November 10, 2025 • 52 mins
Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is reacting LIVE immediately following the Week 10 Sunday Night Football matchup between Aaron Rodgers & the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road vs. Justin Herbert & the Los Angeles Chargers. John kicks off by reacting to the Chargers win over the Steelers and debates if head coach Mike Tomlin & Aaron Rodgers are capable of leading this team on a playoff run. John then gives praise to the Chargers and head coach Jim Harbaugh for continuing to compete despite injuries in the AFC West. John then reacts to Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell taking over play-calling duties in a blowout win vs. the Washington Commanders. Next, John reacts to New York Giants blowing another 4th quarter lead vs. Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears & believes Giants head coach Brian Daboll may be at risk of losing his job. John then reacts to the targeting call on Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson in their win vs. the Minnesota Vikings. Following that, John debates whether the San Francisco 49ers should shut QB Brock Purdy down for the year. John wraps up by giving his Hard Rock Bets picks for Monday Night Football: Philadelphia Eagles (+1) at Green Bay Packers Jalen Hurts Anytime Touchdown (+115) Christian Watson Anytime Touchdown (+240)
04:26 - Steelers-Chargers
25:04 - Lions-Commanders
32:52 - Seahawks & Rams battle for NFC West crown
37:39 - Giants-Bears
41:51 - Ravens-Vikings
46:15 - 49ers QBs
51:38 - HRB MNF Picks
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
John Middlecoff three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well,
(00:24):
better than Aaron Rodgers, who just played one of the
worst games he's ever had in his career. That was ugly.
Jim Harbaugh prevails, takes the Chargers to seven and three
despite a million injuries. Looks like their playoff bound again.
And the Steelers are in major, major trouble. Obviously, the
Ravens are coming. Their schedule gets easy, and the Steelers
(00:45):
got problems. They've lost three or four and just they
look horrendous tonight. I mean they looked really really offensively.
That was that. Today was a tough day. A lot
of bad football depending on what team you were watching.
There was a lot of good football too as play great.
Seattle looks incredible, Ravens are playing well. Patriots. So I
(01:06):
guess to each his own depends, but we will talk
some football. A lot going on different things I want
to discuss. You guys know the Drill. Make sure you
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(01:27):
never want to miss anything, so we will keep you
here and keep you dialed. But before we dive into
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was thinking about this tonight, you know, and listen, I'm
guilty of this too. I think we over complicate a
lot of things in life, right from when we're young
to when we age I mean, I got a baby
(02:36):
on the way, and I would imagine my baby has
it doesn't even I mean, it exists in or belly,
but it doesn't exist. It's not out of the womb
yet has more clothes currently in his closet than I
probably had through the first five years of my life.
And anyone that's had a child, you realize you go
through all these different things. It's like, I don't think
(02:57):
my parents were doing this in the eighties, but hey,
it's it is what it is. Feels a little over
complicated to me, but scards Ward dealt and I think
we break down so many different elements of football college pro.
At the end of the day, do you have a
good coach, do you have a good quarterback? And really,
in tandem, are my two better than your two? And
(03:21):
when you look at Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert, I
think we've tried to have all these And I'm guilty
of this too. I'm not trying to point any fingers here.
I am as guilty as anyone. I bet on the
Pittsburgh Steelers tonight and I'm watching this game and I
go look around the league. The combination of head coach
and quarterback. How many around the league would you take
(03:44):
over those two guys? You go, well, Andy Reid, Mahomes, Okay,
who else? Sirianni and Hurts? Well? Do I get Howie
Roseman or not? Because if I don't get Howie Roseman,
hell no, Jordan Love and laflor Well, if Laflorida doesn't
win Monday Night Football, he might get fired. John Harbaugh
(04:06):
and Lamar Okay, that's the first one. You can make
an argument. Sean McDermott, Josh Allen. I'd take Josh Allen
over Herbert, but I would not take Sean McDermott over
Jim Harbaugh. You start going around the best teams like listen,
Dan Campbell might be the third Harball brother. I'm taking
Herbert over Golf. They are a top three or four
(04:26):
combination in the NFL. I have a lot of respect
for Mike Tomlin. I think he's pretty damn good. His
resume speaks for itself. He has not won a playoff
game in about a decade. Aaron Rodgers, who's got a
new lease on life. You see that wedding ring on
his left hand. I do believe he's the most famous
individual in this Internet era. That we've never seen a
(04:48):
picture of his significant other, fascinated to see what she
looks like. But at forty one years old, the combination
of those two guys aren't sniffing the top ten. Now.
Aaron's play plaid well this year. Tonight he did not.
But when you look at those two guys who are
now five and four and are leaking serious oil. They've
(05:08):
lost three of their last four games, two of their
last three. Two playoff opponents, I mean tonight the Chargers,
who are headed back to the playoffs again, surely kicked
the living shit out of them. One thing Tomlin's always
had is this kind of chip on his shoulder, this
underdog mentality even though he's coaching for this historic brand,
(05:30):
and kind of this edginess. Well that's completely gone because
you remove the Colts game, this team that I've seen, like,
what's going on? Meanwhile, I look across the field and
I see Jim Harbaugh. It's like his offensive lines and
shambles doesn't matter. He missed Khalil Mack for half the season,
didn't matter. He's got injuries left and right. Who cares?
(05:54):
So when that outcome played itself out, it's like, yeah,
of course, the team with the better coach and the
better quarterback one. And I look back on why did
I outthink the room on this one, just because the
Pittsburgh Steelers might have more fans than sofi who gives
a shit? Clearly Jim doesn't. And I just think that
(06:17):
that was a clinic tonight from one of the best
head coaches in the NFL, from you know, even justin Herbert.
I think I just looked. He got sacked five times
early in the game, he gets tackled from behind, he's
limping around. There is something about the power of Jim
and when he coaches you as a quarterback, you just
(06:37):
play at a different level, You play with a different
belief and it was on full display. And the one
thing with Jim Harbaugh, despite being a former NFL quarterback,
not a linebacker, not a safety, not a defensive tackle.
He's a quarterback. His defense is now since I've been
(06:58):
really paying attention to win, he coached at Stanford and
you could even go back, I'm sure to San Diego.
But with the forty nine ers obviously at Michigan and
now with the Chargers are awesome. And Mike Tomlin, known
as this defensive guy, you're watching to night, You're like, well,
you removed the Indianapolis game doesn't look that great. So
(07:21):
I think that tonight you saw one team that's headed
to the playoffs and another team that, let's face it,
I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are in major trouble. And
I was wrong because probably a month ago I said,
I just did the math. They were one and five,
that being the Ravens. The Steelers, they were four and one.
(07:43):
They had some easy opponents coming up, they had some
difficult opponents, but they were at home. I was like,
they're going to cruise to like eleven wins. Their floor
was like ten. Now I look, I go, I don't know.
I think I'm completely out on them. If you told
me right now, eight to nine wins probably feels about
(08:04):
the max. Guess what the Ravens are gonna win more
than that. Their next three games are against the Browns,
the Jets, and the Bengals. So worst case scenario, before
they play their Steelers as the fourth game on that slate,
they would be six and six. If I was a
betting man, I would currently take them to win all
(08:26):
three of those games. I would imagine I haven't looked
at the line next week against the Browns, but the Browns, Jets,
and the Bengals on average, the gambling lines there will
be around a touchdown, potentially more as they win some
of these games. Watching today, their secondary fully healthy, Lamar Jackson,
fully healthy, confidence with that squad full go. It's the
(08:48):
flip side. When you look at the Steelers, who offensively
have a major issue. They have one wide receiver, let
me repeat, one wide receiver who they are paying one
hundred and fifty million dollars over three or four years,
gifted freak, but I wouldn't exactly call him Jerry Reis
or Terrell Owens, and he clearly gets taken out of games.
(09:10):
And then they have all these other guys, Roman Wilson,
Austin seventeen tight ends. Even when Aaron plays well, unlike tonight,
they're not gonna put up a lot of points. It's
going to be a struggle if they're playing a decent
defense and the running game like kind of non existent.
Jalen Warren good little player, but if he has to
(09:33):
lead your team in carries, your running game is going
to be limited. So when I look at this operation
and I look at the Baltimore Ravens. I'll be the
first to say I did not see this coming a
month ago. I was completely wrong. I think when the
dust settles, the Baltimore Ravens are in first place by
the end of the month, and then as December plays out,
(09:55):
like think about tonight, Aaron Rodgers. There were a couple times,
and I never blame like, when you're young trying to
prove yourself. Part of playing the quarterback position, whether it
be in college and definitely in the NFL, there are
gonna be times. It's why they make all this money.
That's why they are the stars of the league. You're
(10:17):
gonna have to stay in that pocket for like an
extra split second too long and deliver a pass for
a big first down or for a big touchdown or
for a big completion, and you're gonna get throttled. And
all the great quarterbacks have done that. But we saw
Brady a couple years back, that last year in Tampa.
(10:37):
He's like, f this. I got a bunch of kids,
I got a bunch of money. I am too old
to get hit by all these quick, fast guys that
are just rocking my ribs, lower body and driving me
into the grass. I'm over this, and he wanted no
part of getting hit, absolutely none, And tonight it was
(10:59):
a He's had bits of it over the years. Tonight
it was on full display. I'm married, I'm really rich.
I probably don't have a super Bowl team. I'm not
standing in there that extra split second. There was a
play in the second half on a third down where
he was about I don't eve think get hit that hard,
but he was definitely gonna take a collision and he
(11:21):
felt it right at the last second and kind of wins. Again.
I'm not trying to act like he should do it.
I don't blame him at all. He's forty one years old,
but that limits your ability, and his talent isn't quite
what it was in his heyday. So when he's going
to turn down certain passes against good defenses, it is
going to look like tonight in what we witnessed. I
(11:44):
would imagine there are some Packer historians, but that has
to be one of the worst games he's ever played
since becoming a good player in two thousand and nine.
There's a chance that's the worst primetime game he's ever played.
I mean, at one point in time in the fourth quarter,
he had barely thrown for a hundred yards. Again, the
Chargers defense is good and statistically they're good. It's not
(12:04):
like Khalil Mack is also flanked by Sean Marion. It's
not like Derwin James is also flanked by Eric Weddle. Again,
good defense, great coaching, physical mentality rights. It's the way
in which they play. It's Harbaugh. When you play a
Jim Harbaugh team, when they get the opportunity, they are
going to rock your world. And the Steelers like sometimes
(12:27):
they do it and sometimes they don't, you know, like
Cam and TJ and the front kind of does. But
I would say they're back seven can be very very
hit or miss and if Rogers is gonna play like that,
like we've been saying, you know, even in some of
their losses, Aaron's been good and they still lost. Well
when he's bad, you get boat raced and Chargers seven
three team, they're probably headed toward eleven ish wins and
(12:50):
they're just dramatically better than the Steelers. I feel like
if they play Pittsburgh ten times, Chargers win like seven.
