Transcript of Darnold’s Apex: How the Seahawks Broke the Rams & Sean Payton’s Fatal Mistake

Hi, hello, my fellow football Americans. Super Bowl '60s all set. Seahawks, Patriots. Excited to talk about that, but the majority of the conversation, it seems, is about the weather conditions at the AFC title game. What happened to you people? Okay, it snowed, and I heard it was also windy. I don't get it. Just a few weeks ago, I could swear I heard you singing about how you wanted to let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Now all of a sudden, you're Millie Vanille in winter, blaming it on the snow? As you may have noticed, that game sucked before it started coming down. By the way, I don't mean to hurt anybody on either side's feelings, but if Bo Nicks had played, Denver obviously wins that game. Either way, everyone watches Thousand Pound Sisters, right? Right. Well, as you know then, Amy's getting married, and she wants the ceremony to be haunted. Ghosts for bridesmaids. Not people dressed as ghosts, mind you. Ghosts. Now, Tammy doesn't want to go. She thinks it's sacrilegious and more to the point, too weird, and I agree with that. But Amy's the one with the ring on her finger.

You don't get to tell her about her wedding. And that's what home field advantage is. Getting homefield is a big reward for a big season long achievement. It was 82 in sunny in Jacksonville on Sunday. If the Jags had the number one seat, it would have been hot for the visitors. Is that unfair? The 99 Rams were ideally constructed to play under a dome, as their nickname, Greatest Show on Turf, indicated. I bet the Brownie Bucks didn't like playing under that dome. In fact, you might go so far as to say they felt disadvantaged. Are we also throwing out the result to the Ice Bowl? I mean, there's a pretty good case Bart Starr scored on that QB sneak only because it was Slippy at. Maybe they're right, though. That green wall in Boston's ballpark is tall. The rough at Oakmont is rough. Maybe football fans should keep it down a little, too. We don't want to distract those guys out there. Who needs actual empathy when you express your concern for a multimillionaire who's chilly? What are we talking about? People are complaining about obstacles to success. Half the guys out there are paid to be human obstacles.

They They chase you around in everything. You know what? I've had it. I've got to go get some earmuffs, ski pants, and bubble wrap. Let's chop, chop, and start the show. Yes, hi, and hello, and welcome to Super Bowl 60, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to Football America. We're presented as ever by our pals at DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours. Hawks, Pats, Super Bowl 49 sequel. Get ready for lots and lots of references to Malcolm Butler. Get ready, San Francisco and Santa Clara. We're on our way up there in about a week from now. Be on the look out for me at Media Night, the opening night, that's what they call it. I have some questions to ask the Seahawks and Patriots players. One reference here for you about the Football America YouTube page. In between shoveling the snow or whatever else you're doing, please be a dear, subscribe, spread the good word on Football America. We enjoy the conversation in the comment section on YouTube and or wherever you find your podcasts. We appreciate you subscribing. Be a Patriot, not the kind with the capital P, although if you are with the capital P, we welcome you as well and congratulations.

It's episode 46, The Players Who Wore That Best in NFL History. Tim McDonald and Todd Christensen, Andy Pettit wore it well in MLB. Two good ones, though, 46. First of all, Pete Johnson, who was the fat bangles running back in the '80s. In 1983, he had three and a half yards of carry and 14 TDs. Then he left since he and in '84 for the Chargers and Dolphins. How about this? 87 total touches, 12 of them, touch downs. How does that math work? He rushed for 2. 4 yards per carry. He was the ultimate goal line back, and he was a slob on top of it. It was very funny. And also, Doug Plank wore for the Chicago Bears. I bring him up because he is who the 46 defense of the bears were named after. And now the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, and they lost Super Bowl 22, the 46 defense of the Chicago Bears. And now we say hello to our fellows, the Fuentes boys. We have Mo Damosheck coming up in one second, and Jeff Schwartz for the Jerk List. How are you, fellows?

I'm feeling pretty bummed, man. The Patriots are back in their 10th Super Bowl appearance since the Dolphins last won a playoff game. It It should exist.

We were talking about this in the office earlier, Dave, and I think that the dolphins don't catch enough shit for being as bad as they've been over the last 20 years. I think people like to pile on the Browns The browns have won a playoff game since I've exited high school. So I think football America and other football Americans, we should find a way to collectively give the dolphins more shit.

I Listen, I think that's spot on as, what do you call them? A legacy team or a tent hole franchise or whatever you would call them. Obviously, they don't date back to the '30s or anything, but deeply important in Super Bowl era lore, those two early '70s titles that they win and all of that. You're right. They've been lost at sea for way too long despite having one of the three or four best quarterbacks in the history of the Super Bowl era. Interesting stuff. By the way, Super Bowl 46, the lowest total since Super Bowl 50 between the Broncos and Panthers, that total was 43. Right now, the total is 46 on this game, and the Seahawks are laying five. Down in South Beach, they're sad because it's sunny outside but gloomy in their hearts. In Pittsburgh, it's actually snowy, and they have a new head coach up there. If you haven't heard about that, let's get it to our weather girl, Mo Damosheck, for a quick update there before we talk about the two teams going to the Super Bowl and the final four. Apparently, some technical difficulties are getting in the way of our brand new segment in which we get a weather forecast.

