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August 20, 2025 • 61 mins

John dives into the news of the day that came out of Indianapolis when the Colts named Daniel Jones as the team starter. With Jones as the starter, what does that mean for the future of Anthony Richardson and could he go down as one of the worst picks in NFL history? Next, John talks about the Bengals playing Joe Burrows for multiple drives in the second preseason game against Washington and if that was a good idea or not. After, John dives into how impressive Jayden Daniels looked in his first preseason action even though he only played four plays.

Later, John ranks his top three "What The F" moments in the NFL, and gives you his take on if he thinks Jon Gruden is going to be back coaching in either the NFL or College in the near future.

Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.

05:05 - Anthony Richardson not the starter in Indy

13:48 - Who is interested in Richardson

14:43 - Joe Burrow update

21:27 - Jayden Daniels is a real talent

30:50 - "What The F" rankings

38:26 - Jon Gruden back to coaching

46:48 - Mailbag

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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?
Hopefully you're having a great, beautiful day out there in

(00:22):
the streets of the real world. I'm recording a little
podcast in Los Angeles. I actually can see the city
from where I'm sitting, a little foggy, overcast as LA
typically is. It's kind of hot and humid down here,
to be honest with you, but I was like, you
know what, let's fire up the old computer. It's been
a long day, been up since the crack of dawn

(00:42):
and do a little podcast. Because Anthony Richardson was benched
officially today and Daniel Jones was named the starter. I
did want to hit on a couple of things from
Monday Night Joe Burrow, jayde Daniels that Monday Night game,
at least the first quarter, which was kind of interesting.
I do think there is a guy in college football
a name that used to be really famous and rumored
for a lot of jobs for a long period of

(01:04):
time that now is kind of out of the circle,
but says he wants to coach that Let's face it,
the John Gruden rumors and the sec are not going
to go away. And I also want to do a
little what the fuck's going on here? List? Excuse my
language for the kids, but WTF with some of these
teams in the NFL just has me scratching my head.
And one of them might be in South Beach because

(01:26):
I'm not quite sure what's going on down there. We'll
also do a little mailbag at John Middlecoff. At John
Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get
your questions answer here on the show. So we got
a lot of dms. I'm gonna try to bang out
a bunch the next couple of days, so I appreciate
everyone firing in there. But again at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram. Fire in those dms and get your questions

(01:47):
answered here on the show. So good show Today, Fired Up?
You guys know the drill. Subscribe to three and Now
podcast if you're listening and on Collins Feed also the
YouTube chain have you covered with a bunch of content there,
so make sure you subscribe to the channel as well.
Before we dive in to the podcast. You know, I

(02:09):
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how different is your life as a married man than

(03:10):
it was before? And I often say that it's not
very different now, granted I had been living with her
for several years. I would say when you start living
with someone, as anyone listening to this knows that lives
with their significant other that's been married a while, like,
it's a pretty dramatic change from being by yourself and

(03:32):
not just learning how to cohabitate, but learning that sometimes
you just need to take the l admit you were wrong,
even though sometimes you weren't or definitely you don't believe
you were, and sometimes you legitimately are. I think we
got a baby outside. And the draft is not a
perfect science, and you are going to miss on players.

(03:52):
And I think the most embarrassing thing teams do, like
most fans aren't Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick, but they
have a pretty good idea who's a good player and
who's not. And after a while, like it becomes pretty established, like, yeah,
this guy can't play. You're just holding on to him
because you drafted him. And I've said forever I have
philosophical belief when you draft really high. I am never

(04:16):
against swinging for the fences because there is no such
thing as a high floor player. They do not exist.
We're dealing with human beings. This is the NFL. There
is no such thing. Whenever I hear like this guy's
got a really high floor, I don't know if he's
going to be a star or he might just stink. Right.
So when you swing for the fences, sometimes you hit
a walk off grand Slam, and sometimes you strike out.

(04:39):
There have been investors that like, hey, I invested into
Uber when they were, you know, a company built out
of a garage. I heard a story a couple of
years ago on the golf course about these two guys,
one of them now is pretty famous. Aha, you know
his name. If I said it out loud, that were
on the initial funding of Google. Let's just say it

(05:00):
changed the course of their life. But I promise you this,
for every million dollar investment into Google, that five hundred x's,
there's a lot of them that just disappear, that go
to zero. That's kind of how it works. It's no
different with drafting. Chris Ballard said forever, I'm not just
gonna take a quarterback to take a quarterback, And honestly

(05:21):
I agree with that. Philosophy. You can't just pick a
guy if you don't like the player, and sometimes the
draft board does not fall to you. But they got
to a point after just the Luck retirement and all
the patch work of Philip Rivers, Carson wentz Right, Matt Ryan,
it was just that they were gonna take a big swing,
and they just happened to strike out. And even his

(05:44):
biggest defenders the moment Anthony Richardson a couple weeks ago
in that preseason game, stepped back to pass on the
second drive of that game and didn't know where the
pressure was coming from where. I don't pretend to be
Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid or Sean McVeigh on a whiteboard.
I never pretend to be some schematic genius here. But
when every single former player and former coach, and guy

(06:06):
in the media and guy on social media, every single
one of them said, that's day one install that mistake
cannot happen one. And I wasn't alone with this thought.
I thought Anthony Richidson's Indianapolis career was in major jeopardy
the moment they signed Daniel Jones. And I've said from
the jump, if I was a betting Man. Back in

(06:28):
the spring, I would have bet on Daniel Jones being
the starting quarterback. Not because I think Daniel Jones is
gonna resurrect his career and become like rich Gannon in
his thirties, but just because we've seen this song and
dance hell a couple of years ago. The forty nine
Ers Athey, Richards's gonna go down as one of the
worst draft picks we've seen in recent memory. I would
imagine the next ten days if they get any bit

(06:50):
of value a fifth round pick he's traded, it's over
the forty nine Ers, which was even a worst pick
because they traded so many first rounders to trade up
had a similar situation. They swung for the fences. They
struck out, and going into year three, not only Trey
wasn't gonna be their starting quarterback, he couldn't win the
backup job. What happened, They got Jerry Jones, who's kind

(07:11):
of the sucker right now, to give him a fourth
round pick, and they unloaded him. Now, I don't think
you would get a fourth round pick for Anthony Richardson,
but I do think there'd be enough teams around the
NFL because talking to my scouting buddies that really liked
Ar from a character standpoint and off the field, it
was just like, hey, he's a major, major project on
the field, and these type guys didn't used to get

