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00:00Live from Radio Row, SportsGrid's coverage of Super Bowl 59, Joe Lisi joined by two-time
00:11Super Bowl champ Logan Ryan.
00:14Logan, great atmosphere here in New Orleans, and more importantly, a great game on Sunday.
00:19Yeah, absolutely.
00:20Look, I was in last year's Super Bowl with the Niners against East Chiefs, so I'm rooting
00:25for the Eagles in this one, right?
00:26That one still hurts.
00:28But New Orleans is doing a great job, everything is really secure, tons of police and everything.
00:35It just seems like people are getting around okay, so I think they're doing a great job
00:37hosting it.
00:38When you look at that game last year, you mentioned you were part of the 49ers, and
00:41the game goes to overtime, and your defense really stepped up at every given moment, especially
00:46in the first half.
00:47What makes Pat Mahomes Pat Mahomes, right?
00:50When the game is on the line, people talk about that it factor.
00:53Do you see that in terms of the Chiefs being as dominant as they were even last year and
00:57this year, as opposed to when they were a few years ago, maybe with Tyree Kill and the
01:02crew?
01:03Yeah, you kind of mentioned it.
01:04I think they're dominant these past few years without the amount of talent they had when
01:08they had Tyree Kill.
01:09They're less talented than they were, but they're still finding ways to win, and I think
01:12that Andy Reid and Spagnola and Mahomes do a great job of all game analyzing what's happening,
01:21making adjustments to play the perfect fourth quarter.
01:25They're the best fourth quarter team in football, because no matter how the first half goes,
01:28they have a play they haven't ran yet.
01:30They have a blitz Spagnola might save until the fourth quarter to get off the field.
01:34They do really good in the fourth quarter of scoring or converting those first downs
01:37to ice the game, and defensively, do a good job of getting your offense off the field
01:42like they did to us in overtime, and like they did all these playoffs of kind of winning,
01:47beating the Bills in that fourth quarter.
01:49Right, absolutely, and even Philadelphia, they put up 35 points a couple years ago.
01:53Jalen Hurts plays lights out.
01:55I think you can make the argument personnel-wise that Philly has better personnel at every
02:00level.
02:01Do you see that as well in regards to this matchup?
02:04Philly has the better team, no doubt.
02:06I mean, the Chiefs have the better quarterback.
02:08I would say that.
02:09The Chiefs have the better coaching staff, and that's hard to beat when they have that,
02:12right, and they have the better tight end, but other than that, you've got to give almost
02:15everything to the Eagles, right?
02:16The better secondary overall, I like McDuffie, but the better secondary overall is the Eagles,
02:21and same with the front seven, you know?
02:23But those guys in Kansas City, they're not the biggest name players, but they do their
02:28job really well, similar to how the New England Patriots used to do.
02:30They do their job really well, they understand what it is, and even if you put up 35 points,
02:35I want to know how much the Eagles score in the fourth quarter of that Super Bowl like
02:38we talk about, because the Chiefs just find a way to get that stop, and then you put the
02:42ball in Mahomes' hands behind, he finds a way to go come back and win the game, or if
02:45he has the lead, he finds a way to not give you the ball back.
02:49People have said that if Mahomes does win his fourth, right, that he would be the best,
02:54or modern day, right?
02:55And I push back and say, well, the greatest is Tom Brady, that's one-seven.
03:00What is your opinion in terms of that breakdown?
03:02If Mahomes wins his fourth, would you say he's the best modern day quarterback that
03:07we've seen?
03:08Well, I don't know about when's modern day start, right?
03:10I guess that's the word.
03:11No, he's not better than Tom Brady until he has more rings than Tom Brady, in my opinion.
03:15Is he on pace?
03:16Yes, he's on pace.
03:17Is going to five Super Bowls in seven years unheard of right away?
03:21Absolutely.
03:22But to say he's the best because he got his fourth, Tom Brady has seven, and he lost a
03:26head-to-head to Tom Brady, so I don't put him ahead of Tom Brady, and I have a lot of
03:31Tom Brady bias there.
03:32I got a couple of Super Bowls for the Tom Brady in my answer, but no, he's not ahead
03:35of Tom Brady.
03:36Playing in the Super Bowl, right, the weeks of preparation, is there anything that's a
03:40little bit different than the regular season, just in terms of the way maybe you might prep,
03:45pre-game rituals, anything in that sort?
03:49Everything's different, in terms of you have to bring all your family out, and you have
03:52to deal with the tickets and logistical nightmare of getting 15, 20, 10 family members in town,
03:58everyone's so excited, your phone's blowing up, your third grade gym teacher's got to
04:03text you how you knew you would make it, you got to talk to people you haven't talked to
04:06or not, right?
04:07So you become the face of everyone you know, you become their life story for these two
04:15weeks, and then obviously you have to deal with media every day, you have to practice
04:18a lot more.
04:19So everything is different, and the game itself is different.
04:22The TV timeouts are longer, there's more TV timeouts, every timeout is a three minute
04:26timeout, because they got to get commercials in.
04:28Halftime is 30 minutes, as opposed to seven, so everything about the game, the rhythm's
04:32different, so everything about the game is different, it's literally about just trying
04:36to play a good play after a good play, because there's so much more stoppage in play than
04:39you're used to.
04:41When you look back on your Super Bowl moments, what stands out for you?
04:46What's the most memorable to you, in terms of the Super Bowl?
04:50I mean, I played in the two greatest Super Bowls of all time, in my opinion.
