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Scoop City: Inside The NFL
Eagles Eliminated: Inside the Playoff Collapse and the Offseason Questions
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James Palmer
AI had the time of my life a I never felt this way before.
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Chase Daniel
People, and even spotting risks across dozens.
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James Palmer
And I owe it all to you.
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- [01:50]
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Bombas Advertiser
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James Palmer
Losing in in competitions against somebody that is far less athletic than you is infuriating sometimes. Did you have, you know, I mean because you're a great athlete. Did you. Doesn't that when you're like that?
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Unidentified Guest or Commentator
Yep, that's Why?
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Chase Daniel
I don't play pickleball. I'm sorry? Pickleball and a 65, 70 year old man could just mop you.
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James Palmer
Welcome into Scoop City on a Monday. I'm James Palmer. Please like and subscribe. You're going to get great information from us today. And moving forward as always here on Scoop City, Chase Daniel joins me from a location to tbd. No, I'm just kidding. He's in Bristol. He's going to be doing the call on Monday Night Football on the analytics next gen stats side of things with Luke Keakley. I cannot wait to watch this. Chase, what's going on?
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Chase Daniel
It's going to be fine. How's it going man? I'm in Bristol. I'm at the Doubletree. You can tell people because by the time they're watching this, I'm going to be. I got the dunkin. All right. So like, I don't know, I think it's sort of overrated. I'm like a local coffee guy in California, but people said I got to get a blueberry cake donut and an iced latte, so. So we're doing that today. You're in.
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James Palmer
Love it. Dunking it up, Dunking it up. Listen, Chase, we had an insane wild card weekend. Something we obviously I think talked about and somewhat predicted because the field is so wide open. Four of five were one score games. Teams leading at the two minute warning went two and three for the weekend. That's wildfire seeds went two and three for the weekend dot Let me just run through this very quickly and then we'll get through everything. We want to discuss about what we saw, what impressed us, who came up short, what are we looking for in the divisional round? Rams beat the Panthers 34:31. Colby Parkinson 38 seconds left. He gets the touchdown. Let's go snatch these guys hearts. Matthew Stafford continues to play football. The Bears beat the Packers 31:27. Chase. Caleb Williams rallies from 18 down probable man. Unbelievable. They now have seven wins this season where they were trailing at the two minute mark or after the two minute mark. Cardiac bears seven. It's unbelievable. Then the Bills beat the Jags 27:24. Josh Allen puts the cape on. Sean McDermott wins the game with a play that he essentially voted to ban repeatedly in the tush push, which is ironic, but a 10 yard tush push essentially helps you win the game. Niners beat the Eagles 23 19. George Kittle has the Achilles. He goes down. The low frequency electromagnetic fields near the stadium continue to be a conversation point. It's fascinating to me. I'm not gonna lie. I'm going this right now.
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Chase Daniel
You could do a whole episode based on that which we won't get into. But that's wild.
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James Palmer
I am going down to it. I, I mean I'm in. I am in right now. Patriots be the Chargers 163 and the funny part is Chargers liked this matchup going in because they were like, hey, guess what? This isn't a pass rush like some of these other AFC teams. Well, Herbert get sacked six times, hit five times. It actually hurt to watch Herbert play that game, I think a little bit right Chase. So Saturday we have Bill's Broncos, Niners, Seahawks Sunday Rams, Bears, and then the winner of Steelers Texans plays the Patriots. I wanted to talk coaching very quickly before we get to these games. And I think the biggest story essentially is that reportedly Matt LaFleur is going to be discussing a contract negotiation with Ed Policy, the new acting president, essentially acting owner for the for the Green Bay Packers. And I think the comical aspect about this, Chase, is and the number of people I talked to specifically coaches around the league where it would be utterly insane to move on from Matt LaFleur, I believe you have the same sentiment.
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Chase Daniel
I just the fact that this was even being talked about, it really just boiled my blood, man. Like, I don't get upset a lot, but like stuff like this to me, and this is just an overarching theme of the NFL is I feel like every year there's six to nine openings. I mean, a quarter of the league, every single year is turning over. And it's the same teams that are trying to get in and find a head coach and find a quarterback. It's all the packers have a head coach, the packers have a quarterback. And Halfley might will probably get a, you know, the DC Will probably get a job. They'll have a deep. They've been so good. They just been have been injured. And my thing to every is this is not just a Packers thing, but if you're going to fire your head coach, you better be sure that you get someone better than him to replace him. And if you're not going to get hardball, I don't know if there's anyone else out there in America in the world that's better than LaFleur for this job. And just because they've had some struggles in the postseason. And yes, you, you look at it and it's recency bias and you're like, oh my gosh, how did they lose that? And it's just like It's a heartbreaking 18 points and we're, we're winning. I, I get that. But you're building something there. You've been really good in the regular season. It's just been an up and down.
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James Palmer
Right.
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Chase Daniel
There's just no nobody that's going to.
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James Palmer
Do the job better.
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Chase Daniel
And so you can't in my opinion, replace them with someone that's an unknown.
