September 30, 2025 • 57 mins
Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is reacting LIVE immediately following the Week 4 Monday Night Football doubleheader between AFC East rivals Justin Fields and the New York Jets against Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins, plus a showdown in Denver between Bo Nix’s Broncos and Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals. John will react to the top plays of the night, breaking news throughout the NFL, and much more! #Volume
04:03 - Thoughts on MNF doubleheaders
10:02 - Jets-Dolphins
15:18 - Bengals-Broncos
29:05 - Mailbag
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? John middlecop through
and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing great. Just watched
(00:25):
two bad football games. Not gonna lie, that was rough.
I do have some thoughts on the doubleheader. It's just
what are we doing? Tyreek Hill destroyed his knee. That
was obviously awful to watch. The Bengals just couldn't block me.
(00:46):
The Broncos kill him. But it's like, what do you
take away? And I'm someone that thought highly of the Broncos,
but I don't have any takes based on playing the
Bengals in that situation. I really don't know what to
take away from the night, but we will attend to
do that. I will do a mail bag as well
at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire
(01:07):
In those dms, we created a separate YouTube page and
podcast feed for the golf, so go Lo now has
its own podcast feed and its own YouTube channel. I
did I dove into the Ryder Cup, just being there
in New York watching it Saturday and Sunday, just taking
(01:28):
it all in from all my thoughts, and that'll be up,
so make sure you go subscribe to that and the
audio version the video version however you want to take
it in. We're gonna have a lot of content there
obviously next year the podcast, but as well as video
content playing golf, screwing around, doing other stuff. Just wanted
to separate that from football. So today we'll just be
(01:50):
reacting on Monday night doubleheader and a little mail bag
and we will get back Stucky will be later this week.
But that's I think that's that's all we got planned
right now. I guess Thursday night football is in theory
a big game with the forty nine Ers going to
the Rams. The problem is is the half the forty
(02:11):
nine Ers team I think is still in the blue tent,
including their quarterback who Kyle said he can barely walk
because of his toe, So that matter's got issues. So
the Rams, who I think, like a week ago we're
like three point favorite, are now like almost six. It's
gonna be a tough spot. But we will have a
reaction to that later in the week. And uh yeah,
just you guys know the drill. Make sure you subscribe
(02:33):
to all this stuff three and Out YouTube channel, the
three and Out Podcast. Appreciate everybody all but first, before
I talk about any football, you know, I gotta tell
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minut takets lowlet price scaranty. Before we dive into anything
(03:35):
specifically on the field, I just have an overarching take.
The NFL doubleheader is a joke. Like I'm not blaming
the NFL, especially early in the season when there's a
major injury because coming into the year, Week four, Joe
Burrow and the Bengals who went nine to eight last
(03:56):
year against the Broncos, who were a playoff team, pretty
good game on paper. You can't foresee a guy getting
turf toe and his season ending. Not putting that, Like
I understand setting Troy and Joe to that game, but
this extra game at four point fifteen with the New
(04:17):
York Jets who won five games last season and the
Miami Dolphins who won eight, but clearly this offseason we're
trending probably for half that at best is just an
embarrassment for the league. Like I understand, you're trying to
cook the books and get more people to view your product.
We're all in that business. Like I understand what you're doing, right,
(04:41):
But you don't need to do this because in the negotiations,
whenever they happen in three or four years, you were
gonna tell everyone to jump, and they are going to
immediately say how high you are gonna bend over all
your partners, and they are gonna pay you whatever you
demand them to pay you. Hell, whether they could even
(05:01):
afford to make money off what they're paying you, because
that's how desperate they are to keep the NFL, which
is by far the biggest television product in America. But
to force us, like football fans, you know what we
like doing. We like watching football. We enjoy it, right.
It's why sometimes, like a Friday night, I'll just be
(05:22):
sitting on my couch, maybe having a cocktail and watch
like Rutgers Iowa. I just like football, but like Monday
night football. Back to my childhood. I grew up in
the nineties. If you're older than me before that, or
if you're younger than me, when you were a kid
in the two thousands, always stood for a primetime game
for two teams, and it was a really, really big deal.
(05:44):
It actually is cool for the fans. It's pretty hard
on the coaches and players because then they go into
a short week. For the coaches, they have a short
game plan. But to force us to even have to
pay attention to the Jets playing the Dolphins, a game
that deserves to be probably at seven am Eastern Time
(06:05):
on a Sunday, to be on Monday night, and then
stagger it and carry it over with the Broncos and
Begels game again lucky because Burrow is at home doing
who knows what trying to fix this toe The game
never mattered, was never in doubt after like the first nap,
but the Jets and Dolphins game should not be there.
(06:26):
We don't need to do this. Who is asking for this?
I just do not understand. And if they are even
thinking about doing some sort of Monday night doubleheader, because
I've seen the London situation, the Ireland situation, the Germany
situation coming a mile away, they are going to have
(06:49):
a morning package this next television deal, and it's my
guess would be it would be a full sled of
games like Thursday Night Football sixteen or fifteen weeks now.
I hope it's only eight games, but I wouldn't put
it past them to try to do the exact same thing.
So when you wake up, especially for the US on
the West Coast and those of you wherever you may live,
(07:11):
there is going to be a six thirty am Pacific
Standard time kickoff starting week two like Thursday Night Football,
all the way up until right around Christmas. And they
are going to just create inventory out of the clear
blue sky. It's gonna appear that because that game would
exist anyway at ten am, and it could be a
(07:32):
crappy game like Miami and the Jets that no one
would watch, especially as the season went on, and they're
both like one and ten. Even Jets fans would struggle
hate watching that shit. But maybe they're thinking, like, hey,
what if we sold and who knows. I wouldn't put
it past Roger doubleheaders to two different networks, So it's
like you gotta go to Amazon Prime for one and
(07:55):
ABC for the other. I don't know what they're doing here,
but we don't want it, we don't need it, and
I have always supported, like support would be the wrong word,
but defended when people are like, it is so difficult
now to watch sports, you gotta sign up for these
seventy five things. Well, you guys do understand that, like
the legacy channels NBCCBS, ABC probably are gonna exist in
(08:21):
like ten, fifteen, twenty years. So if they do not
create their version of Peacock or whatever their streaming service is,
they're going under like we're all in agreement or understanding
that that's the case. So it's like, I get why
they are attempting to put this game on Peacock. It's
not just to bend over the consumer. It's because if
(08:42):
NBC is gonna survive, Peacock's gonna be all that exists
in twenty thirty five because no one's gonna go to
like NBC is not gonna be around so as it
stands today. But I don't think we need this, and
I don't think we want this, especially when it'd be
one thing if it's like, hey, these are two pretty
good games, like I ideally a Saturday night for example,
(09:05):
I wish Penn State and Oregon and Georgia and Alabama
could have been could have been at two separate times,
so I because they were so good, trying to watch
them both, which first world problems. We're all doing that,
but it would have been awesome if it went back
to back, right, But it's like, hey, this you just
got to put them both for thirty five o'clock. That's
just the time slots for the night games. It is
(09:28):
what it is. But that's not necessary here. You could
have easily put the Jets and the Dolphins in the
in the morning. I don't know yesterday because that that
game was just a joke. It really it was. It
was really really hard to watch, and I was thinking
about this, I like John Spytech a lot, and I
(09:50):
totally understand. I mean, Pete Carroll was their best option.
But when you sign up to coach the Raiders and
when you sign up to coach the Jets, typically it
doesn't go well well. And I have a lot of
respect for Aaron Glenn. I thought what he did last
year was really really impressive. But like, you sign up
(10:10):
to be the Jets coach, and I get it, you
played there thirty years ago. It's gonna be very difficult
to win, and there's a culture and there's just an
organizational ethos that's hard to overcome. You feel it when
you watch him play. Say the same thing about the Raiders.
All Pete Carroll's done for twenty plus years is win,
(10:31):
mainly kick ass. I mean his bad teams win nine
ten games. His bad teams in college went like eleven
and two. He gets to the Raiders, right, God, they're
gonna win like five games. You know, Aaron Glenn and
the Lions have been kicking ass and taking names. Comes
to the Jets, It's like Jesus, what the hell is
this same old Jets. It's not gonna change. And now
(10:54):
I would say this that they did not need to
because I was thinking way through the game, like should
they have just traded Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner this offseason.
It's like, well, as the game went on, Garrett made
some incredible plays, Like Garrett's a big time player. So
it's like, if you're gonna sign big time players, I
have no issue with it, even if your quarterback situation.
(11:15):
I like justin fields a lot in college. I was wrong.
He's just not a very good player. Fantastic athlete had
a great run tonight. I mean struggles to hit water
from a boat. But Garrett Wilson would make plays with
me or you playing quarterback stud But given Sace Gardener
one hundred million dollars or whatever, it's just that's bad business. One,
(11:35):
what was the rush? Two? He's got to be one
of the more overrated players going tonight Darren Waller came
straight from his rap career to the field and mosst
them in the end zone. Now, in fairness to Waller,
freak talent look pretty good tonight. One takeaway I had
before Tyreek's leg started pointing the other way, It's like,
you know what if Darren Waller's gonna play like this
(11:56):
and they got Tyreek Hill, even if he's a little
older than eighty percent, and then you get Waddle. This team, well,
they're not good. They're definitely not drafting in the top five,
especially before the weather turns. They could win five six
games that this is a credible offense. And then the
Tyreek Hill situation happened shows you when you get older.
(12:21):
That would have been something when I was a kid.
You know, the social media didn't exist, but I would
have watched that highlight like I would have rewound. I
would have been completely numb to it. I had because
I had my main TV on the Bronco game. The
other TV did not have sound, and I look over
and he completes whatever. It was a quick out route sometimes,
(12:43):
you know, I didn't have a great view. I didn't
see the number. They got two smaller receivers. I couldn't
tell who it was. But obviously right before they went
to break, you could see his leg pointing the other way.
I assumed that his like ankle shattered and his foot
was pointing like that is a game season, career ender.
(13:05):
So I immediately type it in to Twitter to see if
it was Waddle or Hill. Obviously it comes out fast.
It's Tyreek Hill. Then everyone's reporting he dislocated his knee.
They got him on a stretcher, or not a stretcher
but a wheelchair, and he's off to the hospital. And
that was just you know that that game felt like
(13:25):
these two teams, you know, are just a disaster. Everything
about him is just a disaster. I mean, the Jets
are going nowhere fast. They got no quarterback, they got
no hope. They're supposed to have all these good young players.
I mean, beside Garrett Wilson, I don't see that many
of them. You could argue you get rid of every
single human on the team except Garrett Wilson, the left tackle.
(13:47):
I mean, I would get the problem is you just
gave saus a bunch of money. You ain't trading him,
and no one's trading for that contract. Promise you that.
But then you watch the Dolphins, who all these guys
are gonna get fired. I mean, if they're not playing
the worst team or second worst team in the league,
they don't look like that. I mean, you put them
against a decent team. They showed the right before the
(14:08):
game started. It had their record against above five hundred
teams and their record versus you know, below five hundred
teams against below five hundred teams. I forget the number,
but it was well over five hundred. Okay, they're winning team.
Then when they play good teams, they get shellacked. And
at the end of the day, that's the type game
that even someone like me who does this for a living.
(14:30):
That thing's on Sunday morning with six other games going on,
you're watching two three Snapsmas. You're treating that thing like
the I don't even know the Texans playing the Titans.
Just a completely irrelevance, irrelevant competition. And like I said,
I defend the NFL Denver and Cincinnati on the docket.
