3 & Out - Steelers vs. Browns REACTION, NFL Week 4 Preview & Predictions: Titans-Ravens, Packers-Buccaneers, Dolphins-Vikings - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Volume. What is going on, my people? John Middlecoff,
that would be me. Three and Out Podcast, that would

(00:21):
be the show. And the Cleveland Browns, I repeat, the
Browns are three and one. And they own Thursday night football.
And they definitely own the Pittsburgh Steelers when they play
at home on Thursday night football. They beat the Steelers.
Essentially a walk-off field goal. We'll dive into the game.
Watson showing signs of life. Rodgers had some throwback moments.

(00:46):
An all-time internet viral moment from Rodgers and McCarthy. Incredible.
Screaming at each other. Calling each other names. God, I
love it. That is my type content. A lot of
other stuff going on. Big J.J. McCarthy article today. Drake

(01:07):
May and Vrabel. We'll do our four box as usual.
There's some good afternoon games on Sunday. We'll dive into
it all. Nice long podcast, talking a little football. You
guys know the drill. You want to watch this whole podcast,
just go to a place called Netflix, hit the alert button,
never miss a show. If you would like to listen

(01:30):
to the podcast, obviously if you listen on Colin's feed,
you can subscribe to 3 and Out, you'll never miss
an episode. We post other content up on the YouTube
page as well, you can check that out. And let's
just dive into Thursday Night Football. No franchise in recent memory.
has universally been shit on, made fun of, and just

(01:54):
considered an absolute joke like the Cleveland Browns. They lost
week one 34-10. That game was closer than the final score,
partly because Watson hit a deep bomb late in the game.
That felt like 70-0 if you were watching it. They
got dismantled. So all the negativity surrounded Deshaun Watson, all

(02:17):
the negativity of like, they just hired this old guy.
He didn't have anywhere else to go. No one would
have made him the head coach. I mean, he would
have been the Giants OC. And to rattle off three
straight wins, I'm sorry, tonight is not, tonight was predictable.
This team dominates on Thursday night football at home. This
team dominates the Steelers at home on Thursday night football.

(02:41):
That being said, when they're up 21-10, in full control,
you're thinking to yourself, Deshaun Watson has not played this
good since he was in Houston. He looked, I would say,
explosive with his legs. That's one element that over the
course of his Browns career, especially coming back from the injury,

(03:03):
the Achilles injury, You're like, he's never going to move around.
He hasn't moved around that well. It's all over now.
And you're watching the day kind of break tackles, keep
plays alive, make plays with his feet. He had a
couple times, even the one that he fumbled and got
back tonight, he was sacked twice and one of them
came on the final drive. Like he was excellent keeping

(03:24):
plays alive. And there is no disputing for a franchise
that has found itself in I would say football hell
tied to this contract in a situation that looked really
really bleak over the course of the last couple years
their general manager has done a really good job you

(03:46):
know they're one of the youngest teams in the league
you feel their team speed you feel the two offensive
guys the two wide receivers they drafted in Concepcion and
and Denzel Boston. I mean, their team speed. Obviously, the Steelers'
secondary is not great, but was eye-opening and has been
the last couple weeks. I mean, those guys are explosive playmakers.

(04:11):
And I think most people coming into the season was like, OK,
we like your two draft picks, but how's your quarterback
going to get them in the ball? And I think
you got to give Deshaun Watson some credit because the
preseason was a nightmare. The incident with the press conference
and then running it back. And then after week one,

(04:32):
the expectations had hit an all time low. And now
it feels kind of fun. Like, if you could just
remove whatever you think about the guy off the field,
they haven't been a bad watch. Now, he definitely came
back to earth in the second half. There were moments. Again, physically,
I believe he looks way better than he has looked.

(04:55):
But he made a bunch of throws that were reminiscent
of the last couple years. But I also think the
guy that deserves a lot of credit is, and it's
funny how this works. Sometimes when an older coach who
doesn't feel like they're ever going to be the head
man gets a job like this and the way it

(05:16):
went down with them doing all the testing, the psychological testing,
I'm not talking players, I'm talking to the coach and
a lot of people clearly pulling their names out. And Todd,
which I do respect, when you hit a certain age,
and though he's been a coordinator for a long time,
he's made a lot of coin. He's not worried about
his bank account. He's not worried about paying the mortgage,

(05:39):
whether he got this job or not. He's a rich
dude at this point in time in his career. But
he's very comfortable in his skin. And I think if
you look at the way that he's handled the Watson situation,
which I think a lot of people thought was crazy,
most human beings, I think universally, were like, just go
see what you have in Shador. Now, whether that was

(06:00):
his choice or not, he is still the front man.
He's the guy that goes to the podium Wednesday, Friday,
Sunday after the game, does a conference call on Monday.
As a head coach, you're not only out front and
center during the game, you're talked about a lot with
the fan base, you speak for the team. The only

(06:20):
guy who comes close to speaking as much as you
is the quarterback, and he only has to speak once
during the week and then once after the game. So
I've been pretty impressed with Munkin and handling a situation
that there's a PR nightmare, the negativity surrounding you, you're
in a division with Again, he's 42 years old, but

(06:42):
still Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy. They know what they're doing. Obviously,
the Ravens and Joe Burrow, like not an easy place
to play. All these all these teams, you know, have
consistently made the playoffs, especially the Ravens and the Steelers.
We know the Bengals upside of a couple of years
ago was like to beat Patrick Mahomes to go to

(07:02):
the Super Bowl. And they have looked more than capable.
They have looked like a well-run operation, especially on offense.
Even the night when Watson has bad throws, like on
that final drive, on I think it was like third
and nine, after it felt like Watson had taken a sack,
you're doing the math in your head. You're like, where's

(07:24):
the wind coming? You know there's a really windy stadium.
There's something also... A little old school, a little bit
of a throwback in this new day and age of
all these new stadiums. Clearly the Browns have a new
stadium coming sooner than later. Hearing them bang the walls
and that sound of something you would have heard in

(07:46):
like the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. A sound
that you would have heard watching sports pre-internet. And the
fans are so passionate. Football means so much in Ohio.
And they've just had little to root for. And it's
one thing, like, typically when they've won this game on
Thursday night, a lot of times they haven't been good.
They've been destined for a high pick. And I'm not

(08:07):
saying that this team's going to the playoffs. They got
the Jets next week, which, you know, they're going to
have this mini bye week. But, you know, they're going
to have a chance to go 4-1. That's kind of cool.
And sometimes when you're just basking in negativity... When your
whole sporting world is... There's no positive around it. And

(08:29):
something like this happens. Munkin, the general manager, Andrew Berry.
I mean, this goes back to the Travis Hunter trade.
Then the Miles Garrett trade. Like, they've accumulated a lot
of assets. And listen, you can tank... You can trade
everything and have a million picks. You then need to
pick the right players. Now, knock on wood, Mason Graham

(08:49):
left the game early. I think the second series, I
think most Browns fans would agree. It sure was shaping
up like he's the best player on the team. So
hopefully he doesn't have a significant injury. But they have
a lot of young talent. And this is a great
example of sometimes when you don't have your quarterback situation,
making some crazy move, taking the wrong guy that maybe

(09:12):
you will regret. Obviously, they've been stuck with this Watson situation.
And I think you could argue they still kind of are.
But just build the team. And then figure it out later.
They're going to have two first-round picks in this draft,
their own and the Rams. But Todd Munkin is coaching
his ass off. Andrew Barry deserves a standing ovation from

(09:32):
the fan base for accumulating all these players, utilizing these picks,
and getting impact speed. One reason I personally was on
the Browns for this game, the Steelers are old. So
an old team on a short week, it's going to
be very, very evident early. I mean, Rodgers looked terrible.

(09:52):
You know, one of the great back and forths. Honestly,
non-like football play, the highlight of September so far for
me in the NFL was the exchange between Aaron Rodgers
screaming at Mike McCarthy with F-bombs to call the play
in and Mike McCarthy calling him an asshole. Then fast

(10:15):
forward to the end of the game when Rodgers gets
Verst to jump off sides like it felt like his
10th time. Jared Verst is like just itching to jump
every single play. Next play dives into the end zone,
ties the game on the two point conversion and they
hug like, you know. people that have been in love forever.

