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[Assistant] And I hadn't seen them do it. And it was a lot of backside pulling tackles and guards. And you're going to see here, Josh Allen in the shotgun, James Cook to his left on the weak side, right? Five man front, like I said, basically blocked down across the board. They leave the weak side defense end, in this case Dexter Lawrence for the read option.


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[Assistant] He can't just go, oh, I'm going to go chase James Cook. It's Josh Allen. He's arguably, you know, the second best running quarterback, third best running quarterback at all of football. So they have to respect that. And then within that, they can also leave


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[Assistant] The edge guy on the top of the screen unblocked, at least at first, because now that backside pulling tackle is gonna come in and knock him out, kick him out I should say.


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[Assistant] And now it leaves your right guard and right tackle to double team.


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[Assistant] There's a hole there as you see and now they got the middle linebackers they can't pursue because they've been cut off and now you got James Cook running through a really damn big hole and we know what he's capable of. These type of runs all night long. That's what they did.


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[Assistant] And then it's, on top of that, they, they messed with their heads, right? Let's go to the next one, Pete. Uh, and this, of course, ends up in a big gain, and is this the one he scores? He scores on this one, yeaah. I wasn't sure if he got tackled, the one on this one, or scored on that one. So he scores on that one, as you see right there, great job. Now let's go to the next one, Pete. Yup. So, here it is.


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[Assistant] Same look basically, right? Same look, right? It's, it's, it's five man front, the tight end is up top, the formation's to the right, Allen in the shotgun, James Cook off to his left. But here, they kinda play it different. So go ahead, let's go to the first clip here.


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[Assistant] They're gonna go same look, right? It looks like, wait, they'll pull the backside gaur- tackle here again. This time they change it up.


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[Assistant] They have the front side tackle come around.


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[Assistant] And now, the guy that was there waiting for Josh Allen, right? He's gonna widen out cause he's like, wait, are they gonna keep the ball with Josh Allen? In this case, it's Michael Parsons.


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[Assistant] And now the right tackle, Brown, is gonna kick out Michael Parsons in a run where, if you're looking in the backfield, it looks like James Cook is gonna run to the right, like the play we saw before.


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[Assistant] They make it look like a similar play to you maybe in the background. He starts right and then he comes back left and follows his pulling tackle, right? And now Michael Parsons who's like, wait, I was waiting for Josh Allen.


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[Assistant] And trying to stay wide, oh no, now I'm blocked for sure by the tackle, and now James Cook's around the edge and Josh Allen's almost like a lead blocker for him as well, and it ends up as another big gain. So they found ways throughout the day to attack this five man front a lot, and I think we have


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[Assistant] So here's another one. Again, five man front by the cowboys, right?


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[Assistant] And it's, it's shotgun, three receivers to the left.


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[Assistant] And this one is, uhm, who's the damn running back here? Yeah, Ty Johnson. Good job, Pete. Thanks for saving me. He's set off to the right here of Josh Allen. So by all due accounts, I'm thinking, well, they're going to hand the ball off.


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[Assistant] And he's basically pulling and blocking to nobody. Like nobody.


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[Assistant] It's all just window dressing to keep them off some of their stuff, where the backside tackle pulls, but Ty Johnson runs to the area where the tackle just left, and they left the guy unblocked, but again he's so worried about Josh Allen.


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[Assistant] You know, they still got one less guy there than they need to stop the run. And it ends up being a big game for Ty Johnson. That was the theme of the night. They confused that front. It was the right theme altogether, right? They dominated physically.


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[Assistant] How do you put this lightly? Early, yea, how do I put this lightly? Early in the game, you know, the Cowboys, they played a game where they were afraid of Josh Allen throwing bombs. Like we talked about, let's keep everything deep and all that. And that's where I went and got like, I don't, that's not who you are. I just, you're not a zone, keep everything in front of you football team.


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[Assistant] I really found through a lot of the day, when they played aggressive,


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[Assistant] And just went balls to the wall, you know, we're gonna get in your face, play man to man, chaos up front. I felt like they won the majority of those plays. Early on in the game when they got behind, I felt like Buffalo won.


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[Assistant] When Dallas was like, Oh, we're scared of what you might do or what Josh Allen might do. Let's be a little more conservative than normally would. And that usually meant early in the game, it wasn't those five man fronts. It was four man fronts and they were absolutely abusing them because they were so worried about the pass. And there was a little of that to me where I just would go, Hey, Dan Quinn, you've been aggressive and crazy all year.


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[Assistant] It's Buffalo, they don't separate that well at receiver like we've talked about. I would have been like, let's go crazy and get after Josh Allen. If they play him again, they will. They're going to learn that they can't just line up and play him like that, right? You know, I asked myself, why did they not play as crazy as I thought maybe they would?


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[Assistant] I think maybe they were scared that man to man, Josh Allen escapes the pocket, we won't be able to cover that long. And they were probably scared of that, right?


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[Assistant] Either way, they got to the right plays against that zone coverage, and the four-man rush couldn't get there anyways. They needed an extra guy or whatever else, so they'd have to readjust their game plan if they had to play them again.


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[Assistant] Right, and my thing I wrote is Cowboys win streak. Never really played a high level defense of talent and good scheme.


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[Assistant] Panthers were probably the best, and their offense was not great versus them either. It looks like they scored 30 points there, but that game was tight in the third quarter. Bryce Young got stripped, sacked, fumbled, also threw a pick six. Their offense did not march up and down the field. My point was,


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[Assistant] You know, and you've, this is not news to you, they've feasted on the week a little bit, right? And...


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[Assistant] I worry about it. I worry about it. You know, uhm.


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[Assistant] You know, probably gave them too much credit for Philadelphia, even what they did in the first matchup, even though they lost. Cause as we're seeing, Philly's not very good on defense, right? You know, and then you get into some of the other defenses they've played and yeah, none of them have been really


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[Assistant] Very good, right? So I think that's what I worry about a little bit. And here's what I will say, you know, Buffalo's got a lot of good D-linemen, okay? So I think they were like, hey, we feel like we can hang in there in the run, right? And this is McDermott, you know, I think the world of him is a defensive game planner.


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[Assistant] You know, the king of just dropping a lot of guys and where you're trying to throw it. And this game was that, Ahmed. This was a game, again, of Sean McDermott going, wait, this is a West Coast offense. I know a lot of the rules. And you've heard me say a million times, Dallas's offense is not overly creative, but it has been aggressive and they have good enough players. That's all they need to make it happen. But they need something else when they play a coach that


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[Assistant] Can break them down to this way. I think Dallas just has too many tells in their pass game. I do.


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[Assistant] Like if there's two receivers to the right, right? And the inside receiver goes to the flat, it's either the guy's running a slant or the guy's running a 10 yard curl or he's running a 20 yard out that's made for like a cover too.


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[Assistant] It's like, so if I see that, you don't think like Sean McDermott's going, Hey, corner. If you see the guy, number two guy go to the flat, they're running one of these three routes and one of them will be off a three step drop.


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[Assistant] So if it goes any longer than that, then you know the other two routes they're gonna run, right? There's just too much of that that's a telltale on their offense. And to me, for guys like McDermott,


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[Assistant] He was like, I got it, right? And then they're a little too predictable in their attack too. The Cowboys are like, hey, we're an 11 person else, three receivers. We're definitely going to throw. And McDermott's got the guts to go, yeah, I like my D line anyways.


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[Assistant] You know, you kinda do what you say you're gonna do. When you line up in passing sets, you guys pass it. So I'm gonna go all in on pass defense. We'll put some people down there to make it look like, oh, don't run the ball with Tony Pollard, but we're really gonna drop all out of there and be all over your pass game.


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[Assistant] And then Dows is a little bit like, hey, let's bring two or three tight ends in. And guess what they always do with two or three tight ends in? They run the ball, right? And McDermott's like,


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[Assistant] I know what you're gonna do, let alone the passes you do off of that are so basic.


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[Assistant] That I'm not even worried about my matchups downfield. We'll in and out this guy and play it this way and even though, you know, we have a guy covering a guy that we shouldn't have covering CDLAM, we're willing to take it cause like you only run three routes off the here. So here we're comfortable with it.


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[Assistant] So he was able to go all in on some things because of their predictability. And that's what they gotta worry about. And of course, they play the Miami Dolphins this week and Vic Fangio, he'll do some of that stuff too. So, uh, that, that, that to me was the interesting part and where Dallas just needs to throw a few more zags into their game plan off their zigs.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, I think the, the big thing is, I, I, I got, is got to tinker with run D thoughts, right? They gotta figure out when they gonna play Philadelphia again, especially if they're gonna play the 49ers.


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[Assistant] If they gotta play the Rams who are running the ball over everybody, they gotta figure out what they're gonna do and how they're gonna play it.


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[Assistant] They're under manned. You know, we've talked about them not being big enough. And the other thing I would say too is that they got to be able to play with their fronts a little bit. And I mean, what I mean by playing their fronts is not every front, not every five down front has to be the five fastest chaotic guys in the world. Right?


