Sports Live! With Steve and Justin

NFL Coaching Courage, Quarterback Chaos, And A College National Title On The Line

• Steve and Justin

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 1:13:46

The line between winning and unraveling is often a single decision made under pressure. We dive into a chaotic playoff weekend—turnovers, weather, and booth reviews—and strip away the noise to ask the only question that matters: who actually controlled the game when it flipped? From Buffalo’s self-inflicted wounds to the missed sideline reset that could’ve steadied their star, we break down how coaching conviction, not just scheme, decides January.

We also challenge the worship of the chart. Fourth-and-short and two-point calls live in context: tired defenses, matchups, recent drives, and momentum matter as much as probability. Too many teams play not to lose—throwing incomplete on clock-killing downs, deferring in overtime with a gassed unit, or calling “surprise” plays everyone scouted three weeks ago. The best outfits practice their answers weekly, then unleash the right one once—think Kansas City’s situational packages—when the season hangs by a thread.

Then it’s on to a national title worthy of the stage: Miami’s front is massive and mean, while Indiana’s offense is a metronome of clean pockets and decisive play-action. We map the real levers—first-down success, ball security, and the early emotional surge—then weigh the value on Miami with the points against Indiana’s habit of landing first and never blinking. This is a war of attrition disguised as a track meet, and the winner will be the team that forces the other to abandon its identity.

Along the way, we hit leadership in modern locker rooms, why contracts don’t buy respect, and how smart roster construction elevates special teams and situational football. If you care about game control, not just game stories, you’ll feel right at home here.

Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, share it with a friend, and drop your prediction for Miami vs Indiana in the comments. Your pick and why?

Welcome, Tech Glitches, And CTA

SPEAKER_00

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Sports Live with Steve and Justin. Hello, Justin. Good afternoon, Steve. It would seem that I've had a group of technical difficulties here today because I'm always hitting the wrong button. So the intro didn't play right, but I also said that we're going to have a new intro. So sooner or later, I'm just waiting on some new software that I purchased, and we will we will have a new intro. So something we never do, or you do once in a while, and I forget to do, is that everyone, uh, we appreciate you being here. We appreciate you live for following us live, but know that the there's also a regular edited podcast where I take out all the stupid things we say and and and and not words and stuff, but like ums and uhs and things so we seem a little bit better. I um the also we never say please like our podcast, please subscribe to our podcasts. We've kind of hit a lull. We were getting, you know, 30 or 40 or 50 subscribers, and we've kind of hit a lull where we just have a couple every every episode. So we'd appreciate if you watch us, subscribe, like us, please give us your comments, especially if you're live and you're you want to go in the little chat box, you could chat with us. We appreciate that. I'd like to say a couple of things. So like and subscribe and share with your friends. Justin. Here we are.

SPEAKER_04

Here we are. Championship weekend.

SPEAKER_00

Championship weekend.

SPEAKER_04

Championship Monday.

SPEAKER_00

Like I tell you, there's a lot of technical difficulties today. Here's one of them. Why you sound a little distant. It helps if you actually plug the headphones into the system so I can actually hear you.

SPEAKER_04

I can plug mine in if you want.

SPEAKER_00

No, they work good. Now I can hear everything the way I meant to hear it.

SPEAKER_03

So there you go.

Playoff Weekend Overview And Weather

SPEAKER_00

So there you are. I know we have uh a group of new listeners, and I thank everybody for listening. We're here to we love comments, we love comebacks, we love those things. We love helping us with our conversation. So um, a lot of things happen this weekend. A lot of things. And tonight we have the national championship game. We'll get to that. I think we save it to the end, maybe, because most people who are listening after tonight or listening during the week will not really care what we have to say about the national championship game because it'll already be over. So, where do you want to start with the playoffs? I mean, there were a lot of good games. There were more interceptions than I ever remember in my life. Incredible. The weather wasn't so great in a lot of places. People were playing cold and snowy, but it wasn't as bad as they led us to believe it would be, especially in Chicago. I mean, and meanwhile, yes, I agree with you. So that that's part of it. Chicago wasn't so bad. I I I'm still trying to get over that they're gonna move the Bears to a different stadium. I I I I really just redo Soldier Field? I thought so, but you know, the way it is. People want these billion-dollar stadiums, and you think about I don't care how many games there are a year, 17, 18, whatever you want to say, they want to make it more, they're not gonna get more. But you think that you're talking about so if there's 18 games, that means there's nine home games, and it's really not because one game's getting played in Europe or in South America or something. So there's like seven. So they spent used to be a billion, now it's a couple of billion on a stadium for seven games a year. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_04

It's all the cultivate making more money in the long run. It's not about the product on the field, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01

Not about the product on the field.

SPEAKER_00

Well, certainly, and I'm sure we'll get to them. There were a lot of strange coaching decisions. There was a lot of strange officiating decisions.

SPEAKER_04

Inconsistency from the officiating crews above, not even the ones on the field. Or I guess in New York.

SPEAKER_00

I know. So let's talk about the game which I think is the strangest one, and and that's probably Buffalo.

SPEAKER_01

Right? Sure. Go ahead. You can talk.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, you know, unfortunately, the officiating decisions from the booth and the review decisions are what's clouding the outcome of this game. I mean, there's a few things clouding the outcome of this game, including Bo Nix's injury. But you'd like to be able to walk away from these playoff game from these playoff games clean without any nonsense or second guessing or, you know, like we're doing Monday morning quarterbacking. But I watched that one play over and over and over again, and I watched a dozen different opinions on whether it was a catch, whether it was an interception. And the only thing that I found that could sway my thought process one way or the other was a video from earlier in the season when Aaron Rodgers was tackled and fumbled, and then it was considered he was down by contact. And the, you know, the ball was ripped away from him or whatever. So I'm still unclear because the rule itself seems subjective to whoever's in New York at the time. One week it's it's a catch and he's down, and three weeks later, six weeks later, he's not down. It's not a catch. It is a fumble. I mean, the rule has changed enough times that I don't even think they know if they got it right, to be honest with you. I go back to the Calvin Johnson catch and the Dez Bryant catch, both of which I thought were catches at the time. May not be by rule, but then the rules changed. And the more they changed, it seems like the less they get it right. It's very frustrating. If you're growing the brand and you're growing the NFL and you want more viewership, that's gonna turn people off. And you're turning off not only new possible viewers, but you're turning off the dinosaurs like me that I don't want to see that. It's a catch. Is it a catch? It's a catch. Is it a film? I you know, it's very frustrating to have to stop the game and the momentum and everything. And I know that Buffalo fans are, and they have every right to be upset about that particular play, but let's face it, their quarterback did not play well. They turned the ball over five times. Denver scored 16 points off turnovers. That's the difference in the game. Well, we talk about that every week.

Officiating Inconsistency And The Catch Rule

SPEAKER_00

You know what bothers me the most about that incident with the ball? Um, whether he's down, whether he's not down, uh, is it a fumble? Is it an interception? Whatever you're saying there, is it seemed like there had been a, as my father would say, a bums rush, a rush to judgment. And the rush is all of a sudden, oh, well, let's go. We're not gonna talk about it. It's done. Well, well, wait a minute. What's done? We're in overtime, right? Were we in overtime at that point? Or there was an overtime, it's the fourth quarter. Yeah. The fourth quarter. So you see this guy, I mean, you think he may be down, and you know, to me the television announcers were unclear, too. I think they just went with the flow or whatever they're gonna do to try to explain uh what was going on, what happened. To me, he looked like he was down.

