Championship Weekend Recap: Super Bowl LX Is Set!

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where Super Bowl sixty is set. I'm Greg Rosenthal for the last time on a recap show in the Chris Westling podcast studio this season, with Patrick, Claybond and our friend Nick Shook joining us from Cleveland. Super Bowl sixty. We knew it was gonna be some sort of rematch unless it was Rams Broncos, and it's very much not Rams Broncos Patriots Seahawks super Bowl sixty a rematch of Super Bowl forty nine.

00:00:40
Speaker 2: We watched these two games.

00:00:42
Speaker 1: Together, Patrick, next to each other all day, and they felt like very different football games. And we have a fun little super Bowl to talk about for two weeks.

00:00:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, a little predictable in terms of at least the the way that the games played out, perhaps not necessarily the results, but what performance by both teams in Seattle tonight, and uh, you know, just touches away from being like the movie style ending Shook, but still still a fun participation of football.

00:01:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were kind of robbed of the twenty thirteen NFC Championship game results in a post game Richard Sherman interview with Aaron Andrews. But you know what, this was pretty close and it was still for a good stretch of the second half, the exact example of why playoff football is among the most entertaining products in entertainment.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: It was.

00:01:30
Speaker 1: It was a classic, and let's not waste any more time.

00:01:33
Speaker 2: Let's go out to Seattle. Shut gun staff of Stafford. Nine seconds left.

00:01:38
Speaker 5: Stafford looks, fires, ball is caught, Poka Nakula slides out of bound.

00:01:43
Speaker 2: No clock, Keep.

00:01:44
Speaker 6: Moving the cool Where are going?

00:01:48
Speaker 2: Get the Super Bowl?

00:01:49
Speaker 7: Take your helmets off? Players there? Great is the class sext Shore. What completion of Poka Coula? He can't get out of bounds.

00:01:59
Speaker 5: It's confirming the rubber was down inbounds.

00:02:02
Speaker 2: The game is now over.

00:02:05
Speaker 7: Si're going back to the Super Bowl.

00:02:09
Speaker 2: Can you believe it? I could believe it.

00:02:13
Speaker 1: The Seahawks, one of the two best teams in the NFL all season long, worked so hard in that fourth quarter in overtime against the Rams to get home field advantage, and that kind of felt like the difference in a thirty one to twenty seven victory over the Rams in the NFC Championship. There are so many heroes to talk about in this game and clutch performances, but I think we have to start with Steve rabel on Kiro not hesitating and with a little assist from the line judge there rolling that clock and not messing up all the calls on the radio for the rest of time they had to check it. But yes, Puka Akua was inbounds, and that means there was no hail Mary attempt, and that means that Sam Darnald did it. I have to start here shook because the Seattle Seahawks won a game in which their defense gave up twenty seven points, in which their running game had a sixteen point seven percent success rate, and a game where they needed all of Sam Donald's three hundred and forty plus yards passing and three touchdowns to make the Super Bowl, and they needed him to not make any big mistakes in the big moment and deliver second down conversion after second down conversion to help kill that clock. And you know what, he did it all. And Sam Donald is going to the Super Bowl.

00:03:45
Speaker 4: And they needed Kenneth Walker, and they needed Cooper Cup you know, by the way, they needed Jackson Smith and Jigma, a collective team effort that never gets there if Sam Donald doesn't do the job. I think it was some point in the fourth quarter where I just had a realization he made a play I think it was a third down conversion where I just thought, head, oh my god, this is the best game I've seen from Sam Donald since that Rose Bowl against Penn State wry Back, Like, this is peak Sam Donald. He's finally arrived to this point that so many people thought he would get to when he was coming out of USC into the draft, and it's a beautiful sight to see that he did it on the second biggest stage possible outside of the Super Bowl, to get his team to the super Bowl, to answer all the doubters who thought maybe last year was an aberration, maybe he can't deliver in the big moments.

00:04:24
Speaker 6: He delivered, and he delivered emphatically today.

00:04:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, and doing so in so many key situations where the moment in the pressure, and I don't mean metaphorical pressure, because all that I think is the actual impending pressure from football players. As well as playing through the oblique injury. We saw the warming pad over on the sideline where he says he's fine, Clearly he's working through and playing through that. But the touchdown pass to JSN where Braden Fisk is rummaging around right at his feet, which could have easily impacted that throw. It didn't. It goes for the touchdown and then third and seven from their own twenty eight with three minutes and twenty seconds to go. He's able to navigate the pocket get that ball to Cooper Cup a first down by about six inches. There was not just that throw, there was another throw on that same drive. We're in a situation you could say, oh, well, you gotta play it safe. No. Clint Kubiak, with his prospective employer on the broadcast, our calling every single play that he calls was absolutely nails on Sunday night.

00:05:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, that Cooper Cup third down conversion was absolutely massive.

00:05:30
Speaker 2: I think it was the right call.

00:05:31
Speaker 1: There were a lot of close calls in this game, and for the most part they were right. Even the taunting call on Rieke Woollod, by the letter of the law is the right call, even if we believe in ethical football and that there should be no taunting calls, Like I do get why they called that, but I think starting there at the end is key. And what I hate in these situations shook is when a team doesn't read the situation of how that particular game is going. There's actually a lot of types of games where I don't think it would have been crazy for them to be more conservative on that final drive. But in this game, they had to do everything that they could to prevent the Rams from getting the ball back. They had to know that Sam Darnold was winning, that their pass protection was winning, that their wide receivers were winning, and they had to call it aggressively. And so yeah, they called some first down runs for Walker to stop the clock, but they also called a second down on passes on two different plays. On that drive, you're near your own end zone. They get the ball to Kenneth Walker, he picks up fifteen yards, he breaks a tackle. I don't know how PFF charted it, but in the game he broke five different tackles. Two of them could have been on that particular play, and a couple of them were receiving, a couple of them running. So his individual skill set gets it done. They run it on first down the next time, and they actually call a deep shot on second down to Rashid Shahi and Donald kind of has the first throwout game where you're like, I'm not gonna say he was nervous, but it just comes out funny and it's not on time, and you're just like, uh oh, and that's the play before the cup play. And then again they don't wait until third down. The next set of downs, they have them throw the ball on second down and they get a big penalty. And if any of those had gone wrong, everyone would have been killing them for not killing the clock.

00:07:23
Speaker 2: But they read the game correctly.

00:07:25
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons why I think Mike McDonald is such an excellent coach. He has a feel for his team, and Donald proved him right again and again tonight.

00:07:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:07:33
Speaker 4: Why hey Manklean Kubiak are such a good pairing as head coach and offensive coordinator, Because in order to really secure your trip to the Super Bowl in a game that has been this closed, in a game between two teams that are so close in quality and in talent and in familiarity, you have to play a little bit aggressively year live by it and you're gonna die by it, and you're gonna hope it's gonna work out.

00:07:51
Speaker 6: And it did for them. You have to keep them honess.

00:07:53
Speaker 4: You talked about the success rate, although it was on the ground for the Seahawks. Well, the Rams are gonna load the box and they're just gonna stuff that run, and you're gonna be putting back them with you two minutes or so and give the Rams another chance after they just move down within scoring range and turned it over on downs. So how do you really lock down your trip to the Super Bowl. You get a little aggressive, you call a little play action, You let Sam Donald throw the ball. You let Sam throw it twitter receiver. He gets held and it draws a holding flag and that's a first down. But most importantly I think in this game that will probably go overlooked maybe not is Kenneth Walker's one hundred eleven scrimmage yards because you talked about that where he broke a couple of tackles on that conversion.

00:08:26
Speaker 6: He ran around like four guys.

