3 & Out - MNF Reaction, Coaching Umbrella, Early Award Season - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (01:45):
What is going on? Everybody? John Middlecoff three and OW podcast.
How are we doing? My people? Hopefully better than me,
because I'm pretty worked up over what I just witnessed.
The officiating of that game ruined, ruined the experience, it
really did on what should have been a special night
for the NFL. Aaron Rodgers trying to will his team back,

(02:10):
keep his team in the mix. The Bills a couple
of games they've dropped, need to get it rolling again.
Star of the League or one of them of Josh
Allen against this legendary player who's holding on for dear
life new code. It just it was bad. So I
got to talk about the officiating. Obviously, the game itself,
some crazy moments, miss field goals, hail Mary's. There's just

(02:34):
there's a lot going on. It was hard to keep
track because it was so it was just so jumbled.
It was just constant. There was no flow to it
because of the officiating. I know Roger and no one
in the league office cares, but us the consumer, I
don't know. We just keep the league going. Would just
like it to go away a little bit, So we

(02:55):
will dive into that. I think I'll save the penhouse
in the outhouse of the league for tomorrow for Wednesday's show.
I also just want to chime into some other stuff
about McCarthy, Sirianni Stefanski, all these guys, ends with Ease
and Jim Harbaugh, who's who who faced a little heart scare,

(03:15):
but you know he's a tough SOB. He'll be all right.
And what else do I want to hit on? And
I want to I want to do a couple of warts.
There's some funny stuff that happened this weekend and just
some stuff that kind of crazy going on with a
couple of players that are just dominating right now that
I don't know if people would have thought this offseason
that they'd be quite this good. Of course, we'll do

(03:37):
a mail bag at John Middlecoffin is the Instagram. Fire
in those dms, Keep firing those dms. I'll do a big,
big mail bag on Wednesday to the show as well,
and subscribe to the podcast if you listen on Collins
and make sure that you subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Appreciate everyone that has and yeah, talk some football. But
before we do to the game, I need to tell

(04:02):
you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing
app of this podcast. As you guys know, just went
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(05:06):
the game Time app Today last minute ticket's lowest prices guaranteed.
You know what's sad about tonight is I wish I
could dive in to Aaron Rodgers gritty performance, Josh Allen
and the Bills shoving the ball down the Jets' throat
in the first half and taking a page out of
Kyle Shanahan and take control of the game. The craziness

(05:27):
that was the end of the first half, and then
the start of the second half the actual football, because
that's why most people listening spent three hours of their
night on Monday and do every week to watch football.
I don't don't know how many people fit in MetLife,
sixty five seventy thousand people that pay a boatload of money.

(05:48):
These tickets are not cheap use anyone that uses that
game time app nosy get a little discount. It's expensive
to go to these games and the referees and listen officiating.
I'll be the first to admit I understand it's difficult
in the NBA, in the NFL baseball, there's not an
excuse that she just go to robo ump. But I

(06:09):
get it. That's why we got replay, and I get
that they get a lot of pressure from the league office.
We got to protect the quarterbacks totally for it. This
league is built on us turning it on and not
having to watch backup quarterbacks. We want to watch Aaron
Rodgers first, Josh Allen, I get it, but there has

(06:30):
to be a line, and tonight I felt we didn't
cross the line. We burned that line fucking down and
jumped the shark, and it was it was borderline unwatchable.
It honestly made me really mad. I love football. I've
dedicated my professional life to working at it and talking
about it. I would be doing this in terms of

(06:51):
watching all these games, whether I sold insurance or dug ditches,
and I would be just as angry if I was
doing that as I am doing this. That was such
a major fu to the coaches who are coaching for
their jobs. Obviously, one guy literally just got fired last week,
and if the Jets don't win, all these guys are

(07:11):
going to get ship canned. It's over every single one
of them. Now. Listen. I'm not saying I feel bad
for him in the sense that most of them are
making a ton of money, but they still have to
uproot their family. It's a pain in the ass. And
there are some guys on the staff not making that
much with sucks. The players that bust their ass training

(07:32):
three sixty five to put on a show for us.
These calls that like these roughing the passer calls, I
think it's pretty clear what one is and what one
is not now, and it's pretty clear when a guy
falls on a quarterback like that happened to Aaron Rodgers,
like that happened to Josh Allen. When it's a violent,

(07:54):
aggressive move, I get it, even if I'm not quite
comfortable with it. I was cool with the eighties and
the nineties, but the money has changed, the league has changed,
the concussion lawsuits. I understand it. Tonight was a joke.
Those two calls, and obviously there were seven hundred million
other calls borderline ruined that game, which there was a

(08:15):
ton on the line. Aaron Rodgers is literally kind of
playing for his career. Do you think Aaron Rodgers are
gonna play anymore? If this team wins six or seven games,
you need to, I'll come back. I have a theory.
I think you'll like kind of pull up Brett far
of this offseason if that's the case. But like there
was obviously a lot on the line for the Jets
to night. The Bills have just looked like crap the

(08:36):
last two weeks have dominated this division. Needed this game
just to get back on track, to get rolling, and
both those two calls had just major ramifications on the game. Honestly,
those specific two calls and there were a million other
crappy ones, could have dictated the outcome of the game.
And listen javon Kinlaw. If I was the Jets, I

(08:59):
would cut him to But that's not about the penalties.
It's because he's a terrible football player. If you play
Javon Kinlaw, who I got news for you, is a
Robert solid guy. And I would imagine Jeff Ulbrick, who
does not control the roster, will want him off the
roster tomorrow. But that's because when you put him on
the field, he will get dominated awful draft pick by

(09:22):
the forty nine ers major with That's why he's on
the Jets, because they didn't want him anymore. But to
call a penalty in pro sports, this drives me nuts
in the NBA when you team me up for saying
screw you or fu like. This ain't little league, This
ain't even college. This is a multi billion dollar business

(09:43):
where we're all fighting for our professional lives. And if
I say something that might quote unquote cross the line
for you to throw a fifteen yard unsportsmanlike conduct, that
just cannot happen. It's simply unacceptable. Tonight was a complete
embarrassment for the NA and I get it. Roger and
the people of the league office don't give a shit.

(10:04):
You know why, because millions of people watched that money
train's gonna keep flowing on in none of it matters.
But there's gonna come to a point when we turn
on Aaron Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time,
who might be playing in the last season of his career,
and this might be one of the last important games
because the season might get away from and Josh Allen

(10:25):
one of the stars of the league. And that's what
we get. Obviously, some of these penalties are justified. I
get it. I don't want to see a penalty every play,
But the guy holds it jumped to shark tonight. It
felt like these guys lost the plot and it ruined
the game. It simply did. Unless you're a Bills fan,
and you should be really happy like that was. That

(10:48):
was awful. This is coming from someone who loves this
shit that I can't tell you how mad I am
right now having to talk about this. It was just
a joke. Players get fun aka cut, coaches always get fired,
gms get fired, Fans get frustrated because their team sucks.

(11:08):
Nothing ever happens to these referees. Why can't tomorrow all
three of those guys be demoted. We cannot have you
guys calling a game Monday night football, Monday night football,
Jets Bills, that's what you roll out. It can't happen. Honestly,
I was surprised there were some hits. There was a
pass to Garrett Wilson in the end zone which he

(11:29):
kind of caught and then it got blown up. Thought
there would be a penalty there. Thought there would be
a penalty on the Taylor rap big hit late in
the game. Honestly, I was expecting a penalty on every
single play. Not every big hit is a penalty. This
is football. This ain't softball. You have to allow people
to play football. All these guys know the rules. I

(11:51):
say this all the time about college football. Throwing a
kid out is the most egregious thing happening in the
entire sport right now, because no one in twenty twenty
four that this is not nineteen seventy eight. No one's
trying to hurt anybody anymore. We all know the rules.
Take that fucking rule out. That's a conversation for another day.
I can't tell you how disappointed I am that I

(12:12):
had to start talking about this, but that's how it
worked up. I am that was that was beyond egregious.
And it happened over and over and over and over again.
It never stopped. It was insane. I don't even know
where to start with the game. I mean, the Bills
came out today and Joe Brady, who's rocking that chain

