Mike Tomlin's Legendary Steelers Run, Divisional Picks & CFP National Championship Predictions

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:03] Speaker B: What's up, everybody? We are back to cover the NFL divisional round and then eventually we will preview the College Football Playoff national championship between Miami and Indiana. First, I don't know if you guys want to talk about any of the firings that have happened since we last been on. It's been lots of interesting things. I was one away from the whole division from losing all their coaches and that would be the AFC north. And of course, it's the Cincinnati Bengals that kept their guy. I love all the memes, man. It's like Squidward from like spongebob peeking out, looking all the. Looking at all the fan bases, having fun, picking out a coach while they're stuck with their situation. You can make fun of it any way you want to, but pretty crazy though. A lot of people were surprised Mike Tomlin stepped down. Couple firings, Harbaugh allegedly moving on to the Giants. We had a lot of coordinators fired over the past week or so. [00:01:07] Speaker C: And. [00:01:09] Speaker B: I don't know, still no word on Matt LaFleur, which is oddly. They were really fast to say that they were trying to hire him or trying to get an extension. It's been crickets since then. Now it's like not as positive that they might come to a new contract extension. So pretty cool stuff. I don't know if you guys want to put your two cents in before we get into the divisional round or whatnot. [00:01:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I thought you were. I mean, your coach was the one to step down. I think it was the biggest one of the week. [00:01:36] Speaker B: So yeah, not surprising. So rumors starting to come out that he let some people know earlier last year before the season started that this might be his last year coaching period. And this year was the first year he had chance of fire Tomlin. Pretty sure that did not feel great after 19 years. But after like letting it sit because, you know, I, I was kind of big that we do need a change. I did want to say, looking at the roster like me and Aaron's team, right. The packers have been having like a lot of playoff, you know, punishment over the last 10 years as well. Just like my Steelers for different reasons. Packages coming up short, weird play calling at the end. The Steelers, it seems like with no quarterback, they just seem to have like he, he's just brought a team, maybe they didn't deserve to have a winning record all those years and he brought them there anyways into the playoffs and then he just got beats by people that were meant to be in the playoffs. I was looking back at some of Those losses, they're all pretty decent teams and they're all hitting all the right cylinders. The Browns team, you can say what you want, they were on fire at, towards the end of that season. But everything else, so you know, who, what other coach can get that team above.500 every single year like that? Lacking talent on the offensive side especially. So we'll see. Man, I hope I'm not going to regret this a year or two down the line, but Steelers have a history of hiring really good young coordinators that are under the radar, so I've already heard some rumors, some stuff. Kind of curious how that plays out, but I will definitely miss Mike Tomlin. [00:03:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I, I wouldn't be as worried if I was in your shoes. An organization, what three head coaches in their history or three head coaches in the last 50, 60 years or whatever the heck it is. Like, you know, basically the modern NFL, they've only had, you know, three guys running the ship. And that's, that's the type of organizational stability, you know, team should be striving for, not being overreaction by a bad season here or there and understanding, like, there's a longer journey versus, like these short hints of success. But after 19 years and the record of what it eight or nine years in a row, first round in the playoffs, done or something like that, now it just becomes a time where, you know, it probably wears on Tomlin, especially as a head coach. You mentioned here in the fire, Tomlin stuff. But even to that point, you know, there's. There's an ego involved, there's a competitive involved, and hey, I'm not getting it done. And I've done everything I can in this particular situation. And I've, you know, I've done so much to maintain the culture and build a culture within this organization and, And I can't get more out of it. And I'm maximizing maybe the roster that's given to me for, for better or for worse, hasn't have it. We talked about this the last pod, you know, the Roethlisberger injury. I mean, what are we on, like six, five, six years ago at this point? Like that? He's had probably a legit starting quarterback that, you know, you can. Without a quarterback in this league, man, I don't, I don't know if you're, you're able to win a Super bowl pretty much at this point. So, I mean, smoke and mirrors, getting to 500 a lot of times with this, with, with what the roster. He's had so incredible run really I mean, for us, Aaron, Aaron and I, I think back to our early sports conversations 19 years ago at this point. Tomlin, defensive coordinator for the Vikings, on the sideline, watching those games and then turns out to be the Steelers head coach at that time. And you know, hey, this was the, this was like one of the kind of the early young guns in coaching. And he was a defensive coordinator and there was some swagger to him and, and you know, the culture and kind of just, I guess, no bs, straight talk, you know, guys like to play for him and then the overall stability of the organization, I, I would say there's probably an element you're probably going to miss about him, Rome. But at the same time, I mean, he seems like I'm not coaching next year. I mean, could be like, coward, never coaches again. You know, he maybe crushes it at TV. I get 100%. You know, we were chatting in the group text onto this. Like, I think every major network would probably want this guy because, I don't know, he just feels like he'd be electric person on tv. You're going to want to watch. He's gonna, I, I definitely have a. [00:06:03] Speaker B: Lot of sound bites, but he doesn't seem like a personality that's for tv. [00:06:07] Speaker A: We said the same thing about Billich and he was killing it. Well, he probably should have stayed in tv. [00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah, he should have definitely killed it. [00:06:15] Speaker C: You think of Saban, man, Saban's awesome. [00:06:18] Speaker B: Saban's great. [00:06:19] Speaker C: He's office on the tv. So I think there's something, there's something, I mean, you could play him out, but I think, I think he's a communicator. I think there's some stories he could tell. I think there's probably a filter he had in those post game press conferences, but I mean, he was, if you listen to the sound bites of his post game press conference, they're hilarious. Just because he's unintentionally not giving you anything, just kind of like how Belichick did it, but he did it, you know, different ways. Like, you know, we're lucky to make it out of this place alive. And I'm just, you know, keep into the grind. Like every press conference was him like going to war and like while it, you know, it's not actual war, but it's, you know, there is a battle going out every week and he was a general taking his team into battle and coming out of it. So I don't know, he was always entertaining to me and I, I feel if that translates to tv. I mean, he can't be worse than some of these other guys. I mean, I said, I said espn and you said Rex Ryan's entertaining or whatever like that. [00:07:06] Speaker B: Like, I like Rex on tv. [00:07:08] Speaker C: He's goofy, entertaining. But I, I think there'd be like a more of a serious entertaining and analysis on Tomlin versus like Rex Ryan or some of these other guys on tv. Like Aaron said, cbs, I mean, that'll definitely lively up. You know, CBS just feels like it's a network for, you know, 70 year olds at all times, what they put on TV. So I mean, that maybe that livens up the CBS broadcast a little bit. [00:07:28] Speaker B: CBS crew, Fox a little different though. [00:07:32] Speaker C: I mean, Fox stability, they got. They've had the same crew forever too. [00:07:35] Speaker B: They're like, yeah, but they forgetting it. Like it looked like they space out every other show. [00:07:40] Speaker A: That's Terry Bradshaw, man. Yeah, I'm like tv. TV be kind of like just talking and circles sometimes. Howie Straight Strand's been there for a while, but Rob Konkowski's been there, what, maybe this is 30 years maybe. So. Yeah, I mean, look, the Tomblin, whether or not he gets back into coaching, who knows? I mean, he might want to keep that 19 year straight, you know, winning record, retire on those morals and you know, as super bowl, he will be missed in Pittsburgh. There's no doubt about it. I think, you know, we talked about that roster. It's not a great roster. I mean, for him to get that team did 10 and 7 and 9 and 8 every year and win playoff games and when it's, it's difficult, you know, I, I'd be curious going back on, you know, what he's lost, what, six, seven straight playoff games. I'd be curious if they were even favored in any of those playoff games because honestly, I'm not even sure if. [00:08:29] Speaker B: They were Bears when they were. I know that