(14:51):
Troy Aikman going there in Denver in the when they
create the schedule, got no issue with it. Joe Burrow
was in the competition to win the MVP last year
on a nine to eighteen right, Denver wasn't just a
playoff team. They were a team on the come. You
get an injury and all of a sudden, you gotta
watch Jake Browning And like, I don't really know what
to take away from the Denver Broncos because defensive line
(15:14):
and their front tonight dominated well coming into the season,
we thought they have one of, if not the best
fronts pass rushes in the league. Pretty sure, they led
the league in sacks last year. Their defense in theory
should be top notch. So you're playing the Bengals who
have I don't know, one of, if not the worst
offensive lines in the league. And as the game went on,
you felt bad for Jake Browning, Like if Jake Browning
(15:38):
had been Tua with his concussion history, you would have
had to remove Tua from the game because it would
not have been safe. There was also a play while
Tua took off. Tua takes off and linebackers are coming
on them. Your heart stops you almost And I care
nothing about the Dolphins besides just caring about Like I
respect Tua. He's just like, get down, get down, and
(16:02):
he did. He slid last second. The linebacker honestly came
inches from doing exactly what happened to him last year,
which I think was DeMar Hamlin who hit him in
that Bills game. And then he did that thing. It's like,
I for a split second when he got hit and
he I was like, oh my god, get up. Well
I clearly missed because two pop right back up. But
(16:22):
there were some places to night with Jake Browning where
if you were his parents, if you were his girlfriend
or wife, if he has children, you just want to say, hey,
ay Zach, get him out of the game and just
direct snap to the running back because this is not like,
this is not football, and Joe Burrow's a fantastic player, right,
(16:43):
No one argues that, But whenever you let like this,
this isn't the NBA and he's not Lebron James, and
it felt like they let him dictate the personnel decisions,
and it's like, well, okay, you want to Higgins, you
want two super high priced wide receivers. We have and
this thirty one year old pass rusher who couldn't have
been any better last year, and our defense was awful,
(17:03):
so we'll invest all our resources there. Our offensive line
is gonna suck, and it shows now Joe Burrow has
nothing to do with hiring the coach. The coach is
clearly awful. I mean them in the Jets, the penalties,
the unorganization, guys lining up in the wrong spots, penalties.
He's screaming at people. Jamar Chase is screaming at him.
It's Cincinnati is just it's a zoo. But here's my thing,
(17:27):
And this is like the Jets situation. It's like in theory,
if Burrow was healthy, you'd be like that, pretty intrigued,
but you're just gonna go sign up for that thing
with Joe Burrow. Now massive, massive injury question marks. You
have financial investments and very wide receiver heavy. Well, how
(17:48):
do you just get offensive linemen beside the draft? Right,
and even the last several years, the draft doesn't give
you that many. There's not many guys to sign, like
free agency doesn't provide that many. It's really really hard
to find solid offensive linemen. So I think if you're
a Bengal fan, you have to be a little nervous
because it's gonna get really really ugly. And I felt bad, Like,
(18:15):
like I said, I don't really know what to say
about the Broncos, Like what are you supposed to take away?
The quarterback made some nice throws. He actually clearly has
a much better arm than the way it was at
least sold to the public. I remember watching him kind
of watching some YouTube highlights. I mean, I watched him
play a lot at Oregon. But then just going back,
I was like, you know, because everyone said his arm
(18:36):
was weak. I'm like, I don't think his arm is
that weak, and I like Bonex has a pretty big arm.
But there is you know that they try to utilize
his athleticism a lot. They obviously have some skill guys
who are pretty explosive. R J. Harvey had a couple
runs to night. You're like, okay, I kind of can
see that. I see why Sean was really high on him,
But there's no takeaway from that. That's like, you know,
(18:58):
like when the Lions were doing joint practices with the
Dolphins and they had a couple of players like, yeah,
I'm not really sure what they're doing over there. It
was almost like they didn't even get that much out
of practice. Now, the good thing is in the NFL
you only play so many games. Every win matters, so
you win the game, you kill them. But like, am
(19:18):
I supposed to make some concrete opinions like Okay, actually,
you know I like them to compete for the AFC.
I like them. Now, Yeah, they got good players. I'd
like to see them, I don't know, play well against
real teams. They took care of business tonight against a
team that has no shot if you are a decent
team and you have a decent pass rush. Jake Browning
Sacramento guy. I was completely wrong on him. I didn't
(19:40):
think he would make it through one training camp after
watching him through college, not one training camp, let alone
have eight nine, ten year career. Whatever's gonna happen for him?
But not trying to be a dick. I just don't
really enjoy watching guys like that play, I especially on
a team that has no chance. It's not very consumer friendly.
(20:02):
And as you can see, Jamar Chase goes aj Brown,
he gets pissed off. He's like, what's going on? Well, Jamar,
this is you guys are you know, kind of a
house of cards? And when Joe disappears, this is this
is what's gonna happen, and that they are. He is
now making a ton of money and I don't blame
him for signing the contract, but this is gonna get
(20:24):
a lot worse, right, And you know, think about some
of the teams in their division that what do you
think Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett could just line up that
they wouldn't even have to have any other defensive lineman.
It could just be one on five I bet he
would get to the quarterback fifty percent of the time.
What do you think is gonna happen when the Steelers,
especially TJ's played a lot better the last couple of weeks.
(20:45):
He looks like he's played last couple weeks against that.
I think they play in a couple of weeks on
Thursday Night. He's gonna kill Jake Browning. He's gonna kill him. Seriously.
I mean, it's got like to a situation written all over.
He's gonna he's gonna get injured, and Zach can yell
at the referees. It's not his fault. He doesn't control
the roster. The Browns do that. Duke Tobin guys. I
don't know. But if you're a Bronco fan, fun night
(21:09):
kicking their ASTs, I think you know the young running
back showed a couple signs. Your defense ran around practiced dummies,
and I think the question mark for the Broncos is
going to be I love how Sean Payton he has.
It reminds me a lot of my dad, Like when
I was a kid, how everyone in the nineties read newspapers.
(21:29):
There are probably some kids watching this that are like
twenty years old. They don't even know what a newspaper is.
There used to be this thing that was delivered. They
would like have the news. It had several sections. It
had like the front pages, the main news, you know, politics,
if there was a car accident, just stuff going on
around the world. They'd have a business section. Then they
would have a sports section for us kids. You know,
(21:51):
the internet didn't exist. It's where you read about sports.
Pretty cool, you know. They had a pretty big impact
on society. But most people, especially older people, would read
them and their glasses would be down toward their nose.
And that's how Sean Payton calls plays. He like has
his his his glasses. They're never just like his glasses
are on and I don't understand. I'm probably a year
(22:13):
I thought I needed glasses and then I went to
the Costco optometrists and he's like, you know, you're probably
a couple of years away. You can get them, because
sometimes when I'm looking at light, especially at night, it's
really blurry. He's like, yeah, it's kind of distance vision
issues at night. But he's like, that's kind of you
don't necessarily need glasses for it, but if you want them,
you can get them. So I've never quite understood when
people put them at their nose and they're like reading down.
(22:35):
That's so Sean Payton calls plays. It's like every time
you see him with the Broncos, he's doing that and
usually calling a rollout for bow Nicks to sling that thing.
But yeah, I mean, I don't really know what else
to say beside just awful product tonight. Just terrible, honestly
kind of embarrassing. Now you don't totally control it, like
(22:55):
I said with the Burrow thing, but the early game
that was avoidable. And you know, I get Rogers making
fifty million, and I've supported him over the years. You know,
the media hated him ten years ago. I never did,
Like I thought, like guys think he's pretty good at
his gig. Made some mistakes. No one's perfect, so have
I so of you. But this thing. Whoever is involved
(23:16):
in this should be ashamed. They really should. We can't
have the Jets and the Dolphins situation happening again. So
congrats to the Dolphins forgetting to win, and the Broncos
as well for getting the two and two, and we
just move on with our life. We are extremely excited
(23:39):
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let's get a little weekend mail bag at John Middlecoff
(25:08):
at John Middlecoff, fire in those dms and get your
questions answered on the show. It's not questions from the weekend,
but I'm recording this on Monday, about forty five minutes
before the Jets play the Dolphins. So let's let's get
in the football mode. We will start with Taylor Nosich. Hey, John,
(25:29):
do you think Jackson Dart is truly special? Or do
you think he did really well? Because there's very little
game tape on him. I feel like we've been down
this road with other newcomers, guys like the pastronaut in
Jamis Winston. These guys and many more were gunslingers before
defense has figured out how they were gonna stink it up.
Do you think Dart is any different than those guys?
(25:50):
And why? I honestly, the only thing that you can
take away from Dart's first start gave him energy, has
physical tools, but to make I mean, I think he
was thirteen to twenty for one hundred and ten yards.
Did you know he ran the touchdown, made some good
plays with his legs, his best receiver. I just saw
(26:11):
headline about an hour ago. I think the news came
out a long time ago. I hadn't really been on
the internet this morning. Is what we all knew is
that Neighbors is out. So I mean his best by far,
I mean, one of the best young skill guys in
the NFL. He has gone for the year, so it's
gonna be difficult. It's basically him skataboo in a group
(26:33):
of randoms. So I'm excited to watch him play. But
I think statistically it's not gonna be a great year
and they're not gonna win many games. So you just
you almost got to look forward to next year and listen.
I mean, he was banged up in the first game,
his hamstring was tight. Then God didn't hurt his hand,
so I would say solid first start, right, The expectations
(26:57):
for the franchise are extremely low. Hope, the owner I saw,
announced that he has cancer today. John morrow, So hopefully
he's gonna be okay. We know how difficult that can
be seven years old. I mean, I've had in my family.
He didn't give us much details, but you know, clearly
as best doctor and medical team in New York helping
(27:19):
him out. So there's a lot going on with the franchise.
You know, is the coach fighting first job? But I
would say overall solid first start, But I don't I
don't know. I mean, it's just way, we got a
long way to go before we go. He's the real
deal or he's not. Mail back. This passed offseason, I
(27:40):
heard a lot of talk about the Ravens and the
Vikings roster and how good they were going to be,
mainly the Vikings rebuilt offensive line. We're now basically a
quarter of the way through the season and the Ravens
defense and the Vikings offensive line have both been the
worst in the league. Are we at the point now
where we can say both the Ravens and the Vikings
are completely cooked this season, regardless of what happens with
(28:01):
the rest of their team. I just don't see how
Baltimore can make it anywhere with a defense nearly as
bad as the Cowboys, and I think and I can't
think of a single quarterback who would be doing well
behind possibly the NFL's worst offensive line. Is there any
bigger setup for failure than throwing McCarthy out there against
Jalen Carter and the Eagles defense with an offensive line
(28:22):
that allows five hundred sacks per game? Uh? Yeah, I
mean I would say that Welcome to the NFL. I mean,
most of these offensive lines in the league are really bad.
We have an epidemic poor offensive line play. No one
practices anymore. College is full of spread offenses. There's no
developing anymore because training camps are you know, basically walk
(28:45):
throughs now glorified walkthroughs. In a lot of places. This
is not gonna change. Most people are gonna play behind
bad offense. Mahomes's offensive line last year was atrocious for
most of the year. You know, he's like part of
the problem with some of these guys coming from college
is his offensive line in college was dominant. He never
got touched. You know, I'd say the same thing for
(29:06):
Pennix when he was in God, I think he got
sacked like eight times his last year in Washington. That's
not the NFL you're gonna get hit all the fucking time.
Tom Brady was getting peppered, Peyton Mann was getting peppered,
and that was when they had better offensive lineman fifteen
twenty years ago. So it's like, I don't know the
offensive line thing, Like a lot of offensive lines are
very hit or miss. Most people don't have the nineties
(29:27):
Cowboys operation in front of them, So I feel little
sympathy for going. Yeah, three of our five offensive linemen
aren't that good. Yep, that's welcome to the league. Most
people are not the Eagles. I would say the Ravens.
