Welcome to the Big Surrey, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Levitard podcast. I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize for that.
In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. If that hasn't happened to you guys, I've done it. And now, here's the marching band of nowhere, fat-faced, and the habitual liar.
This episode of the Dan Levitard Show is presented by DraftKings. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, boy.
That's low. Oh, boy. Professional. You need me to take over?
Mike, take out your notes. Yeah, here, let's pull the goalie. I want to read. I don't think so.
Minor penalty, two minutes to lay a show. We didn't even finish the week. No, that's Greg Show is our professional broadcaster, does it? This episode of the Dan Levitard Show is presented by DraftKings.
DraftKings, the crown is yours. That is the way to do it. That is why you're the legendary columnist Greg Cody, king of all media in South Florida. Deserves more respect, but you should strip his Hall of Fame vote.
Jeremy, you want to, please, before we get to Diana Rossini, just recap what it is that we did in that last hour. Yeah, I just want to clarify a couple things. So, the new Kurt Flood will be quarterbacking Miami in what will be the game of the century in November, throwing to the greatest white wide receiver in program history and maybe the city of Miami's history, who also happened to have a perfect SAT score, definitely worth noting. He's big, he's athletic, he's fast, and Miami's defensive line will be better than the one that just had two first-round picks on the edges for the first time in program history.
Do I have all that right? I don't have any regrets about the last hour, and we'll get to Diana except for one. I do have a regret if it appeared flippant to our audience in any way that the Stugatz thing is something that we're enjoying here privately as you react and get annoyed. Please understand that I love Stugatz.
I will always love Stugatz. I invited him to our watch party. We've been inviting him all month to be on the show, and we want him around here. The door is wide open for him.
He started his own projects, 3 to 5 p.m. daily on Fox Sports Radio. It's a giant thing. He's a live radio monster.
He missed it. He's doing that 3 to 5. And Stugatz and Company in general is something that you should check out, and he'll give you whatever information he wants about when he's coming back. We don't know.
I'd love for him to be back. You could call him the new Kirk Blood of radio. Just so you know, though, I don't want anyone in our audience thinking that this is some flippant joke, because there's stuff here that would be funny, and I would love to make content out of, but I'm not going to out of respect to a relationship that I really value and will always value. It's not the high road if you have to tell people you're taking it.
I didn't mean to suggest that. I'm just telling people because they think we're being flippant here because of what Greg did there with Nugats, and I don't want them to think that. It's not something I don't want our audience to think, that I'm enjoying the fact that Nugats isn't around here, and I don't want it to feel like that to anybody, here included, because I'd love to have him back. I'd want him back.
Way to ruin the mood. Way to ruin the mood, Greg. You've got to turn your microphone on. You've got to turn the mic.
I'm probably too much. Delay a show. If there was any validity to Nugats, boy, did you nuke your chances? She's the senior NFL insider for The Athletic, the host of the Scoop City podcast.
Diana, thank you for joining us. I'd like any fresh reported materials that you have for us on how weird this Mike McDaniel thing was, where he's got a number of options. He signed with the Chargers, but it's pending if the Raven job or Raiders job or Bill job or Josh Allen become available, and now he's back with the Chargers. Was this normal to you?
And welcome, by the way. Hi, guys. Yeah, you know what? It's actually normal.
Look, this is a high-profile head coach who is an offensive-minded head coach, right? And that's kind of a big need right now around the league. So it was smart of him to scope it out, figure out maybe he could get another head coaching day after the Miami offense fired him. So I don't think a lot of people realize this, but you can sign on as an offensive coordinator.
You can sign the papers. You can do all that. You can make the big announcement on social media. And if, let's just say, for example, right now, the Buffalo Bills call him and say, hey, Mike, we want you to be the head coach of the Buffalo Bills and coach Josh Allen.
He can do that. Like, he has every right to just take a head coaching job because the rules state that if it's a higher position, you're able to do that. So a lot of people don't do that, right? Because that's going to ruin relationships.
Obviously, Jim Harbaugh's not going to like that. So if you were sensing some weirdness with it, it's because it was weird. I think Mike had desires to still be a head coach and wanted opportunity, but also realized if that didn't shake out, the best opportunity would be with the Chargers. And I don't think he really wanted to piss off Jim Harbaugh through this either, right?