(12:34):
he likes to be cool guy with the Jordans, came
out with the Kyle Shanahan game plan, and all I've
heard is like the Jets on defense, the Jets number
two defense ran the ball right down their throat zone,
right zone, left up the gut, and Ray Davis, the
fourth round pick from Kentucky, looked like James Cook two
point zero. I mean, they were shredding him that first

(12:56):
drive to go up seven to three. It was like damp.
This Jets team is about to get destroyed. Then the
game settled down a little bit. The Jets were in
major trouble toward the end of the half. The Bills
score with twenty seconds left in the first half. They're
also getting the football right, so they go up seventeen

(13:17):
to twenty, or excuse me, it's thirteen to ten. They
go up twenty to ten at with twenty seconds left
to go. In the first half. I think the half's over,
they're gonna kick it out thirty yard line, kind of
kneel it whatever. I go to take out the trash.
I walk back in Sean McDermott's talking. I look up,
it's twenty to seventeen. Obviously I rewind Aikman goes create

(13:40):
is Hail Mary thrower of all time? They're showing the
highlights of the Giants Hail Mary, the Cardinals Hail Mary.
All of a sudden, that seven points acts out didn't
even count because they just cancel each other out. So
it went from like, are the Bills gonna have seven points?
Get the ball back? If they score, kick a field
goal that could be a ten or a fourteen point swing.

(14:01):
Then the Bills get the ball in the second half
only up three points, drive right down the field, their
kicker miss the field goal, so instead of being a
ten point swing to zero point swing, and then the
Jets next drive they drive kick a field goal. The
Jets somehow actually gained three points, and now we got
a twenty twenty game that was insane, Like, honestly, when

(14:24):
the Bills scored with twenty seconds left, I thought, you
know what this has got thirty five to twenty written
all over it, and that little swing was huge and
like ultimately then the game got weird. The wind started
pumping zero lines, missing field goals, one right, one left,

(14:45):
even Aikman said on the second one, even when you
go to the spot or the side that's less windy,
it's like a golfer. Man, you hit one in the
water to the right. A couple holes later, there's water
on your left. It's in your dome. And Akman's like
eve though, like you're gonna try to overcompensate. What did
he do? He hooked it left, dink, He jinked two,

(15:06):
and that would have even if he just hits one,
you got a tie game. Maybe the end of game
weren't overtime, but it's hard to the game was so
discombobulated because of the officiating. There was no flow to it.
It's hard to have a huge takeaway. Like on the
Bills specifically, I know their quarterback is elite, and when

(15:27):
it came down to it, what happened. Great play called
by Joe Brady on the kind of the fake handoff,
boom roll Josh Allen out first down, he can do that.
He made some throws at night that were awesome. Honestly,
they left some on the table. Aaron Rodgers a little
bit of a throwback, hit some incredible passes that were

(15:49):
blown up by defenders and dudes dropped it. Even on
the last play to Mike Williams that ended up kind
of working out as a punt now, not really because
they you know, it's like, well they got three timeouts
and they never got the ball back. You know, I
don't know if he slipped a little bit, obviously Mike
Williams slipped. It was just I was impressed with kind
of the Jets grittiness. I thought tonight they just and

(16:12):
again you know, they created it with the hail Mary,
which is a little lucky, but it's Aaron Rodgers. It's
something he does and that kind of got him right
back in the game. But I thought Rogers, like, let's
face it, at this point in time, time like even
a Knight, he's a good player, but he's no longer
a great player. He has moments where obviously within the pocket,

(16:34):
if he can step into it, he can throw the lasers.
I bet Randy Johnson could throw ninety five at forty
years old, but it wasn't the same as a thirty
year old guy. This isn't the same guy because there
are moments when he tries to scramble he can't even
sniff getting away. And that's evident when you watch the
two players, Like Josh Allen's in a different universe than

(16:54):
Aaron Rodgers now relative to what the Jets are used to, Like,
he's good enough to win. He played winning football tonight
right he was getting peppered. His toughness was on full display.
Like that's what I wonder about this team. If they
lose next week to Pittsburgh, all of a sudden, you're
two to five. Aaron laid it all on the line tonight.
He has been getting fucking peppered these last couple of

(17:17):
weeks and keeps getting up and fighting, which I admire.
Is a forty year old guy worth hundreds of millions
of dollars does not need to be doing this. Already
has the MVP's Super Bowl championship. He's playing for the Jets,
Like this is what like the second half of the
is he gonna do this if they're like four and seven?
Because if I was him, I'd be like, ah, do

(17:39):
I really want to keep I'm not saying he's gonna
just tap out and quit on the season, but you're
getting the best version of everything he has right now,
and this season is about to slip away. They fired
Robert Solid to win this game tonight. Clearly their offense
had a little more pop with Todd Downey, but let's
not act like it was that dramatically different. It's thrown

(18:01):
some back shoulder throws. They made a conscious effort to
get Garrett Wilson in the game, right and even Troy
Joe brought it up in the production meeting. Troy asked,
He's like, you think you got Sky regressed. Almost like
there aren't many guys in these these meetings they could
just call out Garrett Wilson. Obviously he didn't do it
to Garrett Wilson's face, but he did to the head

(18:22):
coach in the UH in the quarterback and you could
tell like they made an effort to feature him, and
he looked good. He was making place. But like that's all,
you know, they don't have much other firepower beside him.
I know Alizard made a couple of plays tonight. Mike
Williams is just me, you know, and it's not like

(18:44):
the Bills are rolling out Andre Reid, Stefan Diggs and
Stevie Johnson, like their wide receiver cruise okay, kind of
a running team. Their defense, the more and more they
get these guys back from injury, looked a lot faster tonight.
They clearly have a pretty dangerous pass rush. But the
one thing with the Jets is like their defense can't
just smother you. And there were a couple of moments

(19:06):
to night when Olbrick, who's gone from defensive coordinator to
the head coach but he's still calling the defense twelve
men on the field, a little overwhelmed, which is understandable,
but that's hard when they were all all their chips
are in the middle of the table for this game.
And when all your chips are in the middle of
the table, because you look at the schedule, play Pittsburgh,
then they get the Patriots, then they get the Texans.
So all of a sudden, like realistically, lose the Steelers,

(19:28):
beat the Patriots, lose the Texans. You do the math?
Be three and six, Like you're three and six this team?
Are you kidding me? I don't care what your schedule is.
You're not rattling off four or five straight wins. That
squad no chance they could ride off a couple. But
you dig yourself too big of a hole. Your team's
not good enough. It's not like your coaching staff's super elite.

(19:51):
That's why I love the Bills tonight, I said, put
all your chips in the middle of that. Part of
the reason I'm angry is because this game should never
have been like is discombobulated as it was. Yes, listen,
you lose, you lose, you win, you win, but just
let them play. And that's what it didn't feel like
was happening. So I just think the Jets defensive line,
which used to be dominant, is no longer. Quinnin Williams

(20:14):
is an excellent player, but the rest of the crew
mah secondary. They just had injuries, so dj Ree goes down.
It's like part of their secondary the last couple of
years has been so deep. Well, it's not the same
once you start losing starters, and it's just hard to
corral Josh Allen because at any moment he could run
around and make plays, and he just he can keep
plays alive. It's different than Lamar. It's really probably more

(20:39):
like a young, young Ben Roethlisberger, but he's faster, he
can run, and yeah, so I just I think the
Jets season in a weird way, kind of unofficially into
tonight because I think they'll end up losing next week
at Pittsburgh and who's got a much better defense than
the Bills, And we'll have no problem consistently running the ball.

(21:02):
Like if you can't stop the run, you don't get
to dictate the terms, and they really can't. And the
Bills in a weird way kind of got away from
it as the game got on, as the game kind
of got discombobulated, part of its penalties. You're in second
and third and long, you're less inclined to keep running it.
With Ray Davis the way the first half was going,
I'm like Ray Davis about to go for one hundred

(21:23):
and seventy yards. Look like Jordan Mason in the first
game on Monday Night Football in San Francisco. Kyle's like,
I'm just gonna run it on you until you guys
can stop it. But what's not act like fire and
Robert Sala like this, this is why Belichick keeps shitting
on the organization. What's this whole thing like ready aim. Shoot,
he just kind of point fire, right, that's kind of

(21:46):
Woody Johnson. The Jets just flying aimlessly, even when they
gave a greedy performance, Like there's not the Bills. There's
a reason the Bills go to the playoffs every year.
Just much better run operation. Okay, wanted to hit on

(22:07):
a few other things. Let's just do a little umbrella
on head coaches and we're just gonna rattle through some things. Obviously,
the I would say the two most polarizing coaches because
of the markets and the teams in which they coach,
Sirianni and McCarthy. Sirianni wins, McCarthy loses. Well, let's start

(22:30):
with Dallas, who just gets shellacked. Sure you've heard the
stats about their last four home games. I mean, they're
just getting massacred. And you could make the argument of
should you have let him coach? Right, it was pretty risky,
even though I actually think I mean, comparing the two,
I think Mike is proven over a long period of time.

