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See store for details. Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of What the Football. Susie and Amy with you as always. Andrew Whitworth will join us momentarily. I think he's got a birthday coming up.
We'll have to talk to him about that. But, Amy, I had a great weekend. I went up to Vancouver for the last of the Taylor Swift eras tours. I took our son Xander up on Friday to Vancouver, which by the way was incredible. I've never been there before. Have you been to Vancouver?
Eons ago. Yeah, it was amazing. And what was funny about it was two things. Number one, greatest show of all time. I may be her biggest fan.
Impossible because it's clearly my son. But what was funny was because you're in Seahawks territory, you hear a lot about the Seahawks. And it made me think, oh God, we haven't really talked about the Seahawks much on this, on What the Football. But we will, I'm sure, bring that up at some point with Andrew Whitworth because obviously the Rams are rolling and it's been a really fun time to watch the NFC West.
And the NFC West is up for grabs. It's going to come down to these final weeks and it will be fun to discuss that with Andrew. Meanwhile, I almost didn't make it back in time for Taylor's championship basketball run this weekend. Full disclosure, we lost the championship. We won the semi Saturday to get to the championship on Sunday. Whatever.
Congrats to team Avi and Sam. You know who you are. But it was so insane getting out of Vancouver on Saturday. Jackass number one. I showed up the airport with like an hour and 10 minutes to go thinking, oh yeah, we're going to just march through. We're carrying our bags on it.
Idiot forgets that we're in another country. The West jet people were so nice and so terrific and helped me get there. I basically went to them in tears and said, I am coaching my daughter's 11 year old championships for the goldies of the sport league. I'm like, you got to get me through.
I'm begging you. And they were so nice and got us through what should have been a three and a half hour wait to get out of Vancouver. I am the luckiest person in the world. So thank you West jet. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. We lost, but the girls played great. We'll be back to coach another game. And I am going to come watch you coach. I would like to see you coach.
It's something, it's something, the mass hole in me comes out, but I mean, it's just so much fun to coach these girls. And just so you know, I'm not silent when I'm in the stands. You'll hear me. You'll hear me. You would be happy to know that there was a King Cone truck at the end. So there was a history to be had for all. As promised, Andrew Whitworth joins us now on What the Football.
And thank you so much for your time. I want to get right in off the top about the game, the Rams game the other night against the Bills. It kind of felt like they got the offense that they've been wanting all season long. Starting the season, we thought it would be that high powered offense and injuries hit, but we really saw a resurgent Rams team the other night.
Wondering what you thought. Yeah, it was awesome to see. I mean, it's crazy to think week 13 and 14, we finally get a Rams offensive line that they intended to have on the field. You know, it's been all year long.
Somebody's been banged up or not been available to him. And then obviously you also lost Cooper and Pukunakua different parts of the season. So it's just great to see them have their group be able to go out, put a game plan together with everybody they expected to be out there on the field and go execute two weeks in a row.
And so I think this game really is one that you start to. You started to think is this like last year when they finished the season seven and one and got really hot and made themselves, made a chance to the playoffs. There's a good window right now. They have a clear window if they can win this Thursday night in San Francisco for an opportunity to get in the playoffs and beat Seattle at home week 18 and win the division. Well, you're absolutely right. A clear window with a lot of divisional games to go in a division that's up for grabs.
It is. I mean, you look at it with really Arizona losing to Seattle Sunday. Now you've really created a scenario where Rams beat Seattle the first time. So if you look at it, they beat San Francisco this week.
They go to New York and then they play at home against the Cardinals. That game week 18 for Seattle, because of losing to the Rams the first time really is probably going to be a game they have to win to win this division. And so in the Rams case, this it's a clear path and that's really this time of year. Not everybody has a clear path and then for to have one and go, you know what, all we got to go do is go put it together for four straight weeks and we can win this division. I mean, you got to feel excited about that if you're in the Rams locker room and how they just played on Sunday. Well, what do you know about the Rams locker room? Because you're so fresh.
I have to think you still have an ear in there. Oh yeah. I mean, I think they feel great. I mean, to have their guys back, there's a lot of confidence there. I think there's some teams that probably are a bad matchup for them defensively because of how young they are. And really, if you think about their defense, I mean, the young rushers are great, but I wouldn't say that they'd have the most team speed probably on defense that you would think of. And so some of these quarterbacks that are mobile give them trouble. You look at Kyler Murray who gave them a lot of trouble early in the year.
Jalen Hurts was able to move around on him in the Philadelphia game and obviously stopping Saquon in a great offensive line is a big challenge for a young rookie, young defense. But I think that really you look at who they have left. San Francisco, they played great the first time they played them and beat them at home.
Can they do it again? New York Jets, they match up well with. The big one to me is Kyler Murray and the Cardinals at home. I mean, Kyler's always kind of gave them fits when he's hot and can run around.
They can't get him on the ground and then Seattle, they match up great with. So if I'm in that locker room, Matthew Stafford, Cooper cup, the leadership of that team, they're saying, Hey guys, in front of us are all teams. We can beat two of those games. We get to play at home. Like we have an opportunity to go do something special regardless of everything we've been through all season long, countless out injuries, having to come over overcome all that adversity. We have a path to the playoffs. And if you can get young guys inspired that, that rookie wall, as we call it and say, Hey man, like forget about being tired, forget about the season being over. We have a path to go make it to the playoffs, get jacked up about it. I think they have that in front of them.
And I think that's why I think that there's a chance we're about to see them make a run. So let's go in that locker room and obviously your best friend being Matthew Stafford, what's his mentality like? Have you spoken to him since the game?
Yeah, I text him after the game. Listen, you know, Matthew Stafford's a legend. He, as I say, I always call him John Wayne, cause that's who he is. He's one of the toughest, baddest dudes on the planet.
