The Herd with Colin Cowherd

What's Wright - Super Bowl REACTION: Seahawks DOMINATE Patriots, Darnold’s REDEMPTION, Maye OVERRATED? | Nick Wright NFL

66 min
Feb 11, 20262 months ago
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Summary

Nick Wright and Colin Cowherd analyze Super Bowl LX where the Seahawks dominated the Patriots behind an elite defense, with Sam Darnold's redemption arc and Mike McDonald's coaching brilliance highlighted. The episode examines Drake May's playoff struggles despite an MVP-caliber regular season, Matthew Stafford's deserved MVP award, and what Seattle's blueprint reveals about winning in the modern NFL.

Insights
  • Elite defense and coaching can overcome quarterback limitations—Seattle won with a game-managing QB rather than a star, validating the defensive-first blueprint over relying on finding the next Mahomes
  • Drake May's regular season excellence masked critical playoff deficiencies: 21 sacks, 7 fumbles in 4 playoff games suggest pressure management and decision-making issues beyond supporting cast excuses
  • Schedule difficulty dramatically impacts playoff trajectory—New England faced the easiest schedule in 25 years (2nd easiest in 50), but next year's NFC North/AFC West slate presents a significant step up
  • Redemption narratives matter: Darnold's path from 'seeing ghosts' to Super Bowl champion parallels Jim Plunkett's trajectory and demonstrates that early career failure doesn't preclude championship success
  • MVP voting shows voter bias patterns—Josh Allen received first-place votes despite inferior statistical performance to other candidates, suggesting narrative-driven rather than purely merit-based evaluation
Trends
Defensive-first team construction as viable Super Bowl path in salary cap era—Seattle's DVOA-ranked #1 defense with young, cost-controlled players challenges quarterback-centric spending modelCoaching visibility bias: West Coast coaches receive less media attention than East Coast counterparts despite equivalent success—Mike McDonald's brilliance underrated vs. Dan Campbell's personality-driven coverageQuarterback durability concerns emerging: Drake May's 102 sacks in 33 career starts (3.1 per game) suggests systemic offensive line/scheme issues affecting young QB development and injury riskSuper Bowl hangover reality: Only 1 of 30 teams in past 30 years returned to Super Bowl after losing; majority missed playoffs or went one-and-done, indicating championship window closure riskSchedule strength variance: NFL scheduling creates 25-year extremes in opponent difficulty, materially impacting win-loss records and playoff seeding independent of team qualityRepeat championship difficulty: No modern QB without elite status (Brady, Mahomes, Montana, Aikman) has repeated; Seattle positioned well but faces structural barriers to back-to-back titlesVoter incentive misalignment: Award voting benefits from randomized ballot selection to prevent strategic voting and narrative-driven decisions rather than merit-based evaluation
Topics
Super Bowl LX Game Analysis: Seahawks Defense DominanceSam Darnold Redemption Arc and Career TrajectoryDrake May Playoff Performance vs Regular Season ExcellenceMatthew Stafford MVP Award and Hall of Fame CandidacyMike McDonald Defensive Scheme and Coaching EffectivenessNFL Schedule Strength and Competitive AdvantageQuarterback Durability and Sack Rate AnalysisSuper Bowl Hangover and Championship Window ClosureNFL MVP Voting Bias and Voter Incentive StructureSeahawks Defense DVOA Rankings and Team ConstructionPatriots Offensive Line Performance and Quarterback ProtectionNFC Championship Game as True Super Bowl MatchupRepeat Championship Difficulty in Modern NFLDefensive Player MVP Award Voting ChallengesQuarterback Redemption Narratives in Professional Sports
Companies
iHeart Media
Podcast network distributing The Herd with Colin Cowherd and What's Wright episodes
NFL Films
Criticized for micing up Sam Darnold and broadcasting 'seeing ghosts' comment without typical editorial discretion
ESPN
Implied employer of Colin Cowherd and Nick Wright for television commentary and analysis
People
Sam Darnold
Seahawks QB who won Super Bowl LX after redemption arc from Jets 'seeing ghosts' era, MVP-caliber NFC Championship pe...
Drake May
Patriots QB with MVP-caliber regular season (3,600+ yards, 25 TDs) but struggled in playoffs with 21 sacks and 7 fumb...
Matthew Stafford
Rams QB who won 2024 NFL MVP award; Wright argues he's now a Hall of Famer and deserved the award over Drake May
Mike McDonald
Seahawks head coach whose defensive scheme ranked #1 DVOA; dominated Patriots offense in Super Bowl LX
Kenneth Walker III
Seahawks RB who won Super Bowl MVP with most rushing yards in Super Bowl since Terrell Davis (nearly 30 years)
Devon Witherspoon
Seahawks defensive back who Wright argues deserved Super Bowl MVP for defensive dominance and scheme deployment
John Schneider
Seahawks GM credited with two Super Bowl wins using game-managing QBs (Russell Wilson, Sam Darnold) and strong drafting
Russell Wilson
Former Seahawks QB who won Super Bowl with Seattle; trade to Denver yielded draft picks that became key defensive con...
