Is a championship defined by the brilliance of a defense or the collapse of the offense?

As the Seattle Seahawks hoist the Lombardi after a stifling victory over the New England Patriots, the debate in the Pig Pen is heating up.

While Some see Mike McDonald's defensive scheme as a tactical masterpiece that neutralized a generational talent, others see a boring finale marked by a quarterback looking for the nearest exit.

It was ugly bad football and I did not enjoy the game very much because of it.

Wrap up.

Check it out.

Pigskin Dispatch video.

Yeah.

Woohoo.

Foreign friends.

This is Darren Hayes of Pigskin dispatch dot com.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Penny.

Hey Darren, how are you?

I am doing super and I think people in Seattle are doing super too, and I think the NFL should be celebrating.

I know everybody's sort of down on this game, but I'm stoked about it.

I love defensive football and I thought this was great.

Well, then we are going to disagree on the, the, the analysis of this game.

I can tell already.

I could tell already.

All right.

Well, I mean, I guess there's no better place to do than to get right at it and let's.

Right, well, I guess.

Well, let's talk about the game and then we'll end with our, our scores.

So we'll, we'll save the dramatics for the, for the save.

The good stuff for the end is what you're saying.

Yeah, the good stuff for the end.

I.

So I honestly don't have a lot to say about the game because while I wound up being very wrong in a lot of my predictions for the game, the one thing I think I was right about was just the Patriots in general and throughout the playoffs.

I told you that I didn't feel like I was watching a particularly good team.

It was just a team that kind of kept winning for some reasons in their control and maybe some luck.

And I thought the super bowl was bad.

I don't think now obviously I think Seattle is a worthy champion.

I think they were at the very least a very good team, probably close to a great team.

I know analytically by a lot of the metrics, they're, they're right up there and I think the eye test would, would suggest the same.

But New England was bad and Drake May was bad.

People say like, oh, was it bad offense or was it good defense?

It was both.

And I actually lean towards more of the bad offense when it comes to that.

The, the, the Patriots defense versus the Seahawks offense in the game I thought was good football.

I thought that was well played, kind of a good back and forth, a good balance.

You know, neither was really getting the better of the other necessarily, but neither was totally stopping the other.

It was just good football.

The other side was bad.

And talk about May a little bit here, but he was going down when the rush wasn't there.

He was missing guys when they were there.

It was ugly, bad football.

And I did not enjoy the game very much because of it, because I didn't like.

I think what bothered me, Darren, I didn't feel like May was like competing.

He looked like he wanted to go home and I realized that maybe he was banged up.

He's in the second year, he's kind of, maybe just rattled, you know, just kind of tough.

Just a tough spot.

Maybe, maybe he did kind of want to go home.

Like, you know, like I'm not sure what to do here, but there just wasn't a lot of fight on that side and I just didn't like it.

I just didn't.

I just didn't really enjoy it.

I thought it was a boring game.

I never felt that the Patriots were scratching and clawing or anything like that.

It was just kind of like they accepted their fate and you know, start fourth and one again, we'll just punt, you know.

And it was just kind of like eh, I didn't enjoy it.

Of the 60 Super Bowls, I don't know if I'm going to rate it bottom five, but I definitely think it's bottom ten.

Yeah, it be competitive wise.

It wasn't a competitive game, but I think it wasn't competitive because of the brilliance of Mike McDonald and his defensive staff and the players executing it.

Because I think they saw the weakness of the Patriots and it was those two rookies on the left side I believe, and they just took advantage of it all day long even with their rookies, you know, Riley Smith, Notre Dame alum, you know, with his big sack where he sacked the, the guard and the quarterback at the same time.

But I think they knew if they pressured Drew right up the middle or Drew Drew May right up the, the middle, that he had nowhere to run.

He only had.

He had less than 50 yards rushing, which is, you know, not his signature mark.

You know, he did that all even against Denver in the snowstorm.

He was running for first downs and they really needed that to happen.

But I think Seattle took that away.

Seattle took away, you know, the running backs of the Patriots and the secondary was playing lights out.

There was nowhere to throw to.

And when there was, May was so shook up because he didn't think he had enough time that he was just hurrying himself.

Seattle did that.

Their schematics did that.

I thought it was brilliant.

And that's why I think it was a masterpiece of a Super bowl because Seattle was prepared and the Patriots were not prepared to match him up.

Had May looked good in the other playoff games, other Patriots offense looked good in the other playoff games, I may have agreed.

But my issue is that the Patriots and May specifically were bad all through the playoffs.

He actually has the worst EPA in the history of the playoffs for any quarterback that played three or more games.

I think he wound up with, was it 11 turnovers in the four games and got sacked like 18 or 19 times.

He was, it's amazing they got there because he played poorly in every game.

You know, we talked about in the, in the Denver game, their offense generated truly three points in the game.

You know, they, they were handed their touchdown.

And you know, part of me feels bad because like I said, two things can be true at once.

I've said that all year long and I can, I can be very hyper critical of May and also not say that this is necessarily who he is or this is what his career is going to be.

He was very good until the playoffs started.

He was very bad in the playoffs.

And that's the only conclusion I'm making.

