3 & Out - Reaction to C.J. Stroud & Texans OUTDUELING Mahomes & Chiefs on SNF + NFL Week 14 - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume What is going On? Everybody? A late night
here three and out podcast with me John Middlecoff, obviously

(00:22):
brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches Love
These guys currently have one in actually, and it's been
a long day. It's been a long couple days. Watched
a lot of football over the last forty eight hours.
Some might say it's an unhealthy amount, but I'd say,
I do this for a living, So that's what I do.
Sit on the couch and I consume, and that's what
I literally just did. Watching a dynasty and a run

(00:44):
kind of come to an end. Obviously, the Chiefs their
playoff hopes, I would say, officially are over and the
dynasty is going to come to an end, and we'll
talk about that. Obviously, the Texans red hot, we had
the Bears, Packers, we had Steelers Ravens, we had Cincinnati
and Joe Burrow with the craziest two plays you'll ever

(01:05):
see when he was in the midst of one of
the great games I've ever seen a guy play, to
throw a couple picks change everything and Josh Allen go superhuman.
We had a lot of other stuff going on. We
got stories about Deshaun Watson. You got Schador throwing touchdowns,
you got Daniel Jones tearing Achilles, you got Notre Dame
quitting on football. So we'll dive into it all. Appreciate

(01:28):
everybody who watches. If you follow on YouTube, make sure
you subscribe to the YouTube channel. Like I've been saying
on that channel, I appreciate all you guys sending me
those YouTube raps. Those of you listen on the audio.
If you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe
to the Three and Out podcast. We do a daily
podcast here. It's like a daily radio show, just talking ball.

(01:50):
And obviously I go on with Colin every Sunday, so
you can check that podcast out as well on his feed.
So we got a lot of football coming up. We
got a big Monday night game. Nick Sirianni's getting more involved,
taking the Boys into Los Angeles to take on Jim Harbaugh.
That should be fun. Jim Harbogacy is old buddy vic Fangio,
who they spent a lot of time together at Stanford

(02:12):
and forty nine ers. So I'm excited for that money.
And I came football. The football matters. Now. December is
when you remember I don't even know if that's a statement,
but I just made it up. Uh. But let's dive
into the Chiefs. You know when the Last Dance happened.
I think part of the power of that documentary One, uh,
we didn't have much to do at the time. But two,

(02:35):
anytime that you see like this this Lway documentary that's
coming out on Netflix, you see a legendary team, a
legendary individual go out on top. It's pretty unreal. But
that's usually not the way it goes. I wasn't alive,
but my dad once told me that Willie Mays ed

(02:55):
his career on the New York Mets. Right. No One
when they speak about Tom Bray talk about that last
year where they went eight to nine, played the Cowboys
on a Monday night wild card game and lost like
seventy five to nothing. We talked about Tom Brady winning
the Super Bowl in his first year for Tampa, or
all the great games he had for the New England Patriots. Well,

(03:16):
the Kansay Chiefs have officially run out of gas. This
team's not very good, right and like it's over. They're
six and seven. They have the same record. Let me
repeat as the Miami Dolphins. I'm gonna say it again,
the Miami Dolphins. That is insane. In fairness to the

(03:38):
Miami Dolphins, they're kind of hot. They actually played pretty well.
I'd be lying if I said I watched any of
that game. Didn't even realize it was going on till halftime.
Looked up the Miami Dolphins won by three scores and two.
It didn't even throw for one hundred and thirty yards.
So listen, no disrespect to the Miami Dolphins. Give him
a lot of respect for battling after an awful start.

(03:58):
But this Chiefs team is very good defensively. They battled
their ass off tonight. But the reality is of this
core group of players, like once upon a time, you
know Brady, they won those super Bowls and then they
went ten years between super Bowls. But when you think
about the Brady dynasty, we talk about the two different iterations,

(04:19):
the one with Rabel, the one with Bruski, the one
with the Troy Brown, that group early and then there's
the late one with Devin mccordy, with Dante High Tower,
with Edelman, with Gronkowski. We don't really talk that often
about like the greatness. I mean, we discussed the team
the O seven Pats, but like Welker Randy Moss, those

(04:41):
guys didn't win anything. Well, I was in the NFL
when Randy Moss was on the Patriots and then he
got traded to the Titans. Wes Welker basically got Wally
pipped and replaced by Julian Edelman. That happened, and then
they transitioned to the next group. Well, Collinsworth mentioned it tonight.
You know, listen, Travis Kelcey has had two moments that
are gonna be hard to forget. He had the moment

(05:03):
against the Jags that he turns around, comes late, ball picked,
the guy goes ninety nine yards for a touchdown. He
has the play tonight where that's what happens when you're old,
Like you're not thirty anymore, in your prime, your margin
ferrera is much smaller, You're not quite as quick. You
don't make the plays. He makes that play one hundred

(05:24):
percent of the time four years ago, one hundred percent
of the time. Both those two plays are catches. One's
a touchdown against the Jags and the others a catch
against the Texans and set their interceptions to go the
other way. Well, as collins Worth mentioned, his contract's over
after this year. His career with the Kansasity Chiefs is over.
Like he's not gonna be on the Kansas Chi's Chiefs

(05:45):
next year. The other guy, Chris Jones, who is a
little bit of a roller coaster. When you watch him
on the right night like tonight, he's incredible. If you
didn't watch the Chiefs all season and you just turn
on the game to night, you would go, that's gotta
be the best player in the NFL. But he doesn't
do that all the time. And I looked at his
contract today. He got extended a couple of years ago.

(06:09):
Twenty four was guaranteed, twenty five was guaranteed. Well in
twenty twenty six. Partially it's guaranteed because it kicked in
at the beginning of this league year. I think it's
like nineteen million dollars. But his cap hit is enormous.
They're obviously not gonna cut him because the cap, the
dead cap is even bigger. Well, what did they do
last offseason? They traded Joe Toney to the Chicago Bears,

(06:32):
who Andy Reid after it happened, said, he's one of
my favorite players I've ever coached. But it's part of
the business. It's part of building a football team in
a structure of a salary cap. Do you think I
wanted to get rid of this player? Of course not.
I did not have a choice. Well, they're not because
they weren't going to extend him. They're not going to

(06:52):
give Chris Jones a fourth contract. So to me, Chris Jones,
he's not going to be cut. He's definitely not retiring.
He's going to be rated this offseason. He's not gonna
be on the I'd be stunned if he's on the
Chiefs next year. And part of transitioning and extending this
run is figuring out how to put the piece of
the puzzle with new players over the next couple of years.

(07:13):
And that's what they have to do because this group
as we've known it, you know, this core group of
guys that we've seen win all these super Bowls and
playing some of these biggest games, have now kind of
flopped this season at six and seven. And listen, you
can go, well, Andy Reid went for it this year.
Andy Reid went for it on fourth down on that
it was like fourth and one and a half. Because

(07:34):
did he realized this team is not going anywhere, Like
what am I? I won all the I'm not Ryan Day,
I'm not kicking a field goal trying to tie it
when I'm the defending champ and I've fucking done everything
I've needed to do in this game. Doesn't he like
what am I talking about? I'm going for it? I
saw people like, how's he doing that? Throwing away the season?
Throw away the season? The season was thrown away weeks ago.