Jim Plunkett
Historical QB comparison to Darnold: #1 pick who busted with Patriots/49ers, won 2 Super Bowls with Raiders as backup
Patrick Mahomes
Referenced as modern standard for elite QB play; discussed as benchmark for franchise QB evaluation
Joe Montana
All-time QB ranking reference; discussed in context of repeat championship difficulty
Tom Brady
All-time QB ranking reference; only modern QB to repeat championships without elite supporting cast
Aaron Rodgers
All-time QB ranking reference; 2020 MVP comparison to Josh Allen MVP voting patterns
Josh Allen
Bills QB who received 2 first-place MVP votes despite inferior statistics; example of voter bias in award voting
Lamar Jackson
Ravens QB referenced in all-time QB rankings and MVP voting comparisons
Jalen Hurts
Eagles QB cited as one of only two modern QBs to lose first Super Bowl then win one later (with John Elway)
Jake Paul
Influencer who tweeted criticism of halftime show then deleted tweets; example of culture war retreat
Sean McVay
Rams head coach whose scheme and personnel (Puka Nakua, Davante Adams) aided Stafford's MVP-caliber season
Will Campbell
Patriots left tackle (4th overall pick) whose poor Super Bowl performance raised concerns about draft selection
CJ Stroud
Texans QB referenced in context of Seahawks defense dominance and playoff performance comparisons
Quotes
"If you're guy, you obviously are always in the draft looking for that guy. But if after a couple years, you know deep in your heart, he can be good, but he's never going to be that guy. It doesn't mean you can't win a Super Bowl with them."
Nick WrightMid-episode
"The story was Seattle's defense making the Patriots look poorly coached and they're not poorly coached, but they looked poorly coached in that game."
Nick WrightEarly analysis
"I think the voters should have colluded. By that, I mean, I think the voters should have gotten on a group text or something and said, Hey, do we think Seattle's defense is the MVP of this game?"
Nick WrightMVP discussion
"It's hard and it's just particularly hard in the AFC when I would imagine demands a next year chiefs Ravens bounce back a bit."
Nick WrightPatriots future outlook
"Matt Stafford deserved the league MVP this year. He was the best player in the league this season. I don't think it is all that close."
Nick WrightMVP voting analysis
Full Transcript
This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human A great night's sleep. You know what you're getting with Premier in. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. Like if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if if and they can be anything. They can be NBA NFL career, life parenting, anything. And Demons and I will do that together in Los Angeles on Tuesday. So that episode will be for you guys next Thursday. So post football schedules change a bit. We're still going to have at least two episodes every week. We're not on vacation and we will have three episodes most weeks. But there's the scheduling update. So again, the way to just make sure you get everything you want. Subscribe to the podcast on all platforms. Demons, how are you doing? Very well excited to talk about the Super Bowl. Yeah, it was good. Did you before we even really get into the game? This is a bit of a litmus test. Did you enjoy watching that game? Yeah, I mean, hey, you want to call me a casual. That's fine. I like to see some plays on offense. I was a little underwhelmed with the game. I was a little underwhelmed. But I understand the great. There's great defense being played. No, I'm so I'm not I'm not calling you a casual. Because I so here is what your mom got mad at me yesterday because I didn't even realize it. But evidently during the game, when your mom and sister and my mom were commenting that it wasn't a very exciting game. And then I kept saying it's professional football. This is great. I didn't even know I was saying that. I just evidently I said it repeatedly. And I was like, this is a great game. And then yesterday, I just set off handedly that it was kind of boring. And your mom's like, what are you you set all throughout the game? How great of a game it was. And so here's the thing. I can appreciate a low scoring game. I think low scoring games can be great. But it needs to feel more in the balance like a low a six to three game where anyone played to me can be captivating. This didn't quite feel like that. It felt like it was one team dominating the other. And there wasn't a lot of intrigue in the outcome. I mean, both the defenses were pretty solid. But yeah, I mean, the New England offense, it was just like they were still playing in the snow. It was pretty bad. Right. So we will get to all of that first straight voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile. Sam Darnold and Kenneth Walker, the third celebrated Disney, one of the most charming American traditions making our hungover gladiators after the greatest day of their life hang out, you know, at seven in the morning with Mickey Mouse. I've never made total sense, but it's awesome. So, um, Demons, a nailed the Gatorade bath color. That's a nice little plus. A little bit of a cup. Most receiving guards, but I think Mac Holland screwed me over there at the end. Oh, yeah, you're right. You're right. And then so my favorite Super Bowl commercials. So I have a confession here. I woulda or plus 275, great job to Monzey on the color of the Gatorade. And I don't want to spend too much time on this. So I'm just going to say it quickly. If you'd have asked me right after the Super Bowl, what my favorite commercial was, I would have snapped said, it's like me and that ring camera. Oh, geez. About finding lost dogs. Yeah. I was like, that's awesome. Yeah. And then I get on social media and everyone's like, you living it. This is the show. This is the surveillance state. This is how they take over our lives. And I was like, oh, damn. I was just thinking about lost dogs. I was like, I thought it was a pretty compelling case. Like you just put things up on the telephone pole. Now we can find the dog. And then they're like, don't you know anything about how they're going to use this to enslave us. And I'm like, sweet Christ. I wouldn't think in that much. So I don't know. So I have to put a, so I don't know what my favorite Super Bowl commercial was. I need to do more investigation. All right. I will at some point on today's show discuss. Oh, man. The hot, almost too hot to touch topic of the halftime show. Oh, boy. Do people have tames and do people make fools of themselves with their takes so consistently? Hope to and including. I think we've seen our first