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[Assistant] Who's gonna be the third guy on the offense? And then, they have defensive star playmakers to me that put them over the edge. Josh Allen had the rougher night than Patrick Mahomes did. Josh Allen's protection was less than.


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[Assistant] So, it just was amazing that way, but the, my point with being is, I do think the star power, the Chiefs helped them get over the edge. The Chris Jones, the Melvin Ingrams, the Frank Clarks, you know, like we talked about the offensive stars, they're just, they have a hair more to offer than the Bills, which I would just wish they would get.


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[Assistant] One more splash, sexy player on each side of the ball.


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, come on. What's that? First off, you know, I understand the question. That doesn't always mean anything. I mean, it doesn't, it doesn't mean anything. You know, so, so what? I mean, Brady beat Rogers in the NFC Championship. He didn't, he didn't play better than him. Jimmy G played like shit. Is he better than Rogers?


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[Assistant] I mean, we saw that game. The 49ers won. So, God, let me redo my rankings. Hold on. Jimmy G is the top five quarterback. He won.


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[Assistant] So, like, that's where I want to get into, like, my man Tobias, and go, listen, I understand your thought, and that's real, and the Bills in totality, the defense is better, you just heard me say though, if you break it down, I don't think it's all of that, you know, again, the Bills is good, you're asking me what D-line I'm taking, I'm taking the Chiefs D-line.


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[Assistant] I'm taking Chris Jones and Frank Clark and Melvin Ingram over Ed Oliver.


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[Assistant] You know, Jerry Hughes and, you know, Gregory Rousseau. Sorry. So there goes that. Middle linebackers? Okay. I'll give it to the Bills. Yes. It's not by a huge margin. Secondary? Safety's got it with the Buffalo.


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[Assistant] Corners? I'm going with the Chiefs' corners. Again, it's about the matchups. And don't look at it that way. And I said right now, I think Tobias is referring to something I said on PFT today. First off,


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[Assistant] We're talking about, like, smidgens. You're talking about the two guys, Chris Simms, I'm here doing this podcast, and who I am, because I stood on the table for these guys. So it's not a love-loss. They're both the best players in the sport. I'm just saying right now, Alan has got a smidgen, a glee in front of me over my honks.


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[Assistant] To play that type of style of football, that quality, a quarterback, and then lose, it's just, it doesn't get any worse.


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[Assistant] You know, that's where I give him an advantage over Josh Allen. Those type of throws, that stuff, you know, Allen can do them too, but he's better than Allen in that department.


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[Assistant] You know, running the football, I give the advantage to Allen a little bit because they can call design runs and run them like Cam Newton, get along, he can scramble and do the things my homes can't do there. But yes, I mean, it was just one high level, oh my gosh, missile after another from both guys. And what you saw too is, you know, what we've


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[Assistant] Mahomes at his finest, Mahomes a player of football, knowing who he's playing against, and Josh Allen, who's hot as hell, and that Bill's offense is hot as hell.


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[Assistant] We question about Mahomes. Can he be patient? He's answering questions for us at the end of the season here. He's showing great patience. Showed patience last night. Both quarterbacks did. I think this is what makes these guys special. Again, I know I'm going back here to this just because it's like,


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[Assistant] It's rare to be that type of gunslinger and playmaker and then not really make mistakes ever either.


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[Assistant] This is a new thing. Rogers kinda set the bar as being that guy, and these guys have this talent to do the two, where they can be surgical,


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[Assistant] They can buy time, they can manipulate coverage with their ability to move eyes and do, you know, move people with their eyes and all that. And they can be patient and wait their time out too. And that's what's unbelievable about both, but really unbelievable by Mahomes because he was a little more impatient.


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[Assistant] People, they finally saw it. I don't know what it was, but they had to see it last night against my homes to see it. To where I'm watching and I'm flipping around and I'm going,


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[Assistant] Everyone is going, you know, really, Alan's just as good as Mahomes. It's, I mean, he's no, you can't really say Mahomes is better, right? I mean, so again, it's, we're talking about elite, elite stuff here with both of these guys, but more of a proud papa. I'm not jealous. Get off my bandwagon.


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[Assistant] No, it's, it's, well, I think a little bit of like, he's the one guy, as compared to Kansas City, where he talked about, where the, you know, hey, we'd like to take away Hill and Kelsey, but we can't take both. He's re- he is that guy on Buffalo.


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[Assistant] And yeaah, it's a little too, you know, all on him at times. I don't know. They must have done something in the game. I would love to, that's some of the Wednesday podcasts I'll be able to give you a little bit of an answer for. I would think they doubled them in certain situations. Again, as I said just a minute ago, the corners for the Chiefs are better than the corners of the Bills.


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[Assistant] Uh, but I would think there was something done there by Spagnolo on certain situations to go, wait, we gotta see somebody else beat us, not just Diggs. And Gabe Davis stepped up to the plate. I mean, what a, are you kidding me with that game? All the great receivers in the history of football?


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[Assistant] Gabe Davis, 200 yards, 404 touchdowns, nobody's ever done it in the history of football. Jerry Rice, Moss, none of them. Here's Gabe Davis, second year in the NFL. Hey, nobody's had a better playoff game than me. I mean, it's just absolutely unreal.


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[Assistant] I will, I will. That's something definitely from the Wednesday podcast. I'll break it down. And Spags, as we've talked about, definitely one of those coaches where in


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[Assistant] And I know you're gonna throw a situation, we'll do things outside the box and double somebody or take them away that way. And that's what I'm expecting to see at least when I turn on the film.


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[Assistant] I think the squid kick, the high to the one. High floater. That to me is certainly a mistake one you can look at. Totally. I wouldn't squib it. I'd be scared to squib it. Squibbing it, first off, there's not great control of the kick. Right. You can end up kicking at a guy in the front line and all of a sudden you go...


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[Assistant] So you do that and that takes away six, seven seconds and now you go, well good luck trying to get the two completions you're gonna get with, you know, six or seven, less seconds on the clock to actually make that happen.


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[Assistant] That's exactly right. So I think you look at that, listen, the, the first play of, now after the kickoff, the little dump off to, uh, Tyree kill, right? That, that's one where,


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[Assistant] You know, look at that, I don't have a problem with that one. I don't look at it and go, oh wow, that was, how dare they. They were playing deep, they were protecting the sideline, okay, so they do that, alright, now, you know, what I will say is, they overprotected the sideline on both plays. Kansas City's got timeouts.


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[Assistant] So, you don't, like, they're not gonna be looking just to attack that part of the field. Don't need to. Right. They don't need to.


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[Assistant] And then with the timeouts, you know, especially on the second play, I just don't know how you can leave such a voided area with the best receiving tight end of football. And that's where I don't understand why there wasn't, you could play the same defense you want.


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[Assistant] But I would have had one of those guys, hey, get up, man up on Kelsey.


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[Assistant] Or don't let them release off the line of scrimmage so clean and just get off free or you got a guy at least four or five yards off of them. So we can't just catch the ball and run and then go, Oh, he gets down and maybe they can kick a 58 yard field goal or something like that. That to me is where they, they've dropped the ball. And like I said, what I don't understand on that last play, especially is the deep.


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[Assistant] Protect, protect the medium out route, the 10 to 15 yard out route. Protect the deep ball, Hail Mary, uh, out route that way, the deep out route there. That to me is where they drop the ball a little bit. Too much protection of the sidelines there with, again, a little wiggle room with these things.


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[Assistant] Do that, rush two, right? Have some, have two or three guys underneath to like disrupt, don't let anybody just go free.


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[Assistant] Three man, another guy in coverage, certainly would be one thing you see a lot of teams do. It's a tough one. It really is. But yeaah, I don't think where I, and I need to go back and watch the coaches film too, to really look how they lined up. But just shocked by the free access they gave all the receivers there. I mean, at that moment, what did we have?


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[Assistant] We had first and 10 right on the Kansas City 44 yard line. So they're on their side of the ball.


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[Assistant] There is, right there, there is eight seconds left to, to, uh, make something happen. And...


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[Assistant] They have two timeouts here at this point, right? Yep. So that's again where hopefully we'll show some of these clips on Wednesday as far as how they lined up and where they went.


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[Assistant] You know, again too, I think Kansas City looked at it, they saw the play, they knew what was coming on. So they were all ready to get lined up as soon as the play was over as well. It wasn't maybe as scattered as, you know, uh, Prescott running down the middle of the field.


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[Assistant] I've been going slowly in another direction. I think this game is nail, nail in the coffin for me, for sure. You know, one, hey sure, as a viewer,


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[Assistant] We're all cheated in the fact that, like, a coin dictated who got the ball and who got to win the game. I understand the thought there. In a game where we saw neither quarterback could be stopped, right?


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[Assistant] We're really late with four seconds left, whether you want to go for two points or go to overtime, whatever, to know like, okay, they're definitely going to get the ball. I understand that. I also like rewarding the team that's at home. They earn that throughout the playoffs. So here you go. And now that takes away like, oh, the coin just dictates it. No, the play on the field dictated. We got the ball in overtime. That point too about the


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[Assistant] I think what has changed me is this. No, we didn't know that. You're right. You know, we knew that both quarterbacks were on fire. You know, you don't know how long they can sustain it. I think the other thing I look at too is, and what I think slowly has changed me here, is the rules of the game. The rules are so favored to the offense now.