(07:31):
picked right twenty thirty years ago. That never happened. Josh
Allen kind of changed the game. You're like, wait, you're
telling me this guy with those stats at Wyoming, he's
gonna draft seventh and become one of the best players
of his generation. Anthony Richardson and Trey Lancer two example.
These guys barely played and obviously Anthony Richison played at Florida,

(07:52):
but beside the Utah game, there were a lot of
question marks and obviously he didn't answer any of them
in Indianapolis, from injuries to not understand it in the offense,
to the protections to just not being able to function.
I mean, the guy literally tapped out in the middle
of a game, which again, every player to a man
was like, you one can never do that. That is

(08:12):
a uh that's frowned upon in this establishment. It's like WHOA.
I mean, I would have imagined that'd be pretty bad,
but at the NFL level, every guy freaked out. You
could argue it was unofficially over then and it officially
became over now. But you can't keep forcing this just
because you drafted him. That's where you get in really
big trouble. And I also think you signed this guy

(08:35):
and listen, Alex Smith resurrected his career six seven years
into it. It takes a coach believing you, and specifically
an offensive coach. He got Jim Harbaugh, then he got
Andy Reid. And I think we look back on Alex
Smith's career pretty fondly because you typically remember the good stuff,
not the bad stuff. It's kind of the way our
memories work a lot of the time, Like, no one

(08:57):
really talks about remember like seven Alex Smith. No, we
talked about, Hey remember him with Andy Reid. Pretty good player,
win like eleven or twelve games. Honestly, before he hurt
his leg, he was like a top ten quarterback in
the NFL. And that was always my comp for Daniel Jones.
But this is why I like, that's the best case scenario.
Your floor when that's your best case scenario is really
really low. And this is a guy that's not the

(09:19):
most explosive thrower, that's not the most dynamic player that
I would say is not the most instinctive player. But
he's tall, he can move, he's got a solid arm,
and coaches like him. Why, he's pretty smart and clearly
teammates like him. Remember the New York Giants, a lot
of their players thought that he got screwed in the
way that was handled. But this is also a guy

(09:39):
that was cut in the middle of the season last
year after that team had given him eighty million dollars
fourteen months previously. So I said this a couple of
days ago, and I will reiterate this point. When you
don't know who your quarterback is in the middle of August,
you got major problems. And maybe maybe if Shane Sichin
was sitting here, he's hey, Honestly, John, we knew Daniel
Jones was our quarterback three weeks ago. We just had

(10:01):
to let the process play out. Okay, But if Daniel
Jones your starting quarterback, you also got issues. So why
I said today on the Herd, like I am going
to hammer the Texans. I'm going to hammer them to
win this division. I'm gonna bet them out right plus
one ten. I think they've actually gone out of plus
one oh five, I'm gonna parlay them with some teams.

(10:22):
But the more I think about it, like, I never
trust the Jacks. I just don't, you know. I'm sorry,
until they prove otherwise, I am going to bet against
them or not take them that seriously. And the Colts,
like I think, could be a really, really weird season
because you have a head coach and a GM that,
let's face it, are kind of in a make or

(10:44):
break year and it feels like if this goes bad,
which I would imagine most people think that it could,
they're gonna get fired. Now, Daniel Jones could save everyone's job.
He could resurrect his career and we could see these
guys sign him to an xtrait and go on, and
everyone has a smile on their face. But forevery and

(11:04):
this is like the Josh Allen situation. For every Sam
Darnold that all of a sudden four or five six
years in throws thirty five touchdowns and becomes a highly
paid quarterback, most guys do not. And I will always
bet on the majority. Right. Yeah, you can invest a
million dollars in this company hoping it's the next Google Orruber,
but more than likely it's gonna be some company you

(11:26):
never hear about in your money's going to disappear into
the ether. So I think the Colts were kind of
upshits creek without a paddle. They didn't have many options.
This was their best option in the offseason to sign
Daniel Jones, at least they thought. But I think the
question now is who's interested in Anthony Richardson. You know,
does a good team does like an Andy Reid or

(11:47):
a Baltimore like, do they sniff around? If you're the Colts,
do you even unload him to that situation? Well, if
you don't think he's good, you don't really care. And
if you're not going to be around, you definitely don't care.
So this situation got ugly. It got ugly fast. I
commend them for trying. I never have a problem with
the team being really aggressive. But the moment you know

(12:09):
that it's not gonna work in the NFL, which operates
at rapid speed, now you got to, you know, pivot
and the cult pivoted today, And as Shane Stichin said,
this is not I don't have a short leash. He's
the starter for the season. Even though that's I don't
want to say it's cliche, but what he's basically saying

(12:30):
is we don't want Anthony Richardson to start. That's not
what we want. The players and myself. Two guys that
you do want to start, Joe Burrow and Jayde Daniels.
Let's start with Joe Burrow. He's an exceptional talent. He is.
If you're a Bengal fan, you know this. He is
just that's just a fun player to watch when he's on.

(12:54):
I think a couple of years ago against the forty
nine ers in the middle of the season, he played
one of the best games I've ever seen. It was like,
that's quarterback porn.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
He is.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
He's got a chance to be an all time great.
I mean, he already is like an unreal player max player.
He's got a pretty good resume so far. But he's
an exceptional player. He played more snaps so far this
preseason than he has in his previous five years combined.
I'm not pro playing in the preseason or anti sitting

(13:27):
your guys in the preseason. You can do whatever you
need to do, and getting your juices flown and sweating
a little bit is a good thing. Andy's been doing
it with mahomes forever and they've been kicking the shit
out of everybody. So I'm all for if you want
to get your guys some reps. You want to get
Joe Burrow some reps. But on Monday night they like
brought him in, let a touchdown drive. Then they like

(13:47):
kept him out there. It's like, guys, he's he's good,
you know, I get him a little sweat. I think
three drives a little overkill him. Jamar Higgins. They are
the least of your worries. Your defense stinks. And this
is the thing when people talk about a mom and

(14:07):
pop shop operation, and let's face it, there are some organizations.
All of these organizations kind of our mom. Most of
them are run by a family. Like this is not
when we have ten investors in the company, and everyone
has to say, that's not the way pro sports work. Right.
You saw it in the NBA that guy bought the

(14:28):
extra portion. The bus family is out, they can still
own a portion. They have zero say in anything that's
going on. The Celtic sold boom. We don't care what
you think anymore. Mark Cuban, Like, I love the Mavericks
I'm selling, but I'm still gonna run it. No you're not.
You have no say anymore. That's the way this ownership
stuff works. So from Jerry Jones to the Yorks, to

(14:48):
the Cronkeys to the Glazers, all the blanks, the families
own it and what they say goes. And the Brown family,
who actually like are pretty passionate footb well people. I
think they know what they're doing. It is very difficult.
I've had this theory forever and it's never going to
change when you are ingrained with a cheap mentality. Even