real retreat in the culture wars. One Jake Paul. Jake Paul. Well, Jake Paul who lives in Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. Jake Paul had like a little tweet storm about how much he hated the halftime show and how offended he was by it. And then the next day tweets out, yo, what happened on my Twitter yesterday? I love Puerto Rico. I love bad money. But like it was like not believable at all. He was pretending he didn't have those opinions, even though his brother who's also not known to be a minza member. There's tweets like, I got to say I disagree with my brother Jake on this. So I don't know some really bad takes. But some really bad takes by some really bad actors. And I mean that bad actors literally and figuratively, I guess in the case of the Paul brothers, but we will get that we will get to that later. But first, Demons, a let's get to Super Bowl 60 champions. Yeah. For the second time in franchise history, the Seahawks are Super Bowl champions that defense was prolific. Darnal managed the game. It didn't turn it over. What were you most impressed by in the game? Well, so obviously it has to be the defense. And we will, but I think Darnal does deserve credit, which we'll get to. And I'm going to get right to the Super Bowl MVP piece of it because that to me is about the defense. I think the voters should have colluded. And by that, I mean, I think the voters should have gotten on a group text or something and said, Hey, do we think Seattle's defense is the MVP of this game? If so, let's all get together and pick a guy to represent that because the reason it's so hard for a defensive player to win MVP, barring a Von Miller type of performance where it's just one guy wrecking the game is those votes can be split so much. And I got to think that Devon Witherspoon and Derek Hall and Byron Murphy all were in contention. And because of that, Kenneth Walker, who again, he did have the most rushing yards in a Super Bowl since Terrell Davis, nearly 30 years ago, he had an awesome game and he would have probably won MVP going away. If there had been a hold on the 40 yard touchdown run at the end, that the it doesn't feel indicative of this game for an offensive player to have won MVP. And so my vote would have been for Devon Witherspoon because I thought the way they deployed Devon Witherspoon, Demons, I who in the entire regular season had 21, I'm regular season and playoffs part of the Super Bowl had 21 pass rush snaps and the Super Bowl had seven. So he was a guy who rushed the passer a little more than once a game in the regular season. And then they kept spamming it in the Super Bowl and the Patriots couldn't respond. He got a sack, he got a hurry, he hit the quarterback three times and he forced the fumble that actually wasn't a fumble because it ended up being ruled and intercepted in those return for a touchdown. So Seattle's defense, which Mike and we talked about this a lot in the week leading up to it. Team quarterbacks get eaten up by Mike McDonald's defense. They're now one in 10 scoring less than 16 points a game. Quarterbacks of any age, the first time they play a Mike McDonald defense, dating back to his time in Baltimore and Seattle are like 10 and 33 scoring less than 16 points a game. He crushes people. And so the story was Seattle's defense making the Patriots look poorly coached and they're not poorly coached, but they looked poorly coached in that game. It looked like you wanted to say something. Yeah, can you not, I know you usually give it to one player. Can you just give the MVP to the defense is like as a whole. So I would have loved that. Right. I mean, that was the story. Clearly, like it was it was every level of them. It was every every guy on the sea ox defense, except for the guy who punched up on Diggs and the face and got away with it probably deserves a share of that defensive MVP. And so it's listen, I'm not going to freak out about Kenneth Walker winning it. He had a great game and it typically goes to an offensive player. But the story was that sea ox defense that if you're not named match staffer or oddly, Baker may field that sea ox defense put you in hell all year long. All year long. Like that is it. The other thing this Super Bowl was a validation of was the MVP, even though it was incredibly close. But so the sea ox defense allowed 38 in a loss to Baker in a game that I think Daniel got me made me some money by telling me to do the Baker may field live comeback bet and they ended up winning the game and they allowed 37 to the Rams in the regular season and 27 in the playoffs. The other games Seattle played this year. They allowed 17 to party 17 to Rogers 13 to I think it was Spencer Ratler at the time. 20 to Kyler Murray and again, I'm just looking at points allowed. So there might have been defensive touchdown scored by this team. So maybe the Seattle even's actually allowed less 12 to Trevor 19 to CJ Stroud 14 to Jaden Daniels in a game that Jaden got hurt in. So the 22 to whoever's playing quarterback for the Cardinals at that point, 21 to staffer the first time, 24 in the to cam ward, zero to Brasmer, nine to Kirk cousins, 16 to Philip Rivers, 10 to Bryce Young, three to Brock party the second time, six to Brock party the third time and 13 to Drake May in the Patriots and really seven like they allowed seven with the when the game was actually in the balance. It was a dominant dominant start to finish performance and by start to finish, I mean of the season. And so they are now the fifth team ever to if you care about DVOA to finish the year, number one ranked DVOA defense and number one ranked DVOA overall. Four of those five teams won the Super Bowl and the one that didn't was Mike McDonald's Ravens team that ran into my homes in the AFC title game. They were a great team and those of us that said the NFC championship game was the Super Bowl were correct. The two best teams in the NFL this year were the C.OX and the Rams and they played three times. They were all very memorable for different reasons and the right team won the championship this year. And so I have I have no complaints. I have no qualms with I said that this had the potential to be a weird year and it kind of was a weird year, but I also want to make this clear. And I know nobody's thinking about like the chiefs being in the Super Bowl at this point for this season, but at like week six, the chiefs were the Super Bowl favorites. Okay. Had the chiefs rallied the way I thought they were going to and the way some of the bookmakers thought they were going to and had my homes not gotten hurt and had they ended up in these AFC playoffs