(07:57):
And the other simple reality is I love this guy.
I have nothing but respect for him. Knowing people in
that organization from coach Ree down, the way they have
talked about Patrick, the way he operates. Like as you
get older and you find out about people that you
don't know, maybe that work in your industry or work
around you, or even just like live in your town,

(08:20):
and someone's like, yeah, he's just a great guy. Man.
He's just a really really high level dude. And his
work ethic, how hard he trains, how seriously he takes
his craft. Like the older I get, I respect that
much more than like, did you see his highlight play?
Like I saw this clip of DK Metcalf. They put
him at gunner on punt like, say what you want

(08:40):
about DK. He's definitely been underwhelming for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
but I respect the shit out of that, so I
can't have any more respect for Patrick Mahomes. But he
hasn't really played that great this year. And there are
a lot of players if they would have just played
like he played, would get criticized like hardcore, like it

(09:02):
would be pretty ugly like it, it would kind of
be relentless. And he makes some awesome plays, especially with
the Lakes, and he's obviously a great competitor keeping plays alive,
but like his game's kind of up and down. They
they need him to play better if they're gonna flip
this thing around moving forward, because their team is gonna
look dramatically different. And at this point in time now

(09:25):
they showed the schedule towards the end of the game,
they're gonna be favored in most of these games and
they could still win several of them. But in a
weird way. Listen, this is not the NBA. They're not
gonna tank. They're better off losing out than they are
winning out because for them to turn this thing around,

(09:46):
having a better draft pick, and I don't just mean
in the first round, I mean in every round is
the easiest way for next year them to get better players.
It is difficult. You can do two things to screw
up a draft. When you really good, you can make
a bold trade. We have seen teams do that. Forty
nine ers did it. You lose a bunch of first

(10:07):
round picks. Hell, the Texans did it when they got
Will Anderson, And you just feel at times, like throughout
the last couple of years, some of their depth is missing.
That that's what happens when you're missing picks, right that
the Cleveland Browns did it when they traded for Deshaun Watson.
Like you look back, You're like, we're missing two or
three first rounders because we made an acquisition, and that

(10:28):
acquisition doesn't go right, it can be a big problem.
Or just when you drafted the end of the round,
it's difficult, right. Listen, when the trade happened on Draft
night and the Chiefs traded into the first round for
Xavier Worthy and the Bills traded out for Keon Coleman,
we all had a million takes. I'm as guilty as anybody,

(10:49):
But going a couple of years later, like Xavier Worthy's fine,
Keon Coleman got benched in the middle of the year.
Made a play today, like these guys are fine. It's
harder to hit on wide receiver sometimes at the end
of the first that it is. At pick twelve, pick thirteen,
you were much more likely to get a better player.
So obviously this year for the Chiefs, given their standard,
given what we think of them, if you would have

(11:10):
told anybody at this point in time they'd be six
and seven of the same records as the Miami Dolphins,
no one would have believed you. But it happened, and
you watch them and it kind of feels right. And
one thing, even over the last couple of years, I
have so many friends there that I enjoy watching the
team even when it's ugly. But here from a lot
of people, they can be a difficult watch at times.

(11:31):
Tonight they weren't the most enjoyable watch though, Like in
this modern day era of everyone's scoring all these points,
everyone's spreading it out. You know, I'm a sucker for
a thirteen to ten game in the third quarter. I
like a game where at any given moment people can
get injured because everyone is getting tackled so hard. Like
I still really respect games like that. I saw people

(11:52):
tweeting how the Indiana Ohio State game was just like
wasn't that great? Like, I don't know about you, but
I thoroughly and I don't need a game to be
Buffalo Cincinnati to really entertain me. Though really enjoy that
game as well. So I just think the Chiefs their

(12:12):
offensive magic over the last couple of years is clearly gone.
Part of that no one, you know, people hesitate to
say it because his resume speaks for herself, but some
of that lies on Patrick not playing as well. And listen,
they got some older veteran players that aren't as reliable
as they once were. Now Chris Jones was all over
the place tonight. He was making CJ run for his life.

(12:35):
But they're just out of juice. You know, if you
get in your car and you just start driving, eventually
you're gonna run out of gas. And when you do,
you got to refill it. And that's what it feels
like the Chiefs at the point in time it is
in this operation like they need to refill. And the
difference is sometimes you get out the gas station, you
look around your car and you got like gatorade, bottles,

(12:56):
you got some some flower seeds, you got shit in
the back seat, Like I just to clean out this car,
and you just take a bunch of stuff. I try
to go to Costco because it got some cheaper gas,
throw away a bunch of stuff. It's like a cleansing
of my car every time I go to the gas station.
And that's why I think the Chiefs need to do
this offseason and we'll see how they end up. I mean,
if I was a betting man right now, they've probably

(13:16):
end up, I would guess like nine to eight. But
if you tell me that they win one of their
last three games, I do think they will be better off. Now,
that's not the way Coach Reid's gonna operate, That's not
the way these guys are going to play. But I
don't think it's crazy the last couple of games, if
you almost just give Patrick, just let Gardner Minshew play

(13:38):
some games. You know, it's tough, especially if it's becomes
pretty clear that Travis is gonna retire, which I think
we all kind of envision him doing. You know, he's
not gonna want to just be out there with Gardner Minshew, right,
so you kind of want to give him a little
send off. But I think we've seen we're basically at
the end of the road, as my guys and boys,

(13:59):
the men would say, when it comes to these three guys,
and they've had an incredible run. Most people thought when
they traded Tyreek Hill they were, you know, on drugs.
Turns out as one of the smartest moves in the
history of the league. They rattled off back to back
Super Bowls. They were able to kind of replenish, and
that's what it feels like they need to do right now, replenish.

(14:21):
They're just they're not as potent. I mean, you watch
them against the Texans. The Texans have every bit the
talent they have, if not more, you would argue on
defense they have more talent. They're just a deeper unit
and offensively, you know, with some of their injuries, Like,
what the hell's difference, What the hell's the difference between
Woody Marx and Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco. I'd probably

(14:43):
rather have over the next couple of years. Wood He
Marx more versatile player. Right, you would take Nico Collins,
you know, probably over any Chiefs wide receiver I mean
or Sheet Rice pretty good. He didn't have a good
game tonight. You know, I think Xavier Worthy's okay. You'd
like a little more, but I think at this point
in time, he kind of is what he is. He's
a fast guy that you know, kind of catches the

(15:03):
ball goes down. He's not gonna run around you, run
over you, jump over you like he's just he can
make some explosive plays and it kind of ends there.
So I think they they're gonna need a new tight end.
You know, obviously they have a stud left tackle who
broke his who broke his wrists, and he's gonna be
a big part of the future. Carl Loftis you hope
Trent McDuffie's okay, You know, he'll be a part of

(15:25):
the future. But uh, they're gonna need some reinforcements because
they're just at a gas and they're at the gas station.
It's time to fill up. And that's why this offseason
is gonna be huge. And like you saw last year,
I think you will continue to see and if you
go back in the history you know of Andy, like
they'll they'll make some big moves like he's not afraid
to kind of mix things up and This is the