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[Assistant] I don't think it's fair to think that a defense is gonna make that stop in these type of situations in a fifth quarter where they're exhausted and we know protecting the quarterback and pass interference and all that is called so easily and can flip field position. Now thank God none of that happened in this drive.


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[Assistant] To that point, yes, with even limited ability to contact receivers down the field as compared to the old days.


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[Assistant] You know, that, that's where the game is different, and I do think that's where, in those situations, the offense is heavily favored because of the way the game plays out this day and age. And that's, I think, another reason that's kind of pushed me over the edge there. And, and the excuse of sudden death keeps everybody to watch the game.


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[Assistant] No, nobody was turning the f***ing channel with the way those guys were playing last night. We didn't need Southern Death to go, oh I think, who's gonna, this could be it right here. If I knew that wasn't gonna be it and Josh Allen was still gonna get the ball after, I'd have still been, oh I'm gonna sit right here and watch what Josh Allen does. I mean, that was, it was unreal. It was, can't miss TV.


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[Assistant] Are we really going to kick off the ball and like think, Hey, defense will stop them this time, even though we're more tired than we were the drive before. And they've just been gashing us left and right. I think your points real there to where the game won't drag on forever.


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[Assistant] Uh, but I do think we're onto something here. You think it changes? I think this might do enough to change it. I do. Because too, I think the crazy thing is...


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[Assistant] You know, there's no mistakes to point to anywhere from anybody. Yeah. That's where I think it's harder to swallow than maybe other years where you go, well, this team made a mistake in the fourth quarter, should never got to that. Or they did this and shouldn't have got, this was one of those games where you go,


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[Assistant] I mean, there's nothing to look at to go, it should've never got to that. It was just really good football play, and unbelievable plays, and superstar caliber plays from two quarterbacks, and that's where you hate to see it be decided that way.


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[Assistant] I like keeping the whole field available. I don't like starting the ball at the 25 yard line. And I'm not a fan of the college football rules either. I mean, you know, you can get in danger in these games with these two quarterbacks. Who knows? There's too many things. And I still want to see football played.


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[Assistant] You're still gonna manage the field, the field position a little bit, and think about situations that way. I don't like the college rule, nor am I a fan of like, it's the 75th overtime, and this game's awesome, it's still going. No, when I watch things like that, I go, neither team is that good, it's just mistakes, and oh shit, great play, or horrible tackle, I don't want


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[Assistant] Cool, but I know, it's never gonna be perfect, nor is it supposed to be perfect. I know, it's, it's not. You know, and again, the thing I always used to complain on to a degree is, I mean, again,


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[Assistant] You know, these defenses, they got million dollar players too. They gotta make some stops too every now and then. Uh, but, but I understand it and I do think this is gonna be the jump ball point to the rules being tweaked a little bit. I think so too. And I would think that yes, even if you score a touchdown, they're gonna go, okay, other team gets a chance to match it and they'll figure out how to do it from there on.


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[Assistant] You know, you can, we can sit here and go, oh, the Titans, you know, maybe they outplayed the Bengals, but they lost the game. And, you know, okay, you can go, hey, the Packers, maybe they should have won that. They outplayed the Niners in some ways. They should have won the game.


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[Assistant] This was the team that won the game should have won the game and should have won the game by 40. I mean, this was the biggest ass whooping of the weekend for sure. And again, I know that they made mistakes and people can sit there and go, well, the Bucks forced them cause they weren't that special plays or hits to be forced.


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[Assistant] Cam Akers, if he played a full season, would have been tackled like that a thousand times during the year and not fumbled. Cooper Cup, a ball in the flat.


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[Assistant] Breaking an arm tackle from a DB? I mean, he's been tackled like that 500 times this year. Like, a shotgun snap?


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[Assistant] That it was unbelievable, we were sitting there going, I couldn't believe my eyes. And really all you have to do is go, listen, what has it been, Pete? Pete might be able to look this up. It's been 30 or 40 years since a team, what, turned the ball over with four fumbles and won the game? You have to whoop a team's ass to turn the ball over four times and still win a game.


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[Assistant] And that's what they did. They kinda controlled the game throughout.


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[Assistant] Until the very end where the mistakes really started to bubble up and they just couldn't put them away.


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[Assistant] You, you break down any facet of the football game. Special teams, offense, defense. Rams were the better unit on the field on Sunday. And that's why I'm just glad at least they won the game, because that would have pissed me off.


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[Assistant] If they were that dominant and that much better than the Bucks...


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[Assistant] And the Bucs still got to go on. To me, again, that you know I get scared of. I get scared I want to see the best championship games. I want to see that. And the Rams, to me, at their best show that they were better than the Bucs for sure.


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[Assistant] I mean, bad snap there. You're already in field goal range. I mean, you're already in 37 yard chip shot field goal range and you don't even get anything. They get the ball. The Cooper Cup fumble. You're around midfield.


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[Assistant] You're a completion or two away from being in field goal position there. The cam-makers fumble at the one. The cam-makers fumble, of course, at the end of the football game. I mean, it was just one unreal thing after another. It really was. And credit to the Bucs. I don't want to take total credit away from them. But again, you know, let's get down to it.


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[Assistant] I mean the Rams offense had answers for the Bucs all day long. All day long. They, none of the Todd balls blitzes fooled them.


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[Assistant] We didn't see anybody coming free to Matthew Stafford. You know, the pregame show to me, the story of the game was what quarterback could get protected. And the Rams won that batter.


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[Assistant] Not only because their own line played well, but McVeigh and Stafford had a real plan of attack that made sense. They stayed patient with the run. The play action passes were there. You could tell they had a real good feel for what blitzes were coming. They always at least had the numbers right and how to protect it. So, and then,


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[Assistant] Uhm, let me just say this. Oh, ding ding ding. Uhm, ding ding ding. Support matters. Uhm, ding ding ding. Support matters. Oh, see, when you have Talon at the quarterback position, and now he's got some Talon around him,


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[Assistant] Good for you. I got some of that feeling too, cause it's just good to see. I mean, he played phenomenal yesterday.


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[Assistant] I think first off I just go why? Why are we doing that defense there? What are we going for the juggler right there at that moment? That's what I don't understand.


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[Assistant] One of the most talented receiving cores in the foot and football and go, here's a one on one shot with one against one of our freaky guys. We'll give you a one on one shot. Which one did you want to throw to Odell, Van Jefferson, Cooper cup? All of them could beat us at any given play, but we just wanted to make sure you knew it was this play right here.


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[Assistant] You know, I heard Bruce Arias after the game go, well, one guy didn't blitz, it didn't matter. There was a free guy off the edge. I mean, he had to throw it quick no matter what.


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[Assistant] He was fading away. He wasn't fooled by it. He knew what was coming. I don't understand the call. And then of course, what does the call lead to? A guy that's playing safety against the best receiver in football this year? Man to man? That was a no-win situation. But again, I think the microcosm there


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[Assistant] Is the Rams had answers for everything the Bucks did on the defensive side of the ball yesterday. Really were never stopped, only stopped themselves really for the most part of the day. And I give McVay and, and you know, a lot of credit. Didn't run the ball well.


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[Assistant] But like McVeigh always does, and I said this during the pregame yesterday, attempts are important for them.


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[Assistant] Just to, hey, slow down the pass rush for the Bucs. Keep the play action pass alive. Let your team fire off the ball and impose a little physical will at times instead of always catching and pass blocking, right? So that's where the game plan was brilliant. And to your point, what you said,


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[Assistant] We came in a lot of Mondays towards the last month of the year and went...


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[Assistant] The Rams are playing good. You heard me say it a lot of times. The Rams got everything going except Stafford in the trust tree. And even when he was in the trust tree, he was clutch as hell at some of the end game moments. Raven's game did some dumb shit. Clutch drive to win it. Minnesota Vikings game did some dumb shit. Clutch drive at the game and to win it. You know, 49ers game.


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[Assistant] You know, tough spot, they're sputtering, goes down and scores a touchdown, puts him up by seven with a little, like a minute left. So, he's shown the ability to bounce back from adversity. It wasn't his adversity yesterday, but man, that was a beautiful, beautiful throw and clutches it gets to Cooper.


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[Assistant] He goes Hall of Famer. Yeah, I knew he was a Hall of Famer. I knew the name, but I can't say that I remember like...


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[Assistant] Somebody's told him that knows Bray that they wouldn't be surprised if he said that's it, whether that's Julian Edelman who talks to Bray, who knows? But I don't think that comes out of nowhere.


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[Assistant] I think Nickovich says that, knowing that's...


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[Assistant] In the realm of possibilities for Brady. And then it goes from there. And then the fact that no one's just absolutely squashed it, tells you it's real. The way Bruce Arians answered it, the way Brady's answered it, Schefter adding to it about uncertainty. Again, it would be easy.


