3 & Out - NFL Week 1 Reaction: Giants UPSET Cowboys on SNF, Bills OUTLAST Texans in Thriller, Ravens DOMINATE Colts - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Polymarket Clearing. The CFTC regulated exchange and clearing organization. What

(02:15):
is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middlecoff,
3NOW Podcast. It is back. It is officially back. Watching
football all day from your couch. Eating, not really moving.
And then if you're me, you talk into a mic
about what you saw. And that's what we will do today.
So the Giants get a big win. Some craziness today.

(02:38):
All-time Packers meltdown. Bears score like 150 points. Josh Allen,
Lamar dominate. Might have to apologize to you Ravens fans.
Bengals defense might be sweet. A lot going on. Arch
Manning saves Steve Sarkeesian in the fourth quarter. Maybe Steve
Sarkeesian saves Arch. I don't know. That was a crazy

(02:59):
Saturday night. So a lot of football to discuss. Tyler
Shuck just refused to die against the Lions, who look
like kitty cats for about a half on defense, who
might not be great on defense. But they're clearly not.
We'll talk about it all. We've got a lot going on.
Appreciate everyone listening. You guys know the drill. If you...

(03:22):
If you want to watch us, we're on this little
place called Netflix. Hit the alert button, never miss a thing.
We put content on the YouTube page as well. Did
some thoughts on the 49ers in Seattle last week. I'll
do a bunch this week with different things happening throughout
the week that doesn't make it here on the podcast.
And then if you want to listen on the podcast,
you guys know the drill. Subscribe to the 3 and

(03:45):
Out podcast if you listen with Colin. Colin and I
also did an instant reaction video. as the Packers were
actually mid-melting down and the Eagles were trying to hold
on on all the action on Sunday. So let's just
dive into some football. Giants-Cowboys, to me, feels like week
one Sunday night football. The problem has been is both

(04:07):
franchises have been all over the map, and specifically the Giants, right?
Once they fired Coughlin, the McAdoo, Eli, Daniel Jones, Brian Dayball,
Pat Shermer, nothing has worked. And they put all their
chips in the table this offseason to go in for
John Harbaugh, who, let's face it, was coming off a

(04:29):
devastating season in Baltimore. I mean, it peaked two or
three years ago when he had Mike McDonald and Todd
Munkin and Lamar's the MVP. And I thought they were
going to win the Super Bowl. And I was like,
John Harbaugh is going to win his second Super Bowl.
And then they got just unraveled in that AFC Championship game.

(04:49):
And then they just kept taking steps back. And I
think it was fair to ask. I totally understood why
they did it. And they needed to get a grown-up
in the building. They have all this young talent that
he gets to inherit. And then he gets with trading
Dexter Lawrence, two young players. But, like, does John Harbaugh
still have his fastball? And, you know, for those of

(05:12):
you that are Giants fans that follow the team probably
closer on a day-in, hour-in, out basis during training camp,
I follow it relatively closely. Jordan Renan, buddy of mine,
I follow his work. I keep a close eye on
what's going on. I've known Matt Nagy since I started
with the Philadelphia Eagles. I love Nagy. And tonight was

(05:34):
a huge night for the Giants organization that, like, we
got it grown up in the house. And John Harbaugh
still has his fastball. And Matt Nagy knows how to
call an offense. And Abdul Carter, who anyone with a
pulse that has watched football, that watched him play at
Penn State went, this guy could be a Micah Parsons-level player.

(05:56):
And last year, the disasters that were happening off the field,
coming late, not starting, it's like popped immediately off the screen.
Obviously the quarterback who we'll get into here in a minute.
But even going into tonight in the fourth quarter, when
they were out playing the Cowboys, controlling the line of scrimmage,
controlling the clock, just looking like a buttoned up real

(06:20):
NFL franchise, which let's face it, has not happened with
the New York Giants for a long time. I didn't
know anything about the NFC East besides from far away,
living on the West Coast. And when I got hired
by the Eagles, I remember going to the regular season
games against the Giants. In 2010 and 2011, 2012, 2013,

(06:42):
when Tom Coughlin was there, obviously they won their second
Super Bowl in 11. The high-level guys they had on
that roster, the size and the physicality they had on
the line of scrimmage, was always such an eye-opening experience
for me. Their defensive linemen were all fucking huge. They
just had so many pros on their offensive line. Obviously, Eli,

(07:05):
when he got hot, was as good as anybody. But
at the end of the day, Tom Coughlin was essentially
like a military general. And it just kind of worked.
And then they kind of went the opposite way. Because
that's what you typically do with coaches. When you have
a disciplinarian... When you fire that guy, you go to
a player's coach. When you have a player's coach and

(07:26):
you fire that guy, you go to a disciplinarian. And
going from Dayball, who, you know, I root for bald guys,
so I want to like them. But they were an
embarrassment last year. I mean, game after game after game,
blowing them in the fourth quarter to the, you know, the.
peak of it all happening in that day in Denver

(07:47):
which I'm pretty sure led to Dayball getting fired and
I don't know if you've checked in it's not going
well for him currently in Tennessee with the quarterback that
I know he liked Jackson Dart so I give him
credit on that but he liked Cam Ward more and
I think sometimes organizations get a little lucky that the
Jackson Dart situation that he falls late in the first

(08:08):
round into the 20s I mean you look at him
now like Okay, if people knew how good Jackson Dart
would have been, in his draft, he would have been
the number one overall pick. He showed flashes last year,
but this is why you bring in a guy who
knows what he's doing. Because you build structure around the player.

(08:29):
You give the guy certain milestones that he has to hit.
You demand certain things out of their talent. And John
has multiple guys. Joe Flacco's made like $ 200 million in
the league. won a Super Bowl with him. And the
irony is Lamar, you know, is a much better player
than Joe Flacco, just has yet to kind of get

(08:51):
over the hump in the playoffs. But Lamar Jackson was
a 32nd pick in the draft, was his fifth quarterback
in his own class. So when John looks at Jackson Dart,
and listen, do I think he's like Nagy and Callahan
and Greg Roman? He's not telling him about his footwork

(09:13):
and coaching him on all these fundamentals. He has a
staff to do that. But I do think the leadership,
the vision, what his expectations are for the player, and
what will not be tolerated. And, you know, you can't
play as reckless as he played last year and have
a shot because he kept going to the blue tent
over and over and over. You won't have a long career.

(09:36):
And you watched him the night and you went– This
feels much more like a buttoned-up player, a modern buttoned-up player.
If you watch Caleb, if you watch Josh, if you
watch Lamar, those guys are buttoned-up, modern players. Jalen had
flashes today, the big run toward the end of the game. Mobility,

(09:57):
to me, is a must in my quarterback in 2019. 2026,
men moving forward. And if you watch football on Saturdays,
they all can move. But at the end of the day,
to be a great player in the NFL and in college,
you can get by a little with college. At least
we've seen examples, extreme examples, Tebow, I mean, Cam became

(10:19):
such an explosive pastor in the NFL. I know he
was a decent pastor in college, but his running ability
was unlike anything we've ever seen from a physical standpoint.
Johnny Manziel, you just run around, right? Even Bryce against
Oklahoma had the big run. In the NFL, you've got
to sit in the pocket and you've got to deliver strikes.
And you watch Jackson tonight, there were some stretches, we'll

(10:41):
get into the Cowboys defense later, where guys are wide open.
When a guy is wide open and that is your read...
A good quarterback hits them 100% of the time. Now,
that wide receiver might drop a wide open pass. We
have seen that happen. But he hits them in the
hands 100% of the time. And it felt like tonight,
Jackson Dart hit all the wide open guys right in

(11:02):
the hands 100% of the time. And that is the
price of admission. but where I was blown away. And
even Collinsworth talked about this on the broadcast. And you
can tell Collinsworth was impressed because it was an impressive performance,
especially if you watch football all day, like all of
us degenerates, and you watched, I mean, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson,

(11:23):
who are two of the great talents of my lifetime.
I'm not talking accomplishments, though they have three MVPs combined.
I'm just talking, I know they haven't won Super Bowls,
but just in terms of talent and physical capabilities, all-time talents.
And it sure seems like Caleb Williams is now throwing
his hat in that ring, too. But those guys, when

(11:45):
it really has to happen, sometimes sit in the pocket,
a seven-yard out route, a slant where a guy is
draped over your wide receiver and he's likely in stride,
likely in stride. It's like, what a pass. And listen,
the guy might catch it, he might not, but you
got to put him in position to complete that pass
and keep the chains moving. And to me, I watched

(12:07):
art tonight. As Michael Jordan once said, the ceiling is
the roof. I mean, the sky is the limit because
that was a dramatic. And listen, he was played sparingly
because of injuries. Pretty impressive, I thought, as a rookie.
But what we witnessed tonight was in a completely different universe.

