Speaker 1: The team for the Chiefs of the shot guns trap
Speaker 1: from their own twenty four rolling out of the pocket
Speaker 1: Mahomes round trap, the turner shaping at the forty they
Speaker 1: picked up by the gene to come to the inside.
Speaker 2: The thirty got a block of the twenty break to
Speaker 2: tackle the ten.
Speaker 1: The five to the Pilon touchdown.
Speaker 2: The go to back six. It's Cooper the.
Speaker 1: Jeane about thirty seven yard pick six uh Patrick.
Speaker 3: Mahomes Cooper to Jane the rookie on his birthday to
Speaker 3: pick six on Patrick Mahomes gave Philadelphia a seventeen to
Speaker 3: zero lead over the Kansas City Chiefs and route to
Speaker 3: their Super Bowl championship. Porter Larsen Tony Parks filling in
Speaker 3: for Spence on this Monday Super Bowl Reaction show on
Speaker 3: ESPN seven hundred. We'll talk and hoops and a little
Speaker 3: little leather stufe here in the market as well. But
Speaker 3: to talk more Super Bowl and the Philadelphia Eagles championship.
Speaker 3: That was He is one Omar Ruiz of the NFL
Speaker 3: Network about to start his off season. Omar, thanks for
Speaker 3: joining us, my friend.
Speaker 1: Hey, Tony, no problem, thanks for having me on this
Speaker 1: unofficial post holiday Monday.
Speaker 3: Right right, yeah, we're I think it should be a holiday.
Speaker 3: I've said it already on the show. I think it
Speaker 3: should be a actual holiday, like recognized. But hey, we'll
Speaker 3: we'll get to that when I get elected, Omar.
Speaker 1: Or when they go to an eighteenth game and the
Speaker 1: super Bowl gets pushed to President's Day weekend and then
Speaker 1: that game's on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Now we have a day off on the Monday.
Speaker 2: But now, but now we're combining things. We're losing.
Speaker 3: We're you're, you're, you're losing me there, give I need it.
Speaker 3: I still I need a I need two different holidays here, Omar,
Speaker 3: I need two separate ones, uh to make it work.
Speaker 3: But we go into that game, and Tony and I
Speaker 3: talked about it on the show Friday. To me, it
Speaker 3: felt like Patrick Mahomes, the three Pete Andy Reid and
Speaker 3: the best what I feel like play calling quarterback synergy
Speaker 3: in the league against an uphill battle versus the best
Speaker 3: roster in the NFL and the best roster man. It
Speaker 3: won out last night thanks to no part to what
Speaker 3: I think was maybe the best four man rush I've
Speaker 3: ever seen from a front four. To me, that was
Speaker 3: the story of the football game. How did you see
Speaker 3: last night unfolding from a from a large scale we
Speaker 3: lost omar Ruiz.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean you stepped all over his idea about
Speaker 5: President's Day weekend coming after the Super Bowl. You know,
Speaker 5: I know he took offense to it. I mean you
Speaker 5: insulted them. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 5: That's I love that he's gonna have a chance to
Speaker 5: talk about this too, because he will have great insight
Speaker 5: on the like when this got in trouble, when this
Speaker 5: became weird, when the water got red, and how this
Speaker 5: thing could have unraveled in a hurry because it was
Speaker 5: starting to it was early. I've watched a number of
Speaker 5: Super Bowls. What the Chargers forty nine ers. I remember
Speaker 5: when I thought that thing was over before it started.
Speaker 5: I remember, you know, when the forty nine Ers beat
Speaker 5: up on the Broncos. The one that this reminded me
Speaker 5: of was when the Buccaneers beat the Raiders, because I
Speaker 5: thought it was going to be a great game.
Speaker 2: You had this elite quarterback.
Speaker 5: Who was MVP, and I know he's not as good
Speaker 5: as Mahomes, but early you started seeing pass Russ get there.
