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00:00Hey, what's happening, everybody? Happy Monday to all of you.
00:04You're among the brave getting up to weather these completely dry streets that I drove in on.
00:10Good for you. Good job, everybody. Welcome in. Hope you had a great weekend.
00:14Hope you stayed warm. You're continuing to stay warm. It is cold out there. I will say that.
00:19The roads are dry, but it is cold out there. We are here for you.
00:21And we are here until 10 o'clock. Our first four-hour show, like legit pain and Pendergast four-hour patch.
00:27None of this. A lot of you, a lot of the young people out there might not know that's even a thing, you know?
00:32Yeah, yeah, yeah. We do do, in the offseason, we do a four-hour show on Mondays.
00:36Believe it or not. Yeah. How you doing, man?
00:38I'm good. I'm good. That was, that was, it was interesting. I hesitate to say it was an awesome day.
00:45You did have two tightly contested games in the championship games.
00:49The first game was basically played in two and a half quarters, I'd say.
00:54Once the weather conditions got so ridiculously bad that neither team was willing to do anything about it
01:02other than hope for the other one to make a drastic mistake.
01:05And you had a backup quarterback that started off promising, and Jarrett said it ended up.
01:10I basically lost the game for him with a C.J. Stroud-like turnover down in his own territory.
01:16And that ended up being the difference in the game.
01:19The second game of the evening, my goodness, what a back and forth.
01:23What turned out, looked like it was going to be a shoot-up for the ages,
01:28ended up being a story about the defenses in the second half.
01:31Yeah.
01:31I had some great play calling on both sides of the ball.
01:35And that was a great battle between two teams that had really just battled it out in the regular season.
01:42And they were very evenly matched, but ultimately the Seattle Seahawks are the victor, which I'm happy for.
01:49Yeah.
01:49You know, I thought the team that beat the snot more thoroughly out of the Texans in the regular season
01:54was the one I felt like, okay, you have impressed me, sirs.
01:58You go on to the Super Bowl.
02:00Yeah.
02:01Have you seen the spread for this Super Bowl yet?
02:03I think it's like three in favor of the Seahawks.
02:06Is that right?
02:06I saw four.
02:08Four, okay.
02:08Jimmy Shapiro's.
02:10Yeah, Jimmy Shapiro, I said after the Seahawks-Rams game, I said it during the Seahawks-Rams game,
02:16just watching those two teams play.
02:18And I think I'd be saying this even if the conditions weren't what they were in Denver
02:22for the last quarter and a half of that game.
02:24I'll take what I saw in the first two and a half quarters and say exactly what I'm going to say right now.
02:28If that spread is under a touchdown, I said this during the NFC title game,
02:32I'm taking whoever wins this game against the Patriots.
02:35The Patriots have gotten to the Super Bowl by now winning two.
02:39I'm going to put the Los Angeles Chargers aside.
02:42They won that game convincingly in so much as Justin Herbert couldn't do anything.
02:48The last two games that the Patriots have won have both been games where you're like,
02:53well, there's 28 other quarterbacks that would have won that game if they're playing against the Patriots.
02:58And so I just feel like give credit to Mike Vrabel for getting the Patriots turned around from being a 4-13 team
03:05two seasons in a row and getting them to the Super Bowl.
03:08That's an incredible, incredible accomplishment.
03:11It really is.
03:13This Seahawks team, I think, and I'd say the same thing about the Rams.
03:16They're on a different level than whoever the AFC was sending to that game.
03:19That's my only thing, and this is where I want to start, Seth,
03:22because I'm watching that Denver-New England game yesterday completely through the prism of
03:28how am I going to feel as a Texan fan at the end of this thing?
03:31How am I going to feel that the Texans blew the best opportunity that they've had in a quarter century
03:37to get to a Super Bowl?
03:39How am I going to feel about how this game played out?
03:41And you and I were texting during the game, and I said to you,
03:43the only outcome that's going to make me feel better as a Texan fan is if Denver steamrolls New England.
03:49Because then I can say, well, I don't think the Texans' A- or B-plus game would have beaten that.
03:56You know, if Denver had steamrolled them.
03:58And early on, it looked like that's how it was going to be.
04:01The defense for Denver was good all day long.
04:04The one touchdown drive the Patriots had,
04:07Jarrett Stidham handed them field position at the 12-yard line, and they scored on three plays.
04:11And other than that, I feel worse as a Texan fan having watched that game yesterday.
04:17This is the problem.
04:18The Patriots have followed the formula that the Texans had been trying to follow all year long,
04:23right up until C.J. Stroud decided to abandon it in the playoffs.