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[Assistant] I've been saying all year, I said it last year, I'm playing in 2022. Tough loss today, I'm playing next year though, I don't know what you guys are talking about. Brady didn't answer like that. I'm gonna take it day by day. It's the first time we've heard that. All year, before the year, he was always talking about


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[Assistant] 2022, I'm playing and then I'll reassess. So something happened. I don't know what that is. It was a rough day yesterday.


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[Assistant] That'll definitely be the kind of day where he'd go, but maybe I need to retire. I mean, he was under pressure, duress, all game long. The Rams-D line, the Stars, were unfucking believable in the game. That's it. Screw the Saks. The Saks meant nothing.


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[Assistant] They got Brady in jumpy mode from the first play of the game. First time he dropped back, it was that Brady that we see, where we saw in the other four losses this year. You know, kind of get back and...


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[Assistant] He's kind of flinching, like, do I gotta duck? Do I gotta move up in the pocket? They made him as uncomfortable as could be. And of course, it didn't help that, you know, their right tackle, who's phenomenal and worst, wasn't there.


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[Assistant] Regardless, the other guys all got their ass whooped too. So I don't know if Worf makes that much of a difference. They were steamrolling all these guys, and just a great job of


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[Assistant] You know, an occasional 5-man pressure. Our 4-mans will get there. You can see in the replays.


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[Assistant] You know, even on plays where Brady looked like he had a little time, you could see he was double clutching the ball because nobody was open.


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[Assistant] You know, I think Raheem Morris, his experience in Atlanta, knowing the Tampa Bay offense and getting to face it a little the last few years before he went to the Rams, I think it came in handy in this matchup. I certainly do. Let alone, this is what's different about the playoffs. And it's where it's like,


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[Assistant] Man, when you have a D-line in the playoffs, they're just, those guys all week.


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[Assistant] We can't win unless you dominate. We can't win unless you dominate.


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[Assistant] And you're telling that to the most dominant people on earth, physically. You're telling Aaron Donald and Floyd and Von Miller who are like,


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[Assistant] Whenever I've been asked to dominate anything I do. So you want me to dominate this week and we get more money and I can go to the Super Bowl and I can crap on Tom Brady's farewell tour and all that. I mean that's all they needed and they just showed up and they were phenomenal. Meanwhile doing some


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[Assistant] Out of the turnovers, some of the dumb shit on defense. What the fuck is Jalen Ramsey doing on the go route to Mike Evans? What are we doing? Let them throw the ball. They got no time left.


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[Assistant] Make em work. We're gonna give a one on one shot go route down the right sideline. Just hey, score quick so we can get the ratings up for NBC. Which we appreciate. We did appreciate. It was nice that that game was close. We did appreciate. It was.


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[Assistant] You know, it's funny you're saying that. I kind of said that today, a little.


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[Assistant] I don't, again, I don't know, feel it, but I like, maybe he's 44. Yea, that drama.


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[Assistant] Having to deal with that, you know, getting hit, probably feeling the beat up. I mean, I don't know. It's crossed my mind to your point. It has crossed my mind. There's no doubt. I mean, they have had an action packed year there in Tampa. And to end the year, yea, with that AB drama and a loss like this. I expect Brady back.


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[Assistant] I think we're gonna see him more. He's still playing at a really high level.


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[Assistant] He's still got a great arm. They still got a really good football team.


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[Assistant] I mean, I think we all can still look at it and go, Hey, yeah, they're a good team on the field yesterday. We know that, but they weren't a total full strength, you know, close to it.


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[Assistant] Certainly still talented enough to where they shouldn't have put up that effort right there. You know, the stats in this game are misleading.


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[Assistant] I like football. I like him too much to go on and go like, I don't want that to be the last time. And I didn't really realize it was the last time. Kind of took for granted we had one more year. Yeah. Uh, but big win by the Rams. Big win. And not shocked by it. Every team has their kryptonite in the NFL. Every team has their kryptonite.


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[Assistant] And we've seen the Bucks, even as talented as they are, like the Saints and Rams have something about their D-line and how they can orchestrate coverages that even gives the great Bucks and Tom Brady some issues.


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[Assistant] Chris Sims, Texas alumni, I've known him since I was 18 years old. Really? He was there at Texas with us. Richard, Richard Hightower, aka Peanut we called him. Why?


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[Assistant] Didn't have the best year of his career as far as special teams of the 49ers. They had some gaffes during the year, but yes. They've been good. They've been good. As a whole have been great. This year they had a few moments where, yea, he's taking the blame and going, hey, I'm taking that, I messed some things up, whatever, but you're right. Big, big part of the game as well.


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[Assistant] You know, we don't talk about it a lot. It's not what we do. I know it's, it's a, it's an aspect of the game really probably we all need to focus on more. We did mention it though a couple weeks ago where we talked about Mason Crosby and I know how they've done. Yeah, no doubt about it. They've had issues in all phases of their special teams all year long. And of course it just, it's reared its ugly head in the worst possible moment.


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[Assistant] You know, this is one of those games, it's, you know, it's hard to look at it. You know, you, hey, really?


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[Assistant] And really with some of the opportunities blown by that, you know, the miss field goal, the block, the block punt, all of that too, you know.


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[Assistant] Uh, the Mercedes-Louis fumble early when the Packers had total control and momentum of the game, and there they already are on fringe field goal territory, up 7-0, and you're going, ooh, wow, they might make it 10-0 the way they're moving the ball right now. Mercedes-Louis fumbles. Huge moments of the football game.


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[Assistant] You know, the Packers never got the 49ers in Garoppolo into, you got a throw mode, you're down two scores. It's 13 to 3, you know. It's, it's 16 to 7 or whatever, you know what I'm trying to say here. They never got them in that mode to where it was two scores down and,


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[Assistant] And the 49ers had to leave their realm of comfort as far as how they wanted to play on the offensive side of the ball.


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[Assistant] You know, that's, that's really what it comes down to. Ahmed, the whole year you heard me say, Packers, good. I don't know how good.


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[Assistant] I'm not sure if they're the most talented team in the world. You heard me say a lot, right? Can you get to the Super Bowl by just executing and not being the team that makes the mistake during the game?


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[Assistant] And to me it's very hard to get to the Super Bowl like that. Cause you're in the playoffs, you're gonna play a team that makes you not execute all that well sometimes. Or you're gonna play a team that is gonna cause you to make a mistake. Cause it's playoff teams. They got other great players and they're coached well too.


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[Assistant] And see, that's where I got back to it. And again, really the Packers probably outplayed the 49ers to a degree in the snowball game. I don't have a problem saying that.


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[Assistant] But they didn't have the playmakers and some of the studs to kind of get them over the edge. And that's what I still go back to. You know, again, we can look at it and go, Packers, 49ers, let's break down the rosters. Who are you taking more positions with?


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[Assistant] And I think when you break it down, I know we have one team that's the number one seed and they got Aaron Rodgers. This is what I try to say to people, like I even said this a little on the pregame show yesterday. We had one team that's good with a great Super Bowl quarterback. Another team that's great with just a good quarterback.


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[Assistant] Or just make a few unbelievable splash plays. They can't ever seem to help him out and win in these situations.


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[Assistant] Shitty as Brady was yesterday. And everything like that. There they were. His defense made plays. Everybody, all of a sudden, hey, all, all I gotta do is drive the ball 27 yards here and the game's gonna be tied. Look at this. I'm magical. Brady's magical. Rodgers never has that. There's never that guy to go,


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[Assistant] You know, we can't ex- this 49ers defense is good. So one of us will make a play. It's always on Rodgers. And that's what we saw again a little bit in this football game. Rodgers and Adams. Adams has 35 yards in the first drive of the game. And then after that it's like, okay, alright, well he gets a ball here and there. But that's all they got. That's all they got. And that's my problem with the Green Bay. I'm sorry.


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[Assistant] They're a little bit that way as far as they want to feature one guy, but I also think they don't have really another guy that really scares a defense or does anything enough to be like that person.


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[Assistant] But it's just a little different coverage as far as how the 49ers and Bucks played it. But yes, that's one where Roger's gonna look at that play and go,


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[Assistant] Damn. I had time. I didn't need to throw it that quickly.


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[Assistant] And if I just kind of pat the ball one more time and assess the defense, he's going to hit Lazard on the end cut for a huge gain. He's uncovered.


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[Assistant] They basically blitzed everybody and played cover three. And two guys went with the post, so nobody was there on the in-cut, right, if that makes any sense? And yeaah, that's one where he's gonna look at it and be disappointed. But that's again, here we go.


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[Assistant] That play. Oh, it was just, it was just that one. You didn't make that play. It's, it's just, again, it's always about, he's gotta make this play that play. You know, there's, who's the second, who's the second guy on the team? They can't run the ball again. The 49ers are playing pass defense the whole night.


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[Assistant] Packers can't run the ball. This is where I get into this. Like, let's break it down. Who's got a better offensive line?


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[Assistant] 49ers, who's got a better defense line? 49ers, who's got better receivers? 49ers, who's got better running backs? Okay, Packers, but it's, it's equaled out because the 49ers run game is so special and with DJ and Deebo and Eli, right? So it's very even.


