Yo Soy Bonitto: Previewing Championship Weekend

30:46Ben Solak:Yeah. I think this is one where, you know, per conversation about Jarrett Stidham and the Patriots defense, the surprise factor could make things a little froggy early on and then things might settle. All right, let's take a quick break. Come back and talk about two opponents who are very familiar. No mysteries here. Ramsey Hawks round three. 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. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they are there to help you keep things running smoothly.

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32:46Ben Solak:They're the ones with the bear on the box. All right, we're back. Ram Seahawks. Can we get an emotions check on Seahawks fan Mina Kimes? Can we get a vibes check Wednesday afternoon? Vibes are good. I feel good. Yeah. Going to a Super Bowl. Seahawks, they're going to be there. We got it. Well, let's play and see who I pick. I don't want to spoil the pick before we get into it. Okay. Let's start with this since you asked it that way. For a Seahawks fan, what's the number one thing keeping me up at night? When I think about it. Giant looming shadow Sam Donald Wario game behind you. Like I just, I, I, even if it's been a minute since we saw, you know, real bad, Sam capital R capital B.

33:34Ben Solak:That's a great place to start this though, because week six, we'll start with the Seahawks offense against the Rams defense, because the obvious answer to the question is Sam Darnold, who has struggled against this team who the week 11 game kind of seemed to break him a little bit. And then he bounced back and that he was quite good last week. We barely talked about him, but you know, he didn't have to do much. um but um going back and watching week 16 so week 11 was a meltdown week 16 was a more interesting performance from the Seahawks offense in a kind of a because Darnold threw two picks that were very um similar to the picks he's thrown against the Rams in general when actually I would say not similar because they weren't about pressure they were both about coverage but similar in the sense that Chris Shula seems to have his number in general.

34:24Ben Solak:The first one came on a coverage disguise where it's like the two slants and he thinks he's got man. The second one was a simulated pressure at the goal line where Kobe Turner drops into the throwing window and picks it. So I think that's where you start here. Can Sam avoid the mental errors that have plagued him against this particular team now over and over and over, Ben? What do you think? so my thing is is even if you want to call the week 16 game better which i think it absolutely was absolutely was i mean he made a lot of what he talked about the interceptions he made some really good throws in that game too and the offense was in both week 11 and week 16 he started to throw better and play better once it was house money right once it was like all right you know right down whatever yeah exactly like they were down 30 to 14 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and that that drive obviously ends with the pick to kobe turner but even then you're like all right you know we barely have a shot here we need two two-point conversions like i'm just i'm going to be aggressive i'm just going to grip it and rip it like you know if we lose we lose like it's we're backs against the wall in week 11 even as they clawed their way back into that game a lot of it was like all right you know big deficit here we just got to go it's the fact that he's only really i think starting to find rhythm and success against the rams late when they're in deficits where it's like okay now we just we don't there we have no other hope that's concerning to me because it means that on the base downs is he's quivering in his boots a little bit he's thinking himself don't mess up don't make these negative plays and so he eats the ball on throwable throws he dirts the ball and is inaccurate on on makeable throws right after that week 11 rams game he just stopped trying tight windows for like a month he was i did not throw in your coverage anymore so they're like it's very rare for me like you know big nerd boy in the charts to say this like they're clearly in his head right like there's a very like personal aspect of this game where like he's very scared of this jersey and this pass rush in this particular team i'm gonna say something that I think is true from both a like basic kind of boomery perspective and also from a nerd perspective if they can run the ball effectively I think they can settle him so that's the boomer perspective from the mental side from the nerd perspective if they can run the ball effectively then they'll get the coverages that you know he likes to take advantage of but it's what it is also what happened in the last game I know you talk about the game script aspect of it, but one of the big differences from the beginning of the season to the second season, second half of the season, is the Seahawks running game has become legitimately much better.

36:53Ben Solak:And in this game, they ran the ball well on LA. It was interesting because in this one, in week 16, looking back, there's a lot of 12 personnel, which is what they really leaned on against San Francisco. and when they ran the ball, they were very... 12 personnel in general, by the way, in this game is how they killed LA. When they ran the ball at 12, they averaged over 14 yards of play because they had explosive. And then they had a 63 % success rate. And then when they passed the ball, they averaged over 13 yards of play. And that included, I believe, the screen to Walker. Yeah, the screen to Walker was 12.

37:29Ben Solak:Yeah, the Rams almost entirely matched them with base. They played the third most base personnel, meaning three linebackers on the field they have all season long. and Sam was very good on it. Now, almost all of his success came with play action in this game. Play action, he went 8 for 12 for 140 yards and two touchdowns. Non-play action, he was 14 for 22 for 130 yards and two interceptions. The difference between a 146 rating and a 42 rating. So the formula is pretty obvious, is what I'm saying. They had no Quinn Lake in that second game, and so they wanted to end up in base more because they just didn't like their nickel spot, I think.

38:05Like I think back means they get to play some more nickel to 12. And then you get to control the rollouts a little bit better. And for much of the season, I would end this sentence with and force the Seahawks to run the ball on you. But now that's more squirrely of a suggestion. That's where like finally, like 20, 21 weeks into the season, finally it's like now that we have established the Kenneth Walker threat, we might actually have an offense here that like is very trustworthy.

38:32Ben Solak:You know, and thinking about that run game, because yeah, the Seahawks, offense has been on such an interesting journey this year. The CX defense has been awesome wall-to-wall outside of a game where the entire secondary was hurt, whatever, Tampa. The offense was great, and then they were really bad, and now I think they've landed at pretty good. That's sort of – because they were great at the beginning of the season, to tell the story of the 2025 Seahawks, because they would get these heavy groupings, and teams would put base on the field, and they were just throwing them even though they couldn't run the ball.

39:01Ben Solak:Then teams said, ooh, actually, why are we playing the run? they're not good at running the ball. Let's put bodies in coverage and just dare them to run. And they could it. And then as the second half of the season went on and you notice, Ben, I'm just explaining the, the Seahawks started running the ball more effectively out of those looks. And because of that, you had teams suddenly have to start actually respecting the run again. So here we are in the championship game. And I think that to me is the. Core question here for Seattle is the run game fixed enough to where can keep the offense on time.

39:35Ben Solak:You don't have to lean entirely on Darnold. So Darnold has play action opportunities like he did in week 16, even with button leg back. And that's to me, like I'm not saying it's all on the shoulders of Kenneth Walker, but I do think that's kind of where this thing starts and ends. A hundred percent. And the Rams have been giving up bad explosive pass over the last, like, you know, eight, nine weeks, come back to the regular season, whatever their explosive pass. Right. It's one of the highest allowed on football. You go and you, you turn on the film, there is a clear fear of the play action pass.