one. [00:08:33] Speaker C: You talk about regular season, but I think he's talking about the playoffs. [00:08:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was that playoff game. [00:08:39] Speaker C: They didn't play the Bears. [00:08:40] Speaker A: Bears in the playoffs. That would have been a Super Bowl. [00:08:43] Speaker B: No, no, no, Browns. [00:08:45] Speaker A: Okay, okay, Browns. So, yeah, and that was kind of the beginning of the end. I mean, that's when Baker had a great game. Savansky kind of came on and the Browns were, you know, kind of up and coming there. Whatever was the 20, 19, 20, 20, whatever year it was. But yeah, I mean, Tomlin, we'll see. I mean, he's gonna go in the media for at least a year. We'll see. What jobs become available and whatnot. You know, he says he's not getting the coaching. I mean, he was getting paid, what, $25 million a year to coach the Steelers. So there's a lot of money on the table. He wants to get back into it. And there could be some good jobs that open up next year of some teams that don't perform well, like a Tampa, Philadelphia of those jobs come open, I could see Tomlin being very interested in those positions if they come. So we'll see what happens. I, I don't rule it out that he does not get back into coach. He's only 53 years old. But like Jason said, if he, you know, if you like the media gig, he's going to make good money doing that. It's a lot more easier, a lot more stress. You don't have to worry about wins, losses, the media asking you questions and kind of not giving them anything. And I think you could have fun with it. And we'll see. I mean, Bill Cowards kind of. I didn't expect Bill Cower to continue to still be on CBS NFL Today and he's still there. He's the longest tenured guy now outside of, you know, Brown. So we'll see what happens. [00:10:01] Speaker B: Awesome. Was there anything else that happened? No, because everything's kind of like wishy washy. We're not going to hear anything about the coaching for like another week or two, right? [00:10:09] Speaker A: Coaching for new hires? [00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah, probably not because everyone's still waiting on what happens after this divisional round. I think that's going to be like the last round if we do see a firing or two. [00:10:19] Speaker A: I mean, the only coach that would get fired would be what, Sean McDermott, right? I mean, Peyton's not going anywhere. I mean, Kyle Shanahan, that'd be a shocker. And Mike McDonald is what, second year? He's not going anywhere. [00:10:32] Speaker B: He's not going anywhere now. So. [00:10:34] Speaker A: All right, you mentioned, you mentioned Matt LaFleur. I, I'd be surprised if Green Bay moves off him. That's probably something that gets a deal done. I assume gets done pretty soon here maybe Monday morning, maybe late tomorrow afternoon once media goes to sleep and gets ready for the games. [00:10:52] Speaker B: We will see. We will see. I send Chase and a whole bunch of memes. I know he recently just got booted off right now, but send him a lot of stuff on the Bears and Ben Johnson heard a lot of rumor talk about Caleb. We'll get into that a little later on. [00:11:08] Speaker A: Well, I heard just Matt LaFleur is working with his pal Sean McVeigh on a game plan for the Bears this weekend's game. So you see he's double dipping, trying to take Ben Johnson out back to back weeks. [00:11:20] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll see. Man. Two crazy coaches going at it. Should we just get into it then? [00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I might as well. I mean, I'm sure Jason will be on here in a minute or so. Those Internet problems with Riverside continue to carry on throughout the week. [00:11:39] Speaker B: I just don't get it, man. I just don't get it. Let's get to that. NFL divisional round kicks off on the 17th. Saturday, 8pm Eastern, 5 Pacific, which is kind of nice. I'll have plenty of stuff to do before those night games. Wait a minute. [00:11:57] Speaker A: The first game is Buffalo and. [00:11:59] Speaker B: God damn it, dude, you're. You're. You're lying. What's up? Can we just get one lines? That's like in order. I'm like that. That's a really late start time for the first game. [00:12:11] Speaker A: They have it set up. I don't know why they have it. They set up for the betting rotating number. So that's why they have the Niners. I don't know why, but yeah. [00:12:20] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. First game of the game of the day. Take two. Buffalo Bills at the Mile High City Denver Broncos at 1:30 Pacific, 4:30 Eastern on Saturday. The Broncos are favored by one over the bit over the visiting Bills money line. Really close and similar. We also have the over under at 46 for Buffalo and Denver. Aaron, since you're a big Denver guy, go ahead and kick us off with which way you're leaning for this. [00:12:58] Speaker A: Well, I mean not so much a Denver guy, more Bo, Nick, Sean Payton and they're both happen to be in Denver. I was on them, you know, kind of, you know, that's one of the calls that got right during our preseason preview of Denver winning the afc. I did have them getting to the AFC championship game and I think they get to the AFC championship game room they get the line came out early in the week. Buffalo was favored by one and a half. They're now an underdog by one. I think the line is now shifted in the right direction as the Sharps have jumped on Denver Buffalo. I mean they were in a physical game Sunday against the Jaguars. I mean Josh Allen, you know what he's got? Foot, ankle, knees, shoulder, neck, whatever. I mean he was in a. He was in a battle. I'm sure he's been in the ice bath all week getting ready for this game. They lost two starting wide receivers and Gabe Davis and another guy out. I think they're getting Curtis Samuels back. But for Denver offensive struggles, they've had them all year. Defensively we know they're really good unit. They're going to play physical, they're going to get after him again. I just think Sean Payton, with a week off, kind of regroup this offense, kind of go back and look at film at what they like, what they think they were successful during the year. Play calling wise, formation wise. I like Denver in this game. Rome. I I think Buffalo just won their first game under Josh Allen ever on the road in a playoff era. They're one and done and I like Denver to get to the AFC Championship game and host it next weekend. [00:14:25] Speaker B: Nice, Jason. [00:14:28] Speaker C: Yeah, Aaron brings up all great points, but I'm going to go the other way on this and I'm going to take Buffalo beginning of the season. I think Buffalo was my pick to go to the super bowl and win the super bowl and obviously I thought it was going to the roads were going to go through Buffalo and not through Denver and had probably my doubts with the defense and everything going into an Aaron. Aaron's absolutely right. As far as Josh Allen getting banged up, we talked about it on the recap. He was in the blue medical 10 I think three out of the first four drives or something versus the Jaguars and there's a lot of things going against him. But there's something in this playoff run right now for Josh Allen that I think this is almost kind of a legacy, little bit of a run. You got no Mahomes, you got no, no Lamar Jackson in the way. You're going against a different younger group of quarterbacks and this is a seasoned team and it's going to be though it's going to be a type of the game can this Bills team be like almost this like the Chiefs were the past couple of years where there's no rhyme or reason why this team is winning and they just kind of gut it out towards the end and win a close game and that's what I think it's going to be for the Broncos. Aaron talked about retooling the offense and there was something kind of towards the end of the year that they kind of found with the offense, probably most notably for Denver in that packers game that they had. But that's really their last great win is probably versus the packers because then they followed up with the loss to a Jaguars team that the Bills just beat. You know, a Chiefs team that was already out of it versus A bunch of backups during that holiday game that they barely walked through. And they play a Chargers team who wasn't playing anybody and was able to get there. So the test for the Broncos all year, I think the Bears were similar kind of the Patriots is like, hey, these guys had easy schedules. They didn't play a bunch of great teams. So at 14 and 3, well, in the NFL, I think every win does matter. And it's hard to say against scheduling. The Bills have really, you know, they've gone it through the hard way and they're going to need a hard path to go through here. So against everything Aaron's going to say it's all great points I'd seen There's a little magic here for Josh Allen in this round. And the Bills advance the AFC championship game. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Nice. I like it. Was not expecting that. Thought you're gonna go with with Aaron and and the boys here. I have not been shy me rooting for Josh Allen. I'm gonna do it again. I will take the one point. I think this might have a chance to go on the over as well. It's gonna be a battle between the defenses, as you guys know. I think what Denver was 8 and 1 at home, but they led the league in total defense, especially with sacks. And they were one of the top defenses in rushing defense and scoring defense. But they did struggle at times against the pass Bills. They've gotten a lot of flack on their defensive side of things, but towards the second half of the season, man, I feel like their DC has done some really good things. They suck at stopping the run, but everything else. So they're either like middle the pack or they're like edging towards like the top third. Not terrible, not great, but good enough if they can just find a way. As you mentioned, Jason, this is just. All the big superheroes in the NFL are out right now and Josh Allen's the only one against all these upstarts. And I don't know, man, it's gonna be pretty fun. What's the weather gonna be like? Because even if it's cold, even if it's windy, I think that Josh Allen and the Bills even more. We've seen the Bills kind of like the Broncos. I can't remember how many games they had pretty close where they should have lost at home. And they just barely edged it out at the end. [00:18:01] Speaker C: But looks like it's going to be sunny but. But cold. But I don't think it's not going to have any sort of big weather conditions. I Think it'll just be cold. The, the only game of the weekend that I think has notable weather is going to be Chicago and the Rams. [00:18:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:16] Speaker B: Broncos have gotten a lot of flack, too. Like, is this an actual good team? The amount of wins they won. You know, Patriots got the same flag for their easy schedule. Niners gained the same flack. But the Broncos, for like a good portion of the season, you know, they've been, you know, etching out 12 point wins very much like the Bears. I'm going to give the edge to the Bills here on the road. They're going to continue the road to success through Denver and put a stamp on it this weekend. [00:18:47] Speaker A: So one, one thing to note, Rome, we didn't bring up. This is a rematch of last year's wild card game. Yeah. Which Buffalo won. 317 in Buffalo. So don't think Denver does not remember that as they make the trip to their home turf here in the Mile High. [00:19:03] Speaker B: Aaron's heavily leaning on the Broncos. He's. He loves that pick. All right. [00:19:08] Speaker A: I do like the Broncos this week, Rome. [00:19:10] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's all good, man. It is. [00:19:13] Speaker A: All the Sharps like them too. They. They ate them up at +1 and a half to make them a favorite now. [00:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you like the over, under? [00:19:22] Speaker A: I would probably tend to lean under. You mentioned Denver's defense has been great. Two weeks they'll be fresh. And Denver's offense has not been, you know, lighting the scoreboards up. So this kind of feels like a 2017, 23, 2020 type game to me. So I would lean towards the under. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I was thinking of anything. This might be like a Josh Allen game winning drive or field goal here. 26, 24. Just beating the over on this one. Something like that. All right, second game on Saturday's slate, we have the San Francisco 49ers visiting the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks fair by seven points. This has come down a little bit. I believe it was eight and a half at some point early in the year. Moneyline plus 280 for the Niners based on Aaron's lines here that he provided minus 350 for the Seahawks. [00:20:14] Speaker C: Over. [00:20:14] Speaker B: Under is 45. Jason, who you got in this one in a rematch of that week 18, take it all for first in the division. [00:20:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I would say this one interesting line considering how close these two teams were during the regular season. We just had a matchup, what two weeks ago to end the regular season, decide first round. The buy I think comes a little more play. The Niners heard all Year Fred Warner practicing look like out on the field with the power plants behind him. [00:20:45] Speaker B: I saw some playing. [00:20:47] Speaker A: He will not play, not play. [00:20:48] Speaker C: So maybe coming back the week following if the Niners able to advance to the NFC Championship game, to me I think the game's gonna be a lot tighter. Seven points is a lot for a Niners team that always kind of finds a way offensively, you know now they got Kittle out but you know they, they were able to get by without him. McCaffrey really the cog that kind of gets that offense going and the defense, you know Salah's got them always ready to go up first versus pretty much any opponent at this point. I still think the Seahawks win this game but if you're going to go from a spread perspective I've take the Niners plus seven. [00:21:24] Speaker B: Aaron. [00:21:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I talked about it on the last one. I'm big on Seattle this week. Lay the points. I think if Seattle doesn't turn the ball over they're going to blow the Niners out. If you go back and look at Sam Darnold, the three games Seattle lost, he had turnovers, some multiple turnovers in some of those games. So ball security would be key. Sam Darnold doesn't turn the ball over. They don't put the ball on the turf fumble wise. I don't see any way in which the 49ers are going to really be able to move the ball and get anything against these guys. I know Trent Williams was not there week 18. Kittle will not be back again. Ricky Purcell is questionable. He may play or may not. But Seattle's just so much more athletic than these guys right now. They shut them down. I mean the Niners have played these guys twice and scored 20 points in both games combined. I, I like Seattle. I think Seattle puts a 30 plus burger on him. I think it's a beat down again. I think the only way Seattle loses this game of Sam Darnold goes back to kind of the Sam Darnold old of the jets of Minnesota towards the end of last year where he has multiple turnovers and just forces stuff doesn't see the field right. I mean he knows what he's going to get from Sala. That defense is scheme wise to me. Seattle is a big play here. I'd be surprised if Seattle does not win but I'd also be surprised if they don't cover here. I like Seattle -7. [00:22:41] Speaker B: One thing about that Week 18 game, it was pretty tight man. It was a defensive effort and I Was surprised how good the 49ers defense held the Seahawks that whole game. It was. It was still anybody's game in the fourth quarter. I think Niners are going to respond really well. I actually like Shanahan coming out with the game plan, learning from those things from the. From round two of that. It's kind of cool that we're getting a couple games here in the. [00:23:08] Speaker A: In. [00:23:08] Speaker B: In. In the playoffs here where it's round three. Final decision for who takes the season series. I'm taking the Niners. I think just the cohesiveness. I think Brock Purdy is going to show out. The weather's gonna be a lot better for him. They like Seattle. Gonna be tough with the 12th man, but I know Seattle's good, man. They're good. Will and Will and Bonnie. My. My friends have season tickets. They mentioned that the defense is scary. Like lights out. Almost like what they called the Legion of Doom back in the day when they won that one Super Bowl. [00:23:45] Speaker A: Legion of boom. [00:23:46] Speaker C: Right? [00:23:47] Speaker A: Boom. [00:23:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was just like, it was rough watching it in person down here at Levi's Stadium. But I'm just going with the hometown team here. Since I'm right here in the Bay Area, I trust that the Niners are going to find a way to get it done, upset the Seahawks. It's gonna be a tight contest. I got the under on this one, but just by barely. I'm thinking this might be like 41 to 43 points total in this. Niners barely escaping with a field goal of some sort to take away the victory. Tough loss in year two for the coaching staff in Seattle. All right, Sunday's games we got. Is this backwards as well? No, I think it's not. [00:24:36] Speaker A: That's right. [00:24:36] Speaker B: All right. The Houston Texans visiting the Patriots in Foxborough. They are favored by three points with the 40 and a half over under Aaron. [00:24:51] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a big game here. I mean, the Texans eliminated your Pittsburgh Steelers there on Monday night. Rome coming in here as a three point dog on the road against Drake May went back and looked at a little stats. Last year, Drake May did play against this Houston defense at home. Sacked four times, multiple turnovers and a blowout loss to Houston. What concerns me most, Jason pointed out in our last pot of C.J. stroud, he did not look comfortable in the pocket. His numbers look good, but if you actually watch the game, I mean, he did not play well. Not a confident quarterback. Could have had multiple more turnovers. Just pinning the ball on the turf. Interceptions. He's got to clean that up. I think this defense, bro, we've been touching on it for two months. Super bowl defense, that's what they are. I still believe Houston is Super bowl bound, but if CJ Stroud does not step up and play a better game, this is a guy that's won at least one playoff game every year in the first three years in the playoffs. He did it again. That was his first road win. So maybe a little jitters there, but the only quarterbacks really to beat him have been Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. Like Jason mentioned, the big guns are out. I like Houston to win