How the West is Won: Previewing Week 18

28:39Jourdan Rodrigue:I also think that maybe the Seahawks fan a little bit is like, hang on a minute, guys. Can we get this fixed before the playoffs? Like, yeah. Okay. Calm me down. Well, okay. I'll calm myself down. They get to play the Niners defense. So, but here's where I'm actually not going to calm you down. Oh no. Yeah. Because I think what the simple thing to say about this Niners defense is exactly like, and, and they can't pressure. And the problem, as we know, the Sam Darnold problem that's been happening is the pressure and how the pressure affects him and the turnovers. And exactly. For the audio audience, I did a Sam Darnold impression, by the way, according to NGS when pressured, he has lost the second most win probability percentage points in the NFL.

29:29Jourdan Rodrigue:Yikes. However, what I will say, and the, and the 49ers, they can't, they can't pressure the quarterback at all. The thing though, that might become a problem here because you would think that this is a total favorable matchup for Seattle's offense. I might push back on that a little because as you know, like I love coaching, I'm fascinated by coaching. I, I love learning how it works and how people decide what they're going to do. This Robert Sala plan that this time of year, especially with this game, the stakes of it being what they are, it's, and it basically, it's a playoff game. You switch gears as a coordinator, offense or defense into, okay, now we're playing matchup based football.

30:06Jourdan Rodrigue:We're not playing necessarily our stuff anymore. We are playing week by week matchup based football. And I think what in where they will lack the ability to legitimately pressure the quarterback, what they can do is fake pressure. And what they can do is show simulated pressure. What they can do is act as if they are trying to bring things against Sam Darnold with extra defenders, blitzing, showing blitz different ways, running some of these simulations and these creepers that other teams have found success, delayed stunts, delayed blitzes, those types of things where you can make Sam Darnold think that he is about to be pressured and yet you're not actually pressuring him.

30:50Jourdan Rodrigue:And so I think when you're Robert Sala, you have a really honest conversation with yourself. Can I actually pressure the quarterback enough to rattle him the way that other teams have effectively done so far over the last several weeks? If the answer is no, and I think it should be no, and can I do it without like sending an overwhelming number of blitzes to where I have to take away help against JSN, et cetera, et cetera. If the answer is no, which it is no, but if he comes to the answer being no, then you have to design things that make the quarterback think that something is going to happen that is never actually going to happen.

31:27Jourdan Rodrigue:But you have to make him think that. And that's where I think this might be a really sneaky sort of like more mathematically inclined matchup to type to try to do those types of things to play true matchup football, design football like that. And I think Robert Sala is one of the few coaches capable of doing that still in the regular season. It's a big part of why I think Seattle really needs to run the ball effectively. Yes. To, you know, because, yeah, Sam Darnold has struggled with simulated pressures and coverage disguise. And so even when he's not getting heated up, there have been moments where he acts like it.

32:08And one of the ways you solve that is you run the ball well. And this Niners rush pass rush is bad. It's nice run defense is also very bad at last success rate. They typically counter multi-pull tight end offenses like Seattle by playing nickel and Seattle for all of their, they're kind of up and down running the football this year. It's actually improved a little bit, honestly, as the year has gone on and this last game was pretty good against the Rams. Right. But our primary, the Panthers, but um when they run against nickel or dimes or sub packages they're averaging 5.2 yards per carry which is pretty good um so i think that is going to be a big part of this one for settling sam darnold and while the cx do not have a great running game i do think it's gotten better and i do think the niners run defense is such that it's important for clint kubiak to stick with it and attack them that way.

33:06Jourdan Rodrigue:Totally, because you have to look at some of the under-the-hood stuff with what the Bears did. And, yeah, that game was like points, points, points, and so much fun and throws that are impossible that still got made and all these things. But, like, Kyle Menungai and DeAndre Swift, they weren't high in volume yardage, but both running backs had over a 50 % success rate. And so picking away at this 49ers defense like that, it's helpful to you in so many ways, inclusive to the fact that like I mentioned Robert Sala, he's one of the few out of this original like Pete Carroll tree that has broken tendency a little bit more and played into some more like pure quarters and those types of things.

33:51Jourdan Rodrigue:And he is going to be able, because he has some of that multiplicity in his bag, he's going to be able to bracket JSN in different ways, whether or not JSN is the target. And so So what else will help pull defenders away from JSN is the threat of a consistent run game, not just not necessarily an explosive one. If you are hitting singles and doubles against this 49ers defense, eventually you will get your moment to create an explosive because you just the defensive coordinator will just not be able to stand it. And so I think that that is to your point about running the ball. You don't need to have both rushers go for even 60 yards a piece.

34:32Jourdan Rodrigue:Like this was, they didn't even combine last week. The Bears running backs didn't even combine for a hundred yards together. But again, that success rate, it really impacted the way that they could take some of those shots down the field against this 49ers defense. And I do think also that the, the, the Seahawks in the run game, inclusive to their tight ends have such a size advantage over this group of 49ers defenders as well. Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned JSN because. What a delight. So the thing that I've forgotten until I went back and looked at this game, he had 13 targets for 124 yards. No other Seahawks receiver had more than three.

35:13Right. And the Niners have one good corner. Sorry. I feel like I'm nice. I'm probably like, you're so critical of the damage defense. Like I'm going to get to the Niners offense and you can hear me talk about you know, Upton Stouts had his moments and, but Lenoir, Lenoir, Lenoir. I always, put a little bit too much French sauce on it. He's the guy that you don't want to throw at in this offense. And they did. Kubiak's really good at moving JSN around, try to get matchups. But to your point, they're obviously in a zero in on him. The Niners are 32nd in DVOA versus wide receiver twos. Rashid Shahid, this game is why they traded for you.

35:53Like I really feel like there's an opportunity here for him that he hasn't really seized since coming. He's made an impact in the return game, and he's had a couple of moments, but he really hasn't been Jordan that force, that wide receiver, too, that they think they hoped he would be. And I feel like this one's it because the Niners, you know, there's just a lot of places you can attack in secondary.