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[Assistant] You're allowed to put three big guys on the field at the same time. Like what's wrong with going, we're gonna put Hankins, Mozzie Smith.


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[Assistant] They're also our edge run defenders and strong as hell, but we got three big guys in the middle too, so that should be okay. If we go four man rush or four man front or whatever. That to me is they gotta start tinkering with some of that. Because everybody's gonna look at that game and go,


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[Assistant] We gotta run the ball in this group. That's crazy. They're playing to stop the run and they still can't stop it. So there, there's some issues there.


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[Assistant] Well, I'm a, I'm a guy that I look at the Vikings and study them and feel like they're maximizing already, right? I feel like O'Connell's maximizing the situation on the offensive side of the ball for the most part, right? With the quarterback situation, Justin Jefferson just getting back in the lineup.


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[Assistant] I certainly think that about Bryan Flores and the defense. I'm not sitting there going, man, that defense is full of all-stars. That's why it's one of the top defenses in football. Absolutely not.


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[Assistant] Right? Whether that's gotta be more reverses, speed sweeps, and I think I just want to say more trick plays in general is what I would say. Just to help out on Nick Mullins or whatever.


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[Assistant] Now, whether that means even, you know, more tricky ways to run screens, speed sweeps, the little shovel passes that we see guys do, and the speed sweeps, all of that.


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[Assistant] I think they gotta tinker with that. I don't think you can just rely on thinking Nick Mullins is gonna make 40 right decisions every game throwing the football, right? You gotta find a few cheat ways to get them going on that side of the ball. That would be the one thing I would look at. They were a hard one. It was a hard one for me to look at and go, well they need to drastically change this approach about their team.


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[Assistant] I think the world of O'Connell and his approach on offense and Flores, so I don't look at it and go, oh, they're dropping the ball schematically. I'm just going, damn, they're actually taking advantage.


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[Assistant] Of everything they possibly can on that team with their schematics, what else can they do to maybe make themselves a little more dangerous? That was the one thought I had.


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[Assistant] Yes, there's little things like that. Definitely. I know, they're a team that, you know, yeaah, I think they've surprised us all.


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[Assistant] I think if they had Kirk Cousins at quarterback, we'd be sitting here going, damn, they could be dangerous in the NFC playoffs in a big way.


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[Assistant] Really? Like really? As I said early in the year, they're better this year than they were last year as a team. They are. It's just a shame it's happened this way. It's a shame they fumbled so much early in the year and then the Cousins injury, you know, really hampered them in a year where the NFC is looking like it's not all that good.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, Minnesota could be a big player, or could have been a big player, uh, but hey, trick plays, stuff like that, maybe that can help them get an upset in the wild card round.


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[Assistant] No, we will not. And you know, again, that was a little bit fortunate for sure and some, you know, O'Connell magic and making that happen and dialing up the right plays and some defenses that weren't all that great either.


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[Assistant] I am rooting for the Rams to make the playoffs. Me too. Right? I mean, for all the reasons, like, nothing would be better. And if they win out...


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[Assistant] Which there's a possibility they could, cause the 49ers might not be pying anybody the last week of the year. We could see a Detroit 3, uh, Ram 6 seed matchup. I'd rather not. You'd rather not? You're scared of that one?


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[Assistant] Alright, well for the rest of the country, it's an all-win situation, okay? So screw your own personal thoughts, alright? You're right, that'll be tough on Lions fans. It will be.


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[Assistant] I am, the Rams are without a doubt one of the seven best teams in the NFC to me. That's the first thing. And you know I always root for the seven best because I think that makes for the best viewing experience and the best playoff drama. So that's what I want to say. Uh, I think...


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[Assistant] That the Rams, the way they are starting to look here, I'd go, the Rams would be the team in the NFC. I'd say if anybody made this unlikely run,


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[Assistant] Right? Like, it'd be the Rams. The Rams could upset Philadelphia in a 2-7 matchup. There's no doubt. Or Dallas. There's no doubt. Right? I mean, I've never, I said this today, you know, with Mike Florio, and I kinda said all the same things I just said. I just said,


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[Assistant] They're arguably the best running team in the NFL right now. I've never seen McVeigh be so committed to the run. They are road grading people out of the way.


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[Assistant] I mean, we talked about it in the Ravens game a few weeks ago, last week, a few weeks before that, and they're running the ball on everybody. And, you know, it's, it's special. And the damn running back off of it is special. You know, it's one of those where, when you watch the Rams on film,


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[Assistant] You even respect Kyron Williams more, because you realize, holy shit, he has no fear and runs through every hole as hard as possible, like nobody's there, and just crushes people, or gets crushed. Alright, so uhm, they are dangerous. My big thing with them, and again, because I think they're maximizing the defense already, is keep building with the new power run attack.


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[Assistant] And I mean that, one, because it's only gonna make Cooper Cup and Pukunakua more open downfield, right? You know, I think it's gonna allow them to chew up clock, and I don't think their defense is super talented.


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[Assistant] Right, so I think against the good playoff offenses here, that running game, keep them off the field, control the game, staff are deficient, picking you apart, and when they get down close, they score touchdowns a lot. You know, yeaah, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take that


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[Assistant] Like, cause I know this is the time of the year and the whole week I've been thinking about...


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[Assistant] My big thing with them is hands or stop doing dumb shit is what I would say.


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[Assistant] I know, hands goes into the dumb crap category like I'm talking about. Obviously the drops, they lead the NFL in drops and stupid stuff like that. You know, some of the penalties, of course, all of that.


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[Assistant] You know, Mahomes has certainly done some dumb stuff as well, uh, you know.


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[Assistant] Offensively, you know, I, I still think they're trying to kind of find their exact identity of who they are. But because they have that guy at quarterback, they can kind of still win games without an identity and the way the defense is playing. But yea, at some point here,


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[Assistant] No, the receivers are going to have to start coming through in a big way. Like, they're going to get to a playoff game here where, yeaah, they're not going to be able to run the ball, the defense is going to give up a few more yards than they're used to, and Rashid Rice and Kaderius Tony and company are going to have to make plays or they're going to be going home.


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[Assistant] And that's, that's really all it comes down to. So, yeaah, it's not world-beating, uh, thing there as far as that conversation, but that's the biggest thing to me.


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[Assistant] They're horrible at that. Yeah. Rashid Rice is the only guy that can do that. He's the only guy that, hey, I'm covered, you can throw me a back shoulder and I'll still catch it, right? The other guys are small.


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[Assistant] You know, that's usually not a small man's play, right? Who are the guys we're used to seeing catch the ball in traffic? DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Brown, right? Justin Jefferson, Juju Smith Schuster. Well, hey, yeaah, they're bigger humans, right? Yeaah. Exactly right. Keenan Allen, right? It's, it's, it's those kind of guys.


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[Assistant] Right? Where, yea, Sky Moore, that's not his cup of tea. Kaderius Tony, definitely not his cup of tea. Mark Hesved, the scaling.


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[Assistant] He's got a little length to him, but he's really skinny, so he can't handle much bumping and grinding down the field at all. So yeaah, that's an issue for them, and that's certainly been a...


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[Assistant] Uh, a problem from them throughout the year, and we'll see where it goes with Kansas City.


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[Assistant] I don't think I'm going to take Kansas City as that team that I look at to go to the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] I don't say that like confidently because I still have such great respect for their grit and toughness. And of course, I think that quarterback is an all-time great. So it wouldn't shock me if they were in the Super Bowl, but if you made me lay down money or pick them,


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[Assistant] If I were to pick a team to go in the AFC right now, I don't think I'd pick the Chiefs, even though I kind of alluded to that on Sunday night last week. I was kind of like, man, that D and it's still 15, but I have some more thoughts as I've started to unpack that a little in my brain.


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[Assistant] I know. And, and again, they're, you know, I think we're all in amazement of what they've done. D'Amico, Ryan, both sides of the ball, right? Uh, I, I think the, my thing is, don't make it all stroud. Keep running the ball like they have lately. That would be, they, they're O-line healthy, Slowick's got some good run game ideas and thoughts because he was under Shanahan for so long.


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[Assistant] A damn good running back. Damian Pierce is good off of that, you know.


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[Assistant] That'll be the best friend to Case Keenum. You get that going a little bit, and then they have a good roll of decks to play action passes, as we've talked about all year long, to where


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[Assistant] That to me would keep the thing that could keep them afloat and keep them dangerous here. Uh, just kind of transition from CJ Stroud throwing lasers all over the field. And I feel like they are doing this anyways to wait, we're healthy upfront. We can run the ball pretty damn good on just about anybody. Let's start leaning on that a little bit more. And it feels like they're headed that way.


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[Assistant] Like a bunch of kamikaze psychos, right? They do. And they're a little undersized. So I'm not shocked to see that. You know, usually those fast teams, right?


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[Assistant] Some of them I wanna go, it's not a bad miss tackle, right? This guy's a crazy fast linebacker who ran through the hole so fast.