(10:35):
And that's sometimes when you've been in a relationship, because
at first when that screaming match happened and they're getting
their ass kicked 21 to 10, and you just, there
was a point in this game where you're like, are
the Browns going to beat this team like 34 to
13 and just curb stomp Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers?
And the lead story when it came to the Pittsburgh

(10:56):
Steelers is going to be these guys' relationships. I mean,
everyone online is making the joke of like, It's a
divorced couple that find themselves years later, don't want to
die alone, don't want to be lonely, so they just
get back together. Even though their kids have moved out
and they just don't have anyone else to date. Even

(11:16):
though they truly don't like each other. I mean, let's
face it. We all know people who have broken up
and gotten back together. The older you get, you are
going to have people in your life or know people
close to you that are on the edge of divorce,
like are headed for a divorce and are able to

(11:37):
work through it. Maybe it's through counseling. Maybe it's just
through each swallowing their pride and ego. Maybe it's just
working on it and they get through it and they
pass the rough seas and make it out to greener
pastures on the other side. But most people, at least
in my experience in my 41 years on this planet,

(12:00):
they get in an ugly divorce. And it's been well
documented about the way that it ended. I think Mike
McCarthy got fired on Aaron Rodgers' birthday after they lost
to an awful Arizona Cardinals team. It's the equivalent of
just a divorce that's like, whoa, this thing's getting ugly.
Seven or eight years later, typically don't get back together.

(12:23):
And the way the game opened up about Al Michaels
asking Aaron Rodgers what he envisions himself doing in 2027
in the fall. And he's like, either playing with my
newborn or tending for my pregnant wife. I'm like, Aaron,
after watching you lose it on the sideline here with McCarthy,

(12:47):
probably a smart move that you've waited because I can't
even imagine a toddler in your house throwing off You know,
your rhythm, you know, your sleep schedule. You're pissed off now.
Holy shit. Buckle up, buddy. But it was like, what
is going on here? And then I'll give Rodgers credit.
He is no longer the player that he once was,

(13:09):
which there's no shame in that. He's truly one of the,
I've been watching sports my entire life. All of them.
He's as good in the peak of his powers as
any athlete, any sport I've ever witnessed. He has his flaws.
I understand his championship resume is not as great as some,

(13:29):
but in the peak of his powers, it didn't get
much better than him. He's not that guy anymore. He
still has flashes of brilliance. At one point in time
in this game, I'm like, I don't know. Him and DK,
I know he claims to love DK. The rapport's off.
It's just kind of not working. And then he just
kind of made some stuff happen. He made some beautiful passes.

(13:50):
He had DK, I think it was maybe early in
the fourth quarter, on a beautiful deep ball after he
got hit. A couple plays later, he hits Washington on
a touchdown that was reminiscent of a throwback Pete Rogers play.
That final drive, he just, and I'll give McCarthy and
him credit. You know, a part of football, it's like,

(14:11):
you know, the art of war, right? take your strength
and find their weakness. And it would be everyone's weakness
because I've never seen a tight end that is six
foot seven, 300 pounds, who is as skilled as the
big fella. I mean, Darnell Washington is, I think we
use the word, and I'm probably guilty of this, unique,

(14:32):
like way too much. Like there are a lot of
unique players in the history of football. And there are
a lot of similarities between players that we call unique
from yesteryear. There aren't many guys like that. I'm sure
there have been tight ends who have weighed 280-plus. I
would imagine throughout the history of the game, especially in

(14:53):
the modern game, they have been blocking only tight ends.
This guy is clearly a weapon, and the Browns, in
fairness to their defense, I don't think any defense would
have an answer to that. It feels like throwing the
ball down to Shaq in the peak of his power.
What are you going to do? And they just went
to him relentlessly, and they kept getting penalties. And it worked.

(15:13):
And I don't even blame the DBs for getting penalty.
What are you supposed to do? It's like fouling Shaq.
What do you want me to do? Just have him
run me over? And it worked. And there are moments
of brilliance, but one problem for this team, and we'll
see as this goes on, there were countless times tonight,
there's that famous meme of Rodgers in Green Bay when

(15:35):
his helmet is pointed the other way. He got sacked,
I think, officially five times tonight. It felt like he
was getting hit constantly. And I wouldn't say the Browns
are solid defense, but by no means are they the,
you know, 85 Bears, the 2000 Ravens. I mean, you're
going to play a lot of teams that can get
after the quarterback. And one downfall of Aaron at his

(15:58):
age is not quite as mobile. I mean, their receiving
core can clearly be a little hit or miss. He
gets frustrated. He's a tough SOB, man, because he kept
popping back up, popping back up. But you kind of
felt it. I mean, it's October 1st, and he is
getting pelted over and over again. And a couple weeks

(16:21):
ago against the Patriots, what happened? Absolutely blasted. So part of,
you know, for this older team, how's it going to
age as the season goes on? That's one thing the
Browns have. Like, am I super bullish that what Watson
brings to the table– is sustainable week to week. I mean,
we have definitely seen, relative to his standards, brilliance. I

(16:44):
think some of that's Todd's play calling, but some of
that tonight was just Watson going, hey, this is five
years ago, Deshaun. I'm going to scramble around. I'm going
to make shit happen. It's a fun type player to watch.
It's like, I don't even remember this guy since he's
put on a Cleveland Browns uniform. The problem with the
Steelers is they're older guys. It's like, how is this
going to hold up over time? And let's face it,

(17:07):
I mean, they trade Joey Porter. I was reading during halftime,
eating dinner, one of the local guys on The Athletic
wrote the article about the, I guess, deterioration of the
relationship between the two sides and what led to a
couple nights ago, him getting traded. Their DBs stink. I mean,

(17:30):
they are not going to be able to cover people.
So we saw last week, I mean, they got bailed
out by some special teams, snafus by the Bengals, and
it's hard to cover Chase and Higgins no matter who
you got, but you're going to play a lot of
explosive offenses. So when I look at the Pittsburgh Steelers,
whose coach consistently took them to the playoffs while he

(17:53):
built one of the greatest internet cities you will ever see,
this is kind of like last year. When you watch
this team, there are drives where you're like, that's a
good team. And then there are drives where it's like, yeah,
this is the type of team that could lose to anybody.
So when you look at their schedule, like playing the Colts,
playing the Bucks, playing the Saints, you play the Browns again,
then you play the Bengals, the Eagles, the Broncos, the Texans,

(18:15):
the Jags. Yeah, they could beat all these teams. They
could lose to them all. Like their, I would say,
variance is like, if you told me they go 7-10...
and lose a bunch of games that kind of look
like this, very on the table. If you tell me
that they squeak out more of these games as time

(18:37):
goes on, and they end up 9-8, 10-7, on the table.
But is Aaron Rodgers at this age, as the weather turns,
and you look at their schedule late in the season,
you got at Ravens to end the season. You got
at Titans early in January. I mean, that I got
married in Nashville in May a couple years, or March

(18:58):
a couple years ago. It was cold. It's going to be,
could be really cold there in January. Home against the Panthers.
Home against the Ravens. This is all in December. So
home against the Texans in early December. Home against the
Broncos in early December. At the Eagles in late November.
I mean, so some of these games you could have,

(19:20):
frigid might be strong, but it could just be bad weather.
And it could be ugly outside. And you get a
42-year-old guy, you get an offensive line that clearly isn't exactly,
I would say, the most consistent group in the league.
I like Jalen Warren. He runs his ass off. He

(19:42):
can play for my team any day. But you're dependent
a lot on him to kind of carry the load.
Did anyone else? Homer had two carries. So 17 carries.
He's been good the last two weeks. I mean, the
Jalen Warren we have seen over the course of the
last five days has been exceptional. But McCarthy and Rodgers,

(20:04):
they're going to bicker. That's what old, divorced couples who
get remarried, I'm sure, do a lot of the time.
I just question the age on this team. And as
we go throughout the season, you already put yourself a
little bit behind the eight ball, how this is going
to play out. But congrats to the Browns. Congrats to

(20:26):
the Browns fans. I feel for a group that is
very passionate. For some reason, I feel like I follow
a bunch on social media. They love football. What they
have been through, what they have been forced to witness.
Most human beings get lucky if you're just born into
a Packer fan or a Yankee fan or a Laker fan.