(12:29):
It truly was. Because of the plays throwing under control
from the pocket. I know he can run for a
first down. I know he can scramble and throw. He's
been doing that stuff probably since high school. But to
win in the NFL against the Cowboys, against the Eagles,
next week against the Rams, there are going to be

(12:50):
several times, especially if the game is close, in a 10-10, 17-17,
you're up seven, you're down four, where it's like it's
36 at the 50-yard line. And likely he's cutting across
the field with a DB or a safety or a
linebacker all over his ass. And you have a tiny,
tiny little window. And we have seen all shapes and

(13:11):
sizes be great. Drew Brees, smaller, weaker arm. Peyton Manning, taller,
weaker arm. Tom Brady, taller, strong arm. None of them
could really move. You see Lamar, Josh, when they get
in that position, they're playing well, they hit it. And
he hit it tonight. I was like, damn. You know, damn.
And it also crossed my mind of like, Mark Andrews

(13:31):
is a really good player and had an excellent career.
I've been rooting for him since Oklahoma. There were rumors
last year about a potential trade out of Baltimore and
extending likely. I'm not saying they regret it because the
Ravens look incredible, but likely tonight looked like, and they
mentioned this on the broadcast, Isaiah thought that he was

(13:52):
never going to be a feature dude with the Ravens.
And it was true because when he was there, he wasn't.
Yet in some of the biggest moments when you watched
him play, even I was watching the game, eating dinner
with my wife, and Maria looks at me and she goes,
that guy's huge. I'm like, yeah, he's like 6'6, tight end.
She's like, what's his deal? I'm like, big free agent signing,

(14:13):
came with Harbaugh from Baltimore. Like transfer portal, a little
more cash. And he was incredible tonight. And the rapport
with Dart. And the other thing for a young quarterback,
any quarterback, when you have a big target, Like, obviously,
Mahomes and Tyreek Hill or Edelman and Brady, right? But
there is something to be said about, look at Purdy

(14:36):
the other night. Who did he throw to? Mike Evans.
I mean, it's much easier when you have a guy,
Mahomes for a long period of time with Travis Kelce. Today,
Josh Allen with Kincaid. Lamar has been feasting off his
tight ends forever. It's a little easier because they're just bigger, right?
And you feel comfortable throwing. And they're working the middle

(14:58):
of the field. So, you know, if you're hesitant or
you're a little late on the outside routes, you can
overthrow it, you can underthrow it, you can get a
PBU because you're a little off. It's a much more
direct path with the tight end. And it looks like
they got one. I mean, we already knew he was talented,
but how quickly he assimilated in. And the other thing is, like,

(15:21):
the Harbaugh culture thing, that moment at the end of
the game, where Jackson Dart turned around and handed the
ball to Malik Nabors, it's just like, okay, they kind
of just get it. This team, and I'm not acting,
by no means am I even putting this team in
the playoffs yet. Got a long way to go. But

(15:43):
there is a power. This is the one sport, like ultimately,
NBA coaches bounce around, right? And it's like, oh, they
signed this guy, or Taylor Jenkins went here, this guy
went there. It's like, if you don't have one of
the best players in the league, I don't give a
shit about your schemes. I mean, look at Eric Spolster.

(16:04):
Didn't he get smoked in the play-in game? And it's like,
he's the greatest coach in the league. It doesn't matter
if you don't have the players. In football, to win
a Super Bowl, you're going to need some high-end guys.
But you can win a lot of games by developing players.
And clearly the Giants have talent. I mean, Abdul Carter

(16:25):
was a top pick. Arvel Reese was a top pick.
Jackson Dart was a first-rounder. Malik Nabors was a first-rounder.
They have multiple offensive linemen who are first-rounders. Kayvon Thibodeau
was a first-rounder. I'm not acting like they got scrubs.
But football, you see it in college, you see it
in the pros. A lot of teams. Look at Clemson
last year. I think I heard this on college SiriusXM

(16:49):
radio recently. That was the most players Clemson had ever
had drafted in a year. Don't quote me on that.
I don't know if it's 100% a fact. But it
made sense because they had like nine. They had a
ton of guys go in the top like three rounds.
They were terrible. They were awful. You see it in
college basketball all the time. It's like, oh, this guy's
got three of their five players are going to be

(17:11):
lottery picks. And then they're like a nine seed. You
see it in the NFL all the time. It's like, God,
they have a lot of talent. They won eight games.
Because coaching matters so much. It's not even just coaching
the play calls. And Nagy made some great play calls tonight.
The one touchdown to Likely on the motion throwback looked

(17:33):
exactly like peak Chiefs Travis Kelsey from Mahomes. That's clearly
a play that they've used in Kansas City for years.
And it was executed brilliantly. I would imagine the Giants
run game is going to be better. Why? Greg Roman's
good at the run game. There's a reason the Harbaugh
brothers love the guy. Even though Jim recently fired him.
But they still love him. His brother immediately hires him.

(17:56):
It's about the daily message. And you know, it's... I'm
guilty of this too. It's easy to make fun of
John's stupid pregame speech to start training camp about we're
the New York Giants. I bet if you read around
to every speech during training camp or OTAs, not every
single one is Al Pacino in any given Sunday. Not

(18:20):
every speech is going to win an Oscar. Andy Reid
addresses the team for like five minutes every day. Like,
less than that. Kyle's team meetings are notoriously long. Andy's
are notoriously short. Every coach is a little bit different. Right?
But the key is, do the guys believe in you?
Do they want to follow you? And it feels like

(18:42):
the Giants haven't had one of those guys since they
had Tom. And, listen, I... Tom had an intensity and
a swag to him for an old dude. You just...
Kind of scared you a little bit. And I would
say this version of John... You know, a lot of
these college coaches aren't GLPs. It's very clear. Clearly, John,

(19:03):
if you follow the Giants, like, that guy's in the
gym every day at 5. Looks fantastic for a guy
in his early 60s. And he... He looks pretty motivated because,
you know, you get fired. You get told you're not
good enough. The owner says, yeah, you were going to
get fired even if you won that game regardless. We
were moving on. And listen, it was probably time. Just

(19:23):
because something, the time has run up, doesn't mean that
it's not, doesn't light a little fire in your ass.
And I do think the Giants have a very, very
motivated John Harbaugh. It showed tonight because they looked fucking good.
And on the flip side, I'm a cowboy believer coming
into the season. I'm gonna try not to totally overreact

(19:45):
to all these games week one, which is difficult. I'm
not one of those people in this business that goes
this is a show that doesn't overreact no I just
I literally react to what I see that's the business
we're in but like if some random guy has a
great game I don't go that guy's the next Josh
Allen Just like when Deshaun Watson hits a beautiful ball

(20:07):
at the end of that. It's like, God, he's got
it in him. Like, no, he doesn't. If you're in
the NFL, you could hit a play, right? But we
are going to react to what we saw. And part
of the, one, there was a stretch in the second
quarter where you're like, Dak Prescott looks incredible. Dak Prescott's
a stud. And then all of a sudden at the
end of the half, he throws the pick, which is

(20:28):
an inexcusable play. which is a play Jackson Dart in
his second year should make, knock Dak Prescott, who's going
to make $ 500 million playing quarterback, who in theory should
be in the peak of his powers mentally in the sport.
That's a throw that, and I got a couple texts
from different scouts in the league, like, what the hell
was that? And that's a great question, because those are

(20:51):
the type plays that Dak's made in the playoffs over
the years, that you're like, what did, what just happened?
Because he had a stretch of back-to-back series where he
just looked in complete control. Dominating from the pocket. Even
some of the balls that weren't completed are bouncing off Pickens' hand.
This guy's playing really well. The moment he threw that pick,

