the reality, that the defending Super Bowl, champions have now,
officially been eliminated from the 2022 playoffs.
This is the reality that we're in, and this is where we're at.
There's a lot of things that when you look at it, especially
when you get a chance to step back after the season's over,
I how do we try to avoid some of these things?
My job is to focus on, let's finish up the season,
you know, with the right competitive spirit with
the mindset of mentality, that's reflective of who those Guys
are in the locker room and who those coaches are and and
that's what we'll do. But
there's been a lot of
things that I've kind of thought about. You know, that,
I think you can make sense of why you've gotten here,
but it still doesn't make it any easier and it's very
humbling season, for sure.
We're Tom coming up to for the LA Rams because Liam Cohen,
the offensive coordinator. Yeah, there's a weird reportedly
going to the University of Kentucky for the same job,
right? Mean
all due respect to the University of Kentucky.
Say this about West Virginia University as well
you go from NFL franchise offensive coordinator to
mid-level college program. Same job.
Something's weird about that
sighs. What? Now
maybe he actually will be the offensive coordinator Kentucky
because that was the first thing for the rabbits, not
right. But right but it didn't hurt. Kevin O'Connell. No
I hear you, I hear you some guys like that college atmosphere
better and and let's not forget to Mike
even like schools like
Kentucky that are okay, you know, High mid level program
SEC team, they can pay a lot of money, they can.
I mean even for an offensive coordinator job and I don't
know, I don't know what he's being paid, I have no idea but
like you said, he's kind of a de facto offensive coordinator,
not the guy in control so
it is a little interesting, you're right?
And the Rams has
it's an incredible story. As usual, you've hit on an all
year. I mean, even last night watching the game, it's there.
A shell of the team they were last year.
I mean, there's just
Only if you guys even on the field that you went all the way
they were, that guy was on the Super Bowl team on the field.
When they beat the Bangles last year.
I mean, ravaged by injuries to key players lost players. We
talked about in free agency before the year and then it's
a team that doesn't have great depth and depends on their
stars
and their three biggest stars.
Haven't been out there,
you know, the majority of the Year Stafford Cooper cup, Aaron
Donald here down the stretch. I mean, they've dealt with it
all. We're van Jefferson in and out of the line and out. One
Robinson gone and didn't perform to the level they
thought,
you know? So that's where it really is amazing.
You know I know we've talked about it a lot but we've never
seen a team fall this fast after the Super Bowl and a non
strike year
and
they they played hard last night but there's just lack of
Talent
on the field for them to get it done.
The Rams were eliminated from the playoffs the earliest
sensor, ties the Broncos. 1999 as the quickest elimination of
a defending Super Bowl champion. I'm surprised they
weren't officially eliminated earlier as poorly as they've
been playing.
I thought that it was Bubby brister who was the starting
quarterback of the 1990s. It was greasy right Broncos. It
was greasy for 13 games and Chris Miller. Yeah. For three
games in 1999 but that that's postel way.
So you expected to drop ya from the Broncos, you expected them
to take a huge step back. We In expect this from the Rams. This
was run it back. This was Hagar and Donald, are you in? If
you're in yeah
I'm in right. Let's run it back, right? Let's go get
another one. I think if Aaron Donald had known
This is how the season was going to go, he would have
retired he was he was so close to doing so. Anyway. Now again,
you have to throw in the fact that he made a nice
little pile of money last year. And we'll make a nice pile of
money in 2023, but McVeigh
I suspect that that, that Bezos money
looking pretty good. In hindsight, the Herbstreit spot.
And I think it's Peter King, who has not ruled out
the possibility of McVeigh still saying I'm out and assuming
that
One of the networks will
find a spot for hmm, with one of those
big money,
you know, Romo, Aikman type deals and maybe they just wedge
him into the booth without Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit.
I don't know. But
but anyway, you have to wonder what mcveigh's thinking about
the future.
