James Palmer, NFL Network Reporter

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So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. James, how you been? I'm good Zach. Don't undersell the weekend. I believe it's like super terrific happy hour Jerry Seinfeld wildcard weekend, right? I can't stand that.

And I know you work for the NFL. But this super wildcard weekend, where they want me to say super before wildcard weekend. I say this the last two years. I think it's super stupid. It's superly wild, superly stupid.

It's fine by me. What everybody's opinion is of the name doesn't impact the amount of people that are going to be watching this weekend. Yes, especially on Monday night. Could you put the Cowboys against Tom Brady in an isolated Monday night window like that? That game is going to just be ridiculously rated.

Just nuts. I mean, if you remember, what was that? It was Brady. It was the first game of Brady down there when they started the season with Cowboys.

Was that two years ago already? Yeah, I think they started the last two seasons with Brady and going up against the Cowboys. It's just everybody knows what that matchup does nationally for ratings. And it's kind of funny if we want to talk that game first, just because it's, I mean, obviously that's not the way Dallas wanted to head into the postseason, the way they went out there and performed.

And it was funny because I know some people in the building and it was just kind of like there was, you know, not a complaint, but it was kind of like down the stretch. It was like, God, the last place we want to go is Tampa in the first round. It was like, you know, that was even a thought, you know, several weeks ago because just, you know, Brady at the, you know, in the postseason is just the guy you don't want to face.

And when you went out and saw the way he played, it makes you think that even more so. I just think this is going to be the game. Obviously, both teams are kind of little short change with a shorter week playing the Monday night game, but also they're getting the, you know, everybody gets the stage themselves. But Monday night with those two teams and what, you know, we still, I mean, I feel like people have forgotten who Tom's throwing the football to when they're, when they're playing well and what that offense could do. It's, it's going to be an absolute blast watching those two teams. See that game all like for the last two months, I've been saying, I'm not concerned about the box and I never count out Brady.

I love Tom Brady. And then as we head into this week, it's like, Oh, I wouldn't want to be the Cowboys this weekend. No, that's what I'm saying. I mean, that, and that was a little bit of the mood. I mean, they won't say it publicly, but that was a little bit of the mood in the organization.

Like, and this was before, obviously, and this was weeks ago, I was hearing this, but you know, that's the place you don't want to go. And then I think that probably sentiment is even further after the way they finished up the regular season last Sunday. I know that Jerry Jones is going to come out publicly and say that Mike McCarthy's coaching for his job this weekend when he does his weekly interview on the fan in Dallas. But that's the way that I interpret this. If they go out back to back years and wildcard weekend, I don't see a McCarthy's back next year.

James is going to be tough. And if you heard his response this weekend, when he was asked that it was, it was almost like he took it as he was saying, no, no, no. But it was almost like, no, I don't want to go there.

Yeah. Like that was almost how he was responding to it. Like, no, we're not even going there.

I'm not even going to entertain that because it's almost like I don't even want to think about myself in that situation. We all know the way he thinks of Dan Quinn. And I think everybody, if you follow the lead closely enough, knows what he's done in that building and what they'd be losing if he goes out and gets one of these jobs that, you know, that, you know, Denver's obviously interested again for the second time around.

After he finished third in kind of there, if you want to call it finishing third, he finished behind Hackett and O'Connell the first time around there. But the point is, I don't think he wants to even think about the situation he'd be in potentially. A lot of people would think Dan would be the one to slide in considering the way he's thought of in that building and the way he has gotten guys to rally around him a couple of years he's been there. But obviously Jerry doesn't even want to put himself in that situation right now.

We'll wait till Monday. If it does come down to that, and we've heard Jerry Jones just love Sean Payton for years and years and years, do you think he'd be more inclined to hire Sean or Dan Quinn? Because you hear a lot of love about Dan Quinn as well, like you're saying.

For sure, you definitely do. I just think it's going to be tougher to land, Sean. I just, you know, it's easier to keep the guy a lot of times in-house that's already a beloved that we see it so often. I know it's a different situation, but we see it so often with interim head coaches, right?