Because he gave him his word, hey, I'm going to be here. I'm going to be your coach. But he's still checking out all his options. But for now, it's official.
I don't think he's going to back out. But he's not going to back out because I don't get the sense that any of these openings are going to be hiring him in the next few hours here. And just a heads up, a lot of hirings are going down over the next few hours. Diana, it seems to me that coaching Justin Herbert for that team is the best possible path back to a head coaching job for Mike McDaniel.
Do you agree, and if so, why? Yeah, I do, because we still get to see Justin take off, right? I think we've talked about this on the show, how good he is. I think most people that cover and follow football believe that Justin Herbert is a very talented quarterback, but he can't get over the hump.
So if Mike McDaniel can walk in here and maybe bring this offense alive, you absolutely can get back in. And I think that's the way a lot of these guys are approaching it. If you could just have one good year and get a young quarterback functioning, you become the hottest head coach candidate. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury was fired, and he got head coaching jobs after this Washington commander's year.
That wasn't even that good. There is just such a drought for smart, offensive-minded head coaches right now. And that's really the problem that you're seeing with this cycle. I think the leader of men, we'll call it that, that description, I think there's a good amount of them.
The reason he got so much interest is that he qualified under the Rooney rule. Oh, come on. Is that true? Come on.
Do you believe that's true? No, come on. No, but it's... Does that happen to no?
Excuse me, Diane. I just want to know. Is that original? What happens to no?
You just said a source. You never do that. Forgive me, Diana. But you just reported...
Are you reporting that a source with the Dolphins said to you that he got so many interviews because he's a black candidate? I think that's part of the reason why. And I'm wondering if Diana believes that's true, or if she thinks he got that many interviews based solely on merit. I'm just curious.
And I was told that the night of the national championship game, Monday night, by... I'm not questioning you. I'm just saying you're reporting that because that's going to be national news. I mean, it's so ridiculous what you're saying that that's going to become national news.
All I'm saying is, and I don't know the exact number, if Mike McDaniel was interviewed by five or six teams, let's say, for a head coaching job, does Diana think that part of the reason might have been that that interview qualified under the Rooney rule? That's all. In Mike's case, I do not believe that to be true. I'm not questioning that somebody told you that.
I believe that someone maybe shared that with you, but obviously that's just their opinion. They don't know whether or not the Bills were really serious about Mike, the Browns. I know, and they were serious. And it has everything to do with what we just talked about in terms of his offensive mind.
And look, I know it wasn't spectacular there in Miami, but some of these situations, and we talked about this last week, some of these guys get fired and their stock goes up, right? Mike went from being just the bizarre coach that has genius moments, but no one's really sure what he's about to, every team that was looking for a head coach had shown interest, reached out to his camp, because I do think there's some untapped talent there. And if he can be linked to the right quarterback with a good ownership group, I do think he can have success. So I feel very comfortable saying all the Mike McDaniel interviews were because people believe that Mike McDaniel is a good coach.
Howdy, folks. Mike Ryan here. Quick break to talk to you about one of our show's longest, most tenured, and greatest partners, Miller Lite. I love this product because so many moments were made legendary by having Miller Lite there.
And it's not just a good time. Sometimes you and your pals are sad because a game didn't go your way, and you take a sip of Miller Lite, and you still recognize, darn, this tastes good. And I made the right call. And that sound cracked open in that beautiful white can.
It does make me feel better. Thank you, Miller Lite. So many legendary moments start with a Miller Lite. Miller Lite just fits pretty much any occasion.
Clean finish. Refreshing. Brewed for taste. The simple ingredients.
Like malted barley. And at 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces, it never weighs you down. It's a taste that beer lovers have trusted for over 50 years. The original life year since 1975 is still iconic today.
Legendary moments start with Miller Lite. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time.
Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Super Bowl 60 deserves a sportsbook built for the moment.
Drafting Sportsbook and official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 60. When anything can happen in the biggest game of the year, DraftKings has your back with early exit. If a player goes down in the first half, you can still get paid out in cash immediately once your bet settles. No bonus bets, no waiting.
New DraftKings customers can bet just 5 bucks and get 300 bucks in bonus bets if your bet wins. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use code Dan. That's code Dan to turn 5 bucks into 300 bucks in bonus bets if your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours.
Gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER. New York call 877-8-HOPE-N-Y or text HOPE-N-Y. Connecticut call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Bootho Casino in Kansas.