I'm not saying that means he will forever be bad in the playoffs.

I'm not saying that.

I'm just saying for this year, yes, hats off to Seattle.

They totally dominated the game, but so did the Chargers, so did the Texans, and so did the, the Broncos when they played the Patriots offense.

And I know statistically, actually May had his best game in the super bowl, but we all know that was kind of garbage at the end in the competitive part of the game.

He was bad.

So yeah, that, that was sort of my takeaway was that I felt like I was watching one really Good team against one team that was not.

And it.

As an outside fan, it took a look quite a bit away from me watching the game.

Obviously, if you're in Seattle, who cares?

I wouldn't either.

I'm going to say, you know, I love the defense of Seattle, but I love the defense of what the Patriots did, too.

I thought they were brilliant, except for forgetting about the running back could run the ball.

Yes.

That was.

That was their.

That was their Achilles heel.

And I thought, you know, they gave Sam Darnold trouble all day, even his completions.

He had to thread the needle on some of those.

Some of those.

You're wondering, man, why did he even throw that ball?

Because he was covered.

I thought the young Woodson kid for.

For the Patriots had an outstanding game, especially tackling.

And I think Gonzalez was mean.

He was lights out.

That was a shutdown corner in that game, and he really took it to the top.

You know, Seattle wide receivers, including Nigma Smith, who, you know, got injured and it was concussed or thought to be concussed there for a while, but he really couldn't do anything because Gonzalez was all over him like a blanket.

And I think you just gave him a new name.

Did you say Ninja Smith.

That's great.

Ninja Smith.

Smith.

I think from now on, we'll just call him Ninja.

I apologize, Mr. Smith.

I messed it up, but.

That'S great.

You are like a ninja, though, Mr. Smith, to not.

To not end on a totally negative note.

The one thing I will say for sure is just how incredibly impressed I am with Mike McDonald to come in, in your second year.

And that is a complete team.

That's a.

That is.

I've got a little something to talk about that on later, but it's.

It.

That's a no weaknesses team.

There is literally nowhere on their team were they weak.

There was no holes.

They weren't necessarily amazing at every level, but they were at least good everywhere.

And that's a real testament to him.

They were prepared all year long.

They.

You know, even last year, this first year, they went 10 and 7 with Gino, so.

And they missed the playoffs, but they were good and.

And they took that next step this year.

Very impressive.

He looks like a superstar coach.

And, yeah, hats off to the Seahawks.

They.

They got it done and they were the best team in the NFL this year, and they won the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I'll just kind of leave.

I'm not.

I'd be lying if I said that I feel like this team compares to the Steel Curtain or the early 90s cowboys, or maybe even the Chiefs, but who cares?

They were the best team in the NFL this year.

They won the super bowl and they're champs forever.

Yeah, that's.

That's for sure.

Yep.

So we can talk.

So.

So we're talking about champs, and I guess I'm looking at.

Okay, well, hold on a second.

I need to take it.

I need to take a drink of victory here.

From my.

You Boomer Sumer Sooner's glass here, compliments of Mr. Cleese.

So there you go.

Continue.

Continue.

I'm sorry.

So I'm glad, I'm glad they arrived and I'm glad you already poured your apple juice into your.

Your glass there.

Canadian apple juice.

So.

Yes, that.

Yeah.

Really?

So that's your.

That's your winnings.

And really, boy, you went out with a bang because in the super bowl you wound up with 10 points, I wound up with two.

The only thing I got right was the under in the game, which we both got right.

None of my side things happened.

I think two of your three came through.

So you wound up with 112 for the year, and I wound up with 98.

So what was a close race, you know, through three and a half quarters, wound up becoming a blowout there at the end, and you ran away with it.

So tip of the Boomer sooner hat to you, and you can.

Every time you drink a cold one from that glass now, you can be reminded of your.

And I, I appreciate that.

And I'm.

I'm also learning the campus of Oklahoma University as a.

Because there's a. Oh, it's got the map.

There's a map etched on there.

So I'm learning where all the libraries and museums are.

So if I ever visit.

As my dad often points out, he's still not convinced that I knew where the library was.

So maybe I need.

I think your dad's got a point.

Point there.

It's funny, one of our favorite.

Quick side note.

One of our favorite restaurant bars in Norman is actually called the library.

So you could be very truthful and said, I'm headed to the library.

And I did go there quite a bit.

But anyway, congratulations on your win.

Thank you.

I think, you know, in all fairness, the super bowl you had.

You were down too much.

You had to throw everything at it.

And especially with me having your first pick, I could go conservative and you had to almost go opposite.

So.

Yeah, I, I don't know.

It's not as widespread as what we're saying here at the points show, I'd.

Be lying if I said my heart was with that pick, but it was a little more strategic.

I did think.

I did think it was going to be a closer game.

I. I did.

I did think that.

So I was correctly wrong, if that makes sense.

So you earned your.

You earned your.

You earned your glasses.

No.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

No doubt.

No doubt.

So now I've got something to strive for next year.

There you go.

You.

I think championship week sort of.

Sort of killed you because it was.

It did neck and neck right there.

And that's what it was.

That.

That hurt.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, where do we go from here?

Where do we want to talk about our lit?

