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Guaranteed Human.

And now, Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.

What's up, everybody?

Welcome to Move the Sticks, DJ Buck and our guy Baldi,

joining us here on a Monday.

Baldi, we are in December.

How fast did that just go by?

It's a blank. I mean, we always say it every year. It goes by faster and faster. But we're, you know, week 13 is in the books practically. And December 1st, the stretch run has begun, like, it feels like it just started. And here we are in the stretch run. Were you ever on teams where you felt like you guys had a gear you could tap into when you got to this point in the season? Like there was another gear. I think some of these veteran teams and all of a sudden it looks like they're kind of flipping the switch a little bit. Yeah. No, I did. I played on team in Philly that was like that. Like we had a good playoff run in 92, but we were led by a great defense. But I felt like we got to the point we could run the ball against anybody. We won the division that year. Cowboys, you know, knocked us out in the playoffs, but I felt like we were ready for playoff football. It was just, you know, we just ran into a better team in the playoffs. But we took care of the Saints in playoffs. Like I I felt like we were, we could have made a good deep run if it wasn't for the Cowboys being so good. Yeah, it was a dominant cowboy team. Well, let's, let's jump into some of these games. Let's start with the Sunday nighter. Speaking of a team that couldn't make a deep playoff run, Denver, man, Washington, And not healthy, no Jaden Daniels, but Marcus Mariotta and company came in there and gave them a heck of a ball game last night.

They did. They did. And, you know, they had a chance. They had a chance, you know, wags, you know, with an interception. And Marcus made plays with, you know, just, you know, like I think we always thought he could. He hasn't done it for long stretches. But, I mean, extending plays, getting the ball to McLaren, looking at McLaren healthy and what a difference he makes. That was a great matchup. Him and Patrick Sartan, both of them out there healthy for the first time and a long time. That was a good matchup. But, I mean, look, you know, I don't blame Dan Quinn for going for two at the end right

there. Go for two. Go for the win. You know, you're sitting there, you know, at the bottom of the NFC right now. Go for the win, knock off a team that's the hottest team in the league. And, you know, they just didn't, I mean, it was a good play call. It was wide open. Yeah. Good play call. I mean, he's bring the will linebacker and Menino comes free.

And, you know, you got,

you got McNacles out there in the flat.

It's probably going to be a two-point conversion if you get the ball over Benito's head. So it came down to the final play. I mean, they played as hard as they could, I thought, in that game. It was two teams that played the game the right way, played really hard.

Yeah, I mean, the conversions that they had late in that ball game, I mean, pressure, pressure conversions. I mean, they had third and 25 or second in 25 and, you know, they responded. They found a way. And then, you know, to me, Mario, one of the things about him underrated, just, I forget how strong he is, man. Like, because he, you think of him in Oregon. You thought he's kind of a narrow, linear guy. But, man, his ability to get that ball off when he's got two guys draped over him, end up getting a pass interference penalty, extends the game. I mean, really kind of kept the game alive for him. I thought he played great. We were talking on the on the phone this morning, Baldy about Matt, I look at a guy like Marioota. If you wanted to

screw. live for him. I thought he played great. We were talking on the phone this morning, Baldy, about Matt, I look at a guy like Marioita. If you wanted to script a perfect backup quarterback, like the different criteria. First of all, let's start with you got to be a great teammate because you're going to have to support your starter. He's by all counts, an unbelievable team. I know about any of that stuff. Unbelievable guy. And then can he give us, can, you know, if he has to play for two, three, four weeks, can he get us through a month of the season? Maybe give us a 500, you know, type month there. And he's more than capable of doing that. He was making plays on schedule, made some plays off schedule. I mean, I think if you, if you extend this thing out over the full season with Mario, maybe it starts, the warts start to show a little bit. But to me, he's like the perfect backup. And I was thinking about how ironic it was. You remember he came into the league, Marioita versus James Winston. And that was the thing. Yeah, no. These guys competed on like the PGA tour. And now they're like in the senior tour. Now they're like the two backup guys. And they're both in their own ways. I think they're both like ideal type backup quarterbacks. And I think, you know, with Cliff, Cliff's system in Washington, you know, I mean, just being a threat, a run threat, you know, spreading you out, do the things that he asked his quarterbacks to do Jaden to do. Like, he could do a lot of those things extending the plays.

But I thought he was really accurate, too, with the ball. And I thought that was always one of his issues. But I thought he made a lot of big-time throws to Zach hurts. I mean, they dropped some pauls, too. That I think it really helps them. Yeah. You know, I mean, that could have really swung that game.

But, you know, that's a hot team.

That's a good defense.

It's a great defense.

And to be able to move the ball. It really helps them. Yeah. You know, I mean, that could have really swung that game. But, you know, that's a hot team.

That's a good defense. It's a great defense. And to be able to move the ball like that and come back and to, you know, make that an overtime game like that, that was, you know, it just shows you like, you know, I mean, despite the record and all that kind of stuff, those kids played hard, man. Yeah, Dan Quinn, he's got a good culture there.

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