here. Patriots schedule's not been great. Drake may struggle last week against a Chargers defense. That's really good. This defense is even better. We know the Texans are better than the Chargers. I'm taking the Texans plus three. I think they win outright, but I'll take the points here. [00:26:10] Speaker B: Jason. [00:26:11] Speaker C: Yeah, Aaron laid it out for me as far as what you're going to get out of CJ Stroud in this and that's why I'm going to be going with the Patriots. I agree with Aaron. Like Texans defense, great. It's going to be a definite challenge. But I think the Patriots D is really good too. And I think you're going to get more out of the running game with Henderson and Stevenson and the way they've been able to get these weapons going. I'm sure you'll get a good big play out of Digs and what Drake May can do. This is a big kind of priming time moment here for Drake May to kind of step up and where he can deliver, you know, this Patriots team and get it back to where they were for decades under Tom Brady. You know, I, I just, I just don't like what I saw to CJ Stroud and, and if you could take away the first read as I was talking about what it was versus the Steelers, what is he going to be able to do? I don't think those options are going to be there versus a more talented Patriots team. [00:27:01] Speaker B: So you got the Pats. Nice. [00:27:04] Speaker A: Texans might also be about Nico Collins as well. So he's not practicing still in concussion. [00:27:08] Speaker B: Protocol, so that's crazy. [00:27:10] Speaker A: I would expect him not to play, but we'll see what happens. [00:27:14] Speaker B: To be fair, he's been like hit or miss this year. Every time he's not playing, their, their tight ends step in. So might not be the end of the world there. I'm gonna go with the Texans here. Patriots used everything to just escape a really beat up and really bad Chargers team that shouldn't have been in the playoffs. Let's just be honest. Herbert was not great. The offensive line was. They have a whole bunch of issues where he knew that. And they barely got away with it. Texans, they already got like a nice little primed up game. They showed out mainly on the defensive side. Score more points than my Steelers offered to. You know, sum up in the whole game, the six points. If Stroud corrects on those mistakes. And you know, he's been pretty good on that winning streak. I know he missed a few of those first ones with Straub. Right. Is this Rob a step down? [00:28:11] Speaker A: Mills. Mills. [00:28:12] Speaker B: Oh, Mills. There you go. For some reason, Straw was a long time ago. [00:28:15] Speaker C: Matt Shop. Shop. Legendary backup quarterback, man. It was. It's one of those. He's going to be a starter. He's going to be a starter. [00:28:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I don't think there'll be like another bad performance from the Texans. From the offensive side, 40 and a half over, under, that's kind of tough. I'm gonna lean on the over on this one. I think this might be a 23 to 17 type of game here. Not high scoring, but more than they are. Than they are suggesting. I got Houston defense game into the conference championship. I don't really have much to offer but on that game. But that's gonna be fun. I can't wait to watch that one. I think that might be my most favorite game out of all these besides Buffalo. Oh, they're all pretty good, but never mind. Scratch that. I don't know which one's my favorite. I have personal favorites on them. [00:29:11] Speaker A: All right, we know which one's Jason's favorite. The one coming up here. [00:29:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:29:15] Speaker C: Game of the week. [00:29:17] Speaker B: Game of the week for Jason. Now, we could talk about some of that Bear stuff that I was alluding to while he was offline. We got the Rams. [00:29:25] Speaker C: I go off the air and start talking crap. I get it, okay? [00:29:27] Speaker A: It's fine. [00:29:28] Speaker B: This guy. No, not crap yet. Rams visiting Chicago. It's gonna be nice and chilly. Negative four, negative six. Right. With the wind chill. Allegedly. Rams here by three and a half. Go figure. 48 and a half over, under. I think that's too high with how cold it's going to be. But the Bears, these guys seem to not give up. They're dead for three quarters and then they wake up in the fourth. It's unlike anything we've seen in a while. Caleb Williams has earned the nickname Iceman, which is. I think it's a little too much for year two, I see iceman stuff happening. [00:30:10] Speaker A: That's Chuck Liddell's nickname, man. So I don't know. [00:30:14] Speaker B: All over the socials, I heard that Kayla Williams is a top three quarterback in the NFL that has sprouted out among circles this week. I'm thinking like, wow, one, one amazing throw in the fourth quarter and it changes your whole trajectory. People were barely putting him in the top 20 and now he's a top three quarterback. I've heard Ben Johnson is the best coach in the NFL. It's like, you know, he, he's nuts, just like Dan Campbell. I heard he's the opposite of er fl. But it kind of like balls to the walls, like cussing people out. Just like Mike Ditka kind of brings out some of that tough blue collar stuff from back in the 80s that Chicago has been sorely been missing ever since then. So looks like he's vibing well enough there. Jason, do the honors. Tell us why your bear is going to win this one. Taking them outright or you're going to take the points? [00:31:13] Speaker C: Take them out. Right, Rome. All right. You tell you why it's going to win because, you know, we are in January right now and you mentioned it's going to be 33 to 34 degrees at kickoff. You're gonna have winds of 15 to 25 miles an hour. With the wind chill. It's going to be below 20 degrees. There's a 40% chance of snow showers in this game. It is going to be cold. And Ben Johnson, you talked about it. All right. Yeah, you echoes of Mike Ditka, whoever you want to talk about, you know, you can hate people on the football field. It's okay. This is just sports. It's. It's not that big a deal. We could have rivalries. Everyone doesn't have to be friends, okay? We can talk crap. That's basically what it's about. You know, sports nowadays, there's always criticism with, with our generation. I was like, oh, everyone's too chummy and stuff. No, Ben Johnson says f you to the Packers. This is the rivalry. This is where it's at. You know, everyone's all, what? Whatever about it. But, you know, there's some intensity to this. And you look at that Bears packers game, that stadium was rocking. We talked about that in the recap. You know, there is an energy. Chicago is a football town. You know, Michael Jordan wins six NBA championships as a legendary Bulls team. We talk about the 85 Bears for 40 years. My entire life from. [00:32:24] Speaker B: I was disgusting. [00:32:25] Speaker C: I was baptized. On super bowl Sunday in 1986, 40 years ago. Okay. My entire. [00:32:31] Speaker B: Has there been any other team that's milked one championship more than the Chicago Bears? [00:32:35] Speaker A: No. [00:32:36] Speaker C: Exactly. That's what I'm saying. All right, this is where it's at. You could talk about all your other team. I tell my friends all the time. You talk about all your other teams. They win X amount of Super Bowls. But no one forgets the 85 bears and where it's at. Because Chicago is a football town. And you saw it in the crowd. You saw the Al Michaels and Herb street talking about it. The crowd, you know, the crowd shaking. This building is going to be electric. Rome singing the national anthem. Legendary. Jim Cornelius in the Blackhawks. Guy who opera singer does the national anthem. It's going to be their pregame. It is going to be hyped. Now any other time if this game was in la, I'd be super scared. And every which way that Puka Nakua is going to have 250 yards and Stafford's gonna have 400 yards receiving, whatever. Because on that fast track at SoFi, you know, the Rams really got it. But we are in a different place. We are in Chicago. This is the elements, this is what you play for in. In December. Play NFL football in the conditions in which you got to play at. And the Bears. Ben Johnson. No heaters for the practice field. We practice outside. No heaters for the last like month. The players hated it. But this is where that practice comes in into proof because they're going to need it. They need the fans, they need the conditions. The defense is scary, man. You saw the first half versus Jordan. Love ain't great. You saw him versus the Niners just giving up stuff to pie. Left and right ain't great. So that's the equalizer of the game. Caleb Williams big plays fourth quarter. The biggest thing I'll tell you about this, they can't fall behind as much as they did. They may be able to play like a score behind, but we can't be falling behind 20.21 points of the Rams team. That just can't happen. This is a really good football team. The defense in the front seven of the Rams really good. The back four, I don't think as good as the Rams kind of tout through. I think there's a matchup, you know, potential for the Bears with Colston Loveland. I think there's definitely something there with Roma Dunze. I haven't seen a ton of him since he came back from his injury. Besides the amazing 4th and 8 catch you talked about there. But there's definitely size advantage that they could utilize against the Rams secondary that they need to pick apart. The running game again, crucial. What