So I thought we could have a list.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A little list of, you know, we've been doing the top or five bold predictions all year long.

I kind of plow through it really quick here.

The number one thing, not number one, but these are.

These are in no particular order.

One of my things is that we talked a lot about how the standings lie early in the season, sometimes even in the middle of the season.

For example, just in the AFC south, how the Colts got off to the hot start.

The Texans were terrible.

And then it's flipped by the end of the year.

Texans made the playoffs, Colts didn't.

We've seen that.

We see that all the time.

But what doesn't lie, I think, Darren, is the gut feeling you get on some teams and I'll just kind of start with my team.

It was week two commanders at packers and week one.

I felt fine.

Felt like we.

We were looking good.

Something was wrong.

As early as week two, our defense, which was supposed to be a lot better, was bad that night.

It was a Thursday night in Lambeau.

Our offense looked like they had taken a bit of a step back.

Jaden Daniels got hurt that night.

Towards the end of the game, kind of hobbled and it just.

Something about that game was like, it's not a big loss.

You know, it's on the road at Green Bay.

It's fine.

But something didn't look right.

And the injuries mounted.

The.

The not look right kind of kept going and they never came out of it.

And I would say, like, the Eagles were kind of similar with their offense all year long, just didn't look right.

Right.

They never got it going.

The Ravens, you know, we.

We Said early in the year, what's wrong with ball?

Something's off, you know, even when Lamar was playing.

And so maybe a little note to.

To ourselves and as fans is to.

Probably throw the Chiefs in there too.

Yeah, the Chiefs.

Yeah.

Like these teams that we kind of thought maybe, okay, they'll eventually get going.

They'll going.

But our eyes weren't lying to us.

Right?

They weren't.

It's like, no, there's just not the same.

There's something's wrong.

There's injuries.

Something's caught up to somebody, you know.

Well, sometimes it just happens in the league and the.

And the other way too.

Whereas, you know, Seattle looked really good early in the year and people were like, yeah, but you know, eventually they'll come back down.

It's like, no, I watched them and it's like they look really good and so are they just going to, you know, so.

So maybe going into next year to trust our gut early on.

Yeah, that's true.

That's true.

That's a good point.

All right.

You want me to come up with one?

Yeah.

One of my point.

All right.

I. I am me.

I'm a former official and I love innovation, especially when it comes to officiating to make the game more efficient.

And I think some things really cool came out this year that may really change a game 10, 20 years from now.

We may be looking back at it and say, you know, like, sort of like we look at instant replay or the.

The yellow line to gain thing that they put on the TV screen.

You know, we take for granted now, but we didn't have that before.

And I think that one of them's the chips in the ball now.

I don't think they used it enough.

And this is for the virtual measurement.

I think that they're going to expand on that.

But I think that's really cool to use the technology.

The timing of the.

The video where.

Where the ball location is, you know, so hey, his knees down at exactly this millisecond.

So the ball is here at that.

That same time.

That's pretty cool.

And I think that's great to get the call rate.

I also love replay assist.

Those.

Those two innovations this year made it for the zebras make the job much better and I think we'll improve officiating as we go on here.

Only a former zebra would probably list zebras as a positive for.

For the season.

There's plenty of negatives, but the technology use of it.

I actually, I actually think the refs actually take a little Bit of a unfair knock somet.

But the one thing I'll say is I like replay assist too.

But what I think the NFL needs to do.

It's a little confusing as to when they use replay assist and when they can't.

And I think they need to completely stop with the official on the field ever looking at a video replay.

They should just have somebody in the booth and it should be.

It should go a lot faster.

A lot of these, we look at it, we can say, boom, replay assist.

Like you said, everything should be replay assist.

Every chat, it should all be from the booth where they just tell the ref, you know, it's.

It's incomplete, it's a fumble, whatever, boom.

In his ear immediately.

And stop with the looking at the video.

We don't need this anymore.

We don't need the ref to actually be involved in the replay anymore.

It slows it down.

And I also think.

I've also wondered if the ref being involved in the replay review is a little stunted because, like, maybe he or one of his guys made the call.

So you're a little less likely to then overrule yourself or, you know, somebody else on the crew.

So it's like, just.

Just make this go faster.

It bugs me in the NBA too.

I watch it like, why is the ref looking at the video and saying, okay, rewind it, rewind it.

This should just be somebody in the booth that's just doing it and just tells the ref in his ear it's out of bounds, you know, whatever, faster, quicker.

I think they have to keep it with the referee looking at it at least being a part of that conversation.

Maybe not like in years past where he's been the, the, you know, the only guy that's in the room, and maybe somebody's in his ear trying to talk him out of it, but he's got to make the decision.

I think it's good.

But he's got to be a part of it, and officiating crew's got to be a part of it because why would they even make a tough call?

Why would they embarrass themselves if.

If there's something, hey, I just won't call it, and somebody upstairs will.

Will come in and call it.

So I think they got to be a part of it to keep their skin in the game to it.

Keep them involved.

And, And I, I mean, I trust that the people officiating are, for the most part, they have integrity and they're trying to get the call right.

I mean, I always tell people, if you think it's easy?

