Transcript of Buffalo Shock and Texas Mourning: The Day After a Wild NFL Weekend

Well, let's see. Broncos are hosting the Patriots in the AFC title game. The Rams are on their way to Seattle for the NFC title game. Sean McDermott is out. The sophomore class has emerged as one of the greats already. Basically, long story short, I've been right about everything. Let's talk about it a little bit more, shall we? Start the show. Hi and hello, my fellow Americans. It's your old pal Dave Damoschek, coming at you from Miami, Florida, here in the belly of the beast for Monday night's National Championship game. We'll avoid that subject so we can lean in on pro football. My goodness, has there ever been a weekend of NFL playoff action that has yielded more story lines, talking points, and the rest of it? We could fill the next week. We only have about 50 minutes now minus another minute or 90 seconds, thanks to my blathering. Welcome to Football America. As always, we're presented by our pals over there at DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours. Jeff Schwartz is coming up here. It's episode 44. 44 was best worn in the NFL by John Riggens, the Diesel, the Hogs and all of that.

Maybe not as well as Henry Aaron wore it in MLB. And that's saying something because Reggie and then Willie McCovey also wore it in the big league. Jerry West and the Iceman George Gurvan wore it in the NBA, Chris Pranger in the NHL. Let's give it to Hammer and Hank. Aaron is the greatest 44 of all time. With that being said, let's talk divisional round, what it means for the four teams left for the upcoming pair of title games next Sunday, which I'm sad to report, is the last real weekend of football that we have. And then it's into the desert. We have the big corporate event in Santa Clara, California, a couple of weeks after that. But really, two good, juicy games are all that stands between us and the abyss known as baseball season, and then some other stuff. Let's jump in on it, shall we? Like I say, so many story lines, which way to go, which way to start. I don't know. Let's see what the host of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you, and you see him on Fox Sports as well. It's Jeff Schwartz. How are you, Pally?

I am good. I know we're not talking about the National Championship game, but I do just 30 seconds. It's before the game. How are we feeling, though? How are we doing today? Because I know as an Oregon fan, how I would feel if Oregon played in this game, which they have in my lifetime. How do we feel? Just give me 30 seconds of emotions here.

I know what a creep I sound like saying this. I really do feel, as I keep saying to everybody, I feel like what a Vegas Golden Nights fan must have felt like in their first season. There are no stakes here. They lost in the final to the Washington Capitals, which they did. Oh, well, how How sad could I be? This is so unheralded, so without any historical comparison, it's been a great run. It would be even sweeter if they land on the very top of the mountain. But it's also a little sad. As you know, I'm one of society's great empaties paths. I do have to say quickly for the other side of things, this is a home game, and the rise of the hurricanes and getting to the title game and getting to play the daddy in their backyard is a great story, too. I dare say, were it not for the Cinderella Hoosiers, this would have consumed all of the pregame conversation. Can you imagine? The Canes are back after so many years of irrelevancy, and now they're back, and now they're playing for it all in their home stadium. It's a great story.

It's just consumed by the even better story of Fernando, the prodigal son, coming back to his homeland to try and complete defeat and win the national championship. Either way, it's pretty good story lines. Mike Fuentes is chomping at the bit to say something here.

No, I'm just saying you're absolutely right. They're also underdogs in the game, so that would have been another storyline, because even though Indiana has been the wrecking ball they've been, they don't feel like a favorite, even though they are a favorite because they don't have any history attached.

To what's happening. All right, Schwartz, go ahead. Let's pretend the game already was played. The Hoosiers won it 27 to 19. I am not surprised by the results. A lot of people going in said, Boy, this Miami team is real physical. I like to point out, remind people, they're football teams. They're all physical. They run into each other on purpose, after all. So I dismissed that. But also, I'd be more worried about that if I hadn't seen the Hoosiers not bow to Oregon or Ohio State or some other heavyweight teams. And I mean that physically, heavy teams at the line of scrimbage. They've handled themselves all season long. I'm not sure why Miami has some different level of brawn to to level these Hoosiers with. Or had, because the game already happened as we discussed it.

Yeah. So one thing about national championship games in college football is the point spread tends to not matter. The favorite wins in covers or the other dog just wins outright. So there's not many like, Oh, Indiana, one by three, Miami covered. It's not the way the game has been. Look, I think there's more paths for Indiana wins. So I think that 27-19 is probably... I think the game is a little bit bigger than that. I'm looking forward to watching. We'll see what happens. I have a tough decision because I can either have Indiana fans in my mentions just bragging to me how they beat Oregon one in a championship, or Miami fans in this Cristobal thing. Guys, we both net it out fine. Oregon got Leanne, you got Cristobal. Why are you arguing about still? It's four years later. I got to pick and choose which fan base I'd rather have talking shit to me for a couple of months.

The big choice tonight for everybody going into this one, or the one person who has a big choice is Jesus, because Because Carson Beck loves to wear those crosses on both cheeks. But then Fernando loves to shout them out after every game several dozen times. So where Christ comes down is going to say everything. We'll know by the time, or you'll know by the time you're listening to us have this conversation about a game.