00:08:28
Speaker 4: I felt like Byron Young was just spending half of the evening chasing Kenneth Walker in the flats and repeatedly never catching up. Because Kenneth Walker has the ability to catch and run as a receiver, and he played a huge part throughout this game and especially in putting that game away, such a great blend of run and pass with the game and the trip to the super Bowl on the line, and this is what makes the Seahawks the Seahawks. We've talked about their defense all season, but it's also about their willingness to get aggressive in key spots because of that guy wearing number nine right there, Kenneth Walker, and of course Sam Darnold.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Yeah you're watching if you're catching us on YouTube. One of the jukes that Walker had earlier in the game. And yes, his production was concentrating a few different drives that were scoring drives to start the game. During the middle of the game, whenever they needed a big play, it was Kenneth Walker. I think backing it up, you know, it wasn't a great game for the Seahawks defense Patrick, but I think when we think about how this game ended, how the Seahawks got out of here with a win, let's not get negative necessarily on the rams yet, because there are some things to talk about where they came up short, certainly defensively, but the Seahawks defense holding up at the very last second on that last red zone drive and stopping Stafford on the third and fourth down in the red zone feels like it was like, if not the key sequence of the game.

00:09:44
Speaker 2: It's right there.

00:09:45
Speaker 3: And it got a stab directly into my chest and the nick Shook's chest in the anti three man rush in that situation where Sean McVay pointing out in the post game, you know, Stafford has the ball to Mumfield on the sideline on third down. A lot of time there's a four man rush, but then they come back. Sean McVay is calling this a accidental bust that was fortuitous for them because after Karen Williams was all by himself early in the first half with you know, the pick play from pookin a coua for the touchdown, they peel off two defenders and this is a play where DeVante Adams and pookin Akua on the field. Two defenders have devoted solely to Karen Williams in the flat, but because they're over there, it comes up the work for DeVante and Nick Eman. Worry. One of the two people that's actually close to Matthew Stafford is going up against Aleric Jackson and the defensive back gets the pressure that gets Stafford to get rid of the ball in the back of the end zone, so he doesn't have time to see Pooka may have had space to get to the sideline, and that's the stop all because that you know, if everybody's wrong. It's the old note about coverage. You know, as long as everybody's wrong together, then it can work out right.

00:10:55
Speaker 1: And I love that point by you on the pass rush and Emon worry because it does for Stafford to throw it a little early. Let's actually listen to McVeigh who had a fascinating and brief postgame press conference talk about that play.

00:11:10
Speaker 8: You know, that was a situation where we just kind of came up short. They kind of looked into having two guys peel on Kiren right there.

00:11:16
Speaker 3: I know that that.

00:11:16
Speaker 8: Can't be part of their designs, so so fortune is bucks by them, but it was you know, they're an excellent team and you don't take away anything. You know, they they are in the wind and you know, their NFC champs for a reason.

00:11:30
Speaker 1: It's like he caught himself right in the middle of that, not wanting to.

00:11:33
Speaker 2: Sound rung, but he was right.

00:11:35
Speaker 6: He's right.

00:11:36
Speaker 1: I'm all about coaches being honest and teaching us a little bit about ball in the biggest of spots, and he did very you know, quietly say that there were opportunities on that third down play too, Like if you watch that, not only going to momfield a little bit sooner, which Witherspoon breaks up, but there's also I'm missing a receiver coming to open going to the left side, so he he had time.

00:12:00
Speaker 2: It's a bang bang play.

00:12:01
Speaker 1: And what stands out to me is that in two different two play sequences at the end of each half. And I think about how the end of half, at end of game situations is sometimes the whole game. The first half, it's Nick nick Eman worri breaking up two straight passes and then telling Stafford about it on Stafford's way to the bench. That gets the ball back from the Rams. And really the biggest offensive mistake I think they made the entire game was giving the ball back to the Seahawks at the end of the first half, giving them a chance to go get a touchdown. And that's exactly what happens. So it's Emon worriy, this young athletic defensive back winning matchups he shouldn't against DeVante Adams on one of the plays, stepping up in the big spot. And then it's Devin Witherspoon. They're all pro you know, after the defensive rookie of the year potentially does it at the end of the first half, they're all pro does it back to back passes at the end of the second half.

00:13:01
Speaker 2: So yeah, it wasn't the best.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: Game for the Seattle defense, But those are the types of plays that badass players make that Seahawks fans I think are going to be remembering along with those great Darnold touchdowns in Walker Place.

00:13:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course the touchdown passes and everything are going to be the ones that resonate to most of the fans because they're prettier, they're easier to kind of digest. But yeah, the defense really adjusting and it was really a great example, I think in that gold to go situation where the Rams are really threatening, they're riding this wave of them and on this methodical drive.

00:13:29
Speaker 6: We've seen them do this throughout the playoffs.

00:13:30
Speaker 4: They did it against Chicago, they did it earlier in this game, that textbook engineer drive that's guaranteed to end in the end zone. But the Seahawks stands tall because they know where the Rams like to look. On one of those plays in that gold to go situation, you got Adams isolated out left and you got Brady pointing out that Adams is isolated.

00:13:46
Speaker 6: Out left, and you know that they want to go to him.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: They'd already gotten burned him for a touchdown earlier in the half on a one on one ball to Adams, who obviously wins with this excellent route running. And I'm watching the safety just kind of drift over to the left before the play, and I'm thinking they're backing him. That's going to get taken away. Stafford takes a snap, immediately looks to Adams, Adams is not there, he knows he's not there. Then he starts to look through the rest of his progression, then he panics and tries to fire it over to Mumpfield. That's an example of two teams who know each other really well and adjusting accordingly. And I love that that fourth down call that you pointed out Patrick going to a three man rush, because I hate a three man rush as much as you do and as much as a lot of us do. But what I appreciate is showing seven dropping four and muddying up the picture and getting a little bit of like mcveighs at a fortuitous break when you peel off on Kiraenn Williams to where Stafford has nowhere to go.

00:14:30
Speaker 6: Now you can kind of break down that.

00:14:31
Speaker 4: Sequence of plays and say, well, maybe Stafford gets the ball to Mumpfield earlier, he puts on the outside shoulder instead the inside where it's able to be broken up. Maybe you can win there. Maybe you can win if if he makes a quicker decision on fourth down. But ultimately, this is what football is in the playoffs, and this is why this was such a great playoff game. It's the little things, it's the little margins, and it's how quick you can make a decision. The Seahawks prevailed in those scenarios.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: It'll this game will break your heart because the Rams put up twenty six first downs four hundred and seventy nine yards in a game where they really only had eight real drives. They had two to two play drives at the end of the game, at the end of the half where they basically had no chance to score, So only eight reel drives and you almost put up five hundred yards on the best team in football, and yet you're thinking about the plays that didn't go your way. Speaking of which, let's go back actually to to play a two play sequence. And we're gonna have a couple two play sequences to talk about in this game. But this is the one that favored the Seahawks. And yes, how do you lose a game where you don't turn the ball over on offense? You go for almost five hundred yards. You do it by making a big special teams error, like the Rams have done so many times this season.

00:15:41
Speaker 5: Michael Dixon will punt Xavier Smith, the deep man for the Rams, and this again another rain maker high spiral, Smith falls Outawks, Smith backing up, try the calf, fair catch, balls down, the ball hits him, Go Seahawks or cover and they are inside the twenty yard line.

00:16:03
Speaker 9: Go.

00:16:03
Speaker 5: Sam Donald now goes under center with Walker behind him.

00:16:07
Speaker 2: Light outs to both sides, play fake. Donald looks how he's gonna throw back to the end.

00:16:12
Speaker 7: Of its calm touch down Shay Hawks shake. Bobo might have been the third guy.

00:16:20
Speaker 2: In the progression Bud.

00:16:23
Speaker 7: He lines up left side, gets under the goal post, and Sam just throws a rope.

00:16:29
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:16:29
Speaker 1: You know, at the time, I was like, oh man, this Rams secondary can't cover, And then I rewatch that play, It's like, yeah, Kobe Durant had no chance. On that play, they hung him out to dry. He had he had the whole field to cover to cover one guy. And that's where I'm giving a little credit to the aggressiveness the play call and maybe the lack of a pass rush there by the Rams where they blitz and aren't anywhere close to Sam Darnalds.