(15:48):
tight franchise where you're just looking at right now, Like
sometimes you go into a home and you go, God,
this thing needs a facelift, right, this thing needs a
little work. And that's what anyone that's just watched the Chiefs,
we all have because they're on you know, primetime games.
It feels like eighty percent of the year. It's like
they just need It's like they need a remodel, they

(16:10):
need to touch up, and they need their best player
to play better. You know. I mean, you're watching Cincinnati Buffalo.
I'll probably go into that game later, but you watch
those two quarterbacks like they are just better players than
Patrick Mahomes right now, They like Joe Burrow and Josh Allen,
are just better players in twenty twenty five. I'm not
talking about the history of their careers. I'm not talking

(16:33):
about twenty twenty three. I'm not talking about twenty twenty.
I'm talking about right now. Those two guys are better
than him. They just are. That doesn't mean in a
one off if they were in the NAFC Championship game,
they would beat them. But today, and I think Chiefs
fans would admit this if they watch that game, as well.
Those two guys are better players right now, and I

(16:56):
just think there's gonna be They're gonna get a much
longer off season. Obviously, you're gonna have to look in
the mirror a little bit, what can I do to
be better? But it just it is what it is.
And they're six and seven. Just a devastating season for
a team that you know has the highest of hopes
in the league because there's you could say the Eagles

(17:16):
this year. There just aren't that many teams even in college,
like there aren't many teams like Super Bowl or Bus
National Championships or bust. Like even Indiana. They're the one seed.
It is not National Championship or bust. They just beat
Ohio State to win the Big Ten. If they were
to lose in the first round, it would suck, you know,
their first round, which would be the second round. They

(17:37):
still beat Ohio State, which is the biggest win in
the history of the program by a country mile. So
if they got to the final four, they beat Ohio State,
the fucking whole program, all the fans would do court
wheels down the street. The Chiefs. It's like, that's why
when everyone's like, how's Andy going forward on fourth down
because he's not your normal coach. He's been in the
Super Bowl five of the last six years. Like he's

(17:59):
just like, I'm just gonna lead out on my best
player right now. It's like we want to play defense,
then punt back and get the ball. He's not thinking
like that. He's just trying to score right now, get
some momentum, get something going. He's not waiting to like,
let's punt the ball back and then hopefully get a stop.
And then it's like, no, he's not Demiko rants. Demiko's
trying to get to the playoffs. Win a game. Demiko

(18:19):
gets to the playoffs and wins a playoff game. That
is a successful season for the Houston Texans. No one
would deny that, especially would they start zero to three.
If you bake into the playoffs, even if you don't
win the division, you're a wildcard. You win a playoff game,
which would mean you're on the road, you get to
the second round after that, that's incredible. It's a notch
on his belt. Chiefs don't get any like extra credit

(18:43):
for just like, hey, we're just right into the wildcard
mix till the last week and we missed it. It's
not the way they think, right, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs,
some of these guys, they don't think about money like
you and I think. Hell, they don't think about money
like other rich people think. So they're different levels to
the way you look at things. He's not looking at
it like an individual game. He's looking at it like

(19:04):
that moment you gotta go. I'm sure he's gonna get
crushed for it, but I was just like I would
have done the same thing. He's probably tired of watching
this team. You can just tell, like it's like I'm
just I want this to end, that this is not
We're just off and now we know, like they're not
going to the playoffs. Just check the AFC. They really,

(19:25):
I mean mathelematically not eliminated. They got no shot. I
mean at seven, the Texans are eight and five. So
with the Chargers, if the Chargers were to win tomorrow,
it basically becomes done because the Texans then and the
Jags would both be in. The Bills are obviously going in,
the Patriots are going in, the Broncos are going in.

(19:46):
You know, someone has to win between the Steelers and
the Ravens and the Colts are just in a free fall.
So I mean the Chiefs now are tied with the
Ravens at six and six, the Dolphins are at six
and seven, and the Dolphins at six and seven, and
that feels about right. None of them aarn that could
you know? Now? The difference is Chiefs Will won a
lot before, they got a lot of hardware in their closet,

(20:07):
and even the years they didn't win it, they were
still in the Super Bowl, So it's like, yeah, times
has been pretty good for them, but this year not.
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(21:56):
New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, And on the flip side,
like the Texans, I'll say this big picture about them,
and I'm someone that Seattle the Texans win their divisions.
Your boy could hit some huge parlays. A couple of

(22:17):
the biggest parlays. Biggest parlay ever hit was when Bryson
won the US Open, paid about eighteen K. But that's
a one off. If the Texans can, we still got
an uphill battle. We're still chasing. We need the Jags
to drop and they just they beat the hell out
of the Indianapolis Colts. But there is no disputing they
are one of, if not the hottest team in the

(22:37):
NFL right now. And it starts and ends with their defense.
Their defense is dominant. I don't think they can win
the Super Bowl. I have a hard time seeing especially
if I mean they're not gonna get the one seed.
They'd have to win three games just to get to
the Super Bowl. Feels a little unlikely. Their offense. I mean,
they had a stretch tonight where they come out of halftime,

(23:00):
they're up. I think the score was ten to seven.
Let we pull up the box score really quick. It's ten.
It's ten to nothing at half. Actually yeah, because then
the Chiefs. The Chiefs scored so out of half this
is how they start the second half. Three and out punt,
three and out punt minus four yards. Two yards in

(23:22):
those two drives so combined minus two yards, three and
out punt for no yards. So after their first three
possessions in the second half, they combined for a total
of negative two yards. Their fourth drive was three plays
in punt as well. Their fifth drive was six plays

(23:42):
in nineteen yards and then a punt, and then that's
when Andy went for it, and then they got it
back and scored. The offense at any moment can look inept.
When they're playing a really good guy upfront, like a
guy like Chris Jones, he can feel immediately like one
of the greatest players in the history league because he's unblockable.
And CJ was doing a great job the night of

(24:04):
scrambling around. He actually made some incredible plays. I thought
both guys did a pretty good job scrambling around. CJ
I thought was a little more accurate on some plays. Now,
the Chiefs had a bunch of drops as well, but
CJ kept a lot of plays alive with his legs.
Had to. It's just hard to trust that offense, I mean,
woody marks. They're relying on him a lot. Nick Chubb
is kind of a shell of his oneself. Obviously he's injured.

(24:26):
You know, you just don't have much faith in their
ability to run the ball. Nico Collins is a really
good player. They're gonna also rely on some of these
younger guys. I think the Iowa State rookie had a
big catch tonight. But I have a hard time seeing
them win a ton of games in a row because offensively, like,
you're gonna have to score points. But when your defense
is this good and clearly they have a good coaching staff.

