Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
It's the Boomer and Geo podcast from WFAN. And we're coming to you live from the Bill Fuller Tough Studio. Boomer Esaias and Greg Giannotti. It's Boomer and Geo on the fan simulcast across the country on CBS Sports Network and wherever you are on the free Odyssey app. Good Monday morning. I have been in the city ever since the last time I spoke to you at Friday at 10 o'clock.
It's been a really weird weekend. Weekend with the weather and all the things and everything that happened to be socially this weekend. Very odd. And I'll get to it at some point. But everybody is here and everybody is here safe. And that's all we care about. And we hope that you get to work safe. What are you doing? Yeah, all right. I got you.
He wants to move the helmets around of the teams that won. So if you didn't know, surprise. It's the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots as championship Sunday. An interesting one. We kept talking about how if this game was going to be up in New England, this big storm, winter storm, Fern was going to dump all sorts of snow on them, and it did, but I didn't expect
the snow to hit in Denver like it did in this game to make it basically unplayable in the fourth quarter, and Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks get it done, so I'm a little bit disappointed he couldn't do it with my team, but I am very happy for him that he made it this year. Good morning, Boomer.
How are you?
Good morning, G. I'm doing well, and yeah, I'm happy for Sam, too, given all the things that he's gone through in his career, and now... To be anointed the NFC champion and play just an absolutely fabulous game. I mean, he and Matthew Stafford went back and forth.
I was hoping that Matthew Stafford was going to score late in the game to see if Sam could bring his team back and win it that way, which would have been even more impressive. But that Clint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, how he doesn't become the Raiders head coach, I would... I'd be shocked.
I mean, Tom Brady's sitting here doing the whole game, and he's talking about the offense of the Seattle Seahawks, and he's gushing over Clint Kubiak. Sure. And, you know, we all know what Tom Brady does in the other part of his life. He actually owns part of the Raiders, and his buddy is the general manager. That's right.
So I would think that, man, watching what Sam Donald has done with him as his offensive coordinator and Sam as quarterback, you would think that that would be the perfect spot for him. But... I was just, you know, Sam never really came close to throwing an interception yesterday. You know, he played solid. He played great. I mean, the numbers are off the charts.
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Chapter 2: How did Sam Darnold lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl?
And, you know, he ends up kind of winning the battle against Baker because Baker ends up getting traded to the Rams late in that season. And what Baker did with Sean McVay was amazing. Because remember, he got off a plane and they played a game. And he hadn't really practiced with the Rams. I think he was there maybe for three days. And somehow the Rams won that game.
And I think it was on a Monday night game or a Thursday night game. But anyway, so then he goes to San Francisco and basically sits and watches Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan do their thing. Kind of like going to quarterback school. And then, lo and behold, he gets a break when J.J. McCarthy gets hurt after the Vikings draft him with the 10th overall pick.
And he's thrust into the starting role because of that knee injury that J.J. suffers. And he has Kevin O'Connell call and plays. And he's throwing the ball to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. And now, all of a sudden... The Seahawks move on from Geno Smith, and they sign Sam Darnold. And by the way, that was controversial when that all went down in Seattle.
Everybody loved Geno out in Seattle. And Mike McDonald just said, you know, and John Schneider, who is one of the more aggressive GMs in the entire NFL, decides, hey, you know what? We're changing. We're moving on. We got a new coach. I need a new quarterback. And they invested, you know, about $35 million a year in Sam Darnold to be their quarterback. And boy, has that paid off.
Yeah, and I remember at the time thinking that this is what Minnesota is going to do. They're going to let Sam Darnold go because they believed in J.J. McCarthy. And every quarterback that Kevin O'Connell had his hands on turned into gold. And the thought process was that J.J. McCarthy would be that next guy. And he would just, for them, not me because I never liked the guy.
But that's what they were thinking. And they thought Sam was expendable and good for the Seahawks, seeing that it wasn't just the situation there in Minnesota. It was the player. And they went out and got that player, put him in their system, and now he's an NFC champion. Took that team back to the Super Bowl. And then in the other game, we have this fiasco of a play with Jared Stidham. Yeah.
And, you know, this is backup quarterback stuff. This is quarterbacks that aren't used to the speed of the league because they haven't played. You heard everybody in the pregame show talking about it. I think her cousins brought it up. And it really showed itself in a couple decisions that he – Ultimo, he made that, you know, he just wasn't used to making those decisions.
And by the way, the New England Patriot defense has been awesome throughout this playoff run. They have held opposing offenses to one touchdown in each of these games or less. Now, the other thing about this whole game is that if it weren't for that horrific play by Jarrett Stidham, I don't know if the Patriots would have scored at all. Yeah, exactly.
And everything felt like it was going the Broncos way. Stidham looked really, really good up until that point. I thought that ball got knocked out of his hands, and it should have been called a fumble initially. And again, this is New York getting involved, by the way. You know, I know.
