John Middlekauff REACTS to UNC Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick's debut blowout loss to the TCU Horned Frogs to cap off Week 1 of the college football season. John determines that UNC is not talented enough to seriously compete in the ACC and debates if Belichick will have the patience to build this roster where it needs to be through recruiting and the transfer portal. John wraps up by talking about the disadvantages Belichick has in recruiting over the likes of Miami's Mario Cristobal & Clemson's Dabo Swinney in the coming years, and that the talent discrepancy in college football is a much wider gap than it is in the NFL.
Later, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. 4:52 - Belichick lays an egg
21:12 - Mailbag
23:04 - Was Dallas forced to trade Micah
28:00 - Best way to build a defense
37:45 - What's wrong with Bama
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone's having a good morning, a good day. Back
(00:21):
to real life. Right. We had a long weekend and
no one probably had a longer night than William Belichick,
who I just watched the game, as I'm sure many
of you did, and he got destroyed. So we're going
to react to what we just witnessed with Belichick and
the tar Heels. Who the game starts, you got Jordan
(00:42):
in the house, you got lt in the house, you
got Roy Williams in the house. It's like North Carolina Royalty.
The place is rocking. He scores on the first drive,
and then it is a massacre. That was as embarrassing
of a loss as I ever remember Bill Belichick having,
I mean destroyed. So we'll dive into some thoughts there
(01:02):
and uh yeah. Other than that, we'll do a big
mail bag today as well. So we're gonna do Belichick
mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the
Instagram fire in those dms. We haven't done one here
in a while just because how it's broken with the schedule,
But we will get back on the horse here. So
a lot of mailbags coming up at John Middlecoff at
John Middlecoff fire in those dms, and we obviously got
(01:25):
a big week. We got a football game on Thursday night.
I don't know if you've heard, but it's Cowboys Eagles
football game Friday night, Chargers Chiefs, So let's get excited.
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(01:48):
so make sure you subscribe to that YouTube page. Obviously,
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(02:52):
of the biggest flops I ever remember. I mean the anticipation,
the excitement. Obviously there was a lot of buzz on Arch,
but like a lot of nineteen year old five star quarterbacks,
it's not that shocking what happened. Bill Belichick coming to
college football, even though he struggled the last couple of years.
We didn't know exactly how it was gonna look, but
(03:15):
we didn't expect him to get sliced and dice. Sonny
Dyke's had TCU looking like the peak Alabama Crimson Tide
under Nick Saban. That was an all time beatdown that
looked like Javvers Varsity. And it kind of made me think, now, listen,
I started texting people in college football GM's personnel people.
(03:35):
I said, what do you think of their roster? First?
And I got a couple people, and these guys are
on top twenty five teams. That they said, in fairness,
when a coach is fired at a power forward program
like Mac Brown at UNC, that is going to have
some players on the roster before the next coach is
even hired, anyone worth their salt will not only be contacted,
but potentially be gone. One guy talked to who was like, yeah,
(03:57):
we immediately stole one of their defensive players. Another guy,
we tried to land a couple of their offensive linemen.
They ended up going to other places. So before he
Bill even gets the job, the cupboard is very bar
It's why we've been talking about they have seventy plus
new players. They had forty plus in the transfer portal,
but that was really ugly. And the quarterback situation that
(04:18):
little lefty after the first drive was atrocious. Didn't complete
a pass for like over an hour of real time.
You cannot function with that guy. And then they bring
in Max Johnson, who is brad Son, who I didn't
even realize had the Alex Smith situation to his leg,
almost lost his leg. Now it's garbage time. But the
ball came out of his hand fast. He just threw
(04:41):
it to the right guy, and I went. You know,
I've been following Bill's career for a long time, most
of us have. There's a reason he likes quarterbacks, why
he loved Tom early on. Just get rid of the
ball and get rid of it to a guy, even
if he's four yards away. I don't care if we
get we gained three yards. Do that instead of hold
the ball and run around this guy from South Alabama.
(05:01):
Now he got hurt in the game. Goo, But if
you told me next week, which is in like four
or five, they don't play. They don't get a buye here.
I mean they're playing on Sunday on the road, so
it's a quick turnaround. But a lot of people have
been saying for a while that Bill lost his fastball,
that Bills over the hill, that Bills a shot fighter
(05:22):
essentially as a coach, And if you watch tonight. Even
if we're all on the same page, TCU has a
better roster. TCU has a better team. It shouldn't look
like that at home where guys have no clue what's
going on. You got guys at a position, you got
guys taking bad angles, you got an offense that can function.
But the number one thing that kind of stood out
to me because obviously roster construction is not easy in
(05:47):
twenty twenty five, especially when you come in a couple
of weeks after a guy's fired. But the coaching aspect,
and this is a knock on bill that Josh McDaniels
when he was by his side over the last fifteen years,
they were really, really good. They made the playoffs with
Mac Jones. They won a game that I'll never forget
on Monday Night Football where they had like less than
(06:09):
five passing attempts. Because Josh very questionable head coach, more
than very questionable, literally been fired from two jobs before
making it through year two, which is an NFL record.
It's never happened before in the history of the league.
When you make him your offensive coordinator though he knows
what he's doing. It's why we all expect Drake May
the Patriots to be successful moving forward because he's very,
(06:33):
very good in that role. Well, he left and Belichick
put Patricia on offense and that was an all time embarrassment.
Then he uh has Freddy Kitchens as his offensive coordinator.
He's in a conference right now with Dabo Sweeney that
has Lincoln Riley's brother, that has Mike Norvell, who is
(06:53):
an excellent play caller. We just saw him slice and
dice Alabama, and Mario Christobal who has Shannon Dawson is
his offensive coordinator, that just coached the number one overall
pick cam Ward last year and had Carson Beck look
like an NFL player again. So he's in a conference
which pretty polarizing conference because on Giving years has been down.
Looks like after one week and definitely with the nil
(07:15):
they're gonna be good because they have three coaches that
are at three powerhouses that have big budgets and have
excellent rosters. So he's in a conference with guys, I mean,
Dabbo's been coaching in college forever. Same thing with Mario
and same thing with Mike Norvel. These guys aren't pro
guys going back and forth. These are college lifers. Mario's
(07:35):
an elite recruiter, Dabbo's an elite recruiter, and clearly Mike
Norvell when he hits right, he's excellent in the transfer portal. Meanwhile,
you got Belichick on the pregame and listen, I respect
being authentic and being yourself. I try to be very
cognizant of that. Just be who you are, like you
got nothing to hide, Just be who you are. And
I respect anyone in any line of work, in any
(07:58):
industry who is true to themselves. So there's a there's
a level of like admiration that Belichick just doesn't break character.
He's still that grumpy old just miserable. Sob and he
Holly Rose interviewing him before the game. It's college football.
This isn't the Patriots versus the Jets, or the Patriots
versus the Broncos. Is college football. Bro gotta lighten up
(08:20):
a little bit. And he couldn't do it. He could
not do it. And it's like, I just don't think
this whole thing is gonna happen. Obviously, this year is
gonna be tough. Safe to say their team's probably not
gonna be that good and unlike and Sonny Dykes was
asked about this because if you remember, Colorado made their
debut against TCU and beat him in this epic game
(08:41):
on Fox and in Colorado. Even though that first year
they didn't even make a bowl game, they didn't have
an above five hundred record, and last year they played
in a ton of marquee primetime games, they did big
television ratings. Well, they had an NFL quarterback and they
had the Heisman Trophy winner. Belichick's team is a snooze fest,
and there were stories before the season that you know,
(09:02):
UNC potentially was gonna get a lot of primetime games,
the primetime effect, that they were going to do big ratings.
I'll promise you this, I don't care the NFL college football.
If your quarterback plays bad, if your team's boring, we're
not gonna watch. That's a tried and true formula. I'll
use this as an example. The Giants. They're a massive
brand and when they're good, a ton of people watch them.
(09:25):
But over the last decade, when they've had such shitty
quarterback play, they're not getting marquee games. Why because the
consumer doesn't want to watch that. And I watched UNC today,
I'm like I would move them into slots with a
bunch of other games because until they prove they have
some sort of entertainment factor, that's unwatchable product. And it
gets back to Freddy Kitchens, like, you take this job,
(09:48):
you get ten million dollars a year. Your GM was
getting a one and a half million dollars. And I'm
a big Mike Lombardi guy, but you would think one
thing Bill would need, Like obviously the defense was atrocious tonight.
The one thing we we all know Bill knows his
son knows like the defense. They know what they're doing
on that side of the ball. It might not work
this year because they don't have the players, but like that,
(10:09):
if he stays there three or four years, which is
definitely up for debate. I mean, there was a point
like fifteen minutes into this game where you went, is
he gonna quit after one year? Is he really gonna
want to do this? I know he loves coaching, but
this is to get just get his curb stomped by
TCUs and Clemsons in Florida State's He's really gonna do this?
That crossed my mind. And then the other thing was
(10:32):
Freddie Kischen's get your offensive coordinator. Now I'm not saying
you would have the pick of the litter, but college football,
like unlike the NFL. If you have a good offensive coordinator, right,
that's not your head coach, but guy's working under you,
I can't steal you from the program. So if Sean
Sean McVay is a bad example because he calls the place.
But let's say Mike Tomlin, Arthur Smith, and let's say
(10:54):
the Pittsburgh Steelers have a fantastic year this year. It's
like Arthur Smith kind of got a swag back in
Pittsburgh wins eleven twelve games, Aaron Rodgers throws forty touchdowns.
People like Arthur Smith. No other team could steal him
for their offensive coordinator in the pros. In college, it
literally happens all the time. Ohio State won the national championship.
Last year won the national championship. Penn State sold their
(11:17):
defensive coordinator. So when I look at college, I go, Bill,
you could have hired all these people. And listen, Freddy
seems like a nice guy. I'm not even advocating he
should have fired him, but put him as your tight
end coach. Have him work with the offensive lineman. I
don't care. He cannot be calling your plays. That's the
best you could do, is Freddy Kitchens. I'm kind of
(11:40):
baffled by that, but I shouldn't be because we've just
seen previous years. When Josh left, he was kind of scrambling.
Maybe this is the thing that Colin's been saying for
a long time. It's like he doesn't really know offense
and he got by for a long period of time
with Tom and Josh operating it, especially the modern day offense.
So one thing you say about Nick Saban, he did
two things extremely well. And I'm not comparing Alabama to
(12:01):
North Carolina, but he really valued the play caller on offense.
The defensive play caller changed a little bit, but like
that's his baby, Nick. Defense is what he knows, just
like Bill. But the play caller in the quarterback and
in fairness to the quarterback like they were in a
weird spot still watching that guy play, that's who you valued.
I just think that this college experiment, which again I
(12:24):
was I don't want to say bullish on, but did
not think it was gonna look like that because I said,
you know what, he's too good of an nexuson nos coach.
