September 8, 2025 • 53 mins
NFL scout John Middlekauff is LIVE breaking down all games from a wild week 1 Sunday of the NFL 2025 season. John reacts to the big time Week 1 matchup between Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson & the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football, the biggest plays of the day and much more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing?
We all just witnessed what literally I just witnessed one
(00:23):
of the craziest games you will ever see. The Bills
pull off a crazy comeback against the Ravens. No clue
how they won that game. I imagine the Ravens. I
don't even know how they're gonna speak to each other
on the flight home because that was they got to
be shell shocked. We'll dive into that game everything that
came out of it. Two quarterbacks, two MVPs that are
(00:44):
just incredible players, different players, but just awesome. That was.
That's just good of NFL theaters that can get You
could tell even Collinsworth, who was just a football addict,
was blown away. I mean that was great entertainment. So
dive into that. Some other stuff from the Packers, the
brock Perties game winning pass to Rogers, the bow Nicks
(01:08):
to the Dolphins. We got a lot going on. I
mean it's hard to keep up with it all. I
record a podcast every Sunday right after the afternoon games
with Colin, so you can find that as well on
his podcast feed, his YouTube feed, and obviously a lot
of you guys listen to this podcast through Collins Feed
and if you do, you got to subscribe to three
(01:29):
and Out because you never want to miss any shows.
And we got content basically coming out every day. We
got you covered. We're grinding, We're putting out a lot
of stuff. YouTube page it's all up there as well,
and we go live after Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday
night doing live reactions. So I did this. I'm actually
(01:50):
recording this intro after I the did the live record
on YouTube. So make sure you subscribe to that YouTube
page and never miss anything. But before we dive into
some football, you know, I got to tell you about
my friends. You know, I got to tell you about
my partners. Game Time best in the business. There's just
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(02:10):
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You know that guy that was shoving Hopkins and Lamar
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There's gonna be an open seat. So if you're a
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if your team is coming home, this week because they
were on the road. If you want to go see
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(02:31):
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app the last minute takets, lowest prices guaranteed. Wow, I
am honestly, this is probably fifteen twenty minutes, not even
maybe ten minutes from that game ending, and I am
(03:12):
still shell shocked. I mean I had written down things
like this is just an awful matchup. This is the
type team you just desperately want to avoid in the playoffs.
The Ravens really have no excuse. They are the best
team in football. And eventually you're either gonna win a
super Bowl or just gonna talk about you as like,
(03:34):
what the hell happened with that run? Because at one
point in time this game, it felt like they were
gonna win it by double digits, and we all watch
football all day to day. Clearly there wasn't. I mean,
maybe the Packers, but the Ravens have been doing this
for a long time. I mean they've been a number
one seed back in twenty nineteen, they were one seed
a couple years ago that they had the Bills on
(03:56):
the ropes last year on the road. It's just that
this team is a complete squad, and you're like, they
are curb stopping these guys. It's not Josh Allen's fault
or the offense. I just kept thinking, how does Brandon bean?
And I'm getting dms and texts? Why does the Bills
defense look so small? Why does Derrick Henry look bigger
than everyone on the Bills defense except a defensive lineman
(04:18):
or two. I'm like, I don't know, but this is
not a fair fight. If this was boxing or UFC,
they would be in different weight classes. It was like
heavyweight versus a lightweight, A featherweight and then all of
a sudden, Derrick Henry fumbles the ball. The Bills get
the ball back, score don't get a two pointer because
they never do in these games. Call the top three
straight timeouts. You know, I think you could have gone
(04:42):
forward on fourth down. I know Tariko is like, are
you what do you mean go forward on fourth down?
You give it to him right here in field goal range. Well,
the Ravens had not been stopping Josh Allen and he
was in rare form tonight, and I had written down
one thing early in the game, even when I thought
they were gonna lose. Is They kind of remind me
of Denver with nikolea. Jokic, where even last year you're like,
(05:05):
I don't know how good Denver's Denver is, but you
watch him, You're like, he's an unstoppable force. So he
could play an All Star team. I remember he did
in the Olympics versus America, and you're like, this motherfucker
might just take him down by himself. That's how Josh
Allen feels on the Bills. Because you're watching Lamar, who
was also fantastic. You're watching Derek Henry, who I did
(05:25):
a little research mid game because I'm like, is this
guy gonna run for eighteen hundred yards at thirty one
years old? Has there ever been a guy, at least
in recent memory, be this good, this fast, this explosive
at his age. Where's he gonna end when his career
is over? So I look at the all time rushing leaders.
Derek has over eleven hundred yards, you know, or I
mean eleven thousand yards throughout his career. If he keeps
(05:47):
going at a pace just somewhat similar to recent years,
I think there's a very good chance he gets in
the top five if he can stay healthy for a
couple more years. So you have this all time great
running back, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks on you know,
I don't know, top two or three organization in the league.
They're good at every position. They're always big, they're always physical,
(06:07):
they replace guys, and the Bills just don't quite feel
like that, even though they've hit on players, mainly on offense.
Deon Dawkins, the stud Cook is an awesome running back,
and they've got this generational player at quarterback. But it
does feel like Listen, their defense did give up a
lot of plays in the second half, but for the
most part throughout the season, like their defense is pretty nail.
(06:29):
I mean a couple years ago they were the best
defense in the league. And it feels like the Bills
one are kind of small, pretty dependent on some d
linemen making plays. Now. In fairness, we had Stucky on
I guess we recorded with him on Thursday. He's like, listen,
the Bills are banged up in their secondary. I mean,
the first rounder is injured. They bring Trey White back,
he's injured. They have a bunch of injuries. They're playing
(06:50):
with random dudes back there. And there are moments in
this game where you felt that where Zay Flowers would
catch the ball, he'd look around, he'd look around, he'd
eat a sandwich, he'd slam I'm a water I'm gonna
run like twenty more yards, there's no one in sight.
You're like, this is they shouldn't be that easy. But
that's what makes football so fun, because tonight there were
point in time where you're just like, this just doesn't
(07:13):
really feel like the Bills have a chance, But it's
so much fun to watch these two quarterbacks. Like you
couldn't help but just stay locked in on your couch
and then that happened, and I can't imagine being I'm
on text threads with Bills fans. I got multiple that's game,
that's ballgame, This is over, especially when Henry scored the
second touchdown. But it's what makes the reality television show
(07:36):
that is the NFL so special because those quarterbacks are
all time greats. Those teams now this rivalry. The other
thing that I wrote down that if this was basketball,
and this is before the Bills won the game, this
is probably like a quarter to go that if this
was a seven game series, and I know the Bills
(07:57):
won in the playoffs and it was a really incredible game,
but if they played ten times, it felt like the
Ravens win, it would win eight or nine. If this
was basketball or baseball and they had to play a
seven game series, it would feel like the Bills would
have no chance. But it's football, and in a one
game scenario, a guy gets injured, a guy turns the
ball over, anything can happen. Look at the playoff game,
(08:18):
Lamar had a fumble and Lamar had a pick, and
I think that led to I'm pretty sure I know
seven points, maybe ten points, but it was a huge
swing in that game. Obviously, tonight the fumble led to
an immediate touchdown which changed the course of the game.
I mean, really, they got the ball within a play
right at the one yard line, and you're watching to
(08:39):
night going this is what makes the league so special
because you're watching this guy for guy, like I don't
think the rosters are equals, but that is the power
at quarterback. And if you watch today, like the power
of Jayden Daniels. Are the Washington Commanders some all star team,
you could argue there maybe a little bit better on
(08:59):
offense than they were last year, but he's resurrected the franchise.
He's that that's the importance of this position, especially in
the pros more than college, where even if there is
a gap, like you have fifteen to twenty percent better
players than I do, one quarterback can shrink that gap immediately.
And you saw tonight Josh Allen like that's as good
(09:21):
as it gets. I mean, the physicality of his running,
the ability to make the throws on the run, and
one thing Collins were said, like, it's well documented how
much Lamar Jackson has improved from the moment he got
in the league to where he is now the touch
passes his ability to throw in the pocket outside the pocket.
But the guy won the Heisman Trophy in college. Like
(09:41):
part of what made it so controversial, like him coming
out in the pros was obviously what Pollion said, but
like you know, sometimes the running dynamic quarterbacks, it's probably
less so even five, six, seven years later, But it
was like, is this really gonna work? If anyone that
watched that game against Mississippi State, but still we were
kind of nitpicky. Josh Allen was legitimately inaccurate. Now he
(10:04):
was playing at Wyoming with probably a bunch of insurance salesmen.
But if you watched him even in some of those
games against Iowa and Oregon, You're like, I don't think
it's gonna work. And you watch him now, that's fucking
John Lway. This is like one of the best players
I've ever seen, Like Lamar Jackson, we all agree, most
dynamic player. I'd argue in my life, I'd put him
(10:24):
right up there with Steve Young. He's he's a much
more complete player than Michael Vick. You know, I was
a little young for like peak Prime Randall Cunningham, but
I think it's as good as it gets, because the
Steve Young that I grew up on didn't run as
much and was much more of a pocket quarterback than
probably the guy in the eighties, you know, Michael Vick
(10:45):
probably was more of a deep ball thrower. Obviously an
excellent runner, but he got hurt a lot. You watch Lamar,
it's like he's incredible at avoiding hits, getting on the ground,
throwing over the middle, he's fantastic at he throws a
great outside the numbers ball. It's just a complete player.
But you watch Josh Allen like, I don't remember John
Elway in his prime. I remember the guy this one's
(11:07):
for John right in the late nineties with Mike Shanahan
being carried by Terrell Davis in a really good defense.
I've seen YouTube highlights of the guy that could run
around and throw these bullets, and you're watching the night
You're like, that's as good as it gets. And that's
why so many teams since Josh Allen has come in
the league has taken big swings on quote unquote on
(11:28):
quote unquote prototypes. This guy's big, he's fast, he's got
a huge arm. There's only one of these guys and
what he's become is a lot like what Jaden's done
to the Commanders. Like the Bills were a joke, you know,
if you're if you're my age. There was such a
long period of time when the Jim Kelly, Marv Levy,
(11:49):
Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, when that era fell apart basically
from the start of the Internet in the early two
thousands up until Josh got there, they fucking sucked. They
were awful. I'm watching tonight thinking the Ravens have been
good basically my entire life. I'm forty years old, since
I was in junior high high school, like late nineties,
(12:11):
through the two thousands up till now. They have been
playing in primetime games on Sunday Night and Monday Night
since back with Peyton Manning probably to Brett Forth through now,
and they are not going away anytime soon. I'm thinking
there was a long period of time, definitely probably a
decade and a half where you wouldn't have dreamed about
(12:31):
putting the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night football as really
the heavyweight fight of the weekend right even tomorrow, the
Bears and the Vikings. It's a sexy matchup, it's fun
but probably it's smart to do it week one because
week seven, Who knows, you could put Bill's Ravens week one,
week six, week ten, It wouldn't matter. It is one
(12:54):
of easily the best games of the year before the
game even kicks off. Obviously, I don't want to get
ahead of myself. Could be the game of the year.
