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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't think I can chop off my kahunas. I just couldn't do it. Sorry. Yeah. So yeah, that one, uh, that one I'm gonna keep and stay intact there and just quit football.


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[Assistant] My dream has always been to win a Super Bowl. I mean, it's the number one dream in my life, to get a Super Bowl ring. I mean, I'm telling you, even when I was a backup at the Tennessee Titans in 2008, the best team I was ever on, I was like, man, this is my best chance to get a ring. I mean, I grew up in NFL football and loved that.


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[Assistant] You know, I think ultimately to be the starting quarterback and lead your team to a national championship and do that, even though I don't look at it as a college national championship, nearly a great accomplishment is winning a Super Bowl. Right. It's still a great accomplishment that's going to put you into


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[Assistant] The lures of your school and university forever. You become a god at that school, let alone you're gonna make a lot of money off the field. Right. Because you're a national championship quarterback and anytime you go back to campus you're gonna have autographs, signings, things like that, do all this kind of other stuff.


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[Assistant] Really tough one there. I like that question. Super Bowl does mean more to me, but I would guess that ultimately as a starting quarterback and a guy who wants to play, I'd rather have that on my resume. I think I would choose that too. I'm with you. Okay, good.


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[Assistant] He's definitely, I mean, he's got an impressive lower half. I mean, you know me with legs and ass. I mean, look at his thighs right there. Those are some thighs. He is certainly on the Chris Sims, like, top three quarterback legs and ass team. Okay? Yeah. Uhm, so what was the question?


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[Assistant] I think ultimately I'm leaning towards picking two teams out of the NFC North to go to the playoffs this year. Wait, you heard dad talk about Green Bay?


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[Assistant] I think it's the first time in a while that there's a complete team around Aaron Rodgers in that team. They're gonna have a chip on their shoulder a little bit. He's gonna have that.


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[Assistant] You know, Lafleur gonna give a new offense, a new look. That's gonna catch people off guard. And my dad mentioned Mike Petten, but he's got something to work with now on the defensive side of the ball. Yeaah, I think that Chicago-Green Bay divisional race is gonna be very close. Uhm, so I would go Bears to maybe just give them a slight advantage.


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[Assistant] Over the Green Bay Packers, but I'm not so sure. I'm not totally confident in that aspect, but either way, it's them 1-2. Vikings for sure 3, Lions for sure 4.


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[Assistant] We don't know what to expect out of that offense. Will they run the ball enough? I mean, I still think he is phenomenal. As far as the under the radar guys go.


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[Assistant] Now, it's gonna be a little predicated on, you know, Todd Gurley's health and what he's capable of doing on a week to week basis, but for me, he was one of the three best running backs to come out in the draft.


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[Assistant] Phenomenal jitterbug type back, who's gonna be amazing in space, amazing coming out of the backfield to catch footballs. Uh, so that's a short list, but you know what, that is something I promise I will bring up more as we get a little farther into the preseason. Because that's really, really where I got Phillip Lindsay last year. Sure. It was preseason game one and two, and I kept going, man,


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[Assistant] I don't know, this number two out there, because he was wearing two in the preseason. I was like, he is unreal. I mean, he can really run and separate and all that.


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[Assistant] To where, uh, yeaah, I just gotta check out a few more things before I go on the Olymp.


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[Assistant] Rave reviews. Rave reviews. I would think he fits their offense a little bit more than Marquis Hollywood Brown. Who's really just getting back into the swing of things too? I mean, coming off Liz Frank injury, a foot injury like that, I don't expect us to see


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[Assistant] In totality, what Hollywood Brown can really be until next year. I'm just gonna say that. I think that's a tough injury to bounce back from.


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[Assistant] As a receiver, but also running the football, you know, Miles Balkans, Miles Boykins, that kind of guy has the size. Like you mentioned, you bring him down close to the line of scrimmage. He's gonna help in the run game. Oh, we're faking the run game. He fakes a block over the middle. Bam. He's a great 50 50 kind of guy.


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[Assistant] Back shoulder catches, so I think there's a very real chance. I favor him over Marquis Hollywood Brown right now, is what I'm saying. I think there is a very real possibility that he's truly the number one target on that offense.


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[Assistant] That's high praise, but I could see it, but that would fit perfectly for what the Ravens want to do. Man, they could put three tight ends on the field, one back Lamar Jackson, the shotgun and have Miles Boykin as the only receiver and they could kill you with the run game and then have enough talent and speed at tight end and Boykin at receiver to


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[Assistant] I had picked Myles Garrett last year to be NFL defense MVP. So I was maybe a little early and Aaron Donald of course deserved it to what he did. But yes, I mean, Myles Garrett I think is already in the conversation for


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, I'm going to put them in the five best pass rushers in football, certainly. And the way that they're going to play football this year in Cleveland, if they can get some leads in a football game for the first time, maybe in, you know, years and years and years, that's going to increase his opportunities to get after the quarterback because teams are going to have to pass and keep up pace with that offense. So I do, I see like a,


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[Assistant] Of 15 to 18 sack type of year for Miles Garrett. Because there's enough talent on that D line too where you're gonna have to be careful about double teaming them. Because you're gonna leave a lot of other people in some vulnerable positions when you have Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson to go along with that.


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[Assistant] I mean, if it was, yeah, I think I was 8th grade. I mean, if I was playing with the 8th grade football, and I remember like an 8th grade football, I couldn't play 8th grade football because I had to lose 10 pounds to play the offensive line and that wasn't happening. I went through a pretty big growth spurt between 7th and 8th grade.


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[Assistant] Gosh, I mean, I felt like I could throw that 8th grade football at that time, like...


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[Assistant] 60 or 70 yards. Now I wasn't throwing an NFL football. I was catching NFL footballs from my father that year. It was his first year out of the NFL and he almost signed with the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars that year. Uh, and I know I could chuck it pretty good then too. I would say I, even then with an NFL ball, I could throw it 45,


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[Assistant] I feel comfortable with really all of that. Once you let me see film and I'm not trying to boast or brag, you know, I was fortunate that I grew up around it.


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[Assistant] You know, got taught by guys like John Gruden, got to be around Josh McDaniels every day for a year straight, then went to New England and, and was with Jeff Fisher in the Titans. So where I don't feel like an NFL week four.


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[Assistant] There's any position where I'm going, oh gosh, I don't know what's going on. My biggest problem in evaluating players and everything about it is probably offense alignment.


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[Assistant] We don't get to be at practice very much. I don't get this workout, go to workouts for college, you know, combine stuff and see people in person.


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[Assistant] On every team, especially with like the offensive line guru head coaches like a Doug Marrone or an Andy Reid, they have guys that they got in the fifth or sixth round or they've signed in free agency to where you go, man, they're going to let their starting guard go.


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[Assistant] And I'm just going, man though, Kansas City Chiefs might have offensive line problems, and I always have to stop myself with those types of guys because I go, uh.


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[Assistant] They probably have a few guys that they think are very worth that. And that's really one of the hardest things that I have about my job, is that


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[Assistant] And then not being able to see quarterbacks in person when they do like workouts or coming out in the draft. Because the TV and film can lie to you to a degree at times. So where, yeaah, it can look good on film, but then you can, Baker Mayfield last week,


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[Assistant] You've heard me rave about him. I rave about him. I went and saw him in person last week in Cleveland.


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[Assistant] Shit, he was better than I'd ever thought. He was better than he looked like on film.


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[Assistant] The ball comes out of his hand at a faster pace than you even think. It's just more explosive as quick as he can get it out, then it explodes out of his hand and he can, and he can throw pinpoint accuracy and throws perfect spirals every throw. Uh, so those are some of the issues I have evaluating.


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[Assistant] I mean, even a guy like me who's been around NFL forever, I can remember just two years ago, uh, the year, let's see, New England was going out to the Denver Broncos to play Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football. I was part of the pregame that week, and of course that's the year New England plays Philadelphia in the playoffs. And, you know, New England, of course we know they're good.


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[Assistant] And I'm watching it on film and oh man, they're good. But then I get out on the field and I go, man.


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[Assistant] New England's just bigger than I thought. They're bigger than the film shows.


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[Assistant] This is why, this is a big reason they're winning the games is because they're the biggest team on the field a lot of these weeks. And those are the little things that TV and film can't always tell you. You see the Baltimore Ravens in person and you go,


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[Assistant] Everybody keeps sending questions, because this is something we're looking forward to doing, you know, every few weeks, and hopefully we can get through some more. And really, more times than not, we'll do this on a day where we don't have the big F around the show, and you know, he won't talk for 30 minutes to steal time.


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[Assistant] He was, I'm glad he did, and of course it was good for his overall health status, like I've always told you.


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[Assistant] Everybody, we're out. It's gonna be next week, Tuesday podcast. I think we're back on the Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Podcast should be out Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday evening. Same for next week, Thursday. And we're gonna get back on this normal schedule. I think now we'll get dad being a Tuesday guest.


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[Assistant] And when we get to the season, we're gonna go three a week. We're gonna go Monday, we're gonna go Wednesday, and we're gonna have another one on Thursday where we pick games and have a lot of fun. But appreciate everybody tuning in. If you wanna watch, uh, youtube.com slash NBC Sports.