SPEAKER_04

Looked to me like he was down too.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, you don't need long to be down, right? You're down, you're down. You don't need three seconds. You have to be control of the ball, and some weirdo part of your body, whether it's your back, your knee, your leg, your feet, whatever it is, has to be touching the ground.

SPEAKER_04

They're gonna revisit this and they might change this rule again and make it even worse.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Well, that that's that's consistently been the problem about these things. So, and that changes the game. Buffalo wins.

SPEAKER_04

Buffalo, well, yes, Buffalo wins the game, but you know, let's let's you could you could do this all day, right? There's the one play in the in the overtime where Buffalo got away with a hold, and it should have been a safety, and it would have been game over, and the Broncos would have won on a safety. And if they had called that, bow Knicks would still be playing this weekend. So it goes both ways. You know, Josh Allen has been really good all season. He was great last season, you know, and I'm not knocking this playoff, you know, record here for this particular performance because I don't think that team is very good. We talked about it week one, that they had to get a lot better from what they showed week one. They scored 50 points against a Ravens defense who couldn't stop anybody, but their own defense gave up 50 points. So they didn't really convince me that they had crossed that threshold and gotten so much better. And they have virtually no weapons on offense. I mean, I know we talked about, you know, how their wide receivers were seemingly non existent almost all season.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_04

One guy got benched, they're bringing guys in from the practice squad, another guy got hurt. You know, they have serviceable tight ends, but let's face it, it's not, and I'm not knocking them, but they're not Jason Kelsey, right? Or Travis Kelsey. They're not, you know, Antonio Gates. They're not, you know, they're just standard tight ends. And then he finally gets one guy open and he misses him. I mean, that guy's six foot four, six's five, six' four, and he overthrows him. He's wide open. I mean, you can't miss that throw. So they had plenty of opportunity to put that game away and win that game, and they just didn't. And then I, you know, you could blame the coach who got fired today, and we talked about him the beginning of the season, middle of the season. Right. I mean, I I don't have a problem with him getting fired there. Where they go from here, you know, then you know, now they're on the hot seat.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_04

Hopefully it wasn't an emotional decision.

SPEAKER_00

Listen, ownership has to make a decision, right?

SPEAKER_04

And they're getting a new stadium, so I think they wanted a new coach, to be honest with you.

Buffalo’s Turnovers And Coaching Accountability

SPEAKER_00

That's true. It's a lot of a lot of conversations about how that stadium is, you know, Buffalo consistently has a lot of corruption that goes on when they're building large projects. Okay. And and it goes on. And and no shortage of these kinds of problems in in the building of the stadium and who the vendors are and all those things. But let's put that aside for now. The new stadium, yes, it's a fact, but let's keep things in perspective. The ownership has a right to, as much as I trash the ownership all the time for making crazy decisions. Rightfully so. And rightfully so. But in this case, would I have fired him? I originally said no, but if I was the owner of the team and said, you've consistently failed to get us the outcome that we're looking for. And as it appears now, Buffalo's biological clock. Every football team has a biological clock that has a great quarterback that sooner or later they're going to the great quarterback, and there's no argument that this guy is a generational quarterback, right? He he really he plays amazingly. He's carried that team that really hasn't been good enough to get to where they are. Their defensive has been weak from time to time, but everybody says, and it's it's well known, that he puts that team on his back and carries them to the to the playoffs. You know, they say, well, let's see if he can put on his cape again. They say he's a Superman.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Is he a Superman? I don't know, but he is damn good. And I think any team in the league, other than maybe, you know, probably any team in the league would take him. Now he's gonna be 30, so maybe it's another maybe it's another story, but Josh Allen is one of the great quarterbacks. He plays well, he's big, he's tall, he runs, he throws, and this weekend he threw to the wrong team.

SPEAKER_04

He had that one fumble where he just was in no man's land carrying the ball like a loaf of bread and just basically threw it on the ground behind him. That is that what to me was the most critical point in the game because that was where the coach needed to pull him off the field. And I'm not saying he should have benched him, but you have to have a conversation with him right then and there that you can't play like that. Our playoffs are at stake. Our future season is at stake. And I know they were trying to come from behind, it was crazy, and they're moving the ball over the field, and they were down, what was it, 17 points at that point, whatever it was. He's trying to he's trying to make it happen. But and you need him to do that because they really don't have much offensively going on at that point.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_04

So And they have injuries too, it's not just they have to have, yeah, but you still have, even though the guy's been fumbling the last four or six weeks, you still have one of the best running backs in the game.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And your offensive, I know you need to throw the ball to win there, but you have to bring it in, you have to reel it in at some point. You still need a sustained drive where you can bully that defense and get after them. You have a good offensive line. They showed that last week against the Jaguars. So, man, the Jaguars have to be kicking themselves. But anyway, that point in the game to me was like you need to reel this guy in, and you need to have a conversation right now about where this offense is going in this game and how you're gonna score points because you cannot not, and this is not about protecting him from getting hurt. It's strictly about the turnovers and protecting the football. Yes, you need him to be Josh Allen. You need him to run, you need him to move outside the pocket. You're in a dire situation because you're trying to come from behind. But right then and there, as the head coach, you got to pull him aside and say, you got to reel it in and talk to your friends according to say, we can't hang this kid out to drive. We need to sustain the drive and calm things down and take control of this football game. And I know there's a lot of coaches that, you know, sometimes they'll be down 14, 17 points and they're running the football. And I'll get a text from Mike that says, Does this guy think he's winning the game by 14 points? But that's right, and oddly enough, teams that are winning 14 by 14 points don't run the football. It's amazing to me how the they mismanage the clock all over the place, but that's another story. So for me, the in-game coaching of McDermott over the last, you know, course of the last six, seven playoff seasons, whatever they've been to, he hasn't been great. And he's been, he's ultimately it's on him. Because yes, you're growing the quarterback, he's learning, he's coming into his own. We talk about it takes, I always say five years for you to get to that point where you know this is the guy like you might know earlier, and you progress along the way, and you hope to get there before year five. Well, we're we're past well, well past year five, and we know Josh Allen can play. So I don't have a problem with McDermott being fired. Frankly, I thought he should have been fired two years ago. That's just me. Well, that could be.

SPEAKER_00

That could be. And I you're 120% correct. What needs to happen is the coach needs to always have control of the game. And I think that's what you find with weak coaches. They never do. You don't find that with Peyton in Denver. You won't find it with a lot of other coaches where they're always in control of the game, where they are their players. He you were right. He needed to be sit down and he needed to be told, listen, this is what you need to do. This is where, this is what we need to do to win the game. You have to keep it under control. And you can't say, go out there and do it. I mean, listen, Tom Brady, you could tell Tom Brady, go do your thing, because he's gonna do his thing.

SPEAKER_04

He wouldn't have to tell Tom Brady, and that's the difference.

SPEAKER_00

That's the difference.