You don't want my opinion on this subject as a Jewish man in NFL locker rooms. I've always wondered, who did he choose? I've had this discussion before with some of my teammates. I want to give all the glory to God. I'm like, who does he choose? Both locker rooms are praying to God before the game, which is great. I participate in the Lord's prayer. I've said it a thousand times. But I'm just curious. My whole thing is about how to play the game, you mentioned it's violent, right? We know that. Both teams want to be physical, Dave. Did you know that? I think that players have to find ways to mentally get ready for football, and one of those ways is religion. That's what I've come down on. It's just like, some guys use music, some guys use this motivation, some guys, for them, religion mentally helps them prepare for the three hours of violence they're going through.

But I'm surprised it doesn't turn them into atheists, the guys on the losing side. Look, I put these. I used the lamp black, and instead of using it to shield me from the sun, I made a big cross on my cheek for you. You let me down, Jesus. Where were you?

I Again, I think guys do it again. It's a mental preparation to get ready for the game. Yeah, you're right, though. You got to choose tonight. We can't have a tie.

We can't have a tie anymore. God wanted us to lose this game. So So then you point the finger in his direction. All right, let's talk about pro football. People are sending their prayers out to Josh Allen, which given what's happening in the real world, in front of our eyeballs, on our TV screens and everything, I love the fake and paths who take the social media to let you know that they have a big heart because they feel real sad for Josh Allen. We'll talk about that. But nobody feels bad for C. J. Stroud. Mike Fuentes pointed that out to me before we got going. A It's all the... Oh, poor Josh Allen, poor guy, the multimillionaire, married to the Hollywood starlet, has an entire football town on a string. By the way, a Among the many things I was right about is that the bills needed to go to the Super Bowl for McDermott to keep his job. They did not. And now here we are. I don't understand in a divisional round loss, all the tears from the Buffalo bills. It's not like you were particularly close to completing the feat of winning a Super Bowl for Josh Allen.

You had a long way to go before you got to that spot. And getting in the sixth seed was where you stumbled. The other thing, among the many things I've been right about, is I know it's easier said than done, but the one seed is almost everything, and the Broncos are now in the title game. Undone, though, by the football gods in the last minute as Bo Nicks snaps his ankle on the second to last play from scrimage, and now it's Jared Stidham. And I wanted to tell everybody as an old man who cares about the history, people keep saying, What if the Broncos win this game? Jared Stidham would be the worst starting quarterback in Super Bowl history. And I don't really have a lot of pushback. Rex Grossman was not great for the Chicago Bears. People always invoked the name Trent Dilfer as the worst winning quarterback, and that may well be, although it's a little overstated. He was pretty good down the street for the race.

The worst winning quarterback is either... Is Foles, probably, right? Or Hausleter? These are probably the two.

Yeah. Trent Dilfer?

Look, but Trent Dilfer was a multi-year starting quarterback. Nick Foles was not very good outside of two games. But he balled out.

Yeah, he had a great game.

He might have had the best game out of nowhere in NFL history. But he wasn't particularly good the first playoff game of that season. He wasn't good in week 18. He wasn't really good after that. He just had an incredible two-game stretch there where he was out of this world. I think Trent Delford is better than nick Foles.

Well, I think you got the answer correct there, Jeff. I think the worst winning quarterback is Jeff Hostetler, even though Giants fans will push back at you hard for that because he kept them afloat. Same thing that nick Foles did with the Bills in a tough spot. Who knows? Maybe Jared Stitt will rise up in the same way. Mark Rippen deserves a shout out because he was an all-time single-season great for Washington when they beat the Bills in the second Buffalo Bills loss out of the four straight that they went to. But otherwise was just a complete ham and egg or even worse. So it was a bizarre season that Rippen had in '91. The answer I'm going with, though, the worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, David Woodley, the Miami Dolphins, late LSU star, started. He was in front of Don Stroke, famously or otherwise. Woodley got to that Super Bowl because Dick Todd of the New York Jets in a Rainstorm in the Orange Bowl had, I think he had five career interceptions. He had three off the right arm of Dick Todd and the Jets ran one in for a shutdown in a rainstorm.

That's how Woodley and the Dolphins got to that Super Bowl 17 and lost to John Riggens. Look, the circle's complete. I already shouted out John Riggens. Look at all that. This is going to be a good show. We can already tell that it's going to be a bad one if we're talking too much about the Bills or the Texans or otherwise. What game you want to jump in? You know what? I'm making the call here, Schwartz. Let's go last things first. I want to talk about one of the last plays of the bears and Rams, Gunslinger, young one versus old one. It was dandy stuff in the snow. What did you make of that game? And Particularly the talking point that in the moment, I thought, go for two here, Ben Johnson. You just got to score an impossible shutdown. Steal this game before they even know what hit them. How say you?

Well, the way the bear is executed on third down, a fourth down in that game, third and fourth in short. I don't think they thought they had a two-point play that would work. They had been good in that situation all game, Dave. So I think he thought, let's get to overtime here. We're at home. The question now, so now we're seeing the winner of the coin toss overtime kicks the ball. They do the college overtime idea, right?

I think that's the smart thing to do, right?