(22:52):
He's better in Sirianni. Obviously he won a Super Bowl
back in the day. But he can call plays, like
there's one specific thing he can do call plays. He's
also won the Division two the last three years. Now,
Nick did have the year where he you know, they
were the one seed and he beat the Giants and
then Perdy got Ko. Now he might have won that
game regardless. That team was really good, especially their defensive line.

(23:15):
But I do think when you look at the Cowboys.
I was thinking about this today because I saw this
clip that part of my take put out, and Big
Kat was like, can you imagine if you would have
told Jerry Jones five six years into his ownership of
the Cowboys, right, he buys them in I think eighty nine,
by two thousand, or excuse me, nineteen ninety the five seasons,

(23:38):
so January of ninety six or February, he had three
Super Bowls and he just had won one kind of
his way after kicking Jimmy Johnson to the curb. If
you told him you're never gonna win another one, more
than likely in the summer of nineteen ninety six, you
are going to die before you ever even make it

(23:58):
back to a championship game, let alone win a Super Bowl.
He would have laughed in your face. And yesterday it
goes viral right after the game his press conference, there
is not another team in the NFL that after a
crazy loss or a crazy win, every single person that

(24:22):
covers the team or covers the league that is at
the game doesn't want to talk to the head coach.
Doesn't want to talk to the quarterback or the star
wide receiver or the star pass unner. They want to
talk to the owner. Now, in theory, all these other
people at all these other games would like to talk
to the owners too, but they never talk. Jerry not

(24:42):
only holds court, he literally does it every game and
then he does it again on the radio show I
think on Tuesday mornings. But like that's just not the
healthiest environment. And if I was a betting man as
we sit here right now, especially with the Cowboys injuries,
I know they got a bye week Mike McCarthy, he
won't be the head coach, but it is very, very

(25:03):
difficult to win when you know, think about most human beings,
like non athletes or artists. Most people make more money
as they get older. If I just gave you the
most money you would ever make in a year, which
could be in your fifties or sixties, let's just say,

(25:24):
and I gave it to you at twenty two years old,
more than likely ten twenty years later. If you had
been making that much money right from the jump, you'd
be a little jaded. And I wonder with Jerry, he
had so much success so early because of a genius hire.
And he's different than Al Davis. He wasn't a coach,

(25:47):
but like he played at Arkansas, like this guy played
college football. It's not like this guy is just some
nerd day trader that never put on a jockstrapper, wore
a helmet like this guy played in college. Like it's
pretty resive, you know. And then he went on to
obviously have a good business career as kind of a
maverick and risked it all and bought the team like

(26:08):
Jerry's got balls, and it worked. And really, ever since
he bought the team and they started rolling, he's been
printing money. So win or lose, he's made money. They
just haven't really won at all since the mid nineties.
Yet he won't really listen to anybody because he had
so much immediate success. Thinks he knows it all, which

(26:31):
again most owners probably do, but they don't talk every
single game. And I wonder if that's just really really
hard to overcome. No, if Jerry had talked or hadn't
talked yesterday, It doesn't matter that the Lions would have
eviscerated the defense that had a million injuries, but just
big picture with the Cowboys, like I think it is

(26:51):
fair to say it is hard to overcome Jerry Jones,
which is weird because he has been big reason, like
the Cowboys brand is so big. But you know, listen,
Mike McCarthy, more than likely at the end of the year,
especially they miss the playoffs, gonna get thrown to the Wolves.
But nothing will change as long as Jerry's alive. And
it does feel a little bit like different circumstances. But

(27:13):
late now Davis's life, it got a little weird, you know.
And the difference is ow once upon a time, not
once upon a time, pretty long period of time, the seventies,
the eighties, the late nineties, when he hired John Gruden,
like he fucking knew what he was doing. He was
a football guy who was interwoven his confidence in I
know what I'm doing, Like Jerry thinks he knows what

(27:35):
he's doing, And you can say, well, how can he
think that given the results? Because he checks his bank count,
he sees the money, and he goes, once upon a time,
without him, none of this would exist, at least that's
what he thinks. So I just think the Cowboys are
just are gonna be this roller coaster ride as long
as he's around. I would imagine my guess. I don't

(27:57):
know Stephen Jones, but just watching the way he conducts himself,
knowing people that have dealt with him in some business deals,
I think it'll be a little different once Jerry has
gone and stevens in George in terms of the interviews,
in terms of the micromanaging, in terms of just the
daily intensity of kind of hovering over. Okay, on Sirianni.

(28:20):
He apologized on Monday for his actions at the end
of the game, which is stupid in the sense of, like, listen, bro,
you did it. You don't need to apologize. It is
what it is, an embarrassing moment, Like who you're apologizing to?
It doesn't to me how apologies can be so hollow.
They're just so unnecessary. Lets you know the people you

(28:42):
are screaming at and you like send them a DM bro,
like I'll get your free tickets next game. You don't
need to apologize to random people who don't give a shit,
but part of this culture and world we live in.
You made a fool of yourself, there's no disputing that,
which is kind of consistently done over the course of
his career at different times. But when you're winning, no

(29:02):
one cares. And I was thinking about, like everyone handles
winning well, everyone handles success well. Like universally, anyone can
handle winning success. Some might blow all the money, some
might do stupid stuff, but like everyone can handle that
and not completely melt down. Most people can't handle adversity,

(29:26):
especially most people that haven't been through adversity. Like it
is a lot easier for Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh
or Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll or Andy Reid to
handle everything that gets thrown at you as a head
coach when all of a sudden, X, Y, and Z
go wrong. Why you have a ton of experience to

(29:49):
rely on. You've kind of seen it all. Nick Sirianni
got this job and it was going really poorly immediately
and made a change, and that change changed the course
of his career. Gave a play calling to shame Psyche
and for a year and a half that team kicked
ass in the last two years, when a lot more

(30:10):
has been on his plate, he's kind of shown his
true colors. He's in over his head now because this
organization has accumulated so much talent, Like you can still
find a way to win games. But I heard Michael
Lombardi say this on his podcast, and I guess I
was kind of mad at myself for not thinking about

(30:30):
this yesterday. In his press conference on Sunday, like he
knew he screw up. He brought his son to the
press conference. Well, what happens when you bring your son
to the press conference. It's gonna lighten the mood. They're
not gonna it's not gonna be as aggressive as it
would be if you were just sitting up there with
a seven year old sitting on your lap in an

(30:52):
Eagles jersey. So like he knew immediately, like this probably
isn't a great move. And someone talked to him the
today about I don't know, but like you make a
fool out of yourself, which we all can do when
we're freaking out when we don't have the answers, and
we've all been there, and sometimes depending on what you do,

(31:15):
there are a lot less stakes on the line when
you feel helpless or lost or confused, right and some
of us, and I know I do. Sometimes I get
really aggressive. I get really loud when I get agitated. Now,
as you get older and you go through more experiences,
you handle that stuff better. It's why you should all

(31:38):
be able to handle craziness in your fifties and sixties
better than in your twenties and thirties. And Nick, to me,
looks like a guy who is swimming in the deep
end right now and desperately needs kind of a life
jacket and doesn't really know how to swim, and these
games are breaking him. And I think him McCarthy. It's

(32:01):
pretty clear. Feels like dead man walking. If you could
bet on this, which I'm sure you can, on DraftKings,
neither guy is going to be the head coach for
their respective teams in twenty and twenty five. I almost
sid twenty four, but we're in twenty twenty four a
guy that should be the head coach in twenty twenty five.
But let's face it, it's getting really weird. I don't

(32:22):
think it has to be a story every single week
when Kevin Stefanski says that Deshaun Watson will be the
quarterback the following week, Like, can't we all understand what's
he supposed to say? You just got a contract extension.
The owner is forcing him to play this guy. It's
out of his control. It's not his money that he's
paying the guy. I would imagine I can't fact check

(32:45):
this one, that there was some apprehension on Stefanski and
Andrew Barry trading for this player once the initial conversations
got so crazy. He didn't want to be there unless
you give him the money and the owner acquiesced. Now,
I would also guess that both those guys, the GM
and the head coach thought he would be better than this.