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James Palmer
Yeah, that's a great point. Mike Sando led his pick six article with this and I wanted to steal it from, from Sando. He ranks 11th in winning percentage among 113 head coaches that have 100 coaching games during the regular season experience.
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Chase Daniel
That's actually top 11.
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James Palmer
That's ahead of Bill Belichick in career winning percentage. Yeah. And also Andy Reid struggled a lot in the postseason in Philly early and Philly really wanted to, you know, get it. Listen, he's a good coach. I think that was matter very quickly. Before we move on. I have one other one I'm just fascinated about. I've heard a variety of things about Mike McDaniel. I had heard that he'd actually be a hotter head coaching name than maybe some people around the league had thought. There were people that thought next stop. He'd learned very quickly as bright as he is from the mistakes he made and being in a new building set an entire maybe new culture from the start as opposed to the one that he set in Miami. What would be your favorite landing spot for Mike McDaniel? Would it be the OC job in Detroit? Would it be one of these head coaching jobs? He's interviewing everywhere. Browns, Falcons, Titans, Ravens. What's your thought for Mike? Just to fun your pick.
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Chase Daniel
Yeah. I mean look it is, it is interesting how hot of a name he is because all you see like for the most part I thought he kept Miami together like toward the end of the season and everyone knows his offensive prowess. Now you do have to sort of question like is he good at leading a team? Right. Like that. That's. And you see new head coaches have so much more of a success in terms of like they're becoming more CEO type coaches. You're seeing less and less of offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator that are calling the plays and even some offensive minded coaches are giving it because there's so much more to to handle. I, I think he would be really good. I mean if the Detroit Lions that would be fun.
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James Palmer
I just from a fun fact give.
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Chase Daniel
Him the fun factor. Both those running backs, Aman Ra, Brown, Williams, Gibbs, him with like and Jared Goff and Just it, it feels like a. It feels like a really good fit. They might have to overpay for him, but I feel like Jared Goff is really good under center play. I mean, all these think about what he could do. I just think he's. I think Goff's a better quarterback than tua. I think he does more than more for tua. I think that actually TUA is really good, but I think he handicapped Mike McDaniel a little bit. Like when it comes to like, hey, what can you do offensively? I just think Goff can do it all and I think it'd be fascinating.
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James Palmer
Yeah, I kind of love that too. I had always heard there were limitations. You're exactly right. Chase, were there strengths of TUA that played into what Mike likes to do? Yes. But are there aspects of TUA game where Mike had to kind of act portions of what he wanted to do? That certainly happened as well. Also, Matt Ryan gets the job as president of football. So Chase, keep an eye. Quarterbacks, former quarterbacks in the NFL just landing these jobs everywhere. Just. I'm going to keep an eye out for you. I know you got eight jobs already, but one more wouldn't hurt. I want to know what you thought was the most impressive performance of wild card weekend.
- [10:18]
Chase Daniel
I got two. The first one to me and I'm not, I really am not being hyperbolic when I say this, but I think that Kyle Shanan had one of his best wins ever as A San Francisco 49ers head coach. When you go on the road in a tough environment versus defense like Vic Fangios and a team that the Eagles have been up and down, but it's a really good defense and then your roster is depleted. I don't know how many all Pros aren't playing for them. Trent Williams is barely hot. You lose George Kittle in the game, you're like, I like Juwan Jennings. I think he's a really good number two. Like top, top level number two. He's not a number one. And then demarcus Robinson goes off and then obviously, yes, you have cmc. But just what he's been able to do with this team. I mean you saw on the sideline the jubilee and the almost like, oh my gosh, like just how he was acting with GM John lynch and it was just like, man, you could tell, like this season to me has been his best coaching job and it's not even close. And the fact is he still has. Brock Purdy played in an unbelievable level. Like the game winning touchdown To Brock Purdy, to me is like classic Kyle Shanahan. They start in a one by three slot formation, they motion a guy over. So then they get to a two by two. Then you have CMC on the right side of Brock Purdy. And Brock Purdy gets through his fifth progression to cmc. So he's working the right. He's got an over route, he's got a back in line route. And then he gets all the way back to CMC on this Texas route. And you can just tell like he's coached up Brock Purdy better than I've seen anyone. So it's got to be to me, Brock Purdy.
- [12:04]
James Palmer
Yeah, I think it was Kyle Shanahan that just impressed me the most. Everything that you mentioned coming into this game, I'll add another name that, you know, asking people around the league is, man, if they had Ricky Pearsall, they'd have a chance because he is the runner. Right. He can't stay on the field, but he fits the way he plays the position Kyle Shanahan is looking for. And if you look when he is on the field, he's unbelievable. He's been outstanding this year as a deep threat. You know the route running that he brings and then with him out, and then you lose Kittle early, which was kind of like, okay, at least they have CMC and Kittle. That's what you can probably lean on and into the middle of the field. This was the chess match again we were all waiting for during wild card weekend. Vic Fangio versus Kyle Shanahan. The way those two schemes went against each other. And you saw Christian McCaffrey go out there and play in the middle of the field, where we were curious with the athleticism that the Eagles have at the linebacker spot. Chase, you're going, can they stay with him? They really couldn't. Honestly, in the middle of the field. The part that really jumps out at me is Juwan Jennings threw a better ball than Jalen Hurts did probably the entire day. He had one complete completion over 15 yards. Jalen Hurts had zero. He went over five. But it was I, I look at Demarcus Robinson and the chunk plays that Kyle Shanahan was able to create. I think that was a big part of this as well. I remember talking to Stafford last year and he was like, if he's a number three, he's the best three in football.