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[Assistant] You know where to find us, at Sims on button on Instagram and at CSimsQB on Twitter. Ahmed Farid, you the man. Thanks always. Appreciate it. Say bye. Bye. Bye. See ya.


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[Assistant] I did, I did. I even like, I think in my first year or two, every now and then I would let it go, like through the week I just let the goatee come out, but that's all I can do. I can't grow like what you got. I can't even grow what I have, it's barely. Well I was going to say, there's some questionable side patch there, but you can't really tell straight on.


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[Assistant] He knows what he's talking about. He knows what he's talking about. He's been there and done that. You'll have no idea. Alright, what's up everybody? Chris Sims, Ahmed Fareed. It's Chris Sims on Button. We're gonna have a little bit of a curveball today. It's what the f*** will happen, alright? We're gonna kinda talk about


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[Assistant] We got four big repeat matchups that happened early this year coming up in the week 16.


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[Assistant] Uh, Bill's Patriots, Rams Niners, Cowboys Eagles, Packers Vikings, I went back, watched those, watched a film of that.


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[Assistant] Uh, have some thoughts and we'll kind of make it a look forward type of things.


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[Assistant] Things that jumped out to me about the matchup, how teams have changed, what to look for this weekend. Most importantly, my man, Jonal McDonald is back there. It's his last show today. He wore my favorite outfit for me today. Come here, come here. You gotta get in your pole right now. Get right here in the middle, Jonal McDonald. Look at this. My little lumberjack, Jonal McDonald.


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[Assistant] Get a wave. Because this is his last show and he's moving on to bigger and better things. But we've taken his car keys, he can't leave. He can't leave yet. But yea, so matchy matchy today.


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[Assistant] He's, he was under the weather. He's back. He's been gone. And I know he was puking his brains out Monday night. Wow. Uh, so I don't know how he's feeling as of right now. Uh, it's gone through my family, this little stomach bug 24 hour virus. It's been a bad year for it. It has been a bad. I hope everybody got their flu shots. It seems like they really are effective.


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[Assistant] It's not easy. It's an all decade last few weeks here. I did a little draft today on PFT where we had a draft like


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[Assistant] You know, that was like the most explosive offense we have seen in some time. So that was Mahomes. Explosive.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I think, yeaah, just individually for a year, he just, he dominated that year. And, uh, Marshall Newhouse is his left tackle, who's been on like 17 since, and he still made it happen. So, we're not getting into that.


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[Assistant] I know, yeaah, right, right. I mean, yeaah, it's crazy. The start of the decade seems like it was 20 years ago, uh, but for me, in all seriousness, I do think Aaron Rodgers is the player of the decade. I really, I'll say that right now. I, I do. Just the way he's played it's been, what, how many MVPs? Three MVPs? I think his stats, his yards, all that will probably lead


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[Assistant] The lead, the decade, I don't know, it might be close between him and Drew Brees.


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, I think if you, like, graded play-by-play, right, and we just sat and watched the film, we graded every play, like, who won this play, who won that play? I think the Bills probably did win more plays, for sure, yeaah. I mean, you said it, like, how did they win the game?


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[Assistant] And then you came to the conclusion that it's the four turnovers and the block punt. That was, that was it. Uh, I think there's some interesting things to take away from the game though in general. First off,


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[Assistant] You know, what I find, what's different about the Bills, okay, the Bills defense was phenomenal then, it's still phenomenal now. I don't think much has changed from that side of it. Now, from the Bills offense, then to now,


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[Assistant] There has been some change, and I think early on in the year, hey, Buffalo was putting too much on Josh Allen's plate. You know, that was the thing that blew me away when I went back to turn the game on, I just went, man.


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[Assistant] They're just putting the game in Josh Allen's hands, like, here's the shotgun every play, and we're gonna let you throw it and make a decision.


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[Assistant] And it came back to bite him in the ass. And they didn't manage the game the right way. And of course, the Patriots' secondary was phenomenal. But hey, it really, it was one of his last poor performances of the year to this point now. He really started to turn it, turn it around after that.


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[Assistant] Through three interceptions and all three were just as stupid as can be. I mean, there's just no other way to say it. They were dumb.


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[Assistant] Uh, all the Patriots points are, they got two, two field goals off of those interceptions. Uhm, so there was what? I think 12 points off of turnovers alone. But I think that's the big difference I look for the Bills now, uh, as compared to then to now. They don't play,


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[Assistant] Like, oh, we're gonna put Josh Allen in the shotgun and let him make plays anymore. They started to rein it in, and they started to become, let's get underneath the center, we're gonna run the football, we'll have some play action passes, we'll run some boots that way. Instead of this, this is freewheeling shotgun type offense that he wasn't ready for.


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[Assistant] And ultimately that's what led to the downfall of the game. The other side of the ball, the Patriots, you know, it's interesting.


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[Assistant] Uhm, some of the things that we're, we talk about being worried about the Patriots now,


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[Assistant] This was the first game I feel like they kinda reared their ugly head. Offensively? Even on both sides. Even though I should finish this off with the defense first against Josh Allen on the offense. What they did do with Frank Gore running for 17 for 109.


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[Assistant] When the Patriots only had their two defensive linemen in the game, they ran the ball at them. And to me, that's one of the big weaknesses of the Patriots. Lack of big people this year. So they kind of showed that, and I would think that's going to be somewhat of a stable again. Go ahead, what do you want to say? And now they have Devon Singletary. Exactly right. Who was not in that game.


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[Assistant] They run him and then they use him in the short passing game too, which was not really a part of their offense at that time too. So those are the things that have changed where that's what I talk about managing Josh Allen. They stop this like, oh, just getting the shotgun and sling it all over the place. No.


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[Assistant] It didn't make sense. He's not ready for that. And their defense can stop teams. And, and really their defense kind of showed its first little blueprint to


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[Assistant] To the Patriots a little bit, to a degree. First off, they have the personnel to do it. They got the front four, right? All those things. They can rush and get there with four. A few timely blitzes.


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[Assistant] But they took away the middle of the field. A lot of the little quick play action passes the Patriots like to do and hit Edelman on a slant or a post or a crossing route and things like that. They were all over that stuff.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and, you know, didn't let some of the, the Patriots trickery kind of get them. The big thing to me in that game more than anything is just the one matchup that jumped out to me, and this is something I think the Bills have to be ready for this time, is the back out of the backfield. Like, James White, he had a good day, and...


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[Assistant] The Buffalo Bills put their backs, or put their linebackers in some vulnerable positions sometimes against the back out of the backfield. And I would, I'm interested to see what that adjustment will be. I don't know what the line is. Yeaah. I don't know either, actually. You're right.


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[Assistant] I think the Bills are favored. I don't think so. It's in New England. I'm gonna say the Patriots are favored. No, it's in, it's in Buffalo. No, it's in New England. The early one was in Buffalo. It's okay. Don't worry, you were wrong. I'm right. Uhm, still, but, I'm gonna say two and a half. Ooh, six and a half? I would take the Bills. I would take the Bills. Wow!


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[Assistant] That is really, really surprising to me. Yeaah, that's too much. I would take the bills.


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[Assistant] Just were inadequate at the time. Yeaah, I know they played the Steelers week one, but they exposed the Steelers week one. The Steelers then aren't what they are now. Yeaah. And, you know, we, we had no questions about the Patriots offense until this game.


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[Assistant] And I think that really changed it and we've kind of seen the Patriots struggle against any quality defense or any even


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[Assistant] Average defense to this point. And I would say really they've gotten worse in the fact that their offensive line play is not as good as it was at this time of the year.


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[Assistant] And there's no Josh Gordon in the, in the conversation either, who was still like a little bit of a mismatch for them. They knew how to use them on slants, go routes, back shoulder throws, things like that. So yeah, I would almost say this time around, the two things that jump out to me, the Pat's offense, I think is less now than it was then. And I think that the Bills,


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[Assistant] Play a more complete team game in the fact that they're conservative on offense now. They take their shots from time to time. Okay, we've run the ball. Let's do a play action. Let's back them off. You know, in that time, like I said, it was just too shotgun happy to throw the ball all over the field.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think they're capable of dominating anybody. Not, you know, I mean, listen, their defense could dominate, but I don't think, like, even if their defense is dominating, their offense is not good enough, especially against this Bill's defense, for me to sit here and go.


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[Assistant] I, I, we'll see if I have the guts to do it. I don't know if I do. Uhm. But I think that really, those are the big things that jump out to me. The Patriots are tough to beat there. The Patriots are...


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[Assistant] Really, the Bills, what they miss, and especially in a matchup like this, where the Patriots secondary is so elite, is they just don't have a game breaker on the offensive side of the ball. If they just had one receiver who is a real...


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[Assistant] Mismatch Nightmare. I would really say, oh yeaah, they're gonna beat the Patriots this week. But the fact that John Brown, Cole Beasley, they're good, don't get me wrong. But...


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[Assistant] They're gonna be, the, the Patriots are gonna feel comfortable out playing man to man again. They're gonna go, JC Jackson, Stefan Gilmore, you can cover them man to man. And, uh, we can add people to the running game and do all of that. Right.


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[Assistant] No, did enough. And I think, okay, so let's start with the Rams offense versus the 49ers defense. I mean, the Rams offense, you said it, the first drive was great.


