3 & Out - Reaction to Sam Darnold & Seahawks COMEBACK WIN vs. Matt Stafford & Rams on TNF - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going on Everybody? John Middlecoff three
and out podcast, brought to you by my friends at
Zone Pouches. We just witnessed one of the craziest Thursday

(00:25):
night games you will ever see. I had topics and
headlines that I had to scribble out because they were
getting blown out, and then they weren't. Sam Donald the
leads Seattle on a game winning drive. So what a
crazy game. We'll discuss Sam Donald, Matt Stafford, Sean McVay,
the game, the moments that was nuts. We also it's

(00:48):
Fugazi Friday, but we're gonna pause that till next week
because we have a big announcement and let's just say
it has something to do with Netflix, which if you're
an audio listener, which you obviously are, it doesn't impact you.
But we will talk all about it after we discuss
the Thursday night game. And then Stucky, who just had

(01:10):
a baby on Sunday, joins me as a new father
and by the end you can hear his baby screaming
in the background, So he had a baby. I got
a baby on the way. We got We've got a
lot of moving parts here, but we got a podcast
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(01:31):
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get twenty dollars off. Go download the game time app
two day. What a game? I mean, sometimes you're just speechless.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't tweet ballgame.
When the Rams went up thirty to fourteen, you know,

(02:53):
it looked like Sam Darnold was in full meltdown mode.
The Cooper Cup fumble at the end of the first half.
You're just thinking they're down multiple scores, multiple two point conversions.
In what world could you overcome three turnovers against Matt Stafford,
who will get into in a minute as really morphed
into his version of you know, at this point in

(03:14):
time in his career, the way he's playing right now,
you know, Brady Manning Rogers like he's just in complete
control of the game, kind of mastered the position relative
to his skill set. And when the dust settles, you
go into overtime, you get a touchdown and you still lose.
I mean, that is insane. And let's face it, the
headline with ten minutes left to go in the fourth

(03:36):
quarter was, how can you trust Sam Donald? How can
Sam Donald won the LA Rams had complete owner ownership
of them. He had thrown what he throwed four interceptions
the last game. He had two to Night. Both interceptions
to Night. One came on third I think an eight,
and the other came on third and goal. So in

(03:57):
these big must downs, Shoe was fooling him. One of
the interceptions was carbon copy to what happened to Baker
Mayfield last week, where the slot corner fakes being in
man coverage, drops in the slot or drops kind of
in the flat and zone, picks off like an out
route or a comeback route and sitting right there and
picks them off, and then you throw an interception into

(04:18):
a defensive lineman, especially when you're struggling. Everyone went God.
This guy's full meltdown mode. And obviously the punt return
for Shaheed, which is a big feather in the cap
of John Schneider, who I really appreciate. Both GM's night,
one guy's wearing a hoodie, the other guy was wearing
a backwards hat in the middle of the game. It's
like both these franchises are just about football, none of

(04:41):
the fluff. They're GM and head coaches all ball, all
the time. And that was a classic in a game
that if you're Seattle, I just don't. Let's face it,
Sam Donold did not play well I thought for most
of the game. And really, you know, before that last
drive in overtime, I thought he was bad. Obviously, the
interceptions just in a game like this felt like we're

(05:04):
gonna cost you the game. But sometimes like this is
a team game, right and Seattle is not built like
the Buffalo Bills. Obviously Sam Donald's not Josh Allen, but
they don't expect him that. They just won a game
last week where they kicked what six field goals. I mean,
they can win other ways. Their defense, at least for
three quarters to night, was not but down the stretch

(05:26):
in the fourth quarter overtime, actually they have a big
touchdown as well. Was a little hit or mess. But
for the most part it's pretty good. And obviously the
special teams and they carried them down the stretch because
they deserve to lose. But sometimes you don't get what
you deserve. And for Sam Donald on that final drive
where they just score a touchdown, Pukkua takes the big touchdown,

(05:47):
You're like, how are they gonna drive to score? And obviously,
if you score in that spot. Going for two was
the right play. What are you gonna do? Tie the game?
Kick it back off and let him go on a
potential field goal. Now granted the Rams had missed the
field goal, but you're not playing to tie, not in
this situation. Short week at home and he goes six

(06:09):
to seven hits, a big pass to Jackson Smith hits.
I mean, I would say his career of being a
good player this year and last. That throw to Cooper
Cup in overtime was as big of a throw. I
think it was second and eight as you are going
to see obviously the touchdown, the two point conversion, I

(06:30):
mean a huge thing. And you see this during the
game is Sam gets sped up, and I think clearly
Shula knows on some of these bigger downs if he
could throw a curveball, Sam rushes and then he throws
it to a spot. And what happened both times he
drops someone in coverage who wasn't supposed to be there.
So Sam thinks he's getting one thing and gets something

(06:52):
else and he's basically, you know, dead red on that
look and he's pulling the trigger no matter what where
the difference, like you saw a gap tonight in quarterback play,
Matt Stafford's playing like I don't know, the highest level
of I was trying to think of like a high
level math, but I didn't really make it past Calculus one,
which I kind of cheated even to surviving that thing.

(07:14):
But I mean that's a graduate level in which he's
playing quarterback. Sam has the physical skills, but clearly mentally,
when he's playing chess, you could fool him, and they
have his number fooling him on those plays. But when
it mattered the most, in a spot where you're either
scoring a touchdown at minimum you're tiring, you're winning, I
guess you're winning or losing because if they score a touchdown,

(07:35):
they were one hundred percent always going for two. So
you get the ball back. You know we're gonna go
for two if we score, but it's either we're winning
or losing. On this drive, I can't have what has
been happening throughout this game. Balls batted down. There was
one play I think on the second to last drive.
Amazon never showed the replay. It looked like Jackson Smith
was open on like a I don't know, probably a

(07:56):
tennis yard out route and Sam wasn't even close, and
that happened a couple times tonight. But when they needed
a most he came through. And listen, does he have
some flaws? Are you betting on him? Even after that game?
Sometimes winning can band aid an overall experience, Like would
I bet on Seattle to win the Super Bowl? No?
But I do think that was a pretty big moment

(08:17):
for a guy that, let's face it, if thirty to
fourteen kind of holds and they end up losing by
ten plus points. When the dust settles, we know what
the narrative in the headline is. And I would have
been right there beating the drum with everybody, you can't
trust this guy in big games. Everyone. He's an easy
guy to root for, right everyone seems like a great guy.

(08:38):
What he's done the last couple of years is pretty
remarkable when you think about how low his career once was.
But like these big games now, multiple Rams game, the
Lions game, he just would have been like, how could
you trust this guy for this team that's clearly going
to go to the playoffs And the answer would have
been you couldn't. Now, just because of one I don't

(09:00):
think changes the overall ceiling of a human but confidence
is real, and having positive experiences typically, you know, can
build confidence and can help you build on things that
maybe you were questioning yourself. Because to me, once they're
down thirty to fourteen, I mean, let's face it, if
they don't get the pump return, they don't win this game.

(09:22):
Because when you're down multiple scores, he had just thrown
an interception, it felt like his confidence would have been
all shattered, even if he's much more mentally tough than
he was now, Like, how could you battle back? You
get that punp return, though you immediately get life, you
get the two pointer, you're down eight, and it goes God,
it kind of feels like you were getting your ass kicked.
You're down eight points, and let's face it, I mean,

(09:45):
at the end of the day, the Rams defense, especially
their secondary, isn't exactly the two thousand Ravens or the
eighty five Bears. You know, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas
ain't walking through that door. But he made plays when
he had to, and at the end of the they
leaned on him in a big spot down seven, and
he came through and he got the ball to their

(10:06):
best players and they won the game and for as
devastating of a loss as that is for the Rams,
and don't get it twisted. We'll get into that in
a second. It is bad. That's one where I don't
know how you shake. That is a remarkable win for
Mike McDonald and Seattle Seahawks. That feels like one of
the biggest wins I don't know since like Russell Wilson

(10:29):
was in his prime and they would play and just
batshit crazy games. Because Russell I attended one one time
at a Monday night football game against it was Seattle
forty nine Ers. It might have been the year, might
have been twenty nineteen when the forty nine Ers went
to the Super Bowl and it went to overtime and
Russell just made some of the crazier plays I've ever seen.

(10:49):
They had some crazy defensive plays in that game. Seattle
used to be like it felt like under the Russell
Wilson regime, like touched by an angel. Sometimes some of
their games they were bananas. They were basically the version
of the Chargers, but they won the games. And that's
what tonight felt like for them at the end. Now,
I didn't think they would be touched by the football gods.

(11:12):
When they were down sixteen points, I completely wrote them off.
I thought they had no chance. Not because I had
full faith in the Rams getting stops, but I just
thought that McVeigh because even during the game when they
were kind of extending their lead, they would go like run, run,
pass and get a first down. They wouldn't just go, hey,
we're running at three times if we don't get a

(11:32):
first down whatever, They'd go run, run, and they'd get
They had multiple like third and fours, and then they
just trusted Stafford. The kid Xavier Smith, which I'll be honest,
I didn't know much about. I had to had to
google them, was in college for like eight years. He's
been in the NFL. He got drafted or he's an
undrafted for agent in twenty twenty three. He's twenty eight

(11:53):
years old. One of those guys that gets the extra
year and an extra year. So all of a sudden,
you look at his timeline, he's like twenty seventeen to
two two twenty three. It's like that is way too
long of a college career. Twenty eight year old, third
year NFL player. I mean, who's this Chris Winkie. But
he was making big plays tonight. He stepped up and
that's listen, you're you're missing Devonte Adams like you're gonna
need other guys to step up. You can throw it

(12:14):
to Puka as much as you want, and they actually
did tonight. But Puka had twelve catches for twitter and
twenty five yards, but no one else had more than
Mumfield had three catches, but a lot of twos, a
lot of twos, a lot of threes. Ferguson had three catches.
You know, typically that twelve might be like nine for
Puka and DeVante's getting six or seven. But they kind

(12:36):
of had to go committee with the rest of the group,
and the rest of the group I thought came through
and you know, I mean the end of the day,
like their defense let him down. And that's the problem
with the Rams because I do think if this, if
these two teams play ten times, I do think the
Rams are better and I think their differentiating factor is

(12:58):
their quarterback. You know, I don't know what this I
didn't look at the odds right when the game ended
and walked into the office to record. I would imagine
Stafford's still gonna be the front runner. I do think
he is playing quarterback at the highest level of his
career by a mile. When they won the Super Bowl,
when they first got him, he threw forty one touchdowns,
but he threw seventeen interceptions. And I do feel like,

(13:21):
and I'm not even I'm removing the Lions version, just
going with McVeigh. He could be pretty turnover happy this year.
He's got five and there was one throw tonight that
was a little questionable on the outside, but for the
most part he's fucking throwing seeds and getting peppered. I mean,
they lose Dotson early in the game. There can't be
a tougher guy in the NFL not named Philip Rivers

(13:43):
than Matt Stafford. You know, he can't move anymore. He
was ever a great athlete, but he I would say,
Sam Darnold obviously is a pretty good athlete. I don't
even know if Matt Stafford in his prime was that,
but he could definitely move like. He's a pretty stationary guy.
But his command is basically and like I said, I'm
not comparing his resume to Brady to Manning to Rogers,

(14:06):
but when those guys mastered the position like Rogers, those
those couple of years where he's winning the MVP with Lafleur.
You know Manning once he got to Denver and Brady
that kind of the last like ten years of his career. Mentally,
they just mastered it. That to me is what Stafford
feels like at the line of scrimmage. Like those interceptions
that happened to Sam Darnold the Knight, they're not happening

(14:28):
to Matt because he's not processing the offense that way.
He's not going as third and six. We've repped this
in practice. I know this route is open ninety percent
of the time. I'm gonna hold on to the last
I'm going there. It's not how he You can't play
quarterback at the highest level in the biggest games like that.
So for him to play like this or for four

(14:48):
hundred and fifty seven yards throw a touchdown in overtime,
obviously Puka was a big part of that. Took it
to the house and lose. This has been the question
mark with the Rams because it does feel like they
are their offense is better than Seattle's offense. I think
we would all agree on that over the course of
months the season. You're gonna trust Stafford and McVeigh more

(15:11):
than you are, Donald and Kubiak, But like their defense
is a problem. You know, you can't really rely on
their secondary. Their defensive line makes big plays. They had
a bunch of sacks tonight, but I just think when
you can't cover people in a league that is pretty
pass happy. And at first, there weren't that many possessions.

