Chris Long
Appearances
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
16.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
well that was kind of my fault too i was like oh i have a procedure i'm going under yeah then i showed up to the doctor's office they're like no it's just a consultation yeah you didn't eat for an entire day before yeah dude oh just a mess over here but it's good to see y'all yeah it's great first guest in part of my take history right yeah i know i was gonna point that out but i don't want to my own whore that's that's a big deal it's a fact we're so bad why did you ever come back
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
uh because um you guys became really popular yeah good answer that's that's good answer nine year anniversary coming up i feel like you came on part of my take and we were so bad that you were like i have to start a podcast because these fucking assholes are doing when i'm way better dude i just remember it was so fun because like we got my dad on i like i was doing it on my phone i think or maybe my laptop it was like 2000 and what what year was that yeah
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
So we were in the dark ages of technology, but I was doing it in my living room. My dad came to the door mid-interview, and I got Howie on the pod, and I was like, hey, it's the guys from Pardon My Take. And he was like, oh, cool. Yeah.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
I hope it's not a blowout as a fan because if it is, you're going to be like, damn, we're going to have maybe – maybe, sorry, PFT, maybe two blowouts Saturday. I don't know. I'm hoping that both of them are close, honestly. But here's the path. The path is now they've got Aziz Alshayer back who is legitimately a leader for them and patrolling the middle of the field.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Next to nobody as fast as him at the linebacker position. You also get Christian Harris. They played together for the first time, I think, all year last week. So two really good players in the middle. I like the corners. The corners played really well. And also for the Chiefs in that game, like they just got Hollywood Brown back, right?
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
and to me that gave them a new look that maybe Houston wasn't ready for. So not saying it's going to be close, but the path is if they can take care of the Mahomes scrambles, which they didn't in that first game, that killed them, they can keep it closer. They had a chance in that game. You remember when they got the ball at midfield after Tank Dell got hurt? Yep.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And they were all just like – they were crushed. You know, that really – Some injuries you can kind of move on from. I felt like that one kind of killed them. But they got the ball at midfield with a chance after stopping Kansas City on fourth down to take the lead, I believe. And they weren't ready for the moment. They botched the screen. Schultz drops it out.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And you're like, you know what, this Kansas City team's been here in this game a thousand times. Houston has not. And I think that was really apparent watching in the first game. We'll see if they got better.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
That's right. And I think also when you watch like Kansas City's offense, and it might be different now. They started to open things up a little bit more. I think part of that is having Joe at tackle. Joe Tooney, who makes a big difference, like that left tackle spot was a revolving door. They couldn't figure it out. At some point they said, hey, we'll put a guard out here who's pretty good.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
He's an all pro guard, but we'll put him out here because we're going to prioritize our best player being able to operate. And so I think what they were doing to that point was let's get into third and manageable, which they're so good at. If they're in third and three or third and four, you feel like you can't get off the field. And so I think that's the key to the game.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
If I'm Houston, you kind of say, fuck it. Like, let's be aggressive early or early downs, like getting behind the sticks a little bit. If they burn us, they burn us. But we'll see. I think the slow start is another, you know, little hopeful nugget for them. You know, the fact that the Chiefs haven't played and it feels like a month.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And, you know, if you remember the last team to jump them in divisional round off a bye, Well, it's Houston. It's a totally different team now. But you remember that game, coincidentally, on the way to New Orleans, that trip we were just talking about.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Yeah, like any time we ever played a running quarterback. The coaches, I mean, and now it's more the norm, like where guys, if you can't move, there's not many like you. And so I think more guys are like Jayden, not many like Jayden Daniels, but where third and short, some element of quarterback run is a threat. And I think with Mahomes, it's very...