Speaker 5: Early you started seeing problems for the offense of the
Speaker 5: Raiders after they went up three zip and then five
Speaker 5: picks three pick six, is the whole thing unraveled and
Speaker 5: before you know it, it was thirty four to three before
Speaker 5: it eventually was forty eight twenty one. So like this
Speaker 5: one really shocked me on how bad it got so quick.
Speaker 3: Take two with Omar ruiz Omar before you so rudely
Speaker 3: hung up on us, I asked, what was your large
Speaker 3: scale takeaway from from the win last night? For me,
Speaker 3: the main point that I look at for the Philadelphia
Speaker 3: Eagles was the fore man rush, their ability to knock
Speaker 3: Patrick Mahomes off his schedule without having to send an
Speaker 3: extra man.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was unreal. How you know, the fourth.
Speaker 1: Time in the next gen stats era, so they've when
Speaker 1: they've been tracking this kind of stuff, which you know,
Speaker 1: probably the last ten years or so. This was only
Speaker 1: the fourth NFL game where a team didn't blitz a
Speaker 1: single time on a drop back. Forty two dropacks and
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, six sacks, sixteen pressures, all.
Speaker 4: That havoc without having to do it.
Speaker 1: And it reminded me of you know, when the New
Speaker 1: York Giants upset the Patriots in two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: twenty eleven. They had that ferocious, you know front four
Speaker 1: that they didn't blitz too much and didn't bring extra pressure.
Speaker 1: Those front four were able to create it and then
Speaker 1: they were able to you know, get to.
Speaker 4: Tom Brady that way.
Speaker 1: And and similarly, you know, with Patrick Mahomes, I saw
Speaker 1: the offense unravel for the Chiefs in a similar fashion.
Speaker 1: And once they sort of smelled blood in the water,
Speaker 1: then it was just uh, you know, relentless pursuit by
Speaker 1: that Eagles defense and just how thoroughly they dominated for
Speaker 1: a team that we knew they were good.
Speaker 4: They were the number one defense in the league, number
Speaker 4: two in scoring throughout the year.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if they ever put their stamp
Speaker 1: on a game the way they did, or maybe it's
Speaker 1: because they have such huge stars on offense with Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts and Saquon Barkley and AJ Brown and that dominant
Speaker 1: offensive line that we didn't give enough attention to that defense.
Speaker 1: But they certainly put their imprint on that game and
Speaker 1: prevented the historical three pat.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the previous three Super Bowls were all three point differences.
Speaker 5: I thought this one was going to come down to
Speaker 5: the very end. You know, I'm picking like twenty three
Speaker 5: to twenty Kansas City. You know, you're looking at all
Speaker 5: the different factors going into this. Then the pass rush
Speaker 5: just starts overwhelming them with nothing cute by the way,
Speaker 5: bull rushes, simple moves, just one on one matchups of domination.
Speaker 5: When did you sit there and say to yourself, oh
Speaker 5: my gosh, this is gonna get worse before it gets better.
Speaker 1: I think when the Devonte Smith touchdown and that's put
Speaker 1: the game away, because I kept thinking that Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: Matt Naggy, Patrick Mahomes, they'll figure something out, They'll make
Speaker 1: some sort of adjustment. And I remember having that same
Speaker 1: thought in Super Bowl fifty five, you know, when they
Speaker 1: were dominated by the Tampa front and they're missing their
Speaker 1: offensive tackles in that game and and very similarly in
Speaker 1: this one. You know, they had they had issues with
Speaker 1: their offensive line. That I think Patrick Mahomes and Reid
Speaker 1: and and Matt Naggy collectively were able to overcome those
Speaker 1: and and continue to win football games is because of
Speaker 1: how good they are at their respective positions to compensate
Speaker 1: for what had been an offensive line that we saw.