I mean, that was incredible theater. But to have the
Bills be the equal of the Ravens now and in
a weird way where it felt like they got out played,
(13:14):
kind of owned them, right own them in the sense
that they beat them now twice in a row. I
can't even imagine what everyone on the Ravens, including the
coaching staff, just sitting in the locker room right now,
you know, taking off their spats and taking off their
pads and just sitting there getting some water, gatorade, just
shell just in silence. What would you even say? How
(13:37):
could you even utter words? Now? Luckily, once like the
emotion comes down, I mean, they could be the best
team in the league, that they should compete for the
number one seed throughout the year. Now their division is
much harder than the Bills, because even when it looked
like the Bills were gonna lose by ten. The thing
I kept thinking is, well, the Dolphins, I mean, you've
(13:58):
got a chance to be one of the worst teams
we've ever scene. The Patriots are gonna have growing pains
all year long, and that might have been the best
effort we see from the Jets throughout the season. So
this team is probably at worst going I mean, four
and two would be insane in the division. There's a
decent chance to go six to zero. Probably even if
they had lost the game. You're talking to a thirteen
(14:19):
win team. Then you win the game, you go, God,
could they get to fifteen? And One thing that's important,
and I'd say this for the Ravens too, is that
the home field advantage is really really big. Like if
the game was going like it was and this game
was in Baltimore, would there have been enough juice in
the place, even with Josh Allen pulling plays out of
as you know what, scrambling around, making throws to his left,
(14:40):
making throws to his right, Keon Coleman jumping up Kincaid
making plays. I don't know, probably not so having home
field advantage. And I said the same thing about the
Ravens is really really big. It's really really important, and
this is the type game that when the dust settles,
like because let's face it, last year Ravens lose some
random game throughout the year. I remember they didn't they
(15:01):
lose the Browns last year. Like Jameis Winston. It's the NFL.
You could win thirteen games, what it would be four
of your losses. Two of those four losses could come
against bad teams in November and December. This is kind
of the way the sport works. So man, what a
win by the Bills. I still think the Ravens are
(15:22):
really really good. Remember last year too, Like the Bills defense,
I don't have that much faith in now they can
improve with guys come back, especially their first round in
for Kentucky, so maybe their past defense gets a little
bit better. But their linebackers always look small, and I
mean Derek Henry always looks just way bigger than their
guys now. In fairness, he's like the biggest running back
(15:42):
in I don't know the history of the league. He
looks like a defensive end. But I just man, was
that was nuts? One pet peeve I have I and
we were talking about this before we press record here,
I do understand, even though I don't necessarily always agree
(16:03):
with it, But I get it. The whole point of
a game is to try to win it, right, So
when you're down fourteen points in the fourth quarter, you
score and you get seven points, right, you then got
to score again seven points the game is tied. So
the numbers elitists, i'll call them, always tell you you
go for two when you score to make it six
(16:25):
so you can just win the game. Worst case scenario,
you don't get the two, you're down eight, you can
still tie the game. They're big on that. I don't
understand going for two in that same situation, Even in
a crazy game like this with a quarter and a
half to go, there is just too much to play
out throughout the game, and then you find yourself if
(16:46):
you miss the two point conversion and then you start
chasing points and you miss another two point conversion, it
throws you all out a whack. So even if I
have semi come around on okay, I understand it, even
though I don't all he's agree with it. I can't
comprehend making that maneuver with I don't know, twenty plus
(17:08):
minutes left to go in the game, actually more than that,
because when the Bills first did it in the third quarter,
I think there were eight minutes to go in the
third quarter, so you have a quarter and more than
I mean quarter and a half more. Even I just
I didn't understand it. Now it all worked out in
their favor. They ended up winning by one, but I
(17:28):
don't I thought that was a little crazy. And then
he finally scores and he kicks the field goal, So
I don't know. I just I think sometimes with the
number stuff, and listen, coaches are old school. So once
they make that change, do you know what it tells you?
The owner slashed. The front office has a lot of
(17:49):
juice in there telling them to do that, and they
know that if it fails, because I don't think that's
what Sean McDermott would normally do, but he knows that
if it does screw up and it does not come
up in his favor, as in they don't get the
two point conversion, no one will be mad at him
because the chart speaks for itself and the owner understands
(18:10):
the chart. You know, someone forwarded me today and it's
been going viral. Even though it was it was something
a situation from last year is Jim Ursay's daughter likes
to be on the headset during the game. I don't
know if she was today, but last year she spent
time on the headset during the game, and I had
a couple of people on like Instagram forward me the
article like what I thought of this? And my initial
(18:32):
take is you could understand some I guess of just
the tone they're talking, but you could put me and
you on the headset, let alone an owner. If you
put me on a headset with people speaking Chinese or French,
I'd be able to understand when they were screaming at
each other, but I'd have no clue what they were
talking about. So she could be on the headset seventeen games,
just like ninety nine percent of fans could be. You
(18:55):
would not know what's going on because you don't speak
football language, i e. The So when they're the majority
of the stuff on the headset is them talking about
play calls, and it's a foreign language unless you know
the playbook, which no one would. So I see some
of these situations the analytical community because so many teams
have invested so much in the stats or that side
(19:18):
of the business. Because the owners all come from the
business community. They understand, you know, talking numbers that they
do stuff that I feel like these coaches are not
comfortable doing. But they know that they're not going to
get in trouble that they know there's no recourse of
getting mad at me. Honestly, you get mad at me
when I don't follow the numbers. So I think most
(19:39):
of them have kind of gone Sirianni. You know, John
Harbad did this years ago, going forward on two all
the time. I was, honestly and going forward on fourth
down a little surprised when the Ravens punted to the
bills that they didn't go for it, And even Collinsworth
brought it up like I would go for it right here,
or like they could easily justify going for it, and
(20:00):
I kind of thought he would, And when he didn't,
maybe it's week one, maybe he would be a little
more likely to do it later in the season, But
I wonder if he had that to do over again,
he would have gone for it right there. We are
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I am just that was crazy. That was really really fun.
(21:48):
I am fascinated by Derrick Henry. I really am. Because
most running backs, as they age, they slow down. He
looks like he's as fast as ever, as explosive, as
ever as talented as ever. I mean he's had he
I mean, he had nineteen hundred yards last year. I mean,
what do you have tonight? One E. I know he
had the bad fumble, but he is that pickup. You know,
(22:12):
we talked so much about Saquon Barkley because he won
the Super Bowl, he had two thousand yards, he got
another contract extension this offseason. Derrick Henry has been every
bit as big of a pickup for them. And again,
I know, he fumbled the ball, which I mean eventually
I guess cost them the game, but they were also
dominating the game because of him and his running and
(22:34):
ability to They have to spend so much energy and
effort kind of corralling him. So on any of those
kind of quarterback running back keep give plays, everyone goes
to twenty two and as the game went on, how
often did Lamar keep it and took off? I mean
there was a stretch today where Lamar scrambled around, ran
for like twenty or twenty five yards and then Derek
(22:56):
Henry next play busts a touchdown run like what are
you supposed to do? Feel like video game players. It
had a little bit of a feel like back when
Tyreek killed Travis Kelcey and Mahomes when Mahomes first started,
like what's going on here? But usually when you have
those type moments, you win the game. So they're having
these moments and then they lose the game and they're
(23:17):
looking it's like that team beat us twice two times
in a row. And there's a little, I don't want
to say little brother syndrome when it comes to Sean
McDermott and Jim Harbaugh. You know, Sean McDermott was much
lower on the totem pole early on in Philly when
they were both on the same staff. John Harbaugh was
the mower established guy. He especially teams coordinator work with.
Jim Johnson gets the head coaching job and Sean kind
(23:39):
of works his way up. John's older just just fascinating,
kind of Andy Reid Tree there of two guys going
at it. But what a freaking game. What a game? Okay,
where do we want to start. Let's let's start with
some of the biggest losers, because why not. Uh, I'm
(24:02):
not going to beat a dead horse. We've been talking
about this for a while. During training camp, every team
that would scrimmage these guys and do joint practice, and
they did two they didn't want with Detroit, and I
think they did one in Minnesota. I can't remember correctly.
There were comments coming out from the other team of
basically what, I'm not sure what's going on over there.
(24:24):
Specifically when they played the Lions, there were players for
Detroit in the joint practices saying like, that's I don't
know what they're doing over there. And I heard some
people I think trying to be.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Like if you go if every single person hangs the
right and you are the one person that hangs the left,
especially doing sports predictions, and you get it right.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You look like a genius. But I don't really know
what that gets you. It's not like anyone cares that much. Right,
It's easy to make fun when everyone picking a game,
like on Monday Night football and everyone picks the wrong
team and that team posted out like happens all the time.
But when it's like, yeah, Miami sucks, Miami's not any good,
no chance Miami's any good, and there's a couple of
people they're like, I think Miami's actually gonna be decent.
(25:14):
And this felt like, well the situation, I don't think
there was a soul. Everyone's like, yeah, there, it's gonna
be a long year now if you I think they
were probably gonna compete for the number one overall draft pick.
Some people might be like I could see them win five, six,
seven games, like, okay, they got tu They've won some games,
especially September or October before, not that crazy. You looked
up today they're playing Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones. Now the Colts.
(25:39):
They got good players on the roster. They got multiple
impact guys on offense, they got some good players on defense.
You know in theory they have a good coaching staff.
But it was like twenty to nothing at halftime and
two is throwing picks airmailing people. You look up at
one point time, you like have like sixty yards passing.
At one point during the game, you're like, this is
this is all. And then by the end of the
(26:02):
game and he's given a press conference, people are forwarding
me things about him talking about pressure, and it's like, listen,
I get no joy. And honestly, at this point in time,
I try to avoid watching anything Mike McDaniel when it
comes to press conferences. I don't find it very interesting.
I find it kind of uncomfortable at this point, and
really it's just sad. I knew it was over the
(26:24):
moment when all the people making the most money on
his team wouldn't show up to his meetings on time.
One of the most basic elements of respect in any industry,
especially when there's a clear hierarchy. That there's a small
percentage of jobs that have such a clear hierarchy with
a lot of people in the building, right, you got
(26:45):
fifty three players, you got a coaching staff fifteen to
twenty guys. But the head coach, once the season starts
is is the leader of that entire group. So when
there's a meeting at eight am, when there's a meeting
at ten am, whenever there's a a team meeting, you
know you're showing up on time for that guy. So
you know, if you're late in Baltimore, Harbaugh is gonna
(27:07):
be on your ass and listen, it's the NFL. They'll
find you. Like a lot of times, they don't even
waste that much time. They find you and sometimes listen,
well we got a flat tire. Something happens. Every human
being screwed up, right, that Jeff Bezos is screwed up.
So I'm not saying that being late to a meeting.
We've all been late a time or two. I don't
care how punctual you are. Boon, it was like Mike McDaniels,
(27:29):
no one will listen to me. I don't know, fines
don't work. I was like, this, this thing's over. And
that was a year after Fangio was like, get me
out of here, and this thing's gonna get really ugly.
So I I guess you could call them the biggest
loser today, but I think we all saw this coming.
One thing that concerns me a little bit is I've
(27:52):
said this about Caleb and Drake may is a lot
of their numbers and a lot of their stats last
year came when they were down big because they were
always down big. The Patriots and the Bears were getting
their ass kicked in the first half half of games constantly. So,
for example, when people give me, well, Caleb was twenty
and six, I watched a decent amount of Bear games.
