Ego Trippin

El primero de mayo. Hello and welcome to the The Sandy Podcast. I am your host, Sandy Zemey Jr. Follow me on Blue Sky at The Sandy. That's T-H-E-E-S-A-M-D. Subscribe and rate the podcast. Five stars, nonetheless, tell a friend.

Podcast available on all major podcasts and platforms. join the youtube community subscribe link is in the podcast description for all content audio and visual hit up the samd.com musical production done by may 1st music support him at soundcloud.com slash may 1st music two of the top four teams who spent the most in free agency this offseason are meeting in the Super Bowl. So to all you draft gurus out there, y'all got some explaining to do. So the Seattle Seahawks take care of business at the crib against the Rams and the New England Patriots go on the road and take care of the Denver Broncos. And we get a rematch of sorts. No Malcolm Butler, no Pete Carroll, no Marshawn Lynch. A lot of the variables from that time are gone.

But Seattle versus the Patriots, that is your Super Bowl. And as an employee of the company that is going to be broadcasting the Super Bowl, I am very happy that there will be no Jared Stidham. None of that storyline. None of that nonsense, bro. None of that we have in the Super Bowl. Bro, they were putting his wife on camera. When's the last time a backup QB's wife was put on camera?

Weird. Super weird. I mean, just the fact that they were trying to sell us on the fact that there was this huge, huge bidding war for Jared Stidham only for him to go out there and look the way that he did. These people really, really do not know ball. But let's get into these games. I'm not going to break them down game by game. I just want to talk about them as a collective and just have a free flowing conversation about both games.

What I saw with Seattle, what I saw with the Rams, and even what I saw with the Patriots were teams that were not afraid to run the ball. Regardless of the varying degrees of success they had running the ball, they were committed to running the ball. The only team that was not trying to run the ball was the Denver Broncos. And I think that was a team that needed to try to run the ball the most. And that's why I think those teams, that team, Denver Broncos are going home because I think the ego of Sean Payton got in the way of the Broncos, you know, surviving and advancing, surviving the loss of Bo Nix, putting in Jared Stidham and getting to the Super Bowl. I think Sean Payne's ego got in the way because 31 passing attempts for Jared Stidham, 31 with no true number one wide receiver. Coilin Sutton's cool.

Mims is all right. They got some pieces, but they don't have a dude. So when you don't have a dude, you got to scheme it open. And there were multiple times where dudes were free. So the scheme worked to a certain degree and Stidham just missed them. And therein lies the difference. So instead of living the live and die with my quarterback, regardless, because I'm sure Peyton and I have that ego.

He should have went to the run of game. I think Harvey only had 12 carries. I think they might have had like 16, 17 carries overall. You're at the crib. You need to maximize your possessions and limit the other team's possessions and 31 dropbacks for Jared Stidham. That was piss poor philosophy, piss poor scheming and piss poor execution, I think, by Sean Payton. Sean Payton's getting about 20 M's a year, allegedly, to be out there in Denver as the head of everything.

Right. He's the guy. He's a big time celeb coach that that brought in and they entrusted because of the pedigree, the acumen, you know, won the Super Bowl back in the day. He had Drew Brees turn that whole thing and Nola around. But this was the opportunity to really prove that you're on the level. You're on the level of the dudes in the NFC. You're on the level of a McVay.

You're on the level of a Shanahan. You're one of those gurus for real, for real. And he just did not, I think, step up to the plate. And if you're going to entrust your team's success to Jared Stidham dropping back 31 times, that to me is a problem. That to me is a problem. And you can trust your scheme all you want. But when Drake May is on the other side and he's only throwing the ball 21 times.