Speaker 1: Joe Toney, you know, uh Pro Bowl type of guard
Speaker 1: got kicked out and played tremendously at left tackle, but
Speaker 1: he's out of position there and and obviously the Eagles
Speaker 1: exploited that. So I think you're able to sustain because
Speaker 1: you have Patrick Mahomes, because Andy Reid is such a
Speaker 1: good schemer, You're able to beat you know, most other
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL because of that. But when you
Speaker 1: play the number one defense with an equally depth schemer
Speaker 1: and motivator like mcfangio, we saw the result there. And
Speaker 1: obviously the collection of talent that the Eagles have put
Speaker 1: together the last few years, both in the draft and
Speaker 1: free agency on that defensive unit, and we saw what
Speaker 1: the results were yesterday.
Speaker 3: As you mentioned, the magic of the Chiefs a lot
Speaker 3: of times is the adjustments they make, the little things
Speaker 3: during a game that Andy Reid can do, and Patrick
Speaker 3: Mahomes can on the fly adjust to audible two just
Speaker 3: because he is such a weird, freaky athlete. This doesn't
Speaker 3: seem like one of those issues. Last night seemed like
Speaker 3: a personnel issue where it just didn't matter what they
Speaker 3: threw at Philadelphia. The Eagles were playing, they were playing forward,
Speaker 3: and the Chiefs were playing on their heels, and it
Speaker 3: seemed like that all night long. What does that mean
Speaker 3: for the Chiefs offseason? Omar, what do they address as
Speaker 3: far as as personnel. You no longer get to build
Speaker 3: around Patrick Mahomes on a rookie rookie sale contract. This
Speaker 3: is a guy you're locked into for a long time,
Speaker 3: rightfully so, but you're gonna have to work around on
Speaker 3: the margins a little differently. What does that offseason look
Speaker 3: like for the for the Chiefs this time around?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they have to refocus on the offensive line,
Speaker 1: just like they did after that Super Bowl fifty five loss,
Speaker 1: and they came back in there a little better before
Speaker 1: falling to the Bengals in that twenty twenty one AFC
Speaker 1: Championship game and then you know they got it right
Speaker 1: and won a couple in a row. But I think
Speaker 1: when you are constantly retooling a roster the way the
Speaker 1: Chiefs are, and really that's the reality of NFL nowadays,
Speaker 1: with the salaries of the quarterback so high that you
Speaker 1: know you're constantly tweaking. You're constantly trying to get to
Speaker 1: hit in the draft to get those guys on rookie
Speaker 1: contracts to balance out that salary sheet, and sometimes positions,
Speaker 1: you know, fall by the wayside. But I think for
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, the offensive line is not one of those
Speaker 1: positions that they can afford, you know, to you know,
Speaker 1: like you said, play within the margins.
Speaker 4: They kind of have to beef it up.
Speaker 1: They have to be better because I think Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: we've all seen if he's good enough and he doesn't
Speaker 1: have that pressure, he'll figure it out. He'll make a
Speaker 1: play with his feet, He'll make a play with his arm.
Speaker 1: He is relentless that way. He's as clutch as anybody
Speaker 1: we've ever seen in NFL history. But if he doesn't
Speaker 1: have time to do anything, it might as well be
Speaker 1: me and you back there, and nobody has a chance
Speaker 1: against what Philly was bringing yesterday.
Speaker 5: Sakuon Barklay had twenty five carries fifty seven yards. By
Speaker 5: no means was this one of those performances that they'll
Speaker 5: bring up first in the history of his career. But
Speaker 5: what I will never forget is that when he was
Speaker 5: not getting the ball, he was blocking his tail off,
Speaker 5: he was doing anything and everything else to try and
Speaker 5: help his team win. He was notable for being as
Speaker 5: unselfish as any teammate could be made sure that his
Speaker 5: teammates got the ball when the games were ever in
Speaker 5: hand during the season, goes to a new team, loves
Speaker 5: his family. Is I mean, he's just like this ultimate
Speaker 5: team player and is so dynamic.
Speaker 2: He put up a huge yards.
Speaker 5: Is Saquon Barkley the most likable star in men's made
Speaker 5: professional sports right now? Because how could you not like
Speaker 5: this guy?
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a great guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, as you were going through those accolades, I
Speaker 1: just remember, you know, the few times that I've interacted
Speaker 1: with them, and I've seen them behind the scenes when
Speaker 1: you know, cameras aren't around, and and he really is as.