36:16Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, and I will say, too, you would think so, too, especially with his familiarity with Clint Kubiak in the past. But Clint Kubiak is, after all, a Kubiak. And so I feel like this could potentially be a big AJ Barner as wide receiver to the tight end is wide receiver to game. I'm not sure he'll be able to help himself. So I just think that this is it's one of those tendencies that that tree has had over the years. And AJ Barner has really emerged as a really good player for Seattle and something a lot of their sort of alternative looking concepts run through and a lot of their blocking structure.

36:55Jourdan Rodrigue:and all of those types of things. So wide receiver two is absolutely a vulnerability. I just don't know that it's going to come from a wide receiver. But yes, Rashid Shahid is going to show, hey, this is the proof of concept here. This would be the time to do it. Barner, to me, in the play-action game could be really useful here. Another thing that really shocked me from my notes, and I had forgotten this because I think all the offseason were like Clint Kubiak's going to be understanding outside zone play-action. And then they ran it only on 8 % of dropbacks versus the Niners in week one. And I remember being very confused by that.

37:30Now I feel like there's even more of a reason to use play action with the right. No Fred Warner. So I would like to see them do that too. It's another way to make things a little bit simpler for Darnold, especially if they don't send pressure. Yeah. I think like ultimately can they run the ball? Can Darnold avoid going full chicken with his head cut off? if the answer to both those questions is yes then i like the seahawks offense against them i really do um the other side is boy i had like just alien versus predator who's alien who's predator um so this is an odd one week one because uh the diners often struggled um and so i think actually let's take a step back here to me the the the for seattle the we hired mike mcdonald for a reason a moment was when they played the niners a second time in his first season and they shut down the offense to some degree and they won that game 20 to 17 and watching that and thinking like this is we have been we who i did we seattle's been killed by san francisco and these kosh anahan mcveigh offenses for years now they went out they got the guy who showed with baltimore he could stop it and he finally happened, right?

38:49And so week one, that continued to some degree. I mean, Brock Purdy was under, he turned it ball over a couple times. He was under pressure on over 50 % of dropbacks. Do you think, Jordan, that there's reason to think this time, the end of the year is going to look different from how it did week one between the Niners offense and Seahawks defense?

39:13Jourdan Rodrigue:I just think that the Seahawks defense has stayed so excellent. And I do think that this is a true Clash of the Titans game, to your point, Alien versus Predator. And I couldn't pick if we were just saying it is only this unit going against this unit. I could not pick this game 10 times out of 10. I would probably say it's an even split. Right. And five wins, five losses for each. so the thing about seattle is they are perfectly built to contain and sort of smother down on any type of alternative personnel and i think that they've showed it a few times this year they certainly showed it against like the rams 13 personnel twice um and they've showed it in flashes last year they also showed it against san francisco and i think where this game if you get But a really excellent top-tier game out of Ernest Jones, Nicky Manwari, and Julian Love.

40:13Jourdan Rodrigue:I believe he's healthy, right? He's good. Yeah, and then you will, I think, be able to stop all the things that Kyle Shanahan likes to do with George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk. And especially if those players specifically, and I mentioned them for a reason, because I believe a lot of them will be playing some of this matchup football as sort of these matchup nullifiers that they can be. And if you can especially get their eyes to stay clean at and after the snap, because with Kyle Juszczyk and George Kittle, who's back at practice this week, what they like to do is they like to change gaps using motion.

40:56Jourdan Rodrigue:And motion often, I'm not telling you anything, Numina, But for the listener, like motion often serves so many different types of purposes for coaches that use it correctly. Other than, you know, we saw we saw some really questionable uses of motion a few years ago in Pittsburgh. But now coaches who use it the way that it's intended as a tool to math change and all of those things. Kyle Shanahan does it better than almost any coach in the league. And the other two who do it the best are out of his coaching tree. and so what they're doing with Kyle Juszczyk is they're they're running him on all kinds of different motions from all kinds of different alignments in the backfield either the flex position or he's at fullback pure fullback or he's in the in the wing or he's like in the eye or something and they're running him on a lot of different types of pattern motions including one that I like to call the heron motion because it's like a heron diving into the water for a fish it's like a big loop that he just crashes fell down doing that last week, by the way, I know it still worked.

41:56Jourdan Rodrigue:It's still working. Get in the way, stay in the way. Yeah. So, but they're, what they're doing is they're basically leading the linebacker, the slot defender and the safety who's coming down to help and, and support believe that the, that the gap that the run is going through is going to be through a gap that makes sense. But then at the snap, when the motion is occurring between either player, Kittle or Juszczyk, the gap is then changing after the player on defense has already committed to the gap. So that's part of what makes this so effective. And the fact that you cannot tell because there is no tendency to these motions because he runs different types of patterns with the motions from different alignments.

42:39Jourdan Rodrigue:So that's where what you need to do if you are the defenders on the other side is never assume that the gap that you think it is is going to be the gap and to keep your eyes as clean as possible through the motion and then key in on the new gap it's so much easier me saying it it's almost impossible to do and that's part of the reason why kyle's killing people with it it's been like watching some of his plays back from the bears game on tape it's amazing to watch how he uses i would say the use check motions and that you described in great detail there and then um just mcafree and where he is lined up and his little Oh yeah, that guy too.

43:18Completely a mind F for, I mean, the things he did to the Bears linebackers were just very unkind in that game. So yeah, it's really hard to stop. But you made another point that I want to go back to, which is the Seahawks. You talked about how they can defend alternative personnel. But so, you know, in layman's terms, the Niners put big bodies on the field and get you to match with big bodies. And then they throw on you, right? The Seahawks don't put big bodies on the field. They just do not. In fact, when these teams played, the Niners did a lot of their 21 personnel and 22 and multiple tight ends and all of that.

43:56The Seahawks were in their sub packages almost 90 % of that game. This is how they play. They say, we do not care. We can stop the run with Nicky Manwari as our big nickel, and we do not need to put another linebacker on the field. and it's part of why. We talk so much about Mike McDonald and schematically how he's really good at stopping Kyle Shanahan offense, but I would say scheme-wise or personnel-wise, I meant to say, they have the people now to do it, and they did do it, and it's a unique challenge. It doesn't mean you can't. I think you can run on them, and I think we've seen some teams do that with success, reasonable efficiency, but I do think that they're really good at limiting explosives from those looks in a way that very few defenses are.