He's that guy. When you're sitting in the huddle with him as a lineman, you're not complaining about anything because that dude can get hit. He can have anything happen. He's never going to complain. He's never going to say a word. He's just going to go back there and make the next play it takes to move the football down the field and have success. Nobody's going to spend more time in the building than him. He's the first one there every day. So he's just the guy, those guys all rally around and look up to.
It's like protecting their big brother. And so you can tell that it means something to him. You've seen the last few weeks, his kind of talks to that group out on the field, that there's a mentality of we got something to prove and this is my football team and, and they're following him. So that's why I feel pretty good about their chances right now of getting it going.
I think you, if you're an opposition team, you're looking at a guy like that with the experience that he has. The pair of receivers and more than anything else, a coach who just, I'll say it just doesn't give a fuck. And he's just going to put it out there to win these games. And that would seem to me to be the most dangerous combination as somebody who knows this only so well, as we see by the trophy over your left shoulder, what do you believe is happening right now?
How are they capturing this and putting this forward? Cause I just want to know, I love with a player like you to pull the curtain back and take us inside that locker room. Yeah. I think anytime any football team in general, especially one in my opinion and Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford on their team that really has been through some adversity. They've been through these situations where we can say what we want every week in the league, your health and the guys you have available to you matter whether you win football games or not.
And, and you can be as determined as you want. You can have as good a system as you feel like you want to. If you don't have the guys and that you expect to play in that system, you're not very successful. I mean, San Francisco's finding that out right now. We've seen them with other teams in years.
If you don't have the guys you intend to play with, it's hard to be successful in this league. And they've overcome that. And that's why they're so dangerous right now.
Cause I look at it like it's a 12 round fight. And the first three rounds we did, we got caught with some shots and we had to survive. And now as a football team, we're healthy. We got the guys we intended to play with. We have a clear road in front of us on how we can make it to the playoffs.
Now we are the ones in the advantage and we're the one throwing the shots. And when you're talking about somebody like Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford and Cooper cup, who've been to a super bowl, they've made a run like this before, even last year going seven and one down the stretch, they are competent and they've also done it before they've been there. And that means something when you look at playoff football and in the last half of the season, you're going to see the great coaches, the great players stick out and the teams that have had bad years and have nothing to play for, and they have bad cultures, it's going to stick out in the month of December. It's cold.
You don't feel good and you don't feel like being out there. And you've got to have something that makes you go out there and compete and it's going to stick out who's in it for real this part of the year. And that's especially where experience as a quarterback matters, maybe more than ever. Tell us a Matthew Stafford story that we don't know. Oh man, there's plenty of Matthew Stafford stories. He's got some legendary ones. I think when I think of him, of some of his ones in Detroit of overcoming injuries and things, but for me, I think really, I think maybe some people don't understand truly sometimes when you're a, what I would call one of the top quarterbacks in the league, you've made the money he's made. You've, you've probably put in the time that he has. You think that that person probably runs a building and everything just serves to them.
But it's the exact opposite with Matthew Stafford. This guy wants zero attention. He wants zero things about him. He's going to be there at 5 AM every Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. Like he's going to be one of the first people in the, in the building.
When you pull up in the parking lot, you're going in for treatment cause you're banged up. But Matthew Stafford's there because that's what time he gets to work and that's what time he starts his film work. This dude lives and breathes his team and being at his best when his best is required. And he's never complained a day in his life about a hit or anything. I mean, the dude just, sometimes you sit there and you want to apologize to him in the huddle for a play or something that happened.
And he doesn't even act like it happened. And that to me is one of those things as a lineman. It's something you rally around because you realize, well, my quarterback's tough.
I have no excuses, but to be tough. And I think that's something he inspires his guys to be. And with his toughness level, he's second to nobody. Well, you two both pointed out that having both Cooper and Puca back on the field at the same time is tremendous for the Rams. And look, if you're, if you're playing the Rams and you're on defense, you got to cover both of them. I'm going to turn to defense for a minute because I was very excited for the Rams when they drafted Jared verse. I think he was a good draft pick and I'm excited to watch him develop. And I'm interested to know your thoughts on that side of the ball and what we're going to see from the defense over the next few weeks, particularly as the rookies develop.
Yeah, I think that's the cool thing. If I'm less need and I'm sitting here saying, what's the future of the Rams. I think anytime you start to talk about, Hey, we got two young rushers that we drafted this year, obviously in Braden Fisk and Jared verse, we believe in, but also don't forget Byron young the year before and how he's developing.
So now really, if you look at it, Kobe Turner thrown in there as well in the season, he had to finish last year and has been this year. Again, you have four guys second year or under their rookies are there in their second year that you go, well, there's my D line for the next ever, how many years? So now I get to build in the secondary. I get to add a piece on offense that we want, like the future of this Rams defense. Anytime that we're going to say upfront, we're going to be good. Like I say, you look across the league, tell me the teams that have a good D line and a good O line that aren't good. It's very few that you can find that is just the truth.
And so for me, it's about how they're going to continue to develop. Jared verse, I think is very rare. I've compared him since training camp to Terrell Suggs. I think he's the same similar type of player.
He can eliminate one side of the field. Teams are going to have to have a plan for when they play him in the run game, pass game, everything else, his physicality and his bull rush is up there in that upper echelon. I mean, he's, he's got something like, if you want to be a young rusher, if you've got a move or a thing you can do, that's like, whoa, that's as good as anybody. I remember the first time I faced Nick Bosa feeling how powerful he was. I was like, man, this guy's going to be a really good football player.
Cause if you just have that one trait, everything else comes off of that. Jared versus bull rush is up there with anybody in the NFL. I don't care how old he is. It's up there with anybody in the NFL. He's going to be able to build a repertoire off of that. That's going to be his things he's going to do to attack people in the run game and pass game. So I just think really for the Rams, you've got to be excited to watch these guys grow week by week.