And I don't think the Chargers are as good as
the Ravens based on health so what's gonna happen here? Now?
You could say Pittsburgh does feel comfortable playing Baltimore, But
to me, even if they split those two games, it's
(13:12):
the other games. The Steelers have proven they play a
good team, the Packers, the Chargers, Seattle, they're getting worked,
but they could also lose to like the Bengals, So
you can't trust them in any game. And those are
the worst type teams again to bet on never again,
no more touching the Pittsburgh Steelers moving forward. I'm out,
(13:34):
but just to respect of because I had some people
like Middlecuff. Remember when you were saying Tomlin should get fired.
I've always said I think I think the New York
Giants would sell their left nut to have Mike Tomlin
be their head coach in twenty twenty six. They would
die for Tomlin roam in that sideline coaching Jackson, Darton,
Scataboo and Molik neighbors. But this Pittsburgh thing is over
(13:58):
that they're not gonna be good enough, and it's not
all his fault, and I don't know all the inner
workings of the Steelers, and some Steelers push back when
I say, you know, Tom's not as involved in personnel,
and they'll say, listen to us fans, we're closer to this.
He is more involved than you think. Regardless the way
this roster is built, it's just not that good. And
it's got in Collinsworth and Tarrico. We're talking about it.
(14:20):
It's got major flaws because I'd be like, well, look
at the Chargers. Their offensive line is rolling out like me.
And defensively, you know, you got Khalil Mack, you got
some young pieces that they've drafted. But it's the mentality.
It's how well they're coached. And that's the other knock
on the Steelers is from a coaching standpoint, you could
just even say the staff, right, who are you taking
(14:43):
Tomlin and Terrell Austin or you taking Jesse Minterer, Which
I didn't realize tonight. Mike Tomlin kind of really got
his big break and kind of took off coaching for Cincinnati,
where Jesse Mintor's dad, Rick Mintor, who I met briefly,
we kind of crossed over a little bit. Chip Kelly
had hired him in thirteen. He coached for the Eagles
(15:03):
for a couple of years, well respected older coach, and
there was a clip on Sunday Night Football, Jesse Mintter
going over and saying what's up to Mike, and Mike
had a big smile and they were hugging. It was cool.
But I'm watching jesse Mentor jesse Mentor like that's he's
a big time coach. And I think sometimes Steelers fans
push back of what's up with our coaching? Like is
(15:27):
our coach? And I'd say coaching, I think can be
hit or miss, but your personnel's not great. And one
thing the Steelers used to have in their heyday of
early Mike Tomlin and up until like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen,
their rosters were awesome. And now you're watching the rosters like, man, okay,
pretty flawed. One wide receiver kind of runs deep routes,
(15:50):
doesn't do much else. It doesn't. You can be hit
or miss on effort. It's like, yeah, I don't really
see it in a forty one year old quarterback that yes,
it's kind of over it. And when I say over it,
I just meant like standing in there like you have
to do, especially with a flawed team. And he didn't
want to do it tonight, and uh yeah, they got problems.
So I think the Baltimore Ravens. I'm changing my tune
(16:12):
because now I got a month of evidence. I got
four straight games Bengals, we got the Packers, we got
the Colts game, which is clear outlier, and then tonight.
So seventy five percent of my evidence over the last
month says get out, get out. Twenty five percent says,
what hell If their defensive line just causes constant turnovers
(16:36):
and sacks a quarterback every other play, they can win.
It's like, well, that's probably not gonna happen very often.
And that's what I bet on a night. Turns out,
they sacked Herbert a decent amount. I think it was
sacked and hit a bunch of times. Didn't matter. I mean,
they couldn't score a point to save their life. So
and now now granted, early on Dkad had broken out
and Rogers kind of scramble a little throwback play and
(16:56):
overshot him by about ten yards. So a congrats to
the Charger who look headed back to the playoffs, and
that that is Hardball's done some impressive things. Taking a
team that loses a tackle that you give one hundred
million dollars two to start the season. He never plays
a game. Another guy that you draft fifth overall and
(17:18):
is gonna miss I don't know, eighty percent of the season.
And to compete and to win games. It's just remarkable.
And this is my thing with Tomlin. Sometimes your message
just falls flat that they don't listen to. It's human nature, right.
Sometimes I think, like, how did I I know? I
(17:41):
was young, but like you don't live with my parents
for eighteen years. And I think as you get older,
you know, you just you think differently, you grow, you change, like, well,
I wasn't even the same human being, right, And I
think it's no different than you know, a coach like
their message. It's valuable, it's personable and and it resonates.
(18:01):
But after a period of time, once you go on
fifteen plus years, it's just it's time for a change.
And I've made a bunch of changes in my career. Hell,
I've been fired. It's the best thing that ever happened
to me. Ask Andy Reid was what was like to
get fired by the Philadelphia Eagles? Do you think he
regrets that moment? Look how his career took off like
(18:21):
a rocket ship ever since then. Most coach Belichick got
fired in Cleveland went on to win six Lombardies with
the Patriots. Pete Carroll got fired multiple times before he
went to USC went on to win national championships and
then another Super Bowl, I guess, his first Super Bowl.
But like he had been part of a Super Bowl
team with the forty nine Ers when he was younger,
(18:41):
you know what I mean, getting fired or leaving is
not a bad thing. Jim Harbaugh, Once upon a time,
I was there living in the area around the team
constantly on the radio. I know they claimed they mutually departed.
The forty nine Ers fired Jim Harball. Think about that.
Jim Harbaugh, who has been undeniably one of the best
(19:03):
coaches college or pro. And honestly, you could argue there
is a short list of guys who have proven they
can do both. I mean, he won a national championship
in college and if I'm a betting man, he's going
to win a Super Bowl in the pros. But even
as of right now hasn't won a Super Bowl. Just
he got to one. How many guys can say that, right? Obviously,
(19:24):
Pete Carroll's done both, Jimmy Johnson's done both. It's a
very very small list. Urban Meyer, all time great college coach,
one of the greatest college coaches of my life. Couldn't
make it a year in the pros. Think about that,
could not make it a year for those of you
younger people when I was young, Steve Spurrier, I'm trying
(19:47):
to even think of what his comp would be in college.
It would be like Mike Leech meets Kirby Smart. Was
kicking the shit out of everybody at Florida went to
the Pros. Was a laughing stock. Most guys can't do both.
It doesn't work that way. Jim could coach the junior
(20:07):
midges down the street that are seven and eight year olds.
He coached high school, he coached college, and he can
coach pros. He's kicking ass at every level. It is
unreal to watch. I mean it really is. He was
put on this earth to coach and win, and he's
really good at it, and he's a good example. He's
moved around. Was it San Diego for four years? Was
(20:27):
it Stanford for four or five years? Was forty nine
Ers for four years? Michigan was by far his longest stint.
Now he's with the Chargers for two years. Like this
is the thing. With Mike Tomlin, like sometimes being reinvigorated,
having a new challenge, pushing yourself. So it's honestly why
I just went to hot yoga. I'm like, you know,
I don't do enough things in my life. They kind
(20:49):
of pushed me. I was watching this clip of like,
don't even ask me how I ended up on this.
But Claire Kittle and Kristen Hughes Check, they have this YouTube.
It copped up in my feed and I clicked it,
and I'm kind of I didn't watch the whole thing.
It's just they're micd up, but I saw they were
in used Check's backyard and Kyle was like, I truly
(21:11):
believe this, And it was like kind of got serious
thing because he was talking about how he goes in
the cold tub and the uh, the sauna, and he's like,
I do believe you should try once a day to
do something. This just makes you a little uncomfortable. And
he says every morning for I think it's like seven
days a week for the entire season, whether he wants
to or not, he gets in the cold tub at
six am and he's like, honestly, most days, obviously, I
(21:33):
do not want to do that. It's an uncomfortable thing,
and it's just I start my day a little uncomfortable.
And I think there's a comfort level with Mike Tom
Pittsburgh Steelers. He knows where his office is, his wife's
got the you know, the the building downtown, the business
downtown where she sells stuff. It's like they got a
great little life, makes a ton of money, but it's
not working. So it's like Jim Harbaugh, new challenge, new challenge,
(21:56):
new challenge, new challenge. So one guy beat the living
crowd out of the other guy. So it's like, sometimes
you just need a change. Today's show is brought to
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(23:50):
with Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harbaugh can not call place Jim
Harbaugh has never called place, didn't call plays at Stanford,
didn't call definitely, did not call play was the forty nine,
or never call plays with Michigan, and is obviously not
calling plays with the Chargers. It doesn't matter, like he
does not have to call plays to be a great
(24:12):
coach like his brother. I don't think John Harbaugh has
ever called plays. Right's why he's fired or a lot
of his coordinators have gotten head coaching jobs. But he
doesn't call defensive plays, which is his background. Obviously he's
never calling offensive plays. But John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh.
I don't want to go as far as say they
can't call plays, but when you have literally never called plays,
(24:36):
I think it's fair to say like they can't call
plays and they're still awesome coaches that their records speak
for themselves. I've called Dan Campbell the third Hardball brother.
I think there are a lot of similarities. I think
those three guys would get along very very well. If
you told me that Dan Campbell grew up with the
Harball family, I think he would have fit right in.
(24:57):
He's like a little bit more like the Texas redneck
version of those guys, and he they just have a
lot of similarities. And I've been saying forever it's like,
you know, Dan is there is an incredible leader of
men ceo and it's it's a great quality to have.
Like even Mike Tomlin once back in the day did
call plays, doesn't do it anymore, need someone to kind
(25:17):
of point the finger out on fire, but has in
his past call plays. Well, I didn't realize this. I
had the Commander game that the afternoons like today was atrocious.
I mean it was. It was bad, and I'm never
gonna complain. I get to do this for a living,
to watch football for a living, So when I am
saying this, I'm saying this in a with a smile
(25:39):
on my face. But it was at one point in time,
the forty nine ers are down twenty one nothing and
Seattle was up thirty five nothing. So the combined scores
not a math major were like fifty six to nothing,
and the Lions it was clear we're going to beat
the living crap out of Washington. So Dan camp so
I got that. I had like NYR game on a
(26:01):
big TV, I had the Seattle game on a smaller TV,
and then I had the Washington game on kind of
my computer monitor, which is you know, when I was
a kid, would be considered a big TV. It's probably
like twenty five inches. And I didn't realize this. And
you look over Jameis and Williams making place. That game
wasn't even it wasn't even a fair fight. And then
(26:21):
after the game someone DMed me, They're like, what do
you think about Dan Campbell calling plays like Dan Campbell
called the place? What about Johnny Morton? And then obviously
do a little recon Most of you have priced scene.