Like how often do you ever hear an interim head coach take over from the staff and like the guys aren't ecstatic about the guy. And it's a little bit different, you know, obviously you become the head guy permanently moving forward. It's a little bit different in that sense. I just think luring Sean there and obviously, yeah, he definitely has had an infatuation with him for a while. I just think Sean has kind of laid things out, I think a little bit in his mind from knowing some things that he kind of has an idea of the way he wants this to go.

And I'm not sure if Dallas is entirely in that. I could be wrong, but I think there's some spots he definitely has his eye on. If I had to guess today where Sean's coaching football next year, I think it's Arizona.

Your thoughts? I think we tie in the thought process on Jerry. Arizona makes the most sense to me and from what I've heard around the league because of several things. One, he really likes Kyler Murray and he thinks he can do some things with Kyler. Also, you parted ways with Steve Keim as well and he has the ability to come in and run the organization and to be almost the de facto GM or hire the GM he wants. I mean, he had a great working relationship with Mickey Loomis in New Orleans, but also he had just, you know, the final say in a sense. You could really put it that way and to have the ability to go in and work with the quarterback you want, have the structure that you want, and have it in place exactly how you want it to be to come in and with both spots being open.

That's a very different situation coming in than when you'd have to come in and work side by side with Jerry every day. As opposed to, hey, Michael Bidwell saying, please get us back to relevancy with the quarterback we just paid a boatload of money to. I just wonder what the compensation would be because the Cardinals have the third overall pick. If you really want to go there and you're leaving the Saints anyway, like, is it going to require that third overall pick?

Yeah, that's the interesting aspect. The only place that we've really heard so far, and we can get to them in a second, is Denver, to where there were discussions between New Orleans and Denver about the compensation and everybody appears to be on the same page. What that means, we're entirely unaware of right now, but Denver doesn't have a pick like Arizona has, like you're saying, right? I think they have the pick from Miami that would be towards the bottom of the first round, if I'm not mistaken, in the Bradley Chubb trade. So that would be their first round pick that they have because they don't have, obviously, the one they sent to Seattle. But there seemed to be already a discussion there in terms of those two teams knowing where things stood in terms of compensation.

I would assume Sean would know that as well. So he has to have a pretty good idea and everybody else involved on what it's going to take to land him. And man, if you give up three, whew, that's asking a lot. But the way things have gone in Arizona, and as bad as it was this past year, I wouldn't put anything past Michael Bidwell trying to get something right back on track. You're on the seat in Denver, James Palmer. Who's going to be coach of the Broncos next year? I don't see how it's not Jim Harbaugh. I really don't. If you just try to piece everything together, the way this has gone from what they want, the connections between the two sides, it just kind of shapes up to be that.

I look at what they want. They want a head coach with head coaching experience. Obviously, he's been to multiple NFC championship games. He's been to the Super Bowl.

He's won a lot in the NFL. And what they are coming from is a team that was just very undisciplined. Penalties were a huge issue. It was a very, I don't know how to put it, fun atmosphere after Vic Fangio was there the last couple of years and ran a very, very tight ship. It's almost like they want that back. I think in terms of what they're looking for, it's discipline.

It's an offensive identity. I think if you look at everything that Harbaugh has done everywhere he's been, I think you know exactly what that offense is. And I think fixing Russell Wilson, as owner Greg Penner put it, after the last couple of weeks and then changing some things offensively, I don't know if fixing him is as in-depth of a process as we thought it was going to be mid-season. Because I saw over the last couple of weeks more of the old Russell Wilson than we've seen.

And I think this has just changed up the offense a little bit. And so I think everything just kind of fits as well as Greg Penner and his wife Carrie Walton Penner both being from Stanford. Condoleezza Rice is part of the hiring process as a partner of this ownership.

She obviously has been through the hiring process at Stanford. All those connections connect to Harbaugh. It just seems like also they can pay whatever they want. I mean, they really can't. And I don't think the ownership has hid that they're going to do that when you put in $400,000 new grass field for one game for your team that's 4-12. I think that's a telltale sign about how this team thinks.