40:06There's a clear quickness from the linebackers triggering, triggering down against the run that allows them to open some space back there. Then you get these corners running across the field. Right. And even like, you know, the, the AJ Barner touchdown, right. That they had there to, to tie the game late against the Rams. That's a play where they're showing cross and they're showing cross and they're showing cross. And Jackson was running across the field, running across the field. And there's so much pursuit. There's so much pursuit. And then you hit the big shot play behind them. Like you can get these guys flying left and right.

40:29They rolled Sam out a bunch in the second game because I think that they know that they want to be able to get that horizontal stretch and that horizontal flow and then be able to take advantage of the corners playing too aggressively the safeties will nail down on stuff yet your shot plays behind require sand to hold his water right that's the thing is like i agree with you get to the play action pass run the football well and so that's a three and a half second drop back and every microsecond added to a sam donald drop back worries me as a you know believer in the seahawks offense just because i i it's not even that he's been that bad lately it's that I've seen how fast the train derails.

41:01Stingham is one of the quarterbacks in the league who it goes from 90 % to 10 % blink. And you just spend four quarters terrified of that.

41:10Ben Solak:If we're leaning on another game where we're booting him a lot, the injury is certainly a factor. What happens when the Toradol wears off in week two? We're about to find out. Because he rolled to his left and made a beautiful throw against a really amazing throw to James Stanley. Looked real loose. Looked real loose against the 49ers. Was having a good time out there. but yeah I love that you mentioned the Barner I think the tight ends are big here because the Rams really again this was the other thing that struck me on that touchdown other plays JSN was very much so the focus of that defense they figured out a way to unlock JSN in the second remember he had no catches in the first half of this game crazy second half to put some in the backfield is moving around or whatever but I still think you know you're gonna have to have some secondary pass catchers text just step up I thought the Rams run left tackle spot also I is a big deal for me in terms of matchups in this game uh charles cross right now is considered day to day i was just about to check in on that yes he didn't he started against the niners and then he pulled himself their typical backup was a quality veteran been around the league for a while josh jones was inactive for that game so it was a udfa whose name is omari kite he trucked someone on the touchdown but again in the same way where i'm always like don't over under over or underestimate to make quarterbacks that are playing the Texans, the Niners defense.

42:28Ben Solak:A lot of the stuff from the Niners game, it's like you can't really. The thing that's interesting is like Cross is a little bit more of a finesse tackle and he can at times struggle with the, you know, angry bowling balls with guns that are Jared Burse and Byron Young, right? Who just go like straight through you with violence. Kite is like, listen, I'm kind of here to hit somebody. You know, this is a big dude. And so whether or not Cross can go or if it's Kite who ends up playing or Josh Jones, I think does affect stylistically what you do want to get into. if it is kite like worst worst case scenario you're starting this guy with an fc championship game i expect them to be like 12 13 and really run the ball right because you can you know point of attack the rams edges a little bit because they're gonna play very aggressively downhill and so you can get rolling on them yeah and you mentioned like like the rams i think would prefer to keep him on the field to not put the three you know to play nickel but or dime actually they play a lot of die i think but but they'll play penny too right where they're in the five downs and then they have the one backer and then they're, they're fitting from the second level, which that's where you get to your, you know, your horizontal stuff.

43:27Whenever you get that, that five, one look is okay. Get the ball to Jason right now. Get it to cup right now. Let's go break some tackles.

43:32Ben Solak:Um, yeah. So, you know, Sam, it's not that I don't believe it's that I don't trust. Those are two different things. That's a perfect way of saying it because like I've seen it, it can be there. I'm there. It's just like how fast it unspools. He is a high, very like the ceiling is high. Problem is I've seen the floor against it. I was like, pardon me, this defense. Okay. Other side is arguably the two best units in the playoffs remaining facing off. All year long is Ram Seahawks part three. That's for sense. Like since it became clear what this defense was, what this offense was. I've just been hoping, hoping, hoping that Super Bowl is on the line with this unit against this unit.

44:17I am so thrilled.

44:19Ben Solak:Let me start here. we're coming off of a bad Matthew Stafford game. Yep. You and I didn't talk about it. Dominique and I talked about it earlier this week. I thought it was a weird game plan. It was a weird throwing game. He was okay against the Panthers. So now it's like too gay. I would say against the Panthers, it was bad, and then he finished strong. It's kind of the same against Chicago. He's kind of spotted too for his time. you know

44:50is this

44:51Ben Solak:against two very inferior defenses to the Seattle Seahawks so if you're a Rams fan you got a tight butt at all or you're just like yeah it's Matthew I have a tight butt and like that's it if we strip the names from it and the context from it and we just say late 30s quarterback with back injuries who plays notoriously tough football is diminishing play late in season like this this is a story we've seen so many times you are the order you are. And the more of these hits that accumulate and you start playing on these quarter weather environments, like you're just not going to play as well, especially if you're a guy who was in, you know, the sixth dimension chamber with the ultraviolet lights because of his back to start the season.

45:32And so I, to me, like Stafford is, is evidently less than a hundred percent just in terms of watching him, right. He hasn't been on an injury report list and he hasn't, you know, talk about this or whatever, but just to me, he's like very clearly just the hits are accumulating. Fortunately, he's playing the Seahawks who don't ever, you know get after the quarterback no like if i'm if i'm mike mcdonald right here i'm not a heavy you know blitz sending team i'm not a pressure team i'm not trying to become that all of a sudden in week 21 however i'm showing my guys him hitting his his hand on the panthers in the first quarter and then the way that those throws started to spray i'm showing him the head you know the bears were getting after them right in the second quarter especially they started to get a little bit more pressure and the nickels were coming and they were getting sacks of the dbs and i'm saying hey if we collect a couple of hits on this guy early, we can make him miss throws the way he wasn't missing them earlier.

46:19Because in week 16, dude, I had forgotten that that film was just like heavy metal guitar solo staffer. Like he was just ripping stuff. And if you can take that away from him, it's very hard to find anything else in the margins against the Seahawks defense.

46:33Ben Solak:So I want to talk about the blitzes because early in the week, Dominique and I talked about how Dennis Allen lit him up with the DB blitzes until the fourth quarter. Yeah. And then I mentioned over the course of the season that actually Stafford's numbers against DB Blitzes were like kind of bad, like really bad. And it's so funny, Ben, because we were going back and looking at some of our game notes against the Rams, and this was something the Colts did to him really heavily and with success. And like, of course, if you, of course it was the Colts, of course it was the Colts. But so the Seahawks in week 16 did Blitz DB, either Spoon or Imanwari, several times, and Stafford got them for three big plays, right?

47:14But going back and watching, they blitzed him in the gun.

