0:00

They around the NFL podcast,

0:04

It's ready to serve you a Championship

0:07

Sunday Chasty

0:12

from the Chris Westling podcast studio.

0:16

It's around the NFL, the flagship

0:18

program, the Championship Sunday.

0:21

That's a little play on words cestog Sunday

0:24

in the.

0:24

Day of the week and the little ice cream treat.

0:27

My imagination only immediately

0:29

goes to Jason Zumwalt out in the Connecticut

0:32

wilderness eating a massive banana split

0:34

nude Sunday.

0:35

Oh that's just me.

0:36

Well nude, I just assume we assume nude.

0:38

Jason. I miss you, buddy. Come back.

0:40

Dan Hans is here with Greg Rosenthal

0:43

and Mark Sessler, and yes, the

0:45

Super Bowl is set. It's

0:47

gonna sound familiar, but it's

0:49

gonna be a good game. The San Francisco forty

0:52

nine Ers against the Kansas City

0:54

Chiefs from Allegiant

0:57

Stadium. M HM in Lost

1:00

Vegas and Greggy, you're

1:04

addicted. What do you think the opening

1:06

spread is.

1:07

I'm not addicted to anything because the NFL

1:10

prevents me from being so.

1:12

I'm not addicted. Pigskin, Oh, no

1:14

idea, I met his gambling. Go ahead, we'll

1:17

do the DraftKings since we're connected to them.

1:19

Tententially forty

1:22

nine ers minus one and a half.

1:23

Niners mark two and

1:26

a half, bing bang boom,

1:28

sess Dog's on fire with a spread two weeks in a

1:30

row, two and a half.

1:31

It is opening at two and a half.

1:33

A dug in a dug in Addicted Gambler,

1:35

I.

1:35

Just Sempler is not coming

1:38

Vegas. He will be working at Mandalay

1:41

Sports Book.

1:42

By Lord, are we worried about sastag in Vegas

1:44

for the Super Bowl?

1:44

I am?

1:45

I mean no more than most any super Bowl.

1:47

But yes, this one, my behavior

1:50

will be pristine. This one is just start right

1:52

there. This one's a little touch and go. Other

1:55

books have it between two and three, but

1:57

DraftKings says it right in the middle.

2:00

That's the one that I

2:02

we're loyal to them. I don't know,

2:04

are we? I can't even keep I don't know.

2:06

I just want Toyota Grand

2:08

Islander, and you just want damn

2:11

dejoorno pizza.

2:12

Three dollar frozen pizza that like you

2:14

know, a child could be.

2:15

Is that is that asking too much to get

2:17

mark a four dollars ninety

2:19

nine cent pizza?

2:20

It is?

2:22

That's what I've been told.

2:24

So here we are too closely

2:27

contested games, two games

2:29

that featured big

2:32

swings and emotion, two

2:35

games in which only

2:37

one team could be victorious,

2:40

and now the Super Bowl sets. So we're going to go through

2:42

both of them, and we'll

2:45

start with the

2:47

AFC Championship Game, the showdown

2:50

between the Mighty Kansas City

2:52

Chiefs. This this proud team,

2:54

this dynasty. Could you call them a dynasty?

2:57

Almost had you felt like you got to get back to another

2:59

one, maybe winning one before. It's

3:01

like a you know, set

3:03

in Stone dynasty. But they had to take care

3:05

business here against the number one seed

3:08

Ravens at home.

3:09

With the MVP.

3:10

If they didn't beat Mahomes

3:12

this time, they never would.

3:14

Let's see to the game. Those

3:17

were the narrative.

3:17

Forty six Ravens, four man front,

3:23

playing Cress.

3:23

On the outside.

3:24

Mahomes will throw it in the pocket.

3:26

He's launching one long.

3:27

Mar Quest Valders Scantley trenches

3:29

the call at the Raven thirty on

3:32

his backside, Shades

3:34

of the catch he had against Cincinnati

3:37

in the end zone last year in the AFC

3:39

Championship Game. Mark Kles

3:42

Valdez Scantley shaving the best

3:44

or last.

3:47

Whoa Mitch Holt this with a call mvs.

3:51

Who couldn't catch the sniffles in

3:54

April of twenty twenty, now

3:56

is unstoppable on deep

3:59

balls. He makes the catch the

4:01

clincher from thirty two yards

4:04

from Mahomes on third and

4:06

nine with about two minutes to play.

4:09

You know, the incompletion there would

4:11

have given the Ravens the ball with time to either

4:13

tie or win, but instead the

4:16

Chiefs and the great Mahomes gore

4:18

touchdowns on each of their first two possessions,

4:21

then again turned to that defense, which

4:24

was as good as advertised, to beat the Ravens

4:26

seventeen to ten. And it is the Kansas

4:29

City Chiefs back to the Super Bowl

4:31

for the fourth time in five years

4:34

as they continue to chisel

4:36

away in stone a dynasty

4:38

case and Greg, of course, the Chiefs

4:41

beat the Eagles last year in the Super Bowl, and

4:43

now they look to be the first team to repeat

4:46

as Super Bowl champions since your

4:48

New England Patriots way back in

4:50

twenty four to twenty years ago. And

4:53

man, at this point, how

4:55

could you doubt the Chiefs? I

4:57

dare you to do it. I did it, and

5:00

many others did, and once again they made everybody

5:02

gobble on, Banana splits, Humble

5:05

Pie, Jason's nude, everybody

5:07

was all fired.

5:08

The odds makers are doing it again apparently

5:10

as well. And what I think

5:12

that number and all the numbers can't

5:14

really quantify is

5:17

how Patrick mahomes with a big time

5:19

assist from his guy Travis

5:22

Kelcey. And it is crazy how this

5:24

team who's made all these AFC Championship games

5:26

in a row and all these Super Bowls into just a short time,

5:28

is really led by their quarterback and tight

5:30

end, just like the Patriots, that

5:32

they're led by the best game

5:34

manager I've ever seen. Like he's

5:37

the best player I've ever seen. And there's a

5:39

lot of game manager discourse going around,

5:41

I feel like lately, and to me, this game

5:43

was a sign of how

5:45

Patrick Malmes has always been a game manager,

5:47

but it's even better at it now because

5:50

you think of those first couple of drives. He

5:52

hits a beautiful throw to Kelsey

5:55

on third and down to stay on the

5:57

field, or rather the fourth

5:59

down to stay on the field. Incredible

6:01

play where Kelsey's not open and

6:03

he's the backside receiver on that plays the third

6:06

option and you get to it in a big spot

6:08

you get Kelsey again, not

6:10

really that open for the touchdown, but just a beautiful

6:13

play. You get a couple of touchdowns early,

6:15

and then nothing happens.

6:18

Essentially for eighth Street Driving. You can say, oh, he

6:20

didn't even have a very good game. They scored seventeen

6:22

points, and that's all true. But

6:24

he knew what he was doing, he didn't

6:26

make any mistakes. And then when you absolutely needed

6:28

to get a first down at the

6:31

end, he goes for a big play

6:33

and he hits it to MVS. Who is our

6:35

modern day Sammy Watkins. He only shows

6:37

up in the biggest games ever, and he delivers.

6:41

Even when MVS was obviously,

6:43

you know, and overtly struggling, and a

6:45

couple times like An Island games on like Sunday

6:47

Night Football, he still was getting behind

6:50

defense. He still had his speech right,

6:52

he was getting behind defenders, and it was just like, can you

6:54

just convert? Can you catch them ball? And

6:57

in the last couple of weeks, the

6:59

questions that we've had about Kansas City's

7:01

weapons and offense, that

7:03

story's changed.

7:04

And it's not that there's suddenly some sort of powerhouse.

7:07

They're not.

7:07

They're still struggling there.

7:08

I mean you know, I watched this game

7:10

today and the way it ended it was just like a team that finds

7:13

the way. Each of these teams have a character and a

7:15

kind of a definition of who they are. And

7:17

the Chiefs like can win ugly, they

7:19

can win in ways that they didn't win in previous

7:22

years, and they can do it with the same players, And

7:24

you know, it's like there's this there's this whole

7:27

other story of.

7:27

This, because it's very painful.

7:30

I think to lose the Super Bowl is.

7:33

Stark, but to lose these AFC and NFC

7:35

championship games, like you come

7:38

this far if you're the Ravens, and the

7:40

things that got you here did not show up

7:42

today the way they should have. But I would say this, you

7:44

cannot blame their defense. They shut down Kansas

7:46

City for the almost entirety

7:49

of the second half and gave their offense

7:51

a chance to succeed.

7:52

And that's what I mean.

7:53

It's sort of isn't it always It's always something

7:55

And that's why this dis performance in this game offensively,

7:57

and we'll get to the defense for the Chiefs just remind him

8:00

so much of Brady because like you look at the box squard at

8:02

the end, It's like, oh, they they averaged four point four yards

8:04

per play and they were stopped

8:06

for like seven or eight straight drives and then but like he

8:09

knows how to make the plays that you need to.

8:10

He knows what that game require.

8:12

Yeah, it does.

8:13

But I also just think that this Chiefs

8:15

defense, which is overshadowed because

8:17

of Mahomes always, is like the

8:20

stamp of this team is what their defense was

8:22

able to do today. You took the MVP and

8:25

a Ravens offense thatd it dominated teams

8:27

and dominated the forty nine ers and blew the doors

8:29

off the Houston Texans, and they were

8:31

non existent when it mattered the most.

8:33

Yeah, and I listen, they the

8:35

Chiefs did not score in the second

8:38

half. And there are echoes

8:40

of the Patriots dynasty now

8:42

that are just rippling and bouncing off this,

8:45

this chief Chiefs team and this this era of

8:47

Chiefs football, and it is it

8:49

is the fact that it isn't just Mahomes,

8:52

you know, just like it wasn't just Brady and

8:55

the fact that they and I went into

8:57

them a little bit, went into this game a little bit dubious.

9:00

I've seen multiple like quote unquote big

9:02

time defenses not step up down

9:04

the stretch of the season, and the Chiefs

9:06

once again showed and Steve Spagnola, who you haven't

9:08

heard anything about, getting

9:11

another chance at a head coaching job.