But I have a question, though. If the Rams defense is exhausted, wouldn't you want another stab at them right away? Wouldn't you want to go right at them? You need to touch down anyways, probably to win the game. Go score a touch down, then try to stop them from scoring on their end. I thought the Rams got away with a really, really bad game plan.

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Limited time offer. We're going to mix and match here. We have several things to do, and we'll cover these games in different ways. Let's jump in on the jerk list. We try to do it in one shot here, but let's mix match here. Of course, if you're a newcomer, the jerk list we identify. Well, you know what? We'll do it a little differently. I'll make a statement, and Jeff Schwartz or Mike Fuentes or Gino Fuentes or Sue Campbell, whoever, will weigh in. Is that a valid thing to say, or is Are you getting over your skis? And it's a knee-jerk reaction here? And Schwartz, you and I were texting on the side, and I think that's a theme. The play callers had a dreadful divisional round. Does that make me a jerk for saying that? I mean, Sean McVay and Sean Payton, in particular, two of the high-end play callers in pro football, both were lousy.

What was wrong with Sean Payton? It's so long ago. I don't even remember. I thought he was fine, right?

They should have run the ball. They didn't run the ball, it felt like almost literally.

Here's the problem with the Broncos, though. They don't have good running backs. They just don't. Their guys are 5'9 and 5'7 and 180 pounds.

Well, the Bills don't have a good run defense.

I agree, but they didn't run the ball terribly well. I thought Bo Nixer actually run the ball more. I thought they did the second drive, they came out and countered what the Bills did a little bit the first drive. They had two long runs and everyone back to that. So maybe just formationally getting back into running the ball. They also So the fumble early in the game by McAlafflin, they had a giant hole in that play. It was a fullback zone run, and they just didn't get back to some of those. But I thought it was generally fine from Payton.

Okay, so McVay McVay, it was abundantly clear. We talked to Maurice Jones-Drew at the end of last week, and he and I agreed that the path to victory for the Rams, ironic or otherwise, the SoCal Pretty Boys in the Hall of Fame QB and all that, was going to be their ability to run the ball. It was evident that they could have their way with Kyron Williams against that defense, and yet they completely abandoned it for long stretches. In fact, they ended up rallying, or not rallying, but the The way they got enough points to win the game was with the legs of Kyron Williams, I think, much more than Stafford throwing the ball around.

It was a very poor game plan, I thought. They were running the ball in the second half for seven, eight, 10 yards and just stopped doing it. Stafford, very clearly, whether it was the weather, which I don't think it was as much, but just wasn't as crisp as we've seen in the past him be in these games. And you run the ball well. Just Just keep her on the football.

Just keep her on the football. I think sometimes-Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, in cold weather, Jeff Shwartz. Welcome back to the count. I don't know if Jeff Shwartz has ever met the count before. Oh, close, Dave. Jeff said three games. He's actually won two games. One, two, two wins for Matt Stafford in cold weather. He was previously one and nine. He got his second one.

The count sounds like he's going through puberty, maybe.

Yeah, the count's having an issue. He's not quite finding his voice. Too many whiskies and cigarettes this weekend.

But yeah, they should have run the ball more on the Ram side of things. You know, going into the game that Matt Stafford, over the course of his whole career, has not been at his best when it's frigid outside. It was so obvious to me that they should be running the ball, but they survived. On the other side of things, Ben Johnson, so clever, such a difference maker for Caleb Williams in year two and all of that. I thought the specific play calls, running it between the tackles on third and one and fourth and one, and all of that was awfully uninspired. And by the way, it steers you away from the best player you have on that offense. Who is your quarterback. Run some play action, some boot action, get him on the edge.

Kick a field goal. Caleb's so good with his legs. I don't get it.

Here's the Here's the play that I think the plays that I think really got Ben Johnson. I mentioned earlier, so he's predictable on third down when it's going for a fourth down. He runs the ball like third and one and two all the time. That's all he did in this game. Third and one, third and two, run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, play action pass, like move the pocket.

That's where I thought it wasn't very good enough. But by the way, too, wasn't that the whole thing with the thing that he'll love about K Caleb versus Jared Goff is Caleb's ability to run play action, then boot it out and really put pressure on the defense. There was no evidence of him realizing that it wasn't Jared Goff under center anymore.

Correct. I But I thought the one thing that I like about Ben Johnson is that he very clearly has an identity, and it's just going to play to his identity. I like that. Me, too. I thought McVean He got away from his identity in this game. You can question the third down play calls, which I'm doing. You question maybe the fourth down play calls, but he has a plan, and he sticks to his plan. He knows what works. He runs what works. Caleb Williams, that was incredible. It was a tailman. It was a 14-yard pass. It was Hale Mary, unbelievable. But still, you put 50% of passes over two playoff games. There's much more work to be done for Caleb Williams.

Emo Elway, I call him. That's fair. He's a gunslinger short, which is great. It's different to watch. If you have watched the last 15, 20 years, rooting for Payton or braided or Breeze, this is an eyesore to you. The barely 50% completion rate and all that. The guys I just meant, they're surgeons. They win pre-snap. It's more fun to watch the gunslingers who throw you into trouble and then throw and run you out of trouble with heroic plays like you saw to tie the game.

Correct.