He's too good with strategy. But in college, unlike the pros,
the discrepancy of talent can make a big difference. There's
a reason we watched Texas Ohio State or Clemson in
LSU and they kind of look like equals because they
(12:46):
got elite players. Well, if you play Texas and they
play San Jose next week, or like when Michigan plays
New Mexico, there's a giant gap and unless you have
Bill Walsh and Vince Lombardi walking through that door, even
if they are coach, you're still gonna lose by fifteen points.
And so one thing recruiting. Obviously the nil has changed
(13:08):
the game. But Bill's personality and you can tell me
all you want that like you know, kids in the interviews,
like it's not that big a deal. You would think
he would lighten up a little bit. It just show
a little bit different personality. Listen, the best college coach
of all time isn't exactly known as mister Smiley. Right,
(13:28):
he's not happy all the time, Nick Saban. But one
thing Nick was really good at when the lights were
on and he had a microphone in front of his face,
whether it was a pregame interview, whether it's an interview
during the week, he was just pretty entertaining is the
wrong word, but you just kind of gravitated toward him.
It was like, God, there's something about It's like he
(13:49):
had I don't even want to say, like there was
just something to him, like a little it factor to him.
Bill is just just gave off miserable vibes. It's like, Bill,
do you want to jump off a right now? Because
that's the vibes you're given on the TV. And guess
who's watching this. A lot of seventeen year old kids,
a lot of kids on other programs that played this
weekend that will be in the transfer portal in three months,
(14:11):
and you're gonna call them and they go, go, I
want to play for that miserable guy. It's like, I
get you won all these Super Bowls, but it's been
a little while since you were good. And Mario Cristobaul's
on the phone, and Dabos Swingey's on the phone, and
Brian Kelly's on the phone, and that's the one advantage,
Like there is a big gap between college and pro
in terms of that element of it, which Belichick never
cared about. Is why they say that this is why
(14:33):
we're interested because it's kind of like pro football. It's
not like pro football at all in the sense of
if this was the NFL, Belichick would cut like seven
guys tomorrow. They would be cut, waived, demoted, send a
practice squad. You can't. You can't do that. Like his
rosters is roster. There's no waiver wire. He can't claim
guys on other team to bring to the team this
(14:54):
upcoming week or this upcoming month. So I listen, I'm
not gonna act like his career didn't happen and he's
some village idiot. He's one of the best coaches. I'd
argue the best coach that I ever saw. Saw many
enormous games. But whatever has happened in past, like once
Tom left, moving forward, I think it is fair to go, yeah,
(15:16):
it just might never be the same, and this could
be And there were people saying this not me, that
this could be an epic train wreck, and I'm not
gonna let one game defind that. But if you said, hey,
you gotta bet money train wreck or gets it turned around,
I don't know how you'd bet not on the train wreck. Right,
you talk about a guy in his mid seventies that's
never coached in this environment, that's in the Conference, which
(15:39):
with a bunch of recruiters at big time programs, even
if their schedule is a little bit easier. I mean
I watched cal with Justin Wilcox and this quarterback they
got from Hawaii sling it all over the yard. It's like,
Bill's gonna go out to California and beat those guys
with that offensive defense. So it's like, I don't think
you could be cal let alone like Clemson, So you
(15:59):
just got a lot of l's on the schedule. Now.
That was Arch was disappointing, Like it was like, God,
this is what is what is happening right now? How
did the height? Did the noise kind of cloud us all?
Is this guy should should? Was it unfair? Like? What's
what's happening? That's what I kept thinking watching Arch Manning
(16:20):
tonight just went this is sad. This is this is
pretty sad. But haven't we been saying that about like
Jerry Jones at the end with the Cowboys. Doesn't that
usually happen with uh with older guys in competitive professions
because it's still as hard, but it's hard or to
be as locked in when you know you're in your seventies,
(16:43):
you've never worked in this environment in the sense of
the college landscape. And Sonny Dyke's just beats a living
shit out of you in front of probably ten million people,
and Michael Jordan doesn't even make it till halftime. So
pretty pretty sad Bill Belichick experience. Uh, opening night. Okay,
(17:13):
let's do a little mailbag at John middlecoffs the Instagram
fire in those dms, get your questions answer here on
the show. If you're watching it on YouTube, you're probably wondering, John,
why are you wearing a cowboy hat? And the answer
is simple, a little behind the curtains. The way I
do these mailbags is I go on Instagram and I
take screenshots because it's much easier to go through the
questions in my photos than it is to try to
(17:35):
scroll on Instagram. Things change, It's just it's not an
easy process. If early on I used Instagram and would
just scroll through, it was a debacle. It's much easier
the way I do it now. When I take pictures,
I can see the questions, so I have a pretty
good idea that I'm getting a lot of Cowboys questions.
You know, Michaeh Parsons, Jerry Jones, a lot of different
opinions all over the map, and you know, we'll get
(17:57):
into this Micah Parsons trade. I mean, it's going to
be a theme the entire season. Obviously, the Cowboys play
Thursday night, so that's going to be a major talking point,
as more than likely they're losing to the Eagles at
home in the opening game for the season. Obviously, the
documentary comes out, which is fantastic. The documentary is really
really good. It paints Jerry like obviously pretty sharp, pretty
(18:19):
impressive guy, but egos him and Jimmy just the whole
Everything about that documentary had it all, from a shitty
team to a team winning Super Bowls, to crack cocaine
and hookers, to concussions to retirements. It's just really, really
well done. I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary, and sometimes, like
movies that are done about, you know, previous teams, they
(18:43):
can be very hit or miss. For every last dance
in the Cowboys doc there are a lot of crappy
ones out there. But I got so many questions around
about Mike. I looked at my clause and I said, hey,
buzz out the cowboy hats collecting dust. So I have
a slightly conspiracy driven male bag question. Do you think
that it's at all possible that Dallas was forced to
(19:04):
trade Micah? My thinking is this, Jerry was so blatant
and open about not dealing with Micah's agent that Willgeda
possibly threatened to sue or files some legal action against
the Cowboys that scared them, and in doing so, possibly
gain the ability to quietly secretly demand where Micah was
(19:25):
traded to. It makes sense to me from the stance
that the Packers were the only team openly linked to
trade talks for Micah, and also Micah seemingly great friends
with Jordan Love. Listen, if you're David Mogetta and you
are a powerful agent that is doing huge business, I
(19:45):
don't think it would be constructive to sue the Cowboys, right,
you know, Jerry's in his eighties, not going to be
there forever. Obviously Stephen is going to run the Cowboys
when Jerry is gone. I do think we're losing sight
of this a little bit because I've seen a lot
of people say this that why would the Cowboy why
didn't they shop this thing around and take the best
(20:07):
offer possible. And in theory, that sounds great, and they're
you know, like everyone can agree, like, take the most
you could possibly get for this guy. Is someone willing
to give you two ones and two twos? Two ones,
a two and two players? Right? Who knows? Here's the
problem with that? And this is where the NFL, while
it's not basketball, there are some elements. And I had
(20:28):
a guy in the business tell me a couple of
years ago, like, players have a lot more power in
twenty twenty five than they've ever had in the NFL.
Cause before twenty years ago, you just would have traded
him to the highest bidder and that team would have
been like, we'll get him here, what is he gonna do,
We'll sign him to a contract whatever. No one is
trading multiple ones until he puts pen to paper. So
(20:51):
if you were a team that went, hey, we'll trade
you two ones, a two and a player, so a
better offer than the Packers, Let's just pick a random team,
the Commander, I guess they wouldn't traded him in the division,
but the Lions, the Raiders, whoever, Well, if Micah goes wait,
they're offering twenty million dollars less, I'm not signing that contract.
Last year with the forty nine ers, they tried to
(21:13):
trade Brandon Ayuk. They're like, we are trading you to
the Browns. We're gonna trade you to the Patriots. He's like,
I'm not gonna sign their contract. So you can't trade
him because that team won't okay the trade until he
signs on the dotted line, because it's not worth risking
a guy like coming to your building holding out having
the same issues. Micah had more power, Like no one's
(21:33):
talking about that. Micah had a lot of power because
if they were gonna trade him, to have this open
bidding process, it was going to be a plaque. Now.
You weren't gonna give him away. Obviously, the Packers had
to be willing to play ball, and we could argue
wasn't enough? Was it not enough? But like he they
offered him a lot of money and he was going
to sign their contract. So like it took two to tango,
(21:56):
this wasn't just twenty years ago. You would have traded
him wherever that team would have taken him, and they
would have figured it out. That's not the way it works. Anymore,
not when you're talking this amount of money. So I
think it's less that was David Mulgeta gonna sue the cowboys. No,
he's in the business to do these deals. Like listen, business,
as Phil Knight once famously said, and shoe doog is
(22:18):
a war without bullets. Everyone's trying to fuck everybody all
the time, and Moget is used to that. I'm sure
of being in the business. He's in like welcome to
the private sector. I think this was more about, like,
I'm recording a podcast here in an hour with Colin,
so I will probably reiterate this thought. I think the
moment Micah started laying on the training table and showed
(22:39):
up eating nachos, that was like the straw that broke
the camel's back, and it was like a double f
you to Jerry, and Jerry's in his eighties stubborn. Maybe
the documentary, I would say, influenced to be like, hey, Jerry,
because everyone was saying, remember when Jerry was a badass,
Remember when Jerry would take these crazy risks, And now
Jerry's like kind of on easy Street, Like Jerry's not
(23:02):
going against the grain anymore. It's like, oh, he's just
gonna sign Steede Lamb, He's just gonna sign Dak Prescott.
What did we all say, He's just gonna sign Micah
Barsons until he traded him. So I think it's less
about like the Molghetta situation and more about like, yeah,
they're like, we're not gonna deal with this anymore. We're
not good with them or without him at this point
(23:23):
in time, and we're gonna trade him. But we gotta
trade him to a place where he will sign because
no one would trade for him until he signed on
the contract. Zero chance. I mean, Whenkalil Mack was traded,
he immediately signed a contract with the Bears, A big
fan of the show. With the Packers trading for Micah
and the Eagles edge room a little concerning. My question
is this, when building a defense for a deep playoff run,
(23:44):
what's more crucial dominant defensive tackle play or star edge? Well,
think who the best defensive player on the Eagles was
last year down the stretch it was Jalen Carter, a
defensive tackle. Think about the current dynasty going in the NFL,
who's their best defensive players? A defensive tackle? I think
a lot of people have thrown out the highest paid
defensive ends have not even been winning playoff games, let
(24:06):
alone Super Bowls. Miles Garrett, TJ. Watt, Max Crosby. You
know when the forty nine ers, like, they had some
good teams, like Nick Bosa had a lot of help.
They had his first the first run they had, they
had DeForest Buckner and Eric Armstead, And a couple of
years ago they had Eric Armstead and Javon Hargrave. So yeah,
(24:29):
I think they both matter. I don't think, you know,
in theory, you could take Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White.