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[Assistant] That was a big tackle by, who was that? Jaquiski Tard who came down? Who came from the opposite side of the field.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and Aaron Jones is like he didn't trust his speed and just turn on the afterburners from the get go. It's like he caught it and was like, I'm not sure I can outrun him, so I'm gonna run about 90% and look to make a cut back.


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[Assistant] But yes, I am, I am with the questioner here. Who was this one? Project FX. Yeah, Project FX. I'm with you. And the fact that I thought he dropped the ball too by not pressing the sideline a little bit. Force the guy to run really hard to catch you and cut off the angle. Then you can hit the breaks and make a playoff of that.


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[Assistant] But yes, that was a big moment. And to me again, you know, listen, I'm gonna sound like a Green Bay hater here once again. I get that. I am. But...


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[Assistant] This is where like, I know Aaron Jones is great. I get it. He's a really good player. I just go, I feel like the other top running backs in football would have scored there. I'm just sorry. If that was Nick Chubb in that spot, Dalvin Cook, you know, who else do we want to add? Jonathan Taylor. They're all, they're all scoring.


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[Assistant] You know, it's, again, Aaron Jones, everybody tries to tell me, well they, Aaron Jones, they're paying him 10 million a year. They're splitting the carries with AJ Dome with him. He's obviously not that amazing to where they go, you gotta be there all the time. But yes, that was a huge moment. That was a huge sequence in general. Jimmy G throws a stupid interception.


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[Assistant] Then, green bag gets, hey, we stop him. Now it's third down. Nobody's been open since the first drive. Nobody's open on this play, except Rodgers escapes the play. Aaron Jones continues up the sideline, he hits it.


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[Assistant] And to get nothing out of that drive was huge. Again, that was the block field goal and all of that. So, you know, I get to it again to where


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[Assistant] Packers probably should have won the game in a lot of ways. I understand that. But I do look at these games a lot of the times and go, it comes down to players and who makes like these big plays at big moments. Just like we saw last night when Mahomes and Allen, that's why it was amazing. They just kept answering it.


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[Assistant] You know, and to me, the 49ers have a few more studs. And you know, I wanna get back to like,


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[Assistant] Forget it, let's just keep going. What were you gonna say? You can't do that, it's like a tease. Well, we had our little, our breakdown with our audio for a second, so we had to stop down for a second, but we like, we had the question from, you know, at Chris Vogtman, right, about the receivers and Devonte Adams. You know, no. You know, I didn't get to, uh, really emphasize that.


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[Assistant] So this is to me, you need other great receivers.


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[Assistant] You know, they're too dependent on one guy. Rodgers is going to go to the right place with the ball. It's just too easy to take away the other guys because none of them are that special. And then they formulate so much around Adams that if the defense starts to take away Adams, there's just nobody else there to deliver or make a play.


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[Assistant] So, that's not the case. Like the Bangles, with their receivers, they're doing okay.


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[Assistant] Like if Jamar Chase isn't open, he throws a T. Higgins, and it's a good play. And then if T. Higgins isn't open, he throws a Boyd, and we go, oh, that's a good play. And then if Chase and Higgins and Boyd aren't open, we go, oh look, he's checking down to Joe Mixon, it was a good play. So, no, with these type of quarterbacks, you want weapons, you need the more the merrier, and look at the 49ers.


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[Assistant] That's Deebo, Samuel, Iook, and George Kittle. It's a pretty good three. Better than the Packers three.


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[Assistant] So, uh, that's why you need in these type of games, something else. And to me, it can't just be Rodgers and Adams all the time.


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[Assistant] They have plays, you know, again, this is still a defense rooted in Seattle 3, right? To a degree. But they don't play it a ton. And they do do some outside the box things that we don't see Seattle defenses do a whole lot.


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[Assistant] They will double Devontae Adams, you know. They will play some crazy Blitz Zone coverages and things like that. So, that's where they're awesome and D'Amico Ryans is awesome. Those two guys up front.


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[Assistant] You know, hey, Rashawn Gary, I want to give him credit for Green Bay, but I mean, Armstead and Bosa, they were phenomenal. They were the two best defense alignment on the field. Again, they were around Rodgers and made him make quick decisions all night by rushing four for the most part of the night. That's what they did.


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[Assistant] So that, that's where they are very good. You add that to the creativity of what they do on the defensive side of the ball. And that's where, again, damn okay Chris Simms, I've been trying to tell everybody that the 49ers could be in the NFC Championship and could go to a Super Bowl. Their defenses,


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[Assistant] The best events left. It's the best events in football. Better than the Rams. I'm going to take it just a little bit over the Rams. It's very close. It's very close. The 49ers have a little bit more of a size element that I think translates to all teams in case they run on them. Right? But it's really close between those two. And they have, again,


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[Assistant] Wow, and just an amazing performance, but it was a good enough performance to win against that football team. And, like I'm trying to tell you right now, they're not as good or as talented as the 49ers. The only reason we think that is because he plays quarterback for the Packers. And, uh, I, I hope everybody can realize that.


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[Assistant] As long as they can keep the team pretty much intact. Like you know. That might be hard. And that's where it's gonna be. They're over the cap. 30 million something over the cap. Might have to pay him more money.


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[Assistant] Definitely have to pay Devante Adams more money. You know, like to see them get another weapon.


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[Assistant] You know? But not sure so talented that we're definitely gonna win the Super Bowl. But we're gonna be good. And probably win the North. And be in the playoffs. Like yea, you got that. You got something to set up.


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[Assistant] And, there's more potential here, but it's a risk. And it's a new place for me, and I gotta learn a new offense, and move my life, and do all of that. That's where the decision will come to him, and I think ultimately he's gonna stay. But if it gets to the point where...


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[Assistant] They gotta start blowing the team up to a degree like the question he got in the post game press conference. I think there is a limit to where he's gonna look at it and go wait.


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[Assistant] I wanna come back but like, if this is the way the team's gonna be, I have better options. And so that's where it's gonna be interesting to see. It's just what the Packers management does here to help the team and smooth it over to make it look appealing for him to come back.


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[Assistant] They go to the Super Bowl and win with Jimmy G. They're gonna have Jimmy G as their quarterback next year. And you're gonna have traded three first round picks for a guy that's not gonna play for you for three years. I mean, it's pretty amazing. But you gotta go for it while you can.


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[Assistant] And damn okay to the 49ers. My buddy Kyle Shanahan. And, do we got a photo of my man, uh, Richard Peanut Hightower? There he is on the sideline. There's my man.


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[Assistant] He is a smaller guy. So wait, what position did he play? He was a walk-on, special teams, kinda wide receiver guy, right? Really smart.


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[Assistant] And his senior year, they gave him a, uh, a scholarship. Oh cool. As a walk-on. But the man really is. And he's been with Kyle for a long, long time and done a great job.


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[Assistant] He's got the kind of personality. He's my kind of guy. He is, no doubt about it. He's a great coach. He's loyal as hell and he's doing a great job.


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[Assistant] I mean the year, the last time they beat the Bucs in the playoffs, 1979, they actually played in the home super bowl that year. It was just at the Rose Bowl. It wasn't at their stadium. But just a little fun fact for you.


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[Assistant] Rams beat the Bucs. Okay. In the NSC Championship game, Rams lost the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it was an LA Super Bowl. I was born that year.


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[Assistant] Borderline. It is. I'm a defender. I mean, I made the mistake of defending him during the game and getting myself shit on on Twitter. Just because a little of that, like...


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[Assistant] You know, just the, the black and white approach of like, oh, he threw an interception, he sucks now. It's just like, come on. That's where, you know, and of course I'm eating shit for it now, I understand that. But like,


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[Assistant] No. He deserves a lot of blame here. He does. You got the better football team.


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[Assistant] First play of the game. Play action. Your coach has given you a little of the green light to be aggressive.


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[Assistant] Okay, don't be stupid aggressive. Don't just stare a guy down the whole time to where the free safety just never has to hold his ground at all. Just makes a break on it. Never has to break his stride. Boom. You know, understand that you are the better team.


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[Assistant] You know, that you're not the team that's like, oh, sexy and we're supposed to win 30 to 10. No, you're the Titans. You're the team that's supposed to win like 20 to 13. 20, that's what you are. So that's where I think he dropped the ball.


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[Assistant] You're, all interceptions weren't his fault. I mean the second interception...


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[Assistant] Hilton. Great play. Great play. Great play. Now, what I'll play into that too is, you know, not Tannahill's fault. To me, more of, I think the Bengals knew that was their answer. I mean, the way they played defense on that play. Always, it was a run play call.


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[Assistant] They see the guy blitzing off the edge, they go, oh wait, we don't have the numbers to block the run, so let's throw the ball out there. They were very ready for the throw out there. Hilton included, of course, and that's why he got his hands up. But even looking at the guy who had come down to cover the receiver, he was ready from the get-go. They were getting ready, wait, they're going to throw it out here because we're blitzing and they can't run their run play.