They they're having an effect on football games. Are they going to be perfect? No, there's going to be teams that they don't match up well with.
All right. Because they are a young defense and Chris Shula is a first time coordinator. He's figuring it out as he goes as well. But I kind of like having a young first time coordinator who's shown his ability to adjust. They've had some great performances this year and they've been outmanned in some performances, but they're all growing together. And I think that's something you got to be excited about as a Rams fan. Well, look, most games are won or lost at the line of scrimmage. So I think Les Snead deserves credit for recognizing, look, Aaron Donald, we're going to lose him at some point. And I'm going back a few years when people started rumoring, when is Aaron going to step aside? When is Aaron going to want to retire? And as you just noted, they've been planning for this for years and they've done a good job assembling pass rush.
Yeah. I mean, you look at it, I mean, two years in a row to kind of hit on two guys that can help you up front. That's very rare to have happen. I mean, you got four starters in two drafts and your defensive line, like if they technically right now move to a four down front, they have their four starters for the next two or three years without question.
I love a four three. So, I mean, you know, how many times can you say that in a draft that you can nail it that way? That you're automatically a four line D lineman that you're going to be your starters for the next four years.
It's really very rare to have happened. So yeah, they're in a great position in that regard. They just, there's a couple of things you probably are going to see them at over the next year, probably a tight end at some point, a young tight end, maybe some secondary pieces, but this team has something to really build off anytime you nail it. It's no different than teams who nail it with an offensive line draft.
And you go, you know what? They got a chance to be successful. Pittsburgh Steelers are a great example. Right guard McCormick, Frazier, the center, those guys have shown that, man, these dudes are going to be good offensive linemen for years to come.
And they are a part of the reason that's dealer offense is having so much success. When you nail a draft up front, you see an instant impact on your football team. I feel like I have to ask then, do you think that Russell Wilson should stay there?
I mean, do you think that'll be the resigning or do you think he'll be elsewhere? I think that the tough conversation for them will be, what is that number? I mean, I think it's, if you look at it, they have the pieces up front on offense and defensive line, you know, really some good pieces offensively, really how they've played on the edge as a running back in the defensive backfield, everything to say, all right, we got a really good football team.
What does that number do to us though? Because a lot of these young guys are going to have to get paid if we want to keep them all, they got pass rushers galore, you know, all right, how do we keep all this together? So to me, is that Russell Wilson number similar to something we've seen in between Baker Mayfield and what the top guys are getting paid? Or is it up there with the top guys?
If it's up there with the top guys, I think you got to move on. I don't think they can handicap their football team that way, nor do I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are really built like that. I don't think that's their mantra. But if it's something where Russell goes, look, I love playing here. I love being with Tomlin and I want to be a part of this and figure out how I can get paid, but also make sure this football team stays good then without question, because what's come alive is you've seen Russell Wilson because of this run game, because of the job Arthur Smith's done, he's actually grown throughout the year. Like we're starting to see him use his legs more. We're starting to, they did RPOs this past week a bunch. He made some plays out of the pocket running with his legs, not stuff that we've really seen him do.
We saw him do it years ago, but not here in the recent years. And so you almost see even his confidence in himself, his belief in what he's capable of is growing as the season's going. And Arthur Smith is finding ways to really accentuate that. So I think to me, it's a great marriage at this point.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N. O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Amy, I want to come back to the Rams. I don't want to come back to looking ahead at San Francisco as well, but before we do that, it would be silly not to talk about Josh Allen. It would be silly not to talk about the absolute, as you say, magnificent performance that he put on. What were your thoughts watching that? It's just unbelievable. Honestly, it's like watching some amazing high school player play against a team that like isn't, you know, doesn't have anybody of his athletic comparison because when you watch him play in the league, it is crazy to watch, all right, he can sit in the pocket and obviously we know this guy's got a cannon for an arm. He can throw it anywhere on the football field, but then when he needs to, he can put it in a shoebox from the pocket and oh, all right, let's create some pressure on him.
There are multiple downs where Jared verse wins, Braden Fisk wins and instantly they win and Josh is already gone. He's already disappeared from the pocket because he feels it and he's out on the edge finding a way to extend the play or when he takes off, there's multiple plays where he's making DBs, safeties, linebackers, guys that should be more athletic than him miss and then outrunning them at times. And so it's just crazy to watch him play. I think Sean McVay said he was an alien and that is the best description because it's just, it doesn't seem like he's the same athlete that everybody else is.
It seems like he's a step ahead. It's rare to watch him play. There's a couple of those guys in the league that when you watch him, you're like, man, just the athleticism is different. He is definitely in that case with like a Jamar chase, Lamar Jackson, some of those guys you see that you're just like, man, athletically, it's just not fair.
And that's what Josh Allen is. So let's look ahead at this Niners game that you're going to be seeing firsthand. They're banged up. They've got a bunch of guys in there that are that are hurt, Brandon and Ayuth being one, obviously, and their running back is now questionable. What are you expecting in this matchup? It's going to be a challenge. I mean, you know, I think for the Rams right now, it's like, hey, you're hot.
You've kind of found a little groove. You're confident, but they've got bad timing too. And that San Francisco actually possibly, you know, they're saying Trent Williams could be back. Nick Bosa possibly back. Dre Greenlaw's kind of had this game circled as the game he's going to come back from his Achilles injury last year.
Now, how effective you're going to be in your first game back off of something like that. I don't know, but it's kind of like, you can tell this is kind of timed out where San Francisco knew this was going to be a huge game. It's a division matchup. And some of the injuries they had, this is kind of the one they felt like, hey, if we can get everybody back for this, we got a chance to fight our way back in the division. And so it's going to be a challenge to go into San Francisco on the road and beat a team that's getting some of their guys back. But the thing the Rams have going for them is that they have confidence. And in this league, when you have confidence, you're healthy and you've gotten into kind of a groove. We've seen it where teams go on runs and that's what they got to believe in. They got to go out there and start fast. I think the beginning 15 minutes of this game, if they let San Francisco feel like there's life, because the truth of San Francisco situation is they're one loss from we can just go ahead and take them out of the conversation.