(15:33):
You know, in the first half the Seattle didn't have
time of possession on like, they just didn't possess the ball.
I looked up at one point in time, like, I
don't feel like Darnald's playing that well. He's like four
or six. He'd barely even attempted anything like halfway through
the second quarter. But as the game went on, the
game was kind of going back and forth and all
of a sudden, it puts a lot of pressure on
your defensive backs to make plays that their front and

(15:54):
land man are good, but the secondary is it's hard
to trust them. And you know, at the end end
of the day, they couldn't get a stop, they couldn't
get off the field. And this is a week that
was a game that they win, this thing that they
get at Lanta next week. In the following week, they
get the Cardinals. I don't know about you, but I'm
pretty sure they win both those games are the number
one seed. Now Seattle's next two games obviously they finished

(16:17):
with the forty nine ers, but next week, off a
mini by, they go to Carolina, So we'll see Carolina
play Tampa either. Regardless of what happens in that game,
that Seattle game is going to be massive for them.
Going to Tampa can just be a little weird. I mean,
didn't we or I mean, excuse me, Carolina. We saw
the Rams go out there earlier and lose, So I'm

(16:38):
not just choking Seattle to win these next two. Technically
the forty nine ers control their own destiny. But are
they just gonna sweep these last three games? You know,
we'll see, but man, what a massive win by Mike McDonald.
Sam Darnold just kind of shedding that when someone constantly

(16:59):
calls you sing and then you kind of live up
to it. It was only gonna get worse. Now, I
understand the more you mature, Hell what I do, It's
easier to get off your phone. Some days you realize,
like I didn't even look at social media, and then
maybe you're a day late. And you see like what
are these people screaming about? Like, I don't even know
what you guys are talking about. There's such a large

(17:20):
percentage of human beings that just don't spend that much
time on Twitter, so it's like sometimes you lose Like
they're talking about Pooka Nakua. I had to Google in
the middle of the game, like what is going on.
It's like the last couple of days it has been
run around, help my wife with stuff, moving offices, just
haven't been on Twitter. It's like you just kind of
lose touch with what the internet's saying. So it's like,

(17:42):
I do think the quarterbacks and just NFL players in general.
The one reason Kevin Durant's on Twitter and Instagram and
social media a lot get a lot of free time
in football, you really don't, especially as a quarterback. You're
just grinty. You're at the office, you're working, you're watching film,
you're in meetings, you're on the practice field, you're working out.
Like your weeks are pretty when you hear some of
these coaches, not that they don't get information sent to them,

(18:04):
but it's pretty easy to avoid stuff. But regardless of
if he could avoid it, or not, there would have
been substance behind this isn't really this sums off here,
Like for all the stats and all the wins, I think,
what is he have twenty five wins, which is the
most of any quarterback the last two years. I mean,
you're talking about guys like Josh All and Lamar Jackson,

(18:25):
like sampitars got more wins than him. But it's like
the guy can't win a big game and then boom,
he wins it. So and he made big throws on
that final drive. It would have been one thing if
some weird would have happened, right, like the one two
point conversion. What if that is a classic Russell Wilson
Seattle play. Throws it behind, the guy bounces off the helmet,

(18:48):
and his player casually like doesn't fall on it, like
it's a live ball. It'd be like me or you
just I just picked up some trash. It's picked up
something on the ground, and then you get credit for
the two point conversion that that was. Sometimes I think
announcers can be a little hyperbolic, like that's one of
the crazier plays of it. That was legitimately one of
the craziest plays you've ever seen. It might be the

(19:11):
most bananas two point conversion you'll ever see, especially given
the situation, given the circumstances, given the comeback, and when
that moment's happening. You know, I can only imagine McVeigh.
They finished Sunday afternoon Pacific standard time. He goes to
the hospital because his wife's already there. I think she

(19:33):
delivers either late like Monday, early in the morning, or
might have been six am. I forget I wrote down
the time somewhere. But so he doesn't sleep, I would
imagine at all, if much that day as he's waiting,
I'm sure he's trying to watch the little seattle. Who
knows how long he stays there. He's going back and
forth all week, probably just popping adderall and slamming you know,

(19:57):
VENTI cold bruise. But by the the time you get
to the game, you know, it's like you have the energy.
You're probably just wired as humanly possible. You talk about
a come down, but who cares. You're up thirty to fourteen.
You're like, we're gonna be the one seed. We're gonna
get Stafford at home. Only have to win a couple
of games, and then all of a sudden, the way
it plays out, all of a sudden, you're in overtime,

(20:19):
and the way it ended, your field goal kicker missed
a kick, you kind of went back and forth on
some punts, you lost your offensive rhythm. But then you
score first in overtime and you're like, this has been
a crazy week. I haven't slept. I might be feeling
an adderall headache right now. But Sam Darnold's gonna drive
the field and score a touchdown on us, and even

(20:41):
if he does, they're probably gonna go He's gonna get
a two point conversion on us, and then that happens.
So for as awesome and cool of a win as
that was for Seattle, they're fans. I mean it had
to be. That had to be the biggest moment at
that stadium in a long, long time. That's a hard
one to shake off. That's a really hard one to
shake off. I mean, your season, by any means, you know,

(21:04):
the division is still still we can crazy shit can happen, right,
I mean, the Seattle still has two tough games right
at Carolina, like we said, and then the forty nine
ers at home who beat them early this season. But man,
I just don't know how you would sleep, even for
a guy that hasn't slept. Yeah, I just don't. And

(21:26):
it's not your fault. I mean, you're dialing up how
many yards of offense they have. They had four hundred
fifty seven yards passing and one hundred and twenty four
yards rushing. They had five five hundred and eighty yards
of offense compared to their four hundred yards of offense,
which I don't know how long that final drive was,
but they were probably in the low four hundreds, if

(21:48):
not the high three hundreds on the final drive because
they drove the field to score a touchdown. So their
offense dominated this game, and their defense dominated the game
with turnovers. I mean two massive turnovers, the one in
the red zone by Turner that picks it off the
play at the end of half to force Cooper Cup.
And I thought, if you're Cooper Cup and McVeigh cut

(22:11):
you and you're down, your team's down thirteen to seven,
and you catch this ball over the middle and you're breaking.
Now you're not gonna score or anything, but your team's
at minimum is gonna score a field goal because your
field goal kicker never misses. So it's gonna be thirteen
ten at halftime, you kind of would have some momentum,
who knows, maybe score a touchdown, take the halftime lead,
but you fumble. My heart sank for the guy because

(22:32):
I started thinking if Seattle losed this game. This is
a tight press conference at the end of the game
where you cry because you're so devastated. You feel like
you played a huge role in the loss. And he
obviously came through with you know, one of the biggest
catches definitely of a Seattle career in that overtime drive

(22:53):
and he kind of can smile and like I made
a big play where listen, DeVante Adams a better player
than Cooper Cup and I would have that same move.
And there's no way to cut a guy who's done
a lot for you. That's a big part of your team,
your culture, guy that you know, the front office and
the coach drafted and loved for it to be good.
Right unless you just retire like Kelsey and love everybody,

(23:16):
or you know the coach in the GM leave, usually
you're gonna get cut or traded. Kind of happens to everybody,
and it clearly got a little ugly with Cooper cup,
and I thought, man, that sucks. I can't put yourself
in his situation. Remove football, someone fires you, someone dumps you,

(23:37):
whatever happens because they don't believe in you. And then
they replace you with someone everyone in your life would agree.
They might not say it to your face. He's better
than you. They made the right move. And then you
get the opportunity to play that guy for everything on
the line. And the guy that he replaced you with
is kind of mia because in football he's injured, but

(23:58):
you get a chance to like, well, he can't even
do anything. I'm gonna show his ass up tonight. And
that fumble, but he he as Jim Carrey or I
guess Jeff Daniels once said, and he totally redeem yourself
and he definitely did. Now no one will even talk
about that fumble. No one will even talk about that.
What a what a bananas game? I mean, that was

(24:19):
that was extremely entertaining. It really was. And this is
the thing about football in the NFL. We just when
you got two good teams. This is not college. It's
pretty rare to see like forty to sevens. You don't
get blood, you're never out of the game, and It
just takes one play. It just takes one interception, just
takes one punt return. And let's face it, that punp

(24:39):
return flip the game, that punp return that they were
dead in the water. If he just has like catches
the ball and gets tackled for five yards, I think
we would all agree there is a one chance they
lose because in the fourth quarter he throws the pick.
This is the end of the third. They score a touchdown,

(25:00):
then they punt, then the Rams score a touchdown. It's
now thirty to fourteen, and then Donold's driving him throws
a pick, so now they're down sixteen points. They just
intercepted it and then they forced a punt and then
it all changed right there with him returning it. That
was That was truly wild man. That was I'm still

(25:24):
kind of at a loss. I can't believe what I
just witnessed. But that was fun. And what a win
by Mike McDonald. I mean, that's a pretty big win
on his resume. And his defense with his quarterback was
melting like an icicle, you know, in an Arizona summer day.
They fucking came through. They were big hits. Stuff in

(25:46):
the run Leonard Williams was a beast. His blitz calls
were Pepper and Stafford. I can't even imagine what Matt
is gonna feel like tomorrow. I can't. I mean, they
hit him over and over. He wasn't sacked, but he
was hit as just as many times as Donald, if
not more. And maybe, you know, the stats might be

(26:07):
a little off. I don't have him right in front
of me in terms of the pressures, but Stafford was
hit a lot, especially in the second half. Dialing up
the pressures. There was one play where Stafford threw an incompletion.
They ran like a delayed blitz. It looked like maybe
a safety up near the box kind of came through,
so he had to come a long way. But they
have so much team speed on defense that they get
close to Matt and he knew it. He's like, I'm