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[Assistant] That interception I can live with, even though it was a big moment and you're sitting there going, man, you know, I think that, at that moment it was what, it was, was it 16 to 9? I believe it was 16 to 9, right? Uh, if I remember correctly there. Exactly. When they drove down, I gotta look, wait, I got this here, hold on, hold on, I gotta, I gotta, uh, uh,


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[Assistant] Yes, it was. It was 16 to 9, right? And they went down. The Bengals went down, made it 16-6. I'm wrong.


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[Assistant] I'm wrong somewhere. It was 69, either way. Okay, we can cut that out. There are too many, we can't cut that out. No, fine. But either way, second interception wasn't as bad, you can live with it even a big moment. Interceptions 1 and 3 are stupid.


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[Assistant] Don't mind it, you just have to have an aggressive, you have to, the aggressive play calls fine. The aggressive decision by him is not fine.


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[Assistant] You're at midfield, it's third and five, there's twenty seconds left in the game. The only way you lose the game is you make too aggressive a decision and throw an interception. It's the only way you lose right there, at least. Alright? You punt the ball, it's definitely going to overtime. I mean, come on. This was a game that...


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[Assistant] You could punt the ball and go into overtime and feel good about your chances. I mean, come on, the Titans defense suffocated the Bengals at times in this game. You know, that's where, and I feel like in the Titans game and a little of the 49ers Packers game was a little bit of a lesson of like, you know,


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[Assistant] It's not always about winning the game. It's just about don't screw the game up. And I feel like that's the Packers and Titans had a little bit of that going on in this football game. Not trying to take away anything from the Bangos to the Niners, but I think that's the real objectivity of it. I think if you look at it and some big situations, the Titans really messed


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[Assistant] But they made them happen. That's the difference too. It's not like, oh, it was a normal just garden variety tackle and the guy fumbled the ball. Or like garden variety, the guy's wide open and he drops the ball and it pops in the air and it's interception. Or overthrows him by three feet. Right. This was like, I think you said it right. They made it happen.


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[Assistant] I mean, stop them. Stop them from getting points. I mean, you know, bottom line. Could have kicked the field goal, kinda went for the jugular, thought they were gonna overpower the Bengals in the run game.


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[Assistant] You know, that brings me to another point in this game. Yes, a big play. Here's another thing that's jumped out to me so far about the Bengals. You heard me maybe during the regular season, right? I talk about the one thing that bothers me about the Bengals defense is they got good talent. They could just be a little simple and predictable and the playoffs so far that has not been the case.


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[Assistant] And they made a lot of big plays through their chaos of being creative and blitzing two guys and dropping two guys and doing all the things we talk about, successful defense, disguising coverages a little bit more. You know, they had defended the run well.


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[Assistant] That was a big play right there, and it definitely was. A big play, and then my other point I want to go to, just hitting and make sure we hit the Bengals there, and gave their defense some love, because this is the second week in a row, they've been good. But the other thing too is,


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[Assistant] The Titans dropped the ball and giving the ball to Derrick Henry too much. I was gonna ask you about that.


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[Assistant] They put too many eggs or put too much in the trust tree for me. You know, again, I know he's Derrick Henry. He's the first ballot Hall of Famer.


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[Assistant] He's a game changer, I get that. Doesn't mean he's a game changer when he hasn't played football in 10 weeks. And he's not in football shape. Or doesn't have normal football explosion. There's no way he can. He had a broken foot.


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[Assistant] So how much sprinting and running was he doing? Yes, I know he's gotten to practice the last two weeks. Under, you know, again, guidelines too. He was limited in practice. They never gave him the full workload.


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[Assistant] So, how can you be in shape and your total explosive self with that formula right there? And that to me is where I do think Tennessee gave him a little too much respect, and where I want to go, wait, are we watching the same game? Because when Deontay Foreman gets in the game,


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[Assistant] And I don't care about the yards right, the look of it looked more explosive.


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[Assistant] He was a different guy. Henry did not have the same explosion, which led to him not being as exposed to the line of scrimmage in short yardage situations that hurt them as a team. So yea, I do think they dropped the ball and not given the ball to Foreman, who's had a hot hand down the stretch of the season running the ball. I think that was a mistake by


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[Assistant] I was bumbling at that point with the interception with Hilton. It was. It was 16-6. It was 9-6 at halftime. Yeah. Bengals went on their best drive of the game to start the second half, right? They went down and they got a score, touchdown, 16-6. Looks like the Titans are about to answer right back.


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[Assistant] You know, Tannehill I think had thrown the big throw to the Brown down the middle on that drive. I, I might be getting confused, but either way, then that interception happens and it's still a two score football game. That was a big moment in the game. So leave that in Pete from earlier in the podcast. Leave it in. We didn't know. But here's also awesome, amazing performance by the Bengals.


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[Assistant] Get to the Super Bowl, or win an AFC Championship game, and have their offensive line look like that in a divisional playoff game. I'm just gonna raise the question.


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[Assistant] Not gonna say it can't happen, but I've never seen a Super Bowl team have any playoff performance where their offensive line gets steamrolled to that capacity. I know Burrow held the ball a little sometimes, but you saw it right. Credit to Jeffrey Simmons. Jeffrey Simmons is a beast.


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[Assistant] That's why he's amazing. You know, to me it's this new, rare, young quarterback. I think Mahomes and Allen are a little like this too. They can be unfazed by it. You know, you see more times than not through the history of time, when you see a quarterback after he gets hit a few times and sacked four or five times, it takes him out of his rhythm. He starts looking at the pass rush. What's amazing about Burrows, you never feel that way. You're like, oh, it's the seventh time in a row he's been sacked?


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[Assistant] He still does in the next pass play, look back like you go, oh he's jumping now, look at him.


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[Assistant] He's jumpy. Oh, he can't see downfield. He's, he's worried about the, that's what's amazing about Burrow. He just kind of keeps going. You're going, uh, he's playing like he hasn't been touched all game, even though he's been crushed for the last two quarters. Really special. And again, the, the players, you know, I think we get into it a little again.


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[Assistant] You know, it's one thing I think if you want to talk about common themes of the weekend, the teams that won, their stars made some plays. You know, oh, we're backed up.


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[Assistant] Throw a screen to that guy over there, number one. Zoom! He runs up the sidelines for 60 yards, puts him in field hole position. You know, takes pressure off your team. You know, hey, Burrow, Higgins, Jesse Bates, mix an awesome touchdown run.


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, yeaah, those, I mean those plays right there. And Mike Hilton, one of the best nickelbacks in football. Their big players made some big plays in the game. That was one thing that I think really jumped out to me about divisional weekend is, you know, the teams that won had their stars kind of pop up at the right time.


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[Assistant] No, I don't think you're crazy. I don't. I don't see one on the horizon to that capacity.


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[Assistant] Is he really running full speed? Because nobody's catching him but he doesn't look like he's trying that hard.


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[Assistant] I don't, you know, after watching this season and things change, you know, year to year, it's the NFL.


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[Assistant] Very similar. I, I think the two best receivers in football though as I sit here and we encompass the whole year are, are Devo Samuel and, and Jamar Chase with Cooper Cup coming right up the rear. I understand that. But I think these two are more weapons. You know, again, like we saw there.


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[Assistant] You know, it takes a special guy to catch a zero yard pass and get a 60 yard gain. Or a 10 yard out route and an 80 yard touchdown. And that's where Chase is, is really special. And that's why he's already in the best wide receiver in football convo.


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[Assistant] He's cocky as hell. Did you hear what Joe Burrow said like about him? No. He said before he went out to kick, he goes, he said he was like stretching and on the sideline getting ready. He goes, well, I guess we're going to the AFC championship game. I mean, that's golden. And then the great kickers I've been around, which I was fortunate enough to be around a few. That's, that's how they are.


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[Assistant] They have a cockiness about them where you go, it's really fucking annoying sometimes on a Wednesday in the locker room, but it's great on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when we're getting ready to play for a game. Cause I feel like we're going to win. Like you cocky bastard on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the rest of the week, you're like, I'm glad this guy's cocky and fearless. This guy seems to have it. He really does.


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[Assistant] The Saxon friends red zone area, right? You know, he had too many in this game where he knocked him out of field goal range, I think two different times, where he went, man, this type of game, you know, with that kind of kicker, you gotta keep that in your mind.


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[Assistant] Go like, okay, wait, there's magic, but there's gotta be a line of demarcation to go...


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[Assistant] Okay, I can make magic, but I'm not gonna scramble any farther behind the 41 yard line. At some point, if I get to the 40, I'm just gonna go down. Whatever. You gotta have some thought of that a little. You do that this week against Kansas City, you won't win the football game. So that's where it's big, but either way, great win by them.


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[Assistant] I picked the Niners, I was happy about that. I picked the Rams. I'm back to 500 on Sunday Night Football. That's huge. I was 9, I was 4 and 11. And I'm 11 and 11 now. I believe, I think that's alright. I was definitely 4 and 9 at one point.


