until, of course, the game winning touchdown pass from Stafford to Kobe Parkinson. And so I understand wanting to force feed Puka Nakua and DeVante Adams. I think Puka made a great play to break up that touchdown. But again, I just I sit here and say, this is Week nineteen of the NFL season. You are a veteran offense operating at a high level with the probable MVP at quarterback, a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame wide receiver, a wide receiver who's the broader an offensive player of the year. It shouldn't look this disjointed, not against the Panthers defense. You should have answers that are not you know, low percentage curls and out routes that aren't working against the strength of the team. And it just felt like the Panthers made it more difficult for those The Rams made it more difficult for themselves. Just sort of thought they were going to dominate with their talent, and it almost cost them their playoff lives.

00:50:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, they they end up. You know, when I looked at the final numbers, it wasn't a ton in the first half in terms of going two tight end or three tight end. But now when I look like they still you know, went either two or three tight end over forty percent of the time, which is a ton, and pretty much went at their season average in terms of three tight ends, which was you know, by far the most of any team in NFL history. It just didn't work very well. I mean, they average under four yards per play with three tight ends on the field under five yards per play with two tight ends, So you know, it was a lot of the numbers are coming in those last two drives where they kind of finally figured out, and that was mostly with three wide receivers, And it's really just the offense wasn't, you know, consistent in general. I do want to give them some credit of like the things you know that they did do well. Like Stafford, I thought his decision making was a little all over the place, but he also did some things that not many like quarterbacks would would do. He had an audible on a fourth and one to a Kira and Williams run, which was like the exact perfect play call in the in the time. He had a sneak by himself, which was literally the first one of the season, right, his.

00:51:58
Speaker 4: First first down of the the entire season. Matthew Stafford as a runner, He's now forty behind Drake May if he wants to try and catch up.

00:52:08
Speaker 3: I like what you did time. And then there was another third and long on one of their field goal drives in the in the second half, where you know he sees exactly where the blitz is gonna come from, he moves everything over to the side, they get it blocked up, he hits it, and they hit a field goal later in that drive. So sometimes it's the small things that he does is really good. And yet you know, they got the ball back with four minutes to go, and sometimes you don't need the game winning drive if if you just finish it off earlier. They get it with about seven minutes left, up three, and I think they're gonna put the game away here, and they take a holding penalty and they end up settling for a couple underneath passes and they punt the ball away, or at least they try to. This is where the game got really crazy. Let's actually listen to the pan. There's block punt short and.

00:53:02
Speaker 4: How to check that ball out, Edams gets the study.

00:53:04
Speaker 6: Go Dad, the kick is block.

00:53:06
Speaker 3: It's lunch, it's.

00:53:08
Speaker 1: On the ground. It doesn't matter who has it. It's Carolina football. At the thirty yard line of the way.

00:53:16
Speaker 2: I Sayah Simmons with the block, Hey recovers the ball.

00:53:22
Speaker 1: Special teams comes.

00:53:24
Speaker 3: Through, so they get that punt block. They drive down. That's with just over four minutes to go, and Bryce Young is set up on a fourth down situation and he does what Bryce Young does and has done really the last two seasons. If you've watched him every game, you know, the prettiest Bryce Young throws are extremely pretty. He does the hard stuff really well. Let's actually listen to the go ahead touchdown pass to Jalen Cocher.

00:53:54
Speaker 1: Young out of the gun.

00:53:55
Speaker 4: Here's the snap.

00:53:56
Speaker 3: Bryce looking left throws deep left, counter the side, Jaylan Choker pulsed in bill touchdown.

00:54:04
Speaker 4: How the Panthers have played what two thirty nine to go, Price's magic Israel half.

00:54:12
Speaker 1: Cocher has played the game of his whate.

00:54:17
Speaker 3: Really great Cooper there. Coker goes over one hundred yards. By the way, I wanted to correct my mistake. That was a third and three. I think in my head. It was a fourth down because they're down three, and I'm thinking they'll probably gonna kick the field goal there, and he just puts that in the spot only Cocer can get it.