9:13

I mean, this guy is the secret weapon.

9:15

He is the Belichick to what Bill

9:17

Parcells had during his era in

9:19

time in the late eighties and early nineties.

9:22

What the game plan he cooked up to

9:25

confuse and befuddle Lamar Jackson,

9:27

who looked like he didn't

9:29

know what he was seeing in this game. And there

9:32

were so many moments when the Ravens

9:35

pass protection is holding up and I know

9:37

they got to him a couple times as well, but and

9:40

he's just holding the ball, Lamar, because

9:42

he's, to quote the Darnald.

9:44

Line, he was seeing ghosts.

9:45

And there are multiple times that I'm thinking, Lamar,

9:47

you are the most fantastic athlete to

9:50

play the quarterback position, perhaps

9:52

ever, and you're just sitting in this pocket waiting

9:54

for something to happen, waiting to see something

9:57

that's not there. So you have to give

9:59

it to the Chiefs that every level of their defense

10:01

played a big time game. But it is

10:03

a team effort, Greg and it's Mahomes

10:06

and Kelsey and that offensive

10:08

line stepping up. Even on a day where they're running game,

10:10

they couldn't do anything. But the

10:13

fact that they were able to make enough plays on offense

10:15

early and then lean on their defense just a total team

10:17

effort and a reminder and a lesson

10:19

to me, and I think it should be to a lot of people. Is

10:22

these teams that don't come around too

10:24

often. When the playoffs

10:26

come, you see them make the plays

10:29

and stay under control and close out

10:31

games. And teams like the Ravens, no matter

10:33

how great they have been during the year,

10:36

things go sideways and they start short

10:38

circuiting. And you saw that a lot with Baltimore

10:40

in this game, they did not play a good game. Greg they didn't play

10:42

a discipline game, and they're going home.

10:44

I think their defense played well overall,

10:46

the offense didn't.

10:47

We'll get to that.

10:47

I want to just give the credit to the Chiefs

10:50

first, Like you mentioned, Pacheco couldn't

10:52

get anything done, and yet like when again, when

10:54

they get the ball back two thirty four to go,

10:56

Tucker d just hit the field go at seventy to ten. They

11:00

had their best run in about three quarters

11:02

and that seven yards on first

11:04

down. It's just like, even without

11:06

Joe Toney, they had some runs on those

11:08

first touchdown drives and that seven

11:11

yard run set up you know, Baltimore

11:13

intentionally taking a penalty

11:15

and it set up everything else. But you're right, the

11:17

story should be the defense and

11:20

Lamar Jackson struggled in

11:22

this game. The run game other than Lamar

11:25

he did lead them, and rushing for fifty four yards

11:27

was non existent. Gus Edwards and Justice Hill

11:29

had to combine six attempts

11:32

to Lamar Jackson's thirty seven

11:34

passing attempts, which I think they're you

11:36

know, Todd Monkin is going to regret

11:38

how that played out. But the

11:40

guys on the other side of the field. I think of that Chris

11:43

Jones deflection in the first

11:45

half on third down when they were throwing a screen, people

11:47

are like, oh, if that I saw people Like, if that wasn't

11:49

Lamar Jackson, people would be killing him for that

11:51

place. Like, No, that was incredible

11:54

recognition and play by Chris Jones that he made

11:56

multiple times that was going to be a first down.

11:58

Lamar even tried to like get it away

12:00

from him by throwing it sideways, and Chris

12:02

Jones still makes it. Lagarious Steed knocks

12:05

out the ball. It's a play that

12:07

Zay Flowers is going to live with for the rest of his life

12:09

and he should not be reaching it out at the goal

12:11

line. But it's still lagarious Steed, one

12:13

of the best defensive backs in the league making

12:15

a hustle play and knocking it out at

12:18

the goal line. They were just so active defensively.

12:20

Amena who had that force fumble

12:23

on Lamar when he did hold it on too long,

12:25

they get the interception. They didn't drop their

12:27

interceptions like we saw so many other

12:29

teams have today. The intercepted Lamar in

12:32

the end zone, so like it's

12:34

a team effort. We have a little

12:36

shot of the

12:38

T shirt that all the players wore

12:41

of Steve Spagnolo. So if you're watching how he's

12:43

on YouTube and I see those YouTube numbers ridesing,

12:45

we appreciate you like and subscribe.

12:47

It was great that I see them to happen the in

12:50

Spags we trust with the

12:52

demon eyes.

12:53

Every defensive player was wearing.

12:55

Spag said he was almost embarrassed and he was saying,

12:57

I sure hope we won because they were wearing it before the

12:59

game and they came through with

13:01

an effort that shows how much they trust in

13:03

Spags.

13:04

I got out to Nate Taylor on the tweet.

13:06

It's I think Spagnola

13:08

one of the things that he's done in multiple

13:10

games where it's like, you

13:12

know, I think because he was an unsuccessful head

13:14

coach, he had to recreate his you know,

13:16

reputation on some level. But like the blitzes

13:19

that he cooked up, like I thought, the Ravens offensive

13:21

line was operating

13:24

from behind the entire game today, and

13:27

that's how you get you know, if you're gonna

13:29

beat this Chiefs team, you need to beat

13:31

at home, pure pristine, and

13:33

you get a terrible Lamar Jackson

13:36

interception in the end zone. There was another play

13:38

on a third down pass where he's very

13:41

lucky it wasn't picked off, you had the fumble.

13:43

It's like Lamar Jackson needs to go

13:45

as the so called MVP, go and play

13:48

his best game, and it's it's it

13:50

just seems to be asking too much. But it's this

13:52

Chiefs defense that creates complete and total

13:54

confusion. I think the Ravens

13:57

line was cooked from the start, Like the way that

13:59

they were rushing and getting to them

14:01

with speed rushers, like from wire

14:03

to wire. It's like it just seemed like

14:05

Baltimore had no answers and they

14:08

got away from who've they've been all year. I thought

14:10

they went away from their ground game.

14:11

I thought, and this is not meant to like

14:14

I'm just gonna want to cook up Lamar

14:16

here, but I thought we were past this, and

14:18

I thought what we saw on the second half of the divisional

14:20

playoffs that put some things

14:22

to bed around him, and what

14:25

the story is, or the quote unquote narrative

14:27

around Lamar Jackson is, I

14:29

didn't expect. That's why I picked up Ravens. That's

14:31

why I locked up the Ravens. I thought

14:33

this really was his moment. So I

14:36

can't say, you have to say it's a disappointing

14:39

performance obviously by Lamar, but

14:41

I don't want to take away from what Kansas

14:43

City's defense did in this game and what Spags

14:45

and company have done all year.

14:47

It's a combination of both.

14:49

Well, it's also like everything went

14:51

against them too, Like if the Flowers

14:54

touchdown, especially, don't you think change the game. I mean,

14:56

it's seventeen fourteen there with a ton

14:58

of time left in that game, and that was off

15:01

of two three straight

15:03

good throws by.

15:03

Lebar and here's the thing.

15:04

You're right, and you have a you

15:07

have a terrible turnover by

15:10

Zay Flowers. That's the old Bill Belichick would

15:12

bench you if you ever try to reach near

15:14

the goal line. It was a dreaded mistake

15:16

and it might have cost them their season. And

15:19

they got the ball down deep again. Was

15:21

at the next possession, and that's when Lamar throws a ball

15:23

up for grabs. A couple of different plays

15:26

go differently, and the Ravens are

15:28

either you know, we're going overtime or

15:30

they went out right. But that almost

15:32

like is too kind to their performance

15:35

as a whole. I thought this was a team

15:37

that was undisciplined,

15:39

that let the moment overwhelm overwhelm

15:42

them. I thought they had multiple,

15:44

you know, bad penalties, whether

15:46

it was personal fouls, was

15:48

there are too many men on a field, there are five fifteen

15:51

yard penalties.

15:52

So that's that's sort of what I mean where it's like, you're right, Lamar

15:54

did not have a good game. He had

15:57

his moments, but like

15:59

a lot of this year for this team, like especially

16:01

if it was a full team, like everyone

16:04

had a huge part of that. They had four personal

16:06

foul penalties and that those

16:08

first ones. Two of them

16:11

led to the three points that the Chiefs had before

16:13

halftime, which were massive, so they ended

16:15

up minus three. Right, there

16:18

was no there was there was some missed maybe

16:20

I thought you could have called the pass interference on Lamar's

16:23

interception, but it doesn't take away that it was

16:25

the worst possible throw and

16:27

like it.

16:28

Was, I think we were getting that throw this

16:31

January, right, and that's gonna now that

16:33

sticks with him again, whether people want to talk about

16:36

it.

16:36

It does.

16:36

So it's not it's like it's not just

16:38

a target Lamar thing. But I like when

16:41

you think of the Baltimore Ravens under Harbaugh,

16:44

who they've been, like the ro Kwan

16:46

Smith unnecessary roughness penalty

16:48

where it was like, you know, a sham. You're going in there

16:50

on intentionally to blow things

16:52

up, but you do it in a way where you're not even a good

16:54

thespian, you're not a good actor, and it gets

16:56

called for what it is. And Zay

16:59

Flowers young player, He's gonna learn from this. But like

17:01

the taunting call, that was.

17:02

An insane It was about a five place sequence

17:05

where he makes a big play, gets a

17:07

taunting, then he gets another

17:09

big play to get those yards back from the taunting

17:12

penalty, then gets the ball knocked

17:14

away on a penalty, then goes back to

17:16

the sideline and slams his helmet down and cuts

17:18

his finger open. That's an insane, like

17:20

five minutes of a human's life that

17:22

was documented seven human in front of sixty

17:25

million people. Speaking of Lamar,

17:28

let's let's hear from the and he

17:30

will be a week from Thursday named

17:33

the NFL MVP. And you can't take away anything

17:36

from him in terms of the performance

17:38

going into this game, but all of it seems a little

17:40

bittersweet now for Raven's nation.

17:42

No hay in the barn, I.