(20:48):
Most teams aren't just putrid forever. I was with a
bunch of Vikings fans last night. And they were kind
of complaining. They're like, you know, we always lose. I mean, yeah,
you lose a lot in the playoffs. I've been alive
a decent amount of time and seen you guys had
a lot of good teams. Now, it hasn't resulted in

(21:09):
Super Bowls. But your football life doesn't relate to a
franchise like the Browns. They would sell their left leg
to be in your shoes, to have your experiences, to
have your letdowns in the middle of January. This is
the type of franchise that doesn't sniff January. And they
still might not. Like, would I bet right now that

(21:31):
they're going to be a player? I would not. But
they're definitely extremely watchable. And they have built a nucleus, like...
If you looked at these two franchises like a stock
right now, who would you invest in moving forward? The
Cleveland Browns and some of their young nucleus and their
picks in the future or this Pittsburgh Steelers situation? It's

(21:54):
a no-brainer. We'll end on that. Big picture for the Steelers,
they got some concerns. Older guys, making a bunch of money,
absolutely no answer at quarterback. As long as Rodgers is
able to stay, you know, in the dressing on a
weekly basis, they're never going to lose enough to be

(22:16):
in the mix to draft one of these top guys.
I mean, even the pick they got for Joey Porters
in 2028, it's not like it comes to fruition anytime soon. So, man,
the Steelers, Tomlin probably right now just playing Minecraft with
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(22:42):
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(24:24):
you know, I read the article today on JJ McCarthy.
And they use words like immaturity and defiance. He wouldn't
listen to coaches. And he had an alter ego. I
started thinking alter ego at quarterback. It's like he's a
WWE wrestler or something. And there's always a scale. And

(24:49):
whether you're a veteran player, whether you're a young player,
and I would imagine it's like this many of the
places in which we all work. You can be a pain.
You can be immature. You can be someone that drives
management nuts if you produce. And the more and more
you produce, the higher levels in which you bring stuff

(25:13):
to the table, they look the other way. It's been
like that since the beginning of the time, and that
will never change. And in pro sports, when you're an
ass kicker, you get a little more leeway off the field. Ideally,
you get Justin Jefferson. Elite player, high-level guy, just total package, right?
Larry Fitzgerald, you know what I mean? Patrick Mahomes. I mean,

(25:38):
that's not the case with everybody. And listen, young people,
when I was 21, 22, 23, just like many of
you listening, if you're around my age, if you're in
your 30s, your 40s, you look back to your younger
years and you go, What an idiot. I wish I
could slap myself in the back of the head. But sometimes,
I mean, a great learning experience is when you're an

(26:00):
immature idiot. And maybe J.J. McCarthy will look back in
10 years, whether his career turns out okay or whether
it's completely derailed and he's out of the league. Probably
shouldn't have had an alter ego called nine, which I
actually totally understand if you're like an offensive guard or
a pass rusher or a linebacker If you're like, hey, listen,

(26:24):
if you run into me just like walking my dog
at the meet, the deli, at Safeway, wherever in society,
you're going to think I'm a great guy. I'm a normal,
nice guy. But when I play a football game, I
have to transform my mind into a completely different human.

(26:45):
I think most people would be like, totally get it.
I do think the quarterback, like, kind of has to
be a pretty consistent human being. So in the article,
they talked about everyone eye-rolling his alter ego. I can't
get over he had an alter ego. Maybe I wasn't
as locked into the J.J. McCarthy situation. I knew he

(27:05):
would do the meditating in college and paint in the face,
but I just, I can't have an immature quarterback. Like
that's a pretty poor job scouting by the Minnesota Vikings.
And one aspect of this article was like, They chose
JJ McCarthy over Bo Nix because they thought he had

(27:25):
a higher ceiling. Well, it turns out he had a
much lower floor. And I'm as guilty of this as
anybody when we talk about players. We love talking about
what the future could be. How high can they go?
What is the peak performance if it all goes well?

(27:45):
This guy has more in the tank than this guy.
We rarely go like, what's his floor? And sometimes when
you do, hey, Anthony Richardson, Trey Lance, high ceiling guys, well,
actually their floor couldn't be any lower, you know? And
that's a problem because the majority of players are not

(28:06):
gonna be like Randy Moss, are not gonna be Travis
Kelsey or Ed Reed and like hit their ultimate ceiling
of all time greatness. Most guys, because there are a
lot of guys that play for a lot of years
that have very good careers, that I think some coaches
and GMs and front office people, you know, they kind
of underachieved, but they still had 12 year career and

(28:27):
they made a hundred million dollars. So like in the aggregate,
when you look back 20, 30 years later, you go,
what a hell of a run. You were a third
round pick. Look what happened. Or you were first round
pick and you played for this long. And then there
are just disasters. And when you get traded one, it's
got a, I've been fired. That's essentially what happened. You

(28:49):
were just fired. They're like, we don't want you in
the building. We think all the quarterbacks we have who
are not making much money, many have written off, especially
our one and two guy, a long time ago, are
way better than you. Our star wide receiver, who is

(29:11):
obviously Jefferson, who's injured right now, but Hall of Fame
level talent, thinks you are a scrub. I'm not saying
Justin Jefferson said that. He doesn't need to. We know
what he believes. How could he not? And I think
what's crazy is when you draft questionable players at certain positions,

(29:32):
you typically feel comfortable doing that when you have the,
I would say, a structured position group. You already have
veteran guys in there. You have a veteran position coach.
You just feel that that guy, once he's in there
on a daily basis, will just shape in. When the

(29:52):
Eagles drafted Jalen Carter, like, God, it's pretty risky. Well,
they go, well, we got Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox
and in a meeting room with him every single day.
So if he's going to survive anywhere, that's where he's
going to survive. I remember when I was in the league,
the Giants did it with JPP. It's like, we got
Justin Tuck, we got OC, get them around those guys,
and it worked out really well. And sometimes that backfires.

(30:15):
You never truly know. But when you can't, and I'm
by no means a perfect human being, but I like
to think I tend to be pretty self-aware sometimes. And
I like to surround myself with other people that I
would say self-awareness is a characteristic they bring to the table.
And clearly, listen, we've all had stints in our life

(30:37):
where we have some immaturity and maybe don't make the
best decisions. But when you don't have a feel for
the room, I would imagine many of you listening have
worked for people who you just go, this guy's an idiot.
It's hard for me to listen to this guy. And
it's like, are you a malcontent? Or actually, are you
smarter or more capable than the guy technically above you

(31:01):
on the org chart? Which I would imagine happens a lot, right?
It happened to me in radio. I didn't agree with
everything that I was told when I worked at Fresno
State or when I was in Philly with Howie and
working for those guys. But I'd like to say that
I kind of fell in line a lot of the
time because I had the utmost respect. I was not

(31:22):
in a position to act like I was smarter than
these guys. That wasn't the case when I got into
radio because I was like, I worked for one guy,
might be the dumbest human being I've ever met in
my entire life. And if you told me J.J. McCarthy,
some incompetent organization, just put out an article like he's immature,
he was defiant, I'd be like, well, you guys don't

(31:44):
have the best history, right? That's what we use to
defend Baker Mayfield with the Browns, Sam Darnold with the Jets.
And as time aged, we go, yeah, it was probably
more the organization than them. Well, this one, it's like
Kevin O'Connell thinks you're a loser. Because let's just parse
all the different, the way they described him, right? Let's

(32:06):
just immature, defiant, eye rolls. And let's just use, let's
just sum it up. They don't like you. They think
you're a clown. They think you're not good enough to
act this way. You know why? Because they don't act
that way. Kevin O'Connell had just coached Kirk Cousins and

(32:30):
Sam Darnold. Justin Jefferson's the face of the franchise who
is everything you would want out of a high-level player,
like the total package. So when you, I would say,
disgrace yourself, some guys play bad. Welcome to football. It's
happened to a lot of guys. Hell, it's happened to high-level,
all-pro-level guys in the middle of their career. Had down years, struggled.

(32:52):
Baker Mayfield's kind of going through right now. Not playing
that well, right? Jalen Hurts goes up and down. But
when people lose respect for you, it's time for you
to look in the mirror. And I do think he's
going to a place where, listen, I've never spent any
time around Kevin O'Connell, but when you're a former quarterback,

(33:13):
offensive guy, you're probably not just MFing you every day.
And I'm not saying John Harbaugh is going to do that,
but it's a much more intense operation playing for John
in terms of the expectations of how to act. Plus,
the Giants trade a fifth-round pick for you. So in
terms of the amount they're like invested in you, not much.

(33:37):
So if he can't figure it out now, this is
one of those things that could unravel and unravel fast.
But anytime you get traded for nothing and an article
comes out within the week crushing you, there are going
to be some people I'm sure in his ear like,
look at these losers trying to talk shit about you.
I would use that to be like, I need to

(33:59):
look myself in the mirror. What can I do better?
How can I grow from this? Because there's a pretty
clear chart, right? Your off-the-field problems, your pain-in-the-ass levels can't
outweigh your production and ability. And right now, if we're

(34:23):
balancing it here, it's just all negative, no positives. And
at quarterback... That's a major, major problem. The other thing
I want to defend, Mike Tomlin, I haven't played video
games in decades. I mean, probably since college, the mid-early 2000s.

