3 & Out - Best of The Week: Michigan-WMU WILD ending, NFL Week 1 Primer, Season predictions

This week on the podcast John reacted to the crazy ending to the Michigan-Western Michigan game and gave his thoughts on if the officials made the right call. Later, he gets you ready for Week 1 of the NFL season and tells you the best games to have on your TV at one time. Finally he wraps up the week giving you his season oredictions. All that and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on? This is John Middlecoff
from three and out podcast. And this is the best of,

(00:21):
of my favorite takes our best takes as we head
on into football season. So let's just dive right into
the Western Michigan, Michigan game. And what else can be
said that hasn't been said at this point in terms
of what a travesty that was? And the game felt over,

(00:43):
it looked over, the statement that came out about their replay.
My main takeaway, who I'm truly gutted for, are the
players on that team, because that's the tight moment Now,
I would imagine 10 years ago, pre-NIL and pre-Portal, Western
Michigan was a 10-win team last year. Squads like that

(01:06):
get rated every year. So it probably is a way
different demo in terms of where guys are from on
the roster present day than maybe years past. Because I
typed that bad boy into AI and they only got
11 guys on the roster from the state of Michigan.
Maybe that number used to be higher. I'd have to

(01:27):
do like a research project to find that out. But
my guess would have been like 25. So this isn't
necessarily these guys that play for this program are going
to live in the state the rest of their life.
And everywhere they go, we are part of the team
that beat the University of Michigan. Even though this isn't

(01:47):
the mid-90s powerhouse, couple years ago powerhouse, they're obviously not
that good. But I don't care. Because when Appalachian State
beat the University of Michigan, it's an underdog story that
we still speak about to this day. Now, you could
argue that aged pretty well because it turns out Appalachian
State was a big-time program. They elevated up. But I

(02:10):
think this dynamic is different. Because while the guys on
the team... might not stay in Michigan for a long
period of time, and who knows, could disperse all over
the country. I bet a large percentage of Western Michigan
grads live in the general area, whether it's the state
of Michigan or the Midwest. And that would have been

(02:32):
a seminal moment for the school till everyone that's associated
with the school, whether they went there, whether their future
children will go there, will have till the day they die,
and now that doesn't exist. Because my dad loved UC Davis.
And they were, at the time, Division II's program. Then

(02:53):
they went up to Division IAA. And they upset Stanford
one year. In Stanford. Well, Stanford's terrible. No one confuses
Stanford as some program, despite that little stretch with Harbaugh
and David Shaw, as this program that should be in
the national championship hunt. that if they don't go to

(03:14):
the playoffs, people are going to get fired. So part
of the draw, I mean, I watched every snap of
that game. I told my wife, if I'm going to
be a very present dad on Saturdays, because Sundays is
not really possible. It's much more of a workday. Saturdays,
a little pleasure, a little work. Listen, we need the
four boxes. She hates the four boxes on TV. I'm like,

(03:37):
I can't just watch one game. I got to be
watching the four games. YouTube TV does a great job.
I got the four games going on. And after a while,
I clicked to the big picture because I couldn't believe
it was happening. And that's a tight moment that those guys,
all these guys that graduate from this program, that even
if they transfer to different schools, when you get interviewed

(03:59):
at a finance job, everywhere you go, when you tell
someone that I played at the Western Michigan program, they go,
were you on the team that beat Michigan? And now,
I mean, that moment is going to live on forever?
Them getting the second back and Underwood throwing the touchdown pass,
which was a hell of a grab. I mean, it was...

(04:22):
One thing that's underrated in... the Hail Mary play is
typically it takes an elite catch. Like it's rare that
you just hit the guy in stride or the guy's
wide open, right? Even Caleb was it last year when
he kind of did the rollout against the Rams and
the DB fucked up and Komet just kind of was

(04:43):
right there by himself. That doesn't happen very often. Remember
the Rodgers famous Hail Mary against the Cardinals when I
think Richard Rodgers was his name. You're usually high pointing
the ball in traffic, falling onto other bodies. It is
a fantastic play. But I think the problem is, and
I'm by no means some Michigan hater. I've always somewhat

(05:06):
supported them over the controversial things that happened over the
course of the last three or four years. not Sharone
more withstanding. I'd ideally not like my football coach banging
the assistant in his office when he's married with three
kids at home, but that's a topic for a different day.

(05:27):
I think those kids, obviously the coach, that is a
seminal moment in their life. For a lot of us professionally,
when you have a great opportunity, when you're in a
big moment, sometimes you don't even realize it till you
look back later. And you go, that was a butterfly
effect moment for my life that changed me on the trajectory,

(05:51):
on the path that I'm on. But at the time,
even if you're cognizant of it, you don't quite, it's impossible. Typically,
I'm not saying that there aren't individual instances where it's like,
you're meeting with this guy, we land this business. I
just saw one of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikel Bridges,
their college teammate now works at, I don't know if

(06:14):
it's Fidelity or Goldman Sachs or one of the big finance,
he's in money management. They all just move their money
to him. Like once those guys called and said, we
all want you to represent us, I'll promise you this,
when that guy took his book of business back, like
how many clients you had? I got these four guys,
average income's about $ 47 million, and they have a combined

(06:36):
$ 400 million in cash in the bank, you know, or
in the stock market. That's my book of business. That
guy got elevated up the totem pole fast, and I'm
sure he's no dummy, he realized it. But in sports,
when you're in a game, like these guys, I went
to Fresno State. When you played a UCLA, when we

(06:56):
played a Wisconsin, that program has played a million big schools.
Everyone in that program understands that week, you don't need
Newt Rockne speeches. You don't need win this one. for
your family, for your parents, for the school. Everyone knows
what's on the line. Those speeches typically are like when
you're playing an average opponent or someone that you might like,

(07:16):
hey guys, let's wake the bleep up. When you're Boise
State playing Oregon, when you're Western Michigan, listen, Western Michigan
isn't like some two-win team. I don't watch much MAAC football.
but they won 10 games last year. Clearly they're a physical, well-coached,
they ain't scared of shit. Now they were aided by
the quarterback play, but man, that's a moment for that

(07:39):
coach and those players that they would have the rest
of their lives. And now it just doesn't exist. And like,
do I think the Big Ten conspired to make that happen?
I mean, clearly on their video evidence, which I'm still
yet to see, But like, it's hard to take it seriously.
It was, I said this last night, like Uncle Dennis,

(08:02):
who's Kawhi's guy, that was just caught red-handed, right? Even
he would watch that. It's pretty shady. Like that's... That
doesn't add up, you know? If you got no dog
in the fight, and let's face it, at the point
where you're not a Michigan guy, you're kind of rooting
for the upset because you understand the history behind it.