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Chase Daniel
Yeah.
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James Palmer
So he does have some, some traits to him. And the time he spent with Mahomes is, is Christian McCaffrey the best route running Running back. Wow. I can't believe I said that. So clearly that was good.
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Chase Daniel
Yeah.
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James Palmer
Route running running back you've ever seen.
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Chase Daniel
I mean, ever seen, probably. I mean, like, it's just. He's so good at making, like, space disappear. Like, it's really hard to explain, but, like, as a running back, that's running routes out of the backfield, a defensive linebacker or anyone else, like a. Like a. Like a safety, they try to close the space. So it gets muddy to, like. Because if you. If you don't close the space on a running back, come to the backfield, they can go either way. CMC never allows that to happen because he's like. Like, defensive ends try to hit him. He just slips inside.
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James Palmer
Right.
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Chase Daniel
And he's. He's also got some of the better ball skills.
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Momentus Advertiser
Yeah.
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Chase Daniel
Out of the backfield that I've ever seen. What's. What's more interesting to me in Kyle Shanahan is that when. When Kittle went down and it was pretty early, half of his call sheet was gone. Wipe down. And so a lot of people don't understand. Like, it's not. It's not so easy. Like, oh, Kittle's got. Okay, yeah, man. That's a real big blow for the team. Like, all right, let's just keep on, keep on. No, like, you're. You're half of your call sheet now. Tongas is good, but it's not Kittle. Half of your call sheets gone. So then you got to pivot. Then you got to go Juwan Jennings. You got to get more CMC involved. You got to get all this stuff. So I just think he's.
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James Palmer
He's.
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Chase Daniel
He's just so far ahead of everyone else offensively. It's unbelievable.
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James Palmer
It's going to be unbelievable. I love the matchup, by the way, and I was already thinking about this because I was having a conversation about Nicki Minmouri with somebody before these games. Now, that's the type of player I want to see go against Christian McCaffrey in the middle of the field. That star safety for the Seattle Seahawks. Also, I want to mention real quick, Kyle Juszczyk. A lot of people, all pros, came out, right. Chase, and everybody goes. Eliminate the fullback catches. I don't want to have. The dude is so versatile in motion. And the way that they change the offense with moving him around, he. He's still such a valuable piece of what they do. And it's just. I love that anybody that does things differently. My honorable mention very quickly will be on this Patriots defense inside the tight red area they were allowing going into this game on opponent's goal to go 94.7% of the time teams scored. And that did not happen. Is that. Yes, that guy. That's terrible. And that did not happen against the Los Angeles Chargers. I, I loved what the Pagers went out and did. You said you had another one. Is there another one?
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Chase Daniel
Quickly. I think the Patriots red zone defense was better. I don't know if it's more their red zone defense actually getting fixed or just Herbert and the Chargers just not finding it out. My other one though is Josh Allen. Like this is his first career and I didn't know this going in. I had no idea. This is his first career road playoff win. And look, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a very, very good team. This is not some run of the mill Jaguars team. They're really good defensively. And then it's like Josh Allen was superman when he needed to be superman. Brandon Cook showed up at a huge time. I mean that throw and I broke it down on my socials to Brandon Cooks on the post route was unlike anything I've ever seen. I mean it might be one of Josh Allen's like top four to three greatest throws. Based on the situation and you're on the road and you're, you're fighting for your life. They end up bringing pressure off Josh's left hand side. And when they bring pressure the corner and the safety to the left hand side, they're playing a quarters look. So each player has a quarters of the field. However, because of pressure, they're playing what we call a palms look. It's like a palm tree, meaning the corner to the field from the pressure side is reading Josh Allen's drop. And if he gets an outcut at all or a corner cut, he's going to try to pick that off. Josh Allen figured it out on the snap, understood this and just ripped their heart out by throwing the post go route to Brandon Cooks where the safety and the corner bus, I mean it was, that's why it was so open, is because most mere mortals would take the easy out cut because you're getting pressured. There's a guy in his face that's unblocked and he throws off of his back foot like a 40 yard, 50 yard throw. So it's just in the situation that it called for. And just like 17 proves that he's, I mean people are like, oh, he had a down game. He had 300 yards and three touchdowns. That's a down game. Like what I think he's got like the most. His playoff resume is. He's one of the greater playoff quarterbacks of all time. Just hasn't got to the super bowl yet based on just pure wins and the amount of games and the amount of yards. And I think his like career playoff yard passing yardage is almost like 300 yards. He's throwing a ton of touchdowns, very little interceptions. So he just showed up big again, man.