SPEAKER_04

What I mean by that is, you know, if you watch videos of Parcells, or even if you hear stories from yesteryear, right? One of the great stories of all time is Yankee's second baseman a hundred years ago is having trouble throwing the ball to first base. He's got the ips. So we're talking about Chuck Norbach? No, before long before him. We're talking about like the Miller Huggins days. I think I might have read this in either Billy Martin's biography. I'm trying to remember where I read it, but the manager realizes the second baseman's got a problem. And he knows that if he screams at him or disciplines him or calls him out.

SPEAKER_00

Gil McDougall?

SPEAKER_04

No, it wasn't McDougal. It wasn't somebody like Lazari or it wasn't a big name player.

SPEAKER_00

Bobby Richardson?

SPEAKER_04

No, not Bobby Richardson. Doesn't matter. Point is that I'm gonna keep asking your name, but I know, and I'm I'm not gonna remember who it is.

SPEAKER_00

But I met Gil McDougall, by the way.

Player Power, Leadership, And Locker Room Control

SPEAKER_04

So the manager, and I'm pretty sure it was Miller Huggins, he goes up to him and says, and I don't, I don't think it was Garrick, it was maybe who's after Garrick, whoever it was then. But he says, Look, this bum is having trouble paying attention over here at first base, he's falling asleep. So I need you to make sure he gets hit in the chest every play because you got to wake him up because he's falling asleep. And that just straightened him out. He didn't have to think about what he was doing wrong. His concentration was on this guy instead of worrying about himself, making it worse. And that's that's next level coaching. And when when I was a player, if somebody screwed up and you knew they screwed up and the coach didn't go after him, he started coming after the team, it wakes everybody up. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's not that guy's fault, it's our fault. So, in this situation, when I say you have to have a conversation, that is a dynamic of the relationship between the quarterback and the coach. Where is this the time for me to go have this conversation? Or do I need him just to be within earshot to hear me yell and scream at the offensive line? Or yell and scream at the wide receivers or yell and scream at the running backs. You got to get your heads out of your ass. You need to play better. You need to protect the quarterback. You need to protect the football. It's either or, but either way, a conversation has to be had either with the quarterback and the offensive coordinator or within earshot of both of them with somebody else on that offense that is in charge. So usually you take it on the offensive line because they're mentally tough and physically tough. And they don't give a darn anyway. They're going to go out and maul people. And you want your offensive line to go out there and maul people. And you want to give them an excuse to go maul people. And I think that was that moment for them. And it seemingly, I don't know if that happened or not. It didn't seem to happen.

SPEAKER_00

I think you know, I think that's true. I I think that because the nature of players today and what control they have over the team that they never had in those days has changed the dynamic for coaches. Certainly. Coaches that aren't strong, that haven't built that control in the locker room, have not done anything to gain confidence of their players when push comes to shove, cannot do those things that they need to do to win a game. And that's why there's so few great coaches in the NFL today.

SPEAKER_04

Well, you know why? Because owners, like you know who, with their nameplates and their hats and their change of wardrobe, they want to be friends with the players. So they're gonna side with the players because they want to do everything they can to keep them happy and not have to pay them too much money. And man, you gotta let the coach coach. Period. This is a man's sport. I don't care what your politics are. If you can't handle this being being spoken to like a man, you shouldn't be playing this game. This is not like the NBA where they can just go out and run up and down the court for four quarters and pretend that they're, you know, everybody's family. We all love each other off the court, we all want everybody to make money. No, this is football. Someone's gonna get hurt if you play like that. And you need to have a coach that's gonna instill that in these players. I'm in charge. Not the owner, not the general manager, not the CBS broadcaster or the sideline reporter. I'm in charge. And if you can't establish that, I think, you know, there are coaches that have done that. Most two of them got fired, right?

SPEAKER_00

So well, you know, just think about Harbaugh, all right? We believe he's that kind of coach. We believe that he could take control of the game. But what happens? He gets undermined by his by his quarterback.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So here he's at a place he's been 18 years.

SPEAKER_04

He got undermined by his quarterback who has a huge contract, and they're not gonna do everything they can to keep and make him happy. And I understand that because it's a business. I get that. And he is a great talent.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, but that's the quick answer.

SPEAKER_04

Right. What's the long-term answer?

SPEAKER_00

So the long-term answer is so you have a quarterback that let's go talk about this for a minute. You have a quarterback that feels he isn't appreciated by the team. And that's really what happened in Baltimore, right? Before he got his$55 million contract a year or whatever it is. So they give him all this money. And when they're doing that, they're giving him power.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, when you allow for certain behaviors off the field, you can't expect that to change in the locker room because guys see it. So are they gonna respect him just because he got paid a lot of money? If he's not really a leader in the locker room, he's just a rah-rah guy. He's just going through the motions, telling guys, hey, we need to play better or we need to act better, or we need to do this. And they'll probably look at him like, who are you to talk? Whereas somebody like Ray Lewis, Ray is Ray in the locker room, out of the locker room. He's in control, period.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but Ray Lewis is on your side. Yeah, he's right. Ray Lewis is always on the side because it's win today, win tomorrow, win forever, right? Yes. I mean, you think about not to talk about, and I'm not a New England fan, and I know you're not a New England fan, but we appreciate what they used to do. Tom Brady and Bill would sit down at the beginning of the season and they would start talking about the team, what they expected, what they wanted to do, and they didn't like each other.

SPEAKER_03

But they even relationship, professionals.

Analytics vs Instinct In Late-Game Calls

SPEAKER_00

It all gets to an end, right? And then we go in there and say, These are our players. Okay. Oh, you want a new contract? You're we're only gonna pay you this much. You don't want to work for that? Fine, go somewhere else. Didn't matter who it was.

SPEAKER_04

It's like I said every week, if you don't like it, go play in Cleveland. And that's what I'm saying. Think about how many players on Gronkowski.

SPEAKER_00

Think about how many players that that happened with. Now, it's different, and I think that's what's wrong with today's player, too. Well, I'm playing great, I'm great. Everybody see it. Did you listen to the news? The news, all the people are telling me how great I am. But you know what? You didn't win. In Baltimore, after they won, their quarterback to some degree. In Baltimore, when they finally won, their quarterback had been reaching towards the end of his lifespan. But then he got the money. Even though they knew he weren't going to have him that whole time, he got the money for what he did, not for what he should be doing. And I think that's where this relationship to players have changed. Now, we all know, you know where that all changed when we started giving more guaranteed money, and you can blame Cleveland for that too, because they were the first one to give a guaranteed contract to a big-time quarterback who made it 20 seconds. And literally 20.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, and he's still he's still carrying weight on that roster. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Correct. They gave him a guaranteed, fully guaranteed contract. I mean, the other owners must have lost their mind.

SPEAKER_04

You can't imagine what goes through someone's mind in a situation like that and why things happen. But let's face it, the agent plays a huge role in making that happen and convincing teams to spend that kind of money and trade for players like that. Well, I mean that that is true. I mean, who knows where he would be if he just kept his head on straight and stayed with the Texans?

SPEAKER_01

Where would they be today?