Today in Football America, we want to travel to the banks of the Three Rivers. It's apparently a tundra, a winter wonderland here as our correspondent, our weather girl. It's my mother, Momo Damoshek. I know time is short because you have to play Canasta. We appreciate you squeezing us in to your busy schedule. First things first, First, Momo, what is it like out there? What are the latest conditions in terms of snowfall and otherwise?

We had 12 inches of snow. It finally stopped snowing, and they plowed the streets. But the snow is piled so high now on the streets. It'll be like April or May. You know that until it melts.

How great would it have been if it had snowed, if there had been an AFC title game in Pittsburgh? It would have been even worse, and the tears would have frozen even more quickly than they did in Denver. Everybody weeping about the snowing in a football game. Shame the devil. It would have been glorious in Pittsburgh. So it's snowy there, in other words.

It is very snowy. It's very cold. Going to be 12: 00 or 13: 00 all week. So as I said, it's not going to melt. But one good thing, one bad thing. Remember when I was in nursing school? I told you they shut down Fifth Avenue.

No, I wasn't alive then. But no, I've heard the story. Yes.

Anyway, Negli Hill. Pittsburgh is a very hilly city. Nègly Hill is right in the middle of a residential area. It's a big hill. They shut down the bottom of the street, and we walked up and went slead riding down Negli Hill. They did the same thing yesterday. They shut down Fifth Avenue, this major thoroughfare, and people were skiing and slead riding down on Nègly Hill. And the other thing would be horrible for you because you loved snow days. You loved them so much.

Now they just- The only ray of sunshine that my youth ever saw was a snow day.

That was it for you. That's your only happiness. So I was happy with... Now, they all go to remote learning, and so they still have to sit there. No. No. No. No.

No. I thought you would be in that bed being like, No. The forever war continues. This battle goes to the man. It does. Boy, does that suck? All right.

I thought your sisters would be like, Okay, but you'd be like, oh, it would be terrible. Anyway, yes, go ahead.

Oh, so wait. They've taken away one of the few pleasures of being a school-bound kid, which is in Wintry Climes, when they announced the night before, you listen to the radio to hear if your school gets named or morning of, I don't know which is better. Both are great when you hear your school's name, shout it out and you have the day off. Now the man weighs down on you and says, Turn on your computer and learn some more. I can't stand it. That's the same noise a lot of people in Pittsburgh. You said that the weather, the temperature is 12 degrees, but the wind chill, they say it feels like. It feels like things are chillier in the reception from Steelers fans for the local, the prodigal son coming home now to coach the Pittsburgh Steelers. It seems like from a distance, there are more people upset this news than happy about it. Give us a temperature check on how Pittsburghers are reacting to Mike McCarthy's hiring in Pittsburgh.

Many, many Pittsburghers just distraught. Of course, they're never going to another game. They're not going to watch them on television. They're finished. This is the last straw. Fortunately, our family, really good, loyal fans, as you know. Much more optimistic. I mean, guarded optimism, but much more optimistic. Amy was over here Friday night, went on and on about they cannot- Amy, my older sister.

Yes.

Yes, Amy, your older sister.

Okay. Steeler fan?

Oh, big Pittsburgh sports fan, as we know. Her family went to pirate games until the last one or two years. Big fans.

They're weirdos. Yeah, right. They cross a line in my book. They're too much, but okay.

But okay.

Anyway- I appreciate it.

No, Mike McCarthy, he's too old. Maybe they're hiring him if they hire him because he's a Pittsburgh guy. She doesn't agree with that. She just didn't want him, someone younger and everything. So I talked to her immediately after I hear on Saturday, she's changed completely. Well, maybe he'll do a better job. I think he's going to do. That's Amy.

Okay. So the air is pointed It's just putting it up on the thermometer.

Wait, across the board. I did a small poll. People in their mid-20s, mid-50s, mid-70s. So we're covering the gamut of ages and everything. Okay, Uncle Mike, curmudgeon about so many- Sure. Yes. Well, he's worried more now about the quarterback situation. That doesn't even bring up Mike McCarthy that much, except to say, if they're able to get a good young quarterback, maybe- So his temperature is moderate.

It's temperate. He's waiting.

But he said he's old. He's a lot of years. Amy wanted somebody that could be here for 20 in the Steeler tradition.

That's what he does.

Benjamin, the most optimistic- My nephew. Your nephew, Benjamin, cautiously optimistic. Oh, good. He thinks they must hire, though, a defensive coordinator. Do you think that's he? And he thinks, too, the quarterback is big to everybody. And he's thinking that Mike McCarthy might be able to. And he did a decent job in Dallas. They won 12 games. So there They're all... They're not on the naysayers.

Well, Irv likes it. On my friend chain with the Picksburgers, Irv likes it. Yes. Richie's sister, Sarah, does not like it. She's very upset about this. Okay. And so it's a range of opinions, basically, is what I'm hearing.

But not in our family. Then, Zachary- Brett doesn't like it, but he's going to get behind it because he feels obliged to get behind it, to toe the line. I really think that's what's going on with Uncle Mike, Amy, Benjamin, and Zachary, who is in college, as you know, Zachary.

Yeah, I do know that. I did know that.

He's in college. He is such a fan, too. He has driven back for some Steeler games. The first day of classes was last Monday. Was he at Temple? Oh, no. He went to the Steeler's playoff game because he's not a fan. But then he realized, I shouldn't miss two day of classes, got in his car at midnight and drove back five hours to Philadelphia.

Heroic.