(26:28):
not getting hit. He got rid of the ball fast
It wasn't even close to being a completion and even
out you know, listen, love out, nothing but respect for him,
reverence as an all time goat, kind of losing his fastball.
Even he could see like I had to get rid
of that. He did not want to get hit. Don't
blame him. He could see him coming out of the
corner of his eye. So Mike's a stud man in

(26:48):
this division. These three coaches, Mike, Kyle, and Sean and
this is big time and these guys go back and forth,
and they got a guy. You know, Shawn's very His
personality is just it's massive, right. You feel it when
you watch him do press conferences or do interviews, like
he's a pretty unique cat, right, And I would say,

(27:08):
you know, Kyle's definitely pretty Uh. He's kind of nry
during the week, He's kind of like Pops, but he
gets into these games, like you could see his emotion
during the games. I feel like Mike McDonald, for being
a younger guy, is like zero emotion. He feels like
a friendlier version, a little more in shape, a little taller,

(27:29):
better looking than like Belichick. You know, Bill just never
really showed anything that's kind of Mike. I'm waiting to
see him get pissed off or do something. He is
pretty steady, Eddie, I mean he really is. And whatever
he did take away from Jim and John Harbaugh, like
their toughness, their physicality, the mental toughness He's I've been

(27:50):
saying it for a long time. Man, if he coached
offense instead of defense, we would talk about him the
way we do all these offensive young guys. But he
coaches defense. It's not a sexy but I'm a huge fan.
I really am props to a friend of the show,
John Schneider. Just just a massive, massive win. And yeah,

(28:10):
I don't even I don't even know what else to say.
What a night, What a night there were combined record
was twenty two to six coming into this game. You know,
I think one thing that you got to give Amazon
credit and the League credit for working together is early
on in this Thursday night kind of run, it felt

(28:32):
like it sucked. You know, I'm talking years ago you
would just get such Now it feels like, God, the
games are so much better from Thursday Night games. I
know the Thanksgiving games were not necessarily Amazon, but you know,
the Dallas Lions game was a fantastic matchup on paper.
And in this game, two teams I mean playing potentially
for the number one overall seed the division, just a

(28:54):
lot on the line, and that was that was thoroughly
enjoyable as just a fan. I mean, obviously I watched
this division probably the closest, but that was really really cool.
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(30:43):
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Uh. Speaking of cool, we
uh like I said, no Fugazi Friday today, but we
do have a big announce for those that might have
missed it there. There was a press release put out

(31:04):
by iHeart a couple days ago, and your boy was
kind of near the bottom, tuck to the bottom. You
might need some binoculars to see. But listen, we're not
complaining because in twenty twenty six, we will officially be
moving our video to Netflix. So I'm sure you've seen

(31:25):
the announcements over the last twenty four hours about the
barstool guys going, we will be going as well. So
I just overall, I wrote down some stuff that I
just want to hit on. But it's a pretty big deal,
and you know, people often ask like where do you

(31:47):
see yourself? What's I never would have thought if you
would ask me two years ago, do you think your
videos will be on Netflix? Like? We just started a
YouTube channel, And this is why I always say and
what we do, you can never like it's impossible to
like map out your five to ten year plan, like
I kind of live month a month. We spend a
lot of effort, a lot of energy, you know, doing

(32:09):
these videos, which are also an audio podcast, which we'll
get into it in a second. Nothing is going to
change there, which is a big reason that we are
going into this venture. I mean, I started as a
radio guy, as a podcast guy. That's my bread and butter,
and still to this day from a podcast standpoint and
a business standpoint, that is where we make the majority

(32:32):
of the revenue and get the listenership. Now, the YouTube
channel has done really well, especially this season, and that
will no longer exist in the sense that our videos
will now be hosted again. I don't have specific date yet,
We're still working through. I saw a big cat ass
said the same thing. But before we dive into nitty gritty,

(32:54):
like one theme we've had on this show since I've
been doing it is any advice I try to give
to somebody. It's the way I live my life, and
it's really the only way I know how to. I
would say project like a life philosophy kind of the

(33:16):
way to go about your professional life is to not
be afraid to take chances. And sometimes when you swing,
you're gonna miss. It's like a draft pick. It's like dating.
It's like anyone in business making busin decisions, hiring acquisitions,
choosing to go to Netflix. You never know. There are

(33:37):
no guarantees in life beside Uncle Sam sending you a
bill and then we're all gonna die one day, right.
But I've lived my life going back since I've left college,
throughout my football career and now through this career of
being really aggressive, and I've been very very lucky. I've said,
Forever Coward changed my life and being associated with them,

(34:02):
even I had this podcast before the volume ever existed,
then obviously the volume exists. I go to that and
being run by Jamie Horowitz and Logan Swain and the
other executive team are are sales guys like I've been
very very fortunate to be around really really impressive, high
level people who you know, I mean I'm not tooting

(34:23):
my own horn. I do like this business. If I
didn't do well, they would have got rid of me
and we wouldn't be partnered. But I've done well. They've supported,
and they've double supported, and they've had my back. They've
promoted me in the sense of like pushing the podcast,
the sales team. I couldn't have asked for better people,

(34:44):
more aspirational people, bigger grinders. I mean, going back to Calward,
I've said this forever. Do you know the percentage of
people that would have been in his spot five six
years ago before we ever started the volume financially crushing?
It could have been life on Easy Street. Did not
need to start this company, did not need the headache.

(35:05):
I mean I spent the three nights with him in
Chicago when we did the live thing, Like, doing these
things causes more headaches than it is, like, oh fun,
all rainbows, a bunch of money. Like, No, it's a
pain in the ass running a business. Anyone listening to this,
I don't care if you run a business with two
people or one hundred and fifty people. No, it's hard.
You get a lot of people hitting you up, you

(35:25):
get a lot of different stuff. You always got to
put out fires. Got a lot going on, especially in
a business like this, it's very public, and no one
has supported me more than him. So for me, like,
it wasn't my idea to be like, hey can I
throw my name in the Netflix ring. It just came
to me, Hey, would you be interested? And like I said,
my first reaction is yeah, I'm open and talking. Now,

(35:48):
I'm not an idiot. Like at the end of the day,
I'm a consumer and the way I consume I watch
countless podcasts on YouTube, Like I am a huge consumer
of YouTube. Even if I didn't do this, if I
just was John Middlecoff medical sales rep here in Scottsdale,
the amount of content I would watch off YouTube would

(36:11):
probably be the same potentially more depending on it. Just
be instead of at my desk, might be in my
car driving around. Right, So I understand how hard it
is being a consumer just to change your habits, because
my habit is just watch video podcasts as I'm working
or even if I'm going on a walk, like I
pay for YouTube Premium, I can just listen to it.

(36:32):
So it's like I was open to the conversation, but
we also had to talk through like this is pretty
risky right now. I think a huge selling point for
me is the audio never doesn't change, and the audio
if only audio existed in video never did, we would
be running a sustainable business here on three and out.
Obviously the video through YouTube has taken it to the

(36:53):
next level and now going to Netflix, which again I'm
not doing it for free. Obviously you know this is
a a lucrative venture, but it's also a venture that,
like you kind of keep your fingers crossed, hope it's
gonna work.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Now.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
I'm not getting into business with some random company like
this is. They know what they're doing and they're not
just going all in. I'll tell you this. When you
know the initial names came out, I was like, there
aren't that many sports people. I feel pretty confident of
my crew supporting and the following day when pardon my take,

(37:28):
which is by far the biggest sports podcast that's ever existed.
I'm not counting like TV show, radio show, like someone
like Colin the Doubles at it all. I'm talking a
internet podcast. They are by far the highest listen to
and definitely in terms of revenue, no one's even close.
And this probably puts them into high eight figures of revenue,

(37:52):
and now they're closer to nine than they are seven.
I mean, they are an absolute cash cow. Rossillo has
had one of the biggest podcast asked for a long time.
So when that got announced, I went, I'm with the
right crew, the crew that had this idea to get
involved that got me involved. And I was like I
and I also I made the right decision of like
giving me the thumbs up, like I want in. This

(38:14):
is a no brainer. And obviously we're gonna need people
to change their consumer habits because I'm not exactly sure,
like I still plan on. The other thing is they're
not like if you would have told me a couple
of years ago, you're gonna go, You're gonna be on Netflix,
Like shit, I'm in like a crime drama. Did they

(38:35):
cast me for like one of McConaughey or Adam Sandler's movies,
Like God, my career took a turn. I mean, honestly,
that would have been That would have been what I
would have said, Like, you know, I was in the
sheriff of Critter Creek back in third grade. I was
actually the sheriff of the lead and you know, my dad,
pretty old school conservative guy, was like, you're not going
into acting. I probably would have had a pretty good career,

(38:56):
but that I got shot down pretty again the lead
I might have had a future. Not good looking enough
and no hair would have been a problem. Actually, the
ball community is going pretty strong in Hollywood now, but
the podcast thing clearly they want all in on, and
they're not counting myself at all on this one. They're
clearly on the right people. So you just believe in

(39:19):
a company that gets it right a lot more than
they get it wrong. And if someone over the years,
like I've invested in Netflix made me a lot of
money for a reason. It's popular, it works, and they're
going after YouTube now, which again, this channel's not going away,
so like we will not host the shows or the reactions,

(39:40):
but we still plan on having content. Not exactly sure
what that will look like. We obviously have another channel
that is go Low Golf that is not going to
be associated with Netflix, So I guess they didn't want
to see any play golf on Netflix. I mean, that's
their loss, but that will be My plan is to

(40:01):
make that thing way more active than it's been. I mean,
we just started the the YouTube feed on that one,
I think toward the end of the year. But it's
it's a massive, massive change and a massive move obviously
a lot of positives. Good for everyone that works on
my show that I mean, you see, there are a
lot of guys. I mean, you've seen Jackson, but but

(40:23):
Shane and Adam and James who's now moved on from
us with Joe and Jada who's also going to Netflix. Noah,
we have a lot of people. There's a big operation.
So making moves like this are just like you can't
be afraid to do them. And I know there's gonna
be some reaction, just like like I'm not doing that,

(40:43):
and let's totally understand if I was in the shoes,
like you'd have to get used to it. And hopefully
we've done a good enough job going and doing this
podcast and clearly we have a pretty strong following that
hopefully it works. And I'm fired up. I'm confident, like
nothing's going to change. So if you want to get

(41:04):
what we're doing, that's where you got to go, you know,
And I'll be there every day, like I am now
doing these podcasts and really really exciting and you know,
sometimes as you get older. I'm not a big celebrate guy,
hate birthdays as I've gotten older. Like I told Maria,
I'm like, don't get me anything for Christmas. I do
not want anything for Christmas. I just I'm just not.