SPEAKER_00

Well, let's you know, I I don't first of all, the guy with the cape, Josh Allen, must have left it in his locker the first quarter, right? How many interceptions and turnovers and fumbles and things where you just lost your focus? And you're right. That's the coach's point to say that happening. And he says, Okay, let's sit down and let's make this happen. Let's get back into the realm. Everybody has a bad quarter, everybody has a bad game. But you need to get back to it. Now, on the flip side of that, I don't know what to say about the Texans.

SPEAKER_04

Quarterback just completely didn't show up for the game.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, you you pick on Sam Darnold for not showing up. This guy was in the Ozone. When you looked at him, you said, he's lost.

SPEAKER_04

They made a point to say that when they lost Tank Dell, he hasn't been the same player. Then, of course, you didn't have Nico Collins. Other teams have lost their their go-to guys in the playoffs and have rebounded. But ultimately, the last half of the season when he was when he was out for a little bit, and Stidham, I think, was the backup quarterback, they played very well. Not Stidham. What was the guy's name? I don't know. Stidham is in brown in uh Denver. What's the guy's name? Jesus. Anyway, their backup quarterback played well in his stead when he was out during the season. And at halftime, it was pretty clear that was a, you know, that's a coaching decision that only a coach can make. People are saying, do you stick with him? How can you stick with him? Bring in the backup. You know, it's a tough decision to make when it's when it's your guy.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And I think, you know, I don't want to say that the coach didn't make that decision because he's a defensive coach, but I think a coach, an offensive coach, is more readily gonna pull the trigger there because it just sometimes you just have to do it. You you know, if he's not playing well and it's and you have you already have established that your backup can play. It's not like you're just turning it over to, you know, brownie Nagel for lack of a better option, but you you know, you've gotta you've gotta be able to make that decision.

SPEAKER_00

Talk about pulling a name out of the air.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. You've got to be able to make that decision in-game and have the courage and your conviction. And listen, I respect him for sticking with with Stroud, but he looked completely lost. And, you know, I don't know that it's entirely his fault, mostly his fault. His throws were bad. I mean, he just could not put it together. And the the decision to throw the he's running for his life and he just throws the football away. I I mean, that to me was an indicator that he is not here today. He's somewhere else. He's got to get benched. We need to bring the backup in and do the best we can to control the rest of this game. I mean, there's something about I hope our defense makes a play, and their defense played great.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, there's something about saying, well, this is who got us here. We're gonna ride it to the end.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, if he threw for 5,000 yards or 4,000 yards and he had 30 touchdown passes, but that wasn't the case with him this year. He had a very inconsistent season. He's regressed.

SPEAKER_00

He was better in prior years than he is now. He was better his rookie season. And I think his action affected the defense.

SPEAKER_04

The defense played great. When they I mean, this is similar to the 99-2000 Ravens, right?

SPEAKER_00

Like exactly.

SPEAKER_04

The defense is carrying us every week. We just need somebody not to turn the ball over. We'll we'll take care of everything else. We'll shut everybody out and win by a field goal.

Overtime Philosophy And Game Management

SPEAKER_00

When you had, what do you have, five interceptions? There was a four and a fumble. Yeah, I think it was something four and a fumble. I mean, when you look at that, how am I supposed to go out there and kill myself as a defensive player when every time I get the ball back, this guy throws it away?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Your defense is on the field the whole time. I mean, it was really terrible.

SPEAKER_00

You need to generize. Wow. You know, you need to make them feel like they're having effect on the game, the defense, right? You need to think, you think that I'm gonna get you the goal back, ball back, and you're gonna win for us. You're gonna do what is, and that never happened.

SPEAKER_03

They needed for us five turnovers.

SPEAKER_00

They came back, you know, and the defense was like, what am I doing here? This guy can't play, and we're not gonna be able to win within.

SPEAKER_04

They fought the whole game, right up really till the end.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, how they were ever in the game at halftime? Wait, imagine having a quarter like that. You could say that about Buffalo, too.

SPEAKER_04

I mean The Broncos might find themselves in the same position this coming weekend with Knicks out. They're gonna they're gonna have to put Sean Payton is gonna have to do he's talking about pulling a rabbit out of your hat. That is something that, I mean, we'll talk about that later, I guess. But yeah, I the the Texans had no recourse for their quarterback play. The defense is pulling their hair out, playing with their hair on fire. And you could tell the Patriots were frustrated, but the Patriots, to their credit and to Drake May's credit and Vrabel's credit, they did not lose their composure. They realized that they could win that game. They just had to play their game, and they did, and they took shots down the field when they could. They take what the defense gives them. That's how you win games. So they're very well coached and very well prepared. I can't tell you that they're the better team, whether it's on paper or you know, they won the game, they're in the better team, and they are beatable because none of these teams are complete that are left in these playoffs, with the exception of maybe maybe several.

SPEAKER_01

So wait a minute. So let's let's just look at something. So the next what's the schedule for next week?

SPEAKER_04

The Rams are at the Seahawks and the Patriots are going to Denver.

SPEAKER_01

So let's talk about this.

SPEAKER_00

So the Patriots, who do they play? This week?

SPEAKER_04

The Patriots played the Broncos. The Texans.

SPEAKER_00

Who was the best coach team in that game? The Patriots. The Broncos. The Broncos played Buffalo.

SPEAKER_04

Hall of Fame coach on the Broncos side. Who is the best team coach team? Sean Payton's the better coach. There's no there's no question.

SPEAKER_00

They're coached and they execute.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I know people are going to be up in arms at that comment, but it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00

Seahawks were dominant the whole time. That was that wasn't going anywhere. And I think they were the best coach team there, too. And you can say that about the Rams. You can't say a word about the Rams coaching.

SPEAKER_04

But they're a good football team. They're a little, they're incomplete. They're a good football team, but some of the play-calling decisions, I just was shaking my head during that game. And on both sides, to be honest with you. Less from the Bears, because I I think Ben Johnson is, they're they're kind of reminiscent of, you know, maybe where the Giants were before Eli won his first Super Bowl, where they're they're growing, they're progressing, they're going to get better every year. The coach is, you know, maybe he made a bad decision here, the wrong decision there, whatever. But that guy's a disciplinarian, and I don't mean that in a in a in a militant way. I mean he's prepared. He's got these guys, they're bought into what they're doing. The quarterback is playing well. He throws that interception in the overtime. And frankly, the the receiver just gave up on the route. And he's thrown to where he's expecting the receiver to be. And I know that they Rex talked about it today that that box defense, they're they're baiting you to make that throw. But if he runs his route, at best it's an at worst, it's an it's an incompletion, right? At best he catches the ball.

SPEAKER_00

Right. So so but but look at this. I mean, let me ask you a question. Bills tied the game up, right? In the end of the fourth quarter to go to overtime. Would you have gone for two?

SPEAKER_04

100%.

SPEAKER_00

Me too.

Roster Building, Specialists, And Coaching Fit

SPEAKER_04

100%. I mean, you got him on the ropes, but they're not prepared for that. They've been playing the whole game, trying to come from behind. They give up the lead, they get back the lead, they tie the game, or they're going to tie the game. I I don't I don't knock the coach because if he wasn't, he's on the field, so I'm assuming he's feeling that his players where they are emotionally. And if you're not prepared for that, then shame on you. I always say never go for two until it's time to go for two, which means go win the game.