All right. They, they are holding on by a thread, but when you give that team, that's holding on by a thread, a little bit of life at the beginning of a game, you're going to be in for a war. And I, you know, you, you guys, you'll hear me say this. I tell this all the times in locker rooms. This is not jingle bell season. It's jingle the keys season.
All right. Every locker room in the NFL. There's guys that have been through a long season. They're tired. They've thought about the off season. They've thought about the playoffs.
They thought about what it would take to get to either one of them. And you got to be able in the month of December, if you want to play winning football and in the playoffs by winning football, it's about what guy can make the other guy drink jingle his keys in his pocket, where he starts thinking about going home. He thinks about locking up his apartment or his condo and heading back to his off season Villa, booking his plane tickets, where he's going when the season ends, what football team can force the other football team to jingle those keys. That's the key to December playoff football. If you can do that in December and the playoffs, you're the team that comes out on top. It's a mentality this time of year of what team wants it more and can force that other team to think about how easy it'd be to just step out of the way and head off into the playoffs. And nothing more excruciating in that jingle the keys regard that when then when you have games left on your schedule and you see the players are hiring the car transportation company.
And so I mention that only because Andrew referenced the key analogy. And when you got games left to go and you see that players, you walk into the team parking lot and there's the giant car transport companies because they're already sending their cars home for the off season. And that's what you're saying.
You want to send that meant the Rams want to let the Niner players go, okay, we better send our cars home. Yeah. Like, Hey, you're in that game. At some point you've thought about it. Like that's the reality. Guys talk about how I want to play in the game.
All these things. Listen, football is a violent game. It's intense. Like you have moments of may just like any of us, like when you're tired and you don't want to go to work and you're like, man, do I have to do the podcast today? Do I have to do the show today? Like I'm a little tired, like football players.
It's the same thing. This game is violent. You're saying, man, do I have to strap it up on Sunday or on a short week on a Thursday? And I got to go battle this dude all game long. That, that thought crosses your mind now.
Sure. The warrior comes back at some point you get in the moment, but that thought crosses your mind. So this time of year, it's real easy to go, you know what, three or four more weeks. And man, I can head on out of here. Like, can you make a guy go there in his mind during a game is a real part of football this time of year because they start to go, you know what, like, man, we're not going to win anyways. We're not going to playoffs anyways.
So you know what? I'm going to stay out of this situation. Maybe it's a tackle I don't quite get in on. Maybe it's a ball that I could have got on, but I didn't want to jump down there and get it just for one second. I hesitated. What team hesitates matters this time of year.
I'd never heard it referred to as jingle the keys or car jingle, but we used to refer to it as who's going to be sending that transport for their car. You must imagine as like the president of the team, you were like, wait, what the hell is that doing? It's terrible. It's just deflating. And look, you know, if you're with a team and you know, your season's over and you know, you're not going to the playoffs, it's hard in every way. But when you drive in that parking lot and you see those giant transports there and players are loading their cars in that's hard.
It is. And that's why, I mean, you see the teams at really hard, like, Hey, next year you can build off of like, I I've had this conversation before in Cincinnati, some of the worst years we had, I knew we were going to be good the next year, just because of how we handled those last four or five games, because you can see the teams that there is a turn in like, Hey, everyone's losing their jobs, but you know what? We have a sense of pride of how we do things around here and how we're going to compete no matter what. And some of those teams that finished with the best record we could have in those last four or five games, even though it was a loss season, it turned into a division championship the next year. It turned into sweeping the division the next year in 2009 for me as a Bengal. In 2011, it turned into that after the 2010 season, we get Andy Dalton, AJ Green, we go to the playoffs five years in a row after going four and 12, but you go back and look in those four and 12 seasons, we finished four, you know, three and one, or we finished, you know, we won three out of five, some kind of constrict where you see some pride in the organization, it leads to that next season. So this time of year can tell you a lot about every franchise in the league. Well, meanwhile, Joe Burrows, since you mentioned Cincinnati, I mean, what did you think watching that game on, what day is it? Tuesday on Monday night? That was just insane.
It was. I mean, Joe Burrows continued to show why he is regarded the way he is. I mean, he's a special football player. I've gotten to spend some time with him and he is a rare human being. And I think he's one of those guys that has this rare trait, which we see some of the special quarterbacks have that he just makes everyone around him better. He elevates the expectations of all the players around him. You just feel he's inevitable in some ways with just the spirit and aura he carries about him. He's sometimes scary. He's still locked in.
I think he's a very rare guy. I just, I hope that as an organization, they do a good job of putting him in a position to have success and what that looks like and how they can organize that to me. You know, I, I've said it multiple times and I go back to it and I know they have put some investment into the defensive side of the ball. But for me, I just felt like even though he loves T Higgins, he loves Jamar chase two years ago when they lost the AFC championship to Patrick Mahomes after going to the Super Bowl and losing to us, then they get in the AFC championship. You almost, that was your rebound. Like we're going to get there this year.
They lose that game. I just think knowing who they are as an organization, they should have picked their receiver, which at that time it was probably Jamar chase. And I think it still is without question and said, all right, let's trade T Higgins. Let's get the draft picks. And you say, well, wait, you got two young, unbelievable players, but to me, you are Cincinnati Bengals. You are never going to be a team. That's going to take aggressive money plays with players and paying all these guys. You're never going to be the Philadelphia Eagles of pushing money way down the road. And you're never going to have big trades that you're going to make for huge players and leverage draft picks.
