The Around the NFL podcast. Getting younger by the episode. Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL, part 2 of our Super Wild Card Weekend Recap Series, one of two. And yes, it is set. The best weekend in football is divisional round. Playoffs is set. Let's go through it. Saturday, 1:30 PM, Texans at Ravens. Saturday, 5:15 PM, packers at Niners. Sunday, noon, Bucks, Lions, and Sunday, 3:30, Chiefs, Bills. Give me it. Give me everything you got. That is a great slate of divisional round football. To get to those matchups, we had to get through, and we thought we had gotten all the floating trash bags out. We had to use this long weekend, this holiday weekend, and happy Martin Luther King, Junior Day to everyone, to sort out the teams that don't matter and the teams that do. We're going to get into all that with the last two games that were played on Monday. Dan Hans is here with Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sesler. Yes, boys, we did not get any classics on Monday. In fact, it was two pretty much a one-sided affair, one more than the other. But we did do the business that we needed to do to set up what I think is going to be a brilliant week of football next week.

Yeah, I appreciate you going Pacific time with all the times for next week. That was an accident. Best Coast. Let's normalize that. Yeah, the average margin of victory this week for these six games was 17.5 points. The two games on Monday, as you mentioned, weren't overly competitive, although they were both within one score at different points in the second half. It never felt close. But I guess that's why the NFL still wins, or maybe I'm just an addict, is that even though these games, they really weren't great, just the stories that come with them, especially tonight, watching the Eagles go down like that, are just so fascinating in terms of the drama and everything that's going to come next and everything that came before it to get to this point, that it's still like you can't stop watching it, even as it's a car crash.

Yeah, I think if you're going to... It can go two ways. And we're so used to so many of these playoff games, going down to the final possession, into overtime. This was a different weekend. If we're still on the weekend, I'm not sure it's still the weekend. It's Monday. It's a holiday. Monday, Monday.

Kids didn't have school, so at least here in the States. You're right.

So I guess it is. It's a long weekend. But I mean, when the Cowboys get dismantled utterly, and when the Eagles get their doors blown off, and when even Mike Tomlin is walking off the podium as he's being asked about his future, it's like we are getting story lines that are pretty impactful with some of the most deeply embedded franchises in NFL history. So I'll take it.

I'll take that. I mean, jeez, those shots of Jeffrey Lory in the Eagles owner suite. You can't tell me you're looking at the way the shots of Laurie Stoneface and almost catatonic, and you're wondering, what does it mean for nick Siriani? And of course, what does it mean for Mike McCarthy? And what does it mean for Mike Talliman? You're right, Mark. There's so many story lines to unwrap ahead. But let's get to the games that were played today, including that Eagles game. But let's start. Let's go in order in which they were played. The Bills and Stealers were originally scheduled for Sunday, but a blizzard socked Western New York. By today, they had the field looking pristine. The seats were still covered in snow, which must have been probably crazy annoying if you there, but we were watching it on television, so it was all cool for us. For Bills fans, man, you're alive. You're alive and well. The Orchard Park.

Five on the play clock here on second and nine.

Takes a snap, back to pass, fires over the middle, complete on a crossing route to Shaqir, who gets away from the tackler. Down to the 10, looking for the end zone, and he's in.

Khalil Shaqir did a disappearing act on the tackler, reversed his field, and found the end zone.

Unbelievable.

If you want your child to grow up to be a star linebacker, do not let him see tape from either game played today. Some of the worst tackling you will ever see. And Khalil Shaqir stayed on his feet, evaded would-be stealers, tacklers, and found his way to the end zone, the clinching score for the Buffalo Bills in a 31-17 win over the stealers who were nice enough, I thought, to take my strong hint that they weren't invited to next week's action, and they acted accordingly while keeping it respectful. It started 14-nothing this game with the Bills hitting the tight ends twice in the first quarter and Josh Allen looking locked in. Then Buffalo, as they've been known to do this year, start to get a little sloppy, start to rest on their laurels. They actually let the Stealers back into this game, Greg Rosenthal, to the point where we're talking about a one-score game, but it was one of those things. It was the swingers game that we talked about earlier this year, Mark, on one of the Thursday night games, where it was almost like the Bills were just toying with the bunny. They were a bear.

They were just toying with the bunny. When it was time to kill the bunny, that's what they did. The Stealers are that bunny.

Yeah, they were down, what, 21-0 in the first half. There's a blocked field goal that the Stealers end up taking advantage of scoring a shutdown later on that driver, else they could have been down 24. But all the defensive injuries for the Bills, which we'll get to, did lead to a point. It was 24-17 in the fourth quarter. Bills get the ball. I was like you, Dan. I never thought this was really a game because I just thought, Well, the Steeler's defense isn't going to stop them, and they didn't. I think that drive at 24:17, which finished with that secure catch we heard was really all about what this Bills team can do this year, which is they only threw the ball twice on that drive. They let Josh Allen run it a couple of times. He had that big run on a read option where he plows into the defender. I just have this image of the left tackle, Deion Dawkins, going up behind Josh Allen after that play and making the flex that Josh Allen does and all the offensive linemen being so jacked up and Josh Allen ends up running for 74, including that long breakdown.