47:20Ben Solak:And to me, that's amazing. When he has struggled largely, it has been when he is under center, turns his back, and there's a pass rusher coming, right? And they're in the condensed formations. In the gun, he's able to read it out. And one of them was they blitzed Boone way from distance, and he went opposite field, beautiful throw. to somebody against Josh Jobe. Another one, Kyron Williams just picked up Spoon. But again, he was in the gun, so he had eyes on him the whole time. So if I'm Mike McDonald and I'm either blitzing or showing blitz, I am doing it as a mechanism to get him out of under center and basically neuter their play-action game because that's what the Bears did with great success this weekend.

48:04Yeah, and even, I was just back and finding it, there were a few plays in the first half of week 16 where the Rams walked out in under center and shifted to gun or walked out and gone and shifted to under center. And I, and I get the sense of watching the Rams that they want to be able to get multiple calls in against Seattle and then change it based off of some of the front structure that they get because, and McVay got asked this, I might have even been, I think it was by like Rams.com staff. I don't think it was JB long. I think it was one of the writers, but he was asked about this defense structurally.

48:34And he went on like a four sentence, Nicky Monwari allows them to hide this front and do this. They play him with the outside linebacker or whatever. And so this is the sort of game where you want your veteran quarterback to be able to get to the line with 15, 13 on the clock, see what they are in structurally. How are they relating? We're in our three tight end sets, but we're condensed. We're like this. Okay, what are they showing us? And then let's change the offensive look. Let's make them change their front and get into a different play. So this is a very, very big pre-snap game in that regard.

49:00I very much agree with you, though, on like, let's not blitz him from the gun. Let's not let him see it and undress it. it's obviously harder with snap count when you're on the road, but still see it, identify it and then make throws hot. Let's do it when he, when he's from under center, if you can generate a free runner at Stafford, he can't, he really can't punish you unless he sees it early. Cause he's, he's not quick enough. He can't move off his spot fast enough. And then obviously he can make redonkulous, like, you know, throws in terms of the no lookers and the arm angles. But if you get a body on him right there and it's filling up his space, he's got to jam it into that half of the field.

49:31And that's where you can get some takeaways. And so like, I don't know. I would be willing to crank my DB blitz numbers and like my, my, my, you know, fire zones, five and coverage, six and coverage numbers a little bit more in this game because I know how the bear showed me how much those, those one plays can be drive killers for this team. The,

49:49Ben Solak:the right tackle Warren McClendon really struggled against Chicago. So I, you know, we always talk about Mike McDonald and him kind of hunting matchups. I suspect the pass rush is going to go after him more. so the interior is the strength of this Rams offensive line. So the last time they played, Pukunikua just destroyed them. I was only about to ask you, I was like, do you have a Pukunikua plan? Because I don't. I wrote down a bunch of stuff and I was like, no, you're just kind of screwed. Just sit there and take it. Going back and watching too, it was a lot of posts, digs. McVay was brilliant at getting him on the backers, which is just...

50:29Ben Solak:um and he was just like the cx could not tackle they could not get him down in the open field um i don't think there's my puka nakuwa plan is to get matthew staffer on the ground right exactly 12 for 225 for two and two touchdowns on six to their play action game sorry to go back to that i just want to add that too that's that's a big part if you can blitz him out of play action i think that's important 75 catch rate 225 yards this is not even real these are fictitious numbers The thing also is that they will put him on the field and some of their heavier personnel sets, which typically when they go 13, they don't do it with Puka against the Seahawks.

51:07They were willing to do it so they could play hide and seek with Puka, right? They could get you into base personnel and then they could put Puka in the slot. It's like you can't get the outside corner over him. Like you can't, you don't have enough DB bodies. This has to be a safety or you got to zone it off and you got to play with the backers. And so I'm very interested to see what the Rams are personnel wise in this game, because everybody and their mama was ready for the Rams to walk out against the bears and their injured linebacker room and their bad run defense with heavy bodies. And the Rams had their second highest 11 personnel game of the season, right?

51:38They were more spread out and they were throwing the football and it played into the bears, right?

51:42Ben Solak:I mean, the bears, why, why I don't, so I was Sean McVay said to the post game presser, he was like, man, like I sucked on offense. I had a terrible game plan and I was very close to raise my hand and be like, is it the personnel stuff? But I don't want to ask that question. You're going to get killed. All year long, they were like, ooh, we do different things now. And then the postseason, it's like, it's completely gone away from it. I don't understand it. I wonder the degree to which it's just Devontae came back and this is actually what they want to be. But it's like, hey, we're here now. I don't know.

52:12Ben Solak:Exactly. I mean, I don't think that's necessarily the answer against Seattle because Seattle is uniquely equipped to defend that, right? Because when they tried to play 13, they played a lot against the Seahawks last round. The Seahawks were actually better against that than they were against the 11. They only had a 25 % rushing success rate. Kyron Williams on the whole had averaged three yards of carry, which is lowest of the season. This has been a dominant run game and Seattle was able to stop it. But yeah, I... Kevin Dotson left that game in week 16 if memory serves. And Dotson's back. And Dotson is enormous on-off split numbers at right guard for the Rams rushing attack.

52:49I have no Pukunuku solution I feel like I have a Matthew Stafford idea the running game to me is the thing where like it's 50-50 because it's just best players against best players it's just the Seahawks defense at the front is so stinking good and the Rams you brought up McClendon in the past game that's an issue but in the running game they're so stinking good and it's just like alright

53:10Ben Solak:that was the other thing that struck me watching week 16 in the first half so I mentioned that over the course of the game you have a 0-0 but the first half the Rams were running the ball well and then in half the Seahawks just like you know just start a molly whopping buckled up and yeah and it felt like every single time a guy was in a position to make a play so i don't think there's an obvious like this is how you should run or you should you run or should go run heavy against the seattle team they're unique it's not like chicago where i was like befuddled that he didn't run the ball more i wouldn't say that in this one necessarily um i think it's just going to come down to pass pro boring but yeah but this is like when we get to playoff football it always feels like especially like late playoffs i always feel like oh it should be like here's the pinnacle here's the ultimate like let's you know and there's always great scheme pieces i've written some of these scheme pieces where i was like this tolls playoff tells the story of these schemes in reality a lot oftentimes it's just like all right here are the best players against the best players let's go see which best player is the best player right like it's going to be a devon witherspoon pass breakup on puka nakuwa where it's just best against best it's going to be kevin dotts and stonewalling leonard williams are just best against best these are all guys who could have or should have made all pro lists like and it's just going to come down to no i mean was it all bro he was second d well bro it's it's just going come down to margins it's just gonna come down a little place yeah yeah um there's no way for us to sit here and predict that witherspoon was so crazy in the last game i i well i forget when it was what pot i think it was like probably end of regular season where you and i came on here we were like dude definitely just like ranting about him i know i i just i'm glad i'm glad he made all pro because like i just feel like his season is flowing under the radar a little bit like it He's not the best cornerback in football because he's not, but he is.

54:49Because it's all about coverage and okay, Patrick Sertan and bodies and matchups. But just in terms of doing everything in the world, he's a delight.