(21:12):
the game unraveled. And I do think big picture, the Cowboys'
offense is going to be fine. They've got two blue-chip
wide receivers. They've got a good running back. They've got
a good tight end. Smith will come back on the
offensive line. I'm not... terrified about an offensive performance which
wasn't great they ran for 69 yards and Dak threw

(21:34):
for 175 yards I mean box score wise wasn't good
they didn't have the ball that much because the Giants
controlled the clock what was a little concerning is beside
the Caleb Downs hit on dart which was pretty sweet
the defense was ass sheiks I mean that was an
embarrassment Now, I get it's the first game, you got

(21:57):
a new coordinator. There were multiple times, and I give
Jackson credit just because guys open, you got to hit them,
you got to catch it, and they did. But guys
were wide open because the DBs had no clue where
they were going. And this guy comes from the Fangio tree.
Part of the Vic Fangio tree, this is not Brian Flores.
I think I heard someone say that Brian Flores blitzed

(22:18):
like 79% of the time today. Like Brian Flores, he
probably would blitz 100% of the time if the head
coach would let him. That is not going to be
the Fangio school of thought. The Fangio school of thought
is actually much more simple. It's like the KISS method,
keep it simple, stupid. It's like just kind of be
where you're supposed to be. And if we play fundamentally,

(22:41):
we don't let guys behind us. And, you know, you
got to have some good players in that because a
lot's just going to be rushing forward. But we're not
going to give up big plays, and there's not going
to be just wide open spaces to run because we're
going to have a guy in the area. And tonight,
on so many occasions, two guys went with each other.

(23:02):
And it wasn't good. It definitely was a little concerning
because they don't have a snowball's chance in hell to
be a good team if their defense is going to
show similarities of last year. And to me, the miscommunication stuff,
when guys are just lost, is always concerning. Because it's

(23:25):
easy for, you know, I play it safe, don't overreact guy,
to be like, oh, they'll get it figured out. And
that's easy to say. I've been watching football for 30 years.
I've seen a lot of teams that like week in,
week out, it's like, eh, they actually never figured it out.
It never really got better. They never were on the
same page. Hell, it happened to the Cowboys four or
five years ago. Now, it was the Rona season, but

(23:48):
Nolan's defense, it was a nightmare. And then they got
Dan Quinn in, and it kind of settled down. But
this was a pretty big transition, and tonight was ugly.
And the Giants kind of embarrassed them with Jackson Dart,
Cam Scadaboo, and Isaiah Likely. I mean, I felt like
those three guys were just dominating this game. I mean,

(24:09):
dominating this game. Whenever in the second half they needed
a big play, it was Dart to Likely. Dart to likely.
Dart to likely. And then it's like third and seven.
It's like run out the clock. Give it to the
fucking hammerhead. And he's lowering his shoulder. Cam Scadaboo is
a talented runner. I know everyone makes fun of him
because he's like this meathead, you know, CTE guy. I'll

(24:33):
tell you this. When Cam Scadaboo is healthy, he could
play for my team any day of the week and
twice on Sundays. Cam Scadaboo is a ball player. That
was an impressive opening night, powerful night with the anniversary
over the last couple days of 9-11 in New York,
them all wearing the hats. It was just, that was

(24:57):
cool for the Giants. And the franchise kind of needed
it because they haven't had a really cool moment, it
feels like, in a little while. So my Cowboys are
going to have to be better because they're currently in
last place. Can I tell you about my friends at SeatGeek?

(25:17):
I got a text, I think, last week from Coach Canales,
new basketball coach at Weber State. Boys with Dame. They're
trying to rebuild that bad boy. And he says, what
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download it. Easy. Doesn't get any easier. 35 million people
have downloaded it. SeatGeek's the number one rated ticketing app.
He's like, I want to go to the Savannah Banana
game with my kids. And I said, well, you know what?

(25:40):
You're in luck. Because they got your back. Each ticket
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We got football starting. NBA not that far away. College events. Concerts.
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(26:04):
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you can use it later. Thank you, SeatGeek. I fell

(26:27):
in love those three games last year, the Bears and Packers,
the rivalry, and living in Arizona, the amount of people
I know that are from the midwest that are bears
fans i meet i met a packer fan last night
at dinner he's like are you we were kind of
mutually talking with a friend who was also at dinner

(26:48):
and he called me over to his table and we
were leaving with jack and maria and i started talking
to the guy and he's like you look familiar he's
like you do this with colin coward like yeah i'm
like uh he said he was from the midwest i
said are you a big bears fan he's like no
actually we're packer season ticket holders i meet a ton
of vikings fans these people live here six months of
the year It's good living if you can. Go back

(27:09):
and forth somewhere. And that division and those games last
year were just pretty special. And I have a lot of–
I grew up when Brett Favre got there. It was
when the Packers kind of 30-plus year run started. They've
been a major, major brand in the boom of the NFL.

(27:34):
John Madden falling in love with them. over the course
of LaFleur transitioning off Rodgers to Love and continuing to
make the playoffs. And when I did Fox over the summer,
one of Collins' take was the least hot or quietest
hot seat in the league is Matt LaFleur. And even

(27:54):
I thought, like, eh, I don't know, he got an extension.
And then you start realizing how many games they blow.
how last year unraveled, and then you look currently at
this year. Before today happened, or at least right before
the start of the day. If I would have told
you at the beginning, or during breakfast, if you give

(28:15):
me $ 1, 000, I will 10x your investment at the end
of the day. If you pick the LaFleur and Harbaugh
brother that will win their game commandingly, one will win
by 8, the other will win by 15, every single
person would have picked Jim and Matt. Instead, it was

(28:36):
Mike and John. And I think Mike LaFleur gets an
incredible win. I mean, he beats the crap out of
Jim Harbaugh. And Matt LaFleur, his team, in the blink
of an eye, was in complete control. And I don't
think Matt's a bad coach. Like, Colin's whole thing is,
there's something that he lacks, a killer instinct. And I'm

(28:58):
a huge believer in this. Some football coaches are just, like, tough.
There's just something about them. It doesn't mean that, like,
Tom Coughlin wasn't beating up anybody. Like, Nick Saban at
68 wasn't going to get into a fight. But when
you're around Nick Saban or you're around Tom Coughlin, like,
this guy's just a tough SOB. Like, it's easy to

(29:19):
understand Dan Campbell's a tough guy, right? Because he's intimidating.
He's a big guy. But there are a lot of small, like,
Lou Holtz. Tiny little Lou Holtz. That guy was a badass.
and we'll get into Sark later, he's just not a
tough guy. But if you're not a tough guy, that's okay.
You can instill those people in your organization. Kyle Shanahan's

(29:42):
not a super tough guy. But he's big on investing
in the defensive side of the ball. And he takes
his defensive coordinator really seriously. And I see LaFleur, like,
his two tough guys, Micah Parsons, who knows when he's
coming back. Today, when it's 19-10... and the Packers are
in complete control. I think Jordan Love's playing pretty well.

(30:02):
Christian Watson looks like a pro bowler. That's when Micah
Parsons would have been all over Carson Wentz's ass because
Carson's not running away from him at this point, but
he's just one of the rare guys that tore his
ACL last year who's not remotely close to coming back
on the sideline, which is no one's fault. You get injured,
and it is what it is, but his recovery is

(30:24):
clearly slower than most. And then you got Josh Jacobs,
who Ian Rapsheet reported this morning, the NFL is doing
everything humanly possible to get a hold of that tape.
And by all accounts, it doesn't seem like there's a
lot of good visuals on that tape and that tape
comes out which honestly a little surprised it hasn't I
saw a story that Jacobs lawyers got the judge I

(30:48):
don't even know all the legal terms but basically did
not allow it in evident or whatever but it's just
kind of hidden right now we know how quick those
things can change there's a chance we never see Josh
Jacobs again and the two most physical players offensive and
defensively were Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs well those guys
are gone And then you have a chance to make
it an eight-point game and kick the field goal. They

(31:09):
get the penalty, and you're like, well, instead of it's
fourth and six, it's fourth and one. Let's go for it. Like, bro,
you go up eight against, make Carson Wentz beat you.
And I know he actually threw a beautiful bomb to
Justin Jefferson. Crazy start for Kyler Murray. I mean, just
scrambles out. For a split second, you're like, is he dead?
Did that just end his career? Kevin O'Connell said after

(31:33):
the game he got up and he was talking, but
I would imagine he'll for sure be out a week.
They keep winning with Carson Wentz. I could see them
just riding with Carson Wentz. But to be up 19
to 10, and then in like the blink of an eye,
I mean, it felt like in real time, it was
under like 20, 25 minutes for it to go from
that to 39 to 22. And they scored 21 points

(31:56):
in like under two minutes of game time. It had
to be like 10 minutes of actual human time. These
are type things that it's hard to shake. And the
other thing, the Packers, and I don't know that area
that well. I've spent two or three days there when
I went out with Colin to do the Live Golf
before that thing unraveled. At the time, they had the

(32:18):
Saudi money, and the tournament on-site was actually pretty cool.
But being in Chicago, and then we went out a
couple times, him explaining how close Green Bay is, and
you kind of understand how small this town is. And
I was texting with Gottlieb, who's coaches in the city.
that the Bears historically are horrendous on offense. Never had
a 4,000-yard passer. When you just think about the Chicago Bears,

(32:41):
it's Trubisky's, Rex Grossman's. They've never had good quarterbacks in
my life. They've just never been good on offense. And
the Packers have just not been the bar in the division, typically,
because they've had Favre and Rodgers. They own the Bears.
And they were kind of the offensive-oriented team Operation, right?