(15:10):
once you become financially solvent and have a lot of
capital behind you, whether you become a millionaire, whether you're
like the Browns and have an asset worth billions of dollars,
that mindset never changes. There. All of us have certain
qualities that even as we age, we change, we mature

(15:31):
as we get into our forties our fifties, that we've
never shook from when we were ten fifteen years old.
And there is a cheapness with the Browns of arguing
over these pennies that has got them in trouble in
the past and is currently getting them in more trouble now.
Their defense is not very good, and Trey Hendrickson. I
didn't realize this till one of the stats guys, one

(15:52):
of the guys on the Herd, showed me the stat
of last year. Trey Hendrickson accounted for forty eight percent
of the Bengals sacks. Basically, fifty percent half their sacks
came from one guy, which would be like, well, put
that into context. John. The next guy, Miles Garrett, who's
one of the best players in the league, accounted for

(16:14):
thirty four percent, and then most of the other guys
were in the twenties. So you get a guy at
fifty percent kind of shows you this defense ain't very good.
And they're also then depending on a guy that they
drafted in the first round, Tamar Stewart. You might want
to google his production in college because, let me tell
you this, it wasn't exactly a double digit sack guy.
Pretty sure he his four and a half career sacks.

(16:36):
So I think when I watched the Bengals, who clearly
are trying and making an emphasis to take the preseason
seriously so they don't start slow. The offense is not
going to be their problem. But we have seen a
lot of teams in football history, high school definitely a
ton in college and some in the pros with just
elite offenses. But if you can't stop a soul, you

(16:57):
have no chance to win meaningful game games. You do
not need to have an all time great defense. You
just need to be solid on defense. And the Bengals
surely or not. So if you're a Bengal fan, you
just need to enjoy Burrow. But to just think that,
think how crazy it is that if we just talk
about the top four quarterbacks that we all agree and

(17:18):
you can order them however you want. Mahomes, Josh, Lamar Joe.
When I say Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, we
are all in agreement. Playoff lock. The Ravens, the Bills,
and the Chiefs will be in a playoff game whether
they are win the division. What we honestly would think

(17:40):
all three are going to win the division. Maybe the
Chiefs finally don't, but the Ravens and Bills, I mean
the Bills of one of what five straight years, feels
like the Ravens would be shocking if they didn't, but
they are going to be playing in playoff games.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
It's like, yeah, the Bengals maybe I mean last year
they missed, and I don't know has anything changed, But
no one's like, well, Burrow's gonna throw forty five touchdowns
and they could win nine ten games and maybe get
the seven seed.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Maybe not. So it's pretty big indictment of the franchise.
The other thing I was thinking, and this speaks to Joe,
football isn't that complicated? It really isn't. You get obviously
you need an owner who supports you. But even the
Browns like or I mean, the Bengals, all these teams
have money. So this is not baseball where it's like

(18:24):
DA's will never spend. The Tampa Bay Rays they finally
did spend, and the dude had some serious off the
field issues, so that's never happening again. But you know,
in basketball, the difference of revenues of the Lakers and
the Memphis Grizzlies is dramatically different, where in football, like
everyone has a ton of money. So if they want
to pay guys like the Bengals are just deciding not

(18:45):
to pay them, not because they don't have sixty or
seventy million dollars to guarantee them. And listen, I think
there is some argument to be made about drawing a
hard line of like what is the number? And unless
you're part of the negotiations, we're all just kind of
guessing what going on. But you need an owner with
the money. All the NFL owners have the money. But
then that owner needs to hire a good coach and

(19:07):
a good GM. And if you get a competent coach
and a competent GM, you're just going to have a chance.
But if you get the quarterback right, with a competent
coach and a competent GM, you're just going to be
a high level franchise for the foreseeable future. And Jayden Daniels,
that's a talent man. That kid's got a chance to

(19:30):
be a big time player. Obviously is a rookie season.
But part of being a great player, consistent All Pro
Hall of Famer Guy wins MBP is doing it every year.
That's what makes the Joe Burrow Mahomes, obviously, Lamar and
Josh so impressive is like every year, you know, you're
just getting big time quarterback play. You're just getting winning
quarterback play with some of those guys are getting incredible stats,

(19:54):
you know, and I just think you watched that guy
change that franchise, and that franchise was kind of a joke.
Look at the Lions, right, what they do. They got
a good GM, they got a good head coach, and
they got a solid quarterback. They had a great quarterback
for a long time. But their coach at GM were
always a joke for Stafford. If Stafford in his prime
could have played for these two guys, who knows, the

(20:15):
Lions might already won a Super Bowl. So the Commanders
finally got it right. Now, are they going to go
as far as they did last year? Honestly, they could
be better and win less games, but that's a franchise.
It just feels like they kind of know what they're doing.
And this is the thing. And listen, I'll defend owners
on this one. I was talking to someone today in

(20:37):
the Fox building like He's like, if you could do
it over again, how would you look at things differently
when you were scouting players? And I would say, one
thing I've learned from doing this for a living and
just being around these teams from more at an arm's
length is you realize the power of the person, how

(20:58):
important the character and the mind, mindset and the wiring
of a player is because in most of these owners' businesses,
they're dealing in some form or fashion with a widget,
with just a product like Jimmy has the trucking right,
some of the krokey real estate. You're just dealing with
things that their assets are not human beings. Anytime you

(21:21):
deal with human beings of being worth hundreds of millions
of dollars, it's just pretty risky. So you better bet
on the right person. And it is difficult because most guys,
coaches and gms, when they walk into an interview, probably
pretty impressive, usually one of the best coordinators, usually a
married guy with a couple kids. Or if I'm a GM,
like I've worked for Howie Roseman or I've worked for

(21:42):
less Need, it's like at this he looks at the part.
He's got good hair, he's got a thirty three inch waist,
you know, it's like, God, this guy looks like he's
a GM. And then they get the job and they're
completely over their head. And if you or I were
an owner and we would try to hire a coach
and a GM, we could easily get it wrong. Right,
you definitely could get it wrong. But when you get
it right, and there's an element of luck in this.