It's like, this is a tougher Bill's team. They can match a team like the Stealers that also runs the ball well. And ultimately, they made enough plays on defense, this offense, and Josh Allen, who played a very clean game. We get on a mark for the Josh Allen roller coaster. This was not a roller coaster game. This is just a very good game, throwing and running the ball by Josh Allen.

Yeah, it was methodical. And I thought that even though there was a one-score situation situation late. I don't know. To me, it felt like at some point, the Bills will do something to clean this up and execute the stealers, and they did. And I thought Josh Allen, the running ability over the last month plus, really since the coordinator switch has been a huge factor for them. The second longest shutdown run, 52 yards in NFL playoff history. He's the perfect guy to do that. He dominated in cold weather. Three touch downs, no turnovers. They clean stuff up in the red zone for the most part, and they continue to get help from unlikely characters. Because like you mentioned, Greg, like, Terrell Bernard goes down, Christian Benford, Taran Johnson. That's a factor next week, but they survive today, and they survive pretty easily. The Steelers are going to put up a fight, but I don't know. I watched that thing, and it felt like a low drama element to me. It was just a matter of time until Buffalo did what they needed to do.

I mean, the idea of the seventh seed being added, you have to take the good with the bad because you're going to take a bad Stealers team within the prism of looking at postseason football. But you're also going to get on the other side a team like the packers, which I think a lot of people think is a team that has a chance to make a deep run in the playoff. So the Stealers felt It felt like they were really a placeholder for a Bills team that has now gone from 6:06 to 12:06. And their postseason odds were under 10% at one point. I think they were, what was it? Were they 10th or 12th in the playoff race at one point? Now, here they are, not only winning this game and getting once again to the second round of the playoff, which they do every year now, they're going to be hosting the Chiefs in their building. Josh Allen, after the game, talked about this topsy-turvy year for the Bills and how the struggles of earlier in the season have made them stronger now.

Well, I think we're playing at a comfortable level because of the uncomfortable situations that we've been in this last six, seven weeks. It's almost a sense of our breath of fresh air knowing that everybody's in the same position that we have been, win or go home. To be in that situation, like I said, the dividends that it's going to pay off I think you saw that tonight of we were cool, calm, and collected, and nobody blinked, and we just went out there and did our job, and we're going to need to continue to do that.

I think I know what he's saying there, too, Greg, that those games, and you remember late in December around Christmas time, while the rest of the league was either playing out the string or everyone had different levels of urgency, the Bills are playing for their lives week after week after week, and that must have taken a mental toll. It's almost freeing now that they're just like everybody else. You win or you go home. I love the Bills' chances against a vulnerable Chief's team because of the confidence they're playing with now and the fact that they have a stare death right in the eye and lived to tell the tale.

Well, and that they have Josh Allen. Obviously, the Chiefs have Mahomes, but Allen, to me, is unique, the way he can run the ball, and that they're getting contributions from the rest of the offense. That was a big concern. You wouldn't have known, Gabe Davis didn't play in this game, and hopefully he's back for next week. But that's a big loss for them. Shaqir makes a great player to every week. He has finally replaced Cole Beazley. James Cook is a legit running back. We've learned that. He's a real Rv1. He's a pro bowler. They're run-blocking well. That catch Kincaid made on the first drive, that's a wide receiver catch. That was a big play, I thought, in this game. I'm pretty sure that was third down. They'd be punting away and zero, zero. Instead, he makes the big catch in a tough situation, and they end up to score the opening drive, touch down. So they're getting contributions from everyone, but I'm a little worried. I'm with you. I'd be leaning bills, and we'll have all week to talk about that. But Mark mentioned it. Going into this game, they were already down, Rizuula Douglas and Tharell Bernard, who has been their best linebacker and their best cornerback.

Then they lose Specter, who is one of the fill-in linebackers. They lose Dodson, who has been starting all year at linebacker and playing pretty well, like their second linebacker. That one looked serious. He was carded off. They lost Christian Benford, who's their CB1, now that Tredavius White has been long gone. Theron Johnson left this game. He's their all-pro slot cornerback. I could be wrong, but I tried to do the math here, and math is tough for me sometimes. I believe they were without their top four cornerbacks and their top four linebackers by the end of this game. Just how many of those guys are coming back next week? That's going to matter a lot, But they're an offense-first team, and their offense is very healthy, and they're going to need to put up a lot of points.

It's a good thing they're catching the 2023 Chiefs and not the 2018 to 2022 version of that team.

Absolutely.

Their regular season five-game win streak to close out the campaign started with them going into Kansas City and winning 2017. Then they went and took out the Cowboys, and they've done this in different ways. I feel like they're a team that while we've seen the Eagles, for instance, and we'll talk about them in a minute, completely melt down under the weight of controversy and in-house problems. Ever since that Tyler Dunn think piece came out, the Bills have suddenly become this completely resilient group that injuries have been badgering them for weeks and weeks. But you just feel like there is a team where these secondary and third-story characters rise up week after week. And with Josh Allen, anything is possible. And they're hosting the Chiefs. I don't know. They're a weird team and a weird AFC. I feel like anything is possible with them at this point.

