Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - E15 - From Sports legends To Playoff Thrills
Ever wondered what makes a sports legend retire or how Hall of Fame decisions spark heated debates? We kick things off with a heartfelt farewell to UFC legend Chris Weidman and a deep dive into the MLB Hall of Fame's latest inductees, Billy Wagner, CC Sabathia, and the near-unanimous choice, Ichiro Suzuki. We reminisce about their careers and explore the ongoing discussions on publicizing Hall of Fame voting. The baseball offseason also grabs our attention with high-stakes free agent signings and touching stories, such as Jake Berger's tribute to his daughter, while Ohio State's national championship win over Notre Dame offers thrilling insights into college football dynamics.
Turn the page to the unpredictable world of the NFL playoffs, where controversies and surprising matchups keep fans on the edge of their seats. We analyze the officiating disparities in the Texans-Chiefs game, question the integrity of the calls, and debate the evolving rules for quarterback protection. The playoff narrative heats up as we highlight Buffalo's efficient football style and Baltimore's defensive prowess. We celebrate the remarkable spirit of the Bills Mafia with their charitable endeavors and consider the implications of potentially extending the NFL regular season.
The coaching carousel is spinning fast, with teams eyeing new strategies and leaders. We delve into the intricacies of NFL coaching moves, spotlighting Ben Johnson's swift transition to the Bears and the Cowboys' ongoing quest for a coach who fits their unique criteria. We also reflect on the coaching legacies shaping the league and discuss the broadcasting shift as athletes like Tom Brady step into new roles. As we wrap, we express our thanks to our listeners and share our enthusiasm for the upcoming sports calendar, from the XFL to NASCAR. Join us, Brian with an 'i' and Mike, as we bring you a spirited episode of Two for the Win.
Welcome back, everybody. January 23rd 2025. It might be cold outside, but this is one of the hottest times of the year for sports. I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two for the Win. Mike, what do we have cooking over there?
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to touch in on some MLB news. We're going to talk about the national championship game and we're going to discuss the NFL man.
Speaker 1:so exciting. We've got some MLB Hall of Famers. We've got a UFC retirement. We've got some things happening around the NFL. We just had the national championship. Yeah, where do we start?
Speaker 2:You hinted on it. Yes, to start off the show Chris Weidman, now former UFC fighter. He was a good fighter for many years for the UFC.
Speaker 1:Very prominent fighter.
Speaker 2:yes, and he's calling it a career. I mean mean can't fight forever, and he was a champion. He did.
Speaker 1:He did hold a couple titles, yeah, I mean, uh, weidman, you know he gained he's known for gaining prominence you know, uh, defeating the legendary anderson silver back in 2013, winning the middleweight championship at that time. At that time, weidman ended Silva's 16-fight win streak in the UFC. That was rather significant back then. So to hear that he's retiring is not necessarily a surprise, given his know, with some injuries and some underperformances. So I'm thinking I agree with him. Maybe just hang it up while you're ahead, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's a fighting sport.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean you might look okay, but you know there's always those lingering injuries, that kind of event. You from training the way you want to. They add up over time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Exactly.
Speaker 2:But you know, there's always those lingering injuries, that kind of event, you from training the way you want to. They add up over time. Yeah, exactly, exactly, and that's probably why he's hanging it up. You know, you get to a point where yeah. Just you're not and honestly Not with it anymore.
Speaker 1:You know, healing from a fight at 23 is way different from healing from a fight at 33. And guys are doing it it. But let me tell you what. It gets harder and harder yes, it does.
Speaker 2:So, moving on to the mlb, we have three new inductees to the hall of fame. Billy wagner made it in, cc sabathia made it in and ichiro suzuki made it in. Cc Sabathia made it in and Ichiro Suzuki made it in as well, and Ichiro was one vote shy of having unanimous vote to get into the Hall of Fame. Now there's been some controversy over this because there's been been people saying should the writers vote be out there for the public to see, to see exactly who voted for what player and who didn't?
Speaker 2:Now, traditionally the vote is not put out there for everybody to see. The results are out there. You could see the percentage and how many people voted. Now here's the thing if I said the name, babe ruth, or I said the name you know, mickey mannell, or if I said said you know, uh, willie mays like, like, you would think that these players would be unanimous votes. They would be unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame. But no, can you believe that a player like Babe Ruth, who, even if you don't like baseball, if you know nothing about the sport, everybody knows who Babe Ruth is?
Speaker 1:Baby Ruth, he makes good candy bars.
Speaker 2:Well, he was not a unanimous vote. He didn't make it in unanimously.
Speaker 1:Hold the door.
Speaker 2:Mariano Rivera is the only player I know of who has had a unanimous vote. Now, granted, he was a great closer. He would come in. Game was over pretty much almost every time, except for that time. They played the D-backs in the World Series and Luis Gonzalez got a broken bat single to send the Yankees home without the World Series win. But beyond that, the majority of the time if he came in, it's over. It's just over. Now the players that are in being this round of players Billy Wagner he finally made it in. He had about 82% of the vote, which got him in.
Speaker 2:He played for a number of teams. He more notably known for being with the astros, but he played for like the mets and the braves and a couple other teams. Uh, he had a really good career. He was a good closer, he had over 400 saves in his career and cc sabathia had won World Series titles and being a pitcher who pitched for Cleveland and the Brewers and the Yankees and he was a good pitcher. Albeit, he did have some batters he struggled with and he even admitted such that there were some batters that they just had his number. There was a few batters in the MLB at that time that had a 500 average against him for career. So I mean, when you go up and you know half the time you're getting a hit, you pretty much have your number. Now, ichiro, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
Speaker 2:Ichiro. I actually had the privilege of watching Ichiro play and I was at the game where he broke the record for most hits by a professional baseball player. Now, granted, pete Rose doesn't want to recognize it because of the fact well, he passed away. But he doesn't want to recognize it because of the fact well, he passed away. But he doesn't want to recognize that because Ichiro's career is split between playing in Japan and playing here in the States for the MLB. But Ichiro had multiple 200-hit seasons and one of them he had like 262 hits. I think it was his rookie year. Yeah, you know which come on, you get over 200 hits in a season. That's a darn good season, and Ichiro was a very good outfielder.
Speaker 1:I mean the Japanese go ahead.
Speaker 2:Well, here's one thing with Ichiro that most people don't realize. He's one of only a few players that had his first name on his jersey, not his last name, because his name is Ichiro Suzuki, but Ichiro was on his jersey and everybody knew him as Ichiro. Now, ichiro was a darn good player. He's finally going to get his jersey retired by the Mariners this season, so I'm happy for all three of these guys. They were really good players.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Very deserving of it. Billy Wagner really fortunate because this was his last year on the ballot and he finally made it in.
Speaker 1:Yeah good job for him.
Speaker 2:Good for him. This is a common theme, though there are players that kind of accumulate and make it in. And you know one thing I was going to go back to the Japanese game, you know, seems like it's becoming more and more significant to the MLB in general over here in the States. Yes, I mean we're getting a lot more players from over there coming here, yeah, I can't think that you Okay.
Speaker 2:So we have the World Baseball Classic now, so you're getting a lot of players from other countries that are going against our best, and our best are not winning the World Championship. It's the Japan team that won it most recently.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And a majority of their players are coming over here and playing. Now you know, I mean, shohei was on that team. Yeah, their most recent pitcher to the Dodgers, he was on that team. So you can't say like, okay, ichiro, half his career was over in the Professional League of Japan. Well, he was facing these guys. He was facing top talent over there.
Speaker 1:I honestly think it makes him more diverse. You've succeeded in two different leagues, exactly Two large platforms.
Speaker 2:And here's the funny part.
Speaker 1:Two large stages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he made the Hall of Fame over there too, but he only got 93% of the fame over there too, but he only got 93 of the vote over there. So he got more votes over here than he did over there which is, which is even more incredible well, which kind of makes it look like japan was salty, he left but hey, at least he got it and he did you know so very, very deserving very deserving all three of these gentlemen.
Speaker 1:Congratulations and hell of career to all three of you.
Speaker 2:But speaking of Japanese players, we do know now that the Dodgers have landed the top prospect from Japan that everybody wanted.
Speaker 1:Roki.
Speaker 2:Yep, he is now a Dodger.
Speaker 1:Which man they're loading up bro.
Speaker 2:Man, all I can say is Load them up. It is a good thing to have deep pockets, because that's what the Dodgers have and they're just buying up whatever free agent they want.
Speaker 1:I got deep pockets.