- [18:17]
James Palmer
Yeah, he was. He was unbelievable. That's why we have you to break down that play, because I could have never done that. But I am going to continue with the Josh Allen praise because he deserves it. And you called him. You know, mere mortals wouldn't have made. You know, they checked that down, not Josh Allen.
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Unidentified Guest or Commentator
They're checking it down.
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James Palmer
And so I'm going to go on to the next topic and I'll start this one off because it's Josh Allen. It is. And the Bills, what team gained the most belief slash momentum from the win? I think it is the Bills. They got that monkey off their back. You mentioned Josh Allen's first, first road playoff win. That was the Bill's first road playoff win since 1992. Josh Allen won't be born for another three and a half years, you know, so it's been an eternity for them. So they ended up going and getting that part taken care of. Now they go into a game against a Broncos team that I think they actually match up with very well. Obviously, they're banged up. That's going to be something we keep an eye on throughout the week. I would expect Josh Allen to be limited in some capacity because, man, he's just banged up all over. Maybe he doesn't practice in full all week, but you know he's going to go, what I look at Chase and you know this Denver team well, I spend a lot of time with them. The Bills attack the middle of the field very well. Will Dre Greenlaw be back? Possibly. There's a chance to my understanding that would help in the middle going against those tight ends. And you have the rainy defensive player of the year on the outside and Patrick certain outside the numbers is really not where the Bills make their hay. I'm kind of curious what his role in Vance Joseph's defense and does that actually favor them that you know, one of the best players in football is not going to be guarding your best player, most likely. And so I just think everything that they've done in beating this team and it was very physical. I think you mentioned how good Jacksonville is. They Are extremely well coached on both sides of the ball, very physical game. And now if you're Buffalo, you're going. Our worst thing that we do as a team is stop the run. Do the Broncos run the football well?
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Unidentified Guest or Commentator
No.
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Chase Daniel
No.
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James Palmer
Do the Texans run the football well?
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Momentus Advertiser
No.
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James Palmer
Like do, you know, like. So I just think things have now lifted into a manner in which they may favor Buffalo a little bit. And you now go, we have the X factor in the AFC and that's Josh.
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Chase Daniel
Yeah, it's Josh Allen. And I think, I think to your point before I get to mine, I do think that if you look at the playoffs and you look at the AFC playoffs and you just name the AFC quarterbacks left, I mean you're looking at Drake maybe and like, I mean but it's Josh, it's Josh Allen. Like he is the best quarterback. I don't care if Drake may had an MVP type season. I don't care any of that stuff. He has the most experience, he has the, the, the most like wherewithal to figure this out. And look, it's going to be a tough, it's going to be a tough game because I do think Denver like they have payback on their mind and they got last year bad. I know that Bo Nicks like post route touchdown kept it close like early and then they sort of ran away with it. I just think defensively Denver has to play their best game. But for my which team gained the most belief momentum. It's got to be the Bears. It's got to be the Bears. Like the Bears, you mentioned it seven come from behind wins. I mean the cardiac Bears they call Caleb Williams Iceman. Like when I'm watching that game and I'm looking at the packers just completely, completely demolish the bears in the first half. 21, it's like 21 3, it's like 18 point and I'm just like how in the world is this happening? Like, look, I understand Chicago's defense. They're really good at getting takeaways but that's about it. They're not great at about anything else. Right. They've been pretty poor in the red zone. Jordan Love threw four touchdowns and somehow lose that game. And I just think it talks to Ben Johnson, I think it talks to how Caleb Williams came together. You saw their emotional, you know, after their win in the locker room, their speech, Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson where he's like the bagger, all this stuff. But I just think that's a huge emotion building and if you can build off this and understand, hey, we haven't been great early in the games. If we can just get going earlier in the game and not save these cardiac Bears in the fourth quarter, which you're going to need again against Matthew Stafford and the Rams. I do think, though, this game favors Chicago because they're at home in 10 degree weather and the wind chill is supposed to be negative. The Bears are used to playing with it. Look, I understand Matthew Stafford's played in the NFC North. He's played outside plenty of times. But they're not used to doing that. They were in, you know, Carolina where it wasn't too bad. And I just think it's going to be a shock to them. I think they got a. The big thing for Chicago, they have to run the ball better than they have last game. Like, I don't think it was great running the football, but Caleb Williams, man, like, he's just, he's making plays. He's got a playoff winner to his belt. Like, it's already a really successful season. What else do you have to lose? And the crazy thing about it, you are a game away from the NFC championship game. And Caleb Williams, second year for how everyone said that Caleb Williams is this, Caleb Williams is that. And it's just Ben Johnson has completely transformed his career.
- [23:16]
Momentus Advertiser
Yeah.
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James Palmer
And this is just the start of the two of them together. You know what I mean? Like, the completion percentage isn't what you want. It was the lowest in the NFL. But at the same time, when you need big plays, he has that part refine everything else around him, which is going to be super fun to watch between these two. And it's still going. It's still happening.
- [23:31]
Unidentified Guest or Commentator
All right.