SPEAKER_00

I think in the case of the Bears, I would have called them all in front of me and said, listen, you guys want to play in the Super Bowl?

SPEAKER_04

Let's go for that.

SPEAKER_00

There it is.

SPEAKER_04

There it is, right there. Go make you ready to make that decision as a coach. I don't like overtime. I'm not a fan of overtime. I always say F overtime. We texted about it. Should they go for two? I was texting Mike they should go for two if they score, et cetera, et cetera.

SPEAKER_00

I was shocked that they were so quick to kick the ball.

SPEAKER_04

I think that they kind of felt the relief of coming from behind and everything was an even playing field. And the Bears game.

SPEAKER_00

What is this little leak? You felt the release? I mean, I mean, Cogrus should be ready for that. They should have been.

SPEAKER_04

If your offense is gassed, or you don't feel that, you know, you've got to have the confidence to go for two at any moment in the game when you have to. Personally, I don't like going for two early in the game. Any I don't like going for two until there's two minutes left. That's just my personal philosophy. And the Bears game was a little different. The Bears scored with was it four minutes left in that in that game?

SPEAKER_01

It was different.

SPEAKER_04

It was different. Oh no, I'm sorry. With four minutes left, they they went for it on fourth down, they didn't get it. And while that was transpiring, I'm saying to myself, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Hold on. You're at a point that you were making before. What goes on? You don't run the ball to eat up the clock? I mean, you're winning a game. There's, I don't know, two minutes and 30 seconds. I don't know how much time there was, but there wasn't a lot more than that. Pass, oh, incomplete. And one of the one of the guys on the television says, well, that stops the clock. Duh.

SPEAKER_04

They're out coaching themselves because I'm I'm convinced they're looking at an analytics chart that tells them the defense is going to expect you to do this, so you should do this instead. Well, what do you think they're looking at on the other side? That, well, tendency says this, so he's probably not going to run that. He's a smart guy. He's probably going to run this. And they're prepared for it. They'll call a timeout if they have to to regroup. They know by the personnel that's on the field. Right. The formation is kind of irrelevant because they're looking at the key players, right? So, you know, there was a lot of questionable stuff there where they kind of just psyched themselves out of doing what just do what you need to do. Execute. You have to execute. Why do something that's percentage-wise, we if we get this, you need to know you can get it. Forget about the chart. Go with your gut. Go with your instinct. Go with the football to move. If they stop you, the clock runs, you know, they just get too cute and it and there's no reason for it.

SPEAKER_00

They're not playing to win, they're playing not to lose.

SPEAKER_04

The kickoff rule, I think, plays a big part, you know, with four and a half minutes left or whatever it was, four something, the Bears are going for it on fourth down. And I'm saying to myself, you know, they're going to get the ball back. If they kick a field goal here, and I know they're inside the 10, inside the five at that point, really on the two yard line. If you kick a field goal and you still have three timeouts, two timeouts, whatever it was at that moment, either way, you need. A stop, right? You need a three and out. You need a defensive stand. And I'm saying to myself, I wonder if they kick the field goal here. And I'm not this is not second guessing. I just at the in the moment I'm thinking, can you kick a field goal here in hopes that you get the ball back? And then when you go down, because you have to have a touchdown either way to tie or to win in that position.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_04

And if they get the ball back and they score, the game's over. So I just questioned about whether or not they should kick a field goal there and hope they get the ball back and have at least one or two timeouts, maybe the two-minute warning. And you're playing, I mean, your quarterback's playing lights out. He's throwing the ball all over the field. The Rams couldn't stop. They couldn't get to him. And the defense showed up. And the defense showed up, which is the Bears. I've been saying all season long, I think their defense is atrocious. And they played fairly well last night, all things considered.

SPEAKER_00

In the last few minutes that time where they got the ball back. Yes. I mean, they showed up.

Miami vs Indiana National Championship Preview

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely. So we're talking about fourth quarter, right? Yeah. Yeah. Then, now, again, I'm not saying they should have kicked the field goal. They get stopped on fourth down. The Rams take over. Rams just need a first, well, they got a first down, but they they needed, they got it too soon, is what happened. They needed to run the clock out. They couldn't do it. So the Bears get the ball back, and I know it's an insane play, right? He drops back 20 yards and just chucks it up there. And I don't know what those defenders, those defensive backs were doing back there, picking their noses. Or I mean, what you're doing back there.

SPEAKER_00

They thought it was over.

SPEAKER_04

You got to be on this guy like glue.

SPEAKER_00

And yeah, it was unbelievable.

SPEAKER_04

So it ends up being that guy that makes the interception later. But in that moment, you score the touchdown. Their defense has been on the field now for the better part of the last so many minutes of this game. And they're gassed. So I can understand not going for two and going into overtime. But when they won the toss, they should have taken the ball. Because that defense was gassed out. They could take the ball, you're going to score a touchdown. And then your pressures on their offense, and you're now your defense is rested. They can come back on the field after getting a breather and put something together to stop the Rams from scoring a touchdown. So that's my only knock. But again, I don't go. I'm not leaving it up to overtime. I'm not making that decision. I'm coming down the field. We score a touchdown. We're going for two and the win. Period. If we don't get it, it's on me. I'll answer every question in the press conference. I'm a winner. I'm going for the win. I'm not playing for effing overtime. And it's not how we we're here to win. You want to win a Super Bowl, like you said, go win the Super Bowl. And that was your op that was your opportunity to go win it.

SPEAKER_00

I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_04

They put too much emphasis on who gets the ball, where the ball's botted, each team has to have an equal chance. Nonsense. Go win the game. I'm not leaving it up to anybody else.

SPEAKER_00

I I don't, there's so many things where you're always playing this not to lose. Exactly. And they really, and you know what? That's a perfect example of your point. Your perfect example of your point of you're playing analytics. Oh, we're not going to take the ball this way, this way, our defense will hold them. And then if we score, we win. Well, guess what? There's other ways to win the game. Used to be the point of view was you always took the ball on overtime because you wanted to go in there and win the game.

SPEAKER_04

Because it was sudden death.

SPEAKER_00

Because it was sudden death.

SPEAKER_04

Now it's oh, we got the position, the field position, and the wind's blowing, and blah, blah, blah. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not making, I'm not leaving that decision up to a coin flip. I'm not doing that. I'm gonna go win the game right here, right now. That's just my feeling. I I, you know, if if I was in charge of the overtime rules, the home team would get the ball to start overtime, and that's that. That's your there's your home field advantage.

SPEAKER_00

It's funny. It's funny both of us talk about Parcells a lot, maybe because I was most exposed to Parcells and his and the way he played football. And it was different than anyone else. You know, you know, Gibbs at the time, uh, and others that were just coaches that will knew how to coach games and really knew how to coach games. People are saying it. We're getting messages from people watching. So uh we appreciate not only watching, but actually paying attention. I mean, but what I find amazing is that that that coach mindset has really disappeared. And you do see it. I think you see it with McVay, and I I think you see it with others.

SPEAKER_04

No one can handle losing.