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[Assistant] Other than that, they had one other drive where they end up getting down to the one yard line, have a third and goal on the one at seven to seven. Just before halftime. Just before half and get stopped on two straight half yard they need to score a touchdown. They don't get it. Running right up the middle with uh, Mack Brown.


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[Assistant] They get nothing there, alright? Uh, but, I think other than that first drive you mentioned, and that little drive there, which I'm gonna say was like 46, 48 yards, they got a punt and got it in a good field goal position.


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[Assistant] They, they could not do anything else for the rest of the day. I mean, they got physically dominated at the line of scrimmage. And I do think that Shanahan


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[Assistant] Uh, probably helped Robert Sala out as far as the defensive corner. They were all over some of the past concepts that the Rams had. Uhm, Whitworth, the offensive line just got totally obliterated really after that first drive for the rest of the game, whether it was pass game or run game. I mean, come on, the Rams had 157 yards total.


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[Assistant] That's insane. They were 0-9 on third down. That kind of says it all. Now, what's different about that side of the matchup now?


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[Assistant] Uh, maybe the Rams are a little bit better run blocking offense as of right now.


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[Assistant] But other than that, there's nothing else I'm gonna sit here and go, oh, the rams have improved on this, uh, or gotten greatly worse at this? No, I don't. I think this-


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[Assistant] Yeah, they started to get them back involved, no doubt, no doubt. And I would think that's going to be part of the attack again, especially early on in this one. Now, for the 49ers...


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[Assistant] They're, they're gonna be without a cast of characters that were in the first game, that were difference makers. I mean, you know, no Quan Alexander. He's not gonna be there. D. Ford's not gonna be there yet. There's no Ronald Blair. There's no DJ J-Jones. These are under the radar, really awesome.


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[Assistant] Uh, second unit defensive lineman for the 49ers, Jaquaski Tartt. I don't know his status yet for this week.


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[Assistant] He made a number of plays during the game. So the talent on the field for the 49ers will be less than. Uhm, but I, I still just don't know if the Rams are good enough on the offensive side of the ball for me to sit here and just go, oh well, it'll change this week. They're gonna, they're gonna move the ball up and down the field. Now the other thing to take advantage, to think of here too is, uh, the Rams had a fatal mistake to start the second half.


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[Assistant] Where they had a toss play and Mack fumbled the ball, or not Mack, Brown fumbled the ball just on a simple toss. I think it was Darrell Henderson, I think I'm wrong actually. But that gave the 49ers a 17 yard drive for a touchdown. Put them up 14 to 7. I think the big thing is if I had to flip it over to the other side, anything you want to ask me about that?


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[Assistant] Joe Staley. They're both back now. They are. They're both back. And that you're right. That's where I would start the conversation. That was an issue for them in the game. So that jumps out to me. Okay.


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[Assistant] That's, that's the big thing I look at. He was shaky as hell. You said the interception on the one yard line. He had Tevin Coleman on another play who was wide open, gonna walk in the end zone. He overthrew him. Tevin Coleman couldn't catch the ball. I mean, he was like a five yard, five foot throw. That's what I mean. It was that open. I wouldn't talk about it if it was like, oh, a really difficult throw and he missed a guy. I mean, it was, it was that.


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[Assistant] Before the end of the first half was over, he hit Corey Littleton, the linebacker of the Rams, right in the chest. It wasn't meant to pick six. So he has changed his play. And you mentioned like those tackles not being there. Okay, they're back. Use checks back. Emmanuel Sanders wasn't there. Debo Samuel was not part of the offense then.


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[Assistant] I mean, their offensive receiver at that point was Marquise Goodwin and Dante Pettis. They far exceeded what they were doing earlier in the year now with Deebo and Emmanuel Sanders. So they're a different football team in the offensive side of the ball. I expect them to have more success against the Rams this time around with the healthier line and the more weapons in the pass game.


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[Assistant] I don't know if there is either. I mean, the Rams play hard. Of course they got talent. We know that. Uh, but I think it'll be harder to get pressure with the tackles being healthy. And with the fact that use checks in the game and they can dabble with him as a fullback or an extra tight end next to Kittle, that's going to make life harder on them.


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[Assistant] Uh, the one thing that jumped out to me about the Rams in the first match, they put a lot of deep zones and they checked it down in the backs a lot. The 49ers in the pass game or underneath receivers, all of that. You know, I don't know if the Rams will have the luxury of doing that this time around with the healthy tacos. They might have to play a little closer to the line of scrimmage. I just look at it like this. I just think


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[Assistant] You know, I hear a lot of people going, hey, the 49ers, people go, well, I don't really understand the 49ers. Yeah, you do. Like, well, you do.


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[Assistant] They're, they're definitely one of the best teams in football. They lost three games on the very last play of the game. And they lost two of those games to two of the three best teams in football on the last play of the game. The Ravens and the Seahawks. Now last week, yeaah, they played underwhelming.


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[Assistant] But even with that and all the injuries they had, you know, they lost on the last play of the game once again. So we know what the 49ers are. They just didn't play well last week and it was tough to come up for a fourth game in a row after you've just played the Packers, who are the number two seed.


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[Assistant] The Seahawks, who are the number one seed, and the Ravens, who are the number one seed. So, like, let's keep that into, you know, reality a little bit. Like, it's hard to get yourself up four weeks in a row like that, and they played a team with common knowledge in the Atlanta Falcons, they kind of caught them sleeping. Who's rising, too? Atlanta's playing so much better than they did at the beginning of the year.


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[Assistant] I've been doing Campbell's Chunkies chats. It's been awesome. And I'd like to take a quick moment to tell you about something I'm doing for Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's pretty, uh, awesome throughout the rest of the season. I'll be sitting down with former NFL players as we discuss the many ways that football is family.


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[Assistant] In the latest episode, I interviewed NFL wide receiver Muhammad Massacoy.


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[Assistant] Who is, has like a fascinating background, life story, everything about it. Here's a little clip from our, from our little talk.


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[Assistant] Big thanks, uh, to Campbell's Chunky Soup. And there is, uh, Campbell's Chunky Chats. And as you, if anybody paid, or peeped that, or paid attention there.


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[Assistant] The guy's got a bionic left hand, alright. He's doing inspirational talking. I'm not gonna tell you what he did to his hand. But he's got like the Terminator hand. Yeah. Alright. Like three of his fingers or four of his fingers. Four of his fingers. Yes, he has lost them. And if you want to find out, to hear the whole thing.


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[Assistant] Uh, head to NBC Sports YouTube page. Special thanks to the Campbell's Chunky team for making this happen. And, uh, yeaah, he's doing great things. Family's been a big part of his rise as far as football. His mom and dad were from Africa. Uh, just how they disciplined him.


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[Assistant] Correct. I'll know I really made it when I can make one of these guys cry about something and get emotional. Yes. Then I'll be like, damn, I am good. You alright, John McDonald? You good? Coffee? You got coffee enough? A little tired today? He's thinking he might want to stick around. He's been out there chopping wood all week. He's in his lumberjack outfit. Alright.


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[Assistant] Big moment right now. Big moment. Big moment is here. He is back. He's been avoiding us since before Thanksgiving. So it's good to have him on. Yeah, I thought it was personal too. I didn't really get it. First thing I want to know, dad, how you feel? I heard you were puking your brains out Monday night.


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[Assistant] I, I do. Yes, he definitely has all the staples you need. You think he's a head coach next year? Uh, I'm gonna say no. I don't think he will get it this year.


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[Assistant] Yeah, right, I gotcha. Okay, so, so. Let's go. Yeah, sorry.


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[Assistant] One question before we dive into it for Big Phil, because I'm just curious, because you heard my answer to this already, I'll say it in a second. Who's been the best player of this decade, Dad?


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[Assistant] Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, right. I know. Any position. Any position. Of course, JJ Watt, Brady, you know, maybe Peyton Manning, Russell Wilson. I chose Aaron Rodgers. Uhm, that to me is the player of the decade. Uhm, I'm not saying I'm right, but that's just the one I would choose. Uhm,


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[Assistant] Uh, no I don't, but I really, it did make me think a level higher of Leshawn McCoy, there's no doubt.


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[Assistant] Yes, I agree. Like I think my origin, my, my list would have Le'Veon Bell on there for this decade. Yeah, I can see that. I would have put him on there. I would have, I can't lie. Like I think I would have put him on there in front of Matt Forte. And I'm, I'm going to say I underestimated Forte too on this list. He was on my list, but I wrote about


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[Assistant] But I, I just feel like levy on bell between receiving, running,


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[Assistant] The, the Steelers being so relevant, and a lot of it was because of him, I probably would have put him in my top 5. 12th most rushing yards this decade, Le'Veon Bell. Man, 12th.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, I'm with you. I mean, Arian Foster is another guy that we could probably throw on there.


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[Assistant] Hey, the Minnesota Vikings were who they were because of Adrian Peterson and they played through him and then the Seattle dynasty or era started because of Marshawn Lynch and that allowed them to like ease Russell Wilson in and of course they made their defense dominant so that would probably be the reason I would make those two and then LaShawn McCoy would be my third.


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[Assistant] But wait, just so we have to note this, with the running backs, there we are again, talking about top running backs of the decade, and none of us are saying Frank Gore.