But by the way, just very quickly on Ben Johnson and everything else, I want to give you room to make your larger point. You should have gone for two there. Caleb Williams is your best player.

Again, I'm mixed because of the struggles they had in this game on fourth down and on third and short. So it's possible that he used up his two-point play. At some point, you probably have one two-point play heading into a game. He might have used it up, going for a fourth down at some point in that game. The previous drive, they got stuffed on fourth down. That might have been his fourth down play that he I mean, his two-point play, he had dialed up, and that was the play they had. I think at that point, you're at home, the Rams weren't playing terribly well. Let's just go to overtime. I get it.

I get both of our opinions. But here's the math. That it feels like It's alleged conservativism to kick the extra point and go to overtime. But I push back at the notion that that's playing it safe. First of all, in the snow, you have to make the extra point, which is not a gimme, and it's windy as well. Then it's better if you win the coin flip so you get it just so, so it sets up to give them the ball, then you get it back, and all of that formula, whichever you prefer as the head coach. Also, the running back better not fumbler at any point there or any guy who has the ball in his hands. Also, if that team scores a countdown, but then we have to go down and get a countdown. But if they have a field goal, then we could maybe go for a countdown, but maybe we could kick the field goal, too. But again, there's so much that has to your way to win when you have the best player on the field and you have to make two and a half yards. One play, you have them on their heels.

And by the way, given the nature of how they just got within a point of the Rams, man, they're stunned. They thought the game was over. Continue it. Finish them. Finish them off now. Kill them now. Right? That's it.

I thought the biggest error that Ben Johnson made was not kicking a field goal on the first drive of the game. Thank you. I thought at that point in that point of game- Mike Fuentes is standing up for you.

Because that's true. To take some points is a long time.

He had two or three chances to kick field goals. You get the ball early, you go down, get a field goal range. Just take the three points. Just start the game with Three points. Just start the game with three points. Instead, you don't get it. Now, Ram's going to score. You're down seven, nothing. The other ones I was fine with. I think once the game starts going, you start feeling how the game's going, go for it. But that moment, fourth and three, just take the field goal. It It was a 40-yard field goal. I think it would have been 38 yards. Just take the field goal, Dave. Start with three points. Feel good. I think that the one thing about the four-down discussion I think is important to note is it does feel good to score points on a drive. You start the aim off with three points. You come off the field. Okay, guys, good start. We got three points. Here's what we're seeing on the field. Here's what we can get better. Here's what we're trying to drive to. The defense feels good. We got three points. Good start. There's a little bit of vibe to that.

I I feel like at times we don't talk about that when it comes to four. Look, the thing on the screen says go. It's always going to say go for it. Of course it is, because if you complete a four down, your win percentage goes up. Of course you're going for it, according to the analytics every time. But sometimes I feel like situation matters. And starting off a home playoff game with three points, that's a win, in my opinion.

I agree. And as far as that get some points on the board goes and helps the confidence level of the guys on the sidelines, I don't know how much time we're going to spend on Niners Hawks, which is not to diminish the Seahawks. They won by blowout and all the rest of it. As everybody knows, the I thought Shani was right at 17-0, and it felt like the game was already over and the football gods were against them. In an era when no one has returned to kick off for a countdown, in three years, they suddenly have a team. The game You're down seven, nothing before you even touch the field. But I thought Shani was right to kick the field goal to get at 17-3. Kicking the second one on fourth and four, I thought was a mistake because all of a sudden there felt like, Man, the Niners, this game was over before the half, but suddenly now they're in a spot on the Seahawks side of the field. Make those four yards, and if you get it to 17, 10, the Niners, I mean, the Seahawks in that whole stadium is going to be spooked because the game was, like I say, felt like a wrap 30 seconds into it.

Yeah, I think the Niners were just screwed their way, man. The injury stuff caught up to them. It was enough. I thought this game, this one game got right in. It feels like 10 games so far. By the way, we got 10 games played in the NFL playoff since College Football last had a playoff game, by the way. Ten NFL games have been played. Absolutely. It's a ludicrous schedule the Colts of the Ball has.

I really can't stand it, and I don't want to be a curmudgeon about that. Georgia v. I. U for all the marbles would have been just as satisfying, I think, for college football fans. But all right, we're not talking about that right now.

I think that this was the easiest game of call of all the 10 we've had so far. Beat up Niners, surviving by the skin of your teeth, no Kittle now, and then McCaffrey got hurt at some point. Tongass gets hurt. Does that even pronounce his name, Tongass? The backup tenant gets hurt. The whole defense was hurt. See, I didn't even have to work very hard to win that game 41 to 6. That's why you want to buy, man. Well, the reason- You want to buy.

The two things that gave me pause. I was with you. Obviously, I said Seahawks minus seven and was confident in that one, and I was confident in the Broncos winning. That was a little tighter affair. Again, you may have heard about it. But Shani's ability to work magic has, I mean, forget about his career. Just this season, the last six weeks has been great stuff. From Shani and what he's been able to get out of that team. Also, we still had not seen. That's why QB wins in the play. I know that the multimillionaires who are super famous and have accomplished a great deal athletically, don't want to talk about that because it serves their purposes to make it about their larger careers. But these singular moments are everything, and Sam Darnold had zero of them until he finally got over and beat the Niners. Now, more hash to be settled on the NFC because we get the reckoning game. The Rams, like you and I talked about, and Maurice Jones-Drew and I talked about, and he, in fact, confirmed for me as somebody who's in the locker room with those guys after the games, said, Yeah, they were sick.