(33:05):
He's objectively bad. I saw Bill Barnwell tweet today. Since
two thousand and seven, five hundred and fifty six quarterbacks
fall under this. Through six weeks, Deshaun ranks five hundred
and fifty eighth in QBR, five hundred and sixty fifth

(33:27):
in yards per drop back, and dead last in first downs.
So like, clearly you can find all the stats against
the Blitz. The eye test is even worse. He looks
like a fish out of water. But if you don't
think Stefanski would have wanted to keep Joe Flacco. You've
never been around a football guy, Like, it just makes

(33:50):
no sense. These two IVY League guys and this player,
it just zero vibe. Honestly. Same thing with the defensive
tackle they drafted in the second round who already got
in trouble for blasting his pregnant girlfriend, fiance whatever. It's
like they got a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Ultimately,
their owner is extremely involved. Now, I don't know these

(34:13):
guys personally, it's not like I'm trying to cape for him.
But on this specific story, there is not a coach
in the history of the sport that wouldn't go to
the bullpen if they could. Some things in life are
most of us, the overwhelming majority of us, answer to somebody.
It's very very rare that you answer to nobody unless

(34:37):
you're the elites of the elites of the elites. And
even then, somehow they get you to a party and
they get you on tape and then you're answering to
them the rest of your life. But like, this isn't
Stefanski doesn't own the team. And last but not least,
on the coaches, Jim Harbaugh, he's so damn good man.
You know the Chargers, it's for those of us that

(34:59):
they kind of hold a special place, for those of
us to just love football and have seen their great
rosters over the years and just want them to be good.
Love the uniforms. I have so many good friends that
are Charger fans. They have a great fan base. It
was just really embarrassing what took place over the last
I don't know, six seven years with Anthony Lynn, obviously

(35:20):
with Brandon Staley, and it truly is amazing. When you
get a coach that knows what he's doing and basically
guarantees you wins, doesn't guarantee you a Super Bowl, like
Andy Reid was never guaranteed a Super Bowl until they
drafted Patrick Mahomes. But once you got Andy Reid in
Kansas City, he immediately's got you. Alex Smith, You're immediately

(35:40):
relevant and competing to win the division in the playoffs
basically every year. And that was worth well before the
Super bowls a lot. And Jim Harbaugh off of by
goes into Denver, who's red hot up twenty to nothing
for you even blinket halftime, and the quarterback who's kind
of been banged up, looks healthy and you're like, he's
the best player on the field by a country mate.

(36:03):
I think, if you're the Eagles, if you're the Cowboys,
if you're the Jags, if you're just some of these teams,
this guy was ready to leave college football. He was
over the NCAA and they are just laughable rules and
regulations that you kind of need to follow, you kind
of don't. And once they hate you, they come after you.
And he clearly was a mark for them. So he

(36:26):
was gonna leave and he was there to be had,
and the Chargers got a little lucky they didn't really
have that much competition. Now. I also I give them
credit for pulling the trigger and hiring them, but I
just you have to wonder if you're the Cowboys, if
you're the Eagles, like you could have had Jim or
competed to get his services. Obviously, there are other guys

(36:47):
out there in Belichick and Vrabel who are just listen.
I'm a little less hard on McCarthy. I do think
he's a capable NFL head coach. I don't think he's
as bad as sometimes the ways talk to them out
now where he ranks. Would I rather have Jim Harbaugh? Yes,
I would I think Mike Vrabel that that would be
up for discussion when you just look at the two resumes.

(37:09):
But I do think Sirianni, come on, what are we
talking about? And I just think Jim is just I
just don't think there are many coaches in the NFL
you would take over him and he just guarantees you
like this is I'm kicking myself because like the Chargers playoffs,
Jim Harbaugh justin Herbert. The other thing, Jim Harbaugh does

(37:31):
a great job. He hires well, he hires exceptionally well.
I didn't know that much about Vic Fangio until Stanford happened,
and then he brings them just then he brings them
to San Franco forty nine Ers. I really didn't know
much about Great Roman. It's like this guy Mike McDonald mentor,

(37:53):
these guys were just assistance for John and those guys
Jack Harbaugh top them. You're only as good as your staff.
And now you watch the Chargers defense, You're like, God,
they're fantastic. Well where did he get Mentor from? John?
And I just think when you look at this Charger
team now, they could be a little bit of a

(38:14):
powder cake because you know Khalil Mack, who's been awesome,
and obviously Justin Herbert has been banged up. If you
lose those two guys, you would be in major trouble.
And they have an injury history, so it always kind
of makes me a little nervous. But if those guys
stay on the field, like this team's win ten games.
I wanted to do a couple of things really quick,
just some awards from the weekend. I want to do

(38:35):
a couple of player awards because I just wanted to
highlight a couple of quick things, and I want to
start with the Warren Buffett Award as just the best
investment so far of the year. We've seen the worst investment, right,
that'd be Trevor Lawrence right now. It was last offseason.
Obviously Justshan would be the worst in the league. But
Trevor Lawrence, just Warren Buffett just a great investment, which

(38:57):
I was looking at the numbers of a day, I'm like,
this already worked, Like you already got your money's worth
as we sit here on October fourteenth, Like it already worked.
Now you ultimately paid this price for the whole year
and the in the playoffs, but it could not have
gotten much better. Through October fourteenth, the Baltimore Ravens gave

(39:21):
Derrick Henry two years and sixteen million dollars, but as
most NFL contracts go, obviously all that money's not real.
They gave him a seven point seven million dollars signing
bonus in nine million dollars total guarantee. They gave him
nine million dollars total guarantee. Right now, Derrick Henry is

(39:44):
on pace for nineteen hundred and ninety five yards and
twenty three fucking touchdowns. When you watch them play, I
was I questioned this move. I'm like, I don't know
in that offense, how's it gonna work? It works because
Derek Henry looks fantastic. Now He's also one pace for
a lot of carries, so you're gonna have to balance

(40:06):
like they are. Not to me, it does not behoove
them to try to. You know, we'd be cool with
fifteen hundred yards because I need those legs fresh to
make a run. But the one thing with Derrick Henry
where he really could help Lamar and Todd munkin what
they didn't have last year, slow the game down a
little bit. We get into a playoff game against Andy

(40:27):
and Patrick. Here's what we do. We control the terms.
We run the ball. And also if you get a lead,
which they haven't had obviously in their playoff losses in
the second half, if we can just be up seventeen
to ten instead of the other way around, we just
hand them the ball and we go nineteen ninety three here,

(40:49):
and that is these running backs. Everyone's overpaying for all
these positions. Here's fifty million for this average right tackle.
Here's seventy million for this I don't know, sixty catch
wide receiver. I can get Derrick Henry for two years
and sixteen million dollars and all I got to give
him up front is seven point seven million, and he

(41:11):
could potentially give me. Obviously that's projected. I would guess
right now if you said how many touchdowns does he
end the season with, I go sixteen. That's incredible. The
Chuck Lydell Award for just chaoing someone and not giving
a shit about them. Will Levish yesterday, who obviously had

(41:34):
an all time box score turnovers again twenty three attempts
like less than one hundred yards, also got a touchdown.
Where instead, because you're not allowed to do the guns.
People don't like the guns, I guess, even though one
political party's going all in pretending they like guns. Now
it's a little bizarre, but ultimately he did the Spider

(41:56):
Man webs because he didn't want to get a penalty. Well,
Will Levis took out a ball boy yesterday, absolutely destroyed him.
I looked over on the screen and the kid was
on a stretcher, on a you know, on a cart.
I was like, what happened? And then they showed the

(42:17):
replay a lot of times and listen, it's a tough spot.
I don't blame any player for running into any of
these people on the sideline. You're running four or five forties.
You can't slow down. You take people out, No one
wants to do it. It's gonna happen every single player. Usually,

(42:37):
I would say, when you're watching a game, when they
take out an older person, a younger person, someone that's
not like team personnel, not a fellow coach, not someone
in a uniform, not a practice squad guy, someone they
don't know, they always stand over and either try to
help him up or like, ask him if he's okay.
Will Levis took out this fucking guy and was up

(42:59):
and running back to the huddle so fast it was insane,
and he would have been you know, it's what you
do in the UFC. You just knock someone out and
you start celebrating. He just took this kid out and
just ran away. The Sam Ellinger, former Texas quarterback who
once famously said we're back, and Texas is actually back.