(34:45):
And I honestly didn't know much about Minecraft. If you
would have asked me what it was two days ago,
I'm not sure I could have described it. And watching
all the clips of Tomlin playing, building this city, which
looks pretty cool. I mean, he did a good job.
Maybe he was destined, maybe he's been in the wrong
field his entire career, and he's clearly had an incredible

(35:08):
career in football. Maybe he was meant to reimagine America's infrastructure.
Maybe that's what he was actually born to do. He
just took a detour, becoming a Super Bowl champion, never
having a losing season. Looks like he's crushing it on TV.
But what if that is his true talent? Just reimagining

(35:29):
and changing some of our cities that have some issues.
Make some buildings. Create some stuff. But I saw a
lot of people. I saw Julian Edelman post something. Kind
of making fun of them, right? Because the Patriots used
to own them. Tom Brady commented on it. Like, you
talk about a defense that could never adjust. They never

(35:52):
changed their zone defenses against them, and we just constantly
annihilated them. And there's truth to that. I do think
most human beings who work in a field where the
hours are pretty insane have something that is, especially if
you are in a position like Mike's where you're just

(36:14):
making decisions constantly and the stress levels, the anxiety, the
exhaustion are just 100 out of 100 on a daily basis.
You need some sort of relief. I think a lot
of people binge shows or watch reality television show just
to quote unquote veg out. Even if it's for an hour,

(36:36):
two hours, and as a coach, I would imagine if
you just went through offensive coordinators, head coaches, general managers,
they have something in their life. It can be difficult
during the season, especially if you have young families. Mike's kids,
I think, are in college. But to just have something

(36:57):
to just take your mind off where you're just not
thinking about football 24-7, 365. Maybe it's reading fiction books.
And if you told me that he's playing Minecraft in
the office, I think, yeah, it's a little bit of
a problem. But if you tell me that he comes
home and sometimes bangs out an hour or two on

(37:17):
my car, I also am very impressed. As someone who
is not proud of my attention span getting smaller and
smaller throughout the years, is that he could keep up
with something for 12 years he said that he's been
building this city. 12 years. The longevity and the ability

(37:39):
to stick with something that long. I don't know if
they have app updates, if it keeps getting better. I
think it's on PlayStation. Is that what he plays on?
But listen, I think if you just went through the coaches,
there are probably some that play video games. There's probably
some that just sit outside, smoke a cigar, and look
at the sky. And maybe turn on some whatever music

(38:00):
they like. I just think everyone's making fun of him.
The memes are pretty funny. Mike Tomlin, man, interesting cat.
Before we dive into some of the games, there was
one other thing. I was thinking about this with some

(38:21):
of the story. I guess we can just start it
because I can talk about this. The four box on
Sunday morning. You know, I... I understand for those of
you that live on the East Coast not hating the
international morning game, right? Because for you, it starts at 9.30.
So most human beings are up, and it's just like

(38:42):
you don't have to watch some stupid pregame show that
is telling you nothing. You can just watch a game.
Totally get it. For us on the West Coast, it
starts at 6.30 in the morning. It's the Commanders, Indianapolis.
I'm not a huge fan. I'm just not. Now, you
could also argue if this game was at 10 a.m.

(39:03):
with all the other games, are you really that dialed in?
Who knows? Maybe Jaden ends up playing. But this isn't,
I wouldn't say, a marquee game this weekend. So it
gives you the ability to watch a little football before
the actual game starts. But I just... I've never been
a fan of the 630 AM games, and we all

(39:24):
know where this is going. It's clear where this is headed.
There is going to be a package in the foreseeable future. future,
maybe in two or three years, where we just get
a full slate like Thursday night games of the 6.30 games.
That is a lock. So let's– my four box in
the morning, there are some bad games, at least some
pretty big spreads. But New England, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, the–

(39:48):
I almost said the Lakers. The Rams, Philadelphia, and Dallas
and Houston. There's some good games in the afternoon too. Niners, Denver,
and Chiefs, Raiders. Seattle, Chargers, in theory would have been
a good game if you were looking at it like
three weeks ago. Right now the Chargers could be imploding.
I think I saw Ladd McConkie didn't practice today. They
could get their ass kicked in that game. if the

(40:12):
week of, you know, going into week one, you would
have said New England Buffalo would have been probably one
of the bigger games in the first month of the season,
especially for the AFC. You would have said definitely this week,
New England Buffalo, if you were just ranking in importance
before the season, you're just like, hey, take a look

(40:33):
at week four. What's the biggest AFC game? You would
have put this one way over Chiefs Raiders, but it
turns out the New England Patriots are in complete shambles.
I saw today, I mean, Barmore and Gonzalez having practice
this week, and clearly they're a defensive team because their
offense sucks. There is a report... Out there, Vrabel pushed

(40:57):
back against this. So I'm not saying I have any
inside information on it. I just watched the New England
radio stations all talk about it. He's being asked about
it if there is almost a rift between the quarterback
and the head coach. And Vrabel obviously denied it and

(41:17):
said that he chose New England because of Drake May,
which of course he did. That was a huge, huge
positive for the organization that offseason when they were looking
to get a head coach and trying to convince Vrabel who,
like he also said, would have had other options. I
do believe this. We all know this. When things are

(41:39):
going well, everyone's happy. I don't care what business you're in.
If things are going well, you're not... There is just less...
ability to really worry about stupid stuff you're less likely
to get caught up into drama because you're just in

(42:01):
a better mood and in football when you're losing all
the time it gets really negative whether you're a new
angle any organization any college like the the thing i
will never ever forget is is the feeling of walking
into a building, whether it's college or pro, the early morning,

(42:21):
the day after you lose. It sucks. And you juxtapose
that with the feeling of walking into that building, whether
you win by one point or 50 points, whether you
win because you dominate or you got the luckiest referee
penalty call you'll ever get, no one cares, everyone's happy.

(42:42):
And you start losing, especially in a place like New England,
let's face it, the culture up there can be a
little more negative. Mike Vrabel, at his core, is a
defensive tough guy. Like, that's who he is. Right? So, yeah,
he chose for Drake May. And then Drake May just

(43:04):
has turned into a pumpkin. So when Mike Vrabel sees
adversity as a player and as a coach, the mentality
that he has had success on his entire life in
football is, I would say, the opposite of the way

(43:25):
an offensive guy thinks. Be tougher, work harder, grind through it.
Probably not holding you with kid gloves. And quarterbacks, especially
guys who have lost their confidence, things can get weird.
And you have to build those guys back up. On
the defensive side of the ball, when it comes to
D linemen, linebacker, you can just scream at them constantly.

(43:48):
And that happens all the time. If you ever go
to a football practice, in a high-level college, and definitely
in the NFL, typically the loudest coaches are going to
be on the line of scrimmage, O-line and D-line. Their
coaches tend to be the most animated coaches. And I
would say linebacker coaches can be pretty aggressive, right? It's

(44:09):
an aggressive position. Well, what do you think Vrabel played?
He didn't play quarterback. So I don't know if they're
having issues. I would understand if Mike Vrabel's not happy
with his play, given that we've all watched it and
it's a debacle. Like think about Buffalo. This couldn't have

(44:30):
gone much better. The first couple weeks, Joe Brady immediately
establishes himself. The constraints are off. Let it rip. We're
taking shots. And we're going to let Josh absolutely cook.
And then they finally get into a weird game. They
couldn't have played any worse. They end up winning by eight.

(44:51):
Vibes are high. I mean, you're coming into this game
feeling really good about yourself. Stadium's been rocking, playing a
team that is just licking their wounds. And now these
stories come out that weird stuff's going on behind the scenes,
like are Josh and Mike Vrabel having some internal issues?
Does Mike turning on Drake May? Every coach will turn

(45:15):
on a player eventually if he sucks. That is a lock.
I mean, I don't care how much they like them personally.
If I think your play is not up to par
and it does not change, it does not matter who
you are, that player will eventually be replaced. Now, in
a short-term period with a young player, this happens. But

(45:38):
it's been so bad... And now you're looking at we're
playing Josh Allen, and our quarterback just can't stop turning
the ball over. We can't function as an offense. Pretty
scary for New England. This thing could get away and
get really, really ugly. I mean, it's hard not to like,
especially if some of these defensive guys can't play. Could

(45:59):
this be blowout city? Could this look a lot like
last week against the Jags, where it's just a lot
of points to not many points? Football, you've got to
be careful. You just never know. Any given Sunday, these
teams have an understanding of each other. Even though the
Bills have a new head coach, he's been there for years.