00:16:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, you want to find the bad spot from the Rams secondary from that play, it's am Manuel Forbes coming on the corner blitz. He sees Kenneth Walker step up in. Granted there is a size mismatch between Emmanuel Forbes and a lot of people, but he stops and chops his feet and just kind of hand fights. It's a corner blitz man, Like, we got to get a little more involved in this because, like you said, your teammates over there trying to cover Jake Bobo, you know, on a double move in the end zone runs a you know, a corner post and he gets beat where it's over and over again like Rams defense, whether it's the Omar Spates on skates highlight multiple times where he's trying to get track of guys. And I know Cooper Cup had this revenge game but had to be sweet for Ernest Jones to look over and see a Rams defense that needs somebody that's going to be able to make tackles and get pressure in certain situations. And it was over and over again, the Rams secondary kind of coming up short.

00:17:44
Speaker 1: You know, the numbers say, you know, the Rams got a thirty five percent pressure rate, which is not great. It's not disastrous, but it's not great, especially when you blitz thirty five percent of time. Like, I don't think it was a good game for their pass rush. Watching it, I felt like it was even worse than those numbers say. I think ultimately their pass rush and they lost Kobe Turner at one point and the game needed to be better to help out that secondary. But ultimately, we've talked all season long, shook about the lack if they have a weakness that Rams defense, the lack of size and the lack of depth at cornerback. And they benched who was it early in this.

00:18:24
Speaker 3: Arius Williams Darious Way you put him on a mission one on one with no help on the.

00:18:28
Speaker 2: Right and then put on the bench.

00:18:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, while we're while we're talking about you could take a look at that play because I do think it really set up that entire game that like right off the bat, you hit a long you know, past two rashijahed from Darnold in the very first third down of the game, and it kind of set up a trend shook of the Seahawks hitting third and long after third and long they end up finishing on this game. Let's see seven to thirteen on third downs and at least through the first ten third downs. I didn't get the final number, Like their average depth was about ten yards, and so they hit a million of these third and longs.

00:19:08
Speaker 2: I think that play to Shaheed really set the.

00:19:11
Speaker 1: Tone, and they kept having you know good some really good throws like that one on third and log, but sometimes it was just wide open, not much of a pass rush, and almost two soft busted coverage where they made it too easy for Seattle to keep it going in. A lot of these drives were on the other side like that, the rams were terrible on third down, and that's where you like, that's how games are won, Like if you give up four or five third and longs, like you're gonna lose the game.

00:19:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly.

00:19:36
Speaker 4: If you're trying to find an explanation in the stats for why this game turned out the way it did. You can look at the rams four hundred and seventy nine yards that they gained offensively, but you can also look at them going one for eight on third down. That's the Seahawks defense rising to the occasion. You can look at Seattle going seven for thirteen on third down. That's the Seahawks finding a way to get it done. And when you look at Sam Darnolds highlights, you're gonna see all these throws, which is why we think, oh wow, he had such a great game, which he did. But that throat to Shaheed, that's essentially a lay up because she he just cooks Williams off the line of screen because you just got to get him the ball. It's another example of taking advantage of a good matchup one on one down the sideline with one of the fastest guys in the NFL and capitalizing and putting yourself in scoring position very early in the game. But you know what else, it was too And I'm glad Patrick you brought up the corner posts because they feasted on the corner post against Cover two in this game. It was on that play to Jake Bobo, But it had to be something they saw in film, maybe just against Cover two something specifically, because right before halftime they have to throw at JSN for a big game. He turns around Cam Curl with a corner post and that sets up the touchdown just before half that you mentioned how do you finish halves? How do you finish games? That was a big swing in the game right there. So it's a credit to two teams knowing each other really well, but also Clint Kubiak taking advantage of a weakness that we've all seen in the Rams save for the divisional round against the Bear, which has been their secondary and especially downfield, and it was a big reason why the Seahawks were able to win this game.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: I think that was the thing that they saw on the film. So it's the Rams defensive secondary and an opportunity to make a double moved and shield them off and take advantage of the size advantage that almost everyone has. That the difference is you know where you know, Dj Moore comes up a little bit short on an opportunity to get the inside track football. The Seahawks did not come up short.

00:21:14
Speaker 1: They're so mad at the Rams defense watching this, well, it was it was a you know and they came up short.

00:21:20
Speaker 2: They can't.

00:21:21
Speaker 3: To be fair, this is not they're not playing our our sister of the Valley over the Seahawks of a very talented and gifted receiving corps with veterans and talent and all kinds of opportunities where they could take advantage of a team like the Rams. But you have to be able to get one either you get some pressure on Sam or you you know, you get the inside track to a football that they didn't do either.

00:21:44
Speaker 1: It wasn't a great day for Chris Shula's you know, head coaching candidacy in general, like they if they've done well, kind of overachieving for the talent that they had in the back seven.

00:21:57
Speaker 2: It all kind of collapsed tonight. And yet they're right in this game.

00:22:01
Speaker 1: So much went wrong And I don't want to get out of this game without talking about Stafford playing great, that they blew a great Stafford game. He goes for three hundred and seventy four yards in three touchdowns in this game. You know they don't get that red zone trip at the end. The Seahawks go four for five in the red zone. I mean, the Rams just had to be perfect and they weren't they go two for three at the very end. We mentioned them going with that short, you know drive before half, but we're picking those out because they're the only times that they didn't score. I mean, the Rams played awesome on offense. The Seahawks defense gave up four drives this season of eighty five yards or more. One was against the Rams, by the way, in Week sixteen. Two more were tonight, and they were one more yard away on that last drive from doing it again like they would have, like basically had more good drives in this game, big long drives than anyone did all season. They fall down two scores early, they survive it. They blow the end of the first half situation, they survive it, and they get to the point where they do have the ball with the chance to win, in part because of that big two play sequence that I alluded to earlier that involved all the different Greek Woolen emotions that we've watched throughout his career. It was like his entire career in sixty seconds by coming.

00:23:21
Speaker 10: After Stafford, He's rushed, he's pressured, he throws intercepted, no drops, nearly picked up the twenty seven yard line. Pouka the target. Greek Woolan, though, got mits on it and so the Rams will have to punt. They get nothing on third and twelve. Stafford dodges the interception, gets a high five from McVeigh and now there is a ton of pressure on.

00:23:41
Speaker 3: The first down for the Rams. Treek Wooland just got a finality. You're kidding for taunting.

00:23:47
Speaker 2: You're kidding.

00:23:49
Speaker 10: Greek Woolan instead of an La punts puts Matthew Stafford back in his huddle. Matthew with a new first down and plus tenvor tour three left, hike be right, he's away from center pass, spins his head around and he whistles one to.

00:24:03
Speaker 11: The end zone, cut by Pooka at the front left pylon. On one strike, Matthew to Pooka, he puts it in the paint and the Rams are back.

00:24:16
Speaker 1: One of the great parts of this game was just the emotions.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: You think the Seahawks are gonna get the.

00:24:20
Speaker 1: Ball back with, you know, a few minutes left in the third quarter, up eleven, and instead two plays later, you know, Matthew Stafford to to paraphrase his teammates, out there snatching souls by going after requal and you know Sean McVay like called up that play to go right after Requel and Pooka Nakua goes nine for one sixty five in a touchdown in this game, Like how good is Puka and Jackson Smith and Jigby that I haven't even mentioned, Like the two best receivers of the season deliver nine for one sixty five in a touchdown for Puka, ten for one point fifty three for JSN. Just two of the best receiver seeds you ever want to see. But at there were different moments in this game when I thought, Oh, the Rams are just gonna do this. There was that moment and it was the Stafford breaking DeMarcus Lawrence's tackle on a fourth down scramble where I'm like, oh, they're gonna do that, because that was some that was some badash, like that requill and throw, Like everyone's saying like, oh, you got lucky with the tantin call cool.

00:25:17
Speaker 2: True, you did, but not everyone.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: Is going to hit you with a dime for forty five yards like immediately afterwards.