(28:13):
It felt like every single game seventeen to nothing, twenty
four to nothing, twenty three to three at halftime. So
when you're in games like that and your team is seven, eight,
ten games under five hundred, I don't take anything seriously
that happens in the second half. And if I'm gonna
be fair to Caleb, I put Drake May in that box.
But I was like, listen, I want to like the guy.
(28:35):
Seems like a fun player. You get Mike Vrabel, you
get Josh McDaniels. A lot of you guys have pushed
back and said, John, you keep calling Josh McDaniels a
great OC. Well, Belichick has taken so much shit as
Al Brady. How's Josh McDaniels not under the same umbrella,
Because in my pushback always well, there's a one season
with Mac Jones they made the playoffs. Well today I
(28:57):
just don't see it with Drake May. Now listen, it's
one game they don't have that much talent on offense.
I just watch a guy, it's like, I don't know
if I can just bet on him to be some
franchise changer, and if I'm gonna be hard on him,
I also gotta be hard on the offensive coordinator because
every single time Josh McDaniels has gotten away from Bill Belichick,
it's been an epic failure. So I'm not writing this
(29:18):
team off like the Miami Dolphins, but I would say
this today, you're playing at home against the Raiders, and listen,
we'll get into the Raiders here in a second. I
think he kind of got to win that game if
we're gonna take you seriously, and they just look they
just look bad. I mean they truly looked really really
bad offensively and defensively, but offensively, all I've heard is like,
(29:40):
this guy's a franchise quarterback, and hew, I'm probably guilty
of just saying that, Josh McDaniels. They'll get them right.
You bring in Henderson, you bring in some guys, they're
gonna be good. And then they were terrible. The other
WTF moment today was I, like many people, I'm high
on the Broncos. Now their defense looks fantastic. The team, speed,
the pass rush, the dbs. I mean that's a group
(30:02):
of freaks. I mean that defense is gonna kick some
serious ass this season. But the quarterback was atrocious. I
mean that performance by bow Next today was an embarrassment. Now,
I kind of like the Titans. If you told me
the Titans make the playoffs this year, the seventh seed,
there are crazier things that can come out of your mouth. Now,
(30:25):
if I was a betting man, do I feel confident
they're gonna make the playoffs? I don't. If you told
me they're in the mix in December, I do expect that.
I think they are going to be a very very
feisty team, and their young quarterback, it doesn't get any
more difficult thing going to Denver mile High in playing
that defense, he is going to have some really good
days throughout the season. I think their defense is actually
pretty solid. Bonix was atrocious. He threw multiple interceptions, he
(30:49):
had an awful fumble, and they were just countless drives
where it just looked like it's like the first game
he's ever played in the NFL. The interception he threw
out of half was the worst pick I saw of
the day. There were other interceptions today that was the
worst pick. You know too, floated one, pretty floated one.
(31:10):
There were some bad interceptions that could have been intercepted
by multiple guys. The guy wasn't even remotely open and
the dbs were both in front of him waiting for him.
So if the Broncos are going to be a contender,
because and when I say contender, I don't mean a
team to win ten games to make the playoffs. This
is a ten win defense. Even if the offense had
(31:31):
me playing quarterback. They need their quarterback to be a
legitimate guy in Sean Payton, which I respect, talks to everybody.
He is very well connected in the media, and honestly,
he's not one of those guys that like, don't put
my name on it. He's like, quote me on that.
I respect his bravado. He's got a little Jimmy Johnson,
(31:51):
Bill Parcells. He doesn't give a shit, which makes him great.
That's why media people like him because he'll give you
great quotes. He'll just tell it like it is. But
he has been anointing. This guy is like the mobile
Drew Brees and you watch him today, you're like this
looks like the mobile practice squad. So there is listen,
(32:12):
you win, you never apologize for winning. In the NFL,
I do think there's a little bit of like, we
got to fix whatever the hell that was, and if
it doesn't fix it, we got no chance to compete
in this conference against these quarterbacks some of the big
winners today. Obviously the Green Bay Packers getting Micah Parsons
(32:34):
was a huge deal, and in twenty twenty five, the
first round picks they gave up for Micah Parsons do
not matter. They have nothing to do with anyone because
they don't exist. They're literally playing on Saturdays now, so
those don't impact this team. Kenny Clark does. So in
twenty twenty five, for as of the day, it was
(32:57):
Kenny Clark from Micah Parsons, which every team in the
history of sports would have made. And obviously Micah didn't
practice all preseason training camp, so he's on a pitchclock.
Crazy his back was fixed. Are you telling me that
a team that gave a guy one hundred and eighty
eight million dollars knew that his back wasn't an issue
(33:20):
When he chased down GoF for that first sack of
his packer career, and he was running like he was
DK Metcalf or something. I was like, God, his back
looks pretty loose. You had no shit, which I got
no problem with to what he had to do to
piss Jerry off. But the Packers beat the living piss
out of the Lions. Now I told this to Colin.
(33:40):
This was a way bigger game for green Bay than
it was Detroit. Green Bay went one and five at
home and against Detroit last year. They lost both games,
and I vividly remember sitting on the couch behind me
watching the game in the middle of the season against
the Lions, and it was ugly. They got worked, and
I remember they kind of came back late, but it wasn't.
(34:02):
The Lions owned them. So there was some of like,
we need to beat this team. And two this Micah
Parson's bringing him the juice in Green Bay Division. We're
not a one in five division team. We're a team
with Super Bowl aspirations and have to go above five
hundred in the division. And to go above five hundred
the division, like, you got to take care of your
(34:22):
home divisional games. So if you go three and zero,
all you gotta do is go one and two. In
the other games you're four and two. Boom. The Packers
looked off and the first half. One thing that was
hard to kind of figure out and wrap your head
around when you're arguing or talking with someone about football
is like, Jordan Love good, what's Jordan Love's deal. I'd
(34:45):
be like, well, the first half of his career or
his essentially rookie year, starting after they traded Aaron Rodgers
and he became the full time starter, I was like,
I don't think this guy's good. And even Gudakins went
on the record during the bye was like, he's got
like ten games to kind of figure it out or
we got problems. And then he goes on like this
(35:06):
eight game stretch to end the season where you're like this, say,
is this Aaron Rodgers? He beats the Cowboys like this
guy's a stut. They throw him a bunch of cash.
Then last year against the Eagles, he gets injured and
it kind of derails their whole season. Not derails like
they win three or four games. They're still good team,
but he's in and out of the lineup. He ends
up hurting his hand as well. Throughout the year. It
was just a bizarre I think it was hand injury.
(35:28):
I know he hurt his hand as well, this injury
this year, but he had multiple injuries, but starting with
the ankle last year or knee against the Eagles, and
it just it was cluinky. And today in the first half,
he's twelve to sixteen. He throws a couple of touchdowns,
but just he went back, he's confident. Boom layer throws,
stick throws. You're like, this fucking guy's slinging this thing.
(35:49):
They're up seventeen to three before you blink, They're just
cruising in the game. It's like, well, if they get
that version of that guy, they can win the Super Bowl,
they can compete to win the NFC. They can beat
any team in the league. When that guy's playing at
that level the way he played that playoff game against
the Cowboys, they can beat anyone. Because their defense now
with Halfley, is really good. Like it's just a well
(36:12):
coached defense. Part of the downfall of the Packers why
the Niners always beat him in the playoffs. Their defense
always let him down. McCarthy dom Capers was a defensive coordinator,
and then Lafleur had his buddy Joe Berry, and it
just never really worked. They would always get gashed in
the biggest moments. You watch him day pretty well run operation. Now.
(36:32):
I'm not gonna overreact to the Lions, though, I do
think the offensive coordinator is a little concerning. I think defensively,
sometimes new coordinator, new voice, maybe some new schematic ideas.
It can take a little time to figure out. The
Ravens are a good example. Winsau said and done, the
Ravens are gonna be really good on defense. Look at
last year they started off really slow. By the end
(36:54):
of the season they were one of the best defense.
I still think the Lions would be okay on defense. Offensively, though,
to me, the drop off sometimes with offensive coordinators when
it comes to instincts, when it comes to feel well,
your first time coordinator fifty five years old in a
league that's dying to hire thirty five, thirty seven, thirty
eight year old offensive coordinators, I got you red flagged.
It's like, oh God, Sean Payton, John Gruden love them.
(37:17):
Why did they never name this guy their offensive coordinator?
I like a lot of people wouldn't hire any of them.
They're my good buddies. Don't want to work with them,
So it's like, I love this guy, why don't you
make them your play caller? Well, I don't love them
that much, and that's how this thing kind of feels.
So I think the Lions offensively something to kind of
keep an eye on. I've said this forever. The older
(37:41):
I get, the more I admire these people. Pete Carroll's
the number one advice I give any human being, because
we all have different paths, and we all have different
routes to go wherever we're trying to get right, my
route is going to be different than your route, whether
it's professionally, whether it's relationships to get married, to have kids.
(38:03):
It's there is no direct path to where everyone's trying
to go. Hopefully financial success, financial, you know, professional happiness,
personal happiness. We all have different personalities, so we're all
gonna do things a little bit differently. But if I
give most people amount of money at any age, especially
(38:24):
past like fifty five sixty, where money is no issue
and you can just retire and chill, the overwhelming percentage
of people, even if they're passionate and they love what
they do, would just be like, Yeah, I'm ready to
relax a little bit. Hang out with my family. Pete
Carroll easily could have ridden off into the sunset and
just been like, you know what, I'm seventy two, seventy
(38:45):
three years old. I think he was the oldest guy
today to get a win in the National Football League.
I think I saw that today, or maybe maybe get
his first win with a new team in the National
Football League. Might be screwing up the stat but whenever
I look and I had the four bucks going and
they were on the bottom right hand corner, he just
looked like he had the same energy in the same
(39:06):
level of football he would have had twenty plus years ago,
standing there with Lyndel White, Reggie Bush and Matt Lioner,
ten years ago with Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, cam Chancellor,
Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin, and I really admire. Obviously, his
resume speaks for itself. He's gonna have, I mean, in
(39:28):
the Internet era, he's easily had one of the greatest
football careers besides like Andy Reid and Bill Belichick, and
like Nick Saban, because even Nick sab and Andy Reid
and definitely Bill Belichick's out winning after guy won a
championship in both college and the pros, like that is
so unheard of, especially for a guy to be like few, Yeah,
he's kind of struggling in the NFL to become a
(39:49):
legendary college coach and then come to the NFL and
just constantly win. And honestly, he's a poor couple play
calls away from probably being a back to back Super
Bowl champ. But watching Pete Carroll, let's face it, legitimize
the Raiders because the Raiders, and I've been around this
team for a long time, they just don't feel legitimate
very often. And I had Spy Tech on the podcast
(40:12):
before the summer break, like he's just a real legitimate guy.
He's a high level personnel guy. He's been trained by
the right guy. And I remember telling him this, like
how lucky you are to get your first job with
mostly a dysfunctional organization. And let let's face it, most
times when a GM gets hired, the place is not
(40:34):
doing well, so that's he's not alone. But a lot
of times you just hire like ah, this Brian day
Ball or you know, Cliff Kingsbury or just some random coordinator.