- [23:32]
James Palmer
We have much more Scoop City coming up. We're going to talk about maybe the team that moved on that you might have the most concern about, as well as a team that was eliminated, that really taught us something and that we need to keep an eye on this off season. Scoop City coming up.
- [23:46]
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- [25:27]
James Palmer
All right, welcome back to Scoop City. I'm James Swalmer. Chase Daniel with me as well. And Chase, as we move forward in the show. Obviously some other teams moved forward in the postseason to the divisional round, but not everybody balled out some aspects of some teams. Obviously our big focus this week in practice and in the meeting room. What's maybe a red flag you saw or a concern you have with the team that moved forward?
- [25:50]
Chase Daniel
Look, I know that we said or I said that Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers were their most impressive performance in wild card weekend and rightfully so because they were. They went in Philly. To me though, the one, the one, one team I'm worried about a little bit is the 49ers. You just look at like, all right, you, you, you're, you're depleted. You're going against the best, if not one of the best defenses in football for a third time this year. Yes, you beat the Seahawks. It was week one. That doesn't even matter. The Seahawks had have back to back games against the 49ers. That's crazy to me because they played in week 18. You have often then you get 49ers again. 49ers had to travel. I think they're Are they playing Saturday? So they're playing short week. Remember Cal Shannon? He's not happy about it. The NFL is not fair. I get that. But dude, I think that the 49ers injuries, plus I think Mike McDonald has Kyle Shanahan's number a little bit. I went back and re watched the Week 18 game and other than the last sort of series of the game, I'm pretty sure the 49ers had like 50 plays. So they're not like, they weren't like extending drives. And so that one, their best drive of the game ended in an interception. I would just take the under on this. Like I think, oh, okay. I think Robert Sala. I think, I think that like Mike McDonald has everything going for them and it's just like which quarterback is going to make the least amount of mistakes. But I would worry about like the 49ers short week injuries, the injury problem with all the electricity, all that stuff. I just don't know. I mean, they're built the right way, but at some point your luck's got to run out, I think.
- [27:39]
James Palmer
Yeah. And that's when I talk to people around the league, they all, you know, kind of assume the same thing. They're like, I mean, I believe this is unbelievable, but at some point, like, you know what I mean, this run can't commune. As I mentioned earlier, I think Nicki Minori is a huge aspect. When you do have an X factor on defense that matches up well against your X factor on offense, oftentimes that can change the course of the way obviously a game plays out. I'm kind of fascinated about this Rams defense that we thought this D line would be outstanding and it was one of the better units in all of football. We've seen some good backs run very well and again, there's not a lot of Bijan Robinsons out there on the planet Earth that are going out there. But at the same time, you mentioned the run game with Chicago and the way that they can design things very well up front, schematically with that offensive line and having two backs that can continue to wear your out. I'm kind of. I was looking at this and I was going, man, it's weird. The Rams have given up 31, 20, 27, 38, 34 in their last several games. And you mentioned it, the Bears can put points on the board.
- [28:41]
Chase Daniel
Yeah, they can.
- [28:42]
James Palmer
They really, they really can. So that's kind of something that's just, you know, I've just always assumed all year long, like, no, it's A great defensive line and maybe it is. But at times the cornerback spot has hurt them a little bit and we know the skill guys that Chicago has just a little bit of a thing there. But I am kind of confident if you're Matthew Stafford, Chase, and you're going, is there another like top tier quarterback in the NFC that's up here with me? No, no, no, no, there isn't. And I think that's like after you, after you got the path that you got, I think they should be feel very confident in some sense. Okay, how about a team that lost, maybe that taught us something about them and maybe we should keep an eye on potential changes or something happening moving forward in this offseason.
- [29:32]
Chase Daniel
Chase, we haven't on the episodes I've been in with Scoopsy, we haven't talked enough about the Philadelphia Eagles. I know you guys have a lot, but oh my goodness, dude, the Eagles offensive tape was bad and it was bad, bad. And you look at who they were going against, Robert Salt and all this in the 49ers aren't this like run of the mill, amazing style defense. But when the game was on the line, like, first of all, there's a lot of drops. I thought, I thought Jalen Hurts played a little bit better than maybe some people think, you know, a lot of drops. AJ Brown, everyone was like, it was like a drop party. But. But specifically the game calling and the offensive play calling on the last drive. So I believe The Eagles ran 10 plays or 10 plays on the last offensive series and they ran a version of 2 by 2, 4 verticals or 2 by 2, outside receiver run a spot route, inside receiver run a basic and then halfback run a flat route. Those were six plays of the 10. And so like, I just can't imagine like offensively like Kevin Petula and Jalen Hurts and Nick Cerane, right? It's supposed to be like all three of these guys are supposed to be working in tandem. But when you watch the game, I'm like, that's basic. Day one training camp install. You don't have something really, really cool dialed up. Like on the last play of the game, it's 4th and 11. They run four verticals, AJ Brown in the slot, Motion Mount one on one and Robert Salva plays quarters. Quarters is the absolute worst look to run four verticals in. Because guess what, you're running four verticals and you have four guys to cover deep. So you got to. And then they try to fit it in. I thought Eric Kendrick explained really well, but that's what your play call is on the last play of the game for the season on the line. And they've just looked really bland the whole season. Look, I can't imagine any world where Petulu is back, but it's deeper than that. Like it really is. Like they have, offensively speaking, some of if not the best offensive weapons in football. Smitty A.J. brown, Goddard had two touchdowns. Saquon Barkley. And you can't score points when you need it the most. I just, I think it was just a horrible way to go out. And I just that that partnership between them never really worked with Petula. I don't know. I just. There's so many other issues than yes, the offensive play calling was bland. DJ did you see and you had to have a keen eye and I know you watch it with a keen eye, but did you see the. What they called a timeout? I think the 49ers did on 4th and 11 because they wanted to get a Kodak. They wanted to get a picture of what the Eagles were in a run or maybe the Eagles call it whatever. They go to the sideline and the sky cam has is following Hertz to the sideline and Hertz is in Petula's ear and Sirianni's there, Tanner McKee's there. All this stuff. And the look on Sirianni's face, he goes like this like just like very big. When I think Hertz once said hey, I want four verticals. And he was like are you sure? And like you're supposed to be the one that says no. You're overseeing these offense like 4th and 11 all go. That's what I just don't, I just don't get it, man.