SPEAKER_00

And it's always like I'm covering my back. I'm I'm in the I'm I'm covering my back. And and and I think you see that in the extreme with coaches that the Jets and Giants have. Like, I'm not worried about winning the game. I'm worried about being on the back cover of the post where they have gotcha on it or stupid or and they really, and you know what? I think you you have to be the Bill Belichicks of the world that say is miserable all the time, is miserable to the press, could care less what they said. You know, I mean, to the extreme that he becomes one of the winningest coaches of all time. He won more Super Bowls as offensive coordinator and a coach, probably than anybody in history. And what? Nobody would hire him. Yeah, he is miserable. You know why? Because it takes being miserable to win games, it takes single-mindedness, it takes saying, as Parcells used to say, what do you say, winning isn't everything, it's the only thing, or was it the other way around? I mean, you really it's all about winning. It's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_04

Or as George Steinbrand would say, winning is second to breathing. But that that's the mindset you have to have as a coach, right? Like you want, I mean, I understand, you know, personalities and talking. No, I don't care. I'm not I'm not here to be responsible for the media and talking to them and worrying about sound. I'm here to coach football. Period. And if you're the guy that was good at it, and I I really wish we had more of them. I know it's crazy, but I just loved Rex, right? Because Rex was the antithesis of Belichick. Come out making jokes, smiling, talking all kinds of nonsense, and the media would eat it up. And, you know, I mean, I know he got destroyed with the with that toe video thing and the tattoo, but you know, Rex was a lovable guy. His players loved him, the media was all over, the fans loved him. I mean, you wanted to play for the guy and win for the guy because he wasn't miserable, he wasn't Belichick. But in between Belichick and Rex are all these fuddy duddy guys, you know, with their weird personalities and their weird clothes they wear on the sideline, and they're, you know, super smart genius. And what does that get you?

SPEAKER_00

But here it is.

SPEAKER_04

There's no conviction.

SPEAKER_00

But the thing about Rex was when the clock ticked on, he was 120%. When the clock ticked off, he was back to the wherever he was. I mean Charlie Green Giant. Charlie Green Giant. Think about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan be out there. Hey guys, how are you? Good to see you. Nice see you. Nice shoes, nice sneakers. And then all of a sudden, you're like, hey, that Mike's a great guy. Nice guy. Until the game started, then he'd smack you in the face to take the ball away from you. All right?

SPEAKER_04

The killer's a killer, man.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it is what it is. And that's the point of view. I mean, everyone has to realize that there is sacrifice for the team. And that, you know, if I need to sit down for one time. Not anybody's mindset. It's not just the players. It's the owners. It's listen. The game needs to be based on money a little bit. Other than it is.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, the quarterbacks make the most money.

SPEAKER_00

Well, but whether they're good or not, they make the most money. I'm talking about how much a team makes.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You can't play a losing team make just as much as the winning team, right? I agree. And you have revenue sharing, and everybody's making plus, listen, we all understand with the original when when the Rooneys and Hunts and Maris sat down in the 1920s or when television started to come. And Pete Rossell, who was the commissioner of the time, then they all sat down and said, we need revenue sharing, or else we're not going to have anybody to play. There'll be no competition. It'll be the Giants against Chicago. You know, it'll be the big school, and this is long before LA, and teams started moving west. So it was necessary for that things. It was necessary for um for revenue sharing, but there has to be an end to it. There has to be something that motivates owners to create great teams other than the method that most ownership do, and that's the dartboard method. Oh, what did it land on? Oh, we're gonna take him. Everybody says he's good instead of building a bunch of people around you that know how to draft players. A bunch of people around you that, and in other words, take the damn analytics out of the game.

SPEAKER_03

Exactly. Let the coaches coach.

SPEAKER_00

Let the coaches coach. And and you know what? I want you to make a decision, I want you to believe in it, and I want you to defend it. And yes. Have the courage of your convictions. There are decisions that sometimes are gut. Like you said. Well, I would have taken the ball because the defense was tired, they just came off the field, they just got beat, and we're gonna go beat them again.

SPEAKER_01

100%.

SPEAKER_00

Or we just scored a touchdown, there's three seconds left, let's go in there and score two points and win the game and not go to overtime. And you know why they didn't go to overtime? Because they didn't believe they could get the two points. Because if they did believe in the team and they did believe they were gonna get the two points, they would have gone for it.

SPEAKER_04

Gotta be prepared for that. I just can't imagine not being prepared for that. I mean, unless you make your decision is pregame and we're not gonna do something like that because you think your team is too young or too immature or too whatever. I don't care. This is a learning experience on top of that. We're here to win. Go win the that's how you build confidence. Go win the game. Look at Kansas City. And you avoid the drawn-out heartbreak of it and the emotional loss of it. Just go win the damn game.

SPEAKER_00

Look at Kansas City and the coaching that goes on the offense there. One of the greatest offensive minds in football. Maybe ever. He would train his players, they would practice plays every week that they didn't use. And then all of a sudden, in a playoff game that they've been practicing every it's a flea flicker, it's a toss with a reverse, and they score the winning touchdown.

SPEAKER_03

Fucking lateral, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And breaks the other team's back.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And they're and I remember seeing an interview at Mahomes and they say, What made you think of that play? He goes, What do you mean, think of it? We didn't think of it. We practice it every week. But they never played it. Right. Because they were saving it for that time period. They're preparing themselves for situation football. Right? For situations that happen. And that doesn't happen that much. These weak coaches do not prepare. That's why time management stinks, sucks, whatever you want to say, because they don't prepare themselves for what's going to happen in the final two minutes. Right? You say Montana had the greatest two minutes quarterback there was because they were prepared for that thing. When you gave Montana the quarterback, gave Montana the football with two minutes left, everybody said to themselves, they're gonna win. Because you know he could get out there, take command of the game, everybody believed they did, and go out there and win. And that's what made Joe Montana great. And they constantly gave him the players that could make that happen.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

unknown

No doubt.

SPEAKER_04

But that was a different era. You could do that. You know, now it's what's important about to know about this era versus then, and and the great coaches still coach the whole roster, the the rosters were much deeper then. Whereas now, there's there's some warm bodies on these rosters that are not NFL players. And you, you know, that's a that's a problem for that's an NFL problem. But that's where your you know, your general manager and your coach come come hand in hand. We have to fill out this roster from one to 53 no matter what. And the coach has to be able to coach these players. And you saw yesterday in Seattle when Percy Harvin, who I thought was dead and retired 15 years ago, ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Like, that guy's still alive. I, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I didn't have no idea he was even on their roster. So veteran player, you know, obviously you turn over the return duties to him because he's a specialist and that's what he does now. It it you need guys like that on your team, and they have it. And that's you know, little bit, little things like that, little, you know, roster adjustments, places on the roster for guys that are specialists make a huge difference on the field when the coach coaches.

SPEAKER_00

I agree to that, but there's a co that's right, there's a coach who puts a team together for purpose. He knows the situations that may come.

SPEAKER_04

McDonald, no one, no one is talking about Mike McDonald. No one is talking about what a job he's done, how he's coached that roster, how he's built, helped built that team. It's all about all the focus is on Sam Donald. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but on the other hand, he's taken Sam Donald a couple more steps.

SPEAKER_04

They've got the number one wide receiver in football. No one's talking about him.

SPEAKER_00

The toughest steps there are are the steps. I mean, they won that, they played that Thursday night game. Was it against LA?