(24:49):
To Migo's a stud They're just a well run operation.
At this point. They could beat anyone in an individual situation.
So if they're the seventh seed, they can take out
the two seed, like the five or six seed, and
draw the number one seed in the second round. They
can win that game. They can win any individual game.
It's why if they were in the Super Bowl, they

(25:10):
could win the Super Bowl, because like that defense could
take over all of a sudden, it's ten to ten
in the fourth quarter. But I just think it's hard
to do that consistently against the best teams in the
league to win that many games when your offense isn't
playing that well and just not that you know, reliable,
though their quarterback is a good playmaker, it's just that

(25:32):
defense in this team, there's a physicality to them. I mean,
I just thought the overall physicality on that field tonight
was a little bit of a throwback. It felt like,
you know, pre ct rules when you just went across
the middle and you could just get a concussion, the
type where you would shake off and they throw you
back in, but it would look like you were dead

(25:53):
on the field and like three plays plays later you'd
be back. There were so many big hits, big tackles.
I thought today was just a very physical day in general.
And I think part of it is when it gets
really cold outside and you start talking about in the teens,
what was it like seventeen degrees at kickoff? You're talking
you gotta be fucking nuts. I mean, absolutely bananas upstairs.

(26:17):
To play linebacker, to play safety, and to be able
to like trigger downhill when a guy is, you know,
ten yards away about to catch a ball and you
see and you break and you go full speed and
you don't even think for a second to hesitate. So
the level of like contained craziness on the field on

(26:40):
some of these high level games today in the weather
was just off the charts. Listen, We're never gonna have
the days of the eighties and the nineties. You know
some of those hit videos that used to pre Internet,
and they wouldn't go viral, but they would sell because
they would be like on the shelves of like Biggest
Hits NFL nineteen ninety six, every kid I knew would

(27:02):
go into the video store and want their mom or
dad to rent it or buy it. Like those days
are kind of done, but there is still like some
nostalgia for me when I watch these games and I
watch guys just get blasted. And that's what the Texans,
I mean, the Chiefs matches of the night that was
a war zone for sixty minutes on an NFL field, Narrowhead,
and the Texans just that mentality that translates. It always

(27:26):
has and always will. So when you have that good
of a defense, you got a shot, right, I would
take them like they have a better shot to me
to beat anybody than the Jags do. And that's no
real disrespect for the Jags. List you're nine to four,
You've beat some good teams. But I just think what
the Texans do well translates better in a big game
than the Jags, though. I mean, listen, I respect Liam Cohen.

(27:49):
They've done an excellent job that franchise a joke in
their nine to four. Both these two teams actually deserve
a lot of credit. I mean, the start the Texans have,
they they've got to loose some sleep at night, knowing,
like God, if we just had won one of those
early games or not dropped one of those stupid games,
we would be right there. And if we got you know,

(28:09):
home field, if we were able to get like you know,
it's probably gonna be hard to get anything else than
the three seed, given that the Patriots and the Broncos
in some order are going to be one and two.
But yeahs, Chiefs dynasty is over and the Texans are coming.
Before we dive into some other stuff, let me hit

(28:31):
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(28:52):
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I thought Bears Packers is that second half was some
of the most riveting TV I can remember. That was
that was elite. That was awesome. We have watched some

(29:36):
bad football this year. That was not it. I thought
there was so much to that game one when it
looked like the Packers were about to step on their
neck early in the game, they're of fourteen to three.
Caleb has like under forty yards passing, You're just thinking,
are the Packers gonna roll? These guys? Are the Bears
kind of sneaky frauds. Then they come out in the
second half, it's like, no, we're not sneaky frauds or

(29:58):
the Chicago freaking Bears led by Johnson. Caleb started scrambling
around making some sweet plays. There's just some like guile
and heart to this franchise that simply didn't exist, you know,
the way people like the Packers have been good forever,
and there's no team that can go from one of
the greatest players of all time to an even better

(30:19):
player than him in Rodgers Todays Jordan Love, who is
like third in the odds right now for MVP. Actually
I think he's fourth, but it's still very much alive.
Like you just don't do that. It's I've seen it
twice happen in my life. Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jeff
Garcia for of Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. They're always
well coached, they're always well built. You know, I didn't

(30:42):
bet the game because I'm like, listen, do I think
the Packers should win? I do, but I'm not betting
against this Bears team and then you watch that first
half like, oh, maybe they are who they I thought
they would be. It's like no team is heart, team
has like a physical nature. You know. They have a
lot of teams, right look the I guess the Lions

(31:03):
would be an outlier team that legitimately has two backs.
Most good teams, like I rely on Derrick Henry, I'm
relying on Christian McCaffrey, I'm relying on James Cook and
rightfully so, this is my blue Chipper, Saquon Barkley. I'm
gonna ride this guy like Secretariat. Now with Manunjai you
got him and Swift you combine like today, I think

(31:23):
they combined for almost one hundred and fifty hundred and
twenty yards. And anytime that you can run the ball,
and this goes to Saturday night with Indiana, that creates
a toughness because you practice that and even if you
go off to scout team, eventually you go ones on
ones in practice. And the physicality of a running game
adds to the physicality of a team and adds to

(31:46):
the toughness of a team. And to go on the
road like one thing that is not really arguable Packers
team speed on defense is elite, and their physicality. I
don't know if all eleven guys you would call like
a high end hitter, but it felt like nine of
the eleven guys will have no hesitation to lower their

(32:07):
shoulder and blast you. I mean their physicality, their team speed.
Obviously Micah. Anytime you have a guy like Miles Garrett
or Micah who is so fast in the open field,
they feel even that much. For von Miller was like
this when he played for Denver and for Green Bay
to be up in the second half twenty one to fourteen,

(32:30):
and the Bears to get the ball with a little
less than like two minutes left to go in the
third quarter and basically go on an eighteen minute or
an eight minute seventeen play drive and score a touchdown.
I was like, listen, whether they win or lose this game,
this team is no joke. Do I think they'll win
the Super Bowl? Probably not, But like this is a
legitimate playoff team, and I would argue this about the Bears.

(32:53):
I told this to Colin. All the pressures on the
Packers at lambeau Field, you make this big tray for
for Micah Parsons people like your boy has tickets on
them to go to the super Bowl, like they were
a super Bowl caliber team and you're eight three and
one you have one leg, like you gotta win this game.
To me, the pressure pie chart for that game was

(33:16):
green Bay zero Chicago. Even if Chicago would end up
losing by a couple of touchdowns, like whatever, we had
the Browns coming up, then we get him at home.
Season not over by any means, but the way they
lost was like, I mean, Caleb literally hit the play
that he fucked up on and he was probably like
a step late because tight end was open, uh, and

(33:37):
he just didn't pull the trigger right away. It is
a tough play. I would also imagine he's pretty gassed.
Like part of it is also the energy that goes
into these games, factoring in the cold weather. You know,
he's probably not as spry as he realizes that he's not,
Like he doesn't even realize physically what percentage he's at.

