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After spending the better part of the last five months taking a fine-tooth comb to the entire league, ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark now has to adjust to a football landscape that includes just four teams. With this weekend’s conference championship games upon us—pitting the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots against each other on one side of the bracket, and the division rival Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams on the other—Clark has zeroed in on all the minute details that will make Sunday’s games so juicy.
Games of this magnitude often come down to things like special teams mishaps or anonymous players fumbling at the worst possible moment. Clark, who played safety in the NFL for 13 years and won a Super Bowl with the Steelers, is well aware of the balletic havoc that defines January football. A man who took the field for eight postseason games during his playing career, and has now been talking ball on ESPN for over a decade, Clark essentially has a PhD in football. Crucially to this conversation, he also has a plan for how the Broncos can make the Super Bowl with their backup quarterback, a healthy appreciation for Rams head coach Sean McVay, and firsthand experience dealing with Seattle’s vaunted 12th Man during the playoffs.
Ryan Clark: Oh, I think this is the hardest part of the season, actually. You’re tired by now. You have to generate so much energy for such a long period of time. It’s akin to [playing] football. It’s the most exciting time, because it’s the most important time, and you’re also trying to muster up enough energy to make sure you can accomplish the job in a way that reflects what’s going on on the field. I have to have the energy that the fans of the Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, and Patriots have, because this is the time they’ve been waiting for the entire year.
This year was a little different for me because my son [New York Jets cornerback Jordan Clark] played. What was really hard for me this year was that on Sundays, especially once he became a starter, I was at the game. So, I’m at the Jets game—luckily, the Jets were never playing in prime time—so it was 1 o’clock every week. I try to follow as much as I can on RedZone or whatever. But, normally I’ll try to have an iPad on, a TV, and then I’ll have RedZone on my phone. That’s usually how I’ll watch during the day. And then, let’s say Monday for NFL Live, we’re going to talk about six games specifically. I go back and re-watch all of those games first.
You’re watching them on the NFL app, you’re watching the all-22. If I need to see the big picture on certain plays, I go watch the all-22 to try to make sure I’m seeing the coverage, seeing the rush, seeing the adjustments, stuff like that. I just have a rule. I’ll get on my production call and they’ll ask me about a game and I’ll tell them, “I can’t talk about that, at least not yet, because I haven't rewatched it.” Just because, man, these dudes work so hard at their job. There’s already a disconnect between media and athletes. I don’t want to be that guy that’s misrepresenting what’s happening on the field. I want to be able to, if I say something, be able to point to the play, point to the moment, and recap exactly what I’ve seen that makes me have the opinion.
I can be honest about this part. If it’s late in the season and the Tennessee Titans are playing the Las Vegas Raiders, I’m probably not going back and watching that, just because I know we won’t really cover it on any of the main shows. That normally starts to happen once teams get eliminated. But, the problem comes when the Las Vegas Raiders play the Seattle Seahawks, who will be a playoff team. You still have to watch that game. But, you do your best to alleviate some of the work as it gets later on in the season, to try to get some rest to be as fresh as you could possibly be. This [past] weekend, for instance, we were in Foxborough on Sunday for the Patriots game, but I also had First Take at 10 a.m. in Miami.
It’s like, if you sleep, you sleep. If you don’t, you don’t. But then the problem is, how do I bring the energy on the show as if I have slept, as if I am rested? It’s kind of just all a vicious cycle of psychosis.
Let’s say if I’m in a city and a friend of mine’s there and they’re like, “Hey, RC, you want to come out and watch the 1 o’clock?” I'll do that. I’m not taking notes if I’m watching them all at one time. I’m mostly just tweeting. I remember they started doing Explain Your Tweet [segments] years ago for me on Get Up, because they’re like, “Man, you just tweet the whole time.” That’s actually me trying to remember different things! If something that stands out, I just tweet about it. I’ll just type it. I have one of those weird memories where I mostly can’t remember anything. But when it comes to football, if I type it or write a note about it in some way, I never forget it.