Speaker 4: Good as he seems. I mean, he is just this
Speaker 4: great guy.
Speaker 1: And it really was evident to me what his addition meant.
Speaker 1: Obviously we saw it every Sunday what it meant on
Speaker 1: the football field.
Speaker 4: But I had.
Speaker 1: Questions about these Eagles, especially when they were at two
Speaker 1: and two earlier in the year, without Jason Kelcey, without
Speaker 1: Fletcher Cox, that that leadership void that they went into
Speaker 1: the season with, you know, I think was filled in
Speaker 1: large part by Saquon Barkley because of those things, those
Speaker 1: attributes you just mentioned, the selflessness, even though he's a
Speaker 1: huge superstar and certainly could demand the ball more. The
Speaker 1: way he blocks, the way he works when he doesn't
Speaker 1: get the ball, the way he doesn't complain, the way
Speaker 1: he ingratiated himself to that locker room, and especially you know,
Speaker 1: coming from in the division where you know there's already
Speaker 1: probably perceived negative feelings about that, And just the way
Speaker 1: he blended in and really wrapped his arms around Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and then in turn, the way Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: Wrapped their arms around him.
Speaker 1: Couldn't have been a better match for a player and
Speaker 1: for an organization the way those two And we saw
Speaker 1: that historical season him breaking the record for most rushing
Speaker 1: yards all time when you talk about the regular season
Speaker 1: and the postseason combined. So just yeah, I think it'll
Speaker 1: go down and if it hasn't already, you know, along
Speaker 1: the likes of Reggie White and Deon Sanders as you know,
Speaker 1: greatest free agent signings in history, and Seguon Barkley was
Speaker 1: that good this year. Even though he wasn't spectacular in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, he was good enough to get them
Speaker 1: there and a big reason why they wont it.
Speaker 3: Well, he had forty yards receiving too, so even though
Speaker 3: he was. I think Spegnola did a good job of
Speaker 3: trying to keep him in check on the ground, He's
Speaker 3: still even though we're talking about keeping him in check,
Speaker 3: he had one hundred yards right right, and it was
Speaker 3: still a really productive in that game. The Eagle are
Speaker 3: with the way they are built from the from the
Speaker 3: inside out, with those offensive lines and defensive lines and
Speaker 3: the skill positions around them. Man, there's a there's a
Speaker 3: title window that extends, I think longer than a lot
Speaker 3: of other title windows could in the NFL, strictly because
Speaker 3: of the way that that roster is built. Omar, how
Speaker 3: did the collapse of the Eagles in twenty twenty three
Speaker 3: play into what they did in twenty twenty four, Because
Speaker 3: I think that has to be part of the story.
Speaker 3: They were in the Super Bowl three years ago. Last year,
Speaker 3: they were at a point where, I mean, there were
Speaker 3: a lot of fans and a lot of people in
Speaker 3: Philadelphia who want to changes and want of changes at
Speaker 3: the top, and a calendar year later, man, we're pretty
Speaker 3: much a hole one eighty.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think getting Saquon Barkley I think goes a long
Speaker 1: ways to covering up a lot of holes that they
Speaker 1: might have had and I think you know, the fact
Speaker 1: that they could consistently run the ball. Now you knew
Speaker 1: State Steves Bagnola was going to slow down that run.
Speaker 1: I think you know the fact that the Chiefs hadn't
Speaker 1: given up one hundred yard rusher in the.
Speaker 4: Postseason since twenty nineteen. You know, something like that that.