You know, the game was a little bit different back then,
you weren't passing as much. But I don't think if
you gave the average team the option, like would I
rather have the greatest defensive tackle of all time or
the greatest defensive end, I think there would be it'd
(24:52):
probably be split. It wouldn't be unanimous either way. I
think you just feel very, very comfortable having a dominant
defensive lineman. So whether that's Aaron Donald, whether that's Miles Garrett,
I think most people, just for an individual season, would
take Miles Garrett. Like if you put Max Crosby on
a really if you just put him on the Chiefs
or the Bills, like I think he would immediately win
(25:13):
the Defensive Player of the Year, assuming he stayed healthy.
But like when you're on shot of your teams, you
know it's it's this is a team sport, you know,
can't you kind of you know that Number four, the
edge rusher for Miami making all the plays down the stretch.
It helped that his DB's were making plays behind him.
Like you did help? You cannot do it yourself? Telling
you we got a lot of Cowboys questions? Uh, big
(25:35):
fan question for the bag. The Packers I feel won
the micro trade by leaps and bounds. Two first round
picks in the late twenties in an aging defensive tackle.
Seems good, but not amazing offer. What do you think
the logic is for Dallas? Is it strictly just a
money thing? Were other teams just low balling them? I'm
telling you that the Packers got him because they paid
(25:58):
him a lot of money. I mean more money than
I would imagine other teams were interested that. There's probably
a price points like yeah, we'll go up to one twenty,
where they gave him one hundred and forty million dollars guaranteed, right,
one hundred and eighty eight million dollars, So the cap
numbers are pretty low the first couple of years. But
the only way to get that to go away is
(26:18):
like ideally you give him another extension, right, so you
get like seven eight years of Micah Parsons. I also
think we can debate how great of a player is.
He's clearly a excellent Pro Bowl, all pro level talent.
He has an elite skill coming off the edge and
rushing the passer, and that is a very important skill.
(26:39):
But he does have some flaws, like you can, I
don't know, run at him. There are two options when
you have Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald, TJ. Watt, whoever, Max Crosby.
I'm just picking the guys in the league now, but
you go through the history of the league, you either
run away from them, like with Deon Sanders or Revis,
(26:59):
you just simply don't pass at them. With a defensive end,
you got two options. Can I run at him and
wear him down? And also it's like that's not his strength,
he's more of a pass rusher. Or do I need
to run away but you're not running at Lawrence Taylor
or Reggie White. You're not running at Aaron Donald, You're
not running at Max Crosby. You run away. You don't
(27:20):
want to run away from Micah Parsons because his greatest
skill is like chasing you down the line. He's one
of the best athletes on the field. But what do
you do? You run out him because he's not that
big relative to some of these guys. He's not Reggie White.
So where have teams taken advantage of him in some
of the big games. They've gone right at his ass.
And I do think that is a question mark of
(27:42):
like can he become a better run defender or are those
limitations always going to be part of it? Because if
I'm giving you the most money humanly possible at your position,
which is what they just did set a record, do
you have any flaws? Because ideally I wouldn't want you
to have any flaws. I was texting with someone in
the league, like, if all things are being equal, there
(28:04):
are countless other players I would rather have, Like I
would rather have Max Crosby in twenty twenty five. Again,
obviously Mike is gonna have better numbers and the team's
gonna be better in the Packers. But like, no one
would say that Michael Parsons is nearly as good as
Miles Garrett. Yet everywhere I see the media again, no
one's acting like he's not a really good player. Right.
He's a good player, He's he's a very skilled player.
(28:27):
But he's now the face of the Packers, the face
of the Packers, and they're expecting him to be the
best player in the league when he's not even the
best player in his position. Now, I also understand, and
I watch Goodakin's press conferences and la Floor is like,
when do you ever get the opportunity to get a
player like this? I mean, the answer is rarely, it
doesn't happen. This trade's happened twice in like the Internet age,
(28:51):
Khalil Mack and Michael Parsons. But I've said this and
I believe this. Khalil max is At the same time,
when they were both traded, Khalil was a better player
because he was a more You couldn't run at Kalil Mack.
You ran at Khalil Mack. He threw your offensive lineman
and tied end the other way. He dominated in the
run game. Now, Mike is slightly better as a pass
rusher maybe, but not that big a gap. So like
(29:15):
when I go all in now the Bears, turns out
they had mitchter Bisky and he wasn't that good. Comparing
this to Reggie White, I mean, Reggie White is one
of the greatest players in the history of the league.
There was nothing he couldn't do. You didn't run at
Reggie White. If I go, I can run at you,
I'm just saying, like, and I understand why they did
that because they go Rashan Garry, You're not running at him.
(29:37):
So like, our defensive line and our coaches are good. Again, like,
most players have some flaws, right, unless you're It's a
very very small percentage of guys that can do everything well.
But this isn't a perfect player, and it's definitely not
a perfect personality, you know. I mean, he's Albert Breerro.
You know, some people like the Dak Prescott, the CD
(30:00):
Zach Bartin some of their holdouts. No one had any
issues with that in the locker room. That clearly was
not the case with Micah. So it's not like he's
mister TJ. Watt, Max Crosby, see Miles Garrett. There was
an article right when they gave him the extension this offseason,
you know, they wanted to be a little bit better leader,
which I'm sure there were some flaws maybe about just
like is he the first guy in the meeting room,
(30:21):
but he's so fucking good, such a dominant player. Everyone's like, yeah,
it's just like Jordan Mylotta when they're practicing against the
Browns this year in a joint practice, he like gave
a press conference. He's like, I don't even know, there's nothing.
I don't even know what that is. And Jordan Mylott
is one of the biggest freaks in the league. He's like,
(30:42):
we were just laughing in the film room, like what
that's perfect? What was I supposed to do? You know,
Micah's not that so I again, I think everyone Jerry
his logic and the way he got here is a
little crazy. But the actual like trading Micah Parsons, I
don't think is that nuts. And again like his lever Now,
(31:05):
if you want the timing of it, he would have
had more options and more teams would have been willing
to spend before the draft. All for that totally agree.
So it's like it shouldn't have got to this point.
If you were going to trade him, you trade him
before the draft, and that's on Jerry. But I think
people just act like they just traded Lawrence Taylor, and
I just I just disagree. You know, I think if
(31:27):
you just turned on most talking heads, they acted like
if the Chiefs would have traded Patrick Mahoons or something.
Can you believe the Ravens traded Lamar? That's how everyone's acting.
It's like, I don't know if I see it that way,
I wouldn't. Ideally, the whole point of a draft is
to find Micah Parsons. But this notion that he is
just if there's a video game like one hundred out
(31:48):
of one hundred player, I just I would disagree with that.
I mean, some people believe he's a little overrated. Have
you watched John Mattier play yet? The Sooner schedule is brutal,
but he looked good. One philosophy I have when when
evaluating these college games, like I don't put that much
(32:11):
stock when you like even Bryce Underwood, who Oklahoma Michigan
are gonna play, It's gonna be awesome, can't wait, But
like you play New Mexico, Like I just can't take
the game that seriously, not that the point is to
win whether you win by twenty or whether you win
by forty. But after watching Clemson LSU in Ohio State Texas, like,
I just put little to no stock in games against nobodies,
(32:35):
I really do, so it's he's obviously a good player.
I texted some scouting buddies that I don't want to
say that are on the fence, but they think the
hype's pretty strong for what they just at least saw
in practice. But listen, this game. You throw three or
four touchdowns on Michigan and you beat them and you're
two and zero. Shit, same thing with Bryce. Bryce goes
into Oklahoma, throws a couple of touchdowns, they win. It's
(32:57):
a big ass game. You look at the schedule this week,
it is by far the best game on the slate.
Disappointed Bama fan, Honestly, it fits to where this cowboy hat.
We're talking a lot of South a lot of cowboys.
I just watched a team completely out physical US, look bigger,
faster and stronger and play way harder than us, and
they weren't even an SEC team. We look like a
(33:19):
fucking Pac twelve team that cuts deep, hard, for me
to dispute it that though, My question is this, do
you think the board retains his job this year? And
if not, do you think Bama makes a play at Gruden.
This has to be really hard, you know, it's I've
been broke, I've had a little money. It's easy to
(33:41):
go from the you know, start at the bottom and
then go up. I can't imagine being one of these
guys that was like lost it all, was living high
on the hog and then lost it all. That has
to be a very humbling feeling. You know, whether you
go bankrupt, whether your business goes you know, under, whether
you risk it all in some business move and it
just goes up. That that that has to that sucks, right.
(34:03):
I can't imagine kicking everyone's ass for a decade and
a half, beating the living piss out of everyone you
look at, and knowing it it's like this, this game's
gonna be a joke, honestly, being tested a couple times
a year and just knowing in every big game you
got the advantage doesn't mean you're always gonna win. They
obviously Sabing lost some games. It's gotta be a little
(34:24):
bit like Belichick at the end when in the with
the Patriots, but it was a little different because Bill
was still there when they sucked, like Nick was in
the playoffs against Jim Harbaugh. Then just left and then
all of a sudden, you suck. It's south. The one
thing I will say, when Florida State's right, when Clemson's right,
when Miami's right. I was always told this, and it's
and I believe this. Those are three programs that recruit
(34:48):
SEC players that play ACC schedules. So Florida State a
couple of years ago had an SEC roster like Jared
Verse is an SEC player, Brydon Fisk is an SEC player,
Keon Coleman is an SEC player. I mean, the two
teams that were trying to get them were LSU and
Florida State when he went in the transfer portal from
Michigan State. So I listen, you didn't lose to cal Pauly.
(35:12):
You didn't just lose to Kansas State. And in fairness,
Kansas State is nothing in common with cal Pauly football.
But my point is, you didn't just lose to a
little school. You lost to a school. I think part
of it is the fourteen and a half point spread,
because everyone just assumed that to and ten that they
Florida State sucks. Maybe they don't suck, maybe they were
(35:33):
ten win team. Now you guys got some issues. I
see a lot of people you got what's his name
bringing the anxiety doll There is just a softness. You
go back and google some of the pregame speeches, not
for Nick, but from the players in their heyday. It
might have it sounded like Seal Team's six. They were
(35:53):
there to execute their opponents literally and physically. And now
it feels like, you know, if Ryan Williams is the
face of your program, you got some problems. And in fairness,
he was there when Debor got there. But yeah, I
don't know. I don't know what to say. I do
(36:16):
think the overall premise, and I talked about this on
Monday night, is you you don't have Phil Knight or
t Boone, Pickens or Notre Dame's billionaires. You're not gonna
pay Debor seventy million dollars to go away, pay your
roster twenty five to thirty million dollars to play, and
(36:38):
then pay a new coach eighty ninety million dollars. Because
the one thing about Gruden listen, Gruden's a horror when
it comes to his money, right. Well, they asked Jerry
Jones one time, like why'd you name your team at
and T Stadium. He's like they paid the most. Like
that's always kind of been Gruden's the thing. Remember, it's like, oh,
he loves the Raiders and Mark Davis. Mark Davis give
him a ten year, hundred million dollar contract. It's like
(36:59):
a didn't love him that much. So, like he said,
we have five years fifty million school, He's like ten
one hundred. I'm in Jesus. So I have a hard
time seeing and I listen to other people in the
college football world say that I think we need to
pump the brakes a little bit about you know, the
Jimbo Fisher days when you could pay a guy forty
(37:21):
fifty million dollars to go away. Though those days are
done because you are allocating at these big programs twenty
thirty million dollars to your players. So where's this extra
that that is Even if you would have had the
fifty million dollars, you now need seventy and that's not
even counting the new coach. I think it's way more
complicated now. Financially than it used to be, even at
(37:43):
a program like the other thing with Bama and a lot.