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[Assistant] I believe I went to 4 and 10, but yes. Now you can go above the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it did. Seriously. What an unbelievable weekend. It really was. A lot of fun. Uh, that's why we always root for the best eight teams to get in. You know, divisional weekend, when you get the best eight teams, you get the best four games. And that was, that was really amazing.


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[Assistant] Well, I understand Stafford being ahead of Garoppolo, even though they might not even be favored to win against the 49ers. You just figure, if the Rams do get there, Stafford has a better chance of being the MVP than Garoppolo. The 49ers are favored? No, no, no, no. Rams are favored.


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[Assistant] 100%. If you're a 49ers fan and got some extra change, I'm with you. That was the name I looked at to go, if you think the 49ers are going to win the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] My experience would tell me that would be one there. The quarterback's not gonna do it. It'll be Debo Samuel with an unbelievable receiving game along with the rushing yards and a touchdown or two. That'll take away a good game from Jimmy G, but everybody will look at it and go, Debo was really the MVP of the offense.


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[Assistant] That's where, that's where it hurts them is because you're right. If they go off big, we're going to go, well, my home's probably through for four 10 and four touchdowns. So he's going to get the MVP. You can't do that. You know, same thing for Stafford. Hey, Cooper cup, all of them, but have a hard time thinking if they have a good day, cup doesn't throw for


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[Assistant] Similar stat line to what we saw. It's gonna be good either way. It's gonna be interesting once again too. I mean, it's weird where the AFC, back to the quarterback thing. Uh huh. You got these magic guys.


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[Assistant] And I think like after last night, everybody's just like, well, whoever won against Mahomes and Allen, whoever won that game, they're going to go to the, win the Superbowl. You can't beat those two guys. And I want to go, no, the two teams in the NFC are built as far as the kryptonite to stop the magical quarterback with those pass rushers and those guys they got in the front seven.


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[Assistant] So, Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, whatever. Either one of them, any of them get to the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you can pull magic off. I don't know if you can pull magic off against the 49ers or the Rams with two weeks off getting ready to prepare for that game. That's where there's something waiting for these guys.


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[Assistant] I mean, I guess I would agree. Rams Chiefs would also be awesome too. Yes. And the fact that all the stars the Rams have, home Super Bowl. Bengals are the one team where you


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[Assistant] And, I mean, what are the crazy, the 49ers and Bengals? The Bengals went to the Super Bowl twice. They had to play the 49ers both times. Here they go again. They might have a chance to do that.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Rams-Bangles probably is the weirdest matchup for sure, but...


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[Assistant] But you got, yeaah, you got coaching staffs here, you got the McVeigh, Shanahan, Zach Taylor comes from McVeigh, McVeigh came from Shanahan, you know, it is unbelievable that way, and uh, you know, even if you got Bangles Ram Super Bowl, you still got-


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[Assistant] Thank you. I appreciate it. I just want everyone to give me a little love every now and then. I appreciate that. But yeah, you know, again, a year this wide open, these two teams had the talent to get there. I'm not shocked to see it. Uh, but, uh, man, amazing, amazing week. Hope everybody enjoyed the pod. You want anything else?


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[Assistant] Won a divisional game, lost a championship game, and now they've lost wild card, lost divisional. So, yea, two game losing streak for them.


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[Assistant] There's not that sentiment this year. I think people are like, oh, Roger's lost again? Oh, yea, there's a little bit I feel like of like, oh, screw him, and the way he acted, he deserved to lose. So it's funny how the tide changed on that conversation there.


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[Assistant] So, I know, I like what you're saying. So then, in round one, team two who scores a touchdown is gonna think about going for two. Totally. Because they're gonna go, wait, if they score a touchdown, we're done, so maybe we need to go to the win right here.


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[Assistant] That just didn't feel right last night. It's the first time I remember saying that. But I think with the offensive rules set up the way they are...


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[Assistant] We're gonna see, continue to see this more and more, especially with these quarterbacks we got right now in the league. We're just like, you're gonna go, well, they're hot, it's the end of the game, defenses are dead, and they're hot, that's just, they're gonna go down and score. And, uh, yeaah, I'd like to see an Allen get the ball last night.


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[Assistant] Hi, I'm Mike Tirico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.


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[Assistant] I remember Micro Machines, the guy that could speak really fast and do all that. I don't remember the FedEx ones. I don't. And you know, like again, I know I was young, but as I've told you before, I am the guy that


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[Assistant] You know, we'll still go back and watch old games of the giants in the 80s and see some of these old commercials and things like that where, yea, I don't know why, I just, I don't remember that one. It doesn't register in my brain. But, you know, that's what marijuana will do sometimes. It'll kill some brain cells and you forget some shit. So, I don't know.


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[Assistant] It doesn't matter. Shit. I know. Unbelievable.


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[Assistant] Well, let's, let's do like what we did last week. You want to break down like the Bangles offense versus the Titans defense first and kind of just ping pong some things there, right? You know, again, this Bangles offense, it's dangerous. We know that they can do a little bit of everything. They got every playbook known, you know, every play in the playbook known to mankind.


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[Assistant] I, I do, I guess what I worry about first off with the Bengals is can they really assemble a running game that can threaten the Titans? I'm not sure they can.


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[Assistant] Again, we know one of the weak spots of the Bengals is their offensive line and the Titans have an unbelievable run defense. So I look at that and go, oh, okay, there's advantage Titans. Now you get into the pass game and that's where it gets a little interesting. It really does.


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[Assistant] If there's a weak spot to that Titans defense, it has been past defense. We've seen some offenses move the ball through the air that way.


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[Assistant] The bangles of course with all the weapons they have, they're dangerous there. You know, but, but I guess what I come back to too, a little bit with, you know, the titans, there's two things I look at here to just go, wait, their pass rush.


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[Assistant] Even though it maybe didn't like live up to expectations throughout the year, I just look at it in this game healthy. Bud Dupree's had some, you know, time off. He's going to be closer, you know, to a hundred percent back to where he was ACL. You know, there's.


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[Assistant] Too many good defense alignment on this Titan's D line. They're pretty deep as well.


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[Assistant] You know, I look at that and go, well, I think their D-line's gonna be able to pressure Joe Burrow and make him uncomfortable that way. And then...


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[Assistant] You know, the Titans are game plan specific on the defensive side of the ball. As far as, you don't know exactly what you're gonna get.


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[Assistant] They are going to change things up according to who they're playing and what they got to do to stop that football team. And I think that's always a great payoff advantage for those type of football teams. So I look at that side of the matchup, Mike.


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[Assistant] And as close as it is there, and I love the Bengals, and probably in totality are a better offense than the Titans are a defense, but I don't know if they match up that great with this defense, and I'd probably give the advantage to the Titans a little bit more in that matchup as compared to the Bengals offense. What about you? It's a close one.


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[Assistant] Well, and scoring touchdowns against this defense is not easy. That's the other thing too. I mean, we're talking about one of the, the better, you know, defensive teams when it comes to points scored in football. I mean, they were the fifth, fifth best defense in that category. And that's where it could be tough sledding down there in that area.


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[Assistant] Uh, and I don't think the Titans want to play man to man. I don't, that's not what they are. They haven't been that all year. So that's not going to lend itself to Jamar chase back shoulders and you know, T Higgins jump balls. Uh, that's where it is a really interesting one. Listen, I think I look at this and go at the bangles. I just had a little more faith in their offensive line.


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[Assistant] Right? And I know Joe Burrow, the most sacked quarterback in football and some of those are his fault. It's like an Allen or a Mahomes or Russell Wilson and his prime a little bit. You got to live with some sacks because he's trying to make magic happen and he makes a lot of plays avoiding sacks. Uh, but you know, I, I do worried about this group.


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[Assistant] Again, like when you talk about Harold Landry and Danico Autri and Jeffrey Simmons, who's one of the best defensive tackles in football.


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[Assistant] And then of course you get into Bud Dupree and some of the other guys they got as far as their supporting cast.


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[Assistant] It's a pretty good damn special group. And I think that's what scares me. I could see the bangles throwing the ball and making some plays against the Titans. I just don't know if they're going to be able to do it consistently because I'm not sure they're going to be able to block them well enough. And that'll be one of the keys to the game for whoever comes out victorious. All right. You want to flip it over to the other side?


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[Assistant] The bangles are not a, they're a pretty good run stopping defense. They are. I mean, they're not the Bucs or the Saints or the Tennessee Titans, but...


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[Assistant] They're that next level of group down. It's kind of one of the, you know, better things they do that doesn't get a lot of notoriety, but that to me is a big injury. It definitely is. You know, Trey Hendrickson, he's a little beat up. We, you know, he should be able to go, but I haven't heard what the status is with him exactly right now. And what I worry about is kind of what you talk about.


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[Assistant] Yeah, them being able to run the football and then, you know, worrying about safeties in the box or playing cover four. And then this is the ultimate team.


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[Assistant] Like we saw a little of the Packers earlier this year, where they ran the ball and have some balance. So where now you can hit some big shots over the top against them.


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[Assistant] I think that's what scares me a little bit about that matchup as far as the bangles. I think they can slow down the run to where maybe they won't get totally smashed.