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
it's very unique because he drifts if you watch him and it makes playing offensive line for him a little bit difficult. It's like best job in the world, but he might be at nine yards. He might be at 11. He might be at 12. He's going to step up.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
So rushing him is not as simple as like, you know, staying down the middle and power rushing a tackle, which can piss a defensive end off when, when all week you hear, we got to cage this guy. Right. Which is basically like, we got to keep him in the pocket and, That kind of takes your fastball away.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And a lot of times at the end of those games anyways, you get your throat ripped out by, you know, some quarterback that you gave him too long to throw the ball. And then the D.C. is yelling at you like, why didn't you rush him? You know, so it's frustrating. And then you'll play guys who do the read option. You see like Lamar. You'd have coaches that would say, hey, just blow up the mesh.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Get both of them.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Physically impossible. Yeah. You know, like just having a running quarterback. you allot so much time during the week to things that might not even happen, to scenarios that might not come up, and that can take you away from doing the meat and potatoes.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Well, inevitably, I'm not going to bet at like a nine point favorite. That's not fun. Right. Right. Like, you know, I mean, I'll probably end up doing something stupid like a teaser or some dumb shit like that.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Yeah. Then that means you probably got to find a dance partner, and that's probably Detroit. But Vegas knows a lot of teasers Saturday are going to be just that.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Somebody's going to keep it close Saturday. And I don't know. It could be this team. I don't know. It could be your guys. Yeah.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
To beat the Detroit Lions, you have to be the Detroit Lions. Right. You got to go for it every fourth down, right? Which you guys are very good at. I mean, like you were 87% the other night before you got stopped. So it's probably down like 85. But on the season, I think the key to this game is y'all got to get stops in the red zone. Like Detroit's going to move the ball.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Can you get them to be like 205 in the red zone? Or, you know, like there was a game last year versus Vegas where they totally shit the bed in the red zone. Like, can you recreate that issue for them? I don't know that you can. It's just going to come down to being aggressive. And if Aaron Glenn wants to play so much man, I actually have a lot of faith in Jaden.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
You know, you're probably going to have to do a lot of spy, right? And you can't take Anzalone out of coverage. He's too good. You know, is it Jack Campbell? Is it somebody else? Like, I don't know. But Jaden Daniels with his legs. I kind of feel like we're just building a path for the underdogs here.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The path for Detroit is bludgeoning them. Yeah. You know, like David Montgomery, he's on track to play.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
It's like nuts. Like this team is so tough. Everything they've been dealt this year, they've just dealt with it. I mean, and Dan Campbell, you guys, I know you guys love him, but as a football player, the longer he coaches this team, the more I'm impressed with him. Yeah. I mean, they really have not flinched all year long.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Well, look, you get home field advantage. That's a big deal, right? Like, it's a big deal for a lot of reasons, but it's really loud in a playoff game at home. And you talk about communication. Like, I remember being in St. Louis, and we never played in the playoffs, but there were 100 instances of me screaming at James Laranitis, like, what the fuck is the call? am I stemming?
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Like what's happening here? Like there he's like a, he's like a service agent on the phone. Like a bunch of people are calling him at the same time. Like whether it's me, the other D tackle, somebody needs to call in the secondary. We need to, we need to figure out what that call was tagged with. There's just a ton of like communication issues, but then not only that, like he's a great cover guy.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Right. And in the NFL now, You know, we kind of went through this thing where, like, backers not important. Coincidentally, running backs not important. They're important again. But backers are really important. You play – and we're not talking about the commanders so much, but any of these, like, souped-up West Coast offenses.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Like, you've got to have guys in the middle that are rangy and that can cover. I mean, like, the Eagles. We're going to talk about them in a second. They lose to Kobe Dean in a game where – You know, Matt Stafford is going to be trying to chunk the intermediate part of the field all day long. And you see it like when they played Minnesota. Minnesota gives up a lot of chunks in the middle.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Having a dominant backer in the middle of the field, like imagine if you have like, I'm not comparing Anzalone, but to illustrate the importance of the position, Fred Warner changes the entire game. Right. And I think for the Bills, when we get to that game, one thing we'll talk about is they were down three backers in that first game.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
So it matters, not just having the green dot, but having good players in the middle field.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
It doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. It didn't work. I don't know why Todd Bowles did a lot of things he did down the stretch. I was really disappointed in that Bucs team. You know when you pick a team to win the division, you kind of get married to them and you fall in love with them and you justify all their mistakes and
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