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[Assistant] Nope. Nope. Not Larry Fitzgerald. You're kidding!


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[Assistant] No, but you're missing an easy one on the offensive side of the ball. To start every play. Start every play this decade.


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[Assistant] There's two players. One's a quarterback and the other one is on defense and I don't know who it is yet. I, I will say my first defensive guess was Kaleus Campbell and I was wrong. So I don't know who it is. I got the quarterback one though.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I got the quarterback one. It's easy, you just gotta think of what's going on in the world right now, yeah. Eli just retired, so it's not Eli. But it's somebody in his draft class.


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[Assistant] Okay, that's why I thought it was Thomas Davis. I went there at first, but I'm rolling.


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[Assistant] Holy crap! That just tells you what a freaking nature he is.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I think I would go Julio first, then AB second. I would. I think I would go actually the Chalk though, from there on out. I would go Fitz 3, Calvin 4, D-Jax. I do, I was...


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[Assistant] Yeaah. He's up there. He's up there in New York. He killed it those early years with the Broncos and Peyton Manning and them, right? I know. How about no AJ Green? AJ Green was 8th in receptions. Odell? Where's Odell at in this conversation? No, nowhere.


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[Assistant] Yeah, his first three years were phenomenal and then it's fallen off. I mean, I do think like, Brandon Marshall's a guy that probably is in the conversation for the first five years of the decade.


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[Assistant] Yes, there is. I don't get it. I know, but there is. I mean, that's what I like. I try to explain to people here, like, I know Michael Thomas is awesome.


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[Assistant] But also like, think about Monday night, how many times people that had no business covering Michael Thomas, you watch the replay and they're going, you're going, damn, Sean Payton got him, you know, matched up against the linebacker. Sean Payton got him matched up against Malik Hooker, the safety. Like how the hell does that happen?


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[Assistant] And it goes back to what we talk about, dad. You know, when people always talk about, hey, well, you know, there's a quarterback problem in the NFL. No, there's not. There's plenty of good quarterbacks to go around. There's good offensive coordinator problem in the NFL.


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[Assistant] Yeah, history, no doubt about it. When you said the Greg Roman thing before, like, who else could design an offense like that? I thought, oh, okay, well maybe Kyle Shanahan and Sean Payton. If they had a Lamar Jackson, they could do it. Maybe the only two other ones.


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[Assistant] I was ready, but I was prepared. No, you were, you were ready. Yep, you got it. Alright, dad. Alright, guys, have a good day. Thank you. See ya. When in doubt, pull the trigger. Uhm, I think that, he sounds better. Yeah, he does sound better. He sounded better early on.


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[Assistant] That I was gonna throw up the next morning, and I would just put my finger down my throat late at night and just make it happen and get the whole party started early. I just felt like it was a smart play. I think it was a smart play. You're against flu shots, but you're for that. Pulling the trigger and throwing up, I'm all for it.


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, it was almost, uhm, you know, I sit here and go, it's probably their best offensive performance since just this past weekend. It's been those two. And there were similarities too.


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[Assistant] They kind of played more through the run. Tavon Austin was involved in some trick plays and doing things like that. We saw him, you know, added to the game plan this past week with the Rams once again. Uhm, here's the big thing to me. For the Eagles defense, okay, at that time they were kind of,


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[Assistant] Not all the way healthy. Fletcher Cox wasn't 100%, but, oh, still good, but not the great Fletcher Cox. He's better now.


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[Assistant] But the Eagles are still having some of the same problems. Uh, now in that game they had Orlando Skandrick playing in the secondary, and he was a disaster. They attacked him most of the game for big plays, uh, because there was a reason he wasn't on the team, on a team the first six weeks of the year. So that was an issue. But oddly enough, like, I look at the Eagles and go, man,


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[Assistant] They still have some of the exact same problems then as they do now. They really do.


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[Assistant] You know, they just let up too many big plays on the defensive side of the ball.


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[Assistant] They play a little too much man to man at times, which is tough to do against Dallas because you're just not going to have enough guys to match up with all three guys. Now, at least they're healthy back there to a degree, but it hasn't really mattered their health the last few weeks. They've let up a lot of big plays once again in the pass game and the run game a little bit.


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[Assistant] But I mean, you talk about the Miami Dolphins, Devonte Parker tore them apart.


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[Assistant] You know, you talk about the Giants, uh, what's his name? Darius Slayton. Tore them apart. You go last week, Terry McLaurin.


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[Assistant] I just look at the Eagles and go, I don't know, how can you do it when you don't have the guys that can cover and you don't have the guys that can catch? I just don't know how you win this day and age in the NFL and they're worse off now offensively than they were then. There is no Alshon Jeffery. I mean, we'll see where Nelson Aguilar is this week.


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[Assistant] I think that's very real. That's the only hope they have. They got dominated up front. I'll say this, this is the other hope I would give them. Okay, is now one, they gotta throw the ball down the field a little bit against Dallas Cowboys. You just gotta take some shots just for taking shots to back off the aggression of the Dallas Cowboys.


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[Assistant] For just an offensive, like, way to attack, the eagles at that game, they were like, they couldn't quite figure out how they wanted to attack yet.


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[Assistant] The last few weeks, because of injuries, they've kind of been forced into a way of attacking. And it's, I think, made Carson Wentz more comfortable. Carson Wentz is certainly the difference right now for the Eagles. He's playing phenomenal. He's playing get on my shoulders, I'll carry the squad. But they have two ways to beat you right now.


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[Assistant] Have the tight ends and the two running backs out of the backfield. That's all they do. And that's their formula. Yeaah, we're gonna run the ball. We can do that. Keep you honest. But you better watch out for Miles Sanders and Boston Scott out of the backfield in the pass game and Ertz and Goddard.


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[Assistant] Right, well, I mean, the Cowboys don't make sense. You know, there are a lot of yards and a lot of moments of greatness, but the moments that count, none of that shows up. And that's been their big problem until last week, so maybe they can, uh, finally get hot here. But as anybody saw last week, the Cowboys are...


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[Assistant] One of the most talented teams in football. I mean, you saw, they obliterated the Rams. It was a total annihilation. They destroyed them physically, everything about it. And even though they're sitting here at 7-7, I, yes, I'm picking them to beat the Eagles. I expect them to win this game. And I would just say watch out, because they are one of those teams that they get hot.


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[Assistant] There's not gonna be a team in the NFC playoffs that they walk on the field against and they're gonna go...


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[Assistant] Oh, we're overmatched here or we're overmatched there or we feel inadequate in this area. The Cowboys are going to be able to match up with any team in the NFC playoffs. It's just about whether they can play, you know, play the game the right way and win situational football. And that's what it'll come down to.


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[Assistant] Is that everything for this game? I think so. I don't know if there was anything more that was really crazy about that one in general. I think that was pretty much it.


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[Assistant] Right. Although not eliminated from the playoffs. But they got to 7-8-1. Hey, hey! Yeaah. They got to 7-8-1 last year. Oh, so close. And they can get to 500 this year, right? Are they 6-8 right now? 6-8. Yeaah. They can get to 500, but they cannot get that winning record.


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[Assistant] I mean, the hype factor, like, he's probably one of the biggest busts there is. Just two years in the league. So that was, uh, my number five, Deion Jordan. The best part about that is the coaching staff from the Browns, most of them didn't have first or second round grade on Johnny Menzel, but the guy making the pick had a top three in the draft grade on him, and that's why he got drafted.


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[Assistant] Yeah, and the homeless guy. That was really important that Jim Haslam listened to him. Yeah, he had a top, uh, top two. Top two.


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[Assistant] I would have been wrong on that one. Because I remember evaluating and thinking he was going to be top notch. So that was a, that was a surprise. A lot of injuries and you hate to hold that against someone. He did. He had a lot of foot and ankle injuries.


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[Assistant] Those are, those are some big busts. There's no doubt about it. Not one quarterback did you pick there.


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[Assistant] I mean, like, I think of guys like Christian Ponder, uh, you know, what was the, the, not Locke, uh, the one that came from Washington that was on the Tennessee Titans. I can't think of his name.


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[Assistant] Oh, well they never give up. You're not a season. What? You get six seasons. It does, it's never give up. I mean, people just think about, and this is not this decade, but Alex Smith.


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[Assistant] I mean, Alex Smith got drafted in what, 2005? Yeaah. And there it was, 2011, and they finally were in the plastic locket. It paid off. See? That's why we picked him number one. Yeaah. I mean, he was gonna get, you know, nine years to fail, eh, before, and then, you know, they get to the NSC Championship and go, oh, that's why they picked you number one.


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[Assistant] There's definitely more wiggle room for failure or mediocrity if you're a first round pick. Teams are not going to give up on you. They're going to give you two, three, four years almost automatically every time. And that's a huge advantage because not everybody finds their groove in their first year or two in the NFL.


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[Assistant] So it was kind of the tale of two halves in that game. It was. Well, I think there was two things that jumped out to me about the Packers. First off, what you mentioned on their offense. This is what they do. This is what they do every week. They jump out on teams and then they can't put you away.


