Go Long

Logic points to a Denver Broncos win. They’re the team that’s rested, the team coached by a Super Bowl champ with two weeks to prepare. Playing one mile above sea level is a challenge itself. Let alone when your roster is still banged up.

Logic, however, often does not apply to Josh Allen.

Bills-Broncos kicks off the divisional round of the NFL playoffs this Saturday.

Here on “Real Football,” we take a close look at the matchup. Jon Scott of WGRZ-TV subs in for Jim Monos this week. We get into everything…

* Josh Allen’s toughness. It’s the trait nobody discusses nearly enough, but it’s infectious.

* Is this Keon Coleman’s shining moment?

* The D made the play in the moment at Jacksonville. Can Sean McDermott’s unit do it again?

* Brandon Beane’s roster construction. We explored ahead of the postseason. The firepower at receiver is lacking, but the Bills GM evolved the offense for a road trip like this one.

* Joe Brady the run-game coordinator vs. Joe Brady the pass-game coordinator.

* If the Bills lose, will there be repercussions?

* Tony Romo is back to narrate another Bills game. (It was rough last week.)

* What do the Denver Broncos do best? Like champs past, they’ve got a pass rush.

* Predictions.

Thank you for subscribing, listening and watching.

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My plan here in Foxborough is to talk Patriots-Texans with one of the top beat writers/podcasters in the market today. Keep an eye out for that discussion. Here’s the Ty & Bob Pod on everything Packers-Bears. And Thursday night, former Bills receiver Isaiah McKenzie will hang out with subscribers on a virtual Happy Hour.

Of course, we’ll have stories from 1 Patriot Place, too.

Subscribers can always access every story and every podcast at Go Long. New here?

Current members, thank you sharing the word.

Past episodes of Real Football:

* Wild Card Extravaganza!

* Soul-searching time for Chiefs & Bengals

* Your move, C.J. Stroud

* It’s Not Sunny in Philadelphia

* An Epiphany in Buffalo

* What’s wrong in Buffalo?

* Meet the NFL’s 2025 Party Crashers

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.golongtd.com

Our Bob McGinn has covered the NFL since 1979.

He’s seen a lot of playoff football.

What happened at Soldier Field in this year’s wild-card round — without a doubt — ranks near the top of the Green Bay Packers’ most gutting defeats of all-time. I wrote on Matt LaFleur and the second-half choke. Now, it’s time for a full two-hour dissection of this 31-27 …

We’re back. Real Football returns to break down all six playoff games this weekend.

What a joy to talk ball with Jim Monos, our Super Bowl champion scout.

Wild Card Weekend always brings madness. Favre to Sharpe. Music City Miracle. Jerry Rice fumbled. “We want the ball and we’re going to score.” Niners-Giants. Tony Romo’s butterfingers. Beast Quake. Tebowmania. Rodgers vs. Warner. The Comeback. We can fully expect theatrics Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Secure your beverage of choice and clear the calendar.

Sorry, kids. No Bluey this weekend.

You know where we’ve got to start the show: Bills at Jaguars. It’s been Super Bowl or Bust for a while in Western New York. That’s the reality of the situation when you’re quarterbacked by a future Hall of Famer. These Bills could certainly lose to a solid Jags club on the road. These Bills could also go scorched earth behind a reigning MVP, the NFL’s rushing champ and win the whole damn thing. We try to make sense of this team at this time.

(Spoiler: You’ll want to stick around for talk on the long-term direction of the Bills at the end of this week’s show.)

We also dissect everything Rams-Panthers, Packers-Bears, 49ers-Eagles, Chargers-Patriots and Texans-Steelers.

Drake Maye — a unique talent — is on an MVP trajectory. Justin Herbert faces his latest show-me game.

You all know what I think about this savage Texans defense from our latest project. It’s an unapologetically suffocating bunch. Now, you can get Monos’ take. He forecasts a Steeler surprise Monday night. (Of course just a few weeks after we all killed this team, right?)

Go Long is fueled by all of YOU. I cannot thank everyone enough for reading, listening, watching and sharing with a friend.

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Past episodes of Real Football:

* Soul-searching time for Chiefs & Bengals

* Your move, C.J. Stroud

* It’s Not Sunny in Philadelphia

* An Epiphany in Buffalo

* What’s wrong in Buffalo?

* Meet the NFL’s 2025 Party Crashers

ICYMI…

OUTLAWS, Part I: ‘We want you to remember when you played the Texans’

OUTLAWS, Part II: Why Azeez Al-Shaair and these Houston Texans ‘savages’ seek and destroy

ICYMI:

Ty & Bob Pod S4 E16: It’s Packers vs. Bears, Round Three

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe

Of course, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears meet again.

Round 1 and Round 2 were both a wild ride.

Round 3 — Saturday night on NFC Wild Card Weekend — will no doubt boil down the final drive again. We get you primed for the matchup here on the “Ty & Bob Pod.” Go Long started this season with a close look at those Bears. From Day 1, new coach Ben Johnson was uniquely positioned to right so many wrongs at Halas Hall. The GM might’ve laughed this year’s likely MVP (Drake Maye) off the screen but Johnson’s been able to get the most out of Caleb Williams by coaching hard.

Which quarterback brings their A game in this one: Williams (in Playoff Start No. 1) or Jordan Love (after missing 2 1/2 games)?

We delve into everything NFC North. Packers-Vikings was a farce, but Matt LaFleur might’ve discovered a big body (or two) who can help his sagging run defense. Speaking of LaFleur, does he need to win a playoff game to earn an extension? We discuss.