where I think they could have made the Super Bowl. This Seattle team is the exact type of team that has beaten the chiefs up in Super Bowl. I mean the front was getting correct. It was and by the way. And this is, you know, it is really good and I'm really happy that the Rams demands a got the Super Bowl. They got five years ago. Yeah. Because if you're a Rams fan, last post season, you play the Eagles to this much. You're down six ball at the 15 with a minute left to win the game. You lose and then the Eagles curb stop their next two opponents to win the Super Bowl. This year you have the ball at the 14 down four more than a minute left. The game wouldn't have been over, but a chance to take the lead against Seattle. You don't convert and then Seattle curb stops New England and the Super Bowl. Like the Rams, the last two champions have played nail buyers with the Rams in the playoffs and then beaten their next three opponents by like a combined 70 and not quite 70. Yeah. And so it goes to show how hard it is to win the Super Bowl and and it also, it also, it goes to show how important it is when you get to a Super Bowl to finish the deal. Because imagine how the Rams would help really, and I know it's a bunch of different players, but Stafford and McVey are feeling if their last two seasons ended this way and when they were in the Super Bowl, Joe Burrow had beaten them on that last truck. So Seattle's the rightful champs. Seattle's been the best team and Seattle deserves a lot of credit to Monse for John Schneider. Twice winning Super Bowls with quarterbacks who at the beginning of the year, they won the Super Bowl were just considered guys. Russell Wilson turned into a great player. Russell Wilson his second year in the league was just a guy. Sam Darnold was just a guy and we're going to talk more about Darnold in a bit, but you know, credit to John Schneider for and gutsy moves man. Moved on from Pete Carroll, which I criticized. Moved on from Geno Smith for Sam Darnold, which I heavily criticized. The Russell Wilson trade, I applauded, but they so many, Devon Witherspoon, Charles Cross, so many of the key guys from that Super Bowl were picks they got from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade. So let's talk a little more about the C-Ox and I'll get a follow up here. Um, yeah, do you think this is just the beginning for the C-Ox? They're favorites to repeat next year. Yeah, but nobody's like a big favorite. You know, there's everybody's tightly jested. Everybody very, very, very, very hard to repeat. Now Seattle almost did it a couple years, you know, not a couple years ago, 10 years ago, with a similar blueprint. And Darnold won't be super expensive next year and the defense is young. But we don't have and maybe listen, who knows what Darnold's going to turn into. We don't have instances, certainly in the modern NFL of anyone repeating without a super duper star quarterback. And it's in the modern NFL. It's Bradshaw. I mean, in all of NFL, I think I can do this. It's Bart star. Bob Greasy was not a super duper star. And so twice Montana, Ackman, L way Brady, Mahomes, that's your list. So after, you know, after Greasy, the worst quarterback of that group is Troy Ackman. So I, I think repeat very, very tough, but I do think they are positioned really well. And well, this gets to your next question about the rest of the league. Yeah, what is Seattle approved to the rest of the league by winning this game? Well, so here's what, here's the question I would have for you. What do you think's easier finding the next Patrick Mahomes, Ashilan guy, or building a super difference? Because, and I don't, I mean, it might be, I think it might be easier to find. I don't know. I was going to say, I don't know. It's like one guy of the defense. That's a bunch of guys. So, so here is, here is the lesson I would take from, if I'm the rest of the league, from Seattle winning. And, hamstring yourself from being able to build out this great roster, which by the way, starts with just drafting well, which everyone has the opportunity to do. By lying to yourself that your quarterback can be the next Mahomes. So if, listen, if you're guy, you obviously are always in the draft looking for that guy. But if after a couple years, you know deep in your heart, he, you know, he can be good, but he's never going to be that guy. It doesn't mean you can't win a Super Bowl with them, but it does mean you won't win a Super Bowl with him if without that. In order to, well, no, if in order to pretend he's that guy, you pay him like he's that guy. You, you know, then you don't have a major right, Ben, your team to his will as if he were that guy. But it is really interesting that, you know, this decade, the way to win a Super Bowl has been have Patrick Mahomes or have this stacked NFC roster. Seattle Philly. Well, you know what, Patrick Mahomes were Brady, because I don't think Tampa was like a stacked roster. They, they were a good team that had Brady. But remember, even when the Rams, when they won it, they had traded for Jalen Ramsey. They had traded for Stafford. They had gone all in in that moment. And, and so I think the other thing that I do think this season was a reminder of, and this is for both teams in the Super Bowl. Man, you have the right coach and things can get very, real, very quickly. You think we should have been talking about McDonald, this whole time instead of Ray Boy Philly, we talked a lot about Ray Boy and his coaching ability. McDonald. I listen. And the Ravens, Stephen Tasman, the same since he left. Right. I do think as silly as this sounds, there is a real coastal bias as far as I think guys on the West Coast don't get as much attention from East Coast based media as guys on the East Coast. Like I think of Mike McDonald was the coach, doesn't the after we a super market team was doing this with the Washington commanders. He would have had better PR so to speak than he got. Like Seattle is, you know, very often kind of buried in that 405 window on Sundays. They weren't the super market team, but McDonald was brilliant. He was brilliant. He's also like super stoked. He doesn't really show too much character. He's like the super angry coaches. I feel like they're angry, but him. He's just stone faced like the whole. No, he doesn't have a huge personality. Yeah. I mean, I'm not saying his bad personality, but. No, but yes, as far as like PR and stuff, I feel like people fall in love with like Dan Campbell and stuff like that. Like with the, yeah, we're projecting yourself. And, but yeah, he's a little bit more. And for Vrable, it also helps. He was a very memorable player. I know not for you. You're too young. I mean, guys, my age, remember Vrable winning Super Bowl with New England. And Vrable's also, you know, more engaging. But at some point, the Vrable PR, and I talked to this on the TV show and I think Vrable's a great coach. But the articles, the days before the Super Bowl, and they were like, guess what, guys? He simulated a long half time at practice. That's how locked in he is. It's like no shit, man. Like that, we're not reinvented to feel here. All right, today's show is brought to you by representing sponsor Hard Rock Bet Florida sports book. I know it's tough, no football, but like the song says, I bet I will survive. How about that? With Hard Rock Bet, there's always something to bet on every night. Hoops hockey. So much more plus all the great same game parlay's live betting and player prop options you're used to. 