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[Assistant] You know, they'll come out smokin'. The New York Giants game. Rogers throwing post. Boom, boom. And then you look up at the start of the fourth quarter and you go, damn, it's 17-13. They never put the team away. Washington Redskins. I think they were up 20-3. Then all of a sudden you look up in the fourth quarter and you go, man, the Redskins got the ball. They go down and score a touchdown here, then win the game.


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[Assistant] You know, last week, same thing. It was what, 21-0 or what? You know, it was something like that. This is, this is, so to me, that was like, it, it was funny as I watched the game, I said, oh, this is who the Packers are. They were like this in week two and here they are in week 15. They're still doing the same thing.


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[Assistant] Now, the other thing that showed up in that game for the first time too for the Packers is, you know, the Vikings were the team, I think, that showed everybody, hey, this Packers defense is good, but they have interior defensive line issues. And they broke a number of big runs and Dalvin Cook had a big day because they're inferior there. Uhm, the Packers controlled the game.


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[Assistant] You know, the Packers did two things. Geronimo Allison fumbled as they were driving one time. They were already in field goal range. They were up 21, uh, to 7 at one point. And Lefleur, instead of just kicking the field goal and making it a three-store game, he went for it on fourth and one, and the Vikings stopped them. The Vikings really did not


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[Assistant] The Vikings were, so my big takeaway from the Vikings in general would be the offense. They had not found the formula that they have right now at that point.


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[Assistant] The bootleg run game, play action game wasn't quite where it needed to be or where it was. And the biggest thing is Kirk Cousins was in Strugglesville at that point. I mean, again, if you remember that was, you know, him, he missed a few big throws in that football game.


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[Assistant] And that was the theme for the next few weeks, you know, and especially that Bears game two weeks after that where he missed a number of ones and that's when Adam Thielen came out. But he missed some big throws in this game and really all their points came off of three big plays. It really did. It was the Dalvin Cook big run.


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[Assistant] It was Kirk Cousins kind of scrambling in the pocket and dumping it off to BB who set them up for a field goal and then they had a huge post-routing through the touchdown for Diggs. Other than that, they really struggled and Cousins threw a really dumb interception in the fourth quarter in the back of the end zone.


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[Assistant] There was the unknown of the Packers offense. You don't think they've gotten, uh, measurably better? I don't know if I'm going to sit here and say measurably better. Have they gotten better? Yes, but I don't think measurably better. And I think the big thing I look at is their defense has gotten measurably worse. Now, the one thing I'll say that's going to be interesting about this matchup that kind of just jumped out to me when I watched back the film was the Packers played like five across on the front a lot.


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[Assistant] And when the Vikings did want to run the Boo legs and do that kind of stuff? Yeaah.


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[Assistant] They couldn't do it. Preston Smith was always there. Zadarian Smith was always there. And I would think that could be a problem for the Vikings once again in this game, unless they can get the run game going and get that guy to commit. Uhm, but, but either way, no, I think the Vikings are a better football team. I think the Packers are too, but I think the, the Vikings made a more,


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[Assistant] What do I just want to say? A bigger jump from then to now than maybe the Green Bay Packers did.


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[Assistant] I do wanna know that, I mean, so is this what you're gonna do every time you come on the podcast now? Yeah.


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[Assistant] Yeah, okay, yeah, who are they? I want to hear that. So let's start with over the last


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[Assistant] Emergency alert. Snow squall warning. What is a squall? What's a snow squall? Sudden, sudden white outs. What? Where the hell are we? Where is this? Here. Here? I mean it's- When's a squall- Sunny out.


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[Assistant] No, and I worry about their secondary, uh, covering people man-to-man wise, other than Marshawn Latimore. That's why I like, again, I'm not necessarily condoning this and his behavior.


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[Assistant] But them getting Janoris Jenkins off of waivers, that was a huge pick up as far as the talent on their team. He's definitely a better cover corner than Eli Apple or PJ Williams. But I worry about the Saints defense a little bit that way, just as far as maybe not


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[Assistant] An overwhelming pass rush, and I don't think, I think against the NFL elite, yeaah, they're gonna have a hard time maybe stopping some of those offenses, cause I'm not sure how talented their secondary really is to make some of those third and four, third and five, we gotta play man to man and stop you from picking us apart type plays.


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[Assistant] Wow, okay. I just want to see if I can figure out who they were. I mean, uh, I'm guessing Jimmy Garoppolo, right? Probably Winston DeJamis had one of those weeks, I'm guessing.


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[Assistant] Yeah, he's a beast and I know why they signed him up long term.


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[Assistant] Sure, alright. Well, I mean, he was a guy that was injured a lot. That's the first thing you gotta take into account. Uhm, I think that's always a big thing. And two, yea, there's just extra focus on that type of year. It's desperation time. It's, it's oh shit.


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[Assistant] Gosh, this might be the last contract I get. I need to make my money while I'm here. Oh shit, I don't want to move my family. So, I'd like to maximize that and keep us here. I mean, there's just so many things that play into that.


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[Assistant] And I think ultimately, yeaah, it affects guys to look at all the little things that maybe they took for granted for their first few years to go back to the drawing board and all of a sudden...


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[Assistant] Diet becomes really important. How much they prepare in the offseason to get ready for the season. They just set themselves up for success. More they do on other years. And then I think it's in their mind going into every game. Where they go, I gotta ball out. I wanna get paid. I wanna get money.


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[Assistant] I'm gonna go out there and show my ass this week. And, I mean, I've seen guys go through it, and some guys can rise to the occasion and do it.


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[Assistant] Yeah, uh, I mean, I think he had some life issues and talk about not preparing in the offseason, doing all the little things. I think all of that kind of funnels itself to him playing himself out of the league.


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[Assistant] And you know what? That's where stats can lie too. Well no, one of the picks, one of the picks was my fault. D'Angelo Hall. No, D'Angelo Hall got me. I was about to, the second pick?


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[Assistant] I'm no joke, I'm getting ready to throw a touchdown. I mean, it's a slug-o-seam. I'm gonna fake the slant, I'm coming back, throwing the seam to the tight end, and I'm going, oh my gosh, he's wide open, it's gonna be a touchdown. I got blindsided, and the ball popped in the air, and it got intercepted. Uh, yeah. Yeah, it hurt.


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[Assistant] That was the Jim Mora on the cell phone sideline game. Do you guys remember that? With Jim Mora? Because he wasn't sure if a tie was a good thing. We were dueling it out for the NFC South. And it was, you know, Vic vs. Sims. Who wins? Vic, Sims, Sims, Vic.


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[Assistant] No, but, well we, yeaah, we went to the playoffs. Okay. And we lost the Redskins in the wild card game at home two weeks, two weeks after that. Alright, let's go.


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[Assistant] Hold on, I'm really stumped here. At that time though, I guess that was Darren Sproles? No? No?


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, I've read away one, I know it's not OchoCinco, I wanna say T.J. Hushman Zada.


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[Assistant] Oh, I know who you're talking about here. He ended up going to the Vikings after this and I can't think of his damn name. 80, uh, yeaah, I can't think of it. Who is it?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't think that's crazy. You're exactly right. I mean, the Packers can't play run defense, too. They're gonna rely on their run game. You're right. And they're all talented. Yeah, they are. Alright, good shit. Who do you got? Who do you got at receiver?


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[Assistant] Okay, so yeaah, you're not going to play Edelman this week, are you? Are you going to play Edelman against the Bills?


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[Assistant] It's up there, no doubt. I mean, I think he's gonna end up back in Tampa. I do, I do. I don't know if anybody's gonna like risk too much paying him 25 million or something like that a year for not only some of the off the field issues they've done, but like they just have a hard time believing anyone else is gonna believe in him and his consistency quite yet.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well they better change him to a degree or they're going to be sitting at 7 and 7 next year coming down the stretch. I mean, he's got to change to a degree. You know, it's just, there's maybe it's 5 less touchdown passes to go with it for 5 less touchdown passes for maybe 12 less interceptions. I'll take it. Like that might be really what they have to beat home to him. But good shit, you the man.


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[Assistant] I feel like the holiday season- And goodbye, and your luck. Goodbye, and your luck. Goodbye, Colts. And your luck. Will he reappear somewhere next year?


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[Assistant] Will he? Is that even a possibility? I don't know, I hear rumors. Interesting.


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[Assistant] No, I don't think so. That double doink was a killer. They thought they were going to the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] We love you. Get him back in here, take him out, take him out. Come on, John, you gotta come in one more time. But we're out. Thanks to everybody. Ahmed, you're the man. Josh, you're the man.


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[Assistant] John McDonald, you the man. Good luck in your next venture, kid. Alright, alright. Chris Sims on Button. Tune in tomorrow. Chris Sims on Button, PFTPM. We do our PICS podcast. It's a joint collaboration, but there's no joints. It's just a collaboration. Alright, see you later. Peace.


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[Assistant] Oh, I owe you $5 still, huh? I think that made it back to even. That made it back to even? All clean. What game was that? What was that one?


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[Assistant] Unbuttoned. We're gonna do a little different week this week. Uh, there just, there was more to talk about. More playoff implications. So instead of deep diving two games,


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[Assistant] I went through a lot of just key moments throughout the league. And we're gonna hit on some of those. Whether, what, the 49ers game? I mean, we're gonna hit on a good chunk of that.