This is a lot of these schools. You know, before
they had to start paying the players, they got all
this money, they used to just invest it into their facilities.
I saw on YouTube the other day that the golf
team at Alabama it's a forty seven million dollar facility.
It's incredible. They have like their own little special nine
(38:06):
hole course. They have this incredible practice. Where do you
think that money came from the golf team? Of course not,
it came from football. Football generates eighty ninety percent of
all the revenue at these schools, and obviously Nick Saban
was the all time cash cow. So they've invested that money.
It's not like they just have put away all this
money and they've put it in the stock market. It's
(38:27):
just gonna pay for everything. If they had done that,
then yeah, they would have a lot more flexibility, but
that is not what happened. I believe you have a
lot of respect for FSU in their program, and with
(38:49):
nil you can reset pretty quick. FSU does not get
a home game. I think didn't they play that game
at home? But has your stance on Klin changed. Aren't
these players? Aren't these his players? Now? Can bam a compete?
I talked about this on Monday Night. I do think
there's a disposition to him that is just the polar
opposite of Nick Saban. Nick Saban was a hard, charging, aggressive,
(39:16):
in your face, intense guy, and obviously to get to
the level that Caitlin has, he's not like not ambitious
or not focused and detailed. But personalities change. Bill Belichick
is a lot different than Andy Reid. That's a lot
different than Pete Carroll. That's a lot different than Sean McVay.
(39:36):
That's a lot different than Dan Campbell and the Hardball Brothers.
Like everyone's personality is unique to themselves, and Saban's kind
of a dying breed of human. That type human doesn't
exist as much anymore. The guy that had made hundreds
of millions of dollars, who had won several national championships
(39:59):
by twenty twenty, he was still trying to win another one.
It's like, where do you get this drive in your seventies?
That's he's kind of a rare bird. They don't really exist,
and he's even different from most other successful coaches so
my thought on him would be I think his personality.
(40:21):
I'm not saying he's a substitute teacher, because he's accomplished
a lot, but his personality is one that clearly guys
are not listening to and not taking seriously. If someone
forwarded me they've had more penalties in every single game
since he's been there, Saban would kill ten people. If
that happened after like two games, let alone how many
(40:41):
they played last year, nine and four thirteen, fourteen games,
people would literally be executed and the boosters would burn
the bodies in front of everybody on television. No one
would care. It just wouldn't fly. There are certain things
that are tolerated, there are certain things that are not tolerated,
and clearly things that are being tolerated in that program
(41:03):
would never have been tolerated with. Nick would like to
hear some analysis on Arch from your scouting perspective, since
most people are just talking about performance relative to the hype.
I'm no scout, but I think his arm talent is
really unimpressive. He can't make off platform throws, and any
different arm angles looked mostly disastrous. I don't see any issues.
(41:26):
I don't see these issues as solvable this year. And
I think if his name was Arch Middlcoff, he probably
would just be playing at Rutgers. Would love to get
your take. PS can't wait for the NFL. There is
no arguing that his arm talent is not great relative
to all time hype guys. Right, Like, when you watch
Cam Newton in college spin it, you went holy shit.
(41:49):
When you watched Caleb Williams spinnett, you went holy shit.
So when I've seen a lot of people call him
a generational talent, to me, part of a generational talent
is either encompass size and arm Like that's why luck.
He had it all he was six y five, he
was two hundred and forty pounds. He could run, he
could spin it, he was accurate, he had it all right. Caleb,
(42:10):
to me, is not a generational talent because he's kind
of short. Now if he was six y five, when
you have those physical characteristics, the talent now the player
who knows right. But Caleb can really spin it. And
you watch Caleb right away at Oklahoma, he went holy shit.
Watched the ball come out of his hands. He went
to the ball come out of arches. You're like, now, listen,
Peyton Manning is a top five quarterback of all time.
(42:32):
I would argue that Jill, I'm blue in the face.
He threw something that he claimed was a wobbly spiral.
Peyton Manning did not throw a great ball. It was
actually pretty ugly in the air. Some would call it
like a wounded duck. But you know what, it was
perfectly accurate. He would hit you directly in the hands. Now,
(42:53):
his mind was a huge part of his game, but
Peyton Manning did not sling it around like he was
Josh Allan or Patrick Mahomes. So when I watched arch
I went, well, he doesn't throw a great ball. His mechanics,
now granted he's a young player, are just atrocious. His
arm's not that strong, and clearly he's not that accurate.
So there's a lot to work on in this notion.
(43:14):
I've seen a lot of people go everyone needs to
pump the brakes. No one was gonna judge arch onlike
Matt Patricia Fooldom. I expected that. Of course, it's his
first start against an NFL defensive coordinator that studied under
Belichick for two decades. He's gotta get fooled at an interception.
No shit, welcome to football. But like when you just
(43:35):
watched them physically, you went, am I missing something here?
I'm not trying to kick the kid when he's down,
But he doesn't have a great arm. I remember watching
high school tape of him thinking like, am I missing
something here? Now, he's a good athlete, he's clearly a
likable guy. His teammates like him, but his arm talent
is average. And then so if you got average arm talent,
(43:59):
you're not accurate. Your mechanics suck. Like Peyton Mannings got
the greatest mechanics of all time. His footwork's perfect, and
he was like that in college. So yeah, I'd be
a little nervous. Basically a question why does everyone sleep
on Justin Herbert? We get this a lot. I think
it's just an easy one. He's been a disaster last
year in the playoffs. I think a lot of people
(44:21):
get offended when he's comped to the top group of
mahomes Allen Lamar Burrow, which I listen, there's some fairness there,
but like, there's no disputing his talent, and I think
if you buy into his coach with that talent, he's
going to be Okay, Now, is he going to be
an all time great player? I wouldn't bet the farm
(44:42):
on it, but I think when the dust settles, we
will look back at Herbert fondly enjoy the first I've
got a question, do you think that most first round
draft picks that don't work out just don't put in
the time to be great. For example, Chase Young was
the second overall pick and had a great rookie year,
but then kind of fizzled out into an average player,
(45:02):
not the generational player he was projected to be. I
think I'd have to look it up, but when did
Chase Young get injured? Because I think a guy like
him in his style, like he was not a Bendi player.
He was much more of a power rusher, kind of
like a clowney, a little like Khalil Mack, I guess.
(45:26):
But in his second year he tore his acl and
putel attendant. So I think it's fair to assume that
if he had been healthy, maybe he doesn't become Hall
of Famer, but I think he would have been a
really good player. When you rip your knee in half,
(45:49):
it's a problem. Now, Sometimes you rip up your knee
and you go on to have a great Brandon Graham,
I think I think my first year in Philly was
his rookie year. I'm pretty sure he ripped up his
knee to have a great career. So I don't know.
I think some injuries are clearly worse than others. Obviously
this every individual responds to injuries differently, And yeah, I
(46:15):
think I think injuries factored in. But I definitely believe
that some guys that flop don't work hard. I think
sometimes if you're not smart enough to handle football, you know,
in college, you could dumb stuff down in your talent.
If you're a top you know, couple round guy, you're
(46:36):
just so much better than everyone else. In the NFL,
everyone's really good. So if you struggle to learn football,
if you're not an instinctive football player, there are a
lot of variables. You could find an individual that would
check every box. Guys that didn't work hard, that flamed
out right, JaMarcus Russell, Johnny Manziel, guys at all positions.
(46:57):
You can find guys that had major injuries earlier in
their career derailed them. I think you could find human beings.
And I think this is like in any walk of life.
That for whatever reason, lose their confidence, never get it back,
and it derails their career. They stop believing in themselves
because one thing, when you're a good player in college,
the coach is gonna believe in you, the fans are
gonna believe in you. Then I get to the team
(47:17):
and I'm the twentieth pick in the draft, I have
some bad games, I lose my confidence. What if the
coaches turn on me? What if at the end of
the year those guys get fired and all of a
sudden I get new coaches and they don't like me.
So I think that's an underrated part is a confidence.
But yeah, I mean, I think you could check a
lot of different boxes on why guys have failed historically. Okay,
(47:38):
well end on this. What are your thoughts on Utah
to make the playoffs for the Big Twelve at plus
three ten plus four fifty, respectively, So it's plus three
ten to win the Big Twelve and plus or I
guess to make the playoffs is plus three ten and
to make to win the Big Twelve is plus four
to fifty, which is pretty good odds. I love this bet.
(47:58):
What am I missing? Utah was so good for back
to back essentially three straight years when Kyle Whittingham really
hit his stride in the back twelve, you know, beating
sc beating Oregon, winning every big game that mattered, and
last year was obviously really embarrassing. They were the betting
(48:19):
favorite to win the conference and then Cam Rising got
hurt for the tenth time and they went to karate kid.
Well that's what my wife calls Zach Wilson, his brother.
And clearly their quarterback situation was a joke. I mean
it was really really bad. And now they with their
(48:39):
transfer portal guy is from New Mexico, and they also
brought his offensive coordinator. If their quarterback play is solid,
their team's gonna good because they're always gonna have NFL
defensive players. They're well coached, they're tough. I watched the
Big Twelve, Like, to me, I want to root for
the guy David Randa because he's a bald guy. I'm out.
I just don't take them seriously. Texas Tech, they have
(49:01):
a lot of money invested into that operation. I'm pretty
sure their quarterback just got injured. Colorado's just not going
to be good enough with their quarterback, you know, Asu
it was Week one it was hot, but they were
kind of in a tough game with Nau for a minute.
I think the Big Twelve is pretty wide open, and
based on this resume, I don't even think it's close.
(49:22):
He has the best resume of any team in that cord.
Now you could argue Iowa State that they look pretty good.
They play Iowa this week, which doesn't impact whether they
win the conference or not. But if I was a
betting man right now to win the Big Twelve, I
would say the two lead lead dogs would be Iowa
State or Utah. And I feel pretty good just betting
on Utah and Kyle winning. You. I think he's someone
(49:43):
you feel comfortable placing money on. So I like that bit.