(41:27):
I don't know. Maybe it's some like emotional trauma from
my youth, but this is one of those things that like,
you know, my dad who passed away years ago. Again,
I don't even know if he knew what Netflix was
when he died in two thousand and eighteen. He probably wouldn't.
Maybe he did because this financial guy might have had
him in the stock. But these are type moments that

(41:47):
you know, pretty big that your family and people around
you can, you know, kind of celebrate like it's a
big deal. I mean, there's just no way around it.
It's one of those things like it hasn't really like
it doesn't really phase me in the sense of what
am I to throw a party. We just gotta get
to work. We've got to do a good job. We're
gonna get probably more new people. See I thought the

(42:11):
way I attack this in the power of the video. Again,
for those of you listening on audio, nothing changes, literally
nothing changes. Uh, they're just think about it, like Pat
McAfee the way he does the show on ESPN. They're
just licensing is the show that I already do. So
you plan on just being my same self, talking football,
talking whatever's going on, mail bags, life questions, Fugazi Fridays,

(42:35):
and the videos will just be on Netflix where the
audio will be on a place they are now, Apple, Spotify.
Are there other places you listen to podcasts as YouTube
have a podcast, all the same places that have podcasts
right now. It'll stay. So yeah, that's a little life update.
Other than that that I did I miss anything. I

(42:58):
did feel I mean a little insight into me, not
that I was nervous, like I was ready to go
like he make full speed decisions. You go the day
after we basically it was iHeart puts out the uh
the release and iHeart is it's kind of complicated. We're
in business like the volume is in business. Also where
partners with iHeart who have been incredible partners for me

(43:19):
personally and the sale of the show and done work
behind the scenes. Bob Millheiser, who's one of their head
sales gut might be the main sales guy's he's a
stud known him forever. The Iheart's been fucking incredible to me.
So it was when they put out the press release,
You're like, Okay, it's just I gotta everyone's gonna be
coming to me for football, like I would drive some

(43:40):
people there, And when it came out to Big Kat
and Roscillo and PFT made me feel like, Okay, we
got sports. People are gonna come and it's on me
to keep doing a good job and entertain, uh you
guys and talk football, which I obviously enjoy doing and
reacting to these games. The plan will be, I guess,
the exact same, unless I have a baby on one

(44:02):
of the game nights, which I hope. I'm like Stucky,
who you'll hear from on the audio here in a
minute on the video video be out tomorrow. You know
he had the baby on NFL Sunday and still was
able to watch games. So you know, I think I
could see her killing me if I attempted that, But
we'll try. You know, the phone iPad, I'll come, Aquiff.

(44:24):
But other than that, just wanted to update everyone for
life what's going on and this is not a fugazi,
this is real. Three and out. John Middlecoff to Netflix
it's happening not to be in a crime drama. I'm
not a serial killer, so there's not a documentary on
That would have been another thing like did I get
in trouble and they did some documentary on me? So

(44:44):
I'm like a podcaster, you know, kill seven. It's like
what or did you know fifty cent didn't do a
documentary on me? We're just going to do a football show. Okay,

(45:08):
back at it again with my main man and a
new father. You can catch him on the Action Network.
You can catch them changing diapers, you can catch them
just probably not sleeping much. Him and Sean McVeigh football kids.
You just keep the pedal of the metal stuck. He congratulations.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Thanks. Yeah, I don't really sleep much turned football season anyway,
so it's not much of a change. It's more for
my wife. She does all the work. But it was funny,
he was. He came at one o'clock on the Dot
Eastern on the NFL Sunday, and I got my wife
at a C section, got cut out one o'clock. They

(45:51):
had to keep operating on her. Obviously, they brought me
and the baby up to the nursery and then they
had to like work on him for a while. They
clean him up, and then because it was a C section,
he asked to like get as lungs going. So they
were working on for a while. I had like at
a winter hat on and my scrubs, but and then
I had headphones underneath. And then I was sitting in

(46:15):
this sitting in the nursery for an hour. Well, they
worked on him. There's nothing I can do, and I
just I had my phone propped up on a desk,
was just watching and listening to Red Zone. So this
was still sweating NFL. But it was amazing moment. And yeah,

(46:39):
he's home now, Mom and kid are doing well, but
the grind must go on. It was funny.

Speaker 1 (46:47):
I feel like that's like the Alfared Batman meme where
they see each other. There's a chance that you see
other men in that situation because there's not much you
can do if you get on a Saturday or Sunday
during the fall or you never know, you know, Kentucky,
Derby's Masters, you name it. You could just see a
guy just sitting there, not especially his wife's in a
different room, so it's not like he's gonna get in
any trouble.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Yeah, well, my wife went to like some pregnancy classes.
She really wanted to go to this one pregnancy class
where they like teach you basic stuff.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
I went, I went. Did you go? Now?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
The one she wanted to go to was a Sunday
at one o'clock. It was Sunday to Sunday two thirty
on the NFL Sunday. She didn't even ask me to go.
Uh she's she's uh, she's good like that. She she
knows that I wasn't gonna. It's partly my work too,
but I.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Mean she she had to go to private school or
you want him to go.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
To Yeah, she was sending me she was like, it's
I don't know, she's been send me a tout like
I don't know how these uh wis all got their
husbands to go to a class on an NFL Sunday.
And then she was sending me pictures of all the
guys like, uh, just from like far she zoom in
and snap on a guy that was like checking his
fantasy streaming a game.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
So yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
The grind must go on. So we were on to college.
It's about football, is don't toe it really good? I
mean starting, I mean tonight really we're recording this on
a Thursday. I have Rams Seahawks, which is an amazing game.
Seahawks win, your forty nine ers controlled around Destiny for
the one seed, which is pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
So to Seattle though, Right, but they play each other, right, Yeah,
but I'm just saying like they'd have one more win
and the Niners still play the Bears.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
It's yeah, it's not easy, but if it's it's pretty crazy.
Think about like where the forty nine ers were injury
wise all year, but then College Wall playoff Friday night.
College Wall playoffs Saturday, NFL. Now Saturday is NFL Sunday.
So like the football over the next two months is

(48:48):
going to be really, really good.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
Let's just start because we have to talk too long
about the college football because there's only a couple of
good games out of the four. But I'm sure you
know you've had a lot going on. The Clatt tape
take went pretty viral about we don't want Cinderella's in
college football, and I don't know how anyone would push
back against that. In the sense that, like the same
teams dominate every year our entire life. There's been the

(49:13):
occasional boise and TCU. But this is not college basketball
and anyone. I mean when I was at cal Poly,
you could have games against UCLA where you're like, you know,
giving them a basketball is a lot different than football,
like you've got no shot. And the only reason this exists.
And the other thing Clatt talked about, which is not
controversy at all, it's just a fact because I had

(49:33):
a buddy that's like a minor league baseball player and
he hit me up, can you explain to me how
these programs are in the playoffs like JMU, And I'm like, well,
the lawsuit they had to give them a spot, and
then the ACC the conference championship deal the top five,
so kind of it threw like Notre Dame should normally
be in. And if I think if tulanees in and

(49:56):
Notre Dame's in, it's not Is this even a controversial playoff? Really,
they're just the twelve seed, Like yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
We're gonna constantly change it like last week. The funny
thing is if we have the same format as last year,
Ohio State would be playing JMU and then Ohio State
would play Tulane in the second round because tu Lane
would have a bye. That is way more broken than
we have this year. So they fixed that. What I

(50:23):
think the main culprit this year everyone was getting mad
at the wrong things was the ACC, like their tie break.
The first of all, the AC was terrible, but their
tiebreaker situation was a disaster. Like you have certain conferences
the American included with Tulane the Mountain West where they stay.

(50:45):
The first tiebreaker is the highest ranked college football playoff team.
So even if you have six teams, and if you
want to even go a step further than, one of
the culprits of this is these expanded conferences, right like
the ACC eighteen teams, So you have these completely unbalanced schedules, right,
So you could have teams that play, you know, the

(51:08):
play Stanford and Cal and Virginia Tech, and they played
a bunch of bad teams and they have the same record.
The way that you rectify that is you say, okay,
even if we have six teams tied, the first team
will be whoever's ranked highest in the College Wall Playoff.
The second is the second team record. But if no one,
then you go to the other type rakers. So in
this case, you would have had Miami in the College Wall.

(51:31):
I mean in the AEC championship game, which would have
solved everything because Miami would have either won the ACC championship,
right and they're the ACC champion in and then Notre
Dame would have also been in, or they would have
lost and Miami would have been out, and Virginia if

(51:51):
they would have won, they would have been in not
a five loss duke team and then jam you would
have been out as well. That's so they'll fix that,
I imagine. But these, like these expanded confidences lead to this.
You have to have the right time breakers in place.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
I do think what's inevitable though, is like and listen,
I got my start at Fresno State, is like the
non power force to just have their own playoffs kind
of d ONEAE. Now, the problem is they want, they
want their opportunity to get in that money, and that
that's what complicates it. But there is You could make
the argument that even Tulane who played Ole Miss and
lost by you know what, thirty five points, thirty five

(52:28):
point forty five to ten without the score, so it's
just we don't need to include these aren't This is
not basketball. Football is dramatically different, and that could wipe
out the Bowl games and give ESPN the inventory of
just Fresno States playing Tulane. You know, you give me
games that you and I and most casual fans sending
a home and there's nothing going on like a you know,

(52:50):
Friday night. Just watch those couple of games throughout the
next couple of weeks, right, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Mean they're mainly be events as the Bowl games are.
So yeah, I mean, what what this is going to
lead to? I think, I mean, I think that's eventually
where we'll get to.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
You know, non power four power four yeah, and then but.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
I think in the short term it's just gonna lead
to expansion again. So we're probably gonna go to sixteen teams.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
And the what.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
But what I don't think people people found to understand
is that more teams leads to more arguments, not fewer.
And because you just say, oh, well, let's let's expand
it because this year then you know, Notre Dame would
have been in and uh like the games. But every
time you do that, you're you're just gonna argue about
more things. If you'd argue over the byes, if you

(53:46):
argue number team fifteen or sixteen, right, I mean I've
always said, and it's never going to go back to this,
that eight is the perfect number. And you would have
your your four Power four champs from conference championship weekend,
throw throw your G six one G six team in,
and then you have three wild cards. And the reason
I like that is eight keeps the regular season very

(54:09):
highly leveraged throughout. It keeps conference championship weekend, which who
knows at this rate and keeping expending might go away.
We might have like playing games in different conferences, but
it keeps that weekend really important, and then you you
don't have as many arguments, but the conference championship regular
season is still really important. And like who would be.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Who would be right? Now? The four? We know the four,
which is so Duke would be in.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Technically yeah, Duke would be in. So that I mean
now again, ACC needs to change there if they change
their tiebreakers, snars, you never have something like that happen,
and any system that you have is is going to
be flawed. I also don't think there should be any
auto bids, but I mean auto buys. Uh, So that's

(54:58):
how I would do it. But it's never going back
to eight. We're we're just going to expand and there's
gonna be more questions and like because conference championship weekend
now just feels cheaper, right, like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Indiana.
I was cool, but like we were the there wasn't
like both teams.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
I actually commend them for playing hard because they didn't
really need I mean, Indiana was trying. It was a
If Indiana loses in the second round like that, that
game is veryful. Yeah, that's that's the most meaning. Unless
they win the national championship this year, it's hard to ever.
I mean that's the biggest win the history of the
program by a country mile, right.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yes, by far. The Yeah so what Klatt said, Yeah,
you don't want to have like two college felave ploff
first round games that have spreads of seventeen.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
And that's my only strong feeling, like I got you know,
I would say, yeah, I like Oklahoma, but it's like,
I don't know, Jeometerier. Maybe he's healthier now. He kind
of was never the same after he got injured. It's
like I want to take Miami as a live dog.
But if Elko is viewed as like, I don't know,
like the chubby Mike McDonald of college football in terms
of defensive scheme, like, I don't love Carson Beck against