17:44

Mean no turnovers, you know, they they played the game

17:47

basically perfect. They put points on the board.

17:50

I felt like, if we wouldn't turn the ball over, we definitely

17:52

would have had a shot. We definitely would have came out

17:54

with a win. But they did a great job and I turned the ball over and

17:56

pulling points on the board.

17:59

And let's hear from the other quarterback, Patrick

18:01

Mahomes, who and Lamar

18:03

made a good point there. I mean, the Chiefs weren't

18:05

perfect in this game, but again they've

18:07

been so clean and they've been.

18:10

They're playing it the way the Patriots used to play

18:12

it. Even wasn't a pristine, perfect

18:14

effort. They play the game

18:17

the quote unquote right way, and then the other team

18:19

wilts in the big moment, and then you take advantage

18:21

of it.

18:21

All of a sudden, you're walking away. It's like, did

18:24

we just lose that game? Yeah.

18:25

You always seem to get beat by that team that always

18:27

keeps their heads together this time of year.

18:29

You don't take it for granted. Either. You

18:32

never know how many you're gonna get to you

18:35

or if you're gonna get to any And so it

18:37

truly is special just

18:40

to do it with these guys after what we've been through

18:42

all season long, the guys coming together, it

18:44

really is special. But I told

18:46

him, I mean, job's not done. I mean our job now

18:49

is to prepare ourselves to play a good football team

18:51

in the Super Bowl and try to get that ring.

18:54

I think it will remember

18:57

that. You know, you'll see at the end of the game they only seventeen

19:00

points, and you look at the box score and

19:02

all that, and it doesn't seem like a crazy

19:05

impressive performance. I believe there was an eight

19:07

drive sequence here

19:10

where they had three points. I mean really

19:12

the last eight and not many first

19:14

downs either. I think they had eight first downs

19:17

in those eight drives, so they weren't

19:19

really moving the ball. But that obscure

19:21

is like how impressive those first

19:24

two drives were. Like the

19:26

play where to me that would defined this game

19:28

was the one where Mahomes is scrambling around,

19:31

breaks a bunch of tackles and

19:34

throws an insane pass that Kelsey

19:37

catches beautiful, like he's I'm

19:39

trying to think of a great center fielder here, maybe

19:42

Mooki and his prime like diving

19:44

for the ball. Kelsey gets that and

19:46

that leads directly to a touchdown.

19:48

Those were magical plays by

19:50

Mahomes on those.

19:51

First couple of times. They were perfect.

19:52

He started eleven for eleven

19:55

in this game, and those two touchdowns.

19:57

Yeah, you needed your defense to be great, but

20:00

they set the tone.

20:01

For the game. I'm gonna give you a center fielder Jim

20:03

Edmonds.

20:03

Okay, that would have been like that.

20:05

I mean, I think Kelsey's like degree of difficulty

20:07

with some of the catches, especially like right

20:09

out of the gate. I think he had four catches in the first quarter

20:12

alone, and you know, Broke the Jerry Rice

20:14

postseason record. But it was like we had

20:16

come to this sort of common understanding

20:19

that this version of Kelsey that we were getting largely

20:21

was not They.

20:23

Got rope adopes.

20:23

Everybody, you

20:27

know how he throws went to Kelsey and that he and.

20:29

Bills did zero the Bills.

20:31

The Bills got rope adoped. The

20:33

Ravens got rope adope, Ropodope America

20:36

got rope adoped. Nobody saw this,

20:38

this Chiefs rise coming, except for the Chiefs.

20:40

I think they always believed they did

20:43

do this.

20:43

I know this maybe is arcane

20:45

or stupid or means nothing, but I when the when

20:48

the replays, when James Palmer sent out you

20:50

know, end zone evidence

20:52

of you Justin Tucker sitting there with this

20:54

little kicking tea and his helmet China, get in

20:56

the way of Patrick Mahomes warming up,

20:59

and Kelsey just come over and takes Justin

21:01

Tucker's a Hall of future Halday, our greatest

21:03

takes and whips it through the end

21:05

zone.

21:06

It's like, get out of our space.

21:07

We were in Baltimore, and it's like something

21:10

about the Chiefs, that's who they

21:12

are.

21:12

It's like it was an out ones.

21:13

Get it was it was.

21:14

It was and Justin Tuck, like.

21:16

To his credit, didn't explode or throw

21:18

a hissy fit or anything, but it was like he was

21:20

left as the lesser individual

21:23

in that kind.

21:23

It was your home stadium. It was I

21:25

know this is your stadium. I know you're the number one

21:27

seed. Uh, but this is Championship

21:30

Sunday, and this is this is our time, this is the.

21:31

Chiefs, this is what we do.

21:33

Yeah, you're just a guest and you'll find out

21:35

in about four hours how this goes. And

21:38

they absolutely, uh, they

21:40

a absolutely followed up with

21:42

a great performance. Let's listen to Kelsey on the riser

21:45

after the game.

21:47

Shout out to Jerry rise baby the Chiefs to steal

21:49

the Chiefs and believe it.

21:51

You gotta fight for your

21:53

ride.

21:57

Believe it, baby, we're going to La Vegas

22:00

that to get us another

22:02

one. I

22:04

love that the white boy flow from Kelsey, especially

22:07

when he's excited.

22:08

Yeah, it's.

22:11

You know that doesn't happen often to.

22:12

Compete on that.

22:13

And and let's just I want to mention

22:15

this so before we get sidetracked again,

22:18

the fact that Taylor Swift is

22:21

at the game again.

22:22

She comes down on the field after the game.

22:24

There's all sorts of shots of them together and

22:26

point at each other and kissing. It's

22:32

you can't make it up, like you can't

22:34

make up the fact that and maybe and there's

22:36

been a lot of talk. I don't know, we haven't really addressed it on

22:38

the show, not because we're avoiding it, but just you

22:40

know, you know, it's stupid, But a

22:42

lot of talk about the fixes in and all this

22:44

was planned, and the colors of the

22:46

super Bowl logo we're supposed to be telling

22:48

us that the NFL had already decided who was the

22:52

US.

22:53

You know, late at night about that.

22:54

But so the Travis Kelcey thing that he ends up

22:56

dating the most famous woman in the world, and

22:58

now she's been continually in

23:01

the news and on the cameras, and now

23:03

she's on the field at the ABC Championship game, and

23:05

now she's going to be at the super Bowl. This

23:07

is the the biggest Taylor

23:11

Swift is on the biggest.

23:13

Pop culture heater since

23:15

Michael Jackson.

23:16

You put out thriller in November eighty

23:18

two, and we're going to take it to We Are the

23:20

World, which he co wrote with Lionel Ritchie

23:23

and performed in eighty five.

23:25

I put Taylor's run.

23:26

The fact that she's in the middle of even this pop culture

23:28

moment, from all her music

23:31

and all her success, it is outrageous.

23:34

How in the middle of everything this woman

23:36

is.

23:37

That's my point.

23:37

I mean that well, in like the

23:40

kiss they had was like perfectly

23:43

framed. They actually ran it as they were rolling.

23:45

The credits reminded me so much

23:48

of like maybe the most famous photograph

23:50

in like American history there

23:52

in the timescar picture after defeating

23:55

you know, after you know, World War two and

23:57

everything.

23:58

And that, except now it's trying is Kelcey.

24:00

That's our generation, that's our picture, Travis

24:02

Kelcey and Taylor Stiff.

24:04

People need to calm down. If that, if they get their

24:06

d day, everybody's gonna oh d And it was after victory.

24:09

And yes, I do think Dan, you forgot like

24:11

when Steve Winwoods back in the High Life

24:13

again came out like that was also a heater,

24:15

that really was.

24:16

I know.

24:19

Those second to that, But I mean, this

24:21

is tough' it's a big take you.

24:23

I always pushed so hard back against

24:25

the Kelsey might be in the conversation

24:28

of the greatest tight ends of all time because I just I

24:30

think it was ignoring. First

24:33

of all, how we talked about a lot of those Titans,

24:35

not just Gronk at the time, and some

24:37

of their all pros and all that, and when you stack them

24:39

up, actually they were just as dominant in their day

24:42

as as Kelsey was now. Like stuff

24:44

like this, this playoff run, in particular,

24:47

to put it over the top, does remind me of

24:50

like Gronk, especially in the one

24:52

where they beat the Chiefs and they got their last Super

24:54

Bowl and Gronku and kind of spiking it and having

24:56

that run with the Bucks. This is special

24:58

because you look at the offense, it's

25:01

not really that much different Dan than

25:03

the offense we were complaining about.

25:05

I know we're saying it's so much different. It's

25:07

not that much different. It's just Kelsey and

25:09

Rice. And now they're getting a little

25:12

sprinklet of sc scantling, which does make a big

25:14

difference, a little sprinklet of scalaling. And

25:16

it took away the

25:18

terrible players that were ruining them, sky

25:21

Moore and Tony who's never going

25:23

to play for the Chiefs again, and

25:25

and it eliminated and they eliminated the mistakes

25:28

like that's all like the offense actually isn't doing much

25:30

more.

25:30

James Palmer told, right, they got.

25:32

Rid of all the dumb plays.

25:33

But a huge part of that formula

25:36

is eleven targets to Kelsey for

25:38

eleven catches in one hundred and

25:40

sixty.

25:41

That's it and what he did, that's just it is.

25:45

We weren't this is what they're from last year

25:47

when they were still an unstoppable offense more or less

25:49

and won the Super Bowl. What made

25:51

that work despite losing Tyreek Hill

25:54

was that they had some They didn't have a lot

25:56

of big playability that that wasn't part of their offense

25:58

last year either. They got you know, stuff in

26:01

moments, but mvs

26:03

adding that to their their

26:05

the recipe down the stretch here.

26:07

But Kelsey was the key to everything.

26:11

Shows up every week. I know, right, he's consistent. He's

26:13

the only guy that was consistent all year.