(46:22):
They were used to game planning against them last year.
But man, the vibes of these two franchises couldn't be
any more on the opposite end of the spectrum. It's
pretty crazy how fast this happened. I mean, last year,
New England... Let's not even talk about the play. Just
won the division. Just won the division. And now it

(46:45):
feels like, would you feel confident saying the Patriots are
going to have a winning record this year? Because I
surely would not. Jacksonville and Cincinnati. This is a good game.
I mean, this is a really good game. Liam Cohen,
he just looks so swaggy every week and skinnier by

(47:05):
the day. I don't know what he's got flowing through
his body, but it's probably a few GLP-1s. And I'm jealous.
He's got a good jawline going. He's got great play calls.
He's vibing. He's got a cool look. And he's turned
Trevor Lawrence into a big-time player. The Jags are not
a running team. If they're going to beat you, they're

(47:26):
going to beat you through the air. which I would
say for the first time last week, Cincinnati, Jalen Warren
started gashing them. I mean, he busted out like a
90-yard run and just got called back because of DK's
kind of phantom holding play. But I looked it up today.
The longest run for Jacksonville so far this season is

(47:46):
16 yards. So they're not exactly some explosive ground game.
It's kind of Trevor Lawrence throwing to Parker Washington and
Jacoby Myers. The crazy part is a couple years ago,
it looked like Brian Thomas Jr. was going to be
a star in the NFL. He's probably their number three.
And now Travis Hunter, they're trying to phase him out
of offense and just get him focused on defense. Here's

(48:09):
the one thing I would say about Jacksonville, is last
week they beat the living you-know-what out of the Patriots.
Little different animal in terms of defending the pass against
Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. So... the Bengals have to
just be kicking themselves over last week. It's just unforced errors. Uh,
especially when, you know, chase and Higgins were making plays

(48:31):
that they gave up some blown coverages on defense. Like
their defense doesn't play up to snuff and they got lucky.
Rogers missed a couple too. There were a lot of
big plays there to be had for Pittsburgh who had
not looked like a big play offense at all the
previous two weeks. So this is a game that I
I'm staying away from. Um, I have a lot of

(48:52):
respect for Jacksonville. And we are a Texans and Colts
L this weekend. If things keep going well, Jacksonville, could
they win this division in early, mid-December? So these other
two teams in that division, if they want to have
a snowball's chance in hell, they better start winning some games.

(49:13):
Speaking of better start winning some games, Jerry Jones, I
got the notification yesterday at I think around 8 p.m
pacific standard time yesterday which means Dallas I'm pretty sure
is two hours ahead of me Jerry Jones is making
a trade at 10 o'clock at night on a Wednesday
now I was reading that Joey Porter had Claimed his

(49:37):
back hurt after practicing Monday and Tuesday, and that was
the final straw. And at first, I hear, you know,
I'm at this dinner, and they're like, everyone's texting me,
second round pick. Well, it's two years away, second round pick,
which is usually valued in the league as, you know,
a third round pick because it's a year out. So
the value is not the same. It's like time value money. But,

(50:03):
and listen, he's a 6'2 corner with 34-inch arms who
can run. Uh, you know, you have an owner in
his eighties, he's going to second round pick in a
couple of years. Cause I think the initial reaction is
who else is doing this? And clearly when the deal
that they accepted, there wasn't some crazy market. Now, part

(50:24):
of it is he's a guy that wants millions of dollars,
30 plus million dollars a year, a contract probably exceeding
$ 100 million. We'll see how the Cowboys handle that. But
I also, you got to ask, like, are the Cowboys
a player away on defense? They don't necessarily feel that way.
Their defensive coordinator's like, anytime you get a guy, they

(50:45):
can take out half the field. I mean, you're not
getting Darrell Rivas here. You know, this isn't Richard Sherman
or Deion Sanders in his prime. A good player, but
you look up there, this isn't Derek Stingley here. Now,
they must feel really confident. He fits the defense. I
don't know. I mean, my initial take was seem bold,

(51:09):
seem bold, but that's kind of what Jerry's doing. I'm
also not of the camp of like every trade Jerry
makes is just moronic because when he traded for Quinn
and Williams last year, everyone's like, what's he doing? It's like, well,
Quinn Williams is one of their better players. And he's
a team captain. He's an all-pro level talent. He also
plays at premium position. Like, I don't hate that as much. Now,

(51:32):
the way he structured the deal, it turns out the
Packers could be a disaster, and he's going to give
it the Packers pick. This year, it's like that could
be a top-ten pick. That's where it gets a little dicey.
But Jerry just likes wheeling and dealing. I find him entertaining.
And the Pittsburgh Steelers were clearly done with this guy.
So they start shopping him, and, you know, the— they're

(51:53):
giving up a six-round pick this upcoming year. So basically,
they get two years of this guy until they have
to pay anything, which I don't really have an issue with.
But like the other guys, I mean, the expectation, you know,
they traded for Pickens, they traded for Quinn and Williams.
Your expectation when you give up a premium pick, even
if it is a couple years out, are high. You

(52:15):
want this guy to be an impact player, right? And,
you know, Joey's his dad, right? Blue chipper would be strong,
but I mean, guy was picked 32nd, which that year
was the first pick in the second round. And, you know,
their defensive coordinator is already hyping them up. Now, will
the defensive coordinator be here for years? Time will tell.

(52:36):
Better step it up. Now, I think, you know, I've
never lived in Texas, but I've lived most of my
life or a large percentage of it in Northern California.
First 18 years of my life. and then basically from
2012 to 2021, so another 10 years, and where there

(52:58):
were two football teams. And one team sucked up the
majority of the oxygen. And there's, I think, a little
brother complex. There always was, you know, in the Bay
Area with the Raiders, that the 49ers got more publicity,
the radio stations talked about them more, they got, from
a business standpoint, more of the corporate dollars, and it

(53:19):
was always... you know, a push and pull of not
wanting to accept your kind of lot in life. And
I would imagine Houston and Dallas a little bit like that. Like,
what's the biggest team in Texas? By a mile, it's
the Cowboys. And if you're Jerry, you're playing this team
that has not won. You are playing a team whose

(53:41):
offense has not been good. I mean, they just can't
score points. And it looks like, you know, Nico Collins
comes back. I would guess, I mean, that Joey plays
this week. But, like, everything that happened last week, the ending,
how adamant Jerry was about, like, this is unacceptable. I

(54:05):
didn't get, there was no way he could explain it
to me because there was no proper answer. And he's
not wrong. Like, sometimes when, Ben Johnson, for example, he
made a comment about Jared Goff's mobility the other day.
About like, I've coached a guy before that couldn't move.
And then I saw Jared Goff, who was on St.

(54:26):
Brown's podcast, said that Ben called him the next morning.
It was like, bro, I wasn't, I didn't mean anything
by it. And Jared's like, I totally, I get it.
But also kind of like, why'd you have to say that? Jared,
we all know you can't move. He just said something
literally every human knows. I never understand When someone says something,
especially that's not that serious, that is a 100% fact,

(54:50):
then it's like, well, you got to be careful. No,
you don't. Jared Goff's not a mobile quarterback. Ben Johnson's like,
I've coached a non-mobile quarterback before. He just happened to
be the number one pick and an excellent player. You know,
it's like, you don't think Ben Johnson thinks highly of
Jared Goff. So I just think sometimes that you get
in these situations that's like, Jerry just says what everyone's thinking. Now,

(55:14):
sometimes he says some crazy stuff. But any of the
comments based on the Rio de Janeiro game against Baltimore,
he's 100% justified to say. Now, I think sometimes where
he gets in trouble is, you know, when things are
going kind of well or there's some gray area. Like,
there was no gray area with that situation. And there
is pressure on this Cowboy team because, one, Eagles are

(55:37):
leaking serious oil. The Giants quarterback situation is a disaster.
I mean, they just traded for a guy whose team
drafted him 10th overall within a couple days, scathing article
about him. And, you know, the commanders just aren't that talented. And,
you know, their quarterback is going to try to play
with a brace on his arm. So, like, if not now,

(55:59):
then when? And here's the other thing with Jerry is
just a couple years ago, they won 12 straight games,
three straight years. Now, obviously, Micah played a huge role
in that, in their coaching staff. McCarthy and Dan Quinn
coaching the defense, you would say, I mean, on paper,
by far, it's a more impactful duo than Schottenheimer and

(56:22):
Christian Parker. But you lose to an 0-3 team, even
if the 0-3, to me, there are differences of 0-3 teams.
I think we would all agree that if you pulled every,
let's say, Team with a winning record. Right now. And
you talk to their coach and said, who would you
rather play next week? The winless Dolphins or the winless Texans? Right? Clearly,