(33:02):
McCarthy to LaFleur. And now you look, if you're a
Packer fan, we're just unraveling game after game. And I
look down the road, Ben Johnson's a star. Like, obviously
Caleb is physically like, he's way better this year. Much
more accurate today. Running around like he's Lamar Jackson with
some power. And they ran for 290 yards. They had

(33:25):
200 yard runners. He's the Midwest Kyle Shanahan. Because Ben
Johnson wants to run the rock. Now, I don't know
how good the Bears are on defense. Probably not that good.
But they weren't last year either, and they won the division.
But if you're a Packer fan, you go, they don't
just have the better coach. It ain't even close. You know,
for a long time, like when the Packers had Rodgers,

(33:48):
it's like, what are the Vikings and the Bears? The
Lions were terrible then. Like, what are they supposed to do?
Because the gap was that wide. It's how it kind
of feels with Ben Johnson compared to Matt LaFleur right now. Like,
he is dramatically better. And then if you just watch
some of the bare stuff they post about him, he

(34:09):
is not, he's a serious badass. And there's something, I
know LaFleur tries to portray that, but his team doesn't
show that identity. And I just wonder, like, this thing
could get weird and this thing could get weird faster.
He needs to rattle off a couple wins to just
quiet everything down. Because I've come over when I think

(34:33):
Ben Johnson is only going to add fuel to the
fire and make that look even worse. And I saw
some people online, like former NFL players before the, I
think Booger McFarlane. You know, it's like, this was before
the Bears game kicked off. I've heard, I think, Urban
Meyer or maybe it was Jimmy Johnson. I think a
lot of coaches were a little, or maybe it was

(34:53):
Mangini who comes from the Belichick. When Ben Johnson goes,
I want the best offense in the league, when he
says that, I think that makes a lot of coaches uncomfortable.
Because I think a lot of coaches are kind of insecure.
So they come, well, you never say anything because it's
really hard to back up. Ben Johnson said it because
he believes it. And I was actually met a guy
probably like a month ago. And I was introduced to

(35:17):
him by a guy, didn't know anything about him. He
said he grew up in Philly. We started talking eagles,
like most human beings I interact with. Our conversation comes
to football. And we talked for like 10 minutes, saw
him before I ate dinner. And then after I ate dinner,
he came back by with his wife. And I probably
talk football the majority of our conversations. And after I
found out, this guy is the CEO. This guy's been

(35:41):
in his mid-60s. CEO of one of the biggest companies
in the state of Arizona. I think by market cap,
they're a public company. It is. And you never would
have known it. And I think it's always impressive when
you meet a guy who's really, really successful, and you
tell someone, like, he's the most humble guy I've ever met.
You wouldn't even... The guy might have been like the
janitor at the high school for a while. He never

(36:02):
even came up. And then you meet some people, and
we all know these people. We've heard stories about these
people that are just pretty arrogant and cocky. And a
lot of times that human rubs the majority of people
the wrong way. I don't have a huge issue with
it if you back it up. And I'm not just
talking athletes, business. Some people just carry themselves. Good-looking people

(36:26):
carry themselves like this. Their shit don't stink. Well, you
can't carry yourself like your shit don't stink if you
can't afford the rent. You know, you can't carry yourself
like you're the best coach ever when you've never had
a winning record. But when you say you're one of
the best offense of all time and you go on
the road week one, I'm not acting like this is
the 85 Bears, the Carolina Panthers. You score 59 points.

(36:49):
It'd be one thing. It's like, well, they had three
defensive touchdowns. They were all offensive touchdowns. They were all
offensive touchdowns. Caleb's hitting balls left and right. Running backs
are busting runs left and right. Caleb's running left and right.
It was remarkable. The Panthers' offense wasn't even that bad.
They scored 37 points. I looked around like, how many
teams today scored more than the Panthers? I mean, it

(37:14):
was the Ravens did. And is that it? Like, who
else scored? The Ravens did. I think that's it. I mean,
the Panthers scored more. The Bills, who we're going to
talk about right now, we're all going to be like,
what a game. The Panthers scored more than the Bills. Now,

(37:34):
the Bears' defense isn't very good, and that's an issue,
but that's a personnel issue. But, like, Ben said that.
I rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He
kind of backed it up. You know who rubbed a
lot of people the wrong way for a long time
early in his career? Kyle Shanahan. I bet a lot
of people over the years have talked a lot of
shit about McVay. Sometimes the talented people make other people

(37:55):
envious because they wish they were that good. And I
think Ben Johnson is just a superstar. And they had
a comment on the broadcast. One reason I was slow
to come around is because I'm like, you know, he
comes from Jared Goff, who's the opposite style player. You
look at Ben Johnson, the type of player he would

(38:16):
have been. He doesn't even relate to Caleb's capabilities. And
it was a little rocky last year. And they mentioned
on the broadcast, after he proved it to him last year,
he's like, when you got to run, run. I don't
be you, essentially. And you saw today a couple times
when he ran for his two sweet touchdowns. I think
Caleb's very comfortable in trying to impress or not trying

(38:42):
to impress and just play Ben Johnson. For a long
time with Lincoln, they were just in it together. I'm
not trying to impress you. We're just kind of a team.
And I think Ben, like even after the game, when
he's giving out game balls, he's giving out game balls
to DeAndre Swift. He's giving out game balls to the
offensive line. I don't feel he feels obligated to like,
I got to give a game ball to my quarterback,
to our relationship. Like the relationship's great. Caleb's got the

(39:04):
mustache going. His physical capability is, like you watch Lamar
and Josh today, it's right there. And his horsepower throwing
the ball is obviously greater than Lamar's. And his speed
is probably not as top end as Lamar, but probably
faster than Josh. I mean, he is he is a,
he's a special talent. And, and my knock always was like,

(39:27):
you know, he just, the inaccuracy looked pretty accurate today.
I mean, he was, he was accurate. The touch pass,
the touchdown to commit. That's, that's football porn. That, that play, the,
the play designed by Ben, the execution and throw by,
by Caleb, uh, incredible catch by their number two tight

(39:48):
end pass catching wise. I mean, Loveland, obviously is a
more dynamic pass catcher than Komet. But if Komet's, Komet
can play for my team any day of the week
as well. So the Bears, I always admire young coaches
that like running the ball because that's how you add
physical presence, you know, to a game. And they just,
I think Caleb said, I haven't seen the clip. I

(40:11):
just saw a headline that he was shaking Canales' hand, said,
you have a great defense. Maybe he was just trying
to be nice. Maybe he was being tongue in cheek.
I don't know. I got to go back and watch it, but. man,
the Bears and the Packers feel like they're going in
opposite directions. The opposite directions. And sometimes that happens with franchises,
and it feels like it's on full display right now.