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[Assistant] What, to what effect or to what amount are you gonna do it to stop that and now you're gonna leave AJ Brown and Julio Jones in some, some really good situations.


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[Assistant] I just look at that as being one thing that's really going to be a key to this football game. Because Tannahill, AJ Brown, I think it's a special combination. They got a great play action passing game. It's been as


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[Assistant] As efficient and as explosive as anybody in football in the last three years.


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[Assistant] Uh, that's where it's like, okay, bangles, how are you gonna do this? How are you gonna balance them taking their shots down the field with also stopping Derek Henry? It's not overly complicated, but like we talk about a lot, the bangles make you, or the Titans offense at least makes you defend the whole field. Maybe not as sexy as some other offenses, but they do, and that's gonna be an issue for this bangles defense.


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[Assistant] I, I do, yeaah. I, I do have that. I, I mean, that, that's, you know, he's, he's got big playability. He's certainly not Joe Burrow and I'm not trying to put him in his class cause I think Burrow is, you know, starting to border on that top five quarterback in football conversation there.


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[Assistant] But Tannahill is disrespected and the numbers bear that out. You've heard me say it a lot over the last three years as far as how his deep ball throwing goes. When they do it, it's on the money. And here's another aspect I think that like jumps out to me and you kind of alluded to it a little earlier.


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[Assistant] I think there's a part of the bangles that are just happy they're here. And they got the monkey off their back and they won the game.


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[Assistant] We're the number one seed in the AFC. And as like edgy as Mike Vrabel is, I have a hard time thinking he's not pushing the buttons to these guys a little bit like, Oh, you got no chance. Hey, you know, look, Hey, look at all the betting here. You guys are like the six best team in the NFL here, even though you're the number one seed.


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[Assistant] I just think they're going to be edgy and ready to go too. And because of that, I'm picking the Titans to win the game. I'm going 27-21 Titans. I think they win at home and host the AFC Championship game.


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[Assistant] I mean, again, I like Joe Barry. I certainly do. I think he's done a really good job with their defense, but I, I mean, I think this is a, this is a tough offense for them to defend. This is different team, different offense than earlier in the year when the first matchup and the Packers won the football game.


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[Assistant] You know, there was no Elijah Mitchell in that game. There was no aspect of Deebo Samuel playing tailback in that game either.


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[Assistant] You know, and, and the Packers, yeaah, they jumped out on them early and, and hung on and made some, you know, unbelievable plays at the end of the, the, the win the football game.


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[Assistant] I have a hard time thinking this Packers team is going to be able to stop the 49ers offense consistently. This is my issue with the Packers. We saw it kind of down the stretch of the season. They play a team that's got a little, a big physical offense a line and they can run the ball. You can move these guys. Kenny Clark's good.


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[Assistant] He's real good. The rest of the guys that put their hand in the ground, I, you know, they're, they're good, they're good players. There's nothing special. I don't look at it and go, oh wow, that's a dominant group up there. It's a reason they've fallen short the last few years, you know, like we've talked about.


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[Assistant] The Bucks, the Bucks controlled that defensive line last year.


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[Assistant] The 49ers are still running on that defensive line from the year before in the NFC Championship game, and I just think that that is a clear advantage to me for the San Francisco 49ers. Now the one thing I look at in like your health thing there and all of that, hey, you get Zidarius back


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[Assistant] You know, more importantly to me, you get Jair Alexander back and that maybe gives you a little wiggle room to take more chances or add more guys into the run game to slow a death. Cause now you can go, you can have snaps where you go, alright.


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[Assistant] I'm, I'm going to, I'm cool with Stokes playing Ayuk, one man to man. I'm cool with Jair, man to man on Debo here. We'll roll the dice. Let's see if we can stop this crazy Shanahan run game with the rest of these guys. Uh, that, that is definitely a big key or a help out factor for the Packers. The fact of Jair Alexander can go and play in this football game.


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[Assistant] Ultimately, I worry about, again, that front seven.


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[Assistant] Of the pack, of the packers, middle linebackers, not real big, not thumping linebackers, not great at stopping the run.


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[Assistant] They're gonna be probably overaggressive. What scares me about that is you get overaggressive in the middle and you know what happens. It's Deebo Samuel, rocket up his ass, flying across off a play action pass. And they hit him and it's like, oh gosh, I think I'm gonna be able to tackle him before he runs in for an end to the touchdown. So I do give the advantage to, uh, the 49ers here in this, in this part of the matchup. What about you?


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[Assistant] No doubt. No doubt. Listen, I think if they have a better quarterback, I'm picking the 49ers in this game, no doubt about it. There's no doubt. You, you, you said it right. I mean, it's, first off, it's rare.


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[Assistant] I get you. I mean, listen, their own team doesn't think he is. Exactly. His own team doesn't think he's their own organization. They are replacing him.


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[Assistant] And it is insane. You know, I think what it goes into is a little bit like we've talked about a lot over the years. People just see wins and they go, well, it's gotta be the quarterback. It's gotta be the quarter. That's why they win. That's why. No, it's not. They have a really good football team. They win in spite of their quarterback. They win.


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[Assistant] They have a quarterback that's top 20-ish in football. Nowhere near the top 10. You want to put him somewhere between 14 and 22? Sure, I think reasonable minds can differ there. But that's about where he is.


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[Assistant] The Titans game! But he had a great drive! I know! Got checked drive! Right! The Titans game! They kicked the shit out of the Titans! He looked really good! Until he didn't! And then oh shit!


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[Assistant] So people are delusional. The Seahawks loss, right? This is a team that's won 8 out of the last 10, but you look at the losses or the questionable moments and they all go back to that guy. So I'm with you there. Go ahead, say your thing.


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[Assistant] Yeah, maybe that's the way to look at it. Exactly right. Exactly right. I think that's fair and that's reasonable. Now you get to the other side.


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[Assistant] Oh, Aaron Rodgers. It is, hey, this is the quarterback with the most pressure on him this weekend. No doubt about it. This is legacy defining and he's got a damn team from his hometown that's coming and they're going to try to whoop his ass. It's a scary matchup for them as far as the Packers offense, but


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[Assistant] You know, I do think they figured some things out in the first game, and I think they realized, and we talked about this a little earlier in the day.


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[Assistant] The 49ers play some looks that I just look at teams and go, how do you let them get away with playing this defense? And more times than not, it's because the egos of these coaches wait all week. I had this guy go in there and this guy, I want you to play that.


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[Assistant] And I'll go back to something that anybody that listens to my podcast that I talk about all the time. It's a lost art in football. It's a lost art. You know?


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[Assistant] And Troy Aikman alluded to it yesterday, right? You saw the quote, Mike, I read it on PFT, of course you saw the-


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[Assistant] Throw the ball, your guys better than no name number 20 running DB out here. Just play Michael Irvin versus this guy's better.


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[Assistant] And see Rogers and company will do that. And that's where it's going to pose some problems.


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[Assistant] For the 49ers defense, which I think is an exceptional defense. But that's their weakness.


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[Assistant] And they'll give you some opportunities to throw 10 yards out, 20 yard out, 15 yard comebacks on the outside and play a zone defense, which plays like man to man. And that's where I look at it to go.


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[Assistant] They got a little advantage there. Can they protect Rogers? I'm not sure. Can they run the ball against this 49ers defense? I'm not sure. The one thing I'm sure about is they can throw the ball outside against these guys and Rogers can dice them up. Will they be willing to do it and go back to the well enough times to do it? That's a big question for me in this one.


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[Assistant] So you think I, my conversation led you to believe that I'm picking the Packers?


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[Assistant] I still am gonna go with the 49ers. I do. I just look at it and I just think they're a physically better football team. And...


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[Assistant] The Packers, maybe they win the game. That is a tough one for me. I really go, and this is where in the first matchup things change, Mike.


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[Assistant] Rogers and company early on got those looks I talked about and he threw the ball outside and they did a lot of good things. The 49ers then shifted to protecting their corners and not letting him do that.


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[Assistant] The Packers run game got going after that and they ran the ball pretty well in the second half, but it didn't necessarily lead to a lot of points. I think the 49ers are going to protect these corners and I think they're going to go.


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[Assistant] You know what? We can't stop everything. We're just going to trust our front seven to stop the run here today. Cause we're not going to let adams and nvs run by us or lazard and do all that.


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[Assistant] I'm taking the 49ers on the road, 30 to 24. Packers are real good, I know that. I think this is one of the more horrible matchups they could be facing in this divisional round in all of football.


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[Assistant] Well, it's a weird one. I mean, it is a weird one. You know, you've heard me say this before, I always say every team in football has their team that's their kryptonite. The Rams, to me, are somewhat of that team to the bucks.


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[Assistant] You know, that again, we talk about always with Brady, that offense, you want to disrupt him. You gotta be able to rush for, get pressure in his face. Well, they got Aaron Donald and a bunch of other good pass rushers too. They can do that.


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[Assistant] They're creative in the back end to make him hold the ball and be confused a little bit.


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[Assistant] You know, for this big offensive line the Bucs have, they have issues with this small, quick, fast Los Angeles Rams D line. You know, again, Aaron Donalds of D Tackle is 280 pounds.