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[Assistant] That yeaah, I would expect them to be up there in the Ms. Tackles department.


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[Assistant] Turn a different direction, but you don't make the tackle. That's not a bad mistake.


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[Assistant] So, I know you saw my notes, uh, you know, I did write run the ball a little bit, but that's not really the main thing I'll say. I just, I don't want, there are one team that I want to go, sometimes I feel like you get a hair too pass happy, right? Just a hair. And it's hard to argue with the success.


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[Assistant] I still think your golden ticket is running the football and it'll make the pass game that much more explosive and all that. My big thing is, is really just creativity and pass defense. I think that's the biggest thing.


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[Assistant] And, you know, they're not going to become better man to man coverage football team. You're not going to become better pass rushers here down the stretch. Aaron Glenn is hiding a lot of holes already with how he orchestrates the defense. All I'm saying is,


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[Assistant] Hopefully he and the defensive staff can come up with a few new wrinkles just to give you a few game plan advantages, right?


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[Assistant] Whether that's at the line of scrimmage, confusing the front, blitzing, dropping out, getting some of your guys that are not named Aiden Hutchinson a little advantage to rush the passer, right? And the same thing in the back end, just confusion there. Playing with, you know, disguises and tinkering with


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[Assistant] You know, as we talk about, you know, with offenses a lot, making the same defense look different or making, you know, things that are different look the same, whatever. But that's to me, the one issue with their team, their defense, and they're going to have to hide some holes there throughout the playoffs with great coaching.


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[Assistant] It's a little of like, that's where your pass rush hurts you, right? Cause okay, we want to play coverage, like most teams do when you get in the goal to go situations, but damn, the quarterback has all day.


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[Assistant] So, okay, now I wanna blitz and do all of that, but again, we're not the best at playing man to man.


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[Assistant] And zone blitzes aren't always great in that area, right? Oh, it's a zone blitz, and yeah, well there's only 15 yards here, and in that zone there's a hole on the, one yard in the end zone, right? Boom, touchdown, he threw a laser, but that we could do. So that's, your problems as a defense kind of come to a head, right, in that area.


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[Assistant] And that's where I'm talking about the trickeration will help them out a little bit.


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[Assistant] That's right, that's right. But play with those alignments. You know how we talk about it a lot of the times. Try to find Aiden Hutchinson favorable matchups. You know, how we've talked about, like, with the Niners and Nick Bosse. Like, Nick Bosse is on one end, right? And then we got three, our other three daily linemen are on the other side of the center.


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[Assistant] And we got a linebacker next to Nick Bosa as he blitzin' as he droppin' out. Either way, we're gonna make sure Nick Bosa's one on one. Right? And then just stuff like that, that I think could go a long way to kinda help them out a little bit.


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[Assistant] You know, that's apparent here as of late. You guys kinda struggled being beat up. You even had guys playing at times that weren't 100% healthy. I think you're as healthy as you've been up front. And you showed that in the game the other day. I mean, some of the runs you guys had against the Broncos, cause I watched that film a little too. I mean, there was some ass whooping around.


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[Assistant] They're just absolutely incredible at marrying the run game with the pass game. That's where, you know, you always hear me talk about that. Too many times teams do the play action fake, but the offensive line is in pass protection. And the linebackers that are good go, that's a pass. I don't need to see the fake or anything. I'm dropping back already, right?


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[Assistant] Where you guys will be like, no, here comes a pulling guard or we're going to actually trap somebody, but we're going to throw the ball and it gashes people. So I'm always amazed by that. You're the Gibbs guy.


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[Assistant] I don't mean this is disrespect to David Montgomery. He's a good player. But as you saw, I think they gotta give the ball, in my notes, they gotta give the ball that gives more. There's carries in the game where I go, that was a nice run by Montgomery, but it's hard not to go, what would that have looked like?


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[Assistant] With Gibbs, cuz Gibbs was Montgomery, oh, he got shoestringed, and it could have been a, maybe a 15-yard gain, and I go, Gibbs wouldn't have got shoestringed, it might have been a 40-yard gain, right? And that's where, you know, they're gonna have to play with that a little bit.


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[Assistant] It has to be Gibbs. I think it fits your team. You know, like you saw in my notes too, I wrote, run D or not, the Lions blow the Broncos off the ball. I mean, the Broncos sometimes were like, we're going all in on the run. And they were still six yards down the field, right? That, that also amazing to me. Uh, there was one other thing I wanted to,


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[Assistant] I like that a lot. I think they gotta continue to...


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[Assistant] Kind of dive into that a little bit. Why? Because I just think they're gonna put teams in a bind. First off, your tight ends are the tight guys that can go, wait, they can block. And then you can split them out and go, they can run routes. And your big linebackers you got in the game now can't cover these guys, right?


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[Assistant] So, I think that's something to watch for. Plus, I think with your offensive line healthy, you guys can get to a point, like I kind of was just saying right there, where


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[Assistant] You can win the run game matchup, I don't care what run defense they play, right? It's like, you're gonna be too big and powerful, and then you have so many good design runs off of your talent.


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[Assistant] You know, like it's too late for the defense.


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[Assistant] I don't think you're gonna make any drastic thing. The one thing I'll say, their defense, you know,


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[Assistant] They make plays, they create turnovers. Just going off the top of my head, I think they're one of the league leaders in turnovers, I thought, as far as the defense is concerned. They're up there, maybe, you're just going to give me a maybe. I don't know. I think they're up there. I didn't want to commit.


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[Assistant] They, they, they, they, uh, yeaah, you know, they give up.


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[Assistant] Uhm, to me, it's something that they've kinda been doing lately anyways. I just wrote...


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[Assistant] You know, I just go back to like, hey, the Jaguars game, that Monday night game, right?


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[Assistant] Where, I mean, Jake Browning early in the game, I don't think he threw a ball past the line of scrimmage, you remember? It was just, everything was like, just throw it, just throw it to Jamar Chase.


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[Assistant] And let him run and we'll just see what happens. Oh, we got eight. Oh, we got twelve. Oh, we broke somebody's ankles and got five, right? I mean, there's something there that I would just say keep doing that because they're not going to, to me, they're not going to just


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[Assistant] Again, it's too late to, I think, for them to become a real good running team or anything like that. You know, they have made an effort to be more of a play-action football team. They are staying patient with it, but I think they've made an unbelievable effort to


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[Assistant] Make sure they feature Higgins. We're gonna feature Jamar Chase a ton.


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[Assistant] And then Brown, the running back, is definitely another guy that within the running game or the screen game, they gotta get him the ball because they can make plays. To me, their biggest way to win and steal some games here down the stretch is gonna be through their offense and their explosive ability and they got some guys that do that and they got a quarterback that's a really good backup that can wheel and deal it that way.


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[Assistant] A little like that Todd Bowles old school approach, right?


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[Assistant] And I think Lou can have that at times where it's like a little too, you're not going to run the ball. We're not going to let you get four or five yards on first down that way.


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[Assistant] But they're getting 15 down the middle. Guys, they're throwing the ball for 15 on the edge. Like what? We can't just let them do that. Maybe sometimes we should let them run for 4 up the middle instead of giving 20 up the sideline in the pass game. I do think there's a little of that there. Where...


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[Assistant] That's, that's amazing, right? They're giving you nothing in any area. They're like, we're a lockdown man and we have seven guys with a line of scrimmage just out there and you're screwed. Right? But the only, they're, they're one of the few in football that could pull that off.


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[Assistant] You know, I learned this just with the Bill Belichick over the years and even working there and hearing the defensive coaches talk a little bit. Like, always had great defenses for the most part, right?


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[Assistant] Right? And some years better than others. And the one thing I learned with them a little bit is like, you know, Bill was capable of going for the kill, right? And being like Jim Schwartz and doing that. But Bill would also be like,


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[Assistant] Man, I wanna go for the kill, but when they get in this bunch set, you know, on first down, it poses some problems, cause I'm worried about this, and if they do this play off of it, we could give up a big play.


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[Assistant] So because that one thing he might have saw in the breakdown,


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[Assistant] He might call a little more conservative a defense than maybe the rest of the defensive coaches wanted, right? But he was like, I'm not gonna let them have the 60 yard pass play. So if they run it for four, then we'll just live with it and we'll play another down and we'll find our moment to go for the kill or the squash or whatever else, right? And that's why some years,


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[Assistant] You know, they had like the 22nd ranked defense in football.


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[Assistant] Hey, I think the Jamal Adams situation, just to hit on that, that's weird, right? I don't know how much you saw that. So if you're not familiar with it, what's


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[Assistant] Well, he, you know, wasn't at the game on Sunday. It was Monday night, you know. And he plays for the team, so that's an issue. He plays for the team and he's, what, the third highest paid guy on the team? Like usually, you know, that guy should kind of do what the team maybe wants, right?


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[Assistant] Jamal Adams, who's been an incredible talent in the NFL, and also he's on a team where, yea, they're paying him a lot of money, they traded right picks, and he hasn't really played that much, right? He's been injured, right?