Good question. Appreciate the questions keep firing in those dms
at John Middlecoff. I will put away this cowboy hat
until Jerry does something else crazy. The volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone's having a good morning, a good day. Back
(00:21):
to real life. Right. We had a long weekend and
no one probably had a longer night than William Belichick,
who I just watched the game, as I'm sure many
of you did, and he got destroyed. So we're going
to react to what we just witnessed with Belichick and
the tar Heels. Who the game starts, you got Jordan
(00:42):
in the house, you got lt in the house, you
got Roy Williams in the house. It's like North Carolina Royalty.
The place is rocking. He scores on the first drive,
and then it is a massacre. That was as embarrassing
of a loss as I ever remember Bill Belichick having,
I mean destroyed. So we'll dive into some thoughts there
(01:02):
and uh yeah. Other than that, we'll do a big
mail bag today as well. So we're gonna do Belichick
mail bag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the
Instagram fire in those dms. We haven't done one here
in a while just because how it's broken with the schedule,
But we will get back on the horse here. So
a lot of mailbags coming up at John Middlecoff at
John Middlecoff fire in those dms, and we obviously got
(01:25):
a big week. We got a football game on Thursday night.
I don't know if you've heard, but it's Cowboys Eagles
football game Friday night, Chargers Chiefs, So let's get excited.
Make sure you subscribe to three Now podcasts if you
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(01:48):
so make sure you subscribe to that YouTube page. Obviously,
everything that we do on the podcast goes on the
YouTube page, and and yeah, other than that, let's dive in.
But first, my friends, my oartners the official ticketing app
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(02:09):
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in NFL stadiums. The atmosphere is not the same, and
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You live in Philadelphia, you want to go to the link.
(02:30):
Obviously you probably can't go to the game on Friday
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Today last minute ticket's lowest price is guaranteed. That's one
(02:52):
of the biggest flops I ever remember. I mean the anticipation,
the excitement. Obviously there was a lot of buzz on Arch,
but like a lot of nineteen year old five star quarterbacks,
it's not that shocking what happened. Bill Belichick coming to
college football, even though he struggled the last couple of years.
We didn't know exactly how it was gonna look, but
(03:15):
we didn't expect him to get sliced and dice. Sonny
Dyke's had TCU looking like the peak Alabama Crimson Tide
under Nick Saban. That was an all time beatdown that
looked like Javvers Varsity. And it kind of made me think, now, listen,
I started texting people in college football GM's personnel people.
(03:35):
I said, what do you think of their roster? First?
And I got a couple people, and these guys are
on top twenty five teams. That they said, in fairness,
when a coach is fired at a power forward program
like Mac Brown at UNC, that is going to have
some players on the roster before the next coach is
even hired, anyone worth their salt will not only be contacted,
but potentially be gone. One guy talked to who was like, yeah,
(03:57):
we immediately stole one of their defensive players. Another guy,
we tried to land a couple of their offensive linemen.
They ended up going to other places. So before he
Bill even gets the job, the cupboard is very bar
It's why we've been talking about they have seventy plus
new players. They had forty plus in the transfer portal,
but that was really ugly. And the quarterback situation that
(04:18):
little lefty after the first drive was atrocious. Didn't complete
a pass for like over an hour of real time.
You cannot function with that guy. And then they bring
in Max Johnson, who is brad Son, who I didn't
even realize had the Alex Smith situation to his leg,
almost lost his leg. Now it's garbage time. But the
ball came out of his hand fast. He just threw
(04:41):
it to the right guy, and I went. You know,
I've been following Bill's career for a long time, most
of us have. There's a reason he likes quarterbacks, why
he loved Tom early on. Just get rid of the
ball and get rid of it to a guy, even
if he's four yards away. I don't care if we
get we gained three yards. Do that instead of hold
the ball and run around this guy from South Alabama.
(05:01):
Now he got hurt in the game. Goo, But if
you told me next week, which is in like four
or five, they don't play. They don't get a buye here.
I mean they're playing on Sunday on the road, so
it's a quick turnaround. But a lot of people have
been saying for a while that Bill lost his fastball,
that Bills over the hill, that Bills a shot fighter
(05:22):
essentially as a coach, And if you watch tonight. Even
if we're all on the same page, TCU has a
better roster. TCU has a better team. It shouldn't look
like that at home where guys have no clue what's
going on. You got guys at a position, you got
guys taking bad angles, you got an offense that can function.
But the number one thing that kind of stood out
to me because obviously roster construction is not easy in
(05:47):
twenty twenty five, especially when you come in a couple
of weeks after a guy's fired. But the coaching aspect,
and this is a knock on bill that Josh McDaniels
when he was by his side over the last fifteen years,
they were really, really good. They made the playoffs with
Mac Jones. They won a game that I'll never forget
on Monday Night Football where they had like less than
(06:09):
five passing attempts. Because Josh very questionable head coach, more
than very questionable, literally been fired from two jobs before
making it through year two, which is an NFL record.
It's never happened before in the history of the league.
When you make him your offensive coordinator though he knows
what he's doing. It's why we all expect Drake May
the Patriots to be successful moving forward because he's very,
(06:33):
very good in that role. Well, he left and Belichick
put Patricia on offense and that was an all time embarrassment.
Then he uh has Freddy Kitchens as his offensive coordinator.
He's in a conference right now with Dabo Sweeney that
has Lincoln Riley's brother, that has Mike Norvell, who is
(06:53):
an excellent play caller. We just saw him slice and
dice Alabama, and Mario Christobal who has Shannon Dawson is
his offensive coordinator, that just coached the number one overall
pick cam Ward last year and had Carson Beck look
like an NFL player again. So he's in a conference
which pretty polarizing conference because on Giving years has been down.
Looks like after one week and definitely with the nil
(07:15):
they're gonna be good because they have three coaches that
are at three powerhouses that have big budgets and have
excellent rosters. So he's in a conference with guys, I mean,
Dabbo's been coaching in college forever. Same thing with Mario
and same thing with Mike Norvel. These guys aren't pro
guys going back and forth. These are college lifers. Mario's
(07:35):
an elite recruiter, Dabbo's an elite recruiter, and clearly Mike
Norvell when he hits right, he's excellent in the transfer portal. Meanwhile,
you got Belichick on the pregame and listen, I respect
being authentic and being yourself. I try to be very
cognizant of that. Just be who you are, like you
got nothing to hide, Just be who you are. And
I respect anyone in any line of work, in any
(07:58):
industry who is true to themselves. So there's a there's
a level of like admiration that Belichick just doesn't break character.
He's still that grumpy old just miserable. Sob and he
Holly Rose interviewing him before the game. It's college football.
This isn't the Patriots versus the Jets, or the Patriots
versus the Broncos. Is college football. Bro gotta lighten up
(08:20):
a little bit. And he couldn't do it. He could
not do it. And it's like, I just don't think
this whole thing is gonna happen. Obviously, this year is
gonna be tough. Safe to say their team's probably not
gonna be that good and unlike and Sonny Dykes was
asked about this because if you remember, Colorado made their
debut against TCU and beat him in this epic game
(08:41):
on Fox and in Colorado. Even though that first year
they didn't even make a bowl game, they didn't have
an above five hundred record, and last year they played
in a ton of marquee primetime games, they did big
television ratings. Well, they had an NFL quarterback and they
had the Heisman Trophy winner. Belichick's team is a snooze fest,
and there were stories before the season that you know,
(09:02):
UNC potentially was gonna get a lot of primetime games,
the primetime effect, that they were going to do big ratings.
I'll promise you this, I don't care the NFL college football.
If your quarterback plays bad, if your team's boring, we're
not gonna watch. That's a tried and true formula. I'll
use this as an example. The Giants. They're a massive
brand and when they're good, a ton of people watch them.
(09:25):
But over the last decade, when they've had such shitty
quarterback play, they're not getting marquee games. Why because the
consumer doesn't want to watch that. And I watched UNC today,
I'm like I would move them into slots with a
bunch of other games because until they prove they have
some sort of entertainment factor, that's unwatchable product. And it
gets back to Freddy Kitchens, like, you take this job,
(09:48):
you get ten million dollars a year. Your GM was
getting a one and a half million dollars. And I'm
a big Mike Lombardi guy, but you would think one
thing Bill would need, Like obviously the defense was atrocious tonight.
The one thing we we all know Bill knows his
son knows like the defense. They know what they're doing
on that side of the ball. It might not work
this year because they don't have the players, but like that,
(10:09):
if he stays there three or four years, which is
definitely up for debate. I mean, there was a point
like fifteen minutes into this game where you went, is
he gonna quit after one year? Is he really gonna
want to do this? I know he loves coaching, but
this is to get just get his curb stomped by
TCUs and Clemsons in Florida State's He's really gonna do this?
That crossed my mind. And then the other thing was
(10:32):
Freddie Kischen's get your offensive coordinator. Now I'm not saying
you would have the pick of the litter, but college football,
like unlike the NFL. If you have a good offensive coordinator, right,
that's not your head coach, but guy's working under you,
I can't steal you from the program. So if Sean
Sean McVay is a bad example because he calls the place.
But let's say Mike Tomlin, Arthur Smith, and let's say
(10:54):
the Pittsburgh Steelers have a fantastic year this year. It's
like Arthur Smith kind of got a swag back in
Pittsburgh wins eleven twelve games, Aaron Rodgers throws forty touchdowns.
People like Arthur Smith. No other team could steal him
for their offensive coordinator in the pros. In college, it
literally happens all the time. Ohio State won the national championship.
Last year won the national championship. Penn State sold their
(11:17):
defensive coordinator. So when I look at college, I go, Bill,
you could have hired all these people. And listen, Freddy
seems like a nice guy. I'm not even advocating he
should have fired him, but put him as your tight
end coach. Have him work with the offensive lineman. I
don't care. He cannot be calling your plays. That's the
best you could do, is Freddy Kitchens. I'm kind of
(11:40):
baffled by that, but I shouldn't be because we've just
seen previous years. When Josh left, he was kind of scrambling.
Maybe this is the thing that Colin's been saying for
a long time. It's like he doesn't really know offense
and he got by for a long period of time
with Tom and Josh operating it, especially the modern day offense.
So one thing you say about Nick Saban, he did
two things extremely well. And I'm not comparing Alabama to
(12:01):
North Carolina, but he really valued the play caller on offense.
The defensive play caller changed a little bit, but like
that's his baby, Nick. Defense is what he knows, just
like Bill. But the play caller in the quarterback and
in fairness to the quarterback like they were in a
weird spot still watching that guy play, that's who you valued.
I just think that this college experiment, which again I
(12:24):
was I don't want to say bullish on, but did
not think it was gonna look like that because I said,
you know what, he's too good of an nexuson nos coach.