00:54:34
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:54:34
Speaker 4: I thought Jalon Coker was really good in this game running away from cornerbacks. By the way, be honest, Greg, Yes, I'll be honest after you're honest. Did you know Isaiah Simmons was on the Panthers when he blocked that nine? No, I had no idea. I was like, are there two Isaiah Simmons is? Like I was thinking, I'm like giants. I know he's in the NFL somewhere, but man.

00:54:56
Speaker 3: He's bouncing around. He was with the Packers at one point obviously sleep back in the day. No, I did not know he was kicking around on special teams because they are not using him on that.

00:55:06
Speaker 4: Big play, big play. And you're right about Brycetown and that he makes the hard stuff look easy. And I think, like, you know, there's like a sort of like a meme or some meme element to him about like you know, all his best passes or touch passes, like the only thing he can do is a touch pass. But like, man, when his story was out breaking routes and there's a little bit of space to work with those stories are on the money. He was again, I just think it reminded me a little bit of like Tony Romo to something, except when he was like scrambling and like spinning out of pressures and escaping and then hitting receivers on the run. I just you know, they're if he had been terrible in this game, I still think they pick up his fifty option, but you don't feel good about it. And I think if you're the Panthers, you're like running to the window to hand in Bryce Shung's fifth year option after that game and not like, you know, this was the biggest game of his career. I don't think it was a game that was single handedly going to decide his future, but I think it made life so much easier for the Panthers to envision a future with Bryce Young being a focal point event because he was every bit as good as the NFL MVP against worse pressure, with worse receivers, with a lesson posting coaching staff, and put Carolina in position to win this football game.

00:56:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that the fifth year option decision is easy. As you said, I think it would have been easy, barring just like a disastrous performance. It's a twenty six million dollar contract for twenty twenty seven. And in fact, you could argue, if you're Bryce Young that the fact that they're just happy giving him the fifth year option is almost disrespectful, you know, like because it's Bryce Young, he'll probably he just doesn't seem like he's gonna be pushing for a new long term contract this offseason. But overall, I think his play over the last two years, certainly overall down the stretch, like has been good enough to get that sort of middle tier quarterback contract, and the fifth year option actually does them a favor because it kind of kicks the can for a year down the road to make that decision. But yeah, Coker had a good game. He gets nine catches for one hundred and thirty four yards. Teteroa McMillan has five catches for eighty one yards. And I did think it was a bad game for the Rams secondary in general, because you're getting that pass rush for the most part pretty quick. You would have liked to see them maybe like finish a few more plays like Jared Verse and Kobe Turner. Kobe Turner did finish plays on that last drive, certainly, but you know Kobe Durantz getting picked on. Weatherspoon left this game pretty early with an injury, and they were playing a lot in base with like an extra safety, basically playing a linebacker position. And they're just not impressive. And if you're looking for the biggest problem that they could have, it's going to depend on the matchups. But let's say they're in Philadelphia next week. You know you gotta have Jalen Hurts to take advantage of it. But you're loving those matchups of those receivers on the outside against these Rams cornerbacks.

00:58:27
Speaker 4: I mean, that's what that's what won the Eagles the game. Well, two things, ironically enough, won the Eagles the game when they played the Rams earlier this year, which was Anti Brown beating up Emmanuel Forbes, who was the best Rams cornerback, and like you said, briefly if the game injured before coming back in but block kicks Greg decided that game for the Eagles, and it almost decided this game for the Panthers. And I guess I want to ask, maybe it's not realistic, but yes, do you think the Rams special teams, especially when it comes to blocks and punting. Are they so bad that you think Show McVay drastically needs to change the way he approaches yes, fourth downs for the rest of the post season.

00:59:15
Speaker 3: Oh Okay, different question than I expected. I thought you were just gonna say, drastically changes the approach to that he has the special teams in general, which he doesn't seem like he really respects it that much or tries that hard.

00:59:26
Speaker 4: Out coat and changed the kicker, Like what are they like?