They let one go. They should have had everything running through so far. Now this is pretty close to it. We get the scene of the crime, two-point conversion and all that a few weeks ago up in Seattle. They gave the Hawks the number one seat. Now back to that same spot to settle it once and for all. I think this sets up as a great game, and I think the Pats and Broncos would also be great were it not for the injury to Jared Stitt. It still may end up being a good game. But I think the first chapter of the sequel to Katie Payton, and Bo and Drake would have been juicy stuff as well to be buzzing about all week. Let's talk about the Texans now because why? You said you have empathy for... Wait a minute.

Dave, you mentioned the Houston Texans. Wow, it's really getting away from me. They are, in fact, now 0 and seven in the... Holy shit. In the divisional round. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven and all in the divisional round, including three in the last three years.

Good luck in algebra, seventh grade count. Going through puberty there. Yeah, I heard about that. I mean, low key, this is sad for the Texans, been in the division around seven times out of the last 15 and never survived it even once. Here, I'm going to get a little saucy here, except that I don't think there's anybody to be on the receiving end of this insult. I think we're all Are you happy that the Texans and the Jags and the Titans before them are all gone? Because I think that combined, they have 17 total fans. I don't really see a ton of evidence. As you go through football America, Schwartz, do you see a lot of Houston Texans fans? Not Houston football fans. I'm talking about people who are like, Man, can't wait. Best day. My Texans are playing today. My Jags are going. Can't wait. I mean, there are a few dozen of them total.

I think the NFL is always happy when NFC South or NFC South team does not advance further in the postseason than they would otherwise. Right? Yeah. I mean, it's just the South is consumed by college football.

The second best conference in college?

It's second best conference in college. Dude, I am loving so much how many college football national pundits have made themselves like SEC homers and just They look like they just hate college football right now. I love it so much. Maybe just talk about the sport. Maybe just like the sport. Maybe you don't have to like just a conference. They're so bitter about the way this is going right now. My hot take on this, not really a hot take, the Big Ten has had billionaire boosters for many years. But until it became allowed to pay players, they didn't do it. And now that they can do it legally, they're all pouring their money into the Big Ten conference, and all these schools have a ton of rich boosters, are now getting the money from their boosters, legally getting the money. Now that it's legal, the Big Ten is paying for better players, and the SEC doesn't have as many goal fight football players.

The puretanical, the sincere moralists among us are in the Midwest more. They're more in the Big Ten.

I think the boosters in the Big Ten did not want to cheat as much as boosters in the South did in previous years.

Well, it means more down there, doesn't it? That's what I've heard.

Mark Hubin, for your Hoosier's, he could have donated 15 years ago. Has he been donating money? Now all of a sudden, he's just writing checks every freaking week to Indiana. Was he waiting for them to be good? Maybe he's waiting for them to be good. I don't know.

Not nearly enough buzz about Mark Cuban being the Hoosier's biggest backer and the Hoosier's playing in Cuban Central around a bunch of a bunch of Cuban people, including the Hoosier's quarterback, who is Cuban himself. Fascinating. The Texans, though, are you one of these people who thinks they should have yanked C. J. Stroud? If you do that, I don't know that it ends his time in Houston. But the thing I keep coming back to is they are very much like the Jacksonville Jaguars of 2017. They had the greatest defense, but you can't get to the Super Bowl with just a great defense, trying to hide the quarterback or a QB playing on that level, which proves the point about QB wins, right?

The QB win thing, yeah. There's something, too, I think, in the playoff, your quarterback getting you over the hurdle, right? That should be considered when it talks about quarterback wins, but it is a team game, right? The team has to be playing well around you.

Yeah, but the QB makes 10 to 20 times more than his teammates make. Correct. There's a reason why... I mean, the conversation... Here's the thing about C. J. Stroud that proves QB wins are what matters. It will be the entire talking point about the Houston Texans this offseason. That is what people will be buzzing about is that he let them down. And the big debate in the Bill's locker room and beyond is, was it Josh Allen's fault or was it not? What I am talking about is the reaction that society has. It's not perpetuated by the media necessarily, as people like to say. We're human beings. The winners get the glory, and the people primarily, whether you think it's fair or not, in the quarterback league and the guy who makes all the money, of course, he's going to get the lion's share of the blame. That's the way the conversation goes. No, no, no, that's not what really matters. Yeah, it is, or else people wouldn't talk about it so much.

If they would have lost the game 34-33 and If he wins, he loses but plays well, obviously, the discussion is not really about do we pick up his option, right? You'd be like, Yes, absolutely. If you would have benched him, you would have had that serious discussion if he comes back and sees your quarterback. But look, the thing about Stroud is, and Akemen said this, I think Akemen, I like Akemen's honest all of a sudden for so many of these guys don't want to be honest. And he was like, Yeah, he hasn't been very good for two years. Someone's got to be... Someone's got to change. The change is OC. The offensive line is not terribly good, but Dreckman's offensive line is not good either, Dave. There are plenty quarterbacks that don't have good offensive lines that make something happen in these games.