It's like, well, let's keep our fingers crossed and more
often than not, it's a disaster. You get Pete Carroll,
a guy that is a sure he should be a
Hall of Famer in college and the pros fucking legend,
(40:56):
who's just who's like an upbeat, positive guy, who has
every experience known demand that he has been through with
his own eyes, who understands how to evaluate, who understands
how to run a practice. It's like, what an awesome
thing for John Spytech, whether Pete wants to coach three years,
seven years, however long it goes. But you watch the
Raiders day, You're like, there's a well run organization. And
(41:19):
this is where I made a mistake. I thought, you know, Rabel,
Josh McDaniels will legitimize the Patriots. They're just gonna be good.
That was the Raiders. Now in Farens, the Raiders have
better players like Gino Smith today, much better player than
Drake May Max Crosby, best player on the field, ash
genty one of them. He didn't have a great statistical game,
but obviously an elite talent. Right Brock Bauers the second
(41:42):
best player on the field. Like, the Raiders have better players,
but we've seen a lot of times that when you
get organizations that have talent, but the coach and the
GM all these people are over their heads. It doesn't matter.
Well you get Pete Carroll, a real head coach, it
just looks normal. Are they a playoff team? I wouldn't
go that far. I will have to find out how
(42:04):
good the Patriots are. I'm not gonna say I'm going
to completely change my tune like they're screwed, but it
definitely was a little concerning. But I do know the
Raiders are just a real football team, and we haven't
been able to say that a lot in the last
twenty five years when it comes to that organization. So
props to Pete Carroll. Now, Aaron Rodgers, who I was
(42:37):
watching at halftime, I was like scrolling around watch some
different stuff on YouTube. He obviously now he was asked
the question by a reporter about taking it to Aaron
Glenn who made him fly from Malibu to New York
and tell him that he doesn't want him anymore. And
I remember when Aaron made a big deal about it.
In my take was like, Aaron, welcome to the real
(43:00):
of the NFL. That conversation literally happens to everyone except
point zero zero zero one percent of the league, and
for most of those people, they have to retire on
their own. Tom Brady's an outlier like Roethlisberger and Breeze
retired early. Like if you keep playing and don't want
(43:21):
to retire, Jim Orsay and the Colts told Peyton Manning
he was cut, said we are moving. Peyton Manning had
had that conversation. So Aaron was like shell shocked. He
had that conversation, but then he said, listen. He basically
like it was a big deal to you know, beat
that organization over there. I understand, and listen. We all
have to generate our own you know, drive and a
(43:46):
chip on our shoulder at different points in time. Especially
you know, Aaron's forty one years old. You got to
generate some motivation. But the one thing I will say
about the Jets, it's like, yeah, if you want to say,
fuck Aaron Glenn, I don't like that guy. He told
me to kick her, even if it was the right
decision for him to move on. Like I get Aaron
being Matt, but the Jets did literally everything Aaron wanted.
(44:08):
They kissed his feet, like, oh you want you want
Nate Hackett, do you want us to send a private
jet for his his father, and his mother in law
as well. Name seventy seventeen or eighteen players. You want
the former teammates and we'll sign them all. What do
you want? Air? They literally did everything, So for Aaron
to like act like the Jets did him dirty, I
(44:28):
gotta disagree a little bit with that. But you throw
four touchdowns, you start feeling yourself. I can still play,
but yeah, your arm still works. And I feel like
I'm being negative right now because I did watch him. Think, God,
he looks pretty old. And the one thing that's concerning
is like, hey, listen, I think the Steelers could be
pretty good if their defense was like the Broncos. But
(44:48):
I'm watching justin fields look like Michael Vick meets Lamar Jackson,
run around, make passes, make runs. I thought their defense
looked atrocious. So I know Aaron threw four touchdowns. Listen,
He's gonna be able to throw the ball until he's
seventy five years old. That's never going to be an issue.
(45:11):
But what made Aaron graat was this superhuman mobility that's
kind of gone. He is much closer to a Kirk
Cousins or Jared Goff. Now now he's better. He's definitely smarter.
I mean he's better in terms of his mind and
manipulating everything and his ability to call snap the ball early,
did that today and get guys to jump like. He's
(45:32):
a savant when it comes to playing the position in
terms of manipulating using his mind. But his legs now,
which made him an all time great player as one
of the great playmaking quarterbacks of all time is done.
And I said this earlier with Colin and I'm gonna
say it all season long. He is much closer to
the version that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning had to
(45:54):
be their entire career. Play within a three or four
year radius, three or four yard radius around the tackle
bucks and that's where you kind of stay. Now Aaron
is much more likely because he's gotten away with it
his whole life. Throw off that back foot and today
a couple of times it was a little dicey because
the arm strength is still good. I don't know if
it's all time great, which it once was, but listen,
(46:17):
they won a game on the road, he threw four touchdowns, survived.
I would say the Yolo moment of the day. I
used to say, and I said this last year, that
Brock Purdy, if he was going to be a great player,
had to be like Drew Brees and just being complete
control of the game. Because his arm strength is not
(46:38):
Josh Allen right, it's not on the high end of
quarterbacks in the NFL. I'm going to retract that. That's
not how he plays. He doesn't play like Drew Brees
at all. He actually is much more of a gun slinger,
which gets him in trouble. He threw a couple, he
threw one. He threw two interceptions a day, and the
(46:59):
second one was atrocious. He threw it into like triple coverage,
could have like bow knicks, could have been picked by
like three guys. Just an awful decision. Now, maybe it's
because he couldn't see on his first pick, and Greg
Olsen kind of outlined it on h during the games.
You know, I think he just got fooled. That happens,
guys get fooled. You think a guy's not gonna be
(47:20):
there because Christian McCaffrey is supposed to be, you know,
like a checkdown. But Christian McCaffrey never got out because
he was picking up a blitz and the linebacker didn't
have to honor him, but also he cheated and he
got back and brought through it right to him. Whatever,
I'm not gonna make that big a deal over that.
The second pick was awful, but his game winning touchdown
pass and listen, this shows you the difference between winning
(47:43):
and losing in the NFL is so slim. I mean,
from the Bills Ravens game to the Jets Stealer game
to most of these games. It is the margins are
so small. This is not Texas A and M Eastern
Western playing Florida State and losing seventy seven to zero.
(48:03):
This is not Alabama playing the School of the of
the Blind That. This is not that. This is the NFL.
These games are really really difficult. That game could have
gone anyway. And literally, his game winning touchdown pass, it
felt like when it left his hand was gonna get interception.
Why because the dB was staring right at him and
(48:24):
it looked like he threw it right to him somehow,
a tight end that I've never heard of, who's never
even had a catch in the NFL. Because George Kittle,
who was supposedly in the best shape of his life,
and early on in the game looked as fast and
physical as he's ever looked. Pulled his handstring is out
for who knows how long. He Brock perty just threw
it up and his guy caught it, and he became
(48:46):
the hero instead of the goat because if that dB
catches that, and that's his third interception of the day
and they lose this low scoring game because he turns
it over countless times in the second half. I don't
care the kittle and Juwan Jennings got hurt, he would
have been eviscerated by everyone tomorrow. And listen, overall, he
made a lot of good decisions. I think he's a
(49:07):
pretty solid player. I think Seattle's defense is pretty good
as fast as physical, and he was making place especially
without really I mean his Hall of Fame tight end
who got injured early in the game, and then Juwan
Jennings got bounced late. I mean, Brock made some great
throws to Ricky Pearsol. Ricky Pearsol looks really good. I mean,
that's first round pick. That's that guy's got a chance
(49:29):
to be a stud in the NFL. But Man Brock
was an incredible effort by like a third string tight
end from bailing him out to hearing having a very
rough weekend. And I mean the kicker on the forty
nine ers. You just can't draft kickers, sigh. I used
to support it, be like, hey, listen, you want to
(49:51):
take a kicker or a punter at the end of
the third round. As long as the guy's a really
good player, you're not going to hear me criticize the
pick much. I've changed my tune. I think, under no
circumstances can you take a kicker or punter till like
at minimum the fifth and even that's pushing it. Too
often we see random undrafted free agents become great players.
(50:13):
Matt Prater was at home, probably playing golf on Monday
or Tuesday, gets a phone call, takes a red eye,
and by Sunday night is running on the field to
kick a game winning field goal and gets carried off
the field. You do not need to take kickers in
the third round. And the other thing is being a
good kicker in college doesn't guarantee a damn thing in
the pros. Because they took Jake Moody in the third
(50:35):
round and Jim Harbaugh went death taxes in Moody and
all I see is a guy that no one has
any faith is gonna make a kick. And he missed
a kick today that felt like the equivalent of like
a ten yard kick. I mean it was a joke.
And then Kyle's freaking out. It's like, Kyle, this guy's
been missing kicks now for years. You can't I can't
get mad when I go outside tomorrow and the sky
(50:57):
is blue, because you know what, the guy is gonna
be blue on Tuesday. It's gonna be blow on Wednesday.
It's like, this guy misses kicks every single game. This
is never gonna change as long as he's your kicker.
I guess I'll save some of the Caleb Bear stuff
for tomorrow. We can talk a little bit about the article.
Depending on how the game goes, we'll end on this.
(51:23):
John Gruden's coaching. I've said this over and over. He's
coaching in twenty twenty six. I I don't exactly know
what Miami's gonna do. I would lean that they gonna
go a college coach because I don't think there's a
great group of NFL coaches. You know, there's no Mike
Vrabel this year. I think Belichick is pretty toxic at
(51:44):
this point though you know, Colin and I discussed it.
It's it's not inconceivable given that the owner was in
that division. Maybe he has a soft spot for Bill,
but that doesn't even feel like there's gonna be a
Ben Johnson this year. Now, things can change. I do
think the Kirby Smarts, the Ryan Days, the Lane Kiffins,
They're all gonna be in play for Miami. He's currently
(52:07):
suing the NFL, and I refuse to get that deep
into the nitty gritty, but it's been well reported that
he's won some injunctions and it's going it's continuing. So
I wonder if the NFL owners are just like, get
on board with the roge and be like, listen, we'll
just leave this guy alone. I think an SEC team's
(52:27):
gonna hire him. Now what SEC job came open. I
was like, well, if LSU, if he well, I think
LSU's gonna be pretty good, probably end up winning, I
mean at minimum being like the Final four. But Brian
Kelly's not losing his job. Florida's coming open. Billion. Napier
just lost to South Florida. Is watching that game on Saturday.
Awful loss. Now South Florida might be decent, but you
can't lose it home if you're Florida to South Florida.
(52:49):
And now they play LSU this week and they're I
think nine and a half point underdog. They're gonna lose,
and they could lose pick And if you look at
their schedule, I thought they were good. But you lose
South Florida. No longer I think you're good. I think
you're actually probably pretty bad. And your offense with a
star quarterback can't generate any points. You're in major trouble.
(53:10):
So I would say, my John Gruden watch right now,
all indications would be Florida. So I would say that
John Gruden sec Florida. Something to keep an eye on.