(08:23):
I do think point spreads, you know, week one when
you're four touchdown underdog, like, you have no clue who's
good and bad. You know, you really don't. Like some
teams that you think are good are not nearly as good.
And then some random teams are way better than you think,
especially at the groupified level. But that just, that blows.

(08:45):
I mean, that sucks for those guys in that program
that have spent, like Michigan, the last four or five
weeks in training camp, grinding their ass off up early,
you know, going to bed late, just grinding it through
getting ready for this moment. And they showed up and
they came through. That's the other thing. You know, in football,

(09:05):
you know when your moment's there and you either are
going to produce for 60 minutes or not. You're either
going to put a good foot forward and be in
the game, or like a lot of teams yesterday, or
on Saturday, if you're listening to this on Monday, get
the living you-know-what kicked out of you. And Western Michigan
showed up to play. And I think the other glaring

(09:25):
thing of that travesty that was that game was if
I ran a major program with big money behind it,
like a school like Michigan, Part of the devastation of
last night is Bryce Underwood is not on Kyle Whittingham.
He has absolutely nothing to do with Bryce Whittingham. He

(09:47):
obviously wouldn't have recruited him at Utah. Way too big
of a recruit. And he just inherited the guy. Whose,
you know, rookie freshman season was, I think, canceled out
a little bit because like oh the head coach who
was trying to bang everything that moved wasn't focused that
the program wasn't disarray it almost got put on Sharon

(10:08):
more more than Bryce but anyone that watched Michigan last
year was like I don't know something's missing like something's
just off I said the same thing with Arch and
we'll get into him later, but usually over time, especially
in college more than the pros, Like, you could see
an 18, 19-year-old guy take a huge leap season to season.
You're like, okay, this is a different player. There are

(10:30):
a small percentage of guys, anyone that, I don't blame
you if you didn't watch much of it, but Keelan Russell,
you know, from Alabama. At first, I'm like, you know,
what's going on here? And he's an eight, you know,
redshirt freshman. As the game went on, you're like, okay,
there's a lot to work with here. This is something.
I never once last year watching Michigan went, I think

(10:53):
there's something there. I went, I don't know, this is
a major red flag. I don't know how anyone that
watched that game, especially Michigan fans, would go, this guy's
got dramatically worse. Like, sometimes regression is, I think, an
overused term, right? It's easy in all of our worlds,
like in mine. Are we gaining more revenue than we

(11:14):
did the previous year? Are we gaining more listeners and viewers?
Do we have more sponsors? Like, most of our industries...
It's pretty easy to make an objective, like black and white, quantify,
are we growing or dying? Sometimes with quarterback play, it's like, yeah,

(11:35):
he looks a little bit better, but he looked worse.
He looked worse. They gave him like $ 12 to $ 15
million out of high school. And if you think that
drafting guys out of college is different, which it clearly
is at any position, especially quarterback, high school is way harder.
And the one thing that's very evident in college football

(11:59):
that a guy like Bryce Underwood, DJ Lagway, somewhat of
an Anthony Richardson guy, Jackson Arnold, who's bounced around now.
Some of these like athletic. This guy's a freak. He's
got a huge arm. He can throw it 700 yards.
He can beat DBs in races. That's great. But at

(12:22):
the highest level of football, and I would say that
is big time Division I football, like the Big Ten,
the SEC. If you're playing the right teams, Miami or
Texas Tech or whoever the good teams are in the
Big 12 and the ACC. You got to be able
to play quarterback. That means be calm, deliver the ball accurately.
Like the most important part of being a quarterback is

(12:46):
not hitting some like the Jeremiah Smith had an unreal
go route. And he's clearly going to be like a
top five pick next year. Probably would have been the
last like two years. But like most quarterbacks, if they
just throw five go routes and you give them a
Jeremiah Smith guy, and I'm not trying to diminish Julian
Sane at all. It was a nice pass. They kicked

(13:08):
the shit out of him. But you're just going to
throw a go route down the sideline to a blue
chip guy. You're going to hit some of them and
they're going to look really good. But where you really
make your money is when it's like third and six
and we're running a couple short to intermediate routes. Can
you just hit the guy in stride who might only
be open for a split second to get a seven,

(13:28):
eight yards and keep the sticks moving? That is the,
and obviously in the red zone, third down, red zone,
critical areas, be accurate. And you're watching this guy, he's
not only inaccurate, it ain't even close. The thing that
jumps out to me is he's not like some dynamic athlete.

(13:49):
I'm not saying he's a bad athlete, but you watch
him run around, you go, This isn't like Lamar Jackson
or Kyler Murray in college. This isn't even Jalen Hurts
in college. My takeaway is I don't see it. And
like I said, this is not Kyle Whittingham's problem. This
guy was already on the roster, paid huge money. I
know nothing about their backup, who is Notre Dame starting

(14:10):
quarterback's brother, who I guess is a four-star recruit. And
who knows? Maybe he hasn't been good in camp either. He's,
I think, a freshman. I don't think you can keep
rolling this guy out. I think you just got to
punt on these things. It's become more complicated now with
the NIL, but there is not, like, I'd bet $ 1, 000
right now, Bryce Underwood has multiple other schools in his future.

(14:34):
He's a lock to be on another team next year,
and then that probably won't work out and he'll be
on another team. And I feel somewhat bad, like pre-NIL,
and you were just giving the guy 10, 15 grand
under the table. It's like football, it's hard. Once you're
making millions of dollars, you're kind of held to a
different standard. And honestly, when I watch these games, I
view it much more like the NFL, much more transactional,

(14:56):
much more Wall Street, you know, on grass. Like that
was the thing with Michigan watching them. There's not a
starter on Western Michigan. Whoever their highest paid starter is,
he'd probably be the poorest guy in Michigan's two deep.
Those are the thoughts that now go through my mind.
That's the world we're in. And I know everyone says, well,

(15:16):
once the game starts, it just becomes about football. Yeah,
kind of. Once it's, you know, Indiana, Ohio State, or
Texas playing LSU. But in these games, I'm sorry, my
financial brain is viewing it, well, this quarterback's making $ 3
or $ 4 million a year, and it looks like he
would not start on any top 50 program in the

(15:38):
country if there was no money involved and you just
had to go win a job. Because I don't even
see anything there. And I think Michigan has a massive,
massive problem. Kyle Whittingham, as a West Coast football follower,
Utah back in the day was in the WAC, then
they've gone to the Mountain West, and then they moved
to the Pac-12. He was the coach there starting in 2001.