There are times I’m telling them what video I want for the show, and I’m like, “Third quarter, 11:49, Trevor Lawrence hit Parker Washington on a corner post. I want you to ring Parker Washington before the motion. Cole Bishop is in Cover 2.” I think, just because I already typed it, it’s just kind of how it works.
Yeah, I’ve lost players. Never like that, and never at that time. I’ve been in two AFC championships, two Super Bowls, and both times Ben Roethlisberger was the quarterback. We did start a season where we expected to have Ben—I can’t remember if that was his appendectomy or if that was the time he got in a wreck—but we didn’t have him early in the season. I think what happens when you lose a player like Bo Nix at such an important position who’s played so well the entire season is, one, you want to win for him. You know without him and his contributions, you don’t get to this point. You want to finish. But, it also heightens the sense of urgency of all the other individuals on your team. Sean Payton, Hall of Fame coach, one of the best play callers and play designers of all time. His sense of urgency is going to be heightened, because he knows now he can’t lean on those things Bo Nix does well.
Defensively, the Broncos are number two defense in the league. When I played, we were number one many times. For us, when we played with Charlie Batch or Dennis Dixon, it was, we got to be better. We got to score points. We have to keep them off the scoreboard. If Jarrett Stidham gives us seven, we’re supposed to be able to win. That's the mindset. Now, RJ Harvey’s going to raise his game. Courtland Sutton’s going to raise his game. I think that happens all around the locker room.
But then there’s two. In your honest moments when you’re at the crib by yourself or you’re talking to your wife or your girl, you’re saying to yourself like, “Frick, this was our shot.” There’s that human part of it too. But you’re there and you think you can win, and you believe in the guys in your locker room. That’s what Denver’s going to be saying to themselves the entire week.
No, because so much of what Bo did was natural, so much of what Bo did was instinct. I do think Jarrett Stidham—with his experience, the amount of snaps he’s had—you can put everything on him, if not more, from a mental standpoint. He’s a more veteran player, a player that's been on multiple teams, started games for multiple teams. Obviously, Sean Payton believes in him, because three years ago he benched Russell Wilson for Jarrett Stidham. There’s a level of belief with him.
The things that are going to be hard to replace are the Bo things, the utilization of his legs, his ability to shut the noise out in the important moments. This dude could play bad for 48 minutes and then he can give you the best 12 minutes of his life. There’s no more, “We got to just keep Bo close.” There’s going to be, “We got to close people out. We have to finish, we have to make plays.” But I fully, fully believe that they can win this game with Jarrett Stidham at quarterback.
It’s hard to replace really good players. But, ask Jeff Hostetler, ask Nick Foles. Last time the New England Patriots played [against] a backup in a big game, they lost. So, you never know. You never know.
That makes my stomach hurt a little bit. Wow. If I had to win one game…Seahawks. Gosh, why would you do that to me?
Here’s why: I feel like the Broncos have an innate ability to keep you from making plays. The Seattle Seahawks make plays.
Right. They score touchdowns. They turn the football over. They confuse you. The Broncos are just like, “Man, we are so damn talented.” Nik Bonitto is a freak of nature. Pat Surtain was born in a lab. You know what I mean? And [defensive coordinator] Vance Joseph is extremely intelligent. He went to my high school, by the way. He won one of the only two state championships we ever had. I can’t believe I didn’t win one.
Still pissed off about that, bro.
The Seahawks—Mike Macdonald is a little bit odd. The odd coaches think outside the box. There’s times where things are happening on Seattle’s defense, and I’m like, “I don't know what this is.” And I played defense my entire life! I’ve studied defense my entire life! If I’m effed up about it and I’ve watched every snap they played, I know for sure Brock Purdy don’t know what the hell’s happening. It’s that aspect of Seattle that I love as well.
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The Texans, with Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr.—I’ve tried to go back, you think of DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller—but a physically imposing duo like the two of them, it’s extremely rare. I said this on TV, but the saddest part about CJ [Stroud's] performance is, I think it kept us from being able to see an epic defensive playoff run. I said 2000 Ravens, 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2013 LOB [Legion of Boom], it could have been that sort of run. Our defense should have did it, but we effed up in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. We almost lost that thing. Thank God for Santonio Holmes.