I see the clip of Dan Campbell in his postgame
press conference because someone asked him it looked like you
were calling place. He's like, yeah, we just needed to
mix it up. Oh wait, Dan Campbell's call plays. Now,
(26:44):
Washington's defense is horrendous. You can like they are you
go through them like a wet paperbag that they have
no resistance. I think the difference of the Lions and
the Commander's day was almost like over two hundred and
fifty yards of of yardich. It's not a fair fight.
Their defense is Swiss Chiefs right now. But still Dan
(27:06):
Campbell and maybe he knew obviously he knew his opponent
but it's like, let's see if we can do something different,
and he just called the plays and Jamison Williams had
the best game of his season. Obviously, other guys you
know on in ros Saint Brown had a touchdown, Jamier
Gibbs running around. They look kind of like the Lions
of before. And anytime you lose a guy like Ben
Johnson and you're a CEO head coach, it is very
(27:29):
difficult to replace him. I'm not a Lions historian, but
I do think it's fair to say. Definitely, in my lifetime,
I mean, the Lions have only been good a couple times.
Scott Lenehan was the offensive coordinator for Stafford. I can't
even tell you who the guy was early on in
the nineties when they made the NFC Championship game. But
(27:51):
I do think it's fair to say as Ben Johnson
is probably the best offensive play caller the Detroit Lions
have ever had. And that's not even I mean that's
a possible. I think he's one of the best play callers.
I think he has a chance to go down. He's
like one of the great play callers. Like you watch
him with the Bears, he is exceptional. He was born
to be a star at his job. And I'm talking
(28:13):
specifically calling the plays. I'm not talking to being the
head coach necessarily, which obviously he's doing a good job.
I'm just saying that skill that we see around the league,
certain guys are great at you know, the Andy Reid's
and the Sean Payton's, like that skill put them on
the map. Now the younger crew, the o'connells, the Kyle's,
the Sean mcvaz. Ben Johnson is a stud. I would
put him right in the top category with all the
(28:34):
other guys his age group calling plays in the NFL.
It's hard to replace. And Dan Campbell kind of went
the safe route. This Johnny Morton guy. He's old, he
bounced around the NFL. Dan likes him, feels like a
well respected guy in the NFL. Clearly he's not that great.
It is not a great sign for him ever calling
plays again. And I don't know, maybe Dan like, does
(28:56):
he really want to do this year in year out?
Probably not. I think ideally he would like to give
those responsibilities to some one so we can take care
of everything. But it had to be done because he's
looking around like the NFC while it's wide open. It's
also extremely competitive, and I don't trust you as a
play caller because I don't think you make that move
(29:19):
if you go. I trust this guy in big games,
and I need to get my reps now because regardless,
like if I didn't podcast for a year and I
came back, I would not be as good and in
a rhythm, and it just be it takes me a
little while to get going. So Dan Campbell's going, we
got to be rolling come December when we got big
(29:39):
games against divisional opponents. Then whoever we're playing in the playoffs.
I can't just take this away December one and hopefully
a month leading into the playoffs gives us a chance.
That's not gonna work. I need to do it right
now so I get a couple months going into the playoffs,
because to me, i'd be son if Johnny Mooton never
calls a play again in twenty twenty five. And obviously
you know you can just keep in there. Who knows,
(30:02):
it depends. Maybe Dan Campbe's like, I want to do
this now. I doubt it, but I think it's more desperation,
like I have to do this or we're in trouble.
And this is what I said early in the season,
in the off season, where I just thought this one.
I just had to look at his resume. I go,
this guy's fifty five. All these famous coaches, Sean Payton,
(30:25):
John Gruden, all I've ever heard is I love this guy.
I love this guy. We why didn't you ever make
him the offensive coordinator? Why didn't you make him the
offensive coordinator? Jim Harbaugh? What do you do for Jim Hart?
There's a wide receiver coach for the forty nine ers,
So it's like there's a position coach. I've said, there's
nothing wrong with being a position coach. What industry do
you work in? Right? Most industries there's a certain level
(30:48):
of like that's where you got to get to be
make big money. Wide receiver coaches in the NFL make
like seven hundred and fifty eight hundred grand, great life, right,
And all you got to do is worry if you've
got a couple of great players, kind of motivating them,
keeping them awake in meetings, like you think you're coaching
justin Jefferson, like on how to get in and out
of breaks, Give me a break. You think you're coaching
(31:09):
like Aman Ross Saint Brown about what to do going
over the middle at this point. No, so I just
think he went with a safe hire kind of backfired
in his face. But he has enough skill. And I'm
a huge believer in people that you go that guy
can do anything right because some people is like that
guy is great at one thing, and there's nothing wrong
(31:30):
with that. Most people. If you meet a guy that's
like great at sales, usually he couldn't also run the
IT department. That's usually not how it works, right. But
Dan Campbell, if he's proven to be a great play caller,
like that's something to happen in your back pocket. If
the plays go to shit with Jim Harbaugh and Greg
(31:50):
Roman and Justin Herbert, like couldn't function together. Jim couldn't
call the place. I know that sounds crazy. He can't
do it, he won't do it. It's never happening. It's
not an option. John Harball defensive guy. They've gone through
spurts over the years where their defense been a little weird.
(32:10):
Hell it happened this year. It's not like John's like,
you know what, let me take over, can't do it,
refuses to do it. Dan Campbll's like fucking hand me
the sheet. I'll put up thirty five next week. Give
me the sheet again, I'll do it. So Congress is
Dan Campbell, what a badass? Seattle in La. They look
(32:31):
like they're on a collision course. Now, obviously we're recording
this before Monday Night Football, which is gonna have big
ramifications for the playoffs to powerhouse teams. Two teams that
I mean could be a could be a preview of
the NFC Championship game, or could be a preview of
the second round the playoffs. I mean, these are these
are two big time teams. So it's no guarantee that
(32:51):
Seattle in La. Are you know who knows? I mean,
it's football. You both can lose in the first round
of the playoffs. Help you could play each other in
the first round. The playoff says two versus It wouldn't
be two verse seven they're gonna have too good records,
but three verses six. Whatever. But I would say right now,
and I told Coward this, if you know in college
football where they do every Tuesday the rankings come out.
(33:15):
If you told me, hey, John, do the college football
Top twelve rankings, Seattle'll be a number one team. At
this point in time. Now, I guess if the Eagles
were to go to Green Bay and win by forty,
maybe I might change my tune. Just they're the defending champs.
I tend to lean with teams that have been there,
(33:36):
done that. I mean, I had a front row seat
to watch the San Francisco Giants the Golden State Warriors,
Like championship blood matters to me. But the way Seattle's playing, hell,
the way LA's playing. Look at LA's like last four games,
they are blowing people out. Now you can be like, well,
it's the Jags, it's the Saints. Well, okay, so the
NFL and they're just throttling them. I mean today they
(33:57):
and again the forty nine ers have a mass unit
on offense, A mass unit. I mean they got they
got guys that I don't even know who they are,
and their defensive line is just been obliterated by injuries.
But what do you do to a team that's injured.
You put up points and more points and more points
and never stopped scoring. And that's what they did. And
(34:18):
I think one thing that defines both those two teams
is they both made two enormous offseason moves Obviously Sam
Donald was one of the headlining free agent acquisition signings,
but I would say Devontae Adams was probably just in
terms of name recognition, one of the more famous guys
(34:39):
to sign this offseason as well. And I don't think
you could find two better signings, obviously Sam Donald. Anytime
you get a quarterback who has been one of the
best quarterbacks in the NFL objectively, it test wise every
metric you watch today. I mean I didn't even have
the game on. I didn't realize it even started because
(34:59):
it started two and the other games didn't start till
twenty five. And I saw on Twitter that I don't
know what play it was into the game had to
be probably like within the first several he just threw
like a He threw the ball I think from his
own forty five JSN caught it at the front of
the goal line, So a fifty five yard bomb in
(35:20):
the air that just had perfect arc and hit him
right in the hands. It's like that is the play
was football porn. And do you know that DeVante Adams
has eight touchdowns has eight touchdowns. There was a play
today where he ran this quick out route against one
of the forty nine Ers safeties, and a lot of
forty nine Er fans like, why are they putting a
safety on him? Unless Dion Sanders was, you know, rocking
(35:45):
the twenty one in nineteen ninety four for the forty
nine ers, no one was covering that route. You talk
about football porn DeVante, who's one of the best route
runners of his generation. Matt Stafford threw this ball almost
to the front pylon where it was only either going
to touch Devonte's hands or it was gonna hit the
photographer in the feet. It was just a thing of
(36:07):
beauty and those guys rapport is what Rogers and Davante
had by the time DeVante was five or six years
into the league was pretty special. It was a Hall
of Fame connection. It feels like Stafford and Davante have
developed it like that, and I would say the same
thing for JSN and Darnold. The difference is Stafford didn't
(36:28):
practice in training camp, and I was wanted to be like,
this is kind of scary this dude's back. Man, I
don't know what's going on this old guy's back. Look
at his buddy Kershaw back started going. Was never the same.
Turns out didn't matter. I don't think they were faking.
I mean, I do think his back was causing problems.
You watch Stafford right now. I don't know if there's
(36:51):
there's definitely not four better quarterbacks than those two guys.
Are there two better quarterbacks than those two guys? I
mean they are just they are dominating it at football.
And obviously JSN who looks like Jerry Rice and DeVante
Adams who looks like Pete Packer. Davante Adams help a
lot the Bears and the Giants. There was a moment
(37:12):
today because of the setup that I have. I can
only think when you're watching like eight games at once,
you can only have the volume on on one of
the games, so you kind of got to pick. And
usually little inside Baseball here in the middle cough. This
office probably has another two weeks before it turns back
into a bedroom and I moved to the actual official office.
(37:35):
But I usually have the audio on whatever I think
is the biggest game in the morning, and this morning
I kind of throttled back between the Ravens and the
Vikings and the what was the other game? The Bucks
and the Patriots, but the majority, honestly, I just had
I just left it on the Ravens Vikings game and
(37:55):
all the other games you're kind of watching. But you know,
when little things happen, you know, stuff you just you
don't always have the context. And there was a moment
in the Giants Bears game which actually turned out to
be potentially probably one of the more exciting games of
the day because it was another historic collapse from the Giants,
and Caleb Williams made some great plays, And honestly, I
(38:18):
told Coward this, I thought he had a really good game.
He was making some awesome throws. It was freezing cold,
so it's harder to catch his ball. He throws like
a one hundred and ten on our fastball. He was
throwing some lasers today that his guys were dropping. Obviously
made some big touchdown. He had a huge touchdown he
needed a game when he touched out run and just
(38:38):
made some huge scrambles. And I just thought he played
pretty well. But obviously Dark got can cuss. But there
was a play once Russell Wilson was in there that
we got Producer Shane who was a huge Giants fan,
Diehard pretty high on Jackson. Dark don't blame him looks
like he's got a chance to be a really good
player if he doesn't get hurt. All of a sudden
throws in the text chain. Did Brian day Ball just
(39:01):
decline a twelve men on the field penalty? I'm like, nah,
I don't know if he did. And we start, we
kind of figure out yeah he did. And my first
takeaway was like, well, he kicked the field goal. It's
twenty to ten, and at that period of time in
the fourth quarter, I'm like, ten minutes to go, they're
not gonna come back, Like the Bears aren't scoring twenty points.