And Stevenson running the ball 20 plus times. The Patriots knew what it was against that defense on the road. Hostile environment. A lot of pressure. We are going to run the ball. We're going to squeeze the life out of the rock. And hopefully in doing so successfully out of this crowd.

and that's what they were able to do you know the elements sure helped it was windy as hell with crosswind the snow came in it was a really important factor in the second half but for me it was more telling that Sean Payton really didn't think it was that much of a drop-off in terms of philosophy and execution and play calling going from Bo Nix to Jared Stidham that to me is the most telling thing from that entire game like oh you really thought you could get Jared Stidham to the Super Bowl you really thought you could do a Jeff Hostetler you really thought you could do a Nick Foles you really thought you could be the next one in line to get a backup QB to a Super Bowl and I think that was piss poor I think that was really tricking it off in a major way and I think they smoked that layup I think the Patriots were very beatable especially the way that Drake May looked Drake May did not look good there's gonna be a lot of people a lot of people that are gonna I'd be hyping up the whole Drake May thing and salute to them. But for me, I did not see anything that made me think, okay, yeah, he's really a franchise QB. Now, he was doing his best Josh Allen impression by running and scrambling and stuff like that, and that's fine that he has that in his game, but I did not see anything. Certainly from a vertical pass game standpoint that made me think, okay, yeah, they really found the guy. I think he just happens to be a good enough guy. And much like we have on the other side with Seattle, They have a good enough guy where they had a good enough guy in Gino the last few years, and then they moved on from Gino. And now they have another good enough guy in Sam Darnold.

Sam Darnold went from seeing Ghost at MetLife on Monday Night Football against the Patriots. Not the same exact players on the Patriots, but the same team. Now he's going to be going up against them for a Lombardi. And as much as we wanted to clown Sam Darnold, and deservedly so, he didn't play well when he was in New York. But it just goes to show it really sometimes we put a lot of pressure on these quarterbacks and we need them to be the guy. We're drafting you high. You have to be him.

Most of the time, these guys are not really him. You still need to build the pieces around them, whether they're him or not, to help them. Even Patrick Mahomes needs help. Even Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow. They need help. And certainly a Sam Darnold needs help. And certainly a Drake May needs help.

And with these two teams, number one and number four, overall in offseason spending, that just goes to show that they believe that. Yeah, we got Sam Darnold, but guess what? We still going to go out here and go get a boatload of players on both sides of the ball and try to revamp this thing. McDonald has done a really good job of implementing his scheme, bringing it over from Baltimore and finding some pieces, finding some Cal Hamilton replacements, finding some Roquan Smith replacements, and just kind of building that skin to front line. I think it's way better than what he ever had in Baltimore, in Seattle. So he has brought that philosophy, and he has also gotten to that front office and let them know, hey, this is what I need in terms of personnel. And they have gone out and gotten those players.

And we can look at how the Patriots have been built. Let's not sleep. Yes, they spent a lot of bread. And Mike Vrabel was very influential in getting free agents to go to New England. But some of those players were also there with Belichick. And the philosophy is not that different in regards from Vrabel to Belichick. So ultimately, these teams are evenly matched.

These teams are evenly matched defensively. I think offensively is night and day. Offensively, I mean, you could walk out there regardless of who you have at QB. And you have JSN who is now entering the conversation. I did the top 10 wide receivers, and JSN wasn't on that list amongst a consensus of six of us, I believe. JSN was not on that list. I think he got a couple of votes, but not enough to even crack the top 10.

That's going to be different next year. That's going to be extremely different next year. You have a dude. The Rams offense, they actually have two dudes. I think Kenneth Walker is a dude. He's unheralded. He's not mentioned when it comes to upper echelon backs, but I think he's a guy, again, as the running back position keeps being diminished, even though the teams that are running the ball are getting into the end zone and are winning a lot of games, the running back position is being diminished.

Kenneth Walker is a dude. Now, because this is still a passing league and the quarterback is a glamour position, the most expensive position on the field most times, you still need a receiver because the receiver is a quarterback's best friend. So JSN is the biggest dude on that offense, but Kenneth Walker is a very important, probably the second most important, even more important is Sam Darnold to me on that Seahawks offense. So let's get back to Sean Payne real quick. Running that ball right in those conditions as CBS was trying to, you know, do some things virtually to show you where the hash marks are, where the line of scrimmage is. And they were doing a lot of trickeration virtually to try to, you know, get through the white snow on that very, very pale green grass out there in Denver. I've worked that field.

That field, it looks great the night before. But when you show up on game day, something happens when people get onto that field. It loses color very quickly. And that showed up. That showed up on television for the whole world to see yesterday. So there's a lot that goes into these games, man. Sean Payton didn't run the ball.