can a Manung guy and Swift do there? But Caleb Williams, you say it's one throw Rome, but this has been the entire year. Seven fourth quarter comebacks. This guy, you know, they do things in the first and second quarter to set up to the end of the game and you know, it just can't be so much far behind. But Caleb makes the big throws when it matters and that's where the legends are built up. He throws a sort of 360 yards in that packers game. You know, just keeps getting better and better. The Rams are going to be. It's not a small. It's not a small fee. I'm saying it's gonna be tough. Stafford's great. Puka Nakua, arguably best wide receiver in the league. Jared Verse in the front four of that defense is really good. They got to protect Caleb at all costs. So it's going to be a tough game. But I think there is, there is momentum with this Bears team. There's some magic with this Bears team and I think it propels them another week to go to the NFC championship game. [00:35:27] Speaker B: This year's Washington Commanders, we will see. Aaron. [00:35:30] Speaker A: Hey, spot on, Rome. Spot on that. Commanders, right, Commanders, Bears. We talked about how these two teams have been linked. One team falls apart, the other one gets to a conference championship. I'm going to agree. I think the Bears plus three and a half to play here. I think they have a good chance to win this game. The Rams defense over the last seven games has given up over 28 points a game. This is the third road trip to the Midwest east coast in the last month. It's going to be cold. This defense is beat up. Stafford has not looked as good down the stretch here. He's been turning the ball over a little bit more. Obviously you got to be concerned about what the Rams can do on offense with Devonte Adams coming back. Puka Nakua, they got the three tight end sets, two running backs, offensive lines pretty good. The Bears defense is not great. Opportunistic. We know that they're going to have to be here. Are they going to play the. If they can bend but don't break. They did a lot of breaking against the Packers. Cleaned that up in the second half. We talked about when Jason was off that Matt LaFleur has been in Sean McVeigh's ear, kind of giving him Some inside scoop with northern buddies. His brother happens to be the offensive coordinator for the Rams. So you know there's nothing more that the LaFleur family they would want than to get Ben Johnson and the Bears out of there at the playoffs here especially at home. Be devastating if Chicago shows up and plays the terrible game. Considering how hyped up Jason is in that town. I think it's a close game. It was four and a half. It's down to three and a half. I still like it at three and a half. I'll take the Bears getting the points. I think Caleb Williams, he's continued to be special. He's gonna have to. And I think some of the playmakers on the outside with the Rams trying to take away Loveland and the tight end, I think the wide receivers more in Rome are gonna have to have big, big games. I think they will. I think it's bromy mentioned you like the under. It's come down from 50. 50 and a half down to. Was it 48? 48 and a half. It'd be interesting to see. But I'll take the Bears here getting the points. Give me the three and a half. [00:37:21] Speaker B: Wow. I'm gonna go opposite way with the Rams. I know it's gonna be cold. I know Stafford has not particularly played very, you know, very well in the cold either. They're not the Niners where the Niners play pretty good in the cold. [00:37:35] Speaker A: But Jason, do you happen to know off the top of your hand what is Stafford's record at Soldier Field overall even with some bad Detroit teams? I mean Chicago didn't have great teams there either. But he's played plenty of games there so he's familiar with the elements and the atmosphere. I'd just be curious if he has a winning or losing record going into Chicago. So that plays mental games on a quarterback. [00:37:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I. I know there was a lot of miss representation on his. There was a stack going around. It wasn't Soldier feel or. But it was like he's 1 in 9 in cold, rainy and snowy conditions at Soldier Field which is part of his overall 5 and 7 in cold weather games type stuff. So that was like a sporty news thing that was out there. But I know there's been some refute on where some of the things are getting there. But yeah. I don't know his overall record at Soldier Field though. I know I forgettable it was. It was a September game, not cold conditions. It was that infamous Calvin Johnson. Did he drop the ball? [00:38:37] Speaker A: We know that. [00:38:39] Speaker C: That one sticks with. [00:38:40] Speaker A: Me, that was the opening game of the season, whatever year that was, but. Yeah, I remember that one. [00:38:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. No, Bears have had a great year. Lots of comebacks, but come on. Ram's gonna win this one. That's all I got. I was gonna come up with, like, another saying, but I think it's a little. A little 2x. It didn't make any sense. It was, like, worse than, like that young bull, old calf, whatever. [00:39:09] Speaker A: So it looks like. Yeah. So it looks like Stanford is 5 and 7 all time at soldier field with 15 interceptions, 16 touchdowns. So not very good numbers in 12 career games there. [00:39:21] Speaker B: Not very good. It's a new era. It's a new day. Could this be the last super bowl run for this Rams team? [00:39:27] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't. [00:39:28] Speaker B: I really don't have a lot on this Ram Chicago Bears game. I think it'll be exciting, though. I'll be curious to see how the Rams play in that. In the cold. Any final comments? [00:39:40] Speaker C: I think I said enough. I mean, Rome, you're probably just looking forward to, like, drinking my tears on Monday if the. If the Bears don't win. [00:39:47] Speaker B: Nice. [00:39:47] Speaker C: I'm gonna be happy. I'm gonna be positive. We're gonna be. We're gonna be good. We're going into it. Good vibes going into this weekend, all around. [00:39:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Hold your head up high. [00:39:55] Speaker A: I mean, if the Bears win and the Niners happen to win, that means the Bears would host the NFC Championship game. [00:40:01] Speaker B: So that'd be crazy. [00:40:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:04] Speaker A: They'll know that going in Sunday because the results from Saturday Seattle game already be in. [00:40:09] Speaker C: I'll be honest, Aaron. There's a. There's an internal battle with me right now. If the Niners were to win, do I just book flights just. Just in case. The NFC Championship games in Chicago, but then my jinxing it going into Sunday. I don't know. [00:40:27] Speaker B: Let's take a quick break. When we come back, we will talk the National Championship game. We are back to talk some college football. The National Championship at Rockhart. [00:40:44] Speaker A: Let's start this one over rome. We're only 10 seconds in. [00:40:48] Speaker B: We're here to talk about the college national championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. With the. With the Miami Florida against the Indiana. Once again, the Miami Florida. [00:41:01] Speaker A: Where. [00:41:02] Speaker B: Where do you get this stuff, dude? Once again, Miami gets no icon on this little line graphic that you sent us. [00:41:09] Speaker C: If we had a different sponsor, it might be the other stadium you talked about. I don't know if we had. [00:41:14] Speaker B: That's Aaron's Blue Chill. [00:41:15] Speaker A: Blue choose blue. She's been reaching out. God. [00:41:20] Speaker B: Wow. [00:41:21] Speaker A: Hey, hey. I'll put it this way. There's gonna be some, maybe some happy Hoosiers or Hurricanes that are gonna be a rock hard after that victory either way. [00:41:30] Speaker B: All right, Miami Hurricanes getting eight and a half points plus 280 on the money line. Over. Under is 47 for this, minus 350 for Indiana. So Indiana heavy, heavy favorites for this matchup. Aaron, you were talking all of a sudden, it's not like he became a Hurricanes fan last week saying that this can be a really good matchup. Indiana's gonna get punched in the face. You still feel that way? You can be the first one to take us down the aisle. [00:42:03] Speaker A: I do. Rome. I mean, I, I think Indiana wins this game. I do. Like I mentioned when we recorded Monday night, I love Miami getting eight and a half here. They're gonna be, you know, look at, it's a home game. Whether or not the crowd is 50, 50, 60, 40. One way or another, this is gonna be, you know, that's in their own stadium. For Miami, the key really is Carson Beck. I mean, if you go back and look at the games they lost, what he had three, what, four interceptions against Louisville. I think he had two against smu. All other games combined. The season basically adds up to that, that amount of turnovers as far as interceptions. So I think if he does not turn the ball over. I know Jason, and we've talked about the trenches of Miami. We know Miami can run the ball. They're going to challenge Indiana like no team has. Indiana has not played a team that plays bully ball like a Miami and has the athletes and the size to compete with them. I mean, Oregon had a little bit success the first time they met against Indiana. This last time they got behind too by too many points and just, you know, had to avert the run game. But Miami's gonna