26:15

But that's what we kept on saying, like, what's

26:18

wrong with this offense? Travis

26:20

Kelson having a kind of like one of those all

26:22

time tight end seasons last year lifted

26:25

all the boats. And now that he's

26:27

back doing that again all of a sudden,

26:29

and I know they didn't have a huge offensive game, but it just

26:31

you can't understate how incredibly

26:34

important he is to what they do.

26:35

I mean, Mahomes opened eleven for eleven. Kelsey's

26:38

targeted eleven times has eleven catches,

26:40

and I thought this was the defense that could find

26:42

a way to nullify someone

26:45

like Travis.

26:46

And to be fair, once they got out of their fifteen

26:49

place script they did. I actually think this was a

26:51

good performance by Mike McDonald

26:53

and we end up talking about the winners only,

26:56

but like Kyle Hamilton played incredible

26:58

too.

26:58

It was awesome.

26:59

Rokwan Smith was incredible today.

27:02

I thought Patrick Queen was really good today.

27:05

They got beat and

27:07

I just think great offense beats

27:09

great defense. And when you go when they look

27:11

at those plays that beat them on

27:13

those first two drives, most of them are just

27:15

like great plays that beat guys in good position,

27:18

including that Kelsey touchdown, Like what could

27:20

have Kyle Hamilton done anymore on that play?

27:22

He was all over him. Mahomes fits

27:24

it into a tiny window, he had good coverage

27:26

like that. It happens better

27:29

and they were just better and

27:31

they adjusted. I do think on the other side,

27:33

though, when you look at

27:35

that box score and it's Flowers for five,

27:37

for one, fifteen, and then after that it's it's

27:39

nothing. Algallar had a nice big play on a nice throw

27:41

from Lamar, and Beckham

27:44

is kind of playing their fourth receiver role Bateman

27:47

who they trusted to play more like he doesn't

27:49

do anything, and the drop off

27:51

that there was no one other than Lamar and

27:54

Zay who had his own issues, that really

27:56

did anything. So it was I

27:59

think they're gonna want to fill out this roster. As

28:01

good as this team was, Beckham's not going to be back

28:03

with this team, I don't think unless he just can't get a contract

28:06

elsewhere and he's willing to take like a

28:08

lot less money and they actually do need

28:10

more weapons.

28:10

Still, they were.

28:13

Again right, I was exactly right, Like

28:15

you're you're about and you're not wrong. You're about

28:17

to lose Mike McDonald's as likely

28:20

like to you know, head coaching

28:22

duties, and you have to remove

28:24

some of these weapons, and all the same questions

28:27

crop up, like this is the team that should

28:29

be pounding people in Baltimore

28:31

in their home stadium in late January. Take away

28:33

Lamar on the ground, they ran for twenty seven yards. I

28:35

guess to kill Monkin because the lack

28:37

of carries in this game, and I know the game script and

28:39

the time of possession was a big deal, but I

28:42

mean that's.

28:42

How they were.

28:43

They're never far off, so I I yea.

28:46

They were the team with critical mistakes right.

28:48

Exactly what I mean is they never ran the ball. Part

28:50

of it was they could never get any drives going after

28:53

that touchdown drive. They have the Lamar

28:55

fumble drive that last five plays, they

28:57

have a one first down, five play drive,

29:00

a three and out, a three and out

29:02

to start the second half. They had a little

29:04

something going and then they have take negative plays

29:06

a punt before that, so it was like these short drives.

29:08

But you're absolutely right. I thought

29:10

the.

29:11

Chiefs defensive line really

29:13

stood up. I thought on the other side of the ball, it

29:15

was like a pretty even battle and

29:17

the and the Ravens won their share. But for

29:19

the Chiefs defensive line, Carl Loftis and

29:23

the middle of that line Dana Omena, who certainly

29:26

Chris Jones like they kind of beat.

29:28

I think the Ravens offensive line for the most part,

29:30

especially against the run.

29:31

I thought decisively, like surprisingly,

29:34

and like they have a drive that ends at the

29:36

nine fumble interception

29:38

the one in the end zone and then you

29:40

know.

29:41

A too late field goal.

29:42

It's like they they disappeared, and like you,

29:45

I felt like the Ravens kept having these drives

29:47

where it's like, here's your chance to get back into this, but then it

29:49

would melt in some way and it's like timeless

29:51

takes.

29:52

They outgained that, they outgained the Chiefs two

29:54

hundred and one to seventy eight until that last

29:57

second.

29:58

It's balls off on the second half. It did they

30:00

ask and you don't listen. There

30:02

are very few quarterbacks that are as fortunate

30:05

to say who we're going to talk about later Brock party to

30:07

have all stars or Kurt Warner

30:09

not to sing laud party back in the day, to

30:11

have all stars all around you, like

30:13

you shouldn't if if Lamar is

30:17

as good as we

30:19

say he is, you shouldn't

30:21

have to build the perfect supporting cast

30:23

around him for this ultimately to end with a Lombardi

30:26

Trophy being hoisted. Like the true

30:28

great ones make the most of it, and I think

30:30

they're still less.

30:31

They're and Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady's conference,

30:33

then no one ever makes it.

30:34

Well, I'm just saying, like no one else is great.

30:37

I know, I don't disagree with what you're saying that

30:39

this is a roster on offense that needs tweaks,

30:41

and it would have maybe been a different game of Mark Andrews was

30:43

one hundred percent in this game, obviously, but

30:46

it just was a bad look all the way around for

30:48

the Ravens.

30:49

Flowers bitterly disappointed.

30:50

A great pick, and he was a little immature and made

30:52

some mistakes in this game. He's also a rookie and it was their

30:54

clear number one receiver, so that was a

30:57

nice fine.

30:57

They're just going to be looking for more is.

30:59

And and one last thing about the kel Gronk

31:01

comparison, and it's impossible

31:04

not to do that with like two greats that basically

31:06

overlapped and play the same position just

31:09

like Gronk back in the day. So

31:12

many of the Kelsey catchers are absolute

31:14

daggers, either third down

31:17

conversions, fourth down conversions, red zone

31:19

scoring plays. So even when he like

31:21

in this game, he had eleven, it felt like twenty one,

31:23

Even when like last week, he only had five, but it felt

31:25

like ten because the plays he makes are

31:27

so consequential because and

31:29

it makes sense in the money moments in the

31:32

crucible moments. That's

31:34

where number ten looks, and they're

31:37

going to the Hall of Fame together one

31:39

day.

31:41

That's why we believe in tight end wins.

31:43

That's a stat I'll tell you

31:46

this. I don't yeah, I don't care who else what anybody

31:48

picks.

31:48

I'm done.

31:49

I'm out of the picking against

31:51

Patrick Mahons and Travis Kelcey and

31:54

Spags and Andy Reid in January

31:56

and February, because look, they've

31:58

been laying waste to the doubters and they've

32:00

loved doing it and they're gonna be and there again

32:03

a dog, Greg. So any thoughts,

32:05

any other thoughts on this game before we move.

32:07

On that that is almost perfect for them

32:09

because it's like it's kind of inconsequential

32:11

two and a half points, whatever it is.

32:13

But they can ride that.

32:13

I think they will.

32:14

That will, that will fuel them. We will

32:16

hear about that two weeks.

32:18

We will, we will.

32:20

All right, we're gonna take a break and

32:22

then we're gonna go to the NFC side of

32:24

things, which was, oh

32:27

man, what a wild one.

32:29

All right, let's take a break, right,

32:36

welcome back.

32:38

So the AFC Championship,

32:41

I want to say it went to script because the

32:44

favorite went down in flames, but

32:47

the game played out in ways that made

32:49

sense, you know, and

32:51

with the Mighty Mahomes and Company

32:54

priumphant this NFC title game,

32:56

we're about to get into him. By the way, it's time for

32:58

the Sunday Drive present by the first

33:00

ever Toyota Grand Highlander. And

33:02

I'm only asking for one islander, like Mark. Yeah,

33:05

I think we're asking for like ease, you

33:07

know, let's give Mark five pizzas.

33:09

Yeah, at least that compared to a like a

33:12

human vehicle that costs thousands of dollars.

33:14

It feels like hell is a human vehicle.

33:15

I mean, just the fact that like they're gonna send you like a twenty

33:18

five thousand dollars truck or something or whatever it is,

33:20

like and I'm getting five frozen pizzas.

33:22

Must fit in with the human amobile.

33:24

Just feels like someone who's getting a better deal potentially

33:26

there.

33:27

I'm just saying, but like you're right, monetarily,

33:29

it's not going to even out, but right, just like give

33:31

Mark like a French red pizza

33:34

market, We'll just like know the product better to

33:36

give them the classic pie, you

33:39

know, just mix it up.

33:41

It's a fair request on your part for me, are

33:44

you ready for a big w at your next watch party?

33:46

Anyway?

33:46

We don't know.

33:47

I don't know either.

33:48

Oh what I was saying, was it

33:50

just this game we're about to talk

33:52

about now had so many It was

33:55

really two games, two different games.

33:57

But the thing is when there's two

33:59

different games, you want to be typically

34:01

the team that has like

34:03

their game last

34:05

ye and h for

34:07

fans of the team from.

34:09

Michion, by being their game, you mean like scoring

34:11

lots of points.

34:12

Yeah yeah, and just like you know, because let's

34:14

be honest, GREGI this might be said

34:17

an all time or the all time momentum

34:20

game.

34:20

This is the momentum Bowl.

34:22

This is the one that causes Claybah and

34:24

Greg to drop to their knees and

34:26

profusely apologize. I mean, I think that sets

34:29

the table accurately. I don't think you at

34:31

this point, Greg could debate it. This

34:33

game we're about to talk talk about has

34:36

proven Mark and I and millions

34:38

of others correctly while sending

34:40

you scrambling for shelter.

34:42

Not true. Never, it is completely

34:44

true, not true.

34:46

All right to the big bell bottom.

34:49

Three yards away nine

34:51

feet is required, prety

34:53

under center used check.

34:55

How Elijah Mitchell is in. They

34:57

give it a Mitchell off the right side. Go

35:00

on listen in.

35:02

Touchdown seven

35:10

fran Cisco line.