44:47The thing that I want to highlight in this game that I think is just so massive is whether or not Trent Williams plays. So I just, I know you've been on, you've been on watch all day. I know Jordan. I mean, they totally brought pretty over 40 % of the time. Trent Williams played in that game. uh so trent williams has a hammy uh the reporters are saying long shot uh kyle shanahan said we'll see he hasn't ruled him out he didn't practice on tuesday i honestly think this could decide this for me because in addition so seattle has one of the best four-man rushers in the nfl statistically percentage wise they get pressure right at a very very high rate without blitzing but the thing that i think they're so it might be down on one of the things he's so good at doing is it's almost like Shanahan like on defense in a way he's so good at hunting matchups on the offensive line yeah if you have a weak link he will find it yeah and through a combination of simulated pressures overloads lining up stunts lining up Leonard Williams inside house he will attack it and I just feel like if Williams is in this play and they're having to like reshuffle the line that makes me nervous for Brock Purdy, who has been like a maestro at extending plays.

46:08And that's kind of what has really like turbo powered him in the last few weeks. But this is a different animal from Chicago. Very different.

46:17Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, totally. From the rush to the coverage too, because Brock Purdy extending plays is great. And he's one of now become one of the best perimeter throwers in who's playing right now, which is notable because it's a different thing that Kyle had asked him to do a couple years ago. And I know you talked about on your show with Dominic Foxworth too, like he could be anything now. And that's excellent for Kyle because Kyle loves to mold people into whatever he wants them to be. And so he has this with this quarterback. And so I feel like it's such a great point. And it's probably why I will pick the Seahawks if Trent Williams doesn't play.

46:52Jourdan Rodrigue:because you can say how even this like Monstars clash is between San Francisco's offense and Seattle's defense because it is all things equal. But without Trent Williams, you're not just losing a player. You're losing a plus two or plus three player, which puts you at a deficit against a team and a front full of plus two and plus three players. So even if you're just adding points, you know, back and forth on a chart, you're you are at a deficit massively without Trent Williams because of all those things. They call the game differently. I was looking at. So with with and without Trent Williams, I was playing some of the splits since I just did since 2024.

47:37They pass more because they're worse at running. And we're talking about the pass protection, but the splits are pretty dramatic running the football, particularly obviously to the left side. With him, they average 5.4 yards per carry. It goes down to 4.8. They call more screens. Obviously, there's a higher pressure rate. It's just he is really, really important in this offense.

48:02Jourdan Rodrigue:It takes away what you can do with George Kittle, too, Mina, and Kyle Juszczyk. All of these things that you can do that we just talked about with George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk, all the creative stuff that you can do. Well, okay, what if on 30 % of the snap, pass drop back snaps he's got a chip instead one of the two has to chip then you again you're just you're like removing mathematical leverage every time you're missing Trent Williams it doesn't just affect Trent Williams in the offensive line it affects all the other skill guys too and then tackling becomes paramount for Seattle it's always tackling is always important when you play the San Francisco 49ers but if the ball's coming out faster you know limiting not letting some of those seven yard slants become 12 yard gains becomes really important.

48:45Seattle is a very good tackling team. Yeah. I, the injury is massive enough to where it did swing me for Seattle, but that's Sam Darnold could absolutely ruin those. I don't want, I don't feel like I sound like a hater. I don't mean to be a hater, but like, I just, yeah, it has been what it's been, you know, and he said flashes. So we shall see. All right. Let's take a quick break. Come back and talk about Raven Steelers. and then we'll do the nearest resolutions. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back.

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50:59Have your tax forms imported directly into the app and hand everything off to your TurboTax expert. While they work to get you every dollar you deserve, you can go about your normal routine, giving you time back to focus on what actually deserves your attention, like rooting for your team to make the playoffs. April 15th is not waiting, people. Visit TurboTax.com and hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. All right, we're back. So we have great news. mar Jackson's back at practice yeah you're still like that's not great news it's great news for me as a viewer of football sorry love you Tyler Huntley but I wanted to watch I want this game to be everything that it's supposed to be and for serious fans it's not because they don't have DK Metcalf and now Darnell Washington potentially TJ Watt though big deal um let's start with the Ravens offense because I do feel pretty good about Lamar since I mean practicing on Wednesday that's a pretty good sign.

51:59He often just doesn't.

52:01Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. He's not there on Wednesdays usually, so this is good. That's the deal though. I didn't think he was going to play. Did you? The signs seem bad. The signs to me still seem bad. I think he's going to play, but my concern, so first of all, I hope they ship the Matthew Stafford Immortal Chamber to them just for use for that week because we do want Lamar Jackson at the peak of his powers. I'm concerned we don't know what the ceiling of what he can do is yet. Right. And what I was really concerned. Yeah, right. Yeah. Every, he, he reaches new highs, it seems all the time, but when he's hurt, I'm concerned about this because of what some of the commentary was even out of the locker room, after he had the back injury before John Harbaugh came up and talked about his back on at the, at the podium, but it was like players, teammates were like, he can't even really move.

52:56Jourdan Rodrigue:Like he, like normal human movement, less, not even football player movement. Like he can't, it's hard to walk like those types of things. That is super concerning to me. Yes. I think it's great that he's practicing and, and I hope he is stays as healthy as possible or as, as close to it as it, as it's possible for him to be with an injury like this. But when I think about this offense and how this offense best works, it is because he is, his movement is a threat to defenses and, and including his passing as a mover. Like when he is throwing on the run, there is nothing in the world you can do to stop that.

53:36Jourdan Rodrigue:If he can, if he does that the way that he normally can, you, you are helpless as a defense against that. You have to hope that you make like the play of your life on any one of those given plays because the pass will be on target, close to perfect, and you're also going to already have been covering for a heck of a long time before you even get the chance to make the play on the ball because of the way he can extend the play. When they were talking about Tyler Huntley and the way that this run game stayed as open as it possibly could, what they're talking about is the defenders hesitating long enough to help the offensive line clear space.