00:25:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't know how much of it was specifically like hey take this, because Pooka had two hundred twenty five yards receive, I do.

00:25:29
Speaker 1: I do think the next play he was like, let's go after Equill and let's do this.

00:25:33
Speaker 3: Let's do what they don't expect. We'll throw the ball to Pooka. I think like they would have liked to have that opportunity, not necessarily just against Rereek, but against Witherspoon, against really any coverage. Is as good as he's been, as good Stafford has been in this game, and I think I felt that way too about the Rams and their opportunity to win this game. They just have to be able to get off the field on third down. But in terms of the Rams offense production, I thought it was a great blake Korn game where Blake Korm had the hot hand to the extent that we didn't even see Krion run the ball in the second half the especially with a team that's in the Rams that only had two hundred and thirty eight yards running out a shotgun all season long, there were a lot of McVeigh tendency breakers in this game. We had a couple of long shotgun runs for blake Korm where the play calling, everything was just working so well until it didn't.

00:26:27
Speaker 1: Right, Like I was trying to think of other you know, reasons why the Rams lost. And you know, you can look at their success rate rushing thirty five percent.

00:26:36
Speaker 2: It's not great.

00:26:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you run for five yards per carry against the Seahawks over one hundred yards, like you'll take that every day. This is the Seahawks defense you're going against. They obviously played fantastic throwing the ball. I don't think there's that much more to know other than the defense and the special teams like let Stafford down. Stafford had to be perfect to win this game, and there were opportunity, like he was pretty close to being perfect. There are those two drives we talked about that they'd like to have back. He was so good in this game. And it's why we get mad about quarterback wins and losses. Like this hits me a little bit, like the Brady lost to the Eagles in the Super Bowls, Like that was one of his best performances ever and they lost the game because his defense ultimately let Matthew Stafford down.

00:27:23
Speaker 4: Today, I mean, this is why we thought that these are the two best teams in the NFL. Yeah, because they played like it. I mean, they played like any team that's not the Rams or not the Seahawks that falls down by eleven in Seattle in the NFC Championship game, in a crushing turn of events in which your punt returner muffs it and they score a touchdown on the very next play, they fold.

00:27:40
Speaker 6: It's over.

00:27:41
Speaker 4: It's too loud, it's the pressure is too high. We can't get the job done. We're shooting ourselves in the foot. But the Rams have Matthew Stafford who just comes out and call me, fires the ball downfield and they score a touchdown in four plays covering seventy five yard Oh yeah, And I'm like, oh, I forgot. He's a dog and he's not letting them go down like that. And that's why it ended up being such a game. It's just that in these types of games where the teams are so close, that turnover legitimately swung the game in the favor of the Seahawks. That and their defense standing up at just the right time, the strength of this team delivering in the big spot, and that's why it was such a great game. That's why it felt like even though the Rams defense let them down, let Stafford down, I'm not surprised that, like both teams largely played true to who they were saved for, the Seahawks defense getting kind of shredded by Matthew Stafford. But it's Matthew Stafford. So I don't have any qualms or regrets about the way this game played out. I thought it was hilarious that Reek wool And even went so far as to pull his shisty down before talking smacks in the sideline and getting the flag.

00:28:34
Speaker 6: I mean, that was all played out perfectly.

00:28:36
Speaker 1: That trash tack was so long, and they had to break it into two different parts in the broadcast because I was like, I was like, he was trashtacking for like eight seconds, but it wasn't like two crazy. I was like, ah, that was a little weak, actually, But then they showed like part two, it's like the sequel where then he actually ran at the coach and then got in his face and yelled. I was like, I guess you gotta call it. You don't have to call that, but just don't make that.

00:28:58
Speaker 3: There's no obligation to call it. There's been plenty of discussions he did, discussions had on sidelines that don't necessarily do that, and the to the what will I teach my kids community? The broadcast didn't even show any of it. Who would just have the punt team run out there and it would have been a kick and nothing would have ever happened. But the Seahawks overcome that, And you know, you talked about Stafford. The tight window percentage was over a quarter twenty eight points one percent tight window percentage against the twenty twenty five Seattle Seahawks defense. But a lot of them like including that. You know, Shook was referencing that after the drive after the Bobo touchdown where they breezed down the field, the layered ball to Parkinson, yet where it's just like defenders jump, they reached, they think they have a chance, they don't. He's just placing the ball out there.

00:29:45
Speaker 1: And they played such heavy man coverage in the first half, like more than anytime all season by far. The Seahawks are not a man covered type of team, and they backed off it in the second half trying to adjust. Really none of it worked because the Rams go touchdown touchdown at the ball to the six yard line to start the second half. It just was a game without a lot of possessions. Let's hear from McVeigh talking about his quarterback after this one after a epic season, Cheff, do you.

00:30:13
Speaker 3: Expect Matthew Stafford to be back next season?

00:30:15
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:30:16
Speaker 8: I mean that's I mean, if he still wants to play the whole kind of question, is that the answer? Yeah, you have to ask him, and we've been totally present. I know that if he wants to, he's still playing at a pretty damn good clip.

00:30:29
Speaker 6: I mean, he's the MVP of the league.

00:30:31
Speaker 8: And if he's not, you know, I mean, I got respect for everybody else, but this guy played at a level that's just different. I appreciate you guys this year.

00:30:37
Speaker 6: Thank you.

00:30:38
Speaker 1: That's how he says goodbye, Matthew Stafford turning thirty eight years old in a couple of weeks, right the day after the Super Bowl, I believe. Look Stafford being negotiated down to take less money from the Rams last offseason. It's kind of funny to think back on. It would not surprise me at all if Stafford rightfully asked for more money and a raise, you know, going into next season, and you're making eyes saying like yeah, because it's kind of it's kind of insane to think about they basically made him take a pay cut and we're willing to let him possibly go to the Giants or Raiders before this amazing season. But I feel mcveigh's pain because he starts that press conference off by saying, how it's hard to fathom that they're not playing football anymore. That they expected to be getting ready for the Super Bowl, They expected to win a championship. They were a championship level team. And I think two great teams just played today and and the Rams do not come out on top. And he knows how hard it will be to get back there next year, and that's why you got to enjoy it when you do get there. And you know who was enjoying it surprisingly after the game, How about Mike McDonald on the stage with just a little bit a sauce with Michael strahand now.

00:32:02
Speaker 12: Now coming into the sea that you were afterthought to the Rams to the forty nine ers, how they feel to go through both of those teams.

00:32:09
Speaker 3: To earn your trip to the Super Bowl.

00:32:11
Speaker 2: We did not care. It's about us.

00:32:20
Speaker 7: It's always been about us and what we do, and now we're going to the super Bowl.

00:32:26
Speaker 1: I loved it. That was like his third answer, do you want to do? You have a Mike mcdonald' impression from the stage, Well.

00:32:32
Speaker 3: It's just the way that his eyes lit up when he got the pop yeah and he realized like, oh this is cool. He we do not care and it's about us.

00:32:43
Speaker 1: And before that he was like the twelves as the greatest, and then the crowd all happened and it was, honestly like it was like Eddie Murphy at his first we did not care. It was like Eddie Murphy at his first open mic and just feeling that laughter and he's like, I'm gonna do the rest of my life just like this, Like Mike McDonald, it's gonna be chasing that feeling shook for the next two weeks at the very least, because he could get on an even more important podium. Uh in Santa Clara. What what a what a season from this Seahawks crew. Let's uh, let's take a break. Let's get to the AFC before we start talking about this matchup. The NFC absolutely delivered everything we wanted out of a conference championship, and weirdly, I think this AFC championship kind of played to Type two, the ugly step brother of of conference championship teams.

00:33:49
Speaker 2: Let's thirty nine, go along, take by man.

00:33:53
Speaker 3: He's gonna run it through the left.

00:33:54
Speaker 2: He's being chased trying to get outside. He took me.