You know, we have the easiest seats in the house where we're looking at it from a camera view that's, you know, 50 yards away from the players.

When you're right up at the action or it's coming at you and, and you've got, you know, 22 superb athletes, you know, running at full speed with, you know, everything flying and everything else going on in the stadium.

And to make those calls, split second.

Some of those things are so bang bang that they slow it down and it's still hard to tell.

I think they do, for the most part.

They do a great job.

I think some of them are.

They're restricted by some of the goofy rules that the NFL has.

That's what they really need to clean up a little bit, I think, to help.

But I think the people in the field are doing a good job and having it as an assist to them.

I think that's the key word.

Replay.

Assist.

That's the thing to do it instead of somebody in the booth is.

Is officiating the game.

I think that takes away from the traditional point of the game.

You.

You took the words out of my mouth.

I think it's the rules, not the refs.

The only thing I would say is the refs are always going to make the calls on the field.

So I would just speed up the replay by having another ref.

He's the replay ref.

You know what I mean?

Like, boom.

You know, boom.

You.

You got it right, you got it wrong.

Whatever.

Kind of like they do for touchdowns or whatever, you know, I guess I. I don't.

I guess I don't understand, like, why do we halfway do this?

Why do we get into that?

We'll get into that more here in a bit here.

Okay.

All right.

Well, my, my.

Another re.

Observation for me would be that this may have been the, the overwhelming one for me this year was that in a year that the Chiefs, you know, were not involved for the first time in almost a decade, that Allen, Josh Allen or Lamar were not able to break through even with Mahomes out of the picture.

That was a real.

I think it's a real big story for the league because, you know, those other two have come so close so many times, have just gotten stopped by the Mahomes train, and now the Mahomes train stopped itself and they were not able to break through.

You may maybe even throw like Herbert in there a little bit.

And you know that we wound up with Knicks.

I know he didn't want to play in the game.

But, you know, Knicks versus May in the AFC championship game, so they didn't even make it to the AFC championship game.

So I kind of like the missed opportunity in the AFC for the teams that have previously been battling the Chiefs.

Yeah, that's a good point.

And that's sort of.

I have one that's very similar to that sort of rides on the coattails of that.

I think there's a renaissance in the league this year.

I'm, I'm delighted by it.

It was run the ball, play defense, throw when you have to, you know, and I think we're getting back to that.

We just had a Super bowl that was that way.

Don't go for it every fourth down.

I don't want to see them.

You know, there's too much drama in there and it.

People fail.

It doesn't work all the time.

I don't care what the analytics say.

You know, look at Seattle did.

I think I heard they only went for on fourth down 12 times all season.

And some of those were.

And half of those were like at the end of the half or something when they really had to or really didn't matter if they didn't make the first down, but just trying to get a score or trying to get, you know, win a game.

And I, you know, so I think that going back to basic football, I love that and I love seeing the running back be elevated a little bit more this year.

They've really taken.

Got crushed.

It's dropped their pay scale tremendously.

They, I mean, 15 years ago, running backs were the premier player next to the quarterback on the whole football team.

Now we put left tackles and wide receivers above a running back.

And I want back to those guys that are, you know, toting the rock, earning the hard yards, taking hits, you know that unmercifully, you know that nobody does except for linemen.

And I'm glad it's going back to old school football.

And I love the trend, the way it's going.

Well, I'm going to get you a red hat that says make punting great again because Darren wants more punts.

That's right.

Yeah.

What you kind of just said, they're kind of dovetails into another one of my points.

And that would have been that we're in a quarterback transition right now in the league.

And that also, I think contributes to the feeling that we had a little bit this year of like, oh, none of these teams feel great.

Maybe defense is winning again.

And I Think there might be some, you know, it's a copycat league so we might be seeing some of that.

But I also think some of it's just the reality of that the quarterback play isn't.

Wasn't super great this year.

And it's because, you know, we've seen, you know, in recent years we've seen a lot of them retire and now a lot of them are a lot older like Rogers.

You know, that era is pretty much over, that new era of quarterback.

The Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, like we just mentioned, weren't really involved in this season.

And then that like other level of like Baker and a couple of the other ones haven't really turned the corner.

And then we've got the second year guys who are off to a great start, Daniels, Knicks, May, Caleb, and you know, they're off to a great start, but they're also very young, so we're not sure yet, you know, are these guys, you know, quote unquote elite.

So kind of like we're in this quarterback no man's land right now that we haven't been in in a while after, you know, the Brady domination with, you know, the Mannings, you know, that for so long we could count on that.

And that transitioned right into Mahomes who also had Allen and Lamar, you know, kind of parallel with him.

And now maybe we're in a little bit of a holding pattern where we're going to try to see.

And I think that contributed to the league maybe feeling a little slower, a little, a little more old school this year.

Yeah, but I think it gave an old school flair to it too.

Almost takes you back to like the early 70s when you have these old quarterbacks that, you know, you know, the Rogers and the Flaccos, even you know, Philip Rivers coming back.

I don't know where it almost takes you back to, you know, Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen and, and Earl morale, you know, coming back and you know, as old ass guys playing some football and you know, starting some games.

So it's kind of cool.

Like I said, it's part of the renaissance.