Heroic thing. So he is a fan. His comment was predictable.

Very Coach Signetti type sardonic, I think. Typical. Predictable. Typical of the Steelers. What else is new? They operate like it's in 1974 again. All right. Well, good. We're very You're good update there, Mo. It's interesting to hear what's going on. You're the boots on the ground, a chilly straw pole for the rest of football America to get a sense of what's going down there. Last thing before you go, any update on who you like better, Mike Fuentes or Gino Fuentes?

No. I need to spend a little bit more time with both of them. Right now, they're equal, but eventually, I will have a favorite.

You know what? The Super Bowl is right on the horizon there. On the other side of that, maybe we should have Gino and Mike go on dates with you on audio dates here like we've done in past efforts, and Mike and Gino can court you, and then you can choose them based on that. One of them has- Gino does, but Mike is apparently a ladies' man down Florida way. So we'll see. We'll see who can win the heart of Momo.

I'm sure he'd be honored, but I would be uncomfortable. I don't know.

We'll see. With Gino, you have to stiff arm him.

Gino is better, you said.

Mike, do you think you have a better game than Gino to win over Momo?

I know I do. Oh, you do?

Okay.

I don't know. I have pretty high- This is going to be a tough relationship, Mo.

Just so you know, though, you and Mike, Mike hates the winter. He thinks football is no good if it snows. Oh, it's chilly outside. So that may be a point of division for the two of you.

Well, neither of us are going to move, but long distance might work. People do it.

They will say how it works. Maybe Mike is good at canasta, and that'll be enough.

That's all I need.

All right, go play your canasta.

Okay. All right. Love you, son. Bye.

There goes Momo Damosheck with an update on Mike McCarthy and all the rest of what's going down in Pittsburgh in football America. In sports, championships aren't one alone, the one with the right people around you. That's exactly See what Intuit TopoTax brings to taxes. With TopoTax Expert full service, match with a dedicated tax expert who handles your taxes from start to finish. The experience is seamless. Start in person, finish online, move between both whenever needed. The dedicated tax expert keeps things updated every step of the way so nothing falls between the cracks. Think of it like having a great head coach with a solid game plan. The players are called, adjustments are made, and the work gets done while everyone stays focused on what actually matters. And just like Game Film doesn't wait for business hours, need to do taxes. With Tobotax Expert full service, you can get any tax question answered at no extra cost, even on nights and weekends during tax season. This is having someone in your corner running the whole operation and helping put points on the board.

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Com. Only available with Intuit Tobotax full service experts. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. All right, for this next item, I want to bring in our pal here. He joins us every Week. We appreciate it all through football season. I know you appreciate it, too. He's Jeff Schwartz, host of Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. He's doing all the bear bet stuff over there on Fox as well. Meantime, how are you, Jeff Schwartz?

I'm good. I know the football is coming to an end, Dave, but it makes me think of spring and baseball and softball season for my daughter. I get excited for that idea, but obviously, one game left, man. One game left.

I now in a corporate event at that. All right, here's the thing that I'm bringing you in for, and this goes neatly for you as a SoCal native, Sam Darnold, USA, University of Southern Cal. That's what it stands for, if you haven't heard. I was surprised by this, and I love my Super Bowl history and all that. I just never put two and two together. Do you know Sam Darnold is the first USAQB to ever start a Super Bowl?

I saw that today, yeah. I think they have 26 in the NFL. He's He's the first. He's drafted. He's the first one. And this is what, his fourth team? Fourth team? I think that's what it ends up being. Look, I'm going to have to eat some crow on Sam Darnold. I'm fully okay to accept that. My standard was always this, right? If you close your eyes and visualize Roger Goodell, I know he's not holding the Lombardi, but he gets the Lombardi eventually, right? And he hands it to the owner, and then maybe they hand it to... Is Sam Dernal raising that Lombardi Trophy at the end of the Super Bowl? Yes, he's going to. I never pictured that in my brain. That's something that's going to happen at the end of this season, Dave. It's very likely it's going to happen. That Sam Dernald is the one with the picture at the end, hoising the Lombardi Trophy after he win the Super Bowl for the Seattle Seahawks.

I mean, that obviously is now... His life is completely different than it was 48 hours ago before the NFC title game kicked off. He has now won and had a great game against the LA Rams to take his team to the Super Bowl. The idea that QB wins in the postseason don't matter, don't impact how we regard quarterbacks in the quarterback League. Is weird. It's an attempt to create a reality that is not there. I'm fascinated by the people who argue with me about it. I'm not talking about necessarily. In fact, I did argue with one Mina Kimes about it on the Lebitard show a week ago. I think where we get confused, where we're two ships passing in the night, the people who argue against QB wins, is it's not necessarily about the performance of those guys, although if they blow it, if they throw three or four interceptions in a big spot and they're supposed to be carrying their team like Josh Allen did, then that deserves a little stink on this guy who you're holding up. On the other hand, what I'm talking about is the result. Recorded history is based on the victors.

They write it, as you may have heard the cliché say. And so now when you win, you're the enduring legend of the era, not the guy who had better stats than you in October. All right, I don't want to have this conversation again, even though I'm having it.

But I think, Dave, I think the reason why people don't like the quarterback in this discussion is because oftentimes a win or a loss is not solely on the quarterback, right?

I get it, of course.