And it was the few times he did run the ball. I kept trying to figure out. This was more so in the second half, especially. He kept doing outside scrimmage plays, like outside of the tackle box in those conditions where players were slipping. You kept trying to catch people off guard with the stretch running game. And while that may be part of his philosophy, I think you also need to adjust to your surroundings and adjust to what's in front of you. And I think ultimately that's a part of what caused him the game is that the runs he was trying to do were not successful.

But I think the orientation where those runs were schemed to go from, I think, was problematic. So the Sean Payton thing to me, you did it with Drew Brees. You did the onside kick. You are forever seared into this current generation's mind, right? But what have you actually done? You had the Russell Wilson thing. That crashed and burned.

They gave you a boatload of money, allegedly 100 M's. And what have you shown for it? Like, this was your opportunity to show that you can coach any quarterback. I mean, you look at the quarterbacks that Kyle Shanahan has taken and has won and won deep into the playoffs with, and then you look at what Sean Payton has been gifted. I mean, yeah, you may taste in Hill a thing, but outside of that, what reclamation projects has Sean Payton had success with? The only one is Drew Brees, and he only was gifted Drew Brees because the Miami Dolphins didn't want to pay the bread because of the shoulder injury that Drew Brees had. So a lot of people's legacy sometimes is very fortuitous, and I think Sean Payton is one of those.

I am not the biggest Sean Payton guy. I have never been the biggest Sean Payton guy. I'm really not a big-time believer in that. But, you know, if you're the Broncos, you have to feel a way. You lose 10-7. It's not the defensive fault. the roster isn't the isn't the isn't built with weapons in mind they're more scheme than weapons and you can see that in how the roster is constructed certain rosters certain organizations you can see are they about scheme are they about talent eagles clearly about talent doesn't even matter who the oc is clearly they think they can get it done with just having 11 dudes across the board that are better than your 11 that's how they try to get it done.

Other teams are going to try to scheme you to death. My coach is smarter than your coach, and that's going to give us the edge. And then the better teams, the good teams, marry the two, where McDonald in Seattle has a scheme, but he also has the players that can execute that scheme. And when the scheme breaks down, they can still freestyle and make plays. And then you look at the Patriots, I think they're close to that Seattle level, certainly defensively, not offensively. Offensively, they do not have the weapons. I mean, you look at what Drake May is out there with.

I think Stephon Diggs is still a very good receiver. He's not a number one no more. Booty, I mean, dog. It's in the name. I mean, we're not about to do that. So, you know, they're out here with Mack Hollins trying to get it done. So it's ultimately what the Patriots are doing is just going to rely on Josh McDaniels.

Josh McDaniels, can you out scheme the other side? Can you out scheme the other side? Ramondre Stevenson, run him heavy. How many carries he had? Let me check out the screen here real quick. So pull this up. Stevens, Drake made 21 dropbacks.

Stevens had 25 carries. 25 carries. Three yards a pop, but still. 25 carries. Establishing a run, especially in that weather. And a lot of that was in the second half. So again, once you realize that the conditions are worsening, Footing is being lost.

And the Patriots were not afraid to run the ball and run that ball up the middle. Up the middle. So, again, adjusting to your surroundings. Being there before. Not being scared of the moment. Realizing, hey, I know Drake may can light up the scoreboard because we have definitely seen him light it up. And even in his playoff run, we've seen him light it up.

But that's not going to be the way we get this dub today. That's not going to be the way that we win this game and get to a Super Bowl today is by trusting in Drake May 100%. We're trusting him not to turn the ball over, and he didn't. But we're not going to trust him to drop, to do 31 dropbacks like Jared Stidham on the other side. I'm going to keep hammering it home. Understanding your surroundings and understanding your talent. And to me, the Patriots realizing, yes, we think we got one in Drake May.

But you know what? We're not trying to prove that on Championship Sunday on the road against Denver in a snowstorm. But what we are going to do is, Ramondre Stevenson, we're going to run you 25 times and control the clock, control the line of scrimmage, and matriculate down the field. And that, to me, is where everything goes, you know. We can talk about Stephon Diggs and Butte had the most targets with six each, six targets each. like Stephon Diggs had five catches for 17 yards like the Patriots were trying to maximize their the opportunities they have with the ball and control the clock and that's that's what it should have been and the Broncos should have been doing the same thing as the team with the backup quarterback and they lost the time of possession battle and they lost it by a sizable margin Patriots had the ball for over 33 minutes while the Broncos had just under 27 minutes. That's a sizable difference when it comes to possessions.