Right?

Sure.

What you got next?

Well, I.

Another aspect of the game that I love, I think it's becoming so interesting is a dynamic kickoff.

I think this is one of the innovations that's, you know, it's a skyrocket for the NFL.

I know it's a ufl, usfl, whoever invented it, you know, I think they were the USFL when they came up with that.

But I think it's brilliant.

Because kickoffs were boring the last 15 years.

They sucked.

There was hardly any returns, almost no returns for touchdowns.

The only element that was still decent about is you could do an onside kick.

We'd lose that a little bit with a dynamic kickoff.

But I think special teams coordinators started figuring it out this year.

Last year, I think there was maybe, what, one return for a touchdown.

This year that number jumped up a little bit.

I think it's going to keep escalating every year as teams figure out how to do this.

And it's also making the kicker have to have another specialty.

You know, they have to drop it into that.

That zone.

And I think.

And look how many games were changed because a kicker made a mistake, it went out of bounds or he kicked it all the way the end zone.

The team got it on the 35 or the 40 instead of the 25 or the 30.

You know, I love where the starting position of the ball is for the offenses.

It's putting more pressure on the defenses.

It's.

It's more like a football play than a regular free kick was that we know, like college and high school still have.

It's.

It's a.

More like a scrimmage play.

And I love it.

I tend to agree because the, like you said, the kickoff had gotten to be passe, like it was, you know, a useless, boring play.

Kind of like how the extra point had become before they moved it back.

So, yeah, I prefer this as well.

I don't know if it accomplishes the safety goal that the NFL claims because it seems like there's still a lot of collisions on these plays.

But I think overall it's.

And I like the strategy of it where, you know, if you can, if you, like you said, if the kicker is really skilled and can drop it in the perfect spot, then you get better field position, yada, yada.

So I like it too, and I would, I would agree with you on that.

My fourth point would be.

I will always remember the Bears sorcery from this season.

That was wild.

My.

And all in all, it certainly made the Bears became almost like the team you wanted to watch every week because they were involved in these crazy games.

Caleb's a lot of fun and you know that the play against the Rams is bananas.

The comeback against, you know, they played two playoff games and both of them were Just incredible to watch.

Seven last minute comebacks by the Bears.

This year and, and in such wild ways, you know what I mean?

It's just, it was really something.

So I will remember the Bears and their wild, wacky magic wizardry from the season.

Yeah, that was fun.

That was a lot of fun.

I think all in all, I think there was more last minute comebacks in the NFL.

You know, I talked about, you know, renaissance going back to old school.

Well, the quarterbacks were playing when they had to and the games were on the line and I think there might have been more comebacks this year than any other year in the last like 15 years or something.

I believe.

I don't have the full stats on that, but I know it's more than the last, than recent years and the Bears leading it was seven, so.

Yeah, I agree with you on that one.

It's a good point.

I think it's coming into.

My point is I think we've got league parody.

I know the NFL has been striving this for this for years.

You know, the CBAs and free agency and all that's tried to do that and they've tried to make the draft, you know, down to seven rounds and you know, trying to make a little bit more parity to it.

And I think it's got to the point where it's making a changing of the guard.

I mean, sit there and think about what happened this year of the division winners.

You know, there's eight divisions, only one repeated this year.

So I think a lot of there's sort of the changing guard, like we alluded to a little bit.

Maybe that's the quarterback play.

I think the coaching carousel is, is taking full effect.

Parody is forcing old coaches out.

I mean, you have two very successful coaches that got fired this year and John Harbaugh and the guy from Buffalo, his name's escaping me.

Right, McDermott.

McDermott.

I mean, these guys were winning ball games every year, you know, and they lost their jobs and now somebody new is in that place.

So it's all sort of this coaching carousel.

I think it's driven by the parody.

I think it's significant and I think it's going to, you know, be something to watch in the future here.

Yeah.

Pete Roselle smiling.

This is what he always, this is what he always wanted.

And, and really probably after free agency Started in the early 90s, they've more or less attained it.

But the, the flying, the ointment for that has been Brady and Mahomes because you know, really about a 20, almost 25 year run of one of the two of them being in almost every Super Bowl.

So if with Brady now gone and Mahomes maybe taking a step back just with his organization for a little bit, yeah, I think it's opened the door for sure.

The, my last point that I'll remember is I saved it is the Rams and the Seahawks are the two best teams in the NFL this year.

We, we mentioned that back in November.

I believe when they played, it certainly felt that way.

When they played that Thursday night game late in the year, it certainly felt that way again in the NFC Championship game.

The one offense that really did give the Seahawks defense a lot of trouble was the Rams.

They really had a hard time stopping them though.

Every game they played that felt like the two best teams in the league.

I think the Rams were just as good as the Seahawks.

They lost that crazy game there and see that Thursday night game that they kind of had won which cost them the division in home field, you know and you.

Who knows what happens if that game is flipped.

That was like a 17, 18 point comeback by this.

Yeah, yeah.

And it had the crazy two point conversion that they reviewed and it was a backwards pass and it was a touch, you know, so it was very strange.

A lot of strange things happened in that game.

But all three games they played against each other were awesome.

They were maybe the three best games of the year.