Speaker 2:Not only did they sign him, but they got the reliever, tanner Scott, on a four-year deal for 72 mil and he's like one of the best closers that was on the market. Now he's going to be with the Dodgers, which is crazy because they already had Blake Triton, who's been pretty good for them. So now they're just loading up. They're getting all the top free agents. I mean they got Blake Snell earlier in the year.
Speaker 1:Just loading up.
Speaker 2:They're just throwing the cash around and it's like, ah, the rest of the teams are oh. And not to mention, they're also going after Kirby Yates, who was one of the best pitchers in the MLB as far as a reliever Last year.
Speaker 1:It's hard not to like him. I'm about to go buy a.
Speaker 2:Dodgers hat. Look last year, Kirby Yates. He had a 7-2 record with a 1.17 ERA and a 12.4 K rate, so over 61 appearances. So he was doing something last year when he was with the Texans or the Rangers. I should say, Not the Texans, the Rangers.
Speaker 1:The Texan.
Speaker 2:Rangers. He sits here, accumulates a great season, and the Dodgers go hey, we're going to pick you up too. So they're not only loading up their rotation, but they're loading up their bullpen as well.
Speaker 1:Hey man, get in the car. We're going to the World Series.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how it feels. Dodgers are buying a series, but they're not the only ones making moves. The blue jays got the former orioles sluggers and uh, now I'm gonna butcher this name probably santander, yes of santander no, he's an outfielder, santander, on a five-year deal worth $90 million. He's now a Blue Jay instead of going back to the Orioles, which you could kind of expect, because the Orioles had already signed players to fill his spot.
Speaker 1:At least I could say his name.
Speaker 2:You're the baseball guy. And here's the thing the Braves just recently signed on Jixon Profar, outfielder, who was with the Padres, so now he's going to be with the Braves. They're going to have a pretty stout outfield there whenever Acuna comes back from injury.
Speaker 1:Nice, they should be running hot.
Speaker 2:But a lesser known story that just caught my eye was the Texas Rangers, their new third baseman, jake Berger. Now Jake Berger changed his jersey number to 21 recently, and that's to honor his daughter with Down syndrome. Down syndrome, the type of Down syndrome she has. It's the genetic condition known as Trisomy 21. The results in an extra copy of chromosome 21. So he changed his jersey number with a purpose. Very touching, and it's one of those lesser-known stories that most people don't hear but does deserve a little acknowledgement.
Speaker 1:These are the kind of things we like to talk about here on Two for the Win. That is very sweet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Definitely worth mentioning. So moving on.
Speaker 1:What was his last jersey number? Do we know that?
Speaker 2:well, last year he was playing with the marlins and I don't remember. I don't recall what the number was, but I think I believe it was in the 30s. I could have looked it up. I'm not gonna waste time.
Speaker 1:I was just hoping it was 12 no, but moving on college football a national championship game. Who did we predict?
Speaker 2:I know, we're predicting notre dame, which we will own, that we were wrong.
Speaker 1:I had a feeling we were gonna be wrong. Wrong because I remember saying also that Ohio was red hot running into this.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, let's say for what it is, ohio has multiple five-star recruits where Notre Dame has won, so they should win, right, they should win. Now, this final score doesn't really tell the story. The final score was 34-23. Now if you saw that score, you would think, okay, maybe it was kind of a little back and forth, no, no, no, notre Dame may have got a touchdown early, but that's about all they had for a while in this game.
Speaker 1:They didn't score again until I think. What the fourth quarter, they mounted a good run. What the fourth quarter? They mounted a good run back during the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, second half was when they started turning it on, but I think that may have been due to the fact that Ohio kind of felt comfortable with their lead. But it is what it is. Ohio pulled out, they were up, I think, 24, 24 to 7 and it was. It was just kind of done. I mean, I there's not much you can do when you're, when you're down that big. But yeah, it wouldn't be the first time that notre dame was down going into the half and made a little bit of a comeback and don't get me wrong, they did well.
Speaker 1:They scored twice. With two two-point conversions in ten minutes, not a bad shot, okay. No, no, not at all they did, try they just a little bit too late to the party.
Speaker 2:I do know that their running back, excuse me, junkins. Junkins he deserves all the credit in this game Because that man, it seemed like every time you turned around he was in the end zone. This guy he had a 70-yard run for a touchdown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, junkins, I think he had a receiving touchdown 11 carries on 100 yards 9.1 average with two touchdowns, and his longest was saudi. This guy went off, bro. Yes he did this man was all over the field. He was in the end zone, in the out zone, in the in the sky zone now. And will howard didn't have such a bad game himself either. Let's be honest. He had two touchdowns on his own, one of them two judkins well said, well said.
Speaker 2:Now, that's not to take anything away from the, the fighting irish, I mean they. They did like I said. They tried to make a comeback. The team looked really good in the second half where they started to put things together, but it just wasn't enough. I mean Ryan Day and his Sharpie beard and his team made it through.
Speaker 1:Listen, you can Sharpie your beard all you want. They're the national champions. It's going to be a thing. Now Watch. Look, look, I'm sorry, just make sure you make it wide enough, because if you don't, you get this other kind of look you really don't want.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no See, okay, okay, I brought it up, I'm going to talk about it. Ryan Day needs to just let it go, he's look.
Speaker 1:Any relation to Mike Knight.
Speaker 2:Look, when you become an older man and you start going gray, give it up Like, just let it happen, don't be like Ryan Day and sit here and dye your beard sharpie black Because this thing is so black it does not look real, it looks like a fake.
Speaker 1:It's like a caterpillar on his nose.
Speaker 2:It's like a fake halloween looking beard big fuzzy caterpillar crawling across his face but it's like, bro, you can't hide the fake the the fact that your skin looks weathered as hell, like come on listen, I'm not trying to tear this man down.
Speaker 1:Okay, we started with sharpie mustaches. Okay, now we're talking about his skin no, I am look, not a mustache.
Speaker 2:His whole beard. This shit doesn't look right. I have seen way too many guys do this. It's like come on, mike, we know you're old I think you let it go. I think you should sharpie your beard too but I'm not going gray, like him go more black, go blacker.
Speaker 1:your more black, go blacker. Your beard's going to be blacker than his beard. I don't think you can.
Speaker 2:I don't think you can go blacker than that man's beard.
Speaker 1:Like seriously At some point. It's just negative space on a computer.
Speaker 2:I think he's sitting there. It's just negative space on a computer.
Speaker 1:There's nothing there. There's a chin.
Speaker 2:I think he's just sitting there with a big Sharpie just darkening in his beard and goes and looks in the mirror and goes I look good.
Speaker 1:Ryan Day's got a paintbrush. He's got his coordinator headset on. He's got a paintbrush with his collared shirt, getting ready to call a game. Then he goes. See no gray hairs in this close-up.
Speaker 2:Does he have no friends? None of his friends, say bro.
Speaker 1:I think everybody in Ohio is his friend right now.
Speaker 2:Hey, how different of a story it's become. You know, you lose the game against Michigan and everybody's calling for your job, and now, all of a sudden, Wait, didn't that guy go to the NFL?
Speaker 1:Who Michigan's head coach?
Speaker 2:Was it that good? Was it that good? No, you're thinking of Harbaugh. Harbaugh's already been gone. He lost to the guy that replaced Harbaugh?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but Harbaugh won last year with Michigan.
Speaker 2:Look, this is a thing Ohio State has been losing to Michigan for years now, and every time this happens, one fan base is just utterly upset, unconsolably upset. Now, winning a national championship probably makes that a little easier, but every time they bring up national championship there's going to be a Michigan person out there going, yeah but y'all ain't beat us in a couple years. And they have to own it because they haven't.
Speaker 1:I do remember seeing that picture of that. In fact that was on wrestling. I saw that it was something Ohio hasn't beat Michigan in something years. I saw it on wrestling, it was a meme. It was on Monday Night Raw. It was on Raw's Netflix debut. I saw it, Good lord.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, either way, they're national champions, congratulations to Ohio State.
Speaker 1:Hard fought, win and man. Was it a road Not often traveled? They were well, not often traveled? They were well, maybe often traveled for them, with the number of championships in their history.
Speaker 2:Well, this is the first time we've had the playoff bracket the way it is now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the way it is now.
Speaker 2:They definitely showed through the bracket that they were the better team.
Speaker 1:They were the better and look they were on fire. They were probably the easy favorites all the way through it for the most part. I mean, I know early on Texas everybody, and you know, I forgot who else was in it at this point because they don't matter once they lose to me.
Speaker 2:Nobody asked who was second or third. They asked who was second or third. I don't I don't care who.