On the other side of things, so the stealers and credit them, the schedule softened up a little bit for them. They made the necessary plays, and the backup quarterback played well to get to 10 to 7 and make the playoffs. But the reality of the situation is that this organization has now lost five consecutive payoff games Under Mike Tomlin, we were talking about how the Pete Carroll Seahawks seemed to be stuck in neutral in a way, and that organization made a move on a forever coach. It's only natural, and it's the responsibility, I must say, of the reporters at that site during that press conference to broach what is the future of Mike Tomlin, who just completed his 17th season. This is how that question and answer went. Mike, you have a year left on your contract All right. So if you're watching this on YouTube, you saw Tomlin stoneface, turn, walk away, leave the press conference abrupt. And so he didn't want to talk about it, at least not today. A lot of frustration, obviously, for Tomlin, who has been to the top of the mountain, but it's been a while now.

Yeah. Some of the coaches that have won playoff games, I think I tried this out last year, too, but heck, play the hits. Since before, Mike Tomlin, Mike Malarkey, or Doug Marrone, Mike Zimmer, they've all won playoff games more recently. The Steelers' opponents have scored 31 points, at least in all those games, which is crazy. That question, just for a little context, did come after a pause, and it was probably the end of the press conference. That was going to be the last question anyways. But it was ESPN, Brook Prior, who asked it. He knows who she is, all this stuff. He did not I want to answer. He's entering the last year of his contract.

No, but you just say no comment, Greg.

No, I'm not defending it.

You make a show of it. It's not a great look. I give him a pass.

He's frustrated, but not at all. It's not at all. For whatever reason, the anunciors, Romo and Nance, were like, Oh, we talked to Tomlin about his future and the contract being up. He's like, He's not going anywhere. Why would anyone doubt that? I tend to think that's true. I don't think the Steelers would ever think about it. If there was anything brewing, it would be, is Mike Tomlin wanting a break or wanting to leave at some point. But even that, to me, would be very surprising.

I mean, a week ago, he's a coach of the Year candidate. I get they lost the playoff game. Tomlin?

Not by me. I mean, not by anyone. He would not be in anyone's top five.

I think in general, Mike Tomlin, the fact that there's no losing record here, what he's accomplished, it's the last person I'd fire. But I would say he's one of these coaches, not unlike Belichick in recent years, floating through the abyss of the NFL without a quarterback you can rely on. And some of these floating trash bags we mentioned on the Zumwalt intro in our last show is these teams that get cleared out that don't have a quarterback you can rely on. And that's like the Steelers are not to be taken seriously come mid-January when you're dealing with Mason-Rudolf, even if he's played well in the last couple of games, it's like, Come on here. You need an answer at that position.

And we'll get to some Belichick news that came out during the late game today at the end of the show. But I know, Greg, you dismissed it when we were talking about the end of the Belichick Patriots tenure. But what if the guy the pats get with a third pick turns out to be a C. J. Stroud type dude? The idea of getting rid of proven battle-tested coaches that have pelts on the wall when you're in a cycle where you don't have a quarterback, that, to me, is a mistake. I think the Steelers owe it to Tomlin for what he's given that organization to find him a true successor to Ben Rathesberger. Belchick's a little different, obviously, because Belchick was the guy that was making the personnel decisions for the most part for the Patriots. So it's a little bit different in that case. But at the same time, I think it would be a mistake for the Steelers to take these last few years of Mason, Rudolf, Mitch, Trubisky, Old Big Ben, Kenny Pickett, who's a middling prospect, and say, It's time for a change at Coach. But probably not going to happen, but who knows?

Who knows what's going to happen? It seems I think the league is in a weird place with coaching and the owners have an itchy trigger fingers.

We will be spending probably more of late February, but especially March, and then maybe into April, then Mark wants to be talking about the Steelers' quarterback situation. I have a feeling. You know what I mean? They're just going to be like... Because they're wide open. It's not going to be just bring back Kenny Picket. You absolutely can't do that. In the Steelers defense, Steelers fans, I think, will probably want to point this as, they were as injured on defense, and you see it in this game as the Bills, too. Tomlin was not, including missing T. J. Watt, of course, but at Linebacker, they were on their fourth and fifth Linebacker. Still not a big time team. Half their secondary. No, not a big time team, but just like, he was trying to fight with a defense that was not all there. I'm fine not watching the Pittsburgh Stealers of the 2023 season any longer.

Really? The Pittsburgh Stealers of this whole decade have bored me. But I want to give a little credit. Shout out to Mason Rudolf because he is a guy that was completely forgotten, played a role, a major role in the making of the playoffs. I thought he played. I know he had a bad interception in the end zone, but he played a role in them getting back in that game. He was way better than I ever would have imagined over this last month. Not the answer, not the future. But in my opinion, neither is Kenny Picket. So a lot of unanswered questions.

Better than Kenny Picket without questions. I mean, I don't think there was any question here. Yeah.