(43:24):
But one guy who isn't just back. He's currently leading
the NFL in touchdown passes with fifteen. He has a
nice little three touchdown pass lead. He is Baker Mayfield.
He has fifteen touchdowns, and you watched him yesterday and
really all season. He's clearly and I think they talked

(43:45):
about it this offseason that he got thinner, he's moving
around dramatically better than he once did. I mean, it
really is pretty impressive how much more athletic he looks
than he did early on in his career. But he
looks good, man, he really does. And I know he
has three if you just look at his box score,
three interceptions. Pretty sure two of those, I mean got tipped.

(44:07):
Pretty freakish interceptions. To me, there are difference in interceptions
when you hit like a defender in stride and a
ball gets tipped, goes in the air, Like, I don't
think right now he's got fifteen touchdowns five interceptions. That
number could easily be fifteen and three. So I think
Baker Mayfield. You know, one thing that was cool being

(44:28):
at the Oklahoma game was Baker Mayfield in that program,
especially with the younger people, is kind of like there
Patrick Mahomes or they're Lamar Jackson. His jerseys were everywhere.
I would imagine if you saw someone under thirty wearing
a football jersey, and now with Nio you can put
the names on the back. Mayfield jerseys outnumbered every other

(44:51):
player that I saw, and really it was just like
a m Kyler Murray jersey. Every once in a while
it was like a twenty to one ratio. He has
beloved in that program and part of the reason John
Dorrisey pulled the trigger on him number one overall was like,
obviously he's talented, he can sling the ball, but was
like this swag. It was like this kind of far
of the way he carried himself. And maybe it's just

(45:12):
the Cleveland Browns, maybe it's Jimmy has them. You can't
overcome that, and you watch Baker Mayfield now, it's like
he's kind of vibing like he did at Oklahoma and
in college. That fucking guy was awesome. He really was.
He's one of my more enjoyable college players to watch
throughout his, you know, my adult life for the last

(45:33):
twenty plus years. And once he got to the NFL
and you watched him kind of move around. I'm not
comparing him to Johnny Manziel, but he had this like
false sense of like his athleticism and he lost his
confidence and just unraveled and you just didn't know if
he was going to get it back. And then he
goes to Tampa obviously has the good year, which was impressive.

(45:54):
You watch him this year, I just think he looks better,
Like he looks like a top ten quarterback in the NFL,
and he can have games where he's easily a top
four or five quarterback in the NFL. And if you
have that like, you're gonna be really competitive, especially when
you factory in all the skill guys that they have
in the league. So props to Baker Mayfield because he's back. Okay,

(46:29):
let's go mailbag at John Middlecoff at John middlecoff is
the Instagram fire and those dms do it right now,
you guys know the drill. We will start with Jonathan
Comment for the Pod. The top four teams in point
differential right now are Minnesota, Detroit, Chicago, and the Green
Bay Packers. It's not everything, but it's something. Well, there's

(46:53):
no doubt about it. I mean, one thing all four
teams really have in common elite offenses. Started with Minnesota
up until the Jets game, they have scored on everybody.
And fast Detroit when they're humming or a juggernaut. And
Green Bay, I mean their team speed. If you put
them in a dome, they would be like the greatest

(47:16):
show on turf, just in terms of speed. Just an
incredible amount of speed on offense. And obviously Chicago have
kind of gained some swag the last two weeks beating
the shit out of Carolina and Jacksonville and Rome's making plays,
DJ's making plays, Keenan Allen's back, Cole Comet. So you
just got really really explosive offenses. And you know, Green

(47:37):
Bay jury still out to me. On the defense, Minnesota
elite defensive coordinator is our personnel good enough? Detroit as
a lot of Lions fans thought that I overreacted to
the Seattle game. Did just lose Hutchinson? It's why to me,
Max Crosby and the Lions make a lot of sense.
Their gentleman I said, it's a column. Their GM was
in La when they made enormous tree. He's like, Jalen Ramsey,

(48:01):
would you give up two ones for Max Crosby? I
think I would. I think I would, And the Bears
we just to me, the question simply is is their
coach good enough when they play better teams? And what
does Caleb look like when teams can rush them? Because
in that game against the Texans, he was sacked seven

(48:23):
times and hit like one hundred and I saw a
bunch of people like bidle coffee. You said the Texans
blew them out. It was nineteen to thirteen. It was like, yeah,
I watched the game. They fucking got dominated. We all watched. Now.
Is Caleb better when they play the better teams? For sure,
if he's got more confidence going, But when they play

(48:44):
these better teams, that's where the Hutchinson loss is huge.
Like how woul Chicago block him? It's gonna be hard
for all four teams. To make the playoffs. When you look, okay,
let's go NFC West. The Niners are gonna win the division.
Let's go the NFC South. I do think Tampa and
Atlanta could both be double digit win teams. My Saints
are in trouble. It's over and when you look at

(49:07):
the East might just be Washington. You know, well, I
guess we'll see when all these teams play each other.
But it kind of feels like a one team division
be pretty historic if all four teams win it. We've
seen three teams do it a couple of years ago, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles,
year before, Niners, Cardinals, Rams. It happens four. We've definitely

(49:30):
had Bengals, Ravens, Steelers. Last year we had Ravens, Browns Steelers.
So I think they're a borderline locked to get three
unless something catastrophic happens with the quarterbacks. But four, that'd
be pretty nuts. Love the Pod Panthers fan here. It's

(49:52):
been tough, it really has. Our organization is a dumpster fire. However,
the new regime this year and inherited such a bad situation.
Dealing with the leftovers, I feel like a lot. I
feel like not enough credit has been given to Canalist
and Dan Morgan for what they've been able to put
on the field. Not a fan of Brice, but with

(50:14):
Dalton under center right now, I'm just happy to see
the offense score some points barslow, especially since almost our
entire starting defense is injured. With that said, we have
a long way to go, but going from not being
able to barely score ten points to consistently put enough

(50:36):
twenty points over the last several weeks has been encouraging.
What are your thoughts. I think the best case scenario
for you is just lose every game and like you say,
just twenty one to thirty four, twenty eight to forty,
just lose games. Go Hey, our defense is injured, our
offense with Andy Dalton is suitable. We got some young pieces,

(50:59):
and just use your draft capital to try to improve
and obviously this offseason and decide with Bryce, who to
me is probably done. I would just move on. But
I hate to say this. I'm not trying to be negative,
but I don't think there's much you can take away
from this season in terms of, you know, because Andy

(51:23):
Dolton is not gonna be your longtime quarterback. Should the
Lions go after Reddick. Well, when I think of the
Detroit Lions, I do not think of a son Reddick.
So to me, part of making an acquisition if you're
the Lions, if you're gonna get aggressive, is about getting
the right type guy. And to me, Reddick, who was

(51:46):
just fired by his agents, has had one of the
worst business decisions in the history of America. It's like, wait,
I got fourteen million dollars just sitting here for you,
just sitting here. He's like, no, man, I'll just I'm good.
I should be making twenty five. Like, well, I got
fourteen right here, and if you have a good season,

(52:09):
you could make twenty plus next year while making the
fourteen this year. He's like, no, just I'm good, bro,
I'm good. Probably one of the worst business decisions since
Sofia with an f left collar daddy and left I
don't know, fifty million easily on the table over the
last six seven years. Question for the mailback, what's up

(52:30):
with the NFC North. Obviously they'll start beating each other
up once conference play really gets into swing, But any
chance the way the rest of the NFC plays out
that they can get three teams in the playoffs also
Jordan Love MVP. This season is shaping up now. He
was really good. He was really really good. I saw