You're like, well, that wasn't that bad with what they did in Dallas with the season on the line. Like, they're better than that. But in the biggest game, they kind of pissed down their leg with procedural stuff. And the point I want to make is the Commanders, they've won a lot of close games this year, including that game. I mean, when they beat Chicago, Stevenson was being an idiot.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
When they beat Atlanta... There was bad clock management by Raheem Morris. And then last week, the Bucs, with the third and inches, with the jet sweep that they drop on the ground, there's a lot of teams that have been fucking it up, not taking anything away from the commanders in close games. Detroit doesn't do that. They're as well coached on both sides of the ball as any team in the league.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Dude, I think it's twofold. Like, number one, the schematic part of it, which is like the plays they're calling on fourth down are working. Even when they don't execute it, the plays were there last year in those big moments against San Francisco. It's like Shane Steichen last year with the division on the line giving the ball to Gardner Minshew and throwing the ball in the flat. Right.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And everybody second guesses the call, but it's the execution of the call. So the right calls are being made. And I think also you listen to his players. After that game, their faith in his way of doing things was unwavering. And so like that's a big part of it.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And I liken it to like if you have a dad who walks around beating guys up and like if he turns down a fight, you're like, Dad, wait, that's not who you are. Right. I feel like every time Dan stares.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
a fourth down in the eyes like it's like a game of chicken and all his kids are watching and if he turns it down they all look at him like what the fuck was that about yeah and this game is like literally my dan could beat up your dan yeah my dad could beat up your dad yeah and
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Well, that's what it comes down to for me is like when you play Detroit and being on a defense knowing, it's a lot of the reason I think Greg Olson has spoken to this, like decisions to force a team to drive the length of the field or have to kick a field goal at the end of the game. Like what you do offensively dictates the tone of the next possession.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The tone of a possession where an offense has four downs is uneasy for a defense. Right. You know, like everything you do is different. And I think you're always in that mode playing them and it can create a lot of discomfort.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
That's why I think like early down pressure, you know, like when they play Buffalo, the reason Buffalo won that game is because they got him off the field like twice in the first half. And if you're to believe that the commanders are going to beat man coverage and run up some points, then all you have to do in this scenario to keep it close is get them off the field once or twice.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The way you do that, in my opinion, is time up a blitz when they're going to play action. and get Jared when he turns his back and try to cook something up on second down, get him in third and 12, get him in second and 13, something like that, and then you got a shot.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
I heard that. I'm more concerned with walking into the shower to try to get a shower if I'm the O-line coach and Dan's doing naked push-ups in the shower.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Not in the communal shower.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
He's the guy that, like, you know, what you see is what you get, but there's also a totally different element to him as you just talked about. Like, think of who he learned from. Sean Payton's one of the most aggressive guys in the NFL. Like, faking a punt last week, stuff like that, the Super Bowl, the onside kick. So...
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
He's got that, like, Sean Payton edge to him, and he's also got the intellect that comes with it. Sean Payton's one of the greatest coaches to ever coach, in my opinion, and he's so ball smart. He got all those situational nuggets from him, and then he puts his very physical, like, caveman edge on it. I liken a team to a Ferrari with mud tires. Like, they can do anything.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
They can go four-wheel drive. They can go 200 miles an hour. And that's what the Ben Johnson element gives them. The offensive line's awesome. Everything they do looks the same. It's all in sync. They're incredible. But they could lose two coordinators.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Well, in this scenario, I thought it was a game plan. I thought the passing concepts looked like last year. And any Eagles fans know what I'm talking about. It's like spacing, very vanilla, not enough quick game. But I also think the game kind of played out in a way where they knew when they jumped on that football and turned it into six in the first five minutes of the game,
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Jordan Love can't hang. He might be dinged. Our defense is, I mean, they're physical. They're really good. And I think they just kind of played the game out in a way that suited that, to be honest, very shitty game plan. Now, they're not going to be so lucky this week if they do that. In my notes here, I got written down McVay's script versus Philly's slow starts. Yeah. That is it.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The ends, they're really good rushers. I don't know if they can set an edge for 60 minutes. And, you know, we saw that last game with the interior, that defensive line. Landon Dickerson, Juergens. Juergens is fucking huge, man. You know... He's standing next to the other guys. I was just there last week. He's standing next to the other guys. He looks small, but he's like a WWE wrestler.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
He's got that kind of build. The guards are big, powerful. The tackles are big and powerful. I would just lean on these guys. That's it. The concerns I have is with N'Kobe Dean down, as I alluded to, Stafford in the middle of the field, if he's got time, I think there could be some uncomfortable moments in past defense.