All right, let's see. Should we take a break? Let's take a break and hit the other game played on Monday night. David Moore swings in motion to the left from the 44-yard line. Mcfield throws a ball to the right side, caught ball, and a broken tackle by Boar to the 40, to the 35, 30. David, it's Trey Palmer. Palmer to the five. Touchdown, Tampa Bay. Touchdown, Bucaneers. Fire them canons. Trey Palmer does it. Jean Deckerhoff. And it was that easy. It shouldn't have been this easy. And yet it was for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers who get that Trey Palmer 56-yard catch-and-run TD, James Bradbury playing the worst football of his life, toasted as he was missing tackles and bad in coverage really throughout the year. That put them up 25-9. Tampa Bay, they end up winning 32 to nine, eliminating the no longer defending conference champion, Eagles. The eagles are obviously a big, naughty storyline that we're going to get to. But Mark, let's start with the Bucks because, man, we all had our fun with the NFC South this year, which was a bad division. One team had to win the division, and it was the Bucks.

A Bucks team that started out pretty hot, then was one of the worst teams in the NFC for about two months, and then got there-ish together to win that division at nine and eight, and then played this game like a team. We're seeing, like we saw a lot this weekend. There are certain teams, which makes one of the many reasons why next week is going to be so much fun. All the teams that are underdogs, for the most part, feel dangerous, not to borrow Baker's line, because they're playing with house money, because they have nothing to lose. And the Bucks, no one thought the Bucks were going to make any type of dent in the playoffs, and they just stom the Eagles. And now you get the idea of them going up to Detroit, and they're going to be free and easy, including the quarterback, your former quarterback, Mark, who went 22 for 36 for three touch downs, no picks, averaged over nine yards per attempt, and just led this team in a way that Jalen Hertz, and really everyone on the Eagles, could not get anything together. Baker was the leader for the Bucks on this night.

It's a great story for Baker Mayfield. It's not going to be up there in the level of what happened in Detroit with Jared Goff, but if you track Baker Mayfield's career, and I think there have been these high moments, and there have been a lot low moments, and he's inconsistent. But the version of him tonight, 337 yards, three touch downs, pretty much mistake-free. This is the team a couple of times this season that we saw, and I think if you're going to get this version of them, they're dangerous. I think it also helps. Let's be real. They came up against a team that was crumbling at the seams, falling apart. I mean, two teams from Pennsylvania decided not to tackle today, but I think this was the most more overt of the two. The Steelers.

I've never seen anything like it in January football.

I'm with you. It was interesting because on the Manning cast, Ray Lewis, not my favorite person on the planet, but he was going nuts about the tackling angles. It's like you're just watching a team from the pure fundamentals fall apart. Like when James Bradbury and Kevin Bayard completely fell apart on that Trey Palmer 56-yard countdown, that's part of the story here. It's like the Bucks played a pretty flawless game, and their defense, the Eagles, the first time they played way back early in the season, ran for 201 yards on this Bucks defense, which is a pretty good run defense. Tonight, 2.8 yards per carry, 42 yards. They couldn't get out of their own way. And so a lot of it for me had to do with the Bucks, obviously hitting the Eagles at the perfect time, but then handling their own job as well.

Right. I think to start with the Bucks, the Eagles, look, they're the bigger story, and that's fine. I mean, Bucks understand that. But to celebrate the Bucks because a win in the playhouse is a big deal, and anytime you can get it. I mean, even Bills fans should be thrilled. I was counting the numbers because I was like, I wonder who's won more playoff games, Bucks or Bills since 2020 when the Bills started this run? And it's the Bucks. The Bucks are at six, the Bills are at five. It's amazing that the Bucks have now beaten the Eagles twice in the playoffs. They did it a couple of years ago, and they won four that time. They won the Super Bowl. And they did it tonight with so many of the players that were coached by Bruce Arians, who I don't think his advisor role... Does he still have Maybe he doesn't. He's too active because he's on the Manning cast during the game. Maybe he's not still getting the paycheck. I don't know how that works. I bet he is.

That's the place you want to get in life. Let's face it.

It's awesome. But they mentioned 17 guys, which they were pointing out. It's like, Oh, there's not that many. I was like, That's a lot. 17 guys are still there from a Super Bowl title four years ago. I think it's six or seven of the defensive starters. You saw like, Levante David with that huge tackle for loss in the third quarter because this was a game. It was a one-score game in the third quarter that ends up setting up the safety. And he was all over the place. And Vita Vea was the guy who stuffed the push push. And Jamel Dean is out there on single coverage. All these Bulls guys that have been there It was a great plan. It was the perfect plan. It was a perfect opponent for Bulls who's just Mr. Blitz. He was just like Mr. Blitz, and he got to face the team that had no answers for Blitz. Nextgen stats had the number that they had 10 unblocked defenders tonight. That is the most in any game of the NextGen stats era. Hertz faced quick pressure, which is defined as less than two and a half seconds on 13 plays tonight.

That's the most by any team all season. And it just felt like coaching malpractice. So it was a great coaching job on on hand, Bulls just completely flummoxing this team, and a terrible one on the other hand. And Payton Manning, he does not like criticizing, but he was just sitting there watching like, I can't believe they're just staying in empty with no extra pass protector in there. He's like, That is just being stubborn. They are just being stubborn. They're just doing the same thing. And it's something we watched for two months. It's crazy. That more than anything is why I think Siriani is going to get fired. I think Bulls and this Bucks team was weirdly the worst matchup for him. This or the Vikings team would have been a tough one.