(16:01):
So for 25 years, the majority of that time, I
guess he took over when Urban left, so it would
have been 2005 or 2006. was not Alex Smith playing quarterback.
They were not producing guys getting drafted number one overall.
They won a lot of guys or a lot of
games with guys like Snoop Huntley, who I'll promise you this,

(16:23):
the Huntley I watch now in the NFL is a
dramatically better player than the guy was in college. Utah
won a ton of games with grit, with guile, with
elite defenses, with a bunch of guys that were two-
and three-star recruits that became NFL players at the defensive
line position, the linebacker position, corner, at running back at
tight end, out of nowhere. And it wasn't because of

(16:47):
the quarterback play. So if you saw the look on
Kyle Whittingham's face, like, what did I sign up for here? Because, again, I...
I guess it is what it is. He just stinks.
You know, there's nowhere. He stinks. And for them to celebrate,
which I get it, we're human beings. You win the game.

(17:08):
But it was. You guys are rushing the field. And
I don't even blame the fans. Because if you stayed
that long for that performance, especially that second to last play,
you thought the game was over. You're a sophomore at Michigan,
some future millionaire at Wells Fargo or Goldman Sachs, just
going to be some finance bro, and you're just sitting there.

(17:33):
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(17:55):
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(19:51):
I did want to fire through. One thing I thought
I'm going to do every week is just do my
morning four box. And typically, I got a couple TVs
in this office. I got a big 60-incher, and then
I got a 40-incher right next to it. I typically...
in the mornings, you know, especially on the weeks where
there aren't that many buys, there are a lot of

(20:12):
games going on on Sunday morning. So I try to
put the main games that I want to watch with
the big playoff teams, the games that we're going to
talk about on the big TV. And then the other
TV will just have, you know, Jets, Titans, and some
of the other random games. So I think what I'm
going to do right now is go, this is my
morning four bucks. And I actually think this week is

(20:35):
pretty easy. It's Baltimore at Indy, Bills at Houston, Lions
at Saints, and Tampa at Cincy. And then Chicago, Carolina,
there are some other crappy games going on into the morning.
Might just get the small TV by itself. I mean, Jets, Titans,
I'm sorry. No shade at either franchise. That's probably not
getting much of my oxygen. Maybe I'll throw it up

(20:58):
there with Chicago, Carolina, but... I wanted to go through
those four main games. And just what I did is
I wrote down some questions. Because that's kind of go
into the season. Like, we don't know that much. Like,
you're just kind of asking questions or wondering what it's
going to look like. Like, with the Ravens at Indianapolis.
Let's start with Indy, who is a home dog. Like,

(21:19):
they were really good with Daniel Jones. They were one
of the greatest offenses we'd ever seen. I think statistically
they technically were. Up to the point in which he left.
Are they going to be that team? Because if they
are that team, they're going to be a problem. The team,
once he left, they had no shot. Right. And by
the end, they had, you know, 45 year old Phillip

(21:42):
Rivers who actually made some plays, you know, being their quarterback.
So I just I want to know with Indy, like,
who are they? Are they the team with Daniel Jones?
Was that a mirage? Is he going to resort back
to kind of the crappier player that we once knew?
Is he and Shane Steichen just a good fit? I

(22:02):
got no clue. I really don't. I'm very, very intrigued.
And to me with Baltimore, I hear a lot of people,
whether it's different podcasts, different posts, you've just seen it out.
A lot of people are picking the Ravens to make
it to the Super Bowl and definitely be one of
the top three or four teams in the league. Which, listen,

(22:22):
they got an all-time great talent at quarterback. Metabuke, who
a couple years ago, when they were elite on defense,
was their best defensive player with Hamilton. What's he look
like with the neck? I saw he was a limited participant,
I think, on Wednesday's practice. I didn't look on Thursday.
But is he just back to being a dude? And

(22:46):
I get back to like Mike McDonald, who is, I
think we all agree, one of the elites now in
the league. Like that guy, when you see Mike McDonald,
you go elite head coach. His first year, like little bumpy.
They had a stretch where they lost a bunch of games.
I think five out of six games. and it's not easy.
They missed the playoffs. Now, they were 10-7, and that's

(23:07):
kind of what I pegged the Ravens to do. Now,
the difference is they had Geno Smith, they got Lamar Jackson,
they had Ryan Grubb, they got Declan Doyle, but Ryan
Grubb never called plays in the NFL. Declan Doyle's never
called plays in the NFL. I just got some questions.
I mean, I'm prepared to be wrong. I mean, I
don't know. I do know this. Whoever wins this game,

(23:30):
if Indy beats Baltimore... People are going to be like, okay,
Indy's legit with Daniel Jones. It's clear. He's their quarterback.
They're a legitimate playoff threat. And if the Ravens win,
it'll validate everyone that's thinking they're sweet. Because going on
the road week one, Indy's not an easy place to play.
They've got a bunch of good players. I think whoever

(23:51):
wins this game, there's one other game, I would say,
in the morning slate that you're really going to be
feeling good. But it's like, okay, this is a legitimate
playoff team. Bills at Houston. I was watching, doing a
little babysitting duty this morning. My man just, we are
in the trenches sleep-wise. We're trying to transition some sleep training.