Yeah, I, and I think maybe you could throw San Francisco into that and you might have really a three headed monster that be interesting again next year.

So that's a good point.

My last one is sort of a downer.

I'm a Debbie Downer on this because I think this, the CBA has also done some bad things.

I think not allowing players to practice in pads, not simulating games.

I think what do they have like only a handful of practices during the season where they can have pads on?

You know, I think it's led to more injuries, just like soft tissue injuries that we never really had before when teams were hitting and doing two A days and, and you know, being in football shape.

But the mental mistakes are the most disappointing.

You know, in a long Time.

And you know, there's.

Per game.

This is.

I know we are.

We have more games going on.

Right.

These last couple seasons.

But there was more pre snap, including false starts, offsides, illegal formations, just dumb plays where somebody just has to look over to the ref to get lined up.

Right.

Or know your snap count that.

That your team knows and the other one doesn't.

You know, I was disappointed in that.

For these highly paid professionals, it's almost like they weren't prepared, but I think it's.

They're not prepared because they're not practicing.

Just like selling insurance and grabbing groceries somewhere.

So, like, training camp was really camp.

It was like, well, I haven't really lifted a weight or run a sprint in four months.

I've been smoking heaters and drinking beer on the, on the porch.

And, you know, and, and now it's like, you know, these guys are hooked up to electrodes and they're sleeping in hyperbaric chambers all year, you know, so the tech, the, the, the health and wellness technology is so superior to what it was.

Yet as you mentioned, injuries aren't any better.

They're probably worse.

And so I don't know if it's a combination of.

The guys are just too big and fast now.

You know what I mean?

Like, big men moving faster is going to lead to more injuries.

It's probably overuse, to be honest.

Darren, in some ways, maybe they should practice less.

Less or do more like walkthrough stuff and less actual practice.

Maybe it would be better to just not do anything for three months and let your body heal.

I don't know.

Because, you know, something's going on.

This is sports wide.

You know, we see it in the NBA and Major League Baseball too.

And it's certainly because these guys are not.

It's not because they're not in shape.

They're in better shape than they've ever been.

So it's something going on that's weird.

And maybe you're right.

Maybe there should be more of an emphasis on actually practicing football and less of an emphasis on, you know, speed and explosion and lifting and like everything else they do to get ready to play football.

So maybe.

Maybe you're right there.

Yeah, amen to that.

I believe that.

And I like your idea.

Of maybe forcing them to take a break for two or three months.

Rest those bodies, you know, let them.

Yeah.

Smoke some Marlboro Reds.

You know what I mean?

Like.

Yeah.

You know, like maybe.

Maybe Sam Darnold to get with his.

Grandfather, the Marlboro Man.

That's right.

Just small.

Pack out and spend the next two.

It's, you know, Seattle evenings are very pretty and nice and you sit out there on your porch, smoke some cigarettes and drink some beer and, you know, let your body here.

Yeah.

So I thought we'd come up with three apiece.

Just a very broad big picture.

If you had to call something now, what would you call?

And I'll start with you.

Okay.

I think that that trend that we just talked about with the only one division winner repeating, I don't think it's going to be as extreme, but I think you're going to see a high rate of turnover of playoff teams once again because I think parity is catching up.

And I think these elements like the draft and the free agency and the cap, you know, expanding so these teams have some money.

There's a lot of teams with a lot of money to spend and we'll see if they spend wisely.

But I think we're probably going to see about half the turnover.

Half the playoff teams this year will not be in the playoffs next year and some new, new faces will be.

In there, most likely.

And one of my predictions, I'll give you one of those teams, my team for next year, as we sit here in February, that's going to make the leap that surprises everybody is the Tennessee Titans.

That's the one that I'm looking at.

I think Sal is a pretty good coach who just wound up with the jets and probably deserves a redo.

Mulligan and I like his coaching staff with.

He got Brian Daboll and Gus Bradley and he gets to take over the Titans after they've gotten their.

Their kind of Mulligan year out of the way.

Meaning, you know, it was Cam Ward's already gotten his rookie year out of the way.

He was pretty good.

He wasn't awesome, but he looked pretty good.

And, you know, they've got a little bit of talent there.

They've been.

They've had some higher draft picks last few years.

Okay.

I don't know if we'll have another turnaround like, you know, the Patriots did.

I'm not necessarily saying Super Bowl.

I'm talking, like, teams, you know, but I saying that by Minnesota and Detroit and maybe.

Maybe a dark horse like the Saints, because they look pretty good at the end, they're playing pretty good ball.

Just remember this in August, okay?

And the good thing is.

The good thing is if I change my mind by then, no one will remember.

Oh, there's a replay.

Well, we have this on video.

Replace this.

Yeah, that's right.

Replay assist.

All right.

So that was yours or mine?

Yeah, that was mine.

Okay.

I think the technology and officiating is even going to get more interesting.

They're taking it up a notch.

You know, we've already heard talk that the winter meetings, they're going to be discussing officials throwing the flag after the replay, which I think might not be a bad thing.

I mean, if there was a face mask on or somebody's head got jerked around and they missed it on the field, why not?

Let's get.

Let's get it right.