I mean, let's face it, anyone-Well, that's true. Anyone would have been a bad match for this. You're right.Egals team. Everyone. I think it's pretty unprecedented. Our buddy Kevin Clark, who works with the Payton Manning brand over there now, Omaha Productions. He made a comment on Twitter that I was thinking the same time as I read it. I was like, Can you remember a team melting down like this without a major quarterback injury or some type of injury that completely destroyed the structure of what the team was? They weren't perfectly healthy. Not having A. J. Brown was certainly an issue for them, but I just could have imagined. I imagine A. J. Brown moping his ass around the field in this game as well, making a few plays. I think they were losing with or without A. J. Brown in this game because there's something fundamentally broken with this Eagles team. It is crazy to think that if the Chiefs don't get the benefit of a ticky-tack holding call at the end of the Super Bowl. We could be talking about the Eagles being a champion last year. I don't think anybody's going to be surprised to see Eric on it goes, because what I saw, and I think a lot of people saw, was a team that had more or less packed it in and do not believe in the head coach and the coaching staff.

Everyone's doing these 360 windmill dunks on Matt Patricia. Listen, Matt Patricia was just a guy in the deep background on the staff. Sean Desai was the defensive coordinator that got promoted when Gannon left.

Then-he got hired from outside the building.

Yeah. Seriani makes the decision, weird timing, to dump Desai, humiliate the guy in a lot of ways, kick him upstairs, and put Patricia in the spot. But it's not Patricia that's... Maybe the scheme is not great. I'm not saying it is. But it's not Patricia that's embarrassing themselves on the field with those mistackles and poor angles and just low effort performance. I mean, the eagles got to wear this, and you can't just blame it on a coach.

I would say to Kevin Clarke's tweet, because I saw that, too, that I was thinking, jogging my memory. There are certainly teams that went eight and one and then were revealed to be frauds. But there aren't teams like this that looked like they had turned the corner into the world of maybe being like an NFC East dynasty with a quarterback you could believe in for the next 10 years that went through a personality switch like this over the course of a month and a half, because it was like an Eagles team that Two months ago, we were saying, The front office is forward-thinking. The roster is stacked. The way they're built is the way you win in the NFC. And then six weeks later, they seem to lack all confidence. The coaches are flummoxed. They clearly miss both their coordinators. The players feel like they're on the edge of a total insurrection, and the coach could be gone in two days.

Here is nick Siriani at the podium. We were waiting on this, and they just had the camera on the empty podium when Siriani going to show up? What's going to happen? Is Jeff Lory taking them outside, putting them in a basement somewhere and locking it up? You don't know what's going on with the once proud Siriani. Here are his comments after the game.

Obviously, we were in a big slide, and So anytime that's the case, I always look at myself first, and I didn't do a good enough job.

And obviously, we lost five of the last six and lost today.

And it's almost like you couldn't get out of the rut.

We couldn't get out the rut we're in, and that's all of us.

Yeah, it is all of us. But it is the head coach, the buck stops there. And I thought Jalen Hertz's body language and the way he comported himself these last few weeks have really told It's a story, too, of a team that didn't have the proper leadership to help get out of the rut either.

Right. I think when Manning was talking about the lack of protection there and Jay Gruden got in some heat for popping off about it on Twitter, too, just because if I ever let my quarterback get brutalized like this, I hope people would come at me. Then RG3 actually did come at him. He was one of his quarterbacks. That was delicious. Which is hilarious. But that's maybe a quarterback losing confidence in in his coaching or what's around him. And E. J. Brown this week deleted all the eagles. I did not know this during the week. I found this out tonight, but he did the whole delete all the eagles stuff, and he also deleted his entire Twitter account. It's tough, and I think it really was crystallized for me tonight because I've been on the side of like, Yeah, well, but the offense hasn't really been the problem. It's been the league's worst defense. It's been this and that, the offense by the numbers. They've been good. They haven't been great. And Hertz has been good. He hasn't been terrible until these last three weeks, although it really turned into a snowball downhill. But then the start of the third quarter, because this game will be remembered It was totally one-sided, and it really was.

But the Bucs offense had been settling for field goals. They didn't get any points right before the half. And then in the third quarter, actually, the Eagles defense for a minute settled down. They forced Baker into some bad sacs. They actually punted, I think, three straight times, if I'm correct. The Eagles's offense had a chance to get back in this game. They're only down one score. In those three drives after halftime, against a Bucs defense, it was highly mediocre all year. They had a total of zero yards. They punted twice, and then they had that sequence where they ended up going backwards, like 15 yards or whatever it was, and Hertz is holding onto the ball forever. Again, they don't have answers for the blitz, and he takes a safety that ends the game. That, to me, was like, Oh, yeah. I guess it really did turn into a full-scale meltdown where nothing is right about this team. Absolutely nothing is good about this team. Not even the offensive line is good about this team. You're right, I can't think of anything like this in our run. The Patriots in '19 were fairly similar. They were 10 and 1, but they just got old.