play it close to the vest. They'll take their chances and their shots when they get a chance. Beck's got to connect on those. He's been pretty good in these playoffs, especially in the fourth quarter, converting a lot of big third downs and leading game winning drives for touchdowns. Special teams is a concern for Miami. The kicker's not been great, but he should be better in his home stadium. And Indiana, what will they do when they're challenged? We've only seen them challenge once against a, you know, a talented Penn State team. But a Penn State team that was what, on the six game losing streak at the time? So yes, I do Like Miami here wouldn't be surprised if Miami wins. But I do think ultimately Indiana is going to pull out a tough game. Maybe Mendoza late 2, 3 minute leads him on a drive cementing himself in Indiana, Hoosier and college football history. As you know, a Heisman winner to win the trophy on a game winning drive in the final two to three minutes of a national championship game. But yes, Miami plus eight and a half is the play here for me. [00:44:04] Speaker B: Wow. Jason. [00:44:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree with Aaron on this one. Have liked Miami, you know, majority of the season for what they got in the trenches and I said it week over week and you look at the size disparity a little bit on the Miami offensive line, like they got some, you know, they got some big athletes that are 330 to 350 pounds in the offensive line versus an Indiana defensive line that know they're not undersized but it's smaller. Like they can, the Miami offensive line can maw a little bit there and Miami's no slouch on the defensive line there too to, to really combat what Indiana can do offensively. Indiana probably still, you know, for overall roster, the better team obviously being an eight and a half point favorite. But eight and a half was a lot of points for a Miami team that's really talented and they've been shutting a lot of people up here throughout this playoff. Obviously them getting into the, into the playoff over Notre Dame was a lot of controversy with that. But they were a deserving team from the beginning and if they would have lost one game in the acc it be would have been no doubt and they probably would have had the better seating and everything that goes with that. But they are where they are right now and, and they've been probably one of the teams at the beginning of the season we thought could potentially be here and they are because of how Mary. But Cristobal, you know, recruited brought guys in through the transfer portal, you know, when it comes to building through the trenches and I think that'll be what keeps this game close. I, I would be, I would be a little more surprised if they did win given where Indiana has really just been all season, kind of taking it to another level. But I'll take Miami the plus 8 1/2 still. [00:45:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. [00:45:38] Speaker B: You know, I was looking back at the schedule here and I was like how many games have actually been closed for Indiana? So they have a couple five point victory over Iowa. Good Iowa team though. They also have a 10 point victory over Oregon that was, you know, one of the Closer ones. They have a three point victory over Penn State and then they have a three point victory over Ohio State. So in that little spectrum from some of the better opponents that they have faced, where does Miami fit? I'm not really sure if it's leaning more towards Ohio State, Penn State, you know, since they balled out for that game, then I'll take Miami with the points, but I just think it's still no contest. Indiana is just lights out. Miami does have the size, but one thing that a lot of people have not been talking about is the maturity of this Indiana team. I think one reason I was like trying to dig in, like, why was or how has Signetti been able to revamp a whole program basically overnight? Because this is like nuts. It's almost like what Nick Saban did to like, let's face it, man, Alabama was trash when he got there and they've been trash our whole lives basically. So, you know, we, we were around for the Bear Bryant days, but that's what he's done. He sounds like Saban. Everything about him is Saban, like, which is really cool. Indiana's team is one of the oldest teams in college football. They have a lot of 22 to 23 plus year olds there. They definitely got the experience from other universities in Signetti and his and his crew. They recruited the right guys to turn around this program. And I think that's what's going to be the big difference. They're going to overcome the, the size that Miami can bring. You know, you saw Ohio State, they probably had like the biggest, you know, fight against them. So, you know, I, I initially I thought this was going to be a blowout, but after hearing that conversation again and then, you know, Miami is just playing lights out right now. Right. So I'll take Miami with the points, but I think Indiana still wins by six or seven points here. I still think they win by a touchdown. It's not going to be as close as we think, but it's going to be, it should be a fun affair. I think at the very least I would not be surprised if in Indiana does just blow them out. Capitalizes on some of the mistakes. Is this the game where Carson Beck coughs up a, a throw or two? You know, he didn't play great the last game, you know, and like, yeah, he's been solid down the stretch, but this is gonna be the biggest game of his life. This is last year, right, of playing ever. Carson Beck, I'm guessing he's gonna go to the NFL. That's all weighing on him or he's gonna try to at least be a backup somewhere. A lot to write out. The U is back. They're definitely back. But Indiana, this is, this is gonna be the icing on the cake for a perfect season for them. Now, looking back at who they played, though, they. They beat my UCLA team by 50 points. I remember that game. I was not too happy. [00:48:37] Speaker A: Yeah, we were on UCLA plus 31 in that game. [00:48:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember that. [00:48:42] Speaker A: Yeah. First play of the game was a pick six. So I. I knew how. [00:48:45] Speaker B: I asked you, are you sure, man? Are you sure? Like, don't mess with my team now. [00:48:49] Speaker A: UCLA was hot at that time. Shows you how hot they were going into that game too. [00:48:54] Speaker B: They got cooled off so quickly. That game was a blowout. [00:49:00] Speaker A: But Rome. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the schedule. I mean, they do have one thing in common. They have a common opponent in Ohio State. Yeah. And, you know, if you look at. Back at the game, I mean, 16, 13, Indiana beat Ohio State, but Ohio, you know, Miami won. Was it 24? Was it 24 14? They beat Ohio State. I think that was the final score. So, I mean, similar, you know, similar results. What worries me about Indiana, I mean, Jason talks about all the size and the trenches and all that. Miami has Indiana. And Jason, we've talked about this a lot. Indiana has no depth. I mean, their starters are heavy. And then fact that they don't really have, like depth behind them. Guys ready to really compete. I mean, their defensive rotation is 13 guys. So how will they hold up in the third, fourth quarter if Miami's able to kind of just pound on them, wear on them? Will they wear down to a point where we haven't seen what somebody's not being able to do against Indiana because they just jump out 21 nothing or midway through the second quarter and pitch away. So the closer this game is, the longer it gets in Miami's in the game. I think Miami playing all these close games, it will benefit them. But to your guys's point, I think Mendoza, the maturity, the leadership he has, I think it's enough to overcome Miami and lead his team to a victory. Feels like. It feels like one of those 23, 21 type games where Indiana pulls it out late. [00:50:21] Speaker B: Nothing about the quarterback comparison. Mendoza, we. We saw him just rip up the defenses apart so far. Like, he just reads things really well. I'm still not sure, like, we already broke them down a little bit last time, so I don't want to dig into that can of worms again, but him versus Carson Beck. Which Carson Beck? I know your Miami guy gave us some. Which one's gonna show up? But honestly, like, which one is gonna show up? Like, they need the best version of Beck ever. And Beck's played in a lot of. [00:50:51] Speaker A: Big games in the SEC and playoffs, so he's been good in a lot of them. I, I being at home, the fact that it's at Hard Rock Stadium, I think he's going to play well. [00:51:03] Speaker B: I, I think I'm like dyslexic. I've heard something else. Any other comments on college football? Have you guys heard about some of the rumors, potentially some college head coaches that might pique the interest of the Steelers? [00:51:20] Speaker C: I've not room who we got now. [00:51:23] Speaker A: I mean, I mean, Jason might have his earmuffs on for when he hears Marcus Freeman's name brought up every job, some of. [00:51:32] Speaker B: Well, that was before the Steelers opened up some of the Steelers most famous hires. Right. Because about stability here. They've reached out. They try to go after someone that's not been like two seasons NFL. They've gone after college coaches before, like Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno led to the Bill Cower hire, I believe, or something like that. Right now the Signetti is