He's too good with strategy. But in college, unlike the pros,
the discrepancy of talent can make a big difference. There's
a reason we watched Texas Ohio State or Clemson in
LSU and they kind of look like equals because they
(12:46):
got elite players. Well, if you play Texas and they
play San Jose next week, or like when Michigan plays
New Mexico, there's a giant gap and unless you have
Bill Walsh and Vince Lombardi walking through that door, even
if they are coach, you're still gonna lose by fifteen points.
And so one thing recruiting. Obviously the nil has changed
(13:08):
the game. But Bill's personality and you can tell me
all you want that like you know, kids in the interviews,
like it's not that big a deal. You would think
he would lighten up a little bit. It just show
a little bit different personality. Listen, the best college coach
of all time isn't exactly known as mister Smiley. Right,
(13:28):
he's not happy all the time, Nick Saban. But one
thing Nick was really good at when the lights were
on and he had a microphone in front of his face,
whether it was a pregame interview, whether it's an interview
during the week, he was just pretty entertaining is the
wrong word, but you just kind of gravitated toward him.
It was like, God, there's something about It's like he
(13:49):
had I don't even want to say, like there was
just something to him, like a little it factor to him.
Bill is just just gave off miserable vibes. It's like, Bill,
do you want to jump off a right now? Because
that's the vibes you're given on the TV. And guess
who's watching this. A lot of seventeen year old kids,
a lot of kids on other programs that played this
weekend that will be in the transfer portal in three months,
(14:11):
and you're gonna call them and they go, go, I
want to play for that miserable guy. It's like, I
get you won all these Super Bowls, but it's been
a little while since you were good. And Mario Cristobaul's
on the phone, and Dabos Swingey's on the phone, and
Brian Kelly's on the phone, and that's the one advantage,
Like there is a big gap between college and pro
in terms of that element of it, which Belichick never
cared about. Is why they say that this is why
(14:33):
we're interested because it's kind of like pro football. It's
not like pro football at all in the sense of
if this was the NFL, Belichick would cut like seven
guys tomorrow. They would be cut, waived, demoted, send a
practice squad. You can't. You can't do that. Like his
rosters is roster. There's no waiver wire. He can't claim
guys on other team to bring to the team this
(14:54):
upcoming week or this upcoming month. So I listen, I'm
not gonna act like his career didn't happen and he's
some village idiot. He's one of the best coaches. I'd
argue the best coach that I ever saw. Saw many
enormous games. But whatever has happened in past, like once
Tom left, moving forward, I think it is fair to go, yeah,
(15:16):
it just might never be the same, and this could
be And there were people saying this not me, that
this could be an epic train wreck, and I'm not
gonna let one game defind that. But if you said, hey,
you gotta bet money train wreck or gets it turned around,
I don't know how you'd bet not on the train wreck. Right,
you talk about a guy in his mid seventies that's
never coached in this environment, that's in the Conference, which
(15:39):
with a bunch of recruiters at big time programs, even
if their schedule is a little bit easier. I mean
I watched cal with Justin Wilcox and this quarterback they
got from Hawaii sling it all over the yard. It's like,
Bill's gonna go out to California and beat those guys
with that offensive defense. So it's like, I don't think
you could be cal let alone like Clemson, So you
(15:59):
just got a lot of l's on the schedule. Now.
That was Arch was disappointing, Like it was like, God,
this is what is what is happening right now? How
did the height? Did the noise kind of cloud us all?
Is this guy should should? Was it unfair? Like? What's
what's happening? That's what I kept thinking watching Arch Manning
(16:20):
tonight just went this is sad. This is this is
pretty sad. But haven't we been saying that about like
Jerry Jones at the end with the Cowboys. Doesn't that
usually happen with uh with older guys in competitive professions
because it's still as hard, but it's hard or to
be as locked in when you know you're in your seventies,
(16:43):
you've never worked in this environment in the sense of
the college landscape. And Sonny Dyke's just beats a living
shit out of you in front of probably ten million people,
and Michael Jordan doesn't even make it till halftime. So
pretty pretty sad Bill Belichick experience. Uh, opening night. Okay,
(17:13):
let's do a little mailbag at John middlecoffs the Instagram
fire in those dms, get your questions answer here on
the show. If you're watching it on YouTube, you're probably wondering, John,
why are you wearing a cowboy hat? And the answer
is simple, a little behind the curtains. The way I
do these mailbags is I go on Instagram and I
take screenshots because it's much easier to go through the
questions in my photos than it is to try to
(17:35):
scroll on Instagram. Things change, It's just it's not an
easy process. If early on I used Instagram and would
just scroll through, it was a debacle. It's much easier
the way I do it now. When I take pictures,
I can see the questions, so I have a pretty
good idea that I'm getting a lot of Cowboys questions.
You know, Michaeh Parsons, Jerry Jones, a lot of different
opinions all over the map, and you know, we'll get
(17:57):
into this Micah Parsons trade. I mean, it's going to
be a theme the entire season. Obviously, the Cowboys play
Thursday night, so that's going to be a major talking point,
as more than likely they're losing to the Eagles at
home in the opening game for the season. Obviously, the
documentary comes out, which is fantastic. The documentary is really
really good. It paints Jerry like obviously pretty sharp, pretty
(18:19):
impressive guy, but egos him and Jimmy just the whole
Everything about that documentary had it all, from a shitty
team to a team winning Super Bowls, to crack cocaine
and hookers, to concussions to retirements. It's just really, really
well done. I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary, and sometimes, like
movies that are done about, you know, previous teams, they
(18:43):
can be very hit or miss. For every last dance
in the Cowboys doc there are a lot of crappy
ones out there. But I got so many questions around
about Mike. I looked at my clause and I said, hey,
buzz out the cowboy hats collecting dust. So I have
a slightly conspiracy driven male bag question. Do you think
that it's at all possible that Dallas was forced to
(19:04):
trade Micah? My thinking is this, Jerry was so blatant
and open about not dealing with Micah's agent that Willgeda
possibly threatened to sue or files some legal action against
the Cowboys that scared them, and in doing so, possibly
gain the ability to quietly secretly demand where Micah was
(19:25):
traded to. It makes sense to me from the stance
that the Packers were the only team openly linked to
trade talks for Micah, and also Micah seemingly great friends
with Jordan Love. Listen, if you're David Mogetta and you
are a powerful agent that is doing huge business, I
(19:45):
don't think it would be constructive to sue the Cowboys, right,
you know, Jerry's in his eighties, not going to be
there forever. Obviously Stephen is going to run the Cowboys
when Jerry is gone. I do think we're losing sight
of this a little bit because I've seen a lot
of people say this that why would the Cowboy why
didn't they shop this thing around and take the best
(20:07):
offer possible. And in theory, that sounds great, and they're
you know, like everyone can agree, like, take the most
you could possibly get for this guy. Is someone willing
to give you two ones and two twos? Two ones,
a two and two players? Right? Who knows? Here's the
problem with that? And this is where the NFL, while
it's not basketball, there are some elements. And I had
(20:28):
a guy in the business tell me a couple of
years ago, like, players have a lot more power in
twenty twenty five than they've ever had in the NFL.
Cause before twenty years ago, you just would have traded
him to the highest bidder and that team would have
been like, we'll get him here, what is he gonna do,
We'll sign him to a contract whatever. No one is
trading multiple ones until he puts pen to paper. So
(20:51):
if you were a team that went, hey, we'll trade
you two ones, a two and a player, so a
better offer than the Packers, Let's just pick a random team,
the Commander, I guess they wouldn't traded him in the division,
but the Lions, the Raiders, whoever, Well, if Micah goes wait,
they're offering twenty million dollars less, I'm not signing that contract.
Last year with the forty nine ers, they tried to
(21:13):
trade Brandon Ayuk. They're like, we are trading you to
the Browns. We're gonna trade you to the Patriots. He's like,
I'm not gonna sign their contract. So you can't trade
him because that team won't okay the trade until he
signs on the dotted line, because it's not worth risking
a guy like coming to your building holding out having
the same issues. Micah had more power, Like no one's
(21:33):
talking about that. Micah had a lot of power because
if they were gonna trade him, to have this open
bidding process, it was going to be a plaque. Now.
You weren't gonna give him away. Obviously, the Packers had
to be willing to play ball, and we could argue
wasn't enough? Was it not enough? But like he they
offered him a lot of money and he was going
to sign their contract. So like it took two to tango,
(21:56):
this wasn't just twenty years ago. You would have traded
him wherever that team would have taken him, and they
would have figured it out. That's not the way it works. Anymore,
not when you're talking this amount of money. So I
think it's less that was David Mulgeta gonna sue the cowboys. No,
he's in the business to do these deals. Like listen, business,
as Phil Knight once famously said, and shoe doog is
(22:18):
a war without bullets. Everyone's trying to fuck everybody all
the time, and Moget is used to that. I'm sure
of being in the business. He's in like welcome to
the private sector. I think this was more about, like,
I'm recording a podcast here in an hour with Colin,
so I will probably reiterate this thought. I think the
moment Micah started laying on the training table and showed
(22:39):
up eating nachos, that was like the straw that broke
the camel's back, and it was like a double f
you to Jerry, and Jerry's in his eighties stubborn. Maybe
the documentary, I would say, influenced to be like, hey, Jerry,
because everyone was saying, remember when Jerry was a badass,
Remember when Jerry would take these crazy risks, And now
Jerry's like kind of on easy Street, Like Jerry's not
(23:02):
going against the grain anymore. It's like, oh, he's just
gonna sign Steede Lamb, He's just gonna sign Dak Prescott.
What did we all say, He's just gonna sign Micah
Barsons until he traded him. So I think it's less
about like the Molghetta situation and more about like, yeah,
they're like, we're not gonna deal with this anymore. We're
not good with them or without him at this point
(23:23):
in time, and we're gonna trade him. But we gotta
trade him to a place where he will sign because
no one would trade for him until he signed on
the contract. Zero chance. I mean, Whenkalil Mack was traded,
he immediately signed a contract with the Bears, A big
fan of the show. With the Packers trading for Micah
and the Eagles edge room a little concerning. My question
is this, when building a defense for a deep playoff run,
(23:44):
what's more crucial dominant defensive tackle play or star edge? Well,
think who the best defensive player on the Eagles was
last year down the stretch it was Jalen Carter, a
defensive tackle. Think about the current dynasty going in the NFL,
who's their best defensive players? A defensive tackle? I think
a lot of people have thrown out the highest paid
defensive ends have not even been winning playoff games, let
(24:06):
alone Super Bowls. Miles Garrett, TJ. Watt, Max Crosby. You
know when the forty nine ers, like, they had some
good teams, like Nick Bosa had a lot of help.
They had his first the first run they had, they
had DeForest Buckner and Eric Armstead, And a couple of
years ago they had Eric Armstead and Javon Hargrave. So yeah,
(24:29):
I think they both matter. I don't think, you know,
in theory, you could take Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White.