SPEAKER_04

With the the fumble with the backwards pass where you hit off the helmet. Yeah, it was Thursday night.

SPEAKER_00

And they ended up winning the game. And they were down, and I said, forget it, I'm not gonna watch it anymore. And they came back 17 points in the fourth game.

SPEAKER_04

They're down 16 and 17. Yeah, they came back and tied. I was like, how did that happen? This game, I thought this game was over.

SPEAKER_00

And you know why that is? Because they believed they could do it. You had to believe before you could make it happen. And Sam Darnold, and everybody said, Oh, that's the same old Sam Darnold. Well, guess what? The coach didn't say it. Yeah. The Sam Darnold didn't say it. The whole team believed in him. And in the interviews after the game, they all said, We believe we believe in him. We believe in him.

SPEAKER_04

They're the most complete team in this playoff.

SPEAKER_00

I agree.

SPEAKER_04

And I know some people might scoff at that because they're just Sam Darnold haters. And I, you know, I'm still not a believer, but I I don't hate the kid.

SPEAKER_00

You're never gonna be a believer.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, well, I it's it's not though. I know where you're saying that, but it's it's I have to see it, right? Everyone's waiting for that shoe to drop, but it ain't happening. Right now, if I had to pick the Super Bowl winner, I'm picking the Seahawks. So that being said, there, you know, they did lose Charbonnet, a running back, a Michigan guy, but that actually, and I'm it's not a knock on Charbonnet. He's he's their touchdown leader, right? He's got 12 touchdowns this year. Right. He's lead scorer on the team. So that's a huge blow. But addition by subtraction, where their running game has been frustrating all season because they have they don't have one running back. In this game, he goes down in the second quarter, and why can't I remember? Walker had got a chance to take over the game and get more carries and be more consistent, and it worked well for them. So kind of a blessing in disguise. And again, it's not, it could have happened the other way. Walker could have got hurt and it could have been Charbonnet leading the way. But they have one running back now, which makes the offense to me, it makes it a little bit more cohesive because it's different from like the Giants when they had Earth, Wind, and Fire or you know Thunder and Lightning or whatever they called their backfield. It was not, it's not your traditional two-headed monster where one guy's a huge smasher, brawler, and the other guy's a finesse fast inside, outside guy. Two running backs that are kind of the same in many ways. Not much difference between them. Now you just have one guy, he's running the offense, and that's that. And it's got to make the coaching a little easier in terms of play calling because you're not relying on whatever thought process you had going on before, trying to balance both running backs in the game. Now you just have one and you go forward, and that's that. And he's he'll be able, you know, they're still gonna run play action, they're still gonna hand him the football, they're still gonna use him to protect Sam and put Sam in a position where he can, you know, keep defenders at bay off the off the play action and RPO and all that. So they're still gonna be able to play their game.

SPEAKER_00

I think with coaches like that and teams like that, where the ownership buys into what what the coach is trying to do, I think they're able to they not only draft the top players, but they pay attention to the lesser players and hoping that these players are gonna move up the chain when something bad happens, somebody fills a hole. And I and I think that happens. And we're not talking about somebody filling a hole for Sam Darnold because that's less of a or Bonex. That's that's a more difficult thing to do because the whole team is built around those players. But players like that, where you have, you know, somebody running a running a kickoff back or or those kinds of things, it it's it's different. You need those players. You need those, you know, those B players for to to rise up, you know? And I always think in baseball in in the World Series, and you you think about Bucky Dunn, but you think about Brian Doyle when he had the best few games of his life when playing for the Yankees. And I never forgot, I never forgot the video of of um who the heck was the manager of the Dodgers at the time. La Sorda saying, Who the F is? It's Brian Doyle. You know what I mean? And Brian Doyle. And years later, years later, uh, Brian Doyle had two brothers, and they had a football camp together. And years later, I met Brian Doyle and spent some time talking to him. And he told me, he goes, that was just one of those things. It was my day, and I played well that day, and I rose to the occasion because I knew that this was going to be one of my only chances. Sure. Well, in football, it's less of a chance. In football, every game matters. You're not playing 162 games where you only need to win 100.

SPEAKER_04

You're playing a tenth of that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you're playing a tenth of that, and you need to win almost all of them. This year you may get a buy. You know, this way you and you can't win them all. Everybody has a bad day. Every great team had a bad day. Even the, you know, other than um, you know, the Dolphins, uh, what was it, 72, where they went undefeated? 72 Dolphins. Other than that, everybody had a day. And they had Larry Zonka and Mercury Morris and and a quarterback that's having the best year of his life. Right? So Hall of Fame quarterback too. So, you know, that it just doesn't happen. It doesn't happen.

SPEAKER_04

So No, it's not an easy thing.

SPEAKER_00

Not an easy thing. So, what else we want to say? Anything else? Want to talk about next week a little bit?

SPEAKER_04

Well, we gotta get to Miami, Indiana.

SPEAKER_00

All right, we'll do that in two seconds.

SPEAKER_04

If you want to, yeah. I think the whole country's rooting for Indiana. I think even three-quarters of the state of Florida is rooting for Indiana.

SPEAKER_00

Do you make such I mean the news is making a really big deal about it being in Miami and it's gonna be home to them and all that stuff? Well, did you watch Indiana? And I don't care if you even think they're good. I don't care if you think they're not as good as Miami. Did you watch them execute how they played football? That was the scariest thing I've ever seen. If you're in Miami, you should be worried because they execute, execute, execute.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, listen, Miami's there for a reason. Indiana is very much a well-oiled machine offensively. It's funny that they scored that many points because they're really not a high-powered offense. They're just a well-oiled machine. And they're in sync virtually every play of every game. Uh, you know, the matchup, Miami is considerably, considerably bigger up front. So this might be Miami, uh, Indiana's biggest test all year. Um, you know, their offensive line is like Miami's offensive line is like 6'5 or 6'6, 330 pounds average, which is just, I mean, those are maulers. But, you know, that Indiana defense, they're tough. And they don't play a lot of gimmick defense because they don't have to, because they just come right at you. They have a good secondary, a tremendous player at safety. And, you know, they're gonna have their hands full tonight. Miami's got thoroughbreds. I mean, they are still Miami. They might have, you know, one or two, whatever their record is in terms of win-losses, but they're not, you know, 13 and 2. They're not, they're not a traditional two-loss team. I can tell you that. They're gonna be ready to play tonight. It is a home game for them, but I imagine Indiana's gonna travel well. They've never been there. Miami, this is, they're looking for their sixth championship. So I can imagine the Hoosiers are coming out of the woodwork to be there for this game. I talked to a few people that were going. They're excited to be there. They said all their friends were going, and we'll see what it looks like when they when they get inside the stadium tonight. I'm sure they're gonna be a minimum, you know, 40% of the crowd, which is a lot because I would imagine 20% of that crowd is probably just there to see the national championship without a rooting interest. So, you know, they have the quarterback, Mendoza has a relationship with the Miami head coach because him and his father played together. So they know each other very well, which is interesting.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_04