No team wants to lose four straight games into the playoffs. The vibes are bad.

Yet? Green Bay is much healthier this time around at Soldier Field. That’s got to mean something.

Lions-Bears was surprising to most, but not this Dan Campbell-loving pod. Of course, he had his team ready to fight. Unfortunately, this season was chockfull of woulda, coulda, shouldas for Detroit. After sleepwalking much of the evening, the Bears showed again they refuse to quit.

Finally, we wrap up with a “McGinn Memory” on the firing of Bart Starr as the Packers’ head coach. I sat down with Starr in Alabama for this piece in 2013. He wishes he never coached at all. McGinn shares fascinating insight into his dismissal.

Watch or listen to this episode in full above and inside the Substack app. (If you prefer to listen on Apple or Overcast, bang it here to sync your account. Instructions on syncing on Spotify are also here.)

Meet the most ruthless defense in the NFL, the Houston Texans.

Azeez Al-Shaair and the gang do not hold back. They plan to bring the pain.

* OUTLAWS, Part I: ‘We want you to remember when you played the Texans’

* OUTLAWS, Part II: Why Azeez Al-Shaair and these Houston Texans ‘savages’ seek and destroy

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe

There’s no defense in football quite like the Houston Texans. This is a team that wants you to hurt.

What a fun time it was getting to meet all of these personalities.

Our series, “OUTLAWS,” icymi:

Part I: ‘We want you to remember when you played the Texans’

Part II: Why Azeez Al-Shaair and these Houston Texans ‘savages’ seek and destroy

Here’s a solo pod to discuss a little more and look ahead to the wild card games.

Be on the lookout for podcasts with Bob McGinn and Jim Monos later this week, too.

Thanks, all.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe

Happy New Year, everyone! And, again, thank you for fueling everything here at Go Long.

Be on the lookout this weekend for our next feature. Taking a few extra days on this one.

Until then? Here’s a solo pod into Week 18. The AFC North is on the line after Pittsburgh’s offensive no-show in Cleveland. We’re seeing the merits of hard coaching in Jacksonville, Chicago and New England. And what do we make of the Buffalo Bills? Is this postseason Super Bowl or Bust? I feel like we’ve all been wanting to slam that Simulate to January button, way back to Brandon Beane’s decision to go defense-heavy in the offseason.

Well, it’s January.

You can access video and audio of this episode above and everywhere you pod.

Also, here’s this week’s two-hour NFC North show with Bob McGinn for subscribers.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.golongtd.com

No, this is not exactly how a defense preps for a playoff run.

It was ugly at Lambeau Field last weekend. Somewhere, Derrick Henry is still running. In all, the Baltimore Ravens rushed for 307 yards on the Green Bay Packers.

Here on the Ty & Bob Pod, our Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob McGinn works through all carnage to explain what happened and where th…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.golongtd.com

The 2014 NFC Championship nightmares returned 11 years later for the Green Bay Packers faithful.

That’s the only collapse comparable to what took place Saturday night at Soldier Field.

Down Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Evan Williams, Zach Tom, Elgton Jenkins and Devonte Wyatt, the Packers showed fight. Hell, they could’ve been up 28-3 with ho…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.golongtd.com

Down goes Micah Parsons.

Does this 2025 Green Bay Packers season go down with him?

Not so fast.

You won’t want to miss this episode with Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob McGinn. He’s seen injuries of this magnitude before and analyzes both the present and the future here on the “Ty & Bob Pod.” It’s a big loss. Parsons had 12.5 sacks, 26 QB hits and 48 pressu…

Less than one year ago, Chiefs coaches and players swaggered their way into a fifth Super Bowl. The trip was a rite of passage. This was an organization on top of the football world.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals, for a period, resembled this team’s greatest threat. They’re the only other AFC team to reach a Super Bowl since 2018.

Now? Both clubs can pack their bags for Cabo.

Now? Both need to face harsh realities.

On this week’s edition of “Real Football,” we examine the Super Bowl windows of a handful of teams. My co-host Jim Monos has faced similar questions in NFL front offices.

* Miami lost in the cold. Again. Mike McDaniel’s belief in Tua Tagovailoa has turned from blessing to curse. We discuss the quarterback’s ceiling and this relationship.

* It’s one thing to want another quarterback, yet another to successfully acquire another quarterback. Ask Cleveland.

* I still like the Lions’ present and future. Monos? He’s not so sure.

* What happened to Kansas City?! One opposing defensive coach gets blunt with Go Long on their personnel. It may surprise you.

* There’s a (very) noticeable gap between Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen this season. That’s a problem. Mahomes needs to find a counterpunch.

* Hey, there is one disgruntled star out there who could prove to be exactly what the Chiefs need. Everything fits. (Considering the rise of Sean Payton’s Broncos, they’ll need to be aggressive.)

* The Bengals listened to their QB, paid both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins top dollar… and the defense remained bad. Very bad. We examine the one move they need to make this spring to recover.

* Quarterbacks need to quarterback. GM need to GM.

* Why the NFL needs NHL-style fights.

Video and Audio of the full 80-minute podcast is above for paid subscribers.

The best place to catch all podcasts is at GoLongTD.com and inside the Substack app. If you prefer to listen on Apple over Overcast, bang it here to sync your account. Instructions on syncing on Spotify are also here.

We’d love it if you shared Go Long with a loved one this Christmas season.

Past episodes:

* Your move, C.J. Stroud

* It’s Not Sunny in Philadelphia

* An Epiphany in Buffalo

* What’s wrong in Buffalo?

* Meet the NFL’s 2025 Party Crashers

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.golongtd.com/subscribe