00:00Our next guest is actually going to be part of the Eagles-Panthers call with Ian Eagle on Sunday.
00:05That's also in the one o'clock window in the Weishart Wright. We make it right. Call Kyle
00:09Wright Hotline. He joins us every single Wednesday at 4 p.m. Odyssey. NFL Insider, CBS Sports NFL
00:17Analyst, the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. Ross Tucker's joining us now in this NFL Insider
00:22call presented by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs. Nationwide is on your side.
00:28Ross, welcome to the show. Wow, man. That was a mouthful. I feel like you need to like
00:35take a breather after that. That was a lot, man. How are you doing? We're doing all right here. Good.
00:40I'll be honest. I liked it better when the Browns were three and one as opposed to three and two.
00:46How much should the Jets loss and what an ugly game that was for both teams
00:51maybe change the thinking of Browns fans? I don't know. I don't think much.
00:58At this point, I think how they respond, how they play against the Ravens at home on Sunday
01:06will mean a lot more. You know, that game, by the way, I can't remember the last Jets home game
01:12where it hasn't rained. What is the deal with that? Like every Jets home game, it's like,
01:18it just looks like a mess. It's raining. It's low scoring. You know, the camera has like droplets on it
01:26as you're watching. Sometimes it's really wild. I think that game was probably about what everybody
01:34thought it would be about. I think the unfortunate thing is even though they didn't play great,
01:42you know, to, to have the lead in the fourth quarter, to make the play on defense, to have
01:49the ball, it's just kind of disappointing. You know, the, the special team stuff is just
01:56really, really tough to take. You know, it's like the way the Rams lost the way the, on Monday night,
02:01the way the Eagles lost Sunday morning. It's like, anytime you feel like your special teams
02:06is such a big factor in losing the game, it's just such a bummer because you know what people
02:13never call about in the off season. They never call about special teams and, you know, our long
02:19snapper, our punter. So that's the part that's probably as frustrating as anything. And unfortunately
02:24this time, you know, Deshaun Watson was not able to come through with the, with the game winning
02:31drive late. Is there any philosophy on, on better teams or at least even, I'm thinking of McVay is
02:37what I'm thinking of, you know, last year, the NFC title game, they have the, the bot special teams
02:41play. And obviously they have a lot of problems this year to already cut their kicker, but it feels
02:44like McVay doesn't put a priority on that. Is there, have you noticed any sort of trends or anything
02:49that way where you have some of these really good teams or really good coaches and they just don't
02:54put an emphasis on special teams the way that they do obviously other parts of the team?
03:00Yeah. I mean, that's what everybody says about the Rams. I guess, I guess I disagree with that a
03:08little bit in the sense that typically they haven't had a lot of first and second round picks.
03:13They've had a bunch of, you know, um, mid round and late round picks and they use a lot of
03:19them
03:19and they hit on a lot of them. And a lot of those guys not only end up playing offensive
03:24defense,
03:25but they play on special teams. I feel like that's sort of a convenient narrative after the
03:31fact, when things have not gone well, in other words, John, it's like, okay, the fuel goal got
03:38blocked because a backup offensive lineman gave up too much push and Rousseau got a hand on it.
03:48Nobody is making roster decisions based on which backup old lineman will be best on fuel goal
03:56protection. Like to me, that's a joke, right? So that's not the reason whatever emphasis McVay
04:02puts or doesn't put on it. That's not why they lost Monday night. Now, are there some teams that
04:09keep five or six guys primarily because of special teams and other teams keep two or three? Yeah. I mean,
04:15I think that'd be actually really interesting to see the core special teamers per roster,
04:23which is essentially the guys that are on the roster because of how good they are on teams,
04:29not because of how good they are as a backup safety or linebacker or whatever, but that has
04:36nothing to do with a fuel goal getting blocked. Uh, and he swapped out the special teams coordinator
04:42so many times now. It doesn't seem like it's that either. It just feels like they, um,
04:50I don't know if they, if they're jinxed or what, but that's obviously been a big issue for them.
04:56Um, that's actually something I might have someone try to look up. Cause that is interesting,
05:00especially with how many more returns there are now, Jonathan. Yeah, definitely.