(22:04):
I know everyone you know Robert Kraft I saw a
couple of weeks ago, is like trying to brag that
when he hired Belichick that a lot of people called him,
And yeah, I mean there was some. I don't want
to you hired him, but I don't think anyone envisioned
him taking you to nine Super Bowls or whatever. I mean,
you couldn't even envision that. He couldn't envision that. So
there's an element of luck to this all. But when

(22:26):
you get it right, and it's easier sometimes with a
coach when they have done it before, right, like Mike Vrabel,
you have a pretty good idea what you're getting. Dan Quinn,
you got a pretty good But some of these gms,
most of them are first timers. Wise Man told me
gms don't get second opportunities typically, Right, If you go
around the league at most of the gms in the NFL,
I bet the majority of them, it's their only job

(22:48):
they've had. Just start working your way around the league.
It's not a lot of guys like three times, like
Mike McCarthy, if he gets hired next year, it'll be
his third head coaching job. How many gms are you
gonna find in the modern area. They're and get three gigs.
So if I'm a Commander fan, I'm pretty happy. The rivalries,

(23:09):
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Speaker 1 (24:50):
I thought I'd do this a little Uh, what the
fuck is going on here? Rankings because there are a
couple teams that I just I don't even know what
to say, and I got three of them and we're
gonna start at three. Three has to be the Cleveland
Browns by all accounts and by every report. Schefter said
this Albert Breer today doubled down on this. They're going

(25:12):
to keep three quarterback or four quarterbacks. Flacco's been named
their starter for whatever reason. They love Kenny Pickett. Do
you know what Kenny Pickett reminds me of? Speaking of hiring,
It's like you hire this guy to run your finances
for a company. It's like, hey, he used to work
at Goldman Sacks, went to Princeton, this guy sharp. Then

(25:32):
you find out his dad was the biggest booster at
Princeton and was the president of the branch that he
worked at at Goldman Sacks. Not quite as impressive. It's like,
just because Kenny Pickett went in the first round does
not mean he's a good player. He had one good
year in college. It was like a historically bad quarterback
draft the year he came out, and I'd say he
got overdrafted by seventy five spots. Yet somehow coaches still

(25:56):
love him. You have two rookie quarterbacks, which makes absolutely now,
and one has like this cultural following, which clearly the
head coach in GM didn't want. The other one made
this comment which clearly wasn't taking a shot at the player,
but everyone it's just it's become a circus, and I
don't understand they were given it out to truly blow

(26:19):
this thing up. Miles Garrett asked for a trade, so
if they would have traded him, it wouldn't have been like,
you know, they just traded him out of the blue.
He literally wanted to leave. And you could have got
a absolute, you could have got multiple ones, multiple twos,
because you're not gonna be any good. But instead the owner,
he's kind of like, I don't know, he's fly by
the seat of his pants. Sometimes it's very emotional. Gives

(26:40):
him money. And I'm not against investing into players like
Miles Garrett, but given their circumstances, it made no sense.
I just I think this theme's going to be a disaster.
And listen, I always say this, he said, she said shit,
I never even pretend to have a clue, and clearly
some of these guys what she said has been a

(27:01):
complete lie. And I am always on the side of
why don't we ever go after when she just completely
makes it up about a domestic violence situation where you
criminally go after her and then civilly go after her,
and you're like, Josh, she doesn't have any money, Well,
every dollar she does get moving forward, I'm gonna get
a piece of because that's what she wanted to do
to me. So I'm not acting like all these guys

(27:22):
that the Browns have signed are a bunch of turds.
But it got printed out and it's all over social media,
the list of guys with domestic violence attached to their background.
Like it's pretty crazy. I mean, and I say this
all the time. They got an IVY League head coach
and Ivy League GM and they signed some character dudes,

(27:44):
so they don't even pretend to give a shit. Jason
Light said, like, no assholes and d bags. I mean,
last year, the second round pick got arrested for pointing
a gun at his fiance, Like that's that's not an
alleged like that that happened, you know, you know, some
of the stuff this offseason is hard to know exactly what.
And listen, I am all for if she made it up,

(28:05):
going after her ass and ruining her life, because that's
what she attempted to do to you. But not everyone
is just I mean, they got a quarterback making a
ton of money that has a pretty sketchy past. Number
two's got to be the Dallas Cowboys of just I've
tried to mentally support because it's so easy to shit
on Dallas. Everyone's gonna suck. It's like, well are they?

(28:25):
And then I was like, I don't know. There eventually
gets to a point of like a line where it's
like I think they've kind of passed it of how
do you take this operation seriously? And I think Mike McCarthy,
who was a real NFL coach, the guy won a
Super Bowl in twenty ten, coached the Packers with Aaron Rodgers,
which was a marquee brand and had them kicking ass,

(28:47):
playing at a really high level for years. So had
had everyone watching him. Had to add a magnifying glass
on their operation, like just knows what he's doing. Now
we can nitpick him. Obviously, the playoff performances were pretty ugly,
but to go from him to Brian Schottenheimer, and you know,
with every year, Jerry feels like he's getting a little

(29:09):
more I don't know, out there losing a little bit loot.
The pistons upstairs aren't quite firing at the same speed,
and you have to wonder if eventually it's just gonna
blow up and be really ugly. And that's kind of
what it feels like. I mean, every day there's a
report like, yeah, Jerry and Micah just aren't talking, like
what's going on, how's this happening? I don't like I

(29:31):
get the Browns being like, yeah, Trey listening to a
thirty year old guy, we signed you an extension a
couple of years ago, like this is a tough negotiation. Like, Jerry,
you drafted this guy in the first round. He became
a high end, all pro, Pro Bowl level player for you.
Like all these guys Jerry's extending are literally guys he's drafted,
but he's the Al Davis quality comes more and more

(29:54):
to light by the day. And then number one, I
don't even think there is a close second. Dallas and
Cleveland are shit you what the fuck's going on with
the Miami Dolphins. I mean, seriously, there was a Lions player.
I didn't write it down, but when they joint practice,
essentially he's like, yeah, I'm not really sure what's going
on over there, which is kind of unheard of. You
usually don't see other players taking shots or even questioning

(30:17):
what's happening. But I said this last year and I listen.
Shane Steichen is not getting off Scott free on this either.
When Mike McDaniel said, like, yeah, I don't really know
what to do when guys show up late that finding
them doesn't phase them. It's like when guys are showing
up late to you, they basically are telling everyone they
have no respect for you, not as a coach, but

(30:37):
as a human being. Because if you respect another human being,
especially a superior your boss, you show up on time. Football.
It's like, hey, meetings at eight fifteen in the morning,
eight thirty in the morning, Right, it's pretty but you're
already there, eating breakfast, working out, training, You're either in
your seat or you're in your locker room. You typically
you're probably not at home. And then the Tyreek Hill situated.