But you're right, though. For legacy, winning these games absolutely does matter. And even moving forward to two weeks from I've always been one that's been like, Darnold, the big game is not as good. Not anymore. Can't use that. That's it. But he also played well where like, Drake May has made the Super Bowl, and the offense hasn't been very good. You can't really use that as a quarterback wins thing for him. I don't think any differently. I actually think worse about their offense, even though they're three on the postseason. It's just a matter of how you frame it. But this was, I mean, the Darnold, this has to be huge. He played so well. He was so good.

I I agree. And now we regard him very differently. Big spot, big performance. Obviously, now, Sam Darnold is a virtue under center for your team, not a detriment. Okay, here's the thing I wanted to ask you. And Fuente, boys, I'm interested in how accurate you can be on this one, too. Jeff Schwartz, I like the history a little bit better than you do. So Sam Darnold, first USEQB to ever start a Super Bowl. Do you know the school, and it's one school who has the most quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl?

This is probably going to be Pit or something. I don't know, Dave. I know it.

I'm not going to say it.

What does it say? No, say it.

Do you know a Gino? It's a Michigan, and it's all one guy. No, I'm sorry. The multiple guys. I don't know if that's definitely true, but I'm talking about most quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl. Just the name count, not how many Super Bowl.

It's probably going to be some obscure school that we don't put as a quarterback school, that's my guess.

Well, it's not an obscure. You've heard of it.

But it's a school that we don't want to associate with most quarterbacks starting in a Super Bowl.

But I will tell you this. One of the guys... Well, he didn't do it there, but he is a champion, nevertheless, this guy who went to Cal.

It's Cal?

It's Cal. That's right. Fernando. Fernando went to Cal before he was an I. U. Legend for all of time. It is Cal. They had Five. The most quarterbacks ever to start a Super Bowl came- Rogers, Goff. Correct. Doing well. You won't get the other ones.

Are you going to name a bunch of guys that were there before the Cold War or something? That's not fun.

Yeah. I don't think the Cold War... I think Super Bowl era follows the Cold War.

I was listening to- Or the start of the Cold War. I was listening to a podcast, and they brought on someone who is an older gentleman. He was talking about like, Autogram, and I was like, I'm out. What do we doing?

I agree. You know my cut point?

The NFL, I think she think is great because they never do this, right? We don't ever... We're like, Shoheya O'Tani, best season since 1910. You're like, What? Just enjoy the season for what it is. No one in the NFL is like, You know what? That's Sam Darnold. He reminds me of a 1913 old oil can bull. You're like, No, what are you doing? Nfl never does that, Dave.

It's one thing I love. Oh, no, no, no. I've had many conversations with people who invoked the name Don Hudson as though his stats in the '30s have anything to do with modern football.

You probably talk to me in real. I do.

I know. I always say Don Hudson was covered by my forefathers. It's not impressive to do anything. Who cares what he did?

The general NFL media doesn't do that, where they do it so much in baseball, a little bit in basketball. It frustrates me so much because NFL is so different than it even 15 years ago. Comparing even baseball, comparing O'Tani to Babe Ruth is not even remotely a discussion to be had, and baseball people cannot stop doing it.

Well, you have to start the clock at different points for different sports. I think in baseball, it makes sense to start at around '45. Jackie Robinson makes the scene and changes things. Okay, so mid '40s for that sport. Hockey, it's either '67 when they become more than a half dozen teams in the league, or maybe with further expansion, '79, '80, '81-ish, when they bring in some of those Western province teams from Canada and otherwise. Nba, I think, is, again, somewhere in the '70s. Maybe even you start the clock when Magic and Bird arrived. That's not an unreasonable argument. And in football, the neatest of all, the Super Bowl era. Nothing before it matters. Now, who cares about any of the rest of it? But okay, so there you go. Joe Joe Kapp is the answer. I don't know.

He was born- I know Joe.

Cold War son, yes. Craig Morton started for the Broncos in Super Bowl 12 against the Cowboys, former cowboy, Vince Farragamo Super Bowl 14 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. You said it right, Shorts, Bama is the second most QBs to start from one school. Do you want to try to name those guys?

Are you counting Jalen Hertz as a Bama guy?

Yeah. What do you mean? Oh, yeah, I guess. Okay, yeah, that's fair. You couldn't remove him.

I think about the portal. What do you count it?

Yeah, so by that standard, I guess Fernando... Well, he didn't make a Super Bowl.

Now I'm getting confused. Joe Namet, right?

Correct.

I don't know who else.

There are some names on this short list, let me tell you. Snake, Stabler, and Bart Starr. They're enduring legends of the sport. What are we talking about? At number three, Notre Dame. There are three schools. I just named one of them for you. Name the schools. There are three schools that have had three QB start a Super Bowl. I just gave you. I think Notre Dame is obvious.

Notre Dame. Who's that? Montana. I I know- Joe Theisman and Darryl LaMonica. It's easier to name the quarterbacks who win, obviously, than losing quarterbacks. I'm trying to think of all the winning quarterbacks in my head.

Oh, that's weird. It's weird for the people who don't believe in QB wins, that that would be true.

I don't know I don't know the other two teams. I mean, Michigan, one of them?

No, it's LSU, the late David Woodley, the worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl. Burro, obviously. Stan Humphreys, also in the conversation for worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, and Joe Burro. And then another weird one, although they do have a nice legacy of QB's, Purdue. Lenny Dawson, Bob Greasey, Drew Brees. That's that. I don't know. Am I the only person interested in the conversation we just had for the last four minutes?