- [32:51]
James Palmer
I don't. I don't get it. It's. Hey listen, I consist. Consistency is a big part of the NFL. So this would be another offensive play caller for Jalen hurts every single year of his career, including college. So Jalen here's maybe somebody new once again as he's used to it. Imagine if they get like what do they just what's how he goes and goes. I'll take Mike McDaniel and it gives him the world and brings him in. It is fascinating because what you mentioned is what I had always heard from opposing coaches that have been assigned to study this Eagles offense. It's just we're more talented than you are. It's not a complex system or scheme, but the guys just win their one on ones, whether that's in the skill positions or usually and this play plays a big part in it. On the offensive line, Chase, they would win their one on ones across the board, right? Jordan Mailata would win and Landon Dickerson would win. And Lane Johnson, if you, I think if he plays in this game, the Eagles win.
- [33:41]
Momentus Advertiser
Clearly.
- [33:42]
James Palmer
I think that right there, Trent Williams going and Lane Johnson not going is.
- [33:47]
Chase Daniel
A big, big part of the way.
- [33:48]
James Palmer
That this game played out. Because I think the amount of times they would have run the football, football behind Lane as well as he is a pass protector. He's great as a run blocker as well. And you saw they had that 94 yard drive and they're creative in the red zone with the play to Goddard on the, on the, on the. You know, and he's like, you're like, okay, I'm seeing some things after that drive.
- [34:08]
Chase Daniel
They look like they're playing with slow motion. I think that's the problem. They don't play fast. And I don't know if. And this has sort of been a thing with, with Jalen. He doesn't process really well. And that's fine because you take care of the football. Another thing too, we get to have the whole show about this. The one thing that I noticed over the season and I saw a stat on this. So designed quarterback runs. I'm going to ask you about this design quarterback runs. I think there were 46 called this entire year, including last game. There was 93 last year. That's a huge part of the Eagles offense. They're running half the amount of design quarterback back runs. When you have a guy like Hertz, you gotta run them and just never, never part of it, man. It never clicked. It never clicked. I told you that they not told you. But like I just had a feeling the way that they sort of started out, I, I remember, I don't know what show it was from. Maybe if we have amazing producers, I'm sure they'll go back and find it. But like I, I just said, if Chase.
- [35:08]
James Palmer
Well, we have amazing production.
- [35:10]
Chase Daniel
If they can find it. I know we do. But I'm just saying, you know, Mac, this is you and Steven. But like I said something to the pact of like this feels a lot like 2023 and what do you know, first round exit 2023. Everyone's getting fired.
- [35:21]
James Palmer
Yeah, well, yeah, I mean they honestly have had to deal with this repeatedly. They've lost guys to getting fired. They lost guys to getting head coaching jobs because of the success. That happens a lot of times. Of course the NFL. Okay. I got to stick with this real quick because I know you're heated on it. If Jalen hurts, doesn't run moving forward, is he still an effective quarterback? Because I feel like that's part of his game. It's part of Lamar Jackson's game. It's part of Josh Allen's game if that part is taken away from him. And I don't know, there's a lot of theories when I talk to people around the league about why Jalen's not running as frequently and everybody kind of has an opinion on it. But just as, as an X's and O's thing, if he's not running and defenses don't have to concern themselves with that, how different is this offense? I mean, can it be successful?
- [36:08]
Chase Daniel
It can be successful, but Saquon can have a year like he had this year. You have to depend on him. My thing is like there always has to. If you have a running quarterback, which, you know Jalen is, he can run, he's a running quarterback, but he can throw like.
- [36:21]
Momentus Advertiser
So he's both.