(56:48):
every human would pick the Dolphins. But, like, this team
has flaws. And if you do go 0-4, like, just
do the math. There's 13 games remaining. For you to
go 10-7, which... We've got a long way to go,
but does that guarantee you most years a spot in
the dance, even with the extra team, is you'd have

(57:10):
to go 10-3. Your next 13 games, is a team
going 10-3? And you go, well, they went 12-5 last year,
similar spot. True, but I think if you just play
that game every single year, you can get yourself in
trouble really, really fast. You know, I heard someone say this,
and I haven't done a good job thinking of it,
under this lens is, you know, in the previous iteration

(57:34):
of the playoff setup, where only six teams made it in, right,
per conference, the Packers would have missed several years. So
I give LaFleur a lot of credit when I go
look at his record, he makes the playoffs every year. Well,
some of those years he's the seventh seed. So if
you're the seventh seed back-to-back years, or three or four years,
or two or three years, It's kind of an accomplishment,

(57:56):
but is it as impressive as it sounds when you
really take a step back? Probably not. I don't know
what to make of this Dallas-Houston game. I talked about
this yesterday. I don't feel it was great about my
Dallas pick because of the unit in which I was

(58:18):
depending on the offense, which obviously has looked pretty good.
in the most crucial situation, their play caller, that's what
he came up with. It's like, how does he not
have something in his back pocket? And he just didn't.
And it's clearly going to be more difficult in theory
against this defense. So this is a fascinating game. And

(58:39):
I would say the other fascinating game, and I know
they're one and two, is I saw some clips today
of Puka back at practice. Again, it's just practice film.
He's just running some slants and some in-routes. Did look
like he was moving pretty good. And the one thing
that happened last week against Denver is they were hitting
some big plays. And that was with Puka in street

(59:00):
clothes on the sideline. It's kind of just been Devontae
for a couple weeks. It's like, I'll carry the load.
Puka can't do it. Feed me the pill. Well, now
you bring him back into the mix. This is a
Philly defense that just doesn't get near the quarterback. All
the stats in terms of pressures, obviously sacks, and just
the eye test kind of speak for themselves. They paid

(59:24):
a lot of money for Jordan Davis and for Jalen
Carter to And, you know, half that game I didn't
have the audio up loud, but you don't hear their
names called very often during these games. And specifically Jalen Carter.
Part of the reason he was such a fascinating kind
of test case in that draft is everyone agreed, based

(59:48):
on pure talent for this draft, he's the best player
in it. But major question marks off the field, a
ton of teams that obviously could have used him passed
on him. Then the Eagles get him, and over the
course of a couple years, it was clear when he's on,
he's an unstoppable force. And had some weird moments because
he's a little bit of a roller coaster. That's why

(01:00:08):
he did not go one or two. That's why he
was there toward the end of right around pick nine.
Is that where they picked him? Pick nine? And you
just don't feel his presence as much now after they
paid him a boatload of money. Like if I'm Howie
and Vic, like that guy, especially with all these veteran
players gone over the years, their edge pressure is not

(01:00:30):
what it was a couple years ago. I mean, a
huge part when we talk, you know, Jalen takes a
lot of shit. I think he's kind of been a
similar guy throughout his career when people thought really highly
of him and people think not as highly of him
after games like last week. He didn't play that great
in the Titans game. He had a couple awesome drives.

(01:00:51):
He also essentially threw a pick six in the red zone.
You know, so, and the Titans stink. I mean, they
are terrible. And I get it, it was 700 degrees
on the field. Guys' cleats were burning off. But like,
Jalen's had, obviously he's played well in the Super Bowl,
but he plays in a lot of games that kind
of look like that. He just usually has some magic

(01:01:12):
in him in the second half, and they're able to win.
But this team is not nearly as deep, and this
is what happens when you pay a quarterback to, is
you kind of got to cut some costs. And then
you start depending on some younger players. Well, that year
they had, you know, countless guys. A couple of them
are retired. Another one plays for the Patriots after getting

(01:01:35):
$ 25 million a year. And you're very dependent on the
other two guys who are on rookie salaries who are
now making a lot of money. So if those guys
aren't creating a bunch of havoc in the backfield, and
one thing we know about Matt Stafford, a lot like
what Ben Johnson said about Jared Goff, is if he's
not moving. So if you're pressuring him, you can throw

(01:01:56):
him off. If you can get him off the spot, he,
unlike some of the other guys like Goff and Cousins,
because his arm's so strong, can still make throws, but
that is your best chance to throw him off, right?
Is to move him around. Well, they're the one team,
or one of the teams in the league that just
doesn't get close to the quarterback. So if you're not
going to touch him, and now Puka's back, could be

(01:02:17):
a long day. And that's... You know, McVay's a little
back against the wall. You got Aaron Donald, who I
wasn't just trying to be, you know, opposite of everyone
else and just have a counter take to try to
stand out. I just truly went, this guy took off

(01:02:38):
a couple years, had not been playing football, and is
going to come back. And we expect him to look
like he previously looked, where he's one of the greatest
players to ever play. Like, we all agree that Aaron
Donald would have thrived in any era. And in his
own era, he dominated. So you're getting him back, and

(01:02:58):
your expectations are like, well, they're getting back a plug-and-play.
Even if it's not like Hall of Famer, he could
be a Pro Bowl-level guy. It's like, well, how does
his body respond? What's he going to feel like the
day after the game? Older players feel differently than younger players.
I was thinking about this today. Some guys, like, some

(01:03:19):
people's body, I guess, as Brady would call it, pliability, flexibility,
maybe it's their bone structure, maybe it's just their God-given,
the way they're constructed. If the same player got hit
the same hit, some guys get a serious injury and
other guys bounce up. It's remarkable how that happens. And

(01:03:41):
there's not really much explanation for it. Especially if you go,
both guys train hard, It's not like one guy mails
it in. They both eat well. They both rehab well.
They both do the cold plunge. They do everything humanly
possible on every given week and throughout the year to
get ready to play football. Yet on the same play,
if you put two different players in, the same type

(01:04:01):
hit or the way their body would stretch or be flexed,
one guy might tear a knee or break a bone
and the other guy just pops right up. And as
you get older, your margin for error on that stuff
all becomes neutral. Everyone's kind of become similar. I saw
Case Keenum tell the part of my take, guys. Every
hour that went by on Tuesday morning, I got more

(01:04:25):
and more sore. He's 38 years old. So I think
the impact of Aaron Donald, I always thought was a
little oversold. And again, maybe I was being more pessimistic.
I clearly was being more pessimistic than most. But it
doesn't feel like he's exactly... in his prime defensive player
of the year ass kicker. And now it's like a

(01:04:45):
back's a little tight. I mean, what are you getting
out of him? And obviously the Miles Garrett disappearance is
not ideal with the injury. And who knows when he
ever comes back? I mean, there's just, to me, the storyline,
like to me, New England Buffalo, that's all about New England.
Like I already know Buffalo's good. And if Buffalo plays well,
I expect them to dominate. And I think the story

(01:05:05):
is going to be like, could this really get weird
for Vrabel? Could this really get weird with him and
Drake Maye? The Houston game, both those two teams are storylines.
Dallas Jerry, Brian Schottenheimer, defensive coordinator, trade for this guy,
Houston going to go 0-4. LA and Philly, it's kind
of the same thing. The pressure on both teams is immense.

(01:05:29):
This Eagles thing, there was a report, not even a report,
Seth Joyner said it. Listen, I'm not acting like I
know this for a fact. I don't. First time I
ever heard of it. It kind of went viral on
the internet. The reason that Sean Mannion is in the
booth is so Nick Sirianni can kind of keep him

(01:05:50):
at bay and Jalen, when he comes off the field,
can't just bypass Sirianni, go to the play caller. and
try to dictate the terms of the offense or whatever.
It's just harder. You've got to go over, get on
the phone. I don't know how much truth to that
or not, though the way he laid it out, I
was like, yeah, I can see that. I don't know
if it's an insecurity of Sirianni. You would think if

(01:06:13):
the guy, wherever he wanted to be to give the
offense the best chances, that's where he would be. But
the situation simmers over fast. And the other thing is,
if you want to be glass half full, you'd be like,
this is a team that won a Super Bowl. This
is a team a couple years ago. That does feel
like a distant memory. And the closest thing we have

(01:06:34):
of what this team has accomplished is the implosion that
was last season. And the offense, which I don't know
if they ended up leading the league, but I mean,
toward the end of the season, they lead the league
in three and outs. And then you just watch them play.
They just go three and outs still all the time.
it's a short sample size to even try to gauge that.
But like, if things don't dramatically change, they are going

(01:06:57):
to be in the mix to lead the league again.
So you got to run the ball. And I don't
know what happened last week. I thought it was embarrassing.
And I talked about this after the game of like,
Saquon's working here. Like, just stick with it. If you're
going to go three and out, just give him the
ball three times and see if he can break a run.