I'm interested. I will say I did see before the National Championship Game on Monday, a Purdue fan that had a Purdue mascot with an Indiana head on it saying, I'm rooted for Indiana. I thought that was treason. You should be hanged for that.

Yeah, it's pathetic. It's really sad. We don't need to indulge that flailing about for relevancy. All right, let's get to the jerk list. If somehow this is your first experience with the jerk list, Mike and Gino, Gino and Fuentes will make a statement to me and Jeff Schwartz, and then Schwartz and I will decide whether or not that's a rational thing to say, given the evidence we have, or if that's a knee-jerk reaction to something we just saw. Take it away, Fuentes, boys.

All right, let's see. Brady's performance in the booth has come a long way over the last two years.

Sure. So you go first.

Yeah, it's got a lot better. Are we surprised that Tom braided put the work in to be a better broadcaster? It's hard to broadcast games. Dave, you'll like this story. I'm going to try to do it as quick as possible. I called some games when I retired on Facebook Live, was like stadium Facebook Live. We streamed the entire game, no commercials.

I don't think I knew this.

It was 2017. I did three college games that year. The first one I did was UTSA at home in Alamo Dome against Rice. That week, I had a very intense stomach bug. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Yeah, I like this already.

It was better Friday. I got to San Antonio, better Friday. And Saturday, I was pretty much okay. Took some modiums, lock everything up. And I told my broadcast partner that, Hey, man, I might have to go running. It's just when you know, it's giving you a head up.

Lock everything up.

Now, mind you, no commercial break. So there wasn't a good... We had five-minute halftime break. That was it. Commercial break, you'd be like, Let's go down to the sidelet reporter and get a social It was a media report. It was one of those... Now, that's more common. We didn't really do that. About seven minutes left in the game, the bubble guts. It starts bubbling. I'm like, Oh, boy. Here we go. It came. But two minutes left, man, I missed a third down, a fourth down. I missed two plays. I just ran to the bathroom, did what I had to do, cleaned it up and went and missed two plays, though. I was pretty impressed with myself to miss two plays.

Wait a minute. Jack Youngblood played a Super Bowl on a broken leg. I think you should have played through it.

You guys should have cracked my pants.

Yeah, right. I think like Ruperect, like Ruperect, Steve Martin in whatever that movie, that you should have just gone.

My first ever broadcast poop attack, two minutes left in the game. Holy hell. No commercials.

Mike, he just goes, right? That's the pro move. You just, Sorry, I got to make it through this game.

No. No? No. I'm already questioning his cleanliness just by saying he only missed two plays. That's like a 90-second window.

There was a time out before the fourth down play. So I got a third down play, a timeout, a fourth down play, and came back, and no one knew. No one knew besides my. No one knew. It was not good. I'd be better right now, obviously. It's the first thing I did after retired, but I was not going to call games. No.

Hey, Gino, see if we can get Tom braided on. Maybe he has a poop story he could share from his broadcast.

But braided has gone a lot better. Yes.

Okay. Yes, he has. And I was struck by listening to him on Sunday, just how good he was. But I'm reminded to, I mean, for real, if you go around social media and look at football stuff, there is a piece, at at least one every week of his broadcast career where there's an update on how Tom Brady's doing in the booth. It really is like a make a wish kid standard. Like, okay, he was bad, but he's getting better. Like these constant updates that, of course, I would hope he's getting better. He's the highest paid person to ever do the job. I would hope he's doing good at it.

I think it's because Romo has gotten worse that that's why people are I'm surprised, but he's gotten better, maybe.

I don't know. But the other thing is, can we do a way... I say this all the time that we live in a world in which both of these things are true. You hear about NFL injuries, you hear, Oh, he has a lacerated spleen. They'll get into nitty-gritty detail about what's going on with a football player. What do they call it? A twisted testicle or whatever people have had. They've had all sorts of terrible injuries. But in hockey, the standard is upper body or lower body injury, and that's all they'll ever tell you. How both of those things can exist at once, I don't know. Same goes for we can't have broadcasters who are calling the game make a pick on what they think is going to happen in that game. At the same time, Tom braided is picking the next Raiders' quarterback? What the hell? How can both of those things be true at once? It's loco. You know what? Everybody talking about Tom braided too much. You're a jerk. Taste a blaster. Too much. He's the most famous person ever, and he's the most highly paid person to talk about football. I would hope he's getting better at what he's doing.

The Bronco's home field advantage is actually what doomed them.

All right, I I already made my thoughts on this clear. I don't understand what's happened to this world that we're bellyache about the elements having it. Yeah, that's right. The elements impacted a football game. That's happened since they started playing football. Schwartz, I'll say you.

So I was doing radio Sunday morning. I got a text message. Well, we talked about text messages a buddy of mine got, and it had a forecast for the game. The forecast called for the weather. It was known it was coming. It might have been a little more windy than I thought, but one team was ready for it. New England was ready for it. They didn't suffer from it. No, they had a whole bunch of other problems they had. They never looked like they were unprepared for it. They had no idea it was coming.

I thought that was a key note from Romo, as a matter of fact, to say They really better start trying to make some plays here because they're about to flip sides, and they're not going to be able to move the ball once it gets to the fourth corner. That was an interesting note.