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Visit virginmedia.com. New customers only, Virgin fiber areas, restrictions and credit checks apply, no set up fee online only times apply. All right, Demonsy, let's talk Darnell before we get to the Patriot side of things. Nice. Darnell went from seeing ghosts to winning the Super Bowl. We know this path has not been the easiest one. I've been pretty crazy. Is there been any other athlete that you compare to Darnell's pathway? Or is he like a one-of-one? I mean, brew brought up. Oh my gosh. Now I can't. All right, Jim Plunkett, thank you guys. Yesterday. As, I mean, it is a good, it is a good comp. And I loved that brew went there with it. Jim Plunkett was the number one overall pick in the draft. And then Demonsy was, he was the number one overall pick in the 1971 draft. And busted out with the Patriots, then busted out with the Niners' pre-Montana, then went to the Raiders as a backup and won two Super Bowls with the Raiders. And was, right. And was. Yeah, it's an all-time. So that's the gold standard of this. But Darnell's now the silver medalist. The draft. No, but he was the third pick. I mean, he was the third pick of the draft. A little, a little known part of first things. First, lore, if you will. Darnell was one of our first in-studio guests back when it was me and Chris Carter. It was right before he was drafted. Or no, it would have been right after. No, I think it was right before the draft. And Chris brought with him his Hall of Fame tie and gave it to Darnell. And along the lines of like, where this when you make it, type of thing. And some Darnell, right. And then seeing how it kind of panned out the first few years of his career. It was a disaster. He was a punchline. He was a punchline. And so I do think the fact that and the wilds talks about this a lot and he's not wrong. The seeing ghost thing was brutal. It was also borderline unfair. Like NFL films miced up. Never embarrasses guys. Like they get a lot of audio that they don't use. It's not like it's a live stream. And that wasn't like caught on a hot mic. He was miced up. And then they played it on the broadcast, which was kind of a violation. Like honestly, never knew that that came from like out of his mouth. I thought that was something that somebody like people always referred to. Like he's talking. He actually said it. That's really he was playing a Monday night football game against New England. It might have been his last start ever with the jets. I mean, on the sideline, I'm seeing ghosts out there guys to one of the guys or whatever. Correct. That's exactly what happened. So I'm going to look because his last start ever with the jets was January 3rd, 2021. Was that a Monday? Is the question I'm asking. It no. So maybe that wasn't the game. The that oh no, it was. So let me see the October 21st, 2019. That was the game. To October 21st, 2019 was a Monday. The jets lost 33 to nothing. He was 11 of 32 for 86 yards, four picks, no touchdowns, bad game to start year two in the league. And he said I'm seeing ghosts out there. And even though by the way that year, the team went seven and six outside of when he played outside of that game, he had 19 touchdowns, nine picks. That was the memorable thing. And then the next year he was brutal and the jets were brutal. They move him on to Carolina. He actually has like a decent stretching Carolina, but it doesn't matter. And he's goes and he's the back up in San Francisco. And then has that remarkable year with the Vikings, but we all give hand up all the credit to Justin Jefferson and Kevin O'Connell. And then feel validated by his final two games of the year and then goes Seattle. And this is what I want to say about Darnell. Because he wasn't great in the Super Bowl. He was very good at avoiding the disaster. And he was playing with fire early first pass of the game. I thought could have been pick six and it'd be an 14 year game. Patriots were like you the Patriots approach was you're going to blow it. The Patriots offensive approach early was don't make a mistake because Darnell's going to blow it. And listen, he missed some throws, but he didn't make the disaster mistake. And I thought three times, Demons, a he was going to get set. Yes. Yeah. He looked dead to rights and got out of it. And those were big plays. And here's the other thing I'll say about Darnell as far as how heavy this Super Bowl championship is for him in a good way. If you agree with me that the real Super Bowl was the NFC championship game, well then you have to acknowledge he was the MVP of that game. Guy threw for three 53 touchdowns of 128 rated like was awesome going bar for bar with Matthew Stafford. So if that was their toughest game of the year, he delivered. He absolutely delivered. And so listen, he's 28 years old. Turns 29 in the off season. He's got a lot of bonus permanent home here in Seattle. I mean, I would imagine he gets an extension this summer. Yeah. And they can. So here's what they could do. I would imagine. So because he's on a three year $100 million deal, right? So his cap hit next year's 38 million in the year after his 41. I would think they could give him like another. They could give him three years 150, 50 million a year. Thereabouts. Make it so he's always one of the lower paid quarterbacks because they can put some of that on this year's cap like they can spread that out. But 80 million cap dollars they owe him over the next two, three plus one 50. So that would be 230 million in cap dollars over the next five years. So that's 46 million a year average. That's still a bargain for a quarter of X. So yeah, I mean, I think he's going to be in a good spot. And you got to be happy for him. And he was so good in the NFC