Speaker 1: That takes a full dedicated effort, and so you knew
Speaker 1: that was going to continue going into this one. But
Speaker 1: Hurts and and and aj Brown and Devonte Smith and
Speaker 1: the rest of that crew made plays, you know, offensively,
Speaker 1: and I think I think going from that collapse in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, you know, the takeaway was, hey, let's
Speaker 1: get a dynamic you know player, our Christian McCaffrey, right,
Speaker 1: because the forty nine Ers had, you know, come off
Speaker 1: at four of five years, going to the NFC Championship game,
Speaker 1: had gone to the Super Bowl a couple of times,
Speaker 1: and that was sort of the big rival that the
Speaker 1: that the Eagles had had, and Christian McCaffrey's presidence obviously
Speaker 1: a huge difference maker there. So let's get our own,
Speaker 1: you know, playmaker like that that that really you can't
Speaker 1: you know, figure out one way to stop or the
Speaker 1: other you guys mentioned his effect in the past game,
Speaker 1: and I think that was the huge difference. And I
Speaker 1: think you know, they're able to be dynamic offensively. They
Speaker 1: could run the ball and pass the ball. They could
Speaker 1: involve the running back in the past game, and I
Speaker 1: think that was the difference for them offensively. Not to
Speaker 1: mention hitting big in the draft the last couple of
Speaker 1: years and those guys maturing. We saw what Cooper Degen
Speaker 1: did with a pick six and getting Zach Bond, So
Speaker 1: you know, credit to Howie Roseman for hitting on all
Speaker 1: these picks, hitting on these free agency signings, taking a
Speaker 1: chance with Jalen Carter a couple of years ago at
Speaker 1: number nine, and even taking a chance on Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty when they already had Carson Wentz, who
Speaker 1: a lot of people talked about as an MVP candidate,
Speaker 1: but they took Jalen Hurts in the second round, and
Speaker 1: people are thinking, what the heck are they wasting a
Speaker 1: second round pick on? They have Carson Wentz, who you
Speaker 1: know was coming off an MVP type of talk when
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson was there, and obviously it paid off. Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts is now a Super Bowl champion of Super Bowl MVP,
Speaker 1: and Howie Roseman continues to come up roses unintended.
Speaker 5: Ellen Moore and Ben Johnson both now to be head coaches.
Speaker 5: These guys to quarterbacks that were not considered elite honestly
Speaker 5: and probably we're overlooked to a point, help them get
Speaker 5: to an overall game to have great seasons and great success.
Speaker 5: What are your thoughts about some of these offensive minded
Speaker 5: head coach offensive minded coaches now becoming head coaches and
Speaker 5: trying to help some franchises turn things around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's always a craft shoot in my mind, because
Speaker 1: you know when you see guys like Kellen Moore and
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, and the list goes on with all the
Speaker 1: offensive minded guys over the years. We know they are
Speaker 1: good as play callers. We know they are good at schemers.
Speaker 1: That's how they got the head coaching job. What we
Speaker 1: don't know is how they resonate with an entire locker
Speaker 1: room and they're addressing the guys on defense, when they're
Speaker 1: addressing the guys on special teams, how they deliver their messages,
Speaker 1: how they are as leaders of men, and those are
Speaker 1: the answers we'll find out. Obviously, and a lot of
Speaker 1: the times when you find that out sooner rather than later.
Speaker 4: But sometimes it takes a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, Nick Sirianni was two and five his first year,
Speaker 1: and you know who's stumbling through press conferences and you
Speaker 1: know a lot of people sort of you'll poke fun
Speaker 1: of him, you know, the way they did Dan Campbell
Speaker 1: and the bitend of the kneecaps, and that's another story,
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell kind of maturing late. So you know, I
Speaker 1: think we in today's NFL, be with head coaches, be
Speaker 1: with quarterbacks. There is very little patients. But I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Sirianni and Campbell are a couple of examples
Speaker 1: when you do show a little patience, you believe in
Speaker 1: the process that they're selling you that you know, you
Speaker 1: can have long term success as far as you know
Speaker 1: what Ben Johnson and Kellen Moore, you know, might bring
Speaker 1: to the table. I think they have all those qualities,
Speaker 1: but you know, the results will you know bear fruit
Speaker 1: here in twenty twenty five and we'll see what happens omar.