He has the ability to run, too. We've seen it. He just never uses it.

Remember when he came out of Ohio State, up until they played Georgia in the Championship game. Do you remember? It was like, why does this guy ever run the football?

Yes, I know. He presents as, If you missed that game, literally that game, you would be led to believe, if you watched his film, is that he's the stiffest stiff among all the quarterbacks of the NFL.

Correct.

He might have a big arm, but he is as immobile as anybody.

But he didn't show the big arm yesterday. The balls were behind. They were up in the wind. Now, I can't get the video Tom braided said about throwing in the wind out of my head when it comes to these quarterbacks. I don't know if you saw that video. It was the best thing I've heard him say about football in the broadcast booth.

A little bit too much praise for him as an analyst analyzing Oh, my God. Tom braided said something smart, finally.

He said something smart about the wind.

He said something smart about the wind.

Terrific. It was a pretty good point about the position of the quarterback's hand when you throw the ball in the wind. I've not heard that before. I agree. Okay. Listen. But it's better than, Jim, oh. Just Romo just saying nonsense the entire three hours of that game. He did call one deep shot.

He called the one play. Yes, and now universal praise. The old Romo's back.

He also called Josh Allen Mahomes once. It's just like, I caught that. My thing about it is when I listen to these guys, I just want to be told what happened on the play, explain to me the play. He just doesn't do that enough. He talks about other stuff that's not important.

Oh, new jerk. New Jerk. New Jerk. Play by play, guys. And the analysts, either one of them, need to bite their lip and stop the crap when there's a flag on the field. They go like, Well, this looks like a defensive hold and the play is going to hold up and it's going to be a shutdown. And then four seconds later, the official turns his little microphone on on his hip and he goes, Illegal formation. Like, Whoa, that ball's coming back. Why did you do it? Nobody asked you to guess. Nobody asked you to speculate. We're going to find the answer in just a second anyway. Why is it need to do that?

I need to speculate based off of where the flag is thrown and the guys are walking back and forth. Look, the other thing has to go, we got to find one of these former officials that will ever disagree with the call in the field. Can we just have one time, this one time, an official is like, I don't like that call.

Oh, I think it's way worse than that because they do sometimes. And what those guys are there specifically to do is to give us a different level of confidence. See, the officials are aligned, and now they can explain the reasoning behind the call on the field. And instead, they go like, Yeah, I didn't see PI there either. Well, now it's completely subjective. You're an official and he's an official, and you rendered the opposite opinions. How are we supposed to feel as fans?

It's also, I think that Jean Serratore put out a good tweet about the idea that watching replays in full speed is probably the best way to view because, of course, when you can watch something in slow motion, it's going to look much different than the officials who watch it in full speed. They watch the game in full speed.

If you want to talk about it, let's talk about it for a second. I get the importance of that play for two pro football teams that have big aspirations and the fans and everything else. It's a big event for the most popular thing in our society is the NFL. The process was weird, given that it usually takes them 11 minutes to announce what we've all seen in replay a few times within 30 seconds after the play's completion. It was weird that they didn't review a play that was so significant or spend more time. Correct. That said, they got it right. I saw you You get duped online over the weekend by, I forget what other football players said it. You're like, Okay, now I agree with it because a football man said it.

He's got a dumb Dave.

Dumb Dave is right.

I've gone back and forth. I'm now back on your side. Okay. I think, well, you know why? You don't want to be back on your side? Because of the difference in what happened with Devante Adams and what happened with Cooke's, where Adam's very clearly caught the ball, knee down, plays over, right? That's right. Cooke's never had the ball like Adam's the ball.

He must complete the catch to the ground. When he hits the ground, the ball is in the other guy's hands. Well, now the craziness, here more jerks for you, get the blaster ready for me, Fuentes, are the people, you just mentioned Dan Orlowski. He's not the only person to do this. But it is not a compelling argument to say, look at this play that happened, bang, bang, bang, watch it in real time, to float stills as your argument. The stills have no value, obviously. The point is, does he have the ball? It hits him in his hands. Yeah, we all knew that already, Dan. We knew the ball was in his hands, and we knew he went to the ground with the ball in his hands. But there was no football move, as we have now gotten way too familiar with the phrase The football move. With all that stuff. But okay, so he didn't make a football move like Devante Adams did. He got the ball and went to the ground. As soon as his back hit the ground, the ball jostled enough that the DB put his hands on it and rolled over, and a split second later, it was the Bronco's ball.

Yeah, it's really not the controversy everybody's trying to make.

Well, but Levatard makes a great point. If the on field official, nearest to it, says that's Bill's ball, the reaction, I think, wouldn't have been as severe. I don't think Bronco's fans, and nationally, we would have talked about it for 48 hours after the play and say, Man, the Broncos got They're screwed. That should have been an I&T, but they called it a completed pass. I think that's an interesting point, at least.

Because America's in love with Josh Allen, and they want Josh Allen to succeed. I don't know about that, but maybe.