Speaker 1:Number six was okay. We're talking about number one, okay. Tomorrow I'll forget who they even beat.
Speaker 2:So anyway, moving on yes, yes, let's, let's move on to.
Speaker 1:That was a wild championship game, but we had a wild week in the NFL in the divisional round. Which game do we want to start with? There's a few of them to talk about. We can talk about the most controversial one Texans and Chiefs.
Speaker 2:Okay so my take on this Texans-Chiefs game. Okay so my take on this Texans-Chiefs game. Now, I know there were some calls that were made that are a bit questionable, which always seems to happen in Chiefs games. But when your quarterback is being rushed meaning the Texans when your quarterback is being rushed on almost every single play and your quarterback gets sacked multiple times, you can't exactly be like that. One call is the reason we didn't win.
Speaker 1:No no.
Speaker 2:You guys were playing well in this game.
Speaker 1:Just not well enough.
Speaker 2:Thank you, that's kind of how it panned out Now. The Chiefs have shown this all year long they don't necessarily blow teams out, but when it comes down to make the play at the right time, they have a knack for it.
Speaker 2:They have a knack for showing up when it matters most. Now, there's been a lot of discussion here recently where there are stats out now that show that the Chiefs in the playoffs for these 11 games where they're 10-1, their opponents have 66 penalties called on them in these games Dang, While the Chiefs themselves only have 36. Almost two for every one called on them.
Speaker 1:Was this just the last game?
Speaker 2:No, this is their playoff history.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:The Chiefs have 66 penalties called against their opponents to their 36 against them. Now the NFL can't just sit here and say, oh, the Chiefs aren't getting favorable calls. The Chiefs aren't getting favorable calls? Well, no, it kind of is looking like the Chiefs are getting a lot more calls. I mean because it, by the numbers, shows they are getting more calls. Now I know what you're going to say. You're going to say well, they played at home.
Speaker 1:They've been at home and you get the home discount. Listen, I don't sound like that, okay.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying you personally, but the fans, the fans of the Chiefs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some people might make that argument. What I was going to say was I agree it seems a little lopsided, but at the same time it is lopsided. Who have they played? I know they were the number one seed last year, weren't they? Or was it the Bills, or we'll have to go back and look at playoff history. But what kind of teams did they play in the playoffs? Because sometimes you get matched up with teams that are not necessarily clean teams to play. Okay.
Speaker 2:By the time you're getting into the later part of the playoffs. You're playing disciplined teams. You should be. You're playing teams that have made it that far. They don't make it that far because they don't play sound football. It's very rare that a team that doesn't belong makes it far into the playoffs being undisciplined. Yeah, so you can't make the argument that, oh well, they're playing an inferior team that doesn't hold up.
Speaker 1:Well, I won't say inferior.
Speaker 2:What it is is it's plain as anybody can see. You put it on paper. Yeah, and you show it to somebody who does not watch football.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's true you make a lot of mistakes in the playoffs. You're not going to win.
Speaker 2:No, but I mean, if you sit here and you show somebody on paper, hey, this team has 36 penalties called against them, All the other teams have 66. Yeah, that is pretty damning. You can say hometown, discount all that. Or you know getting the favorable calls because you're at home. I don't think that should matter, though it shouldn't, it shouldn't think that should matter, though it shouldn't, it shouldn't. But look for all the penalties that are called. I have even recorded one of these one time where I had a game. It wasn't even my team playing the Chiefs, it was another team playing the Chiefs.
Speaker 1:And in this one play there are three different penalties not called Three Now, is it glaring because it's Patrick Mahomes? Oh, it is super glaring. Or is it because there were a lot of plays not called in the Washington game that?
Speaker 2:should have been called Okay, we're not talking about that. I'm talking about the Chiefs in general, I have seen where their offensive lineman literally hooks the defender and drags him to the ground which is holding yeah, not a flag thrown. Where did he have his? Hook at he hooked his arm and tackled him to the ground.
Speaker 2:That's holding. Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass. I'm sorry, the fans are not stupid. If they see these things over and over again, they're going to say, hey, where's the call? Which they're doing right now. The fans are up in arms, going what the hell, nfl? Why are the chiefs not getting called on penalties? Why are they getting so many favorable calls?
Speaker 1:I mean, I feel like it's not just the chiefs well, patrick mahomes has even admitted that he he uses well, yeah, he manipulates it defending the quarterback which brings in another controversy, which you know.
Speaker 1:I know we were talking about the other second, but flopping they. Some people are talking about um, quarterback rules the quarterback. How do you feel about so? I think this is going to take away from the game, right, but I don't. The quarterback runs at that point. He a runner, but what if he's going to slide? A lot of times he goes to slide. They still get that roughing call, right?
Speaker 2:I think this is pretty clear, cut and dry.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you run, you go past that line of scrimmage. You are a runner. You are subject to any hit period. Yeah, it will detour quarterbacks from running, and either you're going to do one of two things you're either going to get down immediately instead of waiting to slide to the last second, or you're going to continue to take hits yeah, so, and some of these guys do.
Speaker 2:but I, you it's calculated, I'm not saying that defensive defenders don't take it a step too far sometimes and hit these guys, but if you don't run, you can't be hit. Oh, if I'm a defender and you're running.
Speaker 1:If you're a runner and I'm a defender, I'm going to pummel you, especially if you're a quarterback.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm waiting for the day when Mahomes goes towards the sidelines and he tries to pull his. I'm going out and I'm not going out and run up the sideline for 20 more yards. I'm waiting for the defender to say, no, you're not playing that game on us and just nail him into the bench and take the 15-yard penalty because it's coming. Well, the other thing is you can't keep doing this to your opponent before your opponent goes. I'm done with this.
Speaker 1:The other thing is those defenders did give up the play early, like they need to. Mahomes was going out yeah, yeah, I'm going out and they started to veer off and Mahomes said oh, you're done early, I'm not out of bounds yet. You know why they're veering off Because he thinks he's going out of bounds.
Speaker 2:Because they don't want to get a penalty called against him.
Speaker 1:But you don't have to hit him still, but you stay on him, you stay in front of him, you make sure he follows through and goes out.
Speaker 2:Sir, I think you don't understand how fast and how these things go when you're in there and you're in this scenario.
Speaker 1:I'm just trying to play devil's advocate.
Speaker 2:Hindsight is always 20-20.
Speaker 1:Hindsight is always 20-20. I'm just trying to play a little devil's advocate here.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying that people are getting a little bit more loud about the Chiefs being the darlings of the nfl and people are starting to get sick, get sick and tired of some of the crap they're pulling they don't even play nice football.
Speaker 1:I mean they play nice football but they'd like they're not really that interesting to watch play football. I don't know how.
Speaker 2:They're the darlings because they have, they have the chance to go three in a row.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I know why, but I don't know why okay all I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I see a lot more chiefs around than I used to yeah chief fans because there was a yeah. It's funny how, when you know some team starts winning, you know all of a sudden there's all these fans. It's like I've never seen a single warriors fan before. They started winning a bunch of championships like yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:In fact I had to ask myself. I said who are the warrior, who's golden state, who's where all the let's go? I had to start looking at us, oh okay yeah, they used to be.
Speaker 2:They used to be nothing for the longest time and all of a sudden they win championships and people are like I I'm a Warriors fan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what.
Speaker 2:Warriors. What the hell Since when?
Speaker 1:We are in Virginia Beach. You better be a Knicks fan, or Hornets, or at least the Bulls or something. Come on now. Be something other than a bandwagon Come on now we got the Wizards up there too. Come on.
Speaker 2:But speaking of possible bandwagons, man, we had that Washington Lions game Boy. Let that band play.
Speaker 1:I don't care how much that wagon's going to get mighty full if y'all wind up in the Super Bowl Look first of all, anyone who's a Commanders fan is a bandwagoner, because that's a brand-new name and they're just now winning, so we're all bandwagoners in that manner so washington actually did pull it off and beat the lions 45 to 31, but I'm going to go ahead and say it.
Speaker 2:I said last show kudos, y'all needed to get ahead and make them chase you.
Speaker 1:Good call and what happened. I did it all got ahead and they had to chase you oh yeah and they weren't up for the task and, yeah, they needed some things to happen, which did. They needed a turnover. Got two of them, actually got a few of them. Um, they needed to slow down that high flying offense. I told them they need to stop that pass somehow and they did limit it. Well, I had some plays, but they did all right. They did okay for Well, I think.
Speaker 1:They had some plays but they did all right. They did okay For a 23rd-ranked defense. They stepped up against the number one offense in the league. They did good.