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[Assistant] My role is like, hey, we have a new idea, cool, okay, if you think that's better for the podcast, I'm down. I'm down, yes. Team player. And you see here, this is only winners allowed here on the front desk today, right? It's only winners, huh? Nope, nobody lost in that group.


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[Assistant] I don't think that's going to change the seedings as of right now. Because three-way ties...


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[Assistant] It's different than if it's just, okay, it's a two-way tie, which goes then to, did you play head to head, and then goes to conference record. And I need to relook up what the hell it is for a three-way tie, because I'm not totally sure who will be one and two


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[Assistant] After tonight, if the Saints win. I'm not sure. I know the Saints have the head-to-head tiebreaker against Seattle, but like I said, it all changes when there's three teams. They don't use exactly the same formula there. Uh, either way, 49ers Seattle's gonna get figured out before it's all said and done. Uh, in their week 17 matchup, you mentioned that.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but I think the big thing boils down to this as far as


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[Assistant] You said it, the 49ers offense has been big play, it's been dominant all year. I mean, there's really not a game and they haven't moved the ball.


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[Assistant] Other than maybe Baltimore, and I would say the weather was pretty much as much of a factor there as the Ravens defense. But other than that, nobody's really stopped the 49ers. Thought Atlanta did about as good a job as I've seen anybody do. For two reasons.


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[Assistant] Atlanta had a really good plan of attack as far as uhm,


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[Assistant] One to play man to man in certain formations and one to play zone. They have the team speed.


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[Assistant] I think is the biggest thing. I mean, when Atlanta's healthy, and they're still not even totally healthy, but when you start to talk about Grady Jarrett and Vic Beasley and Clay Bourne and then Dion Jones and Devondre Campbell,


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[Assistant] I mean, you know this, this is a real aspect of football. When you go through a three game stretch of going, this might have been the hardest three games anybody's ever played ever against the opponent's winning percentage and things like that. So then get up, get yourself up for a fourth game.


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[Assistant] And yeaah, there's some personal aspects of this because there's some coaches on the 49ers that were there in Atlanta for their Super Bowl loss and all of that.


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[Assistant] And, uh, I think that's a very real aspect, to be able to get yourself up again to that level. Plus, let's not forget, 49ers are missing five players, starters on defense. And, you know, some of them are major, major players. I mean, Dee Ford, no DJ Jones, those are huge, huge misses.


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[Assistant] Yeah, uh, you know, I think the biggest thing is that the passing offense really never got into a flow or a rhythm, just a drop back pass offense. Uh, one was because of the pass rush.


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[Assistant] The stats aren't gonna really tell you how good Grady Jarrett and Vic Beasley were in a lot of the drop back situations, but Garoppolo was constantly under duress. I think that's the one thing I look. They had a good feel for


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[Assistant] What they were trying to do in the drop back pass game and I can always tell that by the way they were like passing people off in zone coverages like, oh this guy went vertical and they were right away looking for the underneath guy who might be running the slant, you know, they're clearing it out and running a slant and the guy's right there. So they had some little telltale signs like that and I thought,


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[Assistant] You know, did a good job of mixing man and zone. Like, we're not affected by the...


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[Assistant] Fake speed sweeps or the run and fake reverse. They had a good game plan in some of those where I feel like they dabbled in some man to man.


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[Assistant] I think so. I think so. And I think the Rams can maybe duplicate it better than the Seahawks. The Seahawks can't play man. They're scary that way. So that's going to be an issue for them.


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[Assistant] Julio lines up going across emotion like you talked about. They're trying to double Julio. They're trying to in and out him as far as


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[Assistant] One guy, 41 Mosley, has got him if he goes outside. And then 36, Marcel Harris, who, if you could just rewind it back just a little bit again. Marcel Harris, as you can see, I'm pointing him right there. He is the safety who's head up on Austin Hooper. They have a linebacker covering Austin Hooper. Alright? Now,


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[Assistant] But 36 stacks the linebacker who's covering Austin Hooper. So then Austin Hooper releases upfield and instead of just picking one guy, he gets to pick two guys. And then there's no one there for the shallow cross for Julio Jones. So really, I think the most egregious mistake on this play, more than anything,


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[Assistant] Is the alignment of Marcel Harris, the backup safety to Jaquiski Tartt.


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[Assistant] Uh, because they're doubling the slot to the left side, and if you look here, on the play itself, 83, the slot receiver, I always forget this guy's name, oh yea, Russell Gage.


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[Assistant] This is, this was the proper defensive call. This was just bad execution, bad alignment. And again, I, I think it's on Marcel, Marcel Harris. You know, because think about it this way. He has to line up and there's a, a still frame of, of Julio just getting in the end zone.


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[Assistant] Alright, like, if Julio was right there, and you're 41, and I'm 36, you can't stack 41, I need to get off over here almost. Like playing right directly behind the linebacker who's playing Hooper man to man. Right, he almost, so now Hooper takes that inside release,


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[Assistant] I think that was what he was basically telling him. Like, we're bracketing. And if you go back, Pete, go back to that little, our little, uh, Instagram clip there. Because you're exactly right. As Mosley goes in motion,


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[Assistant] With Julio Jones, he is giving this motion of his hands, and he's talking to 36. He's letting him know, and 36 is going, okay, hey, hey, you man up on 81. And because of that, he doesn't ever get back inside.


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[Assistant] Exactly right. He's waiting for it. They're thinking, oh, Julio might run a little option route, something like that where he comes off. And I think the funny thing about this play is, you know, Dan Quinn was the defense coordinator of the Seahawks, and this is the play that the Seahawks ran to try to beat the New England Patriots and Malcolm Bucklar intercepted. I mean, it was basically the same thing.


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[Assistant] Except, of course, Brandon Browner wasn't there to jam the pick guy and ruin the whole play. But I think that was the biggest thing altogether. And even to throw that in, one little more wrinkle to this whole conversation.


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[Assistant] The other big play earlier in the drive, which was a Julio Jones like deep cross that got them down there close.


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[Assistant] They were trying to double Julio there too, and...


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[Assistant] The safety didn't come aggressively down to double him and let him catch the ball at 12 yards and then he broke the tackle and ran for another 15 or 20 yards and put him inside the 20 yard line. So more execution down the stretch, uh, from, from the 49ers defense where yeah, they were spotted in 1910 lead.


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[Assistant] The Eagles Redskins. Yeah, well, I'm sure I know. That, that, that is, that's, that's why I do not want to, uh, gamble or be a part of that because I would absolutely, I go crazy that I got this wrong without any money on it.


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[Assistant] I mean, I picked the 49ers and I was like pissed off. I can't imagine if I had bet like $1,000 or $500 on it. Holy shit, I'd be going crazy. Pete, one more time.


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[Assistant] You know, and I think really a great understanding of what the 49ers offense wanted to do, play action. Pass-wise, you know, they had a good feel, you know, and again, it's hard for me to sit here and break down exactly to tell you like,


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[Assistant] Well yea, there definitely is, a hundred percent. There's definitely a lot of familiarity there in general, even with the Seahawks, you know, not necessarily the Rams, there definitely is, because McVeigh's from Shanahan too.


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[Assistant] So there's going to be that knowledge. There's a lot of different things. And we'll get into other games because the Rams-Cowboys game, there's a ton of common knowledge and coaching crossover there as well to where that's the chess match within the chess match of football that I really enjoy watching. Uhm, but yeaah, I just think


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[Assistant] I think Atlanta played tougher, they were the more energized, fresh looking team on the field. They kind of took the fight to the 49ers, beat them up up front offensively and just made a few plays, uhm, you know, the Falcons offense just made a few plays just to get them over the hump to win the football.


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[Assistant] It was basically your deep pick play. It's two deep crosses like this, and I think it was Blake Jarwin running the other cross, and the two Ram defenders ran into each other. And that left him wide open, and uh, yeaah, that works out perfectly.


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[Assistant] There's not. They have feasted on the poor, and they have lost to the rich. That's basically how I would say the Cowboys. Well, the Rams, okay, this was a team that I would consider was the rich, and they finally won one against the rich, which they should have. And, I mean, why were they? I'm just gonna hit on this game real quick. I mean, here's the things that jumped out to me. Uhm, the Rams offense,


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[Assistant] Got dominated up front in a lot of different past game, run game, uh, early on, golf missed a few throws here and there, you know.


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[Assistant] Bootlegs, things like that. Weren't as slam dunk as they were in other previous weeks that got them going. The biggest thing I wanted to see


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[Assistant] Double the nose tackle then get somebody up to the linebacker like every play. And they ran inside zone and exposed the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas changed their fronts in this game.


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[Assistant] They sometimes play 2-3 techniques. Sometimes they squeeze it down and play bear. They never let the Rams and McVeigh get in this, like.


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[Assistant] Carson runs, Wentz runs a little weak side play action. It's Spider 2. You got everybody out there knows like Spider 2 wide banana, right? But John Gruden, well, this is Spider 2 Buckeye is what we would call this in our offense. This is basically what this is.


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[Assistant] He says Seth Hutt, and as you said, the Redskins are still lining up as he's saying the ball's being snapped, and they're confused with coverage. And on the snap,


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[Assistant] Landon Collins and Preston Smith all go, who the hell is 53? Is that, uhm, I gotta look that up. I'm blanking on his name. I gotta look, hold on, it's gonna... Alright, well, Peter Luck.