Josh Allen discussion is interesting because I feel like The first four bad losses they had in the playoffs were not his fault. This one, he didn't play very well.

Did you say Josh Allen, Jeff? Speaking of Josh Allen, do you know that Josh Allen has now seven overtime losses with zero wins? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven losses in overtime for Josh Allen. And let's not forget, the NFL changed the rules for him so he would get the ball because Mahomes kept whipping his ass in these games. You know what we call Josh Allen here in Football America, Dave? James Bond, 007. Zero Super Bowl appearances, zero AFC Championship, seven overtime losses.

Jeff Schwartz is a serious man. He spent time in pro football.

He's my favorite guest in Football America, Dave.

I know this. We know the count could do seven now. We know two and seven. I don't know. Favorite number. But look, a couple of us weren't here. I think they changed over time rules twice for Josh Allen, by the way, now. I think they changed it twice.

One, two times. And they were really, really, really against the Tush Push until they decided to fully embrace it and ride the victory on it.

The Bills ran the most Tush Push plays this season, voted against it last offseason.

Alan didn't play very good. And this is the one time where it's funny because this is the one time where I feel like you can actually put this on Alan. When other losses weren't all… The 13th of the game was not his fault. The couple of turnovers were bad. The fumble for them in the first half was inexcusable. This is where I think McDermott's got to step in. He's no longer the coach, obviously. He'd be like, We're just taking a knee. We're going to halftime. What are we going to do? It's 17: 10. We have no timeouts, and we have 20 seconds left. Just take a knee and go to halftime and regroup. Instead, they fumble and go down 20: 10. I thought this loss, Dave, and now that the McDermotts have fired it, I think it's confirmed this. This loss broke Buffalo. I think this was the one that if they rolled the same team back next year, this This was not going to be a 6 or 7 win team. It was going to completely go to shit. Now with firing McDermott, I feel better about depending on who they hire. But this loss was the one where too many mistakes, obviously.

Josh didn't play terribly well. Mcdermott had some coaching issues, as I mentioned at that point. No Chiefs in the play-offs, no Burro in the play. They put the grab up. Allen's 0-5 against Burro and Mahomes in the play-off, and he's 7 against everyone else. This was the time. It's the weakest AFC field in years. This was the year to do it, and they didn't get it done. It's not all McDonald's fault, by the way. The roster is not great either. But something had to be done after this game because I felt that this one broke Buffalo. By the way, how mad are John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefansky right now? If they would have just waited just a few more days.

I do want to get Jeff's thoughts. Actually, go ahead and tackle that one. Do you suppose that the guys who accepted a job are now regretting having accepted those gigs with the ? Yes. Do you?

I don't think Stefansky is getting this job, but Harbaugh certainly would be up for it. Yeah, look, You get Josh Allen or Jackson Dart. What are you going to choose? Now, Harbaugh gets more player personnel control. It seems like in Buffalo, very clearly, personnel control will be Brandon Beans. So that's a different dynamic to this. So it maybe tends to skew maybe younger, more an experienced coach, if that's what it is. But yeah, I would imagine that Harbaugh would certainly take a call from Buffalo. Maybe he knew. I don't know. But I think he would have... I mean, anyone would take this a job, man.

I don't want to run Jeff Schwartz off, but we've taken up a ton of your time. But I do want to get before I hear who you think is going to Super Bowl 60, your thoughts on this, because I feel like the average fan is more... I think the majority of football fans are on my side with this. Even the ones who live in the north and part of being a fan, if you go to the games instead of watching them on TV, is enduring the cold and the elements and all of that. I think if the bears would have won that game against the Rams, I think then you just have to cancel plans for a dome, right? It's like, Well, see, now look, we wouldn't have beaten the Rams had this place been domed. And now we did because we know how to Survive the elements better than the Pretty Boys from SoCal have. But in a broader sense, you're a SoCal guy, Jeff Schwartz, but you're brawny, you're a husky guy, and you played up in the rain and the chill of Eugene, Oregon, and around pro football. It's the greatest if you're on TV.

If you're watching on TV, it's so esthetically pleasing to look at. I'll hear the arguments that the game is diminished a little bit, but also That's a part of football. Tennis requires optimal weather for it to work or else they cancel it. Also in tennis, you're not allowed to make noise. Is that what we should do, too? If we need pristine conditions so we can see the world's best athletes, then keep it down, everybody. You're distracting them too much. How far are we going to take it? How say you on playing in the elements?

I'm outside on grass football, buddy. That's what I want football to be played in. In the elements, the advantages you have for these home games. It's pretty big. It's hard if you haven't done it. It's more about the wind, too. When you practice the wind, you play in the wind. In the cold, you know how to play in it. When you don't, we see the numbers are out there. It's pretty staggering about how the difference in these warm weather teams having to play games up north. With the more domes you get, we're going to end up in 30 years, everyone's going to have a dome. The thing about it, too, is- It's for corporate reasons.

It's because the city can put- But you get one Super Bowl.

You get one Super Bowl, presumably. Chicago might get more because it's a major city. But you get your one Super Bowl, maybe your one final four.

Well, maybe Indiana. Might have to go to Gary, Indiana, to go watch It's a bears game, but okay.

I am football outside on grass in the elements, and that's the way I think it should be played.