00:33:57
Speaker 13: He's got the first run in to the first How lucky with chasing defender Jonah Ellis and Drake May of the Patriots fake the head office talents and the quarterback the naked and boot leg out to the left as a first down the shop allow the Patriots to clinch it.

00:34:17
Speaker 12: Unbelievable. Hey America, we're back. Oh no, the worst nightmare has returned. We thought the team was down in the ordination is down. Mike Crabel in his stop and your twenty three year old quarterback who should be the WVP we're calling the Super Bowl sixty.

00:34:37
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I am America. That is my worst nightmare because I'm a Patriots fan and I want to enjoy it. And we got we got Zolac representing us on WBZ. We're not all that of Naxis, but we do have that obnoxist gene in us. It's Bob SoC It's Zolac. It's on WBZ. It's a ten to seven victory, Hey America, And it's a really fitting play. I love a good highlight to start the game and the discussion that is incredibly fitting because in a game where there's only so much like x's and o's to break down in what turned into a total blizzard, Drake May's legs were the difference. He had six first downs on seven non kneel down runs. They only had twelve first downs on the entire day. That was the difference. And the craziest thing is, that's the first time I've watched that play since learning shook that that was not the play call, that the offensive line had no idea he was gonna do a naked bootleg. He called that himself. He didn't even tell the offensive line, and when you watch it, they're all blocking zone blocking the other.

00:35:53
Speaker 2: Way, and he just read it.

00:35:55
Speaker 1: And that is a ballsy decision by a second year quarterback who looked and quickly saw that he did not think anyone on the the Broncos was gonna have contained that he could get to the outside. And Garrett Bradbury, their starting center, said after the game he was completely confused about what happened on that play, and May told him I was gonna tell you, guys.

00:36:20
Speaker 2: But I thought that might mess it up, so I just did it.

00:36:23
Speaker 6: Oh my god.

00:36:24
Speaker 4: That is That is the moxie of a guy who's been in the league for That's something that Aaron Rodgers would do. That's something I I wouldn't say Tom Brady because he's he was never fleet of foot, but that's somebody who's been in the league for a long time and earned that type of cachet to make that call and not even tell anybody. I don't know if that's like I mean, if it goes wrong, then he looks terrible. But I mean, congrats, it worked out for you, and it worked exactly as you intended, because you're right. The edge defender there goes with the zone block as he's taught to do, he's instructed to do, and he loses, containing can't win the race to get that's Drake may trust in his legs.

00:36:53
Speaker 6: He goes.

00:36:54
Speaker 4: You know what, I know, I'm a superior athlete to whoever's on the edge, and I'm gonna send us to the super Bowl myself, and I don't care if nobody else knows. I'll deal with that later. Which is crazy, but I'll tell you this, As an offensive lineman, when you're told to block a certain play, and you expect a ball to go in a certain direction. Eventually you're like kind of looking around, like has the running back cleared?

00:37:14
Speaker 6: Did he ever get anywhere? Did he get stuff in the backfield?

00:37:16
Speaker 4: I can't imagine the bewilderment of all those linemen when they're all flowing to the right, they're waiting for something to happen behind them, and then they all look over about twenty five yards to the left of the sideline, there's Drake May signaling first down, probably wondering what the hell we're going to the super Bowl?

00:37:29
Speaker 6: And I have no idea how we just did it.

00:37:31
Speaker 1: And I know it's like one play and it seems like almost a silly point we're making, but it does kind of, I think, explain like why Drake May is cool, because he also stiff arms Jonah Ellis on that play. There's a very real situation where Jonah Ellis drags him down. But Drake May's athleticism and despite kind of struggling in the playoffs in a lot of the just pure dropback situations for a variety of reasons, he has enough play making to make him spa to make him one of them ones and get them over on the road in Denver against this defense.

00:38:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is ultimately the difference in this game. Or quarterback is able to make plays with his feet. I wondered how conservative the Patriots were going to be well once the snowfest began in the second half, it was fully constricted murder ball.

00:38:19
Speaker 1: He was running on third and along with like six minutes to go.

00:38:22
Speaker 3: And so like that. That's ultimately the difference where you believe that good things could happen with the ball in the quarterback's hands. For the Denver Broncos, it was the absolute opposite of that situation, save the first drive, where even it's not the worst thing in the world of Drake made, it doesn't if Ellis is able to drag him down short of the line the game there, because I didn't believe the Broncos were capable of gaining any substantial yardage with Jared's did him lateness.

00:38:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Jared's didham had a lot of haters comeing into this game, a lot of people who thought I was getting over my skis kind of talking up the high ceiling. I did say low floor, and early in this game, why don't we at least have one more Broncos highlight this season. Very early in this game, like it looked like the high ceiling part of it might actually come true.

00:39:16
Speaker 14: Stidham under center. Stidham rolls to he's right, throws wide open, touchdown, touchdown. Tortland sudden steady on the money. You could see it from here. Nobody covered Courtland, so I was saying wide open because he was in Denver on the board.

00:39:36
Speaker 1: First, that first drive, he hits Marvin Mims on third down with a beautiful throw for over fifty yards shook, and they go into the end zone. They're they're driving pretty consistently in the first half of this game, and you think it's it's gonna be okay. What did you see for Stidham after that? And because because look, they at one point had a yardage advantage of one hundred and twenty five to twelve until they went for it on fourth down deep in the Patriots and after that, and that's pretty early in the game, they only had fifty six yards the entire rest of the game.

00:40:18
Speaker 6: You know, it's funny.

00:40:19
Speaker 4: I'm glad we started with the Mayor bootleg to clinch the game because it started in the exact opposite fashion for both teams. That was actually the Broncos second drive, but their first drive ended so quickly everybody forgets about it because Stidham looked completely unsettled, May looked largely unsettled. Neither both teams tried to run the ball on the first two downs of each of their series. Neither got anywhere. I was like, Oh, I guess we're in for a defensive battle where both quarterbacks don't really know how to handle the situation. And then Stidham settled in. I think it was that deep ball tomens. He's got the arm. We always knew he had the arm. He puts it on him perfectly. That gives him the confidence to finish that drive off, and they were rolling. They go on another drive later in the first half where they get a fourth and one and they come up short, but they were moving the football well. And then, like you said, they had twenty four yards for the rest of the first half going to halftime.

00:41:04
Speaker 6: That miss a field goal. They lost their mojo.

00:41:06
Speaker 4: And part of the reason they lost their mojo is because the Patriots were able to upset him and unsettle him. They were able to pressure him, they were able to complicate the picture and you saw a lot of jittery feet in the pocket.

00:41:16
Speaker 6: He never really looked comfortable after those first.

00:41:18
Speaker 4: Few possessions, and then the weather set in and then threw everything you know, askew. And basically from there it was trying to ask somebody to throw his way out of a wet paper bag and he doesn't understand that he's in the wet paper bag. That's basically what the Broncos offense was for the remainder of this contest.

00:41:31
Speaker 6: But it was a fun start.

00:41:32
Speaker 4: It was a fun start, and it was one of those games where you have to really capitalize in your early opportunities because you never know if you're going to get him, and we certainly saw that they were not going to get them when it ended.

00:41:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was a good amount of field goal scolding for Sean Payton at the on the fourth down where they elect to throw, Coach Payton said that they had a run called, but Mike Vrabel, the master of timely timeouts, takes a time out there, causes coach Payton to reconsider the call that they had. He said, in hindsight, it would have been better to go with the run. They played a heavy six to one and two. Guys got through on the fourth down where that was their best and last scoring opportunity.

00:42:11
Speaker 1: And well, I mean, I think because of the situation, you know, Will Lutz is gonna skate here, You're just like, oh, you can't make a field goal. They missed two field goals in this game.

00:42:23
Speaker 3: Well, I'm a one was fifty seven with the impending the bending snow coming in pushing the kick to the right. So I'll give LUTs the fifty four I believe yarder, But yeah, that would have been considerably closer. I believe it would have been thirty eight. It's well within Lutz's range. But I am acknowledging coach Payton's honesty there. The run call probably would have been the right one. If you know, if bo Nix is your quarterback, you feel good about that. But getting Jared Steadham in that situation on fourth.