54:55Ben Solak:I encourage people, if you ever have access to NFL Pro, to just pick a game and just watch him on tape and only focus on him. Jitterbug, man. He's an energizer, buddy. I love him to death. Damon Worry got a little bit early in the Niners game, but then it ended up not mattering. But I do think McVay will find ways to... He's the guy you circle because he's the rookie whose job is to do like 9 ,000 things. Yeah, you got to go after him. You also, I think you challenge them for speed, right? I think if you can get your Kanata Mumfields and your Xavier Smiths, right? Like you get these guys on a run, you can be able to hit the long plays.

55:27Terrence Ferguson had opportunities in that Bears game. He also had opportunities in the Seahawks game where he's on the run and like he can win for, he's a very fast tight end. But the Rams have just not been consistently hitting these. And like, obviously there was no Devontae Adams at the week 16. Devontae's back, but Devontae cannot run right now. He cannot, like the hamstring is very clearly taking the second gear from him. And so you do have to have some, like some other non-Nakua guy has to be able to get something vertical.

55:53Ben Solak:Well, yeah, right. I think that the best match of advantage they have is Puka Nakua against the Seahawks linebackers safeties. And, but which they're able to get to, but. An unbelievable degree. They get to it. They're going to need, that was the case in week 16. Yeah. They're good. Like to your point, somebody other than him, whether it's one of the tight ends, whether it's Ferguson coming down with a deep ball, which it's been there, right? And he can stack people, but he doesn't always come down with it. Parkinson, you know, somebody else is going to have to make big plays. A obligatory nod to the special team discrepancy without talking about it.

56:28Ben Solak:I banned myself from talking about special teams. Dude, we got cooked on Jags bills. It's the first time we've ever been like, here's real special teams analysis. And we got absolutely flambéed. Could not have gone worse. Could not have. I would like to congratulate Los Angeles kick returner Ronnie Rivers on his ensuing touchdown now that we've discussed this. There's a discrepancy. It favors Seattle. That's all I'm going to say. Nobody clip this. Okay, so I'm taking Seattle here. And I think really it just comes down to whether or not Sam Darnold, if he plays a game that's a B minus, a B or above, I think Seattle wins this game.

57:11Yeah, I have the exact NFC playoff picture predicted successfully to this point. Like 100 % correct. I picked the Rams to beat the Seahawks in that bracket. So I'm very tempted to take the Seahawks here and just split the difference, right? At least have one correct prediction. I think the Rams win. I think that what Stafford's able to do in terms of throwing into the middle of the field, throwing into the second level, finding explosives in the passing game against the Seahawks defense, it's just something that they're not accustomed to dealing with. Seattle's defense forces more checkdowns than any defense in football.

57:42Their entire structure is predicated on. We can discourage you from throwing some of these intermediate throws and Stafford just kind of, you know, flipped them a big bird in the second half of that week 16 game. And I know he hasn't played nearly as well since, but like that's clearly the formula to actually putting like serious points on Seattle. And the Rams have one of the five quarterbacks in football is capable of doing it. And so to me,

58:01Ben Solak:like April, but yeah, I try like they've had, listen, they've had two big leads on Seattle and they've gone one-on-one. and I know the scoreboards have been extremely close, but in general, like the Rams are the team that gets control of the script. And then this is the other thing. In the first game, McVay got way too conservative on offense and Seattle got back into this thing. On the second game, it's still a two score game. It's still 16 points. I know it's a long shot with 16 points. And Shula's playing with like 11 yards of cushion on JSN. Buddy, get up to the line. Like if the Rams get a lead, man, put this team in the dirt.

58:34Do not let them crawl back for a third time here. so i lean rams but goodness gracious actually finished the job uh yeah but don't you like jsn

58:43Ben Solak:versus literally every quarter on that team i mean like i you you said like you know puka nukua against the linebackers is the matchup puka nukua against anyone is the matchup right and it's the same thing with jsn right where it's just like he also was amazing in the second half of this game he went crazy he did nothing in the first half and then they didn't give him like a lot of like cloud coverage in a way that i thought that they would i expect to see that more um i'd like you know it's extremely close i'll be rooting for seattle just because how much I love Mike McDonald in this defense, but I think.

59:09Ben Solak:Don't try to play it both ways. Cool. We're split. That's good. And this is like a true pick. I'm like the lines are like that. This is. Because it's around three between two great teams. You really just, you know, that's just. I'm so thrilled. One of them has. If, if, if, if they are able to shut down Stafford or this defense, then you're getting into some pretty interesting conversations. If you tell me which team has, you know, a higher pressure rate in the first half. I can tell you which team's going to win the game, but one of these quarterbacks is going to snap. And I don't know which one it is, which Clinton Yates here.

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1:00:43Ben Solak:Save money and get a better view of the road when you replace your worn-out wiper blades at O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Right now, save$10 on a pair of Rain-X Latitude wiper blades. They feature beam blade technology to improve windshield contact for maximum visibility. the professional parts people will even install your new wiper blades for free choose rain x latitude wiper blades at your local o'reilly auto parts store or online at o'reillyauto.com all right let's talk about some of these coaching hires um let's kind of go well if we were to go chronologically we would have to talk about the nightmare that happened in buffalo but let's put a pin in that one the i'm talking about the uh press conference not the actual firing uh let's start with robert salla to the titans because that was the last last man to get a job um i want to throw a conspiracy theory at you okay is there and i'm not plugged into the titans uh so for the backstory for those who don't know the kansas city chiefs basically i don't even know how to describe this there was a lot of reports about matt nagy this isn't just reports has happened he has gotten head coaching interviews much to the confusion of a lot of people um and it then all of a sudden there was a ton of smoke around him getting the titans job in particular current titans general manager mike borgonzi from kansas city makes a lot of sense titans fans apoplectic understandably so also makes sense the chiefs amidst this news announced that they are hiring back eric bennemi we will talk about that decision shortly Basically, the Chiefs saying, yeah, Matt Nagy's gone.

1:02:20Ben Solak:He got a job. Then the Titans reverse course from the outside and say, no, actually, Robert Sala is our head coach. Just seems to be met with a lot more appreciation from Titans fans. Conspiracy theory. Any chance you think that the Titans put out all the Nagy smoke so that their fans would be delighted when they hired someone other than Matt Nagy? If they did, it worked on me. I graded it for ESPN, and the first sentence I wrote was, Titans fans are understandably thrilled by any non-Matt Nagy. I immediately went right to the well. Maybe? I definitely think that like... Legals are weird, I'm sure.

1:03:03What makes me laugh is all the reports were like, wow, the Titans got Robert Sala in the building, and they were just blown away by his interview. And it's like, man, I could watch five minutes of Robert Sala and tell you the guy's energetic. I love him because, like, man, his energy in the room. He's been in the league for, like, 15 years. You didn't know this about the guy? That Salve's going to walk in and, like, you know, kick down some doors, rah-rah, sis, boom, bah. I do think he was a good hire. I thought Robert Salve was a good head coach for the Jets. I thought he never got quarterback right, as many have remarked.