(33:57):
It's like a video game when a guy starts at
a hundred and then he's down to like fifty percent
and he's just not moving as quick. And I don't
even think Caleb probably quite realized because he could make
that throw in his sleep, even if he's late, with
the power of his arm overthrow it. But I think
sometimes the factoring in of a twelve degree game. Was
the last time I know he mentioned to Brady, like,

(34:18):
I feel comfortable playing in these games. I grew up
in this area. Well, yeah, you've been at USC the
last couple of years though, so it's like, you know,
last year in Chicago, but you haven't played in that
many of these frigid games. And I would also say
this about the Midwest. It's colder than DC, so it
doesn't get any colder than that little stretch of Kansas City,
you know, Chicago, Green Bay, like that's as cold as

(34:40):
we got. Cleveland today looked frigid Buffalo. I mean, these
places are colder than everywhere else in the country, and
it just does affect you. So the more you play,
like Love's pretty comfortable in it. He's lived in Green
Bay for how many years now as a backup, just
standing on the high line forever, then as the starter

(35:01):
now for the last whatever three years. Like you just
you live in Green Bay six or seven years. I
don't want to say you ever get used to it,
but like you somewhat become accustomed, like you're more comfortable
in frigid temperatures, even Laflor today. There is no amount
of money you could have paid me one to attend
that game. I would have lasted five minutes. But if

(35:22):
I was a coach in that game, to not have
a beanie on, and you know, you look at the
Bears coaches like they looked a little colder, right, I mean,
I've seen high Tower standing there next to Ben Johnson,
like I respect Ben Johnson's a hat on, you know,
the floor. Just the the no cap on his head
to me is kind of like a muscle flex of
a player. Even Michael Parsons was the coldest game he'd

(35:42):
ever played in makes sense, right, Penn State's not that cold.
It's cold, It ain't that And last time I checked,
like Penn State ain't playing home games in December, playing
in Dallas, you're definitely not playing games like that. I
lived in Philly. It doesn't get that cold Dallas indoors.
So I I just that that game was what was

(36:04):
pretty incredible. Caleb run around made a bunch of plays.
Jordan Love I thought was awesome. One major wild card
ist is Christian Watson now five touchdowns in the last
four games. You know, from bombs the slants of the house,
he gives them an element that is just it's, you know,
losing Craft sucks, but getting him back is kind of

(36:25):
balanced the scales a little bit. And listen, some guys
are just badasses. Some guys are just in a huge game,
I'd want this guy on my side. And Josh Jacobs
is one of those guys. You know, for all the
shit Mike Mayowk's ten year takes, you know, when he
was the GM of the Raiders with Gruden, he loved
Josh Jacobs and he drafted him in the first round.

(36:48):
And Josh Jacobs is a big time player. He's such
a good, you know, receiver out of the backfield. The
play he made on that third down of the day
where they run him, it's like the sweep outside and
he's just crowd. I mean there's four guys. I mean,
Barry Sanders could have been in that position. You're like,
I was just not going to go your way on
this run. It was not your fault. That bad play
call against that defense. And what does he do. He

(37:10):
kind of stops breaks through a tackle, breaks through another
and all of a sudden, it's like a fifteen yard game.
It's like that's just all talents. It's like, well, yeah,
from Alabama, he's got some ability. First round and he was.
He was big time today and that that was a game,
and so were the other two running backs for the Bears.
That was That was awesome. That was I think my

(37:33):
favorite NFL game so far this season. Maybe I'm being hyperbolic,
maybe I'm overreacting because it just happened today, but I
really enjoyed it. Speaking of a game that wasn't as
good was the Steelers and the Ravens. It wasn't bad.
But you know, when stories come out, if you do,

(37:55):
like what I do for a living, a lot of
my businesses reacting to stories. So you do a lot
enough you go, who, what's the point of this story?
And when Schefter over the weekend tweets about the status
of Tomlin's contract, that like he's essentially going into a
lame duck year because it has a team option for

(38:15):
twenty twenty seven and the writings on the wall that
they're probably not going to pick that up, so it's
like they're not going to fire him, but essentially putting
out the bat signal he's available to be traded for that.
That's the way I took it. Could be wrong, but
just trying to read between the lines, I went, WHOA,

(38:37):
this is kind of great. Hey, who knows, maybe Tomlin's
putting that out. Someone is like I, I think that
is coming from some angle of the Pittsburgh Steelers. You
know where I stood. I love the Ravens in this game.
I just I said, even based on last game, Lamar
clearly looks like fifty percent of his normal self. But

(38:58):
Steeler teams leacoln oil it's a problem. Well, I was wrong.
Rogers was really good today. DK Metcalf Rogers said after
the game in the postgame interview, he went out of
his way to like hammer Home. Like DK, this week
was unreal in practice, his focus. He was dialed as
anyone on our team has been all season long. And

(39:19):
the clip has gone viral of DK playing Gunner that
that was a kind of draw the line in the
sand game for the whole franchise. But I do think
with the Tomlin thing, you know, Rogers pushed back after,
like you guys need to shut up. It's like we didn't.
I didn't make up his story like the Tomlin thing.
It's like, well, you guys are six and six kind
of circling the drain. You're big underdog on the road

(39:42):
in Baltimore. Stories are breaking about your coach being in
the lame duck situation. They're not gonna fire him, but
they probably trade him. Yeah, I mean, I like the Ravens.
I was wrong. I was really wrong. I think Lamar
looks terrible and it's not because he's just a bad player.
Clearly he injured and not nearly. And I mean if

(40:03):
his speed in this peak was a ten out of ten,
what do you think his speed is right now? Like
a five? I mean, Caleb is dramatically faster running around
making plays. It's not even close. There's not really much
playmaking to Lamar. There was a run. Who was calling?
Was Romo calling that game where he breaks a run?

(40:25):
And I think it was Romo. If that game feels
like seventeen hours ago at ten thirty at night and
he goes, god, it's rare. You see Lamar just get
tackled in the open field like that. It's like, well, yeah,
because this is not the version of Lamar. So whatever
they're playing with to share, and their defense clearly isn't
as good. I mean, the Steelers were cooking them. And

(40:45):
even on the one play I think it was twenty
to sixteen, it's like, okay, the Ravens are gonna get
back into this game. Just a pretty basic like play
action rollout dump off the Jalen Warren. He walks in
the end zone like forty yards. What the fuck's going
on here? Baltimon More so, congrats to the Steelers rally
than the troupe. That that's a massive win. Now, the
next couple of weeks it's it's by no means over.

(41:07):
They still play each other again. You know, the Ravens
next week play the Bengals, then they got the Patriots.
You know, next week the Steelers playing Monday Night Football,
which is actually a sneaky interesting game. Now they play
the Dolphins and then they go on a short week
to Detroit. So right now the Steelers are in first
place obviously, but this thing could get weird. Now. I

(41:30):
also have no trust in the Ravens, Like, do I
think the Ravens are going to go to Cincinnati and win?
I think that will be pretty difficult. So that was
now come today that I didn't see coming in at
one point time. I mean, the Steelers are up like
twenty to nine. You can tell me about all you
want about the yards, but I mean Steelers are in
full control now, you know. Do I agree with the

(41:51):
overturned touchdown call? Unlikely? Like I do think we've gotten
to a point in basketball and football that like we
know what a catches when we see it, like that's
a catch, that's a touchdown, no different than in basketball
when two guys are touching the ball. In the history
of the sport, we always knew who it went off on.
And now it's like slow play replay. It actually went

(42:12):
off the extension of his cuticles, this piece of skin
that's hanging off. It's like, what are we doing? But
it is what it is and didn't count. And then
John Harbaugh, you know when he kicked a field goal?
What was to score twenty two to twenty nine? I
can't even trying to think off the top of my head. Now,

(42:34):
let me pull this up, because he kicked a field
goal late in the game and it was like, John,
what are you doing? It's it's twenty seven twenty nine,
so they're down eight. He's on the eighteen yard line
and it's fourth and eight. Now, their offense had been