You got to know who you are. You're going to draft for your success. So you hit big, you can't keep them all. You can't be greedy trade one, get the picks and start to build the football team around Joe burrow on the defensive side by investing, not just some picks, but a top pick, a first rounder, a second rounder, continually investing in picks around him. So that if you hit on some and get him a defense that can withhold because the super bowl year, and even the year they went and played the chief CMC championship, how were they defensively?
Just middle of the road. That's all Joe burrow needs. He doesn't need you to be dominant. Just get enough pieces where he can say, all right, we can make some stops and I'll out score the other team. But when they're in the back half of the league on defense, it doesn't do any good to have a bunch of weapons and score a bunch of points if you can't stop anybody. So then am I correct in reading between the lines here that you're concerned that this could be the best it's going to be for Joe burrow if they don't do something drastic there?
Yeah. I mean, I think at this point now you've waited so long, like what's the leverage with T Higgins. He's had a year where he's been banged up. He hasn't been as productive in years past. And of course, here you are now it's like, man, maybe next year he would have a productive year and you'd be able to pay him.
But I just, I even saw Joe say, he's going to do everything he can to make sure T Higgins is there next year. But I mean, what system two great, two insanely paid receivers and a crazy paid quarterback. Like, I don't know if that's the system to win football games. Is it a system where Joe burrow is going to have an easier life and be able to put up a lot of stats?
Sure. I don't know if that's the stat that they're really going to match up with wins though. And I think having the best football team is going to be wins. You look at Patrick Mahomes, how have they won games being great on defense, having a really good offensive line, and then let Mahomes do his thing when in the game situations, you look at Tom Brady's teams, like how good they were at being able to just say the whole entire team is made up of really good solid players. We don't have to have superstars in time to time. We're going to add superstars here or there, and that's going to take us over the top. And I think that's just what Cincinnati has to say is how do we make the team really good and then know that we've got something really special at quarterback who can win a lot of in-game situations for us. Yeah, because it would kill me to see a player of that caliber. He gets that one appearance and there's, name me a single player that cares about stats more than Super Bowl appearances or rings at that.
It just seems like such an incredible waste of great talent. Let's talk quickly Lions before we move on and have some more just questions about who you've seen that you like the best in person, etc., but you watched a master class on play calling with Dan Campbell, and I'm just curious about your thoughts on not only on how he coaches, but also wondering if you think the Lions are the best team in football right now. Yeah, I mean obviously the impact Dan Campbell has is so rare to hear, you know, obviously I think a lot of Sean McVay and his leadership and to hear Jared Goff talk about Dan Campbell being, you know, the rarest leader he's been around.
I think that's just an ultimate compliment and I think that he's a really special dude. You can tell that. You can tell the just the energy of the building, the belief they have is so rare, but watching that Packers-Lions game, because I got a lot of respect for the team Matt Lafleur and the Packers have, I mean I think they're right there as one of those teams that you'd probably say if they just weren't quite so young at a lot of the skill positions, they are right there on the edge of being one of the top teams in the NFC. They are really talented and they played a heck of a game as well, but to watch Detroit take their best shot, I mean the Green Bay had that game circled from jump.
They were going there to lay their claim of where they stood in the NFC. To watch Detroit, to me it was like not being control the game, but have Green Bay answer, have this huge momentum swing at the end of the half, at the beginning of the second half, and then Detroit have to go, all right, we'll drive down and score again. Green Bay go score.
Detroit, all right, we'll go down and score again. To just keep re-answering the bell to me, shows you how good of a football team you are. It's not like, oh man, we played a good game, but every time we needed it, we drove down the football field, we found a way to get points, we found a way to get back in the lead, to put ourselves back in a situation to win this game, and then Dan Gamble, just the guts he has to keep making calls the way he was.
I mean even the ending, I mean don't even really need it. You could try the field goal then, but you know what, we want to make sure they have no other chance to win this game. He's willing to roll the dice, and Jared told us in post game, like he told us all week because we're down guys on defense, every fourth and even close, two yards, three yards, whatever it is, if we have a chance to flip it and steal a possession, we are taking it. It's not a decision, and he stuck by it, and I think that's part of the reason he did at the end of the game. A lot of people have criticized that decision, but I think he did it because that was his promise to his football team, that you guys go compete, we're going to stay aggressive, we're going to steal possessions, and we're going to win this football game, and we can critique it all we want, but the end result was his football team believed in him, he believed in them, and they won the football game against a really good football team. So I think to me, yeah, I think that performance there put them over the edge to me, because I kind of had Philadelphia Eagles on the run they were on, like man they look like that team that might be trying to put themselves at the top of the league the way they're running the football and how talented they are up front on both sides of the ball, but that game, that kind of served as my, all right, you know what, seeing them up close and personal and how good Green Bay's playing, the Lions are the best team in football right now. Well, and to your point about the Lions being down defenders, and the coach was aware of that, and Jared Goff was aware of that, and you know what the offense did in Detroit? They held the ball for over 60 percent of the game, so you know what the best thing to do when you're down defensive players?
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Shopify.com slash Westwood One. Question for you both. You just raised a few minutes ago the issue of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs and, you know, a question for you, Andrew, in particular.
Well, I want to hear what Susie has to say on this as well. Their tackle issue. We've seen it all season. We've seen they've had problems with the tackles. We've seen the adjustments that they have made.
We've seen the additions of players. How big an issue is that going to be going into the playoffs? How are they going to overcome it? Can they overcome it?
Can other teams exploit it? Let us hear it all. Well, I'll tell you this first. I mean, I was taking some sets the last few weeks because when I would turn on the Kansas City Chiefs tape, I'd be like, listen, if the only thing they're short of making the Super Bowl again and, you know, setting a record in NFL history of winning three in a row is a left tackle. I mean, I think I could get like 10, 15 snaps in there. Come on.