Pardon My Take
Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
My heart's with the Eagles, man. It's super weird because – Playing there the last two years of my career, when St. Louis cut me after eight years and moved, it felt to me like, all right, well, I am a Ram, and I do feel a lot of pride when I watch Jared Verst play, or not N'Kobi D, I'm all over the place, or Byron Young, or the two interior guys I just talked about.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
I take pride in like, oh, there's another group in horns like our D line back in the day. Like there is a sense of pride there. And I still talk to people in that organization. I have no bad blood. But when the team moves across the country, it's just it doesn't feel like home as much. You don't get out there. And then obviously being a St.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Louis Ram, I'm always real cognizant of like they have Super Bowl parties without the game on. That's how much they hate Stan Kroenke and the L.A. Rams and the concept of it. And for me, I don't I don't have that same vitriol. But I was actually supposed to go out last week and be legend of the game. And, of course, the game gets moved, forest fires, the whole thing.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
So that got rain checked, and then I end up in Philly. When I go to Philly, man, it just feels like home. You know, it's like the most recent thing I did. And that city, like what we did there, excuse me for really enjoying being there.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
You walk around that stadium, Bo told a story on our pod. this week where, like, it's legit. Like, the people in the yellow jackets are like, wherever you want to go. I don't know if they want to hear that. Like, Dom's like, where do you want to go? Come on, boo. He walked me in the locker room. Supposedly, Bo was in there before the game.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Sat Bo down in the coach's locker room, gave him a cannoli. He has, like, a stack of cannolis in his locker. Big Dom does? That's so awesome. And he just pulled out a cannoli. He's like, hey, you and Kelsey just take a seat. Wait. Chris will be down here soon. So, I just –
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The feeling you get when you go back, it's hard for me to say my heart's with anybody but the Eagles, but I think it's going to be a great game, and I think Matt Stafford's one of the best quarterbacks left in the damn playoffs.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
They're scary, man. This is the one matchup for them. If they can win this game, uh-oh. Look out, because the one matchup I worried about for them was versus this offensive line in Saquon.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
The fast guys? Really? I think. We got more meat on our bones. And for me, as a guy who was quick, athletic, but not fast, I always felt like when it got cold, if I could just run the same speed, then I was as fast as the other guys. And I just think playoff football is better in the cold. I'm one of these outdoor freaks.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Like, you know, I'm watching the Miami Dolphins play, and you know, it's complicated for me anyways, in Kansas City last year. And everybody's like, it's inhumane. Like, people are getting frostbite. People lost limbs. I'm like, hey, that was incredible. It's just, there's something about it. And yeah, I'm a little twisted. I played football, but...
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
where you see people have to adapt to totally unnatural shit and how they respond. And in some ways, the best team doesn't always win in that circumstance. But that's what it's about. And football is reacting to whatever's on the plate that day. And I think it's cool as hell to turn on TV in January and see smoke coming out of people's helmets and shit.
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You know, to see quarterbacks wearing gloves and like I do think it affects the the fast guys more. I think the I think the big guys like it. Yeah. And then we always have our conversations about like, do you wear sleeves? Do you not wear sleeves? That sort of.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
I think he's both. Yeah, so that's a problem. Unfortunately, he's both. I was just looking at Brian Baldinger's social about them running Wildcat, and it was like all 22 end zone, and it was from Pittsburgh's side. So he's the furthest guy from the camera. but he's dwarfing Patrick Queen and Landon Roberts. He looks so unnaturally damn big, and he doesn't slow down, man.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
And so, yeah, they got to have 11 hats to the ball this weekend. Yeah.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
You have to commit to it. I mean, it's like, listen, I understand last week, I think part of running Lamar, is to put something on tape where you're saying early in the game, hey, we're not always going to give. Like, he's going to pull this ball. And that happened at the cost of, you know, eight, ten quarterback runs in the first half. I would force them –
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
to pull the ball in the option you know when all things are considered like it's 50 50 there are times where i saw pittsburgh and their linebackers up on the line it's really hard to have the quarterback especially lamar from a place on the field like that you got to be really careful about where you have your second level defenders popping off to handle the option on the pole i
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I would be crashing on Derrick Henry and forcing the key to the entire game to run the ball 15 times. Like, you know, the attrition of that, you never know. And so I would force Lamar to run the football. I think obviously you're going to have to play some base, but you feel a lot better about it. It wasn't just Milano. They were down Bernard.
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They were down Taron Johnson, who's a really important box player. He's a little guy, but he'll play big. And so when you run out Spector, Dorian Williams, and Morrow, I think it was, to play linebacker against the Baltimore Ravens, and the first play of the game is a trap for 87 yards – That changes everything. The mood of the game, the tone of the game, how you call the game.