(39:22):
It's like, bro, have you watched the Giants play this year?
I'm like, if it's too cold, you're not gonna about
ten minutes later the Giants lose, and looking back, you
could argue again, twelve min on the field auto first down.
It's not like he just kicked a forty five yard
field goal and you still got a drive in this
weird weather or whatever, and your backup quarterbacks, and he
(39:44):
was at the one yard line. The one yard line
where I do think it's fair to say that you
could even if you never let Russell throw, you could
run three runs. Worst case scenario, kick another field goal
at the same distance he declined the penalty. Let me repeat,
he declined the penalty to just take the field goal
(40:07):
instead of taking a new set of downs at the
one yard line. Obviously, the rest is history. He lost
the game. I do think there's a pretty good chance
some of you guys are watching this live on YouTube,
if you're listening to this on the podcast sometime Monday morning,
would not be stunned at all if at one period
of time, I would guess between seven and ten Pacific
(40:32):
Standard time, so probably ten eastern to like noon, maybe eastern.
Brian Dable, that probably is very confusing. I don't even
know why he just described it like that. I'm an idiot.
I bet he's fired in the morning. Let me just
if you said, John, do you think Brian Dable is
fired November tenth, or do you think he survives another week?
I'd say I'm leaning that he gets fired, because that's
(40:55):
pretty hard to shake, right. It's one thing on the
road Denver. We can debate how good bo Nix is,
but I think we all do agree that Denver's gonna
end up winning probably twelve thirteen games. I do think
the Bears, who were not playing that well to lose
that game, that one's ourd his stomach. So I would
say Brian daboles decision would go down as the dummy
(41:18):
of the week I do. I wrote this down because
I was like, this has really been pissing me off,
and I was like, you know what I don't do
enough is just write down something that happens in a
game and just make sure that I get to it,
because it's like, I'm passionate about this like this, I
see this every week, and every time I see it,
it just makes my blood boil. I've been saying forever
(41:38):
and the one thing I've been consistent with this one
college football. Them throwing kids out of the game for
targeting is one of the most egregious things going right
now in all of sports, because one, we're a decade
into the post CTE era and concussion era that we
all know the rules of engagement. Here, all these guys
(42:00):
are being coached, no one is head hunting, no one
is trying to hurt anyone. They might be trying to
physically impact them, but no one. Back in the day,
people tried to hurt people, people tried to crack skulls,
And now guys know, so when it happens, I think
ninety nine percent it's inadvertent. And throwing a college kid
out of a game when the overwhelming majority of those
(42:22):
kids are never playing a game in the pros is nuts.
This isn't basketball or baseball. You don't get that many games.
And if they don't only get thrown out of that game,
they missed the half of the next game. It's it's
it's nothing. Is a bigger pet peeve in college sports
that piss me off More than that, I would say
something that has gone to that level in the pros.
(42:42):
In the Minnesota game, Dallas Turner, who was I would
say underwhelming a little bit based on where he was drafted,
and he was drafted ahead of Jared Verse and you
just like a little more, had an awesome rush today
and he sacked Lamar Jackson, and while he did it,
he got flagged for or the driving his weight onto
(43:02):
the quarterback. And I've always said this, like when someone
gets flagged for targeting in the NFL or college and
they're both in the air, it's like, once you realize
the guy's moving, you do know these are humans, not
like superheroes. They can't fly away. Once I run full
speed around a guy that's three hundred and twenty pounds,
turn the corner in usually under a couple seconds, going
(43:27):
as fast as I can, I take off to try
to sack the guy. Once I am around him and
going down, I can't then magically fly away. And even
Michael Strahan said, because it happened right before halftime, do
you know if a player tries to turn or tries
to make some movement, they could injure themselves. There is
(43:48):
nothing anyone can do when I am sacking you and
landing on you my body weight. Now there are times
if I pick you up and suplex you, it's like, okay,
that was excessive. But when these these guys are sacking
the quarterback and it's one of those unabated where I
get a couple steps and I'm gonna light you up.
I'm going to fall on you. That is the way
(44:09):
it works. And any guy over two hundred and fifty
pounds doesn't have the ability to change the way they fall.
That rule is outrageous. It really is. The call on
Dallas Turner made me want to throw up, made me
sick to my stomach. I'm not asking for nineteen seventies football.
(44:34):
But we have to all agree that is beyond the
stupidest rule we've ever seen. I'm sacking you or going
to the ground, I'm gonna fall on you. I'm a
defensive lineman, I'm bigger than you. It's not gonna look
great for you. You play quarterback. And they said it
on the Fox broadcast and Michael Strahan, why can that
same tackle happen to literally everyone else on the field.
(44:57):
Once you have the ball and I tackle you, and
I can go on you yet the quarterback. And I'm
as pro protecting the quarterbacks as anyone, but none of
these are malicious. The NFL has to do something the overregulation.
It feels like California government, What are we? Lamar Jackson
was fine. He got right up, just like most quarterbacks
(45:18):
in the history of the sport that have been tackled
like that. You just kind of get up. It doesn't
feel great. Why you want to avoid getting sacked? It sucks,
usually hurts. I mean, it's not great, you know, But
I thought the Dallas Turner tackle was one of I
just can't handle it. I mean I really can't. And
it doesn't feel like it's not only not going away.
(45:40):
It feels like it's called all the time now, it's
just it's insane. And last, but not least, I saw
(46:00):
Richard Sherman put out a tweet that I really liked
when it came to mac Jones and brock Purty, and
it was in regards to the forty nine Ers defense
got shredded today. And Tom Brady was asked about this,
I think on his before the game, or I think
he went on with Fox pregame maybe like an hour
(46:23):
before the start of the morning games, and because he
was calling the rams Nyder game, and they asked him
about the Purty mac Jones situation, and he essentially said,
like he's got to keep writing mac Jones and this
is not one of those where it's like you're benching
brock Purty. But brock Purty is not one hundred percent.
He hasn't been able to be the second string quarterback
(46:44):
in well over a month. He's not able to dress
on game day, he is not able to finish practices.
So to me, sticking with mac Jones isn't like we
got a quarterback controversy. It's simply the guy that we
just gave two hundred million dollars to not only is
not one hundred percent, if he's in a position where
(47:04):
if we put him out there, he's just gonna get
injured again. How does it make any sense to put
brock Party out there. Here's the other thing. The forty
nine ers now are gonna be right there with the
Chicago Bears battling for the last spot in the playoffs,
and at minimum you're gonna have to get to ten wins. Now,
the forty nine ers have some easy games in theory
(47:24):
on paper, right, The Arizona Cardinals, the Tennessee Titans, the
Carolina Panthers. They have some games that most people would
say you should win. But you pull out a quarterback
who's not one hundred percent and who's told that this
is not one of those injuries that just like broken arm,
fixed it a month and a half later, it's healed.
(47:45):
I'm fine. They've all said this thing, Lingers, we saw
him come back early, he got immediately reinjured. We haven't
seen him again. You just gave this guy almost two
hundred million dollars. I'm not one of those people that
act like Brock Purty sucks. You've thrown him to the
garbage but a huge part of his game is moving around,
and I see no added value to bring a guy
(48:08):
unless he says I'm one hundred percent. The doctor goes
he's one percent, and he is no more likely to
get injured with this with this toe injury than he
was before he even had it. Then I say, okay,
we'll go with brock Perrie because he's just we plan
on him starting the rest of the year. But that
clearly is not the case, and mac Jones is playing
like a really good player. The way mac Jones played today,
(48:30):
if their defense was just decent, they could have won
the game. He was the least of their warriors. He
actually was really good. And he's played two games against
the Rams, and in this totality has been excellent. Mac
Jones has played winning football. Mac Jones, probably as sitting
here on November ninth, beside, any guy in the league
on a rookie contract, has probably been by a substantial margin,
(48:54):
the most underpaid NFL player in twenty twenty five. So
to me, the reason you keep going with mac Jones,
like Richard Sherman said, is because he's just rolling and
your other guy is not healthy, and it's like, well,
if he's healthy, Well, what do you mean healthy? Is
he one hundred percent? He's not gonna get rehurt. And then, okay,
I understand the argument. He just gave this guy a
(49:14):
ton of money. He's your franchise. But if he doesn't
check that box, it's like, well, just see now, there's
no will, like, you're gonna risk making this worse. You're
gonna risk putting the team in a situation where he's
coming out rusty. Then all of a sudden, sudden, one
of those games, like, well, we should win this game,
all of a sudden, you lose it. Then he's reinjured.
(49:35):
It's like, what did you do that? For one thing?
The forty nine ers need to do because some of
these injuries. They lost another guy today early in the game.
They're starting linebacker, the guy filling in for Fred Warner.
Of course, you can't go a game healthy to save
their life. But it's just try to make a sound decision.
And it does feel sometimes that they make some weird decisions.
(49:58):
And over the offseason a lot of mone he was involved,
like how we wanted to build this team. We can
agree or disagree with some of the personnel moves. Obviously,
the way some of these guys that get injured and
then they bring them back, they get reinjured. We can
debate if it's just whatever, if it's a doctor's fault,
if it's not. I know forty nine ers got mad
at me. I don't know, no one has the answers,
(50:18):
but clearly whatever they're doing ain't fucking working. That much
is not even arguable. I did see brock Party come
back one time, have not seen him again, so now
I'm supposed to trust he's good just because he missed
some games. This is injured. Dean Sanders got toes cut off. Literally,
he's missed a couple of TOAs because of this injury.
So it's like, let's be cautious like part of and
(50:39):
this is where the front office in ownership needs to be, like, hey,
can we have like a five year big picture view
on this? What are we rushing brock Party back for?
It sucks? It probably really sucks for him to sign
this contract. And now it feels like I'm just stealing money.
I'm running a scam here. It's like you're not. You
got an injury, a shitty injury that clearly doesn't go
away and limit your ability. But I'm on team unless
(51:04):
you tell me no problem and he's one. No chances
coming back. Not when this guy's playing like this, it
makes notice no sense. And if they do it and lose,
they deserve to get crushed well and done this my
friends at hard Rock Bet Tomorrow night, Monday Night football.
(51:24):
I think I'm going Philly. Uh that that line's come
down a little bit. You know, Philly is typically one
of the louder you know, a lot going on, whether
they're Super Bowl champs or whether they're on a five game,
there's always stuff happening. It feels like they're a little
quiet right now, kind of flying under the radar. A
lot of pressure on the Packers. The Eagles kind of
(51:45):
thrive in that they're used to that environment. I don't
know the Packers. Matt Lafleur like it's it's been kind
of quiet over the years. For the first time, everyone's
looking kind of must win for the Packers. I'm going
Philly plus one. I'm going you want a little parlay
on Rock Bet Philly plus one. Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown,
Christian Watson, i think they're gonna try to throw a
(52:06):
couple of bombs. Test out these new corners. To score
an anytime touchdown pays thirteen to one. So that's what
I'm rocking with for Monday night. Enjoy the night, enjoy
the morning whenever you may be watching or listening to this,
and we'll talk to everyone after the Eagles Packers game.