Speaker 3: It's way too early, obviously, We've got a whole off
Speaker 3: season to look ahead. But as of today, what where
Speaker 3: do you see the Chiefs and Eagles needing to retool
Speaker 3: in order to be title contenders again next year, And
Speaker 3: who else might be on your list of early twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six title contenders alongside what I think are our
Speaker 3: two teams that probably should be there if you're if
Speaker 3: you're starting that list here in February of twenty twenty fives.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I think yeah, I think the Chiefs will
Speaker 1: be there. As long as they have Patrick Mahomes and
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, they'll be okay. You know, we talked about
Speaker 1: them tweaking the offensive line. The Eagles essentially just kind
Speaker 1: of run it back. They have such a young roster
Speaker 1: that you know, those guys are only going to get better.
Speaker 1: Reminds me of Kansas City a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: when they had all those rookies playing significant minutes on defense,
Speaker 1: and those guys matured and in many respects, you know,
Speaker 1: have carried the team the last couple of years. You know,
Speaker 1: those guys on defense. But I really like Buffalo at
Speaker 1: this point. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year
Speaker 1: without Stefan Diggs and Gave Davis, and they had let
Speaker 1: go of.
Speaker 4: Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, and I know Brooke. They
Speaker 4: brought one of them back, but you.
Speaker 1: Know, so much talent left and they turned over that
Speaker 1: roster and they still made it to the AFC Championship Game,
Speaker 1: and you know, we're that close to making it to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl and what was considered a rebuilding year.
Speaker 1: So I would say Buffalo will be right there. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Detroit, you know, obviously had all
Speaker 1: kinds of injuries to their defense this year, but I
Speaker 1: think they're not going anywhere. We'll have to see how
Speaker 1: they weather that loss of Ben Johnson. But but if
Speaker 1: there's one team that stands out to me, it's Buffalo
Speaker 1: because of what they proved this year, like I said,
Speaker 1: in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year.
Speaker 5: Who do you worry about taking a step back?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: I worry about the forty nine ers, you know, because
Speaker 1: you know, obviously they took a step back this year.
Speaker 1: But you know, you kind of think with Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: brought Perdy, you know they're they're going to find a
Speaker 1: way to retool. But I'm just not so sure because
Speaker 1: that injury at Christian McCaffrey seems you know, rather significant.
Speaker 1: Trent Williams, you know, the offense kind of went through
Speaker 1: him a lot. Deebo Samuel's now on the trade block,
Speaker 1: you know, George Kittle's not getting any younger, and and
Speaker 1: you know, so that's a team that perennially contends, and
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure you know, they can retool on
Speaker 1: the fly the way some of these other teams have,
Speaker 1: the way they're built. So that would be a team
Speaker 1: for me that you know, I think might struggle to
Speaker 1: find its footing that been regularly in contention the last
Speaker 1: few years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, with the Niners, it's more, you know, is this
Speaker 3: is twenty twenty five. In twenty twenty four a moment
Speaker 3: or did we just see the window close for what
Speaker 3: was I think a Super Bowl window that if they
Speaker 3: could have figured a few things out, man, they could
Speaker 3: have had a maybe multiple rinks in San Francisco, Omar,
Speaker 3: What does an off season look like in the in
Speaker 3: the Ruiz.
Speaker 1: Household, Well, it never ends, you know, I think you
Speaker 1: have a little more downtime. We go for a ride
Speaker 1: on the beach here and you know, get some exercise
Speaker 1: and some fresh air. But yeah, we'll have the combine
Speaker 1: coverage coming up here in a couple of weeks and
Speaker 1: then it's free agency after that, and then the owners meetings,
Speaker 1: and then college pro days and then the draft and
Speaker 1: OTA's and Mini camp and then vacation and then it's
Speaker 1: training camp. So you know, the NFL calendar as busy
Speaker 1: as ever, but it's going to be nice to relax
Speaker 1: for a little bit and get away. But it's been
Speaker 1: fun to be on with you guys this year and
Speaker 1: look forward to continuing to have these conversations.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe take a few weeks at least to yourself
Speaker 3: and then we'll talk some some NFL draft shortly.