00:42:55
Speaker 1: And two, it was rough and Stidham ultimately in this game, like had to just not cost them the game, and he kind of did, and Sean Payton's coaching on that fourth down contributed it. Let's listen to Sean Payton talking about that second quarter play, just just to back it up at this point in the game, it is seven to nothing. The Broncos are absolutely dominating yardage. They are on the Patriots fourteen yard line. They got a fourth and one. Peyton asked about it after the game.

00:43:27
Speaker 10: Coach, do you have regrets for not taking the field goal and going up to nothing?

00:43:33
Speaker 9: There's always regrets, you know. I felt like, you know, here we are fourth and one. We felt close enough that and it's and it's also a call you make based on the team you're playing and how what you're watching on the other side of the ball. So yeah, they'll be there'll always be second thoughts.

00:43:56
Speaker 2: That's brutal at that point.

00:43:58
Speaker 1: You know, they had three straight drives where it wasn't like they were just motoring down the field, but they had multiple first downs on all those drives, three on that one. They did not have a single drive the rest of the game in eight more drives where they had more than one first down. And it's gonna be a talking point for these next couple of weeks of like, well, who did the Patriots actually be, you know, in terms of like the opposing offenses that they've faced. And they got some breaks, certainly with Nico Collins out and you know, the Chargers offensive line isn't great and Jared Stidham playing him as the biggest break. But they've also allowed like a ridiculously few amount of points and they've had their big time players step up in big moments. Christian Barmore with a huge sack today. I thought Milton Williams had a bigger impact on this game than Nick Benito or Zach Allen or any pass rusher. He had the most quick pressures by far in this game. And then Kristin Gonzaz who does get beat early, ends up making the key interception in the fourth quarter.

00:45:00
Speaker 3: A shot there, Jordan high steps that stands it.

00:45:03
Speaker 2: Those the people down the way, he ut a corner the.

00:45:09
Speaker 12: Receiver he has, they tried to double up a medn't fight on it too, He said he watched his hips.

00:45:15
Speaker 3: More pointly, he watched the flight of the football. Timed it perfectly. M M.

00:45:21
Speaker 1: It's so funny because like it's a three point game at that point, and that's an interception to basically seal it, And it felt so like anti climactic, like you just expected it to happen.

00:45:31
Speaker 2: You're laughing because it was.

00:45:32
Speaker 6: A beach ball. The thing was in the air.

00:45:34
Speaker 2: Fore sure, it's bad.

00:45:37
Speaker 3: The calls perfect. He waited on a floater like you can't even say, like he's fielding a punt back there, and to call it a double move like Mims is, you know, kind of just I don't know what I don't I would like to know what Jared Stoodham was hoping to do with the way that well.

00:45:55
Speaker 1: I think what he was doing was regretting that he didn't let the pass before go, which Tony Romo thought was a good you know, turned down that. Ultimately, Mims you know, kind of ran into coverage on the play before, but he had a chance. Actually, it was one of the few times he saw a receiver with a little bit of space in the second half and he didn't throw that ball, and then he kind of went to the next play and thought, well, I'm just gonna throw this thing. It reminded me a lot of the Jared goff interception to Stefan Gilmour in the Super Bowl. Not quite you know, Goffs wasn't quite as much of a lollipop, but considering that was indoors, they were kind of similar situations and just poor efforts. We got to talk about the weather, because you know, after the game some of the players talking about it basically just said like, yeah, you couldn't really Evan Ingram I think, said after the game, like you couldn't really see where the defenders were, You couldn't see where the ball was, like, especially when you were going in the direction that the Patriots were going in the fourth quarter and that the the Broncos were going to a third You.

00:47:01
Speaker 2: Couldn't see anything. You couldn't do anything.

00:47:03
Speaker 1: He was like, I didn't know what how much depth to get, you know, I didn't know like where we were, and and you also couldn't cut confidently. So it was too much weather. I'm on the too much weather. I'd rather see football played at a higher level camp. I don't know how you stand it on it.

00:47:21
Speaker 4: So yeah, okay, so Midwestern guy have played in the snow.

00:47:25
Speaker 6: I have played in the cold very much.

00:47:26
Speaker 4: The throwback, no football is a game that should be played outdoors today changed my mind because with the trip of the Super Bowl on the line, I don't need the football reduced to whatever this was. In the second half, the visibility was so bad, which, by the way, hat tip to the Patriots equipment staff for inadvertently choosing the snow cameo uniforms this week. Great foresight on your part, just fantastic.

00:47:48
Speaker 2: Is that good?

00:47:49
Speaker 3: Though?

00:47:49
Speaker 1: I don't know if they could see their own teammates in the snow.

00:47:51
Speaker 6: It didn't matter.

00:47:52
Speaker 4: They had the lead, didn't matter, and that's the beauty of having a three point lead in a snowstorm. But yes, this is a terrible viewing experience for those of us that just because we couldn't figure out where they were on the field. It was so bad that Nance and Romo before the start of a drive were waiting to be fed where exactly the ball was on the field because we couldn't tell.

00:48:10
Speaker 6: That was after they took the.

00:48:11
Speaker 4: Lines that were super imposed on the field off the screen that cut off klebon Chasson's head.

00:48:16
Speaker 1: Look at Parson here if you're watching on YouTube, he's hi Kabad Crane.

00:48:21
Speaker 2: They took the poor man's head off.

00:48:23
Speaker 4: Sorry should continued, Yes, because technology is limited, even in these elements, even in the year twenty twenty six, we can only do so much.

00:48:31
Speaker 6: And both of these teams could only do so much.

00:48:34
Speaker 4: So like, yeah, you know what, I'm fine with building the domes. I just thought like maybe next year. It's January and the Bills are back in the playoffs and they have a home game and it's snowing like hell in Western New York, and everybody's mad the Bills for not building a dome even though they have a canopy.

00:48:48
Speaker 6: And they're like, oh, here we go, another game ruined by snow.

00:48:50
Speaker 4: It's I actually understand the dome argument now, and that's the I hate to say it because you know, it's still an AFC Championship game, but this was a game that was between two very very closely matched teams that felt like it was gonna come down to the final few possessions. Every play really felt like it mattered because of the low score and just the thin margin for air. And I feel like we were kind of robbed of that because the Patriots go on this nine and a half minute drive to start the third quarter. They end up getting three points out of it, and then here comes old man Winner coming in and just dumping snow on the field and everything goes completely off the rails for both teams.

00:49:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, but I guess that that's football.

00:49:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, doubly robbed in this game. I think, you know, the institution of precipitation can blame Jarrett Stidham that they have lost great snow fans like Nick Schuok, because you.

00:49:37
Speaker 2: Know the Stitty's fault. He's saying everything is Stitty's fault.

00:49:42
Speaker 4: It is because I'm a guy who went and watched Jamis Winston leave this the Browns to a win over the Steelers.

00:49:47
Speaker 6: In a similar snow storm last year, and that was incredible.

00:49:51
Speaker 1: My only worst My only thing on that is that the Patriots had sixty five net passing yards today.

00:49:59
Speaker 2: You know how horrible that is.

00:50:00
Speaker 1: I mean, Drake May had the same amount of rushing yards as they had passing yards. Marvin Mims almost had more passing yards on that one play than the Patriots did the entire game. So I guess I just would say, and Drake May missed and I don't know if it was all weather, because some were early too. He missed about five throws that were just open.

00:50:20
Speaker 2: In this game. No one was getting anything done through the air. Is my overriding.

00:50:24
Speaker 6: It was like a raider game.