(42:56):
pretty shitty. It just it was hard to trust Lamar
to just pull a play out of his ass, like
over the last couple of years. To me, if Lamar
is playing like MVP status, I think you go for it.
You know, you don't even hesitate. I can imagine him
kind of weighing it a little bit. But fourth and
eight with seven minutes to go, you're at the eighteen

(43:17):
yard line, I don't know. I mean, I think you,
I think you go for it there. But he kicks
the field goal to make it a five point game,
which is a buddy text me. You just don't see
that anymore because the analytics, the front office, the ownership's like,
go for it, which I'm cool with now too, like,
let's go for it. And he rolls out and remember

(43:38):
Harbaugh was at the forefront of the movement, so when
you see him roll out the kicker, you're like, Harbaugh
kind of going full plus here, like yeah he did.
And then obviously that was the final score of the game,
twenty seven to twenty two. The Bills were legitimately in
major trouble. It was twenty eight to twenty five Cincinnati

(44:00):
and the Bengals were driving and it felt like Joe Burrow,
who just missed the majority of the season, just shows
back up. Is like, yeah, I'm just one of the
best players in the league. And oh, in a snow game,
I'm gonna dominate the Buffalo Bills. I'm gonna throw At
one point time, it's like this guy canna throw for
five touchdowns. He's driving him right down the field. You're like,
is this how like this Josh Allen Sean McDermott. Era

(44:21):
is gonna end with Burrow doing it to him in Buffalo.
Then bur throws the pass, Dude goes the other way,
flips like that. Then the very next pass he throws
another pick, and Buffalo season is legitimately saved. Buffalo wasn't
just in major trouble. They felt dead. It felt like

(44:41):
he was putting a knife in him and stabbing him
over and over again until those two plays. And what's
crazy is I think Burrow just like Josh Mike. Takeaway
from that game is like, these are two best quarterbacks
in the league right now. I'm not talking a big picture,
I'm not talking over the last five years. I'm just saying,
two day in this league, like those two guys. Wait,
I just watched and I've watched football at all these

(45:02):
fucking games all season long, like I do every year.
Doesn't get any better than that. And I'd argue Burrows,
like Jesus, guy looks good. He missed all this time,
he comes back and he's this good with his turf toe.
How's this even possible? T Higgins looks like Calvin Johnson
out there. T Higgins. I'm watching it because I was
not a critical like you're gonna invest that much in

(45:22):
two wide receivers and then you're watching T Higgins just moss.
Dudes make plays, I mean, just make the one hand
a touchdown catch at the end of the game, which
almost felt like this is dad, he was gonna get
back in the game. This guy's a beast and uh
and yeah, but those two plays. And listen, you can
play a great game as a quarterback, but if you
throw two picks and one of them is a pick six,

(45:43):
like in a weird way, you kind of lose the
game for your team, even though you clearly were the
reason your team was winning. But that's the way football goes.
It's why coaches It's why coordinators, it's why players talk
about turnovers, turnover margin. We've been hearing it since the
beginning the sport turnovers. We gotta win the turnover. We
cannot turn the ball over. You definitely can't turn the

(46:05):
ball over in the second half on the road against
the Hall of Fame quarterback. And that's what they did
in to bit them directly in the s with taking
out a chunk of skin. And for a split second
you start doing the math, You're like, did Cincinnati run
the table there? Like I think they could, And then
all of a sudden, those two passes happen and you're like, uh,
this thing's kind of over. And you're like, well, they're

(46:26):
not gonna run the table and the Bills are alive.
And that's how fast it happens. Now, big picture with
the Bills, you know, like I said with the Texans,
you can't win the Super Bowl when your offense is
just that unreliable. I would say the same thing with
the Bills. You cannot win the Super Bowl win your
defense is that unreliable. I don't care if your quarterback
on any given game can score five or six touchdowns

(46:48):
in every way possible and just turn into superhuman players.
It's not possible to win games in the playoffs with
your defense looking like that, and their defenses isn't good.
And I get it. You know Hig and Chase, even
though I don't even know what Chase's final numbers were today,
but their offense with those two guys is better than most.
But I think we've seen enough of this team to

(47:11):
know that they're just not a reliable unit. I mean,
Burrow three for two hundred and seventy yards, four touchdowns,
Higgins had six for ninety, Goseki had six for eighty.
They actually did a pretty good job on Jamar he
only had five for forty four. But I just you
watch this union, you just they're not talented enough, and

(47:34):
it's kind of sad. If you're a Bills fan now,
I think what you hope is just get us in
the dance. It's gonna be hard for us to win
the division. We're gonna need the Patriots to blow a
game here and then we're gonna have to take take
them down when we play them. But like, why can't
Josh be superhuman for a couple of games? The answer
is he can, But your margin feerr In these games,
even winning's superhuman is like you need the other quarterback

(47:57):
to throw a pick with a guy right in front
of his face, which that just doesn't happen that often.
Now in the snowy games, you know clearly the ball
was kind of slipping out of Burrow's hands and he
tried to push it. Don't blame him. I mean, obviously,
if he could do it over, he just would have
ate it and just hit the ground. But it's easy
to say that after the dude's running around running the

(48:17):
other way. Burrow tried to tackle him and he went
right through it. But that game, like listen, I enjoy
like the Bears Packers, where every yard matters, every first
down is contested. Don't get me wrong, Cincinnati Buffalo was
extremely entertaining, and I will watch two great quarterbacks any
day of the week and twice on Sundays. But like

(48:37):
the style of football I prefer is you know what
we saw in the Bears Packers game, the physicality. Even
Texans Chiefs. You can tell me it's terrible offense, but
I like watching people get crushed. I like football for
its physicality and its defensive prowess, and that was definitely
not taking place in the Bills Bangal Game. Daniel Craig

(49:03):
returns as Ben wi Blanc in Wake Up dead Man,
A Knives Out Mystery with an all star ensemble cast
for his most dangerous case yet. When young priest Judd
Duplenacy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand monsignor Jefferson Wicks,
it's clear that all is not well in the pews.
Written and directed by Ryan Johnson's, critics are calling it

(49:24):
the sharpest knives Out movie yet. Watch Wake Up dead Man,
A Knives Out Mystery now in select theaters and on Netflix,
rated PG thirteen. Well, let's just go rapid fire on
some stories. Listen, I've talked to a lot of shit. Now.

(49:46):
I don't think I've made it up. It's all been
based off what we've seen, right. I mean, he hasn't
played well. He was being compared to JaMarcus Russell statistically,
but he threw three touchdowns a day. I kind of
stopped paying attention in the second half, but he made
a nice pass on like a deep out route. I remember,

(50:06):
I think they were up like fourteen to nothing, and
thinking like that, that's just a high level NFL pass,
and we got a long way to go. Washington, designing good.
But if you can just build and just have some
games where you throw some touchdowns, you make progress. At
this point in time, people would be happy. And what
I mean people, I mean the fans, because clearly it

(50:27):
had hit a low point. You have a game like today,
throw a couple of touchdowns, even if your numbers aren't
great sixteen to twenty three fo one hundred and sixty
sixty yards, but you just you just make some explosive plays.
That's all people want, just have some positive plays. So
hat tip to JJ McCarthy who kind of found himself
on the mat, drug himself up and had a positive day. Shador.