James Palmer here with us. Getting back to the games this weekend, where do you lie on Giants and Vikings? Because on Monday I said, okay, I can see the Giants winning that game. But then after hearing everyone say that it's going to be the Giants win this game, I'm still kind of looking back at the talent on this Vikings roster and go, okay, they should be able to beat the Giants.

I think if you go and look at the duration of both their seasons and just literally just watch each game and go, I don't see how the Vikings lose this game. Like, there's a lot of games and there are people inside that Giants building that I think Brian Dabble has done a great job. I think he's obviously in contention for coach of the year.

I don't think he'll get it, but I think he's definitely in contention for it. With the job he has done with Daniel Jones and company, you look at the games, you're like, I don't know how they won some of those games. I mean, it's like, it is kind of wild. Now, I do think that what we saw in Philadelphia game I was at to end the season, a bunch of backups playing their heart out in a game that doesn't matter shows you what Brian Dabble has done to the New York Giants.

I mean, it's fantastic to continuing the culture, to what, you know, guys are doing with, you know, with what they have. But I just think the Vikings are too talented and I just don't see how they end up losing this game. So the coach of the year, I'm glad you bring that up because I think it's down to four people. Doug Peterson, Pete Carroll, Brian Dabble and then Kyle Shanahan. I think Peterson, Carroll and Dabble, just because no one expects their teams to be good in a weird way, that they're going to kind of just cancel each other out with votes because they're all in the postseason. I think it's going to be, even though Shannon has the most, you know, the best team on paper out of those four, I think he's going to win just because of the level of dominance it is with now a third string quarterback. Yeah, and I don't think you can mention Brock Purdy's name without saying Mr.

Irrelevant, right? It's not just your third string quarterback. It's the last guy taken in the draft. You know, everything that they've been through with Trey Lance and then you go back to Jimmy and then you still have, in all of the uncertainty, we're a quarterback driven league that they've had there and they've still been, I think you could say they're probably, not probably, they are the only, in my opinion, real, real threat to Philly. Philly plays the way they've played most of the season and that defense is absolutely insane. But I do look at it and go, all right, he is a brilliant coach, specifically for the spot that Brock Purdy's in.

He has one of the best group, if not the best group of skill players around him with the best defense in football. To me, if I was voting, and I can't, I would vote for Peterson just because of everything we knew he had to clean up from the last year. And it was beyond X's and O's. It was beyond, you know, just trying to make sure Trevor Lawrence doesn't regress. We were all going like, I thought this was the most certain draft pick at quarterbacks since Andrew Luck.

Like, what is going on here? Like, he had to regain trust of an entire, not just locker room, but organization into a head coach. And to do what he did, to have them continue to buy into what he wanted to do after the start that they had. What were they, three and seven at the buy or something like that? I mean, they start two and six.

There's only like two other teams that have started two and six and made the postseason. I just think what he's done to reestablish a culture to where we didn't squander one of the best, as I said, draft picks in a long time. It was almost malpractice what was happening with Trevor Lawrence.

I think to me, Doug would be my pick, but I think your group is great. And the guy that isn't even getting mentioned, and I'm not sure why, is Nick Sirianni. I think he deserves some discussion in what's going on in terms of, like, we talk about what Brian Daibold did with Daniel Jones and making things work for him. I think Nick has done a great job with making sure their offense is unbelievably successful with Jalen Hurts. A guy that they were questioning was going to potentially be their starting quarterback moving forward.

And they set just a zillion franchise records and have the number one seed. Yeah, I think the one thing with Sirianni that hurt him was Hurts getting hurt and then the team dropping those two games. I think even though he's right there in the conversation, it kind of now takes him out this late in the year. It's funny that you said that because I kind of thought that, too, during the process. I was like, well, listen, if he goes down and then just wins both these games with Minshew, it actually hurts Jalen's chances at MVP and helps Nick. He's the coach of the year.