(24:13):
We regressed. I mean, we got some issues. So sleep
patterns are all over the place. I could be, you know,
reading the iPad at like four in the morning. But
I saw a stat on television that Josh Allen and
his career is one in four against the Texans. And
I remember a couple years ago, because we went live
right after me and Colin, there was a game that

(24:34):
like Sean McDermott screwed up at the end. I thought
it was at the end of the game, punted, or
something weird happened. But I vividly remember last year when
Josh Allen got sacked eight times. And it felt like
he could have been sacked 30 times. And this is
like my main question with Buffalo is like, can they
handle this front? Sometimes you see it in basketball. You

(24:56):
definitely see it in football. Some teams are just bad
matchups for the other team for whatever reason. And it
does feel like Buffalo. I mean, again, I have it
seared into my memory. I think it was a Monday
night football or Sunday night football. It was a massacre
of jobs. I've never seen Josh Allen look like me
or you back. He had no shot. Typically he can
run away and break that. You ain't doing that against

(25:18):
these guys. So I just, that one's hard to shake.
And to me, it's like, are they going to be
able to handle this defense? Because they could not handle
them last year. And the other thing on the Houston
side is like, Houston won that game. I think the
final score was like 23-19, which is kind of crazy
given that he was sacked eight times. It shows you, like,

(25:39):
I mean, the Bills are a really good team. And
I think they're going to be really good again. But
they won that game with Davis Mills. You know, Davis Mills,
he threw two touchdowns. The big question mark is, like,
what is C.J. Stroud? Is he good? Is he worth
giving a huge extension to? You know, by all rumors

(26:01):
and stuff on the internet, make of it what you will.
It's like, he ain't into the Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold extensions. Well,
it's like, hey, C.J. and David Mulgetta, I don't think
they're into the $ 200 million extensions, so... You better play
better if you want to see that. I think Houston's defense,
like for as good as Seattle is, I think Houston's
defense is on a different level. And Seattle's the cream

(26:22):
of the crop. I think it's the best defense in
the league. Picked them on a fantasy team. I think
Willie Anderson's going to be defensive player of the year.
It all comes down to, like, can this guy just
be a game manager? No one's asking you to be
Josh Allen. I think that's been hard for C.J. Stroud.
You're the second pick in the draft. You see all
the elite guys. You're like, I'm one of them. He's like, actually,
you're not. And there's nothing wrong with that. Like, bro,

(26:43):
you can make hundreds of millions of dollars, I don't
want to say dinking and dunking, but just managing the
offense with this franchise. And I'm fascinated to see how
this looks. Because I would say this. Houston's a dog
at home, which to me is like, guys, I mean,
we just saw this game last year. If Houston wins

(27:05):
this game, they'll feel great, but it's like we beat
the Bills before. Like their issue has been some weird
other games. Jacksonville they've had some weird games against for sure.
I do think this would be a bigger win for
the Bills just given their history against this team. Like
eight sacks. I mean, that's really, really bad. Lions and Saints. Listen,

(27:31):
I'm a sucker when I pick you. I thought I was,
you know, not a lone wolf, but kind of out
on my own out there. Everyone I see is picking
the Saints. And listen, I'm actually going the other way now.
A lot of good vibes in Tampa, but we'll get
to them in a second. If the Saints beat the
Lions at home, that is an incredible win. I mean,

(27:54):
this is one of those, if you like the Saints
to win the division, and a lot of people think
that winning that division is like 9-10 wins. Most people
aren't picking them to win this game. I don't even
feel good. I would not pick the Saints. This is
probably a stay away from me. But I am fascinated
to watch. Like, okay, Tyler Shuck. People like me, a

(28:16):
lot of people around the league, everyone's like, this guy's
pretty good. Listen, a lot of people do it as
a rookie. Hell, Drake may beat the crap out of
the crappy teams, and people start giving him MVP votes.
They start playing playoff teams like, who is this guy? So,
and the Lions aren't exactly the 85 Bears here. I'm
fascinated to watch Tyler Shuck. And for the Lions, like,

(28:39):
your offense should be unstoppable. This... Indoors, where you play,
you should look so fucking fast. I'm excited to just
watch this Lions team this year. I think their offense
has a chance to be, I mean, top in the league.
And everyone took Jameer Gibbs number one in fantasy. Say

(29:00):
Brown is, I don't know... A lot of people's just
like favorite player for what a badass he is. They
got it all. I mean, they got star left tackle,
really good quarterback. I think Jared Goff, if their offense
lives up to what I think it could be, could
be the MVP. But this is a game to kind
of get the Lions swag back. It's not like, you know,
you're going on the road and beating the Eagles or

(29:21):
beating the Rams or beating Seattle. But this is a
good start to the season. Go on the road. Dan
Campbell used to coach here forever with Sean Payton. Get
a win and get out. This is fascinating to me
because I have the Saints to win the division. And
And maybe this is like we have a long time
to kind of get it before the games start, and

(29:42):
you have a lot of time to think, and it's
like a lot of things to happen. I mean, Vitavia
requested a trade, and Baker Mayfield was pissed. And yesterday
I see a press conference with Jason Light and Baker Mayfield.
They're laughing, they're hugging. Vibes are great. I mean, they've
given two contract extensions to probably their best two players,
not named Worfs. And I do feel like they got

(30:02):
some good vibes. Now, the problem with Tampa... Listen, I
like Todd, but did they make these extensions to have
a good roster so when they call Mike Tomlin here
in four months, are they a team that's going to
have a new coach even if they won 10 games
and were one and done in the playoffs? Is Todd Bowles,

(30:24):
what's he going to have to do to keep his job?
Is making the playoffs enough? That's kind of the elephant
in the room with this team. Because the one thing
you would say is player-wise, They got good vibes going.
And I defended this yesterday. They gave him $ 110 million
over the next three years in guaranteed money. Tua Tonga-Vailoa
got way more. Jordan Love dwarfed that just like three

(30:46):
years ago. So the contract to me is pretty team-friendly
when it comes to the position for a guy that's
established himself like top 14, 12 quarterback. So I'm fascinated
to watch Tampa. I just think everyone thinks their coach
is going to get fired. Like, that's the number one
kind of elephant in the room with that franchise after
signing all these guys. And then Cincy, like, I think

(31:10):
they're going to be awesome. They have no excuse to
not be awesome. Their defense should be dramatically better. You
would think they get an inspired Dexter Lawrence kicking ass
and taking names. I mean, their offensive weaponry is Jamar
Chase is a Hall of Famer. T Higgins is as
good of a number two as you'll find in the league. Brown,

(31:30):
the running back can kind of do it all. I've
had pro scouts tell me their offensive line is way
better than the way people talk about them. You know,
bro holds on the ball. He takes some sacks. This
isn't five scrubs up there. So to me, this is like,
you got to win 12, 13 games and you open
at home. There's a franchise that starts slow all the time. I, I,

(31:56):
I always make fun of whenever I'm walking by the
TV and, you know, one of these talking head shows,
and I've seen some must-wins. Must-win for Josh Allen. Must-win
for this. Like, there's no such thing as a must-win
game one. I do think it's extremely important for Cincinnati
to win this game, to get some positive momentum, to
get some, you know, everything rolling in the right direction.