00:59:31
Speaker 3: Just the way he talks about it, the fact that they wouldn't kick the ball last year in bounds, they just took the they took the you know, touchback all season long. I think he's been aggressive going for it on fourth down and you know they didn't get it a couple of times today. Did they have two turnovers on downs or they just had one turnover on downs? Today? The Panthers actually were quite aggressive and you know, got stopped twice, including on their first drive of the then one. Yeah, I think he needs to stay aggressive because that's that's where the moneymaker is, That's where Matthew Stafford is. This this should be one of the best running teams in the league, like they are an offense first team and yeah, like you know, I'm all for the thicker kicker. He hit a couple of kicks today that wasn't their their problem. But yeah, I think they should be aggressive.

01:00:22
Speaker 4: But I mean, like I'm saying like to an extreme extent, like let's say, middle of the game, fourth and three on your own thirty yard line. I don't think Sean McVay is ever thinking about going forward before this season, but is do you believe their punting game and their pension for having stuff blocked is so bad that that should become a go for it spot for them when maybe it wouldn't have been if they had competent punting this season.

01:00:47
Speaker 3: I mean, Ben Johnson essentially went for that tonight in the first quarter of the game, so it's not that crazy. I don't think he will go that far, though. I do think it's a problem though. And special teams was a draw today because, as you mentioned, it is an interesting game to think back about because the Rams were given a lot, including a special team's turnover that sort of made it, you know, sort of evened out that fake block punt. It just was a ball bouncing off the Panthers helmet on a punt earlier in the game. They also had like a wide open drop the Panthers that killed the drive on third down, and then the Rams, credit to them, did have a couple fourth down stops that gave the ball back to their offense. It's an interesting game too, because, like you look at the score and you think it was like a great game by the offense, and you see that the Rams got over four hundred yards, it wasn't like a terrible game, but they had thirteen possessions. They had It was the exact opposite of what happened when these two teams played the first time around, where it was just like very limited possessions. The Rams got as many possessions in the first half of this game as I think they might have gotten in the entire game last time. They had seven possessions in the first half, so they had five punts, they had an interception, they had the block punt, they had the turnover on downs. There was actually like a lot of Rams possessions that didn't end up in points. And I think that's why I left you feeling so Underwell, maybe I'm maybe I'm biased here in in a house with a couple a couple of women wearing RAMS gear today. But I kind of look at playoff games where you shouldn't win and you win usually as just like a, eh, the odds are you'll probably play better next time, because that's like how the regular season works too. People are always like, oh, they're lucky to win, but it's like, no, they'll probably play more at their level the next time around, you know, like if they've established the level and then and then you don't need to be as lucky.

01:02:40
Speaker 4: If they've been playing great for the last month of the year and then they had to have a stinker here, I'd like, okay, whatever, but it's been a month where they've been okay and losing and in danger of losing. I mean, I don't know. I picked them to win the super Bowl after the season, so I don't know any better. I'm I'm with you on this, but I don't know. I was I was expect especially I figured like after fourteen to nothing lead, I mean, it felt like I wasn't going to turn it off too, But but I thought about, like, maybe I'll put something else on the second TV and see if I'll focus on that.

01:03:16
Speaker 3: I mean, it was so easy. That first drive was like a four play drive and there was no one within ten yards of any of his vendors. It almost looked unfair early, which is why you know, I give, I give Cocher and Bryce and in that coaching staff, because look, I know the Bill Barnwell article about teams most likely to regress is coming out next August or whatever, and the numbers aren't going to be that kind to the Panthers. Granted, they only won eight games, but they they've kind of profiled all year like a six and eleven type of team, not really even an eight to nine type of team. But this will make you know, everyone feel good I think about how this season is and yet they have a lot to work on. I think just roster wise did show some proof of concept though of that. Okay, maybe Dave Canaos really can be the spiritual gods done to Pete Carroll and just like make everyone super positive and that somehow overwhelms like logic, well and ask.

01:04:15
Speaker 4: It feels like the last two years we've entered the off season and the Panthers have like their goal has just been, oh my god, we have to help Bryce, Oh God, Bryce is a disaster. We have to fix them, we have to help him. Is this the first offseason where the Panthers can go into the off season and not be like, oh my god, we have to get three more receivers and another running back and the other offensive. Do you feel like they've done enough?