(40:33):
Speaking of guys both going in the same direction, Josh
Allen and Lamar Jackson, they both looked incredible today. Quick,
I don't want to apologize, only week one, but I
didn't pick you guys to make the playoffs. I said
I didn't know about Declan Doyle. You know, you never
know with a first-time head coach. What's Lamar going to be?
It'll be fun. Because, listen, Colts probably not a playoff team,

(40:57):
but it's not like you're playing the Miami Dolphins. Colts
should win seven, eight games. They beat the living crap
out of it. That was, if you were doing an
AP poll for tomorrow, I would have the Ravens won.
It'd be like Ravens-Bills-Niners or something, you know? Seattle would
be right there, too. But the Ravens just... The reason

(41:19):
you'd have the Ravens over the Bills, like, we still
got a Bills defense, got some holes. The Ravens today,
I mean, Derrick Henry looks like he's 24 for like
10 straight years. Lamar, just peak of his powers. Now,
they did have some injuries, but defensively, I mean, maybe
Jesse Minter is the next Mike McDonald. I mean, he
literally replaced him, essentially, for Jim Harbaugh, and then never

(41:41):
left Jim Harbaugh. And then it was with Jim Harbaugh, they...
Chargers actually looked good on defense, which they did not
today when Jacoby and the boys were lighting them up
like a Christmas tree. But that was a beatdown. That
was an absolute beatdown in Indianapolis. And I think if

(42:01):
you're indie, you just hope, well, it might just be
the best team in the league. Let's just lick our
wounds and figure it out next week. Or it's like,
we have no chance against good teams. So I apologize.
I was wrong. At least through one week, but clearly
the Ravens. A little weird to me. I don't know DaCosta.
Tried to introduce myself to him at the Combine. He's

(42:25):
a little bit of a cold guy. He's an East Coaster.
I'm a West Coaster. A little oil and water. Usually
some of my lines work, create a conversation. It did not.
It actually backfired. So, you know, you have an interaction
with a guy that doesn't go great. It's not like
I know some people that know him that aren't the
biggest fans. There's no disputing his resume speaks for itself.

(42:48):
I do think it's a little bizarre being on the
sideline in your suit the entire game for your young
coach's first game. A little weird. Is he on the
sideline for every game? I don't know. The Max Crosby thing,
he's done it a lot. He's just... He's good at
his job. There's no disputing it. Can I tell you

(43:16):
about my friends at SeatGeek? I got a text, I think,
last week from Coach Canales, new basketball coach at Weber State.
Boys with Dave. They're trying to rebuild that bad boy.
And he says, what app do you use again? I'm like, oh, SeatGeek.
Just download it. Easy. Doesn't get any easier. 35 million
people have downloaded. Seagate's the number one rated ticketing app.
He's like, I want to go to the Savannah Banana

(43:36):
game with my kids. And I said, well, you know what?
You're in luck. Because they got your back. Each ticket
is rated from a 1 to 10 scale. Baseball games.
We got football starting. NBA not that far away. College events. Concerts.
They got you covered. Of course I got a code
for you guys. Any event you want to go to,
they got you covered. Download that bad boy on your phone,

(43:59):
and you can use the code JOHN10 for 10% off
your next set of tickets to SeatGeek. That's 10% off
any tickets with promo code JOHN10. J-O-H-N 10. Make sure
you click through the link in the description, download the app,
and have the code automatically app added to your account
so you can use it later. Thank you, SeatGeek. I

(44:28):
like the Texans today. And my take was simply like,
you know, styles make fights. It's just a bad matchup
for bills. Um, last year they sacked Josh eight times
and it could have been 15. Yeah. You know, my
biggest question Mark was like, is CJ Stroud going to
be a solid player this year? And today he was solid.

(44:49):
He just played the best player on the planet. I mean,
What Josh Allen did today, besides his one play he
got bailed out on, which it's football, it happens, he
was remarkable. He was a man playing with boys. Kincaid
was a dominant tight end today. DJ Moore had an
incredible sideline catch that he took to the house. And

(45:13):
Josh had a couple runs that were just like Cam
Newton-like in his prime. So I believe in Joe Brady.
And listen, call me a sap, quick interaction with him
off his introductory press conference. I just think he's really,
really impressive. And a lot like Minter, you never really
know these great coordinators to the beginning. You immediately see

(45:36):
their power. Like Minter, defense, awesome. Joe Brady, offense, awesome.
And the other thing is he like empowers Josh. Like
this is not, I'm not like a jockey pulling back
on you, getting you to slow down. I want you
to let it rip. Play free. I thought both Lamar

(45:56):
and Josh were just like, rains off. And even Ben
with Caleb. Let it rip. Be you. Let your talent shine.
Steve Kerr's greatest attribute that he brought to the Warriors
was like, Steph, dude, just do whatever you need to do.
If you're going to shoot from half court, I don't
give a shit. Just be you. Cook. Sometimes it's going

(46:17):
to look weird. Sometimes it'll backfire. But more often than not,
Your talent will supersede, exceed, and just overmatch whoever our
opponent is. And that's what it felt like Josh did.
I watched the Texans extremely closely last year. I had
multiple shackles on them for different things. And they got

(46:41):
off to a slow start, but their defense never, I
don't ever remember it looking like this. They were getting
smoked all game long. I got news for you. I
don't think it'll look like that very often anymore either.
You know why they don't play Josh Allen every week.
I mean, it was absurd. They were last year's a

(47:02):
good player. They were attacking him. They were attacking the
middle of the field. They were just attacking. Now the
problem with the bills and maybe this will get better
with Jim Leonard is their defense does not look great. Uh,
I don't know if maybe CJ was playing well or
their defense just isn't good. Time will tell. Obviously, CJ,

(47:22):
I think people will crush him for melting down on
that final drive. The only thing I'd knock him on is, like,
if you watch Deshaun Watson, which, by the way, anyone
watching Lioness, that show, it's when I stayed in L.A.
for the week to do FS1, I just downloaded them
all and I just powered through. And now I'm just
watching this new season. It's, it's, it's right up my alley.

(47:45):
It's made for me. Well, in this new, in the
latest season, like the, the star kind of like lead
Navy SEAL chick has been abducted by Russians. And I
think they're trying to get her out of the country
to give to Iran so they can just like do
all sorts of heinous stuff to her. But she's currently
kind of being tortured in like, in like safe houses that,

(48:08):
our Navy SEAL group kind of can't find. And it looks,
I mean, she's got a toe cut off. It looks
pretty miserable. She could have been waterboarded, just different torture techniques.
It looks miserable. When your team sucks at football forever,
it's the football equivalent of being waterboarded. That's what I
felt like. Like, I don't know that many Browns fans.

(48:30):
I know there are a lot of them. It's a
big football area. I feel for you because it sucks.
When your team just sucks in perpetuity, it's like, oh,
we got a lot of picks now. Oh, we're doing
this move. Oh, we're doing that. It's like nothing ever changes.
Not that anyone expected it to change this year because
you got Deshaun Watson, but you're going to be forced

(48:52):
to watch him play. Titans too. I mean, the Titans
and Browns, they stink. Think how lucky the Giants are
because Brian Dayball desperately wanted to get Cam Ward. He
was offering first round picks, second round picks, and they
were told no. And it ended up giving you Jackson Dart.

(49:14):
It's why the draft is such a crazy exercise. So
many variables, so many unknowns. things you think at the time,
like you love this player over this player. Three years later,
you're gifted the player you didn't like as much because
the way the draft fell. And then you look back
and you go, that is insane. I saw this thing
on my Instagram where Todd Haley, I forget where he

(49:37):
was doing the interview. But he was working for the
Browns at the time, and he was begging Jimmy Haslam. Now,
maybe he's just saying it now. It's like when Danny
Ainge used to say, like, we were going to draft
Drayvon Green. Well, you had two picks, and you didn't
take them. It's like, easy to say now. It's like,
we had this guy number three on our board. Everyone
says it like four years later. It's like, I had
Dak Prescott in the top ten. But Todd Haley was

(50:00):
telling Jimmy Haslam, because they had the first pick and
the fourth pick. And they ended up taking Baker and
Denzel Ward. So, not bad. He wanted to take Saquon
at one and Josh Allen at four. He was adamant
about it. He was telling me, like, I kind of
believe him. But sometimes you don't, or if you're the Bills,

(50:21):
imagine if that happened. You don't end up with Josh Allen.
Maybe you end up with Baker, or you end up
with Sam Darnold. Like, the butterfly effect of this stuff,
when you look back, has massive ramifications. And Josh Allen, obviously,
I think it's fair to say, is by far the
best thing that ever happened to the Bills. Sometimes it's

(50:44):
a coach. You could say Mahomes and Andy are tied
because the Chiefs were a complete joke. But obviously Mahomes
took them to another level. I think you'd say the
same thing for Walsh and Montana. You know, if you're
the Cowboys in the 90s, you'd say like Jimmy Johnson.
You know, every situation is a little bit different. With

(51:05):
the Bills, it's not even... It's just... Sean McDermott played
a big role. And he was very important. But Josh Allen,
to me, is much closer to like LeBron... Like an
NBA-level player impact. Like what Jokic is to the Denver Nuggets. Like...
This guy is the franchise. I see it with the
Warriors with Steph Curry. Like, this guy is the franchise.