(56:12):
the defensive a guy that, like Nick Saban, picks his brain.
I mean, that's a tough matchup with a long expansion.
I would say this Oregon last year had so much
hype and they got well well to score after a
quarter was a twenty eight nothing, I mean nothing. Yeah,
it was over for a team that like two legit teams.
That's as quick as you'll see a game over as

(56:34):
I can ever remember. I do think that that's an
easy Like we're on a mission this year. We were
embarrassed last year and it just happens jam used their
first opponent who clearly is not you know, has no
business playing them. That thing could get ugly fast.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Yeah, my only concern starting with that game.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
Again, assuming it's not pouring rain or something.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
Yeah, I do think Jamius defense is legit. Like you
could do you adjust for opponent. It's they're like a
top fifteen twenty defense. They played Louisville. It was a
good offense. They have NFL players, Chris Bell, they're running back.
That game was fourteen to six at Louisville. Jamie was
leading in the fourth quarter, and then there was a

(57:14):
broken play, a sack for a touchdown, and then a
broken play at the end, and Love ended up winning
twenty eight fourteen. But I do think the Jamu defense
is legit. The offense, I think is gonna it's gonna
struggle mightily. The biggest problem for them. I mean, their
receivers are probably aren't gonna get any separation, and their
offensive line is gonna get demolished. I mean, I think

(57:36):
they only have like two guys over two ninety two
ninety five. So how does Jamie move the ball? I
don't know. They are really really slow, so they're gonna
like run it rely on their defense. Oregon, I imagine
it's like the one thing I'm because winning by more
than twenty one, like take some against a good defense
takes some effort and care to want to blow a

(58:01):
team out. And Oregon will have a huge game next week.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Right, So we saw this last year, right Ohio State,
some of these teams kind of with a chip on
their shoulder. Now Oregon's been playing well, it's not like
their chip on the shoulders same as Ohio State. But
that first round last year was blood Central.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
Well, Yeah, it's interesting bringing that up. So maybe I
think I actually I played some under early in that
Oregon Jamiugay. I just don't think the jamiu offen is
gonna do anything. And then I do think the jamiu
de defense can can put up enough of a fight.
And I'm not sure like Oregon has wide receiver injuries now,
so they've been relying more on like their tight ends
their running game lately, so that would lend itself to
an under. I think it'll be slow paced, and I

(58:38):
don't think Oregon needs to show a ton here in
this game to win it. But if you recall last year,
this is the first year of the expanded playoffs, so
we had, you know, four first round home playoff games,
and those I'm not sure that anybody really knows yet

(58:58):
because the sample size is so small. How like electric
home field or a collegeball team in a playoff home
game can be especially at night, right, And if you
look back last year you had Ohio State crushed Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
The Dame was at night.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Yeah, that game was at night. I mean all four
home teams won and covered last year Oklahoma in Norman
at night. It's gonna be windy, like pretty significant wins cold.
I mean that place is gonna be electric and Alabama
with the wind, I'm not sure Ty Simpson's fully healthy.

(59:39):
He's been doing like a back issue and he just
hasn't been the same over the last month of the year.
I mean Bama kind of stumbled down the stretch. You
and Dema cannot run the ball at all. They cannot
run it. I mean in negative three rushing yards versus
Georgia throwing the wind in a one dimensional offense in
that atmosphere. Against Oklahoma with you know, even more time
to prepare for venables, I think Oklahoma gets it done.

(01:00:01):
Maybe the teer is healthier. Our Mason Thomas is going
to be a first round draft pick. He's back for Oklahoma.
He's one of the best edge rushers in the country.
He's been out since that Tennessee game where he had
that strip return for a touchdown and he pulled his
hammy running down the field. So I'm gonna trust the
Oklahoma defense. The Oklahoma offense can be very ugly to watch.
I mean, the totals forty for a reason. This is

(01:00:23):
gonna be what would you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Say the Texans are their comp Yes, yeah, and dominant defense,
dominant defensive head coach who's awesome, you know, as long
his resume is longer than the Mikos. But you know
the quarterback early on Matier looked awesome, then he got
banged up. Cjy's she's actually playing well right now. Obviously
CJ is better than John Matier.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
Sure, but you know that's a comparison. Like the Texans
offense can still be wonky, and they can still struggle
to finish drives. Their offensive line isn't great. That's all
the same things for Oklahoma. The one I will say,
like margins are very thin this time of the Y.
Like we know these teams are, like they already played
now Alcaholm already beat Alabama, but Alabama did dominate the

(01:01:05):
game statistically. They just turned the ball over, one of
the biggest advantages in this game, which can be super important.
With the total forty close game you know, should be
super competitive. The Oklahoma special teams are way better than Alabama's.
Alabama's had kicker issues, They've had issues across their special teams.
You saw the Georgia game, they got a punt block.

(01:01:26):
Oklahoma special team has been a lead all year. They
have Tate Sandel, who's he's he'd won the louverrows. He's
been the best kicker in college football this year. He's
good from He had a couple of fifty plus yarders
at Tennessee. That could be a huge advantage in that game.
So I like Oklahoma. The A and M game is
interesting win there too, so there could be some impactful wins,

(01:01:47):
which could That's why the totals come down a bit.
I don't mind that under I played some first half
under the What I'm looking for there, I mean Mario
Chris Ball's not been reliable in big spots, especially on
the road. Carson Beck has struggled on the road throughout
his career, and he can't really move. This is a
but this is a He's not like a runner. A

(01:02:08):
and M is gonna play a lot of man defense.
This is a great in the trenches matchup. This is
like elite Texas. A and M is an elite offensive line.
Miami has an lead offensive line, text an M is
an elite defensive line. Miami is an elite defensive line.
Like these are. You could argue their top five offensive
and defensive lines going against each.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Other like grown man game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Yeah, a lot of pros. Whoever wins that battle and
like make some more plays, you know, if you have,
like if Ruben Bain is winning his one on ones,
if Cash's House winning his one on ones, like so,
but I'm looking for A and M has been a
very good second half team all year. I did play
some first half under I think it's like the passing

(01:02:47):
is gonna be a little stunned because of the wind.
Miami usually comes out very conservative, tries to run the ball.
A and M gives up a bunch of run explosives,
but Miami's not really they have. They have this new
freshman they've been running a bit more, is explosive. Maybe
he can be a key, but mind he's not an
explosive running team. So I think both teams are going
to come out and kind of feel each other out.
It'll be lower scoring at first. Miami's gonna get want

(01:03:09):
their best cornerback from injury, Keante Scott. That's important because
A and M is really good receivers. But I and
A and M is getting a couple defenders back as well.
So I think this will start slow, lower scoring. But
my if A and M is down at any point
in the first half. I'll be looking to bet work
second half, bet them second half, or bet them live,
because I trust Elko way more than crystal Ball to

(01:03:33):
make in game adjustments. So I'll be looking to bet
A and M live and cryst of all, there's never
a game he hasn't known that he'll give away. I
mean they will go into a shell if they have
a lead, they'll make bad time management decisions like all
that is into play here, and we've seen A and
M be dominating second halfs all year. Go back to
the South Carolina again, They're not thirty to nothing at
the half and they come back to win. So that's

(01:03:55):
what I'm looking for there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
And then the other game, well, Elco would be if
we did a coaching draft from scratch, everyone's available. You know,
I think so many people watch the marquee teams. A
and M is for being a you know, a high
level program that playing the SEC and obviously this year
they were, you know, competing to be the number one
team throughout the country. They don't feel like the most

(01:04:17):
consumed team in the country. And he's a little under
the radar for a guy that he's proven he can
coach at an academic place in Duke. He's coaching at
you know, kind of a renegade program where you got
money and you can do whatever you want. He's coach
for Brian Kelly. I think he's probably, in a weird way,
one of the most under the radar coaches that we
just talk about, like you know, Kirby Landing, Ryan Day,

(01:04:37):
Like no one unless you're really like nerdy football guy.
I think he's a baller.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
Yes, it's true football guy, like you just need just
know that. That's all. He eats, breeze and sleeps.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
He's a lot of food too. He ain't missing many meals.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
Yes, he's eating more than football. So yeah, I love
belcol And I think Mario is a hard head coach,
great recruiter, uh And Heatherman's a good DC.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
It's very He's an unreal number two, like if you
got Saving or Kirby or something and just make him
your assistant head coach recruiting, kind of like a right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Yes line coach develop offensive lineman. But as far as
like in gay Man, I mean go back. I mean
I could go on and on about the I mean
the Georgia Tech game where they didn't take a knee
and they fumbled and then lost when they could have
just needed There are so many of those, so many
like late game time management, all those little things.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
Where he's so bad at It happened at Organ right
against I.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Lost a bet. They could have just kneeled again. They
didn't even learn his lesson. Happened twice in the last
ten years. That never happens. They could have kneeled against
Stanford and then ended up losing in overtime. I had
Organ that game horrendous. So yeah, those little things could
come into play and decide this Like I could see
A and M coming back and winning, Mario messing it

(01:06:00):
up and back making maybe a mistake or two, which
so I think A and M gets it done at home.
So I like all the home teams, and I think
Old Miss has too much for two lane. The two
lane defense is not great. They should have had a
couple more losses this year. Retzlaf's gonna have to use
his legs, but I don't know if he can against
an SEC defense. The best part about the two lane

(01:06:20):
defense is their pass rush. But Shambliss and his legs
and I think All Miss will be super motivated here
after Lane left at home. You have this coaching staff,
I think they're gonna come. They have a lot of
time to prepare for this game. You're gonna see a
bunch of wrinkles and uh, I think they put it
on two lane. So yeah, I'm gonna I'm I think
that that the trend continues and the home teams uh

(01:06:43):
dominate again. But uh, I certainly could be wrong, but
definitely looking forward to these games.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Okay, let's let's talk about the National Football League. All
these lines are presented by our our friends and partners
at hard Rock BET. I kind of like that this week,
and really this happens at the end of the season,
like two games being correlated because you've got two teams
either battling for a division or you know, battling for
a wildcard spot. And we talked about last weekend the
Texans against the Cards. I did it, and I just

(01:07:24):
think they're really motivated and it paid off well. This
week they're playing the Raiders, who you're lucky you were
having a child and you probably never saw a highlight
on the red zone of the Raiders because they didn't
get to one hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
And I had the under eight and the Eagles you
got a seventeen play ninety yard drive, but it took
twelve minutes in the fourth quarter and got stopped at
the one. By the way, that was more yards than
the Raiders out of the entire game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
That's crazy. So I and the Jacks who just coming off.
You know, I would imagine statistically, when Trevor Lawrence's better game,
what do you count for six touchdown through five and
ran for one? It's hard to do. I don't care
what level you do that in high school. That's impressive,
let alone against football. Now, granted you're playing Steve Wilks,
who's kind of you know him, and Aaron Glenn. Not
sure what those guys like, Aaron, aren't you the defensive

(01:08:12):
guy like? I don't quite understand. But I do think
the Texans are really motivated this week because if the
Texas or if the Jags were playing someone really crappy.
Let's say they were playing the Cardinals this week, this
line would be a little big for me. But like
they're playing Denver, so I think it's easy in your
mind to like, these guys might lose and now we

(01:08:33):
got serious life, So we're playing this team like we'd
be playing the Ravens or something. So I expect the
Texans to give an effort like they're playing a playoff
team even though they're playing I mean, I don't know,
one of the worst teams we've seen in recent memory,
and the Jags like I like Denver. So I'm hammering
the Texans again. Big number fourteen fourteen and a half
is kind of moving up, and I'm gonna take Denver

(01:08:55):
at home. I think you know bo Nicks, who again
looked like he was I don't know how much of
that you saw. He was like touched by an angel.
Best game you're ever going to see him play. He
was fantastic. So if he can build off that confidence.
To me, if he plays like that, Denver is a
live Super Bowl champ team, you know. I mean, if
they're gonna get a good quarterback play, they're beating anybody
in the NFL, especially at home with home field advantage.