35:16

There it is the call from Greg Papa

35:18

with Tim Ryan k n

35:21

b R. The

35:23

San Francisco forty nine ers, down twenty

35:26

four to seven at the break, absolutely

35:30

barnstorm the Lions in the second

35:33

half, going

35:35

up thirty four to twenty four after that Mitchell

35:37

touchdown that was set up by a big CMC

35:39

play and then a late

35:42

Lion score made it close

35:44

and hurt some people involved with deserts.

35:47

However, all that mattered in the

35:49

end was San Francisco with that big

35:51

run in the second half take out the Lions

35:53

thirty four to thirty one. The Niners

35:55

scored seventeen points in an eight minute

35:58

span of the third quarter to

36:00

tie this NFC title game, pull away

36:02

in the fourth and they get a rematch with

36:04

the Chiefs who defeated

36:07

them in crushing fashion four years

36:10

ago. Mark the

36:14

Lions did everything

36:16

right, did everything right in

36:18

the first half, but San Francisco's

36:20

offense has the explosiveness

36:23

that if you open the door for him, they

36:26

will storm right in. And to the credit of Purdy

36:28

and Ayuk and Deebo and CMC

36:31

and Kittle, they ran right

36:33

in and set the place on fire.

36:35

Well, they remind me, you know, of what we talked

36:37

about with the Chiefs, to the degree that like you're

36:39

talking about a team that's been through these

36:41

crucible moments against a

36:43

team that is learning what

36:45

that means to even be as an NFL

36:47

team. And they came out, the Lions so hot

36:50

and so fiery, and it was like they seemed

36:52

inevitable, inevitable to me almost. But then

36:54

there was this like these games

36:56

happened, how are they unfold? Like there was a

36:58

sequence of items

37:01

and I'll just say quickly when get into it, but it

37:03

was like you have a key moment where

37:05

it's twenty four to ten, it's fourth and

37:07

two for the Lions, they have a chance to

37:09

really I think, stick a knife into the Niners.

37:12

A fourth and two pass to Josh Reynolds that goes incomplete.

37:14

You could have ran the ball there. On the next

37:16

sequence for the Niners, you have that Brandon Ayuk

37:19

incredible throw downfield, a fifty

37:21

one yard completion that ricochets off the helmet

37:24

of Kindle Wilders.

37:25

Sounds like a space age.

37:27

Underboss the name that infamine,

37:29

right right, I mean the thing these are like, that's

37:31

not the lie, Like that isn't like something you just blame

37:33

on the Lions.

37:34

Just this fateful moment that happened.

37:35

Momentum.

37:36

Yeah, the momentum bounced off, the

37:38

hounds off, depending on who caught

37:40

it, they had the momentum.

37:42

Whatever happened there sound terrible, Greg,

37:44

You're you're saying that doesn't what you're saying

37:46

makes no sense.

37:47

No, it's not right. Is that what it is? It

37:49

is two very different things.

37:51

It's like, you know, Bill Buckner, it's whatever you say.

37:53

It's like suddenly you know

37:55

it is.

37:56

It's a failure to execute though

37:58

build or it doesn't make to catch.

38:00

It opens the door for the Niners to make

38:02

a play.

38:02

It's true, but it also would have been an incredible play

38:04

if he had.

38:05

But then Ayuk scores.

38:06

Plays later, it's twenty four to seventeen, and you can start

38:08

to feel stuff shifting, and

38:11

then you get Jamier Gibbs, who is such

38:13

a wonderful player for up

38:15

until this moment, the key fumble, and

38:17

then you have a big un by brock

38:20

Purty.

38:20

They score.

38:21

It's twenty four to twenty four and everything starts

38:23

to shift.

38:23

A seventeen point lead, a

38:26

race like that eight minutes, it was nothing eight minutes,

38:28

and we can get to all the

38:31

Campbell decisions and the

38:33

way I have those set up by this thing

38:36

falls apart. But now

38:38

that we've even had like the game ended

38:40

probably what an hour or something like that, Now that you've even

38:42

had like a little time to think about it, we

38:45

don't.

38:46

Four days later we do it.

38:48

I don't mean like, so that's that's

38:50

what you're gonna remember from this game, or I'm

38:52

going to remember first is the ball bouncing

38:54

off the helmet, the fact that they had a seventeen

38:56

point lead, the fact that they couldn't execute on the fourth

38:58

downs, the fact that they kept drop being passes.

39:00

They kept dropping the ball.

39:01

Jamir Gibbs Josh Reynolds had two drive killing

39:04

drops. But what is

39:06

lost a little bit in that is that this forty nine

39:08

Ers offense, which was statistically

39:10

the best offense in the league all season long,

39:13

they're down seventeen points at halftime. They get

39:15

some good fortunes, certainly in the second half, but

39:17

they got the ball five times after halftime. They

39:19

scored every freaking time they scored

39:22

three touchdowns and had two field

39:24

goals, and one of those field goal drives

39:26

was the best field goal drive of Kyle Shanahan

39:29

and Brock Perty's life. They squeezed seven

39:31

minutes off the clock to take a lead

39:33

that completed the comeback and gave them

39:36

their first lead. So there are five

39:38

drives on offense with yes, that

39:40

won very lucky play but offensively

39:43

and they're an offensive team going up a

39:46

very shaky Lions defense. In

39:48

general all year they were perfect.

39:50

They had to be perfect after halftime and

39:52

offensively, they ran it when they needed

39:54

to. They got big plays when they needed to. Perty

39:57

ran it when he needed to, and yes, he got very

39:59

fortunate in this game. Threw

40:01

out at different points, but ultimately

40:04

when in not cutting time, second

40:06

half, they were the best offense in the league. Looked

40:08

like the best offense.

40:09

Yeah.

40:09

Late, absolutely, and you

40:12

want to you know, people are gonna maybe just dwell on

40:14

the Niner side of things in the collapse, but you have

40:16

to give it to the Niners and Kyle

40:19

Shanhan, Kyle Shanahan who before

40:21

last week, you know, the whole story is run this

40:23

guy as great as he is. If

40:25

his team gets down late, they're done back

40:27

to back big comebacks. They survived

40:30

the Packers game, and then they kind of the

40:32

way. I was so impressed by what the Ravens

40:35

did against the Texans in the divisional round, where

40:37

they took some punches in the first half and then just took

40:39

control of the game. The Niners did that, but on

40:41

a hugely bigger stage, So

40:44

you got to give him credit. Now, so

40:46

much of the talk around the game is going to go back

40:48

to how do the Lions blow

40:51

a twenty four to seven lead? Okay, and

40:54

the IU catch is a huge part of

40:56

it. I think it's it

40:58

will live in infamy in Detroit because

41:01

I don't think it would have been what your word

41:03

was, outstanding or whatever.

41:05

It was catch.

41:05

I thought it was a playable ball by dB that

41:08

gets turned not only into and it's not even

41:10

just an incomplete pass, gets turned into a huge

41:12

game that sets up the touchdown that sends

41:15

that building. And credit to Niners fans because

41:17

that's not typically a stadium where you say, oh,

41:19

that place rocks when it gets loud. That place

41:22

was rocking. So that was a massive

41:24

play. The fumble happening immedia after

41:26

huge play, and then.

41:27

You think snowball.

41:28

Guess yeah, I thinks snowballed

41:31

after that. But with Campbell, there were four big

41:33

decisions in this game that people are going to talk about.

41:35

The first one I'm not going to go crazy about because I agreed

41:37

with it. First of all, Greg, I don't think you did. But

41:41

seven seconds to go in the second quarter, they're

41:43

up twenty one to seven. It's fourth and goal

41:45

to San Francisco three. Campbell

41:47

thinks it over, decides it's a little too far.

41:49

He kicks the field goal, and I think Greg

41:51

Olsen was on him a little bit and said,

41:54

listen, this is your chance to give a knockout punch.

41:56

Hindsight twenty twenty, maybe you do take

41:58

that chance.

41:59

But instead of own for twenty eight to seven, they

42:01

take the field goal, I guess, And I think part of that Greg

42:04

was the Niners or Campbell

42:06

knowing the Niners got the ball to start the third quarter

42:08

too, it being like, let me take these points, get ahead

42:10

three scores.

42:12

And you wanted to go in feeling like

42:14

it was as dominant as possible. It's

42:16

hard to have it both ways and say like, okay, take the

42:18

field goal here, but don't take it there. The numbers,

42:20

and I think Campbell's instincts coming

42:23

into play here. A lot of it has to do with like,

42:25

a big part of the reason you go for the

42:27

fourth and goals is because you're pinning

42:29

the other team back and you lose that advantage

42:32

at the end of the second quarter. You get no advantage

42:34

from that. So I'm with you, and that's what I like about

42:36

Campbell. He hasn't been a play it by

42:38

the book guy. He has

42:40

a feel I think for the game and he takes

42:43

the three there, and I think part of it he said it they

42:45

wanted to get to thirty. They did in the end, but

42:48

they knew they needed to score a lot.

42:49

All right, Mark, I'll set you up now on the next big

42:52

play with Campbell. It's fourth and two at

42:54

the San Francisco twenty eight yard line. There's

42:56

seven minutes left in the third quarter. It

42:59

is twenty four to ten. Instead of bringing out

43:01

the kicker, it was not a big time kicker, and

43:03

that you have to keep these things in Michael.

43:04

Badgley Michael bad joined the team.

43:07

But instead of a kicking the field goal

43:09

to try to go up twenty seven to ten. This was after San

43:11

Francisco marched down the field to kick the field goal

43:13

to start the second half. He opts to go for

43:16

it, He passes underneath to Josh Reynolds.

43:18

He drops the ball turnover, and

43:22

you start to hear people getting on Campbell

43:24

a little bit, which I thought was unfair, Mark, because this

43:26

is what Dan Campbell and the lines are about all year.

43:29

I'm with you.

43:30

I think that you could say, do

43:32

you run the ball there? Maybe because they you know, earlier

43:34

in the game they were running with a lot of force and power.

43:37

They picked up a third and thirteen running

43:39

it right, and so there would be evidence

43:41

that that might have been another option at

43:43

that point in the game. Goff was also starting

43:45

to feel pressure from Bosa. Nick

43:48

Bosa was starting.