(01:07:17):
And when I say break a run, I don't mean
50 yards. Like, 12, 15, like your explosive plays can
come from the run game. And that's a huge part
of kind of the Shanahan tree guys, especially Kyle is
running the ball, you know, man in green Bay guy.
Like that's, that's a huge problem for Matt LaFleur. They
can't run the ball. If you can't run the ball,
the offense, if you are a run oriented coordinator and like,

(01:07:43):
that's a problem. And I think Sean Manion's kind of
lost in no man's land. I saw some people saying
that they kind of shifted the second half offense, more shotgun.
I mean, I would say shotgun is, is much more
a part of that tree in 2026 than it would
have been 20 years ago. I mean, it's a huge
part of the NFL. Quarterbacks are comfortable in that. I

(01:08:03):
got no problem being shotgun. I got no problem with
shotgun runs, but just run the ball. So this could,
this could get really weird, really fast. And I've, I'm fascinated,
especially these home games, right? Like, they'll start booing. If
you told me they went three and out on their

(01:08:24):
first series, they would boo. They would 100% boo. And
they'd be justified to do it. Because everyone in the
crowd who's paid a lot of money to be there,
if I'm looking right now, the cheapest get-in price, I mean,
you're talking to sit at the top is like $ 175.
So to have a good seat at Link, to go

(01:08:46):
to this game, I mean, it's really, really expensive. Parking,
what you pay. These fans, to me, I've always said
this since experiencing being around them, kind of get a
bad rap. They love football, they're excited for football, and
their expectation is now pretty high. They have a lot
of high price guys and they've seen a lot of
those same core guys have a lot of success, but

(01:09:07):
what they've witnessed lately has not been good. And the
other thing is coming off that bears game is really,
really bad. I mean, McVay's coming off a game where
I saw you admitted this week, that the NFL told
them they should have called a defensive pass interference. It's like,
do we really want all that stuff out there? You
guys are balls deep with all this gambling, prediction markets,

(01:09:28):
and everything involved, and you're coming out and saying that?
That's why I said after the game, like, that's a
pretty big moment. Because it wasn't just pass interference. The
guy picked it off. So... There are some bad games

(01:09:55):
as well, even though I think jets at Chicago's kind
of interesting Arizona at the giants. That's might be a
rough watch, uh, green Bay at Tampa. I mean, if
green Bay just stinks and you're watching undrafted free agent,
not great Titans at Baltimore Titans might be one of
the worst teams we've seen in recent memory. The afternoon

(01:10:17):
does have two great games. Um, Niners versus Denver. I mean,
Purdy's playing the best football of his career. He's had
the best three-game stretch of his career. He's not only
in complete control of the offense, his coach, who historically,
I always thought, could get a little conservative when things
were going well. And I actually think, looking back, it
was more of an indictment of, like, he never trusted

(01:10:38):
Jimmy Garoppolo. And there have been stints, even with Brock,
where you're like, bro, you could trust him a little
bit more. I would say, so far this season, the
trust level is a 10 out of 10. Now we'll
see how it plays out with some of these injuries
in this game. If the Niners get aggressive or try to,
you know, get by with one or two, you know,

(01:10:58):
Trent Williams, I would guess plays, you know, Mike Evans.
Do you want to rush him back when you're playing
at Seattle next week? But that's not, this is not
how football thinks. I mean, the simple reality with football,
football players, football teams, this is not these other sports
where you get an unlimited amount of games. Mike Evans

(01:11:19):
would be like, if I can play, I'm going to play.
You guys signed me, paid me to play in these games. Specifically, Denver.
Team with, you know, one of the best defensive backs who, if,
you know, you need me, one, just so he covers
me and opens up the rest of the offense and
maybe gives us an advantage that you can throw me
some balls on him. You know, Trent, it's like, if

(01:11:41):
I'm good to go, I'm going to play. That's typically
how it goes. Especially for good teams. Maybe bad teams
later in the season, it's not worth it. But, you know,
if you win this game, the momentum they would have
going into Seattle would be pretty high. Pretty high. So,
you know, Denver, you just... There's no team that you

(01:12:02):
have less of a field that probably is going to
end up like 11 or 12 wins. And they have
a lot of– it's kind of like the Eagles. I've
seen this song and dance. You know, the first half,
Bo Nix is horrendous. They really haven't played that many
good quarters of football. I mean, they were getting worked
in that game. Worked. And then even when they had

(01:12:23):
some big moments, it's like the Rams came right back
and made plays. Yes. So I don't quite know what
to make of Denver. I do like their personnel. In theory,
I like their coaching staff, but let's face it. You're 31,
32 years old, and you've never called plays. It's kind
of a double-edged sword, right? Sometimes you get your first

(01:12:45):
job really young in the NFL. Just like most of
us in life, you don't really get to choose, right?
It's why a lot of guys, first-time coordinators, sometimes get
it in shitty situations. They don't have a quarterback, they
don't have good personnel, and then they just run a
terrible offense and get fired. Now you'd much rather have

(01:13:06):
the talent around you, but when you get a gig
like this, which is pretty unique, ton of pressure, magnifying
glass on your franchise, And your head coach is known
as one of the greatest play callers of his generation.
Shattered records with Drew Brees. Punted on Russell Wilson and
looked like a genius. Drafted Bo Nix when everyone called

(01:13:26):
him an idiot and had the best record in the
league last year. Or, I guess, in the AFC. So,
this is a tough one. The best part about this
week is, besides New England-Buffalo, if you're like, Buffalo plays well,
New England's got no shot. Jacksonville, Cincinnati, coin flip. L.A., Philly,
could see that go either way. Dallas, Houston, no clue. Niners, Denver. Like,

(01:13:52):
I'd go, yeah, the Niners are humming, but this feels
like a little different animal than I would definitely say
Arizona and Miami. So the level of play. Now, you know,
Kyle last week, first play of the game, hook and ladder.
It's like he's going to have something up his sleeve,
but he also– If you go, hey, you've got to

(01:14:13):
win one of these next two games, clearly you would
choose Seattle. Divisional matchup. They already have a loss. You'd
be 2-0 in the division. You'd win a road game.
A road division game, I mean. And this is a
big game for Denver. I just think just to play well.

(01:14:34):
One issue I think we all have is like, yeah,
you've turned it on for a half twice, but you've
looked anemic and specifically your quarterback. Now, this is the
Drake May thing. Like, well, is his shoulder okay? You know,
Bo next to me physically looks pretty good, but is
there still some lingering like, ah, you know, I'm still

(01:14:54):
not feeling 100%. You could say that, but it's like,
I've seen you fully healthy and you look just like
this as well. So, Hufunga's coming home. He's one of
my favorite players in recent. I love that guy. Talano
Hufunga is a complete badass. I guess I lean the
Niners there, but you would think Denver is going to

(01:15:17):
play better. But as long as you have this first-time
coordinator calling plays, I mean, it should be a pretty
big advantage. Raheem Morris has a lot more experience than
Davis Webb. A lot more experience. So, like, this is
a big– Bosa's out. That's the other thing. It's like
you're playing with a bunch of random defensive linemen. Now,

(01:15:38):
Fred's one of probably, like, non-quarterback on defense, top three
or four defender in the league. But the pass rush,
I don't want to say non-existent, but it dramatically changes
when 97's in street close, which he will be. And

(01:15:59):
then last but not least, I mean, this is pretty cool.
Growing up in the 90s, so much of Monday Night Football,
when I think about it for the AFC, felt like
John Elway, Mike Shanahan, Marty Schottenheimer, the Kansas City Chiefs,
some of just John Gruden once he got Rich Gannon.