I mean, it's something that could affect the game.

I don't want to see ticky tack holding calls on the left tackle and the play went to the right side.

I don't, you know, I don't care about that.

Make it a point of attack, something meaningful to the play that altered the play, that gave somebody a definite advantage or something.

Safety, like a face mask or a horse collar that got missed.

Get the call right, and I think we'll all be a better sport for it.

I might.

I think my suggestion would be to streamline it.

I would.

I would keep the automatic replay for all touchdowns and turnovers the way it is.

And then what I think I would do, Darren, is I would give each team three challenges and say, you can challenge anything you want, but that's the only replay we're going to have all game.

Meaning if you want to tell me, I'm challenging this because our defensive end was held on that play, okay?

They can review it and they can decide if you want to say they missed a face mask or that roughing the passer was BS I want you to review it.

Okay?

Everything is now reviewable.

I would do three per team per game, and that's it.

And then we don't even have any discount.

There's no, like, oh, are they gonna Nope.

It's either you challenge it or you don't.

And make it as simple as that, but make it everything.

Challenge, pass interference, face mask, whatever you want to tell the ref to review, you can do it, but you only can do it three times.

And then that way, if, you know, that way we don't get into a situation where, you know, it's first and 10 in the first quarter and we're reviewing a holding call.

That is ticky tack, you know what I mean?

Because then now we're here forever, you know, because there's a penalty on every play somewhere.

That's a good point.

I don't think that's ever going to happen, to tell you the truth, because it's smart.

I mean, it'd be smart to redo the, what, what's past interference too, and what's a catch.

Right?

Yeah.

Because I think those are so convoluted and horribly written that nobody can officiate it.

And like we talked about earlier, but, you know, I don't think that's ever going to happen either.

They're just going to keep making it more complicated and so nobody knows really what a catch is.

Gotcha.

Well, my, my second prediction, I'm going to say that next year's NFC west will be the AFC west, and it was pretty close this year, but I think next year the Chargers are going to take a step up.

I mentioned that a couple weeks ago.

That's sort of the Harbaugh pattern.

I think adding Mike McDaniel is a good thing.

They're going to get their linemen healthy again, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see them make a couple of bigger moves in the off season.

So I think the Chargers are going to take a step up.

I think the Broncos will at least stay what they were, which was a very good team.

And I have a real pretty strong suspicion that the Chiefs are going to be bouncing back and at least back to a playoff level, dangerous type team.

I'll bet you any money Mahomes comes back strong.

I, I'd be, I'd be willing to wager on that.

And we don't know what the Raiders, they probably won't be very good, but they have nowhere to go but up.

So I think next year I would not be surprised if we have a, we're sitting here saying, I don't know who's gonna win the afc, but it's going to be somebody from the West.

Interesting.

Sort of like the NFC west was this year.

Yeah, I, I, that'd be Interesting to see.

And I, I'm not sure.

I'm not even sure if Mahomes will be ready for week one.

You know, he will be.

He thinks so.

Book it.

Yeah, I don't know.

People usually don't bounce back very well from ACL injuries.

Yeah, I bet you he's fine.

Okay.

All right.

I think there's going to be, you know, we.

I talked about a little bit earlier how I like the emphasis on the running game, especially in the playoffs this year.

I think you're going to have some running backs that are just going to be lights out superstars coming up and I think they're going to be young.

I think like Genti of the Raiders.

I think he's going to have, you know, now he's got a coach that's an offensive coordinator.

I think it's going to be a star of the game.

Maybe get a quarterback, you know, maybe whether it's Mendoza or whoever they, they take in a draft, get some linemen to block for him.

I think he's, he's going to be a superstar.

I think you're going to have guys that aren't even in the league yet, like Love from Notre Dame, you know, maybe the one or two of the Penn State running backs coming in and a handful of others.

They're really some talented running backs coming out of college this year.

And I think they are suited for what the pro football game is doing now because it's so similar in scheme to what college offenses are running.

And I think it's really going to make a difference in another year after that.

It'll elevate the quarterbacks again because they'll have somebody to rely on to hand the ball off to.

Gotcha.

Here we go.

That's right.

That's right.

The.

My last one is, you know, I've said before that in addition to being a nerd about everything in the NFL, I'm a super nerd about the schedule.

So one of the things I start doing very early is trying to unravel what the schedule is going to be like.

And that is my favorite off season day is actually more so than the draft or free agency is.

I like schedule release and I've explained that before, but I've got a prediction for you.

So we're going to kick off the season on September 10th next year.

That's the Thursday.

It's a little bit later.

Just because Labor Day, when it falls, is as late as it gets.

So we're going to start our season a little bit later.

So it's September 10th is going to be the Thursday night opener.

We know it's going to be in Seattle per the new.

Not new, but the last 20 years now we've been had that tradition and I've looked at their opponents and I.

You know, I think you better look and see what the.

Do they, the Mariners play in the same stadium.

They do.

That's a good point.

I haven't looked better.

Look at the Mariners.

They don't play.

They do not play in the same stadium.

Stadium.

They do not play in the same stadium.

There are some rules about maybe having games at the same time, but I'm imagining if they're scheduled at home, they can at least move that Mariners game early, you know, or something like that.