(51:26):
If you remove this guy... It's like when I watch
Ole Miss play with Trinidad. If you put like Arch
Manning or Bryce Underwood or one of those type guys
for Ole Miss, I don't even think they'd win six games.
You watch the Bills, if they just had like a normal,
if I just put Kirk Cousins on the Bills, I
don't think they'd win six games. I don't. If you

(51:49):
put Jared Goff on the Bills, I would remove, and
I think Jared Goff, hell, he might be my, I
picked him to win the MVP like two weeks ago.
I think they would struggle to win 10 because he
can't move. It's remarkable how much this guy means to
the franchise. And it's fun to watch. Where the Texans

(52:10):
are a good example, they don't need CJ Stratton to
be that. They've seen him kind of play like today.
But one thing, and I got off tangent there, is
he backs up too far in the pocket. And then
he gets kind of choppy feet. Where you've got to
step up in the pocket to deliver. Because he made
a ton of nice throws today. He played much better
than I expected. He played much better today, I thought,

(52:34):
as a whole, than the guy we witnessed last year.
And if he plays like that, they'll be okay. Bengals,
Jalen Hurts, Tyler Shuck. I think the best part about
the Bengals' win today is that Joe Burrow was okay.
Jamar Chase had two catches. Joe Burrow threw a pick six.
Trust me, Joe Burrow's on my fantasy team. I was

(52:56):
wanting like four or five touchdowns. That did not happen.
It's not like Joe Burrow looked like Josh Allen or
Lamar Jackson today. Or Caleb Williams. He was fine. But
like the guy everyone's like, this guy's going to demand
a trade if it doesn't work. That's not one of
the best players in the league we saw today. Little
rocky start. Typically when the Bengals have that, they lose. Well,

(53:18):
their defense, they forced four fumbles. Got all four. Their
defensive line, and I was talking to Colin earlier today, like,
their fumbles on Baker were legit. Like, okay, this is
a physical team. That's why I believed in them. Because
I think this team is well-rounded. Like, you watch them
and you watch the Steelers, and I get it, you know,

(53:40):
McCarthy's first game. Like, the Bengals are better than the Steelers.
And Even a couple years ago when the Ravens were good,
the year after they were the one seed and they lost,
I think, to the Bills in the second round when
Mark Andrews dropped the ball, the Bengals lost twice to
them when they went 9-8, but their defense allowed like
700 points in those two games. And I think Burrow

(54:03):
combined for nine touchdowns in the two games. They lost
them both. So if you just get a more well-rounded team,
you can be a real contender. It's why I thought
their defense was going to be better, and their defense
today definitely was better. Now, are the Bucs as potent
on offense as they've been in years past? Probably not.
I mean, Baker made some nice plays. You lose three

(54:26):
fumbles as a quarterback, one in the red zone. I
would guess if we did a study, you lose 95%
of the time. Three fumbles and lose them all, that's
pretty bad. But that's part of Baker. Because he ran
in a touchdown doing what he did when he loses
his fumbles. He kind of just runs around. And I'm
a Baker fan. But it's a little bit of a
rollercoaster ride. I think the Bucs would be fine. Relative, like,

(54:50):
9-10 win game. 10 wins wins that division for sure,
the South. Where the Bengals, like, you want to win
the North. I mean, the Steelers are just going to
win a lot of games. And obviously the Ravens play
like that. They're going to win a ton of games. Like,
it probably takes 12 or 13. Like, you got to
be good. And today I feel pretty good because I
would expect Higgins made some sweet catches, but Jamar Chase,

(55:15):
two for 12, like he's going to have some 12
for 200. And when that happens, the offensive scoreboard will
light up. And the final score, I think that they
won by six, but it felt they were dominating. They
were dominating when Joe threw the pick six to Trotter
and the game became a little closer than it actually was.
Sometimes scorers, don't reflect what you witness watching on your couch.

(55:39):
Like the Cardinals score. The Cardinals beat the crap out
of the Chargers. The Chargers got worked. Now, do I
think the Chargers are going to be bad this year?
I don't. But, like, don't love the running back. You know,
McConkie got crushed over the middle. We'll see. He come
back in that game. You know, special teams mishap. It's...

(56:05):
Definitely concerning. The Cardinals are a weird, bad team. I mean,
technically they're 1-0 right now. They have a lot of
good players. Offensively, they're pretty loaded. And Jacoby's been playing
well now for like 12, 13 straight games. This isn't
some random guy, you know, lifetime nobody. Like, this guy's
played a lot of football, and he's clearly playing the
best football of his life. But that was a beatdown.

(56:27):
Justin Herbert, awful interception. They kept showing Madison Beers. The
NFL and these networks are clearly, when these people have
popular girlfriends, they're doing everything humanly possible to involve the
female demo. It is so evident with them showing this
stuff because they know your girlfriends and wives, if they're younger,

(56:50):
know exactly who this person is. I don't even know
who this person is. Actor or singer? Actress or singer?
I don't even know. I don't even care. Good for Justin.
I know this. Jim Harbaugh wants you to play better.
They got worked. They got worked. I can't believe Mike
LaFleur won and Matt LaFleur lost. It's stunning that that happened.

(57:14):
The Eagles, Jalen started off well. Jalen is, I do
believe he's like one of the most bizarre players in
NFL history. Because if you watch a good drive, you're like, God,
he's really good. Look at that beautiful ball. Look at
that deep go route perfectly placed. Look at that nice
touchdown on the back of the end zone. Like, look

(57:34):
at that fantastic run. And then they'll have stretches where
they'll have, like, three-place punt, five-place punt, three-place punt, six-place punt.
You're like, how is this possible? And he had a
long run today in the fourth quarter. I do think
if he would run more, I know he ended up

(57:55):
with seven for 42, but, like, I never feel like Lamar...
Josh and now Caleb, like they'll do whatever it takes
to get the first down. Jalen at his core wants
to be this pocket passer. Like he's kind of got
the Russell thing going. If he would just let it
rip running and passing, I think their offense would just

(58:18):
get less like put in neutral. And part of it
is their offensive line is clearly not as good as
it once was. Some of the guys that they invested
in are just not playing as well because they can't
just lean on Saquon and run for a buck 40.
I mean, he had 80 yards a day and 40 plus,
I think 43 of them came on the one carry.
And then he basically had 14 carries for 40 yards. So,

(58:41):
I mean, back in his great season, he just had
a lot of 150 to 180-yard games. So you could
just lean on the guy. And that's why you don't
go three and out as often when your running back's
going for $ 1. 50. Ask Ben Johnson and the Bears. Ask
Jesse Minter, Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens. When you have
a guy going for 130, 140, 150 yards– like you're

(59:01):
just not gonna have that many three and out punts.
And when you have three and out punts, even if
you're better than the other team, you just keep them
in the game. You just do, especially if it's coming
off a score from them because you're going to give
them decent field position. They're going to get the ball
at like 30 or 40 yard line more than likely.
But they're 1-0. Some cool shots of their coordinator in

(59:24):
the press box. I love a good coordinator press box shot.
especially a young guy. That's just like, yeah, the Ken
Dorsey one where he was really pissed off. There was
David Blau. I was listening. I think Brady was calling
the game when they, uh, said that he learned how
to call plays on Madden. Not what I love to hear.