You know injuries that the best defensive lineman is now
I think I saw today out Meta Bouque is out
for the season, Vanoy who knows, rokeland Smith's now out
(29:49):
for several games with a hamstring, Marlon Humphrey's hurt. Like
this is you know, in the NFL you need a
schemer on defense, but we also need players, right. Vic
Fangio's been a good defensive coordinator with Jalen Carter, with
with sweat, with Brandon Graham, with with good DBS with
Alden Smith and Justin Smith and Patrick Willis you give
(30:12):
Vic Fangio me and you you can't. You can't overcome personnel.
So I saw the Ravens last year. By the end
of the season, they were really good defense. And right
now they have a bunch of injuries and they stink,
and they were really bad. I mean, I think they
record for amount of points given up through the first
four games. But yeah, they got no chance, absolutely no
chance to be any good with a defense that future.
(30:33):
You can't win. You can't go above five hundred with
one of the worst defenses in the league history. It's
impossible because it's impossible to have that good of an offense.
Like it's not just like, you know, the number one
offense in the league. You have to you'd have to
have a historic offense to make up for how shitty
your defense was, And clearly the Ravens offense isn't that.
(30:53):
One question I have. I started listening to you the
past month. I appreciate it. One question I have is
do you see the Colts actually competing for a Super
Bowl this year or even just an appearance in the
conference championship game. After not playing their best against the
Rams and still keeping it close, I started to get
my hopes up. There was one point yesterday, you know,
(31:15):
trying to watch all four of the afternoon games where
it hit me like the culture really good. You know
that they are a really good team, and obviously there
was it felt like they were gonna win. I think
Daniel Jones has blown me away. I think Jonathan Taylor
currently is one of the best players in the league.
Tyler Warren looks like a home run draft pick. Defensively
(31:38):
that they're pretty solid. Obviously they had I gotta go
back and I must have not been paying attention. Did
he drop a ball in the end zone? I didn't.
I gotta go back and look at that play. I
saw the holding where he kind of grabbed the guy's
jersey and ripped him down. And Jonathan Taylor had probably
if that wasn't holding. I mean, one of the best
runs of his career was sweet. Looked like genty against
(31:59):
the Bears. But I'd feel pretty good. We got a
long way to go. But I text Coward this like
midway through that game. The colt for the last five
years have been a quarterback away from being a good team. Now,
how good I Conference championship game? It's hard in the AFC.
You know, obviously the Bravens look gone. But it's like, Okay,
(32:20):
are in the second round. You could play the Bills,
you could play the Chiefs, you could play a hardball
led Chargers team. You know, it's just gonna be difficult,
but yeah, I mean, I'd feel pretty confident, like you're
better than the Jags. The jack to me, Trevor Lawrence
is a concern. Their defense actually is pretty good in Jacksonville.
Their pass rush is really good. But I just watched
(32:43):
Trevor Lawrence to go, I don't see it. I don't.
I just don't see it. Everyone's shitting on the toush push.
And as an Eagles fan, I'm tired of the discourse.
Just ban it. We got a Super Bowl and I'm
sure the play will be in the Hall of Fame
one day, But no one point that people have made.
Now one point that people have made, it's just not
(33:03):
fun to watch or quote. It hurts the television product
and the NFL is an entertainment business. But what I'm
not hearing anybody discuss this early in the season is
the excessive flags for taunting. It's making watching a game
so deflating. It happened to Cooper de John on a
huge third down stop when he stepped over a guy
that celebrated with his teammates, and to put my bias aside,
(33:26):
the week before, Puka made a huge third down catch,
flex his biceps and pointed to the fucking end zone
and the rest flag him. Maybe it's because it's September,
nobody's really freaking out, but you will see fan outrage.
To me, there's way more damaging than a one yard play.
What are your thoughts, listen, I've said the same thing
for targeting, I'd say the same thing for taunting, like
(33:48):
unless you do the throat slash or something taunting like
this is the NFL that there are millions of dollars
in jobs on the line, careers on the line every
single time you buckle that chin strap. I just do
not understand the over regulation of some of this stuff.
And Goodell like, this is a point that I think
(34:12):
the owners like, Yeah, I mean, you guys are like
eighty years old billionaires and Rogers a sixty six year
old guy who's been making fifty million dollars for fifteen years.
I don't think they have a great feel for us,
the consumer. I mean I really don't, so yeah, I mean,
I think they overthink this one. Nobody cares. Now you
could go the broken window theory. If you don't just
kind of slow it down, it could just get really crazy. Well, like,
(34:34):
have it pretty clear you know you can't do a
fake gun, you can't do a throat slash, but like
if you want a flex on an opponent, like this
is football, this isn't this isn't the library. You know,
I'm with you. I think it's pretty stupid as well.
It's always bothered me having been someone that you know,
(34:55):
joined the Warriors bandwagon when I worked in radio, and
I remember going to get games with Stephan Clay before
they had won championships, and I was like, these guys
are awesome. And obviously Draymond has been a pretty big
wild card, but he gets a lot of texts for
screaming like fu at the opponent, And I guess I
get it if you say it to the referee, but
(35:17):
even then, like this susan junior high, like this is
the big leagues, and I get there's got to be
a level of respect, but like this is not a
normal work environment, so we got to have like different standards.
Can you please help me understand the Sola quote unquote
sign legal sign stealing stuff. First Off, that's an oxymoron. Secondly,
(35:42):
what's the point of him saying that games and ships
so the second guests clues they think they're getting I'm
I'm really confused about what this was about. I'll be honest.
I saw the headlines, but I was traveling on Thursday
when Solid talks, so I was a little out of
the loops, and Friday I was I was at the
(36:03):
Ryder Cup, so I wasn't I wasn't up to speed
on that story. And then trying to follow yesterday with
I always say just would have let him fight a
little bit, like know what's Robert Sala gonna do? Swing
on them? The league would suspend him, Like what are
these guys gonna do? Fight? Like, give me a break
and listen. I I like Robert Sala a lot, but
(36:25):
saying I'll end your life, like no, you won't. You're
a multi millionaire. None of you guys are gonna do anything.
I you know, And I listened to a lot of
forty nine er stuff like Sla is the one that
created this. When I got in the NFL, the green
dot had existed, so the sign stealing stuff that Belichick
(36:46):
was doing didn't exist anymore, and Belichick did what every
team in the league did. They would get your signs
and know your personnel. So if you motion, you know,
a right fist up or like a touchdown signal or
just whatever with your hands like a you know, like
a first or third base coach. They would time up
your signals with your personnel and potentially the plays you're
(37:09):
running on defense or offense with the tape and you
would try to decipher. Now you could change a game
to game. But now, like if I want a certain
offensive personnel group on the field, Let's say it's three
wide receivers are running back in a tight end. Whatever
that team calls that. I think Andy Reid calls it
(37:30):
like tiger, that's old West Coast terminology. Well, you would
tell the quarterback what the play is, but you would
also start screaming whatever that personnel is and potentially use
hand signals so and vice versa. Like the defense does
that as well. So when you bring in a personnel package,
they try to match it with a personnel package, and
(37:52):
then based on that personnel package that you bring in
on the down and distance, right, So if it's second
in the law, or third and short, or in the
red zone or whatever area of the field. They have
studied throughout the week the tendencies, and in a best
case scenario Belichick style, they kind of know what play
you're running. And nowadays you're taking an educated guess. So
(38:16):
I think Sala saying that you've been I guess breaking
down defensive personnel's hands signals, even though I can just
say it into the linebackers, like I'm not signaling my
defensive play call. I'm telling it to the green dot,
who then tells the team. But I do signal the personnel.
We want for guys to run off the field and
(38:38):
guys on the sideline to run on the field. But
at the end of the day, like it's not you
can choose to do that, you can choose not to
do that. It's not legal or it's not illegal. So
I didn't see solas quotes. I know deep in forty
nine er Land people think that Sala is bitter that
he didn't get the Jacksonville job, and he thought he
(39:00):
was getting it. Cohen was out and then they fired
Balky and Cohen got back in and got the job,
and Sala obviously had to be a defensive coordinator. I
would say this from a forty nine er perspective, like,
that's a little concerning. This guy just got running out
of the building. He's obsessed with being a head coach,
and which I get it. We all have our ambitions.
But it's why I always thought it's a little disingenuous
(39:22):
about like high level college football and pro football. It's like,
be where your feet is, be present. The coach is
always saying that, and they're busy, they're trying to get
another job. So I think there are a lot of
different elements on this one. That the sign ceiling stuff
is just a stupid comment. I don't even know why
he would bring that up. My take would be he
hates Liam Cohen for some reason. It's just it doesn't
(39:43):
seem like him just taking the Jacksonville job would be enough.
Maybe there's something else behind it, but I thought it was, bro,
you're not a player. What are you doing? Like, you're
not gonna back this up? What are you gonna do?
Fight the guy telling him like you could argue. Liam
yelled at him first, I take my name out of
your mouth, which I don't blame him Sala did this,
(40:05):
Sala said this, that this was something he created, and
then he starts saying like I'll end your life, which
Sala does kind of look like he's on the juice
right now. He's a big guy, but you're gonna fight him.
I just I thought the whole thing was kind of stupid,
kind of embarrassing from Robert honestly, like, Bro, you just lost.
He just beat you. He didn't beat you. Your defense
(40:26):
actually played well, but like your team lost. It's a
team game. There was an individual game because you're kind
of making this about yourself right now. I've been saying
(40:46):
all off season and into the season that the Seahawks
upgraded at quarterback from Gino to Sam, and I've gotten
pushback NonStop until obviously we've seen what we've seen. Sam
put up way better numbers in Minnesota than Geno ever
had a period. Why do you think Gino was touted
as a better player than Sam when all facts presented
to us, Gino has this like I'm not in this
(41:11):
community and honestly don't follow this community that closely beside
like following some of these guys on Twitter is the stats.
I would say the analytical community of people that talk
about football for a living are very high on Gino.
I don't know if they still are after the last
couple of games, but have been kind of, you know,
(41:32):
beating the drum for Geno. Smith's like a top ten quarterback,
and like he can have moments like he did against
the Patriots where he does look really good, but I
think over the course of the season he's kind of average.
I'm with you on Sam Donald. Sam Donald was excellent
last year beside like three games, and then this year
he looks really good, so I don't even think it's debatable.
(41:53):
And then when you factor in the age, like Gino
has a big arm. Okay, cool, there was a lot
of interceptions. I know Green Bay is looked at by
most to have won the Mica trade, and I think
he's a phenomenal player, but as any player that's not
a quarterback worth forty seven million dollars a year. In
your opinion, Dallas is gonna have two additional first round
(42:16):
picks over the next four or five years on rookie
deals plus forty seven plus million dollars per year to
spread around the roster. It actually doesn't. It's not that
simple like basketball, or baseball. But I know exactly what
you're saying. They actually don't have they have. You know,
they gave they gave Micah what one hundred and twenty
five million dollars guaranteed, Like they have that guaranteed money
(42:37):
to spread around. Really, so it's it's it's more than
forty seven. I guess it's just different. But I know
what you mean, and you're not wrong. Theoretically, I said
this when they traded him. He's a really talented player
and no one is better. He's a very natural pass
rusher and obviously his ability to run you down and
(42:59):
use athleticism, he's a special athlete. But this was not
training for Reggie White in his prime. He's not remotely
And this is more of a compliment to Miles Garrett,
but he's not Miles Garrett. And if you're gonna go
all in on him, like, the only way for this
to work is your team has to, to me minimum,
get to the NFC Championship game, and to me, he's
(43:22):
got to have fifteen to twenty sacks and be one
of the best players in the league. It's like, what
was that last night? Now, maybe he banged up his back,
but you need like dominant performances, and that's a classic game.