(50:51):
He made the Judy pass today, and I understand Judy
beats the coverage in is open, but in the game
in the elements to drive that pass was like Dyan
Gabriel does do this. He made a beautiful touchdown pass
to the Djoku in the corner of the end zone.
He had an awful interception as well that kind of

(51:13):
scrambled around and just threw it up in the middle
of the field. But one thing he has clearly given
them is just explosive plays. And at this point in time.
I haven't seen any Stefancies quotes after the game. I
know social media is just absolutely destroying him for the
two point play at the end of the game to
try to tie it, where he ran like a what

(51:34):
would it be considered a wildcat end around? I guess
that Jenkins never gives up the ball though if he had,
it would have scored. But I think people rightfully so
it's like, why are we out think of the room here,
your quarterbacks making plays? Just just let him keep it. Granted,
if Shador hadn't played in that game, I know for
myself and most of you listening, unless you're a Browns

(51:56):
or Titans fan, wouldn't have watched one second of that thing.
Cam Ward is kind of a disaster. I mean, the
Titans are a disaster places place of the Nightmare. The
Browns are even a bigger disaster. I mean, for a
team that gets talked about a lot, holy shit, do
they always lose? I mean they just lose every single week.
If I hear one more time how good their players are,

(52:17):
almost talent they have, well, then what's wrong? It's Stefanski
who all hears to get a job immediately. He will
team three and ten. He just lost the Titans at home,
I mean losts of the Titans at home. They have
a player with twenty sacks, the quarterback through three touchdowns today,
the losts of the Titans. I mean, listen, nice guy

(52:39):
met them once. Cool to me in the brief interaction,
But I think we got to acknowledge, like Stefans could
get if he got fired, he'd get a job immediately.
He would. The other fan base would be fired up
for that one if we did like the college role reversal.
Not sure about that one. The story that came out
this weekend was a little weird with Deshaun Watson. Uh,

(53:03):
I haven't quite I have, not that I spent that
much time thinking about it. But why would everyone, the
rap sheets and the schefters be putting out that not
only is Watson coming back, which financially like they are
in a predicament, that they gave the guy hundreds of
millions of dollars guaranteed, so he can't just cut him
and eat this enormous dead cap. The UFL wouldn't trade

(53:25):
for him. But you know, I don't know, I just
I don't even I don't even know what to say,
Like you can't bring him back. I saw someone that
covers the NFL as like, if you did bring him
back and make him your starting quarterback, that would be
the worst decision in the history of the league. And
I was like, I kind of agree. He never even
played like Shador. I mean, did he ever have one

(53:47):
game in his Brown's career that he threw for three
hundred and sixty yards and three touchdowns? I don't think
he did so. I mean he looked objectively terrible. Now
he's coming off an achilles, you're gonna bring him back?
Something was fishy with that story. I didn't spend that
much time trying to figure out the angle, like who's
benefiting from this? Are the Browns trying to mess with Chador? Like?

(54:09):
I don't why would they do that? Is is Mogeeda
trying to put pressure on the Browns like that? I
can't even It's hard to even figure out where does
this thing even start? Who even has this idea to like,
let's we wanted to Sean Watson back, but it happened,
and it was a story. Another story was, uh, Daniel

(54:30):
Jones tore his achilles today and uh, you know, I
I threw out on the the everything app X. That
shocking that a guy with a broken leg got injured.
H I respect his toughness, but you think someone will
stepped up like aah, it's probably not a good idea.
And then you just seen these people. It's this other

(54:52):
leg and it's a non contact acute guys, when you
have an injury, I think of basketball players Klay Thompson
tore his ACL What did you do the next year
when he was playing pickup before he'd even fully rehabbed
the ACL, he tore his achilles. It happens to a
lot of explosive athletes like Derrick Rose did it all

(55:12):
the time because you overcompensate on one side of your
body for the other side and it creates an injury.
What do you think happened over the last several weeks
when you are playing on a broken leg? Do you
think and listen, I'm no body you know understanding the
equilibrium of the movements, of the mechanisms of all your

(55:35):
joints and everything. But if you tell me you have
a broken leg, the pressure of your steps, especially if
you're playing something like football and driving off stuff and
pedaling into three five seven step drops, rolling out You're
probably putting a different amount of pressure than you normally
would with a non broken leg. So again, no doctor

(55:57):
just went to a couple California State schools. Shout out
cal Poly is new coach Tim Skipper's getting introduced on
Monday morning. Fired up for you, buddy. But you can't
tell me that that didn't play somewhat of a part
into this whole thing. Do I think his achilles injuries
just completely random? I doubt. I think that the broken

(56:18):
leg then throwing him out there was just Listen, the
Colts would have been screwed if he had torn his
achilles or he haded not. They were gonna lose that
game no matter what. But now this disaster, like they're
not winning another game. They got, you know, Anthony Richardon.
I looked up on Riley Leonards out there, the Notre
Dame quarterback, and I'm thinking, where's Anthony Richinson. It turns
out he's still on injured reserve. Obviously, sas Gardner is injured.

(56:43):
This thing is a mess, an absolute mess. And while
the Jets did lose today by multiple touchdowns, anytime you
have other team's first round picks, they probably got a
lot of joy out of seeing the Cowboys lose and
out of seeing the Colts lose, and there's a decent
chance at eight and five the Colts finish eight to nine.

(57:04):
I was gonna We've been going out for a while
and it's pretty late, but so I'll just I'll get
more into this throughout the week. My two things on
college football are this. First, I'm a small school guy.
I didn't go to Oregon, I didn't go to USC,
I didn't go to Texas. I went to fucking cal
Pauly or D one Double A. And then after that

(57:26):
I went to Fresno State, which is obviously not a
powerful for school and considered the group of five. So
don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect,
and I worked with a program at Out Paul and
obviously I worked at Fresno State. I have a ton
of respect for people at those levels. It is I've
worked in the NFL. People take football just as seriously
when I was at Fresno State as they did in

(57:47):
the NFL. They worked similar hours. Players train is hard,
everyone cares, but there is a different level of talent.
And I think one big part of the conversation today
with college football was Notre Dame Alabama, Miami, Miami beat
Notre Dame. Alabama's not as good all that shit. And
I think that was the conversation was like, I think

(58:08):
they tell you this a lot sometimes with politics, when
these crazy stories, they're trying to get you to look
over here instead of just see what's actually going on.
And I felt like that what was kind of happening
with college football today. It's like, guys, are you looking
at the twelve teams? Do you see number eleven and twelve?
There are regardless the order or how good is this
team or is Alabama? I know those ten teams have

(58:31):
nothing in common with those teams eleven and twelve. Why
are we having a college football playoff and inviting the
little guy? They do not belong? And a simple fix
for this is Division one Double A where I grew up, Davis, California,
is UC Davis. It's a school. They're now in the
Elite eight. They're hosting the Elite eight game this weekend

(58:52):
against like Rhode Island, they played the D one Double
A playoffs, the division that North Dakota State, South Dakota
State in Montana and Montana State have dominated forever. Right
they have their own playoffs. They start like two weeks
ago and they play another couple of weeks. It's just
their own little division. They play each other. Why can't

(59:13):
we do that with the other two levels, the Power four,
acc SEC, Big ten and Big ten, Big twelve and
those teams. Right, So instead of two lane and JMU,
it just would have been Notre Dame and Texas, right

(59:34):
because and then the power the Power five would have
Boise States, jmu's two lanes, whoever, whoever the twelve best
or sixteen best teams and just do it that way
because the entire issue. And I think I mentioned this
to Coward. I do think when they originally set it
up they didn't want to get sued if they did
not give them an automatic seat at the table, right,

(59:57):
because they basically just said the highest rated or Power five.
It's even fucking hard to say, you know, it's D
one double A. It's his own thing. It's like Tulane
has nothing in common with any We saw them play
Ole miss they lost forty five to ten, and I
was texted with a buddy in the NFL that knows
John Summer all very well and loves them, thinks he's
really good. I watched them playing Friday night. They're pretty good.