being thrown out there. He's not going to make that money in the NFL. But I guess there's like some ties there. There's also ties to your guys. Jason Freeman, how that's like a kind of like a perfect ideal fit for him and the Steelers up and coming only in college, you know, and I'm like, you know what? That one does kind of make sense to me. It kind of, it kind of does sound kind of good. Allegedly, he's not, you know, he, he's publicly saying he's not interested. But I've heard there's been conversations. [00:52:27] Speaker C: So I don't, I don't think you get anyone in the college ranks. I think you're gonna get somebody from, from coordinator. NFL. [00:52:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:34] Speaker B: I've heard about Don Shula's grandson. Yeah. [00:52:37] Speaker A: I would say this. If Marcus Freeman, I know he's denied interest in all these jobs and said he's sticking at Notre Damon. That's all been true. [00:52:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:45] Speaker A: If he really wants to Steelers job. I, I think he would probably jump to the front of the line if he actually made the effort to have his agent reach out and say, hey, we're really interested. What does that look like? So, but I do think Marcus Freeman is eventually going to go to the pros within the next five to Six years. Yeah. [00:53:06] Speaker C: I don't disagree. I just think it'd be smart. [00:53:09] Speaker A: I. [00:53:09] Speaker C: He's. He's only two years or three years at Notre Dame, I guess, at this point. But, like, when you're. You're a college guy making the jump, I think you got to understand quarterback. Taking the job and the Steelers have no quarterback situation. [00:53:23] Speaker B: It's not a good job to take. I'm not gonna say that's. It's a good job. So I think there's no quarterback, there's offensive coordinator, there's no offense. It's a lot of work to do. [00:53:31] Speaker C: Yeah, it is. And so that's where I think, like, you'd be looking. You're going to have a learning period coming out of the college game. And so you, you. I think you need the right situation and you got to have quarterback. Figure it out if you're the worst team and you got the first overall pick or a top five pick where, you know you're going to get your choice of a guy coming out of college and you're going to grow and build with. With that quarterback or it's somebody on like a second type, you know, earlier in their career, you're going through like, I don't think the Ravens do it, but it'd be like, okay, I got. I get Lamar Jackson and I'm going to build these other things. But yeah, I don't think you'll see a college week. I. Shula, you mentioned from the Rams. I think that could be interesting. That's out there. I've heard Brian Flores for this. For the Steelers job, too. That could be, you know, interesting. You know. You know, he was tight with Tomlin. Don't know what, you know, kind of stuff he got on there. [00:54:19] Speaker B: I think the Steeles are like Leonardo DiCaprio, though. Floor is a little too old. They like him young. [00:54:26] Speaker A: Flores isn't that old. Was he 45? [00:54:29] Speaker B: That's. That. That would be the oldest coach the Steelers would ever hire. Have I ever hired. [00:54:35] Speaker A: How old is Chris Shula? 30 for the Rams. [00:54:40] Speaker B: Young dude. [00:54:41] Speaker C: Yeah, some. Like some young, but I don't know. I. I think that's their trend. Rome but doesn't make it happens now. [00:54:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:50] Speaker C: So I saw Anthony Weaver, too. DC The Dolphins. He's got a lot of play, you know, recently. [00:54:56] Speaker A: I think he's going to the Giants. D.C. with Harbaugh? [00:54:59] Speaker C: Think so. [00:55:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that's a good destination for him. Interesting. And I think if you're Freeman, to your guys's point, do you really want to replace a legend. 19 straight winning seasons of Tomlin and go in and have a losing year the first time and be a college coach in your first NFL experience. I mean, if you go to a bad team and you get like, you know, Jason said, you know, the top pick in the. With a quarterback or a quarterback that you can select in the top five or 10 of a draft, you get a little leeway, kind of build yourself. When you go to Pittsburgh, like anything less than 500, I mean, people are just going to be booing you. I mean, they've been, they've been calling for Tomlin's head for the last five years and all he does is get him in the playoffs and win football ever. [00:55:40] Speaker B: Like ripped a band aid and start fresh. But I think the fans would be okay with like a couple years grace this time around. Just because a lot of older guys, big contracts. [00:55:50] Speaker C: You say that, say that. You say that until you're in it. [00:55:53] Speaker B: Well, I, I don't want to be in it for, for 20 years. [00:55:56] Speaker A: The Rooneys. The Rooneys have already said that they don't. They're losing is not an option. Like, they don't want to tank. They want to continue to be where they're at. So it'll be, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out for them. But there's a lot of coaches out there that are good. I mean, Flores was a defensive coordinator one year under Tomblin. What about three, four years ago before he went to. [00:56:16] Speaker B: He was good. [00:56:17] Speaker A: Minnesota, actually. [00:56:18] Speaker B: That was the last time the Steelers defense actually did really well. [00:56:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Flores would be a. I think it could be a good hire for Pittsburgh. I mean, Shoe Lisbon mentioned. I mean, does. Do they. I mean, I don't think they're gonna go back to Mike McCarthy, but he is a Pittsburgh native, Pennsylvania guy. I heard one a lot, but it. [00:56:35] Speaker B: Doesn'T really tickle my dick. [00:56:36] Speaker A: Do they go. Do they go. Jesse mentor, you know, he's. He's a good young defensive coordinator guy as well. Are today surprises and go for some young offensive guy? I mean, I know people are throwing a name out. Davis Webb, passing game coordinator for the Broncos. I'm hearing he's getting a lot of love and so, yeah, he's only 30. [00:56:56] Speaker B: Years old, so you never know, man. [00:56:58] Speaker A: You just don't know. I think people are trying to hype up some guys that are position coaches to get him at least a coordinator or raise position somewhere else with some of these new coaching staffs, to be honest. [00:57:08] Speaker B: Maybe. All right, so Football Saturday, Sunday, not a lot of football, but all in the night time. And then we have a nice championship game on Monday. That should be exciting. It's a finality here as we go down the stretch. Watch some basketball today, some hockey yesterday. Watched the Penguins early today actually trying to switch gears here. But football's coming to an end. It's sad. [00:57:35] Speaker A: It says Veronica College. Do you guys did see that Dante Moore is coming back for another year there at Michigan or for Oregon? [00:57:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Smart move. [00:57:44] Speaker A: I think so. Yeah. [00:57:46] Speaker B: Yeah. You can't just have two years of college playing experience and go to the NFL like everyone's half whatever he's got. [00:57:51] Speaker A: But yeah, yeah, I think it's smart. [00:57:54] Speaker C: For him and probably best given the where the jets are at of just not taking a quarterback that is not ready to go for him or the Jets. [00:58:02] Speaker B: Same. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. [00:58:04] Speaker A: Would they dare take Ty Simpson? I don't think they do but I mean he was the number three guy. [00:58:11] Speaker C: Yeah, but he was. I don't. He's not even in a first round grade. I don't think. Right. I don't really. [00:58:15] Speaker A: I don't have him as a high first round grade A minimum. But yeah. [00:58:19] Speaker C: I just don't know how you reach in that position. Like you, you. The thing about it like you get these topics like you got to have someone that's going to work out and I know that's the quarterback thing but you got. You at least got to take a high impact player and then figure out where quarterback is. I don't know where they're going to be looking. Is Mac Jones or somebody going to be like the. The reclamation project. [00:58:41] Speaker A: He signed a two year deal I think I heard with the Niners. So he's still under contract. I mean I guess they would probably swap him for a second or third right round pick. [00:58:52] Speaker B: I think they like them as a backup right there. I don't think they want to get rid of him. [00:58:56] Speaker A: I mean he's cheap. [00:58:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:58:58] Speaker B: I don't cheap and he played pretty well. [00:59:01] Speaker C: Chips are gonna have to fall. I don't know. I don't know where the jets go. I don't know if. I don't know if the options even out there. One of them I think maybe people were talking like is Anthony Richardson and someone's gonna try to throw a reclamation project for him already. Is this Daniel Jones even re sign with the Colts too? Is that even? I doubt he wants to go back to New York but they say they. [00:59:19] Speaker B: Want to keep them. [00:59:21] Speaker A: Richardson. Is he even going to be ready to play come the first month or two. Coming off that Achilles. I mean, Richardson, if he can't look at Richardson, can't