(52:51):
I forget who tweeted this former NFL quarterback who like
Sunday Night, said, you know, this is the first game.
I thought he kind of looked like the guy last
year and he was just kind of moving and grooving. Man.
He when he's on and I listen, Colin said this,
he definitely has more far than Rogers now, like Rogers

(53:14):
throwing off the back foot fundamentals all over the map,
but he will just throw it into triple coverage, which
is he's a very, very enjoyable player to watch. I
don't think you guys realize, as Packer fans, how lucky
like you went from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to
this to this. Think of that graphic that the Cleveland

(53:38):
Browns went through of like there're seven hundred quarterbacks since
nineteen ninety nine or whatever, and you've just done that.
You're like the Mike. You're the Pittsburgh Steelers of quarterbacks.
They've had three coaches in whatever fifty years, you've had
three quarterbacks and well over thirty. I think they're a

(54:00):
borderline lock right now. Like I said, to get three
teams in. So even in a win, Sirianni somehow finds
a way to embarrass himself. I think my series going
by yelling at the home crowd, who probably was heckling
him the entire game because they were in a close
game with the Browns. Honestly, it's embarrassing because no other
head coaches are yelling at their fans like that. True,

(54:24):
Like good job, Nick, You're putting your hand to your
ear to your own fan base, like you made a
major statement while beating a team by four, when in
reality you probably should have beaten them by double digits.
What a joke, embarrassing moment for him, for sure. Hey John,
I love the NFL and love watching my team every Sunday,
but there's something about college football I love and enjoy

(54:45):
watching even more. I know you love and watch football
as well. Would you ever consider doing a college football
instant reaction like you do for the NFL, Like after
most of the Saturday games are done, you hop on
for thirty minutes and talk about the big ones number two.
I know you're a Fresno guy, so I'm interested to
hear your take because I'm from Idaho and a big
Boise State fan. What do you think of the Mountain

(55:07):
West this year? Do you think Boise can get a
playoff bid? I think UNLV has a shot to knock
off Boise and hose their chances. But I love well.
I looked at the box score on Saturday and what's
his name? Genty already had like one hundred yards in
a touchdown. I think UNLV is pretty good. I think
the quarterback that they inserted is clearly better than the

(55:30):
dude that wanted the money and they booted out. And
Boise is good too, so I think UNLV once they
lost to Syracuse, like, to me, if there's not a
no doubt about it, non power forward team, you shouldn't
get a seed like you should have to earn it.
And you know, UNLV, even if they beat Boise losing

(55:51):
to Syracuse, want to see what syracusees? Should you be
able to get a bid at twelve and one in
the Mountain West. To me, if you run the tape,
if Boise runs the table, they'll get a bid. If
they don't, like, they shouldn't get a bid. And then
I got no problem with no one getting a bid,
Like I'm not gonna complain if like, oh, now we
get a you know, we also get Tennessee makes the

(56:13):
playoffs or whoever the you know, the extra team is.
So I think Boise's really really good. Uh, you know,
Saturday part of From a financial standpoint, Uh, it's just
kind of a lost cause because for a podcast, the
audio version, you know, doesn't get as much traction or

(56:34):
just wouldn't on Sundays. So you know, also to lead
a family life and not get a divorce for even
get married, it's it's probably not on the table right now,
but not opposed to it. Uh yeah, we'll see, might
have to. I also have people that, you know, work

(56:56):
on the podcast, so it's like it's not even just
me because most of the time I am home and
I easily could do one, but you know, I am
dependent on other people that also have families and want
to have a fucking life. So luckily the other six
days a week pay the bills. But you know, listen,
I sometimes got some takes. Might as well fire them off.

(57:20):
Lincoln Riley, you heard it here first, he's going to
the Jags. He doesn't want this college football anymore. He
gets Trevor in a place that's college like and no
hostile media. I don't think seadkn can hire Lincoln Riley.
You know, clearly his personality is less abrasive after going

(57:43):
through Urban Meyer, and clearly there are different people but
similar in the sense they've never worked in the NFL,
So to hire a guy who's never worked in the
NFL pretty risky. Now, completely different animals. Here, Urban was
a CEO, so he was gonna be very dependent on
his coordinators. Lincoln is your offensive coordinator. But you know

(58:06):
here and Michael Lombardi to day rant like part of
fixing Trevor Lawrence, and it's very NBA. Everyone's gonna be
like high a guy that can fix them where it's like,
let's just can we run the team. If the team
gets better, he'll be better. Now, maybe he has a
ceiling and he's he's clearly not as bad as the

(58:27):
guy we've seen. He definitely didn't deserve based on his
previous career. Two hundred million dollars. Doesn't mean he couldn't
have become a two hundred million dollar guy. But part
of what resurrected Jared Goff when McVeigh got there, team
wasn't bad, right, Gurley was coming into his own. Aaron
Donald's a star. They signed Whitworth and it was like, okay,

(58:48):
we're off and running. Then Jared Goff goes Alliance and
they built a team around it. Hit on some draft picks.
Saint Brown used the picks from the Rams to get
you Amos and Williams took Sewell instead of Jamar Chase
landed some running backs draft Laporta, and it's like, Jared
Goff's solid player. But if you put Jared Goff on

(59:10):
a shitty team, he'll look bad. If you put Jared
Goff on a really good team, he'll look good. Right,
So if you build a good team around him. Their
offensive line yesterday was getting smoked and it's like they
signed Gabe Davis, Like I was probably pretty critical of
Trevor Lawrence, I think on Sunday's podcast. But on the

(59:31):
plane with my Starlink, they were balls were literally going
right through guy's hands. It's one thing to have a
drop like a you know, a Willie Mays catch with
a defender draped on you. Those are tough catches, right.
It's another thing to be staring at the quarterback open
and the ball goes through your hands. That's not Trevor

(59:51):
Lawrence's fault, but I do think it's kind of symbolic
of just the total operator. They're a bad team. They're
a bad team, and ultimately, football is a team game, right,
Like Lamar is a great individual player, but he has
a fantastic team.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Patrick Mahomes is a great individual player, but he has
a great team. Tom Brady's saying this forever, like, my
teams were good, my defense is good, my offensive lines
were solid. I had good, solid weapons. It's a team game.
You're not going into a fight by yourself, like you
do need You don't need all fifty three, but you

(01:00:30):
need other good players. And they just seem like they
seem like kind of random. And listen, if you want
to crush Balky, he's been terrible, he's just like, oh,
we'll take this guy, We'll take that guy. There's no
rhyme or reason anything. Remember when they drafted Etn in
the first round they started using him a wide receiver.
It's like, what's what's even happening right now? I know

(01:00:56):
Hutchinson shattered his leg yesterday, but it was borderline in
saying when they drafted the Georgia kid over Hutchinson and
I don't pretend to break down film on the Jags,
and clearly the Georgia guy hasn't been terrible, but it
was like, you're overthinking this one try. It's like, a
I can't, I can't do it, Trent ball Key, But
I get it, you like traits and all that stuff,

(01:01:18):
but what are you doing? Like Aiden Hutchinson is a
guy that you rely on as a core player of
a great team for fifteen years, obviously, health permitting. If
Aiden Hutchinson is healthy, like he's a Hall of Fame player,
And it was pretty freaking clear coming out of college,
like this guy's gonna be a really good NFL player,

(01:01:39):
really good. Is it gonna be Lawrence Taylor or Aaron Donald?
I don't know, but I don't see how he doesn't
make Pro Bowls, right, And that's where Balkey like he's
just a weird GM that way. Is it just me?
Or do we feel like we're headed toward Ravens Chiefs
part due? I feel like there are only two teams

(01:02:01):
that are truly separating themselves in the powerhouse in the AFC.
I actually think the Ravens, in a weird way could
be better suited this year to take on the Chiefs,
even though their defense is worse right their past defense
is not good right now, but it's like that's kind
of the Chiefs, not really their thing. But they can

(01:02:22):
really run the ball, and that mistake they made last
year not sticking to the run against the Chiefs, obviously
Mahomes came out the gates firing, but it's not like
they scored twenty eight points. So yeah, in a weird way,
I'm already talking myselves or talking myself into the Ravens again,