Speaker 2:I think the Lions had to overcome a lot of injuries to try to get as far as they, as far as everybody thought they were going to. Look, you lose that many players on your defensive side Next man up Coaching.
Speaker 1:Look the fact that they made it this far, losing the players that they lost does show the coaching, but you got to think they didn't get this far on their defense, though, and they never did. This was all on their offense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even their offense was taking a hit.
Speaker 1:Their offense had taken a couple hits, yeah, but all in all their offense relatively held through the season all I know is the lions.
Speaker 2:They had one hell of a season that they did but it has come to an end because of the washington commanders. The washington Commanders, their rookie, Jaden Daniels, is looking like a seasoned vet. He is completely poised. I don't know that this man has the ability to have a heart rate above a normal resting rate.
Speaker 1:He's only a rookie in age. Let me tell you that On tape he is not a rookie.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah.
Speaker 1:Jaden Daniels is a bad man. Let me tell you what everybody.
Speaker 2:Zach Ertz even said in an interview that he enjoys playing with him because he said I have never seen a rookie play like this. He said I want to continue my career, provided that people will let me continue my career. But I want to continue my career, provided that people will let me continue my career.
Speaker 1:But I want to play with him. So I think that this will live. This season's helped a couple people on this team renew their love. Thank you for the game.
Speaker 2:Well, I think this will lend to the commanders and being able to bring veteran talent in, should they try to in this offseason.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of people. They garnered a lot of interest already last offseason, but I think after, like you say, I think this is definitely going to be one of the hottest destinations in the league. Yeah, regardless what happens this coming weekend, this team had four wins in 2023, bro well, it just.
Speaker 2:It shows the parody in the nfl where your team could be a bottom dweller and the next year be in it yeah because it just takes having a good draft and filling out a front office and coaching staff with the right people.
Speaker 1:And these guys, all the way from ownership down to the coaching, down to the assistants, down to the players and all the peripherals, this entire organization is on the same page, on the same word, on the same letter. They're saying the same vowels at the same page, on the same word, on the same letter. They're saying the same vowels at the same time. This is just what it looks like when everybody is 100% together, All day and all night.
Speaker 2:Well they are moving on. They are moving on to the championship game and we'll see if they make the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Look at this point. I might as well go on ahead and make the Super Bowl you two games away. Come on, bro Moving, and then the Rams. Do we need to talk about this game? Nobody cares about this game.
Speaker 2:Well, the Rams and Eagles. It was a snowy game which doesn't lend to Matthew Stafford because he, historically, has not been good in snow games.
Speaker 1:And while we're talking about the Rams, we'll go ahead once again LA Fire Department and all those fires out there, still thinking about y'all, but what you're saying about the Rams and the Eagles here.
Speaker 2:Well, the Eagles were going into it being the favorites to win it because it's in their house for one, that home field advantage. But they're the more complete team, you know. They have more veteran talent, they have more of a. You know, as far as, like, if you compare the rosters, they have more all-stars than the Rams do. The Rams have a lot of young players who probably don't know any better that Jared Burst, though on the Rams that guy, every time you turned around it seemed like he was right up in that field he was talking so much smack to Eagles players.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something about the Rams. You want to talk about a team that's really taken some hits. The Rams have been stumbling and bumbling their way through the season. They've had some injuries early on, some notable injuries early on.
Speaker 2:But they've overcome them to be in the playoffs.
Speaker 1:You're right, they overcame them. But these guys had them on both sides of the ball and they had a lot of them and they overcame them. Some of had them on both sides of the ball and they had a lot of them and they overcame them some of them. They got back just in time for the playoffs. Somehow they even made the playoffs to begin with, because it was a hotly contested division, I believe, right down the last couple weeks even. Yeah, um, so I I'm not necessarily, but I'm surprised at the same time. But the Eagles winning is not really surprising. Now here, jalen Hurts is a little injured. He might be limited coming into this weekend.
Speaker 2:He was okay in the game. I mean, really, if you really want to get down to it, saquon is the reason they won, because Saquon scored twice, that's not necessarily news had multiple big runs, which is not. I could almost copy paste, repeat from games they've had this year where that has happened, where he's had big runs and had multiple scores. So I mean it's been their blueprint all year.
Speaker 1:Man, giants fans, giants fans, and and the giants just must be kicking themselves right now, man, but hey, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:I mean. When people make dumb moves, you better expect that you're gonna be out too it's all right, they'll draft chador sanders next year. Make up for it well, they're gonna need to move up if they're going to do that, but anyway, Correct so. Eagles pull off the win 28-22. Rams tried to mount a comeback. It just wasn't going to happen, wasn't there? They had a great season. But Nipuka Nakua he was banged up and Cooper Cupp was almost-existent in this game yeah, he had a couple of catches, but it just it just wasn't enough.
Speaker 1:This is kind of short, but 22, 28, it's nothing to be bashful about this game. Next up here, though, this but what's that?
Speaker 2:let me let me, let me point this out though okay coming into this. We said that two teams from the same division would be going against each other in the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1:In the conference championship game.
Speaker 2:I think most people would have said it would have been the Vikings and the Lions.
Speaker 1:I don't think that people would have called. I know where you're going with this.
Speaker 2:I don't think people would have called Washington versus the Eagles in the NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1:By the way, I think the week before the wild card round Dan Campbell to Kevin O'Connell. I'll see you in two weeks on the couch.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes, they joined the rest of the team. They'll see you on the couch.
Speaker 1:yes, yes, yes, they joined the rest of the team yeah, because the rams beat the hell out of the vikings and then, you know, washington, you know, a week later beat the lions. And here we are, two weeks later and either of them are in yeah yeah, we'll see you on the couch well moving on to the I do admire dan campbell's confidence, though, that man is a great coach moving on to the game that everybody really wanted to see this past weekend.
Speaker 2:They wanted to see this buffalo ravens game they.
Speaker 1:everybody thought this was going to be the best game of the weekend and it was, in my opinion, the second best game of the weekend.
Speaker 2:Well, that's because your team's in it. But, I honestly feel like this was as delivered.
Speaker 1:I think so too. I agree, it did, it was exciting.
Speaker 2:It was a very good game.
Speaker 1:And in the snow too. Yes, Well, I mean Buffalo snow yes, yeah, well, I mean buffalo snow, no, never, but, oh, never. But oh, by the way, as you say that, guess what this?
Speaker 2:weekend's forecast is 58 degrees, so so buffalo we playing in nice weather, fellas buffalo had themselves a pretty good game where they didn't just rely on Jared Allen being the savior. Josh Allen, I don't know why I said.
Speaker 1:Jared, jared Allen's retired. Yeah, he's retired. Another amazing player, josh Allen. I understand the confusion, yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyway, pardon my faux pas, anyway, faux pas. The Bills didn't have to rely on him to be the savior, they just played efficient ball. They tried not to do too much, which is kind of what they've been doing all year.
Speaker 2:They have been playing within themselves and letting whoever is going to be the guy be the guy yeah you know, uh, there was a lot on the Ravens side where people might say, oh, it's Lamar doing what he does in the playoffs. He doesn't, he doesn't show up. I don't believe that to be the case okay, I don't, I'm not buying that either.
Speaker 2:Okay here's why I say that, yes, he threw an early pick. But if you really go back and look at that play, you had Matt Milano who did a swim move and got right in Lamar's face, so he had to throw that pass early and so he anticipated the throw and threw it. It looked like a bad pick, which it was. He kind of threw it to the defender and not to his receiver, but his receiver wasn't able to continue the route to where that would have been a good pass. He had to throw it early. He had to throw the pass early, threw the timing off. So if the timing's off the plays are usually not going to look good, especially on a timing throw, which that was yeah but kudos to the Ravens defense.
Speaker 2:It didn't amount to anything. It was. It was a punt, so it didn't do anything to the final score. It doesn't matter. He threw that pick because it didn't do anything. You know it was 14-7 for a while in this game yeah but now I know people say well, what about his fumble? Yeah yeah, he had a fumble.
Speaker 1:Look that ball was probably frozen solid by then.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know he didn't have it really secured. He was trying to make a play Well ball protection yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you've got to kind of tuck it, but he was being tackled and he was trying to make the play tackled and he was trying to do make make the play. But even still, that fumble did not cause the outcome of this game. And I know people want to say, oh well, what about mark andrews? Mark andrews has been a solid titan for them all year long. He had his worst game because he did fumble on a punched out ball. Kudos to the bills defensive play.