(01:09:17):
I do think coming off this game, Liam Cohen, they've
done an excellent job this year. A little different animal
on the road in Denver against this defense. So I'm
correlating these two games. I'm taking the Texans and I'm
taking Denver, you know to cover against the Jags.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
I but yeah, that one interesting, really interesting nugget is
that the Ravens win and I do like the Ravens
this week. If the Ravens win and the Steelers and
the Lions win against the Steelers, they're both favored. The
Steelers and Ravens play for nothing next week. No matter
what happens, the division will come down to Week eighteen,
which is even more interesting because the Ravens played the

(01:09:54):
Packers on Saturday night. NFL won't be too happy if
this happens because I imagine, why would you play lamar
as dealing with injuries? But that could impact the NFC seeding,
the NF the division and with green.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
Bay, the Steelers don't need to win either of these
next two games.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Correct correct, well, they if they win both and the
Ravens lose both, which is possible, then uhon and will
win the division before Week eighteen because Ravens played the
Patriots this week and then the Packers. But if the

(01:10:32):
gap is only one game, so like, if they both
win this week or uh they both lose this week,
the Ravens have the tiebreaker, which is we if they
win week eighteen, which is weird because the Steelers have
already beat them, but they would have the same division record.

(01:10:55):
It will go down to common opponents, which the Ravens
have already locked up. So yeah, there's a chance that
they're their game next week. Don't mean anything, just some
throwing that out there because Ravens Packers do play on
Saturday night. I'm gonna disagree. I I'm probably the idiot.
I played the Raiders plus fourteen and a half. It
is absolutely horrendous, But this is this is one of
my favorite spots that I've played forever. Number One. I

(01:11:19):
haven't seen the Texans injury report today, but do they
they really need to push everyone? Like Stingley's banged up lassiter,
I don't. I mean Stingley's dealing with a an oblique again,
which you dealt with earlier in the year. So maybe
they're not fully healthy. But the Raiders could get Colton
Miller back, who's like a top five left tackle. He's
practicing today. The Robins line is still gonna be bad,

(01:11:40):
but that'll help immensely. Like you go back to like
the Giants when they would lose like Andrew Thomas, and
then they would just deteriorate into dust. But if you
have like a Pro Bowl calver left tackle, it makes
the whole operation a bit smoother. I so, but I
do think we're at the top of the market on
the Texans. Like now everyone is saying Texans are live

(01:12:02):
for the Super Bowl or the best team they have
see and some of those things might be true, but
usually that's a signal like we're all right, we're at
the peak of the market. On Texans. Who won sixth straight,
and I will say caveats some of those wins, like
the Bills didn't have an offensive line, Daniel Jones got
hurt for the Colts, the Chiefs didn't have an offensive line,
the Cardinals whole team was out, so they've benefited from
some injuries. They won six straight. Only one of those

(01:12:23):
teams is gone to the playoffs, and I think that
they're at the top of the market. Meanwhile, the Raiders,
they're coming off a shutout loss within seventy five yards.
It doesn't get more of the bottom. So this is
just the classic Bilo so high for me, teams off
a shutout loss are fifty eight percent historically against the spread.
On the road, they're sixty four percent as a road
dog sixty six percent. But one of my fans, and look,

(01:12:45):
the Raiders haven't. They're a really really bad team, but
they haven't. So they've been blought out a bunch this
year and they're four and one against the spread after
blowout losses. So like they lost, they've lost by seventeen
or more five times after those games. They lost by
one to the Bears. They the Titans by ten, they
lost by one to the Jags, they lost by seven
to the Broncos and covered, and then they lost by

(01:13:06):
fourteen to the Browns. It's the only time they didn't cover.
But one of my favorite spots is in the NFL,
it doesn't happen often, and it's gone fifty to twenty
five against the spread over the past twenty years. You
have a double digit underdog in the NFL that was
a double digit underdog the week before and didn't cover,

(01:13:26):
and and it's hit, as you know, sixty seven percent
by about four points per game on average over the
past twenty five years. The reason I do I love
that that trend is it really is just speaking to
buy and low because think about it, last week, the
Raiders were so to be a double digital two weeks. Amow,
you gotta be a really bad team and then you

(01:13:47):
got blown out and you didn't cover, right, So bad
team blown out as a double digit underdog didn't cover
just like last week at the Raiders, the lost thirty
one nothing. They had seventy five yards. Who in the
right mind wants to bet that bad team again against
another good team as a double digit underdog. Nobody, right,
So usually you might get a point or and I

(01:14:08):
projected sign it like thirteen thirteen and a half. So
I think that's why we're getting over two touchdowns. I
still I need over two touchdowns to play this like
fourteen if you wanted to like fourteen. I mean the
Raiders could lose thirty, they could lose thirty and nothing.
That's fine, but that's it's one of my favorite And
these are still professionals, like after getting embarrassed to expect
them the show up. But that is one of my
favorite trends. Double digit dog got blown out, didn't cover

(01:14:30):
double digit dog again the next week. So like the
I like the Raiders. Broncos Jags interesting game. The Jags
have been on fire. I mean their defense top five
against the run of all year they're I mean since
Week eight, their top five and EPA per play.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
It's don't getting wrong. I think they're good. You know,
I've I've shopped on them in the past. Like I
think this is a good team coming into Denver. I'm
just taking Denver more. Yeah, now it opens up like
we control our destiny getting the one seed. They get
the one seed. I it's gonna be pretty hard for
them not to be in the super Bowl, assuming bo
Nicks is just solid, Like, that's gonna be a tough

(01:15:08):
place to go in and beat him. Even if Josh
has to go there like his their team is just
way better.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Well, I mean in look at the AFC playoffs. I mean, yeah,
the Ravens might not be there. The Chiefs aren't going
to be there. You know, Burrow is not going to
be there. It's it's a lot easier path than it's
been big time. But yeah, the Jags offense you mentioned it,
it's it's since since acquiring Jacobe Myers, he's been a revelation.

(01:15:33):
I mean since they got him. Their third and drop
back success rate Brenton Strange them getting him back to
if this went to three and a half, I would
look at the Jags, but the I don't blame you
for taking the Broncos here, but I will say team's
on eleven plus game winning streaks since nineteen ninety, which

(01:15:53):
the Broncos are fourteen thirty six and two against the
spread twenty eight percent. So we it just speaks to
a lot of times you might be at the top
of the market value in the Broncos. But it does
seem like the market doesn't really buy the Broncos. So
I'm not sure that they're one of those teams that
gets totally overinflated. My last note on that game. If
the Jags win, I mean Jags, so listen to this.

(01:16:18):
Jags win and then they win out and they have
the Titans and Colts left. If the Broncos, who go
to Kansas City, so you think that they they'll win
now without Momes. But if the Broncos lose to the
Chargers in the finale and the Patriots lose to the
Ravens this week, even if the Patriots went out, the

(01:16:41):
Jags have the one seed. That's the path of the
Jags one seed, even if the Bills went out, So
I if the Bills went out and they get the
thirteen wins. You can have five teams and NFC finished
with thirteen wins. If that happens, Pats win the division,
Pats have Tibreger Rebells, Chargers would win the division over
the Broncos, and the Jags would have the one seed.
So there's still a path for the Jags that have

(01:17:02):
a one seed. Broncos they win this game, sitting very
pretty for the one seed. But yeah, AFC playoffs, Like
the path is there for the Broncos this year and
for for any of these season getting that one seed,
especially with all these quarterbacks who might not these you know,
elite quarterbacks. The pesties aren't going to be in it.
Like can you get to play in Denver? Like you

(01:17:25):
got to really like your chances.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
Well that's why the uh, your squad and the Steelers.
Maybe it's just Recncy biased. I didn't think the Steelers
have just been pretty solid the last couple of weeks,
especially you know, I get there playing Miami, but Miami's
defense was playing pretty well. I mean that game through
a quarter and a half, it was like this is intense.
They kind of it felt like Miami was the Steelers.

(01:17:47):
They just happened to have Tua and then they score
going into half, they score coming out of half, and
it's just like, Okay, they found their mojo. You know,
DK's made some big plays for him over the last
couple of weeks. I clearly they challenged him a little bit.
You know. I think when after they beat you guys
and Rogers after the game was like, you know, he
had a great week. You could tell. It's like, we
paid a lot of money for you, bro, we need
you to be a star. And it feels like he's

(01:18:08):
brought a little motor because they need him. I mean
it's I mean, they're Adam Thielen's out there. I mean,
they don't exactly have Plexico or you know some of
the receivers of old you know, heines Ward walking through
that door. You know, Detroit's not dead officially, but they
lose this game, it's over right, so they are truly
playing for their lives. But you know, coming off the
shorter week, I thought Detroit through everything they had at

(01:18:31):
the Rams and to lose that game, I mean they
had I mean Saint Brown and Jameson Williams went for
like twenty catches three hundred yards and three touchdowns. It's
hard to do much more than that, and they still lost.
I mean it was technically a touchdown. It felt like,
you know, they kind of got worked toward the end,
and I don't know, I just you know, Mar sick

(01:18:51):
or whatever this week. That's a pretty devastating loss if
you're the Patriot, especially with the young team, especially a
young quarterback. You have the twenty one nothing the league.
There's a lot of pressure this week on Vrabel and
Josh just to kind of calm everyone down, like we're
not done here. But all of a sudden, you lose
this game. You know, well, we're just speaking about the
Bills winning the division. So I'm taking the Ravens minus three,

(01:19:13):
but I don't know why. I like the Steelers a
lot plus seven.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
I'm with you on the Ravens. This is Lamar time.
I think he's getting incrementally better each week because he's
eighteen and eight against spread in December, he's never lost
the game in his career. Between weeks fifteen and eighteen
and since the biggest story of the Raves is their
running game is really getting going. I mean six since
week eight, their second in RUSHIPA, they were twenty second

(01:19:36):
over the first seven weeks, like they figured out their
run game. They're using like Charlie Kohler Moore as a
blocker who's like a lead in that aspect, and I
think you're going to see more RPOs this week. And
the Patriots defense since Week eight over that same span,
thirtieth in rushed success rate, thirtieth in RUSHINGPA. They lost
Nolton Williams, Robert Splane, they're starting linebacker, leading tackler calls
the defense. He was in a boot yesterday. I think