You know, the game was a little bit different back then,
you weren't passing as much. But I don't think if
you gave the average team the option, like would I
rather have the greatest defensive tackle of all time or
the greatest defensive end, I think there would be it'd
(24:52):
probably be split. It wouldn't be unanimous either way. I
think you just feel very, very comfortable having a dominant
defensive lineman. So whether that's Aaron Donald, whether that's Miles Garrett,
I think most people, just for an individual season, would
take Miles Garrett. Like if you put Max Crosby on
a really if you just put him on the Chiefs
or the Bills, like I think he would immediately win
(25:13):
the Defensive Player of the Year, assuming he stayed healthy.
But like when you're on shot of your teams, you
know it's it's this is a team sport, you know,
can't you kind of you know that Number four, the
edge rusher for Miami making all the plays down the stretch.
It helped that his DB's were making plays behind him.
Like you did help? You cannot do it yourself? Telling
you we got a lot of Cowboys questions? Uh, big
(25:35):
fan question for the bag. The Packers I feel won
the micro trade by leaps and bounds. Two first round
picks in the late twenties in an aging defensive tackle.
Seems good, but not amazing offer. What do you think
the logic is for Dallas? Is it strictly just a
money thing? Were other teams just low balling them? I'm
telling you that the Packers got him because they paid
(25:58):
him a lot of money. I mean more money than
I would imagine other teams were interested that. There's probably
a price points like yeah, we'll go up to one twenty,
where they gave him one hundred and forty million dollars guaranteed, right,
one hundred and eighty eight million dollars, So the cap
numbers are pretty low the first couple of years. But
the only way to get that to go away is
(26:18):
like ideally you give him another extension, right, so you
get like seven eight years of Micah Parsons. I also
think we can debate how great of a player is.
He's clearly a excellent Pro Bowl, all pro level talent.
He has an elite skill coming off the edge and
rushing the passer, and that is a very important skill.
(26:39):
But he does have some flaws, like you can, I
don't know, run at him. There are two options when
you have Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald, TJ. Watt, whoever, Max Crosby.
I'm just picking the guys in the league now, but
you go through the history of the league, you either
run away from them, like with Deon Sanders or Revis,
(26:59):
you just simply don't pass at them. With a defensive end,
you got two options. Can I run at him and
wear him down? And also it's like that's not his strength,
he's more of a pass rusher. Or do I need
to run away but you're not running at Lawrence Taylor
or Reggie White. You're not running at Aaron Donald, You're
not running at Max Crosby. You run away. You don't
(27:20):
want to run away from Micah Parsons because his greatest
skill is like chasing you down the line. He's one
of the best athletes on the field. But what do
you do? You run out him because he's not that
big relative to some of these guys. He's not Reggie White.
So where have teams taken advantage of him in some
of the big games. They've gone right at his ass.
And I do think that is a question mark of
(27:42):
like can he become a better run defender or are those
limitations always going to be part of it? Because if
I'm giving you the most money humanly possible at your position,
which is what they just did set a record, do
you have any flaws? Because ideally I wouldn't want you
to have any flaws. I was texting with someone in
the league, like, if all things are being equal, there
(28:04):
are countless other players I would rather have, Like I
would rather have Max Crosby in twenty twenty five. Again,
obviously Mike is gonna have better numbers and the team's
gonna be better in the Packers. But like, no one
would say that Michael Parsons is nearly as good as
Miles Garrett. Yet everywhere I see the media again, no
one's acting like he's not a really good player. Right.
He's a good player, He's he's a very skilled player.
(28:27):
But he's now the face of the Packers, the face
of the Packers, and they're expecting him to be the
best player in the league when he's not even the
best player in his position. Now, I also understand, and
I watch Goodakin's press conferences and la Floor is like,
when do you ever get the opportunity to get a
player like this? I mean, the answer is rarely, it
doesn't happen. This trade's happened twice in like the Internet age,
(28:51):
Khalil Mack and Michael Parsons. But I've said this and
I believe this. Khalil max is At the same time,
when they were both traded, Khalil was a better player
because he was a more You couldn't run at Kalil Mack.
You ran at Khalil Mack. He threw your offensive lineman
and tied end the other way. He dominated in the
run game. Now, Mike is slightly better as a pass
rusher maybe, but not that big a gap. So like
(29:15):
when I go all in now the Bears, turns out
they had mitchter Bisky and he wasn't that good. Comparing
this to Reggie White, I mean, Reggie White is one
of the greatest players in the history of the league.
There was nothing he couldn't do. You didn't run at
Reggie White. If I go, I can run at you,
I'm just saying, like, and I understand why they did
that because they go Rashan Garry, You're not running at him.
(29:37):
So like, our defensive line and our coaches are good. Again, like,
most players have some flaws, right, unless you're It's a
very very small percentage of guys that can do everything well.
But this isn't a perfect player, and it's definitely not
a perfect personality, you know. I mean, he's Albert Breerro.
You know, some people like the Dak Prescott, the CD
(30:00):
Zach Bartin some of their holdouts. No one had any
issues with that in the locker room. That clearly was
not the case with Micah. So it's not like he's
mister TJ. Watt, Max Crosby, see Miles Garrett. There was
an article right when they gave him the extension this offseason,
you know, they wanted to be a little bit better leader,
which I'm sure there were some flaws maybe about just
like is he the first guy in the meeting room,
(30:21):
but he's so fucking good, such a dominant player. Everyone's like, yeah,
it's just like Jordan Mylotta when they're practicing against the
Browns this year in a joint practice, he like gave
a press conference. He's like, I don't even know, there's nothing.
I don't even know what that is. And Jordan Mylott
is one of the biggest freaks in the league. He's like,
(30:42):
we were just laughing in the film room, like what
that's perfect? What was I supposed to do? You know,
Micah's not that so I again, I think everyone Jerry
his logic and the way he got here is a
little crazy. But the actual like trading Micah Parsons, I
don't think is that nuts. And again like his lever Now,
(31:05):
if you want the timing of it, he would have
had more options and more teams would have been willing
to spend before the draft. All for that totally agree.
So it's like it shouldn't have got to this point.
If you were going to trade him, you trade him
before the draft, and that's on Jerry. But I think
people just act like they just traded Lawrence Taylor, and
I just I just disagree. You know, I think if
(31:27):
you just turned on most talking heads, they acted like
if the Chiefs would have traded Patrick Mahoons or something.
Can you believe the Ravens traded Lamar? That's how everyone's acting.
It's like, I don't know if I see it that way,
I wouldn't. Ideally, the whole point of a draft is
to find Micah Parsons. But this notion that he is
just if there's a video game like one hundred out
(31:48):
of one hundred player, I just I would disagree with that.
I mean, some people believe he's a little overrated. Have
you watched John Mattier play yet? The Sooner schedule is brutal,
but he looked good. One philosophy I have when when
evaluating these college games, like I don't put that much
(32:11):
stock when you like even Bryce Underwood, who Oklahoma Michigan
are gonna play, It's gonna be awesome, can't wait, But
like you play New Mexico, Like I just can't take
the game that seriously, not that the point is to
win whether you win by twenty or whether you win
by forty. But after watching Clemson LSU in Ohio State Texas, like,
I just put little to no stock in games against nobodies,
(32:35):
I really do, so it's he's obviously a good player.
I texted some scouting buddies that I don't want to
say that are on the fence, but they think the
hype's pretty strong for what they just at least saw
in practice. But listen, this game. You throw three or
four touchdowns on Michigan and you beat them and you're
two and zero. Shit, same thing with Bryce. Bryce goes
into Oklahoma, throws a couple of touchdowns, they win. It's
(32:57):
a big ass game. You look at the schedule this week,
it is by far the best game on the slate.
Disappointed Bama fan, Honestly, it fits to where this cowboy hat.
We're talking a lot of South a lot of cowboys.
I just watched a team completely out physical US, look bigger,
faster and stronger and play way harder than us, and
they weren't even an SEC team. We look like a
(33:19):
fucking Pac twelve team that cuts deep, hard, for me
to dispute it that though, My question is this, do
you think the board retains his job this year? And
if not, do you think Bama makes a play at Gruden.
This has to be really hard, you know, it's I've
been broke, I've had a little money. It's easy to
(33:41):
go from the you know, start at the bottom and
then go up. I can't imagine being one of these
guys that was like lost it all, was living high
on the hog and then lost it all. That has
to be a very humbling feeling. You know, whether you
go bankrupt, whether your business goes you know, under, whether
you risk it all in some business move and it
just goes up. That that that has to that sucks, right.
(34:03):
I can't imagine kicking everyone's ass for a decade and
a half, beating the living piss out of everyone you
look at, and knowing it it's like this, this game's
gonna be a joke, honestly, being tested a couple times
a year and just knowing in every big game you
got the advantage doesn't mean you're always gonna win. They
obviously Sabing lost some games. It's gotta be a little
(34:24):
bit like Belichick at the end when in the with
the Patriots, but it was a little different because Bill
was still there when they sucked, like Nick was in
the playoffs against Jim Harbaugh. Then just left and then
all of a sudden, you suck. It's south. The one
thing I will say, when Florida State's right, when Clemson's right,
when Miami's right. I was always told this, and it's
and I believe this. Those are three programs that recruit
(34:48):
SEC players that play ACC schedules. So Florida State a
couple of years ago had an SEC roster like Jared
Verse is an SEC player, Brydon Fisk is an SEC player,
Keon Coleman is an SEC player. I mean, the two
teams that were trying to get them were LSU and
Florida State when he went in the transfer portal from
Michigan State. So I listen, you didn't lose to cal Pauly.
(35:12):
You didn't just lose to Kansas State. And in fairness,
Kansas State is nothing in common with cal Pauly football.
But my point is, you didn't just lose to a
little school. You lost to a school. I think part
of it is the fourteen and a half point spread,
because everyone just assumed that to and ten that they
Florida State sucks. Maybe they don't suck, maybe they were
(35:33):
ten win team. Now you guys got some issues. I
see a lot of people you got what's his name
bringing the anxiety doll There is just a softness. You
go back and google some of the pregame speeches, not
for Nick, but from the players in their heyday. It
might have it sounded like Seal Team's six. They were
(35:53):
there to execute their opponents literally and physically. And now
it feels like, you know, if Ryan Williams is the
face of your program, you got some problems. And in fairness,
he was there when Debor got there. But yeah, I
don't know. I don't know what to say. I do
(36:16):
think the overall premise, and I talked about this on
Monday night, is you you don't have Phil Knight or
t Boone, Pickens or Notre Dame's billionaires. You're not gonna
pay Debor seventy million dollars to go away, pay your
roster twenty five to thirty million dollars to play, and
(36:38):
then pay a new coach eighty ninety million dollars. Because
the one thing about Gruden listen, Gruden's a horror when
it comes to his money, right. Well, they asked Jerry
Jones one time, like why'd you name your team at
and T Stadium. He's like they paid the most. Like
that's always kind of been Gruden's the thing. Remember, it's like, oh,
he loves the Raiders and Mark Davis. Mark Davis give
him a ten year, hundred million dollar contract. It's like
(36:59):
a didn't love him that much. So, like he said,
we have five years fifty million school, He's like ten
one hundred. I'm in Jesus. So I have a hard
time seeing and I listen to other people in the
college football world say that I think we need to
pump the brakes a little bit about you know, the
Jimbo Fisher days when you could pay a guy forty
(37:21):
fifty million dollars to go away. Though those days are
done because you are allocating at these big programs twenty
thirty million dollars to your players. So where's this extra
that that is Even if you would have had the
fifty million dollars, you now need seventy and that's not
even counting the new coach. I think it's way more
complicated now. Financially than it used to be, even at
(37:43):
a program like the other thing with Bama and a lot.