But I, you know what? Signing DJ Humphries is the biggest move to me for them because if you looked at this team, I would have said, if you look across all the league, you're trying to find the teams and the reason they might lose a game. Like, what's the reason this team's going to go down?
And the Chiefs for me was the tackle situation. In the sense that, you know, when you talk about really their situation, the left tackle and the struggle he was having, and really the young kid just couldn't make it. Then they bring in another and they're bringing, they're rotating guys in there.
They're moving Tooney over at times. When they're struggling, that's just, that's going to get exploited in the playoffs. But when they signed DJ Humphries, I was like, man, I don't know if he's healthy. Obviously, tore his ACL a year ago. Is he going to be able to come in here and be a factor? To him to come to him to come in and play, you see him play against Khalil Mack, which probably I was going to sign up for the worst possible scenario coming off at ACL.
I got to play Khalil Mack. To be able to go out and play and watch him function, he's going to be just fine. He just needs to keep a couple games, get his legs under and feel good about playing. But he looks good.
And he's a heck of a football player for the Arizona Cardinals for many years. And so I think that that really put them back in a situation where I'm like, all right, I'm fine. I'm good with everything going on because here's the thing we've critiqued them at different points of this time, this run they've been on of like offensively, even last year, like they only average like 19 points a game the last six games of the year last year. But what they do in the playoffs, they scored 24, 25 points a game and went on to win a Super Bowl. So they've been able to show that they can turn the switch and just say, hey, turn the engine on, let's go, it's playoff time.
They've shown it. And until somebody can prove that they can't do it, we've got to believe them for that because you get on one hand, critique all these close losses or on the other, we can sit here and you, you both know this as well as anybody. What does the NFL always come down to the last five minutes of the game? There's how, what percentage of NFL games are one score games.
And every year we act like that's some crazy thing. And then we critique the team who guess what they're the best in the world at the last five minutes of a game, they find a way to win. Last time I checked, that's really the important part of playing NFL football and winning games. So the Kansas City Chiefs have proven they make great decisions. When did we sat here and criticized an Andy Reid last five minutes of the game decision or a Steve Spagnuio last five minutes of game decision.
It doesn't happen. Patrick Mahomes, same thing. They dominate the last five minutes of the game every year. And as long as they keep doing that, they will keep winning games. And when you get in the playoffs and games are to score or just scores are decided by even a closer margin, guess what you're the best at? Winning the game in the last five minutes of the game.
So I think to me, we can talk about it all year long. We can be mad about there's not all this wow factor to their team, but all I care about is winning. And if we're winning, that's what matters. Just win baby.
And getting it done in those last minutes. And you know that left tackle position better than anybody else. Just so you know, when he does continue those reps and comes back, he broke that news on what the football. Could you play now?
There is no question I could play some snaps, but I don't think I'd ever do it. I feel too good. I'm happy. I work out every day. I train all the time.
I even open my own gym out here in Westlake, California. And I am happy and there's no pain. So I'm good. Daddy, I'm good. I'm glad. I'm happy being a dad, being at home, hanging out and doing Thursday night football.
So that's good. Have you had any calls? No, no, no, no, no calls. No, no.
I'm not throwing it out there. I just get them every now and then you get in the weight room. You feel confident. And you're like, Hey, let me get a couple sets in just to see if I still got it.
And I did a couple of sets a couple of weeks ago and felt really, really, really good. So no calls, no calls. They don't call 43. I'll turn 43 on Thursday. Rams, Niners, 43rd birthday. Let's go.
On your birthday. Wow. Okay. Are you listening to me, everybody at Amazon?
Bring them a cake. Yeah. I want to just go back really quickly to Kansas city, just because obviously, I mean, when you're, when you're a porter, Amy, the first person that you, I've said this before, the first person that you interview is usually the left tackle. You always go to talk to the alignment to learn how the offense is set up, et cetera. But we have seen Patrick Mahomes get sacked a career high amount of times with 32, 33 things, some of somewhere around there, but how quickly can an online gel like that, when you're looking at somebody protecting the quarterback and they have had so much movement there, how much do you think that could be an issue moving forward? Or do you just feel like, I hate it when I ask two questions, or do you feel like you're looking at a player who's got a next level ability to get out of problems? It's just, to me, I just have that concern at the line.
Yeah. And I think the answer to both those questions would be, uh, yes to the second one and to the first one, I think that's where DJ Humphries is a huge factor because what people have to understand is, is a lot of times your issues are, they've always kind of, DeJuan Taylor has kind of always been up and down for them at right tackle since they signed him. Even last year was a big concern, his penalties, where he's aligned on the football, he's giving away pass plays. You know, he needs to scoot up in the line of scrimmage.
It's been a whole conversation, but what he's shown the ability to do is at least be consistent enough. They can rely on winning football games and play within the scheme with him. Well, at left tackle, that's really been the biggest problem is that that's been something where it's literally been a turnstile.
It's been like guys are getting beat immediately. They're having to do all these things to help them adjust their offense, adjust the way the ball gets out, all these things. If DJ Humphries can be really just a version of himself, because he's a really good football player and he's good enough, without question, talent wise, to give them a huge upgrade at that position. Now, I don't have to put so much attention to one spot in my offensive line. Now I can start to say, all right, there's some plays we might help, but sometimes we're going to go over here on the right side and help DeJuan Taylor, because right now we kind of have a situation where one side's a little inconsistent and the other side's very inconsistent. And so once you kind of eliminate one of those things, offensively for Andy Reid, he gets to open the playbook up a little more.
He gets to design things a little differently. He gets to say, hey, sometimes we don't have to have plays where Patrick's got to be really aware of how much time he's got. We've got some chances to throw the football down a little more. We can trust this side of the line of scrimmage a lot better, because what they do have is an insanely good interior three. And now they get to kind of build their offense around those things. And that's why I think DJ Humphries was a huge move for them.