That's how it happened. New England stopped moving the ball when they didn't get the wind. They did in the third quarter, they moved the ball, kicked the field goal. I know I differ from some people on this. I want the Super Bowl to be played in pristine conditions. I want that perfectly perfect pristine conditions. I'm okay with the benefit of playing at home, getting a snowstorm. I'm fine with it.

But they didn't get a benefit. They did not get a benefit.

Yeah, but that's because their quarterback, that's what Jared Syedam was playing.

But he was moving the ball in the first quarter.

He was moving the ball on the first quarter.

He was moving the ball on the first quarter. Fuentes is trying way too hard with this observation. If Bovins had played, they win that game, right?

Someone had the gall to tell me Sean Payton didn't know the weather was coming. Gino Fuentes texted me and told me the weather was coming, and there's no reason Gino Fuentes should know and Sean Payton shouldn't.

Fair. If I move the ball, you mean he completed one whole pass that went more than seven yards.

It was two passes, Jeff. Okay, it was two. Okay, one to Mims, one for Sutton in the end zone. Did you watch the game? I just wanted to know if you watched the game or not.

The Sutton one, the three. But Dave, who very clearly complained an NFL quarterback, he could have made that throw, too. He made one throw all game. By the way, Jake May made one throw over 10 yards It was a small game, too. So it was not the best game. But I will not burn the wire for this loss, no.

Well, the thing that I would blame is, and I think that's a completely fair thing to say, is that Sean Payton should have been playing to the reality of the situation more than he did. I also think, and this isn't prisoner to the moment stuff, 2020 hindsight or otherwise, I guess not prisoner. Mike Fuentes and I definitely park our cars in the same garage on this, and I think a lot of people do in the moment. What the hell did Sean Payton not kick that field goal for? That was crazy. Why would you go to 10-0 in that spot with the terrible conditions? And even if it was sunny in 75 out, it's your backup QB. You can go up 10 points with 35 minutes left for you in a trip to the Super Bowl. What are you thinking, man?

So a couple of things on this one, Dave. I'm generally pro going for it. I thought the play call was really bad. Yes. There's about four different plays that defense would expect with a backup quarterback. That was one of the four, right? One of them is a quarterback sprint to the right. They're like Q8 sprint right option, whatever you want to call it. The other One's probably some play-action pass to a tight end, like a little wide leak type of thing looked at the tight end. One of them just run the ball off the middle. The other one was this. It was this. It's what teams do. They do this roll out to the back in the flat. It's against man coverage. Against zone, you have to go look back inside, someone sets up in the zone, and they got pressure right away. The play call was very predictable. If you go for it, do something else, I am okay with that option. They just did one of the four plays that everyone expected to I just thought, in general, that the game plan was not as creative as I thought it would be. Maybe there was no faith in Stidham.

I don't know why we convinced ourselves that Stidham was going to play well. At least I did. He covered, which I'll take, but I didn't mind going for it. If you go 14-0, the game is over. He's going for the kill shot.

I get that. I idealize the weather conditions and all of that, but the reality is it's miserable outside, and It's your backup QB, and you have him throwing? None of it made any sense to me.

Not to mention, the defense had been absolutely dominating the Patriots. They had not been able to move the ball at all. The only reason they scored a countdown to tie it was because Stidham filled his pants in his own end. So you go up of two scores there. You just have to take every point that's available when you have Stidham and weather coming.

Sean Payton said he saw six men on the line, and that's when they changed the play. Wait, which one? The fourth down play? On the fourth down play. He said that the Patriots put six men up front, and they crowded everyone together, and that's when they changed the play.

All the time after.

I wish Schwartz would have filled his pants, but instead he locked it up, but then he went, I don't know, all that.

That play, by the way, I think it was just an incomplete pass.

They called it a back and lateral. I did not see that.

No, it was a lateral.

It was a lateral. That's on the other end.

Here's a question, Dave. If I throw a ball and it gets tipped by the defender, it goes backwards. Is that a backwards pass?

No.

Okay. So are we saying the defender did not hit the ball?

I don't think. Was it a two-handed pass? Yeah. No, believe me, it is an optical illusion like a lot of those are. We have the benefit of the actual stripe to guide us, and the ball, you can see, empirically, the ball goes back by about a half a yard.

So the defender hit his hand, not the ball then?

Yeah.

Because if he hit the ball, it's an incomplete pass, not a backwards pass. It's a deflected pass.

Right.

Okay. I agree that went backwards. My thing is that it's not often ruled that. If your corner goes to throw the ball, their hand gets hit as they throw the ball, and the ball goes backwards, they're going to call that a deflected pass and complete. The same thing happened here. They called it a backwards pass. It's inconsistent how they rule these, which is the way that a lot of these go.

Before we go, because I have to jump, I have to throw one in here, too, before the Fuentez boys roll on. Dave Damosheck is the opposite of a jerk here. Get out of jerk free card for Dave. Simple-minded Dave, maybe. But Dave told you, sophomore QB goes to the Super Bowl, team with a first-round buy goes to the Super Bowl. Both are true. Can argue with me, we can overcomplicate it. Those are the two measures of who gets to the Super Bowl, and it happened once again. As a reminder, put a little footnote in it. Remember it for next year. Impress your friends in September, 2026, when you say the same thing and it comes true about a year from now. Dave wins again. Okay, continue.

All right. I think I'll take it from here then. Let me see. This one's fun.