(32:17):
It's been the opposite in recent history. Two years ago
when they went 9-8, they started so bad, and their
defense was atrocious. So... I do think Cincinnati, they should
be a team that is dropping 30 plus points a game,
right there with the Lions. And then the last morning
game that I find pretty fascinating, Carolina, no offense, something

(32:38):
about the brand, it just does nothing for me. It's
like the Orlando magic. Or I'm trying to think, there's
just certain franchises in sports that like no emotion is
created inside me. Like when you say the LSU Tigers
or the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees,
Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, like... You kind of feel

(32:59):
something as a sports guy. When you say the Carolina Panthers,
I feel nothing. You know? So that brand, I have
no problem if you get good enough. And listen, no shade,
but same thing with Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, if they get
good enough, I have to just suck it up and
consume them. I did last year. Parker Washington's on my

(33:21):
fantasy team. But I just... I don't know. I mean,
I'm watching this game for Caleb and Ben Johnson. Maybe
my expectation, I saw Dave Tepper thinks they're going to
be really good. They've had a bunch of injuries. The
Bryce experiment, time will tell. Yeah, I don't know. I
don't really know what to say there. So my four

(33:43):
bucks for sure in the morning is Ravens, Indies. Raven
at Indies, Bill at Houston, Lions at Saints, Tampa at Cincy,
and then I'll give Chicago Carolina with some of the
other slop in the morning. I think it's Jacksonville, Cleveland, Jets, Titans.
Sneaky must win for the Titans. Like if you can't,

(34:03):
if the Titans can't, and I, listen, I just said,
because if you can't beat the Jets at home, Who
are you beating? Who? I would say most people probably
have them going 0-6 in the division. 1-5 at best.
If Cam Ward is as bad as people think he's

(34:23):
going to be, I mean, he hasn't been good. Preseason
did not go well. So it could get weird. Some
of the afternoon games, it's like Chargers, Cardinals. I mean,
I saw Jeremiah Love is number two on the depth chart.
I just... That really bothers me, stuff like that. I

(34:44):
have no problem making a guy earn it. I've given
this story before. Eric Reid, whose brother Justin Reid played
for the Chiefs forever, Eric Reid, LSU guy, got drafted
in the first round by the 49ers when I first
got in the media world. And Vic Fangio had him
running with the threes in OTAs. And by training camp,
he's running with the twos. It's like, Vic, you have
an open safety spot. You just drafted this guy in

(35:06):
the first round. He's going to be starting. What happened
in week one? Eric Reid was a starter. I have
no issue with that. When you draft a guy high,
a blue chipper, and I'm not saying Eric Reid's as
good as Jeremiah Love, but my point is, big-time school guy, like,
you draft this guy third overall, if this guy's not
on the field week one, snap one, and he's fully healthy,
shame on you. You guys are fucking idiots. I mean, losers.

(35:29):
I'm sorry. Losers. I know you sign free agent running back.
No one cares. You draft this guy third overall, put
him on the field. You can't convince me he doesn't
know the offense. I just do not believe that. And
I'm not even saying they're saying that, but I don't
know what the justification would be. It's like super high
character guy. What's your knock? He doesn't know the offense.

(35:50):
He's lazy. Like what, what are you telling me? Cause
I know he's the most talented running back. You have
get them on the field. Like if you tell me
after this year, everyone in Arizona gets fired. I think
that's definitely on the table. GM and new coach. It's
going to be a disaster. Um, Week one, you know,
disasters can look decent week one. Pete Carroll beat New

(36:11):
England last year. By the end of the season, it
was like they were a laughingstock. Packers at Minnesota is
a very, very interesting game. I would say Packers in
Minnesota and the big game in Philly are just, what's
this going to look like? I think starting with Packers
in Minnesota, I don't know. With Green Bay, a ton
of new players. You're missing your best player who's out

(36:33):
until who knows when in October in Micah Parsons. Pretty dependent.
You have this Josh Jacobs situation. He pleaded no contest. Like, bro,
if there's a video, you ain't coming back. So I
hate shorting the Packers because even on bad years, they
win nine games. I just think that I don't feel

(36:53):
great about it. I don't. In Minnesota, I don't feel
great about either. Like to me, these are in some
order three and four in that division. In some order.
I don't know what. I guess this game will tell
us something. at least early on. Big picture, I don't
think the Kyler Murray experiment is going to play. I mean,
is Kyler Murray playing all 17 games? And if he doesn't,
then Carson Wentz comes in, who actually has kind of

(37:16):
resurrected his career just still in the league, but shell
of what he used to be. And the Eagle game
is like your home opener against a team that universally
everyone thinks sucks. They lose one of, if not, I
don't know, second best player in their left tackle. Most

(37:38):
people think their O-line's terrible. They have been to the
joint practices where they have gotten worked. Jaden's got this
weird thing going where he's like, I'm going to prove
all you guys wrong after, you know, the stuff with
LSU happened. Defensively, I'm very big on Sonny South. I
would have drafted him much higher than he got drafted.
I'm shocked the Giants passed on him a five. I

(38:00):
think the Titans could have taken him a four. He
looked atrocious in the preseason. Now you'd be like, well,
it's the preseason, John. And I agree, but like part of,
like David Bailey. See him in the preseason, you're like,
holy shit. I see clips of Caleb Downs at practice,
like picking off Dak left and right. I just like, see,
this guy just looks swimming. And again, I'm not crushing

(38:22):
him for the pick. I loved the player. I would
still bet on the player, but a little concerning. So
that to me puts the pressure on the Eagles where
all their home games are pressure packed. I got my
guy Acho trying to take down Big Dom. It's like, Acho,
no one's taking down Big Dom. What are we doing here, buddy?