54:13Jourdan Rodrigue:You saw the yards before contact per rush. It was like 2.2 against the Packers, which is insane. It's really, it's one of the best of all, all season of any team. And so part of that is because defenders are hesitating because they don't know if the quarterback's going to run it or if it's going to be a handoff. Because Tyler Huntley is a dual threat quarterback and it is so fundamental to the Ravens run game. um and you did see it and especially like i think about the goal line to hit on a couple power runs for touchdowns and um it's the best the run game has looked in a lot now some of that is green bay's run defense is kind of abysmal right now but last week was the best the ravens have run all year long by a pretty significant mark and it was it was a lot of outside zones their custom but it was a variety of types of runs both henry and mitchell were extremely good so when i was going into this week against the sealers thinking that lamar wouldn't play my only question was if when not if when pittsburgh sells out to stop the run can tyler huntley just hit on like a few play action passes right what lamar jackson can right so i think your point is like is he mobile enough to help the run game is a really important point because the steve's run defense even though like yeah, they got bossed around by Buffalo, but they're not bad.

55:41They're certainly better than Green Bay is. Yeah.

55:44Jourdan Rodrigue:And I think it doesn't even have to be as effective as it was last week. I think you just have to make them worry that it will be. Yeah. Because it is not a function of it. It is the function of the hesitation of it, right? That is where the getting off the line of scrimmage for the offensive line and then the ripple effect throughout the rest of the line of scrimmage and behind it and in front of it. That's where that happens, is in those moments of hesitation, of milliseconds that you really cannot totally pick up live, but you can see it in slow motion replays when you see the defender's eyes changing from gap to gap and trying to stay on the quarterback and also looking at the running back.

56:29Jourdan Rodrigue:You can see those types of things. And so I don't think we saw, unfortunately, Lamar has been injured before this year, and we saw that this offense did not necessarily have the same teeth that we know it is capable of to it. Some of that too is, you know, struggling to discern really do they truly have a number one receiver? Do they only sometimes have a number one receiver? Like what are the tight ends doing on any given week? Like all of these things obviously factor in the offensive line has been not up to par for a lot of the season. Like a lot of these things are also factors here, but making a defense at least believe that it will be a threat is paramount it made things so easy for Huntley like just I mean he only had like a four yard average depth to target it was like a lot of play action I don't think he completed a pass over 10 yards in that game because he didn't have to now again I do think it's important to say the Steelers are better against play action short passes than the Packers certainly at this point so there's more of a challenge it's also important to say that when lamar played them not that week 14 he was pretty up and down this was the likely touchdown that wasn't game so they could have won that game um but he he did have his ups and downs and it's always a question mark like when he came in um this last game before the um uh week 16 pardon me before he got hurt he looked great for a quarter you remember it was like whoa and then yeah he looked amazing and then he went out so it's just like it's I talk I joke about the Panthers you can't pick Panthers game I have a lot of trouble predicting what the Ravens offense is going to look like without knowing what Lamar uh is going to look like but I do if it does feel like the run game might be clicking at the right time you know um they also ran the ball well on New England who's about defense too and yeah I think like TJ Watt is needed in this game uh it sounds like he's gonna play I mean checking you know it seems like they're optimistic obviously they still have very good pass rushers outside of him but that could be decisive on that side of the ball yeah because um they kind of rely on a lot of the Steelers success has happened when they're making on defense, I mean, is when they're making some of these splash plays.

58:50Jourdan Rodrigue:Mike Tomlin was even sort of lamenting a couple that almost happened but didn't against Cleveland and sort of pointing to those particular moments as a loss, which I thought was kind of telling because yes, obviously every team would like to have splash plays, but the Steelers historically over the course of this year, when they have been sacking the quarterback, disrupting the line of

59:15Jourdan Rodrigue:getting interceptions, tackles for loss, those types of things, even neutral tackles, like that is actually when they've been sort of controlling these games. But it's almost like an offense that's too reliant on explosives, right? If an offense is too reliant on explosives, what happens if those explosives just aren't hitting that day? You can't really count on it. So I do think that that was a little bit telling. And TJ Watts certainly is a factor for that because even if he's similar, it's funny, similar to like the Lamar question, And even if he's not at full strength, you're always got an eye on him.

59:49Yeah. Yeah. Serious defense has been kind of hard to project. Yeah. Because there's some weeks we were just like, God, this is bad. But then they shut down the Steelers and the Lions, the Colts, back when the Colts were good. So it's just they're a little bit trickier for me than the Steelers offense, who I think I know every week what I'm going to get pretty much. the series defense has is capable of higher highs i really believe that um i mean all right we'll get to the series offense i mean i it so okay go back going back to the game they won that game because of dk metcalf yes full stop um the ravens played a ton of man coverage against them rogers went 8 for 14 for 165 yards more than half of those were deep balls to dk metcalf they got him on marlon up free a couple times um yeah i mean he that all of his deep passes worked to dk metcalf dk metcalf has been really the out you know outside of the run game the engine of the steelers offense aaron rogers wants to throw the ball quickly he wants to throw the ball outside numbers he wants to throw the ball to dk dk is not playing in this game um massive so i think my question for you is assuming that the ravens watched the browns and play a lot of man coverage against this team without dk metcalf they already did with him do you think they can come up with answer like are there answers on this roster without dk because this last week it looked like there weren't any until the final drive when you've rediscovered the existence of

1:01:26Jourdan Rodrigue:papyrus like it's it's if the ravens forget how to tackle again that's where the only that's the only way because what what aaron rogers is going to do is he's regardless of whether he's being pressured or not he will get the ball out fast and he will try to lean on some of these yards after catch plays and early in the season especially they were super successful that was really the only before it really started clicking with dk that was really the thing that was the only explosive element of this offense was the yards after catch play specifically to the running backs who I think have been really good this season on the whole in the pass game and the run game.

1:02:05Jourdan Rodrigue:The problem with that is that I, I actually trust the Baltimore, you know, I do trust the Baltimore defense more than I did at the beginning of the year. It's kind of like a slow burn defense year over year. It seems like hinged on where Kyle Hamilton is moved to in the whether it's back deeper or closer to the line of scrimmage. And it also, to me, is not, it's clearly not a sustainable way for the Steelers' offense to operate. Could you get one game out of it doing that? Sure. But this late in the season, I'm just not so sure that it will have the same effect. And I do think that this darn old Washington loss.