01:04:41
Speaker 7: No?

01:04:42
Speaker 3: Crazy thing is I think they kind of still need. I mean, they couldn't run the ball all down the stretch. They were a little better today, not really. A forty two percent success rate isn't bad, but they only ended up with eighty three yards on the ground. They were one of the I think the two worst running teams in the league since Week ten. So you can't run the ball and your number three receivers who like no one, Essentially it's Jimmy Horn who's dropping the ball at the end of this game. You don't Yeah, Savior leget but you can't trust him, So you don't have much receiver depth. You don't really have a tight end that that you love. So no, they need. They still need more on both sides of the ball. But I think they'll feel they'll feel better about it. It would have been an interesting what if if Jimmy Horn catches that ball, he's probably is he probably in bounds or he gets out of bounds at like the the Rams forty five and you're throwing a hail Mary, or maybe you have two plays and you can get a little closer and throw a hail They're probably not really gonna win this game either way, probably not. But or kicking pretty kick a field goal there? Like can you get Ryan Fitzgerald like a sixty five yard attempt? It wasn't that far away.

01:05:48
Speaker 4: And it wasn't like it was the Bears conditions either. It was a little nicer out there than it was in Chicago.

01:05:54
Speaker 3: What a day, Bill, Thanks for honking and going all over the place. I love a little like a bombs away type of game, because that Panthers Rams game kind of was a sneaky bombs away game. You know, everyone complains about it. It was how it's just like everything's short passing in the NFL today. Bryce way over his average nine point four air yards per attempt and Matthew Stafford was almost at twelve. Like he was just hucking that thing down the field mm hmm, and he got it done.

01:06:23
Speaker 4: You can't ask for anything more for an NF for an NFC wild Card Saturday than the two games we got today.

01:06:32
Speaker 3: Yes, that has to be. I'd have to go through all the wild Card Saturdays, but it is off to a rollicking start for this wild Card weekend. I can't imagine there's been any better than those two games. That it was an all timer in Chicago, and can I tell you, I think if we went to tell you think the Panthers were some great team, we would be calling that in all timer too, because that was back and forth as good as it gets.

01:06:58
Speaker 4: Can I tell you what the two Saturday games were last year?

01:07:00
Speaker 3: Greg, okay please?

01:07:02
Speaker 4: Texans thirty two, Chargers twelve, a game when neither offense looked like it had ever played football before for the first half of the game. And Ravens twenty eight, Steelers fourteen, a game where I literally could not tell you one thing that happens in it.

01:07:19
Speaker 3: And yet you were on live with me on YouTube after that game too. We've made this Saturday evening.

01:07:25
Speaker 4: The year before the year before Texans forty five, Browns fourteen, Chiefs twenty six, Dolphin seven, the game where I was afraid too was going to freeze. We digat Jags, Chargers a couple of years ago as the Saturday night game. That was a pretty good one. That was good, But I think this is the best two game Saturday slate we have seen in the Super wild Card era.

01:07:49
Speaker 3: They're no longer calling it super wild Card. And you know what the key was, Bill, They took the Texans out and it's the first time. I can't believe this, literally the first time they haven't been in the early Saturday game. The west of this game, our great friend Chris Westling who named it West of Us because it was the day every year, at the time every year that the Cincinnati Bengals would go bye bye for the playoffs. Marvin Lewis and Andy Dalton and the whole crew. Well, you know who was on the Carolina Panthers and they gave it a good they gave it a good try, but they also said bye bye in the west of his slot early it was Andy Dalton in the Carolina Panthers. Thank you, Bill, appreciate you. We will be back on Sunday night. We're not going live on Sunday Night, but we will be in the studio with all the trimming knee Nick Schuck and Patrick Claybond recapping all the Sunday games, looking forward to the triple header, and I thought, I thought that Phill's Dag game was going to be the best game of the weekend. Got a lot to live up to the see of them