Speaker 2:That was just a good defensive play now people want to be mad at him because he dropped the two-point conversion.
Speaker 1:Lamar could have thrown a better pass look, look, I don't even before you go there. I don't want to talk about the pass or about bargangers. I'm going to talk about the conditions. Okay, it is way different trying to catch a ball in 60 degree weather than it is in rainy weather, than it is in snowy and ice weather.
Speaker 2:Okay, the conditions are the same for both teams.
Speaker 1:Man it's the same for both teams. Man, it's the same for both teams. But first of all, these are both outdoor cold weather teams. But let me tell you what Buffalo historically has played in more cold weather and snow games than the Ravens. But the other thing is I don't care what it is for both teams, how equal the playing field is. The end of the day is, these guys have been on the field for a couple hours now playing their ass off. They're probably tired. They're probably cold. The ball's frozen. Look, I don't care if it was a perfect throw, if it's hard to catch, it's hard to catch, man. Sometimes you just drop them and it sucks.
Speaker 1:You gotta catch those ones, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2:That drop would have only tied the game. That's not a guarantee you're winning.
Speaker 1:Exactly. It would have only sent it. They still had a minute and 11 seconds left on the clock.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're giving Josh Allen plenty of time to take it down and kick a game-winning field goal.
Speaker 1:I still think it would have only been slim. Go ahead, here's the thing.
Speaker 2:Here's the thing you talk about the cold weather. Teams are used to cold weather. Now they have things they can do now that aid these players in staying warm. They'll put on wetsuits underneath their jerseys. They'll put Vaseline on their arms to help reduce the amount of air. The exposure, and also I mean most guys. They don't want to wear the long sleeves.
Speaker 2:Because, what happens when you the long sleeves? Yeah, because what happens when you wear long sleeves? In your hot? You sweat. Well, that sweat gets absorbed by the long sleeve and then the wind blows and you're cold. Yeah, so guys don't want to wear the long sleeves. It's not a tough guy thing, it's a hey, we're smarter, we can do better things now there's new inventions out now they make these heat right.
Speaker 1:It was actually developed by the military, which is me, and you know that that's not necessarily great, but anyway it was developed by the military. They're heat straps. You put one on your lower forearm and one right below your elbow, so one just above your wrist and one just below your elbow. It keeps the blood flow through that part of your arm warm, so your arms stay warm in the cold.
Speaker 2:I don't know if they're using those, but they might be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean, you don't have to wear sleeves. It does work too.
Speaker 2:But there are more things to this game beyond the cold is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:It's not. There were other factors.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say the cold is the reason this game turned out the way it did.
Speaker 2:The teams played. I mean, the score was 27-25. The Ravens were in this, the thing that I think really did in the Ravens. The Ravens have done this multiple times, where they play one way all season long and then they play different in the playoffs, and that's what happened in this game. All year long you have been working Derrick Henry over and over again. Now, granted, early on, buffalo was stepping up, keeping him below three yards a run. They were kind of containing him a little.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But he was breaking some runs, but he only had 16 carries in the game. And I'm sorry if you're down there near the goal line, why are you not giving it Derrick Henry multiple times?
Speaker 1:No, I kind of agree with you, especially if he was having a fairly decent average.
Speaker 2:And why was he not in there for the two-point conversion? Like, even if you're not giving him the ball, that distraction buys you time. And let's face it, having that big of a guy to possibly give up an extra block or you know, kind of run him as a distraction buys time gives you more ability to set up for that. Pass to Andrews. Now they did.
Speaker 1:Now the pocket collapsed fairly quickly on that play. I got to give credit to Jackson for rolling out and buying time the way he did, Honestly and I know I've been making excuses for them with the weather and everything Honestly, I hate excuses. Okay, At the end of the day, you just didn't get it done. You're right. They both played in the same conditions. Regardless of how you view it, Lamar could throw a better ball, Mark Andrews could have caught the ball, Blah, blah, blah blah. For everything in between, the fact of the matter is they didn't okay.
Speaker 2:And let me tell you what not to mention. You had a whole game.
Speaker 1:They had the whole game that's the other thing you should have.
Speaker 1:It should have been a statement game. You're in a divisional round. You're trying to go to the Super Bowl. You're trying to go to the AFC Championship. I know it's going to be a slugfest, but if you're clawing for a win in the final winning seconds of a game, don't get me wrong. It's an exciting game and most exciting games go that way. But if you wanted to have a decisive win, you should have already been ahead at that point in the game. You shouldn't be clawing to get ahead and hang on for dear life.
Speaker 2:Well, I think the best statement is probably what Jimmy Johnson has said multiple times. He said, sometimes it's not being the team with the most big plays or best offensive plays, it's being the team that makes the big plays or best offensive plays, it's being the team that makes the less mistakes. Yes that one, and Bills made less mistakes than the Ravens did in that game.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Now, I wouldn't put this solely on Lamar or solely on Mark Andrews. I would put it on the team and I guarantee you if you talk to the team, they're all going to say, hey, I could have done this, or I could have made an extra effort on that, or I messed up and didn't block right Any number of things. Again, hindsight 20-20. But the Ravens it seems to be a theme where they get into playoffs and they get bumped and I don't want to put this one yeah, this one.
Speaker 2:I don't necessarily think you should just man size Lamar because he did look better in this game, despite the fumble, despite I would tell you what.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to talk trash, but I'm'm just going to make a little bit of fun here. Mark Andrews, my guy looked pretty lonely and pretty cold. My guy couldn't even get a jacket when he came off the field. After that Everybody else got jackets. This man went over to the bench with no jacket, couldn't get a jacket, and then he took his helmet off, looked around, then he put his helmet back on. I helmet off, looked around, then he put his helmet back on. I feel kind of bad for him, but I believe Lamar went over, gave him some words of encouragement, not trying to poke fun at him but trying to poke a little bit fun.
Speaker 1:Jackets are for winners, jackets for winners. I want to bring something else up while we're talking about the Bills and the Ravens here. Okay, buffalo Bills, they've got to be one of the most beloved fan bases. Um, in the nfl. Okay, there's a lot of very. All of the teams have very unique fan bases, but bill's mafia. They are extraordinarily unique in their own right and I love it. Okay, bill's fans have donated over 32 000 to the breakthrough t1d charity, which is pushing for a cure for type 1 diabetes and looks to support those afflicted by the same disease, type 1 diabetes. The Baltimore Ravens, mark Andrews, has type 1 diabetes. He also supports that charity. So the Bills Mafia supporting the charity of Mark Andrews and the Ravens, especially with what happened in light of this game, is extraordinary to me. Another feel-good story that we like to have here on Two for the Win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're just showing a classy move, being supportive to the guy who. He's been a good player all year and he just had a tough game. And this is not the first time that Buffalo Bills fans have done something like this, where they kind of look out for opposing teams' players when they have done poorly or they have something going on. They're a unique fan base. They kind of have a little bit of respect for their opponent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Even though they want them to lose they don't you know.
Speaker 1:Bill's Mafia is always here for the party and they're always here for good spirits. I got to give it to them. Now, with that being said, we could see you know, as, colt, we talk about the weather we could see our NFL regular season extended once again from 17 weeks 17 regular weeks to 18 regular weeks Now, the difference being one less preseason game. According to you know, roger Goodell, that would be the next logical step. Well, what do you think about that, mike?
Speaker 2:I hope it lends to the Superbowl falling on President Day weekend so that way we can get the following Monday off. That would be nice.
Speaker 1:That would be amazing.
Speaker 2:So that way you know, after you've had your Super Bowl fun and you've been drinking and having a good time eating a bunch of food and feeling all bloated and bad, you don't have to go into work the next day, look.
Speaker 1:I just think the Super Bowl and the day after should be federal holidays, national holidays. But I don't think it would happen because, as I say, they want to keep the 20-week framework in place. One of the preseason game, week three, would now be regular season week one. So instead of kicking off in September 1st, we'd be kicking off in the last week of August.
Speaker 2:That's just going to lead into, I mean, stealing preseason games. That's just going to lead into more bad football.
Speaker 1:I mean, let's be honest, I think preseason is important the first week or two of the season.
Speaker 2:Teams are still trying to figure things out and we get some bad football the first couple weeks. I mean teams just don't look good. The handoffs are bad, the passes are bad, the timing's off, like it just looks bad.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I like keeping the three preseason framework there used to be four. I know there used to be four, but I thought four was a little much.
Speaker 2:I like three starters anymore.