1:02:42Jourdan Rodrigue:Let's talk about that. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of yards after the catch. so here's a number uh that really jumped out to me with and without darnell washington series run games have been pretty efficient this year it's actually i think they're top 10 in dboa i don't have in front of me but they're pretty good on third down so they run the ball a lot right third and short with him they have a 70 conversion rate which is best in the nfl by significant margin without him that drops nearly 20 percentage points to 53 percent That's insane. That's Dave Damoshek Jenga piece, right? The thing is, with Darnell Washington, it's also how he opens up.

1:03:29Jourdan Rodrigue:He's important not just as a passing mismatch and a do-it-all Joker type of player for them, but in any part of the field, by the way, Red Zone 2, for obviously I'm just bigger than you reasons. but he also affects their blocking surface so significantly. When we talked about Trent Williams being like a plus three player, that's what I kind of considered Darnell Washington as as well, because of the ways he can impact the run and pass game, whether he is the target or whether he is assisting in opening the target. So if you watch him away from the ball, it's pretty fun. A lot of the time to see where he moves on the field, where Arthur Smith has had moved him.

1:04:12Jourdan Rodrigue:And then also he does dramatically just, I mean, even if he wasn't, even if he's still would, you know, maturing as a player and growing into himself as a blocker, like he's just bigger than everybody else. He, he literally takes up more space Mina. I like, I know, I know you can't relate because you are tiny, but he literally takes up more space than the average massive human already on the field. But also he's, he, they move him a lot. So he takes, he picks up tucks under his arm, multiple gaps with him every time he moves. I am very interested in seeing whether this run game is efficient without him.

1:04:47Yeah. Because when they run six offensive linemen, it's really seven, right? Yes. So do they lean on that more often? And also, you're going against a Ravens defense that's not fearing anyone deep. So they're going to be all... Everyone's down. Yeah. I think, not to be all doom and gloom here, you mentioned Gainwell as a pass catcher. Important. I think they got to find a way to activate the other tight ends prior with Johnnie Smith. Yeah. Art Smith.

1:05:19Jourdan Rodrigue:Art Smith. What the heck, man? Thought you loved this guy. Thought you had a photo of this guy in your room should be bigger parts of this offense. And I'd argue they have to be because of the DK, the DK. And I mean, it is absence is really a big deal. um final question on that because i i have seen this i mean we talked a little bit about the run game with huntley and whatnot do you think there's any case to be made that like this is like with lamar you want to like keep him healthy for the playoffs and not risk it here it's always hard for me to answer these questions without knowing you know the details of player health and what they're actually yeah at stake I completely rebut the rebut the idea that you know this offense is better with Tyler Huntley I think that I know we talked about his impact in the run game I think that had a lot more to do with just the way the Packers defense played and the way that was but do you think it's like too risky to play Lamar here do you think they need to play Lamar to win this game um I think they need to play Lamar as close to Lamar as possible to to win this game.

1:06:29If he is at practice and he does not look like himself, then you, it's a, it's a darn if you do darn, if you don't situation, because you are Lamar Jackson at 40 % still gives you

1:06:44Jourdan Rodrigue:the best chance to win a football game against most teams in, in the NFL, if he can execute in a way and stay upright and be healthy and all these things, like he can, he can make magical things happen. The problem is, is do you run the risk of aggravating an injury? Again, we don't know the extent of it. Do you run the risk of aggravating an injury that is really would significantly impact not just a player's ability to play the sport, but also like is well-being in general, back injuries are super serious, or and in doing so sort of throw in the towel a little bit on saying, okay, because this is a playoff game.

1:07:26Jourdan Rodrigue:That's the thing. I think if you think about it as a playoff game, you say, yes, we play Lamar Jackson. Now, I will say that I don't think this offense is better pound for pound, like snap over snap with Tyler Huntley than Lamar Jackson. Of course not. I do think that if you think you can beat the Steelers and not injure your quarterback because you understand how compressed the Steelers will be on the other side of the ball, Like if you think you can lean on your, like truly, and the scary, scary, scary thought, I know. If you think you can lean on your Baltimore Ravens defense and preserve your quarterback and give them a little bit of a bye week, you know, then you think about it.

1:08:07I mean, with fire, I will say. And look, Lamar knows his health better than anyone. Yeah.

1:08:14Jourdan Rodrigue:Probably more better than John Harbaugh knows his health, I would assume. Yeah. I don't love that he's playing the play in this week, though. Yeah. Because, you know, there's been weirdness between him and the team. There just is throughout. It's not a controversial thing. They literally had a trade request, right? And there's been moments and ends of seasons, and he hasn't played. He's been hurt, whatever. If I'm a Raven, if I'm on that team, I love that he's fighting. Oh, yeah. I think it's a big deal to see him out there. And so I'm going to pick the Ravens mostly because of the other side of the ball.

1:08:46just what that offense looked like that DK map path was brutal to watch um how about you

1:08:53Jourdan Rodrigue:I am also picking the Ravens regardless of quarterback because I just think that this offense I I shudder to think at how um like just suffocated it looks and compressed like Star Wars track Star Wars trash shoot scenario here with the Steelers offense. And I'm not looking forward to that. I mean, I'm looking forward to this game, truly, but I'm not looking forward to seeing what that looks like. Do you know what the scariest sound to hear on the factory floor is? Silence. That means something somewhere broke. Production has stopped and now you're paying workers to wait while the team troubleshoots and fixes the problem.

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1:10:41Heat it, eat it, and you're out the door. No long prep, no complicated game plan. They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber, and crafted with 100 % whole grains, not refined white flour. So you're getting something that actually fuels you. And there's depth on the roster. Butter, milk, and vanilla, blueberry, chocolate chip, even gluten-free options. Breakfast that delivers. Snack that delivers. Find Kodiak frozen waffles and flapjacks in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. They're the ones with the bear on the box. All right. The worst teams in the NFL.