Speaker 4: Thanks man, hey man, Thank you, guys.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Omar Ruiz of the NFL Network Omar d Ruiz Online
Speaker 3: always appreciate his time throughout the NFL season forty to
Speaker 3: twenty two. The Philadelphia Eagles with the win and a
Speaker 3: Super Bowl title. I think I'm with him on most
Speaker 3: of the contenders for next year too, Chiefs, Eagles. I
Speaker 3: believe that they have the opportunity to retool and be
Speaker 3: right back there. Eagles don't have to do really whole
Speaker 3: lot of nothing to get back there. And then for me,
Speaker 3: it's the Bills and the Ravens that are the real
Speaker 3: contenders in the AFC still waiting for one of those
Speaker 3: guys in Lamar and Josh Allen to take Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 3: out and get to the title game. And then yeah,
Speaker 3: on the NFC side, Lions Commanders. Maybe I don't know
Speaker 3: where the forty nine ers really turn. It does seem
Speaker 3: like maybe they're turning a page.
Speaker 5: Man, you really feel for them in that like Minnesota
Speaker 5: takes a step back, that doesn't mean they won't be good.
Speaker 5: They will to take a step back.
Speaker 2: They were and they were so hard to read this year.
Speaker 5: I was so impressed. I mean that that is as
Speaker 5: impressive to if you had to tell me they're fourteen
Speaker 5: to three and the way they did it, I mean,
Speaker 5: that is remarkable work.
Speaker 2: And I do everything they faced.
Speaker 3: I do not disagree with you, Tony, But have you
Speaker 3: ever I don't know how to put this, have you
Speaker 3: ever gone into a postseason and not thought about a
Speaker 3: fourteen and three team like that much? I had had
Speaker 3: such a lack of I don't want to say respect,
Speaker 3: because I do respect what the Vikings did, but they
Speaker 3: were coming into the postseason fourteen and three and I
Speaker 3: just did not feel like they were a contender. And
Speaker 3: that's something that I you know, you struggle to get
Speaker 3: to fourteen and three if you're not that good of
Speaker 3: a football team, and I believe they were. But there
Speaker 3: was something about them that kept me from feeling like
Speaker 3: they were going to beat Philadelphia or Kansas City on
Speaker 3: the big stick.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they didn't feel fourteen and three.
Speaker 2: It's just what was the thing about I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know. Like the most impressed I was with
Speaker 5: them all year was when they went up twenty eight
Speaker 5: nothing on Green Bay. He was like, man, and then
Speaker 5: they blew it and then won. But it was like
Speaker 5: I couldn't every time I watched them, I was like,
Speaker 5: you know what, I got to get more credit. These
Speaker 5: guys are just better and you know what, man, they're
Speaker 5: not as good as I think. And then they win
Speaker 5: and so I figure out, you could not get a
Speaker 5: gauge on this team the entire year and every single time.
Speaker 5: And then it was the Detroit loss at Detroit, the
Speaker 5: way they went down thirty one nine, I thought, yeah,
Speaker 5: see once again, and they go into the game at
Speaker 5: the Rams, I don't expect them to win. Not only
Speaker 5: do they not win, they get trounced, And I thought, man,
Speaker 5: that I've never felt more bizarre about a fourteen win
Speaker 5: team that that was really a strange, strange season as
Speaker 5: far as their success.
Speaker 3: And you're a Michigan guy, McCarthy, is that is that
Speaker 3: the future there?
Speaker 2: We'll find out.
Speaker 5: I'm I like all the different throws that he can make.
Speaker 5: I don't know just how good he can get. I
Speaker 5: feel like he is good enough right now to be
Speaker 5: a good middle of the road quarterback in the National
Speaker 5: Football League. I'm excited for his future. Once again, I
Speaker 5: even underestimated him a bit at Michigan.
Speaker 2: So we'll we'll find out.
Speaker 5: I mean, that's one of those where I'm like, man,
Speaker 5: I'm hoping he is really really good. But I see
Speaker 5: him as just, you know, being a very good quarterback
Speaker 5: in the NFL. I don't know about elite. Whereas I
Speaker 5: look at the Commanders, I could see them not falling off,
Speaker 5: but taking a step back. Man, that second year you
Speaker 5: jump out there on the scene.