Why don't I get a parade? Nobody can say, Hey, you know what? No, because- No, you know what, Dave? That was pretty good that you said it all year and it came true.

The buy thing is obvious, and the second thing is also obvious.

Why doesn't everybody point it out all the time like I did?

Okay, go, Jito.

Okay. The real loser on Sunday was the Minnesota Vikings.

I've seen this one floating around. Shorts. How say you?

Oh, man. Okay. If your favorite team had drafted a quarterback in the first round who didn't play because he was hurt, and then you saw a guy who had a one-year deal play as bad as he did in week 17 and in the playoffs, you would have been like, Get this guy out of here. In the moment, they made the right decision. Sam Darnold did not play well at the end of the season, the two most important games of the season. You have this young quarterback who you drafted, who's cheaper on a contract, and you loved him so much, you drafted him 11th overall, 10th, 11th, somewhere like that. They made the right... Now, they might hate how it ended up for Sam Darnold in this situation he's in now, but you can't go back and you can't go back backwards and say, Well, now we know you would have kept him. When they got rid of him, he had to play the two worst games of the season, their two most important games, and they had McCarthy waiting to play. They had even seen play yet. They hadn't played at all. I think the Vikings in the moment, made the right decision.

Now, it might not work out for them because McCarthy looks like he might not be the guy and hasn't played enough to really know that. Donald's going to win the Super Bowl, in my opinion. So yeah, the Vikings probably hate themselves that the end result is what it is. But when they made the decision with the information they had, I think they made the right decision.

I think you get it right. And the only thing that would dissuade me from agreeing with that is if we could hook KOC up to a lie detector and say, did you know a year ago that JJ McCarthy was not going to work out? But obviously, their behavior indicated that they thought JJ McCarthy was going to work out. And so they moved on from a guy who, by the way, again, had shown no one under the sun that he could win in big spots, which brings us back to the importance of QB wins and what they mean to a guy.

Look, I think quarterback wins again. In general, meh, but postseason legacy, it does matter. Okay, here's a question.

But this is a more practical one. This is not result means that now we build a statue to the quarterback. This is a guy who had shown, boy, he falls on his face in big spots. He's not the man. That's why you move on from him. This is 20/20 hindsight stuff.

He played very well. But I mean, look, record-winning team scores under 17 points. Justin Herbert's 2-16, Burrows, 1-10, Allen's 4-19, Mahomes is 2-7. Drake may's 2-0 in the playoffs. A quarterback, it's not the be-all-end off or a team winning or losing.

But it's also what I always tell you is when you have the guy and he's still on his rookie contract, that's when you're going to get to the Super Bowl. We try to talk our way around them to steer it into other factors when they take a back seat.

The only two in our lifetime to really break that trend are braided and Mahomes, right? Manning for a short window, right? But it's been pretty much young quarterbacks have gone their teams, right? Carson Wents got his team. Big Ben did in year two. Wilson did in year two, May now in year two. And Darnal is not that expensive. Darnal is a mid... He's getting paid like a mid-tier quarterback.

Well, by the way, I also was advocating for another team to go after Sam Darnal. Take a big swing on that guy or draft Jackson Darnal and bring a Bridge guy, Justin Fields, to play September and October of 2025 until you decide, Okay, let's give the kid the keys and let him take over from that spot, or swing big on Sam Darnal. They did neither, and I don't remember how it worked out there. That brings us to the next item on the jerk list. Take it away there, Fuentes, boys.

Before we get going. So, Dave, are you willing to put your money on any of these quarterbacks winning the Super Bowl next year or getting to the Super Bowl? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Kam Ward, Shador Sanders, Jackson Dart, Jalen Millrow, Dylann Gabriel. Dylann Gabriel, can't even use his name right. Or Tyler Shuck. Are you going to put any bets down, any features on that? No?

Maybe. I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I have to see what happens in the... You're trying to put me on the spot, but I have to see what happens. How would I know?

How would I know? Well, listen- I want to see how confident you are in Jalen Millrow, just so I want to get- Okay, I'll bring it up.

I'll bring it up. So this thing that's going- No, I got you.

The dealers are hiring. Mike McCarthy is uninspired. That's the Well, right.

Okay, but let me just... That's right. See? But no, this thing that people are doing about specific to the Mike McCarthy higher and all these other situations that are unsettled around football America. I mean, it's the same as stopping the barber halfway through your time in the chair and being like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, this haircut sucks, man. Like, well, we don't even know what it's going to look like in the end. I don't know who Mike McCarthy is going to hire to be on his staff. I don't know who the quarterback in Pittsburgh is going to be. The only thing I do know is, shame the devil if it's a 43-year-old man who we last saw, once again, afraid of a pass rush. He shrinks. If you heat him up. That's not good in pro football, so long as, I don't want to be a negative, Nelly, I bet that some pro football teams next season also have a pass rush. How say you, Jeff Schwartz?

That would be impressive if the pass would go next season. Mccarthy has won a lot of football games. I tweaked this out to his friends, It's like, Oh, it's like Mike Tomlin. He's won more than Mike Tomlin, to be fair. He won 12 games, three years in a row with Dak. Then Dak was hurt. He won seven games, gets fired. Quarterback's obviously a huge Hire there. But look, what were the other options? People throughout, like some of these young OCs, the Browns appear to be hiring the Ram's past game coordinator, who's 35 years old and doesn't even call plays. That's not a good hire either.