43:49

He had two sacks in this game, and Golf

43:51

was under a lot of heat on that actual

43:53

in particular, like in completion of Josh

43:56

Reynolds and then it leads to the Ayug play. But I would

43:58

say this, like if we just talked about a that

44:00

looked different today than the way that they were hammering

44:02

teams in the past, Like I had at no point

44:05

thought that Dan Campbell went away from

44:07

his character who he is, how he runs

44:09

this team, and so this is part of what the Lions

44:11

do was true, Like the.

44:13

Reynolds dropped the ball and they.

44:15

Were connected, it would be they

44:17

were connecting on a lot of stuff tonight. It's

44:19

like, I think it's just you go for it. I

44:21

have no problem with that at all. All right, don't get the

44:23

whole issue.

44:24

With this one. This one gets a little dicier. Now

44:26

it's fourth and three at the Niners thirty.

44:29

Now you've lost the lead. The Niners just went on

44:31

that long lead drive. To kick

44:33

the field goal, you have a chance to tie the game.

44:35

He bring out badgely to attempt a forty

44:37

seven yarder, which is a very high percentage

44:39

make in the league. Right now, now in the NFC

44:41

title game in the fourth quarter, midway

44:44

through. It's a little harder kick, but no

44:46

doubt. He decides to again keep

44:48

the offense on the field, and this time Greg Goff

44:51

does not take

44:53

care of his own business because he misses someone crossing

44:55

underneath and throws incomplete. So a chance

44:58

to tie the game midway through the fourth I had

45:00

to go for it, and he gets killed.

45:02

He's getting killed on social media for this. My

45:05

point about the previous play still stands. This is what the

45:07

Lions were. You can't change now.

45:08

Yeah, that would have been a forty seven yarder. Again, that's

45:11

hardly locked in for Michael badgely

45:14

in a big spot.

45:15

But your boy, uh this is it. Yeah,

45:17

this one coin flip. But that's

45:19

who they were.

45:20

And I wish I could rewatch that play right now because

45:22

if if I'm remembering right, I think Bosa

45:24

had a quick pressure on that play to Bosa

45:27

really made his money in the second half of

45:29

this game.

45:29

He was really good, and so that impacted

45:32

the play.

45:33

Goff I think was a little off down

45:35

the stretch going for the field goal

45:37

there. I just think the thing to

45:39

remember is the Lions defense did

45:42

not have a stop in the second half, and they look at it

45:44

and people kind of use the fact that, hey, you'd

45:46

be within seven if you had just hit that

45:48

field goal. Okay, true, but

45:51

you just gave up a touchdown. The point was

45:53

they needed to keep scoring to possibly keep

45:56

up. So, yeah, maybe you kick a field goal, your

45:59

defense still need to get stops.

46:00

It wasn't showing that it could do it.

46:02

All right, let's hear it.

46:03

By the way, I'm gonna hear from Campbell

46:06

on his decision to stay aggressive.

46:08

I don't regret those decisions. And that's hard.

46:11

You know, it's hard because you know they didn't

46:13

we didn't come through. It wasn't able to work

46:15

out. But I just I don't. I

46:18

don't, And I understand the scrutiny. I'll

46:20

get that's part of the gig man, but

46:25

you know, we just just

46:27

didn't work out.

46:29

And now the final move that he makes, and this

46:31

is the only one I thought was indefensible. They

46:33

are down thirty four twenty

46:35

four. At this point, it's third and goal the San Francisco

46:37

one. I understand the odds are stacked

46:39

against them, but with sixty five seconds to play,

46:42

they run the ball to Montgomery. It gets stuffed

46:44

and not only does that backfire, you

46:47

have to burn a time out. So at that point you're

46:49

playing, you have to go for it on fourth down obviously,

46:51

which they convert, but now it's on

46:53

side kick or bust because you no longer have three

46:56

timeouts. Mark, that was a very

46:58

shaky decision, probably not in

47:00

either way, but that was the only one where I was like, well,

47:02

Campbell, f that one up.

47:04

Yeah, I'm with you.

47:05

I I like, I, you know, I think you said

47:07

it perfectly, like you're going through the script

47:09

and you know, with the bullets flying in

47:11

real time, and you've got to do the best you

47:13

can with it. And I didn't love that play

47:16

call necessarily, but this

47:18

is who the Lions are. And like I think that one

47:20

of the reasons that more coaches are being hired

47:23

who.

47:23

See decision making the

47:25

same way that Dan.

47:26

Campbell does is because this is like I think

47:28

Greg Olsen we talked about to Greg Olsen

47:30

is one of the better describers

47:33

of why these things are happening why coaches because

47:35

he's sitting there and the best coach of my best right,

47:37

he's describing like what today's NFL is, And

47:40

like I understand also if you're coming

47:42

from a different point of view, from a different time, where

47:44

like some of this stuff drives you mad or you don't

47:46

quite have the full read on why it's happening,

47:48

that can be if you're a Lions fan, you've got a lot

47:51

of frustration, But this is who they are.

47:53

This is your head coach.

47:54

You got this far because he's been doing this all year,

47:56

He's been doing it last year. It's like aggression

47:58

is the way to go, and today's league

48:00

well, and especially with this team, which is an offense

48:03

heavy team that didn't play great on offense

48:05

done.

48:06

You know, I think golf his ball placement

48:08

was a little off in the second half, but that even

48:10

that run, Dan, I

48:12

hear you.

48:13

It didn't work.

48:14

But I think that's sort of what we get back to with all

48:16

these It's just like, I think the

48:18

process all made sense.

48:21

It's just like they the players

48:23

decide, and they didn't. They didn't win,

48:25

they didn't execute. They were the inferior team

48:27

ultimately, I think when you stack it all up, but you

48:30

you kind of look back at that sequence and they were taking a little

48:32

while to get down there. Ferkser barely

48:34

steps out of bounds at the one. Looked

48:37

like Ferkser was gonna.

48:38

Score, moving like Frankenson after you'd

48:41

want to like it's like he caught was

48:43

like, why is Sam Laporte? Did he hurt his knee again? It's

48:45

like, oh no, it's the guy that doesn't have a catchy.

48:47

Yeah, I wouldn't again, I'd

48:49

have to rewatch it.

48:50

I doubt he's the first read on that play, but

48:52

a lot right,

48:55

he probably should have. Then they do throw

48:57

on second down, so then you're at a point. You're

49:00

at a point you have to score, and

49:03

like you, they know

49:06

that. You know that, they know that you can't like

49:08

that. You don't want to blow the time out there,

49:10

and so you're trying to catch them a little by suprise

49:14

perhaps, but you're also thinking, what are we better

49:16

at? What can we do best? We can run

49:18

the ball. It's a low it's a higher percentage

49:21

play. And yes they did get the touchdown. That

49:23

touchdown was like one of the best plays a

49:26

Lion's receiver made all day. Was a great catch by

49:28

Jamison Williams on a great throw by Golf. It

49:30

was a very difficult It's just hard

49:32

for those to work. And like

49:35

I just come back to like the

49:37

players have to make the plays, and the Lions just didn't

49:40

make it. Like they had four drives that went poor

49:42

before that touchdown drive. Right, here's

49:44

how three of them ended, two with

49:46

Reynolds drops. We didn't mention the

49:49

first Reynolds the second Reynolds drop, which

49:51

to me was the bigger one. It was on a third

49:53

down. He's wide open on a

49:55

crossing route. It's a perfect throw and he

49:58

literally kicks it like he drops it in and then

50:00

he kicks it. So there's four drives in

50:02

a row that go poorly. Two are On Reynolds

50:04

drops and one is Gibs his fumball. So it's

50:06

just like yeah, and they dropped

50:08

the ball literally.

50:09

And like you know, Aman Rossaint Brown, who

50:11

had just I thought in the first half,

50:13

I was like, just gonna take over this entire game.

50:16

In the second half, you know, ta mirror what you're

50:18

talking about about, just drives crumbling

50:20

away. He wasn't targeted till eight minutes left

50:23

to go in the game. It's like, so the guys

50:25

in the first half that were dominating San

50:27

Francisco, uh, a lot of

50:30

a lot of it just sort of vanished.

50:31

I want to I.

50:32

Want to throw some flowers to your boy, Mark

50:35

Rock Party, who will be obviously the subject of

50:38

exhaust of examination.

50:40

For the next two weeks.

50:41

And I thought the beginning

50:44

of this game, and you know, even into

50:46

and including that throw of the big completion to

50:48

Ayuk, was everything that

50:50

has concerned me about Party in big spots

50:53

this season. But back

50:55

to the matter is sometimes you just got things

50:58

are with you, things are clicking, and you're

51:00

having a good season. And he did throw

51:03

he got away with a couple bad throws, a couple of floaters,

51:06

he survived them. The other team didn't take

51:08

advantage of it. But then when it was time to

51:10

win the game in the second half, just like he did it in the

51:12

end of the game against the Packers, he made

51:15

big plays. He was he was precise with his throwing

51:17

and most of most of all, the thing I think

51:19

people will remember about this Party performance is how many

51:21

big plays he made with his legs. Right for

51:24

a guy that is obviously mister irrelevant,

51:26

not the most athletic, how many times

51:28

did he escape pressure and turn a

51:30

sack or no gain into

51:32

ten, fifteen, eighteen

51:34

yards And that was a big difference in this.

51:36

Game as well.

51:37

Yeah, like the twenty one yard

51:39

run that came after the Gibbs

51:42

fumble that set up a Christian

51:44

McCaffrey touchdown to tie the game at twenty four

51:46

twenty four, It's like, you don't just expect

51:49

that from Rock Party. And I thought tonight, you

51:51

know, he had something like fifty something yards on the

51:53

ground, where it's say forty eight nine

51:55

point six.

51:55

Yards per carry.

51:57

He added it to his game, and it's like, this

51:59

is a really young

52:01

quarterback who's adding some of those game and it's like,

52:03

even when Mahomes did that last season,

52:06

I thought, to some agree, it's like, what more can he Mahomes

52:08

do? It's like in the playoffs, Mahomes

52:10

on the ground with like a high angle sprain was

52:13

a differentiator game after game and

52:15

in this game, brock Purty added that to

52:17

his palette.

52:18

And he had the huge run last week. It was only

52:20

one against the Packers, but by

52:23

far a career high in rushing. And

52:25

it's funny because compared to the average

52:27

NFL quarterback now he's

52:30

You're right, he's not that athletic, but he

52:32

does have good short area quickness. I mean you

52:34

could see it in something like he can move

52:37

if you put him in the NFL twenty

52:39

years ago. He's a better than average

52:42

runner. He is above sort of the line that

52:44

you almost need to be. Now he is Jeff

52:46

Garcia maybe right, he is, No

52:48

Jeff Garcia is a great runner, but like

52:51

he's athletic. Help you make yeah, yeh, yeah,

52:53

he's athletic enough, is what I'm saying.

52:55

And like he made those now he was fortunate.

52:57

I thought, like the opening driving

52:59

the game was very typical of how his game

53:02

was two absolute big boy throws.

53:04

It's almost hard to remember by that, like

53:06

one where he was getting hit, another just beautiful ball

53:08

placement, and then he almost threw an interception

53:10

that they dropped to start the second

53:13

half. On that field goal drive,

53:15

that drive ended almost he was melting

53:17

down at the end of that drive. He had like three crazy

53:19

decisions in a row before they kicked

53:22

that field goal, and he got away with like.

53:23

That's what I thought I might be getting.

53:25

Donald's sideline shot had double

53:27

fingers crossed.

53:28

He's not a very safe player, but those

53:30

mistakes that he makes doesn't linger, and he didn't really

53:33

make any the rest.

53:34

Of the game.

53:34

One of the passes that you're talking about on the first

53:36

drive, because there was a perfect throw to Brandon Aiyuk,

53:39

but there was a play on third

53:42

down where he completed a pass to Deebo Samuel

53:44

where he was destroyed on it.

53:46

And I just do think he's a tough quarterback.

53:47

Oh year, it was like, there's no questioning

53:50

the fact that he will do anything he is making.

53:52

He's easy to root for.

53:53

He's got the guts of a burglar. As they say

53:55

he doesn't he does not. If

53:58

he throws interceptions he's going to

54:00

keep throwing, which could lead to

54:02

games like Christmas and Balter. But also

54:05

it shows that he's not afraid. He believes in

54:07

himself by the way going back

54:09

and I will yes, maybe the fumble,

54:11

the immediate fumble after that touchdown.

54:14

Is kind of the play that really swung the

54:16

game.

54:17

But I think it's forgotten a little bit because everything was

54:19

going like it just happened so quick.

54:21

I think the first play of the drive.

54:23

The Ayuk catch off

54:25

the miss by Bill Dore, is

54:30

the play that I'll remember as when everything

54:32

turned and when this truly became momentum.

54:36

Greg Let's let's listen

54:38

to the Dan, because I want to hear from Dan

54:40

Miller. It's a bummer that there you're not

54:42

getting to.

54:43

The super Bowl, and I think it's sixty sixty years now

54:45

without the Lions winning a championship.

54:48

Here's the call of that play

54:50

from the Detroit side of things. And then right

54:52

after that, if we could Eric play

54:54

Ayuk's postgame comments about the play.

54:57

Pretty out of the gun, takes

55:00

to snap back and looking looking, looking,

55:02

loading, throwing.

55:03

Deep down field.

55:04

It is up in the air and

55:07

talk by hire, you

55:09

get the heads.

55:10

Of Kindle Bill Door, are you played

55:12

the grab? There is a

55:14

flag down as well?

55:16

Why it looks like he's gonna

55:18

go against the Lions the hit

55:20

there is.

55:21

No phone in the play cats was

55:23

made was down the contract

55:26

with.

55:26

The thing and half first

55:29

went right through Bill Door's hands and right

55:31

off his face.

55:32

Map ely right before

55:34

the game, A lady bug landing on my shoe.

55:37

Hey, y'all know what that means. So that's all

55:39

I can say. No, I don't know, I

55:41

don't know. Just great. Let dolls with it today, great

55:43

win by game, It's

55:46

crazy super

55:48

star.

55:49

That probably was the moment, although the Gibbs

55:51

fumble really cemented

55:53

it that Lions fans must

55:57

have started feeling like, oh my god.

55:59

Great guy said it was twenty four to twenty four.

56:01

After the fumbling score, it already felt like thirty

56:03

four to twenty four, right, but yeah, and that was in

56:05

the blink of another eye.

56:06

The score at that point is twenty four to ten,

56:09

and you just feel

56:11

like, if you're a Lions fan, you've

56:13

been seeing lady bugs landing on other teams'

56:15

shoes for fifty something years,

56:17

and you felt like this was

56:20

maybe the year that was going to be different. We

56:22

have Dan Campbell talking after

56:24

the game about how

56:27

there's no guarantee that you

56:29

ever do get back to this point.

56:31

Look, I told those guys this

56:34

may have been always shot. Do I think

56:36

that?

56:37

No?

56:37

Do I believe that. However, I know

56:40

how hard it is to get here. I'm

56:42

well aware, and it'll be it's

56:44

going to be twice as hard to get back to this point

56:47

next year than it was this year. That's that's

56:49

the reality.

56:50

Well, I would say this, though, you can look

56:53

across to real point to the Niners and

56:55

say that a team that's really well built,

56:57

like the Lions with a that I didn't. I don't think

56:59

they overachieved this year. I think they adequally

57:01

achieved for like the roster they have, like, but

57:03

they're not going away, Like I got what he's saying, but

57:06

like, yeah, but the hope for the.

57:07

Life for every

57:10

for every forty nine

57:12

Ers team, and every Chiefs team and

57:15

back in the day, every Patriots team. There are so

57:17

many other teams that look

57:19

like they have a bright tomorrow and you think, oh,

57:21

they'll be back next year. We talked about this last

57:24

week too. You just never know. And he's

57:26

right because this.

57:28

Telling them that he like him telling

57:30

them that because that's also and I'm.

57:32

Glad that he's being honest, because this was a good

57:34

time to strike for the Detroit Lions in that

57:36

division, with the Packers trying to figure

57:38

things out, the Bear still trying to

57:40

figure things out, the Vikings being

57:42

the Vikings like this was this felt like their

57:45

chance and they and they let it slip away. When we

57:47

have Dan Campbell. I don't know what's

57:49

going with Dan's nose the last couple of weeks, very red.

57:52

It's been distracting to me. I don't bother

57:54

anyone else. I I hadn't notice

57:57

that, but now all not. I'm Erican.

57:59

I'm the most color blind man that's right

58:01

in America. His nose look great to

58:03

me.

58:04

I mean it's a very masculine nose, the shape

58:06

and structure of it, but there's a discoloration

58:09

or a high coloration.

58:11

Sorry to rub it in. Greg. Here is more Campbell on

58:13

the game that almost was.

58:15

You know, Coach Shannan's hell of a coach. That's a team

58:17

that you know, they've they've done

58:19

it, they lived it, and they made the place. So

58:22

credit to them. I'm

58:25

really, I'm really proud of all these

58:28

guys. I am. I mean, and it's

58:30

hard when you lose that way. It's

58:34

hard, you know, you feel

58:36

like you get your heart ripped out.

58:38

So and

58:40

on the other side with Shanahan, because I

58:42

thought something he said after the game really illuminated

58:46

how special they are and how different they are.

58:49

He said, we played as bad of a first

58:51

half as we could, but we were still within seventeen.

58:54

How many teams can say that and be like, we're all right,

58:56

it's only seventeen. That's a

58:58

three score game in the

59:00

second half of the NFC Championship

59:02

game. But that's not just coach speak, Like he

59:04

knows he has the dogs to dig

59:07

out and they made him look

59:09

great in this game. Because they lose this game,

59:11

Greg Mark, there's a lot of chatter around

59:14

Shanahan the guy that just can't get over the hump,

59:16

and instead, in two weeks it gets another chance

59:18

to kind of really stamp himself

59:21

as if not the top

59:23

of the chain of coaches right there.

59:25

I think it's easy

59:27

to feel like almost a sadness

59:29

if you're a generalist and you're not rooting

59:32

specifically for one of these teams, that you lose the

59:34

experience of the Lions going

59:36

on to do something that we would have been fun.

59:37

It would have been fun.

59:38

But that said, if we shift

59:40

focus in a couple of days, like what the Niners

59:43

have been through and how close they've come, and how

59:45

close Shanahan has come, Like he knows you can

59:47

come back from seventeen because he lived through twenty

59:49

eight to three and he's lived through a thousand

59:51

moments coaching in all different

59:53

situations, and he's got the right people

59:56

on the field to do it. I mean,

59:58

this guy's been doing this for a entire life, and it's

1:00:00

like there is a part of me that's like I

1:00:03

cannot help it root for Kyle Shanahan to

1:00:05

finally do it because he has come so

1:00:07

close over well.

1:00:08

Yeah, because they

1:00:10

know how the further you get, the

1:00:13

more brute of the losses. And this will be the

1:00:15

fourth time in five years. I mean

1:00:18

they're not a dynasty in the way that we

1:00:21

use the word, but to make

1:00:23

four conference finals in five

1:00:25

years, to make two Super Bowls

1:00:28

now in five seasons, you

1:00:31

just feel like you got it in those

1:00:34

By the way, we're brutal losses. Uh,

1:00:37

you gotta win, you you gotta get

1:00:39

it done. And I do think they learned They can't fall

1:00:41

down like that against the Chiefs, obviously, but

1:00:44

I do think they learned something about themselves because I

1:00:46

I think one of the reasons I thought this team was

1:00:49

not built to make that come up wasn't the offense.