You have to wonder whether in Donald's thinking about
the future, you have to wonder whether or not the Rams believe
as an organization, they can dig out of this hole and maybe
they can do the whole everyone doubts us now. Nobody thinks
you're any good. Good,
nobody respects us, FM picks whatever the case may be, but
this is a problem FM picks, his come home to roost, you got
your Lombardi Championship but the bill
came quickly, the bill was significant.
The interest is compounding daily.
And, you know, where's all your young talented players there?
On other teams. Where's that first round pick that you would
have had for this bad season? You had, it's in Detroit as
the Lions
established themselves as potential.
Adding don't want to say Dynasty first you gotta win
a playoff game but you know what I mean. Yeah I got that's
the problem. Yeah they're going to have. They're going to have
there's a chance. The Rams are going to have a hard time
digging out of this Hall and Sean McVeigh is going to have
to ask himself. Do I want to be the one with the shovel? Yeah.
Listen. I don't disagree with you there.
You gotta you know,
and aging star in there and Donald. And yeah you question
about how much longer does he want to go Matthew Stafford?
Even though he's in his mid-30s, it's an old mid 30s or
how he's been beat up there if they've extended themselves.
Elves when
money there Cooper cup. Okay, there's a lot of money there
but he's still in the prime of his career, they got a lot of
money tied up to Jalen Ramsey,
he's not the same top five Corner that we've seen
and always still a really good player. He's one of those guys
that kind of look at that. I wouldn't be shocked if he makes
that like Charles Woodson moved safety, a little bitter, like
Rod Woodson did here at some point in his career
and he's awesome at that.
But yeah, between that other players who have left and then
all the things you're talking about, Mike. I mean it was very
thin to begin with the one thing I'll say about them is
just you know and I
you know, I know, you know, I know them a little bit of known
them for a while that crew out there, they are Fighters that
they are
just McVeigh Raheem Morris
that crew. They're they're not going to go down easy and
I can't speak to the Amazon stuff for the TV stuff, but I just
know that they will go back to the drawing board and the one
thing they have shown us is they will work and they will
be aggressive in their tactics
to rebuild their team.
It It's just going to be Mike to like your point. Do they
have enough assets and things to actually rebuild it here and
fill in some of these spots in the offseason and that's going
to I think to me the interesting thing
it's kind of going to be a,
you know
a line of demarcation as far as teams and state case study is
like do we ever want to go the Rams route? Because like you're
talking about it's it's come home to roost here
and let's see if they can kind of,
you know, handle this situation to where they can get a second
grasper. Second breath of fresh air and still be competitive in
the next few years.
I think there's something to be said for being strategically
and carefully aggressive. Yeah. But when you just go all in,
you don't think that was the failure. Trait mean, look at
the Von Miller. True? Yeah, look what they gave. All right
for half a season with on man. It's crazy. They got
they got the Super Bowl out of it. Yeah. But there's a point
where you're doing too much and it's their own fault that they
had to offload, Jared Goff and maybe they shouldn't have. Of
in hindsight. When you look at what?
Jared? God's doing with the Lions?
Maybe they should have just tried to fix him
instead of getting desperate and saying this guy is never
going to get us over the hump. Let's give up two first-round
picks and a third round pick
to get Matthew Stafford and throw Jared Goff into it because
we're treating him like an old piece of furniture that we
can't wait to get rid of. Maybe they should have thought about
trying to fix him in lieu of giving up two first round picks
in the third round pick That Could Have Become
Players. I don't know, I don't know. I'm just saying
these are thoughts that they're going to have and there's
nothing I can do about it now, but other teams, as you said,
can learn from it. How far do we push it? When the window is
open to win a Super Bowl?
How aggressively
do we try to win that year?
And how much are we willing to tie our hands
next year and maybe the next year and maybe the next year
because the memories of those Super Bowl championships will fade
very quickly. Even if you
Have six of them.
There's a shelf life. Well, yeah. For people start looking
at you differently if your team becomes average to below
average. Well. Yeah, right. You're exactly. I mean, you
have to win a bunch of them. I think, when you fall off that
quickly right there to,
you know, at least soften the blow there, but
I mean my kids. It's a big quad, not sure that's gonna
I know. I'm not sure that's gonna fly. You're right? They want to
fire Bill. Belichick in New England already. They're
already ready to throw them out the door there. So you're
right. There's there, you're right. Doesn't matter anymore.