(01:00:20):
They should be in this tournament. JMU has as much
business in this tournament as me and you do. What
are we doing? They're twenty one and a half point
underdog at Oregon. If Oregon tries, they could lose by fifty.
Their head coach when they fly back to James Madison
will not even get on the plane because he's going
to UCLA. And I think this whole thing could have
been avoided. I don't blame them the situation they're in,

(01:00:44):
but moving forward, they shouldn't be included. I know we're
big on equality and given everyone to see at the table,
not in this world that there's a reason we you know,
judge Costco and Walmart different than like the local Mini Mark.
I can buy a hot dog and beer at both.
We don't discuss them the same financially, like what are

(01:01:06):
we talking about? And I also think the Notre Dame thing.
I'll get into the Notre Dame Miami probably. I'm sure
we'll be asked about as the week goes on, but
I'm gonna end on this. I get they're very emotional
and they think ESPN messed with them. They're a huge brand.
They're kind of like the Cowboys the Lakers. But to

(01:01:28):
decline the bowl game against BYU, I get it. If
you're an athletic department, like the AD. Your university's making
so much money, you're like, you don't need. But from
a football standpoint, if Marcus Freeman was like one like
hand in hand, arm in arm, on board with this

(01:01:50):
decision and didn't push back anymore, I've lost a lot
of respect because a huge part of the bowl week
is one even if the wheremiah loves of the team
don't play in the ball game, who cares? You can
play freshmen who haven't played because you don't burn your
red shirt year. You get extra practices leading up to

(01:02:10):
the bowl week, this notion I've heard. While they want
to get ready for the portal, you can do both
at the same time, especially if it's kind of a
throwaway game just working on your younger players. There is
not a coach I've ever been around that would give
up practices and the opportunity to rep it on the field.
They got left out. Yeah, it happened. It fucking sucks,

(01:02:33):
and we saw what happened to Florida State they've never
recovered two years later. Now Notre Dame's not gonna be
in that position. But to throw away especially, I would
somewhat get it if you told me they were playing
like San Diego State or something, which they never would.
They always play a good opponent. But to utilize that
time to just you're gonna have new starters next year,

(01:02:54):
and I would imagine several are already on the roster,
young players that don't start now, you could just start
them in that game against a program BYU that I
promise you will take it really seriously. It's an incredible
time to like it's almost like a pseudo spring game.
But they let their emotions that they let this situation

(01:03:18):
I would say, cloud their judgment and make an awful decision.
And it's usually why coaches after a game when they
go to the press conference, like take twenty minutes, take
some deep breaths before you go talk to the press.
Help slam a beer, right, But sometimes if you're in
argument with your wife someone you work with, sometimes it helps. Hey,
let's just sleep on it. Let's just take a deep breath.

(01:03:39):
And I think Notre Dame should have done that because
they decline this and they've known all week that hey,
if we do get you know, denied from the playoff,
what are we gonna do. So if you tell me
they've met, and I'm sure Bruce Felden or someone's gonna
write this story that they made the decision a couple
of days ago, I think they're fucking idiots. And I'm

(01:04:00):
not talking about being like cry babies and all that stuff. Yeah,
obviously that's true, but just from an on the field
to improve at your craft, something that like you guys
haven't won a national championship, how you were close last year,
clearly weren't close enough this year, But like this is
pretty valuable, Like there are strict rules, how often you
can practice, how often you can play, what you can

(01:04:22):
do in the spring. You're giving an incredible opportunity to
get more reps, even if you're pissed off, and they
chose not to do it. And I just think it's
I don't know, it's kind of arrogant, pompous that they
kind of live in their own little world. We all
know some of those people. It's like, are they lost
touch with the reality. And you'd be like, well, John,

(01:04:42):
other schools did it. Well, yeah, some of them don't
have coaches. Iowa State just lost their coach like two
days ago. They just hired a guy from Washington State.
Like maybe they don't even know, like what the hell's
going on. I'd argue they should do it too. Same thing,
you know, Kansas State. I don't even know what their
record was, But if it was bull eligible, I think
I read they declined it too. I would never decline it.
It never would, no matter how complicated it this, but

(01:05:04):
especially a Notre Dame situation where it's like it's not
like they'd get a new coach. It's not like get
new players, but gather they're pissed off. It sucks. But
to decline the bull invite. Say this about Florida State
when they went thirteen and zero and were denied thirteen
and out. Now I thought it was justified because their
quarterback situation. They still went to the fucking Bowl. Now

(01:05:25):
they got the break speed in by George, but they
still tried Like what a joke, right, Like, what's Notre
Dame's argument, Well, you just got toyed by spant like
you were giving the chance in Miami, you lost the game.
It'd be one thing if they had won that game
and got left out. I'd argue, if Miami had been
left out and they did this, I'd be like, I
kind of understand, like they actually won the game, Like

(01:05:45):
what's the point of the games? Notre Dame does not
have the right to do that, to make that argument.
And I think just quitting on the Bowl as a team,
as a program, I I get it as individuals. Hell,
I get it as coaches, but I don't understand it
from a program standpoint about improving. I mean, how many

(01:06:06):
like four and five star guys they have on their
roster that just could benefit from the reps and Marcus
Freeman and Bovaqua the eighties, like, Eh, we're just we'll
just quit here December seventh, and we'll see August thirty
first cool guys. Well before we get out of here,
I always forget this has been I said I was
gonna quick. We're an hour in. I think I'm going

(01:06:27):
tomorrow Harbaugh Home Dog. We'll see. I mean, it's a
little risky because of Herbert's physical situation and his you know,
it's how bad is it? Does it look like Rogers?
I guess we'll find out on Monday night, But I'm
taking the Chargers money line and my two I'm gonna

(01:06:48):
go anytime parlay. Listen, this has got a J. Brown
scoring a touchdown written you got Sirianni in the meetings,
pounding the table, getting more vocal. I got a J.
Brown scoring a touchdown written all over this game. And
the Chargers first round running back on Maryon Hampton is back.
You know hardball likes to run the ball. Jalen Carter
is out. I like especially now Herbert with the broken hand.

(01:07:10):
You're not gonna do like quarterback sneaks by the goal line.
So I'm gonna go Chargers to win. A J. Brown
anytime touchdown and Hampton anytime touchdown pays a little ten
to one. Friends of hard rock bet, have a great night. Audios.
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