04:27Drake May, this is the fewest points per game scored in the playoffs to make it to a Super Bowl
04:32in NFL history or since the year, whatever, whatever.
04:36I saw the tweet. I'll find it.
04:37It's 16 or so points per game they've scored.
04:4218, yep.
04:4218 points per game.
04:44And meanwhile, the teams to make the Super Bowl after playing three playoff games
04:49and allowing 26 or fewer total points, there's two teams that have done it,
04:53the 2000 Ravens and the 2025 Patriots.
04:55Yeah.
04:56This Patriots run has been way more about the Patriots' defense.
05:01Way more.
05:02But because it's the NFL, people are going to talk about Drake May.
05:05I don't fault him for not scoring a boatload of points because he's had bad weather conditions.
05:09But all he's had to do is take care of the football and take advantage of the opportunities
05:15that the defense presents you.
05:17And he's done just that.
05:19Yes.
05:20And that's what C.J. Stroud could have done.
05:23Yep.
05:23It's just man the ship, play conservative football, don't be an idiot.
05:28And he was unable to accomplish that.
05:33And the Texans, you know, the Texans' defense had too, too many blips in the Patriots game.
05:40You know, so they didn't play a perfect game or anything.
05:44But, I mean, the Patriots' defense was given a lot of extra opportunities
05:49because C.J. Stroud just went AWOL on the game plan.
05:52Here's the number you were looking for.
05:54The Patriots have averaged 18 points per game in their three playoff games this season.
05:58The lowest of any team to reach the Super Bowl since the 1979 Rams.
06:03Yeah.
06:04Quarterbacked by Vince Ferragamo.
06:07Oh, Vince Ferragamo.
06:08All right.
06:09Yeah, yeah.
06:09They won the – I remember that.
06:11They won –
06:11He did a good job as the Hulk as well.
06:12They beat the – they beat the – they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-7
06:19in the NFL title game that year.
06:20I think this is – I could see myself – I could see myself scrolling Twitter yesterday,
06:27which I chose not to do.
06:28I just tried to enjoy the football.
06:30But I just know there was somebody out there, Sean.
06:33Somebody out there said,
06:35Huh, well, I don't see people criticizing Jarrett Stidham the way they did C.J. Stroud.
06:42It's because somebody did.
06:43I know they did.
06:44And it was going to send me over the edge.
06:46Yeah, Jarrett Stidham's a backup quarterback.
06:48Career backup.
06:49Right.
06:50And Jarrett Stidham's – honestly, Jarrett Stidham's what should have been a pick six
06:54on the backwards pass.
06:56Ball don't lie, et cetera, et cetera.
06:58It ended up allowing a touchdown.
07:01Yeah.
07:01Yeah, that wasn't even as bad as C.J.'s pick six.
07:04That was – at the very least, he was trying to dirt the ball,
07:08and he was just a little bit late on it.
07:09It was still a really, really bad mistake by Jarrett Stidham.
07:12Career backup.
07:13Yeah.
07:14So, yes, yes, C.J. Stroud is going to get more criticism than Jarrett Stidham would.
07:20And he also still – C.J. turned the ball over more than Jarrett Stidham did.
07:24Yeah, that was – well, yeah, well, I mean, Jarrett –
07:26Jarrett, towards the end of the game, you know, when they get the ball back –
07:31I mean, the snow element to this in the last quarter and a half was interesting
07:36because when I'm an impartial observer, I like watching snow games.
07:39I think it's entertaining.
07:40I mean, there's a Norman Rockwell aspect to it, you know, like it's fun.
07:44You know, it harkens back to the old John Facenda, the frozen tundra, that kind of thing.
07:49When I have a rooting interest, which I had a heavy rooting interest,
07:51I was not ready to see Dave Portnoy gloating on social media, Bill Simmons, all of it.
07:57I was rooting for Denver.
07:58That snow felt like handcuffs.
08:02That snow felt like, okay, this is just – and credit Vrabel.
08:05Like, he played it super conservative down the stretch because he knew that's all he had to do.
08:09They just conceded the set of downs.
08:12They were throwing the ball away on third down, like almost intentionally.
08:16Romo said it.
08:17He's like, no, that's a play where if the first read's not there, you huck it into the stands.
08:21So, Jarrett Stidham on the last drive that they ended up getting was –
08:26I mean, it was just complete game mismanagement.
08:29The first down play where he shovels – he, like, dives to shovel the ball to the running back,
08:35who then catches it, and then they burn seven seconds off the clock getting the next play on second and whatever it was.
08:43And then on that play, he throws the interception.
08:45So, you had two just horrific plays, and you never got the ball back.
08:48You know, you never got the ball back.