Speaker 1:I like three. Right, you get to mix in your stars a little bit here. They're the ones you know you're guaranteed to make. But you get two solid weeks pretty much just to put all your nobodies Excuse my language, I don't mean to call anybody but all your unknowns on the field. Then in week three you get to do a quarter, you know, a first drive, dress rehearsal, both the offense, defense, special teams, and then you get to evaluate a little bit more and make some hard decisions and go right into the season. I think that is a good setup.
Speaker 2:Honestly, those last few games, those are what you most players that are trying to make a roster or a practice squad that's their time to showcase. So that way teams get an extra look and they can say, hey, you know we like that guy on the colts, did they release him? Let's see if we can pick him up and put him on our practice squad, or, you know, it gives teams more of an opportunity to look at other teams players as well as their own and figure out what they're going to do. Because, yeah, how many times have we seen a guy has been elevated to game day status and you're like who's that?
Speaker 2:never heard of that guy you know like, unless you're like a diehard college fan and you, you know, watch this guy play for you know, like Middle Tennessee State or something you don't typically know, some of these practice squad guys.
Speaker 1:Which is part of what we help with here on Two for the Win, part of why we talk about college as well as the pros, not just in football.
Speaker 2:Well, we should probably touch a little more, but it's kind of hard to touch on the vastness of college football.
Speaker 1:There's so many. We just the big names, the up-and-coming names, right. But keeping back on subject, you know NFL's already a rough season, like these guys. I know all sports are rough in all seasons Like so the MLB plays what? Over 100-something games a season, 162 games, 162 games, 162 games Basketball. Similarly long season, they play roughly 82 games. I don't see that for the NFL this is just such a physically encompassing sport to play.
Speaker 2:I think if you put a second bye weekend in, it'll be fine.
Speaker 1:I think if you put a second bye weekend in it'll be good. But I wonder where do we reach the point between potential expansion options to go along with the expansion of the season?
Speaker 2:Well, it would be hard to expand because it requires a vote from the owners. It requires a vote from the owners. It also requires a city to be able to put up the money in order to get the team viable and build the stadium. So it's kind of a hard sell. I mean, even when these teams move, they have to pay to be able to move.
Speaker 1:And I agree with that, and I think it's more about the logistics of the schedule as well, because now you're starting to get to the realm of more NFL teams means going international Canada.
Speaker 2:Mexico, argentina. Well, I don't think we'll. I hate to say it this way, but I don't think we'll ever get a team that's not going to be based in, like you said, canada or mexico maybe, because once you start going across the pond, it it logistically is going to be too hard it's hard, just given the schedule, this is why most teams, when they go over there, they either go over there and play two games over there or they play a game and then they go into their bye week.
Speaker 2:Because it's logistically easier to do that than it is to send a team over play a game and then have them come back. So we'll see how it shakes out. I mean, the NFL has shown that they are willing to adjust and adapt and try things.
Speaker 1:They are trying to go, they are trying to expand overseas. I mean, we had a China game, Japan game coming up, a game in Madrid coming up, which actually the Dolphins have been the first team chosen for Madrid-Spain.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, they had NFL Europe for a little, while they still have it actually, because we'll get onto it in a second, but they still have NFL Europe over there. And speaking of NFL Europe, I'll just go ahead and say it since I have it Jack Del Rio, prominent coach here in the NFL America, has just been named head coach of the Paris Musketeers. They actually have a 17-team league over there. Nfl Europe European Football League.
Speaker 2:I couldn't name them.
Speaker 1:I can name, name them. I can name the Musketeers, I think, the Roman. I mean they used to. I remember some of the teams from the older days, back in the early 2000s. Then they folded for a little bit and now I don't know if they folded or they just went, what happened, but apparently there's 17 teams now. They're pretty prominent over there. Nfl is rather big across the sea.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of coaching, we're getting a lot of coaching rumors, coaching moves. It's that time of year where, if your team's out, and you're deep in the playoffs, it might be.
Speaker 1:Forget Black Monday. It just seems like every day is Black Monday now. There's so many people getting fired this week.
Speaker 2:The Lions not only lost to you guys this past weekend, but I felt like they got a double whammy, because as soon as they lose, Just an exodus of coaches. Then Ben Johnson goes over to be the Bears head coach, so now he's going to be coaching against your team in your division. So that had to sting. I know Lions fans were probably.
Speaker 1:That stings because you know he lost part of the. You know if he had just waited a week or even four days until he made the announcement right, like this stings because this lets you know this was already in the works. Okay, um, and that hurts more than anything. That's almost a betrayal factor. And, by the way, uh, we'll get on to a second, uh, aaron glenn going over to the jets. They actually drafted him as a player in 1991. But going back here and I think Bill Belichick also made a good assumption here, or a good idea, a good suggestion, might you say Should there be rules on coaches getting interviewed for teams who are still in the playoff bracket, who are still playing their season?
Speaker 2:Well, there are rules. You can only interview the coaches if they have a bye week, which is why the Cowboys didn't get a chance to interview Ben Johnson or Eric Glenn, because they were messing around with McCarthy.
Speaker 1:Well, true, but yeah, that's true because the Lions did have a bye week.
Speaker 2:And a lot of teams interviewed both coaches during that bye week.
Speaker 1:Now I like Aaron Glenn is moving fast too, but I like how Aaron Glenn's doing. He just now had the interview right after they lost. Okay, ben Johnson, ben had that interview.
Speaker 2:Let's face it, ben Johnson everybody wanted. The Bears are just the ones that got him. And you know it just makes the rest of the teams looking a little more desperate.
Speaker 1:Bro, that's like a slap in the face to me. Our team loses and then, less than 24 hours later, you're going to the divisional rival. Yeah, what? The Come on, bro, I hate you.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, divisional rival, yeah what the come on, bro, I hate you. Oh yeah, he's not gonna be a fan favorite in detroit for sure? No, no, not at all. But you know, we, speaking of teams looking for a coach, the cowboys, you know, after talking about you know, oh, we might bring Deion in Now. They're just reaching out for names everywhere.
Speaker 1:It seems like Well, they went in-house right now.
Speaker 2:Well. I mean they talked about Anthony Lynn?
Speaker 1:They did talk about Anthony Lynn, which was rather surprising given that he's on Washington's coaching staff and Dan Quinn and Joe Witt and a handful of others just came from Dallas, but Anthony Lynn is the running backs coach over there. I was surprised to see that, but right now the front runner is Brian Schottenheimer for the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 2:I feel like this is nothing more than reaching for familiarity, because what are the names we keep hearing? We keep hearing Cowboys are looking to get Deion, former Cowboys player. Oh. They're looking to get Kellen Moore again former coach, former player. Oh, they're looking to bring in Witten. For what? Who has he coached? Nobody. He hasn't done any coaching I'm aware of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of like hey, hey, you're best friends with the guy who married my daughter, you can come be a coach, you know, I feel like.
Speaker 2:What they're doing is they're trying to get the guy who will be not looking for the credit. They're looking for the guy that will be the yes coach they want the yes, yes they're looking for the yes man.
Speaker 1:Jerry wants a yes man.
Speaker 2:That is not going to combat with Jerry Jones.
Speaker 1:Even his own sons are yes, men, unfortunately. At least they don't go by. Imagine ratings to bring in players. I'll give them that.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately for the Cowboys, this is not a recipe for success and the way we can say that we know this, it's a recipe for chili the cowboys are now the team with the longest tenure, since they've been to the nfc championship game nfc championship game. Yeah, yeah they are now the longest tenure of not being in it.
Speaker 1:Do you know? Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels were born, grew up and went to school, went to college, had collegiate careers and both have made the NFC Championship game before the Cowboys in the last 30 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 20 years, 30 years, yeah, 20 years. Yeah, there are people that are alive right now, that can go get a drink at a bar and have for many years that have never seen the Cowboys in a NFC championship game.
Speaker 1:God, it's good to be a Commander's fan.
Speaker 2:It's crazy Hell. Yeah, that's not the only moves and stuff that have been going on. I mean, 49ers.
Speaker 1:They got one in the works. They trying to bring one home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would not be upset at this If they brought Robert Sala back Now. Robert Sala is still getting looks from other teams as far as possibly being their head coach. Jacksonville is one of them. Which Jacksonville finally realized that Trent Bulkey's the problem and they've let him go, which they should have, because Trent Bulkey has proven time and time again he is hard to work with. I mean, the Niners back in the day had him and they chose to keep him instead of keeping Harbaugh. It was the wrong move, again, hindsight being 20-20.