So if you see Billy Napier get his ass kicked
this week by LSU, who knows. Maybe they fire Billy
Napier mid season and John Gruden's there before the end
(53:31):
of the college football season, but something to keep an
eye on. Have a great night, Talk to everyone soon,
and let's rest up and get back on the wagon tomorrow.
The volume
The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing?
We all just witnessed what literally I just witnessed one
(00:23):
of the craziest games you will ever see. The Bills
pull off a crazy comeback against the Ravens. No clue
how they won that game. I imagine the Ravens. I
don't even know how they're gonna speak to each other
on the flight home because that was they got to
be shell shocked. We'll dive into that game everything that
came out of it. Two quarterbacks, two MVPs that are
(00:44):
just incredible players, different players, but just awesome. That was.
That's just good of NFL theaters that can get You
could tell even Collinsworth, who was just a football addict,
was blown away. I mean that was great entertainment. So
dive into that. Some other stuff from the Packers, the
brock Perties game winning pass to Rogers, the bow Nicks
(01:08):
to the Dolphins. We got a lot going on. I
mean it's hard to keep up with it all. I
record a podcast every Sunday right after the afternoon games
with Colin, so you can find that as well on
his podcast feed, his YouTube feed, and obviously a lot
of you guys listen to this podcast through Collins Feed
and if you do, you got to subscribe to three
(01:29):
and Out because you never want to miss any shows.
And we got content basically coming out every day. We
got you covered. We're grinding, We're putting out a lot
of stuff. YouTube page it's all up there as well,
and we go live after Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday
night doing live reactions. So I did this. I'm actually
(01:50):
recording this intro after I the did the live record
on YouTube. So make sure you subscribe to that YouTube
page and never miss anything. But before we dive into
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app the last minute takets, lowest prices guaranteed. Wow, I
am honestly, this is probably fifteen twenty minutes, not even
maybe ten minutes from that game ending, and I am
(03:12):
still shell shocked. I mean I had written down things
like this is just an awful matchup. This is the
type team you just desperately want to avoid in the playoffs.
The Ravens really have no excuse. They are the best
team in football. And eventually you're either gonna win a
super Bowl or just gonna talk about you as like,
(03:34):
what the hell happened with that run? Because at one
point in time this game, it felt like they were
gonna win it by double digits, and we all watch
football all day to day. Clearly there wasn't. I mean,
maybe the Packers, but the Ravens have been doing this
for a long time. I mean they've been a number
one seed back in twenty nineteen, they were one seed
a couple years ago that they had the Bills on
(03:56):
the ropes last year on the road. It's just that
this team is a complete squad, and you're like, they
are curb stopping these guys. It's not Josh Allen's fault
or the offense. I just kept thinking, how does Brandon bean?
And I'm getting dms and texts? Why does the Bills
defense look so small? Why does Derrick Henry look bigger
than everyone on the Bills defense except a defensive lineman
(04:18):
or two. I'm like, I don't know, but this is
not a fair fight. If this was boxing or UFC,
they would be in different weight classes. It was like
heavyweight versus a lightweight, A featherweight and then all of
a sudden, Derrick Henry fumbles the ball. The Bills get
the ball back, score don't get a two pointer because
they never do in these games. Call the top three
straight timeouts. You know, I think you could have gone
(04:42):
forward on fourth down. I know Tariko is like, are
you what do you mean go forward on fourth down?
You give it to him right here in field goal range. Well,
the Ravens had not been stopping Josh Allen and he
was in rare form tonight, and I had written down
one thing early in the game, even when I thought
they were gonna lose. Is They kind of remind me
of Denver with nikolea. Jokic, where even last year you're like,
(05:05):
I don't know how good Denver's Denver is, but you
watch him, You're like, he's an unstoppable force. So he
could play an All Star team. I remember he did
in the Olympics versus America, and you're like, this motherfucker
might just take him down by himself. That's how Josh
Allen feels on the Bills. Because you're watching Lamar, who
was also fantastic. You're watching Derek Henry, who I did
(05:25):
a little research mid game because I'm like, is this
guy gonna run for eighteen hundred yards at thirty one
years old? Has there ever been a guy, at least
in recent memory, be this good, this fast, this explosive
at his age. Where's he gonna end when his career
is over? So I look at the all time rushing leaders.
Derek has over eleven hundred yards, you know, or I
mean eleven thousand yards throughout his career. If he keeps
(05:47):
going at a pace just somewhat similar to recent years,
I think there's a very good chance he gets in
the top five if he can stay healthy for a
couple more years. So you have this all time great
running back, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks on you know,
I don't know, top two or three organization in the league.
They're good at every position. They're always big, they're always physical,
(06:07):
they replace guys, and the Bills just don't quite feel
like that, even though they've hit on players, mainly on offense.
Deon Dawkins, the stud Cook is an awesome running back,
and they've got this generational player at quarterback. But it
does feel like Listen, their defense did give up a
lot of plays in the second half, but for the
most part throughout the season, like their defense is pretty nail.
(06:29):
I mean a couple years ago they were the best
defense in the league. And it feels like the Bills
one are kind of small, pretty dependent on some d
linemen making plays. Now. In fairness, we had Stucky on
I guess we recorded with him on Thursday. He's like, listen,
the Bills are banged up in their secondary. I mean,
the first rounder is injured. They bring Trey White back,
he's injured. They have a bunch of injuries. They're playing
(06:50):
with random dudes back there. And there are moments in
this game where you felt that where Zay Flowers would
catch the ball, he'd look around, he'd look around, he'd
eat a sandwich, he'd slam I'm a water I'm gonna
run like twenty more yards, there's no one in sight.
You're like, this is they shouldn't be that easy. But
that's what makes football so fun, because tonight there were
point in time where you're just like, this just doesn't
(07:13):
really feel like the Bills have a chance, But it's
so much fun to watch these two quarterbacks. Like you
couldn't help but just stay locked in on your couch
and then that happened, and I can't imagine being I'm
on text threads with Bills fans. I got multiple that's game,
that's ballgame, This is over, especially when Henry scored the
second touchdown. But it's what makes the reality television show
(07:36):
that is the NFL so special because those quarterbacks are
all time greats. Those teams now this rivalry. The other
thing that I wrote down that if this was basketball,
and this is before the Bills won the game, this
is probably like a quarter to go that if this
was a seven game series, and I know the Bills
(07:57):
won in the playoffs and it was a really incredible game,
but if they played ten times, it felt like the
Ravens win, it would win eight or nine. If this
was basketball or baseball and they had to play a
seven game series, it would feel like the Bills would
have no chance. But it's football, and in a one
game scenario, a guy gets injured, a guy turns the
ball over, anything can happen. Look at the playoff game,
(08:18):
Lamar had a fumble and Lamar had a pick, and
I think that led to I'm pretty sure I know
seven points, maybe ten points, but it was a huge
swing in that game. Obviously, tonight the fumble led to
an immediate touchdown which changed the course of the game.
I mean, really, they got the ball within a play
right at the one yard line, and you're watching to
(08:39):
night going this is what makes the league so special
because you're watching this guy for guy, like I don't
think the rosters are equals, but that is the power
at quarterback. And if you watch today, like the power
of Jayden Daniels. Are the Washington Commanders some all star team,
you could argue there maybe a little bit better on
(08:59):
offense than they were last year, but he's resurrected the franchise.
He's that that's the importance of this position, especially in
the pros more than college, where even if there is
a gap, like you have fifteen to twenty percent better
players than I do, one quarterback can shrink that gap immediately.
And you saw tonight Josh Allen like that's as good
(09:21):
as it gets. I mean, the physicality of his running,
the ability to make the throws on the run, and
one thing Collins were said, like, it's well documented how
much Lamar Jackson has improved from the moment he got
in the league to where he is now the touch
passes his ability to throw in the pocket outside the pocket.
But the guy won the Heisman Trophy in college. Like
(09:41):
part of what made it so controversial, like him coming
out in the pros was obviously what Pollion said, but
like you know, sometimes the running dynamic quarterbacks, it's probably
less so even five, six, seven years later, But it
was like, is this really gonna work? If anyone that
watched that game against Mississippi State, but still we were
kind of nitpicky. Josh Allen was legitimately inaccurate. Now he
(10:04):
was playing at Wyoming with probably a bunch of insurance salesmen.
But if you watched him even in some of those
games against Iowa and Oregon, You're like, I don't think
it's gonna work. And you watch him now, that's fucking
John Lway. This is like one of the best players
I've ever seen, Like Lamar Jackson, we all agree, most
dynamic player. I'd argue in my life, I'd put him
(10:24):
right up there with Steve Young. He's he's a much
more complete player than Michael Vick. You know, I was
a little young for like peak Prime Randall Cunningham, but
I think it's as good as it gets, because the
Steve Young that I grew up on didn't run as
much and was much more of a pocket quarterback than
probably the guy in the eighties, you know, Michael Vick
(10:45):
probably was more of a deep ball thrower. Obviously an
excellent runner, but he got hurt a lot. You watch Lamar,
it's like he's incredible at avoiding hits, getting on the ground,
throwing over the middle, he's fantastic at he throws a
great outside the numbers ball. It's just a complete player.
But you watch Josh Allen like, I don't remember John
Elway in his prime. I remember the guy this one's
(11:07):
for John right in the late nineties with Mike Shanahan
being carried by Terrell Davis in a really good defense.
I've seen YouTube highlights of the guy that could run
around and throw these bullets, and you're watching the night
You're like, that's as good as it gets. And that's
why so many teams since Josh Allen has come in
the league has taken big swings on quote unquote on
(11:28):
quote unquote prototypes. This guy's big, he's fast, he's got
a huge arm. There's only one of these guys and
what he's become is a lot like what Jaden's done
to the Commanders. Like the Bills were a joke, you know,
if you're if you're my age. There was such a
long period of time when the Jim Kelly, Marv Levy,
(11:49):
Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, when that era fell apart basically
from the start of the Internet in the early two
thousands up until Josh got there, they fucking sucked. They
were awful. I'm watching tonight thinking the Ravens have been
good basically my entire life. I'm forty years old, since
I was in junior high high school, like late nineties,
(12:11):
through the two thousands up till now. They have been
playing in primetime games on Sunday Night and Monday Night
since back with Peyton Manning probably to Brett Forth through now,
and they are not going away anytime soon. I'm thinking
there was a long period of time, definitely probably a
decade and a half where you wouldn't have dreamed about
(12:31):
putting the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night football as really
the heavyweight fight of the weekend right even tomorrow, the
Bears and the Vikings. It's a sexy matchup, it's fun
but probably it's smart to do it week one because
week seven, Who knows, you could put Bill's Ravens week one,
week six, week ten, It wouldn't matter. It is one
(12:54):
of easily the best games of the year before the
game even kicks off. Obviously, I don't want to get
ahead of myself. Could be the game of the year.