1:11:19Let's do this. Woo-hoo! First podcast of 2026, New Year's resolutions. I'll go first. I've got the law. I'm going in draft order here as it currently stands. I've got the... Oh, by the way, we're not doing quarterbacks. Yes. Happy teams. Obviously quarterback. but not all actually there's a few um so that's it's boring obviously the raiders quarterback browns you know whatever okay so i was a little torn actually in the raiders because there's multiple needs um and so i kind of cheated and i just wrote offensive infrastructure and offense offense period the line and wide receiver is obviously i mean it's just it's one of the worst situations for both the quarterback the running back and play caller honestly even though chip kelly was bad that i've ever seen um and i was looking at the salary cap of 2026 i mean you're really just paying colton miller who got hurt and alex kappa not that much money it's a very cheap offensive line so you got to address that it was an absolute train wreck this year but you need receivers you traded away jacobie myers who's not flourishing in jacksonville young guys have gotten some run finally we're seeing some jack bash whatever i don't know you need receivers because you're going to get a quarterback and you if they take a young quarterback fernando mendoza let's say and they put him in what this offense looked like he is screwed so they got to attack multiple positions on offense for this thing to be functional next year.

1:12:52Yeah.

1:12:53Jourdan Rodrigue:I love that. I hope that they start up front even before they go to spend like insane resources, but I also hope dear. And, and they, they just got, and I don't know whose decision it really was. I know Pete Carroll loves a, loves the idea of a high profile running back in his offense. Right. But like, or in his, you know, in his team, but like, I also, I also know that we talked to Greg and I talked to actually to John Spitek at the combine and he was like talking about how they have to really truly know what they have out of these younger offensive linemen. They don't have bleep. They don't have anything.

1:13:27Jourdan Rodrigue:I didn't want you to have to bleep me out. You're very kind producers to bleep me out, but they don't have anything. So yeah, start there, I would say. Good resolution. All right. You have the New York Giants. Yes. Okay. My resolution for the New Giants is hire an absolute maniac as your head coach. What I mean by this is hire, and I hate this term, but like hire a total alpha psychopath to come in who has a plan, who is successful, who does not deviate from that plan, whether it's an offensive guy or a defensive guy who can translate the very specific part to whole traits, uh, intangibles and all the variables of everything he wants in a specific player in order to make that player, uh, maximize that player's potential within the system that he wants to run, where it's a handshake between player and scheme and not just a bunch of talented guys sort of sporadically dropped all over this roster the way that it is right now, especially on defense.

1:14:29Jourdan Rodrigue:So what I, what I think too, is I don't like an overhead GM. I, my light just flickered in my house. That's funny. Someone's listening. Joe Shane is listening. I don't like, right. When I said that, it was like, I was literally, as you were talking, I was like, I was going to jump in and say, wipe the slate clean, but you did it for me. There's like a, there's like a demon in my house. Once I mentioned Shane, the light started flickering. What are we doing? Like, I cannot believe that is even under consideration. But it can, it can work. It can work if it's the right coach. If it's a psychopath maniac coach, you see it with Ben Johnson.

1:15:03Jourdan Rodrigue:You saw it with Kyle Shanahan. You see it with D 'Amico Ryans and Nick Casario. You see it. We saw it with Sean McVay and Les Snead. It can actually work if that coach is advanced enough in what he is and what he is not willing to deviate about what he is in order to basically say, I'm in charge. This is what I want for my roster ben johnson was able to tell ryan poles right like down to the when when you're watching tape when you're watching tape and like you're looking at how the the screen game these these guys what how i want to run the screen game this is how i want them to move like very granular micro detail you just need that and that's what the giants need if they decide they are going to keep joe shane this is what they need hire a maniac at head coach uh i love that and yeah i I don't think they should keep him.

1:15:53So the lights flickering again, GM who are working hand and glove. Who's the hand? Who's the glove in that scenario? I don't know,

1:16:02Jourdan Rodrigue:but it'd be the coach. The coach should be the hand and the glove. And then the GM should just be the person who helps put the glove on. I like that. Tom Brady's glove. Oh God. Super villain. Yeah. I just think you want people working on the same path with the same timeline. That's the thing that I never, I don't like is when the GM and the coach are on different timelines and have different incentives. I, you know, Joe Jane's not like Trent Baalke where it's like, what are we doing here? Right. Obviously he's hit on some players, but not enough. That's all I have to say. And they don't fit in a, that's it.

1:16:42Jourdan Rodrigue:Sorry. I know I'm dragging this out, but they don't fit in a way that they're some really talented players. They don't fit in a way that builds in a scheme. They don't fit in a way that builds together in enough complementary ways. Some misses too, man. All right. Jets. I know I'm doing the opposite of the – I just wrote defense. I mean, this whole team is like an absolute – like there's so many holes on the team. But the defense is just so devoid of – like it's just all three levels. They obviously traded away their two core players, which I don't think was a mistake. And they have so much in ammunition now to attack so many draft picks.

1:17:26They have so much cap space. Their highest cap hit behind Justin Fields, who's not even that much and probably gone is Brandon Stevens. So they have nearly a hundred million dollars right now to spend like the doogie. Is his name right? Moogie. Moogie. What's Moogie? Doogie. i'm gonna call him that from now on darren moogie you're all darren moogie like who has more power than him this off season like he can go crazy um so i'm not even gonna say which position i think every position they have to address but and i from what i hear is some pretty good defensive players in the draft so this could be a good one but obviously they've got to address quarterback as well but yeah just spending spree it's go crazy i think it'll be interesting to see they probably need to add another receiver as well but otherwise like at least the offensive line is trending in the right direction yeah a couple decent skill players and

1:18:19Jourdan Rodrigue:but the defense is just a disaster as with the original doogie with great power comes great responsibility the moogie is what brock birdie hit after the touchdown okay you got the titans who don't need a quarterback right which is great my mine now i don't i know i sound crazy here titans resolution hire mike mccarthy like i understand the playoff record i understand that there's some eye rolls when you bring up this name but i have to tell you this is an organization that can't even be thinking about the postseason right right now this is an organization that has to be ripped back to the studs other than the quarterback in jeffrey simmons possibly denard wilson as well who i think has done a really good job despite the circumstances this year the defensive coordinator they have to build foundational stuff and one thing i think that mike McCarthy has never gotten enough credit for that I know through a lot of extensive reporting on this is how many foundational elements he helped install, not just when he was in Green Bay.