(01:02:43):
because this is what Lamar does to you. You just
watched it him, You're like, God, he's so calm and collected.
He So the reason I'm hard on Lamar in my
argument of him and Josh of like at this point
in time, it's like NBA players, once you get to
a certain point in time, like there's nothing Joe l
Embiid can do in a regular season game. It's like,
oh damn, that's cool. Like it's like, yeah, we've seen

(01:03:06):
it a million times, James Harden did this, and I
would rather have Lamar than both those two guys, all
things being like, if they were all in playing the
same sport. My point is, like I have I expect
Lamar just to be incredible, and you watch him, you're like,
this guy's by far the best dual threat quarterback of
all time. Because when Steve Young really became the MVP quarterback,

(01:03:29):
he just he was a pocket passer who ran a
little bit like Lamar still is a true dual threat
and he is awesome. Like I think sometimes people think
I'm a hater, I'm not, but I am emotionally scored, scarred.
I've bet on him actually multiple times in the playoffs,
and it was bad. It was bad. And that's where

(01:03:51):
Josh has been. Like his regular season version that has
been awesome over the last whatever four or five years,
he's played like that in the playoffs. Now you can
argue they both lost, but he's been better, Like he
hasn't been the reason. The reason the Ravens lost last
year was Lamar in the offensive coordinator. And now you
bring in Derrick Henry and I'm already at the point
where clearly the Ravens are better than the Steelers, Like

(01:04:15):
even Steeler fans have to acknowledge this, right, like your
team you're probably gonna end up in the playoffs. This
year and end up winning ten or eleven games. But
it's a little smoke and mirrors, like can you win?
Like listen, I question, like, can Lamar just play like
he does in the regular season in the playoffs because
if he does, don't win and probably win the Super Bowl.
But we all know and even Steeler fans, you guys
will acknowledge this too, because you've seen Ben in his prime.

(01:04:38):
If you're just older than like twenty, what the way
Justin Fields is playing, which is better than in Chicago,
ain't gonna work in the playoffs? Can we all acknowledge
that it will not work? It's impossible to just throw
for like one hundred and forty yards and run around
a little bit. Can work against the shitty Raiders. He
run for a couple of touchdowns, but that will not

(01:05:00):
win you playoff games against the Chiefs, against the Ravens.
We're all in the same. You won't beat Harbaugh doing that.
If Justin Herbert is healthy, You're not beating Harbaugh in
a playoff game. You beat him in the regular season.
I get it. Justin Herbert started limping around. I think
they might have beat you in that game. But and

(01:05:22):
then the question is if you're the Steelers, does trading
for another wide receiver make you that much better? Canfields
get on the ball? I don't know. Defense is good
question for the pod. I commented on your show before
the season thinking the Raiders might be a sleeper team
all Caps. Boy was I wrong. It's clear at best

(01:05:47):
four or five wins, although they are really good individual
players at certain spots in a good rookie class. With
Brady being a minority owner and assuming he'll have influence.
If you were Brady, what would you advise Mark Davis
and to LESCo to do? Fire Ap, go after Ben
Johnson or Kubiak type head coach and draft a quarterback

(01:06:11):
or still draft a quarterback and give Ap more time.
To me, Ap looks completely lost and is over his head.
I actually had a thought because on Tuesday, Tom Brady
is supposed to be given the thumbs up to officially
become a minority owner for the Raiders, and I had

(01:06:33):
a topic that I wanted to discuss regarding similar things
that you're asking. So I will get to this on
Wednesday show. In terms of Tom Brady, Mark Davis, and
I don't want to say a light at the end
of the tunnel, but just I have some thoughts on
that situation. Obviously, Antonio Pierce doesn't look like he knows

(01:06:57):
what he's doing. One thing I was told by someone
is that, you know, I think this offseason, once he
got the job, he started feeling himself a little bit,
and I think it's turned some players the wrong way.
I think the one thing they got is what DeVante
I haven't heard. He doesn't even want to leave necessarily,
but it's just gotten weird. Obviously Max Crosby takes a

(01:07:19):
lot of pride in the Raiders, but it is a
waste of your career when you're a high level player
and you just lose, not just lose every year, like
have no shot. So we'll get into all that. I
don't think Antonio Pierce is going anywhere for a minute,
but we'll talk about that soon. I'm always curious about
trends in the NFL. One interesting thing I've seen this

(01:07:42):
year from good defenses is the ability to play big
three off the ball linebackers example the Chiefs, Bolton, Chanelle
and Tranquill to stop the run and have great cover
corners on the outside who can man up. I feel
like the trend for the last decade has been to
sacrifice size on defense for speed. Well, you're not wrong. Obviously.

(01:08:07):
Part of that is because these offenses spread it out,
so you don't have a choice. You have to change
and adapt. When we talk about building a team, it
always starts with quarterback, left tackle, rush end, and corner.
Rightfully so, But with this revitalization of the running back,
do you think we'll see more teams picking off the

(01:08:27):
ball linebackers who can play big and have speed higher
in the draft. Usually those guys don't go into the
second day. I feel like, if your average on the
back end, you can still win games Detroit, But if
you can't stop a nosebleed on the ground Dallas, you
have no shot. Nerdy question, but I'd love to hear

(01:08:48):
your thoughts as a former scout. Well, you can only
draft what comes in. So if you just look at
college I bet if we went to Ohio State Texas,
we just went through the top ten teams, right or
top twenty five teams. Most of the best linebackers. This
is an educated guest. I don't have their rosters in
front of me. Are not two hundred and fifty pound guys.

(01:09:09):
So the sport changed because of the changing of the offenses.
So the type linebackers that came in the league are
more likely to be two hundred and twenty five to
two hundred and thirty low two thirties that can really run. Now,
the knock on that historically is like, well, if you
run a smash mouth offense, how can that guy shed

(01:09:32):
a guard or a tackle or even a center. And
it's difficult and they have to beat him with speed
and instincts. But because these running backs now all can catch,
I have to have that guy in the field because
he's got to be able to run to the flat.
So what you're saying of the three off the ball linebackers,

(01:09:52):
to me, a lot of those guys are kind of
hybrid players. The third guy. When I was in the
NFL and worked in college, it was true like pro
offenses versus a team had a strong side linebacker, a
middle linebacker, and a week side linebacker, and the weekside
linebacker was built like basically all the linebackers now. Kind
of like Fred Warner would have been a week side linebacker.

(01:10:14):
Maybe he's big enough now, but in two thousand and two,
Fred Warner would have been a week side linebacker, the
best weeks side linebacker in the league, and then it
kind of changed. Now if you can find a Patrick
Willis right or Brian Urlacker, guys that now Erlacker was
smaller when he came into the league, clearly was bigger
in his prime. But guys the way two hundred and forty
five hundred fifty to hundred fifty five pounds, they can
run like that. It's a no brainer. But they don't

(01:10:36):
really exist. So I see a lot of teams still
having two linebackers, but their safety. You know, the forty
nine ers had Hu Funga, the Bravens have fucking Kyle Hamilton,
who looks like a Hall of Famer. Well, they become
like these hybrid linebackers because they're great run players because
they're so unafraid, so physical at the line of scrimmage,

(01:10:58):
and you're you're defensive looks can change because that guy
can cover and he can play the run. The other
thing is your corners, now, especially your nickel corner, which
you're going to be a nickel whatever. I don't know
seventy percent of the time. I haven't seen the stats
this year, but I think over the last like four
or five years, it's it went from like fifty to

(01:11:18):
fifty to like closer to like eighty percent. Maybe it's
seventy seventy to seventy five percent. That guy has to
tackle because if he will not tackle the a good
offensive coordinator will call runs at him all day long
because if you've put him on the field and it's
clearly a passing look and your safeties are playing back

(01:11:39):
like that guy has to be a run defender. So
I I think it's more about having guys that can
be versatile, because the versatility on offense is not gonna change.
I mean, at at watching Texas play offense, they got
running backs who can catch and run inside the tackles,
outside the tackles, It's like those guys are NFL guys.