(01:19:56):
he's going to be out. So now they're the Patriot's
starting to deal with some injuries there. Last tackle Campbell
he's still out. They got Verdarian Lowe in there. He's
not as good. So this Patriots team they lived the
charmed life. Look, Drake May's outstanding is going to be
outstanding for years. But you can't argue that the Patriots
played the single easiest schedule in the NFL over the
first fourteen weeks, and they played seven of their ten

(01:20:17):
wins came against quarterbacks of either rookies or no longer starters.
I guess eight now because Tua ad Tua to the mix.
So they played just a clown show of the schedule,
and they were lucky. I mean they fourteen to nineteen
on fourth downs their opponents eight of twenty three. They
had seventeen fumbles on the year, They've only lost seven.
They've recovered seventy percent of their opponent's fumbles, and now

(01:20:38):
they're hurt. I think the Rings will be able to
run on them. I think the Rings will be able
to throw to their tight ends take advantage of the
Patriots linebackers. They have covered issues over the middle of
the field. I think this is like your classic Ravens
home hardball Lamar spot at home. So I do like Baltimore.
The good thing if you're a Patriots fan, even if
you lose this game, you you don't have the tiberg

(01:20:58):
over the Broncos, So the ones seeds prop doesn't look
as good. But if you just take care of the
Dolphins that look like they're probably swirling the drain, and
the Jets the same like you might have to play
their last two quarterbacks you play might be Brady Cook
and Quinn Ewers. If you win those two games, you
win the division because they they will have the tibreak

(01:21:19):
over the Bills, so that that's good news for the page.
But I think the Ravens get this done at home.
In regards to the Steelers, yeah, I mean DK Metcalf's
got to be big here. He's him and Rodgers been
great together against man coverage. That's what we're gonna see
a lot of against the Lions. The I do worry
about the Steelers defense like indoors against this Lions offense,

(01:21:44):
and they have in the Steelers defense has some injuries.
It could get ugly, but I think the Steelers can
move the ball. One of the things that the Lions
do not do well is and this burned them last week.
They So you have these teams, now we talked about
this before that are going some of your most elite
teams in the NFL are using more heavy personnel, using

(01:22:05):
more two three tight end sets. The the Rams are
doing that a ton, the Seahawks do it a ton
last week, and the Lions. So what you want to
do is you want to match these heavy personnels, not
with heavy or your base base meaning that you know
you're all your linebackers in there. You want to match

(01:22:26):
down in distance because if you're just and the Lions
never do that. They just played bass. So you have
lineback and then what teams do that are going heavy
personnel because you would think naturally, like od they're gonna
run it, we want to out of linebackers in there.
But the teams teams are throwing it right, and then
their tight ends are going to win these matchups against
the linebackers. So the Seahawks do this better than any

(01:22:48):
defense in the NFL. They don't they match. They don't
match base with base and heavy. You have a guy
like nickim and Moore who can play you know, a hybrid,
but they only match like eighteen percent of the time.
Think the second lowest is like fifty. The Lions never
they they will have their base or heavy and all
the time. And the Rams torched them to death. I
mean it was like eight and a half yards per

(01:23:09):
play on their heavy personnel. That's problematic against the Steelers.
The Steelers are one of the heavy They're they use
heavy personnel just as much as anyone. I think they
use multiple tight ends at the highest rate in the league. Right,
They're gonna have a ton of tight ends in there,
and then they're gonna run it. They're gonna throw to
their tight ends and then you're gonna need Metcalf to
make a couple of plays. But yeah, I think that
the Steelers can move it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
On on the game. Game well has been good for
them lately.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
Yes, Gamewell looks amazing. I mean he's their second best receiver.
It's good like you you get hit. He's he looks
in every every game I watch him. He looks amazing.
But yeah, I mean outside of their tight ends, you know,
if you get the ball to what's his name, Washington
in space, I mean just a monster. But outside of Metcalf,
like on third downs, Rogers is looking at game well,

(01:23:56):
that's how you want to get the ball to in space.
So uh yeah, I don't. I don't blame me for
taking the seven there.

Speaker 1 (01:24:05):
I do what happens City weighs over three hundred pounds
that the coaches told him that he's playing right now,
over three hundred pounds insane.

Speaker 2 (01:24:12):
I do know, no matter what happens, Raven Steelers will
play in Week eighteen for the division. That's just the
gods will somehow make that happen.

Speaker 1 (01:24:34):
A couple other ones, I would say, we hit on
Sunday night, we get a Monday or in a second.
The Chiefs Titans things pretty interesting. You know, it's I'm
not going to judge Minshew off getting thrown at the
end of the game, but this is a spot where
you know, he can make some money, keep his career going,
where you can get these five to ten million dollars

(01:24:55):
backup gigs, or it could kind of get ugly, right,
I mean, he has of all the people. I mean,
the Titans have nothing on the line. The Chiefs like
their coach and players. You know. Besides, this might be
the last couple of games of Kelsey's career. And I
would guess Chris Jones has traded this offseason just when
you kind of look at the financials of it. But
I do think there's a lot on the line for Gardner,

(01:25:16):
and I think, you know, Coach Reid and these guys
are gonna be prideful. But I don't know. I mean,
he's had some moments, but he's also you catch them
on the wrong day, you can have some moments. The
Titans actually showing out. The forty nine ers are playing
me and you on defense. They didn't chose to fight.
Jeffrey Simmons was I mean, Kittle was probably the best
player on the field. But he was right up there.
I mean, he's he's a monster. And the Chiefs offensive

(01:25:37):
lines and a little bit of a shambles. I could
see this thing getting weird, you know now. I could
also see if the Chiefs weren't scoring that many points
with Patrick, so.

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
The chief broken. I mean, their receivers aren't getting open.
Their offensive line is all these injuries, they can't block anyone.
They have no run game. And yeah, I mean I
played some Titans plus three and a half. I don't
wouldn't blame anyone playing some money line. A lot of
variance in this game. The other thing is like, did
the Chiefs really want to.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
Win this game?

Speaker 2 (01:26:05):
And what I mean by that is like they don't. Yeah,
they're pros. They're gonna go out and try. But read,
you're not gonna break out the good playbook for this one.
You're not gonna show anything any tendencies, any new creative plays, right,
this is gonna be very vanilla. And then anyone who's
banged up, there's no reason to rush anyone back, right,

(01:26:27):
you're gonna sit. I mean, Chris Jones been dealing an injury.
I can see him seating McDuffie. I mean their offensive line.
You have Rashie Rice is probably not gonna play. This
could be a complete shellion. Now the Titans have a
ton of injuries, do it safety and offensive line, But
this is it's very hard to quantify the Chiefs mental state.

(01:26:48):
This is a team who's Mahomes has never played a
snap and he still won't, which is crazy. Momees is never.

Speaker 1 (01:26:56):
I know that.

Speaker 2 (01:26:57):
I don't think Brady ever had.

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
Are he not a playoff quarterback?

Speaker 2 (01:27:02):
What's that as?

Speaker 1 (01:27:03):
Not a playoff quarterback?

Speaker 2 (01:27:04):
Or he never took a snap in his career when
he was eliminated from the playoffs, which is insane because
he played for fifty years. So but like this Chiefs
team is in the super Bowl conversation, in the playoffs
every year they've been in the AC Championship game, what's
six years in a row. Now they're eliminated in the

(01:27:24):
regular season and then going to play the Titans on
the road in December? Like, could I see them just
sleeping and being completely flat? Yeah, it's just like human emotions.

Speaker 1 (01:27:39):
So yeah, I also don't think it's crazy. If you're
Veach and Andy, you just call Clark in, you go Listen,
we've been drafting thirty one and thirty two and a
lot of severworthies. Like we lose these last three all
of a sudden, we're drafting thirteen. We could trade up
from thirteen to like six to get one of those
pass rushers, Like we could change this thing quick. Yes, right,
And I don't know think they would have to. They

(01:28:01):
are way better off at this point in time, Like
you have the run that we're not gonna see five
super Bowls in six years, I don't think forever again,
not in this with the way financially, they are much
better off losing out, Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:28:13):
By far. Yeah, I mean you finish finished sixth. They
play the Raiders, I think, yeah, they do play at
the Raiders.

Speaker 1 (01:28:18):
That'll be well, what if you ruin them from getting
Fernando Mendoza, that's what.

Speaker 2 (01:28:24):
Yes, Yeah, you could impact uh the draft many ways.
Oh Chiefs for a that'll be a dandy Week eight team.
So yeah, I do think that the Chiefs are now.
The guys on the field, they're gonna they're gonna try it.
But there's other things you can do. The play calling.
A bunch of guys who are just dinged up, don't
play so yeah, I think that the Titans are worth

(01:28:44):
a beat.

Speaker 1 (01:28:45):
Okay, two more games before we get to the Monday
night game. Uh, Chargers of the Cowboys. Not quite sure
what to make of Dallas. They've come back to earth
a little bit. I mean the Chargers just the all
time Jim Harbot team, just grit, guile, toughness, physicality. I
mean their quarterback broken hand, flying around, running stiff, arming
people with his left hand. And the opposite of GrITT

(01:29:07):
and guile would be Tampa Carolina. Uh, the Saints. You
and I have known them for a couple of weeks.
I mean they're they're feisty. I don't even know what
to make I mean, I guess I would take Carolina. Uh,
you know Todd Bowles all time press conference just I
mean dropping f bomb. The guy's quiet as a mouse
and he comes off. I mean I didn't count him.
My guests would be over under would have been like ten. Uh.

(01:29:29):
So I would probably lean Chargers plus two and a
half here. Uh, it does feel like Dallas at any moment.
I mean their offense hasn't been as good the last
couple of weeks. I don't Pickens kind of gone.

Speaker 2 (01:29:39):
Into yeahs disappeared now.

Speaker 1 (01:29:41):
In a post the Lions game.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
Yeah, the thing don't no worthy thing about Dallas, Like
I still don't trust the Chargers offense at all. Like
last week they had one drive at the end of
the first half when the Chiefs really kind of in
prevent where and you got to get Perber credit it
long throws. That was the only touchdown they scored. Last
week against the Eagles, they got what five turnovers and

(01:30:04):
they barely cracked twenty. I mean because of their offensive line.
There there's a ceiling that this offense can get to
every week, and Dallas obviously is a much higher ceiling
at home. Now, Quinn, they if.

Speaker 1 (01:30:20):
They win a playoff game, I mean they might end
up matched up against the Steelers or the Ravens that
that's a remarkable accomplishment.

Speaker 2 (01:30:27):
Yeah yeah, I mean next next year is the team
the year for the Chargers. I think to take like
that next step, like another year of Harball building the roster,
and then you're gonna have your all your Pro Bowl tackles,
which is kind of important, and then they I think,
get like a center and then like all the pieces

(01:30:47):
are starting to come into place. This year, it's gonna
be really like I made the path for when for
them getting to winning the division, like they gotta win
out Broncos lose this week and then winning out with
me and beating the Broncos. I think that's important for
them because I just it's hard for me to see

(01:31:09):
them going on the road in the playoffs with that
offensive line and winning like so, going to New England
or going to Baltimore. It's just tough that offensive line.
And next year look out for the Chargers. They just
I mean, the offensive line injuries are just are devastating.