(59:46):
I often think about Colin whenever I see Dan Quinn,
the backwards hat. I'm like, Hey, can't love that. Uh,
Sonny styles did made, I mean, blitz of the day
blew up Saquon. I like that pair. Uh, What else?
I mean, the story of the day before the day
even started. This Miles Garrett thing is a problem. It

(01:00:08):
really is. Because if you watched him play, which everyone did,
I can imagine on Netflix, millions upon millions of people
watch that game. He not only looked just bad and
out of it, he looked like out of shape. Because
when your knees banged up, it's hard for you to
stay in shape because it's hard for you to work out.
It's hard for you to practice. Well, now he's getting
knee surgery, so that's only going to accelerate the negative,

(01:00:33):
you know, out of shape, not being able to practice.
It's only going to get worse. This could be a disaster.
There is no such thing as a super team in
the NFL. It does not exist. It has never existed
in the salary cap era. Pre-salary cap era, it existed.
You could be the Niners and just buy a bunch
of players and have a two deep. Your backup quarterback

(01:00:53):
could be Steve Young and he just can't lead the franchise.
The Cowboys had a loaded roster and the guys were
just kind of stuck. That's not the case anymore, especially nowadays.
There is no such thing. And when guys are available,
they're typically available for a reason. Micah Parsons is an
elite player. I wouldn't say he's the perfect player off

(01:01:13):
the field. I'm not talking like in trouble. I'm just
talking like football character stuff. There's only so many guys,
especially on defense, that are Aaron Donald. He's like, hardest worker,
most in shape, most dominant player, great leader. Everyone loves him.

(01:01:36):
Sitting in the front of the room with notes. A
lot of defensive guys are fucking wild cards. And Myles
Garrett's always been a little bit of a wild card.
But he was an unstoppable pass rusher, which was true.
Because he's like 6'5, can bend, he's powerful, doesn't get tired,
he's a beast. Now he's injured. and you just traded
a boatload for him. And one of them is just

(01:01:59):
Jared Verse, who I'd have to check the game logs,
but has Jared Verse missed a lot of games over
the last couple years? Could be wrong, but I don't...
He's never missed a game in two years. He played
all 17 his rookie year, started 16 of them, and

(01:02:20):
last year was 17 for 17. 17 games, 17 starts.
So one quality he's brought, he's not as good as
Myles Garrett, and obviously from a sack standpoint, he only
has 12 sacks in two years. Last year he improved
on a 7.5. He was a durable player. He was
durable and cheap because he drafted in the middle of
the teens. Then you bring this guy who makes a

(01:02:41):
ton of money, who wants to go to L.A., girlfriend
lives there, super team, all this hype, and now he's
just injured. Sometimes an injury, and no one wants to
get injured, But it's football and it happens. It happened
to the Packers and Micah Parsons derailed their franchise. There's
no way to, like, get around it. The injury, that

(01:03:04):
day Micah Parsons got injured, ever since to this day
today that I'm recording this Sunday night, September 13th, it
has derailed the Packers. They've acquired Myles Garrett. He barely
could function week one. And now he's just gone. So
think about, they'll go into next week, like, What's the
difference between their pass rush and the Giants' pass rush?

(01:03:25):
I mean, Brian Burns is a high-level player. Kayvon's solid.
And Abdul Carter has, like, should be a pro bowler. Now,
if Aaron Donald plays, like, Aaron Donald hasn't played in
two years. He wasn't ready to play week one. They
couldn't even travel him to the game. So, maybe he'll
be ready this week. Maybe he won't. I don't know.
Time will tell. But Myles Garrett is MIA. And part

(01:03:48):
of the super team was him. So... I never understood
the super team. They're a good team, just like a
lot of the other good teams. I think this notion
of you just plug this guy in, it's unstoppable. That's
just not how football works. This isn't baseball. When the
NFL and Tyler Shuck and the Lions, what a game.

(01:04:13):
When it was 21-0, I'll be honest, I kind of
stopped really paying attention to it. And then I look
back over, and they're driving, and it's like 21-17, and
they hit valet. in the corner of the end zone,
they're like, God, it's kind of a game. And I
would say the first half as someone that has, let's
just say a lot of stock in the saints, the

(01:04:34):
Ravens look like the best team ever. And the saints
look like the worst team ever specifically Tyler shock. I went,
I'm an idiot because if your quarterback is going to
look that bad, you have no chance. Tyler shock could
not have looked much worse in the first half. Like
it was, it was like arch Manning level. This is,
it was worse than arch. fumbles, tripping over himself, skipping ball.

(01:04:56):
It was awful. By the end of the fourth end
of the overtime, dude was slinging that rock. Olave just
play after play. He had Olave score on like three
different bombs. Obviously the one that led to the game
tying touchdown. They got him back in the game when
they were down 21-0 in overtime. I mean, Olave was

(01:05:20):
incredible today. Johnson, the tight end, was awesome. The Lions
treated Gibbs like Kyle Shanahan has treated Christian McCaffrey forever.
It felt like they gave it to him every play.
And when they weren't giving it to him, they were
either throwing to Jamison Williams, it was bouncing off his hands,
or they were throwing to Amon Ross St. Brown, like
a little curl route. But the downfall of the Lions

(01:05:42):
is not going to be, their offense is going to
be fine. Their defense, beside Aiden Hutchinson, it's got a
lot of question marks. I mean, they can't cover a
soul Tyler Shuck was shredding their defense for a team
that I thought could be the number one seed. I
was like, you know, I'm a little nervous about their defense.
I'm really nervous about their defense. That is a problem,

(01:06:04):
and Dan has to know it. I mean, they've invested
in that position from Brian Branch, Torres Achilles, to Terran Arnold,
who allegedly kidnapped some people and got cut. They just
got some issues. So Anzalone's now on the Bucs. You just,
it's just not good. And it puts a lot of
pressure on your offense. I think they've got to be

(01:06:25):
kind of careful. Gibbs is an incredible player. I mean, incredible.
I thought, like, I'm not a huge fantasy guy playing
in my first league. No big deal. Everyone's like, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs.
Are you sure he's number one pick? I'm like, yeah.
Number one pick. I get it. Especially if they're going
to give him the ball, you know, get him like
40 touches a game. I think you've got to be

(01:06:46):
a little careful with that. Like, if I'm a Lions fan, like, hey,
we got Jameson. Can you catch the ball? just so
we don't have to give it to him, this guy
on every play, because you know St. Brown's going to
get his 10 to 14 targets and catch most of them.
But I'd just be a little nervous that, like, I
don't know, can he maintain this? He's never had to
do it. And they're going to be so dependent on

(01:07:07):
him and the entire offense because their defense, Swiss cheese. Like,
if they played the Bears, I think 50, you'd have
to get above 50 to win that game, you know,
because the Bears probably scoring 45 to 50 in that game. Again,
the Lions, today they kind of hit a little rut
for a while. You know, new coordinator. But I felt

(01:07:28):
good that Chuck heated up, hit some plays, because he
looked like not trying to overreact. He looked like a
practice squad player in the first half. I don't know
if it was the pressure. I think I said on
last week's pod the game was in New Orleans. It
was in Detroit. So on the road, tough spot against
a really good team. It could have really gotten off

(01:07:49):
the rails. And he didn't just get that thing back
on the train tracks. He got it. He was making
play after play, throwing dimes. Just threw some beautiful passes.
I think he threw for almost 400 yards. That game,
the morning, the amount of fireworks on passes and touchdowns

(01:08:09):
was pretty fun. The afternoon games felt like a pretty
strong comedown. Not a drug guy, but I can imagine
what a drug comedown feels like is like the afternoon
slate today. Because the morning with Houston and Buffalo, which
was incredible, with the Bears game, which was just touchdown

(01:08:30):
after touchdown, to the Ravens game, just so much action
to then go to the afternoon. It was tough. It
was tough. I think highest scoring day, which makes sense because...
Dudes were scoring left and right. Now, part of that's
the rules, but typically this is a bad offensive performance week,

(01:08:51):
and that was not the case. Let's see if I
have any time. I'll just spend five minutes on this.
Really quick on the college. Arch Manning did not create

(01:09:14):
the hype on himself. And sometimes I push back against
it because I see all these media people that try
to say he's going to be the number one pick.
And I just think from a pure football standpoint, that's
an absurd notion based on the way he's played. Because
there's no position that ebbs and flows more than how

(01:09:36):
you play in college at quarterback. You can be a
great position player and have an up and down season,
and you still get drafted high. We see guys go
in the second round who are like five stars that
were complete underachievers their entire career when you do not
play well at quarterback you not get drafted and when
you play well at quarterback in college you get drafted