No. The playing with house money thing comes when the success is in opposition of bad play. This group of individuals, along with Mike Vrabel, never played badly for very long. Right?
I’ll give you a house money scenario: the New York Giants versus the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl. A Wild Card team that had to go on the road, with a quarterback that always has this confused look on his face, against an 18-0 team with a guy that’s on his way to being the greatest player that’s ever lived. That’s house money. That’s like, “Hey, if we lose, guess what? Everybody but the people in this locker room thought we would anyway. Great season!”
Whereas for New England, this team goes on an emphatic run, and then the only other loss is to the Buffalo Bills who have an alien at quarterback. Sean McDermott has an out-of-his-mind second half calling defenses, and you lose that game. So, this team’s not playing with house money. This team may have felt a little early when they arrived. But now they feel like, we got an MVP player, he’ll be number one or number two. We have a former Coach of the Year. Our organization is tied for the most Lombardi trophies in the history of football. And we just played a quarterback who two years ago, people thought was the next thing, with a defense that’s the best defense in the world, and we won. I would have to think they feel like the favorite walking into Denver. I would! I think they have that confidence. Nah, we’re not ahead of schedule. We’re right where we’re supposed to be with the moves that we made and the place we put ourselves in in this season.
Yeah, [undrafted safety] Ty Okada is one of my favorite players on the team, who doesn’t even start right now. You know what I mean?
Putting a team together is like a puzzle. You don’t need all of the best pieces, you need all the pieces that complement one another. You need DeMarcus Lawrence—who people said was a little bit too long in the tooth—to be around Leonard Williams, who’s a proven veteran that you keep around Nick Emmanwori, who’s this physical freak who people thought underachieved. He’s now playing this hybrid position that you know about because you watched Kyle Hamilton play this hybrid position. You need Julian Love, who’s an undersized size safety with corner skills along with Coby Bryant, who was also drafted as a corner, who you realized was way too physical and probably too big to play out there.
All these pieces worked together because you were smart enough to trade for Ernest Jones. So, all these things just worked. They put all of these pieces together in this beautiful way. If you even look at Josh Jobe, he was a five-star [recruit] too. These guys go undrafted, but they have these unique traits that, in the right places and around the right people, serve them extremely well. That’s what you’re getting with Thomas, that’s what you’re getting with Jobe. But they’re also surrounded by these physical freaks like Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon. I think that’s the beauty of this team.
If you even look at them offensively, the way that they’ve had to evolve and the metamorphosis that has taken place, they couldn’t piss a drop in the run game earlier this season. You were wondering, “Is Kenneth Walker III even going to show us he’s worth another contract?” Now, he’s moved himself into the most important piece of this offense. I thought the [Rashid] Shaheed trade was really big at the trade deadline, because of what I saw JSN [Jaxon Smith-Njigba] do early in the season. I was like, “Wait, now you’ll have two explosive players down the field.” But, he’s turned into this clutch receiver when you need him, and also this big time special teams player, which he’s always been. He’s also turned into this gadget guy, jet sweeps, reverses, just putting the football in his hands. JSN is a true number one. You know it like I know it, if you guys don’t win the Super Bowl, it’s going to be because of one person.
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Ginger cuz. By the way, only a tweet Marshawn Lynch can type and press send on. It’s also very correct.
To me, they’re the best team in football right now. I just feel like there’s so much beauty in football. If you were saying to yourself, “Hey, what’s the one team we don’t actually want to play? What team has been pretty good against us offensively?” It’s probably the one that put up 580 yards when you last played. What team has given Sam [Darnold] the most trouble? Nobody in that locker room is looking at it like, “Oh, shucks. We got to play them.”
What I’m excited about for Sam, for Seattle, for Mike Macdonald, is like, “Give me the best. Give me the one we have the most trouble against, and let me go beat them.” When we had to play the Ravens again in the playoffs in 2008 and 2010, we knew that’s the game you get the most beat up. They were the hardest team to beat for us. We knew that they knew us better than anybody. But, we also walked into the stadium like, all those things are true about them for us too. They hate playing us too. They know how physical this is going to be too. They know we don't care who their Hall of Famers are. I think it’s the same thing with these two teams, so I’m extremely excited.