(38:43):
Some things are meant just to keep to ourselves. Let's
just keep some things to ourselves. I know some people
that know some people at the Combine. Goodell is not
a fan of Dom. I just put it that way.
Which like, Rods, just make your 50 mil, leave the

(39:03):
big fella alone. And Acho like, bro, some things are
meant to stay unsaid. Just keep it yourself. What a
fucking moronic thing to say out loud. Bro, he didn't
even say him, but as like everyone assumes it's him,
it's like, bro, just keep it moving. You got this

(39:23):
new offense. Jonathan Grenard, you know, has been at practice. Like,
he probably should win this game by double digits. I mean, seriously.
You got Fangio against Jaden Daniels, who you played a
couple years ago in that NFC Championship game and you
curb stomped him. Like, this is a game if you're
Philly and you're going to get back to your kind
of get your swag back that you lost last season. 28, 13,

(39:52):
something like that. Like, you dominate this game. You get
Jalen looking good. You run the ball. And everyone's just, okay,
Jalen's going to be good in this offense. They can
run the ball again. Saquon had a buck 40, a
couple touchdowns. Jalen threw a touchdown and ran one in
on the tush push, which now they might be calling
offsides pretty easily, which I got no issue with. The

(40:15):
other thing is the game, the night ends with Dallas,
the Giants. I'm just not as high on the Giants
this year as most. I think they're still pretty flawed.
We've got some unknowns. I've got to see Malik Nabors.
Is he back to being the guy that was at
LSU and then early on before he got his knee injury?
Because if he is, then it's okay. I might change

(40:37):
my tune a little bit. I still wonder about their
run defense, the coaching. It's not like John Harbaugh was
a dominant guy last year. It was kind of rough.
So I... I think Dallas has a chance to be really,
really good. Also some unknowns there. Got new pieces on defense,
new defensive, first-time defensive coordinator. I got to be fair,

(41:00):
like if I'm going to question guys like Declan Doyle, 30-year-old,
never called plays, I got to say the same thing
with Christian Parker. I think he's 34, 33, young guy, up-and-comer,
but never been in that seat. And, you know, Declan
Doyle with the Ravens, Christian Parker with the Cowboys. You
see this with the Eagles coordinators. There are certain gigs–

(41:21):
A lot of fucking people are paying attention. You're the
OC for Lamar. You're the OC for Jalen Hurts. You're
the DC for the Cowboys. This ain't the Arizona Cardinals.
You got a lot of folks paying attention. You are
a hot button topic for all of us because it's fascinating.
It's interesting. I mean, you're just one of the main

(41:41):
topics in the league. So I've heard great things. I
think the Cowboys are fired up on them. They definitely
have better personnel because we know the offense is going
to be good. It all comes down to that side
of the ball. Okay, let's do some predictions. I've been

(42:08):
thinking a lot about this. I spend so much time thinking, well,
I've got to leave people out. If I take the
AFC and NFC West to get three teams in the playoffs...
What do I do? So I've just spent so much
time thinking about my wildcard teams because I've been pretty
confident about my division winners. So if we just go,

(42:29):
we'll start the AFC and we'll make our way through
the NFC. AFC East. I'm just betting on Josh Allen
until I'm wrong. Now, you'd be like, well, you were
wrong last year, Middlecoff. Yeah, I was. And the coach
got fired. Like, I'm pretty confident that Josh Allen, he's
the best player in the division. I think he's the
best player in the league. I think most people would

(42:50):
agree with me. In the peak of his powers. And
I'm just picking him on a yearly basis to win
the division. Doesn't mean he's going to win it every year.
Didn't last year. But I feel pretty good about my
spot when I picked Josh. I also talked to Joe
Brady at the Combine. I'm just a believer. Guy's got
some swag. I think he's really good at his gig.
Jim Leonard, always been a fan of. Defensive coordinator, former

(43:12):
safety for Rex. I think they're going to be good.
This is one I feel very confident on this. I
think this team can win the Super Bowl. I think
they definitely could be in the AFC Championship game. I
think they are going to be a major, major factor
in the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm a believer. Now, they have
started slow, it feels like, every year, which can be
a problem. I need them to start fast. They got

(43:34):
week one. That game's going to be a little tricky,
you know, playing the Bucs. But I love the Bengals
this year. I love them. And let's not forget, like,
It's like, well, what about the Ravens or McCarthy and
the Steelers? Both those two games, a game could have
ended in a tie week 18. Let's not act like
those two teams were beating the shit out of everyone

(43:56):
last year, especially the Ravens. AFC South, this is actually
probably the easiest pick. I think the Houston Texans, CJ
Stroud could play like me and they'd win 11 games.
If he just plays solid, this team could win 14,
15 games. I think their defense, which has consistently been
is going to be the best in the league in 2026.
The AFC West, I'm just going to ride Denver. You

(44:20):
could convince me on the Chargers. The Chiefs still have
too many question marks to put them back in there.
I think they're probably a year away from getting back
in that conversation. But I mentioned this to Coward. You
removed the quarterback. So you just took all 32 teams.
No one has a quarterback. But you have your entire
roster non-quarterback. I think you could make the argument Denver's

(44:41):
the best team in the league. just roster-wise. So I'm
going Bills, Cincy, Texans, Denver. In the NFC, I've been
hammering this for a while. I'm not pivoting now a
couple days before the season. I'm taking the Cowboys. I
don't like the Cowboys. I love the Cowboys. Now I'm
betting on this young hotshot defensive coordinator, Christian Parker. I'm

(45:01):
betting on Caleb Downs. I'm betting on some of these...
This defensive line coming together more as a unit than
Micah's gone because last year was an abomination on defense.
We know their offense is going to be awesome, even
though all pro guard just had a finger injury. It's
out a month. Listen, we can fill in with a guard.
We can make it happen. Not ideal on one of

(45:22):
your good players, but it is what it is. I'm
betting on this defense just being middle of the pack
because I think they're going to have one of, if
not the best offense in the league. And I think
you go back and forth with them and Philly. I
just got question marks in Philly. You know, I mean,
this new offensive change is dramatic. Like, you see it

(45:43):
in college a lot, right, where a prominent program will
just change its offense. And sometimes it works, and other
times it is an abomination. Now, I've never disputed that
the Eagles roster isn't high-end, but I'll give Nick Wright
credit on this one. I heard him say this. I
don't know if it was TV or with Colin on

(46:04):
a podcast. There's probably not a team in the league
that has a bigger swing of wins and losses than
the Eagles. You can convince me it works and Philly
wins 13, 14 games. You can convince me it just
unravels and their roster is still too good. They go 8-9.
So to me, they're probably 9, 10 wins because I

(46:26):
think their defense is going to be so awesome. I
just got too many question marks on offense. You're just
telling me this guy, it was all the coordinator? It
was all the coordinator and A.J. Brown. I don't know.
The quarterback is just– and part of it is can
you run the ball? Because last year they couldn't. So
this offense in theory is easier to run the ball.
I know the Cowboys' offense is elite. And it's kind
of an offensive league. That kind of matters. The NFC North,

(46:48):
who I'd probably pick to be the one seed– You know,
I think in the AFC, it'd be sincere Denver to
be the one seed. In the NFC, I think I'd
go Detroit. I think Detroit's going to be awesome. I just,
you know, last year, he just made a mistake. He
hired his buddy and the players turned on him. And

(47:09):
the one thing I respect about the kind of the
modern day NFL, like players have a lot of juice, right?
Players in college and the pros have a lot of power.
20 years ago, 30 years ago, the equivalent of Dan Campbell,
The players, this isn't Magic Johnson or John Elway here.
I don't think they could have forced the coordinator out,
but it was clear. I saw this a couple years

(47:30):
ago with the 49ers with the defensive coordinator. When Fred
Warner turned it on, you're done. And that happened in Detroit.
And I think Drew Petzing, I watched a lot of
Arizona down the stretch because there weren't that many games
in the afternoon window on Sundays. They didn't win a lot.
But offense wasn't the problem. Jacoby was slinging that thing around.
Mike Wilson, who just got a big contract, lapped Marvin Harrison.

