00:00But Mike McDonald's status is a completely different debate.
00:05It's to see the first, second, or third best coach in football.
00:09If you are partial to the offensive side of the ball,
00:12you might want to move McDonald down.
00:15Though, McDonald, even if his side of the ball wasn't the better in each game,
00:20knocking off Shanahan and McVay,
00:23and then the reigning coach of the year in Vrabel to get here,
00:26he certainly makes a case that he's the best coach in football.
00:31And he's not even 40 yet.
00:34And what we know is if you do have a great coach,
00:39heck, even if you have a really good coach, you have a very high floor.
00:43We've wondered, is Tomlin still great?
00:46Is he elite?
00:47What we knew, though, is just having Mike Tomlin,
00:50basically the Steelers started every year at eight wins, right?
00:53Seattle now, Joe, I think, can look up and down their roster,
00:58their building, and be confident in that head coach more than anything else,
01:04as much as any team in football is confident in anything.
01:07And it makes them now set up to be a part of the conversation
01:12for potentially a decade.
01:14Yeah, absolutely.
01:15And about 29 straight games without a 100-yard rusher, right?
01:19I mean, that's just a testament to his defensive scheme, his philosophy,
01:24and basically how they've constructed this team, right?
01:28I mean, all the players involved, you know, they draft Zach Charbonnet,
01:32and Charbonnet was there, how they utilized him and Kenneth Walker.
01:37You know, they got rid of DK Metcalf.
01:39You can make the argument, like, you know,
01:41he was the best wide receiver at that time on the roster.
01:45He really hasn't lived up to expectations, right?
01:48And JSN emerges into this leading wide receiver with over 1,700 yards, right?
01:55Defensively, Demarcus Lawrence and the scheme,
01:58Witherspoon and how he utilizes blitz packages
02:01and how he gets pressure
02:02and just how difficult they were
02:05to just basically game plan for,
02:08because it's what we said
02:11about Bilicek and the Patriots, right?
02:14Back in the day, they were that chameleon.
02:16They could play a high-scoring game.
02:18They could play a low-scoring game.
02:20You want to first team to 50,
02:22hey, we could play like that, right?
02:24And that was the NFC Championship game.
02:26You want to go toe-to-toe, we'll do it.
02:28You want to play a grind-out type of game?
02:30That's what we got in Super Bowl 60.
02:32We'll rush it right down your throat.
02:34And so that is very difficult
02:37for coaches, even like Vrabel,
02:40because they're cookie-cutter.
02:43We have an identity.
02:45This is what got us here.
02:46And McDonald and I think Kubiak have shown
02:49up until this point that, hey,
02:51we're going to do whatever it takes
02:53to win the game.
02:54And I think he's one of the top three coaches,
02:57and he's proved that with that dominating effort.
03:00And again, you know,
03:01I wasn't maybe as high on him.
03:03He's an under-the-radar guy up until this point,
03:06but he's just led by example.
03:07I think the thing for McDonald is...
03:10He doesn't get as much clout as the other guys.
03:13But that's done.
03:14I'm telling you.
03:14Right, now it's all.
03:15That's done.
03:16But can you agree with that?
03:17Even though we won the championship game,
03:19it's like they just started to buy into McDonald?
03:22I mean, the fact of the matter is
03:23he didn't really get much consideration
03:25for Coach of the Year
03:26until they clinched the one seed.
03:28Like, he was just...
03:30They were like,
03:30oh, it's Vrabel by a mile.
03:32And then like, hey, maybe Ben John?
03:34Maybe anyone Ben John?
03:35And then like, ah, never mind, Mike.
03:36It's like, yeah, okay, that's odd.
03:39I always thought that was odd.
03:40We talked about that in real time.
03:42But sometimes, and this is...
03:46Check that box.
03:48The LeBron guy in me.
03:49Sometimes we also learn a lot of,
03:51hey, what happens when you leave, right?
03:54That Ravens defense has been a disaster
03:56since he's been gone.
03:57It has been, right?
03:59So what I...
04:01I think there can be hesitation
04:03just the way today's league is set up.
04:05I think there's always some hesitation
04:07tied to hiring a defensive guy
04:09because the quarterback position
04:11is always so important.
04:13Is your quarterback going to be in disarray
04:15if you move off of offensive coordinators?
04:17But we're also seeing, Joe,
04:20defenses dominate.
04:22Last year's Philadelphia Eagles,
04:24over the course of the season,
04:26it was the defense
04:28that was the best in football.
04:31The run game was the best in football, right?
04:34But the offense wasn't the best.
04:36That defense was what carried the day, right?
04:38A lot of people have been talking about
04:39how the Texans are probably sick
04:41to their stomach watching that game.
04:43Heck, even Denver
04:43has to be sick to their stomach, right?
04:45Because if you...
04:46So many...
04:47So often it's,
04:49hey, do you have the quarterback?
04:51And that's not a part of it.
04:52Do you have one of the five best defenses
04:54in the league?
04:55Well, maybe then you could also
04:56go on a Super Bowl run
04:58and we should now reasonably expect
05:00the McDonald defenses to be...
05:02Defenses can go up and down,
05:03but top 10 every year?
05:05Yeah.
05:05I don't think that's unfair.
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