So I don't think they do not play in the same stadium.

So they, you know, you, the rams of the 49ers may have been a good choice there.

However, there's a lot of room.

Those two teams are playing each other in Australia.

That's a fact.

Rams and Niners.

There's a lot of rumors that that's going to be week one because I think that makes it, the travel makes it a little bit more sense, you know.

You know, it's easier to get there before for the first game.

So my prediction is that our Thursday night game on Thursday, September 10th, we're going to kick off with the Bears and the Seahawks.

That's going to be my.

That's going to be my prediction.

That'd be intriguing.

I'd like.

That'll be our first.

That'll be our first.

Look the next time we talk about a game, Darren, it's going to be Bears, Seahawks on September 10th, which feels like a long time from now.

Yeah, that.

That would be a good game.

I like that matchup.

I hope that that happens.

They actually do play the Patriots at home too, so that's possible.

But I think that's.

That's more likely a later season.

You know, that'll be a featured game, but I don't see it for the opener.

I don't know if anybody wants to see that again, especially Patriots fans.

They don't want to.

I sure as heck don't.

Yeah, they don't want to see any part of that again.

No, no, no.

Well, but before we wrap it up for the year, I did want.

I had one more thing to leave you with.

So I have a thank you to you.

First of all would be that I've talked Many times about how this is a lifelong thing for me and that one of the things I did when I was a kid is I was a major doodler and a daydreamer in class, probably to the chagrin of my parents and my teachers.

I was not a very good artist at all.

They will vouch for that.

But one thing I would try to do is I used to try to draw all the helmets in my notebook.

But what I would, you know, sketch them out the best I could.

But then what I would really do is I would write down fake schedules and player names, and I had my own league on my notebook where I kept standings and I wrote down highlights, and I was just constantly doodling all the time NFL stuff in my notebooks.

And, you know, you get older and like we've mentioned before, it becomes a little bit harder to get yourself to the.

To in front of the tv.

Now I successfully do it, but, you know, it gets a little bit more difficult.

But what.

When you invited me beyond the podcast this year, the other thing that you brought back for me is a notebook.

So I started carrying my notebook around with me everywhere because I often.

I work from home, and sometimes I like to stop at, like, Starbucks or Panera or something, and I'll do some work from there.

And whenever I kind of hurry through my actual work, what I'm really trying to do is get to my notebook so that I can jot down my five bold predictions for the week, tally up our scores, and here I am, you know, pushing 50 years old, sitting down with my notebook again.

And to me, while that's kind of funny and goofy, it's also kind of a gift that you helped give me this year to be able to do that, because when I do it, I'm obviously very happy doing it.

And it does make me feel like a kid again.

And that's really what this is all about, right?

It's sort of like the joy of we can psychoanalyze ourselves to our blue in the face of why we do this, or if it's immature or goofy or bad use of time, I don't know.

But I do know that when I do it, it makes me feel like a kid.

I love it.

I was gonna yap anyway, so you.

By giving me this forum to do it, I really appreciate it.

I really enjoyed it, and I hope we do it again next year.

Yeah, I'm all for it.

And I thank you for.

For helping to come up with the idea of doing this each week.

And when you first suggested I'M like, boy, that's really not what we do here.

You know, that's not what I do.

Usually talking history, not the modern game, but it really helped help me to enjoy the modern game and the history being made.

And I appreciate that.

And I am so happy to hear that it takes you back because when I, When I started Pigskin Dispatch seven years ago or whenever it started, I.

One of the things I wanted to do is capture that joy that I had when I was a kid, when I was, you know, watching a game or getting a pack of football cards or playing, you know, nerf football out with my buddies out in the, the street or whatever.

You know, the stupid things you do as a kid.

But it connected you to the game and made you idolize kids.

And you saw football in a different light.

It was fun.

You bought the handheld football games, you played Stratego, you played, you know, all these different things to, to enjoy football, connected to football.

And I think that's what the past does for us, and it makes, you know, older guys like us.

Hell, I'm.

I'm pushing 60 and I'm, I'm still doing this every day and.

But, you know, I don't, I don't carry the notebook.

I, I do use technology.

Like, I have a Google keep.

My Google keep.

You helped me fill my Google, keep up with, you know, great 25 or whatever episodes we've had of.

Of stuff where you've challenged me to, to go and try to make predictions on games and come out my shell a little bit on that.

And I thank you for that because that was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun.

And we'll probably.

Hopefully we can hook up a little bit in the off season and then maybe a goal for next year.

Darren, it would be tough, but we should maybe try to figure out a way to do.

At least find a weekend or something and do it in person.

That would be.

That should be.

That could be a challenge.

But we could maybe.

We'll put that on the list.

Maybe that other glass, I can toast you with it.

Yeah, definitely.

I'm saving it for you.

I'll keep it boxed and ready for you, so.

Sounds good.

Can't wait to chat again.

Okay.

Believe me, I'm going to challenge you here in the off season.

We're going to get you on to some projects that I'll talk to you about later on.

But thank you, Ed.

And it was a great season.

A lot of fun.

Congrats.

See you.

Thanks again.

That's all the football history we have today, folks.

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