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[Assistant] He just does a good job of really throwing a great ball. The coverage isn't bad. Josh Norman does a good job.


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[Assistant] That's a good question. I don't know either. I can't give you the answer there, but I do know Carson Wentz, off his back foot, throws a ball high and out in front of him, and just lets him run and go get the ball.


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[Assistant] Uh, in general, 53 is Bostic, who we talked about. Preston Smith and Landon Collins all go with Zach Ertz into the flat.


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[Assistant] Because I would love to show you the play from earlier on, but you know, 35 Monte Nicholson, I don't know why, but he's over here.


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[Assistant] For some reason. Covering nobody. There's a man on the tight end, I don't know what he's doing. I'm guessing he should be the free safety. And in the play earlier in the game, it's the same type of defense alignment, and he is the free safety.


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[Assistant] I'm gonna pull it off to you. Here it is. So here's the same exact play, second and five, right? Watch, they're gonna break the huddle pretty quickly. Here we go. And, oh, that's not it. I'm one play, still one more play. Hold on, let me get there. Is this play coming right now?


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[Assistant] Uhm, but it's the same type of thing, and I'm pretty sure, and I didn't see it live on TV, but here it is.


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[Assistant] Okay, they get lined up, they still mess it up. Now, that time, nobody covered Earths. There's three guys covering no one, and Earths scored a touchdown. So obviously they found a little flaw within that scheme itself.


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[Assistant] You know, got the run game going, which they gotta keep playing behind. I think that's the number one strength of their team besides Carson Wentz. Because their offense is, as we've talked about a lot, it's whoosh, Zachary's for six.


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[Assistant] Dallas got a verse 7. And then it's, oh, there's Miles Sanders or Boston Scott coming out of the backfield on a wheel router or a little flare router. That's all they got in the past game. That's all they got. There's nothing else that's going to scare you. So they need to have a run game and dominate the line of scrimmage. I think if they want to beat teams like Dallas and maybe make a run in the playoffs.


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[Assistant] Oh, I mean, I'm, I mean, gosh, I don't even sure if yesterday- 93. Oh, is it that many? Holy crap. 93 times. Yea, I was gonna say like high 70s.


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[Assistant] It's not sustainable. That's exactly right. I think that's the thing I would say. That's not sustainable against the really good teams or the cream of the crop in the NFL. Or even against Dallas in this big game. That's what I'm, well, I mean, as we saw yesterday, Dallas, again, is, it's, you see, they're, they're cream of the crop. Talent-wise, can they just put it all together? Right. And that's gonna be the big question this week. They're gonna be more talented than the Philadelphia Eagles on the field on Sunday. They definitely will be.


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[Assistant] One last thing to say about that game before we move on. Yes. Best game by Dwayne Haskins in his early NFL career. He really played well. He made some big throws.


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[Assistant] He had a few nice little runs, uh, so that was something to build on for him. I think that was the first game I came away going, okay, I see it, Mr. Haskins, there you go. That's why they drafted you in the top 15 or top 16, whatever it was, and uh, good for him.


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[Assistant] Redskins would have won, would have covered, okay. And, I mean, that's unbelievable. 31, 27, wait, the Eagles were the underdogs by four?


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[Assistant] Oh, by four and a half, sorry, sorry. Four and a half, four and a half. But I didn't realize it was four and a half. Okay, so yes, they got it covered and then have that happen. Uh, that's unreal. Yep, they can, everyone can thank Dwayne Haskins who lost money for him pitching that ball.


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[Assistant] I mean, it's a little bit of both. I think ultimately when we're, uhm, uhm,


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[Assistant] Putting Seattle against the cream of the crop in the NFL, I think it's a minus. I think it's a minus. I think... When you say cream of the crop in the NFC... Or even in the whole NFL. I still think the Saints and the 49ers are ahead of the Seattle Seahawks, yes.


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[Assistant] You know, they're not capable of putting teams away that are lesser than them. Just like we saw yesterday. They had a great chance to yesterday. They're 31-10 and you're going here they go, but what was the problem? Their defense can't make a stop. They can't. They can't cover people man to man. They're a little predictable that way. And if they don't have a healthy Clowney and Ezekielonza just to ruin the game up front, they're a deep shit. There's no other way to say it. Right. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] So fourth down comes about, it's fourth and, what was it, two? Fourth and four, I think. Fourth and two, fourth and four, okay. Either way, doesn't matter, we got the point. Fourth and short, yeaah. Fourth and short, and they come out originally in a two by two set. Yep. Where it's gram to the right,


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[Assistant] Uh, Lazard to the right, and then it's, I think, Geronimo Allison and Devonte Adams to the left, right? So it's two by two. They call time out.


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[Assistant] I bet you Aaron Rodgers didn't love that formation. To me, when you play a 2x2 set just to take you into the quarterback world a little bit, the problem with 2x2 sets at times is, and you would know this too,


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[Assistant] You can't tell because the safeties can kinda hold it to the last second because it's two to the right and two to the left. They don't have to kinda show their hand.


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[Assistant] That was probably the first thing that jumped out to me to why maybe they called timeout. The other thing is they were showing the old double A gap, right? So, double A gap, if something's over the middle, you know, there's a good chance they're gonna drop out, and now Aaron Rodgers isn't gonna have anything left. So either way, they called the timeout, they come back out of the timeout, and they're in a totally different formation. They're in a three by one set, where Jimmy Graham's to the right,


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[Assistant] Roger's in the shotgun, he has Jamal Williams offset to his right, and then he has three receivers to the left. Lazard being the inside of the three, Devonte Adams the slot, and Geronimo Allison on the outside.


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[Assistant] That is a great formation because there's more telltale signs to


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[Assistant] What a team is doing coverage wise. If all three corners are over to the other side with the receivers, you know it's man to man. If there's one corner backside still with Jimmy Graham, it's a zone coverage. What were they doing? So they were, they in this place were playing a kind of a match zone.


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[Assistant] Alright, and they were in a tough spot here, either way. They really were. I thought it looked like Man Free.


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[Assistant] It could be. Alright, so this would be, this is a tough one. You're right. I don't know.


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[Assistant] I think exactly right. I think that's the big thing. I think Rogers was scared that they were going to have linebackers underneath who were going to buzz out of a blitz look. They might double Devonte Adams and he might have nowhere to go. So he said, let me put me in a position to where I can tell their coverage and stress their defense out a little bit. You're right. I think you're in, they're in man.


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[Assistant] So as he comes off the ball, I think that just keeps him there just for a split second.


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[Assistant] I don't disagree with you. I mean, he kind of takes off like he's going to take off towards Devonte Adams. And I think Roger's eyes stayed down the middle a little bit and he stutters for a second and regains himself.


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[Assistant] Whoever's preparing for us next week. It's a ball, it's a ballsy read and throw when you'll need it for. It's a really ballsy read and throw. And this is what Green Bay does. This is where Green Bay...


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[Assistant] You know, a little bit like Seattle where I'm gonna go, they're just not always that impressive with the way they win games, but they win, and the biggest way they win is they jump out on you early, with a few cool little game plan wrinkles, and then twelve,


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[Assistant] And I don't think their meat and potatoes is yeaah, all that special, right? It's just an average cook in the kitchen there for the meat and potatoes. Added to the fact that we've talked about it, there's just not great talent to scare you either. So that combination alone is gonna lead to some dull moments. And uhm, the Bears, you know, they kinda settled in and made life tough on Green Bay's offense.


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[Assistant] And these are kind of the things that like, you practice maybe at the start of the season a few times. You probably do a walkthrough version on Saturday like once a week. But my favorite part is once he does not pitch it, that


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[Assistant] He goes on, yeaah, I love watching Alan Robinson and Anthony Miller's reaction to basically say like, hey, like what the f**k? Because I think this is what? What's his name? Jesper Horstead, right? From Princeton.


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[Assistant] He just, he never looked to the right. And Alan Robinson's gonna have a walk-in touchdown, like you said. The Bears, I'll tell you another big play in this game. The Bears got a roughing the punter call on Cordell Patterson early on in the game. That would have game them the ball.


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[Assistant] A little past midfield, the referees blew the call. I don't know what they did, but that was a huge moment in the game too, I thought. But Packers find a way to win as usual.


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[Assistant] I mean, Chargers offense can move the ball on them, I thought. They've been running the ball better lately. I mean, I was worried about Rivers making dumb mistakes, but I thought, okay, I mean...


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[Assistant] Gosh, he's had so many of them, he won't do it again. You know, the Chargers defense, they're top five in football. So I took this as an upset. I mean,


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[Assistant] It was there to be had. It's 12 to 10 going into the half. It's 12-10. It's 12 to 10 and the Chargers has already turned the ball over three times at that point. It's 12-10 and they're in field goal range and I'm going, oh geez, even though they f***ed up this whole first half, they're going to have a chance to go in 13-12 or 17-12 here.


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[Assistant] It was, and it was all Texans and it was all D. Sean Watson, you're so freaking awesome. Right. And DeAndre Hopkins with a little Carlos Hyde sprinkled in. Which, which play do you like the best? Well, gosh.