04:54My first one was in 2014, the Malcolm Butler, fourth and one, or not fourth and one, but
04:59the pick on the one yard line to change the fate, I mean we probably had a 99% chance
05:03of losing, so a 99% chance of winning in one play, and then the next one was a 20-3 comeback,
05:10best overtime ever, largest comeback in Super Bowl history, so anything can happen in the
05:14Super Bowl, like I said, the rhythm's different than normal, so you see some crazy plays,
05:19you see some crazy games, a lot of times you hope they come down to the wire, and then
05:22I was in an overtime loss last year.
05:25So I mean, the Super Bowl to me were memorable games, I came out on top a couple times, and
05:29I knew going into the game, win or lose, there's no draw, win or lose, my life's going to change
05:34after this.
05:35Absolutely, you're right, I mean that's the biggest thing, right?
05:38You go from just a Super Bowl champion to the other side, and you've experienced both
05:43of those, so that's great insight.
05:46I do want to ask you about how the game has transitioned, because back in the day, and
05:50you can look back to when Pat Mahomes threw 50 touchdown passes, and even Tom, right,
05:55with Randy Moss, in terms of that 16-0 perfect regular season, everybody talks about the
06:01two high safeties, right, you can't throw over the top.
06:05Is that really the reason why we're not seeing the explosive chunk plays, maybe potentially
06:09week to week, in terms of the passing game?
06:12Because I'll push back to you and say, okay, you're playing two high safeties, why don't
06:15we see more dig routes over the middle?
06:18Why don't we see a Texas route with running backs coming over the middle to really force
06:21those safeties up?
06:23I mean, is that the real reason, or is it more quarterback play?
06:27You know, it's a really good question, and there's a lot of reasons, like the Eagles
06:29have a lot of explosive offense running the ball.
06:31They're averaging a lot of points, they put a 55 in a championship game, that's never
06:35been done before.
06:36So the Eagles are finding a way to do it the run game, right?
06:38I think what's happening is, the infusion of 7-on-7 football, these kids, these receivers
06:43and DBs, these linebackers, Fred Warner's the best linebacker in football.
06:47You know what he played in college?
06:49He played nickelback.
06:50He was a DB.
06:51So the dig routes aren't getting caught because the linebackers are more athletic in coverage.
06:56It's not, no offense, the Dante Hightowers and Brandon Spikes that I played with ten
07:02years ago.
07:03So everyone's more athletic, the corners are better, so everyone can cover a little better,
07:07and receivers are better.
07:08So I just think it's allowing people to cover the pass game a little bit better, and I think
07:13the teams that ran the ball this year had success.
07:16I think it's going back.
07:18Players are smaller and faster, maybe taller and faster than they've ever been, but they're
07:21not as bulky as they were.
07:23But that's why the run game is working.
07:26That's why the running back is not dead.
07:27That's why Derrick Henry almost rushed for 2,000, and Saquon rushed for 2,000.
07:31You can run the ball on people because people are built more for speed, and I think that's
07:35what the Eagles realize.
07:36That's what they do.
07:37They're a great offensive line.
07:38They run the ball.
07:39But I think that's why you're not seeing the explosive passes because the DBs are better,
07:41the linebackers are better in coverage than they've ever been.
07:44And you brought up Derrick Henry and obviously Saquon Barkley, a standout, the cherry on
07:48top for Philadelphia, most dominant rushing attack in the NFL.
07:53Are we seeing a transition back to the elite running back where maybe teams would value
07:58just, oh, we'll pick up a sixth or a seventh round selection to fill a void we could always
08:03produce as long as the offensive line opens up holes?
08:06Are you seeing maybe teams going back to the elite running back, Josh Jacobs, Derrick Henry,
08:11even Jameer Gibbs now with Detroit?
08:14Yeah.
08:15So I look at football really simply.
08:17We should have never devalued the running back.
08:19You go to Little League, any age, one of your best players plays running back when you're
08:23in the middle.
08:24Now it's the quarterback.
08:25Your best player's going to be the quarterback.
08:26And then your second best player's probably going to be the running back on any team.
08:28From Little League to high school, on a good team.
08:31So I say, yes, if you have Mahomes that quarterback, if you have Brady that quarterback, you might
08:39not need the number one running back in the league because that guy's going to touch the
08:43ball.
08:44That guy's going to win you the game.
08:45If you don't have a Hall of Fame quarterback, if you don't have a Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson,
08:48Josh Allen, Mahomes, go get you a Hall of Fame running back.
08:53One of those two players that touched the ball every play needs to be special because
08:57defensively if they're both not, you're going to lick your chops.
09:01If it's just one of them or whatnot, then it's easy to game plan against.
09:04Okay, we're playing the Eagles, Saquon Barkley.
09:07Guess what we're going to do?
09:08Everything in our power to take away Saquon Barkley because he demands that respect.
09:12Eight man boxes, we're going to blitz him.
09:14That makes the pass game so simple for Jalen Hurts because Saquon Barkley draws that attention.
09:18One of those two guys need to be special in that backfield.
09:20I have to ask you this.
09:22Your former coach, Bill Belichick, trying to do it at North Carolina now.
09:26Thoughts about that because Thomas talked out about it, Elderman, and some of the other
09:30guys said at first, he can't do it, but he's dating younger now, so maybe that could be
09:37it, right?
09:38I actually saw him this morning.
09:39I saw him this morning.
09:41He had his UNC shirt on, a cut sweatshirt.
09:43He was sweating.
09:44He was on a treadmill earlier.
09:46We talk a lot about coverage.
09:48He's coaching at UNC this year.
09:49He's got some interesting coverages.
09:50He's going to bring the college football.
09:52So it's happening.
09:53It's going down.
09:54It's a real thing.
09:55Great stuff from Logan Ryan.