1:19:20Jourdan Rodrigue:This is organizational stuff. It's not just roster stuff. It's not just the things that we see on the field. And then when he was in Dallas, he is the one, I know we laugh about his analytics journey or whatever, but like he was the one that really installed and helped to hire out those departments, not just with analytics and data, but situational management and game management to where there was an infrastructure that can compete with the modern landscape of football and a way that could mesh with football in ways that even some buildings to this day really struggle to do and to modernize these organizations, to basically build infrastructure behind the scenes of things that we just don't see with the product on the football field.

1:20:04Jourdan Rodrigue:And so I think that Mike McCarthy knows how to do that. And he's stable because this organization, it's a multi-year rebuild. It's a disaster over there. And he's stable, but he also has the personality that people like him. The front office people like him. The people like working with him. There's like whatever this power, whatever this power struggle is going on in the front office and the owner or whatever. Everybody likes Mike McCarthy. So I feel like that's where I think that's the right hire for the Tennessee Titans. if they were to do that i would like to see him bring in a play caller i'll just say yes 100 % exciting offensive mind um also please give camor to receiver please yes maybe two as a treat um okay cardinals was hard so we got three more teams under 500 i actually struck cardinals are i mean such a weird team because like when you sit down you look at their roster there's there there's a still decent amount of talent they had some tough injuries this year obviously the quarterback i think it's been kind of exposed to as the year has gone on that like everybody like joe came in got to play some bad defenses and everyone's like wow he's so much better than kyler he's not i i like jacobi he's not people were wrong um i do think they're gonna move on from the quarterback though and that'll be probably the most interesting story of the entire offseason we'll get to that um but like you know like walter nolan was really exciting then he got hurt and like i think sweat's been okay for them i still think that i actually think the offense has enough pieces for me to you know they can still add to the offensive line a bit but i think the defense and specifically i just wrote front seven keep adding to it um defensive tackle i know the draft of nolan but linebacker is a position i feel like jonathan gannon if he keeps his job needs um for his defense to run the way he wants it to better he's like a star linebacker.

1:21:58I don't know if he should keep, I haven't made up my mind about that. That's kind of one of the more on the fence coaching decisions, I think that teams have to make, but yeah, they're, they're in an odd place because of the quarterback thing.

1:22:12Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, they are. And I would, I would imagine because of all of the effort and shenanigans that unfolded when they tried to pair the GM and the coach together to begin with. And the fact that this was always going to be an extensive rebuild and the fact that they can kind of scapegoat the quarterback. I do think it's more likely that other positions are affected along the team in terms of the coaching staff are affected before necessarily the top jobs. Because you've never really heard anything about those two guys, Monty Austin Ford or Jonathan Gannon, either being split either. They worked together.

1:22:48Jourdan Rodrigue:They were tried that they were tried to be paired together. It worked, obviously, and like all of those types of things. So it would be very rare for one to go and one to stay in that case. And you haven't heard any leaks about, you know, people being on one island and the other person being on the other island. So I would think it would if they do make a change, it would be more likely that the coordinators are considered first. Maybe some of the skill position coaches, too. But but yeah, they're sage, maybe. Like a bunch of sage burned in the building somewhere, you know, it's tough too. Cause division's just so good.

1:23:25Yeah.

1:23:25Jourdan Rodrigue:And then, and then there's the Cardinals. Yeah. You left behind a little bit. It's I think what, yeah, to your point about the coaching and all this, what they decide to do at the quarterback position is going to really set not only like the tone of like, what kind of play caller they want, but also the timeline of the team, you know, if they draft a guy or whatnot, what are you going to get Kyler? It's just, it's a whole mess down there. I would like to see Fernando Mendoza go there I would like to see it I think it's a decent spot for a young quarterback I agree we're talking about the Raiders and the Giants I was like, what do I choose?

1:24:03I was loving with the Cardinals they actually have players the whole piece isn't really coming to work

1:24:09Jourdan Rodrigue:Kyler Murray to Vegas Cardinals get their Fernando Mendoza Mendoza, both teams improved dramatically. Who says no? I think Vegas fans won't do another. Vegas won't. They're going to go young. I just can't imagine they'll do it again. You know, another. Also, Vegas is in no position to be given. I mean, I guess if it was that pick, they would have to get more. But, like, they got so much work to do on the offense. Yeah. Okay. You have the Browns and I have the Commanders. So you go first, the Browns. Yes. There's so much to pick here. So I went a little macro, maybe a little weird. You tell me.

1:24:49Jourdan Rodrigue:I just think the biggest thing they have to do in this new year is decide what is fluff inside their building and what's actually helping with football and winning football games. Because I think the one thing the Browns have had on their side is like everybody likes Kevin Stefanski, myself included, like as a person and everybody thinks he's a talented coach. And they are also annually regarded as one of the more like progressive or analytically advanced front offices and executive teams in football. Andrew Barry installed a lot of that, obviously. That's pretty clearly not helping them win games if there's a breakdown along the way in the decision-making.

1:25:26Jourdan Rodrigue:Kevin Stefanski is not clearly an edge here right now in helping them win games. And so you can build out all this programming and you can have a talented schematic coach, a talented play caller, and all of these things. But if it's not actually helping you make sound decisions that lead to winning football games, then you don't have anything. And so you have to really, um, it, a lot of new year's resolutions, um, are also about deciding what you don't want and what you need to trim or set boundaries against in your life. Um, not necessarily speaking from personal experience because, uh, this is not a therapy session, but you have to sift through it yourself to the Cleveland Browns.

1:26:05Jourdan Rodrigue:No, God, no, definitely not. Um, I, I make, uh, I hope better decisions in men. So you've got to sift through it and understand what will actually help win them football games. If it doesn't get rid of it. I don't know. Remember who reported that? Let me look it up. Cause I want to attribute this correctly. I saw a report today suggesting that was it Fowler? Yeah, it was Jeremy Fowler that Mike McDaniel would be a candidate for the Cleveland Browns job, which seems just following Kyle Shanahan's path. Mina? I like Mike, and I actually have said that I think the Dolphins should be. I love Mike.