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Chapter 3: What role does Clint Kubiak play in the Seahawks' success?
And then that play happens, and then you can tell that that just changed everything in his mind. Then the weather on top of it, and it was just impossible. And, of course, We've seen how many times the coaches go for fourth downs, and that's what it is, and it's aggressive, and it's this, and it's that. It's one thing about fourth and six inches.
It's another thing when it's fourth and a little bit more than a yard. And you're in a game. Now, the weather had not changed yet. Well, that's exactly right. So I wonder if... You know, if someone had said to Sean Payton at the time, like, hey, there's going to be a blizzard any minute now.
You might want to get your points if that would have changed things because no one was really talking about that. So I went back and looked, and that weather showed up earlier than everybody had forecasted. So I don't think anybody knew that it was going to be like that. But that's just a real mistake on Sean Payton.
Like, the reason you hire a guy like Sean Payton is because he understands situational.
Yeah.
Well, if I hear the word situational one more time. Situational football. Oh, my God. Jesus Christ. This is situational football. But anyway, you have to understand who you're playing against, how your defense is playing, where you're playing. All these things should be a part... And who your own quarterback is. Yeah. So you have to take all this stuff into account. And...
We all knew it was going to be a low-scoring game just simply because both defenses are really good. And it was going to be really hard for a young quarterback to go on the road under those circumstances, play in that chaotic kind of situation. And then on top of all of that, the weather comes in the second half.
And, you know, I don't think there's any one of us, like, I don't know how many text messages I got. Can we please kick a field goal? Can we please kick a field goal? Can we please take into account what the stakes are here, the way the teams are playing? You know, Drake May did not play great in this game. He did not, especially in the beginning of the game. He was way off.
He was underthrowing people, short-arming people, running out of the pocket. He was not doing a great job. And Will Campbell has been a real liability at left tackle for them. And he was, again, yesterday, even another liability. So, I mean, I don't know why Sean Payton doesn't kick the field goal there. I wanted him to kick the field goal.
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Chapter 4: What controversies arose during the games?
Sean McVay goes to the podium. I got nothing, guys. I'm never really short on words, and I am right now. So it's tough. But this is sports, and you've got to be able to deal with it. Here was a reaction from Stafford. Obviously, this morning we lost.
You know, great football team that we just played. I feel like it was a great effort.
Really good football game. Obviously, it didn't come out on top. Tough pill to swallow at the moment. I was hoping that Puka Nakua went out of bounds on that last play to stop the clock. Just to see a Hail Mary. Yeah, didn't happen. We gave you Stafford's numbers. Nakua, nine catches, 165 in a touchdown. That guy's unbelievable. In the loss, and he says still not enough.
We're passing the ball, and the opportunity for us to make plays is right there, and not being able to come down with any of those moments kind of flashed by you in your head.
Yeah.
I apologize to the defense for putting them in those situations because we felt like we could have executed in order to make that game easier for them.
Your defense just got torched. They should be apologizing to you. You think Matthew Stafford's got to come back and play. Why wouldn't he? I don't know. That was the big question after yesterday's game. Is he going to come back? Is he going to come back? He's got to come back. Didn't he just sign an extension there? Remember all that trading stuff? And then they signed an extension.
He's going to just walk away from that? No way. I hope not. I hope he plays another couple years. So you got the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl where they will indeed meet the Patriots. This is arguably one of the biggest plays or non-plays or whatever you want to call it in the game in Denver. Play clock down to five. Stidham in the shotgun. Play clock is at one. Stidham waiting.
Gets the snap. Blitz coming. Stidham backpedaling in trouble inside the 20 pumps. Lost the football. It's rolling on the far side. Picked up by the Patriots and running into the end zone. There is no signal yet. Now a flag has gone down, so it looks like they're going to say it was a forward pass and intentional grounding. Well, that's what they said.
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Chapter 5: What key events led to the Seahawks' success last season?
How about the Seahawks last year? Brought to you by Red Pocket Mobile, your new ultimate cell carrier. The Seahawks last year, last March, I don't really remember when they got rid of Metcalf to Pittsburgh. But they also got rid of Geno Smith. They traded him to the Raiders.
And right after they traded him to the Raiders, John Schneider then signed Sam Darnold to that three-year, $110 million deal with $55 million guaranteed. I would say that you think about getting rid of DK Metcalf. You're like, why are you doing that? And then you get rid of Geno Smith. Why are you doing that? Well, because he had to go in a different direction with a new coach.
And he decided to clean out the locker room as best he could. And he ended up adding a couple of guys and creating a new defense and adding an offensive coordinator that brought the best out of the new quarterback. Yeah, and another part of this, too, we talk a lot about Sam Darnold and the Jets not hanging on to him and the Vikings not hanging on to him, and here he is.
So if you talk to any Ravens fans, they're pissed off because it's like, hey, you're going to fire. John Harbaugh got fired maybe a couple years too late because you had a guy on the staff here, and Mike McDonald, who could have taken over, and now he's got his team in the Super Bowl. Yeah, well, Jesse Minter was on that staff. You know, he ends up getting the Ravens job.
I thought he was going to be in line for the Raiders job, and maybe he was. But, you know, he obviously has the understanding of the inner workings of the Ravens. And I would think that maybe Clint Kubiak has got to be kind of like the leader in the clubhouse because they haven't said anything. And here he's got to go for another two weeks now preparing for the Super Bowl.
Yeah, I was really surprised that the Steelers ended up hiring Mike McCarthy. I really thought that they were going to go in the same direction that they have had in years prior. But I guess that they're thinking, hey, we're going to have a bridge coach to maybe the next guy who's here for 20 years.
And maybe Aaron Rodgers staying is something that they wanted so badly that they're like, hey, we'll team him up with...
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Chapter 6: How did Sam Darnold's performance impact the Super Bowl matchup?
with Mike McCarthy for a year, and then we'll bring a guy in, and then Mike can develop that guy. Here's one for you. This is a bizarre story that I can remember. Phillip Rivers for the Buffalo Bills. Oh, yeah. He's going to move his entire family up to Buffalo if they decided to give him the job? Well, of course. You'd have to, right? Yeah. Well, maybe not. They were all in school. No.
Now I'm thinking about it. How do they do that? When I saw that, and I know he's coaching high school football, and I don't want to dismiss the fact that not only was he coaching high school football, that he came back and he played for the Colts the last month of the season. I mean, all of that is great, but I just can't. Can you imagine that?
Chapter 7: What coaching changes are happening with the Jets and other teams?
I can't see that. No. I mean, I couldn't see him coming back and playing. This would be even crazier. I mean, everybody that is anybody in the NFL is saying this is a serious interview. Like, this wasn't some joke. I mean, he's not going to take a joke of an interview. That's for sure. And he's obviously highly respected. But, man, oh, man, oh, man. You think Josh Allen would want that?
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what Josh Allen wants.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of the upcoming Super Bowl matchup?
Yeah, I mean, I think that he and Phillip Rivers have a really, really good relationship. That I know. And that's something that needs to happen with the next guy. It has to be a pre-existing relationship, I would think. But, I mean, I guess when they moved, when the Chargers moved from San Diego to L.A., wasn't Phillip Rivers, he was driving in a bus every day? Yeah, I mean, yeah, he was.
He had a driver like Carton used to have. Driving around the city in a minivan. Sprinter van? Sprinter van, yeah. I thought he had like a tour bus kind of thing. But anyway, so I mean... Well, he's not going to be doing that. He just can't be driving from San Diego to Buffalo every day. And how about the Browns? Poor Browns. The poor Browns? Poor Browns. Poor Browns fans, not the poor Browns.
Nobody wants that job. That's why I think Jim Schwartz, because he's got to get it, right? Schwartz? You would think so, because it's kind of like who wants the Buffalo job? When you listen to Pagoula talk and you listen to Brandon Bean talk, and Brandon Bean got a... He got a raise. He got a promotion, promotion, elevation and title.
Like what coach is going to want to walk in there and work under those conditions? Ryan Dable. Well, yeah, because maybe because he would know the inner workings or Joe Brady would stay there. Yeah, because he would know the inner workings and he knows Brandon Bean and
I guess you would think that they would work together, but there's no way that Brandon Bean's going to be hiring somebody that is going to be coming in there and saying, this is what I want to do, like John Harbaugh did here with the Giants. Let's go to John in Oxford, Connecticut. What's going on, John? Oh, thanks for taking the call, guys.
Hey, listen, before I get to my question, can I throw you guys a little bit of love? Sure, go ahead. We love that. All right. Here's the thing. You know, this storm, you guys were talking up last week about how all you guys were going to show up. You didn't care what was going to happen. You had to do it.
And I was thinking to myself as a listener, man, I know I'm not going to be working Monday if this weather comes through. I can't believe it if they show up. But if they show up, you guys would make my morning because I'd be able to sit on my butt, wouldn't have to go to work, and I could watch you guys the whole time and maybe even get on. And that is fantastic that all you guys showed up.
The story you just gave, Gio, was hilarious. This has been fantastic. And I really appreciate your guys' effort because you said you were going to do it and you fell through. Oh, John, thanks, man. You know, absolutely. You know, we are men of our word there, John, and we appreciate every bit of it. Tell my mother I love her. All right, let me give you my question. Let me give you my question.
How am I supposed to get excited about this Super Bowl? What the heck is there to get excited about this Super Bowl? From a purely... Thanks, John. From a purely football standpoint, if you're not gambling on it or you're not a fan of either one of these two teams, there's really not much there. If you're someone who's a Jets fan that's really rooting for Sam, you could get into that maybe.
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