And I thought that's kind of the way it worked. Now it's almost like, well, maybe now it hurt Nick. They lost both of those. And actually may just, I mean, Jalen's not going to win MVP, but it sure shows he's way more important than some people in the division thought he was. So we know Tua James Palmer is out this weekend. It's trending that Lamar Jackson is not going to return. So it does take the air out of the balloon a little bit, obviously, with Dolphins, Bills, and then the Bengals and the Ravens. Do you think Lamar is ever going to sign a long-term deal with the Ravens? Because I'm starting to think it's going to be no and maybe he plays on the franchise tag next year and they trade him after that. Or maybe this offseason, Lamar just says, hey, we need a split. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a fascinating offseason. And actually for both the teams you mentioned, I think it's a fascinating offseason in Miami as well with Tua's future. But we'll talk about Lamar first. And you're right because the Roquan Smith deal gets done.

And, you know, you're going, okay, well now Lamar is the tag option for what happens here. And I think the injury could play into the thinking of everyone involved as well. Like I'm not entirely, and nobody's questioning Lamar's desire to win. I think if you ever met him or talked to him, ever seen him in a postgame press conference after a loss.

And he played brilliantly against Mahomes in those years a couple years ago and lose. He does not care. He cares about winning and that's it. And the Lombardi is the only thing that matters.

It's not individual stuff. But my point is with the style of play, I'm not sure if it was a different style of play. He was a Brady sit in the pocket, drop back, like if he'd be able to play this weekend.

You know what I'm saying? I think the injury is connected to how he plays and whether he's available. And so I think that comes into your thinking. Because if he's on the field, he's not really going to be Lamar with the limitations of this injury with how much his legs are a weapon. Exactly. And how much his legs are a weapon and how much that is their offense. Like you can't change your entire style of play. It's not, I mean, it's how they play. And so, I mean, it's their offensive philosophy. So that part is playing a factor where you're going, if you play the position differently, he'd probably be on the field this weekend in the postseason.

Does that make us think? But at the same time, we're not in the postseason if it's not for Lamar. And we're not the team we are if it wasn't for him. It's going to be fascinating. And then the Tua discussion is for another reason, but it's also going to be a wild offseason where you know that's a talented roster down there. And you've got to make a decision on whether you're going to pick up the fifth year option on Tua.

He showed you that, you know, he can lead this team to be very successful. But this is something, sorry to say, with the concussions, if you're going to tie that amount of money to somebody, you're not sure if they're going to be on the field. It's going to be really difficult for both organizations to make a call this offseason.

It's risky. Where's Brady playing next year? We know he's not in Tampa.

I think we're all pretty certain of that. I think he's going to weigh his options. I don't think Vegas is completely out of the question. With the way things ended with Derek and obviously the connections to McDaniel's, it depends.

I think with Sean, there's always been, I think we've all heard the rumors and what's going on that the two of them would like to reunite somewhere. Is that a possibility and that winds up where he's going to end up going and playing? You know he wants to go to the 49ers, Brady.

You know that. Yeah, he would love to go back to San Fran and go where he grew up and finish right at home in the backyard. That would be poetic for him. There are people who are always saying, it's going to happen now, but well, Champagne's going to come back to the Saints and it's going to be Brady. But I think his is going to be an interesting one to watch because I think some other dominoes have to fall to figure out where exactly he's going to land. You know, it's funny because I agree with you that it's not going to be Tampa, but then I think to myself, why wouldn't he return to Tampa?

Well, I don't know. I mean, part of me is thinking, I mean, obviously it didn't go as well as they wanted to this past year, but you're right. You could go, man, I still have Mike Evans. I still have Chris Scott.

Two of the better receivers in the NFL. I, my, my offensive line is, you know, I lost guys in free agency, you know, this off season, but I didn't think I'd lose Brian Jensen to an injury that was just catastrophic. Lose Chris, Tristan worse to, you know, to the injury that he did for a period of time.

I, you know, maybe I, maybe I do come back. I just think if you're like, as my buddy Mike silver was reporting, holding meetings on Saturday to run your own audibles, uh, outside of the knowledge of the coaching staff with your skill guys. I don't know if you're entirely happy with, with what's going on down there.