1:03:28But with that said, I was not a guy who thought Zach Wilson was a great pick at two, and I was not a guy who believed in the Aaron Rodgers, you know, end-of-career renaissance, even pre-Akilles injury. And so, to me, like, I don't think he ever had good dominoes set up to knock down the quarterback position. Defensively, it's worth remembering because it's easy to forget. This team was first in points per drive under Salah. First knee paper play, third in success rate. This was not, oh, he had a good defense. No, no, no, no, no. He had the defense.

1:03:55Ben Solak:Over the course of multiple years, I pulled this 21 to 24. 2021 until he was firing week five. You said some of them first in yards per play, third in success rate in that timeframe. And then afterwards, it fell apart in a way, not just this year that season same players complete collapse on defense that to me if you if you want a testament to robert sala and his ability to coach just look at the jets before and after um i think that this is just one where i'm a little bit I'm cautious on coming into any strong conclusions until he makes the offensive coordinator hire because it's so important here with the second year quarterback.

1:04:40Ben Solak:If it's one that I'm excited about, I'm going to feel pretty good about the package. But if it's an underwhelming choice, Ben, then I think I might pull back the enthusiasm. Because Solak himself, I think, like I said, great defensive coach, loved around the league, great guy, players adore him, etc. But this is a very pivotal time for Cam Ward. yeah and there's there are good names immediately thrown out right oh mike mcdaniel and then he took a job and i was like oh it's gonna be brian dable like oh you know i get there's there's a wide range here i will say that one of the things we always see when a defensive coach is hired is like man what if you hire an offensive coordinator and he's good and then he gets hired away to be a head coach you have to fill it again man titans fans would love to have that problem titans fans are begging to have the issue of where their their team their team is good enough that the offensive coordinator is getting hired away last time that was happening it was matt lafleur into arthur Smith, Ryan Tannehill, and they were winning the AFC, right?

1:05:31They were the one seed, you know, like it's, let's solve that problem after we get good head coach in the building in Tennessee. And I feel like they did that in solid. And so even if you end up there and you're kind of riding that unicycle a little bit, that's, that's a, that's a kind of a sunnier problem to have than the ones you currently got.

1:05:47Ben Solak:It's going to be one of the more interesting teams this off season. So much cap space, you got big draft pick, a lot of holes in the roster. But they do have Jeffrey Simmons and Jeffrey Simmons in a Robert solid defense. I'm bored. I'm excited. He posted the eyes emoji about it. Okay. You mentioned Mike McDaniel. Let's hit that one. Chargers. Good for you, Mike. Way to take the best job. Yes. He was associate. He pulled out of the Browns coaching. He saw that incredible decision. Could not agree more. Situational awareness. Executing on late downs, baby. this man's I forgot who posted this but somebody was like this is finally brings the to a Herbert debate full circle and ends it it puts a pin on it this man said I am tired of having to build something around the limitations of a quarterback give me a mutant let me cook it's a great opportunity for him to I think get back in the head coaching market immediately um it's great for the chargers I don't even think we need to like illustrate all the reasons why I think my question for you is kind of just like how do you see this dovetailing with jim harbaugh and you know this is a team that's been very like we run the ball i personally i think that's a little overstated greg roman came in and they actually didn't run the ball they just invested in it but um do you like that marriage how do you like the quarterback and him together any thoughts i think it's just completely spectacular like if i if i got like a 99 approval rating if i go back and i recall my frustrations with mcdaniel's a head coach a lot of it was like okay he over indexed on team speed in terms of the offensive roster and they have past protection issues and they're not big enough right they don't have the physical enough bodies to win against you know cold weather teams in the postseason what's jim harbaugh just never going to allow to have happen in his team just ever is that much of a of a commitment to a certain identity right he's going to be no we're we're still going to make sure we have size we're going to have a physical brand of football and so a lot of the stuff that i think mcdaniel got a little bit like too far over the nerd skis on is the exact sort of thing that jim harbaugh is going to be able to really well reel him back in on.

1:07:53Also, you talk about running the football and the identity, just a big commitment to running the ball and wanting to be a run first team does not mean you have to be uncreative in the running game, right? Like McDaniel, I think might be very well served from a head coach that says, Hey, no, like do all your cool worldly gig stuff in the running game. Also, but we're going to like live for that. We're not going to, you know, only be doing it to kind of, you know, draw as much blood out of the stone of this 12 yard glance route on the RPO that we're setting up no like we can just live here and die here right with like multiple backs guys who are big enough to take that level of volume and contact and so i think there's some words where it's spectacular i do think it's going to take a minute like that office line still is really bad guard to guard and that's a problem for any offensive coordinator no matter how cool he is and also herbert is so stylistically different than what they had with tua and herbert has never really played an offense like this that i will i bet you there will be like some september growing pains i think they're going to be right out of the gate but hopefully by playoffs time they figured it out uh moving on all right we can do the bills now um i posted my thoughts here on a number of platforms

1:08:56Ben Solak:and actually you and i disagree so this is probably fun to talk about um i disagreed with the decision to fire shauna mcdermott um you were more on board with it it wasn't a vehement disagreement for me i think it was my onboardness was not either which is like i guess just look Look, when you have these coaches who have been somewhere a really long time with a really great quarterback like Baltimore, I do think it's completely reasonable to say, hey, we just need a change of pace. We need to just something's got to change here. Let's just throw, you know, some coals on this fire and see if we can get started.

1:09:35Ben Solak:That doesn't make any sense, but you get the idea. I love it. So in and of itself, I didn't really object to it. I more so objected to the combo announcement of Brandon Bean getting a promotion. I mean if you look when I when I first saw the news I reacted to Schefter I tweeted like okay like I get this you could get the sense it was coming down the mountain I understand it and then I had another line I was like surely this will be coming with I said yeah gotta wonder if a GM change is coming as well and then five minutes later they were like Brandon Breen is the new president of football and it's the Brandon the general manager Brandon that one there's not a different bean there's a different Mr.

1:10:06Bean in the building I absolutely understand firing somebody if you told me you get to fire one of the two after the loss who you're firing that would have been general manager 100 out of 100 times.

1:10:15Ben Solak:I think the other thing I didn't love about it, though, Ben, too, is separate from the Bean aspect, which... 30 seconds. Deeply fraught roster, bad drafts, no stars picked, terrible free agent signings. There you go. Oh, the wide receiver coach picked Keon Coleman. Brother, you're the GM! Oh, yeah. So for those who missed the press conference, Brandon didn't say it in his defense. He would have tastefully leaked it to the media, I'm sure. but uh the owner Terry Pegula jumped him to say I'd like to say something about Keon Coleman basically he was like you know that was Sean McDermott the coaching staff not Brandon which simultaneously through his entire coaching staff uh one of whom is being considered for head coach and a player who is on his team under the bus I thought it was a horrible look everybody agrees this is not like you know I'm not being controversial or brave here but anyways it's been disastrous in Buffalo.