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It was like Baltimore got whatever they wanted after that. And a lot of it is because they just play the numbers game. If you're going to stack the box, they're going to play the numbers game outside. I think Munkin's done a great job with the RPOs, with screens, jet motion. So it's not just a slugfest. You also have to tackle on the perimeter. But if Zay's down...
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And Orlovsky pointed this out on ESPN. Good guy knows ball. He does. I love Dan. Yeah. OK, but he pointed this out was a flowers down. Not only can you play more man, but the run fits are better off for that. So I think this team's changed a lot. And for Baltimore fans, I'll say this is the best team in the playoffs coming in.
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And they played fantastic down stretch. They've changed a lot, too. You know, Hamilton moving to safety, putting Washington in safety, putting the fire out at safety was huge. I think your guy Eddie Jackson was there at some point this year. Yeah. And in one of those games, it was like. Man, the safety play was bad. So they improved that.
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I think another thing is, you know, that game was one of those games for Buffalo where it became apparent they got to go get an outside guy to pair with Coleman. And so they get out and they get Cooper. They don't really have a number one. I think their number one is Shakir. Mm-hmm. Agreed.
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I think he's the most important guy, and he left that game in the second quarter, I believe it was, so he didn't get a full day's work. I'm not making excuses for the Bills, but I think even Harbaugh said it. You can throw that first matchup out the window, and usually you can't. I remember 2018, we're defending the Super Bowl. We started 4-6, and we played down in New Orleans.
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They beat us like random mules. It was like 47-7, and Peyton didn't let off the gas pedal.
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fucking ran the score up and we play him a second time it's a low scoring ball game and we're a couple big mistakes away from winning that game and going back to the nfc championship so things change a lot in three months yeah yeah so and i also think sean mcdermott's great defensive coach like i think he will he will figure out something a wrinkle to throw at the ravens when you are
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Well, if it's one thing, it can be fixed pretty quickly on the sideline, on tablets, and usually that was above my pay grade when I was a player. They were usually arguing about it in the linebacker circle or whatever. It's like this motion means this or, hey, they're trying to out-leverage us doing this, and you make one adjustment.
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But I think a lot of the times it can really – that counterpunch can knock you off your feet for the entire game or the halftime. I felt like – I felt like Detroit, you brought that up, and the Rams took that same game plan to play Minnesota. And I think when you watch Minnesota, for instance, they knew that the longer in the down you go, the more dangerous Minnesota is. Your zones expand.
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They find creases. But they also know that as good as Darnold has been statistically against the Blitz, this offensive line was in bad shape.
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And so I think you come into the game and you're worried about protection, but you don't think they're going to, they're going to blitz that much. And I think then you go play LA and it's in the back of your head. And this is what makes, you know, what happened to Minnesota. So like, it wasn't going to change. They knew coming to that game, the same thing could happen.
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And they didn't call their best game, but it still happened. And so sometimes it's just like, hey, we got you where we want you. And we're going to find out early in the game if you can block the edges. Like the other night, there was a sack on Sam in the first quarter where it was like a sandwich. And both of those ends just fucking ran through the tackles.
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that's like a code red thing right and sometimes you don't know how brian o'neill's anchor is going to hold up you don't know how the left tackle's anchor is going to hold up you should have from the first matchup but yeah it can really knock you off your feet that's that's my favorite one of my favorite parts about football is like a sean mcdermott can throw a wrinkle in there you can even steal one possession kind of going back to like your you know the commander's lions game
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I think it could be a lower-scoring game. I don't know. I think for Buffalo, the key is going to be being able to run the football, obviously, and I think they've done a great job. Both these teams, you kind of get lost in the shuffle talking about
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Baltimore who does a great job obviously but Buffalo and shout out to their offensive line coach Aaron Cromer and that whole group like they've done a great job and they were in a lot of gap scheme last week and just kicked it if you didn't watch the Denver game and most of us did, and I was drunk and tailgating watching, but then when I went back, I was like, holy shit.
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It was like, and this is an example like, oh, early and often in the game, Vance Joseph probably had to contend with, oh, we can't stop the run.
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Which puts you in a bind, and I think for Buffalo, what makes them good is, I alluded to them not having a number one. They really do, and that's why people were doubting Josh at the beginning of the season. He's got a lot of good options. whether it's tight end, whether it's Shakir, whether it's Coleman, and they're all different. And now you got Cooper.
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And another thing is the backs out of the backfield. The backs out of the backfield can be a problem in this game. So I would look for that.