Speaker 2: You know how it is in that division too.
Speaker 5: Yeah, people get film, you play tough for teams coming
Speaker 5: up next year. It just gets Replicating what you do
Speaker 5: in the NFL is hard. I thought I thought, uh,
Speaker 5: Detroit was gonna take a step back.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I did.
Speaker 5: I just thought you don't have the quarterback play to
Speaker 5: win fifteen games when now everybody has a target on you.
Speaker 5: They're not fooled by what you do. Tip of the
Speaker 5: hat to the Detroit Lions for doing what they did.
Speaker 5: They exceeded what I thought that they would do well.
Speaker 3: Antoni, I think we maybe have to start looking and
Speaker 3: paying attention to NFL games a little differently during the
Speaker 3: regular season, especially as they start to add more and
Speaker 3: more games on the schedule. You're going to see players
Speaker 3: and teams, not that they're not going to take every
Speaker 3: game seriously. There's an urgency to the NFL when there's
Speaker 3: only eighteen weeks in the year. It's not like the NBA,
Speaker 3: where there's off nights. You have to be on your
Speaker 3: game each and every Sunday. But you may start to
Speaker 3: see teams that are fourteen and three because the team
Speaker 3: they were playing in week seventeen rest at all their
Speaker 3: starters because they were already surefire into the playoff spot
Speaker 3: right there. There's going to be more of that as
Speaker 3: you go into adding games on to the end of
Speaker 3: the schedule. And and I think that looking at teams
Speaker 3: and how their roster's built and if they have the
Speaker 3: quarterback play to win a super Bowl is going to
Speaker 3: give you more an idea what's going to happen in
Speaker 3: the postseason. Then a team's win low record, and it's
Speaker 3: kind of seeming to play out that way. Of course
Speaker 3: with Minnesota, I don't know, man, I don't know. Some
Speaker 3: inconsistencies on the offensive line. You mentioned, you just aren't
Speaker 3: totally totally confident at the quarterback position. But yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean I wrote down seven eight teams here for my
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six Super Bowl and they're not on there.
Speaker 3: And they won fourteen games this year, and that's that's
Speaker 3: odd to me.
Speaker 5: I have never been so wrong about a team but
Speaker 5: yet so unconfident about what they were going to do next.
Speaker 3: Well, you were wrong because you didn't think they were
Speaker 3: gonna be good. I just like they won a bunch
Speaker 3: of games and then still weren't.
Speaker 2: Like every watch them. Maybe you were wrong.
Speaker 4: They won.
Speaker 2: They deserve the credit.
Speaker 5: I'm trying not to be a Vikings hater here, you know,
Speaker 5: and you're you're mixing with it, like what am I missing?
Speaker 2: Here?
Speaker 5: What am I missing? There's got to be something about
Speaker 5: them I'm missing.
Speaker 2: And then the way they lost to the Lions.
Speaker 5: The way they lost the playoffs, I'm like, hey, that's
Speaker 5: kind of what I thought they would be really for
Speaker 5: this whole year. I just think that staff obviously did
Speaker 5: a great job. They wildly overachieved in every single way.
Speaker 4: It was great.
Speaker 5: I think the Steelers season, that's kind of what they
Speaker 5: were all year too.
Speaker 2: And then they fell off.
Speaker 5: But I was kind of the same way with them
Speaker 5: earlier in the year, like, no, they're not They've got issues,
Speaker 5: they don't have the quarterback, they don't have this, they
Speaker 5: don't have that. They find a way to win, and
Speaker 5: then I'm standing there going, yeah, I know the record
Speaker 5: is this, but they're not that good and it sounds
Speaker 5: moronic to say. And then they fell off. So it's
Speaker 5: that this was a very bizarre season. The National Football
Speaker 5: League is always tough to predict, but this one was
Speaker 5: as inside out as