It was just like they weren't as good as the record. They just got old. It wasn't like this.

I'm not going to kill Siriani for this, although the Flash Point Focus series is… I mean, I had the Emmy Awards tonight. My wife's at them right now, actually. Very proud of them. How do we not get an award for this series at this point. The Eagles just never won again after they were the flashpoint focus. And we broached the idea, could Sirianic potentially lose his job? And now here we are. It's stunning We're going to see what happens there. But to pivot back to the box.

Emeka, by the way, was watching this game with me because we're hoping to move up in the world and whatnot. And she knows I'm just an associate producer to the assistant to the producer. And she was seeing what was happening with this Eagles team, and she was just like, Oh, baby, maybe we can get that new washer and dryer. Maybe we're going to get a bonus at the end of this season. I told, Calm down. We'll see.

To have a supportive wife is one of the great weapons for any man.

Greg, she's literally never listened to an episode of our show, though. It's hard for us to feel that she has an incredible sway over your position inside the vehicle.

Yeah, that's fair. By the way, tough week Weekend for the NFC East, Marron. Tom braided, just to underline what an amazing year this has been for the Bucks, given where the expectations were. They had Tom braided for one last ride last year. They go 8:00 and 9:00 and get wiped by Dak and the Cowboys in the first round. Now they're 10 and 8, and they are going to the second round of the playoffs to face the Lions, who are a very good team, a very fun team, a team that is very easy to root for. But they, Mark Sessler, are not quite a juggernaut either. Again, Baker in this spot is going to be dangerous.

When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous.

I think he is going to absolutely play well in that spot. And will the Bulls of Suns take hold and be able to minimize what Detroit does? We have a week to get into that game, but I really think that is a competitive game. I don't think this is the Bucks had their moment tonight and get the doors blown off. I think they're going to surprise people again with another good performance. They're not done yet.

Yeah, I think we laid it out. There's a lot of players here with playoff experience, and I think they're going to be doubted a lot during the week, and there's going to be a lot of people jumping on the Detroit story. And whenever you You're going to get Baker Mayfield getting doubted over the course of a week, you're going to get the better version of Baker Mayfield. And just think about the smile on Todd Bowles' face at the end of that game. This team is playing with house money, and that's a dangerous thing in January.

Baker going to get the Gino Smith contract, Greg? Something like that?

I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I don't think he's going to get that much. But it's funny how these playoff games mean so much because let's say Antoine Winfield doesn't make that play where he knocks the ball out at the half-yard line last week, and the Panthers end up beating the Bucks. Because the Bucks, I think, had basically no touch downs over eight quarters other than garbage time for two weeks against the Saints and the Panthers. The baker is not getting anything. But then you come out and you play great tonight and you play great next week. That's sports. Yeah, no, I know it. It's been a good season. Yeah, I don't think you would get that contract.

Because I point that one because it wasn't overly lavish. It rewarded him and positioned him clearly as the top of the food chain.

He still got like 40 million guaranteed. That would be surprising to me, but they might feel some real loyalty, especially if he plays well in Detroit and it's a good matchup.

Before we move on, let's hear from Baker Mayfield after the game.

We fought so hard to get to this point to get a chance to be in the playoffs, and I'm so proud of this team tonight. The way we came out and started fast. I'm so proud. And so we wanted to give It was a chance, and now we did just that. We can play better than we did tonight, but it's on to the next one, so we're on to Detroit.

Baker has won a payoff game for the first time since that Browns win over the Stealers' mark. So he is no stranger to the big stage, and we will see what happens next. Weird. Weird to see the Eagles. Just bizarre to see them crumble the way they did.

The same thing happened five years ago. The people in in their organization that have been there the whole time have to be feeling such whiplash. I know the team that defended the title was better than this. They were competitive in the play-ups. It wasn't a collapse quite like that, but they were nine and seven that season after they won the Super Bowl. Then the next year, the floor totally fell out, and the guy they had given all that money to, Carson Wenz, was like, All right, is this guy even going to stay on our team? Here we are again. I don't think Hertz is going to have that trajectory. But It's along the same line right now.

Forget about 10 and 1, Mark. Let's go back to last year's draft. When they... Everything they were doing was being hailed as genius. They were seen as this team that was just, yes, they got beaten in the Super Bowl, but this is the organization in which you strive to be in the modern NFL to where they are right now. It's going to be a fascinating 72 hours, I think, around that organization. Jason, Kelsey, by the way, which I thought was maybe a little... Listen, I like Kelsey. We all like Kelsey. Good guy, great with the media, outstanding football center. But treating it like Michael Jordan retirement watch at the end of the ESPN telecast felt a little strong. He left the locker room without speaking to reporters, and there's a lot of speculation that his career will be coming to an end, even though he's still playing at a high level. There's going to be change around the Eagles. You I thought Troy Akeman made some good points and some heavy comments that the idea of you could tell immediately that this team was checked out before the game started. The only way to fix this situation is substantial changes to re-energize the fan base and get the organization back on track.