If that's your, uh, if that's your mindset on the, on the day before game day. So, uh, before we let you run James Bob for the NFL network and the AFC, how do you rank the bills bangles and chiefs headed into the post season? You know, you know what changed my opinion of Cincinnati is this Alex Kappa injury. I don't think anybody's really talking about Joe burrows going to go into this game against the Ravens who were fifth in the NFL and sacks without the right side of his offensive line. I mean, like, I know Joe's like an athlete and he can move.

He probably doesn't get enough credit at all for the type of athlete is because of the other two teams. You just mentioned the way we see Josh Allen doing the way we see the homes do it, but, but I, I think that changes things for Cincinnati a little bit. I think Casey's just still the one out of the three because of just of the way Pat's playing right now. And because of the way that offense is clicking and because of the history we've seen with Steve Spagnolo is he's going to find moments to make a play. To keep the defense just good enough through the post season, right? Because he knows that he has the other guy as his quarterback that's going to score and can we just make a can we blitz at the right time to make the right play even though they've given up more, you know, receiving touchdowns than any other team in football by like five. I think I still think it's Kansas City.

My issue with Buffalo and this is just I don't know. It may be like a something that would get me ripped apart, but it's just I just can they keep this going emotionally through the duration of the postseason and the Super Bowl with everything they've been through? I mean, it's just been unbelievable everything that organization has been through. Sean McDermott's been above and beyond anything we ever expected of a head coach.

Everybody who knows him personally. I do too is we expected this, but this is out of control with how amazing he has been and what these players have been through. You know, I just find it like it might be hard to keep that up throughout the postseason, even if there's, you know, all this positive news that keeps coming with tomorrow, which is unbelievably brilliant. But what if he shows up like Peter Schreger tweeted out like what if he shows up at that game? Like, I don't know, the stadium might fall apart like it'll be insane, but just the magnitude of the emotions that they've had to deal with may play a part in the postseason. I'm not sure.

I hope it doesn't in a negative fashion, but it's just it's exhausting in any aspect of what they've been through. Where do they have you this weekend, by the way? I have a bye with the Chiefs. I am sticking with Casey. Maybe that's why I picked them to be the best team so I can go all the way to the Super Bowl with them. But I'm sticking with Casey, so no game for me this weekend. And once they start, I'm with them all the way through. And who knows, maybe it's at a neutral site in the in the AFC Championship camp.

Yeah, that would be something. I do care about you, so I'm going to do this to try to be your therapist here as you wrap up with James Palmer. How upset were you watching that national championship game when it was sixty five to seven, thinking, man, if they would have just made a field goal or held that lead, your Ohio State Buckeyes against Georgia, you would have won a national championship. I barely watched. I'm not going to lie. I was so distraught after what happened, because listen, it is if we. Well, let's rewind.

I paid a tuition, I guess. Just real quickly. Harrison doesn't go down.

They win the game. Yeah, I mean, it's. On New Year's, did you did you ruin New Year's like it was three to one, you didn't even give your wife a kiss because the ball was was wide left. No, I'm staring at a television screen at a Marriott in Kansas City because I'm about to do. I'm about to do the chief Broncos game the next day. I'm all by myself in front of the television.

The ball drops, it sails to the side. I literally turn off the television as the ball's dropping and climb into bed and go, I got to get up at five for game day morning with Eisen and those guys. It was the worst feeling.

And then I'm trying to fall asleep and then my phone just buzzing like crazy. My dad's blown me up saying like, you know, cursing like crazy. How upset he is. Like, what is this play?

And he's actually right. He's like, why are we not trying to get more yards? Do we think a gimme 50 yarder is just in the bank?

What? So I mean, it is what I the only positive I take out of the college football playoff and everything that went down is I do think CJ Stroud really helped himself quite a bit draft wise for the way he went out there. And I think also for the way he played, but the way he handled the Michigan loss, the way he handled this, his character evaluations have actually gone up as well for the type of guy he is. So I guess that's my positive, maybe the best quarterback we've ever had at Ohio State talent wise.

And he ends up not winning a Big Ten title or a national championship. It's wild. Great stuff. James Palmer, we appreciate it as always. Thank you. Enjoy your bye week. Appreciate it, buddy.

Thanks. We'll get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touchdown as time expires.

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