Can't wait the volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
John Middlecoff three and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing well,
(00:24):
better than Aaron Rodgers, who just played one of the
worst games he's ever had in his career. That was ugly.
Jim Harbaugh prevails, takes the Chargers to seven and three
despite a million injuries. Looks like their playoff bound again.
And the Steelers are in major, major trouble. Obviously, the
Ravens are coming. Their schedule gets easy, and the Steelers
(00:45):
got problems. They've lost three or four and just they
look horrendous tonight. I mean they looked really really offensively.
That was that. Today was a tough day. A lot
of bad football depending on what team you were watching.
There was a lot of good football too as play great.
Seattle looks incredible, Ravens are playing well. Patriots. So I
(01:06):
guess to each his own depends, but we will talk
some football. A lot going on different things I want
to discuss. You guys know the Drill. Make sure you
subscribe to the podcast wherever you may listen three and out, Spotify, Apple,
You guys know the Drill YouTube as well. We go
live after every Monday night game after every Thursday night game,
after every Sunday night game, content throughout the week. You
(01:27):
never want to miss anything, so we will keep you
here and keep you dialed. But before we dive into
some football, I got it my Friends's zwn pouches. This
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I went through about ten today watching some ball, and
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(02:13):
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was thinking about this tonight, you know, and listen, I'm
guilty of this too. I think we over complicate a
lot of things in life, right from when we're young
to when we age I mean, I got a baby
(02:36):
on the way, and I would imagine my baby has
it doesn't even I mean, it exists in or belly,
but it doesn't exist. It's not out of the womb
yet has more clothes currently in his closet than I
probably had through the first five years of my life.
And anyone that's had a child, you realize you go
through all these different things. It's like, I don't think
(02:57):
my parents were doing this in the eighties, but hey,
it's it is what it is. Feels a little over
complicated to me, but scards Ward dealt and I think
we break down so many different elements of football college pro.
At the end of the day, do you have a
good coach, do you have a good quarterback? And really,
in tandem, are my two better than your two? And
(03:21):
when you look at Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert, I
think we've tried to have all these And I'm guilty
of this too. I'm not trying to point any fingers here.
I am as guilty as anyone. I bet on the
Pittsburgh Steelers tonight and I'm watching this game and I
go look around the league. The combination of head coach
and quarterback. How many around the league would you take
(03:44):
over those two guys? You go, well, Andy Reid, Mahomes, Okay,
who else? Sirianni and Hurts? Well? Do I get Howie
Roseman or not? Because if I don't get Howie Roseman,
hell no, Jordan Love and laflor Well, if Laflorida doesn't
win Monday Night Football, he might get fired. John Harbaugh
(04:06):
and Lamar Okay, that's the first one. You can make
an argument. Sean McDermott, Josh Allen. I'd take Josh Allen
over Herbert, but I would not take Sean McDermott over
Jim Harbaugh. You start going around the best teams like listen,
Dan Campbell might be the third Harball brother. I'm taking
Herbert over Golf. They are a top three or four
(04:26):
combination in the NFL. I have a lot of respect
for Mike Tomlin. I think he's pretty damn good. His
resume speaks for itself. He has not won a playoff
game in about a decade. Aaron Rodgers, who's got a
new lease on life. You see that wedding ring on
his left hand. I do believe he's the most famous
individual in this Internet era. That we've never seen a
(04:48):
picture of his significant other, fascinated to see what she
looks like. But at forty one years old, the combination
of those two guys aren't sniffing the top ten. Now.
Aaron's play plaid well this year. Tonight he did not.
But when you look at those two guys who are
now five and four and are leaking serious oil. They've
(05:08):
lost three of their last four games, two of their
last three. Two playoff opponents, I mean tonight the Chargers,
who are headed back to the playoffs again, surely kicked
the living shit out of them. One thing Tomlin's always
had is this kind of chip on his shoulder, this
underdog mentality even though he's coaching for this historic brand,
(05:30):
and kind of this edginess. Well that's completely gone because
you remove the Colts game, this team that I've seen, like,
what's going on? Meanwhile, I look across the field and
I see Jim Harbaugh. It's like his offensive lines and
shambles doesn't matter. He missed Khalil Mack for half the season,
didn't matter. He's got injuries left and right. Who cares?
(05:54):
So when that outcome played itself out, it's like, yeah,
of course, the team with the better coach and the
better quarterback one. And I look back on why did
I outthink the room on this one, just because the
Pittsburgh Steelers might have more fans than sofi who gives
a shit? Clearly Jim doesn't. And I just think that
(06:17):
that was a clinic tonight from one of the best
head coaches in the NFL, from you know, even justin Herbert.
I think I just looked. He got sacked five times
early in the game, he gets tackled from behind, he's
limping around. There is something about the power of Jim
and when he coaches you as a quarterback, you just
(06:37):
play at a different level, You play with a different
belief and it was on full display. And the one
thing with Jim Harbaugh, despite being a former NFL quarterback,
not a linebacker, not a safety, not a defensive tackle.
He's a quarterback. His defense is now since I've been
(06:58):
really paying attention to win, he coached at Stanford and
you could even go back, I'm sure to San Diego.
But with the forty nine ers obviously at Michigan and
now with the Chargers are awesome. And Mike Tomlin, known
as this defensive guy, you're watching to night, You're like, well,
you removed the Indianapolis game doesn't look that great. So
(07:21):
I think that tonight you saw one team that's headed
to the playoffs and another team that, let's face it,
I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are in major trouble. And
I was wrong because probably a month ago I said,
I just did the math. They were one and five,
that being the Ravens. The Steelers, they were four and one.
(07:43):
They had some easy opponents coming up, they had some
difficult opponents, but they were at home. I was like,
they're going to cruise to like eleven wins. Their floor
was like ten. Now I look, I go, I don't know.
I think I'm completely out on them. If you told
me right now, eight to nine wins probably feels about
(08:04):
the max. Guess what the Ravens are gonna win more
than that. Their next three games are against the Browns,
the Jets, and the Bengals. So worst case scenario, before
they play their Steelers as the fourth game on that slate,
they would be six and six. If I was a
betting man, I would currently take them to win all
(08:26):
three of those games. I would imagine I haven't looked
at the line next week against the Browns, but the Browns, Jets,
and the Bengals on average, the gambling lines there will
be around a touchdown, potentially more as they win some
of these games. Watching today, their secondary fully healthy, Lamar Jackson,
fully healthy, confidence with that squad full go. It's the
(08:48):
flip side. When you look at the Steelers, who offensively
have a major issue. They have one wide receiver, let
me repeat, one wide receiver who they are paying one
hundred and fifty million dollars over three or four years,
gifted freak, but I wouldn't exactly call him Jerry Reis
or Terrell Owens, and he clearly gets taken out of games.
(09:10):
And then they have all these other guys, Roman Wilson,
Austin seventeen tight ends. Even when Aaron plays well, unlike tonight,
they're not gonna put up a lot of points. It's
going to be a struggle if they're playing a decent
defense and the running game like kind of non existent.
Jalen Warren good little player, but if he has to
(09:33):
lead your team in carries, your running game is going
to be limited. So when I look at this operation
and I look at the Baltimore Ravens. I'll be the
first to say I did not see this coming a
month ago. I was completely wrong. I think when the
dust settles, the Baltimore Ravens are in first place by
the end of the month, and then as December plays out,
(09:55):
like think about tonight, Aaron Rodgers. There were a couple times,
and I never blame like, when you're young trying to
prove yourself. Part of playing the quarterback position, whether it
be in college and definitely in the NFL, there are
gonna be times. It's why they make all this money.
That's why they are the stars of the league. You're
(10:17):
gonna have to stay in that pocket for like an
extra split second too long and deliver a pass for
a big first down or for a big touchdown or
for a big completion, and you're gonna get throttled. And
all the great quarterbacks have done that. But we saw
Brady a couple years back, that last year in Tampa.
(10:37):
He's like, f this. I got a bunch of kids,
I got a bunch of money. I am too old
to get hit by all these quick, fast guys that
are just rocking my ribs, lower body and driving me
into the grass. I'm over this, and he wanted no
part of getting hit, absolutely none, And tonight it was
(10:59):
a He's had bits of it over the years. Tonight
it was on full display. I'm married, I'm really rich.
I probably don't have a super Bowl team. I'm not
standing in there that extra split second. There was a
play in the second half on a third down where
he was about I don't eve think get hit that hard,
but he was definitely gonna take a collision and he
(11:21):
felt it right at the last second and kind of wins. Again.
I'm not trying to act like he should do it.
I don't blame him at all. He's forty one years old,
but that limits your ability, and his talent isn't quite
what it was in his heyday. So when he's going
to turn down certain passes against good defenses, it is
going to look like tonight in what we witnessed. I
(11:44):
would imagine there are some Packer historians, but that has
to be one of the worst games he's ever played
since becoming a good player in two thousand and nine.
There's a chance that's the worst primetime game he's ever played.
I mean, at one point in time in the fourth quarter,
he had barely thrown for a hundred yards. Again, the
Chargers defense is good and statistically they're good. It's not
(12:04):
like Khalil Mack is also flanked by Sean Marion. It's
not like Derwin James is also flanked by Eric Weddle. Again,
good defense, great coaching, physical mentality rights. It's the way
in which they play. It's Harbaugh. When you play a
Jim Harbaugh team, when they get the opportunity, they are
going to rock your world. And the Steelers like sometimes
(12:27):
they do it and sometimes they don't, you know, like
Cam and TJ and the front kind of does. But
I would say they're back seven can be very very
hit or miss and if Rogers is gonna play like that,
like we've been saying, you know, even in some of
their losses, Aaron's been good and they still lost. Well
when he's bad, you get boat raced and Chargers seven
three team, they're probably headed toward eleven ish wins and
(12:50):
they're just dramatically better than the Steelers. I feel like
if they play Pittsburgh ten times, Chargers win like seven.
And I don't think the Chargers are as good as
the Ravens based on health so what's gonna happen here? Now?
You could say Pittsburgh does feel comfortable playing Baltimore, But
to me, even if they split those two games, it's
(13:12):
the other games. The Steelers have proven they play a
good team, the Packers, the Chargers, Seattle, they're getting worked,
but they could also lose to like the Bengals, So
you can't trust them in any game. And those are
the worst type teams again to bet on never again,
no more touching the Pittsburgh Steelers moving forward. I'm out,
(13:34):
but just to respect of because I had some people
like Middlecuff. Remember when you were saying Tomlin should get fired.