And I think it's going to be something that's really going to be a factor. And I'm interested to see how we see their offense kind of finish this season, to see how much belief they have in DJ and does that adjust a little bit of how they call the game plan? Who's the best team you've seen in person? Oh, man, it would be right there between the Lions and Eagles, for sure. I think when you watch the Baltimore game, we had obviously had Baltimore and Cincinnati, which was an epic game as well. Another game where Joe Burrow goes insane and loses.
But Lamar Jackson was great and he's a heck of a player. Baltimore's defense secondary-wise scares me. And so I think for me, I'd have to go down to the Lions only because of really, I think, a lot of that Packers team. And I think that they have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. They've been really good this year and really got on a streak. Coming into that game, they were hot. And the Lions kind of took on that and really were able to answer the bell and continuously even down players because of injury, win that game in a big division matchup against a team that was hot coming in. So I think Detroit Lions to me, really, they're the team right now. As far as the guys I've seen in person that I'm like, I believe in this football team, it's them. Okay, you've named teams. Let's talk about players. Are you one who is happy about or resistant to predicting or suggesting MVPs at this time of the year? Do you prefer to wait till the end of the season?
Do you have your eyes on an MVP? Well, here's the good news, y'all. I'm a lineman. So whatever I say, people be like, he's a lineman.
He doesn't know shit anyway. So it's great. I'm good with it.
Here's what I would say right now for me. I think everybody's got their theory behind MVPs and what they think. Richard Sherman, who I work with in Thursday Night Football, obviously my brother, we're really close. He is a huge statistical guy. He hates when it's not the guy who statistically is just dominating the league. Like for him, it's Joe Burrow, without question.
Forget your records or whatever. Like if it wasn't for his team and how bad they're playing, he's without question the MVP. So he would probably say you give it to Saquon because he's the next guy in that category. And then there's obviously the guys who are for Josh Allen and really the impact he's had. I mean, Jared Goff, if it wasn't for one game, without question would be probably at the top of that MVP conversation because of the year he's had and how and how awesome he's played the position. For me, it's Saquon Barkley because I look at it by team.
If I took this guy off, where would they be or what would they do? And then statistically, has he really been the guy who is the impact for them? I mean, you look at it, they just won a game in a really close game against the Carolina Panthers where the quarterback threw for 100 yards.
And how do they do that? Because they just say, you know what, even if the passing game's not working, hand it off to Saquon Barkley and trust this offensive line. And I think that Saquon has answered the bell. He's in a great situation with a line that is one of the best in football, but he has been the MVP for them because since they went to let's give the football to Saquon at whatever amount of times it takes to win football games after their bye week, they have been on a streak where nobody's been able to beat them and they've dominated the league since then.
So to me, you are the most valuable piece of why they're successful. I mean, no doubt the temptation is always to give it to the quarterback, but every game he's so dominating. His runs are so fantastic. I mean, he's dominating is the only word I can think for him. And Andrew, you just pointed to the offensive line in Philadelphia. And so to state the obvious, he's not rushing like this if he's still with the Giants because of the difference in offensive line. But the reason I note that is I will tell you from a front office perspective, if you are with the Giants and you lose a player like Saquon, but you lose him to a divisional rival, it's like every time you watch him play, you want to take a pencil and stab yourself in the eye. Oh yeah.
That's not a happy place to be. You watch him play and you go, how does this guy leave our building? That one, that one's crazy. I don't know if I'll ever understand that decision for a lot of reasons, but that's the first thing I said when I watched him play in person. I was like, how do you ever let this guy leave your building?
And leave him for a divisional rival. That's like the human being. The player's amazing, but the human being is special. He's a rare dude.
I mean, I don't remember earlier in the year when he had a chance to break the record in the one game against the Giants. And he's like, no, man, let all the other guys get theirs, man. You're like, I think this, when you look at the human being, the person, the player, how talented he is, I don't get it. Like for me as a GM or in those, those positions, like we can talk money all we want, but talk to me about human beings that make people around them better. They create a culture where it's about winning games, being at our best when our best is required.
Like those things have to go into the conversation. It's not just about dollars and cents. And the most asinine comment I ever heard was the comment he said about, you don't pay, you know, Daniel Jones, what you pay him to hand the ball off to a $12 million quarterback. Well, you're paying Daniel Jones, 40 million. So if you included what, what Saquon Barkley's making, you still wouldn't add up to what the top quarterbacks are making a year and 55 million. So that doesn't even make any sense because actually if you're paying your quarterback $40 million, you would pay another 15 million for the running back who makes the difference in him being a better football player.
Cause that's the craziest thing I've ever heard of. So I just think when you start with a human being, what the cost was and the player, gosh, I don't, I don't understand how he leaves your building. Well, and to your point about the running game, one of a quarterback's best friends, as we all know, is the running game because the better your running game, the less pressure there is on your quarterback in the passing game. And I will just note this as to your point about what Saquon did when they offered him the ball too. And he said, no, no, no, let the other guys that to me, it gave me goosebumps.
Then it gave me goosebumps that you just mentioned it. And he did something similar last week when the crowd was chanting MVP, MVP. And he said that that means a lot to me, but what we need to do is win. Yeah. But this just plays into the conversation that we had with Marshall Falk and I'll have it all the time about the devaluing of the running back position. It makes me insane because I mean, from an owner's perspective, I get it to shorter, a shorter term deal, but what, what is football without the running game?
Thank you. Makes me crazy. You can say it twice.
You say it over and over, over again. Listen, I mean, like I said, you look across the league. I mean, look at the teams that are really good and look what they have. They have great offensive lines. They have stout defensive lines. They're able to get after the quarterback. Like we can talk about all these skill guys all we want. And I'm sure that's exciting and fantasy owners love them.