1:11:12Ben Solak:Oh, cool. If you're a head coach, really great place to work where the boss might throw you under the bus on the way out. But the thing I wanted to say though, Ben is like, so first of all, let's say this had happened after the 13 second game. I think people would have been like less up in arms about it. I would have been less. The timing was odd, but I also, what, what concerns me about it, and this is where I want to go with you is one would think you hire brand you fire brandon bean who i think has done a lot with a little at times defensively yeah sean mcdermott sometimes i'm sorry because of um roster sometimes because of injuries right this bill's defense for years i'd be like there's no way they keep getting away with it and he would field a competent defense that he showed a ton of creativity this year as well okay if you fire him the thought is you're going to go offense all the names i've been here offense.

1:12:02Ben Solak:This is not a great time to hire an offensive coach. Like if this had been last year and they were like, Ooh, Liam Cohen, Ben Johnson step right up. I would have been like, you know what? It's been real buddy. But like, who are the candidates? We feel good about right now. Stavansky's already off the table because of the timing. Like, right. And given the way that the firing came down where Pagoula was like, yeah, I decided to do it in the locker room after the game. It's very clear that they're not like, have a guy lined up. There's no waiting in the wings. They've said that. They're like, we didn't have a plan.

1:12:36If your plan is the Brian Dable retread or the Joe Brady promotion, sure. But also, again, let's contextualize here. Sean McDermott has been to the divisional round of the playoffs in six consecutive seasons. You're going to go and get one of his ex-offensive coordinators with the idea that he'll be able to exceed that in one year, in two years? Very, very fast he'll be able to break that extremely difficult barrier with a roster that is in like remarkably worse condition than it was three years ago when you were trying to do this and get over the hump like that this this this needle you're trying to thread right now is unbelievably thin and you are doing it with a lot of like confidence with your chest out that's a recipe for like total roster

1:13:17Ben Solak:organizational upheaval we will of course react to whatever hire they make and discuss um if if if there's a name that would get you to go, you know what? I can see it for Buffalo. Is there one that's in your head? I have one. I mean, offensively, no. Am I missing something? Clint Kubiak is the one that I think. Yeah, that would be the one where I'm like, all right, that's the best offensive mind on the market. Sure. You did it for Clint Kubiak, who I really like, but still like, I'm not all the way there. The, the only name that I'd be like, Hey, this has some legs is Tomlin. If you get Tomlin to come back.

1:13:54Right. But then you have to trade for him. You have to send picks to Pittsburgh to go get him because he's still under contract. So what are we even talking about?

1:14:00Ben Solak:Yeah. We shall see. All right. The other, there's three more. Jeff Halfley to Miami. This one can be quick because I don't actually have a lot of thoughts on it. Yeah. This is a classic, like, we don't know enough from the outside. We're going to see what this looks like. Defense, as far as performance. First of all, like with head coaching hires, it's easier for me to give opinions about firings than hirings because firings, I can be like, this is your body of work. Hiring, I've said this a million times. No, no, no. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I thought defensively in Green Bay, he was okay.

1:14:34Ben Solak:Year one, I thought you saw some good improvement. Year two, again, improvement, but then things really fell apart without Mike Parsons in a way I did not love down the stretch. But I'm not going to say that means he's not going to be a good defensive coach in Miami. I truly don't know. the thing that I like for the Dolphins is that the way they have comported themselves unlike a lot of teams actually getting rid of their GM and then bringing two over in tandem that I like because it signals to me this is a team that understands we got to rip this thing up and build it back from the studs let's get a GM and a head coach on the same timeline and let's try to do this the right way.

1:15:18Ben Solak:So I think if I'm a Dolphins fan, I don't have a take about Tafli for you, but I do have a take about like the process feels better to me. Yeah, and you're anticipating moving off Tyreek and moving off Tua, which means eating big dead cap, which means you're going to be playing a quarterback on a rookie contract, which means you're probably not going to be that good of a team anyway, because you don't have the second pick coming up. And even if you did, it's not that great of a draft for it. So you're gonna have to be a little bit of a defense team anyway, right? In the next two, three year horizon.

1:15:43And so you get a defensive coach. My main thing is like anybody who hires a defensive coach this year, Robert Sala included. But like if you hire Chris Shula or you hire Anthony Weaver, any of the Jim Schwartz, any of the guys even that I like, my first question will be, why are you not hiring Brian Flores? He's the obvious defensive hire. You should go hire Brian Flores. The one team that gets an auto pass on Brian Flores is the Miami Dolphins. And so you go and you hire Jeff Halfway and I'm never going to be like, excuse me, there's a good defensive coordinator in Minnesota you should look into.

1:16:08Yeah, no, Miami is fine on no Flores.

1:16:10Ben Solak:All right, moving on. Kevin Stefanski to the Atlanta Falcons. Um, he's one where I I'm really like him and Harbaugh both. I'm like, yeah, I wish you waited a little bit. Cause Stefanski for sure. Harbaugh. I don't know. Like I feel like Harbaugh like the giants. Yeah. Yeah. Stefanski. I think in a heartbeat would be like, ah, yes. Josh Allen for my offense. I would love like, it would feel like a vacation from coaching. If Stefanski went from what he was dealing with in Cleveland, I'm sorry, Baker Mayfield don't quote this Baker Mayfield. it went from dealing with this in Cleveland to then going to coach for Josh Allen.

1:16:47Ben Solak:For those who don't know, Baker Mayfield took issue with not Stefanski, but a reporter saying Stefanski had to deal with like a toxic situation and bad quarterback play. And he said, well, Stefanski, you bad quarterback play. You never even texted me back after they shipped me out. Okay. He didn't take a shot at you. I'm so confused. I know we all love Baker Mayfield's, you know, root him toot him, you know, you know, underdog attitude, but that man needs to walk to the top of a mountain and sit down for 24 hours like he needs a little bit more zen in his life um so when this news broke ben my first i just ripped off like you know take and my first thing was like this is good news for the falcons best player bijon robinson i like him in the kevin fiscans kevin stavansky scheme scheme we saw nick chubb have of course great success in in cleveland and i got a bunch of replies that were like oh you like a coach because what he does for the running back yeah that's your best player running back is employed by the team the coach calls the players for the running back it's a very simple actual connection you really should build your offense around him he is your best player and also it's an offense that is very quarterback friendly now who that quarterback is and what that looks like um the stefanski hire is interesting in that regard too to me ben because stefanski you could argue his undoing in cleveland happened because he had bad quarterbacks foisted upon him or maybe he's complicit, whatever.