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He's awesome. He is awesome. And, you know, when you look at the Ravens,
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Hamilton is the guy you got to know where he is and it's easier now with them moving him to safety primarily you know where he's going to be I think this is a game where you could get after Brandon Stevens yeah not to call somebody out but like if you're playing the Ravens you take your chances outside whereas last week with the corners they have they were like hey it's going to be run game we're worth the middle of the field and that's what Josh did this week is about outside the numbers yeah
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Well, I got to give my respect to Andy Reid, number one, right? And part of that is the extension of who you have as your coordinator. He's got Steve Spagnuolo, who is a total stud and, you know, has turned down opportunities to go back and interview as a head coach before. So I put Andy Reid, number one. And then number two, I think Sean McVay is a wizard. I really do.
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I think Sean McVay is one of the best coaches of our generation. I think he's that good. And I got to put Dan up there because of his coordinators and his cutting edge kind of decision making in game. Dan Quinn, yeah, I agree. You know, and then I'm not going to ignore my boy Sirianni.
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You know, I know that there's a hook here, and I got the Eagles hat on, but you're asking about tacticians, and he doesn't call plays. But I just want to point this out.
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Like, you know, the record is the record, and I think any time you listen to players talking about his way of communicating, motivating, having a team ready to play, he's had some bumps in the road, but he's also like our age, dude. Like... Not to say McVay's not young, but I think he can grow. And he's grown even in this year alone, I think. And hiring Vic Fangio... was fantastic.
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I mean, Vic has been like – you know, if you had to take a head coaching job tomorrow like one of us did, we would probably hire a former head coach to be on the staff somewhere, right? Right. And I think Vic adds a lot in this game and on the defensive side of the ball. So I just think it's Reed, McVay, in that order. And then you've got a lot of guys that don't call plays.
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Harbaugh doesn't call plays. Sirianni doesn't call plays Dan Quinn's a defensive guy you know it's fun to see that defensive guys are back in in the NFL and like culture guys too and they're showing up this deep in the season yeah yeah it is I had a question about coaching because we have the coaching hiring and firing going on right now.
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Well, there's two things. Number one, you want – and this isn't the most important thing. Number one thing is winning, right? But number two thing is like what kind of scheme do they run? You know, who's going to be the coordinator? How am I getting along with my new D-line coach? Is the scheme going to be prohibitive of me like taking that jump? Like when I was a young player –
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And watching Spags getting hired, I was really excited. But we weren't good enough to turn that thing around. And the thing I didn't think about was, like, what kind of defense does he run? Like, that's what I should have been thinking about. And that was different. Like, I had to play in a six technique.
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And, you know, like the defense is a little bit different than what I played in the year before. And then when Fish came, you know, I'm like, okay, I'm back in a wide nine. This is a lot of fun. You start calling players that played for him, you know, or played for him. You know, if you got somebody in a Rolodex, you hit them up. But it's usually like...
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It's like opening a Christmas present, but you have to do it like every week if you're a St. Louis Ram, you know? Like it feels like it happens way too much. But by Jeff Fisher, I was like, hey, whatever happens, happens. And he ended up being like my favorite coach that I had in St. Louis. So, you know, yeah, I think I had –
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A total of like five or six head coaches, if you include like interims and guys that came and went in St. Louis. But, you know, it keeps you hungry if you're on a bad team and the coaches change all the time because you've got to prove it to the next group.
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It makes it harder, but it also keeps you hungry.
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At some point, I feel like the thing I mentioned, culture guys, defense, I mean, that's kind of back in vogue. And I think at some point, like, things can get stale. It hasn't with him. I think maybe the day Chris Jones moves on, I would consider it. Yeah. But I think the interesting job right now that we're talking about is Vegas. I texted Dan the other day.
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It's kind of wild card, but it's starting to shape up a little bit. The fact that y'all, would y'all send a private plane down to pick him up to come interview in Chicago? Yeah. You know, I don't think it'd be the worst hire in the world. Like I think, Court of public opinion has eventually come around on McCarthy. There's some guys that are never going to like him, but the players like him.
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And at the very least, I think they have a high floor with him. But what that tells me is that Ben Johnson might not be the guy, and it makes sense because of the GM alignment.
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You know, you guys have a GM in place like Ben has made it. And Ben's done a really good job. Sometimes you can make yourself really valuable, not just by your play calling, but – Turning down the job last year, it adds a little bit of mystique, right? Like you're like, I don't put out.