I mean, that was incredible theater. But to have the
Bills be the equal of the Ravens now and in
a weird way where it felt like they got out played,
(13:14):
kind of owned them, right own them in the sense
that they beat them now twice in a row. I
can't even imagine what everyone on the Ravens, including the
coaching staff, just sitting in the locker room right now,
you know, taking off their spats and taking off their
pads and just sitting there getting some water, gatorade, just
shell just in silence. What would you even say? How
(13:37):
could you even utter words? Now? Luckily, once like the
emotion comes down, I mean, they could be the best
team in the league, that they should compete for the
number one seed throughout the year. Now their division is
much harder than the Bills, because even when it looked
like the Bills were gonna lose by ten. The thing
I kept thinking is, well, the Dolphins, I mean, you've
(13:58):
got a chance to be one of the worst teams
we've ever scene. The Patriots are gonna have growing pains
all year long, and that might have been the best
effort we see from the Jets throughout the season. So
this team is probably at worst going I mean, four
and two would be insane in the division. There's a
decent chance to go six to zero. Probably even if
they had lost the game. You're talking to a thirteen
(14:19):
win team. Then you win the game, you go, God,
could they get to fifteen? And One thing that's important,
and I'd say this for the Ravens too, is that
the home field advantage is really really big. Like if
the game was going like it was and this game
was in Baltimore, would there have been enough juice in
the place, even with Josh Allen pulling plays out of
as you know what, scrambling around, making throws to his left,
(14:40):
making throws to his right, Keon Coleman jumping up Kincaid
making plays. I don't know, probably not so having home
field advantage. And I said the same thing about the
Ravens is really really big. It's really really important, and
this is the type game that when the dust settles,
like because let's face it, last year Ravens lose some
random game throughout the year. I remember they didn't they
(15:01):
lose the Browns last year. Like Jameis Winston. It's the NFL.
You could win thirteen games, what it would be four
of your losses. Two of those four losses could come
against bad teams in November and December. This is kind
of the way the sport works. So man, what a
win by the Bills. I still think the Ravens are
(15:22):
really really good. Remember last year too, Like the Bills defense,
I don't have that much faith in now they can
improve with guys come back, especially their first round in
for Kentucky, so maybe their past defense gets a little
bit better. But their linebackers always look small, and I
mean Derek Henry always looks just way bigger than their
guys now. In fairness, he's like the biggest running back
(15:42):
in I don't know the history of the league. He
looks like a defensive end. But I just man, was
that was nuts? One pet peeve I have I and
we were talking about this before we press record here,
I do understand, even though I don't necessarily always agree
(16:03):
with it, But I get it. The whole point of
a game is to try to win it, right, So
when you're down fourteen points in the fourth quarter, you
score and you get seven points, right, you then got
to score again seven points the game is tied. So
the numbers elitists, i'll call them, always tell you you
go for two when you score to make it six
(16:25):
so you can just win the game. Worst case scenario,
you don't get the two, you're down eight, you can
still tie the game. They're big on that. I don't
understand going for two in that same situation, Even in
a crazy game like this with a quarter and a
half to go, there is just too much to play
out throughout the game, and then you find yourself if
(16:46):
you miss the two point conversion and then you start
chasing points and you miss another two point conversion, it
throws you all out a whack. So even if I
have semi come around on okay, I understand it, even
though I don't all he's agree with it. I can't
comprehend making that maneuver with I don't know, twenty plus
(17:08):
minutes left to go in the game, actually more than that,
because when the Bills first did it in the third quarter,
I think there were eight minutes to go in the
third quarter, so you have a quarter and more than
I mean quarter and a half more. Even I just
I didn't understand it. Now it all worked out in
their favor. They ended up winning by one, but I
(17:28):
don't I thought that was a little crazy. And then
he finally scores and he kicks the field goal, So
I don't know. I just I think sometimes with the
number stuff, and listen, coaches are old school. So once
they make that change, do you know what it tells you?
The owner slashed. The front office has a lot of
(17:49):
juice in there telling them to do that, and they
know that if it fails, because I don't think that's
what Sean McDermott would normally do, but he knows that
if it does screw up and it does not come
up in his favor, as in they don't get the
two point conversion, no one will be mad at him
because the chart speaks for itself and the owner understands
(18:10):
the chart. You know, someone forwarded me today and it's
been going viral. Even though it was it was something
a situation from last year is Jim Ursay's daughter likes
to be on the headset during the game. I don't
know if she was today, but last year she spent
time on the headset during the game, and I had
a couple of people on like Instagram forward me the
article like what I thought of this? And my initial
(18:32):
take is you could understand some I guess of just
the tone they're talking, but you could put me and
you on the headset, let alone an owner. If you
put me on a headset with people speaking Chinese or French,
I'd be able to understand when they were screaming at
each other, but I'd have no clue what they were
talking about. So she could be on the headset seventeen games,
just like ninety nine percent of fans could be. You
(18:55):
would not know what's going on because you don't speak
football language, i e. The So when they're the majority
of the stuff on the headset is them talking about
play calls, and it's a foreign language unless you know
the playbook, which no one would. So I see some
of these situations the analytical community because so many teams
have invested so much in the stats or that side
(19:18):
of the business. Because the owners all come from the
business community. They understand, you know, talking numbers that they
do stuff that I feel like these coaches are not
comfortable doing. But they know that they're not going to
get in trouble that they know there's no recourse of
getting mad at me. Honestly, you get mad at me
when I don't follow the numbers. So I think most
(19:39):
of them have kind of gone Sirianni. You know, John
Harbad did this years ago, going forward on two all
the time. I was, honestly and going forward on fourth
down a little surprised when the Ravens punted to the
bills that they didn't go for it, And even Collinsworth
brought it up like I would go for it right here,
or like they could easily justify going for it, and
(20:00):
I kind of thought he would, And when he didn't,
maybe it's week one, maybe he would be a little
more likely to do it later in the season, But
I wonder if he had that to do over again,
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I am just that was crazy. That was really really fun.
(21:48):
I am fascinated by Derrick Henry. I really am. Because
most running backs, as they age, they slow down. He
looks like he's as fast as ever, as explosive, as
ever as talented as ever. I mean he's had he
I mean, he had nineteen hundred yards last year. I mean,
what do you have tonight? One E. I know he
had the bad fumble, but he is that pickup. You know,
(22:12):
we talked so much about Saquon Barkley because he won
the Super Bowl, he had two thousand yards, he got
another contract extension this offseason. Derrick Henry has been every
bit as big of a pickup for them. And again,
I know, he fumbled the ball, which I mean eventually
I guess cost them the game, but they were also
dominating the game because of him and his running and
(22:34):
ability to They have to spend so much energy and
effort kind of corralling him. So on any of those
kind of quarterback running back keep give plays, everyone goes
to twenty two and as the game went on, how
often did Lamar keep it and took off? I mean
there was a stretch today where Lamar scrambled around, ran
for like twenty or twenty five yards and then Derek
(22:56):
Henry next play busts a touchdown run like what are
you supposed to do? Feel like video game players. It
had a little bit of a feel like back when
Tyreek killed Travis Kelcey and Mahomes when Mahomes first started,
like what's going on here? But usually when you have
those type moments, you win the game. So they're having
these moments and then they lose the game and they're
(23:17):
looking it's like that team beat us twice two times
in a row. And there's a little, I don't want
to say little brother syndrome when it comes to Sean
McDermott and Jim Harbaugh. You know, Sean McDermott was much
lower on the totem pole early on in Philly when
they were both on the same staff. John Harbaugh was
the mower established guy. He especially teams coordinator work with.
Jim Johnson gets the head coaching job and Sean kind
(23:39):
of works his way up. John's older just just fascinating,
kind of Andy Reid Tree there of two guys going
at it. But what a freaking game. What a game? Okay,
where do we want to start. Let's let's start with
some of the biggest losers, because why not. Uh, I'm
(24:02):
not going to beat a dead horse. We've been talking
about this for a while. During training camp, every team
that would scrimmage these guys and do joint practice, and
they did two they didn't want with Detroit, and I
think they did one in Minnesota. I can't remember correctly.
There were comments coming out from the other team of
basically what, I'm not sure what's going on over there.
(24:24):
Specifically when they played the Lions, there were players for
Detroit in the joint practices saying like, that's I don't
know what they're doing over there. And I heard some
people I think trying to be.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Like if you go if every single person hangs the
right and you are the one person that hangs the left,
especially doing sports predictions, and you get it right.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You look like a genius. But I don't really know
what that gets you. It's not like anyone cares that much. Right,
It's easy to make fun when everyone picking a game,
like on Monday Night football and everyone picks the wrong
team and that team posted out like happens all the time.
But when it's like, yeah, Miami sucks, Miami's not any good,
no chance Miami's any good, and there's a couple of
people they're like, I think Miami's actually gonna be decent.
(25:14):
And this felt like, well the situation, I don't think
there was a soul. Everyone's like, yeah, there, it's gonna
be a long year now if you I think they
were probably gonna compete for the number one overall draft pick.
Some people might be like I could see them win five, six,
seven games, like, okay, they got tu They've won some games,
especially September or October before, not that crazy. You looked
up today they're playing Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones. Now the Colts.
(25:39):
They got good players on the roster. They got multiple
impact guys on offense, they got some good players on defense.
You know in theory they have a good coaching staff.
But it was like twenty to nothing at halftime and
two is throwing picks airmailing people. You look up at
one point time, you like have like sixty yards passing.
At one point during the game, you're like, this is
this is all. And then by the end of the
(26:02):
game and he's given a press conference, people are forwarding
me things about him talking about pressure, and it's like, listen,
I get no joy. And honestly, at this point in time,
I try to avoid watching anything Mike McDaniel when it
comes to press conferences. I don't find it very interesting.
I find it kind of uncomfortable at this point, and
really it's just sad. I knew it was over the
(26:24):
moment when all the people making the most money on
his team wouldn't show up to his meetings on time.
One of the most basic elements of respect in any industry,
especially when there's a clear hierarchy. That there's a small
percentage of jobs that have such a clear hierarchy with
a lot of people in the building, right, you got
(26:45):
fifty three players, you got a coaching staff fifteen to
twenty guys. But the head coach, once the season starts
is is the leader of that entire group. So when
there's a meeting at eight am, when there's a meeting
at ten am, whenever there's a a team meeting, you
know you're showing up on time for that guy. So
you know, if you're late in Baltimore, Harbaugh is gonna
(27:07):
be on your ass and listen, it's the NFL. They'll
find you. Like a lot of times, they don't even
waste that much time. They find you and sometimes listen,
well we got a flat tire. Something happens. Every human
being screwed up, right, that Jeff Bezos is screwed up.
So I'm not saying that being late to a meeting.
We've all been late a time or two. I don't
care how punctual you are. Boon, it was like Mike McDaniels,
(27:29):
no one will listen to me. I don't know, fines
don't work. I was like, this, this thing's over. And
that was a year after Fangio was like, get me
out of here, and this thing's gonna get really ugly.
So I I guess you could call them the biggest
loser today, but I think we all saw this coming.
One thing that concerns me a little bit is I've
(27:52):
said this about Caleb and Drake may is a lot
of their numbers and a lot of their stats last
year came when they were down big because they were
always down big. The Patriots and the Bears were getting
their ass kicked in the first half half of games constantly. So,
for example, when people give me, well, Caleb was twenty
and six, I watched a decent amount of Bear games.