1:18:04Ben Solak:But he tried to bend it to Deshaun Watson and it didn't work. And so I'll be very interested in seeing what he wants to do with the position in Atlanta. I mean, his heyday stuff was the Gary Kubiak stuff back in Minnesota with Kirk Cousins at quarterback. And my thing with like, obviously, as we all remarked upon many, many, many times, the Kirk contract was really a two-year deal and all of them want to get out of it. And like, we're approaching the off season where it's very easy for them to get out of the deal. But the thing is, is like, let's say the Falcons cut Kirk Cousins It's the first day of the league year.

1:18:32And Kirk's got to go sign somewhere. Where would you recommend he signed if not Atlanta? It's the clear best spot for him. It's his old offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, who runs the system that he runs best in. It's players that he's familiar with. And it's a winnable job. Because I don't think Penix is going to walk in in year three with his body of work coming off his injuries with a clear hold on that job, given that it's a new front office and it's a new coaching staff. So to me, I very much expect this to be... Not very much. I harbor a decent expectation that this will be a Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix quarterback battle in camp that Kirk wins.

1:19:04And I bet you Kirk would like, Kirk definitely looked better this year, two years off the Achilles than one year off. Like I would not be surprised if we see Kirk in a very decent Falcons offense next season.

1:19:13Ben Solak:Yeah, I don't know if Falcons fans would be thrilled with, but I, you know, it's, I mean, I did the coach job rankings. They were the hardest team because I was like, this is a really good team. You're in the NFC South, but the quarterback position might be the murkiest of any right now other than Miami. We'll see. If there was a better option available for you, I would tell you to take it right away, but I'm just not sure there is. Love the, but it is an option too where year two, I think, and he'll get a second year. There will be more clarity and ease to address it. It is a good roster. By the way, I also like that he kept their defensive coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich, who I thought did a really good job this year.

1:19:51Ben Solak:And that unit seems to be trending in the right direction as well. John Harbaugh, as we alluded to, took the New York job.

1:20:01Ben Solak:some very funny maneuverings happened between him and the GM, Joe Shane, where he basically redrew the org chart so he doesn't have to report to him. Am I paraphrasing that correctly? Joe Shane did a, I think you should leave. I'm not worried about it in a scrum. Like they were asking him about it. He was like, it's, you know, it's a similar organization to what I've been to in many teams before. I'm not worried about it. Like he almost did the voice. And I was just like, man, Joe, this like, you had to have known this was, coming down the mountain once a guy like Harbaugh became available. But still, it's tough to take your lumps there in front of the mic.

1:20:34I feel I I do actually feel bad for him. It's a hard part of the job right there.

1:20:38Ben Solak:He looks kind of like like a evil Phil Dunphy from the modern family. And I started to think that every time he talks. So. Yeah, I think as far as this is a good hire, I think I see that. Yeah, I think. Especially for where they are as an organization, I think the coordinator hires will be massive. The beginning, when he came, when the news broke, it was like, Todd Munkin's probably going to come with him. And I said, yay, I love that for Jackson Dart. Really, love it. But it hasn't happened yet, I think, because Munkin's still getting head coach interviews. If that happens, I think that would be a home run.

1:21:15Ben Solak:I also saw, I think he was associated with Anthony Weaver as well from the Dolphins. This is a Giants defense that really, I think, underperformed his talent. You saw multiple players regress this season. so I think they should be better than they were even they obviously will have to add some talent particularly in the back end but um you know part of the reason you hired John Harbaugh is the expectation that'll put together a really good staff so let's see the staff I think that to me is the final piece in all of this 100 and like if you're the Giants fans you cannot ask for anything better like the the all the enthusiasm is very deserved this is a guy with an extremely good track record who instead of guys who you hope will be able to instill a culture as you've gotten in like the Joe judges and the, you know, the, the, uh, uh, Brian Dables of the world.

1:21:56Like this is a guy who like it, it walks and talks with him. Like it just did Prince itself. And yeah, he should, like you said, in theory, also be able to get you a really, really competitive staff. You have, you know, good connections across the league. He's played as coach, a lot of players, good free agency. You should be able to turn this thing around quite quickly. Cause yeah, you did like pretty dramatically underperform relative to talent level. So giants are a team to watch for me in terms of like good draft, good free agency. I'm willing to make some big predictions about the team in year one, if they kind of, you know, line the dominoes up well.

1:22:22Ben Solak:Yeah, Munkin, I'm going to wait until the hire actually happens to get into the offense and where I think. But that, to me, feels like a perfect fit. Munkin was Baker's coordinator back in the early Browns days. And to me, Jackson and Baker are very similar in terms of the early career arc and what works well for them. A lot of empty, do a little bit of QB run stuff you did with Lamar. Makes a lot of sense. Okay, so then other than that, there were two coordinator hires that I do want to address because I find them both interesting. One was Eric Biennemi alluded to this. back to Kansas City as part of the Matt Nagy soft firing.

1:22:56I don't know what else to call it. One track expired and was not retained.

1:23:00Ben Solak:Oh, boy. So, look, I think Chiefs fans found this a little bit underwhelming because it's like he's returning, right? The prodigal son returns. But for those who don't know, Biennemi, he went to college. First, he was in Washington. That was a bit of a disaster with Sam Howell. Then he went to college. The last year he's been the running backs coach for Chicago. Did I miss a step? You had to look at it. No, no, no, you got it. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I'm just yawning. I find this really interesting because the Chicago run game was awesome this year. Now that's Ben Johnson's rushing attack, which is very different, very different schematically from what Kansas City has done.

1:23:46Ben Solak:I thought he got phenomenal play out of their two backs, Swift and Menongai. Arguably Swift's best year of his career, right? Oh, yes. And so, you know, I have said over and over, Kansas City needs to rediscover and rejuvenate its run game. So while there is a little bit of like, oh, of course, they're going over, they know it's Andy, and things are going to really change. Andy still calls the plays no matter what. Ben, I am curious to see if the enemy can, what he brings back with him from his time in Chicago. And if it influences any backs that they choose to add, because I think that running back room also has to be addressed.

1:24:25Yeah. But Jack was a free agent as well. And so they have like, you know, the space and the time that carries to give to a guy. I will believe it when I see it. Yeah. I, I, I, yeah. I, I wish I could share with you your belief. I'm wanting to be there. I was very big on, I was very big on like, you know, get a different voice in the room, get a guy, you know, different, uh, like schematic influences. Let's be able to talk about things different ways. Let's, let's get creative and let's innovate. And they got a guy who for the last three years has not been in the building. However, he was the old offensive coordinator.