The Patriots as a team had 65 passing yards. Drake May, who everyone's going crazy for, MVP, Kennedy, all of that stuff, 65 passing yards. But do you think Patriots fans care about that today? No, they got the dub. Do what you need to do to get the dub. in the Denver Broncos or more specifically Sean Payton did not do that and when talking about coaching we got to talk about McVay right like McVay is one of those now he's held in high regard he's given he's been given the boy genius angle he's been given the uh guru label all that type of stuff and he did it with golf got him to a Super Bowl couldn't win it but he got him there realized golf's not enough flipped him for Stafford they get a bowl they're trying to spend spin the blocking, get another one, maybe in Stafford's last ride. So McVay had a lot riding on this game because it would have, all this feeds into his ego and his legacy.

Remember, he was allegedly going to retire two seasons ago. He was supposed to go out with Aaron Donald allegedly. There was a big thing about him getting into the booth and doing the Tom Brady thing, going right into a Kush media job and being that guy in the booth because he did it all and he did it very fast and very young. But he came back, rededicated himself, and was almost close to getting to another Super Bowl. But third down conversions were what killed his offense today. And scheming, scheming is a thing where, like I talked about earlier, you're either going to out-talent dudes or going to out-scheme dudes. And the good teams try to combine the two.

With the Rams offensively, I think that's the case. Defensively, it's a very mosh posh of dudes. Like it's not a lot of, I think, dudes on the defensive side of the ball. This is a very offensive laden team. And they needed that offense to go out there against a very formidable Seattle defense and go crazy. And the yards are going to look good. Like the stats are going to look good.

People are going to keep telling you on these hot take debate shows that Stafford was great. And I mean, he played well. The numbers bear that out. But I think the lack of trying to establish the run or being creative with the run, like I didn't see a lot of dynamic stuff or schemes. Like Kieran Williams is a guy that can get you 20 carries. Like, I don't know why, you know, in a big spot, Kieran Williams only gets half of that with 10. And Blake Corum, who has some decent runs in the second half, only has nine carries.

Like, I don't I just don't understand how that fits in a schematic way of what you're trying to accomplish again, because they adjusted on Puka. They adjusted on Puka in the second half, and I was like, Devontae Adams had to step up, and he did. But it's just, I don't know. I didn't feel like, and again, it was a very close game, and it could have went either way, and the Rams certainly could have gotten it off at the end. But it was just, when they needed a dude to step up, if your dude is being eradicated for the most part, like, okay, so they put Puka in the backfield in the second half on a couple plays, a couple of different formation packages. You know, you're swapping guys out. Puka was in the backfield for a couple plays.

Much like JSN, Jackson Smith and Jigba, was in the backfield a lot for Seattle. Like, I think McVay noticed what they were doing with JSN, getting him open in the backfield. It was trying to replicate that with Puka, but it just didn't hit the same. McVay, I think, you know, it doesn't take a hit to, like, who he is or whatever, but just trying to understand that there's a lot of praise being heaped upon people. Not to say that he hasn't deserved it or whatever the case may be, but I just think ultimately having the wherewithal, if you're Seattle, to go out in free agency and go crazy and to continue to build in the draft and to have the right guy at the right time in terms of McDonald with the right scheme and then having the players to execute that scheme. Realizing that offensively, we don't need a franchise QB. We had Geno Smith.

We rode that as far as we could. Now we're going to go out. If we can do it with Geno, we can damn sure do it with Sam Darnold. I think we're going to be having a very entertaining Super Bowl. I think these two teams are evenly matched defensively. I think offensively is where the differences are going to be. I think the Seattle Seahawks should be a favorite.

They're minus four and a half. The opening line, I think it was already brought down by the time you're listening and watching this to three and a half. But Seattle and New England, I think that's the best case scenario because I damn sure was tired of Jared Stidham and the bidding war and seeing a backup QB's wife being shown in the press box or the luxury suites. I was I was off that already. That was not not a good look. You know what it is. Appreciate y'all for listening.

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