00:50:25
Speaker 3: Well, I think if the snow robbed us of the pleasure of enjoying the football game, then the final moments in overtime of the divisional round, taking bo Nicks out of this this this was the Bonnicks game where you saw yep, Drake May with that game ceiling run on third down. The creativity that bo Nicks has in the pocket. The antithesis of that with Jared's did him bumbling on his feet and refusing to throw the ball away and ultimately giving the Patriots points where it's we got robbed of some some great opportunities. And and and I really think like if the schedule works it because I know we folks talk about the schedule and having this get the polar vortex was gonna be in Foxborough probably would have even been worse.

00:51:12
Speaker 2: It was even it looked worse.

00:51:14
Speaker 1: I mean, it maybe depends on like the quality of the snow, and you know, the way it was, you know, the wind was blowing in this game really hurt. And the fact that we just saw like the views early in the first quarter were pristine. The fact that changed so much also was bizarre. But yes, they're getting about a foot and a half of snow in Foxborough right now. And the CBS actually showed the shot of Foxborough and they were underneath it even in a more like dramatic way. So, uh, this storm that that's hitting everywhere but Sunny's California was a problem. I'm glad you mentioned the fumble. So Stidham's fumble in the second quarter, to me, was the biggest play of the game. Uh, you know, before that, the Patriots weren't getting absolutely anything done on defense and Stidham just has to get rid of that ball. Dirt it, take a sack, throw it out of bounds, anything. And I was making the case that he's an athletic quarterback, but he didn't look like he is a run fast and a straight line type of quarterback. But he was one of ten today under pressure for four yards, took three sacks, had this fumble, also had the interception under pressure, and that was early in the game when they were sending a ton of blitz is. They actually adjusted and stopped doing that and just started playing man coverage once the snow started.

00:52:35
Speaker 2: But basically, he.

00:52:37
Speaker 1: Just had to avoid a play like this, and they they might have won this game, you know what I mean, Like, yeah, they just punt this ball. If it wasn't for this one particular place shook, they maybe get it. Hell, let's actually listen to what the Patriots did on the other side, because it fits in with everything we're talking about. Drake May did take advantage and the only way he really knew how in this game, which was with his legs.

00:53:00
Speaker 13: The light is made point spish white handed to supper protections, takes me still quarters.

00:53:07
Speaker 3: Right touch come, I'll tell you that's the way you.

00:53:14
Speaker 2: God right there.

00:53:17
Speaker 1: You need to stop calling for the.

00:53:20
Speaker 2: They split the greats man and you cut his charge.

00:53:24
Speaker 3: Patricks are in a state what it called to mc dangles. They need a chance out of it.

00:53:30
Speaker 2: I need to check, like the stats in our podcast for how many people just turned it off.

00:53:34
Speaker 1: Hey, America's back after each one of these these calls. It is really crazy to think about how old there are only points where we're from his legs because because there's that right, there's the touchdown, there's the long run at the end of the first half to set up a field goal attempt that Borogalis missed. And let you crow about a Miami kicker not being able to deliver in the colt. How long ago did you have that take shook December first, okay, and then you came back and the second he missed the kick. You just texted me right back, and you and you did the thing where you replied to the text that you sent on December first.

00:54:11
Speaker 4: That's yeah, the beauty of modern technology is that you can keyword search your text message. And luckily I don't text about Andy boor Gallas very much.

00:54:18
Speaker 1: That was almost mean spirited, but also an incredible pad on the back because you did call it so okay.

00:54:24
Speaker 2: So he had that setting up that field goal.

00:54:26
Speaker 1: He had the fourth down sneak which was questionably you know, not a first down, that set up the field goal in the second half, the game quote unquote winning field goal. He also had a twenty eight yard run earlier on that drive, so their big chunk play on that drive was a big run too. And yeah, he had another thirteen yard er mixed in. And I do think that drive after halftime that you point out, you're like, oh, it's just three points. They had the ball for twenty one minutes in the second half. They went forty two percent in terms of their six off lineman package. It was Thayer Mumford. They've almost not done that all season. I know that's been popular around the league, but they have not been a extra offensive lineman type of team and they went by far higher on that in this game than any game all season. So I do think you can give the Patriots coaching staff and team credit for there. They've been very good at adjusting and shape shifting within a game. And that drive reminded me a lot of the fourth quarter drive against a really good Texans defense where you burn clock and you showed you could run the ball in a big spot. And in this game, like a drive like that was the difference.

00:55:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it really speaks to how the Patriots have gotten to this point this postseason. It hasn't really been pretty in any game. There's been the explosive plays in previous weeks, but what they've done, more than anything, on both sides of the balls, they've taken advantage of the moment. They've come through in the big moment, the big plays. The Drake may touchdown pass to Hunter Henry, the Drake may have touchdown pass to key Shan Boudi, a touchdown run or a big run to set up a field goal, dominating time possession this second half, defensively forcing a takeaway and then converting that into a touchdown. It hasn't been by a wide margin, but they've consistently come through because I think there are more disciplined team, they're better prepared, better coached by Mike Rabel, and they deliver. Now, not to go all super Bowl preview on you, but I think in the Super Bowl against the team that they're about to play, it may need more than that, yeah, to contend because this is a much better opponent that they're gonna be facing in the Super Bowl.

00:56:24
Speaker 2: Let me give you a couple of the stats.

00:56:26
Speaker 1: So through the first three rounds for any team that played three rounds, they have the fewest amount of points in the Super Bowl era, you know, to make the Super Bowl fifty four points. That's lower than the Ravens and the Giants. That's not the lowest scoring playoff team because you know, previously, like there was a Rams team I guess in seventy nine that only played two games, so they're points per game were lower. But basically in this era where you got to play three games, they have the lowest score. On the flip side, though, they have allowed the second fewest points in the first three games of a you know, the Super Bowl era, only twenty six points. And you look at this list of teams and it's like the greatest defenses of all time. It's the two thousand Ravens, and I forget who else was in the mix. I think the Bucks were close on that, and ultimately, you know, you add up those points. They have a pretty big scoring margin here. What is it fifty four to twenty six in three games? That's ridiculous. That could be one game. That's three games, So they've they're going to get a lot of questions about.

00:57:32
Speaker 2: The manner to which they got there.

00:57:35
Speaker 1: I think Drake may, even though he's not going to relish this matchup, it's a very difficult defense for the fourth straight game, I think he's going to relish being in better conditions, yeah, because they did not handle conditions particularly well on offense in the three.

00:57:48
Speaker 3: Games, and the conditions weren't ideal in the previous rounds either. Now this was you know, unique in the snow and the cold and the wind. But to be able to have a drive like the one we were just talking about where they start off with a screen pass, they have seven consecutive run plays, then he scrambles, they take a shot play action, then they run another screen pass, then they have three consecutive run plays, get the sack and then the field goal. But there's a couple of scrambles involved in there where you just kind of see the difference. And I know we celebrated the athleticism right because Jared Stidham is a large person who is capable of running fast. But there's levels in terms of, you know, being aware and having the spatial awareness of where defenders are, having a plan to where you can get to where you need to go in those situations because the picture is constantly changing and Drake may is capable of doing that. Jared Stidham was not.

00:58:42
Speaker 2: That is fair.

00:58:43
Speaker 1: That is fair, and Stidham did say after the game, I should have ate that sack. The Patriots with some fun postgame sound. In general, they've kind of adopted the Warriors come out and play thing between Mike Fraebel screams that to them, they're nine to zero on the road. I guess that's why they're road Warriors. So they they got to the Super Bowl without losing a game on the road. We also have Milton Williams, who is delightful and has been a great quote at the podium and when he's one on one with our friend Cameron Wolf.

00:59:15
Speaker 3: Everybody doubted us. Everybody talking about we ain't this wa ain't that they got no more? Oh this, and that I want to hear something today, pup that day.

00:59:23
Speaker 13: I want to hear it.

00:59:25
Speaker 4: I want to live Milton William's life. He wins the Super Bowl with the Eagles last year. He gets a bag and he's going back to the Super Bowl now and he's talking his trash the whole way there.

00:59:33
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, he he did it. I mean, Cameron Wolf had a great day.