1:26:43But I don't, like, that seems, to everything you're saying, that does not seem like the answer there. Yeah. Organizationally, obviously, there has to be some decisions at the top. And I would say, you know, be... Is that my kid? It is. I'm trying to be too loud. I would say also, just, they need offensive. They need receivers. yeah they need offensive linemen love their draft class yeah the draft class looks great yeah all right let us wrap with the washington commanders this one was easy i just wrote pass rush pass rush yes yes i mean there's other issues in the defense um but that was just it was a glaring issue coming into the season it remains a glaring issue they went old now they gotta go young great news you have a top draft pick you don't need a quarterback you've got they probably do need to get younger receiver as well and add some players but that that first pick you know every year there's like when we look at the first 10 of draft and there's some teams where it's like everybody knows what position they're going to go after I feel like it's just written in stone that

1:27:56Jourdan Rodrigue:the commanders are going to take a pass rusher I think for all of us new year's resolutions includes like find ways to get younger or feel younger right so let's turn back the clock a little bit washington come on and you need to take that average age down several notches on your roster um it's nice though at least there's clarity i'll be interested you might do a new defensive coordinator too i could see that it feels like they need some just need to get younger and mixed some ideas in there similar to what they did on offense two years ago with Cliff and Anthony Lynn and all of that, like get some new ideas in there.

1:28:33Jourdan Rodrigue:And Dan Quinn has never been afraid to evolve or change. He is pretty clear about who he is, but he also listens to other people. So, you know, I don't think that it would be a bad idea to bring in like some up and coming like creative, you know, shoot. If the Cardinals move on from Nick Rallis, put Nick Rallis in Washington. That'd be fun. He's great. Yeah. Just some fresh ideas. Yeah. All right. Well, that's it. Those are, those are the other 500 teams. How about the freaking saints escaping the under 500? I know, right? What a time to be alive. Yeah. I, I, I'm not rooting for Carolina to lose, but it would be very funny if the NFC South comes down to that game.

1:29:21Jourdan Rodrigue:It's just would be so NFC South. I think that's what I love when the, I love when the story writes itself, you know, as a writer, I love when the story just writes itself like that. You don't even need to think of a lead. That's the lead right there. Well, Jordan is an excellent writer. You should check out her work. Uh, you had a great story on the Texans. You have a great story on Callie Ursa. I'm saying her name is Callie Ursa. Carly or say Gordon. Yes, I went AFC recently. Yes, I went full on AFC. I was I was getting, you know, I felt like I was just too in love with the NFC West. No, I love it.

1:29:55Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, I assume are you gonna be at the Niners game? I will not. I'm sad. I'm so sad. I know it's it's one I probably should be at. But one more thing I want to ask you, okay, because you're a Rams. Jordan used to cover the Rams for those who don't know and knows the team extremely well. I am so fascinated by how they approach week 18. So Niner Seahawks, if the Seahawks win, then the Rams who are coming off of a devastating loss or, uh, uh, probably if the Seahawks win, yeah, sorry. The Rams are locked into the five seed. So it doesn't matter. Right. Did I get that right? Yes. If the Niners win, yes, yes.

1:30:34If the Niners win, the Seahawks are locked. No, I did it all wrong. Okay. the rams would get the sixth seed i think is what you're yeah if the niners win the seahawks are locked into the five seed and the rams get the six seed yeah if the seahawks win sorry pardon me they get the one seed and then it's between then the rams have to win to get the five seed sean mcveigh has said he's playing his starters week 18 which is very interesting for those who know mcveigh and and jordan knows him better than anyone he is extremely conservative when it comes to player health he prioritizes that over the seating okay but jordan i have to think if first of all i think if his seating is locked in i'm like all right you're not gonna really play you know you're playing for like a series and then that'll be it i i i just the more interesting outcome to me is if the seahawks win and they have to win for the five seed and thus the right to face the winner of the NFC South as opposed to probably the Eagles, right?

1:31:37The Eagles or the Bears? Yeah, Eagles or Bears, yeah. Like, what would you do if you were McVay?

1:31:43Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, first of all, I think that he is being very clever with how he's handling this because he was able to check multiple boxes, fill multiple goals, and all before the new year, Mina, all in one comment. because, A, he was able to let his players know how pissed off he was at them without telling them. He was about to write after the loss, and you could tell him, like answering that in that spirit. Without telling him, and specifically the defense, which has struggled for the last month. Run defense. Yes. And so I think, first of all, he was able to accomplish that without overtly saying it because he never does that.

1:32:23Jourdan Rodrigue:He never actually calls, other than the infamous Jared Goff situation, he never calls a player out or players out. Second, he's giving himself such a cushion here because half the offense is injured anyway. So all he has to do is say, well, those guys weren't on track to play anyway. And so no Devontae, no Rob, no Alaric, no Kevin Dotson. And so that is the big question. And Jimmy Garoppolo, I know, is dying to get just some handoffs, right? so it's like he came in against Seattle and look great I just think it's always playing with fire to try to pick your opponent right yeah but god after watching the Bucks and the Panthers last week I found the Rams I sure as hell would rather play them than the Eagles defense or the Bears run game after how our run defenses looked so I just think it's a unique situation for him yeah totally i think i just it's funny because i'm like you're not even be so for real like you're not even gonna do the thing that you say you're gonna do yeah sorry well something to monitor if you're a rams fan because you you should want the five seed regardless of how your team approaches it um and you know you could argue that even the rams even jimmy grapple could beat the cardinals for sure so we shall see um that is the great jordan rodrigue check her out on nfl daily which She's an excellent podcast.

1:33:50You guys know Greg Rosenthal too, of course. Check out her amazing writing at The Athletic. Check her out on all social platforms, Jordan and Riege. Thank you. Oh, also check out, sorry, I'm doing my TV podcast with David Dennis Jr. We are covering Fallout episodes two and three this week on Friday, tomorrow. And we are picking our top five TV shows of 2025. So I narrowed it down to five. thank you as always to my friends at Omaha Productions who make this show Kirsten Svecki, Owen Saylor, Tucker Tashin, Jack Foster and I will be back with Dominique on Tuesday

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