It's like, Okay, our defense is playing like crap. Our
defense looks like the Cowboys, and listen, it's football. Sometimes
you have weird games, high school, college pros. It's every
(43:44):
no one's immune to this, or he's have a weird game.
The Dak's playing well, Brian Schottenheimer's calling a good game. Okay, cool. Well,
Micah did have one huge moment where he stopped Dak
for the Uh, you know, the probably would have scored.
I don't think we know for a fact, but let's
just say he would have scored. He tackles them and
ultimately that led to the field goal that led to
(44:05):
a tie. But how were not there weren't like four
or five more of those moments where maybe he creates
a couple sacks and instead of the Cowboys driving down
the field and getting a touchdown, mikeh has like two
sacks on a drive and gets them off the field.
And that's the difference in the game. Like they needed
that last night. It's not about Micah versus the Cowboy.
It could have been any team in that situation. It's like, Okay, Micah,
(44:27):
we gave you one hundred and eighty eight million dollars.
You know you're gonna see every penny of this contract.
Can you just make some crazy shit happen? And he
just couldn't. He just he just didn't really, so I
would say if I'm a Packer fan, I was like, God,
I mean, we need a little more from you. With
so many people focusing on the Eagles offensive struggles, it
(44:48):
has been underrated just how awful the defensive backfield is.
Adri Jackson and Ringo maybe two of the worst players
I've ever seen. That being said, would you consider Quinnon
Mitchell an early Defensive Player of the Year candidate based
on how much they rely on them? I was kind
of going back and forth audio between the morning games
(45:09):
and one thing, because you know, part of listening to
the audio is just It's why primetime games the job
I do are just easier to do because you're just
getting more information and like when a guy gets injured,
like you just might not if you're watching silent, you're
watching other games, you might not realize what's going on.
But they said that he was following around. It looked
(45:30):
like Chris Godwin in that game, and that's usually something
Fangio doesn't do. I would say this, most defenses do
not have two good corners. You know, you guys were
pretty lucky, and you could say Slay was slipping a
little bit, but obviously Slay's been a really good player
if you have two, you know, I think Mitchell is
a high end corner and has an opportunity to be
(45:51):
one of the best players at his position for his career.
But like, they're you can't pay all these other players.
You're paying your offensive line, paying the wide receivers, you're
paying your quarterback, you're paying your running back, you paid
the linebacker. You've invested draft picks in the defensive line. Like,
you're gonna need some random guys to play some of
these other positions. So I don't really know what. You're
(46:17):
not gonna have a perfect roster. There's no such thing
as basically in the salary cap situation that all these
teams are in to be like, yeah, we have no weakness,
so you're gonna have a shitty corner and ideally your
pass rush gets there. Safety help can have, you know, help,
But I listen to Dori Jackson Ringo, you could sign
other guys in the practice squad. But this is gonna
be like, it's just gonna be it. I don't know
(46:40):
what to tell you. And you can win a super Bowl,
your offense needs to clearly play better. But like teams
have won super Bowls with average second corners, Hey, John
love the pod. The special teams around the league has
been either really good or god awful. As both Iowa
and a Packers fan, I was hurting last night watching
the way the game played out because I got spoiled
(47:02):
with the literal best special teams play in college football
at Iowa and some of the worst special teams play
watching the Packers. Would it be unreasonable idea for Goodikins
to get on the phone with LeVar Woods today and
to essentially what they did with half Way a year ago.
I would imagine is that the Iowa special teams coordinator
(47:22):
you paid Rich Pasacci. I'm sure a lot of money.
He's probably one of the highest based special teams coaches
in the league. And like, there is clearly these field
goals getting blocked, Pats field goals. I don't ever remember
anything quite like it. I don't know if some of
the players are not focused on that play, but there
(47:44):
are lanes. These guys are getting through that. It's you know, forever,
when a field goal got blocked, it'd be like, oh,
it was off Kalaeis Campbell, who's six foot seven's fingertips,
You'd be like, want to play now. It's like, there
are three guys right there to block this thing. And
how often lately has the dude that blocked it just
(48:04):
been like right in front of the kicker and picked
it up. I mean the one the Eagles had against
the Rams, the guy that blocked it takes out the holder.
And Jordan Davis is also right there, who I'm pretty
sure blocked an earlier field goal him Er Jalen. They're
just constantly around the kicker. So I don't know, listen.
I I'm more Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt Lafleur. I
don't like special teams either, but that's not my job.
(48:26):
Right most of us we take piss breaks when special
teams comes on the field. If you're the head coach,
kind of matters. I would say Rich Pasacia's spot. The
amount of pressure that's on the Packers right now is immense.
These guys are coaching and GMing for a contract extension.
They just made one of the boldest moves in the
history of the franchise, definitely financially, and I mean, when's
(48:50):
the last time the Packers. I just don't remember them
doing anything quite like this. If you think about, like,
what were their two most important moves defensively over the years. Well,
Reggie White was a free agent, so they didn't have
to give up any draft capital, and so was Charles Woodson.
So it's like they didn't trade for those two players.
(49:10):
They traded for Farv. They used the twenty fourth pick
on Rogers, the twenty seventh pick or twenty ninth pick
whatever it was on Love. But like they traded two
first rounders and gave this guy one hundred and eighty
eight million dollars. So it's everyone better beyond edge there,
starting with a special teams coach. Figure the shit out.
(49:32):
Simple question. If the offense continues to sputter in Philadelphia
and it's clear Patolo Patola or Patolo not sure how
to spell he put in O. I think it's an
A and it's clear he needs to go. Does Sirianni
even take a chance at calling plays? If not, then who? Lol?
(49:52):
I would say this Uh, I didn't know this last
night when I was recording, but I guess AJ Brown.
I saw some people say AJ Brown the first that
puts his fantasy numbers ahead of winning. Clearly he's not happy,
which in a weird way, I kind of understand. You know,
you're one of the best players at your position. They
can't get you the ball. Your quarterback's throwing balls all
(50:14):
over the place. It's like, I'm a champion now I'm
trying to be a legend. Throw me the fucking pill.
And I got an offensive coordinator that the offense looks
dramatically worse, the quarterback's confidence looks shaken. Thank God for
the tush push. But it's like AG Brown has a
chance to make it weird, you know. I mean, let's
face it, Brandon Graham said what he said. We all
(50:34):
believed him. They can try to erase what he said,
and he could even run it back like he was
being honest. And that relationship something weird is there now
when you win a Super Bowl, just like you could
have a weird relationship with a partner in business, if
you have your best year ever financially, you're gonna deal
with them. Well, then when things like when someone feels
(50:55):
slighted or not getting the credit or maybe makes a
little bit less money. Like problems around, problems come back
to the surface, and for aj you can call them
selfish like receivers are. They're very selfish part of the deal.
And you'd think, well, he won a championship, he's being
paid a bunch of money. He clearly wants the ball.
He wants the rock, and the offensive coordinator and the
(51:17):
quarterback are not getting into him. And when you're a
guy like that, you're at it looks like your quarterback
and the offense is averaging like one hundred and fifty
yards passing a game. I don't even know if it's
that high. People are gonna get edgy. Honestly, it's the
most interesting thing about the Eagles. You're gonna learn not
to disrespect in all caps, the Los Angeles Rams. We
(51:41):
pull it up to Sofi North and winning a chip.
Go ahead and bet on that forty nine ers, clown.
Add that to your mail bag, nerd. You know, I
don't think of all things I've ever been called, and
I've been called a lot of things on the internet
and social media streets, I don't think i've ever been
(52:02):
called the nerd, which honestly, I take a little bit
of pride in being called because that means you think
I'm intelligent, which the reason I've never been called that
is because I don't think most people think, like God,
Middlecown's pretty smart. But I appreciate it, and I don't
think it's so fine North, given that the forty nine
ers typically sell out your building, which I would imagine
on Thursday, even though I think they're in a little
(52:24):
trouble because of the injuries. Did Sunday Nights game just
prove that the NFL should swallow their pride and adopt
the college football overtime rules? This question same thing. It
is fucking dumb for a game to end in a tie,
and the NFL should do something about it. They should
at least come up with some sort of tiebreaker, even
(52:47):
just having each team take turns kicking fifty yard field
goals until one of them misses, or the NFL could
just be smart and adopt the ot college rules. I
do believe if you think about basketball in baseball, it's
impossible to end in a tie, right Baseball, because no
(53:07):
one except Bob Costas wanted to watch games till two
in the morning started putting a runner on second. In basketball,
you just go five minute quarters and you just try
to end the thing right. And in football in the
regular season like ending in a tie. It's better than
a loss. Right. But if you're the pack so for
the Cowboys that they can win six games, be six
(53:29):
ten and one, which actually will cost them draft position potentially.
And for the Packers, this could be the difference of
you know, not that not winning that game could be
the difference in winning division. I'd have no problem with
college football overtime rules. I think a lot of people
would push back. I'd be all for it. I'm cool
with it. I'd even just do this. How about like
(53:51):
you get a two point both teams get two point conversions.
I'd be cool with that. It's like, listen, that's not
the way the game's played. Well, you had sixty to
determine it, so now it's time to fucking end it right.
That's why I was for the runner on second base.
We've watched night innings and no one can win. No
one wants to keep watching this thing. Go for another
six innings. Put a runnerund second, let's play, score some
(54:14):
runs and get the hell out of here, right, I'd
say the same thing for college. Everyone's like, I hate
the college rule. Well, they had sixty minutes to someone
to win the game and no one could. So now
it's time to determine this thing quick, especially in a
game like football where physically it's takes a toll on you.
I'd go right to just each team gets two point
conversion and first team to either get stuffed or you
(54:38):
know whatever. Right, I make you miss, I win, I
make you make we go, we get another round. I'd
be fine with that. And I want to hear that's
not the purity. The purity of the game is the
actual game. What is with the sudden obsession with changing
field goals? We're getting longer kicks every year and more
blocks than ever. I couldn't think of a more on
(55:01):
the edge of your seat ending if I tried. Kicking
is skill position like any other and is neither automatic
or random. The best receivers drop balls, the best quarterbacks
miss throws, and the best kickers miskicks all the while,
if your offense or defensive line sucks, it'll blow up
in your face, much like any other play. Leave field
goals alone, I agree I don't what are people talking
(55:25):
about getting rid of field goals? Yeah, I mean I
think it's it's an exhilarating play. I think two things
have been changed dramatically. I think the pat moving back
and Belichick gets credit for that one is just adds
a little excitement. You never know. It's a little bit
longer you can miss obviously the block potential and the
(55:47):
kickoff rule is dramatically more entertaining. One. We're getting returns
which we just simply were not. And to their strategy.
You see some of these teams do these like weird
kicks and the guys don't know how to field it.
Some of them try to angle it kick out of bound.
You get it at the forty. If you kick it
too far, they get at the thirty. Five. Just become
(56:08):
an intriguing play, and that was easily a couple of
years ago the most boring play in the NFL. Yesterday,
I missed a play and I look up. I come
back from the bathroom and the Jags are at like
the fifty yard line. I'm like, how do they get there?
Because they returned it like fifty four yards. Maybe they
were at like the forty. I mean it was like,
how do they get there? And that's the thing. It
(56:31):
used to just be like automatic kicking the end zone,
kneel at twenty yard line. If we want to score
a touchdown, we gotta go eighty, and if we want
to kick a field goal, we gotta go like forty.
Now it's like, if you just break one tackle, you're
already at like the forty yard line. And some of
these kickers are so good you really just have to
go like fifteen yards so you can get in field goal.