So you wonder if he's Miami coach is in his head a little bit at all, if anything, see if that plays out in any way. Um, Miami seven and a half point dog in this game, which is just that's outrageous to me. I I know that they had their hands full with Mississippi's offense. They gave up a lot of points in that game, but the week before they didn't give up a lot of points. I I don't I don't see this being a shootout. Could it be a shootout? Absolutely could be a shootout because of the talent level of the players on the field. On the other side, you got Carson Beck, who's like a six-year super senior playing for his second team, back up on two national championship teams for Georgia. If you look at his record overall, he's a very accomplished quarterback in the NCAA. And he's playing for a draft position. If he's gonna head to the NFL, which I'm I I can't imagine him not doing that, he's gonna make it hard for teams to pass up on him because his resume is probably better than anybody else's, with the exception of Mendoza having won the Heisman. But he's a big guy, 6'4. He can throw the ball, he makes all the throws. He's got a winning record. He's been a starter for virtually three years, right? He's everything you look for in a quarterback coming out of the draft if you're following the Parcell's quarterback draft protocol, whatever you want to call it. And Indiana, you know, Indiana's playing and you know, they went from worst to first. The coach lights out. They they they only have they don't they don't have any history between them currently. I mean, they've played in previously, you're talking about back in the 60s, I think. So there's no recent history to go by between either these coaches or these teams. And you got everything you want in a national championship. You got one Cinderella story, basically. You have an undefeated team, you have the big bad wolf in Miami. It's all there. It's everything you can want in a national championship game.

SPEAKER_00

I agree. And and I think that happened despite the um, despite the people that that run the playoffs and pick the teams. I think it happened despite them. I think they had no idea that it would be Miami and Indiana.

SPEAKER_04

For Miami to win tonight, you know, they're gonna have to dominate up front, and I'm not saying they will or won't, but they can. They definitely have the size to do it. They're gonna have to run the ball against that Indiana defense, which is pretty stout against the run.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_04

So you wonder if this is gonna become a war of attrition late in this game. I think it will be. Obviously, you have to protect the football. Defensively, Miami's gonna have to get it get after Fernando Mendoza because their play action is really good. They're good at freezing defenders. He's good at finding open receivers downfield. They usually keep him pretty clean in the pocket. So that's gonna be something to watch out for. Um, you know, and what you know, the crowd might be a factor in terms of you know energy on the field and emotions and all that stuff. But you know, once once you get through that initial part of the game, things go back to normal, so to speak. And the crowd, especially for a seasoned team like both teams, really, but Miami essentially playing at home, I think they're gonna be a little amped up and and they'll be under control. Maybe maybe Indiana could take advantage of that early, get an early lead, and then just play hide and seek the rest of the way. I don't think Indiana's gonna try and do something that they haven't done all season. I don't think they're gonna try and get fancy. I think they just show up and do what they do and try and beat you.

SPEAKER_00

So, what do you think the bet is?

SPEAKER_04

I mean, uh, Miami with the points.

SPEAKER_00

Seven and a half?

SPEAKER_04

Seven and a half points at home. I mean, uh, how can you not take the points? You know, they've been there before. I know this team hasn't been there, but they've played in some big games and they have the tradition and the helmets and the you and the Michael Irvin and the old bit. This is what you go to Miami for. So they should be prepared to play in a game like this. So I I would I would think that that that's a lot of points in any game, and these are the two best teams in the country.

SPEAKER_01

So Really? That's what you think, huh?

SPEAKER_04

Well, having said that, I'm gonna take I'm gonna take a half points is a lot of points.

SPEAKER_00

I don't care. I think Indiana's got it. I I think Indiana's gonna break their black back early. And I think it's it's gonna happen. Though it there may be so I am gonna I am gonna take Indiana. It's unusual for sorry, go ahead. Indiana minus the points and Indiana on the money line. Wow. And see where it goes. And I just did it right now, so there it is. There you have it. And next week you could say I will tip my cap. Yeah, you can say she nailed it. Dinner's on you.

SPEAKER_04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it's it doesn't pay very much. And I didn't really it doesn't really pay that much.

SPEAKER_04

And I I don't think it's it's unusual for a Big Ten team to be in a bowl game and be undersized. But Indiana, and I'm not knocking them, you know, usually it's Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin that have those big six, five, three hundred and thirty-pound offensive and defensive linemen, but they're just and they're not undersized, they're just Miami's just big. They're just really big up front.

Picks, Bets, And Underdog Logic

Listener Thanks, Where To Subscribe, And Polar Plunge

SPEAKER_00

So well, I think that's about it for today's week. What do you think? I think we're good. I think we're good. So I thank everybody for watching and listening live. We're obviously gonna edit this, and there'll be uh another version with probably better video than the live streaming video. But I thank you all for listening. Please like and subscribe. We appreciate everyone watching, whether it's on Facebook, whether it's on uh YouTube, other services to come. StephenJustin.com. Stevenjustin.com to watch the old show. Thank you. The old, the old shows and some little blips, some of our some of the great comments from some of our guests. And we have more guests to come as we move to other sports. We're probably not gonna talk about ha hockey because I don't think everybody said today when I was with the guys, they were like, oh, the Ranger game's on at 10 o'clock. I'm like, you're gonna show up for the Ranger game? I'm like, the Rangers have decided not to show up for the game anymore. I mean, they're basically have announced that they're rebuilding the team. So what's the sense of watching them? But the Knicks, the Knicks were on at five, so I don't know what happened there. But either way, that's it for today. I thank you all. Anything, Justin?

SPEAKER_04

Uh, I think I I forgot to mention that if it's all right, the plunge. If that's all right. Please do.

SPEAKER_00

Of course, I don't care.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, um, so I this is this will be my fourth year in a row. I'm gonna do the uh Galata House Escape from Sing Sing Polar Plunge. It's to raise money for their charity. Their charity is a local organization here on the west coast of Westchester County, the Hudson, the Hudson line. They help families in need post-a tragedy. So if a family suffers an event like a flood or a fire, or even worse, Galada House responds within the first 24 to 48 hours to provide food, shelter, clothes, money, a car, whatever it takes to get that family on their feet immediately so that they can recover quickly and uh not suffer a great loss through, you know, uh families have lost, you know, their apartments, their homes, a car, or worse. And Galata House has been there since I longer than I've been a part of this. So I'm gonna jump on the um 7th of February. Uh you can go to galottahouse.org or galottahouse.com. I'm gonna give Steve a link. Maybe we'll put it on the website uh if you care to donate or even participate in the plunge itself or come and support me live that day in the frigid freezing waters of the Hudson.

SPEAKER_00

I'm glad to make a donation, and I'm glad to clap my hands. I ain't going.

SPEAKER_04

It's looking, it's not looking good. It's looking like it's gonna be really cold this year. When when is it? February 7th, the day before the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00

Great. You'll be sick for the Super Bowl, I guess.

SPEAKER_04

I'll be well, I've done it three years in a row, and the Hudson hasn't got me yet.

SPEAKER_00

So there's plenty of time, boo. Plenty of time. All right, thank you all. Please uh appreciate it if you make any donations or participate, please. Uh we uh here at uh Sports Live with Steve and Justin support this cause wholeheartedly. Thank you all. Thank you. See you all next week. See you next week. Thanks, Steve. Who will be right and who will be wrong about Indiana and Miami? We shall see.

SPEAKER_04

Who's your daddy?