By the way, to interrupt you, the name that was at the top of the list that I thought was going to get the gig based on a couple of people I was talking to, I thought it was going to be Chris Shula. How would it go over if they announced Chris Shula today as the new head coach after Sam Darnal just hung 30 something on him?

Yeah, it wouldn't be bad. I don't know if that disqualifies you to being a head coach, but it would have been bad for the Rams defense when they played down the stretch to him getting the job. It feels like a situation where the Steelers just wanted to bridge to a better coaching cycle, essentially, right? We bring McCarthy in there for three or four years. I mean, you're going to win a Super Bowl, probably not, but Drake may in the Patriots and Sam Donald in the Steelers in the Super Bowl this year, Seahawks Super Bowl. It's not a Super Bowl we expected. That doesn't mean... Pittsburgh can certainly be... They need a quarterback. What do they need? They need a quarterback. What's your plan for quarterback, Dave? That's the number one issue, not who the head coaches.

Well, there's a lot of buzz that it's going to be the sixth-round draft pick, Will Howard from Ohio State, of course. Maybe he'll work out. People cite Tom braided and whoever else. The idea that you would put all your eggs in that basket seems awfully silly to me. Maybe, as I say, I'm not saying that there's no chance he works out, but he He went in the sixth round for a reason, everybody. Settled down.

Okay. The thing that frustrates me about this discussion all the time is there's 32 teams in the NFL. I think four have quarterbacks that aren't first or second-round picks. That's it. Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy. Who's the other one? There's, of course, the other one. I'm getting off top of my head. Jalen Hertz. Second-round pick. That's second-round pick, you're right. In most Mostly, the second-round picks are mostly top half of the second-round. It's just not... All Franks are guys are first-round pics. The idea that Will Howard is going to be Tom braided because it happened one time, I don't get why fan bases convinced themselves of this, even though there's no evidence of that being the case. This weekend, Sam Donald's on his 14th, but he's picked fourth overall, right? He's a first-round pick. Drake May, high first-round pick. This is what the sport is at this Yes, you can find a Dak Presky. You can find a Brock Purdy. But that's not the way the quarterback system works. So just think, Oh, Will Howard will step in. It's just not aligned with- It's ludicrous.

Right. If that is your plan, it's Ludicrous. If it happens, now it's fined in $100 bill on the side one. Correct.

If you look into it, it's great. To be fair, the Nines looked into it because they drafted Trey Lance. That's who they wanted to be their quarterback. They looked into it. Look, the Cowboys showed They got locked in there, too, because Dak was going to be a backup. Romo gets hurt, and Dak becomes a starting quarterback. It's very rarely a guy that you expect when you draft Russell Wilson. He third-round pick. He got lucky in it. He beat out Matt Flynn because that was a dumb deal that the Seahawks did. But the idea... Will Hau is not backing into any job. He's not good enough to be the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl team.

Well, I mean, to address the Mike McCarthy higher, though, I get why people would say uninspired because he's been around for so long. Mike McCarthy has been. And I think a lot of the negativity for people, not just in Pittsburgh as a sports town, but expressing dim cynicism equals gravitas, I think in people's minds, at least, that it makes them feel important to come out of the gate with some piss and vinegar. But the thing that makes no sense is, why they They get rid of Tomlin. Tomlin moves on and they just go to Mike McCarthy. What's the difference between them two? Mike Florio, who obviously I would think knows better, saying, If they were going to do all this, why didn't they go after John Harbaugh? I mean, aside from the fact that he's the Ravens' coach, which they would never do, which would rule them out as the Ravens guy. They would never hire him. That's not a stealer's-y thing. But John Harbaugh is not what Mike McCarthy is. Mike McCarthy develops QBs, everybody. Mike Tomlin does not develop QBs. That is specifically what Mike McCarthy does about as well as anybody. Just because he's been around for a while, doesn't negate the fact that's the goal, whether or not it works is another matter.

But that's the thinking of hiring Mike McCarthy.

If we just all ignored Mike Florio, it would be a lot better. I don't know anyone who hates the sport they cover more than Mike Florio.

I think he's just trying to take it down. I just think he loves it.

He also is everything's It's always a conspiracy. It's always a conspiracy. It's always a conspiracy. The thing about it is he's smart enough to know it's not. What do you want social media that frustrates me is people that know better and they just act this way anyways. A lot I love it's on the political sphere when you're like, But I know you. What the fuck are you saying? I know you don't believe any of the shit you're saying. The conspiracy stuff with Florio just bogged me because he knows, but he's a smart guy. I don't think he's dumb. He puts out some just silliest stuff sometimes. He knows dealers are not going to hire John Harbaugh. Why would you even... If it's for clicks, then that's your business model. Go ahead and do it. Be my guest. Because I get the reaction. It's just frustrating because I feel like he was better than that for a long time and not anymore.

All right. I think we've said just about it all. I thought this was a real good episode. We covered a lot of ground about the title games and what it means going forward for Super Bowl 60. Let's catch up before that game kicks off to get our final picks with Jeff Schwartz. In the meantime, make sure you're checking out Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. Bear bets and all the rest of it. Great stuff from our guy Schwartz. There he goes. Here we go to We're rolling forward. We will have an episode for you on Friday as Super Bowl 60 draws ever closer. Until then for everybody here at Football America. Thanks so much, my fellow football Americas, Americans, Americas, Americans, whatever you call yourselves. It's been a thin slice of heaven.