Atlanta is the most interesting Wild Card team and can go the distance
The most interesting team to me right now is Atlanta... at that point, we had kind of figured it out. We'd gotten over all the post-Super Bowl stuff that goes with it and understood kind of what we had to do, but it was a little bit too late. I think if we had gotten into the playoffs at that point, we would have been a real problem for teams.
More from this episode
View episodeWild Card Weekend is the second best football weekend of the year
This is the second best football weekend of the year. I might even say first best because we do have the college football finals on Monday.
The Bills vs. Jaguars Wild Card game is going to suck
My hot take for this game, and you're probably not going to like it, I think this game's going to fucking suck... in a bad way. This is one of those games where you look like both offensive lines... and the Jags offensive line's not very good. So no Shady [LeSean McCoy]. I feel like this is going to be one of those games we sit there and like, ew, gross.
Cam Newton will wear a goofy hat or avoid his press conference if the Panthers lose
My prediction for this game is Cam's going to do something that will give us headlines for at least 48 hours, because he always does. Like... wear a goofy hat to the press conference in a loss, or not show up to the press conference.
More from Eric Mangini
View profileTo beat Tom Brady, you must have a completely different second-half game plan
The thing with Tom is if he knows what you're in, he's going to the right place. So without disguising coverages and giving him his own coverage, you've got no chance... in the second half, we had a totally different game plan. So you knew that they were going to go into the locker room, get it figured out. So you had to have a second pitch within the game plan.
Most of the young offensive coaches being hired in the current 'copycat' cycle will struggle
I imagine that this [hiring young offensive coaches] will be the same thing. Everybody's trying to copycat and catch on to this trend. But, look, being a head coach is hard... there's going to be a lot of guys who struggle.
The Saints have the strongest combination of defense and special teams remaining in the playoffs
I like their combination of defense and special teams... I would say New Orleans is probably [the strongest].