You could have twenty six seconds left on the clock
at the end of the first half, and if you
(56:53):
have a decent return, you can easily get in field
goal range. Shit, Brandon Aubrey, you just got to get
to like the fifty yard line. So if I get
to the thirty five, I really just need one explosive
play too. I have a chip shot for him, but
I hear you the volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? John middlecop through
and out podcast. Hopefully everyone is doing great. Just watched
(00:25):
two bad football games. Not gonna lie, that was rough.
I do have some thoughts on the doubleheader. It's just
what are we doing? Tyreek Hill destroyed his knee. That
was obviously awful to watch. The Bengals just couldn't block me.
(00:46):
The Broncos kill him. But it's like, what do you
take away? And I'm someone that thought highly of the Broncos,
but I don't have any takes based on playing the
Bengals in that situation. I really don't know what to
take away from the night, but we will attend to
do that. I will do a mail bag as well
at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire
(01:07):
In those dms, we created a separate YouTube page and
podcast feed for the golf, so go Lo now has
its own podcast feed and its own YouTube channel. I
did I dove into the Ryder Cup, just being there
in New York watching it Saturday and Sunday, just taking
(01:28):
it all in from all my thoughts, and that'll be up,
so make sure you go subscribe to that and the
audio version the video version however you want to take
it in. We're gonna have a lot of content there
obviously next year the podcast, but as well as video
content playing golf, screwing around, doing other stuff. Just wanted
to separate that from football. So today we'll just be
(01:50):
reacting on Monday night doubleheader and a little mail bag
and we will get back Stucky will be later this week.
But that's I think that's that's all we got planned
right now. I guess Thursday night football is in theory
a big game with the forty nine Ers going to
the Rams. The problem is is the half the forty
(02:11):
nine Ers team I think is still in the blue tent,
including their quarterback who Kyle said he can barely walk
because of his toe, So that matter's got issues. So
the Rams, who I think, like a week ago we're
like three point favorite, are now like almost six. It's
gonna be a tough spot. But we will have a
reaction to that later in the week. And uh yeah,
just you guys know the drill. Make sure you subscribe
(02:33):
to all this stuff three and Out YouTube channel, the
three and Out Podcast. Appreciate everybody all but first, before
I talk about any football, you know, I gotta tell
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minut takets lowlet price scaranty. Before we dive into anything
(03:35):
specifically on the field, I just have an overarching take.
The NFL doubleheader is a joke. Like I'm not blaming
the NFL, especially early in the season when there's a
major injury because coming into the year, Week four, Joe
Burrow and the Bengals who went nine to eight last
(03:56):
year against the Broncos, who were a playoff team, pretty
good game on paper. You can't foresee a guy getting
turf toe and his season ending. Not putting that, Like
I understand setting Troy and Joe to that game, but
this extra game at four point fifteen with the New
(04:17):
York Jets who won five games last season and the
Miami Dolphins who won eight, but clearly this offseason we're
trending probably for half that at best is just an
embarrassment for the league. Like I understand, you're trying to
cook the books and get more people to view your product.
We're all in that business. Like I understand what you're doing, right,
(04:41):
But you don't need to do this because in the negotiations,
whenever they happen in three or four years, you were
gonna tell everyone to jump, and they are going to
immediately say how high you are gonna bend over all
your partners, and they are gonna pay you whatever you
demand them to pay you. Hell, whether they could even
(05:01):
afford to make money off what they're paying you, because
that's how desperate they are to keep the NFL, which
is by far the biggest television product in America. But
to force us, like football fans, you know what we
like doing. We like watching football. We enjoy it, right.
It's why sometimes, like a Friday night, I'll just be
(05:22):
sitting on my couch, maybe having a cocktail and watch
like Rutgers Iowa. I just like football, but like Monday
night football. Back to my childhood. I grew up in
the nineties. If you're older than me before that, or
if you're younger than me, when you were a kid
in the two thousands, always stood for a primetime game
for two teams, and it was a really, really big deal.
(05:44):
It actually is cool for the fans. It's pretty hard
on the coaches and players because then they go into
a short week. For the coaches, they have a short
game plan. But to force us to even have to
pay attention to the Jets playing the Dolphins, a game
that deserves to be probably at seven am Eastern Time
(06:05):
on a Sunday, to be on Monday night, and then
stagger it and carry it over with the Broncos and
Begels game again lucky because Burrow is at home doing
who knows what trying to fix this toe The game
never mattered, was never in doubt after like the first nap,
but the Jets and Dolphins game should not be there.
(06:26):
We don't need to do this. Who is asking for this?
I just do not understand. And if they are even
thinking about doing some sort of Monday night doubleheader, because
I've seen the London situation, the Ireland situation, the Germany
situation coming a mile away, they are going to have
(06:49):
a morning package this next television deal, and it's my
guess would be it would be a full sled of
games like Thursday Night Football sixteen or fifteen weeks now.
I hope it's only eight games, but I wouldn't put
it past them to try to do the exact same thing.
So when you wake up, especially for the US on
the West Coast and those of you wherever you may live,
(07:11):
there is going to be a six thirty am Pacific
Standard time kickoff starting week two like Thursday Night Football,
all the way up until right around Christmas. And they
are going to just create inventory out of the clear
blue sky. It's gonna appear that because that game would
exist anyway at ten am, and it could be a
(07:32):
crappy game like Miami and the Jets that no one
would watch, especially as the season went on, and they're
both like one and ten. Even Jets fans would struggle
hate watching that shit. But maybe they're thinking, like, hey,
what if we sold and who knows. I wouldn't put
it past Roger doubleheaders to two different networks, So it's
like you gotta go to Amazon Prime for one and
(07:55):
ABC for the other. I don't know what they're doing here,
but we don't want it, we don't need it, and
I have always supported, like support would be the wrong word,
but defended when people are like, it is so difficult
now to watch sports, you gotta sign up for these
seventy five things. Well, you guys do understand that, like
the legacy channels NBCCBS, ABC probably are gonna exist in
(08:21):
like ten, fifteen, twenty years. So if they do not
create their version of Peacock or whatever their streaming service is,
they're going under like we're all in agreement or understanding
that that's the case. So it's like, I get why
they are attempting to put this game on Peacock. It's
not just to bend over the consumer. It's because if
(08:42):
NBC is gonna survive, Peacock's gonna be all that exists
in twenty thirty five because no one's gonna go to
like NBC is not gonna be around so as it
stands today. But I don't think we need this, and
I don't think we want this, especially when it'd be
one thing if it's like, hey, these are two pretty
good games, like I ideally a Saturday night for example,
(09:05):
I wish Penn State and Oregon and Georgia and Alabama
could have been could have been at two separate times,
so I because they were so good, trying to watch
them both, which first world problems. We're all doing that,
but it would have been awesome if it went back
to back, right, But it's like, hey, this you just
got to put them both for thirty five o'clock. That's
just the time slots for the night games. It is
(09:28):
what it is. But that's not necessary here. You could
have easily put the Jets and the Dolphins in the
in the morning. I don't know yesterday because that that
game was just a joke. It really it was. It
was really really hard to watch, and I was thinking
about this, I like John Spytech a lot, and I
(09:50):
totally understand. I mean, Pete Carroll was their best option.
But when you sign up to coach the Raiders and
when you sign up to coach the Jets, typically it
doesn't go well well. And I have a lot of
respect for Aaron Glenn. I thought what he did last
year was really really impressive. But like, you sign up
(10:10):
to be the Jets coach, and I get it, you
played there thirty years ago. It's gonna be very difficult
to win, and there's a culture and there's just an
organizational ethos that's hard to overcome. You feel it when
you watch him play. Say the same thing about the Raiders.
All Pete Carroll's done for twenty plus years is win,
(10:31):
mainly kick ass. I mean his bad teams win nine
ten games. His bad teams in college went like eleven
and two. He gets to the Raiders, right, God, they're
gonna win like five games. You know, Aaron Glenn and
the Lions have been kicking ass and taking names. Comes
to the Jets, It's like Jesus, what the hell is
this same old Jets. It's not gonna change. And now
(10:54):
I would say this that they did not need to
because I was thinking way through the game, like should
they have just traded Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner this offseason.
It's like, well, as the game went on, Garrett made
some incredible plays, Like Garrett's a big time player. So
it's like, if you're gonna sign big time players, I
have no issue with it, even if your quarterback situation.
(11:15):
I like justin fields a lot in college. I was wrong.
He's just not a very good player. Fantastic athlete had
a great run tonight. I mean struggles to hit water
from a boat. But Garrett Wilson would make plays with
me or you playing quarterback stud But given Sace Gardener
one hundred million dollars or whatever, it's just that's bad business. One,
(11:35):
what was the rush? Two? He's got to be one
of the more overrated players going tonight Darren Waller came
straight from his rap career to the field and mosst
them in the end zone. Now, in fairness to Waller,
freak talent look pretty good tonight. One takeaway I had
before Tyreek's leg started pointing the other way, It's like,
you know what if Darren Waller's gonna play like this
(11:56):
and they got Tyreek Hill, even if he's a little
older than eighty percent, and then you get Waddle. This team, well,
they're not good. They're definitely not drafting in the top five,
especially before the weather turns. They could win five six
games that this is a credible offense. And then the
Tyreek Hill situation happened shows you when you get older.
(12:21):
That would have been something when I was a kid.
You know, the social media didn't exist, but I would
have watched that highlight like I would have rewound. I
would have been completely numb to it. I had because
I had my main TV on the Bronco game. The
other TV did not have sound, and I look over
and he completes whatever. It was a quick out route sometimes,
(12:43):
you know, I didn't have a great view. I didn't
see the number. They got two smaller receivers. I couldn't
tell who it was. But obviously right before they went
to break, you could see his leg pointing the other way.
I assumed that his like ankle shattered and his foot
was pointing like that is a game season, career ender.
(13:05):
So I immediately type it in to Twitter to see if
it was Waddle or Hill. Obviously it comes out fast.
It's Tyreek Hill. Then everyone's reporting he dislocated his knee.
They got him on a stretcher, or not a stretcher
but a wheelchair, and he's off to the hospital. And
that was just you know that that game felt like
(13:25):
these two teams, you know, are just a disaster. Everything
about him is just a disaster. I mean, the Jets
are going nowhere fast. They got no quarterback, they got
no hope. They're supposed to have all these good young players.
I mean, beside Garrett Wilson, I don't see that many
of them. You could argue you get rid of every
single human on the team except Garrett Wilson, the left tackle.
(13:47):
I mean, I would get the problem is you just
gave saus a bunch of money. You ain't trading him,
and no one's trading for that contract. Promise you that.
But then you watch the Dolphins, who all these guys
are gonna get fired. I mean, if they're not playing
the worst team or second worst team in the league,
they don't look like that. I mean, you put them
against a decent team. They showed the right before the
(14:08):
game started. It had their record against above five hundred
teams and their record versus you know, below five hundred
teams against below five hundred teams. I forget the number,
but it was well over five hundred. Okay, they're winning team.
Then when they play good teams, they get shellacked. And
at the end of the day, that's the type game
that even someone like me who does this for a living.
(14:30):
That thing's on Sunday morning with six other games going on,
you're watching two three Snapsmas. You're treating that thing like
the I don't even know the Texans playing the Titans.
Just a completely irrelevance, irrelevant competition. And like I said,
I defend the NFL Denver and Cincinnati on the docket.