(28:13):
It felt like every single game seventeen to nothing, twenty
four to nothing, twenty three to three at halftime. So
when you're in games like that and your team is seven, eight,
ten games under five hundred, I don't take anything seriously
that happens in the second half. And if I'm gonna
be fair to Caleb, I put Drake May in that box.
But I was like, listen, I want to like the guy.
(28:35):
Seems like a fun player. You get Mike Vrabel, you
get Josh McDaniels. A lot of you guys have pushed
back and said, John, you keep calling Josh McDaniels a
great OC. Well, Belichick has taken so much shit as
Al Brady. How's Josh McDaniels not under the same umbrella,
Because in my pushback always well, there's a one season
with Mac Jones they made the playoffs. Well today I
(28:57):
just don't see it with Drake May. Now listen, it's
one game they don't have that much talent on offense.
I just watch a guy, it's like, I don't know
if I can just bet on him to be some
franchise changer, and if I'm gonna be hard on him,
I also gotta be hard on the offensive coordinator because
every single time Josh McDaniels has gotten away from Bill Belichick,
it's been an epic failure. So I'm not writing this
(29:18):
team off like the Miami Dolphins, but I would say
this today, you're playing at home against the Raiders, and listen,
we'll get into the Raiders here in a second. I
think he kind of got to win that game if
we're gonna take you seriously, and they just look they
just look bad. I mean they truly looked really really
bad offensively and defensively, but offensively, all I've heard is like,
(29:40):
this guy's a franchise quarterback, and hew, I'm probably guilty
of just saying that, Josh McDaniels. They'll get them right.
You bring in Henderson, you bring in some guys, they're
gonna be good. And then they were terrible. The other
WTF moment today was I, like many people, I'm high
on the Broncos. Now their defense looks fantastic. The team, speed,
the pass rush, the dbs. I mean that's a group
(30:02):
of freaks. I mean that defense is gonna kick some
serious ass this season. But the quarterback was atrocious. I
mean that performance by bow Next today was an embarrassment. Now,
I kind of like the Titans. If you told me
the Titans make the playoffs this year, the seventh seed,
there are crazier things that can come out of your mouth. Now,
(30:25):
if I was a betting man, do I feel confident
they're gonna make the playoffs? I don't. If you told
me they're in the mix in December, I do expect that.
I think they are going to be a very very
feisty team, and their young quarterback, it doesn't get any
more difficult thing going to Denver mile High in playing
that defense, he is going to have some really good
days throughout the season. I think their defense is actually
pretty solid. Bonix was atrocious. He threw multiple interceptions, he
(30:49):
had an awful fumble, and they were just countless drives
where it just looked like it's like the first game
he's ever played in the NFL. The interception he threw
out of half was the worst pick I saw of
the day. There were other interceptions today that was the
worst pick. You know too, floated one, pretty floated one.
(31:10):
There were some bad interceptions that could have been intercepted
by multiple guys. The guy wasn't even remotely open and
the dbs were both in front of him waiting for him.
So if the Broncos are going to be a contender,
because and when I say contender, I don't mean a
team to win ten games to make the playoffs. This
is a ten win defense. Even if the offense had
(31:31):
me playing quarterback. They need their quarterback to be a
legitimate guy in Sean Payton, which I respect, talks to everybody.
He is very well connected in the media, and honestly,
he's not one of those guys that like, don't put
my name on it. He's like, quote me on that.
I respect his bravado. He's got a little Jimmy Johnson,
(31:51):
Bill Parcells. He doesn't give a shit, which makes him great.
That's why media people like him because he'll give you
great quotes. He'll just tell it like it is. But
he has been anointing. This guy is like the mobile
Drew Brees and you watch him today, you're like this
looks like the mobile practice squad. So there is listen,
(32:12):
you win, you never apologize for winning. In the NFL,
I do think there's a little bit of like, we
got to fix whatever the hell that was, and if
it doesn't fix it, we got no chance to compete
in this conference against these quarterbacks some of the big
winners today. Obviously the Green Bay Packers getting Micah Parsons
(32:34):
was a huge deal, and in twenty twenty five, the
first round picks they gave up for Micah Parsons do
not matter. They have nothing to do with anyone because
they don't exist. They're literally playing on Saturdays now, so
those don't impact this team. Kenny Clark does. So in
twenty twenty five, for as of the day, it was
(32:57):
Kenny Clark from Micah Parsons, which every team in the
history of sports would have made. And obviously Micah didn't
practice all preseason training camp, so he's on a pitchclock.
Crazy his back was fixed. Are you telling me that
a team that gave a guy one hundred and eighty
eight million dollars knew that his back wasn't an issue
(33:20):
When he chased down GoF for that first sack of
his packer career, and he was running like he was
DK Metcalf or something. I was like, God, his back
looks pretty loose. You had no shit, which I got
no problem with to what he had to do to
piss Jerry off. But the Packers beat the living piss
out of the Lions. Now I told this to Colin.
(33:40):
This was a way bigger game for green Bay than
it was Detroit. Green Bay went one and five at
home and against Detroit last year. They lost both games,
and I vividly remember sitting on the couch behind me
watching the game in the middle of the season against
the Lions, and it was ugly. They got worked, and
I remember they kind of came back late, but it wasn't.
(34:02):
The Lions owned them. So there was some of like,
we need to beat this team. And two this Micah
Parson's bringing him the juice in Green Bay Division. We're
not a one in five division team. We're a team
with Super Bowl aspirations and have to go above five
hundred in the division. And to go above five hundred
the division, like, you got to take care of your
(34:22):
home divisional games. So if you go three and zero,
all you gotta do is go one and two. In
the other games you're four and two. Boom. The Packers
looked off and the first half. One thing that was
hard to kind of figure out and wrap your head
around when you're arguing or talking with someone about football
is like, Jordan Love good, what's Jordan Love's deal. I'd
(34:45):
be like, well, the first half of his career or
his essentially rookie year, starting after they traded Aaron Rodgers
and he became the full time starter, I was like,
I don't think this guy's good. And even Gudakins went
on the record during the bye was like, he's got
like ten games to kind of figure it out or
we got problems. And then he goes on like this
(35:06):
eight game stretch to end the season where you're like this, say,
is this Aaron Rodgers? He beats the Cowboys like this
guy's a stut. They throw him a bunch of cash.
Then last year against the Eagles, he gets injured and
it kind of derails their whole season. Not derails like
they win three or four games. They're still good team,
but he's in and out of the lineup. He ends
up hurting his hand as well. Throughout the year. It
was just a bizarre I think it was hand injury.
(35:28):
I know he hurt his hand as well, this injury
this year, but he had multiple injuries, but starting with
the ankle last year or knee against the Eagles, and
it just it was cluinky. And today in the first half,
he's twelve to sixteen. He throws a couple of touchdowns,
but just he went back, he's confident. Boom layer throws,
stick throws. You're like, this fucking guy's slinging this thing.
(35:49):
They're up seventeen to three before you blink, They're just
cruising in the game. It's like, well, if they get
that version of that guy, they can win the Super Bowl,
they can compete to win the NFC. They can beat
any team in the league. When that guy's playing at
that level the way he played that playoff game against
the Cowboys, they can beat anyone. Because their defense now
with Halfley, is really good. Like it's just a well
(36:12):
coached defense. Part of the downfall of the Packers why
the Niners always beat him in the playoffs. Their defense
always let him down. McCarthy dom Capers was a defensive coordinator,
and then Lafleur had his buddy Joe Berry, and it
just never really worked. They would always get gashed in
the biggest moments. You watch him day pretty well run operation. Now.
(36:32):
I'm not gonna overreact to the Lions, though, I do
think the offensive coordinator is a little concerning. I think defensively,
sometimes new coordinator, new voice, maybe some new schematic ideas.
It can take a little time to figure out. The
Ravens are a good example. Winsau said and done, the
Ravens are gonna be really good on defense. Look at
last year they started off really slow. By the end
(36:54):
of the season they were one of the best defense.
I still think the Lions would be okay on defense. Offensively, though,
to me, the drop off sometimes with offensive coordinators when
it comes to instincts, when it comes to feel well,
your first time coordinator fifty five years old in a
league that's dying to hire thirty five, thirty seven, thirty
eight year old offensive coordinators, I got you red flagged.
It's like, oh God, Sean Payton, John Gruden love them.
(37:17):
Why did they never name this guy their offensive coordinator?
I like a lot of people wouldn't hire any of them.
They're my good buddies. Don't want to work with them,
So it's like, I love this guy, why don't you
make them your play caller? Well, I don't love them
that much, and that's how this thing kind of feels.
So I think the Lions offensively something to kind of
keep an eye on. I've said this forever. The older
(37:41):
I get, the more I admire these people. Pete Carroll's
the number one advice I give any human being, because
we all have different paths, and we all have different
routes to go wherever we're trying to get right, my
route is going to be different than your route, whether
it's professionally, whether it's relationships to get married, to have kids.
(38:03):
It's there is no direct path to where everyone's trying
to go. Hopefully financial success, financial, you know, professional happiness,
personal happiness. We all have different personalities, so we're all
gonna do things a little bit differently. But if I
give most people amount of money at any age, especially
(38:24):
past like fifty five sixty, where money is no issue
and you can just retire and chill, the overwhelming percentage
of people, even if they're passionate and they love what
they do, would just be like, Yeah, I'm ready to
relax a little bit. Hang out with my family. Pete
Carroll easily could have ridden off into the sunset and
just been like, you know what, I'm seventy two, seventy
(38:45):
three years old. I think he was the oldest guy
today to get a win in the National Football League.
I think I saw that today, or maybe maybe get
his first win with a new team in the National
Football League. Might be screwing up the stat but whenever
I look and I had the four bucks going and
they were on the bottom right hand corner, he just
looked like he had the same energy in the same
(39:06):
level of football he would have had twenty plus years ago,
standing there with Lyndel White, Reggie Bush and Matt Lioner,
ten years ago with Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, cam Chancellor,
Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin, and I really admire. Obviously, his
resume speaks for itself. He's gonna have, I mean, in
(39:28):
the Internet era, he's easily had one of the greatest
football careers besides like Andy Reid and Bill Belichick, and
like Nick Saban, because even Nick sab and Andy Reid
and definitely Bill Belichick's out winning after guy won a
championship in both college and the pros, like that is
so unheard of, especially for a guy to be like few, Yeah,
he's kind of struggling in the NFL to become a
(39:49):
legendary college coach and then come to the NFL and
just constantly win. And honestly, he's a poor couple play
calls away from probably being a back to back Super
Bowl champ. But watching Pete Carroll, let's face it, legitimize
the Raiders because the Raiders, and I've been around this
team for a long time, they just don't feel legitimate
very often. And I had Spy Tech on the podcast
(40:12):
before the summer break, like he's just a real legitimate guy.
He's a high level personnel guy. He's been trained by
the right guy. And I remember telling him this, like
how lucky you are to get your first job with
mostly a dysfunctional organization. And let let's face it, most
times when a GM gets hired, the place is not
(40:34):
doing well, so that's he's not alone. But a lot
of times you just hire like ah, this Brian day
Ball or you know, Cliff Kingsbury or just some random coordinator.