This is a lot of these schools. You know, before
they had to start paying the players, they got all
this money, they used to just invest it into their facilities.
I saw on YouTube the other day that the golf
team at Alabama it's a forty seven million dollar facility.
It's incredible. They have like their own little special nine
(38:06):
hole course. They have this incredible practice. Where do you
think that money came from the golf team? Of course not,
it came from football. Football generates eighty ninety percent of
all the revenue at these schools, and obviously Nick Saban
was the all time cash cow. So they've invested that money.
It's not like they just have put away all this
money and they've put it in the stock market. It's
(38:27):
just gonna pay for everything. If they had done that,
then yeah, they would have a lot more flexibility, but
that is not what happened. I believe you have a
lot of respect for FSU in their program, and with
(38:49):
nil you can reset pretty quick. FSU does not get
a home game. I think didn't they play that game
at home? But has your stance on Klin changed. Aren't
these players? Aren't these his players? Now? Can bam a compete?
I talked about this on Monday Night. I do think
there's a disposition to him that is just the polar
opposite of Nick Saban. Nick Saban was a hard, charging, aggressive,
(39:16):
in your face, intense guy, and obviously to get to
the level that Caitlin has, he's not like not ambitious
or not focused and detailed. But personalities change. Bill Belichick
is a lot different than Andy Reid. That's a lot
different than Pete Carroll. That's a lot different than Sean McVay.
(39:36):
That's a lot different than Dan Campbell and the Hardball Brothers.
Like everyone's personality is unique to themselves, and Saban's kind
of a dying breed of human. That type human doesn't
exist as much anymore. The guy that had made hundreds
of millions of dollars, who had won several national championships
(39:59):
by twenty twenty, he was still trying to win another one.
It's like, where do you get this drive in your seventies?
That's he's kind of a rare bird. They don't really exist,
and he's even different from most other successful coaches so
my thought on him would be I think his personality.
(40:21):
I'm not saying he's a substitute teacher, because he's accomplished
a lot, but his personality is one that clearly guys
are not listening to and not taking seriously. If someone
forwarded me they've had more penalties in every single game
since he's been there, Saban would kill ten people. If
that happened after like two games, let alone how many
(40:41):
they played last year, nine and four thirteen, fourteen games,
people would literally be executed and the boosters would burn
the bodies in front of everybody on television. No one
would care. It just wouldn't fly. There are certain things
that are tolerated, there are certain things that are not tolerated,
and clearly things that are being tolerated in that program
(41:03):
would never have been tolerated with. Nick would like to
hear some analysis on Arch from your scouting perspective, since
most people are just talking about performance relative to the hype.
I'm no scout, but I think his arm talent is
really unimpressive. He can't make off platform throws, and any
different arm angles looked mostly disastrous. I don't see any issues.
(41:26):
I don't see these issues as solvable this year. And
I think if his name was Arch Middlcoff, he probably
would just be playing at Rutgers. Would love to get
your take. PS can't wait for the NFL. There is
no arguing that his arm talent is not great relative
to all time hype guys. Right, Like, when you watch
Cam Newton in college spin it, you went holy shit.
(41:49):
When you watched Caleb Williams spinnett, you went holy shit.
So when I've seen a lot of people call him
a generational talent, to me, part of a generational talent
is either encompass size and arm Like that's why luck.
He had it all he was six y five, he
was two hundred and forty pounds. He could run, he
could spin it, he was accurate, he had it all right. Caleb,
(42:10):
to me, is not a generational talent because he's kind
of short. Now if he was six y five, when
you have those physical characteristics, the talent now the player
who knows right. But Caleb can really spin it. And
you watch Caleb right away at Oklahoma, he went holy shit.
Watched the ball come out of his hands. He went
to the ball come out of arches. You're like, now, listen,
Peyton Manning is a top five quarterback of all time.
(42:32):
I would argue that Jill, I'm blue in the face.
He threw something that he claimed was a wobbly spiral.
Peyton Manning did not throw a great ball. It was
actually pretty ugly in the air. Some would call it
like a wounded duck. But you know what, it was
perfectly accurate. He would hit you directly in the hands. Now,
(42:53):
his mind was a huge part of his game, but
Peyton Manning did not sling it around like he was
Josh Allan or Patrick Mahomes. So when I watched arch
I went, well, he doesn't throw a great ball. His mechanics,
now granted he's a young player, are just atrocious. His
arm's not that strong, and clearly he's not that accurate.
So there's a lot to work on in this notion.
(43:14):
I've seen a lot of people go everyone needs to
pump the brakes. No one was gonna judge arch onlike
Matt Patricia Fooldom. I expected that. Of course, it's his
first start against an NFL defensive coordinator that studied under
Belichick for two decades. He's gotta get fooled at an interception.
No shit, welcome to football. But like when you just
(43:35):
watched them physically, you went, am I missing something here?
I'm not trying to kick the kid when he's down,
But he doesn't have a great arm. I remember watching
high school tape of him thinking like, am I missing
something here? Now, he's a good athlete, he's clearly a
likable guy. His teammates like him, but his arm talent
is average. And then so if you got average arm talent,
(43:59):
you're not accurate. Your mechanics suck. Like Peyton Mannings got
the greatest mechanics of all time. His footwork's perfect, and
he was like that in college. So yeah, I'd be
a little nervous. Basically a question why does everyone sleep
on Justin Herbert? We get this a lot. I think
it's just an easy one. He's been a disaster last
year in the playoffs. I think a lot of people
(44:21):
get offended when he's comped to the top group of
mahomes Allen Lamar Burrow, which I listen, there's some fairness there,
but like, there's no disputing his talent, and I think
if you buy into his coach with that talent, he's
going to be Okay, Now, is he going to be
an all time great player? I wouldn't bet the farm
(44:42):
on it, but I think when the dust settles, we
will look back at Herbert fondly enjoy the first I've
got a question, do you think that most first round
draft picks that don't work out just don't put in
the time to be great. For example, Chase Young was
the second overall pick and had a great rookie year,
but then kind of fizzled out into an average player,
(45:02):
not the generational player he was projected to be. I
think I'd have to look it up, but when did
Chase Young get injured? Because I think a guy like
him in his style, like he was not a Bendi player.
He was much more of a power rusher, kind of
like a clowney, a little like Khalil Mack, I guess.
(45:26):
But in his second year he tore his acl and
putel attendant. So I think it's fair to assume that
if he had been healthy, maybe he doesn't become Hall
of Famer, but I think he would have been a
really good player. When you rip your knee in half,
(45:49):
it's a problem. Now, Sometimes you rip up your knee
and you go on to have a great Brandon Graham,
I think I think my first year in Philly was
his rookie year. I'm pretty sure he ripped up his
knee to have a great career. So I don't know.
I think some injuries are clearly worse than others. Obviously
this every individual responds to injuries differently, And yeah, I
(46:15):
think I think injuries factored in. But I definitely believe
that some guys that flop don't work hard. I think
sometimes if you're not smart enough to handle football, you know,
in college, you could dumb stuff down in your talent.
If you're a top you know, couple round guy, you're
(46:36):
just so much better than everyone else. In the NFL,
everyone's really good. So if you struggle to learn football,
if you're not an instinctive football player, there are a
lot of variables. You could find an individual that would
check every box. Guys that didn't work hard, that flamed
out right, JaMarcus Russell, Johnny Manziel, guys at all positions.
(46:57):
You can find guys that had major injuries earlier in
their career derailed them. I think you could find human beings.
And I think this is like in any walk of life.
That for whatever reason, lose their confidence, never get it back,
and it derails their career. They stop believing in themselves
because one thing, when you're a good player in college,
the coach is gonna believe in you, the fans are
gonna believe in you. Then I get to the team
(47:17):
and I'm the twentieth pick in the draft, I have
some bad games, I lose my confidence. What if the
coaches turn on me? What if at the end of
the year those guys get fired and all of a
sudden I get new coaches and they don't like me.
So I think that's an underrated part is a confidence.
But yeah, I mean, I think you could check a
lot of different boxes on why guys have failed historically. Okay,
(47:38):
well end on this. What are your thoughts on Utah
to make the playoffs for the Big Twelve at plus
three ten plus four fifty, respectively, So it's plus three
ten to win the Big Twelve and plus or I
guess to make the playoffs is plus three ten and
to make to win the Big Twelve is plus four
to fifty, which is pretty good odds. I love this bet.
(47:58):
What am I missing? Utah was so good for back
to back essentially three straight years when Kyle Whittingham really
hit his stride in the back twelve, you know, beating
sc beating Oregon, winning every big game that mattered, and
last year was obviously really embarrassing. They were the betting
(48:19):
favorite to win the conference and then Cam Rising got
hurt for the tenth time and they went to karate kid.
Well that's what my wife calls Zach Wilson, his brother.
And clearly their quarterback situation was a joke. I mean
it was really really bad. And now they with their
(48:39):
transfer portal guy is from New Mexico, and they also
brought his offensive coordinator. If their quarterback play is solid,
their team's gonna good because they're always gonna have NFL
defensive players. They're well coached, they're tough. I watched the
Big Twelve, Like, to me, I want to root for
the guy David Randa because he's a bald guy. I'm out.
I just don't take them seriously. Texas Tech, they have
(49:01):
a lot of money invested into that operation. I'm pretty
sure their quarterback just got injured. Colorado's just not going
to be good enough with their quarterback, you know, Asu
it was Week one it was hot, but they were
kind of in a tough game with Nau for a minute.
I think the Big Twelve is pretty wide open, and
based on this resume, I don't even think it's close.
(49:22):
He has the best resume of any team in that cord.
Now you could argue Iowa State that they look pretty good.
They play Iowa this week, which doesn't impact whether they
win the conference or not. But if I was a
betting man right now to win the Big Twelve, I
would say the two lead lead dogs would be Iowa
State or Utah. And I feel pretty good just betting
on Utah and Kyle winning. You. I think he's someone
(49:43):
you feel comfortable placing money on. So I like that bit.
Good question. Appreciate the questions keep firing in those dms
at John Middlecoff. I will put away this cowboy hat
until Jerry does something else crazy. The volume
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