- [36:22]
Chase Daniel
However, if you have a running quarterback like Jalen and you don't have the threat or try to show the threat of running, defenses are going to play you completely different. If you have a threat at quarterback running football and you consistently try to do it or scramble, they play you differently. It opens up downfield passing games. They weren't a threat this year. So defenses played them differently. And I'm telling you they're going to have to make some major changes offensively because defenses now understand how to play Jalen, hurts how to play Saquon Barkley and it's just they got to get better, man. Their defense is legit. It's just the quarterback situation and the offensive play calling situation and the offensive situation. Situation just not good.
- [37:00]
James Palmer
Yeah.
- [37:01]
Momentus Advertiser
Okay.
- [37:01]
James Palmer
I'll end this segment on. On more of a positive note, I think we learned a lot about the Jaguars. The Liam Cohen coach's tail off.
- [37:07]
Chase Daniel
Yeah.
- [37:08]
James Palmer
That they have a, have a really good defensive coordinator. That this was the start of, of Trevor Lawrence and, and Liam working together. And how different we saw Trevor the second half of the season. Does that snowball into the next year, man, did they find somebody in Parker Washington Chase, just a really good player there? Yeah, they just, they play really complete, well coached football. And I do know from having a conversation with him over the last couple of weeks, James Gladstone's an aggressive guy, man. And I would not be surprised if he goes, okay, we got here. We're not going to just go, let's run it back. I mean, I would not be surprised if he goes out there and tries to make an aggressive move to kind of change some things. And by the way, corner was kind of hurting them towards the back end of the year. If they would have had Travis Hunter the back end of the year, I.
- [37:53]
Chase Daniel
Think they missed him more, forgot about.
- [37:54]
James Palmer
Missed him much more on defense than they probably did offensively for sure. Okay. We saw kind of a, a lot of emotions running high Chase at Soldier Field and rightfully so. Ben Johnson's been a fired up guy. We're going to talk about how, you know, the competitiveness, how competitive are Chase and I at certain things. And I do want to ask you a specific question about Ben Johnson. Coming up next on Scoops at.
- [38:21]
Matt from P1 with Matt and Tommy
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- [39:29]
Unidentified Guest or Commentator
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- [39:49]
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Chase Daniel
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- [40:02]
James Palmer
Welcome back to Scoop City. James Palmer, Chase Daniel with you. I'm going to enjoy beating Matt LaFleur two times every year. Well, it took an extra game and he was able to do it. Ben Johnson said it and he did it. We had a quick little handshake, a little zoop and gone. And then we had a couple of F bombs on the Packers. You know who didn't like it at all? Dick Vital, baby. He took offense to it. He did not.
- [40:21]
Chase Daniel
That is not. A lot of people did.
- [40:22]
James Palmer
Yeah, that is not awesome, baby. What is your take first on that? I don't have a problem with it. What I want to know is, and I think most of the people that took offense to this and obviously I didn't read every comment that's out there on social media, but to me, Chase, it seems like the vast majority of the people are not players and coaches. What is the environment after a win like that in the locker room? I'm sorry, you can't tell coaches and players to not just be so emotional and so high that like, oh, don't, don't get to it. Like, come on, man. Yeah, like, it's crazy in that locker room. It's your time. It's your moment to, to, to let it all out no matter how you feel.
- [41:07]
Chase Daniel
Playoff football is so different than any other football in the world. Like, I'm talking about obviously, like high school, college football playoff, regular season, preseason, it's just on another level. Every single play, there's just this focused energy and detailedness, I guess, if that's a word, on every single play, especially during the week of prep leading up to the game. So you are hyper, hyper focused and you try not to get lost in the sauce with all this stuff. Although Ben Johnson has shown us he's petty because he was like, well, up north, there was a lot of disrespect and you know, players and coaches will use anything to like, especially coaches to like, just get that extra small market team and that's fine. That's fine. I don't, I don't have. Would I have loved to see like a, a handshake and like, hey, a pat on the back. That's why you could tell that they don't like each other and however, I don't care. It's. It's part of emotion. It's such an emotional game. When you get a home playoff win for the Bears for the first time in so long and you're a first time head coach and everyone said, oh, you know, at the beginning of season when they were, I think the 2 and 2 or 3 and 3 or whatever it was, they were like, oh, I don't know. Know. I don't know. I don't know. And you finally get a win against a rivalry game in unbelievable fashion. In unbelievable fashion. I guarantee you. He just like let out a deep sigh and was just like, went crazy. You saw him fall down. Like I look.
- [42:41]
James Palmer
Tripped over a photographer.
- [42:42]
Momentus Advertiser
Yeah, yeah.
- [42:43]
Chase Daniel
And he's so focused. Like, look, would he probably say do it differently? Yeah, but I don't have any issue with it, dude. It's just the emotions of the game.
- [42:51]
James Palmer
Yeah, 100% agree. And you got to be yourself. That's the other part. I want to say. Every head coach coaches differently. But as long as you coach in the manner and the Persona in which you are in your real, usually that helps you connect with your players. You can't try to be something that you're not. And this is who Ben Johnson is.
- [43:08]
Chase Daniel
On top of a lot of other.
- [43:09]
James Palmer
Traits that he seems to be really, really good at and are key to his success. Is there anything, chase, that you get super fired up about, super competitive in? I know we're, you know, we're an NFL athlete, so obviously we've played at the highest level. James, a couple of things didn't fall my way, so I didn't get to the NFL. Is there anything you're super competitive about?