It was nasty, wet, cold, and loud. It was just disgusting, man. There were points of that game—I was such a baby, I think I was 25 years old—where it almost didn’t feel real in that stadium. It was only my second playoff game ever. I was like, “This doesn't feel like reality.” It was as different a football game as I’ve ever played in. Maybe that was because I was young, but there was a level of mystique, mystery, and unfamiliarity in it. I think, for the Rams, the good thing will be they’ve been there so many times. They know how loud the 12s are.
For me, when you go to LSU, you walk into every NFL stadium and you think it sucks. These people ain’t loud. Why are so many of you sober? When I walked into Seattle, I was like, “This feels like college.” The stadiums that can create that have such an advantage for the home team, especially on defense.
Mentally, I think the offense. Defenses sort of change less. Defenses are what they are. Offensively you can add a wrinkle here in a formation, a wrinkle there in motion. You can do some different things from a tip and tendency standpoint. Defense is, if it’s third and medium, and we’re a Cover 2 team, that works for us. We’re probably going to do that.
The thing that I think helps for defenses is, if I’m Devon, if I’m Josh, if I’m Riq, I know how strong Puka [Nacua] is.
I know he’s physical at the catch point. I know he can run routes. I know he can catch 50-50 balls. So, I’m devising my ways of playing him, tackling him, approaching him the entire year. For the defense, that’s the thing. It’s like the first time you played Chris Johnson from the Titans. He opened up and started running, it was like, “Holy F balls.” Same thing with Tyreek [Hill] or Randy Moss. The first time Randy ran by me, I was like, “Whoa, wait. For real?”
He’s probably the coach I like the most. He’s definitely the best coach we know the most about.
I think he’s the best coach we know about from the length of time he’s been in the same place. Because, this is what, his third NFC Championship Game? He took over a team that was just absolutely awful at a very young age. They hit this lull where he contemplated retirement. He was able to recalibrate, and now he has this team right back where they were. He has the X and O thought process along with the leadership, and the empowerment, and the ability to communicate. Those things set him apart. But, I think, what happens is, because Sean is younger, we think about him. But Andy Reid still coaches in this league.
I think Andy still has to be at the top just because of the length of the time he’s done it. But, of this new generation, you have to say that Sean is probably the leader, on top of the amount of coaches that get jobs because they touch the hem of his garment.
For Seattle-LA, it’s which team establishes the run the best. Go back to the first meeting. The game starts and the Rams jump up because Kyren [Williams] is running the ball so well. Seattle puts a stop to that, and then, Matthew [Stafford] was good, but for the last three quarters, Seattle’s defense played really well. Then you come back the next game, and Puka just loses his mind. To me, it’s which team makes the other quarterback, or other offense, one dimensional? Then I know this is boring, but turnovers and special teams. Seattle has the advantage. Los Angeles’ special teams sucks, like their air quality.
On the other side, if Broncos-Patriots gets into a shootout, there’s no way the Broncos win. That game has to be ugly and it has to be grimy and it has to be nasty. Don’t get me wrong, when you play the Texans, it’s like putting your hand in a meat grinder anyway. But Drake Maye ain’t been that good. Milton Williams is playing out of his mind. [Christian] Gonzalez and [Carlton] Davis, from a duo standpoint, probably only sit behind two or three others. That can end up just being an ugly, drag out war. It has to be, in my opinion, for Denver to win. If they start giving up explosives, I don't think they can create them offensively without Bo Nix.
Can we put Drake in the position to make some of the mistakes, the fumbles, the bad throws that we’ve seen? We know he’s going to do some of the good stuff, because we’ve seen it too many times against good defenses.
The Denver Broncos have to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, period. That’s it for them.
New England, Rhamondre Stevenson. He kind of fell out of favor with fumbles, but I believe he’s back, and he’s a big part of what they need to do.
Seahawks, Sam just has to protect it. I think they’re that good everywhere else.
The Rams got to not give it up on special teams. They suck. And Sean McVay has to be his best self. He wasn’t against Chicago, which should make you scared. He’s too good to be bad two weeks in a row.