(01:31:29):
The interesting part about that game is the Eagles play
the Commanders on Saturday. If the Eagles win, the Cowboys
are eliminated. Now the Cowboys are not officially eliminated. They
still have a chance, but they got to win out
and the Eagles kind of lose out and the Eagles
do to go to the Bills next week and then

(01:31:49):
they play the Commanders again. So if the Eagles lose,
you know, maybe it's there's some inject some life into Dallas.
But if they win in Dallas is eliminated, the line
might come.

Speaker 1 (01:32:05):
Down.

Speaker 2 (01:32:05):
I've seen the market do this and I still think
it's at home and gets the Chargers. I'll still try,
but it's just an interesting nugget there on Dallas. And
in terms of Carolina and Tampa, important game. I mean,
these two teams play each other twice because so Tampa
blew the lead against Atlanta, which means which meant that

(01:32:27):
Carolina all they had to do was beat New Orleans
and they would have the tiebreaker if they just split.
Now the tie breaker goes back to Tampa if these
teams split. So it was an important weekend of the division.
That Baker Mayfield has been horrible for two months. I mean,
you look back since week eight, he's that has the

(01:32:50):
second worst completion percentage over expectation.

Speaker 1 (01:32:53):
I hear, I hear the baby in the background.

Speaker 2 (01:32:55):
Yeah, the first time, first time Shador centers and the
only quarterback the lower completion was in the driver expectation.
Since week seven. They went from the second most explosive
offense to the least from weeks one through seven to
weeks eight through last week. But that was when they
were without Mike Evans. They finally had some explosiones in

(01:33:15):
the offense last week. Maybe he unlocks some things. They've
also had a ton of injuries. Baker I think was
dealing with some injuries. He might still be, so they're
kind of hard to rate. Had three, I would lean Panthers.
I mean, Panthers are a different team at home. You
can't trust him as a favorite, but they do have
the most outright wins as an underdog through fourteen weeks

(01:33:36):
seven since the nineteen ninety two Colts. So if this
team at home has dogs, they tend to perform their best.
But I think, like we were probably at the bottom
of the market on the Bucks, like they haven't covered
in six straight. Their offense has been a mess. They're
starting to get healthier, Like there's probably gonna be like
a Bucks offensive explosion game and the Panthers don't get

(01:33:59):
any pressure. So maybe this is it. But at three,
I could only look at the Panthers.

Speaker 1 (01:34:04):
You know what game I forgot to ask you about
was maybe it's Saturday night and we were talking college
football playoffs, you kind of out of side, out of mind.
But this is kind of a big game Packers and
going to Chicago. Obviously, you know, shitty week. I mean,
I haven't seen the latest on Christian Watson, but you know,
the Parsons injury is just it's pretty devastating. I mean,

(01:34:26):
there's just no way around it. He was pretty damn
good for them and really took their defense to another level. Now,
I still think they're pretty solid on defense. You know,
they have a good defensive coach. They're definitely this is
probably a classic spot where you're gonna get some serious
motivation going to Chicago, a team that these players are
used to beating before Mike ever got there. That they

(01:34:47):
still have good offensive pieces. I mean, Josh Jacobs is fantastic.
He's you talk about a signing that not many people
talk about, maybe like outside of Green Bay's like that's
one of the better just random signings over the last
couple of years. I mean, it's been awesome for them.
I don't know. I mean I think everyone's gonna pick
the Bears, and I don't blame them. I mean, they've

(01:35:08):
last week was impressive. I get they were playing the Browns,
but they showed up like a playoff team ready to
kick the shit out of them. And Kalb's played well.
Obviously their coach is a stud. I do kind of
want to feel like I'm gonna go counter because I
feel like everyone's all the Packers are done and I
kind of said that too, but it would not stun
me at all if this bad boy's close coming down

(01:35:28):
the stretch. And you know, I mean, the Packers players
have been in a lot more of these games over
the course of the last couple of years than the Bears.
I mean, I'm not just writing off the Packers in
this spot. I actually think they're probably a little undervalued,
you know, just given that the overreaction, which is fair
from the Parsons devastating injury.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
Yeah, it's a shame. I mean, the Packers my Super
Bowl quick before the year. They're my only Super Bowl future.
And then you lose Craft and you lose your you know,
Pro Bowl offensive lineman Elkton Jenkins at center Zach Tom
goes down last week. I don't think he's gonna play.
He's one of the better right tackles in the league.
And then he lose Parsons, who I mean against Denver

(01:36:09):
he was probably held eleven times. That was uncalled. I mean,
he was unblockable. What is the impact of losing him,
It's hard to quantify. With the three bag the trickle
down EF fact has to be huge, because like the
attention that he gets it benefits everyone else, not without him.
Everyone becomes easier to block. A guy like Lucas fan

(01:36:29):
Nets He's gonna have to elevate his game the rest
of the year. He's been a disappointment so far. Their
defense is still gonna be solid, but just Parsons took
them to the next level. Like that was what they
were missing. They were missing a guy that could just
win and get pressure on his own, and then they
got Parsons and that just took their d to him

(01:36:50):
and lead levels and then you know, they started to
figure out the offense without Craft, it does look like
Watson's gonna play. I don't think Tom's gonna play. Jacobs
didn't practice again today. Evan Williams also got hurt. I mean,
they lost like five started last week. Their safety was
really good. He's probably not gonna play the Bears. They
might be without a doonsday and burden, so there's a
lot of injuries to monitor on a short week. I

(01:37:12):
do think this is like a coin flippish game. I
there's a lot of injuries to which scares me, but
I actually like the over There's no Parsons, there's no Williams.
The Bears defense continues to just get they get they're
just getting tons of turnovers. They still will give up
chunks of yards. I'm just gonna trust both offensive mines

(01:37:33):
and Lafleur and Johnson against defenses they just saw. I mean,
these two teams just played each other. The Bears really
started to move it in the second half of that game.
They almost came all the way back. So I'm gonna trust.
And then just the loss of Parsons is gonna make
everything so much easier for Caleb. So I know there's
offensive injuries to monitor, but I kind of like that

(01:37:55):
over just trusting both coaches going up against defenses they
just saw and making adjustments. So but yeah, should be
a good one. I think it's a point foot fish game.

Speaker 1 (01:38:04):
Okay, Monday night football, Philip Rivers. I mean, it was
just it was fun to watch, even though if it
wasn't the prettiest thing you're ever gonna see. You know,
the forty nine ers, you know they avoided disaster with
Pearsall having a major knee injury. I mean, they don't
have to give we're recording this before the injury report
comes out because they're playing on Monday night football. But
like when he was on the field with Jennings, with Kittle,

(01:38:25):
who looks as good as ever looked with mcaff their
offense look fantastic. I get they're playing the Titans, but
over the last couple of weeks, they're just gonna be
able to score on anybody. And I'm gonna take the
Niners in this game simply because, like I think their
capability to get into the mid to high twenties, like
how how is and listen to the Niners defense, I
mean they were giving up play Jeffery Simmons catching touchsounds

(01:38:47):
on him that you know, if you're playing like that's
in a week playing the Bears is going to be
a difficult assignment that for that unit. But I just
it's Philip Rivers is gonna be able to score twenty
points on you. So if the Niners can get to
like twenty twenty six to thirty, how can they get
to the twenties. So Jonathan Taylor, I guess could go
for two hundred yards, But you know, I I if

(01:39:09):
I one thing every time I looked up, and you know,
kind of a weird spot for Seattle playing this forty
four year old guy with a huge game coming up.
But they you look up and their safeties would be
way back. If I'm Robert Sala, there is not a
defender within you know, it's farther back than like eight
yards of the line of scrimmage. Safeties, linebackers, corners, everyone

(01:39:30):
is up near. Like okay, Philip, you can throw out
routes and wheel routes to the cowsco and you guys
try to run it. We are all our safeties are
not back deep. If you beat us, it's like, you know,
tipping your hat to some random guy hitting threes on
you like god speed, Like good job, buddy. But I
would imagine Robert Sala just from a schematic standpoint, like, well,
we're not worried about you throwing over the top of us,

(01:39:52):
but we're not gonna let you run it, and we're
not gonna let you dink and dunk us to get
to death, because he was doing that early in that game.

Speaker 2 (01:39:58):
Yeah, Seattle, they played. They generally played as many light
boxes as any defense in the league, partly about design,
but that they do encourage that, and so yeah, I'm
curiously with San Francisco does I played the Colts sadly?
Here here are a couple of reasons. I think the

(01:40:18):
lines is a little too high. I mean, the forty
have been good. I got I mean Shannon, I think
should be in the running for Coach of the Year.
But I mean the last I mean who they played
the last few weeks. They played the Browns, the Titans,
the car I mean teams with just ravaged by injuries
to the Cardinals, and like this defense because of the

(01:40:42):
injuries is still really bad. Now they've played some bad teams,
but they can't stop the run. Since Week six or
thirty first in rush success rate. I mean, you let
the Titans run all over and the Browns were running
on them. The Browns are moving, the had a ninety
yard touch on Driver. They're just handing it off. So
I do think that Taylor can have a big game here.
What are you gonna get from Rivers, that's the question.

(01:41:02):
I'm projecting that it's gonna be better now your point
about solid just loading the box, That's what I would do.
But Rivers, it's really it's a unique situation. So it's
hard to put a number on this. But number one,
he can't move around. But the poorty nine ers don't
get any pressure right, the Seahawks get pressure in a
lead level. He was also on the road after not

(01:41:24):
playing for five years against one of the best defenses
in the NFL. Like, now he's got a game under
his belt, he's gonna be playing at home against the defense.
I can't get pressure and can't defend the run, so
I gotta imagine it's gonna look a little better. But
the counter to that is you should just load the box,
take away Warren, make him throw it down the field.
I'm very curious what they do from the episode, but

(01:41:45):
I do think Taylor gonna have a big day, and
so I just think it's a bit too many points.
So I did think the Colts, but it could just
end up being a complete disaster. But it'll be fascinating
to watch. I'm glad it's on Monday night.

Speaker 1 (01:42:00):
Many diapers you changed so far?

Speaker 2 (01:42:01):
Zero but I tried. I changed one, but like my
wife was like, you're like, I was like messing it out.
I'm also a bad like swaddler when you have to
like wrap them in, I don't do that tight enough,
so I'm pretty useless. But yeah, uh, hopefully I'll figure
some of that stuff out.

Speaker 1 (01:42:20):
Well. Well, good luck and enjoy the games this week
and I will I will talk to you soon and
again congratulations Bro, massive massive moment in your life.

Speaker 2 (01:42:28):
Yeah you soon, You soon too, brother. Have a good weekend, guys,
enjoy the games. Football is about to get good.

Speaker 1 (01:42:34):
Have a good night, Audios. The volume m

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3 & Out - Reaction to Sam Darnold & Seahawks COMEBACK WIN vs. Matt Stafford & Rams on TNF

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 & Out - Reaction to Sam Darnold & Seahawks COMEBACK WIN vs. Matt Stafford & Rams on TNF