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[Assistant] Tennessee Titans answer back, make it 14-14 to what you're saying, Paul. Now the Texans got the ball as a 14-14 tie, and they run a little play-action pass, and this is again, this is the Will Fuller effect. This is how much more dangerous they are with him on the field.


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[Assistant] They run a little play action pass where Kenny Stills comes in motion. It's kind of the fake speed sweep.


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[Assistant] Well, he's just, he's a phenomenal talent. I mean, he really is. Yeah. Watson and Hopkins are phenomenal talent. And, you know, I think that the big thing that I took away from this is more than anything is, yeah, there was a few good design gameplay and plays here.


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[Assistant] They double Hopkins and it's a three man rush and basically have two spies there.


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[Assistant] He's in, no back in the backfield. It's an empty set. They keep the tight end to block, so they have six blockers.


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[Assistant] Titans get the ball back, they have a chance, they're kind of moving the ball a little bit, they're around midfield, and uhm,


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[Assistant] They go three and out. They go three and out. And on third down, Tana Hill maybe has a chance to throw the Y out to 86.


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[Assistant] Okay, you know what time it is. It's the Sean Watson time, once again. And really all that happens here now...


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[Assistant] In west coast terms, this would be west right slot, pass 96 Seattle, ex dagger. And basically they're running a play action pass, he's running two tight ends to the right, he fakes the run to the right, there's two receivers to the left, the inside receiver just runs kind of like a post.


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[Assistant] And then Hopkins is on the outside gonna run like a 20 yard in cut. Well, they're playing kind of like underneath man coverage to where he's not gonna win on the in cut. Watson starts scrambling. Hopkins adjusts and runs to the sidelines.


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[Assistant] And then Watson on the full run to his left throws a BB. Right. And it's a completion for, I don't know how many yards that went for, what, 25 maybe, 20, something like that? Yeaah, 26. 26 yards.


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[Assistant] What do we do? Who do we take away? Who do we leave on an island man to man? Because what happened too is on the next third down, right, a few plays later


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[Assistant] They get an empty formation once again, and they got Hopkins to the left in the slot, which they love to do. They love to put Hopkins in the left of the slot. And they have Will Fuller on the right on the inside three of the receivers there.


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[Assistant] And I think the Tennessee Titans said, wait, the hell with, we're not gonna double them.


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[Assistant] We're going to play a zone coverage and all keep our eyes towards Deshaun Watson because I think they're afraid he might run or do something like that. So let's make him make a throw.


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[Assistant] Oh, when they play trips, they do this, but then you play them and they do something totally different because they don't like what they usually do against a team and that throws teams off kilter. You know, this was a strange game. You know, again.


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[Assistant] The Titans had a field goal blocked on their first drive of the game. You know, what was it? Their third drive of the game. They drive all the way down. They're on the forwarded R-line. What's his name? Ferker? Ferxer? Whatever.


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[Assistant] And, yeah, sustaining drives I guess just was not as good for them yesterday in general. Those would be the big things I look at. Uh, I don't know if anything else jumped on me and I didn't study that side of the ball as hard.


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[Assistant] And then even to give them the chance at 24-14 to drive them down.


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[Assistant] You know, and, and hits, uh, Lewis on the duck down who, who runs in for a touchdown. But to speaking to the Texans bowling a coverage, there they are in a big moment up by 10, and they don't cover the back out of the backfield.


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[Assistant] And the big moment we're going to talk about is Sunday Night Football. Yeaah. The big touchdown pass. It's 10-10.


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[Assistant] You know, again, Josh Allen not getting the credit he deserves, I believe, on a national scale. He's the quarterback of a 10-4 football team, and he is the best player on their offense. He is the key to them winning.


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[Assistant] And as Josh Allen drops back to pass, this was great game planning by Brian Dayball, the offensive coordinator who comes from New England. And New England loves this formation down in the red zone. But as Josh Allen says, set hut, he's got two deep safeties and they have Singletary going out and running a little option route as a tailback.


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[Assistant] And Tyler Croft, the tight end to the right, is running basically just your 10 yards and run to the corner. Right? Your old flag route you did in the backyard as a young kid. And Josh Allen does a great job of keeping his eyes down the middle of the field and to the left.


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[Assistant] So the safety to his right, uh, Edmonds can't make a jump on Tyler Croft and he kinda keeps him there to give Tyler Croft the leverage.


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[Assistant] The coverage of what the stealers wanted to do there.


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[Assistant] And Mark Barron is taking Tyler Croft who's running vertical. But he sees the back break.


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[Assistant] But that was the best of week 15 presented by Verizon.


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[Assistant] I don't know what other way to say it. You're on the left hash, you're up 10-7.


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[Assistant] Up 10-7 and you're going, oh, if they even go up 13-7.


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[Assistant] Okay, he's got pressure on the first, the number three interception.


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[Assistant] And he's trying to push the envelope. And it was forth down. And it was forth down, exactly.


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[Assistant] He tried to put it in the spot and hope his guy got an interception. And then late in the game, of course that won.


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[Assistant] You can't make that throw. You can't do that. And it's a guy that's, you know, he's got to know just the, the circumstances of the game, his talents, what team, what kind of game he's playing in, in general, and try to play it off of that. But, uh, again, I think, you know, ultimately with Hodges, and it comes down to the conversation between him and Mason Rudolph, I still would go Hodges one more game.


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[Assistant] You know, again, I just thought from what I saw from Mason Rudolph,


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[Assistant] You know, he can't deliver on some of the downfield passes that Devlin Hodges does deliver on, and he leaves a lot of opportunities on the field.


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[Assistant] That we went on for the best of Verizon. Just so you can see it with me. Yep. And, because again, you know, Pittsburgh does a lot of crazy stuff on defense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you're gonna see, he starts to cover Tyler Croft as he goes vertical. Yep, go to the next frame. There you go. So he's covering his tight end vertical. But as you see in this picture everybody, he's looking back to see what the running back is doing.


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[Assistant] And when he sees the running back break inside, he pulls off.


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[Assistant] And so basically what are they trying to say? That Baron's supposed to come off and take Singletary on the inside breaking out? Now Joe Hayden's supposed to back off and take the out breaking route by Tyler Kraft? That's not realistic at this point.


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[Assistant] I get you, I think this is more than just straight cover too though because Mark Barron would not cover the tight end vertically like he's gonna run with him and play man to man if he's just dropping into a zone.


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[Assistant] So, and Pittsburgh's tough because they do a lot of different combination coverages. Look, they're playing quarters to the other side. I think they're trying to play some sort of two-man here or in and out these two.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. Now they all look back at Mark Barron. Of course. So, so, Mark Barron is even on the film, like Edmonds looks at Mark Barron, Joe Hayden looks at Mark Barron.


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[Assistant] To me, I would think there is some rule to where when Mark Barron is covering Tyler Croft, there must be a rule to say, once you've gone six yards with a guy, you have to stay with him and play. Like it's a two-man situation.


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[Assistant] If it is straight, just too deep, then yeah, Joe Hayden did mess it up, but I don't think Joe Hayden is in the wrong here. I really


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, Stefan Gilmour, I mean, we've talked about it a little bit here, but, uh, you know, at what point is he gonna get talked about as Defensive Player of the Year? I mean, right now, he should be the Defensive Player of the Year. For my money, I mean, we're talking about the number one defense in football, uh, one of the number one teams in the sport, and he is by far the focal point of that defense.


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[Assistant] I do think he is. Yes, I do. I think yes. But what he's asked to do on a play-by-play weekly basis, which is basically shut down the number one receiver man-to-man.


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[Assistant] 80% of the plays, uh, as much as I love Minka Fitzpatrick and everything that way, his job is not as tough as Stefan Gilmour on a play-by-play basis. And then Gilmour is doing it with, you know, uh, what do I want to, I mean he's, he's kicking ass.


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[Assistant] I mean, on my mind, right, it wants to go to go to 1994 Dion with the 49ers. Ninety forward. Pete? Pete says you are correct. Yeah, I told you, I'm a historian. You're not gonna f*** me up too much.


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[Assistant] He's almost mad that I asked him. Yeah, well done. He was the only one I could really think about. I got a little nervous to think maybe Rivas got it.


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[Assistant] Anybody out there, you see quarterbacks who lick their hands, right, or blow in there to get a little moisture.


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[Assistant] Yeah, he's pumped. He doesn't want to hear it too. He didn't want to hear like, oh, he's the 500. He's like, he won two Super Bowls. He's got two MVPs. He was pissed. He didn't want to hear it. But good for Eli, man. Right? Yes.


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[Assistant] I mean yeaah, that was really cool and, you know,


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[Assistant] Whether he got the win or whatever, it didn't even matter to me. He had a lot of big moments, the fans paid homage to him. Yep. And I really respect that he like showed his emotions. You know, I always like, I'm always like, well why are guys like trying to hide in there crying? Or like, oh I'm not that sad even though this is like the saddest day of your life at this point. Like he showed it. He wore it on his sleeve and


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[Assistant] Uhm, it was a great run. It really was. It was special yesterday. I found myself.


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[Assistant] And people say he got booed as he went off the field. I gotta hear this right. I think he did quite a bit. Did he really? I haven't...


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah, that makes sense. I mean, Justin Herbert's gonna be towards the top of the draft. I don't know if he's gonna be there when the Raiders pick. They're gonna have to trade up.