(01:09:56):
but you have to play well not just have the
physical capabilities and the talents those guys go in the
later rounds to get drafted number one overall you got
to do a lot in college and based on what
i saw last year that just wasn't the case and
based on that first half i just don't think he
could play much worse And it looked like Sark was

(01:10:17):
going to get fired. It looked like Arch was not
going to be long for that gig. And then somehow
it just shifted. He made a bunch of plays, and
they had just a historic comeback in front of, I
would guess, 20-plus million people watched that game. That game
was incredible to watch on television. I woke up this morning,

(01:10:37):
Sunday morning, still in shock in awe of what we witnessed.
And part of it was like, I don't really believe
in Sark. because he never wins that game. And he did.
And one major difference for him, in the first half,
arches all over the map. They're dropping balls. He's overthrowing balls.
He's leading guys by way too much. Second half, especially

(01:10:59):
the fourth quarter, he's hit them. He made plays. His
wide receivers made plays. They made plays as a team.
And Ohio State just kind of crumbled. And that moment,
you know, to be born into a family, like, I'm
not envious of these guys that get born into these
public situations of whether it's royalty, whether it's... I remember

(01:11:23):
Marcus Jordan, Michael's son. I see it with Charlie now,
Tiger's kid. You just carry the weight of the world
as the guy's kid. Arch is not Peyton or Eli's son.
He's Cooper's. But the way he's talked about, he might
as well be Peyton Manning's son. It's like, his dad...
I forget exactly what happened, but once he got to college,

(01:11:47):
had to quit anyone that's seen the Manning story because
I thought it was some sort of disease that was
just not going to allow him to play football. So
he had to quit in college. And Peyton, remember, dedicated
his college career to Cooper. But like, Cooper never played
in the NFL. But we discuss Arch as basically Peyton,
not even Eli, Peyton's kid. It's like, guys, Cooper's his dad.

(01:12:10):
But the pressure of that name Tell Jack all the time.
You wear that Middlecoff name, we go around town. You
wear that thing with pride. And the weight of that
is fucking hard. Don't worry, Jack can't speak English yet
or understands what I said. I've never said that to him.
But that smile he had on his face after they won,
it was hard not to be kind of happy for

(01:12:31):
the guy. Because I can't even imagine the pressure he's felt.
And listen, he hasn't been that good. Hell, I didn't
even think he was that good. I mean, he was
mostly bad in that game besides a couple series at
the end of the game. And his teammates let him
down a little bit. I saw someone that covers Auburn said, like,
welcome to the Cam Coleman experience. He'll catch some sweet

(01:12:52):
plays against, when you're playing nobodies, when you play the
better teams, it's not quite as good. I don't think
Ohio State throws to Jeremiah Smith enough. He had eight
catches for 160 yards. He should have 15 catches. I
would throw him the ball like every three plays. I
would treat him like Mike Tice did Randy Moss. We're
going to throw him the ball once a series. you know,

(01:13:13):
once every three downs. I don't think they force feed
him enough. He can't be stopped, even if you throw
it again to him. And I'm not a big Ryan
Day guy. I haven't liked that program since Urban went there.
Ryan Day's a big chip guy. I definitely do not
root for him, but I respect their program. And that

(01:13:36):
game's stunning because no one believes Sark could win it.
And then at halftime when he's getting his teeth kicked in,
it felt like they were going to lose 40-10. And
Ohio State is just, whether you like them or you
root for them, I think we all agree that when
they lose, it is a stunning thing to watch. It
was stunning when they lost to Indiana in the conference championship.

(01:13:59):
It was stunning when Indiana pulled that off. It was
stunning when Miami pulled it off. It was stunning when
Texas pulled it off. It's a pretty good spot to
be in for a program. When people are shell-shocked when
you lose. And that's with most of us. Oregon, that
program's in shambles. And I don't know, it's the pressure

(01:14:22):
of the expectations. They play like they hate each other.
They play like they can't stand each other. They play,
you know, Joe Klatt had mentioned when I was on
with Colin that this is the best defensive line Oregon's
ever had. I don't see how that's possible, given that
I remember scouting a defensive line that had Deion Jordan,

(01:14:42):
who was drafted third overall. His career got derailed because
he had personal issues. And Eric Armstead and DeForest Buckner,
who I think have made a combined like $ 250- $ 300
million in the NFL. And all three guys are 6'5.
Two of them are 6'7. Two of them are also
still playing in the NFL. So I watch this defensive line.

(01:15:03):
I go, I don't see it. Their offensive line is
not that good. They just don't look that good. I
don't know what else to say besides Oregon looks terrible.
And that quarterback for Oklahoma State, the Tech State transfer,
I always want to call him Zach Mettenberger, but it's
like messing. I don't want to screw up his name.
He said his favorite player is Josh Allen. I wouldn't

(01:15:24):
call him quite Josh Allen, but he had some Josh Allen.
I was like, he lit him up like Christmas tree.
That's embarrassing. My guy Jeff Schwartz tweeted out he played
at Oregon in the 2000s. It's the most embarrassing loss
in program history. They're like a four-touchdown favorite. Oklahoma State
hadn't won a Division I college football game in like
over two years. They just lost to Tulsa the week before,

(01:15:47):
who's an in-state program that is not as high level
as Oklahoma State. And that game really wasn't close. Honestly,
the score made it seem a lot closer than the
game actually was. I watched most of the second half.
Definitely was really dialed in the fourth quarter. It was
not a close game. And I don't I think Oregon's

(01:16:08):
in shambles because what we've witnessed now is not really
a fixable thing. And I shit on this guy last
week and I will give him credit. And the same
thing I will say about Arch. I really admire a
lot of these young guys in college that the pressure
in 2026 was social media. I know they're getting paid,
but that brings a level of pressure, too. you obviously

(01:16:29):
got a lot more money in your bank account, but
if it doesn't go well, they will cut you. If
Bryce Underwood continued to play like that, he would not
have been on the team next year. Hell, he wouldn't
have been the starter in like two weeks. And I
don't want to say he played great. Just like, I
don't think Arch played great, but he definitely played way
better than he did the previous week. And one question
I had was like, this is this great dual threat quarterback.

(01:16:51):
He never runs. And he busted a long touchdown run,
just made more plays with his feet. I mean, he
was the better quarterback in the game. Now, the bar
was low because I had Oklahoma as a national championship contender.
I thought John Mateer was a Heisman sleeper. I said
this last week that Bryce Underwood stinks. John Mateer stinks.

(01:17:16):
I mean, you talk about a guy with no touch
on the football. You see some of these quarterbacks that, like,
when a guy's going across the middle, you don't always
need to throw 100-mile-an-hour fastballs. You don't need to throw
a lobber, but you just need to lead the guy
so it's a catchable ball. He has no touch on

(01:17:37):
his football. You can't function with that level of quarterback
against good defenses. Michigan's obviously an elite defense. I can't
imagine what Mateer looks like in– what I wonder about
Mateer and Underwood– in practice against their defenses? Do their
offensive coaches just chalk it up, well, we're playing one
of the best defenses in the country? Because there have
to be some days when you leave the practice field

(01:17:59):
where you're like, did we gain many yards in the air?
Because maybe Mateer was feeling the pressure of 110,000 people,
super loud. I don't know. I don't know. But that
was a horrendous quarterback performance by John Mateer. I saw
people say, like, Dante Moore played bad. I think he's

(01:18:20):
like the least of Oregon's issues. Their defensive line stinks.
They can't cover a soul. And their offensive line got
worked by Boise and was getting kind of handled by
Oklahoma State. I'm not saying Dante Moore's perfect, but to me,
the criticism, he's down the line. Where you watch Oklahoma,

(01:18:41):
you're like, that was the quarterback. Like, the quarterback lost
you that game. If you just had B-minus quarterback, I
think Oklahoma wins that game by like 15 points pretty easily.
It's not like Michigan was running away. It's not like
Bryce Underwood threw four touchdowns. Mateer was that horrific. It
was awful. Terrible. Rough day to be a Sooner. Rough day.

(01:19:09):
You lose... And then you're kind of celebrating. We're like,
at least Texas is going to suck too. And then
they come pull off. And you're like, college football. College
football is the best. NFL is the best. I'm glad
football is back. I will talk to you tomorrow. Good night.
Good day. Good morning. See you. The Volume.

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