championship game. So he has kind of taken Baker's corner as the gold standard of the contemporary redemption story. Like Baker's had a really good one. But Donald's now damn Super Bowl champion. Yeah. All right, let's let's talk about the other side of the book. All right, everything was vindicated that the folks were saying about the Patriots and Drake May in this game. New England's offense of shaky. They could not do anything. But obviously this is Drake May second year in the NFL. Yeah, I always feel on about New England side of things. Well, Liz, I wanted to start with Drake May. He was awesome this year. Schedule or not, he was awesome. Week to week in the regular season. I didn't think he was the best quarterback in the league this year. I thought that was Matt Stafford, but he was the most consistent. He almost never had a bad game. He I didn't think he had the greatest supporting cast and he was excellent. That is an objective truth. Another objective truth is he was somewhere between pretty bad to downright awful. In all four playoff games. There's not one playoff game you can point to and be like, no, that's the game he was excellent. The first game of the playoffs, they scored 16 points. He threw a pick and had two fumbles. The second game of the playoffs, he threw a pick, had four fumbles. Including a couple when it was so clear the only way they could lose was him turning the ball over because CJ Stroud was self-immolating on the other side of the field. Third game of the playoffs, he had 40 yards before there was a drop of snow falling from the sky and they scored seven points. In this game, he did absolutely nothing through three quarters and then the moment is very interesting to me. The first nine drives all punts. Then final five drives when it was like, okay, got to go for stuff. Did score two touchdowns and had three turnovers. The moment it was, all right, we got to start trying to play for big plays. He turned back into a turnover machine. He was sack 21 times this postseason the most by any quarterback in a playoffs ever. Not all of that is on him, but some of that is on him. These were not all instant sacks and he fumbled seven times in four playoff games the most of all time. So I think he's really good, but you give him a big break for it being a second year, right? Or no, like it's no, I give him a big break for it being a second year. I don't immediately say though, oh, but and he'll love it. No, no chances to make up for this. No, that he's like right now. I would say I don't think the Patriot like right now, if I were to do way too early playoff picks for next year, I wouldn't have the Patriots in it. Oh, okay. So that is so I just think so here is the thing also the schedule changed enough and stuff. Well, when when I tell you how the schedule has changed up, I don't think you're going to believe it because it's not just that they have a first place schedule to monsey. It's that they draw as far as the way the NFL schedule works is you play everyone in your division twice. That's six of your games. Then you play one other division in your conference that rotates every year, one other division in the other conference that rotates every year. And then you have three strength of schedule games. Meaning if you were the division winner, you play the two division winners in your conference that aren't on your schedule plus one from the other conference. So the Patriots go from and this is the important part about the schedule. Every year someone has the easiest schedule by definition. That wasn't why the Patriot schedule is noteworthy. Patriot schedule is noteworthy because it was the easiest schedule. Anyone has played this century and the second easiest schedule anyone has played in 50 years. So it wasn't just the easiest this season. It was by opponent winning percentage. The easiest in 25 years and the second easiest in 50 years. So that that wasn't just because they were playing, you know, a last place schedule. It was also because they drew the NFC South, which wasn't good and the AFC North, which turned out not to be good. Next year they draw the NFC North and the AFC West and their home road splits are tough. So here demands they are and they get a little unlucky nine road games instead of eight because that alternates every year. They have nine road games. Demons. Is the Patriot road games next year? Jack Stolfens divisional games. Fine. You put the bills a divisional game. Here are their other six road games. The Bears, the Lions, the Chiefs, the Chargers, the Jags, the Seahawks. That's the list. Well, it's all of your non-divisional road games are playoff teams except for the Chiefs and the Lions. And now at home, you get your again, your divisional opponents, Jets, Stolfens, bills. And then at home, you also get the Raiders. So that's nice. And your other home games are Vikings. Okay. Steelers. Fine. Packers Raiders. I'm sorry. Packers, I already said Raiders. Packers Broncos pardon me. So it is, you have the history of in the last 30 years, one team that lost the Super Bowl got back to it the following year, the 2017 Patriots did, but they were maybe a little immunized from the Super Bowl hangover because they had won the Super Bowl in 2016. So it wasn't quite as emotionally devastating. And 11 teams missed the playoffs outright or 13 teams. And I think it's 11. Let me make sure I have this right. Seven. No, this is what it is. 17 teams after losing the Super Bowl made the playoffs. 13 won a single playoff game or won at least one playoff game. And only or I have that wrong. Ignore me on this because I just sent this to me yesterday. I don't have to commit it to memory. Only one team's made it back to the Super Bowl and the majority of teams in the last 30 years have either missed the playoffs or been won and done in the playoffs. That I know the other numbers I don't have committed to memory. So it's tough. And I know people are going to talk about Drake May's shoulder. I do not attribute that performance to his shoulder in part because his best passes of the game were late like after he'd been hit even more. I also see that I feel like his receiver has kind of dropped some stuff to like it was on there. I feel like some of the place. Yeah. He was there and they just were. I don't know. Couldn't get it. But it was a bad game by everyone on the patch offense. Oh, worse game by left tackle will Campbell. Yeah. Now that's another thing we're talking about like the patch future. They spend the number four overall pick on a guy who might just be a decent left guard. That would be a problem. You draft them to franchise left