00:59:36
Speaker 1: He also had a one on one with Cardi b h during this and uh yeah, Stefan Diggs also talking about all the teams that you know didn't want him and thought his career was over. And his biggest play do you know which one I'm going with here in this game shook because I didn't realize it until I saw like a different angle replay pretty late in the game. It was not one of Stefan Diggs's five receptions for seventeen yards.

01:00:01
Speaker 2: What an ugly game this.

01:00:03
Speaker 1: It was the very first third down of the entire game. Drake May basically threw it right at Talineo Hufunga. Could have been an interception could have been going back the other way and Hufunga didn't catch it, and that happens a lot, and I thought he just dropped it. But when you saw it from the other angle, like Hufunga's got it in his hands and Stefan Diggs, you know, knocks the ball out kind of like Pukinakua a few weeks back for the Rams and had a big pass defense for this Patriots team who gets it done nine to zero on the road. That the defense has forced eight turnovers in the playoffs, only allowed two touchdowns. And I saw this stat which blew my mind from a depressed I guess Dolphins reporter who pointed out this is the Patriots tenth Super Bowl appearance since the last time the Dolphins won a playoff game.

01:00:58
Speaker 6: Oh, it's kind of ratious.

01:01:01
Speaker 3: Sorry the Dolphins.

01:01:03
Speaker 2: I don't know why I had the Dolphins had to take a stray, but there he said that, and I was just like, that's crazy. Is that true?

01:01:09
Speaker 1: That was I possible, but it is crazy us everybody did doubt I mean nobody doubted them in this game. I had Patriots in this game. Shookie's been doing great with the picks, what about you.

01:01:25
Speaker 4: I had Patriots and Seahawks. Look at you narrow margins in both, so you nailed it. And I have a couple of things I want to point out from this weekend because despite that game being ugly, and I love a snow day, a lot of people love us snowdy. But what I love more than anything is the storylines. And in Ram Seahawks, we got storylines of revenge for Cooper Cup and Ernest Jones, two guys the Rams didn't want anymore. They went to Seattle, they beat the Rams stop him from going to the super Bowl. And then the other one we just mentioned, Stefan Diggs in his third attempt, he finally clears the conference title game bar and he's going to the super Bowl for the first time. Those are all fun things to track, and lord knows we'll be tracking them endlessly over the next two weeks.

01:02:04
Speaker 2: Joel Anderson from The Ringer had a tweet.

01:02:09
Speaker 1: They said, he doesn't know if Stefan Diggs needs the two weeks of Super Bowl attention fare point.

01:02:16
Speaker 2: Any other notes on this sky.

01:02:17
Speaker 1: By the way, punting like when you know whin there's wins loss, that's not a punting stat because if it was Jeremy Cranshaw.

01:02:25
Speaker 3: Game I've ever since was so good.

01:02:29
Speaker 1: He's a rookie, he's an Australian. I mean, he is incredible. He was so much better than the Patriots punder Bryce Behringer, like that almost swung the game for them. Cranshaw was making it happen. Eric's looking at me like, are you really doing punting talk?

01:02:44
Speaker 10: Now?

01:02:44
Speaker 2: We could be getting out of here.

01:02:46
Speaker 6: Three phases thunding talk.

01:02:48
Speaker 2: You might as well do my weather report that I texted you. Oh I didn't see that. Do you give it to me? You're the weather man.

01:02:54
Speaker 15: It's you know, San Francisco, Santa Clara. Okay, no dome, no canopy, guys, sure, Olbie weather talk this year? Sixty nine degrees in cloudy zickoff?

01:03:04
Speaker 2: Is that the forecast right now? Forecast two weeks out? You can get them.

01:03:07
Speaker 15: Okay, no snow, but San Francisco Bar area, anybody from the area knows you can get wet and sloppy.

01:03:12
Speaker 2: It will get cold there.

01:03:13
Speaker 4: So if you happened in, yeah, and is the field gonna be in decent shape? Because I think the last Superworld there was a little slippery.

01:03:19
Speaker 2: Well that's the thing. It's get you get the nighttime due and that's where it gets slippery.

01:03:27
Speaker 3: It really is the worst. But also, let's not reside the field on Friday night. Please, just if it doesn't look great, who cares. I don't want to see tackles out there sliding around.

01:03:37
Speaker 1: Right because it's what a three point thirty kickoff? So the sun's going down, you know, by halftime or before, and yeah, then the moistures in the air, it's getting into the low fifties and people could be slipping around. But yeah, it should be better before we get out of here. Just some notes Nick Foles. Remember we brought up that tweet he did about the Patriots and how backups have a good record.

01:03:59
Speaker 2: He deleted the two during this. No, I mean, I'm not saying they should take away the Eagle Super Bowl victory, but take away his nickname m He should some they should be punished in some way.

01:04:13
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know. You can take that one way.

01:04:14
Speaker 6: No, that's true, but the sentiment, the sentiment of it, maybe we can take it away.

01:04:18
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

01:04:21
Speaker 2: Kirk Cousins involved in the halftime, and I've got a Kirk Cousins take.

01:04:26
Speaker 3: He likes this.

01:04:27
Speaker 1: He likes this a lot, and I think he seemed fine for he seems good, good at it actually, and so I think we're gonna have Kirk Cousins as as part of our life in the in the media moving forward.

01:04:38
Speaker 10: I like it.

01:04:39
Speaker 6: I think he's no offense to Tom Brady. He's better than Tom Brady. He's gotten a lot better.

01:04:42
Speaker 1: This year's He's on the halftime show, so that's a different that's a different skill.

01:04:46
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good.

01:04:47
Speaker 6: So then I think he was a good replacement for Matt Ryan.

01:04:50
Speaker 3: So then he would need he would need that that panache of perhaps the Steelers quarterback job over the Browns back job just to spring him onto his brocket.

01:05:01
Speaker 1: Or or he could just have his Matt Ryan, who he just replaced at CBS, just fire him and he just stays at CBS. You don't have to keep playing football, keep keep your brain.

01:05:10
Speaker 4: He's gonna he's gonna have to stop shopping at Cole's though. I think the wardrobe department's gonna have to upgrade him if he's gonna be on.

01:05:17
Speaker 1: I do think uh, I do think that uh Brady's improved a lot, and in general, Tom was absolutely good Chris Rose wanted to point out for you Shook that the Rams loss was good news for the Browns because they might be looking to hire uh Nate Schielhouse mm hm and uh. Now, now those coordinators are going to be available, they might want to be talking to Chris Shula, so that there's a little bit of a Browns angle for you. I think this is gonna be tricky, like I've already seen a lot of like you know, like it's almost painful for the Jets to see Sam Darnold uh do so well. It's a reminder that of the struggles that they've had. But I think most Jets and love Sam Donald and we'll probably be rooting for him.

01:06:03
Speaker 2: How you know. Sam Donald's a good guy.

01:06:05
Speaker 3: I'm just glad they're still watching football right And but.

01:06:09
Speaker 2: Oh, by the way, Mike McCarthy's the new head coach of the Steelers.

01:06:11
Speaker 3: We'll congratulations Steelers fans.

01:06:14
Speaker 2: We'll spend more time. Now just does not feel like the show to do it.

01:06:17
Speaker 1: So we're gonna hit McCarthy and all the big coaching news at a future show in which we'll probably make Nick Chuck and or Patrick Claiban do some work you're not Donal Schuck and you're going You're going to the super Bowl. This will be our last recap show with Patrick. But it's weird to say goodbye. When I'll see you, Yeah, Wednesday, We'll see Wednesday.

01:06:40
Speaker 3: All right.

01:06:41
Speaker 2: I guess that's it. Let's get out of here. Patriots Seahawks, super Bowl sixty.

01:06:48
Speaker 1: You know who's happy about this other than the fans of both teams, Malcolm Butler. Malcolm Butler is making so much money endorsing products.

01:06:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've never heard of for fifth teen minute spots. We'll accept you. Malcolm, working on that guest list. We'll see you next day.