With your tax pass through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply.
Bet must win or receive bonus bets which expire in 7 days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms of responsible gaming resources. You mentioned that it's not all that uncommon for a coach to have a coordinator position locked up and still take interviews.
But this interview process at least publicly seemed a little erratic. He seemed interested in jobs and then decided to pull himself out of certain interviews. Maybe read some writing on the wall or did he just value the LA spot? What I assumed Diana was that his agent was leveraging.
Hey look how wanted my guy is. What if you want to make him a head coach, right? Yeah, I think there's a lot of that, right? This is the time of year where we become, and I want to say we, us media members, become one of the most important parts of this.
I don't call that many people right now. People call me, right? Because they want me to come on your show right now and be like, you know who is a star? You know, and whatever name that is.
Because it helps. I'm not going to reveal who it is, but there's a candidate that went through this cycle now that is 1,000% constructed by the media. Because every team I've talked to was like, oh my goodness, that, he does. How?
Philip Rivers. No, no, no, no. The Philip Rivers thing actually had a little steam at one point. I assumed that was a, let's just be creative thing outside the box, try something different.
You know, his agent is the same agent as Josh Allen. Maybe that was just like a favor. You say a little steam. What's the steam level here?
Yeah, give us a steam level. What's a little steam? What's a little steam? Like a little steam?
How much steam are we talking about? A little steam? Like just some hot steam off of your latte? Pop on a cold day.
Yeah, coffee on a cold day. That's a little steam. That's nothing. That's a sad amount of steam, I argue.
But remember too, he met on Friday, and then I think I reported, I don't know what day I reported, but it was pretty quick. It was like in and out. He met, he pulled out, which I know everybody makes a joke. I know, the same joke about Phillip Rivers.
Right. It doesn't pull out the first time ever. Well, the Phillip Rivers thing I thought was just an absence of offensive mind. It is funny to me to think of the idea that there are like four guys in the league and I've got to go get Phillip Rivers because otherwise McCarthy's not going to, you know, he's like every other offensive guy McCarthy can handle, but not these whiz kids.
Well, look, these whiz kids, we're seeing a little bit of a trend right now. These great play callers, not very good game managers, right? Like, look at these playoffs. I think Sean McVay would have loved to have had a little extra help with someone in his ear giving him some guidance.
The same guy who's in Mike Riegel's ear in New England, his name's John Stryker. They call him Stretch. She was with McVay last year and left and now joined Riegel again. They were together.
Diana, take us inside of that for people who don't understand the sophistications that we're talking about. It's fundamentally unreasonable to ask these people in these pressurized situations in 25 seconds to get the play call right from the booth every time with the substitutions because the other guy's moving really fast too. Like, it's a really hard job. So take us into the headset of where even McVay can't keep up with everything.
Yeah. I mean, I've never had a headset on, but Chase Daniel, my co-host on Scoop City, has done this for me because I've been interested in the way you are. Like, what does it sound like? What does it look like?
And I don't understand how people are able to comprehend it because not only do you have to have what the odds are, and then you mix that with gut and feel for the game. And look, even some of the coaches that I respect at the highest level, Sean Payton on Sunday, still makes mistakes, especially if you're a play caller. And I do think that that is something to keep in mind when we're watching some of these organizations that have success. Are they the play callers?
Because to call plays and be the head coach, I'm always going to say that's really hard and keep that in mind too in this coaching cycle. These are questions being asked. Are you going to call plays or not? And most teams don't really want their head coach being involved in play calls because of this situation.
It costs games and it costs the Broncos a game. Diana, this part's fascinating to me, okay? The specialization of these things, okay? Mike McDaniel is obviously someone who is very good at coaching offense, period.
Like, you don't need to tell me anything else. He's one of these people who's obviously very good at coaching offense. The idea that even McVeigh's and the Payton's of the world would be like, I got this, and then do stupid things because they're not willing to have a staff of 10 and be egoless enough for Vrabel to be like, what, I got a 54% chance on fourth down here if I go for it? I want to play probabilities here.
Like, it seems really ego-filled for guys like McVeigh and Payton to have to handle everything. It does, but I think there is so much on the desk of a head coach in terms of what, they only have so much time in the day, so what are they going to invest in? And so, from what I understand, and even from covering Vrabel in Tennessee as much as I did, they put a significant amount of time in obsessing over game situations and even the officials. Like, they study the officials and are a little over the top with the details of that.