(31:01):
And it's not all Mike McDaniel's fault, right, The GM
bears responsibility, the roster stink. This team's got a chance.
This thing can unravel really really fast. And I will
say this about the Miami Dolphins. I do wonder if
that's a desirable job, if that's one of those jobs

(31:21):
where it's like I don't even want to mess with it.
I don't know if you can win there. I know
it's a glamorous place, no state income tax, great weather
most of the year. Yeah, it's starting to get a
feel where it might just not be like, oh, they're
just hiring the wrong coach. That might be a toxic area,
that might be an area where it's just never gonna work.
And Mike McDaniel clearly's over his head. You know, Flores,

(31:45):
who's was better than Mike, was awful with the offense
and the quarterback, which can't happen in twenty twenty five.
So it's like, I don't know what they do, but
I would imagine everyone's going to get fired, and I
think the question is, well, who do they hire and
who would even be interested in the job? Okay, last,
but not least, Josh Pate has been talking about this,

(32:09):
and I completely agree, is the expectations for all of
these top SEC teams are really really high. Right Texas
thinks they're winning the Natty. There's not You wouldn't meet
a Georgia fan that doesn't think they're gonna go back
to like, at minimum the Elite eight Final four. Florida
fans think that they're gonna be a serious contender this year.

(32:30):
Alabama was like our nine wins last year was a
negative outlier. Get ready for us to win ten or eleven.
LSU fans are like, well, we got Garrett Nesmyer this
are year. Some of the South Carolina's like Leonora Seller
could be a top ten pick one day. Some of
these teams are gonna end up with eight or nine
wins again, and it's gonna feel like a disaster. I
mean it truly is. Coward talked about today that the

(32:53):
Bengals last year won nine and the Broncos won ten,
and Bronco fans felt like they truck oil, like they
found gold at the bottom of the river. Meanwhile, the
Bengals fans felt like the franchise was about to fold.
So the expectations going into a season kind of dictate
your happiness at the end, right you look at you know,

(33:17):
you look at a team like SC is a good example.
Their expectations sometimes are out of whack, and when they
win seven games and they viewed themselves as a playoff
team even though they were never going to the playoff teams,
they're probably closer to an eight win team even if
they won one less game than they should have. It
feels like a disaster where it's like, actually, guys weren't
that great. And I think when you look at the SEC,

(33:39):
some of these guys are going to get fired. Auburn, Florida,
Brian Kelly, something durstic is gonna happen, mainly because there's
a name floating out there. He's putting it out there.
John Gruden wants to coach. And I can't quite decipher
everything going on with these NFL lawsuits. I know there
were reports that he won like an junction in Nevada,

(34:01):
and it moves up the court system. I don't know
if anyone's hiring him in the NFL. I can't see
that to be their head coach. But luckily for him,
the SEC pays big money, and essentially now major college
football is like the NFL light And he keeps saying
over and over and over again that I want to
coach football, and there is no place that looks like

(34:24):
the NFL. If you got some questionable character stuff and
have some you know, legal stuff in your background, if
you can play, they don't give a shit, never have,
never will. They are not the moral police. They're trying
to win games. They're running a business, and their business
is scoring more points than their opponent. The SEC has

(34:46):
a similar vibe, especially when it comes to coaches. I mean,
look at Hugh Freeze, look at some of the coaches
they've hired in the past that they look past and
they are completely unfaced. Now, ideally they would just like
to get a guy that checks all the boxes, like
an Saving or Kirby Smart, but as we know, those
don't always exist. I think there is above a fifty
percent chance John Gruden is coaching in the SEC. Now.

(35:08):
I don't know how this is gonna play out. Is
what makes a college football season such the anticipation leading
to this exciting year because you could come up with
like seven different scenarios in college football. Who wins the
national championship, who's in the Final four, who's good, who's bad?
No one has any clue, which we haven't been able
to say pre transfer portal in NIL. I differ with

(35:29):
Colin from there should be some traditional nature to the sport,
and we're losing a lot of that. The pageantry of
college football, the alumni base, the fan base, the game
day atmosphere is a big part of why we love
the sport, which is different than the NFL, which is
not as predicated on that type stuff, but it's become

(35:52):
a big time business and the little guy is getting destroyed,
and they simply don't matter. We're never going backward, We're
only moving forward. So the little will get more and
more literally pillage for their players, but shittier television deals
and will become more and more irrelevant, and the emphasis
on the big boys winning will only get amplified as

(36:16):
the money grows and grows. So it's like, listen, these
buyouts are insane. So I don't pretend to know how
it all works, but we've seen crazy things happen in
the past. And I think John Gruden's name LSU Florida Auburn.
He's going to be a major player and I expect
him to be coaching the SEC in twenty twenty six. Okay,

(36:48):
let's dive into a little thing we call the middle
Cooff mail bag at John Middlecoff at John Middlecoff is
the Instagram fire and those dms and get your questions
answered here on the show. We will start with with
Dylan question for the pod. Love the show, but I've
been hearing quite a bit of rams slander and a
lot towards Jimmy g saying the Rams have no chance

(37:10):
of the playoffs if Jimmy G is playing. I know
Jimmy's last outing with the Raiders wasn't pretty, but they
did not have a serious head coach or team surrounding
him in any sense. Last time Jimmy was on a
good team, he led them to Super Bowl and then
again to the NFC Championship. I believe this is his
best roster Sean McVay has had, and with lots of depth.

(37:33):
With that being said, do you think Jimmy G just
has regressed as a quarterback and doesn't have the capability
of leading a good team to the playoffs or do
you think shanahan just was a much better coach than
MCVEAYH Yeah, No, I mean I think a lot of
people would say McVay is better Shanahan. He's got a
Super Bowl Kyle doesn't. And these last couple of years.
You know, last year is a good example of like

(37:53):
Kyle went six and eleven and Sean, you know, went
on a pretty good run. But I think when Kyle's on,
he's damn good too. But my point about Jimmy is
independent of Bill Walsh or Andy Reid coaching him. I
think he has so many injuries that he regressed as
a player within the pocket, and there's a level of

(38:15):
his frenetic nature. He's never been the most accurate player.
He just has physical limitations and then over the course
he's torn acl He's fucked up a thumb, he shattered
a foot. He just has a lot of wear and
tear for a guy that started early on in his
career as a backup. So yeah, I think he's regressed

(38:37):
as a player. Now. You know, if Matt Stafford, if
you tell me he can play twelve games this season,
could the Rams make the playoffs? Could they win some
games with Jimmy Garoppolo. Yes, if you tell me Jimmy
Garoppolo is the full time starter seventeen games and Matt
Stafford's just gone, then I think they would have some
problems and I would not pick them. I mean, they

(38:59):
won ten games last year with Stafford playing. Big Listener,
Daily Listener, Big fan. Do you truly hate the Raiders? Oh?
This has got to be an old school email. It
seems like anytime they get brought up when something good happens,
you throw a wrinkle into it. I'm very pro Raiders.
John spy Tech love that guy, huge p Carroll guy.