tackle. Now maybe he'll get better. But that was. That was. I feel for it. Yeah. That was a rough one. And. I. You just don't know. And so I'm going to give you another fact. And I'm not trying to listen. I've been very pro Drake may all year, but I also thought the revisionist history on why he was struggling in the playoffs as if every game was played in the weather of the final quarter and a half in Denver was nonsense. I also thought that. No, Pat fans kept saying. Well look at the great defenses. They've played and they were great defenses, but I don't I personally, while I might not just kill you. If you play poorly against a great defense, you don't get at a boys for playing a great defense and playing awful. Like there's no credit to be gained from playing really bad against a great. They're scared. Right. And so I. Things fell very nicely for New England along this playoff route. They earned that good for them. The team that's got to be absolutely sick to their stomach is the Broncos. Like man, a bonus. Now maybe the Broncos get beat up by Seattle, but they feel like we were better than New England and our quarterback got hurt. Here's another one. Come on, say in the last 50 years, there have only been two quarterbacks to lose the first Super Bowl they play in and ever win one. Just two and that is Jalen Hertz and John L. John L. Wayl losses first three in the 80s and then got to back to back in the 90s. And there's not many quarterbacks. There's not many others. I'm trying to think who it would be who are even the quarterbacks other than those guys to lose their first Super Bowl and even get back to a Super Bowl. Well Jim Kelly obviously he went to four in a row. Can Anderson maybe I don't know the regardless. Next year. Well Joe Burrow maybe burrow but so no, but the Joe Burrow things instructive. Yeah, bangles fans after year two. As sucks we didn't win. We'll be back. We'll be right back. And the next year they were close. They were in the AFC title game and then never there again. The one everyone always will bring up so I'm not breaking news here is the Miami Dolphins year two Dan marine they're 14 and two Dan Marino wins league MVP. They go to the Super Bowl. They get beat up by the Niners. The next year they're in the AFC championship game. We're right there. We're going to be there every year with marino. The rest of Dan Marino's career. They made the conference championship game once and made zero more Super bowls. It's hard and it's just particularly hard in the AFC when I would imagine demands a next year chiefs Ravens bounce back a bit. Are the bangles going to be just an embarrassment forever. They're going to finally get their act together. There's there's just a lot of. So this was a great year for New England. But there are the reason they were 14 and three was an MVP candidate quarterback and they didn't get that in the playoffs. And there's a combination of factors. It's defenses. It's he's banged up. It's competition. It's weather. It's that you know he got a little tight in my opinion. It's all of it. But you're not guaranteed to be back there. And I say one other thing. Sax or not exclusively a quarterback stat. But they are they also aren't you know totally removed from quarterback play and Drake may now. And how many games is the kid played? It's played 30 games. Okay. 29 starts. So 29 games in the regular season four in the playoffs. So he's he's had 33 starts in his career. And those 33 starts he has been sacked 102 times. That that feels like too big of a number. And is something that I would be at least a little concerned about. Um alright you ever notice how everything keeps going up rents going up streaming services going up your favorite burrito spot wants to charge you extra for salsa. That was boost mobile with boost mobile you and your phone bill don't have to play the will this go up soon game. Why? Because boost mobile is a limited talk text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. In fact it's the same price you'll pay for life. So switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up only at boost mobile after 30 gigs customers may experience lower speeds customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the boost unlimited plan. And that's the queen queen of social media is about time for my ASGEM or series. So I'm recording this on my phone and then I'm going to use Kanva to edit and upload it. Oh sorry babes. Oh make that whisper when I edit it. Anyways Kanva makes social media edits so easy I'll upload this in a minute. Kanva make everything iconic. How do I stop recoding Lauren? Real quick before we get to the MVP voting which happened after our last show. Reminder please send in any questions because we're going to a mailbag style podcast next week. All right. Demons let's go to the staffer stuff. Yes so as we know Drake may or staffer beat Drake may buy about a vote in the MVP race. After seeing this game he also announced that he's returning next year. After seeing this game do you think that the voters are correct? Well you know what I think yes definitely. I also think that it was flawed logic to do what some folks were doing which is Stafford carved up the Seahawks defense. Stafford's you know and Drake may were 1 a 1 b and mbp voting so why can't Drake may carve up the Seahawks defense. When Stafford carved up the Seahawks defense with the help of Sean McVeigh with Pukinakua with the Vante Adams and with the benefit of having played them by the time they got to the NFC championship game five times in the previous 14 months because divisional opponent and all of that like that's just that's not what it was. Matt Stafford deserved the league MVP this year. He was the best player in the league this season. I don't think it is all that close. It was closer than it should have been and I think the Super Bowl put a spotlight on it. Matt as people were at my buddy Sam Monson for the Justin Herbert MVP vote. I do want to spend a second about the you know my pal friend of the show and voters obsession with him Josh Allen in getting two first place votes. So this is now so again he should be on the ballot. No question about it. But first place means you think they should win it. I also have a theory that I stumbled upon we were talking about Hall of Fame stuff that I wonder if people would vote more honestly for Hall of Fame's and awards if this is how they did it. We're going to have 50 voters. Everyone's going to fill out their ballot. And we are not counting the votes. We are putting all of the vote votes in a big Ben starring them up and picking one ballot at random. And that's the award