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[Assistant] It's, it sounds like he was at the stadium and then maybe left, right? I'm just, I'm interested to see what happened there. You know, and I'm not one that starts to dig and call right away. I'm the one that, you know, I talked to somebody three weeks from now and then I go, Hey, so what happened with that Adam situation, right? That's kind of what I do.


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[Assistant] By all due accounts, I would think they didn't want Jamal Adams playing in the game. I would think.


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[Assistant] You know, I just wonder if he tried to play, and they were like, yeah, you might be able to play, but you're not starting. We're starting Julian Love there, right? I mean...


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[Assistant] You know, Julian Love made the inter- first interception against Jalen Hurts, right? It gets the coverage that we showed that Jamal Adams messed up the week before against the 49ers when we showed pictures. It was the same coverage, right?


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[Assistant] Julian Lowe played it the right way. Interception. He looked awesome. He looked awesome. He really did. And the other one. And the other one. Exactly. Uhm, but yeaah, I just, it's like, there's no way this relationship last passed this year. And I'd just be interested to know the details of that. Uhm, cause I can see them benching him. Jamal Adams has been, I've given him leeway cause he's


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[Assistant] Just getting back from not playing football in a long time, but it hasn't been good, right?


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[Assistant] For one of the guys that I would sit there and go, he's one of the more physically gifted safeties in football. Yeaah, it's kind of shocking right now with how poor he was playing before that in all facets. Run game, pass game, nothing was good.


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[Assistant] And I think that's why Pete called him out after the 49ers game. And I wouldn't be shocked if, yea, they kind of told him he wasn't starting altogether, and that's maybe why he wasn't at the stadium altogether.


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[Assistant] We know they got the weapons on the outside and all that. Certainly, their old line has gotten here a little healthy. And I just want to say, you know, give him the ball in the run game. First off, you see what he does. I mean, he's special. Even some of the few runs he had in that Eagles game the other night. I mean, there's nothing there, and he still does special things. And then, even in the pass game, same thing.


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[Assistant] You know, to me, that's gonna be the way that's gonna open up some of the downfield passes for Metcalf and Lockett and Jackson Smith and Jigma.


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[Assistant] Is get teams worried about, oh, they're throwing screens to Walker. They're running the ball consistently and staying persistent with the ball to Walker.


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[Assistant] Right? And that I think can open them up a little bit, and I think it'll help their O line, which doesn't pass protect all that well either. So that would be the biggest thing I look at. Again, I don't think their defense is going to be saved or fixed dramatically here. I do think the offense has potential to still


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[Assistant] And they do have two quarterbacks who can chuck the ball down the field and they got some guys that are just pure playmakers. So I give them a chance of like, yeah, you could throw a slant to DK and he can go for 70.


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[Assistant] You know, you can throw a bomb down the sideline in Jigba for 50. Same thing for Locket and all that.


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[Assistant] So that's where I look at the Kenneth Walker angle to be a little bit of a savior for that offense and it sounds like they're coming to that determination just by what Troy and Joe Buck were talking about in the telecast the other night. That like, this guy's special, we're not getting the ball enough to him, he's healthy,


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, I hear that. You know, the Draymond Jones thing has certainly been a little disappointing. He's one of those guys that I have...


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[Assistant] How to under the radar man crush on because he's so disruptive and plays better than the stats, right? But does not pop on film a little bit, you know, certainly.


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[Assistant] I'm not gonna lie, that's who I was thinking of too. Really? It was.


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[Assistant] You know, I wanted to say it on Sunday and I kinda just chickened out with the whole


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[Assistant] That, that's where I worry about them. Yeah. Right? I do. But, you know, to your point,


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[Assistant] The only thing we need to see them do is beat a quality football team. It might happen this week, and it might make us think differently of them altogether. Uhm, I, I, like you,


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[Assistant] In a year where, like, yeaah, the Ravens are right now the best teams in the AFC, but I'm not like, blown away by their play as of late, right? You know I was more blown away in the middle of the season when they did what they did to your Lions and the Ravens, and some of those games, some of the games there, where I was like, ooh, there's potential, and there's still potential, don't get me wrong here.


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[Assistant] Miami's, yea, Miami's offense. We know how creative, explosive it is. Tyree Kill's gonna be back. And then, yes, the big thing is, is I think what you're saying. You know, it's Vic Fangio.


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[Assistant] You know, he's taught his big guys up front how to two gap and do stuff. So when he plays a good running team, right, they're going to be like, well, we don't have to overload the box to stop the run because we got some dudes up front that can kind of take two gaps at once and do that.


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[Assistant] Let alone, like, he's the master of his zone coverages and passing people off. That's why he's been one of the best team coordinators in football for like 30 years. He's amazing that way. I think it's kinda all coming together. So when you ask me that question Saturday on NBC and Peacock, I will be riding with the Dolphins. With a...


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[Assistant] I like the Ravens and certainly watch out for them, but the Dolphins are the team that I look right now to be going, yeaah, I think they can make the big run in the AOC playoffs.


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[Assistant] A hundred percent. A hundred percent. That's the number one thing. That's the thing, and like I just said, when I say the game gets ugly, that's what happens is, yea, you take away a few of the tricks, right? Like we talked about with the Chiefs game. You take away the screens and the wide receiver screens and a few quick passes and all of a sudden they're like, wait, we gotta


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[Assistant] Actually protect for a long time, and we actually gotta move people in the run game when they're actually playing run defense. And they've wilted away in those, but that is, help the O-line. That was my thing. Especially in third downs or pass pros versus good defenses. It can't be, we're just gonna send


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[Assistant] You know, four eligibles out all the time or five eligibles out. He's gotta find some ways.


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[Assistant] Against these better defenses who take away their tricks, right? And you've heard me say, if you can get the Dolphins to third down, that's the down to get them. Because two is not a, I'm gonna hang in the pocket with the people collapsing around me and throw lasers down the field. That's not who he is, right?


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[Assistant] He still can strike down the field. Just gotta make him feel comfortable in doing that. So that's where I go. They gotta find ways on third downs or obvious passing situations to make him feel comfortable and still be able to get their main weapons open down the field and hopefully they can do that.


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[Assistant] Oh, it really would be. It really would be. If you made me pick right now, I think that's what I would pick. And that would be awesome. All the talent on the field, and then Shanahan versus McDaniel, that would be personal, and it would be a lot of fun.


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[Assistant] The offense isn't bad, but it's like, it should be better, right? I think that's what we all look at.


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[Assistant] I think, probably ranked a little bit better than it should be. Okay? I don't think it's as good as maybe the 11th ranked defense in football.


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[Assistant] Yeah, some of the teams they've played, right? They've gotten to play the NFC South, which, you know, you know, even when they, you know, yeah, even when they played the Bucs early in the year, the Bucs were still finding their way a little bit, right? So, I think they've been favorable that way. The biggest thing, and this is gonna come to no shock,


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[Assistant] Get some guts. That's the biggest thing. You gotta hold the ball and look to attack down the field a little bit more. Can't be so quick to throw it underneath, look for the check down, whatever else. Gotta have a little bit more of an aggressive mindset. I think that's the big thing I look at for them.


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[Assistant] They got a good enough passing offense and design and of course the talent on the outside that they should not be, you know, throwing the ball, you know, at one of the shorter clips of football with that guy at quarterback and some of the receivers that they have. That would be the bottom line. That's where they're leaving meat on the bone in my opinion.


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[Assistant] Well, it's not like a total makeover or facelift, right? It's a little bit like, hey, your identity is here in front of you, you just gotta like, I don't know what to say, take advantage of it a little bit more, press the issue a little bit more.


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[Assistant] There you go, exactly right, exactly right. So we'll see if they can do that, but that to me is the biggest area that they could, they can improve their football team.


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[Assistant] Ball. That's what I want to say. Stop justifying the Lamar contract. Stop justifying OBJ. Stop justifying Zay Flowers in the first round. Stop justifying Rashad Bateman in the first round. Right? Stop all, stop justifying


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[Assistant] Todd Monkins, our new OC, right? And he throws the ball more than, you know, Greg Roman used to do, right? You could still be a running team and


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[Assistant] Win the MVP at quarterback and be the most dangerous passing team in football.


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[Assistant] Guess who's leading the league in the least amount of pass attempts in football? Guess who's leading the league in the least amount of pass attempts in football? At some point you're supposed to answer.


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[Assistant] Exactly right! What, there you go! And he's got, what, he's second in football in yards passing?


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[Assistant] What do you think? Where do you think they get McCaffrey wide open with nobody in the screen from? Cause they fucking run the ball first.


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[Assistant] What do you think you get Debo Samuel in reverse and you go, where's everybody on defense? Why is nobody there for Debo? Cause they run the ball first. Right? Baltimore. I mean, wasn't the second half of the game last week enough of an example? They basically in the second half were like, we're going to run the ball every play. Oh, up and down the field. They went on Jacksonville.


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[Assistant] Yes, I'm not saying they gotta go run the ball every play. They need to run it more than they're running it and it will make their offense more explosive.


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[Assistant] We're at home. With the family. Don't have to work. Some logs on the fire.


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[Assistant] This is my big thing about them. This is what I even said last week before they played the Jaguars on Football Night in America. They cannot get there with the front four. They cannot. They have to blitz. Now they're really creative with how they blitz and use their coverages in the back end.


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[Assistant] Both of our guys are right there with their Ravens comments, they really were. They don't, you've heard me say they don't want to play man to man. So that's the, Humphrey's not as good as he used to be, he's still good. But the rest of the guys are not real good man to man guys. They want to be able to blitz and play some tricky zones behind it.


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[Assistant] Right, where, hey, it's McVeigh and Stafford, they know how to pick up some of these butses. And now, oh no.


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[Assistant] We're compromised downfield against Pukunakua and Cooper Cup because we blitzed six guys and again, like we've talked about earlier in the podcast, now there's some holes.


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[Assistant] We, we expected our blitz to get there and they couldn't wait and pat the ball until that guy got to the hole. But now he's got time and he's in the hole and oh shit, it's a big play, right? So that's, that's where they're, uh, it'll be interesting this week to see them versus the 49ers in that matchup.


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[Assistant] Warnacki kinda broke this down on Football Night in America to go, yeaah, like, the Ravens lost on Sunday night.


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[Assistant] I believe the Chiefs would have had the highest probable percentage to be the number one seed. Even though they'd be a game back in the standings. Yes, because I think they're saying that they're gonna lose one of these, you know, three at the end. Okay. Uh, so we'll see where it goes, but yeah, it is interesting. I don't expect the Chiefs to lose. I don't.


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[Assistant] Uh, and then, we're gonna get a real good feel, at the very least, of how good the Dolphins and Ravens are. And that's what's gonna be exciting. Week 17, they play each other, which is cool. Oh, they play each other, and then, you know, week 18, you could have Dolphins, Buffalo,


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[Assistant] I mean, they could be playing for the AFC's title. I mean, really? If the Dolphins lose this week and then they lose to Baltimore?


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[Assistant] They could have as many losses as the Buffalo Bills and they could end up playing for the AFC's title. There's a lot to be unpacked there. I think as you and I both said, I still think I like the Dolphins even despite what happens with these last three games for where their team is to make a run in the AFC playoffs.


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[Assistant] Where they play, where they're seated, will certainly dictate that a little bit. And I would feel a lot better if they were at home more than they were on


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[Assistant] It would be a disaster if the seventh seed is the Buffalo Bills, right? And then you're like Miami or Baltimore, who's the two seed and you're like, are you kidding me? I got to, we got to deal with the team that's played the best football over the last six weeks coming to the town for the wildcard round. That would be unbelievable.


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[Assistant] My big thing is, and they've been doing this this year, and I think this is what's making them a little bit more of a dangerous offense than we've seen in years past, is throwing the ball, keep throwing the ball outside the numbers. You know, they don't live out there.


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[Assistant] But just like you saw with McCaffrey down the sideline the other night, right? Where we talked about the big throw against the Eagles game. When the Eagles looked like they might be coming back, he throws the out route. And I said this was the play of the game. He throws like a 10 yard out route to get a first down on third down. Those are things that didn't happen with Jimmy Garoppolo.


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[Assistant] He wasn't good at it. He didn't see it. He didn't throw the appropriate ball. Brock Purdy throws everything appropriate.


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[Assistant] So, Shanahan has confidence in him to, you know, not be


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[Assistant] Throw outside the numbers, you know, that's when it's just, it's like, uh, I give up. I don't know what to defend. I don't know, cause they're just, they're tearing us apart everywhere.


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[Assistant] Cause of course Shanahan does so many things with the run game in the middle of the field that you feel like you gotta defend that when you play them. And then all of a sudden when he hits Ayuka on outroutes or Deebo on a go route or Kittle on a corner route, you're going, damn, I mean, we're, we can't defend every square inch of the field. What the hell did we do?


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[Assistant] They play the most physical brand of football in the NFL.


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[Assistant] I don't think there's any doubt about that. It's a point that Florio brings up all the time. It's why they're awesome to watch, because they have psychos.


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[Assistant] You know, all that type of stuff. Yes, you know, Eric Armstead's been dealing with a foot injury all year or a lower leg injury, something there. Having a bi-week for him will be crucial, you know, but yeah, I think our guy Brendan Panikar says it right. You know, they're a little bit top heavy and they got,


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[Assistant] Eight or nine guys that are of course very key to their football team and overall success.


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[Assistant] You heard me say this about them a few weeks ago. Find a way to throw the ball down the field more. That would be the big thing with them. You know, run game good. RPOs good.


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[Assistant] We've got a lot of cute ways to find 5 and 8 and 10 yard completions, right? But when I look about the games here as of late when they struggle,


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[Assistant] Teams play that way against them. They go, wait, wait, wait. We're worried about the run. We're not going to let you have all these high efficient 8 and 10 yard completions. We're not going to do that.


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[Assistant] They're kinda calling their bluff. Remember, a few weeks ago, I was very happy with them against the Tennessee Titans, cause the Titans were playing all these defenses going, you're not gonna throw it seven yards over the middle. You're not gonna throw it six yards over here. We're just not gonna let you do that all day to us. We're not gonna let Shane Steichen and Gardner Minchew just pick us apart.


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[Assistant] So they got in their face, they played some zone coverages that stopped all that stuff. What'd they do, remember? Alec Pierce deep, right? They gotta throw the ball and keep doing this a little bit. You know? They're letting teams off the hook with playing some of these defenses and not attacking them a little bit. That to me would be the big thing for them. You know?


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[Assistant] Happy with their defense. You've heard me say their secondary is not perfect and all that, but the D-line's damn good. You know, offense has got everything, right? Uh, it's just Gardnerman shoes, not a push the ball down the field quarterback, and they gotta find ways to help him push the ball down the field a little bit.


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[Assistant] I think them not being able to run the football, teams kind of realizing that, that hurts them. They don't even pass protect as good as they used to last year, so they can't attack down the field, I think, as much as they'd like to.


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[Assistant] The biggest thing though to me is, is the defense. They gotta find more ways to pressure the quarterback. That, that, that's the biggest thing. You know, a little bit like we talked about with the Ravens, uh, a few minutes ago. You know, Jacksonville, they're,


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[Assistant] In a tough spot, and especially a little bit more with Tyson Campbell being injured to where they can't play as much of man to man, but yeaah, they, they,


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[Assistant] They can't get to the quarterback unless they blitz people. When it's just a front four.


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[Assistant] No, it's, it's not gonna happen. And that to me is, is the biggest problem. So almost like you're Detroit Lions and they gotta find ways to finagle some pressure.


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[Assistant] Be a little bit more creative in, in that way. And I know that's not always easier said, you know, it's easier said than done, because yea, you want to finagle ways to get pressure, but, hey, we're, you know, we're letting up some, some big plays in the, in the pass game, or doing that because of it.


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[Assistant] You know, that's where you go, ah damn, how much can I finagle or tinker? But I think they can. And they're, you know, too, I think I look at it and go,


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[Assistant] They got linebackers and I think a good enough secondary to where they can play with that a little bit. I do. I think they have the flexibility there with the talent on their team to where they can gamble a little bit more in that area I think to help out their defense a little bit.


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, it's, uh, it's, you know, how I started off the convo. I don't think you can fix it at this point. That's not, you know, the big thing is, is they're different than last year.


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[Assistant] Juwan Taylor's not on the team anymore. He was the right tackle. He was really good last year. Their left tackle, Cam Robinson, he's hurt. He's not playing. Those are two, like, big time guys that are just not easily replaced. You know, the rookie Anton Harrison, he's not there yet. You know, Walker Little's not as good as either two, either one of those guys were.


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[Assistant] The interior part of the offensive line, nothing special there either. So, yeaah, that's what's been disappointing. Yeaah, there's no run game. There's not. They're gonna have to rely on Trevor Lawrence and his right arm to make it happen. And then hopefully their defense...


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[Assistant] I mean, the defense has gotten shredded. And, and, you know, there's a lot of things they do, right, on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, there's certain games and...


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[Assistant] And things where I go, damn, I like what they're doing here all together. Uh, but yes, you know, a little like we've talked about with the Saints offense and their talent and it's underwhelming. Yeah, I feel the same way with the Packers. You know, it's, it's, they're more talented than what their defense is showing on the football field. Definitely. Now they get some young guys. I think they've messed some things up.


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[Assistant] I think you, you read my note here. I think you like what I wrote here. Uh, I mean, their gift is, there is no gift, okay? It's the hope the opposing team's D misses the bust of the game.


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[Assistant] That's right, you know, blow their tires out, do something, make sure they can't get there. It'll still be tougher than the score points, even against the air. But, but yeah, I mean, really, I don't know what to say about Pittsburgh. It doesn't look good right now, you know, we're talking about effort with George Pickens now, like we were talking about with Deontay Johnson a few weeks ago.


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[Assistant] Their defense has gotten shredded, right? Everyone wants to blame Mike Tomlin. I get it.


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[Assistant] What I tried to say on PEFT today, listen, Mike Tallman, yeaah, I'm not saying he's perfect, but like he's the least of their problems. Like he's down, he's down the list. We can certainly get on him a little bit for the offensive coordinator he hired. Okay, sure, I got that.


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[Assistant] When you start to list the problems with the Steelers, there are more to me GM related than coach related.


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[Assistant] You know, I, you know, Mike Tomlin was in the GM that drafted Najee Harris in the first round, right? The Chase Claypool thing, that didn't work out.


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[Assistant] Deontay Johnson, okay, it's been somewhat good. You know, George Pickens, we'll see where that goes. Right, but like where, everybody acts like the Steelers have these like five-star players all over the field. The defense, I mean yea, they got T.J. Watt. They got Cam Hayward, who's good, not great anymore. They got Highsmith.


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[Assistant] So they got Watt, Highsmith, and Minka Fitzpatrick, right? You know? They got no middle linebackers to talk about that are worth a damn right now. There's not enough young defensive line talent.


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[Assistant] You know, the corners are not special. Porter looks like he maybe has a chance. But yeaah, there's more than just


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[Assistant] You know, Mike Tomlin here right now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there's a lot of blame that can go around. We're talking about should they replace the quarterback two years after drafting them already? I mean, when Al Michaels and Herb Street are saying that on Thursday Night Football, they're saying that because people in the organization told them they're not sure about the quarterback they took in the first round two years ago. That's why they said that. So,


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[Assistant] You know, those aren't Mike Tomlin problems all the way there.


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[Assistant] Well, my answer was a little, I just wrote diversify your run game, not enough run concepts. Certainly though, to his point, commit and stay more patient with it. Again.


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[Assistant] You know, you've heard me say the last few weeks. I was saying this before this got to this point. Jalen Hurts was not playing good.


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[Assistant] You know, I think people are seeing it now because it's translating into losses and now it's like for some reason people can see it. But I want, you know, we talked about when they were winning games, there was bad habits being formed, right?


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[Assistant] Why is he running here? The guy's wide open for a 20 yard completion. Why is he leaving the pocket here? The pocket's fine. People are open down the field. Now he's scrambled and he threw it away. Right? Or he scrambled for four yards and he went to go, yeah, that's great, but there was a 40 yard completion down the middle. That's not a positive grade at quarterback.


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[Assistant] So, like, there's issues there. And obviously that's not just all on Jalen Hurts. The offense doesn't have as many answers because of Shane Steichen not being there. Right? And yeaah, I don't think he's the type of talent that's ever gonna be able to go, I got you guys, I'll carry you with my right arm and throw lasers all over the field to make it happen. That's not what he is.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's still the biggest, baddest offensive line in football. They have like two run plays. You know that bothers me. I mean, even in the game the other night, it's like the same two or three run plays all game long.


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[Assistant] Do some more there. Help out Jalen Hurts. Your old line's awesome. Swift is really good. Right?


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[Assistant] You know, get some people to come down there and worry about the run more to where it can be AJ Brown and Devontae Smith one on one a whole lot.


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[Assistant] And that to me is, you know, one of the, like again, their defense is not going to be fixed right now. I don't care if it's Matt Patricia or Bill Belichick they bring in there. It's too late for them to implement all of their core football defensive ideas and think it's going to be imposed under the defense at this point of the year.


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[Assistant] Yeah, definitely. The disappointment of Monday night was you were playing a Seattle Seahawks defense that sucks. And that the offense can only score 17 points in that situation. That's the disappointing thing of the football night there.


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[Assistant] They all point to simple, comfortable quarterback, not enough chaos and creativity on that side of the ball, like there was last year that had quarterbacks going, wait, what the fuck is this set hut? Oh shit, it changed to something else and I still don't know what the fuck it is.


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[Assistant] Oh, I got crushed. I'm down and sacked already before I even got to figure it out. That's where Jonathan Gannon was special.


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[Assistant] And they're not doing that right now. Like I said, there's too many times quarterbacks in the line of scrimmage go, oh, okay, it's this front, it's this coverage, set hut, oh, it's this front, it's this coverage, oh, completion for 20, no big deal.


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[Assistant] Well, the biggest thing is, you know, I just, I wrote an open-ended question basically. Like, how can Sean Payton and Russell Wilson be the worst offense inside the 10-yard line in the NFL? Like, how could that be? Right? Now, one, they're not a great running team.


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[Assistant] Two, I think they're afraid of Russell Wilson and what he might do, so I think he's being managed to a degree there. And yeah, I don't think that because of that, Sean Payton has been able to maybe unveil his full package of stuff down there, cause he's gone...


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[Assistant] We'll take a field goal to play defense and maybe we'll score the next drive with a big touchdown pass from the 40 yard line or something like that, but he's not going to let Russell.


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[Assistant] Do something a little reckless, which we've seen them do over the last few years in those situations. I think that's the biggest thing. Now, they're not gonna win any playoff games if that's the way they play. So at some point they're gonna have to go, Russell, sink or swim time. You're either gonna throw touchdowns and we're gonna win, or you're gonna throw interceptions and we're gonna lose.


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[Assistant] And we'll start off, we'll try to fix this problem in the off season, but that to me is the most glaring thing.


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[Assistant] You know, other things I don't think are realistic to fix at this point.


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[Assistant] Who, let's see, I'm trying to think of who this could be here. This is not Atlanta, is it?


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[Assistant] And they got some dudes that they can throw one-on-ones to. They still can run the ball pretty good to respect. And then, yeaah, we've seen them do some cool reverses and other things like that down there to kind of help it out that way too. But yeaah, I wouldn't have expected that. That's surprising.


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[Assistant] Ooh, I like that name. It's not Sundance, it's


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[Assistant] Oh man, I know, isn't that crazy? Basically, isn't it like, it's almost like people are just like, yea, that's happening. I know, I know, it seems kind of inevitable. We'll see where it goes. It does feel that way though.


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[Assistant] Yeah, we'll see. He's one of the best coaches in football. You give him this offseason, spend some money and draft here. The, the, the Titans will turn it around.


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[Assistant] Damn, here we did. But damn, you had three out of the five teams here, you had them go to the playoffs. It's week 15 and they're dead. Alright, here we go.


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[Assistant] Okay, good day everybody. We killed a few people and uh, hey, you know where to find us. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed the little exercise today. Hope everybody enjoys their Christmas for the people that might not listen to the pick spot tomorrow with


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[Assistant] Florio and I, that will be coming, but for those who don't, yes, please have a great weekend. Enjoy the Christmas holiday. Uh, Merry Christmas to all those out there. Happy holidays to everybody out there. Ahmed, as always, appreciate you driving the ship. Again, tomorrow, me and Florio, week 16, pick em.


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[Assistant] I was like legit and it did surprise me a little bit because I'm affected by losses and more so when I was a kid. But like I was legit in...


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[Assistant] Like a little bit of a depression, for sure, 100%. And it took, like all day Monday, and like Monday night I got home, my wife was like, are you okay? I was like, I just don't, I'm still not like over this sporting event. It was like, who knew I couldn't handle a NFL team success. Alliance fans have never had to do this before.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but, uh, but yesterday, woke up, still kinda felt the same thing. Yep. I was on Twitter.


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[Assistant] I got the Ben Johnson news. And like legit, like seriously, like that was like, oh, okay.


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[Assistant] I was like, I think it was what I needed, what probably most Lions fans needed, it was like, alright, we're moving on to next year, we're already thinking about next year, we got a good squad, we got a young team, Ben Johnson coming back, they wanna build something, and then I started to feel, feel better, and I think I'm back, I'm back 100% right now, to like, uh, like normal Ahmed, I think.


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[Assistant] It was a silver lining. And I think what he does well is that he's not stubborn. He knows what he does well. He knows what his players do well, and it seems like he's flexible with that, right? He's like, do what works, do what is the Amon Ra St. Brown, whatever's best for him will do that, whatever's best for Gibbs will do that.


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[Assistant] Like does he want in a situation where it like slaps him in the face like you'd be dumb not to take this? Does he want it in a situation where he's not having to do that and coach a team too? Cause that, I mean like if he's sitting at home for a month.


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[Assistant] Maybe it's different, right? And he's like, nothing, no, nothing else to think about. Yea, yea, yea, right. Who knows? But, uh, Bobby Slowick too, I think it's similar. Because he's going back to the Houston Texans. Right. And he's a Shanahan disciple too. Which is the hottest


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[Assistant] So we're going to get into your notes on both these conference championship games. We'll take a look at that. Uhm, we'll get into our discussion of the fourth down plays again, I'm sure, because I was going on YouTube and people were like, man, this is the first like legit time that like Chris and Ahmed haven't agreed on something. Like this is like two, like,


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[Assistant] My brother's going at it a little bit. I was like, yeah, so we'll, we'll, we'll go back to that, uh, again.


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[Assistant] So we'll get to that, but let's real quick finish up this conversation because we haven't really on here talked about some of these, these moves for offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, head coaches. We're not going to get into all of them, but we already talked about Ben Johnson, Bobby Slowick going back to their respective teams. Steelers have a new guy, Arthur Smith, head coach no longer in Atlanta. Me likey.


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[Assistant] Me likey a lot. He was with Derrick Henry in Tennessee. Great running attack there.


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[Assistant] So Pete notes here that the fantasy football community hates this move. Because they've had such high hopes for Bajan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, Drake London even, and they feel like none of that materialized. And so his most recent stop was a disappointment for the offense.


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[Assistant] And now I saw somewhere else on Twitter where they said that he must just be uhm, it's just like a masochist because he goes from Ritter and Taylor Heinecke now to Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph. Not necessarily a better quarterback situation there.


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[Assistant] It's really interesting because that could go one of two ways, right? It could either go like, wow, we've, we've taught this offense and Jalen hurts a new way of operating and it has elevated his game to a level that maybe we didn't think was possible before. Or it can be trying to fit a round thing into a square thing.


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[Assistant] So Pete notes here, the still vacant OC positions in New England, Tennessee, Vegas, Chargers, Saints, Buck, Seattle, and Washington. Of all those open vacancies, which one do you think is the most important to like get it right? Which team?


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[Assistant] Yeah, Washington with the number two overall pick, New England with the number three, likely both taking top quarterbacks there.


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[Assistant] It feels like those two will be sitting out the year. It is the two jobs left. Commanders and Seahawks. Every other head coaching job has been filled. A couple that you wanted to touch on here. You did touch on Brian Kalahan with the Titans. The guy replacing Mike Vrabel.


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[Assistant] The Atlanta Falcons. Your old friend Raheem Morris is back. Head coaching job. What'd you make of that one?


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[Assistant] And he'll pair up with Zach Robinson, who they hired as their offensive coordinator. From the McVeigh staff, right? McVeigh staff. And at one point, I think was a pro football focus, like play great. I think you're right. You're right.


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[Assistant] Yeah, yeah, who's grading these plays? Future offensive coordinators and Pete. Which is not a, I mean, like, that's still, Pete still knows what he's talking about. Yeah, when Chris becomes GM, Pete wants, he's already applying for that job. One defensive coordinator to talk about here, and we talked about the Eagles on the offensive side with Kellen Moore, uh, Vic Fangio should shore things up for them on the defensive side.


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[Assistant] Your New York giants. Wink is gone. This is a, this is a big hire for Brian Dayball. Big. In a big year for him.


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[Assistant] Will be interesting. It will all be tracked on Pro Football Talk and we'll also talk about it here on Unbuttoned.


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[Assistant] Let's get into your notebook, your deep dives into both conference championship games because we reacted to it. You saw them on TV. You didn't dive into the film on either one of them. We're going to save the lions and, uh,


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[Assistant] And the 49ers for later because it's gonna get intense, we're gonna get mad at each other, and then it's hard to complete a pod after you've done that. So we'll start with the AFC Championship, the Chiefs beat the Ravens, of course, you all know this, you saw the game. But I think the main question, I said this to Pete, I think the main question of everything, when you looked at the film,


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[Assistant] What, what happened with the Ravens? Were they, were they stupidly not running, changing their game plan? Was there a reason why they were not doing it? Was it?


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[Assistant] As Graham Taylor says, what specifically did they do to slow down Baltimore's offense? Felt like the Ravens got close to getting it rolling at times, but just couldn't and his Spags versus Shanahan, the best offensive versus defensive coaching matchup in the league. We'll get to that as we break down the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] Like, why? What are we doing? So here we do, if you're watching on, uh, YouTube or Peacock, this is what we do. Uh, Pete has outlined these plays. This is the Gus Edwards 15 yard run. Yes, right after the


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[Assistant] A couple theories from our homies greatness call says with an untrained eye it seemed like Lamar Jackson and Todd Munkin were not on the same page. Interested in your what the F happened but seems like no runs were called because Todd thought it was


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[Assistant] Uh, the pass play failed, or if the pass play failed, Lamar would just take off. Then it's like Munkin called tendency breakers, but Lamar didn't trust it. Did you feel like there, there was any of that going on in your reading of it?


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[Assistant] And then you noted in your, in your notes, in your notebook, that uhm, the Chiefs did a good job of then once the Ravens got into passing situations, they made the different coverages look the same. Oh, they are the best.


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[Assistant] Bloop33, I feel like this isn't the first time in the Lamar era that they've gone galaxy brain and done this. If I recall, they did the same thing versus the Titans a few years ago. This is a big problem.


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[Assistant] Which was interesting because I thought we just got done talking about a week ago. Right. They had a pretty good plan in the second half where the Houston Texans started blessing.


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[Assistant] So let's get into Lamar here, and the game that he had, obviously some glaring mistakes in this game, the interception at the end for sure, but uhm, there's also the strip sack, and you were looking at that with your pen ready, ready to write it down, what happened here, how they get through, but something else became clear to you during that play.


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[Assistant] She's forgetting through on that being outnumbered in that situation. Right. So that was a missed opportunity on the film. There was one play that I loved watching in real time and it's one of the.


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[Assistant] Feeling bad for Ravens fans, cause I know this feeling right now, and this is probably making it worse, but we gotta look at the interception, because that too,


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[Assistant] As you know, I think when we first saw that, when I first saw that, and I would have never thought of this if you hadn't said it, I was like, well, that was a bad, bad decision from the get go. I mean, you're throwing into triple coverage. That's what, like, that's just at no point was that a good decision, but it's, it's a little different when you look at the film.


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[Assistant] Look covered, but it's ultimately done. Pete says your fans were blaming Isaiah likely for throwing his hand up when he was not really open, but as you just showed, he actually was. He was open earlier than Lamar threw it. So, Lamar threw


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[Assistant] Let's go inside the numbers powered by AWS. Take a closer look at Patrick Mahomes here too. According to the next gen stats, he completed 26 of 28 passes under


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[Assistant] In years past, my homes would get frustrated.


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[Assistant] I always like, I always like that term. Uh, that was Inside the Numbers powered by AWS. So you mentioned it in the second half, maybe Tooney's absence was starting to become a problem for the Chief, started to slow down. Uh, not Bucky Cox wants to know, what did the Ravens defense do in the second half?


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[Assistant] And are the 49ers capable of recreating it? So not Bucky Cox doing some advanced scouting for the 49ers. Uh, yeah. Cause Mike McDonald, I think has gotten some praise. There's like.


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[Assistant] You know, the Chiefs, yes, first half, moved the ball, second half though, made some adjustments, maybe, and slowed them down. Did you see something? Well, I think the... Yea, the numbers certainly bear that out, that it was more of a challenge in the second half for the Chiefs.


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[Assistant] And even with that increased pressure and defense for the Ravens, they still had a hard time making negative plays.


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[Assistant] So where do the Ravens go from here? Cause they're done, they're thinking about how to fix it. They're much like the Dallas Cowboys now. It's a bad spot to be in, I feel like. You're like a good team, but the regular season no longer means anything. It's all about what you do in the playoffs. So what do they have to do?


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[Assistant] As of right now, the Super Bowl odds for the AFC teams next year, Chiefs are the favorite at plus 750, but Baltimore right now, currently the second best odds at plus 900 or not Buffalo, Baltimore. Yeah. And then Buffalo. Right. And then, uh, Cincinnati, Miami and Houston. So.


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[Assistant] That applied in that game. It could apply going forward, but let's flip gears now to the 49ers.


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[Assistant] We're in an NFC championship game and didn't get just blown off the field. They like deserve to be in there and probably should have won if things would have gone their way. Let's start with a good half. It's, it's crazy. Yeah.


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[Assistant] Oh, for sure. In the second half, it feels like one of those games in Pete and I were talking about it where seven plays or whatever, if any one of those plays goes the lion's way, they win that game or at least going to overtime or something like that.


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[Assistant] So Lions offense, let's start with what they did that made life so difficult for the 49ers and what maybe Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs could do that could make life difficult for the 49ers.


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[Assistant] First half was awesome, 24 points, 280 total yards, 148 yards rushing in the first half. I think I saw that was the most that Kyle Shanahan ever led team and give it up in the first half. Right. Uh, only 34 rushing yards in the second half, uh, seven points.


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[Assistant] Some of that was just dropped passes, missed opportunities, a fumble, so you have one less possession there. Uhm, but from what you saw, let's actually go inside the numbers once again.


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[Assistant] Powered by AWS to show exactly what they did on the ground here, because I think that's where it started. Yes it did. I'm getting super excited about some of these positive numbers for the Lions. You got David Montgomery, you got Jameera Gibbs, seemed like outside rushes were gashing the 49ers.


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[Assistant] So why couldn't they rush as effectively in the second half, don't you think?


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[Assistant] And that was Inside the Numbers again powered by AWS. Thanks for reminding me of another missed opportunity there. I really appreciate that. Do you want to flip over to the other side of the ball or do you want to, is there anything else here?


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[Assistant] Okay, so, alright, so I think, you know, of, of, of all the things you say about it.


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[Assistant] Great coaching job this year. Got the team to the final four with a subpar defense. Amazing. Everything he's done has been amazing.


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[Assistant] So uhm, let me just say that. I think one of the mistakes that I would say you're making with Dan Campbell is framing it as he's either just doing it aggressively


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[Assistant] Because I think some people are framing it as like, oh, this is what they've done all year, so it's like he felt compelled to do it again. No, I truly believe that in those two fourth down situations in the second half, he felt like going.


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[Assistant] I don't think he thought either one of them, like, I could kick a field goal here, and I think that probably would help us win better, but this is what we do, we go for it. I think he thought going for fourth down, because,


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[Assistant] It was like the, people have compared it to the tush push, right? Fourth and short for the Lions was almost like the tush push throughout the year. 80% conversion rate on those. So I do think,


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[Assistant] That you have to, you have to talk about the kicker.


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[Assistant] Because people say, you gotta talk about the context. You have to talk about 48 yards, 45 yards for Michael Badgley on the practice squad.


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[Assistant] So every time you needed him this year, he made the field goal. So I looked this up. Right. I mean, he only started kicking week 15. I know, I know. So I looked this up. I was like, when's the last time that he was like outdoors on grass with wind, right? Making a field goal of 45 yards or longer. I looked it up. I was like, when was it? November of 2020.


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[Assistant] November of 2020 is the last time Michael Badgley made a kick. Yeah, no fans, you're right. When's the last time there were fans in this thing? That was the last time he made a kick on grass, outdoors, in the wind, in the elements, that long.


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[Assistant] So I was like, that's gotta be a huge part. So this is my defense of Dan Campbell. In that situation. And you always say this, and I think it's a good point you make, you know, it's like say it out loud. It's like, I believe in Michael Badgley from 48 more than I believe in my offense. You gotta say that out loud. And he, and like, in that situation,


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[Assistant] He's like, I'm rolling with this offense. No offense to Michael Badgley. And if we had Justin Tucker, it would probably be a different situation. But a guy who hasn't made kicks like this for us much this year and outdoors almost never in the last four years, like I'm rolling with her offense fourth and two. Yeah. So that that's.


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[Assistant] So it's like his, his gut, I think it was his gut, was telling him, this gives us the best chance. I'm not, I'm not relying on Michael Badgley.


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[Assistant] I think our offense has a better chance of getting two yards than Michael Badgley has of making this 48 yard field goal. You have to go.


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[Assistant] And if that's, like, you have to go. You can't go. I think that...


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[Assistant] Michael Badgley could miss this, but I'm gonna get crushed. And so I'm gonna kick it. Like if you truly believe like your offense has a better chance of picking up that first down.


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[Assistant] With Michael Badgley, who has not kicked a field goal of 45 yards outdoor since 2020, I'd roll with Amanra St. Brown, Jameer Gibbs, Jared Goff, Sam Laporte.


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[Assistant] I would say get a better kicker. They should have, they had, that's, they should have had a better kicker. Like that I'll give you. Sure. That's a huge problem for their team and that may be where they lost is they couldn't trust their kicker in that situation.


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[Assistant] And I understand that's where they got, because this is how they play and they're aggressive. Because they thought it gave them the best chance to win. That's how they did it. And it did throughout the year. And I think the analytics for that fourth, that fourth and three from the 48 yard field goal, it's like if you looked at that, it was like,


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[Assistant] The Lions, if they went for it, had a 38% chance to win. If they attempted the field goal, they had a 38% chance to win. So the analytics were split. It was like, it was a go or kick.


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[Assistant] Hey, we just stopped. They tried to kick a 48-yard field goal. They didn't make it. Cause their kicker sucks and their coach was right not to, you know, he shouldn't have kicked it. And now we got momentum. We gotta stop. Same thing. That's a momentum swing. Any missed field goal.


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[Assistant] I mean like, that's a point you make too, like, I don't know that. You've stated you're on the field, you know that feeling. You can drown in that.


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[Assistant] No, but that's why he goes for it. That's what he said. He said he, he, when, he said he goes for it because Sean Payton would, like, he saw the defense, and it's like, when you know you have to go, we gotta stop him for four plays now, they're not just gonna kick field goals. Like, we gotta, like, ugh. It's like, we gotta stop him and throw him down, and now they're demoralized.


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[Assistant] So they've been rolling all game, making the plays, but the fourth and two.


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[Assistant] But you're right, he's not blindly just like going every fourth down, not even thinking about it. That one he thought he weighed it all and his gut told him. And I think he's coaching with his gut the entire game. And I think his gut was telling him both those times, I trust my offense to get two yards more than Michael Badgley.


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[Assistant] The poor execution of it churned, turned the game. I, I, uh, 100%


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[Assistant] Someone said Philadelphia with Doug Peterson. They were roll the dice kinda.


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[Assistant] Let's go, uh, let's go inside. Can we go inside the notebook here for the 49ers O to the Lions D here? And if there's anything else that we missed during this whole discussion, we'll, we'll clean it up on Monday when we're out in Las Vegas. Going inside the notebook shows a Lions Cool combo coverage here.


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[Assistant] So uh, explain what we're seeing here, and uh, as we get into this side of the ball here.


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[Assistant] That, that got, that got rough after that for sure. Uhm, Arn Agathe, Arn Agathe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, uh, do we have screenshots on that? I thought we did, yeah. Pete, uh...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we have a few screenshots here, so we do have that, we'll pull that up, uh, the interception, uh, for Brock Purdy here, and so we can kind of take a little closer look at it. Uhm, but yeaah, it just seems like, it didn't seem like he was thrown at that, that well at times too. Yeaah. But then, but then at the same time, he makes some unbelievable passes outside the numbers, you know, right on the sidelines.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think we probably have to wrap this up. Is there another headline or one more thing from the 49ers offense? You said that they didn't necessarily ever crack the code, but they, man, they just made enough plays. They scored every time in the second half too. So it's like credit to them for not cracking the code and it was hard, but they still scored them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's a great tease to our DraftKings Super Bowl MVP odds as they stand right now. Of course, the two quarterbacks are the top two choices. Patrick Mahomes plus 125, Brock Purdy plus 225. Then you got McCaffrey, Travis Kelsey, Debo, Isaiah Pacheco after that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, it's like one of those where if the receiver gets it, it's hard not to give to the quarterback too, but it could be one of those where it's like Mahomes throws for 220 and 160 are to Travis Kelsey or something like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] DraftKings Sportsbook is an official sports betting partner of the NFL and for Super Bowl 58, new customers can bet $5 and win $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the app and use the promo code unbutton when you


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[Assistant] DraftKings Sportsbook, the crown is yours. See, that's what I like, because we can go back and forth with fourth down, should they go, should they kick, but in the end we come together for a promo read in DraftKings. I think that just shows the kind of relationship


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, yeaah, I mean, like regardless, I'm supposed to read it inside out. Uhm, JJ was hot and uhm, I feel like, you know, going to him in a man-to-man situation is sort of what I was thinking. Uhm, but with yeaah, him blitzing, there's a, I think there's an opportunity for me to hit BA there and uhm, that's something I have to learn from.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, be real with myself about it. Told BA, obviously, like, man, you know, I wish I wish I would have hit you there, at least attempted to go to you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I mean, at practice, I've hit the outside slant a million times in that coverage, cover zero and having our receiver win outside.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uhm, and obviously I trusted JJ to win a contested ball like, like it was gonna be. So uhm, that's just what happened in the moment.


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[Assistant] Of course I played for the Titans and played against the Carolina Panthers on the Bucks, so I'm still in grass mode with them. Let alone, I kind of live in grass mode all the time, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wow, I'm impressed. I am impressed. You obviously are not writing enough articles on PFT lately. The fact that you have that much time to practice that shit, okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's the worst, that's the worst part about it. And you know, I feel like I've been on the losing end of a lot of those lately. So it was good to get a few back there that I felt like, you know, the football gods were like, Hey, you picked the team a few times that outplayed the other one and lost whatever. So good up yours. All right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Happy Thanksgiving and I want to kick your ass again this week and gain some more ground in, in best bets and, and uh, you're on fire in best bets. I will say that.


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[Assistant] But just a regular pick straight up. I, I, I gotta win that one too.


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[Assistant] Well, yeah. That's not good. That's what I will argue with our producers and all this. I'm forced into making three best bets every week where I don't want to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If we just made it one, there's two games. We've had certain weeks where I'd go, I don't want to pick another one. These, I don't feel good. I just like this one. Right? So that sometimes is what, you know, screws us over a little as well.