(39:21):
I am pro the operation. I think Spy Tech is
going to be an excellent GM in the NFL for
a long time. My true question would be do you
feel Denver and the Chargers are much better football team
than the Raiders. I do feel like that or I
don't feel like that. Obviously a Raider fan, but would
like to hear your thinking on the matter. I think

(39:44):
the Denver Broncos are much better than you guys. I
think offensively, you know Gino solid, He's definitely an upgrade.
You know Ashton genty Me saw him in a preseason game.
He went to the Blue ten after a stinger. So
that's not We'll get to a gent question here a
little later. Brock Bowers is a superstar. Crosby is a superstar,

(40:06):
but your wide receiver course pretty questionable. You have a
good defensive coordinator and a good defensive head coach in Pete,
but do you have enough weapons in personnel on the
defensive side of the ball. I mean, this is not
their fault. They drafted that kid a couple of years
ago from Texas Tech Wilson, who does not look very good.
So they've just had some misses in the draft. I

(40:27):
think they are a year away to me from being
a playoff team. I'd be stunned if like you can
be last place in that division have a really good season. God,
he's got so many sirens in La Middlecoff, big fan
of the show, fan your stuff a year ago, have
been hooked. My question is this, do players coaches for
an office personnel that work for an NFL team secretly

(40:50):
still cheer for their childhood squad? How did you handle
your forty nine or fandom while employed by the Eagles?
Lifelong Giants fan here, and I think rather resigned from
the NFL than work in Dallas. It's a good question.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
I think it's hard to relate like this situation to
most jobs because for most people there's not like a
personal connection of like, hey man, I just got this
incredible gig with h with I don't know, Bank of America.
You should see the contract that Oracle just put in

(41:29):
front of me, Like you would be loyal to these
companies if they're Amazon, just you should see what Bezos
is gonna have me do. Where you grow up as
a little kid, probably not idolizing the company you work for.
Where if you're a big football fan. You probably like
football since you were really young. I do think like
relating that to the industry stuff, when you start working

(41:49):
in quote unquote the business, you do naturally become a
little numb to it. Now. For me, like a lot
of people in my life are Niner fans, and like
I root for the if I have money on them
or I'm just casually watching them, But I don't like
live and die like I did when I was a
little kid. And I think a huge piece of that

(42:10):
truly died when I went to the NFL, just because
you're spending you know, eighteen hours a day in this office,
Like I want the Eagles to win because if they win,
that's good for me financially for my career. So you
just and I and then I got into the business
i'm in now. Someone asked me actually the last couple

(42:32):
days of Fox about that situation, like with my fandom,
what I root for? I'm like, honestly, I'm I just
kind of root for stories. If you tell me that
this will double my listenership, I'm rooting for that. This
is my business. This is what I want. So I
think you just kind of become numb to it, like
most of you, whatever industry you're in. I was telling

(42:53):
Maria this the other night. We were watching some show
there was a doctor involved. I'm like, you know, the
crazy thing about doctors is how numb they are. Or
if you're a doctor in the r to tragedy, right,
or just if you're a you know, we're having a baby.
Think about all the doctors that literally deliver babies, how
numb they get to just delivering your life. Move on
next one. It's kind of like that in this business. Though.

(43:16):
I still love football. I love talking about football, but
my true fandom, like, it's just way, way different. And
I think if you love football and you were working
in football, and you grew up a diehard Giants fan
and Jerry Jones is like, I want you to run
the fucking Cowboys, Like you would show up, he'd show
you the office. You'd start being like I get to

(43:37):
run the draft. Your tune would change pretty quick. I
promise you. Are you ready for the Seahawks to win
the Super Bowl? John? I think they could be pretty good.
Why is it somehow recognized by the media that Drake
May is a hit and Caleb is not, including Colin
who constantly states that Jaden Bow and Drake are hits
and we're waiting on Caleb. Caleb had a better by

(44:00):
all accounts and showed much more flashes and was being
held back in terms of throwing down the field and
avoiding turnovers, and showed just as much flashes and held
back decided to take some dumb sacks instead, which could
have been twenty five touchdowns to twelve picks like Bow
knicks with a worse situation. I think they're both in

(44:20):
the same situation. I don't judge easier of their rookie seasons,
like I think Drake May is an intriguing player just
like Caleb Williams, but I can't judge any of his
production last year in most of the games he was down.
His coaching was a joke. I think both guys are
big question marks. I think there has been less noise
around Drake May than Caleb this offseason. I think you

(44:45):
would say that Josh and Vrabel are just an easier
landing spot because they're going to be very run heavy,
they have a defensive head coach. It's just going to
be a quieter place where the Bears and Caleb are
more of just a marquee story, So I think that's
part of it too. They're just he was the number
one overall pick, he was the most hype draft pick

(45:07):
in a long time. He's just a highly polarizing individual
the way we talk about him. So I think there
are a lot of factors like that as well. But
I don't think you can consider Caleb or excuse me,
Drake maya hit yet I would not give him a hit.
I would say the one for sure hit, jayde Daniels

(45:27):
a hit, Like, who's fucking anyone want to argue against that? Like,
I just I don't have the energy at the time.
I would say it's gonna be pretty hard to bet
against bo Nicks. I don't know how good he's gonna be,
but like his coach of Sean Payton, their team's good,
like he's gonna be solid. I think we just got
have a lot of unknown with all the other quarterbacks.
Chief season ticket holder, what's your take on the Chiefs

(45:47):
chances of returning to and winning the Super Bowl? These guys,
you guys are living well, man, you guys are living
really really well. You just talking about, like, can we
get back to the Super Bowl? For the six time
in seven years. Our division tougher, the Broncos in charges
possibly the fourth and fifth best AFC teams. Still, I
believe Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes can win the division
and complete and compete for the number one seed. Is

(46:10):
the media sleeping on Josh Simmons a potential draft steal?
If he's a top ten left tackle our offense could fix.
We could fix our offense with our lack of explosive
plays with Travis and Chris Jones Agent Kenner. Defense draft
picks keep the defense strong while Pat and Andy carry
the offense. I think if he's a top ten left

(46:31):
tackle immediately, that's one of the better draft picks we've
seen in recent memory. You get a top ten left
tackle at pick thirty one if that happens, which by
all accounts I mean Texas with one thing. When you
my buddies with the Chiefs, their expectations are so high,
they're very they don't create the media hype. Like obviously
he's very talented. He was going to be a top

(46:54):
eight to ten pick if he hadn't blown out his knee.
But I think people are very hesitant, like the Chiefs
have played the most important games in the playoffs and
obviously the Super Bowl for the last six seven years.
So like just doing it in practice, you don't get
a gold star for that. Like, Okay, what are you
gonna look like in November against Denver when you're tired

(47:14):
and we're on CBA or you know, we're on Romo
and Nancer calling the game, we're on NBC or on
primetime against the Bills, Like how you playing then? Like
the standard is really really high, you know. So I
think they're very quick to kind of pump the brakes
a little bit, not that they're not excited, but one
of these years someone's gonna knock them off in the playoffs.

