00:00A game, score-wise, where New England wins by three.
00:05It was, you know, kind of, you know, sort of what I expected here.
00:07I expected Denver to keep this game close, and I...
00:10I expected New England to win and get to the Super Bowl, but...
00:15I feel like I don't even know that I could judge anything that I saw in the second half of that game.
00:20It's, you know, extremely unfair weather conditions in this one, and I don't think people...
00:25People are discussing that enough.
00:26They're just saying, ah, New England won.
00:28I mean, New England, I think, in the Super Bowl.
00:30We could see, you know, they could score 30 on Seattle.
00:33I mean, it's certainly possible.
00:34I just don't know that...
00:35There was a single takeaway, which is rare, from an AFC championship game that we...
00:40We could even use in the Super Bowl, and I haven't even gotten to the fact that the Broncos were using a backup quarterback.
00:45Yeah, I think the Patriots, one thing you take away from their AFC playoff...
00:50...is the fact that they played dominant defense, and they needed to play dominant defense, because their offense is done.
00:55It was not what we saw in the regular season when they were putting up a 28...
01:00...plus points per game, so that defense really saved them.
01:04I know the...
01:05Quarterbacks, they faced weren't exactly murderer's row, and it kept decreasing when you went...
01:10...from Dustin Herbert to C.J. Stroud to then Jared Stidham, but look...
01:15...then you get Sam Darnold at the Super Bowl, so you could argue that this is not the biggest...
01:20...run of quarterbacks you'll ever see in their run, but you've got to beat the teams that are in front of you.
01:25And you've got to take care of business, you've got to protect the ball, and that's what they did.
01:28I mean, they protected the ball better...
01:30...in those conditions, made better decisions in critical moments than the...
01:35Yeah.
01:35...Broncos did, and that's why they won the game.
01:36Now, it looks like it was a field goal, but you didn't really feel...
01:40...that the Broncos, once they went behind to that game, New England took the lead, but they didn't really...
01:45...have a shot, right?
01:45The way the Patriots are playing after that first drive, and then you have Drake...
01:50...look, he wasn't fantastic at all, he was in the shell...
01:55...of what we saw in the regular season, but he still ran big time.
02:00...against the Chargers and the Broncos when they needed it, he made the plays in the second...
02:05...and a half they needed, so, I mean, people are going to kind of rip into Drake...
02:10...may a little bit, but again, he did what he was able to do in some tough matchups.
02:15...and his team came through for him, so I think what you're seeing is the Patriots and Seahawks...
02:20...are complete teams, it's not just about the quarterback, but they're in the Super Bowl at...
02:25...14-3, because they're good, well-rounded teams that should be in the Super Bowl.
02:30Let's play that Monday morning quarterback for a minute, Vinny.
02:32Do you indict Sean Payton for not...
02:35...not knowing the weather, what was coming, and not taking those points...
02:38...like was indicated, and now...
02:40...we're all circling back and saying that he should have, or do you think that he made the right decision?
02:45...going for it on 4th and 1.
02:47I think I would have kicked the field goal for multiple reasons, the way...
02:50...the Patriots defense had played all throughout the playoffs...
02:53...like you've got to take the points that are available to...
02:55...when you have them, it could have been this battle of attrition going back and forth.
03:00So, every point was big, based on how his defense was playing, based on...
03:05...the way the Patriots defense was playing, regardless of what was coming weather-wise, I think he...
03:10...just have to say, hey, we've got a backup quarterback, we've moved into the red zone, we've got to take points with...
03:15...that, and you don't know what's coming, and then we know what came, they didn't score any other points in the game, so...
03:20...I think you just have to look at the game situation, it's not always about the analytics...
03:25...of that moment, and what you should do in that situation, but based on the...
03:30...big picture of the entire game, and I think from that perspective, Mike Rabel outcoached him for sure.
03:35I mean, they played keep away, but it was intentional in the second half, and it really paid off for them.
03:40Thank you, Patriots.
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