1:24:53Right. And, and I worry the degree to which they think, okay, if we just run back to like, he was off coordinator from 2019 to 22 or 2018 to 22, excuse me. Okay. And like, that's when we got my homes. That's when it was all hunky dory. It's like this will just, perpetuate itself. It's not that neat and tidy. We live in a different world than we lived then. I'm fearful of it's all going to look much the same. We just think because we replaced the guy, he'll solve problems for us in the margins. I do think that because the outgoing guy is Matt Nagy, there's probably some truth to that. I don't know just how much innovation he'll be able to bring with one year in Chicago.

1:25:27Ben Solak:It's always a hard thing though with Kansas City, right? Who can you really hire with Andy Reid? It complicates the picture. He's still going to call plays. How much flexibility will he? I actually think like the far bigger question than the coordinator hire for me was always just like, how is Andy going to attack this offseason? Yeah. And so that's a different part. Okay, so the final piece, Drew Petsing to the Lions. So for those who don't know, Petsing was the tight ends coach for the Browns. He had another quarterbacks with the Browns, I think, before becoming the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals.

1:26:05Ben Solak:A lot of similar offensive DNA to some of the guys we've talked about. That was Stefanski. In Arizona at first, he had a lot of success and was kind of like the hipster fave. And then things kind of fell off the cliff last year. Some of that had to do, of course, with the quarterback situation. But even before Kyler and before James Conner crucially got hurt, they were still not very good at running the football. and then the hipsters turned on him and wondered if Clayton Adams leaving was a bigger factor. So he joins the Lions. Another interesting situation because now you have a head coach who's taken back play calling before, right, which always has a little bit of tang to it, Dan Campbell.

1:26:48Ben Solak:On paper, this makes a lot of sense to me. Shared DNA, under center, outside zone, tight end usage, et cetera, play action-heavy offense. But I think it's fair to say, and I'm sure Cardinals fans are, screaming this this is a guy who's lost a little bit of luster over the last year so what what do you what are your thoughts other than anything i said about pet seeing in the lines yeah no i i immediately tweeted and i was like i feel like this is a solid higher and i had 45 000 cardinals fans being like actually i would kill this man on the street if i found him and i was like okay cardinals why why would you dare you don't watch the card has left to tell you you don't watch the card no i immediately got hit with the like and once again proof that the national media and I was like, I'm sorry, I know who Drew Petsing is.

1:27:28I feel like I clear a very slow bar for Cardinals knowledge. Regardless, Petsing, I think the DNA point you bring up is a good one. He overlapped with offensive line coach Hank Fraley together in Minnesota. And I think a big part of Petsing's experience with and without Clayton Adams was, holy smokes, they lost a lot in the running game when Clayton Adams left. Fraley is now the running game coordinator in Detroit anyway. And I think there's going to be a much better marriage, a much better connection between run and pass, the way there was when Ben Johnson was there that they certainly lost under Morton and then under Campbell I think he runs the sort of a passing game at offense that works very well for Jared Goff he knows how to make a quarterback like this work like they've all they've all been in the same system before so to me like it's a very like on the beaten path solid be higher and I understand that Lions fans felt like man we're the Dan Campbell team we're the Ben Johnson team like off the corners will be lining up to come here yeah and you didn't get like the coolest sexiest saying Mike McDaniel, but to me, like, Pat Singh is going to much more reliably than Morton, who obviously was a two-time office coordinator for 25 years, well, much more reliably than Morton.

1:28:29Just keep the train on the tracks for the offense. Let the easy buckets be the easy buckets. When you have St. Brown, when you have Gibbs, when you have J-Mo, like, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just run good stuff and call it in a good order and you'll be fine.

1:28:40Ben Solak:The thing I'll say about the Lions, too, is like, I just didn't feel like scheme was the problem. Not that it was perfect, certainly throughout the course of the year, but like, when I think about the offense and the bad games and what went wrong, my first thought isn't like, ooh, man, the play calling was so bad. It was the line needs work. So, you know, I think Lions fans would... I don't know if they'd agree or disagree. Actually, I was about to say they'd agree, but I don't know. One of the things is like, if I went through what Detroit went through, I would not want the sexiest offensive coordinator name.

1:29:15Get me a guy who's going to take him two or three years to rehabilitate his image. Let's get a little stability in the building. All right. No more head coaches and waiting over here. All right.

1:29:23Ben Solak:That's it. Did I forget anything else? Nothing broke while we were taping. So those are our thoughts. Next week, as I mentioned, I will be doing, discussing the championship round. And then I'm going to be discussing all of the NFL awards. Ben, you can tell me who you ended up picking. I actually haven't talked to you about this. I assume you're also, I know you're on May as well, but we haven't talked. puka and jsn i'm not going to tip my hand here i literally changed my mind probably 20 times between i think that's the closest i've ever had a vote on any vote since i've become an ap voter there's there's no player who could win offensive player of the year who i would be mad at right if bijan comes out of nowhere dark horses i'll be like that's very deserved given the season he had it's an unbelievably stacked year wildly difficult my offensive player of the year vote would have been probably puka but i as someone who doesn't actually have to labor over a vote i can just say that from my heart and not actually like dive into it.

1:30:17And who knows if that's what it would have been.

1:30:19Ben Solak:The other one I want to know is your D defensive rookie of the year. I think that's another close one. I actually genuinely have no idea who's going to win that defensive rookie there. To me, to me, it's clear Schlesinger like in minority was good. But Schlesinger to me was like lights out 17 weeks of the season. We'll see. I don't know because there's no sacks leader. Right. And that always complicates things. I wonder if has DPI ever been unanimous because obviously Miles Garrett. I don't know. We'll see. All right. Anyways, I don't want to give away too much of that pod. Lawrence Taylor, I feel like, definitely did once.

1:30:49Ben Solak:That's pretty rarefied air. So JB and I will be talking about all the awards, Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year, MVP. Like I said, he's going to give us a real insight into the Rams side of things. So I think it'll be a great conversation. And then after that, we're at the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah, right. In person. What's up? Just one pod that week comes out at the beginning of the week, the Super Bowl preview. Uh, yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Excited. Nervous. Thank you, as always, to friends at Omaha Productions who make this pod. Kirsten Specky, Owen Saylor, Jack Foster, Tucker Tashin.

1:31:28Ben Solak:I'm also recapping The Traitors and Fallout still with David Dennis Jr. on my television pod, which is called Viewer Discretion. Have you ever watched The Traitors? No, but somebody explained it to me recently, and I was confused and upset. Donna Kelsey got got eliminated pretty early somebody told me they're like yeah Donna Kelsey I was like just because she's the Kelsey's mom and they're like yeah I was like I I will never understand reality television it is a black box to me she was liable because she the whole time she was like I don't know I'm here it was all I know is that classic everybody is greatly celebrating the downfall of one particular sports media adjacent figure and I am also from far away celebrating that downfall as well go check it out viewer discretion and I'll see you guys next to me.

1:32:24Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, and on the ESPN app.