I've always said I think I think the New York
Giants would sell their left nut to have Mike Tomlin
be their head coach in twenty twenty six. They would
die for Tomlin roam in that sideline coaching Jackson, Darton,
Scataboo and Molik neighbors. But this Pittsburgh thing is over
(13:58):
that they're not gonna be good enough, and it's not
all his fault, and I don't know all the inner
workings of the Steelers, and some Steelers push back when
I say, you know, Tom's not as involved in personnel,
and they'll say, listen to us fans, we're closer to this.
He is more involved than you think. Regardless the way
this roster is built, it's just not that good. And
it's got in Collinsworth and Tarrico. We're talking about it.
(14:20):
It's got major flaws because I'd be like, well, look
at the Chargers. Their offensive line is rolling out like me.
And defensively, you know, you got Khalil Mack, you got
some young pieces that they've drafted. But it's the mentality.
It's how well they're coached. And that's the other knock
on the Steelers is from a coaching standpoint, you could
just even say the staff, right, who are you taking
(14:43):
Tomlin and Terrell Austin or you taking Jesse Minterer, Which
I didn't realize tonight. Mike Tomlin kind of really got
his big break and kind of took off coaching for Cincinnati,
where Jesse Mintor's dad, Rick Mintor, who I met briefly,
we kind of crossed over a little bit. Chip Kelly
had hired him in thirteen. He coached for the Eagles
(15:03):
for a couple of years, well respected older coach, and
there was a clip on Sunday Night Football, Jesse Mintter
going over and saying what's up to Mike, and Mike
had a big smile and they were hugging. It was cool.
But I'm watching jesse Mentor jesse Mentor like that's he's
a big time coach. And I think sometimes Steelers fans
push back of what's up with our coaching? Like is
(15:27):
our coach? And I'd say coaching, I think can be
hit or miss, but your personnel's not great. And one
thing the Steelers used to have in their heyday of
early Mike Tomlin and up until like twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen,
their rosters were awesome. And now you're watching the rosters like, man, okay,
pretty flawed. One wide receiver kind of runs deep routes,
(15:50):
doesn't do much else. It doesn't. You can be hit
or miss on effort. It's like, yeah, I don't really
see it in a forty one year old quarterback that yes,
it's kind of over it. And when I say over it,
I just meant like standing in there like you have
to do, especially with a flawed team. And he didn't
want to do it tonight, and uh yeah, they got problems.
So I think the Baltimore Ravens. I'm changing my tune
(16:12):
because now I got a month of evidence. I got
four straight games Bengals, we got the Packers, we got
the Colts game, which is clear outlier, and then tonight.
So seventy five percent of my evidence over the last
month says get out, get out. Twenty five percent says,
what hell If their defensive line just causes constant turnovers
(16:36):
and sacks a quarterback every other play, they can win.
It's like, well, that's probably not gonna happen very often.
And that's what I bet on a night. Turns out,
they sacked Herbert a decent amount. I think it was
sacked and hit a bunch of times. Didn't matter. I mean,
they couldn't score a point to save their life. So
and now now granted, early on Dkad had broken out
and Rogers kind of scramble a little throwback play and
(16:56):
overshot him by about ten yards. So a congrats to
the Charger who look headed back to the playoffs, and
that that is Hardball's done some impressive things. Taking a
team that loses a tackle that you give one hundred
million dollars two to start the season. He never plays
a game. Another guy that you draft fifth overall and
(17:18):
is gonna miss I don't know, eighty percent of the season.
And to compete and to win games. It's just remarkable.
And this is my thing with Tomlin. Sometimes your message
just falls flat that they don't listen to. It's human nature, right.
Sometimes I think, like, how did I I know? I
(17:41):
was young, but like you don't live with my parents
for eighteen years. And I think as you get older,
you know, you just you think differently, you grow, you change, like, well,
I wasn't even the same human being, right, And I
think it's no different than you know, a coach like
their message. It's valuable, it's personable and and it resonates.
(18:01):
But after a period of time, once you go on
fifteen plus years, it's just it's time for a change.
And I've made a bunch of changes in my career. Hell,
I've been fired. It's the best thing that ever happened
to me. Ask Andy Reid was what was like to
get fired by the Philadelphia Eagles? Do you think he
regrets that moment? Look how his career took off like
(18:21):
a rocket ship ever since then. Most coach Belichick got
fired in Cleveland went on to win six Lombardies with
the Patriots. Pete Carroll got fired multiple times before he
went to USC went on to win national championships and
then another Super Bowl, I guess, his first Super Bowl.
But like he had been part of a Super Bowl
team with the forty nine Ers when he was younger,
(18:41):
you know what I mean, getting fired or leaving is
not a bad thing. Jim Harbaugh, Once upon a time,
I was there living in the area around the team
constantly on the radio. I know they claimed they mutually departed.
The forty nine Ers fired Jim Harball. Think about that.
Jim Harbaugh, who has been undeniably one of the best
(19:03):
coaches college or pro. And honestly, you could argue there
is a short list of guys who have proven they
can do both. I mean, he won a national championship
in college and if I'm a betting man, he's going
to win a Super Bowl in the pros. But even
as of right now hasn't won a Super Bowl. Just
he got to one. How many guys can say that, right? Obviously,
(19:24):
Pete Carroll's done both, Jimmy Johnson's done both. It's a
very very small list. Urban Meyer, all time great college coach,
one of the greatest college coaches of my life. Couldn't
make it a year in the pros. Think about that,
could not make it a year for those of you
younger people when I was young, Steve Spurrier, I'm trying
(19:47):
to even think of what his comp would be in college.
It would be like Mike Leech meets Kirby Smart. Was
kicking the shit out of everybody at Florida went to
the Pros. Was a laughing stock. Most guys can't do both.
It doesn't work that way. Jim could coach the junior
(20:07):
midges down the street that are seven and eight year olds.
He coached high school, he coached college, and he can
coach pros. He's kicking ass at every level. It is
unreal to watch. I mean it really is. He was
put on this earth to coach and win, and he's
really good at it, and he's a good example. He's
moved around. Was it San Diego for four years? Was
(20:27):
it Stanford for four or five years? Was forty nine
Ers for four years? Michigan was by far his longest stint.
Now he's with the Chargers for two years. Like this
is the thing. With Mike Tomlin, like sometimes being reinvigorated,
having a new challenge, pushing yourself. So it's honestly why
I just went to hot yoga. I'm like, you know,
I don't do enough things in my life. They kind
(20:49):
of pushed me. I was watching this clip of like,
don't even ask me how I ended up on this.
But Claire Kittle and Kristen Hughes Check, they have this YouTube.
It copped up in my feed and I clicked it,
and I'm kind of I didn't watch the whole thing.
It's just they're micd up, but I saw they were
in used Check's backyard and Kyle was like, I truly
(21:11):
believe this, And it was like kind of got serious
thing because he was talking about how he goes in
the cold tub and the uh, the sauna, and he's like,
I do believe you should try once a day to
do something. This just makes you a little uncomfortable. And
he says every morning for I think it's like seven
days a week for the entire season, whether he wants
to or not, he gets in the cold tub at
six am and he's like, honestly, most days, obviously, I
(21:33):
do not want to do that. It's an uncomfortable thing,
and it's just I start my day a little uncomfortable.
And I think there's a comfort level with Mike Tom
Pittsburgh Steelers. He knows where his office is, his wife's
got the you know, the the building downtown, the business
downtown where she sells stuff. It's like they got a
great little life, makes a ton of money, but it's
not working. So it's like Jim Harbaugh, new challenge, new challenge,
(21:56):
new challenge, new challenge. So one guy beat the living
crowd out of the other guy. So it's like, sometimes
you just need a change. Today's show is brought to
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Speaking about like what thing
(23:50):
with Jim Harbaugh. Jim Harbaugh can not call place Jim
Harbaugh has never called place, didn't call plays at Stanford,
didn't call definitely, did not call play was the forty nine,
or never call plays with Michigan, and is obviously not
calling plays with the Chargers. It doesn't matter, like he
does not have to call plays to be a great
(24:12):
coach like his brother. I don't think John Harbaugh has
ever called plays. Right's why he's fired or a lot
of his coordinators have gotten head coaching jobs. But he
doesn't call defensive plays, which is his background. Obviously he's
never calling offensive plays. But John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh.
I don't want to go as far as say they
can't call plays, but when you have literally never called plays,
(24:36):
I think it's fair to say like they can't call
plays and they're still awesome coaches that their records speak
for themselves. I've called Dan Campbell the third Hardball brother.
I think there are a lot of similarities. I think
those three guys would get along very very well. If
you told me that Dan Campbell grew up with the
Harball family, I think he would have fit right in.
(24:57):
He's like a little bit more like the Texas redneck
version of those guys, and he they just have a
lot of similarities. And I've been saying forever it's like,
you know, Dan is there is an incredible leader of
men ceo and it's it's a great quality to have.
Like even Mike Tomlin once back in the day did
call plays, doesn't do it anymore, need someone to kind
(25:17):
of point the finger out on fire, but has in
his past call plays. Well, I didn't realize this. I
had the Commander game that the afternoons like today was atrocious.
I mean it was. It was bad, and I'm never
gonna complain. I get to do this for a living,
to watch football for a living, So when I am
saying this, I'm saying this in a with a smile
(25:39):
on my face. But it was at one point in time,
the forty nine ers are down twenty one nothing and
Seattle was up thirty five nothing. So the combined scores
not a math major were like fifty six to nothing,
and the Lions it was clear we're going to beat
the living crap out of Washington. So Dan camp so
I got that. I had like NYR game on a
(26:01):
big TV, I had the Seattle game on a smaller TV,
and then I had the Washington game on kind of
my computer monitor, which is you know, when I was
a kid, would be considered a big TV. It's probably
like twenty five inches. And I didn't realize this. And
you look over Jameis and Williams making place. That game
wasn't even it wasn't even a fair fight. And then
(26:21):
after the game someone DMed me, They're like, what do
you think about Dan Campbell calling plays like Dan Campbell
called the place? What about Johnny Morton? And then obviously
do a little recon Most of you have priced scene.
I see the clip of Dan Campbell in his postgame
press conference because someone asked him it looked like you
were calling place. He's like, yeah, we just needed to
mix it up. Oh wait, Dan Campbell's call plays. Now,
(26:44):
Washington's defense is horrendous. You can like they are you
go through them like a wet paperbag that they have
no resistance. I think the difference of the Lions and
the Commander's day was almost like over two hundred and
fifty yards of of yardich. It's not a fair fight.