Speaker 1:But they finally let him go and then the team started doing well again when they brought in Lynch and Shanahan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they did turn it around. They did because they were good. I mean, it was hard to imagine how much. How could it get better than the Harbaugh era? But it did get better than the Harbaugh era, but it did get better for a little bit. Buccaneers offensive quarter Liam Cohen. He's taking himself out of the runs for Jaguars head coach. He's going to stay in Tampa. He's got a new contract. He's one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL now.
Speaker 2:Bucs get the K-0-C. I think this was a situation where Tampa just basically said look, we want to keep you.
Speaker 1:He did a good job.
Speaker 2:He did an exceptionally good job. But again, this is kind of like that thing I said before Don't try to be happier than happy. If you've got a good thing going, why are you going to just jump into being a head coach somewhere where you might be quickly out of there and then you're out of the NFL?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know just going back, aaron Glenn, go to the New York jets. I had him pegged to go to the saints, to be honest with you, but once I found out the Jets actually drafted him first round overall in 1991, this is not a better fit for this guy. Go ahead and leave the shit show that is becoming Detroit. Go ahead and start your own shit show.
Speaker 2:I think McCarthy winds up going to the Saints, to be honest, because he think about it. He's an established coach. He has had a pretty decent career as far as coaching goes, because there's plenty of coaches out there that don't have a Super Bowl win, he does have one, and he also oversaw the transition from Favre to Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1:McCarthy is a well-seasoned coach. He's a very solid coach. You don't get a lot of talk, you don't get a lot of hoopla, you don't get a lot of drama. He's a very under-the-radar, very effective coach, has a good coaching staff. Excuse me, woo-hoo.
Speaker 1:I don't know where that came from. Anyway, he wouldn't be so bad in New Orleans. He wouldn't be so bad in New Orleans. I just don't see him landing there. I mean, I would see him landing with the Raiders before I saw him landing in New Orleans. But speaking of the Raiders and going back to the Buccaneers, they're not losing their OC, but they are losing their GM because he's going to Vegas. He's. The Las Vegas Raiders have hired John Spitek as their new GM. He was the assistant in Tampa Bay and now he's going to be the head GM in Las Vegas. I'm actually kind of excited for this and the Raiders, because this guy did a hell of a job in Tampa Bay. I'm eager to see what he does in Vegas.
Speaker 2:Well, we have another interesting piece of news coming from the college ranks, where a coach that was in the national championship game is making his way to the NFL. And no, it's not Marcus Freeman, because I know that's what everybody was starting to think. It's not Marcus Freeman, because I know that's what everybody was starting to think. It's not Marcus Freeman, no, but it is the defensive coordinator from. Notre Dame, you said it Al Golden.
Speaker 1:He is going to the Bengals to be their defensive coordinator. You know a lot of people thought that their head coach might go and take the Bears job.
Speaker 2:Again, I think he's better off staying there.
Speaker 1:I say stay bro. You got complete control of that program. And then everybody who's not aware that the Patriots are hiring Mike Vable as the new head coach even less surprising bringing back Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. They're looking at Terrell Williams. Not a whole lot of splash there, not a whole lot of surprise, but the Patriots are looking to be the Patriots of the last decade. We'll see if they get there. Tennessee's going through some moves. They've hired Mike Borgonzi as their GM, I'm trying to see.
Speaker 1:He comes from Kansas City, assistant GM in Kansas City, another one who did a hell of a job working alongside Andy Reid. Interested to see what he does with Titans. Titans are a very intriguing franchise. Do they have the number one overall pick? Yes, they have the number one overall pick and they've already come out and said they're not passing on a generational talent. I don't know if either Shadur Sanders or Cam Ward is a generational talent, but I'm interested to see how this whole thing plays through. You know Ben Johnson's going to the Bears we already talked about that, not a whole lot of other notable things going on. You know Mike Blumgren's going to be offensive line coach in Browns. You know he's taking a step back.
Speaker 2:Grin's going to be offensive line coach in Browns. You know he's taking a step back. I mean, this is the time of year where you have a lot of moves happening in the coaching ranks that you might not really notice until next season, and sometimes they wind up turning into the right guy. I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when.
Speaker 2:Robert Sala left to go be the Jets head coach, a lot of people were probably thinking, oh, we're so screwed. But then D'Amico Ryan stepped up as the defensive coordinator and the very next year he got hired to be the head coach for the Texans. And he was in the playoffs this year. So losing a coordinator doesn't necessarily mean that your team is going to fall off. And you know, for the Lions, they're just going to have to do some heavy footwork and find their next guy.
Speaker 1:The coordinators aren't too bad, right the lower down the chain, the head coach. Honestly, the GM is a big one. Speaking of the Texans, they're parting ways with Greg Grissom, who knows who they're going to bring in next to Phil Israel. That was their team president. So Texans looking to go top down in some extent. Bobby Slowik's on the market Looking to see where he I think Slowik could end up in New Orleans. Honestly, he would be a perfect fit for that offense.
Speaker 2:Well, New Orleans is going to have a tough time getting a coach because they got a lot of cap issues and they got a lot of older talent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And a lot of that older talent is not what they once were. So you're getting into a situation where you're trying to build a team, but the team that you have is getting expensive and aging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they might be a rookie head coach situation, but I like to see Bobby Sloat get in the mix. Jacksonville Jaguars would be another good one. Go coach Sunshine Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2:Well, since they fired Bulky, they're going to have a better shot. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But the problem was. They got a lot of firepower down there.
Speaker 2:The problem was when they had a shot at Ben Johnson, they should have been up front and just been like look, whatever you want. If you want us to fire Bulkey, he's gone.
Speaker 1:Man, ben Johnson. You might as well have changed your name to Carmen Sandiego at this point, because everybody was wondering where you were going to be at. We heard your name attached to the Raiders. We heard your name attached to Jacksonville. At one point, I think, I read an article where you might have an interview with the Saints. Then you wound up head coach of the Bears. I don't know, we'll see what he does.
Speaker 2:Caleb.
Speaker 1:Williams is a train wreck right now. I hope he can fix him.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't think he's the only piece that matters for that team. No.
Speaker 1:But he's coming into a good situation.
Speaker 2:He is, he is. There are pieces that are enticing. I mean he even said he liked the spot because of Caleb. But there's the defensive side of that, the biggest thing they need to address. They need to address that offensive line. Caleb cannot be running for his life every single play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. I give him that.
Speaker 2:Let's see what he does when there's a little more structure, because there was a lot of plays last year that didn't look so hot, where you had receivers in the same area. It was like, well, wait, wait, wait, did you call the wrong routes?
Speaker 1:I feel like.
Speaker 2:What the hell happened here?
Speaker 1:I feel like the Bears are in a very similar situation to Washington, right Aside from the fact they already have a quarterback. We didn't last year, but they have a high-flying offense, they got weapons, they got a really good defense, need a little retooled O-line, a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, let me just say it for what it is. The Bears and the Jets are amazing at winning the offseason. We got our guy, we got our guy. And next season? Ooh, we're out. We were never in what the hell happened.
Speaker 1:Hey, I have another one for you. Here's a double whammy Aaron Glenn landing with the Jets. Rodgers is definitely out. He's not jiving with Aaron Glenn. What do you think about Rogers following in the footsteps of Brett Favre and going to Minnesota? Why, why not? He could win there.
Speaker 2:Could he?
Speaker 1:But then again they had JJ McCarthy and Sam Darnold.
Speaker 2:I mean, why would you want to go and get him and pay him big money when you got JJ McCarthy and Sam Darnold? I mean, why would you want to go and get him and pay him big money when you got JJ? First of all, and you can bring back Sam Darnold for cheap.
Speaker 1:First of all, I still hate Aaron Rodgers. I'm surprised if he lands anywhere this next season, but if he goes somewhere, I was just playing devil's advocate here, right?
Speaker 2:What, if right? How many teams right now are in desperate need of a quarterback?
Speaker 1:Just a handful.
Speaker 2:More than half the league. More than half the league. If your team's not in the playoffs, you are looking for a quarterback. Unless your quarterback is, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Trevor Lawrence is pretty good and they're not looking to replace him, Unless your quarterback is, I don't know. Trevor Lawrence is pretty good and they're not looking to replace him Same.
Speaker 2:What Were you going to say? Bengals?
Speaker 1:I almost said Drake May, but they just drafted him, and now they might be getting rid of him with a new coach. Were you going to say Bengals? I almost said Drake May, but they just drafted him and now they might be getting rid of him with a new coach.
Speaker 2:Were you going to say Bengals? Was that where you were going?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't even think about them. That's a good example, though, Joe Burrow Another good example.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're not looking to move on.