(01:12:00):
And then they got countless wide receivers who can take
tunnel screens of the house, who can jump balls. So
it's like all these players at all these top schools,
Ohio State's got a ton of skill guys. I mean
the freshman wide receiver, their running backs, those guys can
do so much. I need hybrid defensive players. The other
thing you said is when you have cover corners, Well,
how many teams have good cover corners. Most teams have

(01:12:21):
like one the best. You know, the Chiefs are somewhat
of an outlier. They got a bunch of good dbs
and that's what makes them unique is McDuffie can kind
of be this hybrid Charles Woodson player. So I think
when you're talking about the best defenses, do you have
hybrid Swiss army knives? And McDuffie's a Swiss army knife.
Kyle Hamilton's a Swiss army knife. Who Fungo when he's

(01:12:44):
healthy for the Niners is a Swiss Army knife because
he can turn into a linebacker. So those guys tackle.
That's what made Richard Sherman such a great corner is
he was a great zone defender, but he could tackle
like a linebacker, so you couldn't run to his side
because he would come in and fill and you would
never run a sweep or an outside look to him

(01:13:05):
because he's such a great he turns into like a
safety slash small linebacker. And so to me, the key
is just finding guys like the knock when I was
in the NFL and just young kind of run around linebackers.
Is they like hitting in space, but they didn't like
you know, the I would say, the clutter that is

(01:13:28):
presented between the tackles and they get lost in the shuffle.
And I think these guys have gotten so used to
kind of I don't know, running around him now. If
a top tackle, if Sewell or Trent Williams or whoever,
you know, Tristan Wurf's gets their hands on most of
these linebackers, they fucking destroy them. Where if you go

(01:13:48):
back to like when I was a kid, you'd have
one on one those guys just coming full speed down.
Unless you were like Larry Allen. There would just be
huge collisions with guards and centers and even tack and
sometimes they'd win, sometimes they'd lose. Now, like it's really
a lot of running around them, which I would do
the same if I was a smaller linebacker. Got a

(01:14:12):
question heard you with Colin. You said you were at
the an Ou fan What do you think of Venables
staying with Hawkins instead of throwing Arnold in for the
right Red River rivalry game. Do you think Arnold has
told him he's hitting the portal regardless of this year
and Venables keeping it out of the media. I'm not

(01:14:33):
saying Arnold is better or worse. But I wonder why
they didn't even throw him in at all. I don't
know this for a fact, but clearly he's gonna transfer
right now. I don't know if he's already told them
don't put me in the game, which would be weird
because during warm ups he's playing catch with Hawkins. The
reason they're just running with Hawkins is their wide receiver suck.

(01:14:56):
The top five guys are injured, so they're rolling out
guys they would never play. So the only element that
they have on offense he is running the quarterback around
which Texas is so good on defense. I heard someone
say they're averaging like their opponents are averaging like six
or seven points. Their Texas defensive speed is pretty eye opening,

(01:15:17):
which Sark needs. Right. If he gets a good defense,
their offense is so good they can win a Natty.
That was their what was their downfall last year? Defense?
De Boor and Pennix and those boys lit them up
like Christmas Tree. It's gonna be a lot more difficult
this year, and we know the Texas can score. So
Hawkins kind of gave gives them a running element, and

(01:15:38):
I think that's why. And you know what's funny is
you watch Hawkins in warm ups and he was throwing
some of these passes and you're just like, this guy's
throwing bullets. Now he doesn't really know where the ball's going.
But I get true freshman rolling with them. Like all
these guys come in different shapes and sizes. Seeing Arnold,

(01:16:00):
who was the fourth quarterback in his class behind Arch
Nico and the dude that got beat out of Boise
State that came from usc Like you see Arch standing there,
he's even Mario's like, god, he's big. I'm like, well, yeah,
he's a man. He's like six or five. He's huge,
bigger than yours. And you see Arnold, who's probably more

(01:16:22):
like I would say, looks more like you know, Derek
Carr type, Jimmy Garoppolo. I'm talking body type, but doesn't
have the movement. Hawkins, who is much closer to the
I don't even know what he you know, he's like
a poor man's Kyler. Obviously Kyler is much better at everything,
but like that's kind of what his mold's gonna be.

(01:16:44):
Run around, make big plays, throw bombs. He's got a
big arm, and he's gonna have to coach him up,
and the better players he plays with, the better he's
gonna be. I think it's very, very complicated with this
transfer portal. They could Arnold could not pass and couldn't
sup turning the ball over. So you make the move,
and once you make the move, all these guys get

(01:17:05):
like butt hurt and they go, well, I'm out because
they can. And I think once you say that, you
just kind of honor it and I, you know, maybe
cut them off the nil. I don't know exactly how
it works, but at least where I was sitting, it
looked like he was the backup quarterback for that game.
So if he's the backup quarterback, he's just trying to
be a good I don't know. These these situations are complicated.

(01:17:28):
I would have done what they did. I just roll
with this kid. It's gonna be a tough year. You
try to get to like eight wins, and then next
year your offense is way better because they are good
on defense. I mean, it was seven to three with
like five minutes to go in the first half. They
had already picked off viewers, and then they fumbled twice
and text turned into twenty one points. So Stafford was
on Fox this past Sunday, looks like he might be

(01:17:50):
coming in for a tryout. Think this is the last
season we see Stafford and see him on Fox next year,
similar to how Kelsey went on Amazon. I think this
one's probably a little different. You know, he lives in
LA so it's easy for him. Stafford his I think
his good friend is now dating Carrissa. Carrissa's very close

(01:18:11):
with his Stafford's wife, Kelly. You know, inevitably, could he
be calling games in five years for sure? But even
if he is, and Fox would hire him in a heartbeat,
and he'd be fun Like I'd hire him too if
I were them. But it doesn't pay what he's making
right now thirty five forty million dollars. So even if

(01:18:34):
it's a good salary, like hey, we'll give you a
couple million dollars to call games, like Greg Olsen is
making three million dollars, would you rather make three million
dollars or make forty playing quarterback? So to me, Stafford
feels like the type guy. Now he's got a young family,
a bunch of kids. Maybe he just calls it quits
a little earlier, And you think so I didn't get
that impression like this is he's doing this to transition

(01:18:56):
next year. Remember Greg Olsen called games while he was playing,
like in the bye week, would call a game, and
I think he still played a couple of years and
it wasn't until maybe he was like, God, my body
doesn't feel good. I'm not as good of a player.
I'm out. But if you're Stafford, you're like shit, if
my team was a little if we didn't have so
many injuries, my team would be awesome because I'm still good.

(01:19:16):
He's not wrong. So if I was guessing uneducated, guess
I think Matt Stafford is playing football next year if
he's healthy. This is a comment. Totally agree with Patricia
on the Coach Pod. He still seems enthralled to Bill
and is stopping him from opinioning properly and expressing his views.

(01:19:40):
That's what we want from him and every ex coach
on the media. I agree. Listen, I no one's judging
when I turn on to watch you. Obviously, I'm more
inclined to watch Bill Belichick because he's Bill Belichick and
won six rings. But like, if you're a former coach
and you're talented on television and interesting and willing to
say some shit like you're gonna to be entertaining. And

(01:20:01):
Bill actually is kinda like he's willing to kind of
throw some blows. But I think sometimes he looks over Patricia,
who's terrified to offend anybody, and he and Bill's like, yeah,
I'm gonna coach it, and he kind of pulls in
the reins. Or if you just got Bill and Lombardi,
I think there'd be episodes where they would just empty
the clip. Cause again, you know, I've had people in

(01:20:22):
the NFL get mad at me, like I don't man,
that was fucked up what you said. No, we're all
saying the same things. I just put my name on
literally everything I say, right, So, like who knows what
Bill is saying when the MIC's not on him. That's
what we want. Now, we're not gonna get at all,
but if we can just get twenty thirty forty percent
of it, like it's gonna be fantastic television or YouTube. Right,

(01:20:48):
So that's all I want as someone that's a consumer
of this stuff. Entertainment, baby, just entertainment, and throw some blows.
Talk how you normally talk, Just talk how you normally talk,
Like when I watch Patricia talk. I don't believe he
normally does. I believe you take the mic off him,
get him behind. He's saying a bunch of shit and
he's unwilling to say it. So if you're unwilling to
say it, take the fucking mic off you're not. No

(01:21:10):
one wants to hear from you. At least Bill. Bill's earned,
like I get it. He's going to be a head
coach next year, so we can't evisterate everybody, but he's
He's gotten way closer to the line on some stuff
than I ever thought he would, so I appreciate that.
The volume

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