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And hopefully you're not kicking yourself because, you know, if he's, like, as good as people say he's going to be, like, then maybe you are. But I think what's interesting about the Vegas job is, like, Mark Davis is not, like, known to be a cash-fluid guy. Yeah. And I hate to talk about me and PFT. He's a good buddy. Yeah, good friend. We met at the Wynn. Yep.
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uh by the koi pond i was so high on mushrooms i was i was hey hand up hey we've just come from i don't know where we had come from but um i was like there he is let's talk to him uh but but there is a rumor that he's floated like a really big number and uh if he did that what a burn the ships like move that would be especially considering all the the coaches that he's had to buy out and um you know i think the tom brady effect is real
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for Ben Johnson, he must really think, like, this is a valuable thing and he must have been given some assurances, along with the fact they fired Tom Telesco, the GM, last week. You know, I think that bodes well for Vegas. But, you know, the most interesting thing is this weekend Tom's going to be calling that game.
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And it's going to be so funny to hear him try not to talk bad or, you know, like, just listen for the dynamic. as the game goes on.
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He'll be fine. He'll be good. How do we feel about – remember we talked midway through the season And, you know, you were getting excited off the Jacksonville game. Yeah. And I tried to bring you back down to earth.
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But I think he's going to be okay, man. I like the kid.
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Hopefully, hopefully everyone gets figured out. Dude, I was impressed with him this year as bad as things were and as bad as he played at times. Like I was impressed with his mentality. I was impressed with his toughness. I was impressed with his, his, his, just his like leadership. It looked like for a young player, like just the fire in his belly.
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Like when things were going wrong to, to give a shit. Yeah. Like, winning that game at the end of the season, like, means nothing. But that meant a lot to him, right? Absolutely. And so, you know, I look forward to seeing him with somebody competent. And, you know, we've got to work on, like, maybe not answering every phone call. Yep.
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He's a swing for the fences, but there's also like, hey, we have to build that offensive line that your two all-world running backs have been running behind. And Jared Goff's actually pretty fucking good.
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What a great company. Not to step on the ad read.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Ooh, favorite bet of the weekend. Geez.
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Golly, I am on the spot, huh?
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Please don't.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
I went like 55 and 31, picking five a week this week or this year or whatever it was, and I went one and four last week.
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Can you read me the lines at this point?
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
That's a lot of points in Philly. I know, but you want to do it. What's the first half Rams line? I mean, I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say anything about Philly and the Rams. We can connect the dots based on what you've already said. You know I'm inevitably going to bet Buffalo. You're going to do it anyways. Why don't we just do it?
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We're going to bet Buffalo.
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And then close to the heart, you know, on both things.
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Yeah. It does feel good, but it would make it so not fun if, like, you're, like, trying to celebrate, like, seeing an upset. Right. And, you know, that's the biggest enemy I have betting during the playoffs.
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I always love seeing the dog.
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And then you can't even – well, you fucking motherfucker.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
No. What's the big deal? I was at a wedding that weekend.
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um and it was in it was like a baltimore wedding and there were like 10 umbc people at least that's how that's got to be the most umbc people in one room ever in one room ever and they just happen to be like at this fucking wedding and i'll never forget like waking up so hung over the next day and all the people that that gave me the like hey you know tonight on the way in they fucking uh they didn't even mean it oh and they were right
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I like that as well.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
You know what? Hey, shameless plug. You could check it out on, on our show. I'll have my shit together by then. Love it. Love it. Cause I, cause I, I, it's too early in the week. Okay. So yeah, check it out.
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Dude, he is the funniest motherfucker ever. I mean, he has the advantage of surprise because you don't think of him that way. And even having been Coach Belichick, I knew he was funny in his own dry kind of way. But the production meetings in the morning, my face hurts from smiling. Yeah. And it's also he's like – He's like a football dad. You just want to follow him around and ask him questions.
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He's been fun, man. And then he took the UNC job. The morning he took the UNC job, we were all like, he walks in the production meeting, we're like, Coach, I'm playing the UNC fight song. And he sits down and he's like, you believe everything you fucking hear in the media. And then four o'clock that day when we all leave, he takes the UNC job. So good.
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Has not. He's a steel trap, dude.
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Chris Long Talking Divisional Round, Adam Schefter On Coaching Carousel, Picks And Preview + Fyre Fest
Well, you know, he likes to make things interesting. Yeah, always.