work with Shane Steichen. He's not going to work. [00:59:31] Speaker B: Yeah, he's a good project, but you don't want to send him into a worse situation. Like, let's look at what happened at Justin Fields. Man, he had a good year. [00:59:40] Speaker A: Marcus Russell, dude, Anthony Richardson, that's what he is. [00:59:43] Speaker B: Does he not study? Does he go to strip clubs or what? [00:59:46] Speaker C: I didn't see it out of college. He was in tremendous. In college, but for Anthony Richardson, he was just a tremendous athlete. [00:59:53] Speaker B: Athlete. Yeah. Yeah. [00:59:54] Speaker C: And like, there wasn't. It didn't seem like anyone really had. It's like, oh, we're going to teach this guy on the job. I don't. Unless you're not going to start him and have a sort of development plan, which only really the packers do. Rome, you're getting a little sad about football ending. You know, you're going to watch some basketball. Maybe I'll check in with the bulls when they're hovering around 500 or so. But we had. We had the first release of the liveries for formula one today. Right now, if you check it out, Red bull and the racing bulls debuted their paint schemes, or as we call them, liveries in F1. So nice little blue. They got the Ford racing on there. We got Ford powertrains with the red bull this year. So, you know, racing season up on us. We had the nascar news with the chase coming back. You know, the world of motorsports, you know, it's coming. It's coming here to, you know, save us from the lack of football here in the spring. [01:00:50] Speaker B: When does F1 start again? [01:00:52] Speaker A: March. [01:00:52] Speaker C: F1 starts in March. [01:00:54] Speaker B: That's awesome. Actually. [01:00:57] Speaker A: I think it's probably what, six, seven weeks out from Saturday, Sunday. [01:01:03] Speaker B: I gotta follow up with our guy Andrew, man. He had somebody for us for F1 show, but nothing yet. [01:01:12] Speaker C: Well, you know, you got. You got me, you got us. [01:01:14] Speaker A: We're. [01:01:14] Speaker C: I think we're F1 experts. Enough room. There's always someone. Rob, you didn't bring. [01:01:18] Speaker A: We got a full season under belts. We're no longer freshmen. [01:01:20] Speaker C: I mean, yeah, we're. [01:01:21] Speaker A: We're on. [01:01:22] Speaker C: We're on to more advanced. [01:01:23] Speaker A: We already got voted all American freshman team F1 by Jason, so he handed out the vote. So. [01:01:31] Speaker B: But Andrew had like a Aaron Andrews type of rookie, you know. [01:01:36] Speaker C: Oh. [01:01:37] Speaker B: For us to recruit here and gotcha. By the way, I loved her outfit in the last playoff Game. I don't think we talked about it but God damn. Like that's why I want now that my wife jacket. [01:01:49] Speaker C: Or she was going north of the wall in Game of Thrones. [01:01:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:53] Speaker A: One of the two American gangster actually going on there. [01:01:56] Speaker B: Oh man. [01:01:57] Speaker A: Roman. [01:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:01:58] Speaker C: You also didn't talk about tonight. There was. There was breaking news like right before the pot. I don't know. I did for your Los Angeles Dodgers. [01:02:06] Speaker B: I missed it. [01:02:07] Speaker C: Kyle Tucker. Four years a billion dollars or something. The dot. The. The Dodgers. So they. They're gonna have Kyle Tucker here, I don't know, batting seventh or something in this lineup. But yeah, right fielder Kyle Tucker, another big bat for the world champions as he anymore. Yes. [01:02:26] Speaker B: He was on the Cubs Astros before that. Dude, that's. He's really good. [01:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, he is here. [01:02:36] Speaker B: All right, now it's getting stupid, dude. Now I feel bad. This is a little. [01:02:40] Speaker A: He can opt out after the second year or 30 year of that contract, whatever. [01:02:45] Speaker B: But yeah, dude, who was I talking about baseball the other day? [01:02:49] Speaker C: I don't know but possible lineup. Otani, Bets. Freeman. Smith. Tucker. Tioscar. Muncie. Edmund. Pegasus. [01:03:01] Speaker B: You know what this team reminds me of? Aaron. Aaron. Remember how we used to play NBA Live 96? We just make these trades and have like a loaded Seattle SuperSonics team. But like you would veto me getting, you know, like loading up the team because we'd like share the season. Yeah, that's what this dog is reminds me of. [01:03:19] Speaker A: Our team was. Our team was six deep because Rome would never let any bench guys come in. He'd be like, nah, don't foul, don't foul. I don't want this guy coming in right now. [01:03:27] Speaker B: Average 33 pointers from our splinter butt man. Splinterbutt with the headband. [01:03:33] Speaker C: This is the team that I assemble when I'm general manager and MLB the Show. When you just, you know, turn the salary cap off and you just buy everybody. [01:03:41] Speaker B: You have to turn it off. [01:03:42] Speaker A: Right. [01:03:43] Speaker C: Generally, I mean, you got to develop some guys, but yeah, I mean, to get this type of roster. [01:03:48] Speaker B: Ah, man, no, it's really cool. I. I like Tucker, but I liked him on the Cubs though. I'm, you know, I got a soft spot in my heart for the Cubs. [01:03:55] Speaker C: They signed Bregman, so they got. They got a different X Astro. [01:04:00] Speaker B: But Braveman was almost close to signing with the socks. [01:04:02] Speaker C: Well, he was hurt. Socks. [01:04:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:04:05] Speaker B: Well, signing back, right? [01:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [01:04:08] Speaker B: From Boston because who's with Boston last year? That's tough, man. Well, it is what it is. I do want to go some more games this year, but they're expensive. [01:04:18] Speaker A: Plus, you got, what, Edwin Diaz is the new closer there. So you got Diaz and Tucker is your off season. Big signings. The number one closer and the number one outfielder. [01:04:28] Speaker B: Dude. And. And they got lucky winning last year. So this is a good team. [01:04:33] Speaker A: So it's an all star team, really, if they stay healthy. I mean, again, health's gonna be a big key for these guys, for any team. But. Yeah, yeah, health. [01:04:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, we saw that last year. [01:04:44] Speaker A: Be curious what, what Toronto and the Mets got to say because they were the two finalists as well. I mean, I think they were trying to give longer term contracts to Tucker, so we'll see. [01:04:54] Speaker B: Oh, really? [01:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah, they were saying a lot of people thought he was going to go to Toronto. I think Toronto is maybe offering probably like 10 years, 500 mil or something like that. [01:05:04] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:05:05] Speaker B: Because Toronto has. Has not been shy about offering really nice contracts too. [01:05:08] Speaker A: They're Toronto's. [01:05:09] Speaker B: Toronto's been playing the third highest. [01:05:10] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll see what happens with. We'll see where he ends up if Toronto resigns him or if he goes elsewhere. [01:05:18] Speaker B: Yeah, no, thank you for bringing that up, man. That's. That's awesome. I don't know what to say. Besides, I feel like a little. A little guilty. [01:05:28] Speaker C: No, you don't. Don't lie. But it's okay. [01:05:30] Speaker A: I know. I do. [01:05:31] Speaker B: I actually do. [01:05:31] Speaker C: Hey, hey. [01:05:32] Speaker B: You want to have a great team, but it's super loaded. [01:05:35] Speaker C: I want to complain, but there's no one to blame except the other 29ers in baseball who, you know, won't spend any money. So. [01:05:41] Speaker A: Kyle, does this, does this help baseball now? Manfred go and get a salary cap? [01:05:47] Speaker B: I think so. [01:05:48] Speaker C: No, he won't do it. No, no, he won't do it. [01:05:52] Speaker B: I think if anything, though, next year I do want to rent a hotel that has a view of the parade instead of being at the parade because it's really hard. I don't want weed smoking my face and all that stuff and blocking my daughter from absorbing that. It was fun pounding the free beers and free shots people gave me. But, you know, well, Rome, you might. [01:06:11] Speaker A: Since you know where to go, you might as well like Jason, just book it now so you get the best rate. Because if you wait the week of the World Series, it's going to go up three times, four times, because they're going to know what people are doing. So might just go right there and pit, you know, October 30th through the, you know, November 1st. Keep those dates open, and I'll let you guys know when we're gonna party. [01:06:34] Speaker B: Exactly. [01:06:35] Speaker A: Are you gonna be crying a lot of tears when they lose in the World Series? One of the two. You have plenty of room to cry in there. [01:06:40] Speaker C: Open bar. [01:06:42] Speaker B: It can't be worse than the Boston Red Sox World Series. Like anything's gotta be better than that. And then the. And then the. Or the one that they got stolen away from the Astros. Those are pretty bad. All right, enough baseball talk. We'll get into it. We got plenty of time to gear up for that one. Plenty of time to gear up. We gotta gear up fast on NBA basketball, for sure, but football's coming in, we're out.