What will Laurie do? That's almost probably what he's thinking about when they're showing him in that suite.

Yeah. I mean, it goes beyond Kelsey, too, because guys like Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Quez Watkins, DeAndre Swift, Zack Cunningham, Nicolas Moreau, and there's like 15 other guys that are like pending free agents. So I think no matter what, the Eagles are going to look functionally very different. And while the team took a dip, and I'm not down on Jalen Hertz entirely, but I would say that a year ago, he was like an overt MVP candidate. And just to see what's happened over the last five or six weeks leaves you questioning the entire future.

And There were no questions going into this year around Hertz. Who knows? His number one wide receiver might be asking out of town. There's a lot of drama around AJ Brown.

They're not afraid to shake things up, to make big trades, to be bold. When I say they, it's essentially Howie Roseman, but it's also Jeffrey Lohri. It makes me wonder who's decision? I don't necessarily assume it was nick Seriani's decision to even make the change with Sean Desai. That might have been Jeffrey Lory and/or Howie Roseman. The reporting that's been around the Eagles over the years reminds me of how baseball managers are very upset with the money ballification in baseball of how the front office is basically telling coaches what to do. The Eagles feel as close to that as any NFL team, where they view the coaches as a little fungible, and that Roseman and even Lurrie is calling the shots in this org.

All right. So that's where we're at, one round complete in the NFL playoff. Let's hit some news, starting with this broke in the second half of the Eagles Bucks Tilt. The Atlanta Falcons interviewed Bill Belichick for the head coaching job. The team announced Monday that they interviewed Belichick. It is the first known interview done by the famous coach since Belichick and the Patriots mutually parted ways. Belichick has been a head coach for 29 seasons, 24 in New England, five in Cleveland, and of course, maybe his most famous victory is braided and Company overcoming a 28-3 deficit in Super Bowl 51 against the, wait for it, Atlanta Falcon. So it's just everything about it as a football fan, strange, Mark, because you can't imagine Belichick being on another sideline. You can't imagine him being part of an interview process, and it's hard to imagine him on the Falcons after 28 to 3. A great tweet, Tweet of the Night by Nora Princiade, quote, tweeted the Falcons announcing that the interview is done above it. Can you tell us about a time you faced significant odds and how you overcame them? Did you watch the game on Monday?

I love it. Yeah, it was like it's like Meryl Streep having to audition for a local town performance of Oklahoma. It's like, we think we're pretty sure she can do this. But I get it. I mean, you want to meet with the owner, and I think that that's an important thing to Belichick. I think Arthur Blank would be a good owner for Belichick. I really do. I think that's the key thing for the final stage of his career. But then he'd walk into a situation not unlike Arthur Smith, where it's like, what are you doing with quarterback? That's what we just did with Belichick. So I The Falcons feel like a bit of a weird fit to me for Bill Belichick. But I don't know. Greg, there aren't a bunch of teams lining up to talk to him right now from what we know.

I thought it was interesting Tom Pelacero, the Pelraiser, I think had this first. If he didn't, I apologize. But he definitely had the info that it was in person, which to me was meaningful, whether it shows the seriousness to it. They're not messing around.

Well, Bill doesn't know how to do a remote camera set up. I mean, let's be fair.

Now, I don't know if it was in Atlanta. I was like, if Belichick's getting on a plane, it's like, shoot, he's probably taking the... The job's happening if he's getting on a plane. If Arthur Blank got on the plane and came to Foxborough, either way, The fact that the news is out there, that it's in person, almost signals to me that, Hey, if there's anyone else that's going to get in this, you better do it now because we just met in person and we might go ahead and do this thing. I just couldn't believe it. Reading the tweet that they tweeted it out and there was a little picture with it, it's just like, What is happening?

It's almost as if that using the word interview just doesn't even seem right. When it's Bill Belichick, say we met with Bill Belichick about our open position. If anything, he should be interviewing you. Maybe that's part of the... If there are teams, and there are many teams looking for a coach right now that are apprehensive about entertaining the idea, it's just the enormity of the Belichickness of it all. But I'm with you, Mark, on I think the Cowboys, it's worth a very serious conversation at the Star. I think the Eagles should be talking about it if they're looking to make a big change, potentially. I think Belichick is someone that any team looking to hire a coach right now should take advantage of the blessing that he's at least an option, potentially, and meet with him if he can. But a lot of people have the option to engage in a potential business arrangement with Lamar Jackson, and they galaxy brain their way out of that one. So this one didn't surprise me either.

Same thing with Tom braided, by the way. Not many teams particularly want him. The chargers did, and that was about it. Man, don't let Belichick go to the I might have to just become an Eagles fan here for...

Oh, that will make you become an Eagles fan, Greg?

I love that for the equals. It's all relative. I picked the bucks tonight. I wanted this team to go away. This team was donezo.