(47:55):
I'm a believer in Detroit. I think offensively they are
going to be unbelievable. Now defense, they obviously had to
cut a first-round corner because of the kidnapping thing, and
John Schneider's like, come over! But I'm a believer. I'm
a believer in Dan Campbell. Maybe I've watched too many
interviews on YouTube with them. I think they're going to

(48:18):
be excellent. This is a little bit of my sleeper pick,
even though I've heard so many people pick this team.
It's no longer a sleeper. I don't like the Saints.
I love the Saints. I think the Saints, you're looking
at 10-plus wins. I think Tyler Shuck is going to
be a quarterback that is consistently talked about moving forward. Now,

(48:38):
we have a couple issues. Some of the injuries on offense,
Jordan Tyson, who I'm depending on zero. And Chris Alave, like, has,
rightfully so, like a concussion thing in his contract because
he's had a lot of concussions. But if Alave's on
the field, like, I think that guy's a pro bowler.
Their tight end's good. They sign Etienne. Kamara got hurt.

(48:59):
It's like, Kamara, well, they signed Travis Etienne, who I
think is a big reason I don't like the Jags
as much because he was such a big kind of blanket,
a safety blanket for Trevor Lawrence. So Dallas, Detroit, New Orleans,
and I'm just sticking with what I know. And Seattle,
I'm just not picking the ramps. I just I just

(49:21):
don't think it's that easy I know everyone does and
I'm not saying they're not going to be good I'm
not saying that the game won't come down I think
they play the second to last week of the season
which is like January 3rd I think it has a
lot of similarities to this year where we have seen
now pretty consistently in the NFC that a game a

(49:41):
couple years ago was Detroit-Minnesota. I remember years before that,
multiple times, it's been Seattle-San Francisco. It was Seattle-San Francisco
technically last year. Seattle-San Francisco in 2019. I think we
get some similarities this year with that Seattle-Rams game at
the end of the season dictating it. And I'm just
leaning Seattle. We'll stick with the Rams on the wildcard teams.

(50:06):
I'll take the Rams. I think then we have a
group of teams in the Bears, the Niners, the Eagles,
and Green Bay. I'm not picking Green Bay. They've won
nine games two of the last three years. Now, you
would say they punted the last week of the season. Okay,
but this is not some team that is just rattling
off 12, 13 win seasons. They have a ton of

(50:29):
turnover on their team. The best player on their team,
the reason they don't have a first-round pick, who is
going to contribute to this team, is currently not going
to be available for who knows how long. Which, I'm
not a doctor. I just follow sports, so I feel
I have a good understanding of timelines. All these other
guys with all these injuries and all these positions are back.

(50:49):
And you'd be like, well, quarterback's different. Okay. George Kittle
tore his Achilles. And it looks like he's going to
play here in a couple days. I might think, was
his injury actually worse than we thought? Are they just
being extra cautious because of how much they gave up? Like,
I'm not acting like Green Bay is going to be
the Miami Dolphins this year. I just don't think they
make the playoffs. So then I'm basically down. If the Rams-Seattle,

(51:13):
you know, Seattle wins it, Rams give them the first
wild card spot, is down two, three teams. The Bears,
the Niners, and the Eagles. I'm going to lean the Bears.
I got it wrong last year. Early in the season,
I'm like, Caleb and Ben's not going to work. By
the end of the season, I'm like, this is magic.
And once he becomes a more consistent passer, like this
is going to work. Now the Bears have some question marks.

(51:33):
You know, Kobe Bryant gets injured basically out for the season.
Pretty dependent on some random guys on the defensive line.
I just think offensively, I just think Ben Johnson's too good.
I'm going to give the Niners the edge over the Eagles.
Because they play the second to last week of the
season on NBC. It's a Sunday night game. And I

(51:56):
think that's a little loser leaves town. Winners in the playoffs.
Because I think, to me, the Bears, Niners, Philly all
kind of hover around 10-ish wins. And I saw that
song and dance last year. More than the 49ers in
a must-win game having to go to Philly. What happened

(52:17):
in the playoffs? So... I could be wrong on Philly.
I'm not a Philly hater by any means. I think
their roster's fantastic. I just think they got a lot
of moving parts. I think the NFC, I mean, look
who we're talking about. It's just way deeper. I don't
have the Packers to make the playoffs. Packers make the
playoffs every year. You know, I'm just going to not
have Kyle Shannon in the playoffs. Last year, he won

(52:40):
12 games with me and you playing defense for half
the season. So it's hard to do, but Philly's out.
Let's go wildcard teams. in the AFC. LA is just
a football town. USC's back. Rams are the, you know,
everyone thinks they're going to go 20-0. To me, the Chargers,

(53:05):
if you convince, you could convince me the Chargers win
the division. If you want to take the Chargers to
win the AFC West, all for it. Not even against it.
Might dabble on them a little bit. But I just
think that the Chargers are a lock to be good. Now,
their ceiling, the pressure in the playoffs, Jim, Herbert, got

(53:26):
to win a playoff game. But regular season, you tell
me they got their tackles back. You know, I'm not
the biggest old Marion Hampton fan, but I was texting
Daniel Jeremiah, who calls the Charger games, who's at every practice.
He's like, bro, he's pretty solid. He's a good outside
zone runner. He's a physical player. He's fine. He's not,
it might not be Earl Campbell or Adrian Peterson, but

(53:47):
he's going to be a good player. It's like, okay,
maybe I'm being a little too harsh. but Chargers to
me are a block playoff team. I mean, they couldn't
have had any more injuries they did last year, and
they were in the playoffs. You know, I think the
Chiefs are a pretty polarizing team because last year went
so bad. They got, you know, dad bod Travis Kelsey.
They got Mahomes coming back off the ACL. I AI'd

(54:09):
it today. I'm like, how many times has Andy Reid
been in the playoffs since 1999? The answer is 20.
He's been to the playoffs half of my life. Andy
Reid goes to the playoffs. 11 of those are with
the Chiefs. What happened last year is beyond an outlier.