05:03You know, it's, it's, it's much more impactful than it was. So you have to ask yourself how many
05:10of the 11 guys on punt team and kickoff team, how many of them are on that because they're really
05:16good at it. And how many of them are on that because they happen to be the fourth best receiver
05:21and the coach wants that guy to be the fourth receiver, even if maybe he's not good on teams,
05:27like those are the decisions that they have to make. There's a school of thought that McVay puts more
05:32emphasis on offense and defense and special teams, but I don't know. I will say, I mean,
05:39here we're talking about three games. Look, it's not, it's not the punter's fault that the ball went
05:43through his hand. I mean, it was wet and, uh, he blew it and it's unfortunate, but also how about
05:49tackling better with Garrett Wilson or tackling better with Braylon Allen? I mean, the defense
05:53still had their chances. Ross Tucker, Odyssey NFL insider with us nationwide is so much more than a
06:01great insurance company. They're on one of, uh, they're one of, uh, America's largest financial
06:06service companies to nationwide is on your side. So it's an interesting spot for the Ravens on Sunday
06:12here in Cleveland, because on one hand, winner gets, uh, you know, sole place, uh, sole possession
06:19of first place of the AFC North. On the other hand, after this Browns game, uh, the Ravens have
06:26the Bengals, Bills and Jaguars. And then there's this big Lamar Jackson decision. Uh, I know Adam
06:32Schefter today said, uh, Hey, there's a chance he could play on Sunday. How important is this game
06:38for the Ravens Lamar versus the three games after it? So there's two different ways to look at that,
06:46right? I mean, you could look at it and say, if you're the Ravens, Hey, we just beat the Falcons
06:51without Lamar. We're probably going to need Lamar for Bengals, Bills, Jags. Do we feel confident
07:01that we can beat the Browns with Huntley to the point where we can give Lamar a little bit more
07:08time? It seems to me the last couple of years, I mean, last year, especially, I'm not sure
07:16they always have a great feel during the week, whether or not they think Lamar is going to play.
07:21You know, I mean, last year, there was a week where I thought for sure he was gonna
07:25based on what John Harbaugh was saying. And then he didn't. So, um, that's a, that's a really
07:31interesting one to watch because the medical people, Lamar, the coaching staff, like everybody
07:40kind of has to be on the same page there. So you could look at it and say, Hey, we
07:44got three tough
07:45games coming up. Uh, not to say that the Browns aren't tough, but we gotta win this one. We gotta
07:51get
07:51this one. So Lamar, if you can go, we need you to go, we need you to win this one
07:56because
07:56the next three are all toss up games or the opposite, which is we need Lamar a hundred
08:02percent for those three to really have a chance. So if he's not a hundred percent for this Browns
08:08game, let's go with Huntley again. He showed us, you know, he can play well enough for us
08:12to win the other night against Atlanta. Yeah. Um, you know, last week, I thought you nailed
08:17it with the, the idea of like, uh, you have so much time off and these guys, they go home
08:21and maybe they just, maybe everyone's pumping them up. Everyone's getting them excited.
08:25Everyone's making them feel like maybe they're better than they are. And then, I mean, complete
08:28trap game. Uh, it was the vibe there. So I like in your opinion on stuff like this, because
08:32you've, you've been inside these buildings and you know how these guys think. If you're Todd
08:36Munkin, the relationship with the Ravens, does that, does that help or does that hurt this
08:41matchup for the Browns? Helps tremendously helps tremendously. Yes. You know, so, so Jesse
08:51Minter, like he knows a little bit about Munkin, but really just for being on the other side
08:56and having played against them once or twice, Munkin knows the vast majority of the Ravens
09:03personnel very, very well. So whether it's Huntley or Lamar, he knows what they do. Well,
09:12he knows what they struggle with. Now it's different schemes with Declan Doyle on offense
09:18and Minter on defense, but even the guys on defense, even the best guys, Kyle Hamilton and
09:24Marlon Humphrey, you know, he's been in all those meetings over and over again, where the
09:31defensive coaches say, yeah, but he can't do this anymore or yeah, but he just, when we,
09:38when the other team does this, he does that. I think it's, I'm not going to say it's a huge
09:43advantage, but definitely advantage Munkin. And I'll give you another one. My sense is that
09:52the guys on the Browns really like Munkin because he's like a no nonsense guy tells you the way
09:59it is. All the reasons why I told you when they hired him that he was awesome. And I love
10:04the
10:04hire and I'm a big fan because he's a straight shooter and a lot of guys aren't. I think the
10:11players love him no matter what he says this week about playing the Ravens. Those guys are going to
10:19know, even if he has an affinity for his time with the Ravens, those guys are going to know this
10:25game
10:25means a little bit more to him. This game is pretty special to go against your former team.