I like that Mike Fuentes doesn't like the outdoor football. He's one of these, but they're great athletes. Why are we throwing up obstacles for them? I don't know. Why is the defense trying to stop them from doing stuff, too?

I like football, and it's nice and sunny and cool outside. I don't like the best athletes in the world being hampered because it's snowing.

I know. That was uncool. What the Broncos did to Josh Allen kept getting in his way and taking the ball away from him. He's one of the best athletes in the world.

The number one example for what Mike is talking about was that Patriots text in this game. There was what? Eight turnovers in that game? Probably should have been 10 or 11 or 12.

You know what? I'm not going to blame the elements for that. C. J. Stroud just sucks.

Also, C. J. Stroud. They were bad, too. Here's what I predict, Jeff. We're going to hear in the coming hours. Oh, yes, C. J. Stroud had a broken finger or something like that because he was so bad.

The LeBron.

I don't know. Because he sucked against the Steelers as well. He was desperate to give that all game away.

I love LeBron. I'm a Lakers guy. I've always read it for him. But every playoff series he loses, he comes to a press conference in an ankle brace or wrist brace or his fingers are taped up. I get it. You're going to play through the injury. I get it. But every time it happens, there is a LeBron injury that you're like, Come on, man, just let it go. I don't want to hear about it. I want to hear, Just win the playoff series, please.

All right. We want to do a little Funiest Musical Chair results for the head coaches out there and who's going to fill these seats. The other team, when you lose in the playoffs now, it feels so harsh. Troy Akemen was talking about that, that it's almost worse to make the playoffs and then not win a game. Now it does feel like a big reckoning for the Houston Texans. What are we going to do about our quarterback? I also feel like that applies to the Lions. I don't see anything that's standing between them and running it back with Jared Goff, and that feels outmoded in that division. Anywho, these are the teams that are now out of the picture. Tell us, final four, and then that's your final comment, Jeff Schwartz.

I think Denver might win this game.

I have a feeling, too, Jeff. It's a big shot for great money. I don't know, Jeff.

I'm not going to do it.

I think Denver is going to win. I'm just going to continue to fade the Patriots to lose all the money I have.

I would have been right about, you know I would have been right. You were with me up until the last second, Schwartz, and then you backed off on the Broncos. We were together on that one. They were going to the Super Bowl.

They were.

Nobody has talked about... Of all the things, Jeff, I'm sorry to keep interrupting you. But for all the stories, the officiating and poor Josh Allen and C. J. Stroud sucks and Caleb Williams, what a throw, and the Ram survived, somehow it's all added up to the number one seed in the AFC wins. They beat the Buffalo Bills, and boy, that was a tough spot, and they were a home dog and everything else. Their quarterback snaps his ankle on the second to last play. It's almost like an afterthought because we've already moved on to like, Can Jared Stitt them do it? Man, the Broncos got screwed by the football gods here.

They did. They absolutely did. It's a bummer that that happened that way. I think Seattle wins. I've been on the Rams all season long, but they just don't play complete football, Dave. They just haven't played their best game. Maybe it's the game they play their best game. Zack Charbonnet is out for the season, it appears, by the way, which is not... You beat us to it.

That was our breaking news, Dave. Zack Charbonnet out for the remainder of the play. A significant knee injury, it says.

Wow, that is big news going into this one.

I still look Seattle, though. I'll take so Seattle. Sam Darnold is winning this first championship or Jared Those are your two choices. And the answer would be Sam Darnold. You can bet on it now. I think Denver would be favored by... Seattle would be favored by eight and a half, I think, or nine and a half in that game, which is wild. But I think Sal will win that game.

Boy, yeah, that is interesting. All right, that's cart before the horse stuff or before the Bronco, either way. Jeff Schwartz, you're the tops. We appreciate the time, Pally. Loved getting to break down the biggest games of the season with you as we have All season long, it's been grand stuff. We're about to go into the abyss, though, Schwartz. We will, Kibbitz, with you before Super Bowl 60 kicks off. At least once. In the meantime, Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. All the great stuff he does with Chris Felica and everybody else over there at Fox Sports. It's Jeff Schwartz. Thanks.

Bye, guys.

And let's wrap it up. No more. The count doesn't have anything to say to Jeff Schwartz.

No, Dave. I'm all throtted out.

I thought you were going to give us a count on how many seconds we I have left before we wrap this show.

Looks like about 20, 19, 18, 17.

What's the funniest higher? What's the funnyest higher left out there in this coaching carousel?

It's easily Mike McDaniel if he goes to the Buffalo Bill.

The Browns trading for Mike Tomlin will be the funniest.

He's going to take a year off, I believe. He is to you. Yes. I will take the weekend off. I'm in the count. Okay, bye.

All right, listen, we're just getting rolling as we anticipate these two big games. The title games, a wait, our consideration. We've barely dug in on them. We'll do a little bit better job with that later in the week. In the meantime, I will be sitting in on the Levitard show on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as Monday night for the National Championship game. Make sure you're checking that all out in the meantime. Thanks to Jeff Schwartz, the Fuentes boys, and everybody else here on Football America until the end of the week when it's time to pick those title games. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven.