Chapter 1: What is the significance of Sam Darnold's journey to the Super Bowl?
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 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.
He played his best game ever, I think, as a professional football player, at least, in the biggest moment. And that's really a crowning achievement, at least through my eyes. Yeah, and he got another opportunity, and that's the biggest thing.
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Chapter 2: How did the Seahawks and Patriots secure their spots in the Super Bowl?
Yeah.
Think about that for a second. 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.
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Chapter 3: What were the standout performances in the NFC Championship game?
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 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. I initially thought that he had pushed it out and it was an incomplete pass, but then obviously looking back on it, you know, he ended up scoring a touchdown anyway, so it didn't end up hurting them. But, yeah, looking back on it, obviously, you know, they end up calling it a fumble.
But he, I mean, I was really impressed with the way he was playing up until that point. 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.
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Chapter 4: What mistakes did Jared Stidham make during the playoff game?
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 a 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.
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Chapter 5: How did weather impact the playoff games discussed?
I'm not really sure where the ball is.
I thought that was... It's hard to tell. I actually chuckled when he was saying that. It was very interesting, that's for sure. Sean Payton talked with Evan Washburn on CBS after the game. This is tough because such a great group. This is probably one of the closer teams that I've coached. And, you know, you tell them you love them. And that's kind of about it. Sam Weiss told you he loved you?
Yeah, I don't remember. By the way, you know, he did touch the money. Yeah, about the two weeks. That's the money last week.
Oh, I forgot about that.
I knew he was doing that to show confidence in his backup quarterback and try to get his team not thinking about the fact that they lost their starting quarterback. So I understand why he did it, but he did it. And they lost. Touch the money, baby. One more from Peyton. He says, simply no ground game. I would have liked to have run the ball better. I think ultimately...
Man, in the first half, I loved how it unfolded. It felt like the whole first half was on their side of the field. The turnover was costly. The backward pass that resulted in points. Not kicking a field goal was quite costly, too, by the way. Yeah, I agree. Very costly. Take the double-digit lead, but he didn't. Backward pass.
And they go home now.
It was my backup quarterback that screwed up, not me. He did at one point say it's on me. He did say that. So I don't want to make it like you passed the buck completely. He didn't. Super Bowl 60, a week and a half. Well, two weeks, basically. February 8th in Santa Clara. The Giants hired Denard Wilson as their new defensive coordinator. We like him. We do.
He's a former Terp, played under Ralph Friedgen back in the day at Maryland, and he's been around a little bit. Knows John Harbaugh's defense the way he wants to call it, and Denard should be a good addition. But again, all these coaches end up getting recycled. They just go around and around and around, and they go through team, team, team, team, team, team, and it really comes down to players.
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