(01:16:24):
I This rivalry, and I know Andy was extremely close
with John Madden, who he spoke at his wake at
the Oakland Coliseum. He's told me stories about when he
first got the job in Philly, talking to Al Davis
on the phone. Coach Reed, I think obviously when they

(01:16:46):
played in the Super Bowl a couple years ago, which
I can't even imagine Al Davis rolling over in his grave,
the Chiefs were practicing them in the Eagles. They got
the Raiders facility. Now, this is three or four years old,
so it's not like they were staying in Alameda. I

(01:17:06):
saw a clip today of Al Davis. Hope this game
is good. We know the Chiefs are good, and we
know if they had a game that really, really matters.
We've seen them on Monday night and then on Sunday
night football, and they just fucking brought it. I gave
them a little bit of a pass last week. It's like, yeah,

(01:17:29):
you're playing the Dolphins, you know, on 10 a.m. A
little different vibe than the first two games. This one's
pretty easy to get up for. Here's the other thing.
The Raiders and Crosby have had a little thing over
the years going back and forth with the homes. They
have upset the Chiefs several times in Andy's tenure. Like

(01:17:49):
most of Andy's tenure in Kansas City, the Raiders haven't
been good. But one year they were 0-10. They beat
them on Thursday Night Football. A couple years ago they
beat them in that, was it Christmas Eve game or
Christmas Day game when Mahomes, I think through the pick six,
was to Jack Jones. And he walked into the end zone.
I think that game was in Kansas City. So this is,

(01:18:09):
to me, one for Kelsey and Chris Jones and Mahomes.
Andy's not some huge, like, speech giver during the week
but this you don't need one this week this is
one of those where it's like this this is important
and this is also just if you're the chiefs before
this franchise can get any momentum going because right now

(01:18:29):
they got some momentum they don't even just feel like
a good story like they feel like obviously got some
really good young players they're not even playing their quarterback
yet so now here's the thing with cousins probably the
most I think he's the most immobile quarterback in the NFL.
Just look at him. at all the– Kyler, Bo Nix, Herbert.

(01:18:54):
Goff couldn't even move better. Yeah, he easily is the
most immobile quarterback. Daniel Jones. It might not even be close.
Who would even beat– Geno's a better athlete. He's a
better athlete. Stafford maybe. I feel like Stafford, if you
just did a foot race, Stafford's beating them. Spag is
a guy that likes to blitz. And to me, you

(01:19:16):
are bringing the heat in a situation against this guy.
And can we just corral that? I mean, their wide
receiver group is not great. That is a position that
big picture they're going to need to address. My guess
is this offseason, I guess if they were drafting higher,
you would be in the mix for probably never going
to draft high enough to get Jeremiah Smith, but Becker

(01:19:39):
out of Indiana, Coleman out of Texas, like a guy
like that, and probably buy a guy in free agency
as well. Like they're going to need to double down
on that position for Fernando. But right now it kind
of is what it is. I mean, they are very
dependent on their two tight ends. Their two tight ends
are good, especially Bowers is an elite player. And he
can throw the ball to the running back. So to me,

(01:20:00):
the game plan is pretty simple if you're the Chiefs, like–
How would we, if we were playing Travis Kelsey in
his prime, cover him? No team would have a better idea,
at least to attempt, than Steve Spagnuolo because he's seen
him every day in practice his entire career since he's
been in Kansas City. And, you know, the running back
is just a really good player. He's had some drops

(01:20:22):
this season, but in theory, he's a good pass catcher.
This is fun. This is fun. Now, maybe it doesn't
turn out. Like, Would it shock anybody if Chiefs win
this game by 10-plus points? No. If we were looking
at this game before the season started, this would not

(01:20:42):
have been a game that many people would have circled.
This would have been a game you go, where do
you think in the afternoon Jim Nance and Tony Romo
would be? And if you were ranking them, you would
have said probably in San Francisco for Denver Niners, in Seattle,
because CBS has Chargers Seattle, and then this game would

(01:21:06):
have been third, but that's where they're going, which sucks
for the Bay Area Raider fans, because the Niners are
playing in CBS, meaning if you don't have the package,
you do not get the game on television, but the package,
I highly recommend it, four bucks, and I would imagine
many people will get it, they want to watch the game,
or go to a bar, or whatever, but I'm not
a huge bar guy to watch games. Just maybe you

(01:21:29):
do this for a living. I need to think and talk.
Or I mean, I need to think so I can
talk about what's going on. Even in one-off situations like
Thursday night or Monday night, my wife was like, hey,
you want to go to dinners and we can watch
a game in the background on Thursday night? I'm like, eh,

(01:21:49):
let's just order something. I just like watching it. But
this would be one they're going to be some people
pretty fired up. And it's going to be interesting for
the home crowd in Vegas, right? Like, is this a
50-50 deal? Does this have like a SoFi vibe? Or
is this just a lot of out-of-towners? A lot of

(01:22:12):
Kansas City people flying in for the game? That would
be my guess. Like, my guess is this is not
going to feel like the Coliseum and be a Raider
home game. Where you would be a little intimidated by...
everyone there to even wear a jersey. A guy I
played high school football with, Chuck Bonneau, his brother was

(01:22:33):
Jason Fisk, longtime defensive tackle. Played for the Vikings and
the Titans, the good Titans, with Eddie George and Steve McNair.
The Titans were playing the Raiders on Monday Night Football,
and he wore his brother's jersey. He's going to watch
his older brother, Jason and I played at Stanford, Play football, right,

(01:22:55):
in the NFL. Got to be pretty cool. We were
probably ninth or tenth grade at the time. And I
remember him telling a story the next day at school. Like,
they started chanting Raiders. You know, I don't know if
he went to get a hot dog or was, like,
walking around the concourse. And he just looked around, and
everyone was looking at him, just chanting Raiders, Raiders. And

(01:23:15):
this is a high school kid. And I can't remember
if he took the jersey off or just kind of...
They kind of sprinted away. But it got to a
spot where... Not that he was, like, nervous for safety,
but it wasn't... He wasn't comfortable. Let's just say that.
I just remember the way he described it. Everywhere he looked,
everyone was staring at him, chanting Raiders. So I... That's gone.

(01:23:37):
I mean it is. And the Raiders sold out for that.
Just like the Chargers sold out for that. There's nothing
wrong with it. Like you just we just have to
acknowledge that's what happened. Right? It's no different I would
say at even home venues like Levi's Stadium that it's
just a little different crowd. A little more wine and

(01:24:00):
cheese than you would have found 15-20 years ago at Candlestick.
Nature of the Beast. Same thing with The Golden State
Warriors playing in San Francisco. The vibe of a game
to go watch Steph now, a little different than Oracle 20,
15 years ago. It's the way the world works sometimes.
But that also has a little bit of an impact.

(01:24:22):
It just does. And we're never going back and it's
going to happen to a lot of these places. I
guess we can end on this. I saw a pretty
good stat that the NFL team's that start 0-3 are
over 65% against the spread in week four when facing

(01:24:44):
a team with one outright win. So when I was
looking to make some predictions on a little app we
like to call Polymarket, I said, you know what? It's
time to get in the mud. It's time to get
down and dirty. It's like, middle guy, you gonna roll
with Denver? You gonna roll with the Niners? You gonna

(01:25:04):
take the Chiefs? How about the Buffalo Bills? Nope. No siree.
If you don't like Minnesota to cover the 10 and
a half against the Miami Dolphins in Minnesota, which I
do not, $ 100 gets you $ 189. I can't believe I'm

(01:25:27):
doing this. But I'm taking the Dolphins and the 10.5
points in Minnesota. I'm just following the trend line. And
sometimes you've got to follow the trend lines. It's time
to get ugly. I'll give you another one. The Green
Bay Packers. I do not like them to win by
3.5 points against an undrafted free agent led Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

(01:25:52):
$ 100 in that game pays $ 186. And last but not least,
the ugliest of them all. I mean, it feels like
this franchise is falling apart. At least we know the
Dolphins are attempting to do this. And it's not their
fault their star running back hurt his knee, but they're
trying to be competitive in terms of effort, but not

(01:26:16):
win any games. The Ravens in Baltimore hosting the Tennessee Titans. Again,
NFL teams 0-3, 65% against the spread. going into week
four against teams with at least one outright win. If
you do not like the Ravens to cover the 10.5 points,
$ 100 pays over $ 200. This is by far it, and

(01:26:39):
I was on the Titans last week, and I felt
good about it. I think Sala and Brian Dable felt
good about it until Cam Ward let that ball leave
his hands. And, you know, Sala, it's going to be interesting.
It does feel like they started being very careful the
way they discuss their young quarterback. And then after some struggles,

(01:27:01):
they're like, yeah, we're just, yeah, he might have PTSD.
He's got to run more. Like they're starting to kind
of go the other way. They're starting to trend of like,
I don't have the patience to fake it. I don't
have the patience to pretend something is going on that's
not going on. And it's going to be interesting. Like
this is kind of a, you could argue like, how

(01:27:24):
many more games is the kid going to get? So
I'm getting in the weeds. I'm following the trends. I
feel dirty. I don't feel great. But sometimes you just
got to let the numbers speak to you. And that's
what I'm doing.

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