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[Assistant] Gaines, Greg Gaines is I think 290, 291. That just speaks to it. It's not like Vida Veja who's 350 and, and Dama Kinsu who's 320. It's a different way in which they play football.


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[Assistant] And it seems to have given that Bucs offensive line issues the last two years. It really has. This is where I get into this a little bit. And I'm like you, I've been back and forth with this game all week. I go in both matchups, the Bucs got too arrogant or pass happy.


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[Assistant] And that's what I don't really understand. I don't, they played into the hands in my opinion of the, of the Rams. The Rams want you to start throwing the ball. The Rams want to play. Oh, we get to rush Aaron Donald and play crazy coverages and Jalen Ramsey. We move them all over the place and do that crap. That's exactly what they want.


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[Assistant] Now, Bruce Arians and Lefwich, they want to throw the football. That's what they are. That's where they like. I mean, they, they'll run the ball if they have to, but they don't really want to.


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[Assistant] And will they do that in this game? To me, that's the million dollar question. They're going to be a big part of like,


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[Assistant] The question of whether the Bucs win the football game or the Rams win the football game. Because I do think they have an advantage if they get in some of these two tight end sets and just pound the Rams with the run game. We saw they have issues with bigger offensive lines like the 49ers when they run the ball at them. That's a problem.


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[Assistant] You know, so that, and then off of that, you know, of course that becomes little sets of where you can really protect Brady with the two tight ends or the extra guy into block.


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[Assistant] And now he doesn't have to worry about Aaron Donald breathing down his back or neck, or Von Miller or Leonard Floyd. So, uh, that's where I'm interested to see the Bucks approach. I, I, I, I've been shocked, you know, going back and watching the game earlier this year, how they never really gave the run game even a chance.


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[Assistant] They kinda threw the ball well early and then just said, we're gonna keep throwing it. Screw it.


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[Assistant] And of course it didn't work out and they did confuse Brady and get after him a little bit. So that's what I look for and I don't know. Do you think the Bucks can run the ball on them, Mike? Do you think they will? That's, that's really one of the big questions for me.


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[Assistant] No doubt. That's, that's, I mean, I think you said it. It's well said. And I don't, you know, again, yeah, I think they're, they're flirting with danger if they drop back and throw the ball too many times. You look at their losses this year.


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[Assistant] It's against defenses that kind of play this style of, you don't know what coverage this is, this is crazy, you know, one guy blitzes, one guy drops back, and we got a good front four.


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[Assistant] You know, that's what the Saints had. That's what Washington had. It's what the Rams had early in the year. I mean, those are your four losses. They all had that in common. So yeah, going to be interesting to see. All right. Other side of the ball. You know, you talk about Rams offense, Bucks defense. Bucks defense we know has a special D line.


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[Assistant] Really, hey Mike, I look at this one and go, can the Ramso line block the Bucks D line? It's almost as simple as that.


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[Assistant] Can they protect Matthew Stafford when he drops back to pass or is he going to get hit and strip sack fumble or have the pocket collapsing and make some stupid throw down the middle with everyone bearing down on him and he gets over aggressive in a moment where things are collapsing and throws a dumb interception. That is the thing I don't, I don't know about. I question.


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[Assistant] I don't love this Rams offensive line, their talent. McVeigh does a good job of hiding them and not trying to put them in too many uncomfortable positions, but with Whitworth, you know, banged up or not a hundred percent, that's a little scary.


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[Assistant] You know, running the ball, how much can they do that? Can they do it enough to just be, hey, keep them off of us a little bit to where we can keep our play action pass game? I'm not sure. You know, I do think dropping back to throw the football that Stafford and the Rams will have their way with the Bucks defense if they can protect them.


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[Assistant] So that's the one area I look at. But damn, that D line's healthy in Tampa right now. And that's where I go back and forth with this one, you know, as far as this side of the matchup, as far as figuring out who, who to trust or who has the advantage here. How do you, how do you kind of see it playing out, Mike?


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[Assistant] I mean, listen, I think it's fair. I mean, it's fair. Stafford is crazy because he's crazy talented and can do things like we saw the other night where it's 13 completions and it's over 200 yards. And you go, holy shit. Every time he's dropping back, they're getting a 25, 30 yard game. So that's where he's crazy talented. And if he's hot and watch out, but you look at again, you look at their losses.


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[Assistant] Other than, you know, really, I think the last game of the year against the 49ers for the most part, I think you could, you could question that. Every loss has one thing in common. Stafford did dumb shit once or twice in that game. Almost every one. I'm going to say he doesn't do dumb shit.


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[Assistant] I'm taking the Rams to beat the Bucs in Tampa 24-21. I think it's just one of those matchups. They played each other in 79 down there in the NFC championship game. Rams win. That was an LA Superbowl and this is another LA Superbowl. I don't really care about all that stuff, but I just thought it was funny to add it in.


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[Assistant] Well, I just think, again, this is a weird one here where, you know, I said it a little last week, you know, I think we saw it a little and it didn't have to be necessarily all running game or anything like that.


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[Assistant] I think to take advantage of the Bills and if you want to beat the Bills defense, you have to run the ball a little bit. You have to.


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[Assistant] You can't think you're gonna drop back 45 or 50 times and beat the Buffalo Bills. Because I just think they're too crazy with their coverages and things they do. McDermott's got people and Leslie Frazier, they're dropping out everywhere.


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[Assistant] You know, so that to me, and again, we've seen the Bills on the defensive side of the ball, the teams they struggle against have all had one thing in common.


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[Assistant] Whether that was the titans, the cults, the patriots.


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[Assistant] They were bigger than them up front, and they could run the ball on them and pressure them that way, you know, with that aspect of the game.


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[Assistant] You saw last week, McKinnon can run the ball. It was five yards a carry. They had some cool screens to them too.


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[Assistant] You know, that to me is going to be a big part of the football game. If you let McDermott and Leslie Flager just go, Oh, it's Kansas City throw show here and we can drop back and play all these crazy coverages. Kansas City is not going to win. They're not.


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[Assistant] They have shown that they can, they can get guys in the right spots to stop the every down passing play. It's a good Bills pass rush. It is. It's, it's, I mean, they can rush forward and get after the quarterback, but how, how, you know, how good is it going to be against this current Chiefs offensive line? I don't know.


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[Assistant] I don't know, that's a big question to me too. Can they get close to Mahomes and company and make him feel uncomfortable that way? It's a great pass protecting offensive line.


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[Assistant] So that's the thing I come back to more times than not. You know, the, the, the last week, the bills...


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[Assistant] And against the Patriots both times, the last two times they played them and beat them, they played a lot of man to man.


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[Assistant] You know, cause they were worried about the run game and you could get away with that against the, the Patriots. They have no burners at receiver. So you're okay. I feel good about my corners, Levi Wallace and, and, uh, Tyron Johnson playing man to man against these guys, but you can't do that this week. I mean, we know that.


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[Assistant] Playing man to man against the Kansas City Chiefs is the ultimate kiss of fucking death. You're going to get burned. It's going to be a bomb show. See you later. So I get into it and I saw Andy Reid run the ball against McDermott in their first matchup in 2020 and that helped them win at Buffalo. The weather wasn't great.


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[Assistant] I don't trust Andy Reid to do that, but you know, that to me again, I don't mean to make it basic or anything like that. I just think there has to be some semblance of that in their game. They can't just think it's going to be the air show with Kelsey and Hill and Mahomes and think they're going to beat the Chiefs this time around. I don't see that happening.


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[Assistant] It's crazy, but I mean, I think I agree with you a little bit. Yea, the patience of the Chiefs is going to be a little bit of a key to this football game. I would agree with you there on the offensive side of the ball. You know, the patience of, okay, fine, I'll run the ball. Okay, fine, I'll check it down.


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[Assistant] Okay, fine, I'll run a speed sweep with Nicole Hardman and Tyree Kill, see if we can pop something that way. You know, they did that last year and got like a huge gain in the ANC Championship game for Nicole Hardman. They ran for over a hundred yards in the Bills defense last year in the ANC Championship game. It just wasn't the traditional way.


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[Assistant] They had a lot of lanes with the running back, again around like, you know, over 4 yards to carry in that one.


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[Assistant] You know, I don't know. I mean, you're right. It always comes down to that with Andy Reid. I don't know if they're willing to do that and can my homes be patient? Because I'm with you in the fact that


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[Assistant] Hey, the Chiefs defense is better. I think this Bills offense is on fire. They found their mojo down the stretch of the football season and Allen is on fire.


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[Assistant] You know, Allen is, he's playing better ball than Mahomes is right now. And Mahomes is playing good, don't get me wrong. But Mahomes, Allen has become a force of nature.


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[Assistant] You know, and I look at that and they have everything in their offense. They're running the ball enough and I don't worry about them. They're going to run the ball with Josh Allen and devil's Devin Singletary enough now to where I don't question it. Like I did in week 10 where I went, it just can't be Josh Allen throwing the ball every time.


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[Assistant] They've proven to me that they're, they got that aspect of their offense. And Allen has it all.