08:49Did you know Drake May went rogue on that – the end around, the naked bootleg that he ran there?
08:55Romo said it was a really gutsy play call.
08:58So, that was –
08:59By Drake May.
08:59Yeah, like, Drake May went rogue.
09:02Nobody – at least according to him, nobody on his team knew he was going to do that.
09:06Oh, that's good.
09:07Yeah.
09:07He pulled a little bit of the Peyton Manning recognizing that the naked boot was there.
09:11Yep.
09:12And just went out and took it.
09:14Yeah.
09:14Like, on a day like that, that's exactly the smart and right thing to do.
09:18The – oh, my gosh.
09:20And, you know, a week ago, I was wondering why the Broncos weren't running their quarterback more in the second half.
09:26And Bo Nix ended up running the ball in the overtime and breaking his ankle.
09:31Breaking his ankle.
09:31So, there were – I mean, there were times where in that game yesterday, I mean, once the – I was wondering, man,
09:37should they just have a little bit of Drake-designed runs to try to squeeze out the clock?
09:41It all worked out.
09:42And his legs ended up being the difference.
09:45But you just got to – you got to be careful of that.
09:47And he did a good job scrambling up the middle a few times.
09:49But that was – I mean, it was exactly what – it was exactly what Drake May needed to do in that game,
09:57where he wasn't spectacular, same way as he was last week.
10:00Last week, he was more impressive than he was this week.
10:02The touchdown they scored was just at point-blank range after Jarrett Stidham had basically gifted the Patriots the touchdown.
10:09Yeah.
10:10The big call in that game that's getting a ton of attention – and we'll hear from Sean Payton in just a second.
10:15Well, let's hear from Payton first.
10:16Payton said the problem with this game, we had opportunities in the first half.
10:20We just didn't come away with enough in the first half.
10:22What do you think of how Stidham played today?
10:24Oh, I thought he fought hard in tough conditions.
10:28I think we're going to look at the film.
10:29I know this.
10:30I'm going to look at it and be critical of myself.
10:34And I think there were a number of things that we just had to do better.
10:39You know, we didn't finish some runs.
10:43We dropped some passes again.
10:45I felt like that was a problem all year.
10:50You know, early when we had momentum, we didn't – like, it felt like, let's just say, most of the first half.
11:01And we didn't come away with enough having had that momentum and that field position.
11:06Yeah, there were opportunities.
11:08Hell, and the Patriots, I'm watching – they're showing the highlights on the TV in our studio here, Seth.
11:12The very first possession the Patriots had, Hufunga could have had an interception at, like, the Patriots' 25-yard line.
11:18There were a lot of missed opportunities in that game.
11:21The biggest thing Payton is getting criticism for – and I've never seen a coach get such criticism for a decision in the first half of a game on fourth down.
11:32But the game ended up 10-7, so it's easy to go back and look.
11:36I agree with the criticism because I typed it at the time.
11:39Fourth and one in the red zone, up 7-0.
11:43You can see which way this game is going.
11:45It's going to be a low-scoring game.
11:47I thought Sean Payton should have kicked the field goal.
11:49Instead, he runs a fourth down play that was completely butchered from the snap.
11:55Yeah.
11:55Where did you come out on that?
11:57I thought – at the time, I said, man, kick the field goal.
12:01Yeah, me too.
12:01Because they said that there was bad weather coming in and everything.
12:04And I know that can be a coin flip and say whatever you want with the analytics and everything.
12:09But I also, at the same time, too, at that point, the weather conditions weren't bad.
12:15So I'm trying to remember that, okay, all of those missed field goals later on were from much further away.
12:20But they were missed by a good chunk of a margin that maybe when Payton just balanced it out with everything,
12:28he just felt like, man, it's not a chip shot field goal at any distance here.
12:33And it's fourth and – that was fourth and inches, right?
12:36No, it was kind of fourth and a long one, actually.
12:38It was fourth and a long one.
12:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:40Once – and that was the one that the Bronco – or the – no, that was – did Payton himself call a timeout before that one?
12:46I can't – Payton even – Payton himself couldn't remember.
12:49Here's Sean Payton on the fourth and one.
12:51Oh, I feel better then.
12:51Yeah.
12:52Well, we ended up in a 6-1 front.
12:54They ended up playing in like a heavy 6-1.
13:00We actually – there was a clock stoppage.
13:02So we had a nickel run called.
13:05And then I don't know if there was a timeout or they called one.
13:12But, you know, it's a slipper naked that run pretty well.
13:19They played a 6-1 front with a – kind of a two-deep shell.
13:22So the run look was going to be – hindsight, the sub-run, the initial sub-run thought was a better decision.
13:31Yeah, Denver had a timeout before that.
13:32Yeah, Denver called their second timeout at nine minutes and 28 seconds left.
13:36Yep.
13:36And then the play was just – it was a complete bleep show from the start.
13:43Like Stidham – the pass rush gets in there.
13:45Stidham's running backwards and he almost throws an interception.
13:48This is the one where I just continue to wonder, man, the play that everybody wants to outlaw, the tush push,
13:54why are we still overthinking this at any point?
13:57They can line up in whatever they want, have a good tush push.
14:00I mean, Stidham – later in the game, Drake May would get a conversion on a sneak slash tush push that really looked –
14:11Yeah, man.
14:12Tiddy?
14:12That's the one that's driving me insane is that they've got this microchip in the football that they refuse to use for actually spotting the ball.
14:19They'll use to decide whether it's a first down or not.
14:22And the other part about the way they're officiating that now that annoys the hell out of me is that as soon as the quarterback stops for a nanosecond,
14:29if he loses the football, they'll call forward progress.
14:32But meanwhile, if he gets stopped for a nanosecond and he doesn't fumble the football, they allow him to keep going.
14:40But regardless, that's – I guess if he had run a tush push and they didn't get the fourth down,
14:46then I would have been a little bit more forgiving of it.
14:47But it's just – I'm at the stage now where any team that doesn't have a tush push,
14:52including the Texans up until this year where they finally decided to start using one,
14:56that just – do not overthink this.
14:59Stop coaching like it's 1993.
15:01Yeah.
15:03What's your initial excitement level for Seahawks-Patriots?
15:07We're going to be out there next week for this thing.
15:08I – just by my sheer hatred for the Patriots and everything they represent right now, it's pretty high.
15:15It's not the right kind of feeling.
15:16It's more of a – boy, I would rather be fueled by love and happiness and peace and all of that.
15:22But right now I want blood.
15:23Yeah.
15:24I just want – I want blood.
15:25I want heads on spikes.
15:27Right.
15:27The absolute value of your emotion is high.
15:30It's just – you know, it's coming from an anger place, not a –
15:33Right, right, right.
15:34I can't wait to watch this out of sheer football joy.
15:35It's like it's fun to have an exciting life.
15:37But, you know, usually it's one – hey, we're going to roller coasters and water parks and everything.
15:42Yeah.
15:43But it's still exciting life if you're fighting a war against the invading hordes.
15:48And that's what I feel like I'm doing right now.
15:49Dude, the text page today – I come into the text page today and I open it up and it's all text from, like, however many hours ago, like, both these games were going on.
15:57And it's all C.J. Stroud.
15:59It's all, like –
16:00It's impossible not to.
16:01It's all Sam Darnold is much, much better than C.J. Stroud, which he is.
16:05Yeah.
16:06You know, it's all about how C.J. – it's all – here's a big frustration.
16:10This is an interesting one.
16:12C.J. had to learn the system.
16:13This is BS.
16:15Darnold had to learn Clint Kubiak's system.
16:17And this is a big one.
16:18Drake May had to learn, you know, sort of a cousin of the system that the Texans were in.
16:24Yeah.
16:24In one – you know, in this season, Josh McDaniels, it's his first season.
16:28And Drake May might be the MVP of the league this year.
16:30Yeah, I don't – there's a – the bloom is off the rose for C.J. Stroud, and this is very much a prove-it year for him.
16:37But then you also – but then you flip back to, oh, yeah, Sam Darnold looked like absolute trash after his first couple years in the NFL.
16:44He didn't look anywhere close to C.J. Stroud.
16:46And look at him now.
16:48So there's just so many variables that go into it.
16:50They go to four other teams.
16:52That's the thing.
16:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:53I don't know, man.
16:55And there's – the problem with C.J. is that he just had a mediocre regular season.
17:03So it's harder to say, oh, wow, he just fell apart in the playoffs.
17:06It was all right.
17:07He wasn't all that exciting other than in some nice clutch fourth quarter moments during the regular season.
17:13But then he just completely fell apart in the playoffs.
17:15Yeah, like in the worst way, he's still getting memed.
17:18Yeah, none of the – you can make excuses for why he didn't have great performances in the playoffs.
17:22You can talk – we can talk about the offensive line.
17:24We can talk about Joe Mixon's absence, all of that.
17:27You can certainly talk about Nico not being there in the final game of the playoffs.
17:31But you just can't ignore that it wasn't just that he couldn't perform well.
17:36It's that he – he is the one who lost to the Patriots game.
17:40He lost, thank you.
17:41By just horrendous football.
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