(14:51):
Troy Aikman going there in Denver in the when they
create the schedule, got no issue with it. Joe Burrow
was in the competition to win the MVP last year
on a nine to eighteen right, Denver wasn't just a
playoff team. They were a team on the come. You
get an injury and all of a sudden, you gotta
watch Jake Browning And like, I don't really know what
to take away from the Denver Broncos because defensive line
(15:14):
and their front tonight dominated well coming into the season,
we thought they have one of, if not the best
fronts pass rushes in the league. Pretty sure, they led
the league in sacks last year. Their defense in theory
should be top notch. So you're playing the Bengals who
have I don't know, one of, if not the worst
offensive lines in the league. And as the game went on,
you felt bad for Jake Browning, Like if Jake Browning
(15:38):
had been Tua with his concussion history, you would have
had to remove Tua from the game because it would
not have been safe. There was also a play while
Tua took off. Tua takes off and linebackers are coming
on them. Your heart stops you almost And I care
nothing about the Dolphins besides just caring about Like I
respect Tua. He's just like, get down, get down, and
(16:02):
he did. He slid last second. The linebacker honestly came
inches from doing exactly what happened to him last year,
which I think was DeMar Hamlin who hit him in
that Bills game. And then he did that thing. It's like,
I for a split second when he got hit and
he I was like, oh my god, get up. Well
I clearly missed because two pop right back up. But
(16:22):
there were some places to night with Jake Browning where
if you were his parents, if you were his girlfriend
or wife, if he has children, you just want to say, hey,
ay Zach, get him out of the game and just
direct snap to the running back because this is not like,
this is not football, and Joe Burrow's a fantastic player, right,
(16:43):
No one argues that, But whenever you let like this,
this isn't the NBA and he's not Lebron James, and
it felt like they let him dictate the personnel decisions,
and it's like, well, okay, you want to Higgins, you
want two super high priced wide receivers. We have and
this thirty one year old pass rusher who couldn't have
been any better last year, and our defense was awful,
(17:03):
so we'll invest all our resources there. Our offensive line
is gonna suck, and it shows now Joe Burrow has
nothing to do with hiring the coach. The coach is
clearly awful. I mean them in the Jets, the penalties,
the unorganization, guys lining up in the wrong spots, penalties.
He's screaming at people. Jamar Chase is screaming at him.
It's Cincinnati is just it's a zoo. But here's my thing,
(17:27):
And this is like the Jets situation. It's like in theory,
if Burrow was healthy, you'd be like that, pretty intrigued,
but you're just gonna go sign up for that thing
with Joe Burrow. Now massive, massive injury question marks. You
have financial investments and very wide receiver heavy. Well, how
(17:48):
do you just get offensive linemen beside the draft? Right,
and even the last several years, the draft doesn't give
you that many. There's not many guys to sign, like
free agency doesn't provide that many. It's really really hard
to find solid offensive linemen. So I think if you're
a Bengal fan, you have to be a little nervous
because it's gonna get really really ugly. And I felt bad, Like,
(18:15):
like I said, I don't really know what to say
about the Broncos, Like what are you supposed to take away?
The quarterback made some nice throws. He actually clearly has
a much better arm than the way it was at
least sold to the public. I remember watching him kind
of watching some YouTube highlights. I mean, I watched him
play a lot at Oregon. But then just going back,
I was like, you know, because everyone said his arm
(18:36):
was weak. I'm like, I don't think his arm is
that weak, and I like Bonex has a pretty big arm.
But there is you know that they try to utilize
his athleticism a lot. They obviously have some skill guys
who are pretty explosive. R J. Harvey had a couple
runs to night. You're like, okay, I kind of can
see that. I see why Sean was really high on him,
But there's no takeaway from that. That's like, you know,
(18:58):
like when the Lions were doing joint practices with the
Dolphins and they had a couple of players like, yeah,
I'm not really sure what they're doing over there. It
was almost like they didn't even get that much out
of practice. Now, the good thing is in the NFL
you only play so many games. Every win matters, so
you win the game, you kill them. But like, am
(19:18):
I supposed to make some concrete opinions like Okay, actually,
you know I like them to compete for the AFC.
I like them. Now, Yeah, they got good players. I'd
like to see them, I don't know, play well against
real teams. They took care of business tonight against a
team that has no shot if you are a decent
team and you have a decent pass rush. Jake Browning
Sacramento guy. I was completely wrong on him. I didn't
(19:40):
think he would make it through one training camp after
watching him through college, not one training camp, let alone
have eight nine, ten year career. Whatever's gonna happen for him?
But not trying to be a dick. I just don't
really enjoy watching guys like that play, I especially on
a team that has no chance. It's not very consumer friendly.
(20:02):
And as you can see, Jamar Chase goes aj Brown,
he gets pissed off. He's like, what's going on? Well, Jamar,
this is you guys are you know, kind of a
house of cards? And when Joe disappears, this is this
is what's gonna happen, and that they are. He is
now making a ton of money and I don't blame
him for signing the contract, but this is gonna get
(20:24):
a lot worse, right, And you know, think about some
of the teams in their division that what do you
think Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett could just line up that
they wouldn't even have to have any other defensive lineman.
It could just be one on five I bet he
would get to the quarterback fifty percent of the time.
What do you think is gonna happen when the Steelers,
especially TJ's played a lot better the last couple of weeks.
(20:45):
He looks like he's played last couple weeks against that.
I think they play in a couple of weeks on
Thursday Night. He's gonna kill Jake Browning. He's gonna kill him. Seriously.
I mean, it's got like to a situation written all over.
He's gonna he's gonna get injured, and Zach can yell
at the referees. It's not his fault. He doesn't control
the roster. The Browns do that. Duke Tobin guys. I
don't know. But if you're a Bronco fan, fun night
(21:09):
kicking their ASTs, I think you know the young running
back showed a couple signs. Your defense ran around practiced dummies,
and I think the question mark for the Broncos is
going to be I love how Sean Payton he has.
It reminds me a lot of my dad, Like when
I was a kid, how everyone in the nineties read newspapers.
(21:29):
There are probably some kids watching this that are like
twenty years old. They don't even know what a newspaper is.
There used to be this thing that was delivered. They
would like have the news. It had several sections. It
had like the front pages, the main news, you know, politics,
if there was a car accident, just stuff going on
around the world. They'd have a business section. Then they
would have a sports section for us kids. You know,
(21:51):
the internet didn't exist. It's where you read about sports.
Pretty cool, you know. They had a pretty big impact
on society. But most people, especially older people, would read
them and their glasses would be down toward their nose.
And that's how Sean Payton calls plays. He like has
his his his glasses. They're never just like his glasses
are on and I don't understand. I'm probably a year
(22:13):
I thought I needed glasses and then I went to
the Costco optometrists and he's like, you know, you're probably
a couple of years away. You can get them, because
sometimes when I'm looking at light, especially at night, it's
really blurry. He's like, yeah, it's kind of distance vision
issues at night. But he's like, that's kind of you
don't necessarily need glasses for it, but if you want them,
you can get them. So I've never quite understood when
people put them at their nose and they're like reading down.
(22:35):
That's so Sean Payton calls plays. It's like every time
you see him with the Broncos, he's doing that and
usually calling a rollout for bow Nicks to sling that thing.
But yeah, I mean, I don't really know what else
to say beside just awful product tonight. Just terrible, honestly
kind of embarrassing. Now you don't totally control it, like
(22:55):
I said with the Burrow thing, but the early game
that was avoidable. And you know, I get Rogers making
fifty million, and I've supported him over the years. You know,
the media hated him ten years ago. I never did,
Like I thought, like guys think he's pretty good at
his gig. Made some mistakes. No one's perfect, so have
I so of you. But this thing. Whoever is involved
(23:16):
in this should be ashamed. They really should. We can't
have the Jets and the Dolphins situation happening again. So
congrats to the Dolphins forgetting to win, and the Broncos
as well for getting the two and two, and we
just move on with our life. We are extremely excited
(23:39):
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let's get a little weekend mail bag at John Middlecoff
(25:08):
at John Middlecoff, fire in those dms and get your
questions answered on the show. It's not questions from the weekend,
but I'm recording this on Monday, about forty five minutes
before the Jets play the Dolphins. So let's let's get
in the football mode. We will start with Taylor Nosich. Hey, John,
(25:29):
do you think Jackson Dart is truly special? Or do
you think he did really well? Because there's very little
game tape on him. I feel like we've been down
this road with other newcomers, guys like the pastronaut in
Jamis Winston. These guys and many more were gunslingers before
defense has figured out how they were gonna stink it up.
Do you think Dart is any different than those guys?
(25:50):
And why? I honestly, the only thing that you can
take away from Dart's first start gave him energy, has
physical tools, but to make I mean, I think he
was thirteen to twenty for one hundred and ten yards.
Did you know he ran the touchdown, made some good
plays with his legs, his best receiver. I just saw
(26:11):
headline about an hour ago. I think the news came
out a long time ago. I hadn't really been on
the internet this morning. Is what we all knew is
that Neighbors is out. So I mean his best by far,
I mean, one of the best young skill guys in
the NFL. He has gone for the year, so it's
gonna be difficult. It's basically him skataboo in a group
(26:33):
of randoms. So I'm excited to watch him play. But
I think statistically it's not gonna be a great year
and they're not gonna win many games. So you just
you almost got to look forward to next year and listen.
I mean, he was banged up in the first game,
his hamstring was tight. Then God didn't hurt his hand,
so I would say solid first start, right, The expectations
(26:57):
for the franchise are extremely low. Hope, the owner I saw,
announced that he has cancer today. John morrow, So hopefully
he's gonna be okay. We know how difficult that can
be seven years old. I mean, I've had in my family.
He didn't give us much details, but you know, clearly
as best doctor and medical team in New York helping
(27:19):
him out. So there's a lot going on with the franchise.
You know, is the coach fighting first job? But I
would say overall solid first start, But I don't I
don't know. I mean, it's just way, we got a
long way to go before we go. He's the real
deal or he's not. Mail back. This passed offseason, I
(27:40):
heard a lot of talk about the Ravens and the
Vikings roster and how good they were going to be,
mainly the Vikings rebuilt offensive line. We're now basically a
quarter of the way through the season and the Ravens
defense and the Vikings offensive line have both been the
worst in the league. Are we at the point now
where we can say both the Ravens and the Vikings
are completely cooked this season, regardless of what happens with
(28:01):
the rest of their team. I just don't see how
Baltimore can make it anywhere with a defense nearly as
bad as the Cowboys, and I think and I can't
think of a single quarterback who would be doing well
behind possibly the NFL's worst offensive line. Is there any
bigger setup for failure than throwing McCarthy out there against
Jalen Carter and the Eagles defense with an offensive line
(28:22):
that allows five hundred sacks per game? Uh? Yeah, I
mean I would say that Welcome to the NFL. I mean,
most of these offensive lines in the league are really bad.
We have an epidemic poor offensive line play. No one
practices anymore. College is full of spread offenses. There's no
developing anymore because training camps are you know, basically walk
(28:45):
throughs now glorified walkthroughs. In a lot of places. This
is not gonna change. Most people are gonna play behind
bad offense. Mahomes's offensive line last year was atrocious for
most of the year. You know, he's like part of
the problem with some of these guys coming from college
is his offensive line in college was dominant. He never
got touched. You know, I'd say the same thing for
(29:06):
Pennix when he was in God, I think he got
sacked like eight times his last year in Washington. That's
not the NFL you're gonna get hit all the fucking time.
Tom Brady was getting peppered, Peyton Mann was getting peppered,
and that was when they had better offensive lineman fifteen
twenty years ago. So it's like, I don't know the
offensive line thing, Like a lot of offensive lines are
very hit or miss. Most people don't have the nineties
(29:27):
Cowboys operation in front of them, So I feel little
sympathy for going. Yeah, three of our five offensive linemen
aren't that good. Yep, that's welcome to the league. Most
people are not the Eagles. I would say the Ravens.