Their defense is Swiss Chiefs right now. But still Dan
(27:06):
Campbell and maybe he knew obviously he knew his opponent
but it's like, let's see if we can do something different,
and he just called the plays and Jamison Williams had
the best game of his season. Obviously, other guys you
know on in ros Saint Brown had a touchdown, Jamier
Gibbs running around. They look kind of like the Lions
of before. And anytime you lose a guy like Ben
Johnson and you're a CEO head coach, it is very
(27:29):
difficult to replace him. I'm not a Lions historian, but
I do think it's fair to say. Definitely, in my lifetime,
I mean, the Lions have only been good a couple times.
Scott Lenehan was the offensive coordinator for Stafford. I can't
even tell you who the guy was early on in
the nineties when they made the NFC Championship game. But
(27:51):
I do think it's fair to say as Ben Johnson
is probably the best offensive play caller the Detroit Lions
have ever had. And that's not even I mean that's
a possible. I think he's one of the best play callers.
I think he has a chance to go down. He's
like one of the great play callers. Like you watch
him with the Bears, he is exceptional. He was born
to be a star at his job. And I'm talking
(28:13):
specifically calling the plays. I'm not talking to being the
head coach necessarily, which obviously he's doing a good job.
I'm just saying that skill that we see around the league,
certain guys are great at you know, the Andy Reid's
and the Sean Payton's, like that skill put them on
the map. Now the younger crew, the o'connells, the Kyle's,
the Sean mcvaz. Ben Johnson is a stud. I would
put him right in the top category with all the
(28:34):
other guys his age group calling plays in the NFL.
It's hard to replace. And Dan Campbell kind of went
the safe route. This Johnny Morton guy. He's old, he
bounced around the NFL. Dan likes him, feels like a
well respected guy in the NFL. Clearly he's not that great.
It is not a great sign for him ever calling
plays again. And I don't know, maybe Dan like, does
(28:56):
he really want to do this year in year out?
Probably not. I think ideally he would like to give
those responsibilities to some one so we can take care
of everything. But it had to be done because he's
looking around like the NFC while it's wide open. It's
also extremely competitive, and I don't trust you as a
play caller because I don't think you make that move
(29:19):
if you go. I trust this guy in big games,
and I need to get my reps now because regardless,
like if I didn't podcast for a year and I
came back, I would not be as good and in
a rhythm, and it just be it takes me a
little while to get going. So Dan Campbell's going, we
got to be rolling come December when we got big
(29:39):
games against divisional opponents. Then whoever we're playing in the playoffs.
I can't just take this away December one and hopefully
a month leading into the playoffs gives us a chance.
That's not gonna work. I need to do it right
now so I get a couple months going into the playoffs,
because to me, i'd be son if Johnny Mooton never
calls a play again in twenty twenty five. And obviously
you know you can just keep in there. Who knows,
(30:02):
it depends. Maybe Dan Campbe's like, I want to do
this now. I doubt it, but I think it's more desperation,
like I have to do this or we're in trouble.
And this is what I said early in the season,
in the off season, where I just thought this one.
I just had to look at his resume. I go,
this guy's fifty five. All these famous coaches, Sean Payton,
(30:25):
John Gruden, all I've ever heard is I love this guy.
I love this guy. We why didn't you ever make
him the offensive coordinator? Why didn't you make him the
offensive coordinator? Jim Harbaugh? What do you do for Jim Hart?
There's a wide receiver coach for the forty nine ers,
So it's like there's a position coach. I've said, there's
nothing wrong with being a position coach. What industry do
you work in? Right? Most industries there's a certain level
(30:48):
of like that's where you got to get to be
make big money. Wide receiver coaches in the NFL make
like seven hundred and fifty eight hundred grand, great life, right,
And all you got to do is worry if you've
got a couple of great players, kind of motivating them,
keeping them awake in meetings, like you think you're coaching
justin Jefferson, like on how to get in and out
of breaks, Give me a break. You think you're coaching
(31:09):
like Aman Ross Saint Brown about what to do going
over the middle at this point. No, so I just
think he went with a safe hire kind of backfired
in his face. But he has enough skill. And I'm
a huge believer in people that you go that guy
can do anything right because some people is like that
guy is great at one thing, and there's nothing wrong
(31:30):
with that. Most people. If you meet a guy that's
like great at sales, usually he couldn't also run the
IT department. That's usually not how it works, right. But
Dan Campbell, if he's proven to be a great play caller,
like that's something to happen in your back pocket. If
the plays go to shit with Jim Harbaugh and Greg
(31:50):
Roman and Justin Herbert, like couldn't function together. Jim couldn't
call the place. I know that sounds crazy. He can't
do it, he won't do it. It's never happening. It's
not an option. John Harball defensive guy. They've gone through
spurts over the years where their defense been a little weird.
(32:10):
Hell it happened this year. It's not like John's like,
you know what, let me take over, can't do it,
refuses to do it. Dan Campbll's like fucking hand me
the sheet. I'll put up thirty five next week. Give
me the sheet again, I'll do it. So Congress is
Dan Campbell, what a badass? Seattle in La. They look
(32:31):
like they're on a collision course. Now, obviously we're recording
this before Monday Night Football, which is gonna have big
ramifications for the playoffs to powerhouse teams. Two teams that
I mean could be a could be a preview of
the NFC Championship game, or could be a preview of
the second round the playoffs. I mean, these are these
are two big time teams. So it's no guarantee that
(32:51):
Seattle in La. Are you know who knows? I mean,
it's football. You both can lose in the first round
of the playoffs. Help you could play each other in
the first round. The playoff says two versus It wouldn't
be two verse seven they're gonna have too good records,
but three verses six. Whatever. But I would say right now,
and I told Coward this, if you know in college
football where they do every Tuesday the rankings come out.
(33:15):
If you told me, hey, John, do the college football
Top twelve rankings, Seattle'll be a number one team. At
this point in time. Now, I guess if the Eagles
were to go to Green Bay and win by forty,
maybe I might change my tune. Just they're the defending champs.
I tend to lean with teams that have been there,
(33:36):
done that. I mean, I had a front row seat
to watch the San Francisco Giants the Golden State Warriors,
Like championship blood matters to me. But the way Seattle's playing, hell,
the way LA's playing. Look at LA's like last four games,
they are blowing people out. Now you can be like, well,
it's the Jags, it's the Saints. Well, okay, so the
NFL and they're just throttling them. I mean today they
(33:57):
and again the forty nine ers have a mass unit
on offense, A mass unit. I mean they got they
got guys that I don't even know who they are,
and their defensive line is just been obliterated by injuries.
But what do you do to a team that's injured.
You put up points and more points and more points
and never stopped scoring. And that's what they did. And
(34:18):
I think one thing that defines both those two teams
is they both made two enormous offseason moves Obviously Sam
Donald was one of the headlining free agent acquisition signings,
but I would say Devontae Adams was probably just in
terms of name recognition, one of the more famous guys
(34:39):
to sign this offseason as well. And I don't think
you could find two better signings, obviously Sam Donald. Anytime
you get a quarterback who has been one of the
best quarterbacks in the NFL objectively, it test wise every
metric you watch today. I mean I didn't even have
the game on. I didn't realize it even started because
(34:59):
it started two and the other games didn't start till
twenty five. And I saw on Twitter that I don't
know what play it was into the game had to
be probably like within the first several he just threw
like a He threw the ball I think from his
own forty five JSN caught it at the front of
the goal line, So a fifty five yard bomb in
(35:20):
the air that just had perfect arc and hit him
right in the hands. It's like that is the play
was football porn. And do you know that DeVante Adams
has eight touchdowns has eight touchdowns. There was a play
today where he ran this quick out route against one
of the forty nine Ers safeties, and a lot of
forty nine Er fans like, why are they putting a
safety on him? Unless Dion Sanders was, you know, rocking
(35:45):
the twenty one in nineteen ninety four for the forty
nine ers, no one was covering that route. You talk
about football porn DeVante, who's one of the best route
runners of his generation. Matt Stafford threw this ball almost
to the front pylon where it was only either going
to touch Devonte's hands or it was gonna hit the
photographer in the feet. It was just a thing of
(36:07):
beauty and those guys rapport is what Rogers and Davante
had by the time DeVante was five or six years
into the league was pretty special. It was a Hall
of Fame connection. It feels like Stafford and Davante have
developed it like that, and I would say the same
thing for JSN and Darnold. The difference is Stafford didn't
(36:28):
practice in training camp, and I was wanted to be like,
this is kind of scary this dude's back. Man, I
don't know what's going on this old guy's back. Look
at his buddy Kershaw back started going. Was never the same.
Turns out didn't matter. I don't think they were faking.
I mean, I do think his back was causing problems.
You watch Stafford right now. I don't know if there's
(36:51):
there's definitely not four better quarterbacks than those two guys.
Are there two better quarterbacks than those two guys? I
mean they are just they are dominating it at football.
And obviously JSN who looks like Jerry Rice and DeVante
Adams who looks like Pete Packer. Davante Adams help a
lot the Bears and the Giants. There was a moment
(37:12):
today because of the setup that I have. I can
only think when you're watching like eight games at once,
you can only have the volume on on one of
the games, so you kind of got to pick. And
usually little inside Baseball here in the middle cough. This
office probably has another two weeks before it turns back
into a bedroom and I moved to the actual official office.
(37:35):
But I usually have the audio on whatever I think
is the biggest game in the morning, and this morning
I kind of throttled back between the Ravens and the
Vikings and the what was the other game? The Bucks
and the Patriots, but the majority, honestly, I just had
I just left it on the Ravens Vikings game and
(37:55):
all the other games you're kind of watching. But you know,
when little things happen, you know, stuff you just you
don't always have the context. And there was a moment
in the Giants Bears game which actually turned out to
be potentially probably one of the more exciting games of
the day because it was another historic collapse from the Giants,
and Caleb Williams made some great plays, And honestly, I
(38:18):
told Coward this, I thought he had a really good game.
He was making some awesome throws. It was freezing cold,
so it's harder to catch his ball. He throws like
a one hundred and ten on our fastball. He was
throwing some lasers today that his guys were dropping. Obviously
made some big touchdown. He had a huge touchdown he
needed a game when he touched out run and just
(38:38):
made some huge scrambles. And I just thought he played
pretty well. But obviously Dark got can cuss. But there
was a play once Russell Wilson was in there that
we got Producer Shane who was a huge Giants fan,
Diehard pretty high on Jackson. Dark don't blame him looks
like he's got a chance to be a really good
player if he doesn't get hurt. All of a sudden
throws in the text chain. Did Brian day Ball just
(39:01):
decline a twelve men on the field penalty? I'm like, nah,
I don't know if he did. And we start, we
kind of figure out yeah he did. And my first
takeaway was like, well, he kicked the field goal. It's
twenty to ten, and at that period of time in
the fourth quarter, I'm like, ten minutes to go, they're
not gonna come back, Like the Bears aren't scoring twenty points.
(39:22):
It's like, bro, have you watched the Giants play this year?
I'm like, if it's too cold, you're not gonna about
ten minutes later the Giants lose, and looking back, you
could argue again, twelve min on the field auto first down.