I'd be curious to see how many head coaches are doing it at that level because you see it in the game. They practice it, and then it reveals itself when the pressure's on. And they don't make a lot of mistakes. I don't want to jinx them for the Super Bowl here, but they're usually making decisions because they're prepared for it.
And I do think there's an obsessive factor there that helps. And it makes sense, right? Because think about where a lot of the staff comes from. It's the Belichick way.
And there's not a lot of similarities between Belichick and Mike Vrabel, but when it comes to that stuff, the details, the game management, I mean, I think they're the same person. So walk me through some of this part of it, though, right? So McDaniel is viewed as a clown because the media is loud when he's not a clown. He's obviously very good at this specialty.
Now, Vrabel, if Vrabel is someone who's going to know, this official, I need to throw deep more because he calls pass interference 16% more time. Does Vrabel then have to know that I can't wear the white uniforms because in the second half the snow's coming and nobody's going to be able to see anything and I've got a game planned for the second half that's going to be ridiculous weather? If you know what the referee's tendencies are, don't you need to know what the weather is in the second half? You do.
And I'm actually surprised that Sean Payton didn't have some type of preparation for this. This is the same man who had a player on the Saints wear cleats that blended with the white hashes and had him lay down in the end zone to run a trick play. I mean, and they called it chameleon, the play. Like he has all these incredible, I mean, he meets with the football ops people to talk about the amount of smoke that came out of the Superdome when the players would run out.
He is not somebody that is lazy when it comes to the small stuff. So I am a little surprised. I am not surprised that the Patriots were prepared for this. know at all and purposely did that like that is that's without a doubt they everything they do is intentional um i just don't think they talk about it as much diane you said that the philip rivers buffalo thing was definitely for real how is that a little scene i mean we'll talk about it i mean he's proven to be a very good quarterback himself some people believe that he's been a good coach uh on the high school level that he can he understands the position um maybe there's things that josh allen needs as a leader of the team that philip rivers could understand and he can lead into that josh allen's sitting in on every single meeting for a reason they value his opinion they value what he needs what he wants and perhaps what hasn't been given to him so look i think there are the buffalo bills made a firing knowing that it could happen but i still think you'd be surprised how many teams don't have a lot of preparation for this stuff it's not like they have a long list sitting in their desk uh i mean some gms do but we're like okay if i'm gonna fire this guy this is the answer look at the browns right now you fire kevin stavanski and we're waiting right now i think they're gonna make a hire in the next few hours here um who are they gonna hire that's gonna make you guys believe that the cleveland browns are gonna be competitive they have a pro bowl quarterback i understand the skepticism he's never been a head coach beyond the high school level but i think philip rivers just did kind of prove that he's largely in tune with today's game and he's got josh we counted some of this too where everyone just acknowledges that guy would make a great coach seem to be able to rally the church be a good vibes guy and what he did just this past season was incredibly impressive i wouldn't doubt him i guess diane before you answer that we just went through a whole conversation about how hard being the head coach is and how fast everything moves and yes i get it he's been a coach in high school but for some 30-year legendary high school coach for two years the funny part about this diane like it is really funny like we just talked about how hard it is for it to be the coach now make it the quarterback who's got two guys coming off the edges who are 300 pounds and he's got to think fast too so you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna put matt ryan in charge of my franchise i'm gonna hire troy ekman and ask for all his advice and i'm gonna get all these guys to process quickly and see if they can be better decision makers than the ones that i have like philip rivers you're gonna you've got to assign sort of especially given his skill set he wasn't physically that good like you have to assign the fact that philip rivers has some sort of genius when it comes to football in his head now i don't think it translates i don't think he can teach it to others i think it's silly to make these guys go to the front of the line and give them all of the power in your organization say hey are you also good at people management when somebody's like shitty employee and you're running that's the formula right now right that's obviously the trend you just being in the perfect picture of what every owner is looking at they're going john lynch has had success with kyle shanahan out in san francisco daniko ryan has been a great leader for houston makes them competitive um and as you mentioned matt ryan mike rabel former player um anthony weaver's getting tons of opportunity right now former player that that tends to be i think that makes a lot of owners comfortable because they think that that's the best way to rally these guys because they've done it before yet i still don't think it makes you um completely ready right just because you play the game as we've all seen before just because you play it doesn't mean you can teach it it certainly takes a certain type of leader uh and game and manager