(47:36):
It's just gonna happen. So I've bet on it the
last couple of years and it's blown up in my face.
So I'm just done betting against them. Though. It's like
it's gonna be really, really difficult. But coward today had
the Broncos and it's heard hierarchy above the Chiefs to Colin.
The Broncos haven't won a playoff game in almost ten years.

(47:57):
The Chiefs just won the AFC for like the third
straight year. I mean, there's no way that they couldn't
even be the highest rated team in their own division,
let alone having the Ravens and Bills above them. They
beat those two teams in the playoffs every single year.
So if I'm a Chiefs fan, I'm pretty cocky until
someone beats us. I'm feeling good about our chances and

(48:19):
really really excited about the left tackle. But if he
becomes a high end left tackle, that obviously it's a
great pick. But I think there'd be a lot of
teams around the league like, why did you pass on
this guy? When you were recently talking about the Rams
and their potential debacle at quarterback? Why not mention Stetson Bennett.
I'm a Dog fan, so I'm a bit biased, But

(48:41):
do you not think he has a chance to step
in for Jimmy Garoppolo? Love the show? Maybe I just listen.
Maybe it's biased. I didn't take him that seriously in college.
They draft him, which I think a lot of people
thought that, like he was you're gonna draft this guy,
and then he disappear. Obviously had some you know, substance

(49:02):
whatever issues which people go through stuff. I know people
have been bullish on him, but I'm just not my
cup of tea. I don't know what else tell you,
not my cup of tea. If he proves me wrong.
He proves me wrong, But I'd rather play against him
than play with him in the NFL. Incredible college career,
great story, right, shows up, walks on leaves, comes back,

(49:25):
leads them to Natties, leads them to Natties. Is strong?
Is part of National Championships? Question for the bag. I'm
a lifelong Cowboys fan. Jerry has basically admitted he's more
interested in the drama than winning. With both hands figuratively
tied behind his back, what is Brian Schottenheimer's path for

(49:45):
coaching a successful football team. It's a great question, man.
I do think now it's not even debatable seeing some
of Jerry's quotes about his love of all this stuff.
I mean the documentary that coming out. There was an
all time quote today by Michael Irvin that I think
he gave to People magazine that in the documentary that's

(50:11):
coming out on Netflix about the White House, which is
not the White House in DC. It's the White House
that was in Dallas that they put their hookers and
drugs in. This is Michael Irvin. I just wanted to
read this quote. We had five rooms and in that
room you may be smoking weed. This room you may
be doing X or some blow whatever. There was a

(50:32):
group of girls in each room, and you just kind
of bounced from room to room. Think about what Michael
Irvin just said. I mean, this was as good of
like a five year stretch of football that has ever
been played in the NFL. And they were just banging
hookers and doing drugs. And Okay, see this year when
they won the NBA Finals, half their team had never

(50:53):
tried a beer. Meanwhile, this team is taking out Brett
Favre and Steve Young in the forty nine ers on
X after just banging two hookers. I mean, it's just
just an all time squad. But I think ever since
that moment, I don't know if Jerry got cocky emboldened,
he just won't really listen to anybody. And now he's

(51:14):
at the point because I was thinking about this today,
think of the disadvantage Jerry is up against where Jeffrey
Lury is. Obviously, the Eagles and the Cowboys have a
big rivalry. Jeffery Larry really rich guy like Jerry own
the team for a long period of time. But he goes,
you know what, I'm going to let Howie Roseman do
all my football stuff, like keep me in the loop.

(51:36):
I'll give you my opinions time to time, but you
run it. Meanwhile, Jerry goes, I'm gonna run it. Jerry,
you're in your eighties. What are you doing. When the
New York Giants were winning Super Bowls with Tom Coughlin
and Jerry Reese, that ownership group was like, you guys
do it all man and we'll reap the benefits. Now

(51:56):
with the commanders that they're probably gonna be good, what
did they do. They're like, hey, we're gonna hire Adam
Peters and you hire Dan Quinn and you guys do it.
So when you guys have a football issue, you run
point on it. There was a story the other day
about Brian Robinson, junior dude who got shot a couple
of years ago. They might trade him, and you know
who sat down and talked to him, not the owner,
the GM and the head coach, Dan Quinn and Adam

(52:18):
Peters talked in those situations. Jerry's always running point and
I understand it to a point, Like the football stuff
is the fun stuff, but it's not working, and honestly,
it feels like it's getting worse. Earlier this year, I
was kind of like I was bullish on the Cowboys
because I sometimes if everyone's hanging a right, I just like,
I'll hang a left on this one so I can

(52:40):
see a path for it. And I was just like,
I don't know, how is Brian Schottenheimer, a guy that
no one was gonna hire to be a head coach,
that most people on his team don't even realize that
his dad was once a famous head coach, is gonna
be able to handle this situation. I don't think it's possible.
So I'm just I think this thing could get really,
really weird. They are an injury or two away. What

(53:02):
if when they ever they finally sign Micah Parsons, what
if he's not right? And what if it just looks
kind of weird. I don't know, what are you gonna
say now that Ashton genty is he's still too small
after running through Diamidoor Leonor's teeth. Well, I hope he
can run over a corner he did hit a linebacker
and go to the ground and then go to the

(53:23):
blue tent. I'm not anti Ashton Genty. The guy's a stud.
I just won get a little nervous with smaller guys
from small programs. Obviously, he's built like a little tank.
But you can't just run over guys in the NFL.
It's not gonna last. First collision he had, he went
to the blue tent. I think Ashton Genty could have

(53:43):
a long, illustrious career and be a very, very productive player.
But you can't just lower your shoulder on every guy
in front of you. That's not a way to sustain
in the NFL. What Adrian Peterson did is not normal.
Question for the bag. We're all watching Hard Knocks, and
I know you are too. Was wondering if you could
talk about the bills specifically in the job Brandon Bean

(54:06):
is doing and Sean McDermott, as Colin says a hoist
the trophy guy Josh Allen is so elite, but do
you see the offensive weapons it takes around him? Defense?
Thanks John, Defense, question mark. I think the Bill's gonna
be pretty good. Maybe I'm just buying the Hard Knocks hype.
Maybe it's the way they spliced together the highlights. Josh

(54:26):
looks like it just I mean, a guy in the
peak of his powers that has kind of mastered the sport. Obviously,
you know, defensively, I don't know how they beat the
Ravens last year. Obviously they got helped out by a
couple of drops. I think offensively they're gonna be pretty awesome.
I mean, Cook's a stud. I think Keon Coleman's gonna
come into his own. You know, they have high hopes
for their tight end group. They drafted Kincaid high a

(54:48):
couple of years ago. Dalton Knox Shakir. I think he's
injured now, but he's a stud. I think they're gonna
be fine. I think there's a fifty to fifty chance
there the number one see, I expect them to win
fourteen plus games. Huge fan of the Pod and appreciate
your knowledge. Slash Platform. Do you think Mahomes is oddly underrated?