It's like, well, let's keep our fingers crossed and more
often than not, it's a disaster. You get Pete Carroll,
a guy that is a sure he should be a
Hall of Famer in college and the pros fucking legend,
(40:56):
who's just who's like an upbeat, positive guy, who has
every experience known demand that he has been through with
his own eyes, who understands how to evaluate, who understands
how to run a practice. It's like, what an awesome
thing for John Spytech, whether Pete wants to coach three years,
seven years, however long it goes. But you watch the
Raiders day, You're like, there's a well run organization. And
(41:19):
this is where I made a mistake. I thought, you know, Rabel,
Josh McDaniels will legitimize the Patriots. They're just gonna be good.
That was the Raiders. Now in Farens, the Raiders have
better players like Gino Smith today, much better player than
Drake May Max Crosby, best player on the field, ash
genty one of them. He didn't have a great statistical game,
but obviously an elite talent. Right Brock Bauers the second
(41:42):
best player on the field. Like, the Raiders have better players,
but we've seen a lot of times that when you
get organizations that have talent, but the coach and the
GM all these people are over their heads. It doesn't matter.
Well you get Pete Carroll, a real head coach, it
just looks normal. Are they a playoff team? I wouldn't
go that far. I will have to find out how
(42:04):
good the Patriots are. I'm not gonna say I'm going
to completely change my tune like they're screwed, but it
definitely was a little concerning. But I do know the
Raiders are just a real football team, and we haven't
been able to say that a lot in the last
twenty five years when it comes to that organization. So
props to Pete Carroll. Now, Aaron Rodgers, who I was
(42:37):
watching at halftime, I was like scrolling around watch some
different stuff on YouTube. He obviously now he was asked
the question by a reporter about taking it to Aaron
Glenn who made him fly from Malibu to New York
and tell him that he doesn't want him anymore. And
I remember when Aaron made a big deal about it.
In my take was like, Aaron, welcome to the real
(43:00):
of the NFL. That conversation literally happens to everyone except
point zero zero zero one percent of the league, and
for most of those people, they have to retire on
their own. Tom Brady's an outlier like Roethlisberger and Breeze
retired early. Like if you keep playing and don't want
(43:21):
to retire, Jim Orsay and the Colts told Peyton Manning
he was cut, said we are moving. Peyton Manning had
had that conversation. So Aaron was like shell shocked. He
had that conversation, but then he said, listen. He basically
like it was a big deal to you know, beat
that organization over there. I understand, and listen. We all
have to generate our own you know, drive and a
(43:46):
chip on our shoulder at different points in time. Especially
you know, Aaron's forty one years old. You got to
generate some motivation. But the one thing I will say
about the Jets, it's like, yeah, if you want to say,
fuck Aaron Glenn, I don't like that guy. He told
me to kick her, even if it was the right
decision for him to move on. Like I get Aaron
being Matt, but the Jets did literally everything Aaron wanted.
(44:08):
They kissed his feet, like, oh you want you want
Nate Hackett, do you want us to send a private
jet for his his father, and his mother in law
as well. Name seventy seventeen or eighteen players. You want
the former teammates and we'll sign them all. What do
you want? Air? They literally did everything, So for Aaron
to like act like the Jets did him dirty, I
(44:28):
gotta disagree a little bit with that. But you throw
four touchdowns, you start feeling yourself. I can still play,
but yeah, your arm still works. And I feel like
I'm being negative right now because I did watch him. Think, God,
he looks pretty old. And the one thing that's concerning
is like, hey, listen, I think the Steelers could be
pretty good if their defense was like the Broncos. But
(44:48):
I'm watching justin fields look like Michael Vick meets Lamar Jackson,
run around, make passes, make runs. I thought their defense
looked atrocious. So I know Aaron threw four touchdowns. Listen,
He's gonna be able to throw the ball until he's
seventy five years old. That's never going to be an issue.
(45:11):
But what made Aaron graat was this superhuman mobility that's
kind of gone. He is much closer to a Kirk
Cousins or Jared Goff. Now now he's better. He's definitely smarter.
I mean he's better in terms of his mind and
manipulating everything and his ability to call snap the ball early,
did that today and get guys to jump like. He's
(45:32):
a savant when it comes to playing the position in
terms of manipulating using his mind. But his legs now,
which made him an all time great player as one
of the great playmaking quarterbacks of all time is done.
And I said this earlier with Colin and I'm gonna
say it all season long. He is much closer to
the version that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning had to
(45:54):
be their entire career. Play within a three or four
year radius, three or four yard radius around the tackle
bucks and that's where you kind of stay. Now Aaron
is much more likely because he's gotten away with it
his whole life. Throw off that back foot and today
a couple of times it was a little dicey because
the arm strength is still good. I don't know if
it's all time great, which it once was, but listen,
(46:17):
they won a game on the road, he threw four touchdowns, survived.
I would say the Yolo moment of the day. I
used to say, and I said this last year, that
Brock Purdy, if he was going to be a great player,
had to be like Drew Brees and just being complete
control of the game. Because his arm strength is not
(46:38):
Josh Allen right, it's not on the high end of
quarterbacks in the NFL. I'm going to retract that. That's
not how he plays. He doesn't play like Drew Brees
at all. He actually is much more of a gun slinger,
which gets him in trouble. He threw a couple, he
threw one. He threw two interceptions a day, and the
(46:59):
second one was atrocious. He threw it into like triple coverage,
could have like bow knicks, could have been picked by
like three guys. Just an awful decision. Now, maybe it's
because he couldn't see on his first pick, and Greg
Olsen kind of outlined it on h during the games.
You know, I think he just got fooled. That happens,
guys get fooled. You think a guy's not gonna be
(47:20):
there because Christian McCaffrey is supposed to be, you know,
like a checkdown. But Christian McCaffrey never got out because
he was picking up a blitz and the linebacker didn't
have to honor him, but also he cheated and he
got back and brought through it right to him. Whatever,
I'm not gonna make that big a deal over that.
The second pick was awful, but his game winning touchdown
pass and listen, this shows you the difference between winning
(47:43):
and losing in the NFL is so slim. I mean,
from the Bills Ravens game to the Jets Stealer game
to most of these games. It is the margins are
so small. This is not Texas A and M Eastern
Western playing Florida State and losing seventy seven to zero.
(48:03):
This is not Alabama playing the School of the of
the Blind That. This is not that. This is the NFL.
These games are really really difficult. That game could have
gone anyway. And literally, his game winning touchdown pass, it
felt like when it left his hand was gonna get interception.
Why because the dB was staring right at him and
(48:24):
it looked like he threw it right to him somehow,
a tight end that I've never heard of, who's never
even had a catch in the NFL. Because George Kittle,
who was supposedly in the best shape of his life,
and early on in the game looked as fast and
physical as he's ever looked. Pulled his handstring is out
for who knows how long. He Brock perty just threw
it up and his guy caught it, and he became
(48:46):
the hero instead of the goat because if that dB
catches that, and that's his third interception of the day
and they lose this low scoring game because he turns
it over countless times in the second half. I don't
care the kittle and Juwan Jennings got hurt, he would
have been eviscerated by everyone tomorrow. And listen, overall, he
made a lot of good decisions. I think he's a
(49:07):
pretty solid player. I think Seattle's defense is pretty good
as fast as physical, and he was making place especially
without really I mean his Hall of Fame tight end
who got injured early in the game, and then Juwan
Jennings got bounced late. I mean, Brock made some great
throws to Ricky Pearsol. Ricky Pearsol looks really good. I mean,
that's first round pick. That's that guy's got a chance
(49:29):
to be a stud in the NFL. But Man Brock
was an incredible effort by like a third string tight
end from bailing him out to hearing having a very
rough weekend. And I mean the kicker on the forty
nine ers. You just can't draft kickers, sigh. I used
to support it, be like, hey, listen, you want to
(49:51):
take a kicker or a punter at the end of
the third round. As long as the guy's a really
good player, you're not going to hear me criticize the
pick much. I've changed my tune. I think, under no
circumstances can you take a kicker or punter till like
at minimum the fifth and even that's pushing it. Too
often we see random undrafted free agents become great players.
(50:13):
Matt Prater was at home, probably playing golf on Monday
or Tuesday, gets a phone call, takes a red eye,
and by Sunday night is running on the field to
kick a game winning field goal and gets carried off
the field. You do not need to take kickers in
the third round. And the other thing is being a
good kicker in college doesn't guarantee a damn thing in
the pros. Because they took Jake Moody in the third
(50:35):
round and Jim Harbaugh went death taxes in Moody and
all I see is a guy that no one has
any faith is gonna make a kick. And he missed
a kick today that felt like the equivalent of like
a ten yard kick. I mean it was a joke.
And then Kyle's freaking out. It's like, Kyle, this guy's
been missing kicks now for years. You can't I can't
get mad when I go outside tomorrow and the sky
(50:57):
is blue, because you know what, the guy is gonna
be blue on Tuesday. It's gonna be blow on Wednesday.
It's like, this guy misses kicks every single game. This
is never gonna change as long as he's your kicker.
I guess I'll save some of the Caleb Bear stuff
for tomorrow. We can talk a little bit about the article.
Depending on how the game goes, we'll end on this.
(51:23):
John Gruden's coaching. I've said this over and over. He's
coaching in twenty twenty six. I I don't exactly know
what Miami's gonna do. I would lean that they gonna
go a college coach because I don't think there's a
great group of NFL coaches. You know, there's no Mike
Vrabel this year. I think Belichick is pretty toxic at
(51:44):
this point though you know, Colin and I discussed it.
It's it's not inconceivable given that the owner was in
that division. Maybe he has a soft spot for Bill,
but that doesn't even feel like there's gonna be a
Ben Johnson this year. Now, things can change. I do
think the Kirby Smarts, the Ryan Days, the Lane Kiffins,
They're all gonna be in play for Miami. He's currently
(52:07):
suing the NFL, and I refuse to get that deep
into the nitty gritty, but it's been well reported that
he's won some injunctions and it's going it's continuing. So
I wonder if the NFL owners are just like, get
on board with the roge and be like, listen, we'll
just leave this guy alone. I think an SEC team's
(52:27):
gonna hire him. Now what SEC job came open. I
was like, well, if LSU, if he well, I think
LSU's gonna be pretty good, probably end up winning, I
mean at minimum being like the Final four. But Brian
Kelly's not losing his job. Florida's coming open. Billion. Napier
just lost to South Florida. Is watching that game on Saturday.
Awful loss. Now South Florida might be decent, but you
can't lose it home if you're Florida to South Florida.
(52:49):
And now they play LSU this week and they're I
think nine and a half point underdog. They're gonna lose,
and they could lose pick And if you look at
their schedule, I thought they were good. But you lose
South Florida. No longer I think you're good. I think
you're actually probably pretty bad. And your offense with a
star quarterback can't generate any points. You're in major trouble.
(53:10):
So I would say, my John Gruden watch right now,
all indications would be Florida. So I would say that
John Gruden sec Florida. Something to keep an eye on.
So if you see Billy Napier get his ass kicked
this week by LSU, who knows. Maybe they fire Billy
Napier mid season and John Gruden's there before the end
(53:31):
of the college football season, but something to keep an
eye on. Have a great night, Talk to everyone soon,
and let's rest up and get back on the wagon tomorrow.
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