like you mentioned people manager that is such a big part of this and anytime i've spoken to general managers after they fire head coaches that's usually what it comes down to their coaches are bad managers the ones that get fired um so i think that guidance is making owners feel good like matt ryan must know he'll know if this guy is for real if his coach is really good because at the end of the day i still don't truly believe that those that are hiring these coaches know exactly what it is that they want and it's not an easy process i think that's the other part of this it is very difficult to find the right coach we can laugh and joke about the hirings and the firings and the owners that moved on from some coaches and uh stay too long with the others i just think it's a really hard um position to figure out subscribe to the athletic scoop city podcast with diana russini thank you diana uh didn't uh didn't get to the eagles coordinator stuff that probably enrages her husband at the moment next time more coordinator talk next time don't live a card quiet man yes you know i'm a married man i don't cheat on my wife despite that gratuitous line in back in the day i wish you were here my wife i really miss her no i don't that's the thing about being married you know you're not allowed to say i don't miss my wife i've been gone two days i've been gone long enough to miss my wife i'm sorry i call her i'm on the phone with her for 30 seconds you know we're like hello all right all right we'll see you all right and then i'm gonna see you in two days i'll jump in charlie good this is the dan levitar show with the stu gods i want to stand with you guys before pablo torrey comes on here with his uh his latest bombshell nba related that is part of the shared reporting uh that he is doing in a very difficult media time for those of you who do not understand what's happening in the media it is not dying it is dead the mainstream media cannot keep up with some of the things that it needs to keep up with in order to hold truth to power these days and so pablo torrey is coordinating here uh and he's done this a couple of times he did it with matt ishvia and dan gilbert a story that uh it was complicated and involves uh you know mortgage details and business details to explain to you how it is that billionaires get into power but he's teaming up with hunter brook to tell you that the memphis grizzlies owner hunter brook is reporting there's some ties to the russian war that you might find interesting even though people the news is getting complicated zaz and journalism is getting complicated so these stories are hard to get in front of people because it's just much easier to talk about who you think the next offensive coordinator is going to be uh but getting back to what it is diana was saying pablo will join us in about 10 minutes so it's not just matt ryan here's the keys to the falcons you go right to the front of the line or phil rivers come teach us your genius it's also timber you can have every job that you want in football you can break all the barriers you can be a great broadcaster and also you can run the raiders if you want because these people are air traffic control for the chaos of stress management in america on sundays so you think sean payton and sean mcvay's got a lot to think about no they're just on the sidelines of this nonsense the whole thing runs through the quarterback he's the economy he's the epicenter of all of it sam tunnel better be better than stafford and that's verse on the corner coming after him like all of this stuff moves impossibly fast we watch on sundays and have no earthly idea the skillset required to be air traffic control at the center of that chaos where the next guy's gonna hurt your brain it's nuts what those people do for a living but it doesn't mean he can run the falcon and it doesn't mean that high-level quarterbacks in these roles they don't want to do it right they want to stop thinking when their careers every 25 seconds you're gonna stop fire a missile at me right i mean these people i think everybody would say they're high achievers and i can understand how someone looks at matt ryan and says this guy probably will be good at anything i make him do or you can just be dan marino and i'm never mad at you you know i mean that's what that's why marino just chose i get to go to all the games i get to still be dan marino but i don't have any of the pressure most of them don't even want to go into broadcasting though it's such a high stress job and it physically hurts so much that many of them don't want to be elway and start running the broncos like they just have a hard time finding anything after football but can you imagine think about this for a second i don't know if it's trauma but like my guess is their body has to store some trauma over 15 years every 40 seconds while i'm out on a field somebody's going to try and hurt me and i kind of make these decisions really really fast i got to do it with a clock on me every few seconds do you think that that person after retiring finds anything in the real world that will ever feel to them the way that felt the power of that the strength of it i'm the center of my city everyone in my city is watching me right now is going to get mad or happy with the consequence of every decision i made for 25 seconds and it's just totally insane around me at all times i'm the one who's always in charge there's no filling that void after you retire like it's hard for some athletes to retire because you lose your identity at 35 years old it's hardest for the quarterbacks because where the hell are you going to get i'm the greatest gladiator every weekend i get to be either baker mayfield or i get to be sam darnold last sunday with whatever i leave with because i've got in the trophy case i got the nvp's head in my hand it's why i can understand why a quarterback would