(54:30):
Remove Philly, just say his Chiefs tenure. Like, I'm just
betting on Andy Reid and Mahomes. And it's going to
be a transition year. They had that a couple years
ago when they traded Tyreek. They won the Super Bowl. Now,
I'm not picking them to win the Super Bowl. I think, hell,
it would be hard, you know, getting a seven seed,
getting in at like 10 wins, that'd be an impressive
bounce back, especially off, you know, your quarterback being injured.

(54:53):
But I just, I got to pick the Chiefs to
make the playoffs. And I like the Chargers more than
the Chiefs, so they got to be in. Then all
of a sudden I go, well, I only got one spot.
The Patriots were in the Super Bowl last year, and
I got the Bills winning the division. The Steelers were
in the playoffs last year. I don't got them winning
the division. the Ravens who honestly their schedule, if they

(55:15):
beat the Colts, which I think is kind of a
sneaky game. Uh, so I got Steelers, the Ravens and
new England all for one spot. I originally put Indy
in that mix, but like, I think if I just
make a living, not riding Daniel Jones, I'll be okay.
So I'll remove Indianapolis and just have new England, Baltimore,

(55:35):
Pittsburgh for one spot. Uh, I think this a lot
like the Niners Philly thing. They're all around nine, 10 wins. Uh, I,
Who's the best quarterback of this bunch? Historically, over the
course of his career, you would say Lamar. Drake had
the better year last year. Aaron Rodgers, at this point
in time of his career, is the worst of the three.

(55:56):
Who's the best coach of the three? Well, I would
say McCarthy's resume is better than Vrabel's, and we just
know nothing about Jesse Minter. The other thing with the
Ravens is first-time play caller. Sometimes that goes great. Ask
the Eagles. Sometimes that is a nightmare. So I struggle
with this one because I'm going to take the Steelers.

(56:21):
I'm going to take McCarthy. I'm going to take one
last ride Aaron Rodgers. And I think all three of
these teams, it all comes down to tiebreakers. But I'm
taking the Steelers with that last wildcard spot. So I
got the Chargers, Chiefs, and Steelers in my wildcard. And
I got the Rams, Bears, and Niners in my wildcard.
My MVP. If I love the Lions... I also love

(56:44):
the Cowboys, but I just think Jared Goff is your classic.
I think Dak would fall under this a little bit,
but I think if you polled most people, they would
say Dak is better than Goff. I might disagree. Dak
used to give you more mobility. We have just had,
for a stretch, of just Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes,

(57:05):
Lamar Jackson, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, these all-time
great Hall of Fame-type guys. win MVPs. Every once in
a while, you get like, Matt Ryan wins the MVP.
Even Cam, by far, had the best year of his career,
won an MVP. Cam feels less crazy than Matt Ryan,

(57:26):
given that Heisman Trophy, won the National Championship, number one
overall pick, higher ceiling than Matt Ryan. Matt Ryan was
just more consistent, but I would put both those guys
in a similar category of like, not quite the same.
I would say Cam's got more star power than Matt Ryan,
but both of them in the category of like, Yeah,
it's not exactly Mahomes or Brady, you know. And I

(57:48):
think if you like the Lions to be really good
this year, and their offense on paper looks fucking fantastic,
Jared Goff the last two years has 71 touchdowns. To me,
so that's averaging about 35.5. If you can get to
the point where that number gets to like 42, and
this is a team that wins. I mean, a couple
years ago he threw 37 when they were the one seed,

(58:11):
and he had to. Because that's the other thing. Their
defense is not going to be great. It's a little
Trinidad Chambliss. I need you to score. Because if you
don't score, we're not going to win. I think Jared
Goff wins it. I'm going Jared Goff, MVP. Coach of
the Year. I'm going Brian Schottenheimer. Because if you tell

(58:32):
me the Cowboys win the East, I don't see how
he doesn't win Coach of the Year. They're just... They're
talked about too much. He's... It's just too... The microscope
on that franchise and the lights on that franchise are
just too bright. Plus, a couple years ago, everyone thought
it was the biggest embarrassment of a hire of all time.

(58:55):
So if you go from biggest embarrassment of a hire
of all time to two years later winning the division
against a franchise that is consistently... I don't know, what
are the Eagles? Top three or four franchise in the league?
Just consistently year in, year out over a 25-year period?
I'm going Brian Schottenheimer. Defensive player of the year. This
is actually a pretty easy one for me. I think

(59:17):
this guy is going to be viewed when it's all
said and done as one of the best players of
all time. His play style, his violence, the unit in
which he plays on, And just, this guy is a
dominant player. Now, there are some sexier names. You know,
Miles Garrett, could he win it again? But I'm taking
Will Anderson. I think the Texans have the best defense

(59:39):
in the league. And I think Will Anderson just jolts himself.
I mean, this is a guy that was top three
pick from Alabama, who just a blue chip recruit. No nonsense,
no bullshit. I mean, everything you would want in a
superstar player. In terms of the character, the work ethic,
the no drama. Barely even hear the guy talk. I

(01:00:03):
love this guy. I think defensive player of the year.
He is going to have a massive season. Rookie of
the year. Again, if I'm in on the Cowboys turning
around on defense, I got to be in on Caleb Downs.
And Offensive Rookie of the Year, a lot of these
quotes coming out of Seattle. I like Seattle this year
to win the division. Whether you like them to win
the division or not, I think everyone would agree Seattle's

(01:00:24):
going to be good. Well, if they're going to be
good again, the running game was a huge part of
their operation. Kenneth Walker's gone. Charbonnet's coming back off the injury.
You know, the guy's a little under the radar in
Jadarian Price just because he backed up the number three
overall pick. So I like Price. I can see 1,000 yards.

(01:00:45):
The other thing is, like, he's going to score a
bunch of touchdowns. Like, would a jockey if he has seven,
eight touchdowns? He's playing in all these marquee games. So
I'm going Caleb Downs, and Price is my offensive and
defensive rookie of the year. We'll end it on that. Adios.
The Volume.