Speaker 1:Justin Herbert with LA.
Speaker 2:I mean there's a handful of teams.
Speaker 1:They were in the playoffs. Listen, don't sass me, sir.
Speaker 2:I don't want to hear that I'll sass as much as I feel like. Look, bottom line is if you're one of those teams that doesn't have a quarterback, there are plenty of teams that will be like, hey, we need somebody. You know like, I'll throw one out there. What?
Speaker 1:about the Seahawks. We'll be like, hey, we need somebody you know like I'll throw one out there.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. What about the Seahawks? Yeah, are they in love with Geno?
Speaker 1:Look, Geno and Sam Howell right behind him. Look when are they picking in the draft right now. Do you know?
Speaker 2:I believe they're in the late teens.
Speaker 1:They were a fringe playoff team. So yeah, you're right, they're probably in the teens somewhere.
Speaker 2:Which you're not getting a quarterback in there.
Speaker 1:Not at that point.
Speaker 2:They'd have to move up.
Speaker 1:Unless they get a really bad quarterback.
Speaker 2:But this isn't a good quarterback draft.
Speaker 1:Reach for a bad quarterback.
Speaker 2:Look if they wanted to get a bridge guy.
Speaker 1:Honestly, there's a couple of nice running backs coming out in this one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean you can find running backs throughout the draft.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean Third to fourth round probably is probably where they fall.
Speaker 2:Well, case in point, maybe a second under how many times does Shanahan draft a running back in the later rounds and then all of a sudden he's their lead back?
Speaker 1:He does that because of his daddy.
Speaker 2:Yes, his dad Dude Kyle.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, the more we talk about it. Kyle Shanahan is literally a spitting image of everything his dad, mike Shanahan, was. I hope so, word for word, step for step, this man development of running backs, the way he drafts, the way he organizes his team and his play call-in.
Speaker 2:I hope you're right, because that man has three Super Bowl rings. So I hope you're right.
Speaker 1:I think I'm right. It was a mistake to let him go.
Speaker 2:Well, you could have said that about the majority of the coaches in the NFL, because at one point they were all on your team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, six of them yeah yeah. Go ahead, list them all. Can we list them? Okay? So Kyle Shanahan is the first. Mike McDaniels, with the Dolphins, is the second. What's that dude? And I just said his name earlier with the Vikings Kevin O'Connell. Sean McVay uh, there's two more. What are the other two?
Speaker 2:I don't know. You said six. I only knew about three of those well, there's four.
Speaker 1:uh, I'll remember there too, but that's Four head coaches off the top of my head.
Speaker 2:What about Packer's head coach? Was he on there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he was actually Jarlo's coach. I forget his name LeFleur. Yeah, Matt LeFleur. He was our quarterback's coach during that time. So Matt LeFleur is number five. And all of them with prominent organizations, mind you, aside from the Dolphins.
Speaker 2:Well, all of them have been to the playoffs. Yeah, they've all been to the playoffs.
Speaker 1:Dolphins have been to the playoffs.
Speaker 2:Maybe not this year, but all of them have been to the playoffs. They're catching up.
Speaker 1:So off the top of my head, that's five assistant coaches that were with Washington at one point under the Mike Shanahan era, mind you and they're all head coaches now and they're all doing really well.
Speaker 2:Most people say when they go oh, it's part of the whoever's tree, like the Parcell tree or the Shanahan tree.
Speaker 1:Would you know where Mike Shanahan came out of? I'm asking, I don't know either. Wait, wait, you say Mike Shanahan tree. Would you know where Mike Shanahan came out?
Speaker 2:of. I'm asking, I don't know either. Wait, wait. You say Mike Shanahan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which tree did he come from?
Speaker 2:The Bill Walsh.
Speaker 1:Bill Walsh tree.
Speaker 2:Bill Walsh had his fingerprint over a lot of organizations.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep. So it's rather interesting to see how they say and history is interesting, okay, because you can tell how these coaches are passing down and you can really see how the game evolves, because you can see what coaches do to tweak what they've been taught. This is what I really love about football, right here, okay, is the coaching aspect of it, what you've handed down, how it's passed hands, how the schemes have changed concepts, you know to see the concept that was handed down from Bill Walsh to the five guys we just named, over a matter of three generations of football, right, just, this is the X's and O's of football. This is football history. This is the bread and butter. This is the X's and O's of football. This is football history. This is the bread and butter.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of Bill Walsh, it's kind of funny because he was on the Bengals staff as an assistant coach and then he gets hired on by the Niners as their head coach and then he beats the Bengals in the Super Bowl as the 49ers head coach. You know the Bengals had to have been sitting there going. How did we let him get out the door? Whose decision was that? Bring me somebody to fire. Who did that? This is ridiculous. Who did that? So I know that's how Washington's feeling.
Speaker 1:They're like son of a but you know what we just?
Speaker 2:had these guys here.
Speaker 1:But you know what? Now we got Dan Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury and Joe Witt.
Speaker 2:Man, you like picking up former head coaches for your team now?
Speaker 1:Look, dan Quinn was one of the best decisions they ever made. He brought some good people with him, and I'm not trying to listen.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing, though during that time when you guys hired him, a lot of people were like it's kind of a retread no, I was excited from day one.
Speaker 1:I know you were.
Speaker 2:But I'm saying, if you looked at the media, if you looked at how people were talking about yeah a lot of people are like yeah, because he had been with the falcons.
Speaker 2:And then he, you know, well, they just went oh dan quinn hired by washington. Now moving on it like it wasn't really discussed much, I mean to the point where they were just like most people were, just like oh dan quinn got hired over here yeah, and then adam peters was the big draw and then josh harris the ownership. They really did a lot which, mind you, when dan quinn was in the super bowl with the falcons, his offensive coordinator was kyle was kyle shanahan and kyle shanahan there is that connection there yeah, but here's the problem.
Speaker 1:That was before Kyle came to Washington.
Speaker 2:Here's the problem. Majority of the blame for that loss fell on Shanahan.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Not Dan Quinn.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And oh, speaking of which Brady was on the call for that game between the Lions and the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he has some gaffes Look.
Speaker 2:Brady had a good little jab where the owner for the Commanders came down to the field and Brady goes. Man, I wonder if Dan Quinn's a little upset that the owner's down there on the field because what happened in that Super Bowl? The owner of the Falcons came down to the field before they had won and they wound up losing. Oh my God, they went into overtime.
Speaker 1:I remember that too. I remember that they talked about that during that game. I remember that game. That was crazy.
Speaker 2:Well, because they talk about that a few times, where they say the owner Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons. Every time it seems like he comes down to the field the team loses man. I don't know how you tell an owner don't come down to the field, but you've got to come up with a reason for him to stay up there. He owns the place.
Speaker 1:How are you going to tell my man he can't come hang in the living room?
Speaker 2:This is where you distract him. You come up with some reason. He can't come down to the field when you're ahead.
Speaker 1:Somebody stop the elevator. It doesn't work, it's out of order. Make him take the stairs.
Speaker 2:Somebody get that elevator stuck between floors, make him take the stairs.
Speaker 1:Where's the helicopter at? We're gonna need a helicopter with this guy in it. Hold on, sir.
Speaker 2:We gotta this guy in Hold.
Speaker 1:On, sir, we've got to wait for the helicopter to get here, we're going to have to bring you into the center.
Speaker 2:All I know is, if you're the head coach of the Falcons and you see that Arthur Blank is coming down, you need to figure out a way to get that game over as soon as possible. Yeah.
Speaker 1:If you see your owner standing on the sideline, you better be winning or you better be about to win the clock better say zero. Yeah, or it better be about to say zero and you better be in the lead.
Speaker 2:But I got to give it to Brady. He really did. That was a good little jab.
Speaker 1:He's catching on Most people probably didn't catch that. Yeah, he's catching on. I know he's had a couple gass, but give this man he's a better quarterback than he was a broadcast. He's probably never been in broadcasting his life.
Speaker 2:Give this man a chance, okay, well, of course not. Of course not.
Speaker 1:Everybody was excited for Tony Romo to jump into the booth and nobody likes that guy. I kind of like Tom Brady. Let's give this man a chance, okay. But you know things are heating up once again, especially in the nfl landscape here. Soon we'll be coming into some new sports, the xfl being one of them, nascar season starting up soon. We'd like to thank you all for joining us. We hope you're all staying warm out there. Hope you're all being safe. I'm brian with an eye and I I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And once again we are Two for the Win. Thank you, everybody.
Speaker 2:Thanks everyone.