want to be a head coach i don't understand why they want to run an organization deal with finances and the player personnel moves and all the things that come with that but the leadership of being a quarterback should translate to the leadership of being a head coach because you're used to running that group of men in a different way you're just running an offense you're not running the defensive side as well but there's also the challenge of working on the schematic side of it if you're somebody like philip rivers that played for as long as he did he watched eras of offense change over time and he actually was on an offense in the chargers that was part of ushering in a new era he might enjoy the challenge of trying to continue to update offense and get a quarterback to a new place can we talk a little bit though about how dumb some of this is with our analysis given what i'm about to say everyone listening to this knows that mcveigh and sean payton are good at their jobs and those two coaches are responsible for their teams with decisions they made not being in the super bowl and ending the seasons of their team because they did the incorrect thing not worse than vrabel you will not convince me that sean payton is worse than vrabel because this is how we're measuring play 17 games all 17 in the end you're just doing it to get on field advantage because those three points matter and you want to be at home in that game because being at home in that game oh our quarterbacks hurt never mind about the measurements never mind we played 17 games to get that advantage and then it all goes away if it were actually about picking the best team and not making sure you get the televised game dollars on sunday they'd wait eight months till bonix is healthy and then let the teams play if it was actually about who's best because the petries did not beat the broncos best team they just beat the one that had the shitty quarterback like that that's asinite and payton lost in the game with the shitty quarterback and instead of being celebrated he's killed today because he went for it on fourth and won with the shitty quarterback are you having like an existential thing when it comes to like football because it's never about who's best it's about who wins and who wins gets to call themselves the best you're applying like a give me an 82 fixture type of season logic to a sport that's never i'm just telling you that mcveigh and payton are considered routinely the best and they are the reasons their team is not playing in the super bowl why is that any different from when you know like this weekend where donald was better than stafford this past sunday but no one believes that donald's actually better than stafford like the coach can have a better day than that coach it was announced yesterday by jeremy that the seahawks are clearly better than the rams so if you're telling me the seahawks are clearly better than the rams and i just saw donald clearly be better than stafford on sunday on third down when it matters most then what's the big leap to saying that donald if he's better on sunday but seattle was he gets to be better for that day forever the way that the seahawks are well i think you're putting a little too much i don't know values the right word but it's not all on the quarterback like there are other players on the team and seattle is definitely a better team even if their quarterback is not as good because their defense is clearly better than la it matters that it matters that that's why i thought denver had a great chance to beat new england because of their defense you know despite jared sitem uh they didn't but they have a chance so but we talked about offense and philip rivers and mike mccain's like the thing about this stuff that's noisy and dumb is you will not convince me that mcdaniel's is not good at producing offense it's a hugely valuable thing to have and if you give it to me i'll be fine with that as my head coach i don't need a lot else because mcveigh and payton are good at offense too and it's their defenses like payton got there because of his defense mcveigh was betrayed by his for all his offense mcveigh couldn't beat the number one defense in the league which collapsed at the finish line like the seahawks showed you nothing in that football game that suggested they were the number one defensively they didn't show you what houston did in the playoffs they didn't show you what denver did in the playoffs defensively what proof do you have in that last game that seattle's good at defense they held they held the rams and stafford on third down they also allowed stafford to have a game of his life type of performance yeah i don't necessarily agree with that i mean you know you could be the great defense they still gave up what was it 27 points to the rams and in the biggest spot of the game on fourth down like they came up with the stop in the end zone like that matters i don't think that's a bad battle after the rams dropped the touchdown pass the two plays before that that would have not resulted in that fourth down it doesn't matter i could take any one play from any one of those games this weekend and change the result entirely right i watched that game on sunday i'm like yeah that's how that plays out top offense versus top defense like the top offense is going to get theirs occasionally and what can the defense do in the crucial moments can the offense break down the defense so i do think at times yeah it looked like the rams were having their way and had the better of a familiar opponent remember these are division rivals sean mcvayne knows how to attack this defense probably better than anybody else but that's the top dogs in their respective areas and i thought it played out the way that it was hyped up to be and i don't know how many times we have to tell you all that matters is that's right all that matters is winning