But when you're talking about your team and you're mad, they're not good enough. Tell me about how good your tackles are. Tell me about your interior three lineman. Are they able to get pushed in the run game in your D line? Are they able to set the set blocks and get off and stop the run and get to the quarterback and critical moments of the game? The Kansas city chiefs have laid out how you play winning football over and over and over again. The San Francisco 49ers have shown it. I think it's just continued to be why Philadelphia Eagles are really good while the Baltimore Ravens are really good. You know, you look at the teams that win every year. They're up there in the top category of teams that are successful or make the playoffs.
They play really good football up front on the offense and defensive lines. Do you want a coach? Do you want a GM? What do you want to do?
You know, I'm in a curious state where I just do it all right. I've started a podcast with Ryan Fitzpatrick. I'm doing Thursday Night Football. I'm helping coach my kids in their sports. I've done some consulting stuff with just a couple teams across the league, just helping out with like, hey man, just some guys are, you know, interviewing and, you know, give an opinion last offseason, last couple offseasons. But yeah, I mean, I kind of, you know, I'm up for anything. I think anything that is about competing and passion for a game that I love and I think it's changed my life and I look forward to any way I can help other people have that same kind of change in theirs, man.
I think this game is unfreaking believable and any way I can support it, I'm in. What youth sports are you coaching? Right now, it's basketball. I coach my 10-year-old daughter's basketball team, my 12-year-old and 13-year-old son's basketball teams, and then I just got done coaching their football teams this past fall, so it was fun. I didn't do soccer for Catherine this year, but we decided to let her have a real soccer coach. I don't know if you know this, but not a lot of six, seven, 330-pound soccer coaches or players for that matter, so I wouldn't say that I had a lot of expertise to give her on the soccer field, so yeah, we will let somebody else do that. So I'm the only one of the three of us that is not a youth basketball coach because Susie is as well. Of course, I did do all the rebounding at the recent Big Three street tournament. Well, I mean, and by the way, I'd be afraid that you, can you imagine, you're like one hip check away. Elbows, Susie, I use elbows. True, true story.
Hold on, let me unpack something really quick. Okay, can you imagine, first of all, you being the coach, like the opposition comes on the field, they're like, they see Bigwood out there like, oh shit, we're going to lose every single game. You know what the worst part is? The actual worst part is post-game, when we get whipped by some team and they're like, the whole entire group of kids, all they want is a picture with me. And so my kids are like, man, they just whooped us. They're like upset, you know, dang, you're crying. And it's like, there's our coach, he's over there taking a photo op with the other team.
And it's like, I don't know what to do. These kids just whipped us. They're like sweethearts. They're all, you know, 10, 11, 12 years old.
And they're so excited that like, holy crap, it's a former Rams player as the coach. And so I'm over there doing a photo op with them, then running over to my team to try and console them. It's always an awkward situation, but I just love seeing these kids play. I'm not one of these guys that like gets into it to the point of like, we're going after these other team. I'm out here to help these kids understand the game of football and what competing means. And so I have a real appreciation for both sides of the ball. I had the same problem on Sunday when we lost the championship game in the Goldies Youth Sports League.
I had the same problem when I just got just surrounded by young girls who want to take pictures with me. And I was like, guys, we just lost the game. Just I'll be with you in a second. And meanwhile, my team was so busy running to the front of the King Cone line to get an ice cream after the game. I'm like, guys, we just lost the game. And I'm mad at them sitting here thinking it was a fucking fast break and how good Cora was.
And I can't stop her. And they're off getting pictures of King Cone. I mean, they're taking selfies with ice cream. And I'm like, no, nobody wants to take a picture with me. So I relate to your pain.
It's not easy when you lose that game and you're still stuck in it. I'm trying to explain to these girls the triangle offense and they're looking at me like, what? I'd like to see you two coach against one another.
I'd be there with an ice cream cone watching that. Oh no, I'm horrendous. I'm a total mass hole. I mean, I'm out there throwing it all on the field.
So it's... I'm just the ice cream guy. I'm there for them to have fun. Listen, we're going to go get ice cream after the game, no matter what. Everyone have a good time. No, I know.
But youth sports are the greatest. And I love that you're doing that, especially for your daughters. It is so important to see that. Okay.
Quicks. This is just my Aaron Dolan story because we were playing, we were playing the Sierra Canyon a couple of weeks ago and my daughter, who's a pretty aggressive point guard. She got hip checked and she went flying across and I'm looking around and I'm like, oh, getting in the grill. And I see it's, it's, it's, it's Donald's kid. So I'm like, oh, that makes a lot of sense.
Cause this girl was like, I mean, she was aggressive and, and she had it going on. I was like, oh, so that's where the apple falls and there's the tree. And I get it.
So I just kind of love all that youth sports stuff. I think you're the greatest. Thanks again for your time. I have so many more questions. So we're going to have to have you come back another time if you don't mind, but. And if you do come back. Thank y'all so much. And if you do come back and if you do come in studio, I will bring the ice cream. Yes, you will. There we go. Now I'm in, now you know how to get to me. No idea.
That's all Amy does is eat ice cream. It's fantastic. Thanks again for your time. We hope to see you really soon and happy birthday. Enjoy this Thursday night. Thank y'all so much.
Take care. So great to have Andrew Whitworth with us on this podcast. And if you're curious about that conversation that we did have with Marshall Falk about the devaluing of the running backs, go back and take a look at it at the rich eyes and show YouTube channel. How do you get there? I have no idea, but you're going to find it.
Go find that edition of what the football we think you again for this one. And we will see you next week. My world with Jeff Jarrett takes wrestling fans behind the scenes along with King of the mountain Conrad Thompson. I wanted to ask you about what, you know, if anything on the new WWE ID program where they're apparently going to be working with some independent wrestlers, my encouragement to any independent wrestler out there, build your value and then understand your value. And then you create your own leverage. There's no substitute for hard work and getting over my world with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.
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