- [43:32]
Chase Daniel
I don't know if it's competitive, super fired up about, but it's time, like being, being on time. Like I'm the type of guy who, you know, my, my wife doesn't love it, but I'm like, if we're not early, we're late. Late. And I don't know why it. And if I, if we're late and I have three kids and I shouldn't, I shouldn't be this way. I know it's a very toxic trait of mine, but like, if I'm not early or if we're late to church or if we're this, that and another, then I. My entire day I just black out. And it shouldn't be like this. I try not to be. I, I try not to be. And it's just like, I like to be. Maybe it's like because my dad was in the military, because I'm a quarterback, because I'm used to like, Hey, 1201 team meetings PM 1204. Don't be late if you're late. You know, if you're early, you're late. All this stuff. I just think like I'm so used to maybe like getting fined or I never got fined, but it's just like always, always, always in my mind. And I'm all, I have very, very, very good time management skills. My wife, not so much. And so she's actually like helped me sort of like chill out like a little bit. A little bit. But it's just, it literally just, it ruins my day.
- [44:50]
James Palmer
I think you've checked every single box about why you're wired. I don't even think you need to seek therapy in any manner, Chase, because you're like, I don't know, maybe because I was military and I was a quarterback and that's the leader of the team. Essentially. You can get fined if you're late. I mean, you check every box about why you're wired this way. Just don't be like my mother in law and be so early that it's inappropriate. Like Michael Scott showing up at a party, I don't know, hours early or something like that.
- [45:14]
Chase Daniel
My parents show up like three hours early to, to the airport. I'm like, that's way too much.
- [45:18]
James Palmer
I can't travel with her. I, it's way too early. We'll have a party at the house and my mother will knock on the door and she'll. I'll open the door, we're still getting the house ready. And, and I know what the first thing she goes, I'm early. I'm like, she knows it. She literally can't help it. But guess what? Ex military, big part of it. That's the way she's wired. She's always been in that maybe. All right, let me. The thing I'm going to bring up here is and this is like bar games, foosball, darts, table tennis. I'll use the proper term. Even though I'm a ping pong guy. I have like college. We used to get after it. I have flipped foosball tables. I have chucked ping pong paddles at my buddies. Like I can get very fired up.
- [46:02]
Chase Daniel
What do you, what's your best game like? What do you like? What are you like for sure? Like, I'm good. I'm the best, best in the world at this probably.
- [46:10]
James Palmer
Foosball.
- [46:11]
Chase Daniel
Really?
- [46:12]
James Palmer
Did you know Denver is the foosball capital of the world? This is like, how did you get.
- [46:17]
Chase Daniel
So good at foosball?
- [46:18]
James Palmer
We had a table at our house in college and I went to College.
- [46:20]
Chase Daniel
For six years or on the offensive.
- [46:23]
James Palmer
Like where a lot of dancing up front. A lot of like. And if you're not using a tornado table, you're not really playing foosball. Those are the ones that you got to be on. They are next level here in Denver at the bottom bars. Chase. Like they will. There are people hired to come and maintain the foosball tables. Like to top notch like you know, early hours before the night and put your quarters down and people are playing. I mean, yes, Denver gets kind of crazy sometimes.
- [46:49]
Chase Daniel
Kenan. Yeah.
- [46:50]
James Palmer
You know, but the other part is and I'm kind of curious that we got to go after this. The other reason it bothers me is like I, I'm a, I'm no Chase Daniel. But I mean I got my, I got my best athlete trophy right here. Losing in, in competitions against somebody that is athletic than you is, is infuriating sometimes. Did you have, you know, I mean, because you're a great athlete. Did you. Doesn't that when you're like, yep, that's.
- [47:14]
Chase Daniel
Why I don't play pickleball. I'm so bad at pickleball and a 65, 70 year old man could just tear me up. Like not even close. I'm like, I don't know. I'm not playing.
- [47:23]
Bombas Advertiser
Yeah, I'm out.
- [47:23]
James Palmer
It's not happening. I lost my advantage. Lost my athletic advantage. All right, everybody make sure if you're watching this before the Monday night game happens, make sure you catch Chase on the ESPN app.
- [47:33]
Matt from P1 with Matt and Tommy
Right.
- [47:33]
James Palmer
Chase with Luke Keakley calling that game and it's going to be outstanding. If you know, if you love football and want to learn more about the ins and outs and the nuances of football, please listen to Chase and Luke Keakley Monday night. We'll be back with Scoop City on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Thursday, don't forget we'll be doing that road trip around the NFL that we love to do sitting inside all of these facilities. But awesome, awesome stuff, Chase. Enjoy the call and I will be chatting with you later this week. I think.
- [47:59]
Chase Daniel
Awesome.
- [48:03]
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- [48:32]
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- [49:01]
Bombas Advertiser
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- [49:03]
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- [49:29]
Chase Daniel
This product is not intended to diagnose.
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Momentus Advertiser
Ollie.