because I know so just hear me out on this. Let's think about the Hall of Fame thing with Bella check. If people if that's what because I do feel like some people like with the Hall of Fame they're like well this guy is going to get in. I'd rather my vote go for this person. Try to try to game the system. I think Sam Monson when he voted for Justin Herbert or even the people who voted for Josh Allen they did not think this guy is going to win what they thought was I want it you know how much value right. Yeah. But if people knew no there's not going to be other people to fix your mistakes so to speak we are we trust you 50 voters and one of your ballots is just going to be the ballot and there's no way of telling who's I do wonder if people would be like okay I need to yeah I can't put Justin right I can't so I and I feel the same way it's very very difficult to make the case Josh Allen had a better year than Stafford or Drake yeah and this is now and I only care about the first place votes piece of it so I we now have had the following instances and I'm not picking this is not Josh's fault and in fact a lot of the blowback if there is any or backlash Josh Allen gets is because of some of the media treatment that is indicative of these votes because I don't think Josh Allen thought he deserved League and BP this year but two of the 50 voters did and here is the trend that I'm talking about and I'm going to use very simple numbers here okay I understand it's more than that and I get it but I'm going to it's a podcast and so I can't show to you graphically this year Matthew Stafford had 4700 yards is passing numbers 4700 yards 46 touchdowns eight picks Josh Allen had 3600 yards 25 touchdowns 10 picks and two people voted for him for MVP last year he won it I thought he should have won it but again if we're just doing the passing numbers he had 3700 yards 28 touchdowns six picks Lamar had 4100 yards 41 touchdowns four picks fine dog Josh Allen got a first place vote the year before when he had 29 touchdowns and led the league and interceptions with 18 Dak Prescott did not get a first place vote that year when he had 36 touchdowns and half the interceptions 2022 when Patrick Mahomes had 41 touchdowns 12 picks and 5200 yards Josh Allen got one first place vote when he had 4200 yards 35 touchdowns and 14 picks and the maybe the best one in 2020 when Aaron Rogers had 48 touchdowns and 5 picks and Mahomes had 38 touchdowns and 6 picks and both teams had better records than the bills Josh Allen got four first place votes when he had 37 touchdowns and 10 picks it is there are as a couple MVP voters that are just Josh Allen no matter what voters and it's baffling to me sure here's some and so I you know I but the voters did get it right and I think it's good for everyone involved including Drake May that he didn't win MVP yeah I Stafford deserved it and it does cement Stafford as a Hall of Famer in my opinion and I'm glad now these again these folks doing the top 10 quarter back stuff like we we got a the let me see if I can find my all time quarterback see if I can find my all time quarterback pyramid because I didn't want to do it off top my head but give me one second and then we'll get out of here all time quarterback pyramid I should have had this before no that's the all time no I don't gosh darn it you think I started a Rams there any other teams in Cancun turn their TV off Piss because they should have been there and they could have won that game I mean just the Broncos yeah you don't I mean just the Broncos Broncos I'm gonna try one other thing on this go ahead sorry no then I was gonna say the Texans but the Texans have no way getting with their quarterback play so so the well yeah but okay I found I found one of my older all time quarterback mountains just real quick if we are for people that are wanting to do um Stafford where he ranks and again is a Hall of Famer now in my opinion but quarterbacks who without a shadow of a doubt have to be ahead of him in the all time quarterback rankings Tom Brady Patrick Maholmes Peyton Manning Joe Montana Dan Marino John L. Way Aaron Rogers Brett Far Roger Stahlback Terry Bradshaw Steve Young John United's Bard Star Autogram Sammy Bob because people tell me I'll trust him on it Drew breeze and then we can start discussing him versus Big Ben Lamar Big Ben Lamar like that and Josh Allen to round out your top 20 what what did you think I was talking about we're Stafford out there that that right so that's those were all the guys I just said ahead of him so okay so of all time quarterbacks I'll do it again yeah Brady Maholmes Peyton Montana Marino L. Way Rogers Farve Stahlback Bradshaw those are the ten kind of modern era guys and then I will add the old timers which are United's Star Graham Sammy ball now we're at 14 then I would get to Steve Young Drew breeze and then after that we can have the discussion of after those 16 guys Stafford alongside Lamar Kurt Warner Troy Ackman Big Ben Josh Allen like to round out your top 20 top 25 that's the neighborhood he's in but this top 10 all time it's just not it's much like a lot of people's top 10s the people saying it would not actually say it if they put pen to paper so that's you know that's did you did you think I had them too high too low I know you don't know I understand I mean there yeah there was just a bunch of bunch of those guys you know I obviously did not watch but I thought Matthew Stafford was I thought he'd be a little bit higher up in your list but the problem for Stafford is the the decade plus in Detroit when he was a good player but not great yeah like O and three in the playoffs made one pro bowl like just you know and so again I he's all a famer now to him I put I'm ahead of Philip Rivers Eli Manning Russell Wilson those guys but top 10 all time is just a bananas opinion bananas all right maybe audio only podcast on Thursday keep the questions coming because we will do a kind of a mailbag style pod next week but yeah subscribe wherever you get your podcast that'll help us out and make sure you guys get to see whenever the podcast does come out on whatever platform it is but yeah but please if you're not watching live by the way put your mailbag questions in the comments on YouTube and we can get to them that way all right huge thank you as always to volume and to blue duck thank you to demands a to boost mobile and to hard rock bet and I will see you guys live or you guys will hear me live from Daytona on Thursday and I'll be on TV with Colin at about 90 minutes talk to you guys then what's right this is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human