You know injuries that the best defensive lineman is now
I think I saw today out Meta Bouque is out
for the season, Vanoy who knows, rokeland Smith's now out
(29:49):
for several games with a hamstring, Marlon Humphrey's hurt. Like
this is you know, in the NFL you need a
schemer on defense, but we also need players, right. Vic
Fangio's been a good defensive coordinator with Jalen Carter, with
with sweat, with Brandon Graham, with with good DBS with
Alden Smith and Justin Smith and Patrick Willis you give
(30:12):
Vic Fangio me and you you can't. You can't overcome personnel.
So I saw the Ravens last year. By the end
of the season, they were really good defense. And right
now they have a bunch of injuries and they stink,
and they were really bad. I mean, I think they
record for amount of points given up through the first
four games. But yeah, they got no chance, absolutely no
chance to be any good with a defense that future.
(30:33):
You can't win. You can't go above five hundred with
one of the worst defenses in the league history. It's
impossible because it's impossible to have that good of an offense.
Like it's not just like, you know, the number one
offense in the league. You have to you'd have to
have a historic offense to make up for how shitty
your defense was, And clearly the Ravens offense isn't that.
(30:53):
One question I have. I started listening to you the
past month. I appreciate it. One question I have is
do you see the Colts actually competing for a Super
Bowl this year or even just an appearance in the
conference championship game. After not playing their best against the
Rams and still keeping it close, I started to get
my hopes up. There was one point yesterday, you know,
(31:15):
trying to watch all four of the afternoon games where
it hit me like the culture really good. You know
that they are a really good team, and obviously there
was it felt like they were gonna win. I think
Daniel Jones has blown me away. I think Jonathan Taylor
currently is one of the best players in the league.
Tyler Warren looks like a home run draft pick. Defensively
(31:38):
that they're pretty solid. Obviously they had I gotta go
back and I must have not been paying attention. Did
he drop a ball in the end zone? I didn't.
I gotta go back and look at that play. I
saw the holding where he kind of grabbed the guy's
jersey and ripped him down. And Jonathan Taylor had probably
if that wasn't holding. I mean, one of the best
runs of his career was sweet. Looked like genty against
(31:59):
the Bears. But I'd feel pretty good. We got a
long way to go. But I text Coward this like
midway through that game. The colt for the last five
years have been a quarterback away from being a good team. Now,
how good I Conference championship game? It's hard in the AFC.
You know, obviously the Bravens look gone. But it's like, Okay,
(32:20):
are in the second round. You could play the Bills,
you could play the Chiefs, you could play a hardball
led Chargers team. You know, it's just gonna be difficult,
but yeah, I mean, I'd feel pretty confident, like you're
better than the Jags. The jack to me, Trevor Lawrence
is a concern. Their defense actually is pretty good in Jacksonville.
Their pass rush is really good. But I just watched
(32:43):
Trevor Lawrence to go, I don't see it. I don't.
I just don't see it. Everyone's shitting on the toush push.
And as an Eagles fan, I'm tired of the discourse.
Just ban it. We got a Super Bowl and I'm
sure the play will be in the Hall of Fame
one day, But no one point that people have made.
Now one point that people have made, it's just not
(33:03):
fun to watch or quote. It hurts the television product
and the NFL is an entertainment business. But what I'm
not hearing anybody discuss this early in the season is
the excessive flags for taunting. It's making watching a game
so deflating. It happened to Cooper de John on a
huge third down stop when he stepped over a guy
that celebrated with his teammates, and to put my bias aside,
(33:26):
the week before, Puka made a huge third down catch,
flex his biceps and pointed to the fucking end zone
and the rest flag him. Maybe it's because it's September,
nobody's really freaking out, but you will see fan outrage.
To me, there's way more damaging than a one yard play.
What are your thoughts, listen, I've said the same thing
for targeting, I'd say the same thing for taunting, like
(33:48):
unless you do the throat slash or something taunting like
this is the NFL that there are millions of dollars
in jobs on the line, careers on the line every
single time you buckle that chin strap. I just do
not understand the over regulation of some of this stuff.
And Goodell like, this is a point that I think
(34:12):
the owners like, Yeah, I mean, you guys are like
eighty years old billionaires and Rogers a sixty six year
old guy who's been making fifty million dollars for fifteen years.
I don't think they have a great feel for us,
the consumer. I mean I really don't, so yeah, I mean,
I think they overthink this one. Nobody cares. Now you
could go the broken window theory. If you don't just
kind of slow it down, it could just get really crazy. Well, like,
(34:34):
have it pretty clear you know you can't do a
fake gun, you can't do a throat slash, but like
if you want a flex on an opponent, like this
is football, this isn't this isn't the library. You know,
I'm with you. I think it's pretty stupid as well.
It's always bothered me having been someone that you know,
(34:55):
joined the Warriors bandwagon when I worked in radio, and
I remember going to get games with Stephan Clay before
they had won championships, and I was like, these guys
are awesome. And obviously Draymond has been a pretty big
wild card, but he gets a lot of texts for
screaming like fu at the opponent, And I guess I
get it if you say it to the referee, but
(35:17):
even then, like this susan junior high, like this is
the big leagues, and I get there's got to be
a level of respect, but like this is not a
normal work environment, so we got to have like different standards.
Can you please help me understand the Sola quote unquote
sign legal sign stealing stuff. First Off, that's an oxymoron. Secondly,
(35:42):
what's the point of him saying that games and ships
so the second guests clues they think they're getting I'm
I'm really confused about what this was about. I'll be honest.
I saw the headlines, but I was traveling on Thursday
when Solid talks, so I was a little out of
the loops, and Friday I was I was at the
(36:03):
Ryder Cup, so I wasn't I wasn't up to speed
on that story. And then trying to follow yesterday with
I always say just would have let him fight a
little bit, like know what's Robert Sala gonna do? Swing
on them? The league would suspend him, Like what are
these guys gonna do? Fight? Like, give me a break
and listen. I I like Robert Sala a lot, but
(36:25):
saying I'll end your life, like no, you won't. You're
a multi millionaire. None of you guys are gonna do anything.
I you know, And I listened to a lot of
forty nine er stuff like Sla is the one that
created this. When I got in the NFL, the green
dot had existed, so the sign stealing stuff that Belichick
(36:46):
was doing didn't exist anymore, and Belichick did what every
team in the league did. They would get your signs
and know your personnel. So if you motion, you know,
a right fist up or like a touchdown signal or
just whatever with your hands like a you know, like
a first or third base coach. They would time up
your signals with your personnel and potentially the plays you're
(37:09):
running on defense or offense with the tape and you
would try to decipher. Now you could change a game
to game. But now, like if I want a certain
offensive personnel group on the field, Let's say it's three
wide receivers are running back in a tight end. Whatever
that team calls that. I think Andy Reid calls it
(37:30):
like tiger, that's old West Coast terminology. Well, you would
tell the quarterback what the play is, but you would
also start screaming whatever that personnel is and potentially use
hand signals so and vice versa. Like the defense does
that as well. So when you bring in a personnel package,
they try to match it with a personnel package, and
(37:52):
then based on that personnel package that you bring in
on the down and distance, right, So if it's second
in the law, or third and short, or in the
red zone or whatever area of the field. They have
studied throughout the week the tendencies, and in a best
case scenario Belichick style, they kind of know what play
you're running. And nowadays you're taking an educated guess. So
(38:16):
I think Sala saying that you've been I guess breaking
down defensive personnel's hands signals, even though I can just
say it into the linebackers, like I'm not signaling my
defensive play call. I'm telling it to the green dot,
who then tells the team. But I do signal the personnel.
We want for guys to run off the field and
(38:38):
guys on the sideline to run on the field. But
at the end of the day, like it's not you
can choose to do that, you can choose not to
do that. It's not legal or it's not illegal. So
I didn't see solas quotes. I know deep in forty
nine er Land people think that Sala is bitter that
he didn't get the Jacksonville job, and he thought he
(39:00):
was getting it. Cohen was out and then they fired
Balky and Cohen got back in and got the job,
and Sala obviously had to be a defensive coordinator. I
would say this from a forty nine er perspective, like,
that's a little concerning. This guy just got running out
of the building. He's obsessed with being a head coach,
and which I get it. We all have our ambitions.
But it's why I always thought it's a little disingenuous
(39:22):
about like high level college football and pro football. It's like,
be where your feet is, be present. The coach is
always saying that, and they're busy, they're trying to get
another job. So I think there are a lot of
different elements on this one. That the sign ceiling stuff
is just a stupid comment. I don't even know why
he would bring that up. My take would be he
hates Liam Cohen for some reason. It's just it doesn't
(39:43):
seem like him just taking the Jacksonville job would be enough.
Maybe there's something else behind it, but I thought it was, bro,
you're not a player. What are you doing? Like, you're
not gonna back this up? What are you gonna do?
Fight the guy telling him like you could argue. Liam
yelled at him first, I take my name out of
your mouth, which I don't blame him Sala did this,
(40:05):
Sala said this, that this was something he created, and
then he starts saying like I'll end your life, which
Sala does kind of look like he's on the juice
right now. He's a big guy, but you're gonna fight him.
I just I thought the whole thing was kind of stupid,
kind of embarrassing from Robert honestly, like, Bro, you just lost.
He just beat you. He didn't beat you. Your defense
(40:26):
actually played well, but like your team lost. It's a
team game. There was an individual game because you're kind
of making this about yourself right now. I've been saying
(40:46):
all off season and into the season that the Seahawks
upgraded at quarterback from Gino to Sam, and I've gotten
pushback NonStop until obviously we've seen what we've seen. Sam
put up way better numbers in Minnesota than Geno ever
had a period. Why do you think Gino was touted
as a better player than Sam when all facts presented
to us, Gino has this like I'm not in this
(41:11):
community and honestly don't follow this community that closely beside
like following some of these guys on Twitter is the stats.
I would say the analytical community of people that talk
about football for a living are very high on Gino.
I don't know if they still are after the last
couple of games, but have been kind of, you know,
(41:32):
beating the drum for Geno. Smith's like a top ten quarterback,
and like he can have moments like he did against
the Patriots where he does look really good, but I
think over the course of the season he's kind of average.
I'm with you on Sam Donald. Sam Donald was excellent
last year beside like three games, and then this year
he looks really good, so I don't even think it's debatable.
(41:53):
And then when you factor in the age, like Gino
has a big arm. Okay, cool, there was a lot
of interceptions. I know Green Bay is looked at by
most to have won the Mica trade, and I think
he's a phenomenal player, but as any player that's not
a quarterback worth forty seven million dollars a year. In
your opinion, Dallas is gonna have two additional first round
(42:16):
picks over the next four or five years on rookie
deals plus forty seven plus million dollars per year to
spread around the roster. It actually doesn't. It's not that
simple like basketball, or baseball. But I know exactly what
you're saying. They actually don't have they have. You know,
they gave they gave Micah what one hundred and twenty
five million dollars guaranteed, Like they have that guaranteed money
(42:37):
to spread around. Really, so it's it's it's more than
forty seven. I guess it's just different. But I know
what you mean, and you're not wrong. Theoretically, I said
this when they traded him. He's a really talented player
and no one is better. He's a very natural pass
rusher and obviously his ability to run you down and
(42:59):
use athleticism, he's a special athlete. But this was not
training for Reggie White in his prime. He's not remotely
And this is more of a compliment to Miles Garrett,
but he's not Miles Garrett. And if you're gonna go
all in on him, like, the only way for this
to work is your team has to, to me minimum,
get to the NFC Championship game, and to me, he's
(43:22):
got to have fifteen to twenty sacks and be one
of the best players in the league. It's like, what
was that last night? Now, maybe he banged up his back,
but you need like dominant performances, and that's a classic game.
It's like, Okay, our defense is playing like crap. Our
defense looks like the Cowboys, and listen, it's football. Sometimes
you have weird games, high school, college pros. It's every
(43:44):
no one's immune to this, or he's have a weird game.