I've given up.
Now what you've done for 20 years and be the greatest coach
of all time and then you missed the playoffs for one year and
they're going and then you went back to it and they want to
fire the guy but no.
I mean on a serious note, though, seriously.
Like I really the Rams. I mean you know
Aikman and buck. They showed a graphic I believe it was
towards the end of the game, right? As far as like right now
available salary cap space for the Rams.
I mean again I know it's still
the 2022 season and there's going to be moves made.
No matter what to open up, money, but
it's a low number. I mean, did I see it, right? It was at what
66 million, something like that, as far as available cap
space. So
they're going to have to make some
Monumental moves. I would think and probably
release a few guys that they don't want to
down. You know when it comes to it and that's where I am
interested to see their tactics and how they go about this.
Well well what did they do after they won the Super Bowl
and they're drinking some
Matthew Stafford's big-ass bottle of
1942,
pay. Everybody everyone Aaron Donald big contract Cooper cup
VidCon after you Stafford, big contract, going into
the season. There was a sense, Jalen Ramsey was like,
where's mine? And why not, you're paying, everybody else
that got you to the top of the mountain, where's my new
contract? And now we're going to have to do is
slash-and-burn. They're going to have to find, guys, they can
dump.
They're gonna have to find, guys, they can trade. They're
gonna have to find, guys. They can go to and say, hey, you
know what you were? Playing great last year. Now you're
not, we want you to restructure your contract. So
that's what they're going to have to do.
And maybe the team that said, FM picks is going to be looking
for ways to stockpile picks this year
and and move some veterans to other teams that
that would value them. It's
they really have to go back to the drawing board and the good
news is they're going to have extra time to do it. One of
the excuses because it was a couple of weeks ago where I felt like
the Rams were shifting into
Excuse making mode. Yeah, one of the excuses was
our season lasted so long
that it was not a whole lot of time to turn it around with
the turnover on the coaching staff with Kevin O'Connell gone.
You know, Matthew Stafford, not able to participate in
the offseason program because of his elbow, we just didn't have
a full opportunity to get ready for the season. Well now you do
that, excuse is gone for 20 23 but they got a lot of work to
do Chris.
They got a lot of work to do. They got a lot of
soul-searching. Do the one thing that they know is it Stan
kroenke will give them
Ever money. They need
budget isn't an issue. The issue is cap
and the issue is draft picks.
And how do we maybe get more of them?
Because we have given up so many
to build the team that won a Super Bowl. That is going to be
one year in the rearview mirror coming up here in the middle of
family.
You know. And again, just sitting here kind of looking at
their salary cap situation. I mean, they're, they're really
tied to a lot of players. They're in a tough spot there.
They can't get rid of. I mean, of course, they don't want to
get rid of Cooper cup.
But you know, the Aaron Donald situation, Jalen Ramsey,
Leonard Floyd Matthew Stafford Allen, Robinson Joseph,
Noteboom
Rob having Stein who hasn't played well this year,
he got a new contract,
I know, and they and he's got it net for next year. It's
going to be 20 million dead cap. I mean they got
they got no wiggle room with some of these high priced,
guys, that's where it's going to be fascinating, and they're
stuck with those names, I just said there
Al And Robinson is average as it looked. It's 26 million
dollars in dead money. Next year, he going to be back on
the Rams. He's not going anywhere.
So you're right. We know they got the cash but
cash can buy them out of this one
and that's where it's going to have to be back to the drawing
board stockpile draft picks, low-level free agents that they
find, you know, diamond in the haystack that type of stuff to
rebuild their team.
Diamond diamond, a haystack baby flag that 1738
a.m. eastern December 20 think it's an old one. I think we've
used that before. I think it's I'm in a haystack I think so.
Maybe one that's become deliberate. A deliberate, see
it kind of coming out and I knew I was going to say at
the wrong way and I just went with it. It wasn't yeah it
wasn't like I feel like I've said that one before.
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