It's not like he just kicked a forty five yard
field goal and you still got a drive in this
weird weather or whatever, and your backup quarterbacks, and he
(39:44):
was at the one yard line. The one yard line
where I do think it's fair to say that you
could even if you never let Russell throw, you could
run three runs. Worst case scenario, kick another field goal
at the same distance he declined the penalty. Let me repeat,
he declined the penalty to just take the field goal
(40:07):
instead of taking a new set of downs at the
one yard line. Obviously, the rest is history. He lost
the game. I do think there's a pretty good chance
some of you guys are watching this live on YouTube,
if you're listening to this on the podcast sometime Monday morning,
would not be stunned at all if at one period
of time, I would guess between seven and ten Pacific
(40:32):
Standard time, so probably ten eastern to like noon, maybe eastern.
Brian Dable, that probably is very confusing. I don't even
know why he just described it like that. I'm an idiot.
I bet he's fired in the morning. Let me just
if you said, John, do you think Brian Dable is
fired November tenth, or do you think he survives another week?
I'd say I'm leaning that he gets fired, because that's
(40:55):
pretty hard to shake, right. It's one thing on the
road Denver. We can debate how good bo Nix is,
but I think we all do agree that Denver's gonna
end up winning probably twelve thirteen games. I do think
the Bears, who were not playing that well to lose
that game, that one's ourd his stomach. So I would
say Brian daboles decision would go down as the dummy
(41:18):
of the week I do. I wrote this down because
I was like, this has really been pissing me off,
and I was like, you know what I don't do
enough is just write down something that happens in a
game and just make sure that I get to it,
because it's like, I'm passionate about this like this, I
see this every week, and every time I see it,
it just makes my blood boil. I've been saying forever
(41:38):
and the one thing I've been consistent with this one
college football. Them throwing kids out of the game for
targeting is one of the most egregious things going right
now in all of sports, because one, we're a decade
into the post CTE era and concussion era that we
all know the rules of engagement. Here, all these guys
(42:00):
are being coached, no one is head hunting, no one
is trying to hurt anyone. They might be trying to
physically impact them, but no one. Back in the day,
people tried to hurt people, people tried to crack skulls,
And now guys know, so when it happens, I think
ninety nine percent it's inadvertent. And throwing a college kid
out of a game when the overwhelming majority of those
(42:22):
kids are never playing a game in the pros is nuts.
This isn't basketball or baseball. You don't get that many games.
And if they don't only get thrown out of that game,
they missed the half of the next game. It's it's
it's nothing. Is a bigger pet peeve in college sports
that piss me off More than that, I would say
something that has gone to that level in the pros.
(42:42):
In the Minnesota game, Dallas Turner, who was I would
say underwhelming a little bit based on where he was drafted,
and he was drafted ahead of Jared Verse and you
just like a little more, had an awesome rush today
and he sacked Lamar Jackson, and while he did it,
he got flagged for or the driving his weight onto
(43:02):
the quarterback. And I've always said this, like when someone
gets flagged for targeting in the NFL or college and
they're both in the air, it's like, once you realize
the guy's moving, you do know these are humans, not
like superheroes. They can't fly away. Once I run full
speed around a guy that's three hundred and twenty pounds,
turn the corner in usually under a couple seconds, going
(43:27):
as fast as I can, I take off to try
to sack the guy. Once I am around him and
going down, I can't then magically fly away. And even
Michael Strahan said, because it happened right before halftime, do
you know if a player tries to turn or tries
to make some movement, they could injure themselves. There is
(43:48):
nothing anyone can do when I am sacking you and
landing on you my body weight. Now there are times
if I pick you up and suplex you, it's like, okay,
that was excessive. But when these these guys are sacking
the quarterback and it's one of those unabated where I
get a couple steps and I'm gonna light you up.
I'm going to fall on you. That is the way
(44:09):
it works. And any guy over two hundred and fifty
pounds doesn't have the ability to change the way they fall.
That rule is outrageous. It really is. The call on
Dallas Turner made me want to throw up, made me
sick to my stomach. I'm not asking for nineteen seventies football.
(44:34):
But we have to all agree that is beyond the
stupidest rule we've ever seen. I'm sacking you or going
to the ground, I'm gonna fall on you. I'm a
defensive lineman, I'm bigger than you. It's not gonna look
great for you. You play quarterback. And they said it
on the Fox broadcast and Michael Strahan, why can that
same tackle happen to literally everyone else on the field.
(44:57):
Once you have the ball and I tackle you, and
I can go on you yet the quarterback. And I'm
as pro protecting the quarterbacks as anyone, but none of
these are malicious. The NFL has to do something the overregulation.
It feels like California government, What are we? Lamar Jackson
was fine. He got right up, just like most quarterbacks
(45:18):
in the history of the sport that have been tackled
like that. You just kind of get up. It doesn't
feel great. Why you want to avoid getting sacked? It sucks,
usually hurts. I mean, it's not great, you know, But
I thought the Dallas Turner tackle was one of I
just can't handle it. I mean I really can't. And
it doesn't feel like it's not only not going away.
(45:40):
It feels like it's called all the time now, it's
just it's insane. And last, but not least, I saw
(46:00):
Richard Sherman put out a tweet that I really liked
when it came to mac Jones and brock Purty, and
it was in regards to the forty nine Ers defense
got shredded today. And Tom Brady was asked about this,
I think on his before the game, or I think
he went on with Fox pregame maybe like an hour
(46:23):
before the start of the morning games, and because he
was calling the rams Nyder game, and they asked him
about the Purty mac Jones situation, and he essentially said,
like he's got to keep writing mac Jones and this
is not one of those where it's like you're benching
brock Purty. But brock Purty is not one hundred percent.
He hasn't been able to be the second string quarterback
(46:44):
in well over a month. He's not able to dress
on game day, he is not able to finish practices.
So to me, sticking with mac Jones isn't like we
got a quarterback controversy. It's simply the guy that we
just gave two hundred million dollars to not only is
not one hundred percent, if he's in a position where
(47:04):
if we put him out there, he's just gonna get
injured again. How does it make any sense to put
brock Party out there. Here's the other thing. The forty
nine ers now are gonna be right there with the
Chicago Bears battling for the last spot in the playoffs,
and at minimum you're gonna have to get to ten wins. Now,
the forty nine ers have some easy games in theory
(47:24):
on paper, right, The Arizona Cardinals, the Tennessee Titans, the
Carolina Panthers. They have some games that most people would
say you should win. But you pull out a quarterback
who's not one hundred percent and who's told that this
is not one of those injuries that just like broken arm,
fixed it a month and a half later, it's healed.
(47:45):
I'm fine. They've all said this thing, Lingers, we saw
him come back early, he got immediately reinjured. We haven't
seen him again. You just gave this guy almost two
hundred million dollars. I'm not one of those people that
act like Brock Purty sucks. You've thrown him to the
garbage but a huge part of his game is moving around,
and I see no added value to bring a guy
(48:08):
unless he says I'm one hundred percent. The doctor goes
he's one percent, and he is no more likely to
get injured with this with this toe injury than he
was before he even had it. Then I say, okay,
we'll go with brock Perrie because he's just we plan
on him starting the rest of the year. But that
clearly is not the case, and mac Jones is playing
like a really good player. The way mac Jones played today,
(48:30):
if their defense was just decent, they could have won
the game. He was the least of their warriors. He
actually was really good. And he's played two games against
the Rams, and in this totality has been excellent. Mac
Jones has played winning football. Mac Jones, probably as sitting
here on November ninth, beside, any guy in the league
on a rookie contract, has probably been by a substantial margin,
(48:54):
the most underpaid NFL player in twenty twenty five. So
to me, the reason you keep going with mac Jones,
like Richard Sherman said, is because he's just rolling and
your other guy is not healthy, and it's like, well,
if he's healthy, Well, what do you mean healthy? Is
he one hundred percent? He's not gonna get rehurt. And then, okay,
I understand the argument. He just gave this guy a
(49:14):
ton of money. He's your franchise. But if he doesn't
check that box, it's like, well, just see now, there's
no will, like, you're gonna risk making this worse. You're
gonna risk putting the team in a situation where he's
coming out rusty. Then all of a sudden, sudden, one
of those games, like, well, we should win this game,
all of a sudden, you lose it. Then he's reinjured.
(49:35):
It's like, what did you do that? For one thing?
The forty nine ers need to do because some of
these injuries. They lost another guy today early in the game.
They're starting linebacker, the guy filling in for Fred Warner.
Of course, you can't go a game healthy to save
their life. But it's just try to make a sound decision.
And it does feel sometimes that they make some weird decisions.
(49:58):
And over the offseason a lot of mone he was involved,
like how we wanted to build this team. We can
agree or disagree with some of the personnel moves. Obviously,
the way some of these guys that get injured and
then they bring them back, they get reinjured. We can
debate if it's just whatever, if it's a doctor's fault,
if it's not. I know forty nine ers got mad
at me. I don't know, no one has the answers,
(50:18):
but clearly whatever they're doing ain't fucking working. That much
is not even arguable. I did see brock Party come
back one time, have not seen him again, so now
I'm supposed to trust he's good just because he missed
some games. This is injured. Dean Sanders got toes cut off. Literally,
he's missed a couple of TOAs because of this injury.
So it's like, let's be cautious like part of and
(50:39):
this is where the front office in ownership needs to be, like, hey,
can we have like a five year big picture view
on this? What are we rushing brock Party back for?
It sucks? It probably really sucks for him to sign
this contract. And now it feels like I'm just stealing money.
I'm running a scam here. It's like you're not. You
got an injury, a shitty injury that clearly doesn't go
away and limit your ability. But I'm on team unless
(51:04):
you tell me no problem and he's one. No chances
coming back. Not when this guy's playing like this, it
makes notice no sense. And if they do it and lose,
they deserve to get crushed well and done this my
friends at hard Rock Bet Tomorrow night, Monday Night football.
(51:24):
I think I'm going Philly. Uh that that line's come
down a little bit. You know, Philly is typically one
of the louder you know, a lot going on, whether
they're Super Bowl champs or whether they're on a five game,
there's always stuff happening. It feels like they're a little
quiet right now, kind of flying under the radar. A
lot of pressure on the Packers. The Eagles kind of
(51:45):
thrive in that they're used to that environment. I don't
know the Packers. Matt Lafleur like it's it's been kind
of quiet over the years. For the first time, everyone's
looking kind of must win for the Packers. I'm going
Philly plus one. I'm going you want a little parlay
on Rock Bet Philly plus one. Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown,
Christian Watson, i think they're gonna try to throw a
(52:06):
couple of bombs. Test out these new corners. To score
an anytime touchdown pays thirteen to one. So that's what
I'm rocking with for Monday night. Enjoy the night, enjoy
the morning whenever you may be watching or listening to this,
and we'll talk to everyone after the Eagles Packers game.
Can't wait the volume
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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