The Dak's playing well, Brian Schottenheimer's calling a good game. Okay, cool. Well,
Micah did have one huge moment where he stopped Dak
for the Uh, you know, the probably would have scored.
I don't think we know for a fact, but let's
just say he would have scored. He tackles them and
ultimately that led to the field goal that led to
(44:05):
a tie. But how were not there weren't like four
or five more of those moments where maybe he creates
a couple sacks and instead of the Cowboys driving down
the field and getting a touchdown, mikeh has like two
sacks on a drive and gets them off the field.
And that's the difference in the game. Like they needed
that last night. It's not about Micah versus the Cowboy.
It could have been any team in that situation. It's like, Okay, Micah,
(44:27):
we gave you one hundred and eighty eight million dollars.
You know you're gonna see every penny of this contract.
Can you just make some crazy shit happen? And he
just couldn't. He just he just didn't really, so I
would say if I'm a Packer fan, I was like, God,
I mean, we need a little more from you. With
so many people focusing on the Eagles offensive struggles, it
(44:48):
has been underrated just how awful the defensive backfield is.
Adri Jackson and Ringo maybe two of the worst players
I've ever seen. That being said, would you consider Quinnon
Mitchell an early Defensive Player of the Year candidate based
on how much they rely on them? I was kind
of going back and forth audio between the morning games
(45:09):
and one thing, because you know, part of listening to
the audio is just It's why primetime games the job
I do are just easier to do because you're just
getting more information and like when a guy gets injured,
like you just might not if you're watching silent, you're
watching other games, you might not realize what's going on.
But they said that he was following around. It looked
(45:30):
like Chris Godwin in that game, and that's usually something
Fangio doesn't do. I would say this, most defenses do
not have two good corners. You know, you guys were
pretty lucky, and you could say Slay was slipping a
little bit, but obviously Slay's been a really good player
if you have two, you know, I think Mitchell is
a high end corner and has an opportunity to be
(45:51):
one of the best players at his position for his career.
But like, they're you can't pay all these other players.
You're paying your offensive line, paying the wide receivers, you're
paying your quarterback, you're paying your running back, you paid
the linebacker. You've invested draft picks in the defensive line. Like,
you're gonna need some random guys to play some of
these other positions. So I don't really know what. You're
(46:17):
not gonna have a perfect roster. There's no such thing
as basically in the salary cap situation that all these
teams are in to be like, yeah, we have no weakness,
so you're gonna have a shitty corner and ideally your
pass rush gets there. Safety help can have, you know, help,
But I listen to Dori Jackson Ringo, you could sign
other guys in the practice squad. But this is gonna
be like, it's just gonna be it. I don't know
(46:40):
what to tell you. And you can win a super Bowl,
your offense needs to clearly play better. But like teams
have won super Bowls with average second corners, Hey, John
love the pod. The special teams around the league has
been either really good or god awful. As both Iowa
and a Packers fan, I was hurting last night watching
the way the game played out because I got spoiled
(47:02):
with the literal best special teams play in college football
at Iowa and some of the worst special teams play
watching the Packers. Would it be unreasonable idea for Goodikins
to get on the phone with LeVar Woods today and
to essentially what they did with half Way a year ago.
I would imagine is that the Iowa special teams coordinator
(47:22):
you paid Rich Pasacci. I'm sure a lot of money.
He's probably one of the highest based special teams coaches
in the league. And like, there is clearly these field
goals getting blocked, Pats field goals. I don't ever remember
anything quite like it. I don't know if some of
the players are not focused on that play, but there
(47:44):
are lanes. These guys are getting through that. It's you know, forever,
when a field goal got blocked, it'd be like, oh,
it was off Kalaeis Campbell, who's six foot seven's fingertips,
You'd be like, want to play now. It's like, there
are three guys right there to block this thing. And
how often lately has the dude that blocked it just
(48:04):
been like right in front of the kicker and picked
it up. I mean the one the Eagles had against
the Rams, the guy that blocked it takes out the holder.
And Jordan Davis is also right there, who I'm pretty
sure blocked an earlier field goal him Er Jalen. They're
just constantly around the kicker. So I don't know, listen.
I I'm more Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt Lafleur. I
don't like special teams either, but that's not my job.
(48:26):
Right most of us we take piss breaks when special
teams comes on the field. If you're the head coach,
kind of matters. I would say Rich Pasacia's spot. The
amount of pressure that's on the Packers right now is immense.
These guys are coaching and GMing for a contract extension.
They just made one of the boldest moves in the
history of the franchise, definitely financially, and I mean, when's
(48:50):
the last time the Packers. I just don't remember them
doing anything quite like this. If you think about, like,
what were their two most important moves defensively over the years. Well,
Reggie White was a free agent, so they didn't have
to give up any draft capital, and so was Charles Woodson.
So it's like they didn't trade for those two players.
(49:10):
They traded for Farv. They used the twenty fourth pick
on Rogers, the twenty seventh pick or twenty ninth pick
whatever it was on Love. But like they traded two
first rounders and gave this guy one hundred and eighty
eight million dollars. So it's everyone better beyond edge there,
starting with a special teams coach. Figure the shit out.
(49:32):
Simple question. If the offense continues to sputter in Philadelphia
and it's clear Patolo Patola or Patolo not sure how
to spell he put in O. I think it's an
A and it's clear he needs to go. Does Sirianni
even take a chance at calling plays? If not, then who? Lol?
(49:52):
I would say this Uh, I didn't know this last
night when I was recording, but I guess AJ Brown.
I saw some people say AJ Brown the first that
puts his fantasy numbers ahead of winning. Clearly he's not happy,
which in a weird way, I kind of understand. You know,
you're one of the best players at your position. They
can't get you the ball. Your quarterback's throwing balls all
(50:14):
over the place. It's like, I'm a champion now I'm
trying to be a legend. Throw me the fucking pill.
And I got an offensive coordinator that the offense looks
dramatically worse, the quarterback's confidence looks shaken. Thank God for
the tush push. But it's like AG Brown has a
chance to make it weird, you know. I mean, let's
face it, Brandon Graham said what he said. We all
(50:34):
believed him. They can try to erase what he said,
and he could even run it back like he was
being honest. And that relationship something weird is there now
when you win a Super Bowl, just like you could
have a weird relationship with a partner in business, if
you have your best year ever financially, you're gonna deal
with them. Well, then when things like when someone feels
(50:55):
slighted or not getting the credit or maybe makes a
little bit less money. Like problems around, problems come back
to the surface, and for aj you can call them
selfish like receivers are. They're very selfish part of the deal.
And you'd think, well, he won a championship, he's being
paid a bunch of money. He clearly wants the ball.
He wants the rock, and the offensive coordinator and the
(51:17):
quarterback are not getting into him. And when you're a
guy like that, you're at it looks like your quarterback
and the offense is averaging like one hundred and fifty
yards passing a game. I don't even know if it's
that high. People are gonna get edgy. Honestly, it's the
most interesting thing about the Eagles. You're gonna learn not
to disrespect in all caps, the Los Angeles Rams. We
(51:41):
pull it up to Sofi North and winning a chip.
Go ahead and bet on that forty nine ers, clown.
Add that to your mail bag, nerd. You know, I
don't think of all things I've ever been called, and
I've been called a lot of things on the internet
and social media streets, I don't think i've ever been
(52:02):
called the nerd, which honestly, I take a little bit
of pride in being called because that means you think
I'm intelligent, which the reason I've never been called that
is because I don't think most people think, like God,
Middlecown's pretty smart. But I appreciate it, and I don't
think it's so fine North, given that the forty nine
ers typically sell out your building, which I would imagine
on Thursday, even though I think they're in a little
(52:24):
trouble because of the injuries. Did Sunday Nights game just
prove that the NFL should swallow their pride and adopt
the college football overtime rules? This question same thing. It
is fucking dumb for a game to end in a tie,
and the NFL should do something about it. They should
at least come up with some sort of tiebreaker, even
(52:47):
just having each team take turns kicking fifty yard field
goals until one of them misses, or the NFL could
just be smart and adopt the ot college rules. I
do believe if you think about basketball in baseball, it's
impossible to end in a tie, right Baseball, because no
(53:07):
one except Bob Costas wanted to watch games till two
in the morning started putting a runner on second. In basketball,
you just go five minute quarters and you just try
to end the thing right. And in football in the
regular season like ending in a tie. It's better than
a loss. Right. But if you're the pack so for
the Cowboys that they can win six games, be six
(53:29):
ten and one, which actually will cost them draft position potentially.
And for the Packers, this could be the difference of
you know, not that not winning that game could be
the difference in winning division. I'd have no problem with
college football overtime rules. I think a lot of people
would push back. I'd be all for it. I'm cool
with it. I'd even just do this. How about like
(53:51):
you get a two point both teams get two point conversions.
I'd be cool with that. It's like, listen, that's not
the way the game's played. Well, you had sixty to
determine it, so now it's time to fucking end it right.
That's why I was for the runner on second base.
We've watched night innings and no one can win. No
one wants to keep watching this thing. Go for another
six innings. Put a runnerund second, let's play, score some
(54:14):
runs and get the hell out of here, right, I'd
say the same thing for college. Everyone's like, I hate
the college rule. Well, they had sixty minutes to someone
to win the game and no one could. So now
it's time to determine this thing quick, especially in a
game like football where physically it's takes a toll on you.
I'd go right to just each team gets two point
conversion and first team to either get stuffed or you
(54:38):
know whatever. Right, I make you miss, I win, I
make you make we go, we get another round. I'd
be fine with that. And I want to hear that's
not the purity. The purity of the game is the
actual game. What is with the sudden obsession with changing
field goals? We're getting longer kicks every year and more
blocks than ever. I couldn't think of a more on
(55:01):
the edge of your seat ending if I tried. Kicking
is skill position like any other and is neither automatic
or random. The best receivers drop balls, the best quarterbacks
miss throws, and the best kickers miskicks all the while,
if your offense or defensive line sucks, it'll blow up
in your face, much like any other play. Leave field
goals alone, I agree I don't what are people talking
(55:25):
about getting rid of field goals? Yeah, I mean I
think it's it's an exhilarating play. I think two things
have been changed dramatically. I think the pat moving back
and Belichick gets credit for that one is just adds
a little excitement. You never know. It's a little bit
longer you can miss obviously the block potential and the
(55:47):
kickoff rule is dramatically more entertaining. One. We're getting returns
which we just simply were not. And to their strategy.
You see some of these teams do these like weird
kicks and the guys don't know how to field it.
Some of them try to angle it kick out of bound.
You get it at the forty. If you kick it
too far, they get at the thirty. Five. Just become
(56:08):
an intriguing play, and that was easily a couple of
years ago the most boring play in the NFL. Yesterday,
I missed a play and I look up. I come
back from the bathroom and the Jags are at like
the fifty yard line. I'm like, how do they get there?
Because they returned it like fifty four yards. Maybe they
were at like the forty. I mean it was like,
how do they get there? And that's the thing. It
(56:31):
used to just be like automatic kicking the end zone,
kneel at twenty yard line. If we want to score
a touchdown, we gotta go eighty, and if we want
to kick a field goal, we gotta go like forty.
Now it's like, if you just break one tackle, you're
already at like the forty yard line. And some of
these kickers are so good you really just have to
go like fifteen yards so you can get in field goal.
You could have twenty six seconds left on the clock
at the end of the first half, and if you
(56:53):
have a decent return, you can easily get in field
goal range. Shit, Brandon Aubrey, you just got to get
to like the fifty yard line. So if I get
to the thirty five, I really just need one explosive
play too. I have a chip shot for him, but
I hear you the volume
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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