10:30Not that they fired him or let him go or anything, but you still always in life want to show
10:36out
10:37against, you know, your former team. So I'd like to think because of that, the Browns will have a
10:43little extra edge going into this game because they like Munkin and they want to win this one,
10:49not only for themselves and for the city and for the fans, but when this one for Munkin,
10:53they know this would be a special win for him. Ross, the 49ers are 5-0. They've got the
10:58commanders on Monday Night Football this week and they have officially become the favorites in Vegas
11:05to win the Super Bowl. Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, Brock Purdy, also the favorite
11:11to win the MVP now. Leapfrogging Josh Allen and there was another player that for some reason is
11:17escaping me. But if you had to bet on one of the things happening and one of them not happening
11:22right
11:22now, would you say it's more likely that Brock Purdy wins his first MVP, but the 49ers don't
11:28win the Super Bowl or the 49ers win their first Super Bowl under Kyle Shanahan, but Purdy isn't
11:35the NFL MVP this year? Yeah, that's easy. Let's think about this logically, Nick.
11:41If they win the Super Bowl, and I know the voting is the end of the regular season, but if
11:47they win
11:47the Super Bowl, there's probably a pretty good chance that they had the number one seed and that
11:53he's the MVP. Whereas if he's the MVP, you still got to win three or four playoff games. You still
12:03got
12:03to be healthy with a bunch of guys in their 30s in January and February. I mean, I think they're
12:09the
12:10best team. And I think it really just comes down to how much juice all these older guys, Trent
12:17Williams and McCaffrey and Mike Evans, how much juice they have left. But I think there's a better
12:22chance he wins the MVP because of the start he's off to and how good I think they'll be all
12:28year
12:28than there is that they win the Super Bowl. There's still a good chance that they win the Super Bowl,
12:32but just not as high of a chance. I did want to ask you about, you know, Sirianni had his
12:38gaffe,
12:38Dan Quinn had his gaffe, Schottenheimer had his. I wanted your opinion on why you think,
12:43if you agree with the idea, the coaching across the NFL and really just game management in the
12:48final couple of minutes of these games, why does it seem so bad right now, to put it bluntly?
12:54Yeah, so the commander situation is a totally unique entity unto itself that defies all logic and
13:02explanation. So until I get like the audio of that and find out what the heck happened,
13:09that to me is like in its own stratosphere. You know, the Schottenheimer decision, okay,
13:16you can justify it as we don't want to take the chance of a long return, like by the way,
13:23the Jaguars had against the Eagles. And we like the idea of our defense, you know, being out there,
13:30not letting him get a big play, which obviously they did in the backfired, but I can at least,
13:35I think Schottenheimer made the wrong decision, but we can have that conversation as for the Eagles.
13:42Okay. Okay. Everybody wants them to hit a touchback and Sirianni says he screwed up. Okay. First of all,
13:47if you hit a touchback, the guy can still return the ball. He can still come out, but okay. Let's
13:51say he does take a knee. Cam Littles made a 70 yarder. So they get the ball to 35,
13:57eight seconds left. All they need is a 15 yard out and he's attempting a 67 yarder. Now I know
14:04they have no timeouts and I know the Eagles would be protecting the sideline, but you can't protect
14:10every inch of the side. I mean, they can still throw a high point ball and, you know, Brian Thomas
14:15jr. Can catch it for a 17 yard gain. So I don't know, like what, what's, what's the percentage chance
14:21that they throw a 15, 20 yard out route to Brian Thomas or Parker Washington somehow fitted in
14:27there versus have a 60 yard return. To me, they're not that similar. I mean, I think the return is
14:35more unlikely. The issue is how they handled it when they had the ball on their last possession.
14:41Yeah. Not draining the clock before the field goal. Yeah. That's correct. It never should have come
14:45down to that. And then they really got it in Elliot's head. Hey, we do not want to touch back
14:51here. So he hit like a line drive to like the 12 yard line, totally threw off the timing of
14:59the
14:59kickoff team. Imagine all you ever do is run down there for these high kicks to the goal line,
15:06high kicks to the goal line. All of a sudden, Abdullah catches it on a sprint and he's just running
15:14it.
15:14Like you could tell that he got to them way before they were ready. And I think, look like anything
15:21else, it's a comedy of errors. And that was one of them. Ross, great stuff as always, buddy. Enjoy
15:27Panthers, Eagles, CBS on Sunday at one o'clock. Appreciate you, bud. Yeah. I think this is the
15:34first time in the last couple of years I haven't done Ravens Browns. I had done it in the last
15:38few
15:38years. So I'm surprised they're still having the game without me. Uh, anyway, it was, it was a
15:43consideration. It was all right. Ross Tucker there. Odyssey NFL insider on the wise heart,
15:49right? We make it right. Call Kyle, right? Hotline. This NFL insider call presented by
15:53nationwide for your insurance in financial needs. Nationwide is on your side.