1:00:52

It was that their defense looked like trash

1:00:55

for large portions of this Packers and

1:00:58

Lions game, and that that's something to be

1:01:00

concerned about. The Lions had almost like two

1:01:02

hundred yards. I just thought the game script

1:01:04

was such that the Lions would be able to run the ball

1:01:07

in the second half. The Lions still ended up with one

1:01:09

eight two GiB Montgomery fifteen

1:01:11

for ninety three, Gibbs twelve for forty

1:01:14

five, and Jamison Williams had that electric forty

1:01:16

two yard touchdown to start the game. And

1:01:18

yet give the defense

1:01:20

credit to when they needed to in

1:01:22

the second half. They do have a lot of star

1:01:24

players, and they came together enough. Their

1:01:26

run defense, which is a problem and we'll talk

1:01:29

about it leading up to the Super Bowl, it did

1:01:31

get good enough when it really mattered

1:01:33

to get them over the line.

1:01:35

Unbelievable, Yeah, I can't.

1:01:38

And that was by the way, the Sunday Drive presented

1:01:40

by Toyota, where a drive. Of course, it

1:01:43

was let's go places like Las Vegas.

1:01:45

Learn moy learn more at toyota dot com.

1:01:47

Slash ran Islander.

1:01:50

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie like this is not listen

1:01:52

if it's not the Jets playing, I'm not gonna get overly

1:01:54

invested in terms of heartbreak. Although I feel

1:01:57

for Cynthia Frielan, who's a front of ours, I absolutely

1:01:59

feel for Patra, who we know forever

1:02:01

and he was lined up to be on the show tonight. It

1:02:04

was texting with him earlier late

1:02:06

last week, like, you know, we try to get him out on Thursday.

1:02:08

We couldn't make it happen. It was like, how about Sunday

1:02:11

if they win? And just knowing

1:02:13

and listen with Patra, you don't. We're

1:02:15

not texting Patrick, you say, give him a wide

1:02:18

berth as you would any die hard fan.

1:02:19

Right now. I don't even

1:02:21

like that. The email is sitting in his inbox

1:02:24

right now.

1:02:24

No, he's probably the Eric job. We're

1:02:28

not coming after you because you're doing your job.

1:02:30

There's to make a show like we do. There

1:02:32

has to be things like setting up link ups for

1:02:35

a essentially a feed into

1:02:37

the studio. But

1:02:40

listen, you don't you've never met Kevin

1:02:42

Patra all right, He's an intense,

1:02:44

powerful man who works out.

1:02:47

I just I don't want you to be hurt.

1:02:49

The timing of it all was just very,

1:02:52

very unlucky because I see that

1:02:54

as I'm trying to set this up the book,

1:02:57

Hey, if they win, we're gonna do this. I'm okay,

1:02:59

i gotta get this and now moving parts.

1:03:02

And as I'm sending this link like

1:03:04

it's it's flipping, and then I get

1:03:07

separate messages from both Dan and

1:03:09

Greg. Hey, like, don't Mark

1:03:11

wasn't even worried about patches

1:03:15

directly, especially at this moment, Like

1:03:17

at this moment, like never even cross marks month.

1:03:19

So it was But yeah, I mean, hopefully it just went

1:03:22

to spam.

1:03:22

And here's the thing.

1:03:23

And I'm not saying you should do this, because this could lead to

1:03:25

other problems. If you could somehow hack

1:03:27

into the NFL network mainframe

1:03:30

to unsend that email before Patrick

1:03:32

wakes up for like his five am shift tomorrow

1:03:35

to write news items about this

1:03:37

great comeback by the Niners, I

1:03:39

think it would be in your best interest, and I'll leave

1:03:41

it there.

1:03:41

I didn't say to do it.

1:03:42

I'm just saying that's one thing you might want to think,

1:03:44

what if I just spam him, so it just gets pushed

1:03:47

and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed him.

1:03:49

That's another potential incredible hole.

1:03:50

It's like a lot.

1:03:51

Yeah, he's got to be very careful.

1:03:53

I would say, I think he will survive. He'll

1:03:56

be Mexico's and options, He'll be okay.

1:03:58

And if he comes at us, we'll just blame it on

1:04:00

the shadowy League figure who actually

1:04:02

lost the game for the Lions by sending like

1:04:05

a text that they can't do that. Yeah, that

1:04:07

jinks them when they were up seventeen that you.

1:04:09

Can't do that, you can't do it.

1:04:13

Yeah.

1:04:13

And so what I was saying was, if

1:04:15

it's not the Jets, I'm not really gonna be heartbroken

1:04:17

about anything, but I will. I will say I

1:04:20

did, just like probably a lot of people,

1:04:23

I had thoughts of, you know, one

1:04:25

hundred thousand Lions fans coming into Vegas

1:04:28

and what as we've been so lucky

1:04:30

to cover so many Super Bowls and we're going to be doing it again

1:04:33

and I can't wait.

1:04:34

Uh.

1:04:34

That would have been a completely unique,

1:04:36

obviously new experience, and hopefully

1:04:39

hopefully the Lions get over the hump

1:04:41

down the line. But there's no doubting what Campbell

1:04:43

said is absolutely true.

1:04:45

You don't know. You just never know if

1:04:47

you're going to get another crack at it.

1:04:48

And when you get to this level, at this stage,

1:04:51

to let it slip away is just crushing.

1:04:53

Yeah, Like they showed the you know, this

1:04:55

is unusual, but like they cut to Ford Field,

1:04:57

which was a capacity crowd. I

1:05:00

remember as a child watching like WrestleMania

1:05:02

three, not at WrestleMania three, but at

1:05:04

like at a stadium with a bunch of other people,

1:05:07

which my dad was forced

1:05:09

to take me to a highly in nerdy we has to do like close

1:05:11

circuit. Yeah, it was close circuit.

1:05:12

This was the opposite of that.

1:05:13

This was like a city like literally

1:05:16

celebrating for many of them,

1:05:18

the biggest event that they've ever

1:05:20

come together for. And so they stopped showing that

1:05:22

stadium as the two things I'm wondering about it happened.

1:05:25

Yeah, the procession back to the parking

1:05:27

lot at Portfield. Also,

1:05:29

I saw one shot of eminem

1:05:31

who is at the game in San

1:05:33

Francisco, doing a double bird do,

1:05:36

like a bunch of fans in the suite and the level

1:05:38

below him, Like, what is what

1:05:41

is Eminem's like exit route

1:05:43

out of Levi's stadium?

1:05:44

Does he state it?

1:05:45

Does he pull a Mark Wahlberg and leave in

1:05:48

the third quarter of twenty eight three to get

1:05:50

it to beat the crowd? Is

1:05:52

Marshall Mather is currently brawling

1:05:54

with multiple with

1:05:57

the opposition, I don't know, No.

1:05:58

I'd say that you get like a couple

1:06:01

of your friends to like wrap you in blankets

1:06:03

and take you out like a dead body and no face.

1:06:05

That's got to have some security, that's true.

1:06:07

We saw that they're actually footage

1:06:10

of Taylor Swift being snuck from

1:06:14

backstage to the stage before one of our

1:06:16

concerts in like a cleaning person's cart.

1:06:19

Yeah, and that was the way to maybe

1:06:21

do that with Marshall Mantis. This is definitely the playoffs

1:06:24

and the season in general where we've got like minor

1:06:27

and major celebrities crawling out

1:06:28

of the suites into the crowd itself

1:06:31

or in the crowd, yeah, recognizing them.

1:06:33

You know, he was sitting in the crowd.

1:06:34

And I don't think forty nine ers

1:06:36

fans would even look

1:06:39

a scans at you or us having

1:06:41

that view.

1:06:42

They're different, The lions are different.

1:06:44

There's been I don't know about that, Greg, I think I

1:06:46

didn't know we're even talking about this right now.

1:06:49

Well, they can eat it. There were twenty four

1:06:51

teams. That's why it's the bad boy

1:06:53

of NFL media. There are twenty four

1:06:55

teams.

1:06:55

Give them a guitar, squeals.

1:06:57

It's like wine and cheese.

1:06:58

I'm just saying there were twenty four teams

1:07:00

that were in the NFL when the NFL truly

1:07:02

started the merger. There's one

1:07:04

of those twenty four teams they

1:07:06

have not been to the Super Bowl.

1:07:08

That is the Detroit Lions.

1:07:09

And you're comparing and there's another team on the other

1:07:11

side, and I know it's been a minute, Who've won five Super

1:07:14

Bowls. So yes, the average fan is

1:07:16

going to root for that fan base who has

1:07:18

been through more heartache

1:07:21

than anyone who's never even really had a chance,

1:07:23

and that this was their chance.

1:07:24

Of course, the average fan is going.

1:07:25

To be r it was new.

1:07:27

That's we talked yet a little.

1:07:28

Less soonus in terms of uniqueness.

1:07:30

But at the end of the day, we are not complaining

1:07:33

because Chiefs v. Niners

1:07:35

is going to be a hell of a game. Andy Reid

1:07:40

versus Kyle Shanahan. That is gorgeous.

1:07:42

It's happened before, and it was a great game last

1:07:44

time. And I have a feeling, just

1:07:47

like the desert is feeling right

1:07:49

now, that is going to go down to the wire

1:07:51

again.

1:07:51

So that is the game.

1:07:52

Next time you hear us doing a recap, well,

1:07:55

Mark's going to be We're sending Mark to Orlando

1:07:57

correct to cover all Oh yeah, bowl game?

1:08:00

What am I doing?

1:08:01

Just dodgeball the triple

1:08:03

jump tag.

1:08:06

Defend his Pro Bowl Flag Football

1:08:08

MVP. He had that big drive to finish.

1:08:10

I think there's I had officially

1:08:13

do not have time for that.

1:08:15

No, Mark Marcus coming to Vegas with us,

1:08:18

and we're going to cover all the games. We still, of course, have two

1:08:20

weeks of shows before that, so

1:08:23

make sure you're there, uh and tuning

1:08:25

in anything else?

1:08:26

Yeah, we'll be back to Tuesday. Who's they music's

1:08:28

playing?

1:08:28

That?

1:08:28

Guess nothing else.

1:08:31

Thank you everybody who've been listening to every Sunday

1:08:33

all season.

1:08:34

One game left, Heed

1:08:37

the call.