I went five and one this week. I had a nice week overall. Nice job. The Cowboys, obviously, ding me and the rest of the world. But the home teams played well, obviously, this weekend, except for Dallas, which is ironic because they were the best home team in the league this year. But next week will be another challenge in terms of picks. In other news, hey-o. Hey-o. Speaking of the Patriots, this went down in a funky timing in terms of our podcast taping schedule. But Gerard Mayo was indeed hired to replace Bill Belichick as the Patriots' coach, 37 years old. He's a Patriot lifer. He's a linebacker for the team in the glory Days and has been on the staff in different roles for years. He becomes the first Blackhead coach in Patriot's history, which is great, obviously. I guess the one question I have, Greg, because I think you did share some You harbored some... You were a little concerned about the idea of moving on from Belichick and then moving right to a Belichick disciple and another defensive-minded guy. They You had a chance to start fresh, and you're obviously bringing in a quarterback.

It's not a slam dunk, bringing in a hotshot play caller and then drafting a quarterback move, but it doesn't mean it can't work.

No. Gerard Mayo is known as an incredible leader inside that locker room. He was as a player in a great football mind. I think that was just my first reaction was like, Well, do we really think Belichick's the total problem here? Because all you're doing is like, you're giving one of his assistants a promotion. We don't know who the GM is. There's some reporting that they don't mind not having a GM until the draft. I think it's this guy that's in house, which is Elliot Wolf, Ron Wolf's old son, is what my guess is, because Obviously, someone has to be the GM through the next two or three months, but they might not officially make it happen or something.

You could also connect the dots. Robert Kraft wanted this to be his show for a long time, and all of a sudden, Robert and his son might be able to be calling all the shots here and do the Jerry Jones, Steven Jones thing. That would be certainly possible.

That would be concerning. It would be Jonathan. I mean, Robert Kraft, who was pretty good on that press conference, I thought, all things considered, but I think he's 82, he's 83. I mean...

So is Jerry Jones.

Yeah, it's a little worrisome. That said, he is the first one to get hired, and people really do believe in him. James Palmer had a good thing on our show, the NFL report of how it would be different, how he has all these ideas. He's already interviewing special teams coordinators, the guy from the Falcons who's respected as one of the top ones in the league. He's like, he's getting to do this before anyone else does it. I guess they have a little bit of a head start, and he's got some ideas. But I'm a little skeptical. He is apparently trying to keep Steve Belichick, which is that to me is bizarre.

You know what, though?

They're close. They work together for eight years now, so they're buddies.

They're best friends. They consider each other. Steve Belichick called him like his... He felt like a brother to him. So it's like...

I think he should stay then. Don't go with his dad.

Well, right. I think also what's wrong with branching out on your own. I mean, Dan, you mentioned on the other show, it's like, you don't want to be the guy that follows Belichick, the guy. The only thing about this situation in particular versus coming off like a Belichick Super Bowl or something is the past couple of years with Belichick have been distasteful to Patriots fans and messy. And so I don't think it's quite as bad of a situation as taking over for what we think taking over for Bill Belichick would be. It's been a bad Patriots experience. It's fresh blood. He's liked inside the building. If players like him, I don't know. I don't hate it. It's who Kraft wanted for a year. He's been talked about for two plus years. So you got your guy. It was in his contract.

They literally didn't have to interview anyone else. House, which you would have to with the Rooney rule. Even though Mayo is black, that is a rule. You still have to interview multiple candidates unless you have it written into your contract that it's a succession plan, and he did.

Just making up the rules as we go along.

No, Eric Dacosta had it, the Ravens GM. They had three exact examples of times this has happened with GM or coaches that if you put it in, you can do it, and that's it.

All right. Well, absence also makes the heart grow fonder in Patriots fans, even though they grew. Listen, part of great incredible success like the Pats had is the fan base gets spoiled and expects it always to be that way. But there's going to be pressure on Mayo to show that this thing is on track, or it's just going to be more, man, the fan base and the ownership, like longing for the good old days. Those nine Super Bowl appearances and six titles are going to cast a long shadow that will last decades. That's the price.

Maybe the rest of my life. That's the price. Especially if Belichick is winning Super Bowl with Jalen Hertz next year doing his push push and getting Gatorade bath.

Take it from a Yankee fan. It's not good enough to just make the playoffs. You need to continue to acquire chips. If you If they don't, it's considered failure. Mayo has got a big job ahead of him, but first thing they got to do is find a quarterback for him, or he doesn't have a chance in hell. Anything else in the news that you guys wanted to throw out there?

Not really. You mentioned I saw yesterday. The fact that he's already interviewing with the Chargers, and he might take another one or two, tells me he got on from Michigan. That's a fun one. And otherwise, all these teams are doing a million interviews, but we'll wait till see what happens.

All is quiet in Dallas still, 24 hours after the Cowboys meltdown. We also have, I believe, the Dolphins giving some form of supportive words for Tua with his contract status uncertain, but we will be tracking all this stuff as it continues to roll out. We'll be back on Wednesday. Hopefully, we'll get Connie, unless she gets pulled into another nefarious 345 Park Avenue event, or she's in hiding as an Eagles fan and doesn't want to do the show. I don't know. We're going to find out. But the hope is that Colleen rejoins us because it's been too long without the tiny box. So make sure you're there for that. And until then, thank you to everyone for listening. And we are one round done, three to go, to Wednesday. Heed the call..