(55:10):
While Mahomes is looking up at a small group of
players above him, Brady Manning all time, everybody is ranking
Lamar and Alan above him. I get his regular season
numbers are low these last two seasons, but this has
been a heavily injured team, and yet they have always
made the AFC Championship game. Helly he's basically always made.
If it wasn't for his first year starting against Tom

(55:33):
Brady and the year Joe Burrow, which I don't know
what the hell happened to the Chiefs in the second
half of that game, but he would have been in
basically a super Bowl every single year he's played. I
think he's underrated because we're in a stats based culture.
Most people the easiest way for them to argue about

(55:53):
someone is to quantify in sports, Right, he scores this
many points, he threw this many touchdowns for this many yards.
So the last couple of years his stats haven't been
as good as the guys that you know are his peers, right,
Joe Burrow obviously, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Yet and
back to back years in the AFC Championship Game, he's

(56:15):
made enormous plays against both those guys two and their
seasons especially. I mean he outplayed Lamar a couple of
years ago, and Josh, like, you just have more faith
in you have more faith in Patrick Mahomes when it
matters and it's all on the line than any guy
in the NFL. And you said he's looking up at
Brady and Manning. I you know, Peyton's one of the

(56:37):
best players I've ever seen any sport. But he's got
two total Super Bowls and he went to four. So
Patrick's already been to more Super Bowls and won more
Super Bowls than Peyton Manning. Now, will he ever eclipse
him from an individual accolade standpoint? The MVPs Probably not,
But I think when it's all said and done, Patrick

(56:59):
will ahead of Peyton fair not And I mean we
could make arguments definitely sitting here today, but we got Patrick.
How old is Patrick Mahomes thirty years old? Twenty nine
years old? He's got a lot of years to play football.
Love the podcast. Got a thought something for the mail
bag if you do one in the near future. Today
I was watching some clips of fields that'd be justin

(57:21):
fields being god awful on some short to intermediate throws,
all caps in practice. I don't know why there's such
a big crowd of people who think he hasn't been
given a fair chance, or an organization just didn't put
enough pieces around him quote Chicago. And while I don't
think he's been in a perfect situation by far, when

(57:44):
I watch him play, I just don't see it. I
don't think he's a starting NFL quarterback. He's a great
athlete and a hell of a runner, but I don't
see anything that says anything beside he's going to be
a backup quarterback. When I watch him play, I think
the Jets are crazy to rely on him for this
upcoming year. So basically a question am I missing something

(58:05):
or being unfair to think he is what he is
at this point? I would agree he has not been
in the perfect situations, and I liked him a lot
coming out of college. I remember thinking the Jets and
the forty nine ers are crazy for taking Zach Wilson
and Trey Lance over justin Fields and that year with
Ohio State with Ryan Day, I mean, he looked good,

(58:26):
but I remember one of the stories coming out is
like Kyle didn't think he saw it well enough and
processed and could operate his offense. And clearly Lafleur, who's
with the Jets, agreed, And when you watch him play,
he just operates really, really slow, and he's not a
very accurate touch passer. He has good physical gifts. He's

(58:47):
kind of like a version of Anthony Richardson, probably a
better version of Anthony Richardson where it's like you like
a lot of the stuff that he has strong arm, athletic,
explosive plays, but like most of quarterback play is like
throw a quick out, like run a quick slant like
most of Patrick Mahomes, especially like this last like three years,

(59:09):
has not been just throwing go routes for touchdowns. It's
a lot of like, oh, it's third and six. He
got seven yards on a slant. He had a great
like ten yard comeback to continue a drive in a
tie game in the fourth quarter, Like that's kind of football,
or it's like, you know what, his first second read
wasn't open. He had an incredibly scrambled to his left
and made a play. It feels like those guys fields.

(59:32):
Everything's kind of in slow motion, and then when he
does release it, it's late and the ball's off. And
one thing I saw Shane Siken talked about today part
of the decision making process was like ball placement, Like
sometimes it's not even just accuracy completion or not completion,
you know, assuming that they're in practice right, Because this,

(59:52):
you know, JJ Watt and some of the reporters nationally
were getting into it, like should we care about practice
stats or not, because if you just say, hey, so
and so quarterback at training camp went eleven for fifteen
today and two of the incompletions were drops, and then
the coach might say, well, when we broke down the film,

(01:00:12):
three of those eleven completions in a game would have
been problematic. They were not accurate. If they were playing
a good corner might have been picked off or tipped.
So it's like you got to put context in with everything.
So when you watch fields play, it just feels off.
I do think they were a little desperate in New York.

(01:00:33):
They wanted to get off Aaron Rodgers. I don't know, listen,
I don't care how much he makes doesn't bother me.
But the NFL is a salary gap league. So when
you pay a player X amount of dollars, that is
the difference of you having if you pay him ten
million or you pay him twenty million, that's the difference

(01:00:55):
of you being able to buy other players or invest
into your own team. You know, re sign guys. And
they gave him two years forty million dollars. I think
guaranteed them thirty million dollars. Like, who were they bit
What were the Steelers interested in numbers like that. I
have herd. They benched him last year in the middle
of the year, so I don't know. Maybe Aaron Glenn

(01:01:17):
just really liked them because as a runner, but I
think they're passing it. I think the Jets could be
like one of those teams that's tough, that's physical, that
tries hard and it's just bad. Like Aaron Glenn's a
good coach, good guy. I think the effort and the energy,
like the give a shit factor is gonna be high,
but I don't think they're gonna function at all. And

(01:01:39):
I think offensively they are gonna be a tough watch.
The volume
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Colin Cowherd

Jason McIntyre

Jason McIntyre

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